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The Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
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A MASTER-KEY
TO THE
MYSTERIES OF
ANCIENT AND MODERN
SCIENCE AND
THEOLOGY.
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY,
CORRESPONDING
SECRETARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
"Cecy est un
livre de bonne Foy." -- MONTAIGNE.
VOL. I. -- SCIENCE.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE
THE present edition
is a faithful reprinting of Isis Unveiled as originally published in New York
in 1877.
The Index has been
considerably enlarged, and an Appendix added, containing a Bibliographical
Index of works and authors quoted and two articles by HPB on the writing of
Isis Unveiled: "Theories about Reincarnation and Spirits" (1886) and
"My Books" (1891).
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THE AUTHOR
Dedicates these
Volumes
TO THE
THEOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY,
WHICH WAS FOUNDED
AT NEW YORK, A.D. 1875,
TO STUDY THE
SUBJECTS ON WHICH THEY TREAT.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
---------------------
[[PUBLISHER'S
NOTE]]
PREFACE ... v
BEFORE THE VEIL.
Dogmatic
assumptions of modern science and theology ... ix
The Platonic philosophy
affords the only middle ground ... xi
Review of the
ancient philosophical systems ... xv
A Syriac manuscript
on Simon Magus ... xxiii
Glossary of terms
used in this book ... xxiii
---------------------
Volume First.
THE
"INFALLIBILITY" OF MODERN SCIENCE.
---------------------
CHAPTER I.
OLD THINGS WITH NEW
NAMES.
The Oriental Kabala
... 1
Ancient traditions
supported by modern research ... 3
The progress of
mankind marked by cycles ... 5
Ancient cryptic
science ... 7
Priceless value of
the Vedas ... 12
Mutilations of the
Jewish sacred books in translation ... 13
Magic always
regarded as a divine science ... 25
Achievements of its
adepts and hypotheses of their modern detractors ... 25
Man's yearning for
immortality ... 37
CHAPTER II.
PHENOMENA AND
FORCES.
The servility of
society ... 39
Prejudice and
bigotry of men of science ... 40
They are chased by
psychical phenomena ... 41
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Lost arts ... 49
The human will the
master-force of forces ... 57
Superficial
generalizations of the French savants ... 60
Mediumistic
phenomena, to what attributable ... 67
Their relation to
crime ... 71
CHAPTER III.
BLIND LEADERS OF
THE BLIND.
Huxley's derivation
from the Orohippus ... 74
Comte, his system
and disciples ... 75
The
Borrowed robes ...
89
Emanation of the
objective universe from the subjective ... 92
CHAPTER IV.
THEORIES RESPECTING
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.
Theory of de
Gasparin ... 100
[[Theory]] of Thury
... 100
[[Theory]] of des
Mousseaux, de Mirville ... 100
[[Theory]] of
Babinet ... 101
[[Theory]] of
Houdin ... 101
[[Theory]] of MM.
Royer and Jobart de Lamballe ... 102
The twins --
"unconscious cerebration" and "unconscious ventriloquism"
... 105
Theory of Crookes
... 112
[[Theory]] of
Faraday ... 116
[[Theory]] of
Chevreuil ... 116
The Mendeleyeff
commission of 1876 ... 117
Soul blindness ...
121
CHAPTER V.
THE ETHER, OR
"ASTRAL LIGHT."
One primal force,
but many correlations ... 126
Tyndall narrowly
escapes a great discovery ... 127
The impossibility
of miracle ... 128
Nature of the
primordial substance ... 133
Interpretation of
certain ancient myths ... 133
Experiments of the
fakirs ... 139
Evolution in Hindu
allegory ... 153
CHAPTER VI.
PSYCHO-PHYSICAL
PHENOMENA.
The debt we owe to
Paracelsus ... 163
Mesmerism -- its
parentage, reception, potentiality ... 165
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"Psychometry"
... 183
Time, space,
eternity ... 184
Transfer of energy
from the visible to the invisible universe ... 186
The Crookes
experiments and Cox theory ... 195
CHAPTER VII
THE ELEMENTS,
ELEMENTALS, AND ELEMENTARIES.
Attraction and
repulsion universal in all the kingdoms of nature ... 206
Psychical phenomena
depend on physical surroundings ... 211
Observations in
Music in nervous
disorders ... 215
The
"world-soul" and its potentialities ... 216
Healing by touch,
and healers ... 217
"Diakka"
and Porphyry's bad demons ... 219
The quenchless lamp
... 224
Modern ignorance of
vital force ... 237
Antiquity of the
theory of force-correlation ... 241
Universality of
belief in magic ... 247
CHAPTER VIII.
SOME MYSTERIES OF
NATURE.
Do the planets
affect human destiny? ... 253
Very curious
passage from Hermes ... 254
The restlessness of
matter ... 257
Prophecy of
Nostradamus fulfilled ... 260
Sympathies between
planets and plants ... 264
Hindu knowledge of
the properties of colors ... 265
"Coincidences"
the panacea of modern science ... 268
The moon and the
tides ... 273
Epidemic mental and
moral disorders ... 274
The gods of the
Pantheons only natural forces ... 280
Proofs of the
magical powers of Pythagoras ... 283
The viewless races
of ethereal space ... 284
The "four
truths" of Buddhism ... 291
CHAPTER IX.
CYCLIC PHENOMENA.
Meaning of the
expression "coats of skin" ... 293
Natural selection
and its results ... 295
The Egyptian
"circle of necessity" ... 296
Pre-Adamite races
... 299
Descent of spirit
into matter ... 302
The triune nature
of man ... 309
The lowest
creatures in the scale of being ... 310
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Elementals
specifically described ... 311
Proclus on the
beings of the air ... 312
Various names for
elementals ... 313
Swedenborgian views
on soul-death ... 317
Earth-bound human
souls ... 319
Impure mediums and
their "guides" ... 325
Psychometry an aid
to scientific research ... 333
CHAPTER X.
THE INNER AND OUTER
MAN.
Pere Felix arraigns
the scientists ... 338
The "Unknowable"
... 340
Danger of
evocations by tyros ... 342
Lares and Lemures
... 345
Secrets of Hindu
temples ... 350
Reincarnation ...
351
Witchcraft and
witches ... 353
The sacred soma
trance ... 357
Vulnerability of
certain "shadows" ... 363
Experiment of
Clearchus on a sleeping boy ... 365
The author
witnesses a trial of magic in
Case of the
Cevennois ... 371
CHAPTER XI.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND
PHYSICAL MARVELS.
Invulnerability
attainable by man ... 379
Projecting the
force of the will ... 380
Insensibility to
snake-poison ... 381
Charming serpents
by music ... 383
Teratological
phenomena discussed ... 385
The psychological
domain confessedly unexplored ... 407
Despairing regrets
of Berzelius ... 411
Turning a river
into blood a vegetable phenomenon ... 413
CHAPTER XII.
THE
"IMPASSABLE CHASM."
Confessions of
ignorance by men of science ... 417
The Pantheon of
nihilism ... 421
Triple composition
of fire ... 423
Instinct and reason
defined ... 425
Philosophy of the
Hindu Jains ... 429
Deliberate
misrepresentations of Lempriere ... 431
Man's astral soul
not immortal ... 432
The reincarnation
of Buddha ... 437
Magical sun and
moon pictures of Thibet ... 441
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Vampirism -- its
phenomena explained ... 449
Bengalese jugglery
... 457
CHAPTER XIII.
REALITIES AND
ILLUSION.
The rationale of
talismans ... 462
Unexplained
mysteries ... 466
Magical experiment
in
Chibh Chondor's
surprising feats ... 471
The Indian
tape-climbing trick an illusion ... 473
Resuscitation of
buried fakirs ... 477
Limits of suspended
animation ... 481
Mediumship totally
antagonistic to adeptship ... 487
What are
"materialized spirits"? ... 493
The Shudala Madan
... 495
Philosophy of
levitation ... 497
The elixir and
alkahest ... 503
CHAPTER XIV.
EGYPTIAN WISDOM.
Origin of the
Egyptians ... 515
Their mighty
engineering works ... 517
The ancient land of
the Pharaohs ... 521
Antiquity of the
Nilotic monuments ... 529
Arts of war and
peace ... 531
Mexican myths and
ruins ... 545
Resemblances to the
Egyptian ... 551
Moses a priest of
Osiris ... 555
The lessons taught
by the ruins of
The Egyptian Tau at
CHAPTER XV.
Acquisition of the
"secret doctrine" ... 575
Two relics owned by
a Pali scholar ... 577
Jealous
exclusiveness of the Hindus ... 581
Lydia Maria Child
on Phallic symbolism ... 583
The age of the
Vedas and Manu ... 587
Traditions of
pre-diluvian races ... 589
Atlantis and its
peoples ... 593
Peruvian relics ...
597
The
Thibetan and
Chinese legends ... 600
The magician aids,
not impedes, nature ... 617
Philosophy,
religion, arts and sciences bequeathed by Mother India to posterity ... 618
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-----------------------
THE work now
submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat intimate acquaintance
with Eastern adepts and study of their science. It is offered to such as are
willing to accept truth wherever it may be found, and to defend it, even
looking popular prejudice straight in the face. It is an attempt to aid the
student to detect the vital principles which underlie the philosophical systems
of old.
The book is written
in all sincerity. It is meant to do even justice, and to speak the truth alike
without malice or prejudice. But it shows neither mercy for enthroned error,
nor reverence for usurped authority. It demands for a spoliated past, that
credit for its achievements which has been too long withheld. It calls for a
restitution of borrowed robes, and the vindication of calumniated but glorious
reputations. Toward no form of worship, no religious faith, no scientific
hypothesis has its criticism been directed in any other spirit. Men and
parties, sects and schools are but the mere ephemera of the world's day. TRUTH,
high-seated upon its rock of adamant, is alone eternal and supreme.
We believe in no
Magic which transcends the scope and capacity of the human mind, nor in
"miracle," whether divine or diabolical, if such imply a transgression
of the laws of nature instituted from all eternity. Nevertheless, we accept the
saying of the gifted author of Festus, that the human heart has not yet fully
uttered itself, and that we have never attained or even understood the extent
of its powers. Is it too much to believe that man should be developing new
sensibilities and a closer relation with nature? The logic of evolution must
teach as much, if carried to its legitimate conclusions. If, somewhere, in the
line of ascent from vegetable or ascidian to the noblest man a soul was
evolved, gifted with intellectual qualities, it cannot be unreasonable to infer
and believe that a faculty of perception is also growing in man, enabling him
to descry facts and truths even beyond our ordinary ken. Yet we do not hesitate
to accept the assertion of Biffe, that "the essential is forever the same.
Whether we cut away the marble inward that hides the statue in the
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block, or pile
stone upon stone outward till the temple is completed, our NEW result is only
an old idea. The latest of all the eternities will find its destined other
half-soul in the earliest."
When, years ago, we
first travelled over the East, exploring the penetralia of its deserted
sanctuaries, two saddening and ever-recurring questions oppressed our thoughts:
Where, WHO, WHAT is GOD? Who ever saw the IMMORTAL SPIRIT of man, so as to be
able to assure himself of man's immortality?
It was while most
anxious to solve these perplexing problems that we came into contact with
certain men, endowed with such mysterious powers and such profound knowledge
that we may truly designate them as the sages of the Orient. To their
instructions we lent a ready ear. They showed us that by combining science with
religion, the existence of God and immortality of man's spirit may be
demonstrated like a problem of
In our studies,
mysteries were shown to be no mysteries. Names and places that to the Western
mind have only a significance derived from Eastern fable, were shown to be
realities. Reverently we stepped in spirit within the temple of Isis; to lift
aside the veil of "the one that is and was and shall be" at Sais; to
look through the rent curtain of the Sanctum Sanctorum at Jerusalem; and even
to interrogate within the crypts which once existed beneath the sacred edifice,
the mysterious Bath-Kol. The Filia Vocis -- the daughter of the divine voice --
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responded from the
mercy-seat within the veil,* and science, theology, every human hypothesis and
conception born of imperfect knowledge, lost forever their authoritative
character in our sight. The one-living God had spoken through his oracle --
man, and we were satisfied. Such knowledge is priceless; and it has been hidden
only from those who overlooked it, derided it, or denied its existence.
From such as these
we apprehend criticism, censure, and perhaps hostility, although the obstacles
in our way neither spring from the validity of proof, the authenticated facts
of history, nor the lack of common sense among the public whom we address. The
drift of modern thought is palpably in the direction of liberalism in religion
as well as science. Each day brings the reactionists nearer to the point where
they must surrender the despotic authority over the public conscience, which
they have so long enjoyed and exercised. When the Pope can go to the extreme of
fulminating anathemas against all who maintain the liberty of the Press and of
speech, or who insist that in the conflict of laws, civil and ecclesiastical,
the civil law should prevail, or that any method of instruction solely secular,
may be approved;** and Mr. Tyndall, as the mouth-piece of nineteenth century
science, says, ". . . the impregnable position of science may be stated in
a few words: we claim, and we shall wrest from theology, the entire domain of
cosmological theory"*** -- the end is not difficult to foresee.
Centuries of
subjection have not quite congealed the life-blood of men into crystals around
the nucleus of blind faith; and the nineteenth is witnessing the struggles of
the giant as he shakes off the Liliputian cordage and rises to his feet. Even
the Protestant communion of England and America, now engaged in the revision of
the text of its Oracles, will be compelled to show the origin and merits of the
text itself. The day of domineering over men with dogmas has reached its
gloaming.
Our work, then, is
a plea for the recognition of the Hermetic philosophy, the anciently universal
Wisdom-Religion, as the only possible key to the Absolute in science and
theology. To show that we do not at all conceal from ourselves the gravity of
our undertaking, we may say in advance that it would not be strange if the
following classes should array themselves against us:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lightfoot assures
us that this voice, which had been used in times past for a testimony from
heaven, "was indeed performed by magic art" (vol. ii., p. 128). This
latter term is used as a supercilious expression, just because it was and is
still misunderstood. It is the object of this work to correct the erroneous
opinions concerning "magic art."
** Encyclical of
1864.
*** "Fragments
of Science."
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The Christians, who
will see that we question the evidences of the genuineness of their faith.
The Scientists, who
will find their pretensions placed in the same bundle with those of the Roman
Catholic Church for infallibility, and, in certain particulars, the sages and
philosophers of the ancient world classed higher than they.
Pseudo-Scientists
will, of course, denounce us furiously.
Broad Churchmen and
Freethinkers will find that we do not accept what they do, but demand the
recognition of the whole truth.
Men of letters and
various authorities, who hide their real belief in deference to popular
prejudices.
The mercenaries and
parasites of the Press, who prostitute its more than royal power, and dishonor
a noble profession, will find it easy to mock at things too wonderful for them
to understand; for to them the price of a paragraph is more than the value of
sincerity. From many will come honest criticism; from many -- cant. But we look
to the future.
The contest now
going on between the party of public conscience and the party of reaction, has
already developed a healthier tone of thought. It will hardly fail to result
ultimately in the overthrow of error and the triumph of Truth. We repeat again
-- we are laboring for the brighter morrow.
And yet, when we
consider the bitter opposition that we are called upon to face, who is better
entitled than we upon entering the arena to write upon our shield the hail of
the Roman gladiator to Caesar: MORITURUS TE SALUTAT!
New York,
September, 1877.
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Joan. -- Advance
our waving colors on the walls! -- King Henry VI. Act IV.
"My life has
been devoted to the study of man, his destiny and his happiness." -- J. R.
BUCHANAN, M.D., Outlines of Lectures on Anthropology.
IT is nineteen
centuries since, as we are told, the night of Heathenism and Paganism was first
dispelled by the divine light of Christianity; and two-and-a-half centuries
since the bright lamp of Modern Science began to shine on the darkness of the
ignorance of the ages. Within these respective epochs, we are required to
believe, the true moral and intellectual progress of the race has occurred. The
ancient philosophers were well enough for their respective generations, but
they were illiterate as compared with modern men of science. The ethics of
Paganism perhaps met the wants of the uncultivated people of antiquity, but not
until the advent of the luminous "Star of Bethlehem," was the true
road to moral perfection and the way to salvation made plain. Of old,
brutishness was the rule, virtue and spirituality the exception. Now, the
dullest may read the will of God in His revealed word; men have every incentive
to be good, and are constantly becoming better.
This is the
assumption; what are the facts? On the one hand an unspiritual, dogmatic, too
often debauched clergy; a host of sects, and three warring great religions;
discord instead of union, dogmas without proofs, sensation-loving preachers,
and wealth and pleasure-seeking parishioners' hypocrisy and bigotry, begotten
by the tyrannical exigencies of respectability, the rule of the day, sincerity
and real piety exceptional. On the other hand, scientific hypotheses built on
sand; no accord upon a single question; rancorous quarrels and jealousy; a
general drift into materialism. A death-grapple of Science with Theology for
infallibility -- "a conflict of ages."
At Rome, the
self-styled seat of Christianity, the putative successor to the chair of Peter
is undermining social order with his invisible but omnipresent net-work of
bigoted agents, and incites them to revolutionize Europe for his temporal as
well as spiritual supremacy. We see him who calls himself the "Vicar of
Christ," fraternizing with the anti-Christian Moslem against another
Christian nation, publicly invoking the blessing of God upon the arms of those
who have for centuries withstood, with
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fire and sword, the
pretensions of his Christ to Godhood! At Berlin -- one of the great seats of
learning -- professors of modern exact sciences, turning their backs on the
boasted results of enlightenment of the post-Galileonian period, are quietly
snuffing out the candle of the great Florentine; seeking, in short, to prove
the heliocentric system, and even the earth's rotation, but the dreams of
deluded scientists, Newton a visionary, and all past and present astronomers
but clever calculators of unverifiable problems.*
Between these two
conflicting Titans -- Science and Theology -- is a bewildered public, fast
losing all belief in man's personal immortality, in a deity of any kind, and
rapidly descending to the level of a mere animal existence. Such is the picture
of the hour, illumined by the bright noonday sun of this Christian and
scientific era!
Would it be strict
justice to condemn to critical lapidation the most humble and modest of authors
for entirely rejecting the authority of both these combatants? Are we not bound
rather to take as the true aphorism of this century, the declaration of Horace
Greeley: "I accept unreservedly the views of no man, living or
dead"?** Such, at all events, will be our motto, and we mean that
principle to be our constant guide throughout this work.
Among the many
phenomenal outgrowths of our century, the strange creed of the so-called
Spiritualists has arisen amid the tottering ruins of self-styled revealed
religions and materialistic philosophies; and yet it alone offers a possible
last refuge of compromise between the two. That this unexpected ghost of
pre-Christian days finds poor welcome from our sober and positive century, is
not surprising. Times have strangely changed; and it is but recently that a
well-known Brooklyn preacher pointedly remarked in a sermon, that could Jesus
come back and behave in the streets of New York, as he did in those of
Jerusalem, he would find himself confined in the prison of the Tombs.*** What
sort of welcome, then, could Spiritualism ever expect? True enough, the weird
stranger seems neither attractive nor promising at first sight. Shapeless and
uncouth, like an infant attended by seven nurses, it is coming out of its teens
lame and mutilated. The name of its enemies is legion; its friends and
protectors are a handful. But what of that? When was ever truth accepted a
priori? Because the champions of Spiritualism have in their fanaticism
magnified its qualities, and remained blind to its imperfections, that gives no
excuse to doubt its reality. A forgery is impossible when we have no model to
forge after. The fanaticism of Spiritualists is itself
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* See the last
chapter of this volume, p. 622.
**
"Recollections of a Busy Life," p. 147.
*** Henry Ward
Beecher.
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a proof of the
genuineness and possibility of their phenomena. They give us facts that we may
investigate, not assertions that we must believe without proof. Millions of reasonable
men and women do not so easily succumb to collective hallucination. And so,
while the clergy, following their own interpretations of the Bible, and science
its self-made Codex of possibilities in nature, refuse it a fair hearing, real
science and true religion are silent, and gravely wait further developments.
The whole question
of phenomena rests on the correct comprehension of old philosophies. Whither,
then, should we turn, in our perplexity, but to the ancient sages, since, on
the pretext of superstition, we are refused an explanation by the modern? Let
us ask them what they know of genuine science and religion; not in the matter
of mere details, but in all the broad conception of these twin truths -- so
strong in their unity, so weak when divided. Besides, we may find our profit in
comparing this boasted modern science with ancient ignorance; this improved
modern theology with the "Secret doctrines" of the ancient universal
religion. Perhaps we may thus discover a neutral ground whence we can reach and
profit by both.
It is the Platonic
philosophy, the most elaborate compend of the abstruse systems of old India,
that can alone afford us this middle ground. Although twenty-two and a quarter
centuries have elapsed since the death of Plato, the great minds of the world
are still occupied with his writings. He was, in the fullest sense of the word,
the world's interpreter. And the greatest philosopher of the pre-Christian era
mirrored faithfully in his works the spiritualism of the Vedic philosophers who
lived thousands of years before himself, and its metaphysical expression.
Vyasa, Djeminy, Kapila, Vrihaspati, Sumati, and so many others, will be found
to have transmitted their indelible imprint through the intervening centuries
upon Plato and his school. Thus is warranted the inference that to Plato and
the ancient Hindu sages was alike revealed the same wisdom. So surviving the
shock of time, what can this wisdom be but divine and eternal?
Plato taught justice
as subsisting in the soul of its possessor and his greatest good. "Men, in
proportion to their intellect, have admitted his transcendent claims." Yet
his commentators, almost with one consent, shrink from every passage which
implies that his metaphysics are based on a solid foundation, and not on ideal
conceptions.
But Plato could not
accept a philosophy destitute of spiritual aspirations; the two were at one
with him. For the old Grecian sage there was a single object of attainment:
REAL KNOWLEDGE. He considered those only to be genuine philosophers, or
students of truth, who possess the knowledge of the really-existing, in
opposition to the mere seeming; of
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the
always-existing, in opposition to the transitory; and of that which exists
permanently, in opposition to that which waxes, wanes, and is developed and
destroyed alternately. "Beyond all finite existences and secondary causes,
all laws, ideas, and principles, there is an INTELLIGENCE or MIND [nous, the
spirit], the first principle of all principles, the Supreme Idea on which all
other ideas are grounded; the Monarch and Lawgiver of the universe; the
ultimate substance from which all things derive their being and essence, the
first and efficient Cause of all the order, and harmony, and beauty, and
excellency, and goodness, which pervades the universe -- who is called, by way
of preeminence and excellence, the Supreme Good, the God ([[ho theos]]) 'the
God over all' ([[ho epi pasi theos]])."* He is not the truth nor the
intelligence, but "the father of it." Though this eternal essence of
things may not be perceptible by our physical senses, it may be apprehended by
the mind of those who are not wilfully obtuse. "To you," said Jesus
to his elect disciples, "it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom
of God, but to them [the [[polloi]] ]it is not given; . . . therefore speak I
to them in parables [or allegories]; because they seeing, see not, and hearing,
they hear not, neither do they understand."**
The philosophy of
Plato, we are assured by Porphyry, of the Neoplatonic School was taught and
illustrated in the MYSTERIES. Many have questioned and even denied this; and
Lobeck, in his Aglaophomus, has gone to the extreme of representing the sacred
orgies as little more than an empty show to captivate the imagination. As
though Athens and Greece would for twenty centuries and more have repaired
every fifth year to Eleusis to witness a solemn religious farce! Augustine, the
papa-bishop of Hippo, has resolved such assertions. He declares that the
doctrines of the Alexandrian Platonists were the original esoteric doctrines of
the first followers of Plato, and describes Plotinus as a Plato resuscitated.
He also explains the motives of the great philosopher for veiling the interior
sense of what he taught.***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cocker:
"Christianity and Greek Philosophy," xi., p. 377.
** Gospel according
to Matthew, xiii. 11, 13.
*** "The
accusations of atheism, the introducing of foreign deities, and corrupting of
the Athenian youth, which were made against Socrates, afforded ample justification
for Plato to conceal the arcane preaching of his doctrines. Doubtless the
peculiar diction or 'jargon' of the alchemists was employed for a like purpose.
The dungeon, the rack, and the fagot were employed without scruple by
Christians of every shade, the Roman Catholics especially, against all who
taught even natural science contrary to the theories entertained by the Church.
Pope Gregory the Great even inhibited the grammatical use of Latin as
heathenish. The offense of Socrates consisted in unfolding to his disciples the
arcane doctrine concerning the gods, which was taught in the Mysteries and was
a capital crime. He also was charged by Aristophanes with intro-
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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As to the myths,
Plato declares in the Gorgias and the Phaedon that they were the vehicles of
great truths well worth the seeking. But commentators are so little en rapport
with the great philosopher as to be compelled to acknowledge that they are
ignorant where "the doctrinal ends, and the mythical begins." Plato
put to flight the popular superstition concerning magic and daemons, and
developed the exaggerated notions of the time into rational theories and
metaphysical conceptions. Perhaps these would not quite stand the inductive
method of reasoning established by Aristotle; nevertheless they are
satisfactory in the highest degree to those who apprehend the existence of that
higher faculty of insight or intuition, as affording a criterion for
ascertaining truth.
Basing all his
doctrines upon the presence of the Supreme Mind, Plato taught that the nous,
spirit, or rational soul of man, being "generated by the Divine
Father," possessed a nature kindred, or even homogeneous, with the
Divinity, and was capable of beholding the eternal realities. This faculty of
contemplating reality in a direct and immediate manner belongs to God alone;
the aspiration for this knowledge constitutes what is really meant by
philosophy -- the love of wisdom. The love of truth is inherently the love of
good; and so predominating over every desire of the soul, purifying it and
assimilating it to the divine, thus governing every act of the individual, it
raises man to a participation and communion with Divinity, and restores him to
the likeness of God. "This flight," says Plato in the Theaetetus,
"consists in becoming like God, and this assimilation is the becoming just
and holy with wisdom."
The basis of this
assimilation is always asserted to be the preexistence of the spirit or nous.
In the allegory of the chariot and winged steeds, given in the Phaedrus, he
represents the psychical nature as composite and two-fold; the thumos, or
epithumetic part, formed from the substances of the world of phenomena; and the
thumoeides, the essence of which is linked to the eternal world. The present
earth-life is a fall and punishment. The soul dwells in "the grave which we
call the body," and in its incorporate state, and previous to the
discipline of education, the noetic or spiritual element is "asleep."
Life is thus a dream, rather than a reality. Like the captives in the
subterranean cave, described in The Republic, the back is turned to the light,
we perceive only the shadows of objects, and think them the actual realities.
Is not this
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] ducing the new god Dinos into the republic as
the demiurgos or artificer, and the lord of the solar universe. The
Heliocentric system was also a doctrine of the Mysteries; and hence, when
Aristarchus the Pythagorean taught it openly, Cleanthes declared that the
Greeks ought to have called him to account and condemned him for blasphemy
against the gods," -- ("Plutarch"). But Socrates had never been
initiated, and hence divulged nothing which had ever been imparted to him.
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the idea of Maya,
or the illusion of the senses in physical life, which is so marked a feature in
Buddhistical philosophy? But these shadows, if we have not given ourselves up
absolutely to the sensuous nature, arouse in us the reminiscence of that higher
world that we once inhabited. "The interior spirit has some dim and
shadowy recollection of its antenatal state of bliss, and some instinctive and
proleptic yearnings for its return." It is the province of the discipline
of philosophy to disinthrall it from the bondage of sense, and raise it into
the empyrean of pure thought, to the vision of eternal truth, goodness, and
beauty. "The soul," says Plato, in the Theaetetus, "cannot come
into the form of a man if it has never seen the truth. This is a recollection
of those things which our soul formerly saw when journeying with Deity,
despising the things which we now say are, and looking up to that which REALLY
IS. Wherefore the nous, or spirit, of the philosopher (or student of the higher
truth) alone is furnished with wings; because he, to the best of his ability,
keeps these things in mind, of which the contemplation renders even Deity itself
divine. By making the right use of these things remembered from the former
life, by constantly perfecting himself in the perfect mysteries, a man becomes
truly perfect -- an initiate into the diviner wisdom."
Hence we may
understand why the sublimer scenes in the Mysteries were always in the night.
The life of the interior spirit is the death of the external nature; and the
night of the physical world denotes the day of the spiritual. Dionysus, the
night-sun, is, therefore, worshipped rather than Helios, orb of day. In the
Mysteries were symbolized the preexistent condition of the spirit and soul, and
the lapse of the latter into earth-life and Hades, the miseries of that life,
the purification of the soul, and its restoration to divine bliss, or reunion
with spirit. Theon, of Smyrna, aptly compares the philosophical discipline to
the mystic rites: "Philosophy," says he, "may be called the
initiation into the true arcana, and the instruction in the genuine Mysteries.
There are five parts of this initiation: I., the previous purification; II.,
the admission to participation in the arcane rites; III., the epoptic
revelation; IV., the investiture or enthroning; V. -- the fifth, which is
produced from all these, is friendship and interior communion with God, and the
enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with divine
beings. . . . Plato denominates the epopteia, or personal view, the perfect
contemplation of things which are apprehended intuitively, absolute truths and
ideas. He also considers the binding of the head and crowning as analogous to
the authority which any one receives from his instructors, of leading others
into the same contemplation. The fifth gradation is the most perfect felicity
arising from hence, and, according to
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Plato, an
assimilation to divinity as far as is possible to human beings."*
Such is Platonism.
"Out of Plato," says Ralph Waldo Emerson, "come all things that
are still written and debated among men of thought." He absorbed the
learning of his times -- of Greece from Philolaus to Socrates; then of
Pythagoras in Italy; then what he could procure from Egypt and the East. He was
so broad that all philosophy, European and Asiatic, was in his doctrines; and
to culture and contemplation he added the nature and qualities of the poet.
The followers of
Plato generally adhered strictly to his psychological theories. Several,
however, like Xenocrates, ventured into bolder speculations. Speusippus, the
nephew and successor of the great philosopher, was the author of the Numerical
Analysis, a treatise on the Pythagorean numbers. Some of his speculations are
not found in the written Dialogues; but as he was a listener to the unwritten
lectures of Plato, the judgment of Enfield is doubtless correct, that he did
not differ from his master. He was evidently, though not named, the antagonist
whom Aristotle criticised, when professing to cite the argument of Plato
against the doctrine of Pythagoras, that all things were in themselves numbers,
or rather, inseparable from the idea of numbers. He especially endeavored to
show that the Platonic doctrine of ideas differed essentially from the
Pythagorean, in that it presupposed numbers and magnitudes to exist apart from
things. He also asserted that Plato taught that there could be no real
knowledge, if the object of that knowledge was not carried beyond or above the
sensible.
But Aristotle was
no trustworthy witness. He misrepresented Plato, and he almost caricatured the
doctrines of Pythagoras. There is a canon of interpretation, which should guide
us in our examinations of every philosophical opinion: "The human mind
has, under the necessary operation of its own laws, been compelled to entertain
the same fundamental ideas, and the human heart to cherish the same feelings in
all ages." It is certain that Pythagoras awakened the deepest intellectual
sympathy of his age, and that his doctrines exerted a powerful influence upon
the mind of Plato. His cardinal idea was that there existed a permanent
principle of unity beneath the forms, changes, and other phenomena of the
universe. Aristotle asserted that he taught that "numbers are the first
principles of all entities." Ritter has expressed the opinion that the
formula of Pythagoras should be taken symbolically, which is doubtless correct.
Aristotle goes on to associate these numbers with the "forms" and "ideas"
of Plato. He even declares that Plato said:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Thomas
Taylor: "Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries," p. 47. New York: J. W.
Bouton, 1875.
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"forms are
numbers," and that "ideas are substantial existences -- real
beings." Yet Plato did not so teach. He declared that the final cause was
the Supreme Goodness -- [[to agathon]] "Ideas are objects of pure
conception for the human reason, and they are attributes of the Divine
Reason."* Nor did he ever say that "forms are numbers." What he
did say may be found in the Timaeus: "God formed things as they first
arose according to forms and numbers."
It is recognized by
modern science that all the higher laws of nature assume the form of
quantitative statement. This is perhaps a fuller elaboration or more explicit
affirmation of the Pythagorean doctrine. Numbers were regarded as the best
representations of the laws of harmony which pervade the cosmos. We know too
that in chemistry the doctrine of atoms and the laws of combination are
actually and, as it were, arbitrarily defined by numbers. As Mr. W. Archer
Butler has expressed it: "The world is, then, through all its departments,
a living arithmetic in its development, a realized geometry in its
repose."
The key to the
Pythagorean dogmas is the general formula of unity in multiplicity, the one evolving
the many and pervading the many. This is the ancient doctrine of emanation in
few words. Even the apostle Paul accepted it as true. "[[Ex auton, kai di
auton, kai eis auton ta panta]]" -- Out of him and through him and in him
all things are. This, as we can see by the following quotation, is purely Hindu
and Brahmanical:
"When the
dissolution -- Pralaya -- had arrived at its term, the great Being -- Para-Atma
or Para-Purusha -- the Lord existing through himself, out of whom and through
whom all things were, and are and will be . . . resolved to emanate from his
own substance the various creatures" (Manava-Dharma-Sastra, book i.,
slokas 6 and 7).
The mystic Decad 1
+ 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 is a way of expressing this idea. The One is God, the Two,
matter; the Three, combining Monad and Duad, and partaking of the nature of
both, is the phenomenal world; the Tetrad, or form of perfection, expresses the
emptiness of all; and the Decad, or sum of all, involves the entire cosmos. The
universe is the combination of a thousand elements, and yet the expression of a
single spirit -- a chaos to the sense, a cosmos to the reason.
The whole of this
combination of the progression of numbers in the idea of creation is Hindu. The
Being existing through himself, Swayambhu or Swayambhuva, as he is called by
some, is one. He emanates from himself the creative faculty, Brahma or Purusha
(the divine male), and the one becomes Two; out of this Duad, union of the
purely intel-
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Cousin:
"History of Philosophy," I., ix.
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lectual principle
with the principle of matter, evolves a third, which is Viradj, the phenomenal
world. It is out of this invisible and incomprehensible trinity, the Brahmanic
Trimurty, that evolves the second triad which represents the three faculties --
the creative, the conservative, and the transforming. These are typified by
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, but are again and ever blended into one. Unity,
Brahma, or as the Vedas called him, Tridandi, is the god triply manifested,
which gave rise to the symbolical Aum or the abbreviated Trimurty. It is but
under this trinity, ever active and tangible to all our senses, that the
invisible and unknown Monas can manifest itself to the world of mortals. When
he becomes Sarira, or he who puts on a visible form, he typifies all the
principles of matter, all the germs of life, he is Purusha, the god of the
three visages, or triple power, the essence of the Vedic triad. "Let the
Brahmas know the sacred Syllable (Aum), the three words of the Savitri, and read
the Vedas daily" (Manu, book iv., sloka 125).
"After having
produced the universe, He whose power is incomprehensible vanished again,
absorbed in the Supreme Soul. . . . Having retired into the primitive darkness,
the great Soul remains within the unknown, and is void of all form. . . .
"When having
again reunited the subtile elementary principles, it introduces itself into
either a vegetable or animal seed, it assumes at each a new form."
"It is thus
that, by an alternative waking and rest, the Immutable Being causes to revive
and die eternally all the existing creatures, active and inert" (Manu,
book i., sloka 50, and others).
He who has studied
Pythagoras and his speculations on the Monad, which, after having emanated the
Duad retires into silence and darkness, and thus creates the Triad can realize
whence came the philosophy of the great Samian Sage, and after him that of
Socrates and Plato.
Speusippus seems to
have taught that the psychical or thumetic soul was immortal as well as the
spirit or rational soul, and further on we will show his reasons. He also --
like Philolaus and Aristotle, in his disquisitions upon the soul -- makes of
aether an element; so that there were five principal elements to correspond
with the five regular figures in Geometry. This became also a doctrine of the
Alexandrian school.* Indeed, there was much in the doctrines of the
Philaletheans which did not appear in the works of the older Platonists, but
was doubtless taught in substance by the philosopher himself, but with his usual
reticence was not committed to writing as being too arcane for promiscuous
publication. Speusippus and Xenocrates after him, held, like their great
master, that the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Theol.
Arithme.," p. 62: "On Pythag. Numbers."
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anima mundi, or
world-soul, was not the Deity, but a manifestation. Those philosophers never
conceived of the One as an animate nature.* The original One did not exist, as
we understand the term. Not till he had united with the many -- emanated
existence (the monad and duad) was a being produced. The [[timion]], honored --
the something manifested, dwells in the centre as in the circumference, but it
is only the reflection of the Deity -- the World-Soul.** In this doctrine we
find the spirit of esoteric Buddhism.
A man's idea of
God, is that image of blinding light that he sees reflected in the concave
mirror of his own soul, and yet this is not, in very truth, God, but only His
reflection. His glory is there, but, it is the light of his own Spirit that the
man sees, and it is all he can bear to look upon. The clearer the mirror, the
brighter will be the divine image. But the external world cannot be witnessed
in it at the same moment. In the ecstatic Yogin, in the illuminated Seer, the
spirit will shine like the noonday sun; in the debased victim of earthly
attraction, the radiance has disappeared, for the mirror is obscured with the
stains of matter. Such men deny their God, and would willingly deprive humanity
of soul at one blow.
No GOD, NO SOUL?
Dreadful, annihilating thought! The maddening nightmare of a lunatic --
Atheist; presenting before his fevered vision, a hideous, ceaseless procession
of sparks of cosmic matter created by no one; self-appearing, self-existent,
and self-developing; this Self no Self, for it is nothing and nobody; floating
onward from nowhence, it is propelled by no Cause, for there is none, and it
rushes nowhither. And this in a circle of Eternity blind, inert, and --
CAUSELESS. What is even the erroneous conception of the Buddhistic Nirvana in
comparison! The Nirvana is preceded by numberless spiritual transformations and
metempsychoses, during which the entity loses not for a second the sense of its
own individuality, and which may last for millions of ages before the Final
No-Thing is reached.
Though some have
considered Speusippus as inferior to Aristotle, the world is nevertheless
indebted to him for defining and expounding many things that Plato had left
obscure in his doctrine of the Sensible and Ideal. His maxim was "The
Immaterial is known by means of scientific thought, the Material by scientific
perception."***
Xenocrates
expounded many of the unwritten theories and teachings of his master. He too
held the Pythagorean doctrine, and his system of numerals and mathematics in
the highest estimation. Recognizing but three degrees of knowledge -- Thought,
Perception, and Envisagement (or knowledge by Intuition), he made the former
busy itself with all that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Parmenid.," 141 E.
** See Stoboeus'
"Ecl.," i., 862.
*** Sextus:
"Math.," vii. 145.
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which is beyond the
heavens; Perception with things in the heavens; Intuition with the heavens
themselves.
We find again these
theories, and nearly in the same language in the Manava-Dharma-Sastra, when
speaking of the creation of man: "He (the Supreme) drew from his own
essence the immortal breath which perisheth not in the being, and to this soul
of the being he gave the Ahancara (conscience of the ego) sovereign
guide." Then he gave to that soul of the being (man) the intellect formed
of the three qualities, and the five organs of the outward perception."
These three
qualities are Intelligence, Conscience, and Will; answering to the Thought,
Perception, and Envisagement of Xenocrates. The relation of numbers to Ideas
was developed by him further than by Speusippus, and he surpassed Plato in his
definition of the doctrine of Indivisible Magnitudes. Reducing them to their
ideal primary elements, he demonstrated that every figure and form originated
out of the smallest indivisible line. That Xenocrates held the same theories as
Plato in relation to the human soul (supposed to be a number) is evident,
though Aristotle contradicts this, like every other teaching of this
philosopher.* This is conclusive evidence that many of Plato's doctrines were
delivered orally, even were it shown that Xenocrates and not Plato was the
first to originate the theory of indivisible magnitudes. He derives the Soul
from the first Duad, and calls it a self-moved number.** Theophrastus remarks
that he entered and eliminated this Soul-theory more than any other Platonist.
He built upon it the cosmological doctrine, and proved the necessary existence
in every part of the universal space of a successive and progressive series of
animated and thinking though spiritual beings.*** The Human Soul with him is a
compound of the most spiritual properties of the Monad and the Duad, possessing
the highest principles of both. If, like Plato and Prodicus, he refers to the
Elements as to Divine Powers, and calls them gods, neither himself nor others
connected any anthropomorphic idea with the appellation. Krische remarks that
he called them gods only that these elementary powers should not be confounded
with the daemons of the nether world**** (the Elementary Spirits). As the Soul
of the World permeates the whole Cosmos, even beasts must have in them
something divine.***** This, also, is the doctrine of Buddhists and the
Hermetists, and Manu endows with a living soul even the plants and the tiniest
blade of grass.
The daemons,
according to this theory, are intermediate beings be-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Metaph.," 407, a. 3.
** Appendix to
"Timaeus."
*** Stob.:
"Ecl.," i., 62.
**** Krische:
"Forsch.," p. 322, etc.
***** Clem.:
"Alex. Stro.," v., 590.
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tween the divine
perfection and human sinfulness,* and he divides them into classes, each
subdivided in many others. But he states expressly that the individual or
personal soul is the leading guardian daemon of every man, and that no daemon
has more power over us than our own. Thus the Daimonion of Socrates is the god
or Divine Entity which inspired him all his life. It depends on man either to
open or close his perceptions to the Divine voice. Like Speusippus he ascribed
immortality to the [[psuche]], psychical body, or irrational soul. But some
Hermetic philosophers have taught that the soul has a separate continued
existence only so long as in its passage through the spheres any material or
earthly particles remain incorporated in it; and that when absolutely purified,
the latter are annihilated, and the quintessence of the soul alone becomes
blended with its divine spirit (the Rational), and the two are thenceforth one.
Zeller states that
Xenocrates forbade the eating of animal food, not because he saw in beasts
something akin to man, as he ascribed to them a dim consciousness of God, but,
"for the opposite reason, lest the irrationality of animal souls might
thereby obtain a certain influence over us."** But we believe that it was
rather because, like Pythagoras, he had had the Hindu sages for his masters and
models. Cicero depicted Xenocrates utterly despising everything except the
highest virtue;*** and describes the stainlessness and severe austerity of his
character.**** "To free ourselves from the subjection of sensuous
existence, to conquer the Titanic elements in our terrestrial nature through
the Divine one, is our problem." Zeller makes him say: ***** "Purity,
even in the secret longings of our heart, is the greatest duty, and only
philosophy and the initiation into the Mysteries help toward the attainment of
this object."
Crantor, another
philosopher associated with the earliest days of Plato's Academy, conceived the
human soul as formed out of the primary substance of all things, the Monad or
One, and the Duad or the Two. Plutarch speaks at length of this philosopher,
who like his master believed in souls being distributed in earthly bodies as an
exile and punishment.
Herakleides, though
some critics do not believe him to have strictly adhered to Plato's primal
philosophy,****** taught the same ethics. Zeller presents him to us imparting,
like Hicetas and Ecphantus, the Pythagorean doctrine of the diurnal rotation of
the earth and the immobility of the fixed stars, but adds that he was ignorant
of the annual revolution of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plutarch:
"De Isid," chap. 25, p. 360.
** "Plato und
die Alt. Akademie."
***
"Tusc.," v., 18, 51.
**** Ibid. Cf. p.
559.
***** "Plato
und die Alt. Akademie."
****** Ed. Zeller:
"Philos. der Griech."
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earth around the
sun, and of the heliocentric system.* But we have good evidence that the latter
system was taught in the Mysteries, and that Socrates died for atheism, i.e.,
for divulging this sacred knowledge. Herakleides adopted fully the Pythagorean
and Platonic views of the human soul, its faculties and its capabilities. He
describes it as a luminous, highly ethereal essence. He affirms that souls
inhabit the milky way before descending "into generation" or
sublunary existence. His daemons or spirits are airy and vaporous bodies.
In the Epinomis is
fully stated the doctrine of the Pythagorean numbers in relation to created
things. As a true Platonist, its author maintains that wisdom can only be
attained by a thorough inquiry into the occult nature of the creation; it alone
assures us an existence of bliss after death. The immortality of the soul is
greatly speculated upon in this treatise; but its author adds that we can
attain to this knowledge only through a complete comprehension of the numbers;
for the man, unable to distinguish the straight line from a curved one will
never have wisdom enough to secure a mathematical demonstration of the
invisible, i.e., we must assure ourselves of the objective existence of our
soul (astral body) before we learn that we are in possession of a divine and
immortal spirit. Iamblichus says the same thing; adding, moreover, that it is a
secret belonging to the highest initiation. The Divine Power, he says, always
felt indignant with those "who rendered manifest the composition of the
icostagonus," viz., who delivered the method of inscribing in a sphere the
dodecahedron.**
The idea that
"numbers" possessing the greatest virtue, produce always what is good
and never what is evil, refers to justice, equanimity of temper, and everything
that is harmonious. When the author speaks of every star as an individual soul,
he only means what the Hindu initiates and the Hermetists taught before and
after him, viz.: that every star is an independent planet, which, like our
earth, has a soul of its own, every atom of matter being impregnated with the
divine influx of the soul of the world. It breathes and lives; it feels and
suffers as well as enjoys life in its way. What naturalist is prepared to
dispute it on good evidence? Therefore, we must consider the celestial bodies
as the images of gods; as partaking of the divine powers in their substance;
and though they are not immortal in their soul-entity, their agency in the
economy of the universe is entitled to divine honors, such as we pay to minor
gods. The idea is plain, and one must be malevolent indeed to misrepresent it.
If the author of Epinomis places these fiery gods higher than the animals,
plants, and even mankind, all of which, as earthly creatures, are assigned
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Plato und
die Alt. Akademie."
** One of the five
solid figures in Geometry.
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by him a lower
place, who can prove him wholly wrong? One must needs go deep indeed into the
profundity of the abstract metaphysics of the old philosophies, who would
understand that their various embodiments of their conceptions are, after all,
based upon an identical apprehension of the nature of the First Cause, its
attributes and method.
Again when the
author of Epinomis locates between these highest and lowest gods (embodied
souls) three classes of daemons, and peoples the universe with invisible
beings, he is more rational than our modern scientists, who make between the
two extremes one vast hiatus of being, the playground of blind forces. Of these
three classes the first two are invisible; their bodies are pure ether and fire
(planetary spirits); the daemons of the third class are clothed with vapory
bodies; they are usually invisible, but sometimes making themselves concrete
become visible for a few seconds. These are the earthly spirits, or our astral
souls.
It is these
doctrines, which, studied analogically, and on the principle of correspondence,
led the ancient, and may now lead the modern Philaletheian step by step toward
the solution of the greatest mysteries. On the brink of the dark chasm
separating the spiritual from the physical world stands modern science, with
eyes closed and head averted, pronouncing the gulf impassable and bottomless,
though she holds in her hand a torch which she need only lower into the depths
to show her her mistake. But across this chasm, the patient student of Hermetic
philosophy has constructed a bridge.
In his Fragments of
Science Tyndall makes the following sad confession: "If you ask me whether
science has solved, or is likely in our day to solve the problem of this
universe, I must shake my head in doubt." If moved by an afterthought, he
corrects himself later, and assures his audience that experimental evidence has
helped him to discover, in the opprobrium-covered matter, the "promise and
potency of every quality of life," he only jokes. It would be as difficult
for Professor Tyndall to offer any ultimate and irrefutable proofs of what he
asserts, as it was for Job to insert a hook into the nose of the leviathan.
To avoid confusion
that might easily arise by the frequent employment of certain terms in a sense
different from that familiar to the reader, a few explanations will be timely.
We desire to leave no pretext either for misunderstanding or misrepresentation.
Magic may have one signification to one class of readers and another to another
class. We shall give it the meaning which it has in the minds of its Oriental
students and practitioners. And so with the words Hermetic Science, Occultism,
Hierophant, Adept, Sorcerer, etc.; there has been little agreement of late as
to their meaning. Though the distinctions between the terms are very often
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insignificant --
merely ethnic -- still, it may be useful to the general reader to know just
what that is. We give a few alphabetically.
AETHROBACY, is the
Greek name for walking or being lifted in the air; levitation, so called, among
modern spiritualists. It may be either conscious or unconscious; in the one
case, it is magic; in the other, either disease or a power which requires a few
words of elucidation.
A symbolical
explanation of aethrobacy is given in an old Syriac manuscript which was
translated in the fifteenth century by one Malchus, an alchemist. In connection
with the case of Simon Magus, one passage reads thus:
"Simon, laying
his face upon the ground, whispered in her ear, 'O mother Earth, give me, I
pray thee, some of thy breath; and I will give thee mine; let me loose, O
mother, that I may carry thy words to the stars, and I will return faithfully
to thee after a while.' And the Earth strengthening her status, none to her
detriment, sent her genius to breathe of her breath on Simon, while he breathed
on her; and the stars rejoiced to be visited by the mighty One."
The starting-point
here is the recognized electro-chemical principle that bodies similarly
electrified repel each other, while those differently electrified mutually
attract. "The most elementary knowledge of chemistry," says Professor
Cooke, "shows that, while radicals of opposite natures combine most eagerly
together, two metals, or two closely-allied metalloids, show but little
affinity for each other."
The earth is a
magnetic body; in fact, as some scientists have found, it is one vast magnet,
as Paracelsus affirmed some 300 years ago. It is charged with one form of
electricity -- let us call it positive -- which it evolves continuously by
spontaneous action, in its interior or centre of motion. Human bodies, in
common with all other forms of matter, are charged with the opposite form of
electricity -- negative. That is to say, organic or inorganic bodies, if left
to themselves will constantly and involuntarily charge themselves with, and
evolve the form of electricity opposed to that of the earth itself. Now, what
is weight? Simply the attraction of the earth. "Without the attractions of
the earth you would have no weight," says Professor Stewart;* "and if
you had an earth twice as heavy as this, you would have double the
attraction." How then, can we get rid of this attraction? According to the
electrical law above stated, there is an attraction between our planet and the
organisms upon it, which holds them upon the surface of the ground. But the law
of gravitation has been counteracted in many instances, by levitations of
persons and inanimate objects; how account
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "The Sun and
the Earth."
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for this? The
condition of our physical systems, say theurgic philosophers, is largely
dependent upon the action of our will. If well-regulated, it can produce
"miracles"; among others a change of this electrical polarity from
negative to positive; the man's relations with the earth-magnet would then
become repellent, and "gravity" for him would have ceased to exist.
It would then be as natural for him to rush into the air until the repellent
force had exhausted itself, as, before, it had been for him to remain upon the
ground. The altitude of his levitation would be measured by his ability,
greater or less, to charge his body with positive electricity. This control
over the physical forces once obtained, alteration of his levity or gravity
would be as easy as breathing.
The study of
nervous diseases has established that even in ordinary somnambulism, as well as
in mesmerized somnambulists, the weight of the body seems to be diminished.
Professor Perty mentions a somnambulist, Koehler, who when in the water could
not sink, but floated. The seeress of Prevorst rose to the surface of the bath
and could not be kept seated in it. He speaks of Anna Fleisher, who being
subject to epileptic fits, was often seen by the Superintendent to rise in the
air; and was once, in the presence of two trustworthy witnesses (two deans) and
others, raised two and a half yards from her bed in a horizontal position. The
similar case of Margaret Rule is cited by Upham in his History of Salem
Witchcraft. "In ecstatic subjects," adds Professor Perty, "the
rising in the air occurs much more frequently than with somnambulists. We are
so accustomed to consider gravitation as being a something absolute and
unalterable, that the idea of a complete or partial rising in opposition to it
seems inadmissible; nevertheless, there are phenomena in which, by means of
material forces, gravitation is overcome. In several diseases -- as, for
instance, nervous fever -- the weight of the human body seems to be increased,
but in all ecstatic conditions to be diminished. And there may, likewise, be
other forces than material ones which can counteract this power."
A Madrid journal,
El Criterio Espiritista, of a recent date, reports the case of a young peasant
girl near Santiago, which possesses a peculiar interest in this connection.
"Two bars of magnetized iron held over her horizontally, half a metre
distant, was sufficient to suspend her body in the air."
Were our physicians
to experiment on such levitated subjects, it would be found that they are
strongly charged with a similar form of electricity to that of the spot, which,
according to the law of gravitation, ought to attract them, or rather prevent
their levitation. And, if some physical nervous disorder, as well as spiritual
ecstasy produce
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unconsciously to the
subject the same effects, it proves that if this force in nature were properly
studied, it could be regulated at will.
ALCHEMISTS. -- From
Al and Chemi, fire, or the god and patriarch, Kham, also, the name of Egypt.
The Rosicrucians of the middle ages, such as Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert
Fludd), Paracelsus, Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Van Helmont, and
others, were all alchemists, who sought for the hidden spirit in every
inorganic matter. Some people -- nay, the great majority -- have accused
alchemists of charlatanry and false pretending. Surely such men as Roger Bacon,
Agrippa, Henry Kunrath, and the Arabian Geber (the first to introduce into
Europe some of the secrets of chemistry), can hardly be treated as impostors --
least of all as fools. Scientists who are reforming the science of physics upon
the basis of the atomic theory of Demokritus, as restated by John Dalton,
conveniently forget that Demokritus, of Abdera, was an alchemist, and that the
mind that was capable of penetrating so far into the secret operations of
nature in one direction must have had good reasons to study and become a
Hermetic philosopher. Olaus Borrichias says, that the cradle of alchemy is to
be sought in the most distant times.
ASTRAL LIGHT. --
The same as the sidereal light of Paracelsus and other Hermetic philosophers.
Physically, it is the ether of modern science. Metaphysically, and in its
spiritual, or occult sense, ether is a great deal more than is often imagined.
In occult physics, and alchemy, it is well demonstrated to enclose within its
shoreless waves not only Mr. Tyndall's "promise and potency of every
quality of life," but also the realization of the potency of every quality
of spirit. Alchemists and Hermetists believe that their astral, or sidereal ether,
besides the above properties of sulphur, and white and red magnesia, or magnes,
is the anima mundi, the workshop of Nature and of all the cosmos, spiritually,
as well as physically. The "grand magisterium" asserts itself in the
phenomenon of mesmerism, in the "levitation" of human and inert
objects; and may be called the ether from its spiritual aspect.
The designation
astral is ancient, and was used by some of the Neoplatonists. Porphyry
describes the celestial body which is always joined with the soul as
"immortal, luminous, and star-like." The root of this word may be
found, perhaps, in the Scythic aist-aer -- which means star, or the Assyrian
Istar, which, according to Burnouf has the same sense. As the Rosicrucians
regarded the real, as the direct opposite of the apparent, and taught that what
seems light to matter, is darkness to spirit, they searched for the latter in
the astral ocean of invisible fire which encompasses the world; and claim to
have traced the equally invisible divine spirit, which overshadows every man
and is erroneously called soul, to the very throne of the Invisible and Unknown
God.
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As the great cause
must always remain invisible and imponderable, they could prove their
assertions merely by demonstration of its effects in this world of matter, by
calling them forth from the unknowable down into the knowable universe of
effects. That this astral light permeates the whole cosmos, lurking in its
latent state even in the minutest particle of rock, they demonstrate by the
phenomenon of the spark from flint and from every other stone, whose spirit
when forcibly disturbed springs to sight spark-like, and immediately disappears
in the realms of the unknowable.
Paracelsus named it
the sidereal light, taking the term from the Latin. He regarded the starry host
(our earth included) as the condensed portions of the astral light which
"fell down into generation and matter," but whose magnetic or
spiritual emanations kept constantly a never-ceasing intercommunication between
themselves and the parent-fount of all -- the astral light. "The stars
attract from us to themselves, and we again from them to us," he says. The
body is wood and the life is fire, which comes like the light from the stars
and from heaven. "Magic is the philosophy of alchemy," he says
again.* Everything pertaining to the spiritual world must come to us through
the stars, and if we are in friendship with them, we may attain the greatest
magical effects.
"As fire
passes through an iron stove, so do the stars pass through man with all their
properties and go into him as the rain into the earth, which gives fruit out of
that same rain. Now observe that the stars surround the whole earth, as a shell
does the egg; through the shell comes the air, and penetrates to the centre of
the world." The human body is subjected as well as the earth, and planets,
and stars, to a double law; it attracts and repels, for it is saturated through
with double magnetism, the influx of the astral light. Everything is double in
nature; magnetism is positive and negative, active and passive, male and
female. Night rests humanity from the day's activity, and restores the
equilibrium of human as well as of cosmic nature. When the mesmerizer will have
learned the grand secret of polarizing the action and endowing his fluid with a
bisexual force he will have become the greatest magician living. Thus the
astral light is androgyne, for equilibrium is the resultant of two opposing
forces eternally reacting upon each other. The result of this is LIFE. When the
two forces are expanded and remain so long inactive, as to equal one another
and so come to a complete rest, the condition is DEATH. A human being can blow
either a hot or a cold breath; and can absorb either cold or hot air. Every
child knows how to regulate
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Ente Spirituali,"
lib. iv.; "de Ente Astrorum," book i.; and opera omnia, vol. i., pp.
634 and 699.
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the temperature of
his breath; but how to protect one's self from either hot or cold air, no
physiologist has yet learned with certainty. The astral light alone, as the
chief agent in magic, can discover to us all secrets of nature. The astral
light is identical with the Hindu akasa, a word which we will now explain.
AKASA. -- Literally
the word means in Sanscrit sky, but in its mystic sense it signifies the
invisible sky; or, as the Brahmans term it in the Soma-sacrifice (the
Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma), the god Akasa, or god Sky. The language of the Vedas
shows that the Hindus of fifty centuries ago ascribed to it the same properties
as do the Thibetan lamas of the present day; that they regarded it as the
source of life, the reservoir of all energy, and the propeller of every change
of matter. In its latent state it tallies exactly with our idea of the
universal ether; in its active state it became the Akasa, the all-directing and
omnipotent god. In the Brahmanical sacrificial mysteries it plays the part of
Sadasya, or superintendent over the magical effects of the religious
performance, and it had its own appointed Hotar (or priest), who took its name.
In India, as in other countries in ancient times, the priests are the
representatives on earth of different gods; each taking the name of the deity
in whose name he acts.
The Akasa is the
indispensable agent of every Kritya (magical performance) either religious or
profane. The Brahmanical expression "to stir up the Brahma" -- Brahma
jinvati -- means to stir up the power which lies latent at the bottom of every
such magical operation, for the Vedic sacrifices are but ceremonial magic. This
power is the Akasa or the occult electricity; the alkahest of the alchemists in
one sense, or the universal solvent, the same anima mundi as the astral light.
At the moment of the sacrifice, the latter becomes imbued with the spirit of
Brahma, and so for the time being is Brahma himself. This is the evident origin
of the Christian dogma of transubstantiation. As to the most general effects of
the Akasa, the author of one of the most modern works on the occult philosophy,
Art-Magic, gives for the first time to the world a most intelligible and
interesting explanation of the Akasa in connection with the phenomena attributed
to its influence by the fakirs and lamas.
ANTHROPOLOGY. --
The science of man; embracing among other things:
Physiology, or that
branch of natural science which discloses the mysteries of the organs and their
functions in men, animals, and plants; and also, and especially,
Psychology, or the
great, and in our days, so neglected science of the
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soul, both as an
entity distinct from the spirit and in its relations with the spirit and body.
In modern science, psychology relates only or principally to conditions of the
nervous system, and almost absolutely ignores the psychical essence and nature.
Physicians denominate the science of insanity psychology, and name the lunatic
chair in medical colleges by that designation.
CHALDEANS, or
Kasdim. -- At first a tribe, then a caste of learned kabalists. They were the
savants, the magians of Babylonia, astrologers and diviners. The famous Hillel,
the precursor of Jesus in philosophy and in ethics, was a Chaldean. Franck in
his Kabbala points to the close resemblance of the "secret doctrine"
found in the Avesta and the religious metaphysics of the Chaldees.
DACTYLS (daktulos,
a finger). -- A name given to the priests attached to the worship of Kybele
(Cybele). Some archaeologists derive the name from [[daktulos]], finger,
because they were ten, the same in number as the fingers of the hand. But we do
not believe the latter hypothesis is the correct one.
DAEMONS. -- A name
given by the ancient people, and especially the philosophers of the Alexandrian
school, to all kinds of spirits, whether good or bad, human or otherwise. The
appellation is often synonymous with that of gods or angels. But some
philosophers tried, with good reason, to make a just distinction between the
many classes.
DEMIURGOS, or
Demiurge. -- Artificer; the Supernal Power which built the universe. Freemasons
derive from this word their phrase of "Supreme Architect." The chief
magistrates of certain Greek cities bore the title.
DERVISHES, or the
"whirling charmers," as they are called. Apart from the austerities
of life, prayer and contemplation, the Mahometan devotee presents but little
similarity with the Hindu fakir. The latter may become a sannyasi, or saint and
holy mendicant; the former will never reach beyond his second class of occult
manifestations. The dervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never
voluntarily submit to the abominable and almost incredible self-punishment
which the fakir invents for himself with an ever-increasing avidity, until
nature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. The most
dreadful operations, such as flaying the limbs alive; cutting off the toes,
feet, and legs; tearing out the eyes; and causing one's self to be buried alive
up to the chin in the earth, and passing whole months in this posture, seem
child's play to them. One of the most common tortures is that of
Tshiddy-Parvady.* It consists in suspending the fakir to one of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Or more commonly
charkh puja.
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mobile arms of a
kind of gallows to be seen in the vicinity of many of the temples. At the end
of each of these arms is fixed a pulley over which passes a rope terminated by
an iron hook. This hook is inserted into the bare back of the fakir, who
inundating the soil with blood is hoisted up in the air and then whirled round
the gallows. From the first moment of this cruel operation until he is either
unhooked or the flesh of his back tears out under the weight of the body and
the fakir is hurled down on the heads of the crowd, not a muscle of his face
will move. He remains calm and serious and as composed as if taking a
refreshing bath. The fakir will laugh to scorn every imaginable torture,
persuaded that the more his outer body is mortified, the brighter and holier
becomes his inner, spiritual body. But the Dervish, neither in India, nor in
other Mahometan lands, will ever submit to such operations.
DRUIDS. -- A sacerdotal
caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul.
ELEMENTAL SPIRITS.
-- The creatures evolved in the four kingdoms of earth, air, fire, and water,
and called by the kabalists gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines. They may
be termed the forces of nature, and will either operate effects as the servile
agents of general law, or may be employed by the disembodied spirits -- whether
pure or impure -- and by living adepts of magic and sorcery, to produce desired
phenomenal results. Such beings never become men.*
Under the general
designation of fairies, and fays, these spirits of the elements appear in the
myth, fable, tradition, or poetry of all nations, ancient and modern. Their
names are legion -- peris, devs, djins, sylvans, satyrs, fauns, elves, dwarfs,
trolls, norns, nisses, kobolds, brownies, necks, stromkarls, undines, nixies,
salamanders, goblins, ponkes, banshees, kelpies, pixies, moss people, good
people, good neighbors, wild women, men of peace, white ladies -- and many
more. They have been seen, feared, blessed, banned, and invoked in every
quarter of the globe and in every age. Shall we then concede that all who have
met them were hallucinated?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Persons who
believe in the clairvoyant power, but are disposed to discredit the existence
of any other spirits in nature than disembodied human spirits, will be
interested in an account of certain clairvoyant observations which appeared in
the London Spiritualist of June 29, 1877. A thunder-storm approaching, the
seeress saw "a bright spirit emerge from a dark cloud and pass with
lightning speed across the sky, and, a few minutes after, a diagonal line of
dark spirits in the clouds." These are the Maruts of the "Vedas"
(See Max Muller's "Rig-Veda Sanhita").
The well-known and
respected lecturer, author, and clairvoyant, Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, has
published accounts of her frequent experiences with these elemental spirits.
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These elementals
are the principal agents of disembodied but never visible spirits at seances,
and the producers of all the phenomena except the subjective.
ELEMENTARY SPIRITS.
-- Properly, the disembodied souls of the depraved; these souls having at some
time prior to death separated from themselves their divine spirits, and so lost
their chance for immortality. Eliphas Levi and some other kabalists make little
distinction between elementary spirits who have been men, and those beings
which people the elements, and are the blind forces of nature. Once divorced
from their bodies, these souls (also called "astral bodies") of
purely materialistic persons, are irresistibly attracted to the earth, where
they live a temporary and finite life amid elements congenial to their gross
natures. From having never, during their natural lives, cultivated their
spirituality, but subordinated it to the material and gross, they are now
unfitted for the lofty career of the pure, disembodied being, for whom the
atmosphere of earth is stifling and mephitic, and whose attractions are all
away from it. After a more or less prolonged period of time these material souls
will begin to disintegrate, and finally, like a column of mist, be dissolved,
atom by atom, in the surrounding elements.
ESSENES -- from
Asa, a healer. A sect of Jews said by Pliny to have lived near the Dead Sea
"per millia saeculorum" -- for thousands of ages. Some have supposed
them to be extreme Pharisees; and others -- which may be the true theory -- the
descendants of the Benim-nabim of the Bible, and think they were
"Kenites" and "Nazarites." They had many Buddhistic ideas
and practices; and it is noteworthy that the priests of the Great Mother at
Ephesus, Diana-Bhavani with many breasts, were also so denominated. Eusebius,
and after him De Quincey, declared them to be the same as the early Christians,
which is more than probable. The title "brother," used in the early
Church, was Essenean: they were a fraternity, or a koinobion or community like
the early converts. It is noticeable that only the Sadducees, or Zadokites, the
priest-caste and their partisans, persecuted the Christians; the Pharisees were
generally scholastic and mild, and often sided with the latter. James the Just
was a Pharisee till his death; but Paul or Aher was esteemed a schismatic.
EVOLUTION. -- The
development of higher orders of animals from the lower. Modern, or so-called
exact science, holds but to a one-sided physical evolution, prudently avoiding
and ignoring the higher or spiritual evolution, which would force our
contemporaries to confess the superiority of the ancient philosophers and
psychologists over themselves. The ancient sages, ascending to the UNKNOWABLE,
made their starting-point from the first manifestation of the unseen, the
unavoidable, and from a strict logical reasoning, the absolutely necessary
creative Being,
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the Demiurgos of
the universe. Evolution began with them from pure spirit, which descending
lower and lower down, assumed at last a visible and comprehensible form, and
became matter. Arrived at this point, they speculated in the Darwinian method,
but on a far more large and comprehensive basis.
In the
Rig-Veda-Sanhita, the oldest book of the World* (to which even our most prudent
Indiologists and Sanscrit scholars assign an antiquity of between two and three
thousand years B.C.), in the first book, "Hymns to the Maruts," it is
said:
"Not-being and
Being are in the highest heaven, in the birthplace of Daksha, in the lap of
Aditi" (Mandala, i, Sukta 166).
"In the first
age of the gods, Being (the comprehensible Deity) was born from Not-being (whom
no intellect can comprehend); after it were born the Regions (the invisible),
from them Uttanapada."
"From
Uttanapad the Earth was born, the Regions (those that are visible) were born
from the Earth. Daksha was born of Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha" (Ibid.).
Aditi is the
Infinite, and Daksha is dakska-pitarah, literally meaning the father of gods,
but understood by Max Muller and Roth to mean the fathers of strength,
"preserving, possessing, granting faculties." Therefore, it is easy
to see that "Daksha, born of Aditi and Aditi from Daksha," means what
the moderns understand by "correlation of forces"; the more so as we
find in this passage (translated by Prof. Muller):
"I place Agni,
the source of all beings, the father of strength" (iii., 27, 2), a clear
and identical idea which prevailed so much in the doctrines of the
Zoroastrians, the Magians, and the mediaeval fire-philosophers. Agni is god of
fire, of the Spiritual Ether, the very substance of the divine essence of the
Invisible God present in every atom of His creation and called by the
Rosicrucians the "Celestial Fire." If we only carefully compare the
verses from this Mandala, one of which runs thus: "The Sky is your father,
the Earth your mother, Soma your brother, Aditi your sister" (i., 191,
6),** with the inscription on the Smaragdine Tablet of Hermes, we will find the
same substratum of metaphysical philosophy, the identical doctrines!
"As all things
were produced by the mediation of one being, so all things were produced from
this one thing by adaptation: 'Its father is the sun; its mother is the moon' .
. . etc. Separate the earth from the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Translated by Max
Muller, Professor of Comparative Philology at the Oxford University, England.
** "Dyarih vah
pita, prithivi mata somah bhrata Aditih svasa."
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fire, the subtile
from the gross. . . . What I had to say about the operation of the sun is
completed" (Smaragdine Tablet).*
Professor Max
Muller sees in this Mandala "at last, something like a theogony, though
full of contradictions."** The alchemists, kabalists, and students of
mystic philosophy will find therein a perfectly defined system of Evolution in
the Cosmogony of a people who lived a score of thousands of years before our
era. They will find in it, moreover, a perfect identity of thought and even
doctrine with the Hermetic philosophy, and also that of Pythagoras and Plato.
In Evolution, as it
is now beginning to be understood, there is supposed to be in all matter an
impulse to take on a higher form -- a supposition clearly expressed by Manu and
other Hindu philosophers of the highest antiquity. The philosopher's tree
illustrates it in the case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the
followers of this school and the Emanationists may be briefly stated thus: The
Evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of "the Unknowable";
the Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved -- or, as the word means,
unwombed or born -- except it has first been involved, thus indicating that
life is from a spiritual potency above the whole.
FAKIRS. --
Religious devotees in East India. They are generally attached to Brahmanical
pagodas and follow the laws of Manu. A strictly religious fakir will go
absolutely naked, with the exception of a small piece of linen called dhoti,
around his loins. They wear their hair long, and it serves them as a pocket, as
they stick in it various objects -- such as a pipe, a small flute called vagudah,
the sounds of which throw the serpents into a cataleptic torpor, and sometimes
their bamboo-stick (about one foot long) with the seven mystical knots on it.
This magical stick, or rather rod, the fakir receives from his guru on the day
of his initiation, together with the three mantrams, which are communicated to
him "mouth to ear." No fakir will be seen without this powerful
adjunct of his calling. It is, as they all claim, the divining rod, the cause
of every occult phenomenon produced by them.*** The Brahmanical fakir is en-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* As the perfect
identity of the philosophical and religious doctrines of antiquity will be
fully treated upon in subsequent chapters, we limit our explanations for the
present.
**
"Rig-Veda-Anhita," p. 234.
*** Philostratus
assures us that the Brahmins were able, in his time, to perform the most
wonderful cures by merely pronouncing certain magical words. "The Indian
Brahmans carry a staff and a ring, by means of which they are able to do almost
anything." Origenes states the same ("Contra Celsum"). But if a
strong mesmeric fluid -- say projected from the eye, and without any other
contact -- is not added, no magical words would be efficacious.
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tirely distinct
from the Mussulman mendicant of India, also called fakirs in some parts of the
British territory.
HERMETIST. -- From
Hermes, the god of Wisdom, known in Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia as Thoth, Tat,
Adad, Seth, and Sat-an (the latter not to be taken in the sense applied to it
by Moslems and Christians), and in Greece as Kadmus. The kabalists identify him
with Adam Kadmon, the first manifestation of the Divine Power, and with Enoch.
There were two Hermes: the elder was the Trismegistus, and the second an
emanation, or "permutation" of himself; the friend and instructor of
Isis and Osiris. Hermes is the god of the priestly wisdom, like Mazeus.
HIEROPHANT. --
Discloser of sacred learning. The Old Man, the Chief of the Adepts at the
initiations, who explained the arcane knowledge to the neophytes, bore this
title. In Hebrew and Chaldaic the term was Peter, or opener, discloser; hence,
the Pope, as the successor of the hierophant of the ancient Mysteries, sits in
the Pagan chair of "St. Peter." The vindictiveness of the Catholic
Church toward the alchemists, and to arcane and astronomical science, is
explained by the fact that such knowledge was the ancient prerogative of the
hierophant, or representative of Peter, who kept the mysteries of life and
death. Men like Bruno, Galileo, and Kepler, therefore, and even Cagliostro,
trespassed on the preserves of the Church, and were accordingly murdered.
Every nation had
its Mysteries and hierophants. Even the Jews had their Peter -- Tanaim or
Rabbin, like Hillel, Akiba,* and other famous kabalists, who alone could impart
the awful knowledge contained in the Merkaba. In India, there was in ancient
times one, and now there are several hierophants scattered about the country,
attached to the principal pagodas, who are known as the Brahma-atmas. In Thibet
the chief hierophant is the Dalay, or Taley-Lama of Lha-ssa.** Among Christian
nations, the Catholics alone have preserved this "heathen" custom, in
the person of their Pope, albeit they have sadly disfigured its majesty and the
dignity of the sacred office.
INITIATES. -- In
times of antiquity, those who had been initiated into the arcane knowledge
taught by the hierophants of the Mysteries; and in our modern days those who
have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge,
which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on earth.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Akiba was a
friend of Aher, said to have been the Apostle Paul of Christian story. Both are
depicted as having visited Paradise. Aher took branches from the Tree of Knowledge,
and so fell from the true (Jewish) religion. Akiba came away in peace. See 2d
Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter xii.
** Taley means
ocean or sea.
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KABALIST, from ,
KABALA; an unwritten or oral tradition. The kabalist is a student of
"secret science," one who interprets the hidden meaning of the
Scriptures with the help of the symbolical Kabala, and explains the real one by
these means. The Tanaim were the first kabalists among the Jews; they appeared
at Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century before the Christian era.
The Books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Henoch, and the Revelation of St. John, are
purely kabalistical. This secret doctrine is identical with that of the
Chaldeans, and includes at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or
"magic."
LAMAS. -- Buddhist
monks belonging to the Lamaic religion of Thibet, as, for instance, friars are
the monks belonging to the Popish or Roman Catholic religion. Every lama is
subject to the grand Taley-Lama, the Buddhist pope of Thibet, who holds his
residence at Lha-ssa, and is a reincarnation of Buddha.
MAGE, or Magian;
from Mag or Maha. The word is the root of the word magician. The Maha-atma (the
great Soul or Spirit) in India had its priests in the pre-Vedic times. The
Magians were priests of the fire-god; we find them among the Assyrians and
Babylonians, as well as among the Persian fire-worshippers. The three magi,
also denominated kings, that are said to have made gifts of gold, incense, and
myrrh to the infant Jesus, were fire-worshippers like the rest, and
astrologers; for they saw his star. The high priest of the Parsis, at Surat, is
called Mobed, others derived the word from Megh; Meh-ab signifying something
grand and noble. Zoroaster's disciples were called Meghestom, according to
Kleuker.
MAGICIAN. -- This
term, once a title of renown and distinction, has come to be wholly perverted
from its true meaning. Once the synonym of all that was honorable and reverent,
of a possessor of learning and wisdom, it has become degraded into an epithet
to designate one who is a pretender and a juggler; a charlatan, in short, or
one who has "sold his soul to the Evil One"; who misuses his
knowledge, and employs it for low and dangerous uses, according to the
teachings of the clergy, and a mass of superstitious fools who believe the
magician a sorcerer and an enchanter. But Christians forget, apparently, that
Moses was also a magician, and Daniel, "Master of the magicians,
astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers" (Daniel, v. II).
The word magician
then, scientifically speaking, is derived from Magh, Mah, Hindu or Sanscrit
Maha -- great; a man well versed in the secret or esoteric knowledge; properly
a Sacerdote.
MANTICISM, or
mantic frenzy. During this state was developed the gift of prophecy. The two
words are nearly synonymous. One was as honored as the other. Pythagoras and
Plato held it in high esteem, and
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Socrates advised
his disciples to study Manticism. The Church Fathers, who condemned so severely
the mantic frenzy in Pagan priests and Pythiae, were not above applying it to
their own uses. The Montanists, who took their name from Montanus, a bishop of
Phrygia, who was considered divinely inspired, rivalled with the manteis or
prophets. "Tertullian, Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, were of the
number," says the author of Prophecy, Ancient and Modern. "The
Montanists seem to have resembled the Bacchantes in the wild enthusiasm that
characterized their orgies," he adds. There is a diversity of opinion as
to the origin of the word Manticism. There was the famous Mantis the Seer, in
the days of Melampus and Proetus, King of Argos; and there was Manto, the daughter
of the prophet of Thebes, herself a prophetess. Cicero describes prophecy and
mantic frenzy by saying that "in the inner recesses of the mind is divine
prophecy hidden and confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns more
vividly is called furor" (frenzy, madness).
But there is still
another etymology possible for the word mantis, and to which we doubt if the
attention of the philologists was ever drawn. The mantic frenzy may, perchance,
have a still earlier origin. The two sacrificial cups of the Soma-mystery used
during the religious rites, and generally known as grahas, are respectively
called Sukra and Manti.*
It is in the latter
manti or manthi cup that Brahma is said to be "stirred up." While the
initiate drinks (albeit sparingly) of this sacred soma-juice, the Brahma, or
rather his "spirit," personified by the god Soma, enters into the man
and takes possession of him. Hence, ecstatic vision, clairvoyance, and the gift
of prophecy. Both kinds of divination -- the natural and the artificial -- are
aroused by the Soma. The Sukra-cup awakens that which is given to every man by
nature. It unites both spirit and soul, and these, from their own nature and
essence, which are divine, have a foreknowledge of future things, as dreams,
unexpected visions, and presentiments, well prove. The contents of the other
cup, the manti, which "stirs the Brahma," put thereby the soul in
communication not only with the minor gods -- the well-informed but not
omniscient spirits -- but actually with the highest divine essence itself. The
soul receives a direct illumination from the presence of its "god";
but as it is not allowed to remember certain things, well known only in heaven,
the initiated person is generally seized with a kind of sacred frenzy, and upon
recovering from it, only remembers that which is allowed to him. As to the
other kind of seers and diviners -- those who make a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Aytareya Brahmanan," 3, I.
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profession of and a
living by it -- they are usually held to be possessed by a gandharva, a deity
which is nowhere so little honored as in India.
MANTRA. -- A
Sanskrit word conveying the same idea as the "Ineffable Name." Some
mantras, when pronounced according to magical formula taught in the
Atharva-Veda, produce an instantaneous and wonderful effect. In its general
sense, though, a mantra is either simply a prayer to the gods and powers of
heaven, as taught by the Brahmanical books, and especially Manu, or else a
magical charm. In its esoteric sense, the "word" of the mantra, or
mystic speech, is called by the Brahmans Vach. It resides in the mantra, which
literally means those parts of the sacred books which are considered as the
Sruti, or direct divine revelation.
MARABUT. -- A
Mahometan pilgrim who has been to Mekka; a saint, after whose death his body is
placed in an open sepulchre built on the surface, like other buildings, but in
the middle of the streets and public places of populated cities. Placed inside
the small and only room of the tomb (and several such public sarcophagi of
brick and mortar may be seen to this day in the streets and squares of Cairo),
the devotion of the wayfarers keeps a lamp ever burning at his head. The tombs
of some of these marabuts have a great fame for the miracles they are alleged
to perform.
MATERIALIZATION. --
A word employed by spiritualists to indicate the phenomenon of "a spirit
clothing himself with a material form." The far less objectionable term,
"form-manifestation," has been recently suggested by Mr.
Stainton-Moses, of London. When the real nature of these apparitions is better
comprehended, a still more appropriate name will doubtless be adopted. To call
them materialized spirits is inadmissible, for they are not spirits but
animated portrait-statues.
MAZDEANS, from
(Ahura) Mazda. (See Spiegel's Yasna, xl.) They were the ancient Persian nobles
who worshipped Ormazd, and, rejecting images, inspired the Jews with the same
horror for every concrete representation of the Deity. "They seem in
Herodotus's time to have been superseded by the Magian religionists. The Parsis
and Ghebers geberim, mighty men, of Genesis vi. and x. 8) appear to be Magian
religionists. . . . By a curious muddling of ideas, Zoro-Aster (Zero, a circle,
a son or priest, Aster, Ishtar, or Astarte -- in Aryan dialect, a star), the
title of the head of the Magians and fire-worshippers, or Surya-ishtara, the
sun-worshipper, is often confounded in modern times with Zara-tustra, the
reputed Mazdean apostle" (Zoroaster).
METEMPSYCHOSIS. --
The progress of the soul from one stage of existence to another. Symbolized and
vulgarly believed to be rebirths in animal bodies. A term generally
misunderstood by every class of European and
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American society,
including many scientists. The kabalistic axiom, "A stone becomes a plant,
a plant an animal, an animal a man, a man a spirit, and a spirit a god,"
receives an explanation in Manu's Manava-Dharma-Sastra, and other Brahmanical
books.
MYSTERIES. -- Greek
teletai, or finishings, as analogous to teleuteia or death. They were
observances, generally kept secret from the profane and uninitiated, in which
were taught by dramatic representation and other methods, the origin of things,
the nature of the human spirit, its relations to the body, and the method of
its purification and restoration to higher life. Physical science, medicine,
the laws of music, divination, were all taught in the same manner. The
Hippocratic oath was but a mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest of
Asklepios, some of whose writings chanced to become public. But the Asklepiades
were initiates of the AEsculapian serpent-worship, as the Bacchantes were of
the Dionysia; and both rites were eventually incorporated with the Eleusinia.
We will treat of the Mysteries fully in the subsequent chapters.
MYSTICS. -- Those
initiated. But in the mediaeval and later periods the term was applied to men
like Boehmen the Theosophist, Molinos the Quietist, Nicholas of Basle, and
others who believed in a direct interior communion with God, analogous to the
inspiration of the prophets.
NABIA. -- Seership,
soothsaying. This oldest and most respected of mystic phenomena, is the name
given to prophecy in the Bible, and is correctly included among the spiritual
powers, such as divination, clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and
oracles. But while enchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly
condemned in the Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nabia appear as the
special gifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai, the Greek
word for seers, clairvoyants; after which they were designated as Nebim,
"the plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom." The kabalist
distinguishes between the seer and the magician; one is passive, the other
active; Nebirah, is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant; Nebi-poel,
he who possesses magic powers. We notice that Elijah and Apollonius resorted to
the same means to isolate themselves from the disturbing influences of the
outer world, viz.: wrapping their heads entirely in a woolen mantle; from its
being an electric non-conductor we must suppose.
OCCULTIST. -- One
who studies the various branches of occult science. The term is used by the
French kabalists (See Eliphas Levi's works). Occultism embraces the whole range
of psychological, physiological, cosmical, physical, and spiritual phenomena.
From the word occult, hidden or secret; applying therefore to the study of the
Kabala, astrology, alchemy, and all arcane sciences.
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PAGAN GODS. -- This
term gods is erroneously understood by most of the reading public, to mean
idols. The idea attached to them is not that of something objective or
anthropomorphical. With the exception of occasions when "gods" mean
either divine planetary entities (angels), or disembodied spirits of pure men,
the term simply conveys to the mind of the mystic -- whether Hindu Hotar,
Mazdean Mage, Egyptian hierophant, or disciple of the Greek philosophers -- the
idea of a visible or cognized manifestation of an invisible potency of nature.
And such occult potencies are invoked under the appellation of various gods,
who, for the time being, are personating these powers. Thus every one of the
numberless deities of the Hindu, Greek, and Egyptian Pantheons, are simply
Powers of the "Unseen Universe." When the officiating Brahman invokes
Aditya -- who, in her cosmic character, is the goddess-sun -- he simply
commands that potency (personified in some god), which, as he asserts,
"resides in the Mantra, as the sacred Vach." These god-powers are allegorically
regarded as the divine Hotars of the Supreme One; while the priest (Brahman) is
the human Hotar who officiates on earth, and representing that particular Power
becomes, ambassador-like, invested with the very potency which he personates.
PITRIS. -- It is
generally believed that the Hindu term Pitris means the spirits of our direct
ancestors; of disembodied people. Hence the argument of some spiritualists that
fakirs, and other Eastern wonder-workers, are mediums; that they themselves
confess to being unable to produce anything without the help of the Pitris, of
whom they are the obedient instruments. This is in more than one sense
erroneous. The Pitris are not the ancestors of the present living men, but
those of the human kind or Adamic race; the spirits of human races which, on
the great scale of descending evolution, preceded our races of men, and were
physically, as well as spiritually, far superior to our modern pigmies. In
Manava-Dharma-Sastra they are called the Lunar ancestors.
PYTHIA, or Pythoness.
-- Webster dismisses the word very briefly by saying that it was the name of
one who delivered the oracles at the Temple of Delphi, and "any female
supposed to have the spirit of divination in her -- a witch," which is
neither complimentary, exact, nor just. A Pythia, upon the authority of
Plutarch, Iamblichus, Lamprias, and others, was a nervous sensitive; she was
chosen from among the poorest class, young and pure. Attached to the temple,
within whose precincts she had a room, secluded from every other, and to which
no one but the priest, or seer, had admittance, she had no communications with
the outside world, and her life was more strict and ascetic than that of a
Catholic nun. Sitting on a tripod of brass placed over a fissure in the ground,
through which arose intoxicating vapors, these subterranean
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exhalations penetrating
her whole system produced the prophetic mania. In this abnormal state she
delivered oracles. She was sometimes called ventriloqua vates,* the
ventriloquist-prophetess.
The ancients placed
the astral soul of man, [[psuche]], or his self-consciousness, in the pit of
the stomach. The Brahmans shared this belief with Plato and other philosophers.
Thus we find in the fourth verse of the second Nabhanedishtha Hymn it is said:
"Hear, O sons of the gods (spirits) one who speaks through his navel
(nabha) for he hails you in your dwellings!"
Many of the
Sanscrit scholars agree that this belief is one of the most ancient among the
Hindus. The modern fakirs, as well as the ancient gymnosophists, unite
themselves with their atman and the Deity by remaining motionless in
contemplation and concentrating their whole thought on their navel. As in
modern somnambulic phenomena, the navel was regarded as "the circle of the
sun," the seat of internal divine light.** Is the fact of a number of
modern somnambulists being enabled to read letters, hear, smell, and see,
through that part of their body to be regarded again as a simple
"coincidence," or shall we admit at last that the old sages knew
something more of physiological and psychological mysteries than our modern
Academicians? In modern Persia, when a "magician" (often simply a
mesmerizer) is consulted upon occasions of theft and other puzzling
occurrences, he makes his manipulations over the pit of his stomach, and so
brings himself into a state of clairvoyance. Among the modern Parsis, remarks a
translator of the Rig-vedas, there exists a belief up to the present day that
their adepts have a flame in their navel, which enlightens to them all darkness
and discloses the spiritual world, as well as all things unseen, or at a
distance. They call it the lamp of the Deshtur, or high priest; the light of
the Dikshita (the initiate), and otherwise designate it by many other names.
SAMOTHRACES. -- A
designation of the Fane-gods worshipped at Samothracia in the Mysteries. They
are considered as identical with the Kabeiri, Dioskuri, and Korybantes. Their
names were mystical -- denoting Pluto, Ceres or Proserpina, Bacchus, and
AEsculapius or Hermes.
SHAMANS, or
Samaneans. -- An order of Buddhists among the Tartars, especially those of
Siberia. They are possibly akin to the philosophers
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Pantheon:
"Myths," p. 31; also Aristophanes in "Voestas," i., reg.
28.
** The oracle of
Apollo was at Delphos, the city of the [[delphus]], womb or abdomen; the place
of the temple was denominated the omphalos or navel. The symbols are female and
lunary; reminding us that the Arcadians were called Proseleni, pre-Hellenic or
more ancient than the period when Ionian and Olympian lunar worship was
introduced.
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anciently known as
Brachmanes, mistaken sometimes for Brahmans.* They are all magicians, or rather
sensitives or mediums artificially developed. At present those who act as
priests among the Tartars are generally very ignorant, and far below the fakirs
in knowledge and education. Both men and women may be Shamans.
SOMA. -- This Hindu
sacred beverage answers to the Greek ambrosia or nectar, drunk by the gods of
Olympus. A cup of kykeon was also quaffed by the mysta at the Eleusinian
initiation. He who drinks it easily reaches Bradhna, or place of splendor
(Heaven). The soma-drink known to Europeans is not the genuine beverage, but
its substitute; for the initiated priests alone can taste of the real soma; and
even kings and rajas, when sacrificing, receive the substitute. Haug shows by his
own confession, in his Aytareya Brahmanan, that it was not the Soma that he
tasted and found nasty, but the juice from the roots of the Nyagradha, a plant
or bush which grows on the hills of Poona. We were positively informed that the
majority of the sacrificial priests of the Dekkan have lost the secret of the
true soma. It can be found neither in the ritual books nor through oral
information. The true followers of the primitive Vedic religion are very few;
these are the alleged descendants from the Rishis, the real Agnihotris, the
initiates of the great Mysteries. The soma-drink is also commemorated in the
Hindu Pantheon, for it is called the King-Soma. He who drinks of it is made to
participate in the heavenly king, because he becomes filled with it, as the
Christian apostles and their converts became filled with the Holy Ghost, and
purified of their sins. The soma makes a new man of the initiate; he is reborn
and transformed, and his spiritual nature overcomes the physical; it gives the
divine power of inspiration, and develops the clairvoyant faculty to the
utmost. According to the exoteric explanation the soma is a plant, but, at the
same time it is an angel. It forcibly connects the inner, highest
"spirit" of man, which spirit is an angel like the mystical soma,
with his "irrational soul," or astral body, and thus united by the
power of the magic drink, they soar together above physical nature, and
participate during life in the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven.
Thus the Hindu soma
is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharistic supper is to
the Christian. The idea is similar. By
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* From the accounts
of Strabo and Megasthenes, who visited Palibothras, it would seem that the
persons termed by him Samanean, or Brachmane priests, were simply Buddhists.
"The singularly subtile replies of the Samanean or Brahman philosophers,
in their interview with the conqueror, will be found to contain the spirit of
the Buddhist doctrine," remarks Upham. (See the "History and Doctrine
of Buddhism"; and Hale's "Chronology," vol. iii, p. 238.)
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means of the
sacrificial prayers -- the mantras -- this liquor is supposed to be transformed
on the spot into real soma -- or the angel, and even into Brahma himself. Some
missionaries have expressed themselves very indignantly about this ceremony,
the more so, that, generally speaking, the Brahmans use a kind of spirituous
liquor as a substitute. But do the Christians believe less fervently in the
transubstantiation of the communion-wine into the blood of Christ, because this
wine happens to be more or less spirituous? Is not the idea of the symbol
attached to it the same? But the missionaries say that this hour of
soma-drinking is the golden hour of Satan, who lurks at the bottom of the Hindu
sacrificial cup.*
SPIRIT. -- The lack
of any mutual agreement between writers in the use of this word has resulted in
dire confusion. It is commonly made synonymous with soul; and the
lexicographers countenance the usage. This is the natural result of our
ignorance of the other word, and repudiation of the classification adopted by
the ancients. Elsewhere we attempt to make clear the distinction between the
terms "spirit" and "soul." There are no more important
passages in this work. Meanwhile, we will only add that "spirit" is
the [[nous]] of Plato, the immortal, immaterial, and purely divine principle in
man -- the crown of the human Triad; whereas,
SOUL is the
[[psuche]], or the nephesh of the Bible; the vital principle, or the breath of
life, which every animal, down to the infusoria, shares with man. In the
translated Bible it stands indifferently for life, blood, and soul. "Let
us not kill his nephesh," says the original text: "let us not kill
him," translate the Christians (Genesis xxxvii. 21), and so on.
THEOSOPHISTS. -- In
the mediaeval ages it was the name by which were known the disciples of
Paracelsus of the sixteenth century, the so-called fire-philosophers or
Philosophi per ignem. As well as the Platonists they regarded the soul
[[psuche]] and the divine spirit, nous, as a particle of the great Archos -- a
fire taken from the eternal ocean of light.
The Theosophical
Society, to which these volumes are dedicated by the author as a mark of
affectionate regard, was organized at New York in 1875. The object of its
founders was to experiment practically in the occult powers of Nature, and to
collect and disseminate among Christians information about the Oriental
religious philosophies. Later, it has determined to spread among the "poor
benighted heathen" such evi-
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* In their turn,
the heathen may well ask the missionaries what sort of a spirit lurks at the
bottom of the sacrificial beer-bottle. That evangelical New York journal, the
"Independent," says: "A late English traveller found a
simple-minded Baptist mission church, in far-off Burmah, using for the
communion service, and we doubt not with God's blessing, Bass's pale ale
instead of wine." Circumstances alter cases, it seems!
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dences as to the
practical results of Christianity as will at least give both sides of the story
to the communities among which missionaries are at work. With this view it has
established relations with associations and individuals throughout the East, to
whom it furnishes authenticated reports of the ecclesiastical crimes and
misdemeanors, schisms and heresies, controversies and litigations, doctrinal
differences and biblical criticisms and revisions, with which the press of
Christian Europe and America constantly teems. Christendom has been long and
minutely informed of the degradation and brutishness into which Buddhism,
Brahmanism, and Confucianism have plunged their deluded votaries, and many
millions have been lavished upon foreign missions under such false
representations. The Theosophical Society, seeing daily exemplifications of
this very state of things as the sequence of Christian teaching and example --
the latter especially -- thought it simple justice to make the facts known in
Palestine, India, Ceylon, Cashmere, Tartary, Thibet, China, and Japan, in all
which countries it has influential correspondents. It may also in time have
much to say about the conduct of the missionaries to those who contribute to
their support.
THEURGIST. -- From
[[theos]], god, and [[ergon]], work. The first school of practical theurgy in
the Christian period was founded by Iamblichus among the Alexandrian
Platonists; but the priests attached to the temples of Egypt, Assyria, and
Babylonia, and who took an active part in the evocations of the gods during the
Sacred Mysteries, were known by this name from the earliest archaic period. The
purpose of it was to make spirits visible to the eyes of mortals. A theurgist
was one expert in the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all the great
countries. The Neoplatonists of the school of Iamblichus were called
theurgists, for they performed the so-called "ceremonial magic," and
evoked the "spirits" of the departed heroes, "gods," and
Daimonia ([[daimonia]], divine, spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the
presence of a tangible and visible spirit was required, the theurgist had to
furnish the weird apparition with a portion of his own flesh and blood -- he
had to perform the theopoea, or the "creation of gods," by a
mysterious process well known to the modern fakirs and initiated Brahmans of
India. This is what is said in the Book of Evocations of the pagodas. It shows
the perfect identity of rites and ceremonial between the oldest Brahmanic
theurgy and that of the Alexandrian Platonists:
"The Brahman
Grihasta (the evocator) must be in a state of complete purity before he
ventures to call forth the Pitris."
After having
prepared a lamp, some sandal, incense, etc., and having traced the magic
circles taught to him by the superior guru, in order to keep away bad spirits,
he "ceases to breathe, and calls the fire to his
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help to disperse
his body." He pronounces a certain number of times the sacred word, and
"his soul escapes from his body, and his body disappears, and the soul of
the evoked spirit descends into the double body and animates it." Then
"His (Grihasta's) soul reenters into his body, whose subtile particles
have again been aggregating, after having formed of their emanations an aerial
body to the spirit he evoked."
And now, that he
has formed for the Pitri a body with the particles the most essential and pure
of his own, the grihasta is allowed, after the ceremonial sacrifice is over, to
"converse with the souls of the ancestors and the Pitris, and offer them
questions on the mysteries of the Being and the transformations of the
imperishable."
"Then after
having blown out his lamp he must light it again, and set at liberty the bad
spirits shut out from the place by the magical circles, and leave the sanctuary
of the Pitris."*
The school of
Iamblichus was distinct from that of Plotinus and Porphyry, who were strongly
against ceremonial magic and practical theurgy as dangerous, though these two
eminent men firmly believed in both. "The theurgic or benevolent magic,
the Goetic, or dark and evil necromancy, were alike in preeminent repute during
the first century of the Christian era."** But never have any of the
highly moral and pious philosophers, whose fame has descended to us spotless of
any evil deed, practiced any other kind of magic than the theurgic, or
benevolent, as Bulwer-Lytton terms it. "Whoever is acquainted with the
nature of divinely luminous appearances [[phasmata]] knows also on what account
it is requisite to abstain from all birds (animal food), and especially for him
who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial concerns and to be established
with the celestial gods," says Porphyry.***
Though he refused
to practice theurgy himself, Porphyry, in his Life of Plotinus, mentions a
priest of Egypt, who, "at the request of a certain friend of Plotinus
(which friend was perhaps Porphyry himself, remarks T. Taylor), exhibited to
Plotinus, in the temple of Isis at Rome, the familiar daimon, or, in modern
language, the guardian angel of that philosopher."****
The popular,
prevailing idea was that the theurgists, as well as the magicians, worked
wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the heroes and gods, and doing
other thaumaturgic works by supernatural powers.
YAJNA. -- "The
Yajna," say the Brahmans, exists from eternity, for
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Book of
Brahmanical Evocations," part iii.
** Bulwer-Lytton:
"Last Days of Pompeii," p. 147.
*** "Select
Works," p. 159.
**** Ibid., p. 92.
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it proceeded forth
from the Supreme One, the Brahma-Prajapati, in whom it lay dormant from
"no beginning." It is the key to the TRAIVIDYA, the thrice sacred
science contained in the Rig verses, which teaches the Yagus or sacrificial
mysteries. "The Yajna" exists as an invisible thing at all times; it
is like the latent power of electricity in an electrifying machine, requiring
only the operation of a suitable apparatus in order to be elicited. It is
supposed to extend from the Ahavaniya or sacrificial fire to the heavens,
forming a bridge or ladder by means of which the sacrificer can communicate
with the world of gods and spirits, and even ascend when alive to their
abodes.*
This Yajna is again
one of the forms of the Akasa, and the mystic word calling it into existence
and pronounced mentally by the initiated Priest is the Lost Word receiving
impulse through WILL-POWER.
To complete the
list, we will now add that in the course of the following chapters, whenever we
use the term Archaic, we mean before the time of Pythagoras; when Ancient,
before the time of Mahomet; and when Mediaeval, the period between Mahomet and
Martin Luther. It will only be necessary to infringe the rule when from time to
time we may have to speak of nations of a pre-Pythagorean antiquity, and will
adopt the common custom of calling them "ancient."
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Before closing this
initial chapter, we venture to say a few words in explanation of the plan of
this work. Its object is not to force upon the public the personal views or
theories of its author; nor has it the pretensions of a scientific work, which
aims at creating a revolution in some department of thought. It is rather a
brief summary of the religions, philosophies, and universal traditions of human
kind, and the exegesis of the same, in the spirit of those secret doctrines, of
which none -- thanks to prejudice and bigotry -- have reached Christendom in so
unmutilated a form, as to secure it a fair judgment. Since the days of the
unlucky mediaeval philosophers, the last to write upon these secret doctrines of
which they were the depositaries, few men have dared to brave persecution and
prejudice by placing their knowledge upon record. And these few have never, as
a rule, written for the public, but only for those of their own and succeeding
times who possessed the key to their jargon. The multitude, not understanding
them or their doctrines, have been accustomed to regard them en masse as either
charlatans or dreamers. Hence the unmerited contempt into which the study of
the noblest of sciences -- that of the spiritual man -- has gradually fallen.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Aitareya
Brahmanan," Introduction.
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In undertaking to
inquire into the assumed infallibility of Modern Science and Theology, the
author has been forced, even at the risk of being thought discursive, to make
constant comparison of the ideas, achievements, and pretensions of their
representatives, with those of the ancient philosophers and religious teachers.
Things the most widely separated as to time, have thus been brought into
immediate juxtaposition, for only thus could the priority and parentage of
discoveries and dogmas be determined. In discussing the merits of our
scientific contemporaries, their own confessions of failure in experimental
research, of baffling mysteries, of missing links in their chains of theory, of
inability to comprehend natural phenomena, of ignorance of the laws of the
causal world, have furnished the basis for the present study. Especially (since
Psychology has been so much neglected, and the East is so far away that few of
our investigators will ever get there to study that science where alone it is
understood), we will review the speculations and policy of noted authorities in
connection with those modern psychological phenomena which began at Rochester
and have now overspread the world. We wish to show how inevitable were their
innumerable failures, and how they must continue until these pretended
authorities of the West go to the Brahmans and Lamaists of the far Orient, and
respectfully ask them to impart the alphabet of true science. We have laid no charge
against scientists that is not supported by their own published admissions, and
if our citations from the records of antiquity rob some of what they have
hitherto viewed as well-earned laurels, the fault is not ours but Truth's. No
man worthy of the name of philosopher would care to wear honors that rightfully
belong to another.
Deeply sensible of
the Titanic struggle that is now in progress between materialism and the
spiritual aspirations of mankind, our constant endeavor has been to gather into
our several chapters, like weapons into armories, every fact and argument that
can be used to aid the latter in defeating the former. Sickly and deformed
child as it now is, the materialism of To-Day is born of the brutal Yesterday.
Unless its growth is arrested, it may become our master. It is the bastard
progeny of the French Revolution and its reaction against ages of religious
bigotry and repression. To prevent the crushing of these spiritual aspirations,
the blighting of these hopes, and the deadening of that intuition which teaches
us of a God and a hereafter, we must show our false theologies in their naked
deformity, and distinguish between divine religion and human dogmas. Our voice
is raised for spiritual freedom, and our plea made for enfranchisement from all
tyranny, whether of SCIENCE or THEOLOGY.
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THE VEIL OF ISIS.
---------------------
PART ONE. --
SCIENCE.
---------------------
CHAPTER I.
"Ego sum qui
sum." -- An axiom of Hermetic Philosophy.
"We commenced
research where modern conjecture closes its faithless wings. And with us, those
were the common elements of science which the sages of to-day disdain as wild
chimeras, or despair of as unfathomable mysteries." -- BULWER'S
"ZANONI."
THERE exists
somewhere in this wide world an old Book -- so very old that our modern
antiquarians might ponder over its pages an indefinite time, and still not
quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which it is written. It is the
only original copy now in existence. The most ancient Hebrew document on occult
learning -- the Siphra Dzeniouta -- was compiled from it, and that at a time
when the former was already considered in the light of a literary relic. One of
its illustrations represents the Divine Essence emanating from ADAM* like a
luminous arc proceeding to form a circle; and then, having attained the highest
point of its circumference, the ineffable Glory bends back again, and returns
to earth, bringing a higher type of humanity in its vortex. As it approaches
nearer and nearer to our planet, the Emanation becomes more and more shadowy,
until upon touching the ground it is as black as night.
A conviction,
founded upon seventy thousand years of experience,** as they allege, has been
entertained by hermetic philosophers of all periods that matter has in time
become, through sin, more gross and dense than it was at man's first formation;
that, at the beginning, the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The name is used
in the sense of the Greek word [[anthropos]].
** The traditions
of the Oriental Kabalists claim their science to be older than that. Modern
scientists may doubt and reject the assertion. They cannot prove it false.
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human body was of a
half-ethereal nature; and that, before the fall, mankind communed freely with
the now unseen universes. But since that time matter has become the formidable
barrier between us and the world of spirits. The oldest esoteric traditions
also teach that, before the mystic Adam, many races of human beings lived and
died out, each giving place in its turn to another. Were these precedent types
more perfect? Did any of them belong to the winged race of men mentioned by Plato
in Phaedrus? It is the special province of science to solve the problem. The
caves of France and the relics of the stone age afford a point at which to
begin.
As the cycle
proceeded, man's eyes were more and more opened, until he came to know
"good and evil" as well as the Elohim themselves. Having reached its
summit, the cycle began to go downward. When the arc attained a certain point
which brought it parallel with the fixed line of our terrestrial plane, the man
was furnished by nature with "coats of skin," and the Lord God
"clothed them."
This same belief in
the pre-existence of a far more spiritual race than the one to which we now
belong can be traced back to the earliest traditions of nearly every people. In
the ancient Quiche manuscript, published by Brasseur de Bourbourg -- the Popol
Vuh -- the first men are mentioned as a race that could reason and speak, whose
sight was unlimited, and who knew all things at once. According to Philo
Judaeus, the air is filled with an invisible host of spirits, some of whom are
free from evil and immortal, and others are pernicious and mortal. "From
the sons of EL we are descended, and sons of EL must we become again." And
the unequivocal statement of the anonymous Gnostic who wrote The Gospel according
to John, that "as many as received Him," i.e., who followed
practically the esoteric doctrine of Jesus, would "become the sons of
God," points to the same belief. (i., 12.) "Know ye not, ye are
gods?" exclaimed the Master. Plato describes admirably in Phaedrus the state
in which man once was, and what he will become again: before, and after the
"loss of his wings"; when "he lived among the gods, a god
himself in the airy world." From the remotest periods religious
philosophies taught that the whole universe was filled with divine and
spiritual beings of divers races. From one of these evolved, in the course of
time, ADAM, the primitive man.
The Kalmucks and
some tribes of Siberia also describe in their legends earlier creations than
our present race. These beings, they say, were possessed of almost boundless
knowledge, and in their audacity even threatened rebellion against the Great
Chief Spirit. To punish their presumption and humble them, he imprisoned them
in bodies, and
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so shut in their
senses. From these they can escape but through long repentance,
self-purification, and development. Their Shamans, they think, occasionally
enjoy the divine powers originally possessed by all human beings.
The Astor Library
of New York has recently been enriched by a facsimile of an Egyptian Medical
Treatise, written in the sixteenth century B.C. (or, more precisely, 1552
B.C.), which, according to the commonly received chronology, is the time when
Moses was just twenty-one years of age. The original is written upon the inner
bark of Cyperus papyrus, and has been pronounced by Professor Schenk, of
Leipsig, not only genuine, but also the most perfect ever seen. It consists of
a single sheet of yellow-brown papyrus of finest quality, three-tenths of a
metre wide, more than twenty metres long, and forming one roll divided into one
hundred and ten pages, all carefully numbered. It was purchased in Egypt, in
1872-3, by the archaeologist Ebers, of "a well-to-do Arab from
Luxor." The New York Tribune, commenting upon the circumstance, says: The
papyrus "bears internal evidence of being one of the six Hermetic Books on
Medicine, named by Clement of Alexandria."
The editor further
says: "At the time of Iamblichus, A.D. 363, the priests of Egypt showed
forty-two books which they attributed to Hermes (Thuti). Of these, according to
that author, thirty-six contained the history of all human knowledge; the last
six treated of anatomy, of pathology, of affections of the eye, instruments of
surgery, and of medicines.* The Papyrus Ebers is indisputably one of these
ancient Hermetic works."
If so clear a ray
of light has been thrown upon ancient Egyptian science, by the accidental (?)
encounter of the German archaeologist with one "well-to-do Arab" from
Luxor, how can we know what sunshine may be let in upon the dark crypts of
history by an equally accidental meeting between some other prosperous Egyptian
and another enterprising student of antiquity!
The discoveries of
modern science do not disagree with the oldest traditions which claim an
incredible antiquity for our race. Within the last few years geology, which
previously had only conceded that man could be traced as far back as the
tertiary period, has found unanswerable proofs that human existence antedates
the last glaciation of Europe -- over 250,000 years! A hard nut, this, for
Patristic Theology to crack; but an accepted fact with the ancient
philosophers.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Clement of
Alexandria asserted that in his day the Egyptian priests possessed forty-two
Canonical Books.
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Moreover, fossil
implements have been exhumed together with human remains, which show that man
hunted in those remote times, and knew how to build a fire. But the forward
step has not yet been taken in this search for the origin of the race; science
comes to a dead stop, and waits for future proofs. Unfortunately, anthropology
and psychology possess no Cuvier; neither geologists nor archaeologists are
able to construct, from the fragmentary bits hitherto discovered, the perfect
skeleton of the triple man -- physical, intellectual, and spiritual. Because
the fossil implements of man are found to become more rough and uncouth as
geology penetrates deeper into the bowels of the earth, it seems a proof to
science that the closer we come to the origin of man, the more savage and
brute-like he must be. Strange logic! Does the finding of the remains in the
cave of Devon prove that there were no contemporary races then who were highly
civilized? When the present population of the earth have disappeared, and some
archaeologist belonging to the "coming race" of the distant future
shall excavate the domestic implements of one of our Indian or Andaman Island
tribes, will he be justified in concluding that mankind in the nineteenth
century was "just emerging from the Stone Age"?
It has lately been
the fashion to speak of "the untenable conceptions of an uncultivated
past." As though it were possible to hide behind an epigram the
intellectual quarries out of which the reputations of so many modern
philosophers have been carved! Just as Tyndall is ever ready to disparage
ancient philosophers -- for a dressing-up of whose ideas more than one
distinguished scientist has derived honor and credit -- so the geologists seem
more and more inclined to take for granted that all of the archaic races were
contemporaneously in a state of dense barbarism. But not all of our best
authorities agree in this opinion. Some of the most eminent maintain exactly
the reverse. Max Muller, for instance, says: "Many things are still
unintelligible to us, and the hieroglyphic language of antiquity records but
half of the mind's unconscious intentions. Yet more and more the image of man,
in whatever clime we meet him, rises before us, noble and pure from the very
beginning; even his errors we learn to understand, even his dreams we begin to
interpret. As far as we can trace back the footsteps of man, even on the lowest
strata of history, we see the divine gift of a sound and sober intellect
belonging to him from the very first, and the idea of a humanity emerging
slowly from the depths of an animal brutality can never be maintained
again."*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Chips from
a German Work-shop," vol. ii., p. 7. "Comparative Mythology."
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SCIENCE.
As it is claimed to
be unphilosophical to inquire into first causes, scientists now occupy
themselves with considering their physical effects. The field of scientific
investigation is therefore bounded by physical nature. When once its limits are
reached, enquiry must stop, and their work be recommenced. With all due respect
to our learned men, they are like the squirrel upon its revolving wheel, for
they are doomed to turn their "matter" over and over again. Science
is a mighty potency, and it is not for us pigmies to question her. But the
"scientists" are not themselves science embodied any more than the
men of our planet are the planet itself. We have neither the right to demand,
nor power to compel our "modern-day philosopher" to accept without
challenge a geographical description of the dark side of the moon. But, if in
some lunar cataclysm one of her inhabitants should be hurled thence into the
attraction of our atmosphere, and land, safe and sound, at Dr. Carpenter's
door, he would be indictable as recreant to professional duty if he should fail
to set the physical problem at rest.
For a man of
science to refuse an opportunity to investigate any new phenomenon, whether it
comes to him in the shape of a man from the moon, or a ghost from the Eddy
homestead, is alike reprehensible.
Whether arrived at
by the method of Aristotle, or that of Plato, we need not stop to inquire; but
it is a fact that both the inner and outer natures of man are claimed to have
been thoroughly understood by the ancient andrologists. Notwithstanding the
superficial hypotheses of geologists, we are beginning to have almost daily
proofs in corroboration of the assertions of those philosophers.
They divided the
interminable periods of human existence on this planet into cycles, during each
of which mankind gradually reached the culminating point of highest
civilization and gradually relapsed into abject barbarism. To what eminence the
race in its progress had several times arrived may be feebly surmised by the
wonderful monuments of old, still visible, and the descriptions given by
Herodotus of other marvels of which no traces now remain. Even in his days the
gigantic structures of many pyramids and world-famous temples were but masses
of ruins. Scattered by the unrelenting hand of time, they are described by the
Father of History as "these venerable witnesses of the long bygone glory
of departed ancestors." He "shrinks from speaking of divine
things," and gives to posterity but an imperfect description from hearsay
of some marvellous subterranean chambers of the Labyrinth, where lay -- and now
lie -- concealed, the sacred remains of the King-Initiates.
We can judge,
moreover, of the lofty civilization reached in some
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periods of
antiquity by the historical descriptions of the ages of the Ptolemies, yet in
that epoch the arts and sciences were considered to be degenerating, and the
secret of a number of the former had been already lost. In the recent
excavations of Mariette-Bey, at the foot of the Pyramids, statues of wood and
other relics have been exhumed, which show that long before the period of the
first dynasties the Egyptians had attained to a refinement and perfection which
is calculated to excite the wonder of even the most ardent admirers of Grecian
art. Bayard Taylor describes these statues in one of his lectures, and tells us
that the beauty of the heads, ornamented with eyes of precious stones and
copper eyelids, is unsurpassed. Far below the stratum of sand in which lay the
remains gathered into the collections of Lepsius, Abbott, and the British
Museum, were found buried the tangible proofs of the hermetic doctrine of
cycles which has been already explained.
Dr. Schliemann, the
enthusiastic Hellenist, has recently found, in his excavations in the Troad,
abundant evidences of the same gradual change from barbarism to civilization,
and from civilization to barbarism again. Why then should we feel so reluctant
to admit the possibility that, if the antediluvians were so much better versed
than ourselves in certain sciences as to have been perfectly acquainted with
important arts, which we now term lost, they might have equally excelled in
psychological knowledge? Such a hypothesis must be considered as reasonable as
any other until some countervailing evidence shall be discovered to destroy it.
Every true savant admits
that in many respects human knowledge is yet in its infancy. Can it be that our
cycle began in ages comparatively recent? These cycles, according to the
Chaldean philosophy, do not embrace all mankind at one and the same time.
Professor Draper partially corroborates this view by saying that the periods
into which geology has "found it convenient to divide the progress of man
in civilization are not abrupt epochs which hold good simultaneously for the
whole human race"; giving as an instance the "wandering Indians of
America," who "are only at the present moment emerging from the stone
age." Thus more than once scientific men have unwittingly confirmed the
testimony of the ancients.
Any Kabalist well
acquainted with the Pythagorean system of numerals and geometry can demonstrate
that the metaphysical views of Plato were based upon the strictest mathematical
principles. "True mathematics," says the Magicon, "is something
with which all higher sciences are connected; common mathematics is but a
deceitful phantasmagoria, whose much-praised infallibility only arises from
this -- that
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materials,
conditions, and references are made its foundation." Scientists who
believe they have adopted the Aristotelian method only because they creep when
they do not run from demonstrated particulars to universals, glorify this
method of inductive philosophy, and reject that of Plato, which they treat as
unsubstantial. Professor Draper laments that such speculative mystics as
Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus should have taken the place "of the severe
geometers of the old museum."* He forgets that geometry, of all sciences
the only one which proceeds from universals to particulars, was precisely the
method employed by Plato in his philosophy. As long as exact science confines
its observations to physical conditions and proceeds Aristotle-like, it
certainly cannot fail. But notwithstanding that the world of matter is
boundless for us, it still is finite; and thus materialism will turn forever in
this vitiated circle, unable to soar higher than the circumference will permit.
The cosmological theory of numerals which Pythagoras learned from the Egyptian
hierophants, is alone able to reconcile the two units, matter and spirit, and
cause each to demonstrate the other mathematically.
The sacred numbers
of the universe in their esoteric combination solve the great problem and
explain the theory of radiation and the cycle of the emanations. The lower
orders before they develop into higher ones must emanate from the higher
spiritual ones, and when arrived at the turning-point, be reabsorbed again into
the infinite.
Physiology, like
everything else in this world of constant evolution, is subject to the cyclic
revolution. As it now seems to be hardly emerging from the shadows of the lower
arc, so it may be one day proved to have been at the highest point of the
circumference of the circle far earlier than the days of Pythagoras.
Mochus, the
Sidonian, the physiologist and teacher of the science of anatomy, flourished
long before the Sage of Samos; and the latter received the sacred instructions
from his disciples and descendants. Pythagoras, the pure philosopher, the
deeply-versed in the profounder phenomena of nature, the noble inheritor of the
ancient lore, whose great aim was to free the soul from the fetters of sense
and force it to realize its powers, must live eternally in human memory.
The impenetrable
veil of arcane secrecy was thrown over the sciences taught in the sanctuary.
This is the cause of the modern depreciating of the ancient philosophies. Even
Plato and Philo Judaeus have been accused by many a commentator of absurd
inconsistencies, whereas the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," ch. i.
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design which
underlies the maze of metaphysical contradictions so perplexing to the reader
of the Timaeus, is but too evident. But has Plato ever been read
understandingly by one of the expounders of the classics? This is a question
warranted by the criticisms to be found in such authors as Stalbaum,
Schleirmacher, Ficinus (Latin translation), Heindorf, Sydenham, Buttmann,
Taylor and Burges, to say nothing of lesser authorities. The covert allusions
of the Greek philosopher to esoteric things have manifestly baffled these
commentators to the last degree. They not only with unblushing coolness suggest
as to certain difficult passages that another phraseology was evidently
intended, but they audaciously make the changes! The Orphic line:
"Of the song,
the order of the sixth race close" --
which can only be
interpreted as a reference to the sixth race evolved in the consecutive
evolution of the spheres,* Burges says: ". . . was evidently taken from a
cosmogony where man was feigned to be created the last."** -- Ought not
one who undertakes to edit another's works at least understand what his author
means?
Indeed, the ancient
philosophers seem to be generally held, even by the least prejudiced of our
modern critics, to have lacked that profundity and thorough knowledge in the
exact sciences of which our century is so boastful. It is even questioned
whether they understood that basic scientific principle: ex nihilo nihil fit.
If they suspected the indestructibility of matter at all, -- say these
commentators -- it was not in consequence of a firmly-established formula but
only through an intuitional reasoning and by analogy.
We hold to the
contrary opinion. The speculations of these philosophers upon matter were open
to public criticism: but their teachings in regard to spiritual things were
profoundly esoteric. Being thus sworn to secrecy and religious silence upon
abstruse subjects involving the relations of spirit and matter, they rivalled
each other in their ingenious methods for concealing their real opinions.
The doctrine of
Metempsychosis has been abundantly ridiculed by men of science and rejected by
theologians, yet if it had been properly understood in its application to the
indestructibility of matter and the immortality of spirit, it would have been
perceived that it is a sublime conception. Should we not first regard the
subject from the stand-point
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In another place,
we explain with some minuteness the Hermetic philosophy of the evolution of the
spheres and their several races.
** J. Burges:
"The Works of Plato," p. 207, note.
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HINDU.
of the ancients
before venturing to disparage its teachers? The solution of the great problem
of eternity belongs neither to religious superstition nor to gross materialism.
The harmony and mathematical equiformity of the double evolution -- spiritual
and physical -- are elucidated only in the universal numerals of Pythagoras,
who built his system entirely upon the so-called "metrical speech" of
the Hindu Vedas. It is but lately that one of the most zealous Sanskrit
scholars, Martin Haug, undertook the translation of the Aitareya Brahmana of
the Rig-Veda. It had been till that time entirely unknown; these explanations
indicate beyond dispute the identity of the Pythagorean and Brahmanical
systems. In both, the esoteric significance is derived from the number: in the
former, from the mystic relation of every number to everything intelligible to
the human mind; in the latter, from the number of syllables of which each verse
in the Mantras consists. Plato, the ardent disciple of Pythagoras, realized it
so fully as to maintain that the Dodecahedron was the geometrical figure
employed by the Demiurgus in constructing the universe. Some of these figures
had a peculiarly solemn significance. For instance four, of which the
Dodecahedron is the trine, was held sacred by the Pythagoreans. It is the
perfect square, and neither of the bounding lines exceeds the other in length,
by a single point. It is the emblem of moral justice and divine equity
geometrically expressed. All the powers and great symphonies of physical and
spiritual nature lie inscribed within the perfect square; and the ineffable
name of Him, which name otherwise, would remain unutterable, was replaced by
this sacred number 4 the most binding and solemn oath with the ancient mystics
-- the Tetractys.
If the Pythagorean
metempsychosis should be thoroughly explained and compared with the modern
theory of evolution, it would be found to supply every "missing link"
in the chain of the latter. But who of our scientists would consent to lose his
precious time over the vagaries of the ancients. Notwithstanding proofs to the
contrary, they not only deny that the nations of the archaic periods, but even
the ancient philosophers had any positive knowledge of the Heliocentric system.
The "Venerable Bedes," the Augustines and Lactantii appear to have
smothered, with their dogmatic ignorance, all faith in the more ancient
theologists of the pre-Christian centuries. But now philology and a closer
acquaintance with Sanskrit literature have partially enabled us to vindicate
them from these unmerited imputations. In the Vedas, for instance, we find
positive proof that so long ago as 2000 B.C., the Hindu sages and scholars must
have been acquainted with the rotundity of our globe and the Heliocentric
system. Hence, Pythagoras and Plato knew well this astronomical truth; for
Pythagoras obtained his knowledge
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in India, or from
men who had been there, and Plato faithfully echoed his teachings. We will quote
two passages from the Aitareya Brahmana:
In the
"Serpent-Mantra,"* the Brahmana declares as follows: that this Mantra
is that one which was seen by the Queen of the Serpents, Sarpa-rajni; because
the earth (iyam) is the Queen of the Serpents, as she is the mother and queen
of all that moves (sarpat). In the beginning she (the earth) was but one head
(round), without hair (bald), i.e., without vegetation. She then perceived this
Mantra which confers upon him who knows it, the power of assuming any form which
he might desire. She "pronounced the Mantra," i.e., sacrificed to the
gods; and, in consequence, immediately obtained a motley appearance; she became
variegated, and able to produce any form she might like, changing one form into
another. This Mantra begins with the words: "Ayam gauh pris'nir
akramit" (x., 189).
The description of
the earth in the shape of a round and bald head, which was soft at first, and
became hard only from being breathed upon by the god Vayu, the lord of the air,
forcibly suggests the idea that the authors of the sacred Vedic books knew the
earth to be round or spherical; moreover, that it had been a gelatinous mass at
first, which gradually cooled off under the influence of the air and time. So
much for their knowledge about our globe's sphericity; and now we will present
the testimony upon which we base our assertion, that the Hindus were perfectly
acquainted with the Heliocentric system, at least 2000 years B.C.
In the same
treatise the Hotar, (priest), is taught how the Shastras should be repeated,
and how the phenomena of sunrise and sunset are to be explained. It says:
"The Agnishtoma is that one (that god) who burns. The sun never sets nor
rises. When people think the sun is setting, it is not so; they are mistaken.
For after having arrived at the end of the day, it produces two opposite
effects, making night to what is below, and day to what is on the other side.
When they (the people) believe it rises in the morning, the sun only does thus:
having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite
effects, making day to what is below, and night to what is on the other side.
In fact the sun never sets; nor does it set for him who has such a knowledge. .
. ."**
This sentence is so
conclusive, that even the translator of the Rig-Veda, Dr. Haug, was forced to
remark it. He says this passage contains "the denial of the existence of
sunrise and sunset," and that the author supposes the sun "to remain
always in its high position."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* From the Sanskrit
text of the Aitareya Brahmanam. Rig-Veda, v., ch. ii., verse 23.
** Aitareya
Brahmanam, book iii., c. v., 44.
*** Ait. Brahm.,
vol. ii., p. 242.
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CALCULATIONS.
In one of the
earliest Nivids, Rishi Kutsa, a Hindu sage of the remotest antiquity, explains
the allegory of the first laws given to the celestial bodies. For doing
"what she ought not to do," Anahit (Anaitis or Nana, the Persian
Venus), representing the earth in the legend, is sentenced to turn round the
sun. The Sattras, or sacrificial sessions* prove undoubtedly that so early as
in the eighteenth or twentieth century B.C., the Hindus had made considerable
progress in astronomical science. The Sattras lasted one year, and were
"nothing but an imitation of the sun's yearly course. They were divided,
says Haug, into two distinct parts, each consisting of six months of thirty
days each; in the midst of both was the Vishuvan (equator or central day),
cutting the whole Sattras into two halves, etc."** This scholar, although
he ascribes the composition of the bulk of the Brahmanas to the period
1400-1200 B.C., is of opinion that the oldest of the hymns may be placed at the
very commencement of Vedic literature, between the years 2400-2000, B.C. He
finds no reason for considering the Vedas less ancient than the sacred books of
the Chinese. As the Shu-King or Book of History, and the sacrificial songs of
the Shi-King, or Book of Odes, have been proved to have an antiquity as early
as 2200, B.C., our philologists may yet be compelled before long to
acknowledge, that in astronomical knowledge, the antediluvian Hindus were their
masters.
At all events,
there are facts which prove that certain astronomical calculations were as
correct with the Chaldeans in the days of Julius Caesar as they are now. When
the calendar was reformed by the Conqueror, the civil year was found to
correspond so little with the seasons, that summer had merged into the autumn
months, and the autumn months into full winter. It was Sosigenes, the Chaldean
astronomer, who restored order into the confusion, by putting back the 25th of
March ninety days, thus making it correspond with the vernal equinox; and it
was Sosigenes, again, who fixed the lengths of the months as they now remain.
In America, it was
found by the Montezuman army, that the calendar of the Aztecs gave an equal
number of days and weeks to each month. The extreme accuracy of their
astronomical calculations was so great, that no error has been discovered in
their reckoning by subsequent verifications; while the Europeans, who landed in
Mexico in 1519, were, by the Julian calendar, nearly eleven days in advance of
the exact time.
It is to the
priceless and accurate translations of the Vedic Books, and to the personal
researches of Dr. Haug, that we are indebted for the
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Ait. Brahm., book
iv.
** Septenary
Institutions; "Stone him to Death," p. 20.
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corroboration of
the claims of the hermetic philosophers. That the period of Zarathustra Spitama
(Zoroaster) was of untold antiquity, can be easily proved. The Brahmanas, to
which Haug ascribes four thousand years, describe the religious contest between
the ancient Hindus, who lived in the pre-Vedic period, and the Iranians. The
battles between the Devas and the Asuras -- the former representing the Hindus
and the latter the Iranians -- are described at length in the sacred books. As
the Iranian prophet was the first to raise himself against what he called the
"idolatry" of the Brahmans, and to designate them as the Devas
(devils), how far back must then have been this religious crisis?
"This
contest," answers Dr. Haug, "must have appeared to the authors of the
Brahmanas as old as the feats of King Arthur appear to English writers of the
nineteenth century."
There was not a
philosopher of any notoriety who did not hold to this doctrine of
metempsychosis, as taught by the Brahmans, Buddhists, and later by the
Pythagoreans, in its esoteric sense, whether he expressed it more or less
intelligibly. Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, Synesius and Chalcidius, all
believed in it; and the Gnostics, who are unhesitatingly proclaimed by history
as a body of the most refined, learned, and enlightened men,* were all
believers in metempsychosis. Socrates entertained opinions identical with those
of Pythagoras; and both, as the penalty of their divine philosophy, were put to
a violent death. The rabble has been the same in all ages. Materialism has
been, and will ever be blind to spiritual truths. These philosophers held, with
the Hindus, that God had infused into matter a portion of his own Divine
Spirit, which animates and moves every particle. They taught that men have two
souls, of separate and quite different natures: the one perishable -- the
Astral Soul, or the inner, fluidic body -- the other incorruptible and immortal
-- the Augoeides, or portion of the Divine Spirit; that the mortal or Astral
Soul perishes at each gradual change at the threshold of every new sphere,
becoming with every transmigration more purified. The astral man, intangible
and invisible as he might be to our mortal, earthly senses, is still constituted
of matter, though sublimated. Aristotle, notwithstanding that for political
reasons of his own he maintained a prudent silence as to certain esoteric
matters, expressed very clearly his opinion on the subject. It was his belief
that human souls are emanations of God, that are finally re-absorbed into
Divinity. Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, taught that there are "two
eternal qualities throughout nature: the one active, or male; the other
passive, or female: that the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Gibbon's
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."
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OF BEASTS.
former is pure,
subtile ether, or Divine Spirit; the other entirely inert in itself till united
with the active principle. That the Divine Spirit acting upon matter produced
fire, water, earth, and air; and that it is the sole efficient principle by
which all nature is moved. The Stoics, like the Hindu sages, believed in the
final absorption. St. Justin believed in the emanation of these souls from
Divinity, and Tatian, the Assyrian, his disciple, declared that "man was
as immortal as God himself."*
That profoundly
significant verse of the Genesis, "And to every beast of the earth, and to
every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, I gave a
living soul, . . . ." should arrest the attention of every Hebrew scholar
capable of reading the Scripture in its original, instead of following the
erroneous translation, in which the phrase reads, "wherein there is
life."**
From the first to
the last chapters, the translators of the Jewish Sacred Books misconstrued this
meaning. They have even changed the spelling of the name of God, as Sir W.
Drummond proves. Thus El, if written correctly, would read Al, for it stands in
the original -- Al, and, according to Higgins, this word means the god Mithra,
the Sun, the preserver and savior. Sir W. Drummond shows that Beth-El means the
House of the Sun in its literal translation, and not of God. "El, in the
composition of these Canaanite names, does not signify Deus, but Sol."***
Thus Theology has disfigured ancient Theosophy, and Science ancient
Philosophy.****
For lack of
comprehension of this great philosophical principle, the methods of modern
science, however exact, must end in nullity. In no one branch can it
demonstrate the origin and ultimate of things. Instead of tracing the effect
from its primal source, its progress is the reverse. Its higher types, as it
teaches, are all evolved from antecedent lower ones. It starts from the bottom
of the cycle, led on step by step in the great labyrinth of nature by a thread
of matter. As soon as this breaks and the clue is lost, it recoils in affright
from the Incomprehensible, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Turner; also
G. Higgins's "Anacalypsis."
** Genesis, i, 30.
*** Sir William
Drummond: "OEdipus Judicus," p. 250.
**** The absolute
necessity for the perpetration of such pious frauds by the early fathers and
later theologians becomes apparent, if we consider that if they had allowed the
word Al to remain as in the original, it would have become but too evident --
except for the initiated -- that the Jehovah of Moses and the sun were
identical. The multitudes, which ignore that the ancient hierophant considered
our visible sun but as an emblem of the central, invisible, and spiritual Sun,
would have accused Moses -- as many of our modern commentators have already
done -- of worshipping the planetary bodies; in short, of actual Zabaism.
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confesses itself
powerless. Not so did Plato and his disciples. With him the lower types were
but the concrete images of the higher abstract ones. The soul, which is
immortal, has an arithmetical, as the body has a geometrical, beginning. This
beginning, as the reflection of the great universal ARCHAEUS, is self-moving,
and from the centre diffuses itself over the whole body of the microcosm.
It was the sad
perception of this truth that made Tyndall confess how powerless is science,
even over the world of matter. "The first marshalling of the atoms, on
which all subsequent action depends, baffles a keener power than that of the
microscope." "Through pure excess of complexity, and long before observation
can have any voice in the matter, the most highly trained intellect, the most
refined and disciplined imagination, retires in bewilderment from the
contemplation of the problem. We are struck dumb by an astonishment which no
microscope can relieve, doubting not only the power of our instrument, but even
whether we ourselves possess the intellectual elements which will ever enable
us to grapple with the ultimate structural energies of nature."
The fundamental
geometrical figure of the Kabala -- that figure which tradition and the
esoteric doctrines tell us was given by the Deity itself to Moses on Mount
Sinai* -- contains in its grandiose, because simple combination, the key to the
universal problem. This figure contains in itself all the others. For those who
are able to master it, there is no need to exercise imagination. No earthly
microscope can be compared with the keenness of the spiritual perception.
And even for those
who are unacquainted with the GREAT SCIENCE, the description given by a well-trained
child-psychometer of the genesis of a grain, a fragment of crystal, or any
other object -- is worth all the telescopes and microscopes of "exact
science."
There may be more
truth in the adventurous pangenesis of Darwin -- whom Tyndall calls a "soaring
speculator" -- than in the cautious, line-bound hypothesis of the latter;
who, in common with other thinkers of his class, surrounds his imagination
"by the firm frontiers of reason." The theory of a microscopic germ
which contains in itself "a world of minor germs," soars in one sense
at least into the infinite. It oversteps the world of matter, and begins
unconsciously busying itself in the world of spirit.
If we accept
Darwin's theory of the development of species, we find that his starting-point is
placed in front of an open door. We are at liberty with him, to either remain
within, or cross the threshold, beyond
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Exodus, xxv., 40.
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"BEYOND."
which lies the
limitless and the incomprehensible, or rather the Unutterable. If our mortal
language is inadequate to express what our spirit dimly foresees in the great
"Beyond" -- while on this earth -- it must realize it at some point
in the timeless Eternity.
Not so with
Professor Huxley's theory of the "Physical Basis of Life." Regardless
of the formidable majority of "nays" from his German
brother-scientists, he creates a universal protoplasm and appoints its cells to
become henceforth the sacred founts of the principle of all life. By making the
latter identical in living man, "dead mutton," a nettle-sting, and a
lobster; by shutting in, in the molecular cell of the protoplasm, the
life-principle, and by shutting out from it the divine influx which comes with
subsequent evolution, he closes every door against any possible escape. Like an
able tactician he converts his "laws and facts" into sentries whom he
causes to mount guard over every issue. The standard under which he rallies
them is inscribed with the word "necessity"; but hardly is it
unfurled when he mocks the legend and calls it "an empty shadow of my own
imagination."
The fundamental
doctrines of spiritualism, he says, "lie outside the limits of
philosophical inquiry." We will be bold enough to contradict this
assertion, and say that they lie a great deal more within such inquiry than Mr.
Huxley's protoplasm. Insomuch that they present evident and palpable facts of
the existence of spirit, and the protoplasmic cells, once dead, present none
whatever of being the originators or the bases of life, as this one of the few
"foremost thinkers of the day" wants us to believe.**
The ancient
Kabalist rested upon no hypothesis till he could lay its basis upon the firm
rock of recorded experiment.
But the too great
dependence upon physical facts led to a growth of materialism and a decadence
of spirituality and faith. At the time of Aristotle, this was the prevailing
tendency of thought. And though the Delphic commandment was not as yet
completely eliminated from Grecian thought; and some philosophers still held
that "in order to know what man is, we ought to know what man was" --
still materialism had already begun to gnaw at the root of faith. The Mysteries
themselves had degenerated in a very great degree into mere priestly
speculations and religious fraud. Few were the true adepts and initiates, the
heirs and descendants of those who had been dispersed by the conquering swords
of various invaders of Old Egypt.
The time predicted
by the great Hermes in his dialogue with AEscu-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Physical Basis of Life." A Lecture by T. H. Huxley.
** Huxley:
"Physical Basis of Life."
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lapius had indeed
come; the time when impious foreigners would accuse Egypt of adoring monsters,
and naught but the letters engraved in stone upon her monuments would survive
-- enigmas incredible to posterity. Their sacred scribes and hierophants were
wanderers upon the face of the earth. Obliged from fear of a profanation of the
sacred mysteries to seek refuge among the Hermetic fraternities -- known later
as the Essenes -- their esoteric knowledge was buried deeper than ever. The
triumphant brand of Aristotle's pupil swept away from his path of conquest
every vestige of a once pure religion, and Aristotle himself, the type and
child of his epoch, though instructed in the secret science of the Egyptians,
knew but little of this crowning result of millenniums of esoteric studies.
As well as those
who lived in the days of the Psammetics, our present-day philosophers
"lift the Veil of Isis" -- for Isis is but the symbol of nature. But,
they see only her physical forms. The soul within escapes their view; and the
Divine Mother has no answer for them. There are anatomists, who, uncovering to
sight no indwelling spirit under the layers of muscles, the network of nerves,
or the cineritious matter, which they lift with the point of the scalpel, assert
that man has no soul. Such are as purblind in sophistry as the student, who,
confining his research to the cold letter of the Kabala, dares say it has no
vivifying spirit. To see the true man who once inhabited the subject which lies
before him, on the dissecting table, the surgeon must use other eyes than those
of his body. So, the glorious truth covered up in the hieratic writings of the
ancient papyri can be revealed only to him who possesses the faculty of
intuition -- which, if we call reason the eye of the mind, may be defined as
the eye of the soul.
Our modern science
acknowledges a Supreme Power, an Invisible Principle, but denies a Supreme
Being, or Personal God.* Logically, the difference between the two might be
questioned; for in this case the Power and the Being are identical. Human
reason can hardly imagine to itself an Intelligent Supreme Power without
associating it with the idea of an Intelligent Being. The masses can never be
expected to have a clear conception of the omnipotence and omnipresence of a
supreme God, without investing with those attributes a gigantic projection of
their own personality. But the kabalists have never looked upon the invisible
EN-SOPH otherwise than as a Power.
So far our modern
positivists have been anticipated by thousands of ages, in their cautious
philosophy. What the hermetic adept claims to demonstrate is, that simple
common sense precludes the possibility that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. J. W.
Draper: "Conflict Between Religion and Science."
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POTENT ADEPTS.
the universe is the
result of mere chance. Such an idea appears to him more absurd than to think
that the problems of Euclid were unconsciously formed by a monkey playing with
geometrical figures.
Very few Christians
understand, if indeed they know anything at all, of the Jewish Theology. The
Talmud is the darkest of enigmas even for most Jews, while those Hebrew
scholars who do comprehend it do not boast of their knowledge. Their kabalistic
books are still less understood by them; for in our days more Christian than
Jewish students are engrossed in the elimination of their great truths. How
much less is definitely known of the Oriental, or the universal Kabala! Its
adepts are few; but these heirs elect of the sages who first discovered
"the starry truths which shone on the great Shemaia of the Chaldean
lore"* have solved the "absolute" and are now resting from their
grand labor. They cannot go beyond that which is given to mortals of this earth
to know; and no one, not even these elect, can trespass beyond the line drawn by
the finger of the Divinity itself. Travellers have met these adepts on the
shores of the sacred Ganges, brushed against them in the silent ruins of
Thebes, and in the mysterious deserted chambers of Luxor. Within the halls upon
whose blue and golden vaults the weird signs attract attention, but whose
secret meaning is never penetrated by the idle gazers, they have been seen but
seldom recognized. Historical memoirs have recorded their presence in the
brilliantly illuminated salons of European aristocracy. They have been encountered
again on the arid and desolate plains of the Great Sahara, as in the caves of
Elephanta. They may be found everywhere, but make themselves known only to
those who have devoted their lives to unselfish study, and are not likely to
turn back.
Maimonides, the
great Jewish theologian and historian, who at one time was almost deified by
his countrymen and afterward treated as a heretic, remarks, that the more
absurd and void of sense the Talmud seems the more sublime is the secret
meaning. This learned man has successfully demonstrated that the Chaldean
Magic, the science of Moses and other learned thaumaturgists was wholly based
on an extensive knowledge of the various and now forgotten branches of natural
science. Thoroughly acquainted with all the resources of the vegetable, animal,
and mineral kingdoms, experts in occult chemistry and physics, psychologists as
well as physiologists, why wonder that the graduates or adepts instructed in
the mysterious sanctuaries of the temples, could perform wonders, which even in
our days of enlightenment would appear super-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Bulwer's
"Zanoni."
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natural? It is an
insult to human nature to brand magic and the occult science with the name of
imposture. To believe that for so many thousands of years, one-half of mankind
practiced deception and fraud on the other half, is equivalent to saying that
the human race was composed only of knaves and incurable idiots. Where is the
country in which magic was not practised? At what age was it wholly forgotten?
In the oldest
documents now in our possession -- the Vedas and the older laws of Manu -- we
find many magical rites practiced and permitted by the Brahmans.* Thibet, Japan
and China teach in the present age that which was taught by the oldest
Chaldeans. The clergy of these respective countries, prove moreover what they
teach, namely: that the practice of moral and physical purity, and of certain
austerities, developes the vital soulpower of self-illumination. Affording to
man the control over his own immortal spirit, it gives him truly magical powers
over the elementary spirits inferior to himself. In the West we find magic of
as high an antiquity as in the East. The Druids of Great Britain practised it
in the silent crypts of their deep caves; and Pliny devotes many a chapter to
the "wisdom"** of the leaders of the Celts. The Semothees, -- the
Druids of the Gauls, expounded the physical as well as the spiritual sciences.
They taught the secrets of the universe, the harmonious progress of the
heavenly bodies, the formation of the earth, and above all -- the immortality
of the soul.*** Into their sacred groves -- natural academies built by the hand
of the Invisible Architect -- the initiates assembled at the still hour of
midnight to learn about what man once was and what he will be.**** They needed
no artificial illumination, nor life-drawing gas, to light up their temples,
for the chaste goddess of night beamed her most silvery rays on their
oak-crowned heads; and their white-robed sacred bards knew how to converse with
the solitary queen of the starry vault.*****
On the dead soil of
the long by-gone past stand their sacred oaks, now dried up and stripped of
their spiritual meaning by the venomous breath of materialism. But for the
student of occult learning, their vegetation is still as verdant and luxuriant,
and as full of deep and sacred truths, as at that hour when the arch-druid
performed his magical cures, and waving the branch of mistletoe, severed with
his golden sickle the green bough from its mother oak-tree. Magic is as old as man.
It is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See the Code
published by Sir William Jones, chap. ix., p. 11.
** Pliny:
"Hist. Nat.," xxx. I: Ib., xvi., 14; xxv., 9, etc.
*** Pomponius
ascribes to them the knowledge of the highest sciences.
**** Caesar, iii.,
14.
***** Pliny, xxx.
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APOLLONIUS.
as impossible to
name the time when it sprang into existence as to indicate on what day the
first man himself was born. Whenever a writer has started with the idea of
connecting its first foundation in a country with some historical character,
further research has proved his views groundless. Odin, the Scandinavian priest
and monarch, was thought by many to have originated the practice of magic some
seventy years B.C. But it was easily demonstrated that the mysterious rites of
the priestesses called Voilers, Valas, were greatly anterior to his age.* Some
modern authors were bent on proving that Zoroaster was the founder of magic,
because he was the founder of the Magian religion. Ammianus Marcellinus,
Arnobius, Pliny, and other ancient historians demonstrated conclusively that he
was but a reformer of Magic as practiced by the Chaldeans and Egyptians.**
The greatest
teachers of divinity agree that nearly all ancient books were written
symbolically and in a language intelligible only to the initiated. The
biographical sketch of Apollonius of Tyana affords an example. As every
Kabalist knows, it embraces the whole of the Hermetic philosophy, being a
counterpart in many respects of the traditions left us of King Solomon. It
reads like a fairy story, but, as in the case of the latter, sometimes facts
and historical events are presented to the world under the colors of a fiction.
The journey to India represents allegorically the trials of a neophyte. His
long discourses with the Brahmans, their sage advice, and the dialogues with
the Corinthian Menippus would, if interpreted, give the esoteric catechism. His
visit to the empire of the wise men, and interview with their king Hiarchas,
the oracle of Amphiaraus, explain symbolically many of the secret dogmas of
Hermes. They would disclose, if understood, some of the most important secrets
of nature. Eliphas Levi points out the great resemblance which exists between
King Hiarchas and the fabulous Hiram, of whom Solomon procured the cedars of
Lebanon and the gold of Ophir. We would like to know whether modern Masons,
even "Grand Lecturers" and the most intelligent craftsmen belonging
to important lodges, understand who the Hiram is whose death they combine
together to avenge?
Putting aside the
purely metaphysical teachings of the Kabala, if one would devote himself but to
physical occultism, to the so-called branch of therapeutics, the results might
benefit some of our modern sciences; such as chemistry and medicine. Says
Professor Draper: "Sometimes, not
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Munter, on the
most ancient religion of the North before the time of Odin. Memoires de la
Societe des Antiquaires de France. Tome ii., p. 230.
** Ammianus
Marcellinus, xxvi., 6.
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without surprise,
we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves originated in our own
times." This remark, uttered in relation to the scientific writings of the
Saracens, would apply still better to the more secret Treatises of the
ancients. Modern medicine, while it has gained largely in anatomy, physiology,
and pathology, and even in therapeutics, has lost immensely by its narrowness
of spirit, its rigid materialism, its sectarian dogmatism. One school in its
purblindness sternly ignores whatever is developed by other schools; and all
unite in ignoring every grand conception of man or nature, developed by Mesmerism,
or by American experiments on the brain -- every principle which does not
conform to a stolid materialism. It would require a convocation of the hostile
physicians of the several different schools to bring together what is now known
of medical science, and it too often happens that after the best practitioners
have vainly exhausted their art upon a patient, a mesmerist or a "healing
medium" will effect a cure! The explorers of old medical literature, from
the time of Hippocrates to that of Paracelsus and Van Helmont, will find a vast
number of well-attested physiological and psychological facts and of measures
or medicines for healing the sick which modern physicians superciliously refuse
to employ.* Even with respect to surgery, modern practitioners have humbly and
publicly confessed the total impossibility of their approximating to anything
like the marvellous skill displayed in the art of bandaging by ancient
Egyptians. The many hundred yards of ligature enveloping a mummy from its ears
down to every separate toe, were studied by the chief surgical operators in
Paris, and, notwithstanding that the models were before their eyes, they were
unable to accomplish anything like it.
In the Abbott
Egyptological collection, in New York City, may be seen numerous evidences of
the skill of the ancients in various handicrafts; among others the art of
lace-making; and, as it could hardly be expected but that the signs of woman's
vanity should go side by side with
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In some respects
our modern philosophers, who think they make new discoveries can be compared to
"the very clever, learned, and civil gentleman" whom Hippocrates
having met at Samos one day, describes very good-naturedly. "He informed me,"
the Father of Medicine proceeds to say, "that he had lately discovered an
herb never before known in Europe or Asia, and that no disease, however
malignant or chronic, could resist its marvellous properties. Wishing to be
civil in turn, I permitted myself to be persuaded to accompany him to the
conservatory in which he had transplanted the wonderful specific. What I found
was one of the commonest plants in Greece, namely, garlic -- the plant which
above all others has least pretensions to healing virtues." Hippocrates:
"De optima praedicandi ratione item judicii operum magni." I.
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SUN.
those of man's
strength, there are also specimens of artificial hair, and gold ornaments of
different kinds. The New York Tribune, reviewing the contents of the Ebers
Papyrus, says: -- "Verily, there is no new thing under the sun. . . .
Chapters 65, 66, 79, and 89 show that hair invigorators, hair dyes,
pain-killers, and flea-powders were desiderata 3,400 years ago."
How few of our
recent alleged discoveries are in reality new, and how many belong to the
ancients, is again most fairly and eloquently though but in part stated by our
eminent philosophical writer, Professor John W. Draper. His Conflict between
Religion and Science -- a great book with a very bad title -- swarms with such
facts. At page 13, he cites a few of the achievements of ancient philosophers,
which excited the admiration of Greece. In Babylon was a series of Chaldean
astronomical observations, ranging back through nineteen hundred and three
years, which Callisthenes sent to Aristotle. Ptolemy, the Egyptian
king-astronomer possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses going back seven
hundred and forty-seven years before our era. As Prof. Draper truly remarks:
"Long-continued and close observations were necessary before some of these
astronomical results that have reached our times could have been ascertained.
Thus, the Babylonians had fixed the length of a tropical year within
twenty-five seconds of the truth; their estimate of the sidereal year was
barely two minutes in excess. They had detected the precession of the
equinoxes. They knew the causes of eclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle,
called saros, could predict them. Their estimate of the value of that cycle,
which is more than 6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the
truth."
"Such facts
furnish incontrovertible proof of the patience and skill with which astronomy
had been cultivated in Mesopotamia, and that, with very inadequate instrumental
means, it had reached no inconsiderable perfection. These old observers had
made a catalogue of the stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they
had parted the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, as
Aristotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to observations of
star-occultations by the moon. They had correct views of the structure of the solar
system, and knew the order of emplacement of the planets. They constructed
sundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons."
Speaking of the
world of eternal truths that lies "within the world of transient delusions
and unrealities," Professor Draper says: "That world is not to be
discovered through the vain traditions that have brought down to us the opinion
of men who lived in the morning of civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics
who thought that they were inspired. It is to be
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discovered by the
investigations of geometry, and by the practical interrogations of
nature."
Precisely. The
issue could not be better stated. This eloquent writer tells us a profound
truth. He does not, however, tell us the whole truth, because he does not know
it. He has not described the nature or extent of the knowledge imparted in the
Mysteries. No subsequent people has been so proficient in geometry as the
builders of the Pyramids and other Titanic monuments, antediluvian and
postdiluvian. On the other hand, none has ever equalled them in the practical
interrogation of nature.
An undeniable proof
of this is the significance of their countless symbols. Every one of these
symbols is an embodied idea, -- combining the conception of the Divine
Invisible with the earthly and visible. The former is derived from the latter
strictly through analogy according to the hermetic formula -- "as below,
so it is above." Their symbols show great knowledge of natural sciences
and a practical study of cosmical power.
As to practical
results to be obtained by "the investigations of geometry," very fortunately
for students who are coming upon the stage of action, we are no longer forced
to content ourselves with mere conjectures. In our own times, an American, Mr.
George H. Felt, of New York, who, if he continues as he has begun, may one day
be recognized as the greatest geometer of the age, has been enabled, by the
sole help of the premises established by the ancient Egyptians, to arrive at
results which we will give in his own language. "Firstly," says Mr.
Felt, "the fundamental diagram to which all science of elementary
geometry, both plane and solid, is referable; to produce arithmetical systems
of proportion in a geometrical manner; to identify this figure with all the
remains of architecture and sculpture, in all which it had been followed in a marvellously
exact manner; to determine that the Egyptians had used it as the basis of all
their astronomical calculations, on which their religious symbolism was almost
entirely founded; to find its traces among all the remnants of art and
architecture of the Greeks; to discover its traces so strongly among the Jewish
sacred records, as to prove conclusively that it was founded thereon; to find
that the whole system had been discovered by the Egyptians after researches of
tens of thousands of years into the laws of nature, and that it might truly be
called the science of the Universe." Further it enabled him "to
determine with precision problems in physiology heretofore only surmised; to
first develop such a Masonic philosophy as showed it to be conclusively the
first science and religion, as it will be the last"; and we may add,
lastly, to prove by ocular demonstrations that the Egyptian sculptors and
architects ob-
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tained the models
for the quaint figures which adorn the facades and vestibules of their temples,
not in the disordered fantasies of their own brains, but from the "viewless
races of the air," and other kingdoms of nature, whom he, like them,
claims to make visible by resort to their own chemical and kabalistical
processes.
Schweigger proves
that the symbols of all the mythologies have a scientific foundation and
substance.* It is only through recent discoveries of the physical
electro-magnetical powers of nature that such experts in Mesmerism as
Ennemoser, Schweigger and Bart, in Germany, Baron Du Potet and Regazzoni, in
France and Italy, were enabled to trace with almost faultless accuracy the true
relation which each Theomythos bore to some one of these powers. The Idaeic
finger, which had such importance in the magic art of healing, means an iron
finger, which is attracted and repulsed in turn by magnetic, natural forces. It
produced, in Samothrace, wonders of healing by restoring affected organs to
their normal condition.
Bart goes deeper
than Schweigger into the significations of the old myths, and studies the
subject from both its spiritual and physical aspects. He treats at length of
the Phrygian Dactyls, those "magicians and exorcists of sickness,"
and of the Cabeirian Theurgists. He says: "While we treat of the close
union of the Dactyls and magnetic forces, we are not necessarily confined to
the magnetic stone, and our views of nature but take a glance at magnetism in
its whole meaning. Then it is clear how the initiated, who called themselves
Dactyls, created astonishment in the people through their magic arts, working
as they did, miracles of a healing nature. To this united themselves many other
things which the priesthood of antiquity was wont to practice; the cultivation
of the land and of morals, the advancement of art and science, mysteries, and
secret consecrations. All this was done by the priestly Cabeirians, and
wherefore not guided and supported by the mysterious spirits of nature?"**
Schweigger is of the same opinion, and demonstrates that the phenomena of
ancient Theurgy were produced by magnetic powers "under the guidance of
spirits."
Despite their
apparent Polytheism, the ancients -- those of the educated class at all events
-- were entirely monotheistical; and this, too, ages upon ages before the days
of Moses. In the Ebers Papyrus this fact is shown conclusively in the following
words, translated from the first four lines of Plate I.: "I came from
Heliopolis with the great ones from
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Schweigger:
"Introduction to Mythology through Natural History."
** Ennemoser:
"History of Magic," i, 3.
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Het-aat, the Lords
of Protection, the masters of eternity and salvation. I came from Sais with the
Mother-goddesses, who extended to me protection. The Lord of the Universe told
me how to free the gods from all murderous diseases." Eminent men were
called gods by the ancients. The deification of mortal men and supposititious gods
is no more a proof against their monotheism than the monument-building of
modern Christians, who erect statues to their heroes, is proof of their
polytheism. Americans of the present century would consider it absurd in their
posterity 3,000 years hence to classify them as idolaters for having built
statues to their god Washington. So shrouded in mystery was the Hermetic
Philosophy that Volney asserted that the ancient peoples worshipped their gross
material symbols as divine in themselves; whereas these were only considered as
representing esoteric principles. Dupuis, also, after devoting many years of
study to the problem, mistook the symbolic circle, and attributed their
religion solely to astronomy. Eberhart (Berliner Monatschrift) and many other
German writers of the last and present centuries, dispose of magic most
unceremoniously, and think it due to the Platonic mythos of the Timaeus. But
how, without possessing a knowledge of the mysteries, was it possible for these
men or any others not endowed with the finer intuition of a Champollion, to
discover the esoteric half of that which was concealed, behind the veil of
Isis, from all except the adepts?
The merit of
Champollion as an Egyptologist none will question. He declares that everything
demonstrates the ancient Egyptians to have been profoundly monotheistical. The
accuracy of the writings of the mysterious Hermes Trismegistus, whose antiquity
runs back into the night of time, is corroborated by him to their minutest
details. Ennemoser also says: "Into Egypt and the East went Herodotus,
Thales, Parmenides, Empedocles, Orpheus, and Pythagoras, to instruct themselves
in Natural Philosophy and Theology." There, too, Moses acquired his
wisdom, and Jesus passed the earlier years of his life.
Thither gathered
the students of all countries before Alexandria was founded. "How comes
it," Ennemoser goes on to say, "that so little has become known of
these mysteries? through so many ages and amongst so many different times and
people? The answer is that it is owing to the universally strict silence of the
initiated. Another cause may be found in the destruction and total loss of all
the written memorials of the secret knowledge of the remotest antiquity."
Numa's books, described by Livy, consisting of treatises upon natural
philosophy, were found in his tomb; but they were not allowed to be made known,
lest they should reveal the most secret mysteries of the state religion. The
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ANTIQUITY.
senate and the
tribune of the people determined that the books themselves should be burned,
which was done in public.*
Magic was
considered a divine science which led to a participation in the attributes of
Divinity itself. "It unveils the operations of nature," says Philo
Judaeus, "and leads to the contemplation of celestial powers."** In
later periods its abuse and degeneration into sorcery made it an object of
general abhorrence. We must therefore deal with it only as it was in the remote
past, during those ages when every true religion was based on a knowledge of
the occult powers of nature. It was not the sacerdotal class in ancient Persia
that established magic, as it is commonly thought, but the Magi, who derive
their name from it. The Mobeds, priests of the Parsis -- the ancient Ghebers --
are named, even at the present day, Magoi, in the dialect of the Pehlvi.***
Magic appeared in the world with the earlier races of men. Cassien mentions a
treatise, well-known in the fourth and fifth centuries, which was accredited to
Ham, the son of Noah, who in his turn was reputed to have received it from
Jared, the fourth generation from Seth, the son of Adam.****
Moses was indebted
for his knowledge to the mother of the Egyptian princess, Thermuthis, who saved
him from the waters of the Nile. The wife of Pharaoh,***** Batria, was an
initiate herself, and the Jews owe to her the possession of their prophet,
"learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and
deeds."****** Justin Martyr, giving as his authority Trogus Pompeius,
shows Joseph as having acquired a great knowledge in magical arts with the high
priests of Egypt.*******
The ancients knew
more concerning certain sciences than our modern savants have yet discovered.
Reluctant as many are to confess as much, it has been acknowledged by more than
one scientist. "The degree of scientific knowledge existing in an early
period of society was much greater than the moderns are willing to admit";
says Dr. A. Todd Thomson, the editor of Occult Sciences, by Salverte;
"but," he adds, "it was confined to the temples, carefully
veiled from the eyes of the people and opposed only to the priesthood."
Speaking of the Kabala, the learned Franz von Baader remarks that "not
only our salvation and wisdom, but our science itself came to us from the
Jews." But why not complete the sentence and tell the reader from whom the
Jews got their wisdom?
Origen, who had
belonged to the Alexandrian school of Platonists,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Hist. of
Magic," vol. i, p. 3.
** Philo Jud.:
"De Specialibus Legibus."
*** Zend-Avesta,
vol. ii., p. 506.
**** Cassian:
"Conference," i., 21.
***** "De Vita
et Morte Mosis," p. 199.
****** Acts of the
Apostles, vii., 22.
******* Justin,
xxxvi., 2.
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declares that
Moses, besides the teachings of the covenant, communicated some very important
secrets "from the hidden depths of the law" to the seventy elders.
These he enjoined them to impart only to persons whom they found worthy.
St. Jerome names
the Jews of Tiberias and Lydda as the only teachers of the mystical manner of
interpretation. Finally, Ennemoser expresses a strong opinion that "the
writings of Dionysius Areopagita have palpably been grounded on the Jewish Kabala."
When we take in consideration that the Gnostics, or early Christians, were but
the followers of the old Essenes under a new name, this fact is nothing to be
wondered at. Professor Molitor gives the Kabala its just due. He says:
"The age of
inconsequence and shallowness, in theology as well as in sciences, is past, and
since that revolutionary rationalism has left nothing behind but its own
emptiness, after having destroyed everything positive, it seems now to be the
time to direct our attention anew to that mysterious revelation which is the
living spring whence our salvation must come . . . the Mysteries of ancient
Israel, which contain all secrets of modern Israel, would be particularly
calculated to . . . found the fabric of theology upon its deepest theosophical
principles, and to gain a firm basis to all ideal sciences. It would open a new
path . . . to the obscure labyrinth of the myths, mysteries and constitutions
of primitive nations. . . . In these traditions alone are contained the system
of the schools of the prophets, which the prophet Samuel did not found, but
only restored, whose end was no other than to lead the scholars to wisdom and
the highest knowledge, and when they had been found worthy, to induct them into
deeper mysteries. Classed with these mysteries was magic, which was of a double
nature -- divine magic, and evil magic, or the black art. Each of these is
again divisible into two kinds, the active and seeing; in the first, man
endeavors to place himself en rapport with the world to learn hidden things; in
the latter he endeavors to gain power over spirits; in the former, to perform
good and beneficial acts; in the latter to do all kinds of diabolical and
unnatural deeds."*
The clergy of the
three most prominent Christian bodies, the Greek, Roman Catholic, and
Protestant, discountenance every spiritual phenomenon manifesting itself
through the so-called "mediums." A very brief period, indeed, has
elapsed since both the two latter ecclesiastical corporations burned, hanged,
and otherwise murdered every helpless victim through whose organism spirits --
and sometimes blind and as yet unex-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Molitor:
"Philosophy of History and Traditions," Howitt's Translation, p. 285.
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ROME.
plained forces of
nature -- manifested themselves. At the head of these three churches,
pre-eminent stands the Church of Rome. Her hands are scarlet with the innocent
blood of countless victims shed in the name of the Moloch-like divinity at the
head of her creed. She is ready and eager to begin again. But she is bound hand
and foot by that nineteenth century spirit of progress and religious freedom
which she reviles and blasphemes daily. The Graeco-Russian Church is the most
amiable and Christ-like in her primitive, simple, though blind faith. Despite
the fact that there has been no practical union between the Greek and Latin
Churches, and that the two parted company long centuries ago, the Roman
Pontiffs seem to invariably ignore the fact. They have in the most impudent
manner possible arrogated to themselves jurisdiction not only over the
countries within the Greek communion but also over all Protestants as well.
"The Church insists," says Professor Draper, "that the state has
no rights over any thing which it declares to be within its domain, and that
Protestantism being a mere rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in
Protestant communities the Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual
pastor."* Decrees unheeded, encyclical letters unread, invitations to
ecumenical councils unnoticed, excommunications laughed at -- all these have
seemed to make no difference. Their persistence has only been matched by their
effrontery. In 1864, the culmination of absurdity was attained when Pius IX.
excommunicated and fulminated publicly his anathemas against the Russian
Emperor, as a "schismatic cast out from the bosom of the Holy Mother
Church."** Neither he nor his ancestors, nor Russia since it was
Christianized, a thousand years ago, have ever consented to join the Roman
Catholics. Why not claim ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Buddhists of
Thibet, or the shadows of the ancient Hyk-Sos?
The mediumistic
phenomena have manifested themselves at all times in Russia as well as in other
countries. This force ignores religious differences; it laughs at
nationalities; and invades unasked any individuality, whether of a crowned head
or a poor beggar.
Not even the
present Vice-God, Pius IX., himself, could avoid the unwelcome guest. For the
last fifty years his Holiness has been known to be subject to very
extraordinary fits. Inside the Vatican they are termed Divine visions; outside,
physicians call them epileptic fits; and popular rumor attributes them to an
obsession by the ghosts of Peruggia, Castelfidardo, and Mentana!
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 329.
** See
"Gazette du Midi," and "Le Monde," of 3 May, 1864.
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"The lights
burn blue: it is now dead midnight,
Cold fearful drops
stand on my trembling flesh,
Methought the souls
of all that I caused to be murdered
Came. . . ." *
The Prince of
Hohenlohe, so famous during the first quarter of our century for his healing
powers, was himself a great medium. Indeed, these phenomena and powers belong
to no particular age or country. They form a portion of the psychological
attributes of man -- the Microcosmos.
For centuries have
the Klikouchy,** the Yourodevoy,*** and other miserable creatures been
afflicted with strange disorders, which the Russian clergy and the populace
attribute to possession by the devil. They throng the entrances of the
cathedrals, without daring to trust themselves inside, lest their self-willed
controlling demons might fling them on the ground. Voroneg, Kiew, Kazan, and
all cities which possess the thaumaturgical relics of canonized saints, abound
with such unconscious mediums. One can always find numbers of them, congregating
in hideous groups, and hanging about the gates and porches. At certain stages
of the celebration of the mass by the officiating clergy, such as the
appearance of the sacraments, or the beginning of the prayer and chorus,
"Ejey Cherouvim," these half-maniacs, half-mediums, begin crowing
like cocks, barking, bellowing and braying, and, finally, fall down in fearful
convulsions. "The unclean one cannot bear the holy prayer," is the
pious explanation. Moved by pity, some charitable souls administer restoratives
to the "afflicted ones," and distribute alms among them.
Occasionally, a priest is invited to exorcise, in which event he either
performs the ceremony for the sake of love and charity, or the alluring
prospect of a twenty-copeck silver bit, according to his Christian impulses.
But these miserable creatures -- who are mediums, for they prophesy and see
visions sometimes, when the fit is genuine**** -- are never molested because of
their misfortune. Why should the clergy persecute them, or people hate and
denounce them as damnable witches or wizards? Common sense and justice surely
suggest that if any are to be punished it is certainly not the victims who
cannot help themselves, but the demon who is alleged to control their actions.
The worst that happens to the patient is, that the priest inundates him or her
with holy water, and causes the poor creature to catch cold. This failing in
efficacy, the Klikoucha is left to the will
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Shakespere:
"Richard III."
** Literally, the
screaming or the howling ones.
*** The
half-demented, the idiots.
**** But such is
not always the case, for some among these beggars make a regular and profitable
trade of it.
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SUN.
of God, and taken
care of in love and pity. Superstitious and blind as it is, a faith conducted
on such principles certainly deserves some respect, and can never be offensive,
either to man or the true God. Not so with that of the Roman Catholics; and
hence, it is they, and secondarily, the Protestant clergy -- with the exception
of some foremost thinkers among them -- that we purpose questioning in this
work. We want to know upon what grounds they base their right to treat Hindus
and Chinese spiritualists and kabalists in the way they do; denouncing them, in
company with the infidels -- creatures of their own making -- as so many
convicts sentenced to the inextinguishable fires of hell.
Far from us be the
thought of the slightest irreverence -- let alone blasphemy -- toward the
Divine Power which called into being all things, visible and invisible. Of its majesty
and boundless perfection we dare not even think. It is enough for us to know
that It exists and that It is all wise. Enough that in common with our fellow
creatures we possess a spark of Its essence. The supreme power whom we revere
is the boundless and endless one -- the grand "CENTRAL SPIRITUAL SUN"
by whose attributes and the visible effects of whose inaudible WILL we are
surrounded -- the God of the ancient and the God of modern seers. His nature
can be studied only in the worlds called forth by his mighty FIAT. His
revelation is traced with his own finger in imperishable figures of universal
harmony upon the face of the Cosmos. It is the only INFALLIBLE gospel we
recognize.
Speaking of ancient
geographers, Plutarch remarks in Theseus, that they "crowd into the edges
of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in
the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full
of wild beasts and unapproachable bogs." Do not our theologians and
scientists do the same? While the former people the invisible world with either
angels or devils, our philosophers try to persuade their disciples that where
there is no matter there is nothing.
How many of our
inveterate skeptics belong, notwithstanding their materialism, to Masonic
Lodges? The brothers of the Rosie-Cross, mysterious practitioners of the
mediaeval ages, still live -- but in name only. They may "shed tears at
the grave of their respectable Master, Hiram Abiff "; but vainly will they
search for the true locality, "where the sprig of myrtle was placed."
The dead letter remains alone, the spirit has fled. They are like the English
or German chorus of the Italian opera, who descend in the fourth act of Ernani
into the crypt of Charlemagne, singing their conspiracy in a tongue utterly
unknown to them. So, our modern knights of the Sacred Arch may descend every
night if they choose
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"through the
nine arches into the bowels of the earth," -- they "will never
discover the sacred Delta of Enoch." The "Sir Knights in the South
Valley" and those in "the North Valley" may try to assure
themselves that "enlightenment dawns upon their minds," and that as
they progress in Masonry "the veil of superstition, despotism,
tyranny" and so on, no longer obscures the visions of their minds. But
these are all empty words so long as they neglect their mother Magic, and turn
their backs upon its twin sister, Spiritualism. Verily, "Sir Knights of
the Orient," you may "leave your stations and sit upon the floor in
attitudes of grief, with your heads resting upon your hands," for you have
cause to bewail and mourn your fate. Since Philippe le Bel destroyed the
Knights-Templars, not one has appeared to clear up your doubts notwithstanding
all claims to the contrary. Truly, you are "wanderers from Jerusalem,
seeking the lost treasure of the holy place." Have you found it? Alas, no!
for the holy place is profaned; the pillars of wisdom, strength and beauty are
destroyed. Henceforth, "you must wander in darkness," and
"travel in humility," among the woods and mountains in search of the
"lost word." "Pass on!" -- you will never find it so long
as you limit your journeys to seven or even seven times seven; because you are
"travelling in darkness," and this darkness can only be dispelled by
the light of the blazing torch of truth which alone the right descendants of
Ormasd carry. They alone can teach you the true pronunciation of the name
revealed to Enoch, Jacob and Moses. "Pass on! Till your R. S. W. shall
learn to multiply 333, and strike instead 666 -- the number of the Apocalyptic
Beast, you may just as well observe prudence and act "sub rosa."
In order to
demonstrate that the notions which the ancients entertained about dividing
human history into cycles were not utterly devoid of a philosophical basis, we
will close this chapter by introducing to the reader one of the oldest
traditions of antiquity as to the evolution of our planet.
At the close of
each "great year," called by Aristotle -- according to Censorinus --
the greatest, and which consists of six sars* our planet is subjected to a
thorough physical revolution. The polar and equatorial climates gradually
exchange places; the former moving slowly toward the Line, and the tropical
zone, with its exuberant vegetation and swarming animal life, replacing the
forbidding wastes of the icy poles. This
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Webster declares
very erroneously that the Chaldeans called saros, the cycle of eclipses, a
period of about 6,586 years, "the time of revolution of the moon's
node." Berosus, himself a Chaldean astrologer, at the Temple of Belus, at
Babylon, gives the duration of the sar, or sarus, 3,600 years; a neros 600; and
a sossus 60. (See, Berosus from Abydenus, "Of the Chaldaean Kings and the
Deluge." See also Eusebius, and Cory's MS. Ex. Cod. reg. gall. gr. No. 2360,
fol. 154.)
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KALPAS.
change of climate
is necessarily attended by cataclysms, earthquakes, and other cosmical throes.*
As the beds of the ocean are displaced, at the end of every decimillennium and
about one neros, a semi-universal deluge like the legendary Noachian flood is
brought about. This year was called the Heliacal by the Greeks; but no one
outside the sanctuary knew anything certain either as to its duration or
particulars. The winter of this year was called the Cataclysm or the Deluge, --
the Summer, the Ecpyrosis. The popular traditions taught that at these
alternate seasons the world was in turn burned and deluged. This is what we
learn at least from the Astronomical Fragments of Censorinus and Seneca. So
uncertain were the commentators about the length of this year, that none except
Herodotus and Linus, who assigned to it, the former 10,800, and the latter
13,984, came near the truth.** According to the claims of the Babylonian
priests, corroborated by Eupolemus,*** "the city of Babylon, owes its
foundation to those who were saved from the catastrophe of the deluge; they
were the giants and they built the tower which is noticed in history."****
These giants who were great astrologers and had received moreover from their
fathers, "the sons of God," every instruction pertaining to secret matters,
instructed the priests in their turn, and left in the temples all the records
of the periodical cataclysm that they had witnessed themselves. This is how the
high priests came by the knowledge of the great years. When we remember,
moreover, that Plato in the Timaeus cites the old Egyptian priest rebuking
Solon for his ignorance of the fact that there were several such deluges as the
great one of Ogyges, we can easily ascertain that this belief in the Heliakos
was a doctrine held by the initiated priests the world over.
The Neroses, the
Vrihaspati, or the periods called yugas or kalpas, are life-problems to solve.
The Satya-yug and Buddhistic cycles of chronology would make a mathematician
stand aghast at the array of ciphers. The Maha-kalpa embraces an untold number
of periods far
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Before scientists
reject such a theory -- traditional as it is -- it would be in order for them
to demonstrate why, at the end of the tertiary period, the Northern Hemisphere
had undergone such a reduction of temperature as to utterly change the torrid
zone to a Siberian climate? Let us bear in mind that the heliocentric system
came to us from upper India; and that the germs of all great astronomical truths
were brought thence by Pythagoras. So long as we lack a mathematically correct
demonstration, one hypothesis is as good as another.
** Censorinus:
"De Natal Die." Seneca: "Nat. Quaest.," iii., 29.
*** Euseb.:
"Praep. Evan." Of the Tower of Babel and Abraham.
**** This is in
flat contradiction of the Bible narrative, which tells us that the deluge was
sent for the special destruction of these giants. The Babylon priests had no
object to invent lies.
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back in the
antediluvian ages. Their system comprises a kalpa or grand period of
4,320,000,000 years, which they divide into four lesser yugas, running as
follows:
1st. -- Satya yug
-- 1,728,000 years.
2d. -- Tretya yug
-- 1,296,000 years.
3d. -- Dvapa yug
---- 864,000 years.
4th. -- Kali yug
------ 432,000 years.
Total
-------------- 4,320,000 years.
which make one
divine age or Maha-yug; seventy-one Maha-yugs make 306,720,000 years, to which
is added a sandhi (or the time when day and night border on each other, morning
and evening twilight), equal to a Satya-yug, 1,728,000, make a manwantara of
308,448,000 years;* fourteen manwantaras make 4,318,272,000 years; to which
must be added a sandhi to begin the kalpa, 1,728,000 years, making the kalpa or
grand period of 4,320,000,000 of years. As we are now only in the Kali-yug of
the twenty-eighth age of the seventh manwantara of 308,448,000 years, we have
yet sufficient time before us to wait before we reach even half of the time
allotted to the world.
These ciphers are
not fanciful, but founded upon actual astronomical calculations, as has been
demonstrated by S. Davis.** Many a scientist, Higgins among others,
notwithstanding their researches, has been utterly perplexed as to which of
these was the secret cycle. Bunsen has demonstrated that the Egyptian priests,
who made the cyclic notations, kept them always in the profoundest mystery.***
Perhaps their difficulty arose from the fact that the calculations of the
ancients applied equally to the spiritual progress of humanity as to the
physical. It will not be difficult to understand the close correspondence drawn
by the ancients between the cycles of nature and of mankind, if we keep in mind
their belief in the constant and all-potent influences of the planets upon the
fortunes of humanity. Higgins justly believed that the cycle of the Indian
system, of 432,000, is the true key of the secret cycle. But his failure in
trying to decipher it was made apparent; for as it pertained to the mystery of
the creation, this cycle was the most inviolable of all. It was repeated in
symbolic figures only in the Chaldean Book of Numbers, the original of which, if
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Coleman, who
makes this calculation, allowed a serious error to escape the proofreader; the
length of the manwantara is given at 368,448,000, which is just sixty million
years too much.
** S. Davis:
"Essay in the Asiatic Researches"; and Higgins's
"Anacalypsis"; also see Coleman's "Mythology of the
Hindus." Preface, p. xiii.
*** Bunsen:
"Egypte," vol. i.
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NEROS.
now extant, is
certainly not to be found in libraries, as it formed one of the most ancient
Books of Hermes,* the number of which is at present undetermined.
Calculating by the
secret period of the Great Neros and the Hindu Kalpas, some kabalists,
mathematicians and archeologists who knew naught of the secret computations
made the above number of 21,000 years to be 24,000 years, for the length of the
great year, as it was to the renewal only of our globe that they thought the
last period of 6,000 years applied. Higgins gives as a reason for it, that it
was anciently thought that the equinoxes preceded only after the rate of 2,000,
not 2,160, years in a sign; for thus it would allow for the length of the great
year four times 6,000 or 24,000 years. "Hence," he says, "might
arise their immensely-lengthened cycles; because, it would be the same with
this great year as with the common year, till it travelled round an
immensely-lengthened circle, when it would come to the old point again."
He therefore accounts for the 24,000 in the following manner: "If the
angle which the plane of the ecliptic makes with the plane of the equator had
decreased gradually and regularly, as it was till very lately supposed to do,
the two planes would have coincided in about ten ages, 6,000 years;
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The forty-two
Sacred Books of the Egyptians mentioned by Clement of Alexandria as having
existed in his time, were but a portion of the Books of Hermes. Iamblichus, on
the authority of the Egyptian priest Abammon, attributes 1200 of such books to
Hermes, and Manetho 36,000. But the testimony of Iamblichus as a neo-Platonist
and theurgist is of course rejected by modern critics. Manetho, who is held by
Bunsen in the highest consideration as a "purely historical
personage" . . . with whom "none of the later native historians can
be compared . . . ." (See "Egypte," i, p. 97), suddenly becomes
a Pseudo-Manetho, as soon as the ideas propounded by him clash with the
scientific prejudices against magic and the occult knowledge claimed by the
ancient priests. However, none of the archeologists doubt for a moment the
almost incredible antiquity of the Hermetic books. Champollion shows the
greatest regard for their authenticity and great truthfulness, corroborated as
it is by many of the oldest monuments. And Bunsen brings irrefutable proofs of
their age. From his researches, for instance, we learn that there was a line of
sixty-one kings before the days of Moses, who preceded the Mosaic period by a
clearly-traceable civilization of several thousand years. Thus we are warranted
in believing that the works of Hermes Trismegistus were extant many ages before
the birth of the Jewish law-giver. "Styli and inkstands were found on
monuments of the fourth Dynasty, the oldest in the world," says Bunsen. If
the eminent Egyptologist rejects the period of 48,863 years before Alexander,
to which Diogenes Laertius carries back the records of the priests, he is
evidently more embarrassed with the ten thousand of astronomical observations,
and remarks that "if they were actual observations, they must have
extended over 10,000 years" (p. 14). "We learn, however," he
adds, "from one of their own old chronological works . . . that the
genuine Egyptian traditions concerning the mythological period, treated of
myriads of years." ("Egypte," i, p. 15).
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in ten ages, 6,000
years more, the sun would have been situated relatively to the Southern
Hemisphere as he is now to the Northern; in ten ages, 6,000 years more, the two
planes would coincide again; and, in ten ages, 6,000 years more, he would be
situated as he is now, after a lapse of about twenty-four or twenty-five
thousand years in all. When the sun arrived at the equator, the ten ages or six
thousand years would end, and the world would be destroyed by fire; when he
arrived at the southern point, it would be destroyed by water. And thus, it
would be destroyed at the end of every 6,000 years, or ten neroses."*
This method of
calculating by the neroses, without allowing any consideration for the secrecy
in which the ancient philosophers, who were exclusively of the sacerdotal
order, held their knowledge, gave rise to the greatest errors. It led the Jews,
as well as some of the Christian Platonists, to maintain that the world would
be destroyed at the end of six thousand years. Gale shows how firmly this
belief was rooted in the Jews. It has also led modern scientists to discredit
entirely the hypothesis of the ancients. It has given rise to the formation of
different religious sects, which, like the Adventists of our century, are
always living in the expectation of the approaching destruction of the world.
As our planet
revolves once every year around the sun and at the same time turns once in
every twenty-four hours upon its own axis, thus traversing minor circles within
a larger one, so is the work of the smaller cyclic periods accomplished and
recommenced, within the Great Saros.
The revolution of
the physical world, according to the ancient doctrine, is attended by a like
revolution in the world of intellect -- the spiritual evolution of the world
proceeding in cycles, like the physical one.
Thus we see in
history a regular alternation of ebb and flow in the tide of human progress.
The great kingdoms and empires of the world, after reaching the culmination of
their greatness, descend again, in accordance with the same law by which they
ascended; till, having reached the lowest point, humanity reasserts itself and
mounts up once more, the height of its attainment being, by this law of
ascending progression by cycles, somewhat higher than the point from which it
had before descended.
The division of the
history of mankind into Golden, Silver, Copper and Iron Ages, is not a fiction.
We see the same thing in the literature of peoples. An age of great inspiration
and unconscious productiveness is invariably followed by an age of criticism
and consciousness. The one affords material for the analyzing and critical intellect
of the other.
Thus, all those
great characters who tower like giants in the history of mankind, like
Buddha-Siddartha, and Jesus, in the realm of spiritual, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Higgins:
"Anacalypsis."
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PROTOTYPES.
Alexander the
Macedonian and Napoleon the Great, in the realm of physical conquests, were but
reflexed images of human types which had existed ten thousand years before, in
the preceding decimillennium, reproduced by the mysterious powers controlling
the destinies of our world. There is no prominent character in all the annals
of sacred or profane history whose prototype we cannot find in the
half-fictitious and half-real traditions of bygone religions and mythologies.
As the star, glimmering at an immeasurable distance above our heads, in the
boundless immensity of the sky, reflects itself in the smooth waters of a lake,
so does the imagery of men of the antediluvian ages reflect itself in the
periods we can embrace in an historical retrospect.
"As above, so
it is below. That which has been, will return again. As in heaven, so on
earth."
The world is always
ungrateful to its great men. Florence has built a statue to Galileo, but hardly
even mentions Pythagoras. The former had a ready guide in the treatises of
Copernicus, who had been obliged to contend against the universally established
Ptolemaic system. But neither Galileo nor modern astronomy discovered the
emplacement of the planetary bodies. Thousands of ages before, it was taught by
the sages of Middle Asia, and brought thence by Pythagoras, not as a
speculation, but as a demonstrated science. "The numerals of
Pythagoras," says Porphyry, "were hieroglyphical symbols, by means
whereof he explained all ideas concerning the nature of all things."*
Verily, then, to
antiquity alone have we to look for the origin of all things. How well Hargrave
Jennings expresses himself when speaking of Pyramids, and how true are his
words when he asks: "Is it at all reasonable to conclude, at a period when
knowledge was at the highest, and when the human powers were, in comparison
with ours at the present time, prodigious, that all these indomitable, scarcely
believable physical effects -- that such achievements as those of the Egyptians
-- were devoted to a mistake? that the myriads of the Nile were fools laboring
in the dark, and that all the magic of their great men was forgery, and that
we, in despising that which we call their superstition and wasted power, are
alone the wise? No! there is much more in these old religions than probably --
in the audacity of modern denial, in the confidence of these
superficial-science times, and in the derision of these days without faith --
is in the least degree supposed. We do not understand the old time. . . . .
Thus we see how classic practice and heathen teaching may be made to reconcile
-- how even the Gentile and the Hebrew, the mytho-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Vite
Pythag."
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logical and the
Christian doctrine harmonize in the general faith founded on Magic. That Magic
is indeed possible is the moral of this book."*
It is possible.
Thirty years ago, when the first rappings of Rochester awakened slumbering
attention to the reality of an invisible world; when the gentle shower of raps
gradually became a torrent which overflowed the whole globe, spiritualists had
to contend but against two potencies -- theology and science. But the
theosophists have, in addition to these, to meet the world at large and the
spiritualists first of all.
"There is a
personal God, and there is a personal Devil!" thunders the Christian
preacher. "Let him be anathema who dares say nay!" "There is no
personal God, except the gray matter in our brain," contemptuously replies
the materialist. "And there is no Devil. Let him be considered thrice an
idiot who says aye." Meanwhile the occultists and true philosophers heed
neither of the two combatants, but keep perseveringly at their work. None of
them believe in the absurd, passionate, and fickle God of superstition, but all
of them believe in good and evil. Our human reason, the emanation of our finite
mind, is certainly incapable of comprehending a divine intelligence, an endless
and infinite entity; and, according to strict logic, that which transcends our
understanding and would remain thoroughly incomprehensible to our senses cannot
exist for us; hence, it does not exist. So far finite reason agrees with
science, and says: "There is no God." But, on the other hand, our
Ego, that which lives and thinks and feels independently of us in our mortal
casket, does more than believe. It knows that there exists a God in nature, for
the sole and invincible Artificer of all lives in us as we live in Him. No
dogmatic faith or exact science is able to uproot that intuitional feeling
inherent in man, when he has once fully realized it in himself.
Human nature is
like universal nature in its abhorrence of a vacuum. It feels an intuitional
yearning for a Supreme Power. Without a God, the cosmos would seem to it but
like a soulless corpse. Being forbidden to search for Him where alone His
traces would be found, man filled the aching void with the personal God whom
his spiritual teachers built up for him from the crumbling ruins of heathen
myths and hoary philosophies of old. How otherwise explain the mushroom growth
of new sects, some of them absurd beyond degree? Mankind have one innate, irrepressible
craving, that must be satisfied in any religion that would supplant the
dogmatic, undemonstrated and undemonstrable theology of our Christian ages.
This is the yearning after the proofs of immortality. As Sir Thomas Browne has
expressed it: . . . . "it is the heaviest stone that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Rosicrucians," etc., by Hargrave Jennings.
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IMMORTALITY.
melancholy can
throw at a man, to tell him that he is at the end of his nature, or that there
is no future state to come, unto which this seems progressive, and otherwise
made in vain." Let any religion offer itself that can supply these proofs
in the shape of scientific facts, and the established system will be driven to
the alternative of fortifying its dogmas with such facts, or of passing out of
the reverence and affection of Christendom. Many a Christian divine has been
forced to acknowledge that there is no authentic source whence the assurance of
a future state could have been derived by man. How could then such a belief
have stood for countless ages, were it not that among all nations, whether
civilized or savage, man has been allowed the demonstrative proof? Is not the
very existence of such a belief an evidence that thinking philosopher and
unreasoning savage have both been compelled to acknowledge the testimony of their
senses? That if, in isolated instances, spectral illusion may have resulted
from physical causes, on the other hand, in thousands of instances, apparitions
of persons have held converse with several individuals at once, who saw and
heard them collectively, and could not all have been diseased in mind?
The greatest
thinkers of Greece and Rome regarded such matters as demonstrated facts. They
distinguished the apparitions by the names of manes, anima and umbra: the manes
descending after the decease of the individual into the Underworld; the anima,
or pure spirit, ascending to heaven; and the restless umbra (earth-bound
spirit), hovering about its tomb, because the attraction of matter and love of
its earthly body prevailed in it and prevented its ascension to higher regions.
"Terra legit
carnem tumulum circumvolet umbra,
Orcus habet manes,
spiritus astra petit,"
says Ovid, speaking
of the threefold constituents of souls.
But all such
definitions must be subjected to the careful analysis of philosophy. Too many
of our thinkers do not consider that the numerous changes in language, the
allegorical phraseology and evident secretiveness of old Mystic writers, who
were generally under an obligation never to divulge the solemn secrets of the
sanctuary, might have sadly misled translators and commentators. The phrases of
the mediaeval alchemist they read literally; and even the veiled symbolology of
Plato is commonly misunderstood by the modern scholar. One day they may learn
to know better, and so become aware that the method of extreme necessarianism
was practiced in ancient as well as in modern philosophy; that from the first
ages of man, the fundamental truths of all that we are permitted to know on
earth was in the safe keeping of the adepts of the sanc-
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tuary; that the
difference in creeds and religious practice was only external; and that those
guardians of the primitive divine revelation, who had solved every problem that
is within the grasp of human intellect, were bound together by a universal
freemasonry of science and philosophy, which formed one unbroken chain around
the globe. It is for philology and psychology to find the end of the thread.
That done, it will then be ascertained that, by relaxing one single loop of the
old religious systems, the chain of mystery may be disentangled.
The neglect and
withholding of these proofs have driven such eminent minds as Hare and Wallace,
and other men of power, into the fold of modern spiritualism. At the same time
it has forced others, congenitally devoid of spiritual intuitions, into a gross
materialism that figures under various names.
But we see no
utility in prosecuting the subject further. For, though in the opinion of most
of our contemporaries, there has been but one day of learning, in whose
twilight stood the older philosophers, and whose noontide brightness is all our
own; and though the testimony of scores of ancient and mediaeval thinkers has
proved valueless to modern experimenters, as though the world dated from A.D.
1, and all knowledge were of recent growth, we will not lose hope or courage.
The moment is more opportune than ever for the review of old philosophies.
Archaeologists, philologists, astronomers, chemists and physicists are getting
nearer and nearer to the point where they will be forced to consider them.
Physical science has already reached its limits of exploration; dogmatic
theology sees the springs of its inspiration dry. Unless we mistake the signs,
the day is approaching when the world will receive the proofs that only ancient
religions were in harmony with nature, and ancient science embraced all that
can be known. Secrets long kept may be revealed; books long forgotten and arts
long time lost may be brought out to light again; papyri and parchments of
inestimable importance will turn up in the hands of men who pretend to have
unrolled them from mummies, or stumbled upon them in buried crypts; tablets and
pillars, whose sculptured revelations will stagger theologians and confound
scientists, may yet be excavated and interpreted. Who knows the possibilities
of the future? An era of disenchantment and rebuilding will soon begin -- nay,
has already begun. The cycle has almost run its course; a new one is about to
begin, and the future pages of history may contain full evidence, and convey
full proof that
"If ancestry
can be in aught believed,
Descending spirits
have conversed with man,
And told him
secrets of the world unknown."
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CHAPTER II
"Pride, where
wit fails, steps in to our defence
And fills up all
the mighty void of sense. . . . " -- POPE.
"But why
should the operations of nature be changed? There may be a deeper philosophy
than we dream of -- a philosophy that discovers the secrets of nature, but does
not alter, by penetrating them, its course." -- BULWER.
IS it enough for
man to know that he exists? Is it enough to be formed a human being to enable
him to deserve the appellation of MAN? It is our decided impression and
conviction, that to become a genuine spiritual entity, which that designation
implies, man must first create himself anew, so to speak -- i.e., thoroughly
eliminate from his mind and spirit, not only the dominating influence of
selfishness and other impurity, but also the infection of superstition and
prejudice. The latter is far different from what we commonly term antipathy or
sympathy. We are at first irresistibly or unwittingly drawn within its dark
circle by that peculiar influence, that powerful current of magnetism which
emanates from ideas as well as from physical bodies. By this we are surrounded,
and finally prevented through moral cowardice -- fear of public opinion -- from
stepping out of it. It is rare that men regard a thing in either its true or
false light, accepting the conclusion by the free action of their own judgment.
Quite the reverse. The conclusion is more commonly reached by blindly adopting
the opinion current at the hour among those with whom they associate. A church member
will not pay an absurdly high price for his pew any more than a materialist
will go twice to listen to Mr. Huxley's talk on evolution, because they think
that it is right to do so; but merely because Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so have done
it, and these personages are THE S---- AND S----'s.
The same holds good
with everything else. If psychology had had its Darwin, the descent of man as
regards moral qualities might have been found inseparably linked with that of
his physical form. Society in its servile condition suggests to the intelligent
observer of its mimicry a kinship between the Simia and human beings even more
striking than is exhibited in the external marks pointed out by the great
anthropologist.
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The many varieties
of the ape -- "mocking presentments of ourselves" -- appear to have
been evolved on purpose to supply a certain class of expensively-dressed
persons with the material for genealogical trees.
Science is daily
and rapidly moving toward the great discoveries in chemistry and physics,
organology, and anthropology. Learned men ought to be free from preconceptions
and prejudices of every kind; yet, although thought and opinion are now free,
scientists are still the same men as of old. An Utopian dreamer is he who
thinks that man ever changes with the evolution and development of new ideas.
The soil may be well fertilized and made to yield with every year a greater and
better variety of fruit; but, dig a little deeper than the stratum required for
the crop, and the same earth will be found in the subsoil as was there before
the first furrow was turned.
Not many years ago,
the person who questioned the infallibility of some theological dogma was
branded at once an iconoclast and an infidel. Vae victis! . . . Science has
conquered. But in its turn the victor claims the same infallibility, though it
equally fails to prove its right. "Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in
illis," the saying of the good old Lotharius, applies to the case.
Nevertheless, we feel as if we had some right to question the high-priests of science.
For many years we
have watched the development and growth of that apple of discord -- MODERN
SPIRITUALISM. Familiar with its literature both in Europe and America, we have
closely and eagerly witnessed its interminable controversies and compared its
contradictory hypotheses. Many educated men and women -- heterodox
spiritualists, of course -- have tried to fathom the Protean phenomena. The
only result was that they came to the following conclusion: whatever may be the
reason of these constant failures -- whether such are to be laid at the door of
the investigators themselves, or of the secret Force at work -- it is at least
proved that, in proportion as the psychological manifestations increase in
frequency and variety, the darkness surrounding their origin becomes more
impenetrable.
That phenomena are
actually witnessed, mysterious in their nature -- generally and perhaps wrongly
termed spiritual -- it is now idle to deny. Allowing a large discount for
clever fraud, what remains is quite serious enough to demand the careful
scrutiny of science. "E pur se muove," the sentence spoken ages
since, has passed into the category of household words. The courage of Galileo
is not now required to fling it into the face of the Academy. Psychological
phenomena are already on the offensive.
The position
assumed by modern scientists is that even though the occurrence of certain
mysterious phenomena in the presence of the
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PROOF.
mediums be a fact,
there is no proof that they are not due to some abnormal nervous condition of
those individuals. The possibility that they may be produced by returning human
spirits need not be considered until the other question is decided. Little
exception can be taken to this position. Unquestionably, the burden of proof
rests upon those who assert the agency of spirits. If the scientists would
grapple with the subject in good faith, showing an earnest desire to solve the
perplexing mystery, instead of treating it with undignified and unprofessional
contempt, they would be open to no censure. True, the great majority of
"spiritual" communications are calculated to disgust investigators of
even moderate intelligence. Even when genuine they are trivial, commonplace,
and often vulgar. During the past twenty years we have received through various
mediums messages purporting to be from Shakespere, Byron, Franklin, Peter the
Great, Napoleon and Josephine, and even from Voltaire. The general impression
made upon us was that the French conqueror and his consort seemed to have
forgotten how to spell words correctly; Shakespere and Byron had become chronic
inebriates; and Voltaire had turned an imbecile. Who can blame men trained to
habits of exactitude, or even simply well-educated persons, for hastily
concluding that when so much palpable fraud lies upon the surface, there could
hardly be truth if they should go to the bottom? The huckstering about of
pompous names attached to idiotic communications has given the scientific
stomach such an indigestion that it cannot assimilate even the great truth
which lies on the telegraphic plateaux of this ocean of psychological phenomena.
They judge by its surface, covered with froth and scum. But they might with
equal propriety deny that there is any clear water in the depths of the sea
when an oily scum was floating upon the surface. Therefore, if on one hand we
cannot very well blame them for stepping back at the first sight of what seems
really repulsive, we do, and have a right to censure them for their
unwillingness to explore deeper. Neither pearls nor cut diamonds are to be
found lying loose on the ground; and these persons act as unwisely as would a
professional diver, who should reject an oyster on account of its filthy and
slimy appearance, when by opening it he might find a precious pearl inside the
shell.
Even the just and
severe rebukes of some of their leading men are of no avail and the fear on the
part of men of science to investigate such an unpopular subject, seems to have
now become a general panic. "The phenomena chase the scientists, and the
scientists run away from the phenomena," very pointedly remarks M. A. N.
Aksakof in an able article on Mediumism and the St. Petersburg Scientific
Committee. The attitude
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of this body of
professors toward the subject which they had pledged themselves to investigate
was throughout simply disgraceful. Their premature and prearranged report was
so evidently partial and inconclusive as to call out a scornful protest even
from unbelievers.
The inconsistency
of the logic of our learned gentlemen against the philosophy of spiritualism
proper is admirably pointed out by Professor John Fisk -- one of their own
body. In a recent philosophical work, The Unseen World, while showing that from
the very definition of the terms, ,matter and spirit, the existence of spirit
cannot be demonstrated to the senses, and that thus no theory is amenable to
scientific tests, he deals a severe blow at his colleagues in the following lines:
"The testimony
in such a case," he says, "must, under the conditions of the present
life, be forever inaccessible. It lies wholly outside the range of experience.
However abundant it may be, we cannot expect to meet it. And, accordingly, our
failure to produce it does not raise even the slightest presumption against our
theory. When conceived in this way, the belief in the future life is without
scientific support, but at the same time it is placed beyond the need of
scientific support and the range of scientific criticism. It is a belief which
no imaginable future advance of physical discovery can in any way impugn. It is
a belief which is in no sense irrational, and which may be logically
entertained without in the least affecting our scientific habit of mind, or
influencing our scientific conclusions." "If now," he adds,
"men of science will accept the position that spirit is not matter, nor
governed by the laws of matter, and refrain from speculations concerning it
restricted by their knowledge of material things, they will withdraw what is to
men of religion, at present, their principal cause of irritation."
But, they will do
no such thing. They feel incensed at the brave, loyal, and highly commendable
surrender of such superior men as Wallace, and refuse to accept even the
prudent and restrictive policy of Mr. Crookes.
No other claim is
advanced for a hearing of the opinions contained in the present work than that
they are based upon many years' study of both ancient magic and its modern
form, Spiritualism. The former, even now, when phenomena of the same nature
have become so familiar to all, is commonly set down as clever jugglery. The
latter, when overwhelming evidence precludes the possibility of truthfully
declaring it charlatanry, is denominated an universal hallucination.
Many years of
wandering among "heathen" and "Christian" magicians,
occultists, mesmerisers; and the tutti quanti of white and black art, ought to
be sufficient, we think, to give us a certain right to
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BARRACHIAS-HASSAN-OGLU.
feel competent to
take a practical view of this doubted and very complicated question. We have
associated with the fakirs, the holy men of India, and seen them when in
intercourse with the Pitris. We have watched the proceedings and modus operandi
of the howling and dancing dervishes; held friendly communications with the
marabouts of European and Asiatic Turkey; and the serpent-charmers of Damascus
and Benares have but few secrets that we have not had the fortune to study.
Therefore, when scientists who have never had an opportunity of living among
these oriental jugglers and can judge at the best but superficially, tell us
that there is naught in their performances but mere tricks of prestidigitation,
we cannot help feeling a profound regret for such hasty conclusions. That such
pretentious claims should be made to a thorough analysis of the powers of
nature, and at the same time such unpardonable neglect displayed of questions
of purely physiological and psychological character, and astounding phenomena
rejected without either examination or appeal, is an exhibition of
inconsistency, strongly savoring of timidity, if not of moral obliquity.
If, therefore, we
should ever receive from some contemporaneous Faraday the same fling that that
gentleman made years since, when, with more sincerity than good breeding, he
said that "many dogs have the power of coming to much more logical
conclusions than some spiritualists,"* we fear we must still persist.
Abuse is not argument, least of all, proof. Because such men as Huxley and
Tyndall denominate spiritualism "a degrading belief" and oriental
magic "jugglery," they cannot thereby take from truth its verity.
Skepticism, whether it proceeds from a scientific or an ignorant brain, is
unable to overturn the immortality of our souls -- if such immortality is a
fact -- and plunge them into post-mortem annihilation. "Reason is subject
to error," says Aristotle; so is opinion; and the personal views of the
most learned philosopher are often more liable to be proved erroneous, than the
plain common sense of his own illiterate cook. In the Tales of the Impious
Khalif, Barrachias-Hassan-Oglu, the Arabian sage holds a wise discourse:
"Beware, O my son, of self-incense," he says. "It is the most
dangerous, on account of its agreeable intoxication. Profit by thy own wisdom,
but learn to respect the wisdom of thy fathers likewise. And remember, O my
beloved, that the light of Allah's truth will often penetrate much easier an
empty head, than one that is so crammed with learning that many a silver ray is
crowded out for want of space; . . . such is the case with our over-wise Kadi."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. Crookes,
F.R.S.: "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism."
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These
representatives of modern science in both hemispheres seem never to have
exhibited more scorn, or to have felt more bitterly toward the unsolvable
mystery, than since Mr. Crookes began the investigation of the phenomena, in
London. This courageous gentleman was the first to introduce to the public one
of those alleged "materialized" sentries that guard the forbidden
gates. Following after him, several other learned members of the scientific
body had the rare integrity, combined with a degree of courage, which, in view
of the unpopularity of the subject, may be deemed heroic, to take the phenomena
in hand.
But, alas! although
the spirit, indeed, was willing, the mortal flesh proved weak. Ridicule was
more than the majority of them could bear; and so, the heaviest burden was
thrown upon the shoulders of Mr. Crookes. An account of the benefit this
gentleman reaped from his disinterested investigations, and the thanks he
received from his own brother scientists, can be found in his three pamphlets,
entitled, Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism.
After a while, the
members appointed on the Committee of the Dialectical Society and Mr. Crookes,
who had applied to his mediums the most crucial tests, were forced by an
impatient public to report in so many plain words what they had seen. But what
could they say, except the truth? Thus, they were compelled to acknowledge:
1st. That the phenomena which they, at least, had witnessed, were genuine, and
impossible to simulate; thus showing that manifestations produced by some
unknown force, could and did happen. 2d. That, whether the phenomena were
produced by disembodied spirits or other analogous entities, they could not
tell; but that manifestations, thoroughly upsetting many preconceived theories
as to natural laws, did happen and were undeniable. Several of these occurred
in their own families. 3d. That, notwithstanding all their combined efforts to
the contrary, beyond the indisputable fact of the reality of the phenomena,
"glimpses of natural action not yet reduced to law,"* they, to borrow
the expression of the Count de Gabalis, "could make neither head nor tail
on't."
Now this was
precisely what a skeptical public had not bargained for. The discomfiture of
the believers in spiritualism had been impatiently anticipated before the
conclusions of Messrs. Crookes, Varley, and the Dialectical Society were
announced. Such a confession on the part of their brother-scientists was too
humiliating for the pride of even those who had timorously abstained from
investigation. It was regarded as really too much, that such vulgar and
repulsive manifestations of phe-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. Crookes:
"Experiments on Psychic Force," page 25.
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nomena which had
always, by common consent of educated people, been regarded as nursery tales,
fit only to amuse hysterical servant-girls and afford revenue to professional
somnambulists -- that manifestations which had been consigned by the Academy
and Institute of Paris to oblivion, should so impertinently elude detection at
the hands of experts in physical sciences.
A tornado of
indignation followed the confession. Mr. Crookes depicts it in his pamphlet on
Psychic Force. He heads it very pointedly with the quotation from Galvani:
"I am attacked by two very opposite sects -- the scientists and the
know-nothings, yet I know that I have discovered one of the greatest forces in
nature. . . ." He then proceeds:
"It was taken
for granted that the results of my experiments would be in accordance with
their preconceptions. What they really desired was not the truth, but an
additional witness in favor of their own foregone conclusions. When they found
the facts which that investigation established could not be made to fit those
opinions, why, . . . so much the worse for the facts. They try to creep out of
their own confident recommendations of the inquiry, by declaring 'that Mr. Home
is a clever conjurer who has duped us all.' 'Mr. Crookes might, with equal
propriety, examine the performances of an Indian juggler.' 'Mr. Crookes must
get better witnesses before he can be believed.' 'The thing is too absurd to be
treated seriously.' 'It is impossible, and therefore can't be.' . . . (I never
said it was impossible, I only said it was true.) 'The observers have all been
biologized, and fancy they saw things occur which really never took place,'
etc., etc., etc."*
After expending
their energy on such puerile theories as "unconscious cerebration,"
"involuntary muscular contraction," and the sublimely ridiculous one
of the "cracking knee-joints" (le muscle craqueur); after meeting
ignominious failures by the obstinate survival of the new force, and finally,
after every desperate effort to compass its obliteration, these filii
diffidentiae -- as St. Paul calls their class -- thought best to give up the
whole thing in disgust. Sacrificing their courageously persevering brethren as
a holocaust on the altar of public opinion, they withdrew in dignified silence.
Leaving the arena of investigation to more fearless champions, these unlucky
experimenters are not likely to ever enter it again.** It is easier by far to
deny the reality of such manifestations from a secure distance, than find for
them a proper place among the classes of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. Crookes:
"Spiritualism Viewed by the Light of Modern Science." See
"Quarterly Journal of Science."
** A. Aksakof:
"Phenomena of Mediumism."
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natural phenomena
accepted by exact science. And how can they, since all such phenomena pertain
to psychology, and the latter, with its occult and mysterious powers, is a
terra incognita for modern science. Thus, powerless to explain that which
proceeds directly from the nature of the human soul itself -- the existence of
which most of them deny -- unwilling at the same time to confess their
ignorance, scientists retaliate very unjustly on those who believe in the
evidence of their senses without any pretence to science.
"A kick from
thee, O Jupiter! is sweet," says the poet Tretiakowsky, in an old Russian
tragedy. Rude as those Jupiters of science may be occasionally toward us
credulous mortals, their vast learning -- in less abstruse questions, we mean
-- if not their manners, entitles them to public respect. But unfortunately it
is not the gods who shout the loudest.
The eloquent Tertullian,
speaking of Satan and his imps, whom he accuses of ever mimicking the Creator's
works, denominates them the "monkeys of God." It is fortunate for the
philosophicules that we have no modern Tertullian to consign them to an
immortality of contempt as the "monkeys of science."
But to return to
genuine scientists. "Phenomena of a merely objective character," says
A. N. Aksakof, "force themselves upon the representatives of exact
sciences for investigation and explanation; but the high-priests of science, in
the face of apparently such a simple question . . . are totally disconcerted!
This subject seems to have the privilege of forcing them to betray, not only
the highest code of morality -- truth, but also the supreme law of science --
experiment! . . . They feel that there is something too serious underlying it.
The cases of Hare, Crookes, de Morgan, Varley, Wallace, and Butleroff create a
panic! They fear that as soon as they concede one step, they will have to yield
the whole ground. Time-honored principles, the contemplative speculations of a
whole life, of a long line of generations, are all staked on a single
card!"*
In the face of such
experience as that of Crookes and the Dialectical Society, of Wallace and the
late Professor Hare, what can we expect from our luminaries of erudition? Their
attitude toward the undeniable phenomena is in itself another phenomenon. It is
simply incomprehensible, unless we admit the possibility of another
psychological disease, as mysterious and contagious as hydrophobia. Although we
claim no honor for this new discovery, we nevertheless propose to recognize it
under the name of scientific psychophobia.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. N. Aksakof:
"Phenomena of Mediumism."
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THEORIES.
They ought to have
learned by this time, in the school of bitter experience, that they can rely on
the self-sufficiency of the positive sciences only to a certain point; and
that, so long as there remains one single unexplained mystery in nature, the
word "impossible" is a dangerous word for them to pronounce.
In the Researches
on the Phenomena of Spiritualism, Mr. Crookes submits to the option of the
reader eight theories "to account for the phenomena observed."
These theories run
as follows:
"First Theory.
-- The phenomena are all the result of tricks, clever mechanical arrangements,
or legerdemain; the mediums are impostors, and the rest of the company fools.
"Second
Theory. -- The persons at a seance are the victims of a sort of mania, or
delusion, and imagine phenomena to occur which have no real objective
existence.
"Third Theory.
-- The whole is the result of conscious or unconscious cerebral action.
"Fourth
Theory. -- The result of the spirit of the medium, perhaps in association with
the spirits of some or all of the people present.
"Fifth Theory.
-- The actions of evil spirits, or devils, personifying whom or what they
please, in order to undermine Christianity, and ruin men's souls. (Theory of
our theologians.)
"Sixth Theory.
-- The actions of a separate order of beings living on this earth, but
invisible and immaterial to us. Able, however, occasionally to manifest their
presence, known in almost all countries and ages as demons (not necessarily
bad), gnomes, fairies, kobolds, elves, goblins, Puck, etc. (One of the claims
of the kabalists.)
"Seventh
Theory. -- The actions of departed human beings. (The spiritual theory par
excellence.)
"Eighth
Theory. -- (The psychic force) . . . an adjunct to the fourth, fifth, sixth,
and seventh theories."
The first of these
theories having been proved valid only in exceptional, though unfortunately
still too frequent cases, must be ruled out as having no material bearing upon
the phenomena themselves. Theories the second and the third are the last
crumbling entrenchments of the guerilla of skeptics and materialists, and
remain, as lawyers say, "Adhuc sub judice lis est." Thus, we can deal
in this work but with the four remaining ones, the last, eighth, theory being
according to Mr. Crookes's opinion, but "a necessary adjunct" of the
others.
How subject even a
scientific opinion is to error, we may see, if we only compare the several
articles on spiritual phenomena from the able
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pen of that
gentleman, which appeared from 1870 to 1875. In one of the first we read: . . .
"the increased employment of scientific methods will promote exact
observations and greater love of truths among inquirers, and will produce a
race of observers who will drive the worthless residuum of spiritualism hence
into the unknown limbo of magic and necromancy." And in 1875, we read,
over his own signature, minute and most interesting descriptions of the
materialized spirit -- Katie King!*
It is hardly
possible to suppose that Mr. Crookes could be under electro-biological
influence or hallucination for two or three consecutive years. The
"spirit" appeared in his own house, in his library, under the most
crucial tests, and was seen, felt, and heard by hundreds of persons.
But Mr. Crookes
denies that he ever took Katie King for a disembodied spirit. What was it then?
If it was not Miss Florence Cook, and his word is our sufficient guarantee for
it -- then it was either the spirit of one who had lived on earth, or one of
those that come directly under the sixth theory of the eight the eminent
scientist offers to the public choice. It must have been one of the classes
named: Fairies, Kobolds, Gnomes, Elves, Goblins, or a Puck.**
Yes; Katie King
must have been a fairy -- a Titania. For to a fairy only could be applied with
propriety the following poetic effusion which Mr. Crookes quotes in describing
this wonderful spirit:
"Round her she
made an atmosphere of life;
The very air seemed
lighter from her eyes;
They were so soft
and beautiful and rife
With all we can
imagine of the skies;
Her overpowering
presence makes you feel
It would not be
idolatry to kneel!"***
And thus, after
having written, in 1870, his severe sentence against spiritualism and magic;
after saying that even at that moment he believed "the whole affair a
superstition, or, at least, an unexplained trick -- a delusion of the
senses;"**** Mr. Crookes, in 1875, closes his letter with the following
memorable words: -- "To imagine, I say, the Katie King of the last three
years to be the result of imposture does more violence to one's reason and
common sense than to believe her to be what she herself affirms."*****
This last remark, moreover, conclusively proves that:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Last of
Katie King," pamphlet iii., p. 119.
** Ibid., pam. i.,
p. 7.
*** "The Last
of Katie King," pamp. iii., p. 112.
**** Ibid., p. 112.
*****
"Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," p. 45.
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OBSCURIUS.
1. Notwithstanding
Mr. Crookes's full convictions that the somebody calling herself Katie King was
neither the medium nor some confederate, but on the contrary an unknown force
in nature, which -- like love -- "laughs at locksmiths"; 2. That that
hitherto unrecognized form of Force, albeit it had become with him "not a
matter of opinion, but of absolute knowledge," -- the eminent investigator
still did not abandon to the last his skeptical attitude toward the question.
In short, he firmly believes in the phenomenon, but cannot accept the idea of
its being the human spirit of a departed somebody.
It seems to us,
that, as far as public prejudice goes, Mr. Crookes solves one mystery by
creating a still deeper one: the obscurum per obscurius. In other words,
rejecting "the worthless residuum of spiritualism," the courageous
scientist fearlessly plunges into his own "unknown limbo of magic and
necromancy!"
The recognized laws
of physical science account for but a few of the more objective of the
so-called spiritual phenomena. While proving the reality of certain visible
effects of an unknown force, they have not thus far enabled scientists to
control at will even this portion of the phenomena. The truth is that the
professors have not yet discovered the necessary conditions of their
occurrence. They must go as deeply into the study of the triple nature of man
-- physiological, psychological, and divine -- as did their predecessors, the
magicians, theurgists, and thaumaturgists of old. Until the present moment,
even those who have investigated the phenomena as thoroughly and impartially as
Mr. Crookes, have set aside the cause as something not to be discovered now, if
ever. They have troubled themselves no more about that than about the first
cause of the cosmic phenomena of the correlation of forces, whose endless
effects they are at such pains to observe and classify. Their course has been
as unwise as that of a man who should attempt to discover the sources of a
river by exploring toward its mouth. It has so narrowed their views of the
possibilities of natural law that very simple forms of occult phenomena have
necessitated their denial that they can occur unless miracles were possible;
and this being a scientific absurdity the result has been that physical science
has latterly been losing prestige. If scientists had studied the so-called
"miracles" instead of denying them, many secret laws of nature
comprehended by the ancients would have been again discovered.
"Conviction," says Bacon, "comes not through arguments but through
experiments."
The ancients were
always distinguished -- especially the Chaldean astrologers and Magians -- for
their ardent love and pursuit of knowledge in every branch of science. They
tried to penetrate the secrets of na-
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ture in the same
way as our modern naturalists, and by the only method by which this object can
be obtained, namely: by experimental researches and reason. If our modern
philosophers cannot apprehend the fact that they penetrated deeper than
themselves into the mysteries of the universe, this does not constitute a valid
reason why the credit of possessing this knowledge should be denied them or the
imputation of superstition laid at their door. Nothing warrants the charge; and
every new archaeological discovery militates against the assumption. As
chemists they were unequalled, and in his famous lecture on The Lost Arts,
Wendell Phillips says: "The chemistry of the most ancient period had
reached a point which we have never even approached." The secret of the
malleable glass, which, "if supported by one end by its own weight, in
twenty hours dwindles down to a fine line that you can curve around your
wrist," would be as difficult to rediscover in our civilized countries as
to fly to the moon.
The fabrication of
a cup of glass which was brought by an exile to Rome in the reign of Tiberius,
-- a cup "which he dashed upon the marble pavement, and it was not crushed
nor broken by the fall," and which, as it got "dented some" was
easily brought into shape again with a hammer, is a historic fact. If it is
doubted now it is merely because the moderns cannot do the same. And yet, in
Samarkand and some monasteries of Thibet such cups and glass-ware may be found
to this day; nay, there are persons who claim that they can make the same by
virtue of their knowledge of the much-ridiculed and ever-doubted alkahest --
the universal solvent. This agent that Paracelsus and Van Helmont maintain to
be a certain fluid in nature, "capable of reducing all sublunary bodies,
as well homogeneous as mixed, into their ens primum, or the original matter of
which they are composed; or into an uniform, equable, and potable liquor, that
will unite with water, and the juices of all bodies, and yet retain its own
radical virtues; and, if again mixed with itself will thereby be converted into
pure elementary water": what impossibilities prevent our crediting the
statement? Why should it not exist and why the idea be considered Utopian? Is
it again because our modern chemists are unable to produce it? But surely it
may be conceived without any great effort of imagination that all bodies must
have originally come from some first matter, and that this matter, according to
the lessons of astronomy, geology and physics, must have been a fluid. Why
should not gold -- of whose genesis our scientists know so little -- have been
originally a primitive or basic matter of gold, a ponderous fluid which, as
says Van Helmont, "from its own nature, or a strong cohesion between its
particles, acquired afterward a solid form?"
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There seems to be
very little absurdity to believe in a "universal ens that resolves all
bodies into their ens genitale." Van Helmont calls it "the highest
and most successful of all salts; which having obtained the supreme degree of
simplicity, purity, subtilty, enjoys alone the faculty of remaining unchanged
and unimpaired by the subjects it works upon, and of dissolving the most
stubborn and untractable bodies; as stones, gems, glass, earth, sulphur,
metals, etc., into red salt, equal in weight to the matter dissolved; and this
with as much ease as hot water melts down snow."
It is into this
fluid that the makers of malleable glass claimed, and now claim, that they
immersed common glass for several hours, to acquire the property of
malleability.
We have a ready and
palpable proof of such possibilities. A foreign correspondent of the
Theosophical Society, a well-known medical practitioner, and one who has
studied the occult sciences for upward of thirty years, has succeeded in
obtaining what he terms the "true oil of gold," i.e., the primal
element. Chemists and physicists have seen and examined it, and were driven to
confess that they neither knew how it was obtained nor could they do the same.
That he desires his name to remain unknown is not to be wondered at; ridicule
and public prejudice are more dangerous sometimes than the inquisition of old.
This "Adamic earth" is next-door neighbor to the alkahest, and one of
the most important secrets of the alchemists. No Kabalist will reveal it to the
world, for, as he expresses it in the well-known jargon: "it would explain
the eagles of the alchemists, and how the eagles' wings are clipped," a
secret that it took Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes) twenty years to
learn.
As the dawn of
physical science broke into a glaring day-light, the spiritual sciences merged
deeper and deeper into night, and in their turn they were denied. So, now,
these greatest masters in psychology are looked upon as "ignorant and
superstitious ancestors"; as mountebanks and jugglers, because, forsooth,
the sun of modern learning shines to-day so bright, it has become an axiom that
the philosophers and men of science of the olden time knew nothing, and lived
in a night of superstition. But their traducers forget that the sun of to-day
will seem dark by comparison with the luminary of to-morrow, whether justly or
not; and as the men of our century think their ancestors ignorant, so will
perhaps their descendants count them for know-nothings. The world moves in
cycles. The coming races will be but the reproductions of races long bygone; as
we, perhaps, are the images of those who lived a hundred centuries ago. The
time will come when those who now in public slan-
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der the hermetists,
but ponder in secret their dust-covered volumes; who plagiarize their ideas,
assimilate and give them out as their own -- will receive their dues.
"Who," honestly exclaims Pfaff -- "what man has ever taken more
comprehensive views of nature than Paracelsus? He was the bold creator of
chemical medicines; the founder of courageous parties; victorious in
controversy, belonging to those spirits who have created amongst us a new mode
of thinking on the natural existence of things. What he scattered through his
writings on the philosopher's stone, on pigmies and spirits of the mines; on
signs, on homunculi, and the elixir of life, and which are employed by many to
lower his estimation, cannot extinguish our grateful remembrance of his general
works, nor our admiration of his free, bold exertions, and his noble,
intellectual life."*
More than one
pathologist, chemist, homoeopathist, and magnetist has quenched his thirst for
knowledge in the books of Paracelsus. Frederick Hufeland got his theoretical
doctrines on infection from this mediaeval "quack," as Sprengel
delights in calling one who was immeasurably higher than himself. Hemman, who
endeavors to vindicate this great philosopher, and nobly tries to redress his
slandered memory, speaks of him as the "greatest chemist of his
time."** So do Professor Molitor,*** and Dr. Ennemoser, the eminent German
psychologist.**** According to their criticisms on the labors of this
Hermetist, Paracelsus is the most "wondrous intellect of his age," a
"noble genius." But our modern lights assume to know better, and the
ideas of the Rosicrucians about the elementary spirits, the goblins and the
elves, have sunk into the "limbo of magic" and fairy tales for early
childhoods.*****
We are quite ready
to concede to skeptics that one-half, and even more, of seeming phenomena, are
but more or less clever fraud. Recent exposures, especially of
"materializing" mediums, but too well prove the fact. Unquestionably
numerous others are still in store, and this will
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pfaff's
"Astrology." Berl.
** "Medico-Surgical
Essays."
*** "The
Philosophy of Hist."
**** On Theoph.
Paracelsus. -- Magic.
***** Kemshead says
in his "Inorganic Chemistry" that "the element hydrogen was
first mentioned in the sixteenth century by Paracelsus, but very little was
known of it in any way." (P. 66.) And why not be fair and confess at once
that Paracelsus was the re-discoverer of hydrogen as he was the re-discoverer
of the hidden properties of the magnet and animal magnetism? It is easy to show
that according to the strict vows of secrecy taken and faithfully observed by
every Rosicrucian (and especially by the alchemist) he kept his knowledge
secret. Perhaps it would not prove a very difficult task for any chemist well
versed in the works of Paracelsus to demonstrate that oxygen, the discovery of
which is credited to Priestley, was known to the Rosicrucian alchemists as well
as hydrogen.
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CHURCHWARD.
continue until
tests have become so perfect and spiritualists so reasonable as no longer to
furnish opportunity to mediums or weapons to adversaries.
What should
sensible spiritualists think of the character of angel guides, who after
monopolizing, perhaps for years, a poor medium's time, health and means,
suddenly abandon him when he most needs their help? None but creatures without
soul or conscience would be guilty of such injustice. Conditions? -- Mere
sophistry. What sort of spirits must they be who would not summon if necessary
an army of spirit-friends (if such there be) to snatch the innocent medium from
the pit dug for his feet? Such things happened in the olden time, such may
happen now. There were apparitions before modern spiritualism, and phenomena
like ours in every previous age. If modern manifestations are a reality and
palpable facts, so must have been the so-called "miracles" and
thaumaturgic exploits of old; or if the latter are but fictions of superstition
so must be the former, for they rest on no better testimony.
But, in this
daily-increasing torrent of occult phenomena that rushes from one end of the
globe to the other, though two-thirds of the manifestations are proved
spurious, what of those which are proved genuine beyond doubt or cavil? Among
these may be found communications coming through non-professional as well as
professional mediums, which are sublime and divinely grand. Often, through
young children, and simple-minded ignorant persons, we receive philosophical
teachings and precepts, poetry and inspirational orations, music and paintings
that are fully worthy of the reputations of their alleged authors. Their
prophecies are often verified and their moral disquisitions beneficent, though
the latter is of rarer occurrence. Who are those spirits, what those powers or
intelligences which are evidently outside of the medium proper and entities per
se? These intelligences deserve the appellation; and they differ as widely from
the generality of spooks and goblins that hover around the cabinets for
physical manifestations, as day from night.
We must confess
that the situation appears to be very grave. The control of mediums by such
unprincipled and lying "spirits" is constantly becoming more and more
general; and the pernicious effects of seeming diabolism constantly multiply.
Some of the best mediums are abandoning the public rostrum and retiring from
this influence; and the movement is drifting churchward. We venture the
prediction that unless spiritualists set about the study of ancient philosophy,
so as to learn to discriminate between spirits and to guard themselves against
the baser sort, twenty-five years more will not elapse before they will have to
fly to the Romish communion to escape these "guides" and
"controls" that they have fondled so long. The signs of this
catastrophe already exhibit
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themselves. At a
recent convention at Philadelphia, it was seriously proposed to organize a sect
of Christian Spiritualists! This is because, having withdrawn from the church
and learned nothing of the philosophy of the phenomena, or the nature of their
spirits, they are drifting about on a sea of uncertainty like a ship without
compass or rudder. They cannot escape the dilemma; they must choose between
Porphyry and Pio Nono.
While men of
genuine science, such as Wallace, Crookes, Wagner, Butlerof, Varley, Buchanan,
Hare, Reichenbach, Thury, Perty, de Morgan, Hoffmann, Goldschmidt, W. Gregory,
Flammarion, Sergeant Cox and many others, firmly believe in the current
phenomena, many of the above named reject the theory of departed spirits.
Therefore, it seems but logical to think that if the London "Katie
King," the only materialized something which the public is obliged more or
less to credit out of respect to science, -- is not the spirit of an ex-mortal,
then it must be the astral solidified shadow of either one of the Rosicrucian
spooks -- "fantasies of superstition" -- or of some as yet
unexplained force in nature. Be it however a "spirit of health or goblin
damn'd" it is of little consequence; for if it be once proved that its
organism is not solid matter, then it must be and is a "spirit," an
apparition, a breath. It is an intelligence which acts outside our organisms
and therefore must belong to some existing even though unseen race of beings.
But what is it? What is this something which thinks and even speaks but yet is
not human; that is impalpable and yet not a disembodied spirit; that simulates
affection, passion, remorse, fear, joy, but yet feels neither? What is this
canting creature which rejoices in cheating the truthful inquirer and mocking
at sacred human feeling? For, if not Mr. Crookes's Katie King, other similar
creatures have done all these. Who can fathom the mystery? The true
psychologist alone. And where should he go for his text-books but to the
neglected alcoves of libraries where the works of despised hermetists and
theurgists have been gathering dust these many years.
Says Henry More,
the revered English Platonist, in his answer to an attack on the believers of
spiritual and magic phenomena by a skeptic of that age, named Webster:*
"As for that other opinion, that the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Letter to
J. Glanvil, chaplain to the king and a fellow of the Royal Society."
Glanvil was the author of the celebrated work on Apparitions and Demonology
entitled "Sadducismus Triumphatus, or a full and plain evidence concerning
witches and apparitions," in two parts, "proving partly by Scripture,
and partly by a choice collection of modern relations, the real existence of
apparitions, spirits and witches." -- 1700.
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THING.
greater part of the
reformed divines hold, that it was the Devil that appeared in Samuel's shape,
it is beneath contempt; for though I do not doubt but that in many of these
necromantic apparitions, they are ludicrous spirits, not the souls of the
deceased that appear, yet I am clear for the appearing of the soul of Samuel,
and as clear that in other necromancies, it may be such kinds of spirits, as
Porphyrius above describes, 'that change themselves into omnifarious forms and
shapes, and one while act the parts of daemons, another while of angels or
gods, and another while of the souls of the departed.' And I confess such a
spirit as this might personate Samuel here, for anything Webster alleged to the
contrary, for his arguments indeed are wonderfully weak and wooden."
When such a
metaphysician and philosopher as Henry More gives such testimony as this, we
may well assume our point to have been well taken. Learned investigators, all
very skeptical as to spirits in general and "departed human spirits"
in particular, during the last twenty years have taxed their brains to invent
new names for an old thing. Thus, with Mr. Crookes and Sergeant Cox, it is the
"psychic force." Professor Thury of Geneva calls it the
"psychode" or ectenic force; Professor Balfour Stewart, the
"electro-biological power"; Faraday, the "great master of
experimental philosophy in physics," but apparently a novice in
psychology, superciliously termed it an "unconscious muscular
action," an "unconscious cerebration," and what not? Sir William
Hamilton, a "latent thought"; Dr. Carpenter, "the ideo-motor
principle," etc., etc. So many scientists -- so many names.
Years ago the old
German philosopher, Schopenhauer, disposed of this force and matter at the same
time; and since the conversion of Mr. Wallace, the great anthropologist has
evidently adopted his ideas. Schopenhauer's doctrine is that the universe is
but the manifestation of the will. Every force in nature is also an effect of
will, representing a higher or lower degree of its objectiveness. It is the
teaching of Plato, who stated distinctly that everything visible was created or
evolved out of the invisible and eternal WILL, and after its fashion. Our
Heaven -- he says -- was produced according to the eternal pattern of the
"Ideal World," contained, as everything else, in the dodecahedron,
the geometrical model used by the Deity.* With Plato, the Primal Being is an
emanation of the Demiurgic Mind (Nous), which contains from the eternity the
"idea" of the "to be created world" within itself, and
which idea he produces out of himself.** The laws of nature are the established
relations of this idea to the forms of its manifestations; "these
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Timaeus Soerius," 97.
** See Movers'
"Explanations," 268.
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forms," says
Schopenhauer, "are time, space, and causality. Through time and space the
idea varies in its numberless manifestations."
These ideas are far
from being new, and even with Plato they were not original. This is what we
read in the Chaldean Oracles:* "The works of nature co-exist with the intellectual
[[noerio]], spiritual Light of the Father. For it is the soul [[psuche]] which
adorned the great heaven, and which adorns it after the Father."
"The
incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in the Divine
Reason," says Philo** who is erroneously accused of deriving his
philosophy from Plato's.
In the Theogony of
Mochus, we find AEther first, and then the air; the two principles from which
Ulom, the intelligible [[noetos]] God (the visible universe of matter) is
born.***
In the Orphic
hymns, the Eros-Phanes evolves from the Spiritual Egg, which the AEthereal
winds impregnate, Wind**** being "the spirit of God," who is said to
move in AEther, "brooding over the Chaos" -- the Divine
"Idea." In the Hindu Katakopanisad, Purusha, the Divine Spirit,
already stands before the original matter, from whose union springs the great
Soul of the World, "Maha =Atma, Brahm, the Spirit of Life";*****
these latter appellations are identical with the Universal Soul, or Anima
Mundi, and the Astral Light of the theurgists and kabalists.
Pythagoras brought
his doctrines from the eastern sanctuaries, and Plato compiled them into a form
more intelligible than the mysterious numerals of the sage -- whose doctrines
he had fully embraced -- to the uninitiated mind. Thus, the Cosmos is "the
Son" with Plato, having for his father and mother the Divine Thought and
Matter.******
"The
Egyptians," says Dunlap,******* "distinguish between an older and
younger Horus, the former the brother of Osiris, the latter the son of Osiris
and Isis." The first is the Idea of the world remaining in the Demiurgic
Mind, "born in darkness before the creation of the world." The second
Horus is this "Idea" going forth from the Logos, becoming clothed
with matter, and assuming an actual existence.********
"The mundane
God, eternal, boundless, young and old, of winding form," ********* say
the Chaldean Oracles.
This "winding
form" is a figure to express the vibratory motion of the Astral Light,
with which the ancient priests were perfectly well
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cory:
"Chaldean Oracles," 243.
** Philo Judaeus:
"On the Creation," x.
*** Movers:
"Phoinizer," 282.
**** K. O. Muller,
236.
***** Weber:
"Akad. Vorles," 213, 214, etc.
****** Plutarch,
"Isis and Osiris," i., vi.
*******
"Spirit History of Man," p. 88.
******** Movers:
"Phoinizer," 268.
********* Cory:
"Fragments," 240.
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acquainted, though
they may have differed in views of ether, with modern scientists; for in the
AEther they placed the Eternal Idea pervading the Universe, or the Will which
becomes Force, and creates or organizes matter.
"The
will," says Van Helmont, "is the first of all powers. For through the
will of the Creator all things were made and put in motion. . . . The will is
the property of all spiritual beings, and displays itself in them the more
actively the more they are freed from matter." And Paracelsus, "the
divine," as he was called, adds in the same strain: "Faith must
confirm the imagination, for faith establishes the will. . . . Determined will
is a beginning of all magical operations. . . . Because men do not perfectly
imagine and believe the result, is that the arts are uncertain, while they
might be perfectly certain."
The opposing power
alone of unbelief and skepticism, if projected in a current of equal force, can
check the other, and sometimes completely neutralize it. Why should
spiritualists wonder that the presence of some strong skeptics, or of those
who, feeling bitterly opposed to the phenomenon, unconsciously exercise their
will-power in opposition, hinders and often stops altogether the
manifestations? If there is no conscious power on earth but sometimes finds
another to interfere with or even counterbalance it, why wonder when the
unconscious, passive power of a medium is suddenly paralyzed in its effects by another
opposing one, though it also be as unconsciously exercised? Professors Faraday
and Tyndall boasted that their presence at a circle would stop at once every
manifestation. This fact alone ought to have proved to the eminent scientists
that there was some force in these phenomena worthy to arrest their attention.
As a scientist, Prof. Tyndall was perhaps pre-eminent in the circle of those
who were present at the seance; as a shrewd observer, one not easily deceived
by a tricking medium, he was perhaps no better, if as clever, as others in the
room, and if the manifestations were but a fraud so ingenious as to deceive the
others, they would not have stopped, even on his account. What medium can ever
boast of such phenomena as were produced by Jesus, and the apostle Paul after
him? Yet even Jesus met with cases where the unconscious force of resistance
overpowered even his so well directed current of will. "And he did not
many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."
There is a
reflection of every one of these views in Schopenhauer's philosophy. Our
"investigating" scientists might consult his works with profit. They
will find therein many a strange hypothesis founded on old ideas, speculations
on the "new" phenomena, which may prove as reasonable as any, and be
saved the useless trouble of inventing new
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theories. The
psychic and ectenic forces, the "ideo-motor" and
"electro-biological powers"; "latent thought" and even
"unconscious cerebration" theories, can be condensed in two words:
the kabalistic ASTRAL LIGHT.
The bold theories
and opinions expressed in Schopenhauer's works differ widely with those of the
majority of our orthodox scientists. "In reality," remarks this
daring speculator, "there is neither matter nor spirit. The tendency to
gravitation in a stone is as unexplainable as thought in human brain. . . . If
matter can -- no one knows why -- fall to the ground, then it can also -- no
one knows why -- think. . . . As soon, even in mechanics, as we trespass beyond
the purely mathematical, as soon as we reach the inscrutable, adhesion,
gravitation, and so on, we are faced by phenomena which are to our senses as
mysterious as the WILL and THOUGHT in man -- we find ourselves facing the
incomprehensible, for such is every force in nature. Where is then that matter
which you all pretend to know so well; and from which -- being so familiar with
it -- you draw all your conclusions and explanations, and attribute to it all
things? . . . That, which can be fully realized by our reason and senses, is
but the superficial: they can never reach the true inner substance of things.
Such was the opinion of Kant. If you consider that there is in a human head
some sort of a spirit, then you are obliged to concede the same to a stone. If
your dead and utterly passive matter can manifest a tendency toward
gravitation, or, like electricity, attract and repel, and send out sparks --
then, as well as the brain, it can also think. In short, every particle of the
so-called spirit, we can replace with an equivalent of matter, and every
particle of matter replace with spirit. . . . Thus, it is not the Cartesian
division of all things into matter and spirit that can ever be found
philosophically exact; but only if we divide them into will and manifestation,
which form of division has naught to do with the former, for it spiritualizes
every thing: all that, which is in the first instance real and objective --
body and matter -- it transforms into a representation, and every manifestation
into will."*
These views
corroborate what we have expressed about the various names given to the same
thing. The disputants are battling about mere words. Call the phenomena force,
energy, electricity or magnetism, will, or spirit-power, it will ever be the
partial manifestation of the soul, whether disembodied or imprisoned for a
while in its body -- of a portion of that intelligent, omnipotent, and
individual WILL, pervading all nature, and known, through the insufficiency of
human language to express correctly psychological images, as -- GOD.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Parerga," ii., pp. 111, 112.
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"PARERGA."
The ideas of some
of our schoolmen about matter are, from the kabalistic standing-point, in many
a way erroneous. Hartmann calls their views "an instinctual
prejudice." Furthermore, he demonstrates that no experimenter can have
anything to do with matter properly termed, but only with the forces into which
he divides it. The visible effects of matter are but the effects of force. He
concludes thereby, that that which is now called matter is nothing but the
aggregation of atomic forces, to express which the word matter is used: outside
of that, for science matter is but a word void of sense. Notwithstanding many
an honest confession on the part of our specialists -- physicists,
physiologists and chemists -- that they know nothing whatever of matter,* they
deify it. Every new phenomenon which they find themselves unable to explain, is
triturated, compounded into incense, and burned on the altar of the goddess who
patronizes modern scientists.
No one can better
treat his subject than does Schopenhauer in his Parerga. In this work he discusses
at length animal magnetism, clairvoyance, sympathetic cures, seership, magic,
omens, ghost-seeing, and other spiritual matters. "All these
manifestations," he says, "are branches of one and the same tree, and
furnish us with irrefutable proofs of the existence of a chain of beings which
is based on quite a different order of things than that nature which has at its
foundation laws of space, time and adaptability. This other order of things is
far deeper, for it is the original and the direct one; in its presence the
common laws of nature, which are simply formal, are unavailing; therefore,
under its immediate action neither time nor space can separate any longer the
individuals, and the separation impendent on these forms presents no more
insurmountable barriers for the intercourse of thoughts and the immediate
action of the will. In this manner changes may be wrought by quite a different
course than the course of physical causality, i.e., through an action of the
manifestation of the will exhibited in a peculiar way and outside the
individual himself. Therefore the peculiar character of all the aforesaid
manifestations is the visio in distante et actio in distante (vision and action
at a distance) in its relation to time as well as in its relation to space.
Such an action at a distance is just what constitutes the fundamental character
of what is called magical; for such is the immediate action of our will, an
action liberated from the causal conditions of physical action, viz.,
contact."
"Besides that,"
continues Schopenhauer, "these manifestations present to us a substantial
and perfectly logical contradiction to materialism, and even to naturalism,
because in the light of such manifestations,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Huxley:
"Physical Basis of Life."
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that order of
things in nature which both these philosophies seek to present as absolute and
the only genuine, appears before us on the contrary purely phenomenal and
superficial, and containing at the bottom of it a substance of things a parte
and perfectly independent of its own laws. That is why these manifestations --
at least from a purely philosophical point of view -- among all the facts which
are presented to us in the domain of experiment, are beyond any comparison the
most important. Therefore, it is the duty of every scientist to acquaint
himself with them."*
To pass from the
philosophical speculations of a man like Schopenhauer to the superficial
generalizations of some of the French Academicians, would be profitless but for
the fact that it enables us to estimate the intellectual grasp of the two
schools of learning. What the German makes of profound psychological questions,
we have seen. Compare with it the best that the astronomer Babinet and the
chemist Boussingault can offer by way of explaining an important spiritualistic
phenomenon. In 1854-5 these distinguished specialists presented to the Academy
a memoire, or monograph, whose evident object was to corroborate and at the
same time make clearer Dr. Chevreuil's too complicated theory in explanation of
the turning-tables, of the commission for the investigation of which he was a
member.
Here it is
verbatim: "As to the movements and oscillations alleged to happen with
certain tables, they can have no cause other than the invisible and involuntary
vibrations of the experimenter's muscular system; the extended contraction of
the muscles manifesting itself at such time by a series of vibrations, and
becoming thus a visible tremor which communicates to the object a circumrotary
motion. This rotation is thus enabled to manifest itself with a considerable
energy, by a gradually quickening motion, or by a strong resistance, whenever
it is required to stop. Hence the physical explanation of the phenomenon
becomes clear and does not offer the slightest difficulty."**
None whatever. This
scientific hypothesis -- or demonstration shall we say? -- is as clear as one
of M. Babinet's nebulae examined on a foggy night.
And still, clear as
it may be, it lacks an important feature, i.e., common sense. We are at a loss
to decide whether or not Babinet accepts en desespoir de cause Hartmann's
proposition that "the visible effects of matter are nothing but the
effects of a force," and, that in order to form a clear conception of
matter, one must first form one of force. The philosophy to the school of which
belongs Hartmann, and which is
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Schopenhauer:
"Parerga." Art. on "Will in Nature."
** "Revue des
Deux Mondes," Jan. 15, 1855, p. 108.
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ATOMS.
partly accepted by
several of the greatest German scientists, teaches that the problem of matter
can only be solved by that invisible Force, acquaintance with which
Schopenhauer terms the "magical knowledge," and "magical effect
or action of Will." Thus, we must first ascertain whether the
"involuntary vibrations of the experimenter's muscular system," which
are but "actions of matter," are influenced by a will within the
experimenter or without. In the former case Babinet makes of him an unconscious
epileptic; the latter, as we will further see, he rejects altogether, and
attributes all intelligent answers of the tipping or rapping tables to
"unconscious ventriloquism."
We know that every
exertion of will results in force, and that, according to the above-named
German school, the manifestations of atomic forces are individual actions of
will, resulting in the unconscious rushing of atoms into the concrete image
already subjectively created by the will. Democritus taught, after his
instructor Leucippus, that the first principles of all things contained in the
universe were atoms and a vacuum. In its kabalistic sense, the vacuum means in
this instance the latent Deity, or latent force, which at its first
manifestation became WILL, and thus communicated the first impulse to these
atoms -- whose agglomeration, is matter. This vacuum was but another name for
chaos, and an unsatisfactory one, for, according to the Peripatetics
"nature abhors a vacuum."
That before
Democritus the ancients were familiar with the idea of the indestructibility of
matter is proved by their allegories and numerous other facts. Movers gives a
definition of the Phoenician idea of the ideal sun-light as a spiritual
influence issuing from the highest God, IAO, "the light conceivable only
by intellect -- the physical and spiritual Principle of all things; out of
which the soul emanates." It was the male Essence, or Wisdom, while the
primitive matter or Chaos was the female. Thus the two first principles --
co-eternal and infinite, were already with the primitive Phoenicians, spirit
and matter. Therefore the theory is as old as the world; for Democritus was not
the first philosopher who taught it; and intuition existed in man before the
ultimate development of his reason. But it is in the denial of the boundless
and endless Entity, possessor of that invisible Will which we for lack of a better
term call GOD, that lies the powerlessness of every materialistic science to
explain the occult phenomena. It is in the rejection a priori of everything
which might force them to cross the boundary of exact science and step into the
domain of psychological, or, if we prefer, metaphysical physiology, that we
find the secret cause of their discomfiture by the manifestations, and their
absurd theories to account for them. The ancient philosophy affirmed that it is
in consequence of the manifestation of that Will -- termed by Plato the Divine
Idea -- that everything visible and invisible
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sprung into
existence. As that Intelligent Idea, which, by directing its sole will-power
toward a centre of localized forces called objective forms into being, so can
man, the microcosm of the great Macrocosm, do the same in proportion with the
development of his will-power. The imaginary atoms -- a figure of speech
employed by Democritus, and gratefully seized upon by the materialists -- are
like automatic workmen moved inwardIy by the influx of that Universal Will
directed upon them, and which, manifesting itself as force, sets them into
activity. The plan of the structure to be erected is in the brain of the
Architect, and reflects his will; abstract as yet, from the instant of the
conception it becomes concrete through these atoms which follow faithfully
every line, point and figure traced in the imagination of the Divine Geometer.
As God creates, so
man can create. Given a certain intensity of will, and the shapes created by
the mind become subjective. Hallucinations, they are called, although to their creator
they are real as any visible object is to any one else. Given a more intense
and intelligent concentration of this will, and the form becomes concrete,
visible, objective; the man has learned the secret of secrets; he is a
MAGICIAN.
The materialist
should not object to this logic, for he regards thought as matter. Conceding it
to be so, the cunning mechanism contrived by the inventor; the fairy scenes
born in the poet's brain; the gorgeous painting limned by the artist's fancy;
the peerless statue chiselled in ether by the sculptor; the palaces and castles
built in air by the architect -- all these, though invisible and subjective,
must exist, for they are matter, shaped and moulded. Who shall say, then, that
there are not some men of such imperial will as to be able to drag these
air-drawn fancies into view, enveloped in the hard casing of gross substance to
make them tangible?
If the French
scientists reaped no laurels in the new field of investigation, what more was
done in England, until the day when Mr. Crookes offered himself in atonement
for the sins of the learned body? Why, Mr. Faraday, some twenty years ago,
actually condescended to be spoken to once or twice upon the subject. Faraday,
whose name is pronounced by the anti-spiritualists in every discussion upon the
phenomena, as a sort of scientific charm against the evil-eye of Spiritualism,
Faraday, who "blushed" for having published his researches upon such
a degrading belief, is now proved on good authority to have never sat at a
tipping table himself at all! We have but to open a few stray numbers of the
Journal des Debats, published while a noted Scotch medium was in England, to
recall the past events in all their primitive freshness. In one of these
numbers, Dr. Foucault, of Paris, comes out as a champion for the eminent
English experimenter. "Pray, do not imagine," says he,
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GLUE.
"that the
grand physicist had ever himself condescended so far as to sit prosaically at a
jumping table." Whence, then, came the "blushes" which suffused
the cheeks of the "Father of Experimental Philosophy"? Remembering
this fact, we will now examine the nature of Faraday's beautiful
"Indicator," the extraordinary "Medium-Catcher," invented
by him for the detection of mediumistic fraud. That complicated machine, the
memory of which haunts like a nightmare the dreams of dishonest mediums, is
carefully described in Comte de Mirville's Question des Esprits.
The better to prove
to the experimenters the reality of their own impulsion, Professor Faraday
placed several card-board disks, united to each other and stuck to the table by
a half-soft glue, which, making the whole adhere for a time together, would,
nevertheless, yield to a continuous pressure. Now, the table having turned --
yes, actually having dared to turn before Mr. Faraday, which fact is of some
value, at least -- the disks were examined; and, as they were found to have
gradually displaced themselves by slipping in the same direction as the table,
it thus became an unquestionable proof that the experimenters had pushed the
tables themselves.
Another of the
so-called scientific tests, so useful in a phenomenon alleged to be either
spiritual or psychical, consisted of a small instrument which immediately
warned the witnesses of the slightest personal impulsion on their part, or
rather, according to Mr. Faraday's own expression, "it warned them when
they changed from the passive to the active state." This needle which
betrayed the active motion proved but one thing, viz.: the action of a force
which either emanated from the sitters or controlled them. And who has ever
said that there is no such force? Every one admits so much, whether this force
passes through the operator, as it is generally shown, or acts independently of
him, as is so often the case. "The whole mystery consisted in the
disproportion of the force employed by the operators, who pushed because they
were forced to push, with certain effects of rotation, or rather, of a really
marvellous race. In the presence of such prodigious effects, how could any one
imagine that the Lilliputian experiments of that kind could have any value in
this newly discovered Land of Giants?"*
Professor Agassiz,
who occupied in America nearly the same eminent position as a scientist which
Mr. Faraday did in England, acted with a still greater unfairness. Professor J.
R. Buchanan, the distinguished anthropologist, who has treated Spiritualism in
some respects more scientifically than any one else in America, speaks of
Agassiz, in a recent article, with
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Comte de
Mirville: "Question des Esprits."
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a very just
indignation. For, of all other men, Professor Agassiz ought to believe in a
phenomenon to which he had been a subject himself. But now that both Faraday
and Agassiz are themselves disembodied, we can do better by questioning the
living than the dead.
Thus a force whose
secret powers were thoroughly familiar to the ancient theurgists, is denied by
modern skeptics. The antediluvian children -- who perhaps played with it, using
it as the boys in Bulwer-Lytton's Coming Race, use the tremendous
"vril" -- called it the "Water of Phtha"; their descendants
named it the Anima Mundi, the soul of the universe; and still later the
mediaeval hermetists termed it "sidereal light," or the "Milk of
the Celestial Virgin," the "Magnes," and many other names. But
our modern learned men will neither accept nor recognize it under such
appellations; for it pertains to magic, and magic is, in their conception, a
disgraceful superstition.
Apollonius and
Iamblichus held that it was not "in the knowledge of things without, but
in the perfection of the soul within, that lies the empire of man, aspiring to
be more than men."* Thus they had arrived at a perfect cognizance of their
godlike souls, the powers of which they used with all the wisdom, outgrowth of
esoteric study of the hermetic lore, inherited by them from their forefathers.
But our philosophers, tightly shutting themselves up in their shells of flesh,
cannot or dare not carry their timid gaze beyond the comprehensible. For them
there is no future life; there are no godlike dreams, they scorn them as
unscientific; for them the men of old are but "ignorant ancestors,"
as they express it; and whenever they meet during their physiological
researches with an author who believes that this mysterious yearning after
spiritual knowledge is inherent in every human being, and cannot have been
given us utterly in vain, they regard him with contemptuous pity.
Says a Persian
proverb: "The darker the sky is, the brighter the stars will shine."
Thus, on the dark firmament of the mediaeval ages began appearing the
mysterious Brothers of the Rosie Cross. They formed no associations, they built
no colleges; for, hunted up and down like so many wild beasts, when caught by
the Christian Church, they were unceremoniously roasted. "As religion
forbids it," says Bayle, "to spill blood," therefore, "to
elude the maxim, Ecclesia non novit sanguinem, they burned human beings, as
burning a man does not shed his blood!"
Many of these
mystics, by following what they were taught by some treatises, secretly
preserved from one generation to another, achieved discoveries which would not
be despised even in our modern days of exact sciences. Roger Bacon, the friar,
was laughed at as a quack, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Bulwer-Lytton:
"Zanoni."
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is now generally
numbered among "pretenders" to magic art; but his discoveries were
nevertheless accepted, and are now used by those who ridicule him the most.
Roger Bacon belonged by right if not by fact to that Brotherhood which includes
all those who study the occult sciences. Living in the thirteenth century,
almost a contemporary, therefore, of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, his
discoveries -- such as gunpowder and optical glasses, and his mechanical
achievements -- were considered by every one as so many miracles. He was
accused of having made a compact with the Evil One.
In the legendary
history of Friar Bacon, as "well as in an old play written by Robert
Green, a dramatist in the days of Queen Elizabeth, it is recounted, that,
having been summoned before the king, the friar was induced to show" some
of his skill before her majesty the queen. So he waved his hand (his wand, says
the text), and "presently was heard such excellent music, that they all
said they had never heard the like." Then there was heard a still louder
music and four apparitions suddenly presented themselves and danced until they
vanished and disappeared in the air. Then he waved his wand again, and suddenly
there was such a smell "as if all the rich perfumes in the whole world had
been there prepared in the best manner that art could set them out." Then
Roger Bacon having promised a gentleman to show him his sweetheart, he pulled a
hanging in the king's apartment aside and every one in the room saw "a
kitchen-maid with a basting-ladle in her hand." The proud gentleman,
although he recognized the maiden who disappeared as suddenly as she had
appeared, was enraged at the humiliating spectacle, and threatened the friar
with his revenge. What does the magician do? He simply answers: "Threaten
not, lest I do you more shame; and do you take heed how you give scholars the
lie again!"
As a commentary on
this, the modern historian* remarks: "This may be taken as a sort of
exemplification of the class of exhibitions which were probably the result of a
superior knowledge of natural sciences." No one ever doubted that it was
the result of precisely such a knowledge, and the hermetists, magicians,
astrologers and alchemists never claimed anything else. It certainly was not
their fault that the ignorant masses, under the influence of an unscrupulous
and fanatical clergy, should have attributed all such works to the agency of
the devil. In view of the atrocious tortures provided by the Inquisition for
all suspected of either black or white magic, it is not strange that these
philosophers neither boasted nor even acknowledged the fact of such an
intercourse. On the contrary, their own writings prove that they held that
magic is "no more than the
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* T. Wright:
"Narratives of Sorcery and Magic."
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application of
natural active causes to passive things or subjects; by means thereof, many
tremendously surprising but yet natural effects are produced."
The phenomena of
the mystic odors and music, exhibited by Roger Bacon, have been often observed
in our own time. To say nothing of our personal experience, we are informed by
English correspondents of the Theosophical Society that they have heard strains
of the most ravishing music, coming from no visible instrument, and inhaled a
succession of delightful odors produced, as they believed, by spirit-agency.
One correspondent tells us that so powerful was one of these familiar odors --
that of sandal-wood -- that the house would be impregnated with it for weeks
after the seance. The medium in this case was a member of a private family, and
the experiments were all made within the domestic circle. Another describes
what he calls a "musical rap." The potencies that are now capable of
producing these phenomena must have existed and been equally efficacious in the
days of Roger Bacon. As to the apparitions, it suffices to say that they are
evoked now in spiritualistic circles, and guaranteed by scientists, and their
evocation by Roger Bacon is thus made more probable than ever.
Baptista Porta, in
his treatise on Natural Magic, enumerates a whole catalogue of secret formulae
for producing extraordinary effects by employing the occult powers of nature.
Although the "magicians" believed as firmly as our spiritualists in a
world of invisible spirits, none of them claimed to produce his effects under
their control or through their sole help. They knew too well how difficult it
is to keep away the elementary creatures when they have once found the door
wide open. Even the magic of the ancient Chaldeans was but a profound knowledge
of the powers of simples and minerals. It was only when the theurgist desired
divine help in spiritual and earthly matters that he sought direct
communication through religious rites, with pure spiritual beings. With them,
even, those spirits who remain invisible and communicate with mortals through
their awakened inner senses, as in clairvoyance, clairaudience and trance,
could only be evoked subjectively and as a result of purity of life and prayer.
But all physical phenomena were produced simply by applying a knowledge of
natural forces, although certainly not by the method of legerdemain, practiced
in our days by conjurers.
Men possessed of
such knowledge and exercising such powers patiently toiled for something better
than the vain glory of a passing fame. Seeking it not, they became immortal, as
do all who labor for the good of the race, forgetful of mean self. Illuminated
with the light of eternal truth, these rich-poor alchemists fixed their
attention upon the things that lie beyond the common ken, recognizing nothing
inscrutable but the First
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KING."
Cause, and finding
no question unsolvable. To dare, to know, to will, and REMAIN SILENT, was their
constant rule; to be beneficent, unselfish, and unpretending, were, with them,
spontaneous impulses. Disdaining the rewards of petty traffic, spurning wealth,
luxury, pomp, and worldly power, they aspired to knowledge as the most
satisfying of all acquisitions. They esteemed poverty, hunger, toil, and the
evil report of men, as none too great a price to pay for its achievement. They,
who might have lain on downy, velvet-covered beds, suffered themselves to die
in hospitals and by the wayside, rather than debase their souls and allow the
profane cupidity of those who tempted them to triumph over their sacred vows.
The lives of Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, and Philalethes are too well known
to repeat the old, sad story.
If spiritualists
are anxious to keep strictly dogmatic in their notions of the
"spirit-world," they must not set scientists to investigate their
phenomena in the true experimental spirit. The attempt would most surely result
in a partial re-discovery of the magic of old -- that of Moses and Paracelsus.
Under the deceptive beauty of some of their apparitions, they might find some
day the sylphs and fair Undines of the Rosicrucians playing in the currents of
psychic and odic force.
Already Mr.
Crookes, who fully credits the being, feels that under the fair skin of Katie,
covering a simulacrum of heart borrowed partially from the medium and the
circle, there is no soul! And the learned authors of The Unseen Universe,
abandoning their "electro-biological" theory, begin to perceive in
the universal ether the possibility that it is a photographic album of EN-SOPH
-- the Boundless.
We are far from
believing that all the spirits that communicate at circles are of the classes
called "Elemental," and "Elementary." Many -- especially
among those who control the medium subjectively to speak, write, and otherwise
act in various ways -- are human, disembodied spirits. Whether the majority of
such spirits are good or bad, largely depends on the private morality of the
medium, much on the circle present, and a great deal on the intensity and
object of their purpose. If this object is merely to gratify curiosity and to
pass the time, it is useless to expect anything serious. But, in any case,
human spirits can never materialize themselves in propria persona. These can
never appear to the investigator clothed with warm, solid flesh, sweating hands
and faces, and grossly-material bodies. The most they can do is to project
their aethereal reflection on the atmospheric waves, and if the touch of their
hands and clothing can become upon rare occasions objective to the senses of a
living mortal, it will be felt as a passing breeze gently sweeping over the
touched spot, not as a human hand or material body. It is useless to plead that
the "materialized spirits" that have exhibited themselves with
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beating hearts and
loud voices (with or without a trumpet) are human spirits. The voices -- if
such sound can be termed a voice at all -- of a spiritual apparition once heard
can hardly be forgotten. That of a pure spirit is like the tremulous murmur of
an AEolian harp echoed from a distance; the voice of a suffering, hence impure,
if not utterly bad spirit, may be assimilated to a human voice issuing from an
empty barrel.
This is not our
philosophy, but that of the numberless generations of theurgists and magicians,
and based upon their practical experience. The testimony of antiquity is
positive on this subject: [[Daimonioin phonai anarthroi eisi]]. . . .* The
voices of spirits are not articulated. The spirit-voice consists of a series of
sounds which conveys the impression of a column of compressed air ascending
from beneath upward, and spreading around the living interlocutor. The many
eye-witnesses who testified in the case of Elizabeth Eslinger, namely:** the
deputy-governor of the prison of Weinsberg, Mayer, Eckhart, Theurer, and Knorr
(sworn evidence), Duttenhofer, and Kapff, the mathematician, testified that
they saw the apparition like a pillar of clouds. For the space of eleven weeks,
Doctor Kerner and his sons, several Lutheran ministers, the advocate Fraas, the
engraver Duttenhofer, two physicians, Siefer and Sicherer, the judge Heyd, and
the Baron von Hugel, with many others, followed this manifestation daily.
During the time it lasted, the prisoner Elizabeth prayed with a loud voice
uninterruptedly; therefore, as the "spirit" was talking at the same
time, it could be no ventriloquism; and that voice, they say, "had nothing
human in it; no one could imitate its sounds."
Further on we will
give abundant proofs from ancient authors concerning this neglected truism. We
will now only again assert that no spirit claimed by the spiritualists to be
human was ever proved to be such on sufficient testimony. The influence of the
disembodied ones can be felt, and communicated subjectively by them to
sensitives. They can produce objective manifestations, but they cannot produce
themselves otherwise than as described above. They can control the body of a
medium, and express their desires and ideas in various modes well known to
spiritualists; but not materialize what is matterless and purely spiritual --
their divine essence. Thus every so-called "materialization" -- when
genuine -- is either produced (perhaps) by the will of that spirit whom the
"appearance" is claimed to be but can only personate at best, or by
the elementary goblins themselves, which are generally too stupid to deserve
the honor of being called devils. Upon rare occasions the spirits are able to
subdue and control these soulless beings, which are ever ready to
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* See Des
Mousseaux's "Dodone," and "Dieu et les dieux," p. 326.
**
"Apparitions," translated by C. Crowe, pp. 388, 391, 399.
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HUMAN.
assume pompous
names if left to themselves, in such a way that the mischievous spirit "of
the air," shaped in the real image of the human spirit, will be moved by
the latter like a marionette, and unable to either act or utter other words
than those imposed on him by the "immortal soul." But this requires
many conditions generally unknown to the circles of even spiritualists most in
the habit of regularly attending seances. Not every one can attract human
spirits who likes. One of the most powerful attractions of our departed ones is
their strong affection for those whom they have left on earth. It draws them
irresistibly, by degrees, into the current of the Astral Light vibrating
between the person sympathetic to them and the Universal Soul. Another very
important condition is harmony, and the magnetic purity of the persons present.
If this philosophy
is wrong, if all the "materialized" forms emerging in darkened rooms
from still darker cabinets, are spirits of men who once lived upon this earth,
why such a difference between them and the ghosts that appear unexpectedly --
ex abrupto -- without either cabinet or medium? Who ever heard of the
apparitions, unrestful "souls," hovering about the spots where they
were murdered, or coming back for some other mysterious reasons of their own,
with "warm hands" feeling like living flesh, and but that they are
known to be dead and buried, not distinguishable from living mortals? We have
well-attested facts of such apparitions making themselves suddenly visible, but
never, until the beginning of the era of the "materializations," did
we see anything like them. In the Medium and Day Break, of September 8, 1876,
we read a letter from "a lady travelling on the continent," narrating
a circumstance that happened in a haunted house. She says: ". . . A
strange sound proceeded from a darkened corner of the library . . . on looking
up she perceived a cloud or column of luminous vapor; . . . . the earth-bound
spirit was hovering about the spot rendered accursed by his evil deed. . .
." As this spirit was doubtless a genuine elementary apparition, which
made itself visible of its own free will -- in short, an umbra -- it was, as
every respectable shadow should be, visible but impalpable, or if palpable at
all, communicating to the feeling of touch the sensation of a mass of water
suddenly clasped in the hand, or of condensed but cold steam. It was luminous
and vapory; for aught we can tell it might have been the real personal umbra of
the "spirit," persecuted, and earth-bound, either by its own remorse
and crimes or those of another person or spirit. The mysteries of after-death
are many, and modern "materializations" only make them cheap and
ridiculous in the eyes of the indifferent.
To these assertions
may be opposed a fact well known among spiritualists: The writer has publicly
certified to having seen such materialized forms. We have most assuredly done
so, and are ready to repeat the
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testimony. We have
recognized such figures as the visible representations of acquaintances, friends,
and even relatives. We have, in company with many other spectators, heard them
pronounce words in languages unfamiliar not only to the medium and to every one
else in the room, except ourselves, but, in some cases, to almost if not quite
every medium in America and Europe, for they were the tongues of Eastern tribes
and peoples. At the time, these instances were justly regarded as conclusive
proofs of the genuine mediumship of the uneducated Vermont farmer who sat in
the "cabinet." But, nevertheless, these figures were not the forms of
the persons they appeared to be. They were simply their portrait statues,
constructed, animated and operated by the elementaries. If we have not
previously elucidated this point, it was because the spiritualistic public was
not then ready to even listen to the fundamental proposition that there are
elemental and elementary spirits. Since that time this subject has been
broached and more or less widely discussed. There is less hazard now in
attempting to launch upon the restless sea of criticism the hoary philosophy of
the ancient sages, for there has been some preparation of the public mind to
consider it with impartiality and deliberation. Two years of agitation have
effected a marked change for the better.
Pausanias writes
that four hundred years after the battle of Marathon, there were still heard in
the place where it was fought, the neighing of horses and the shouts of shadowy
soldiers. Supposing that the spectres of the slaughtered soldiers were their
genuine spirits, they looked like "shadows," not materialized men.
Who, then, or what, produced the neighing of horses? Equine
"spirits"? And if it be pronounced untrue that horses have spirits --
which assuredly no one among zoologists, physiologists or psychologists, or
even spiritualists, can either prove or disprove -- then must we take it for
granted that it was the "immortal souls" of men which produced the
neighing at Marathon to make the historical battle scene more vivid and
dramatic? The phantoms of dogs, cats, and various other animals have been
repeatedly seen, and the world-wide testimony is as trustworthy upon this point
as that with respect to human apparitions. Who or what personates, if we are
allowed such an expression, the ghosts of departed animals? Is it, again, human
spirits? As the matter now stands, there is no side issue; we have either to
admit that animals have surviving spirits and souls as well as ourselves, or
hold with Porphyry that there are in the invisible world a kind of tricky and
malicious demons, intermediary beings between living men and "gods,"
spirits that delight in appearing under every imaginable shape, beginning with
the human form, and ending with those of multifarious animals.*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De
Abstinentia," etc.
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CRIMES.
Before venturing to
decide the question whether the spectral animal forms so frequently seen and
attested are the returning spirits of dead beasts, we must carefully consider
their reported behavior. Do these spectres act according to the habits and
display the same instincts, as the animals during life? Do the spectral beasts
of prey lie in wait for victims, and timid animals flee before the presence of
man; or do the latter show a malevolence and disposition to annoy, quite
foreign to their natures? Many victims of these obsessions -- notably, the
afflicted persons of Salem and other historical witchcrafts -- testify to
having seen dogs, cats, pigs, and other animals, entering their rooms, biting
them, trampling upon their sleeping bodies, and talking to them; often inciting
them to suicide and other crimes. In the well-attested case of Elizabeth
Eslinger, mentioned by Dr. Kerner, the apparition of the ancient priest of
Wimmenthal* was accompanied by a large black dog, which he called his father,
and which dog in the presence of numerous witnesses jumped on all the beds of
the prisoners. At another time the priest appeared with a lamb, and sometimes
with two lambs. Most of those accused at Salem were charged by the seeresses
with consulting and plotting mischief with yellow birds, which would sit on
their shoulder or on the beams overhead.** And unless we discredit the
testimony of thousands of witnesses, in all parts of the world, and in all
ages, and allow a monopoly of seership to modern mediums, spectre-animals do
appear and manifest all the worst traits of depraved human nature, without
themselves being human. What, then, can they be but elementals?
Descartes was one
of the few who believed and dared say that to occult medicine we shall owe
discoveries "destined to extend the domain of philosophy"; and
Brierre de Boismont not only shared in these hopes but openly avowed his
sympathy with "supernaturalism," which he considered the universal
"grand creed." ". . . We think with Guizot," he says, "that
the existence of society is bound up in it. It is in vain that modern reason,
which, notwithstanding its positivism, cannot explain the intimate cause of any
phenomena, rejects the supernatural; it is universal, and at the root of all
hearts. The most elevated minds are frequently its most ardent
disciples."***
Christopher
Columbus discovered America, and Americus Vespucius reaped the glory and
usurped his dues. Theophrastus Paracelsus rediscovered the occult properties of
the magnet -- "the bone of Horus" which, twelve centuries before his
time, had played such an important part in the theurgic mysteries -- and he
very naturally became the founder
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* C. Crowe:
"On Apparitions," p. 398.
** Upham:
"Salem Witchcraft."
*** Brierre de
Boismont: "On Hallucinations," p. 60.
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of the school of
magnetism and of mediaeval magico-theurgy. But Mesmer, who lived nearly three
hundred years after him, and as a disciple of his school brought the magnetic
wonders before the public, reaped the glory that was due to the
fire-philosopher, while the great master died in a hospital!
So goes the world:
new discoveries, evolving from old sciences; new men -- the same old nature!
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CHAPTER III.
"The mirror of
the soul cannot reflect both earth and heaven; and the one vanishes from its
surface, as the other is glassed upon its deep." ZANONI.
"Qui, donc,
t'a donne la mission d'annoncer au peuple que la Divinite n'existe pas -- quel
avantage trouves tu a persuader a l'homme qu'une force aveugle preside a ses
destinees et frappe au hasard le crime et la vertu?"
ROBESPIERRE
(Discours), May 7, 1794.
WE believe that few
of those physical phenomena which are genuine are caused by disembodied human
spirits. Still, even those that are produced by occult forces of nature, such
as happen through a few genuine mediums, and are consciously employed by the
so-called "jugglers" of India and Egypt, deserve a careful and
serious investigation by science; especially now that a number of respected
authorities have testified that in many cases the hypothesis of fraud does not
hold. No doubt, there are professed "conjurors" who can perform
cleverer tricks than all the American and English "John Kings"
together. Robert Houdin unquestionably could, but this did not prevent his
laughing outright in the face of the academicians, when they desired him to
assert in the newspapers, that he could make a table move, or rap answers to
questions, without contact of hands, unless the table was a prepared one.* The
fact alone, that a now notorious London juggler refused to accept a challenge
for £1,000 offered him by Mr. Algernon Joy,* to produce such manifestations as
are usually obtained through mediums, unless he was left unbound and free from
the hands of a committee, negatives his expose of the occult phenomena. Clever
as he may be, we defy and challenge him to reproduce, under the same
conditions, the "tricks" exhibited even by a common Indian juggler.
For instance, the spot to be chosen by the investigators at the moment of the
performance, and the juggler to know nothing of the choice; the experiment to
be made in broad daylight, without the least preparations for it; without any
confederate but a boy absolutely naked, and the juggler to be in a condition of
semi-nudity. After that, we should select out of a variety three tricks, the
most common among such public jugglers, and that were recently exhibited to
some gentlemen belonging to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See de Mirville's
"Question des Esprits," and the works on the "Phenomenes
Spirites," by de Gasparin.
** Honorary
Secretary to the National Association of Spiritualists of London.
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the suite of the
Prince of Wales: 1. To transform a rupee -- firmly clasped in the hand of a
skeptic -- into a living cobra, the bite of which would prove fatal, as an
examination of its fangs would show. 2. To cause a seed chosen at random by the
spectators, and planted in the first semblance of a flower-pot, furnished by
the same skeptics, to grow, mature, and bear fruit in less than a quarter of an
hour. 3. To stretch himself on three swords, stuck perpendicularly in the
ground at their hilts, the sharp points upward; after that, to have removed
first one of the swords, then the other, and, after an interval of a few
seconds, the last one, the juggler remaining, finally, lying on nothing -- on
the air, miraculously suspended at about one yard from the ground. When any
prestidigitateur, to begin with Houdin and end with the last trickster who has
secured gratuitous advertisement by attacking spiritualism, does the same, then
-- but only then -- we will train ourselves to believe that mankind has been
evolved out of the hind-toe of Mr. Huxley's Eocene Orohippus.
We assert again, in
full confidence, that there does not exist a professional wizard, either of the
North, South or West, who can compete with anything approaching success, with
these untutored, naked sons of the East. These require no Egyptian Hall for
their performances, nor any preparations or rehearsals; but are ever ready, at
a moment's notice, to evoke to their help the hidden powers of nature, which,
for European prestidigitateurs as well as for scientists, are a closed book.
Verily, as Elihu puts it, "great men are not always wise; neither do the
aged understand judgment."* To repeat the remark of the English divine,
Dr. Henry More, we may well say: ". . . indeed, if there were any modesty
left in mankind, the histories of the Bible might abundantly assure men of the
existence of angels and spirits." The same eminent man adds, "I look
upon it as a special piece of Providence that . . . fresh examples of
apparitions may awaken our benumbed and lethargic minds into an assurance that
there are other intelligent beings besides those that are clothed in heavy
earth or clay . . . for this evidence, showing that there are bad spirits, will
necessarily open a door to the belief that there are good ones, and lastly,
that there is a God." The instance above given carries a moral with it,
not only to scientists, but theologians. Men who have made their mark in the
pulpit and in professors' chairs, are continually showing the lay public that
they really know so little of psychology, as to take up with any plausible
schemer who comes their way, and so make themselves ridiculous in the eyes of
the thoughtful student. Public opinion upon this subject has been manufactured
by jugglers and self-styled savants, unworthy of respectful consideration.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Job.
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The development of
psychological science has been retarded far more by the ridicule of this class
of pretenders, than by the inherent difficulties of its study. The empty laugh
of the scientific nursling or of the fools of fashion, has done more to keep
man ignorant of his imperial psychical powers, than the obscurities, the obstacles
and the dangers that cluster about the subject. This is especially the case
with spiritualistic phenomena. That their investigation has been so largely
confined to incapables, is due to the fact that men of science, who might and
would have studied them, have been frightened off by the boasted exposures, the
paltry jokes, and the impertinent clamor of those who are not worthy to tie
their shoes. There are moral cowards even in university chairs. The inherent
vitality of modern spiritualism is proven in its survival of the neglect of the
scientific body, and of the obstreperous boasting of its pretended exposers. If
we begin with the contemptuous sneers of the patriarchs of science, such as
Faraday and Brewster, and end with the professional (?) exposes of the
successful mimicker of the phenomena, ----, of London, we will not find them
furnishing one single, well-established argument against the occurrence of
spiritual manifestations. "My theory is," says this individual, in
his recent soi-disant "expose," "that Mr. Williams dressed up
and personified John King and Peter. Nobody can prove that it wasn't so."
Thus it appears that, notwithstanding the bold tone of assertion, it is but a
theory after all, and spiritualists might well retort upon the exposer, and
demand that he should prove that it is so.
But the most
inveterate, uncompromising enemies of Spiritualism are a class very fortunately
composed of but few members, who, nevertheless, declaim the louder and assert
their views with a clamorousness worthy of a better cause. These are the
pretenders to science of young America -- a mongrel class of
pseudo-philosophers, mentioned at the opening of this chapter, with sometimes
no better right to be regarded as scholars than the possession of an electrical
machine, or the delivery of a puerile lecture on insanity and mediomania. Such
men are -- if you believe them -- profound thinkers and physiologists; there is
none of your metaphysical nonsense about them; they are Positivists -- the
mental sucklings of Auguste Comte, whose bosoms swell at the thought of
plucking deluded humanity from the dark abyss of superstition, and rebuilding
the cosmos on improved principles. Irascible psychophobists, no more cutting
insult can be offered them than to suggest that they may be endowed with
immortal spirits. To hear them, one would fancy that there can be no other
souls in men and women than "scientific" or "unscientific
souls"; whatever that kind of soul may be.*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Dr. F. R.
Marvin's "Lectures on Mediomania and Insanity."
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Some thirty or
forty years ago, in France, Auguste Comte -- a pupil of the Ecole
Polytechnique, who had remained for years at that establishment as a repetiteur
of Transcendant Analysis and Rationalistic Mechanics -- awoke one fine morning
with the very irrational idea of becoming a prophet. In America, prophets can
be met with at every street-corner; in Europe, they are as rare as black swans.
But France is the land of novelties. Auguste Comte became a prophet; and so
infectious is fashion, sometimes, that even in sober England he was considered,
for a certain time, the Newton of the nineteenth century.
The epidemic
extended, and for the time being, it spread like wildfire over Germany,
England, and America. It found adepts in France, but the excitement did not
last long with these. The prophet needed money: the disciples were unwilling to
furnish it. The fever of admiration for a religion without a God cooled off as
quickly as it had come on; of all the enthusiastic apostles of the prophet,
there remained but one worthy of any attention. It was the famous philologist
Littre, a member of the French Institute, and a would-be member of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences, but whom the archbishop of Orleans maliciously prevented
from becoming one of the "Immortals."*
The philosopher-mathematician
-- the high-priest of the "religion of the future" -- taught his
doctrine as do all his brother-prophets of our modern days. He deified
"woman," and furnished her with an altar; but the goddess had to pay
for its use. The rationalists had laughed at the mental aberration of Fourier;
they had laughed at the St. Simonists; and their scorn for Spiritualism knew no
bounds. The same rationalists and materialists were caught, like so many
empty-headed sparrows, by the bird-lime of the new prophet's rhetoric. A
longing for some kind of divinity, a craving for the "unknown," is a
feeling congenital in man; hence the worst atheists seem not to be exempt from
it. Deceived by the outward brilliancy of this ignus fatuus, the disciples followed
it until they found themselves floundering in a bottomless morass.
Covering themselves
with the mask of a pretended erudition, the Positivists of this country have
organized themselves into clubs and committees with the design of uprooting
Spiritualism, while pretending to impartially investigate it.
Too timid to openly
challenge the churches and the Christian doctrine, they endeavor to sap that
upon which all religion is based -- man's faith in God and his own immortality.
Their policy is to ridicule that which affords an unusual basis for such a
faith -- phenomenal Spiritualism.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Vapereau:
"Biographie Contemporaine," art. Littre; and Des Mousseaux: "Les
Hauts Phenomenes de la Magie," ch. 6.
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FUTURE.
Attacking it at its
weakest side, they make the most of its lack of an inductive method, and of the
exaggerations that are to be found in the transcendental doctrines of its
propagandists. Taking advantage of its unpopularity, and displaying a courage
as furious and out of place as that of the errant knight of La Mancha, they
claim recognition as philanthropists and benefactors who would crush out a
monstrous superstition.
Let us see in what
degree Comte's boasted religion of the future is superior to Spiritualism, and
how much less likely its advocates are to need the refuge of those lunatic
asylums which they officiously recommend for the mediums whom they have been so
solicitous about. Before beginning, let us call attention to the fact that
three-fourths of the disgraceful features exhibited in modern Spiritualism are
directly traceable to the materialistic adventurers pretending to be
spiritualists. Comte has fulsomely depicted the
"artificially-fecundated" woman of the future. She is but elder
sister to the Cyprian ideal of the free-lovers. The immunity against the future
offered by the teachings of his moonstruck disciples, has inoculated some
pseudo-spiritualists to such an extent as to lead them to form communistic
associations. None, however, have proved long-lived. Their leading feature
being generally a materialistic animalism, gilded over with a thin leaf of
Dutch-metal philosophy and tricked out with a combination of hard Greek names,
the community could not prove anything else than a failure.
Plato, in the fifth
book of the Republic, suggests a method for improving the human race by the
elimination of the unhealthy or deformed individuals, and by coupling the
better specimens of both sexes. It was not to be expected that the "genius
of our century," even were he a prophet, would squeeze out of his brain
anything entirely new.
Comte was a
mathematician. Cleverly combining several old utopias, he colored the whole,
and, improving on Plato's idea, materialized it, and presented the world with
the greatest monstrosity that ever emanated from a human mind!
We beg the reader
to keep in view, that we do not attack Comte as a philosopher, but as a
professed reformer. In the irremediable darkness of his political,
philosophical and religious views, we often meet with isolated observations and
remarks in which profound logic and judiciousness of thought rival the
brilliancy of their interpretation. But then, these dazzle you like flashes of
lightning on a gloomy night, to leave you, the next moment, more in the dark
than ever. If condensed and repunctuated, his several works might produce, on
the whole, a volume of very original aphorisms, giving a very clear and really
clever definition of most of our social evils; but it would be vain to seek,
either through the tedious circumlocution of the six volumes of his Cours de
Philoso-
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phie Positive, or
in that parody on priesthood, in the form of a dialogue -- The Catechism of the
Religion of Positivism -- any idea suggestive of even provisional remedies for
such evils. His disciples suggest that the sublime doctrines of their prophet
were not intended for the vulgar. Comparing the dogmas preached by Positivism
with their practical exemplifications by its apostles, we must confess the
possibility of some very achromatic doctrine being at the bottom of it. While
the "high-priest" preaches that "woman must cease to be the female
of the man";* while the theory of the positivist legislators on marriage
and the family, chiefly consists in making the woman the "mere companion
of man by ridding her of every maternal function";** and while they are
preparing against the future a substitute for that function by applying
"to the chaste woman" "a latent force,"*** some of its lay
priests openly preach polygamy, and others affirm that their doctrines are the
quintessence of spiritual philosophy.
In the opinion of
the Romish clergy, who labor under a chronic nightmare of the devil, Comte
offers his "woman of the future" to the possession of the
"incubi."**** In the opinion of more prosaic persons, the Divinity of
Positivism, must henceforth be regarded as a biped broodmare. Even Littre, made
prudent restrictions while accepting the apostleship of this marvellous
religion. This is what he wrote in 1859:
"M. Comte not
only thought that he found the principles, traced the outlines, and furnished
the method, but that he had deduced the consequences and constructed the social
and religious edifice of the future. It is in this second division that we make
our reservations, declaring, at the same time, that we accept as an
inheritance, the whole of the first."*****
Further, he says:
"M. Comte, in a grand work entitled the System of the Positive Philosophy,
established the basis of a philosophy [?] which must finally supplant every
theology and the whole of metaphysics. Such a work necessarily contains a
direct application to the government of societies; as it has nothing arbitrary
in it [?] and as we find therein a real science [?], my adhesion to the
principles involves my adhesion to the essential consequences."
M. Littre has shown
himself in the light of a true son of his prophet. Indeed the whole system of
Comte appears to us to have been built on a play of words. When they say
"Positivism," read Nihilism; when you hear the word chastity, know
that it means impudicity; and so on.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. Comte:
"Systeme de Politique Positive," vol. i., p. 203, etc.
** Ibid.
*** Ibid.
**** See des
Mousseaux: "Hauts Phenomenes de la Magie," chap. 6.
***** Littre:
"Paroles de Philosophie Positive."
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NEGATION.
Being a religion
based on a theory of negation, its adherents can hardly carry it out
practically without saying white when meaning black!
"Positive
Philosophy," continues Littre, "does not accept atheism, for the
atheist is not a really-emancipated mind, but is, in his own way, a theologian
still; he gives his explanation about the essence of things; he knows how they
began! . . . Atheism is Pantheism; this system is quite theological yet, and
thus belongs to the ancient party."*
It really would be
losing time to quote any more of these paradoxical dissertations. Comte
attained to the apotheosis of absurdity and inconsistency when, after inventing
his philosophy, he named it a "Religion." And, as is usually the
case, the disciples have surpassed the reformer -- in absurdity. Supposititious
philosophers, who shine in the American academies of Comte, like a lampyris
noctiluca beside a planet, leave us in no doubt as to their belief, and
contrast "that system of thought and life" elaborated by the French
apostle with the "idiocy" of Spiritualism; of course to the advantage
of the former. "To destroy, you must replace"; exclaims the author of
the Catechism of the Religion of Positivism, quoting Cassaudiere, by the way,
without crediting him with the thought; and his disciples proceed to show by
what sort of a loathsome system they are anxious to replace Christianity,
Spiritualism, and even Science.
"Positivism,"
perorates one of them, "is an integral doctrine. It rejects completely all
forms of theological and metaphysical belief; all forms of supernaturalism, and
thus -- Spiritualism. The true positive spirit consists in substituting the
study of the invariable laws of phenomena for that of their so-called causes,
whether proximate or primary. On this ground it equally rejects atheism; for
the atheist is at bottom a theologian," he adds, plagiarizing sentences from
Littre's works: "the atheist does not reject the problems of theology,
only the solution of these, and so he is illogical. We Positivists reject the
problem in our turn on the ground that it is utterly inaccessible to the
intellect, and we would only waste our strength in a vain search for first and
final causes. As you see, Positivism gives a complete explanation [?] of the
world, of man, his duty and destiny . . . . "!**
Very brilliant
this; and now, by way of contrast, we will quote what a really great scientist,
Professor Hare, thinks of this system. "Comte's positive philosophy,"
he says, "after all, is merely negative. It is admitted by Comte, that he
knows nothing of the sources and causes of nature's laws; that their
origination is so perfectly inscrutable as to make it idle to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Littre:
"Paroles de Philosophie Positive," vii., 57.
**
"Spiritualism and Charlatanism."
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take up time in any
scrutiny for that purpose. . . . Of course his doctrine makes him avowedly a
thorough ignoramus, as to the causes of laws, or the means by which they are
established, and can have no basis but the negative argument above stated, in
objecting to the facts ascertained in relation to the spiritual creation. Thus,
while allowing the atheist his material dominion, Spiritualism will erect within
and above the same space a dominion of an importance as much greater as
eternity is to the average duration of human life, and as the boundless regions
of the fixed stars are to the habitable area of this globe."*
In short,
Positivism proposes to itself to destroy Theology, Metaphysics, Spiritualism,
Atheism, Materialism, Pantheism, and Science, and it must finally end in
destroying itself. De Mirville thinks that according to Positivism, "order
will begin to reign in the human mind only on the day when psychology will
become a sort of cerebral physics, and history a kind of social physics."
The modern Mohammed first disburdens man and woman of God and their own soul,
and then unwittingly disembowels his own doctrine with the too sharp sword of
metaphysics, which all the time he thought he was avoiding, thus letting out
every vestige of philosophy.
In 1864, M. Paul
Janet, a member of the Institute, pronounced a discourse upon Positivism, in
which occur the following remarkable words:
"There are
some minds which were brought up and fed on exact and positive sciences, but
which feel nevertheless, a sort of instinctive impulse for philosophy. They can
satisfy this instinct but with elements that they have already on hand.
Ignorant in psychological sciences, having studied only the rudiments of
metaphysics, they nevertheless are determined to fight these same metaphysics
as well as psychology, of which they know as little as of the other. After this
is done, they will imagine themselves to have founded a Positive Science, while
the truth is that they have only built up a new mutilated and incomplete
metaphysical theory. They arrogate to themselves the authority and
infallibility properly belonging alone to the true sciences, those which are
based on experience and calculations; but they lack such an authority, for
their ideas, defective as they may be, nevertheless belong to the same class as
those which they attack. Hence the weakness of their situation, the final ruin
of their ideas, which are soon scattered to the four winds."**
The Positivists of
America have joined hands in their untiring efforts to overthrow Spiritualism.
To show their impartiality, though, they propound such novel queries as
follows: " . . . how much rationality is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. Hare:
"On Positivism," p. 29.
** "Journal
des Debats," 1864. See also des Mousseaux's "Hauts Phen. de la
Magie."
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FECUNDATION."
there in the dogmas
of the Immaculate Conception, the Trinity and Transubstantiation, if submitted
to the tests of physiology, mathematics, and chemistry?" and they
"undertake to say, that the vagaries of Spiritualism do not surpass in
absurdity these eminently respectable beliefs." Very well. But there is
neither theological absurdity nor spiritualistic delusion that can match in
depravity and imbecility that positivist notion of "artificial
fecundation." Denying to themselves all thought on primal and final
causes, they apply their insane theories to the construction of an impossible
woman for the worship of future generations; the living, immortal companion of
man they would replace with the Indian female fetich of the Obeah, the wooden
idol that is stuffed every day with serpents' eggs, to be hatched by the heat
of the sun!
And now, if we are
permitted to ask in the name of common-sense, why should Christian mystics be
taxed with credulity or the spiritualists be consigned to Bedlam, when a
religion embodying such revolting absurdity finds disciples even among
Academicians? -- when such insane rhapsodies as the following can be uttered by
the mouth of Comte and admired by his followers: "My eyes are dazzled; --
they open each day more and more to the increasing coincidence between the
social advent of the feminine mystery, and the mental decadence of the
eucharistical sacrament. Already the Virgin has dethroned God in the minds of
Southern Catholics! Positivism realizes the Utopia of the mediaeval ages, by
representing all the members of the great family as the issue of a virgin
mother without a husband. . . ." And again, after giving the modus
operandi: "The development of the new process would soon cause to spring
up a caste without heredity, better adapted than vulgar procreation to the
recruitment of spiritual chiefs, or even temporal ones, whose authority would
then rest upon an origin truly superior, which would not shrink from an
investigation."
To this we might
inquire with propriety, whether there has ever been found in the "vagaries
of Spiritualism," or the mysteries of Christianity, anything more
preposterous than this ideal "coming race." If the tendency of
materialism is not grossly belied by the behavior of some of its advocates,
those who publicly preach polygamy, we fancy that whether or not there will
ever be a sacerdotal stirp so begotten, we shall see no end of progeny, -- the
offspring of "mothers without husbands."
How natural that a
philosophy which could engender such a caste of didactic incubi, should express
through the pen of one of its most garrulous essayists, the following
sentiments: "This is a sad, a very sad
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Philosophie
Positive," Vol. iv., p. 279.
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age,* full of dead
and dying faiths; full of idle prayers sent out in vain search for the
departing gods. But oh! it is a glorious age, full of the golden light which
streams from the ascending sun of science! What shall we do for those who are
shipwrecked in faith, bankrupt in intellect, but . . . who seek comfort in the
mirage of spiritualism, the delusions of transcendentalism, or the will o' the
wisp of mesmerism? . . ."
The ignis fatuus,
now so favorite an image with many dwarf philosophers, had itself to struggle
for recognition. It is not so long since the now familiar phenomenon was
stoutly denied by a correspondent of the London Times, whose assertions carried
weight, till the work of Dr. Phipson, supported by the testimony of Beccaria,
Humboldt, and other naturalists, set the question at rest.** The Positivists
should choose some happier expression, and follow the discoveries of science at
the same time. As to mesmerism, it has been adopted in many parts of Germany,
and is publicly used with undeniable success in more than one hospital; its
occult properties have been proved and are believed in by physicians, whose
eminence, learning, and merited fame, the self-complacent lecturer on mediums
and insanity cannot well hope to equal.
We have to add but
a few more words before we drop this unpleasant subject. We have found
Positivists particularly happy in the delusion that the greatest scientists of
Europe were Comtists. How far their claims may be just, as regards other
savants, we do not know, but Huxley, whom all Europe considers one of her
greatest scientists, most decidedly declines that honor, and Dr. Maudsley, of
London, follows suit. In a lecture delivered by the former gentleman in 1868,
in Edinburgh, on The Physical Basis of Life, he even appears to be very much
shocked at the liberty taken by the Archbishop of York, in identifying him with
Comte's philosophy. "So far as I am concerned," says Mr. Huxley,
"the most reverend prelate might dialectically hew Mr. Comte in pieces, as
a modern Agag, and I would not attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study
of what specially characterizes the positive philosophy has led me, I find,
therein, little or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is
as thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in
ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, Comte's philosophy in practice might be
compendiously described as Catholicism minus Christianity." Further,
Huxley even becomes wrathful, and falls to accusing Scotchmen of ingratitude
for having allowed the Bishop to mistake Comte for the founder of a philosophy
which belonged by right to Hume. "It was enough," exclaims the
professor, "to make David
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dr. F. R. Marvin:
"Lecture on Insanity."
** See Howitt:
"History of the Supernatural," vol. ii.
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OF SCIENCE.
Hume turn in his
grave, that here, almost within earshot of his house, an interested audience
should have listened, without a murmur, whilst his most characteristic
doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty years later date, in
whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the vigor of thought and the
clearness of style. . . ."*
Poor Comte! It
appears that the highest representatives of his philosophy are now reduced, at
least in this country, to "one physicist, one physician who has made a
specialty of nervous diseases, and one lawyer." A very witty critic
nicknamed this desperate trio, "an anomalistic triad, which, amid its
arduous labors, finds no time to acquaint itself with the principles and laws
of their language."**
To close the
question, the Positivists neglect no means to overthrow Spiritualism in favor
of their religion. Their high priests are made to blow their trumpets
untiringly; and though the walls of no modern Jericho are ever likely to tumble
down in dust before their blast, still they neglect no means to attain the
desired object. Their paradoxes are unique, and their accusations against
spiritualists irresistible in logic. In a recent lecture, for instance, it was
remarked that: "The exclusive exercise of religious instinct is productive
of sexual immorality. Priests, monks, nuns, saints, media, ecstatics, and
devotees are famous for their impurities."***
We are happy to
remark that, while Positivism loudly proclaims itself a religion, Spiritualism
has never pretended to be anything more than a science, a growing philosophy,
or rather a research in hidden and as yet unexplained forces in nature. The
objectiveness of its various phenomena has been demonstrated by more than one
genuine representative of science, and as ineffectually denied by her
"monkeys."
Finally, it may be
remarked of our Positivists who deal so unceremoniously with every
psychological phenomenon, that they are like Samuel Butler's rhetorician, who
". . . . could
not ope
His mouth, but out
there flew a trope."
We would there were
no occasion to extend the critic's glance beyond the circle of triflers and
pedants who improperly wear the title of men
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. Huxley:
"Physical Basis of Life."
** Reference is
made to a card which appeared some time since in a New York paper, signed by
three persons styling themselves as above, and assuming to be a scientific
committee appointed two years before to investigate spiritual phenomena. The
criticism on the triad appeared in the "New Era" magazine.
*** Dr. Marvin:
"Lecture on Insanity," N. Y., 1875.
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of science. But it
is also undeniable that the treatment of new subjects by those whose rank is
high in the scientific world but too often passes unchallenged, when it is
amenable to censure. The cautiousness bred of a fixed habit of experimental
research, the tentative advance from opinion to opinion, the weight accorded to
recognized authorities -- all foster a conservatism of thought which naturally
runs into dogmatism. The price of scientific progress is too commonly the
martyrdom or ostracism of the innovator. The reformer of the laboratory must,
so to speak, carry the citadel of custom and prejudice at the point of the
bayonet. It is rare that even a postern-door is left ajar by a friendly hand.
The noisy protests and impertinent criticisms of the little people of the
antechamber of science, he can afford to let pass unnoticed; the hostility of
the other class is a real peril that the innovator must face and overcome.
Knowledge does increase apace, but the great body of scientists are not
entitled to the credit. In every instance they have done their best to
shipwreck the new discovery, together with the discoverer. The palm is to him
who has won it by individual courage, intuitiveness, and persistency. Few are
the forces in nature which, when first announced, were not laughed at, and then
set aside as absurd and unscientific. Humbling the pride of those who had not
discovered anything, the just claims of those who have been denied a hearing
until negation was no longer prudent, and then -- alas for poor, selfish
humanity! these very discoverers too often became the opponents and oppressors,
in their turn, of still more recent explorers in the domain of natural law! So,
step by step, mankind move around their circumscribed circle of knowledge,
science constantly correcting its mistakes, and readjusting on the following
day the erroneous theories of the preceding one. This has been the case, not
merely with questions pertaining to psychology, such as mesmerism, in its dual sense
of a physical and spiritual phenomenon, but even with such discoveries as
directly related to exact sciences, and have been easy to demonstrate.
What can we do?
Shall we recall the disagreeable past? Shall we point to mediaeval scholars
conniving with the clergy to deny the Heliocentric theory, for fear of hurting
an ecclesiastical dogma? Must we recall how learned conchologists once denied
that the fossil shells, found scattered over the face of the earth, were ever
inhabited by living animals at all? How the naturalists of the eighteenth
century declared these but mere fac-similes of animals? And how these
naturalists fought and quarrelled and battled and called each other names, over
these venerable mummies of the ancient ages for nearly a century, until Buffon
settled the question by proving to the negators that they were mistaken? Surely
an oyster-shell is anything but transcendental, and ought to be quite a
palpable subject for any exact study; and if the scientists could not agree
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on that, we can
hardly expect them to believe at all that evanescent forms, -- of hands, faces,
and whole bodies sometimes -- appear at the seances of spiritual mediums, when
the latter are honest.
There exists a
certain work which might afford very profitable reading for the leisure hours
of skeptical men of science. It is a book published by Flourens, the Perpetual
Secretary of the French Academy, called Histoire des Recherches de Buffon. The
author shows in it how the great naturalist combated and finally conquered the
advocates of the fac-simile theory; and how they still went on denying everything
under the sun, until at times the learned body fell into a fury, an epidemic of
negation. It denied Franklin and his refined electricity; laughed at Fulton and
his concentrated steam; voted the engineer Perdormet a strait-jacket for his
offer to build railroads; stared Harvey out of countenance; and proclaimed
Bernard de Palissy "as stupid as one of his own pots!"
In his oft-quoted
work, Conflict between Religion and Science, Professor Draper shows a decided
propensity to kick the beam of the scales of justice, and lay all such
impediments to the progress of science at the door of the clergy alone. With
all respect and admiration due to this eloquent writer and scientist, we must
protest and give every one his just due. Many of the above-enumerated discoveries
are mentioned by the author of the Conflict. In every case he denounces the
bitter resistance on the part of the clergy, and keeps silent on the like
opposition invariably experienced by every new discoverer at the hands of
science. His claim on behalf of science that "knowledge is power" is
undoubtedly just. But abuse of power, whether it proceeds from excess of wisdom
or ignorance is alike obnoxious in its effects. Besides, the clergy are
silenced now. Their protests would at this day be scarcely noticed in the world
of science. But while theology is kept in the background, the scientists have
seized the sceptre of despotism with both hands, and they use it, like the
cherubim and flaming sword of Eden, to keep the people away from the tree of immortal
life and within this world of perishable matter.
The editor of the
London Spiritualist, in answer to Dr. Gully's criticism of Mr. Tyndall's
fire-mist theory, remarks that if the entire body of spiritualists are not
roasting alive at Smithfield in the present century, it is to science alone
that we are indebted for this crowning mercy. Well, let us admit that the
scientists are indirectly public benefactors in this case, to the extent that
the burning of erudite scholars is no longer fashionable. But is it unfair to
ask whether the disposition manifested toward the spiritualistic doctrine by
Faraday, Tyndall, Huxley, Agassiz, and others, does not warrant the suspicion
that if these learned gentlemen
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and their following
had the unlimited power once held by the Inquisition, spiritualists would not
have reason to feel as easy as they do now? Even supposing that they should not
roast believers in the existence of a spirit-world -- it being unlawful to
cremate people alive -- would they not send every spiritualist they could to
Bedlam? Do they not call us "incurable monomaniacs," "hallucinated
fools," "fetich-worshippers," and like characteristic names?
Really, we cannot see what should have stimulated to such extent the gratitude
of the editor of the London Spiritualist, for the benevolent tutelage of the
men of science. We believe that the recent Lankester-Donkin-Slade prosecution
in London ought at last to open the eyes of hopeful spiritualists, and show
them that stubborn materialism is often more stupidly bigoted than religious
fanaticism itself.
One of the
cleverest productions of Professor Tyndall's pen is his caustic essay upon
Martineau and Materialism. At the same time it is one which in future years the
author will doubtless be only too ready to trim of certain unpardonable
grossnesses of expression. For the moment, however, we will not deal with
these, but consider what he has to say of the phenomenon of consciousness. He
quotes this question from Mr. Martineau: "A man can say 'I feel, I think,
I love'; but how does consciousness infuse itself into the problem?" And thus
answers: "The passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding
facts of consciousness is unthinkable. Granted that a definite thought and a
molecular action in the brain occur simultaneously; we do not possess the
intellectual organ nor apparently any rudiments of the organ, which would
enable us to pass by a process of reasoning from one to the other. They appear
together, but we do not know why. Were our minds and senses so expanded,
strengthened and illuminated, as to enable us to see and feel the very
molecules of the brain; were we capable of following all their motions, all
their groupings, all their electric discharges, if such there be; and were we
intimately acquainted with the corresponding states of thought and feeling, we
should be as far as ever from the solution of the problem, 'How are these
physical processes connected with the facts of consciousness?' The chasm
between the two classes of phenomena would still remain intellectually
impassable."*
This chasm, as
impassable to Professor Tyndall as the fire-mist where the scientist is
confronted with his unknowable cause, is a barrier only to men without
spiritual intuitions. Professor Buchanan's Outlines of Lectures on the
Neurological System of Anthropology, a work written so far back as 1854,
contains suggestions that, if the scio-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Tyndall:
"Fragments of Science."
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SCIENCE.
lists would only
heed them, would show how a bridge can be thrown across this dreadful abyss. It
is one of the bins in which the thought-seed of future harvests is stored up by
a frugal present. But the edifice of materialism is based entirely upon that
gross sub-structure -- the reason. When they have stretched its capabilities to
their utmost limits, its teachers can at best only disclose to us an universe
of molecules animated by an occult impulse. What better diagnosis of the
ailment of our scientists could be asked than can be derived from Professor
Tyndall's analysis of the mental state of the Ultramontane clergy by a very
slight change of names. For "spiritual guides" read "scientists,"
for "prescientific past" substitute "materialistic
present," say "spirit" for "science," and in the
following paragraph we have a life portrait of the modern man of science drawn
by the hand of a master:
" . . . Their
spiritual guides live so exclusively in the prescientific past, that even the
really strong intellects among them are reduced to atrophy as regards
scientific truth. Eyes they have and see not; ears they have and hear not; for
both eyes and ears are taken possession of by the sights and sounds of another
age. In relation to science, the Ultramontane brain, through lack of exercise,
is virtually the undeveloped brain of the child. And thus it is that as
children in scientific knowledge, but as potent wielders of spiritual power
among the ignorant, they countenance and enforce practices sufficient to bring
the blush of shame to the cheeks of the more intelligent among
themselves."* The Occultist holds this mirror up to science that it may
see how it looks itself.
Since history
recorded the first laws established by man, there never was yet a people, whose
code did not hang the issues of the life and death of its citizens upon the
testimony of two or three credible witnesses. "At the mouth of two
witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to
death,"** says Moses, the first legislator we meet in ancient history.
"The laws which put to death a man on the deposition of one witness are
fatal to freedom" -- says Montesquieu. "Reason claims there should be
two witnesses."***
Thus the value of
evidence has been tacitly agreed upon and accepted in every country. But the
scientists will not accept the evidence of the million against one. In vain do
hundreds of thousands of men testify to facts. Oculos habent et non vident! They
are determined to remain blind and deaf. Thirty years of practical
demonstrations and the testimony of some millions of believers in America and
Europe are certainly entitled to some degree of respect and attention.
Especially so, when
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Tyndall: Preface
to "Fragments of Science."
** Deuteronomy,
chap. xvii., 6.
*** Montesquieu:
Esprit des Lois I., xii., chap. 3.
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the verdict of
twelve spiritualists, influenced by the evidence testified to by any two
others, is competent to send even a scientist to swing on the gallows for a
crime, perhaps committed under the impulse supplied by a commotion among the
cerebral molecules unrestrained by a consciousness of future moral RETRIBUTION.
Toward science as a
whole, as a divine goal, the whole civilized world ought to look with respect
and veneration; for science alone can enable man to understand the Deity by the
true appreciation of his works. "Science is the understanding of truth or
facts," says Webster; "it is an investigation of truth for its own
sake and a pursuit of pure knowledge." If the definition be correct, then
the majority of our modern scholars have proved false to their goddess.
"Truth for its own sake!" And where should the keys to every truth in
nature be searched for, unless in the hitherto unexplored mystery of
psychology? Alas! that in questioning nature so many men of science should
daintily sort over her facts and choose only such for study as best bolster
their prejudices.
Psychology has no
worse enemies than the medical school denominated allopathists. It is in vain
to remind them that of the so-called exact sciences, medicine, confessedly,
least deserves the name. Although of all branches of medical knowledge,
psychology ought more than any other to be studied by physicians, since without
its help their practice degenerates into mere guess-work and chance-intuitions,
they almost wholly neglect it. The least dissent from their promulgated
doctrines is resented as a heresy, and though an unpopular and unrecognized
curative method should be shown to save thousands, they seem, as a body,
disposed to cling to accepted hypotheses and prescriptions, and decry both
innovator and innovation until they get the mint-stamp of regularity. Thousands
of unlucky patients may die meanwhile, but so long as professional honor is
vindicated, this is a matter of secondary importance.
Theoretically the
most benignant, at the same time no other school of science exhibits so many
instances of petty prejudice, materialism, atheism, and malicious stubbornness
as medicine. The predilections and patronage of the leading physicians are
scarcely ever measured by the usefulness of a discovery. Bleeding, by leeching,
cupping, and the lancet, had its epidemic of popularity, but at last fell into
merited disgrace; water, now freely given to fevered patients, was once denied
them, warm baths were superseded by cold water, and for a while hydropathy was
a mania. Peruvian bark -- which a modern defender of biblical authority
seriously endeavors to identify with the paradisiacal "Tree of
Life,"* and which was brought to Spain in 1632 -- was neg-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* C. B. Warring.
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lected for years.
The Church, for once, showed more discrimination than science. At the request
of Cardinal de Lugo, Innocent X. gave it the prestige of his powerful name.
In an old book
entitled Demonologia, the author cites many instances of important remedies
which being neglected at first afterward rose into notice through mere
accident. He also shows that most of the new discoveries in medicine have
turned out to be no more than "the revival and readoption of very ancient
practices." During the last century, the root of the male fern was sold
and widely advertised as a secret nostrum by a Madame Nouffleur, a female
quack, for the effective cure of the tapeworm. The secret was bought by Louis
XV. for a large sum of money; after which the physicians discovered that it was
recommended and administered in that disease by Galen. The famous powder of the
Duke of Portland for the gout, was the diacentaureon of Caelius Aurelianus.
Later it was ascertained that it had been used by the earliest medical writers,
who had found it in the writings of the old Greek philosophers. So with the eau
medicinale of Dr. Husson, whose name it bears. This famous remedy for the gout
was recognized under its new mask to be the Colchicum autumnale, or meadow
saffron, which is identical with a plant called Hermodactylus, whose merits as
a certain antidote to gout were recognized and defended by Oribasius, a great
physician of the fourth century, and AEtius Amidenus, another eminent physician
of Alexandria (fifth century). Subsequently it was abandoned and fell into
disfavor only because it was too old to be considered good by the members of
the medical faculties that flourished toward the end of the last century!
Even the great
Magendie, the wise physiologist, was not above discovering that which had
already been discovered and found good by the oldest physicians. His proposed
remedy against consumption, namely, the use of prussic acid, may be found in
the works of Linnaeus, Amenitates Academicae, vol. iv., in which he shows
distilled laurel water to have been used with great profit in pulmonary
consumption. Pliny also assures us that the extract of almonds and cherry-pits
had cured the most obstinate coughs. As the author of Demonologia well remarks,
it may be asserted with perfect safety that "all the various secret
preparations of opium which have been lauded as the discovery of modern times,
may be recognized in the works of ancient authors," who see themselves so
discredited in our days.
It is admitted on
all hands that from time immemorial the distant East was the land of knowledge.
Not even in Egypt were botany and mineralogy so extensively studied as by the
savants of archaic Middle Asia. Sprengel, unjust and prejudiced as he shows
himself in everything else, confesses this much in his Histoire de la Medicine.
And yet,
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notwithstanding
this, whenever the subject of magic is discussed, that of India has rarely
suggested itself to any one, for of its general practice in that country less
is known than among any other ancient people. With the Hindus it was and is
more esoteric, if possible, than it was even among the Egyptian priests. So
sacred was it deemed that its existence was only half admitted, and it was only
practiced in public emergencies. It was more than a religious matter, for it
was considered divine. The Egyptian hierophants, notwithstanding the practice
of a stern and pure morality, could not be compared for one moment with the
ascetical Gymnosophists, either in holiness of life or miraculous powers
developed in them by the supernatural adjuration of everything earthly. By
those who knew them well they were held in still greater reverence than the
magians of Chaldea. Denying themselves the simplest comforts of life, they
dwelt in woods, and led the life of the most secluded hermits,* while their
Egyptian brothers at least congregated together. Notwithstanding the slur
thrown by history on all who practiced magic and divination, it has proclaimed
them as possessing the greatest secrets in medical knowledge and unsurpassed
skill in its practice. Numerous are the volumes preserved in Hindu convents, in
which are recorded the proofs of their learning. To attempt to say whether
these Gymnosophists were the real founders of magic in India, or whether they
only practiced what had passed to them as an inheritance from the earliest
Rishis** -- the seven primeval sages -- would be regarded as a mere speculation
by exact scholars. "The care which they took in educating youth, in
familiarizing it with generous and virtuous sentiments, did them peculiar
honor, and their maxims and discourses, as recorded by historians, prove that
they were expert in matters of philosophy, metaphysics, astronomy, morality,
and religion," says a modern writer. They preserved their dignity under
the sway of the most powerful princes, whom they would not condescend to visit,
or to trouble for the slightest favor. If the latter desired the advice or the
prayers of the holy men, they were either obliged to go themselves, or to send
messengers. To these men no secret power of either plant or mineral was
unknown. They had fathomed nature to its depths, while psychology and
physiology were to them open books, and the result was that science or
machagiotia that is now termed, so superciliously, magic.
While the miracles
recorded in the Bible have become accepted facts
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ammianus
Marcellinus, xxiii., 6.
** The Rishis were
seven in number, and lived in days anteceding the Vedic period. They were known
as sages, and held in reverence like demigods. Haug shows that they occupy in
the Brahmanical religion a position answering to that of the twelve sons of
Jacob in the Jewish Bible. The Brahmans claim to descend directly from these
Rishis.
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with the
Christians, to disbelieve which is regarded as infidelity, the narratives of
wonders and prodigies found in the Atharva-Veda,* either provoke their contempt
or are viewed as evidences of diabolism. And yet, in more than one respect, and
notwithstanding the unwillingness of certain Sanscrit scholars, we can show the
identity between the two. Moreover, as the Vedas have now been proved by
scholars to antedate the Jewish Bible by many ages, the inference is an easy
one that if one of them has borrowed from the other, the Hindu sacred books are
not to be charged with plagiarism.
First of all, their
cosmogony shows how erroneous has been the opinion prevalent among the
civilized nations that Brahma was ever considered by the Hindus their chief or
Supreme God. Brahma is a secondary deity, and like Jehovah is "a mover of
the waters." He is the creating god, and has in his allegorical
representations four heads, answering to the four cardinal points. He is the
demiurgos, the architect of the world. "In the primordiate state of the creation,"
says Polier's Mythologie des Indous, "the rudimental universe, submerged
in water, reposed in the bosom of the Eternal. Sprang from this chaos and
darkness, Brahma, the architect of the world, poised on a lotus-leaf floated
(moved?) upon the waters, unable to discern anything but water and
darkness." This is as identical as possible with the Egyptian cosmogony,
which shows in its opening sentences Athtor** or Mother Night (which represents
illimitable darkness) as the primeval element which covered the infinite abyss,
animated by water and the universal spirit of the Eternal, dwelling alone in
Chaos. As in the Jewish Scriptures, the history of the creation opens with the
spirit of God and his creative emanation -- another Deity.*** Perceiving such a
dismal state of things, Brahma soliloquizes in consternation: "Who am I?
Whence came I?" Then he hears a voice: "Direct your prayer to
Bhagavant -- the Eternal, known, also, as Parabrahma." Brahma, rising from
his natatory position, seats himself upon the lotus in an attitude of
contemplation, and reflects upon the Eternal, who, pleased with this evidence
of piety, disperses the primeval darkness and opens his understanding.
"After this Brahma issues from the universal egg -- (infinite chaos) as light,
for his understanding is now opened, and he sets himself to work; he moves on
the eternal waters, with the spirit of God within himself; in his capacity of
mover of the waters he is Narayana."
The lotus, the
sacred flower of the Egyptians, as well as the Hindus, is the symbol of Horus
as it is that of Brahma. No temples in Thibet or
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The fourth Veda.
** Orthography of
the "Archaic Dictionary."
*** We do not mean
the current or accepted Bible, but the real Jewish one explained
kabalistically.
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Nepaul are found
without it; and the meaning of this symbol is extremely suggestive. The sprig
of lilies placed in the hand of the archangel, who offers them to the Virgin
Mary, in the pictures of the "Annunciation," have in their esoteric
symbolism precisely the same meaning. We refer the reader to Sir William
Jones.* With the Hindus, the lotus is the emblem of the productive power of
nature, through the agency of fire and water (spirit and matter).
"Eternal!" says a verse in the Bhagavad Gita, "I see Brahma the
creator enthroned in thee above the lotus!" and Sir W. Jones shows that
the seeds of the lotus contain -- even before they germinate --
perfectly-formed leaves, the miniature shapes of what one day, as perfected
plants, they will become; or, as the author of The Heathen Religion, has it --
"nature thus giving us a specimen of the preformation of its
productions"; adding further that "the seed of all phoenogamous
plants bearing proper flowers, contain an embryo plantlet ready formed."**
With the Buddhists,
it has the same signification. Maha-Maya, or Maha-Deva, the mother of Gautama
Buddha, had the birth of her son announced to her by Bhodisat (the spirit of
Buddha), who appeared beside her couch with a lotus in his hand. Thus, also,
Osiris and Horus are represented by the Egyptians constantly in association
with the lotus-flower.
These facts all go
to show the identical parentage of this idea in the three religious systems,
Hindu, Egyptian and Judaico-Christian. Wherever the mystic water-lily (lotus)
is employed, it signifies the emanation of the objective from the concealed, or
subjective -- the eternal thought of the ever-invisible Deity passing from the
abstract into the concrete or visible form. For as soon as darkness was
dispersed and "there was light," Brahma's understanding was opened,
and he saw in the ideal world (which had hitherto lain eternally concealed in
the Divine thought) the archetypal forms of all the infinite future things that
would be called into existence, and hence become visible. At this first stage
of action, Brahma had not yet become the architect, the builder of the
universe, for he had, like the architect, to first acquaint himself with the
plan, and realize the ideal forms which were buried in the bosom of the Eternal
One, as the future lotus-leaves are concealed within the seed of that plant.
And it is in this idea that we must look for the origin and explanation of the
verse in the Jewish cosmogony, which reads: "And God said, Let the earth
bring forth . . . the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is
in itself." In all the primitive religions, the "Son of the
Father" is the creative God -- i.e., His thought made visible; and before
the Christian era, from the Trimurti of the Hindus down to the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Dissertations Relating to Asia."
** Dr. Gross, p.
195.
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GABRIEL.
three kabalistic
heads of the Jewish-explained scriptures, the triune godhead of each nation was
fully defined and substantiated in its allegories. In the Christian creed we
see but the artificial engrafting of a new branch upon the old trunk; and the
adoption by the Greek and Roman churches of the lily-symbol held by the
archangel at the moment of the Annunciation, shows a thought of precisely the
same metaphysical significance.
The lotus is the
product of fire (heat) and water, hence the dual symbol of spirit and matter.
The God Brahma is the second person of the Trinity, as are Jehovah
(Adam-Kadmon) and Osiris, or rather Pimander, or the Power of the Thought
Divine, of Hermes; for it is Pimander who represents the root of all the
Egyptian Sun-gods. The Eternal is the Spirit of Fire, which stirs up and
fructifies and develops into a concrete form everything that is born of water
or the primordial earth, evolved out of Brahma; but the universe is itself Brahma,
and he is the universe. This is the philosophy of Spinoza, which he derived
from that of Pythagoras; and it is the same for which Bruno died a martyr. How
much Christian theology has gone astray from its point of departure, is
demonstrated in this historical fact. Bruno was slaughtered for the exegesis of
a symbol that was adopted by the earliest Christians, and expounded by the
apostles! The sprig of water-lilies of Bhodisat, and later of Gabriel,
typifying fire and water, or the idea of creation and generation, is worked
into the earliest dogma of the baptismal sacrament.
Bruno's and
Spinoza's doctrines are nearly identical, though the words of the latter are
more veiled, and far more cautiously chosen than those to be found in the
theories of the author of the Causa Principio et Uno, or the Infinito Universo
e Mondi. Both Bruno, who confesses that the source of his information was
Pythagoras, and Spinoza, who, without acknowledging it as frankly, allows his
philosophy to betray the secret, view the First Cause from the same
stand-point. With them, God is an Entity totally per se, an Infinite Spirit,
and the only Being utterly free and independent of either effects or other
causes; who, through that same Will which produced all things and gave the
first impulse to every cosmic law, perpetually keeps in existence and order
everything in the universe. As well as the Hindu Swabhavikas, erroneously
called Atheists, who assume that all things, men as well as gods and spirits,
were born from Swabhava, or their own nature,* both
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Brahma does not
create the earth, Mirtlok, any more than the rest of the universe. Having
evolved himself from the soul of the world, once separated from the First Cause,
he emanates in his turn all nature out of himself. He does not stand above it,
but is mixed up with it; and Brahma and the universe form one Being, each
particle of which is in its essence Brahma himself, who proceeded out of
himself. [Burnouf: "Introduction," p. 118.]
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Spinoza and Bruno
were led to the conclusion that God is to be sought for within nature and not
without. For, creation being proportional to the power of the Creator, the
universe as well as its Creator must be infinite and eternal, one form
emanating from its own essence, and creating in its turn another. The modern commentators
affirm that Bruno, "unsustained by the hope of another and better world,
still surrendered his life rather than his convictions"; thereby allowing
it to be inferred that Giordano Bruno had no belief in the continued existence
of man after death. Professor Draper asserts most positively that Bruno did not
believe in the immortality of the soul. Speaking of the countless victims of
the religious intolerance of the Popish Church, he remarks: "The passage
from this life to the next, though through a hard trial, was the passage from a
transient trouble to eternal happiness. . . . On his way through the dark
valley, the martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that would lead
him. . . . For Bruno there was no such support. The philosophical opinions, for
the sake of which he surrendered his life, could give him no
consolation."*
But Professor
Draper seems to have a very superficial knowledge of the true belief of the
philosophers. We can leave Spinoza out of the question, and even allow him to
remain in the eyes of his critics an utter atheist and materialist; for the
cautious reserve which he placed upon himself in his writings makes it
extremely difficult for one who does not read him between the lines, and is not
thoroughly acquainted with the hidden meaning of the Pythagorean metaphysics,
to ascertain what his real sentiments were. But as for Giordano Bruno, if he
adhered to the doctrines of Pythagoras he must have believed in another life,
hence, he could not have been an atheist whose philosophy offered him no such
"consolation." His accusation and subsequent confession, as given by
Professor Domenico Berti, in his Life of Bruno, and compiled from original
documents recently published, proved beyond doubt what were his real philosophy,
creed and doctrines. In common with the Alexandrian Platonists, and the later
Kabalists, he held that Jesus was a magician in the sense given to this
appellation by Porphyry and Cicero, who call it the divina sapientia (divine
knowledge), and by Philo Judaes, who described the Magi as the most wonderful
inquirers into the hidden mysteries of nature, not in the degrading sense given
to the word magic in our century. In his noble conception, the Magi were holy
men, who, setting themselves apart from everything else on this earth,
contemplated the divine virtues and understood the divine nature of the gods
and spirits, the more clearly; and so, initiated others into the same mys-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," 180.
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BRUNO.
teries, which
consist in one holding an uninterrupted intercourse with these invisible beings
during life. But we will show Bruno's inmost philosophical convictions better
by quoting fragments from the accusation and his own confession.
The charges in the
denunciation of Mocenigo, his accuser, are expressed in the following terms:
"I, Zuane
Mocenigo, son of the most illustrious Ser Marcantonio, denounce to your very
reverend fathership, by constraint of my conscience and by order of my
confessor, that I have heard say by Giordano Bruno, several times when he
discoursed with me in my house, that it is great blasphemy in Catholics to say
that the bread transubstantiates itself into flesh; that he is opposed to the
Mass; that no religion pleases him; that Christ was a wretch (un tristo), and
that if he did wicked works to seduce the people he might well predict that He
ought to be impaled; that there is no distinction of persons in God, and that
it would be imperfection in God; that the world is eternal, and that there are
infinite worlds, and that God makes them continually, because, he says, He
desires all He can; that Christ did apparent miracles and was a magician, and
so were the apostles, and that he had a mind to do as much and more than they
did; that Christ showed an unwillingness to die, and shunned death all He
could; that there is no punishment of sin, and that souls created by the
operation of nature pass from one animal to another, and that as the brute
animals are born of corruption, so also are men when after dissolution they
come to be born again."
Perfidious as they
are, the above words plainly indicate the belief of Bruno in the Pythagorean
metempsychosis, which, misunderstood as it is, still shows a belief in the
survival of man in one shape or another. Further, the accuser says:
"He has shown
indications of wishing to make himself the author of a new sect, under the name
of 'New Philosophy.' He has said that the Virgin could not have brought forth,
and that our Catholic faith is all full of blasphemies against the majesty of
God; that the monks ought to be deprived of the right of disputation and their
revenues, because they pollute the world; that they are all asses, and that our
opinions are doctrines of asses; that we have no proof that our faith has merit
with God, and that not to do to others what we would not have done to ourselves
suffices for a good life, and that he laughs at all other sins, and wonders how
God can endure so many heresies in Catholics. He says that he means to apply
himself to the art of divination, and make all the world run after him; that
St. Thomas and all the Doctors knew nothing to compare with him, and that he
could ask questions of all the first theologians of the world that they could
not answer."
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To this, the
accused philosopher answered by the following profession of faith, which is
that of every disciple of the ancient masters:
"I hold, in
brief, to an infinite universe, that is, an effect of infinite divine power,
because I esteemed it a thing unworthy of divine goodness and power, that being
able to produce besides this world another and infinite others, it should
produce a finite world. Thus I have declared that there are infinite particular
worlds similar to this of the earth, which, with Pythagoras, I understand to be
a star similar in nature with the moon, the other planets, and the other stars,
which are infinite; and that all those bodies are worlds, and without number,
which thus constitute the infinite universality in an infinite space, and this
is called the infinite universe, in which are innumerable worlds, so that there
is a double kind of infinite greatness in the universe, and of a multitude of
worlds. Indirectly, this may be understood to be repugnant to the truth
according to the true faith.
"Moreover, I
place in this universe a universal Providence, by virtue of which everything
lives, vegetates and moves, and stands in its perfection, and I understand it
in two ways; one, in the mode in which the whole soul is present in the whole
and every part of the body, and this I call nature, the shadow and footprint of
divinity; the other, the ineffable mode in which God, by essence, presence, and
power, is in all and above all, not as part, not as soul, but in mode
inexplicable.
"Moreover, I
understand all the attributes in divinity to be one and the same thing.
Together with the theologians and great philosophers, I apprehend three
attributes, power, wisdom, and goodness, or, rather, mind, intellect, love,
with which things have first, being, through the mind; next, ordered and
distinct being, through the intellect; and third, concord and symmetry, through
love. Thus I understand being in all and over all, as there is nothing without
participation in being, and there is no being without essence, just as nothing
is beautiful without beauty being present; thus nothing can be free from the
divine presence, and thus by way of reason, and not by way of substantial
truth, do I understand distinction in divinity.
"Assuming then
the world caused and produced, I understand that, according to all its being,
it is dependent upon the first cause, so that it did not reject the name of creation,
which I understand that Aristotle also has expressed, saying, 'God is that upon
whom the world and all nature depends,' so that according to the explanation of
St. Thomas, whether it be eternal or in time, it is, according to all its
being, dependent on the first cause, and nothing in it is independent.
"Next, in
regard to what belongs to the true faith, not speaking philosophically, to come
to individuality about the divine persons, the
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wisdom and the son
of the mind, called by philosophers intellect, and by theologians the word,
which ought to be believed to have taken on human flesh. But I, abiding in the
phrases of philosophy, have not understood it, but have doubted and held it
with inconstant faith, not that I remember to have shown marks of it in writing
nor in speech, except indirectly from other things, something of it may be
gathered as by way of ingenuity and profession in regard to what may be proved
by reason and concluded from natural light. Thus, in regard to the Holy Spirit
in a third person, I have not been able to comprehend, as ought to be believed,
but, according to the Pythagoric manner, in conformity to the manner shown by
Solomon, I have understood it as the soul of the universe, or adjoined to the
universe according to the saying of the wisdom of Solomon: 'The spirit of God
filled all the earth, and that which contains all things,' all which conforms
equally to the Pythagoric doctrine explained by Virgil in the text of the
AEneid:
Principio coelum ac
terras camposque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum
Lunae, Titaniaque astra
Spiritus intus
alit, totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem;
and the lines
following.
"From this
spirit, then, which is called the life of the universe, I understand, in my
philosophy, proceeds life and soul to everything which has life and soul,
which, moreover, I understand to be immortal, as also to bodies, which, as to
their substance, are all immortal, there being no other death than division and
congregation, which doctrine seems expressed in Ecclesiastes, where it is said
that 'there is nothing new under the sun; that which is is that which was.'
"
Furthermore, Bruno
confesses his inability to comprehend the doctrine of three persons in the
godhead, and his doubts of the incarnation of God in Jesus, but firmly
pronounces his belief in the miracles of Christ. How could he, being a Pythagorean
philosopher, discredit them? If, under the merciless constraint of the
Inquisition, he, like Galileo, subsequently recanted, and threw himself upon
the clemency of his ecclesiastical persecutors, we must remember that he spoke
like a man standing between the rack and the fagot, and human nature cannot
always be heroic when the corporeal frame is debilitated by torture and
imprisonment.
But for the
opportune appearance of Berti's authoritative work, we would have continued to
revere Bruno as a martyr, whose bust was deservedly set high in the Pantheon of
Exact Science, crowned with laurel by the hand of Draper. But now we see that
their hero of an hour
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is neither atheist,
materialist, nor positivist, but simply a Pythagorean who taught the philosophy
of Upper Asia, and claimed to possess the powers of the magicians, so despised
by Draper's own school! Nothing more amusing than this contretemps has happened
since the supposed statue of St. Peter was discovered by irreverent
archaeologists to be nothing else than the Jupiter of the Capitol, and Buddha's
identity with the Catholic St. Josaphat was satisfactorily proven.
Thus, search where
we may through the archives of history, we find that there is no fragment of
modern philosophy -- whether Newtonian, Cartesian, Huxleyian or any other --
but has been dug from the Oriental mines. Even Positivism and Nihilism find
their prototype in the exoteric portion of Kapila's philosophy, as is well
remarked by Max Muller. It was the inspiration of the Hindu sages that
penetrated the mysteries of Pragna Paramita (perfect wisdom); their hands that
rocked the cradle of the first ancestor of that feeble but noisy child that we
have christened MODERN SCIENCE.
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CHAPTER IV.
"I choose the
nobler part of Emerson, when, after various disenchantments, he exclaimed, 'I
covet Truth.' The gladness of true heroism visits the heart of him who is
really competent to say this." -- TYNDALL.
"A testimony is
sufficient when it rests on:
1st. A great number
of very sensible witnesses who agree in having seen well.
2d. Who are sane,
bodily and mentally.
3d. Who are
impartial and disinterested.
4th. Who
unanimously agree.
5th. Who solemnly
certify to the fact." -- VOLTAIRE, Dictiannaire Philosophique.
THE Count Agenor de
Gasparin is a devoted Protestant. His battle with des Mousseaux, de Mirville
and other fanatics who laid the whole of the spiritual phenomena at the door of
Satan, was long and fierce. Two volumes of over fifteen hundred pages are the
result, proving the effects, denying the cause, and employing superhuman
efforts to invent every other possible explanation that could be suggested
rather than the true one.
The severe rebuke
received by the Journal des Debats from M. de Gasparin, was read by all
civilized Europe.* After that gentleman had minutely described numerous
manifestations that he had witnessed himself, this journal very impertinently
proposed to the authorities in France to send all those who, after having read
the fine analysis of the "spiritual hallucinations" published by
Faraday, should insist on crediting this delusion, to the lunatic asylum for
Incurables. "Take care," wrote de Gasparin in answer, "the
representatives of the exact sciences are on their way to become . . . the
Inquisitors of our days. . . . Facts are stronger than Academies. Rejected,
denied, mocked, they nevertheless are facts, and do exist."**
The following
affirmations of physical phenomena, as witnessed by himself and Professor
Thury, may be found in de Gasparin's voluminous work.
"The
experimenters have often seen the legs of the table glued, so to say, to the
floor, and, notwithstanding the excitement of those present, refuse to be moved
from their place. On other occasions they have seen the tables levitated in
quite an energetic way. They heard, with their own
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Des
Tables," vol. i, p. 213.
** Ibid., 216.
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ears, loud as well
as gentle raps, the former threatening to shatter the table to pieces on
account of their violence, the latter so soft as to become hardly perceptible.
. . . As to LEVITATIONS WITHOUT CONTACT, we found means to produce them easily,
and with success. . . . And such levitations do not pertain to isolated
results. We have reproduced them over THIRTY times.* . . . One day the table
will turn, and lift its legs successively, its weight being augmented by a man
weighing eighty-seven kilogrammes seated on it; another time it will remain
motionless and immovable, notwithstanding that the person placed on it weighs but
sixty.**. . . On one occasion we willed it to turn upside down, and it turned
over, with its legs in the air, notwithstanding that our fingers never touched
it once."***
"It is
certain," remarks de Mirville, "that a man who had repeatedly
witnessed such a phenomenon, could not accept the fine analysis of the English
physicist."****
Since 1850, des
Mousseaux and de Mirville, uncompromising Roman Catholics, have published many
volumes whose titles are cleverly contrived to attract public attention. They betray
on the part of the authors a very serious alarm, which, moreover, they take no
pains to conceal. Were it possible to consider the phenomena spurious, the
church of Rome would never have gone so much out of her way to repress them.
Both sides having
agreed upon the facts, leaving skeptics out of the question, people could
divide themselves into but two parties: the believers in the direct agency of
the devil, and the believers in disembodied and other spirits. The fact alone,
that theology dreaded a great deal more the revelations which might come
through this mysterious agency than all the threatening "conflicts"
with Science and the categorical denials of the latter, ought to have opened
the eyes of the most skeptical. The church of Rome has never been either
credulous or cowardly, as is abundantly proved by the Machiavellism which marks
her policy. Moreover, she has never troubled herself much about the clever
prestidigitateurs whom she knew to be simply adepts in juggling. Robert Houdin,
Comte, Hamilton and Bosco, slept secure in their beds, while she persecuted
such men as Paracelsus, Cagliostro, and Mesmer, the Hermetic philosophers and
mystics -- and effectually stopped every genuine manifestation of an occult
nature by killing the mediums.
Those who are
unable to believe in a personal devil and the dogmas of the church must
nevertheless accord to the clergy enough of shrewdness
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Des
Tables," vol. i., p. 48.
** Ibid., p. 24.
*** Ibid., p. 35.
**** De Mirville:
"Des Esprits," p. 26.
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"UNCONSCIOUS VENTRILOQUISM!"
to prevent the
compromising of her reputation for infallibility by making so much of
manifestations which, if fraudulent, must inevitably be some day exposed.
But the best
testimony to the reality of this force was given by Robert Houdin himself, the
king of jugglers, who, upon being called as an expert by the Academy to witness
the wonderful clairvoyant powers and occasional mistakes of a table, said:
"We jugglers never make mistakes, and my second-sight never failed me
yet."
The learned astronomer
Babinet was not more fortunate in his selection of Comte, the celebrated
ventriloquist, as an expert to testify against the phenomena of direct voices
and the rappings. Comte, if we may believe the witnesses, laughed in the face
of Babinet at the bare suggestion that the raps were produced by
"unconscious ventriloquism!" The latter theory, worthy twin-sister of
"unconscious cerebration," caused many of the most skeptical
academicians to blush. Its absurdity was too apparent.
"The problem
of the supernatural," says de Gasparin, "such as it was presented by
the middle ages, and as it stands now, is not among the number of those which
we are permitted to despise; its breadth and grandeur escape the notice of no
one. . . . Everything is profoundly serious in it, both the evil and the
remedy, the superstitious recrudescency, and the physical fact which is
destined to conquer the latter."*
Further, he
pronounces the following decisive opinion, to which he came, conquered by the
various manifestations, as he says himself -- "The number of facts which
claim their place in the broad daylight of truth, has so much increased of
late, that of two consequences one is henceforth inevitable: either the domain
of natural sciences must consent to expand itself, or the domain of the
supernatural will become so enlarged as to have no bounds."**
Among the multitude
of books against spiritualism emanating from Catholic and Protestant sources,
none have produced a more appalling effect than the works of de Mirville and
des Mousseaux: La Magie au XIXme Siecle -- Moeurs et Pratiques des Demons --
Hauts Phenomees de la Magie -- Les Mediateurs de la Magie -- Des Esprits et de
leurs Manifestations, etc. They comprise the most cyclopaedic biography of the
devil and his imps that has appeared for the private delectation of good
Catholics since the middle ages.
According to the
authors, he who was "a liar and murderer from the beginning," was
also the principal motor of spiritual phenomena. He had been for thousands of
years at the head of pagan theurgy; and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Avant
propos," pp. 12 and 16.
** Vol. i., p. 244.
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it was he, again,
who, encouraged by the increase of heresies, infidelity, and atheism, had
reappeared in our century. The French Academy lifted up its voice in a general
outcry of indignation, and M. de Gasparin even took it for a personal insult.
"This is a declaration of war, a 'levee of shields' " -- wrote he in
his voluminous book of refutations. "The work of M. de Mirville is a real
manifesto. . . . I would be glad to see in it the expression of a strictly
individual opinion, but, in truth, it is impossible. The success of the work,
these solemn adhesions, the faithful reproduction of its theses by the journals
and writers of the party, the solidarity established throughout between them
and the whole body of catholicity . . . everything goes to show a work which is
essentially an act, and has the value of a collective labor. As it is, I felt
that I had a duty to perform. . . . I felt obliged to pick up the glove. . . .
and lift high the Protestant flag against the Ultramontane banner."*
The medical
faculties, as might have been expected, assuming the part of the Greek chorus,
echoed the various expostulations against the demonological authors. The
Medico-Psychological Annals, edited by Drs. Brierre de Boismont and Cerise,
published the following: "Outside these controversies of antagonistical
parties, never in our country did a writer dare to face, with a more aggressive
serenity, . . . the sarcasms, the scorn of what we term common sense; and, as
if to defy and challenge at the same time thundering peals of laughter and
shrugging of shoulders, the author strikes an attitude, and placing himself
with effrontery before the members of the Academy . . . addresses to them what
he modestly terms his Memoire on the Devil!"**
That was a cutting
insult to the Academicians, to be sure; but ever since 1850 they seem to have
been doomed to suffer in their pride more than most of them can bear. The idea
of asking the attention of the forty "Immortals" to the pranks of the
Devil! They vowed revenge, and, leaguing themselves together, propounded a
theory which exceeded in absurdity even de Mirville's demonolatry! Dr. Royer
and Jobart de Lamballe -- both celebrities in their way -- formed an alliance
and presented to the Institute a German whose cleverness afforded, according to
his statement, the key to all the knockings and rappings of both hemispheres.
"We blush" -- remarks the Marquis de Mirville -- "to say that
the whole of the trick consisted simply in the reiterated displacement of one
of the muscular tendons of the legs. Great demonstration of the system in full
sitting of the Institute -- and on the spot . . . expressions of Academical
gratitude for this interesting communication, and, a few days later, a full
assurance given to the public by a professor of the medical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Vol. ii., p. 524.
**
"Medico-Psychological Annals," Jan. 1, 1854.
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PILLAR OF FAITH."
faculty, that,
scientists having pronounced their opinion, the mystery was at last
unravelled!"*
But such scientific
explanations neither prevented the phenomenon from quietly following its
course, nor the two writers on demonology from proceeding to expound their
strictly orthodox theories.
Denying that the
Church had anything to do with his books, des Mousseaux gravely gave the
Academy, in addition to his Memoire, the following interesting and profoundly
philosophical thoughts on Satan:
"The Devil is
the chief pillar of Faith. He is one of the grand personages whose life is
closely allied to that of the church; and without his speech which issued out
so triumphantly from the mouth of the Serpent, his medium, the fall of man
could not have taken place. Thus, if it was not for him, the Saviour, the
Crucified, the Redeemer, would be but the most ridiculous of supernumeraries,
and the Cross an insult to good sense!"**
This writer, be it
remembered, is only the faithful echo of the church, which anathematizes
equally the one who denies God and him who doubts the objective existence of
Satan.
But the Marquis de
Mirville carries this idea of God's partnership with the Devil still further.
According to him it is a regular commercial affair, in which the senior
"silent partner" suffers the active business of the firm to be
transacted as it may please his junior associate, by whose audacity and
industry he profits. Who could be of any other opinion, upon reading the
following?
"At the moment
of this spiritual invasion of 1853, so slightingly regarded, we had dared to
pronounce the word of a 'threatening catastrophe.' The world was nevertheless
at peace, but history showing us the same symptoms at all disastrous epochs, we
had a presentiment of the sad effects of a law which Goerres has formulated
thus: [vol. v., p. 356.] 'These mysterious apparitions have invariably indicated
the chastening hand of God on earth.' "***
These
guerilla-skirmishes between the champions of the clergy and the materialistic
Academy of Science, prove abundantly how little the latter has done toward
uprooting blind fanaticism from the minds of even very educated persons.
Evidently science has neither completely conquered nor muzzled theology. She
will master her only on that day when she will condescend to see in the
spiritual phenomenon something besides mere hallucination and charlatanry. But
how can she do it without investigating it thoroughly? Let us suppose that
before the time when
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Mirville:
"Des Esprits," "Constitutionnel," June 16, 1854.
** Chevalier des
Mousseaux: "Moeurs et Pratiques des Demons," p. x.
*** De Mirville:
"Des Esprits," p. 4.
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electro-magnetism
was publicly acknowledged, the Copenhagen Professor Oersted, its discoverer,
had been suffering from an attack of what we call psychophobia, or
pneumatophobia. He notices that the wire along which a voltaic current is
passing shows a tendency to turn the magnetic needle from its natural position
to one perpendicular to the direction of the current. Suppose, moreover, that
the professor had heard much of certain superstitious people who used that kind
of magnetized needles to converse with unseen intelligences. That they received
signals and even held correct conversations with them by means of the tippings
of such a needle, and that in consequence he suddenly felt a scientific horror
and disgust for such an ignorant belief, and refused, point-blank, to have
anything to do with such a needle. What would have been the result?
Electro-magnetism might not have been discovered till now, and our
experimentalists would have been the principal losers thereby.
Babinet, Royer, and
Jobert de Lamballe, all three members of the Institute, particularly
distinguished themselves in this struggle between skepticism and
supernaturalism, and most assuredly have reaped no laurels. The famous
astronomer had imprudently risked himself on the battlefield of the phenomenon.
He had explained scientifically the manifestations. But, emboldened by the fond
belief among scientists that the new epidemic could not stand close
investigation nor outlive the year, he had the still greater imprudence to
publish two articles on them. As M. de Mirville very wittily remarks, if both
of the articles had but a poor success in the scientific press, they had, on
the other hand, none at all in the daily one.
M. Babinet began by
accepting a priori, the rotation and movements of the furniture, which fact he
declared to be "hors de doute." "This rotation," he said,
"being able to manifest itself with a considerable energy, either by a
very great speed, or by a strong resistance when it is desired that it should
stop."*
Now comes the
explanation of the eminent scientist. "Gently pushed by little concordant
impulsions of the hands laid upon it, the table begins to oscillate from right
to left. . . . At the moment when, after more or less delay, a nervous
trepidation is established in the hands and the little individual impulsions of
all the experimenters have become harmonized, the table is set in
motion."**
He finds it very
simple, for "all muscular movements are determined over bodies by levers
of the third order, in which the fulcrum is very near to the point where the
force acts. This, consequently, communicates a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.,
"Revue des Deux Mondes," January 15, 1854, p. 108.
** This is a
repetition and variation of Faraday's theory.
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HIMSELF.
great speed to the
mobile parts for the very little distance which the motor force has to run. . .
. Some persons are astonished to see a table subjected to the action of several
well-disposed individuals in a fair way to conquer powerful obstacles, even
break its legs, when suddenly stopped; but that is very simple if we consider
the power of the little concordant actions. . . . Once more, the physical
explanation offers no difficulty."*
In this
dissertation, two results are clearly shown: the reality of the phenomena
proved, and the scientific explanation made ridiculous. But M. Babinet can well
afford to be laughed at a little; he knows, as an astronomer, that dark spots
are to be found even in the sun.
There is one thing,
though, that Babinet has always stoutly denied, viz.: the levitation of
furniture without contact. De Mirville catches him proclaiming that such
levitation is impossible: "simply impossible," he says, "as
impossible as perpetual motion."**
Who can take upon
himself, after such a declaration, to maintain that the word impossible
pronounced by science is infallible?
But the tables,
after having waltzed, oscillated and turned, began tipping and rapping. The
raps were sometimes as powerful as pistol-detonations. What of this? Listen:
"The witnesses and investigators are ventriloquists!"
De Mirville refers
us to the Revue des Deux Mondes, in which is published a very interesting
dialogue, invented by M. Babinet speaking of himself to himself, like the
Chaldean En-Soph of the Kabalists: "What can we finally say of all these
facts brought under our observation? Are there such raps produced? Yes. Do such
raps answer questions? Yes. Who produces these sounds? The mediums. By what
means? By the ordinary acoustic method of the ventriloquists. But we were given
to suppose that these sounds might result from the cracking of the toes and
fingers? No; for then they would always proceed from the same point, and such
is not the fact."***
"Now,"
asks de Mirville, "what are we to believe of the Americans, and their
thousands of mediums who produce the same raps before millions of
witnesses?" "Ventriloquism, to be sure," answers Babinet.
"But how can you explain such an impossibility?" The easiest thing in
the world; listen only: "All that was necessary to produce the first
manifestation in the first house in America was, a street-boy knocking at the
door of a mystified citizen, perhaps with a leaden ball attached to a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Revue des
Deux Mondes," p. 410.
** "Revue des
Deux Mondes," January, 1854, p. 414.
*** "Revue des
Deux Mondes," May 1, 1854, p. 531.
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string, and if Mr.
Weekman (the first believer in America) (?)* when he watched for the third
time, heard no shouts of laughter in the street, it is because of the essential
difference which exists between a French street-Arab, and an English or
Trans-Atlantic one, the latter being amply provided with what we call a sad
merriment, "gaite triste."**
Truly says de
Mirville in his famous reply to the attacks of de Gasparin, Babinet, and other
scientists: "and thus according to our great physicist, the tables turn
very quickly, very energetically, resist likewise, and, as M. de Gasparin has
proved, they levitate without contact. Said a minister: 'With three words of a
man's handwriting, I take upon myself to have him hung.' With the above three
lines, we take upon ourselves, in our turn, to throw into the greatest
confusion the physicists of all the globe, or rather to revolutionize the world
-- if at least, M. de Babinet had taken the precaution of suggesting, like M.
de Gasparin, some yet unknown law or force. For this would cover the whole
ground."***
But it is in the
notes embracing the "facts and physical theories," that we find the
acme of the consistency and logic of Babinet as an expert investigator on the
field of Spiritualism.
It would appear,
that M. de Mirville in his narrative of the wonders manifested at the
Presbytere de Cideville,**** was much struck by the marvellousness of some
facts. Though authenticated before the inquest and magistrates, they were of so
miraculous a nature as to force the demonological author himself to shrink from
the responsibility of publishing them.
These facts were as
follows: "At the precise moment predicted by a sorcerer" -- case of
revenge -- "a violent clap of thunder was heard above one of the chimneys
of the presbytery, after which the fluid descended with a formidable noise
through that passage, threw down believers as well as skeptics (as to the power
of the sorcerer) who were warming themselves by the fire; and, having filled
the room with a multitude of fantastic animals, returned to the chimney, and
having reascended it, disappeared, after producing the same terrible noise.
"As," adds de Mirville, "we were already but too rich in facts,
we recoiled before this new enormity added to so many others."****
But Babinet, who in
common with his learned colleagues had made such fun of the two writers on
demonology, and who was determined, moreover, to prove the absurdity of all
like stories, felt himself obliged
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We translate
verbatim. We doubt whether Mr. Weekman was the first investigator.
** Babinet:
"Revue des Deux Mondes," May 1, 1854, p. 511.
*** De Mirville:
"Des Esprits," p. 33.
**** Notes,
"Des Esprits," p. 38.
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to discredit the
above-mentioned fact of the Cideville phenomena, by presenting one still more
incredible. We yield the floor to M. Babinet, himself.
The following
circumstance which he gave to the Academy of Sciences, on July 5, 1852, can be
found without further commentary, and merely as an instance of a sphere-like
lightning, in the "OEuvres de F. Arago," vol. i., p. 52. We offer it
verbatim.
"After a
strong clap of thunder," says M. Babinet, "but not immediately
following it, a tailor apprentice, living in the Rue St. Jacques, was just
finishing his dinner, when he saw the paper-screen which shut the fireplace
fall down as if pushed out of its place by a moderate gust of wind. Immediately
after that he perceived a globe of fire, as large as the head of a child, come
out quietly and softly from within the grate and slowly move about the room,
without touching the bricks of the floor. The aspect of this fire-globe was
that of a young cat, of middle size . . . moving itself without the use of its
paws. The fire-globe was rather brilliant and luminous than hot or inflamed,
and the tailor had no sensation of warmth. This globe approached his feet like
a young cat which wishes to play and rub itself against the legs, as is
habitual to these animals; but the apprentice withdrew his feet from it, and
moving with great caution, avoided contact with the meteor. The latter remained
for a few seconds moving about his legs, the tailor examining it with great
curiosity and bending over it. After having tried several excursions in
opposite directions, but without leaving the centre of the room, the fire-globe
elevated itself vertically to the level of the man's head, who to avoid its
contact with his face, threw himself backward on his chair. Arrived at about a
yard from the floor the fire-globe slightly lengthened, took an oblique
direction toward a hole in the wall over the fireplace, at about the height of
a metre above the mantelpiece." This hole had been made for the purpose of
admitting the pipe of a stove in winter; but, according to the expression of
the tailor, "the thunder could not see it, for it was papered over like
the rest of the wall. The fire-globe went directly to that hole, unglued the
paper without damaging it, and reasscended the chimney . . . when it arrived at
the top, which it did very slowly . . . at least sixty feet above ground . . .
it produced a most frightful explosion, which partly destroyed the chimney, . .
." etc.
"It
seems," remarks de Mirville in his review, "that we could apply to M.
Babinet the following remark made by a very witty woman to Raynal, 'If you are
not a Christian, it is not for lack of faith.' "*
It was not alone
believers who wondered at the credulity displayed by
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Mirville:
"Faits et Theories Physiques," p. 46.
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M. Babinet, in
persisting to call the manifestation a meteor; for Dr. Boudin mentions it very
seriously in a work on lightning he was just then publishing. "If these
details are exact," says the doctor, "as they seem to be, since they
are admitted by MM. Babinet and Arago, it appears very difficult for the
phenomenon to retain its appellation of sphere-shaped lightning. However, we
leave it to others to explain, if they can, the essence of a fire-globe
emitting no sensation of heat, having the aspect of a cat, slowly promenading
in a room, which finds means to escape by reascending the chimney through an
aperture in the wall covered over with a paper which it unglues without
damaging!"*
"We are of the
same opinion," adds the marquis, "as the learned doctor, on the
difficulty of an exact definition, and we do not see why we should not have in
future lightning in the shape of a dog, of a monkey, etc., etc. One shudders at
the bare idea of a whole meteorological menagerie, which, thanks to thunder,
might come down to our rooms to promenade themselves at will."
Says de Gasparin,
in his monster volume of refutations: "In questions of testimony,
certitude must absolutely cease the moment we cross the borders of the
supernatural."**
The line of
demarcation not being sufficiently fixed and determined, which of the opponents
is best fitted to take upon himself the difficult task? Which of the two is
better entitled to become the public arbiter? Is it the party of superstition,
which is supported in its testimony by the evidence of many thousands of
people? For nearly two years they crowded the country where were daily
manifested the unprecedented miracles of Cideville, now nearly forgotten among
other countless spiritual phenomena; shall we believe them, or shall we bow to
science, represented by Babinet, who, on the testimony of one man (the tailor),
accepts the manifestation of the fire-globe, or the meteor-cat, and henceforth
claims for it a place among the established facts of natural phenomena?
Mr. Crookes, in his
first article in the Quarterly Journal of Science, October 1, 1871, mentions de
Gasparin and his work Science v. Spiritualism. He remarks that "the author
finally arrived at the conclusion that all these phenomena are to be accounted
for by the action of natural causes, and do not require the supposition of
miracles, nor the intervention of spirits and diabolical influences! Gasparin
considers it as a fact fully established by his experiments, that the will, in
certain
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Monograph:
"Of the Lightning considered from the point of view of the history of
Legal Medicine and Public Hygiene," by M. Boudin, Chief Surgeon of the
Military Hospital of Boule.
** De Gasparin:
vol. i., page 288.
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GASPARIN.
states of organism,
can act at a distance on inert matter, and most of his work is devoted to
ascertaining the laws and conditions under which this action manifests
itself."*
Precisely; but as
the work of de Gasparin called forth numberless Answers, Defenses, and Memoirs,
it was then demonstrated by his own work that as he was a Protestant, in point
of religious fanaticism, he was as little to be relied upon as des Mousseaux and
de Mirville. The former is a profoundly pious Calvinist, while the two latter
are fanatical Roman Catholics. Moreover, the very words of de Gasparin betray
the spirit of partisanship: -- "I feel I have a duty to perform. . . . I
lift high the Protestant flag against the Ultramontane banner!" etc.** In
such matters as the nature of the so-called spiritual phenomena, no evidence
can be relied upon, except the disinterested testimony of cold unprejudiced
witnesses and science. Truth is one, and Legion is the name for religious
sects; every one of which claims to have found the unadulterated truth; as
"the Devil is the chief pillar of the (Catholic) Church," so all
supernaturalism and miracles ceased, in de Gasparin's opinion, "with
apostleship."
But Mr. Crookes
mentioned another eminent scholar, Thury, of Geneva, professor of natural
history, who was a brother-investigator with Gasparin in the phenomena of
Valleyres. This professor contradicts point-blank the assertions of his
colleague. "The first and most necessary condition," says Gasparin,
"is the will of the experimenter; without the will, one would obtain
nothing; you can form the chain (the circle) for twenty-four hours
consecutively, without obtaining the least movement."***
The above proves
only that de Gasparin makes no difference between phenomena purely magnetic,
produced by the persevering will of the sitters among whom there may be not
even a single medium, developed or undeveloped, and the so-called spiritual
ones. While the first can be produced consciously by nearly every person, who
has a firm and determined will, the latter overpowers the sensitive very often
against his own consent, and always acts independently of him. The mesmerizer
wills a thing, and if he is powerful enough, that thing is done. The medium,
even if he had an honest purpose to succeed, may get no manifestations at all;
the less he exercises his will, the better the phenomena: the more he feels
anxious, the less he is likely to get anything; to mesmerize requires a positive
nature, to be a medium a perfectly passive one. This is the Alphabet of
Spiritualism, and no medium is ignorant of it.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Crookes:
"Physical Force," page 26.
** De Gasparin:
"Science versus Spirit," vol. i., p. 313.
*** Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 313.
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The opinion of
Thury, as we have said, disagrees entirely with Gasparin's theories of
will-power. He states it in so many plain words, in a letter, in answer to the
invitation of the count to modify the last article of his memoire. As the book
of Thury is not at hand, we translate the letter as it is found in the resume
of de Mirville's Defense. Thury's article which so shocked his religious
friend, related to the possibility of the existence and intervention in those
manifestations "of wills other than those of men and animals."
"I feel, sir,
the justness of your observations in relation to the last pages of this
memoire: they may provoke a very bad feeling for me on the part of scientists
in general. I regret it the more as my determination seems to affect you so
much; nevertheless, I persist in my resolution, because I think it a duty, to
shirk which would be a kind of treason.
"If, against
all expectations, there were some truth in Spiritualism, by abstaining from
saying on the part of science, as I conceive it to be, that the absurdity of
the belief in the intervention of spirits is not as yet demonstrated
scientifically (for such is the resume, and the thesis of the past pages of my
memoire), by abstaining from saying it to those who, after having read my work,
will feel inclined to experiment with the phenomena, I might risk to entice
such persons on a path many issues of which are very equivocal.
"Without
leaving the domain of science, as I esteem it, I will pursue my duty to the
end, without any reticence to the profit of my own glory, and, to use your own
words, 'as the great scandal lies there,' I do not wish to assume the shame of
it. I, moreover, insist that 'this is as scientific as anything else.' If I
wanted to sustain now the theory of the intervention of disembodied spirits, I
would have no power for it, for the facts which are made known are not
sufficient for the demonstration of such a hypothesis. As it is, and in the
position I have assumed, I feel I am strong against every one. Willingly or
not, all the scientists must learn, through experience and their own errors, to
suspend their judgment as to things which they have not sufficiently examined.
The lesson you gave them in this direction cannot be lost.
"GENEVA, 21
December, 1854."
Let us analyze the
above letter, and try to discover what the writer thinks, or rather what he
does not think of this new force. One thing is certain, at least: Professor
Thury, a distinguished physicist and naturalist, admits, and even
scientifically proves that various manifestations take place. Like Mr. Crookes,
he does not believe that they are produced by the interference of spirits or
disembodied men who have lived
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GASPARIN.
and died on earth;
for he says in his letter that nothing has demonstrated this theory. He
certainly believes no more in the Catholic devils or demons, for de Mirville,
who quotes this letter as a triumphant proof against de Gasparin's naturalistic
theory, once arrived at the above sentence, hastens to emphasize it by a
foot-note, which runs thus: "At Valleyres -- perhaps, but everywhere
else!"* showing himself anxious to convey the idea that the professor only
meant the manifestations of Valleyres, when denying their being produced by
demons.
The contradictions,
and we are sorry to say, the absurdities in which de Gasparin allows himself to
be caught, are numerous. While bitterly criticizing the pretensions of the
learned Faradaysiacs, he attributes things which he declares magical, to causes
perfectly natural. "If," he says, "we had to deal but with such
phenomena (as witnessed and explained (?) by the great physicist), we might as
well hold our tongues; but we have passed beyond, and what good can they do
now, I would ask, these apparatus which demonstrate that an unconscious
pressure explains the whole? It explains all, and the table resists pressure
and guidance! It explains all, and a piece of furniture which nobody touches
follows the fingers pointed at it; it levitates (without contact), and it turns
itself upside down!"**
But for all that,
he takes upon himself to explain the phenomena.
"People will
be advocating miracles, you say -- magic! Every new law appears to them as a
prodigy. Calm yourselves; I take upon myself the task to quiet those who are
alarmed. In the face of such phenomena, we do not cross at all the boundaries
of natural law."***
Most assuredly, we
do not. But can the scientists assert that they have in their possession the
keys to such law? M. de Gasparin thinks he has. Let us see.
"I do not risk
myself to explain anything; it is no business of mine. (?) To authenticate
simple facts, and maintain a truth which science desires to smother, is all I
pretend to do. Nevertheless, I cannot resist the temptation to point out to
those who would treat us as so many illuminati or sorcerers, that the
manifestation in question affords an interpretation which agrees with the ordinary
laws of science.
"Suppose a
fluid, emanating from the experimenters, and chiefly from some of them; suppose
that the will determined the direction taken by the fluid, and you will readily
understand the rotation and levitation of that one of the legs of the table
toward which is ejected with every action of the will an excess of fluid.
Suppose that the glass causes the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Mirville
pleads here the devil-theory, of course.
** "Des Tables,"
vol. i., p. 213.
*** Vol. i., p.
217.
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fluid to escape,
and you will understand how a tumbler placed on the table can interrupt its
rotation, and that the tumbler, placed on one of its sides, causes the
accumulation of the fluid in the opposite side, which, in consequence of that,
is lifted!"
If every one of the
experimenters were clever mesmerizers, the explanation, minus certain important
details, might be acceptable. So much for the power of human will on inanimate
matter, according to the learned minister of Louis Philippe. But how about the
intelligence exhibited by the table? What explanation does he give as to
answers obtained through the agency of this table to questions? answers which
could not possibly have been the "reflections of the brain" of those
present (one of the favorite theories of de Gasparin), for their own ideas were
quite the reverse of the very liberal philosophy given by this wonderful table?
On this he is silent. Anything but spirits, whether human, satanic, or
elemental.
Thus, the
"simultaneous concentration of thought," and the "accumulation
of fluid," will be found no better than "the unconscious
cerebration" and "psychic force" of other scientists. We must
try again; and we may predict beforehand that the thousand and one theories of
science will prove of no avail until they will confess that this force, far
from being a projection of the accumulated wills of the circle, is, on the
contrary, a force which is abnormal, foreign to themselves, and
supra-intelligent.
Professor Thury,
who denies the theory of departed human spirits, rejects the Christian devil-doctrine,
and shows himself unwilling to pronounce in favor of Crookes's theory (the
6th), that of the hermetists and ancient theurgists, adopts the one, which, he
says in his letter, is "the most prudent, and makes him feel strong
against every one." Moreover, he accepts as little of de Gasparin's
hypothesis of "unconscious will-power." This is what he says in his
work:
"As to the
announced phenomena, such as the levitation without contact, and the
displacement of furniture by invisible hands -- unable to demonstrate their
impossibility, a priori, no one has the right to treat as absurd the serious
evidences which affirm their occurrence" (p. 9).
As to the theory
proposed by M. de Gasparin, Thury judges it very severely. "While
admitting that in the experiments of Valleyres," says de Mirville,
"the seat of the force might have been in the individual -- and we say
that it was intrinsic and extrinsic at the same time -- and that the will might
be generally necessary (p. 20), he repeats but what he had said in his preface,
to wit: 'M. de Gasparin presents us with crude facts, and the explanations
following he offers for what they are worth. Breathe on them, and not many will
be found standing after this. No,
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"ECTENIC FORCE."
very little, if
anything, will remain of his explanations. As to facts, they are henceforth
demonstrated' " (p. 10).
As Mr. Crookes
tells us, Professor Thury refutes "all these explanations, and considers
the effects due to a peculiar substance, fluid, or agent, pervading in a manner
similar to the luminiferous ether of the scientists, all matter, nervous,
organic or inorganic, which he terms psychode. He enters into full discussion
as to the properties of this state, or form, or matter, and proposes the term
ectenic force . . . for the power exerted when the mind acts at a distance
through the influence of the psychode."*
Mr. Crookes remarks
further, that "Professor Thury's ectenic force, and his own 'psychic
force' are evidently equivalent terms."
We certainly could
very easily demonstrate that the two forces are identical, moreover, the astral
or sidereal light as explained by the alchemists and Eliphas Levi, in his Dogme
et Rituel de la Haute Magie; and that, under the name of AKASA, or
life-principle, this all-pervading force was known to the gymnosophists, Hindu
magicians, and adepts of all countries, thousands of years ago; and, that it is
still known to them, and used at present by the Thibetan lamas, fakirs,
thaumaturgists of all nationalities, and even by many of the Hindu
"jugglers."
In many cases of
trance, artificially induced by mesmerization, it is also quite possible, even
quite probable, that it is the "spirit" of the subject which acts
under the guidance of the operator's will. But, if the medium remains
conscious, and psycho-physical phenomena occur which indicate a directing
intelligence, then, unless it be conceded that he is a "magician,"
and can project his double, physical exhaustion can signify nothing more than
nervous prostration. The proof that he is the passive instrument of unseen
entities controlling occult potencies, seems conclusive. Even if Thury's
ectenic and Crookes's psychic force are substantially of the same derivation,
the respective discoverers seem to differ widely as to the properties and
potencies of this force; while Professor Thury candidly admits that the
phenomena are often produced by "wills not human," and so, of course,
gives a qualified endorsement to Mr. Crookes's theory No. 6, the latter,
admitting the genuineness of the phenomena, has as yet pronounced no definite
opinion as to their cause.
Thus, we find that
neither M. Thury, who investigated these manifestations with de Gasparin in
1854, nor Mr. Crookes, who conceded their undeniable genuineness in 1874, have
reached anything definite. Both are chemists, physicists, and very learned men.
Both have given all their attention to the puzzling question; and besides these
two scien-
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Crookes:
"Psychic Force," part i., pp. 26-27.
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tists there were
many others who, while coming to the same conclusion, have hitherto been as
unable to furnish the world with a final solution. It follows then, that in
twenty years none of the scientists have made a single step toward the
unravelling of the mystery, which remains as immovable and impregnable as the
walls of an enchanted castle in a fairy tale.
Would it be too
impertinent to surmise that perhaps our modern scientists have got in what the
French term un cercle vicieux? That, hampered by the weight of their
materialism, and the insufficiency of what they name "the exact
sciences" to demonstrate to them tangibly the existence of a spiritual universe,
peopled and inhabited much more than our visible one, they are doomed forever
to creep around inside that circle, unwilling rather than unable to penetrate
beyond its enchanted ring, and explore it in its length and breadth? It is but
prejudice which keeps them from making a compromise with well-established facts
and seek alliance with such expert magnetists and mesmerizers as were Du Potet
and Regazzoni.
"What, then,
is produced from death?" inquired Socrates of Cebes. "Life," was
the reply.* . . . "Can the soul, since it is immortal, be anything else
than imperishable?"** The "seed cannot develop unless it is in part
consumed," says Prof. Lecomte; "it is not quickened unless it
die," says St. Paul.
A flower blossoms;
then withers and dies. It leaves a fragrance behind, which, long after its
delicate petals are but a little dust, still lingers in the air. Our material
sense may not be cognizant of it, but it nevertheless exists. Let a note be
struck on an instrument, and the faintest sound produces an eternal echo. A
disturbance is created on the invisible waves of the shoreless ocean of space,
and the vibration is never wholly lost. Its energy being once carried from the
world of matter into the immaterial world will live for ever. And man, we are
asked to believe, man, the living, thinking, reasoning entity, the indwelling
deity of our nature's crowning masterpiece, will evacuate his casket and be no
more! Would the principle of continuity which exists even for the so-called
inorganic matter, for a floating atom, be denied to the spirit, whose
attributes are consciousness, memory, mind, LOVE! Really, the very idea is
preposterous. The more we think and the more we learn, the more difficult it
becomes for us to account for the atheism of the scientist. We may readily
understand that a man ignorant of the laws of nature, unlearned in either
chemistry or physics, may be fatally drawn into materialism through his very
ignorance; his incapacity of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Phaedo," § 44.
** Ibid., § 128.
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MALFORMATION.
understanding the
philosophy of the exact sciences, or drawing any inference by analogy from the
visible to the invisible. A natural-born metaphysician, an ignorant dreamer,
may awake abruptly and say to himself: "I dreamed it; I have no tangible
proof of that which I imagined; it is all illusion," etc. But for a man of
science, acquainted with the characteristics of the universal energy, to
maintain that life is merely a phenomenon of matter, a species of energy,
amounts simply to a confession of his own incapability of analyzing and
properly understanding the alpha and the omega even of that -- matter.
Sincere skepticism
as to the immortality of man's soul is a malady; a malformation of the physical
brain, and has existed in every age. As there are infants born with a caul upon
their heads, so there are men who are incapable to their last hour of ridding
themselves of that kind of caul evidently enveloping their organs of
spirituality. But it is quite another feeling which makes them reject the
possibility of spiritual and magical phenomena. The true name for that feeling
is -- vanity. "We can neither produce nor explain it -- hence, it does not
exist, and moreover, could never have existed." Such is the irrefutable
argument of our present-day philosophers. Some thirty years ago, E. Salverte
startled the world of the "credulous" by his work, The Philosophy of
Magic. The book claimed to unveil the whole of the miracles of the Bible as
well as those of the Pagan sanctuaries. Its resume ran thus: Long ages of
observation; a great knowledge (for those days of ignorance) of natural
sciences and philosophy; imposture; legerdemain; optics; phantasmagoria;
exaggeration. Final and logical conclusion: Thaumaturgists, prophets,
magicians, rascals, and knaves; the rest of the world, fools.
Among many other
conclusive proofs, the reader can find him offering the following: "The
enthusiastic disciples of Iamblichus affirmed that when he prayed, he was
raised to the height of ten cubits from the ground; and dupes to the same
metaphor, although Christians, have had the simplicity to attribute a similar
miracle to St. Clare, and St. Francis of Assisi."*
Hundreds of
travellers claimed to have seen fakirs produce the same phenomena, and they
were all thought either liars or hallucinated. But it was but yesterday that
the same phenomenon was witnessed and endorsed by a well-known scientist; it
was produced under test conditions; declared by Mr. Crookes to be genuine, and
to be beyond the possibility of an illusion or a trick. And so was it
manifested many a time before and attested by numerous witnesses, though the
latter are now invariably disbelieved.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Philosophy of
Magic," English translation, p. 47.
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Peace to thy
scientific ashes, O credulous Eusebe Salverte! Who knows but before the close
of the present century popular wisdom will have invented a new proverb:
"As incredibly credulous as a scientist."
Why should it
appear so impossible that when the spirit is once separated from its body, it may
have the power to animate some evanescent form, created out of that magical
"psychic" or "ectenic" or "ethereal" force, with
the help of the elementaries who furnish it with the sublimated matter of their
own bodies? The only difficulty is, to realize the fact that surrounding space
is not an empty void, but a reservoir filled to repletion with the models of
all things that ever were, that are, and that will be; and with beings of
countless races, unlike our own. Seemingly supernatural facts -- supernatural
in that they openly contradict the demonstrated natural laws of gravitation, as
in the above-mentioned instance of levitation -- are recognized by many
scientists. Every one who has dared to investigate with thoroughness has found
himself compelled to admit their existence; only in their unsuccessful efforts
to account for the phenomena on theories based on the laws of such forces as
were already known, some of the highest representatives of science have
involved themselves in inextricable difficulties!
In his Resume de
Mirville describes the argumentation of these adversaries of spiritualism as
consisting of five paradoxes, which he terms distractions.
First distraction:
that of Faraday, who explains the table phenomenon, by the table which pushes
you "in consequence of the resistance which pushes it back."
Second distraction:
that of Babinet, explaining all the communications (by raps) which are
produced, as he says, "in good faith and with perfect conscientiousness,
correct in every way and sense -- by ventriloquism," the use of which
faculty implies of necessity -- bad faith.
Third distraction:
that of Dr. Chevreuil, explaining the faculty of moving furniture without
contact, by the preliminary acquisition of that faculty.
Fourth distraction:
that of the French Institute and its members, who consent to accept the
miracles, on condition that the latter will not contradict in any way those
natural laws with which they are acquainted.
Fifth distraction:
that of M. de Gasparin, introducing as a very simple and perfectly elementary
phenomenon that which every one rejects, precisely because no one ever saw the
like of it.*
While the great,
world-known scientists indulge in such fantastic theories, some less known
neurologists find an explanation for occult phe-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Mirville:
"Des Esprits," p. 159.
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VERSUS IMMORTALITY.
nomena of every
kind in an abnormal effluvium resulting from epilepsy.* Another would treat
mediums -- and poets, too, we may infer -- with assafoetida and ammonia,** and
declare every one of the believers in spiritual manifestations lunatics and
hallucinated mystics.
To the latter
lecturer and professed pathologist is commended that sensible bit of advice to
be found in the New Testament: "Physician, heal thyself." Truly, no
sane man would so sweepingly charge insanity upon four hundred and forty-six
millions of people in various parts of the world, who believe in the
intercourse of spirits with ourselves!
Considering all
this, it remains to us but to wonder at the preposterous presumption of these
men, who claim to be regarded by right of learning as the high priests of
science, to classify a phenomenon they know nothing about. Surely, several
millions of their countrymen and women, if deluded, deserve at least as much
attention as potato-bugs or grasshoppers! But, instead of that, what do we
find? The Congress of the United States, at the demand of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, enacts statutes for organization of
National Insect Commissions; chemists are busying themselves in boiling frogs
and bugs; geologists amuse their leisure by osteological surveys of
armor-plated ganoids, and discuss the odontology of the various species of
dinichtys; and entomologists suffer their enthusiasm to carry them to the length
of supping on grasshoppers boiled, fried, and in soup.*** Meanwhile, millions
of Americans are either losing themselves in the maze of "crazy
delusions," according to the opinion of some of these very learned
encyclopaedists, or perishing physically from "nervous disorders,"
brought on or brought out by mediumistic diathesis.
At one time, there
was reason to hope that Russian scientists would have undertaken the task of
giving the phenomena a careful and impartial study. A commission was appointed
by the Imperial University of St. Petersburg, with Professor Mendeleyeff, the
great physicist, at its head. The advertised programme provided for a series of
forty seances to test mediums, and invitations were extended to all of this
class who chose to come to the Russian capital and submit their powers to
examination. As a rule they refused -- doubtless from a prevision of the trap
that had been laid for them. After eight sittings, upon a shallow pretext, and
just when the manifestations were becoming interesting, the commission
prejudged the case, and published a decision adverse to the claims of
mediumism. Instead of pursuing dignified, scientific methods, they set spies to
peep
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See F. Gerry Fairfield's
"Ten Years with Spiritual Mediums," New York, 1875.
** Marvin:
"Lecture on Mediomania."
***
"Scientific American," N. Y., 1875.
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through the
key-holes. Professor Mendeleyeff declared in a public lecture that
spiritualism, or any such belief in our souls' immortality, was a mixture of
superstition, delusion, and fraud; adding that every "manifestation"
of such nature -- including mind-reading, trance, and other psychological
phenomena, we must suppose -- could be, and was produced by means of clever
apparatus and machinery concealed under the clothing of mediums!
After such a public
exhibition of ignorance and prejudice, Mr. Butlerof, Professor of Chemistry at
the St. Petersburg University, and Mr. Aksakof, Counsellor of State in the same
city, who had been invited to assist on the committee for mediums, became so
disgusted that they withdrew. Having published their protests in the Russian
papers, they were supported by the majority of the press, who did not spare
either Mendeleyeff or his officious committee with their sarcasms. The public
acted fairly in that case. One hundred and thirty names, of the most
influential persons of the best society of St. Petersburg, many of them no
spiritualists at all, but simply investigators, added their signatures to the
well-deserved protest.
The inevitable
result of such a procedure followed; universal attention was drawn to the
question of spiritualism; private circles were organized throughout the empire;
some of the most liberal journals began to discuss the subject; and, as we
write, a new commission is being organized to finish the interrupted task.
But now -- as a
matter of course -- they will do their duty less than ever. They have a better
pretext than they ever had in the pretended expose of the medium Slade, by
Professor Lankester, of London. True, to the evidence of one scientist and his
friend, -- Messrs. Lankester and Donkin -- the accused opposed the testimony of
Wallace, Crookes, and a host of others, which totally nullifies an accusation
based merely on circumstantial evidence and prejudice. As the London Spectator
very pertinently observes:
"It is really
a pure superstition and nothing else to assume that we are so fully acquainted
with the laws of nature, that even carefully examined facts, attested by an
experienced observer, ought to be cast aside as utterly unworthy of credit,
only because they do not, at first sight, seem to be in keeping with what is
most clearly known already. To assume, as Professor Lankester appears to do,
that because there are fraud and credulity in plenty to be found in connection
with these facts -- as there is, no doubt, in connection with all nervous
diseases -- fraud and credulity will account for all the carefully attested
statements of accurate and conscientious observers, is to saw away at the very
branch of the tree of knowledge on which inductive science necessarily rests,
and to bring the whole structure toppling to the ground."
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LOURDES.
But what matters
all this to scientists? The torrent of superstition, which, according to them,
sweeps away millions of bright intellects in its impetuous course, cannot reach
them. The modern deluge called spiritualism is unable to affect their strong
minds; and the muddy waves of the flood must expend their raging fury without
wetting even the soles of their boots. Surely it must be but traditional
stubbornness on the part of the Creator that prevents him from confessing what
a poor chance his miracles have in our day in blinding professed scientists. By
this time even He ought to know and take notice that long ago they decided to
write on the porticoes of their universities and colleges:
Science commands
that God shall not
Do miracles upon
this spot! *
Both the infidel
spiritualists and the orthodox Roman Catholics seem to have leagued themselves
this year against the iconoclastic pretensions of materialism. Increase of
skepticism has developed of late a like increase of credulity. The champions of
the Bible "divine" miracles rival the panegyrist's mediumistic
phenomena, and the middle ages revive in the nineteenth century. Once more we
see the Virgin Mary resume her epistolary correspondence with the faithful
children of her church; and while the "angel friends" scribble
messages to spiritualists through their mediums, the "mother of God"
drops letters direct from heaven to earth. The shrine of Notre Dame de Lourdes
has turned into a spiritualistic cabinet for "materializations,"
while the cabinets of popular American mediums are transformed into sacred
shrines, into which Mohammed, Bishop Polk, Joan of Arc and other aristocratic
spirits from over the "dark river," having descended,
"materialize" in full light. And if the Virgin Mary is seen taking
her daily walk in the woods about Lourdes in full human form, why not the
Apostle of Islam, and the late Bishop of Louisiana? Either both
"miracles" are possible, or both kinds of these manifestations, the
"divine" as well as the "spiritual," are arrant impostures.
Time alone will prove which; but meanwhile, as science refuses the loan of her
magic lamp to illuminate these mysteries, common people must go stumbling on
whether they be mired or not.
The recent
"miracles" at Lourdes having been unfavorably discussed in the London
papers, Monsignor Capel communicates to the Times the views of the Roman Church
in the following terms:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*"De par le
Roi, defense a Dieu,
De faire miracle,
en ces lieux."
A satire that was
found written upon the walls of the cemetery at the time of the Jansenist
miracles and their prohibition by the police of France.
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"As to the
miraculous cures which are effected, I would refer your readers to the calm,
judicious work, La Grotte de Lourdes, written by Dr. Dozous, an eminent
resident practitioner, inspector of epidemic diseases for the district, and
medical assistant of the Court of Justice. He prefaces a number of detailed
cases of miraculous cures, which he says he has studied with great care and
perseverance, with these words: 'I declare that these cures effected at the
Sanctuary of Lourdes by means of the water of the fountain, have established
their supernatural character in the eyes of men of good faith. I ought to
confess that without these cures, my mind, little prone to listen to miraculous
explanations of any kind, would have had great difficulty in accepting even
this fact (the apparition), remarkable as it is from so many points of view.
But the cures, of which I have been so often an ocular witness, have given to
my mind a light which does not permit me to ignore the importance of the visits
of Bernadette to the Grotto, and the reality of the apparitions with which she
was favored.' The testimony of a distinguished medical man, who has carefully
watched from the beginning Bernadette, and the miraculous cures at the Grotto,
is at least worthy of respectful consideration. I may add, that the vast number
of those who come to the Grotto do so to repent of their sins, to increase
their piety, to pray for the regeneration of their country, to profess publicly
their belief in the Son of God and his Immaculate Mother. Many come to be cured
of bodily ailments; and on the testimony of eye-witnesses several return home
freed from their sickness. To upbraid with non-belief, as does your article,
those who use also the waters of the Pyrenees, is as reasonable as to charge
with unbelief the magistrates who inflict punishment on the peculiar people for
neglecting to have medical aid. Health obliged me to pass the winters of 1860 to
1867 at Pau. This gave me the opportunity of making the most minute inquiry
into the apparition at Lourdes. After frequent and lengthened examinations of
Bernadette and of some of the miracles effected, I am convinced that, if facts
are to be received on human testimony, then has the apparition at Lourdes every
claim to be received as an undeniable fact. It is, however, no part of the
Catholic faith, and may be accepted or rejected by any Catholic without the
least praise or condemnation."
Let the reader
observe the sentence we have italicized. This makes it clear that the Catholic
Church, despite her infallibility and her liberal postage convention with the
Kingdom of Heaven, is content to accept even the validity of divine miracles
upon human testimony. Now when we turn to the report of Mr. Huxley's recent New
York lectures on evolution, we find him saying that it is upon "human
historical evidence that we depend for the greater part of our knowledge for
the doings of
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PROOF.
the past." In
a lecture on Biology, he has said " . . . every man who has the interest
of truth at heart must earnestly desire that every well-founded and just
criticism that can be made should be made; but it is essential . . . that the
critic should know what he is talking about." An aphorism that its author
should recall when he undertakes to pronounce upon psychological subjects. Add
this to his views, as expressed above, and who could ask a better platform upon
which to meet him?
Here we have a
representative materialist, and a representative Catholic prelate, enunciating
an identical view of the sufficiency of human testimony to prove facts that it
suits the prejudices of each to believe. After this, what need for either the
student of occultism, or even the spiritualist, to hunt about for endorsements
of the argument they have so long and so persistently advanced, that the
psychological phenomena of ancient and modern thaumaturgists being
superabundantly proven upon human testimony must be accepted as facts? Church
and College having appealed to the tribunal of human evidence, they cannot deny
the rest of mankind an equal privilege. One of the fruits of the recent
agitation in London of the subject of mediumistic phenomena, is the expression
of some remarkably liberal views on the part of the secular press. "In any
case, we are for admitting spiritualism to a place among tolerated beliefs, and
letting it alone accordingly," says the London Daily News, in 1876.
"It has many votaries who are as intelligent as most of us, and to whom
any obvious and palpable defect in the evidence meant to convince must have been
obvious and palpable long ago. Some of the wisest men in the world believed in
ghosts, and would have continued to do so even though half-a-dozen persons in
succession had been convicted of frightening people with sham goblins."
It is not for the
first time in the history of the world, that the invisible world has to contend
against the materialistic skepticism of soul-blind Sadducees. Plato deplores
such an unbelief, and refers to this pernicious tendency more than once in his
works.
From Kapila, the Hindu
philosopher, who many centuries before Christ demurred to the claim of the
mystic Yogins, that in ecstasy a man has the power of seeing Deity face to face
and conversing with the "highest" beings, down to the Voltaireans of
the eighteenth century, who laughed at everything that was held sacred by other
people, each age had its unbelieving Thomases. Did they ever succeed in
checking the progress of truth? No more than the ignorant bigots who sat in
judgment over Galileo checked the progress of the earth's rotation. No
exposures whatever are able to vitally affect the stability or instability of a
belief which humanity inherited from the first races of men, those, who -- if
we
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can believe in the
evolution of spiritual man as in that of the physical one -- had the great
truth from the lips of their ancestors, the gods of their fathers, "that
were on the other side of the flood." The identity of the Bible with the
legends of the Hindu sacred books and the cosmogonies of other nations, must be
demonstrated at some future day. The fables of the mythopoeic ages will be
found to have but allegorized the greatest truths of geology and anthropology.
It is in these ridiculously expressed fables that science will have to look for
her "missing links."
Otherwise, whence
such strange "coincidences" in the respective histories of nations
and peoples so widely thrown apart? Whence that identity of primitive
conceptions which, fables and legends though they are termed now, contain in
them nevertheless the kernel of historical facts, of a truth thickly overgrown
with the husks of popular embellishment, but still a truth? Compare only this
verse of Genesis vi.: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on
the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God
saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose. . . . There were giants in the earth in those days,"
etc., with this part of the Hindu cosmogony, in the Vedas, which speaks of the
descent of the Brahmans. The first Brahman complains of being alone among all
his brethren without a wife. Notwithstanding that the Eternal advises him to
devote his days solely to the study of the Sacred Knowledge (Veda), the
first-born of mankind insists. Provoked at such ingratitude, the eternal gave
Brahman a wife of the race of the Daints, or giants, from whom all the Brahmans
maternally descend. Thus the entire Hindu priesthood is descended, on the one
hand, from the superior spirits (the sons of God), and from Daintany, a
daughter of the earthly giants, the primitive men.* "And they bare children
to them; the same became mighty men which were of old; men of renown."**
The same is found
in the Scandinavian cosmogonical fragment. In the Edda is given the description
to Gangler by Har, one of the three informants (Har, Jafuhar, and Tredi) of the
first man, called Bur, "the father of Bor, who took for wife Besla, a
daughter of the giant Bolthara, of the race of the primitive giants." The
full and interesting narrative may be found in the Prose Edda, sects. 4-8, in
Mallett's Northern Antiquities.**
The same groundwork
underlies the Grecian fables about the Titans; and may be found in the legend
of the Mexicans -- the four successive races of Popol-Vuh. It constitutes one
of the many ends to be found in
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Polier:
"Mythologie des Indous."
** Genesis vi., 4.
*** Mallett:
"Northern Antiquities," Bohn's edition, pp. 401-405.
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PROTESTS.
the entangled and
seemingly inextricable skein of mankind, viewed as a psychological phenomenon.
Belief in supernaturalism would be otherwise inexplicable. To say that it
sprang up, and grew and developed throughout the countless ages, without either
cause or the least firm basis to rest upon, but merely as an empty fancy, would
be to utter as great an absurdity as the theological doctrine that the universe
sprang into creation out of nothing.
It is too late now
to kick against an evidence which manifests itself as in the full glare of
noon. Liberal, as well as Christian papers, and the organs of the most advanced
scientific authorities, begin to protest unanimously against the dogmatism and
narrow prejudices of sciolism. The Christian World, a religious paper, adds its
voice to that of the unbelieving London press. Following is a good specimen of
its common sense:
"If a
medium," it says,* "can be shown ever so conclusively to be an
impostor, we shall still object to the disposition manifested by persons of
some authority in scientific matters, to pooh-pooh and knock on the head all
careful inquiry into those subjects of which Mr. Barrett took note in his paper
before the British Association. Because spiritualists have committed themselves
to many absurdities, that is no reason why the phenomena to which they appeal
should be scouted as unworthy of examination. They may be mesmeric, or
clairvoyant, or something else. But let our wise men tell us what they are, and
not snub us, as ignorant people too often snub inquiring youth, by the easy but
unsatisfactory apothegm, 'Little children should not ask questions.' "
Thus the time has
come when the scientists have lost all right to be addressed with the Miltonian
verse, "O thou who, for the testimony of truth, hast borne universal
reproach!" Sad degeneration, and one that recalls the exclamation of that
"doctor of physic" mentioned one hundred and eighty years ago by Dr.
Henry More, and who, upon hearing the story told of the drummer of Tedworth and
of Ann Walker, "cryed out presently, If this be true, I have been in a
wrong box all this time, and must begin my account anew."**
But in our century,
notwithstanding Huxley's endorsement of the value of "human
testimony," even Dr. Henry More has become "an enthusiast and a
visionary, both of which, united in the same person, constitute a canting
madman."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In the
"Quarterly Review" of 1859, Graham gives a strange account of many
now deserted Oriental cities, in which the stone doors are of enormous
dimensions, often seemingly out of proportion with the buildings themselves,
and remarks that dwellings and doors bear all of them the impress of an ancient
race of giants.
** Dr. More:
"Letter to Glanvil, author of 'Saducismus Triumphatus.' "
*** J. S. Y.:
"Demonologia, or Natural Knowledge Revealed," 1827, p. 219.
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What psychology has
long lacked to make its mysterious laws better understood and applied to the
ordinary as well as extraordinary affairs of life, is not facts. These it has
had in abundance. The need has been for their recording and classification --
for trained observers and competent analysts. From the scientific body these
ought to have been supplied. If error has prevailed and superstition run riot
these many centuries throughout Christendom, it is the misfortune of the common
people, the reproach of science. The generations have come and gone, each
furnishing its quota of martyrs to conscience and moral courage, and psychology
is little better understood in our day than it was when the heavy hand of the
Vatican sent those brave unfortunates to their untimely doom, and branded their
memories with the stigma of heresy and sorcery.
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CHAPTER V.
"Ich bin der
Geist der stets verneint."
(I am the spirit
which still denies.) -- (Mephisto in FAUST.)
"The Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not; neither knoweth
Him." -- Gospel according to John, xiv., 17.
"Millions of
spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when
we wake and when we sleep." -- MILTON.
"Mere
intellectual enlightenment cannot recognize the spiritual. As the sun puts out
a fire, so spirit puts out the eyes of mere intellect. -- W. HOWITT.
THERE has been an
infinite confusion of names to express one and the same thing.
The chaos of the
ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the Antusbyrum of the Parsees; the
Hermes-fire; the Elmes-fire of the ancient Germans; the lightning of Cybele;
the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the
inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that of Vesta; the
fire-flame of Pluto's helm; the brilliant sparks on the hats of the Dioscuri,
on the Gorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury; the [[pur
asbeston]]; the Egyptian Phtha, or Ra; the Grecian Zeus Cataibates (the
descending);* the pentecostal fire-tongues; the burning bush of Moses; the
pillar of fire of the Exodus, and the "burning lamp" of Abram; the
eternal fire of the "bottomless pit"; the Delphic oracular vapors;
the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the AKASA of the Hindu adepts; the
Astral light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists;
the od of Reichenbach; the fire-globe, or meteor-cat of Babinet; the Psychod
and ectenic force of Thury; the psychic force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes;
the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists; galvanism; and finally,
electricity, are but various names for many different manifestations, or
effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause -- the Greek Archeus, or
[[Archaios]].
Sir E.
Bulwer-Lytton, in his Coming Race, describes it as the VRIL,** used by the
subterranean populations, and allowed his readers to take it
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pausanias:
"Eliae," lib. i., cap. xiv.
** We apprehend
that the noble author coined his curious names by contracting words in
classical languages. Gy would come from gune; vril from virile.
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for a fiction.
"These people," he says, "consider that in the vril they had
arrived at the unity in natural energic agencies"; and proceeds to show
that Faraday intimated them "under the more cautious term of correlation,"
thus:
"I have long
held an opinion, almost amounting to a conviction, in common, I believe, with
many other lovers of natural knowledge, that the various forms under which the
forces of matter are made manifest, HAVE ONE COMMON ORIGIN; or, in other words,
are so directly related and naturally dependent, that they are convertible, as
it were, into one another, and possess equivalents of power in their
action."
Absurd and
unscientific as may appear our comparison of a fictitious vril invented by the
great novelist, and the primal force of the equally great experimentalist, with
the kabalistic astral light, it is nevertheless the true definition of this
force. Discoveries are constantly being made to corroborate the statement thus
boldly put forth. Since we began to write this part of our book, an
announcement has been made in a number of papers of the supposed discovery of a
new force by Mr. Edison, the electrician, of Newark, New Jersey, which force
seems to have little in common with electricity, or galvanism, except the
principle of conductivity. If demonstrated, it may remain for a long time under
some pseudonymous scientific name; but, nevertheless, it will be but one of the
numerous family of children brought forth from the commencement of time by our
kabalistic mother, the Astral Virgin. In fact, the discoverer says that,
"it is as distinct, and has as regular laws as heat, magnetism, or
electricity." The journal which contains the first account of the
discovery adds that, "Mr. Edison thinks that it exists in connection with
heat, and that it can also be generated by independent and as yet undiscovered
means."
Another of the most
startling of recent discoveries, is the possibility of annihilating distance
between human voices -- by means of the telephone (distance-sounder), an
instrument invented by Professor A. Graham Bell. This possibility, first
suggested by the little "lovers' telegraph," consisting of small tin
cups with vellum and drug-twine apparatus, by which a conversation can be carried
on at a distance of two hundred feet, has developed into the telephone, which
will become the wonder of this age. A long conversation has taken place between
Boston and Cambridgeport by telegraph; "every word being distinctly heard
and perfectly understood, and the modulations of voices being quite
distinguishable," according to the official report. The voice is seized
upon, so to say, and held in form by a magnet, and the sound-wave transmitted
by electricity acting in unison and co-operating with the magnet. The whole
success depends upon a perfect control of the electric currents and the
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TELEPHONE.
power of the
magnets used, with which the former must co-operate. "The invention,"
reports the paper, "may be rudely described as a sort of trumpet, over the
bell-mouth of which is drawn a delicate membrane, which, when the voice is thrown
into the tube, swells outward in proportion to the force of the sound-wave. To
the outer side of the membrane is attached a piece of metal, which, as the
membrane swells outward, connects with a magnet, and this, with the electric
circuit, is controlled by the operator. By some principle, not yet fully
understood, the electric current transmits the sound-wave just as delivered by
the voice in the trumpet, and the listener at the other end of the line, with a
twin or facsimile trumpet at his ear, hears every word distinctly, and readily
detects the modulations of the speaker's voice."
Thus, in the
presence of such wonderful discoveries of our age, and the further magical
possibilities lying latent and yet undiscovered in the boundless realm of
nature, and further, in view of the great probability that Edison's Force and
Professor Graham Bell's Telephone may unsettle, if not utterly upset all our
ideas of the imponderable fluids, would it not be well for such persons as may
be tempted to traverse our statements, to wait and see whether they will be
corroborated or refuted by further discoveries.
Only in connection
with these discoveries, we may, perhaps, well remind our readers of the many
hints to be found in the ancient histories as to a certain secret in the
possession of the Egyptian priesthood, who could instantly communicate, during
the celebration of the Mysteries, from one temple to another, even though the
former were at Thebes and the latter at the other end of the country; the
legends attributing it, as a matter of course, to the "invisible
tribes" of the air, which carry messages for mortals. The author of
Pre-Adamite Man quotes an instance, which being given merely on his own
authority, and he seeming uncertain whether the story comes from Macrinus or
some other writer, may be taken for what it is worth. He found good evidence,
he says, during his stay in Egypt, that "one of the Cleopatras (?) sent
news by a wire to all the cities, from Heliopolis to Elephantine, on the Upper
Nile."*
It is not so long
since Professor Tyndall ushered us into a new world, peopled with airy shapes
of the most ravishing beauty.
"The discovery
consists," he says, "in subjecting the vapors of volatile liquids to
the action of concentrated sun-light, or to the concentrated beam of the
electric light." The vapors of certain nitrites, iodides, and acids are
subjected to the action of the light in an experimental tube, lying
horizontally, and so arranged that the axis of the tube and that of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* P. B. Randolph:
"Pre-Adamite Man," p. 48.
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the parallel beams
issuing from the lamp are coincident. The vapors form clouds of gorgeous tints,
and arrange themselves into the shapes of vases, of bottles and cones, in nests
of six or more; of shells, of tulips, roses, sunflowers, leaves, and of involved
scrolls. "In one case," he tells us, "the cloud-bud grew rapidly
into a serpent's head; a mouth was formed, and from the cloud, a cord of cloud
resembling a tongue was discharged." Finally, to cap the climax of
marvels, "once it positively assumed the form of a fish, with eyes, gills,
and feelers. The twoness of the animal form was displayed throughout, and no
disk, coil, or speck existed on one side that did not exist on the other."
These phenomena may
possibly be explained in part by the mechanical action of a beam of light,
which Mr. Crookes has recently demonstrated. For instance, it is a supposable
case, that the beams of light may have constituted a horizontal axis, about
which the disturbed molecules of the vapors gathered into the forms of globes and
spindles. But how account for the fish, the serpent's head, the vases, the
flowers of different varieties, the shells? This seems to offer a dilemma to
science as baffling as the meteor-cat of Babinet. We do not learn that Tyndall
ventured as absurd an explanation of his extraordinary phenomena as that of the
Frenchman about his.
Those who have not
given attention to the subject may be surprised to find how much was known in
former days of that all-pervading, subtile principle which has recently been
baptized THE UNIVERSAL ETHER.
Before proceeding,
we desire once more to enunciate in two categorical propositions, what was
hinted at before. These propositions were demonstrated laws with the ancient
theurgists.
I. The so-called
miracles, to begin with Moses and end with Cagliostro, when genuine, were as de
Gasparin very justly insinuates in his work on the phenomena, "perfectly
in accordance with natural law"; hence -- no miracles. Electricity and
magnetism were unquestionably used in the production of some of the prodigies;
but now, the same as then, they are put in requisition by every sensitive, who
is made to use unconsciously these powers by the peculiar nature of his or her
organization, which serves as a conductor for some of these imponderable
fluids, as yet so imperfectly known to science. This force is the prolific
parent of numberless attributes and properties, many, or rather, most of which,
are as yet unknown to modern physics.
II. The phenomena
of natural magic to be witnessed in Siam, India, Egypt, and other Oriental
countries, bear no relationship whatever to sleight of hand; the one being an
absolute physical effect, due to the action of occult natural forces, the
other, a mere deceptive result
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obtained by
dexterous manipulations supplemented with confederacy.*
The thaumaturgists
of all periods, schools, and countries, produced their wonders, because they
were perfectly familiar with the imponderable -- in their effects -- but
otherwise perfectly tangible waves of the astral light. They controlled the
currents by guiding them with their will-power. The wonders were both of
physical and psychological character; the former embracing effects produced
upon material objects, the latter the mental phenomena of Mesmer and his
successors. This class has been represented in our time by two illustrious men,
Du Potet and Regazzoni, whose wonderful powers were well attested in France and
other countries. Mesmerism is the most important branch of magic; and its
phenomena are the effects of the universal agent which underlies all magic and
has produced at all ages the so-called miracles.
The ancients called
it Chaos; Plato and the Pythagoreans named it the Soul of the World. According
to the Hindus, the Deity in the shape of AEther pervades all things. It is the
invisible, but, as we have said before, too tangible Fluid. Among other names
this universal Proteus -- or "the nebulous Almighty," as de Mirville
calls it in derision -- was termed by the theurgists "the living
fire,"** the "Spirit of Light," and Magnes. This last
appellation indicates its magnetic properties and shows its magical nature.
For, as truly expressed by one of its enemies -- [[magos]] and [[magnes]] are
two branches growing from the same trunk, and shooting forth the same
resultants.
Magnetism is a word
for the derivation of which we have to look to an incredibly early epoch. The
stone called magnet is believed by many to owe its name to Magnesia, a city or
district in Thessaly, where these stones were found in quantity. We believe,
however, the opinion of the Hermetists to be the correct one. The word Magh,
magus, is derived from the Sanskrit Mahaji, the great or wise (the anointed by
the divine wisdom). "Eumolpus is the mythic founder of the Eumolpidae
(priests);
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* On this point at
least we are on firm ground. Mr. Crookes's testimony corroborates our
assertions. On page 84 of his pamphlet on "Phenomenal Spiritualism"
he says: "The many hundreds of facts I am prepared to attest -- facts
which to imitate by known mechanics or physical means would baffle the skill of
a Houdin, a Bosco, or an Anderson, backed with all the resources of elaborate
machinery and the practice of years -- have all taken place in my own house; at
times appointed by myself and under circumstances which absolutely precluded
the employment of the very simplest instrumental aids."
** In this
appellation, we may discover the meaning of the puzzling sentence to be found
in the Zend-Avesta that "fire gives knowledge of the future, science, and
amiable speech," as it develops an extraordinary eloquence in some
sensitives.
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the priests traced
their own wisdom to the Divine Intelligence."* The various cosmogonies
show that the Archaeal Universal Soul was held by every nation as the
"mind" of the Demiurgic Creator, the Sophia of the Gnostics, or the
Holy Ghost as a female principle. As the Magi derived their name from it, so
the Magnesian stone or Magnet was called in their honor, for they were the
first to discover its wonderful properties. Their temples dotted the country in
all directions, and among these were some temples of Hercules,** -- hence the
stone, when it once became known that the priests used it for their curative
and magical purposes, received the name of the Magnesian or Heraclean stone.
Socrates, speaking of it, remarks: "Euripides calls it the Magnesian
stone, but the common people, the Heraclean."*** It was the country and
stone which were called after the Magi, not the Magi after one or the other.
Pliny informs us that the wedding-ring among the Romans was magnetized by the
priests before the ceremony. The old Pagan historians are careful to keep
silent on certain Mysteries of the "wise" (Magi) and Pausanias was
warned in a dream, he says, not to unveil the holy rites of the temple of
Demeter and Persephoneia at Athens.****
Modern science,
after having ineffectually denied animal magnetism, has found herself forced to
accept it as a fact. It is now a recognized property of human and animal
organization; as to its psychological, occult influence, the Academies battle
with it, in our century, more ferociously than ever. It is the more to be
regretted and even wondered at, as the representatives of "exact
science" are unable to either explain or even offer us anything like a
reasonable hypothesis for the undeniable mysterious potency contained in a
simple magnet. We begin to have daily proofs that these potencies underlie the
theurgic mysteries, and therefore might perhaps explain the occult faculties
possessed by ancient and modern thaumaturgists as well as a good many of their
most astounding achievements. Such were the gifts transmitted by Jesus to some
of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dunlap:
"Musah, His Mysteries," p. iii.
** "Hercules
was known as the king of the Musians," says Schwab, ii., 44; and Musien
was the feast of "Spirit and Matter," Adonis and Venus, Bacchus and
Ceres. (See Dunlap: "Mystery of Adonis," p. 95.) Dunlap shows, on the
authority of Julian and Anthon (67), AEsculapius, "the Savior of
all," identical with Phtha (the creative Intellect, the Divine Wisdom),
and with Apollo, Baal, Adonis, and Hercules (ibid., p. 93), and Phtha is the
"Anima mundi," the Universal Soul, of Plato, the Holy Ghost of the
Egyptians, and the Astral Light of the Kabalists. M. Michelet, however, regards
the Grecian Herakles as a different character, the adversary of the Bacchic
revellings and their attendant human sacrifices.
*** Plato:
"Ion" (Burgess), vol. iv., p. 294.
****
"Attica," i., xiv.
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POWER.
his disciples. At
the moment of his miraculous cures, the Nazarene felt a power issuing from him.
Socrates, in his dialogue with Theages,* telling him of his familiar god
(demon), and his power of either imparting his (Socrates') wisdom to his
disciples or preventing it from benefiting those he associates with, brings the
following instance in corroboration of his words: "I will tell you, Socrates,"
says Aristides, "a thing incredible, indeed, by the gods, but true. I made
a proficiency when I associated with you, even if I was only in the same house,
though not in the same room; but more so, when I was in the same room . . . and
much more when I looked at you. . . . But I made by far the greatest
proficiency when I sat near you and touched you."
This is the modern
magnetism and mesmerism of Du Potet and other masters, who, when they have
subjected a person to their fluidic influence, can impart to them all their
thoughts even at a distance, and with an irresistible power force their subject
to obey their mental orders. But how far better was this psychic force known to
the ancient philosophers! We can glean some information on that subject from
the earliest sources. Pythagoras taught his disciples that God is the universal
mind diffused through all things, and that this mind by the sole virtue of its
universal sameness could be communicated from one object to another and be made
to create all things by the sole will-power of man. With the ancient Greeks,
Kurios was the god-Mind (Nous). "Now Koros (Kurios) signifies the pure and
unmixed nature of intellect -- wisdom," says Plato.** Kurios is Mercury,
the Divine Wisdom, and "Mercury is the Sol" (Sun),*** from whom Thaut
-- Hermes -- received this divine wisdom, which, in his turn, he imparted to
the world in his books. Hercules is also the Sun -- the celestial storehouse of
the universal magnetism;**** or rather Hercules is the magnetic light which,
when having made its way through the "opened eye of heaven," enters
into the regions of our planet and thus becomes the Creator. Hercules passes
through the twelve labors, the valiant Titan! He is called "Father of
All" and
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Theages." Cicero renders this word [[daimonion]], quiddam divinum, a
divine something, not anything personal.
**
"Cratylus," p. 79.
***
"Arnobius," vi., xii.
**** As we will
show in subsequent chapters, the sun was not considered by the ancients as the
direct cause of the light and heat, but only as an agent of the former, through
which the light passes on its way to our sphere. Thus it was always called by
the Egyptians "the eye of Osiris," who was himself the Logos, the
First-begotten, or light made manifest to the world, "which is the mind
and divine intellect of the Concealed." It is only that light of which we
are cognizant that is the Demiurge, the creator of our planet and everything
pertaining to it; with the invisible and unknown universes disseminated through
space, none of the sun-gods had anything to do. The idea is expressed very
clearly in the "Books of Hermes."
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"self-born"
"(autophues)."* Hercules, the Sun, is killed by the Devil, Typhon,**
and so is Osiris, who is the father and brother of Horus, and at the same time
is identical with him; and we must not forget that the magnet was called the
"bone of Horus," and iron the "bone of Typhon." He is
called "Hercules Invictus," only when he descends to Hades (the
subterranean garden), and plucking the "golden apples" from the
"tree of life," slays the dragon.*** The rough Titanic power, the
"lining" of every sun-god, opposes its force of blind matter to the
divine magnetic spirit, which tries to harmonize everything in nature.
All the sun-gods,
with their symbol, the visible sun, are the creators of physical nature only.
The spiritual is the work of the Highest God -- the Concealed, the Central,
Spiritual SUN, and of his Demiurge -- the Divine Mind of Plato, and the Divine
Wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus**** -- the wisdom effused from Oulom or Kronos.
"After the
distribution of pure Fire, in the Samothracian Mysteries, a new life
began."***** This was the "new birth," that is alluded to by
Jesus, in his nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus. "Initiated into the
most blessed of all Mysteries, being ourselves pure . . . we become just and
holy with wisdom."****** "He breathed on them and saith unto them,
'Take the Holy Pneuma.' "******* And this simple act of will-power was
sufficient to impart vaticination in its nobler and most perfect form if both
the initiator and the initiated were worthy of it. To deride this gift, even in
its present aspect, "as the corrupt offspring and lingering remains of an
ignorant age of superstition, and hastily to condemn it as unworthy of sober
investigation, would be as unphilosophical as it is wrong," remarks the
Rev. J. B. Gross. "To remove the veil which hides our vision from the
future, has been attempted -- in all ages of the world; and therefore the
propensity to pry into the lap of time, contemplated as one of the faculties of
human mind, comes recommended to us under the sanction of God. . . . Zuinglius,
the Swiss reformer, attested the comprehensiveness of his faith in the
providence of the Supreme Being, in the cosmopolitan doctrine that the Holy
Ghost was not excluded from the more worthy portion of the heathen world.
Admitting its truth, we cannot
[[Footnote(s)]]
--------------------------------------------------
* "Orphic
Hymn," xii.; Hermann; Dunlap: "Musah, His Mysteries," p. 91.
** Movers, 525.
Dunlap: "Mysteries of Adonis," 94.
*** Preller: ii.,
153. This is evidently the origin of the Christian dogma of Christ descending
into hell and overcoming Satan.
**** This important
fact accounts admirably for the gross polytheism of the masses, and the
refined, highly-philosophical conception of one God, which was taught only in
sanctuaries of the "pagan" temples.
*****Anthon:
"Cabeiria."
****** Plato:
"Phaedrus," Cary's translation.
******* John xx.,
22.
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easily conceive a
valid reason why a heathen, thus favored, should not be capable of true
prophecy."*
Now, what is this
mystic, primordial substance? In the book of Genesis, at the beginning of the
first chapter, it is termed the "face of the waters," said to have
been incubated by the "Spirit of God." Job mentions, in chap. xxvi.,
5, that "dead things are formed from under the waters, and inhabitants
thereof." In the original text, instead of "dead things," it is
written dead Rephaim (giants, or mighty primitive men), from whom
"Evolution" may one day trace our present race. In the Egyptian
mythology, Kneph the Eternal unrevealed God is represented by a snake-emblem of
eternity encircling a water-urn, with his head hovering over the waters, which
it incubates with his breath. In this case the serpent is the Agathodaimon, the
good spirit; in its opposite aspect it is the Kakodaimon -- the bad one. In the
Scandinavian Eddas, the honey-dew -- the food of the gods and of the creative,
busy Yggdrasill -- bees -- falls during the hours of night, when the atmosphere
is impregnated with humidity; and in the Northern mythologies, as the passive
principle of creation, it typifies the creation of the universe out of water;
this dew is the astral light in one of its combinations and possesses creative
as well as destructive properties. In the Chaldean legend of Berosus, Oannes or
Dagon, the man-fish, instructing the people, shows the infant world created out
of water and all beings originating from this prima materia. Moses teaches that
only earth and water can bring a living soul; and we read in the Scriptures
that herbs could not grow until the Eternal caused it to rain upon earth. In
the Mexican Popol-Vuh man is created out of mud or clay (terre glaise), taken
from under the water. Brahma creates Lomus, the great Muni (or first man),
seated on his lotus, only after having called into being, spirits, who thus
enjoyed among mortals a priority of existence, and he creates him out of water,
air, and earth. Alchemists claim that primordial or pre-Adamic earth when
reduced to its first substance is in its second stage of transformation like
clear-water, the first being the alkahest** proper. This primordial substance
is said to contain within itself the essence of all that goes to make up man;
it has not only all the elements of his physical being, but even the
"breath of life" itself in a latent state, ready to be awakened. This
it derives from the "incubation" of the Spirit of God upon the face
of the waters -- chaos; in fact, this substance is chaos itself. From this it
was that Paracelsus claimed to be able to make his "homunculi"; and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Heathen
Religion," 104.
** Alkahest, a word
first used by Paracelsus, to denote the menstruum or universal solvent, that is
capable of reducing all things.
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this is why Thales,
the great natural philosopher, maintained that water was the principle of all
things in nature.
What is the
primordial Chaos but AEther? The modern Ether; not such as is recognized by our
scientists, but such as it was known to the ancient philosophers, long before
the time of Moses; Ether, with all its mysterious and occult properties,
containing in itself the germs of universal creation; Ether, the celestial
virgin, the spiritual mother of every existing form and being, from whose bosom
as soon as "incubated" by the Divine Spirit, are called into existence
Matter and Life, Force and Action. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and
chemical action are so little understood even now that fresh facts are
constantly widening the range of our knowledge. Who knows where ends the power
of this protean giant -- Ether; or whence its mysterious origin? -- Who, we
mean, that denies the spirit that works in it and evolves out of it all visible
forms?
It is an easy task
to show that the cosmogonical legends all over the world are based on a
knowledge by the ancients of those sciences which have allied themselves in our
days to support the doctrine of evolution; and that further research may
demonstrate that they were far better acquainted with the fact of evolution
itself, embracing both its physical and spiritual aspects, than we are now.
With the old philosophers, evolution was a universal theorem, a doctrine
embracing the whole, and an established principle; while our modern
evolutionists are enabled to present us merely with speculative theoretics;
with particular, if not wholly negative theorems. It is idle for the
representatives of our modern wisdom to close the debate and pretend that the
question is settled, merely because the obscure phraseology of the Mosaic
account clashes with the definite exegesis of "exact science."
One fact at least
is proved: there is not a cosmogonical fragment, to whatever nation it may
belong, but proves by this universal allegory of water and the spirit brooding
over it, that no more than our modern physicists did any of them hold the universe
to have sprung into existence out of nothing; for all their legends begin with
that period when nascent vapors and Cimmerian darkness lay brooding over a
fluid mass ready to start on its journey of activity at the first flutter of
the breath of Him, who is the Unrevealed One. Him they felt, if they saw Him
not. Their spiritual intuitions were not so darkened by the subtile sophistry
of the forecoming ages as ours are now. If they talked less of the Silurian age
slowly developing into the Mammalian, and if the Cenozoic time was only
recorded by various allegories of the primitive man -- the Adam of our race --
it is but a negative proof after all that their "wise men" and
leaders did not know of these successive periods as well as we do now.
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ORIGIN.
In the days of
Democritus and Aristotle, the cycle had already begun to enter on its downward
path of progress. And if these two philosophers could discuss so well the
atomic theory and trace the atom to its material or physical point, their
ancestors may have gone further still and followed its genesis far beyond that
limit where Mr. Tyndall and others seem rooted to the spot, not daring to cross
the line of the "Incomprehensible." The lost arts are a sufficient
proof that if even their achievements in physiography are now doubted, because
of the unsatisfactory writings of their physicists and naturalists, -- on the
other hand their practical knowledge in phytochemistry and mineralogy far
exceeded our own. Furthermore, they might have been perfectly acquainted with
the physical history of our globe without publishing their knowledge to the
ignorant masses in those ages of religious Mysteries.
Therefore, it is
not only from the Mosaic books that we mean to adduce proof for our further
arguments. The ancient Jews got all their knowledge -- religious as well as
profane -- from the nations with which we see them mixed up from the earliest
periods. Even the oldest of all sciences, their kabalistic "secret
doctrine," may be traced in each detail to its primeval source, Upper
India, or Turkestan, far before the time of a distinct separation between the
Aryan and Semitic nations. The King Solomon so celebrated by posterity, as
Josephus the historian says,* for his magical skill, got his secret learning
from India through Hiram, the king of Ophir, and perhaps Sheba. His ring,
commonly known as "Solomon's seal," so celebrated for the potency of
its sway over the various kinds of genii and demons, in all the popular
legends, is equally of Hindu origin. Writing on the pretentious and abominable
skill of the "devil-worshippers" of Travancore, the Rev. Samuel
Mateer, of the London Missionary Society, claims at the same time to be in
possession of a very old manuscript volume of magical incantations and spells
in the Malayalim language, giving directions for effecting a great variety of
purposes. Of course he adds, that "many of these are fearful in their
malignity and obscenity," and gives in his work the fac-simile of some
amulets bearing the magical figures and designs on them. We find among them one
with the following legend: "To remove trembling
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Josephus:
"Antiquities," vol. viii., c. 2, 5.
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arising from
demoniacal possession -- write this figure on a plant that has milky juice, and
drive a nail through it; the trembling will cease."* The figure is the
identical Solomon's seal, or double triangle of the Kabalists. Did the Hindu
get it from the Jewish kabalist, or the latter from India, by inheritance from
their great king-kabalist, the wise Solomon?** But we will leave this trifling
dispute to continue the more interesting question of the astral light, and its
unknown properties.
Admitting, then,
that this mythical agent is Ether, we will proceed to see what and how much of
it is known to science.
With respect to the
various effects of the different solar rays, Robert Hunt, F. R. S., remarks, in
his Researches on Light in its Chemical Relations, that:
"Those rays
which give the most light -- the yellow and the orange rays -- will not produce
change of color in the chloride of silver"; while "those rays which
have the least illuminating power -- the blue and violet -- produce the
greatest change, and in exceedingly short time. . . . The
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Land of
Charity," p. 210.
** The claims of
certain "adepts," which do not agree with those of the students of
the purely Jewish Kabala, and show that the "secret doctrine" has
originated in India, from whence it was brought to Chaldea, passing
subsequently into the hands of the Hebrew "Tanaim," are singularly
corroborated by the researches of the Christian missionaries. These pious and
learned travellers have inadvertently come to our help. Dr. Caldwell, in his
"Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages," p. 66, and Dr.
Mateer, in the "Land of Charity," p. 83, fully support our assertions
that the "wise" King Solomon got all his kabalistic lore from India,
as the above-given magical figure well shows. The former missionary is desirous
to prove that very old and huge specimens of the baobab-tree, which is not, as
it appears, indigenous to India, but belongs to the African soil, and
"found only at several ancient sites of foreign commerce (at Travancore),
may, for aught we know," he adds, "have been introduced into India,
and planted by the servants of King Solomon." The other proof is still
more conclusive. Says Dr. Mateer, in his chapter on the Natural History of
Travancore: "There is a curious fact connected with the name of this bird
(the peacock) which throws some light upon Scripture history. King Solomon sent
his navy to Tarshish (I Kings, x. 22), which returned once in three years,
bringing 'gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks.' Now the word used in
the Hebrew Bible for peacock is 'tukki,' and as the Jews had, of course, no
word for these fine birds till they were first imported into Judea by King
Solomon, there is no doubt that 'tukki' is simply the old Tamil word 'toki,'
the name of the peacock. The ape or monkey also is, in Hebrew, called 'koph,'
the Indian word for which is 'kaphi.' Ivory, we have seen, is abundant in South
India, and gold is widely distributed in the rivers of the western coast. Hence
the 'Tarshish' referred to was doubtless the western coast of India, and
Solomon's ships were ancient 'East Indiamen.' " And hence also we may add,
besides "the gold and silver, and apes and peacocks," King Solomon
and his friend Hiram, of masonic renown, got their "magic" and
"wisdom" from India.
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DISCREDITED.
yellow glasses
obstruct scarcely any light; the blue glasses may be so dark as to admit of the
permeation of a very small quantity."
And still we see
that under the blue ray both vegetable and animal life manifest an inordinate
development, while under the yellow ray it is proportionately arrested. How is
it possible to account for this satisfactorily upon any other hypothesis than
that both animal and vegetable life are differently modified electrico-magnetic
phenomena, as yet unknown in their fundamental principles?
Mr. Hunt finds that
the undulatory theory does not account for the results of his experiments. Sir
David Brewster, in his Treatise on Optics, showing that "the colors of
vegetable life arise . . . from a specific attraction which the particles of
these bodies exercise over the differently-colored rays of light," and
that "it is by the light of the sun that the colored juices of plants are
elaborated, that the colors of bodies are changed, etc. . . ." remarks
that it is not easy to allow "that such effects can be produced by the
mere vibration of an ethereal medium." And he is forced, he says, "by
this class of facts, to reason as if light was material (?)." Professor
Josiah P. Cooke, of Harvard University, says that he "cannot agree . . .
with those who regard the wave-theory of light as an established principle of
science."* Herschel's doctrine, that the intensity of light, in effect of
each undulation, "is inversely as the square of the distance from the
luminous body," if correct, damages a good deal if it does not kill the
undulatory theory. That he is right, was proved repeatedly by experiments with
photometers; and, though it begins to be much doubted, the undulatory theory is
still alive.
As General
Pleasonton, of Philadelphia, has undertaken to combat this anti-Pythagorean
hypothesis, and has devoted to it a whole volume, we cannot do any better than
refer the reader to his recent work on the Blue Ray, etc. We leave the theory
of Thomas Young, who, according to Tyndall, "placed on an immovable basis
the undulatory theory of light," to hold its own if it can, with the
Philadelphia experimenter.
Eliphas Levi, the
modern magician, describes the astral light in the following sentence: "We
have said that to acquire magical power, two things are necessary: to disengage
the will from all servitude, and to exercise it in control."
"The sovereign
will is represented in our symbols by the woman who crushes the serpent's head,
and by the resplendent angel who represses the dragon, and holds him under his
foot and spear; the great magical agent, the dual current of light, the living
and astral fire of the earth, has been represented in the ancient theogonies by
the serpent with the head
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cooke: "New
Chemistry," p. 22.
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of a bull, a ram,
or a dog. It is the double serpent of the caduceus, it is the Old Serpent of
the Genesis, but it is also the brazen serpent of Moses entwined around the
tau, that is to say, the generative lingha. It is also the goat of the
witch-sabbath, and the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the Hyle of the
Gnostics; it is the double-tail of serpent which forms the legs of the solar
cock of the Abraxas; finally, it is the Devil of M. Eudes de Mirville. But in
very fact it is the blind force which souls have to conquer to liberate
themselves from the bonds of the earth; for if their will does not free
"them from this fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by
the force which has produced them, and will return to the central and eternal
fire."
This last
kabalistic figure of speech, notwithstanding its strange phraseology, is
precisely the one used by Jesus; and in his mind it could have had no other
significance than the one attributed to it by the Gnostics and the Kabalists.
Later the Christian theologians interpreted it differently, and with them it
became the doctrine of Hell. Literally, though, it simply means what it says --
the astral light, or the generator and destroyer of all forms.
"All the
magical operations," continues Levi, "consist in freeing one's self
from the coils of the Ancient Serpent; then to place the foot on its head, and
lead it according to the operator's will. 'I will give unto thee,' says the
Serpent, in the Gospel myth, 'all the kingdoms of the earth, if thou wilt fall
down and worship me.' The initiate should reply to him, 'I will not fall down,
but thou shalt crouch at my feet; thou wilt give me nothing, but I will make
use of thee and take whatever I wish. For I am thy Lord and Master!' This is
the real meaning of the ambiguous response made by Jesus to the tempter. . . .
Thus, the Devil is not an Entity. It is an errant force, as the name signifies.
An odic or magnetic current formed by a chain (a circle) of pernicious wills
must create this evil spirit which the Gospel calls legion, and which forces
into the sea a herd of swine -- another evangelical allegory showing how base
natures can be driven headlong by the blind forces set in motion by error and
sin."*
In his extensive
work on the mystical manifestations of human nature, the German naturalist and
philosopher, Maximilian Perty, has devoted a whole chapter to the Modern Forms
of Magic. "The manifestations of magical life," he says in his
Preface, "partially repose on quite another order of things than the
nature in which we are acquainted with time, space, and causality; these
manifestations can be experimented with but little; they cannot be called out
at our bidding, but may be observed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Eliphas Levi:
"Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie."
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FAKIR.
and carefully
followed whenever they occur in our presence; we can only group them by analogy
under certain divisions, and deduce from them general principles and
laws." Thus, for Professor Perty, who evidently belongs to the school of
Schopenhauer, the possibility and naturalness of the phenomena which took place
in the presence of Kavindasami, the fakir, and are described by Louis
Jacolliot, the Orientalist, are fully demonstrated on that principle. The fakir
was a man who, through the entire subjugation of the matter of his corporeal
system has attained to that state of purification at which the spirit becomes
nearly freed from its prison,* and can produce wonders. His will, nay, a simple
desire of his has become creative force, and he can command the elements and
powers of nature. His body is no more an impediment to him; hence he can
converse "spirit to spirit, breath to breath." Under his extended
palms, a seed, unknown to him (for Jacolliot has chosen it at random among a
variety of seeds, from a bag, and planted it himself, after marking it, in a
flower pot), will germinate instantly, and push its way through the soil.
Developing in less than two hours' time to a size and height which, perhaps,
under ordinary circumstances, would require several days or weeks, it grows
miraculously under the very eyes of the perplexed experimenter, and mockingly
upsets every accepted formula in Botany. Is this a miracle? By no means; it may
be one, perhaps, if we take Webster's definition, that a miracle is "every
event contrary to the established constitution and course of things -- a
deviation from the known laws of nature." But are our naturalists prepared
to support the claim that what they have once established on observation is
infallible? Or that every law of nature is known to them? In this instance, the
"miracle" is but a little more prominent than the now well-known
experiments of General Pleasonton, of Philadelphia. While the vegetation and
fruitage of his vines were stimulated to an incredible activity by the artificial
violet light, the magnetic fluid emanating from the hands of the fakir effected
still more intense and rapid changes in the vital function of the Indian
plants. It attracted and concentrated the akasa, or life-principle, on the
germ.** His magnetism, obeying his will,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato hints at a
ceremony used in the Mysteries during the performance of which the neophyte was
taught that men are in this life in a kind of prison, and taught how to escape
from it temporarily. As usual, the too-learned translators disfigured this
passage, partially because they could not understand it, and partially because
they would not. See Phaedo § 16, and commentaries on it by Henry More, the
well-known Mystic philosopher and Platonist.
** The akasa is a
Sanscrit word which means sky, but it also designates the imponderable and
intangible life-principle -- the astral and celestial lights combined together,
and which two form the anima mundi, and constitute the soul and spirit of man;
the celestial light forming his [[nous, pneuma]], or divine spirit, and the
other his [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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drew up the akasa
in a concentrated current through the plant towards his hands, and by keeping
up an unintermitted flow for the requisite space of time, the life-principle of
the plant built up cell after cell, layer after layer, with preternatural
activity, until the work was done. The life-principle is but a blind force
obeying a controlling influence. In the ordinary course of nature the
plant-protoplasm would have concentrated and directed it at a certain
established rate. This rate would have been controlled by the prevalent
atmospheric conditions; its growth being rapid or slow, and, in stalk or head,
in proportion to the amount of light, heat, and moisture of the season. But the
fakir, coming to the help of nature with his powerful will and spirit purified
from the contact with matter,* condenses, so to speak, the essence of
plant-life into its germ, and forces it to maturity ahead of its time. This
blind force being totally submissive to his will, obeys it with servility. If
he chose to imagine the plant as a monster, it would as surely become such, as
ordinarily it would grow in its natural shape; for the concrete image -- slave
to the subjective model outlined in the imagination of the fakir -- is forced
to follow the original in its least detail, as the hand and brush of the
painter follow the image which they copy from his mind. The will of the
fakir-conjurer forms an invisible but yet, to it, perfectly objective matrix,
in which the vegetable matter is caused to deposit itself and assume the fixed
shape. The will creates; for the will in motion is force, and force produces
matter.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] [[psuche]], soul or astral spirit. The grosser
particles of the latter enter into the fabrication of his outward form -- the
body. Akasa is the mysterious fluid termed by scholastic science, "the
all-pervading ether"; it enters into all the magical operations of nature,
and produces mesmeric, magnetic, and spiritual phenomena. As, in Syria,
Palestine, and India, meant the sky, life, and the sun at the same time; the
sun being considered by the ancient sages as the great magnetic well of our universe.
The softened pronunciation of this word was Ah -- says Dunlap, for "the s
continually softens to h from Greece to Calcutta." Ah is Iah, Ao, and Iao.
God tells Moses that his name is "I am" (Ahiah), a reduplication of
Ah or Iah. The word "As" Ah, or Iah means life, existence, and is
evidently the root of the word akasa, which in Hindustan is pronounced ahasa,
the life-principle, or Divine life-giving fluid or medium. It is the Hebrew
ruah, and means the "wind," the breath, the air in motion, or
"moving spirit," according to Parkhurst's Lexicon; and is identical
with the spirit of God moving on the face of the waters.
* Bear in mind that
Kavindasami made Jacolliot swear that he would neither approach nor touch him
during the time he was entranced. The least contact with matter would have
paralyzed the action of the freed spirit, which, if we are permitted to use
such an unpoetical comparison, would re-enter its dwelling like a frightened
snail, drawing in its horns at the approach of any foreign substance. In some
cases such a brusque interruption and oozing back of the spirit (sometimes it
may suddenly and altogether break the delicate thread connecting it with the
body) kills the entranced subject. See the several works of Baron du Potet and
Puysegur on this question.
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TRICK.
If some persons
object to the explanation on the ground that the fakir could by no means create
the model in his imagination, since he was kept ignorant by Jacolliot of the
kind of seed he had selected for the experiment; to these we will answer that
the spirit of man is like that of his Creator -- omniscient in its essence.
While in his natural state the fakir did not, and could not know whether it was
a melon-seed, or seed of any other plant; once entranced, i.e., bodily dead to
all outward appearance -- the spirit, for which there exist neither distance,
material obstacle, nor space of time, experienced no difficulty in perceiving
the melon-seed, whether as it lay deeply buried in the mud of the flower-pot,
or reflected in the faithful picture-gallery of Jacolliot's brain. Our visions,
portents, and other psychological phenomena, all of which exist in nature, are
corroborative of the above fact.
And now, perhaps,
we might as well meet at once another impending objection. Indian jugglers,
they will tell us, do the same, and as well as the fakir, if we can believe
newspapers and travellers' narratives. Undoubtedly so; and moreover these
strolling jugglers are neither pure in their modes of living nor considered
holy by any one; neither by foreigners nor their own people. They are generally
FEARED and despised by the natives, for they are sorcerers; men practising the
black art. While such a holy man as Kavindasami requires but the help of his
own divine soul, closely united with the astral spirit, and the help of a few
familiar pitris -- pure, ethereal beings, who rally around their elect brother
in flesh -- the sorcerer can summon to his help but that class of spirits which
we know as the elementals. Like attracts like; and greed for money, impure
purposes, and selfish views, cannot attract any other spirits than those that
the Hebrew kabalists know as the klippoth, dwellers of Asiah, the fourth world,
and the Eastern magicians as the afrits, or elementary spirits of error, or the
devs.
This is how an
English paper describes the astounding trick of plant-growth, as performed by
Indian jugglers:
"An empty
flower-pot was now placed upon the floor by the juggler, who requested that his
comrades might be allowed to bring up some garden mould from the little plot of
ground below. Permission being accorded, the man went, and in two minutes
returned with a small quantity of fresh earth tied up in a corner of his
chudder, which was deposited in the flower-pot and lightly pressed down. Taking
from his basket a dry mango-stone, and handing it round to the company that they
might examine it, and satisfy themselves that it was really what it seemed to
be, the juggler scooped out a little earth from the centre of the flower-pot
and placed the stone in the cavity. He then turned the earth lightly over it,
and, having poured a little water over the surface, shut the flower-pot out
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of view by means of
a sheet thrown over a small triangle. And now, amid a full chorus of voices and
rat-tat-tat accompaniment of the tabor, the stone germinated; presently a
section of the cloth was drawn aside, and gave to view the tender shoot,
characterized by two long leaves of a blackish-brown color. The cloth was
readjusted, and the incantation resumed. Not long was it, however, before the
cloth was a second time drawn aside, and it was then seen that the two first
leaves had given place to several green ones, and that the plant now stood nine
or ten inches high. A third time, and the foliage was much thicker, the sapling
being about thirteen to fourteen inches in height. A fourth time, and the
little miniature tree, now about eighteen inches in height, had ten or twelve
mangoes about the size of walnuts hanging about its branches. Finally, after
the lapse of three or four minutes, the cloth was altogether removed, and the
fruit, having the perfection of size, though not of maturity, was plucked and
handed to the spectators, and, on being tasted, was found to be approaching
ripeness, being sweetly acid."
We may add to this,
that we have witnessed the same experiment in India and Thibet, and that more
than once we provided the flower-pot ourselves, by emptying an old tin box of some
Liebig extracts. We filled it with earth with our own hands, and planted in it
a small root handed to us by the conjurer, and until the experiment was ended
never once removed our eyes from the pot, which was placed in our own room. The
result was invariably the same as above described. Does the reader imagine that
any prestidigitator could produce the same manifestation under the same
conditions?
The learned Orioli,
Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, gives a number of instances
which show the marvellous effects produced by the will-power acting upon the
invisible Proteus of the mesmerists. "I have seen," says he,
"certain persons, who simply by pronouncing certain words, arrest wild
bulls and horses at headlong speed, and suspend in its flight the arrow which
cleaves the air." Thomas Bartholini affirms the same.
Says Du Potet:
"When I trace upon the floor with chalk or charcoal this figure . . . a
fire, a light fixes itself on it. Soon it attracts to itself the person who
approaches it: it detains and fascinates him . . . and it is useless for him to
try to cross the line. A magic power compels him to stand still. At the end of
a few moments he yields, uttering sobs. . . . The cause is not in me, it is in
this entirely kabalistic sign; in vain would you employ violence."*
In a series of
remarkable experiments made by Regazzoni in the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Magie
Devoilee," p. 147.
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EXPERIMENTS.
presence of certain
well-known French physicians, at Paris, on the 18th of May, 1856, they
assembled on one night together, and Regazzoni, with his finger, traced an
imaginary kabalistic line upon the floor, over which he made a few rapid
passes. It was agreed that the mesmeric subjects, selected by the investigators
and the committee for the experiments, and all strangers to him, should be
brought blindfold into the room, and caused to walk toward the line, without a
word being spoken to indicate what was expected of them. The subjects moved
along unsuspiciously till they came to the invisible barrier, when, as it is described,
"their feet, as if they had been suddenly seized and riveted, adhere to
the ground, while their bodies, carried forward by the rapid impulse of the
motion, fall and strike the floor. The sudden rigidity of their limbs was like
that of a frozen corpse, and their heels were rooted with mathematical
precision upon the fatal line!"*
In another
experiment it was agreed that upon one of the physicians giving a certain
signal by a glance of the eye, the blindfolded girl should be made to fall on
the ground, as if struck by lightning, by the magnetic fluid emitted by
Regazzoni's will. She was placed at a distance from the magnetizer; the signal
was given, and instantly the subject was felled to the earth, without a word
being spoken or a gesture made. Involuntarily one of the spectators stretched
out his hand as if to catch her; but Regazzoni, in a voice of thunder,
exclaimed, "Do not touch her! Let her fall; a magnetized subject is never
hurt by falling." Des Mousseaux, who tells the story, says that
"marble is not more rigid than was her body; her head did not touch the
ground; one of her arms remained stretched in the air; one of her legs was
raised and the other horizontal. She remained in this unnatural posture an
indefinite time. Less rigid is a statue of bronze."**
All the effects
witnessed in the experiments of public lecturers upon mesmerism, were produced
by Regazzoni in perfection, and without one spoken word to indicate what the
subject was to do. He even by his silent will produced the most surprising
effects upon the physical systems of persons totally unknown to him. Directions
whispered by the committee in Regazzoni's ear were immediately obeyed by the
subjects, whose ears were stuffed with cotton, and whose eyes were bandaged.
Nay, in some cases it was not even necessary for them to express to the
magnetizer what they desired, for their own mental requests were complied with
with perfect fidelity.
Experiments of a
similar character were made by Regazzoni in England, at a distance of three
hundred paces from the subject brought to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Magie au
XIXme Siecle," p. 268.
** Ibid.
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him. The jettatura,
or evil eye, is nothing but the direction of this invisible fluid, charged with
malicious will and hatred, from one person to another, and sent out with the
intention of harming him. It may equally be employed for a good or evil
purpose. In the former case it is magic; in the latter, sorcery.
What is the WILL?
Can "exact science" tell? What is the nature of that intelligent,
intangible, and powerful something which reigns supreme over all inert matter?
The great Universal Idea willed, and the cosmos sprang into existence. I will,
and my limbs obey. I will, and, my thought traversing space, which does not
exist for it, envelops the body of another individual who is not a part of
myself, penetrates through his pores, and, superseding his own faculties, if
they are weaker, forces him to a predetermined action. It acts like the fluid
of a galvanic battery on the limbs of a corpse. The mysterious effects of
attraction and repulsion are the unconscious agents of that will; fascination,
such as we see exercised by some animals, by serpents over birds, for instance,
is a conscious action of it, and the result of thought. Sealing-wax, glass, and
amber, when rubbed, i.e., when the latent heat which exists in every substance
is awakened, attract light bodies; they exercise unconsciously, will; for
inorganic as well as organic matter possesses a particle of the divine essence
in itself, however infinitesimally small it may be. And how could it be
otherwise? Notwithstanding that in the progress of its evolution it may from
beginning to end have passed through millions of various forms, it must ever
retain its germ-point of that preexistent matter, which is the first
manifestation and emanation of the Deity itself. What is then this inexplicable
power of attraction but an atomical portion of that essence that scientists and
kabalists equally recognize as the "principle of life" -- the akasa?
Granted that the attraction exercised by such bodies may be blind; but as we
ascend higher the scale of the organic beings in nature, we find this principle
of life developing attributes and faculties which become more determined and
marked with every rung of the endless ladder. Man, the most perfect of organized
beings on earth, in whom matter and spirit -- i.e., will -- are the most
developed and powerful, is alone allowed to give a conscious impulse to that
principle which emanates from him; and only he can impart to the magnetic fluid
opposite and various impulses without limit as to the direction. "He
wills," says Du Potet, "and organized matter obeys. It has no
poles."
Dr. Brierre de
Boismont, in his volume on Hallucinations, reviews a wonderful variety of
visions, apparitions, and ecstasies, generally termed hallucinations. "We
cannot deny," he says, "that in certain diseases we see developed a
great surexcitation of sensibility, which lends to the
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senses a prodigious
acuteness of perception. Thus, some individuals will perceive at considerable
distances, others will announce the approach of persons who are really on their
way, although those present can neither hear nor see them coming."*
A lucid patient,
lying in his bed, announces the arrival of persons to see whom he must possess
transmural vision, and this faculty is termed by Brierre de Boismont --
hallucination. In our ignorance, we have hitherto innocently supposed that in
order to be rightly termed a hallucination, a vision must be subjective. It
must have an existence only in the delirious brain of the patient. But if the
latter announces the visit of a person, miles away, and this person arrives at
the very moment predicted by the seer, then his vision was no more subjective,
but on the contrary perfectly objective, for he saw that person in the act of
coming. And how could the patient see, through solid bodies and space, an
object shut out from the reach of our mortal sight, if he had not exercised his
spiritual eyes on that occasion? Coincidence?
Cabanis speaks of
certain nervous disorders in which the patients easily distinguished with the
naked eye infusoria and other microscopical beings which others could only
perceive through powerful lenses. "I have met subjects," he says,
"who saw in Cimmerian darkness as well as in a lighted room; . . ."
others "who followed persons, tracing them out like dogs, and recognizing
by the smell objects belonging to such persons or even such as had been only
touched by them, with a sagacity which was hitherto observed only in
animals."**
Exactly; because
reason, which, as Cabanis says, develops only at the expense and loss of
natural instinct, is a Chinese wall slowly rising on the soil of sophistry, and
which finally shuts out man's spiritual perceptions of which the instinct is
one of the most important examples. Arrived at certain stages of physical
prostration, when mind and the reasoning faculties seem paralyzed through
weakness and bodily exhaustion, instinct -- the spiritual unity of the five
senses -- sees, hears, feels, tastes, and smells, unimpaired by either time or
space. What do we know of the exact limits of mental action? How can a
physician take upon himself to distinguish the imaginary from the real senses
in a man who may be living a spiritual life, in a body so exhausted of its
usual vitality that it actually is unable to prevent the soul from oozing out
from its prison?
The divine light
through which, unimpeded by matter, the soul per-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Brierre de
Boismont: "Des Hallucinations, ou Histoire raisonnee des apparitions, des
songes, des visions, de l'extase du Magnetisme," 1845, p. 301 (French
edition). See also Fairfield: "Ten Years Among the Mediums."
** Cabanis, seventh
memoir: "De l'Influence des Maladies sur la Formation des Idees,"
etc. A respected N. Y. legislator has this faculty.
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ceives things past,
present, and to come, as though their rays were focused in a mirror; the
death-dealing bolt projected in an instant of fierce anger or at the climax of
long-festering hate; the blessing wafted from a grateful or benevolent heart;
and the curse hurled at an object -- offender or victim -- all have to pass
through that universal agent, which under one impulse is the breath of God, and
under another -- the venom of the devil. It was discovered (?) by Baron
Reichenbach and called OD, whether intentionally or otherwise we cannot say,
but it is singular that a name should have been chosen which is mentioned in
the most ancient books of the Kabala.
Our readers will
certainly inquire what then is this invisible all? How is it that our
scientific methods, however perfected, have never discovered any of the magical
properties contained in it? To this we can answer, that it is no reason because
modern scientists are ignorant of them that it should not possess all the
properties with which the ancient philosophers endowed it. Science rejects many
a thing to-day which she may find herself forced to accept to-morrow. A little
less than a century ago the Academy denied Franklin's electricity, and, at the
present day, we can hardly find a house without a conductor on its roof.
Shooting at the barn-door, the Academy missed the barn itself. Modern
scientists, by their wilful skepticism and learned ignorance, do this very
frequently.
Emepht, the
supreme, first principle, produced an egg; by brooding over which, and
permeating the substance of it with its own vivifying essence, the germ contained
within was developed; and Phtha, the active creative principle proceeded from
it, and began his work. From the boundless expanse of cosmic matter, which had
formed itself under his breath, or will, this cosmic matter -- astral light,
aether, fire-mist, principle of life -- it matters not how we may call it, this
creative principle, or, as our modern philosophy terms it, law of evolution, by
setting in motion the potencies latent in it, formed suns and stars, and
satellites; controlled their emplacement by the immutable law of harmony, and
peopled them "with every form and quality of life." In the ancient
Eastern mythologies, the cosmogonic myth states that there was but water (the
father) and the prolific slime (the mother, Ilus or Hyle), from which crept
forth the mundane snake-matter. It was the god Phanes, the revealed one, the
Word, or logos. How willingly this myth was accepted, even by the Christians
who compiled the New Testament, may be easily inferred from the following fact:
Phanes, the revealed god, is represented in this snake-symbol as a protogonos,
a being furnished with the heads of a man, a hawk or an eagle, a bull --
taurus, and a lion, with wings on both sides. The heads relate to the zodiac,
and typify the four seasons of the year, for the mundane serpent is the mundane
year, while the ser-
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EVANGELISTS.
pent itself is the
symbol of Kneph, the hidden, or unrevealed deity -- God the Father. Time is
winged, therefore the serpent is represented with wings. If we remember that
each of the four evangelists is represented as having near him one of the
described animals -- grouped together in Solomon's triangle in the pentacle of
Ezekiel, and to be found in the four cherubs or sphinxes of the sacred arch --
we will perhaps understand the secret meaning, as well as the reason why the
early Christians adopted this symbol; and how it is that the present Roman
Catholics and the Greeks of the Oriental Church still represent these animals
in the pictures of their evangelists which sometimes accompany the four
Gospels. We will also understand why Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, had so insisted
upon the necessity of the fourth gospel; giving as a reason that there could
not be less than four of them, as there were four zones in the world, and four
principal winds coming from the four cardinal points, etc.*
According to one of
the Egyptian myths, the phantom-form of the isle of Chemmis (Chemi, ancient
Egypt), which floats on the ethereal waves of the empyrean sphere, was called
into being by Horus-Apollo, the sun-god, who caused it to evolve out of the
mundane egg.
In the cosmogonical
poem of Voluspa (the song of the prophetess), which contains the Scandinavian
legends of the very dawn of ages, the phantom-germ of the universe is
represented as lying in the Ginnungagap -- or the cup of illusion, a boundless
and void abyss. In this world's matrix, formerly a region of night and
desolation, Nebelheim (the Mist-place) dropped a ray of cold light (aether),
which overflowed this cup and froze in it. Then the Invisible blew a scorching
wind which dissolved the frozen waters and cleared the mist. These waters,
called the streams of Elivagar, distilled in vivifying drops which, falling
down, created the earth and the giant Ymir, who only had "the semblance of
man" (male principle). With him was created the cow, Audhumla** (female principle),
from whose udder flowed four streams of milk,*** which diffused themselves
throughout space (the astral light in its purest emanation). The cow Audhumla
produces a superior being, called Bur, handsome and powerful, by licking the
stones that were covered with mineral salt.
Now, if we take
into consideration that this mineral was universally
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Irenaeus: Book
iii., chap. ii., sec. 8.
** The cow is the
symbol of prolific generation and of intellectual nature. She was sacred to
Isis in Egypt; to Christna, in India, and to an infinity of other gods and
goddesses personifying the various productive powers of nature. The cow was
held, in short, as the impersonation of the Great Mother of all beings, both of
the mortals and of the gods, of physical and spiritual generation of things.
*** In Genesis the
river of Eden was parted, "and became into four heads" (Gen. ii., 5).
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regarded by ancient
philosophers as one of the chief formative principles in organic creation; by
the alchemists as the universal menstruum, which, they said, was to be wrought
from water; and by every one else, even as it is regarded now by science as
well as in the popular ideas, to be an indispensable ingredient for man and
beast; we may readily comprehend the hidden wisdom of this allegory of the
creation of man. Paracelsus calls salt "the centre of water, wherein
metals ought to die," etc., and Van Helmont terms the Alkahest,
"summum et felicissimum omnium salium," the most successful of all
salts.
In the Gospel
according to Matthew, Jesus says: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if
the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?" and following
the parable he adds: "Ye are the light of the world" (v. 14). This is
more than an allegory; these words point to a direct and unequivocal meaning in
relation to the spiritual and physical organisms of man in his dual nature, and
show, moreover, a knowledge of the "secret doctrine," the direct
traces of which we find equally in the oldest ancient and current popular
traditions, in both the Old and New Testaments, and in the writings of the
ancient and mediaeval mystics and philosophers.
But to return to
our Edda-legend. Ymir, the giant, falls asleep, and sweats profusely. This
perspiration causes the pit of his left arm to generate out of that place a man
and a woman, while his foot produces a son for them. Thus, while the mythic
"cow" gives being to a race of superior spiritual men, the giant Ymir
begets a race of evil and depraved men, the Hrimthursen, or frost-giants.
Comparing notes with the Hindu Vedas, we find it then, with slight
modifications, the same cosmogonic legend in substance and details. Brahma, as
soon as Bhagaveda, the Supreme God, endows him with creative powers, produces
animated beings, wholly spiritual at first. The Dejotas, inhabitants of the
Surg's (the celestial) region, are unfit to live on earth, therefore Brahma
creates the Daints (giants, who become the dwellers of the Patals, the lower
regions of space), who are also unfit to inhabit Mirtlok (the earth). To
palliate the evil, the creative power evolves from his mouth the first Brahman,
who thus becomes the progenitor of our race; from his right arm Brahma creates
Raettris, the warrior, and from his left Shaterany, the wife of Raettris. Then
their son Bais springs from the right foot of the creator, and his wife Basany
from the left. While in the Scandinavian legend Bur (the son of the cow
Audhumla), a superior being, marries Besla, a daughter of the depraved race of
giants, in the Hindu tradition the first Brahman marries Daintary, also a
daughter of the race of the giants; and in Genesis we see the sons of God
taking for wives the daughters of men, and likewise producing mighty men of
old; the
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"COAT OF SKIN."
whole establishing
an unquestionable identity of origin between the Christian inspired Book, and
the heathen "fables" of Scandinavia and Hindustan. The traditions of
nearly every other nation, if examined, will yield a like result.
What modern
cosmogonist could compress within so simple a symbol as the Egyptian serpent in
a circle such a world of meaning? Here we have, in this creature, the whole
philosophy of the universe: matter vivified by spirit, and the two conjointly
evolving out of chaos (Force) everything that was to be. To signify that the
elements are fast bound in this cosmic matter, which the serpent symbolizes,
the Egyptians tied its tail into a knot.
There is one more
important emblem connected with the sloughing of the serpent's skin, which, so
far as we are aware, has never been heretofore noticed by our symbolists. As
the reptile upon casting his coat becomes freed from a casing of gross matter,
which cramped a body grown too large for it, and resumes its existence with
renewed activity, so man, by casting off the gross material body, enters upon
the next stage of his existence with enlarged powers and quickened vitality.
Inversely, the Chaldean Kabalists tell us that primeval man, who, contrary to
the Darwinian theory was purer, wiser, and far more spiritual, as shown by the
myths of the Scandinavian Bur, the Hindu Dejotas, and the Mosaic "sons of
God," -- in short, of a far higher nature than the man of the present
Adamic race, became despiritualized or tainted with matter, and then, for the
first time, was given the fleshly body, which is typified in Genesis in that
profoundly-significant verse: "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord
God make coats of skin, and clothed them."* Unless the commentators would
make of the First Cause a celestial tailor, what else can the apparently absurd
words mean, but that the spiritual man had reached, through the progress of involution,
to that point where matter, predominating over and conquering spirit, had
transformed him into the physical man, or the second Adam, of the second
chapter of Genesis?
This kabalistical
doctrine is much more elaborated in the Book of Jasher.** In chapter vii.,
these garments of skin are taken by Noah into the ark, he having obtained them
by inheritance from Methuselah and Enoch, who had them from Adam and his wife.
Ham steals them from
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Genesis iii. 21.
** This is claimed
to be one of the missing books of the sacred Canon of the Jews, and is referred
to in Joshua and II. Samuel. It was discovered by Sidras, an officer of Titus,
during the sack of Jerusalem, and published in Venice in the seventeenth
century, as alleged in its preface by the Consistory of Rabbins, but the
American edition, as well as the English, is reputed by the modern Rabbis, to
be a forgery of the twelfth century.
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his father Noah;
gives them "in secret" to Cush, who conceals them from his sons and
brothers, and passes them to Nimrod.
While some
Kabalists, and even archeologists say that "Adam, Enoch, and Noah might,
in outward appearance, be different men, but they were really the selfsame
divine person."* Others explain that between Adam and Noah there
intervened several cycles. That is to say, that every one of the antediluvian
patriarchs stood as the representative of a race which had its place in a
succession of cycles; and each of which races was less spiritual than its
predecessor. Thus Noah, though a good man, could not have borne comparison with
his ancestor, Enoch, who "walked with God and did not die." Hence the
allegorical interpretation which makes Noah have this coat of skin by
inheritance from the second Adam and Enoch, but not wear it himself, for if
otherwise, Ham could not have stolen it. But Noah and his children bridged the
flood; and while the former belonged to the old and still spiritual
antediluvian generation, insomuch as he was selected from all mankind for his
purity, his children were post-diluvian. The coat of skin worn by Cush "in
secret," -- i.e., when his spiritual nature began to be tainted by the
material -- is placed on Nimrod, the most powerful and strongest of physical
men on this side of the flood -- the last remnant of the antediluvian giants.**
In the Scandinavian
legend, Ymir, the giant, is slain by the sons of Bur, and the streams of blood
flowing from his wounds were so copious that the flood drowned the whole race
of ice and frost giants, and Bergelmir alone of that race was saved, with his
wife, by taking refuge in a bark; which fact permitted him to transmit a new
branch of giants from the old stock. But all the sons of Bur remained untouched
by the flood.***
When the symbolism
of this diluvian legend is unravelled, one perceives at once the real meaning
of the allegory. The giant Ymir typifies the primitive rude organic matter, the
blind cosmical forces, in their chaotic state, before they received the
intelligent impulse of the Divine Spirit which set them into a regular motion
dependent on immovable laws. The progeny of Bur are the "sons of
God," or the minor gods mentioned by Plato in the Timaeus, and who were
intrusted, as he expresses it, with the creation of men; for we see them taking
the mangled remains of Ymir to the Ginnunga-gap, the chaotic abyss, and
employing them for the creation of our world. His blood goes to form oceans and
rivers; his bones, the mountains; his teeth, the rocks and cliffs;
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Godfrey
Higgins: "Anacalypsis," quoting Faber.
** See Cory's
"Ancient Fragments." BEROSUS.
*** We refer the
reader for further particulars to the "Prose Edda" in Mallett's
"Northern Antiquities."
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EDDAS.
his hair, the
trees, etc.; while his skull forms the heavenly vault, supported by four
pillars representing the four cardinal points. From the eye-brows of Ymir was
created the future abode of man -- Midgard. This abode (the earth), says the
Edda, in order to be correctly described in all its minute particulars, must be
conceived as round as a ring, or as a disk, floating in the midst of the Celestial
Ocean (Ether). It is encircled by Yormungand, the gigantic Midgard or Earth
Serpent, holding its tail in its mouth. This is the mundane snake, matter and
spirit, combined product and emanation of Ymir, the gross rudimental matter,
and of the spirit of the "sons of God," who fashioned and created all
forms. This emanation is the astral light of the Kabalists, and the as yet
problematical, and hardly known, aether, or the "hypothetical agent of
great elasticity" of our physicists.
How sure the
ancients were of this doctrine of man's trinitarian nature may be inferred from
the same Scandinavian legend of the creation of mankind. According to the
Voluspa, Odin, Honir, and Lodur, who are the progenitors of our race, found in
one of their walks on the ocean-beach, two sticks floating on the waves,
"powerless and without destiny." Odin breathed in them the breath of
life; Honir endowed them with soul and motion; and Lodur with beauty, speech,
sight, and hearing. The man they called Askr -- the ash,* and the woman Embla
-- the alder. These first men are placed in Midgard (mid-garden, or Eden) and
thus inherit, from their creators, matter or inorganic life; mind, or soul; and
pure spirit; the first corresponding to that part of their organism which
sprung from the remains of Ymir, the giant-matter, the second from the AEsir,
or gods, the descendants of Bur, and the third from the Vanr, or the
representative of pure spirit.
Another version of
the Edda makes our visible universe spring from beneath the luxuriant branches
of the mundane tree -- the Yggdrasill, the tree with the three roots. Under the
first root runs the fountain of life, Urdar; under the second is the famous
well of Mimer, in which lie deeply buried Wit and Wisdom. Odin, the Alfadir,
asks for a draught of this water; he gets it, but finds himself obliged to
pledge one of his eyes for it; the eye being in this case the symbol of the
Deity revealing itself in the wisdom of its own creation; for Odin leaves it at
the bottom of the deep well. The care of the mundane tree is intrusted to three
maidens (the Norns or Parcae), Urdhr, Verdandi, and Skuld -- or the Present,
the Past, and the Future. Every morning, while fixing the term
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It is worthy of
attention that in the Mexican "Popol-Vuh" the human race is created
out of a reed, and in Hesiod out of the ash-tree, as in the Scandinavian
narrative.
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of human life, they
draw water from the Urdar-fountain, and sprinkle with it the roots of the
mundane tree, that it may live. The exhalations of the ash, Yggdrasill,
condense, and falling down upon our earth call into existence and change of
form every portion of the inanimate matter. This tree is the symbol of the
universal Life, organic as well as inorganic; its emanations represent the
spirit which vivifies every form of creation; and of its three roots, one
extends to heaven, the second to the dwelling of the magicians -- giants,
inhabitants of the lofty mountains -- and at the third, under which is the
spring Hvergelmir, gnaws the monster Nidhogg, who constantly leads mankind into
evil. The Thibetans have also their mundane tree, and the legend is of an
untold antiquity. With them it is called Zampun. The first of its three roots
also extends to heaven, to the top of the highest mountains; the second passes
down to the lower region; the third remains midway, and reaches the east. The
mundane tree of the Hindus is the Aswatha.* Its branches are the components of
the visible world; and its leaves the Mantras of the Vedas, symbols of the
universe in its intellectual or moral character.
Who can study
carefully the ancient religious and cosmogonic myths without perceiving that
this striking similitude of conceptions, in their exoteric form and esoteric
spirit, is the result of no mere coincidence, but manifests a concurrent
design? It shows that already in those ages which are shut out from our sight
by the impenetrable mist of tradition, human religious thought developed in
uniform sympathy in every portion of the globe. Christians call this adoration
of nature in her most concealed verities -- Pantheism. But if the latter, which
worships and reveals to us God in space in His only possible objective form --
that of visible nature -- perpetually reminds humanity of Him who created it,
and a religion of theological dogmatism only serves to conceal Him the more
from our sight, which is the better adapted to the needs of mankind?
Modern science
insists upon the doctrine of evolution; so do human reason and the "secret
doctrine," and the idea is corroborated by the ancient legends and myths,
and even by the Bible itself when it is read between the lines. We see a flower
slowly developing from a bud, and the bud from its seed. But whence the latter,
with all its predetermined programme of physical transformation, and its
invisible, therefore spiritual forces which gradually develop its form, color,
and odor? The word evolution speaks for itself. The germ of the present human
race must have preexisted in the parent of this race, as the seed, in which
lies hid-
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* See Kanne's
"Pantheum der AEltesten Philosophie."
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MUNDANE-TREE.
den the flower of
next summer, was developed in the capsule of its parent-flower; the parent may
be but slightly different, but it still differs from its future progeny. The
antediluvian ancestors of the present elephant and lizard were, perhaps, the
mammoth and the plesiosaurus; why should not the progenitors of our human race
have been the "giants" of the Vedas, the Voluspa, and the Book of
Genesis? While it is positively absurd to believe the "transformation of
species" to have taken place according to some of the more materialistic
views of the evolutionists, it is but natural to think that each genus,
beginning with the mollusks and ending with monkey-man, has modified from its
own primordial and distinctive form. Supposing that we concede that
"animals have descended from at most only four or five progenitors";*
and that even a la rigueur "all the organic beings which have ever lived
on this earth have descended from some one primordial form";** still no
one but a stone-blind materialist, one utterly devoid of intuitiveness, can
seriously expect to see "in the distant future . . . psychology based on a
new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and
capacity by gradation."***
Physical man, as a
product of evolution, may be left in the hands of the man of exact science.
None but he can throw light upon the physical origin of the race. But, we must
positively deny the materialist the same privilege as to the question of man's
psychical and spiritual evolution, for he and his highest faculties cannot be
proved on any conclusive evidence to be "as much products of evolution as
the humblest plant or the lowest worm."****
Having said so
much, we will now proceed to show the evolution-hypothesis of the old Brahmans,
as embodied by them in the allegory of the mundane tree. The Hindus represent
their mythical tree, which they call Aswatha, in a way which differs from that
of the Scandinavians. It is described by them as growing in a reversed
position, the branches extending downward and the roots upward; the former
typifying the external world of sense, i.e., the visible cosmical universe, and
the latter the invisible world of spirit, because the roots have their genesis
in the heavenly regions where, from the world's creation, humanity has placed
its invisible deity. The creative energy having originated in the primordial
point, the religious symbols of every people are so many illustrations of this
metaphysical hypothesis expounded by Pythagoras, Plato, and other
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Origin of
Species," p. 484.
** Ibid. Which
latter word we cannot accept unless that "primordial form" is
conceded to be the primal concrete form that spirit assumed as the revealed
Deity.
*** Ibid., p. 488.
**** Lecture by T.
H. Huxley, F.R.S.: "Darwin and Haeckel."
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philosophers.
"These Chaldeans," says Philo,* "were of opinion that the
Kosmos, among the things that exist, is a single point, either being itself God
(Theos) or that in it is God, comprehending the soul of all the things."
The Egyptian
Pyramid also symbolically represents this idea of the mundane tree. Its apex is
the mystic link between heaven and earth, and stands for the root, while the
base represents the spreading branches, extending to the four cardinal points
of the universe of matter. It conveys the idea that all things had their origin
in spirit -- evolution having originally begun from above and proceeded
downward, instead of the reverse, as taught in the Darwinian theory. In other
words, there has been a gradual materialization of forms until a fixed ultimate
of debasement is reached. This point is that at which the doctrine of modern
evolution enters into the arena of speculative hypothesis. Arrived at this
period we will find it easier to understand Haeckel's Anthropogeny, which traces
the pedigree of man "from its protoplasmic root, sodden in the mud of seas
which existed before the oldest of the fossiliferous rocks were
deposited," according to Professor Huxley's exposition. We may believe man
evolved "by gradual modification of a mammal of ape-like
organization" still easier when we remember that (though in a more
condensed and less elegant, but still as comprehensible, phraseology) the same
theory was said by Berosus to have been taught many thousands of years before
his time by the man-fish Oannes or Dagon, the semi-demon of Babylonia.** We may
add, as a fact of interest, that this ancient theory of evolution is not only
embalmed in allegory and legend, but also depicted upon the walls of certain
temples in India, and, in a fragmentary form, has been found in those of Egypt
and on the slabs of Nimroud and Nineveh, excavated by Layard.
But what lies back
of the Darwinian line of descent? So far as he is concerned nothing but
"unverifiable hypotheses." For, as he puts it, he views all beings
"as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the
first bed of the Silurian system was deposited."*** He does not attempt to
show us who these "few beings" were. But it answers our purpose quite
as well, for in the admission of their existence at all, resort to the ancients
for corroboration and elaboration of the idea receives the stamp of scientific
approbation. With all the changes that our globe has passed through as regards
temperature, climate, soil, and -- if we may be pardoned, in view of recent
developments -- its electromagnetic condition, he would be bold indeed who dare
say that anything
[[Footnote(s)]]
---------------------------------------------------
* "Migration
of Abraham," § 32.
** Cory:
"Ancient Fragments."
*** "Origin of
Species," pp. 448, 489, first edition.
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VOLUSPA.
in present science
contradicts the ancient hypothesis of ante-Silurian man. The flint-axes first
found by Boucher de Perthes, in the valley of the Somme, prove that men must
have existed at a period so remote as to be beyond calculation. If we believe
Buchner, man must have lived even during and before the glacial epoch, a
subdivision of the quaternary or diluvial period probably extending very far
back in it. But who can tell what the next discovery has in store for us?
Now, if we have
indisputable proof that man has existed so long as this, there must have been
wonderful modifications of his physical system, corresponding with the changes
of climate and atmosphere. Does not this seem to show by analogy that, tracing
backward, there may have been other modifications, which fitted the most remote
progenitors of the "frost-giants" to live even contemporaneously with
the Devonian fishes or the Silurian mollusks? True, they left no flint-hatchets
behind them, nor any bones or cave-deposits; but, if the ancients are correct,
the races at that time were composed not only of giants, or "mighty men of
renown," but also of "sons of God." If those who believe in the
evolution of spirit as firmly as the materialists believe in that of matter are
charged with teaching "unverifiable hypotheses," how readily can they
retort upon their accusers by saying that, by their own confession, their
physical evolution is still "an unverified, if not actually an
unverifiable hypothesis."* The former have at least the inferential proof
of legendary myth, the vast antiquity of which is admitted by both philologists
and archaeologists; while their antagonists have nothing of a similar nature,
unless they help themselves to a portion of the ancient picture-writings, and
suppress the rest.
It is more than
fortunate that, while the works of some men of science -- who have justly won
their great reputations -- will flatly contradict our hypotheses, the
researches and labors of others not less eminent seem to fully confirm our
views. In the recent work of Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, The Geographical
Distribution of Animals, we find the author seriously favoring the idea of
"some slow process of development" of the present species from others
which have preceded them, his idea extending back over an innumerable series of
cycles. And if animals, why not animal man, preceded still farther back by a
thoroughly "spiritual" one -- a "son of God"?
And now, we may
once more return to the symbolology of the olden times, and their
physico-religious myths. Before we close this work, we hope to demonstrate more
or less successfully how closely the conceptions of the latter were allied with
many of the achievements of modern science
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Huxley: "Darwin
and Haeckel."
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in physics and
natural philosophy. Under the emblematical devices and peculiar phraseology of
the priesthood of old lie latent hints of sciences as yet undiscovered during
the present cycle. Well acquainted as may be a scholar with the hieratic
writing and hieroglyphical system of the Egyptians, he must first of all learn
to sift their records. He has to assure himself, compasses and rule in hand,
that the picture-writing he is examining fits, to a line, certain fixed
geometrical figures which are the hidden keys to such records, before he
ventures on an interpretation.
But there are myths
which speak for themselves. In this class we may include the double-sexed first
creators, of every cosmogony. The Greek Zeus-Zen (aether), and Chthonia (the
chaotic earth) and Metis (the water), his wives; Osiris and Isis-Latona -- the
former god representing also ether -- the first emanation of the Supreme Deity,
Amun, the primeval source of light; the goddess earth and water again;
Mithras,* the rock-born god, the symbol of the male mundane-fire, or the
personified primordial light, and Mithra, the fire-goddess, at once his mother
and his wife; the pure element of fire (the active, or male principle) regarded
as light and heat, in conjunction with earth and water, or matter (female or
passive elements of cosmical generation). Mithras is the son of Bordj, the
Persian mundane mountain** from which he flashes out as a radiant ray of light.
Brahma, the fire-god, and his prolific consort; and the Hindu Unghi, the
refulgent deity, from whose body issue a thousand streams of glory and seven
tongues of flame, and in whose honor the Sagniku Brahmans preserve to this day
a perpetual fire; Siva, personated by the mundane mountain of the Hindus -- the
Meru (Himalaya). This terrific fire-god, who is said in the legend to have
descended from heaven, like the Jewish Jehovah, in a pillar of fire, and a
dozen of other archaic, double-sexed deities, all loudly proclaim their hidden
meaning. And what can these dual myths mean but the physico-chemical principle
of primordial creation? The first revelation of the Supreme Cause in its triple
manifestation of spirit, force, and matter; the divine correlation, at its
startingpoint of evolution, allegorized as the marriage of fire and water,
products of electrifying spirit, union of the male active principle with the
female passive element, which become the parents of their tellurian child,
cosmic matter, the prima materia, whose spirit is ether, the ASTRAL LIGHT!
Thus all the
world-mountains and mundane eggs, the mundane trees, and the mundane snakes and
pillars, may be shown to embody scientifi-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Mithras was
regarded among the Persians as the Theos ek petros -- god of the rock.
** Bordj is called
a fire-mountain -- a volcano; therefore it contains fire, rock, earth, and
water -- the male and active, and the female or passive elements. The myth is
suggestive.
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cally demonstrated
truths of natural philosophy. All of these mountains contain, with very
trifling variations, the allegorically-expressed description of primal cosmogony;
the mundane trees, that of subsequent evolution of spirit and matter; the
mundane snakes and pillars, symbolical memorials of the various attributes of
this double evolution in its endless correlation of cosmic forces. Within the
mysterious recesses of the mountain -- the matrix of the universe -- the gods
(powers) prepare the atomic germs of organic life, and at the same time the
life-drink, which, when tasted, awakens in man-matter the man-spirit. The soma,
the sacrificial drink of the Hindus, is that sacred beverage. For, at the
creation of the prima materia, while the grossest portions of it were used for
the physical embryo-world, the more divine essence of it pervaded the universe,
invisibly permeating and enclosing within its ethereal waves the newly-born
infant, developing and stimulating it to activity as it slowly evolved out of
the eternal chaos.
From the poetry of
abstract conception, these mundane myths gradually passed into the concrete
images of cosmic symbols, as archaeology now finds them. The snake, which plays
such a prominent part in the imagery of the ancients, was degraded by the
absurd interpretation of the serpent of the Book of Genesis into a synonym of
Satan, the Prince of Darkness, whereas it is the most ingenious of all the myths
in its various symbolisms. For one, as agathodaimon, it is the emblem of the
healing art and of the immortality of man. It encircles the images of most of
the sanitary or hygienic gods. The cup of health, in the Egyptian Mysteries,
was entwined by serpents. As evil can only arise from an extreme in good, the
serpent, under some other aspects, became typical of matter; which, the more it
recedes from its primal spiritual source, the more it becomes subject of evil.
In the oldest Egyptian imagery, as in the cosmogonic allegories of Kneph, the
mundane snake, when typifying matter, is usually represented as contained
within a circle; he lies straight across its equator, thus indicating that the
universe of astral light, out of which the physical world evolved, while
bounding the latter, is itself bound by Emepht, or the Supreme First Cause.
Phtha producing Ra, and the myriad forms to which he gives life, are shown as
creeping out of the mundane egg, because it is the most familiar form of that
in which is deposited and developed the germ of every living being. When the
serpent represents eternity and immortality, it encircles the world, biting its
tail, and thus offering no solution of continuity. It then becomes the astral
light. The disciples of the school of Pherecydes taught that ether (Zeus or
Zen) is the highest empyrean heaven, which encloses the supernal world, and its
light (the astral) is the concentrated primordial element.
Such is the origin
of the serpent, metamorphosed in Christian ages
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into Satan. It is
the Od, the Ob, and the Aour of Moses and the Kabalists. When in its passive
state, when it acts on those who are unwittingly drawn within its current, the
astral light is the Ob, or Python. Moses was determined to exterminate all
those who, sensitive to its influence, allowed themselves to fall under the
easy control of the vicious beings which move in the astral waves like fish in
the water; beings who surround us, and whom Bulwer-Lytton calls in Zanoni
"the dwellers of the threshold." It becomes the Od, as soon as it is
vivified by the conscious efflux of an immortal soul; for then the astral
currents are acting under the guidance of either an adept, a pure spirit, or an
able mesmerizer, who is pure himself and knows how to direct the blind forces.
In such cases even a high Planetary Spirit, one of the class of beings that have
never been embodied (though there are many among these hierarchies who have
lived on our earth), descends occasionally to our sphere, and purifying the
surrounding atmosphere enables the subject to see, and opens in him the springs
of true divine prophecy. As to the term Aour, the word is used to designate
certain occult properties of the universal agent. It pertains more directly to
the domain of the alchemist, and is of no interest to the general public.
The author of the
Homoiomerian system of philosophy, Anaxagoras of Clazomene, firmly believed
that the spiritual prototypes of all things, as well as their elements, were to
be found in the boundless ether, where they were generated, whence they
evolved, and whither they returned from earth. In common with the Hindus who
had personified their Akas'a (sky or ether) and made of it a deific entity, the
Greeks and Latins had deified AEther. Virgil calls Zeus, pater omnipotens
aether;* Magnus, the great god, Ether.
These beings above
alluded to are the elemental spirits of the Kabalists,** whom the Christian
clergy denounce as "devils," the enemies of mankind.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Virgil:
"Georgica," book ii.
** Porphyry and
other philosophers explain the nature of the dwellers. They are mischievous and
deceitful, though some of them are perfectly gentle and harmless, but so weak
as to have the greatest difficulty in communicating with mortals whose company
they seek incessantly. The former are not wicked through intelligent malice.
The law of spiritual evolution not having yet developed their instinct into
intelligence, whose highest light belongs but to immortal spirits, their powers
of reasoning are in a latent state and, therefore, they themselves, irresponsible.
But the Latin
Church contradicts the Kabalists. St. Augustine has even a discussion on that
account with Porphyry, the Neo-platonist. "These spirits," he says,
"are deceitful, not by their nature, as Porphyry, the theurgist, will have
it, but through malice. They pass themselves off for gods and for the souls of
the defunct" ("Civit. Dei," book x., ch. 2). So far Porphyry
agrees with him; "but they do not claim to be [[Footnote continued on next
page]]
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LAND.
"Already
Tertullian," gravely remarks Des Mousseaux, in his chapter on the devils,
"has formally discovered the secret of their cunning."
A priceless
discovery, that. And now that we have learned so much of the mental labors of
the holy fathers and their achievements in astral anthropology, need we be
surprised at all, if, in the zeal of their spiritual explorations, they have so
far neglected their own planet as at times to deny not only its right to motion
but even its sphericity?
And this is what we
find in Langhorne, the translator of Plutarch: Dionysius of Halicarnassus [L.
ii.] is of opinion that Numa built the temple of Vesta in a round form, to
represent the figure of the earth, for by Vesta they meant the earth."
Moreover Philolaus, in common with all other Pythagoreans, held that the
element of fire was placed in the centre of the universe; and Plutarch,
speaking on the subject, remarks of the Pythagoreans that "the earth they
suppose not to be without motion, nor situated in the centre of the world, but
to make its revolution round the sphere of fire, being neither one of the most
valuable, nor principal parts of the great machine." Plato, too, is
reported to have been of the same opinion. It appears, therefore, that the
Pythagoreans anticipated Galileo's discovery.
The existence of
such an invisible universe being once admitted -- as seems likely to be the
fact if the speculations of the authors of the Unseen Universe are ever
accepted by their colleagues -- many of the phenomena, hitherto mysterious and
inexplicable, become plain. It acts on the organism of the magnetized mediums,
it penetrates and saturates them through and through, either directed by the
powerful will of a mesmerizer, or by unseen beings who achieve the same result.
Once that the silent operation is performed, the astral or sidereal phantom of
the mesmerized subject quits its paralyzed, earthly casket, and, after having
roamed in the boundless space, alights at the threshold of the mysterious
"bourne." For it, the gates of the portal which marks the entrance to
the "silent land," are now but partially ajar; they will fly wide
open before the soul of the entranced somnambulist only on that day when,
united with its higher immortal essence, it will have quitted forever its
mortal frame. Until then, the seer or seeress can look but through a chink; it
depends on the acuteness of the clairvoyant's spiritual sight to see more or
less through it.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] demons [read devils], for they are such in
reality!" adds the Bishop of Hippo. But then, under what class should we
place the men without heads, whom Augustine wishes us to believe he saw
himself? or the satyrs of St. Jerome, which he asserts were exhibited for a
considerable length of time at Alexandria? They were, he tells us, "men
with the legs and tails of goats"; and, if we may believe him, one of
these Satyrs was actually pickled and sent in a cask to the Emperor
Constantine!
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The trinity in
unity is an idea which all the ancient nations held in common. The three
Dejotas -- the Hindu Trimurti; the Three Heads of the Jewish Kabala.* "Three
heads are hewn in one another and over one another." The trinity of the
Egyptians and that of the mythological Greeks were alike representations of the
first triple emanation containing two male and one female principles. It is the
union of the male Logos, or wisdom, the revealed Deity, with the female Aura or
Anima Mundi -- "the holy Pneuma," which is the Sephira of the
Kabalists and the Sophia of the refined Gnostics -- that produced all things
visible and invisible. While the true metaphysical interpretation of this
universal dogma remained within the sanctuaries, the Greeks, with their
poetical instincts, impersonated it in many charming myths. In the Dionysiacs
of Nonnus, the god Bacchus, among other allegories, is represented as in love
with the soft, genial breeze (the Holy Pneuma), under the name of Aura
Placida.** And now we will leave Godfrey Higgins to speak: "When the
ignorant Fathers were constructing their calendar, they made out of this gentle
zephyr two Roman Catholic saints!! " SS. Aura and Placida; -- nay, they
even went so far as to transfer the jolly god into St. Bacchus, and actually
show his coffin and relics at Rome. The festival of the two "blessed
saints," Aura and Placida, occurs on the 5th of October, close to the festival
of St. Bacchus.***
How far more
poetical, and how much greater the religious spirit to be found in the
"heathen" Norse legends of creation! In the boundless abyss of the
mundane pit, the Ginnunga-gap, where rage in blind fury and conflict cosmic
matter and the primordial forces, suddenly blows the thaw-wind. It is the
"unrevealed God," who sends his beneficent breath from Muspellheim,
the sphere of empyreal fire, within whose glowing rays dwells this great Being,
far beyond the limits of the world of matter; and the animus of the Unseen, the
Spirit brooding over the dark, abysmal waters, calls order out of chaos, and
once having given the impulse to all creation the FIRST CAUSE retires, and
remains for evermore in statu abscondito!****
There is both
religion and science in these Scandinavian songs of heathendom. As an example
of the latter, take the conception of Thor, the son of Odin. Whenever this
Hercules of the North would grasp the handle of his terrible weapon, the
thunderbolt or electric hammer, he is obliged to put on his iron gantlets. He
also wears a magical belt
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Tria capita
exsculpta sunt, una intra alterum, et alterum supra alterum" -- (Sohar;
"Idra Suta," sectio vii.)
** Gentle gale
(lit.)
*** Higgins:
"Anacalypsis"; also "Dupuis."
**** Mallett:
"Northern Antiquities," pp. 401-406, and "The Songs of a
Voluspa" in the Edda.
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THUNDERER SIGNIFY?
known as the
"girdle of strength," which, whenever girded about his person,
greatly augments his celestial power. He rides upon a car drawn by two rams
with silver bridles, and his awful brow is encircled by a wreath of stars. His
chariot has a pointed iron pole, and the spark-scattering wheels continually
roll over rumbling thunder-clouds. He hurls his hammer with resistless force
against the rebellious frost-giants, whom he dissolves and annihilates. When he
repairs to the Urdar fountain, where the gods meet in conclave to decide the
destinies of humanity, he alone goes on foot, the rest of the deities being
mounted. He walks, for fear that in crossing Bifrost (the rainbow), the
many-hued AEsirbridge, he might set it on fire with his thunder-car, at the
same time causing the Urdar waters to boil.
Rendered into plain
English, how can this myth be interpreted but as showing that the Norse
legend-makers were thoroughly acquainted with electricity? Thor, the
euhemerization of electricity, handles his peculiar element only when protected
by gloves of iron, which is its natural conductor. His belt of strength is a
closed circuit, around which the isolated current is compelled to run instead
of diffusing itself through space. When he rushes with his car through the
clouds, he is electricity in its active condition, as the sparks scattering
from his wheels and the rumbling thunder of the clouds testify. The pointed
iron pole of the chariot is suggestive of the lightning-rod; the two rams which
serve as his coursers are the familiar ancient symbols of the male or
generative power; their silver bridles typify the female principle, for silver
is the metal of Luna, Astarte, Diana. Therefore in the ram and his bridle we
see combined the active and passive principles of nature in opposition, one
rushing forward, and the other restraining, while both are in subordination to
the world-permeating, electrical principle, which gives them their impulse.
With the electricity supplying the impulse, and the male and female principle
combining and recombining in endless correlation, the result is -- evolution of
visible nature, the crown-glory of which is the planetary system, which in the
mythic Thor is allegorized by the circlet of glittering orbs which bedeck his
brow. When in his active condition, his awful thunderbolts destroy everything,
even the lesser other Titanic forces. But he goes afoot over the rainbow
bridge, Bifrost, because to mingle with other less powerful gods than himself,
he is obliged to be in a latent state, which he could not be in his car;
otherwise he would set on fire and annihilate all. The meaning of the
Urdar-fountain, that Thor is afraid to make boil, and the cause of his
reluctance, will only be comprehended by our physicists when the reciprocal
electro-magnetic relations of the innumerable members of the planetary system,
now just suspected, shall be thoroughly determined. Glimpses of the truth are given
in the
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recent scientific
essays of Professors Mayer and Sterry Hunt. The ancient philosophers believed
that not only volcanos, but boiling springs were caused by concentrations of
underground electric currents, and that this same cause produced mineral
deposits of various natures, which form curative springs. If it be objected that
this fact is not distinctly stated by the ancient authors, who, in the opinion
of our century were hardly acquainted with electricity, we may simply answer
that not all the works embodying ancient wisdom are now extant among our
scientists. The clear and cool waters of Urdar were required for the daily
irrigation of the mystical mundane tree; and if they had been disturbed by
Thor, or active electricity, they would have been converted into mineral
springs unsuited for the purpose. Such examples as the above will support the
ancient claim of the philosophers that there is a logos in every mythos, or a
ground-work of truth in every fiction.
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CHAPTER VI.
"Hermes, who
is of my ordinances ever the bearer . . .
Then taking his
staff, with which he the eyelids of mortals
Closes at will, and
the sleeper, at will, reawakens." -- Odyssey, Book V.
"I saw the
Samothracian rings
Leap, and
steel-filings boil in a brass dish
So soon as
underneath it there was placed
The magnet-stone;
and with wild terror seemed
The iron to flee
from it in stern hate. . . ." -- Lucretius, Book VI.
"But that
which especially distinguishes the Brotherhood is their marvellous knowledge of
the resources of the medical art. They work not by charms but by simples."
-- (MS. Account of the Origin and Attributes of the True Rosicrucians.)
ONE of the truest
things ever said by a man of science is the remark made by Professor Cooke in
his New Chemistry. "The history of Science shows that the age must be
prepared before scientific truths can take root and grow. The barren
premonitions of science have been barren because these seeds of truth fell upon
unfruitful soil; and, as soon as the fulness of the time has come, the seed has
taken root and the fruit has ripened . . . every student is surprised to find
how very little is the share of new truth which even the greatest genius has
added to the previous stock."
The revolution
through which chemistry has recently passed, is well calculated to concentrate
the attention of chemists upon this fact; and it would not be strange, if, in
less time than it has required to effect it, the claims of the alchemists would
be examined with impartiality, and studied from a rational point of view. To
bridge over the narrow gulf which now separates the new chemistry from old
alchemy, is little, if any harder than what they have done in going from
dualism to the law of Avogadro.
As Ampere served to
introduce Avogadro to our contemporary chemists, so Reichenbach will perhaps
one day be found to have paved the way with his OD for the just appreciation of
Paracelsus. It was more than fifty years before molecules were accepted as
units of chemical calculations; it may require less than half that time to
cause the superlative merits of the Swiss mystic to be acknowledged. The
warning paragraph about healing mediums,* which will be found elsewhere, might
have
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* From a London
Spiritualist journal.
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been written by one
who had read his works. "You must understand," he says, "that
the magnet is that spirit of life in man which the infected seeks, as both
unite themselves with chaos from without. And thus the healthy are infected by
the unhealthy through magnetic attraction."
The primal causes
of the diseases afflicting mankind; the secret relations between physiology and
psychology, vainly tortured by men of modern science for some clew to base
their speculations upon; the specifics and remedies for every ailment of the
human body -- all are described and accounted for in his voluminous works.
Electro-magnetism, the so-called discovery of Professor Oersted, had been used
by Paracelsus three centuries before. This may be demonstrated by examining
critically his mode of curing disease. Upon his achievements in chemistry there
is no need to enlarge, for it is admitted by fair and unprejudiced writers that
he was one of the greatest chemists of his time.* Brierre de Boismont terms him
a "genius" and agrees with Deleuze that he created a new epoch in the
history of medicine. The secret of his successful and, as they were called,
magic cures lies in his sovereign contempt for the so-called learned
"authorities" of his age. "Seeking for truth," says
Paracelsus, "I considered with myself that if there were no teachers of
medicine in this world, how would I set to learn the art? No otherwise than in
the great open book of nature, written with the finger of God. . . . I am accused
and denounced for not having entered in at the right door of art. But which is
the right one? Galen, Avicenna, Mesue, Rhasis, or honest nature? I believe, the
last! Through this door I entered, and the light of nature, and no apothecary's
lamp directed me on my way."
This utter scorn
for established laws and scientific formulas, this aspiration of mortal clay to
commingle with the spirit of nature, and look to it alone for health, and help,
and the light of truth, was the cause of the inveterate hatred shown by the
contemporary pigmies to the fire-philosopher and alchemist. No wonder that he
was accused of charlatanry and even drunkenness. Of the latter charge, Hemmann
boldly and fearlessly exonerates him, and proves that the foul accusation
proceeded from "Oporinus, who lived with him some time in order to learn
his secrets, but his object was defeated; hence, the evil reports of his
disciples and apothecaries." He was the founder of the School of Animal
Magnetism and the discoverer of the occult properties of the magnet. He was
branded by his age as a sorcerer, because the cures he made were marvellous.
Three centuries later, Baron Du Potet was also accused of sorcery and
demonolatry by the Church of Rome, and of charlatanry by the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Hemmann:
"Medico-Surgical Essays," Berl., 1778.
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AWAY.
academicians of
Europe. As the fire-philosophers say, it is not the chemist who will condescend
to look upon the "living fire" otherwise than his colleagues do.
"Thou hast forgotten what thy fathers taught thee about it -- or rather,
thou hast never known . . . it is too loud for thee!"*
A work upon
magico-spiritual philosophy and occult science would be incomplete without a
particular notice of the history of animal magnetism, as it stands since
Paracelsus staggered with it the schoolmen of the latter half of the sixteenth
century.
We will observe
briefly its appearance in Paris when imported from Germany by Anton Mesmer. Let
us peruse with care and caution the old papers now mouldering in the Academy of
Sciences of that capital, for there we will find that, after having rejected in
its turn every discovery that was ever made since Galileo, the Immortals capped
the climax by turning their backs upon magnetism and mesmerism. They
voluntarily shut the doors before themselves, the doors which led to those
greatest mysteries of nature, which lie hid in the dark regions of the
psychical as well as the physical world. The great universal solvent, the
Alkahest, was within their reach -- they passed it by; and now, after nearly a
hundred years have elapsed, we read the following confession:
"Still it is
true that, beyond the limits of direct observation, our science (chemistry) is
not infallible, and our theories and systems, although they may all contain a
kernel of truth, undergo frequent changes, and are often
revolutionized."**
To assert so
dogmatically that mesmerism and animal magnetism are but hallucinations,
implies that it can be proved. But where are these proofs, which alone ought to
have authority in science? Thousands of times the chance was given to the
academicians to assure themselves of its truth; but, they have invariably
declined. Vainly do mesmerists and healers invoke the testimony of the deaf,
the lame, the diseased, the dying, who were cured or restored to life by simple
manipulations and the apostolic "laying on of hands."
"Coincidence" is the usual reply, when the fact is too evident to be
absolutely denied; "will-o'-the-wisp," "exaggeration,"
"quackery," are favorite expressions, with our but too numerous
Thomases. Newton, the well-known American healer, has performed more
instantaneous cures than many a famous physician of New York City has had
patients in all his life; Jacob, the Zouave, has had a like success in France.
Must we then consider the accumulated testimony of the last forty years upon
this subject to be all illusion, confederacy with clever charlatans, and
lunacy? Even to breathe
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Robert Fludd:
"Treatise III."
** Prof. J. P.
Cooke: "New Chemistry."
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such a stupendous
fallacy would be equivalent to a self-accusation of lunacy.
Notwithstanding the
recent sentence of Leymarie, the scoffs of the skeptics and of a vast majority
of physicians and scientists, the unpopularity of the subject, and, above all,
the indefatigable persecutions of the Roman Catholic clergy, fighting in
mesmerism woman's traditional enemy, so evident and unconquerable is the truth
of its phenomena that even the French magistrature was forced tacitly, though
very reluctantly, to admit the same. The famous clairvoyante, Madame Roger, was
charged with obtaining money under false pretenses, in company with her
mesmerist, Dr. Fortin. On May 18th, 1876, she was arraigned before the Tribunal
Correctionnel of the Seine. Her witness was Baron Du Potet, the grand master of
mesmerism in France for the last fifty years; her advocate, the no less famous
Jules Favre. Truth for once triumphed -- the accusation was abandoned. Was it
the extraordinary eloquence of the orator, or bare facts incontrovertible and
unimpeachable that won the day? But Leymarie, the editor of the Revue Spirite,
had also facts in his favor; and, moreover, the evidence of over a hundred
respectable witnesses, among whom were the first names of Europe. To this there
is but one answer -- the magistrates dared not question the facts of mesmerism.
Spirit-photography, spirit-rapping, writing, moving, talking, and even
spirit-materializations can be simulated; there is hardly a physical phenomenon
now in Europe and America but could be imitated -- with apparatus -- by a
clever juggler. The wonders of mesmerism and subjective phenomena alone defy
tricksters, skepticism, stern science, and dishonest mediums; the cataleptic
state it is impossible to feign. Spiritualists who are anxious to have their
truths proclaimed and forced on science, cultivate the mesmeric phenomena.
Place on the stage of Egyptian Hall a somnambulist plunged in a deep mesmeric
sleep. Let her mesmerist send her freed spirit to all the places the public may
suggest; test her clairvoyance and clairaudience; stick pins into any part of
her body which the mesmerist may have made his passes over; thrust needles
through the skin below her eyelids; burn her flesh and lacerate it with a sharp
instrument. "Do not fear!" exclaim Regazzoni and Du Potet, Teste and
Pierrard, Puysegur and Dolgorouky -- "a mesmerized or entranced subject is
never hurt!" And when all this is performed, invite any popular wizard of
the day who thirsts for puffery, and is, or pretends to be, clever at mimicking
every spiritual phenomenon, to submit his body to the same tests!*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In the
"Bulletin de l'Academie de Medecine," Paris, 1837, vol. i., p. 343 et
seq., may be found the report of Dr. Oudet, who, to ascertain the state of
insensibility [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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LACTANTIUS.
The speech of Jules
Favre is reported to have lasted an hour and a half, and to have held the
judges and the public spellbound by its eloquence. We who have heard Jules
Favre believe it most readily; only the statement embodied in the last sentence
of his argument was unfortunately premature and erroneous at the same time.
"We are in the presence of a phenomenon which science admits without
attempting to explain. The public may smile at it, but our most illustrious
physicians regard it with gravity. Justice can no longer ignore what science
has acknowledged!"
Were this sweeping
declaration based upon fact and had mesmerism been impartially investigated by
many instead of a few true men of science, more desirous of questioning nature
than mere expediency, the public would never smile. The public is a docile and
pious child, and readily goes whither the nurse leads it. It chooses its idols
and fetishes, and worships them in proportion to the noise they make; and then
turns round with a timid look of adulation to see whether the nurse, old Mrs.
Public Opinion, is satisfied.
Lactantius, the old
Christian father, is said to have remarked that no skeptic in his days would
have dared to maintain before a magician that the soul did not survive the body,
but died together with it; "for he would refute them on the spot by
calling up the souls of the dead, rendering them visible to human eyes, and
making them foretell future events."* So with the magistrates and bench in
Madame Roger's case. Baron Du Potet was there, and they were afraid to see him
mesmerize the somnambulist, and so force them not only to believe in the
phenomenon, but to acknowledge it -- which was far worse.
And now to the
doctrine of Paracelsus. His incomprehensible, though lively style must be read
like the biblio-rolls of Ezekiel, "within and without." The peril of
propounding heterodox theories was great in those days; the Church was
powerful, and sorcerers were burnt by the dozens. For this reason, we find
Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Eugenius Philalethes as notable for their pious
declarations as they were famous for their achievements in alchemy and magic.
The full views of Paracelsus on the occult properties of the magnet are
explained partially in his famous book, Archidaxarum, in which he describes the
wonderful tinct-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] of a lady in a magnetic sleep, pricked her with
pins, introducing a long pin in the flesh up to its head, and held one of her
fingers for some seconds in the flame of a candle. A cancer was extracted from
the right breast of a Madame Plaintain. The operation lasted twelve minutes;
during the whole time the patient talked very quietly with her mesmerizer, and
never felt the slightest sensation ("Bul. de l'Acad. de Med.," Tom.
ii., p. 370).
* Prophecy, Ancient
and Modern, by A. Wilder: "Phrenological Journal."
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ure, a medicine
extracted from the magnet and called Magisterium Magnetis, and partially in the
De Ente Dei, and De Ente Astrorum, Lib. I. But the explanations are all given
in a diction unintelligible to the profane. "Every peasant sees,"
said he, "that a magnet will attract iron, but a wise man must inquire for
himself. . . . I have discovered that the magnet, besides this visible power,
that of attracting iron, possesses another and concealed power."
He demonstrates
further that in man lies hidden a "sidereal force," which is that
emanation from the stars and celestial bodies of which the spiritual form of
man -- the astral spirit -- is composed. This identity of essence, which we may
term the spirit of cometary matter, always stands in direct relation with the
stars from which it was drawn, and thus there exists a mutual attraction
between the two, both being magnets. The identical composition of the earth and
all other planetary bodies and man's terrestrial body was a fundamental idea in
his philosophy. "The body comes from the elements, the [astral] spirit
from the stars. . . . Man eats and drinks of the elements, for the sustenance
of his blood and flesh; from the stars are the intellect and thoughts sustained
in his spirit." The spectroscope has made good his theory as to the
identical composition of man and stars; the physicists now lecture to their
classes upon the magnetic attractions of the sun and planets.*
Of the substances
known to compose the body of man, there have been discovered in the stars
already, hydrogen, sodium, calcium, magnesium and iron. In all the stars
observed, numbering many hundreds, hydrogen was found, except in two. Now, if
we recollect how they have deprecated Paracelsus and his theory of man and the
stars being composed of like substances; how ridiculed he was by astronomers
and physicists, for his ideas of chemical affinity and attraction between the
two; and then realize that the spectroscope has vindicated one of his
assertions at least, is it so absurd to prophesy that in time all the rest of
his theories will be substantiated?
And now, a very
natural question is suggested. How did Paracelsus come to learn anything of the
composition of the stars, when, till a very recent period -- till the discovery
of the spectroscope in fact -- the constituents of the heavenly bodies were
utterly unknown to our learned acade-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The theory that
the sun is an incandescent globe is -- as one of the magazines recently
expressed it -- "going out of fashion." It has been computed that if
the sun -- whose mass and diameter is known to us -- "were a solid block
of coal, and sufficient amount of oxygen could be supplied to burn at the rate
necessary to produce the effects we see, it would be completely consumed in
less than 5,000 years." And yet, till comparatively a few weeks ago, it
was maintained -- nay, is still maintained, that the sun is a reservoir of
vaporized metals!
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DISCOVERER OF HYDROGEN.
mies? And even now,
notwithstanding tele-spectroscope and other very important modern improvements,
except a few elements and a hypothetical chromosphere, everything is yet a
mystery for them in the stars. Could Paracelsus have been so sure of the nature
of the starry host, unless he had means of which science knows nothing? Yet
knowing nothing she will not even hear pronounced the very names of these
means, which are -- hermetic philosophy and alchemy.
We must bear in
mind, moreover, that Paracelsus was the discoverer of hydrogen, and knew well
all its properties and composition long before any of the orthodox academicians
ever thought of it; that he had studied astrology and astronomy, as all the
fire-philosophers did; and that, if he did assert that man is in a direct affinity
with the stars, he knew well what he asserted.
The next point for
the physiologists to verify is his proposition that the nourishment of the body
comes not merely through the stomach, "but also imperceptibly through the
magnetic force, which resides in all nature and by which every individual
member draws its specific nourishment to itself." Man, he further says,
draws not only health from the elements when in equilibrium, but also disease
when they are disturbed. Living bodies are subject to the laws of attraction
and chemical affinity, as science admits; the most remarkable physical property
of organic tissues, according to physiologists, is the property of imbibition.
What more natural, then, than this theory of Paracelsus, that this absorbent,
attractive, and chemical body of ours gathers into itself the astral or
sidereal influences? "The sun and the stars attract from us to themselves,
and we again from them to us." What objection can science offer to this?
What it is that we give off, is shown in Baron Reichenbach's discovery of the
odic emanations of man, which are identical with flames from magnets, crystals,
and in fact from all vegetable organisms.
The unity of the
universe was asserted by Paracelsus, who says that "the human body is
possessed of primeval stuff" (or cosmic matter); the spectroscope has
proved the assertion by showing that the same chemical elements which exist
upon earth and in the sun, are also found in all the stars. The spectroscope
does more: it shows that all the stars are suns, similar in constitution to our
own;* and as we are told by Professor Mayer,** that the magnetic condition of
the earth changes with every variation upon the sun's surface, and is said to
be "in subjection
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Youmans:
"Chemistry on the Basis of the New System -- Spectrum Analysis."
** Professor of
Physics in the Stevens Institute of Technology. See his "The Earth a Great
Magnet," -- a lecture delivered before the Yale Scientific Club, 1872.
See, also, Prof. Balfour Stewart's lecture on "The Sun and the
Earth."
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to emanations from
the sun," the stars being suns must also give off emanations which affect
us in proportionate degrees.
"In our
dreams," says Paracelsus, "we are like the plants, which have also
the elementary and vital body, but possess not the spirit. In our sleep the
astral body is free and can, by the elasticity of its nature, either hover
round in proximity with its sleeping vehicle, or soar higher to hold converse
with its starry parents, or even communicate with its brothers at great
distances. Dreams of a prophetic character, prescience, and present wants, are
the faculties of the astral spirit. To our elementary and grosser body, these
gifts are not imparted, for at death it descends into the bosom of the earth
and is reunited to the physical elements, while the several spirits return to
the stars. The animals," he adds, "have also their presentiments, for
they too have an astral body."
Van Helmont, who
was a disciple of Paracelsus, says much the same, though his theories on
magnetism are more largely developed, and still more carefully elaborated. The
Magnale Magnum, the means by which the secret magnetic property "enables
one person to affect another mutually, is attributed by him to that universal
sympathy which exists between all things in nature. The cause produces the
effect, the effect refers itself back to the cause, and both are reciprocated.
"Magnetism," he says, "is an unknown property of a heavenly
nature; very much resembling the stars, and not at all impeded by any boundaries
of space or time. . . . Every created being possesses his own celestial power
and is closely allied with heaven. This magic power of man, which thus can
operate externally, lies, as it were, hidden in the inner man. This magical
wisdom and strength thus sleeps, but, by a mere suggestion is roused into
activity, and becomes more living, the more the outer man of flesh and the
darkness is repressed . . . and this, I say, the kabalistic art effects; it
brings back to the soul that magical yet natural strength which like a startled
sleep had left it."*
Both Van Helmont
and Paracelsus agree as to the great potency of the will in the state of
ecstasy; they say that "the spirit is everywhere diffused; and the spirit
is the medium of magnetism"; that pure primeval magic does not consist in
superstitious practices and vain ceremonies but in the imperial will of man.
"It is not the spirits of heaven and of hell which are the masters over
physical nature, but the soul and spirit of man which are concealed in him as
the fire is concealed in the flint."
The theory of the
sidereal influence on man was enunciated by all the mediaeval philosophers.
"The stars consist equally of the elements
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De
Magnetica Vulner Curatione," p. 722, 1. c.
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1784.
of earthly
bodies," says Cornelius Agrippa, "and therefore the ideas attract
each other. . . . Influences only go forth through the help of the spirit; but
this spirit is diffused through the whole universe and is in full accord with
the human spirits. The magician who would acquire supernatural powers must
possess faith, love, and hope. . . . In all things there is a secret power
concealed, and thence come the miraculous powers of magic."
The modern theory
of General Pleasonton* singularly coincides with the views of the
fire-philosophers. His view of the positive and negative electricities of man
and woman, and the mutual attraction and repulsion of everything in nature
seems to be copied from that of Robert Fludd, the Grand Master of the
Rosicrucians of England. "When two men approach each other," says the
fire-philosopher, "their magnetism is either passive or active; that is,
positive or negative. If the emanations which they send out are broken or
thrown back, there arises antipathy. But when the emanations pass through each
other from both sides, then there is positive magnetism, for the rays proceed
from the centre to the circumference. In this case they not only affect
sicknesses but also moral sentiments. This magnetism or sympathy is found not
only among animals but also in plants and in minerals."**
And now we will
notice how, when Mesmer had imported into France his "baquet" and
system based entirely on the philosophy and doctrines of the Paracelsites --
the great psychological and physiological discovery was treated by the
physicians. It will demonstrate how much ignorance, superficiality, and
prejudice can be displayed by a scientific body, when the subject clashes with
their own cherished theories. It is the more important because, to the neglect
of the committee of the French Academy of 1784 is probably due the present
materialistic drift of the public mind; and certainly the gaps in the atomic
philosophy which we have seen its most devoted teachers confessing to exist.
The committee of 1784 comprised men of such eminence as Borie, Sallin, d'Arcet,
and the famous Guillotin, to whom were subsequently added, Franklin, Leroi,
Bailly, De Borg and Lavoisier. Borie died shortly afterward and Magault
succeeded him. There can be no doubt of two things, viz.: that the committee
began their work under strong prejudices and only because peremptorily ordered
to do it by the king; and that their manner of observing the delicate facts of
mesmerism was injudicious and illiberal. Their report, drawn by Bailly, was
intended to be a death-blow to the new science. It was spread ostentatiously
throughout all the schools and ranks of society, arousing the bitterest
feelings
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See "On the
Influence of the Blue Ray."
** Ennemoser:
"History of Magic."
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among a large
portion of the aristocracy and rich commercial class, who had patronized Mesmer
and had been eye-witnesses of his cures. Ant. L. de Jussieu, an academician of
the highest rank, who had thoroughly investigated the subject with the eminent
court-physician, d'Eslon, published a counter-report drawn with minute exactness,
in which he advocated the careful observation by the medical faculty of the
therapeutic effects of the magnetic fluid and insisted upon the immediate
publication of their discoveries and observations. His demand was met by the
appearance of a great number of memoirs, polemical works, and dogmatical books
developing new facts; and Thouret's works entitled Recherches et Doutes sur le
Magnetisme Animal, displaying a vast erudition, stimulated research into the
records of the past, and the magnetic phenomena of successive nations from the
remotest antiquity were laid before the public.
The doctrine of
Mesmer was simply a restatement of the doctrines of Paracelsus, Van Helmont,
Santanelli, and Maxwell, the Scotchman; and he was even guilty of copying texts
from the work of Bertrand, and enunciating them as his own principles.* In
Professor Stewart's work,** the author regards our universe as composed of
atoms with some sort of medium between them as the machine, and the laws of
energy as the laws working this machine. Professor Youmans calls this "a
modern doctrine," but we find among the twenty-seven propositions laid
down by Mesmer, in 1775, just one century earlier, in his Letter to a Foreign
Physician, the following:
1st. There exists a
mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and living bodies.
2d. A fluid,
universally diffused and continued, so as to admit no vacuum, whose subtility
is beyond all comparison, and which, from its nature, is capable of receiving,
propagating, and communicating all the impressions of motion, is the medium of
this influence.
It would appear
from this, that the theory is not so modern after all. Professor Balfour
Stewart says, "We may regard the universe in the light of a vast physical
machine." And Mesmer:
3d. This reciprocal
action is subject to mechanical laws, unknown up to the present time.
Professor Mayer,
reaffirming Gilbert's doctrine that the earth is a great magnet, remarks that
the mysterious variations in the intensity of its force seem to be in
subjection to emanations from the sun, "changing with the apparent daily
and yearly revolutions of that orb, and pulsating
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Du
Magnetisme Animal, en France." Paris, 1826.
** "The
Conservation of Energy." N. Y., 1875.
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PRIZE.
in sympathy with
the huge waves of fire which sweep over its surface." He speaks of
"the constant fluctuation, the ebb and flow of the earth's directive
influence." And Mesmer:
4th. "From
this action result alternate effects which may be considered a flux and
reflux."
6th. It is by this
operation (the most universal of those presented to us by nature) that the
relations of activity occur between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and its
constituent parts.
There are two more
which will be interesting reading to our modern scientists:
7th. The properties
of matter, and of organized body, depend on this operation.
8th. The animal
body experiences the alternate effects of this agent; and it is by insinuating
itself into the substance of the nerves, that it immediately affects them.
Among other
important works which appeared between 1798 and 1824, when the French Academy
appointed its second commission to investigate mesmerism, the Annales du
Magnetisme Animal, by the Baron d'Henin de Cuvillier, Lieutenant-General,
Chevalier of St. Louis, member of the Academy of Sciences, and correspondent of
many of the learned societies of Europe, may be consulted with great advantage.
In 1820 the Prussian government instructed the Academy of Berlin to offer a
prize of three hundred ducats in gold for the best thesis on mesmerism. The
Royal Scientific Society of Paris, under the presidency of His Royal Highness
the Duc d'Angouleme, offered a gold medal for the same purpose. The Marquis de
la Place, peer of France, one of the Forty of the Academy of Sciences, and
honorary member of the learned societies of all the principal European
governments, issued a work entitled Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilites,
in which this eminent scientist says: "Of all the instruments that we can
employ to know the imperceptible agents of nature, the most sensitive are the
nerves, especially when exceptional influences increase their sensibility. . .
. The singular phenomena which result from this extreme nervous sensitiveness
of certain individuals, have given birth to diverse opinions as to the
existence of a new agent, which has been named animal magnetism. . . . We are
so far from knowing all the agents of nature and their various modes of action
that it would be hardly philosophical to deny the phenomena, simply because
they are inexplicable, in the actual state of our information. It is simply our
duty to examine them with an attention as much more scrupulous as it seems
difficult to admit them."
The experiments of
Mesmer were vastly improved upon by the Marquis de Puysegur, who entirely dispensed
with apparatus and produced
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remarkable cures
among the tenants of his estate at Busancy. These being given to the public,
many other educated men experimented with like success, and in 1825 M. Foissac
proposed to the Academy of Medicine to institute a new inquiry. A special
committee, consisting of Adelon, Parisey, Marc, Burdin, Sen., with Husson as
reporter, united in a recommendation that the suggestion should be adopted.
They make the manly avowal that "in science no decision whatever is
absolute and irrevocable," and afford us the means to estimate the value
which should be attached to the conclusions of the Franklin committee of 1784,
by saying that "the experiments on which this judgment was founded
appeared to have been conducted without the simultaneous and necessary
assembling together of all the commissioners, and also with moral
predispositions, which, according to the principles of the fact which they were
appointed to examine, must cause their complete failure."
What they say
concerning magnetism as a secret remedy, has been said many times by the most
respected writers upon modern Spiritualism, namely: "It is the duty of the
Academy to study it, to subject it to trials; finally, to take away the use and
practice of it from persons quite strangers to the art, who abuse this means,
and make it an object of lucre and speculation."
This report
provoked long debates, but in May, 1826, the Academy appointed a commission
which comprised the following illustrious names: Leroux, Bourdois de la Motte,
Double, Magendie, Guersant, Husson, Thillaye, Marc, Itard, Fouquier, and Guenau
de Mussy. They began their labors immediately, and continued them five years,
communicating, through Monsieur Husson, to the Academy the results of their
observations. The report embraces accounts of phenomena classified under
thirty-four different paragraphs, but as this work is not specially devoted to
the science of magnetism, we must be content with a few brief extracts. They
assert that neither contact of the hands, frictions, nor passes are invariably
needed, since, on several occasions, the will, fixedness of stare, have
sufficed to produce magnetic phenomena, even without the knowledge of the
magnetized. "Well-attested and therapeutical phenomena" depend on
magnetism alone, and are not reproduced without it. The state of somnambulism exists
and "occasions the development of new faculties, which have received the
denominations of clairvoyance, intuition, internal prevision." Sleep (the
magnetic) has "been excited under circumstances where those magnetized
could not see, and were entirely ignorant of the means employed to occasion it.
The magnetizer, having once controlled his subject, may "put him
completely into somnambulism, take him out of it without his knowledge, out of
his sight, at a certain distance, and through closed doors." The external
senses of the sleeper
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HONEST.
seem to be
completely paralyzed, and a duplicate set to be brought into action. "Most
of the time they are entirely strangers to the external and unexpected noise
made in their ears, such as the sound of copper vessels, forcibly struck, the
fall of any heavy substance, and so forth. . . . One may make them respire
hydrochloric acid or ammonia without inconveniencing them by it, or without
even a suspicion on their part." The committee could "tickle their
feet, nostrils, and the angles of the eyes by the approach of a feather, pinch
their skin so as to produce ecchymosis, prick it under the nails with pins
plunged to a considerable depth, without the evincing of any pain, or by sign
of being at all aware of it. In a word, we have seen one person who was
insensible to one of the most painful operations of surgery, and whose
countenance, pulse, or respiration did not manifest the slightest
emotion."
So much for the
external senses; now let us see what they have to say about the internal ones,
which may fairly be considered as proving a marked difference between man and a
mutton-protoplasm. "Whilst they are in this state of somnambulism,"
say the committee, "the magnetized persons we have observed, retain the
exercise of the faculties which they have whilst awake. Their memory even
appears to be more faithful and more extensive. . . . We have seen two
somnambulists distinguish, width their eyes shut, the objects placed before
them; they have told, without touching them, the color and value of the cards;
they have read words traced with the hand, or some lines of books opened by
mere chance. This phenomenon took place, even when the opening of the eyelids
was accurately closed, by means of the fingers. We met, in two somnambulists,
the power of foreseeing acts more or less complicated of the organism. One of
them announced several days, nay, several months beforehand, the day, the hour,
and the minute when epileptic fits would come on and return; the other declared
the time of the cure. Their previsions were realized with remarkable
exactness."
The commission say that
"it has collected and communicated facts sufficiently important to induce
it to think that the Academy should encourage the researches on magnetism as a
very curious branch of psychology and natural history." The committee
conclude by saying that the facts are so extraordinary that they scarcely
imagine that the Academy will concede their reality, but protest that they have
been throughout animated by motives of a lofty character, "the love of
science and by the necessity of justifying the hopes which the Academy had
entertained of our zeal and our devotion."
Their fears were
fully justified by the conduct of at least one member of their own number, who
had absented himself from the experiments, and, as M. Husson tells us,
"did not deem it right to sign the report."
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This was Magendie,
the physiologist, who, despite the fact stated by the official report that he
had not "been present at the experiments," did not hesitate to devote
four pages of his famous work on Human Physiology to the subject of mesmerism,
and after summarizing its alleged phenomena, without endorsing them as
unreservedly as the erudition and scientific acquirements of his fellow
committee-men would seem to have exacted, says: "Self-respect and the
dignity of the profession demand circumspection on these points. He [the well-informed
physician] will remember how readily mystery glides into charlatanry, and how
apt the profession is to become degraded even by its semblance when
countenanced by respectable practitioners." No word in the context lets
his readers into the secret that he had been duly appointed by the Academy to
serve on the commission of 1826; had absented himself from its sittings; had so
failed to learn the truth about mesmeric phenomena, and was now pronouncing
judgment ex parte. "Self-respect and the dignity of the profession"
probably exacted silence!
Thirty-eight years
later, an English scientist, whose specialty is the investigation of physics,
and whose reputation is even greater than that of Magendie, stooped to as
unfair a course of conduct. When the opportunity offered to investigate the
spiritualistic phenomena, and aid in taking it out of the hands of ignorant or
dishonest investigators, Professor John Tyndall avoided the subject; but in his
Fragments of Science, he was guilty of the ungentlemanly expressions which we
have quoted in another place.
But we are wrong;
he made one attempt, and that sufficed. He tells us, in the Fragments, that he
once got under a table, to see how the raps were made, and arose with a despair
for humanity, such as he never felt before! Israel Putnam, crawling on hand and
knee to kill the she-wolf in her den, partially affords a parallel by which to
estimate the chemist's courage in groping in the dark after the ugly truth; but
Putnam killed his wolf, and Tyndall was devoured by his! "Sub mensa
desperatio" should be the motto on his shield.
Speaking of the
report of the committee of 1824, Dr. Alphonse Teste, a distinguished
contemporaneous scientist, says that it produced a great impression on the
Academy, but few convictions: "No one could question the veracity of the
commissioners, whose good faith as well as great knowledge were undeniable, but
they were suspected of having been dupes. In fact, there are certain
unfortunate truths which compromise those who believe in them, and those
especially who are so candid as to avow them publicly." How true this is,
let the records of history, from the earliest times to this very day, attest.
When Professor Robert Hare announced the preliminary results of his
spiritualistic investigations, he,
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HARE.
albeit one of the
most eminent chemists and physicists in the world, was, nevertheless, regarded
as a dupe. When he proved that he was not, he was charged with having fallen
into dotage; the Harvard professors denouncing "his insane adherence to
the gigantic humbug."
When the professor
began his investigations in 1853, he announced that he "felt called upon,
as an act of duty to his fellow-creatures, to bring whatever influence he
possessed to the attempt to stem the tide of popular madness, which, in
defiance of reason and science, was fast setting in favor of the gross delusion
called Spiritualism." Though, according to his declaration, he
"entirely coincided with Faraday's theory of table-turning," he had
the true greatness which characterizes the princes of science to make his
investigation thorough, and then tell the truth. How he was rewarded by his
life-long associates, let his own words tell. In an address delivered in New
York, in September, 1854, he says that "he had been engaged in scientific
pursuits for upwards of half a century, and his accuracy and precision had
never been questioned, until he had become a spiritualist; while his integrity
as a man had never in his life been assailed, until the Harvard professors
fulminated their report against that which he knew to be true, and which they
did not know to be false."
How much mournful
pathos is expressed in these few words! An old man of seventy-six -- a
scientist of half a century, deserted for telling the truth! And now Mr. A. R.
Wallace, who had previously been esteemed among the most illustrious of British
scientists, having proclaimed his belief in spiritualism and mesmerism, is
spoken of in terms of compassion. Professor Nicholas Wagner, of St. Petersburg,
whose reputation as a zoologist is one of the most conspicuous, in his turn
pays the penalty of his exceptional candor, in his outrageous treatment by the
Russian scientists!
There are
scientists and scientists and if the occult sciences suffer in the instance of
modern spiritualism from the malice of one class, nevertheless, they have had
their defenders at all times among men whose names have shed lustre upon
science itself. In the first rank stands Isaac Newton, "the light of
science," who was a thorough believer in magnetism, as taught by
Paracelsus, Van Helmont, and by the fire-philosophers in general. No one will
presume to deny that his doctrine of universal space and attraction is purely a
theory of magnetism. If his own words mean anything at all, they mean that he
based all his speculations upon the "soul of the world," the great universal,
magnetic agent, which he called the divine sensorium.* "Here," he
says, "the
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Fundamental
Principles of Natural Philosophy."
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question is of a
very subtile spirit which penetrates through all, even the hardest bodies, and
which is concealed in their substance. Through the strength and activity of
this spirit, bodies attract each other, and adhere together when brought into
contact. Through it, electrical bodies operate at the remotest distance, as
well as near at hand, attracting and repelling; through this spirit the light
also flows, and is refracted and reflected, and warms bodies. All senses are
excited by this spirit, and through it the animals move their limbs. But these
things cannot be explained in few words, and we have not yet sufficient
experience to determine fully the laws by which this universal spirit
operates."
There are two kinds
of magnetization; the first is purely animal, the other transcendent, and
depending on the will and knowledge of the mesmerizer, as well as on the degree
of spirituality of the subject, and his capacity to receive the impressions of
the astral light. But now it is next to ascertain that clairvoyance depends a
great deal more on the former than on the latter. To the power of an adept,
like Du Potet, the most positive subject will have to submit. If his sight is
ably directed by the mesmerizer, magician, or spirit, the light must yield up
its most secret records to our scrutiny; for, if it is a book which is ever
closed to those "who see and do not perceive," on the other hand it
is ever opened for one who wills to see it opened. It keeps an unmutilated
record of all that was, that is, or ever will be. The minutest acts of our
lives are imprinted on it, and even our thoughts rest photographed on its
eternal tablets. It is the book which we see opened by the angel in the
Revelation, "which is the Book of life, and out of which the dead are
judged according to their works." It is, in short, the MEMORY of GOD!
"The oracles
assert that the impression of thoughts, characters, men, and other divine
visions, appear in the aether. . . . In this the things without figure are
figured," says an ancient fragment of the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster.*
Thus, ancient as
well as modern wisdom, vaticination and science, agree in corroborating the
claims of the kabalists. It is on the indestructible tablets of the astral
light that is stamped the impression of every thought we think, and every act
we perform; and that future events -- effects of long-forgotten causes -- are
already delineated as a vivid picture for the eye of the seer and prophet to
follow. Memory -- the despair of the materialist, the enigma of the
psychologist, the sphinx of science -- is to the student of old philosophies
merely a name to express that power which man unconsciously exerts, and shares
with
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Simpl. in
Phys.," 143; "The Chaldean Oracles," Cory.
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MEMORY.
many of the
inferior animals -- to look with inner sight into the astral light, and there
behold the images of past sensations and incidents. Instead of searching the
cerebral ganglia for "micrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes
that we have visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part,"* they
went to the vast repository where the records of every man's life as well as
every pulsation of the visible cosmos are stored up for all Eternity!
That flash of
memory which is traditionally supposed to show a drowning man every
long-forgotten scene of his mortal life -- as the landscape is revealed to the
traveller by intermittent flashes of lightning -- is simply the sudden glimpse
which the struggling soul gets into the silent galleries where his history is
depicted in imperishable colors.
The well-known fact
-- one corroborated by the personal experience of nine persons out of ten --
that we often recognize as familiar to us, scenes, and landscapes, and
conversations, which we see or hear for the first time, and sometimes in
countries never visited before, is a result of the same causes. Believers in
reincarnation adduce this as an additional proof of our antecedent existence in
other bodies. This recognition of men, countries, and things that we have never
seen, is attributed by them to flashes of soul-memory of anterior experiences.
But the men of old, in common with mediaeval philosophers, firmly held to a
contrary opinion.
They affirmed that
though this psychological phenomenon was one of the greatest arguments in favor
of immortality and the soul's preexistence, yet the latter being endowed with
an individual memory apart from that of our physical brain, it is no proof of
reincarnation. As Eliphas Levi beautifully expresses it, "nature shuts the
door after everything that passes, and pushes life onward" in more
perfected forms. The chrysalis becomes a butterfly; the latter can never become
again a grub. In the stillness of the night-hours, when our bodily senses are
fast locked in the fetters of sleep, and our elementary body rests, the astral
form becomes free. It then oozes out of its earthly prison, and as Paracelsus
has it -- "confabulates with the outward world," and travels round
the visible as well as the invisible worlds. "In sleep," he says,
"the astral body (soul) is in freer motion; then it soars to its parents,
and holds converse with the stars." Dreams, forebodings, prescience,
prognostications and presentiments are impressions left by our astral spirit on
our brain, which receives them more or less distinctly, according to the
proportion of blood with which it is supplied during the hours of sleep. The
more the body is exhausted, the freer is the spiritual man, and the more vivid
the impressions of our soul's memory. In heavy and robust sleep, dream-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Draper:
"Conflict between Religion and Science."
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less and
uninterrupted, upon awakening to outward consciousness, men may sometimes
remember nothing. But the impressions of scenes and landscapes which the astral
body saw in its peregrinations are still there, though lying latent under the
pressure of matter. They may be awakened at any moment, and then, during such
flashes of man's inner memory, there is an instantaneous interchange of
energies between the visible and the invisible universes. Between the
"micrographs" of the cerebral ganglia and the photo-scenographic
galleries of the astral light, a current is established. And a man who knows
that he has never visited in body, nor seen the landscape and person that he
recognizes may well assert that still has he seen and knows them, for the
acquaintance was formed while travelling in "spirit." To this the
physiologists can have but one objection. They will answer that in natural
sleep -- perfect and deep, "half of our nature which is volitional is in
the condition of inertia"; hence unable to travel; the more so as the
existence of any such individual astral body or soul is considered by them
little else than a poetical myth. Blumenbach assures us that in the state of
sleep, all intercourse between mind and body is suspended; an assertion which
is denied by Dr. Richardson, F. R. S., who honestly reminds the German
scientist that "the precise limits and connections of mind and body being
unknown" it is more than should be said. This confession, added to those
of the French physiologist, Fournie, and the still more recent one of Dr.
Allchin, an eminent London physician, who frankly avowed, in an address to
students, that "of all scientific pursuits which practically concern the
community, there is none perhaps which rests upon so uncertain and insecure a
basis as medicine," gives us a certain right to offset the hypotheses of
ancient scientists against those of the modern ones.
No man, however
gross and material he may be, can avoid leading a double existence; one in the
visible universe, the other in the invisible. The life-principle which animates
his physical frame is chiefly in the astral body; and while the more animal portions
of him rest, the more spiritual ones know neither limits nor obstacles. We are
perfectly aware that many learned, as well as the unlearned, will object to
such a novel theory of the distribution of the life-principle. They would
prefer remaining in blissful ignorance and go on confessing that no one knows
or can pretend to tell whence and whither this mysterious agent appears and
disappears, than to give one moment's attention to what they consider old and
exploded theories. Some might object on the ground taken by theology, that dumb
brutes have no immortal souls, and hence, can have no astral spirits; for
theologians as well as laymen labor under the erroneous impression that soul
and spirit are one and the same thing.
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But if we study
Plato and other philosophers of old, we may readily perceive that while the
"irrational soul," by which Plato meant our astral body, or the more
ethereal representation of ourselves, can have at best only a more or less
prolonged continuity of existence beyond the grave; the divine spirit --
wrongly termed soul, by the Church -- is immortal by its very essence. (Any
Hebrew scholar will readily appreciate the distinction who comprehends the
difference between the two words ruah and nephesh.) If the life-principle is
something apart from the astral spirit and in no way connected with it, why is
it that the intensity of the clairvoyant powers depends so much on the bodily
prostration of the subject? The deeper the trance, the less signs of life the
body shows, the clearer become the spiritual perceptions, and the more powerful
are the soul's visions. The soul, disburdened of the bodily senses, shows
activity of power in a far greater degree of intensity than it can in a strong,
healthy body. Brierre de Boismont gives repeated instances of this fact. The
organs of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing are proved to become far
acuter in a mesmerized subject deprived of the possibility of exercising them
bodily, than while he uses them in his normal state.
Such facts alone,
once proved, ought to stand as invincible demonstrations of the continuity of
individual life, at least for a certain period after the body has been left by
us, either by reason of its being worn out or by accident. But though during
its brief sojourn on earth our soul may be assimilated to a light hidden under
a bushel, it still shines more or less bright and attracts to itself the
influences of kindred spirits; and when a thought of good or evil import is
begotten in our brain, it draws to it impulses of like nature as irresistibly
as the magnet attracts iron filings. This attraction is also proportionate to
the intensity with which the thought-impulse makes itself felt in the ether;
and so it will be understood how one man may impress himself upon his own epoch
so forcibly, that the influence may be carried -- through the
ever-interchanging currents of energy between the two worlds, the visible and
the invisible -- from one succeeding age to another, until it affects a large
portion of mankind.
How much the
authors of the famous work entitled the Unseen Universe may have allowed
themselves to think in this direction, it would be difficult to say; but that
they have not told all they might will be inferred from the following language:
"Regard it as
you please, there can be no doubt that the properties of the ether are of a
much higher order in the arcana of nature than those of tangible matter. And,
as even the high priests of science still find the latter far beyond their
comprehension, except in numerous but minute
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and often isolated
particulars, it would not become us to speculate further. It is sufficient for
our purpose to know from what the ether certainly does, that it is capable of
vastly more than any has yet ventured to say."
One of the most
interesting discoveries of modern times, is that of the faculty which enables a
certain class of sensitive persons to receive from any object held in the hand
or against the forehead impressions of the character or appearance of the
individual, or any other object with which it has previously been in contact.
Thus a manuscript, painting, article of clothing, or jewelry -- no matter how
ancient -- conveys to the sensitive, a vivid picture of the writer, painter, or
wearer; even though he lived in the days of Ptolemy or Enoch. Nay, more; a
fragment of an ancient building will recall its history and even the scenes
which transpired within or about it. A bit of ore will carry the soul-vision
back to the time when it was in process of formation. This faculty is called by
its discoverer -- Professor J. R. Buchanan, of Louisville, Kentucky --
psychometry. To him, the world is indebted for this most important addition to
Psychological Sciences; and to him, perhaps, when skepticism is found felled to
the ground by such accumulation of facts, posterity will have to elevate a
statue. In announcing to the public his great discovery, Professor Buchanan,
confining himself to the power of psychometry to delineate human character,
says: "The mental and physiological influence imparted to writing appears
to be imperishable, as the oldest specimens I have investigated gave their
impressions with a distinctness and force, little impaired by time. Old
manuscripts, requiring an antiquary to decipher their strange old penmanship,
were easily interpreted by the psychometric power. . . . The property of
retaining the impress of mind is not limited to writing. Drawings, paintings, everything
upon which human contact, thought, and volition have been expended, may become
linked with that thought and life, so as to recall them to the mind of another
when in contact."
Without, perhaps,
really knowing, at the early time of the grand discovery, the significance of
his own prophetic words, the Professor adds: "This discovery, in its
application to the arts and to history, will open a mine of interesting
knowledge."*
The existence of
this faculty was first experimentally demonstrated in 1841. It has since been
verified by a thousand psychometers in different parts of the world. It proves
that every occurrence in nature -- no matter how minute or unimportant --
leaves its indelible impress upon physical nature; and, as there has been no
appreciable molecular dis-
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* J. R. Buchanan,
M.D.: "Outlines of Lectures on the Neurological System of
Anthropology."
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PSYCHOMETER.
turbance, the only
inference possible is, that these images have been produced by that invisible,
universal force -- Ether, or astral light.
In his charming
work, entitled The Soul of Things, Professor Denton, the geologist,* enters at
great length into a discussion of this subject. He gives a multitude of
examples of the psychometrical power, which Mrs. Denton possesses in a marked
degree. A fragment of Cicero's house, at Tusculum, enabled her to describe,
without the slightest intimation as to the nature of the object placed on her
forehead, not only the great orator's surroundings, but also the previous owner
of the building, Cornelius Sulla Felix, or, as he is usually called, Sulla the
Dictator. A fragment of marble from the ancient Christian Church of Smyrna,
brought before her its congregation and officiating priests. Specimens from
Nineveh, China, Jerusalem, Greece, Ararat, and other places all over the world
brought up scenes in the life of various personages, whose ashes had been
scattered thousands of years ago. In many cases Professor Denton verified the
statements by reference to historical records. More than this, a bit of the
skeleton, or a fragment of the tooth of some antediluvian animal, caused the
seeress to perceive the creature as it was when alive, and even live for a few
brief moments its life, and experience its sensations. Before the eager quest
of the psychometer, the most hidden recesses of the domain of nature yield up
their secrets; and the events of the most remote epochs rival in vividness of
impression the flitting circumstances of yesterday.
Says the author, in
the same work: "Not a leaf waves, not an insect crawls, not a ripple
moves, but each motion is recorded by a thousand faithful scribes in infallible
and indelible scripture. This is just as true of all past time. From the dawn
of light upon this infant globe, when round its cradle the steamy curtains
hung, to this moment, nature has been busy photographing everything. What a
picture-gallery is hers!"
It appears to us
the height of impossibility to imagine that scenes in ancient Thebes, or in
some temple of prehistoric times should be photographed only upon the substance
of certain atoms. The images of the events are imbedded in that all-permeating,
universal, and ever-retaining medium, which the philosophers call the
"Soul of the World," and Mr. Denton "the Soul of Things."
The psychometer, by applying the fragment of a substance to his forehead,
brings his inner-self into relations with the inner soul of the object he
handles. It is now admitted that the universal aether pervades all things in
nature, even the most solid. It is beginning to be admitted, also, that this
preserves the images of all
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. and Elizabeth
M. F. Denton: "The Soul of Things; or Psychometric Researches and
Discoveries." Boston, 1873.
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things which
transpire. When the psychometer examines his specimen, he is brought in contact
with the current of the astral light, connected with that specimen, and which
retains pictures of the events associated with its history. These, according to
Denton, pass before his vision with the swiftness of light; scene after scene
crowding upon each other so rapidly, that it is only by the supreme exercise of
the will that he is able to hold any one in the field of vision long enough to
describe it.
The psychometer is
clairvoyant; that is, he sees with the inner eye. Unless his will-power is very
strong, unless he has thoroughly trained himself to that particular phenomenon,
and his knowledge of the capabilities of his sight are profound, his
perceptions of places, persons, and events, must necessarily be very confused.
But in the case of mesmerization, in which this same clairvoyant faculty is
developed, the operator, whose will holds that of the subject under control,
can force him to concentrate his attention upon a given picture long enough to
observe all its minute details. Moreover, under the guidance of an experienced
mesmerizer, the seer would excel the natural psychometer in having a prevision
of future events, more distinct and clear than the latter. And to those who
might object to the possibility of perceiving that which "yet is
not," we may put the question: Why is it more impossible to see that which
will be, than to bring back to sight that which is gone, and is no more?
According to the kabalistic doctrine, the future exists in the astral light in
embryo, as the present existed in embryo in the past. While man is free to act
as he pleases, the manner in which he will act was foreknown from all time; not
on the ground of fatalism or destiny, but simply on the principle of universal,
unchangeable harmony; and, as it may be foreknown that, when a musical note is
struck, its vibrations will not, and cannot change into those of another note.
Besides, eternity can have neither past nor future, but only the present; as
boundless space, in its strictly literal sense, can have neither distant nor
proximate places. Our conceptions, limited to the narrow area of our
experience, attempt to fit if not an end, at least a beginning of time and
space; but neither of these exist in reality; for in such case time would not
be eternal, nor space boundless. The past no more exists than the future, as we
have said, only our memories survive; and our memories are but the glimpses
that we catch of the reflections of this past in the currents of the astral
light, as the psychometer catches them from the astral emanations of the object
held by him.
Says Professor E.
Hitchcock, when speaking of the influences of light upon bodies, and of the
formation of pictures upon them by means of it: "It seems, then, that this
photographic influence pervades all nature; nor can we say where it stops. We
do not know but it may imprint upon
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the world around us
our features, as they are modified by various passions, and thus fill nature
with daguerreotype impressions of all our actions; . . . it may be, too, that
there are tests by which nature, more skilful than any photographist, can bring
out and fix these portraits, so that acuter senses than ours shall see them as
on a great canvas, spread over the material universe. Perhaps, too, they may
never fade from that canvas, but become specimens in the great picture-gallery
of eternity."*
The
"perhaps" of Professor Hitchcock is henceforth changed by the
demonstration of psychometry into a triumphant certitude. Those who understand
these psychological and clairvoyant faculties will take exception to Professor
Hitchcock's idea, that acuter senses than ours are needed to see these pictures
upon his supposed cosmic canvas, and maintain that he should have confined his
limitations to the external senses of the body. The human spirit, being of the
Divine, immortal Spirit, appreciates neither past nor future, but sees all
things as in the present. These daguerreotypes referred to in the above
quotation are imprinted upon the astral light, where, as we said before -- and,
according to the Hermetic teaching, the first portion of which is already
accepted and demonstrated by science -- is kept the record of all that was, is,
or ever will be.
Of late, some of
our learned men have given a particular attention to a subject hitherto branded
with the mark of "superstition." They begin speculating on
hypothetical and invisible worlds. The authors of the Unseen Universe were the
first to boldly take the lead, and already they find a follower in Professor
Fiske, whose speculations are given in the Unseen World. Evidently the
scientists are probing the insecure ground of materialism, and, feeling it
trembling under their feet, are preparing for a less dishonorable surrender of
arms in case of defeat. Jevons confirms Babbage, and both firmly believe that
every thought, displacing the particles of the brain and setting them in
motion, scatters them throughout the universe, and think that "each
particle of the existing matter must be a register of all that has
happened."** On the other hand, Dr. Thomas Young, in his lectures on
natural philosophy, most positively invites us to "speculate with freedom
on the possibility of independent worlds; some existing in different parts,
others pervading each other, unseen and unknown, in the same space, and others
again to which space may not be a necessary mode of existence."
If scientists,
proceeding from a strictly scientific point of view, such as the possibility of
energy being transferred into the invisible universe -- and on the principle of
continuity, indulge in such speculations, why should occultists and
spiritualists be refused the same privilege? Gan-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Religion of
Geology."
** "Principles
of Science," vol. ii., p. 455.
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glionic impressions
on the surface of polished metal, are registered and may be preserved for an
indefinite space of time, according to science; and Professor Draper
illustrates the fact most poetically. "A shadow," says he,
"never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a
trace which might be made visible by resorting to proper processes. . . . The
portraits of our friends, or landscape-views, may be hidden on the sensitive surface
from the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance, as soon as proper
developers are resorted to. A spectre is concealed on a silver or glassy
surface, until, by our necromancy, we make it come forth into the visible
world. Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think the eye of
intrusion is altogether shut out, and our retirement can never be profaned,
there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have
done."*
If an indelible
impression may be thus obtained on inorganic matter, and if nothing is lost or
passes completely out of existence in the universe, why such a scientific levee
of arms against the authors of the Unseen Universe? And on what ground can they
reject the hypothesis that "Thought, conceived to affect the matter of
another universe simultaneously with this, may explain a future state?"**
In our opinion, if
psychometry is one of the grandest proofs of the indestructibility of matter,
retaining eternally the impressions of the outward world, the possession of
that faculty by our inner sight is a still greater one in favor of the
immortality of man's individual spirit. Capable of discerning events which took
place hundreds of thousands of years ago, why would it not apply the same
faculty to a future lost in the eternity, in which there can be neither past
nor future, but only one boundless present?
Notwithstanding the
confessions of stupendous ignorance in some things, made by the scientists
themselves, they still deny the existence of that mysterious spiritual force,
lying beyond the grasp of the ordinary physical laws. They still hope to be
able to apply to living beings the same laws which they have found to answer in
reference to dead matter. And, having discovered what the kabalists term
"the gross purgations" of Ether -- light, heat, electricity, and
motion -- they have rejoiced over their good fortune, counted its vibrations in
producing the colors of the spectrum; and, proud of their achievements, refuse
to see any further. Several men of science have pondered more or less over its
protean essence, and unable to measure it with their photometers, called it
"an hypothetical medium of great elasticity and extreme tenuity, supposed
to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* J. W. Draper:
"Conflict between Religion and Science," pp. 132, 133.
** "Unseen
Universe," p. 159.
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pervade all space,
the interior of solid bodies not excepted"; and, "to be the medium of
transmission of light and heat" (Dictionary). Others, whom we will name
"the will-o'-the-wisps" of science -- her pseudo-sons -- examined it
also, and even went to the trouble of scrutinizing it "through powerful
glasses," they tell us. But perceiving neither spirits nor ghosts in it,
and failing equally to discover in its treacherous waves anything of a more scientific
character, they turned round and called all believers in immortality in
general, and spiritualists in particular, "insane fools" and
"visionary lunatics";* the whole, in doleful accents, perfectly
appropriate to the circumstance of such a sad failure.
Say the authors of
the Unseen Universe:
"We have
driven the operation of that mystery called Life out of the objective universe.
The mistake made, lies in imagining that by this process they completely get
rid of a thing so driven before them, and that it disappears from the universe
altogether. It does no such thing. It only disappears from that small circle of
light which we may call the universe of scientific perception. Call it the
trinity of mystery: mystery of matter, the mystery of life and -- the mystery of
God -- and these three are One."**
Taking the ground
that "the visible universe must certainly, in transformable energy, and
probably in matter, come to an end," and "the principle of continuity
. . . still demanding a continuance of the universe. . ." the authors of
this remarkable work find themselves forced to believe "that there is
something beyond that which is visible*** . . . and that the visible system is
not the whole universe but only, it may be, a very small part of it."
Furthermore, looking back as well as forward to the origin of this visible
universe, the authors urge that "if the visible universe is all that
exists then the first abrupt manifestation of it is as truly a break of
continuity as its final overthrow" (Art. 85). Therefore, as such a break
is against the accepted law of continuity, the authors come to the following
conclusion: --
"Now, is it
not natural to imagine, that a universe of this nature, which we have reason to
think exists, and is connected by bonds of energy with the visible universe, is
also capable of receiving energy from it? . . . May we not regard Ether, or the
medium, as not merely a bridge**** between
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* F. R. Marvin:
"Lecture on Mediomania."
** "Unseen
Universe," p. 84, et seq.
*** Ibid., p. 89.
**** Behold! great
scientists of the nineteenth century, corroborating the wisdom of the
Scandinavian fable, cited in the preceding chapter. Several thousand years ago,
the idea of a bridge between the visible and the invisible universes was
allegorized by ignorant "heathen," in the "Edda-Song of
Voluspa," "The Vision of Vala, the Seeress." For what is this
bridge of Bifrost, the radiant rainbow, which leads the [[Footnote continued on
next page]]
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one order of things
and another, forming as it were a species of cement, in virtue of which the
various orders of the universe are welded together and made into one? In fine,
what we generally called Ether, may be not a mere medium, but a medium plus the
invisible order of things, so that when the motions of the visible universe are
transferred into Ether, part of them are conveyed as by a bridge into the
invisible universe, and are there made use of and stored up. Nay, is it even
necessary to retain the conception of a bridge? May we not at once say that
when energy is carried from matter into Ether, it is carried from the visible
into the invisible; and that when it is carried from Ether to matter it is
carried from the invisible into the visible?" -- (Art. 198, Unseen
Universe.)
Precisely; and were
Science to take a few more steps in that direction and fathom more seriously
the "hypothetical medium" who knows but Tyndall's impassable chasm
between the physical processes of the brain and consciousness, might be -- at
least intellectually -- passed with surprising ease and safety.
So far back as
1856, a man considered a savant in his days -- Dr. Jobard of Paris, -- had
certainly the same ideas as the authors of the Unseen Universe, on ether, when
he startled the press and the world of science by the following declaration:
"I hold a discovery which frightens me. There are two kinds of
electricity; one, brute and blind, is produced by the contact of metals and
acids"; (the gross purgation) . . . "the other is intelligent and
CLAIRVOYANT! . . . Electricity has bifurcated itself in the hands of Galvani,
Nobili, and Matteuci. The brute force of the current has followed Jacobi,
Bonelli, and Moncal, while the intellectual one was following Bois-Robert,
Thilorier, and the Chevalier Duplanty. The electric ball or globular
electricity contains a thought which disobeys Newton and Mariotte to follow its
own freaks. . . . We have, in the annals of the Academy, thousands of proofs of
the INTELLIGENCE of the electric bolt . . . But I remark that I am permitting
myself to become indiscreet. A little more and I should have disclosed to you
the key which is about to discover to us the universal spirit."*
The foregoing,
added to the wonderful confessions of science and what we have just quoted from
the Unseen Universe, throw an additional lustre on the wisdom of the long
departed ages. In one of the preceding chapters we have alluded to a quotation
from Cory's translation of Ancient Fragments, in which it appears that one of
the Chaldean Oracles expresses this self-same idea about ether, and in language
singularly like
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] gods to their rendezvous, near the
Urdar-fountain, but the same idea as that which is offered to the thoughtful
student by the authors of the "Unseen Universe"?
* "L'Ami des
Sciences," March 2, 1856, p. 67.
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SOLVENT.
that of the authors
of the Unseen Universe. It states that from aether have come all things, and to
it all will return; that the images of all things are indelibly impressed upon
it; and that it is the store-house of the germs or of the remains of all visible
forms, and even ideas. It appears as if this case strangely corroborates our
assertion that whatever discoveries may be made in our days will be found to
have been anticipated by many thousand years by our "simple-minded
ancestors."
At the point at
which we are now arrived, the attitude assumed by the materialists toward
psychical phenomena being perfectly defined, we may assert with safety that
were this key lying loose on the threshold of the "chasm" not one of
our Tyndalls would stoop to pick it up.
How timid would
appear to some kabalists these tentative efforts to solve the GREAT MYSTERY of
the universal ether! although so far in advance of anything propounded by
cotemporary philosophers, what the intelligent explorers of the Unseen Universe
speculate upon, was to the masters of hermetic philosophy familiar science. To
them ether was not merely a bridge connecting the seen and unseen sides of the
universe, but across its span their daring feet followed the road that led
through the mysterious gates which modern speculators either will not or cannot
unlock.
The deeper the
research of the modern explorer, the more often he comes face to face with the
discoveries of the ancients. Does Elie de Beaumont, the great French geologist,
venture a hint upon the terrestrial circulation, in relation to some elements
in the earth's crust, he finds himself anticipated by the old philosophers. Do
we demand of distinguished technologists, what are the most recent discoveries
in regard to the origin of the metalliferous deposits? We hear one of them,
Professor Sterry Hunt, in showing us how water is a universal solvent,
enunciating the doctrine held and taught by the old Thales, more than two dozen
centuries ago, that water was the principle of all things. We listen to the same
professor, with de Beaumont as authority, expounding the terrestrial
circulation, and the chemical and physical phenomena of the material world.
While we read with pleasure that he is "not prepared to concede that we
have in chemical and physical processes the whole secret of organic life,"
we note with a still greater delight the following honest confession on his
part: "Still we are, in many respects, approximating the phenomena of the
organic world to those of the mineral kingdom; and we at the same time learn
that these so far interest and depend upon each other that we begin to see a
certain truth underlying the notion of those old philosophers, who extended to
the mineral world the notion of a vital force, which led them to speak of the
earth as a great living organism, and to look upon the various changes of its
air, its waters, and its rocky depths, as processes belonging to the life of
our planet."
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Everything in this
world must have a beginning. Things have latterly gone so far with scientists
in the matter of prejudice, that it is quite a wonder that even so much as this
should be conceded to ancient philosophy. The poor, honest primordial elements
have long been exiled, and our ambitious men of science run races to determine
who shall add one more to the fledgling brood of the sixty-three or more
elementary substances. Meanwhile there rages a war in modern chemistry about
terms. We are denied the right to call these substances "chemical
elements," for they are not "primordial principles or self-existing
essences out of which the universe was fashioned."* Such ideas associated
with the word element were good enough for the "old Greek
philosophy," but modern science rejects them; for, as Professor Cooke
says, "they are unfortunate terms," and experimental science will
have "nothing to do with any kind of essences except those which it can
see, smell, or taste." It must have those that can be put in the eye, the
nose, or the mouth! It leaves others to the metaphysicians.
Therefore, when Van
Helmont tells us that, "though a homogeneal part of elementary earth may
be artfully (artificially) converted into water," though he still denies
"that the same can be done by nature alone; for no natural agent is able
to transmute one element into another," offering as a reason that the
elements always remain the same, we must believe him, if not quite an
ignoramus, at least an unprogressed disciple of the mouldy "old Greek
philosophy." Living and dying in blissful ignorance of the future
sixty-three substances, what could either he or his old master, Paracelsus,
achieve? Nothing, of course, but metaphysical and crazy speculations, clothed
in a meaningless jargon common to all mediaeval and ancient alchemists.
Nevertheless, in comparing notes, we find in the latest of all works upon
modern chemistry, the following: "The study of chemistry has revealed a
remarkable class of substances, from no one of which a second substance has
ever been produced by any chemical process which weighs less than the original
substance . . . by no chemical process whatever can we obtain from iron a
substance weighing less than the metal used in its production. In a word, we
can extract from iron nothing but iron."** Moreover, it appears, according
to Professor Cooke, that "seventy-five years ago men did not know there
was any difference" between elementary and compound substances, for in old
times alchemists had never conceived "that weight is the measure of
material, and that, as thus measured, no material is ever lost; but, on the
contrary, they imagined that in such experiments** as these the substances involved
underwent a mysterious transformation. . . . Centuries," in short,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cooke: "New
Chemistry," p. 113.
** Ibid., pp.
110-111.
*** Ibid., p. 106.
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"were wasted
in vain attempts to transform the baser metals into gold."
Is Professor Cooke,
so eminent in modern chemistry, equally proficient in the knowledge of what the
alchemists did or did not know? Is he quite sure that he understands the
meaning of the alchemical diction? We are not. But let us compare his views as
above expressed with but sentences written in plain and good, albeit old
English, from the translations of Van Helmont and Paracelsus. We learn from
their own admissions that the alkahest induces the following changes:
"(1.) The
alkahest never destroys the seminal virtues of the bodies thereby dissolved:
for instance, gold, by its action, is reduced to a salt of gold, antimony to a
salt of antimony, etc., of the same seminal virtues, or characters with the
original concrete. (2.) The subject exposed to its operation is converted into
its three principles, salt, sulphur, and mercury, and afterwards into salt
alone, which then becomes volatile, and at length is wholly turned into clear
water. (3.) Whatever it dissolves may be rendered volatile by a sand-heat; and
if, after volatilizing the solvent, it be distilled therefrom, the body is left
pure, insipid water, but always equal in quantity to its original self."
Further, we find Van Helmont, the elder, saying of this salt that it will
dissolve the most untractable bodies into substances of the same seminal
virtues, "equal in weight to the matter dissolved"; and he adds,
"This salt, by being several times cohobated with Paracelsus' sal
circulatum, loses all its fixedness, and at length becomes an insipid water,
equal in quantity to the salt it was made from."*
The objection that
might be made by Professor Cooke, in behalf of modern science, to the hermetic
expressions, would equally apply to the Egyptian hieratic writings -- they hide
that which was meant to be concealed. If he would profit by the labors of the
past, he must employ the cryptographer, and not the satirist. Paracelsus, like
the rest, exhausted his ingenuity in transpositions of letters and
abbreviations of words and sentences. For example, when he wrote sutratur he
meant tartar, and mutrin meant nitrum, and so on. There was no end to the
pretended explanations of the meaning of the alkahest. Some imagined that it
was an alkaline of salt of tartar salatilized; others that it meant algeist, a
German word which means all-spirit, or spirituous. Paracelsus usually termed
salt "the centre of water wherein metals ought to die." This gave
rise to the most absurd suppositions, and some persons -- such as Glauber --
thought that the alkahest was the spirit of salt. It requires no little
hardihood to assert that Paracelsus and his colleagues were ignorant of the
natures of elementary and compound substances; they may not be called by
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Secretis
Adeptorum." Werdenfelt; Philalethes; Van Helmont; Paracelsus.
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the same names as
are now in fashion, but that they were known is proved by the results attained.
What matters it by what name the gas given off when iron is dissolved in
sulphuric acid was called by Paracelsus, since he is recognized, even by our
standard authorities, as the discoverer of hydrogen?* His merit is the same;
and though Van Helmont may have concealed, under the name "seminal
virtues," his knowledge of the fact that elementary substances have their
original properties, which the entering into compounds only temporarily
modifies -- never destroys -- he was none the less the greatest chemist of his
age, and the peer of modern scientists. He affirmed that the aurum potabile
could be obtained with the alkahest, by converting the whole body of gold into
salt, retaining its seminal virtues, and being soluble in water. When chemists
learn what he meant by aurum potabile, alkahest, salt, and seminal virtues --
what he really meant, not what he said he meant, nor what was thought he meant
-- then, and not before, can our chemists safely assume such airs toward the
fire-philosophers and those ancient masters whose mystic teachings they
reverently studied. One thing is clear, at any rate. Taken merely in its
exoteric form, this language of Van Helmont shows that he understood the
solubility of metallic substances in water, which Sterry Hunt makes the basis
of his theory of metalliferous deposits. We would like to see what sort of
terms would be invented by our scientific contemporaries to conceal and yet
half-reveal their audacious proposition that man's "only God is the
cineritious matter of his brain," if in the basement of the new Court
House or the cathedral on Fifth Avenue there were a torture-chamber, to which
judge or cardinal could send them at will.
Professor Sterry
Hunt says in one of his lectures:** "The alchemists sought in vain for a
universal solvent; but we now know that water, aided in some cases by heat,
pressure, and the presence of certain widely-distributed substances, such as
carbonic acid and alkaline carbonates and sulphides, will dissolve the most
insoluble bodies; so that it may, after all, be looked upon as the long-sought
for alkahest or universal menstruum."
This reads almost
like a paraphrase of Van Helmont, or Paracelsus himself! They knew the
properties of water as a solvent as well as modern chemists, and what is more,
made no concealment of the fact; which shows that this was not their universal
solvent. Many commentaries and criticisms of their works are still extant, and
one can hardly take up a book on the subject without finding at least one of
their spec-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Youmans:
"Chemistry," p. 169; and W. B. Kemshead, F. R. A. S.: "Inorganic
Chemistry."
** "Origin of
Metalliferous Deposits."
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ulations of which
they never thought of making a mystery. This is what we find in an old work on
alchemists -- a satire, moreover -- of 1820, written at the beginning of our
century when the new theories on the chemical potency of water were hardly in
their embryonic state.
"It may throw
some light to observe, that Van Helmont, as well as Paracelsus, took water for
the universal instrument (agent?) of chymistry and natural philosophy; and
earth for the unchangeable basis of all things -- that fire was assigned as the
sufficient cause of all things -- that Seminal impressions were lodged in the
mechanism of the earth -- that water, by dissolving and fermenting with this
earth, as it does by means of fire, brings forth everything; whence originally
proceeded animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms."*
The alchemists
understand well this universal potency of water. In the works of Paracelsus,
Van Helmont, Philalethes, Pantatem, Tachenius, and even Boyle, "the great
characteristic of the alkahest," "to dissolve and change all
sublunary bodies -- water alone excepted," is explicitly stated. And is it
possible to believe that Van Helmont, whose private character was
unimpeachable, and whose great learning was universally recognized, should most
solemnly declare himself possessed of the secret, were it but a vain boast!**
In a recent address
at Nashville, Tennessee, Professor Huxley laid down a certain rule with respect
to the validity of human testimony as a basis of history and science, which we
are quite ready to apply to the present case. "It is impossible," he
says, "that one's practical life should not be more or less influenced by
the views which we may hold as to what has been the past history of things. One
of them is human testimony in its various shapes -- all testimony of
eye-witnesses, traditional testimony from the lips of those who have been
eye-witnesses, and the testimony of those who have put their impressions into
writing and into print. . . . If you read Caesar's Commentaries, wherever he
gives an account of his battles with the Gauls, you place a certain amount of
confidence in his statements. You take his testimony upon this. You feel that
Caesar would not have made these statements unless he had believed them to be
true."
Now, we cannot in
logic permit Mr. Huxley's philosophical rule to be applied in a one-sided
manner to Caesar. Either that personage was naturally truthful or a natural
liar; and since Mr. Huxley has settled that point to his own satisfaction as
regards the facts of military history in his favor, we insist that Caesar is
also a competent witness as
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* John Bumpus:
"Alchemy and the Alkahest," 85, J. S. F., edition of 1820.
** See Boyle's
works.
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to augurs,
diviners, and psychological facts. So with Herodotus, and all other ancient
authorities, unless they were by nature men of truth, they should not be
believed even about civil or military affairs. Falsus in uno, falsus in
omnibus. And equally, if they are credible as to physical things, they must be
regarded as equally so as to spiritual things; for as Professor Huxley tells
us, human nature was of old just as it is now. Men of intellect and conscience
did not lie for the pleasure of bewildering or disgusting posterity.
The probabilities
of falsification by such men having been defined so clearly by a man of
science, we feel free from the necessity of discussing the question in
connection with the names of Van Helmont and his illustrious but unfortunate
master, the much-slandered Paracelsus. Deleuze, though finding in the works of
the former many "mythic, illusory ideas" -- perhaps only because he
could not understand them -- credits him nevertheless with a vast knowledge,
"an acute judgment," and at the same time with having given to the
world "great truths." "He was the first," he adds, "to
give the name of gas to aerial fluids. Without him it is probable that steel
would have given no new impulse to science."* By what application of the
doctrine of chances could we discover the likelihood that experimentalists,
capable of resolving and recombining chemical substances, as they are admitted
to have done, were ignorant of the nature of elementary substances, their
combining energies, and the solvent or solvents, that would disintegrate them
when wanted? If they had the reputation only of theorists the case would stand
differently and our argument would lose its force, but the chemical discoveries
grudgingly accorded to them, by their worst enemies, form the basis for much
stronger language than we have permitted ourselves, from a fear of being deemed
over partial. And, as this work, moreover, is based on the idea that there is a
higher nature of man, that his moral and intellectual faculties should be
judged psychologically, we do not hesitate to reaffirm that since Van Helmont
asserted, "most solemnly," that he was possessed of the secret of the
alkahest, no modern critic has a right to set him down as either a liar or a
visionary, until something more certain is known about the nature of this
alleged universal menstruum.
"Facts are
stubborn things," remarks Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his preface to Miracles
and Modern Spiritualism. Therefore,** as facts must be our
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Deleuze: "De
l'Opinion de Van Helmont sur la Cause, la Nature et les Effets du
Magnetisme." Anim. Vol. i., p. 45, and vol. ii., p. 198.
** A. R. Wallace:
"An Answer to the Arguments of Hume, Lecky, etc., against Miracles."
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AVOWAL.
strongest allies,
we will bring as many of these forward as the "miracles" of antiquity
and those of our modern times will furnish us with. The authors of the Unseen
Universe have scientifically demonstrated the possibility of certain alleged
psychological phenomena through the medium of the universal ether. Mr. Wallace
has as scientifically proved that the whole catalogue of assumptions to the
contrary, including the sophisms of Hume, are untenable if brought face to face
with strict logic. Mr. Crookes has given to the world of skepticism his own
experiments, which lasted above three years before he was conquered by the most
undeniable of evidence -- that of his own senses. A whole list could be made up
of men of science who have recorded their testimony to that effect; and Camille
Flammarion, the well-known French astronomer, and author of many works which,
in the eyes of the skeptical, should send him to the ranks of the
"deluded," in company with Wallace, Crookes, and Hare, corroborates
our words in the following lines:
"I do not
hesitate to affirm my conviction, based on a personal examination of the
subject, that any scientific man who declares the phenomena denominated
'magnetic,' 'somnambulic,' 'mediumic,' and others not yet explained by science,
to be impossible, is one who speaks without knowing what he is talking about,
and also any man accustomed, by his professional avocations, to scientific
observations -- provided that his mind be not biassed by pre-conceived
opinions, nor his mental vision blinded by that opposite kind of illusion,
unhappily too common in the learned world, which consists in imagining that the
laws of Nature are already known to us, and that everything which appears to
overstep the limit of our present formulas is impossible, may require a radical
and absolute certainty of the reality of the facts alluded to."
In Mr. Crookes'
Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called Spiritual, on p. 101, this
gentleman quotes Mr. Sergeant Cox, who having named this unknown force,
psychic, explains it thus: "As the organism is itself moved and directed
within the structure by a force -- which either is, or is not controlled by --
the soul, spirit, or mind . . . which constitutes the individual being we term
'the man,' it is an equally reasonable conclusion that the force which causes
the motions beyond the limits of the body is the same force that produces
motion within the limits of the body. And, as the external force is often
directed by intelligence, it is an equally reasonable conclusion that the
directing intelligence of the external force is the same intelligence that
directs the force internally."
In order to
comprehend this theory the better, we may as well divide it in four
propositions and show that Mr. Sergeant Cox believes:
1. That the force
which produces physical phenomena proceeds from (consequently is generated in)
the medium.
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2. That the
intelligence directing the force for the production of the phenomena (a) may
sometimes be other than the intelligence of the medium; but of this the
"proof" is "insufficient"; therefore, (b) the directing
intelligence is probably that of the medium himself. This Mr. Cox calls "a
reasonable conclusion."
3. He assumes that
the force which moves the table is identical with the force which moves the
medium's body itself.
4. He strongly
disputes the spiritualistic theory, or rather assertion, that "spirits of
the dead are the sole agents in the production of all the phenomena."
Before we fairly
proceed on our analysis of such views we must remind the reader that we find
ourselves placed between two extreme opposites represented by two parties --
the believers and unbelievers in this agency of human spirits. Neither seem
capable of deciding the point raised by Mr. Cox; for while the spiritualists
are so omnivorous in their credulity as to believe every sound and movement in a
circle to be produced by disembodied human beings, their antagonists
dogmatically deny that anything can be produced by "spirits," for
there are none. Hence, neither class is in a position to examine the subject
without bias.
If they consider
that force which "produces motion within the body" and the one
"which causes the motion beyond the limits of the body" to be of the
same essence, they may be right. But the identity of these two forces stops
here. The life-principle which animates Mr. Cox's body is of the same nature as
that of his medium; nevertheless he is not the medium, nor is the latter Mr.
Cox.
This force, which,
to please Mr. Cox and Mr. Crookes we may just as well call psychic as anything
else, proceeds through not from the individual medium. In the latter case this
force would be generated in the medium and we are ready to show that it cannot
be so; neither in the instances of levitation of human bodies, the moving of
furniture and other objects without contact, nor in such cases in which the force
shows reason and intelligence. It is a well-known fact to both mediums and
spiritualists, that the more the former is passive, the better the
manifestations; and every one of the above-mentioned phenomena requires a
conscious predetermined will. In cases of levitation, we should have to believe
that this self-generated force would raise the inert mass off the ground,
direct it through the air, and lower it down again, avoiding obstacles and
thereby showing intelligence, and still act automatically, the medium remaining
all the while passive. If such were the fact, the medium would be a conscious
magician, and all pretense for being a passive instrument in the hands of
invisible intelligences would become useless. As well plead
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POINTS.
that a quantity of
steam sufficient to fill, without bursting, a boiler, will raise the boiler; or
a Leyden jar, full of electricity, overcome the inertia of the jar, as such a
mechanical absurdity. All analogy would seem to indicate that the force which
operates in the presence of a medium upon external objects comes from a source
back of the medium himself. We may rather compare it with the hydrogen which
overcomes the inertia of the balloon. The gas, under the control of an
intelligence, is accumulated in the receiver in sufficient volume to overcome
the attraction of its combined mass. On the same principle this force moves
articles of furniture, and performs other manifestations; and though identical
in its essence with the astral spirit of the medium, it cannot be his spirit
only, for the latter remains all the while in a kind of cataleptic torpor, when
the mediumship is genuine. Mr. Cox's first point seems, therefore, not well
taken; it is based upon an hypothesis mechanically untenable. Of course our
argument proceeds upon the supposition that levitation is an observed fact. The
theory of psychic force, to be perfect, must account for all "visible
motions . . . in solid substances," and among these is levitation.
As to his second
point, we deny that "the proof is insufficient" that the force which
produces the phenomena is sometimes directed by other intelligences than the
mind of the "psychic." On the contrary there is such an abundance of
testimony to show that the mind of the medium, in a majority of cases, has
nothing to do with the phenomena, that we cannot be content to let Mr. Cox's
bold assertion go unchallenged.
Equally illogical
do we conceive to be his third proposition; for if the medium's body be not the
generator but simply the channel of the force which produces the phenomena -- a
question upon which Mr. Cox's researches throw no light whatever -- then it
does not follow that because the medium's "soul, spirit, or mind"
directs the medium's organism, therefore this "soul, spirit, or
mind," lifts a chair or raps at the call of the alphabet.
As to the fourth
proposition, namely, that "spirits of the dead are the sole agents in the
production of all the phenomena," we need not join issue at the present
moment, inasmuch as the nature of the spirits producing mediumistic
manifestations is treated at length in other chapters.
The philosophers,
and especially those who were initiated into the Mysteries, held that the
astral soul is the impalpable duplicate of the gross external form which we
call body. It is the perisprit of the Kardecists and the spirit-form of the
spiritualists. Above this internal duplicate, and illuminating it as the warm
ray of the sun illuminates the earth,
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fructifying the
germ and calling out to spiritual vivification the latent qualities dormant in
it, hovers the divine spirit. The astral perisprit is contained and confined
within the physical body as ether in a bottle, or magnetism in magnetized iron.
It is a centre and engine of force, fed from the universal supply of force, and
moved by the same general laws which pervade all nature and produce all
cosmical phenomena. Its inherent activity causes the incessant physical
operations of the animal organism and ultimately results in the destruction of
the latter by overuse and its own escape. It is the prisoner, not the voluntary
tenant, of the body. It has an attraction so powerful to the external universal
force, that after wearing out its casing it finally escapes to it. The
stronger, grosser, more material its encasing body, the longer is the term of
its imprisonment. Some persons are born with organizations so exceptional, that
the door which shuts other people in from communication with the world of the
astral light, can be easily unbarred and opened, and their souls can look into,
or even pass into that world, and return again. Those who do this consciously,
and at will, are termed magicians, hierophants, seers, adepts; those who are
made to do it, either through the fluid of the mesmerizer or of
"spirits," are "mediums." The astral soul, when the
barriers are once opened, is so powerfully attracted by the universal, astral
magnet, that it sometimes lifts its encasement with it and keeps it suspended
in mid-air, until the gravity of matter reasserts its supremacy, and the body
redescends again to earth.
Every objective
manifestation, whether it be the motion of a living limb, or the movement of
some inorganic body, requires two conditions: will and force -- plus matter, or
that which makes the object so moved visible to our eye; and these three are
all convertible forces, or the force-correlation of the scientists. In their
turn they are directed or rather overshadowed by the Divine intelligence which
these men so studiously leave out of the account, but without which not even
the crawling of the smallest earth-worm could ever take place. The simplest as
the most common of all natural phenomena, -- the rustling of the leaves which
tremble under the gentle contact of the breeze -- requires a constant exercise
of these faculties. Scientists may well call them cosmic laws, immutable and
unchangeable. Behind these laws we must search for the intelligent cause, which
once having created and set these laws in motion, has infused into them the
essence of its own consciousness. Whether we call this the first cause, the
universal will, or God, it must always bear intelligence.
And now we may ask,
how can a will manifest itself intelligently and unconsciously at the same
time? It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of intellection apart
from consciousness. By consciousness we do
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INTELLIGENCE.
not necessarily
imply physical or corporeal consciousness. Consciousness is a quality of the
sentient principle, or, in other words, the soul; and the latter often displays
activity even while the body is asleep or paralyzed. When we lift our arm
mechanically, we may imagine that we do it unconsciously because our
superficial senses cannot appreciate the interval between the formulation of
the purpose and its execution. Latent as it seemed to us, our vigilant will
evolved force, and set our matter in motion. There is nothing in the nature of
the most trivial of mediumistic phenomena to make Mr. Cox's theory plausible.
If the intelligence manifested by this force is no proof that it belongs to a
disembodied spirit, still less is it evidence that it is unconsciously given
out by the medium; Mr. Crookes himself tells us of cases where the intelligence
could not have emanated from any one in the room; as in the instance where the
word "however," covered by his finger and unknown even to himself,
was correctly written by planchette.* No explanation whatever can account for
this case; the only hypothesis tenable -- if we exclude the agency of a
spirit-power -- is that the clairvoyant faculties were brought into play. But
scientists deny clairvoyance; and if, to escape the unwelcome alternative of
accrediting the phenomena to a spiritual source, they concede to us the fact of
clairvoyance, it then devolves upon them to either accept the kabalistic
explanation of what this faculty is, or achieve the task hitherto impracticable
of making a new theory to fit the facts.
Again, if for the
sake of argument it should be admitted that Mr. Crookes' word
"however" might have been clairvoyantly read, what shall we say of
mediumistic communications having a prophetic character? Does any theory of
mediumistic impulse account for the ability to foretell events beyond the
possible knowledge of both speaker and listener? Mr. Cox will have to try again.
As we have said
before, the modern psychic force, and the ancient oracular fluids, whether
terrestrial or sidereal, are identical in essence -- simply a blind force. So
is air. And while in a dialogue the sound-waves produced by a conversation of
the speakers affect the same body of air, that does not imply any doubt of the
fact that there are two persons talking with each other. Is it any more
reasonable to say that when a common agent is employed by medium and
"spirit" to intercommunicate, there must necessarily be but one
intelligence displaying itself? As the air is necessary for the mutual exchange
of audible sounds, so are certain currents of astral light, or ether directed
by an Intelligence, necessary for the production of the phenomena called spiritual.
Place
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* CROOKES:
"Researches, etc.," p. 96.
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two interlocutors
in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, and, if they could live, their words
would remain inarticulate thoughts, for there would be no air to vibrate, and
hence no ripple of sound would reach their ears. Place the strongest medium in
such isolating atmosphere as a powerful mesmerizer, familiar with the
properties of the magical agent, can create around him, and no manifestations
will take place until some opposing intelligence, more potential than the
will-power of the mesmerizer, overcomes the latter and terminates the astral
inertia.
The ancients were
at no loss to discriminate between a blind force acting spontaneously and the
same force when directed by an intelligence.
Plutarch, the
priest of Apollo, when speaking of the oracular vapors which were but a
subterranean gas, imbued with intoxicating magnetic properties, shows its
nature to be dual, when he addresses it in these words: "And who art thou?
without a God who creates and ripens thee; without a daemon [spirit] who,
acting under the orders of God, directs and governs thee; thou canst do
nothing, thou art nothing but a vain breath."* Thus without the indwelling
soul or intelligence, "Psychic Force" would be also but a "vain
breath."
Aristotle maintains
that this gas, or astral emanation, escaping from inside the earth, is the sole
sufficient cause, acting from within outwardly for the vivification of every
living being and plant upon the external crust. In answer to the skeptical
negators of his century, Cicero, moved by a just wrath, exclaims: "And
what can be more divine than the exhalations of the earth, which affect the
human soul so as to enable her to predict the future? And could the hand of
time evaporate such a virtue? Do you suppose you are talking of some kind of
wine or salted meat?"** Do modern experimentalists claim to be wiser than
Cicero, and say that this eternal force has evaporated, and that the springs of
prophecy are dry?
All the prophets of
old -- inspired sensitives -- were said to be uttering their prophecies under
the same conditions, either by the direct outward efflux of the astral
emanation, or a sort of damp fluxion, rising from the earth. It is this astral
matter which serves as a temporary clothing of the souls who form themselves in
this light. Cornelius Agrippa expresses the same views as to the nature of
these phantoms by describing it as moist or humid: "In spirito turbido
HUMIDOQUE."**
Prophecies are
delivered in two ways -- consciously, by magicians who are able to look into
the astral light; and unconsciously, by those
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lucian:
"Pharsalia," Book v.
** "De
Divinatio," Book i., chap. 3.
*** "De
Occulta Philosoph.," p. 355.
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FALSE.
who act under what
is called inspiration. To the latter class belonged and belong the Biblical
prophets and the modern trance-speakers. So familiar with this fact was Plato,
that of such prophets he says: "No man, when in his senses, attains
prophetic truth and inspiration . . . but only when demented by some distemper
or possession . . ." (by a daimonion or spirit).* "Some persons call
them prophets; they do not know that they are only repeaters . . . and are not
to be called prophets at all, but only transmitters of vision and prophecy,"
-- he adds.
In continuation of
his argument, Mr. Cox says: "The most ardent spiritualists practically
admit the existence of psychic force, under the very inappropriate name of
magnetism (to which it has no affinity whatever), for they assert that the
spirits of the dead can only do the acts attributed to them by using the
magnetism (that is, the psychic force) of the mediums."**
Here, again, a
misunderstanding arises in consequence of different names being applied to what
may prove to be one and the same imponderable compound. Because electricity did
not become a science till the eighteenth century, no one will presume to say
that this force has not existed since the creation; moreover, we are prepared
to prove that even the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with it. But, merely
because exact science did not happen before 1819 to stumble over the discovery
which showed the intimate connection existing between magnetism and
electricity, it does not at all prevent these two agents being identical. If a
bar of iron can be endowed with magnetic properties, by passing a current of
voltaic electricity over some conductor placed in a certain way close to the
bar, why not accept, as a provisional theory, that a medium may also be a
conductor, and nothing more, at a seance? Is it unscientific to say that the
intelligence of "psychic force," drawing currents of electricity from
the waves of the ether, and employing the medium as a conductor, develops and
calls into action the latent magnetism with which the atmosphere of the seance-room
is saturated, so as to produce the desired effects? The word magnetism is as
appropriate as any other, until science gives us something more than a merely
hypothetical agent endowed with conjectural properties.
"The
difference between the advocates of psychic force and the spiritualists
consists in this," says Sergeant Cox, "that we contend that there is
as yet insufficient proof of any other directing agent than the intelligence of
the medium, and no proof whatever of the agency of the 'spirits' of the
dead."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Timaeus," vol. ii., p. 563.
** Crookes:
"Researches, etc.," p. 101.
*** Ibid., p. 101.
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We fully agree with
Mr. Cox as to the lack of proof that the agency is that of the spirits of the
dead; as for the rest, it is a very extraordinary deduction from "a wealth
of facts," according to the expression of Mr. Crookes, who remarks
further, "On going over my notes, I find . . . such a superabundance of
evidence, so overwhelming a mass of testimony . . . that I could fill several
numbers of the Quarterly."
Now some of these
facts of an "overwhelming evidence" are as follows: 1st. The movement
of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical exertion. 2d. The
phenomena of percussive and other sounds. 3d. The alteration of weight of
bodies. 4th. Movements of heavy substances when at a distance from the medium.
5th. The rising of tables and chairs off the ground, without contact with any
person. 6th. THE LEVITATION OF HUMAN BEINGS.** 7th. "Luminous
apparitions." Says Mr. Crookes, "Under the strictest conditions, I
have seen a solid self -luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a
turkey's egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one time higher than any one
could reach on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible for
more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table three times
with a sound like that of a hard, solid body."*** (We must infer that the
egg was of the same nature as M. Babinet's meteor-cat, which is classified with
other natural phenomena in Arago's works.) 8th. The appearance of hands, either
self-luminous or visible by ordinary light. 9th. "Direct writing" by
these same luminous hands, detached, and evidently endowed with intelligence.
(Psychic force?) 10th. "Phantom-forms and faces." In this instance,
the psychic force comes "from a corner of the room" as a
"phantom form," takes an accordeon in its hand, and then glides about
the room, playing the instrument; Home, the medium, being in full view at the
time.**** The whole of the preceding Mr. Crookes witnessed and tested at his
own house, and, having assured himself scientifically of the genuineness of the
phenomenon, reported it to the Royal Society. Was he welcomed as the discoverer
of natural
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Crookes:
"Researches, etc.," p. 83.
** In 1854, M.
Foucault, an eminent physician and a member of the French Institute, one of the
opponents of de Gasparin, rejecting the mere possibility of any such
manifestations, wrote the following memorable words: "That day, when I
should succeed in moving a straw under the action of my will only, I would feel
terrified!" The word is ominous. About the same year, Babinet, the
astronomer, repeated in his article in the "Revue des Deux Mondes,"
the following sentence to exhaustion: "The levitation of a body without
contact is as impossible as the perpetual motion, because on the day it would
be done, the world would crumble down." Luckily, we see no sign as yet of
such a cataclysm; yet bodies are levitated.
***
"Researches, etc.," p. 91.
**** Ibid., pp.
86-97.
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SELF-POISED PENCIL.
phenomena of a new
and important character? Let the reader consult his work for the answer.
In addition to
these freaks played on human credulity by "psychic force," Mr.
Crookes gives another class of phenomena, which he terms "special
instances," which seem (?) to point to the agency of an exterior
intelligence.*
"I have
been," says Mr. Crookes, "with Miss Fox when she has been writing a
message automatically to one person present, whilst a message to another
person, on another subject, was being given alphabetically by means of 'raps,'
and the whole time she was conversing freely with a third person, on a subject
totally different from either. . . . During a seance with Mr. Home, a small
lath moved across the table to me, in the light, and delivered a message to me
by tapping my hand; I repeating the alphabet, and the lath tapping me at the
right letters . . . being at a distance from Mr. Home's hands." The same
lath, upon request of Mr. Crookes, gave him "a telegraphic message through
the Morse alphabet, by taps on my hand" (the Morse code being quite
unknown to any other person present, and but imperfectly to himself),
"and," adds Mr. Crookes, "it convinced me that there was a good
Morse operator at the other end of the line, WHEREVER THAT MIGHT BE."**
Would it be undignified in the present case to suggest that Mr. Cox should
search for the operator in his private principality -- Psychic Land? But the
same lath does more and better. In full light in Mr. Crookes' room it is asked
to give a message, " . . . a pencil and some sheets of paper had been
lying on the centre of the table; presently the pencil rose on its point, and
after advancing by hesitating jerks to the paper, fell down. It then rose, and
again fell. . . . After three unsuccessful attempts, a small wooden lath"
(the Morse operator) "which was lying near upon the table, slid towards
the pencil, and rose a few inches from the table; the pencil rose again, and
propping itself against the lath, the two together made an effort to mark the
paper. It fell, and then a joint effort was made again. After a third trial the
lath gave it up, and moved back to its place; the pencil lay as it fell across
the paper, and an alphabetic message told us: "We have tried to do as you
asked, but our power is exhausted."*** The word our, as the joint
intelligent efforts of the friendly lath and pencil, would make us think that
there were two psychic forces present.
In all this, is
there any proof that the directing agent was "the intelligence of the
medium"? Is there not, on the contrary, every indication that the
movements of the lath and pencil were directed by spirits "of the
dead," or at least of those of some other unseen intelligent entities?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid., p. 94.
** Ibid., p. 95.
*** Ibid., p. 94.
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Most certainly the
word magnetism explains in this case as little as the term psychic force;
howbeit, there is more reason to use the former than the latter, if it were but
for the simple fact that the transcendent magnetism or mesmerism produces
phenomena identical in effects with those of spiritualism. The phenomenon of
the enchanted circle of Baron Du Potet and Regazzoni, is as contrary to the
accepted laws of physiology as the rising of a table without contact is to the
laws of natural philosophy. As strong men have often found it impossible to
raise a small table weighing a few pounds, and broken it to pieces in the
effort, so a dozen of experimenters, among them sometimes, academicians, were
utterly unable to step across a chalk-line drawn on the floor by Du Potet. On
one occasion a Russian general, well known for his skepticism, persisted until
he fell on the ground in violent convulsions. In this case, the magnetic fluid
which opposed such a resistance was Mr. Cox's psychic force, which endows the
tables with an extraordinary and supernatural weight. If they produce the same
psychological and physiological effects, there is good reason to believe them
more or less identical. We do not think the deduction could be very reasonably
objected to. Besides, were the fact even denied, this is no reason why it
should not be so. Once upon a time, all the Academies in Christendom had agreed
to deny that there were any mountains in the moon; and there was a certain time
when, if any one had been so bold as to affirm that there was life in the
superior regions of the atmosphere as well as in the fathomless depths of the
ocean, he would have been set down as a fool or an ignoramus.
"The Devil
affirms -- it must be a lie!" the pious Abbe Almiguana used to say, in a
discussion with a "spiritualized table." We will soon be warranted in
paraphrasing the sentence and making it read -- "Scientists deny -- then
it must be true."
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CHAPTER VII.
"Thou great
First Cause, least understood." -- POPE.
"Whence this
pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after
immortality?
Or whence this
secret dread, and inward horror
Of falling into
naught? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself,
and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity
that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself
that points out our hereafter
And intimates
eternity to man.
ETERNITY! Thou
pleasing, dreadful thought!" -- ADDISON.
"There is
another and a better world." -- KOTZEBUE: The Stranger.
AFTER according so
much space to the conflicting opinions of our men of science about certain
occult phenomena of our modern period, it is but just that we give attention to
the speculations of mediaeval alchemists and certain other illustrious men.
Almost without exception, ancient and mediaeval scholars believed in the arcane
doctrines of wisdom. These included Alchemy, the Chaldeo-Jewish Kabala, the
esoteric systems of Pythagoras and the old Magi, and those of the later
Platonic philosophers and theurgists. We also propose in subsequent pages to
treat of the Indian gymnosophists and the Chaldean astrologers. We must not
neglect to show the grand truths underlying the misunderstood religions of the
past. The four elements of our fathers, earth, air, water, and fire, contain
for the student of alchemy and ancient psychology -- or as it is now termed,
magic -- many things of which our philosophy has never dreamed. We must not
forget that what is now called Necromancy by the Church, and Spiritualism by
modern believers, and that includes the evoking of departed spirits, is a
science which has, from remote antiquity, been almost universally diffused over
the face of the globe.
Although neither an
alchemist, magician, nor astrologer, but simply a great philosopher, Henry
More, of Cambridge University -- a man universally esteemed, may be named as a
shrewd logician, scientist, and metaphysician. His belief in witchcraft was
firm throughout his life. His faith in immortality and able arguments in
demonstration of the survival of man's spirit after death are all based on the
Pythagorean system, adopted by Cardan, Van Helmont, and other mystics. The
infinite and
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uncreated spirit
that we usually call GOD, a substance of the highest virtue and excellency,
produced everything else by emanative causality. God thus is the primary
substance, the rest, the secondary; if the former created matter with a power
of moving itself, he, the primary substance, is still the cause of that motion
as well as of the matter, and yet we rightly say that it is matter which moves
itself. "We may define this kind of spirit we speak of to be a substance
indiscernible, that can move itself, that can penetrate, contract, and dilate
itself, and can also penetrate, move, and alter matter,"* which is the
third emanation. He firmly believed in apparitions, and stoutly defended the
theory of the individuality of every soul in which "personality, memory,
and conscience will surely continue in the future state." He divided the
astral spirit of man after its exit from the body into two distinct entities:
the "aerial" and the "aethereal vehicle." During the time
that a disembodied man moves in its aerial clothing, he is subject to Fate --
i.e., evil and temptation, attached to its earthly interests, and therefore is
not utterly pure; it is only when he casts off this garb of the first spheres
and becomes ethereal that he becomes sure of his immortality. "For what
shadow can that body cast that is a pure and transparent light, such as the
ethereal vehicle is? And therefore that oracle is then fulfilled, when the soul
has ascended into that condition we have already described, in which alone it
is out of the reach of fate and mortality." He concludes his work by
stating that this transcendent and divinely-pure condition was the only aim of
the Pythagoreans.
As to the skeptics
of his age, his language is contemptuous and severe. Speaking of Scot, Adie,
and Webster, he terms them "our new inspired saints . . . sworn advocates
of the witches, who thus madly and boldly, against all sense and reason,
against all antiquity, all interpreters, and against the Scripture itself, will
have even no Samuel in the scene, but a confederate knave! Whether the
Scripture, or these inblown buffoons, puffed up with nothing but ignorance,
vanity, and stupid infidelity, are to be believed, let any one judge," he
adds.**
What kind of
language would this eminent divine have used against our skeptics of the
nineteenth century?
Descartes, although
a worshipper of matter, was one of the most devoted teachers of the magnetic
doctrine and, in a certain sense, even of Alchemy. His system of physics was
very much like that of other great philosophers. Space, which is infinite, is
composed, or rather filled up with a fluid and elementary matter, and is the
sole fountain of all life,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Antidote," lib. i., cap. 4.
** "Letter to
Glanvil, the author of 'Sadducismus Triumphatus,' May, 25, 1678."
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PORTER'S BACK.
enclosing all the
celestial globes and keeping them in perpetual motion. The magnet-streams of
Mesmer are disguised by him into the Cartesian vortices, and both rest on the
same principle. Ennemoser does not hesitate to say that both have more in
common "than people suppose, who have not carefully examined the
subject."*
The esteemed
philosopher, Pierre Poiret Naude, was the warmest defender of the doctrines of
occult magnetism and its first propounders,** in 1679. The magico-theosophical
philosophy is fully vindicated in his works.
The well-known Dr.
Hufeland has written a work on magic*** in which he propounds the theory of the
universal magnetic sympathy between men, animals, plants, and even minerals.
The testimony of Campanella, Van Helmont, and Servius, is confirmed by him in
relation to the sympathy existing between the different parts of the body as well
as between the parts of all organic and even inorganic bodies.
Such also was the
doctrine of Tenzel Wirdig. It may even be found expounded in his works, with
far more clearness, logic, and vigor, than in those of other mystical authors
who have treated of the same subject. In his famous treatise, The New Spiritual
Medicine, he demonstrates, on the ground of the later-accepted fact of
universal attraction and repulsion -- now called "gravitation" --
that the whole nature is ensouled. Wirdig calls this magnetic sympathy
"the accordance of spirits." Everything is drawn to its like, and
converges with natures congenial to itself. Out of this sympathy and antipathy
arises a constant movement in the whole world, and in all its parts, and
uninterrupted communion between heaven and earth, which produces universal
harmony. Everything lives and perishes through magnetism; one thing affects
another one, even at great distances, and its "congenitals" may be
influenced to health and disease by the power of this sympathy, at any time,
and notwithstanding the intervening space.**** "Hufeland," says
Ennemoser, "gives the account of a nose which had been cut from the back
of a porter, but which, when the porter died, died too and fell off from its
artificial position. A piece of skin," adds Hufeland, "taken from a
living head, had its hair turn gray at the same time as that on the head from
which it was taken."*****
Kepler, the
forerunner of Newton in many great truths, even in that of the universal
"gravitation" which he very justly attributed to magnetic attraction,
notwithstanding that he terms astrology "the insane daughter of a most
wise mother" -- Astronomy, shares the kabalistic belief
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "History of
Magic," vol. ii., p. 272.
** "Apologie
pour tous les grands personnages faussement accuses de magie."
*** Berlin, 1817.
**** "Nova
Medicina Spirituum," 1675.
***** "History
of Magic."
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that the spirits of
the stars are so many "intelligences." He firmly believes that each
planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and that they are all inhabited
by spiritual beings, who exercise influences over other beings inhabiting more
gross and material spheres than their own and especially our earth.* As
Kepler's spiritual starry influences were superseded by the vortices of the
more materialistic Descartes, whose atheistical tendencies did not prevent him
from believing that he had found out a diet that would prolong his life five
hundred years and more, so the vortices of the latter and his astronomical
doctrines may some day give place to the intelligent magnetic streams which are
directed by the Anima Mundi.
Baptista Porta, the
learned Italian philosopher, notwithstanding his endeavors to show to the world
the groundlessness of their accusations of magic being a superstition and
sorcery, was treated by later critics with the same unfairness as his
colleagues. This celebrated alchemist left a work on Natural Magic,** in which
he bases all of the occult phenomena possible to man upon the world-soul which
binds all with all. He shows that the astral light acts in harmony and sympathy
with all nature; that it is the essence out of which our spirits are formed;
and that by acting in unison with their parent-source, our sidereal bodies are
rendered capable of producing magic wonders. The whole secret depends on our
knowledge of kindred elements. He believed in the philosopher's stone, "of
which the world hath so great an opinion of, which hath been bragged of in so
many ages and happily attained unto by some." Finally, he throws out many
valuable hints as to its "spiritual meaning." In 1643, there appeared
among the mystics a monk, Father Kircher, who taught a complete philosophy of
universal magnetism. His numerous works*** embrace many of the subjects merely
hinted at by Paracelsus. His definition of magnetism is very original, for he
contradicted Gilbert's theory that the earth was a great magnet. He asserted
that although every particle of matter, and even the intangible invisible
"powers" were magnetic, they did not themselves constitute a magnet.
There is but one MAGNET in the universe, and from it proceeds the magnetization
of everything existing. This magnet is of course what the kabalists term
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It would be a
useless and too long labor to enter here upon the defence of Kepler's theory of
relation between the five regular solids of geometry and the magnitudes of the
orbits of five principal planets, rather derided by Prof. Draper in his
"Conflict." Many are the theories of the ancients that have been
avenged by modern discovery. For the rest, we must bide our time.
** "Magia
Naturalis," Lugduni, 1569.
*** Athanasius
Kircher: "Magnes sive de arte magnetici, opus tripartitum." Coloniae,
1654.
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ANTIPATHIES IN PLANTS.
the central
Spiritual Sun, or God. The sun, moon, planets, and stars he affirmed are highly
magnetic; but they have become so by induction from living in the universal
magnetic fluid -- the Spiritual light. He proves the mysterious sympathy
existing between the bodies of the three principal kingdoms of nature, and
strengthens his argument by a stupendous catalogue of instances. Many of these
were verified by naturalists, but still more have remained unauthenticated;
therefore, according to the traditional policy and very equivocal logic of our
scientists, they are denied. For instance, he shows a difference between
mineral magnetism and zoomagnetism, or animal magnetism. He demonstrates it in
the fact that except in the case of the lodestone all the minerals are
magnetized by the higher potency, the animal magnetism, while the latter enjoys
it as the direct emanation from the first cause -- the Creator. A needle can be
magnetized by simply being held in the hand of a strong-willed man, and amber
develops its powers more by the friction of the human hand than by any other
object; therefore man can impart his own life, and, to a certain degree,
animate inorganic objects. This, "in the eyes of the foolish, is
sorcery." "The sun is the most magnetic of all bodies," he says;
thus anticipating the theory of General Pleasonton by more than two centuries.
"The ancient philosophers never denied the fact," he adds; "but
have at all times perceived that the sun's emanations were binding all things
to itself, and that it imparts this binding power to everything falling under
its direct rays."
As a proof of it he
brings the instance of a number of plants being especially attracted to the
sun, and others to the moon, and showing their irresistible sympathy to the
former by following its course in the heavens. The plant known as the
Githymal,* faithfully follows its sovereign, even when it is invisible on
account of the fog. The acacia uncloses its petals at its rising, and closes
them at its setting. So does the Egyptian lotos and the common sunflower. The
nightshade exhibits the same predilection for the moon.
As examples of
antipathies or sympathies among plants, he instances the aversion which the
vine feels for the cabbage, and its fondness toward the olive-tree; the love of
the ranunculus for the water-lily, and of the rue for the fig. The antipathy
which sometimes exists even among kindred substances is clearly demonstrated in
the case of the Mexican pomegranate, whose shoots, when cut to pieces, repel
each other with the "most extraordinary ferocity."
Kircher accounts
for every feeling in human nature as results of changes in our magnetic
condition. Anger, jealousy, friendship, love, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lib. iii., p.
643.
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hatred, are all
modifications of the magnetic atmosphere which is developed in us and
constantly emanates from us. Love is one of the most variable, and therefore the
aspects of it are numberless. Spiritual love, that of a mother for her child,
of an artist for some particular art, love as pure friendship, are purely
magnetic manifestations of sympathy in congenial natures. The magnetism of pure
love is the originator of every created thing. In its ordinary sense love
between the sexes is electricity, and he calls it amor febris species, the
fever of species. There are two kinds of magnetic attraction: sympathy and
fascination; the one holy and natural, the other evil and unnatural. To the
latter, fascination, we must attribute the power of the poisonous toad, which
upon merely opening its mouth, forces the passing reptile or insect to run into
it to its destruction. The deer, as well as smaller animals, are attracted by
the breath of the boa, and are made irresistibly to come within its reach. The
electric fish, the torpedo, repels the arm with a shock that for a time benumbs
it. To exercise such a power for beneficent purposes, man requires three
conditions: 1, nobility of soul; 2, strong will and imaginative faculty; 3, a
subject weaker than the magnetizer; otherwise he will resist. A man free from
worldly incentives and sensuality, may cure in such a way the most
"incurable" diseases, and his vision may become clear and prophetic.
A curious instance
of the above-mentioned universal attraction between all the bodies of the
planetary system and everything organic as well as inorganic pertaining to
them, is found in a quaint old volume of the seventeenth century. It contains
notes of travel and an official report to the King of France, by his
Ambassador, de la Loubere, upon what he has seen in the kingdom of Siam.
"At Siam," he says, "there are two species of fresh-water fish,
which they respectively call pal-out and pla-cadi fish. Once salted and placed
uncut (whole) in the pot, they are found to exactly follow the flux and reflux
of the sea, growing higher and lower in the pot as the sea ebbs or
flows."* De la Loubere experimented with this fish for a long time, together
with a government engineer, named Vincent, and, therefore, vouches for the
truth of this assertion, which at first had been dismissed as an idle fable. So
powerful is this mysterious attraction that it affected the fishes even when
their bodies became totally rotten and fell to pieces.
It is especially in
the countries unblessed with civilization that we should seek for an
explanation of the nature, and observe the effects of that subtile power, which
ancient philosophers called the "world's soul."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Notes from
a New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam," by de la Louere, French
Ambassador to Siam in the years 1687-8. Edition of 1692.
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THE CASHMERE GIRLS.
In the East only,
and on the boundless tracts of unexplored Africa, will the student of
psychology find abundant food for his truth-hungering soul. The reason is
obvious. The atmosphere in populous neighborhoods is badly vitiated by the
smoke and fumes of manufactories, steam-engines, railroads, and steamboats, and
especially by the miasmatic exhalations of the living and the dead. Nature is
as dependent as a human being upon conditions before she can work, and her
mighty breathing, so to say, can be as easily interfered with, impeded, and
arrested, and the correlation of her forces destroyed in a given spot, as
though she were a man. Not only climate, but also occult influences daily felt
not only modify the physio-psychological nature of man, but even alter the
constitution of so-called inorganic matter in a degree not fairly realized by
European science. Thus the London Medical and Surgical Journal advises surgeons
not to carry lancets to Calcutta, because it has been found by personal
experience "that English steel could not bear the atmosphere of
India"; so a bunch of English or American keys will be completely covered
with rust twenty-four hours after having been brought to Egypt; while objects
made of native steel in those countries remain unoxidized. So, too, it has been
found that a Siberian Shaman who has given stupendous proofs of his occult
powers among his native Tschuktschen, is gradually and often completely
deprived of such powers when coming into smoky and foggy London. Is the inner
organism of man less sensitive to climatic influences than a bit of steel? If
not, then why should we cast doubt upon the testimony of travellers who may
have seen the Shaman, day after day, exhibit phenomena of the most astounding
character in his native country, and deny the possibility of such powers and
such phenomena, only because he cannot do as much in London or Paris? In his
lecture on the Lost Arts, Wendell Phillips proves that besides the
psychological nature of man being affected by a change of climate, Oriental
people have physical senses far more acute than the Europeans. The French dyers
of Lyons, whom no one can surpass in skill, he says, "have a theory that
there is a certain delicate shade of blue that Europeans cannot see. . . . And
in Cashmere, where the girls make shawls worth $30,000, they will show him (the
dyer of Lyons) three hundred distinct colors, which he not only cannot make,
but cannot even distinguish." If there is such a vast difference between
the acuteness of the external senses of two races, why should there not be the
same in their psychological powers? Moreover, the eye of a Cashmere girl is
able to see objectively a color which does exist, but which being inappreciable
by the European, is therefore non-existent for him. Why then not concede, that
some peculiarly-endowed organisms, which are thought to be possessed of that
mysterious faculty called second sight,
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see their pictures
as objectively as the girl sees the colors; and that therefore the former,
instead of mere objective hallucinations called forth by imagination are, on
the contrary, reflections of real things and persons impressed upon the astral
ether, as explained by the old philosophy of the Chaldean Oracles, and surmised
by those modern discoverers, Babbage, Jevons, and the authors of the Unseen
Universe?
"Three spirits
live and actuate man," teaches Paracelsus; "three worlds pour their
beams upon him; but all three only as the image and echo of one and the same
all-constructing and uniting principle of production. The first is the spirit
of the elements (terrestrial body and vital force in its brute condition); the
second, the spirit of the stars (sidereal or astral body -- the soul); the
third is the Divine spirit (Augoeides)." Our human body, being possessed
of "primeval earth-stuff," as Paracelsus calls it, we may readily
accept the tendency of modern scientific research "to regard the processes
of both animal and vegetable life as simply physical and chemical." This
theory only the more corroborates the assertions of old philosophers and the
Mosaic Bible, that from the dust of the ground our bodies were made, and to
dust they will return. But we must remember that
" 'Dust thou
art, to dust returnest,'
Was not spoken of
the soul."
Man is a little
world -- a microcosm inside the great universe. Like a foetus, he is suspended,
by all his three spirits, in the matrix of the macrocosmos; and while his
terrestrial body is in constant sympathy with its parent earth, his astral soul
lives in unison with the sidereal anima mundi. He is in it, as it is in him,
for the world-pervading element fills all space, and is space itself, only
shoreless and infinite. As to his third spirit, the divine, what is it but an infinitesimal
ray, one of the countless radiations proceeding directly from the Highest Cause
-- the Spiritual Light of the World? This is the trinity of organic and
inorganic nature -- the spiritual and the physical, which are three in one, and
of which Proclus says that "The first monad is the Eternal God; the
second, eternity; the third, the paradigm, or pattern of the universe";
the three constituting the Intelligible Triad. Everything in this visible
universe is the outflow of this Triad, and a microcosmic triad itself. And thus
they move in majestic procession in the fields of eternity, around the
spiritual sun, as in the heliocentric system the celestial bodies move round
the visible suns. The Pythagorean Monad, which lives "in solitude and darkness,"
may remain on this earth forever invisible, impalpable, and undemonstrated by
experimental science. Still the whole universe will be gravitating around it,
as it did from the "beginning of time," and
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with every second,
man and atom approach nearer to that solemn moment in the eternity, when the
Invisible Presence will become clear to their spiritual sight. When every
particle of matter, even the most sublimated, has been cast off from the last
shape that forms the ultimate link of that chain of double evolution which,
throughout millions of ages and successive transformations, has pushed the
entity onward; and when it shall find itself reclothed in that primordial
essence, identical with that of its Creator, then this once impalpable organic
atom will have run its race, and the sons of God will once more "shout for
joy" at the return of the pilgrim.
"Man,"
says Van Helmont, "is the mirror of the universe, and his triple nature
stands in relationship to all things." The will of the Creator, through
which all things were made and received their first impulse, is the property of
every living being. Man, endowed with an additional spirituality, has the
largest share of it on this planet. It depends on the proportion of matter in
him whether he will exercise its magical faculty with more or less success.
Sharing this divine potency in common with every inorganic atom, he exercises
it through the course of his whole life, whether consciously or otherwise. In
the former case, when in the full possession of his powers, he will be the
master, and the magnale magnum (the universal soul) will be controlled and
guided by him. In the cases of animals, plants, minerals, and even of the
average of humanity, this ethereal fluid which pervades all things, finding no
resistance, and being left to itself, moves them as its impulse directs. Every
created being in this sublunary sphere, is formed out of the magnale magnum,
and is related to it. Man possesses a double celestial power, and is allied to
heaven. This power is "not only in the outer man, but to a degree also in
the animals, and perhaps in all other things, as all things in the universe
stand in a relation to each other; or, at least, God is in all things, as the
ancients have observed it with a worthy correctness. It is necessary that the
magic strength should be awakened in the outer as well as in the inner man. . .
. And if we call this a magic power, the uninstructed only can be terrified by
the expression. But, if you prefer it, you can call it a spiritual power --
spirituale robur vocitaveris. There is, therefore, such magic power in the inner
man. But, as there exists a certain relationship between the inner and the
outer man, this strength must be diffused through the whole man."*
In an extended
description of the religious rites, monastic life, and
"superstitions" of the Siamese, de la Loubere cites among other
things the wonderful power possessed by the Talapoin (the monks, or the holy
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Baptist Van
Helmont: "Opera Omnia," 1682, p. 720, and others.
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men of Buddha) over
the wild beasts. "The Talapoin of Siam," he says, "will pass
whole weeks in the dense woods under a small awning of branches and palm
leaves, and never make a fire in the night to scare away the wild beasts, as
all other people do who travel through the woods of this country." The
people consider it a miracle that no Talapoin is ever devoured. The tigers,
elephants, and rhinoceroses -- with which the neighborhood abounds -- respect
him; and travellers placed in secure ambuscade have often seen these wild
beasts lick the hands and feet of the sleeping Talapoin. "They all use
magic," adds the French gentleman, "and think all nature animated
(ensouled);* they believe in tutelar geniuses." But that which seems to
shock the author most is the idea which prevails among the Siamese, "that
all that man was in his bodily life, he will be after death." "When
the Tartar, which now reigns at China," remarks de la Loubere, "would
force the Chinese to shave their hair after the Tartarian fashion, several of
them chose rather to suffer death than to go, they said, into the other world
and appear before their ancestors without hair; imagining that they shaved the
head of the soul also!"** "Now, what is altogether impertinent,"
adds the Ambassador, "in this absurd opinion is, that the Orientals
attribute the human figure rather than any other to the soul." Without
enlightening his reader as to the particular shape these benighted Orientals
ought to select for their disembodied souls, de la Loubere proceeds to pour out
his wrath on these "savages." Finally, he attacks the memory of the
old king of Siam, the father of the one to whose court he was sent, by accusing
him of having foolishly spent over two million livres in search of the
philosopher's stone. "The Chinese," he says, "reputed so wise,
have for three or four thousand years had the folly of believing in the
existence, and of seeking out a universal remedy by which they hope to exempt
themselves from the necessity of dying. They base themselves on some foolish
traditions, concerning some rare persons that are reported to have made gold,
and to have lived some ages; there are some very strongly established facts
among the Chinese, the Siamese, and other Orientals, concerning those that know
how to render themselves immortal, either absolutely, or in such a manner that
they can die no otherwise than by violent death.*** Wherefore, they name some
persons who have withdrawn themselves from the sight of men to enjoy free and
peaceable life. They relate wonders concerning the knowledge of these pretended
immortals."
If Descartes, a
Frenchman and a scientist, could, in the midst of civilization, firmly believe
that such a universal remedy had been found,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De la Loubere:
"Notes," etc. (see ante), p. 115.
** Ibid., p. 120.
*** Ibid., p. 63.
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MUSIC.
and that if
possessed of it he could live at least five hundred years, why are not the
Orientals entitled to the same belief? The master-problems of both life and
death are still unsolved by occidental physiologists. Even sleep is a
phenomenon about whose cause there is a great divergence of opinion among them.
How, then, can they pretend to set limits to the possible, and define the
impossible?
From the remotest
ages the philosophers have maintained the singular power of music over certain
diseases, especially of the nervous class. Kircher recommends it, having
experienced its good effects in himself, and he gives an elaborate description
of the instrument he employed. It was a harmonica composed of five tumblers of
a very thin glass, placed in a row. In two of them were two different varieties
of wine; in the third, brandy; in the fourth, oil; in the fifth, water. He
extracted five melodious sounds from them in the usual way, by merely rubbing
his finger on the edges of the tumblers. The sound has an attractive property;
it draws out disease, which streams out to encounter the musical wave, and the
two, blending together, disappear in space. Asclepiades employed music for the
same purpose, some twenty centuries ago; he blew a trumpet to cure sciatica,
and its prolonged sound making the fibres of the nerves to palpitate, the pain
invariably subsided. Democritus in like manner affirmed that many diseases
could be cured by the melodious sounds of a flute. Mesmer used this very
harmonica described by Kircher for his magnetic cures. The celebrated
Scotchman, Maxwell, offered to prove to various medical faculties that with
certain magnetic means at his disposal, he would cure any of the diseases
abandoned by them as incurable; such as epilepsy, impotence, insanity,
lameness, dropsy, and the most obstinate fevers.*
The familiar story
of the exorcism of the "evil spirit from God" that obsessed Saul,
will recur to every one in this connection. It is thus related: "And it
came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an
harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the
evil spirit departed from him."**
Maxwell, in his
Medicina Magnetica, expounds the following propositions, all which are the very
doctrines of the alchemists and kabalists.
"That which
men call the world-soul, is a life, as fire, spiritual, fleet, light, and
ethereal as light itself. It is a life-spirit everywhere; and everywhere the
same. . . . All matter is destitute of action, except as it is ensouled by this
spirit. This spirit maintains all things in their peculiar condition. It is
found in nature free from all fetters; and he
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See his
"Conf.," xiii., 1. c. in praefatione.
** I Samuel, xvi.,
14-23.
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who understands how
to unite it with a harmonizing body, possesses a treasure which exceeds all
riches."
"This spirit
is the common bond of all quarters of the earth, and lives through and in all
-- adest in mundo quid commune omnibus mextis, in quo ipsa permanent."
"He who knows
this universal life-spirit and its application can prevent all injuries."*
"If thou canst
avail thyself of this spirit and fix it on some particular body thou wilt
perform the mystery of magic."
"He who knows
how to operate on men by this universal spirit, can heal, and this at any
distance that he pleases."**
"He who can
invigorate the particular spirit through the universal one, might continue his
life to eternity."***
"There is a
blending together of spirits, or of emanations, even when they are far
separated from each other. And what is this blending together? It is an eternal
and incessant outpouring of the rays of one body into another."
"In the
meantime," says Maxwell, "it is not without danger to treat of this.
Many abominable abuses of this may take place."
And now let us see
what are these abuses of mesmeric and magnetic powers in some healing mediums.
Healing, to deserve
the name, requires either faith in the patient, or robust health united with a
strong will, in the operator. With expectancy supplemented by faith, one can
cure himself of almost any morbific condition. The tomb of a saint; a holy
relic; a talisman; a bit of paper or a garment that has been handled by the
supposed healer; a nostrum; a penance, or a ceremonial; the laying on of hands,
or a few words impressively pronounced -- either will do. It is a question of
temperament, imagination, self-cure. In thousands of instances, the doctor, the
priest, or the relic has had credit for healings that were solely and simply
due to the patient's unconscious will. The woman with the bloody issue who
pressed through the throng to touch the robe of Jesus, was told that her
"faith" had made her whole.
The influence of
mind over the body is so powerful that it has effected miracles at all ages.
"How many
unhoped-for, sudden, and prodigious cures have been effected by
imagination," says Salverte. "Our medical books are filled with facts
of this nature which would easily pass for miracles."****
But, if the patient
has no faith, what then? If he is physically nega-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Aphorisms," 22.
** Ibid., p. 69.
*** Ibid., p. 70.
****
"Philosophie des Sciences Occultes."
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HEALING-MEDIUMS.
tive and receptive,
and the healer strong, healthy, positive, determined, the disease may be
extirpated by the imperative will of the operator, which, consciously or
unconsciously, draws to and reinforces itself with the universal spirit of
nature, and restores the disturbed equilibrium of the patient's aura. He may
employ as an auxiliary, a crucifix -- as Gassner did; or impose the hands and
"will," like the French Zouave Jacob, like our celebrated American,
Newton, the healer of many thousands of sufferers, and like many others; or
like Jesus, and some apostles, he may cure by the word of command. The process
in each case is the same.
In all these
instances, the cure is radical and real, and without secondary ill-effects.
But, when one who is himself physically diseased, attempts healing, he not only
fails of that, but often imparts his illness to his patient, and robs him of
what strength he may have. The decrepit King David reinforced his failing vigor
with the healthy magnetism of the young Abishag;* and the medical works tell us
of an aged lady of Bath, England, who broke down the constitutions of two maids
in succession, in the same way. The old sages, and Paracelsus also, removed
disease by applying a healthy organism to the afflicted part, and in the works
of the above-said fire-philosopher, their theory is boldly and categorically
set forth. If a diseased person -- medium or not -- attempts to heal, his force
may be sufficiently robust to displace the disease, to disturb it in the
present place, and cause it to shift to another, where shortly it will appear;
the patient, meanwhile, thinking himself cured.
But, what if the
healer be morally diseased? The consequences may be infinitely more
mischievous; for it is easier to cure a bodily disease than cleanse a
constitution infected with moral turpitude. The mystery of Morzine, Cevennes,
and that of the Jansenists, is still as great a mystery for physiologists as
for psychologists. If the gift of prophecy, as well as hysteria and convulsions,
can be imparted by "infection," why not every vice? The healer, in
such a case, conveys to his patient -- who is now his victim -- the moral
poison that infects his own mind and heart. His magnetic touch is defilement;
his glance, profanation. Against this insidious taint, there is no protection
for the passively-receptive subject. The healer holds him under his power,
spell-bound and powerless, as the serpent holds a poor, weak bird. The evil
that one such "healing medium" can effect is incalculably great; and
such healers there are by the hundred.
But, as we have
said before, there are real and God-like healers, who, notwithstanding all the
malice and skepticism of their bigoted opponents,
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* I Kings, i. 1-4,
15.
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have become famous
in the world's history. Such are the Cure d'Ars, of Lyons, Jacob, and Newton.
Such, also, were Gassner, the clergyman of Klorstele, and the well-known
Valentine Greatrakes, the ignorant and poor Irishman, who was endorsed by the
celebrated Robert Boyle, President of the Royal Society of London, in 1670. In
1870, he would have been sent to Bedlam, in company with other healers, if
another president of the same society had had the disposal of the case, or
Professor Lankester would have "summoned" him under the Vagrant Act
for practicing upon Her Majesty's subjects "by palmistry or
otherwise."
But, to close a
list of witnesses which might be extended indefinitely, it will suffice to say
that, from first to last, from Pythagoras down to Eliphas Levi, from highest to
humblest, every one teaches that the magical power is never possessed by those
addicted to vicious indulgences. Only the pure in heart "see God," or
exercise divine gifts -- only such can heal the ills of the body, and allow themselves,
with relative security, to be guided by the "invisible powers." Such
only can give peace to the disturbed spirits of their brothers and sisters, for
the healing waters come from no poisonous source; grapes do not grow on thorns,
and thistles bear no figs. But, for all this, "magic has nothing supernal
in it"; it is a science, and even the power of "casting out
devils" was a branch of it, of which the Initiates made a special study.
"That skill which expels demons out of human bodies, is a science useful
and sanative to men," says Josephus.*
The foregoing
sketches are sufficient to show why we hold fast to the wisdom of the ages, in
preference to any new theories that may have been hatched from the occurrences
of our later days, respecting the laws of intermundane intercourse and the
occult powers of man. While phenomena of a physical nature may have their value
as a means of arousing the interest of materialists, and confirming, if not
wholly, at least inferentially, our belief in the survival of our souls and
spirits, it is questionable whether, under their present aspect, the modern
phenomena are not doing more harm than good. Many minds, hungering after proofs
of immortality, are fast falling into fanaticism; and, as Stow remarks,
"fanatics are governed rather by imagination than judgment."
Undoubtedly,
believers in the modern phenomena can claim for themselves a diversity of
endowments, but the "discerning of spirits" is evidently absent from
this catalogue of "spiritual" gifts. Speaking of the
"Diakka," whom he one fine morning had discovered in a shady corner
of the "Summer Land," A. J. Davis, the great American seer, remarks:
"A Diakka is one who takes insane delight in playing parts, in juggling
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Josephus:
"Antiquities," viii., 2.
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PORPHYRY'S BAD DEMONS.
tricks, in personating
opposite characters; to whom prayer and profane utterances are of equi-value;
surcharged with a passion for lyrical narrations; . . . morally deficient, he
is without the active feelings of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection.
He knows nothing of what men call the sentiment of gratitude; the ends of hate
and love are the same to him; his motto is often fearful and terrible to others
-- SELF is the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation the end of all
private life.* Only yesterday, one said to a lady medium, signing himself
Swedenborg, this: 'Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be, that I AM; and
private life is but the aggregative phantasms of thinking throblets, rushing in
their rising onward to the central heart of eternal death!' "**
Porphyry, whose
works -- to borrow the expression of an irritated phenomenalist -- "are
mouldering like every other antiquated trash in the closets of oblivion,"
speaks thus of these Diakka -- if such be their name -- rediscovered in the
nineteenth century: "It is with the direct help of these bad demons, that
every kind of sorcery is accomplished . . . it is the result of their
operations, and men who injure their fellow-creatures by enchantments, usually
pay great honors to these bad demons, and especially to their chief. These
spirits pass their time in deceiving us, with a great display of cheap
prodigies and illusions; their ambition is to be taken for gods, and their
leader demands to be recognized as the supreme god."***
The spirit signing himself
Swedenborg -- just quoted from Davis's Diakka, and hinting that he is the I AM,
singularly resembles this chief leader of Porphyry's bad demons.
What more natural
than this vilification of the ancient and experienced theurgists by certain
mediums, when we find Iamblichus, the expositor of spiritualistic theurgy,
strictly forbidding all endeavors to procure such phenomenal manifestations;
unless, after a long preparation of moral and physical purification, and under
the guidance of experienced theurgists. When, furthermore, he declares that,
with very few exceptions, for a person "to appear elongated or thicker, or
be borne aloft in the air," is a sure mark of obsession by bad demons.****
Everything in this
world has its time, and truth, however based upon unimpeachable evidence, will
not root or grow, unless, like a plant, it is thrown into soil in its proper
season. "The age must be prepared,"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Diakka
and their Victims; an Explanation of the False and Repulsive in
Spiritualism."
** See Chapter on
the human spirits becoming the denizens of the eighth sphere, whose end is
generally the annihilation of personal individuality.
*** Porphyry:
"On the Good and Bad Demons."
**** "De
Mysteriis Egyptorum," lib. iii., c. 5.
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says Professor
Cooke; and some thirty years ago this humble work would have been doomed to
self-destruction by its own contents. But the modern phenomenon,
notwithstanding the daily exposes, the ridicule with which it is crowned at the
hand of every materialist, and its own numerous errors, grows and waxes strong
in facts, if not in wisdom and spirit. What would have appeared twenty years
ago simply preposterous, may well be listened to now that the phenomena are
endorsed by great scientists. Unfortunately, if the manifestations increase in
power daily, there is no corresponding improvement in philosophy. The
discernment of spirits is still as wanting as ever.
Perhaps, among the
whole body of spiritualist writers of our day, not one is held in higher esteem
for character, education, sincerity, and ability, than Epes Sargent, of Boston,
Massachusetts. His monograph entitled The Proof Palpable of Immortality,
deservedly occupies a high rank among works upon the subject. With every
disposition to be charitable and apologetic for mediums and their phenomena,
Mr. Sargent is still compelled to use the following language: "The power
of spirits to reproduce simulacra of persons who have passed from the
earth-life, suggests the question -- How far can we be assured of the identity
of any spirit, let the tests be what they may? We have not yet arrived at that
stage of enlightenment that would enable us to reply confidently to this
inquiry. . . . There is much that is yet a puzzle in the language and action of
this class of materialized spirits." As to the intellectual calibre of
most of the spirits which lurk behind the physical phenomena, Mr. Sargent will
unquestionably be accepted as a most competent judge, and he says, "the
great majority, as in this world, are of the unintellectual sort." If it
is a fair question, we would like to ask why they should be so lacking in
intelligence, if they are human spirits? Either intelligent human spirits
cannot materialize, or, the spirits that do materialize have not human
intelligence, and, therefore, by Mr. Sargent's own showing, they may just as
well be "elementary" spirits, who have ceased to be human altogether,
or those demons, which, according to the Persian Magi and Plato, hold a middle
rank between gods and disembodied men.
There is good
evidence, that of Mr. Crookes for one, to show that many
"materialized" spirits talk in an audible voice. Now, we have shown,
on the testimony of ancients, that the voice of human spirits is not and cannot
be articulated; being, as Emanuel Swedenborg declares, "a deep suspiration."
Who of the two classes of witnesses may be trusted more safely? Is it the
ancients who had the experience of so many ages in theurgical practices, or
modern spiritualists, who have had none at all, and who have no facts upon
which to base an opinion, except such as have been communicated by
"spirits," whose identity they have no means
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CEVENNES.
of proving? There
are mediums whose organisms have called out sometimes hundreds of these
would-be "human" forms. And yet we do not recollect to have seen or
heard of one expressing anything but the most commonplace ideas. This fact
ought surely to arrest the attention of even the most uncritical spiritualist.
If a spirit can speak at all, and if the way is opened to intelligent as well
as to unintellectual beings, why should they not sometimes give us addresses in
some remote degree approximating in quality to the communications we receive
through the "direct writing"? Mr. Sargent puts forward a very
suggestive and important idea in this sentence. "How far they are limited
in their mental operations and in their recollections by the act of
materialization, or how far by the intellectual horizon of the medium is still
a question."* If the same kind of "spirits" materialize that
produce the direct writing, and both manifest through mediums, and the one talk
nonsense, while the other often give us sublime philosophical teachings, why
should their mental operations be limited "by the intellectual horizon of
the medium" in the one instance more than in the other? The materializing
mediums -- at least so far as our observation extends -- are no more uneducated
than many peasants and mechanics who at different times have, under supernal
influences, given profound and sublime ideas to the world. The history of
psychology teems with examples in illustration of this point, among which that
of Boehme, the inspired but ignorant shoemaker, and our own Davis, are
conspicuous. As to the matter of unintellectuality we presume that no more
striking cases need be sought than those of the child-prophets of Cevennes,
poets and seers, such as have been mentioned in previous chapters. When spirits
have once furnished themselves with vocal organs to speak at all, it surely
ought to be no more difficult for them to talk as persons of their assumed
respective education, intelligence, and social rank would in life, instead of
falling invariably into one monotonous tone of commonplace and, but too often,
platitude. As to Mr. Sargent's hopeful remark, that "the science of
Spiritualism being still in its infancy, we may hope for more light on this
question," we fear we must reply, that it is not through "dark
cabinets" that this light will ever break.**
It is simply
ridiculous and absurd to require from every investigator who comes forward as a
witness to the marvels of the day and psychological phenomena the diploma of a
master of arts and sciences. The experience of the past forty years is an
evidence that it is not always the minds which are the most
"scientifically trained" that are the best in matters of simple
common sense and honest truth. Nothing blinds like
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Epes Sargent:
"Proof Palpable of Immortality," p. 45.
** See Matthew
xxiv. 26.
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fanaticism, or a
one-sided view of a question. We may take as an illustration Oriental magic or
ancient spiritualism, as well as the modern phenomena. Hundreds, nay thousands
of perfectly trustworthy witnesses, returning from residence and travels in the
East, have testified to the fact that uneducated fakirs, sheiks, dervishes, and
lamas have, in their presence, without confederates or mechanical appliances,
produced wonders. They have affirmed that the phenomena exhibited by them were
in contravention of all the known laws of science, and thus tended to prove the
existence of many yet unknown occult potencies in nature, seemingly directed by
preterhuman intelligences. What has been the attitude assumed by our scientists
toward this subject? How far did the testimony of the most
"scientifically" trained minds make impression on their own? Did the
investigations of Professors Hare and de Morgan, of Crookes and Wallace, de
Gasparin and Thury, Wagner and Butlerof, etc., shake for one moment their
skepticism? How were the personal experiences of Jacolliot with the fakirs of
India received, or the psychological elucidations of Professor Perty, of
Geneva, viewed? How far does the loud cry of mankind, craving for palpable and
demonstrated signs of a God, an individual soul, and of eternity, affect them;
and what is their response? They pull down and destroy every vestige of
spiritual things, but they erect nothing. "We cannot get such signs with
either retorts or crucibles," they say; "hence, it's all but a
delusion!" In this age of cold reason and prejudice, even the Church has
to look to science for help. Creeds built on sand, and high-towering but
rootless dogmas, crumble down under the cold breath of research, and pull down
true religion in their fall. But the longing for some outward sign of a God and
a life hereafter, remains as tenaciously as ever in the human heart. In vain is
all sophistry of science; it can never stifle the voice of nature. Only her
representatives have poisoned the pure waters of simple faith, and now humanity
mirrors itself in waters made turbid with all the mud stirred up from the
bottom of the once pure spring. The anthropomorphic God of our fathers is
replaced by anthropomorphic monsters; and what is still worse, by the
reflection of humanity itself in these waters, whose ripples send it back the
distorted images of truth and facts as evoked by its misguided imagination.
"It is not a miracle that we want," writes the Reverend Brooke
Herford, "but to find palpable evidence of the spiritual and the divine.
It is not to the prophets that men cry for such a 'sign,' but rather to the
scientists. Men feel as if all that groping about in the foremost verge or
innermost recesses of creation should bring the investigator at length close to
the deep, underlying facts of all things, to some unmistakable signs of
God." The signs are there, and the scientists too; what can we expect more
of them, now
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PROTOPLASM.
that they have done
so well their duty? Have they not, these Titans of thought, dragged down God
from His hiding-place, and given us instead a protoplasm?
At the Edinburgh
meeting of the British Association, in 1871, Sir William Thomson said:
"Science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fearlessly every
problem which can fairly be presented to it." In his turn, Professor
Huxley remarks: "With regard to the miracle-question, I can only say that
the word 'impossible' is not, to my mind, applicable to matters of
philosophy." The great Humboldt remarks that "a presumptuous skepticism
that rejects facts without examination of their truth is, in some respects,
more injurious than unquestioning credulity."
These men have
proved untrue to their own teachings. The opportunity afforded them by the
opening of the Orient, to investigate for themselves the phenomena alleged by
every traveller to take place in those countries, has been rejected. Did our
physiologists and pathologists ever so much as think of availing themselves of
it to settle this most momentous subject of human thought? Oh, no; for they would
never dare. It is not to be expected that the principal Academicians of Europe
and America should undertake a joint journey to Thibet and India, and
investigate the fakir marvel on the spot! And were one of them to go as a
solitary pilgrim and witness all the miracles of creation, in that land of
wonders, who, of his colleagues, could be expected to believe his testimony?
It would be as
tedious as superfluous to begin a restatement of facts, so forcibly put by
others, Mr. Wallace and W. Howitt,* have repeatedly and cleverly described the
thousand and one absurd errors into which the learned societies of France and
England have fallen, through their blind skepticism. If Cuvier could throw
aside the fossil excavated in 1828 by Boue, the French geologist, only because
the anatomist thought himself wiser than his colleague, and would not believe
that human skeletons could be found eighty feet deep in the mud of the Rhine;
and if the French Academy could discredit the assertions of Boucher de Perthes,
in 1846, only to be criticised in its turn in 1860, when the truth of de
Perthes' discoveries and observations was fully confirmed by the whole body of
geologists finding flint weapons in the drift-gravels of northern France; and
if McEnery's testimony, in 1825, to the fact that he had discovered worked
flints, together with the remains of extinct animals, in Kent's Hole Cavern**
was laughed at; and that of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Wallace,
"Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," and W. Howitt, "History of
the Supernatural," vol. ii.
** See Wallace's
paper read before the Dialectical Society, in 1871: "Answer to Hume,
etc."
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Godwin Austen to
the same effect, in 1840, ridiculed still more, if that were possible; and all
that excess of scientific skepticism and merriment could, in 1865, finally come
to grief, and be shown to have been entirely uncalled for; when -- says Mr.
Wallace "all the previous reports for forty years were confirmed and shown
to be even less wonderful than the reality;" -- who can be so credulous as
to believe in the infallibility of our science? And why wonder at the
exhibition of such a lack of moral courage in individual members of this great
and stubborn body known as modern science?
Thus fact after
fact has been discredited. From all sides we hear constant complaints.
"Very little is known of psychology!" sighs one F. R. S. "We
must confess that we know little, if anything, in physiology," says
another. "Of all sciences, there is none which rests upon so uncertain a
basis as medicine," reluctantly testifies a third. "What do we know
about the presumed nervous fluids? . . . Nothing, as yet," puts in a
fourth one; and so on in every branch of science. And, meanwhile, phenomena,
surpassing in interest all others of nature, and to be solved only by
physiology, psychology, and the "as yet unknown" fluids, are either
rejected as delusions, or, if even true, "do not interest"
scientists. Or, what is still worse, when a subject, whose organism exhibits in
itself the most important features of such occult though natural potencies,
offers his person for an investigation, instead of an honest experiment being
attempted with him he finds himself entrapped by a scientist (?) and paid for
his trouble with a sentence of three months' imprisonment! This is indeed
promising.
It is easy to
comprehend that a fact given in 1731, testifying to another fact which happened
during the papacy of Paul III., for instance, is disbelieved in 1876. And when
scientists are told that the Romans preserved lights in their sepulchres for
countless years by the oiliness of gold; and that one of such ever-burning
lamps was found brightly burning in the tomb of Tullia, the daughter of Cicero,
notwithstanding that the tomb had been shut up fifteen hundred and fifty
years,* -- they have a certain right to doubt, and even disbelieve the
statement, until they assure themselves, on the evidence of their own senses,
that such a thing is possible. In such a case they can reject the testimony of
all the ancient and medieval philosophers. The burial of living fakirs and
their subsequent resuscitation, after thirty days of inhumation, may have a
suspicious look to them. So also with the self-infliction of mortal wounds, and
the exhibition of their own bowels to the persons present by various lamas, who
heal such wounds almost instantaneously.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
[["Philologos"]] (Bailey's), second edition.
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ALCHEMY.
For certain men who
deny the evidence of their own senses as to phenomena produced in their own
country, and before numerous witnesses, the narratives to be found in classical
books, and in the notes of travellers, must of course seem absurd. But what we
will never be able to understand is the collective stubbornness of the
Academies, in the face of such bitter lessons in the past, to these
institutions which have so often "darkened counsel by words without
knowledge." Like the Lord answering Job "out of the whirlwind,"
magic can say to modern science: "Where wast thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding!" And, who
art thou who dare say to nature, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no
further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed"?
But what matters it
if they do deny? Can they prevent phenomena taking place in the four corners of
the world, if their skepticism were a thousand times more bitter? Fakirs will
still be buried and resuscitated, gratifying the curiosity of European
travellers; and lamas and Hindu ascetics will wound, mutilate, and even
disembowel themselves, and find themselves all the better for it; and the
denials of the whole world will not blow sufficiently to extinguish the
perpetually-burning lamps in certain of the subterranean crypts of India,
Thibet, and Japan. One of such lamps is mentioned by the Rev. S. Mateer, of the
London Mission. In the temple of Trevandrum, in the kingdom of Travancore,
South India, "there is a deep well inside the temple, into which immense
riches are thrown year by year, and in another place, in a hollow covered by a
stone, a great golden lamp, which was lit over 120 years ago, still continues
burning," says this missionary in his description of the place. Catholic
missionaries attribute these lamps, as a matter of course, to the obliging
services of the devil. The more prudent Protestant divine mentions the fact,
and makes no commentary. The Abbe Huc has seen and examined one of such lamps,
and so have other people whose good luck it has been to win the confidence and
friendship of Eastern lamas and divines. No more can be denied the wonders seen
by Captain Lane in Egypt; the Benares experiences of Jacolliot and those of Sir
Charles Napier; the levitations of human beings in broad daylight, and which
can be accounted for only on the explanation given in the Introductory chapter
of the present work.* Such levitations are testified to -- besides Mr. Crookes
-- by Professor Perty, who shows them produced in open air, and lasting
sometimes twenty minutes; all these phenomena and many more have happened, do,
and will happen in every country of this globe, and that in spite of all the
skeptics and scientists that ever were evolved out of the Silurian mud.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Art. on
"AEthrobacy."
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Among the ridiculed
claims of alchemy is that of the perpetual lamps. If we tell the reader that we
have seen such, we may be asked -- in case that the sincerity of our personal
belief is not questioned -- how we can tell that the lamps we have observed are
perpetual, as the period of our observation was but limited? Simply that, as we
know the ingredients employed, and the manner of their construction, and the
natural law applicable to the case, we are confident that our statement can be
corroborated upon investigation in the proper quarter. What that quarter is,
and from whom that knowledge can be learned, our critics must discover, by
taking the pains we did. Meanwhile, however, we will quote a few of the 173
authorities who have written upon the subject. None of these, as we recollect,
have asserted that these sepulchral lamps would burn perpetually, but only for
an indefinite number of years, and instances are recorded of their continuing
alight for many centuries. It will not be denied that, if there is a natural
law by which a lamp can be made without replenishment to burn ten years, there
is no reason why the same law could not cause the combustion to continue one
hundred or one thousand years.
Among the many
well-known personages who firmly believed and strenuously asserted that such
sepulchral lamps burned for several hundreds of years, and would have continued
to burn may be forever, had they not been extinguished, or the vessels broken
by some accident, we may reckon the following names: Clemens Alexandrinus,
Hermolaus Barbarus, Appian, Burattinus, Citesius, Coelius, Foxius, Costaeus,
Casalius, Cedrenus, Delrius, Ericius, Gesnerus, Jacobonus, Leander, Libavius,
Lazius, P. della Mirandola, Philalethes, Licetus, Maiolus, Maturantius,
Baptista Porta, Pancirollus, Ruscellius, Scardeonius, Ludovicus Vives,
Volateranus, Paracelsus, several Arabian alchemists, and finally, Pliny,
Solinus, Kircher, and Albertus Magnus.
The discovery is
claimed by the ancient Egyptians, those sons of the Land of Chemistry.* At
least, they were a people who used these lamps far more than any other nation,
on account of their religious doctrines. The astral soul of the mummy was
believed to be lingering about the body for the whole space of the three
thousand years of the circle of necessity. Attached to it by a magnetic thread,
which could be broken but by its own exertion, the Egyptians hoped that the
ever-burning lamp, symbol of their incorruptible and immortal spirit, would at
last decide the more material soul to part with its earthly dwelling, and unite
forever with its divine SELF. Therefore lamps were hung in the sepulchres of
the rich. Such lamps are often found in the subterranean caves of the dead,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Psalm cv. 23.
"The Land of Ham," or chem, Greek [[chemi]], whence the terms alchemy
and chemistry.
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ATTESTE.
and Licetus has
written a large folio to prove that in his time, whenever a sepulchre was
opened, a burning lamp was found within the tomb, but was instantaneously
extinguished on account of the desecration. T. Livius, Burattinus, and Michael
Schatta, in their letters to Kircher,* affirm that they found many lamps in the
subterranean caves of old Memphis. Pausanias speaks of the golden lamp in the
temple of Minerva at Athens, which he says was the workmanship of Callimachus,
and burnt a whole year. Plutarch** affirms that he saw one in the temple of
Jupiter Amun, and that the priests assured him that it had burnt continually
for years, and though it stood in the open air, neither wind nor water could
extinguish it. St. Augustine, the Catholic authority, also describes a lamp in
the fane of Venus, of the same nature as the others, unextinguishable either by
the strongest wind or by water. A lamp was found at Edessa, says Kedrenus,
"which, being hidden at the top of a certain gate, burned 500 years."
But of all such lamps, the one mentioned by Olybius Maximus of Padua is by far
the more wonderful. It was found near Atteste, and Scardeonius*** gives a
glowing description of it: "In a large earthen urn was contained a lesser,
and in that a burning lamp, which had continued so for 1500 years, by means of
a most pure liquor contained in two bottles, one of gold and the other of
silver. These are in the custody of Franciscus Maturantius, and are by him
valued at an exceeding rate."
Taking no account
of exaggerations, and putting aside as mere unsupported negation the
affirmation by modern science of the impossibility of such lamps, we would ask
whether, in case these inextinguishable fires are found to have really existed
in the ages of "miracles," the lamps burning at Christian shrines and
those of Jupiter, Minerva, and other Pagan deities, ought to be differently
regarded. According to certain theologians, it would appear that the former
(for Christianity also claims such lamps) have burned by a divine, miraculous
power, and that the light of the latter, made by "heathen" art, was
supported by the wiles of the devil. Kircher and Licetus show that they were
ordered in these two diverse ways. The lamp at Antioch, which burned 1500
years, in an open and public place, over the door of a church, was preserved by
the "power of God," who "hath made so infinite a number of stars
to burn with perpetual light." As to the Pagan lamps, St. Augustine
assures us they were the work of the devil, "who deceives us in a thousand
ways." What more easy for Satan to do than represent a flash of light, or
a bright flame to them who first enter into such a subterranean cave? This was
as-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "OEdipi
AEgyptiaci Theatrum Hieroglyphicum," p. 544.
** "Lib. de
Defectu Oraculorum."
*** Lib. i., Class
3, Cap. ult.
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serted by all good
Christians during the Papacy of Paul III., when upon opening a tomb in the
Appian Way, at Rome, there was found the entire body of a young girl swimming
in a bright liquor which had so well preserved it, that the face was beautiful
and like life itself. At her feet burned a lamp, whose flame vanished upon
opening the sepulchre. From some engraved signs it was found to have been
buried for over 1500 years, and supposed to have been the body of Tulliola, or
Tullia, Cicero's daughter.*
Chemists and
physicists deny that perpetual lamps are possible, alleging that whatever is
resolved into vapor or smoke cannot be permanent, but must consume; and as the
oily nutriment of a lighted lamp is exhaled into a vapor, hence the fire cannot
be perpetual for want of food. Alchemists, on the other hand, deny that all the
nourishment of kindled fire must of necessity be converted into vapor. They say
that there are things in nature which will not only resist the force of fire
and remain inconsumable, but will also prove inextinguishable by either wind or
water. In an old chemical work of the year 1700, called [[Nekrokedeia]], the
author gives a number of refutations of the claims of various alchemists. But
though he denies that a fire can be made to burn perpetually, he is
half-inclined to believe it possible that a lamp should burn several hundred
years. Besides, we have a mass of testimony from alchemists who devoted years
to these experiments and came to the conclusion that it was possible.
There are some
peculiar preparations of gold, silver, and mercury; also of naphtha, petroleum,
and other bituminous oils. Alchemists also name the oil of camphor and amber,
the Lapis asbestos seu Amianthus, the Lapis Carystius, Cyprius, and Linum vivum
seu Creteum, as employed for such lamps. They affirm that such matter can be
prepared either of gold or silver, reduced to fluid, and indicate that gold is
the fittest pabulum for their wondrous flame, as, of all metals, gold wastes
the least when either heated or melted, and, moreover, can be made to reabsorb
its oily humidity as soon as exhaled, so continuously feeding its own flame
when it is once lighted. The Kabalists assert that the secret was known to
Moses, who had learned it from the Egyptians; and that the lamp ordered by the
"Lord" to burn on the tabernacle, was an inextinguishable lamp.
"And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure
oil-olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always" (Exod.
xxvii. 20).
Licetus also denies
that these lamps were prepared of metal, but on
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The details of this
story may be found in the work of Erasmus Franciscus, who quotes from
Pflaumerus, Pancirollus, and many others.
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UNQUENCHABLE LIGHT.
page 44 of his work
mentions a preparation of quicksilver filtrated seven times through white sand
by fire, of which, he says, lamps were made that would burn perpetually. Both
Maturantius and Citesius firmly believe that such a work can be done by a
purely chemical process. This liquor of quicksilver was known among alchemists
as Aqua Mercurialis, Materia Metallorum, Perpetua Dispositio, and Materia prima
Artis, also Oleum Vitri. Tritenheim and Bartolomeo Korndorf both made
preparations for the inextinguishable fire, and left their recipes for it.*
Asbestos, which was
known to the Greeks under the name of [[Asbestos]], or inextinguishable, is a
kind of stone, which once set on fire
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Sulphur.
Alum ust. a iv.; sublime them into flowers to ij., of which add of crystalline
Venetian borax (powdered) j.; upon these affuse high rectified spirit of wine
and digest it, then abstract it and pour on fresh; repeat this so often till
the sulphur melts like wax without any smoke, upon a hot plate of brass: this
is for the pabulum, but the wick is to be prepared after this manner: gather
the threads or thrums of the Lapis asbestos, to the thickness of your middle
and the length of your little finger, then put them into a Venetian glass, and
covering them over with the aforesaid depurated sulphur or aliment, set the
glass in sand for the space of twenty-four hours, so hot that the sulphur may
bubble all the while. The wick being thus besmeared and anointed, is to be put
into a glass like a scallop-shell, in such manner that some part of it may lie
above the mass of prepared sulphur; then setting this glass upon hot sand, you
must melt the sulphur, so that it may lay hold of the wick, and when it is
lighted, it will burn with a perpetual flame and you may set this lamp in any
place where you please."
The other is as
follows:
". Solis
tosti, lb. j.; affuse over it strong wine vinegar, and abstract it to the consistency
of oil; then put on fresh vinegar and macerate and distill it as before. Repeat
this four times successively, then put into this vinegar vitr. antimonii
subtilis loevigat, lb. j.; set it on ashes in a close vessel for the space of
six hours, to extract its tincture, decant the liquor, and put on fresh, and
then extract it again; this repeat so often till you have got out all the
redness. Coagulate your extractions to the consistency of oil, and then rectify
them in Balneo Mariae (bain Marie). Then take the antimony, from which the
tincture was extracted, and reduce it to a very fine meal, and so put it into a
glass bolthead; pour upon it the rectified oil, which abstract and cohobate
seven times, till such time as the powder has imbibed all the oil, and is quite
dry. This extract again with spirit of wine, so often, till all the essence be
got out of it, which put into a Venice matrass, well luted with paper
five-fold, and then distill it so that the spirit being drawn off, there may
remain at the bottom an inconsumable oil, to be used with a wick after the same
manner with the sulphur we have described before."
"These are the
eternal lights of Tritenheimus," says Libavius, his commentator,
"which indeed, though they do not agree with the pertinacy of naphtha, yet
these things can illustrate one another. Naphtha is not so durable as not to be
burned, for it exhales and deflagrates, but if it be fixed by adding the juice
of the Lapis asbestinos it can afford perpetual fuel," says this learned person.
We may add that we
have ourselves seen a lamp so prepared, and we are told that since it was first
lighted on May 2, 1871, it has not gone out. As we know the person who is
making the experiment incapable to deceive any one, being himself an ardent
experimenter in hermetic secrets, we have no reason to doubt his assertion.
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cannot be quenched,
as Pliny and Solinus tell us. Albertus Magnus describes it as a stone of an
iron color, found mostly in Arabia. It is generally found covered with a
hardly-perceptible oleaginous moisture, which upon being approached with a
lighted candle will immediately catch fire. Many were the experiments made by
chemists to extract from it this indissoluble oil, but they are alleged to have
all failed. But, are our chemists prepared to say that the above operation is
utterly impracticable? If this oil could once be extracted there can be no
question but it would afford a perpetual fuel. The ancients might well boast of
having had the secret of it, for, we repeat, there are experimenters living at
this day who have done so successfully. Chemists who have vainly tried it, have
asserted that the fluid or liquor chemically extracted from that stone was more
of a watery than oily nature, and so impure and feculent that it could not
burn; others affirmed, on the contrary, that the oil, as soon as exposed to the
air, became so thick and solid that it would hardly flow, and when lighted
emitted no flame, but escaped in dark smoke; whereas the lamps of the ancients
are alleged to have burned with the purest and brightest flame, without
emitting the slightest smoke. Kircher, who shows the practicability of
purifying it, thinks it so difficult as to be accessible only to the highest
adepts of alchemy.
St. Augustine, who
attributes the whole of these arts to the Christian scapegoat, the devil, is
flatly contradicted by Ludovicus Vives,* who shows that all such would-be
magical operations are the work of man's industry and deep study of the hidden
secrets of nature, wonderful and miraculous as they may seem. Podocattarus, a
Cypriote knight,** had both flax and linen made out of another asbestos, which
Porcacchius says*** he saw at the house of this knight. Pliny calls this flax
linum vinum, and Indian flax, and says it is done out of asbeston sive
asbestinum, a kind of flax of which they made cloth that was to be cleaned by
throwing it in the fire. He adds that it was as precious as pearls and
diamonds, for not only was it very rarely found but exceedingly difficult to be
woven, on account of the shortness of the threads. Being beaten flat with a
hammer, it is soaked in warm water, and when dried its filaments can be easily
divided into threads like flax and woven into cloth. Pliny asserts he has seen
some towels made of it, and assisted in an experiment of purifying them by
fire. Baptista Porta also states that he found the same, at Venice, in the
hands of a Cyprian lady; he calls this discovery of Alchemy a secretum optimum.
Dr. Grew, in his
description of the curiosities in Gresham College
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Commentary
upon St. Augustine's 'Treatise de Civitate Dei.' "
** The author of
"De Rebus Cypriis," 1566 A. D.
*** "Book of
Ancient Funerals."
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ASBESTOS.
(seventeenth
century), believes the art, as well as the use of such linen, altogether lost,
but it appears that it was not quite so, for we find the Museum Septalius
boasting of the possession of thread, ropes, paper, and net-work done of this
material as late as 1726; some of these articles made, moreover, by the own
hand of Septalius, as we learn in Greenhill's Art of Embalming, p. 361.
"Grew," says the author, "seems to make Asbestinus Lapis and
Amianthus all one, and calls them in English the thrum-stone"; he says it
grows in short threads or thrums, from about a quarter of an inch to an inch in
length, parallel and glossy, as fine as those small, single threads the
silk-worms spin, and very flexible like to flax or tow. That the secret is not
altogether lost is proved by the fact that some Buddhist convents in China and
Thibet are in possession of it. Whether made of the fibre of one or the other
of such stones, we cannot say, but we have seen in a monastery of female
Talapoins, a yellow gown, such as the Buddhist monks wear, thrown into a large
pit, full of glowing coals, and taken out two hours afterward as clear as if it
had been washed with soap and water.
Similar severe
trials of asbestos having occurred in Europe and America in our own times, the
substance is being applied to various industrial purposes, such as
roofing-cloth, incombustible dresses and fireproof safes. A very valuable
deposit on Staten Island, in New York harbor, yields the mineral in bundles,
like dry wood, with fibres of several feet in length. The finer variety of
asbestos, called [[amiantos]] (undefiled) by the ancients, took its name from
its white, satin-like lustre.
The ancients made
the wick of their perpetual lamps from another stone also, which they called
Lapis Carystius. The inhabitants of the city of Carystos seemed to have made no
secret of it, as Matthaeus Raderus says in his work* that they "kemb'd,
spun, and wove this downy stone into mantles, table-linen, and the like, which
when foul they purified again with fire instead of water." Pausanias, in
Atticus, and Plutarch** also assert that the wicks of lamps were made from this
stone; but Plutarch adds that it was no more to be found in his time. Licetus
is inclined to believe that the perpetual lamps used by the ancients in their
sepulchres had no wicks at all, as very few have been found; but Ludovicus
Vives is of a contrary opinion and affirms that he has seen quite a number of
them.
Licetus, moreover,
is firmly persuaded that a "pabulum for fire may be given with such an
equal temperament as cannot be consumed but after a long series of ages, and so
that neither the matter shall exhale
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Comment. on
the 77th Epigram of the IXth Book of Martial."
** "De Defectu
Oraculorum."
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but strongly resist
the fire, nor the fire consume the matter, but be restrained by it, as it were
with a chain, from flying upward." To this, Sir Thomas Browne,* speaking
of lamps which have burned many hundred years, included in small bodies,
observes that "this proceeds from the purity of the oil, which yields no
fuliginous exhalations to suffocate the fire; for if air had nourished the
flame, then it had not continued many minutes, for it would certainly in that case
have been spent and wasted by the fire." But he adds, "the art of
preparing this inconsumable oil is lost."
Not quite; and time
will prove it, though all that we now write should be doomed to fail, like so
many other truths.
We are told, in
behalf of science, that she accepts no other mode of investigation than
observation and experiment. Agreed; and have we not the records of say three
thousand years of observation of facts going to prove the occult powers of man?
As to experiment, what better opportunity could have been asked than the
so-called modern phenomena have afforded? In 1869, various scientific
Englishmen were invited by the London Dialectical Society to assist in an
investigation of these phenomena. Let us see what our philosophers replied. Professor
Huxley wrote: "I have no time for such an inquiry, which would involve
much trouble and (unless it were unlike all inquiries of that kind I have
known) much annoyance. . . . I take no interest in the subject . . . but
supposing the phenomena to be genuine -- they do not interest me."** Mr.
George H. Lewes expresses a wise thing in the following sentence: "When
any man says that phenomena are produced by no known physical laws, he declares
he knows the laws by which they are produced."*** Professor Tyndall
expresses doubt as to the possibility of good results at any seance which he
might attend. His presence, according to the opinion of Mr. Varley, throws
everything in confusion.**** Professor Carpenter writes, "I have satisfied
myself by personal investigation, that, whilst a great number of what pass as
such (i.e., spiritual manifestations) are the results of intentional imposture,
and many others of self-deception, there are certain phenomena which are quite
genuine, and must be considered as fair subjects of scientific study . . . the
source of these phenomena does not lie in any communication ab-extra, but
depends upon the subjective condition of the individual which operates
according to certain recognized physiological laws . . . the process to which I
have given the name 'unconscious cerebration' . . . performs a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Vulgar
Errors," p. 124.
** "London
Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," p. 229.
*** Ibid., p. 230.
**** Ibid., p. 265.
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UNCONSCIOUSLY CEREBRATE?
large part in the
production of the phenomena known as spiritualistic."*
And it is thus that
the world is apprised through the organ of exact science, that unconscious
cerebration has acquired the faculty of making the guitars fly in the air and
forcing furniture to perform various clownish tricks!
So much for the
opinions of the English scientists. The Americans have not done much better. In
1857, a committee of Harvard University warned the public against investigating
this subject, which "corrupts the morals and degrades the intellect."
They called it, furthermore, "a contaminating influence, which surely
tends to lessen the truth of man and the purity of woman." Later, when
Professor Robert Hare, the great chemist, defying the opinions of his
contemporaries, investigated spiritualism, and became a believer, he was
immediately declared non compos mentis; and in 1874, when one of the New York
daily papers addressed a circular letter to the principal scientists of this
country, asking them to investigate, and offering to pay the expenses, they,
like the guests bidden to the supper, "with one consent, began to make
excuses."
Yet, despite the
indifference of Huxley, the jocularity of Tyndall, and the "unconscious
cerebration" of Carpenter, many a scientist as noted as either of them,
has investigated the unwelcome subject, and, overwhelmed with the evidence,
become converted. And another scientist, and a great author -- although not a
spiritualist -- bears this honorable testimony: "That the spirits of the
dead occasionally revisit the living, or haunt their former abodes, has been in
all ages, in all European countries, a fixed belief, not confined to rustics,
but participated in by the intelligent. . . . If human testimony on such
subjects can be of any value, there is a body of evidence reaching from the
remotest ages to the present time, as extensive and unimpeachable as is to be
found in support of anything whatever."**
Unfortunately,
human skepticism is a stronghold capable of defying any amount of testimony.
And to begin with Mr. Huxley, our men of science accept of but so much as suits
them, and no more.
"Oh shame to
men! devil with devil damn'd
Firm concord holds,
-- men only disagree
Of creatures
rational. . . ."***
How can we account
for such divergence of views among men taught out of the same text-books and
deriving their knowledge from the same
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid., p. 266.
** Draper:
"Conflict between Religion and Science," p. 121.
*** Milton:
"Paradise Lost."
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source? Clearly,
this is but one more corroboration of the truism that no two men see the same
thing exactly alike. This idea is admirably formulated by Dr. J. J. Garth
Wilkinson, in a letter to the Dialectical Society.
"I have
long," says he, "been convinced, by the experience of my life as a
pioneer in several heterodoxies which are rapidly becoming orthodoxies, that
nearly all truth is temperamental to us, or given in the affections and
intuitions, and that discussion and inquiry do little more than feed
temperament."
This profound
observer might have added to his experience that of Bacon, who remarks that
". . . a little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in
philosophy bringeth man's mind about to religion."
Professor Carpenter
vaunts the advanced philosophy of the present day which "ignores no fact
however strange that can be attested by valid evidence"; and yet he would
be the first to reject the claims of the ancients to philosophical and
scientific knowledge, although based upon evidence quite "as valid"
as that which supports the pretensions of men of our times to philosophical or
scientific distinction. In the department of science, let us take for example
the subjects of electricity and electro-magnetism, which have exalted the names
of Franklin and Morse to so high a place upon our roll of fame. Six centuries
before the Christian era, Thales is said to have discovered the electric
properties of amber; and yet the later researches of Schweigger, as given in
his extensive works on Symbolism, have thoroughly demonstrated that all the
ancient mythologies were based on the science of natural philosophy, and show
that the most occult properties of electricity and magnetism were known to the
theurgists of the earliest Mysteries recorded in history, those of Samothrace.
Diodorus, of Sicily, Herodotus, and Sanchoniathon, the Phoenician -- the oldest
of historians -- tell us that these Mysteries originated in the night of time,
centuries and probably thousands of years prior to the historical period. One
of the best proofs of it we find in a most remarkable picture, in Raoul-Rochette's
Monuments d'Antiquite Figures, in which, like the "erect-haired Pan,"
all the figures have their hair streaming out in every direction -- except the
central figure of the Kabeirian Demeter, from whom the power issues, and one other,
a kneeling man.* The picture, according to Schweigger, evidently represents a
part of the ceremony of initiation. And yet it is not so long since the
elementary works on natural philosophy began to be ornamented with cuts of
electrified heads, with hair
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Ennemoser:
"History of Magic," vol. ii., and Schweigger: "Introduction to
Mythology through Natural History."
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THEURGIC ARCANA.
standing out in all
directions, under the influence of the electric fluid. Schweigger shows that a
lost natural philosophy of antiquity was connected with the most important
religious ceremonies. He demonstrates in the amplest manner, that magic in the
prehistoric periods had a part in the mysteries and that the greatest
phenomena, the so-called miracles -- whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian --
rested in fact on the arcane knowledge of the ancient priests of physics and
all the branches of chemistry, or rather alchemy.
In chapter xi.,
which is entirely devoted to the wonderful achievements of the ancients, we
propose to demonstrate our assertions more fully. We will show, on the evidence
of the most trustworthy classics, that at a period far anterior to the siege of
Troy, the learned priests of the sanctuaries were thoroughly acquainted with
electricity and even lightning-conductors. We will now add but a few more words
before closing the subject.
The theurgists so
well understood the minutest properties of magnetism, that, without possessing
the lost key to their arcana, but depending wholly upon what was known in their
modern days of electro-magnetism, Schweigger and Ennemoser have been able to
trace the identity of the "twin brothers," the Dioskuri, with the
polarity of electricity and magnetism. Symbolical myths, previously supposed to
be meaningless fictions, are now found to be "the cleverest and at the
same time most profound expressions of a strictly scientifically defined truth
of nature," according to Ennemoser.*
Our physicists
pride themselves on the achievements of our century and exchange antiphonal
hymns of praise. The eloquent diction of their class-lectures, their flowery
phraseology, require but a slight modification to change these lectures into
melodious sonnets. Our modern Petrarchs, Dantes, and Torquato Tassos rival with
the troubadours of old in poetical effusion. In their unbounded glorification
of matter, they sing the amorous commingling of the wandering atoms, and the
loving interchange of protoplasms, and lament the coquettish fickleness of
"forces" which play so provokingly at hide-and-seek with our grave
professors in the great drama of life, called by them
"force-correlation." Proclaiming matter sole and autocratic sovereign
of the Boundless Universe, they would forcibly divorce her from her consort,
and place the widowed queen on the great throne of nature made vacant by the
exiled spirit. And now, they try to make her appear as attractive as they can
by incensing and worshipping at the shrine of their own building. Do they
forget, or are they utterly unaware of the fact, that in the absence of its
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "History of
Magic," vol. ii.
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legitimate
sovereign, this throne is but a whitened sepulchre, inside of which all is
rottenness and corruption! That matter without the spirit which vivifies it,
and of which it is but the "gross purgation," to use a hermetic
expression, is nothing but a soulless corpse, whose limbs, in order to be moved
in predetermined directions, require an intelligent operator at the great
galvanic battery called LIFE!
In what particular
is the knowledge of the present century so superior to that of the ancients?
When we say knowledge we do not mean that brilliant and clear definition of our
modern scholars of particulars to the most trifling detail in every branch of
exact science; of that tuition which finds an appropriate term for every detail
insignificant and microscopic as it may be; a name for every nerve and artery
in human and animal organisms, an appellation for every cell, filament, and rib
in a plant; but the philosophical and ultimate expression of every truth in
nature.
The greatest
ancient philosophers are accused of shallowness and a superficiality of
knowledge of those details in exact sciences of which the moderns boast so
much. Plato is declared by his various commentators to have been utterly
ignorant of the anatomy and functions of the human body; to have known nothing
of the uses of the nerves to convey sensations; and to have had nothing better
to offer than vain speculations concerning physiological questions. He has
simply generalized the divisions of the human body, they say, and given nothing
reminding us of anatomical facts. As to his own views on the human frame, the
microcosmos being in his ideas the image in miniature of the macrocosmos, they
are much too transcendental to be given the least attention by our exact and
materialistic skeptics. The idea of this frame being, as well as the universe,
formed out of triangles, seems preposterously ridiculous to several of his
translators. Alone of the latter, Professor Jowett, in his introduction to the
Timaeus, honestly remarks that the modern physical philosopher "hardly
allows to his notions the merit of being 'the dead men's bones' out of which he
has himself risen to a higher knowledge";* forgetting how much the
metaphysics of olden times has helped the "physical" sciences of the
present day. If, instead of quarrelling with the insufficiency and at times
absence of terms and definitions strictly scientific in Plato's works, we
analyze them carefully, the Timaeus, alone, will be found to contain within its
limited space the germs of every new discovery. The circulation of the blood
and the law of gravitation are clearly mentioned, though the former fact, it
may be, is not so clearly defined as to withstand the reiterated attacks of
modern
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* B. Jowett, M.A.:
"The Dialogues of Plato," vol. ii., p. 508.
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BALLIOL COLLEGE.
science; for
according to Prof. Jowett, the specific discovery that the blood flows out at
one side of the heart through the arteries, and returns through the veins at
the other, was unknown to him, though Plato was perfectly aware "that
blood is a fluid in constant motion."
Plato's method,
like that of geometry, was to descend from universals to particulars. Modern
science vainly seeks a first cause among the permutations of molecules; the
former sought and found it amid the majestic sweep of worlds. For him it was
enough to know the great scheme of creation and to be able to trace the
mightiest movements of the universe through their changes to their ultimates.
The petty details, whose observation and classification have so taxed and
demonstrated the patience of modern scientists, occupied but little of the
attention of the old philosophers. Hence, while a fifth-form boy of an English
school can prate more learnedly about the little things of physical science
than Plato himself, yet, on the other hand, the dullest of Plato's disciples
could tell more about great cosmic laws and their mutual relations, and
demonstrate a familiarity with and control over the occult forces which lie
behind them, than the most learned professor in the most distinguished academy
of our day.
This fact, so
little appreciated and never dwelt upon by Plato's translators, accounts for
the self-laudation in which we moderns indulge at the expense of that
philosopher and his compeers. Their alleged mistakes in anatomy and physiology
are magnified to an inordinate extent to gratify our self-love, until, in
acquiring the idea of our own superior learning, we lose sight of the
intellectual splendor which adorns the ages of the past; it is as if one
should, in fancy, magnify the solar spots until he should believe the bright
luminary to be totally eclipsed.
The
unprofitableness of modern scientific research is evinced in the fact that
while we have a name for the most trivial particle of mineral, plant, animal,
and man, the wisest of our teachers are unable to tell us anything definite
about the vital force which produces the changes in these several kingdoms. It
is necessary to seek further for corroboration of this statement than the works
of our highest scientific authorities themselves.
It requires no
little moral courage in a man of eminent professional position to do justice to
the acquirements of the ancients, in the face of a public sentiment which is
content with nothing else than their abasement. When we meet with a case of the
kind we gladly lay a laurel at the feet of the bold and honest scholar. Such is
Professor Jowett, Master of Balliol College, and Regius Professor of Greek in
the University of Oxford, who, in his translation of Plato's works, speaking of
"the physical philosophy of the ancients as a whole," gives them the
following
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credit: 1.
"That the nebular theory was the received belief of the early
physicists." Therefore it could not have rested, as Draper asserts,* upon
the telescopic discovery made by Herschel I. 2. "That the development of
animals out of frogs who came to land, and of man out of the animals, was held
by Anaximenes in the sixth century before Christ." The professor might
have added that this theory antedated Anaximenes by some thousands of years,
perhaps; that it was an accepted doctrine among Chaldeans, and that Darwin's
evolution of species and monkey theory are of an antediluvian origin. 3. "
. . . that, even by Philolaus and the early Pythagoreans, the earth was held to
be a body like the other stars revolving in space."** Thus Galileo,
studying some Pythagorean fragments, which are shown by Reuchlin to have yet
existed in the days of the Florentine mathematician;*** being, moreover,
familiar with the doctrines of the old philosophers, but reasserted an
astronomical doctrine which prevailed in India at the remotest antiquity. 4.
The ancients " . . . thought that there was a sex in plants as well as in
animals." Thus our modern naturalists had but to follow in the steps of
their predecessors. 5. "That musical notes depended on the relative length
or tension of the strings from which they were emitted, and were measured by
ratios of number." 6. "That mathematical laws pervaded the world and
even qualitative differences were supposed to have their origin in
number"; and 7. "The annihilation of matter was denied by them, and
held to be a transformation only."**** "Although one of these
discoveries might have been supposed to be a happy guess," adds Mr.
Jowett, "we can hardly attribute them all to mere coincidences."*****
In short, the
Platonic philosophy was one of order, system, and proportion; it embraced the
evolution of worlds and species, the correlation and conservation of energy,
the transmutation of material form, the indestructibility of matter and of
spirit. Their position in the latter respect being far in advance of modern
science, and binding, the arch of their
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 240.
**
"Plutarch," translated by Langhorne.
*** Some kabalistic
scholars assert that the Greek original Pythagoric sentences of Sextus, which
are now said to be lost, existed still, in a convent at Florence, at that time,
and that Galileo was acquainted with these writings. They add, moreover, that a
treatise on astronomy, a manuscript by Archytas, a direct disciple of
Pythagoras, in which were noted all the most important doctrines of their
school, was in the possession of Galileo. Had some Ruffinas got hold of it, he
would no doubt have perverted it, as Presbyter Ruffinas has perverted the
above-mentioned sentences of Sextus, replacing them with a fraudulent version,
the authorship of which he sought to ascribe to a certain Bishop Sextus. See
Taylor's Introduction to Iamblichus' "Life of Pythagoras," p. xvii.
**** Jowett: Introduction
to the "Timaeus," vol. ii., p. 508.
***** Ibid.
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LUXOR.
philosophical
system with a keystone at once perfect and immovable. If science has made such
colossal strides during these latter days -- if we have such clearer ideas of
natural law than the ancients -- why are our inquiries as to the nature and
source of life unanswered? If the modern laboratory is so much richer in the
fruits of experimental research than those of the olden time, how comes it that
we make no step except on paths that were trodden long before the Christian
era? How does it happen that the most advanced standpoint that has been reached
in our times only enables us to see in the dim distance up the Alpine path of
knowledge the monumental proofs that earlier explorers have left to mark the
plateaux they had reached and occupied?
If modern masters
are so much in advance of the old ones, why do they not restore to us the lost
arts of our postdiluvian forefathers? Why do they not give us the unfading
colors of Luxor -- the Tyrian purple; the bright vermilion and dazzling blue
which decorate the walls of this place, and are as bright as on the first day
of their application? The indestructible cement of the pyramids and of ancient
aqueducts; the Damascus blade, which can be turned like a corkscrew in its
scabbard without breaking; the gorgeous, unparalleled tints of the stained
glass that is found amid the dust of old ruins and beams in the windows of
ancient cathedrals; and the secret of the true malleable glass? And if
chemistry is so little able to rival even with the early mediaeval ages in some
arts, why boast of achievements which, according to strong probability, were
perfectly known thousands of years ago? The more archaeology and philology
advance, the more humiliating to our pride are the discoveries which are daily
made, the more glorious testimony do they bear in behalf of those who, perhaps
on account of the distance of their remote antiquity, have been until now
considered ignorant flounderers in the deepest mire of superstition.
Why should we
forget that, ages before the prow of the adventurous Genoese clove the Western
waters, the Phoenician vessels had circumnavigated the globe, and spread
civilization in regions now silent and deserted? What archaeologist will dare
assert that the same hand which planned the Pyramids of Egypt, Karnak, and the
thousand ruins now crumbling to oblivion on the sandy banks of the Nile, did
not erect the monumental Nagkon-Wat of Cambodia? or trace the hieroglyphics on
the obelisks and doors of the deserted Indian village, newly discovered in
British Columbia by Lord Dufferin? or those on the ruins of Palenque and Uxmal,
of Central America? Do not the relics we treasure in our museums -- last
mementos of the long "lost arts" -- speak loudly in favor of ancient
civilization? And do they not prove, over and over again, that nations and
continents that have passed away have buried
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along with them
arts and sciences, which neither the first crucible ever heated in a mediaeval
cloister, nor the last cracked by a modern chemist have revived, nor will -- at
least, in the present century.
"They were not
without some knowledge of optics," Professor Draper magnanimously concedes
to the ancients; others positively deny to them even that little. "The
convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they were not unacquainted with
magnifying instruments."* Indeed? If they were not, all the classical
authors must have lied. For, when Cicero tells us that he had seen the entire
Iliad written on skin of such a miniature size, that it could easily be rolled
up inside a nut-shell, and Pliny asserts that Nero had a ring with a small
glass in it, through which he watched the performance of the gladiators at a
distance -- could audacity go farther? Truly, when we are told that Mauritius
could see from the promontory of Sicily over the entire sea to the coast of
Africa, with an instrument called nauscopite, we must either think that all
these witnesses lied, or that the ancients were more than slightly acquainted
with optics and magnifying glasses. Wendell Phillips states that he has a
friend who possesses an extraordinary ring "perhaps three-quarters of an
inch in diameter, and on it is the naked figure of the god Hercules. By the aid
of glasses, you can distinguish the interlacing muscles, and count every
separate hair on the eyebrows. . . . Rawlinson brought home a stone about
twenty inches long and ten wide, containing an entire treatise on mathematics.
It would be perfectly illegible without glasses. . . . In Dr. Abbott's Museum,
there is a ring of Cheops, to which Bunsen assigns 500 B.C. The signet of the
ring is about the size of a quarter of a dollar, and the engraving is invisible
without the aid of glasses. . . . At Parma, they will show you a gem once worn
on the finger of Michael Angelo, of which the engraving is 2,000 years old, and
on which there are the figures of seven women. You must have the aid of
powerful glasses in order to distinguish the forms at all. . . . So the
microscope," adds the learned lecturer, "instead of dating from our
time, finds its brothers in the Books of Moses -- and these are infant
brothers."
The foregoing facts
do not seem to show that the ancients had merely "some knowledge of
optics." Therefore, totally disagreeing in this particular with Professor
Fiske and his criticism of Professor Draper's Conflict in his Unseen World, the
only fault we find with the admirable book of Draper is that, as an historical
critic, he sometimes uses his own optical instruments in the wrong place.
While, in order to magnify the atheism of the Pythagorean Bruno, he looks
through convex lenses; when-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 14.
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DISCOVERY?
ever talking of the
knowledge of the ancients, he evidently sees things through concave ones.
It is simply worthy
of admiration to follow in various modern works the cautious attempts of both
pious Christians and skeptical, albeit very learned men, to draw a line of demarcation
between what we are and what we are not to believe, in ancient authors. No
credit is ever allowed them without being followed by a qualifying caution. If
Strabo tells us that ancient Nineveh was forty-seven miles in circumference,
and his testimony is accepted, why should it be otherwise the moment he
testifies to the accomplishment of Sibylline prophecies? Where is the common
sense in calling Herodotus the "Father of History," and then accusing
him, in the same breath, of silly gibberish, whenever he recounts marvellous
manifestations, of which he was an eye-witness? Perhaps, after all, such a
caution is more than ever necessary, now that our epoch has been christened the
Century of Discovery. The disenchantment may prove too cruel for Europe. Gunpowder,
which has long been thought an invention of Bacon and Schwartz, is now shown in
the school-books to have been used by the Chinese for levelling hills and
blasting rocks, centuries before our era. "In the Museum of
Alexandria," says Draper, "there was a machine invented by Hero, the
mathematician, a little more than 100 years B.C. It revolved by the agency of
steam, and was of the form that we should now call a reaction-engine. . . .
Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern steam-engine."*
Europe prides herself upon the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo, and now
we are told that the astronomical observations of the Chaldeans extend back to
within a hundred years of the flood; and Bunsen fixes the flood at not less
than 10,000 years before our era.** Moreover, a Chinese emperor, more than
2,000 years before the birth of Christ (i.e., before Moses) put to death his
two chief astronomers for not predicting an eclipse of the sun.
It may be noted, as
an example of the inaccuracy of current notions as to the scientific claims of
the present century, that the discoveries of the indestructibility of matter
and force-correlation, especially the latter, are heralded as among our
crowning triumphs. It is "the most important discovery of the present
century," as Sir William Armstrong expressed it in his famous address as
president of the British Association. But, this "important discovery"
is no discovery after all. Its origin, apart from the undeniable traces of it
to be found among the old philosophers, is lost in the dense shadows of
prehistoric days. Its first vestiges are dis-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 311.
** "Egypt's
Place in Universal History," vol. v., p. 88.
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covered in the
dreamy speculations of Vedic theology, in the doctrine of emanation and
absorption, the nirvana in short. John Erigena outlined it in his bold
philosophy in the eighth century, and we invite any one to read his De
Divisione Naturae, who would convince himself of this truth. Science tells that
when the theory of the indestructibility of matter (also a very, very old idea
of Demokritus, by the way) was demonstrated, it became necessary to extend it
to force. No material particle can ever be lost; no part of the force existing
in nature can vanish; hence, force was likewise proved indestructible, and its
various manifestations or forces, under divers aspects, were shown to be
mutually convertible, and but different modes of motion of the material
particles. And thus was rediscovered the force-correlation. Mr. Grove, so far
back as 1842, gave to each of these forces, such as heat, electricity,
magnetism, and light, the character of convertibility; making them capable of
being at one moment a cause, and at the next an effect.* But whence come these
forces, and whither do they go, when we lose sight of them? On this point
science is silent.
The theory of
"force-correlation," though it may be in the minds of our
contemporaries "the greatest discovery of the age," can account for
neither the beginning nor the end of one of such forces; neither can the theory
point out the cause of it. Forces may be convertible, and one may produce the
other, still, no exact science is able to explain the alpha and omega of the
phenomenon. In what particular are we then in advance of Plato who, discussing
in the Timaeus the primary and secondary qualities of matter** and the
feebleness of human intellect, makes Timaeus say: "God knows the original
qualities of things; man can only hope to attain to probability." We have
but to open one of the several pamphlets of Huxley and Tyndall to find
precisely the same confession; but they improve upon Plato by not allowing even
God to know more than themselves; and perhaps it may be upon this that they
base their claims of superiority? The ancient Hindus founded their doctrine of
emanation and absorption on precisely that law. The [[To On]], the primordial
point in the boundless circle, "whose circumference is nowhere, and the
centre everywhere," emanating from itself all things, and manifesting them
in the visible universe under multifarious forms; the forms interchanging,
commingling, and, after a gradual transformation from the pure spirit (or the
Buddhistic "nothing"), into the grossest matter, beginning to recede
and as gradually re-emerge into their primitive state, which is the absorption
into Nirvana*** -- what else is this but correlation of forces?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. R. Grove:
"Preface to the Correlation of Physical Forces."
**
"Timaeus," p. 22.
*** Beginning with
Godfrey Higgins and ending with Max Muller, every archaeologist [[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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B C OF OCCULTISM.
Science tells us
that heat may be shown to develop electricity, electricity produce heat; and
magnetism to evolve electricity, and vice versa. Motion, they tell us, results
from motion itself, and so on, ad infinitum. This is the A B C of occultism and
of the earliest alchemists. The indestructibility of matter and force being
discovered and proved, the great problem of eternity is solved. What need have
we more of spirit? its uselessness is henceforth scientifically demonstrated!
Thus modern
philosophers may be said not to have gone one step beyond what the priests of
Samothrace, the Hindus, and even the Christian Gnostics well knew. The former
have shown it in that wonderfully ingenious mythos of the Dioskuri, or
"the sons of heaven"; the twin brothers, spoken of by Schweigger,
"who constantly die and return to life together, while it is absolutely
necessary that one should die that the other may live." They knew as well
as our physicists, that when a force has disappeared it has simply been
converted into another force. Though archaeology may not have discovered any
ancient apparatus for such special conversions, it may nevertheless be affirmed
with perfect reason and upon analogical deductions that nearly all the ancient
religions were based on such indestructibility of matter and force -- plus the
emanation of the whole from an ethereal, spiritual fire -- or the central sun,
which is God or spirit, on the knowledge of whose potentiality is based ancient
theurgic magic.
In the manuscript
commentary of Proclus on magic he gives the following account: "In the
same manner as lovers gradually advance from that beauty which is apparent in
sensible forms, to that which is divine; so the ancient priests, when they
considered that there is a certain alliance and sympathy in natural things to
each other, and of things manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all
things subsist in all, they fabricated a sacred science from this mutual
sympathy and similarity. Thus they recognized things supreme in such as are
subordinate, and the subordinate in the supreme; in the celestial regions,
terrene properties subsisting in a causal and celestial manner; and in earth
celestial properties, but according to a terrene condition."
Proclus then
proceeds to point to certain mysterious peculiarities of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] and philologist who has fairly and seriously
studied the old religions, has perceived that taken literally they could only
lead them on a false track. Dr. Lardner disfigured and misrepresented the old
doctrines -- whether unwittingly or otherwise -- in the grossest manner. The pravritti,
or the existence of nature when alive, in activity, and the nirvritti, or the
rest, the state of non-living, is the Buddhistic esoteric doctrine. The
"pure nothing," or non-existence, if translated according to the
esoteric sense, would mean the "pure spirit," the NAMELESS or
something our intellect is unable to grasp, hence nothing. But we will speak of
it further.
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plants, minerals,
and animals, all of which are well known to our naturalists, but none of which
are explained. Such are the rotatory motion of the sunflower, of the
heliotrope, of the lotos -- which, before the rising of the sun, folds its
leaves, drawing the petals within itself, so to say, then expands them
gradually, as the sun rises, and draws them in again as it descends to the west
-- of the sun and lunar stones and the helioselenus, of the cock and lion, and
other animals. "Now the ancients," he says, "having contemplated
this mutual sympathy of things (celestial and terrestrial) applied them for
occult purposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which, through
a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues into this inferior abode. . .
. All things are full of divine natures; terrestrial natures receiving the
plenitude of such as are celestial, but celestial of supercelestial essences,
while every order of things proceeds gradually in a beautiful descent from the
highest to the lowest.* For whatever particulars are collected into one above
the order of things, are afterwards dilated in descending, various souls being
distributed under their various ruling divinities."**
Evidently Proclus
does not advocate here simply a superstition, but science; for notwithstanding
that it is occult, and unknown to our scholars, who deny its possibilities,
magic is still a science. It is firmly and solely based on the mysterious
affinities existing between organic and inorganic bodies, the visible
productions of the four kingdoms, and the invisible powers of the universe.
That which science calls gravitation, the ancients and the mediaeval hermetists
called magnetism, attraction, affinity. It is the universal law, which is
understood by Plato and explained in Timaeus as the attraction of lesser bodies
to larger ones, and of similar bodies to similar, the latter exhibiting a
magnetic power rather than following the law of gravitation. The
anti-Aristotelean formula that gravity causes all bodies to descend with equal
rapidity, without reference to their weight, the difference being caused by
some other unknown agency, would seem to point a great deal more forcibly to
magnetism than to gravitation, the former attracting rather in virtue of the
substance than of the weight. A thorough familiarity with the occult faculties
of everything existing in nature, visible as well as invisible; their mutual
relations, attractions, and repulsions; the cause of these, traced to the
spiritual principle which pervades and animates all things; the ability to
furnish the best conditions for this principle to manifest itself, in other
words a profound and exhaustive knowledge of natural law -- this was and is the
basis of magic.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This is the exact
opposite of the modern theory of evolution.
** Ficinus: See
"Excerpta" and "Dissertation on Magic"; Taylor:
"Plato," vol. i., p. 63.
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NIGHT-CROWING COCKS.
In his notes on
Ghosts and Goblins, when reviewing some facts adduced by certain illustrious
defenders of the spiritual phenomena, such as Professor de Morgan, Mr. Robert
Dale Owen, and Mr. Wallace, among others -- Mr. Richard A. Proctor says that he
"cannot see any force in the following remarks by Professor Wallace: 'How
is such evidence as this,' he (Wallace) says, speaking of one of Owen's
stories, 'refuted or explained away? Scores, and even hundreds, of
equally-attested facts are on record, but no attempt is made to explain them.
They are simply ignored, and in many cases admitted to be inexplicable.' "
To this Mr. Proctor jocularly replies that as "our philosophers declare
that they have long ago decided these ghost stories to be all delusions;
therefore they need only be ignored; and they feel much 'worritted' that fresh
evidence should be adduced, and fresh converts made, some of whom are so
unreasonable as to ask for a new trial on the ground that the former verdict
was contrary to the evidence."
"All
this," he goes on to say, "affords excellent reason why the
'converts' should not be ridiculed for their belief; but something more to the
purpose must be urged before 'the philosophers' can be expected to devote much
of their time to the inquiry suggested. It ought to be shown that the
well-being of the human race is to some important degree concerned in the
matter, whereas the trivial nature of all ghostly conduct hitherto recorded is
admitted even by converts!"
Mrs. Emma Hardinge
Britten has collected a great number of authenticated facts from secular and
scientific journals, which show with what serious questions our scientists
sometimes replace the vexed subject of "Ghosts and Goblins." She
quotes from a Washington paper a report of one of these solemn conclaves, held
on the evening of April 29th, 1854. Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, the
venerable chemist, who was so universally respected for his individual
character, as well as for his life-long labors for science, "was bullied
into silence" by Professor Henry, as soon as he had touched the subject of
spiritualism. "The impertinent action of one of the members of the
'American Scientific Association,' " says the authoress, "was
sanctioned by the majority of that distinguished body and subsequently endorsed
by all of them in their proceedings."* On the following morning, in the
report of the session, the Spiritual Telegraph thus commented upon the events:
"It would seem
that a subject like this" -- (presented by Professor Hare) "was one
which would lie peculiarly within the domain of 'science.' But the 'American
Association for the Promotion of Science'** decided
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Modern
American Spiritualism," p. 119.
** The full and
correct name of this learned Society is -- "The American Association
[[Footnote continued on next page]]
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that it was either
unworthy of their attention or dangerous for them to meddle with, and so they
voted to put the invitation on the table. . . . We cannot omit in this
connection to mention that the 'American Association for the Promotion of
Science' held a very learned, extended, grave, and profound discussion at the
same session, upon the cause why 'roosters crow between twelve and one o'clock
at night!' " A subject worthy of philosophers; and one, moreover, which
must have been shown to effect "the well-being of the human race" in
a very "important degree."
It is sufficient
for one to express belief in the existence of a mysterious sympathy between the
life of certain plants and that of human beings, to assure being made the
subject of ridicule. Nevertheless, there are many well-authenticated cases
going to show the reality of such an affinity. Persons have been known to fall
sick simultaneously with the uprooting of a tree planted upon their natal day,
and dying when the tree died. Reversing affairs, it has been known that a tree
planted under the same circumstances withered and died simultaneously with the
person whose twin brother, so to speak, it was. The former would be called by
Mr. Proctor an "effect of the imagination"; the latter a
"curious coincidence."
Max Muller gives a
number of such cases in his essay On Manners and Customs. He shows this popular
tradition existing in Central America, in India, and Germany. He traces it over
nearly all Europe; finds it among the Maori Warriors, in British Guiana, and in
Asia. Reviewing Tyler's Researches into the Early History of Mankind, a work in
which are brought together quite a number of such traditions, the great
philologist very justly remarks the following: "If it occurred in Indian
and German tales only, we might consider it as ancient Aryan property; but when
we find it again in Central America, nothing remains but either to admit a
later communication between European settlers and native American story-tellers
. . . or to inquire whether there is not some intelligible and truly human
element in this supposed sympathy between the life of flowers and the life of
man."
The present
generation of men, who believe in nothing beyond the superficial evidence of
their senses, will doubtless reject the very idea of such a sympathetic power
existing in plants, animals, and even stones. The caul covering their inner
sight allows them to see but that which they cannot well deny. The author of
the Asclepian Dialogue furnishes us with a reason for it, that might perhaps
fit the present period and account for this epidemic of unbelief. In our
century, as then, "there
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] for the Advancement of Science." It is,
however, often called for brevity's sake, "The American Scientific
Association."
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LIGHT.
is a lamentable
departure of divinity from man, when nothing worthy of heaven or celestial
concerns is heard or believed, and when every divine voice is by a necessary
silence dumb."* Or, as the Emperor Julian has it, "the little
soul" of the skeptic "is indeed acute, but sees nothing with a vision
healthy and sound."
We are at the
bottom of a cycle and evidently in a transitory state. Plato divides the
intellectual progress of the universe during every cycle into fertile and
barren periods. In the sublunary regions, the spheres of the various elements
remain eternally in perfect harmony with the divine nature, he says; "but
their parts," owing to a too close proximity to earth, and their
commingling with the earthly (which is matter, and therefore the realm of
evil), "are sometimes according, and sometimes contrary to (divine)
nature." When those circulations -- which Eliphas Levi calls
"currents of the astral light" -- in the universal ether which
contains in itself every element, take place in harmony with the divine spirit,
our earth and everything pertaining to it enjoys a fertile period. The occult
powers of plants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the
"superior natures," and the divine soul of man is in perfect
intelligence with these "inferior" ones. But during the barren
periods, the latter lose their magic sympathy, and the spiritual sight of the
majority of mankind is so blinded as to lose every notion of the superior
powers of its own divine spirit. We are in a barren period: the eighteenth
century, during which the malignant fever of skepticism broke out so
irrepressibly, has entailed unbelief as an hereditary disease upon the
nineteenth. The divine intellect is veiled in man; his animal brain alone
philosophizes.
Formerly, magic was
a universal science, entirely in the hands of the sacerdotal savant. Though the
focus was jealously guarded in the sanctuaries, its rays illuminated the whole
of mankind. Otherwise, how are we to account for the extraordinary identity of
"superstitions," customs, traditions, and even sentences, repeated in
popular proverbs so widely scattered from one pole to the other that we find
exactly the same ideas among the Tartars and Laplanders as among the southern
nations of Europe, the inhabitants of the steppes of Russia, and the aborigines
of North and South America? For instance, Tyler shows one of the ancient
Pythagorean maxims, "Do not stir the fire with a sword," as popular
among a number of nations which have not the slightest connection with each
other. He quotes De Plano Carpini, who found this tradition prevailing among
the Tartars so far back as in 1246. A Tartar will not consent for any amount of
money to stick a knife into the fire, or touch it with any sharp or pointed
instrument, for fear of cutting the "head of the fire."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Taylor's
translation of "Select Works of Plotinus," p. 553, etc.
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The Kamtchadal of
North-eastern Asia consider it a great sin so to do. The Sioux Indians of North
America dare not touch the fire with either needle, knife, or any sharp
instrument. The Kalmucks entertain the same dread; and an Abyssinian would
rather bury his bare arms to the elbows in blazing coals than use a knife or
axe near them. All these facts Tyler also calls "simply curious
coincidences." Max Muller, however, thinks that they lose much of their force
by the fact "of the Pythagorean doctrine being at the bottom of it."
Every sentence of
Pythagoras, like most of the ancient maxims, has a dual signification; and,
while it had an occult physical meaning, expressed literally in its words, it
embodied a moral precept, which is explained by Iamblichus in his Life of
Pythagoras. This "Dig not fire with a sword," is the ninth symbol in
the Protreptics of this Neo-platonist. "This symbol," he says,
"exhorts to prudence." It shows "the propriety of not opposing
sharp words to a man full of fire and wrath -- not contending with him. For
frequently by uncivil words you will agitate and disturb an ignorant man, and
you will suffer yourself. . . . Herakleitus also testifies to the truth of this
symbol. For, he says, 'It is difficult to fight with anger, for whatever is
necessary to be done redeems the soul.' And this he says truly. For many, by
gratifying anger, have changed the condition of their soul, and have made death
preferable to life. But by governing the tongue and being quiet, friendship is
produced from strife, the fire of anger being extinguished, and you yourself
will not appear to be destitute of intellect."*
We have had
misgivings sometimes; we have questioned the impartiality of our own judgment,
our ability to offer a respectful criticism upon the labors of such giants as
some of our modern philosophers -- Tyndall, Huxley, Spencer, Carpenter, and a
few others. In our immoderate love for the "men of old" -- the
primitive sages -- we were always afraid to trespass the boundaries of justice
and refuse their dues to those who deserve them. Gradually this natural fear
gave way before an unexpected reinforcement. We found out that we were but the
feeble echo of public opinion, which, though suppressed, has sometimes found
relief in able articles scattered throughout the periodicals of the country.
One of such can be found in the National Quarterly Review of December, 1875,
entitled "Our Sensational Present-Day Philosophers." It is a very
able article, discussing fearlessly the claims of several of our scientists to
new discoveries in regard to the nature of matter, the human soul, the mind,
the universe; how the universe came into existence, etc. "The religious
world has been much startled," the author proceeds to say, "and not a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Iamblichus:
"De Vita Pythag.," additional notes (Taylor).
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UPON MODERN SCIENTISTS.
little excited by
the utterances of men like Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, Proctor, and a few others
of the same school." Admitting very cheerfully how much science owes to each
of those gentlemen, nevertheless the author "most emphatically"
denies that they have made any discoveries at all. There is nothing new in the
speculations, even of the most advanced of them; nothing which was not known
and taught, in one form or another, thousands of years ago. He does not say
that these scientists "put forward their theories as their own
discoveries, but they leave the fact to be implied, and the newspapers do the
rest. . . . The public, which has neither time nor the inclination to examine
the facts, adopts the faith of the newspapers . . . and wonders what will come
next! . . . The supposed originators of such startling theories are assailed in
the newspapers. Sometimes the obnoxious scientists undertake to defend
themselves, but we cannot recall a single instance in which they have candidly
said, 'Gentlemen, be not angry with us; we are merely revamping stories which
are nearly as old as the mountains.' " This would have been the simple
truth; "but even scientists or philosophers," adds the author,
"are not always proof against the weakness of encouraging any notion which
they think may secure niches for them among the immortal Ones."*
Huxley, Tyndall,
and even Spencer have become lately the great oracles, the "infallible
popes" on the dogmas of protoplasm, molecules, primordial forms, and
atoms. They have reaped more palms and laurels for their great discoveries than
Lucretius, Cicero, Plutarch, and Seneca had hairs on their heads. Nevertheless,
the works of the latter teem with ideas on the protoplasm, primordial forms,
etc., let alone the atoms, which caused Demokritus to be called the atomic
philosopher. In the same Review we find this very startling denunciation:
"Who, among
the innocent, has not been astonished, even within the last year, at the
wonderful results accomplished by oxygen? What an excitement Tyndall and Huxley
have created by proclaiming, in their own ingenious, oracular way, just the
very doctrines which we have just quoted from Liebig; yet, as early as 1840,
Professor Lyon Playfair translated into English the most 'advanced' of Baron
Liebig's works."**
"Another
recent utterance," he says, "which startled a large number of
innocent and pious persons, is, that every thought we express, or attempt to
express, produces a certain wonderful change in the substance of the brain.
But, for this and a good deal more of its kind, our philosophers had only to
turn to the pages of Baron Liebig. Thus, for instance,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
National Quarterly Review," Dec., 1875.
** Ibid., p. 94.
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that scientist
proclaims: 'Physiology has sufficiently decisive grounds for the opinions, that
every thought, every sensation is accompanied by a change in the composition of
the substance of the brain; that every motion, every manifestation of force is the
result of a transformation of the structure or of its substance.' "*
Thus, throughout
the sensational lectures of Tyndall, we can trace, almost to a page, the whole
of Liebig's speculations, interlined now and then with the still earlier views
of Demokritus and other Pagan philosophers. A potpourri of old hypotheses
elevated by the great authority of the day into quasi-demonstrated formulas,
and delivered in that pathetic, picturesque, mellow, and thrillingly-eloquent
phraseology so preeminently his own.
Further, the same
reviewer shows us many of the identical ideas and all the material requisite to
demonstrate the great discoveries of Tyndall and Huxley, in the works of Dr.
Joseph Priestley, author of Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit, and even in Herder's
Philosophy of History.
"Priestley,"
adds the author, "was not molested by government, simply because he had no
ambition to obtain fame by proclaiming his atheistic views from the house-top.
This philosopher . . . was the author of from seventy to eighty volumes, and
the discoverer of oxygen." It is in these works that "he puts forward
those identical ideas which have been declared so 'startling,' 'bold,' etc., as
the utterances of our present-day philosophers."
"Our
readers," he proceeds to say, "remember what an excitement has been
created by the utterances of some of our modern philosophers as to the origin
and nature of ideas, but those utterances, like others that preceded and
followed them, contain nothing new." "An idea," says Plutarch,
"is a being incorporeal, which has no subsistence by itself, but gives
figure and form unto shapeless matter, and becomes the cause of its
manifestation" (De Placitio Philosophorum).
Verily, no modern
atheist, Mr. Huxley included, can outvie Epicurus in materialism; he can but
mimic him. And what is his "protoplasm," but a rechauffe of the
speculations of the Hindu Swabhavikas or Pantheists, who assert that all
things, the gods as well as men and animals, are born from Swabhava or their
own nature?** As to Epicurus, this is what Lucretius makes him say: "The
soul, thus produced, must be material, because we trace it issuing from a
material source; because it exists, and exists alone in a material system; is
nourished by material food; grows with the growth of the body; becomes matured
with its maturity; declines with its decay; and hence, whether belonging to man
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Force and
Matter," p. 151.
** Burnouf:
"Introduction," p. 118.
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OF MUTTON-PROTOPLASM.
or brute, must die
with its death." Nevertheless, we would remind the reader that Epicurus is
here speaking of the Astral Soul, not of Divine Spirit. Still, if we rightly
understand the above, Mr. Huxley's "mutton-protoplasm" is of a very
ancient origin, and can claim for its birthplace, Athens, and for its cradle,
the brain of old Epicurus.
Further, still,
anxious not to be misunderstood or found guilty of depreciating the labor of
any of our scientists, the author closes his essay by remarking, "We
merely want to show that, at least, that portion of the public which considers
itself intelligent and enlightened should cultivate its memory, or remember the
'advanced' thinkers of the past much better than it does. Especially should
those do so who, whether from the desk, the rostrum, or the pulpit, undertake
to instruct all willing to be instructed by them. There would then be much less
groundless apprehension, much less charlatanism, and above all, much less
plagiarism, than there is."*
Truly says Cudworth
that the greatest ignorance of which our modern wiseacres accuse the ancients is
their belief in the soul's immortality. Like the old skeptic of Greece, our
scientists -- to use an expression of the same Dr. Cudworth -- are afraid that
if they admit spirits and apparitions they must admit a God too; and there is
nothing too absurd, he adds, for them to suppose, in order to keep out the
existence of God. The great body of ancient materialists, skeptical as they now
seem to us, thought otherwise, and Epicurus, who rejected the soul's
immortality, believed still in a God, and Demokritus fully conceded the reality
of apparitions. The preexistence and God-like powers of the human spirit were
believed in by most all the sages of ancient days. The magic of Babylon and
Persia based upon it the doctrine of their machagistia. The Chaldean Oracles,
on which Pletho and Psellus have so much commented, constantly expounded and
amplified their testimony. Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Epicharmus, Empedocles,
Kebes, Euripides, Plato, Euclid, Philo, Boehius, Virgil, Marcus Cicero,
Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Psellus, Synesius, Origen, and, finally,
Aristotle himself, far from denying our immortality, support it most
emphatically. Like Cardon and Pompanatius, "who were no friends to the
soul's immortality," as says Henry More, "Aristotle expressly
concludes that the rational soul is both a distinct being from the soul of the
world, though of the same essence," and that "it does preexist before
it comes into the body."**
Years have rolled
away since the Count Joseph De Maistre wrote a sentence which, if appropriate
to the Voltairean epoch in which he lived,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
National Quarterly Review," Dec., 1875, p. 96.
** "De
Anima," lib. i., cap. 3.
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applies with still
more justice to our period of utter skepticism. "I have heard,"
writes this eminent man, "I have heard and read of myriads of good jokes
on the ignorance of the ancients, who were always seeing spirits everywhere;
methinks that we are a great deal more imbecile than our forefathers, in never
perceiving any such now, anywhere."*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Maistre:
"Soirees de St. Petersburg."
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CHAPTER VIII.
"Think not my
magic wonders wrought by aid
Of Stygian angels
summoned up from Hell;
Scorned and
accursed by those who have essay'd
Her gloomy Divs and
Afrites to compel.
But by perception
of the secret powers
Of mineral springs,
in nature's inmost cell,
Of herbs in curtain
of her greenest bowers,
And of the moving
stars o'er mountain tops and towers." -- TASSO, Canto XIV., xliii.
"Who dares
think one thing and another tell
My heart detests
him as the gates of Hell!" -- POPE.
"If man ceases
to exist when he disappears in the grave, you must be compelled to affirm that
he is the only creature in existence whom nature or providence has condescended
to deceive and cheat by capacities for which there are no available
objects." -- BULWER-LYTTON: Strange Story.
THE preface of Richard
A. Proctor's latest work on astronomy, entitled Our Place among Infinities,
contains the following extraordinary words: "It was their ignorance of the
earth's place among infinities, which led the ancients to regard the heavenly
bodies as ruling favorably or adversely the fates of men and nations, and to
dedicate the days in sets of seven to the seven planets of their astrological
system."
Mr. Proctor makes
two distinct assertions in this sentence: 1. That the ancients were ignorant of
the earth's place among infinities; and 2. That they regarded the heavenly
bodies as ruling, favorably or adversely, the fates of men and nations.* We are
very confident that there is at least good reason to suspect that the ancients
were familiar with the movements, emplacement, and mutual relations of the
heavenly bodies. The testimony of Plutarch, Professor Draper, and Jowett, are
sufficiently explicit. But we would ask Mr. Proctor how it happens, if the
ancient astronomers were so ignorant of the law of the birth and death of
worlds that, in the fragmentary bits which the hand of time has spared us of
ancient lore there should be -- albeit couched in obscure language -- so much
information which the most recent discoveries of science have verified?
Beginning with the tenth page of the work under notice, Mr. Proc-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We need not go so
far back as that to assure ourselves that many great men believed the same.
Kepler, the eminent astronomer, fully credited the idea that the stars and all
heavenly bodies, even our earth, are endowed with living and thinking souls.
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tor sketches for us
the theory of the formation of our earth, and the successive changes through
which it passed until it became habitable for man. In vivid colors he depicts
the gradual accretion of cosmic matter into gaseous spheres surrounded with
"a liquid non-permanent shell"; the condensation of both; the
ultimate solidification of the external crust; the slow cooling of the mass;
the chemical results following the action of intense heat upon the primitive
earthy matter; the formation of soils and their distribution; the change in the
constitution of the atmosphere; the appearance of vegetation and animal life;
and, finally, the advent of man.
Now, let us turn to
the oldest written records left us by the Chaldeans, the Hermetic Book of
Numbers,* and see what we shall find in the allegorical language of Hermes,
Kadmus, or Thuti, the thrice great Trismegistus. "In the beginning of time
the great invisible one had his holy hands full of celestial matter which he
scattered throughout the infinity; and lo, behold! it became balls of fire and
balls of clay; and they scattered like the moving metal** into many smaller
balls, and began their ceaseless turning; and some of them which were balls of fire
became balls of clay; and the balls of clay became balls of fire; and the balls
of fire were waiting their time to become balls of clay; and the others envied
them and bided their time to become balls of pure divine fire."
Could any one ask a
clearer definition of the cosmic changes which Mr. Proctor so elegantly
expounds?
Here we have the
distribution of matter throughout space; then its concentration into the
spherical form; the separation of smaller spheres from the greater ones; axial
rotation; the gradual change of orbs from the incandescent to the earthy
consistence; and, finally, the total loss of heat which marks their entrance
into the stage of planetary death. The change of the balls of clay into balls
of fire would be understood by materialists to indicate some such phenomenon as
the sudden ignition of the star in Cassiopeia, A.D. 1572, and the one in
Serpentarius, in 1604, which was noted by Kepler. But, do the Chaldeans evince
in this expression a profounder philosophy than of our day? Does this change
into balls of "pure divine fire" signify a continuous planetary
existence,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We are not aware
that a copy of this ancient work is embraced in the catalogue of any European
library; but it is one of the "Books of Hermes," and it is referred
to and quotations are made from it in the works of a number of ancient and
mediaeval philosophical authors. Among these authorities are Arnoldo di
Villanova's "Rosarium philosoph."; Francesco Arnolphim's
"Lucensis opus de Iapide." Hermes Trismegistus' "Tractatus de
transmutatione metallorum," "Tabula smaragdina," and above all
in the treatise of Raymond Lulli, "Ab angelis opus divinum de quinta
essentia."
** Quicksilver.
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correspondent with
the spirit-life of man, beyond the awful mystery of death? If worlds have, as
the astronomers tell us, their periods of embryo, infancy, adolescence,
maturity, decadence, and death, may they not, like man, have their continued
existence in a sublimated, ethereal, or spiritual form? The magians so affirm.
They tell us that the fecund mother Earth is subject to the same laws as every
one of her children. At her appointed time she brings forth all created things;
in the fulness of her days she is gathered to the tomb of worlds. Her gross,
material body slowly parts with its atoms under the inexorable law which
demands their new arrangement in other combinations. Her own perfected
vivifying spirit obeys the eternal attraction which draws it toward that
central spiritual sun from which it was originally evolved, and which we
vaguely know under the name of GOD.
"And the
heaven was visible in seven circles, and the planets appeared with all their
signs, in star-form, and the stars were divided and numbered with the rulers
that were in them, and their revolving course was bounded with the air, and borne
with a circular course, through the agency of the divine SPIRIT."*
We challenge any
one to indicate a single passage in the works of Hermes which proves him guilty
of that crowning absurdity of the Church of Rome which assumed, upon the
geocentric theory of astronomy, that the heavenly bodies were made for our use
and pleasure, and that it was worth while for the only son of God to descend
upon this cosmic mote and die in expiation for our sins! Mr. Proctor tells us
of a liquid non-permanent shell of uncongealed matter enclosing a "viscous
plastic ocean," within which "there is another interior solid globe
rotating." We, on our part, turn to the Magia Adamica of Eugenius
Philalethes, published in 1650, and at page 12, we find him quoting from
Trismegistus in the following terms: "Hermes affirmeth that in the
Beginning the earth was a quackmire or quivering kind of jelly, it being
nothing else but water congealed by the incubation and heat of the divine
spirit; cum adhuc (sayeth he) Terra tremula esset, Lucente sole compacta
est."
In the same work
Philalethes, speaking in his quaint, symbolical way, says, "The earth is
invisible . . . on my soul it is so, and which is more, the eye of man never
saw the earth, nor can it be seen without art. To make this element invisible,
is the greatest secret in magic . . . as for this faeculent, gross body upon
which we walk, it is a compost, and no earth but it hath earth in it, . . . in
a word all the elements are visible but one, namely the earth, and when thou
hast attained to so much per-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Hermes," iv. 6. Spirit here denotes the Deity -- Pneuma, [[ho
Theos]].
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fection as to know
why God hath placed the earth in abscondito,* thou hast an excellent figure
whereby to know God Himself, and how He is visible, how invisible."**
Ages before our
savants of the nineteenth century came into existence, a wise man of the Orient
thus expressed himself, in addressing the invisible Deity: "For thy
Almighty Hand, that made the world of formless matter."***
There is much more
contained in this language than we are willing to explain, but we will say that
the secret is worth the seeking; perhaps in this formless matter, the
pre-Adamite earth, is contained a "potency" with which Messrs.
Tyndall and Huxley would be glad to acquaint themselves.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Magia
Adamica," p. 11.
** The ignorance of
the ancients of the earth's sphericity is assumed without warrant. What proof
have we of the fact? It was only the literati who exhibited such an ignorance.
Even so early as the time of Pythagoras, the Pagans taught it, Plutarch
testifies to it, and Socrates died for it. Besides, as we have stated
repeatedly, all knowledge was concentrated in the sanctuaries of the temples
from whence it very rarely spread itself among the uninitiated. If the sages
and priests of the remotest antiquity were not aware of this astronomical
truth, how is it that they represented Kneph, the spirit of the first hour,
with an egg placed on his lips, the egg signifying our globe, to which he
imparts life by his breath. Moreover, if, owing to the difficulty of consulting
the Chaldean "Book of Numbers," our critics should demand the
citation of other authorities, we can refer them to Diogenes Laertius, who credits
Manetho with having taught that the earth was in the shape of a ball. Besides,
the same author, quoting most probably from the "Compendium of Natural
Philosophy," gives the following statements of the Egyptian doctrine:
"The beginning is matter [[archen meu einai ten hulen]], and from it the
four elements separated. . . . The true form of God is unknown; but the world
had a beginning and is therefore perishable. . . . The moon is eclipsed when it
crosses the shadow of the earth" (Diogenes Laertius: "Prooein,"
§§ 10, 11). Besides, Pythagoras is credited with having taught that the earth
was round, that it rotated, and was but a planet like any other of these
celestial bodies. (See Fenelon's "Lives of the Philosophers.") In the
latest of Plato's translations ("The Dialogues of Plato," by
Professor Jowett), the author, in his introduction to "Timaeus,"
notwithstanding "an unfortunate doubt" which arises in consequence of
the word [[illesthai]] capable of being translated either "circling"
or "compacted," feels inclined to credit Plato with having been
familiar with the rotation of the earth. Plato's doctrine is expressed in the
following words: "The earth which is our nurse (compacted or) circling
around the pole which is extended through the universe." But if we are to
believe Proclus and Simplicius, Aristotle understood this word in
"Timaeus" "to mean circling or revolving" (De Coelo), and
Mr. Jowett himself further admits that "Aristotle attributed to Plato the
doctrine of the rotation of the earth." (See vol. ii. of "Dial. of
Plato." Introduction to "Timaeus," pp. 501-2.) It would have
been extraordinary, to say the least, that Plato, who was such an admirer of
Pythagoras and who certainly must have had, as an initiate, access to the most
secret doctrines of the great Samian, should be ignorant of such an elementary
astronomical truth.
*** "Wisdom of
Solomon," xi. 17.
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HERMES TRISMEGISTUS.
But to descend from
universals to particulars, from the ancient theory of planetary evolution to
the evolution of plant and animal life, as opposed to the theory of special
creation, what does Mr. Proctor call the following language of Hermes but an
anticipation of the modern theory of evolution of species? "When God had
filled his powerful hands with those things which are in nature, and in that
which compasseth nature, then shutting them close again, he said: 'Receive from
me, O holy earth! that art ordained to be the mother of all, lest thou shouldst
want anything'; when presently opening such hands as it becomes a God to have,
he poured down all that was necessary to the constitution of things." Here
we have primeval matter imbued with "the promise and potency of every
future form of life," and the earth declared to be the predestined mother
of everything that should thenceforth spring from her bosom.
More definite is
the language of Marcus Antoninus in his discourse to himself. "The nature
of the universe delights not in anything so much as to alter all things, and
present them under another form. This is her conceit to play one game and begin
another. Matter is placed before her like a piece of wax and she shapes it to
all forms and figures. Now she makes a bird, then out of the bird a beast --
now a flower, then a frog, and she is pleased with her own magical performances
as men are with their own fancies."*
Before any of our
modern teachers thought of evolution, the ancients taught us, through Hermes,
that nothing can be abrupt in nature; that she never proceeds by jumps and
starts, that everything in her works is slow harmony, and that there is nothing
sudden -- not even violent death.
The slow
development from preexisting forms was a doctrine with the Rosicrucian
Illuminati. The Tres Matres showed Hermes the mysterious progress of their
work, before they condescended to reveal themselves to mediaeval alchemists.
Now, in the Hermetic dialect, these three mothers are the symbol of light,
heat, and electricity, or magnetism, the two latter being as convertible as the
whole of the forces or agents which have a place assigned them in the modern
"Force-correlation." Synesius mentions books of stone which he found in
the temple of Memphis, on which was engraved the following sentence: "One
nature delights in another, one nature overcomes another, one nature overrules
another, and the whole of them are one."
The inherent
restlessness of matter is embodied in the saying of Hermes: "Action is the
life of Phta"; and Orpheus calls nature [[polumechanos meter]], "the
mother that makes many things," or the ingenious, the contriving, the
inventive mother.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Eugenius
Philalethes: "Magia Adamica."
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Mr. Proctor says:
"All that that is upon and within the earth, all vegetable forms and all
animal forms, our bodies, our brains, are formed of materials which have been
drawn in from those depths of space surrounding us on all sides." The
Hermetists and the later Rosicrucians held that all things visible and
invisible were produced by the contention of light with darkness, and that
every particle of matter contains within itself a spark of the divine essence
-- or light, spirit -- which, through its tendency to free itself from its
entanglement and return to the central source, produced motion in the
particles, and from motion forms were born. Says Hargrave Jennings, quoting
Robertus di Fluctibus: "Thus all minerals in this spark of life have the
rudimentary possibility of plants and growing organisms; thus all plants have
rudimentary sensations which might (in the ages) enable them to perfect and
transmute into locomotive new creatures, lesser or higher in their grade, or
nobler or meaner in their functions; thus all plants, and all vegetation might
pass off (by side roads) into more distinguished highways as it were, of
independent, completer advance, allowing their original spark of light to
expand and thrill with higher and more vivid force, and to urge forward with
more abounding, informed purpose, all wrought by planetary influence directed
by the unseen spirits (or workers) of the great original architect."*
Light -- the first
mentioned in Genesis, is termed by the kabalists, Sephira, or the Divine
Intelligence, the mother of all the Sephiroth, while the Concealed Wisdom is
the father. Light is the first begotten, and the first emanation of the
Supreme, and Light is Life, says the evangelist. Both are electricity -- the
life-principle, the anima mundi, pervading the universe, the electric vivifier
of all things. Light is the great Protean magician, and under the Divine Will
of the architect, its multifarious, omnipotent waves gave birth to every form
as well as to every living being. From its swelling, electric bosom, springs matter
and spirit. Within its beams lie the beginnings of all physical and chemical
action, and of all cosmic and spiritual phenomena; it vitalizes and
disorganizes; it gives life and produces death, and from its primordial point
gradually emerged into existence the myriads of worlds, visible and invisible
celestial bodies. It was at the ray of this First mother, one in three, that
God, according to Plato, "lighted a fire, which we now call the
sun,"** and, which is not the cause of either light or heat, but merely
the focus, or, as we might say, the lens, by which the rays of the primordial
light become materialized, are concentrated upon our solar system, and produce
all the correlations of forces.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Hargrave
Jennings: "The Rosicrucians."
**
"Timaeus."
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DESTINIES?
So much for the
first of Mr. Proctor's two propositions; now for the second.
The work which we
have been noticing, comprises a series of twelve essays, of which the last is
entitled Thoughts on Astrology. The author treats the subject with so much more
consideration than is the custom of men of his class, that it is evident he has
given it thoughtful attention. In fact, he goes so far as to say that, "If
we consider the matter aright, we must concede . . . that of all the errors
into which men have fallen in their desire to penetrate into futurity,
astrology is the most respectable, we may even say the most reasonable."*
He admits that
"The heavenly bodies do rule the fates of men and nations in the most
unmistakable manner, seeing that without the controlling and beneficent
influences of the chief among those orbs -- the sun -- every living creature on
the earth must perish."** He admits, also, the influence of the moon, and
sees nothing strange in the ancients reasoning by analogy, that if two among these
heavenly bodies were thus potent in terrestrial influences, it was " . . .
natural that the other moving bodies known to the ancients, should be thought
to possess also their special powers."*** Indeed, the professor sees
nothing unreasonable in their supposition that the influences exerted by the
slower moving planets "might be even more potent that those of the sun
himself." Mr. Proctor thinks that the system of astrology "was formed
gradually and perhaps tentatively." Some influences may have been inferred
from observed events, the fate of this or that king or chief, guiding
astrologers in assigning particular influences to such planetary aspects as
were presented at the time of his nativity. Others may have been invented, and
afterward have found general acceptance, because confirmed by some curious
coincidences.
A witty joke may
sound very prettily, even in a learned treatise, and the word
"coincidence" may be applied to anything we are unwilling to accept.
But a sophism is not a truism; still less is it a mathematical demonstration,
which alone ought to serve as a beacon -- to astronomers, at least. Astrology
is a science as infallible as astronomy itself, with the condition, however,
that its interpreters must be equally infallible; and it is this condition,
sine qua non, so very difficult of realization, that has always proved a
stumbling-block to both. Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to
exact physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the
visible world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit. It
is the old struggle between the Platonic and Aristotelean schools, and it is
not in our century of Sadducean
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Our Place
among Infinities," p. 313.
** Ibid.
*** Ibid., p. 314.
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skepticism that the
former will prevail over the latter. Mr. Proctor, in his professional capacity,
is like the uncharitable person of the Sermon on the Mount, who is ever ready
to attract public attention to the mote in his despised neighbor's eye, and
overlook the beam in his own. Were we to record the failures and ridiculous
blunders of astronomers, we are afraid they would outnumber by far those of the
astrologers. Present events fully vindicate Nostradamus, who has been so much
ridiculed by our skeptics. In an old book of prophecies, published in the
fifteenth century (an edition of 1453), we read the following, among other
astrological predictions:*
"In twice two
hundred years, the Bear
The Crescent will
assail;
But if the Cock and
Bull unite,
The Bear will not
prevail.
In twice ten years
again --
Let Islam know and
fear --
The Cross shall
stand, the Crescent wane,
Dissolve, and
disappear."
In just twice two
hundred years from the date of that prophecy, we had the Crimean war, during
which the alliance of the Gallic Cock and English Bull interfered with the
political designs of the Russian Bear. In 1856 the war was ended, and Turkey,
or the Crescent, closely escaped destruction. In the present year (1876) the
most unexpected events of a political character have just taken place, and
twice ten years have elapsed since peace was proclaimed. Everything seems to
bid fair for a fulfilment of the old prophecy; the future will tell whether the
Moslem Crescent, which seems, indeed, to be waning, will irrevocably
"wane, dissolve, and disappear," as the outcome of the present
troubles.
In explaining away
the heterodox facts which he appears to have encountered in his pursuit of
knowledge, Mr. Proctor is obliged more than once in his work, to fall back upon
these "curious coincidences." One of the most curious of these is
stated by him in a foot-note (page 301) as follows: "I do not here dwell
on the curious coincidence -- if, indeed, Chaldean astrologers had not
discovered the ring of Saturn -- that they showed the god corresponding within
a ring and triple. . . . Very moderate optical knowledge -- such, indeed, as we
may fairly infer from the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The library of a
relative of the writer contains a copy of a French edition of this unique work.
The prophecies are given in the old French language, and are very difficult for
the student of modern French to decipher. We give, therefore, an English
version, which is said to be taken from a book in the possession of a gentleman
in Somersetshire, England.
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NOSTRADAMUS.
presence of optical
instruments among Assyrian remains -- might have led to the discovery of
Saturnal rings and Jupiter's moons. . . . Bel, the Assyrian Jupiter," he
adds, "was represented sometimes with four star-tipped wings. But it is
possible that these are mere coincidences."
In short, Mr. Proctor's
theory of coincidence becomes finally more suggestive of miracle than the facts
themselves. For coincidences our friends the skeptics appear to have an
unappeasable appetite. We have brought sufficient testimony in the preceding
chapter to show that the ancients must have used as good optical instruments as
we have now. Were the instruments in possession of Nebuchadnezzar of such
moderate power, and the knowledge of his astronomers so very contemptible,
when, according to Rawlinson's reading of the tiles, the Birs-Nimrud, or temple
of Borsippa, had seven stages, symbolical of the concentric circles of the
seven spheres, each built of tiles and metals to correspond with the color of
the ruling planet of the sphere typified? Is it a coincidence again, that they
should have appropriated to each planet the color which our latest telescopic
discoveries show to be the real one?* Or is it again a coincidence, that Plato
should have indicated in the Timaeus his knowledge of the indestructibility of
matter, of conservation of energy, and correlation of forces? "The latest
word of modern philosophy," says Jowett, "is continuity and
development, but to Plato this is the beginning and foundation of
science."**
The radical element
of the oldest religions was essentially sabaistic; and we maintain that their
myths and allegories -- if once correctly and thoroughly interpreted, will
dovetail with the most exact astronomical notions of our day. We will say more;
there is hardly a scientific law -- whether pertaining to physical astronomy or
physical geography -- that could not be easily pointed out in the ingenious
combinations of their fables. They allegorized the most important as well as
the most trifling causes of the celestial motions; the nature of every phenomenon
was personified; and in the mythical biographies of the Olympic gods and
goddesses, one well acquainted with the latest principles of physics and
chemistry can find their causes, inter-agencies, and mutual relations embodied
in the deportment and course of action of the fickle deities. The atmospheric
electricity in its neutral and latent states is embodied usually in demi-gods
and goddesses, whose scene of action is more limited to earth and who, in their
occasional flights to the higher deific regions, display their electric tempers
always in strict proportion with the increase of distance from the earth's
surface: the weapons of Hercules and Thor were
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Rawlinson,
vol. xvii., pp. 30-32, Revised edition.
** Jowett:
Introduction to "Timaeus," "Dial. of Plato," vol. i., p.
509.
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never more mortal
than when the gods soared into the clouds. We must bear in mind that before the
time when the Olympian Jupiter was anthropomorphized by the genius of Pheidias
into the Omnipotent God, the Maximus, the God of gods, and thus abandoned to
the adoration of the multitudes, in the earliest and abstruse science of
symbology he embodied in his person and attributes the whole of the cosmic
forces. The Myth was less metaphysical and complicated, but more truly eloquent
as an expression of natural philosophy. Zeus, the male element of the creation
with Chthonia -- Vesta (the earth), and Metis (the water) the first of the
Oceanides (the feminine principles) -- was viewed according to Porphyry and
Proclus as the zoon-ek-zoon, the chief of living beings. In the Orphic
theology, the oldest of all, metaphysically speaking, he represented both the
potentia and actus, the unrevealed cause and the Demiurge, or the active
creator as an emanation from the invisible potency. In the latter demiurgic
capacity, in conjunction with his consorts, we find in him all the mightiest
agents of cosmic evolution -- chemical affinity, atmospheric electricity,
attraction, and repulsion.
It is in following
his representations in this physical qualification that we discover how well
acquainted were the ancients with all the doctrines of physical science in
their modern development. Later, in the Pythagorean speculations, Zeus became
the metaphysical trinity; the monad evolving from its invisible SELF the active
cause, effect, and intelligent will, the whole forming the Tetractis. Still
later we find the earlier Neoplatonists leaving the primal monad aside, on the
ground of its utter incomprehensibleness to human intellect, speculating merely
on the demiurgic triad of this deity as visible and intelligible in its
effects; and thus the metaphysical continuation by Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus,
and other philosophers of this view of Zeus the father, Zeus Poseidon, or
dunamis, the son and power, and the spirit or nous. This triad was also
accepted as a whole by the Irenaeic school of the second century; the more
substantial difference between the doctrines of the Neo-platonists and the
Christians being merely the forcible amalgamation by the latter of the
incomprehensible monad with its actualized creative trinity.
In his astronomical
aspect Zeus-Dionysus has his origin in the zodiac, the ancient solar year. In
Libya he assumed the form of a ram, and is identical with the Egyptian Amun,
who begat Osiris, the taurian god. Osiris is also a personified emanation of
the Father-Sun, and himself the Sun in Taurus. The Parent-Sun being the Sun in
Aries. As the latter, Jupiter, is in the guise of a ram, and as
Jupiter-Dionysus or Jupiter-Osiris, he is the bull. This animal is, as it is
well known, the symbol of the creative power; moreover the Kabala explains,
through the medium of one of
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IDENTICAL.
its chief
expounders, Simon-Ben-Iochai,* the origin of this strange worship of the bulls
and cows. It is neither Darwin nor Huxley -- the founders of the doctrine of
evolution and its necessary complement, the transformation of species -- that
can find anything against the rationality of this symbol, except, perhaps, a
natural feeling of uneasiness upon finding that they were preceded by the
ancients even in this particular modern discovery. Elsewhere, we will give the
doctrine of the kabalists as taught by Simon-Ben-Iochai.
It may be easily
proved that from time immemorial Saturn or Kronos, whose ring, most positively,
was discovered by the Chaldean astrologers, and whose symbolism is no "coincidence,"
was considered the father of Zeus, before the latter became himself the father
of all the gods, and was the highest deity. He was the Bel or Baal of the
Chaldeans, and originally imported among them by the Akkadians. Rawlinson
insists that the latter came from Armenia; but if so, how can we account for
the fact that Bel is but a Babylonian personification of the Hindu Siva, or
Bala, the fire-god, the omnipotent creative, and at the same time, destroying
Deity, in many senses higher than Brahma himself?
"Zeus,"
says an Orphic hymn, "is the first and the last, the head, and the
extremities; from him have proceeded all things. He is a man and an immortal
nymph (male and female element); the soul of all things; and the principal
motor in fire; he is the sun and the moon; the fountain of the ocean; the
demiurgus of the universe; one power, one God; the mighty creator and governor
of the cosmos. Everything, fire, water, earth, ether, night, the heavens,
Metis, the primeval architecturess (the Sophia of the Gnostics, and the Sephira
of the Kabalists), the beautiful Eros, Cupid, all is included within the vast
dimensions of his glorious body!"**
This short hymn of
laudation contains within itself the groundwork of every mythopoeic conception.
The imagination of the ancients proved as boundless as the visible
manifestations of the Deity itself which afforded them the themes for their
allegories. Still the latter, exuberant as they seem, never departed from the
two principal ideas which may be ever found running parallel in their sacred
imagery; a strict adherence to the physical as well as moral or spiritual
aspect of natural law. Their metaphysical researches never clashed with
scientific truths, and their religions may be truly termed the psycho-physiological
creeds of the priests and scientists, who built them on the traditions of the
infant-world, such as the unsophisticated minds of the primitive races received
them, and on their own experimental knowledge, hoary with all the wisdom of the
intervening ages.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* N. B. -- He lived
in the first century B. C.
** Stobaeus:
"Eclogues."
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As the sun, what
better image could be found for Jupiter emitting his golden rays than to
personify this emanation in Diana, the all-illuminating virgin Artemis, whose
oldest name was Diktynna, literally the emitted ray, from the word dikein. The
moon is non-luminous, and it shines only by the reflected light of the sun;
hence, the imagery of his daughter, the goddess of the moon, and herself, Luna,
Astarte, or Diana. As the Cretan Diktynna, she wears a wreath made of the magic
plant diktamnon, or dictamnus, the evergreen shrub whose contact is said, at
the same time, to develop somnambulism and cure finally of it; and, as
Eilithyia and Juno Pronuba, she is the goddess who presides over births; she is
an AEsculapian deity, and the use of the dictamnus-wreath, in association with
the moon, shows once more the profound observation of the ancients. This plant
is known in botany as possessing strongly sedative properties; it grows on
Mount Dicte, a Cretan mountain, in great abundance; on the other hand, the
moon, according to the best authorities on animal magnetism, acts upon the
juices and ganglionic system, or nerve-cells, the seat from whence proceed all
the nerve-fibres which play such a prominent part in mesmerization. During
childbirth the Cretan women were covered with this plant, and its roots were
administered as best calculated to soothe acute pain, and allay the
irritability so dangerous at this period. They were placed, moreover, within the
precincts of the temple sacred to the goddess, and, if possible, under the
direct rays of the resplendent daughter of Jupiter -- the bright and warm
Eastern moon.
The Hindu Brahmans
and Buddhists have complicated theories on the influence of the sun and moon
(the male and female elements), as containing the negative and positive
principles, the opposites of the magnetic polarity. "The influence of the
moon on women is well known," write all the old authors on magnetism; and
Ennemoser, as well as Du Potet, confirm the theories of the Hindu seers in
every particular.
The marked respect
paid by the Buddhists to the sapphire-stone -- which was also sacred to Luna,
in every other country -- may be found based on something more scientifically
exact than a mere groundless superstition. They ascribed to it a sacred magical
power, which every student of psychological mesmerism will readily understand,
for its polished and deep-blue surface produces extraordinary somnambulic
phenomena. The varied influence of the prismatic colors on the growth of
vegetation, and especially that of the "blue ray," has been
recognized but recently. The Academicians quarrelled over the unequal heating
power of the prismatic rays until a series of experimental demonstrations by
General Pleasonton, proved that under the blue ray, the most electric of all,
animal and vegetable growth was increased to a magical
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PRECIOUS STONES.
proportion. Thus
Amoretti's investigations of the electric polarity of precious stones show that
the diamond, the garnet, the amethyst, are - E., while the sapphire is + E.*
Thus, we are enabled to show that the latest experiments of science only
corroborate that which was known to the Hindu sages before any of the modern
academies were founded. An old Hindu legend says that Brahma-Prajapati, having
fallen in love with his own daughter, Ushas (Heaven, sometimes the Dawn also),
assumed the form of a buck (ris'ya) and Ushas that of a female deer (rohit) and
thus committed the first sin.** Upon seeing such a desecration, the gods felt
so terrified, that uniting their most fearful-looking bodies -- each god
possessing as many bodies as he desires -- they produced Bhutavan (the spirit
of evil), who was created by them on purpose to destroy the incarnation of the
first sin committed by the Brahma himself. Upon seeing this, Brahma-Hiranyagarbha***
repented bitterly and began repeating the Mantras, or prayers of purification,
and, in his grief, dropped on earth a tear, the hottest that ever fell from an
eye; and from it was formed the first sapphire.
This half-sacred,
half-popular legend shows that the Hindus knew which was the most electric of
all the prismatic colors; moreover, the particular influence of the
sapphire-stone was as well defined as that of all the other minerals. Orpheus
teaches how it is possible to affect a whole audience by means of a lodestone;
Pythagoras pays a particular attention to the color and nature of precious
stones; while Apollonius of Tyana imparts to his disciples the secret virtues
of each, and changes his jewelled rings daily, using a particular stone for
every day of the month and according to the laws of judicial astrology. The
Buddhists assert that the sapphire produces peace of mind, equanimity, and
chases all evil thoughts by establishing a healthy circulation in man. So does
an electric battery, with its well-directed fluid, say our electricians.
"The sapphire," say the Buddhists, "will open barred doors and
dwellings (for the spirit of man); it produces a desire for prayer, and brings
with it more peace than any other gem; but he who would wear it must lead a
pure and holy life."****
Diana-Luna is the
daughter of Zeus by Proserpina, who represents the Earth in her active labor,
and, according to Hesiod, as Diana Eily-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Kieser:
"Archiv.," vol. iv., p. 62. In fact, many of the old symbols were
mere puns on names.
** See
"Rig-Vedas," the Aitareya-Brahmanan.
*** Brahma is also
called by the Hindu Brahmans Hiranyagarbha or the unit soul, while Amrita is
the supreme soul, the first cause which emanated from itself the creative
Brahma.
**** Marbod:
"Liber lapid. ed Beekmann."
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thia-Lucina she is
Juno's daughter. But Juno, devoured by Kronos or Saturn, and restored back to
life by the Oceanid Metis, is also known as the Earth. Saturn, as the evolution
of Time, swallows the earth in one of the ante-historical cataclysms, and it is
only when Metis (the waters) by retreating in her many beds, frees the
continent, that Juno is said to be restored to her first shape. The idea is
expressed in the 9th and 10th verses of the first chapter of Genesis. In the
frequent matrimonial quarrels between Juno and Jupiter, Diana is always
represented as turning her back on her mother and smiling upon her father,
though she chides him for his numerous frolics. The Thessalian magicians are
said to have been obliged, during such eclipses, to draw her attention to the
earth by the power of their spells and incantations, and the Babylonian
astrologers and magi never desisted in their spells until they brought about a
reconciliation between the irritated couple, after which Juno "radiantly
smiled on the bright goddess" Diana, who, encircling her brow with her
crescent, returned to her hunting-place in the mountains.
It seems to us that
the fable illustrates the different phases of the moon. We, the inhabitants of
the earth, never see but one-half of our bright satellite, who thus turns her
back to her mother Juno. The sun, the moon, and the earth are constantly
changing positions with relation to each other. With the new moon there is
constantly a change of weather; and sometimes the wind and storms may well
suggest a quarrel between the sun and earth, especially when the former is
concealed by grumbling thunder-clouds. Furthermore, the new moon, when her dark
side is turned toward us, is invisible; and it is only after a reconciliation
between the sun and the earth, that a bright crescent becomes visible on the
side nearest to the sun, though this time Luna is not illuminated by sunlight
directly received, but by sunlight reflected from the earth to the moon, and by
her reflected back to us. Hence, the Chaldean astrologers and the magicians of
Thessaly, who probably watched and determined as accurately as a Babinet the
course of the celestial bodies, were said by their enchantments to force the
moon to descend on earth, i.e., to show her crescent, which she could do but
after receiving the "radiant smile" from her mother-earth, who put it
on after the conjugal reconciliation. Diana-Luna, having adorned her head with
her crescent, returns back to hunt in her mountains.
As to calling in
question the intrinsic knowledge of the ancients on the ground of their
"superstitious deductions from natural phenomena," it is as
appropriate as it would be if, five hundred years hence, our descendants should
regard the pupils of Professor Balfour Stewart as ancient ignoramuses, and
himself a shallow philosopher. If modern science, in the person of this
gentleman, can condescend to make experi-
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ments to determine
whether the appearance of the spots on the sun's surface is in any way
connected with the potato disease, and finds it is; and that, moreover,
"the earth is very seriously affected by what takes place in the
sun,"* why should the ancient astrologers be held up as either fools or
arrant knaves? There is the same relation between natural and judicial or
judiciary astrology, as between physiology and psychology, the physical and the
moral. If in later centuries these sciences were degraded into charlatanry by
some money-making impostors, is it just to extend the accusation to those
mighty men of old who, by their persevering studies and holy lives, bestowed an
immortal name upon Chaldea and Babylonia? Surely those who are now found to
have made correct astronomical observations ranging back to "within 100
years from the flood," from the top observatory of the
"cloud-encompassed Bel," as Prof. Draper has it, can hardly be
considered impostors. If their mode of impressing upon the popular minds the
great astronomical truths differed from the "system of education" of
our present century and appears ridiculous to some, the question still remains
unanswered: which of the two systems was the best? With them science went hand
in hand with religion, and the idea of God was inseparable from that of his
works. And while in the present century there is not one person out of ten
thousand who knows, if he ever knew the fact at all, that the planet Uranus is
next to Saturn, and revolves about the sun in eighty-four years; and that
Saturn is next to Jupiter, and takes twenty-nine and a half years to make one
complete revolution in its orbit; while Jupiter performs his revolution in
twelve years; the uneducated masses of Babylon and Greece, having impressed on
their minds that Uranus was the father of Saturn, and Saturn that of Jupiter,
considering them furthermore deities as well as all their satellites and
attendants, we may perhaps infer from it, that while Europeans only discovered
Uranus in 1781, a curious coincidence is to be noticed in the above myths.
We have but to open
the most common book on astrology, and compare the descriptions embraced in the
Fable of the Twelve Houses with the most modern discoveries of science as to
the nature of the planets and the elements in each star, to see that without
any spectroscope the ancients were perfectly well acquainted with the same.
Unless the fact is again regarded as "a coincidence," we can learn,
to a certain extent, of the degree of the solar heat, light, and nature of the
planets by simply studying their symbolic representations in the Olympic gods,
and the twelve signs of the zodiac, to each of which in astrology is attributed
a particular quality. If the goddesses of our own planet vary in no partic-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Sun and
the Earth," Lecture by Prof. Balfour Stewart.
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ular from other
gods and goddesses, but all have a like physical nature, does not this imply
that the sentinels who watched from the top of Bel's tower, by day as well as
by night, holding communion with the euhemerized deities, had remarked, before
ourselves, the physical unity of the universe and the fact that the planets
above are made of precisely the same chemical elements as our own? The sun in
Aries, Jupiter, is shown in astrology as a masculine, diurnal, cardinal,
equinoctial, easterly sign, hot and dry, and answers perfectly to the character
attributed to the fickle "Father of the gods." When angry Zeus-Akrios
snatches from his fiery belt the thunderbolts which he hurls forth from heaven,
he rends the clouds and descends as Jupiter Pluvius in torrents of rain. He is
the greatest and highest of gods, and his movements are as rapid as lightning
itself. The planet Jupiter is known to revolve on its axis so rapidly that the
point of its equator turns at the rate of 450 miles a minute. An immense excess
of centrifugal force at the equator is believed to have caused the planet to
become extremely flattened at the poles; and in Crete the personified god
Jupiter was represented without ears. The planet Jupiter's disk is crossed by
dark belts; varying in breadth, they appear to be connected with its rotation
on its axis, and are produced by disturbances in its atmosphere. The face of
Father Zeus, says Hesiod, became spotted with rage when he beheld the Titans
ready to rebel.
In Mr. Proctor's
book, astronomers seem especially doomed by Providence to encounter all kinds
of curious "coincidences," for he gives us many cases out of the
"multitude," and even of the "thousands of facts [sic]." To
this list we may add the army of Egyptologists and archaeologists who of late
have been the chosen pets of the capricious Dame Chance, who, moreover,
generally selects "well-to-do Arabs" and other Eastern gentlemen, to
play the part of benevolent genii to Oriental scholars in difficulties.
Professor Ebers is one of the latest favored ones. It is a well-known fact,
that whenever Champollion needed important links, he fell in with them in the
most various and unexpected ways.
Voltaire, the
greatest of "infidels" of the eighteenth century, used to say, that
if there were no God, people would have to invent one. Volney, another
"materialist," nowhere throughout his numerous writings denies the
existence of God. On the contrary, he plainly asserts several times that the
universe is the work of the "All-wise," and is convinced that there
is a Supreme Agent, a universal and identical Artificer, designated by the name
of God.* Voltaire becomes, toward the end of his life, Pythagorical, and
concludes by saying: "I have consumed forty
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Loi
Naturelle," par Volney.
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SENSE.
years of my
pilgrimage . . . seeking the philosopher's stone called truth. I have consulted
all the adepts of antiquity, Epicurus and Augustine, Plato and Malebranche, and
I still remain in ignorance. . . . All that I have been able to obtain by
comparing and combining the system of Plato, of the tutor of Alexander,
Pythagoras, and the Oriental, is this: Chance is a word void of sense. The
world is arranged according to mathematical laws."*
It is pertinent for
us to suggest that Mr. Proctor's stumbling-block is that which trips the feet
of all materialistic scientists, whose views he but repeats; he confounds the
physical and spiritual operations of nature. His very theory of the probable
inductive reasoning of the ancients as to the subtile influences of the more
remote planets, by comparison with the familiar and potent effects of the sun
and moon upon our earth, shows the drift of his mind. Because science affirms
that the sun imparts physical heat and light to us, and the moon affects the
tides, he thinks that the ancients must have regarded the other heavenly bodies
as exerting the same kind of influence upon us physically, and indirectly upon
our fortunes.** And here we must permit ourselves a digression.
How the ancients
regarded the heavenly bodies is very hard to determine, for one unacquainted
with the esoteric explanation of their doctrines. While philology and
comparative theology have begun the arduous work of analysis, they have as yet
arrived at meagre results. The allegorical form of speech has often led our
commentators so far astray, that they have confounded causes with effects, and
vice versa. In the baffling phenomenon of force-correlation, even our greatest
scientists would find it very hard to explain which of these forces is the
cause, and which the effect, since each may be both by turns, and convertible.
Thus, if we should inquire of the physicists, "Is it light which generates
heat, or the latter which produces light?" we would in all probability be
answered that it is certainly light which creates heat. Very well; but how? did
the great Artificer first produce light, or did He first construct the sun,
which is said to be the sole dispenser of light, and, consequently, heat? These
questions may appear at first glance indicative of ignorance; but, perhaps, if
we ponder them deeply, they will assume another appearance. In Genesis, the
"Lord" first creates light, and three days and three nights are
alleged to pass away before He creates the sun, the moon, and the stars. This
gross blunder against exact science has created much merriment among
materialists. And they certainly would be warranted in laughing, if their
doctrine that our light and heat are
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Diction.
Philosophique," Art. "Philosophie."
** "Boston
Lecture," December, 1875.
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derived from the
sun were unassailable. Until recently, nothing has happened to upset this
theory, which, for lack of a better one, according to the expression of a
preacher, "reigns sovereign in the Empire of Hypothesis." The ancient
sun-worshippers regarded the Great Spirit as a nature-god, identical with
nature, and the sun as the deity, "in whom the Lord of life dwells."
Gama is the sun, according to the Hindu theology, and "The sun is the
source of the souls and of all life."* Agni, the "Divine Fire,"
the deity of the Hindu, is the sun,** for the fire and sun are the same. Ormazd
is light, the Sun-God, or the Life-giver. In the Hindu philosophy, "The
souls issue from the soul of the world, and return to it as sparks to the
fire."*** But, in another place, it is said that "The Sun is the soul
of all things; all has proceeded out of it, and will return to it,"****
which shows that the sun is meant allegorically here, and refers to the
central, invisible sun, GOD, whose first manifestation was Sephira, the
emanation of En-Soph -- Light, in short.
"And I looked,
and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire
infolding itself, and a brightness was about it," says Ezekiel (i., 4, 22,
etc.), ". . . and the likeness of a throne . . . and as the appearance of
a man above upon it . . . and I saw as it were the appearance of fire and it
had brightness round about it." And Daniel speaks of the "ancient of
days," the kabalistic En-Soph, whose throne was "the fiery flame, his
wheels burning fire. . . . A fiery stream issued and came forth from before
him."***** Like the Pagan Saturn, who had his castle of flame in the
seventh heaven, the Jewish Jehovah had his "castle of fire over the
seventh heavens."******
If the limited
space of the present work would permit we might easily show that none of the
ancients, the sun-worshippers included, regarded our visible sun otherwise than
as an emblem of their metaphysical invisible central sun-god. Moreover, they
did not believe what our modern science teaches us, namely, that light and heat
proceed from our sun, and that it is this planet which imparts all life to our
visible nature. "His radiance is undecaying," says the Rig-Veda,
"the intensely-shining, all-pervading, unceasing, undecaying rays of Agni
desist not, neither night nor day." This evidently related to the
spiritual, central sun, whose rays are all-pervading and unceasing, the eternal
and boundless life-giver. HE the Point; the centre (which is everywhere) of the
circle (which is nowhere), the ethereal, spiritual fire, the soul and spirit of
the all-pervading, mysterious ether; the despair and puzzle of the materialist,
who will some day find that that which causes the numberless cos-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Weber: "Ind.
Stud.," i. 290.
** Wilson:
"Rig-Veda Sanhita," ii. 143.
***
"Duncker," vol. ii., p. 162.
**** "Wultke,"
ii. 262.
***** Daniel vii.
9, 10.
****** Book of
Enoch, xiv. 7, ff.
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mic forces to
manifest themselves in eternal correlation is but a divine electricity, or
rather galvanism, and that the sun is but one of the myriad magnets
disseminated through space -- a reflector -- as General Pleasonton has it. That
the sun has no more heat in it than the moon or the space-crowding host of
sparkling stars. That there is no gravitation in the Newtonian sense,* but only
magnetic attraction and repulsion; and that it is by their magnetism that the
planets of the solar system have their motions regulated in their respective
orbits by the still more powerful magnetism of the sun, not by their weight or
gravitation. This and much more they may learn; but, until then we must be
content with being merely laughed at, instead of being burned alive for
impiety, or shut up in an insane asylum.
The laws of Manu
are the doctrines of Plato, Philo, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, and of the Kabala.
The esoterism of every religion may be solved by the latter. The kabalistic
doctrine of the allegorical Father and Son, or [[Pater]] and [[Logos]] is
identical with the groundwork of Buddhism. Moses could not reveal to the
multitude the sublime secrets of religious speculation, nor the cosmogony of
the universe; the whole resting upon the Hindu Illusion, a clever mask veiling
the Sanctum Sanctorum, and which has misled so many theological commentators.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This proposition,
which will be branded as preposterous, but which we are ready to show, on the
authority of Plato (see Jowett's Introd. to "the Timaeus"; last
page), as a Pythagorean doctrine, together with that other of the sun being but
the lens through which the light passes, is strangely corroborated at the
present day, by the observations of General Pleasonton of Philadelphia. This
experimentalist boldly comes out as a revolutionist of modern science, and
calls Newton's centripetal and centrifugal forces, and the law of gravitation,
"fallacies." He fearlessly maintains his ground against the Tyndalls
and Huxleys of the day. We are glad to find such a learned defender of one of
the oldest (and hitherto treated as the most absurd) of hermetic hallucinations
(?) (See General Pleasonton's book, "The Influence of the Blue Ray of the
Sunlight, and of the Blue Color of the Sky, in developing Animal and Vegetable
Life," addressed to the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture.)
** In no country
were the true esoteric doctrines trusted to writing. The Hindu Brahma Maia, was
passed from one generation to another by oral tradition. The Kabala was never
written; and Moses intrusted it orally but to his elect. The primitive pure
Oriental gnosticism was completely corrupted and degraded by the different
subsequent sects. Philo, in the "de Sacrificiis Abeli et Caini,"
states that there is a mystery not to be revealed to the uninitiated. Plato is
silent on many things, and his disciples refer to this fact constantly. Any one
who has studied, even superficially, these philosophers, on reading the
institutes of Manu, will clearly perceive that they all drew from the same
source. "This universe," says Manu, "existed only in the first
divine idea, yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness, imperceptible,
indefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and undiscovered by revelation, as if it
were wholly immersed in sleep; then the sole self-existing Power himself
undiscerned, appeared with undiminished glory, [[Footnote continued on next
page]]
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The kabalistic
heresies receive an unexpected support in the heterodox theories of General
Pleasonton. According to his opinions (which he supports on far more
unimpeachable facts than orthodox scientists theirs) the space between the sun
and the earth must be filled with a material medium, which, so far as we can
judge from his description, answers to our kabalistic astral light. The passage
of light through this must produce enormous friction. Friction generates
electricity, and it is this electricity and its correlative magnetism which
forms those tremendous forces of nature that produce in, on, and about our
planet the various changes which we everywhere encounter. He proves that
terrestrial heat cannot be directly derived from the sun, for heat ascends. The
force by which heat is effected is a repellent one, he says, and as it is
associated with positive electricity, it is attracted to the upper atmosphere
by its negative electricity, always associated with cold, which is opposed to
positive electricity. He strengthens his position by showing that the earth,
which when covered with snow cannot be affected by the sun's rays, is warmest
where the snow is deepest. This he explains upon the theory that the radiation
of heat from the interior of the earth, positively electrified, meeting at the
surface of the earth with the snow in contact with it, negatively electrified,
produces the heat.
Thus he shows that
it is not at all to the sun that we are indebted for light and heat; that light
is a creation sui generis, which sprung into existence at the instant when the
Deity willed, and uttered the fiat: "Let there be light"; and that it
is this independent material agent which produces heat by friction, on account
of its enormous and incessant velocity. In short, it is the first kabalistic
emanation to which General Pleasonton introduces us, that Sephira or divine
Intelligence (the female principle), which, in unity with En-Soph, or divine
wisdom (male principle) produced every thing visible and invisible. He laughs
at the current theory of the incandescence of the sun and its gaseous
substance. The reflection from the photosphere of the sun, he says, passing
through planetary and stellar spaces, must have thus created a vast amount of
electricity and magnetism. Electricity, by the union of its opposite
polarities, evolves heat and imparts magnetism to all substances capable of
receiving it. The sun, planets, stars, and nebulae are all magnets, etc.
If this courageous
gentleman should prove his case, future generations will have but little
disposition to laugh at Paracelsus and his sidereal or astral light, and at his
doctrine of the magnetic influence exercised by
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] expanding his idea, or dispelling the
gloom." Thus speaks the first code of Buddhism. Plato's idea is the Will,
or Logos, the deity which manifests itself. It is the Eternal Light from which
proceeds, as an emanation, the visible and material light.
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VEGETATION?
the stars and
planets upon every living creature, plant, or mineral of our globe. Moreover,
if the Pleasonton hypothesis is established, the transcendent glory of
Professor Tyndall will be rather obscured. According to public opinion, the
General makes a terrible onslaught on the learned physicist, for attributing to
the sun calorific effects experienced by him in an Alpine ramble, that were
simply due to his own vital electricity.*
The prevalence of
such revolutionary ideas in science, embolden us to ask the representatives of
science whether they can explain why the tides follow the moon in her circling
motion? The fact is, they cannot demonstrate even so familiar a phenomenon as
this, one that has no mystery for even the neophytes in alchemy and magic. We
would also like to learn whether they are equally incapable of telling us why
the moon's rays are so poisonous, even fatal, to some organisms; why in some
parts of Africa and India a person sleeping in the moonlight is often made
insane; why the crises of certain diseases correspond with lunar changes; why
somnambulists are more affected at her full; and why gardeners, farmers, and
woodmen cling so tenaciously to the idea that vegetation is affected by lunar influences?
Several of the mimosae alternately open and close their petals as the full moon
emerges from or is obscured by clouds. And the Hindus of Travancore have a
popular but extremely suggestive proverb which says: "Soft words are
better than harsh; the sea is attracted by the cool moon and not by the hot
sun." Perhaps the one man or the many men who launched this proverb on the
world knew more about the cause of such attraction of the waters by the moon
than we do. Thus if science cannot explain the cause of this physical
influence, what can she know of the moral and occult influences that may be
exercised by the celestial bodies on men and their destiny; and why contradict
that which it is impossible for her to prove false? If certain aspects of the moon
effect tangible results so familiar in the experience of men throughout all
time, what violence are we doing to logic in assuming the possibility that a
certain combination of sidereal influences may also be more or less potential?
If the reader will
recall what is said by the learned authors of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It appears that
in descending from Mont Blanc, Tyndall suffered severely from the heat, though
he was knee-deep in the snow at the time. The Professor attributed this to the
burning rays of the sun, but Pleasonton maintains that if the rays of the sun
had been so intense as described, they would have melted the snow, which they
did not; he concludes that the heat from which the Professor suffered came from
his own body, and was due to the electrical action of sunlight upon his dark
woolen clothes, which had become electrified positively by the heat of his
body. The cold, dry ether of planetary space and the upper atmosphere of the
earth became negatively electrified, and falling upon his warm body and
clothes, positively electrified, evolved an increased heat (see "The
Influence of the Blue Ray," etc., pp. 39, 40, 41, etc.).
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Unseen Universe, as
to the positive effect produced upon the universal ether by so small a cause as
the evolution of thought in a single human brain, how reasonable will it not
appear that the terrific impulses imparted to this common medium by the sweep
of the myriad blazing orbs that are rushing through "the interstellar
depths," should affect us and the earth upon which we live, in a powerful
degree? If astronomers cannot explain to us the occult law by which the
drifting particles of cosmic matter aggregate into worlds, and then take their
places in the majestic procession which is ceaselessly moving around some
central point of attraction, how can anyone assume to say what mystic
influences may or may not be darting through space and affecting the issues of
life upon this and other planets? Almost nothing is known of the laws of
magnetism and the other imponderable agents; almost nothing of their effects
upon our bodies and minds; even that which is known and moreover perfectly
demonstrated, is attributed to chance, and curious coincidences. But we do
know, by these coincidences,* that "there are periods when certain
diseases, propensities, fortunes, and misfortunes of humanity are more rife
than at others." There are times of epidemic in moral and physical
affairs. In one epoch "the spirit of religious controversy will arouse the
most ferocious passions of which human nature is susceptible, provoking mutual
persecution, bloodshed, and wars; at another, an epidemic of resistance to
constituted authority will spread over half the world (as in the year 1848),
rapid and simultaneous as the most virulent bodily disorder."
Again, the
collective character of mental phenomena is illustrated by an anomalous
psychological condition invading and dominating over thousands upon thousands,
depriving them of everything but automatic action, and giving rise to the
popular opinion of demoniacal possession, an opinion in some sense justified by
the satanic passions, emotions, and acts which accompany the condition. At one
period, the aggregate tendency is to retirement and contemplation; hence, the
countless votaries of monachism and anchoretism; at another the mania is
directed toward action, having for its proposed end some utopian scheme,
equally impracticable and useless; hence, the myriads who have forsaken their
kindred, their homes, and their country, to seek a land whose stones were gold,
or to wage exterminating war for the possession of worthless cities and
trackless deserts.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The most curious
of all "curious coincidences," to our mind is, that our men of
science should put aside facts, striking enough to cause them to use such an
expression when speaking of them, instead of setting to work to give us a
philosophical explanation of the same.
** See Charles
Elam, M. D.: "A Physician's Problems," London, 1869, p. 159.
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SPHERES.
The author from
whom the above is quoted says that "the seeds of vice and crime appear to
be sown under the surface of society, and to spring up and bring forth fruit
with appalling rapidity and paralyzing succession."
In the presence of
these striking phenomena science stands speechless; she does not even attempt
to conjecture as to their cause, and naturally, for she has not yet learned to
look outside of this ball of dirt upon which we live, and its heavy atmosphere,
for the hidden influences which are affecting us day by day, and even minute by
minute. But the ancients, whose "ignorance" is assumed by Mr.
Proctor, fully realized the fact that the reciprocal relations between the
planetary bodies is as perfect as those between the corpuscles of the blood,
which float in a common fluid; and that each one is affected by the combined
influences of all the rest, as each in its turn affects each of the others. As
the planets differ in size, distance, and activity, so differ in intensity
their impulses upon the ether or astral light, and the magnetic and other
subtile forces radiated by them in certain aspects of the heavens. Music is the
combination and modulation of sounds, and sound is the effect produced by the
vibration of the ether. Now, if the impulses communicated to the ether by the
different planets may be likened to the tones produced by the different notes
of a musical instrument, it is not difficult to conceive that the Pythagorean
"music of the spheres" is something more than a mere fancy, and that
certain planetary aspects may imply disturbances in the ether of our planet,
and certain others rest and harmony. Certain kinds of music throw us into
frenzy; some exalt the soul to religious aspirations. In fine, there is
scarcely a human creation which does not respond to certain vibrations of the
atmosphere. It is the same with colors; some excite us, some soothe and please.
The nun clothes herself in black to typify the despondency of a faith crushed
under the sense of original sin; the bride robes herself in white; red inflames
the anger of certain animals. If we and the animals are affected by vibrations
acting upon a very minute scale, why may we not be influenced in the mass by
vibrations acting upon a grand scale as the effect of combined stellar
influences?
"We
know," says Dr. Elam, "that certain pathological conditions have a
tendency to become epidemic, influenced by causes not yet investigated. . . .
We see how strong is the tendency of opinion once promulgated to run into an
epidemic form -- no opinion, no delusion, is too absurd to assume this
collective character. We observe, also, how remarkably the same ideas reproduce
themselves and reappear in successive ages; . . . no crime is too horrible to
become popular, homicide, infanticide, suicide, poisoning, or any other
diabolical human conception.
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. . . In epidemics,
the cause of the rapid spread at that particular period remains a
mystery!"
These few lines contain
an undeniable psychological fact, sketched with a masterly pen, and at the same
time a half-confession of utter ignorance -- "Causes not yet
investigated." Why not be honest and add at once, "impossible to
investigate with present scientific methods"?
Noticing an
epidemic of incendiarism, Dr. Elam quotes from the Annales d'Hygiene Publique
the following cases: "A girl about seventeen years of age was arrested on
suspicion . . . she confessed that twice she had set fire to dwellings by
instinct, by irresistible necessity. . . . A boy about eighteen committed many
acts of this nature. He was not moved by any passion, but the bursting-out of
the flames excited a profoundly pleasing emotion."
Who but has noticed
in the columns of the daily press similar incidents? They meet the eye
constantly. In cases of murder, of every description, and of other crimes of a
diabolical character, the act is attributed, in nine cases out of ten, by the
offenders themselves, to irresistible obsessions. "Something whispered constantly
in my ear. . . . Somebody was incessantly pushing and leading me on." Such
are the too-frequent confessions of the criminals. Physicians attribute them to
hallucinations of disordered brains, and call the homicidal impulse temporary
lunacy. But is lunacy itself well understood by any psychologist? Has its cause
ever been brought under a hypothesis capable of withstanding the challenge of
an uncompromising investigator? Let the controversial works of our contemporary
alienists answer for themselves.
Plato acknowledges
man to be the toy of the element of necessity, which he enters upon in
appearing in this world of matter; he is influenced by external causes, and
these causes are daimonia, like that of Socrates. Happy is the man physically
pure, for if his external soul (body) is pure, it will strengthen the second
one (astral body), or the soul which is termed by him the higher mortal soul,
which though liable to err from its own motives, will always side with reason
against the animal proclivities of the body. The lusts of man arise in
consequence of his perishable material body, so do other diseases; but though
he regards crimes as involuntary sometimes, for they result like bodily disease
from external causes, Plato clearly makes a wide distinction between these
causes. The fatalism which he concedes to humanity, does not preclude the
possibility of avoiding them, for though pain, fear, anger, and other feelings
are given to men by necessity, "if they conquered these they would live
righteously, and if they were conquered by them, unrighteously."* The
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Jowett:
"Timaeus."
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PROBLEMS."
dual man, i.e., one
from whom the divine immortal spirit has departed, leaving but the animal form
and astral body (Plato's higher mortal soul), is left merely to his instincts,
for he was conquered by all the evils entailed on matter; hence, he becomes a
docile tool in the hands of the invisibles -- beings of sublimated matter,
hovering in our atmosphere, and ever ready to inspire those who are deservedly
deserted by their immortal counsellor, the Divine Spirit, called by Plato
"genius."* According to this great philosopher and initiate, one
"who lived well during his appointed time would return to the habitation
of his star, and there have a blessed and suitable existence. But if he failed
in attaining this in the second generation he would pass into a woman -- become
helpless and weak as a woman;** and should he not cease from evil in that
condition, he would be changed into some brute, which resembled him in his evil
ways, and would not cease from his toils and transformations until he followed
the original principle of sameness and likeness within him, and overcame, by
the help of reason, the latter secretions of turbulent and irrational elements
(elementary daemons) composed of fire and air, and water and earth, and
returned to the form of his first and better nature."***
But Dr. Elam thinks
otherwise. On page 194 of his book, A Physician's Problems, he says that the
cause of the rapid spread of certain epidemics of disease which he is noticing
"remains a mystery"; but as regards the incendiarism he remarks that
"in all this we find nothing mysterious," though the epidemic is
strongly developed. Strange contradiction! De Quincey, in his paper, entitled Murder
Considered as One of the Fine Arts, treats of the epidemic of assassination,
between 1588 and 1635, by which seven of the most distinguished characters of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.
** According to
General Pleasonton's theory of positive and negative electricity underlying
every psychological, physiological, and cosmic phenomena, the abuse of
alcoholic stimulants transforms a man into a woman and vice versa, by changing
their electricities. "When this change in the condition of his electricity
has occurred," says the author, "his attributes (those of a drunkard)
become feminine; he is irritable, irrational, excitable . . . becomes violent,
and if he meets his wife, whose normal condition of electricity is like his
present condition, positive, they repel each other, become mutually abusive,
engage in conflict and deadly strife, and the newspapers of the next day
announce the verdict of the coroner's jury on the case. . . . Who would expect
to find the discovery of the moving cause of all these terrible crimes in the
perspiration of the criminal? and yet science has shown that the metamorphoses
of a man into a woman, by changing the negative condition of his electricity
into the positive electricity of the woman, with all its attributes, is
disclosed by the character of his perspiration, superinduced by the use of
alcoholic stimulants" ("The Influence of the Blue Ray," p. 119).
*** Plato:
"Timaeus."
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the time lost their
lives at the hands of assassins, and neither he, nor any other commentator has
been able to explain the mysterious cause of this homicidal mania.
If we press these
gentlemen for an explanation, which as pretended philosophers they are bound to
give us, we are answered that it is a great deal more scientific to assign for
such epidemics "agitation of the mind," " . . . a time of political
excitement (1830)" " . . . imitation and impulse," " . . .
excitable and idle boys," and "hysterical girls," than to be
absurdly seeking for the verification of superstitious traditions in a
hypothetical astral light. It seems to us that if, by some providential
fatality, hysteria were to disappear entirely from the human system, the
medical fraternity would be entirely at a loss for explanations of a large
class of phenomena now conveniently classified under the head of "normal
symptoms of certain pathological conditions of the nervous centres."
Hysteria has been hitherto the sheet-anchor of skeptical pathologists. Does a
dirty peasant-girl begin suddenly to speak with fluency different foreign
languages hitherto unfamiliar to her, and to write poetry -- "hysterics!"
Is a medium levitated, in full view of a dozen of witnesses, and carried out of
one third-story window and brought back through another -- "disturbance of
the nervous centres, followed by a collective hysterical delusion."* A
Scotch terrier, caught in the room during a manifestation, is hurled by an
invisible hand across the room, breaks to pieces, in his salto mortali, a
chandelier, under a ceiling eighteen feet high, to fall down killed** --
"canine hallucination!"
"True science
has no belief," says Dr. Fenwick, in Bulwer-Lytton's Strange Story;
"true science knows but three states of mind: denial, conviction, and the
vast interval between the two, which is not belief, but the suspension of
judgment." Such, perhaps, was true science in Dr. Fenwick's days. But the
true science of our modern times proceeds otherwise; it either denies
point-blank, without any preliminary investigation, or sits in the interim,
between denial and conviction, and, dictionary in hand, invents new
Graeco-Latin appellations for non-existing kinds of hysteria!
How often have
powerful clairvoyants and adepts in mesmerism described the epidemics and
physical (though to others invisible) manifestations which science attributes
to epilepsy, haemato-nervous disorders, and what not, of somatic origin, as
their lucid vision saw them in the astral light. They affirm that the
"electric waves" were in violent perturbation, and that they
discerned a direct relation between this ethereal disturbance and the mental or
physical epidemic then raging. But
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Littre:
"Revue des Deux Mondes."
** See des
Mousseaux's "OEuvres des Demons."
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science has heeded
them not, but gone on with her encyclopaedic labor of devising new names for
old things.
"History,"
says Du Potet, the prince of French mesmerists, "keeps but too well the
sad records of sorcery. These facts were but too real, and lent themselves but
too readily to dreadful malpractices of the art, to monstrous abuse! . . . But
how did I come to find out that art? Where did I learn it? In my thoughts? no;
it is nature herself which discovered to me the secret. And how? By producing
before my own eyes, without waiting for me to search for it, indisputable facts
of sorcery and magic. . . . What is, after all, somnambulistic sleep? A result
of the potency of magic. And what is it which determines these attractions,
these sudden impulses, these raving epidemics, rages, antipathies, crises; --
these convulsions which you can make durable? . . . what is it which determines
them, if not the very principle we employ, the agent so decidedly well known to
the ancients? What you call nervous fluid or magnetism, the men of old called
occult power, or the potency of the soul, subjection, MAGIC!"
"Magic is
based on the existence of a mixed world placed without, not within us; and with
which we can enter in communication by the use of certain arts and practices. .
. . An element existing in nature, unknown to most men, gets hold of a person
and withers and breaks him down, as the fearful hurricane does a bulrush; it scatters
men far away, it strikes them in a thousand places at the same time, without
their perceiving the invisible foe, or being able to protect themselves . . .
all this is demonstrated; but that this element could choose friends and select
favorites, obey their thoughts, answer to the human voice, and understand the
meaning of traced signs, that is what people cannot realize, and what their
reason rejects, and that is what I saw; and I say it here most emphatically,
that for me it is a fact and a truth demonstrated for ever."*
"If I entered
into greater details, one could readily understand that there do exist around
us, as in ourselves, mysterious beings who have power and shape, who enter and
go out at will, notwithstanding the well-closed doors."** Further, the
great mesmerizer teaches us that the faculty of directing this fluid is a
"physical property, resulting from our organization . . . it passes
through all bodies . . . everything can be used as a conductor for magical
operations, and it will retain the power of producing effects in its
turn." This is the theory common to all hermetic philosophers. Such is the
power of the fluid, "that no chemical or physical forces are able to
destroy it. . . . There is very little analogy between
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Du Potet:
"Magie Devoilee," pp. 51-147.
** Ibid., p. 201.
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the imponderable
fluids known to physicists and this animal magnetic fluid."*
If we now refer to
mediaeval ages, we find, among others, Cornelius Agrippa telling us precisely
the same: "The ever-changing universal force, the 'soul of the world,' can
fecundate anything by infusing in it its own celestial properties. Arranged
according to the formula taught by science, these objects receive the gift of
communicating to us their virtue. It is sufficient to wear them, to feel them immediately
operating on the soul as on the body. . . . Human soul possesses, from the fact
of its being of the same essence as all creation, a marvellous power. One who
possesses the secret is enabled to rise in science and knowledge as high as his
imagination will carry him; but he does that only on the condition of becoming
closely united to this universal force . . . Truth, even the future, can be
then made ever present to the eyes of the soul; and this fact has been many
times demonstrated by things coming to pass as they were seen and described
beforehand . . . time and space vanish before the eagle eye of the immortal
soul . . . her power becomes boundless . . . she can shoot through space and
envelop with her presence a man, no matter at what distance; she can plunge and
penetrate him through, and make him hear the voice of the person she belongs
to, as if that person were in the room."**
If unwilling to
seek for proof or receive information from mediaeval, hermetic philosophy, we
may go still further back into antiquity, and select, out of the great body of
philosophers of the pre-Christian ages, one who can least be accused of
superstition and credulity -- Cicero. Speaking of those whom he calls gods, and
who are either human or atmospheric spirits, "We know," says the old
orator, "that of all living beings man is the best formed, and, as the
gods belong to this number, they must have a human form. . . . I do not mean to
say that the gods have body and blood in them; but I say that they seem as if
they had bodies with blood in them. . . . Epicurus, for whom hidden things were
as tangible as if he had touched them with his finger, teaches us that gods are
not generally visible, but that they are intelligible; that they are not bodies
having a certain solidity . . . but that we can recognize them by their passing
images; that as there are atoms enough in the infinite space to produce such
images, these are produced before us . . . and make us realize what are these
happy, immortal beings."***
"When the initiate,"
says Levi, in his turn, "has become quite lucide,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Baron Du Potet:
"Cours de Magnetisme," pp. 17-108.
** "De Occulto
Philosophia," pp. 332-358.
*** Cicero:
"De Natura Deorum," lib. i., cap. xviii.
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he communicates and
directs at will the magnetic vibrations in the mass of astral light. . . .
Transformed in human light at the moment of the conception, it (the light)
becomes the first envelope of the soul; by combination with the subtlest fluids
it forms an ethereal body, or the sidereal phantom, which is entirely
disengaged only at the moment of death."* To project this ethereal body,
at no matter what distance; to render it more objective and tangible by
condensing over its fluidic form the waves of the parent essence, is the great
secret of the adept-magician.
Theurgical magic is
the last expression of occult psychological science. The Academicians reject it
as the hallucination of diseased brains, or brand it with the opprobrium of
charlatanry. We deny to them most emphatically the right of expressing their
opinion on a subject which they have never investigated. They have no more
right, in their present state of knowledge, to judge of magic and Spiritualism
than a Fiji islander to venture his opinion about the labors of Faraday or
Agassiz. About all they can do on any one day is to correct the errors of the
preceding day. Nearly three thousand years ago, earlier than the days of
Pythagoras, the ancient philosophers claimed that light was ponderable -- hence
matter, and that light was force. The corpuscular theory, owing to certain
Newtonian failures to account for it, was laughed down, and the undulatory
theory, which proclaimed light imponderable, accepted. And now the world is
startled by Mr.Crookes weighing light with his radiometer! The Pythagoreans
held that neither the sun nor the stars were the sources of light and heat, and
that the former was but an agent; but the modern schools teach the contrary.
The same may be
said respecting the Newtonian law of gravitation. Following strictly the
Pythagorean doctrine, Plato held that gravitation was not merely a law of the
magnetic attraction of lesser bodies to larger ones, but a magnetic repulsion
of similars and attraction of dissimilars. "Things brought together,"
says he, "contrary to nature, are naturally at war, and repel one
another."** This cannot be taken to mean that repulsion occurs of
necessity between bodies of dissimilar properties, but simply that when
naturally antagonistic bodies are brought together they repel one another. The
researches of Bart and Schweigger leave us in little or no doubt that the
ancients were well acquainted with the mutual attractions of iron and the
lodestone, as well as with the positive and negative properties of electricity,
by whatever name they may have called
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Eliphas Levi.
**
"Timaeus." Such like expressions made Professor Jowett state in his
Introduction that Plato taught the attraction of similar bodies to similar. But
such an assertion would amount to denying the great philosopher even a
rudimentary knowledge of the laws of magnetic poles.
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it. The reciprocal
magnetic relations of the planetary orbs, which are all magnets, was with them
an accepted fact, and aerolites were not only called by them magnetic stones,
but used in the Mysteries for purposes to which we now apply the magnet. When,
therefore, Professor A. M. Mayer, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, in
1872, told the Yale Scientific Club that the earth is a great magnet, and that
"on any sudden agitation of the sun's surface the magnetism of the earth
receives a profound disturbance in its equilibrium, causing fitful tremors in
the magnets of our observatories, and producing those grand outbursts of the
polar lights, whose lambent flames dance in rhythm to the quivering
needle,"* he only restated, in good English, what was taught in good Doric
untold centuries before the first Christian philosopher saw the light.
The prodigies
accomplished by the priests of theurgical magic are so well authenticated, and
the evidence -- if human testimony is worth anything at all -- is so
overwhelming, that, rather than confess that the Pagan theurgists far
outrivalled the Christians in miracles, Sir David Brewster piously concedes to
the former the greatest proficiency in physics, and everything that pertains to
natural philosophy. Science finds herself in a very disagreeable dilemma. She
must either confess that the ancient physicists were superior in knowledge to
her modern representatives, or that there exists something in nature beyond
physical science, and that spirit possesses powers of which our philosophers
never dreamed.
"The mistake
we make in some science we have specially cultivated," says Bulwer-Lytton,
"is often only to be seen by the light of a separate science as especially
cultivated by another."**
Nothing can be
easier accounted for than the highest possibilities of magic. By the radiant
light of the universal magnetic ocean, whose electric waves bind the cosmos
together, and in their ceaseless motion penetrate every atom and molecule of
the boundless creation, the disciples of mesmerism -- howbeit insufficient
their various experiments -- intuitionally perceive the alpha and omega of the
great mystery. Alone, the study of this agent, which is the divine breath, can
unlock the secrets of psychology and physiology, of cosmical and spiritual
phenomena.
"Magic,"
says Psellus, "formed the last part of the sacerdotal science. It
investigated the nature, power, and quality of everything sublunary; of the
elements and their parts, of animals, all various plants and their fruits, of
stones and herbs. In short, it explored the essence and power of everything.
From hence, therefore, it produced its effects.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Alfred Marshall
Mayer, Ph.D.: "The Earth a Great Magnet," a lecture delivered before
the Yale Scientific Club, Feb. 14, 1872.
** "Strange
Story."
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THE CLOUDS.
And it formed
statues (magnetized) which procure health, and made all various figures and
things (talismans) which could equally become the instruments of disease as
well as of health. Often, too, celestial fire is made to appear through magic,
and then statues laugh and lamps are spontaneously enkindled."*
If Galvani's modern
discovery can set in motion the limbs of a dead frog, and force a dead man's
face to express, by the distortion of its features, the most varied emotions,
from joy to diabolical rage, despair, and horror, the Pagan priests, unless the
combined evidence of the most trustworthy men of antiquity is not to be relied
upon, accomplished the still greater wonders of making their stone and metal
statues to sweat and laugh. The celestial, pure fire of the Pagan altar was
electricity drawn from the astral light. Statues, therefore, if properly
prepared, might, without any accusation of superstition, be allowed to have the
property of imparting health and disease by contact, as well as any modern
galvanic belt, or overcharged battery.
Scholastic
skeptics, as well as ignorant materialists, have greatly amused themselves for
the last two centuries over the absurdities attributed to Pythagoras by his
biographer, Iamblichus. The Samian philosopher is said to have persuaded a
she-bear to give up eating human flesh; to have forced a white eagle to descend
to him from the clouds, and to have subdued him by stroking him gently with the
hand, and by talking to him. On another occasion, Pythagoras actually persuaded
an ox to renounce eating beans, by merely whispering in the animal's ear!** Oh,
ignorance and superstition of our forefathers, how ridiculous they appear in
the eyes of our enlightened generations! Let us, however, analyze this
absurdity. Every day we see unlettered men, proprietors of strolling
menageries, taming and completely subduing the most ferocious animals, merely
by the power of their irresistible will. Nay, we have at the present moment in
Europe several young and physically-weak girls, under twenty years of age,
fearlessly doing the same thing. Every one has either witnessed or heard of the
seemingly magical power of some mesmerizers and psychologists. They are able to
subjugate their patients for any length of time. Regazzoni, the mesmerist who
excited such wonder in France and London, has achieved far more extraordinary
feats than what is above attributed to Pythagoras. Why, then, accuse the
ancient biographers of such men as Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyana of either
wilful misrepresentation or absurd superstition? When we realize that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Taylor's
"Pausanias"; MS. "Treatise on Daemons," by Psellus, and the
"Treatise on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries."
** Iamblichus:
"De Vita Pythag."
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the majority of
those who are so skeptical as to the magical powers possessed by the ancient
philosophers, who laugh at the old theogonies and the fallacies of mythology,
nevertheless have an implicit faith in the records and inspiration of their Bible,
hardly daring to doubt even that monstrous absurdity that Joshua arrested the
course of the sun, we may well say Amen to Godfrey Higgins' just rebuke:
"When I find," he says, "learned men believing Genesis
literally, which the ancients, with all their failings, had too much sense to
receive except allegorically, I am tempted to doubt the reality of the
improvement of the human mind."*
One of the very few
commentators on old Greek and Latin authors, who have given their just dues to
the ancients for their mental development, is Thomas Taylor. In his translation
of Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, we find him remarking as follows:
"Since Pythagoras, as Iamblichus informs us, was initiated in all the
Mysteries of Byblus and Tyre, in the sacred operations of the Syrians, and in
the Mysteries of the Phoenicians, and also that he spent two and twenty years
in the adyta of temples in Egypt, associated with the magians in Babylon, and
was instructed by them in their venerable knowledge, it is not at all wonderful
that he was skilled in magic, or theurgy, and was therefore able to perform
things which surpass merely human power, and which appear to be perfectly
incredible to the vulgar."**
The universal ether
was not, in their eyes, simply a something stretching, tenantless, throughout
the expanse of heaven; it was a boundless ocean peopled like our familiar seas
with monstrous and minor creatures, and having in its every molecule the germs
of life. Like the finny tribes which swarm in our oceans and smaller bodies of
water, each kind having its habitat in some spot to which it is curiously
adapted, some friendly and some inimical to man, some pleasant and some
frightful to behold, some seeking the refuge of quiet nooks and land-locked
harbors, and some traversing great areas of water, the various races of the
elemental spirits were believed by them to inhabit the different portions of
the great ethereal ocean, and to be exactly adapted to their respective
conditions. If we will only bear in mind the fact that the rushing of planets
through space must create as absolute a disturbance in this plastic and
attenuated medium, as the passage of a cannon shot does in the air or that of a
steamer in the water, and on a cosmic scale, we can understand that certain
planetary aspects, admitting our premises to be true, may produce much more
violent agitation and cause much stronger currents to flow in a given
direction, than others. With the same premises conceded, we may also see why,
by such various aspects of the stars, shoals of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Anacalypsis," vol. i., p. 807.
** Iamblichus:
"Life of Pythagoras," p. 297.
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THRESHOLD.
friendly or hostile
"elementals" might be poured in upon our atmosphere, or some
particular portion of it, and make the fact appreciable by the effects which
ensue.
According to the
ancient doctrines, the soulless elemental spirits were evolved by the ceaseless
motion inherent in the astral light. Light is force, and the latter is produced
by the will. As this will proceeds from an intelligence which cannot err, for
it has nothing of the material organs of human thought in it, being the
superfine pure emanation of the highest divinity itself -- (Plato's
"Father") it proceeds from the beginning of time, according to
immutable laws, to evolve the elementary fabric requisite for subsequent
generations of what we term human races. All of the latter, whether belonging
to this planet or to some other of the myriads in space, have their earthly
bodies evolved in the matrix out of the bodies of a certain class of these
elemental beings which have passed away in the invisible worlds. In the ancient
philosophy there was no missing link to be supplied by what Tyndall calls an
"educated imagination"; no hiatus to be filled with volumes of
materialistic speculations made necessary by the absurd attempt to solve an
equation with but one set of quantities; our "ignorant" ancestors
traced the law of evolution throughout the whole universe. As by gradual
progression from the star-cloudlet to the development of the physical body of
man, the rule holds good, so from the universal ether to the incarnate human
spirit, they traced one uninterrupted series of entities. These evolutions were
from the world of spirit into the world of gross matter; and through that back
again to the source of all things. The "descent of species" was to
them a descent from the spirit, primal source of all, to the "degradation
of matter." In this complete chain of unfoldings the elementary, spiritual
beings had as distinct a place, midway between the extremes, as Mr. Darwin's
missing-link between the ape and man.
No author in the
world of literature ever gave a more truthful or more poetical description of
these beings than Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton, the author of Zanoni. Now, himself
"a thing not of matter" but an "Idea of joy and light," his
words sound more like the faithful echo of memory than the exuberant outflow of
mere imagination.
"Man is
arrogant in proportion of his ignorance," he makes the wise Mejnour say to
Glyndon. "For several ages he saw in the countless worlds that sparkle
through space like the bubbles of a shoreless ocean, only the petty candles . .
. that Providence has been pleased to light for no other purpose but to make
the night more agreeable to man. . . . Astronomy has corrected this delusion of
human vanity, and man now reluctantly confesses that the stars are worlds,
larger and more glorious than his own. . . . Everywhere, then, in this immense
design, science
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brings new life to
light. . . . Reasoning, then, by evident analogy, if not a leaf, if not a drop
of water, but is, no less than yonder star, a habitable and breathing world --
nay, if even man himself, is a world to other lives, and millions and myriads
dwell in the rivers of his blood, and inhabit man's frame, as man inhabits
earth -- common sense (if our schoolmen had it) would suffice to teach that the
circumfluent infinite which you call space -- the boundless impalpable which
divides earth from the moon and stars -- is filled also with its correspondent
and appropriate life. Is it not a visible absurdity to suppose that being is
crowded upon every leaf, and yet absent from the immensities of space! The law
of the great system forbids the waste even of an atom; it knows no spot where
something of life does not breathe. . . . Well, then, can you conceive that
space, which is the infinite itself, is alone a waste, is alone lifeless, is
less useful to the one design of universal being . . . than the peopled leaf,
than the swarming globule? The microscope shows you the creatures on the leaf;
no mechanical tube is yet invented to discover the nobler and more gifted things
that hover in the illimitable air. Yet between these last and man is a
mysterious and terrible affinity. . . . But first, to penetrate this barrier,
the soul with which you listen must be sharpened by intense enthusiasm,
purified from all earthly desires. . . . When thus prepared, science can be
brought to aid it; the sight itself may be rendered more subtile, the nerves
more acute, the spirit more alive and outward, and the element itself -- the
air, the space -- may be made, by certain secrets of the higher chemistry, more
palpable and clear. And this, too, is not magic as the credulous call it; as I
have so often said before, magic (a science that violates nature) exists not;
it is but the science by which nature can be controlled. Now, in space there
are millions of beings, not literally spiritual, for they have all, like the
animalcula unseen by the naked eye, certain forms of matter, though matter so
delicate, air-drawn, and subtile, that it is, as it were, but a film, a
gossamer, that clothes the spirit. . . . Yet, in truth, these races differ most
widely . . . some of surpassing wisdom, some of horrible malignity; some
hostile as fiends to men, others gentle as messengers between earth and heaven.
. . . Amid the dwellers of the threshold is one, too, surpassing in malignity
and hatred all her tribe; one whose eyes have paralyzed the bravest, and whose
power increases over the spirit precisely in proportion to its fear."*
Such is the
insufficient sketch of elemental beings void of divine spirit, given by one
whom many with reason believed to know more than he was prepared to admit in
the face of an incredulous public.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Bulwer-Lytton:
"Zanoni."
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MAY BE.
In the following
chapter we will contrive to explain some of the esoteric speculations of the
initiates of the sanctuary, as to what man was, is, and may yet be. The
doctrines they taught in the Mysteries -- the source from which sprang the Old
and partially the New Testament, belonged to the most advanced notions of
morality, and religious revelations. While the literal meaning was abandoned to
the fanaticism of the unreasoning lower classes of society, the higher ones,
the majority of which consisted of Initiates, pursued their studies in the
solemn silence of the temples, and their worship of the one God of Heaven.
The speculations of
Plato, in the Banquet, on the creation of the primordial men, and the essay on
Cosmogony in the Timaeus, must be taken allegorically, if we accept them at
all. It is this hidden Pythagorean meaning in Timaeus, Cratylus, and Parmenides,
and a few other trilogies and dialogues, that the Neo-platonists ventured to
expound, as far as the theurgical vow of secrecy would allow them. The
Pythagorean doctrine that God is the universal mind diffused through all
things, and the dogma of the soul's immortality, are the leading features in
these apparently incongruous teachings. His piety and the great veneration
Plato felt for the MYSTERIES, are sufficient warrant that he would not allow
his indiscretion to get the better of that deep sense of responsibility which
is felt by every adept. "Constantly perfecting himself in perfect
MYSTERIES, a man in them alone becomes truly perfect," says he in the
Phaedrus.*
He took no pains to
conceal his displeasure that the Mysteries had become less secret than
formerly. Instead of profaning them by putting them within the reach of the
multitude, he would have guarded them with jealous care against all but the
most earnest and worthy of his disciples.** While mentioning the gods, on every
page, his monotheism is unquestionable, for the whole thread of his discourse
indicates that by the term gods he means a class of beings far lower in the
scale than deities, and but one grade higher than men. Even Josephus perceived
and acknowledged this fact, despite the natural prejudice of his race. In his
famous onslaught upon Apion, this historian says:*** "Those, however,
among the Greeks who philosophized in accordance with truth, were not ignorant
of anything . . . nor did they fail to perceive the chilling
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cory:
"Phaedrus," i. 328.
** This assertion
is clearly corroborated by Plato himself, who says: "You say that, in my
former discourse, I have not sufficiently explained to you the nature of the First.
I purposely spoke enigmatically, that in case the tablet should have happened
with any accident, either by land or sea, a person, without some previous
knowledge of the subject, might not be able to understand its contents"
("Plato," Ep. ii., p. 312; Cory: "Ancient Fragments").
*** "Josephus
against Apion," ii., p. 1079.
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superficialities of
the mythical allegories, on which account they justly despised them. . . . By
which thing Plato, being moved, says it is not necessary to admit any one of
the other poets into 'the Commonwealth,' and he dismisses Homer blandly, after having
crowned him and pouring unguent upon him, in order that indeed he should not
destroy, by his myths, the orthodox belief respecting one God."
Those who can
discern the true spirit of Plato's philosophy, will hardly be satisfied with
the estimate of the same which Jowett lays before his readers. He tells us that
the influence exercised upon posterity by the Timaeus is partly due to a
misunderstanding of the doctrine of its author by the Neo-platonists. He would
have us believe that the hidden meanings which they found in this Dialogue, are
"quite at variance with the spirit of Plato." This is equivalent to
the assumption that Jowett understands what this spirit really was; whereas his
criticism upon this particular topic rather indicates that he did not penetrate
it at all. If, as he tells us, the Christians seem to find in his work their
trinity, the word, the church, and the creation of the world, in a Jewish
sense, it is because all this is there, and therefore it is but natural that
they should have found it. The outward building is the same; but the spirit
which animated the dead letter of the philosopher's teaching has fled, and we
would seek for it in vain through the arid dogmas of Christian theology. The
Sphinx is the same now, as it was four centuries before the Christian era; but
the OEdipus is no more. He is slain because he has given to the world that
which the world was not ripe enough to receive. He was the embodiment of truth,
and he had to die, as every grand truth has to, before, like the Phoenix of
old, it revives from its own ashes. Every translator of Plato's works remarked
the strange similarity between the philosophy of the esoterists and the
Christian doctrines, and each of them has tried to interpret it in accordance
with his own religious feelings. So Cory, in his Ancient Fragments, tries to
prove that it is but an outward resemblance; and does his best to lower the
Pythagorean Monad in the public estimation and exalt upon its ruins the later
anthropomorphic deity. Taylor, advocating the former, acts as unceremoniously
with the Mosaic God. Zeller boldly laughs at the pretensions of the Fathers of
the Church, who, notwithstanding history and its chronology, and whether people
will have it or not, insist that Plato and his school have robbed Christianity
of its leading features. It is as fortunate for us as it is unfortunate for the
Roman Church that such clever sleight-of-hand as that resorted to by Eusebius
is rather difficult in our century. It was easier to pervert chronology "for
the sake of making synchronisms," in the days of the Bishop of Caesarea,
than it is now, and while history exists, no one can help people knowing that
Plato lived 600 years before
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Irenaeus took it
into his head to establish a new doctrine from the ruins of Plato's older
Academy.
This doctrine of
God being the universal mind diffused through all things, underlies all ancient
philosophies. The Buddhistic tenets which can never be better comprehended than
when studying the Pythagorean philosophy -- its faithful reflection -- are
derived from this source as well as the Brahmanical religion and early
Christianity. The purifying process of transmigrations -- the metempsychoses --
however grossly anthropomorphized at a later period, must only be regarded as a
supplementary doctrine, disfigured by theological sophistry with the object of getting
a firmer hold upon believers through a popular superstition. Neither Gautama
Buddha nor Pythagoras intended to teach this purely-metaphysical allegory
literally. Esoterically, it is explained in the "Mystery" of the
Kounboum,* and relates to the purely spiritual peregrinations of the human
soul. It is not in the dead letter of Buddhistical sacred literature that
scholars may hope to find the true solution of its metaphysical subtilties. The
latter weary the power of thought by the inconceivable profundity of its
ratiocination; and the student is never farther from truth than when he
believes himself nearest its discovery. The mastery of every doctrine of the
perplexing Buddhist system can be attained only by proceeding strictly
according to the Pythagorean and Platonic method; from universals down to
particulars. The key to it lies in the refined and mystical tenets of the
spiritual influx of divine life. "Whoever is unacquainted with my
law," says Buddha, "and dies in that state, must return to the earth
till he becomes a perfect Samanean. To achieve this object, he must destroy
within himself the trinity of Maya.** He must extinguish his passions, unite
and identify himself with the law (the teaching of the secret doctrine), and
comprehend the religion of annihilation."
Here, annihilation
refers but to matter, that of the visible as well as of the invisible body; for
the astral soul (perisprit) is still matter, however sublimated. The same book
says that what Fo (Buddha) meant to say was, that "the primitive substance
is eternal and unchangeable. Its highest revelation is the pure, luminous
ether, the boundless infinite space, not a void resulting from the absence of
forms, but, on the contrary, the foundation of all forms, and anterior to them.
But the very presence of forms denotes it to be the creation of Maya, and all
her works are as nothing before the uncreated being, SPIRIT, in whose profound
and sacred repose all motion must cease forever."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See chapter ix.,
p. 302.
** "Illusion;
matter in its triple manifestation in the earthly, and the astral or fontal
soul, or the body, and the Platonian dual soul, the rational and the irrational
one," see next chapter.
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Thus annihilation
means, with the Buddhistical philosophy, only a dispersion of matter, in
whatever form or semblance of form it may be; for everything that bears a shape
was created, and thus must sooner or later perish, i.e., change that shape;
therefore, as something temporary, though seeming to be permanent, it is but an
illusion, Maya; for, as eternity has neither beginning nor end, the more or
less prolonged duration of some particular form passes, as it were, like an
instantaneous flash of lightning. Before we have the time to realize that we
have seen it, it is gone and passed away for ever; hence, even our astral
bodies, pure ether, are but illusions of matter, so long as they retain their
terrestrial outline. The latter changes, says the Buddhist, according to the
merits or demerits of the person during his lifetime, and this is
metempsychosis. When the spiritual entity breaks loose for ever from every
particle of matter, then only it enters upon the eternal and unchangeable
Nirvana. He exists in spirit, in nothing; as a form, a shape, a semblance, he
is completely annihilated, and thus will die no more, for spirit alone is no
Maya, but the only REALITY in an illusionary universe of ever-passing forms.
It is upon this
Buddhist doctrine that the Pythagoreans grounded the principal tenets of their
philosophy. "Can that spirit, which gives life and motion, and partakes of
the nature of light, be reduced to non-entity?" they ask. "Can that
sensitive spirit in brutes which exercises memory, one of the rational
faculties, die, and become nothing?" And Whitelock Bulstrode, in his able
defence of Pythagoras, expounds this doctrine by adding: "If you say, they
(the brutes) breathe their spirits into the air, and there vanish, that is all
I contend for. The air, indeed, is the proper place to receive them, being,
according to Laertius, full of souls; and, according to Epicurus, full of
atoms, the principles of all things; for even this place wherein we walk and
birds fly has so much of a spiritual nature, that it is invisible, and,
therefore, may well be the receiver of forms, since the forms of all bodies are
so; we can only see and hear its effects; the air itself is too fine, and above
the capacity of the age. What then is the ether in the region above, and what
are the influences or forms that descend from thence?" The spirits of
creatures, the Pythagoreans hold, who are emanations of the most sublimated
portions of ether, emanations, BREATHS, but not forms. Ether is incorruptible,
all philosophers agree in that; and what is incorruptible is so far from being
annihilated when it gets rid of the form, that it lays a good claim to
IMMORTALITY. "But what is that which has no body, no form; which is
imponderable, invisible and indivisible; that which exists and yet is
not?" ask the Buddhists. "It is Nirvana," is the answer. It is
NOTHING, not a region, but rather a state. When once Nirvana is
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BLISS.
reached, man is
exempt from the effects of the "four truths"; for an effect can only
be produced through a certain cause, and every cause is annihilated in this
state.
These "four
truths" are the foundation of the whole Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana. They
are, says the book of Pradjna Paramita,* 1. The existence of pain. 2. The
production of pain. 3. The annihilation of pain. 4. The way to the annihilation
of pain. What is the source of pain? -- Existence. Birth existing, decrepitude
and death ensue; for wherever there is a form, there is a cause for pain and
suffering. Spirit alone has no form, and therefore cannot be said to exist.
Whenever man (the ethereal, inner man) reaches that point when he becomes
utterly spiritual, hence, formless, he has reached a state of perfect bliss.
MAN as an objective being becomes annihilated, but the spiritual entity with
its subjective life, will live for ever, for spirit is incorruptible and
immortal.
It is by the spirit
of the teachings of both Buddha and Pythagoras, that we can so easily recognize
the identity of their doctrines. The all-pervading, universal soul, the Anima
Mundi, is Nirvana; and Buddha, as a generic name, is the anthropomorphized
monad of Pythagoras. When resting in Nirvana, the final bliss, Buddha is the
silent monad, dwelling in darkness and silence; he is also the formless Brahm,
the sublime but unknowable Deity, which pervades invisibly the whole universe.
Whenever it is manifested, desiring to impress itself upon humanity in a shape
intelligent to our intellect, whether we call it an avatar, or a King Messiah,
or a permutation of Divine Spirit, Logos, Christos, it is all one and the same
thing. In each case it is "the Father," who is in the Son, and the
Son in "the Father." The immortal spirit overshadows the mortal man.
It enters into him, and pervading his whole being, makes of him a god, who
descends into his earthly tabernacle. Every man may become a Buddha, says the
doctrine. And so throughout the interminable series of ages we find now and
then men who more or less succeed in uniting themselves "with God,"
as the expression goes, with their own spirit, as we ought to translate. The
Buddhists call such men Arhat. An Arhat is next to a Buddha, and none is equal
to him either in infused science, or miraculous powers. Certain fakirs
demonstrate the theory well in practice, as Jacolliot has proved.
Even the so-called
fabulous narratives of certain Buddhistical books, when stripped of their
allegorical meaning, are found to be the secret doctrines taught by Pythagoras.
In the Pali Books called the Jutakas, are given the 550 incarnations or
metempsychoses of Buddha. They
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Perfection
of Wisdom."
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narrate how he has
appeared in every form of animal life, and animated every sentient being on
earth, from infinitesimal insect to the bird, the beast, and finally man, the
microcosmic image of God on earth. Must this be taken literally; is it intended
as a description of the actual transformations and existence of one and the
same individual immortal, divine spirit, which by turns has animated every kind
of sentient being? Ought we not rather to understand, with Buddhist
metaphysicians, that though the individual human spirits are numberless,
collectively they are one, as every drop of water drawn out of the ocean,
metaphorically speaking, may have an individual existence and still be one with
the rest of the drops going to form that ocean; for each human spirit is a
scintilla of the one all-pervading light? That this divine spirit animates the
flower, the particle of granite on the mountain side, the lion, the man?
Egyptian Hierophants, like the Brahmans, and the Buddhists of the East, and
some Greek philosophers, maintained originally that the same spirit that
animates the particle of dust, lurking latent in it, animates man, manifesting
itself in him in its highest state of activity. The doctrine, also, of a
gradual refusion of the human soul into the essence of the primeval parent
spirit, was universal at one time. But this doctrine never implied annihilation
of the higher spiritual ego -- only the dispersion of the external forms of
man, after his terrestrial death, as well as during his abode on earth. Who is
better fitted to impart to us the mysteries of after-death, so erroneously
thought impenetrable, than those men who having, through self-discipline and
purity of life and purpose, succeeded in uniting themselves with their
"God," were afforded some glimpses, however imperfect, of the great
truth.* And these seers tell us strange stories about the variety of forms
assumed by disembodied astral souls; forms of which each one is a spiritual
though concrete reflection of the abstract state of the mind, and thoughts of
the once living man.
To accuse
Buddhistical philosophy of rejecting a Supreme Being -- God, and the soul's
immortality, of atheism, in short, on the ground that according to their
doctrines, Nirvana means annihilation, and Svabhavat is NOT a person, but
nothing, is simply absurd. The En (or Ayin) of the Jewish En-Soph, also means
nihil or nothing, that which is not (quo ad nos); but no one has ever ventured
to twit the Jews with atheism. In both cases the real meaning of the term
nothing carries with it the idea that God is not a thing, not a concrete or
visible Being to which a name expressive of any object known to us on earth may
be applied with propriety.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Porphyry gives
the credit to Plotinus his master, of having been united with "God"
six times during his life, and complains of having attained to it but twice,
himself.
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CHAPTER IX.
"Thou can'st
not call that madness of which thou art proved to know nothing." --
TERTULLIAN: Apology.
"This is not a
matter of to-day,
Or yesterday, but
hath been from all times;
And none hath told
us whence it came or how!" -- SOPHOCLES.
"Belief in the
supernatural is a fact natural, primitive, universal, and constant in the life
and history of the human race. Unbelief in the supernatural begets materialism;
materialism, sensuality; sensuality, social convulsions, amid whose storms man
again learns to believe and pray." -- GUIEOT.
"If any one
think these things incredible, let him keep his opinions to himself, and not
contradict those who, by such events, are incited to the study of virtue."
-- JOSEPHUS.
FROM the Platonic
and Pythagorean views of matter and force, we will now turn to the kabalistic
philosophy of the origin of man, and compare it with the theory of natural
selection enunciated by Darwin and Wallace. It may be that we shall find as
much reason to credit the ancients with originality in this direction as in
that which we have been considering. To our mind, no stronger proof of the
theory of cyclical progression need be required than the comparative
enlightenment of former ages and that of the Patristic Church, as regards the
form of the earth, and the movements of the planetary system. Even were other
evidence wanting, the ignorance of Augustine and Lactantius, misleading the
whole of Christendom upon these questions until the period of Galileo, would
mark the eclipses through which human knowledge passes from age to age.
The "coats of
skin," mentioned in the third chapter of Genesis as given to Adam and Eve,
are explained by certain ancient philosophers to mean the fleshy bodies with
which, in the progress of the cycles, the progenitors of the race became
clothed. They maintained that the god-like physical form became grosser and grosser,
until the bottom of what may be termed the last spiritual cycle was reached,
and mankind entered upon the ascending arc of the first human cycle. Then began
an uninterrupted series of cycles or yugas; the precise number of years of
which each of them consisted remaining an inviolable mystery within the
precincts of the sanctuaries and disclosed only to the initiates. As soon as
humanity entered upon a new one, the stone age, with which the preceding cycle
had closed, began to gradually merge into the following and next higher age.
With each successive age, or epoch, men grew more refined, until
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the acme of
perfection possible in that particular cycle had been reached. Then the
receding wave of time carried back with it the vestiges of human, social, and
intellectual progress. Cycle succeeded cycle, by imperceptible transitions;
highly-civilized flourishing nations, waxed in power, attained the climax of
development, waned, and became extinct; and mankind, when the end of the lower
cyclic arc was reached, was replunged into barbarism as at the start. Kingdoms
have crumbled and nation succeeded nation from the beginning until our day, the
races alternately mounting to the highest and descending to the lowest points
of development. Draper observes that there is no reason to suppose that any one
cycle applied to the whole human race. On the contrary, while man in one
portion of the planet was in a condition of retrogression, in another he might
be progressing in enlightenment and civilization.
How analogous this
theory is to the law of planetary motion, which causes the individual orbs to
rotate on their axes; the several systems to move around their respective suns;
and the whole stellar host to follow a common path around a common centre! Life
and death, light and darkness, day and night on the planet, as it turns about
its axis and traverses the zodiacal circle representing the lesser and the
greater cycles.* Remember the Hermetic axiom: -- "As above, so below; as
in heaven, so on earth."
Mr. Alfred R.
Wallace argues with sound logic, that the development of man has been more
marked in his mental organization than in his external form. Man, he conceives
to differ from the animal, by being able to undergo great changes of conditions
and of his entire environment, without very marked alterations in bodily form
and structure. The changes of climate he meets with a corresponding alteration
in his clothing, shelter, weapons, and implements of husbandry. His body may
become less hairy, more erect, and of a different color and proportions;
"the head and face is immediately connected with the organ of the mind,
and as being the medium, expressing the most refined motions of his
nature," alone change with the development of his intellect. There was a
time when "he had not yet acquired that wonderfully-developed brain, the
organ of the mind, which now, even in his lowest examples, raises him far above
the highest brutes, at a period when he had the form, but hardly the nature of
man, when he neither possessed human speech nor sympathetic and moral
feelings." Further, Mr. Wallace says that "Man may have been --
indeed, I believe must have been, once a homo-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Orpheus is said
to have ascribed to the grand cycle 120,000 years of duration, and Cassandrus
136,000. See Censorinus: "de Natal. Die"; "Chronological and
Astronomical Fragments."
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geneous race . . .
in man, the hairy covering of the body has almost entirely disappeared."
Of the cave men of Les Eyzies, Mr. Wallace remarks further " . . . the
great breadth of the face, the enormous development of the ascending ramus of
the lower jaw . . . indicate enormous muscular power and the habits of a savage
and brutal race."
Such are the
glimpses which anthropology affords us of men, either arrived at the bottom of
a cycle or starting in a new one. Let us see how far they are corroborated by
clairvoyant psychometry. Professor Denton submitted a fragment of fossilized
bone to his wife's examination, without giving Mrs. Denton any hint as to what
the article was. It immediately called up to her pictures of people and scenes
which he thinks belonged to the stone age. She saw men closely resembling
monkeys, with a body very hairy, and "as if the natural hair answered the
purpose of clothing." "I question whether he can stand perfectly
upright; his hip-joints appear to be so formed, he cannot," she added.
"Occasionally I see part of the body of one of those beings that looks
comparatively smooth. I can see the skin, which is lighter colored . . . I do
not know whether he belongs to the same period. . . . At a distance the face
seems flat; the lower part of it is heavy; they have what I suppose would be
called prognathous jaws. The frontal region of the head is low, and the lower
portion of it is very prominent, forming a round ridge across the forehead,
immediately above the eyebrows. . . . Now I see a face that looks like that of
a human being, though there is a monkey-like appearance about it. All these
seem of that kind, having long arms and hairy bodies."*
Whether or not the
men of science are willing to concede the correctness of the Hermetic theory of
the physical evolution of man from higher and more spiritual natures, they
themselves show us how the race has progressed from the lowest observed point
to its present development. And, as all nature seems to be made up of
analogies, is it unreasonable to affirm that the same progressive development
of individual forms has prevailed among the inhabitants of the unseen universe?
If such marvellous effects have been caused by evolution upon our little
insignificant planet, producing reasoning and intuitive men from some higher
type of the ape family, why suppose that the boundless realms of space are
inhabited only by disembodied angelic forms? Why not give place in that vast
domain to the spiritual duplicates of these hairy, long-armed and half-reasoning
ancestors, their predecessors, and all their successors, down to our time? Of
course, the spiritual parts of such primeval members of the human family would
be as uncouth and undeveloped as were
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* W. and E. Denton:
"The Soul of Things," vol. i.
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their physical bodies.
While they made no attempt to calculate the duration of the "grand
cycle," the Hermetic philosophers yet maintained that, according to the
cyclic law, the living human race must inevitably and collectively return one
day to that point of departure, where man was first clothed with "coats of
skin"; or, to express it more clearly, the human race must, in accordance
with the law of evolution, be finally physically spiritualized. Unless Messrs.
Darwin and Huxley are prepared to prove that the man of our century has
attained, as a physical and moral animal, the acme of perfection, and
evolution, having reached its apex, must stop all further progress with the
modern genus Homo, we do not see how they can possibly confute such a logical
deduction.
In his lecture on
The Action of Natural Selection on Man, Mr. Alfred R. Wallace concludes his
demonstrations as to the development of human races under that law of selection
by saying that, if his conclusions are just, "it must inevitably follow
that the higher -- the more intellectual and moral -- must displace the lower
and more degraded races; and the power of 'natural selection,' still acting on
his mental organization, must ever lead to the more perfect adaptation of man's
higher faculties to the condition of surrounding nature, and to the exigencies
of the social state. While his external form will probably ever remain
unchanged, except in the development of that perfect beauty . . . refined and
ennobled by the highest intellectual faculties and sympathetic emotions, his
mental constitution may continue to advance and improve, till the world is
again inhabited by a single, nearly homogeneous race, no individual of which
will be inferior to the noblest specimens of existing humanity." Sober,
scientific methods and cautiousness in hypothetical possibilities have
evidently their share in this expression of the opinions of the great
anthropologist. Still, what he says above clashes in no way with our kabalistic
assertions. Allow to ever-progressing nature, to the great law of the
"survival of the fittest," one step beyond Mr. Wallace's deductions,
and we have in future the possibility -- nay, the assurance of a race, which,
like the Vril-ya of Bulwer-Lytton's Coming Race, will be but one remove from
the primitive "Sons of God."
It will be observed
that this philosophy of cycles, which was allegorized by the Egyptian
Hierophants in the "circle of necessity," explains at the same time
the allegory of the "Fall of man." According to the Arabian
descriptions, each of the seven chambers of the Pyramids -- those grandest of
all cosmic symbols -- was known by the name of a planet. The peculiar
architecture of the Pyramids shows in itself the drift of the metaphysical
thought of their builders. The apex is lost in the clear blue sky of the land
of the Pharaohs, and typifies the primordial
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point lost in the
unseen universe from whence started the first race of the spiritual prototypes
of man. Each mummy, from the moment that it was embalmed, lost its physical
individuality in one sense; it symbolized the human race. Placed in such a way
as was best calculated to aid the exit of the "soul," the latter had
to pass through the seven planetary chambers before it made its exit through
the symbolical apex. Each chamber typified, at the same time, one of the seven
spheres, and one of the seven higher types of physico-spiritual humanity
alleged to be above our own. Every 3,000 years, the soul, representative of its
race, had to return to its primal point of departure before it underwent
another evolution into a more perfected spiritual and physical transformation.
We must go deep indeed into the abstruse metaphysics of Oriental mysticism
before we can realize fully the infinitude of the subjects that were embraced
at one sweep by the majestic thought of its exponents.
Starting as a pure
and perfect spiritual being, the Adam of the second chapter of Genesis, not
satisfied with the position allotted to him by the Demiurgus (who is the eldest
first-begotten, the Adam-Kadmon), Adam the second, the "man of dust,"
strives in his pride to become Creator in his turn. Evolved out of the
androgynous Kadmon, this Adam is himself an androgyn; for, according to the
oldest beliefs presented allegorically in Plato's Timaeus, the prototypes of
our races were all enclosed in the microcosmic tree which grew and developed within
and under the great mundane or macrocosmic tree. Divine spirit being considered
a unity, however numerous the rays of the great spiritual sun, man has still
had his origin like all other forms, whether organic or otherwise, in this one
Fount of Eternal Light. Were we even to reject the hypothesis of an androgynous
man, in connection with physical evolution, the significance of the allegory in
its spiritual sense, would remain unimpaired. So long as the first god-man,
symbolizing the two first principles of creation, the dual male and female
element, had no thought of good and evil he could not hypostasize
"woman," for she was in him as he was in her. It was only when, as a
result of the evil hints of the serpent, matter, the latter condensed itself and
cooled on the spiritual man in its contact with the elements, that the fruits
of the man-tree -- who is himself that tree of knowledge -- appeared to his
view. From this moment the androgynal union ceased, man evolved out of himself
the woman as a separate entity. They have broken the thread between pure spirit
and pure matter. Henceforth they will create no more spiritually, and by the
sole power of their will; man has become a physical creator, and the kingdom of
spirit can be won only by a long imprisonment in matter. The meaning of Gogard,
the Hellenic tree of life, the sacred oak among
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whose luxuriant
branches a serpent dwells, and cannot be dislodged,* thus becomes apparent.
Creeping out from the primordial ilus, the mundane snake grows more material
and waxes in strength and power with every new evolution.
The Adam Primus, or
Kadmon, the Logos of the Jewish mystics, is the same as the Grecian Prometheus,
who seeks to rival with the divine wisdom; he is also the Pymander of Hermes,
or the POWER OF THE THOUGHT DIVINE, in its most spiritual aspect, for he was
less hypostasized by the Egyptians than the two former. These all create men,
but fail in their final object. Desiring to endow man with an immortal spirit,
in order that by linking the trinity in one, he might gradually return to his
primal spiritual state without losing his individuality, Prometheus fails in
his attempt to steal the divine fire, and is sentenced to expiate his crime on
Mount Kazbeck. Prometheus is also the Logos of the ancient Greeks, as well as
Herakles. In the Codex Nazaraeus** we see Bahak-Zivo deserting the heaven of
his father, confessing that though he is the father of the genii, he is unable
to "construct creatures," for he is equally unacquainted with Orcus
as with "the consuming fire which is wanting in light." And Fetahil,
one of the "powers," sits in the "mud" (matter) and wonders
why the living fire is so changed.
All of these Logoi
strove to endow man with the immortal spirit, failed, and nearly all are
represented as being punished for the attempt by severe sentences. Those of the
early Christian Fathers who like Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, were well
versed in Pagan symbology, having begun their careers as philosophers, felt
very much embarrassed. They could not deny the anticipation of their doctrines
in the oldest myths. The latest Logos, according to their teachings, had also
appeared in order to show mankind the way to immortality; and in his desire to
endow the world with eternal life through the Pentecostal fire, had lost his
life agreeably to the traditional programme. Thus was originated the very
awkward explanation of which our modern clergy freely avail themselves, that
all these mythic types show the prophetic spirit which, through the Lord's
mercy, was afforded even to the heathen idolaters! The Pagans, they assert, had
presented in their imagery the great drama of Calvary --hence the resemblance.
On the other hand, the philosophers maintained, with unassailable logic, that
the pious fathers had simply helped themselves to a ready-made groundwork,
either finding it easier than to exert their own imagination, or because of the
greater number of ignorant proselytes who were attracted to the new doctrine
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See the
"Cosmogony of Pherecydes."
** See a few pages
further on the quotation from the "Codex of the Nazarenes."
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TITAN.
by such an
extraordinary resemblance with their mythologies, at least as far as the
outward form of the most fundamental doctrines goes.
The allegory of the
Fall of man and the fire of Prometheus is also another version of the myth of
the rebellion of the proud Lucifer, hurled down to the bottomless pit -- Orcus.
In the religion of the Brahmans, Moisasure, the Hindu Lucifer, becomes envious
of the Creator's resplendent light, and at the head of a legion of inferior
spirits rebels against Brahma, and declares war against him. Like Hercules, the
faithful Titan, who helps Jupiter and restores to him his throne, Siva, the
third person of the Hindu trinity, hurls them all from the celestial abode in
Honderah, the region of eternal darkness. But here the fallen angels are made
to repent of their evil deed, and in the Hindu doctrine they are all afforded
the opportunity to progress. In the Greek fiction, Hercules, the Sun-god,
descends to Hades to deliver the victims from their tortures; and the Christian
Church also makes her incarnate god descend to the dreary Plutonic regions and
overcome the rebellious ex-archangel. In their turn the kabalists explain the
allegory in a semi-scientific way. Adam the second, or the first-created race
which Plato calls gods, and the Bible the Elohim, was not triple in his nature
like the earthly man: i.e., he was not composed of soul, spirit, and body, but
was a compound of sublimated astral elements into which the "Father"
had breathed an immortal, divine spirit. The latter, by reason of its godlike
essence, was ever struggling to liberate itself from the bonds of even that
flimsy prison; hence the "sons of God," in their imprudent efforts,
were the first to trace a future model for the cyclic law. But, man must not be
"like one of us," says the Creative Deity, one of the Elohim
"intrusted with the fabrication of the lower animal."* And thus it
was, when the men of the first race had reached the summit of the first cycle,
they lost their balance, and their second envelope, the grosser clothing
(astral body), dragged them down the opposite arc.
This kabalistic
version of the sons of God (or of light) is given in the Codex Nazaraeus.
Bahak-Zivo, the "father of genii, is ordered to 'construct creatures.'
" But, as he is "ignorant of Orcus," he fails to do so and calls
in Fetahil a still purer spirit to his aid, who fails still worse.
Then steps on the
stage of creation the "spirit"** (which properly ought to be
translated "soul," for it is the anima mundi, and which
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Plato's
"Timaeus."
** On the authority
of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and the "Codex" itself, Dunlap shows that
the Nazarenes treated their "spirit," or rather soul, as a female and
Evil Power. Irenaeus, accusing the Gnostics of heresy, calls Christ and the
Holy Ghost "the gnostic pair that produce the AEons" (Dunlap:
"Sod, the Son of the Man," p. 52, footnote).
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with the Nazarenes
and the Gnostics was feminine), and perceiving that for Fetahil,* the newest
man (the latest), the splendor was "changed," and that for splendor
existed "decrease and damage," awakes Karabtanos,** "who was
frantic and without sense and judgment," and says to him: "Arise;
see, the splendor (light) of the newest man (Fetahil) has failed (to produce or
create men), the decrease of this splendor is visible. Rise up, come with thy
MOTHER (the spiritus) and free thee from limits by which thou art held, and
those more ample than the whole world." After which follows the union of
the frantic and blind matter, guided by the insinuations of the spirit (not the
Divine breath, but the Astral spirit, which by its double essence is already
tainted with matter) and the offer of the MOTHER being accepted the Spiritus
conceives "Seven Figures," which Irenaeus is disposed to take for the
seven stellars (planets) but which represent the seven capital sins, the
progeny of an astral soul separated from its divine source (spirit) and matter,
the blind demon of concupiscence. Seeing this, Fetahil extends his hand toward
the abyss of matter, and says: "Let the earth exist, just as the abode of
the powers has existed." Dipping his hand in the chaos, which he
condenses, he creates our planet.***
Then the Codex
proceeds to tell how Bahak-Zivo was separated from the Spiritus, and the genii,
or angels, from the rebels.**** Then Mano***** (the greatest), who dwells with
the greatest FERHO, calls Kebar-Zivo (known also by the name of Nebat-Iavar bar
Iufin-Ifafin), Helm and Vine of the food of life****** he being the third life,
and, commiserating the rebellious and foolish genii, on account of the
magnitude of their ambition, says: "Lord of the genii******* (AEons), see
what the genii, the rebellious angels do, and about what they are
consulting.******** They say, "Let us call forth the world, and let us
call the 'powers' into existence. The genii are the Principes, the 'sons of
Light,' but thou art the 'Messenger of Life.' "*********
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Fetahil was with
the Nazarenes the king of light, and the Creator; but in this instance he is
the unlucky Prometheus, who fails to get hold of the Living Fire, necessary for
the formation of the divine soul, as he is ignorant of the secret name (the
ineffable or incommunicable name of the kabalists).
** The spirit of
matter and concupiscence.
*** See Franck's
"Codex Nazaraeus" and Dunlap's "Sod, the Son of the Man."
**** "Codex
Nazaraeus," ii. 233.
***** This Mano of
the Nazarenes strangely resembles the Hindu Manu, the heavenly man of the
"Rig-Vedas."
****** "I am
the true vine and my Father is the husbandman" (John xv. 1).
******* With the
Gnostics, Christ, as well as Michael, who is identical in some respects with
him, was the "Chief of the AEons."
********
"Codex Nazaraeus," i. 135.
********* Ibid.
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SPLENDOR.
And in order to
counteract the influence of the seven "badly disposed" principles,
the progeny of Spiritus, CABAR ZIO, the mighty Lord of Splendor, procreates
seven other lives (the cardinal virtues) who shine in their own form and light
"from on high"* and thus reestablishes the balance between good and
evil, light and darkness.
But this creation
of beings, without the requisite influx of divine pure breath in them, which
was known among the kabalists as the "Living Fire," produced but
creatures of matter and astral light.** Thus were generated the animals which
preceded man on this earth. The spiritual beings, the "sons of
light," those who remained faithful to the great Ferho (the First Cause of
all), constitute the celestial or angelic hierarchy, the Adonim, and the
legions of the never-embodied spiritual men. The followers of the rebellious
and foolish genii, and the descendants of the "witless" seven spirits
begotten by "Karabtanos" and the "spiritus," became, in
course of time, the "men of our planet,"*** after having previously passed
through every "creation" of every one of the elements. From this
stage of life they have been traced by Darwin, who shows us how our highest
forms have been evolved out of the lowest. Anthropology dares not follow the
kabalist in his metaphysical flights beyond this planet, and it is doubtful if
its teachers have the courage to search for the missing link in the old
kabalistic manuscripts.
Thus was set in
motion the first cycle, which in its rotations downward, brought an
infinitesimal part of the created lives to our planet of mud. Arrived at the
lowest point of the arc of the cycle which directly preceded life on this
earth, the pure divine spark still lingering in the Adam made an effort to
separate itself from the astral spirit, for "man was falling gradually
into generation," and the fleshy coat was becoming with every action more
and more dense.
And now comes a
mystery, a Sod;**** a secret which Rabbi
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," iii. 61.
** The Astral
Light, or anima mundi, is dual and bisexual. The male part of it is purely
divine and spiritual; it is the Wisdom; while the female portion (the spiritus
of the Nazarenes) is tainted, in one sense, with matter, and therefore is evil
already. It is the life-principle of every living creature, and furnishes the
astral soul, the fluidic perisprit to men, animals, fowls of the air, and
everything living. Animals have only the germ of the highest immortal soul as a
third principle. It will develop but through a series of countless evolutions;
the doctrine of which evolution is contained in the kabalistic axiom: "A
stone becomes a plant; a plant a beast; a beast a man; a man a spirit; and the
spirit a god."
*** See Commentary
on "Idra Suta," by Rabbi Eleashar.
**** Sod means a
religious Mystery. Cicero mentions the sod, as constituting a portion of the
Idean Mysteries. "The members of the Priest-Colleges were called
Sodales," says Dunlap, quoting Freund's "Latin Lexicon," iv.
448.
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Simeon* imparted
but to very few initiates. It was enacted once every seven years during the
Mysteries of Samothrace, and the records of it are found self-printed on the
leaves of the Thibetan sacred tree, the mysterious KOUNBOUM, in the Lamasery of
the holy adepts.**
In the shoreless
ocean of space radiates the central, spiritual, and Invisible sun. The universe
is his body, spirit and soul; and after this ideal model are framed ALL THINGS.
These three emanations are the three lives, the three degrees of the gnostic
Pleroma, the three "Kabalistic Faces," for the ANCIENT of the
ancient, the holy of the aged, the great En-Soph, "has a form and then he
has no form." The invisible "assumed a form when he called the
universe into existence,"*** says the Sohar, the Book of splendor. The
first light is His soul, the Infinite, Boundless, and Immortal breath; under
the efflux of which the universe heaves its mighty bosom, infusing Intelligent
life throughout creation. The second emanation condenses cometary matter and
produces forms within the cosmic circle; sets the countless worlds floating in
the electric space, and infuses the unintelligent, blind life-principle into
every form. The third, produces the whole universe of physical matter; and as
it keeps gradually receding from the Central Divine Light its brightness wanes
and it becomes DARKNESS and the BAD -- pure matter, the "gross purgations
of the celestial fire" of the Hermetists.
When the Central
Invisible (the Lord Ferho) saw the efforts of the divine Scintilla, unwilling
to be dragged lower down into the degradation of matter, to liberate itself, he
permitted it to shoot out from itself a monad, over which, attached to it as by
the finest thread, the Divine Scintilla (the soul) had to watch during its
ceaseless peregrinations from one form to another. Thus the monad was shot down
into the first form of matter and became encased in stone; then, in course of
time, through the combined efforts of living fire and living water, both of
which shone their reflection upon the stone, the monad crept out of its prison
to sunlight as a lichen. From change to change it went higher and higher; the
monad, with every new transformation borrowing more of the radiance of its
parent, Scintilla, which approached it nearer at every transmigration. For
"the First Cause, had willed it to proceed in this order" and
destined it to creep on higher until its physical form became once more the
Adam of dust, shaped in the image of the Adam Kadmon. Before undergoing its
last earthly transformation, the external covering of the monad, from the
moment of its conception as an embryo, passes in turn, once more, through the
phases of the several kingdoms. In
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The author of the
"Sohar," the great kabalistic work of the first century B.C.
** See Abbe Huc's
works.
*** "The
Sohar," iii. 288; "Idra Suta."
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GIANTS.
its fluidic prison
it assumes a vague resemblance at various periods of the gestation to plant,
reptile, bird, and animal, until it becomes a human embryo.* At the birth of
the future man, the monad, radiating with all the glory of its immortal parent
which watches it from the seventh sphere, becomes senseless.** It loses all
recollection of the past, and returns to consciousness but gradually, when the
instinct of childhood gives way to reason and intelligence. After the
separation between the life-principle (astral spirit) and the body takes place,
the liberated soul -- Monad, exultingly rejoins the mother and father spirit,
the radiant Augoeides, and the two, merged into one, forever form, with a glory
proportioned to the spiritual purity of the past earth-life, the Adam who has
completed the circle of necessity, and is freed from the last vestige of his
physical encasement. Henceforth, growing more and more radiant at each step of
his upward progress, he mounts the shining path that ends at the point from
which he started around the GRAND CYCLE.
The whole Darwinian
theory of natural selection is included in the first six chapters of the Book
of Genesis. The "Man" of chapter i. is radically different from the
"Adam" of chapter ii., for the former was created "male and
female" -- that is, bi-sexed -- and in the image of God; while the latter,
according to verse seven, was formed of the dust of the ground, and became
"a living soul," after the Lord God "breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life." Moreover, this Adam was a male being, and in verse
twenty we are told that "there was not found a helpmeet for him." The
Adonai, being pure spiritual entities, had no sex, or rather had both sexes
united in themselves, like their Creator; and the ancients understood this so
well that they represented many of their deities as of dual sex. The Biblical
student must either accept this interpretation, or make the passages in the two
chapters alluded to absurdly contradict each other. It was such literal
acceptance of passages that warranted the atheists in covering the Mosaic
account with ridicule, and it is the dead letter of the old text that begets
the materialism of our age. Not only are these two races of beings thus clearly
indicated in Genesis, but even a third and a fourth one are ushered before the
reader in chapter iv., where the "sons of God" and the race of
"giants" are spoken of.
As we write, there
appears in an American paper, The Kansas City Times, an account of important
discoveries of the remains of a prehistorical race of giants, which
corroborates the statements of the kabalists and the Bible allegories at the
same time. It is worth preserving:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Everard:
"Mysteres Physiologiques," p. 132.
** See Plato's
"Timaeus."
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"In his
researches among the forests of Western Missouri, Judge E. P. West has
discovered a number of conical-shaped mounds, similar in construction to those
found in Ohio and Kentucky. These mounds are found upon the high bluffs
overlooking the Missouri River, the largest and more prominent being found in
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Until about three weeks ago it was not
suspected that the mound builders had made this region their home in the
prehistoric days; but now it is discovered that this strange and extinct race
once occupied this land, and have left an extensive graveyard in a number of
high mounds upon the Clay County bluffs.
"As yet, only
one of these mounds has been opened. Judge West discovered a skeleton about two
weeks ago, and made a report to other members of the society. They accompanied
him to the mound, and not far from the surface excavated and took out the
remains of two skeletons. The bones are very large -- so large, in fact, when
compared with an ordinary skeleton of modern date, they appear to have formed
part of a giant. The head bones, such as have not rotted away, are monstrous in
size. The lower jaw of one skeleton is in a state of preservation, and is
double the size of the jaw of a civilized person. The teeth in this jawbone are
large, and appear to have been ground down and worn away by contact with roots
and carnivorous food. The jaw-bone indicates immense muscular strength. The
thigh-bone, when compared with that of an ordinary modern skeleton, looks like
that of a horse. The length, thickness, and muscular development are
remarkable. But the most peculiar part about the skeleton is the frontal bone.
It is very low, and differs radically from any ever seen in this section
before. It forms one thick ridge of bone about one inch wide, extending across
the eyes. It is a narrow but rather heavy ridge of bone which, instead of
extending upward, as it does now in these days of civilization, receded back
from the eyebrows, forming a flat head, and thus indicates a very low order of
mankind. It is the opinion of the scientific gentlemen who are making these
discoveries that these bones are the remains of a prehistoric race of men. They
do not resemble the present existing race of Indians, nor are the mounds
constructed upon any pattern or model known to have been in use by any race of
men now in existence in America. The bodies are discovered in a sitting posture
in the mounds, and among the bones are found stone weapons, such as flint
knives, flint scrapers, and all of them different in shape to the arrow-heads,
war-hatchets, and other stone tools and weapons known to have been in use by
the aboriginal Indians of this land when discovered by the whites. The
gentlemen who have these curious bones in charge have deposited them with Dr.
Foe, on Main street. It is their intention to make further and closer
researches in the mounds on
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the bluffs opposite
this city. They will make a report of their labors at the next meeting of the
Academy of Science, by which time they expect to be able to make some definite
report as to their opinions. It is pretty definitely settled, however, that the
skeletons are those of a race of men not now in existence."
The author of a
recent and very elaborate work* finds some cause for merriment over the union
of the sons of God with the "daughters of men," who were fair, as
alluded to in Genesis, and described at great length in that wonderful legend,
the Book of Enoch. More is the pity, that our most learned and liberal men do
not employ their close and merciless logic to repair its one-sidedness by
seeking the true spirit which dictated these allegories of old. This spirit was
certainly more scientific than skeptics are yet prepared to admit. But with
every year some new discovery may corroborate their assertions, until the whole
of antiquity is vindicated.
One thing, at
least, has been shown in the Hebrew text, viz.: that there was one race of
purely physical creatures, another purely spiritual. The evolution and
"transformation of species" required to fill the gap between the two
has been left to abler anthropologists. We can only repeat the philosophy of
men of old, which says that the union of these two races produced a third -- the
Adamite race. Sharing the natures of both its parents, it is equally adapted to
an existence in the material and spiritual worlds. Allied to the physical half
of man's nature is reason, which enables him to maintain his supremacy over the
lower animals, and to subjugate nature to his uses. Allied to his spiritual
part is his conscience, which will serve as his unerring guide through the
besetments of the senses; for conscience is that instantaneous perception
between right and wrong, which can only be exercised by the spirit, which,
being a portion of the Divine Wisdom and Purity, is absolutely pure and wise.
Its promptings are independent of reason, and it can only manifest itself
clearly, when unhampered by the baser attractions of our dual nature.
Reason being a faculty
of our physical brain, one which is justly defined as that of deducing
inferences from premises, and being wholly dependent on the evidence of other
senses, cannot be a quality pertaining directly to our divine spirit. The
latter knows -- hence, all reasoning which implies discussion and argument
would be useless. So an entity, which, if it must be considered as a direct
emanation from the eternal Spirit of wisdom, has to be viewed as possessed of
the same attri-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Supernatural Religion; an Inquiry into the Reality of Divine
Revelation," vol. ii. London, 1875.
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butes as the
essence or the whole of which it is a part. Therefore, it is with a certain
degree of logic that the ancient theurgists maintained that the rational part
of man's soul (spirit) never entered wholly into the man's body, but only
overshadowed him more or less through the irrational or astral soul, which
serves as an intermediatory agent, or a medium between spirit and body. The man
who has conquered matter sufficiently to receive the direct light from his
shining Augoeides, feels truth intuitionally; he could not err in his judgment,
notwithstanding all the sophisms suggested by cold reason, for he is
ILLUMINATED. Hence, prophecy, vaticination, and the so-called Divine
inspiration are simply the effects of this illumination from above by our own
immortal spirit.
Swedenborg,
following the mystical doctrines of the Hermetic philosophers, devoted a number
of volumes to the elucidation of the "internal sense" of Genesis.
Swedenborg was undoubtedly a "natural-born magician," a seer; he was
not an adept. Thus, however closely he may have followed the apparent method of
interpretation used by the alchemists and mystic writers, he partially failed;
the more so, that the model chosen by him in this method was one who, albeit a
great alchemist, was no more of an adept than the Swedish seer himself, in the
fullest sense of the word. Eugenius Philalethes had never attained "the
highest pyrotechny," to use the diction of the mystic philosophers. But, although
both have missed the whole truth in its details, Swedenborg has virtually given
the same interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis as the Hermetic
philosophers. The seer, as well as the initiates, notwithstanding their veiled
phraseology, clearly show that the first chapters of Genesis relate to the
regeneration, or a new birth of man, not to the creation of our universe and
its crown work -- MAN. The fact that the terms of the alchemists, such as salt,
sulphur, and mercury are transformed by Swedenborg into ens, cause, and
effect,* does not affect the underlying idea of solving the problems of the
Mosaic books by the only possible method -- that used by the Hermetists -- that
of correspondences.
His doctrine of
correspondence, or Hermetic symbolism, is that of Pythagoras and of the
kabalists -- "as above, so below." It is also that of the Buddhist
philosophers, who, in their still more abstract metaphysics, inverting the
usual mode of definition given by our erudite scholars, call the invisible
types the only reality, and everything else the effects of the causes, or
visible prototypes -- illusions. However contradictory their various
elucidations of the Pentateuch may appear on their surface, every one of them
tends to show that the sacred literature of every country, the Bible as much as
the Vedas or the Buddhist Scriptures, can only be
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Heavenly Arcana."
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"DEW FROM HEAVEN."
understood and
thoroughly sifted by the light of Hermetic philosophy. The great sages of
antiquity, those of the mediaeval ages, and the mystical writers of our more
modern times also, were all Hermetists. Whether the light of truth had
illuminated them through their faculty of intuition, or as a consequence of
study and regular initiation, virtually, they had accepted the method and
followed the path traced to them by such men as Moses, Gautama-Buddha, and
Jesus. The truth, symbolized by some alchemists as dew from heaven, had
descended into their hearts, and they had all gathered it upon the tops of
mountains, after having spread CLEAN linen cloths to receive it; and thus, in
one sense, they had secured, each for himself, and in his own way, the
universal solvent. How much they were allowed to share it with the public is
another question. That veil, which is alleged to have covered the face of Moses,
when, after descending from Sinai, he taught his people the Word of God, cannot
be withdrawn at the will of the teacher only. It depends on the listeners,
whether they will also remove the veil which is "upon their hearts."
Paul says it plainly; and his words addressed to the Corinthians can be applied
to every man or woman, and of any age in the history of the world. If
"their minds are blinded" by the shining skin of divine truth,
whether the Hermetic veil be withdrawn or not from the face of the teacher, it
cannot be taken away from their heart unless "it shall turn to the
Lord." But the latter appellation must not be applied to either of the
three anthropomorphized personages of the Trinity, but to the "Lord,"
as understood by Swedenborg and the Hermetic philosophers -- the Lord, who is
Life and MAN.
The everlasting
conflict between the world-religions -- Christianity, Judaism, Brahmanism,
Paganism, Buddhism, proceeds from this one source: Truth is known but to the
few; the rest, unwilling to withdraw the veil from their own hearts, imagine it
blinding the eyes of their neighbor. The god of every exoteric religion,
including Christianity, not withstanding its pretensions to mystery, is an
idol, a fiction, and cannot be anything else. Moses, closely-veiled, speaks to
the stiff-necked multitudes of Jehovah, the cruel, anthropomorphic deity, as of
the highest God, burying deep in the bottom of his heart that truth which
cannot be "either spoken of or revealed." Kapila cuts with the sharp
sword of his sarcasms the Brahman-Yoggins, who in their mystical visions
pretend to see the HIGHEST one. Gautama-Buddha conceals, under an impenetrable
cloak of metaphysical subtilties, the verity, and is regarded by posterity as
an atheist. Pythagoras, with his allegorical mysticism and metempsychosis, is
held for a clever impostor, and is succeeded in the same estimation by other
philosophers, like Apollonius and Plotinus, who are generally spoken of as
visionaries, if not charlatans. Plato, whose writ-
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ings were never
read by the majority of our great scholars but superficially, is accused by
many of his translators of absurdities and puerilities, and even of being
ignorant of his own language;* most likely for saying, in reference to the
Supreme, that "a matter of that kind cannot be expressed by words, like
other things to be learned";** and making Protagoras lay too much stress
on the use of "veils." We could fill a whole volume with names of
misunderstood sages, whose writings -- only because our materialistic critics
feel unable to lift the "veil," which shrouds them -- pass off in a
current way for mystical absurdities. The most important feature of this
seemingly incomprehensible mystery lies perhaps in the inveterate habit of the
majority of readers to judge a work by its words and insufficiently-expressed
ideas, leaving the spirit of it out of the question. Philosophers of quite
different schools may be often found to use a multitude of different
expressions, some dark and metaphorical -- all figurative, and yet treating of
the same subject. Like the thousand divergent rays of a globe of fire, every
ray leads, nevertheless, to the central point, so every mystic philosopher,
whether he be a devotedly pious enthusiast like Henry More; an irascible
alchemist, using a Billingsgate phraseology -- like his adversary, Eugenius
Philalethes; or an atheist (?) like Spinoza, all had one and the same object in
view -- MAN. It is Spinoza, however, who furnishes perhaps the truest key to a
portion of this unwritten secret. While Moses forbids "graven images"
of Him whose name is not to be taken in vain, Spinoza goes farther. He clearly
infers that God must not be so much as described. Human language is totally
unfit to give an idea of this "Being" who is altogether unique.
Whether it is Spinoza or the Christian theology that is more right in their premises
and conclusion, we leave the reader to judge for himself. Every attempt to the
contrary leads a nation to anthropomorphize the deity in whom it believes, and
the result is that given by Swedenborg. Instead of stating that God made man
after his own image, we ought in truth to say that "man imagines God after
his image,"*** forgetting that he has set up his own reflection for
worship.
Where, then, lies
the true, real secret so much talked about by the Hermetists? That there was
and there is a secret, no candid student of esoteric literature will ever
doubt. Men of genius -- as many of the Hermetic philosophers undeniably were --
would not have made fools of themselves by trying to fool others for several
thousand consecutive years. That this great secret, commonly termed "the
philosopher's stone," had a spiritual as well as a physical meaning
attached to it, was suspected in all ages. The author of Remarks on Alchemy and
the Alchemists very truly
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Burges: Preface.
** "Seventh
Letter."
*** "The True
Christian Religion."
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observes that the
subject of the Hermetic art is MAN, and the object of the art is the perfection
of man.* But we cannot agree with him that only those whom he terms
"money-loving sots," ever attempted to carry a purely moral design (of
the alchemists) into the field of physical science. The fact alone that man, in
their eyes, is a trinity, which they divide into Sol, water of mercury, and
sulphur, which is the secret fire, or, to speak plain, into body, soul, and
spirit, shows that there is a physical side to the question. Man is the
philosopher's stone spiritually -- "a triune or trinity in unity," as
Philalethes expresses it. But he is also that stone physically. The latter is
but the effect of the cause, and the cause is the universal solvent of
everything -- divine spirit. Man is a correlation of chemical physical forces,
as well as a correlation of spiritual powers. The latter react on the physical
powers of man in proportion to the development of the earthly man. "The
work is carried to perfection according to the virtue of a body, soul, and
spirit," says an alchemist; "for the body would never be penetrable
were it not for the spirit, nor would the spirit be permanent in its
supra-perfect tincture, were it not for the body; nor could these two act one
upon another without the soul, for the spirit is an invisible thing, nor doth
it ever appear without another GARMENT, which garment is the SOUL."**
The
"philosophers by fire" asserted, through their chief, Robert Fludd,
that sympathy is the offspring of light, and "antipathy hath its beginning
from darkness." Moreover, they taught, with other kabalists, that
"contrarieties in nature doth proceed from one eternal essence, or from
the root of all things." Thus, the first cause is the parent-source of
good as well as of evil. The creator -- who is not the Highest God -- is the
father of matter, which is bad, as well as of spirit, which, emanating from the
highest, invisible cause, passes through him like through a vehicle, and
pervades the whole universe. "It is most certain," remarks Robertus
di Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), "that, as there are an infinity of visible
creatures, so there is an endless variety of invisible ones, of divers natures,
in the universal machine. Through the mysterious name of God, which Moses was
so desirous of him (Jehova) to hear and know, when he received from him this
answer, Jehova is my everlasting name. As for the other name, it is so pure and
simple that it cannot be articulated, or compounded, or truly expressed by
man's voice . . . all the other names are wholly comprehended within it, for it
contains the property as well of Nolunty as volunty, of privation as position,
of death as life, of cursing as blessing, of evil as good (though nothing
ideally is bad in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* E. A. Hitchcock:
"Swedenborg, a Hermetic Philosopher."
** "Ripley
Revived," 1678.
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him), of hatred and
discord, and consequently of sympathy and antipathy."*
Lowest in the scale
of being are those invisible creatures called by the kabalists the
"elementary." There are three distinct classes of these. The highest,
in intelligence and cunning, are the so-called terrestrial spirits, of which we
will speak more categorically in other parts of this work. Suffice to say, for
the present, that they are the larvae, or shadows of those who have lived on
earth, have refused all spiritual light, remained and died deeply immersed in
the mire of matter, and from whose sinful souls the immortal spirit has
gradually separated. The second class is composed of the invisible antitypes of
the men to be born. No form can come into objective existence -- from the
highest to the lowest -- before the abstract ideal of this form -- or, as
Aristotle would call it, the privation of this form -- is called forth. Before
an artist paints a picture every feature of it exists already in his
imagination; to have enabled us to discern a watch, this particular watch must
have existed in its abstract form in the watchmaker's mind. So with future men.
According to
Aristotle's doctrine, there are three principles of natural bodies: privation,
matter, and form. These principles may be applied in this particular case. The
privation of the child which is to be we will locate in the invisible mind of
the great Architect of the Universe -- privation not being considered in the
Aristotelic philosophy as a principle in the composition of bodies, but as an
external property in their production; for the production is a change by which
the matter passes from the shape it has not to that which it assumes. Though the
privation of the unborn child's form, as well as of the future form of the
unmade watch, is that which is neither substance nor extension nor quality as
yet, nor any kind of existence, it is still something which is, though its
outlines, in order to be, must acquire an objective form -- the abstract must
become concrete, in short. Thus, as soon as this privation of matter is
transmitted by energy to universal ether, it becomes a material form, however
sublimated. If modern science teaches that human thought "affects the
matter of another universe simultaneously with this," how can he who
believes in an Intelligent First Cause, deny that the divine thought is equally
transmitted, by the same law of energy, to our common mediator, the universal
ether -- the world-soul? And, if so, then it must follow that once there the
divine thought manifests itself objectively, energy faithfully reproducing the
outlines of that whose "privation" was first born in the divine mind.
Only it must not be understood that this thought creates matter. No; it creates
but the design for the future form; the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Mosaicall
Philosophy," p. 173. 1659.
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matter which serves
to make this design having always been in existence, and having been prepared
to form a human body, through a series of progressive transformations, as the
result of evolution. Forms pass; ideas that created them and the material which
gave them objectiveness, remain. These models, as yet devoid of immortal
spirits, are "elementals," -- properly speaking, psychic embryos --
which, when their time arrives, die out of the invisible world, and are born
into this visible one as human infants, receiving in transitu that divine
breath called spirit which completes the perfect man. This class cannot
communicate objectively with men.
The third class are
the "elementals" proper, which never evolve into human beings, but
occupy, as it were, a specific step of the ladder of being, and, by comparison
with the others, may properly be called nature-spirits, or cosmic agents of nature,
each being confined to its own element and never transgressing the bounds of
others. These are what Tertullian called the "princes of the powers of the
air."
This class is
believed to possess but one of the three attributes of man. They have neither
immortal spirits nor tangible bodies; only astral forms, which partake, in a
distinguishing degree, of the element to which they belong and also of the
ether. They are a combination of sublimated matter and a rudimental mind. Some
are changeless, but still have no separate individuality, acting collectively,
so to say. Others, of certain elements and species, change form under a fixed
law which kabalists explain. The most solid of their bodies is ordinarily just
immaterial enough to escape perception by our physical eyesight, but not so
unsubstantial but that they can be perfectly recognized by the inner, or
clairvoyant vision. They not only exist and can all live in ether, but can
handle and direct it for the production of physical effects, as readily as we
can compress air or water for the same purpose by pneumatic and hydraulic
apparatus; in which occupation they are readily helped by the "human
elementary." More than this; they can so condense it as to make to
themselves tangible bodies, which by their Protean powers they can cause to
assume such likeness as they choose, by taking as their models the portraits
they find stamped in the memory of the persons present. It is not necessary
that the sitter should be thinking at the moment of the one represented. His
image may have faded many years before. The mind receives indelible impression
even from chance acquaintance or persons encountered but once. As a few seconds
exposure of the sensitized photograph plate is all that is requisite to
preserve indefinitely the image of the sitter, so is it with the mind.
According to the
doctrine of Proclus, the uppermost regions from the zenith of the universe to
the moon belonged to the gods or planetary
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spirits, according
to their hierarchies and classes. The highest among them were the twelve
uper-ouranioi, or supercelestial gods, having whole legions of subordinate
demons at their command. They are followed next in rank and power by the
egkosmioi, the intercosmic gods, each of these presiding over a great number of
demons, to whom they impart their power and change it from one to another at will.
These are evidently the personified forces of nature in their mutual
correlation, the latter being represented by the third class or the
"elementals" we have just described.
Further on he
shows, on the principle of the Hermetic axiom -- of types, and prototypes --
that the lower spheres have their subdivisions and classes of beings as well as
the upper celestial ones, the former being always subordinate to the higher
ones. He held that the four elements are all filled with demons, maintaining
with Aristotle that the universe is full, and that there is no void in nature.
The demons of the earth, air, fire, and water are of an elastic, ethereal,
semi-corporeal essence. It is these classes which officiate as intermediate
agents between the gods and men. Although lower in intelligence than the sixth
order of the higher demons, these beings preside directly over the elements and
organic life. They direct the growth, the inflorescence, the properties, and
various changes of plants. They are the personified ideas or virtues shed from
the heavenly ule into the inorganic matter; and, as the vegetable kingdom is
one remove higher than the mineral, these emanations from the celestial gods
take form and being in the plant, they become its soul. It is that which Aristotle's
doctrine terms the form in the three principles of natural bodies, classified
by him as privation, matter, and form. His philosophy teaches that besides the
original matter, another principle is necessary to complete the triune nature
of every particle, and this is form; an invisible, but still, in an ontological
sense of the word, a substantial being, really distinct from matter proper.
Thus, in an animal or a plant, besides the bones, the flesh, the nerves, the
brains, and the blood, in the former, and besides the pulpy matter, tissues,
fibres, and juice in the latter, which blood and juice, by circulating through
the veins and fibres, nourishes all parts of both animal and plant; and besides
the animal spirits, which are the principles of motion; and the chemical energy
which is transformed into vital force in the green leaf, there must be a
substantial form, which Aristotle called in the horse, the horse's soul;
Proclus, the demon of every mineral, plant, or animal, and the mediaeval
philosophers, the elementary spirits of the four kingdoms.
All this is held in
our century as metaphysics and gross superstition. Still, on strictly
ontological principles, there is, in these old hypotheses, some shadow of
probability, some clew to the perplexing "missing links"
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AUTOMATON.
of exact science.
The latter has become so dogmatical of late, that all that lies beyond the ken
of inductive science is termed imaginary; and we find Professor Joseph Le Conte
stating that some of the best scientists "ridicule the use of the term
'vital force,' or vitality, as a remnant of superstition."* De Candolle
suggests the term "vital movement," instead of vital force;** thus
preparing for a final scientific leap which will transform the immortal,
thinking man, into an automaton with a clock-work inside him. "But,"
objects Le Conte, "can we conceive of movement without force? And if the
movement is peculiar, so also is the form of force."
In the Jewish
Kabala, the nature-spirits were known under the general name of Shedim and
divided into four classes. The Persians called them all devs; the Greeks,
indistinctly designated them as demons; the Egyptians knew them as afrites. The
ancient Mexicans, says Kaiser, believed in numerous spirit-abodes, into one of
which the shades of innocent children were placed until final disposal; into
another, situated in the sun, ascended the valiant souls of heroes; while the
hideous spectres of incorrigible sinners were sentenced to wander and despair
in subterranean caves, held in the bonds of the earth-atmosphere, unwilling and
unable to liberate themselves. They passed their time in communicating with
mortals, and frightening those who could see them. Some of the African tribes
know them as Yowahoos. In the Indian Pantheon there are no less than
330,000,000 of various kinds of spirits, including elementals, which latter were
termed by the Brahmans the Daityas. These beings are known by the adepts to be
attracted toward certain quarters of the heavens by something of the same
mysterious property which makes the magnetic needle turn toward the north, and
certain plants to obey the same attraction. The various races are also believed
to have a special sympathy with certain human temperaments, and to more readily
exert power over such than others. Thus, a bilious, lymphatic, nervous, or
sanguine person would be affected favorably or otherwise by conditions of the
astral light, resulting from the different aspects of the planetary bodies.
Having reached this general principle, after recorded observations extending
over an indefinite series of years, or ages, the adept astrologer would require
only to know what the planetary aspects were at a given anterior date, and to
apply his knowledge of the succeeding changes in the heavenly bodies, to be
able to trace, with approximate accuracy, the varying fortunes of the personage
whose horoscope was required, and even to predict the future. The accuracy of
the horoscope
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Correlation
of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces," by J. Le Conte.
** "Archives
des Sciences," vol. xlv., p. 345. December, 1872.
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would depend, of
course, no less upon the astrologer's knowledge of the occult forces and races
of nature, than upon his astronomical erudition.
Eliphas Levi
expounds with reasonable clearness, in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie,
the law of reciprocal influences between the planets and their combined effect
upon the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, as well as upon ourselves. He
states that the astral atmosphere is as constantly changing from day to day,
and from hour to hour, as the air we breathe. He quotes approvingly the
doctrine of Paracelsus that every man, animal, and plant bears external and
internal evidences of the influences dominant at the moment of germinal
development. He repeats the old kabalistic doctrine, that nothing is
unimportant in nature, and that even so small a thing as the birth of one child
upon our insignificant planet has its effect upon the universe, as the whole
universe has its own reactive influence upon him.
"The
stars," he remarks, "are linked to each other by attractions which
hold them in equilibrium and cause them to move with regularity through space.
This network of light stretches from all the spheres to all the spheres, and
there is not a point upon any planet to which is not attached one of these
indestructible threads. The precise locality, as well as the hour of birth,
should then be calculated by the true adept in astrology; then, when he shall
have made the exact calculation of the astral influences, it remains for him to
count the chances of his position in life, the helps or hindrances he is likely
to encounter . . . and his natural impulses toward the accomplishment of his
destiny." He also asserts that the individual force of the person, as
indicating his ability to conquer difficulties and subdue unfavorable
propensities, and so carve out his fortune, or to passively await what blind
fate may bring, must be taken into account.
A consideration of
the subject from the standpoint of the ancients, affords us, it will be seen, a
very different view from that taken by Professor Tyndall in his famous Belfast
address. "To supersensual beings," says he, "which, however
potent and invisible, were nothing but species of human creatures, perhaps
raised from among mankind, and retaining all human passions and appetites, were
handed over the rule and governance of natural phenomena."
To enforce his
point, Mr. Tyndall conveniently quotes from Euripides the familiar passage in
Hume: "The gods toss all into confusion, mix everything with its reverse,
that all of us, from our ignorance and uncertainty, may pay them the more
worship and reverence." Although enunciating in Chrysippus several
Pythagorean doctrines, Euripides is considered by every ancient writer as
heterodox, therefore the quotation
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GENERATION.
proceeding from
this philosopher does not at all strengthen Mr. Tyndall's argument.
As to the human
spirit, the notions of the older philosophers and medieval kabalists while
differing in some particulars, agreed on the whole; so that the doctrine of one
may be viewed as the doctrine of the other. The most substantial difference
consisted in the location of the immortal or divine spirit of man. While the
ancient Neo-platonists held that the Augoeides never descends hypostatically
into the living man, but only sheds more or less its radiance on the inner man
-- the astral soul -- the kabalists of the middle ages maintained that the
spirit, detaching itself from the ocean of light and spirit, entered into man's
soul, where it remained through life imprisoned in the astral capsule. This
difference was the result of the belief of Christian kabalists, more or less,
in the dead letter of the allegory of the fall of man. The soul, they said,
became, through the fall of Adam, contaminated with the world of matter, or
Satan. Before it could appear with its enclosed divine spirit in the presence
of the Eternal, it had to purify itself of the impurities of darkness. They
compared "the spirit imprisoned within the soul to a drop of water
enclosed within a capsule of gelatine and thrown in the ocean; so long as the
capsule remains whole the drop of water remains isolated; break the envelope
and the drop becomes a part of the ocean -- its individual existence has
ceased. So it is with the spirit. As long as it is enclosed in its plastic
mediator, or soul, it has an individual existence. Destroy the capsule, a
result which may occur from the agonies of withered conscience, crime, and
moral disease, and the spirit returns back to its original abode. Its
individuality is gone."
On the other hand,
the philosophers who explained the "fall into generation" in their
own way, viewed spirit as something wholly distinct from the soul. They allowed
its presence in the astral capsule only so far as the spiritual emanations or
rays of the "shining one" were concerned. Man and soul had to conquer
their immortality by ascending toward the unity with which, if successful, they
were finally linked, and into which they were absorbed, so to say. The
individualization of man after death depended on the spirit, not on his soul
and body. Although the word "personality," in the sense in which it
is usually understood, is an absurdity, if applied literally to our immortal
essence, still the latter is a distinct entity, immortal and eternal, per se;
and, as in the case of criminals beyond redemption, when the shining thread
which links the spirit to the soul, from the moment of the birth of a child, is
violently snapped, and the disembodied entity is left to share the fate of the
lower animals, to gradually dissolve into ether, and have its individuality
annihilated -- even then the spirit remains a distinct being. It becomes a
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planetary spirit,
an angel; for the gods of the Pagan or the archangels of the Christian, the direct
emanations of the First Cause, notwithstanding the hazardous statement of
Swedenborg, never were or will be men, on our planet, at least.
This specialization
has been in all ages the stumbling-block of metaphysicians. The whole esoterism
of the Buddhistical philosophy is based on this mysterious teaching, understood
by so few persons, and so totally misrepresented by many of the most learned
scholars. Even metaphysicians are too inclined to confound the effect with the
cause. A person may have won his immortal life, and remain the same inner-self
he was on earth, throughout eternity; but this does not imply necessarily that
he must either remain the Mr. Smith or Brown he was on earth, or lose his
individuality. Therefore, the astral soul and terrestrial body of man may, in
the dark Hereafter, be absorbed into the cosmical ocean of sublimated elements,
and cease to feel his ego, if this ego did not deserve to soar higher; and the
divine spirit still remain an unchanged entity, though this terrestrial experience
of his emanations may be totally obliterated at the instant of separation from
the unworthy vehicle.
If the
"spirit," or the divine portion of the soul, is preexistent as a
distinct being from all eternity, as Origen, Synesius, and other Christian
fathers and philosophers taught, and if it is the same, and nothing more than
the metaphysically-objective soul, how can it be otherwise than eternal? And
what matters it in such a case, whether man leads an animal or a pure life, if,
do what he may, he can never lose his individuality? This doctrine is as
pernicious in its consequences as that of vicarious atonement. Had the latter
dogma, in company with the false idea that we are all immortal, been
demonstrated to the world in its true light, humanity would have been bettered
by its propagation. Crime and sin would be avoided, not for fear of earthly
punishment, or of a ridiculous hell, but for the sake of that which lies the
most deeply rooted in our inner nature -- the desire of an individual and distinct
life in the hereafter, the positive assurance that we cannot win it unless we
"take the kingdom of heaven by violence," and the conviction that
neither human prayers nor the blood of another man will save us from individual
destruction after death, unless we firmly link ourselves during our terrestrial
life with our own immortal spirit -- our GOD.
Pythagoras, Plato,
Timaeus of Locris, and the whole Alexandrian school derived the soul from the
universal World-Soul; and the latter was, according to their own teachings --
ether; something of such a fine nature as to be perceived only by our inner
sight. Therefore, it cannot be the essence of the Monas, or cause, because the
anima mundi is but the effect, the objective emanation of the former. Both the
human spirit
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SOUL-DEATH.
and soul are
preexistent. But, while the former exists as a distinct entity, an
individualization, the soul exists as preexisting matter, an unscient portion
of an intelligent whole. Both were originally formed from the Eternal Ocean of
Light; but as the theosophists expressed it, there is a visible as well as
invisible spirit in fire. They made a difference between the anima bruta and
the anima divina. Empedocles firmly believed all men and animals to possess two
souls; and in Aristotle we find that he calls one the reasoning soul -- [[nous]],
and the other, the animal soul -- [[psuche]]. According to these philosophers,
the reasoning soul comes from without the universal soul, and the other from
within. This divine and superior region, in which they located the invisible
and supreme deity, was considered by them (by Aristotle himself) as a fifth
element, purely spiritual and divine, whereas the anima mundi proper was
considered as composed of a fine, igneous, and ethereal nature spread
throughout the universe, in short -- ether. The Stoics, the greatest
materialists of ancient days, excepted the Invisible God and Divine Soul
(Spirit) from any such a corporeal nature. Their modern commentators and
admirers, greedily seizing the opportunity, built on this ground the
supposition that the Stoics believed in neither God nor soul. But Epicurus,
whose doctrine militating directly against the agency of a Supreme Being and
gods, in the formation or government of the world, placed him far above the
Stoics in atheism and materialism, taught, nevertheless, that the soul is of a
fine, tender essence, formed from the smoothest, roundest, and finest atoms,
which description still brings us to the same sublimated ether. Arnobius,
Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Origen, notwithstanding their Christianity, believed,
with the more modern Spinoza and Hobbes, that the soul was corporeal, though of
a very fine nature.
This doctrine of
the possibility of losing one's soul and, hence, individuality, militates with
the ideal theories and progressive ideas of some spiritualists, though
Swedenborg fully adopts it. They will never accept the kabalistic doctrine
which teaches that it is only through observing the law of harmony that
individual life hereafter can be obtained; and that the farther the inner and
outer man deviate from this fount of harmony, whose source lies in our divine
spirit, the more difficult it is to regain the ground.
But while the
spiritualists and other adherents of Christianity have little if any perception
of this fact of the possible death and obliteration of the human personality by
the separation of the immortal part from the perishable, the Swedenborgians
fully comprehend it. One of the most respected ministers of the New Church, the
Rev. Chauncey Giles, D.D., of New York, recently elucidated the subject in a
public discourse as follows: Physical death, or the death of the body, was a
provision of the
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divine economy for
the benefit of man, a provision by means of which he attained the higher ends
of his being. But there is another death which is the interruption of the
divine order and the destruction of every human element in man's nature, and
every possibility of human happiness. This is the spiritual death, which takes
place before the dissolution of the body. "There may be a vast development
of man's natural mind without that development being accompanied by a particle
of love of God, or of unselfish love of man." When one falls into a love
of self and love of the world, with its pleasures, losing the divine love of
God and of the neighbor, he falls from life to death. The higher principles
which constitute the essential elements of his humanity perish, and he lives
only on the natural plane of his faculties. Physically he exists, spiritually
he is dead. To all that pertain to the higher and the only enduring phase of
existence he is as much dead as his body becomes dead to all the activities,
delights, and sensations of the world when the spirit has left it. This
spiritual death results from disobedience of the laws of spiritual life, which
is followed by the same penalty as the disobedience of the laws of the natural
life. But the spiritually dead have still their delights; they have their
intellectual endowments and power, and intense activities. All the animal
delights are theirs, and to multitudes of men and women these constitute the
highest ideal of human happiness. The tireless pursuit of riches, of the
amusements and entertainments of social life; the cultivation of graces of
manner, of taste in dress, of social preferment, of scientific distinction,
intoxicate and enrapture these dead-alive; but, the eloquent preacher remarks,
"these creatures, with all their graces, rich attire, and brilliant
accomplishments, are dead in the eye of the Lord and the angels, and when
measured by the only true and immutable standard have no more genuine life than
skeletons whose flesh has turned to dust." A high development of the
intellectual faculties does not imply spiritual and true life. Many of our
greatest scientists are but animate corpses -- they have no spiritual sight
because their spirits have left them. So we might go through all ages, examine
all occupations, weigh all human attainments, and investigate all forms of
society, and we would find these spiritually dead everywhere.
Pythagoras taught
that the entire universe is one vast system of mathematically correct
combinations. Plato shows the deity geometrizing. The world is sustained by the
same law of equilibrium and harmony upon which it was built. The centripetal
force could not manifest itself without the centrifugal in the harmonious
revolutions of the spheres; all forms are the product of this dual force in
nature. Thus, to illustrate our case, we may designate the spirit as the
centrifugal, and the soul as the centripetal, spiritual energies. When in
perfect harmony, both forces
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THE SHADOW."
produce one result;
break or damage the centripetal motion of the earthly soul tending toward the
centre which attracts it; arrest its progress by clogging it with a heavier
weight of matter than it can bear, and the harmony of the whole, which was its
life, is destroyed. Individual life can only be continued if sustained by this
two-fold force. The least deviation from harmony damages it; when it is
destroyed beyond redemption the forces separate and the form is gradually
annihilated. After the death of the depraved and the wicked, arrives the
critical moment. If during life the ultimate and desperate effort of the inner-self
to reunite itself with the faintly-glimmering ray of its divine parent is
neglected; if this ray is allowed to be more and more shut out by the
thickening crust of matter, the soul, once freed from the body, follows its
earthly attractions, and is magnetically drawn into and held within the dense
fogs of the material atmosphere. Then it begins to sink lower and lower, until
it finds itself, when returned to consciousness, in what the ancients termed
Hades. The annihilation of such a soul is never instantaneous; it may last
centuries, perhaps; for nature never proceeds by jumps and starts, and the
astral soul being formed of elements, the law of evolution must bide its time.
Then begins the fearful law of compensation, the Yin-youan of the Buddhists.
This class of
spirits are called the "terrestrial" or "earthly
elementary," in contradistinction to the other classes, as we have shown
in the introductory chapter. In the East they are known as the "Brothers
of the Shadow." Cunning, low, vindictive, and seeking to retaliate their
sufferings upon humanity, they become, until final annihilation, vampires,
ghouls, and prominent actors. These are the leading "stars" on the
great spiritual stage of "materialization," which phenomena they
perform with the help of the more intelligent of the genuine-born
"elemental" creatures, which hover around and welcome them with
delight in their own spheres. Henry Kunrath, the great German kabalist, has on
a plate of his rare work, Amphitheatri Sapientiae AEternae, representations of
the four classes of these human "elementary spirits." Once past the
threshold of the sanctuary of initiation, once that an adept has lifted the
"Veil of Isis," the mysterious and jealous goddess, he has nothing to
fear; but till then he is in constant danger.
Although Aristotle
himself, anticipating the modern physiologists, regarded the human mind as a
material substance, and ridiculed the hylozoists, nevertheless he fully
believed in the existence of a "double" soul, or spirit and soul.* He
laughed at Strabo for believing that any particles of matter, per se, could
have life and intellect in themselves suf-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Aristotle:
"De Generat. et Corrupt.," lib. ii.
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ficient to fashion
by degrees such a multiform world as ours.* Aristotle is indebted for the
sublime morality of his Nichomachean Ethics to a thorough study of the
Pythagoric Ethical Fragments; for the latter can be easily shown to have been
the source at which he gathered his ideas, though he might not have sworn
"by him who the tetractys found."** Finally, what do we know so
certain about Aristotle? His philosophy is so abstruse that he constantly
leaves his reader to supply by the imagination the missing links of his logical
deductions. Moreover, we know that before his works ever reached our scholars,
who delight in his seemingly atheistical arguments in support of his doctrine
of fate, these works passed through too many hands to have remained immaculate.
From Theophrastus, his legator, they passed to Neleus, whose heirs kept them
mouldering in subterranean caves for nearly 150 years;*** after which, we learn
that his manuscripts were copied and much augmented by Apellicon of Theos, who
supplied such paragraphs as had become illegible, by conjectures of his own,
probably many of these drawn from the depths of his inner consciousness. Our
scholars of the nineteenth century might certainly profit well by Aristotle's
example, were they as anxious to imitate him practically as they are to throw
his inductive method and materialistic theories at the head of the Platonists.
We invite them to collect facts as carefully as he did, instead of denying
those they know nothing about.
What we have said
in the introductory chapter and elsewhere, of mediums and the tendency of their
mediumship, is not based upon conjecture, but upon actual experience and
observation. There is scarcely one phase of mediumship, of either kind, that we
have not seen exemplified during the past twenty-five years, in various
countries. India, Thibet, Borneo, Siam, Egypt, Asia Minor, America (North and
South), and other parts of the world, have each displayed to us its peculiar
phase of mediumistic phenomena and magical power. Our varied experience has
taught us two important truths, viz.: that for the exercise of the latter
personal purity and the exercise of a trained and indomitable will-power are
indispensable; and that spiritualists can never assure themselves of the
genuineness of mediumistic manifestations, unless they occur in the light and
under such reasonable test conditions as would make an attempted fraud
instantly noticed.
For fear of being
misunderstood, we would remark that while, as a rule, physical phenomena are
produced by the nature-spirits, of their own
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De
Part.," an. lib. i., c. I.
** A Pythagorean
oath. The Pythagoreans swore by their master.
*** See Lempriere:
"Classical Dictionary."
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motion and to
please their own fancy, still good disembodied human spirits, under exceptional
circumstances, such as the aspiration of a pure heart or the occurrence of some
favoring emergency, can manifest their presence by any of the phenomena except
personal materialization. But it must be a mighty attraction indeed to draw a
pure, disembodied spirit from its radiant home into the foul atmosphere from
which it escaped upon leaving its earthly body.
Magi and theurgic
philosophers objected most severely to the "evocation of souls."
"Bring her (the soul) not forth, lest in departing she retain
something," says Psellus.*
"It becomes
you not to behold them before your body is initiated,
Since, by always
alluring, they seduce the souls of the uninitiated,"
says the same
philosopher, in another passage.**
They objected to it
for several good reasons. 1. "It is extremely difficult to distinguish a
good daemon from a bad one," says Iamblichus. 2. If a human soul succeeds
in penetrating the density of the earth's atmosphere -- always oppressive to
her, often hateful -- still there is a danger the soul is unable to come into
proximity with the material world without that she cannot avoid; "departing,
she retains something," that is to say, contaminating her purity, for
which she has to suffer more or less after her departure. Therefore, the true
theurgist will avoid causing any more suffering to this pure denizen of the
higher sphere than is absolutely required by the interests of humanity. It is
only the practitioner of black magic who compels the presence, by the powerful
incantations of necromancy, of the tainted souls of such as have lived bad
lives, and are ready to aid his selfish designs. Of intercourse with the
Augoeides, through the mediumistic powers of subjective mediums, we elsewhere
speak. The theurgists employed chemicals and mineral substances to chase away
evil spirits. Of the latter, a stone called [[Mnizourin]] was one of the most
powerful agents.
"When you
shall see a terrestrial demon approaching,
Exclaim, and
sacrifice the stone Mnizurin,"
exclaims a
Zoroastrian oracle (Psel., 40).
And now, to descend
from the eminence of theurgico-magian poetry to the "unconscious"
magic of our present century, and the prose of a modern kabalist, we will
review it in the following:
In Dr. Morin's
Journal de Magnetisme, published a few years since in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Psel. in Alieb:
"Chaldean Oracles."
** Proc. in 1
"Alieb."
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Paris, at a time
when the "table-turning" was raging in France, a curious letter was
published.
"Believe me,
sir," wrote the anonymous correspondent, "that there are no spirits,
no ghosts, no angels, no demons enclosed in a table; but, all of these can be
found there, nevertheless, for that depends on our own wills and our
imaginations. . . . This MENSAbulism* is an ancient phenomenon . . .
misunderstood by us moderns, but natural, for all that, and which pertains to
physics and psychology; unfortunately, it had to remain incomprehensible until
the discovery of electricity and heliography, as, to explain a fact of
spiritual nature, we are obliged to base ourselves on a corresponding fact of a
material order. . . .
"As we all
know, the daguerreotype-plate may be impressed, not only by objects, but also
by their reflections. Well, the phenomenon in question, which ought to be named
mental photography, produces, besides realities, the dreams of our imagination,
with such a fidelity that very often we become unable to distinguish a copy
taken from one present, from a negative obtained of an image. . . .
"The
magnetization of a table or of a person is absolutely identical in its results;
it is the saturation of a foreign body by either the intelligent vital
electricity, or the thought of the magnetizer and those present."
Nothing can give a
better or a more just idea of it than the electric battery gathering the fluid
on its conductor, to obtain thereof a brute force which manifests itself in
sparks of light, etc. Thus, the electricity accumulated on an isolated body
acquires a power of reaction equal to the action, either for charging,
magnetizing, decomposing, inflaming, or for discharging its vibrations far
away. These are the visible effects of the blind, or crude electricity produced
by blind elements -- the word blind being used by the table itself in
contradistinction to the intelligent electricity. But there evidently exists a
corresponding electricity produced by the cerebral pile of man; this
soul-electricity, this spiritual and universal ether, which is the ambient,
middle nature of the metaphysical universe, or rather of the incorporeal
universe, has to be studied before it is admitted by science, which, having no
idea of it, will never know anything of the great phenomenon of life until she
does.
"It appears
that to manifest itself the cerebral electricity requires the help of the
ordinary statical electricity; when the latter is lacking in the atmosphere --
when the air is very damp, for instance -- you can get little or nothing of
either tables or mediums. . . .
"There is no
need for the ideas to be formulated very precisely in the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* From the Latin
word mensa -- table. This curious letter is copied in full in "La Science
des Esprits," by Eliphas Levi.
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brains of the
persons present; the table discovers and formulates them itself, in either
prose or verse, but always correctly; the table requires time to compose a
verse; it begins, then it erases a word, corrects it, and sometimes sends back
the epigram to our address . . . if the persons present are in sympathy with
each other, it jokes and laughs with us as any living person could. As to the
things of the exterior world, it has to content itself with conjectures, as
well as ourselves; it (the table) composes little philosophical systems,
discusses and maintains them as the most cunning rhetorician might. In short,
it creates itself a conscience and a reason properly belonging to itself, but
with the materials it finds in us. . . .
"The Americans
are persuaded that they talk with their dead; some think (more truly) that
these are spirits; others take them for angels; others again for devils . . .
(the intelligence) assuming the shape which fits the conviction and
preconceived opinion of every one; so did the initiates of the temples of
Serapis, of Delphi, and other theurgico-medical establishments of the same
kind. They were convinced beforehand that they would communicate with their
gods; and they never failed.
"We, who well
know the value of the phenomenon . . . are perfectly sure that after having
charged the table with our magnetic efflux, we have called to life, or created
an intelligence analogous to our own, which like ourselves is endowed with a
free will, can talk and discuss with us, with a degree of superior lucidity,
considering that the resultant is stronger than the individual, or rather the
whole is larger than a part of it. . . . We must not accuse Herodotus of
telling us fibs when he records the most extraordinary circumstances, for we
must hold them to be as true and correct as the rest of historical facts which
are to be found in all the Pagan writers of antiquity. . . .
"The
phenomenon is as old as the world. . . . The priests of India and China
practiced it before the Egyptians and the Greeks. The savages and the Esquimaux
know it well. It is the phenomenon of Faith, sole source of every
prodigy," and it will be done to you according to your faith. The one who
enunciated this profound doctrine was verily the incarnated word of Truth; he
neither deceived himself, nor wanted to deceive others; he expounded an axiom
which we now repeat, without much hope of seeing it accepted.
"Man is a
microcosm, or a little world; he carries in him a fragment of the great All, in
a chaotic state. The task of our half-gods is to disentangle from it the share
belonging to them by an incessant mental and material labor. They have their
task to do, the perpetual invention of new products, of new moralities, and the
proper arrangement of the crude and formless material furnished them by the
Creator, who created
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them in His own
image, that they should create in their turn and so complete here the work of
the Creation; an immense labor which can be achieved only when the whole will
become so perfect, that it will be like unto God Himself, and thus able to
survive to itself. We are very far yet from that final moment, for we can say
that everything is to be done, to be undone, and outdone as yet on our globe,
institutions, machinery, and products.
"Mens non
solum agitat sed creat molem.
"We live in
this life, in an ambient, intellectual centre, which entertains between human
beings and things a necessary and perpetual solidarity; every brain is a
ganglion, a station of a universal neurological telegraphy in constant rapport
with the central and other stations by the vibrations of thought.
"The spiritual
sun shines for souls as the material sun shines for bodies, for the universe is
double and follows the law of couples. The ignorant operator interprets
erroneously the divine dispatches, and often delivers them in a false and
ridiculous manner. Thus study and true science alone can destroy the
superstitions and nonsense spread by the ignorant interpreters placed at the
stations of teaching among every people in this world. These blind interpreters
of the Verbum, the WORD, have always tried to impose on their pupils the
obligation to swear to everything without examination in verba magistri.
"Alas! we
could wish for nothing better were they to translate correctly the inner
voices, which voices never deceive but those who have false spirits in them.
'It is our duty,' they say, 'to interpret oracles; it is we who have received
the exclusive mission for it from heaven, spiritus flat ubi vult, and it blows
on us alone. . . .'
"It blows on
every one, and the rays of the spiritual light illuminate every conscience; and
when all the bodies and all the minds will reflect equally this dual light,
people will see a great deal clearer than they do now."
We have translated
and quoted the above fragments for their great originality and truthfulness. We
know the writer; fame proclaims him a great kabalist, and a few friends know
him as a truthful and honest man.
The letter shows,
moreover, that the writer has well and carefully studied the chameleon-like
nature of the intelligences presiding over spiritual circles. That they are of
the same kind and race as those so frequently mentioned in antiquity, admits of
as little doubt as that the present generation of men are of the same nature as
were human beings in the days of Moses. Subjective manifestations proceed,
under harmo-
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nious conditions,
from those beings which were known as the "good demons" in days of
old. Sometimes, but rarely, the planetary spirits -- beings of another race
than our own -- produce them; sometimes the spirits of our translated and
beloved friends; sometimes nature-spirits of one or more of the countless
tribes; but most frequently of all terrestrial elementary spirits, disembodied
evil men, the Diakka of A. Jackson Davis.
We do not forget
what we have elsewhere written about subjective and objective mediumistic
phenomena. We keep the distinction always in mind. There are good and bad of
both classes. An impure medium will attract to his impure inner self, the
vicious, depraved, malignant influences as inevitably as one that is pure draws
only those that are good and pure. Of the latter kind of medium where can a
nobler example be found than the gentle Baroness Adelma von Vay, of Austria
(born Countess Wurmbrandt), who is described to us by a correspondent as
"the Providence of her neighborhood"? She uses her mediumistic power
to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted. To the rich she is a phenomenon;
but to the poor a ministering angel. For many years she has seen and recognized
the nature-spirits or cosmic elementaries, and found them always friendly. But
this was because she was a pure, good woman. Other correspondents of the
Theosophical Society have not fared so well at the hands of these apish and
impish beings. The Havanna case, elsewhere described, is an example.
Though
spiritualists discredit them ever so much, these nature-spirits are realities.
If the gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines of the Rosicrucians existed in
their days, they must exist now. Bulwer-Lytton's Dweller of the Threshold, is a
modern conception, modelled on the ancient type of the Sulanuth* of the Hebrews
and Egyptians, which is mentioned in the Book of Jasher.**
The Christians call
them "devils," "imps of Satan," and like characteristic
names. They are nothing of the kind, but simply creatures of ethereal matter,
irresponsible, and neither good nor bad, unless influenced by a superior
intelligence. It is very extraordinary to hear devout
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The Sulanuth is
described in chap. lxxx., vers. 19, 20, of "Jasher."
** "And when
the Egyptians hid themselves on account of the swarm" (one of the plagues
alleged to have been brought on by Moses) ". . . they locked their doors
after them, and God ordered the Sulanuth . . ." (a sea-monster, naively
explains the translator, in a foot-note) "which was then in the sea, to
come up and go into Egypt . . . and she had long arms, ten cubits in length . .
. and she went upon the roofs and uncovered the rafting and cut them . . . and
stretched forth her arm into the house and removed the lock and the bolt and
opened the houses of Egypt . . . and the swarm of animals destroyed the
Egyptians, and it grieved them exceedingly."
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Catholics abuse and
misrepresent the nature-spirits, when one of their greatest authorities,
Clement the Alexandrian, disposed of them, by describing these creatures as
they really are. Clement, who perhaps had been a theurgist as well as a
Neo-platonist, thus arguing upon good authority, remarks, that it is absurd to
call them devils,* for they are only inferior angels, "the powers which
inhabit elements, move the winds and distribute showers, and as such are agents
and subject to God."** Origen, who before he became a Christian also
belonged to the Platonic school, is of the same opinion. Porphyry describes
these daemons more carefully than any one else.
When the possible
nature of the manifesting intelligences, which science believes to be a
"psychic force," and spiritualists the identical spirits of the dead,
is better known, then will academicians and believers turn to the old
philosophers for information.
Let us for a moment
imagine an intelligent orang-outang or some African anthropoid ape disembodied,
i.e., deprived of its physical and in possession of an astral, if not an
immortal body. We have found in spiritual journals many instances where
apparitions of departed pet dogs and other animals have been seen. Therefore,
upon spiritualistic testimony, we must think that such animal
"spirits" do appear although we reserve the right of concurring with
the ancients that the forms are but tricks of the elementals. Once open the
door of communication between the terrestrial and the spiritual world, what
prevents the ape from producing physical phenomena such as he sees human
spirits produce. And why may not these excel in cleverness of ingenuity many of
those which have been witnessed in spiritual circles? Let spiritualists answer.
The orang-outang of Borneo is little, if any, inferior to the savage man in
intelligence. Mr. Wallace and other great naturalists give instances of its
wonderful acuteness, although its brains are inferior in cubic capacity to the
most undeveloped of savages. These apes lack but speech to be men of low grade.
The sentinels placed by monkeys; the sleeping chambers selected and built by
orang-outangs; their prevision of danger and calculations, which show more than
instinct; their choice of leaders whom they obey; and the exercise of many of
their faculties, certainly entitle them to a place at least on a level with
many a flat-headed Australian. Says Mr. Wallace, "The mental requirements
of savages, and the faculties actually exercised by them, are very little above
those of the animals."
Now, people assume
that there can be no apes in the other world, because apes have no
"souls." But apes have as much intelligence, it
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Strom," vi., 17, § 159.
** Ibid., vi., 3, §
30.
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APE.
appears, as some
men; why, then, should these men, in no way superior to the apes, have immortal
spirits, and the apes none? The materialists will answer that neither the one
nor the other has a spirit, but that annihilation overtakes each at physical
death. But the spiritual philosophers of all times have agreed that man occupies
a step one degree higher than the animal, and is possessed of that something
which it lacks, be he the most untutored of savages or the wisest of
philosophers. The ancients, as we have seen, taught that while man is a trinity
of body, astral spirit, and immortal soul, the animal is but a duality -- a
being having a physical body and an astral spirit animating it. Scientists can
distinguish no difference in the elements composing the bodies of men and
brutes; and the kabalists agree with them so far as to say that the astral
bodies (or, as the physicists would call it, "the life-principle") of
animals and men are identical in essence. Physical man is but the highest
development of animal life. If, as the scientists tell us, even thought is matter,
and every sensation of pain or pleasure, every transient desire is accompanied
by a disturbance of ether; and those bold speculators, the authors of the
Unseen Universe believe that thought is conceived "to affect the matter of
another universe simultaneously with this"; why, then, should not the
gross, brutish thought of an orang-outang, or a dog, impressing itself on the
ethereal waves of the astral light, as well as that of man, assure the animal a
continuity of life after death, or "a future state"?
The kabalists held,
and now hold, that it is unphilosophical to admit that the astral body of man
can survive corporeal death, and at the same time assert that the astral body
of the ape is resolved into independent molecules. That which survives as an
individuality after the death of the body is the astral soul, which Plato, in
the Timaeus and Gorgias, calls the mortal soul, for, according to the Hermetic
doctrine, it throws off its more material particles at every progressive change
into a higher sphere. Socrates narrates to Callicles* that this mortal soul
retains all the characteristics of the body after the death of the latter; so
much so, indeed, that a man marked with the whip will have his astral body
"full of the prints and scars." The astral spirit is a faithful
duplicate of the body, both in a physical and spiritual sense. The Divine, the
highest and immortal spirit, can be neither punished nor rewarded. To maintain
such a doctrine would be at the same time absurd and blasphemous, for it is not
merely a flame lit at the central and inexhaustible fountain of light, but
actually a portion of it, and of identical essence. It assures immortality to
the individual astral being in proportion to the willingness of the latter to
receive it. So long as the double man, i.e., the man of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Gorgias."
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flesh and spirit,
keeps within the limits of the law of spiritual continuity; so long as the
divine spark lingers in him, however faintly, he is on the road to an
immortality in the future state. But those who resign themselves to a materialistic
existence, shutting out the divine radiance shed by their spirit, at the
beginning of the earthly pilgrimage, and stifling the warning voice of that
faithful sentry, the conscience, which serves as a focus for the light in the
soul -- such beings as these, having left behind conscience and spirit, and
crossed the boundaries of matter, will of necessity have to follow its laws.
Matter is as
indestructible and eternal as the immortal spirit itself, but only in its
particles, and not as organized forms. The body of so grossly materialistic a
person as above described, having been deserted by its spirit before physical
death, when that event occurs, the plastic material, astral soul, following the
laws of blind matter, shapes itself thoroughly into the mould which vice has
been gradually preparing for it through the earth-life of the individual. Then,
as Plato says, it assumes the form of that "animal to which it resembled
in its evil ways"* during life. "It is an ancient saying," he
tells us, "that the souls departing hence exist in Hades and return hither
again and are produced from the dead** . . . But those who are found to have
lived an eminently holy life, these are they who arrive at the pure abode ABOVE
and DWELL ON THE UPPER PARTS of the earth"*** (the ethereal region). In
Phaedrus, again, he says that when man has ended his first life (on earth),
some go to places of punishment beneath the earth.**** This region below the
earth, the kabalists do not understand as a place inside the earth, but maintain
it to be a sphere, far inferior in perfection to the earth, and far more
material.
Of all the modern
speculators upon the seeming incongruities of the New Testament, alone the
authors of the Unseen Universe seem to have caught a glimpse of its kabalistic
truths, respecting the gehenna of the universe.***** This gehenna, termed by
the occultists the eighth sphere (numbering inversely), is merely a planet like
our own, attached to the latter and following it in its penumbra; a kind of
dust-hole, a "place where all its garbage and filth is consumed," to
borrow an expression of the above-mentioned authors, and on which all the dross
and scorification of the cosmic matter pertaining to our planet is in a
continual state of remodelling.
The secret doctrine
teaches that man, if he wins immortality, will remain forever the trinity that
he is in life, and will continue so through-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Timaeus."
** Cory:
"Phaedro," i. 69.
*** Ibid., i. 123.
**** Cory:
"Phaedras"; Cory's "Plato," 325.
***** See "The
Unseen Universe," pp. 205, 206.
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BRAIN.
out all the
spheres. The astral body, which in this life is covered by a gross physical
envelope, becomes -- when relieved of that covering by the process of corporeal
death -- in its turn the shell of another and more ethereal body. This begins
developing from the moment of death, and becomes perfected when the astral body
of the earthly form finally separates from it. This process, they say, is
repeated at every new transition from sphere to sphere. But the immortal soul, "the
silvery spark," observed by Dr. Fenwick in Margrave's brain,* and not
found by him in the animals, never changes, but remains indestructible "by
aught that shatters its tabernacle." The descriptions by Porphyry and
Iamblichus and others, of the spirits of animals, which inhabit the astral
light, are corroborated by those of many of the most trustworthy and
intelligent clairvoyants. Sometimes the animal forms are even made visible to
every person present at a spiritual circle, by being materialized. In his People
from the Other World, Colonel H. S. Olcott describes a materialized squirrel
which followed a spirit-woman into the view of the spectators, disappeared and
reappeared before their eyes several times, and finally followed the spirit
into the cabinet.
Let us advance
another step in our argument. If there is such a thing as existence in the
spiritual world after corporeal death, then it must occur in accordance with
the law of evolution. It takes man from his place at the apex of the pyramid of
matter, and lifts him into a sphere of existence where the same inexorable law
follows him. And if it follows him, why not everything else in nature? Why not
animals and plants, which have all a life-principle, and whose gross forms
decay like his, when that life-principle leaves them? If his astral body
becomes more ethereal upon attaining the other sphere, why not theirs? They, as
well as he, have been evolved out of condensed cosmic matter, and our
physicists cannot see the slightest difference between the molecules of the
four kingdoms of nature, which are thus specified by Professor Le Conte:
4. Animal Kingdom.
3. Vegetable
Kingdom.
2. Mineral Kingdom.
1. Elements.
The progress of
matter from each of these planes to the plane above is continuous; and,
according to Le Conte, there is no force in nature
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
Bulwer-Lytton: "Strange Story," p. 76. We do not know where in
literature can be found a more vivid and beautiful description of this
difference between the life-principle of man and that of animals, than in the
passages herein briefly alluded to.
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capable of raising
matter at once from No. 1 to No. 3, or from No. 2 to No. 4, without stopping
and receiving an accession of force of a different kind on the intermediate
plane.
Now, will any one
presume to say that out of a given number of molecules, originally and
constantly homogeneous, and all energized by the same principle of evolution, a
certain number can be carried through those four kingdoms to the final result
of evolving immortal man, and the others not be allowed to progress beyond
planes 1, 2, and 3? Why should not all these molecules have an equal future
before them; the mineral becoming plant, the plant, animal, and the animal, man
-- if not upon this earth, at least somewhere in the boundless realms of space?
The harmony which geometry and mathematics -- the only exact sciences --
demonstrate to be the law of the universe, would be destroyed if evolution were
perfectly exemplified in man alone and limited in the subordinate kingdoms.
What logic suggests, psychometry proves; and, as we said before, it is not
unlikely that a monument will one day be erected by men of science to Joseph R.
Buchanan, its modern discoverer. If a fragment of mineral, fossilized plant, or
animal form gives the psychometer as vivid and accurate pictures of their
previous conditions, as a fragment of human bone does of those of the
individual to which it belonged, it would seem as if the same subtile spirit
pervaded all nature, and was inseparable from organic or inorganic substances.
If anthropologists, physiologists, and psychologists are equally perplexed by
primal and final causes, and by finding in matter so much similarity in all its
forms, but in spirit such abysses of difference, it is, perhaps, because their
inquiries are limited to our visible globe, and that they cannot, or dare not,
go beyond. The spirit of a mineral, plant, or animal, may begin to form here,
and reach its final development millions of ages hereafter, on other planets,
known or unknown, visible or invisible to astronomers. For, who is able to
controvert the theory previously suggested, that the earth itself will, like
the living creatures to which it has given birth, ultimately, and after passing
through its own stage of death and dissolution, become an etherealized astral
planet? "As above, so below"; harmony is the great law of nature.
Harmony in the
physical and mathematical world of sense, is justice in the spiritual one.
Justice produces harmony, and injustice, discord; and discord, on a cosmical
scale, means chaos -- annihilation.
If there is a
developed immortal spirit in man, it must be in every thing else, at least in a
latent or germinal state, and it can only be a question of time for each of
these germs to become fully developed. What gross injustice it would be for an
impenitent criminal man, the perpetrator of a brutal murder when in the
exercise of his free will, to have
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PSYCHOMETRY.
all immortal spirit
which in time may be washed clean of sin, and enjoying perfect happiness, while
a poor horse, innocent of all crime, should toil and suffer under the merciless
torture of his master's whip during a whole life, and then be annihilated at
death? Such a belief implies a brutal injustice, and is only possible among
people taught in the dogma that everything is created for man, and he alone is
the sovereign of the universe; -- a sovereign so mighty that to save him from
the consequences of his own misdeeds, it was not too much that the God of the
universe should die to placate his own just wrath.
If the most abject
savage, with a brain "very little inferior to that of a philosopher"*
(the latter developed physically by ages of civilization), is still, as regards
the actual exercise of his mental faculties, very little superior to an animal,
is it just to infer that both he and the ape will not have the opportunity to
become philosophers; the ape in this world, the man on some other planet
peopled equally with beings created in some other image of God?
Says Professor
Denton, when speaking of the future of psychometry: "Astronomy will not
disdain the assistance of this power. As new forms of organic being are
revealed, when we go back to the earlier geologic periods, so new groupings of
the stars, new constellations, will be displayed, when the heavens of those
early periods are examined by the piercing gaze of future psychometers. An
accurate map of the starry heavens during the Silurian period may reveal to us
many secrets that we have been unable to discover. . . . Why may we not indeed
be able to read the history of the various heavenly bodies . . . their
geological, their natural, and, perchance, their human history? . . . I have
good reason to believe that trained psychometers will be able to travel from
planet to planet, and read their present condition minutely, and their past
history."**
Herodotus tells us
that in the eighth of the towers of Belus, in Babylon, used by the sacerdotal
astrologers, there was an uppermost room, a sanctuary, where the prophesying
priestesses slept to receive communications from the god. Beside the couch
stood a table of gold, upon which were laid various stones, which Manetho
informs us were all aerolites. The priestesses developed the prophetic vision
in themselves by pressing one of these sacred stones against their heads and
bosoms. The same took place at Thebes, and at Patara, in Lycia.***
This would seem to
indicate that psychometry was known and extensively practiced by the ancients.
We have somewhere seen it stated that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. R. Wallace:
"The Action of Natural Selection on Man."
** W. Denton:
"The Soul of Things," p. 273.
***
"Herodotus," b. i., c. 181.
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the profound knowledge
possessed, according to Draper, by the ancient Chaldean astrologers, of the
planets and their relations, was obtained more by the divination of the
betylos, or the meteoric stone, than by astronomical instruments. Strabo,
Pliny, Hellanicus -- all speak of the electrical, or electromagnetic power of
the betyli. They were worshipped in the remotest antiquity in Egypt and
Samothrace, as magnetic stones, "containing souls which had fallen from
heaven"; and the priests of Cybele wore a small betylos on their bodies.
How curious the coincidence between the practice of the priests of Belus and
the experiments of Professor Denton!
As Professor
Buchanan truthfully remarks of psychometry, it will enable us " . . . to
detect vice and crime. No criminal act . . . can escape the detection of
psychometry, when its powers are properly brought forth . . . the sure
detection of guilt by psychometry (no matter how secret the act) will nullify
all concealment."*
Speaking of the
elementary, Porphyry says: "These invisible beings have been receiving
from men honors as gods . . . a universal belief makes them capable of becoming
very malevolent: it proves that their wrath is kindled against those who
neglect to offer them a legitimate worship."**
Homer describes
them in the following terms: "Our gods appear to us when we offer them
sacrifice . . . sitting themselves at our tables, they partake of our festival
meals. Whenever they meet on his travels a solitary Phoenician, they serve to
him as guides, and otherwise manifest their presence. We can say that our piety
approaches us to them as much as crime and bloodshed unite the Cyclopes and the
ferocious race of giants."*** The latter proving that these gods were kind
and beneficent daemons, and that, whether they were disembodied spirits or
elementary beings, they were no devils.
The language of
Porphyry, who was himself a direct disciple of Plotinus, is still more explicit
as to the nature of these spirits. "Demons," he says, "are
invisible; but they know how to clothe themselves with forms and configurations
subjected to numerous variations, which can be explained by their nature having
much of the corporeal in itself. Their abode is in the neighborhood of the
earth . . . and when they can escape the vigilance of the good daemons, there
is no mischief they will not dare commit. One day they will employ brute force;
another, cunning."**** Further, he says: "It is a child's play for
them to arouse
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Anthropology," p. 125.
** "Of
Sacrifices to Gods and Daemons," chap. ii.
***
"Odyssey," book vii.
**** Porphyry:
"Of Sacrifices to Gods and Daemons," chap. ii.
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DARKNESS.
in us vile
passions, to impart to societies and nations turbulent doctrines, provoking
wars, seditions, and other public calamities, and then tell you 'that all of
these is the work of the gods.' . . . These spirits pass their time in cheating
and deceiving mortals, creating around them illusions and prodigies; their
greatest ambition is to pass as gods and souls (disembodied spirits)."*
Iamblichus, the
great theurgist of the Neo-platonic school, a man skilled in sacred magic,
teaches that "good daemons appear to us in reality, while the bad ones can
manifest themselves but under the shadowy forms of phantoms." Further, he
corroborates Porphyry, and tells that " . . . the good ones fear not the
light, while the wicked ones require darkness. . . . The sensations they excite
in us make us believe in the presence and reality of things they show, though
these things be absent."**
Even the most
practiced theurgists found danger sometimes in their dealings with certain
elementaries, and we have Iamblichus stating that, "The gods, the angels,
and the daemons, as well as the souls, may be summoned through evocation and
prayer. . . . But when, during theurgic operations, a mistake is made, beware!
Do not imagine that you are communicating with beneficent divinities, who have
answered your earnest prayer; no, for they are bad daemons, only under the
guise of good ones! For the elementaries often clothe themselves with the
similitude of the good, and assume a rank very much superior to that they
really occupy. Their boasting betrays them."***
Some twenty years
since, Baron Du Potet, disgusted with the indifference of the scientists, who
persisted in seeing in the greatest psychological phenomena only the result of
clever trickery, gave vent to his indignation in the following terms:
"Here am I, on
my way, I may truly say, to the land of marvels! I am preparing to shock every
opinion, and provoke laughter in our most illustrious scientists . . . for I am
convinced that agents of an immense potency exist outside of us; that they can
enter in us; move our limbs and organs; and use us as they please. It was,
after all, the belief of our fathers and of the whole of antiquity. Every
religion admitted the reality of spiritual agents. . . . Recalling innumerable
phenomena which I have produced in the sight of thousands of persons, seeing
the beastly indifference of official science, in presence of a discovery which
transports the mind into the regions of the unknown [sic]; an old man, at the
very moment when I ought to be just being born. . . . I am not
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.
** Iamblichus:
"De Mysteriis Egyptorum."
*** Ibid.: "On
the Difference between the Daemons, the Souls, etc."
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sure if it would
not have been better for me to have shared the common ignorance.
"I have
suffered calumnies to be written without refuting them. . . . At one time it is
simple ignorance which speaks, and I am silent; at another still,
superficiality, raising its voice, makes a bluster, and I find myself
hesitating whether or not to speak. Is this indifference or laziness? Has fear
the power to paralyze my spirit? No; none of these causes affect me; I know
simply that it is necessary to prove what one asserts, and this restrains me.
For, in justifying my assertions, in showing the living FACT, which proves my
sincerity and the truth, I translate OUTSIDE THE PRECINCTS OF THE TEMPLE the
sacred inscription, WHICH NO PROFANE EYE SHOULD EVER READ.
"You doubt
sorcery and magic? O, truth! thy possession is a heavy burden!"*
With a bigotry
which one might search for in vain outside the church in whose interest he
writes, des Mousseaux quotes the above language, as proof positive that this
devoted savant, and all who share his belief, have given themselves over to the
dominion of the Evil One!
Self-complacency is
the most serious obstacle to the enlightenment of the modern spiritualist. His
thirty years' experience with the phenomena seem to him sufficient to have
established intermundane intercourse upon an unassailable basis. His thirty
years have not only brought to him the conviction that the dead communicate and
thus prove the spirit's immortality, but also settled in his mind an idea that
little or nothing can be learned of the other world, except through mediums.
For the
spiritualists, the records of the past either do not exist, or if they are
familiar with its gathered treasures, they regard them as having no bearing
upon their own experiences. And yet, the problems which so vex them, were
solved thousands of years ago by the theurgists, who have left the keys to
those who will search for them in the proper spirit and with knowledge. Is it
possible that nature has changed her work, and that we are encountering
different spirits and different laws from those of old? Or can any spiritualist
imagine that he knows more, or even as much about mediumistic phenomena or the
nature of various spirits, as a priest-caste who spent their lives in
theurgical practice, which had been known and studied for countless centuries?
If the narratives of Owen and Hare, of Edmonds, and Crookes, and Wallace are
credible, why not those of Herodotus, the "Father of History," of
Iamblichus, and Porphyry, and hundreds of other ancient authors? If the
spiritualists
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Du Potet:
"La Magie Devoilee."
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DISCOVERIES.
have their
phenomena under test-conditions, so had the old theurgists, whose records,
moreover, show that they could produce and vary them at will. The day when this
fact shall be recognized, and profitless speculations of modern investigators
shall give place to patient study of the works of the theurgists, will mark the
dawn of new and important discoveries in the field of psychology.
Chapter 10
Contents
Isis Unveiled by H.
P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1
Theosophical
University Press Online Edition
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CHAPTER X.
[[Tes de gar ek
triados pan pneuma pater ekerase.]] -- TAY.: Lyd. de Mens., 20.
"The more
powerful souls perceive truth through themselves, and are of a more inventive
nature. Such souls are saved through their own strength, according to the
oracle." -- PROCLUS in I Alc.
"Since the
soul perpetually runs and passes through all things in a certain space of time,
which being performed, it is presently compelled to run back again through all
things, and unfold the same web of generation in the world . . . for as often
as the same causes return, the same effects will in like manner be
returned." -- FICIN. de Im. An., 129, Chaldean Oracles.
"If not to
some peculiar end assign'd,
Study's the
specious trifling of the mind." -- YOUNG.
FROM the moment
when the foetal embryo is formed until the old man, gasping his last, drops
into the grave, neither the beginning nor the end is understood by scholastic
science; all before us is a blank, all after us chaos. For it there is no
evidence as to the relations between spirit, soul, and body, either before or
after death. The mere life-principle itself presents an unsolvable enigma, upon
the study of which materialism has vainly exhausted its intellectual powers. In
the presence of a corpse the skeptical physiologist stands dumb when asked by
his pupil whence came the former tenant of that empty box, and whither it has
gone. The pupil must either, like his master, rest satisfied with the
explanation that protoplasm made the man, and force vitalized and will now
consume his body, or he must go outside the walls of his college and the books
of its library to find an explanation of the mystery.
It is sometimes as
interesting as instructive to follow the two great rivals, science and
theology, in their frequent skirmishes. Not all of the sons of the Church are
as unsuccessful in their attempts at advocacy as the poor Abbe Moigno, of
Paris. This respectable, and no doubt well-meaning divine, in his fruitless
attempt to refute the free-thinking arguments of Huxley, Tyndall, Du Bois-Raymond,
and many others, has met with a sad failure. In his antidotal arguments his
success was more than doubtful, and, as a reward for his trouble, the
"Congregation of the Index" forbids the circulation of his book among
the faithful.
It is a dangerous
experiment to engage in a single-handed duel with scientists on topics which
are well demonstrated by experimental research. In what they do know they are
unassailable, and until the old formula is destroyed by their own hands and
replaced by a more newly-discovered one, there is no use fighting against
Achilles -- unless, indeed, one is for-
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DAME.
tunate enough to
catch the swift-footed god by his vulnerable heel. This heel is -- what they
confess they do not know!
That was a cunning
device to which a certain well-known preacher resorted to reach this mortal
part. Before we proceed to narrate the extraordinary though well authenticated
facts with which we intend to fill this chapter, it will be good policy to show
once more how fallible is modern science as to every fact in nature which can
be tested neither by retort nor crucible. The following are a few fragments
from a series of sermons by F. Felix, of Notre Dame, entitled Mystery and
Science. They are worthy to be translated for and quoted in a work which is
undertaken in precisely the same spirit as that exhibited by the preacher. For
once the Church silenced for a time the arrogance of her traditional enemy, in
the face of the learned academicians.
It was known that
the great preacher, in response to the general desire of the faithful, and
perhaps to the orders of ecclesiastical superiors, had been preparing himself
for a great oratorical effort, and the historic cathedral was filled with a
monster congregation. Amid a profound silence he began his discourse, of which
the following paragraphs are sufficient for our purpose:
"A portentous
word has been pronounced against us to confront progress with Christianity --
SCIENCE. Such is the formidable evocation with which they try to appall us. To
all that we can say to base progress upon Christianity, they have always a
ready response: that is not scientific. We say revelation; revelation is not
scientific. We say miracle; a miracle is not scientific.
"Thus
antichristianism, faithful to its tradition, and now more than ever, pretends
to kill us by science. Principle of darkness, it threatens us with light. It
proclaims itself the light. . . .
"A hundred
times I asked myself, What is, then, that terrible science which is making
ready to devour us? . . . Is it mathematical science? . . . but we also have
our mathematicians. Is it physics? Astronomy? Physiology? Geology? But we
number in Catholicism astronomers, physicists, geologists,* and physiologists,
who make somewhat of a figure in the scientific world, who have their place in
the Academy and their name in history. It would appear that what is to crush us
is neither this nor that science, but science in general.
"And why do
they prophesy the overthrow of Christianity by science? Listen: . . . we must
perish by science because we teach mysteries, and because the Christian
mysteries are in radical antagonism with modern
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We wonder if
Father Felix is prepared to include St. Augustine, Lactantius, and Bede in this
category?
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science. . . .
Mystery is the negation of common sense; science repels it; science condemns
it; she has spoken -- Anathema!
"Ah! you are
right; if Christian mystery is what you proclaim it, then in the name of
science hurl the anathema at it. Nothing is antipathetic to science like the
absurd and contradictory. But, glory be to the truth! such is not the mystery
of Christianity. If it were so, it would remain for you to explain the most
inexplicable of mysteries: how comes it that, during nearly 2,000 years, so
many superior minds and rare geniuses have embraced our mysteries, without
thinking to repudiate science or abdicate reason?* Talk as much as you like of
your modern science, modern thought, and modern genius, there were scientists
before 1789.
"If our
mysteries are so manifestly absurd and contradictory, how is it that such
mighty geniuses should have accepted them without a single doubt? . . . But God
preserve me from insisting upon demonstrating that mystery implies no
contradiction with science! . . . Of what use to prove, by metaphysical
abstractions, that science can reconcile itself with mystery, when all the
realities of creation show unanswerably that mystery everywhere baffles
science? You ask that we should show you, beyond doubt, that exact science
cannot admit mystery; I answer you decidedly that she cannot escape it. Mystery
is the FATALITY of science.
"Shall we choose
our proofs? First, then, look around at the purely material world, from the
smallest atom to the most majestic sun. There, if you try to embrace in the
unity of a single law all these bodies and their movements, if you seek the
word which explains, in this vast panorama of the universe, this prodigious
harmony, where all seems to obey the empire of a single force, you pronounce a
word to express it, and say Attraction! . . . Yes, attraction, this is the
sublime epitome of the science of the heavenly bodies. You say that throughout
space these bodies recognize and attract each other; you say that they attract
in proportion to their mass, and in inverse ratio with the squares of their
distances. And, in fact, until the present moment, nothing has happened to give
the lie to this assertion, but everything has confirmed a formula which now
reigns sovereign in the EMPIRE OF HYPOTHESIS, and therefore it must henceforth
enjoy the glory of being an invincible truism.
"Gentlemen,
with all my heart I make my scientific obeisances to the sovereignty of
attraction. It is not I who would desire to obscure a light in the world of
matter which reflects upon the world of spirits. The
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* For instance,
Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo? For further particulars see the "Index
Expurgatorius." Verily, wise are such popular sayings, as that,
"Boldness carries off cities at one shout."
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SAND.
empire of
attraction, then, is palpable; it is sovereign; it stares us in the face!
"But, what is
this attraction? who has seen attraction? who has met attraction? who has
touched attraction? How do these mute bodies, intelligent, insensible, exercise
upon each other unconsciously this reciprocity of action and reaction which
holds them in a common equilibrium and unanimous harmony? Is this force which
draws sun to sun, and atom to atom, an invisible mediator which goes from one
to another? And, in such case what is this mediator? whence comes to itself
this force which mediates, and this power which embraces, from which the sun
can no more escape than the atom. But is this force nothing different from the
elements themselves which attract each other? . . . Mystery! Mystery!
"Yes,
gentlemen, this attraction which shines with such brightness throughout the
material world, remains to you at bottom an impenetrable mystery. . . . Well!
because of its mystery, will you deny its reality, which touches you, and its
domination, which subjugates you? . . . And again, remark if you please,
mystery is so much at the foundation of all science that if you should desire
to exclude mystery, you would be compelled to suppress science itself. Imagine
whatever science you will, follow the magnificent sweep of its deductions . . .
when you arrive at its parent source, you come face to face with the unknown.*
"Who has been
able to penetrate the secret of the formation of a body, the generation of a
single atom? What is there I will not say at the centre of a sun, but at the
centre of an atom? who has sounded to the bottom the abyss in a grain of sand?
The grain of sand, gentlemen, has been studied four thousand years by science,
she has turned and returned it; she divides it and subdivides it; she torments
it with her experiments; she vexes it with her questions to snatch from it the
final word as to its secret constitution; she asks it, with an insatiable
curiosity: 'Shall I divide thee infinitesimally?' Then, suspended over this
abyss, science hesitates, she stumbles, she feels dazzled, she becomes dizzy,
and, in despair says: I DO NOT KNOW!
"But if you
are so fatally ignorant of the genesis and hidden nature of a grain of sand,
how should you have an intuition as to the generation of a single living being?
Whence in the living being does life come? Where does it commence? What is the
life-principle?"**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This statement,
neither Herbert Spencer nor Huxley will be likely to traverse. But Father Felix
seems insensible of his own debt to science; if he had said this in February,
1600, he might have shared the fate of poor Bruno.
** "Le Mystere
et la Science," conferences, P. Felix de Notre Dame; des Mousseaux:
"Hauts Phen. Magie."
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Can the scientists
answer the eloquent monk? Can they escape from his pitiless logic? Mystery
certainly does bound them on every side; and the Ultima Thule, whether of
Herbert Spencer, Tyndall, or Huxley, has written upon the closed portals the
words INCOMPREHENSIBLE, UNKNOWABLE. For the lover of metaphor, science may be
likened to a twinkling star shining with resplendent brightness through rifts
in a bank of densely-black clouds. If her votaries cannot define that
mysterious attraction which draws into concrete masses the material particles
which form the smallest pebble on the ocean-beach, how can they define the
limits at which the possible stops and the impossible begins?
Why should there be
an attraction between the molecules of matter, and none between those of
spirit? If, out of the material portion of the ether, by virtue of the inherent
restlessness of its particles, the forms of worlds and their species of plants
and animals can be evolved, why, out of the spiritual part of the ether, should
not successive races of beings, from the stage of monad to that of man, be
developed; each lower form unfolding a higher one until the work of evolution
is completed on our earth, in the production of immortal man? It will be seen
that, for the moment, we entirely put aside the accumulated facts which prove
the case, and submit it to the arbitrament of logic.
By whatsoever name
the physicists may call the energizing principle in matter is of no account; it
is a subtile something apart from the matter itself, and, as it escapes their
detection, it must be something besides matter. If the law of attraction is
admitted as governing the one, why should it be excluded from influencing the
other? Leaving logic to answer, we turn to the common experience of mankind,
and there find a mass of testimony corroborative of the immortality of the
soul, if we judge but from analogies. But we have more than that -- we have the
unimpeachable testimony of thousands upon thousands, that there is a regular
science of the soul, which, notwithstanding that it is now denied the right of
a place among other sciences, is a science. This science, by penetrating the
arcana of nature far deeper than our modern philosophy ever dreamed possible,
teaches us how to force the invisible to become visible; the existence of
elementary spirits; the nature and magical properties of the astral light; the
power of living men to bring themselves into communication with the former
through the latter. Let them examine the proofs with the lamp of experience,
and neither the Academy nor the Church, for which Father Felix so persuasively
spoke, can deny them.
Modern science is
in a dilemma; it must concede our hypothesis to be correct, or admit the possibility
of miracle. To do so, is to say that there can be an infraction of natural law.
If this can happen in one case,
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what assurance have
we that it may not be repeated indefinitely, and so destroy that fixity of law,
that perfect balance of forces by which the universe is governed. This is a
very ancient and an unanswerable argument. To deny the appearance, in our
midst, of supersensual beings, when they have been seen, at various times and
in various countries, by not merely thousands, but millions of persons, is
unpardonable obstinacy; to say that, in any one instance, the apparition has
been produced by a miracle, fatal to the fundamental principle of science. What
will they do? What can they do, when they shall have awakened from the
benumbing stupor of their pride, but collect the facts, and try to enlarge the
boundaries of their field of investigations?
The existence of
spirit in the common mediator, the ether, is denied by materialism; while
theology makes of it a personal god, the kabalist holds that both are wrong,
saving that in ether, the elements represent but matter -- the blind cosmic
forces of nature; and Spirit, the intelligence which directs them. The
Hermetic, Orphic, and Pythagorean cosmogonical doctrines, as well as those of
Sanchoniathon and Berosus, are all based upon one irrefutable formula, viz.:
that the ether and chaos, or, in the Platonic language, mind and matter, were
the two primeval and eternal principles of the universe, utterly independent of
anything else. The former was the all-vivifying intellectual principle; the chaos,
a shapeless, liquid principle, without "form or sense," from the
union of which two, sprang into existence the universe, or rather, the
universal world, the first androgynous deity -- the chaotic matter becoming its
body, and ether the soul. According to the phraseology of a Fragment of
Hermias, "chaos, from this union with spirit, obtaining sense, shone with
pleasure, and thus was produced the Protogonos (the first-born) light."*
This is the universal trinity, based on the metaphysical conceptions of the
ancients, who, reasoning by analogy, made of man, who is a compound of
intellect and matter, the microcosm of the macrocosm, or great universe.
If we now compare
this doctrine with the speculations of science, which comes to a full stop at
the Borderland of the unknown, and, while incompetent to solve the mystery,
will allow no one else to speculate upon the subject; or, with the great
theological dogma, that the world was called into existence by a heavenly trick
of prestidigitation; we do not hesitate to believe that, in the absence of
better proof, the Hermetic doctrine is by far the more reasonable, highly
metaphysical as it may appear. The universe is there, and we know that we
exist; but how did it come, and how did we appear in it? Denied an answer by
the rep-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Damascius, in the
"Theogony," calls it Dis, "the disposer of all things."
Cory: "Ancient Fragments," p. 314.
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resentatives of
physical learning, and excommunicated and anathematized for our blasphemous
curiosity by the spiritual usurpers, what can we do, but turn for information
to the sages who meditated upon the subject ages before the molecules of our
philosophers aggregated in ethereal space?
This visible
universe of spirit and matter, they say, is but the concrete image of the ideal
abstraction; it was built on the model of the first divine IDEA. Thus our
universe existed from eternity in a latent state. The soul animating this
purely spiritual universe is the central sun, the highest deity itself. It was
not himself who built the concrete form of his idea, but his first-begotten;
and as it was constructed on the geometrical figure of the dodecahedron,* the
first-begotten "was pleased to employ twelve thousand years in its
creation." The latter number is expressed in the Tyrrhenian cosmogony,**
which shows man created in the sixth millennium. This agrees with the Egyptian
theory of 6,000 "years,"*** and with the Hebrew computation.
Sanchoniathon,**** in his Cosmogony, declares that when the wind (spirit)
became enamored of its own principles (the chaos), an intimate union took
place, which connection was called pothos, and from this sprang the seed of
all. And the chaos knew not its own production, for it was senseless; but from
its embrace with the wind was generated mot, or the ilus (mud).***** From this
proceeded the spores of creation and the generation of the universe.
The ancients, who
named but four elements, made of aether a fifth one. On account of its essence
being made divine by the unseen presence it was considered as a medium between
this world and the next. They held that when the directing intelligences
retired from any portion of ether, one of the four kingdoms which they are
bound to superintend, the space was left in possession of evil. An adept who
prepared to converse with the "invisibles," had to know well his
ritual, and be perfectly acquainted with the conditions required for the
perfect equilibrium of the four elements in the astral light. First of all, he
must purify the essence, and within the circle in which he sought to attract the
pure spirits, equilibrize the elements, so as to prevent the ingress of the
elementaries into their respective spheres. But woe to the imprudent inquirer
who ignorantly trespasses upon forbidden ground; danger will beset him at every
step. He evokes powers that he cannot control; he arouses sentries which allow
only their masters to pass. For, in the words of the immortal Rosicrucian,
"Once that thou hast resolved to become a cooperator with the spirit of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato:
"Timaeus."
** Suidas: v.
"Tyrrhenia."
*** The reader will
understand that by "years" is meant "ages," not mere
periods of twelve lunar months each.
**** See the Greek
translation by Philo Byblius.
***** Cory:
"Ancient Fragments."
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the living God,
take care not to hinder Him in His work; for, if thy heat exceeds the natural
proportion thou hast stirr'd the wrath of the Moyst* natures, and they will
stand up against the central fire, and the central fire against them, and there
will be a terrible division in the chaos."** The spirit of harmony and
union will depart from the elements, disturbed by the imprudent hand; and the
currents of blind forces will become immediately infested by numberless
creatures of matter and instinct -- the bad daemons of the theurgists, the
devils of theology; the gnomes, salamanders, sylphs, and undines will assail
the rash performer under multifarious aerial forms. Unable to invent anything,
they will search your memory to its very depths; hence the nervous exhaustion
and mental oppression of certain sensitive natures at spiritual circles. The
elementals will bring to light long-forgotten remembrances of the past; forms,
images, sweet mementos, and familiar sentences, long since faded from our own
remembrance, but vividly preserved in the inscrutable depths of our memory and
on the astral tablets of the imperishable "BOOK OF LIFE."
Every organized
thing in this world, visible as well as invisible, has an element appropriate
to itself. The fish lives and breathes in the water; the plant consumes
carbonic acid, which for animals and men produces death; some beings are fitted
for rarefied strata of air, others exist only in the densest. Life, to some, is
dependent on sunlight, to others, upon darkness; and so the wise economy of
nature adapts to each existing condition some living form. These analogies
warrant the conclusion that, not only is there no unoccupied portion of
universal nature, but also that for each thing that has life, special
conditions are furnished, and, being furnished, they are necessary. Now,
assuming
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We give the
spelling and words of this Kabalist who lived and published his works in the
seventeenth century. Generally he is considered as one of the most famous
alchemists among the Hermetic philosophers.
** The most
positive of materialistic philosophers agree that all that exists was evolved
from ether; hence, air, water, earth, and fire, the four primordial elements
must also proceed from ether and chaos the first Duad; all the imponderables,
whether now known or unknown, proceed from the same source. Now, if there is a
spiritual essence in matter, and that essence forces it to shape itself into
millions of individual forms, why is it illogical to assert that each of these
spiritual kingdoms in nature is peopled with beings evolved out of its own
material? Chemistry teaches us that in man's body there are air, water, earth,
and heat, or fire -- air is present in its components; water in the secretions;
earth in the inorganic constituents; and fire in the animal heat. The Kabalist
knows by experience that an elemental spirit contains only one, and that each
one of the four kingdoms has its own peculiar elemental spirits; man being
higher than they, the law of evolution finds its illustration in the
combination of all four in him.
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that there is an
invisible side to the universe, the fixed habit of nature warrants the
conclusion that this half is occupied, like the other half; and that each group
of its occupants is supplied with the indispensable conditions of existence. It
is as illogical to imagine that identical conditions are furnished to all, as
it would be to maintain such a theory respecting the inhabitants of the domain
of visible nature. That there are spirits implies that there is a diversity of
spirits; for men differ, and human spirits are but disembodied men.
To say that all
spirits are alike, or fitted to the same atmosphere, or possessed of like
powers, or governed by the same attractions -- electric, magnetic, odic,
astral, it matters not which -- is as absurd as though one should say that all
planets have the same nature, or that all animals are amphibious, or all men
can be nourished on the same food. It accords with reason to suppose that the
grossest natures among the spirits will sink to the lowest depths of the spiritual
atmosphere -- in other words, be found nearest to the earth. Inversely, the
purest would be farthest away. In what, were we to coin a word, we should call
the Psychomatics of Occultism, it is as unwarrantable to assume that either of
these grades of spirits can occupy the place, or subsist in the conditions, of
the other, as in hydraulics it would be to expect that two liquids of different
densities could exchange their markings on the scale of Beaume's hydrometer.
Gorres, describing
a conversation he had with some Hindus of the Malabar coast, reports that upon
asking them whether they had ghosts among them, they replied, "Yes, but we
know them to be bad spirits . . . good ones can hardly ever appear at all. They
are principally the spirits of suicides and murderers, or of those who die
violent deaths. They constantly flutter about and appear as phantoms.
Night-time is favorable to them, they seduce the feeble-minded and tempt others
in a thousand different ways."*
Porphyry presents
to us some hideous facts whose verity is substantiated in the experience of
every student of magic. "The soul,"** says he, "having even
after death a certain affection for its body, an affinity proportioned to the
violence with which their union was broken, we see many spirits hovering in
despair about their earthly remains; we even see them eagerly seeking the
putrid remains of other bodies, but above all freshly-spilled blood, which
seems to impart to them for the moment some of the faculties of life."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Gorres:
"Mystique," lib. iii., p. 63.
** The ancients
called "the soul" the spirits of bad people; the soul was the larva
and lemure. Good human spirits became gods.
*** Porphyry:
"De Sacrificiis." Chapter on the true Cultus.
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Let spiritualists
who doubt the theurgist, try the effect of about half a pound of freshly-drawn
human blood at their next materializing seance!
"The gods and
the angels," says Iamblichus, "appear to us among peace and harmony;
the bad demons, in tossing everything in confusion. . . . As to the ordinary
souls, we can perceive them more rarely, etc."*
"The human
soul (the astral body) is a demon that our language may name genius," says
Apuleius.** "She is an immortal god, though in a certain sense she is born
at the same time as the man in whom she is. Consequently, we may say that she
dies in the same way that she is born."
"The soul is
born in this world upon leaving another world (anima mundi), in which her
existence precedes the one we all know (on earth). Thus, the gods who consider
her proceedings in all the phases of various existences and as a whole, punish
her sometimes for sins committed during an anterior life. She dies when she
separates herself from a body in which she crossed this life as in a frail
bark. And this is, if I mistake not, the secret meaning of the tumulary
inscription, so simple for the initiate: "To the gods manes who
lived." But this kind of death does not annihilate the soul, it only
transforms it into a lemure. Lemures are the manes or ghosts, which we know
under the name of lares. When they keep away and show us a beneficient
protection, we honor in them the protecting divinities of the family hearth;
but, if their crimes sentence them to err, we call them larvae. They become a
plague for the wicked, and the vain terror of the good."
This language can
hardly be called ambiguous, and yet, the Reincarnationists quote Apuleius in
corroboration of their theory that man passes through a succession of physical
human births upon this planet, until he is finally purged from the dross of his
nature. But Apuleius distinctly says that we come upon this earth from another
one, where we had an existence, the recollection of which has faded away. As
the watch passes from hand to hand and room to room in a factory, one part
being added here and another there, until the delicate machine is perfected,
according to the design conceived in the mind of the master before the work was
begun; so, according to ancient philosophy, the first divine conception of man
takes shape little by little, in the several departments of the universal
workshop, and the perfect human being finally appears on our scene.
This philosophy
teaches that nature never leaves her work unfinished;
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Mysteries
of the Egyptians."
** Second century,
A.D. "Du Dieu de Socrate," Apul. class., pp. 143-145.
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if baffled at the
first attempt, she tries again. When she evolves a human embryo, the intention
is that a man shall be perfected -- physically, intellectually, and
spiritually. His body is to grow mature, wear out, and die; his mind unfold,
ripen, and be harmoniously balanced; his divine spirit illuminate and blend
easily with the inner man. No human being completes its grand cycle, or the
"circle of necessity," until all these are accomplished. As the
laggards in a race struggle and plod in their first quarter while the victor
darts past the goal, so, in the race of immortality, some souls outspeed all
the rest and reach the end, while their myriad competitors are toiling under
the load of matter, close to the startingpoint. Some unfortunates fall out
entirely, and lose all chance of the prize; some retrace their steps and begin
again. This is what the Hindu dreads above all things -- transmigration and
reincarnation; only on other and inferior planets, never on this one. But there
is a way to avoid it, and Buddha taught it in his doctrine of poverty,
restriction of the senses, perfect indifference to the objects of this earthly
vale of tears, freedom from passion, and frequent intercommunication with the
Atma -- soul-contemplation. The cause of reincarnation is ignorance of our
senses, and the idea that there is any reality in the world, anything except
abstract existence. From the organs of sense comes the
"hallucination" we call contact; "from contact, desire; from
desire, sensation (which also is a deception of our body); from sensation, the
cleaving to existing bodies; from this cleaving, reproduction; and from
reproduction, disease, decay, and death."
Thus, like the
revolutions of a wheel, there is a regular succession of death and birth, the
moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing objects, while the
instrumental cause is karma (the power which controls the universe, prompting
it to activity), merit and demerit. "It is, therefore, the great desire of
all beings who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth, to seek
the destruction of the moral cause, the cleaving to existing objects, or evil
desire." They, in whom evil desire is entirely destroyed, are called
Arhats.* Freedom from evil desire insures the possession of a miraculous power.
At his death, the Arhat is never reincarnated; he invariably attains Nirvana --
a word, by the bye, falsely interpreted by the Christian scholars and skeptical
commentators. Nirvana is the world of cause, in which all deceptive effects or
delusions of our senses disappear. Nirvana is the highest attainable sphere.
The pitris (the pre-Adamic spirits) are considered as reincarnated, by the
Buddhistic philosopher, though in a degree far superior to that of the man of
earth. Do they not die in their turn? Do not their astral bodies
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Eastern
Monachism," p. 9.
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AND VOLNEY.
suffer and rejoice,
and feel the same curse of illusionary feelings as when embodied?
What Buddha taught
in the sixth century, B.C., in India, Pythagoras taught in the fifth, in Greece
and Italy. Gibbon shows how deeply the Pharisees were impressed with this
belief in the transmigration of souls.* The Egyptian circle of necessity is
ineffaceably stamped on the hoary monuments of old. And Jesus, when healing the
sick, invariably used the following expression: "Thy sins are forgiven
thee." This is a pure Buddhistical doctrine. "The Jews said to the
blind man: Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? The
doctrine of the disciples (of Christ) is analogous to the 'Merit and Demerit'
of the Buddhists; for the sick recovered, if their sins were forgiven."**
But, this former life believed in by the Buddhists, is not a life on this
planet, for, more than any other people, the Buddhistical philosopher appreciated
the great doctrine of cycles.
The speculations of
Dupuis, Volney, and Godfrey Higgins on the secret meaning of the cycles, or the
kalpas and the yugs of the Brahmans and Buddhists, amounted to little, as they
did not have the key to the esoteric, spiritual doctrine therein contained. No
philosophy ever speculated on God as an abstraction, but considered Him under
His various manifestations. The "First Cause" of the Hebrew Bible,
the Pythagorean "Monad," the "One Existence" of the Hindu
philosopher, and the kabalistic "En-Soph" -- the Boundless -- are
identical. The Hindu Bhagavant does not create; he enters the egg of the world,
and emanates from it as Brahm, in the same manner as the Pythagorean Duad
evolves from the highest and solitary Monas.*** The Monas of the Samian philo-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire," iv. 385.
** Hardy:
"Manual of Buddhism"; Dunlap: "The World's Religions."
*** Lempriere
("Classical Dictionary," art. "Pythagoras") says that
"there is great reason to suspect the truth of the whole narrative of
Pythagoras' journey into India," and concludes by saying that this
philosopher had never seen either Gymnosophists or their country. If this be so,
how account for the doctrine of the metempsychosis of Pythagoras, which is far
more that of the Hindu in its details than the Egyptian? But, above all, how
account for the fact that the name MONAS, applied by him to the First Cause, is
the identical appellation given to that Being in the Sanscrit tongue? In
1792-7, when Lempriere's "Dictionary" appeared, the Sanscrit was, we
may say, utterly unknown; Dr. Haug's translation of the "Aitareya
Brahmana" ("Rig-Vedas"), in which this word occurs, was
published only about twenty years ago, and until that valuable addition to the
literature of archaic ages was completed, and the precise age of the
"Aitareya" -- now fixed by Haug at 2000-2400 B.C. -- was a mystery,
it might be suggested, as in the case of Christian symbols, that the Hindus
borrowed it from Pythagoras. But now, unless philology can show it to be a
"coincidence," and that the word Monas is not the same in its
minutest definitions, we have a right to assert that Pythagoras was in India,
and that it was the Gymnosophists who instructed him
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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sopher is the Hindu
Monas (mind), "who has no first cause (apurva, or material cause), nor is
liable to destruction."* Brahma, as Prajapati, manifests himself first of
all as "twelve bodies," or attributes, which are represented by the
twelve gods, symbolizing 1, Fire; 2, the Sun; 3, Soma, which gives omniscience;
4, all living Beings; 5, Vayu, or material Ether; 6, Death, or breath of
destruction -- Siva; 7, Earth; 8, Heaven; 9, Agni, the Immaterial Fire; 10,
Aditya, the immaterial and female invisible Sun; 11, Mind; 12, the great
Infinite Cycle, "which is not to be stopped."** After that, Brahma
dissolves himself into the Visible Universe, every atom of which is himself.
When this is done, the not-manifested, indivisible, and indefinite Monas
retires into the undisturbed and majestic solitude of its unity. The manifested
deity, a duad at first, now becomes a triad; its triune quality emanates
incessantly spiritual powers, who become immortal gods (souls). Each of these
souls must be united in its turn with a human being, and from the moment of its
consciousness it commences a series of births and deaths. An Eastern artist has
attempted to give pictorial expression to the kabalistic doctrine of the
cycles. The picture covers a whole inner wall of a subterranean temple in the
neighborhood of a great Buddhistic pagoda, and is strikingly suggestive. Let us
attempt to convey some idea of the design, as we recall it.
Imagine a given
point in space as the primordial one; then with compasses draw a circle around
this point; where the beginning and the end unite together, emanation and
reabsorption meet. The circle itself is composed of innumerable smaller
circles, like the rings of a bracelet, and each of these minor rings forms the
belt of the goddess which represents that sphere. As the curve of the arc
approaches the ultimate point of the semi-circle -- the nadir of the grand
cycle -- at which is placed our planet by the mystical painter, the face of
each successive goddess becomes more dark and hideous than European imagination
is able to conceive. Every belt is covered with the representations of plants,
animals, and human beings, belonging to the fauna, flora, and anthropology of
that particular sphere. There is a certain distance between each of the
spheres, purposely marked; for, after the accomplishment of the circles through
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] in his metaphysical theology. The fact alone
that "Sanscrit, as compared with Greek and Latin, is an elder
sister," as Max Muller shows, is not sufficient to account for the perfect
identity of the Sanscrit and Greek words MONAS, in their most metaphysical,
abstruse sense. The Sanscrit word Deva (god) has become the Latin deus, and
points to a common source; but we see in the Zoroastrian
"Zend-Avesta" the same word, meaning diametrically the opposite, and
becoming daeva, or evil spirit, from which comes the word devil.
* Haug:
"Aitareya Brahmanam."
** Ibid.
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various
transmigrations, the soul is allowed a time of temporary nirvana, during which
space of time the atma loses all remembrance of past sorrows. The intermediate
ethereal space is filled with strange beings. Those between the highest ether
and the earth below are the creatures of a "middle nature";
nature-spirits, or, as the kabalists term it sometimes, the elementary.
This picture is
either a copy of the one described to posterity by Berosus, the priest of the
temple of Belus, at Babylon, or the original. We leave it to the shrewdness of
the modern archaeologist to decide. But the wall is covered with precisely such
creatures as described by the semi-demon, or half-god, Oannes, the Chaldean
man-fish,* " . . . hideous beings, which were produced of a two-fold
principle" -- the astral light and the grosser matter.
Even remains of
architectural relics of the earliest races have been sadly neglected by
antiquarians, until now. The caverns of Ajunta, which are but 200 miles from
Bombay, in the Chandor range, and the ruins of the ancient city of Aurungabad,
whose crumbling palaces and curious tombs have lain in desolate solitude for
many centuries, have attracted attention but very recently. Mementos of long
by-gone civilization, they were allowed to become the shelter of wild beasts
for ages before they were found worthy of a scientific exploration, and it is
only recently that the Observer gave an enthusiastic description of these
archaic ancestors of Herculaneum and Pompeii. After justly blaming the local
government which "has provided a bungalow where the traveller may find
shelter and safety, but that is all," it proceeds to narrate the wonders
to be seen in this retired spot, in the following words:
"In a deep
glen away up the mountain there is a group of cave-temples which are the most
wonderful caverns on the earth. It is not known at the present age how many of
these exist in the deep recesses of the mountains; but twenty-seven have been
explored, surveyed, and, to some extent, cleared of rubbish. There are,
doubtless, many others. It is hard to realize with what indefatigable toil
these wonderful caves have been hewn from the solid rock of amygdaloid. They
are said to have been wholly Buddhist in their origin, and were used for
purposes of worship and asceticism. They rank very high as works of art. They
extend over 500 feet along a high cliff, and are carved in the most curious
manner, exhibiting, in a wonderful degree, the taste, talent, and persevering
industry of the Hindu sculptors.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Berosus: fragment
preserved by Alex. Polyhistor; Cory: "Of the Cosmogony and the
Deluge."
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"These
cave-temples are beautifully cut and carved on the outside; but inside they
were finished most elaborately, and decorated with a vast profusion of
sculptures and paintings. These long-deserted temples have suffered from
dampness and neglect, and the paintings and frescos are not what they were
hundreds of years ago. But the colors are still brilliant, and scenes gay and
festive still appear upon the walls. Some of the figures cut in the rock are
taken for marriage-processions and scenes in domestic life that are represented
as joyful. The female figures are beautiful, delicate, and fair as Europeans.
Every one of these representations is artistic, and all of them are unpolluted
by any grossness or obscenity generally so prominent in Brahmanical
representations of a similar character.
"These caves
are visited by a great number of antiquarians, who are striving to decipher the
hieroglyphics inscribed on the walls and determine the age of these curious
temples.
"The ruins of
the ancient city of Aurungabad are not very far from these caves. It was a
walled city of great repute, but is now deserted. There are not only broken
walls, but crumbling palaces. They were built of immense strength, and some of
the walls appear as solid as the everlasting hills.
"There are a
great many places in this vicinity where there are Hindu remains, consisting of
deep caves and rock-cut temples. Many of these temples are surrounded by a
circular enclosure, which is often adorned with statues and columns. The figure
of an elephant is very common, placed before or beside the opening of a temple,
as a sort of sentinel. Hundreds and thousands of niches are beautifully cut in
the solid rock, and when these temples were thronged with worshippers, each
niche had a statue or image, usually in the florid style of these Oriental
sculptures. It is a sad truth that almost every image here is shamefully
defaced and mutilated. It is often said that no Hindu will bow down to an
imperfect image, and that the Mahometans, knowing this, purposely mutilated all
these images to prevent the Hindus from worshipping them. This is regarded by
the Hindus as sacrilegious and blasphemous, awakening the keenest animosities,
which every Hindu inherits from his father, and which centuries have not been
able to efface.
"Here also are
the remains of buried cities -- sad ruins -- generally without a single
inhabitant. In the grand palaces where royalty once gathered and held
festivals, wild beasts find their hiding-places. In several places the track of
the railway has been constructed over or through these ruins, and the material
has been used for the bed of the road. . . . Enormous stones have remained in
their places for thousands of years, and probably will for thousands of years
to come. These rock-
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POSSIBLE?
cut temples, as
well as these mutilated statues, show a workmanship that no work now being done
by the natives can equal.* It is very evident that hundreds of years since
these hills were alive with a vast multitude, where now it is all utter
desolation, without cultivation or inhabitants, and given over to wild beasts.
"It is good
hunting ground, and, as the English are mighty hunters, they may prefer to have
these mountains and ruins remain without change."
We fervently hope
they will. Enough vandalism was perpetrated in earlier ages to permit us the
hope that at least in this century of exploration and learning, science, in its
branches of archaeology and philology, will not be deprived of these most
precious records, wrought on imperishable tablets of granite and rock.
We will now present
a few fragments of this mysterious doctrine of reincarnation -- as distinct
from metempsychosis -- which we have from an authority. Reincarnation, i.e.,
the appearance of the same individual, or rather of his astral monad, twice on
the same planet, is not a rule in nature; it is an exception, like the
teratological phenomenon of a two-headed infant. It is preceded by a violation
of the laws of harmony of nature, and happens only when the latter, seeking to
restore its disturbed equilibrium, violently throws back into earth-life the
astral monad which had been tossed out of the circle of necessity by crime or
accident. Thus, in cases of abortion, of infants dying before a certain age,
and of congenital and incurable idiocy, nature's original design to produce a
perfect human being, has been interrupted. Therefore, while the gross matter of
each of these several entities is suffered to disperse itself at death, through
the vast realm of being, the immortal spirit and astral monad of the individual
-- the latter having been set apart to animate a frame and the former to shed
its divine light on the corporeal organization -- must try a second time to
carry out the purpose of the creative intelligence.
If reason has been
so far developed as to become active and discriminative, there is no
reincarnation on this earth, for the three parts of the triune man have been
united together, and he is capable of running the race. But when the new being
has not passed beyond the condition of monad, or when, as in the idiot, the
trinity has not been completed, the immortal spark which illuminates it, has to
reenter on the earthly plane as it was frustrated in its first attempt.
Otherwise, the mortal or astral,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Some writer has
employed a most felicitous expression in describing the majesty of the Hindu
archaic monuments, and the exquisite finish of their sculpture. "They
built," says he, "like giants, and finished like jewelers."
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and the immortal or
divine, souls, could not progress in unison and pass onward to the sphere
above. Spirit follows a line parallel with that of matter; and the spiritual
evolution goes hand in hand with the physical. As in the case exemplified by
Professor Le Conte (vide chap. ix.), "there is no force in nature" --
and the rule applies to the spiritual as well as to the physical evolution --
"which is capable of raising at once spirit or matter from No. 1 to No. 3,
or from 2 to 4, without stopping and receiving an accession of force of a
different kind on the intermediate plane." That is to say, the monad which
was imprisoned in the elementary being -- the rudimentary or lowest astral form
of the future man -- after having passed through and quitted the highest
physical shape of a dumb animal -- say an orang-outang, or again an elephant,
one of the most intellectual of brutes -- that monad, we say, cannot skip over
the physical and intellectual sphere of the terrestrial man, and be suddenly
ushered into the spiritual sphere above. What reward or punishment can there be
in that sphere of disembodied human entities for a foetus or a human embryo
which had not even time to breathe on this earth, still less an opportunity to
exercise the divine faculties of the spirit? Or, for an irresponsible infant,
whose senseless monad remaining dormant within the astral and physical casket,
could as little prevent him from burning himself as another person to death? Or
for one idiotic from birth, the number of whose cerebral circumvolutions is
only from twenty to thirty per cent of those of sane persons;* and who
therefore is irresponsible for either his disposition, acts, or the
imperfections of his vagrant, half-developed intellect?
No need to remark
that if even hypothetical, this theory is no more ridiculous than many others
considered as strictly orthodox. We must not forget that either through the
inaptness of the specialists or some other reason, physiology itself is the
least advanced or understood of sciences, and that some French physicians, with
Dr. Fournie, positively despair of ever progressing in it beyond pure
hypotheses.
Further, the same
occult doctrine recognizes another possibility; albeit so rare and so vague
that it is really useless to mention it. Even the modern Occidental occultists
deny it, though it is universally accepted in Eastern countries. When, through
vice, fearful crimes and animal passions, a disembodied spirit has fallen to
the eighth sphere -- the allegorical Hades, and the gehenna of the Bible -- the
nearest to our earth -- he can, with the help of that glimpse of reason and
consciousness left to him, repent; that is to say, he can, by exercising the
remnants of his will-power, strive upward, and like a drowning man, struggle
once more to the sur-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Anatomie
Cerebrale," Malacarne, Milan.
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POSSIBLE.
face. In the
Magical and Philosophical Precepts of Psellus, we find one which, warning
mankind, says:
"Stoop not
down, for a precipice lies below the earth,
Drawing under a
descent of SEVEN steps, beneath which
Is the throne of
dire necessity."*
A strong aspiration
to retrieve his calamities, a pronounced desire, will draw him once more into
the earth's atmosphere. Here he will wander and suffer more or less in dreary
solitude. His instincts will make him seek with avidity contact with living
persons. . . . These spirits are the invisible but too tangible magnetic
vampires; the subjective daemons so well known to mediaeval ecstatics, nuns,
and monks, to the "witches" made so famous in the Witch-Hammer; and
to certain sensitive clairvoyants, according to their own confessions. They are
the blood-daemons of Porphyry, the larvae and lemures of the ancients; the
fiendish instruments which sent so many unfortunate and weak victims to the
rack and stake. Origen held all the daemons which possessed the demoniacs
mentioned in the New Testament to be human "spirits." It is because
Moses knew so well what they were, and how terrible were the consequences to
weak persons who yielded to their influence, that he enacted the cruel,
murderous law against such would-be "witches"; but Jesus, full of
justice and divine love to humanity, healed instead of killing them.
Subsequently our clergy, the pretended exemplars of Christian principles,
followed the law of Moses, and quietly ignored the law of Him whom they call
their "one living God," by burning dozens of thousands of such
pretended "witches."
Witch! mighty name,
which in the past contained the promise of ignominious death; and in the
present has but to be pronounced to raise a whirlwind of ridicule, a tornado of
sarcasms! How is it then that there have always been men of intellect and
learning, who never thought that it would disgrace their reputation for
learning, or lower their dignity, to publicly affirm the possibility of such a
thing as a "witch," in the correct acceptation of the word. One such
fearless champion was Henry More, the learned scholar of Cambridge, of the
seventeenth century. It is well worth our while to see how cleverly he handled
the question.
It appears that
about the year 1678, a certain divine, named John Webster, wrote Criticisms and
Interpretations of Scripture, against the existence of witches, and other
"superstitions." Finding the work "a weak and impertinent
piece," Dr. More criticised it in a letter to Glanvil, the author of
Sadducismus Triumphatus, and as an appendix sent a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Psellus, 6, Plet.
2; Cory: "Chaldean Oracles."
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treatise on
witchcraft and explanations of the word witch, itself. This document is very
rare, but we possess it in a fragmentary form in an old manuscript, having seen
it mentioned besides only in an insignificant work of 1820, on Apparitions, for
it appears that the document itself was long since out of print.
The words witch and
wizard, according to Dr. More, signify no more than a wise man or a wise woman.
In the word wizard, it is plain at the very sight; and "the most plain and
least operose deduction of the name witch, is from wit, whose derived adjective
might be wittigh or wittich, and by contraction, afterwards witch; as the noun
wit is from the verb to weet, which is, to know. So that a witch, thus far, is
no more than a knowing woman; which answers exactly to the Latin word saga,
according to that of Festus, sagae dictae anus quae multa sciunt."
This definition of
the word appears to us the more plausible, as it exactly answers the evident
meaning of the Slavonian-Russian names for witches and wizards. The former is
called vyedma, and the latter vyedmak, both from the verb to know, vedat or
vyedat; the root, moreover, being positively Sanscrit. "Veda," says
Max Muller, in his Lecture on the Vedas, "means originally knowing, or
knowledge. Veda is the same word which appears in Greek [[oida]], I know [the
digamma, vau being omitted], and in the English wise, wisdom, to wit."*
Furthermore, the Sanscrit word vidma, answering to the German wir wissen, means
literally "we know." It is a great pity that the eminent philologist,
while giving in his lecture the Sanscrit, Greek, Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and
German comparative roots of this word, has neglected the Slavonian.
Another Russian
appellation for witch and wizard, the former being purely Slavonian, is znahar
and znaharka (feminine) from the same verb znat to know. Thus Dr. More's
definition of the word, given in 1678, is perfectly correct, and coincides in
every particular with modern philology.
"Use,"
says this scholar, "questionless had appropriated the word to such a kind
of skill and knowledge as was out of the common road or extraordinary. Nor did
this peculiarity imply any unlawfulness. But there was after a further
restriction, in which alone now-a-days the words witch and wizard are used. And
that is, for one that has the knowledge and skill of doing or telling things in
an extraordinary way, and that in virtue of either an express or implicit
sociation or confederacy with some bad spirits." In the clause of the
severe law of Moses, so many names are reckoned up with that of witch, that it
is difficult as well as useless to give here the definition of every one of
them as found in Dr.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See "Lecture
on the Vedas."
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More's able
treatise. "There shall not be found among you any one that useth
divination, or an observer of time, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer,
or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer," says
the text. We will show, further on, the real object of such severity. For the
present, we will remark that Dr. More, after giving a learned definition of
every one of such appellations, and showing the value of their real meaning in
the days of Moses, proves that there is a vast difference between the
"enchanters," "observers of time," etc., and a witch.
"So many names are reckoned up in this prohibition of Moses, that, as in
our common law, the sense may be more sure, and leave no room to evasion. And
that the name of 'witch' is not from any tricks of legerdemain as in common
jugglers, that delude the sight of the people at a market or fair, but that it
is the name of such as raise magical spectres to deceive men's sight, and so
are most certainly witches -- women and men who have a bad spirit in them.
'Thou shalt not suffer' mecassephah, that is, 'a witch, to live.' Which would
be a law of extreme severity, or rather cruelty, against a poor hocus-pocus for
his tricks of legerdemain."
Thus, it is but the
sixth appellation, that of a consulter with familiar spirits or a witch, that
had to incur the greatest penalty of the law of Moses, for it is only a witch
which must not be suffered to live, while all the others are simply enumerated
as such with whom the people of Israel were forbidden to communicate on account
of their idolatry or rather religious views and learning chiefly. This sixth
word is , shoel aub, which our English translation renders, "a consulter
with familiar spirits"; but which the Septuagint translates,
[[engastrimuthos]], one that has a familiar spirit inside him, one possessed
with the spirit of divination, which was considered to be Python by the Greeks,
and obh by the Hebrews, the old serpent; in its esoteric meaning the spirit of
concupiscence and matter; which, according to the kabalists, is always an
elementary human spirit of the eighth sphere.
"Shoel obh, I
conceive," says Henry More, "is to be understood of the witch herself
who asks counsel of her or his familiar. The reason of the name obh, was taken
first from that spirit that was in the body of the party, and swelled it to a
protuberancy, the voice always seeming to come out as from a bottle, for which
reason they were named ventriloquists. Ob signifies as much as Pytho, which at
first took its name from the pythii vates, a spirit that tells hidden things,
or things to come. In Acts xvi. 16, [[pneuma puthonos]], when "Paul being
grieved, turned and said to that spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ, to come out of her, and he came out at the same hour." Therefore,
the words obsessed or possessed are synonyms of the word witch; nor could this
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pytho of the eighth
sphere come out of her, unless it was a spirit distinct from her. And so it is
that we see in Leviticus xx. 27: "A man also or woman that hath a familiar
spirit, or that is a wizard (an irresponsible jidegnoni) shall surely be put to
death, they shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them."
A cruel and unjust
law beyond doubt, and one which gives the lie to a recent utterance of
"Spirits," by the mouth of one of the most popular inspirational
mediums of the day, to the effect that modern philological research proves that
the Mosaic law never contemplated the killing of the poor "mediums"
or witches of the Old Testament, but that the words, "thou shalt not
suffer a witch to live," meant to live by their mediumship, that is, to
gain their livelihood! An interpretation no less ingenious than novel. Certainly,
nowhere short of the source of such inspiration could we find such philological
profundity!*
"Shut the door
in the face of the daemon," says the Kabala, "and he will keep
running away from you, as if you pursued him," which means, that you must
not give a hold on you to such spirits of obsession by attracting them into an
atmosphere of congenial sin.
These daemons seek
to introduce themselves into the bodies of the simple-minded and idiots, and
remain there until dislodged therefrom by a powerful and pure will. Jesus,
Apollonius, and some of the apostles, had the power to cast out devils, by
purifying the atmosphere within and without the patient, so as to force the
unwelcome tenant to flight. Certain volatile salts are particularly obnoxious
to them; and the effect of the chemicals used in a saucer, and placed under the
bed by Mr. Varley, of London,** for the purpose of keeping away some
disagreeable
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In order to avoid
being contradicted by some spiritualists we give verbatim the language in
question, as a specimen of the unreliability of the oracular utterances of
certain "spirits." Let them be human or elemental, but spirits
capable of such effrontery may well be regarded by occultists as anything but
safe guides in philosophy, exact science, or ethics. "It will be
remembered," says Mrs. Cora V. Tappan, in a public discourse upon the
"History of Occultism and its Relations to Spiritualism" (see
"Banner of Light," Aug. 26, 1876), "that the ancient word witchcraft,
or the exercise of it, was forbidden among the Hebrews. The translation is that
no witch should be allowed to live. That has been supposed to be the literal
interpretation; and acting upon that, your very pious and devout ancestors put
to death, without adequate testimony, numbers of very intelligent, wise, and
sincere persons, under the condemnation of witchcraft. It has now turned out
that the interpretation or translation should be, that no witches should be
allowed to obtain a living by the practice of their art. That is, it should not
be made a profession." May we be so bold as to inquire of the celebrated
speaker, through whom or according to what authority such a thing has ever
turned out?
** Mr. Cromwell F.
Varley, the well-known electrician of the Atlantic Cable Company, communicates
the result of his observations, in the course of a debate at the
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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*
physical phenomena
at night, are corroborative of this great truth. Pure or even simply
inoffensive human spirits fear nothing, for having rid themselves of terrestrial
matter, terrestrial compounds can affect them in no wise; such spirits are like
a breath. Not so with the earth-bound souls and the nature-spirits.
It is for these
carnal terrestrial larvae, degraded human spirits, that the ancient kabalists
entertained a hope of reincarnation. But when, or how? At a fitting moment, and
if helped by a sincere desire for his amendment and repentance by some strong,
sympathizing person, or the will of an adept, or even a desire emanating from
the erring spirit himself, provided it is powerful enough to make him throw off
the burden of sinful matter. Losing all consciousness, the once bright monad is
caught once more into the vortex of our terrestrial evolution, and it repasses
the subordinate kingdoms, and again breathes as a living child. To compute the
time necessary for the completion of this process would be impossible. Since
there is no perception of time in eternity, the attempt would be a mere waste
of labor.
As we have said,
but few kabalists believe in it, and this doctrine originated with certain
astrologers. While casting up the nativities of certain historical personages
renowned for some peculiarities of disposition, they found the conjunction of
the planets answering perfectly to remarkable oracles and prophesies about
other persons born ages later. Observation, and what would now be termed
"remarkable coincidences," added to revelation during the
"sacred sleep" of the neophyte, disclosed the dreadful truth. So
horrible is the thought that even those who ought to be convinced of it prefer
ignoring it, or at least avoid speaking on the subject.
This way of
obtaining oracles was practiced in the highest antiquity. In India, this
sublime lethargy is called "the sacred sleep of * * *" It is an
oblivion into which the subject is thrown by certain magical processes,
supplemented by draughts of the juice of the soma. The body of the sleeper
remains for several days in a condition resembling death, and by the power of
the adept is purified of its earthliness and made fit
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] Psychological Society of Great Britain, which is
reported in the "Spiritualist" (London, April 14, 1876, pp. 174,
175). He thought that the effect of free nitric acid in the atmosphere was able
to drive away what he calls "unpleasant spirits." He thought that
those who were troubled by unpleasant spirits at home, would find relief by
pouring one ounce of vitriol upon two ounces of finely-powdered nitre in a
saucer and putting the mixture under the bed. Here is a scientist, whose
reputation extends over two continents, who gives a recipe to drive away bad
spirits. And yet the general public mocks as a "superstition" the
herbs and incenses employed by Hindus, Chinese, Africans, and other races to
accomplish the self-same purpose.
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to become the
temporary receptacle of the brightness of the immortal Augoeides. In this state
the torpid body is made to reflect the glory of the upper spheres, as a
burnished mirror does the rays of the sun. The sleeper takes no note of the
lapse of time, but upon awakening, after four or five days of trance, imagines
he has slept but a few moments. What his lips utter he will never know; but as
it is the spirit which directs them they can pronounce nothing but divine
truth. For the time being the poor helpless clod is made the shrine of the
sacred presence, and converted into an oracle a thousand times more infallible
than the asphyxiated Pythoness of Delphi; and, unlike her mantic frenzy, which
was exhibited before the multitude, this holy sleep is witnessed only within
the sacred precinct by those few of the adepts who are worthy to stand in the
presence of the ADONAI.
The description
which Isaiah gives of the purification necessary for a prophet to undergo
before he is worthy to be the mouthpiece of heaven, applies to the case in
point. In customary metaphor he says: "Then flew one of the seraphim unto
me having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off
the altar . . . and he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo! this hath touched
thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away."
The invocation of
his own Augoeides, by the purified adept, is described in words of unparalleled
beauty by Bulwer-Lytton in Zanoni, and there he gives us to understand that the
slightest touch of mortal passion unfits the hierophant to hold communion with
his spotless soul. Not only are there few who can successfully perform the
ceremony, but even these rarely resort to it except for the instruction of some
neophytes, and to obtain knowledge of the most solemn importance.
And yet how little
is the knowledge treasured up by these hierophants understood or appreciated by
the general public! "There is another collection of writings and
traditions bearing the title of Kabala, attributed to Oriental scholars,"
says the author of Art-Magic; "but as this remarkable work is of little or
no value without a key, which can only be furnished by Oriental fraternities,
its transcript would be of no value to the general reader."* And how they
are ridiculed by every Houndsditch commercial traveller who wanders through
India in pursuit of "orders" and writes to the Times, and
misrepresented by every nimble-fingered trickster who pretends to show by
legerdemain, to the gaping crowd, the feats of true Oriental magicians!
But, notwithstanding
his unfairness in the Algerian affair, Robert Houdin, an authority on the art
of prestidigitation, and Moreau-Cinti,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Art-Magic," p. 97.
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GHOSTS.
another, gave
honest testimony in behalf of the French mediums. They both testified, when
cross-examined by the Academicians, that none but the "mediums" could
possibly produce the phenomena of table-rapping and levitation without a
suitable preparation and furniture adapted for the purpose. They also showed
that the so-called "levitations without contact" were feats utterly
beyond the power of the professional juggler; that for them, such levitations,
unless produced in a room supplied with secret machinery and concave mirrors,
was impossible. They added moreover, that the simple apparition of a diaphanous
hand, in a place in which confederacy would be rendered impossible, the medium
having been previously searched, would be a demonstration that it was the work
of no human agency, whatever else that agency might be. The Siecle, and other
Parisian newspapers immediately published their suspicions that these two
professional and very clever gentlemen had become the confederates of the
spiritists!
Professor Pepper,
director of the Polytechnic Institute of London, invented a clever apparatus to
produce spiritual appearances on the stage, and sold his patent in 1863, in
Paris, for the sum of 20,000 francs. The phantoms looked real and were
evanescent, being but an effect produced by the reflection of a
highly-illuminated object upon the surface of plateglass. They seemed to appear
and disappear, to walk about the stage and play their parts to perfection.
Sometimes one of the phantoms placed himself on a bench; after which, one of
the living actors would begin quarrelling with him, and, seizing a heavy
hatchet, would part the head and body of the ghost in two. But, joining his two
parts again, the spectre would reappear, a few steps off, to the amazement of
the public. The contrivance worked marvellously well, and nightly attracted
large crowds. But to produce these ghosts required a stage-apparatus, and more
than one confederate. There were nevertheless some reporters who made this
exhibition the pretext for ridiculing the spiritists -- as though the two
classes of phenomena had the slightest connection!
What the Pepper
ghosts pretended to do, genuine disembodied human spirits, when their
reflection is materialized by the elementals, can actually perform. They will
permit themselves to be perforated with bullets or the sword, or to be
dismembered, and then instantly form themselves anew. But the case is different
with both cosmic and human elementary spirits, for a sword or dagger, or even a
pointed stick, will cause them to vanish in terror. This will seem
unaccountable to those who do not understand of what a material substance the
elementary are composed; but the kabalists understand perfectly. The records of
antiquity and of the middle ages, to say nothing of the modern wonders at
Cideville, which have been judicially attested for us, corroborate these facts.
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Skeptics, and even
skeptical spiritualists, have often unjustly accused mediums of fraud, when
denied what they considered their inalienable right to test the spirits. But
where there is one such case, there are fifty in which spiritualists have
permitted themselves to be practiced upon by tricksters, while they neglected
to appreciate genuine manifestations procured for them by their mediums.
Ignorant of the laws of mediumship, such do not know that when an honest medium
is once taken possession of by spirits, whether disembodied or elemental, he is
no longer his own master. He cannot control the actions of the spirits, nor
even his own. They make him a puppet to dance at their pleasure while they pull
the wires behind the scenes. The false medium may seem entranced, and yet be
playing tricks all the while; while the real medium may appear to be in full
possession of his senses, when in fact he is far away, and his body is animated
by his "Indian guide," or "control." Or, he may be
entranced in his cabinet, while his astral body (double) or doppelganger, is
walking about the room moved by another intelligence.
Among all the
phenomena, that of re-percussion, closely allied with those of bi-location and
aerial "travelling," is the most astounding. In the middle ages it
was included under the head of sorcery. De Gasparin, in his refutations of the
miraculous character of the marvels of Cideville, treats of the subject at
length; but these pretended explanations were all in their turn exploded by de
Mirville and des Mousseaux, who, while failing in their attempt to trace the
phenomena back to the Devil, did, nevertheless, prove their spiritual origin.
"The prodigy
of re-percussion," says des Mousseaux, "occurs when a blow aimed at
the spirit, visible or otherwise, of an absent living person, or at the phantom
which represents him, strikes this person himself, at the same time, and in the
very place at which the spectre or his double is touched! We must suppose,
therefore, that the blow is re-percussed, and that it reaches, as if rebounding,
from the image of the living person -- his phantasmal* duplicate -- the
original, wherever he may be, in flesh and blood.
"Thus, for
instance, an individual appears before me, or, remaining invisible, declares
war, threatens, and causes me to be threatened with obsession. I strike at the
place where I perceive his phantom, where I hear him moving, where I feel
somebody, something which molests and resists me. I strike; the blood will
appear sometimes on this place, and occasionally a scream may be heard; he is
wounded -- perhaps, dead! It is done, and I have explained the fact."**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This phantom is
called Scin Lecca. See Bulwer-Lytton's "Strange Story."
** In the
Strasbourg edition of his works (1603), Paracelsus writes of the wonderful
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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"Notwithstanding
that, at the moment I struck him, his presence in another place is
authentically proved; . . . I saw -- yes, I saw plainly the phantom hurt upon
the cheek or shoulder, and this same wound is found precisely on the living person,
re-percussed upon his cheek or shoulder. Thus, it becomes evident that the
facts of re-percussion have an intimate connection with those of bi-location or
duplication, either spiritual or corporeal."
The history of the
Salem witchcraft, as we find it recorded in the works of Cotton Mather, Calef,
Upham, and others, furnishes a curious corroboration of the fact of the double,
as it also does of the effects of allowing elementary spirits to have their own
way. This tragical chapter of American history has never yet been written in
accordance with the truth. A party of four or five young girls had become
"developed" as mediums, by sitting with a West Indian negro woman, a
practitioner of Obeah. They began to suffer all kinds of physical torture, such
as pinching, having pins stuck in them, and the marks of bruises and teeth on
different parts of their bodies. They would declare that they were hurt by the
spectres of various persons, and we learn from the celebrated Narrative of
Deodat Lawson (London, 1704), that "some of them confessed that they did
afflict the sufferers (i.e., these young girls), according to the time and
manner they were accused thereof; and, being asked what they did to afflict
them, some said that they pricked pins into poppets, made with rags, wax, and
other materials. One that confessed after the signing of her death-warrant,
said she used to afflict them by clutching and pinching her hands together, and
wishing in what part and after what manner she would have them afflicted, and
it was done."
Mr. Upham tells us
that Abigail Hobbs, one of these girls, acknowledged that she had confederated
with the Devil, who "came to her in the shape of a man," and
commanded her to afflict the girls, bringing images made of wood in their
likeness, with thorns for her to prick into the images, which she did;
whereupon, the girls cried out that they were hurt by her."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] magical power of man's spirit. "It is
possible," he says, "that my spirit, without the help of the body,
and through a fiery will alone, and without a sword, can stab and wound others.
It is also possible that I can bring the spirit of my adversary into an image,
and then double him up and lame him . . . the exertion of will is a great point
in medicine. . . . Every imagination of man comes through the heart, for this
is the sun of the microcosm, and out of the microcosm proceeds the imagination
into the great world (universal ether) . . . the imagination of man is a seed
which is material." (Our atomical modern scientists have proved it; see
Babbage and Professor Jevons.) "Fixed thought is also a means to an end.
The magical is a great concealed wisdom, and reason is a great public
foolishness. No armor protects against magic, for it injures the inward spirit
of life."
* "Salem
Witchcraft; With an Account of Salem Village," by C. W. Upham.
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How perfectly these
facts, the validity of which was proven by unimpeachable testimony in court, go
to corroborate the doctrine of Paracelsus. It is surpassingly strange that so
ripe a scholar as Mr. Upham should have accumulated into the 1,000 pages of his
two volumes such a mass of legal evidence, going to show the agency of
earth-bound souls and tricksy nature-spirits in these tragedies, without
suspecting the truth.
Ages ago, the old
Ennius was made by Lucretius to say:
"Bis duo sunt
homines, manes, caro, spiritus umbra;
Quatuor ista loci
bis duo suscipirent;
Terra tegit carnem;
-- tumulum circumvolat umbra,
Orcus habet
manes."
In this present
case, as in every similar one, the scientists, being unable to explain the
fact, assert that it cannot exist.
But we will now
give a few historical instances going to show that some daimons, or elementary
spirits, are afraid of sword, knife, or any thing sharp. We do not pretend to
explain the reason. That is the province of physiology and psychology.
Unfortunately, physiologists have not yet been able to even establish the
relations between speech and thought, and so, have handed it over to the
metaphysicians, who, in their turn, according to Fournie, have done nothing.
Done nothing, we say, but claimed everything. No fact could be presented to
some of them, that was too large for these learned gentlemen to at least try to
stuff into their pigeon-holes, labelled with some fancy Greek name, expressive
of everything else but the true nature of the phenomenon.
"Alas, alas!
my son!" exclaims the wise Muphti, of Aleppo, to his son Ibrahim, who
choked himself with the head of a huge fish. "When will you realize that
your stomach is smaller than the ocean?" Or, as Mrs. Catherine Crowe
remarks in her Night-Side of Nature, when will our scientists admit that
"their intellects are no measure of God Almighty's designs?"
We will not ask
which of the ancient writers mention facts of seemingly-supernatural nature;
but rather which of them does not? In Homer, we find Ulysses evoking the spirit
of his friend, the soothsayer Tiresias. Preparing for the ceremony of the
"festival of blood," Ulysses draws his sword, and thus frightens away
the thousands of phantoms attracted by the sacrifice. The friend himself, the
so-long-expected Tiresias, dares not approach him so long as Ulysses holds the
dreaded weapon in his hand.* AEneas prepares to descend to the kingdom of the
shadows, and as soon as they approach its entrance, the Sibyl who
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Odyssey," A. 82.
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SWORD.
guides him utters
her warning to the Trojan hero, and orders him to draw his sword and clear
himself a passage through the dense crowd of flitting forms:
"Tuque invade
viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum."*
Glanvil gives a
wonderful narrative of the apparition of the "Drummer of Tedworth,"
which happened in 1661; in which the scin-lecca, or double, of the
drummer-sorcerer was evidently very much afraid of the sword. Psellus, in his
work,** gives a long story of his sister-in-law being thrown into a most
fearful state by an elementary daimon taking possession of her. She was finally
cured by a conjurer, a foreigner named Anaphalangis, who began by threatening
the invisible occupant of her body with a naked sword, until he finally
dislodged him. Psellus introduces a whole catechism of demonology, which he
gives in the following terms, as far as we remember:
"You want to
know," asked the conjurer, "whether the bodies of the spirits can be
hurt by sword or any other weapon?*** Yes, they can. Any hard substance
striking them can make them sensible to pain; and though their bodies be made
neither of solid nor firm substance, they feel it the same, for in beings
endowed with sensibility it is not their nerves only which possess the faculty
of feeling, but likewise also the spirit which resides in them . . . the body
of a spirit can be sensible in its whole, as well as in each one of its parts.
Without the help of any physical organism the spirit sees, hears, and if you
touch him feels your touch. If you divide him in two, he will feel the pain as
would any living man, for he is matter still, though so refined as to be
generally invisible to our eye. . . . One thing, however, distinguishes him
from the living man, viz.: that when a man's limbs are once divided, their
parts cannot be reunited very easily. But, cut a demon in two, and you will see
him immediately join himself together. As water or air closes in behind a solid
body**** passing through it, and no trace is left, so does the body of a demon
condense itself again, when the penetrative weapon is withdrawn from the wound.
But every rent made in it causes him pain nevertheless. That is why daimons dread
the point of a sword or any sharp weapon. Let those who want to see them flee
try the experiment."
One of the most
learned scholars of his century, Bodin, the Demono-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"AEneid," book vi., 260.
** "De
Daemon," cap. "Quomodo daem occupent."
*** Numquid
daemonum corpora pulsari possunt? Possunt sane, atque dolere solido quodam
percussa corpore.
**** Ubi secatur,
mox in se iterum recreatur et coalescit . . . dictu velocius daemonicus spiritus
in se revertitor.
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logian, held the
same opinion, that both the human and cosmical elementaries "were sorely
afraid of swords and daggers." It is also the opinion of Porphyry,
Iamblichus, and Plato. Plutarch mentions it several times. The practicing
theurgists knew it well and acted accordingly; and many of the latter assert
that "the demons suffer from any rent made in their bodies." Bodin
tells us a wonderful story to this effect, in his work On the Daemons, p. 292.
"I
remember," says the author, "that in 1557 an elemental demon, one of
those who are called thundering, fell down with the lightning, into the house
of Poudot, the shoemaker, and immediately began flinging stones all about the
room. We picked up so many of them that the landlady filled a large chest full,
after having securely closed the windows and doors and locked the chest itself.
But it did not prevent the demon in the least from introducing other stones
into the room, but without injuring any one for all that. Latomi, who was then
Quarter-President,* came to see what was the matter. Immediately upon his
entrance, the spirit knocked the cap off his head and made him run away. It had
lasted for over six days, when M. Jean Morgnes, Counsellor at the Presidial,
came to fetch me to see the mystery. When I entered the house, some one advised
the master of it to pray to God with all his heart and to wheel round a sword
in the air about the room; he did so. On that following day the landlady told
us, that from that very moment they did not hear the least noise in the house;
but that during the seven previous days that it lasted they could not get a
moment's rest."
The books on the
witchcraft of the middle ages are full of such narratives. The very rare and
interesting work of Glanvil, called Sadducismus Triumphatus, ranks with that of
Bodin, above mentioned, as one of the best. But we must give space now to
certain narratives of the more ancient philosophers, who explain at the same
time that they describe.
And first in rank
for wonders comes Proclus. His list of facts, most of which he supports by the
citation of witnesses -- sometimes well-known philosophers -- is staggering. He
records many instances in his time of dead persons who were found to have
changed their recumbent positions in the sepulchre, for one of either sitting
or standing, which he attributes to their being larvae, and which he says
"is related by the ancients of Aristius, Epimenides, and Hermodorus."
He gives five such cases from the history of Clearchus, the disciple of
Aristotle. 1. Cleonymus, the Athenian. 2. Polykritus, an illustrious man among
the AEolians. It is related by the historian Nomachius, that Polykritus died,
and returned in the ninth month after his death. "Hiero, the Ephesian, and
other
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A magistrate of
the district.
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PHILONAEA.
historians,"
says his translator, Taylor, "testify to the truth of this." 3. In
Nicopolis, the same happened to one Eurinus. The latter revived on the
fifteenth day after his burial, and lived for some time after that, leading an
exemplary life. 4. Rufus, a priest of Thessalonica, restored to life the third
day after his death, for the purpose of performing certain sacred ceremonies
according to promise; he fulfilled his engagement, and died again to return no
more. 5. This is the case of one Philonaea, who lived under the reign of
Philip. She was the daughter of Demostratus and Charito of Amphipolos. Married
against her wish to one Kroterus, she died soon after. But in the sixth month
after her death, she revived, as Proclus says: "through her love of a
youth named Machates, who came to her father Demostratus, from Pella." She
visited him for many nights successively, but when this was finally discovered,
she, or rather the vampire that represented her, died of rage. Previous to this
she declared that she acted in this manner according to the will of terrestrial
demons. Her dead body was seen at this second death by every one in the town,
lying in her father's house. On opening the vault, where her body had been
deposited, it was found empty by those of her relatives, who being incredulous
upon that point, went to ascertain the truth. The narrative is corroborated by
the Epistles of Hipparchus and those of Arridaeus to Philip.*
Says Proclus:
"Many other of the ancients have collected a history of those that have
apparently died, and afterward revived. Among these is the natural philosopher
Demokritus. In his writings concerning Hades, he affirms that [in a certain
case under discussion] death was not, as it seemed, an entire desertion of the
whole life of the body, but a cessation caused by some blow, or perhaps a
wound; but the bonds of the soul yet remained rooted about the marrow, and the
heart contained in its profundity the empyreuma of life; and this remaining, it
again acquired the life, which had been extinguished, in consequence of being
adapted to animation."
He says again,
"That it is possible for the soul to depart from and enter into the body,
is evident from him, who, according to Clearchus, used a soul-attracting wand
on a sleeping boy; and who persuaded Aristotle, as Clearchus relates in his
Treatise on Sleep, that the soul may be separated from the body, and that it
enters into a body and uses it as a lodging. For, striking the boy with the
wand, he drew out, and, as it were, led his soul, for the purpose of evincing
that the body was immova-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This appalling
circumstance was authenticated by the Prefect of the city, and the Proconsul of
the Province laid the report before the Emperor. The story is modestly related
by Mrs. Catherine Crowe (see "Night-Side of Nature," p. 335).
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ble when the soul
(astral body) was at a distance from it, and that it was preserved uninjured;
but the soul being again led into the body by means of the wand, after its
entrance, narrated every particular. From this circumstance, therefore, both
the spectators and Aristotle were persuaded that the soul is separate from the
body."
It may be
considered quite absurd to recall so often the facts of witchcraft, in the full
light of the nineteenth century. But the century itself is getting old; and as
it gradually approaches the fatal end, it seems as if it were falling into
dotage; not only does it refuse to recollect how abundantly the facts of
witchcraft were proven, but it refuses to realize what has been going on for
the last thirty years, all over the wide world. After a lapse of several
thousand years we may doubt the magic powers of the Thessalonian priests and
their "sorceries," as mentioned by Pliny;* we may throw discredit
upon the information given us by Suidas, who narrates Medea's journey through
the air, and thus forget that magic was the highest knowledge of natural
philosophy; but how are we to dispose of the frequent occurrence of precisely
such journeys "through the air" when they happen before our own eyes,
and are corroborated by the testimony of hundreds of apparently sane persons?
If the universality of a belief be a proof of its truth, few facts have been
better established than that of sorcery. "Every people, from the rudest to
the most refined, we may also add in every age, have believed in the kind of
supernatural agency, which we understand by this term," says Thomas
Wright, the author of Sorcery and Magic, and a skeptical member of the National
Institute of France. "It was founded on the equally extensive creed, that,
besides our own visible existence, we live in an invisible world of spiritual
beings, by which our actions and even our thoughts are often guided, and which
have a certain degree of power over the elements and over the ordinary course
of organic life." Further, marvelling how this mysterious science
flourished everywhere, and noticing several famous schools of magic in
different parts of Europe, he explains the time-honored belief, and shows the
difference between sorcery and magic as follows: "The magician differed
from the witch in this, that, while the latter was an ignorant instrument in
the hands of the demons, the former had become their master by the powerful
intermediation of Science, which was only within reach of the few, and which
these beings were unable to disobey."** This delineation, established and
known since the days of Moses, the author gives as derived from "the most
authentic sources."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pliny, xxx., 1.
** T. Wright, M.A.,
F.S.A., etc.: "Sorcery and Magic," vol. iii.
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DEFINED.
If from this
unbeliever we pass to the authority of an adept in that mysterious science, the
anonymous author of Art-Magic, we find him stating the following: "The
reader may inquire wherein consists the difference between a medium and a
magician? . . . The medium is one through whose astral spirit other spirits can
manifest, making their presence known by various kinds of phenomena. Whatever
these consist in, the medium is only a passive agent in their hands. He can
neither command their presence, nor will their absence; can never compel the
performance of any special act, nor direct its nature. The magician, on the
contrary, can summon and dismiss spirits at will; can perform many feats of
occult power through his own spirit; can compel the presence and assistance of
spirits of lower grades of being than himself, and effect transformations in
the realm of nature upon animate and inanimate bodies."*
This learned author
forgot to point out a marked distinction in mediumship, with which he must have
been entirely familiar. Physical phenomena are the result of the manipulation
of forces through the physical system of the medium, by the unseen
intelligences, of whatever class. In a word, physical mediumship depends on a
peculiar organization of the physical system; spiritual mediumship, which is
accompanied by a display of subjective, intellectual phenomena, depends upon a
like peculiar organization of the spiritual nature of the medium. As the potter
from one lump of clay fashions a vessel of dishonor, and from another a vessel
of honor, so, among physical mediums, the plastic astral spirit of one may be
prepared for a certain class of objective phenomena, and that of another for a
different one. Once so prepared, it appears difficult to alter the phase of
mediumship, as when a bar of steel is forged into a certain shape, it cannot be
used for any other than its original purpose without difficulty. As a rule,
mediums who have been developed for one class of phenomena rarely change to
another, but repeat the same performance ad infinitum.
Psychography, or
the direct writing of messages by spirits, partakes of both forms of
mediumship. The writing itself is an objective physical fact, while the
sentiments it contains may be of the very noblest character. The latter depend
entirely on the moral state of the medium. It does not require that he should
be educated, to write philosophical treatises worthy of Aristotle, nor a poet,
to write verses that would reflect honor upon a Byron or a Lamartine; but it
does require that the soul of the medium shall be pure enough to serve as a
channel for spirits who are capable of giving utterance to such lofty
sentiments.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Art-Magic," pp. 159, 160.
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In Art-Magic, one
of the most delightful pictures presented to us is that of an innocent little
child-medium, in whose presence, during the past three years, four volumes of
MSS., in the ancient Sanscrit, have been written by the spirits, without pens,
pencils, or ink. "It is enough," says the author, "to lay the
blank sheets on a tripod, carefully screened from the direct rays of light, but
still dimly visible to the eyes of attentive observers. The child sits on the
ground and lays her head on the tripod, embracing its supports with her little
arms. In this attitude she most commonly sleeps for an hour, during which time
the sheets lying on the tripod are filled up with exquisitely formed characters
in the ancient Sanscrit." This is so remarkable an instance of
psychographic mediumship, and so thoroughly illustrates the principle we have
above stated, that we cannot refrain from quoting a few lines from one of the
Sanscrit writings, the more so as it embodies that portion of the Hermetic
philosophy relating to the antecedent state of man, which elsewhere we have
less satisfactorily described.
"Man lives on
many earths before he reaches this. Myriads of worlds swarm in space where the
soul in rudimental states performs its pilgrimages, ere he reaches the large
and shining planet named the Earth, the glorious function of which is to confer
self-consciousness. At this point only is he man; at every other stage of his
vast, wild journey he is but an embryonic being -- a fleeting, temporary shape
of matter -- a creature in which a part, but only a part, of the high,
imprisoned soul shines forth; a rudimental shape, with rudimental functions, ever
living, dying, sustaining a flitting spiritual existence as rudimental as the
material shape from whence it emerged; a butterfly, springing up from the
chrysalitic shell, but ever, as it onward rushes, in new births, new deaths,
new incarnations, anon to die and live again, but still stretch upward, still
strive onward, still rush on the giddy, dreadful, toilsome, rugged path, until
it awakens once more -- once more to live and be a material shape, a thing of
dust, a creature of flesh and blood, but now -- a man."*
We witnessed once
in India a trial of psychical skill between a holy gossein** and a sorcerer,***
which recurs to us in this connection. We had been discussing the relative
powers of the fakir's Pitris, -- pre-Adamite spirits, and the juggler's
invisible allies. A trial of skill was agreed upon, and the writer was chosen
as a referee. We were taking our noon-day rest, beside a small lake in Northern
India. Upon the surface of the glassy water floated innumerable aquatic
flowers, and large shining leaves. Each of the contestants plucked a leaf. The
fakir, laying his against his breast, folded his hands across it, and fell into
a mo-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Art-Magic," p. 28.
** Fakir, beggar.
*** A juggler so
called.
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SKILL.
mentary trance. He
then laid the leaf, with its surface downward, upon the water. The juggler
pretended to control the "water-master," the spirit dwelling in the
water; and boasted that he would compel the power to prevent the Pitris from
manifesting any phenomena upon the fakir's leaf in their element. He took his
own leaf and tossed it upon the water, after going through a form of barbarous
incantation. It at once exhibited a violent agitation, while the other leaf
remained perfectly motionless. After the lapse of a few seconds, both leaves
were recovered. Upon that of the fakir were found -- much to the indignation of
the juggler -- something that looked like a symmetrical design traced in
milk-white characters, as though the juices of the plant had been used as a
corrosive writing fluid. When it became dry, and an opportunity was afforded to
examine the lines with care, it proved to be a series of exquisitely-formed
Sanscrit characters; the whole composed a sentence embodying a high moral
precept. The fakir, let us add, could neither read nor write. Upon the
juggler's leaf, instead of writing, was found the tracing of a most hideous,
impish face. Each leaf, therefore, bore an impression or allegorical reflection
of the character of the contestant, and indicated the quality of spiritual
beings with which he was surrounded. But, with deep regret, we must once more
leave India, with its blue sky and mysterious past, its religious devotees and
its weird sorcerers, and on the enchanted carpet of the historian, transport
ourselves back to the musty atmosphere of the French Academy.
To appreciate the
timidity, prejudice, and superficiality which have marked the treatment of
psychological subjects in the past, we propose to review a book which lies
before us. It is the Histoire du Merveilleux dans les Temps Modernes. The work
is published by its author, the learned Dr. Figuier, and teems with quotations
from the most conspicuous authorities in physiology, psychology, and medicine.
Dr. Calmeil, the well-known director-in-chief of Charenton, the famous lunatic
asylum of France, is the robust Atlas on whose mighty shoulders rests this
world of erudition. As the ripe fruit of the thought of 1860 it must forever
keep a place among the most curious of works of art. Moved by the restless
demon of science, determined to kill superstition -- and, as a consequence,
spiritism -- at one blow, the author affords us a summary view of the most
remarkable instances of mediumistic phenomena during the last two centuries.
The discussion
embraces the Prophets of Cevennes, the Camisards, the Jansenists, the Abbe
Paris, and other historical epidemics, which, as they have been described
during the last twenty years by nearly every writer upon the modern phenomena,
we will mention as briefly as possible. It is not facts that we desire to bring
again under discussion, but
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merely the way in
which such facts were regarded and treated by those who, as physicians and
recognized authorities, had the greater responsibility in such questions. If
this prejudiced author is introduced to our readers at this time, it is only
because his work enables us to show what occult facts and manifestations may
expect from orthodox science. When the most world-renowned psychological
epidemics are so treated, what will induce a materialist to seriously study
other phenomena as well authenticated and as interesting, but still less
popular? Let it be remembered that the reports made by various committees to
their respective academies at that time, as well as the records of the judicial
tribunals, are still in existence, and may be consulted for purposes of
verification. It is from such unimpeachable sources that Dr. Figuier compiled
his extraordinary work. We must give, at least, in substance, the unparalleled
arguments with which the author seeks to demolish every form of
super-naturalism, together with the commentaries of the demonological des Mousseaux,
who, in one of his works,* pounces upon his skeptical victim like a tiger upon
his prey.
Between the two
champions -- the materialist and the bigot -- the unbiassed student may glean a
good harvest.
We will begin with
the Convulsionnaires of Cevennes, the epidemic of whose astounding phenomena
occurred during the latter part of 1700. The merciless measures adopted by the
French Catholics to extirpate the spirit of prophecy from an entire population,
is historical, and needs no repetition here. The fact alone that a mere handful
of men, women, and children, not exceeding 2,000 persons in number, could
withstand for years king's troops, which, with the militia, amounted to 60,000
men, is a miracle in itself. The marvels are all recorded, and the proces verbaux
of the time preserved in the Archives of France until this day. There is in
existence an official report among others, which was sent to Rome by the
ferocious Abbe Chayla, the prior of Laval, in which he complains that the Evil
One is so powerful, that no torture, no amount of inquisitory exorcism, is able
to dislodge him from the Cevennois. He adds, that he closed their hands upon
burning coals, and they were not even singed; that he had wrapped their whole
persons in cotton soaked with oil, and had set them on fire, and in many cases
did not find one blister on their skins; that balls were shot at them, and
found flattened between the skin and clothes, without injuring them, etc., etc.
Accepting the whole
of the above as a solid ground-work for his learned arguments, this is what Dr.
Figuier says: "Toward the close of the seventeenth century, an old maid
imports into Cevennes the spirit of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Moeurs et
Pratiques des Demons."
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AT THE BREAST.
prophecy. She
communicates it (?) to young boys and girls, who transpire it in their turn,
and spread it in the surrounding atmosphere. . . . Women and children become
the most sensitive to the infection" (vol. ii., p. 261). "Men, women,
and babies speak under inspiration, not in ordinary patois, but in the purest
French -- a language at that time utterly unknown in the country. Children of
twelve months, and even less, as we learn from the proces verbaux, who
previously could hardly utter a few short syllables, spoke fluently, and prophesied."
"Eight thousand prophets," says Figuier, "were scattered over
the country; doctors and eminent physicians were sent for." Half of the
medical schools of France, among others, the Faculty of Montpellier, hastened
to the spot. Consultations were held, and the physicians declared themselves
"delighted, lost in wonder and admiration, upon hearing young girls and
boys, ignorant and illiterate, deliver discourses on things they had never
learned."* The sentence pronounced by Figuier against these treacherous
professional brethren, for being so delighted with the young prophets, is that
they "did not understand, themselves, what they saw."** Many of the
prophets forcibly communicated their spirit to those who tried to break the
spell.*** A great number of them were between three and twelve years of age;
still others were at the breast, and spoke French distinctly and correctly.****
These discourses, which often lasted for several hours, would have been
impossible to the little orators, were the latter in their natural or normal
state.*****
"Now,"
asks the reviewer, "what was the meaning of such a series of prodigies,
all of them freely admitted in Figuier's book? No meaning at all! It was
nothing," he says, "except the effect of a 'momentary exaltation of
the intellectual faculties.' "****** "These phenomena," he adds,
"are observable in many of the cerebral affections."
"Momentary
exaltation, lasting for many hours in the brains of babies under one year old,
not weaned yet, speaking good French before they had learned to say one word in
their own patois! Oh, miracle of physiology! Prodigy ought to be thy
name!" exclaims des Mousseaux.
"Dr. Calmeil,
in his work on insanity," remarks Figuier, "when reporting on the
ecstatic theomania of the Calvinists, concludes that the disease must be
attributed in the simpler cases to HYSTERIA, and in those of more serious
character to epilepsy. . . . We rather incline to the opinion," says
Figuier, "that it was a disease sui generis, and in order
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Histoire du
Merveilleux dans les Temps Modernes," vol. ii., p. 262.
** Ibid.
*** Ibid., p. 265.
**** Ibid., pp.
267, 401, 402.
***** Ibid., pp.
266, etc., 400.
****** Ibid., p.
403.
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to have an
appropriate name for such a disease, we must be satisfied with the one of the
Trembling Convulsionaires of Cevennes."*
Theomania and
hysteria, again! The medical corporations must themselves be possessed with an
incurable atomomania; otherwise why should they give out such absurdities for
science, and hope for their acceptance?
"Such was the fury
for exorcising and roasting," continues Figuier, "that monks saw
possessions by demons everywhere when they felt in need of miracles to either
throw more light on the omnipotency of the Devil, or keep their dinner-pot
boiling at the convent."**
For this sarcasm
the pious des Mousseaux expresses a heartfelt gratitude to Figuier; for, as he
remarks, "he is in France one of the first writers whom we find, to our
surprise, not denying the phenomena which have been made long since undeniable.
Moved by a sense of lofty superiority and even disdain for the method used by
his predecessors, Dr. Figuier desires his readers to know that he does not
follow the same path as they. 'We will not reject,' says he, 'as being unworthy
of credit, facts only because they are embarrassing for our system. On the
contrary, we will collect all of the facts that the same historical evidence
has transmitted to us . . . and which, consequently, are entitled to the same
credence, and it is upon the whole mass of such facts that we will base the
natural explanation, which we have to offer, in our turn, as a sequel to those
of the savants who have preceded us on this subject.' "***
Thereupon, Dr.
Figuier proceeds.**** He takes a few steps, and, placing himself right in the
midst of the Convulsionaires of St. Medard, he invites his readers to
scrutinize, under his direction, prodigies which are for him but simple effects
of nature.
But before we
proceed, in our turn, to show Dr. Figuier's opinion, we must refresh the
reader's memory as to what the Jansenist miracles comprised, according to
historical evidence.
Abbe Paris was a
Jansenist, who died in 1727. Immediately after his decease the most surprising
phenomena began to occur at his tomb. The churchyard was crowded from morning
till night. Jesuits, exasperated at seeing heretics perform wonders in healing,
and other works, got from the magistrates an order to close all access to the
tomb of the Abbe. But, notwithstanding every opposition, the wonders lasted for
over twenty years. Bishop Douglas, who went to Paris for that sole purpose in
1749, visited the place, and he reports that the miracles were still going on
among the Convulsionaires. When every endeavor to stop them failed, the
Catholic clergy were forced to admit their reality, but screened them-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Histoire du
Merveilleux," vol. i., p. 397.
** Ibid., pp.
26-27.
*** Ibid., p. 238.
**** Des Mousseaux:
"Magie au XIXme Siecle," p. 452.
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PARIS.
selves, as usual,
behind the Devil. Hume, in his Philosophical Essays, says: "There surely
never was so great a number of miracles ascribed to one person as those which
were lately said to have been wrought in France upon the tomb of the Abbe
Paris. The curing of the sick, giving hearing to the deaf and sight to the
blind, were everywhere talked of as the effects of the holy sepulchre. But,
what is more extraordinary, many of the miracles were immediately proved upon
the spot, before judges of unquestioned credit and distinction, in a learned
age, and on the most eminent theatre that is now in the world . . . nor were
the Jesuits, though a learned body, supported by the civil magistrates, and
determined enemies to those opinions in whose favor the miracles were said to
have been wrought, ever able distinctly to refute or detect them . . . such is
historic evidence."* Dr. Middleton, in his Free Enquiry, a book which be
wrote at a period when the manifestations were already decreasing, i.e., about
nineteen years after they had first begun, declares that the evidence of these
miracles is fully as strong as that of the wonders recorded of the Apostles.
The phenomena so
well authenticated by thousands of witnesses before magistrates, and in spite
of the Catholic clergy, are among the most wonderful in history. Carre de
Montgeron, a member of parliament and a man who became famous for his
connection with the Jansenists, enumerates them carefully in his work. It
comprises four thick quarto volumes, of which the first is dedicated to the
king, under the title: "La Verite des Miracles operes par l'Intercession
de M. de Paris, demontree contre l'Archeveque de Sens. Ouvrage dedie au Roi,
par M. de Montgeron, Conseiller au Parlement." The author presents a vast
amount of personal and official evidence to the truthfulness of every case. For
speaking disrespectfully of the Roman clergy, Montgeron was thrown into the
Bastille, but his work was accepted.
And now for the
views of Dr. Figuier upon these remarkable and unquestionably historical
phenomena. "A Convulsionary bends back into an arc, her loins supported by
the sharp point of a peg," quotes the learned author, from the proces
verbaux. "The pleasure that she begs for is to be pounded by a stone
weighing fifty pounds, and suspended by a rope passing over a pulley fixed to
the ceiling. The stone, being hoisted to its extreme height, falls with all its
weight upon the patient's stomach, her back resting all the while on the sharp
point of the peg. Montgeron and numerous other witnesses testified to the fact
that neither the flesh nor the skin of the back were ever marked in the least,
and that the girl, to show she suffered no pain whatever, kept crying out,
'Strike harder -- harder!'
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Hume:
"Philosophical Essays," p. 195.
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"Jeanne
Maulet, a girl of twenty, leaning with her back against a wall, received upon
her stomach one hundred blows of a hammer weighing thirty pounds; the blows,
administered by a very strong man, were so terrible that they shook the wall.
To test the force of the blows, Montgeron tried them on the stone wall against
which the girl was leaning. . . . He gets one of the instruments of the
Jansenist healing, called the 'GRAND SECOURS.' At the twenty-fifth blow,"
he writes, "the stone upon which I struck, which had been shaken by the
preceding efforts, suddenly became loose and fell on the other side of the
wall, making an aperture more than half a foot in size." When the blows
are struck with violence upon an iron drill held against the stomach of a
Convulsionnaire (who, sometimes, is but a weak woman), "it seems,"
says Montgeron, "as if it would penetrate through to the spine and rupture
all the entrails under the force of the blows" (vol. i., p. 380).
"But, so far from that occurring, the Convulsionnaire cries out, with an
expression of perfect rapture in her face, 'Oh, how delightful! Oh, that does
me good! Courage, brother; strike twice as hard, if you can!' It now
remains," continues Dr. Figuier, "to try to explain the strange
phenomena which we have described."
"We have said,
in the introduction to this work, that at the middle of the nineteenth century
one of the most famous epidemics of possession broke out in Germany: that of
the Nonnains, who performed all the miracles most admired since the days of St.
Medard, and even some greater ones; who turned summersaults, who CLIMBED DEAD
WALLS, and spoke FOREIGN LANGUAGES."*
The official report
of the wonders, which is more full than that of Figuier, adds such further
particulars as that "the affected persons would stand on their heads for
hours together, and correctly describe distant events, even such as were happening
in the homes of the committee-men; as it was subsequently verified. Men and
women were held suspended in the air, by an invisible force, and the combined
efforts of the committee were insufficient to pull them down. Old women climbed
perpendicular walls thirty feet in height with the agility of wild cats, etc.,
etc."
Now, one should
expect that the learned critic, the eminent physician and psychologist, who not
only credits such incredible phenomena but himself describes them minutely, and
con amore, so to say, would necessarily startle the reading public with some
explanation so extraordinary that his scientific views would cause a real
hegira to the unexplored fields of psychology. Well, he does startle us, for to
all this he quietly
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "Histoire du
Merveilleux," p. 401.
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MARRIAGE!
observes:
"Recourse was had to marriage to bring to a stop these disorders of the
Convulsionnaires!"*
For once des
Mousseaux had the best of his enemy: "Marriage, do you understand
this?" he remarks. "Marriage cures them of this faculty of climbing
dead-walls like so many flies, and of speaking foreign languages. Oh! the
curious properties of marriage in those remarkable days!"
"It should be
added," continues Figuier, "that with the fanatics of St. Medard, the
blows were never administered except during the convulsive crisis; and that,
therefore, as Dr. Calmeil suggests, meteorism of the abdomen, the state of
spasm of the uterus of women, of the alimentary canal in all cases, the state
of contraction, of erethism, of turgescence of the carneous envelopes of the
muscular coats which protect and cover the abdomen, chest, and principal
vascular masses and the osseous surfaces, may have singularly contributed
toward reducing, and even destroying, the force of the blows!"
"The
astounding resistance that the skin, the areolar tissue, the surface of the
bodies and limbs of the Convulsionnaires offered to things which seem as if
they ought to have torn or crushed them, is of a nature to excite more
surprise. Nevertheless, it can be explained. This resisting force, this
insensibility, seems to partake of the extreme changes in sensibility which can
occur in the animal economy during a time of great exaltation. Anger, fear, in
a word, every passion, provided that it be carried to a paroxysmal point, can
produce this insensibility."**
"Let us
remark, besides," rejoins Dr. Calmeil, quoted by Figuier, "that for
striking upon the bodies of the Convulsionnaires use was made either of massive
objects with flat or rounded surfaces, or of cylindrical and blunt shapes.***
The action of such physical agents is not to be compared, in respect to the
danger which attaches to it, with that of cords, supple or flexible
instruments, and those having a sharp edge. In fine, the contact and the shock
of the blows produced upon the Convulsionnaires the effect of a salutary
shampooing, and reduced the violence of the tortures of HYSTERIA."
The reader will
please observe that this is not intended as a joke, but is the sober theory of
one of the most eminent of French physicians, hoary with age and experience,
the Director-in-Chief of the Government Insane Asylum at Charenton. Really, the
above explanation might lead the reader to a strange suspicion. We might
imagine, perhaps, that Dr.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.
** Ibid., vol. ii.,
pp. 410, 411.
*** Ibid., p. 407.
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Calmeil has kept
company with the patients under his care a few more years than was good for the
healthy action of his own brain.
Besides, when
Figuier talks of massive objects, of cylindrical and blunt shapes, he surely
forgets the sharp swords, pointed iron pegs, and the hatchets, of which he
himself gave a graphic description on page 409 of his first volume. The brother
of Elie Marion is shown by him striking his stomach and abdomen with the sharp
point of a knife, with tremendous force, "his body all the while resisting
as if it were made of iron."
Arrived at this
point, des Mousseaux loses all patience, and indignantly exclaims:
"Was the
learned physician quite awake when writing the above sentences? . . . If, perchance,
the Drs. Calmeil and Figuier should seriously maintain their assertions and
insist on their theory, we are ready to answer them as follows: 'We are
perfectly willing to believe you. But before such a superhuman effort of
condescension, will you not demonstrate to us the truth of your theory in a
more practical manner? Let us, for example, develop in you a violent and
terrible passion; anger -- rage if you choose. You shall permit us for a single
moment to be in your sight irritating, rude, and insulting. Of course, we will
be so only at your request and in the interest of science and your cause. Our
duty under the contract will consist in humiliating and provoking you to the
last extremity. Before a public audience, who shall know nothing of our agreement,
but whom you must satisfy as to your assertions, we will insult you; . . . we
will tell you that your writings are an ambuscade to truth, an insult to common
sense, a disgrace which paper only can bear; but which the public should
chastise. We will add that you lie to science, you lie to the ears of the
ignorant and stupid fools gathered around you, open-mouthed, like the crowd
around a peddling quack. . . . And when, transported beyond yourself, your face
ablaze, and anger tumefying, you shall have displaced your fluids; when your
fury has reached the point of bursting, we will cause your turgescent muscles
to be struck with powerful blows; your friends shall show us the most
insensible places; we will let a perfect shower, an avalanche of stones fall
upon them . . . for so was treated the flesh of the convulsed women whose
appetite for such blows could never be satisfied. But, in order to procure for
you the gratification of a salutary shampooing -- as you deliciously express it
-- your limbs shall only be pounded with objects having blunt surfaces and
cylindrical shapes, with clubs and sticks devoid of suppleness, and, if you
prefer it, neatly turned in a lathe.' "
So liberal is des
Mousseaux, so determined to accommodate his antagonists with every possible
chance to prove their theory, that he offers them
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the choice to
substitute for themselves in the experiment their wives, mothers, daughters,
and sisters, "since," he says, "you have remarked that the
weaker sex is the strong and resistant sex in these disconcerting trials."
Useless to remark
that des Mousseaux's challenge remained unanswered.
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CHAPTER XI.
"Strange
condition of the human mind, which seems to require that it should long
exercise itself in ERROR, before it dare approach the TRUTH." -- MAGENDIE.
"La verite que
je defends est empreinte sur tous les monuments du passe Pour comprendre
l'histoire, il faut etudier les symboles anciens, les signes sacres du
sacerdoce, et l'art de guerir dans les temps primitifs, art oublie
aujourd'hui." -- BARON DU POTET.
"It is a truth
perpetually, that accumulated facts, lying in disorder, begin to assume some
order if an hypothesis is thrown among them." -- HERBERT SPENCER.
AND now we must
search Magical History for cases similar to those given in the preceding
chapter. This insensibility of the human body to the impact of heavy blows, and
resistance to penetration by sharp points and musket-bullets, is a phenomenon
sufficiently familiar in the experience of all times and all countries. While
science is entirely unable to give any reasonable explanation of the mystery,
the question appears to offer no difficulty to mesmerists, who have well
studied the properties of the fluid. The man, who by a few passes over a limb
can produce a local paralysis so as to render it utterly insensible to burns,
cuts, and the prickings of needles, need be but very little astonished at the
phenomena of the Jansenists. As to the adepts of magic, especially in Siam and
the East Indies, they are too familiar with the properties of the akasa, the
mysterious life-fluid, to even regard the insensibility of the Convulsionnaires
as a very great phenomenon. The astral fluid can be compressed about a person
so as to form an elastic shell, absolutely nonpenetrable by any physical
object, however great the velocity with which it travels. In a word, this fluid
can be made to equal and even excel in resisting-power, water and air.
In India, Malabar,
and some places of Central Africa, the conjurers will freely permit any
traveller to fire his musket or revolver at them, without touching the weapon
themselves or selecting the balls. In Laing's Travels among Timanni, the
Kourankos, and the Soulimas, occurs a description by an English traveller, the
first white man to visit the tribe of the Soulimas, near the sources of the
Dialliba, of a very curious scene. A body of picked soldiers fired upon a chief
who had nothing to defend himself with but certain talismans. Although their
muskets were properly loaded and aimed, not a ball could strike him. Salverte
gives a similar case in his Philosophy of Occult Sciences: "In 1568, the
Prince of Orange condemned a Spanish prisoner to be shot at Juliers; the
soldiers tied
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ALGERIA.
him to a tree and
fired, but he was invulnerable. They at last stripped him to see what armor he
wore, but found only an amulet. When this was taken from him, he fell dead at
the first shot."
This is a very
different affair from the dexterous trickery resorted to by Houdin in Algeria.
He prepared balls himself of tallow, blackened with soot, and by sleight of
hand exchanged them for the real bullets, which the Arab sheiks supposed they
were placing in the pistols. The simple-minded natives, knowing nothing but
real magic, which they had inherited from their ancestors, and which consists
in each case of some one thing that they can do without knowing why or how, and
seeing Houdin, as they thought, accomplish the same results in a more
impressive manner, fancied that he was a greater magician than themselves. Many
travellers, the writer included, have witnessed instances of this
invulnerability where deception was impossible. A few years ago, there lived in
an African village, an Abyssinian who passed for a sorcerer. Upon one occasion
a party of Europeans, going to Soudan, amused themselves for an hour or two in
firing at him with their own pistols and muskets, a privilege which he gave
them for a trifling fee. As many as five shots were fired simultaneously, by a
Frenchman named Langlois, and the muzzles of the pieces were not above two
yards distant from the sorcerer's breast. In each case, simultaneously with the
flash, the bullet would appear just beyond the muzzle, quivering in the air,
and then, after describing a short parabola, fall harmlessly to the ground. A
German of the party, who was going in search of ostrich feathers, offered the
magician a five-franc piece if he would allow him to fire his gun with the
muzzle touching his body. The man at first refused; but, finally, after appearing
to hold conversation with somebody inside the ground, consented. The
experimenter carefully loaded, and pressing the muzzle of the weapon against
the sorcerer's body, after a moment's hesitation, fired . . . the barrel burst
into fragments as far down as the stock, and the man walked off unhurt.
This quality of
invulnerability can be imparted to persons both by living adepts and by
spirits. In our own time several well-known mediums have frequently, in the
presence of the most respectable witnesses, not only handled blazing coals and
actually placed their face upon a fire without singeing a hair, but even laid
flaming coals upon the heads and hands of bystanders, as in the case of Lord
Lindsay and Lord Adair. The well-known story of the Indian chief, who confessed
to Washington that at Braddock's defeat he had fired his rifle at him seventeen
times at short range without being able to touch him, will recur to the reader
in this connection. In fact, many great commanders have been believed by their
soldiers to bear what is called "a charmed life"; and Prince
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Emile von
Sayn-Wittgenstein, a general of the Russian army, is said to be one of these.
This same power
which enables one to compress the astral fluid so as to form an impenetrable
shell around one, can be used to direct, so to speak, a bolt of the fluid
against a given object, with fatal force. Many a dark revenge has been taken in
that way; and in such cases the coroner's inquest will never disclose anything
but sudden death, apparently resulting from heart-disease, an apoplectic fit,
or some other natural, but still not veritable cause. Many persons firmly
believe that certain individuals possess the power of the evil eye. The
mal'occhio, or jettatura is a belief which is prevalent throughout Italy and
Southern Europe. The Pope is held to be possessed -- perchance unconsciously --
of that disagreeable gift. There are persons who can kill toads by merely
looking at them, and can even slay individuals. The malignance of their desire
brings evil forces to a focus, and the death-dealing bolt is projected, as
though it were a bullet from a rifle.
In 1864, in the
French province of Le Var, near the little village of Brignoles, lived a
peasant named Jacques Pelissier, who made a living by killing birds by simple
will-power. His case is reported by the well-known Dr. d'Alger, at whose request
the singular hunter gave exhibitions to several scientific men, of his method
of proceeding. The story is told as follows: "At about fifteen or twenty
paces from us, I saw a charming little meadow-lark which I showed to Jacques.
'Watch him well, monsieur,' said he, 'he is mine.' Instantly stretching his
right hand toward the bird, he approached him gently. The meadow-lark stops,
raises and lowers his pretty head, spreads his wings, but cannot fly; at last
he cannot make a step further and suffers himself to be taken, only moving his
wings with a feeble fluttering. I examine the bird, his eyes are tightly closed
and his body has a corpse-like stiffness, although the pulsations of the heart
are very distinct; it is a true cataleptic sleep, and all the phenomena
incontestably prove a magnetic action. Fourteen little birds were taken in this
way, within the space of an hour; none could resist the power of Master
Jacques, and all presented the same cataleptic sleep; a sleep which, moreover,
terminates at the will of the hunter, whose humble slaves these little birds
have become.
"A hundred
times, perhaps, I asked Jacques to restore life and movement to his prisoners,
to charm them only half way, so that they might hop along the ground, and then
again bring them completely under the charm. All my requests were exactly
complied with, and not one single failure was made by this remarkable Nimrod,
who finally said to me: 'If you wish it, I will kill those which you designate
without touching them.' I pointed out two for the experiment, and, at
twenty-five or
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TAMING.
thirty paces
distance, he accomplished in less than five minutes what he had
promised."*
A most curious
feature of the above case is, that Jacques had complete power only over
sparrows, robins, goldfinches, and meadow-larks; he could sometimes charm
skylarks, but, as he says, "they often escape me."
This same power is
exercised with greater force by persons known as wild beast tamers. On the
banks of the Nile, some of the natives can charm the crocodiles out of the
water, with a peculiarly melodious, low whistle, and handle them with impunity;
while others possess such powers over the most deadly snakes. Travellers tell
of seeing the charmers surrounded by multitudes of the reptiles which they
dispatch at their leisure.
Bruce, Hasselquist,
and Lempriere,** testify to the fact that they have seen in Egypt, Morocco,
Arabia, and especially in the Senaar, some natives utterly disregarding the
bites of the most poisonous vipers, as well as the stings of scorpions. They
handle and play with them, and throw them at will into a state of stupor.
"In vain do the Latin and Greek writers," says Salverte, "assure
us that the gift of charming venomous reptiles was hereditary in certain
families from time immemorial, that in Africa the same gift was enjoyed by the
Psylli; that the Marses in Italy, and the Ophiozenes in Cyprus possessed
it." The skeptics forget that, in Italy, even at the commencement of the
sixteenth century, men, claiming to be descended from the family of Saint Paul,
braved, like the Marses, the bites of serpents."***
"Doubts upon this
subject," he goes on to say, "were removed forever at the time of the
expedition of the French into Egypt, and the following relation is attested by
thousands of eye-witnesses. The Psylli, who pretended, as Bruce had related, to
possess that faculty . . . went from house to house to destroy serpents of
every kind. . . . A wonderful instinct drew them at first toward the place in
which the serpents were hidden; furious, howling, and foaming, they seized and
tore them asunder with their nails and teeth."
"Let us
place," says Salverte, inveterate skeptic himself, "to the account of
charlatanism, the howling and the fury; still, the instinct which warned the
Psylli of the presence of the serpents, has in it some-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Villecroze:
"Le Docteur H. d'Alger," 19 Mars, 1861. Pierrart: vol. iv., pp.
254-257.
** Bruce:
"Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile," vol. x., pp. 402-447;
Hasselquist: "Voyage in the Levant," vol. i., pp. 92-100; Lempriere:
"Voyage dans l'Empire de Maroc, etc., en 1790," pp. 42-43.
*** Salverte:
"La Philosophie de la Magie. De l'Influence sur les Animaux," vol. i.
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thing more
real." In the Antilles, the negroes discover, by its odor, a serpent which
they do not see.* "In Egypt, the same tact, formerly possessed, is still
enjoyed by men brought up to it from infancy, and born as with an assumed
hereditary gift to hunt serpents, and to discover them even at a distance too
great for the effluvia to be perceptible to the dull organs of a European. The
principal fact above all others, the faculty or rendering dangerous animals
powerless, merely by touching them, remains well verified, and we shall,
perhaps, never understand better the nature of this secret, celebrated in
antiquity, and preserved to our time by the most ignorant of men."**
Music is delightful
to every person. Low whistling, a melodious chant, or the sounds of a flute
will invariably attract reptiles in countries where they are found. We have
witnessed and verified the fact repeatedly. In Upper Egypt, whenever our
caravan stopped, a young traveller, who believed he excelled on the flute,
amused the company by playing. The camel-drivers and other Arabs invariably
checked him, having been several times annoyed by the unexpected appearance of
various families of the reptile tribe, which generally shirk an encounter with
men. Finally, our caravan met with a party, among whom were professional
serpent-charmers, and the virtuoso was then invited, for experiment's sake, to
display his skill. No sooner had he commenced, than a slight rustling was heard,
and the musician was horrified at suddenly seeing a large snake appear in
dangerous proximity with his legs. The serpent, with uplifted head and eyes
fixed on him, slowly, and, as if unconsciously, crawled, softly undulating its
body, and following his every movement. Then appeared at a distance another
one, then a third, and a fourth, which were speedily followed by others, until
we found ourselves quite in a select company. Several of the travellers made
for the backs of their camels, while others sought refuge in the cantinier's
tent. But it was a vain alarm. The charmers, three in number, began their
chants and incantations, and, attracting the reptiles, were very soon covered
with them from head to foot. As soon as the serpents approached the men, they
exhibited signs of torpor, and were soon plunged in a deep catalepsy. Their
eyes were half closed and glazed, and their heads drooping. There remained but
one recalcitrant, a large and glossy black fellow, with a spotted skin. This
meloman of the desert went on gracefully nodding and leaping, as if it had
danced on its tail all its life, and keeping time to the notes of the flute.
This snake would not be enticed by the "charming" of the Arabs, but
kept slowly moving in the direction
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Thibaut de
Chanvallon: "Voyage a la Martinique."
** Salverte:
"Philosophy of Magic."
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of the
flute-player, who at last took to his heels. The modern Psyllian then took out
of his bag a half-withered plant, which he kept waving in the direction of the
serpent. It had a strong smell of mint, and as soon as the reptile caught its
odor, it followed the Arab, still erect upon its tail, but now approaching the
plant. A few more seconds, and the "traditional enemy" of man was
seen entwined around the arm of his charmer, became torpid in its turn, and the
whole lot were then thrown together in a pool, after having their heads cut
off.
Many believe that
all such snakes are prepared and trained for the purpose, and that they are
either deprived of their fangs, or have their mouths sewed up. There may be,
doubtless, some inferior jugglers, whose trickery has given rise to such an
idea. But the genuine serpent-charmer has too well established his claims in
the East, to resort to any such cheap fraud. They have the testimony on this
subject of too many trustworthy travellers, including some scientists, to be
accused of any such charlatanism. That the snakes, which are charmed to dance
and to become harmless, are still poisonous, is verified by Forbes. "On
the music stopping too suddenly," says he, "or from some other cause,
the serpent, who had been dancing within a circle of country-people, darted
among the spectators, and inflicted a wound in the throat of a young woman, who
died in agony, in half an hour afterward."*
According to the
accounts of many travellers the negro women of Dutch Guiana, the Obeah women,
excel in taming very large snakes called amodites, or papa; they make them
descend from the trees, follow, and obey them by merely speaking to them.**
We have seen in
India a small brotherhood of fakirs settled round a little lake, or rather a
deep pool of water, the bottom of which was literally carpeted with enormous
alligators. These amphibious monsters crawl out, and warm themselves in the
sun, a few feet from the fakirs, some of whom may be motionless, lost in prayer
and contemplation. So long as one of these holy beggars remains in view, the
crocodiles are as harmless as kittens. But we would never advise a foreigner to
risk himself alone within a few yards of these monsters. The poor Frenchman
Pradin found an untimely grave in one of these terrible Saurians, commonly
called by the Hindus Moudela.*** (This word should be nihang or ghariyal.)
When Iamblichus,
Herodotus, Pliny, or some other ancient writer tells us of priests who caused
asps to come forth from the altar of Isis, or of thaumaturgists taming with a
glance the most ferocious animals, they
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Forbes:
"Oriental Memoirs," vol. i., p. 44; vol ii., p. 387.
** Stedmann:
"Voyage in Surinam," vol. iii., pp. 64, 65.
*** See
"Edinburgh Review," vol. lxxx., p. 428, etc.
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are considered
liars and ignorant imbeciles. When modern travellers tell us of the same
wonders performed in the East, they are set down as enthusiastic jabberers, or
untrustworthy writers.
But, despite
materialistic skepticism, man does possess such a power, as we see manifested
in the above instances. When psychology and physiology become worthy of the
name of sciences, Europeans will be convinced of the weird and formidable
potency existing in the human will and imagination, whether exercised
consciously or otherwise. And yet, how easy to realize such power in spirit, if
we only think of that grand truism in nature that every most insignificant atom
in it is moved by spirit, which is one in its essence, for the least particle
of it represents the whole; and that matter is but the concrete copy of the
abstract idea, after all. In this connection, let us cite a few instances of
the imperial power of even the unconscious will, to create according to the
imagination or rather the faculty of discerning images in the astral light.
We have but to
recall the very familiar phenomenon of stigmata, or birth-marks, where effects
are produced by the involuntary agency of the maternal imagination under a
state of excitement. The fact that the mother can control the appearance of her
unborn child was so well known among the ancients, that it was the custom among
wealthy Greeks to place fine statues near the bed, so that she might have a
perfect model constantly before her eyes. The cunning trick by which the Hebrew
patriarch Jacob caused ring-streaked and speckled calves to be dropped, is an
illustration of the law among animals; and Aricante tells "of four
successive litters of puppies, born of healthy parents, some of which, in each
litter, were well formed, whilst the remainder were without anterior
extremities and had harelip." The works of Geoffroi St. Hilaire, Burdach,
and Elam, contain accounts of great numbers of such cases, and in Dr. Prosper
Lucas's important volume, Sur l'Heredite Naturelle, there are many. Elam quotes
from Prichard an instance where the child of a negro and white was marked with
black and white color upon separate parts of the body. He adds, with laudable
sincerity, "These are singularities of which, in the present state of
science, no explanation can be given."* It is a pity that his example was
not more generally imitated. Among the ancients Empedocles, Aristotle, Pliny,
Hippocrates, Galen, Marcus Damascenus, and others give us accounts quite as
wonderful as our contemporary authors.
In a work published
in London, in 1659,** a powerful argument is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Elam: "A
Physician's Problems," p. 25.
** The
"Immortality of the Soul," by Henry More. Fellow of Christ's College,
Cambridge.
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PHENOMENA.
made in refutation
of the materialists by showing the potency of the human mind upon the subtile
forces of nature. The author, Dr. More, views the foetus as if it were a
plastic substance, which can be fashioned by the mother to an agreeable or
disagreeable shape, to resemble some person or in part several persons, and to
be stamped with the effigies, or as we might more properly call it, astrograph,
of some object vividly presented to her imagination. These effects may be
produced by her voluntarily or involuntarily, consciously or unconsciously,
feebly or forcibly, as the case may be. It depends upon her ignorance or
knowledge of the profound mysteries of nature. Taking women in the mass, the
marking of the embryo may be considered more accidental than the result of
design; and as each person's atmosphere in the astral light is peopled with the
images of his or her immediate family, the sensitive surface of the foetus,
which may almost be likened to the collodionized plate of a photograph, is as
likely as not to be stamped with the image of a near or remote ancestor, whom
the mother never saw, but which, at some critical moment, came as it were into
the focus of nature's camera. Says Dr. Elam, "Near me is seated a visitor
from a distant continent, where she was born and educated. The portrait of a
remote ancestress, far back in the last century, hangs upon the wall. In every
feature, one is an accurate presentment of the other, although the one never
left England, and the other was an American by birth and half parentage."
The power of the
imagination upon our physical condition, even after we arrive at maturity, is
evinced in many familiar ways. In medicine, the intelligent physician does not
hesitate to accord to it a curative or morbific potency greater than his pills
and potions. He calls it the vis medicatrix naturae, and his first endeavor is
to gain the confidence of his patient so completely, that he can cause nature
to extirpate the disease. Fear often kills; and grief has such a power over the
subtile fluids of the body as not only to derange the internal organs but even
to turn the hair white. Ficinus mentions the signature of the foetus with the
marks of cherries and various fruits, colors, hairs, and excrescences, and
acknowledges that the imagination of the mother may transform it into a
resemblance of an ape, pig, or dog, or any such animal. Marcus Damascenus tells
of a girl covered with hair and, like our modern Julia Pastrana, furnished with
a full beard; Gulielmus Paradinus, of a child whose skin and nails resembled
those of a bear; Balduinus Ronsaeus of one born with a turkey's wattles;
Pareus, of one with a head like a frog; and Avicenna, of chickens with hawks'
heads. In this latter case, which perfectly exemplifies the power of the same
imagination in animals, the embryo must have been stamped at the instant of
conception when the hen's imagination saw a hawk either in fact or in fancy.
This is evident,
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for Dr. More, who
quotes this case on the authority of Avicenna, remarks very appropriately that,
as the egg in question might have been hatched a hundred miles distant from the
hen, the microscopic picture of the hawk impressed upon the embryo must have
enlarged and perfected itself with the growth of the chicken quite
independently of any subsequent influence from the hen.
Cornelius Gemma
tells of a child that was born with his forehead wounded and running with
blood, the result of his father's threats toward his mother " . . . with a
drawn sword which he directed toward her forehead"; Sennertius records the
case of a pregnant woman who, seeing a butcher divide a swine's head with his
cleaver, brought forth her child with his face cloven in the upper jaw, the
palate, and upper lip to the very nose. In Van Helmont's De Injectis
Materialibus, some very astonishing cases are reported: The wife of a tailor at
Mechlin was standing at her door and saw a soldier's hand cut off in a quarrel,
which so impressed her as to bring on premature labor, and her child was born
with only one hand, the other arm bleeding. In 1602, the wife of Marcus
Devogeler, a merchant of Antwerp, seeing a soldier who had just lost his arm,
was taken in labor and brought forth a daughter with one arm struck off and
bleeding as in the first case. Van Helmont gives a third example of another
woman who witnessed the beheading of thirteen men by order of the Duc d'Alva.
The horror of the spectacle was so overpowering that she "suddainly fell
into labour and brought forth a perfectly-formed infant, only the head was
wanting, but the neck bloody as their bodies she beheld that had their heads
cut off. And that which does still advance the wonder is, that the hand, arme,
and head of these infants were none of them to be found."*
If it was possible
to conceive of such a thing as a miracle in nature, the above cases of the
sudden disappearance of portions of the unborn human body might be designated.
We have looked in vain through the latest authorities upon human physiology for
any sufficient theory to account for the least remarkable of foetal signatures.
The most they can do is to record instances of what they call "spontaneous
varieties of type," and then fall back either upon Mr. Proctor's
"curious coincidences" or upon such candid confessions of ignorance
as are to be found in authors not entirely satisfied with the sum of human
knowledge. Magendie acknowledges that, despite scientific researches,
comparatively little is known of foetal life. At page 518 of the American
edition of his Precis Elementaire de Physiologie he instances "a case
where the umbilical cord was ruptured and perfectly cicatrized"; and asks
"How was the
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Dr. H. More:
"Immortality of the Soul," p. 393.
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MOTHER.
circulation carried
on in this organ?" On the next page, he says: "Nothing is at present
known respecting the use of digestion in the foetus"; and respecting its
nutrition, propounds this query: "What, then, can we say of the nutrition
of the foetus? Physiological works contain only vague conjectures on this
point." On page 520, the following language occurs: "In consequence
of some unknown cause, the different parts of the foetus sometimes develop
themselves in a preternatural manner." With singular inconsistency with
his previous admissions of the ignorance of science upon all these points which
we have quoted, he adds: "There is no reason for believing that the
imagination of the mother can have any influence in the formation of these
monsters; besides, productions of this kind are daily observed in the offspring
of other animals and even in plants." How perfect an illustration is this
of the methods of scientific men! -- the moment they pass beyond their circle
of observed facts, their judgment seems to become entirely perverted. Their
deductions from their own researches are often greatly inferior to those made
by others who have to take the facts at second hand.
The literature of
science is constantly furnishing examples of this truth; and when we consider
the reasoning of materialistic observers upon psychological phenomena, the rule
is strikingly manifest. Those who are soul-blind are as constitutionally
incapable of distinguishing psychological causes from material effects as the
color-blind are to select scarlet from black.
Elam, without being
in the least a spiritualist, nay, though an enemy to it, represents the belief
of honest scientists in the following expressions: "it is certainly
inexplicable how matter and mind can act and react one upon the other; the
mystery is acknowledged by all to be insoluble, and will probably ever remain
so."
The great English
authority upon the subject of malformation is The Science and Practice of
Medicine, by Wm. Aitken, M. D., Edinburgh, and Professor of Pathology in the
Army Medical School; the American edition of which, by Professor Meredith
Clymer, M. D., of the University of Pennsylvania, has equal weight in the
United States. At page 233 of vol. i. we find the subject treated at length.
The author says, "The superstition, absurd notions, and strange causes
assigned to the occurrence of such malformations, are now fast disappearing
before the lucid expositions of those famous anatomists who have made the
development and growth of the ovum a subject of special study. It is sufficient
to mention here the names, J. Muller, Ratlike, Bischoff, St. Hilaire, Burdach,
Allen Thompson, G. & W. Vrolick, Wolff, Meckel, Simpson, Rokitansky, and
Von Ammon as sufficient evidence that the truths of science will in time dispel
the mists of ignorance and superstition." One would
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think, from the
complacent tone adopted by this eminent writer that we were in possession if
not of the means of readily solving this intricate problem at least of a clew
to guide us through the maze of our difficulties. But, in 1872, after profiting
by all the labors and ingenuity of the illustrious pathologists above
enumerated, we find him making the same confession of ignorance as that
expressed by Magendie in 1838. "Nevertheless," says he, "much
mystery still enshrouds the origin of malformation; the origin of them may be
considered in two main issues, namely: 1, are they due to original malformation
of the germ? 2, or, are they due to subsequent deformities of the embryo by
causes operating on its development? With regard to the first issue, it is believed
that the germ may be originally malformed, or defective, owing to some
influence proceeding either from the female, or from the male, as in case of
repeated procreation of the same kind of malformation by the same parents,
deformities on either side being transmitted as an inheritance."
Being unsupplied
with any philosophy of their own to account for the lesions, the pathologists,
true to professional instinct, resort to negation. "That such deformity
may be produced by mental impressions on pregnant women there is an absence of
positive proof," they say. "Moles, mothers' marks, and cutaneous
spots as ascribed to morbid states of the coats of the ovum. . . . A very
generally-recognized cause of malformation consists in impeded development of the
foetus, the cause of which is not always obvious, but is for the most part
concealed. . . . Transient forms of the human foetus are comparable to
persistent forms of many lower animals." Can the learned professor explain
why? "Hence malformations resulting from arrest of development often
acquire an animal-like appearance."
Exactly; but why do
not pathologists inform us why it is so? Any anatomist who has made the
development and growth of the embryo and foetus "a subject of special
study," can tell, without much brain-work, what daily experience and the
evidence of his own eyes show him, viz.: that up to a certain period, the human
embryo is a fac-simile of a young batrachian in its first remove from the spawn
-- a tadpole. But no physiologist or anatomist seems to have had the idea of
applying to the development of the human being -- from the first instant of its
physical appearance as a germ to its ultimate formation and birth -- the
Pythagorean esoteric doctrine of metempsychosis, so erroneously interpreted by
critics. The meaning of the kabalistic axiom: "A stone becomes a plant; a
plant a beast; a beast a man, etc.," was mentioned in another place in
relation to the spiritual and physical evolution of man on this earth. We will
now add a few words more to make the idea clearer.
What is the
primitive shape of the future man? A grain, a corpus-
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cle, say some
physiologists; a molecule, an ovum of the ovum, say others. If it could be
analyzed -- by the spectroscope or otherwise -- of what ought we to expect to
find it composed? Analogically, we should say, of a nucleus of inorganic
matter, deposited from the circulation at the germinating point, and united
with a deposit of organic matter. In other words, this infinitesimal nucleus of
the future man is composed of the same elements as a stone -- of the same
elements as the earth, which the man is destined to inhabit. Moses is cited by
the kabalists as authority for the remark, that it required earth and water to
make a living being, and thus it may be said that man first appears as a stone.
At the end of three
or four weeks the ovum has assumed a plant-like appearance, one extremity
having become spheroidal and the other tapering, like a carrot. Upon dissection
it is found to be composed, like an onion, of very delicate laminae or coats,
enclosing a liquid. The laminae approach each other at the lower end, and the
embryo hangs from the root of the umbilicus almost like a fruit from the bough.
The stone has now become changed, by metempsychosis, into a plant. Then the
embryonic creature begins to shoot out, from the inside outward, its limbs, and
develops its features. The eyes are visible as two black dots; the ears, nose,
and mouth form depressions, like the points of a pineapple, before they begin
to project. The embryo develops into an animal-like foetus -- the shape of a
tadpole -- and like an amphibious reptile lives in water, and develops from it.
Its monad has not yet become either human or immortal, for the kabalists tell
us that that only comes at the "fourth hour." One by one the foetus
assumes the characteristics of the human being, the first flutter of the
immortal breath passes through his being; he moves; nature opens the way for
him; ushers him into the world; and the divine essence settles in the infant
frame, which it will inhabit until the moment of physical death, when man becomes
a spirit.
This mysterious
process of a nine-months formation the kabalists call the completion of the
"individual cycle of evolution." As the foetus develops from the
liquor amnii in the womb, so the earths germinate from the universal ether, or
astral fluid, in the womb of the universe. These cosmic children, like their
pigmy inhabitants, are first nuclei; then ovules; then gradually mature; and
becoming mothers in their turn, develop mineral, vegetable, animal, and human
forms. From centre to circumference, from the imperceptible vesicle to the
uttermost conceivable bounds of the cosmos, these glorious thinkers, the
kabalists, trace cycle merging into cycle, containing and contained in an
endless series. The embryo evolving in its pre-natal sphere, the individual in
his family, the family in the state, the state in mankind, the earth in our
system,
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that system in its
central universe, the universe in the cosmos, and the cosmos in the First
Cause: -- the Boundless and Endless. So runs their philosophy of evolution:
"All are but
parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature
is; and God the Soul."
"Worlds
without number
Lie in this bosom
like children."
While unanimously
agreeing that physical causes, such as blows, accidents, and bad quality of
food for the mother, affect the foetus in a way which endangers its life; and
while admitting again that moral causes, such as fear, sudden terror, violent
grief, or even extreme joy, may retard the growth of the foetus or even kill
it, many physiologists agree with Magendie in saying, "there is no reason
for believing that the imagination of the mother can have any influence in the
formation of monsters"; and only because "productions of this kind
are daily observed in the production of other animals and even in plants."
In this opinion he
is supported by the leading teratologists of our day. Although Geoffroi St.
Hilaire gave its name to the new science, its facts are based upon the
exhaustive experiments of Bichat, who, in 1802, was recognized as the founder
of analytical and philosophical anatomy. One of the most important
contributions to teratological literature is the monograph of G. J. Fisher,
M.D., of Sing Sing, N. Y., entitled Diploteratology; an Essay on Compound Human
Monsters. This writer classifies monstrous foetal growths into their genera and
species, accompanying the cases with reflections suggested by their
peculiarities. Following St. Hilaire, he divides the history of the subject
into the fabulous, the positive, and the scientific periods.
It suffices for our
purpose to say that in the present state of scientific opinion two points are
considered as established: 1, that the maternal, mental condition has no
influence in the production of monstrosities; 2, that most varieties of
monstrosity may be accounted for on the theory of arrest and retardation of development.
Says Fisher, "By a careful study of the laws of development and the order
in which the various organs are evolved in the embryo, it has been observed
that monsters by defect or arrest of development, are, to a certain extent,
permanent embryos. The abnormal organs merely represent the primitive condition
of formation as it existed in an early stage of embryonic or foetal
life."* With physiology in so confessedly chaotic a state as it is at
present,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Transactions of the Medical Society of N. Y.," 1865-6-7.
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it seems a little
like hardihood in any teratologist, however great his achievements in anatomy,
histology, or embryology, to take so dangerous a position as that the mother
has no influence upon her offspring. While the microscopes of Haller and
Prolik, Dareste and Laraboulet have disclosed to us many interesting facts
concerning the single or double primitive traces on the vitelline membrane,
what remains undiscovered about embryology by modern science appears greater
still. If we grant that monstrosities are the result of an arrest of
development -- nay, if we go farther, and concede that the foetal future may be
prognosticated from the vitelline tracings, where will the teratologists take
us to learn the antecedent psychological cause of either? Dr. Fisher may have
carefully studied some hundreds of cases, and feel himself authorized to
construct a new classification of their genera and species; but facts are
facts, and outside the field of his observation it appears, even if we judge
but by our own personal experience, in various countries, that there are
abundant attainable proofs that the violent maternal emotions are often
reflected in tangible, visible, and permanent disfigurements of the child. And
the cases in question seem, moreover, to contradict Dr. Fisher's assertion that
monstrous growths are due to causes traceable to "the early stages of
embryonic or foetal life." One case was that of a Judge of an Imperial
Court at Saratow, Russia, who always wore a bandage to cover a mouse-mark on the
left side of his face. It was a perfectly-formed mouse, whose body was
represented in high relief upon the cheek, and the tail ran upward across the
temple and was lost in his hair. The body seemed glossy, gray, and quite
natural. According to his own account, his mother had an unconquerable
repugnance to mice, and her labor was prematurely brought on by seeing a mouse
jump out from her workbox.
In another
instance, of which the writer was a witness, a pregnant lady, within two or
three weeks of her accouchement, saw a bowl of raspberries, and was seized with
an irresistible longing for some, but denied. She excitedly clasped her right
hand to her neck in a somewhat theatrical manner, and exclaimed that she must
have them. The child born under our eyes, three weeks later, had a
perfectly-defined raspberry on the right side of his neck; to this day, when
that fruit ripens, his birth-mark becomes of a deep crimson, while, during the
winter, it is quite pale.
Such cases as
these, which are familiar to many mothers of families, either in their personal
experience or that of friends, carry conviction, despite the theories of all
the teratologists of Europe and America. Because, forsooth, animals and plants
are observed to produce malformations of their species as well as human beings,
Magendie and his school infer that the human malformations of an identical
character are
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not at all due to
maternal imagination, since the former are not. If physical causes produce
physical effects in the subordinate kingdoms, the inference is that the same
rule must hold with ourselves.
But an entirely
original theory was broached by Professor Armor, of the Long Island Medical
College, in the course of a discussion recently held in the Detroit Academy of
Medicine. In opposition to the orthodox views which Dr. Fisher represents,
Professor Armor says that malformations result from either one of two causes --
1, a deficiency or abnormal condition in the generative matter from which the
foetus is developed, or 2, morbid influences acting on the foetus in utero. He
maintains that the generative matter represents in its composition every
tissue, structure, and form, and that there may be such a transmission of
acquired structural peculiarities as would make the generative matter incapable
of producing a healthy and equally-developed offspring. On the other hand, the
generative matter may be perfect in itself, but being subjected to morbid
influences during the process of gestation, the offspring will, of necessity,
be monstrous.
To be consistent,
this theory must account for diploteratological cases (double-headed or
double-membered monsters), which seems difficult. We might, perhaps, admit that
in defective generative matter, the head of the embryo might not be
represented, or any other part of the body be deficient; but, it hardly seems
as if there could be two, three, or more representatives of a single member.
Again, if the generative matter have hereditary taint, it seems as if all the
resulting progeny should be equally monstrous; whereas the fact is that in many
cases the mother has given birth to a number of healthy children before the
monster made its appearance, all being the progeny of one father. Numerous
cases of this kind are quoted by Dr. Fisher; among others he cites the case of
Catherine Corcoran,* a "very healthy woman, thirty years of age and who,
previously to giving birth to this monster had born five well-formed children,
no two of which were twins . . . it had a head at either extremity, two chests,
with arms complete, two abdominal and two pelvic cavities united end to end,
with four legs placed two at either side, where the union between the two
occurred." Certain parts of the body, however, were not duplicated, and
therefore this cannot be claimed as a case of the growing together of twins.
Another instance is
that of Maria Teresa Parodi.** This woman, who had previously given birth to
eight well-formed children, was delivered of a female infant the upper part of
which only was double. Instances in
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Dublin
Quarterly Journal of Medical Science," vol. xv., p. 263, 1853.
** "Recherches
d'Anatomie transcendante et Pathologique, etc.," Paris, 1832.
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THEORY.
which before and
after the production of a monster the children were perfectly healthy are
numerous, and if, on the other hand, the fact that monstrosities are as common
with animals as they are with mankind is a generally-accepted argument against
the popular theory that these malformations are due to the imagination of the
mother; and that other fact -- that there is no difference between the ovarian
cell of a mammifer and man, be admitted, what becomes of Professor Armor's
theory? In such a case an instance of an animal-malformation is as good as that
of a human monster; and this is what we read in Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell's paper
On two-headed Serpents: "A female snake was killed, together with her
whole brood of young ones, amounting to 120, of these three were monsters. One
with two distinct heads; one with a double head and only three eyes; and one
with a double skull, furnished with three eyes, and a single lower jaw; this
last had two bodies."* Surely the generative matter which produced these
three monsters was identical with that which produced the other 117? Thus the
Armor theory is as imperfect as all the rest.
The trouble
proceeds from the defective method of reasoning usually adopted -- Induction; a
method which claims to collect by experiment and observation all the facts
within its reach, the former being rather that of collecting and examining
experiments and drawing conclusions therefrom; and, according to the author of
Philosophical Inquiry, "as this conclusion cannot be extended beyond what
is warranted by the experiments, the Induction is an instrument of proof and
limitation." Notwithstanding this limitation is to be found in every
scientific inquiry, it is rarely confessed, but hypotheses are constructed for us
as though the experimenters had found them to be mathematically-proved
theorems, while they are, to say the most, simple approximations.
For a student of
occult philosophy, who rejects in his turn the method of induction on account
of these perpetual limitations, and fully adopts the Platonic division of
causes -- namely, the Efficient, the Formal, the Material, and the Final, as
well as the Eleatic method of examining any given proposition, it is but
natural to reason from the following stand-point of the Neo-platonic school: 1.
The subject either is as it is supposed or is not. Therefore we will inquire:
Does the universal ether, known by the kabalists as the "astral
light," contain electricity and magnetism, or does it not? The answer must
be in the affirmative, for "exact science" herself teaches us that
these two convertible agents saturating both the air and the earth, there is a
constant interchange of electricity and magnetism between them. The question
No. 1 being
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Silliman's
Journal of Science and Art," vol. x., p. 48.
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settled, we will
have now to examine what happens -- 1st. To it with respect to itself. 2d. To
it with respect to all other things. 3d. With all other things, with respect to
it. 4th. To all other things with respect to themselves.
ANSWERS: 1st. With
respect to itself. That inherent properties previously latent in electricity,
become active under favoring conditions; and that at one time the form of
magnetic force is assumed by the subtile, all-pervading agent; at another, the
form of electric force is assumed.
2d. With respect to
all other things. By all other things for which it has an affinity, it is
attracted, by all others repelled.
3d. With all other
things with respect to it. It happens that whenever they come in contact with
electricity, they receive its impress in proportion to their conductivity.
4th. To all other
things with respect to themselves. That under the impulse received from the
electric force, and in proportion to its intensity, their molecules change
their relations with each other; that either they are wrenched asunder, so as
to destroy the object -- organic or inorganic -- which they formed, or, if
previously disturbed, are brought into equilibrium (as in cases of disease); or
the disturbance may be but superficial, and the object may be stamped with the
image of some other object encountered by the fluid before reaching them.
To apply the above
propositions to the case in point: There are several well-recognized principles
of science, as, for instance, that a pregnant woman is physically and mentally
in a highly impressible state. Physiology tells us that her intellectual
faculties are weakened, and that she is affected to an unusual degree by the
most trifling events. Her pores are opened, and she exudes a peculiar cutaneous
perspiration; she seems to be in a receptive condition for all the influences
in nature. Reichenbach's disciples assert that her odic condition is very
intense. Du Potet warns against incautiously mesmerizing her, for fear of
affecting the offspring. Her diseases are imparted to it, and often it absorbs
them entirely to itself; her pains and pleasures react upon its temperament as
well as its health; great men proverbially have great mothers, and vice versa.
"It is true that her imagination has an influence upon the foetus,"
admits Magendie, thus contradicting what he asserts in another place; and he
adds that "sudden terror may cause the death of the foetus, or retard its
growth."*
In the case
recently reported in the American papers, of a boy who was killed by a stroke
of lightning, upon stripping the body, there was found imprinted upon his
breast the faithful picture of a tree which grew
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Precis
Elementaire de Physiologie," p. 520.
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near the window
which he was facing at the time of the catastrophe, and which was also felled
by the lightning. Now, this electrical photography, which was accomplished by
the blind forces of nature, furnishes an analogy by which we may understand how
the mental images of the mother are transmitted to the unborn child. Her pores
are opened; she exudes an odic emanation which is but another form of the
akasa, the electricity, or life-principle, and which, according to Reichenbach,
produces mesmeric sleep, and consequently is magnetism. Magnetic currents
develop themselves into electricity upon their exit from the body. An object
making a violent impression on the mother's mind, its image is instantly
projected into the astral light, or the universal ether, which Jevons and
Babbage, as well as the authors of the Unseen Universe, tell us is the
repository of the spiritual images of all forms, and even human thoughts. Her
magnetic emanations attract and unite themselves with the descending current
which already bears the image upon it. It rebounds, and re-percussing more or
less violently, impresses itself upon the foetus, according to the very formula
of physiology which shows how every maternal feeling reacts on the offspring.
Is this kabalistic theory more hypothetical or incomprehensible than the
teratological doctrine taught by the disciples of Geoffroi St. Hilaire? The
doctrine, of which Magendie so justly observes, "is found convenient and
easy from its vagueness and obscurity," and which "pretends to
nothing less than the creation of a new science, the theory of which reposes on
certain laws not very intelligible, as that of arresting, that of retarding,
that of similar or eccentric position, especially the great law, as it is
called, of self for self."*
Eliphas Levi, who
is certainly one of the best authorities on certain points among kabalists,
says: "Pregnant women are, more than others, under the influence of the
astral light, which assists in the formation of their child, and constantly
presents to them the reminiscences of forms with which it is filled. It is thus
that very virtuous women deceive the malignity of observers by equivocal
resemblances. They often impress upon the fruit of their marriage an image
which has struck them in a dream, and thus are the same physiognomies
perpetuated from age to age.
"The
kabalistic use of the pentagram can therefore determine the countenance of
unborn infants, and an initiated woman might give to her son the features of
Nereus or Achilles, as well as those of Louis XV. or Napoleon."**
If it should
confirm another theory than that of Dr. Fisher, he should be the last to
complain, for as he himself makes the confession, which
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Ibid., p. 521.
** "Dogme et
Rituel de la Haute Magie," p. 175.
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his own example
verifies:* "One of the most formidable obstacles to the advancement of
science . . . has ever been a blind submission to authority. . . . To untrammel
the mind from the influence of mere authority, that it may have free scope in
the investigation of facts and laws which exist and are established in nature,
is the grand antecedent necessary to scientific discovery and permanent
progress."
If the maternal
imagination can stunt the growth or destroy the life of the foetus, why cannot
it influence its physical appearance? There are some surgeons who have devoted
their lives and fortunes to find the cause for these malformations, but have
only reached the opinion that they are mere "coincidences." It would
be also highly unphilosophical to say that animals are not endowed with
imagination; and, while it might be considered the acme of metaphysical
speculation to even formulate the idea that members of the vegetable kingdom --
say the mimosas and the group of insect-catchers -- have an instinct and even
rudimentary imagination of their own, yet the idea is not without its
advocates. If great physicists like Tyndall are forced to confess that even in
the case of intelligent and speaking man they are unable to bridge the chasm
between mind and matter, and define the powers of the imagination, how much
greater must be the mystery about what takes place in the brain of a dumb
animal.
What is
imagination? Psychologists tell us that it is the plastic or creative power of
the soul; but materialists confound it with fancy. The radical difference
between the two, was however, so thoroughly indicated by Wordsworth, in the
preface to his Lyrical Ballads, that it is no longer excusable to interchange
the words. Imagination, Pythagoras maintained to be the remembrance of
precedent spiritual, mental, and physical states, while fancy is the disorderly
production of the material brain.
From whatever
aspect we view and question matter, the world-old philosophy that it was
vivified and fructified by the eternal idea, or imagination -- the abstract
outlining and preparing the model for the concrete form -- is unavoidable. If
we reject this doctrine, the theory of a cosmos evolving gradually out of its
chaotic disorder becomes an absurdity; for it is highly unphilosophical to
imagine inert matter, solely moved by blind force, and directed by
intelligence, forming itself spontaneously into a universe of such admirable
harmony. If the soul of man is really an outcome of the essence of this
universal soul, an infinitesimal fragment of this first creative principle, it
must of necessity partake in degree of all the attributes of the demiurgic
power. As the creator, breaking up the chaotic mass of dead, inactive matter,
shaped it into
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Transactions of Medical Society, etc.," p. 246.
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form, so man, if he
knew his powers, could, to a degree, do the same. As Pheidias, gathering
together the loose particles of clay and moistening them with water, could give
plastic shape to the sublime idea evoked by his creative faculty, so the mother
who knows her power can fashion the coming child into whatever form she likes.
Ignorant of his powers, the sculptor produces only an inanimate though
ravishing figure of inert matter; while the soul of the mother, violently
affected by her imagination, blindly projects into the astral light an image of
the object which impressed it, and, by re-percussion, that is stamped upon the
foetus. Science tells us that the law of gravitation assures us that any
displacement which takes place in the very heart of the earth will be felt
throughout the universe, "and we may even imagine that the same thing will
hold true of those molecular motions which accompany thought."* Speaking
of the transmission of energy throughout the universal ether or astral light,
the same authority says: "Continual photographs of all occurrences are
thus produced and retained. A large portion of the energy of the universe may
thus be said to be invested in such pictures."
Dr. Fournie, of the
National Deaf and Dumb Institute of France, in chapter ii. of his work,** in
discussing the question of the foetus, says that the most powerful microscope
is unable to show us the slightest difference between the ovarian cell of a
mammifer and a man; and, respecting the first or last movement of the ovule,
asks: "What is it? has it particular characters which distinguish it from
every other ovule?" and justly answers thus: "Until now, science has
not replied to these questions, and, without being a pessimist, I do not think
that she ever will reply; from the day when her methods of investigation will
permit her to surprise the hidden mechanism of the conflict of the principle of
life with matter, she will know life itself, and be able to produce it."
If our author had read the sermon of Pere Felix, how appropriately he might
utter his Amen! to the priest's exclamation -- MYSTERY! MYSTERY!
Let us consider the
assertion of Magendie in the light of recorded instances of the power of
imagination in producing monstrous deformities, where the question does not
involve pregnant women. He admits that these occur daily in the offspring of
the lower animals; how does he account for the hatching of chickens with
hawk-heads, except upon the theory that the appearance of the hereditary enemy
acted upon the hen's imagination, which, in its turn, imparted to the matter
composing the germ a certain motion which, before expanding itself, produced
the monstrous chicks? We know of an analogous case, where a tame dove,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Fournie:
"Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux, Cerebro-spinal," Paris, 1872.
** Ibid.
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belonging to a lady
of our acquaintance, was frightened daily by a parrot, and in her next brood of
young there were two squabs with parrots' heads, the resemblance even extending
to the color of the feathers. We might also cite Columella, Youatt, and other
authorities, together with the experience of all animal breeders, to show that
by exciting the imagination of the mother, the external appearance of the
offspring can be largely controlled. These instances in no degree affect the
question of heredity, for they are simply special variations of type
artificially caused.
Catherine Crowe
discusses at considerable length the question of the power of the mind over
matter, and relates, in illustration, many well-authenticated instances of the
same.* Among others, that most curious phenomenon called the stigmata have a
decided bearing upon this point. These marks come upon the bodies of persons of
all ages, and always as the result of exalted imagination. In the cases of the
Tyrolese ecstatic, Catherine Emmerich, and many others, the wounds of the
crucifixion are said to be as perfect as nature. A certain Mme. B. von N.
dreamed one night that a person offered her a red and a white rose, and that
she chose the latter. On awaking, she felt a burning pain in her arm, and by
degrees there appeared the figure of a rose, perfect in form and color; it was
rather raised above the skin. The mark increased in intensity till the eighth
day, after which it faded away, and by the fourteenth, was no longer
perceptible. Two young ladies, in Poland, were standing by an open window
during a storm; a flash of lightning fell near them, and the gold necklace on
the neck of one of them was melted. A perfect image of it was impressed upon
the skin, and remained throughout life. The other girl, appalled by the
accident to her companion, stood transfixed with horror for several minutes,
and then fainted away. Little by little the same mark of a necklace as had been
instantaneously imprinted upon her friend's body, appeared upon her own, and
remained there for several years, when it gradually disappeared.
Dr. Justinus
Kerner, the distinguished German author, relates a still more extraordinary
case. "At the time of the French invasion, a Cossack having pursued a
Frenchman into a cul-de-sac, an alley without an outlet, there ensued a
terrible conflict between them, in which the latter was severely wounded. A
person who had taken refuge in this close, and could not get away, was so
dreadfully frightened, that when he reached home there broke out on his body
the very same wounds that the Cossack had inflicted on his enemy!"
In this case, as in
those where organic disorders, and even physical
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* "Night-Side
of Nature," by Catherine Crowe, p. 434, et seq.
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TERATOLOGY.
death result from a
sudden excitement of the mind reacting upon the body, Magendie would find it
difficult to attribute the effect to any other cause than the imagination; and
if he were an occultist, like Paracelsus, or Van Helmont, the question would be
stripped of its mystery. He would understand the power of the human will and
imagination -- the former conscious, the latter involuntary -- on the universal
agent to inflict injury, physical and mental, not only upon chosen victims, but
also, by reflex action, upon one's self and unconsciously. It is one of the
fundamental principles of magic, that if a current of this subtile fluid is not
impelled with sufficient force to reach the objective point, it will react upon
the individual sending it, as an India-rubber ball rebounds to the thrower's
hand from the wall against which it strikes without being able to penetrate it.
There are many cases instanced where would-be sorcerers fell victims
themselves. Van Helmont says: "The imaginative power of a woman vividly
excited produces an idea, which is the connecting medium between the body and
spirit. This transfers itself to the being with whom the woman stands in the
most immediate relation, and impresses upon it that image which the most
agitated herself."
Deleuze has
collected, in his Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal, a number of remarkable
facts taken from Van Helmont, among which we will content ourselves with
quoting the following as pendants to the case of the bird-hunter, Jacques
Pelissier. He says that "men by looking steadfastly at animals oculis
intentis for a quarter of an hour may cause their death; which Rousseau
confirms from his own experience in Egypt and the East, as having killed
several toads in this manner. But when he at last tried this at Lyons, the
toad, finding it could not escape from his eye, turned round, blew itself up,
and stared at him so fiercely, without moveing its eyes, that a weakness came
over him even to fainting, and he was for some time thought to be dead."
But to return to
the question of teratology. Wierus tells, in his De Praestigiis Demonum, of a
child born of a woman who not long before its birth was threatened by her
husband, he saying that she had the devil in her and that he would kill him.
The mother's fright was such that her offspring appeared "well-shaped from
the middle downward, but upward spotted with blackened red spots, with eyes in
his forehead, a mouth like a Satyr, ears like a dog, and bended horns on its
head like a goat." In a demonological work by Peramatus, there is a story
of a monster born at St. Lawrence, in the West Indies, in the year 1573, the
genuineness of which is certified to by the Duke of Medina-Sidonia. The child,
"besides the horrible deformity of its mouth, ears, and nose, had two
horns on the head, like those of young goats, long hair on his body, a fleshy
girdle about his middle, double, from whence hung a piece
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of flesh like a
purse, and a bell of flesh in his left hand like those the Indians use when
they dance, white boots of flesh on his legs, doubled down. In brief, the whole
shape was horrid and diabolical, and conceived to proceed from some fright the
mother had taken from the antic dances of the Indians."* Dr. Fisher
rejects all such instances as unauthenticated and fabulous.
But we will not
weary the reader with further selections from the multitude of teratological
cases to be found recorded in the works of standard authors; the above suffice
to show that there is reason to attribute these aberrations of physiological
type to the mutual reaction of the maternal mind and the universal ether upon
each other. Lest some should question the authority of Van Helmont, as a man of
science, we will refer them to the work of Fournie, the well-known
physiologist, where (at page 717) the following estimate of his character will
be found: "Van Helmont was a highly distinguished chemist; he had
particularly studied aeriform fluids, and gave them the name of gaz; at the
same time he pushed his piety to mysticism, abandoning himself exclusively to a
contemplation of the divinity. . . . Van Helmont is distinguished above all his
predecessors by connecting the principle of life, directly and in some sort
experimentally, as he tells us, with the most minute movements of the body. It
is the incessant action of this entity, in no way associated by him with the
material elements, but forming a distinct individuality, that we cannot
understand. Nevertheless, it is upon this entity that a famous school has laid
its principal foundation."
Van Helmont's
"principle of life," or archaeus, is neither more nor less than the
astral light of all the kabalists, and the universal ether of modern science.
If the more unimportant signatures of the foetus are not due to the imagination
of the mother, to what other cause would Magendie attribute the formation of
horny scales, the horns of goats and the hairy coats of animals, which we have
seen in the above instances marking monstrous progeny? Surely there were no
latent germs of these distinguishing features of the animal kingdom capable of
being developed under a sudden impulse of the maternal fancy. In short, the
only possible explanation is the one offered by the adepts in the occult
sciences.
Before leaving the
subject, we wish to say a few words more respecting the cases where the head,
arm, and hand were instantly dissolved, though it was evident that in each
instance the entire body of the child had been perfectly formed. Of what is a
child's body composed at its birth? The chemists will tell us that it comprises
a dozen pounds of solidified gas, and a few ounces of ashy residuum, some
water, oxygen,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Henry More:
"Immortality of the Soul," p. 399.
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NATURE.
hydrogen, nitrogen,
carbonic acid, a little lime, magnesia, phosphorus, and a few other minerals;
that is all! Whence came they? How were they gathered together? How were these
particles which Mr. Proctor tells us are drawn in from "the depths of
space surrounding us on all sides," formed and fashioned into the human
being? We have seen that it is useless to ask the dominant school of which
Magendie is an illustrious representative; for he confesses that they know
nothing of the nutrition, digestion, or circulation of the foetus; and
physiology teaches us that while the ovule is enclosed in the Graafian vesicle
it participates -- forms an integral part of the general structure of the
mother. Upon the rupture of the vesicle, it becomes almost as independent of
her for what is to build up the body of the future being as the germ in a
bird's egg after the mother has dropped it in the nest. There certainly is very
little in the demonstrated facts of science to contradict the idea that the
relation of the embryonic child to the mother is much different from that of the
tenant to the house, upon whose shelter he depends for health, warmth, and
comfort.
According to
Demokritus, the soul* results from the aggregation of atoms, and Plutarch
describes his philosophy as follows: "That there are substances infinite
in number, indivisible, undisturbed, which are without differences, without
qualities, and which move in space, where they are disseminated; that when they
approach each other, they unite, interlock, and form by their aggregation
water, fire, a plant, or a man. That all these substances, which he calls atoms
by reason of their solidity, can experience neither change nor alteration.
But," adds Plutarch, "we cannot make a color of that which is
colorless, nor a substance or soul of that which is without soul and without
quality." Professor Balfour Stewart says that this doctrine, in the hands
of John Dalton, "has enabled the human mind to lay hold of the laws which
regulate chemical changes, as well as to picture to itself what is there taking
place." After quoting, with approbation, Bacon's idea that men are
perpetually investigating the extreme limits of nature, he then erects a
standard which he and his brother philosophers would do well to measure their
behavior by. "Surely we ought," says he, "to be very cautious
before we dismiss any branch of knowledge or train of thought as essentially
unprofitable."**
Brave words, these.
But how many are the men of science who put them into practice?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* By the word soul,
neither Demokritus nor the other philosophers understood the nous or pneuma,
the divine immaterial soul, but the psyche, or astral body; that which Plato
always terms the second mortal soul.
** Balfour Stewart,
LL.D., F.R.S.: "The Conservation of Energy," p. 133.
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Demokritus of
Abdera shows us space crammed with atoms, and our contemporary astronomers
allow us to see how these atoms form into worlds, and afterward into the races,
our own included, which people them. Since we have indicated the existence of a
power in the human will, which, by concentrating currents of those atoms upon
an objective point, can create a child corresponding to the mother's fancy, why
is it not perfectly credible that this same power put forth by the mother, can,
by an intense, albeit unconscious reversal of those currents, dissipate and
obliterate any portion or even the whole of the body of her unborn child? And
here comes in the question of false pregnancies, which have so often completely
puzzled both physician and patient. If the head, arm, and hand of the three children
mentioned by Van Helmont could disappear, as a result of the emotion of horror,
why might not the same or some other emotion, excited in a like degree, cause
the entire extinction of the foetus in so-called false pregnancy? Such cases
are rare, but they do occur, and moreover baffle science completely. There
certainly is no chemical solvent in the mother's circulation powerful enough to
dissolve her child, without destroying herself. We commend the subject to the
medical profession, hoping that as a class they will not adopt the conclusion
of Fournie, who says: "In this succession of phenomena we must confine
ourselves to the office of historian, as we have not even tried to explain the
whys and wherefores of these things, for there lie the inscrutable mysteries of
life, and in proportion as we advance in our exposition, we will be obliged to
recognize that this is to us forbidden ground."*
Within the limits
of his intellectual capabilities the true philosopher knows no forbidden
ground, and should be content to accept no mystery of nature as inscrutable or
inviolable.
No student of
Hermetic philosophy, nor any spiritualist, will object to the abstract
principle laid down by Hume that a miracle is impossible; for to suppose such a
possibility would make the universe governed through special instead of general
laws. This is one of the fundamental contradictions between science and
theology. The former, reasoning upon universal experience, maintains that there
is a general uniformity of the course of nature, while the latter assumes that
the Governing Mind can be invoked to suspend general law to suit special
emergencies. Says John Stuart Mill,** "If we do not already believe in
supernatural agencies, no miracle can prove to us their existence. The miracle
itself, considered merely as an extraordinary fact, may be satisfactorily
certified by our senses or by testimony; but nothing can ever prove that it is
a miracle.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Fournie:
"Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux," p. 16.
** "A System
of Logic." Eighth ed., 1872, vol. ii., p. 165.
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INVASION OF SCIENCE.
There is still
another possible hypothesis, that of its being the result of some unknown
natural cause; and this possibility cannot be so completely shut out as to
leave no alternative but that of admitting the existence and intervention of a
being superior to nature."
This is the very
point which we have sought to bring home to our logicians and physicists. As
Mr. Mill himself says, "We cannot admit a proposition as a law of nature,
and yet believe a fact in real contradiction to it. We must disbelieve the
alleged fact, or believe that we were mistaken in admitting the supposed
law." Mr. Hume cites the "firm and unalterable experience" of
mankind, as establishing the laws whose operation ipso facto makes miracles
impossible. The difficulty lies in his use of the adjective which is
Italicized, for this is an assumption that our experience will never change,
and that, as a consequence, we will always have the same experiments and
observations upon which to base our judgment. It also assumes that all
philosophers will have the same facts to reflect upon. It also entirely ignores
such collected accounts of philosophical experiment and scientific discovery as
we may have been temporarily deprived of. Thus, by the burning of the
Alexandrian Library and the destruction of Nineveh, the world has been for many
centuries without the necessary data upon which to estimate the real knowledge,
esoteric and exoteric, of the ancients. But, within the past few years, the
discovery of the Rosetta stone, the Ebers, d'Aubigney, Anastasi, and other
papyri, and the exhumation of the tile-libraries, have opened a field of
archaeological research which is likely to lead to radical changes in this
"firm and unalterable experience." The author of Supernatural
Religion justly observes that "a person who believes anything
contradictory to a complete induction, merely on the strength of an assumption
which is incapable of proof, is simply credulous; but such an assumption cannot
affect the real evidence for that thing."
In a lecture
delivered by Mr. Hiram Corson, Professor of Anglo-Saxon Literature at the
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., before the alumni of St. John's College,
Annapolis, in July, 1875, the lecturer thus deservedly rebukes science:
"There are
things," he says, "which Science can never do, and which it is
arrogant in attempting to do. There was a time when Religion and the Church
went beyond their legitimate domain, and invaded and harried that of Science,
and imposed a burdensome tribute upon the latter; but it would seem that their
former relations to each other are undergoing an entire change, and Science has
crossed its frontiers and is invading the domain of Religion and the Church,
and instead of a Religious Papacy, we are in danger of being brought under a
Scientific Papacy -- we are in fact already brought under such a Papacy; and as
in the sixteenth cen-
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tury a protest was
made, in the interests of intellectual freedom, against a religious and
ecclesiastical despotism, so, in this nineteenth century, the spiritual and
eternal interests of man demand that a protest should be made against a
rapidly-developing scientific despotism, and that Scientists should not only
keep within their legitimate domain of the phenomenal and the conditioned, but
should 'reexamine their stock in trade, so that we may make sure how far the
stock of bullion in the cellar -- on the faith of whose existence so much paper
has been circulating -- is really the solid gold of Truth.'
"If this is
not done in science as well as in ordinary business, scientists are apt to put
their capital at too high a figure, and accordingly carry on a
dangerously-inflated business. Even since Prof. Tyndall delivered his Belfast
Address, it has been shown, by the many replies it has elicited, that the
capital of the Evolution-School of Philosophy to which he belongs, is not
nearly so great as it was before vaguely supposed to be by many of the
non-scientific but intelligent portion of the world. It is quite surprising to
a non-scientific person to be made aware of the large purely hypothetical
domain which surrounds that of established science, and of which scientists
often boast, as a part of their settled and available conquests."
Exactly; and at the
same time denying the same privilege to others. They protest against the
"miracles" of the Church, and repudiate, with as much logic, modern
phenomena. In view of the admission of such scientific authorities as Dr.
Youmans and others that modern science is passing through a transitional
period, it would seem that it is time that people should cease to consider certain
things incredible only because they are marvellous, and because they seem to
oppose themselves to what we are accustomed to consider universal laws. There
are not a few well-meaning men in the present century who, desiring to avenge
the memory of such martyrs of science as Agrippa, Palissy, and Cardan,
nevertheless fail, through lack of means, to understand their ideas rightly.
They erroneously believe that the Neo-platonists gave more attention to
transcendental philosophy than to exact science.
"The failures
that Aristotle himself so often exhibits," remarks Professor Draper,
"are no proof of the unreliability of his method, but rather of its
trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a sufficiency of
facts."*
What facts? we
might inquire. A man of science cannot be expected to admit that these facts
can be furnished by occult science, since he does not believe in the latter.
Nevertheless, the future may demon-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Draper: "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 22.
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TRUTH.
strate this verity.
Aristotle has bequeathed his inductive method to our scientists; but until they
supplement it with "the universals of Plato," they will experience
still more "failures" than the great tutor of Alexander. The
universals are a matter of faith only so long as they cannot be demonstrated by
reason and based on uninterrupted experience. Who of our present-day
philosophers can prove by this same inductive method that the ancients did not
possess such demonstrations as a consequence of their esoteric studies? Their own
negations, unsupported as they are by proof, sufficiently attest that they do
not always pursue the inductive method they so much boast of. Obliged as they
are to base their theories, nolens volens, on the groundwork of the ancient
philosophers, their modern discoveries are but the shoots put forth by the
germs planted by the former. And yet even these discoveries are generally
incomplete, if not abortive. Their cause is involved in obscurity and their
ultimate effect unforeseen. "We are not," says Professor Youmans,
"to regard past theories as mere exploded errors, nor present theories as
final. The living and growing body of truth has only mantled its old
integuments in the progress to a higher and more vigorous state."* This
language, applied to modern chemistry by one of the first philosophical
chemists and most enthusiastic scientific writers of the day, shows the
transitional state in which we find modern science; but what is true of
chemistry is true of all its sister sciences.
Since the advent of
spiritualism, physicians and pathologists are more ready than ever to treat
great philosophers like Paracelsus and Van Helmont as superstitious quacks and
charlatans, and to ridicule their notions about the archaeus, or anima mundi,
as well as the importance they gave to a knowledge of the machinery of the
stars. And yet, how much of substantial progress has medicine effected since
the days when Lord Bacon classed it among the conjectural sciences?
Such philosophers
as Demokritus, Aristotle, Euripides, Epicurus, or rather his biographer,
Lucretius, AEschylus, and other ancient writers, whom the materialists so
willingly quote as authoritative opponents of the dreamy Platonists, were only
theorists, not adepts. The latter, when they did write, either had their works
burned by Christian mobs or they worded them in a way to be intelligible only
to the initiated. Who of their modern detractors can warrant that he knows all
about what they knew? Diocletian alone burned whole libraries of works upon the
"secret arts"; not a manuscript treating on the art of making gold
and silver escaped the wrath of this unpolished tyrant. Arts and civilization
had attained such a development at what is now termed the archaic ages that we
learn,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Edward L.
Youmans, M.D.: "A Class-book of Chemistry," p. 4.
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through
Champollion, that Athothi, the second king of the first dynasty, wrote a work
on anatomy, and the king Necho on astrology and astronomy. Blantasus and
Cynchrus were two learned geographers of those pre-Mosaic days. AElian speaks
of the Egyptian Iachus, whose memory was venerated for centuries for his
wonderful achievements in medicine. He stopped the progress of several
epidemics, merely with certain fumigations. A work of Apollonides, surnamed
Orapios, is mentioned by Theophilus, patriarch of Antioch, entitled the Divine
Book, and giving the secret biography and origin of all the gods of Egypt; and
Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of a secret work in which was noted the precise age
of the bull Apis -- a key to many a mystery and cyclic calculation. What has
become of all these books, and who knows the treasures of learning they may
have contained? We know but one thing for a certainty, and that is, that Pagan
and Christian Vandals destroyed such literary treasures wherever they could
find them; and that the emperor Alexander Severus went all over Egypt to
collect the sacred books on mysticism and mythology, pillaging every temple;
and that the Ethiopians -- old as were the Egyptians in arts and sciences --
claimed a priority of antiquity as well as of learning over them; as well they
might, for they were known in India at the earliest dawn of history. We also
know that Plato learned more secrets in Egypt than he was allowed to mention;
and that, according to Champollion, all that is really good and scientific in
Aristotle's works -- so prized in our day by our modern inductionists -- is due
to his divine Master; and that, as a logical sequence, Plato having imparted
the profound secrets he had learned from the priests of Egypt to his initiated disciples
orally -- who in their turn passed it from one generation to another of adepts
-- the latter know more of the occult powers of nature than our philosophers of
the present day.
And here we may as
well mention the works of Hermes Trismegistus. Who, or how many have had the
opportunity to read them as they were in the Egyptian sanctuaries? In his
Egyptian Mysteries, Iamblichus attributes to Hermes 1,100 books, and Seleucus
reckons no less than 20,000 of his works before the period of Menes. Eusebius saw
but forty-two of these "in his time," he says, and the last of the
six books on medicine treated on that art as practiced in the darkest ages;*
and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Sprengel, in his
"History of Medicine," makes Van Helmont appear as if disgusted with
the charlatanry and ignorant presumption of Paracelsus. "The works of this
latter," says Sprengel, "which he (Van Helmont) had attentively read,
aroused in him the spirit of reformation; but they alone did not suffice for
him, because his erudition and judgment were infinitely superior to those of
that author, and he despised this mad egoist, this ignorant and ridiculous
vagabond, who often seemed to have fallen into insanity." This assertion
is perfectly false. We have the writings of Hel- [[Footnote continued on next
page]]
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Diodorus says that
it was the oldest of the legislators Mnevis, the third successor of Menes, who
received them from Hermes.
Of such manuscripts
as have descended to us, most are but Latin retranslations of Greek
translations, made principally by the Neo-platonists from the original books
preserved by some adepts. Marcilius Ficinus, who was the first to publish them
in Venice, in 1488, has given us mere extracts, and the most important portions
seemed to have been either overlooked, or purposely omitted as too dangerous to
publish in those days of Auto da fe. And so it happens now, that when a
kabalist who has devoted his whole life to studying occultism, and has
conquered the great secret, ventures to remark that the Kabala alone leads to
the knowledge of the Absolute in the Infinite, and the Indefinite in the
Finite, he is laughed at by those who because they know the impossibility of
squaring the circle as a physical problem, deny the possibility of its being
done in the metaphysical sense.
Psychology, according
to the greatest authorities on the subject, is a department of science hitherto
almost unknown. Physiology, according to Fournie, one of its French
authorities, is in so bad a condition as to warrant his saying in the preface
to his erudite work Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux, that "we perceive at
last that not only is the physiology of the brain not worked out, but also that
no physiology whatever of the nervous system exists." Chemistry has been
entirely remodelled within the past few years; therefore, like all new
sciences, the infant cannot be considered as very firm on its legs. Geology has
not yet been able to tell anthropology how long man has existed. Astronomy, the
most exact of sciences, is still speculating and bewildered about cosmic energy,
and many other things as important. In anthropology, Mr. Wallace tells us,
there exists a wide difference of opinion on some of the most vital questions
respecting the nature and origin of man. Medicine has been pronounced by
various eminent physicians to be nothing better than scientific guess-work.
Everywhere incompleteness, nowhere perfection. When we look at these earnest
men groping around in the dark to find the missing links of their broken
chains, they seem to us like persons starting from a common, fathomless abyss
by divergent paths. Each of these ends at the brink of a chasm which they
cannot explore. On the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] mont himself to refute it. In the well-known
dispute between two writers, Goclenius, a professor in Marburg, who supported
the great efficacy of the sympathetic salve discovered by Paracelsus, for the
cure of every wound, and Father Robert, a Jesuit, who condemned all these
cures, as he attributed them to the Devil, Van Helmont undertook to settle the
dispute. The reason he gave for interfering was that all such disputes
"affected Paracelsus as their discoverer and himself as his disciple"
(see "De Magnetica Vulner.," and 1. c., p. 705).
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one hand they lack
the means to descend into its hidden depths, and on the other they are repulsed
at each attempt by jealous sentries, who will not let them pass. And so they go
on watching the lower forces of nature and from time to time initiating the
public into their great discoveries. Did they not actually pounce upon vital force
and catch her playing in her game of correlation with chemical and physical
forces? Indeed they did. But if we ask them whence this vital force? How is it
that they who had so firmly believed, but a short time since, that matter was
destructible and passed out of existence, and now have learned to believe as
firmly that it does not, are unable to tell us more about it? Why are they
forced in this case as in many others to return to a doctrine taught by
Demokritus twenty-four centuries ago?* Ask them, and they will answer:
"Creation or destruction of matter, increase or diminution of matter, lies
beyond the domain of science . . . her domain is confined entirely to the
changes of matter . . . the domain of science lies within the limits of these changes
-- creation and annihilation lie outside of her domain."** Ah! no, they
lie only outside the grasp of materialistic scientists. But why affirm the same
of science? And if they say that "force is incapable of destruction,
except by the same power which created it," then they tacitly admit the
existence of such a power, and have therefore no right to throw obstacles in
the way of those who, bolder than themselves, try to penetrate beyond, and find
that they can only do so by lifting the Veil of Isis.
But, surely among
all these inchoate branches of science, there must be some one at least
complete! It seems to us that we heard a great clamor of applause, "as the
voice of many waters," over the discovery of protoplasm. But, alas! when
we turned to read Mr. Huxley, the learned parent of the new-born infant is
found saying: "In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical
investigation can tell us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of
living matter, and . . . it is also in strictness, true, that WE KNOW NOTHING
about the composition of any body whatever, as it is!"
This is a sad
confession, indeed. It appears, then, that the Aristotelian method of induction
is a failure in some cases, after all. This also seems to account for the fact
that this model philosopher, with all his careful study of particulars before
rising to universals, taught that the earth was in the centre of the universe;
while Plato, who lost himself in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Demokritus said
that, as from nothing, nothing could be produced, so there was not anything
that could ever be reduced to nothing.
** J. Le Conte:
"Correlation of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces," appendix.
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the maze of
Pythagorean "vagaries," and started from general principles, was
perfectly versed in the heliocentric system. We can easily prove the fact, by
availing ourselves of the said inductive method for Plato's benefit. We know
that the Sodalian oath of the initiate into the Mysteries prevented his
imparting his knowledge to the world in so many plain words. "It was the
dream of his life," says Champollion, "to write a work and record in
it in full the doctrines taught by the Egyptian hierophants; he often talked of
it, but found himself compelled to abstain on account of the 'solemn oath.'
"
And now, judging
our modern-day philosophers on the vice versa method -- namely, arguing from
universals to particulars, and laying aside scientists as individuals to merely
give our opinion of them, viewed as a whole -- we are forced to suspect this
highly respectable association of extremely petty feelings toward their elder,
ancient, and archaic brothers. It really seems as if they bore always in mind
the adage, "Put out the sun, and the stars will shine."
We have heard a
French Academician, a man of profound learning, remark, that he would gladly
sacrifice his own reputation to have the record of the many ridiculous mistakes
and failures of his colleagues obliterated from the public memory. But these
failures cannot be recalled too often in considering our claims and the subject
we advocate. The time will come when the children of men of science, unless
they inherit the soul-blindness of their skeptical parents, will be ashamed of
the degrading materialism and narrow-mindedness of their fathers. To use an
expression of the venerable William Howitt, "They hate new truths as the
owl and the thief hate the sun. . . . Mere intellectual enlightenment cannot
recognize the spiritual. As the sun puts out a fire, so spirit puts out the
eyes of mere intellect."
It is an old, old
story. From the days when the preacher wrote, "the eye is not satisfied
with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing," scientists have deported
themselves as if the saying were written to describe their own mental
condition. How faithfully Lecky, himself a rationalist, unconsciously depicts
this propensity in men of science to deride all new things, in his description
of the manner in which "educated men" receive an account of a miracle
having taken place! "They receive it," says he, "with an
absolute and even derisive incredulity, which dispenses with all examination of
the evidences!" Moreover, so saturated do they become with the fashionable
skepticism after once having fought their way into the Academy, that they turn
about and enact the role of persecutors in their turn. "It is a curiosity
of science," says Howitt, "that Benjamin Franklin, who had himself
experienced the ridicule of his countrymen for his attempts to identify
lightning and elec-
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tricity, should
have been one of the Committee of Savants, in Paris, in 1778, who examined the
claims of mesmerism, and condemned it as absolute quackery!"*
If men of science
would confine themselves to the discrediting of new discoveries, there might be
some little excuse for them on the score of their tendency to a conservatism
begotten of long habits of patient scrutiny; but they not only set up claims to
originality not warranted by fact, but contemptuously dismiss all allegations
that the people of ancient times knew as much and even more than themselves.
Pity that in each of their laboratories there is not suspended this text from Ecclesiastes:
"Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been
already of old time, which was before us."** In the verse which follows
the one here quoted, the wise man says, "There is no remembrance of former
things"; so that this utterance may account for every new denial. Mr.
Meldrum may exact praise for his meteorological observation of Cyclones in the
Mauritius, and Mr. Baxendell, of Manchester, talk learnedly of the
convection-currents of the earth, and Dr. Carpenter and Commander Maury map out
for us the equatorial current, and Professor Henry show us how the moist wind
deposits its burden to form rivulets and rivers, only to be again rescued from
the ocean and returned to the hill-tops -- but hear what Koheleth says: "The
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth
about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his
circuits."**
"All the
rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence
the rivers come, thither they return again."***
The philosophy of
the distribution of heat and moisture by means of ascending and descending
currents between the equator and the poles, has a very recent origin; but here
has the hint been lying unnoticed in our most familiar book, for nearly three
thousand years. And even now, in quoting it, we are obliged to recall the fact
that Solomon was a kabalist, and in the above texts, simply repeats what was
written thousands of years before his time.
Cut off as they are
from the accumulation of facts in one-half of the universe, and that the most
important, modern scholars are naturally unable to construct a system of
philosophy which will satisfy themselves, let alone others. They are like men
in a coal mine, who work all day and emerge only at night, being thereby unable
to appreciate or understand the beauty and glory of the sunshine. Life to them
measures the term of human activity, and the future presents to their
intellectual per-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The date is
incorrect; it should be 1784.
** Ecclesiastes i.
10.
*** Ibid., i. 6.
**** Ibid., i. 7.
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ception only an
abyss of darkness. No hope of an eternity of research, achievement, and
consequent pleasure, softens the asperities of present existence; and no reward
is offered for exertion but the bread-earning of to-day, and the shadowy and
profitless fancy that their names may not be forgotten for some years after the
grave has closed over their remains. Death to them means extinction of the
flame of life, and the dispersion of the fragments of the lamp over boundless
space. Said Berzelius, the great chemist, at his last hour, as he burst into
tears: "Do not wonder that I weep. You will not believe me a weak man, nor
think I am alarmed by what the doctor has to announce to me. I am prepared for
all. But I have to bid farewell to science; and you ought not to wonder that it
costs me dear."*
How bitter must be
the reflections of such a great student of nature as this, to find himself
forcibly interrupted midway toward the accomplishment of some great study, the
construction of some great system, the discovery of some mystery which had
baffled mankind for ages, but which the dying philosopher had dared hope that
he might solve! Look at the world of science to-day, and see the atomic
theorists, patching the tattered robes which expose the imperfections of their
separate specialties! See them mending the pedestals upon which to set up again
the idols which had fallen from the places where they had been worshipped
before this revolutionary theory had been exhumed from the tomb of Demokritus
by John Dalton! In the ocean of material science they cast their nets, only to
have the meshes broken when some unexpected and monstrous problem comes their
way. Its water is like the Dead Sea -- bitter to the taste; so dense, that they
can scarcely immerse themselves in it, much less dive to its bottom, having no
outlet, and no life beneath its waves, or along its margin. It is a dark,
forbidding, trackless waste; yielding nothing worth the having, because what it
yields is without life and without soul.
There was a period
of time when the learned Academics made themselves particularly merry at the
simple enunciation of some marvels which the ancients gave as having occurred
under their own observations. What poor dolts -- perhaps liars, these appeared
in the eyes of an enlightened century! Did not they actually describe horses
and other animals, the feet of which presented some resemblance to the hands
and feet of men? And in A.D. 1876, we hear Mr. Huxley giving learned lectures in
which the protohippus, rejoicing in a quasi-human fore-arm, and the orohippus
with his four toes and Eocene origin, and the hypothetical pedactyl equus,
maternal grand-uncle of the present horse, play
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Siljestrom:
"Minnesfest ofver Berzelius," p. 79.
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the most important
part. The marvel is corroborated! Materialistic Pyrrhonists of the nineteenth
century avenge the assertions of superstitious Platonists; the antediluvian
gobe-mouches. And before Mr. Huxley, Geoffroi St. Hilaire has shown an instance
of a horse which positively had fingers separated by membranes.* When the
ancients spoke of a pigmy race in Africa, they were taxed with falsehood. And
yet, pigmies like these were seen and examined by a French scientist during his
voyage in the Tenda Maia, on the banks of the Rio Grande in 1840;** by Bayard
Taylor at Cairo, in 1874; and by M. Bond, of the Indian Trigonometrical Survey,
who discovered a wild dwarfish race, living in the hill-jungles of the western
Galitz, to the southwest of the Palini Hills, a race, though often heard of, no
trace of which had previously been found by the survey. "This is a new
pigmy race, resembling the African Obongos of du Chaillu, the Akkas of
Schweinfurth, and the Dokos of Dr. Krapf, in their size, appearance, and habits."**
Herodotus was
regarded as a lunatic for speaking of a people who he was told slept during a
night which lasted six months. If we explain the word "slept" by an
easy misunderstanding it will be more than easy to account for the rest as an
allusion to the night of the Polar Regions.*** Pliny has an abundance of facts
in his work, which until very recently, were rejected as fables. Among others,
he mentions a race of small animals, the males of which suckle their young
ones. This assertion afforded much merriment among our savants. In his Report
of the Geological Survey of the Territories, for 1872, Mr. C. H. Merriam
describes a rare and wonderful species of rabbit (Lepus Bairdi) inhabiting the
pine-regions about the head-waters of the Wind and Yellowstone Rivers, in
Wyoming.**** Mr. Merriam secured five specimens of this animal, "which . .
. are the first individuals of the species that have been brought before the
scientific world. One very curious fact is that all the males have teats, and
take part in suckling their young! . . . Adult males had large teats full of
milk, and the hair around the nipple of one was wet, and stuck to it, showing
that, when taken, he had been engaged in nursing his young." In the
Carthaginian account of the early voyages of Hanno,***** was found a long
description of "savage people . . . whose bodies were hairy and whom the
interpreters called gorillae"; [[anthropon agrion]] as the text reads,
clearly implying thereby that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Seance de
l'Academie de Paris," 13 Aout, 1807.
** Mollien:
"Voyage dans l'interieur de l'Afrique," tome ii., p. 210.
*** "The
Popular Science Monthly," May, 1876, p. 110.
**** Malte-Brun,
pp. 372, 373; Herodotus.
***** "The
Popular Science Monthly," Dec., 1874, p. 252, New York.
****** The
"Periplus of Hanno."
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these wild men were
monkeys. Until our present century, the statement was considered an idle story,
and Dodwell rejected altogether the authenticity of the manuscript and its
contents.* The celebrated Atlantis is attributed by the latest modern commentator
and translator of Plato's works to one of Plato's "noble lies."**
Even the frank admission of the philosopher, in the Timaeus, that "they
say, that in their time . . . the inhabitants of this island (Poseidon)
preserved a tradition handed down by their ancestors concerning the existence
of the Atlantic island of a prodigious magnitude . . . etc."*** does not
save the great teacher from the imputation of falsehood, by the
"infallible modern school."
Among the great
mass of peoples plunged deep in the superstitious ignorance of the mediaeval
ages, there were but a few students of the Hermetic philosophy of old, who,
profiting by what it had taught them, were enabled to forecast discoveries
which are the boast of our present age; while at the same time the ancestors of
our modern high-priests of the temple of the Holy Molecule, were yet
discovering the hoof-tracks of Satan in the simplest natural phenomenon. Says
Professor A. Wilder: "Roger Bacon (thirteenth century), in his treatise on
the Admirable Force of Art and Nature, devotes the first part of his work to
natural facts. He gives us hints of gunpowder and predicts the use of steam as
a propelling power. The hydraulic press, the diving bell and kaleidoscope are
all described."****
The ancients speak
of waters metamorphosed into blood; of blood-rain, of snow-storms during which
the earth was covered to the extent of many miles with snow of blood. This fall
of crimson particles has been proved, like everything else, to be but a natural
phenomenon. It has occurred at different epochs, but the cause of it remains a
puzzle until the present day.
De Candolle, one of
the most distinguished botanists of this century, sought to prove in 1825, at
the time when the waters of the lake of Morat had apparently turned into a
thick blood, that the phenomenon could be easily accounted for. He attributed
it to the development of myriads of those half-vegetable, half-infusory animals
which he terms Oscellatoria rubescens, and which form the link between animal
and vegetable organisms.***** Elsewhere we give an account of the red snow
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The original was
suspended in the temple of Saturn, at Carthage. Falconer gave two dissertations
on it, and agrees with Bougainville in referring it to the sixth century before
the Christian era. See Cory's "Ancient Fragments."
** Professor
Jowett.
*** "On the
Atlantic Island (from Marcellus) Ethiopic History."
**** "Alchemy,
or the Hermetic Philosophy."
***** See
"Revue Encyclopedique," vol. xxxiii., p. 676.
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which Captain Ross
observed in the Arctic regions. Many memoirs have been written on the subject
by the most eminent naturalists, but no two of them agree in their hypotheses.
Some call it "pollen powder of a species of pine"; others, small
insects; and Professor Agardt confesses very frankly that he is at a loss to
either account for the cause of such phenomena, or to explain the nature of the
red substance.*
The unanimous
testimony of mankind is said to be an irrefutable proof of truth; and about
what was ever testimony more unanimous than that for thousands of ages among
civilized people as among the most barbarous, there has existed a firm and
unwavering belief in magic? The latter implies a contravention of the laws of
nature only in the minds of the ignorant; and if such ignorance is to be
deplored in the ancient uneducated nations, why do not our civilized and
highly-educated classes of fervent Christians, deplore it also in themselves?
The mysteries of the Christian religion have been no more able to stand a
crucial test than biblical miracles. Magic alone, in the true sense of the
word, affords a clew to the wonders of Aaron's rod, and the feats of the magi
of Pharaoh, who opposed Moses; and it does that without either impairing the
general truthfulness of the authors of the Exodus, or claiming more for the
prophet of Israel than for others, or allowing the possibility of a single
instance in which a "miracle" can happen in contravention of the laws
of nature. Out of many "miracles," we may select for our illustration
that of the "river turned into blood." The text says: "Take thy
rod and stretch out thine hand (with the rod in it) upon the waters, streams,
etc. . . . that they may become blood."
We do not hesitate
to say that we have seen the same thing repeatedly done on a small scale, the
experiment not having been applied to a river in these cases. From the time of
Van Helmont, who, in the seventeenth century, despite the ridicule to which he
exposed himself, was willing to give the true directions for the so-called production
of eels, frogs, and infusoria of various kinds, down to the champions of
spontaneous generation of our own century, it has been known that such a
quickening of germs is possible without calling in the aid of miracle to
contravene natural law. The experiments of Pasteur and Spallanzani, and the
controversy of the panspermists with the heterogenists -- disciples of Buffon,
among them Needham -- have too long occupied public attention to permit us to
doubt that beings may be called into existence whenever there is air and
favorable conditions of moisture and temperature. The records of the official
meetings of the Academy of Sciences of Paris**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Bulletin de
la Soc. Geograph.," vol. vi., pp. 209-220.
** See "Revue
Encyclopedique," vols. xxxiii. and xxxiv., pp. 676-395.
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contain accounts of
frequent appearances of such showers of blood-red snow and water. These
blood-spots were called lepra vestuum, and were but these lichen-infusoria.
They were first observed in 786 and 959, in both of which years occurred great
plagues. Whether these zoocarps were plants or animals is undetermined to this
day, and no naturalist would risk stating as a certainty to what division of
the organic kingdom of nature they belong. No more can modern chemists deny
that such germs can be quickened, in a congenial element, in an incredibly
short space of time. Now, if chemistry has, on the one hand, found means of
depriving the air of its floating germs, and under opposite conditions can
develop, or allow these organisms to develop, why could not the magicians of
Egypt do so "with their enchantments"? It is far easier to imagine
that Moses, who, on the authority of Manetho, had been an Egyptian priest, and
had learned all the secrets of the land of Chemia, produced "miracles"
according to natural laws, than that God Himself violated the established order
of His universe. We repeat that we have seen this sanguification of water
produced by Eastern adepts. It can be done in either of two ways: In one case
the experimenter employed a magnetic rod strongly electrified, which he passed
over a quantity of water in a metallic basin, following a prescribed process,
which we have no right to describe more fully at present; the water threw up in
about ten hours a sort of reddish froth, which after two hours more became a
kind of lichen, like the lepraria kermasina of Baron Wrangel. It then changed
into a blood-red jelly, which made of the water a crimson liquid that,
twenty-four hours later, swarmed with living organisms. The second experiment
consisted in thickly strowing the surface of a sluggish brook, having a muddy
bottom, with the powder of a plant that had been dried in the sun and
subsequently pulverized. Although this powder was seemingly carried off by the
stream, some of it must have settled to the bottom, for on the following
morning the water thickened at the surface and appeared covered with what de
Candolle describes as Oscellatoria rubescens, of a crimson-red color, and which
he believes to be the connecting link between vegetable and animal life.
Taking the above
into consideration, we do not see why the learned alchemists and physicists --
physicists, we say -- of the Mosaic period should not also have possessed the
natural secret of developing in a few hours myriads of a kind of these bacteria,
whose spores are found in the air, the water, and most vegetable and animal
tissues. The rod plays as important a part in the hands of Aaron and Moses as
it did in all so-called "magic mummeries" of kabalist-magicians in
the middle ages, that are now considered superstitious foolery and
charlatanism. The rod of Paracelsus (his kabalistic trident) and the famous
wands of Albertus Magnus,
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Roger Bacon, and
Henry Kunrath, are no more to be ridiculed than the graduating-rod of our
electro-magnetic physicians. Things which appeared preposterous and impossible
to the ignorant quacks and even learned scientists of the last century, now
begin to assume the shadowy outlines of probability, and in many cases are
accomplished facts. Nay, some learned quacks and ignorant scientists even begin
to admit this truth.
In a fragment
preserved by Eusebius, Porphyry, in his Letter to Anebo, appeals to Choeremon,
the "hierogrammatist," to prove that the doctrine of the magic arts,
whose adepts "could terrify even the gods," was really countenanced
by Egyptian sages.* Now, bearing in mind the rule of historical evidence
propounded by Mr. Huxley, in his Nashville address, two conclusions present
themselves with irresistible force: First, Porphyry, being in such unquestioned
repute as a highly moral and honorable man, not given to exaggeration in his statements,
was incapable of telling a lie about this matter, and did not lie; and second,
that being so learned in every department of human knowledge about which he
treats,** it was most unlikely that he should be imposed upon as regards the
magic "arts," and he was not imposed upon. Therefore, the doctrine of
chances supporting the theory of Professor Huxley, compels us to believe, 1,
That there was really such a thing as magic "arts"; and, 2, That they
were known and practiced by the Egyptian magicians and priests, whom even Sir
David Brewster concedes to have been men of profound scientific attainments.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Porphyry:
"Epistola ad Anebo., ap. Euseb. Praep. Evangel," v. 10; Iamblichus:
"De Mysteriis AEgypt."; Porphyrii: "Epistola ad Anebonem
AEgyptium."
**
"Porphyry," says the "Classical Dictionary" of Lempriere,
"was a man of universal information, and, according to the testimony of
the ancients, he excelled his contemporaries in the knowledge of history,
mathematics, music, and philosophy."
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CHAPTER XII.
"You never
hear the really philosophical defenders of the doctrine of uniformity speaking
of impossibilities in nature. They never say what they are constantly charged
with saying, that it is impossible for the Builder of the universe to alter his
work. . . . No theory upsets them (the English clergy). . . . Let the most
destructive hypothesis be stated only in the language current among gentlemen,
and they look it in the face." -- TYNDALL: Lecture on the Scientific Use
of the Imagination.
"The world
will have a religion of some kind, even though it should fly for it to the
intellectual whoredom of Spiritualism." -- TYNDALL: Fragments of Science.
"But first on
earth as vampires sent
Thy corpse shall
from its tomb be rent. . . .
And suck the blood
of all thy race." -- LORD BYRON: Giaour.
WE are now
approaching the hallowed precincts of that Janus-god -- the molecular Tyndall.
Let us enter them barefoot. As we pass the sacred adyta of the temple of
learning, we are nearing the blazing sun of the Huxleyocentric system. Let us
cast down our eyes, lest we be blinded.
We have discussed
the various matters contained in this book, with such moderation as we could
command in view of the attitude which the scientific and theological world have
maintained for centuries toward those from whom they have inherited the broad
foundations of all the actual knowledge which they possess. When we stand at
one side, and, as a spectator, see how much the ancients knew, and how much the
moderns think they know, we are amazed that the unfairness of our contemporary
schoolmen should pass undetected.
Every day brings
new admissions of scientists themselves, and the criticisms of well-informed
lay observers. We find the following illustrative paragraph in a daily paper:
"It is curious
to note the various opinions which prevail among scientific men in regard to
some of the most ordinary natural phenomena. The aurora is a notable case in
point. Descartes considered it a meteor falling from the upper regions of the
atmosphere. Halley attributed it to the magnetism of the terrestrial globe, and
Dalton agreed with this opinion. Coates supposed that the aurora was derived
from the fermentation of a matter emanating from the earth. Marion held it to
be a consequence of a contact between the bright atmosphere of the sun and the atmosphere
of our planet. Euler thought the aurora proceeded from the vibrations of the
ether among the particles of the terrestrial atmosphere. Canton and Franklin
regarded it as a purely electrical phenome-
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non, and Parrot
attributed it to the conflagration of hydrogen-carbonide escaping from the
earth in consequence of the putrefaction of vegetable substances, and
considered the shooting stars as the initial cause of such conflagration. De la
Rive and Oersted concluded it to be an electro-magnetic phenomenon, but purely
terrestrial. Olmsted suspected that a certain nebulous body revolved around the
sun in a certain time, and that when this body came into the neighborhood of
the earth, a part of its gaseous material mixed with our atmosphere, and that
this was the origin of the phenomenon of the aurora." And so we might say
of every branch of science.
Thus, it would seem
that even as to the most ordinary natural phenomena, scientific opinion is far
from being unanimous. There is not an experimentalist or theologian, who, in
dealing with the subtile relations between mind and matter, their genesis and
ultimate, does not draw a magical circle, the plane of which he calls forbidden
ground. Where faith permits a clergyman to go, he goes; for, as Tyndall says,
"they do not lack the positive element -- namely, the love of truth; but
the negative element, the fear of error, preponderates." But the trouble
is, that their dogmatic creed weighs down the nimble feet of their intellect,
as the ball and chain does the prisoner in the trenches.
As to the advance
of scientists, their very learning, moreover, is impeded by these two causes --
their constitutional incapacity to understand the spiritual side of nature, and
their dread of public opinion. No one has said a sharper thing against them
than Professor Tyndall, when he remarks, "in fact, the greatest cowards of
the present day are not to be found among the clergy, but within the pale of
science itself."* If there had been the slightest doubt of the
applicability of this degrading epithet, it was removed by the conduct of
Professor Tyndall himself; for, in his Belfast address, as President of the
British Association, he not only discerned in matter "the promise and
potency of every form and quality of life," but pictured science as
"wresting from theology the entire domain of cosmological theory";
and then, when confronted with an angry public opinion, issued a revised
edition of the address in which he had modified his expression, substituting
for the words "every form and quality of life," all terrestrial life.
This is more than cowardly -- it is an ignominious surrender of his professed
principles. At the time of the Belfast meeting, Mr. Tyndall had two pet
aversions -- Theology and Spiritualism. What he thought of the former has been
shown; the latter he called "a degrading belief." When hard pressed
by the Church for alleged atheism, he made haste to disclaim the imputation,
and sue for
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "On the
Scientific Use of the Imagination."
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LIFE.
peace; but, as his
agitated "nervous centres" and "cerebral molecules" had to
equilibrate by expanding their force in some direction, he turns upon the
helpless, because pusillanimous, spiritualists, and in his Fragments of Science
insults their belief after this fashion: "The world will have a religion
of some kind, even though it should fly for it to the intellectual whoredom of
Spiritualism." What a monstrous anomaly, that some millions of intelligent
persons should permit themselves to be thus reviled by a leader in science,
who, himself, has told us that "the thing to be repressed both in science
and out of it is 'dogmatism!' "
We will not
encroach upon space by discussing the etymological value of the epithet. While
expressing the hope that it may not be adopted in future ages by science as a
Tyndallism, we will simply remind the benevolent gentleman of a very
characteristic feature in himself. One of our most intelligent, honorable, and
erudite spiritualists, an author of no small renown,* has pointedly termed this
feature as "his (Tyndall's) simultaneous coquetry with opposite opinions."
If we are to accept the epithet of Mr. Tyndall in all its coarse signification,
it applies less to spiritualists, who are faithful to their belief, than to the
atheistical scientist who quits the loving embraces of materialism to fling
himself in the arms of a despised theism; only because he finds his profit in
it.
We have seen how
Magendie frankly confesses the ignorance of physiologists as to some of the
most important problems of life, and how Fournie agrees with him. Professor
Tyndall admits that the evolution-hypothesis does not solve, does not profess
to solve, the ultimate mystery.
We have also given
as much thought as our natural powers will permit to Professor Huxley's
celebrated lecture On the Physical Basis of Life, so that what we may say in
this volume as to the tendency of modern scientific thought may be free from
ignorant misstatement. Compressing his theory within the closest possible
limits, it may be formulated thus: Out of cosmic matter all things are created;
dissimilar forms result from different permutations and combinations of this
matter; matter has "devoured spirit," hence spirit does not exist;
thought is a property of matter; existing forms die that others may take their
place; the dissimilarity in organism is due only to varying chemical action in
the same life-matter -- all protoplasm being identical.
As far as chemistry
and microscopy goes, Professor Huxley's system may be faultless, and the
profound sensation caused throughout the world by its enunciation can be
readily understood. But its defect is that the thread of his logic begins
nowhere, and ends in a void. He has made the best possible use of the available
material. Given a universe crowded
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Epes Sargent. See
his pamphlet, "Does Matter do it All?"
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with molecules,
endowed with active force, and containing in themselves the principle of life,
and all the rest is easy; one set of inherent forces impel to aggregate into
worlds, and another to evolve the various forms of plant and animal organism.
But what gave the first impulse to those molecules and endowed them with that
mysterious faculty of life? What is this occult property which causes the
protoplasms of man, beast, reptile, fish, or plant, to differentiate, each ever
evolving its own kind, and never any other? And after the physical body gives
up its constituents to the soil and air, "whether fungus or oak, worm or
man," what becomes of the life which once animated the frame?
Is the law of
evolution, so imperative in its application to the method of nature, from the
time when cosmic molecules are floating, to the time when they form a human
brain, to be cut short at that point, and not allowed to develop more perfect
entities out of this "preexistent law of form"? Is Mr. Huxley
prepared to assert the impossibility of man's attainment to a state of
existence after physical death, in which he will be surrounded with new forms
of plant and animal life, the result of new arrangements of now sublimated
matter?* He acknowledges that he knows nothing about the phenomena of
gravitation; except that, in all human experience, as "stones,
unsupported, have fallen to the ground, there is no reason for believing that
any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground." But, he utterly
repels any attempt to change this probability into a necessity, and in fact
says: "I utterly repudiate and anathematize the intruder. Facts I know,
and Law I know; but what is this necessity, save an empty shadow of my own
mind's throwing?" It is this, only, that everything which happens in
nature is the result of necessity, and a law once operative will continue to so
operate indefinitely until it is neutralized by an opposing law of equal
potency. Thus, it is natural that the stone should fall to the ground in
obedience to one force, and it is equally natural that it should not fall, or
that having fallen, it should rise again, in obedience to another force equally
potent; which Mr. Huxley may, or may not, be familiar with. It is natural that
a chair should rest upon the floor when once placed there, and it is equally natural
(as the testimony of hundreds of competent witnesses
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In his
"Essay on Classification" (sect. xvii., pp. 97-99), Louis Agassiz,
the great zoologist, remarks: "Most of the arguments in favor of the
immortality of man apply equally to the permanency of this principle in other
living beings. May I not add that a future life in which man would be deprived
of that great source of enjoyment and intellectual and moral improvement, which
results from the contemplation of the harmonies of an organic world would
involve a lamentable loss? And may we not look to a spiritual concert of the
combined worlds and all their inhabitants in the presence of their creator as
the highest conception of paradise?"
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HUXLEY'S COMMON SENSE.
shows) that it
should rise in the air, untouched by any visible, mortal hand. Is it not Mr.
Huxley's duty to first ascertain the reality of this phenomenon, and then
invent a new scientific name for the force behind it?
"Facts I
know," says Mr. Huxley, "and Law I know." Now, by what means did
he become acquainted with Fact and Law? Through his own senses, no doubt; and
these vigilant servants enabled him to discover enough of what he considers
truth to construct a system which he himself confesses "appears almost
shocking to common sense." If his testimony is to be accepted as the basis
for a general reconstruction of religious belief, when they have produced only
a theory after all, why is not the cumulative testimony of millions of people
as to the occurrence of phenomena which undermine its very foundations, worthy
of a like respectful consideration? Mr. Huxley is not interested in these
phenomena, but these millions are; and while he has been digesting his
"bread and mutton-protoplasms," to gain strength for still bolder
metaphysical flights, they have been recognizing the familiar handwriting of
those they loved the best, traced by spiritual hands, and discerning the
shadowy simulacra of those who, having lived here, and passed through the
change of death, give the lie to his pet theory.
So long as science
will confess that her domain lies within the limits of these changes of matter;
and that chemistry will certify that matter, by changing its form "from
the solid or liquid, to the gaseous condition," only changes from the visible
to the invisible; and that, amid all these changes, the same quantity of matter
remains, she has no right to dogmatize. She is incompetent to say either yea or
nay, and must abandon the ground to persons more intuitional than her
representatives.
High above all
other names in his Pantheon of Nihilism, Mr. Huxley writes that of David Hume.
He esteems that philosopher's great service to humanity to be his irrefragable
demonstration of "the limits of philosophical inquiry," outside which
lie the fundamental doctrines "of spiritualism," and other
"isms." It is true that the tenth chapter of Hume's Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding was so highly esteemed by its author, that he
considered that "with the wise and learned" it would be an
"everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion," which
with him was simply a convertible term to represent a belief in some phenomena
previously unfamiliar and by him arbitrarily classified as miracle. But, as Mr.
Wallace justly observes, Hume's apothegm, that "a miracle is a violation
of the laws of nature," is imperfect; for in the first place it assumes
that we know all the laws of nature; and, second, that an unusual phenomenon is
a miracle. Mr. Wallace proposes that a miracle should be defined as: "any act
or event necessarily im-
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plying the
existence and agency of superhuman intelligences." Now Hume himself says
that "a uniform experience amounts to a proof," and Huxley, in this
famous essay of his, admits that all we can know of the existence of the law of
gravitation is that since, in all human experience, stones unsupported have
fallen to the ground, there is no reason for believing that the same thing will
not occur again, under the same circumstances, but, on the contrary, every
reason to believe that it will.
If it were certain
that the limits of human experience could never be enlarged, then there might
be some justice in Hume's assumption that he was familiar with all that could
happen under natural law, and some decent excuse for the contemptuous tone
which marks all of Huxley's allusions to spiritualism. But, as it is evident
from the writings of both these philosophers, that they are ignorant of the
possibilities of psychological phenomena, too much caution cannot be used in
according weight to their dogmatic assertions. One would really suppose that a
person who should permit himself such rudeness of criticism upon spiritualistic
manifestations had qualified himself for the office of censor by an adequate
course of study; but, in a letter addressed to the London Dialectical Society,
Mr. Huxley, after saying that he had no time to devote to the subject, and that
it does not interest him, makes the following confession, which shows us upon
what slight foundation modern scientists sometimes form very positive opinions.
"The only case of spiritualism," he writes, "I ever had the
opportunity of examining into for myself, was as gross an imposture as ever
came under my notice."
What would this
protoplasmic philosopher think of a spiritualist who, having had but one
opportunity to look through a telescope, and upon that sole occasion had had some
deception played upon him by a tricky assistant at the observatory, should
forthwith denounce astronomy as a "degrading belief"? This fact shows
that scientists, as a rule, are useful only as collectors of physical facts;
their generalizations from them are often feebler and far more illogical than
those of their lay critics. And this also is why they misrepresent ancient
doctrines.
Professor Balfour
Stewart pays a very high tribute to the philosophical intuition of Herakleitus,
the Ephesian, who lived five centuries before our era; the "crying"
philosopher who declared that "fire was the great cause, and that all
things were in a perpetual flux." "It seems clear," says the
professor, "that Herakleitus must have had a vivid conception of the
innate restlessness and energy of the universe, a conception allied in
character to, and only less precise than that of modern philosophers who regard
matter as essentially dynamical." He considers the expression fire as very
vague; and quite naturally, for the evidence is wanting to show that either
Prof. Balfour Stewart (who seems less in-
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clined to
materialism than some of his colleagues) or any of his contemporaries
understand in what sense the word fire was used.
His opinions about
the origin of things were the same as those of Hippocrates. Both entertained
the same views of a supreme power,* and, therefore, if their notions of
primordial fire, regarded as a material force, in short, as one akin to
Leibnitz's dynamism, were "less precise" than those of modern
philosophers, a question which remains to be settled yet, on the other hand
their metaphysical views of it were far more philosophical and rational than
the one-sided theories of our present-day scholars. Their ideas of fire were
precisely those of the later "fire-philosophers," the Rosicrucians,
and the earlier Zoroastrians. They affirmed that the world was created of fire,
the divine spirit of which was an omnipotent and omniscient GOD. Science has
condescended to corroborate their claims as to the physical question.
Fire, in the
ancient philosophy of all times and countries, including our own, has been
regarded as a triple principle. As water comprises a visible fluid with
invisible gases lurking within, and, behind all the spiritual principle of
nature, which gives them their dynamic energy, so, in fire, they recognized:
1st. Visible flame; 2d. Invisible, or astral fire -- invisible when inert, but
when active producing heat, light, chemical force, and electricity, the
molecular powers; 3d. Spirit. They applied the same rule to each of the
elements; and everything evolved from their combinations and correlations, man
included, was held by them to be triune. Fire, in the opinion of the
Rosicrucians, who were but the successors of the theurgists, was the source,
not only of the material atoms, but also of the forces which energize them. When
a visible flame is extinguished it has disappeared, not only from the sight but
also from the conception of the materialist, forever. But the Hermetic
philosopher follows it through the "partition-world of the knowable,
across and out on the other side into the unknowable," as he traces the
disembodied human spirit, "vital spark of heavenly flame," into the
AEthereum, beyond the grave.**
This point is too
important to be passed by without a few words of comment. The attitude of
physical science toward the spiritual half of the cosmos is perfectly
exemplified in her gross conception of fire. In this, as in every other branch
of science, their philosophy does not contain one sound plank: every one is
honeycombed and weak. The works of their own authorities teeming with
humiliating confessions, give us the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Diog. in
Vita."
** See the works of
Robertus de Fluctibus; and the "Rosicrucians," by Hargrave Jennings.
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right to say that
the floor upon which they stand is so unstable, that at any moment some new
discovery, by one of their own number, may knock away the props and let them
all fall in a heap together. They are so anxious to drive spirit out of their
conceptions that, as Balfour Stewart says: "There is a tendency to rush
into the opposite extreme, and to work physical conceptions to an excess."
He utters a timely warning in adding: "Let us be cautious that, in
avoiding Scylla, we do not rush into Charybdis. For the universe has more than
one point of view, and there are possibly regions which will not yield their
treasures to the most determined physicists, armed only with kilogrammes and
meters and standard clocks."* In another place he confesses: "We know
nothing, or next to nothing, of the ultimate structure and properties of
matter, whether organic or inorganic."
As to the other
great question -- we find in Macaulay, a still more unreserved declaration:
"The question what becomes of man after death -- we do not see that a
highly educated European, left to his unassisted reason, is more likely to be
in the right than a Blackfoot Indian. Not a single one of the many sciences in
which we surpass the Blackfoot Indians throws the smallest light on the state
of the soul after the animal life is extinct. In truth, all the philosophers,
ancient and modern, who have attempted, without the help of revelation, to
prove the immortality of man, from Plato down to Franklin, appear to us to have
failed deplorably."
There are
revelations of the spiritual senses of man which may be trusted far more than all
the sophistries of materialism. What was a demonstration and a success in the
eyes of Plato and his disciples is now considered the overflow of a spurious
philosophy and a failure. The scientific methods are reversed. The testimony of
the men of old, who were nearer to truth, for they were nearer to the spirit of
nature -- the only aspect under which the Deity will allow itself to be viewed
and understood -- and their demonstrations, are rejected. Their speculations --
if we must believe the modern thinkers -- are but the expression of a
redundance of the unsystematic opinions of men unacquainted with the scientific
method of the present century. They foolishly based the little they knew of
physiology on well-demonstrated psychology, while the scholar of our day bases
psychology -- of which he confesses himself utterly ignorant -- on physiology,
which to him is as yet a closed book, and has not even a method of its own, as
Fournie tells us. As to the last objection in Macaulay's argument, it was
answered by Hippocrates centuries ago: "All knowledge, all arts are to be
found in nature," he
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Professor B.
Stewart: "Conservation of Energy."
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The artist will
display his waves of harmony better on a royal Erard than he could have done on
a spinet of the sixteenth century. Therefore whether this instinctive impulse
was directly impressed upon the nervous system of the first insect, or each
species has gradually had it developed in itself by instinctively mimicking the
acts of its like, as the more perfected doctrine of Herbert Spencer has it, is
immaterial to the present subject. The question concerns spiritual evolution
only. And if we reject this hypothesis as unscientific and undemonstrated, then
will the physical aspect of evolution have to follow it to the ground in its
turn, because the one is as undemonstrated as the other, and the spiritual
intuition of man is not allowed to dovetail the two, under the pretext that it
is "unphilosophical." Whether we wish it or not, we will have to fall
back on the old query of Plutarch's Symposiacs, whether it was the bird or the
egg which first made its appearance.
Now that the
Aristotelean authority is shaken to its foundations with that of Plato; and our
men of science reject every authority -- nay hate it, except each his own; and
the general estimate of human collective wisdom is at the lowest discount,
mankind, headed by science itself, is still irrepressibly drawing back to the
starting-point of the oldest philosophies. We find our idea perfectly expressed
by a writer in the Popular Science Monthly. "The gods of sects and
specialities," says Osgood Mason, "may perhaps be failing of their
accustomed reverence, but, in the mean time, there is dawning on the world,
with a softer and serener light, the conception, imperfect though it still may
be, of a conscious, originating, all-pervading active soul -- the 'Over-Soul,'
the Cause, the Deity; unrevealed through human form or speech, but filling and
inspiring every living soul in the wide universe according to its measure:
whose temple is Nature, and whose worship is admiration." This is pure
Platonism, Buddhism, and the exalted but just views of the earliest Aryans in
their deification of nature. And such is the expression of the ground-thought
of every theosophist, kabalist, and occultist in general; and if we compare it
with the quotation from Hippocrates, which precedes the above, we will find in
it exactly the same thought and spirit.
To return to our
subject. The child lacks reason, it being as yet latent in him; and meanwhile
he is inferior to the animal as to instinct proper. He will burn or drown
himself before he learns that fire and water destroy and are dangerous for him;
while the kitten will avoid both instinctively. The little instinct the child
possesses fades away as reason, step by step, develops itself. It may be
objected, perhaps, that instinct cannot be a spiritual gift, because animals
possess it in a higher degree than man, and animals have no souls. Such a
belief is erroneous and based upon very insecure foundations. It came from the
fact that
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IMMORTAL?
the inner nature of
the animal could be fathomed still less than that of man, who is endowed with
speech and can display to us his psychological powers.
But what proofs
other than negative have we that the animal is without a surviving, if not
immortal, soul? On strictly scientific grounds we can adduce as many arguments
pro as contra. To express it clearer, neither man nor animal can offer either
proof or disproof of the survival of their souls after death. And from the
point of view of scientific experience, it is impossible to bring that which
has no objective existence under the cognizance of any exact law of science.
But Descartes and Bois-Raymond have exhausted their imaginations on the
subject, and Agassiz could not realize such a thing as a future existence not
shared by the animals we loved, and even the vegetable kingdom which surrounds
us. And it is enough to make one's feelings revolt against the claimed justice
of the First Cause to believe that while a heartless, cold-blooded villain has
been endowed with an immortal spirit, the noble, honest dog, often self-denying
unto death; that protects the child or master he loves at the peril of his
life; that never forgets him, but starves himself on his grave; the animal in
whom the sense of justice and generosity are sometimes developed to an amazing
degree, will be annihilated! No, away with the civilized reason which suggests
such heartless partiality. Better, far better to cling to one's instinct in
such a case, and believe with the Indian of Pope, whose "untutored
mind" can only picture to himself a heaven where
". . .
admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog
shall bear him company."
Space fails us to
present the speculative views of certain ancient and mediaeval occultists upon
this subject. Suffice it that they antedated Darwin, embraced more or less all
his theories on natural selection and the evolution of species, and largely
extended the chain at both ends. Moreover, these philosophers were explorers as
daring in psychology as in physiology and anthropology. They never turned aside
from the double parallel-path traced for them by their great master Hermes.
"As above, so below," was ever their axiom; and their physical
evolution was traced out simultaneously with the spiritual one.
On one point, at
least, our modern biologists are quite consistent: unable, as yet, to
demonstrate the existence of a distinct individual soul in animals, they deny
it to man. Reason has brought them to the brink of Tyndall's "impassable
chasm," between mind and matter; instinct alone can teach them to bridge
it. When in their despair of ever being
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able to fathom the
mystery of life, they will have come to a dead stop, their instinct may
reassert itself, and take them across the hitherto fathomless abyss. This is
the point which Professor John Fiske and the authors of the Unseen Universe
seem to have reached; and Wallace, the anthropologist and ex-materialist, to
have been the first to courageously step over. Let them push boldly on till
they discover that it is not spirit that dwells in matter, but matter which
clings temporarily to spirit; and that the latter alone is an eternal,
imperishable abode for all things visible and invisible.
Esoteric philosophers
held that everything in nature is but a materialization of spirit. The Eternal
First Cause is latent spirit, they said, and matter from the beginning.
"In the beginning was the word . . . and the word was God." While
conceding the idea of such a God to be an unthinkable abstraction to human
reason, they claimed that the unerring human instinct grasped it as a
reminiscence of something concrete to it though intangible to our physical
senses. With the first idea, which emanated from the double-sexed and hitherto-inactive
Deity, the first motion was communicated to the whole universe, and the
electric thrill was instantaneously felt throughout the boundless space. Spirit
begat force, and force matter; and thus the latent deity manifested itself as a
creative energy.
When; at what point
of the eternity; or how? the question must always remain unanswered, for human
reason is unable to grasp the great mystery. But, though spirit-matter was from
all eternity, it was in the latent state; the evolution of our visible universe
must have had a beginning. To our feeble intellect, this beginning may seem so
remote as to appear to us eternity itself -- a period inexpressible in figures
or language. Aristotle argued that the world was eternal, and that it will
always be the same; that one generation of men has always produced another,
without ever having had a beginning that could be determined by our intellect.
In this, his teaching, in its exoteric sense, clashed with that of Plato, who
taught that "there was a time when mankind did not perpetuate
itself"; but in spirit both the doctrines agreed, as Plato adds
immediately: "This was followed by the earthly human race, in which the
primitive history was gradually forgotten and man sank deeper and deeper";
and Aristotle says: "If there has been a first man he must have been born
without father or mother -- which is repugnant to nature. For there could not
have been a first egg to give a beginning to birds, or there should have been a
first bird which gave a beginning to eggs; for a bird comes from an egg."
The same he held good for all species, believing, with Plato, that everything
before it appeared on earth had first its being in spirit.
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This mystery of
first creation, which was ever the despair of science, is unfathomable, unless
we accept the doctrine of the Hermetists. Though matter is coeternal with
spirit, that matter is certainly not our visible, tangible, and divisible
matter, but its extreme sublimation. Pure spirit is but one remove higher.
Unless we allow man to have been evolved out of this primordial spirit-matter,
how can we ever come to any reasonable hypothesis as to the genesis of animate
beings? Darwin begins his evolution of species at the lowest point and traces
upward. His only mistake may be that he applies his system at the wrong end.
Could he remove his quest from the visible universe into the invisible, he
might find himself on the right path. But then, he would be following in the
footsteps of the Hermetists.
That our
philosophers -- positivists -- even the most learned among them, never
understood the spirit of the mystic doctrines taught by the old philosophers --
Platonists -- is evident from that most eminent modern work, Conflict between
Religion and Science. Professor Draper begins his fifth chapter by saying that
"the Pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man resembles his
bodily form, varying its appearance with his variations, and growing with his
growth." What the ignorant masses thought is a matter of little
consequence, though even they could never have indulged in such speculations
taken a la lettre. As to Greek and Roman philosophers of the Platonic school,
they believed no such thing of the spirit of man, but applied the above
doctrine to his soul, or psychical nature, which, as we have previously shown,
is not the divine spirit.
Aristotle, in his philosophical
deduction On Dreams, shows this doctrine of the twofold soul, or soul and
spirit, very plainly. "It is necessary for us to ascertain in what portion
of the soul dreams appear," he says. All the ancient Greeks believed not
only a double, but even a triple soul to exist in man. And even Homer we find
terming the animal soul, or the astral soul, called by Mr. Draper
"spirit," [[thumos]], and the divine one
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[[Vous]] -- the
name by which Plato also designated the higher spirit.
The Hindu Jainas
conceive the soul, which they call Jiva, to have been united from all eternity
to even two sublimated ethereal bodies, one of which is invariable and consists
of the divine powers of the higher mind; the other variable and composed of the
grosser passions of man, his sensual affections, and terrestrial attributes.
When the soul becomes purified after death it joins its Vaycarica, or divine
spirit, and becomes a god. The followers of the Vedas, the learned Brahmins,
explain the same doctrine in the Vedanta. The soul, according to their
teaching, as a portion of the divine universal spirit or immaterial mind, is
capable of uniting itself with the essence of its highest Entity. The teaching
is ex-
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plicit; the Vedanta
affirms that whoever attains the thorough knowledge of his god becomes a god
while yet in his mortal body, and acquires supremacy over all things.
Quoting from the
Vedaic theology the verse which says: "There is in truth but one Deity,
the Supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as the soul of man," Mr.
Draper shows the Buddhistic doctrines as reaching Eastern Europe through
Aristotle. We believe the assertion unwarranted, for Pythagoras, and after him
Plato, taught them long before Aristotle. If subsequently the later Platonists
accepted in their dialectics the Aristotelean arguments on emanation, it was
merely because his views coincided in some respect with those of the Oriental
philosophers. The Pythagorean number of harmony and Plato's esoteric doctrines
on creation are inseparable from the Buddhistic doctrine of emanation; and the
great aim of the Pythagorean philosophy, namely, to free the astral soul from
the fetters of matter and sense, and make it thereby fit for an eternal
contemplation of spiritual things, is a theory identical with the Buddhistic
doctrine of final absorption. It is the Nirvana, interpreted in its right
sense; a metaphysical tenet that just begins to be suspected now by our latest
Sanscrit scholars.
If the doctrines of
Aristotle have exercised on the later Neo-platonists such a "dominating
influence," how is it that neither Plotinus, nor Porphyry, nor Proclus
ever accepted his theories on dreams and prophetic soul-visions? While
Aristotle held that most of those who prophesy have "diseases of
madness"* -- thus furnishing some American plagiarists and specialists
with a few reasonable ideas to disfigure -- the views of Porphyry, hence those
of Plotinus, were quite the reverse. In the most vital questions of
metaphysical speculations Aristotle is constantly contradicted by the
Neo-platonists. Furthermore, either the Buddhistic Nirvana is not the
nihilistic doctrine, as it is now represented to be, or the Neo-platonists did
not accept it in this sense. Surely Mr. Draper will not take upon himself to
affirm that either Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, or any other philosopher of
their mystic school, did not believe in the soul's immortality? To say that
either of them sought ecstasy as a "foretaste of absorption into the
universal mundane soul," in the sense in which the Buddhist Nirvana is
understood by every Sanscrit scholar, is to wrong these philosophers. Nirvana
is not, as Mr. Draper has it, a "reabsorption in the Universal Force,
eternal rest, and bliss"; but, when taken literally by the said scholars,
means the blowing out, the extinction, complete annihilation, and not
absorption.** No one, so far as we know, has ever taken
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Vatibus
in Problemate," sect. 21.
** See Max Muller:
"The Meaning of Nirvana."
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INCONSISTENCY.
upon himself to
ascertain the true metaphysical meaning of this word, which is not to be found,
even in the Lankavatara,* which gives the different interpretations of the
Nirvana by the Brahmans-Tirthakas. Therefore, for one who reads this passage in
Mr. Draper's work, and bears in mind but the usually-accepted meaning of the
Nirvana, will naturally suppose that Plotinus and Porphyry were nihilists. Such
a page in the Conflict gives us a certain right to suppose that either 1, the
learned author desired to place Plotinus and Porphyry on the same plane with
Giordano Bruno, of whom he makes, very erroneously, an atheist; or, 2, that he
never took the trouble of studying the lives of these philosophers and their
views.
Now, for one who
knows Professor Draper, even by reputation, the latter supposition is simply
absurd. Therefore, we must think, with deep regret, that his desire was to
misrepresent their religious aspirations. It is decidedly an awkward thing for
modern philosophers, whose sole aim seems to be the elimination of the ideas of
God and the immortal spirit from the mind of humanity, to have to treat with
historical impartiality the most celebrated of the Pagan Platonists. To have to
admit, on the one hand, their profound learning, their genius, their
achievements in the most abstruse philosophical questions, and therefore their
sagacity; and, on the other, their unreserved adhesion to the doctrine of
immortality, of the final triumph of spirit over matter, and their implicit
faith in God and the gods, or spirits; in the return of the dead, apparitions,
and other "spiritual" matters, is a dilemma from which academical
human nature could not reasonably be expected to extricate itself so easily.
The plan resorted
to by Lempriere,** in such an emergency as the above, is coarser than Professor
Draper's, but equally effective. He charges the ancient philosophers with
deliberate falsehood, trickery, and credulity. After painting to his readers
Pythagoras, Plotinus, and Porphyry as marvels of learning, morality, and
accomplishments; as men eminent for personal dignity, purity of lives, and
self-abnegation in the pursuit of divine truths, he does not hesitate to rank
"this celebrated philosopher" (Pythagoras) among impostors; while to
Porphyry he attributes "credulity, lack of judgment, and dishonesty."
Forced by the facts of history to give them their just due in the course of his
narrative, he displays his bigoted prejudice in the parenthetical comments
which he allows himself. From this antiquated writer of the last century we
learn that a man may be honest, and at the same time an impostor; pure,
virtuous, and a great philosopher, and yet dishonest, a liar, and a fool!
We have shown
elsewhere that the "secret doctrine" does not con-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Lankavatara," transl. by Burnouf, p. 514.
** "Classical
Dictionary."
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cede immortality to
all men alike. "The eye would never see the sun, if it were not of the
nature of the sun," said Plotinus. Only "through the highest purity
and chastity we shall approach nearer to God, and receive in the contemplation
of Him, the true knowledge and insight," writes Porphyry. If the human
soul has neglected during its life-time to receive its illumination from its
Divine Spirit, our personal God, then it becomes difficult for the gross and
sensual man to survive for a great length of time his physical death. No more
than the misshapen monster can live long after its physical birth, can the
soul, once that it has become too material, exist after its birth into the
spiritual world. The viability of the astral form is so feeble, that the
particles cannot cohere firmly when once it is slipped out of the unyielding
capsule of the external body. Its particles, gradually obeying the
disorganizing attraction of universal space, finally fly asunder beyond the
possibility of reaggregation. Upon the occurrence of such a catastrophe, the
individual ceases to exist; his glorious Augoeides has left him. During the
intermediary period between his bodily death and the disintegration of the
astral form, the latter, bound by magnetic attraction to its ghastly corpse,
prowls about, and sucks vitality from susceptible victims. The man having shut
out of himself every ray of the divine light, is lost in darkness, and,
therefore, clings to the earth and the earthy.
No astral soul,
even that of a pure, good, and virtuous man, is immortal in the strictest
sense; "from elements it was formed -- to elements it must return."
Only, while the soul of the wicked vanishes, and is absorbed without
redemption, that of every other person, even moderately pure, simply changes
its ethereal particles for still more ethereal ones; and, while there remains
in it a spark of the Divine, the individual man, or rather, his personal ego,
cannot die. "After death," says Proclus, "the soul (the spirit)
continueth to linger in the aerial body (astral form), till it is entirely
purified from all angry and voluptuous passions . . . then doth it put off by a
second dying the aerial body as it did the earthly one. Whereupon, the ancients
say that there is a celestial body always joined with the soul, and which is
immortal, luminous, and star-like."
But, we will now
turn from our digression to further consider the question of reason and
instinct. The latter, according to the ancients, proceeded from the divine, the
former from the purely human. One (the instinct) is the product of the senses,
a sagaciousness shared by the lowest animals, even those who have no reason --
it is the [[aisthetikon]]; the other is the product of the reflective faculties
-- [[noetikon]], denoting judiciousness and human intellectuality. Therefore,
an animal devoid of reasoning powers has in its inherent instinct an unerring
faculty which is but that spark of the divine which lurks in every particle of
inorganic
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matter -- itself
materialized spirit. In the Jewish Kabala, the second and third chapters of
Genesis are explained thus: When the second Adam is created "out of the
dust," matter has become so gross that it reigns supreme. Out of its lusts
evolves woman, and Lilith has the best of spirit. The Lord God, "walking
in the garden in the cool of the day" (the sunset of spirit, or divine
light obscured by the shadows of matter) curses not only them who have
committed the sin, but even the ground itself, and all living things -- the
tempting serpent-matter above all.
Who but the
kabalists are able to explain this seeming act of injustice? How are we to
understand this cursing of all created things, innocent of any crime? The
allegory is evident. The curse inheres in matter itself. Henceforth, it is
doomed to struggle against its own grossness for purification; the latent spark
of divine spirit, though smothered, is still there; and its invincible
attraction upward compels it to struggle in pain and labor to free itself.
Logic shows us that as all matter had a common origin, it must have attributes
in common, and as the vital and divine spark is in man's material body, so it
must lurk in every subordinate species. The latent mentality which, in the
lower kingdoms is recognized as semi-consciousness, consciousness, and
instinct, is largely subdued in man. Reason, the outgrowth of the physical brain,
develops at the expense of instinct -- the flickering reminiscence of a once
divine omniscience -- spirit. Reason, the badge of the sovereignty of physical
man over all other physical organisms, is often put to shame by the instinct of
an animal. As his brain is more perfect than that of any other creature, its
emanations must naturally produce the highest results of mental action; but
reason avails only for the consideration of material things; it is incapable of
helping its possessor to a knowledge of spirit. In losing instinct, man loses
his intuitional powers, which are the crown and ultimatum of instinct. Reason
is the clumsy weapon of the scientists -- intuition the unerring guide of the
seer. Instinct teaches plant and animal their seasons for the procreation of
their species, and guides the dumb brute to find his appropriate remedy in the
hour of sickness. Reason -- the pride of man -- fails to check the propensities
of his matter, and brooks no restraint upon the unlimited gratification of his senses.
Far from leading him to be his own physician, its subtile sophistries lead him
too often to his own destruction.
Nothing is more
demonstrable than the proposition that the perfection of matter is reached at
the expense of instinct. The zoophyte attached to the submarine rock, opening
its mouth to attract the food that floats by, shows, proportionately with its
physical structure, more instinct than the whale. The ant, with its wonderful
architectural, social, and political
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abilities, is
inexpressibly higher in the scale than the subtile royal tiger watching its
prey. "With awe and wonder," exclaims du Bois-Raymond, "must the
student of nature regard that microscopic molecule of nervous substance which
is the seat of the laborious, constructive, orderly, loyal, dauntless soul of
the ant!"
Like everything
else which has its origin in psychological mysteries, instinct has been too
long neglected in the domain of science. "We see what indicated the way to
man to find relief for all his physical ailings," says Hippocrates.
"It is the instinct of the earlier races, when cold reason had not as yet
obscured man's inner vision. . . . Its indication must never be disdained, for
it is to instinct alone that we owe our first remedies."* Instantaneous
and unerring cognition of an omniscient mind, instinct is in everything unlike
the finite reason; and in the tentative progress of the latter, the god-like
nature of man is often utterly engulfed, whenever he shuts out from himself the
divine light of intuition. The one crawls, the other flies; reason is the power
of the man, intuition the prescience of the woman!
Plotinus, the pupil
of the great Ammonius Saccas, the chief founder of the Neo-platonic school,
taught that human knowledge had three ascending steps: opinion, science, and
illumination. He explained it by saying that "the means or instrument of
opinion is sense, or perception; of science, dialectics; of illumination,
intuition (or divine instinct). To the last, reason is subordinate; it is
absolute knowledge founded on the identification of the mind with the object
known."
Prayer opens the
spiritual sight of man, for prayer is desire, and desire develops WILL; the
magnetic emanations proceeding from the body at every effort -- whether mental
or physical -- produce self-magnetization and ecstasy. Plotinus recommended
solitude for prayer, as the most efficient means of obtaining what is asked;
and Plato advised those who prayed to "remain silent in the presence of
the divine ones, till they remove the cloud from thy eyes, and enable thee to
see by the light which issues from themselves." Apollonius always isolated
himself from men during the "conversation" he held with God, and
whenever he felt the necessity for divine contemplation and prayer, he wrapped
himself, head and all, in the drapery of his white woolen mantle. "When thou
prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father in secret," says the Nazarene, the pupil of the Essenes.
Every human being
is born with the rudiment of the inner sense called intuition, which may be
developed into what the Scotch know
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Cabanis:
"Histoire de la Medecine."
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FAITH IN GOD.
as "second
sight." All the great philosophers, who, like Plotinus, Porphyry, and
Iamblichus employed this faculty, taught the doctrine. "There is a faculty
of the human mind," writes Iamblichus, "which is superior to all
which is born or begotten. Through it we are enabled to attain union with the
superior intelligences, to being transported beyond the scenes of this world,
and to partaking the higher life and peculiar powers of the heavenly
ones."
Were there no inner
sight or intuition, the Jews would never have had their Bible, nor the
Christians Jesus. What both Moses and Jesus gave to the world was the fruit of
their intuition or illumination. What their subsequent elders and teachers
allowed the world to understand was -- dogmatic misrepresentations, too often
blasphemy.
To accept the Bible
as a "revelation" and nail belief to a literal translation, is worse
than absurdity -- it is a blasphemy against the Divine majesty of the
"Unseen." If we had to judge of the Deity, and the world of spirits,
by its human interpreters, now that philology proceeds with giant-strides on
the fields of comparative religions, belief in God and the soul's immortality
could not withstand the attacks of reason for one century more. That which
supports the faith of man in God and a spiritual life to come is intuition;
that divine outcome of our inner-self, which defies the mummeries of the Roman
Catholic priest, and his ridiculous idols; the thousand and one ceremonies of
the Brahman and his idols; and the jeremiads of the Protestant preacher, and
his desolate and arid creed, with no idols, but a boundless hell and damnation
hooked on at the end. Were it not for this intuition, undying though often
wavering because so clogged with matter, human life would be a parody and
humanity a fraud. This ineradicable feeling of the presence of some one outside
and inside ourselves is one that no dogmatic contradictions, nor external form
of worship can destroy in humanity, let scientists and clergy do what they may.
Moved by such thoughts of the boundlessness and impersonality of the Deity,
Gautama-Buddha, the Hindu Christ, exclaimed: "As the four rivers which
fall in the Ganges lose their names as soon as they mingle their waters with
the holy river, so all who believe in Buddha cease to be Brahmans, Kshatriyas,
Vaisyas, and Sudras!"
The Old Testament
was compiled and arranged from oral tradition; the masses never knew its real
meaning, for Moses was ordered to impart the "hidden truths" but to
his seventy elders on whom the "Lord" put of the spirit which was
upon the legislator. Maimonides, whose authority and whose knowledge of the
sacred history can hardly be rejected, says: "Whoever shall find out the
true sense of the book of Genesis ought to take care not to divulge it. . . .
If a person should discover the
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true meaning of it
by himself, or by the aid of another, then he ought to be silent; or, if he
speaks of it, he ought to speak of it but obscurely and in an enigmatical
manner."
This confession,
that what is written in the Holy Writ is but an allegory, was made by other
Jewish authorities besides Maimonides; for we find Josephus stating that Moses
"philosophized" (spoke riddles in figurative allegory), when writing
the book of Genesis. Therefore modern science, by neglecting to unriddle the
true sense of the Bible, and by allowing the whole of Christendom to go on
believing in the dead letter of the Jewish theology, tacitly constitutes
herself the confederate of the fanatical clergy. She has no right to ridicule
the records of a people who never wrote them with the idea that they would
receive such a strange interpretation at the hands of an inimical religion.
That their holiest texts should be turned against them and that the dead men's
bones could have smothered the spirit of truth, is the saddest feature of
Christianity!
"The gods
exist," says Epicurus, "but they are not what the rabble, [[hoi
polloi]], suppose them to be." And yet Epicurus, judged as usual by
superficial critics, is set down and paraded as a materialist.
But neither the
great First Cause nor its emanation -- human, immortal spirit -- have left
themselves "without a witness." Mesmerism and modern spiritualism are
there to attest the great truths. For over fifteen centuries, thanks to the
blindly-brutal persecutions of those great vandals of early Christian history,
Constantine and Justinian, ancient WISDOM slowly degenerated until it gradually
sank into the deepest mire of monkish superstition and ignorance. The
Pythagorean "knowledge of things that are"; the profound erudition of
the Gnostics; the world and time-honored teachings of the great philosophers;
all were rejected as doctrines of Antichrist and Paganism, and committed to the
flames. With the last seven wise men of the Orient, the remnant group of the
Neo-platonists, Hermias, Priscianus, Diogenes, Eulalius, Damaskius, Simplicius
and Isidorus, who fled from the fanatical persecutions of Justinian, to Persia,
the reign of wisdom closed. The books of Thoth, or (Hermes Trismegistus), which
contain within their sacred pages the spiritual and physical history of the
creation and progress of our world, were left to mould in oblivion and contempt
for ages. They found no interpreters in Christian Europe; the Philaletheians,
or wise "lovers of the truth," were no more; they were replaced by
the light-fleers, the tonsured and hooded monks of Papal Rome, who dread truth,
in whatever shape and from whatever quarter it appears, if it but clashes in
the least with their dogmas.
As to skeptics --
this is what Professor Alexander Wilder remarks of
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BUDDHA.
them and their
followers, in his sketches on Neo-platonism and Alchemy: "A century has
passed since the compilers of the French Encyclopaedia infused skepticism into
the blood of the civilized world, and made it disreputable to believe in the
actual existence of anything that cannot be tested in crucibles or demonstrated
by critical reasoning. Even now, it requires candor as well as courage to
venture to treat upon a subject which has been for many years discarded and
contemned, because it has not been well or correctly understood. The person
must be bold who accounts the Hermetic philosophy to be other than a pretense
of science, and so believing, demands for its enunciation a patient hearing.
Yet its professors were once the princes of learned investigation, and heroes
among common men. Besides, nothing is to be despised which men have reverently
believed; and disdain for the earnest convictions of others is itself the token
of ignorance, and of an ungenerous mind."
And now, encouraged
by these words from a scholar who is neither a fanatic nor a conservative, we
will recall a few things reported by travellers as having been seen by them in
Thibet and India, and which are treasured by the natives as practical proofs of
the truth of the philosophy and science handed down by their forefathers.
First we may
consider that most remarkable phenomenon as seen in the temples of Thibet and
the accounts of which have reached Europe from eye-witnesses other than
Catholic missionaries -- whose testimony we will exclude for obvious reasons.
Early in the present century a Florentine scientist, a skeptic and a
correspondent of the French Institute, having been permitted to penetrate in
disguise to the hallowed precincts of a Buddhist temple, where the most solemn
of all ceremonies was taking place, relates the following as having been seen
by himself. An altar is ready in the temple to receive the resuscitated Buddha,
found by the initiated priesthood, and recognized by certain secret signs to
have reincarnated himself in a new-born infant. The baby, but a few days old,
is brought into the presence of the people and reverentially placed upon the
altar. Suddenly rising into a sitting posture, the child begins to utter in a
loud, manly voice, the following sentences: "I am Buddha, I am his spirit;
and I, Buddha, your Dalai-Lama, have left my old, decrepit body, at the temple
of . . . and selected the body of this young babe as my next earthly
dwelling." Our scientist, being finally permitted by the priests to take,
with due reverence, the baby in his arms, and carry it away to such a distance
from them as to satisfy him that no ventriloquial deception is being practiced,
the infant looks at the grave academician with eyes that "make his flesh
creep," as he expresses it, and repeats the words he had previously
uttered. A detailed account of this adventure, attested with the signature of
this eye-witness, was forwarded to Paris,
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but the members of
the Institute, instead of accepting the testimony of a scientific observer of
acknowledged credibility, concluded that the Florentine was either suffering
under an attack of sunstroke, or had been deceived by a clever trick of
acoustics.
Although, according
to Mr. Stanislas Julien, the French translator of the sacred Chinese texts,
there is a verse in the Lotus* which says that "A Buddha is as difficult
to be found as the flowers of Udumbara and Palaca," if we are to believe
several eye-witnesses, such a phenomenon does happen. Of course its occurrence
is rare, for it happens but on the death of every great Dalai-Lama; and these
venerable old gentlemen live proverbially long lives.
The poor Abbe Huc,
whose works of travel in Thibet and China are so well-known, relates the same
fact of the resuscitation of Buddha. He adds, furthermore, the curious
circumstance that the baby-oracle makes good his claim to being an old mind in
a young body by giving to those who ask him, "and who knew him in his past
life, the most exact details of his anterior earthly existence."
It is worthy of
notice, that des Mousseaux, who expatiates at length on the phenomenon,
attributing it as a matter of course to the Devil, gravely remarks of the Abbe
himself, that the fact that he had been unfrocked (defroque) "is an
accident which I (he) confess scarcely tends to strengthen our
confidence." In our humble opinion this little circumstance strengthens it
all the more.
The Abbe Huc had
his work placed on the Index for the truth he told about the similarity of the
Buddhistical rites with the Roman Catholic ones. He was moreover suspended in
his missionary work for being too sincere.
If this example of
infant prodigy stood alone, we might reasonably indulge in some hesitation as
to accepting it; but, to say nothing of the Camisard prophets of 1707, among
whom was the boy of fifteen months described by Jacques Dubois, who spoke in
good French "as though God were speaking through his mouth"; and of
the Cevennes babies, whose speaking and prophesying were witnessed by the first
savants of France -- we have instances in modern times of quite as remarkable a
character. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, for March, 1875, contained an account of
the following phenomenon: "At Saar-Louis, France, a child was born. The
mother had just been confined, the midwife was holding forth garrulously 'on
the blessed little creature,' and the friends were congratulating the father on
his luck, when somebody asked what time it was. Judge of the surprise of all, on
hearing the new-born babe reply
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Le Lotus de
la bonne Loi," by E. Burnouf, translated from the Sanscrit.
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SAAR-LOUIS.
distinctly 'Two
o'clock!' But this was nothing to what followed. The company were looking on
the infant, with speechless wonder and dismay, when it opened its eyes, and
said: 'I have been sent into the world to tell you that 1875 will be a good
year, but that 1876 will be a year of blood.' Having uttered this prophecy it
turned on its side and expired, aged half-an-hour."
We are not aware
that this prodigy has received official authentication by the civil authority
-- of course we should look for none from the clergy, since no profit or honor
was to be derived from it -- but even if a respectable British commercial
journal was not responsible for the story, the result has given it special
interest. The year 1876, just passed (we write in February, 1877) was
emphatically, and, from the standpoint of March, 1875, unexpectedly -- a year
of blood. In the Danubian principalities was written one of the bloodiest
chapters of the history of war and rapine -- a chapter of outrages of Moslem
upon Christian that has scarcely been paralleled since Catholic soldiers
butchered the simple natives of North and South America by tens of thousands,
and Protestant Englishmen waded to the Imperial throne of Delhi, step by step,
through rivers of blood. If the Saar-Louis prophecy was but a mere newspaper
sensation, still the turn of events elevated it into the rank of a fulfilled
prediction; 1875 was a year of great plenty, and 1876, to the surprise of
everybody, a year of carnage.
But even if it
should be found that the baby-prophet never opened its lips, the instance of
the Jencken infant still remains to puzzle the investigator. This is one of the
most surprising cases of mediumship. The child's mother is the famous Kate Fox,
its father H. D. Jencken, M.R.I., Barrister-at-law, in London. He was born in
London, in 1873, and before he was three months old showed evidences of
spirit-mediumship. Rappings occurred on his pillow and cradle, and also on his
father's person, when he held the child in his lap and Mrs. Jencken was absent
from home. Two months later, a communication of twenty words, exclusive of
signature, was written through his hand. A gentleman, a Liverpool solicitor,
named J. Wason, was present at the time, and united with the mother and nurse
in a certificate which was published in the London Medium and Daybreak of May
8th, 1874. The professional and scientific rank of Mr. Jencken make it in the
highest degree improbable that he would lend himself to a deception. Moreover,
the child was within such easy reach of the Royal Institution, of which his
father is a member, that Professor Tyndall and his associates had no excuse for
neglecting to examine and inform the world about this psychological phenomenon.
The sacred baby of
Thibet being so far away, they find their most convenient plan to be a flat
denial, with hints of sunstroke and acoustical
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machinery. As for
the London baby, the affair is still easier; let them wait until the child has
grown up and learned to write, and then deny the story point-blank!
In addition to
other travellers, the Abbe Huc gives us an account of that wonderful tree of
Thibet called the Kounboum; that is to say, the tree of the 10,000 images and
characters. It will grow in no other latitude, although the experiment has
sometimes been tried; and it cannot even be multiplied from cuttings. The
tradition is that it sprang from the hair of one of the Avatars (the Lama
Son-Ka-pa) one of the incarnations of Buddha. But we will let the Abbe Huc tell
the rest of the story: "Each of its leaves, in opening, bears either a
letter or a religious sentence, written in sacred characters, and these letters
are, of their kind, of such a perfection that the type-foundries of Didot
contain nothing to excel them. Open the leaves, which vegetation is about to
unroll, and you will there discover, on the point of appearing, the letters or
the distinct words which are the marvel of this unique tree! Turn your
attention from the leaves of the plant to the bark of its branches, and new
characters will meet your eyes! Do not allow your interest to flag; raise the
layers of this bark, and still OTHER CHARACTERS will show themselves below
those whose beauty had surprised you. For, do not fancy that these superposed
layers repeat the same printing. No, quite the contrary; for each lamina you
lift presents to view its distinct type. How, then, can we suspect jugglery? I
have done my best in that direction to discover the slightest trace of human
trick, and my baffled mind could not retain the slightest suspicion."
We will add to M.
Huc's narrative the statement that the characters which appear upon the
different portions of the Kounboum are in the Sansar (or language of the Sun),
characters (ancient Sanscrit); and that the sacred tree, in its various parts,
contains in extenso the whole history of the creation, and in substance the
sacred books of Buddhism. In this respect, it bears the same relation to
Buddhism as the pictures in the Temple of Dendera, in Egypt, do to the ancient
faith of the Pharaohs. The latter are briefly described by Professor W. B.
Carpenter, President of the British Association, in his Manchester Lecture on
Egypt. He makes it clear that the Jewish book of Genesis is nothing more than
an expression of the early Jewish ideas, based upon the pictorial records of
the Egyptians among whom they lived. But he does not make it clear, except
inferentially, whether he believes either the Dendera pictures or the Mosaic
account to be an allegory or a pretended historical narrative. How a scientist
who had devoted himself to the most superficial investigation of the subject
can venture to assert that the ancient Egyptians had the same ridiculous
notions about the world's instantaneous creation
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THIBET.
as the early
Christian theologians, passes comprehension! How can he say that because the
Dendera picture happens to represent their cosmogony in one allegory, they
intended to show the scene as occurring in six minutes or six millions of
years? It may as well indicate allegorically six successive epochs or aeons, or
eternity, as six days. Besides, the Books of Hermes certainly give no color to
the charge, and the Avesta specifically names six periods, each embracing
thousands of years, instead of days. Many of the Egyptian hieroglyphics
contradict Dr. Carpenter's theory, and Champollion has avenged the ancients in
many particulars. From what is gone before, it will, we think, be made clear to
the reader that the Egyptian philosophy had no room for any such crude
speculations, if the Hebrews themselves ever believed them; their cosmogony
viewed man as the result of evolution, and his progress to be marked by
immensely lengthened cycles. But to return to the wonders of Thibet.
Speaking of
pictures, the one described by Huc as hanging in a certain Lamasery may fairly
be regarded as one of the most wonderful in existence. It is a simple canvas
without the slightest mechanical apparatus attached, as the visitor may prove
by examining it at his leisure. It represents a moon-lit landscape, but the
moon is not at all motionless and dead; quite the reverse, for, according to
the abbe, one would say that our moon herself, or at least her living double,
lighted the picture. Each phase, each aspect, each movement of our satellite,
is repeated in her fac-simile, in the movement and progress of the moon in the
sacred picture. "You see this planet in the painting ride as a crescent,
or full, shine brightly, pass behind the clouds, peep out or set, in a manner
corresponding in the most extraordinary way with the real luminary. It is, in a
word, a most servile and resplendent reproduction of the pale queen of the
night, which received the adoration of so many people in the days of old."
When we think of
the astonishment that would inevitably be felt by one of our self-complacent
academicians at seeing such a picture -- and it is by no means the only one,
for they have them in other parts of Thibet and Japan also, which represent the
sun's movements -- when we think, we say, of his embarrassment at knowing that
if he ventured to tell the unvarnished truth to his colleagues, his fate would
probably be like that of poor Huc, and he flung out of the academical chair as
a liar or a lunatic, we cannot help recalling the anecdote of Tycho-Brahe,
given by Humboldt in his Cosmos.*
"One
evening," says the great Danish astronomer, "as, according
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Cosmos," vol. iii., part i., p. 168.
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to my usual habit,
I was considering the celestial vault, to my indescribable amazement, I saw,
close to the zenith, in Cassiopea, a radiant star of extraordinary size. Struck
with astonishment, I knew not whether I could believe my own eyes. Some time
after that, I learned that in Germany, cartmen, and other persons of the lower
classes had repeatedly warned the scientists that a great apparition could be
seen in the sky; which fact afforded both the press and public one more
opportunity to indulge in their usual raillery against the men of science, who,
in the cases of several antecedent comets, had not predicted their
appearance."
From the days of
the earliest antiquity, the Brahmans were known to be possessed of wonderful
knowledge in every kind of magic arts. From Pythagoras, the first philosopher
who studied wisdom with the Gymnosophists, and Plotinus, who was initiated into
the mystery of uniting one's self with the Deity through abstract
contemplation, down to the modern adepts, it was well known that in the land of
the Brahmans and Gautama-Buddha the sources of "hidden" wisdom are to
be sought after. It is for future ages to discover this grand truth, and accept
it as such, whereas now it is degraded as a low superstition. What did any one,
even the greatest scientists, know of India, Thibet, and China, until the last
quarter of this century? That most untiring scholar, Max Muller, tells us that
before then not a single original document of the Buddhist religion had been
accessible to European philologists; that fifty years ago "there was not a
single scholar who could have translated a line of the Veda, a line of the
Zend-Avesta, or a line of the Buddhist Tripitaka," let alone other
dialects or languages. And even now, that science is in possession of various
sacred texts, what they have are but very incomplete editions of these works,
and nothing, positively nothing of the secret sacred literature of Buddhism.
And the little that our Sanscrit scholars have got hold of, and which at first
was termed by Max Muller a dreary "jungle of religious literature -- the
most excellent hiding-place for Lamas and Dalai-Lamas," is now beginning
to shed a faint light on the primitive darkness. We find this scholar stating
that that which appeared at the first glance into the labyrinth of the
religions of the world, all darkness, self-deceit, and vanity begin to assume
another form. "It sounds," he writes, "like a degradation of the
very name of religion, to apply it to the wild ravings of Hindu Yogins, and the
blank blasphemies of Chinese Buddhists. . . . But, as we slowly and patiently
wend our way through the dreary prisons, our own eyes seem to expand, and we
perceive a glimmer of light, where all was darkness at first."*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Lecture on
the Vedas."
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"GOD-TAUGHT" PHILOSOPHER.
As an illustration
of how little even the generation which directly preceded our own was competent
to judge the religions and beliefs of the several hundred million Buddhists,
Brahmans, and Parsees, let the student consult the advertisement of a
scientific work published in 1828 by a Professor Dunbar, the first scholar who
has undertaken to demonstrate that the Sanscrit is derived from the Greek. It
appeared under the following title:
"An Inquiry
into the structure and affinity of the Greek and Latin languages; with
occasional comparisons of the Sanscrit and Gothic; with an Appendix, in which
THE DERIVATION OF THE SANSCRIT FROM THE GREEK is endeavoured to be established.
By George Dunbar, F.R.S.E., and Professor of Greek in the University of
Edinburgh. Price, 18s."*
Had Max Muller
happened to fall from the sky at that time, among the scholars of the day, and
with his present knowledge, we would like to have compiled the epithets which
would have been bestowed by the learned academicians upon the daring innovator!
One who, classifying languages genealogically, says that "Sanscrit, as
compared to Greek and Latin, is an elder sister . . . the earliest deposit of
Aryan speech."
And so, we may
naturally expect that in 1976, the same criticisms will be justly applied to
many a scientific discovery, now deemed conclusive and final by our scholars.
That which is now termed the superstitious verbiage and gibberish of mere
heathens and savages, composed many thousands of years ago, may be found to
contain the master-key to all religious systems. The cautious sentence of St.
Augustine, a favorite name in Max Muller's lectures, which says that
"there is no false religion which does not contain some elements of
truth," may yet be triumphantly proved correct; the more so as, far from
being original with the Bishop of Hippo, it was borrowed by him from the works
of Ammonius Saccas, the great Alexandrian teacher.
This
"god-taught" philosopher, the theodidaktos, had repeated these same
words to exhaustion, in his numerous works some 140 years before Augustine.
Acknowledging Jesus as "an excellent man, and the friend of God," he
always maintained that his design was not to abolish the intercourse with gods
and demons (spirits), but simply to purify the ancient religions; that
"the religion of the multitude went hand in hand with philosophy, and with
her had shared the fate of being by degrees corrupted and obscured with mere
human conceits, superstition, and lies: that it ought therefore to be brought
back to its original purity by purging it of this dross and expounding it upon
philosophical principles; and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Classical Journal," vol. iv., pp. 107, 348.
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that the whole
which Christ had in view was to reinstate and restore to its primitive
integrity the wisdom of the ancients."*
It was Ammonius who
first taught that every religion was based on one and the same truth; which is
the wisdom found in the Books of Thoth (Hermes Trismegistus), from which books
Pythagoras and Plato had learned all their philosophy. And the doctrines of the
former he affirmed to have been identical with the earliest teachings of the
Brahmans -- now embodied in the oldest Vedas. "The name Thoth," says
Professor Wilder, "means a college or assembly,"** and "it is
not improbable that the books were so named as being the collected oracles and
doctrines of the sacerdotal fraternity of Memphis. Rabbi Wise had suggested a
similar hypothesis in relation to the divine utterances recorded in the Hebrew
Scripture. But the Indian writers assert, that during the reign of king Kansa,
Yadus (Judeans?) or sacred tribe left India and migrated to the West, carrying
the four Vedas with them. There was certainly a great resemblance between the
philosophical doctrines and religious customs of the Egyptians and Eastern
Buddhists; but whether the Hermetic books and the four Vedas were identical, is
not now known."
But one thing is
certainly known, and that is, that before the word philosopher was first
pronounced by Pythagoras at the court of the king of the Philiasians, the
"secret doctrine" or wisdom was identical in every country. Therefore
it is in the oldest texts -- those least polluted by subsequent forgeries --
that we have to look for the truth. And now that philology has possessed itself
of Sanscrit texts which may be boldly affirmed to be documents by far
antedating the Mosaic Bible, it is the duty of the scholars to present the
world with truth, and nothing but the truth. Without regard to either skeptical
or theological prejudice, they are bound to impartially examine both documents
-- the oldest Vedas and the Old Testament, and then decide which of the two is
the original Sruti or Revelation, and which but the Smriti, which, as Max
Muller shows, only means recollection or tradition.
Origen writes that
the Brahmans were always famous for the wonderful cures which they performed by
certain words;*** and in our own age we find Orioli, a learned corresponding
member of the French Institute,**** corroborating the statement of Origen in
the third century, and that of Leonard de Vair of the sixteenth, in which the
latter wrote: "There are also persons, who upon pronouncing a certain
sentence -- a charm, walk bare-footed on red, burning coals, and on the points
of sharp knives stuck
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Mosheim."
** "New
Platonism and Alchemy."
*** Origen:
"Contra Celsum."
**** "Fatti
relativi al Mesmerismo," pp. 88, 93, 1842.
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TEST.
in the ground; and,
once poised on them, on one toe, they will lift up in the air a heavy man or
any other burden of considerable weight. They will tame wild horses likewise,
and the most furious bulls, with a single word."*
This word is to be
found in the Mantras of the Sanscrit Vedas, say some adepts. It is for the
philologists to decide for themselves whether there is such a word in the
Vedas. So far as human evidence goes, it would seem that such magic words do
exist.
It appears that the
reverend fathers of the Order of Jesuits have picked up many such tricks in
their missionary travels. Baldinger gives them full credit for it. The
tschamping -- a Hindu word, from which the modern word shampooing is derived --
is a well-known magical manipulation in the East Indies. The native sorcerers
use it with success to the present day, and it is from them that the father
Jesuits derived their wisdom.
Camerarius, in his
Horae Subscecivae, narrates that once upon a time there existed a great rivalry
of "miracles" between the Austin Friars and the Jesuits. A
disputation having taken place between the father-general of the Austin Friars,
who was very learned, and the general of the Jesuits, who was very unlearned,
but full of magical knowledge, the latter proposed to settle the question by
trying their subordinates, and finding out which of them would be the readiest
to obey his superiors. Thereupon, turning to one of his Jesuits, he said:
"Brother Mark, our companions are cold; I command you, in virtue of the
holy obedience you have sworn to me, to bring here instantly out of the kitchen
fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they may warm themselves over
your hands." Father Mark instantly obeyed, and brought in both his hands a
supply of red, burning coals, and held them till the company present had all
warmed themselves, after which he took them back to the kitchen hearth. The
general of the Austin Friars found himself crestfallen, for none of his
subordinates would obey him so far as that. The triumph of the Jesuits was thus
accomplished.
If the above is
looked upon as an anecdote unworthy of credence, we will inquire of the reader
what we must think of some modern "mediums," who perform the same
while entranced. The testimony of several highly respectable and trustworthy
witnesses, such as Lord Adair and Mr. S. C. Hall, is unimpeachable. "Spirits,"
the spiritualists will argue. Perhaps so, in the case of American and English
fire-proof mediums; but not so in Thibet and India. In the West a
"sensitive" has to be entranced before being rendered invulnerable by
the presiding "guides," and we defy any "medium," in his or
her normal physical state
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Leonard de
Vair," 1. ii., ch. ii.; "La Magie au 19me Siecle," p. 332.
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to bury the arms to
the elbows in glowing coals. But in the East, whether the performer be a holy
lama or a mercenary sorcerer (the latter class being generally termed
"jugglers") he needs no preparation or abnormal state to be able to
handle fire, red-hot pieces of iron, or melted lead. We have seen in Southern
India these "jugglers" keep their hands in a furnace of burning coals
until the latter were reduced to cinders. During the religious ceremony of
Siva-Ratri, or the vigil-night of Siva, when the people spend whole nights in
watching and praying, some of the Sivaites called in a Tamil juggler, who
produced the most wonderful phenomena by simply summoning to his help a spirit
whom they call Kutti-Sattan -- the little demon. But, far from allowing people
to think he was guided or "controlled" by this gnome -- for it was a
gnome, if it was anything -- the man, while crouching over his fiery pit, proudly
rebuked a Catholic missionary, who took his opportunity to inform the
bystanders that the miserable sinner "had sold himself to Satan."
Without removing his hands and arms from the burning coals within which he was
coolly refreshing them, the Tamil only turned his head and gave one arrogant
look at the flushed missionary. "My father and my father's father,"
he said, "had this 'little one' at their command. For two centuries the
Kutti is a faithful servant in our home, and now, Sir, you would make people
believe that he is my master! But they know better." After this, he
quietly withdrew his hands from the fire, and proceeded with other
performances.
As for the
wonderful powers of prediction and clairvoyance possessed by certain Brahmans,
they are well known to every European resident of India. If these upon their
return to "civilized" countries, laugh at such stories, and sometimes
even deny them outright, they only impugn their good faith, not the fact. These
Brahmans live principally in "sacred villages," and secluded places,
principally on the western coast of India. They avoid populated cities, and
especially Europeans, and it is but rarely that the latter can succeed in
making themselves intimate with the "seers." It is generally thought
that the circumstance is due to their religious observance of the caste; but we
are firmly convinced that in many cases this is not so. Years, perhaps
centuries, will roll away before the real reason is ascertained.
As to the lower
castes, some of which are termed by the missionaries devil-worshippers,
notwithstanding the pious efforts on the part of the Catholic missionaries to
spread in Europe heart-rending reports of the misery of these people "sold
to the Arch-Enemy"; and like efforts, perhaps only a trifle less ridiculous
and absurd, of Protestant missionaries, the word devil, in the sense understood
by Christians, is a nonentity for them. They believe in good and bad spirits;
but they neither worship nor dread the Devil. Their "worship" is
simply a ceremonial precaution
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SPIRITS.
against
"terrestrial" and human spirits, whom they dread far more than the
millions of elementals of various forms. They use all kinds of music, incense,
and perfumes, in their efforts to drive away the "bad spirits" (the
elementary). In this case, they are no more to be ridiculed than the well-known
scientist, a firm spiritualist, who suggested the keeping of vitriol and
powdered nitre in the room to keep away "unpleasant spirits"; and no
more than he, are they wrong in so doing; for the experience of their
ancestors, extending over many thousands of years has taught them how to
proceed against this vile "spiritual horde." That they are human
spirits is shown by the fact that very often they try to humor and propitiate
the "larvae" of their own daughters and relatives, when they have
reason to suspect that the latter did not die in the odor of sanctity and
chastity. Such spirits they name "Kanni," bad virgins. The case was
noticed by several missionaries; Rev. E. Lewis,* among others. But these pious
gentlemen usually insist upon it that they worship devils, whereas, they do
nothing of the sort; for they merely try to remain on good terms with them in
order to be left unmolested. They offer them cakes and fruit, and various kinds
of food which they liked while alive, for many of them have experienced the
wickedness of these returning "dead ones," whose persecutions are
sometimes dreadful. On this principle likewise they act toward the spirits of
all wicked men. They leave on their tombs, if they were buried, or near the
place where their remains were burnt, food and liquors, with the object of
keeping them near these places, and with the idea that these vampires will be
prevented thereby from returning to their homes. This is no worship; it is
rather a spiritualism of a practical sort. Until 1861, there prevailed a custom
among the Hindus of mutilating the feet of executed murderers, under the firm
belief that thereby the disembodied soul would be prevented from wandering and
doing more mischief. Subsequently, they were prohibited, by the police, from
continuing the practice.
Another good reason
why the Hindus should not worship the "Devil" is that they have no
word to convey such a meaning. They call these spirits "puttam,"
which answers rather to our "spook," or malicious imp; another
expression they use is "pey" and the Sanscrit pesasu, both meaning
ghosts or "returning ones" -- perhaps goblins, in some cases. The
puttam are the most terrible, for they are literally "haunting
spooks," who return on earth to torment the living. They are believed to
visit generally the places where their bodies were burnt. The "fire"
or "Siva-spirits" are identical with the Rosicrucian gnomes and
salamanders; for they are pictured as dwarfs of a fiery appearance, living in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Tinnevelly
Shanars," p. 43.
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earth and fire. The
Ceylonese demon called Dewel is a stout smiling female figure with a white
Elizabethan frill around the neck and a red jacket.
As Dr. Warton
justly observes: "There is no character more strictly Oriental than the
dragons of romance and fiction; they are intermixed with every tradition of
early date and of themselves confer a species of illustrative evidence of
origin." In no writings are these characters more marked, than in the
details of Buddhism; these record particulars of the Nagas, or kingly snakes,
inhabiting the cavities under the earth, corresponding with the abodes of
Tiresias and the Greek seers, a region of mystery and darkness, wherein
revolves much of the system of divination and oracular response, connected with
inflation, or a sort of possession, designating the spirit of Python himself,
the dragon-serpent slain by Apollo. But the Buddhists no more believe in the
devil of the Christian system -- that is, an entity as distinct from humanity
as the Deity itself -- than the Hindus. Buddhists teach that there are inferior
gods who have been men either on this or another planet, but still who were
men. They believe in the Nagas, who had been sorcerers on earth, bad people,
and who give the power to other bad and yet living men to blight all the fruit
they look upon, and even human lives. When a Cinghalese has the reputation that
if he looks on a tree or on a person both will wither and die, he is said to
have the Naga-Raja, or king-serpent on him. The whole endless catalogue of bad
spirits are not devils in the sense the Christian clergy wants us to
understand, but merely spiritually incarnated sins, crimes, and human thoughts,
if we may so express it. The blue, green, yellow, and purple god-demons, like
the inferior gods of Jugandere, are more of the kind of presiding genii, and
many are as good and beneficient as the Nat deities themselves, although the
Nats reckon in their numbers, giants, evil genii, and the like which inhabit
the desert of Mount Jugandere.
The true doctrine
of Buddha says that the demons, when nature produced the sun, moon, and stars,
were human beings, but, on account of their sins, they fell from the state of
felicity. If they commit greater sins, they suffer greater punishments, and
condemned men are reckoned by them among the devils; while, on the contrary,
demons who die (elemental spirits) and are born or incarnated as men, and
commit no more sin, can arrive at the state of celestial felicity. Which is a
demonstration, remarks Edward Upham, in his History and Doctrine of Buddhism,
that all beings, divine as well as human, are subject to the laws of
transmigration, which are operative on all, according to a scale of moral
deeds. This faith then, is a complete test of a code of moral enactments and
motives, applied to the regulation and government of man,
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an experiment, he
adds, "which renders the study of Buddhism an important and curious subject
for the philosopher."
The Hindus believe,
as firmly as the Servians or Hungarians, in vampires. Furthermore, their
doctrine is that of Pierart, the famous French spiritist and mesmerizer, whose
school flourished some dozen years ago. "The fact of a spectre returning
to suck human blood," says this Doctor,* "is not so inexplicable as
it seems, and here we appeal to the spiritualists who admit the phenomenon of
bicorporeity or soul-duplication. The hands which we have pressed . . . these
'materialized' limbs, so palpable . . . prove clearly how much is possible for
astral spectres under favorable conditions."
The honorable
physician expresses the theory of the kabalists. The Shadim are the lowest of
the spiritual orders. Maimonides, who tells us that his countrymen were obliged
to maintain an intimate intercourse with their departed ones, describes the
feast of blood they held on such occasions. They dug a hole, and fresh blood
was poured in, over which was placed a table; after which the "spirits"
came and answered all their questions.**
Pierart, whose
doctrine was founded on that of the theurgists, exhibits a warm indignation
against the superstition of the clergy which requires, whenever a corpse is
suspected of vampirism, that a stake should be driven through the heart. So
long as the astral form is not entirely liberated from the body there is a
liability that it may be forced by magnetic attraction to reenter it. Sometimes
it will be only half-way out, when the corpse, which presents the appearance of
death, is buried. In such cases the terrified astral soul violently reenters
its casket; and then, one of two things happens -- either the unhappy victim
will writhe in the agonizing torture of suffocation, or, if he had been grossly
material, he becomes a vampire. The bicorporeal life begins; and these
unfortunate buried cataleptics sustain their miserable lives by having their
astral bodies rob the life-blood from living persons. The ethereal form can go
wherever it pleases; and so long as it does not break the link which attaches
it to the body, it is at liberty to wander about, either visible or invisible,
and feed on human victims. "According to all appearance, this 'spirit'
then transmits through a mysterious and invisible cord of connection, which perhaps,
some day may be explained, the results of the suction to the material body
which lies inert at the bottom of the tomb, aiding it, in a manner, to
perpetuate the state of catalepsy."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pierart:
"Revue Spiritualiste," chapter on "Vampirism."
** Maimonides:
"Abodah Sarah," 12 Absh, 11 Abth.
*** Pierart:
"Revue Spiritualiste."
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Brierre de Boismont
gives a number of such cases, fully authenticated, which he is pleased to term
"hallucinations." A recent inquest, says a French paper, "has
established that in 1871 two corpses were submitted to the infamous treatment
of popular superstition, at the instigation of the clergy . . . O blind
prejudice!" But Dr. Pierart, quoted by des Mousseaux, who stoutly adheres
to vampirism, exclaims: "Blind, you say? Yes, blind, as much as you like.
But whence sprang these prejudices? Why are they perpetuated in all ages, and
in so many countries? After a crowd of facts of vampirism so often proved,
should we say that there are no more and that they never had a foundation?
Nothing comes of nothing. Every belief, every custom springs from facts and
causes which gave it birth. If one had never seen appear, in the bosom of
families of certain countries, beings clothing themselves in the shape of the
familiar dead, coming thus to suck the blood of one or of several persons, and
if the death of the victims by emaciation had not followed, they would never
have gone to disinter the corpses in cemeteries; we would never have had
attested the incredible fact of persons buried for several years being found
with the corpse soft, flexible, the eyes open, with rosy complexions, the mouth
and nose full of blood, and of the blood running in torrents under blows, from
wounds, and when decapitated."*
One of the most
important examples of vampirism figures in the private letters of the
philosopher, the Marquis d'Argens; and, in the Revue Britannique, for March,
1837, the English traveller Pashley describes some that came under his notice
in the island of Candia. Dr. Jobard, the anti-Catholic and anti-spiritual
Belgian savant, testifies to similar experiences.**
"I will not
examine," wrote the Bishop d'Avranches Huet, "whether the facts of
vampirism, which are constantly being reported, are true, or the fruit of a
popular error; but it is certain that they are testified to by so many authors,
able and trustworthy, and by so many eye-witnesses, that no one ought to decide
upon the question without a good deal of caution."***
The chevalier, who
went to great pains to collect materials for his demonological theory, brings
the most thrilling instances to prove that all such cases are produced by the
Devil, who uses graveyard corpses with which to clothe himself, and roams at
night sucking people's blood. Methinks we could do very well without bringing
this dusky personage upon the scene. If we are to believe at all in the return
of spirits, there are plenty of wicked sensualists, misers, and sinners of
other de-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dr. Pierart:
"Revue Spiritualiste," vol. iv., p. 104.
** See "Hauts
Phen.," p. 199.
***
"Huetiana," p. 81.
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scriptions --
especially suicides, who could have rivalled the Devil himself in malice in his
best days. It is quite enough to be actually forced to believe in what we do
see, and know to be a fact, namely spirits, without adding to our Pantheon of
ghosts the Devil -- whom nobody ever saw.
Still, there are
interesting particulars to be gathered in relation to vampirism, since belief
in this phenomenon has existed in all countries, from the remotest ages. The
Slavonian nations, the Greeks, the Wallachians, and the Servians would rather
doubt the existence of their enemies, the Turks, than the fact that there are
vampires. The broucolak, or vourdalak, as the latter are called, are but too
familiar guests at the Slavonian fireside. Writers of the greatest ability, men
as full of sagacity as of high integrity, have treated of the subject and
believed in it. Whence, then, such a superstition? Whence that unanimous
credence throughout the ages, and whence that identity in details and
similarity of description as to that one particular phenomenon which we find in
the testimony -- generally sworn evidence -- of peoples foreign to each other
and differing widely in matters concerning other superstitions.
"There
are," says Dom Calmet, a skeptical Benedictine monk of the last century,
"two different ways to destroy the belief in these pretended ghosts. . . .
The first would be to explain the prodigies of vampirism by physical causes.
The second way is to deny totally the truth of all such stories; and the latter
plan would be undoubtedly the most certain, as the most wise."*
The first way --
that of explaining it by physical, though occult causes, is the one adopted by
the Pierart school of mesmerism. It is certainly not the spiritualists who have
a right to doubt the plausibility of this explanation. The second plan is that
adopted by scientists and skeptics. They deny point-blank. As des Mousseaux
remarks, there is no better or surer way, and none exacts less of either
philosophy or science.
The spectre of a
village herdsman, near Kodom, in Bavaria, began appearing to several
inhabitants of the place, and either in consequence of their fright or some
other cause, every one of them died during the following week. Driven to
despair, the peasants disinterred the corpse, and pinned it to the ground with
a long stake. The same night he appeared again, plunging people into
convulsions of fright, and suffocating several of them. Then the village
authorities delivered the body into the hands of the executioner, who carried
it to a neighboring field and burned it. "The corpse," says des
Mousseaux, quoting Dom Calmet, "howled like a madman, kicking and tearing
as if he had been alive. When he was
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dom Calmet:
"Apparitions," etc. Paris, 1751, vol. ii., p. 47; "Hauts Phen.
de la Magie," 195.
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run through again
with sharp-pointed stakes, he uttered piercing cries, and vomited masses of
crimson blood. The apparitions of this spectre ceased only after the corpse had
been reduced to ashes."*
Officers of justice
visited the places said to be so haunted; the bodies were exhumed, and in
nearly every case it was observed that the corpse suspected of vampirism looked
healthy and rosy, and the flesh was in no way decaying. The objects which had
belonged to these ghosts were observed moving about the house without any one
touching them. But the legal authorities generally refused to resort to
cremation and beheading before they had observed the strictest rules of legal
procedure. Witnesses were summoned to appear, and evidence was heard and
carefully weighed. After that the exhumed corpses were examined; and if they
exhibited the unequivocal and characteristic signs of vampirism, they were
handed over to the executioner.
"But,"
argues Dom Calmet,** "the principal difficulty consists in learning how
these vampires can quit their tombs, and how they reenter them, without
appearing to have disturbed the earth in the least; how is it that they are
seen with their usual clothing; how can they go about, and walk, and eat? . . .
If this is all imagination on the part of those who believe themselves molested
by such vampires, how happens it that the accused ghosts are subsequently found
in their graves . . . exhibiting no signs of decay, full of blood, supple and
fresh? How explain the cause of their feet found muddy and covered with dirt on
the day following the night they had appeared and frightened their neighbors,
while nothing of the sort was ever found on other corpses buried in the same
cemetery?*** How is it again that once burned they never reappear? and that
these cases should happen so often in this country that it is found impossible
to cure people from this prejudice; for, instead of being destroyed, daily
experience only fortifies the superstition in the people, and increases belief
in it."****
There is a
phenomenon in nature unknown, and therefore rejected by physiology and
psychology in our age of unbelief. This phenomenon is a state of half-death.
Virtually, the body is dead; and, in cases of persons in whom matter does not
predominate over spirit and wickedness not so great as to destroy spirituality,
if left alone, their astral soul will disengage itself by gradual efforts, and,
when the last link is broken,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Hauts
Phen.," p. 196.
** Ibid.
*** See the same
sworn testimony in official documents: "De l'Inspir. des Camis," H.
Blanc, 1859. Plon, Paris.
**** Dom Calmet:
"Apparit.," vol. ii., chap. xliv., p. 212.
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OF THE LIVING.
it finds itself
separated forever from its earthly body. Equal magnetic polarity will violently
repulse the ethereal man from the decaying organic mass. The whole difficulty
lies in that 1, the ultimate moment of separation between the two is believed
to be that when the body is declared dead by science; and 2, a prevailing
unbelief in the existence of either soul or spirit in man, by the same science.
Pierart tries to
demonstrate that in every case it is dangerous to bury people too soon, even
though the body may show undoubted signs of putrefaction. "Poor dead
cataleptics," says the doctor, "buried as if quite dead, in cold and
dry spots where morbid causes are incapable to effect the destruction of their
bodies, their (astral) spirit enveloping itself with a fluidic body (ethereal)
is prompted to quit the precincts of its tomb, and to exercise on living beings
acts peculiar to physical life, especially that of nutrition, the result of
which, by a mysterious link between soul and body, which spiritualistic science
will explain some day, is forwarded to the material body lying still in its
tomb, and the latter thus helped to perpetuate its vital existence."*
These spirits, in their ephemeral bodies, have been often seen coming out from
the graveyard; they are known to have clung to their living neighbors, and have
sucked their blood. Judicial inquiry has established that from this resulted an
emaciation of the victimized persons, which often terminated in death.
Thus, following the
pious advice of Dom Calmet, we must either go on denying, or, if human and
legal testimonies are worth anything, accept the only explanation possible.
"That souls departed are embodied in aerial or aetherial vehicles is most
fully and plainly proved by those excellent men, Dr. C. and Dr. More,"
says Glanvil, "and they have largely shown that this was the doctrine of
the greatest philosophers and most ancient and aged fathers."**
Gorres, the German
philosopher, says to the same effect, that "God never created man as a
dead corpse, but as an animal full of life. Once He had thus produced him, finding
him ready to receive the immortal breath, He breathed him in the face, and thus
man became a double masterpiece in His hands. It is in the centre of life
itself that this mysterious insufflation took place in the first man (race?);
and thence were united the animal soul issued from earth, and the spirit
emanating from heaven."***
Des Mousseaux, in
company with other Roman Catholic writers, exclaims: "This proposition is
utterly anti-Catholic! "Well, and suppose
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pierart:
"Revue Spiritualiste," vol. iv., p. 104.
**
"Sadducismus Triumphatus," vol. ii., p. 70.
*** Gorres:
"Complete Works," vol. iii., ch. vii., p. 132.
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it is? It may be
archi-anti-Catholic, and still be logic, and offer a solution for many a
psychological puzzle. The sun of science and philosophy shines for every one;
and if Catholics, who hardly number one-seventh part of the population of the
globe, do not feel satisfied, perhaps the many millions of people of other
religions who outnumber them, will.
And now, before
parting with this repulsive subject of vampirism, we will give one more
illustration, without other voucher than the statement that it was given to us
by apparently trustworthy witnesses.
About the beginning
of the present century, there occurred in Russia, one of the most frightful cases
of vampirism on record. The governor of the Province of Tch---- was a man of
about sixty years, of a malicious, tyrannical, cruel, and jealous disposition.
Clothed with despotic authority, he exercised it without stint, as his brutal
instincts prompted. He fell in love with the pretty daughter of a subordinate
official. Although the girl was betrothed to a young man whom she loved, the
tyrant forced her father to consent to his having her marry him; and the poor
victim, despite her despair, became his wife. His jealous disposition exhibited
itself. He beat her, confined her to her room for weeks together, and prevented
her seeing any one except in his presence. He finally fell sick and died.
Finding his end approaching, he made her swear never to marry again; and with
fearful oaths, threatened that, in case she did, he would return from his grave
and kill her. He was buried in the cemetery across the river; and the young
widow experienced no further annoyance, until, nature getting the better of her
fears, she listened to the importunities of her former lover, and they were
again betrothed.
On the night of the
customary betrothal-feast, when all had retired, the old mansion was aroused by
shrieks proceeding from her room. The doors were burst open, and the unhappy
woman was found lying on her bed, in a swoon. At the same time a carriage was
heard rumbling out of the courtyard. Her body was found to be black and blue in
places, as from the effect of pinches, and from a slight puncture on her neck
drops of blood were oozing. Upon recovering, she stated that her deceased
husband had suddenly entered her room, appearing exactly as in life, with the
exception of a dreadful pallor; that he had upbraided her for her inconstancy,
and then beaten and pinched her most cruelly. Her story was disbelieved; but
the next morning, the guard stationed at the other end of the bridge which
spans the river, reported that, just before midnight, a black coach and six had
driven furiously past them, toward the town, without answering their challenge.
The new governor,
who disbelieved the story of the apparition, took nevertheless the precaution
of doubling the guards across the bridge.
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TCH----.
The same thing
happened, however, night after night; the soldiers declaring that the toll-bar
at their station near the bridge would rise of itself, and the spectral
equipage sweep by them despite their efforts to stop it. At the same time every
night, the coach would rumble into the courtyard of the house; the watchers,
including the widow's family, and the servants, would be thrown into a heavy
sleep; and every morning the young victim would be found bruised, bleeding, and
swooning as before. The town was thrown into consternation. The physicians had
no explanations to offer; priests came to pass the night in prayer, but as
midnight approached, all would be seized with the terrible lethargy. Finally,
the archbishop of the province came, and performed the ceremony of exorcism in
person, but the following morning the governor's widow was found worse than
ever. She was now brought to death's door.
The governor was
finally driven to take the severest measures to stop the ever-increasing panic
in the town. He stationed fifty Cossacks along the bridge, with orders to stop
the spectre-carriage at all hazards. Promptly at the usual hour, it was heard
and seen approaching from the direction of the cemetery. The officer of the
guard, and a priest bearing a crucifix, planted themselves in front of the
toll-bar, and together shouted: "In the name of God, and the Czar, who
goes there?" Out of the coach-window was thrust a well-remembered head,
and a familiar voice responded: "The Privy Councillor of State and
Governor, C----!" At the same moment, the officer, the priest, and the
soldiers were flung aside as by an electric shock, and the ghostly equipage
passed by them, before they could recover breath.
The archbishop then
resolved, as a last expedient, to resort to the time-honored plan of exhuming
the body, and pinning it to the earth with an oaken stake driven through its
heart. This was done with great religious ceremony in the presence of the whole
populace. The story is that the body was found gorged with blood, and with red
cheeks and lips. At the instant that the first blow was struck upon the stake,
a groan issued from the corpse, and a jet of blood spurted high into the air.
The archbishop pronounced the usual exorcism, the body was reinterred, and from
that time no more was heard of the vampire.
How far the facts
of this case may have been exaggerated by tradition, we cannot say. But we had
it years ago from an eye-witness; and at the present day there are families in
Russia whose elder members will recall the dreadful tale.
As to the statement
found in medical books that there are frequent cases of inhumation while the
subjects are but in a cataleptic state, and the persistent denials of
specialists that such things happen, except very rarely, we have but to turn to
the daily press of every country to find
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the horrid fact
substantiated. The Rev. H. R. Haweis, M.A., author of Ashes to Ashes,*
enumerates in his work, written in advocacy of cremation, some very distressing
cases of premature burial. On page forty-six occurs the following dialogue:
"But do you
know of many cases of premature burial?"
"Undoubtedly I
do. I will not say that in our temperate climate they are frequent, but they do
occur. Hardly a graveyard is opened but coffins are found containing bodies not
only turned, but skeletons contorted in the last hopeless struggle for life
underground. The turning may be due to some clumsy shaking of the coffin, but
not the contortion."
After this he
proceeds to give the following recent cases:
"At Bergerac
(Dordogne), in 1842, the patient took a sleeping draught . . . but he woke not.
. . . They bled him, and he woke not. . . . At last they declared him to be
dead, and buried him. After a few days, remembering the sleeping draught, they
opened the grave. The body had turned and struggled."
"The Sunday
Times, December 30, 1838, relates that at Tonneins, Lower Garonne, a man was
buried, when an indistinct noise proceeded from the coffin; the reckless
grave-digger fled. . . . The coffin was hauled up and burst open. A face
stiffened in terror and despair, a torn winding-sheet, contorted limbs, told
the sad truth -- too late."
"The Times,
May, 1874, states that in August of 1873, a young lady died soon after her
marriage. . . . Within a year the husband married again, and the mother of his
first bride resolved to remove her daughter's body to Marseilles. They opened
the vault and found the poor girl's body prostrate, her hair dishevelled, her
shroud torn to pieces."**
As we will have to
refer to the subject once more in connection with Bible miracles, we will leave
it for the present, and return to magical phenomena.
If we were to give
a full description of the various manifestations which take place among adepts
in India and other countries, we might fill volumes, but this would be
profitless, as there would remain no space for explanation. Therefore we select
in preference such as either find their parallels in modern phenomena or are
authenticated by legal inquiry. Horst tried to present an idea of certain
Persian spirits to his readers, and failed; for the bare mention of some of
them is calculated to set the brains of a believer in a whirl. There are the
Devs and their specialities; the Darwands and their gloomy tricks; the Shadim
and Djinnas; the whole vast legion of spirits, demons, goblins, and elves of
the Persian
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Ashes to
Ashes," London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1875.
** The author
refers all those who may doubt such statements to G. A. Walker's
"Gatherings from Graveyards," pp. 84-193, 194, etc.
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JUGGLERS.
calendar; and, on
the other hand, the Jewish Seraphim, Cherubim, Izeds, Amshaspands, Sephiroth,
Malachim, Elohim; and, adds Horst, "the millions of astral and elementary
spirits, of intermediary spirits, ghosts, and imaginary beings of all races and
colors."*
But the majority of
these spirits have naught to do with the phenomena consciously and deliberately
produced by the Eastern magicians. The latter repudiate such an accusation and
leave to sorcerers the help even of elemental spirits and the elementary
spooks. The adept has an unlimited power over both, but he rarely uses it. For
the production of physical phenomena he summons the nature-spirits as obedient
powers, not as intelligences.
As we always like
to strengthen our arguments by testimonies other than our own, it may be well
to present the opinion of a daily paper, the Boston Herald, as to phenomena in
general and mediums in particular. Having encountered sad failures with some
dishonest persons, who may or may not be mediumistic, the writer went to the
trouble of ascertaining as to some wonders said to be produced in India, and
compares them with those of modern thaumaturgy.
"The medium of
the present day," he says, "bears a closer resemblance, in methods
and manipulations, to the well-known conjurer of history, than any other
representative of the magic art. How far short he still remains of the
performances of his prototypes is illustrated below. In 1615 a delegation of
highly-educated and distinguished men from the English East India Company
visited the Emperor Jehangire. While on their mission they witnessed many most
wonderful performances, almost causing them to discredit their senses, and far
beyond any hint even of solution. A party of Bengalese conjurers and jugglers,
showing their art before the emperor, were desired to produce upon the spot,
and from seed, ten mulberry trees. They immediately planted ten seeds, which,
in a few minutes produced as many trees. The ground divided over the spot where
a seed was planted, tiny leaves appeared, at once followed by slender shoots,
which rapidly gained elevation, putting out leaves and twigs and branches,
finally spreading wide in the air, budding, blossoming and yielding fruit,
which matured upon the spot, and was found to be excellent. And this before the
beholder had turned away his eyes. Fig, almond, mango, and walnut trees were at
the same time under like conditions produced, yielding the fruit which belonged
to each. Wonder succeeded wonder. The branches were filled with birds of
beautiful plumage flitting about among the leaves and singing sweet notes. The
leaves turned to russet, fell from their places, branches and twigs withered,
and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Horst:
"Zauber Bibliothek," vol. v., p. 52.
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finally the trees
sank back into the earth, out of which they had all sprung within the hour.
"Another had a
bow and about fifty steel-pointed arrows. He shot an arrow into the air, when,
lo! the arrow became fixed in space at a considerable height. Another and
another arrow was sent off, each fixing itself in the shaft of the preceding,
until all formed a chain of arrows in the air, excepting the last shot, which,
striking the chain, brought the whole to the ground in detachments.
"They set up
two common tents facing each other, and about a bow-shot apart. These tents
were critically examined by the spectators, as are the cabinets of the mediums,
and pronounced empty. The tents were fastened to the ground all around. The
lookers-on were then invited to choose what animals or birds they would have
issue from these tents to engage in a battle. Khaun-e-Jahaun incredulously
asked to see a fight between ostriches. In a few minutes an ostrich came out
from each tent rushed to combat with deadly earnestness, and from them the
blood soon began to stream; but they were so nearly matched that neither could
win the victory, and they were at last separated by the conjurers and conveyed
within the tents. After this the varied demands of the spectators for birds and
animals were exactly complied with, always with the same results.
"A large
cauldron was set, and into it a quantity of rice thrown. Without the sign of
fire this rice soon began to boil, and out from the cauldron was taken more
than one hundred platters of cooked rice, with a stewed fowl at the top of
each. This trick is performed on a smaller scale by the most ordinary fakirs of
the present day.
"But space
fails to give opportunity for illustrating, from the records of the past, how
the miserably tame performances -- by comparison -- of the mediums of the
present day were pale and overshadowed by those of other days and more adroit
peoples. There is not a wonderful feature in any of the so-called phenomena or
manifestations which was not, nay, which is not now more than duplicated by
other skilful performers, whose connection with earth, and earth alone, is too
evident to be doubted, even if the fact was not supported by their own
testimony."
It is an error to
say that fakirs or jugglers will always claim that they are helped by spirits.
In quasi-religious evocations, such as Jacolliot's Kovindasami is described to
have produced before this French gentleman, when the parties desire to see real
"spiritual" manifestations, they will resort to Pitris, their
disembodied ancestors, and other pure spirits. These they can evoke but through
prayer. As to all other phenomena, they are produced by the magician and fakir
at will. Notwithstanding the state of apparent abjectness in which the latter
lives, he is often an initiate of
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SUCCUBI.
the temples, and is
as well acquainted with occultism as his richer brethren.
The Chaldeans, whom
Cicero counts among the oldest magicians, placed the basis of all magic in the
inner powers of man's soul, and by the discernment of magic properties in
plants, minerals, and animals. By the aid of these they performed the most
wonderful "miracles." Magic, with them, was synonymous with religion
and science. It is but later that the religious myths of the Magdean dualism,
disfigured by Christian theology and euhemerized by certain fathers of the
Church, assumed the disgusting shape in which we find them expounded by such Catholic
writers as des Mousseaux. The objective reality of the mediaeval incubus and
succubus, that abominable superstition of the middle ages which cost so many
human lives, advocated by this author in a whole volume, is the monstrous
production of religious fanaticism and epilepsy. It can have no objective form;
and to attribute its effects to the Devil is blasphemy: implying that God,
after creating Satan, would allow him to adopt such a course. If we are forced
to believe in vampirism, it is on the strength of two irrefragable propositions
of occult psychological science: 1. The astral soul is a separable distinct
entity of our ego, and can roam far away from the body without breaking the
thread of life. 2. The corpse is not utterly dead, and while it can yet be
reentered by its tenant, the latter can gather sufficient material emanations
from it to enable itself to appear in a quasi-terrestrial shape. But to uphold,
with des Mousseaux and de Mirville, that the Devil, whom the Catholics endow
with a power which, in antagonism, equals that of the Supreme Deity, transforms
himself into wolves, snakes, and dogs, to satisfy his lust and procreate
monsters, is an idea within which lie hidden the germs of devil-worship,
lunacy, and sacrilege. The Catholic Church, which not only teaches us to
believe in this monstrous fallacy, but forces her missionaries to preach such a
dogma, need not revolt against the devil-worship of some Parsee and South India
sects. Quite the reverse; for when we hear the Yezides repeat the well-known
proverb: "Keep friends with the demons; give them your property, your
blood, your service, and you need not care about God -- He will not harm
you," we find him but consistent with his belief and reverential to the
Supreme; his logic is sound and rational; he reveres God too deeply to imagine
that He who created the universe and its laws is able to hurt him, poor atom;
but the demons are there; they are imperfect, and therefore he has good reasons
to dread them.
Therefore, the
Devil, in his various transformations, can be but a fallacy. When we imagine
that we see, and hear, and feel him, it is but too often the reflection of our
own wicked, depraved, and polluted soul that we see, hear, and feel. Like
attracts like, they say; thus, according to the
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mood in which our
astral form oozes out during the hours of sleep, according to our thoughts,
pursuits, and daily occupations, all of which are fairly impressed upon the
plastic capsule called the human soul, the latter attracts around itself
spiritual beings congenial to itself. Hence some dreams and visions that are
pure and beautiful, others fiendish and beastly. The person awakes, and either
hastens to the confessional, or laughs in callous indifference at the thought.
In the first case, he is promised final salvation, at the cost of some
indulgences (which he has to purchase from the church), and perhaps a little
taste of purgatory, or even of hell. What matter? is he not safe to be eternal
and immortal, do what he may? It is the Devil. Away with him, with bell, book,
and holy sprinkler! But the "Devil" comes back, and often the true
believer is forced to disbelieve in God, when he clearly perceives that the
Devil has the best of his Creator and Master. Then he is left to the second
emergency. He remains indifferent, and gives himself up entirely to the Devil.
He dies, and the reader has learned the sequel in the preceding chapters.
The thought is
beautifully expressed by Dr. Ennemoser: "Religion did not here [Europe and
China] strike root so deeply as among the Hindus," says he, arguing upon
this superstition. "The spirit of the Greeks and Persians was more
volatile. . . . The philosophical idea in the good and bad principle, and of
the spiritual world . . . must have assisted tradition in forming visions of
heavenly and hellish shapes, and the most frightful distortions, which in India
were much more simply produced by a more enthusiastic fanaticism; there the
seer received by divine light; here he lost himself in a multitude of outward
objects, with which he confounded his own identity. Convulsions, accompanied by
the mind's absence from the body, in distant countries, were here common, for
the imagination was less firm, and also less spiritual.
"The outward
causes are also different; the modes of life, geographical position, and
artificial means producing various modifications. The mode of life in Western
countries has always been very variable, and therefore disturbs and distorts
the occupation of the senses, and the outward life is therefore reflected upon
the inner dream-world. The spirits, therefore, are of endless varieties of
shape, and incline men to gratify their passions, showing them the means of so
doing, and descending even to the minutest particulars, which was so far below
the elevated natures of Indian seers."
Let the student of
occult sciences make his own nature as pure and his thoughts as elevated as
those of these Indian seers, and he may sleep unmolested by vampire, incubus,
or succubus. Around the insensible form of such a sleeper the immortal spirit
sheds a power divine that protects it from evil approaches, as though it were a
crystal wall.
"Haec murus
aeneus esto: nil conscire sibi, nulla pallascere culpa."
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CHAPTER XIII.
"ALCHYMIST.
Thou always speakest riddles. Tell me if thou art that fountain of which
Bernard Lord Trevigan writ?
"MERCURY. I am
not that fountain, but I am the water. The fountain compasseth me about."
-- SANDIVOGIUS, New Light of Alchymy.
"All that we
profess to do is this; to find out the secrets of the human frame, to know why
the parts ossify and the blood stagnates, and to apply continual preventatives
to the effects of time. This is not magic; it is the art of medicine rightly
understood." -- BULWER-LYTTON.
"Lo, warrior!
now the cross of Red
Points to the grave
of the mighty dead;
Within it burns a
wondrous light,
To chase the
spirits that love the night.
That lamp shall
burn unquenchably
Until the eternal
doom shall be."
. . . . . . . .
"No earthly
flame blazed e'er so bright." -- SIR WALTER SCOTT.
THERE are persons
whose minds would be incapable of appreciating the intellectual grandeur of the
ancients, even in physical science, were they to receive the most complete
demonstration of their profound learning and achievements. Notwithstanding the
lesson of caution which more than one unexpected discovery has taught them,
they still pursue their old plan of denying, and, what is still worse, of
ridiculing that which they have no means of either proving or disproving. So,
for instance, they will pooh-pooh the idea of talismans having any efficacy one
way or the other. That the seven spirits of the Apocalypse have direct relation
to the seven occult powers in nature, appears incomprehensible and absurd to
their feeble intellects; and the bare thought of a magician claiming to work
wonders through certain kabalistic rites convulses them with laughter.
Perceiving only a geometrical figure traced upon a paper, a bit of metal, or
other substance, they cannot imagine how any reasonable being should ascribe to
either any occult potency. But those who have taken the pains to inform
themselves know that the ancients achieved as great discoveries in psychology
as in physics, and that their explorations left few secrets to be discovered.
For our part, when
we realize that a pentacle is a synthetic figure which expresses in concrete
form a profound truth of nature, we can see nothing more ridiculous in it than
in the figures of Euclid, and nothing half so comical as the symbols in a
modern work on chemistry. What to the uninitiated reader can appear more absurd
than that the symbol
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NA[2]CO[2], --
means soda! and that C[2]H[6]O is but another way of writing alcohol! How very
amusing that the alchemists should express their Azoth, or creative principle
of nature (astral light), by the symbol
which embraces
three things: 1st, The divine hypothesis; 2d, The philosophical synthesis; 3d,
The physical synthesis -- that is to say, a belief, an idea, and a force. But
how perfectly natural that a modern chemist who wishes to indicate to the
students in his laboratory the reaction of a sodic-carbonate with
cream-of-tartar in solution, should employ the following symbol:
(Na[2]CO[3]+2HKC[4]H[4]O[6]+Aq)=
(2NaKC[4]H[4]O[6],+H[2]O+Aq)
+CO[2]
If the uninspired
reader may be pardoned for looking aghast at this abracadabra of chemical
science, why should not its teachers restrain their mirth until they have
learned the philosophical value of the symbolism of the ancients? At least they
might spare themselves from being as ridiculous as Monsieur de Mirville, who,
confounding the Azoth of the Hermetic philosophers with the azote of the
chemists, asserted that the former worshipped nitrogen gas!*
Apply a piece of
iron to a magnet, and it becomes imbued with its subtile principle and capable
of imparting it to other iron in its turn. It neither weighs more nor appears
different from what it was before. And yet, one of the most subtile potencies
of nature has entered into its substance. A talisman, in itself perhaps a
worthless bit of metal, a scrap of paper, or a shred of any fabric, has
nevertheless been imbued by the influence of that greatest of all magnets, the
human will, with a potency for good or ill just as recognizable and as real in
its effects as the subtile property which the iron acquired by contact with the
physical magnet. Let the bloodhound snuff an article of clothing that has been
worn by the fugitive, and he will track him through swamp and forest to his
hiding-place. Give one of Professor Buchanan's "psychometers" a
manuscript, no matter how old, and he will describe to you the character
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Eliphas Levi:
"La Science des Esprits."
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BY WILL-POWER.
of the writer, and
perhaps even his personal appearance. Hand a clairvoyant a lock of hair or some
article that has been in contact with the person of whom it is desired to know
something, and she will come into sympathy with him so intimate that she may
trace him through his whole life.
Breeders tell us
that young animals should not be herded with old ones; and intelligent
physicians forbid parents to have young children occupy their own beds. When
David was old and feeble his vital forces were recruited by having a young
person brought in close contact with him so that he could absorb her strength.
The late Empress of Russia, the sister of the present German Emperor, was so
feeble the last years of her life that she was seriously advised by her
physicians to keep in her bed at night a robust and healthy young peasant-girl.
Whoever has read the description given by Dr. Kerner of the Seeress of
Prevorst, Mme. Hauffe, must well remember her words. She repeatedly stated that
she supported life merely on the atmosphere of the people surrounding her and
their magnetic emanations, which were quickened in an extraordinary way by her
presence. The seeress was very plainly a magnetic vampire, who absorbed by
drawing to herself the life of those who were strong enough to spare her their
vitality in the shape of volatilized blood. Dr. Kerner remarks that these
persons were all more or less affected by this forcible loss.
With these familiar
illustrations of the possibility of a subtile fluid communicated from one
individual to another, or to substances which he touches, it becomes less
difficult to understand that by a determined concentration of the will an
otherwise inert object may become imbued with protective or destructive power
according to the purpose directing.
A magnetic
emanation, unconsciously produced, is sure to be overpowered by any stronger
one with which it may come into opposition. But when an intelligent and
powerful will directs the blind force, and concentrates it upon a given spot,
the weaker emanation will often master the stronger. A human will has the same
effect on the Akasa.
Upon one occasion,
we witnessed in Bengal an exhibition of will-power that illustrates a highly
interesting phase of the subject. An adept in magic made a few passes over a
piece of common tin, the inside of a dish-cover, that lay conveniently by, and
while regarding it attentively for a few moments, seemed to grasp the
imponderable fluid by handfuls and throw it against the surface. When the tin
had been exposed to the full glare of light for about six seconds, the bright
surface was suddenly covered as with a film. Then patches of a darker hue began
coming out on its surface; and when in about three minutes the tin was handed
back to us, we found imprinted upon it a picture, or
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rather a
photograph, of the landscape that stretched out before us; faithful as nature
itself, and every color perfect. It remained for about forty-eight hours and
then slowly faded away.
This phenomenon is
easily explained. The will of the adept condensed upon the tin a film of akasa
which made it for the time being like a sensitized photographic plate. Light
did the rest.
Such an exhibition
as this of the potency of the will to effect even objective physical results,
will prepare the student to comprehend its efficacy in the cure of disease by
imparting the desired virtue to inanimate objects which are placed in contact
with the patient. When we see such psychologists as Maudsley* quoting, without
contradiction, the stories of some miraculous cures effected by Swedenborg's
father -- stories which do not differ from hundreds of other cures by other
"fanatics" -- as he calls them -- magicians, and natural healers,
and, without attempting to explain their facts, stooping to laugh at the
intensity of their faith, without asking himself whether the secret of that
healing potency were not in the control given by that faith over occult forces
-- we grieve that there should be so much learning and so little philosophy, in
our time.
Upon our word, we
cannot see that the modern chemist is any less a magician than the ancient
theurgist or Hermetic philosopher, except in this: that the latter, recognizing
the duality of nature, had twice as wide a field for experimental research as
the chemist. The ancients animated statues, and the Hermetists called into
being, out of the elements, the shapes of salamanders, gnomes, undines, and
sylphs, which they did not pretend to create, but simply to make visible by holding
open the door of nature, so that, under favoring conditions, they might step
into view. The chemist brings into contact two elements contained in the
atmosphere, and by developing a latent force of affinity, creates a new body --
water. In the spheroidal and diaphanous pearls which are born of this union of
gases, come the germs of organic life, and in their molecular interstices lurk
heat, electricity, and light, just as they do in the human body. Whence comes
this life into the drop of water just born of the union of two gases? And what
is the water itself? Have the oxygen and hydrogen undergone some transformation
which obliterates their qualities simultaneously with the obliteration of their
form? Here is the answer of modern science: "Whether the oxygen and
hydrogen exist as such, in the water, or whether they are produced by some
unknown and unconceived transformation of its substance, is a question about
which we may speculate, but in regard to which we have no knowledge."**
Knowing
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Henry Maudsley:
"Body and Mind."
** Josiah Cooke,
Jr.: "The New Chemistry."
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MANDRAGORA.
nothing about so
simple a matter as the molecular constitution of water, or the deeper problem
of the appearance of life within it, would it not be well for Mr. Maudsley to exemplify
his own principle, and "maintain a calm acquiescence in ignorance until
light comes"?*
The claims of the
friends of esoteric science, that Paracelsus produced, chemically, homunculi
from certain combinations as yet unknown to exact science, are, as a matter of
course, relegated to the storehouse of exploded humbugs. But why should they?
If the homunculi were not made by Paracelsus they were developed by other
adepts, and that not a thousand years ago. They were produced, in fact, upon
exactly the same principle as that by which the chemist and physicist calls to
life his animalcula. A few years ago, an English gentleman, Andrew Crosse, of
Somersetshire produced acari in the following manner: "Black flint burned
to redness and reduced to powder was mixed with carbonate of potash, and
exposed to a strong heat for fifteen minutes; and the mixture was poured into a
blacklead crucible in an air furnace. It was reduced to powder while warm,
mixed with boiling water; kept boiling for some minutes, and then hydrochloric
acid was added to supersaturation. After being exposed to voltaic action for
twenty-six days, a perfect insect of the acari tribe made its appearance, and
in the course of a few weeks about a hundred more. The experiment was repeated
with other chemical fluids with like results." A Mr. Weeks also produced
the acari in ferrocyanide of potassium.
This discovery
produced a great excitement. Mr. Crosse was now accused of impiety and aiming
at creation. He replied, denying the implication and saying he considered
"to create was to form a something out of a nothing."**
Another gentleman,
considered by several persons as a man of great science, has told us repeatedly
that he was on the eve of proving that even unfructified eggs could be hatched
by having a negative electric current caused to pass through them.
The mandrakes
(dudim or love-fruit) found in the field by Reuben, Jacob's son, which excited
the fancy of Rachel, was the kabalistic mandragora, notwithstanding denial; and
the verses which refer to it belong to the crudest passages, in their esoteric
meaning, of the whole work. The mandrake is a plant having the rudimentary
shape of a human creature; with a head, two arms, and two legs forming roots.
The superstition that when pulled out of the ground it cries with a human
voice, is not utterly baseless. It does produce a kind of squeaking sound, on
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Henry Maudsley:
"The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," p. 266.
** "Scientific
American," August 12, 1868.
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account of the
resinous substance of its root, which it is rather difficult to extract; and it
has more than one hidden property in it perfectly unknown to the botanist.
The reader who
would obtain a clear idea of the commutation of forces and the resemblance
between the life-principles of plants, animals, and human beings, may
profitably consult a paper on the correlation of nervous and mental forces by
Professor Alexander Bain, of the University of Aberdeen. This mandragora seems
to occupy upon earth the point where the vegetable and animal kingdoms touch, as
the zoophites and polypi do in the sea; the boundary being in each case so
indistinct as to make it almost imperceptible where the one ceases and the
other begins. It may seem improbable that there should be homunculi, but will
any naturalist, in view of the recent expansion of science, dare say it is
impossible? "Who," says Bain, "is to limit the possibilities of
existence?"
The unexplained
mysteries of nature are many and of those presumably explained hardly one may
be said to have become absolutely intelligible. There is not a plant or mineral
which has disclosed the last of its properties to the scientists. What do the
naturalists know of the intimate nature of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms?
How can they feel confident that for every one of the discovered properties
there may not be many powers concealed in the inner nature of the plant or
stone? And that they are only waiting to be brought in relation with some other
plant, mineral, or force of nature to manifest themselves in what is termed a "supernatural
manner." Wherever Pliny, the naturalist, AElian, and even Diodorus, who
sought with such a laudable perseverance to extricate historical truth from its
medley of exaggerations and fables, have attributed to some plant or mineral an
occult property unknown to our modern botanists and physicists, their
assertions have been laid aside without further ceremony as absurd, and no more
referred to.
It has been the
speculation of men of science from time immemorial what this vital force or
life-principle is. To our mind the "secret doctrine" alone is able to
furnish the clew. Exact science recognizes only five powers in nature -- one
molar, and four molecular; kabalists, seven; and in these two additional ones
is enwrapped the whole mystery of life. One of these is immortal spirit, whose
reflection is connected by invisible links even with inorganic matter; the
other, we leave to every one to discover for himself. Says Professor Joseph Le
Conte: "What is the nature of the difference between the living organism
and the dead organism? We can detect none, physical or chemical. All the
physical and chemical forces withdrawn from the common fund of nature, and
embodied in the living organism, seem to be still embodied
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BENGAL.
in the dead, until
little by little it is returned by decomposition. Yet the difference is
immense, is inconceivably great. What is the nature of this difference
expressed in the formula of material science? What is that that is gone, and
whither is it gone? There is something here that science cannot yet understand.
Yet it is just this loss which takes place in death, and before decomposition,
which is in the highest sense vital force!"*
Difficult, nay
impossible, as it seems to science to find out the invisible, universal motor
of all -- Life, to explain its nature, or even to suggest a reasonable
hypothesis for the same, the mystery is but half a mystery, not merely for the
great adepts and seers, but even for true and firm believers in a spiritual
world. To the simple believer, unblessed with a personal organism, the
delicate, nervous sensitiveness of which would enable him -- as it enables a
seer -- to perceive the visible universe reflected as in a clear glass in the
Invisible one, and, as it were, objectively, there remains divine faith. The
latter is firmly rooted in his inner senses; in his unerring intuition, with
which cold reason has naught to do, he feels it cannot play him false. Let
human-born, erroneous dogmas, and theological sophistry contradict each other;
let one crowd off the other, and the subtile casuistry of one creed fell to the
ground the crafty reasoning of another one; truth remains one, and there is not
a religion, whether Christian or heathen, that is not firmly built upon the
rock of ages -- God and immortal spirit.
Every animal is
more or less endowed with the faculty of perceiving, if not spirits, at least
something which remains for the time being invisible to common men, and can
only be discerned by a clairvoyant. We have made hundreds of experiments with
cats, dogs, monkeys of various kinds, and, once, with a tame tiger. A round
black mirror, known as the "magic crystal," was strongly mesmerized
by a native Hindu gentleman, formerly an inhabitant of Dindigul, and now
residing in a more secluded spot, among the mountains known as the Western
Ghauts. He had tamed a young cub, brought to him from the Malabar coast, in
which part of India the tigers are proverbially ferocious; and it is with this
interesting animal that we made our experiments.
Like the ancient
Marsi and Psylli, the renowned serpent-charmers, this gentleman claimed to be
possessed of the mysterious power of taming any kind of animal. The tiger was
reduced to a chronic mental numbness, so to say; he had become as inoffensive
and harmless as a dog. Children could tease and pull him by the ears, and he
would only shake himself and howl like a dog. But whenever forced to look into
the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Le Conte:
"Correlation of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces."
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"magic
mirror," the poor animal was instantly excited to a sort of frenzy. His
eyes became full of a human terror; howling in despair, unable to turn away
from the mirror to which his gaze seemed riveted as by a magnetic spell, he
would writhe and tremble till he convulsed with fear at some vision which to us
remained unknown. He would then lie down, feebly groaning but still gazing in the
glass. When it was taken away from him, the animal would lie panting and
seemingly prostrated for about two hours. What did he see? What spirit-picture
from his own invisible, animal-world, could produce such a terrific effect on
the wild and naturally ferocious and daring beast? Who can tell? Perhaps he who
produced the scene.
The same effect on
animals was observed during spiritual seances with some holy mendicants; the
same when a Syrian, half-heathen and half-Christian, from Kunankulam (Cochin
State), a reputed sorcerer, who was invited to join us for the sake of
experimenting.
We were nine
persons in all -- seven men and two women, one of the latter a native. Besides
us, there were in the room, the young tiger, intensely occupied on a bone; a
wanderoo, or lion-monkey, which, with its black coat and snow-white goatee and
whiskers, and cunning, sparkling eyes, looked the personification of mischief;
and a beautiful golden oriole, quietly cleaning its radiant-colored tail on a
perch, placed near a large window of the veranda. In India,
"spiritual" seances are not held in the dark, as in America; and no
conditions, but perfect silence and harmony, are required. It was in the full
glare of daylight streaming through the opened doors and windows, with a far-away
buzz of life from the neighboring forests, and jungles sending us the echo of
myriads of insects, birds, and animals. We sat in the midst of a garden in
which the house was built, and instead of breathing the stifling atmosphere of
a seance-room, we were amid the fire-colored clusters of the erythrina -- the
coral tree -- inhaling the fragrant aromas of trees and shrubs, and the flowers
of the bignonia, whose white blossoms trembled in the soft breeze. In short, we
were surrounded with light, harmony, and perfumes. Large nosegays of flowers
and shrubs, sacred to the native gods, were gathered for the purpose, and
brought into the rooms. We had the sweet basil, the Vishnu-flower, without
which no religious ceremony in Bengal will ever take place; and the branches of
the Ficus religiosa, the tree dedicated to the same bright deity, intermingling
their leaves with the rosy blossoms of the sacred lotos and the Indian
tuberose, profusely ornamented the walls.
While the
"blessed one" -- represented by a very dirty, but, nevertheless,
really holy fakir -- remained plunged in self-contemplation, and some spiritual
wonders were taking place under the direction of his will,
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AND WHITE.
the monkey and the
bird exhibited but few signs of restlessness. The tiger alone visibly trembled
at intervals, and stared around the room, as if his phosphorically-shining
green orbs were following some invisible presence as it floated up and down.
That which was as yet unperceived by human eyes, must have therefore been
objective to him. As to the wanderoo, all its liveliness had fled; it seemed
drowsy, and sat crouching and motionless. The bird gave few, if any, signs of
uneasiness. There was a sound as of gently-flapping wings in the air; the
flowers went travelling about the room, displaced by invisible hands; and, as a
glorious azure-tinted flower fell on the folded paws of the monkey, it gave a
nervous start, and sought refuge under its master's white robe. These displays
lasted for an hour, and it would be too long to relate all of them; the most
curious of all, being the one which closed that season of wonders. Somebody
complaining of the heat, we had a shower of delicately-perfumed dew. The drops
fell fast and large, and conveyed a feeling of inexpressible refreshment,
drying the instant after touching our persons.
When the fakir had
brought his exhibition of white magic to a close, the "sorcerer," or
conjurer, as they are called, prepared to display his power. We were treated to
a succession of the wonders that the accounts of travellers have made familiar
to the public; showing, among other things, the fact that animals naturally
possess the clairvoyant faculty, and even, it would seem, the ability to
discern between the good and the bad spirits. All of the sorcerer's feats were
preceded by fumigations. He burned branches of resinous trees and shrubs, which
sent up volumes of smoke. Although there was nothing about this calculated to
affright an animal using only his natural eyes, the tiger, monkey, and bird
exhibited an indescribable terror. We suggested that the animals might be
frightened at the blazing brands, the familiar custom of burning fires round
the camp to keep off wild beasts, recurring to our mind. To leave no doubt upon
this point, the Syrian approached the crouching tiger with a branch of the
Bael-tree* (sacred to Siva), and waved it several times over his head,
muttering, meanwhile, his incantations. The brute instantly displayed a panic
of terror beyond description. His eyes started from their sockets like blazing
fire-balls; he foamed at the mouth; he flung himself upon the floor, as if
seeking some hole in which to hide himself; he uttered scream after scream,
that awoke a hundred responsive echoes from the jungle and the woods. Finally,
taking a last look at the spot from which his eyes had never wandered, he made
a desperate plunge, which snapped his chain, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The wood-apple.
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dashed through the
window of the veranda, carrying a piece of the frame-work with him. The monkey
had fled long before, and the bird fell from the perch as though paralyzed.
We did not ask
either the fakir or sorcerer for an explanation of the method by which their
respective phenomena were effected. If we had, unquestionably they would have
replied as did a fakir to a French traveller, who tells his story in a recent
number of a New York newspaper, called the Franco-American, as follows:
"Many of these
Hindu jugglers who live in the silence of the pagodas perform feats far
surpassing the prestidigitations of Robert Houdin, and there are many others
who produce the most curious phenomena in magnetism and catalepsy upon the
first objects that come across their way, that I have often wondered whether
the Brahmans, with their occult sciences, have not made great discoveries in
the questions which have recently been agitated in Europe.
"On one
occasion, while I and others were in a cafe with Sir Maswell, he ordered his
dobochy to introduce the charmer. In a few moments a lean Hindu, almost naked,
with an ascetic face and bronzed color entered. Around his neck, arms, thighs,
and body were coiled serpents of different sizes. After saluting us, he said,
'God be with you, I am Chibh-Chondor, son of Chibh-Gontnalh-Mava.'
" 'We desire
to see what you can do,' said our host.
" 'I obey the
orders of Siva, who has sent me here,' replied the fakir, squatting down on one
of the marble slabs.
"The serpents
raised their heads and hissed, but without showing any anger. Then taking a
small pipe, attached to a wick in his hair, he produced scarcely audible
sounds, imitating the tailapaca, a bird that feeds upon bruised cocoanuts. Here
the serpents uncoiled themselves, and one after another glided to the floor. As
soon as they touched the ground they raised about one-third of their bodies,
and began to keep time to their master's music. Suddenly the fakir dropped his
instrument and made several passes with his hands over the serpents, of whom
there were about ten, all of the most deadly species of Indian cobra. His eye
assumed a strange expression. We all felt an undefinable uneasiness, and sought
to turn away our gaze from him. At this moment a small shocra* (monkey) whose
business was to hand fire in a small brasier for lighting cigars, yielded to
his influence, lay down, and fell asleep. Five minutes passed thus, and we felt
that if the manipulations were to continue a few seconds more we should all
fall asleep. Chondor then rose, and making two more passes over the shocra,
said to it: 'Give
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Incorrect; the
Hindustani word for monkey is rukh-charha. Probably chokra, a little native
servant is meant.
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GOLD
the commander some
fire.' The young monkey rose, and without tottering, came and offered fire to
its master. It was pinched, pulled about, till there was no doubt of its being
actually asleep. Nor would it move from Sir Maswell's side till ordered to do
so by the fakir.
"We then
examined the cobras. Paralyzed by magnetic influence, they lay at full length
on the ground. On taking them up we found them stiff as sticks. They were in a
state of complete catalepsy. The fakir then awakened them, on which they
returned and again coiled themselves round his body. We inquired whether he
could make us feel his influence. He made a few passes over our legs, and
instantly we lost the use of these limbs; we could not leave our seats. He
released us a easily as he had paralyzed us.
"Chibh-Chondor
closed his seance by experimenting upon inanimate objects. By mere passes with
his hands in the direction of the object to be acted upon, and without leaving
his seat, he paled and extinguished lights in the furthest parts of the room,
moved the furniture, including the divans upon which we sat, opened and closed
doors. Catching sight of a Hindu who was drawing water from a well in the
garden, he made a pass in his direction, and the rope suddenly stopped in its
descent, resisting all the efforts of the astonished gardener. With another
pass the rope again descended.
"I asked
Chibh-Chondor: 'Do you employ the same means in acting upon inanimate objects
that you do upon living creatures?'
"He replied,
'I have only one means.'
" 'What is
it?'
" 'The will.
Man, who is the end of all intellectual and material forces, must dominate over
all. The Brahmans know nothing besides this.' "
"Sanang
Setzen," says Colonel Yule,* "enumerates a variety of the wonderful
acts which could be performed through the Dharani (mystic Hindu charms). Such
were sticking a peg into solid rock; restoring the dead to life; turning a dead
body into gold; penetrating everywhere as air does (in astral form); flying;
catching wild beasts with the hand; reading thoughts; making water flow
backward; eating tiles; sitting in the air with the legs doubled under,
etc." Old legends ascribe to Simon Magus precisely the same powers.
"He made statues to walk; leaped into the fire without being burned; flew
in the air; made bread of stones; changed his shape; assumed two faces at once;
converted himself into a pillar; caused closed doors to fly open spontaneously;
made the vessels in a house move of themselves, etc." The Jesuit Delrio
laments
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Book of Ser
Marco Polo," vol. i., pp. 306, 307.
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that credulous
princes, otherwise of pious repute, should have allowed diabolical tricks to be
played before them, "as for example, things of iron, and silver goblets,
or other heavy articles, to be moved by bounds, from one end of the table to
the other, without the use of a magnet, or of any attachment."* We believe
WILL-POWER the most powerful of magnets. The existence of such magical power in
certain persons is proved, but the existence of the Devil is a fiction, which
no theology is able to demonstrate.
"There are
certain men whom the Tartars honor above all in the world," says Friar
Ricold, "viz., the Baxitae, who are a kind of idol-priests. These are men
from India, persons of deep wisdom, well-conducted and of the gravest morals.
They are usually with magic arts . . . they exhibit many illusions, and predict
future events. For instance, one of eminence among them was said to fly; but
the truth, however, was as it proved, that he did not fly, but did walk close
to the surface of the ground without touching it; and would seem to sit down without
having any substance to support him.** This last performance was witnessed by
Ibn Batuta, at Delhi," adds Colonel Yule, who quotes the friar in the Book
of Ser Marco Polo, "in the presence of Sultan Mahomet Tughlak; and it was
professedly exhibited by a Brahman at Madras in the present century, a
descendant doubtless of those Brahmans whom Apollonius saw walking two cubits
from the ground. It is also described by the worthy Francis Valentyn, as a
performance known and practiced in his own day in India. It is related, he
says, that 'a man will first go and sit on three sticks put together so as to
form a tripod; after which, first one stick, then a second, then a third shall
be removed from under him, and the man shall not fall but shall still remain sitting
in the air! Yet I have spoken with two friends who had seen this at one and the
same time; and one of them, I may add, mistrusting his own eyes, had taken the
trouble to feel about with a long stick if there were nothing on which the body
rested; yet, as the gentleman told me, he could neither feel nor see any such
thing.' " We have stated elsewhere that the same thing was accomplished
last year, before the Prince of Wales and his suite.
Such feats as the
above are nothing in comparison to what is done by professed jugglers;
"feats," remarks the above-quoted author, "which might be
regarded as simply inventions if told by one author only, but which seem to
deserve prominent notice from being recounted by a series of authors, certainly
independent of one another, and writing at long intervals of time and place.
Our first witness is Ibn Batuta, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Delrio:
"Disquis. Magic," pp. 34, 100.
** Col. H. Yule:
"The Book of Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 308.
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it will be
necessary to quote him as well as the others in full, in order to show how
closely their evidence tallies. The Arab traveller was present at a great
entertainment at the court of the Viceroy of Khansa. 'That same night a
juggler, who was one of the Khan's slaves, made his appearance, and the Amir
said to him, "Come and show us some of your marvels." Upon this he
took a wooden ball, with several holes in it, through which long thongs were
passed, and laying hold of one of these, slung it into the air. It went so high
that we lost sight of it altogether. . . . (We were in the middle of the
palace-court.) There now remained only a little of the end of a thong in the
conjurer's hand, and he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of
it and mount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him also!
The conjurer then called to him three times, but, getting no answer, he
snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong, and
disappeared also! By and bye, he threw down one of the boy's hands, then a
foot, then the other hand, and then the other foot, then the trunk, and last of
all the head! Then he came down himself, puffing and panting, and with his
clothes all bloody kissed the ground before the Amir, and said something to him
in Chinese. The Amir gave some order in reply, and our friend then took the
lad's limbs, laid them together in their places, and gave a kick, when, presto!
there was the boy, who got up and stood before us! All this astonished me
beyond measure, and I had an attack of palpitation like that which overcame me
once before in the presence of the Sultan of India, when he showed me something
of the same kind. They gave me a cordial, however, which cured the attack. The
Kaji Afkharuddin was next to me, and quoth he, "Wallah! 't is my opinion
there has been neither going up nor coming down, neither marring, nor mending!
'T is all hocus-pocus!" ' "
And who doubts but
that it is a "hocus-pocus," an illusion, or Maya, as the Hindus
express it? But when such an illusion can be forced on, say, ten thousand
people at the same time, as we have seen it performed during a public festival,
surely the means by which such an astounding hallucination can be produced
merits the attention of science! When by such magic a man who stands before
you, in a room, the doors of which you have closed and of which the keys are in
your hand, suddenly disappears, vanishes like a flash of light, and you see him
nowhere but hear his voice from different parts of the room addressing you and
laughing at your perplexity, surely such an art is not unworthy either of Mr.
Huxley or Dr. Carpenter. Is it not quite as well worth spending time over, as
the lesser mystery -- why barnyard cocks crow at midnight?
What Ibn Batuta,
the Moor, saw in China about the year 1348, Colonel Yule shows Edward Melton,
"an Anglo-Dutch traveller," witnessing
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in Batavia about
the year 1670: "One of the same gang" (of conjurers), says Melton,*
"took a small ball of cord, and grasping one end of the cord in his hand
slung the other up into the air with such force that its extremity was beyond
reach of our sight. He then climbed up the cord with indescribable swiftness. .
. . I stood full of astonishment, not conceiving where he had disappeared; when
lo! a leg came tumbling down out of the air. A moment later a hand came down,
etc. . . . In short, all the members of the body came successively tumbling
from the air and were cast together by the attendant into the basket. The last
fragment of all was the head, and no sooner had that touched the ground than he
who had snatched up all the limbs and put them in the basket, turned them all
out again topsy turvy. Then straightway we saw with these eyes all those limbs
creep together again, and, in short, form a whole man, who at once could stand
and go just as before without showing the least damage! . . . Never in my life
was I so astonished . . . and I doubted now no longer that these misguided men
did it by the help of the Devil."
In the memoirs of
the Emperor Jahangire, the performances of seven jugglers from Bengal, who
exhibited before him, are thus described: "Ninth. They produced a man whom
they divided limb from limb, actually severing his head from the body. They
scattered these mutilated members along the ground, and in this state they lay
some time. They then extended a sheet over the spot, and one of the men putting
himself under the sheet, in a few minutes came from below, followed by the
individual supposed to have been cut into joints, in perfect health and
condition. . . . Twenty-third. They produced a chain of fifty cubits in length,
and in my presence threw one end of it toward the sky, where it remained as if
fastened to something in the air. A dog was then brought forward and being
placed at the lower end of the chain, immediately ran up, and reaching the
other end, immediately disappeared in the air. In the same manner a hog, a
panther, a lion, and a tiger were successively sent up the chain, and all
equally disappeared at the upper end of the chain. At last they took down the
chain, and put it into the bag, no one ever discovering in what way the
different animals were made to vanish into the air in the mysterious manner
above described."**
We have in our
possession a picture painted from such a Persian conjurer, with a man, or
rather the various limbs of what was a minute before a man, scattered before
him. We have seen such conjurers, and witnessed such performances more than
once and in various places.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Edward Melton:
"Engelsch Edelmans, Zeldzaame en Gedenkwaardige Zee en Land Reizen,
etc.," p. 468. Amsterdam, 1702.
** "Memoirs of
the Emperor Jahangire," pp. 99, 102.
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DEATH.
Bearing ever in
mind that we repudiate the idea of a miracle and returning once more to
phenomena more serious, we would now ask what logical objection can be urged
against the claim that the reanimation of the dead was accomplished by many
thaumaturgists? The fakir described in the Franco-Americain, might have gone
far enough to say that this will-power of man is so tremendously potential that
it can reanimate a body apparently dead, by drawing back the flitting soul that
has not yet quite ruptured the thread that through life had bound the two
together. Dozens of such fakirs have allowed themselves to be buried alive
before thousands of witnesses, and weeks afterward have been resuscitated. And
if fakirs have the secret of this artificial process, identical with, or
analogous to, hibernation, why not allow that their ancestors, the
Gymnosophists, and Apollonius of Tyana, who had studied with the latter in
India, and Jesus, and other prophets and seers, who all knew more about the
mysteries of life and death than any of our modern men of science, might have
resuscitated dead men and women? And being quite familiar with that power --
that mysterious something "that science cannot yet understand," as
Professor Le Conte confesses -- knowing, moreover, "whence it came and
whither it was going," Elisha, Jesus, Paul, and Apollonius, enthusiastic
ascetics and learned initiates, might have recalled to life with ease any man
who "was not dead but sleeping," and that without any miracle.
If the molecules of
the cadaver are imbued with the physical and chemical forces of the living
organism,* what is to prevent them from being set again in motion, provided we
know the nature of the vital force, and how to command it? The materialist can
certainly offer no objection, for with him it is no question of reinfusing a
soul. For him the soul has no existence, and the human body may be regarded
simply as a vital engine -- a locomotive which will start upon the application
of heat and force, and stop when they are withdrawn. To the theologian the case
offers greater difficulties, for, in his view, death cuts asunder the tie which
binds soul and body, and the one can no more be returned into the other without
miracle than the born infant can be compelled to resume its foetal life after
parturition and the severing of the umbilicus. But the Hermetic philosopher
stands between these two irreconcilable antagonists, "master of the
situation. He knows the nature of the soul -- a form composed of nervous fluid
and atmospheric ether -- and knows how the vital force can be made active or
passive at will, so long as there is no final destruction of some necessary
organ. The claims of Gaffarilus -- which, by the bye, appeared so preposterous
in 1650** -- were later corroborated by science.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* J. Hughes
Bennett: "Text Book of Physiology," Lippincott's American Edition,
pp. 37-50.
** "Curiosites
Inouies."
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He maintained that
every object existing in nature, provided it was not artificial, when once
burned still retained its form in the ashes, in which it remained till raised
again. Du Chesne, an eminent chemist, assured himself of the fact. Kircher,
Digby, and Vallemont have demonstrated that the forms of plants could be
resuscitated from their ashes. At a meeting of naturalists in 1834, at
Stuttgart, a receipt for producing such experiments was found in a work of
Oetinger.* Ashes of burned plants contained in vials, when heated, exhibited
again their various forms. "A small obscure cloud gradually rose in the
vial, took a defined form, and presented to the eye the flower or plant the
ashes consisted of." "The earthly husk," wrote Oetinger,
"remains in the retort, while the volatile essence ascends, like a spirit,
perfect in form, but void of substance."**
And, if the astral
form of even a plant when its body is dead still lingers in the ashes, will
skeptics persist in saying that the soul of man, the inner ego, is after the
death of the grosser form at once dissolved, and is no more? "At
death," says the philosopher, "the one body exudes from the other, by
osmose and through the brain; it is held near its old garment by a double
attraction, physical and spiritual, until the latter decomposes; and if the
proper conditions are given the soul can reinhabit it and resume the suspended
life. It does it in sleep; it does it more thoroughly in trance; most
surprisingly at the command and with the assistance of the Hermetic adept.
Iamblichus declared that a person endowed with such resuscitating powers is
'full of God.' All the subordinate spirits of the upper spheres are at his
command, for he is no longer a mortal, but himself a god. In his Epistle to the
Corinthians, Paul remarks that 'the spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets.' "
Some persons have
the natural and some the acquired power of withdrawing the inner from the outer
body, at will, and causing it to perform long journeys, and be seen by those
whom it visits. Numerous are the instances recorded by unimpeachable witnesses
of the "doubles" of persons having been seen and conversed with, hundreds
of miles from the places where the persons themselves were known to be.
Hermotimus, if we may credit Pliny and Plutarch,*** could at will fall into a
trance and then his second soul proceeded to any distant place he chose.
The Abbe Tritheim,
the famous author of Steganographie, who lived in the seventeenth century,
could converse with his friends by the mere power of his will. "I can make
my thoughts known to the initiated,"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Thoughts on
the Birth and Generation of Things."
** C. Crowe:
"Night-Side of Nature," p. 111.
*** Pliny:
"Hist. Nat.," vii., c. 52; and Plutarch: "Discourse concerning
Socrates' Daemon," 22.
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RESUSCITATION OF FAKIRS.
he wrote, "at
a distance of many hundred miles, without word, writing, or cipher, by any
messenger. The latter cannot betray me, for he knows nothing. If needs be, I
can dispense with the messenger. If any correspondent should be buried in the
deepest dungeon, I could still convey to him my thoughts as clearly and as
frequently as I chose, and this quite simply, without superstition, without the
aid of spirits." Cordanus could also send his spirit, or any messages he
chose. When he did so, he felt "as if a door was opened, and I myself
immediately passed through it, leaving the body behind me."* The case of a
high German official, a counsellor Wesermann, was mentioned in a scientific
paper.** He claimed to be able to cause any friend or acquaintance, at any
distance, to dream of every subject he chose, or see any person he liked. His
claims were proved good, and testified to on several occasions by skeptics and
learned professional persons. He could also cause his double to appear wherever
he liked; and be seen by several persons at one time. By whispering in their
ears a sentence prepared and agreed upon beforehand by unbelievers, and for the
purpose, his power to project the double was demonstrated beyond any cavil.
According to
Napier, Osborne, Major Lawes, Quenouillet, Nikiforovitch, and many other modern
witnesses, fakirs are now proved to be able, by a long course of diet,
preparation, and repose, to bring their bodies into a condition which enables
them to be buried six feet under ground for an indefinite period. Sir Claude
Wade was present at the court of Rundjit Singh, when the fakir, mentioned by
the Honorable Captain Osborne, was buried alive for six weeks, in a box placed
in a cell three feet below the floor of the room.** To prevent the chance of
deception, a guard comprising two companies of soldiers had been detailed, and
four sentries "were furnished and relieved every two hours, night and day,
to guard the building from intrusion. . . . On opening it," says Sir
Claude, "we saw a figure enclosed in a bag of white linen fastened by a
string over the head . . . the servant then began pouring warm water over the
figure . . . the legs and arms of the body were shrivelled and stiff, the face
full, the head reclining on the shoulder like that of a corpse. I then called
to the medical gentleman who was attending me, to come down and inspect the
body, which he did, but could discover no pulsation in the heart, the temples,
or the arm. There was, however, a heat about the region of the brain, which no
other part of the body exhibited."
Regretting that the
limits of our space forbid the quotation of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Res.
Var.," v. iii., i., viii., c. 43. Plutarch: "Discourse concerning
Socrates' Daemon," 22.
** Nasse:
"Zeitschrift fur Psychische Aerzte," 1820.
*** Osborne:
"Camp and Court of Rundjit Singh"; Braid: "On Trance."
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details of this
interesting story, we will only add, that the process of resuscitation included
bathing with hot water, friction, the removal of wax and cotton pledgets from
the nostrils and ears, the rubbing of the eyelids with ghee or clarified
butter, and, what will appear most curious to many, the application of a hot
wheaten cake, about an inch thick "to the top of the head." After the
cake had been applied for the third time, the body was violently convulsed, the
nostrils became inflated, the respiration ensued, and the limbs assumed a natural
fulness; but the pulsation was still faintly perceptible. "The tongue was
then anointed with ghee; the eyeballs became dilated and recovered their
natural color, and the fakir recognized those present and spoke." It
should be noticed that not only had the nostrils and ears been plugged, but the
tongue had been thrust back so as to close the gullet, thus effectually
stopping the orifices against the admission of atmospheric air. While in India,
a fakir told us that this was done not only to prevent the action of the air
upon the organic tissues, but also to guard against the deposit of the germs of
decay, which in case of suspended animation would cause decomposition exactly
as they do in any other meat exposed to air. There are also localities in which
a fakir would refuse to be buried; such as the many spots in Southern India
infested with the white ants, which annoying termites are considered among the
most dangerous enemies of man and his property. They are so voracious as to
devour everything they find except perhaps metals. As to wood, there is no kind
through which they would not burrow; and even bricks and mortar offer but
little impediment to their formidable armies. They will patiently work through
mortar, destroying it particle by particle; and a fakir, however holy himself,
and strong his temporary coffin, would not risk finding his body devoured when
it was time for his resuscitation.
Then, here is a
case, only one of many, substantiated by the testimony of two English noblemen
-- one of them an army officer -- and a Hindu Prince, who was as great a
skeptic as themselves. It places science in this embarrassing dilemma: it must
either give the lie to many unimpeachable witnesses, or admit that if one fakir
can resuscitate after six weeks, any other fakir can also; and if a fakir, why
not a Lazarus, a Shunamite boy, or the daughter of Jairus?*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Mrs. Catherine
Crowe, in her "Night-Side of Nature," p. 118, gives us the
particulars of a similar burial of a fakir, in the presence of General Ventura,
together with the Maharajah, and many of his Sirdars. The political agent at
Loodhiana was "present when he was disinterred, ten months after he had
been buried." The coffin, or box, containing the fakir "being buried
in a vault, the earth was thrown over it and trod down, after which a crop of
barley was sown on the spot, and sentries placed to watch it. "The
Maharajah, however, was so skeptical that in spite of all [[Footnote continued
on next page]]
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"DEAD" DEAD?
And now, perhaps,
it may not be out of place to inquire what assurance can any physician have,
beyond external evidence, that the body is really dead? The best authorities
agree in saying that there are none. Dr. Todd Thomson, of London,* says most
positively that "the immobility of the body, even its cadaverous aspect, the
coldness of surface, the absence of respiration and pulsation, and the sunken
state of the eye, are no unequivocal evidences that life is wholly
extinct." Nothing but total decomposition is an irrefutable proof that
life has fled for ever and that the tabernacle is tenantless. Demokritus
asserted that there existed no certain signs of real death.** Pliny maintained
the same.*** Asclepiades, a learned physician and one of the most distinguished
men of his day, held that the assurance was still more difficult in the cases
of women than in those of men.
Todd Thomson, above
quoted, gives several remarkable cases of such a suspended animation. Among
others he mentions a certain Francis Neville, a Norman gentleman, who twice
apparently died, and was twice in the act of being buried. But, at the moment
when the coffin was being lowered in the grave, he spontaneously revived. In
the seventeenth century, Lady Russell, to all appearance died, and was about to
be buried, but as the bell was tolling for her funeral, she sat up in her
coffin and exclaimed, "It is time to go to church!" Diemerbroeck
mentions a peasant who gave no signs of life for three days, but when placed in
his coffin, near the grave, revived and lived many years afterward. In 1836, a
respectable citizen of Brussels fell into a profound lethargy on a Sunday
morning. On Monday, as his attendants were preparing to screw the lid of the
coffin, the supposed corpse sat up, rubbed his eyes, and called for his coffee
and a newspaper.****
Such cases of
apparent death are not very infrequently reported in the newspaper press. As we
write (April, 1877), we find in a London letter to the New York Times, the
following paragraph: "Miss Annie Goodale, the actress, died three weeks
ago. Up to yesterday she was not buried. The corpse is warm and limp, and the
features as soft and mobile as when in life. Several physicians have examined
her, and have ordered that the body shall be watched night and day. The poor
lady is evidently in a trance, but whether she is destined to come to life it
is impossible to say."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] these precautions, he had him, twice in the ten
months, dug up and examined, and each time he was found to be exactly in the
same state as when they had shut him up."
* Todd: Appendix to
"Occult Science," vol. i.
** "A Cornel.
Cels.," lib. ii., cap. vi.
*** "Hist.
Nat.," lib. vii., cap. lii.
**** "Morning
Herald," July 21, 1836.
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Science regards man
as an aggregation of atoms temporarily united by a mysterious force called the
life-principle. To the materialist, the only difference between a living and a
dead body is, that in the one case, that force is active, in the other latent.
When it is extinct or entirely latent the molecules obey a superior attraction,
which draws them asunder and scatters them through space.
This dispersion
must be death, if it is possible to conceive such a thing as death, where the
very molecules of the dead body manifest an intense vital energy. If death is
but the stoppage of a digesting, locomotive, and thought-grinding machine, how
can death be actual and not relative, before that machine is thoroughly broken
up and its particles dispersed? So long as any of them cling together, the
centripetal vital force may overmatch the dispersive centrifugal action. Says
Eliphas Levi: "Change attests movement, and movement only reveals life.
The corpse would not decompose if it were dead; all the molecules which compose
it are living and struggle to separate. And would you think that the spirit
frees itself first of all to exist no more? That thought and love can die when
the grossest forms of matter do not die? If the change should be called death,
we die and are born again every day, for every day our forms undergo change."*
The kabalists say
that a man is not dead when his body is entombed. Death is never sudden; for,
according to Hermes, nothing goes in nature by violent transitions. Everything
is gradual, and as it required a long and gradual development to produce the
living human being, so time is required to completely withdraw vitality from
the carcass. "Death can no more be an absolute end, than birth a real
beginning. Birth proves the preexistence of the being, as death proves
immortality," says the same French kabalist.
While implicitly
believing in the restoration of the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the
synagogue, and in other Bible-miracles, well-educated Christians, who otherwise
would feel indignant at being called superstitious, meet all such cases as that
of Apollonius and the girl said by his biographer to have been recalled to life
by him, with scornful skepticism. Diogenes Laertius, who mentions a woman
restored to life by Empedocles, is treated with no more respect; and the name
of Pagan thaumaturgist, in the eyes of Christians, is but a synonym for
impostor. Our scientists are at least one degree more rational; they embrace
all Bible prophets and apostles, and the heathen miracle-doers in two
categories of hallucinated fools and deceitful tricksters.
But Christians and
materialists might, with a very little effort on their
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Science
des Esprits."
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BEHIND US.
part, show
themselves fair and logical at the same time. To produce such a miracle, they
have but to consent to understand what they read, and submit it to the
unprejudiced criticism of their best judgment. Let us see how far it is
possible. Setting aside the incredible fiction of Lazarus, we will select two
cases: the ruler's daughter, recalled to life by Jesus, and the Corinthian
bride, resuscitated by Apollonius. In the former case, totally disregarding the
significant expression of Jesus -- "She is not dead but sleepeth,"
the clergy force their god to become a breaker of his own laws and grant
unjustly to one what he denies to all others, and with no better object in view
than to produce a useless miracle. In the second case, notwithstanding the
words of the biographer of Apollonius, so plain and precise that there is not
the slightest cause to misunderstand them, they charge Philostratus with
deliberate imposture. Who could be fairer than he, who less open to the charge
of mystification, when, in describing the resuscitation of the young girl by
the Tyanian sage, in the presence of a large concourse of people, the
biographer says, "she had seemed to die."
In other words, he
very clearly indicates a case of suspended animation; and then adds
immediately, "as the rain fell very fast on the young girl," while
she was being carried to the pile, "with her face turned upwards, this,
also, might have excited her senses."* Does this not show most plainly
that Philostratus saw no miracle in that resuscitation? Does it not rather
imply, if anything, the great learning and skill of Apollonius, "who like
Asclepiades had the merit of distinguishing at a glance between real and
apparent death"?**
A resuscitation,
after the soul and spirit have entirely separated from the body, and the last
electric thread is severed, is as impossible as for a once disembodied spirit
to reincarnate itself once more on this earth, except as described in previous
chapters. "A leaf, once fallen off, does not reattach itself to the
branch," says Eliphas Levi. "The caterpillar becomes a butterfly, but
the butterfly does not again return to the grub. Nature closes the door behind all
that passes, and pushes life forward. Forms pass, thought remains, and does not
recall that which it has once exhausted."***
Why should it be
imagined that Asclepiades and Apollonius enjoyed exceptional powers for the
discernment of actual death? Has any modern school of medicine this knowledge
to impart to its students? Let their authorities answer for them. These
prodigies of Jesus and Apollo-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Vit.
Apollon. Tyan.," lib. iv., ch. xvi.
** Salverte: "Sciences
Occultes," vol. ii.
*** "La
Science des Esprits."
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nius are so well attested
that they appear authentic. Whether in either or both cases life was simply
suspended or not, the important fact remains that by some power, peculiar to
themselves, both the wonder-workers recalled the seemingly dead to life in an
instant.*
Is it because the
modern physician has not yet found the secret which the theurgists evidently
possessed that its possibility is denied?
Neglected as
psychology now is, and with the strangely chaotic state in which physiology is
confessed to be by its most fair students, certainly it is not very likely that
our men of science will soon rediscover the lost knowledge of the ancients. In
the days of old, when prophets were not treated as charlatans, nor
thaumaturgists as impostors, there were colleges instituted for teaching
prophecy and occult sciences in general. Samuel is recorded as the chief of
such an institution at Ramah; Elisha, also, at Jericho. The schools of hazim,
prophets or seers, were celebrated throughout the country. Hillel had a regular
academy, and Socrates is well known to have sent away several of his disciples
to study manticism. The study of magic, or wisdom, included every branch of
science, the metaphysical as well as the physical, psychology and physiology in
their common and occult phases, and the study of alchemy was universal, for it
was both a physical and a spiritual science. Therefore why doubt or wonder that
the ancients, who studied nature under its double aspect, achieved discoveries
which to our modern physicists, who study but its dead letter, are a closed
book?
Thus, the question
at issue is not whether a dead body can be resuscitated -- for, to assert that
would be to assume the possibility of a miracle, which is absurd -- but, to
assure ourselves whether the medical authorities pretend to determine the
precise moment of death. The kabalists say that death occurs at the instant
when both the astral body, or life-principle, and the spirit part forever with
the corporeal body. The scientific physician who denies both astral body and spirit,
and admits the existence of nothing more than the life-principle, judges death
to occur when life is apparently extinct. When the beating of the heart and the
action of the lungs cease, and rigor mortis is manifested, and especially when
decomposition begins, they pronounce the patient dead. But the annals of
medicine teem with examples of "suspended anima-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It would be
beneficial to humanity were our modern physicians possessed of the same
inestimable faculty; for then we would have on record less horrid deaths after
inhumation. Mrs. Catherine Crowe, in the "Night-Side of Nature,"
records in the chapter on "Cases of Trances" five such cases, in
England alone, and during the present century. Among them is Dr. Walker of
Dublin and a Mr. S----, whose stepmother was accused of poisoning him, and who,
upon being disinterred, was found lying on his face.
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tion" as the
result of asphyxia by drowning, the inhalation of gases and other causes; life
being restored in the case of drowning persons even after they had been apparently
dead for twelve hours.
In cases of
somnambulic trance, none of the ordinary signs of death are lacking; breathing
and the pulse are extinct; animal-heat has disappeared; the muscles are rigid,
the eye glazed, and the body is colorless. In the celebrated case of Colonel
Townshend, he threw himself into this state in the presence of three medical
men; who, after a time, were persuaded that he was really dead, and were about
leaving the room, when he slowly revived. He describes his peculiar gift by saying
that he "could die or expire when he pleased, and yet, by an effort, or
somehow he could come to life again."
There occurred in
Moscow, a few years since, a remarkable instance of apparent death. The wife of
a wealthy merchant lay in the cataleptic state seventeen days, during which the
authorities made several attempts to bury her; but, as decomposition had not
set in, the family averted the ceremony, and at the end of that time she was
restored to life.
The above instances
show that the most learned men in the medical profession are unable to be
certain when a person is dead. What they call "suspended animation,"
is that state from which the patient spontaneously recovers, through an effort
of his own spirit, which may be provoked by any one of many causes. In these
cases, the astral body has not parted from the physical body; its external
functions are simply suspended; the subject is in a state of torpor, and the
restoration is nothing but a recovery from it.
But, in the case of
what physiologists would call "real death," but which is not actually
so, the astral body has withdrawn; perhaps local decomposition has set in. How
shall the man be brought to life again? The answer is, the interior body must
be forced back into the exterior one, and vitality reawakened in the latter.
The clock has run down, it must be wound. If death is absolute; if the organs
have not only ceased to act, but have lost the susceptibility of renewed
action, then the whole universe would have to be thrown into chaos to
resuscitate the corpse -- a miracle would be demanded. But, as we said before,
the man is not dead when he is cold, stiff, pulseless, breathless, and even
showing signs of decomposition; he is not dead when buried, nor afterward, until
a certain point is reached. That point is, when the vital organs have become so
decomposed, that if reanimated, they could not perform their customary
functions; when the mainspring and cogs of the machine, so to speak, are so
eaten away by rust, that they would snap upon the turning of the key. Until
that point is reached, the astral body may be caused, without miracle, to
reenter its former tabernacle, either by an effort of its
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own will, or under
the resistless impulse of the will of one who knows the potencies of nature and
how to direct them. The spark is not extinguished, but only latent -- latent as
the fire in the flint, or the heat in the cold iron.
In cases of the
most profound cataleptic clairvoyance, such as obtained by Du Potet, and
described very graphically by the late Prof. William Gregory, in his Letters on
Animal Magnetism, the spirit is so far disengaged from the body that it would
be impossible for it to reenter it without an effort of the mesmerizer's will.
The subject is practically dead, and, if left to itself, the spirit would
escape forever. Although independent of the torpid physical casing, the
half-freed spirit is still tied to it by a magnetic cord, which is described by
clairvoyants as appearing dark and smoky by contrast with the ineffable
brightness of the astral atmosphere through which they look. Plutarch, relating
the story of Thespesius, who fell from a great height, and lay three days
apparently dead, gives us the experience of the latter during his state of
partial decease. "Thespesius," says he, "then observed that he
was different from the dead by whom he was surrounded. . . . They were
transparent and environed by a radiance, but he seemed to trail after him a
dark radiation or line of shadow." His whole description, minute and
circumstantial in its details, appears to be corroborated by the clairvoyants
of every period, and, so far as this class of testimony can be taken, is
important. The kabalists, as we find them interpreted by Eliphas Levi, in his
Science des Esprits, say that, "When a man falls into the last sleep, he
is plunged at first into a sort of dream, before gaining consciousness in the
other side of life. He sees, then, either in a beautiful vision, or in a
terrible nightmare, the paradise or hell, in which he believed during his
mortal existence. This is why it often happens, that the affrighted soul breaks
violently back into the terrestrial life it has just left, and why some who
were really dead, i.e., who, if left alone and quiet, would have peaceably
passed away forever in a state of unconscious lethargy, when entombed too soon,
reawake to life in the grave."
In this connection,
the reader may perhaps recall the well-known case of the old man who had left
some generous gifts in his will to his orphaned nieces; which document, just
before his death, he had confided to his rich son, with injunctions to carry
out his wishes. But, he had not been dead more than a few hours before the son,
finding himself alone with the corpse, tore the will and burned it. The sight
of this impious deed apparently recalled the hovering spirit, and the old man,
rising from his couch of death, uttered a fierce malediction upon the
horror-stricken wretch, and then fell back again, and yielded up his spirit --
this time forever. Dion Boucicault makes use of an incident of this kind in his
pow-
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erful drama Louis
XI.; and Charles Kean created a profound impression in the character of the
French monarch, when the dead man revives for an instant and clutches the crown
as the heir-apparent approaches it.
Levi says that
resuscitation is not impossible while the vital organism remains undestroyed,
and the astral spirit is yet within reach. "Nature," he says,
"accomplishes nothing by sudden jerks, and eternal death is always
preceded by a state which partakes somewhat of the nature of lethargy. It is a
torpor which a great shock or the magnetism of a powerful will can
overcome." He accounts in this manner for the resuscitation of the dead
man thrown upon the bones of Elisha. He explains it by saying that the soul was
hovering at that moment near the body; the burial party, according to
tradition, were attacked by robbers; and their fright communicating itself
sympathetically to it, the soul was seized with horror at the idea of its
remains being desecrated, and "reentered violently into its body to raise
and save it." Those who believe in the survival of the soul can see in
this incident nothing of a supernatural character -- it is only a perfect
manifestation of natural law. To narrate to the materialist such a case,
however well attested, would be but an idle talk; the theologian, always
looking beyond nature for a special providence, regards it as a prodigy.
Eliphas Levi says: "They attributed the resuscitation to the contact with
the bones of Elisha; and worship of relics dates logically from his
epoch."
Balfour Stewart is
right -- scientists "know nothing, or next to nothing, of the ultimate
structure and properties of matter, whether organic or inorganic."
We are now on such
firm ground, that we will take another step in advance. The same knowledge and
control of the occult forces, including the vital force which enabled the fakir
temporarily to leave and then reenter his body, and Jesus, Apollonius, and
Elisha to recall their several subjects to life, made it possible for the
ancient hierophants to animate statues, and cause them to act and speak like
living creatures. It is the same knowledge and power which made it possible for
Paracelsus to create his homunculi; for Aaron to change his rod into a serpent
and a budding branch; Moses to cover Egypt with frogs and other pests; and the
Egyptian theurgist of our day to vivify his pigmy Mandragora, which has
physical life but no soul. It was no more wonderful that upon presenting the
necessary conditions Moses should call into life large reptiles and insects,
than that, under like favoring conditions, the physical scientist should call into
life the small ones which he names bacteria.
And now, in
connection with ancient miracle-doers and prophets, let us bring forward the
claims of the modern mediums. Nearly every form of phenomena recorded in the
sacred and profane histories of the world
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we find them
claiming to reproduce in our days. Selecting, among the variety of seeming
wonders, levitation of ponderable inanimate objects as well as of human bodies,
we will give our attention to the conditions under which the phenomenon is
manifested. History records the names of Pagan theurgists, Christian saints,
Hindu fakirs, and spiritual mediums who have been thus levitated, and who
remained suspended in the air, sometimes for a considerable time. The
phenomenon has not been confined to one country or epoch, but almost invariably
the subjects have been religious ecstatics, adepts in magic, or, as now,
spiritual mediums.
We assume the fact
to be so well established as to require no labored effort on our part at this
time to furnish proof that unconscious manifestations of spirit-power, as well
as conscious feats of high magic, have happened in all countries, in all ages,
and with hierophants as well as through irresponsible mediums. When the present
perfected European civilization was yet in an inchoate state, occult
philosophy, already hoary with age, speculated upon the attributes of man by
analogy with those of his Creator. Individuals later, whose names will remain
forever immortal, inscribed on the portal of the spiritual history of man, have
afforded in their persons examples of how far could be developed the god-like
powers of the microcosmos. Describing the Doctrines and Principal Teachers of
the Alexandrian School, Professor A. Wilder says: "Plotinus taught that
there was in the soul a returning impulse, love, which attracted it inward
toward its origin and centre, the eternal good. While the person who does not
understand how the soul contains the beautiful within itself will seek by
laborious effort to realize beauty without, the wise man recognizes it within
himself, develops the idea by withdrawal into himself, concentrating his
attention, and so floating upward toward the divine fountain, the stream of
which flows within him. The infinite is not known through the reason . . . but
by a faculty superior to reason, by entering upon a state in which the
individual, so to speak, ceases to be his finite self, in which state divine
essence is communicated to him. This is ECSTASY."
Of Apollonius, who
asserted that he could see "the present and the future in a clear
mirror," on account of his abstemious mode of life, the professor very
beautifully observes: "This is what may be termed spiritual photography.
The soul is the camera in which facts and events, future, past, and present,
are alike fixed; and the mind becomes conscious of them. Beyond our every-day
world of limits, all is as one day or state, the past and future comprised in
the present."*
Were these God-like
men "mediums," as the orthodox spiritualists
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. Wilder:
"Neo-platonism and Alchemy."
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will have it? By no
means, if by the term we understand those "sick-sensitives" who are
born with a peculiar organization, and who in proportion as their powers are
developed become more and more subject to the irresistible influence of
miscellaneous spirits, purely human, elementary, or elemental. Unquestionably
so, if we consider every individual a medium in whose magnetic atmosphere the
denizens of higher invisible spheres can move, and act, and live. In such a
sense every person is a medium. Mediumship may be either 1st, self-developed;
2d, by extraneous influences; or 3d, may remain latent throughout life. The
reader must bear in mind the definition of the term, for, unless this is
clearly understood, confusion will be inevitable. Mediumship of this kind may
be either active or passive, repellent or receptive, positive or negative.
Mediumship is measured by the quality of the aura with which the individual is
surrounded. This may be dense, cloudy, noisome, mephitic, nauseating to the
pure spirit, and attract only those foul beings who delight in it, as the eel
does in turbid waters, or, it may be pure, crystalline, limpid, opalescent as
the morning dew. All depends upon the moral character of the medium.
About such men as
Apollonius, Iamblichus, Plotinus, and Porphyry, there gathered this heavenly
nimbus. It was evolved by the power of their own souls in close unison with
their spirits; by the superhuman morality and sanctity of their lives, and
aided by frequent interior ecstatic contemplation. Such holy men pure spiritual
influences could approach. Radiating around an atmosphere of divine
beneficence, they caused evil spirits to flee before them. Not only is it not
possible for such to exist in their aura, but they cannot even remain in that
of obsessed persons, if the thaumaturgist exercises his will, or even
approaches them. This is MEDIATORSHIP, not mediumship. Such persons are temples
in which dwells the spirit of the living God; but if the temple is defiled by
the admission of an evil passion, thought or desire, the mediator falls into
the sphere of sorcery. The door is opened; the pure spirits retire and the evil
ones rush in. This is still mediatorship, evil as it is; the sorcerer, like the
pure magician, forms his own aura and subjects to his will congenial inferior
spirits.
But mediumship, as
now understood and manifested, is a different thing. Circumstances, independent
of his own volition, may, either at birth or subsequently, modify a person's
aura, so that strange manifestations, physical or mental, diabolical or
angelic, may take place. Such mediumship, as well as the above-mentioned
mediatorship, has existed on earth since the first appearance here of living
man. The former is the yielding of weak, mortal flesh to the control and
suggestions of spirits and intelligences other than one's own immortal demon.
It is literally
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obsession and
possession; and mediums who pride themselves on being the faithful slaves of
their "guides," and who repudiate with indignation the idea of
"controlling" the manifestations, "could not very well deny the
fact without inconsistency. This mediumship is typified in the story of Eve
succumbing to the reasonings of the serpent; of Pandora peeping in the
forbidden casket and letting loose on the world, sorrow and evil, and by Mary
Magdalene, who from having been obsessed by 'seven devils' was finally redeemed
by the triumphant struggle of her immortal spirit, touched by the presence of a
holy mediator, against the dweller." This mediumship, whether beneficent
or maleficent, is always passive. Happy are the pure in heart, who repel
unconsciously, by that very cleanness of their inner nature, the dark spirits
of evil. For verily they have no other weapons of defense but that inborn
goodness and purity. Mediumism, as practiced in our days, is a more undesirable
gift than the robe of Nessus.
"The tree is
known by its fruits." Side by side with passive mediums in the progress of
the world's history, appear active mediators. We designate them by this name
for lack of a better one. The ancient witches and wizards, and those who had a
"familiar spirit," generally made of their gifts a trade; and the
Obeah woman of En-Dor, so well defined by Henry More, though she may have
killed her calf for Saul, accepted hire from other visitors. In India, the
jugglers, who by the way are less so than many a modern medium, and the Essaoua
or sorcerers and serpent-charmers of Asia and Africa, all exercise their gifts
for money. Not so with the mediators, or hierophants. Buddha was a mendicant
and refused his father's throne. The "Son of Man had not where to lay his
head"; the chosen apostles provided "neither gold, nor silver, nor
brass in their purses." Apollonius gave one half of his fortune to his
relatives, the other half to the poor; Iamblichus and Plotinus were renowned
for charity and self-denial; the fakirs, or holy mendicants, of India are
fairly described by Jacolliot; the Pythagorean Essenes and Therapeutae believed
their hands defiled by the contact of money. When the apostles were offered
money to impart their spiritual powers, Peter, notwithstanding that the Bible
shows him a coward and thrice a renegade, still indignantly spurned the offer, saying:
"Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of
God may be purchased with money." These men were mediators, guided merely
by their own personal spirit, or divine soul, and availing themselves of the
help of spirits but so far as these remain in the right path.
Far from us be the
thought of casting an unjust slur on physical mediums. Harassed by various
intelligences, reduced by the overpower-
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PROCLUS.
ing influence --
which their weak and nervous natures are unable to shake off -- to a morbid
state, which at last becomes chronic, they are impeded by these
"influences" from undertaking other occupation. They become mentally
and physically unfit for any other. Who can judge them harshly when, driven to
the last extremity, they are constrained to accept mediumship as a business?
And heaven knows, as recent events have too well proved, whether the calling is
one to be envied by any one! It is not mediums, real, true, and genuine mediums
that we would ever blame, but their patrons, the spiritualists.
Plotinus, when
asked to attend public worship of the gods, is said to have proudly answered:
"It is for them (the spirits) to come to me." Iamblichus asserted and
proved in his own case, that our soul can attain communion with the highest
intelligences, with "natures loftier than itself," and carefully
drove away from his theurgical ceremonies* every inferior spirit, or bad
daemon, which he taught his disciples to recognize. Proclus, who
"elaborated the entire theosophy and theurgy of his predecessors into a
complete system,"** according to Professor Wilder, "believed with
Iamblichus in the attaining of a divine power, which, overcoming the mundane
life, rendered the individual an organ of the Deity." He even taught that
there was a "mystic password that would carry a person from one order of
spiritual beings to another, higher and higher, till he arrived at the absolute
divine." Apollonius spurned the sorcerers and "common
soothsayers," and declared that it was his "peculiar abstemious mode
of life" which "produced such an acuteness of the senses and created
other faculties, so that the greatest and most remarkable things can take
place." Jesus declared man the lord of the Sabbath, and at his command the
terrestrial and elementary spirits fled from their temporary abodes; a power
which was shared by Apollonius and many of the Brotherhood of the Essenes of
Judea and Mount Carmel.
It is undeniable
that there must have been some good reasons why the ancients persecuted
unregulated mediums. Otherwise why, at the time of Moses and David and Samuel,
should they have encouraged prophecy and divination, astrology and soothsaying,
and maintained schools and colleges in which these natural gifts were
strengthened and developed, while witches and those who divined by the spirit
of Ob were put to death? Even at the time of Christ, the poor oppressed mediums
were driven to the tombs and waste places without the city walls. Why this
apparent gross injustice? Why should banishment, persecution, and death be the
portion of the physical mediums of those days, and whole
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Iamblichus was
the founder of the Neo-platonic theurgy.
** See the
"Sketch of the Eclectic Philosophy of the Alexandrian School."
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communities of
thaumaturgists -- like the Essenes -- be not merely tolerated but revered? It
is because the ancients, unlike ourselves, could "try" the spirits
and discern the difference between the good and the evil ones, the human and
the elemental. They also knew that unregulated spirit intercourse brought ruin
upon the individual and disaster to the community.
This view of
mediumship may be novel and perhaps repugnant to many modern spiritualists; but
still it is the view taught in the ancient philosophy, and supported by the
experience of mankind from time immemorial.
It is erroneous to
speak of a medium having powers developed. A passive medium has no power. He
has a certain moral and physical condition which induces emanations, or an
aura, in which his controlling intelligences can live, and by which they
manifest themselves. He is only the vehicle through which they display their power.
This aura varies day by day, and, as would appear from Mr. Crookes'
experiments, even hour by hour. It is an external effect resulting from
interior causes. The medium's moral state determines the kind of spirits that
come; and the spirits that come reciprocally influence the medium,
intellectually, physically, and morally. The perfection of his mediumship is in
ratio to his passivity, and the danger he incurs is in equal degree. When he is
fully "developed" -- perfectly passive -- his own astral spirit may
be benumbed, and even crowded out of his body, which is then occupied by an
elemental, or, what is worse, by a human fiend of the eighth sphere, who
proceeds to use it as his own. But too often the cause of the most celebrated
crime is to be sought in such possessions.
Physical mediumship
depending upon passivity, its antidote suggests itself naturally; let the
medium cease being passive. Spirits never control persons of positive character
who are determined to resist all extraneous influences. The weak and
feeble-minded whom they can make their victims they drive into vice. If these
miracle-making elementals and disembodied devils called elementary were indeed
the guardian angels that they have passed for, these last thirty years, why
have they not given their faithful mediums at least good health and domestic
happiness? Why do they desert them at the most critical moments of trial when
under accusations of fraud? It is notorious that the best physical mediums are
either sickly or, sometimes, what is still worse, inclined to some abnormal
vice or other. Why do not these healing "guides," who make their
mediums play the therapeutists and thaumaturgists to others, give them the boon
of robust physical vigor? The ancient thaumaturgist and apostle, generally, if
not invariably, enjoyed good health; their magnetism never conveyed to the sick
patient any physical or moral taint; and they never were
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MAGICIANS.
accused of
VAMPIRISM, which a spiritual paper very justly charges upon some
medium-healers.*
If we apply the
above law of mediumship and mediatorship to the subject of levitation, with
which we opened our present discussion, what shall we find? Here we have a
medium and one of the mediator-class levitated -- the former at a seance, the
latter at prayer, or in ecstatic contemplation. The medium being passive must
be lifted up; the ecstatic being active must levitate himself. The former is
elevated by his familiar spirits -- whoever or whatever they may be -- the
latter, by the power of his own aspiring soul. Can both be indiscriminately
termed mediums?
But nevertheless we
may be answered that the same phenomena are produced in the presence of a
modern medium as of an ancient saint. Undoubtedly; and so it was in the days of
Moses; for we believe that the triumph claimed for him in Exodus over Pharaoh's
magicians is simply a national boast on the part of the "chosen
people." That the power which produced his phenomena produced that of the
magicians also, who were moreover the first tutors of Moses and instructed him
in their "wisdom," is most probable. But even in those days they
seemed to have well appreciated the difference between phenomena apparently
identical. The tutelar national deity of the Hebrews (who is not the Highest
Father)** forbids expressly, in Deuteronomy,*** his people "to learn to do
after the abominations of other nations. . . . To pass through the fire, or use
divination, or be an observer of times or an enchanter, or a witch, or a
consulter with familiar spirits, or a necromancer."
What difference was
there then between all the above-enumerated phenomena as performed by the
"other nations" and when enacted by the prophets? Evidently, there
was some good reason for it; and we find it in John's First Epistle, iv., which
says: "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See "Medium
and Daybreak," July 7, 1876, p. 428.
** In Volume II.,
we will distinctly prove that the Old Testament mentions the worship of more
than one god by the Israelites. The El-Shadi of Abraham and Jacob was not the
Jehovah of Moses, or the Lord God worshipped by them for forty years in the
wilderness. And the God of Hosts of Amos is not, if we are to believe his own
words, the Mosaic God, the Sinaitic deity, for this is what we read: "I
hate, I despise your feast-days . . . your meat-offerings, I will not accept
them. . . . Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel? . . . No, but ye have borne the tabernacle of
your Moloch and Chiun (Saturn), your images, the star of your god, which ye
made to yourselves. . . . Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity . .
. saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts" (Amos v. 21-27).
*** Chapter xviii.
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The only standard
within the reach of spiritualists and present-day mediums by which they can try
the spirits, is to judge 1, by their actions and speech; 2, by their readiness
to manifest themselves; and 3, whether the object in view is worthy of the
apparition of a "disembodied" spirit, or can excuse any one for disturbing
the dead. Saul was on the eve of destruction, himself and his sons, yet Samuel
inquired of him: "Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?"* But
the "intelligences" that visit the circle-rooms, come at the beck of
every trifler who would while away a tedious hour.
In the number of
the London Spiritualist for July 14th, we find a long article, in which the
author seeks to prove that "the marvelous wonders of the present day,
which belong to so-called modern spiritualism, are identical in character with
the experiences of the patriarchs and apostles of old."
We are forced to
contradict, point-blank, such an assertion. They are identical only so far that
the same forces and occult powers of nature produce them. But though these
powers and forces may be, and most assuredly are, all directed by unseen
intelligences, the latter differ more in essence, character, and purposes than
mankind itself, composed, as it now stands, of white, black, brown, red, and
yellow men, and numbering saints and criminals, geniuses and idiots. The writer
may avail himself of the services of a tame orang-outang or a South Sea
islander; but the fact alone that he has a servant makes neither the latter nor
himself identical with Aristotle and Alexander. The writer compares Ezekiel
"lifted up" and taken into the "east gate of the Lord's
house,"** with the levitations of certain mediums, and the three Hebrew
youths in the "burning fiery furnace," with other fire-proof mediums;
the John King "spirit-light" is assimilated with the "burning
lamp" of Abraham; and finally, after many such comparisons, the case of
the Davenport Brothers, released from the jail of Oswego, is confronted with
that of Peter delivered from prison by the "angel of the Lord"!
Now, except the
story of Saul and Samuel, there is not a case instanced in the Bible of the
"evocation of the dead." As to being lawful, the assertion is
contradicted by every prophet. Moses issues a decree of death against those who
raise the spirits of the dead, the "necromancers." Nowhere throughout
the Old Testament, nor in Homer, nor Virgil is communion with the dead termed
otherwise than necromancy.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This word "up"
from the spirit of a prophet whose abode ought certainly to be in heaven and
who therefore ought to have said "to bring me down," is very
suggestive in itself to a Christian who locates paradise and hell at two
opposite points.
** Ezekiel iii.
12-14.
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FRESH-SPILT BLOOD.
Philo Judaeus makes
Saul say, that if he banishes from the land every diviner and necromancer his
name will survive him.
One of the greatest
reasons for it was the doctrine of the ancients, that no soul from the
"abode of the blessed" will return to earth, unless, indeed, upon
rare occasions its apparition might be required to accomplish some great object
in view, and so bring benefit upon humanity. In this latter instance the
"soul" has no need to be evoked. It sent its portentous message
either by an evanescent simulacrum of itself, or through messengers, who could appear
in material form, and personate faithfully the departed. The souls that could
so easily be evoked were deemed neither safe nor useful to commune with. They
were the souls, or larvae rather, from the infernal region of the limbo -- the
sheol, the region known by the kabalists as the eighth sphere, but far
different from the orthodox Hell or Hades of the ancient mythologists. Horace
describes this evocation and the ceremonial accompanying it, and Maimonides
gives us particulars of the Jewish rite. Every necromantic ceremony was
performed on high places and hills, and blood was used for the purpose of
placating these human ghouls.*
"I cannot
prevent the witches from picking up their bones," says the poet. "See
the blood they pour in the ditch to allure the souls that will utter their
oracles!"** "Cruor in fossam confusus, ut inde manes elicirent,
animas responsa daturas."
"The
souls," says Porphyry, "prefer, to everything else, freshly-spilt
blood, which seems for a short time to restore to them some of the faculties of
life."**
As for
materializations, they are many and various in the sacred records. But, were
they effected under the same conditions as at modern seances? Darkness, it
appears, was not required in those days of patriarchs and magic powers. The
three angels who appeared to Abraham drank in the full blaze of the sun, for
"he sat in the tent-door in the heat of the day,"*** says the book of
Genesis. The spirits of Elias and Moses appeared equally in daytime, as it is
not probable that Christ and the Apostles would be climbing a high mountain
during the night. Jesus is represented as having appeared to Mary Magdalene in
the garden in the early morning; to the Apostles, at three distinct times, and
generally by day; once "when the morning was come" (John xxi. 4).
Even when the ass of Balaam saw the "materialized" angel, it was in
the full light of noon.
We are fully
prepared to agree with the writer in question, that we find in the life of
Christ -- and we may add in the Old Testament, too --
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* William Howitt:
"History of the Supernatural," vol. ii., ch. i.
** Lib. i., Sat. 8.
*** Porphyry:
"Of Sacrifices."
**** Genesis
xviii., i.
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"an
uninterrupted record of spiritualistic manifestations," but nothing
mediumistic, of a physical character though, if we except the visit of Saul to
Sedecla, the Obeah woman of En-Dor. This is a distinction of vital importance.
True, the promise
of the Master was clearly stated: "Aye, and greater works than these shall
ye do" -- works of mediatorship. According to Joel, the time would come
when there would be an outpouring of the divine spirit: "Your sons and
your daughters," says he, "shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions." The time has come and they do
all these things now; Spiritualism has its seers and martyrs, its prophets and
healers. Like Moses, and David, and Jehoram, there are mediums who have direct
writings from genuine planetary and human spirits; and the best of it brings
the mediums no pecuniary recompense. The greatest friend of the cause in
France, Leymarie, now languishes in a prison-cell, and, as he says with
touching pathos, is "no longer a man, but a number" on the prison
register.
There are a few, a
very few, orators on the spiritualistic platform who speak by inspiration, and
if they know what is said at all they are in the condition described by Daniel:
"And I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when
I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep."* And there are
mediums, these whom we have spoken of, for whom the prophecy in Samuel might
have been written: "The spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, thou shalt
prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man."** But where, in
the long line of Bible-wonders, do we read of flying guitars, and tinkling
tambourines, and jangling bells being offered in pitch-dark rooms as evidences
of immortality?
When Christ was
accused of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, he denied it, and
sharply retorted by asking, "By whom do your sons or disciples cast them
out?" Again, spiritualists affirm that Jesus was a medium, that he was
controlled by one or many spirits; but when the charge was made to him direct
he said that he was nothing of the kind. "Say we not well, that thou art a
Samaritan, and hast a devil?" daimonion, an Obeah, or familiar spirit in
the Hebrew text. Jesus answered, "I have not a devil."***
The writer from
whom we have above quoted, attempts also a parallel between the aerial flights
of Philip and Ezekiel and of Mrs. Guppy and other modern mediums. He is
ignorant or oblivious of the fact that
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Daniel x. 8.
** I Samuel, x. 6.
*** Gospel
according to John vii. 20.
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THE AIR.
while levitation
occurred as an effect in both classes of cases, the producing causes were
totally dissimilar. The nature of this difference we have adverted to already.
Levitation may be produced consciously or unconsciously to the subject. The
juggler determines beforehand that he will be levitated, for how long a time,
and to what height; he regulates the occult forces accordingly. The fakir
produces the same effect by the power of his aspiration and will, and, except
when in the ecstatic state, keeps control over his movements. So does the
priest of Siam, when, in the sacred pagoda, he mounts fifty feet in the air
with taper in hand, and flits from idol to idol, lighting up the niches,
self-supported, and stepping as confidently as though he were upon solid
ground. This, persons have seen and testify to. The officers of the Russian
squadron which recently circumnavigated the globe, and was stationed for a long
time in Japanese waters, relate the fact that, besides many other marvels, they
saw jugglers walk in mid-air from tree-top to tree-top, without the slightest
support.* They also saw the pole and tape-climbing feats, described by Colonel
Olcott in his People from the Other World, and which have been so much called
in question by certain spiritualists and mediums whose zeal is greater than
their learning. The quotations from Col. Yule and other writers, elsewhere
given in this work, seem to place the matter beyond doubt that these effects
are produced.
Such phenomena,
when occurring apart from religious rites, in India, Japan, Thibet, Siam, and
other "heathen" countries, phenomena a hundred times more various and
astounding than ever seen in civilized Europe or America, are never attributed
to the spirits of the departed. The Pitris have naught to do with such public
exhibitions. And we have but to consult the list of the principal demons or
elemental spirits to find that their very names indicate their professions, or,
to express it clearly, the tricks to which each variety is best adapted. So we
have the Madan, a generic name indicating wicked elemental spirits, half
brutes, half monsters, for Madan signifies one that looks like a cow. He is the
friend of the malicious sorcerers and helps them to effect their evil purposes
of revenge by striking men and cattle with sudden illness and death.
The Shudala-Madan,
or graveyard fiend, answers to our ghouls. He delights where crime and murder
were committed, near burial-spots and places of execution. He helps the juggler
in all the fire-phenomena as well as Kutti Shattan, the little juggling imps.
Shudala, they say, is a half-fire, half-water demon, for he received from Siva
permission to assume any shape he chose, transform one thing into another; and
when
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Our informant,
who was an eye-witness, is Mr. N----ff of St. Petersburg, who was attached to
the flag-ship Almaz, if we are not mistaken.
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he is not in fire,
he is in water. It is he who blinds people "to see that which they do not
see." Shula Madan, is another mischievous spook. He is the furnace-demon,
skilled in pottery and baking. If you keep friends with him, he will not injure
you; but woe to him who incurs his wrath. Shula likes compliments and flattery,
and as he generally keeps underground it is to him that a juggler must look to
help him raise a tree from a seed in a quarter of an hour and ripen its fruit.
Kumil-Madan, is the
undine proper. He is an elemental spirit of the water, and his name means
blowing like a bubble. He is a very merry imp; and will help a friend in
anything relative to his department; he will shower rain and show the future
and the present to those who will resort to hydromancy or divination by water.
Poruthu Madan, is
the "wrestling" demon; he is the strongest of all; and whenever there
are feats shown in which physical force is required, such as levitations, or
taming of wild animals, he will help the performer by keeping him above the
soil or will overpower a wild beast before the tamer has time to utter his
incantation. So, every "physical manifestation" has its own class of
elemental spirits to superintend them.
Returning now to
levitations of human bodies and inanimate bodies, in modern circle-rooms, we
must refer the reader to the Introductory chapter of this work. (See
"AEthrobasy.") In connection with the story of Simon the Magician, we
have shown the explanation of the ancients as to how the levitation and
transport of heavy bodies could be produced. We will now try and suggest a
hypothesis for the same in relation to mediums, i.e., persons supposed to be
unconscious at the moment of the phenomena, which the believers claim to be
produced by disembodied "spirits." We need not repeat that which has
been sufficiently explained before. Conscious aethrobasy under
magneto-electrical conditions is possible only to adepts who can never be
overpowered by an influence foreign to themselves, but remain sole masters of
their WILL.
Thus levitation, we
will say, must always occur in obedience to law -- a law as inexorable as that
which makes a body unaffected by it remain upon the ground. And where should we
seek for that law outside of the theory of molecular attraction? It is a
scientific hypothesis that the form of force which first brings nebulous or
star matter together into a whirling vortex is electricity; and modern
chemistry is being totally reconstructed upon the theory of electric polarities
of atoms. The waterspout, the tornado, the whirlwind, the cyclone, and the
hurricane, are all doubtless the result of electrical action. This phenomenon
has been studied from above as well as from below, observations having been
made both upon the ground and from a balloon floating above the vortex of a
thunder-storm.
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AND WHAT THE MEDIUM?
Observe now, that
this force, under the conditions of a dry and warm atmosphere at the earth's
surface, can accumulate a dynamic energy capable of lifting enormous bodies of
water, of compressing the particles of atmosphere, and of sweeping across a
country, tearing up forests, lifting rocks, and scattering buildings in
fragments over the ground. Wild's electric machine causes induced currents of
magneto-electricity so enormously powerful as to produce light by which small
print may be read, on a dark night, at a distance of two miles from the place
where it is operating.
As long ago as the
year 1600, Gilbert, in his De Magnete, enunciated the principle that the globe
itself is one vast magnet, and some of our advanced electricians are now
beginning to realize that man, too, possesses this property, and that the
mutual attractions and repulsions of individuals toward each other may at least
in part find their explanation in this fact. The experience of attendants upon
spiritualistic circles corroborates this opinion. Says Professor Nicholas
Wagner, of the University of St. Petersburg: "Heat, or perhaps the
electricity of the investigators sitting in the circle, must concentrate itself
in the table and gradually develop into motions. At the same time, or a little
afterward, the psychical force unites to assist the two other powers. By
psychical force, I mean that which evolves itself out of all the other forces
of our organism. The combination into one general something of several separate
forces, and capable, when combined, of manifesting itself in degree, according
to the individuality." The progress of the phenomena he considers to be
affected by the cold or the dryness of the atmosphere. Now, remembering what
has been said as to the subtler forms of energy which the Hermetists have
proved to exist in nature, and accepting the hypothesis enunciated by Mr.
Wagner that "the power which calls out these manifestations is centred in
the mediums," may not the medium, by furnishing in himself a nucleus as
perfect in its way as the system of permanent steel magnets in Wild's battery,
produce astral currents sufficiently strong to lift in their vortex a body even
as ponderable as a human form? It is not necessary that the object lifted
should assume a gyratory motion, for the phenomenon we are observing, unlike
the whirlwind, is directed by an intelligence, which is capable of keeping the
body to be raised within the ascending current and preventing its rotation.
Levitation in this
case would be a purely mechanical phenomenon. The inert body of the passive
medium is lifted by a vortex created either by the elemental spirits --
possibly, in some cases, by human ones, and sometimes through purely morbific
causes, as in the cases of Professor Perty's sick somnambules. The levitation of
the adept is, on the contrary, a magneto-electric effect, as we have just
stated. He has made
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the polarity of his
body opposite to that of the atmosphere, and identical with that of the earth;
hence, attractable by the former, retaining his consciousness the while. A like
phenomenal levitation is possible, also, when disease has changed the corporeal
polarity of a patient, as disease always does in a greater or lesser degree.
But, in such case, the lifted person would not be likely to remain conscious.
In one series of
observations upon whirlwinds, made in 1859, in the basin of the Rocky
Mountains, "a newspaper was caught up . . . to a height of some two
hundred feet; and there it oscillated to and fro across the track for some
considerable time, whilst accompanying the onward motion."* Of course
scientists will say that a parallel cannot be instituted between this case and
that of human levitation; that no vortex can be formed in a room by which a
medium could be raised; but this is a question of astral light and spirit,
which have their own peculiar dynamical laws. Those who understand the latter,
affirm that a concourse of people laboring under mental excitement, which
reacts upon the physical system, throw off electromagnetic emanations, which,
when sufficiently intense, can throw the whole circumambient atmosphere into
perturbation. Force enough may actually be generated to create an electrical
vortex, sufficiently powerful to produce many a strange phenomenon. With this
hint, the whirling of the dervishes, and the wild dances, swayings,
gesticulations, music, and shouts of devotees will be understood as all having
a common object in view -- namely, the creation of such astral conditions as
favor psychological and physical phenomena. The rationale of religious revivals
will also be better understood if this principle is borne in mind.
But there is still
another point to be considered. If the medium is a nucleus of magnetism and a
conductor of that force, he would be subject to the same laws as a metallic
conductor, and be attracted to his magnet. If, therefore, a magnetic centre of
the requisite power was formed directly over him by the unseen powers presiding
over the manifestations, why should not his body be lifted toward it, despite
terrestrial gravity? We know that, in the case of a medium who is unconscious
of the progress of the operation, it is necessary to first admit the fact of
such an intelligence, and next, the possibility of the experiment being
conducted as described; but, in view of the multifarious evidences offered, not
only in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "What forces
were in operation to cause this oscillation of the newspaper?" asks J. W.
Phelps, who quotes the case -- "These were the rapid upward motion of
heated air, the downward motion of cold air, the translatory motion of the
surface breeze, and the circular motion of the whirlwind. But how could these
combine so as to produce the oscillation?" (Lecture on "Force
Electrically Explained.")
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WAGNER'S VIEWS.
our own researches,
which claim no authority, but also in those of Mr. Crookes, and a great number
of others, in many lands and at different epochs, we shall not turn aside from
the main object of offering this hypothesis in the profitless endeavor to
strengthen a case which scientific men will not consider with patience, even
when sanctioned by the most distinguished of their own body.
As early as 1836,
the public was apprised of certain phenomena which were as extraordinary, if
not more so than all the manifestations which are produced in our days. The
famous correspondence between two well-known mesmerizers, Deleuze and Billot,
was published in France, and the wonders discussed for a time in every society.
Billot firmly believed in the apparition of spirits, for, as he says, he has
both seen, heard, and felt them. Deleuze was as much convinced of this truth as
Billot, and declared that man's immortality and the return of the dead, or
rather of their shadows, was the best demonstrated fact in his opinion.
Material objects were brought to him from distant places by invisible hands,
and he communicated on most important subjects with the invisible
intelligences. "In regard to this," he remarks, "I cannot
conceive how spiritual beings are able to carry material objects." More
skeptical, less intuitional than Billot, nevertheless, he agreed with the
latter that "the question of spiritualism is not one of opinions, but of
facts."
Such is precisely
the conclusion to which Professor Wagner, of St. Petersburg, was finally
driven. In the second pamphlet on Mediumistic Phenomena, issued by him in
December, 1875, he administers the following rebuke to Mr. Shkliarevsky, one of
his materialistic critics: "So long as the spiritual manifestations were
weak and sporadic, we men of science could afford to deceive ourselves with
theories of unconscious muscular action, or unconscious cerebrations of our
brains, and tumble the rest into one heap as juggleries. . . . But now these
wonders have grown too striking; the spirits show themselves in the shape of
tangible, materialized forms, which can be touched and handled at will by any
learned skeptic like yourself, and even be weighed and measured. We can
struggle no longer, for every resistance becomes absurd -- it threatens lunacy.
Try then to realize this, and to humble yourself before the possibility of
impossible facts."
Iron is only
magnetized temporarily, but steel permanently, by contact with the lodestone.
Now steel is but iron which has passed through a carbonizing process, and yet
that process has quite changed the nature of the metal, so far as its relations
to the lodestone are concerned. In like manner, it may be said that the medium
is but an ordinary person who is magnetized by influx from the astral light;
and as the permanence
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of the magnetic
property in the metal is measured by its more or less steel-like character, so
may we not say that the intensity and permanency of mediumistic power is in proportion
to the saturation of the medium with the magnetic or astral force?
This condition of
saturation may be congenital, or brought about in anyone of these ways: -- by
the mesmeric process; by spirit-agency; or by self-will. Moreover, the
condition seems hereditable, like any other physical or mental peculiarity;
many, and we may even say most great mediums having had mediumship exhibited in
some form by one or more progenitors. Mesmeric subjects easily pass into the
higher forms of clairvoyance and mediumship (now so called), as Gregory,
Deleuze, Puysegur, Du Potet, and other authorities inform us. As to the process
of self-saturation, we have only to turn to the account of the priestly
devotees of Japan, Siam, China, India, Thibet, and Egypt, as well as of
European countries, to be satisfied of its reality. Long persistence in a fixed
determination to subjugate matter, brings about a condition in which not only
is one insensible to external impressions, but even death itself may be
simulated, as we have already seen. The ecstatic so enormously reinforces his
will-power, as to draw into himself, as into a vortex, the potencies resident
in the astral light to supplement his own natural store.
The phenomena of
mesmerism are explicable upon no other hypothesis than the projection of a
current of force from the operator into the subject. If a man can project this
force by an exercise of the will, what prevents his attracting it toward
himself by reversing the current? Unless, indeed, it be urged that the force is
generated within his body and cannot be attracted from any supply without. But
even under such an hypothesis, if he can generate a superabundant supply to
saturate another person, or even an inanimate object by his will, why cannot he
generate it in excess for self-saturation?
In his work on
Anthropology, Professor J. R. Buchanan notes the tendency of the natural
gestures to follow the direction of the phrenological organs; the attitude of
combativeness being downward and backward; that of hope and spirituality upward
and forward; that of firmness upward and backward; and so on. The adepts of
Hermetic science know this principle so well that they explain the levitation
of their own bodies, whenever it happens unawares, by saying that the thought
is so intently fixed upon a point above them, that when the body is thoroughly
imbued with the astral influence, it follows the mental aspiration and rises
into the air as easily as a cork held beneath the water rises to the surface
when its buoyancy is allowed to assert itself. The giddiness felt by certain
persons when standing upon the brink of a chasm is explained upon
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the same principle.
Young children, who have little or no active imagination, and in whom
experience has not had sufficient time to develop fear, are seldom, if ever,
giddy; but the adult of a certain mental temperament, seeing the chasm and
picturing in his imaginative fancy the consequences of a fall, allows himself
to be drawn by the attraction of the earth, and unless the spell of fascination
be broken, his body will follow his thought to the foot of the precipice.
That this giddiness
is purely a temperamental affair, is shown in the fact that some persons never
experience the sensation, and inquiry will probably reveal the fact that such
are deficient in the imaginative faculty. We have a case in view -- a gentleman
who, in 1858, had so firm a nerve that he horrified the witnesses by standing
upon the coping of the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, with folded arms, and his
feet half over the edge; but, having since become short-sighted, was taken with
a panic upon attempting to cross a plank-walk over the courtyard of a hotel,
where the footway was more than two feet and a half wide, and there was no
danger. He looked at the flagging below, gave his fancy free play, and would
have fallen had he not quickly sat down.
It is a dogma of
science that perpetual motion is impossible; it is another dogma, that the
allegation that the Hermetists discovered the elixir of life, and that certain
of them, by partaking of it, prolonged their existence far beyond the usual
term, is a superstitious absurdity. And the claim that the baser metals have
been transmuted into gold, and that the universal solvent was discovered,
excites only contemptuous derision in a century which has crowned the edifice
of philosophy with a cope-stone of protoplasm. The first is declared a physical
impossibility; as much so, according to Babinet, the astronomer, as the
"levitation of an object without contact";* the second, a
physiological vagary begotten of a disordered mind; the third, a chemical
absurdity.
Balfour Stewart
says that while the man of science cannot assert that "he is intimately
acquainted with all the forces of nature, and cannot prove that perpetual
motion is impossible; for, in truth, he knows very little of these forces . . .
he does think that he has entered into the spirit and design of nature, and
therefore he denies at once the possibility of such a machine."** If he
has discovered the design of nature, he certainly has not the spirit, for he
denies its existence in one sense; and denying spirit he prevents that perfect
understanding of universal law which would redeem modern philosophy from its
thousand mortifying dilemmas and mistakes. If Professor B. Stewart's negation
is founded
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Revue des
Deux Mondes," p. 414, 1858.
**
"Conservation of Energy," p. 140.
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upon no better
analogy than that of his French contemporary, Babinet, he is in danger of a
like humiliating catastrophe. The universe itself illustrates the actuality of
perpetual motion; and the atomic theory, which has proved such a balm to the
exhausted minds of our cosmic explorers, is based upon it. The telescope
searching through space, and the microscope probing the mysteries of the little
world in a drop of water, reveal the same law in operation; and, as everything
below is like everything above, who would presume to say that when the
conservation of energy is better understood, and the two additional forces of
the kabalists are added to the catalogue of orthodox science, it may not be
discovered how to construct a machine which shall run without friction and
supply itself with energy in proportion to its wastes? "Fifty years
ago," says the venerable Mr. de Lara, "a Hamburg paper, quoting from
an English one an account of the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool
Railway, pronounced it a gross fabrication; capping the climax by saying, 'even
so far extends the credulity of the English' "; the moral is apparent. The
recent discovery of the compound called METALLINE, by an American chemist,
makes it appear probable that friction can, in a large degree, be overcome. One
thing is certain, when a man shall have discovered the perpetual motion he will
be able to understand by analogy all the secrets of nature; progress in direct
ratio with resistance.
We may say the same
of the elixir of life, by which is understood physical life, the soul being of
course deathless only by reason of its divine immortal union with spirit. But
continual or perpetual does not mean endless. The kabalists have never claimed
that either an endless physical life or unending motion is possible. The
Hermetic axiom maintains that only the First Cause and its direct emanations,
our spirits (scintillas from the eternal central sun which will be reabsorbed
by it at the end of time) are incorruptible and eternal. But, in possession of
a knowledge of occult natural forces, yet undiscovered by the materialists,
they asserted that both physical life and mechanical motion could be prolonged
indefinitely. The philosophers' stone had more than one meaning attached to its
mysterious origin. Says Professor Wilder: "The study of alchemy was even
more universal than the several writers upon it appear to have known, and was
always the auxiliary of, if not identical with, the occult sciences of magic,
necromancy, and astrology; probably from the same fact that they were
originally but forms of a spiritualism which was generally extant in all ages
of human history."
Our greatest wonder
is, that the very men who view the human body simply as a "digesting
machine," should object to the idea that if some equivalent for metalline
could be applied between its molecules, it
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VITAE.
should run without
friction. Man's body is taken from the earth, or dust, according to Genesis;
which allegory bars the claims of modern analysts to original discovery of the
nature of the inorganic constituents of human body. If the author of Genesis
knew this, and Aristotle taught the identity between the life-principle of
plants, animals, and men, our affiliation with mother earth seems to have been
settled long ago.
Elie de Beaumont
has recently reasserted the old doctrine of Hermes that there is a terrestrial
circulation comparable to that of the blood of man. Now, since it is a doctrine
as old as time, that nature is continually renewing her wasted energies by
absorption from the source of energy, why should the child differ from the
parent? Why may not man, by discovering the source and nature of this
recuperative energy, extract from the earth herself the juice or quintessence
with which to replenish his own forces? This may have been the great secret of
the alchemists. Stop the circulation of the terrestrial fluids and we have
stagnation, putrefaction, death; stop the circulation of the fluids in man, and
stagnation, absorption, calcification from old age, and death ensue. If the
alchemists had simply discovered some chemical compound capable of keeping the
channels of our circulation unclogged, would not all the rest easily follow?
And why, we ask, if the surface-waters of certain mineral springs have such
virtue in the cure of disease and the restoration of physical vigor, is it
illogical to say that if we could get the first runnings from the alembic of
nature in the bowels of the earth, we might, perhaps, find that the fountain of
youth was no myth after all. Jennings asserts that the elixir was produced out
of the secret chemical laboratories of nature by some adepts; and Robert Boyle,
the chemist, mentions a medicated wine or cordial which Dr. Lefevre tried with
wonderful effect upon an old woman.
Alchemy is as old
as tradition itself. "The first authentic record on this subject,"
says William Godwin, "is an edict of Diocletian, about 300 years after
Christ, ordering a diligent search to be made in Egypt for all the ancient
books which treated of the art of making gold and silver, that they might be
consigned to the flames. This edict necessarily presumes a certain antiquity to
the pursuit; and fabulous history has recorded Solomon, Pythagoras, and Hermes
among its distinguished votaries."
And this question
of transmutation -- this alkahest or universal solvent, which comes next after
the elixir vitae in the order of the three alchemical agents? Is the idea so
absurd as to be totally unworthy of consideration in this age of chemical
discovery? How shall we dispose of the historical anecdotes of men who actually
made gold and gave it away, and of those who testify to having seen them do it?
Libavius,
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Geberus, Arnoldus,
Thomas Aquinas, Bernardus Comes, Joannes, Penotus, Quercetanus Geber, the
Arabian father of European alchemy, Eugenius Philalethes, Baptista Porta,
Rubeus, Dornesius, Vogelius, Irenaeus Philaletha Cosmopolita, and many mediaeval
alchemists and Hermetic philosophers assert the fact. Must we believe them all
visionaries and lunatics, these otherwise great and learned scholars? Francesco
Picus, in his work De Auro, gives eighteen instances of gold being produced in
his presence by artificial means; and Thomas Vaughan,* going to a goldsmith to
sell 1,200 marks worth of gold, when the man suspiciously remarked that the
gold was too pure to have ever come out of a mine, ran away, leaving the money
behind him. In a preceding chapter we have brought forward the testimony of a
number of authors to this effect.
Marco Polo tells us
that in some mountains of Thibet, which he calls Chingintalas, there are veins
of the substance from which Salamander is made: "For the real truth is,
that the salamander is no beast, as they allege in our parts of the world, but
is a substance found in the earth."** Then he adds that a Turk of the name
of Zurficar, told him that he had been procuring salamanders for the Great
Khan, in those regions, for the space of three years. "He said that the
way they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found a certain
vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed, and, when so
treated, it divides, as it were, into fibres of wool, which they set forth to
dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded and washed, so as to leave only the
fibres, like fibres of wool. These were then spun. . . . When first made, these
napkins are not very white, but, by putting them into the fire for a while,
they come out as white as snow."
Therefore, as
several authorities testify, this mineral substance is the famous Asbestos,***
which the Rev. A. Williamson says is found in Shantung. But, it is not only
incombustible thread which is made from it. An oil, having several most
extraordinary properties, is extracted from it, and the secret of its virtues
remains with certain lamas and Hindu adepts. When rubbed into the body, it
leaves no external stain or mark, but, nevertheless, after having been so
rubbed, the part can be scrubbed with soap and hot or cold water, without the
virtue of the ointment being affected in the least. The person so rubbed may
boldly step into the hottest fire; unless suffocated, he will remain uninjured.
Another property of the oil is that, when combined with another substance, that
we are
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Eugenius
Philalethes.
** "Book of
Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 215.
*** See Sage's
"Dictionnaire des Tissus," vol. ii., pp. 1-12.
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EARTH."
not at liberty to
name, and left stagnant under the rays of the moon, on certain nights indicated
by native astrologers, it will breed strange creatures. Infusoria we may call
them in one sense, but then these grow and develop. Speaking of Kashmere, Marco
Polo observes that they have an astonishing acquaintance with the devilries of
enchantment, insomuch that they make their idols to speak.
To this day, the
greatest magian mystics of these regions may be found in Kashmere. The various
religious sects of this country were always credited with preternatural powers,
and were the resort of adepts and sages. As Colonel Yule remarks, "Vambery
tells us that even in our day, the Kasmiri dervishes are preeminent among their
Mahometan brethren for cunning, secret arts, skill in exorcisms and
magic."*
But, all modern
chemists are not equally dogmatic in their negation of the possibility of such
a transmutation. Dr. Peisse, Desprez, and even the all-denying Louis Figuier,
of Paris, seem to be far from rejecting the idea. Dr. Wilder says: "The
possibility of reducing the elements to their primal form, as they are supposed
to have existed in the igneous mass from which the earth-crust is believed to
have been formed, is not considered by physicists to be so absurd an idea as
has been intimated. There is a relationship between metals, often so close as
to indicate an original identity. Persons called alchemists may, therefore,
have devoted their energies to investigations into these matters, as Lavoisier,
Davy, Faraday, and others of our day have explained the mysteries of
chemistry."** A learned Theosophist, a practicing physician of this
country, one who has studied the occult sciences and alchemy for over thirty
years, has succeeded in reducing the elements to their primal form, and made
what is termed "the pre-Adamite earth." It appears in the form of an
earthy precipitate from pure water, which, on being disturbed, presents the
most opalescent and vivid colors.
"The
secret," say the alchemists, as if enjoying the ignorance of the
uninitiated, "is an amalgamation of the salt, sulphur, and mercury
combined three times in Azoth, by a triple sublimation and a triple
fixation."
"How
ridiculously absurd!" will exclaim a learned modern chemist. Well, the
disciples of the great Hermes understand the above as well as a graduate of
Harvard University comprehends the meaning of his Professor of Chemistry, when
the latter says: "With one hydroxyl group we can only produce monatomic
compounds; use two hydroxyl groups, and we can form around the same skeleton a
number of diatomic compounds.
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "Book of Ser
Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 230.
** "Alchemy,
or the Hermetic Philosophy," p. 25.
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. . . Attach to the
nucleus three hydroxyl groups, and there result triatomic compounds, among
which is a very familiar substance
Glycerine."
"Attach
thyself," says the alchemist, "to the four letters of the tetragram
disposed in the following manner:
The letters of the
ineffable name are there, although thou mayest not discern them at first. The
incommunicable axiom is kabalistically contained therein, and this is what is
called the magic arcanum by the masters." The arcanum -- the fourth
emanation of the Akasa, the principle of LIFE, which is represented in its
third transmutation by the fiery sun, the eye of the world, or of Osiris, as
the Egyptians termed it. An eye tenderly watching its youngest daughter, wife,
and sister -- Isis, our mother earth. See what Hermes, the thrice-great master,
says of her: "Her father is the sun, her mother is the moon." It
attracts and caresses, and then repulses her by a projectile power. It is for
the Hermetic student to watch its motions, to catch its subtile currents, to
guide and direct them with the help of the athanor, the Archimedean lever of
the alchemist. What is this mysterious athanor? Can the physicist tell us -- he
who sees and examines it daily? Aye, he sees; but does he comprehend the
secret-ciphered characters traced by the divine finger on every sea-shell in
the ocean's deep; on every leaf that trembles in the breeze; in the bright
star, whose stellar lines are in his sight but so many more or less luminous
lines of hydrogen?
"God
geometrizes," said Plato.* "The laws of nature are the thoughts
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Plutarch:
"Symposiacs," viii. 2. "Diogenianas began and said: 'Let us
admit Plato to the conference and inquire upon what account he says --
supposing it to be
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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of God";
exclaimed Oersted, 2,000 years later. "His thoughts are immutable,"
repeated the solitary student of Hermetic lore, "therefore it is in the
perfect harmony and equilibrium of all things that we must seek the
truth." And thus, proceeding from the indivisible unity, he found
emanating from it two contrary forces, each acting through the other and
producing equilibrium, and the three were but one, the Pythagorean Eternal
Monad. The primordial point is a circle; the circle squaring itself from the
four cardinal points becomes a quaternary, the perfect square, having at each
of its four angles a letter of the mirific name, the sacred TETRAGRAM. It is
the four Buddhas who came and have passed away; the Pythagorean tetractys --
absorbed and resolved by the one eternal NO-BEING.
Tradition declares
that on the dead body of Hermes, at Hebron, was found by an Isarim, an
initiate, the tablet known as the Smaragdine. It contains, in a few sentences,
the essence of the Hermetic wisdom. To those who read but with their bodily
eyes, the precepts will suggest nothing new or extraordinary, for it merely
begins by saying that it speaks not fictitious things, but that which is true
and most certain.
"What is below
is like that which is above, and what is above is similar to that which is
below to accomplish the wonders of one thing.
"As all things
were produced by the mediation of one being, so all things were produced from
this one by adaptation.
"Its father is
the sun, its mother is the moon.
"It is the
cause of all perfection throughout the whole earth.
"Its power is
perfect if it is changed into earth.
"Separate the
earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross, acting prudently and with
judgment.
"Ascend with
the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then descend again to
earth, and unite together the power of things inferior and superior; thus you
will possess the light of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly away from
you.
"This thing
has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because it will overcome every
subtile thing and penetrate every solid thing.
"By it the
world was formed."
This mysterious
thing is the universal, magical agent, the astral light, which in the
correlations of its forces furnishes the alkahest, the philoso-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] his sentence -- that God always plays the
geometer.' I said: 'This sentence was not plainly set down in any of his books;
yet there are good arguments that it is his, and it is very much like his
expression.' Tyndares presently subjoined: 'He praises geometry as a science
that takes off men from sensible objects, and makes them apply themselves to
the intelligible and Eternal Nature -- the contemplation of which is the end of
philosophy, as a view of the mysteries of initiation into holy rites.' "
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pher's stone, and
the elixir of life. Hermetic philosophy names it Azoth, the soul of the world,
the celestial virgin, the great Magnes, etc., etc. Physical science knows it as
"heat, light, electricity, and magnetism"; but ignoring its spiritual
properties and the occult potency contained in ether, rejects everything it
ignores. It explains and depicts the crystalline forms of the snow-flakes,
their modifications of an hexagonal prism which shoot out an infinity of
delicate needles. It has studied them so perfectly that it has even calculated,
with the most wondrous mathematical precision, that all these needles diverge
from each other at an angle of 60 [[degrees]]. Can it tell us as well the cause
of this "endless variety of the most exquisite forms,"* each of which
is a most perfect geometrical figure in itself? These frozen, starlike and
flower-like blossoms, may be, for all materialistic science knows, a shower of
messages snowed by spiritual hands from the worlds above for spiritual eyes
below to read.
The philosophical
cross, the two lines running in opposite directions, the horizontal and the
perpendicular, the height and breadth, which the geometrizing Deity divides at
the intersecting point, and which forms the magical as well as the scientific
quaternary, when it is inscribed within the perfect square, is the basis of the
occultist. Within its mystical precinct lies the master-key which opens the
door of every science, physical as well as spiritual. It symbolizes our human
existence, for the circle of life circumscribes the four points of the cross,
which represent in succession birth, life, death, and IMMORTALITY. Everything
in this world is a trinity completed by the quaternary,** and every element is
divisible on this same principle. Physiology can divide man ad infinitum, as
physical science has divided the four primal and principal elements in several
dozens of others; she will not succeed in changing either. Birth, life, and
death will ever be a trinity completed only at the cyclic end. Even were
science to change the longed-for immortality into annihilation, it still will
ever be a quaternary; for God "geometrizes!"
Therefore, perhaps
alchemy will one day be allowed to talk of her salt, mercury, sulphur, and
azoth, her symbols and mirific letters, and repeat, with the exponent of the
Synthesis of Organic Compounds, that "it must be remembered that the
grouping is no play of fancy, and that a good reason can be given for the
position of every letter."***
Dr. Peisse, of
Paris, wrote in 1863, the following:
"One word, a
propos, of alchemy. What must we think of the Her-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. Ed. L.
Youmans: "Descriptive Chemistry."
** In ancient
nations the Deity was a trine supplemented by a goddess -- the arba-il, or
fourfold God.
*** Josiah Cooke:
"The New Chemistry."
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ALCHEMICAL DIAMONDS.
metic art? Is it
lawful to believe that we can transmute metals, make gold? Well, positive men,
esprits forts of the nineteenth century, know that Mr. Figuier, doctor of science
and medicine, chemical analyst in the School of Pharmacy, of Paris, does not
wish to express himself upon the subject. He doubts, he hesitates. He knows
several alchemists (for there are such) who, basing themselves upon modern
chemical discoveries, and especially on the singular circumstance of the
equivalents demonstrated by M. Dumas, pretend that metals are not simple
bodies, true elements in the absolute sense, and that in consequence they may
be produced by the process of decomposition. . . . This encourages me to take a
step further, and candidly avow that I would be only moderately surprised to
see some one make gold. I have only one reason to give, but sufficient it
seems; which is, that gold has not always existed; it has been made by some chemical
travail or other in the bosom of the fused matter of our globe;* perhaps some
of it may be even now in process of formation. The pretended simple bodies of
our chemistry are very probably secondary products, in the formation of the
terrestrial mass. It has been proved so with water, one of the most respectable
elements of ancient physics. To-day, we create water. Why should we not make
gold? An eminent experimentalist, Mr. Desprez, has made the diamond. True, this
diamond is only a scientific diamond, a philosophical diamond, which would be
worth nothing; but, no matter, my position holds good. Besides, we are not left
to simple conjectures. There is a man living, who, in a paper addressed to the
scientific bodies, in 1853, has underscored these words -- I have discovered
the method of producing artificial gold, I have made gold. This adept is Mr.
Theodore Tiffereau, ex-preparator of chemistry in the Ecole Professionelle et
Superieure of Nantes."** Cardinal de Rohan, the famous victim of the diamond
necklace conspiracy, testified that he had seen the Count Cagliostro make both
gold and diamonds. We presume that those who agree with Professor T. Sterry
Hunt, F.R.S., will have no patience with the theory of Dr. Peisse, for they
believe that all of our metalliferous deposits are due to the action of organic
life. And so, until they do come to some composition of their differences, so
as to let us know for a certainty the nature of gold, and whether it is the
product of interior volcanic alchemy or surface segregation and filtration, we
will leave them to settle their quarrel between themselves, and give credit
meanwhile to the old philosophers.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. Sterry
Hunt's theory of metalliferous deposits contradicts this; but is it right?
** Peisse: "La
Medecine et les Medecins," vol. i., pp. 59, 283.
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Professor Balfour
Stewart, whom no one would think of classing among illiberal minds; who, with
far more fairness and more frequently than any of his colleagues admits the
failings of modern science, shows himself, nevertheless, as biassed as other
scientists on this question. Perpetual light being only another name for
perpetual motion, he tells us, and the latter being impossible because we have
no means of equilibrating the waste of combustible material, a Hermetic light
is, therefore, an impossibility.* Noting the fact that a "perpetual light
was supposed to result from magical powers," and remarking further that
such a light is "certainly not of this earth, where light and all other
forms of superior energy are essentially evanescent," this gentleman
argues as though the Hermetic philosophers had always claimed that the flame
under discussion was an ordinary earthly flame, resulting from the combustion
of luminiferous material. In this the philosophers have been constantly misunderstood
and misrepresented.
How many great
minds -- unbelievers from the start -- after having studied the "secret
doctrine," have changed their opinions and found out how mistaken they
were. And how contradictory it seems to find one moment Balfour Stewart quoting
some philosophical morals of Bacon -- whom he terms the father of experimental
science -- and saying " . . . surely we ought to learn a lesson from these
remarks . . . and be very cautious before we dismiss any branch of knowledge or
train of thought as essentially unprofitable," and then dismissing the
next moment, as utterly impossible, the claims of the alchemists! He shows
Aristotle as "entertaining the idea that light is not any body, or the
emanation of any body, and that therefore light is an energy or act"; and
yet, although the ancients were the first to show, through Demokritus, to John
Dalton the doctrine of atoms, and through Pythagoras and even the oldest of the
Chaldean oracles, that of ether as a universal agent, their ideas, says
Stewart, "were not prolific." He admits that they "possessed
great genius and intellectual power," but adds that "they were
deficient in physical conceptions, and, in consequence, their ideas were not
prolific."**
The whole of the
present work is a protest against such a loose way of judging the ancients. To
be thoroughly competent to criticise their ideas, and assure one's self whether
their ideas were distinct and "appropriate to the facts," one must
have sifted these ideas to the very bottom. It is idle to repeat that which we
have frequently said, and that which every scholar ought to know; namely, that
the quintessence of their knowledge was in the hands of the priests, who never
wrote them, and in those of the "initiates" who, like Plato, did not
dare write them.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Conservation of Energy."
** Ibid., p. 136.
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OUTFLOW OF SUNBEAMS.
Therefore, those
few speculations on the material and spiritual universes, which they did put in
writing, could not enable posterity to judge them rightly, even had not the
early Christian Vandals, the later crusaders, and the fanatics of the middle
ages destroyed three parts of that which remained of the Alexandrian library
and its later schools. Professor Draper shows that the Cardinal Ximenes alone
"delivered to the flames in the squares of Granada, 80,000 Arabic
manuscripts, many of them translations of classical authors." In the
Vatican libraries, whole passages in the most rare and precious treatises of
the ancients were found erased and blotted out, for the sake of interlining
them with absurd psalmodies!
Who then, of those
who turn away from the "secret doctrine" as being
"unphilosophical" and, therefore, unworthy of a scientific thought,
has a right to say that he studied the ancients; that he is aware of all that
they knew, and knowing now far more, knows also that they knew little, if
anything. This "secret doctrine" contains the alpha and the omega of
universal science; therein lies the corner and the keystone of all the ancient
and modern knowledge; and alone in this "unphilosophical" doctrine
remains buried the absolute in the philosophy of the dark problems of life and
death.
"The great
energies of Nature are known to us only by their effects," said Paley.
Paraphrasing the sentence, we will say that the great achievements of the days
of old are known to posterity only by their effects. If one takes a book on
alchemy, and sees in it the speculations on gold and light by the brothers of
the Rosie Cross, he will find himself certainly startled, for the simple reason
that he will not understand them at all. "The Hermetic gold," he may
read, "is the outflow of the sunbeam, or of light suffused invisibly and
magically into the body of the world. Light is sublimated gold, rescued
magically by invisible stellar attraction, out of material depths. Gold is thus
the deposit of light, which of itself generates. Light in the celestial world
is subtile, vaporous, magically exalted gold, or 'spirit of flame.' Gold draws
inferior natures in the metals, and intensifying and multiplying, converts into
itself."*
Nevertheless, facts
are facts; and, as Billot says of spiritualism, we will remark of occultism
generally and of alchemy in particular -- it is not a matter of opinion but of
facts, men of science call an inextinguishable lamp an impossibility, but
nevertheless persons in our own age as well as in the days of ignorance and
superstition have found them burning bright in old vaults shut up for
centuries; and other persons there are who
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Extracts from
Robertus di Fluctibus in "The Rosicrucians."
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possess the secret
of keeping such fires for several ages. Men of science say that ancient and
modern spiritualism, magic, and mesmerism, are charlatanry or delusion; but
there are 800 millions on the face of the globe, of perfectly sane men and
women, who believe in all these. Whom are we to credit?
"Demokritus,"
says Lucian,* "believed in no (miracles) . . . he applied himself to
discover the method by which the theurgists could produce them; in a word, his
philosophy brought him to the conclusion that magic was entirely confined to
the application and the imitation of the laws and the works of nature."
Now, the opinion of
the "laughing philosopher" is of the greatest importance to us, since
the Magi left by Xerxes, at Abdera, were his instructors, and he had studied
magic, moreover, for a considerably long time with the Egyptian priests.** For
nearly ninety years of the one hundred and nine of his life, this great
philosopher had made experiments, and noted them down in a book, which, according
to Petronius,*** treated of nature -- facts that he had verified himself. And
we find him not only disbelieving in and utterly rejecting miracles, but
asserting that every one of those that were authenticated by eye-witnesses,
had, and could have taken place; for all, even the most incredible, was
produced according to the "hidden laws of nature."****
"The day will
never come, when any one of the propositions of Euclid will be
denied,"***** says Professor Draper, exalting the Aristoteleans at the
expense of the Pythagoreans and Platonists. Shall we, in such a case,
disbelieve a number of well-informed authorities (Lempriere among others), who
assert that the fifteen books of the Elements are not to be wholly attributed
to Euclid; and that many of the most valuable truths and demonstrations
contained in them owe their existence to Pythagoras, Thales, and Eudoxus? That
Euclid, notwithstanding his genius, was the first who reduced them to order,
and only interwove theories of his own to render the whole a complete and
connected system of geometry? And if these authorities are right, then it is
again to that central sun of metaphysical science -- Pythagoras and his school,
that the moderns are indebted directly for such men as Eratosthenes, the
world-famous geometer and cosmographer, Archimedes, and even Ptolemy,
notwithstanding his obstinate errors. Were it not for the exact science of such
men, and for fragments of their works that they left us to base Galilean
speculations upon, the great priests of the nineteenth century
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Philopseud."
** Diog. Laert. in
"Demokrit. Vitae."
*** "Satyric.
Vitrus D. Architect," lib. ix., cap. iii.
**** Pliny:
"Hist. Nat."
*****
"Conflict between Religion and Science."
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LAMASERIES.
might find
themselves, perhaps, still in the bondage of the Church; and philosophizing, in
1876, on the Augustine and Bedean cosmogony, the rotation of the canopy of
heaven round the earth, and the majestic flatness of the latter.
The nineteenth
century seems positively doomed to humiliating confessions. Feltre (Italy)
erects a public statue "to Panfilo Castaldi, the illustrious inventor of
movable printing types," and adds in its inscription the generous
confession that Italy renders to him "this tribute of honor too long
deferred." But no sooner is the statue placed, than the Feltreians are
advised by Colonel Yule to "burn it in honest lime." He proves that
many a traveller besides Marco Polo had brought home from China movable wooden
types and specimens of Chinese books, the entire text of which was printed with
such wooden blocks.* We have seen in several Thibetan lamaseries, where they
have printing-offices, such blocks preserved as curiosities. They are known to
be of the greatest antiquity, inasmuch as types were perfected, and the old
ones abandoned contemporaneously with the earliest records of Buddhistic
lamaism. Therefore, they must have existed in China before the Christian era.
Let every one
ponder over the wise words of Professor Roscoe, in his lecture on Spectrum
Analysis. "The infant truths must be made useful. Neither you nor I,
perhaps, can see the how or the when, but that the time may come at any moment,
when the most obscure of nature's secrets shall at once be employed for the
benefit of mankind, no one who knows anything of science, can for one instant
doubt. Who could have foretold that the discovery that a dead frog's legs jump
when they are touched by two different metals, should have led in a few short
years to the discovery of the electric telegraph?"
Professor Roscoe,
visiting Kirchhoff and Bunsen when they were making their great discoveries of
the nature of the Fraunhoffer lines, says that it flashed upon his mind at once
that there is iron in the sun; therein presenting one more evidence to add to a
million predecessors, that great discoveries usually come with a flash, and not
by induction. There are many more flashes in store for us. It may be found,
perhaps, that one of the last sparkles of modern science -- the beautiful green
spectrum of silver -- is nothing new, but was, notwithstanding the paucity
"and great inferiority of their optical instruments," well known to
the ancient chemists and physicists. Silver and green were associated together
as far back as the days of Hermes. Luna, or Astarte (the Hermetic silver), is
one of the two chief symbols of the Rosicrucians. It is a Hermetic
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Book of Ser
Marco Polo," vol. i., pp. 133-135.
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axiom, that
"the cause of the splendor and variety of colors lies deep in the
affinities of nature; and that there is a singular and mysterious alliance
between color and sound." The kabalists place their "middle
nature" in direct relation with the moon; and the green ray occupies the
centre point between the others, being placed in the middle of the spectrum.
The Egyptian priests chanted the seven vowels as a hymn addressed to Serapis;*
and at the sound of the seventh vowel, as at the "seventh ray" of the
rising sun, the statue of Memnon responded. Recent discoveries have proved the
wonderful properties of the blue-violet light -- the seventh ray of the
prismatic spectrum, the most powerfully chemical of all, which corresponds with
the highest note in the musical scale. The Rosicrucian theory, that the whole
universe is a musical instrument, is the Pythagorean doctrine of the music of
the spheres. Sounds and colors are all spiritual numerals; as the seven
prismatic rays proceed from one spot in heaven, so the seven powers of nature,
each of them a number, are the seven radiations of the Unity, the central,
spiritual SUN.
"Happy is he
who comprehends the spiritual numerals, and perceives their mighty
influence!" exclaims Plato. And happy, we may add, is he who, treading the
maze of force-correlations, does not neglect to trace them to this invisible
Sun!
Future
experimenters will reap the honor of demonstrating that musical tones have a
wonderful effect upon the growth of vegetation. And with the enunciation of
this unscientific fallacy, we will close the chapter, and proceed to remind the
patient reader of certain things that the ancients knew, and the moderns think
they know.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Dionysius
of Halicarnassus."
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CHAPTER XIV.
"The
transactions of this our city of Sais, are recorded in our sacred writings
during a period of 8,000 years." -- PLATO: Timaeus.
"The Egyptians
assert that from the reign of Heracles to that of Amasis, 17,000 years elapsed."
-- HERODOTUS, lib. ii., c. 43.
"Can the
theologian derive no light from the pure, primeval faith that glimmers from
Egyptian hieroglyphics, to illustrate the immortality of the soul? Will not the
historian deign to notice the prior origin of every art and science in Egypt, a
thousand years before the Pelasgians studded the isles and capes of the
Archipelago with their forts and temples?" -- GLIDDON.
HOW came Egypt by
her knowledge? When broke the dawn of that civilization whose wondrous
perfection is suggested by the bits and fragments supplied to us by the
archaeologists? Alas! the lips of Memnon are silent, and no longer utter
oracles; the Sphinx has become a greater riddle in her speechlessness than was
the enigma propounded to OEdipus.
What Egypt taught
to others she certainly did not acquire by the international exchange of ideas
and discoveries with her Semitic neighbors, nor from them did she receive her
stimulus. "The more we learn of the Egyptians," observes the writer
of a recent article, "the more marvellous they seem!" From whom could
she have learned her wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She
sent no agents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her the
wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. Proudly secluding
herself within her enchanted domain, the fair queen of the desert created
wonders as if by the sway of a magic staff. "Nothing," remarks the
same writer, whom we have elsewhere quoted, "proves that civilization and
knowledge then rise and progress with her as in the case of other peoples, but
everything seems to be referable, in the same perfection, to the earliest
dates. That no nation knew as much as herself, is a fact demonstrated by
history."
May we not assign
as a reason for this remark the fact that until very recently nothing was known
of Old India? That these two nations, India and Egypt, were akin? That they
were the oldest in the group of nations; and that the Eastern Ethiopians -- the
mighty builders -- had come from India as a matured people, bringing their
civilization with
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them, and
colonizing the perhaps unoccupied Egyptian territory? But we defer a more
complete elaboration of this theme for our second volume.*
"Mechanism,"
says Eusebe Salverte, "was carried by the ancients to a point of
perfection that has never been attained in modern times. We would inquire if
their inventions have been surpassed in our age? Certainly not; and at the
present day, with all the means that the progress of science and modern
discovery have placed in the hands of the mechanic, have we not been assailed
by numerous difficulties in striving to place on a pedestal one of those
monoliths that the Egyptians forty centuries ago erected in such numbers before
their sacred edifices."
As far back as we
can glance into history, to the reign of Menes, the most ancient of the kings
that we know anything about, we find proofs that the Egyptians were far better
acquainted with hydrostatics and hydraulic engineering than ourselves. The
gigantic work of turning the course of the Nile -- or rather of its three
principal branches -- and bringing it to Memphis, was accomplished during the
reign of that monarch, who appears to us as distant in the abyss of time as a
far-glimmering star in the heavenly vault. Says Wilkinson: "Menes took
accurately the measure of the power which he had to oppose, and he constructed
a dyke whose lofty mounds and enormous embankments turned the water eastward,
and since that time the river is contained in its new bed." Herodotus has
left us a poetical, but still accurate description of the lake Moeris, so called
after the Pharaoh who caused this artificial sheet of water to be formed.
The historian has
described this lake as measuring 450 miles in circumference, and 300 feet in
depth. It was fed through artificial channels by the Nile, and made to store a
portion of the annual overflow for the irrigation of the country, for many
miles round. Its numerous floodgates, dams, locks, and convenient engines were
constructed with the greatest skill. The Romans, at a far later period, got
their notions on hydraulic constructions from the Egyptians, but our latest
progress in the science of hydrostatics has demonstrated the fact of a great
deficiency on their part in some branches of that knowledge. Thus, for
instance, if they were acquainted with that which is called in hydrostatics the
great law, they seem to have been less familiar with what our modern engineers
know as water-tight joints. Their ignorance is sufficiently proved by their
conveying the water through large level aqueducts, instead of doing it at a
less expense by iron pipes beneath the surface. But the Egyptians evidently
employed a far superior method in their channels and artificial water-works.
Notwithstanding this, the modern engineers employed by
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* See vol. ii.,
chap. 8.
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GRANDEUR.
Lesseps for the
Suez Canal, who had learned from the ancient Romans all their art could teach
them, deriving, in their turn, their knowledge from Egypt -- scoffed at the
suggestion that they should seek a remedy for some imperfections in their work
by studying the contents of the various Egyptian museums. Nevertheless, the
engineers succeeded in giving to the banks of that "long and ugly
ditch," as Professor Carpenter calls the Suez Canal, sufficient strength
to make it a navigable water-way, instead of a mud-trap for vessels as it was
at first.
The alluvial
deposits of the Nile, during the past thirty centuries, have completely altered
the area of the Delta, so that it is continually growing seaward, and adding to
the territory of the Khedive. In ancient times, the principal mouth of the
river was called Pelusian; and the canal cut by one of the kings -- the canal
of Necho -- led from Suez to this branch. After the defeat of Antony and
Cleopatra, at Actium, it was proposed that a portion of the fleet should pass
through the canal to the Red Sea, which shows the depth of water that those
early engineers had secured. Settlers in Colorado and Arizona have recently
reclaimed large tracts of barren land by a system of irrigation; receiving from
the journals of the day no little praise for their ingenuity. But, for a
distance of 500 miles above Cairo, there stretches a strip of land reclaimed
from the desert, and made, according to Professor Carpenter, "the most
fertile on the face of the earth." He says, "for thousands of years
these branch canals have conveyed fresh water from the Nile, to fertilize the
land of this long narrow strip, as well as of the Delta." He describes
"the net-work of canals over the Delta, which dates from an early period
of the Egyptian monarchs."
The French province
of Artois has given its name to the Artesian well, as though that form of
engineering had been first applied in that district; but, if we consult the
Chinese records, we find such wells to have been in common use ages before the
Christian era.
If we now turn to
architecture, we find displayed before our eyes, wonders which baffle all
description. Referring to the temples of Philae, Abu Simbel, Dendera, Edfu, and
Karnak, Professor Carpenter remarks that "these stupendous and beautiful
erections . . . these gigantic pyramids and temples" have a "vastness
and beauty" which are "still impressive after the lapse of thousands
of years." He is amazed at "the admirable character of the
workmanship; the stones in most cases being fitted together with astonishing
nicety, so that a knife could hardly be thrust between the joints." He
noticed in his amateur archaeological pilgrimage, another of those
"curious coincidences" which his Holiness, the Pope, may feel some
interest in learning. He is speaking of the Egyptian Book of the Dead,
sculptured on the old monuments, and the
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ancient belief in
the immortality of the soul. "Now, it is most remarkable," says the
professor, "to see that not only this belief, but the language in which it
was expressed in the ancient Egyptian times, anticipated that of the Christian
Revelation. For, in this Book of the Dead, there are used the very phrases we
find in the New Testament, in connection with the day of judgment"; and he
admits that this hierogram was "engraved, probably, 2,000 years before the
time of Christ."
According to
Bunsen, who is considered to have made the most exact calculations, the mass of
masonry in the great Pyramid of Cheops measures 82,111,000 feet, and would
weigh 6,316,000 tons. The immense numbers of squared stones show us the
unparalleled skill of the Egyptian quarrymen. Speaking of the great pyramid,
Kenrick says: "The joints are scarcely perceptible, not wider than the
thickness of silver paper, and the cement is so tenacious, that fragments of
the casing-stones still remain in their original position, notwithstanding the
lapse of many centuries, and the violence by which they were detached."
Who, of our modern architects and chemists, will rediscover the indestructible
cement of the oldest Egyptian buildings?
"The skill of
the ancients in quarrying," says Bunsen, "is displayed the most in
the extracting of the huge blocks, out of which obelisks and colossal statues
were hewn -- obelisks ninety feet high, and statues forty feet high, made out
of one stone!" There are many such. They did not blast out the blocks for
these monuments, but adopted the following scientific method: Instead of using
huge iron wedges, which would have split the stone, they cut a small groove for
the whole length of, perhaps, 100 feet, and inserted in it, close to each
other, a great number of dry wooden wedges; after which they poured water into
the groove, and the wedges swelling and bursting simultaneously, with a
tremendous force, broke out the huge stone, as neatly as a diamond cuts a pane
of glass.
Modern geographers
and geologists have demonstrated that these monoliths were brought from a
prodigious distance, and have been at a loss to conjecture how the transport
was effected. Old manuscripts say that it was done by the help of portable
rails. These rested upon inflated bags of hide, rendered indestructible by the
same process as that used for preserving the mummies. These ingenious
air-cushions prevented the rails from sinking in the deep sand. Manetho
mentions them, and remarks that they were so well prepared that they would
endure wear and tear for centuries.
The date of the
hundreds of pyramids in the Valley of the Nile is impossible to fix by any of
the rules of modern science; but Herodotus informs us that each successive king
erected one to commemorate his
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MONOLITHS.
reign, and serve as
his sepulchre. But, Herodotus did not tell all, although he knew that the real
purpose of the pyramid was very different from that which he assigns to it.
Were it not for his religious scruples, he might have added that, externally,
it symbolized the creative principle of nature, and illustrated also the
principles of geometry, mathematics, astrology, and astronomy. Internally, it
was a majestic fane, in whose sombre recesses were performed the Mysteries, and
whose walls had often witnessed the initiation-scenes of members of the royal
family. The porphyry sarcophagus, which Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer
Royal of Scotland, degrades into a corn-bin, was the baptismal font, upon
emerging from which, the neophyte was "born again," and became an
adept.
Herodotus gives us,
however, a just idea of the enormous labor expended in transporting one of
these gigantic blocks of granite. It measured thirty-two feet in length,
twenty-one feet in width, and twelve feet in height. Its weight he estimates to
be rising 300 tons, and it occupied 2,000 men for three years to move it from
Syene to the Delta, down the Nile. Gliddon, in his Ancient Egypt, quotes from
Pliny a description of the arrangements for moving the obelisk erected at
Alexandria by Ptolemaeus Philadelphus. A canal was dug from the Nile to the
place where the obelisk lay. Two boats were floated under it; they were
weighted with stones containing one cubic foot each, and the weight of the
obelisk having been calculated by the engineers, the cargo of the boats was
exactly proportioned to it, so that they should be sufficiently submerged to
pass under the monolith as it lay across the canal. Then, the stones were
gradually removed, the boats rose, lifted the obelisk, and it was floated down
the river.
In the Egyptian
section of the Dresden, or Berlin Museum, we forget which, is a drawing which
represents a workman ascending an unfinished pyramid, with a basket of sand
upon his back. This has suggested to certain Egyptologists the idea that the
blocks of the pyramids were chemically manufactured in loco. Some modern
engineers believe that Portland cement, a double silicate of lime and alumina,
is the imperishable cement of the ancients. But, on the other hand, Professor
Carpenter asserts that the pyramids, with the exception of their granite
casing, is formed of what "geologists call nummulitic limestone. This is
newer than the old chalk, and is made of the shells of animals called
nummulites -- like little pieces of money about the size of a shilling."
However this moot question may be decided, no one, from Herodotus and Pliny
down to the last wandering engineer who has gazed upon these imperial monuments
of long-crumbled dynasties, has been able to tell us how the gigantic masses
were transported and set up in place. Bunsen concedes to
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Egypt an antiquity
of 20,000 years. But even in this matter we would be left to conjecture if we
depended upon modern authorities. They can neither tell us for what the
pyramids were constructed, under what dynasty the first was raised, nor the
material of which they are built. All is conjecture with them.
Professor Smyth has
given us by far the most accurate mathematical description of the great pyramid
to be found in literature. But after showing the astronomical bearings of the
structure, he so little appreciates ancient Egyptian thought that he actually
maintains that the porphyry sarcophagus of the king's chamber is the unit of
measure for the two most enlightened nations of the earth -- "England and
America." One of the books of Hermes describes certain of the pyramids as
standing upon the sea-shore, "the waves of which dashed in powerless fury
against its base." This implies that the geographical features of the
country have been changed, and may indicate that we must accord to these
ancient "granaries," "magico-astrological observatories,"
and "royal sepulchres," an origin antedating the upheaval of the
Sahara and other deserts. This would imply rather more of an antiquity than the
poor few thousands of years, so generously accorded to them by Egyptologists.
Dr. Rebold, a
French archeologist of some renown, gives his readers a glimpse of the culture
which prevailed 5,000 (?) years B.C., by saying that there were at that time no
less than "thirty or forty colleges of the priests who studied occult
sciences and practical magic."
A writer in the
National Quarterly Review (Vol. xxxii., No. lxiii., December, 1875) says that,
"The recent excavations made among the ruins of Carthage have brought to
light traces of a civilization, a refinement of art and luxury, which must even
have outshone that of ancient Rome; and when the fiat went forth, Delenda est Carthago,
the mistress of the world well knew that she was about to destroy a greater
than herself, for, while one empire swayed the world by force of arms alone,
the other was the last and most perfect representative of a race who had, for
centuries before Rome was dreamed of, directed the civilization, the learning,
and the intelligence of mankind." This Carthage is the one which,
according to Appian, was standing as early as B.C. 1234, or fifty years before
the taking of Troy, and not the one popularly supposed to have been built by
Dido (Elissa or Astarte) four centuries later.
Here we have still
another illustration of the truth of the doctrine of cycles. Draper's
admissions as to the astronomical erudition of the ancient Egyptians are
singularly supported by an interesting fact quoted by Mr. J. M. Peebles, from a
lecture delivered in Philadelphia, by the late Professor O. M. Mitchell, the
astronomer. Upon the coffin of a mummy, now in the British Museum, was
delineated the zodiac with the
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EGYPT.
exact positions of
the planets at the time of the autumnal equinox, in the year 1722 B.C.
Professor Mitchell calculated the exact position of the heavenly bodies
belonging to our solar system at the time indicated. "The result,"
says Mr. Peebles, "I give in his own words: 'To my astonishment . . . it
was found that on the 7th of October, 1722 B.C., the moon and planets had
occupied the exact points in the heavens marked upon the coffin in the British
Museum.' "*
Professor John
Fiske, in his onslaught on Dr. Draper's History of the Intellectual Development
of Europe, sets his pen against the doctrine of cyclical progression, remarking
that "we have never known the beginning or the end of an historic cycle,
and have no inductive warrant for believing that we are now traversing
one."** He chides the author of that eloquent and thoughtful work for the
"odd disposition exhibited throughout his work, not only to refer the best
part of Greek culture to an Egyptian source, but uniformly to exalt the
non-European civilization at the expense of the European." We believe that
this "odd disposition" might be directly sanctioned by the
confessions of great Grecian historians themselves. Professor Fiske might, with
profit, read Herodotus over again. The "Father of History" confesses
more than once that Greece owes everything to Egypt. As to his assertion that
the world has never known the beginning or the end of an historical cycle, we
have but to cast a retrospective glance on the many glorious nations which have
passed away, i.e., reached the end of their great national cycle. Compare the
Egypt of that day, with its perfection of art, science, and religion, its
glorious cities and monuments, and its swarming population, with the Egypt of
to-day, peopled with strangers; its ruins the abode of bats and snakes, and a
few Copts the sole surviving heirs to all this grandeur -- and see whether the
cyclical theory does not reassert itself. Says Gliddon, who is now contradicted
by Mr. Fiske: "Philologists, astronomers, chemists, painters, architects,
physicians, must return to Egypt to learn the origin of language and writing;
of the calendar and solar motion; of the art of cutting granite with a copper
chisel, and of giving elasticity to a copper sword; of making glass with the
variegated hues of the rainbow; of moving single blocks of polished syenite, nine
hundred tons in weight, for any distance, by land and water; of building
arches, rounded and pointed, with masonic precision unsurpassed at the present
day, and antecedent by 2,000 years to the 'Cloaca Magna' of Rome; of
sculpturing a Doric column 1,000 years before the Dorians are known in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* J. M. Peebles:
"Around the World."
** John Fiske:
"The North American Review," art. The Laws of History, July, 1869.
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history; of fresco
painting in imperishable colors; of practical knowledge in anatomy; and of
time-defying pyramid-building."
"Every
craftsman can behold, in Egyptian monuments, the progress of his art 4,000
years ago; and whether it be a wheelwright building a chariot, a shoemaker
drawing his twine, a leather-cutter using the self-same form of knife of old as
is considered the best form now, a weaver throwing the same hand-shuttle, a
whitesmith using that identical form of blow-pipe but lately recognized to be
the most efficient, the seal-engraver cutting, in hieroglyphics, such names as
Schooho's, above 4,300 years ago -- all these, and many more astounding
evidences of Egyptian priority, now require but a glance at the plates of
Rossellini."
"Truly,"
exclaims Mr. Peebles, "these Ramsean temples and tombs were as much a
marvel to the Grecian Herodotus as they are to us!"*
But, even then, the
merciless hand of time had left its traces upon their structures, and some of
them, whose very memory would be lost were it not for the Books of Hermes, had
been swept away into the oblivion of the ages. King after king, and dynasty
after dynasty had passed in a glittering pageant before the eyes of succeeding
generations and their renown had filled the habitable globe. The same pall of
forgetfulness had fallen upon them and their monuments alike, before the first
of our historical authorities, Herodotus, preserved for posterity the
remembrance of that wonder of the world, the great Labyrinth. The long-accepted
Biblical chronology has so cramped the minds of not only the clergy, but even
our scarce-unfettered scientists, that in treating of prehistoric remains in
different parts of the world, a constant fear is manifested on their part to
trespass beyond the period of 6,000 years, hitherto allowed by theology as the
age of the world.
Herodotus found the
Labyrinth already in ruins; but nevertheless his admiration for the genius of
its builders knew no bounds. He regarded it as far more marvellous than the
pyramids themselves, and, as an eye-witness, minutely describes it. The French
and Prussian savants, as well as other Egyptologists, agree as to the
emplacement, and identified its noble ruins. Moreover, they confirm the account
given of it by the old historian. Herodotus says that he found therein 3,000
chambers; half subterranean and the other half above-ground. "The upper
chambers," he says, "I myself passed through and examined in detail.
In the underground ones (which may exist till now, for all the archaeologists
know), the keepers of the building would not let me in, for they contain the
sepulchres of the kings who built the Labyrinth, and also those of the sacred
crocodiles. The upper chambers I saw and examined with
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* M. Peebles:
"Around the World."
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MIGHTY KARNAK.
my own eyes, and
found them to excel all other human productions." In Rawlinson's
translation, Herodotus is made to say: "The passages through the houses
and the varied windings of the paths across the courts, excited in me infinite
admiration as I passed from the courts into the chambers, and from thence into
colonnades, and from colonnades into other houses, and again into courts unseen
before. The roof was throughout of stone like the walls, and both were
exquisitely carved all over with figures. Every court was surrounded with a
colonnade, which was built of white stones, sculptured most exquisitely. At the
corner of the Labyrinth stands a pyramid forty fathoms high, with large figures
engraved on it, and it is entered by a vast subterranean passage."
If such was the
Labyrinth, when viewed by Herodotus, what, in such a case, was ancient Thebes,
the city destroyed far earlier than the period of Psammeticus, who himself
reigned 530 years after the destruction of Troy? We find that in his time
Memphis was the capital, while of the glorious Thebes there remained but ruins.
Now, if we, who are enabled to form our estimate only by the ruins of what was
already ruins so many ages before our era -- are stupefied in their
contemplation, what must have been the general aspect of Thebes in the days of
its glory? Karnak -- temple, palace, ruins, or whatsoever the archaeologists
may term it -- is now its only representative. But solitary and alone as it
stands, fit emblem of majestic empire, as if forgotten by time in the onward
march of the centuries, it testifies to the art and skill of the ancients. He
must be indeed devoid of the spiritual perception of genius, who fails to feel
as well as to see the intellectual grandeur of the race that planned and built
it.
Champollion, who
passed almost his entire life in the exploration of archaeological remains,
gives vent to his emotions in the following descriptions of Karnak: "The
ground covered by the mass of remaining buildings is square; and each side
measures 1,800 feet. One is astounded and overcome by the grandeur of the
sublime remnants, the prodigality and magnificence of workmanship to be seen
everywhere." "No people of ancient or modern times has conceived the
art of architecture upon a scale so sublime, so grandiose as it existed among
the ancient Egyptians; and the imagination, which in Europe soars far above our
porticos, arrests itself and falls powerless at the foot of the hundred and
forty columns of the hypostyle of Karnak! In one of its halls, the Cathedral of
Notre Dame might stand and not touch the ceiling, but be considered as a small
ornament in the centre of the hall."
A writer in a
number of an English periodical, of 1870, evidently speaking with the authority
of a traveller who describes what he has seen, expresses himself as follows:
"Courts, halls, gateways, pillars,
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obelisks,
monolithic figures, sculptures, long rows of sphinxes, are found in such
profusion at Karnak, that the sight is too much for modem comprehension."
Says Denon, the
French traveller: "It is hardly possible to believe, after seeing it, in
the reality of the existence of so many buildings collected together on a
single point, in their dimensions, in the resolute perseverance which their
construction required, and in the incalculable expenses of so much
magnificence! It is necessary that the reader should fancy what is before him
to be a dream, as he who views the objects themselves occasionally yields to
the doubt whether he be perfectly awake. . . . There are lakes and mountains
within the periphery of the sanctuary. These two edifices are selected as
examples from a list next to inexhaustible. The whole valley and delta of the
Nile, from the cataracts to the sea, was covered with temples, palaces, tombs,
pyramids, obelisks, and pillars. The execution of the sculptures is beyond
praise. The mechanical perfection with which artists wrought in granite,
serpentine, breccia, and basalt, is wonderful, according to all the experts . .
. animals and plants look as good as natural, and artificial objects are
beautifully sculptured; battles by sea and land, and scenes of domestic life
are to be found in all their bas-reliefs."
"The
monuments," says an English author, "which there strike the
traveller, fill his mind with great ideas. At the sight of the colossuses and
superb obelisks, which seem to surpass the limits of human nature, he cannot
help exclaiming, 'This was the work of man,' and this sentiment seems to
ennoble his existence."*
In his turn, Dr.
Richardson, speaking of the Temple of Dendera, says: "The female figures
are so extremely well executed, that they do all but speak; they have a
mildness of feature and expression that never was surpassed."
Every one of these
stones is covered with hieroglyphics, and the more ancient they are, the more
beautifully we find them chiselled. Does not this furnish a new proof that
history got its first glimpse of the ancients when the arts were already fast
degenerating among them? The obelisks have their inscriptions cut two inches,
and sometimes more, in depth, and they are cut with the highest degree of
perfection. Some idea may be formed of their depth, from the fact that the
Arabs, for a small fee, will climb sometimes to the very top of an obelisk, by
inserting their toes and fingers in the excavations of the hieroglyphics. That
all of these works, in which solidity rivals the beauty of their execution,
were done before the days of the Exodus, there remains no historical doubt whatever.
(All
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Savary:
"Letters on Egypt," vol. ii., p. 67. London, 1786.
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MONUMENT-BUILDERS?
the archaeologists
now agree in saying that, the further back we go in history, the better and
finer become these arts.) These views clash again with the individual opinion
of Mr. Fiske, who would have us believe that "the sculptures upon these
monuments (of Egypt, Hindustan, and Assyria), moreover, betoken a very
undeveloped condition of the artistic faculties."* Nay, the learned
gentleman goes farther. Joining his voice in the opposition against the claims
of learning -- which belongs by right to the sacerdotal castes of antiquity --
to that of Lewis, he contemptuously remarks that "the extravagant theory
of a profound science possessed by the Egyptian priesthood from a remote antiquity,
and imparted to itinerant Greek philosophers, has been utterly destroyed (?) by
Sir G. C. Lewis** . . . while, with regard to Egypt and Hindustan, as well as
Assyria, it may be said that the colossal monuments which have adorned these
countries since prehistoric times, bear witness to the former prevalence of a
barbaric despotism, totally incompatible with social nobility, and, therefore,
with well-sustained progress."***
A curious argument,
indeed. If the size and grandeur of public monuments are to serve to our
posterity as a standard by which to approximately estimate the "progress
of civilization" attained by their builders, it may be prudent, perhaps,
for America, so proud of her alleged progress and freedom, to dwarf her
buildings at once to one story. Otherwise, according to Professor Fiske's
theory, the archaeologists of A.D. 3877 will be applying to the "Ancient
America" of 1877, the rule of Lewis -- and say the ancient United States
"may be considered as a great latifundium, or plantation, cultivated by
the entire population, as the king's (president's) slaves." Is it because
the white-skinned Aryan races were never born "builders," like the
Eastern AEthiopians, or dark-skinned Caucasians,**** and, therefore, never able
to compete with the latter in such colossal structures, that we must jump at
the conclusion that these grandiose temples and pyramids could only have been
erected under the whip of a merciless despot? Strange logic! It would really
seem more prudent to hold to the "rigorous canons of criticism" laid
down by Lewis and Grote, and honestly confess at once, that we really know
little about these ancient nations, and that, except so far as purely
hypothetical speculations go, unless we study in the same direction as the
ancient priests did, we have as little chance in the future. We only know what
they allowed the uninitiated to know, but the little we do learn of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* John Fiske:
"North American Review," art. The Laws of History, July, 1869.
** Sir G. C. Lewis:
"Astronomy of the Ancients."
*** J. Fiske:
"North American Review," art. The Laws of History.
**** We shall
attempt to demonstrate in Vol. II., chapter viii., that the ancient AEthiopians
were never a Hamitic race.
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them by deduction,
ought to be sufficient to assure us that, even in the nineteenth century, with
all our claims to supremacy in arts and sciences, we are totally unable, we
will not say to build anything like the monuments of Egypt, Hindustan, or
Assyria, but even to rediscover the least of the ancient "lost arts."
Besides, Sir Gardner Wilkinson gives forcible expression to this view of the
exhumed treasures of old, by adding that, "he can trace no primitive mode
of life, no barbarous customs, but a sort of stationary civilization from the
most remote periods." Thus far, archaeology disagrees with geology, which
affirms that the further they trace the remains of men, the more barbarous they
find them. It is doubtful if geology has even yet exhausted the field of
research afforded her in the caves, and the views of geologists, which are
based upon present experience, may be radically modified, when they come to
discover the remains of the ancestors of the people whom they now style the
cave-dwellers.
What better
illustrates the theory of cycles than the following fact? Nearly 700 years
B.C., in the schools of Thales and Pythagoras was taught the doctrine of the
true motion of the earth, its form, and the whole heliocentric system. And in
317 A.D., we find Lactantius, the preceptor of Crispus Caesar, son of
Constantine the Great, teaching his pupil that the earth was a plane surrounded
by the sky, which is composed of fire and water, and warning him against the
heretical doctrine of the earth's globular form!
Whenever, in the
pride of some new discovery, we throw a look into the past, we find, to our
dismay, certain vestiges which indicate the possibility, if not certainty, that
the alleged discovery was not totally unknown to the ancients.
It is generally
asserted that neither the early inhabitants of the Mosaic times, nor even the
more civilized nations of the Ptolemaic period were acquainted with
electricity. If we remain undisturbed in this opinion, it is not for lack of
proofs to the contrary. We may disdain to search for a profounder meaning in
some characteristic sentences of Servius, and other writers; we cannot so
obliterate them but that, at some future day, that meaning will appear to us in
all its significant truths. "The first inhabitants of the earth,"
says he, "never carried fire to their altars, but by their prayers they brought
down the heavenly fire."* "Prometheus discovered and revealed to man
the art of bringing down lightning; and by the method which he taught to them,
they brought down fire from the region above."
If, after pondering
these words, we are still willing to attribute them to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Servius:
"Virgil," Eclog. vi., v. 42.
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LIGHTNING-STROKES.
the phraseology of
mythological fables, we may turn to the days of Numa, the king-philosopher, so
renowned for his esoteric learning, and find ourselves more embarrassed to deal
with his case. We can neither accuse him of ignorance, superstition, nor
credulity; for, if history can be believed at all, he was intently bent on
destroying polytheism and idol-worship. He had so well dissuaded the Romans
from idolatry that for nearly two centuries neither statues nor images appeared
in their temples. On the other hand old historians tell us that the knowledge
which Numa possessed in natural physics was remarkable. Tradition says that he
was initiated by the priests of the Etruscan divinities, and instructed by them
in the secret of forcing Jupiter, the Thunderer, to descend upon earth.* Ovid
shows that Jupiter Elicius began to be worshipped by the Romans from that time.
Salverte is of the opinion that before Franklin discovered his refined electricity,
Numa had experimented with it most successfully, and that Tullus Hostilius was
the first victim of the dangerous "heavenly guest" recorded in
history. Titus Livy and Pliny narrate that this prince, having found in the
Books of Numa, instructions on the secret sacrifices offered to Jupiter
Elicius, made a mistake, and, in consequence of it, "he was struck by
lightning and consumed in his own palace."**
Salverte remarks
that Pliny, in the exposition of Numa's scientific secrets, "makes use of
expressions which seem to indicate two distinct processes"; the one
obtained thunder (impetrare), the other forced it to lightning (cogere).***
"Guided by Numa's book," says Lucius, quoted by Pliny, "Tullus
undertook to invoke the aid of Jupiter. . . . But having performed the rite
imperfectly, he perished, struck by thunder."**** Tracing back the
knowledge of thunder and lightning possessed by the Etruscan priests, we find
that Tarchon, the founder of the theurgism of the former, desiring to preserve
his house from lightning, surrounded it by a hedge of the white bryony,***** a
climbing plant which has the property of averting thunderbolts. Tarchon the
theurgist was much anterior to the siege of Troy. The pointed metallic
lightning-rod, for which we are seemingly indebted to Franklin, is probably a
rediscovery after all. There are many medals which seem to strongly indicate
that the principle was anciently known. The temple of Juno had its roof covered
with a quantity of pointed blades of swords.******
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ovid:
"Fast.," lib. iii., v. 285-346.
** "Titus
Livius," lib. i., cap. xxxi.
*** Pliny:
"Hist. Nat.," lib. ii., cap. liii.
**** Lucius:
"Piso"; Pliny: "Hist. Nat.," lib. xxviii., c. ii.
***** "Columella,"
lib. x., vers. 346, etc.
****** See
"Notice sur les Travaux de l'Academie du Gard," part i., pp. 304-314,
by la Boissiere.
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If we possess but
little proof of the ancients having had any clear notions as to all the effects
of electricity, there is very strong evidence, at all events, of their having
been perfectly acquainted with electricity itself. "Ben David," says
the author of The Occult Sciences, "has asserted that Moses possessed some
knowledge of the phenomena of electricity." Professor Hirt, of Berlin, is
of this opinion. Michaelis, remarks -- firstly: "that there is no
indication that lightning ever struck the temple of Jerusalem, during a
thousand years. Secondly, that according to Josephus,* a forest of points . . .
of gold, and very sharp, covered the roof of the temple. Thirdly, that this
roof communicated with the caverns in the hill upon which the temple was
situated, by means of pipes in connection with the gilding which covered all
the exterior of the building; in consequence of which the points would act as
conductors."**
Ammianus
Marcellinus, a famous historian of the fourth century, a writer generally
esteemed for the fairness and correctness of his statements, tells that
"The magi, preserved perpetually in their furnaces fire that they
miraculously got from heaven."*** There is a sentence in the Hindu Oupnek-hat,
which runs thus: "To know fire, the sun, the moon, and lightning, is
three-fourths of the science of God."****
Finally, Salverte
shows that in the days of Ktesias, "India was acquainted with the use of
conductors of lightning." This historian plainly states that "iron
placed at the bottom of a fountain . . . and made in the form of a sword, with
the point upward, possessed, as soon as it was thus fixed in the ground, the
property of averting storms and lightnings."***** What can be plainer?
Some modern writers
deny the fact that a great mirror was placed in the light-house of the
Alexandrian port, for the purpose of discovering vessels at a distance at sea.
But the renowned Buffon believed in it; for he honestly confesses that "If
the mirror really existed, as I firmly believe it did, to the ancients belong
the honor of the invention of the telescope."******
Stevens, in his
work on the East, asserts that he found railroads in Upper Egypt whose grooves
were coated with iron. Canova, Powers, and other celebrated sculptors of our
modern age deem it an honor to be compared with Pheidias of old, and strict
truth would, perhaps, hesitate at such a flattery.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Bell. Jud.
adv. Roman," lib. v., cap. xiv.
** "Magasin
Scientifique de Goethingen," 3me. annie, 5me. cahier.
*** "Ammian.
Marcel.," lib. xxiii., cap. vi.
****
"Oupnek-hat," Brahman xi.
*****
"Ktesias, in India ap. Photum.," Bibl. Cod. lxxii.
****** Buffon:
"Histoire Naturelle des Mineraux," 6me Mem., art. ii.
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CONTAINS.
Professor Jowett
discredits the story of the Atlantis, in the Timaeus; and the records of 8,000
and 9,000 years appear to him an ancient swindle. But Bunsen remarks:
"There is nothing improbable in itself in reminiscences and records of
great events in Egypt 9,000 years B.C., for . . . the Origines of Egypt go back
to the ninth millennium before Christ."* Then how about the primitive
Cyclopean fortresses of ancient Greece? Can the walls of Tiryns, about which,
according to archaeological accounts, "even among the ancients it was
reported to have been the work of the Cyclops,"** be deemed posterior to
the pyramids? Masses of rock, some equal to a cube of six feet, and the
smallest of which, Pausanias says, could never be moved by a yoke of oxen, laid
up in walls of solid masonry twenty-five feet thick and over forty feet high,
still believed to be the work of men of the races known to our history!
Wilkinson's
researches have brought to light the fact that many inventions of what we term
modern, and upon which we plume ourselves, were perfected by the ancient
Egyptians. The newly-discovered papyrus of Ebers, the German archaeologist,
proves that neither our modern chignons, skin-beautifying pearl powders, nor
eaux dentifrices were secrets to them. More than one modern physician -- even
among those who advertise themselves as having "made a speciality of
nervous disorders" -- may find his advantage in consulting the Medical
Books of Hermes, which contain prescriptions of real therapeutic value.
The Egyptians, as
we have seen, excelled in all arts. They made paper so excellent in quality as
to be time-proof. "They took out the pith of the papyrus," says our
anonymous writer, previously mentioned, "dissected and opened the fibre,
and flattening it by a process known to them, made it as thin as our foolscap
paper, but far more durable. . . . They sometimes cut it into strips and glued
it together; many of such written documents are yet in existence." The
papyrus found in the tomb of the queen's mummy, and another one found in the sarcophagus
of the "Chambre de la Reine," at Ghizeh, present the appearance of
the finest glossy white muslin, while it possesses the durability of the best
calf-parchment. "For a long time the savants believed the papyrus to have
been introduced by Alexander the Great -- as they erroneously imagined a good
many more things -- but Lepsius found rolls of papyri in tombs and monuments of
the twelfth dynasty; sculptured pictures of papyri were found later, on
monuments of the fourth dynasty, and now it is proved that the art of writing
was known and used as early as the days of Menes, the protomonarch"; and
thus it was finally discovered
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Egypt's
Place in Universal History," vol. iv., p. 462.
** "Archaeologia,"
vol. xv., p. 320.
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that the art and
their system of writing were perfect and complete from the very first.
It is to
Champollion that we owe the first interpretation of their weird writing; and,
but for his life-long labor, we would till now remain uninformed as to the
meaning of all these pictured letters, and the ancients would still be
considered ignorant by the moderns whom they so greatly excelled in some arts
and sciences. "He was the first to find out what wondrous tale the
Egyptians had to tell, for one who could read their endless manuscripts and
records. They left them on every spot and object capable of receiving
characters. . . . They engraved, and chiselled, and sculptured them on
monuments; they traced them on furniture, rocks, stones, walls, coffins, and
tombs, as on the papyrus. . . . The pictures of their daily lives, in their
smallest details, are being now unravelled before our dazzled eyes in the most
wondrous way. . . . Nothing, of what we know, seems to have been overlooked by
the ancient Egyptians. . . . The history of 'Sesostris' shows us how well he and
his people were versed in the art and practice of war. . . . The pictures show
how formidable they were when encountered in battle. They constructed
war-engines. . . . Horner says that through each of the 100 gates of Thebes
issued 200 men with horses and chariots; the latter were magnificently
constructed, and very light in comparison with our modern heavy, clumsy, and
uncomfortable artillery wagons." Kenrick describes them in the following
terms: "In short, as all the essential principles which regulate the
construction and draught of carriages are exemplified in the war-chariots of
the Pharaohs, so there is nothing which modern taste and luxury have devised
for their decoration to which we do not find a prototype in the monuments of
the eighteenth dynasty." Springs -- metallic springs -- have been found in
them, and, notwithstanding Wilkinson's superficial investigation in that
direction, and description of these in his studies, we find proofs that such
were used to prevent the jolting in the chariots in their too rapid course. The
bas-reliefs show us certain melees and battles in which we can find and trace
their uses and customs to the smallest details. The heavily-armed men fought in
coats of mail, the infantry had quilted tunics and felt helmets, with metallic
coverings to protect them the better. Muratori, the modern Italian inventor
who, some ten years ago, introduced his "impenetrable cuirasse," has
but followed in his invention what he could make out of the ancient method
which suggested to him the idea. The process of rendering such objects as
card-board, felt, and other tissues, impenetrable to the cuts and thrusts of
any sharp weapon, is now numbered among the lost arts. Muratori succeeded but
imperfectly in preparing such felt cuirasses, and, notwithstanding the boasted
achievements of modern chemistry
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PEACE.
he could derive
from it no preparation adequate to effect his object, and failed.
To what perfection
chemistry had reached in ancient times, may be inferred from a fact mentioned
by Virey. In his dissertations, he shows that Asclepiadotus, a general of
Mithradates, reproduced chemically the deleterious exhalations of the sacred
grotto. These vapors, like those of Curnae, threw the Pythoness into the mantic
frenzy.
Egyptians used
bows, double-edged swords and daggers, javelins, spears, and pikes. The light
troops were armed with darts and slings; charioteers wielded maces and
battle-axes; in siege-operations they were perfect. "The assailants,"
says the anonymous writer, "advanced, forming a narrow and long line, the
point being protected by a triple-sided, impenetrable engine pushed before them
on a kind of roller, by an invisible squad of men. They had covered underground
passages with trap-doors, scaling ladders, and the art of escalade and military
strategy was carried by them to perfection. . . . The battering ram was
familiar to them as other things; being such experts in quarrying they knew how
to set a mine to a wall and bring it down." The same writer remarks, that
it is a great deal safer for us to mention what the Egyptians did than what
they did not know, for every day brings some new discovery of their wonderful
knowledge; "and if," he adds, "we were to find out that they
used Armstrong guns, this fact would not be much more astonishing than many of
the facts brought out to light already."
The proof that they
were proficient in mathematical sciences, lies in the fact that those ancient
mathematicians whom we honor as the fathers of geometry went to Egypt to be
instructed. Says Professor Smyth, as quoted by Mr. Peebles, "the
geometrical knowledge of the pyramid-builders began where Euclid's ended."
Before Greece came into existence, the arts, with the Egyptians, were ripe and
old. Land-measuring, an art resting on geometry, the Egyptians certainly knew
well, as, according to the Bible, Joshua, after conquering the Holy Land, had
skill enough to divide it. And how could a people so skilled in natural
philosophy as the Egyptians were, not be proportionately skilled in psychology
and spiritual philosophy? The temple was the nursery of the highest
civilization, and it alone possessed that higher knowledge of magic which was
in itself the quintessence of natural philosophy. The occult powers of nature
were taught in the greatest secrecy and the most wonderful cures were performed
during the performing of the Mysteries. Herodotus acknowledges* that the Greeks
learned all they knew, including the sacred services of the temple, from the
Egyptians, and because of that,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lib. ii., c. 50.
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their principal
temples were consecrated to Egyptian divinities. Melampus, the famous healer
and soothsayer of Argos, had to use his medicines "after the manner of the
Egyptians," from whom he had gained his knowledge, whenever he desired his
cure to be thoroughly effective. He healed Iphiclus of his impotency and
debility by the rust of iron, according to the directions of Mantis, his
magnetic sleeper, or oracle. Sprengel gives many wonderful instances of such
magical cures in his History of Medicine (see p. 119).
Diodorus, in his
work on the Egyptians (lib. i.), says that Isis has deserved immortality, for
all nations of the earth bear witness to the power of this goddess to cure
diseases by her influence. "This is proved," he says, "not by
fable as among the Greeks, but by authentic facts." Galen records several remedial
means which were preserved in the healing wards of the temples. He mentions
also a universal medicine which in his time was called Isis.*
The doctrines of
several Greek philosophers, who had been instructed in Egypt, demonstrates
their profound learning. Orpheus, who, according to Artapanus, was a disciple
of Moyses (Moses),** Pythagoras, Herodotus, and Plato owe their philosophy to
the same temples in which the wise Solon was instructed by the priests.
"Antiklides relates," says Pliny, "that the letters were
invented in Egypt by a person whose name was Menon, fifteen years before
Phoroneus the most ancient king of Greece."** Jablonski proves that the
heliocentric system, as well as the earth's sphericity, were known by the
priests of Egypt from immemorial ages. "This theory," he adds,
"Pythagoras took from the Egyptians, who had it from the Brachmans of
India."*** Fenelon, the illustrious Archbishop of Cambray, in his Lives of
the Ancient Philosophers, credits Pythagoras with this knowledge, and says that
besides teaching his disciples that as the earth was round there were
antipodes, since it was inhabited everywhere, the great mathematician was the
first to discover that the morning and evening star was the same. If we now
consider that Pythagoras lived in about the 16th Olympiad, over 700 years B.C.,
and taught this fact at such an early period, we must believe that it was known
by others before him. The works of Aristotle, Laertius, and several others in
which Pythagoras is mentioned, demonstrate that he had learned from the
Egyptians about the obliquity of the ecliptic, the starry composition of the
milky way, and the borrowed light of the moon.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Galen: "De
Composit. Medec.," lib. v.
** "Ancient
Fragments": see chapter on the Early Kings of Egypt.
***
"Pliny," lib. vii., c. 56.
**** Jablonski:
"Pantheon AEgypti.," ii., Proleg. 10.
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SCIENTIFIC GROWTH.
Wilkinson,
corroborated later by others, says that the Egyptians divided time, knew the
true length of the year, and the precession of the equinoxes. By recording the
rising and setting of the stars, they understood the particular influences
which proceed from the positions and conjunctions of all heavenly bodies, and
therefore their priests, prophesying as accurately as our modern astronomers,
meteorological changes, could, en plus, astrologize through astral motions.
Though the sober and eloquent Cicero may be partially right in his indignation
against the exaggerations of the Babylonian priests, who "assert that they
have preserved upon monuments observations extending back during an interval of
470,000 years,"* still, the period at which astronomy had arrived at its
perfection with the ancients is beyond the reach of modern calculation.
A writer in one of
our scientific journals observes "that every science in its growth passes
through three stages: First, we have the stage of observation, when facts are
collected and registered by many minds in many places. Next, we have the stage
of generalization, when these carefully verified facts are arranged
methodically, generalized systematically, and classified logically, so as to
deduce and elucidate from them the laws that regulate their rule and order.
Lastly, we have the stage of prophecy, when these laws are so applied that
events can be predicted to occur with unerring accuracy." If several
thousand years B.C., Chinese and Chaldean astronomers predicted eclipses -- the
latter, whether by the cycle of Saros, or other means, matters not -- the fact
remains the same. They had reached the last and highest stage of astronomical
science -- they prophesied. If they could, in the year 1722 B.C., delineate the
zodiac with the exact positions of the planets at the time of the autumnal
equinox, and so unerringly as Professor Mitchell, the astronomer, proved, then
they knew the laws that regulate "carefully-verified facts" to
perfection, and applied them with as much certainty as our modern astronomers.
Moreover, astronomy is said to be in our century "the only science which
has thoroughly reached the last stage . . . other sciences are yet in various
stages of growth; electricity, in some branches, has reached the third stage,
but in many branches is still in its infantine period."** This we know, on
the exasperating confessions of men of science themselves, and we can entertain
no doubt as to this sad reality in the nineteenth century, as we belong
ourselves to it. Not so in relation to the men who lived in the days of the
glory of Chaldaea, Assyria, and Babylon. Of the stages they reached in other
sciences we know nothing, except that in astronomy they stood equal with us,
for they had also reached the third and last stage. In his lecture on the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Cicero: "De
Divinatione."
**
"Telegraphic Journal," art. Scientific Prophecy.
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Lost Arts, Wendell
Phillips very artistically describes the situation. "We seem to
imagine," says he, "that whether knowledge will die with us or not,
it certainly began with us. . . . We have a pitying estimate, a tender pity for
the narrowness, ignorance, and darkness of the bygone ages." To illustrate
our own idea with the closing sentence of the favorite lecturer, we may as well
confess that we undertook this chapter, which in one sense interrupts our
narrative, to inquire of our men of science, whether they are sure that they
are boasting "on the right line."
Thus we read of a
people, who, according to some learned writers,* had just emerged from the
bronze age into the succeeding age of iron. "If Chaldea, Assyria, and
Babylon presented stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into
the night of time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later date. The
pillared halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles of art -- carvings,
sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal bulls.
Ecbatana, in Media, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was defended
by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior ones in
succession of increasing height, and of different colors, in astrological
accordance with the seven planets. The palace was roofed with silver tiles; its
beams were plated with gold. At midnight, in its halls, the sun was rivalled by
many a row of naphtha cressets. A paradise, that luxury of the monarchs of the
East, was planted in the midst of the city. The Persian empire was truly the
garden of the world. . . . In Babylon there still remained its walls, once more
than sixty miles in compass and, after the ravages of three centuries and three
conquerors, still more than eighty feet in height; there were still the ruins
of the temple of the cloud-encompassed Bel; on its top was planted the
observatory wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had held nocturnal communion
with the stars; still there were vestiges of the two palaces with their hanging
gardens, in which were trees growing in mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic
machinery that had supplied them from the river. Into the artificial lake, with
its vast apparatus of aqueducts and sluices, the melted snows of the Armenian
mountains found their way and were confined in their course through the city by
the embankments of the Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, perhaps, was the
tunnel under the river-bed."**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Professor
Albrecht Muller: "The First Traces of Man in Europe." Says the
author: "And this bronze age reaches to and overlaps the beginning of the
historic period in some countries, and so includes the great epochs of the
Assyrian and Egyptian Empires, B.C. circa 1500, and the earlier eras of the
next succeeding age of iron."
** "Conflict
between Religion and Science," chap. i.
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"BRASS."
In his First Traces
of Man in Europe, Albrecht Muller proposes a name descriptive of the age in
which we live, and suggests that "the age of paper" is perhaps as
good as any that can be discussed. We do not agree with the learned professor.
Our firm opinion is, that succeeding generations will term ours, at best, the
age of brass; at worst, that of albata or of oroide.
The thought of the
present-day commentator and critic as to the ancient learning, is limited to
and runs round the exoterism of the temples; his insight is either unwilling or
unable to penetrate into the solemn adyta of old, where the hierophant
instructed the neophyte to regard the public worship in its true light. No
ancient sage would have taught that man is the king of creation, and that the
starry heaven and our mother earth were created for his sake. He, who doubts
the assertion, may turn to the Magical and Philosophical Precepts of Zoroaster,
and find its corroboration in the following:*
"Direct not
thy mind to the vast measures of the earth;
For the plant of
truth is not upon ground.
Nor measure the
measures of the sun, collecting rules,
For he is carried
by the eternal will of the Father, not for your sake,
Dismiss the
impetuous course of the moon;
For she runs always
by work of necessity.
The progression of
the stars was not generated for your sake."
A rather strange
teaching to come from those who are universally believed to have worshipped the
sun, and moon, and the starry host, as gods. The sublime profundity of the
Magian precepts being beyond the reach of modern materialistic thought, the
Chaldean philosophers are accused, together with the ignorant masses, of
Sabianism and sun-worship.
There was a vast
difference between the true worship taught to those who showed themselves
worthy, and the state religions. The magians are accused of all kinds of
superstition, but this is what a Chaldean Oracle says:
"The wide
aerial flight of birds is not true,
Nor the dissections
of the entrails of victims; they are all mere toys,
The basis of
mercenary fraud; flee from these
If you would open
the sacred paradise of piety
Where virtue,
wisdom, and equity, are assembled."**
Surely, it is not
those who warn people against "mercenary fraud" who can be accused of
it; and if they accomplished acts which seem
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Psellus:
"Chaldean Oracles," 4, cxliv.
** Psellus:
"Zoroast. Oracles," 4.
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miraculous, who can
with fairness presume to deny that it was done merely because they possessed a
knowledge of natural philosophy and psychological science to a degree unknown
to our schools?
What did they not
know? It is a well-demonstrated fact that the true meridian was correctly
ascertained before the first pyramid was built. They had clocks and dials to
measure time; their cubit was the established unit of linear measure, being
1,707 feet of English measure; according to Herodotus the unit of weight was
also known; as money, they had gold and silver rings valued by weight; they had
the decimal and duodecimal modes of calculation from the earliest times, and
were proficient in algebra. "How could they otherwise," says an
unknown author, "bring into operation such immense mechanical powers, if
they had not thoroughly understood the philosophy of what we term the
mechanical powers?"
The art of making
linen and fine fabrics is also proved to have been one of their branches of
knowledge, for the Bible speaks of it. Joseph was presented by Pharaoh with a
vesture of fine linen, a golden chain, and many more things. The linen of Egypt
was famous throughout the world. The mummies are all wrapped in it and the
linen is beautifully preserved. Pliny speaks of a certain garment sent 600
years B.C., by King Amasis to Lindus, every single thread of which was composed
of 360 minor threads twisted together. Herodotus gives us (book i.), in his
account of Isis and the Mysteries performed in her honor, an idea of the beauty
and "admirable softness of the linen worn by the priests." The latter
wore shoes made of papyrus and garments of fine linen, because this goddess
first taught the use of it; and thus, besides being called Isiaci, or priests
of Isis, they were also known as Linigera, or the "linen-wearing."
This linen was spun and dyed in those brilliant and gorgeous colors, the secret
of which is likewise now among the lost arts. On the mummies we often find the most
beautiful embroidery and bead-work ornamenting their shirts; several of such
can be seen in the museum of Bulak (Cairo), and are unsurpassable in beauty;
the designs are exquisite, and the labor seems immense. The elaborate and so
much vaunted Gobelins tapestry, is but a gross production when compared with
some of the embroidery of the ancient Egyptians. We have but to refer to Exodus
to discover how skilful was the workmanship of the Israelitish pupils of the
Egyptians upon their tabernacle and sacred ark. The sacerdotal vestments, with
their decorations of "pomegranates and golden bells," and the
thummim, or jewelled breastplate of the high priest, are described by Josephus
as being of unparalleled beauty and of wonderful workmanship; and yet we find beyond
doubt that the Jews adopted their rites and ceremonies, and even the special
dress of their Levites,
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GLASS.
from the Egyptians.
Clemens Alexandrinus acknowledges it very reluctantly, and so does Origen and
other Fathers of the Church, some of whom, as a matter of course, attribute the
coincidence to a clever trick of Satan in anticipation of events. Proctor, the
astronomer, says in one of his books, "The remarkable breastplate worn by
the Jewish high priest was derived directly from the Egyptians." The word
thummim itself is evidently of Egyptian origin, borrowed by Moses, like the
rest; for further on the same page, Mr. Proctor says that, "In the
often-repeated picture of judgment the deceased Egyptian is seen conducted by
the god Horus (?), while Anubis places on one of the balances a vase supposed
to contain his good actions, and in the other is the emblem of truth, a
representation of Thmei, the goddess of truth, which was also worn on the
judicial breastplate." Wilkinson, in his Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians, shows that the Hebrew thummim is a plural form of the word
Thmei."*
All the ornamental
arts seem to have been known to the Egyptians. Their jewelry of gold, silver,
and precious stones are beautifully wrought; so was the cutting, polishing, and
setting of them executed by their lapidaries in the finest style. The
finger-ring of an Egyptian mummy -- if we remember aright -- was pronounced the
most artistic piece of jewelry in the London Exhibition of 1851. Their
imitation of precious stones in glass is far above anything done at the present
day; and the emerald may be said to have been imitated to perfection.
In Pompeii, says
Wendell Phillips, they discovered a room full of glass; there was ground-glass,
window-glass, cut-glass, and colored-glass of every variety. Catholic priests
who broke into China 200 years ago, were shown a glass, transparent and
colorless, which was filled with liquor made by the Chinese, and which appeared
to be colorless like water. "This liquor was poured into the glass, and
then looking through, it seemed to be filled with fishes. They turned it out
and repeated the experiment and again it was filled with fishes." In Rome
they show a bit of glass, a transparent glass, which they light up so as to
show you that there is nothing concealed, but in the centre of the glass is a
drop of colored glass, perhaps as large as a pea, mottled like a duck, and
which even a miniature pencil could not do more perfectly. "It is manifest
that this drop of liquid glass must have been poured, because there is no
joint. This must have been done by a greater heat than the annealing process,
because that process shows breaks." In relation to their wonderful art of
imitating precious stones, the lecturer speaks of the "celebrated vase of
the Genoa Cathedral," which was
[[Footnote(s)]]
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* Proctor:
"Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews," p. 309.
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considered for long
centuries "a solid emerald." "The Roman Catholic legend of it
was that it was one of the treasures that the Queen of Sheba gave to Solomon,
and that it was the identical cup out of which the Saviour drank at the Last
Supper." Subsequently it was found not to be an emerald, but an imitation;
and when Napoleon brought it to Paris and gave it to the Institute, the
scientists were obliged to confess that it was not a stone, and that they could
not tell what it was.
Further, speaking
of the skill of the ancients in metal works, the same lecturer narrates that
"when the English plundered the Summer Palace of the Emperor of China, the
European artists were surprised at seeing the curiously-wrought metal vessels
of every kind, far exceeding all the boasted skill of the workmen of
Europe." African tribes in the interior of the country gave travellers
better razors than they had. "George Thompson told me," he adds,
"he saw a man in Calcutta throw a handful of floss silk into the air, and
a Hindu sever it into pieces with his sabre of native steel." He concludes
by the apt remark that "the steel is the greatest triumph of metallurgy,
and metallurgy is the glory of chemistry." So with the ancient Egyptians
and Semitic races. They dug gold and separated it with the utmost skill.
Copper, lead, and iron were found in abundance near the Red Sea.
In a lecture
delivered in 1873, on the Cave-Men of Devonshire, Mr. W. Pengelly, F.R.S.,
stated on the authority of some Egyptologists that the first iron used in Egypt
was meteoric iron, as the earliest mention of this metal is found in an
Egyptian document, in which it is called the "stone from heaven."
This would imply the idea that the only iron which was in use in days of old
was meteorite. This may have been the case at the commencement of the period
embraced in our present geological explorations, but till we can compute with
at least approximate accuracy the age of our excavated relics, who can tell but
that we are making a blunder of possibly several hundred thousand years? The
injudiciousness of dogmatizing upon what the ancient Chaldeans and Egyptians
did not know about mining and metallurgy is at least partially shown by the
discoveries of Colonel Howard Vyse. Moreover, many of such precious stones as
are only found at a great depth in mines are mentioned in Homer and the Hebrew
Scriptures. Have scientists ascertained the precise time when mining-shafts
were first sunk by mankind? According to Dr. A. C. Hamlin, in India, the arts
of the goldsmith and lapidary have been practiced from an "unknown
antiquity." That the Egyptians either knew from the remotest ages how to
temper steel, or possessed something still better and more perfect than the
implement necessary in our days for chiselling, is an alternative from which
the archeologists cannot escape. How else could they have produced such
artistic chiselling, or
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MUMMY-WRAPPING, ANAESTHESIA.
wrought such
sculpture as they did? The critics may take their choice of either; according
to them, steel tools of the most exquisite temper, or some other means of
cutting sienite, granite, and basalt; which, in the latter case, must be added
to the long catalogue of lost arts.
Professor Albrecht
Muller says: "We may ascribe the introduction of bronze manufacture into
Europe to a great race immigrant from Asia some 6,000 years ago, called Aryas
or Aryans. . . . Civilization of the East preceded that of the West by many
centuries. . . . There are many proofs that a considerable degree of culture
existed at its very beginning. Bronze was yet in use, but iron as well. Pottery
was not only shaped on the lathe, but burned a good red. Manufactures in glass,
gold, and silver, are found for the first time. In lonely mountain places are
yet found dross, and the remains of iron-furnaces. . . . To be sure, this dross
is sometimes ascribed to volcanic action, but it is met with where volcanoes
never could have existed."
But it is in the
process of preparing mummies that the skill of this wonderful people is
exemplified in the highest degree. None but those who have made special study
of the subject, can estimate the amount of skill, patience, and knowledge
exacted for the accomplishment of this indestructible work, which occupied
several months. Both chemistry and surgery were called into requisition. The
mummies, if left in the dry climate of Egypt, seem to be practicably
imperishable; and even when removed after a repose of several thousand years,
show no signs of change. "The body," says the anonymous writer,
"was filled with myrrh, cassia, and other gums, and after that, saturated
with natron. . . . Then followed the marvellous swathing of the embalmed body,
so artistically executed, that professional modern bandagists are lost in
admiration at its excellency." Says Dr. Grandville: " . . . there is
not a single form of bandage known to modern surgery, of which far better and
cleverer examples are not seen in the swathings of the Egyptian mummies. The
strips of linen are found without one single joint, extending to 1,000 yards in
length." Rossellini, in Kenrick's Ancient Egypt, gives a similar testimony
to the wonderful variety and skill with which the bandages have been applied
and interlaced. There was not a fracture in the human body that could not be
repaired successfully by the sacerdotal physician of those remote days.
Who but well
remembers the excitement produced some twenty-five years ago by the discovery
of anaesthesia? The nitrous oxide gas, sulphuric and chloric ether, chloroform,
"laughing gas," besides various other combinations of these, were
welcomed as so many heavenly blessings to the suffering portion of humanity.
Poor Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford, in 1844, was the discoverer, and Drs.
Morton and Jackson
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reaped the honors
and benefits in 1846, as is usual in such cases. The anaesthetics were
proclaimed "the greatest discovery ever made." And, though the famous
Letheon of Morton and Jackson (a compound of sulphuric ether), the chloroform
of Sir James Y. Simpson, and the nitrous oxide gas, introduced by Colton, in
1843, and by Dunham and Smith, were occasionally checked by fatal cases, it
still did not prevent these gentlemen from being considered public benefactors.
The patients successfully put to sleep sometimes awoke no more; what matters
that, so long as others were relieved? Physicians assure us that accidents are
now but rarely apprehended. Perhaps it is because the beneficent anaesthetic agents
are so parsimoniously applied as to fail in their effects one-half of the time,
leaving the sufferer paralyzed for a few seconds in his external movements, but
feeling the pain as acutely as ever. On the whole, however, chloroform and
laughing gas are beneficent discoveries. But, are they the first anesthetics
ever discovered, strictly speaking? Dioscorides speaks of the stone of Memphis
(lapis Memphiticus), and describes it as a small pebble -- round, polished, and
very sparkling. When ground into powder, and applied as an ointment to that
part of the body on which the surgeon was about to operate, either with his
scalpel or fire, it preserved that part, and only that part from any pain of
the operation. In the meantime, it was perfectly harmless to the constitution
of the patient, who retained his consciousness throughout, in no way dangerous
from its effects, and acted so long as it was kept on the affected part. When
taken in a mixture of wine or water, all feeling of suffering was perfectly
deadened.* Pliny gives also a full description of it.**
From time
immemorial, the Brahmans have had in their possession secrets quite as
valuable. The widow, bent on the self-sacrifice of concremation, called
Sahamaranya, has no dread of suffering the least pain, for the fiercest flames
will consume her, without one pang of agony being experienced by her. The holy
plants which crown her brow, as she is conducted in ceremony to the funeral
pile; the sacred root culled at the midnight hour on the spot where the Ganges
and the Yumna mingle their waters; and the process of anointing the body of the
self-appointed victim with ghee and sacred oils, after she has bathed in all
her clothes and finery, are so many magical anaesthetics. Supported by those
she is going to part with in body, she walks thrice around her fiery couch,
and, after bidding them farewell, is cast on the dead body of her husband, and
leaves this world without a single moment of suffering. "The
semi-fluid," says a missionary writer, an eye-witness of several such
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dioscorides:
"[[Peri Hules Iatrikes]]" lib. v., cap. clviii.
** Pliny:
"Histoire Naturelle," lib. xxxviii., cap. vii.
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ceremonies --
"the ghee, is poured upon the pile; it is instantly inflamed, and the
drugged widow dies quickly of suffocation before the fire reaches her
body."*
No such thing, if
the sacred ceremony is only conducted strictly after the prescribed rites. The
widows are never drugged in the sense we are accustomed to understand the word.
Only precautionary measures are taken against a useless physical martyrdom --
the atrocious agony of burning. Her mind is as free and clear as ever, and even
more so. Firmly believing in the promises of a future life, her whole mind is
absorbed in the contemplation of the approaching bliss -- the beatitude of
"freedom," which she is about to attain. She generally dies with the
smile of heavenly rapture on her countenance; and if some one is to suffer at
the hour of retribution, it is not the earnest devotee of her faith, but the
crafty Brahmans who know well enough that no such ferocious rite was ever
prescribed.** As to the victim, after having been consumed, she becomes a sati
-- transcendent purity -- and is canonized after death.
Egypt is the
birthplace and the cradle of chemistry. Kenrick shows the root of the word to
be chemi or chem, which was the name of the country (Psalms cv. 27). The
chemistry of colors seems to have been thoroughly well known in that country.
Facts are facts. Where among our painters are we to search for the artist who can
decorate our walls with imperishable colors? Ages after our pigmy buildings
will have crumbled into dust, and the cities enclosing them will themselves
have become shapeless heaps of brick and mortar, with forgotten names -- long
after that will the halls of Karnak and Luxor (El-Uxor) be still standing; and
the gorgeous mural paintings of the latter will doubtless be as bright and
vivid 4,000 years hence, as they were 4,000 years ago, and are to-day.
"Embalming and fresco-painting," says our author, "was not a
chance discovery with the Egyptians, but brought out from definitions and
maxims like any induction of Faraday."
Our modern Italians
boast of their Etruscan vases and paintings; the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Le P. Paulin de
St. Barthelemi: "Voyage aux Indes Orientales," vol. i., p. 358.
** Max Muller,
Professor Wilson, and H. J. Bushby, with several other Sanscrit students, prove
that "Oriental scholars, both native and European, have shown that the
rite of widow-burning was not only unsanctionable but imperatively forbidden by
the earliest and most authoritative Hindu Scriptures"
("Widow-burning," p. 21). See Max Muller's "Comparative
Mythology." "Professor Wilson," says Max Muller, "was the
first to point out the falsification of the text and the change of 'yonim agre'
into 'yonim agne' (womb of fire). . . . According to the hymns of the
'Rig-Veda,' and the Vaidic ceremonial contained in the 'Grihya-Sutras,' the
wife accompanies the corpse of the husband to the funeral pile, but she is
there addressed with a verse taken from the 'Rig-Veda,' and ordered to leave
her husband, and to return to the world of the living" ("Comparative
Mythology," p. 35).
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decorative borders
found on Greek vases provoke the admiration of the lovers of antiquity, and are
ascribed to the Greeks, while in fact "they were but copies from the
Egyptian vases." Their figures can be found any day on the walls of a tomb
of the age of Amunoph I., a period at which Greece was not even in existence.
Where, in our age,
can we point to anything comparable to the rock-temples of Ipsambul in Lower
Nubia? There may be seen sitting figures seventy feet high, carved out of the
living rock. The torso of the statue of Rameses II., at Thebes, measures sixty
feet around the shoulders, and elsewhere in proportion. Beside such titanic sculpture
our own seems that of pigmies. Iron was known to the Egyptians at least long
before the construction of the first pyramid, which is over 20,000 years ago,
according to Bunsen. The proof of this had remained hidden for many thousands
of years in the pyramid of Cheops, until Colonel Howard Vyse found it in the
shape of a piece of iron, in one of the joints, where it had evidently been
placed at the time this pyramid was first built. Egyptologists adduce many
indications that the ancients were perfectly well acquainted with metallurgy in
prehistoric times. "To this day we can find at Sinai large heaps of
scoriae, produced by smelting."* Metallurgy and chemistry, as practiced in
those days, were known as alchemy, and were at the bottom of prehistoric magic.
Moreover, Moses proved his knowledge of alchemical chemistry by pulverizing the
golden calf, and strewing the powder upon the water.
If now we turn to
navigation, we will find ourselves able to prove, on good authorities, that
Necho II. fitted out a fleet on the Red Sea and despatched it for exploration.
The fleet was absent above two years and instead of returning through the
Straits of Babelmandeb, as was wont, sailed back through the Straits of
Gibraltar. Herodotus was not at all swift to concede to the Egyptians a
maritime achievement so vast as this. They had, he says, been spreading the
report that "returning homewards, they had the sunrise on their right
hands; a thing which to me is incredible." "And yet," remarks
the author of the heretofore-mentioned article, "this incredible assertion
is now proved incontestable, as may well be understood by any one who has
doubled the Cape of Good Hope." Thus it is proved that the most ancient of
these people performed a feat which was attributed to Columbus many ages later.
They say they anchored twice on their way; sowed corn, reaped it and, sailing
away, steered in triumph through the Pillars of Hercules and eastward along the
Mediterranean. "There was a people," he adds,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Hence the story
that Moses fabricated there the serpent or seraph of brass which the Israelites
worshipped till the reign of Hezekiah.
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ARTIFICIAL GEMS.
"much more
deserving of the term 'veteres' than the Romans and Greeks. The Greeks, young
in their knowledge, sounded a trumpet before these and called upon all the
world to admire their ability. Old Egypt, grown gray in her wisdom, was so
secure of her acquirements that she did not invite admiration and cared no more
for the opinion of the flippant Greek than we do to-day for that of a Feejee
islander."
"O Solon,
Solon," said the oldest Egyptian priest to that sage. "You Greeks are
ever childish, having no ancient opinion, no discipline of any long
standing!" And very much surprised, indeed, was the great Solon, when he
was told by the priests of Egypt that so many gods and goddesses of the Grecian
Pantheon were but the disguised gods of Egypt. Truly spoke Zonaras: "All
these things came to us from Chaldea to Egypt; and from thence were derived to
the Greeks."
Sir David Brewster
gives a glowing description of several automata; and the eighteenth century
takes pride in that masterpiece of mechanical art, the "flute-player of
Vaucanson." The little we can glean of positive information on that
subject, from ancient writers, warrants the belief that the learned
mechanicians in the days of Archimedes, and some of them much anterior to the
great Syracusan, were in no wise more ignorant or less ingenious than our
modern inventors. Archytas, a native of Tarentum, in Italy, the instructor of
Plato, a philosopher distinguished for his mathematical achievements and
wonderful discoveries in practical mechanics, constructed a wooden dove. It
must have been an extraordinarily ingenious mechanism, as it flew, fluttered its
wings, and sustained itself for a considerable time in the air. This skilful
man, who lived 400 years B.C., invented besides the wooden dove, the screw, the
crane, and various hydraulic machines.*
Egypt pressed her
own grapes and made wine. Nothing remarkable in that, so far, but she brewed
her own beer, and in great quantity -- our Egyptologist goes on to say. The
Ebers manuscript proves now, beyond doubt, that the Egyptians used beer 2,000
years B.C. Their beer must have been strong and excellent -- like everything
they did. Glass was manufactured in all its varieties. In many of the Egyptian
sculptures we find scenes of glass-blowing and bottles; occasionally, during
archaeological researches, glasses and glassware are found, and very beautiful
they seem to have been. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says that the Egyptians cut,
ground, and engraved glass, and possessed the art of introducing gold between
the two surfaces of the substance. They imitated with glass, pearls, emeralds,
and all the precious stones to a great perfection.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. Gell:
"Noet. Attic.," lib. x., cap. xiii.
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Likewise, the most
ancient Egyptians cultivated the musical arts, and understood well the effect
of musical harmony and its influence on the human spirit. We can find on the
oldest sculptures and carvings scenes in which musicians play on various
instruments. Music was used in the Healing Department of the temples for the
cure of nervous disorders. We discover on many monuments men playing in bands
in concert; the leader beating time by clapping his hands. Thus far we can
prove that they understood the laws of harmony. They had their sacred music,
domestic and military. The lyre, harp, and flute were used for the sacred
concerts; for festive occasions they had the guitar, the single and double
pipes, and castanets; for troops, and during military service, they had
trumpets, tambourines, drums, and cymbals. Various kinds of harps were invented
by them, such as the lyre, sambuc, ashur; some of these had upward of twenty
strings. The superiority of the Egyptian lyre over the Grecian is an admitted
fact. The material out of which were made such instruments was often of very
costly and rare wood, and they were beautifully carved; they imported it
sometimes from very distant countries; some were painted, inlaid with
mother-of-pearl, and ornamented with colored leather. They used catgut for
strings as we do. Pythagoras learned music in Egypt and made a regular science
of it in Italy. But the Egyptians were generally considered in antiquity as the
best music-teachers in Greece. They understood thoroughly well how to extract
harmonious sounds out of an instrument by adding strings to it, as well as the
multiplication of notes by shortening the strings upon its neck; which
knowledge shows a great progress in the musical art. Speaking of harps, in a
tomb at Thebes, Bruce remarks that, "they overturn all the accounts
hitherto given of the earliest state of music and musical instruments in the
East, and are altogether, in their form, ornaments and compass, an incontestable
proof, stronger than a thousand Greek quotations, that geometry, drawing,
mechanics, and music were at the greatest perfection when these instruments
were made; and that the period from which we date the invention of these arts
was only the beginning of the era of their restoration."
On the walls of the
palace of Amenoph II. at Thebes, the king is represented as playing chess with
the queen. This monarch reigned long before the Trojan war. In India the game
is known to have been played at least 5,000 years ago.
As to their
knowledge in medicine, now that one of the lost Books of Hermes has been found
and translated by Ebers, the Egyptians can speak for themselves. That they
understood about the circulation of the blood, appears certain from the healing
manipulations of the priests, who knew how to draw blood downward, stop its
circulation for awhile, etc. A
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OF THE GLOBE.
more careful study
of their bas-reliefs representing scenes taking place in the healing hall of
various temples will easily demonstrate it. They had their dentists and
oculists, and no doctor was allowed to practice more than one specialty; which
certainly warrants the belief that they lost fewer patients in those days than
our physicians do now. It is also asserted by some authorities that the
Egyptians were the first people in the world who introduced trial by jury;
although we doubt this ourselves.
But the Egyptians
were not the only people of remote epochs whose achievements place them in so
commanding a position before the view of posterity. Besides others whose
history is at present shut in behind the mists of antiquity -- such as the
prehistoric races of the two Americas, of Crete, of the Troad, of the
Lacustrians, of the submerged continent of the fabled Atlantis, now classed
with myths -- the deeds of the Phoenicians stamp them with almost the character
of demi-gods.
The writer in the
National Quarterly Review, previously quoted, says that the Phoenicians were
the earliest navigators of the world, founded most of the colonies of the
Mediterranean, and voyaged to whatever other regions were inhabited. They visited
the Arctic regions, whence they brought accounts of eternal days without a
night, which Homer has preserved for us in the Odyssey. From the British Isles
they imported tin into Africa, and Spain was a favorite site for their
colonies. The description of Charybdis so completely answers to the maelstrom
that, as this writer says: "It is difficult to imagine it to have had any
other prototype." Their explorations, it seems, extended in every
direction, their sails whitening the Indian Ocean, as well as the Norwegian
fiords. Different writers have accorded to them the settlement of remote
localities; while the entire southern coast of the Mediterranean was occupied
by their cities. A large portion of the African territory is asserted to have
been peopled by the races expelled by Joshua and the children of Israel. At the
time when Procopius wrote, columns stood in Mauritania Tingitana, which bore
the inscription, in Phoenician characters, "We are those who fled before
the brigand Joshua, the son of Nun or Nave."
Some suppose these
hardy navigators of Arctic and Antarctic waters have been the progenitors of
the races which built the temples and palaces of Palenque and Uxmal, of Copan
and Arica.* Brasseur de Bourbourg gives us much information about the manners
and customs, architecture and arts, and especially of the magic and magicians
of the ancient Mexicans. He tells us that Votan, their fabulous hero and the
greatest
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Such is not our
opinion. They were probably built by the Atlanteans.
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of their magicians,
returning from a long voyage, visited King Solomon at the time of the building
of the temple. This Votan appears to be identical with the dreaded
Quetzo-Cohuatl who appears in all the Mexican legends; and curiously enough
these legends bear a striking resemblance, insomuch as they relate to the
voyages and exploits of the Hittim, with the Hebrew Bible accounts of the
Hivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Chanaan. The record tells us that
Votan "furnished to Solomon the most valuable particulars as to the men,
animals, and plants, the gold and precious woods of the Occident," but
refused point-blank to afford any clew to the route he sailed, or the manner of
reaching the mysterious continent. Solomon himself gives an account of this
interview in his History of the Wonders of the Universe, the chief Votan
figuring under the allegory of the Navigating Serpent. Stephens, indulging in
the anticipation "that a key surer than that of the Rosetta-stone will be
discovered," by which the American hieroglyphs may be read,* says that the
descendants of the Caciques and the Aztec subjects are believed to survive
still in the inaccessible fastnesses of the Cordilleras "wildernesses,
which have never yet been penetrated by a white man, . . . living as their
fathers did, erecting the same buildings . . . with ornaments of sculpture and
plastered; large courts, and lofty towers with high ranges of steps, and still
carving on tablets of stone the same mysterious hieroglyphics." He adds,
"I turn to that vast and unknown region, untraversed by a single road,
wherein fancy pictures that mysterious city seen from the topmost range of the
Cordilleras of unconquered, unvisited, and unsought aboriginal
inhabitants."
Apart from the fact
that this mysterious city has been seen from a great distance by daring
travellers, there is no intrinsic improbability of its existence, for who can
tell what became of the primitive people who fled before the rapacious brigands
of Cortez and Pizarro? Dr. Tschuddi, in his work on Peru, tells us of an Indian
legend that a train of 10,000 llamas, laden with gold to complete the
unfortunate Inca's ransom, was arrested in the Andes by the tidings of his
death, and the enormous treasure was so effectually concealed that not a trace
of it has ever been found. He, as well as Prescott and other writers, informs
us that the Indians to this day preserve their ancient traditions and
sacerdotal caste, and obey implicitly the orders of rulers chosen among
themselves, while at the same time nominally Catholics and actually subject to
the Peruvian authorities. Magical ceremonies practiced by their forefathers
still prevail among them, and magical phenomena occur. So persistent are they
in their loyalty to the past, that it seems impossible
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Incidents
of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," vol. ii., p. 457.
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CORDILLERAS.
but that they
should be in relations with some central source of authority which constantly
supports and strengthens their faith, keeping it alive. May it not be that the
sources of this undying faith lie in this mysterious city, with which they are
in secret communication? Or must we think that all of the above is again but a
"curious coincidence"?
The story of this
mysterious city was told to Stephens by a Spanish Padre, in 1838-9. The priest
swore to him that he had seen it with his own eyes, and gave Stephens the
following details, which the traveller firmly believed to be true. "The
Padre of the little village near the ruins of Santa Cruz del Quiche, had heard
of the unknown city at the village of Chajul. . . . He was then young, and
climbed with much labor to the naked summit of the topmost ridge of the sierra
of the Cordillera. When arrived at a height of ten or twelve thousand feet, he
looked over an immense plain extending to Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and
saw, at a great distance, a large city spread over a great space, and with
turrets white and glittering in the sun. Tradition says that no white man has
ever reached this city; that the inhabitants speak the Maya language, know that
strangers have conquered their whole land, and murder any white man who
attempts to enter their territory. . . . They have no coin; no horses, cattle,
mules, or other domestic animals except fowls, and the cocks they keep
underground to prevent their crowing being heard."
Nearly the same was
given us personally about twenty years ago, by an old native priest, whom we
met in Peru, and with whom we happened to have business relations. He had
passed all his life vainly trying to conceal his hatred toward the conquerors --
"brigands," he termed them; and, as he confessed, kept friends with
them and the Catholic religion for the sake of his people, but he was as truly
a sun-worshipper in his heart as ever he was. He had travelled in his capacity
of a converted native missionary, and had been at Santa Cruz, and, as he
solemnly affirmed, had been also to see some of his people by a
"subterranean passage" leading into the mysterious city. We believe
his account; for a man who is about to die, will rarely stop to invent idle stories;
and this one we have found corroborated in Stephen's Travels. Besides, we know
of two other cities utterly unknown to European travellers; not that the
inhabitants particularly desire to hide themselves; for people from Buddhistic
countries come occasionally to visit them. But their towns are not set down on
the European or Asiatic maps; and, on account of the too zealous and
enterprising Christian missionaries, and perhaps for more mysterious reasons of
their own, the few natives of other countries who are aware of the existence of
these two cities never mention them. Nature has provided strange nooks and
hiding-places for her favorites; and
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unfortunately it is
but far away from so-called civilized countries that man is free to worship the
Deity in the way that his fathers did.
Even the erudite
and sober Max Muller is somehow unable to get rid of coincidences. To him they
come in the shape of the most unexpected discoveries. These Mexicans, for
instance, whose obscure origin, according to the laws of probability, has no
connection with the Aryans of India, nevertheless, like the Hindus, represent
an eclipse of the moon as "the moon being devoured by a dragon."* And
though Professor Muller admits that an historical intercourse between the two
people was suspected by Alexander von Humboldt, and he himself considers it possible,
still the occurrence of such a fact he adds, "need not be the result of
any historical intercourse. As we have stated above, the origin of the
aborigines of America is a very vexed question for those interested in tracing
out the affiliation and migrations of peoples." Notwithstanding the labor
of Brasseur de Bourbourg, and his elaborate translation of the famous
Popol-Vuh, alleged to be written by Ixtlilxochitl, after weighing its contents,
the antiquarian remains as much in the dark as ever. We have read the Popol-Vuh
in its original translation, and the review of the same by Max Muller, and out
of the former find shining a light of such brightness, that it is no wonder
that the matter-of-fact, skeptical scientists should be blinded by it. But so
far as an author can be judged by his writings, Professor Max Muller is no
unfair skeptic; and, moreover, very little of importance escapes his attention.
How is it then that a man of such immense and rare erudition, accustomed as he
is to embrace at one eagle glance the traditions, religious customs, and
superstitions of a people, detecting the slightest similarity, and taking in
the smallest details, failed to give any importance or perhaps even suspect
what the humble author of the present volume, who has neither scientific
training nor erudition, to any extent, apprehended at first view? Fallacious
and unwarranted as to many may seem this remark, it appears to us that science
loses more than she gains by neglecting the ancient and even mediaeval esoteric
literature, or rather what remains of it. To one who devotes himself to such
study many a coincidence is transformed into a natural result of demonstrable
antecedent causes. We think we can see how it is that Professor Muller
confesses that "now and then . . . one imagines one sees certain periods
and landmarks, but in the next page all is chaos again."** May it not be
barely possible that this chaos is intensified by the fact that most of the
scientists, directing the whole of their attention to history, skip that which
they treat as "vague, contradictory,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Max Muller:
"Chips from a German Workshop," vol. ii., p. 269.
** Max Muller:
"Popol-Vuh," p. 327.
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COSMOGONIES.
miraculous,
absurd." Notwithstanding the feeling that there was "a groundwork of
noble conceptions which has been covered and distorted by an aftergrowth of
fantastic nonsense," Professor Muller cannot help comparing this nonsense
to the tales of the Arabian Nights.
Far be from us the
ridiculous pretension of criticising a scientist so worthy of admiration for his
learning as Max Muller. But we cannot help saying that even among the fantastic
nonsense of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments anything would be worthy of
attention, if it should help toward the evolving of some historical truth.
Homer's Odyssey surpasses in fantastic nonsense all the tales of the Arabian
Nights combined; and notwithstanding that, many of his myths are now proved to
be something else besides the creation of the old poet's fancy. The
Laestrygonians, who devoured the companions of Ulysses, are traced to the huge
cannibal* race, said in primitive days to inhabit the caves of Norway. Geology
verified through her discoveries some of the assertions of Homer, supposed for
so many ages to have been but poetical hallucinations. The perpetual daylight
enjoyed by this race of Laestrygonians indicates that they were inhabitants of
the North Cape, where, during the whole summer, there is perpetual daylight.
The Norwegian fiords are perfectly described by Homer in his Odyssey, x. 110;
and the gigantic stature of the Laestrygonians is demonstrated by human bones
of unusual size found in caves situated near this region, and which the
geologists suppose to have belonged to a race extinct long before the Aryan
immigration. Charybdis, as we have seen, has been recognized in the maelstrom;
and the Wandering Rocks** in the enormous icebergs of the Arctic seas.
If the consecutive
attempts at the creation of man described in the Quiche Cosmogony suggests no
comparison with some Apocrypha, with the Jewish sacred books, and the
kabalistic theories of creation, it is indeed strange. Even the Book of Jasher,
condemned as a gross forgery of the twelfth century, may furnish more than one
clew to trace a relation between the population of Ur of the Kasdeans, where
Magism flourished before the days of Abraham, and those of Central and North
America. The divine beings, "brought down to the level of human
nature," performed no feats or tricks more strange or incredible than the
miraculous performances of Moses and of Pharaoh's magicians, while many of
these are exactly similar in their nature. And when, moreover, in addition to
this latter fact, we find so great a resemblance between certain kabalistic
terms common to both hemispheres, there must be something else than mere accident
to account for the circumstance. Many
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Why not to the
sacrifices of men in ancient worship?
**
"Odyssey," xii. 71.
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of such feats have
clearly a common parentage. The story of the two brothers of Central America,
who, before starting on their journey to Xibalba, "plant each a cane in
the middle of their grandmother's house, that she may know by its flourishing
or withering whether they are alive or dead,"* finds its analogy in the
beliefs of many other countries. In the Popular Tales and Traditions, by
Sacharoff (Russia), one can find a similar narrative, and trace this belief in
various other legends. And yet these fairy tales were current in Russia many
centuries before America was discovered.
In recognizing in
the gods of Stonehenge the divinities of Delphos and Babylon, one need feel
little surprised. Bel and the Dragon, Apollo and Python, Osiris and Typhon, are
all one under many names, and have travelled far and wide. The Both-al of
Ireland points directly to its first parent, the Batylos of the Greeks and the
Beth-el of Chanaan. "History," says H. de la Villemarque, "which
took no notes at those distant ages, can plead ignorance, but the science of
languages affirms. Philology, with a daily-increasing probability, has again
linked together the chain hardly broken between the Orient and the
Occident."**
No more remarkable
is the discovery of a like resemblance between the Oriental myths and ancient
Russian tales and traditions, for it is entirely natural to look for a
similarity between the beliefs of the Semitic and Aryan families. But when we
discover an almost perfect identity between the character of Zarevna
Militrissa, with a moon in her forehead, who is in constant danger of being
devoured by Zmey Gorenetch (the Serpent or Dragon), who plays such a prominent
part in all popular Russian tales, and similar characters in the Mexican
legends -- extending to the minutest details -- we may well pause and ask
ourselves whether there be not here more than a simple coincidence.
This tradition of
the Dragon and the Sun -- occasionally replaced by the Moon -- has awakened
echoes in the remotest parts of the world. It may be accounted for with perfect
readiness by the once universal heliolatrous religion. There was a time when
Asia, Europe, Africa, and America were covered with the temples sacred to the
sun and the dragons. The priests assumed the names of their deities, and thus
the tradition of these spread like a net-work all over the globe: "Bel and
the Dragon being uniformly coupled together, and the priest of the Ophite
religion as uniformly assuming the name of his god."*** But still,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Chips from
a German Workshop," p. 268.
** Villemarque,
Member of the Institute. Vol. lx.; "Collect et Nouvelle Serie," 24,
p. 570, 1863; "Poesie des Cloitres Celtiques."
***
"Archaeol.," vol. xxv., p. 220. London.
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ABORIGINES?
"if the
original conception is natural and intelligible . . . and its occurrence need
not be the result of any historical intercourse," as Professor Muller
tells us, the details are so strikingly similar that we cannot feel satisfied
that the riddle is entirely solved. The origin of this universal symbolical
worship being concealed in the night of time, we would have far more chance to
arrive at the truth by tracing these traditions to their very source. And where
is this source? Kircher places the origin of the Ophite and heliolatrous
worship, the shape of conical monuments and the obelisks, with the Egyptian
Hermes Trismegistus.* Where, then, except in Hermetic books, are we to seek for
the desired information? Is it likely that modern authors can know more, or as
much, of ancient myths and cults as the men who taught them to their
contemporaries? Clearly two things are necessary: first, to find the missing
books of Hermes; and second, the key by which to understand them, for reading
is not sufficient. Failing in this, our savants are abandoned to unfruitful
speculations, as for a like reason geographers waste their energies in a vain
quest of the sources of the Nile. Truly the land of Egypt is another abode of
mystery!
Without stopping to
discuss whether Hermes was the "Prince of post-diluvian magic," as
des Mousseaux calls him, or the antediluvian, which is much more likely, one
thing is certain: The authenticity, reliability, and usefulness of the Books of
Hermes -- or rather of what remains of the thirty-six works attributed to the
Egyptian magician -- are fully recognized by Champollion, junior, and
corroborated by Champollion-Figeac, who mentions it. Now, if by carefully
looking over the kabalistical works, which are all derived from that universal
storehouse of esoteric knowledge, we find the fac-similes of many so-called
miracles wrought by magical art, equally reproduced by the Quiches; and if even
in the fragments left of the original Popol-Vuh, there is sufficient evidence
that the religious customs of the Mexicans, Peruvians, and other American races
are nearly identical with those of the ancient Phoenicians, Babylonians, and
Egyptians; and if, moreover, we discover that many of their religious terms
have etymologically the same origin; how are we to avoid believing that they
are the descendants of those whose forefathers "fled before the brigand,
Joshua, the son of Nun?" "Nunez de la Vega says that Nin, or Imos, of
the Tzendales, was the Ninus of the Babylonians."*
It is possible
that, so far, it may be a coincidence; as the identification of one with the
other rests but upon a poor argument. "But it is known," adds de
Bourbourg, "that this prince, and according to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Archaeol.," vol. xxv., p. 292. London.
** Brasseur de
Bourbourg: "Cartas," p. 52.
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others, his father,
Bel, or Baal, received, like the Nin of the Tzendales the homages of his
subjects under the shape of a serpent." The latter assertion, besides
being fantastic, is nowhere corroborated in the Babylonian records. It is very
true that the Phoenicians represented the sun under the image of a dragon; but
so did all the other people who symbolized their sun-gods. Belus, the first
king of the Assyrian dynasty was, according to Castor, and Eusebius who quotes
him, deified, i.e., he was ranked among the gods "after his death"
only. Thus, neither himself nor his son, Ninus, or Nin, could have received
their subjects under the shape of a serpent, whatever the Tzendales did. Bel,
according to Christians, is Baal; and Baal is the Devil, since the Bible
prophets began so designating every deity of their neighbors; therefore Belus,
Ninus, and the Mexican Nin are serpents and devils; and, as the Devil, or
father of evil, is one under many forms, therefore, under whatever name the
serpent appears, it is the Devil. Strange logic! Why not say that Ninus the
Assyrian, represented as husband and victim of the ambitious Semiramis, was
high priest as well as king of his country? That as such he wore on his tiara
the sacred emblems of the dragon and the sun? Moreover, as the priest generally
assumed the name of his god, Ninus was said to receive his subject as the
representative of this serpent-god. The idea is preeminently Roman Catholic and
amounts to very little, as all their inventions do. If Nunez de la Vega was so
anxious to establish an affiliation between the Mexicans and the biblical sun-
and serpent-worshippers, why did he not show another and a better similarity
between them without tracing in the Ninevites and the Tzendales the hoof and
horn of the Christian Devil?
And to begin with,
he might have pointed to the Chronicles of Fuentes, of the kingdom of
Guatemala, and to the Manuscript of Don Juan Torres, the grandson of the last
king of the Quiches. This document, which is said to have been in the
possession of the lieutenant-general appointed by Pedro de Alvarado, states
that the Toltecas themselves descended from the house of Israel, who were
released by Moses, and who, after crossing the Red Sea, fell into idolatry.
After that, having separated themselves from their companions, and under the
guidance of a chief named Tanub, they set out wandering, and from one continent
to another they came to a place named the Seven Caverns, in the Kingdom of
Mexico, where they founded the famous town of Tula, etc.*
If this statement
has never obtained more credit than it has, it is simply due to the fact that
it passed through the hands of Father Francis Vasques, historian of the Order
of San Francis, and this circumstance,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Stephens:
"Travels in Central America," etc.
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DEMI-GOD.
to use the
expression employed by des Mousseaux in connection with the work of the poor,
unfrocked Abbe Huc, "is not calculated to strengthen our confidence."
But there is another point as important, if not more so, as it seems to have
escaped falsification by the zealous Catholic padres, and rests chiefly on
Indian tradition. A famous Toltecan king, whose name is mixed up in the weird
legends of Utatlan, the ruined capital of the great Indian kingdom, bore the
biblical appellation of Balam Acan; the first name being preeminently Chaldean,
and reminding one immediately of Balaam and his human-voiced ass. Besides the
statement of Lord Kingsborough, who found such a striking similarity between
the language of the Aztecs (the mother tongue) and the Hebrew, many of the
figures on the bas-reliefs of Palenque and idols in terra cotta, exhumed in
Santa Cruz del Quiche, have on their heads bandelets with a square protuberance
on them, in front of the forehead, very similar to the phylacteries worn by the
Hebrew Pharisees of old, while at prayers, and even by devotees of the present
day, particularly the Jews of Poland and Russia. But as this may be but a fancy
of ours, after all, we will not insist on the details.
Upon the testimony
of the ancients, corroborated by modern discoveries, we know that there were
numerous catacombs in Egypt and Chaldea, some of them of a very vast extent.
The most renowned of them were the subterranean crypts of Thebes and Memphis.
The former, beginning on the western side of the Nile, extended toward the
Libyan desert, and were known as the Serpent's catacombs, or passages. It was
there that were performed the sacred mysteries of the kuklos anagkes, the
"Unavoidable Cycle," more generally known as the "circle of
necessity"; the inexorable doom imposed upon every soul after the bodily
death, and when it had been judged in the Amenthian region.
In de Bourbourg's
book, Votan, the Mexican demi-god, in narrating his expedition, describes a
subterranean passage, which ran underground, and terminated at the root of the
heavens, adding that this passage was a snake's hole, "un agujero de
culebra"; and that he was admitted to it because he was himself "a
son of the snakes," or a serpent.*
This is, indeed,
very suggestive; for his description of the snake's hole is that of the ancient
Egyptian crypt, as above mentioned. The hierophants, moreover, of Egypt, as of
Babylon, generally styled themselves the "Sons of the Serpent-god," or
"Sons of the Dragon"; not because -- as des Mousseaux would have his
readers believe -- they were the progeny of Satan-incubus, the old serpent of
Eden, but because, in the Mysteries, the serpent was the symbol of WISDOM and
immortality.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Cartas," 53, 7-62.
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"The Assyrian
priest bore always the name of his god," says Movers.* The Druids of the
Celto-Britannic regions also called themselves snakes. "I am a Serpent, I
am a Druid!" they exclaimed. The Egyptian Karnak is twin-brother to the
Carnac of Bretagne, the latter Carnac meaning the serpent's mount. The
Dracontia once covered the surface of the globe, and these temples were sacred
to the dragon, only because it was the symbol of the sun, which, in its turn,
was the symbol of the highest god -- the Phoenician Elon or Elion, whom Abraham
recognized as El Elion.** Besides the surname of serpents, they were called the
"builders," the "architects"; for the immense grandeur of
their temples and monuments was such, that even now the pulverized remains of
them "frighten the mathematical calculations of our modern
engineers," says Taliesin.***
De Bourbourg hints
that the chiefs of the name of Votan, the Quetzo-Cohuatl, or serpent deity of
the Mexicans, are the descendants of Ham and Canaan. "I am Hivim,"
they say. "Being a Hivim, I am of the great race of the Dragon (snake). I
am a snake myself, for I am a Hivim."**** And des Mousseaux, rejoicing
because he believes himself fairly on the serpent's, or rather, devil's trail,
hurries to explain: "According to the most learned commentators of our
sacred books, the Chivim or Hivim, or Hevites, descend from Heth, son of
Canaan, son of Ham . . . the accursed!"*****
But modern research
has demonstrated, on unimpeachable evidence, that the whole genealogical table
of the tenth chapter of Genesis refers to imaginary heroes, and that the
closing verses of the ninth are little better than a bit of Chaldean allegory
of Sisuthrus and the mythical flood, compiled and arranged to fit the Noachian
frame. But, suppose the descendants of these Canaanites, "the
accursed," were to resent for once the unmerited outrage? It would be an
easy matter for them to reverse the tables, and answer to this fling, based on
a fable, by a fact proved by archaeologists and symbologists -- namely, that
Seth, Adam's third son, and the forefather of all Israel, the ancestor of Noah,
and the progenitor of the "chosen people," is but Hermes, the god of
wisdom, called also Thoth, Tat, Seth, Set, and Sat-an; and that he was,
furthermore, when viewed under his bad aspect, Typhon, the Egyptian Satan, who
was also Set. For the Jewish people, whose well-educated men, no more than
Philo, or Josephus, the historian, regard their Mosaic books
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Die
Phonizier," 70.
** See Sanchoniaton
in "Eusebius," Pr. Ev. 36; Genesis xiv.
***
"Archaeological Society of the Antiquaries of London," vol. xxv., p.
220.
****
"Cartas," 51.
***** "Hauts
Phenomenes de la Magie," 50.
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ISRAEL.
as otherwise than
an allegory, such a discovery amounts to but little. But for Christians, who,
like des Mousseaux, very unwisely accept the Bible narratives as literal
history, the case stands very different.
As far as
affiliation goes, we agree with this pious writer; and we feel every day as
certain that some of the peoples of Central America will be traced back to the
Phoenicians and the Mosaic Israelites, as we do that the latter will be proved
to have as persistently stuck to the same idolatry -- if idolatry there is --
of the sun and serpent-worship, as the Mexicans. There is evidence -- biblical
evidence -- that two of Jacob's sons, Levi and Dan, as well as Judah, married
Canaanite women, and followed the worship of their wives. Of course, every
Christian will protest, but the proof may be found even in the translated
Bible, pruned as it now stands. The dying Jacob thus describes his sons:
"Dan," says he, "shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the
path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. . . .
I have waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord!" Of Simeon and Levi, the
patriarch (or Israel) remarks that they ". . . are brethren; instruments
of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their
secret; unto their assembly."* Now, in the original, the words "their
secret," read -- their SOD.** And Sod was the name for the great Mysteries
of Baal, Adonis, and Bacchus who were all sun-gods and had serpents for
symbols. The kabalists explain the allegory of the fiery serpents by saying,
that this was the name given to the tribe of Levi, to all the Levites in short,
and that Moses was the chief of the Sodales.*** And here is the moment to prove
our statements.
Moses is mentioned
by several old historians as an Egyptian priest; Manetho says he was a
hierophant of Hieropolis, and a priest of the sun-god Osiris, and that his name
was Osarsiph. Those moderns, who accept it as a fact that he "was learned
in all the wisdom" of the Egyptians, must also submit to the right
interpretation of the word wisdom, which was throughout the world known as a
synonym of initiation
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Genesis xlix.
** Dunlap, in his
introduction to "SOD, the Mysteries of Adonis," explains the word
"Sod," as Arcanum; religious mystery on the authority of Shindler's
"Penteglott" (1201). "The SECRET of the Lord is with them that
fear Him," says Psalm xxv, 14. This is a mistranslation of the Christians,
for it ought to read "Sod Ihoh (the mysteries of Iohoh) are for those who
fear Him" (Dunlap: "Mysteries of Adonis," xi.). "Al (El) is
terrible in the great Sod of the Kedeshim (the priests, the holy, the
Initiated), Psalm lxxxix. 7" (Ibid.).
**** "The
members of the priest-colleges were called Sodales," says Freund's
"Latin Lexicon" (iv. 448). "SODALITIES were constituted in the
Idaean Mysteries of the MIGHTY MOTHER," writes Cicero ("De
Senectute," 13); Dunlap: "Mysteries of Adonis."
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into the secret
mysteries of the Magi. Did the idea never strike the reader of the Bible, that
an alien born and brought up in a foreign country could not and would not
possibly have been admitted -- we will not say to the final initiation, the
grandest mystery of all, but even to share the knowledge of the minor
priesthood, those who belonged to the lesser mysteries? In Genesis xliii. 32,
we read, that no Egyptian could seat himself to eat bread with the brothers of
Joseph, "for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians." But that the
Egyptians ate "with him (Joseph) by themselves." The above proves two
things: 1, that Joseph, whatever he was in his heart, had, in appearance at
least, changed his religion, married the daughter of a priest of the
"idolatrous" nation, and become himself an Egyptian; otherwise, the
natives would not have eaten bread with him. And 2, that subsequently Moses, if
not an Egyptian by birth, became one through being admitted into the
priesthood, and thus was a SODALE. As an induction, the narrative of the
"brazen serpent" (the Caduceus of Mercury or Asclepios, the son of
the sun-god Apollo-Python) becomes logical and natural. We must bear in mind
that Pharaoh's daughter, who saved Moses and adopted him, is called by Josephus
Thermuthis; and the latter, according to Wilkinson, is the name of the asp
sacred to Isis;* moreover, Moses is said to descend from the tribe of Levi. We
will explain the kabalistic ideas as to the books of Moses and the great
prophet himself more fully in Volume II.
If Brasseur de
Bourbourg and the Chevalier des Mousseaux, had so much at heart to trace the
identity of the Mexicans with the Canaanites, they might have found far better
and weightier proofs than by showing both the "accursed" descendants
of Ham. For instance, they might have pointed to the Nargal, the Chaldean and
Assyrian chief of the Magi (Rab-Mag) and the Nagal, the chief sorcerer of the
Mexican Indians. Both derive their names from Nergal-Sarezer, the Assyrian god,
and both have the same faculties, or powers to have an attendant daemon with
whom they identify themselves completely. The Chaldean and Assyrian Nargal kept
his daemon, in the shape of some animal considered sacred, inside the temple; the
Indian Nagal keeps his wherever he can -- in the neighboring lake, or wood, or
in the house, under the shape of a house-hold animal.**
We find the
Catholic World, newspaper, in a recent number, bitterly complaining that the
old Pagan element of the aboriginal inhabitants of America does not seem to be
utterly dead in the United States. Even
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Wilkinson:
"Ancient Egyptians," vol. v., p. 65.
** Brasseur de
Bourbourg: "Mexique," pp. 135-574.
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WORSHIP.
where tribes have
been for long years under the care of Christian teachers, heathen rites are
practiced in secret, and crypto-paganism, or nagualism, flourishes now, as in
the days of Montezuma. It says: "Nagualism and voodoo-worship" -- as
it calls these two strange sects -- "are direct devil-worship. A report
addressed to the Cortes in 1812, by Don Pedro Baptista Pino, says: 'All the
pueblos have their artufas -- so the natives call subterranean rooms with only
a single door, where they assemble to perform their feasts, and hold meetings.
These are impenetrable temples . . . and the doors are always closed on the
Spaniards.
" 'All these
pueblos, in spite of the sway which religion has had over them, cannot forget a
part of the beliefs which have been transmitted to them, and which they are
careful to transmit to their descendants. Hence come the adoration they render
the sun and moon, and other heavenly bodies, the respect they entertain for
fire, etc.
" 'The pueblo
chiefs seem to be at the same time priests; they perform various simple rites,
by which the power of the sun and of Montezuma is recognized, as well as the
power (according to some accounts) of the Great Snake, to whom, by order of
Montezuma, they are to look for life. They also officiate in certain ceremonies
with which they pray for rain. There are painted representations of the Great
Snake, together with that of a misshapen, red-haired man, declared to stand for
Montezuma. Of this last there was also, in the year 1845, in the pueblo of
Laguna, a rude effigy or idol, intended, apparently, to represent only the head
of the deity.' "*
The perfect
identity of the rites, ceremonies, traditions, and even the names of the
deities, among the Mexicans and ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, are a
sufficient proof of South America being peopled by a colony which mysteriously
found its way across the Atlantic. When? at what period? History is silent on
that point; but those who consider that there is no tradition, sanctified by
ages, without a certain sediment of truth at the bottom of it, believe in the Atlantis-legend.
There are, scattered throughout the world, a handful of thoughtful and solitary
students, who pass their lives in obscurity, far from the rumors of the world,
studying the great problems of the physical and spiritual universes. They have
their secret records in which are preserved the fruits of the scholastic labors
of the long line of recluses whose successors they are. The knowledge of their
early ancestors, the sages of India, Babylonia, Nineveh, and the imperial
Thebes; the legends and traditions commented upon by the masters of Solon,
Pythagoras, and Plato, in the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Catholic
World," N. Y., January, 1877: Article Nagualism, Voodooism, etc.
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marble halls of
Heliopolis and Sais; traditions which, in their days, already seemed to hardly
glimmer from behind the foggy curtain of the past; -- all this, and much more,
is recorded on indestructible parchment, and passed with jealous care from one
adept to another. These men believe the story of the Atlantis to be no fable,
but maintain that at different epochs of the past huge islands, and even
continents, existed where now there is but a wild waste of waters. In those
submerged temples and libraries the archaeologist would find, could he but
explore them, the materials for filling all the gaps that now exist in what we
imagine is history. They say that at a remote epoch a traveller could traverse
what is now the Atlantic Ocean, almost the entire distance by land, crossing in
boats from one island to another, where narrow straits then existed.
Our suspicion as to
the relationship of the cis-Atlantic and trans-Atlantic races is strengthened
upon reading about the wonders wrought by Quetzo-Cohuatl, the Mexican magician.
His wand must be closely-related to the traditional sapphire-stick of Moses,
the stick which bloomed in the garden of Raguel-Jethro, his father-in-law, and
upon which was engraved the ineffable name. The "four men" described
as the real four ancestors of the human race, "who were neither begotten
by the gods, nor born of woman," but whose "creation was a wonder
wrought by the Creator," and who were made after three attempts at
manufacturing men had failed, equally present some striking points of
similarity with the esoteric explanations of the Hermetists;* they also
undeniably recall the four sons of God of the Egyptian theogony. Moreover, as
any one may infer, the resemblance of this myth to the narrative related in
Genesis, will be apparent to even a superficial observer. These four ancestors
"could reason and speak, their sight was unlimited, and they knew all
things at once."** When "they had rendered thanks to their Creator
for their existence, the gods were frightened, and they breathed a cloud over
the eyes of men that they might see a certain distance only, and not be like
the gods themselves." This bears directly upon the sentence in Genesis,
"Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now,
lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life," etc. Then,
again, "While they were asleep God gave them wives," etc.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In
"Hesiod," Zeus creates his third race of men out of ash-trees. In
"Popol-Vuh," we are told the third race of men is created out of the
tree "tzite," and women are made from the marrow of a reed which was
called "sibac." This also is a strange coincidence.
**
"Popol-Vuh," reviewed by Max Muller.
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MEXICANS.
We disclaim the
least intention to disrespectfully suggest ideas to those who are so wise as to
need no hint. But we must bear in mind that authentic treatises upon ancient
magic of the Chaldean and Egyptian lore are not scattered about in public
libraries, and at auction sales. That such exist is nevertheless a fact for
many students of the arcane philosophy. Is it not of the greatest importance
for every antiquarian to be acquainted at least superficially with their
contents? "The four ancestors of the race," adds Max Muller,
"seem to have had a long life, and when at last they came to die, they
disappeared in a mysterious manner, and left to their sons what is called the
hidden majesty, which was never to be opened by human hands. What it was we do
not know."
If there is no
relationship between this hidden majesty and the hidden glory of the Chaldean
Kabala, which we are told was left behind him by Enoch when he was translated
in such a mysterious way, then we must discredit all circumstantial evidence.
But is it not barely possible that these "four ancestors" of the
Quiche race typify in their esoteric sense the four successive progenitors of
men, mentioned in Genesis i., ii., and vi.? In the first chapter, the first man
is bi-sexual -- "male and female created he them" -- and answers to
the hermaphrodite deities of the subsequent mythologies; the second, Adam, made
out of "the dust of the ground" and uni-sexual and answering to the "sons
of God" of chapter vi.; the third, the giants, or nephilim, who are only
hinted at in the Bible, but fully explained elsewhere; the fourth, the parents
of men "whose daughters were fair."
Taking the admitted
facts that the Mexicans had their magicians from the remote periods; that the
same remark applies to all the ancient religions of the world; that a strong
resemblance prevails not only in the forms of their ceremonial worship, but
also in the very names used to designate certain magical implements; and
finally that all other clews, in accordance with scientific deductions, have
failed (some because swallowed up in the bottomless pit of coincidences), why
should we not turn to the great authorities upon magic, and see whether, under
this "aftergrowth of fantastic nonsense," there may not be a deep
substratum of truth? Here we are not willing to be misunderstood. We do not
send the scientists to the Kabala and the Hermetic books to study magic, but to
the authorities on magic to discover materials for history and science. We have
no idea of incurring the wrathful denunciations of the Academicians, by an
indiscretion like that of poor des Mousseaux, when he tried to force them to
read his demonological Memoire and investigate the Devil.
The History of
Bernal Diaz de Castilla, a follower of Cortez, gives us some idea of the
extraordinary refinement and intelligence of the
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people whom they
conquered; but the descriptions are too long to be inserted here. Suffice it to
say, that the Aztecs appeared in more than one way to have resembled the
ancient Egyptians in civilization and refinement. Among both peoples magic or
the arcane natural philosophy was cultivated to the highest degree. Add to this
that Greece, the "later cradle of the arts and sciences," and India,
cradle of religions, were and are still devoted to its study and practice --
and who shall venture to discredit its dignity as a study, and its profundity
as a science?
There never was,
nor can there be more than one universal religion; for there can be but one
truth concerning God. Like an immense chain whose upper end, the alpha, remains
invisibly emanating from a Deity -- in statu abscondito with every primitive
theology -- it encircles our globe in every direction; it leaves not even the
darkest corner unvisited, before the other end, the omega, turns back on its
way to be again received where it first emanated. On this divine chain was
strung the exoteric symbology of every people. Their variety of form is
powerless to affect their substance, and under their diverse ideal types of the
universe of matter, symbolizing its vivifying principles, the uncorrupted
immaterial image of the spirit of being guiding them is the same.
So far as human
intellect can go in the ideal interpretation of the spiritual universe, its
laws and powers, the last word was pronounced ages since; and, if the ideas of
Plato can be simplified for the sake of easier comprehension, the spirit of
their substance can neither be altered, nor removed without material damage to
the truth. Let human brains submit themselves to torture for thousands of years
to come; let theology perplex faith and mime it with the enforcing of
incomprehensible dogmas in metaphysics; and science strengthen skepticism, by
pulling down the tottering remains of spiritual intuition in mankind, with her
demonstrations of its fallibility, eternal truth can never be destroyed. We
find its last possible expression in our human language in the Persian Logos,
the Honover, or the living manifested Word of God. The Zoroastrian Enoch-Verihe
is identical with the Jewish "I am"; and the "Great Spirit"
of the poor, untutored Indian, is the manifested Brahma of the Hindu
philosopher. One of the latter, Tcharaka, a Hindu physician, who is said to
have lived 5,000 years B.C., in his treatise on the origin of things, called
Usa, thus beautifully expresses himself: "Our Earth is, like all the
luminous bodies that surround us, one of the atoms of the immense Whole of
which we show a slight conception by terming it -- the Infinite."
"There is but
one light, and there is but one darkness," says a Siamese proverb. Daemon
est Deus inversus, the Devil is the shadow of God, states the universal
kabalistic axiom. Could light exist but for
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A MIGHTY PAST.
primeval darkness?
And did not the brilliant, sunny universe first stretch its infant arms from
the swaddling bands of dark and dreary chaos? If the Christian "fulness of
Him that filleth all in all" is a revelation, then we must admit that, if
there is a devil, he must be included in this fulness, and be a part of that
which "filleth all in all." From time immemorial the justification of
the Deity, and His separation from the existing evil was attempted, and the
object was reached by the old Oriental philosophy in the foundation of the
theodike; but their metaphysical views on the fallen spirit, have never been
disfigured by the creation of an anthropomorphic personality of the Devil as
was done subsequently by the leading lights of Christian theology. A personal
fiend, who opposes the Deity, and impedes progress on its way to perfection, is
to be sought only on earth amid humanity, not in heaven.
Thus is it that all
the religious monuments of old, in whatever land or under whatever climate, are
the expression of the same identical thoughts, the key to which is in the
esoteric doctrine. It would be vain, without studying the latter, to seek to
unriddle the mysteries enshrouded for centuries in the temples and ruins of
Egypt and Assyria, or those of Central America, British Columbia, and the
Nagkon-Wat of Cambodia. If each of these was built by a different nation; and
neither nation had had intercourse with the others for ages, it is also certain
that all were planned and built under the direct supervision of the priests.
And the clergy of every nation, though practicing rites and ceremonies which
may have differed externally, had evidently been initiated into the same
traditional mysteries which were taught all over the world.
In order to
institute a better comparison between the specimens of prehistoric architecture
to be found at the most opposite points of the globe, we have but to point to
the grandiose Hindu ruins of Ellora in the Dekkan, the Mexican Chichen-Itza, in
Yucatan, and the still grander ruins of Copan, in Guatemala. They present such
features of resemblance that it seems impossible to escape the conviction that
they were built by peoples moved by the same religious ideas, and that had
reached an equal level of highest civilization in arts and sciences.
There is not,
perhaps, on the face of the whole globe, a more imposing mass of ruins than
Nagkon-Wat, the wonder and puzzle of European archeologists who venture into
Siam. And when we say ruins, the expression is hardly correct; for nowhere are
there buildings of such tremendous antiquity to be found in a better state of
preservation than Nagkon-Wat, and the ruins of Angkorthom, the great temple.
Hidden far away in
the province of Siamrap -- eastern Siam -- in the midst of a most luxuriant
tropical vegetation, surrounded by almost impenetrable forests of palms,
cocoa-trees, and betel-nut, "the general ap-
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pearance of the
wonderful temple is beautiful and romantic, as well as impressive and
grand," says Mr. Vincent, a recent traveller.* "We whose good fortune
it is to live in the nineteenth century, are accustomed to boast of the
perfection and preeminence of our modern civilization; of the grandeur of our
attainments in science, art, literature, and what not, as compared with those
whom we call ancients; but still we are compelled to admit that they have far
excelled our recent endeavors in many things, and notably in the fine arts of
painting, architecture, and sculpture. We were but just looking upon a most
wonderful example of the two latter, for in style and beauty of architecture,
solidity of construction, and magnificent and elaborate carving and sculpture,
the Great Nagkon-Wat has no superior, certainly no rival standing at the
present day. The first view of the ruins is overwhelming."
Thus the opinion of
another traveller is added to that of many preceding ones, including
archeologists and other competent critics, who have believed that the ruins of
the past Egyptian splendor deserve no higher eulogium than Nagkon-Wat.
According to our
plan, we will allow more impartial critics than ourselves to describe the
place, since, in a work professedly devoted to a vindication of the ancients,
the testimony of so enthusiastic an advocate as the present writer may be
questioned. We have, nevertheless, seen Nagkon-Wat under exceptionally
favorable circumstances, and can, therefore, certify to the general correctness
of Mr. Vincent's description. He says:
"We entered
upon an immense causeway, the stairs of which were flanked with six huge
griffins, each carved from a single block of stone. The causeway is . . . 725
feet in length, and is paved with stones each of which measures four feet in
length by two in breadth. On either side of it are artificial lakes fed by
springs, and each covering about five acres of ground. . . . The outer wall of
Nagkon-Wat (the city of monasteries) is half a mile square, with gateways . . .
which are handsomely carved with figures of gods and dragons. The foundations
are ten feet in height. . . . The entire edifice, including the roof, is of
stone, but without cement, and so closely fitting are the joints as even now to
be scarcely discernible. . . . The shape of the building is oblong, being 796
feet in length, and 588 in width, while the highest central pagoda rises some
250 odd feet above the ground, and four others, at the angles of the court, are
each about 150 feet in height."
The above
underscored lines are suggestive to travellers who have remarked and admired
the same wonderful mason-work in the Egyptian
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Frank Vincent,
Jun.: "The Land of the White Elephant," p. 209.
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remains. If the
same workmen did not lay the courses in both countries we must at least think
that the secret of this matchless wall-building was equally known to the
architects of every land.
"Passing, we
ascend a platform . . . and enter the temple itself through a columned portico,
the facade of which is beautifully carved in basso-relievo with ancient
mythological subjects. From this doorway, on either side, runs a corridor with
a double row of columns, cut -- base and capital -- from single blocks, with a
double, oval-shaped roof, covered with carving and consecutive sculptures upon
the outer wall. This gallery of sculptures, which forms the exterior of the
temple, consists of over half a mile of continuous pictures, cut in
basso-relievo upon sandstone slabs six feet in width, and represents subjects
taken from Hindu mythology, from the Ramayana -- the Sanscrit epic poem of
India, with its 25,000 verses describing the exploits of the god Rama, and the
son of the King of Oudh. The contests of the King of Ceylon, and Hanouma,* the
monkey-god, are graphically represented. There is no keystone used in the arch
of this corridor. On the walls are sculptured the immense number of 100,000
separate figures. One picture from the Ramayana . . . occupies 240 feet of the
wall. . . . In the Nagkon-Wat as many as 1,532 solid columns have been counted,
and among the entire ruins of Angkor . . . the immense number of 6,000, almost
all of them hewn from single blocks and artistically carved. . . .
"But who built
Nagkon-Wat? and when was it built? Learned men have attempted to form opinions
from studies of its construction, and especially ornamentation," and have
failed. "Native Cambodian his-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The Hanouma is
over three feet tall, and black as a coal. The Ramayana, giving the biography
of this sacred monkey, relates that Hanouma was formerly a powerful chieftain,
who being the greatest friend of Rama, helped him to find his wife, Sitha, who
had been carried off to Ceylon by Ravana, the mighty king of the giants. After
numerous adventures Hanouma was caught by the latter, while visiting the city
of the giant as Rama's spy. For this crime Ravana had the poor Hanouma's tail
oiled and set on fire, and it was in extinguishing it that the monkey-god
became so black in the face that neither himself nor his posterity could ever
get rid of the color. If we have to believe Hindu legends this same Hanouma was
the progenitor of the Europeans; a tradition which, though strictly Darwinian,
hence, scientific, is by no means flattering to us. The legend states that for
services rendered, Rama, the hero and demi-god, gave in marriage to the
monkey-warriors of his army the daughters of the giants of Ceylon -- the
Rakshasas -- and granted them, moreover, as a dowry, all western parts of the
world. Repairing thence, the monkeys and their giant-wives lived happily and
had a number of descendants. The latter are the present Europeans. Dravidian
words are found in Western Europe, indicating that there was an original unity
of race and language between the populations. May it not be a hint that the
traditions are akin, of elfin and kobold races in Europe, and monkeys, actually
cognate with them in Hindustan?
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torians," adds
Vincent, "reckon 2,400 from the building of the temple. . . . I asked one
of them how long Nagkon-Wat had been built. . . . 'None can tell when. . . . I
do not know; it must have either sprung up from the ground or been built by
giants, or perhaps by the angels' . . . was the answer."
When Stephens asked
the native Indians "Who built Copan? . . . what nation traced the
hieroglyphic designs, sculptured these elegant figures and carvings, these
emblematical designs?" the dull answer he received was "Quien
sabe?" -- who knows! "All is mystery; dark, impenetrable
mystery," writes Stephens. "In Egypt, the colossal skeletons of
gigantic temples stand in all the nakedness of desolation. Here, an immense
forest shrouded the ruins, hiding them from sight."*
But there are
perhaps many circumstances, trifling for archaeologists unacquainted with the
"idle and fanciful" legends of old, hence overlooked; otherwise the
discovery might have sent them on a new train of thought. One is the invariable
presence in the Egyptian, Mexican, and Siamese ruined temples, of the monkey.
The Egyptian cynocephalus assumes the same postures as the Hindu and Siamese
Hanouma; and among the sculptured fragments of Copan, Stephens found the
remains of colossal apes or baboons, "strongly resembling in outline and
appearance the four monstrous animals which once stood in front, attached to
the base of the obelisk of Luxor, now in Paris,** and which, under the name of
the cynocephali, were worshipped at Thebes." In almost every Buddhist
temple there are idols of huge monkeys kept, and some people have in their
houses white monkeys on purpose "to keep bad spirits away."
"Was
civilization," writes Louis de Carne,*** "in the complex meaning we
give that word, in keeping among the ancient Cambodians with what such prodigies
of architecture seem to indicate? The age of Pheidias was that of Sophocles,
Socrates, and Plato; Michael Angelo and Raphael succeeded Dante. There are
luminous epochs during which the human mind, developing itself in every
direction, triumphs in all, and creates masterpieces which spring from the same
inspiration." "Nagkon-Wat," concludes Vincent, "must be
ascribed to other than ancient Cambodians. But to whom? . . . There exist no
credible traditions; all is absurd fable or legend."
The latter sentence
has become of late a sort of cant phrase in the mouths of travellers and
archaeologists. When they have found that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Incidents
of Travels in Central America, etc.," vol. i., p. 105.
** They stand no
more, for the obelisk alone was removed to Paris.
*** See "The
Land of the White Elephant," p. 221.
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OF ISRAEL?
no clew is
attainable unless it can be found in popular legends, they turn away
discouraged, and a final verdict is withheld. At the same time Vincent quotes a
writer who remarks that these ruins "are as imposing as the ruins of
Thebes, or Memphis, but more mysterious." Mouhot thinks they were erected
"by some ancient Michael Angelo," and adds that Nagkon-Wat "is
grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome." Furthermore Mouhot
ascribes the building again to some of the lost tribes of Israel, and is
corroborated in that opinion by Miche, the French Bishop of Cambodia, who
confesses that he is struck "by the Hebrew character of the faces of many
of the savage Stiens." Henri Mouhot believes that, "without
exaggeration, the oldest parts of Angkor may be fixed at more than 2,000 years
ago." This, then, in comparison with the pyramids, would make them quite
modern; the date is the more incredible, because the pictures on the walls may
be proved to belong to those archaic ages when Poseidon and the Kabeiri were
worshipped throughout the continent. Had Nagkon-Wat been built, as Dr. Adolf
Bastian* will have it, "for the reception of the learned patriarch,
Buddhagosa, who brought the holy books of the Trai-Pidok from Ceylon; or, as
Bishop Pallegoix, who "refers the erection of this edifice to the reign of
Phra Pathum Suriving," when "the sacred books of the Buddhists were
brought from Ceylon, and Buddhism became the religion of the Cambodians,"
how is it possible to account for the following?
"We see in
this same temple carved images of Buddha, four, and even thirty-two-armed, and
two and sixteen-headed gods, the Indian Vishnu, gods with wings, Burmese heads,
Hindu figures, and Ceylon mythology. . . . You see warriors riding upon
elephants and in chariots, foot soldiers with shield and spear, boats, tigers,
griffins . . . serpents, fishes, crocodiles, bullocks . . . soldiers of immense
physical development, with helmets, and some people with beards -- probably
Moors. The figures," adds Mr. Vincent, "stand somewhat like those on
the great Egyptian monuments, the side partly turned toward the front . . . and
I noticed, besides, five horsemen, armed with spear and sword, riding abreast,
like those seen upon the Assyrian tablets in the British Museum."**
For our part, we
may add, that there are on the walls several repetitions of Dagon, the man-fish
of the Babylonians, and of the Kabeirian gods of Samothrace. This may have
escaped the notice of the few archaeologists who examined the place; but upon
stricter inspection they will be found there, as well as the reputed father of
the Kabeiri -- Vulcan, with his bolts and implements, having near him a king
with a sceptre in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The President of
the Royal Geographical Society of Berlin.
** "The Land
of the White Elephant," p. 215.
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his hand, which is
the counterpart of that of Cheronaea, or the "sceptre of Agamemnon,"
so-called, said to have been presented to him by the lame god of Lemnos. In
another place we find Vulcan, recognizable by his hammer and pincers, but under
the shape of a monkey, as usually represented by the Egyptians.
Now, if Nagkon-Wat
is essentially a Buddhist temple, how comes it to have on its walls
basso-relievos of completely an Assyrian character; and Kabeirian gods which,
though universally worshipped as the most ancient of the Asiatic mystery-gods,
had already been abandoned 200 years B.C., and the Samothracian mysteries
themselves completely altered? Whence the popular tradition concerning the
Prince of Roma among the Cambodians, a personage mentioned by all the native
historians, who attribute to him the foundation of the temple? Is it not barely
possible that even the Ramayana, itself, the famous epic poem, is but the
original of Homer's Iliad, as it was suggested some years ago? The beautiful
Paris, carrying off Helen, looks very much like Ravana, king of the giants,
eloping with Sita, Rama's wife? The Trojan war is a counterpart of the Ramayana
war; moreover, Herodotus assures us that the Trojan heroes and gods date in
Greece only from the days of the Iliad. In such a case even Hanouma, the
monkey-god, would be but Vulcan in disguise; the more so that the Cambodian
tradition makes the founder of Angkor come from Roma, which they place at the
western end of the world, and that the Hindu Roma also apportions the west to
the descendants of Hanouma.
Hypothetical as the
suggestion may now seem, it is worthy of consideration, if even for the sake of
being refuted. The Abbe Jaquenet, a Catholic missionary in Cochin China, ever
ready to connect the least glimmer of historical light with that of Christian
revelation, writes, "Whether we consider the commercial relations of the
Jews . . . when, in the height of their power, the combined fleets of Hiram and
Solomon went to seek the treasures of Ophir, or whether we come lower down, to
the dispersion of the ten tribes who, instead of returning from captivity, set
out from the banks of the Euphrates, and reached the shores of the ocean . . .
the shining of the light of revelation in the far East is not the less
incontestable."
It looks certainly
"incontestable" enough if we reverse the position and admit that all
the light that ever shone on the Israelites came to them from this "far
East," passing first through the Chaldeans and Egyptians. The first thing
to settle, is to find out who were the Israelites themselves; and that is the
most vital question. Many historians seem to claim, with good reason, that the
Jews were similar or identical with the ancient Phoenicians, but the
Phoenicians were beyond any doubt an
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AEthiopian race;
moreover, the present race of Punjaub are hybridized with the Asiatic
AEthiopians. Herodotus traces the Hebrews to the Persian Gulf; and south of
that place were the Himyarites (the Arabians); beyond, the early Chaldeans and
Susinians, the great builders. This seems to establish pretty well their
AEthiopian affinity. Megasthenes says that the Jews were an Indian sect called
Kalani, and their theology resembled that of the Indians. Other authors also
suspect that the colonized Jews or the Judeans were the Yadus from Afghanistan
-- the old India.* Eusebius tells us that "the AEthiopians came from the
river Indus and settled near Egypt." More research may show that the Tamil
Hindus, who are accused by the missionaries of worshipping the Devil --
Kutti-Sattan -- only honor, after all, Seth or Satan, worshipped by the
biblical Hittites.
But if the Jews
were in the twilight of history the Phoenicians, the latter may be traced
themselves to the nations who used the old Sanscrit language. Carthage was a
Phoenician city, hence its name; for Tyre was equally Kartha. In the Bible the
words Kir, Kirjath are frequently found. Their tutelar god was styled
Mel-Kartha (Mel, Baal), or tutelar lord of the city. In Sanscrit a city or
communal was a cul and its lord was Heri.** Her-culeus is therefore the
translation of Melkarth and Sanscrit in origin. Moreover all the Cyclopean
races were Phoenicians. In the Odyssey the Kuklopes (Cyclops) are the Libyan
shepherds; and Herodotus describes them as miners and great builders. They are
the ancient Titans or giants, who in Hesiod forge bolts for Zeus. They are the
biblical Zamzummim from the land of the giants, the Anakim.
Now it is easy to
see that the excavators of Ellora, the builders of the old Pagodas, the
architects of Copan and of the ruins of Central America, those of Nagkon-Wat,
and those of the Egyptian remains were, if not of the same race, at least of
the same religion -- the one taught in the oldest Mysteries. Besides, the
figures on the walls of Angkor are purely archaic, and have nothing to do with
the images and idols of Buddha, who may be of a far later origin. "What
gives a peculiar interest to this section," says Dr. Bastian, "is the
fact that the artist has represented the different nationalities in all their
distinctive characteristic features, from the flat-nosed savage in the
tasselled garb of the Pnom and the short-haired Lao, to the straight-nosed
Rajaput, with sword and shield, and the bearded
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The Phoenician
Dido is the feminine of David . Under the name of Astarte, she led the
Phoenician colonies, and her image was on the prow of their ships. But David
and Saul are names belonging to Afghanistan also.
** (Prof. A.
Wilder.) This archaeologist says: "I regard the AEthiopian, Cushite and
Hamitic races as the building and artistic race who worshipped Baal (Siva), or
Bel -- made temples, grottos, pyramids, and used a language of peculiar type.
Rawlinson derives that language from the Turanians in Hindustan."
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Moor, giving a
catalogue of nationalities, like another column of Trajan, in the predominant
physical conformation of each race. On the whole, there is such a prevalence of
Hellenic cast in features and profiles, as well as in the elegant attitude of
the horsemen, that one might suppose Xenocrates of old, after finishing his labors
in Bombay, had made an excursion to the East."
Therefore, if we
allow the tribes of Israel to have had a hand in the building of Nagkon-Wat, it
cannot be as the tribes numbered and sent from the wilderness of Paran in
search of the land of Canaan, but as their earlier ancestors, which amounts to
the rejection of such tribes, as the casting of a reflection of the Mosaic
revelation. And where is the outside historical evidence that such tribes were
ever heard of at all, before the compilation of the Old Testament by Ezra?
There are archaeologists who strongly regard the twelve tribes as utterly
mythical,* for there never was a tribe of Simeon, and that of Levi was a caste.
There still remains the same problem to solve -- whether the Judaeans had ever
been in Palestine before Cyrus. From the sons of Jacob, who had all married
Canaanites, except Joseph, whose wife was the daughter of an Egyptian Priest of
the Sun, down to the legendary Book of Judges there was an acknowledged general
intermarrying between the said tribes and the idolatrous races: "And the
children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and
Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites; and they took their daughters to be
their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their
gods," says the third chapter of Judges, " . . . and the children of
Israel forgat their God and served Baalim, and the groves." This Baal was
Moloch, M'lch Karta, or Hercules. He was worshipped wherever the Phoenicians
went. How could the Israelites possibly keep together as tribes, while, on the
authority of the Bible itself, whole populations were from year to year
uprooted violently by Assyrian and other conquerors? "So was Israel
carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. And the king of
Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from
Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead
of the children of Israel" (2 Kings, xvii. 23, 24).
If the language of
Palestine became in time Semitic, it is because of Assyrian influence; for
Phoenicia had become a dependency as early as the days of Hiram, and the
Phoenicians evidently changed their language from Hamitic to Semitic. Assyria
was "the land of Nimrod" (from Nimr, spotted), and Nimrod was
Bacchus, with his spotted leopard-skin. This leopard-skin is a sacred appendage
of the "Mysteries"; it was used
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Prof. A. Wilder
among others.
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GIANTS.
in the Eleusinian
as well as in the Egyptian Mysteries; it is found sculptured on the
basso-relievos of Central American ruins, covering the backs of the
sacrificers; it is mentioned in the earliest speculations of the Brahmans on
the meaning of their sacrificial prayers, the Aytareya Brahmanam.* It is used
in the Agnishtoma, the initiation rites of the Soma Mystery. When the neophyte
is "to be born again," he is covered with a leopard-skin, out of
which he emerges as from his mother's womb. The Kabeiri were also Assyrian
gods. They had different names; in the common language they were known as
Jupiter and Bacchus, and sometimes as Achiochersus, Aschieros, Achiochersa, and
Cadmillus; and even the true number of these deities was uncertain with the
people. They had other names in the "sacred language," known but to
the hierophants and priests; and "it was not lawful to mention them."
How is it then that we find them reproduced in their Samothracian
"postures" on the walls of Nagkon-Wat? How is it again that we find
them pronounced -- albeit slightly disfigured -- as known in that same sacred
language, by the populations of Siam, Thibet, and India?
The name Kabeiri
may be a derivation from Abir, great; , Ebir, an astrologer, or , Chabir, an
associate; and they were worshipped at Hebron, the city of the Anakes -- the
giants. The name Abraham, according to Dr. Wilder, has "a very Kabeirian
look." The word Heber, or Gheber may be the etymological root of the
Hebrews, as applied to Nimrod and the Bible-giants of the sixth chapter of
Genesis, but we must seek for their origin far earlier than the days of Moses.
The name Phoenician affords its own proof. They are called [[Phoinikes]] by
Manetho, or Ph' Anakes, which shows that the Anakes or Anakim of Canaan, with
whom the people of Israel, if not identical in race, had, by intermarriage,
become entirely absorbed, were the Phoenicians, or the problematical Hyk-sos,
as Manetho has it, and whom Josephus once declared were the direct ancestors of
the Israelites. Therefore, it is in this jumble of contradictory opinions,
authorities, and historical olla podrida that we must look for a solution of
the mystery. So long as the origin of the Hyk-sos is not positively settled we
can know nothing certain of the Israelitish people who, either wittingly or
otherwise, have mixed up their chronology and origin in such an inextricable tangle.
But if the Hyk-sos can be proved to have been the Pali-Shepherds of the Indus,
who partially removed to the East, and came over from the nomadic Aryan tribes
of India, then, perhaps, it would account for the biblical myths being so mixed
up with the Aryan and Asiatic Mystery-gods. As Dunlap says: "The Hebrews
came out of Egypt among
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Martin Haug's
translation: "The Aytareya Brahmanam."
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the Canaanites;
they need not be traced beyond the Exodus. That is their historical beginning.
It was very easy to cover up this remote event by the recital of mythical
traditions, and to prefix to it an account of their origin in which the gods
(patriarchs) should figure as their ancestors." But it is not their
historical beginning which is the most vital question for the world of science
and theology. It is their religious beginning. And if we can trace it through
the Hyk-sos -- Phoenicians, the AEthiopian builders and the Chaldeans --
whether it is to the Hindus that the latter owe their learning, or the Brahmans
who owe it to the Chaldeans, we have the means in hand to trace every so-called
revealed dogmatical assertion in the Bible to its origin, which we have to
search for in the twilight of history, and before the separation of the Aryan
and Semitic families. And how can we do it better or more surely than through
means afforded us by archaeology? Picture-writing can be destroyed, but if it
survives it cannot lie; and, if we find the same myths, ideas, and secret
symbols on monuments all over the world; and if, moreover, these monuments can
be shown to antedate the twelve "chosen" tribes, then we can
unerringly show that instead of being a direct divine revelation, it was but an
incomplete recollection or tradition among a tribe which had been identified
and mixed up for centuries before the apparition of Abraham, with all the three
great world-families; namely, the Aryan, Semitic, and Turanian nations, if so
they must be called.
The Teraphim of
Abram's father, Terah, the "maker of images," were the Kabeiri gods,
and we see them worshipped by Micah, by the Danites, and others.* Teraphim were
identical with the seraphim, and these were serpent-images, the origin of which
is in the Sanscrit sarpa (the serpent), a symbol sacred to all the deities as a
symbol of immortality. Kiyun, or the god Kivan, worshipped by the Hebrews in
the wilderness, is Siva, the Hindu,** as well as Saturn.*** The Greek story
shows that Dardanus, the Arcadian, having received them as a dowry, carried
them to Samothrace, and from thence to Troy; and they were worshipped far
before the days of glory of Tyre or Sidon, though the former had been built
2760 B.C. From where did Dardanus derive them?
It is an easy
matter to assign an age to ruins on merely the external evidence of
probabilities; it is more difficult to prove it. Meanwhile the rock-works of
Ruad, Perytus, Marathos, resemble those of Petra, Baalbek,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Judges
xvii-xviii., etc.
** The Zendic H is
S in India. Thus Hapta is Sapta; Hindu is Sindhaya. (A. Wilder.) " . . .
the S continually softens to H from Greece to Calcutta, from the Caucasus to
Egypt," says Dunlap. Therefore the letters K, H, and S are
interchangeable.
*** Guignant:
"Op. cit.," vol. i., p. 167.
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WHITE ELEPHANT."
and other
AEthiopian works, even externally. On the other hand the assertions of certain
archaeologists who find no resemblance between the temples of Central America
and those of Egypt and Siam, leave the symbologist, acquainted with the secret
language of picture-writing, perfectly unconcerned. He sees the landmarks of
one and the same doctrine on all of these monuments, and reads their history
and affiliation in signs imperceptible to the uninitiated scientist. There are
traditions also; and one of these speaks of the last of the king-initiates --
(who were but rarely admitted to the higher orders of the Eastern
Brotherhoods), who reigned in 1670. This king of Siam was the one so ridiculed
by the French ambassador, de la Loubere, as a lunatic who had been searching
all his life for the philosopher's stone.
One of such
mysterious landmarks is found in the peculiar structure of certain arches in
the temples. The author of the Land of the White Elephant remarks as curious,
"the absence of the keystone in the arches of the building, and the
undecipherable inscriptions." In the ruins of Santa Cruz del Quiche an
arched corridor was found by Stephens, equally without a keystone. Describing
the desolate ruins of Palenque, and remarking that the arches of the corridors
were all built on this model, and the ceilings in this form, he supposes that
"the builders were evidently ignorant of the principles of the arch, and
the support was made by stones lapping over as they rose; as at Ocosingo, and
among Cyclopean remains in Greece and Italy."* In other buildings, though
they belong to the same group, the traveller found the missing keystone, which
is a sufficient proof that its omission elsewhere was premeditated.
May we not look for
the solution of the mystery in the Masonic manual? The keystone has an esoteric
meaning which ought to be, if it is not, well appreciated by high Masons. The
most important subterranean building mentioned in the description of the origin
of Freemasonry, is the one built by Enoch. The patriarch is led by the Deity,
whom he sees in a vision, into the nine vaults. After that, with the assistance
of his son, Methuselah, he constructs in the land of Canaan, "in the
bowels of the mountain," nine apartments on the models that were shown to
him in the vision. Each was roofed with an arch, and the apex of each formed a
keystone, having inscribed on it the mirific characters. Each of the latter,
furthermore, represented one of the nine names, traced in characters
emblematical of the attributes by which the Deity was, according to ancient
Freemasonry, known to the antediluvian brethren. Then Enoch constructed two
deltas of the purest gold, and tracing two of the mysterious characters on
each, he placed one of them in the deepest arch, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Incidents
of Travel in Central America, etc."
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the other entrusted
to Methuselah, communicating to him, at the same time, other important secrets
now lost to Freemasonry.
And so, among these
arcane secrets, now lost to their modern successors, may be found also the fact
that the keystones were used in the arches only in certain portions of the
temples devoted to special purposes. Another similarity presented by the
architectural remains of the religious monuments of every country can be found
in the identity of parts, courses, and measurements. All these buildings belong
to the age of Hermes Trismegistus, and however comparatively modern or ancient
the temple may seem, their mathematical proportions are found to correspond
with the Egyptian religious edifices. There is a similar disposition of
court-yards, adyta, passages, and steps; hence, despite any dissimilarity in
architectural style, it is a warrantable inference that like religious rites
were celebrated in all. Says Dr. Stukely, concerning Stonehenge: "This
structure was not erected upon any Roman measure, and this is demonstrated by
the great number of fractions which the measurement of each part, according to
European scales, gives. On the contrary the figures become even, as soon as we
apply to it the measurement of the ancient cubit, which was common to the
Hebrew children of Shem, as well as to the Phoenicians and Egyptians, children
of Ham (?), and imitators of the monuments of unhewn and oracular stones."
The presence of the
artificial lakes, and their peculiar disposition on the consecrated grounds, is
also a fact of great importance. The lakes inside the precincts of Karnak, and
those enclosed in the grounds of Nagkon-Wat, and around the temples in the
Mexican Copan and Santa Cruz del Quiche, will be found to present the same
peculiarities. Besides possessing other significances the whole area was laid out
with reference to cyclic calculations. In the Druidical structures the same
sacred and mysterious numbers will be found. The circle of stones generally
consists of either twelve, or twenty-one, or thirty-six. In these circles the
centre place belongs to Assar, Azon, or the god in the circle, by whatever
other name he might have been known. The thirteen Mexican serpent-gods bear a
distant relationship to the thirteen stones of the Druidical ruins. The (Tau),
and the astronomical cross of Egypt are conspicuous in several apertures of the
remains of Palenque. In one of the basso-relievos of the Palace of Palenque, on
the west side, sculptured on a hieroglyphic, right under the seated figure, is
a Tau. The standing figure, which leans over the first one, is in the act of
covering its head with the left hand with the veil of initiation; while it
extends its right with the index and middle finger pointing to heaven. The
position is precisely that of a Christian bishop giving his blessing, or the
one in which Jesus is often represented while at the Last Supper. Even the
Hindu
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elephant-headed god
of wisdom (or magic learning), Ganesha, may be found among the stucco figures
of the Mexican ruins.
What explanation
can the archaeologists, philologists -- in short, the chosen host of
Academicians -- give us? None whatever. At best they have but hypotheses, every
one of which is likely to be pulled down by its successor -- a pseudo-truth,
perhaps, like the first. The keys to the biblical miracles of old, and to the
phenomena of modern days; the problems of psychology, physiology, and the many
"missing links" which have so perplexed scientists of late, are all
in the hands of secret fraternities. This mystery must be unveiled some day.
But till then dark skepticism will constantly interpose its threatening, ugly
shadow between God's truths and the spiritual vision of mankind; and many are
those who, infected by the mortal epidemic of our century -- hopeless
materialism -- will remain in doubt and mortal agony as to whether, when man
dies, he will live again, although the question has been solved by long bygone
generations of sages. The answers are there. They may be found on the time-worn
granite pages of cave-temples, on sphinxes, propylons, and obelisks. They have
stood there for untold ages, and neither the rude assault of time, nor the
still ruder assault of Christian hands, have succeeded in obliterating their
records. All covered with the problems which were solved -- who can tell?
perhaps by the archaic forefathers of their builders -- the solution follows
each question; and this the Christian could not appropriate, for, except the
initiates, no one has understood the mystic writing. The key was in the keeping
of those who knew how to commune with the invisible Presence, and who had
received, from the lips of mother Nature herself, her grand truths. And so
stand these monuments like mute forgotten sentinels on the threshold of that
unseen world, whose gates are thrown open but to a few elect.
Defying the hand of
Time, the vain inquiry of profane science, the insults of the revealed religions,
they will disclose their riddles to none but the legatees of those by whom they
were entrusted with the MYSTERY. The cold, stony lips of the once vocal Memnon,
and of these hardy sphinxes, keep their secrets well. Who will unseal them? Who
of our modern, materialistic dwarfs and unbelieving Sadducees will dare to lift
the VEIL OF ISIS?
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CHAPTER XV.
"STE. -- Have
we devils here? Do you put tricks upon us with savages, and men of Inde?"
The Tempest, Act ii., Sc. 2.
"We have now,
so far forth as it is requisite for our design, considered the Nature and
Functions of the Soule; and have plainly demonstrated that she is a substance
distinct from the body." -- DR. HENRY MORE: Immortality of the Soule.
1659.
"KNOWLEDGE IS
POWER; IGNORANCE IS IMBECILITY." -- AUTHOR OF "Art-Magic":
Ghost-Land.
THE "secret
doctrine" has for many centuries been like the symbolical "man of
sorrows" of the prophet Isaiah. "Who hath believed our report?"
its martyrs have repeated from one generation to another. The doctrine has
grown up before its persecutors "as a tender plant and as a root out of a
dry ground; it hath no form, nor comeliness . . . it is despised and rejected
of men; and they hid their faces from it. . . . They esteemed him not."
There need be no
controversy as to whether this doctrine agrees or not with the iconoclastic
tendency of the skeptics of our times. It agrees with truth and that is enough.
It would be idle to expect that it would be believed by its detractors and
slanderers. But the tenacious vitality it exhibits all over the globe, wherever
there are a group of men to quarrel over it, is the best proof that the seed
planted by our fathers on "the other side of the flood" was that of a
mighty oak, not the spore of a mushroom theology. No lightning of human
ridicule can fell to the ground, and no thunderbolts ever forged by the Vulcans
of science are powerful enough to blast the trunk, or even scar the branches of
this world-tree of KNOWLEDGE.
We have but to
leave unnoticed their letter that killeth, and catch the subtile spirit of
their hidden wisdom, to find concealed in the Books of Hermes -- be they the
model or the copy of all others -- the evidences of a truth and philosophy
which we feel must be based on the eternal laws. We instinctively comprehend
that, however finite the powers of man, while he is yet embodied, they must be
in close kinship with the attributes of an infinite Deity; and we become
capable of better appreciating the hidden sense of the gift lavished by the
Elohim on H'Adam: "Behold, I have given you everything which is upon the
face of all the earth . . . subdue it," and "have dominion" over
ALL.
Had the allegories
contained in the first chapters of Genesis been
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AND OF FACT.
better understood,
even in their geographical and historical sense, which involve nothing at all
esoteric, the claims of its true interpreters, the kabalists, could hardly have
been rejected for so long a time. Every student of the Bible must be aware that
the first and second chapters of Genesis could not have proceeded from the same
pen. They are evidently allegories and parables;* for the two narratives of the
creation and peopling of our earth diametrically contradict each other in nearly
every particular of order, time, place, and methods employed in the so-called
creation. In accepting the narratives literally, and as a whole, we lower the
dignity of the unknown Deity. We drag him down to the level of humanity, and
endow him with the peculiar personality of man, who needs the "cool of the
day" to refresh him; who rests from his labors; and is capable of anger,
revenge, and even of using precautions against man, "lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life." (A tacit admission, by the way,
on the part of the Deity, that man could do it, if not prevented by sheer
force.) But, in recognizing the allegorical coloring of the description of what
may be termed historical facts, we find our feet instantly on firm ground.
To begin with --
the garden of Eden as a locality is no myth at all; it belongs to those
landmarks of history which occasionally disclose to the student that the Bible
is not all mere allegory. "Eden, or the Hebrew GAN-EDEN, meaning the park
or the garden of Eden, is an archaic name of the country watered by the
Euphrates and its many branches, from Asia and Armenia to the Erythraian
Sea."* In the Chaldean Book of Numbers, its location is designated in
numerals, and in the cipher Rosicrucian manuscript, left by Count St. Germain,
it is fully described. In the Assyrian Tablets, it is rendered gan-dunyas.
"Behold," say the Eloim of Genesis, "the man is become as one of
us." The Eloim may be accepted in one sense for gods or powers, and taken
in another one for the Aleim, or priests; the hierophants initiated into the
good and the evil of this world; for there was a college of priests called the
Aleim, while the head of their caste, or the chief of the hierophants, was
known as Java Aleim. Instead of becoming a neophyte, and gradually obtaining
his esoteric knowledge through a regular initiation, an Adam, or man, uses his
intuitional faculties, and, prompted by the Serpent -- Woman and matter --
tastes of the Tree of Knowledge -- the esoteric or secret doctrine -- unlawfully.
The priests of Hercules, or Mel-Karth, the "Lord" of the Eden, all
wore "coats of skin." The text says: "And Java Aleim, made for
Adam and his wife , "CHITONUTH OUR." The first
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Paul to the
Galatians, iv., 24, and Gospel according to Matthew, xiii. 10-15.
** A. Wilder says
that "Gan-duniyas," is a name of Babylonia.
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Hebrew word,
chitun, is the Greek chiton. It became a Slavonic word by adoption from the
Bible, and means a coat, an upper garment.
Though containing
the same substratum of esoteric truth as every early cosmogony, the Hebrew
Scripture wears on its face the marks of its double origin. Its Genesis is
purely a reminiscence of the Babylonian captivity. The names of places, men,
and even objects, can be traced from the original text to the Chaldeans and the
Akkadians, the progenitors and Aryan instructors of the former. It is strongly
contested that the Akkad tribes of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria were in any
way cognate with the Brahmans, of Hindustan; but there are more proofs in favor
of this opinion than otherwise. The Shemite, or Assyrian, ought, perchance, to
have been called the Turanian, and the Mongolians have been denominated Scyths.
But if the Akkadians ever existed otherwise than in the imagination of some
philologists and ethnologists, they certainly would never have been a Turanian
tribe, as some Assyriologists have striven to make us believe. They were simply
emigrants on their way to Asia Minor from India, the cradle of humanity, and
their sacerdotal adepts tarried to civilize and initiate a barbarian people.
Halevy proved the fallacy of the Turanian mania in regard to the Akkadian
people, whose very name has been changed a dozen times already; and other
scientists have proved that the Babylonian civilization was neither born nor
developed in that country. It was imported from India, and the importers were
Brahmanical Hindus.
It is the opinion
of Professor A. Wilder, that if the Assyrians had been called Turanians and the
Mongolians Scyths, then, in such a case the wars of Iran and Turan, Zohak and
Jemshid, or Yima, would have been fairly comprehended as the struggle of the
old Persians against the endeavors of the Assyrian satraps to conquer them,
which ended in the overthrow of Nineveh; "the spider weaving her web in the
palace of Afrasiab."*
"The Turanian
of Prof. Muller and his school," adds our correspondent, "was
evidently the savage and nomadic Caucasian, out of whom the Hamite or
AEthiopian builders come; then the Shemites -- perhaps a hybrid of Hamite and
Aryan; and lastly the Aryan -- Median, Persian, Hindu; and later, the Gothic
and Slavic peoples of Europe. He supposes the Celt to have been a hybrid,
analogous to the Assyrians -- between the Aryan invaders of Europe and the
Iberic (probably AEthiopic) population of Europe." In such a case he must
admit the possibility of our assertion that the Akkadians were a tribe of the
earliest Hindus. Now,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The appropriate
definition of the name "Turanian" is, any ethnic family that
ethnologists know nothing about.
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RELICS.
whether they were
Brahmans, from the Brahmanic planisphere proper (40 [[degrees]] north
latitude), or from India (Hindustan), or, again, from the India of Central
Asia, we will leave to philologists of future ages to decide.
An opinion which
with us amounts to certitude, demonstrated by an inductive method of our own,
which we are afraid will be but little appreciated by the orthodox methods of
modern science, is based on what will appear to the latter merely
circumstantial evidence. For years we have repeatedly noticed that the same
esoteric truths were expressed in identical symbols and allegories in countries
between which there had never been traced any historical affiliation. We have
found the Jewish Kabala and the Bible repeating the Babylonian "myths,"*
and the Oriental and Chaldean allegories, given in form and substance in the
oldest manuscripts of the Siamese Talapoin (monks), and in the popular but
oldest traditions of Ceylon.
In the latter place
we have an old and valued acquaintance whom we have also met in other parts of
the globe, a Pali scholar, and a native Cingalese, who has in his possession a
curious palm leaf, to which, by chemical processes, a timeproof durability has
been given, and an enormous conch, or rather one-half of a conch -- for it has been
split in two. On the leaf we saw the representation of a giant of Ceylonian
antiquity and fame, blind, and pulling down -- with his outstretched arms,
which are embracing the four central pillars of a pagoda -- the whole temple on
a crowd of armed enemies. His hair is long and reaches nearly to the ground. We
were informed by the possessor of this curious relic, that the blind giant was
"Somona, the Little"; so called in contradistinction with
Somona-Kadom, the Siamese saviour. Moreover, the Pali legend, in as important
particulars, corresponds with that of the biblical Samson.
The shell bore upon
its pearly surface a pictorial engraving, divided in two compartments, and the
workmanship was far more artistic, as to conception and execution, than the
crucifixes and other religious trinkets carved out of the same material in our
days, at Jaffa and Jerusalem. In the first panel is represented Siva, with all
his Hindu attributes, sacrificing his son -- whether the
"only-begotten," or one of many, we never stopped to inquire. The
victim is laid on a funeral pile, and the father is hovering in the air over
him, with an uplifted weapon ready to strike; but the god's face is turned
toward a jungle in which a rhinoceros has deeply buried its horn in a huge tree
and is unable to extricate it. The adjoining panel, or division, represents the
same rhinoceros on the pile
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Berosus and
Sanchoniathon; Cory's "Ancient Fragments"; Movers, and others.
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with the weapon
plunged in its side, and the intended victim -- Siva's son -- free, and helping
the god to kindle the fire upon the sacrificial altar.
Now, we have but to
remember that Siva and the Palentinian Baal, or Moloch, and Saturn are
identical; that Abraham is held until the present day by the Mahometan Arabs as
Saturn in the Kaaba;* that Abraham and Israel were names of Saturn;** and that
Sanchoniathon tells us that Saturn offered his only-begotten son as a sacrifice
to his father Ouranos, and even circumcised himself and forced all his
household and allies to do the same,*** to trace unerringly the biblical myth
to its source. But this source is neither Phoenician, nor Chaldean; it is
purely Indian, and the original of it may be found in the Maha-Bharata. But,
whether Brahmanical or Buddhistical, it must certainly be much older than the
Jewish Pentateuch, as compiled by Ezra after the Babylonian captivity, and
revised by the Rabbis of the Great Synagogue.
Therefore, we are
bold enough to maintain our assertion against the opinion of many men of
learning, whom, nevertheless, we consider far more learned than ourselves.
Scientific induction is one thing, and knowledge of facts, however unscientific
they may seem at first, is another. But science has discovered enough to inform
us that Sanscrit originals, of Nepaul, were translated by Buddhistic
missionaries into nearly every Asiatic language. Likewise Pali manuscripts were
translated into Siamese, and carried to Burmah and Siam; it is easy, therefore,
to account for the same religious legends and myths circulating in all these countries.
But Manetho tells us also of Pali shepherds who emigrated westward; and when we
find some of the oldest Ceylonic traditions in the Chaldean Kabala and Jewish
Bible, we must think that either Chaldeans or Babylonians had been in Ceylon or
India, or the ancient Pali had the same traditions as the Akkadians, whose
origin is so uncertain. Suppose even Rawlinson to be right, and that the
Akkadians did come from Armenia, he did not trace them farther back. As the
field is now opened for any kind of hypothesis, we submit that this tribe might
as well have come to Armenia from beyond the Indus, following their way in the
direction of the Caspian Sea -- a part which was also India, once upon a time
-- and from thence to the Euxine. Or they might have come originally from
Ceylon by the same way. It has been found impossible to follow, with any degree
of certitude, the wanderings of these nomadic Aryan tribes; hence we are left
to judge from inference, and by comparing their esoteric myths. Abraham
himself, for all our scientists can know, might have been one of these Pali
shepherds who emigrated West. He is shown to have gone
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Movers, 86.
** Ibid.
*** Sanchon.: in
Cory's "Fragments," p. 14.
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CHALDEAN KABALA.
with his father,
Terah, from "Ur of the Chaldees"; and Sir H. Rawlinson found the
Phoenician city of Martu or Marathos mentioned in an inscription at Ur, and
shows it to signify THE WEST.
If their language
seems in one sense to oppose their identity with the Brahmans of Hindustan, yet
there are other reasons which make good our claims that the biblical allegories
of Genesis are entirely due to these nomadic tribes. Their name Ak-ad, is of
the same class as Ad-Am, Ha-va,* or Ed-En -- "perhaps," says Dr.
Wilder, "meaning son of Ad, like the sons of Ad in ancient Arabia. In
Assyrian, Ak is creator and Ad-ad is AD, the father." In Aramean Ad also
means one, and Ad-ad the only-one; and in the Kabala Ad-ant is the
only-begotten, the first emanation of the unseen Creator. Adon was the
"Lord" god of Syria and the consort of Adar-gat, or Aster-'t,' the
Syrian goddess, who was Venus, Isis, Istar, or Mylitta, etc.; and each of these
was "mother of all living" -- the Magna Mater.
Thus, while the
first, second, and third chapters of Genesis are but disfigured imitations of
other cosmogonies, the fourth chapter, beginning at the sixteenth verse, and
the fifth chapter to the end -- give purely historical facts; though the latter
were never correctly interpreted. They are taken, word for word, from the
secret Book of Numbers, of the Great Oriental Kabala. From the birth of Enoch,
the appropriated first parent of modern Freemasonry, begins the genealogy of
the so-called Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic families, if such they be correctly.
Every woman is an euhemerized land or city; every man and patriarch a race, a
branch, or a subdivision of a race. The wives of Lamech give the key to the
riddle which some good scholar might easily master, even without studying the
esoteric sciences. "And Ad-ah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as
dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle," nomadic Aryan race; " .
. . and his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all such as handle the harp
and organ; . . . and Zillah bare Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer
in brass and iron," etc. Every word has a significance; but it is no
revelation. It is simply a compilation of the most historical facts, although
history is too perplexed upon this point to know how to claim them. It is from
the Euxine to Kashmere, and beyond that we must search for the cradle of
mankind and the sons of Ad-ah; and leave the particular garden of Ed-en on the
Euphrates to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In an old
Brahmanical book called the "Prophecies," by Ramatsariar, as well as
in the Southern MSS. in the legend of Christna, the latter gives nearly word
for word the first two chapters of Genesis. He recounts the creation of man --
whom he calls Adima, in Sanscrit, the 'first man' -- and the first woman is
called Heva, that which completes life. According to Louis Jacolliot ("La
Bible dans l'Inde"), Christna existed, and his legend was written, over
3,000 years B.C.
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the college of the
weird astrologers and magi, the Aleim.* No wonder that the Northern seer,
Swedenborg, advises people to search for the LOST WORD among the hierophants of
Tartary, China, and Thibet; for it is there, and only there now, although we
find it inscribed on the monuments of the oldest Egyptian dynasties.
The grandiose
poetry of the four Vedas; the Books of Hermes; the Chaldean Book of Numbers;
the Nazarene Codex; the Kabala of the Tanaim; the Sepher Jezira; the Book of
Wisdom, of Schlomah (Solomon); the secret treatise on Muhta and Badha**
attributed by the Buddhist kabalists to Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya
system; the Brahmanas;*** the Stan-gyour,**** of the Thibetans; all these
volumes have the same ground-work. Varying but in allegories they teach the
same secret doctrine which, when once thoroughly eliminated, will prove to be
the Ultima Thule of true philosophy, and disclose what is this LOST WORD.
It is useless to
expect scientists to find in these works anything of interest except that which
is in direct relation to either philology or comparative mythology. Even Max
Muller, as soon as he refers to the mysticism and metaphysical philosophy
scattered through the old Sanscrit literature, sees in it naught but
"theological absurdities" and "fantastic nonsense."
Speaking of the
Brahmanas, all full of mysterious, therefore, as a matter of course, absurd,
meanings, we find him saying: "The greater portion of them is simply
twaddle, and what is worse, theological twaddle. No person who is not
acquainted beforehand with the place which the Brahmanas fill in the history of
the Indian mind, could read more than ten pages without being
disgusted."*****
We do not wonder at
the severe criticism of this erudite scientist.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Adak in Hebrew is
, and Eden, . The first is a woman's name; the second the designation of a
country. They are closely related to each other; but hardly to Adam and Akkad
-- , which are spelled with aleph.
** The two words
answer to the terms, Macroprosopos, or macrocosm -- the absolute and boundless,
and the Microprosopos of the "Kabala," the "short face," or
the microcosm -- the finite and conditioned. It is not translated; nor is it
likely to be. The Thibetean monks say that it is the real "Sutras."
Some Buddhists believe that Buddha was, in a previous existence, Kapila
himself. We do not see how several Sanscrit scholars can entertain the idea
that Kapila was an atheist, while every legend shows him the most ascetic
mystic, the founder of the sect of the Yogis.
*** The
"Brahmanas" were translated by Dr. Haug; see his "Aitareya
Brahmanam."
**** The
"Stan-gyour" is full of rules of magic, the study of occult powers,
and their acquisition, charms, incantations, etc.; and is as little understood
by its lay-interpreters as the Jewish "Bible" is by our clergy, or
the "Kabala" by the European Rabbis.
*****
"Aitareya Brahmana," Lecture by Max Muller.
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SANSCRIT WORDS.
Without a clew to
the real meaning of this "twaddle" of religious conceptions, how can
they judge of the esoteric by the exoteric? We find an answer in another of the
highly-interesting lectures of the German savant: "No Jew, no Roman, no
Brahman ever thought of converting people to his own national form of worship.
Religion was looked upon as private or national property. It was to be guarded
against strangers. The most sacred names of the gods, the prayers by which
their favor could be gained, were kept secret. No religion was more exclusive
than that of the Brahmans."*
Therefore, when we
find scholars who imagine, because they have learned the meaning of a few
exoteric rites from a srotriya, a Brahman priest initiated in the sacrificial
mysteries, that they are capable of interpreting all the symbols, and have
sifted the Hindu religions, we cannot help admiring the completeness of their
scientific delusions. The more so, since we find Max Muller himself asserting
that since "a Brahman was born -- nay, twice-born, and could not be made,
not even the lowest caste, that of the Sudras, would open its ranks to a
stranger." How much less likely that he would allow that stranger to
unveil to the world his most sacred religious Mysteries, the secret of which
has been guarded so jealously from profanation throughout untold ages.
No; our scientists
do not -- nay, cannot understand correctly the old Hindu literature, any more
than an atheist or materialist is able to appreciate at their just value the
feelings of a seer, a mystic, whose whole life is given to contemplation. They
have a perfect right to soothe themselves with the sweet lullaby of their
self-admiration, and the just consciousness of their great learning, but none
at all to lead the world into their own error, by making it believe that they
have solved the last problem of ancient thought in literature, whether Sanscrit
or any other; that there lies not behind the external "twaddle" far
more than was ever dreamed of by our modern exact philosophy; or that above and
beyond the correct rendering of Sanscrit words and sentences there is no deeper
thought, intelligible to some of the descendants of those who veiled it in the
morning hours of earth's day, if they are not to the profane reader.
We do not feel in
the least astonished that a materialist, and even an orthodox Christian, is
unable to read either the old Brahmanical works or their progeny, the Kabala,
the Codex of Bardesanes, or the Jewish Scripture without disgust at their
immodesty and apparent lack of what the uninitiated reader is pleased to call
"common sense." But if we can hardly blame them for such a feeling,
especially in the case of the Hebrew, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.,
"Buddhist Pilgrims."
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even the Greek and
Latin literature, and are quite ready to agree with Professor Fiske that
"it is a mark of wisdom to be dissatisfied with imperfect evidence";
on the other hand we have a right to expect that they should recognize that it
is no less a mark of honesty to confess one's ignorance in cases where there
are two sides to the question, and in the solution of which the scientist may
as easily blunder as any ignoramus. When we find Professor Draper, in his
definition of periods in the Intellectual Development of Europe, classifying
the time from the days of Socrates, the precursor and teacher of Plato, to Karneades,
as "the age of faith"; and that from Philo to the destruction of the
Neo-platonic schools by Justinian -- the "age of decrepitude," we may
be allowed to infer that the learned professor knows as little about the real
tendency of Greek philosophy and the Attic schools as he understood the true
character of Giordano Bruno. So when we see one of the best of Sanscrit
scholars stating on his own unsupported authority that the "greater
portion of the Brahmanas is simply theological twaddle," we deeply regret
to think that Professor Muller must be far better acquainted with the old
Sanscrit verbs and nouns than with Sanscrit thought; and that a scholar so
uniformly disposed to do justice to the religions and the men of old should so
effectually play into the hands of Christian theologians. "What is the use
of Sanscrit?" exclaims Jacquemont, who alone has made more false
statements about the East than all the Orientalists put together. At such a
rate there would be none indeed. If we are to exchange one corpse for another,
then we may as well dissect the dead letter of the Jewish Bible as that of the
Vedas. He who is not intuitionally vivified by the religious spirit of old,
will never see beyond the exoteric "twaddle."
When first we read
that "in the cavity of the cranium of Macroprosopos -- the Long-Face --
lies hidden the aerial WISDOM which nowhere is opened; and it is not
discovered, and not opened"; or again, that "the nose of the 'ancient
of days' is Life in every part"; we are inclined to regard it as the
incoherent ravings of a lunatic. And when, moreover, we are apprized by the
Codex Nazaraeus that "she, the Spiritus," invites her son Karabtanos,
"who is frantic and without judgment," to an unnatural crime with his
own mother, we are pretty well disposed to throw the book aside in disgust. But
is this only meaningless trash, expressed in rude and even obscene language? No
more can it be judged by external appearance than the sexual symbols of the
Egyptian and Hindu religions, or the coarse frankness of expression of the
"holy" Bible itself. No more than the allegory of Eve and the
tempting serpent of Eden. The ever-insinuating, restless spirit, when once it
"falls into matter," tempts Eve, or Hava, which bodily represent
chaotic matter "frantic and without judgment." For matter,
Karabtanos, is the son of Spirit, or
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VISHNU.
the Spiritus of the
Nazarenes, the Sophia-Achamoth, and the latter is the daughter of the pure,
intellectual spirit, the divine breath. When science shall have effectually
demonstrated to us the origin of matter, and proved the fallacy of the
occultists and old philosophers who held (as their descendants now hold) that
matter is but one of the correlations of spirit, then will the world of
skeptics have a right to reject the old Wisdom, or throw the charge of
obscenity in the teeth of the old religions.
"From time
immemorial,"* says Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, "an emblem has been
worshipped in Hindustan as the type of creation, or the origin of life. It is
the most common symbol of Siva [Bala, or Maha-Deva], and is universally
connected with his worship. . . . Siva was not merely the reproducer of human
forms; he represented the fructifying principle, the generative power that
pervades the universe. . . . Small images of this emblem carved in ivory, gold,
or crystal, are worn as ornaments about the neck. . . . The maternal emblem is
likewise a religious type; and worshippers of Vishnu represent it on their
forehead by a horizontal mark. . . . Is it strange that they regarded with
reverence the great mystery of human birth? Were they impure thus to regard it?
Or are we impure that we do not so regard it? We have travelled far, and
unclean have been the paths, since those old Anchorites first spoke of God and
the soul in the solemn depths of their first sanctuaries. Let us not smile at
their mode of tracing the infinite and incomprehensible Cause throughout all
the mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own
grossness on their patriarchal simplicity."
Many are the
scholars who have tried, to the best of their ability, to do justice to old
India. Colebrooke, Sir William Jones, Barthelemy St. Hilaire, Lassen, Weber,
Strange, Burnouf, Hardy, and finally Jacolliot, have all brought forward their
testimony to her achievements in legislation, ethics, philosophy, and religion.
No people in the world have ever attained to such a grandeur of thought in
ideal conceptions of the Deity and its offspring, MAN, as the Sanscrit
metaphysicians and theologians. "My complaint against many translators and
Orientalists," says Jacolliot, "while admiring their profound knowledge
is, that not having lived in India, they fail in exactness of expression and in
comprehension of the symbolical sense of poetic chants, prayers, and
ceremonies, and thus too often fall into material errors, whether of
translation or appreciation."** Further, this author who, from a long
residence in India, and the study of its literature, is better qualified to
testify than those who have never been there, tells us that "the life of
several generations would scarce suf-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Progress of
Religious Ideas through Successive Ages," vol. i., p. 17.
** "La Bible
dans l'Inde."
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fice merely to read
the works that ancient India has left us on history, ethics (morale), poetry,
philosophy, religion, different sciences, and medicine." And yet Louis
Jacolliot is able to judge but by the few fragments, access to which had ever
depended on the complaisance and friendship of a few Brahmans with whom he
succeeded in becoming intimate. Did they show him all their treasures? Did they
explain to him all he desired to learn? We doubt it, otherwise he would not
himself have judged their religious ceremonies so hastily as he has upon
several occasions merely upon circumstantial evidence.
Still, no traveller
has shown himself fairer in the main or more impartial to India than Jacolliot.
If he is severe as to her present degradation, he is still severer to those who
were the cause of it -- the sacerdotal caste of the last few centuries -- and
his rebuke is proportionate to the intensity of his appreciation of her past
grandeur. He shows the sources whence proceeded the revelations of all the
ancient creeds, including the inspired Books of Moses, and points at India
directly as the cradle of humanity, the parent of all other nations, and the
hot-bed of all the lost arts and sciences of antiquity, for which old India,
herself, was lost already in the Cimmerian darkness of the archaic ages.
"To study India," he says, "is to trace humanity to its
sources."
"In the same
way as modern society jostles antiquity at each step," he adds, "as
our poets have copied Homer and Virgil, Sophocles and Euripides, Plautus and
Terence; as our philosophers have drawn inspiration from Socrates, Pythagoras,
Plato, and Aristotle; as our historians take Titus Livius, Sallust, or Tacitus,
as models; our orators, Demosthenes or Cicero; our physicians study
Hippocrates, and our codes transcribe Justinian -- so had antiquity's self also
an antiquity to study, to imitate, and to copy. What more simple and more
logical? Do not peoples precede and succeed each other? Does the knowledge,
painfully acquired by one nation, confine itself to its own territory, and die
with the generation that produced it? Can there be any absurdity in the
suggestion that the India of 6,000 years ago, brilliant, civilized, overflowing
with population, impressed upon Egypt, Persia, Judea, Greece, and Rome, a stamp
as ineffaceable, impressions as profound, as these last have impressed upon us?
"It is time to
disabuse ourselves of those prejudices which represent the ancients as having
almost spontaneously-elaborated ideas, philosophic, religious, and moral, the
most lofty -- those prejudices that in their naive admiration explain all in
the domain of science, arts, and letters, by the intuition of some few great
men, and in the realm of religion by revelation."*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Bible
dans l'Inde."
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We believe that the
day is not far off when the opponents of this fine and erudite writer will be
silenced by the force of irrefutable evidence. And when facts shall once have
corroborated his theories and assertions, what will the world find? That it is
to India, the country less explored, and less known than any other, that all
the other great nations of the world are indebted for their languages, arts,
legislature, and civilization. Its progress, impeded for a few centuries before
our era -- for, as this writer shows, at the epoch of the great Macedonian
conqueror, "India had already passed the period of her splendor" --
was completely stifled in the subsequent ages. But the evidence of her past glories
lies in her literature. What people in all the world can boast of such a
literature, which, were the Sanscrit less difficult, would be more studied than
now? Hitherto the general public has had to rely for information on a few
scholars who, notwithstanding their great learning and trustworthiness, are
unequal to the task of translating and commenting upon more than a few books
out of the almost countless number that, notwithstanding the vandalism of the
missionaries, are still left to swell the mighty volume of Sanscrit literature.
And to do even so much is the labor of a European's lifetime. Hence, people
judge hastily, and often make the most ridiculous blunders.
Quite recently a
certain Reverend Dunlop Moore, of New Brighton, Pa., determined to show his
cleverness and piety at a single stroke, attacked the statement made by a
Theosophist in a discourse delivered at the cremation of Baron de Palm, that
the Code of Manu existed a thousand years before Moses. "All Orientalists
of any note," he says, "are now agreed that the Institutes of Manu
were written at different times. The oldest part of the collection probably
dates from the sixth century before the Christian era."* Whatever other
Orientalists, encountered by this Pennsylvania pundit, may think, Sir William
Jones is of a different opinion. "It is clear," he says, "that
the Laws of Manu, such as we possess them, and which comprise but 680 slokas,
cannot be the work attributed to Soumati, which is probably that described
under the name of Vriddha Manava, or Ancient Code of Manu, which has not yet
been entirely reconstructed, although many passages of the book have been
preserved by tradition, and are often cited by commentators."
"We read in
the preface to a treatise on legislation by Narada," says Jacolliot,
"written by one of his adepts, a client of Brahmanical power: 'Manu having
written the laws of Brahma, in 100,000 slokas, or distichs, which formed
twenty-four books and a thousand chapters, gave the work to Narada, the sage of
sages, who abridged it for the use
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Presbyterian Banner," December 20, 1876.
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of mankind to
12,000 verses, which he gave to a son of Brighou, named Soumati, who, for the
greater convenience of man, reduced them to 4,000.' "
Here we have the
opinion of Sir William Jones, who, in 1794, affirmed that the fragments in
possession of the Europeans could not be The Ancient Code of Manu, and that of
Louis Jacolliot, who, in 1868, after consulting all the authorities, and adding
to them the result of his own long and patient research, writes the following:
"The Hindu laws were codified by Manu more than 3,000 years before the
Christian era, copied by the whole of antiquity, and notably by Rome, which
alone has left us a written law -- the Code of Justinian; which has been
adopted as the basis of all modern legislations."*
In another volume,
entitled Christna et le Christ, in a scientific arraignment of a pious, albeit
very learned Catholic antagonist, M. Textor de Ravisi, who seeks to prove that
the orthography of the name Christna is not warranted by its Sanscrit spelling
-- and has the worst of it -- Jacolliot remarks: "We know that the
legislator Manu is lost in the night of the ante-historical period of India;
and that no Indianist has dared to refuse him the title of the most ancient
law-giver in the world" (p. 350).
But Jacolliot had
not heard of the Rev. Dunlop Moore. This is why, perhaps, he and several other
Indiologists are preparing to prove that many of the Vedic texts, as well as
those of Manu, sent to Europe by the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, are not
genuine texts at all, but mostly due to the cunning tentative efforts of
certain Jesuit missionaries to mislead science, by the help of apocryphal works
calculated at once to throw upon the history of ancient India a cloud of
uncertainty and darkness, and on the modern Brahmans and pundits a suspicion of
systematical interpolation. "These facts," he adds, "which are
so well established in India that they are not even brought in question, must
be revealed to Europe" (Christna et le Christ, p. 347).
Moreover, the Code
of Manu, known to European Orientalists as that one which is commented upon by
Brighou, does not even form a part of the ancient Manu called the
Vriddha-Manava. Although but small fragments of it have been discovered by our
scientists, it does exist as a whole in certain temples; and Jacolliot proves
that the texts sent to Europe disagree entirely with the same texts as found in
the pagodas of Southern India. We can also cite for our purpose Sir William
Jones, who, complaining of Callouca, remarks that the latter seems in his
commentaries to have never considered that "the laws of Manu are
restricted to the first three ages" (Translation of Manu and
Commentaries).
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Bible dans
l'Inde."
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According to
computation we are now in the age of Kali-Yug, the third, reckoning from that
of Satya or Kritayug, first age in which Hindu tradition establishes the laws
of Manu, and the authenticity of which Sir William Jones implicitly accepted.
Admitting all that may be said as to the enormous exaggerations of Hindu
chronology -- which, by the bye, dovetails far better with modern geology and
anthropology than the 6,000 years' caricature chronology of the Jewish
Scripture -- still as about 4,500 years have elapsed since the fourth age of
the world, or Kali-Yug, began, we have here a proof that one of the greatest
Orientalists that ever lived -- and a Christian in the bargain, not a
Theosophist -- believed that Manu is many thousand years older than Moses.
Clearly one of two things should happen: Either Indian history should be
remodelled for the Presbyterian Banner, or the writers for that sheet should
study Hindu literature before trying their hand again at criticism of
Theosophists.
But apart from the
private opinions of these reverend gentlemen whose views very little concern
us, we find even in the New American Cyclopaedia a decided tendency to dispute
the antiquity and importance of the Hindu literature. The Laws of Manu, says
one of the writers, "do not date earlier than the third century B.C."
This term is a very elastic one. If by the Laws of Manu the writer means the
abridgment of these laws, compiled and arranged by later Brahmans to serve as
an authority for their ambitious projects, and with an idea of creating for
themselves a rule of domination, then, in such a sense, they may be right,
though we are prepared to dispute even that. At all events it is as little
proper to pass off this abridgment for the genuine old laws codified by Manu,
as to assert that the Hebrew Bible does not date earlier than the tenth century
of our era, because we have no Hebrew manuscript older than that, or that the
poems of Homer's Iliad were neither known nor written before its first
authenticated manuscript was found. There is no Sanscrit manuscript in the
possession of European scholars much older than four or five centuries,* a fact
which did not in the least restrain them from assigning to the Vedas an
antiquity of between four or five thousand years. There are the strongest
possible arguments in favor of the great antiquity of the Books of Manu, and
without going to the trouble of quoting the opinions of various scholars, no
two of whom agree, we will bring forward our own, at least as regards this most
unwarranted assertion of the Cyclopaedia.
If, as Jacolliot
proves, text in hand, the Code of Justinian was copied from the Laws of Manu,
we have first of all to ascertain the age of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Max Muller's
"Lecture on the Vedas."
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former; not as a
written and perfect code, but its origin. To answer, is not difficult we
believe.
According to Varro,
Rome was built in 3961 of the Julian period (754 B.C.). The Roman Law, as
embodied by order of Justinian, and known as the Corpus Juris Civilis, was not
a code, we are told, but a digest of the customs of legislation of many
centuries. Though nothing is actually known of the original authorities, the
chief source from which the jus scriptum, or written law, was derived, was the
jus non scriptum, or the law of custom. Now it is just on this law of custom
that we are prepared to base our arguments. The law of the twelve tables,
moreover, was compiled about A.U.C. 300, and even this as respects private law
was compiled from still earlier sources. Therefore, if these earlier sources
are found to agree so well with the Laws of Manu, which the Brahmans claim to
have been codified in the Kritayug, an age anterior to the actual Kali-yug,
then we must suppose that this source of the "Twelve Tables," as laws
of custom and tradition, are at least, by several hundred years, older than
their copyists. This, alone, carries us right back to more than 1,000 years
B.C.
The Manava Dharma
Sastra, embodying the Hindu system of cosmogony, is recognized as next to the
Vedas in antiquity; and even Colebrooke assigns the latter to the fifteenth
century B.C. And, now, what is the etymology of the name of Manava Dharma
Sastra? It is a word compounded of Manu; d'harma, institute; and sastra,
command or law. How then can Manu's laws date only since the third century
before our Christian era?
The Hindu Code had
never laid any claims to be divinely revealed. The distinction made by the
Brahmans themselves between the Vedas and every other sacred book of however
respectable an antiquity, is a proof of it. While every sect holds the Vedas as
the direct word of God -- sruti (revelation) -- the Code of Manu is designated
by them simply as the smriti, a collection of oral traditions. Still these
traditions, or "recollections," are among the oldest as well as the
most revered in the land. But, perhaps, the strongest argument in favor of its
antiquity, and the general esteem in which it is held, lies in the following
fact. The Brahmans have undeniably remodelled these traditions at some distant
period, and made many of the actual laws, as they now stand in the Code of
Manu, to answer their ambitious views. Therefore, they must have done it at a
time when the burning of widows (suttee) was neither practiced nor intended to
be, which it has been for nearly 2,500 years. No more than in the Vedas is
there any such atrocious law mentioned in the Code of Manu! Who, unless he is
completely unacquainted with the history of India, but knows that this country
was once on the verge of a
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TRANS-HIMALAYAN SEA.
religious rebellion
occasioned by the prohibition of suttee by the English government? The Brahmans
appealed to a verse from the Rig-Veda which commanded it. But this verse has
been recently proved to have been falsified.* Had the Brahmans been the sole
authors of the Code of Manu, or had they codified it entirely instead of simply
filling it with interpolations to answer their object not earlier than the time
of Alexander, how is it possible that they would have neglected this most
important point, and so imperilled its authority? This fact alone proves that
the Code must be counted one of their most ancient books.
It is on the
strength of such circumstantial evidence -- that of reason and logic -- that we
affirm that, if Egypt furnished Greece with her civilization, and the latter
bequeathed hers to Rome, Egypt herself had, in those unknown ages when Menes
reigned,** received her laws, her social institutions, her arts and her sciences,
from pre-Vedic India;*** and that therefore, it is in that old initiation of
the priests -- adepts of all the other countries -- we must seek for the key to
the great mysteries of humanity.
And when we say,
indiscriminately, "India," we do not mean the India of our modern
days, but that of the archaic period. In those ancient times countries which
are now known to us by other names were all called India. There was an Upper, a
Lower, and a Western India, the latter of which is now Persia-Iran. The countries
now named Thibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary, were also considered by the
ancient writers as India. We will now give a legend in relation to those places
which science now fully concedes to have been the cradle of humanity.
Tradition says, and
the records of the Great Book explain, that long before the days of Ad-am, and
his inquisitive wife, He-va, where now are found but salt lakes and desolate
barren deserts, there was a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia,
north of the proud Himalayan range, and its western prolongation. An island,
which for its unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by
the last remnant of the race which preceded ours. This race could live with
equal ease in water, air, or fire, for it had an unlimited control over the
elements. These were the "Sons of God"; not those who saw the
daughters of men, but the real Elohim, though in the Oriental Kabala they have
another name. It was they who imparted Nature's most weird secrets to men, and
revealed to them the ineffable, and now lost "word."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Roth's
"The Burial in India"; Max Muller's "Comparative Mythology"
(Lecture); Wilson's article, "The Supposed Vaidic Authority for the
Burning of Hindu Widows," etc.
** Bunsen gives as
the first year of Menes, 3645; Manetho as 3892 B.C. "Egypt's Place,"
etc., vol. v., 34; Key.
*** Louis
Jacolliot, in "The Bible in India," affirms the same.
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This word, which is
no word, has travelled once around the globe, and still lingers as a far-off
dying echo in the hearts of some privileged men. The hierophants of all the
Sacerdotal Colleges were aware of the existence of this island, but the
"word" was known only to the Java Aleim, or chief lord of every
college, and was passed to his successor only at the moment of death. There
were many such colleges, and the old classic authors speak of them.
We have already
seen that it is one of the universal traditions accepted by all the ancient
peoples that there were many races of men anterior to our present races. Each
of these was distinct from the one which preceded it; and each disappeared as
the following appeared. In Manu, six such races are plainly mentioned as having
succeeded each other.
"From this
Manu Swayambhouva (the minor, and answering to Adam Kadmon) issued from
Swayambhouva, or the Being existing through himself, descended six other Manus
(men typifying progenitors), each of whom gave birth to a race of men. . . .
These Manus, all powerful, of whom Swayambhouva is the first, have each, in his
period -- antara -- produced and directed this world composed of movable and
unmovable beings" (Manu, book i.).
In the
Siva-Purana,* it runs thus:
"O Siva, thou
god of fire, mayest thou destroy my sins, as the bleaching-grass of the jungle
is destroyed by fire. It is through thy mighty Breath that Adhima (the first
man) and Heva (completion of life, in Sanscrit), the ancestors of this race of
men have received life and covered the world with their descendants."
There was no
communication with the fair island by sea, but subterranean passages known only
to the chiefs, communicated with it in all directions. Tradition points to many
of the majestic ruins of India, Ellora, Elephanta, and the caverns of Ajunta
(Chandor range), which belonged once to those colleges, and with which were
connected such subterranean ways.** Who can tell but the lost Atlantis -- which
is also
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Purana means
ancient and sacred history or tradition. See Loiseleur Des-longchamp's
translations of "Manu"; also L. Jacolliot's "La Genese dans
l'Humanite."
** There are
archaeologists, who, like Mr. James Fergusson, deny the great antiquity of even
one single monument in India. In his work, "Illustrations of the Rock-Cut
Temples of India," the author ventures to express the very extraordinary
opinion that "Egypt had ceased to be a nation before the earliest of the
cave-temples of India was excavated." In short, he does not admit the
existence of any cave anterior to the reign of Asoka, and seems willing to
prove that most of these rock-cut temples were executed from the time of that
pious Buddhist king, till the destruction of the Andhra dynasty of Maghada, in
the beginning of the fifth century. We believe such a claim
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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NAME AMERICA.
mentioned in the
Secret Book, but, again, under another name, pronounced in the sacred language
-- did not exist yet in those days? The great lost continent might have,
perhaps, been situated south of Asia, extending from India to Tasmania?* If the
hypothesis now so much doubted, and positively denied by some learned authors
who regard it as a joke of Plato's, is ever verified, then, perhaps, will the
scientists believe that the description of the god-inhabited continent was not
altogether fable. And they may then perceive that Plato's guarded hints and the
fact of his attributing the narrative to Solon and the Egyptian priests, were
but a prudent way of imparting the fact to the world and by cleverly combining
truth and fiction, to disconnect himself from a story which the obligations
imposed at initiation forbade him to divulge.
And how could the
name of Atlanta itself originate with Plato at all? Atlante is not a Greek
name, and its construction has nothing of the Grecian element in it. Brasseur
de Bourbourg tried to demonstrate it years ago, and Baldwin, in his Prehistoric
Nations and Ancient America, cites the former, who declares that "the
words Atlas and Atlantic have no satisfactory etymology in any language known
in Europe. They are not Greek, and cannot be referred to any known language of
the Old World. But in the Nahuatl (or Toltec) language we find immediately the
radical a, atl, which signifies water, war, and the top of the head. From this
comes a series of words, such as atlan, or the border of or amid the water;
from which we have the adjective Atlantic. We have also atlaca, to combat. . .
. A city named Atlan existed when the continent was discovered by Columbus, at
the entrance of the Gulf of Uraha, in Darien, with a good harbor. It is now
reduced to an unimportant pueblo (village) named Aclo."**
Is it not, to say
the least, very extraordinary to find in America a city called by a name which
contains a purely local element, foreign moreover to every other country, in
the alleged fiction of a philosopher of 400 years B.C.? The same may be said of
the name of America, which may one day be found more closely related to Meru,
the sacred mount in the centre of the seven continents, according to the Hindu
tradition, than to Americus Vespucius, whose name by the bye, was never
Americus at all, but Albericus, a trifling difference not deemed worth
mentioning till very lately by exact history.* We adduce the following reasons
in favor of our argument:
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] perfectly arbitrary. Further discoveries are
sure to show how erroneous and unwarranted it was.
* It is a strange
coincidence that when first discovered, America was found to bear among some
native tribes the name of Atlanta.
** Baldwin:
"Prehistoric Nations," p. 179.
*** Alberico
Vespuzio, the son of Anastasio Vespuzio or Vespuchy, is now gravely
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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1st. Americ,
Amerrique, or Amerique is the name in Nicaragua for the high land or mountain
range that lies between Juigalpa and Libertad, in the province of Chontales,
and which reaches on the one side into the country of the Carcas Indians, and
on the other side into the country of the Ramas Indians.
Ic or ique, as a
terminal, means great, as cazique, etc.
Columbus mentions,
in his fourth voyage, the village Cariai, probably Caicai. The people abounded
with sorcerers, or medicine men; and this was the region of the Americ range,
3,000 feet high.
Yet he omits to
mention this word.
The name America
Provincia, first appeared on a map published at Basle, in 1522. Till that time,
the region was believed to be part of India. That year Nicaragua was conquered
by Gil Gonzales de Avida.*
2d. "The
Northmen who visited the continent in the tenth century,** a low level coast
thickly covered with wood," called it Markland, from mark, a wood. The r
had a rolling sound as in marrick. A similar word is found in the country of
the Himalayas, and the name of the World-Mountain, Meru, is pronounced in some
dialects as MERUAH, the letter h being strongly aspirated. The main idea is,
however, to show how two peoples could possibly accept a word of similar sound,
each having used it in their own sense, and finding it applied to the same
territory.
"It is most
plausible," says Professor Wilder, "that the State of Central
America, where we find the name Americ signifying (like the Hindu Meru we may
add) great mountain, gave the continent its name. Vespucius would have used his
surname if he had designed to give a title to a continent. If the Abbe de
Bourbourg's theory of Atlan as the source of Atlas and Atlantic is verified,
the two hypotheses could agree most charmingly. As Plato was not the only
writer that treated of a world beyond the pillars of Hercules, and as the ocean
is still shallow and grows sea-weed all through the tropical part of the
Atlantic, it is not wild to imagine that this continent projected, or that
there was an island-world on that coast. The Pacific also shows signs of having
been a populous island-empire of Malays or Javanese -- if not a continent amid
the North and South. We know that Lemuria in the Indian Ocean is a dream of
scientists; and that the Sahara and the middle belt of Asia were perhaps once
sea-beds."
To continue the
tradition, we have to add that the class of hiero-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] doubted in regard to the naming of the New
World. Indeed the name is said to have occurred in a work written several
centuries before. A. Wilder (Notes).
* See Thomas Belt:
"The Naturalists in Nicaragua." London, 1873.
** Torfieus: "Historia
Vinlandiae Antiquae."
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ATLANTIS-RACE.
phants was divided
into two distinct categories: those who were instructed by the "Sons of
God," of the island, and who were initiated in the divine doctrine of pure
revelation, and others who inhabited the lost Atlantis -- if such must be its
name -- and who, being of another race, were born with a sight which embraced
all hidden things, and was independent of both distance and material obstacle.
In short, they were the fourth race of men mentioned in the Popol-Vuh, whose
sight was unlimited and who knew all things at once. They were, perhaps, what
we would now term "natural-born mediums," who neither struggled nor
suffered to obtain their knowledge, nor did they acquire it at the price of any
sacrifice. Therefore, while the former walked in the path of their divine
instructors, and acquiring their knowledge by degrees, learned at the same time
to discern the evil from the good, the born adepts of the Atlantis blindly
followed the insinuations of the great and invisible "Dragon," the
King Thevetat (the Serpent of Genesis?). Thevetat had neither learned nor
acquired knowledge, but, to borrow an expression of Dr. Wilder in relation to
the tempting Serpent, he was "a sort of Socrates who knew without being
initiated." Thus, under the evil insinuations of their demon, Thevetat, the
Atlantis-race became a nation of wicked magicians. In consequence of this, war
was declared, the story of which would be too long to narrate; its substance
may be found in the disfigured allegories of the race of Cain, the giants, and
that of Noah and his righteous family. The conflict came to an end by the
submersion of the Atlantis; which finds its imitation in the stories of the
Babylonian and Mosaic flood: The giants and magicians " . . . and all
flesh died . . . and every man." All except Xisuthrus and Noah, who are
substantially identical with the great Father of the Thlinkithians in the
Popol-Vuh, or the sacred book of the Guatemaleans, which also tells of his
escaping in a large boat, like the Hindu Noah -- Vaiswasvata.
If we believe the
tradition at all, we have to credit the further story that from the
intermarrying of the progeny of the hierophants of the island and the
descendants of the Atlantian Noah, sprang up a mixed race of righteous and
wicked. On the one side the world had its Enochs, Moseses, Gautama-Buddhas, its
numerous "Saviours," and great hierophants; on the other hand, its
"natural magicians" who, through lack of the restraining power of
proper spiritual enlightenment, and because of weakness of physical and mental
organizations, unintentionally perverted their gifts to evil purposes. Moses
had no word of rebuke for those adepts in prophecy and other powers who had
been instructed in the colleges of esoteric wisdom* mentioned in the Bible. His
denunciations
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* 2 Kings, xxii.
14; 2 Chronicles, xxxiv. 22.
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were reserved for
such as either wittingly or otherwise debased the powers inherited from their
Atlantian ancestors to the service of evil spirits, to the injury of humanity.
His wrath was kindled against the spirit of Ob, not that of OD.***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*** As we are going
to press with this chapter, we have received from Paris, through the kindness
of the Honorable John L. O'Sullivan, the complete works of Louis Jacolliot in
twenty-one volumes. They are chiefly upon India and its old traditions,
philosophy, and religion. This indefatigable writer has collected a world of
information from various sources, mostly authentic. While we do not accept his
personal views on many points, still we freely acknowledge the extreme value of
his copious translations from the Indian sacred books. The more so, since we
find them corroborating in every respect the assertions we have made. Among
other instances is this matter of the submergence of continents in prehistoric days.
In his
"Histoire des Vierges: Les Peuples et les Continents Disparus," he
says: "One of the most ancient legends of India, preserved in the temples
by oral and written tradition, relates that several hundred thousand years ago
there existed in the Pacific Ocean, an immense continent which was destroyed by
geological upheaval, and the fragments of which must be sought in Madagascar,
Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the principal isles of Polynesia.
"The high
plateaux of Hindustan and Asia, according to this hypothesis, would only have
been represented in those distant epochs by great islands contiguous to the
central continent. . . . According to the Brahmans this country had attained a
high civilization, and the peninsula of Hindustan, enlarged by the displacement
of the waters, at the time of the grand cataclysm, has but continued the chain
of the primitive traditions born in this place. These traditions give the name
of Rutas to the peoples which inhabited this immense equinoctial continent, and
from their speech was derived the Sanscrit." (We will have something to
say of this language in our second volume.)
"The
Indo-Hellenic tradition, preserved by the most intelligent population which
emigrated from the plains of India, equally relates the existence of a
continent and a people to which it gives the name of Atlantis and Atlantides,
and which it locates in the Atlantic in the northern portion of the Tropics.
"Apart from
the fact that the supposition of an ancient continent in those latitudes, the
vestiges of which may be found in the volcanic islands and mountainous surface
of the Azores, the Canaries and Cape Verd, is not devoid of geographical
probability, the Greeks, who, moreover, never dared to pass beyond the pillars
of Hercules, on account of their dread of the mysterious ocean, appeared too
late in antiquity for the stories preserved by Plato to be anything else than
an echo of the Indian legend. Moreover, when we cast a look on a planisphere,
at the sight of the islands and islets strewn from the Malayan Archipelago to
Polynesia, from the straits of Sund to Easter Island, it is impossible, upon
the hypothesis of continents preceding those which we inhabit, not to place
there the most important of all.
"A religious
belief, common to Malacca and Polynesia, that is to say to the two opposite
extremes of the Oceanic world, affirms 'that all these islands once formed two
immense countries, inhabited by yellow men and black men, always at war; and
that the gods, wearied with their quarrels, having charged Ocean to pacify
them, the latter swallowed up the two continents, and since, it had been
impossible to make him give up his captives. Alone, the mountain-peaks and high
plateaux escaped the flood, by the power of the gods, who perceived too late the
mistake they had committed.' [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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PERU.
The ruins which
cover both Americas, and are found on many West Indian islands, are all
attributed to the submerged Atlantians. As well as the hierophants of the old
world, which in the days of Atlantis was almost connected with the new one by
land, the magicians of the now submerged country had a net-work of subterranean
passages running in all directions. In connection with those mysterious
catacombs we will now give a curious story told to us by a Peruvian, long since
dead, as we were travelling together in the interior of his country. There must
be truth in it; as it was afterward confirmed to us by an Italian gentleman who
had seen the place and who, but for lack of means and time, would have verified
the tale himself, at least partially. The informant of the Italian was an old
priest, who had had the secret divulged to him, at confession, by a Peruvian
Indian. We may add, moreover, that the priest was com-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] "Whatever there may be in these traditions,
and whatever may have been the place where a civilization more ancient than
that of Rome, of Greece, of Egypt, and of India was developed, it is certain
that this civilization did exist, and that it is highly important for science
to recover its traces, however feeble and fugitive they may be" (pp.
13-15).
This last
tradition, translated by Louis Jacolliot from the Sanscrit manuscripts,
corroborates the one we have given from the "Records of the Secret
Doctrine." The war mentioned between the yellow and the black men, relates
to a struggle between the "sons of God" and the "sons of
giants," or the inhabitants and magicians of the Atlantis.
The final
conclusion of M. Jacolliot, who visited personally all the islands of
Polynesia, and devoted years to the study of the religion, language, and
traditions of nearly all the peoples, is as follows:
"As to the
Polynesian continent which disappeared at the time of the final geological
cataclysms, its existence rests on such proofs that to be logical we can doubt
no longer.
"The three
summits of this continent, Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, Easter Island, are
distant from each other from fifteen to eighteen hundred leagues, and the
groups of intermediate islands, Viti, Samoa, Tonga, Foutouna, Ouvea, Marquesas,
Tahiti, Pournouton, Gambiers, are themselves distant from these extreme points
from seven or eight hundred to one thousand leagues.
"All
navigators agree in saying that the extreme and the central groups could never
have communicated in view of their actual geographical position, and with the
insufficient means they had at hand. It is physically impossible to cross such
distances in a pirogue . . . without a compass, and travel months without
provisions.
"On the other
hand, the aborigines of the Sandwich Islands, of Viti, of New Zealand, of the
central groups, of Samoa, Tahiti, etc., had never known each other, had never
heard of each other before the arrival of the Europeans. And yet, each of these
people maintained that their island had at one time formed a part of an immense
stretch of land which extended toward the West, on the side of Asia. And all,
brought together, were found to speak the same language, to have the same
usages, the same customs, the same religious belief. And all to the question,
'Where is the cradle of your race?' for sole response, extended their hand
toward the setting sun" (Ibid., p. 308).
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pelled to make the
revelation, being at the time completely under the mesmeric influence of the
traveller.
The story concerns
the famous treasures of the last of the Incas. The Peruvian asserted that since
the well-known and miserable murder of the latter by Pizarro, the secret had
been known to all the Indians, except the Mestizos who could not be trusted. It
runs thus: The Inca was made prisoner, and his wife offered for his liberation
a room full of gold, "from the floor up to the ceiling, as high up as his
conqueror could reach" before the sun would set on the third day. She kept
her promise, but Pizarro broke his word, according to Spanish practice. Marvelling
at the exhibition of such treasures, the conqueror declared that he would not
release the prisoner, but would murder him, unless the queen revealed the place
whence the treasure came. He had heard that the Incas had somewhere an
inexhaustible mine; a subterranean road or tunnel running many miles under
ground, where were kept the accumulated riches of the country. The unfortunate
queen begged for delay, and went to consult the oracles. During the sacrifice,
the chief-priest showed her in the consecrated "black mirror"* the
unavoidable murder of her husband, whether she delivered the treasures of the
crown to Pizarro or not. Then the queen gave the order to close the entrance,
which was a door cut in the rocky wall of a chasm. Under the direction of the
priest and magicians, the chasm was accordingly filled to the top with huge
masses of rock, and the surface covered over so as to conceal the work. The
Inca was murdered by the Spaniards and his unhappy queen committed suicide.
Spanish greed overreached itself and the secret of the buried treasures was
locked in the breasts of a few faithful Peruvians.
Our Peruvian
informant added that in consequence of certain indiscretions at various times,
persons had been sent by different governments to search for the treasure under
the pretext of scientific exploration. They had rummaged the country through,
but without realizing their object. So far this tradition is corroborated by
the reports of Dr. Tschuddi and other historians of Peru. But there are certain
additional details which we are not aware have been made public before now.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* These "magic
mirrors," generally black, are another proof of the universality of an
identical belief. In India these mirrors are prepared in the province of Agra
and are also fabricated in Thibet and China. And we find them in Ancient Egypt,
from whence, according to the native historian quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg,
the ancestors of the Quiches brought them to Mexico; the Peruvian
sun-worshippers also used it. When the Spaniards had landed, says the
historian, the King of the Quiches, ordered his priests to consult the mirror,
in order to learn the fate of his kingdom. "The demon reflected the
present and the future as in a mirror," he adds (De Bourbourg:
"Mexique," p. 184).
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Several years after
hearing the story, and its corroboration by the Italian gentleman, we again
visited Peru. Going southward from Lima, by water, we reached a point near
Arica at sunset, and were struck by the appearance of an enormous rock, nearly
perpendicular, which stood in mournful solitude on the shore, apart from the
range of the Andes. It was the tomb of the Incas. As the last rays of the
setting sun strike the face of the rock, one can make out, with an ordinary
opera-glass, some curious hieroglyphics inscribed on the volcanic surface.
When Cusco was the
capital of Peru, it contained a temple of the sun, famed far and near for its
magnificence. It was roofed with thick plates of gold, and the walls were
covered with the same precious metal; the eave-troughs were also of solid gold.
In the west wall the architects had contrived an aperture in such a way that
when the sunbeams reached it, it focused them inside the building. Stretching
like a golden chain from one sparkling point to another, they encircled the walls,
illuminating the grim idols, and disclosing certain mystic signs at other times
invisible. It was only by understanding these hieroglyphics -- identical with
those which may be seen to this day on the tomb of the Incas -- that one could
learn the secret of the tunnel and its approaches. Among the latter was one in
the neighborhood of Cusco, now masked beyond discovery. This leads directly
into an immense tunnel which runs from Cusco to Lima, and then, turning
southward, extends into Bolivia. At a certain point it is intersected by a
royal tomb. Inside this sepulchral chamber are cunningly arranged two doors;
or, rather, two enormous slabs which turn upon pivots, and close so tightly as
to be only distinguishable from the other portions of the sculptured walls by
the secret signs, whose key is in the possession of the faithful custodians.
One of these turning slabs covers the southern mouth of the Liman tunnel -- the
other, the northern one of the Bolivian corridor. The latter, running
southward, passes through Trapaca and Cobijo, for Arica is not far away from
the little river called Pay'quina,* which is the boundary between Peru and
Bolivia.
Not far from this
spot stand three separate peaks which form a curious triangle; they are
included in the chain of the Andes. According to tradition the only practicable
entrance to the corridor leading northward is in one of these peaks; but
without the secret of its landmarks, a regiment of Titans might rend the rocks
in vain in the attempt to find it. But even were some one to gain an entrance
and find his way as far as the turning slab in the wall of the sepulchre, and
attempt to blast it out,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pay'quina, or
Payaquina, so called because its waves used to drift particles of gold from the
Brazil. We found a few specks of genuine metal in a handful of sand that we
brought back to Europe.
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the superincumbent
rocks are so disposed as to bury the tomb, its treasures, and -- as the
mysterious Peruvian expressed it to us -- "a thousand warriors" in
one common ruin. There is no other access to the Arica chamber but through the
door in the mountain near Pay'quina. Along the entire length of the corridor,
from Bolivia to Lima and Cusco, are smaller hiding places filled with treasures
of gold and precious stone, the accumulations of many generations of Incas, the
aggregate value of which is incalculable.
We have in our
possession an accurate plan of the tunnel, the sepulchre, and the doors, given
to us at the time by the old Peruvian. If we had ever thought of profiting by
the secret, it would have required the cooperation of the Peruvian and Bolivian
governments on an extensive scale. To say nothing of physical obstacles, no one
individual or small party could undertake such an exploration without
encountering the army of smugglers and brigands with which the coast is
infested; and which, in fact, includes nearly the whole population. The mere
task of purifying the mephitic air of the tunnel, which had not been entered
for centuries, would also be a serious one. There, however, the treasure lies,
and there the tradition says it will lie till the last vestige of Spanish rule
disappears from the whole of North and South America.
The treasures
exhumed by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenae, have awakened popular cupidity, and the
eyes of adventurous speculators are being turned toward the localities where
the wealth of ancient peoples is supposed to be buried, in crypt or cave, or
beneath sand or alluvial deposit. Around no other locality, not even Peru, hang
so many traditions as around the Gobi Desert. In Independent Tartary this
howling waste of shifting sand was once, if report speaks correctly, the seat
of one of the richest empires the world ever saw. Beneath the surface are said
to lie such wealth in gold, jewels, statuary, arms, utensils, and all that
indicates civilization, luxury, and fine arts, as no existing capital of
Christendom can show to-day. The Gobi sand moves regularly from east to west
before terrific gales that blow continually. Occasionally some of the hidden
treasures are uncovered, but not a native dare touch them, for the whole
district is under the ban of a mighty spell. Death would be the penalty. Bahti
-- hideous, but faithful gnomes -- guard the hidden treasures of this
prehistoric people, awaiting the day when the revolution of cyclic periods
shall again cause their story to be known for the instruction of mankind.
According to local
tradition, the tomb of Ghengiz Khan still exists near Lake Tabasun Nor. Within
lies the Mongolian Alexander, as though asleep. After three more centuries he
will awake and lead his people to new victories and another harvest of glory.
Though this prophetic
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[[Vol. 1, Page]] 599 THE PRICELESS
REWARD OF HIOUEN-THSANG.
tradition be
received with ever so many grains of salt, we can affirm as a fact that the
tomb itself is no fiction, nor has its amazing richness been exaggerated.
The district of the
Gobi wilderness and, in fact, the whole area of Independent Tartary and Thibet
is jealously guarded against foreign intrusion. Those who are permitted to
traverse it are under the particular care and pilotage of certain agents of the
chief authority, and are in duty bound to convey no intelligence respecting
places and persons to the outside world. But for this restriction, even we
might contribute to these pages accounts of exploration, adventure, and
discovery that would be read with interest. The time will come, sooner or
later, when the dreadful sand of the desert will yield up its long-buried
secrets, and then there will indeed be unlooked-for mortifications for our
modern vanity.
"The people of
Pashai,"* says Marco Polo, the daring traveller of the thirteenth century,
"are great adepts in sorceries and the diabolic arts." And his
learned editor adds: "This Pashai, or Udyana, was the native country of
Padma Sambhava, one of the chief apostles of lamaism, i.e., of Thibetan
Buddhism, and a great master of enchantments. The doctrines of Sakya, as they
prevailed in Udyana in old times, were probably strongly tinged with Sivaitic
magic, and the Thibetans still regard the locality as the classic ground of
sorcery and witchcraft."
The "old
times" are just like the "modern times"; nothing is changed as
to magical practices except that they have become still more esoteric and
arcane, and that the caution of the adepts increases in proportion to the
traveller's curiosity. Hiouen-Thsang says of the inhabitants: "The men . .
. are fond of study, but pursue it with no ardor. The science of magical
formulae has become a regular professional business with them."** We will
not contradict the venerable Chinese pilgrim on this point, and are willing to
admit that in the seventh century some people made "a professional
business" of magic; so, also, do some people now, but certainly not the
true adepts. It is not Hiouen-Thsang, the pious, courageous man, who risked his
life a hundred times to have the bliss of perceiving Buddha's shadow in the
cave of Peshawer, who would have accused the holy lamas and monkish
thaumaturgists of "making a professional business" of showing it to
travellers. The injunction of Gautama, contained in his answer to King
Prasenagit, his protector, who called on him to perform miracles, must have
been ever
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The regions
somewhere about Udyana and Kashmere, as the translator and editor of Marco Polo
(Colonel Yule), believes. Vol. i., p. 173.
** "Voyage des
Pelerins, Bouddhistes," vol. i.; "Histoire de la Vie de
Hiouen-Thsang," etc., traduit du Chinois en francais, par Stanislas
Julien.
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present to the mind
of Hiouen-Thsang. "Great king," said Gautama, "I do not teach
the law to my pupils, telling them 'go, ye saints, and before the eyes of the
Brahmans and householders perform, by means of your supernatural powers,
miracles greater than any man can perform.' I tell them, when I teach them the
law, 'Live, ye saints, hiding your good works, and showing your sins.' "
Struck with the
accounts of magical exhibitions witnessed and recorded by travellers of every
age who had visited Tartary and Thibet, Colonel Yule comes to the conclusion
that the natives must have had "at their command the whole encyclopaedia
of modern 'Spiritualists.' Duhalde mentions among their sorceries the art of producing
by their invocations the figures of Laotsen* and their divinities in the air,
and of making a pencil write answers to questions without anybody touching
it."**
The former
invocations pertain to religious mysteries of their sanctuaries; if done otherwise,
or for the sake of gain, they are considered sorcery, necromancy, and strictly
forbidden. The latter art, that of making a pencil write without contact, was
known and practiced in China and other countries centuries before the Christian
era. It is the A B C of magic in those countries.
When Hiouen-Thsang
desired to adore the shadow of Buddha, it was not to "professional
magicians" that he resorted, but to the power of his own soul-invocation;
the power of prayer, faith, and contemplation. All was dark and dreary near the
cavern in which the miracle was alleged to take place sometimes. Hiouen-Thsang
entered and began his devotions. He made 100 salutations, but neither saw nor
heard anything. Then, thinking himself too sinful, he cried bitterly, and despaired.
But as he was going to give up all hope, he perceived on the eastern wall a
feeble light, but it disappeared. He renewed his prayers, full of hope this
time, and again he saw the light, which flashed and disappeared again. After
this he made a solemn vow: he would not leave the cave till he had the rapture
to see at last the shadow of the "Venerable of the Age." He had to
wait longer after this, for only after 200 prayers was the dark cave suddenly
"bathed in light, and the shadow of Buddha, of a brilliant white color,
rose majestically on the wall, as when the clouds suddenly open, and, all at
once, display the marvellous image of the 'Mountain of Light.' A dazzling
splendor lighted up the features of the divine countenance. Hiouen-Thsang was
lost in contemplation and wonder, and would not turn his eyes away from the
sublime and incom-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lao-tsi, the
Chinese philosopher.
** "The Book
of Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 318. See also, in this connection, the
experiments of Mr. Crookes, described in chapter vi. of this work.
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parable
object." Hiouen-Thsang adds in his own diary, See-yu-kee, that it is only
when man prays with sincere faith, and if he has received from above a hidden
impression, that he sees the shadow clearly, but he cannot enjoy the sight for
any length of time.*
Those who are so
ready to accuse the Chinese of irreligion will do well to read Schott's Essays
on Buddhism in China and Upper Asia.** "In the years Yuan-yeu of the Sung
(A.D. 1086-1093) a pious matron with her two servants lived entirely to the
Land of Enlightenment. One of the maids said one day to her companion:
'To-night I shall pass over to the Realm of Amita' (Buddha). The same night a
balsamic odor filled the house, and the maid died without any preceding
illness. On the following day the surviving maid said to her lady: 'Yesterday
my deceased companion appeared to me in a dream, and said: "Thanks to the
persevering supplications of our dear mistress, I am become an inhabitant of
Paradise, and my blessedness is past all expression in words." ' The
matron replied: 'If she will appear to me also, then will I believe all you
say.' The next night the deceased really appeared to her. The lady asked: 'May
I, for once, visit the Land of Enlightenment?' 'Yea,' answered the blessed
soul; 'thou hast but to follow thine hand-maiden.' The lady followed her (in
her dream), and soon perceived a lake of immeasurable expanse, overspread with
innumerable red and white lotus flowers, of various sizes, some blooming, some
fading. She asked what those flowers might signify? The maiden replied: 'These
are all human beings on the Earth whose thoughts are turned to the Land of
Enlightenment. The very first longing after the Paradise of Amita produces a
flower in the Celestial Lake, and this becomes daily larger and more glorious
as the self-improvement of the person whom it represents advances; in the
contrary case, it loses in glory and fades away.'*** The matron desired to know
the name of an enlightened one who reposed on one of the flowers, clad in a
waving and wondrously glistening raiment. Her whilom maiden answered: 'That is
Yang-kie.' Then asked she the name of another, and was answered: 'That is
Mahu.'
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Max Muller:
"Buddhist Pilgrims."
** Berlin Academy
of Sciences, 1846.
*** Colonel Yule
makes a remark in relation to the above Chinese mysticism which for its noble
fairness we quote most willingly. "In 1871," he says, "I saw in
Bond street an exhibition of the (so-called) 'spirit' drawings, i.e., drawings
executed by a 'medium' under extraneous and invisible guidance. A number of
these extraordinary productions (for extraordinary they were undoubtedly)
professed to represent the 'Spiritual Flowers' of such and such persons; and
the explanation of these as presented in the catalogue was in substance exactly
that given in the text. It is highly improbable that the artist had any
cognizance of Schott's Essays, and the coincidence was certainly very striking"
("The Book of Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 444).
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The lady then said:
'At what place shall I hereafter come into existence?' Then the Blessed Soul
led her a space further, and showed her a hill that gleamed with gold and
azure. 'Here,' said she, 'is your future abode. You will belong to the first
order of the blessed.' When the matron awoke, she sent to inquire for Yang-kie
and Mahu. The first was already departed; the other still alive and well. And
thus the lady learned that the soul of one who advances in holiness and never
turns back, may be already a dweller in the Land of Enlightenment, even though
the body still sojourn in this transitory world."
In the same essay,
another Chinese story is translated, and to the same effect: "I knew a
man," says the author, "who during his life had killed many living
beings, and was at last struck with an apoplexy. The sorrows in store for his
sin-laden soul pained me to the heart; I visited him, and exhorted him to call
on the Amita; but he obstinately refused. His illness clouded his
understanding; in consequence of his misdeeds he had become hardened. What was
before such a man when once his eyes were closed? In this life the night
followeth the day, and the winter followeth the summer; that, all men are aware
of. But that life is followed by death, no man will consider. Oh, what
blindness and obduracy is this!" (p. 93.)
These two instances
of Chinese literature hardly strengthen the usual charge of irreligion and
total materialism brought against the nation. The first little mystical story
is full of spiritual charm, and would grace any Christian religious book. The
second is as worthy of praise, and we have but to replace "Amita"
with "Jesus" to have a highly Orthodox tale, as regards religious
sentiments and code of philosophical morality. The following instance is still
more striking, and we quote it for the benefit of Christian revivalists:
"Hoang-ta-tie,
of T'anchen, who lived under the Sung, followed the craft of a blacksmith.
Whenever he was at his work he used to call, without intermission, on the name
of Amita Buddha. One day he handed to his neighbors the following verses of his
own composition to be spread about: --
'Ding dong! The
hammer-strokes fall long and fast,
Until the iron
turns to steel at last!
Now shall the long,
long day of rest begin,
The Land of Bliss
Eternal calls me in!'
"Thereupon he
died. But his verses spread all over Honan, and many learned to call upon
Buddha."*
To deny to the
Chinese or any people of Asia, whether Central,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Schott:
"Essay on Buddhism," p. 103.
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THE DESERT.
Upper, or Lower,
the possession of any knowledge, or even perception of spiritual things, is
perfectly ridiculous. From one end to the other the country is full of mystics,
religious philosophers, Buddhist saints, and magicians. Belief in a spiritual
world, full of invisible beings who, on certain occasions, appear to mortals
objectively, is universal. "According to the belief of the nations of
Central Asia," remarks I. J. Schmidt, "the earth and its interior, as
well as the encompassing atmosphere, are filled with spiritual beings, which exercise
an influence, partly beneficent, partly malignant, on the whole of organic and
inorganic nature. . . . Especially are deserts and other wild or uninhabited
tracts, or regions in which the influences of nature are displayed on a
gigantic and terrible scale, regarded as the chief abode or rendezvous of evil
spirits. And hence the steppes of Turan, and in particular the great sandy
Desert of Gobi have been looked on as the dwelling-place of malignant beings,
from days of hoary antiquity."
Marco Polo -- as a
matter of course -- mentions more than once in his curious book of Travels,
these tricky nature-spirits of the deserts. For centuries, and especially in
the last one, had his strange stories been completely rejected. No one would
believe him when he said he had witnessed, time and again, with his own eyes,
the most wonderful feats of magic performed by the subjects of Kublai-Khan and
adepts of other countries. On his death-bed Marco was strongly urged to retract
his alleged "falsehoods"; but he solemnly swore to the truth of what
he said, adding that "he had not told one-half of what he had really
seen!" There is now no doubt that he spoke the truth, since Marsden's
edition, and that of Colonel Yule have appeared. The public is especially
beholden to the latter for bringing forward so many authorities corroborative
of Marco's testimony, and explaining some of the phenomena in the usual way,
for he makes it plain beyond question that the great traveller was not only a
veracious but an exceedingly observant writer. Warmly defending his author, the
conscientious editor, after enumerating more than one hitherto controverted and
even rejected point in the Venetian's Travels, concludes by saying: "Nay,
the last two years have thrown a promise of light even on what seemed the wildest
of Marco's stories, and the bones of a veritable RUC from New Zealand lie on
the table of Professor Owen's cabinet!"*
The monstrous bird
of the Arabian Nights, or "Arabian Mythology," as Webster calls the
Ruc (or Roc), having been identified, the next thing in order is to discover
and recognize that Aladdin's magical lamp has also certain claims to reality.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Book of
Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., Preface to the second edition, p. viii.
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Describing his
passage through the great desert of Lop, Marco Polo speaks of a marvellous
thing, "which is that, when travellers are on the move by night . . . they
will hear spirits talking. Sometimes the spirits will call him by name . . .
even in the daytime one hears these spirits talking. And sometimes you shall
hear the sound of a variety of musical instruments, and still more commonly the
sound of drums."*
In his notes, the
translator quotes the Chinese historian, Matwanlin, who corroborates the same.
"During the passage of this wilderness you hear sounds," says
Matwanlin, "sometimes of singing, sometimes of wailing; and it has often
happened that travellers going aside to see what those sounds might be, have
strayed from their course and been entirely lost; for they were voices of
spirits and goblins."** "These goblins are not peculiar to the
Gobi," adds the editor, "though that appears to have been their most
favored haunt. The awe of the vast and solitary desert raises them in all
similar localities."
Colonel Yule would
have done well to consider the possibility of serious consequences arising from
the acceptance of his theory. If we admit that the weird cries of the Gobi are
due to the awe inspired "by the vast and solitary desert," why should
the goblins of the Gadarenes (Luke viii. 29) be entitled to any better
consideration? and why may not Jesus have been self-deceived as to his
objective tempter during the forty days' trial in the "wilderness"?
We are quite ready to receive or reject the theory enunciated by Colonel Yule,
but shall insist upon its impartial application to all cases. Pliny speaks of
the phantoms that appear and vanish in the deserts of Africa;*** AEthicus, the
early Christian cosmographer, mentions, though incredulous, the stories that
were told of the voices of singers and revellers in the desert; and "Mas'udi
tells of the ghuls, which in the deserts appear to travellers by night and in
lonely hours"; and also of "Apollonius of Tyana and his companions,
who, in a desert near the Indus by moonlight, saw an empusa or ghul taking many
forms. . . . They revile it, and it goes off uttering shrill cries."****
And Ibn Batuta relates a like legend of the Western Sahara: "If the
messenger be solitary, the demons sport with him and fascinate him, so that he
strays from his course and perishes."***** Now if all these matters are
capable of a "rational explanation," and we do not doubt it as
regards most of these cases, then, the Bible-devils of the wilderness deserve
no more consideration, but should have the same rule applied to them. They,
too, are creatures of terror, imagination, and superstition;
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 203.
**
"Visdelon," p. 130.
***
"Pliny," vii., 2.
****
"Philostratus," book ii., chap. iv.
***** Ibid., book
iv., p. 382; "Book of Ser Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 206.
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CALIFORNIA.
hence, the
narratives of the Bible must be false; and if one single verse is false, then a
cloud is thrown upon the title of all the rest to be considered divine
revelation. Once admit this, and this collection of canonical documents is at
least as amenable to criticism as any other book of stories.*
There are many
spots in the world where the strangest phenomena have resulted from what was
later ascertained to be natural physical causes. In Southern California there
are certain places on the sea-shore where the sand when disturbed produces a
loud musical ring. It is known as the "musical sand," and the
phenomenon is supposed to be of an electrical nature. "The sound of
musical instruments, chiefly of drums, is a phenomenon of another class, and is
really produced in certain situations among sandhills when the sand is
disturbed," says the editor of Marco Polo. "A very striking account
of a phenomenon of this kind, regarded as supernatural, is given by Friar
Odoric, whose experience I have traced to the Reg Ruwan or flowing sand north
of Kabul. Besides this celebrated example . . . I have noted that equally
well-known one of the Jibal Nakics, or 'Hill of the Bell' in the Sinai desert;
. . . Gibalul-Thabul, or hill of the drums. . . . A Chinese narrative of the
tenth century mentions the phenomenon as known near Kwachau, on the eastern
border of the Lop desert, under the name of "the singing sands."**
That all these are
natural phenomena, no one can doubt. But what of the questions and answers,
plainly and audibly given and received? What of conversations held between
certain travellers and the invisible spirits, or unknown beings, that sometimes
appear to whole caravans in tangible form? If so many millions believe in the
possibility that spirits may clothe themselves with material bodies, behind the
curtain of a "medium," and appear to the circle, why should they
reject the same possibility for the elemental spirits of the deserts? This is
the "to be,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* There are pious critics
who deny the world the same right to judge the "Bible" on the
testimony of deductive logic as "any other book." Even exact science
must bow to this decree. In the concluding paragraph of an article devoted to a
terrible onslaught on Baron Bunsen's "Chronology," which does not
quite agree with the "Bible," a writer exclaims, "the subject we
have proposed to ourselves is completed. . . . We have endeavored to meet
Chevalier Bunsen's charges against the inspiration of the "Bible" on
its own ground. . . . An inspired book . . . never can, as an expression of its
own teaching, or as a part of its own record, bear witness to any untrue or
ignorant statement of fact, whether in history or doctrine. If it be untrue in
its witness of one, who shall trust its truth in the witness of the
other?" ("The Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record,"
edited by the Rev. H. Burgess, Oct., 1859, p. 70.)
** Remusat:
"Histoire du Khotan," p. 74; "Marco Polo," vol. i., p. 206.
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or not to be"
of Hamlet. If "spirits" can do all that Spiritualists claim for them,
why can they not appear equally to the traveller in the wildernesses and
solitudes? A recent scientific article in a Russian journal attributes such
"spirit-voices," in the great Gobi desert, to the echo. A very
reasonable explanation, if it can only be demonstrated that these voices simply
repeat what has been previously uttered by a living person. But when the
"superstitious" traveller gets intelligent answers to his questions,
this Gobi echo at once shows a very near relationship with the famous echo of
the Theatre Porte St. Martin at Paris. "How do you do, sir?" shouts
one of the actors in the play. "Very poorly, my son; thank you. I am
getting old, very . . . very old!" politely answers the echo!
What incredulous
merriment must the superstitious and absurd narratives of Marco Polo, concerning
the "supernatural" gifts of certain shark and wild-beast charmers of
India, whom he terms Abraiaman, have excited for long centuries. Describing the
pearl-fishery of Ceylon, as it was in his time, he says that the merchants are
"obliged also to pay those men who charm the great fishes -- to prevent
them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water --
one-twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed
Abraiaman (Brahman?), and their charm holds good for that day only, for at
night they dissolve the charm, so that the fishes can work mischief at their
will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds, and every living
thing."
And this is what we
find in the explanatory notes of Colonel Yule, in relation to this degrading
Asiatic "superstition": "Marco's account of the pearl-fishery is
still substantially correct. . . . At the diamond mines of the northern
Circars, Brahmans are employed in the analogous office of propitiating the
tutelary genii. The shark-charmers are called in Tamil, Kadal-Katti,
'sea-binders,' and in Hindustani, Hai-banda, or 'shark-binders.' At Aripo they
belong to one family, supposed to have the monopoly of the charm.* The chief
operator is (or was, not many years ago) paid by the government, and he also
received ten oysters from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent, on his
visit, found the incumbent of the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian (?),
but that did not seem to affect the exercise of the validity of his functions.
It is remarkable that not more than one authenticated accident from sharks had
taken place during the whole period of the British occupation."**
Two items of fact
in the above paragraph are worthy of being
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Like the Psylli,
or serpent-charmers of Libya, whose gift is hereditary.
** "Ser Marco
Polo," vol. ii., p. 321.
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CEYLON.
placed in
juxtaposition. 1. The British authorities pay professional shark-charmers a
stipend to exercise their art; and, 2, only one life has been lost since the
execution of the contract. (We have yet to learn whether the loss of this one
life did not occur under the Roman Catholic sorcerer.) Is it pretended that the
salary is paid as a concession to a degrading native superstition? Very well;
but how about the sharks? Are they receiving salaries, also, from the British
authorities out of the Secret Service Fund? Every person who has visited Ceylon
must know that the waters of the pearl coast swarm with sharks of the most
voracious kind, and that it is even dangerous to bathe, let alone to dive for
oysters. We might go further, if we chose, and give the names of British
officials of the highest rank in the Indian service, who, after resorting to
native "magicians" and "sorcerers," to assist them in
recovering things lost, or in unravelling vexatious mysteries of one kind or
another, and being successful, and at the time secretly expressing their
gratitude, have gone away, and shown their innate cowardice before the world's
Areopagus, by publicly denying the truth of magic, and leading the jest against
Hindu "superstition."
Not many years ago,
one of the worst of superstitions scientists held to be that of believing that
the murderer's portrait remained impressed on the eye of the murdered person,
and that the former could be easily recognized by examining carefully the
retina. The "superstition" asserted that the likeness could be made
still more striking by subjecting the murdered man to certain old women's
fumigations, and the like gossip. And now an American newspaper, of March 26,
1877, says: "A number of years ago attention was attracted to a theory
which insisted that the last effort of vision materialized itself and remained
as an object imprinted on the retina of the eye after death. This has been
proved a fact by an experiment tried in the presence of Dr. Gamgee, F. R. S.,
of Birmingham, England, and Prof. Bunsen, the subject being a living rabbit.
The means taken to prove the merits of the question were most simple, the eyes
being placed near an opening in a shutter, and retaining the shape of the same
after the animal had been deprived of life."
If, from the
regions of idolatry, ignorance, and superstition, as India is termed by some
missionaries, we turn to the so-called centre of civilization -- Paris, we find
the same principles of magic exemplified there under the name of occult
Spiritualism. The Honorable John L. O'Sullivan, Ex-Minister Plenipotentiary of
the United States to Portugal, has kindly furnished us with the strange particulars
of a semi-magical seance which he recently attended with several other eminent
men, at Paris. Having his permission to that effect, we print his letter in
full.
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"NEW YORK,
Feb. 7, 1877.
"I cheerfully
obey your request for a written statement of what I related to you orally, as
having been witnessed by me in Paris, last summer, at the house of a highly
respectable physician, whose name I have no authority to use, but whom, after
the usual French fashion of anonymizing, I will call Dr. X.
"I was
introduced there by an English friend, well-known in the Spiritualist circles
in London -- Mr. Gledstanes. Some eight or ten other visitors were present, of
both sexes. We were seated in fauteuils, occupying half of a long drawing-room,
flush with a spacious garden. In the other half of the room was a grand piano,
a considerable open space between it and us, and a couple of fauteuils in that
space, evidently placed there to be occupied by other sitters. A door near them
opened into the private apartments.
"Dr. X. came
in, and discoursed to us for about twenty minutes with rapid and vehement French
eloquence, which I could not undertake to report. He had, for over twenty-five
years, investigated occult mysteries, of which he was about to exhibit some
phenomena. His object was to attract his brethren of the scientific world, but
few or none of them came to see for themselves. He intended before long to
publish a book. He presently led in two ladies, the younger one his wife, the
other (whom I will call Madame Y.) a medium or sensitive, with whom he had
worked through all that period in the prosecution of these studies, and who had
devoted and sacrificed her whole life to this work with him. Both these ladies
had their eyes closed, apparently in trance.
"He stood them
at the opposite ends of the long grand piano (which was shut), and directed
them to put their hands upon it. Sounds soon began to issue from its chords,
marching, galloping, drums, trumpets, rolling musketry, cannon, cries, and
groans -- in one word, a battle. This lasted, I should say, some five to ten
minutes.
"I should have
mentioned that before the two mediums were brought in I had written in pencil,
on a small bit of paper (by direction of Mr. Gledstanes, who had been there
before), the names of three objects, to be known to myself alone, viz., some
musical composer, deceased, a flower, and a cake. I chose Beethoven, a
Marguerite (daisy), and a kind of French cake called plombieres, and rolled the
paper into a pellet, which I kept in my hand, without letting even my friend
know its contents.
"When the
battle was over, he placed Mme. Y. in one of the two fauteuils, Mme. X. being
seated apart at one side of the room, and I was asked to hand my folded, or
rolled, paper to Mme. Y. She held it (unopened) between her fingers, on her
lap. She was dressed in white merino, flowing from her neck and gathered in at
the waist, under a blaze of light from chandeliers on the right and left. After
a while she dropped the little roll of paper to the floor, and I picked it up.
Dr. X. then raised her to her feet and told her to make "the evocation of
the dead." He withdrew the fauteuils and placed in her hand a steel rod of
about four and half or five feet in length, the top of which was surmounted
with a short cross-piece -- the Egyptian Tau. With this she traced a circle
round herself, as she stood, of about six feet in diameter. She did not hold
the cross-piece as a handle, but, on the contrary, she held the rod at the
opposite end. She presently handed it back to Dr. X. There she stood for some
time, her hands hanging down and folded together in front of her, motionless,
and with her eyes directed slightly upward toward one of the opposite corners
of the long salon. Her lips presently began to move, with muttered sounds,
which after a while became distinct in articulation, in short broken sentences
or phrases, very much like the recitation of a litany. Cer-
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tain words, seeming
to be names, would recur from time to time. It sounded to me somewhat as I have
heard Oriental languages sound. Her face was very earnest and mobile with
expression, with sometimes a slight frown on the brow. I suppose it lasted
about fifteen or twenty minutes, amidst the motionless silence of all the
company, as we gazed on the weird scene. Her utterance finally seemed to
increase in vehemence and rapidity. At last she stretched forth one arm toward
the space on which her eyes had been fixed, and, with a loud cry, almost a
scream, she exclaimed: 'BEETHOVEN!' -- and fell backward, prostrate on the
floor.
"Dr. X.
hastened to her, made eager magnetic passes about her face and neck, and
propped up her head and shoulders on cushions. And there she lay like a person
sick and suffering, occasionally moaning, turning restlessly, etc. I suppose a
full half-hour then elapsed, during which she seemed to pass through all the
phases of gradual death (this I was told was a re-enacting of the death of Beethoven).
It would be long to describe in detail, even if I could recall all. We watched
as though assisting at a scene of real death. I will only say that her pulse
ceased; no beating of the heart could be perceived; her hands first, then her
arms became cold, while warmth was still to be felt under her arm-pits; even
they at last became entirely cold; her feet and legs became cold in the same
manner, and they swelled astonishingly. The doctor invited us all to come and
recognize these phenomena. The gasping breaths came at longer and longer
intervals, and feebler and feebler. At last came the end; her head fell
sidewise, her hands, which had been picking with the fingers about her dress,
collapsed also. The doctor said, 'she is now dead'; and so it indeed seemed. In
vehement haste he produced (I did not see from where) two small snakes, which
he seemed to huddle about her neck and down into her bosom, making also eager
transverse passes about her head and neck. After a while she appeared to revive
slowly, and finally the doctor and a couple of men servants lifted her up and
carried her off into the private apartments, from which he soon returned. He
told us that this was all very critical, but perfectly safe, but that no time
was to be lost, for otherwise the death, which he said was real, would be
permanent.
"I need not
say how ghastly the effect of this whole scene had been on all the spectators.
Nor need I remind you that this was no trickery of a performer paid to
astonish. The scene passed in the elegant drawing-room of a respectable
physician, to which access without introduction is impossible, while (outside
of the phenomenal facts) a thousand indescribable details of language, manner,
expression, and action presented those minute guarantees of sincerity and
earnestness which carry conviction to those who witness, though it may be
transmitted to those who only hear or read of them.
"After a time
Mme. Y. returned and was seated in one of the two fauteuils before mentioned,
and I was invited to the other by her side. I had still in my hand the unopened
pellet of paper containing the three words privately written by me, of which
(Beethoven) had been the first. She sat for a few minutes with her open hands
resting on her lap. They presently began to move restlessly about. "Ah, it
burns, it burns," she said, and her features contracted with an expression
of pain. In a few moments she raised one of them, and it contained a
marguerite, the flower I had written as my second word. I received it from her,
and after it had been examined by the rest of the company, I preserved it. Dr.
X. said it was of a species not known in that part of the country; an opinion
in which he was certainly mistaken, as a few days afterwards I saw the same in
the flower-market of the Madeleine. Whether this flower was produced under her
hands, or was simply an apport, as in the phenomenon we are familiar with in
the experiences of Spiritualism, I do not know. It was the one or the other,
for she certainly did not have it as she sat there by my side, under a strong
light, before it
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made its
appearance. The flower was perfectly fresh in every one of its delicate petals.
"The third
word I had written on my bit of paper was the name of a cake -- plombieres. She
presently began to go through the motions of eating, though no cake was
visible, and asked me if I would not go with her to Plombieres -- the name of
the cake I had written. This might have been simply a case of mind-reading.
"After this
followed a scene in which Madame X., the doctor's wife, was said, and seemed to
be, possessed by the spirit of Beethoven. The doctor addressed her as
"Monsieur Beethoven." She took no notice until he called the name
aloud in her ear. She then responded with polite bows, etc. (You may remember
that Beethoven was extremely deaf.) After some conversation he begged her to
play, and she seated herself at the piano and performed magnificently both some
of his known music and some improvisations which were generally recognized by
the company as in his style. I was told afterwards, by a lady friend of Madame
X., that in her normal state she was a very ordinary amateur performer. After
about half an hour spent in music and in dialogue in the character of
Beethoven, to whom her face in expression, and her tumbled hair, seemed to
acquire a strange resemblance, the doctor placed in her hands a sheet of paper
and a crayon, and asked her to sketch the face of the person she saw before
her. She produced very rapidly a profile sketch of a head and face resembling
Beethoven's busts, though as a younger man; and she dashed off a rapid name
under it, as though a signature, 'Beethoven.' I have preserved the sketch,
though how the handwriting may correspond with Beethoven's signature I cannot
say.
"The hour was
now late, and the company broke up; nor had I any time to interrogate Dr. X.
upon what we had thus witnessed. But I called on him with Mr. Gledstanes a few
evenings afterwards. I found that he admitted the action of spirits, and was a
Spiritualist, but also a great deal more, having studied long and deeply into
the occult mysteries of the Orient. So I understood him to convey, while he
seemed to prefer to refer me to his book, which he would probably publish in
the course of the present year. I observed a number of loose sheets on a table
all covered with Oriental characters unknown to me -- the work of Madame Y. in
trance, as he said, in answer to an inquiry. He told us that in the scene I had
witnessed, she became (i.e., as I presumed, was possessed by) a priestess of
one of the ancient Egyptian temples, and that the origin of it was this: A
scientific friend of his had acquired in Egypt possession of the mummy of a
priestess, and had given him some of the linen swathings with which the body
was enveloped, and from the contact with this cloth of 2,000 or 3,000 years
old, the devotion of her whole existence to this occult relation, and twenty
years seclusion from the world, his medium, as sensitive Madame Y., had become
what I had seen. The language I had heard her speak was the sacred language of
the temples in which she had been instructed, not so much by inspiration but
very much as we now study languages, by dictation, written exercises, etc.,
being even chided and punished when she was dull or slow. He said that
Jacolliot had heard her in a similar scene, and recognized sounds and words of
the very oldest sacred language as preserved in the temples of India, anterior,
if I remember right, to the epoch of the Sanscrit.
"Respecting
the snakes he had employed in the hasty operation of restoring her to life, or
rather perhaps arresting the last consummation of the process of death, he said
there was a strange mystery in their relation to the phenomena of life and
death. I understood that they were indispensable. Silence and inaction on our
part were also insisted upon throughout, and any attempt at questioning him at
the time was peremptorily, almost angrily, suppressed. We might come and talk
afterward, or wait for the appearance of his book, but he alone seemed entitled
to exercise the faculty of
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RE-INCARNATE.
speech throughout
all these performances -- which he certainly did with great volubility, the
while, with all the eloquence and precision of diction of a Frenchman,
combining scientific culture with vividness of imagination.
"I intended to
return on some subsequent evening, but learned from Mr. Gledstanes that he had
given them up for the present, disgusted with his ill-success in getting his
professional colleagues and men of science to come and witness what it was his
object to show them.
"This is about
as much as I can recall of this strange, weird evening, excepting some
uninteresting details. I have given you the name and address of Dr. X.
confidentially, because he would seem to have gone more or less far on the same
path as you pursue in the studies of your Theosophical Society. Beyond that I
feel bound to keep it private, not having his authority to use it in any way
which might lead to publicity.
"Very
respectfully,
"Your friend
and obedient servant,
"J. L.
O'SULLIVAN."
In this interesting
case simple Spiritualism has transcended its routine and encroached upon the
limits of magic. The features of mediumship are there, in the double life led
by the sensitive Madame Y., in which she passes an existence totally distinct
from the normal one, and by reason of the subordination of her individuality to
a foreign will, becomes the permutation of a priestess of Egypt; and in the personation
of the spirit of Beethoven, and in the unconscious and cataleptic state into
which she falls. On the other hand, the will-power exercised by Dr. X. upon his
sensitive, the tracing of the mystic circle, the evocations, the
materialization of the desired flower, the seclusion and education of Madame
Y., the employment of the wand and its form, the creation and use of the
serpents, the evident control of the astral forces -- all these pertain to
magic. Such experiments are of interest and value to science, but liable to
abuse in the hands of a less conscientious practitioner than the eminent
gentleman designated as Dr. X. A true Oriental kabalist would not recommend
their duplication.
Spheres unknown
below our feet; spheres still more unknown and still more unexplored above us;
between the two a handful of moles, blind to God's great light, and deaf to the
whispers of the invisible world, boasting that they lead mankind. Where?
Onward, they claim; but we have a right to doubt it. The greatest of our physiologists,
when placed side by side with a Hindu fakir, who knows neither how to read nor
write, will very soon find himself feeling as foolish as a school-boy who has
neglected to learn his lesson. It is not by vivisecting living animals that a
physiologist will assure himself of the existence of man's soul, nor on the
blade of the knife can he extract it from a human body. "What sane
man," inquires Sergeant Cox, the President of the London Psychological
Society, "what sane man who knows nothing of magnetism or physiology, who
had never witnessed an experiment nor learned its
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principles, would
proclaim himself a fool by denying its facts and denouncing its theory?"
The truthful answer to this would be, "two-thirds of our modern-day
scientists." The impertinence, if truth can ever be impertinent, must be
laid at the door of him who uttered it -- a scientist of the number of those
few who are brave and honest enough to utter wholesome truths, however
disagreeable. And there is no mistaking the real meaning of the imputation, for
immediately after the irreverent inquiry, the learned lecturer remarks as
pointedly: "The chemist takes his electricity from the electrician, the
physiologist looks to the geologist for his geology -- each would deem it an
impertinence in the other if he were to pronounce judgment in the branch of knowledge
not his own. Strange it is, but true as strange, that this rational rule is
wholly set at naught in the treatment of psychology. Physical scientists deem
themselves competent to pronounce a dogmatic judgment upon psychology and all
that appertains to it, without having witnessed any of its phenomena, and in
entire ignorance of its principles and practice."
We sincerely hope
that the two eminent biologists, Mr. Mendeleyeff, of St. Petersburg, and Mr.
Ray Lankester, of London fame, will bear themselves under the above as
unflinchingly as their living victims do when palpitating under their
dissecting knives.
For a belief to
have become universal, it must have been founded on an immense accumulation of
facts, tending to strengthen it, from one generation to another. At the head of
all such beliefs stands magic, or, if one would prefer -- occult psychology.
Who, of those who appreciate its tremendous powers even from its feeble,
half-paralyzed effects in our civilized countries, would dare disbelieve in our
days the assertions of Porphyry and Proclus, that even inanimate objects, such
as statues of gods, could be made to move and exhibit a factitious life for a
few moments? Who can deny the allegation? Is it those who testify daily over
their own signatures that they have seen tables and chairs move and walk, and
pencils write, without contact? Diogenes Laertius tells us of a certain
philosopher, Stilpo, who was exiled from Athens by the Areopagus, for having
dared to deny publicly that the Minerva of Pheidias was anything else than a
block of marble. But our own age, after having mimicked the ancients in
everything possible, even to their very names, such as "senates,"
"prefects," and "consuls," etc.; and after admitting that
Napoleon the Great conquered three-fourths of Europe by applying the principles
of war taught by the Caesars and the Alexanders, knows so much better than its
preceptors about psychology, that it would vote every believer in
"animated tables" into Bedlam.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Spiritualist," London, Nov. 10, 1876.
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NAPLES AND NARGERCOM.
Be this as it may,
the religion of the ancients is the religion of the future. A few centuries
more, and there will linger no sectarian beliefs in either of the great
religions of humanity. Brahmanism and Buddhism, Christianity and Mahometanism
will all disappear before the mighty rush of facts. "I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh," writes the prophet Joel. "Verily I say unto
you . . . greater works than these shall you do," promises Jesus. But this
can only come to pass when the world returns to the grand religion of the past;
the knowledge of those majestic systems which preceded, by far, Brahmanism, and
even the primitive monotheism of the ancient Chaldeans. Meanwhile, we must
remember the direct effects of the revealed mystery. The only means by which
the wise priests of old could impress upon the grosser senses of the multitudes
the idea of the Omnipotency of the Creative will or FIRST CAUSE; namely, the
divine animation of inert matter, the soul infused into it by the potential
will of man, the microcosmic image of the great Architect, and the
transportation of ponderous objects through space and material obstacles.
Why should the
pious Roman Catholic turn away in disgust at the "heathen" practices
of the Hindu Tamil, for instance? We have witnessed the miracle of San Gennaro,
in good old Naples, and we have seen the same in Nargercoil, in India. Where is
the difference? The coagulated blood of the Catholic saint is made to boil and
fume in its crystal bottle, to the gratification of the lazzaroni; and from its
jewelled shrine the martyr's idol beams radiant smiles and blessings at the
Christian congregation. On the other hand, a ball of clay filled with water, is
stuffed into the open breast of the god Suran; and while the padre shakes his
bottle and produces his "miracle" of blood, the Hindu priest plunges
an arrow into the god's breast, and produces his "miracle," for the
blood gushes forth in streams, and the water is changed into blood. Both
Christians and Hindus fall in raptures at the sight of such a miracle. So far,
we do not see the slightest difference. But can it be that the Pagan learned
the trick from San Gennaro?
"Know, O,
Asclepius," says Hermes, "that as the HIGHEST ONE is the father of
the celestial gods, so is man the artisan of the gods who reside in the
temples, and who delight in the society of mortals. Faithful to its origin and
nature, humanity perseveres in this imitation of the divine powers; and, if the
Father Creator has made in His image the eternal gods, mankind in its turn
makes its gods in its own image." "And, dost thou speak of statues of
gods; O, Trismegistus?" "Verily, I do, Asclepius, and however great
thy defiance, perceivest thou not that these statues are endowed with reason,
that they are animated with a soul, and that they can operate the greatest
prodigies. How can we reject the
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evidence, when we
find these gods possessing the gift of predicting the future, which they are
compelled to tell, when forced to it by magic spells, as through the lips of
the divines and their visions? . . . It is the marvel of marvels that man could
have invented and created gods. . . . True, the faith of our ancestors has
erred, and in their pride they fell into error as to the precise essence of
these gods . . . but they have still found out that art themselves. Powerless
to create soul and spirit, they evoke the souls of angels and demons in order
to introduce them into the consecrated statues; and so make them preside at
their Mysteries, by communicating to idols their own faculty to do good as well
as evil."
It is not antiquity
alone which is full of evidence that the statues and idols of the gods at times
exhibited intelligence and locomotive powers. Full in the nineteenth century,
we see the papers recording the capers played by the statue of the Madonna of
Lourdes. This gracious lady, the French Notre Dame, runs away several times to
the woods adjoining her usual residence, the parish church. The sexton is
obliged to hunt after the runaway, and bring her home more than once.* After
this begins a series of "miracles," healing, prophesying,
letter-dropping from on high, and what not. These "miracles" are
implicitly accepted by millions and millions of Roman Catholics; numbers of
these belonging to the most intelligent and educated classes. Why, then, should
we disbelieve in testimony of precisely the same character, given as to
contemporary phenomena of the same kind, by the most accredited and esteemed
historians -- by Titus Livy, for instance? "Juno, would you please abandon
the walls of Veii, and change this abode for that of Rome?" inquires of
the goddess a Roman soldier, after the conquest of that city. Juno consents,
and nodding her head in token of acquiescence, her statue answers: "Yes, I
will." Furthermore, upon their carrying off the figure, it seems to
instantly "lose its immense weight," adds the historian, and the
statue seems rather to follow them than otherwise.**
With naivete, and a
faith bordering on the sublime, des Mousseaux, bravely rushes into the
dangerous parallels, and gives a number of instances of Christian as well as "heathen"
miracles of that kind. He prints a list of such walking statues of saints and
Madonnas, who lose their weight, and move about as so many living men and
women; and presents unimpeachable evidence of the same, from classical authors,
who described their miracles.*** He has but one thought, one anxious and
all-overpowering desire -- to prove to his readers that magic does exist,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Read any of the
papers, of the summer and autumn of 1876.
** Tite-Livy, v.
dec. i., -- Val. Max., 1, cap. vii.
*** See "Les
Hauts Phenomenes de la Magie"; "La Magie au XIXme Siecle";
"Dieu et les Dieux," etc.
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THEOPOEA.
and that
Christianity beats it flat. Not that the miracles of the latter are either more
numerous, or more extraordinary, or suggestive than those of the Pagans. Not at
all; and he is a fair historian as to facts and evidence. But, it is his
arguments and reflections that are priceless: one kind of miracle is produced
by God, the other by the Devil; he drags down the Deity and placing Him face to
face with Satan, allows the arch-enemy to beat the Creator by long odds. Not a
word of solid, evident proof to show the substantial difference between the two
kinds of wonders.
Would we inquire
the reason why he traces in one the hand of God and in the other the horn and
hoof of the Devil? Listen to the answer: "The Holy Roman Catholic and
Apostolical Church declares the miracles wrought by her faithful sons produced
by the will of God; and all others the work of the spirits of Hell." Very
well, but on what ground? We are shown an endless list of holy writers; of
saints who fought during their whole lives with the fiends; and of fathers
whose word and authority are accepted as "word of God" by the same
Church. "Your idols, your consecrated statues are the abode of
demons," exclaims St. Cyprian. "Yes, it is these spirits who inspire
your divines, who animate the bowels of your victims, who govern the flight of
birds, and who, mixing incessantly falsehood with truth, render oracles, and .
. . operate prodigies, their object being to bring you invincibly to their
worship."*
Fanaticism in
religion, fanaticism in science, or fanaticism in any other question becomes a
hobby, and cannot but blind our senses. It will ever be useless to argue with a
fanatic. And here we cannot help admiring once more the profound knowledge of
human nature which dictated to Mr. Sergeant Cox the following words, delivered
in the same address as before alluded to: "There is no more fatal fallacy
than that the truth will prevail by its own force, that it has only to be seen
to be embraced. In fact the desire for the actual truth exists in very few
minds, and the capacity to discern it in fewer still. When men say that they
are seeking the truth, they mean that they are looking for evidence to support
some prejudice or prepossession. Their beliefs are moulded to their wishes.
They see all, and more than all, that seems to tell for that which they desire;
they are blind as bats to whatever tells against them. The scientists are no
more exempt from this common failing than are others."
We know that from
the remotest ages there has existed a mysterious, awful science, under the name
of theopoea. This science taught the art of endowing the various symbols of
gods with temporary life and intelli-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Idol.
Vanit.," lib. I., p. 452.
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gence. Statues and
blocks of inert matter became animated under the potential will of the
hierophant. The fire stolen by Prometheus had fallen down in the struggle to
earth; it embraced the lower regions of the sky, and settled in the waves of
the universal ether as the potential Akasa of the Hindu rites. We breathe and
imbibe it into our organic system with every mouthful of fresh air. Our
organism is full of it from the instant of our birth. But it becomes potential
only under the influx of WILL and SPIRIT.
Left to itself,
this life-principle will blindly follow the laws of nature; and, according to
conditions, will produce health and an exuberance of life, or cause death and
dissolution. But, guided by the will of the adept, it becomes obedient; its
currents restore the equilibrium in organic bodies, they fill the waste, and
produce physical and psychological miracles, well-known to mesmerizers. Infused
in inorganic and inert matter, they create an appearance of life, hence motion.
If to that life an individual intelligence, a personality, is wanting, then the
operator must either send his scin-lecca, his own astral spirit, to animate it;
or use his power over the region of nature-spirits to force one of them to
infuse his entity into the marble, wood, or metal; or, again, be helped by
human spirits. But the latter -- except the vicious, earth-bound class* -- will
not infuse their essence into these inanimate objects. They leave the lower
kinds to produce the similitude of life and animation, and only send their
influence through the intervening spheres like a ray of divine light, when the
so-called "miracle" is required for a good purpose. The condition --
and this is a law in spiritual nature -- is purity of motive, purity of the
surrounding magnetic atmosphere, personal purity of the operator. Thus is it,
that a Pagan "miracle" may be by far holier than a Christian one.
Who that has seen
the performance of the fakirs of Southern India, can doubt the existence of
theopoea in ancient times? An inveterate skeptic, though more than anxious to
attribute every phenomenon to jugglery, still finds himself compelled to
testify to facts; and facts that are to be witnessed daily if one chooses.
"I dare not," he says, speaking of Chibh-Chondor, a fakir of
Jaffna-patnam, "describe all the exercises which he performed. There are
things one dares not say even
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* These, after
their bodily death, unable to soar higher, attached to terrestrial regions,
delight in the society of the kind of elementals which by their affinity with
vice attract them the most. They identify themselves with these to such a
degree that they very soon lose sight of their own identity, and become a part
of the elementals, the help of which they need to communicate with mortals. But
as the nature-spirits are not immortal, so the human elementaries who have lost
their divine guide -- spirit -- can last no longer than the essence of the elements
which compose their astral bodies holds together.
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TALISMANS.
after having witnessed
them, for fear of being charged with having been under an inexplicable
hallucination! And yet, ten, nay, twenty times, I saw and saw again the fakir
obtain similar results over inert matter. . . . It was but child's play for our
'charmer' to make the flame of candles which had, by his directions, been
placed in the remotest corners of the apartment, pale and become extinguished
at will; to cause the furniture to move, even the sofas on which we sat, the
doors to open and shut repeatedly: and all this without quitting the mat upon
which he sat on the floor.
"Perhaps I
will be told that I saw imperfectly. Possibly; but I will say that hundreds and
thousands of persons have seen and do see what I have, and things more
wonderful; has one of all these discovered the secret, or been able to
duplicate these phenomena? And I can never repeat too often that all this does
not occur on a stage, supplied with mechanical contrivances for the use of the
operator. No, it is a beggar crouched, naked, on the floor, who thus sports
with your intelligence, your senses, and all that which we have agreed among
ourselves to style the immutable laws of nature, but which he appears to alter
at will!
"Does he
change its course? 'No, but he makes it act by using forces which are yet
unknown to us,' say the believers. However that may be, I have found myself
twenty times at similar performances in company with the most distinguished men
of British India -- professors, physicians, officers. Not one of them but thus summarized
his impressions upon quitting the drawing-room. 'This is something terrifying
to human intelligence!' Every time that I saw repeated by a fakir the
experiment of reducing serpents to a cataleptic state, a condition in which
these animals have all the rigidity of the dry branch of a tree, my thoughts
have reverted to the biblical fable (?) which endows Moses and the priests of
Pharaoh with the like power."*
Assuredly, the
flesh of man, beast, and bird should be as easily endowed with magnetic life-principle
as the inert table of a modern medium. Either both wonders are possible and
true, or both must fall to the ground, together with the miracles of Apostolic
days, and those of the more modern Popish Church. As for vital proofs furnished
to us in favor of such possibilities, we might name books enough to fill a
whole library. If Sixtus V. cited a formidable array of spirits attached to
various talismans, was not his threat of excommunication for all those who
practiced the art, uttered merely because he would have the knowledge of this
secret confined within the precincts of the Church? How would it do for his
"divine" miracles to be studied and successfully reproduced by
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* L. Jacolliot:
"Voyage au Pays des Perles."
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every man endowed
with perseverance, a strong positive magnetic power, and an unflinching will?
Recent events at Lourdes (of course, supposing them to have been truthfully
reported) prove that the secret is not wholly lost; and if there is no strong
magician-mesmerizer concealed under frock and surplice, then the statue of
Notre-Dame is moved by the same forces which move every magnetized table at a
spiritual seance; and the nature of these "intelligences," whether
they belong to the classes of human, human elementary, or elemental spirits depends
on a variety of conditions. With one who knows anything of mesmerism, and at
the same time of the charitable spirit of the Roman Catholic Church, it ought
not to be difficult to comprehend that the incessant curses of the priests and
monks; and the bitter anathemas so freely pronounced by Pius IX. -- himself a
strong mesmerizer, and believed to be a jettatore (evil eye) -- have drawn
together legions of elementaries and elementals under the leadership of the
disembodied Torquemadas. These are the "angels" who play pranks with
the statue of the Queen of Heaven. Any one who accepts the "miracle"
and thinks otherwise blasphemes.
Although it would
seem as if we had already furnished sufficient proofs that modern science has
little or no reason to boast of originality, yet before closing this volume we
will adduce a few more to place the matter beyond doubt. We have but to
recapitulate, as briefly as possible, the several claims to new philosophies
and discoveries, the announcement of which has made the world open its eyes so
wide within these last two centuries. We have pointed to the achievements in
arts, sciences, and philosophy of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Chaldeans, and
Assyrians; we will now quote from an author who has passed long years in India
studying their philosophy. In the famous and recent work of Christna et le
Christ, we find the following tabulation:
"Philosophy.
-- The ancient Hindus have created from the foundation the two systems of
spiritualism and materialism, of metaphysical philosophy and of positive
philosophy. The first taught in the Vedantic school, whose founder was Vyasa;
the second taught in the Sankya school, whose founder was Kapila.
"Astronomical
Science. -- They fixed the calendar, invented the zodiac, calculated the
precession of the equinoxes, discovered the general laws of the movements,
observed and predicted the eclipses.
"Mathematics.
-- They invented the decimal system, algebra, the differential, integral, and
infinitesimal calculi. They also discovered geometry and trigonometry, and in
these two sciences they constructed and proved theorems which were only
discovered in Europe as late as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It
was the Brahmans in fact who first deduced the superficial measure of a
triangle from the calculation of its three
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INDIA.
sides, and
calculated the relations of the circumference to the diameter. Furthermore, we
must restore to them the square of the hypotenuse and the table so improperly
called Pythagorean, which we find engraved on the goparama of the majority of
great pagodas.
"Physics. --
They established the principle which is still our own to-day, that the universe
is a harmonious whole, subject to laws which may be determined by observation
and experiment. They discovered hydrostatics; and the famous proposition that
every body plunged in water loses of its own weight a weight equal to the
volume which it displaces, is only a loan made by the Brahmans to the famous
Greek architect, Archimedes. The physicists of the pagodas calculated the
velocity of light, fixed in a positive manner the laws which it follows in its
reflection. And finally, it is beyond doubt, from the calculations of
Surya-Sidhenta, that they knew and calculated the force of steam.
"Chemistry. --
They knew the composition of water, and formulated for gases the famous law,
which we know only from yesterday, that the volumes of gas are in inverse ratio
to the pressures that they support. They knew how to prepare sulphuric, nitric,
and muriatic acids; the oxides of copper, iron, lead, tin, and zinc; the
sulphurets of iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and arsenic; the sulphates of
zinc and iron; the carbonates of iron, lead, and soda; nitrate of silver; and
powder.
"Medicine. --
Their knowledge was truly astonishing. In Tcharaka and Sousruta, the two
princes of Hindu medicine, is laid down the system which Hippocrates
appropriated later. Sousruta notably enunciates the principles of preventive
medicine or hygiene, which he places much above curative medicine -- too often,
according to him, empyrical. Are we more advanced to-day? It is not without
interest to remark that the Arab physicians, who enjoyed a merited celebrity in
the middle ages -- Averroes among others -- constantly spoke of the Hindu
physicians, and regarded them as the initiators of the Greeks and themselves.
"Pharmacology.
-- They knew all the simples, their properties, their use, and upon this point
have not yet ceased to give lessons to Europe. Quite recently we have received
from them the treatment of asthma, with the datura.
"Surgery. --
In this they are not less remarkable. They made the operation for the stone,
succeeded admirably in the operation for cataract, and the extraction of the
foetus, of which all the unusual or dangerous cases are described by Tcharaka
with an extraordinary scientific accuracy.
"Grammar. --
They formed the most marvellous language in the world -- the Sanscrit -- which
gave birth to the greater part of the idioms of the Orient, and of
Indo-European countries.
"Poetry. --
They have treated all the styles, and shown themselves
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supreme masters in
all. Sakuntala, Avrita, the Hindu Phaedra, Saranga, and a thousand other dramas
have their superiors neither in Sophocles nor Euripides, in Corneille nor
Shakespere. Their descriptive poetry has never been equalled. One must read, in
the Megadata, "The Plaint of an Exile," who implores a passing cloud
to carry his remembrances to his cottage, his relatives and friends, whom he
will never see more, to form an idea of the splendor to which this style has
been carried in India. Their fables have been copied by all modern and ancient
peoples, who have not even given themselves the trouble to color differently
the subject of these little dramas.
"Music. --
They invented the gamut with its differences of tones and half-tones much
before Gui d'Arezzo. Here is the Hindu scale:
Sa--Ri--Ga--Ma--Pa--Da--Ni--Sa.
"Architecture.
-- They seem to have exhausted all that the genius of man is capable of
conceiving. Domes, inexpressibly bold; tapering cupolas; minarets, with marble
lace; Gothic towers; Greek hemicycles; polychrome style -- all kinds and all
epochs are there, betokening the origin and date of the different colonies,
which, in emigrating, carried with them their souvenirs of their native
art."
Such were the
results attained by this ancient and imposing Brahmanical civilization. What
have we to offer for comparison? Beside such majestic achievements of the past,
what can we place that will seem so grandiose and sublime as to warrant our
boast of superiority over an ignorant ancestry? Beside the discoverers of
geometry and algebra, the constructors of human speech, the parents of
philosophy, the primal expounders of religion, the adepts in psychological and
physical science, how even the greatest of our biologists and theologians seem
dwarfed! Name to us any modern discovery, and we venture to say, that Indian
history need not long be searched before the prototype will be found of record.
Here we are with the transit of science half accomplished, and all our ideas in
process of readjustment to the theories of force-correlation, natural
selection, atomic polarity, and evolution. And here, to mock our conceit, our
apprehensions, and our despair, we may read what Manu said, perhaps 10,000
years before the birth of Christ:
"The first
germ of life was developed by water and heat" (Manu, book i., sloka 8).
"Water ascends
toward the sky in vapors; from the sun it descends in rain, from the rain are
born the plants, and from the plants, animals" (book iii., sloka 76).
"Each being
acquires the qualities of the one which immediately precedes it, in such a
manner that the farther a being gets away from the
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11,000 YEARS OLD.
primal atom of its
series, the more he is possessed of qualities and perfections" (book i.,
sloka 20).
"Man will
traverse the universe, gradually ascending, and passing through the rocks, the
plants, the worms, insects, fish, serpents, tortoises, wild animals, cattle,
and higher animals. . . . Such is the inferior degree" (Ibid.).
"These are the
transformations declared, from the plant up to Brahma, which have to take place
in his world" (Ibid.).
"The
Greek," says Jacolliot, "is but the Sanscrit. Pheidias and Praxiteles
have studied in Asia the chefs-d'oeuvre of Daonthia, Ramana, and Aryavosta.
Plato disappears before Dgeminy and Veda-Vyasa, whom he literally copies.
Aristotle is thrown into the shade by the Pourva-Mimansa and the
Outtara-Mimansa, in which one finds all the systems of philosophy which we are
now occupied in re-editing, from the Spiritualism of Socrates and his school,
the skepticism of Pyrrho, Montaigne, and Kant, down to the positivism of
Littre."
Let those who doubt
the exactness of the latter assertion read this phrase, extracted textually
from the Outtara-Mimansa, or Vedanta, of Vyasa, who lived at an epoch which the
Brahmanical chronology fixes at 10,400 years before our era:
"We can only
study phenomena, verify them, and hold them to be relatively true, but nothing
in the universe, neither by perception nor by induction, nor by the senses, nor
by reasoning, being able to demonstrate the existence of a Supreme Cause, which
could, at a fixed point of time, have given birth to the universe, Science has
to discuss neither the possibility nor impossibility of this Supreme
Cause."
Thus, gradually but
surely, will the whole of antiquity be vindicated. Truth will be carefully
sifted from exaggeration; much that is now considered fiction may yet be proved
fact, and the "facts and laws" of modern science found to belong to
the limbo of exploded myths. When, centuries before our era, the Hindu
Bramaheupto affirmed that the starry sphere was immovable, and that the daily
rising and setting of stars confirms the motion of the earth upon its axis; and
when Aristarchus of Samos, born 267 years B.C., and the Pythagorean philosopher
Nicete, the Syracusan, maintained the same, what was the credit given to their
theories until the days of Copernicus and Galileo? And the system of these two
princes of science -- a system which has revolutionized the whole world -- how
long will it be allowed to remain as a complete and undisturbed whole? Have we
not, at the present moment, in Germany, a learned savant, a Professor
Schoepfer, who, in his public lectures at Berlin, tries to demonstrate, 1, that
the earth is immovable; 2, the sun is but a little bigger than it seems; and 3,
that Tycho-Brahe was perfectly right
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and Galileo
perfectly wrong?* And what was Tycho-Brahe's theory? Why, that the earth stands
immovable in the centre of the universe, and that around it, as around its
centre, the whole of the celestial vault gravitates every twenty-four hours;
and finally, that the sun and moon, apart from this motion, proceed on curved
lines peculiar to themselves, while Mercury, with the rest of the planets,
describes an epicycloid.
We certainly have
no intention to lose time nor devote space to either combating or supporting
this new theory, which suspiciously resembles the old ones of Aristotle and
even the Venerable Bede. We will leave the learned army of modern Academicians
to "wash their family linen among themselves," to use an expression
of the great Napoleon. But we will, nevertheless, avail ourselves of such a
good opportunity as this defection affords to demand once more of science her
diploma or patents of infallibility. Alas! are these, then, the results of her
boasted progress?
It was hardly more
than yesterday when, upon the strength of facts within our own observation, and
corroborated by the testimony of a multitude of witnesses, we timidly ventured
the assertion that tables, mediums, and Hindu fakirs were occasionally
levitated. And when we added that, if such a phenomenon should happen but once
in a century, "without a visible mechanical cause, then that rising is a
manifestation of a natural law of which our scientists are yet ignorant,"
we were called "iconoclastic," and charged, in our turn, by the
newspapers, with ignorance of the law of gravitation. Iconoclastic or not, we
never thought of charging science with denying the rotation of the earth on its
axis, or its revolution around the sun. Those two lamps, at least, in the
beacon of the Academy, we thought would be kept trimmed and burning to the end
of time. But, lo! here comes a Berlin professor and crushes our last hopes that
Science should prove herself exact in some one particular. The cycle is truly at
its lowest point, and a new era is begun. The earth stands still, and Joshua is
vindicated!
In days of old --
in 1876 -- the world believed in centrifugal force, and the Newtonian theory,
which explained the flattening of the poles by the rotatory motion of the earth
around its axis, was orthodox. Upon this hypothesis, the greater portion of the
globular mass was believed to gravitate toward the equator; and in its turn the
centrifugal force, acting on the mass with its mightiest power, forced this
mass to concentrate itself on the equator. Thus is it that the credulous
scientists believed the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Ultimate
Deductions of Science; The Earth Motionless." A lecture demonstrating that
our globe does neither turn about its own axis nor around the sun; delivered in
Berlin by Doctor Schoepfer. Seventh Edition.
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GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM.
earth to rotate
around its axis; for, were it otherwise, there would exist no centrifugal
force, and without this force there could be no gravitation toward the
equatorial latitudes. It has been one of the accepted proofs of the rotation of
the earth, and it is this deduction, with several others, that the Berlin
professor declares that, "in common with many other scientists," he
"rejects."
"Is this not
ridiculous, gentlemen," he concludes, "that we, confiding in what we
were taught at school, have accepted the rotation of the earth around its axis
as a fact fully demonstrated, while there is nothing at all to prove it, and it
cannot be demonstrated? Is it not cause of astonishment that the scientists of
the whole educated world, commencing with Copernicus and Kepler, should have
begun by accepting such a movement of our planet, and then three and a half
centuries later be searching for such proofs? But, alas! though we search, we
find none, as was to be expected. All, all is vain!"
And thus it is that
at one stroke the world loses its rotation, and the universe is bereaved of its
guardians and protectors, the centrifugal and centripetal forces! Nay, ether
itself, blown out of space, is but a "fallacy," a myth born of a bad
habit of using empty words; the sun is a pretender to dimensions to which it
was never entitled; the stars are twinkling dots, and "were so expressly
disposed at considerable distances from one another by the Creator of the
universe, probably with the intention that they should simultaneously illumine
the vast spaces on the face of our globe" -- says Dr. Schoepfer.
And is it so that
even three centuries and a half have not sufficed the men of exact science to
construct one theory that not a single university professor would dare
challenge? If astronomy, the one science built on the adamantine foundation of
mathematics, the one of all others deemed as infallible and unassailable as
truth itself, can be thus irreverently indicted for false pretences, what have
we gained by cheapening Plato to the profit of the Babinets? How, then, do they
venture to flout at the humblest observer who, being both honest and
intelligent, may say he has seen a mediumistic, or magical phenomenon? And how
dare they prescribe the "limits of philosophical inquiry," to pass
beyond which is not lawful? And these quarrelling hypothesists still arraign as
ignorant and superstitious those giant intellects of the past, who handled
natural forces like world-building Titans, and raised mortality to an eminence
where it allied itself with the gods! Strange fate of a century boasting to
have elevated exact science to its apex of fame, and now invited to go back and
begin it's A B C of learning again!
Recapitulating the
evidence contained in this work, if we begin with the archaic and unknown ages
of the Hermetic Pimander, and come
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down to 1876, we
find that one universal belief in magic has run through all these centuries. We
have presented the ideas of Trismegistus in his dialogue with Asclepius; and
without mentioning the thousand and one proofs of the prevalence of this belief
in the first centuries of Christianity, to achieve our purpose we have but to
quote from an ancient and a modern author. The first will be the great
philosopher Porphyry, who several thousand years after the days of Hermes,
remarks in relation to the prevailing skepticism of his century, the following:
"We need not be amazed in seeing the vulgar masses ([[hoi polloi]])
perceive in statues merely stone and wood. Thus it is generally with those who,
ignorant in letters, find naught in stylae covered with inscriptions but stone,
and in written books naught but the tissue of the papyrus." And 1,500
years later, we see Mr. Sergeant Cox, in stating the case of the shameful prosecution
of a medium by just such a blind materialist, thus expressing his ideas:
"Whether the medium is guilty or guiltless . . . certain it is that the
trial has had the unlooked-for effect of directing the attention of the whole
public to the fact that the phenomena are asserted to exist, and by a great
number of competent investigators are declared to be true, and of the reality
of which every person may, if he pleases, satisfy himself by actual inspection,
thus sweeping away, thus and for ever, the dark and debasing doctrines of the
materialists."
Still, in harmony
with Porphyry and other theurgists, who affirmed the different natures of the
manifesting "spirits" and the personal spirit or will of man, Mr.
Sergeant Cox adds, without committing himself any further to a personal
decision: "True, there are differences of opinions . . . and perhaps ever
will be, as to the sources of the power that is exhibited in these phenomena;
but whether they are the product of the psychic force of the circle . . . or,
if spirits of the dead be the agents, as others say, or elemental spirits
(whatever it may be) as asserted by a third party, this fact at least is
established -- that man is not wholly material, that the mechanism of man is
moved and directed by some non-material -- that is, some non-molecular
structure, which possesses not merely intelligence, but can exercise also a
force upon matter, that something to which, for lack of a better title, we have
given the name of soul. These glad tidings have by this trial been borne to
thousands and tens of thousands, whose happiness here, and hopes of a
hereafter, have been blighted by the materialists, who have preached so
persistently that soul was but a superstition, man but an automaton, mind but a
secretion, present existence purely animal, and the future -- a blank."
"Truth
alone," says Pimander, "is eternal and immutable; truth is the first
of blessings; but truth is not and cannot be on earth: it is possible that God
sometimes gifts a few men together with the faculty of
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comprehending
divine things with that of rightly understanding truth; but nothing is true on
earth, for everything has matter on it, clothed with a corporeal form subject
to change, to alteration, to corruption, and to new combinations. Man is not
the truth, for only that which has drawn its essence from itself, and remains itself,
and unchangeable, is true. How can that which changes so as not to finally be
recognized, be ever true? Truth, then, is that only which is immaterial and not
enclosed within a corporeal envelope, that which is colorless and formless,
exempt from change and alteration; that which is ETERNAL. All of that which
perishes is a lie; earth is but dissolution and generation; every generation
proceeds from a dissolution; the things of earth are but appearances and
imitations of truth; they are what the picture is to reality. The things of
earth are not the TRUTH! . . . Death, for some persons, is an evil which
strikes them with profound terror. This is ignorance. . . . Death is the
destruction of the body; the being in it dies not. . . . The material body loses
its form, which is disintegrated in course of time; the senses which animated
it return to their source and resume their functions; but they gradually lose
their passions and their desires, and the spirit ascends to heaven to become a
HARMONY. In the first zone, it leaves behind itself the faculty of increasing
and decreasing; in the second, the power of doing evil and the frauds of
idleness; in the third, deceptions and concupiscence; in the fourth, insatiable
ambition; in the fifth, arrogance, audacity, and temerity; in the sixth, all
yearning after dishonest acquisitions; and in the seventh, untruthfulness. The
spirit thus purified by the effect on him of the celestial harmonies, returns
once more to its primitive state, strong of a merit and power self-acquired,
and which belongs to it properly; and only then he begins to dwell with those
that sing eternally their praises of the FATHER. Hitherto, he is placed among
the powers, and as such has attained to the supreme blessing of knowledge. He
is become a GOD! . . . No, the things of earth are not the truth."
After having
devoted their whole lives to the study of the records of the old Egyptian
wisdom, both Champollion-Figeac and Champollion, Junior, publicly declared,
notwithstanding many biassed judgments hazarded by certain hasty and unwise
critics, that the Books of Hermes "truly contain a mass of Egyptian
traditions which are constantly corroborated by the most authentic records and
monuments of Egypt of the hoariest antiquity."*
Closing up his
voluminous summary of the psychological doctrines of the Egyptians, the sublime
teachings of the sacred Hermetic books, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Champ.-Figeac:
"Egypte," p. 143.
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the attainments of
the initiated priests in metaphysical and practical philosophy,
Champollion-Figeac inquires -- as he well may, in view of the then attainable
evidence -- "whether there ever was in the world another association or
caste of men which could equal them in credit, power, learning, and capability,
in the same degree of good or evil? No, never! And this caste was subsequently
cursed and stigmatized only by those who, under I know not what kind of modern
influences, have considered it as the enemy of men and -- science."*
At the time when
Champollion wrote these words, Sanscrit was, we may say, almost an unknown
tongue for science. But little in the way of a parallel could have been drawn
between the respective merits of the Brahmans and the Egyptian philosophers.
Since then, however, it has been discovered that the very same ideas, expressed
in almost identical language, may be read in the Buddhistic and Brahmanical
literature. This very philosophy of the unreality of mundane things and the
illusion of the senses -- whose whole substance has been plagiarized in our own
times by the German metaphysicians -- forms the groundwork of Kapila's and
Vyasa's philosophies, and may be found in Gautama Buddha's enunciation of the
"four truths," the cardinal dogmas of his doctrine. Pimander's
expression "he is become a god" is epitomized in the one word,
Nirvana, which our learned Orientalists most incorrectly consider as the
synonym of annihilation!
This opinion of the
two eminent Egyptologists is of the greatest value to us if it were only as an
answer to our opponents. The Champollions were the first in Europe to take the
student of archaeology by the hand, and, leading him on into the silent crypts
of the past, prove that civilization did not begin with our generations; for
"though the origins of ancient Egypt are unknown, she is found to have
been at the most distant periods within the reach of historical research, with
her great laws, her established customs, her cities, her kings, and gods";
and behind, far behind, these same epochs we find ruins belonging to other
still more distant and higher periods of civilization. "At Thebes,
portions of ruined buildings allow us to recognize remnants of still anterior
structures, the materials of which had served for the erection of the very
edifices which have now existed for thirty-six centuries!"** "Everything
told us by Herodotus and the Egyptian priests is found to be exact, and has
been corroborated by modern scientists," adds Champollion.***
Whence the
civilization of the Egyptians came, will be shown in volume II., and in this
respect it will be made to appear that our deductions, though based upon the
traditions of the Secret Doctrine, run par-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid., p. 119.
** Ibid., p. 2.
*** Ibid., p. 11.
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MENTIFIED.
allel with those of
a number of most respected authorities. There is a passage in a well-known
Hindu work which may well be recalled in this connection.
"Under the
reign of Viswamitra, first king of the Dynasty of Soma-Vanga, in consequence of
a battle which lasted five days, Manu-Vina, heir of the ancient kings, being
abandoned by the Brahmans, emigrated with all his companions, passing through
Arya, and the countries of Barria, till he came to the shores of Masra"
(History of India, by Collouca-Batta). Unquestionably this Manu-Vina and Menes,
the first Egyptian King, are identical.
Arya, is Eran
(Persia); Barria, is Arabia, and Masra, was the name of Cairo, which to this
day is called, Masr, Musr, and Misro. Phoenician history names Maser as one of
the ancestors of Hermes.
And now we will bid
farewell to thaumatophobia and its advocates, and consider thaumatomania under
its multifarious aspects. In vol. II., we intend to review the
"miracles" of Paganism and weigh the evidence in their favor in the
same scales with Christian theology. There is a conflict not merely impending
but already begun between science and theology, on the one hand, and spirit and
its hoary science, magic, on the other. Something of the possibilities of the
latter have already been displayed, but more is to come. The petty, mean world,
for whose approving nod scientists and magistrates, priests and Christians
compete, have begun their latter-day crusade by sentencing in the same year two
innocent men, one in France, the other in London, in defiance of law and
justice. Like the apostle of circumcision, they are ever ready to thrice deny
an unpopular connection for fear of ostracism by their own fellows. The
Psychomantics and the Psychophobists must soon meet in fierce conflict. The
anxiety to have their phenomena investigated and supported by scientific
authorities has given place with the former to a frigid indifference. As a
natural result of so much prejudice and unfairness as have been exhibited,
their respect for scientists is waning fast, and the reciprocal epithets
bandied between the two parties are becoming far from complimentary to either.
Which of them is right and which wrong, time will soon show and future
generations understand. It is at least safe to prophesy that the Ultima Thule
of God's mysteries, and the key to them are to be sought elsewhere than in the
whirl of Avogadro's molecules.
People who either
judge superficially, or, by reason of their natural impatience would gaze at
the blazing sun before their eyes are well fitted to bear lamp-light, are apt
to complain of the exasperating obscurity of language which characterizes the
works of the ancient Hermetists and their successors. They declare their
philosophical treatises on magic incomprehensible. Over the first class we can
afford to waste no
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time; the second,
we would beg to moderate their anxiety, remembering those sayings of Espagnet
-- "Truth lies hid in obscurity," and "Philosophers never write
more deceitfully than when plainly, nor ever more truly than when
obscurely." Furthermore, there is a third class, whom it would compliment
too much to say that they judge the subject at all. They simply denounce
ex-cathedra. The ancients they treat as dreamy fools, and though but physicists
and thaumatophobic positivists, they commonly claim a monopoly of spiritual
wisdom!
We will select
Irenaeus Philaletha to answer this latter class. "In the world our
writings shall prove a curious-edged knife; to some they shall carve out
dainties, but to others they shall only serve to cut their fingers; yet we are
not to be blamed, for we do seriously admonish all who shall attempt this work
that they undertaketh the highest piece of philosophy in nature; and though we
write in English, yet our matter will be as hard as Greek to some, who will
think, nevertheless, that they understand as well, when they misconstrue our
meaning most perversely; for is it imaginable that they who are fools in nature
should be wise in books, which are testimonies unto nature?"
The few elevated
minds who interrogate nature instead of prescribing laws for her guidance; who
do not limit her possibilities by the imperfections of their own powers; and
who only disbelieve because they do not know, we would remind of that apothegm
of Narada, the ancient Hindu philosopher:
"Never utter
these words: 'I do not know this -- therefore it is false.' "
"One must
study to know, know to understand, understand to judge."
END OF VOLUME I.
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ISIS UNVEILED:
A MASTER-KEY
TO THE
MYSTERIES OF
ANCIENT AND MODERN
SCIENCE AND
THEOLOGY.
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY,
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
"Cecy est un
livre de bonne Foy." -- MONTAIGNE.
VOL. II. --
THEOLOGY.
THEOSOPHICAL
UNIVERSITY PRESS
PASADENA,
CALIFORNIA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE -- iii
Mrs. Elizabeth
Thompson and Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
Volume Second.
THE
"INFALLIBILITY" OF MODERN RELIGION.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH: WHERE
IS IT?
Church statistics
... 1
Catholic
"miracles" and spiritualistic "phenomena" ... 4
Christian and Pagan
beliefs compared ... 10
Magic and sorcery
practised by Christian clergy ... 20
Comparative
theology a new science ... 25
Eastern traditions
as to Alexandrian Library ... 27
Roman pontiffs
imitators of the Hindu Brahm-atma ... 30
Christian dogmas
derived from heathen philosophy ... 33
Doctrine of the
Trinity of Pagan origin ... 45
Disputes between
Gnostics and Church Fathers ... 51
Bloody records of
Christianity ... 53
CHAPTER II.
CHRISTIAN CRIMES
AND HEATHEN VIRTUES.
Sorceries of
Catherine of Medicis ... 55
Occult arts
practised by the clergy ... 59
Witch-burnings and
auto-da-fe of little children ... 62
Lying Catholic
saints ... 74
Pretensions of
missionaries in India and China ... 79
Sacrilegious tricks
of Catholic clergy ... 82
Paul a kabalist ...
91
Peter not the
founder of Roman church ... 91
Strict lives of
Pagan hierophants ... 98
High character of
ancient "mysteries" ... 101
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Jacolliot's account
of Hindu fakirs ... 103
Christian symbolism
derived from Phallic worship ... 109
Hindu doctrine of
the Pitris ... 114
Brahminic
spirit-communion ... 115
Dangers of
untrained mediumship ... 117
CHAPTER III.
DIVISIONS AMONGST
THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
Resemblance between
early Christianity and Buddhism ... 123
Peter never in Rome
... 124
Meanings of
"Nazar" and "Nazarene" ... 129
Baptism a derived
right ... 134
Is Zoroaster a
generic name? ... 141
Pythagorean
teachings of Jesus ... 147
The Apocalypse
kabalistic ... 147
Jesus considered an
adept by some Pagan philosophers and early Christians ... 150
Doctrine of permutation
... 152
The meaning of
God-Incarnate ... 153
Dogmas of the
Gnostics ... 155
Ideas of Marcion,
the "heresiarch" ... 159
Precepts of Manu
... 163
Jehovah identical
with Bacchus ... 165
CHAPTER IV.
ORIENTAL
COSMOGONIES AND BIBLE RECORDS.
Discrepancies in
the Pentateuch ... 167
Indian, Chaldean
and Ophite systems compared ... 170
Who were the first
Christians? ... 178
Christos and
Sophia-Achamoth ... 183
Secret doctrine
taught by Jesus ... 191
Jesus never claimed
to be God ... 193
New Testament
narratives and Hindu legends ... 199
Antiquity of the
"Logos" and "Christ" ... 205
Comparative
Virgin-worship ... 209
CHAPTER V.
MYSTERIES OF THE
KABALA.
En-Soph and the
Sephiroth ... 212
The primitive
wisdom-religion ... 216
The book of Genesis
a compilation of Old World legends ... 217
The Trinity of the
Kabala ... 222
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Gnostic and Nazarene
systems contrasted with Hindu myths ... 225
Kabalism in the
book of Ezekiel ... 232
Story of the
resurrection of Jairus's daughter found in the history of Christna ... 241
Untrustworthy
teachings of the early Fathers ... 248
Their persecuting
spirit ... 249
CHAPTER VI.
ESOTERIC DOCTRINES
OF BUDDHISM PARODIED IN CHRISTIANITY.
Decisions of Nicean
Council, how arrived at ... 251
Murder of Hypatia
... 252
Origin of the
fish-symbol of Vishnu ... 256
Kabalistic doctrine
of the Cosmogony ... 264
Diagrams of Hindu
and Chaldeo-Jewish systems ... 265
Ten mythical
Avatars of Vishnu ... 274
Trinity of man
taught by Paul ... 281
Socrates and Plato
on soul and spirit ... 283
True Buddhism, what
it is ... 288
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY CHRISTIAN
HERESIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES.
Nazareans, Ophites,
and modern Druzes ... 291
Etymology of IAO
... 298
"Hermetic
Brothers" of Egypt ... 307
True meaning of
Nirvana ... 319
The Jayna sect ...
321
Christians and
Chrestians ... 323
The Gnostics and
their detractors ... 325
Buddha, Jesus, and
Apollonius of Tyana ... 341
CHAPTER VIII.
JESUITRY AND
MASONRY.
The Sohar and Rabbi
Simeon ... 348
The Order of
Jesuits and its relation to some of the Masonic orders ... 352
Crimes permitted to
its members ... 355
Principles of
Jesuitry compared with those of Pagan moralists ... 364
Trinity of man in
Egyptian Book of the Dead ... 367
Freemasonry no
longer esoteric ... 372
Persecution of
Templars by the Church ... 381
Secret Masonic
ciphers ... 395
Jehovah not the
"Ineffable Name" ... 398
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CHAPTER IX.
THE VEDAS AND THE
BIBLE.
Nearly every myth
based on some great truth ... 405
Whence the
Christian Sabbath ... 406
Antiquity of the
Vedas ... 410
Pythagorean
doctrine of the potentialities of numbers ... 417
"Days" of
Genesis and "Days" of Brahma ... 422
Fall of man and the
Deluge in the Hindu books ... 425
Antiquity of the
Mahabharata ... 429
Were the ancient
Egyptians of the Aryan race? ... 434
Samuel, David, and
Solomon mythical personages ... 439
Symbolism of Noah's
Ark ... 447
The Patriarchs
identical with zodiacal signs ... 459
All Bible legends
belong to universal history ... 469
CHAPTER X.
THE DEVIL-MYTH.
The devil
officially recognized by the Church ... 477
Satan the mainstay
of sacerdotalism ... 480
Identity of Satan
with the Egyptian Typhon ... 483
His relation to
serpent-worship ... 489
The Book of Job and
the Book of the Dead ... 493
The Hindu devil a
metaphysical abstraction ... 501
Satan and the
Prince of Hell in the Gospel of Nicodemus ... 515
CHAPTER XI.
COMPARATIVE RESULTS
OF BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
The age of
philosophy produced no atheists ... 530
The legends of three
Saviours ... 537
Christian doctrine
of the Atonement illogical ... 542
Cause of the
failure of missionaries to convert Buddhists and Brahmanists ... 553
Neither Buddha nor
Jesus left written records ... 559
The grandest
mysteries of religion in the Bagaved-gita ... 562
The meaning of
regeneration explained in the Satapa-Brahmana ... 565
The sacrifice of
blood interpreted ... 566
Demoralization of
British India by Christian missionaries ... 573
The Bible less
authenticated than any other sacred book ... 577
Knowledge of
chemistry and physics displayed by Indian jugglers ... 583
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSIONS AND
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Recapitulation of
fundamental propositions ... 587
Seership of the
soul and of the spirit ... 590
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The phenomenon of
the so-called spirit-hand ... 594
Difference between
mediums and adepts ... 595
Interview of an English
ambassador with a reincarnated Buddha ... 598
Flight of a lama's
astral body related by Abbe Huc ... 604
Schools of magic in
Buddhist lamaseries ... 609
The unknown race of
Hindu Todas ... 613
Will-power of
fakirs and yogis ... 617
Taming of wild beasts
by fakirs ... 622
Evocation of a
living spirit by a Shaman, witnessed by the writer ... 626
Sorcery by the
breath of a Jesuit Father ... 633
Why the study of
magic is almost impracticable in Europe ... 635
Conclusion ... 635
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PREFACE TO PART II.
WERE it possible,
we would keep this work out of the hands of many Christians whom its perusal
would not benefit, and for whom it was not written. We allude to those whose
faith in their respective churches is pure and sincere, and those whose sinless
lives reflect the glorious example of that Prophet of Nazareth, by whose mouth
the spirit of truth spake loudly to humanity. Such there have been at all
times. History preserves the names of many as heroes, philosophers,
philanthropists, martyrs, and holy men and women; but how many more have lived
and died, unknown but to their intimate acquaintance, unblessed but by their
humble beneficiaries! These have ennobled Christianity, but would have shed the
same lustre upon any other faith they might have professed -- for they were
higher than their creed. The benevolence of Peter Cooper and Elizabeth
Thompson, of America, who are not orthodox Christians, is no less Christ-like
than that of the Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, of England, who is one. And
yet, in comparison with the millions who have been accounted Christians, such
have always formed a small minority. They are to be found at this day, in
pulpit and pew, in palace and cottage; but the increasing materialism,
worldliness and hypocrisy are fast diminishing their proportionate number.
Their charity, and simple, child-like faith in the infallibility of their Bible,
their dogmas, and their clergy, bring into full activity all the virtues
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that are implanted
in our common nature. We have personally known such God-fearing priests and
clergymen, and we have always avoided debate with them, lest we might be guilty
of the cruelty of hurting their feelings; nor would we rob a single layman of
his blind confidence, if it alone made possible for him holy living and serene
dying.
An analysis of
religious beliefs in general, this volume is in particular directed against
theological Christianity, the chief opponent of free thought. It contains not
one word against the pure teachings of Jesus, but unsparingly denounces their
debasement into pernicious ecclesiastical systems that are ruinous to man's
faith in his immortality and his God, and subversive of all moral restraint.
We cast our
gauntlet at the dogmatic theologians who would enslave both history and
science; and especially at the Vatican, whose despotic pretensions have become
hateful to the greater portion of enlightened Christendom. The clergy apart,
none but the logician, the investigator, the dauntless explorer should meddle
with books like this. Such delvers after truth have the courage of their
opinions.
Isis Unveiled by H.
P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2
Theosophical
University Press Online Edition
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PART TWO. --
RELIGION.
CHAPTER I.
"Yea, the time
cometh, that whomsoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God
service." -- Gospel according to John, xvi. 2.
"Let him be
ANATHEMA . . . who shall say that human Sciences ought to be pursued in such a
spirit of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions even
when opposed to revealed doctrines." -- Ecumenical Council of 1870.
"GLOUC. -- The
Church! Where is it?" -- King Henry VI., Act i., Sc. 1.
IN the United
States of America, sixty thousand (60,428) men are paid salaries to teach the
Science of God and His relations to His creatures.
These men contract
to impart to us the knowledge which treats of the existence, character, and
attributes of our Creator; His laws and government; the doctrines we are to
believe and the duties we are to practice. Five thousand (5,141) of them,* with
the prospect of 1273 theological students to help them in time, teach this
science according to a formula prescribed by the Bishop of Rome, to five
million people. Fifty-five thousand (55,287) local and travelling ministers,
representing fifteen different denominations,** each contradicting the other
upon more or less vital theological questions, instruct, in their respective
doctrines, thirty-three million (33,500,000) other persons. Many of these teach
according to the canons of the cis-Atlantic branch of an establishment which
acknowledges a daughter of the late Duke of Kent as its spiritual
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* These figures are
copied from the "Religious Statistics of the United States for the year
1871."
** These are: The
Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Northern Methodists, Southern
Methodists, Methodists various, Northern Presbyterians, Southern Presbyterians,
United Presbyterians, United Brethren, Brethren in Christ, Reformed Dutch,
Reformed German, Reformed Presbyterians, Cumberland Presbyterians.
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head. There are
many hundred thousand Jews; some thousands of Orientals of all kinds; and a
very few who belong to the Greek Church. A man at Salt Lake City, with nineteen
wives and more than one hundred children and grandchildren, is the supreme
spiritual ruler over ninety thousand people, who believe that he is in frequent
intercourse with the gods -- for the Mormons are Polytheists as well as
Polygamists, and their chief god is represented as living in a planet they call
Colob.
The God of the
Unitarians is a bachelor; the Deity of the Presbyterians, Methodists,
Congregationalists, and the other orthodox Protestant sects a spouseless Father
with one Son, who is identical with Himself. In the attempt to outvie each
other in the erection of their sixty-two thousand and odd churches,
prayer-houses, and meeting-halls, in which to teach these conflicting
theological doctrines, $354,485,581 have been spent. The value of the
Protestant parsonages alone, in which are sheltered the disputants and their
families, is roughly calculated to approximate $54,115,297. Sixteen million
(16,179,387) dollars, are, moreover, contributed every year for current
expenses of the Protestant denominations only. One Presbyterian church in New
York cost a round million; a Catholic altar alone, one-fourth as much!
We will not mention
the multitude of smaller sects, communities, and extravagantly original little
heresies in this country which spring up one year to die out the next, like so
many spores of fungi after a rainy day. We will not even stop to consider the
alleged millions of Spiritualists; for the majority lack the courage to break
away from their respective religious denominations. These are the back-door
Nicodemuses.
And now, with
Pilate, let us inquire, What is truth? Where is it to be searched for amid this
multitude of warring sects? Each claims to be based upon divine revelation, and
each to have the keys of the celestial gates. Is either in possession of this
rare truth? Or, must we exclaim with the Buddhist philosopher, "There is
but one truth on earth, and it is unchangeable: and this is -- that there is no
truth on it!"
Though we have no
disposition whatever to trench upon the ground that has been so exhaustively
gleaned by those learned scholars who have shown that every Christian dogma has
its origin in a heathen rite, still the facts which they have exhumed, since
the enfranchisement of science, will lose nothing by repetition. Besides, we
propose to examine these facts from a different and perhaps rather novel point
of view: that of the old philosophies as esoterically understood. These we have
barely glanced at in our first volume. We will use them as the standard by
which to compare Christian dogmas and miracles with the doctrines and phenomena
of ancient magic, and the modern "New Dispensation," as Spiritualism
is called by its votaries. Since the materialists deny the phenom-
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IT?"
ena without investigation,
and since the theologians in admitting them offer us the poor choice of two
palpable absurdities -- the Devil and miracles -- we can lose little by
applying to the theurgists, and they may actually help us to throw a great
light upon a very dark subject.
Professor A.
Butlerof, of the Imperial University of St. Petersburg, remarks in a recent
pamphlet, entitled Mediumistic Manifestations, as follows: "Let the facts
(of modern spiritualism) belong if you will to the number of those which were
more or less known by the ancients; let them be identical with those which in
the dark ages gave importance to the office of Egyptian priest or Roman augur;
let them even furnish the basis of the sorcery of our Siberian Shaman; . . .
let them be all these, and, if they are real facts, it is no business of ours.
All the facts in nature belong to science, and every addition to the store of
science enriches instead of impoverishing her. If humanity has once admitted a
truth, and then in the blindness of self-conceit denied it, to return to its
realization is a step forward and not backward."
Since the day that
modern science gave what may be considered the death-blow to dogmatic theology,
by assuming the ground that religion was full of mystery, and mystery is unscientific,
the mental state of the educated class has presented a curious aspect. Society
seems from that time to have been ever balancing itself upon one leg, on an
unseen tight-rope stretched from our visible universe into the invisible one;
uncertain whether the end hooked on faith in the latter might not suddenly
break, and hurl it into final annihilation.
The great body of
nominal Christians may be divided into three unequal portions: materialists,
spiritualists, and Christians proper. The materialists and spiritualists make
common cause against the hierarchical pretensions of the clergy; who, in
retaliation, denounce both with equal acerbity. The materialists are as little
in harmony as the Christian sects themselves -- the Comtists, or, as they call
themselves, the positivists, being despised and hated to the last degree by the
schools of thinkers, one of which Maudsley honorably represents in England.
Positivism, be it remembered, is that "religion" of the future about
whose founder even Huxley has made himself wrathful in his famous lecture, The
Physical Basis of Life; and Maudsley felt obliged, in behalf of modern science,
to express himself thus: "It is no wonder that scientific men should be
anxious to disclaim Comte as their law-giver, and to protest against such a
king being set up to reign over them. Not conscious of any personal obligation
to his writings -- conscious how much, in some respects, he has misrepresented
the spirit and pretensions of science -- they repudiate the allegiance which his
enthusiastic disciples would force upon them, and which popular opinion is fast
coming to think a natural one. They do
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well in thus making
a timely assertion of independence; for if it be not done soon, it will soon be
too late to be done well."* When a materialistic doctrine is repudiated so
strongly by two such materialists as Huxley and Maudsley, then we must think
indeed that it is absurdity itself.
Among Christians
there is nothing but dissension. Their various churches represent every degree
of religious belief, from the omnivorous credulity of blind faith to a
condescending and high-toned deference to the Deity which thinly masks an
evident conviction of their own deific wisdom. All these sects believe more or
less in the immortality of the soul. Some admit the intercourse between the two
worlds as a fact; some entertain the opinion as a sentiment; some positively
deny it; and only a few maintain an attitude of attention and expectancy.
Impatient of
restraint, longing for the return of the dark ages, the Romish Church frowns at
the diabolical manifestations, and indicates what she would do to their
champions had she but the power of old. Were it not for the self-evident fact
that she herself is placed by science on trial, and that she is handcuffed, she
would be ready at a moment's notice to repeat in the nineteenth century the
revolting scenes of former days. As to the Protestant clergy, so furious is
their common hatred toward spiritualism, that as a secular paper very truly
remarks: "They seem willing to undermine the public faith in all the
spiritual phenomena of the past, as recorded in the Bible, if they can only see
the pestilent modern heresy stabbed to the heart."**
Summoning back the
long-forgotten memories of the Mosaic laws, the Romish Church claims the
monopoly of miracles, and of the right to sit in judgment over them, as being
the sole heir thereto by direct inheritance. The Old Testament, exiled by
Colenso, his predecessors and contemporaries, is recalled from its banishment.
The prophets, whom his Holiness the Pope condescends at last to place, if not
on the same level with himself, at least at a less respectful distance,*** are
dusted and cleaned. The memory of all the diabolical abracadabra is evoked
anew. The blasphemous horrors perpetrated by Paganism, its
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* H. Maudsley:
"Body and Mind."
** "Boston
Sunday Herald," November 5, 1876.
*** See the
self-glorification of the present Pope in the work entitled, "Speeches of
Pope Pius IX." by Don Pascale de Franciscis; and the famous pamphlet of
that name by the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone. The latter quotes from the work
named the following sentence pronounced by the Pope: "My wish is that all
governments should know that I am speaking in this strain. . . . And I have the
right to speak, even more than Nathan the prophet to David the king, and a
great deal more than St. Ambrose had to Theodosius"!!
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CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS.
phallic worship,
thaumaturgical wonders wrought by Satan, human sacrifices, incantations,
witchcraft, magic, and sorcery are recalled and DEMONISM is confronted with
spiritualism for mutual recognition and identification. Our modern
demonologists conveniently overlook a few insignificant details, among which is
the undeniable presence of heathen phallism in the Christian symbols. A strong
spiritual element of this worship may be easily demonstrated in the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God; and a physical element
equally proved in the fetish-worship of the holy limbs of Sts. Cosmo and
Damiano, at Isernia, near Naples; a successful traffic in which ex-voto in wax
was carried on by the clergy, annually, until barely a half century ago.*
We find it rather
unwise on the part of Catholic writers to pour out their vials of wrath in such
sentences as these: "In a multitude of pagodas, the phallic stone, ever
and always assuming, like the Grecian batylos, the brutally indecent form of
the lingham . . . the Maha Deva."** Before casting slurs on a symbol whose
profound metaphysical meaning is too much for the modern champions of that
religion of sensualism par excellence, Roman Catholicism, to grasp, they are in
duty bound to destroy their oldest churches, and change the form of the cupolas
of their own temples. The Mahody of Elephanta, the Round Tower of Bhangulpore,
the minarets of Islam -- either rounded or pointed -- are the originals of the
Campanile column of San Marco, at Venice, of the Rochester Cathedral, and of
the modern Duomo of Milan. All of these steeples, turrets, domes, and Christian
temples, are the reproductions of the primitive idea of the lithos, the upright
phallus. "The western tower of St. Paul's Cathedral, London," says
the author of The Rosicrucians, "is one of the double lithoi placed always
in front of every temple, Christian as well as heathen."*** Moreover, in
all Christian Churches, "particularly in Protestant churches, where they
figure most conspicuously, the two tables of stone of the Mosaic Dispensation
are placed over the altar, side by side, as a united stone, the tops of which
are rounded. . . . The right stone is masculine, the left feminine."
Therefore neither Catholics nor Protestants have a right to talk of the
"indecent forms" of heathen monuments so long as they ornament their
own churches with the symbols of the Lingham and Yoni, and even write the laws
of their God upon them.
Another detail not
redounding very particularly to the honor of the Christian clergy might be
recalled in the word Inquisition. The torrents
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See King's
"Gnostics," and other works.
** Des Mousseaux:
"La Magie au XIXme Siecle," chap. i.
*** Hargrave
Jennings: "The Rosicrucians," pp. 228-241.
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of human blood shed
by this Christian institution, and the number of its human sacrifices, are
unparalleled in the annals of Paganism. Another still more prominent feature in
which the clergy surpassed their masters, the "heathen," is sorcery.
Certainly in no Pagan temple was black magic, in its real and true sense, more
practiced than in the Vatican. While strongly supporting exorcism as an
important source of revenue, they neglected magic as little as the ancient heathen.
It is easy to prove that the sortilegium, or sorcery, was widely practiced
among the clergy and monks so late as the last century, and is practiced
occasionally even now.
Anathematizing
every manifestation of occult nature outside the precincts of the Church, the
clergy -- notwithstanding proofs to the contrary -- call it "the work of
Satan," "the snares of the fallen angels," who "rush in and
out from the bottomless pit," mentioned by John in his kabalistic
Revelation, "from whence arises a smoke as the smoke of a great
furnace." "Intoxicated by its fumes, around this pit are daily
gathering millions of Spiritualists, to worship at 'the Abyss of Baal.' "*
More than ever
arrogant, stubborn, and despotic, now that she has been nearly upset by modern
research, not daring to interfere with the powerful champions of science, the
Latin Church revenges herself upon the unpopular phenomena. A despot without a
victim, is a word void of sense; a power which neglects to assert itself
through outward, well-calculated effects, risks being doubted in the end. The
Church has no intention to fall into the oblivion of the ancient myths, or to
suffer her authority to be too closely questioned. Hence she pursues, as well
as the times permit, her traditional policy. Lamenting the enforced extinction
of her ally, the Holy Inquisition, she makes a virtue of necessity. The only
victims now within reach are the Spiritists of France. Recent events have shown
that the meek spouse of Christ never disdains to retaliate on helpless victims.
Having successfully
performed her part of Deus-ex-Machina from behind the French Bench, which has
not scrupled to disgrace itself for her, the Church of Rome sets to work and
shows in the year 1876 what she can do. From the whirling tables and dancing
pencils of profane Spiritualism, the Christian world is warned to turn to the
divine "miracles" of Lourdes. Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical
authorities utilize their time in arranging for other more easy triumphs,
calculated to scare the superstitious out of their senses. So, acting under
orders, the clergy hurl dramatic, if not very impressive anathemas from every
Catholic diocese; threaten right and left; excommunicate and curse. Per-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Des Mousseaux:
"Hauts Phenomenes de la Magie."
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VITUPERATION.
ceiving, finally,
that her thunderbolts directed even against crowned heads fall about as
harmlessly as the Jupiterean lightnings of Offenbach's Calchas, Rome turns
about in powerless fury against the victimized proteges of the Emperor of
Russia -- the unfortunate Bulgarians and Servians. Undisturbed by evidence and
sarcasm, unbaffled by proof, "the lamb of the Vatican" impartially
divides his wrath between the liberals of Italy, "the impious whose breath
has the stench of the sepulchre,"* the "schismatic Russian
Sarmates," and the heretics and spiritualists, "who worship at the
bottomless pit where the great Dragon lies in wait."
Mr. Gladstone went
to the trouble of making a catalogue of what he terms the "flowers of
speech," disseminated through these Papal discourses. Let us cull a few of
the chosen terms used by this vicegerent of Him who said that, "whosoever
shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire." They are selected
from authentic discourses. Those who oppose the Pope are "wolves, Pharisees,
thieves, liars, hypocrites, dropsical children of Satan, sons of perdition, of
sin, and corruption, satellites of Satan in human flesh, monsters of hell,
demons incarnate, stinking corpses, men issued from the pits of hell, traitors
and Judases led by the spirit of hell; children of the deepest pits of
hell," etc., etc.; the whole piously collected and published by Don
Pasquale di Franciscis, whom Gladstone has, with perfect propriety, termed,
"an accomplished professor of flunkeyism in things spiritual."**
Since his Holiness
the Pope has such a rich vocabulary of invectives at his command, why wonder
that the Bishop of Toulouse did not scruple to utter the most undignified
falsehoods about the Protestants and Spiritualists of America -- people doubly
odious to a Catholic -- in his address to his diocese: "Nothing," he
remarks, "is more common in an era of unbelief than to see a false
revelation substitute itself for the true one, and minds neglect the teachings
of the Holy Church, to devote themselves to the study of divination and the
occult sciences." With a fine episcopal contempt for statistics, and
strangely confounding in his memory the audiences of the revivalists, Moody and
Sankey, and the patrons of darkened seance-rooms, he utters the unwarranted and
fallacious assertion that "it has been proven that Spiritualism, in the
United States, has caused one-sixth of all the cases of suicide and
insanity." He says that it is not possible that the spirits "teach
either an exact science, because they are lying demons, or a useful science,
because the character
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Don Pasquale di
Franciscis: "Discorsi del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX.," Part i., p. 340.
** "Speeches
of Pius IX.," p. 14. Am. Edition.
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of the word of
Satan, like Satan himself, is sterile." He warns his dear collaborateurs,
that "the writings in favor of Spiritualism are under the ban"; and
he advises them to let it be known that "to frequent spiritual circles
with the intention of accepting the doctrine, is to apostatize from the Holy
Church, and assume the risk of excommunication"; finally, says he,
"Publish the fact that the teaching of no spirit should prevail against
that of the pulpit of Peter, which is the teaching of the Spirit of God
Himself"!!
Aware of the many
false teachings attributed by the Roman Church to the Creator, we prefer
disbelieving the latter assertion. The famous Catholic theologian, Tillemont,
assures us in his work that "all the illustrious Pagans are condemned to
the eternal torments of hell, because they lived before the time of Jesus, and,
therefore, could not be benefited by the redemption"!! He also assures us
that the Virgin Mary personally testified to this truth over her own signature
in a letter to a saint. Therefore, this is also a revelation -- "the
Spirit of God Himself" teaching such charitable doctrines.
We have also read
with great advantage the topographical descriptions of Hell and Purgatory in
the celebrated treatise under that name by a Jesuit, the Cardinal Bellarmin. A
critic found that the author, who gives the description from a divine vision
with which he was favored, "appears to possess all the knowledge of a
land-measurer" about the secret tracts and formidable divisions of the
"bottomless pit." Justin Martyr having actually committed to paper
the heretical thought that after all Socrates might not be altogether fixed in
hell, his Benedictine editor criticises this too benevolent father very
severely. Whoever doubts the Christian charity of the Church of Rome in this
direction is invited to peruse the Censure of the Sorbonne, on Marmontel's Belisarius.
The odium theologicum blazes in it on the dark sky of orthodox theology like an
aurora borealis -- the precursor of God's wrath, according to the teaching of
certain mediaeval divines.
We have attempted
in the first part of this work to show, by historical examples, how completely
men of science have deserved the stinging sarcasm of the late Professor de
Morgan, who remarked of them that "they wear the priest's cast-off garb,
dyed to escape detection." The Christian clergy are, in like manner, attired
in the cast-off garb of the heathen priesthood; acting diametrically in
opposition to their God's moral precepts, but nevertheless, sitting in judgment
over the whole world.
When dying on the
cross, the martyred Man of Sorrows forgave his enemies. His last words were a
prayer in their behalf. He taught his disciples to curse not, but to bless,
even their foes. But the heirs of
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HEAVEN.
St. Peter, the
self-constituted representatives on earth of that same meek Jesus,
unhesitatingly curse whoever resists their despotic will. Besides, was not the
"Son" long since crowded by them into the background? They make their
obeisance only to the Dowager Mother, for -- according to their teaching --
again through "the direct Spirit of God," she alone acts as a
mediatrix. The OEcumenical Council of 1870 embodied the teaching into a dogma,
to disbelieve which is to be doomed forever to the 'bottomless pit.' The work
of Don Pasquale di Franciscis is positive on that point; for he tells us that,
as the Queen of Heaven owes to the present Pope "the finest gem in her
coronet," since he has conferred on her the unexpected honor of becoming
suddenly immaculate, there is nothing she cannot obtain from her Son for
"her Church."*
Some years ago,
certain travellers saw in Barri, Italy, a statue of the Madonna, arrayed in a
flounced pink skirt over a swelling crinoline! Pious pilgrims who may be
anxious to examine the regulation wardrobe of their God's mother may do so by
going to Southern Italy, Spain, and Catholic North and South America. The
Madonna of Barri must still be there -- between two vineyards and a locanda
(gin-shop). When last seen, a half-successful attempt had been made to clothe
the infant Jesus; they had covered his legs with a pair of dirty, scollop-edged
pantaloons. An English traveller having presented the "Mediatrix" with
a green silk parasol, the grateful population of the contadini, accompanied by
the village-priest, went in procession to the spot. They managed to stick the
sunshade, opened, between the infant's back and the arm of the Virgin which
embraced him. The scene and ceremony were both solemn and highly refreshing to
our religious feelings. For there stood the image of the goddess in its niche,
surrounded with a row of ever-burning lamps, the flames of which, flickering in
the breeze, infect God's pure air with an offensive smell of olive oil. The
Mother and Son truly represent the two most conspicuous idols of Monotheistic
Christianity!
For a companion to
the idol of the poor contadini of Barri, go to the rich city of Rio Janeiro. In
the Church of the Duomo del Candelaria, in a long hall running along one side
of the church, there might be seen, a few years ago, another Madonna. Along the
walls of the hall there is a line of saints, each standing on a
contribution-box, which thus forms a fit pedestal. In the centre of this line,
under a gorgeously rich canopy of blue silk, is exhibited the Virgin Mary
leaning on the arm of Christ. "Our Lady" is arrayed in a very
decollete blue satin dress with short
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Vide
"Speeches of Pope Pius IX.," by Don Pasq. di Franciscis; Gladstone's
pamphlet on this book; Draper's "Conflict between Religion and
Science," and others.
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sleeves, showing,
to great advantage, a snow-white, exquisitely-moulded neck, shoulders, and
arms. The skirt equally of blue satin with an overskirt of rich lace and gauze
puffs, is as short as that of a ballet-dancer; hardly reaching the knee, it
exhibits a pair of finely-shaped legs covered with flesh colored silk tights,
and blue satin French boots with very high red heels! The blonde hair of this
"Mother of God" is arranged in the latest fashion, with a voluminous
chignon and curls. As she leans on her Son's arm, her face is lovingly turned
toward her Only-Begotten, whose dress and attitude are equally worthy of
admiration. Christ wears an evening dress-coat, with swallow-tail, black
trousers, and low cut white vest; varnished boots, and white kid gloves, over
one of which sparkles a rich diamond ring, worth many thousands we must suppose
-- a precious Brazilian jewel. Above this body of a modern Portuguese dandy, is
a head with the hair parted in the middle; a sad and solemn face, and eyes
whose patient look seems to reflect all the bitterness of this last insult
flung at the majesty of the Crucified.*
The Egyptian Isis
was also represented as a Virgin Mother by her devotees, and as holding her
infant son, Horus, in her arms. In some statues and basso-relievos, when she
appears alone she is either completely nude or veiled from head to foot. But in
the Mysteries, in common with nearly every other goddess, she is entirely veiled
from head to foot, as a symbol of a mother's chastity. It would not do us any
harm were we to borrow from the ancients some of the poetic sentiment in their
religions, and the innate veneration they entertained for their symbols.
It is but fair to
say at once that the last of the true Christians died with the last of the
direct apostles. Max Muller forcibly asks: "How can a missionary in such
circumstances meet the surprise and questions of his pupils, unless he may
point to that seed,** and tell them what Christianity was meant to be? unless
he may show that, like all other religions, Christianity too, has had its
history; that the Christianity of the nineteenth century is not the
Christianity of the middle ages, and that the Christianity of the middle ages
was not that of the early Councils; that the Christianity of the early Councils
was not that of the Apostles, and that what has been said by Christ, that alone
was well said?"***
Thus we may infer
that the only characteristic difference between modern Christianity and the old
heathen faiths is the belief of the former in a personal devil and in hell.
"The Aryan nations had no devil," says Max Muller. "Pluto,
though of a sombre character, was a very
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The fact is given
to us by an eye-witness who has visited the church several times; a Roman
Catholic, who felt perfectly horrified, as he expressed it.
** Referring to the
seed planted by Jesus and his Apostles.
***
"Chips," vol. i., p. 26, Preface.
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NATIONS.
respectable
personage; and Loki (the Scandinavian), though a mischievous person, was not a
fiend. The German Goddess, Hell, too, like Proserpine, had once seen better
days. Thus, when the Germans were indoctrinated with the idea of a real devil,
the Semitic Seth, Satan or Diabolus, they treated him in the most good-humored
way."
The same may be
said of hell. Hades was quite a different place from our region of eternal
damnation, and might be termed rather an intermediate state of purification.
Neither does the Scandinavian Hel or Hela, imply either a state or a place of
punishment; for when Frigga, the grief-stricken mother of Bal-dur, the white
god, who died and found himself in the dark abodes of the shadows (Hades) sent
Hermod, a son of Thor, in quest of her beloved child, the messenger found him
in the inexorable region -- alas! but still comfortably seated on a rock, and
reading a book.* The Norse kingdom of the dead is moreover situated in the
higher latitudes of the Polar regions; it is a cold and cheerless abode, and
neither the gelid halls of Hela, nor the occupation of Baldur present the least
similitude to the blazing hell of eternal fire and the miserable
"damned" sinners with which the Church so generously peoples it. No
more is it the Egyptian Amenthes, the region of judgment and purification; nor
the Onderah -- the abyss of darkness of the Hindus; for even the fallen angels
hurled into it by Siva, are allowed by Parabrahma to consider it as an
intermediate state, in which an opportunity is afforded them to prepare for
higher degrees of purification and redemption from their wretched condition.
The Gehenna of the New Testament was a locality outside the walls of Jerusalem;
and in mentioning it, Jesus used but an ordinary metaphor. Whence then came the
dreary dogma of hell, that Archimedean lever of Christian theology, with which
they have succeeded to hold in subjection the numberless millions of Christians
for nineteen centuries? Assuredly not from the Jewish Scriptures, and we appeal
for corroboration to any well-informed Hebrew scholar.
The only
designation of something approaching hell in the Bible is Gehenna or Hinnom, a
valley near Jerusalem, where was situated Tophet, a place where a fire was
perpetually kept for sanitary purposes. The prophet Jeremiah informs us that
the Israelites used to sacrifice their children to Moloch-Hercules on that
spot; and later we find Christians quietly replacing this divinity by their god
of mercy, whose wrath will not be appeased, unless the Church sacrifices to him
her unbaptized children and sinning sons on the altar of "eternal
damnation"!
Whence then did the
divine learn so well the conditions of hell, as
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Mallet:
"Northern Antiquities."
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to actually divide
its torments into two kinds, the poena damni and poenae sensus, the former
being the privation of the beatific vision; the latter the eternal pains in a
lake of fire and brimstone? If they answer us that it is in the Apocalypse (xx.
10), we are prepared to demonstrate whence the theologist John himself derived
the idea, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented
for ever and ever," he says. Laying aside the esoteric interpretation that
the "devil" or tempting demon meant our own earthly body, which after
death will surely dissolve in the fiery or ethereal elements,* the word
"eternal" by which our theologians interpret the words "for ever
and ever" does not exist in the Hebrew language, either as a word or meaning.
There is no Hebrew word which properly expresses eternity; [[Heb char]] oulam,
according to Le Clerc, only imports a time whose beginning or end is not known.
While showing that this word does not mean infinite duration, and that in the
Old Testament the word forever only signifies a long time, Archbishop Tillotson
has completely perverted its sense with respect to the idea of hell-torments.
According to his doctrine, when Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be suffering
"eternal fire," we must understand it only in the sense of that fire
not being extinguished till both cities were entirely consumed. But, as to
hell-fire the words must be understood in the strictest sense of infinite
duration. Such is the decree of the learned divine. For the duration of the
punishment of the wicked must be proportionate to the eternal happiness of the
righteous. So he says, "These (speaking of the wicked) shall go away [[eis
kolasin aionion]] into eternal punishment; but the righteous [[eis zoen
aionion]] into life eternal."
The Reverend T. Surnden,**
commenting on the speculations of his predecessors, fills a whole volume with
unanswerable arguments, tending to show that the locality of Hell is in the
sun. We suspect that the reverend speculator had read the Apocalypse in bed,
and had the nightmare in consequence. There are two verses in the Revelation of
John reading thus: "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun,
and power was given him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with
great heat, and blasphemed the name of God."*** This is simply Pythagorean
and kabalistic allegory. The idea is new neither with the above-mentioned
author nor with John. Pythagoras placed the "sphere of purification in the
sun," which sun, with its sphere, he moreover
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ether is both
pure and impure fire. The composition of the latter comprises all its visible
forms, such as the "correlation of forces" -- heat, flame,
electricity, etc. The former is the Spirit of Fire. The difference is purely
alchemical.
** See
"Inquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell," by Rev. T. Surnden.
*** Revelation xvi.
8-9.
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HELL.
locates in the
middle of the universe,* the allegory having a double meaning: 1. Symbolically,
the central, spiritual sun, the Supreme Deity. Arrived at this region every
soul becomes purified of its sins, and unites itself forever with its spirit,
having previously suffered throughout all the lower spheres. 2. By placing the
sphere of visible fire in the middle of the universe, he simply taught the
heliocentric system which appertained to the Mysteries, and was imparted only
in the higher degree of initiation. John gives to his Word a purely kabalistic
significance, which no "Fathers," except those who had belonged to
the Neo-platonic school, were able to comprehend. Origen understood it well,
having been a pupil of Ammonius Saccas; therefore we see him bravely denying
the perpetuity of hell-torments. He maintains that not only men, but even
devils (by which term he meant disembodied human sinners), after a certain
duration of punishment shall be pardoned and finally restored to heaven.** In
consequence of this and other such heresies Origen was, as a matter of course,
exiled.
Many have been the
learned and truly-inspired speculations as to the locality of hell. The most
popular were those which placed it in the centre of the earth. At a certain
time, however, skeptical doubts which disturbed the placidity of faith in this
highly-refreshing doctrine arose in consequence of the meddling scientists of
those days. As a Mr. Swinden in our own century observes, the theory was
inadmissible because of two objections: 1st, that a fund of fuel or sulphur
sufficient to maintain so furious and constant a fire could not be there
supposed; and, 2d, that it must want the nitrous particles in the air to
sustain and keep it alive. "And how," says he, "can a fire be
eternal, when, by degrees, the whole substance of the earth must be consumed
thereby?"**
The skeptical
gentleman had evidently forgotten that centuries ago St. Augustine solved the
difficulty. Have we not the word of this learned divine that hell,
nevertheless, is in the centre of the earth, for "God supplies the central
fire with air by a miracle"? The argument is unanswerable, and so we will
not seek to upset it.
The Christians were
the first to make the existence of Satan a dogma of the Church. And once that
she had established it, she had to struggle for over 1,700 years for the
repression of a mysterious force which it was her policy to make appear of
diabolical origin. Unfortunately, in manifesting itself, this force invariably
tends to upset such a belief by the ridiculous discrepancy it presents between
the alleged cause and the effects. If the clergy have not over-estimated the
real power of
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Aristotle
mentions Pythagoreans who placed the sphere of fire in the sun, and named it
Jupiter's Prison. See "De Coelo," lib. ii.
** "De Civit.
Dei," I, xxi., c. 17.
***
"Demonologia and Hell," p. 289.
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the
"Arch-Enemy of God," it must be confessed that he takes mighty
precautions against being recognized as the "Prince of Darkness" who
aims at our souls. If modern "spirits" are devils at all, as preached
by the clergy, then they can only be those "poor" or "stupid
devils" whom Max Muller describes as appearing so often in the German and
Norwegian tales.
Notwithstanding
this, the clergy fear above all to be forced to relinquish this hold on
humanity. They are not willing to let us judge of the tree by its fruits, for
that might sometimes force them into dangerous dilemmas. They refuse, likewise,
to admit, with unprejudiced people, that the phenomena of Spiritualism has
unquestionably spiritualized and reclaimed from evil courses many an
indomitable atheist and skeptic. But, as they confess themselves, what is the
use in a Pope, if there is no Devil?
And so Rome sends
her ablest advocates and preachers to the rescue of those perishing in
"the bottomless pit." Rome employs her cleverest writers for this
purpose -- albeit they all indignantly deny the accusation -- and in the
preface to every book put forth by the prolific des Mousseaux, the French
Tertullian of our century, we find undeniable proofs of the fact. Among other
certificates of ecclesiastical approval, every volume is ornamented with the
text of a certain original letter addressed to the very pious author by the
world-known Father Ventura de Raulica, of Rome. Few are those who have not
heard this famous name. It is the name of one of the chief pillars of the Latin
Church, the ex-General of the Order of the Theatins, Consultor of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites, Examiner of Bishops, and of the Roman Clergy, etc.,
etc., etc. This strikingly characteristic document will remain to astonish
future generations by its spirit of unsophisticated demonolatry and unblushing
sincerity. We translate a fragment verbatim, and by thus helping its
circulation hope to merit the blessings of Mother Church:*
"MONSIEUR AND
EXCELLENT FRIEND:
"The greatest
victory of Satan was gained on that day when he succeeded in making himself
denied.
"To
demonstrate the existence of Satan, is to reestablish one of the fundamental
dogmas of the Church, which serve as a basis for Christianity, and, without
which, Satan would be but a name. . . .
"Magic,
mesmerism, magnetism, somnambulism, spiritualism, spiritism, hypnotism . . .
are only other names for SATANISM.
"To bring out
such a truth and show it in its proper light, is to unmask the enemy; it is to
unveil the immense danger of certain practices, reputed innocent; it is to
deserve well in the eyes of humanity and of religion.
"FATHER
VENTURA DE RAULICA."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Les Hauts
Phenomenes de la Magie," p. v., Preface.
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DEVIL.
A--men!
This is an
unexpected honor indeed, for our American "controls" in general, and
the innocent "Indian guides" in particular. To be thus introduced in
Rome as princes of the Empire of Eblis, is more than they could ever hope for
in other lands.
Without in the
least suspecting that she was working for the future welfare of her enemies --
the spiritualists and spiritists -- the Church, some twenty years since, in
tolerating des Mousseaux and de Mirville as the biographers of the Devil, and
giving her approbation thereto, tacitly confessed the literary copartnership.
M. the Chevalier
Gougenot des Mousseaux, and his friend and collaborateur, the Marquis Eudes de
Mirville, to judge by their long titles, must be aristocrats pur sang, and they
are, moreover, writers of no small erudition and talent. Were they to show
themselves a little more parsimonious of double points of exclamation following
every vituperation, and invective against Satan and his worshippers, their
style would be faultless. As it is, the crusade against the enemy of mankind
was fierce, and lasted for over twenty years.
What with the
Catholics piling up their psychological phenomena to prove the existence of a
personal devil, and the Count de Gasparin, an ancient minister of Louis
Philippe, collecting volumes of other facts to prove the contrary, the
spiritists of France have contracted an everlasting debt of gratitude toward
the disputants. The existence of an unseen spiritual universe peopled with
invisible beings has now been demonstrated beyond question. Ransacking the
oldest libraries, they have distilled from the historical records the
quintessence of evidence. All epochs, from the Homeric ages down to the present
day, have supplied their choicest materials to these indefatigable authors. In
trying to prove the authenticity of the miracles wrought by Satan in the days
preceding the Christian era, as well as throughout the middle ages, they have
simply laid a firm foundation for a study of the phenomena in our modern times.
Though an ardent,
uncompromising enthusiast, des Mousseaux unwittingly transforms himself into
the tempting demon, or -- as he is fond of calling the Devil -- the
"serpent of Genesis." In his desire to demonstrate in every
manifestation the presence of the Evil One, he only succeeds in demonstrating
that Spiritualism and magic are no new things in the world, but very ancient
twin-brothers, whose origin must be sought for in the earliest infancy of
ancient India, Chaldea, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, and Greece.
He proves the
existence of "spirits," whether these be angels or devils, with such
a clearness of argument and logic, and such an amount
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of evidence,
historical, irrefutable, and strictly authenticated, that little is left for
spiritualist authors who may come after him. How unfortunate that the
scientists, who believe neither in devil nor spirit, are more than likely to
ridicule M. des Mousseaux's books without reading them, for they really contain
so many facts of profound scientific interest!
But what can we
expect in our own age of unbelief, when we find Plato, over twenty-two
centuries ago, complaining of the same? "Me, too," says he, in his
Euthyphron, "when I say anything in the public assembly concerning divine
things, and predict to them what is going to happen, they ridicule as mad; and
although nothing that I have predicted has proved untrue, yet they envy all
such men as we are. However, we ought not to heed, but pursue our own
way."
The literary
resources of the Vatican and other Catholic repositories of learning must have
been freely placed at the disposal of these modern authors. When one has such
treasures at hand -- original manuscripts, papyri, and books pillaged from the
richest heathen libraries; old treatises on magic and alchemy; and records of
all the trials for witchcraft, and sentences for the same to rack, stake, and
torture, it is mighty easy to write volumes of accusations against the Devil.
We affirm on good grounds that there are hundreds of the most valuable works on
the occult sciences, which are sentenced to eternal concealment from the
public, but are attentively read and studied by the privileged who have access
to the Vatican Library. The laws of nature are the same for heathen sorcerer as
for Catholic saint; and a "miracle" may be produced as well by one as
by the other, without the slightest intervention of God or devil.
Hardly had the
manifestations begun to attract attention in Europe, than the clergy commenced
their outcry that their traditional enemy had reappeared under another name,
and "divine miracles" also began to be heard of in isolated
instances. First they were confined to humble individuals, some of whom claimed
to have them produced through the intervention of the Virgin Mary, saints and
angels; others -- according to the clergy -- began to suffer from obsession and
possession; for the Devil must have his share of fame as well as the Deity.
Finding that, notwithstanding the warning, the independent, or so-called
spiritual phenomena went on increasing and multiplying, and that these
manifestations threatened to upset the carefully-constructed dogmas of the
Church, the world was suddenly startled by extraordinary intelligence. In 1864,
a whole community became possessed of the Devil. Morzine, and the awful stories
of its demoniacs; Valleyres, and the narratives of its well-authenticated
exhibitions of sorcery; and those of the Presbytere de Cideville curdled the
blood in Catholic veins.
Strange to say, the
question has been asked over and over again,
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IN RUSSIA.
why the
"divine" miracles and most of the obsessions are so strictly confined
to Roman Catholic dioceses and countries? Why is it that since the Reformation
there has been scarcely one single divine "miracle" in a Protestant
land? Of course, the answer we must expect from Catholics is, that the latter
are peopled by heretics, and abandoned by God. Then why are there no more
Church-miracles in Russia, a country whose religion differs from the Roman
Catholic faith but in external forms of rites, its fundamental dogmas being
identically the same, except as to the emanation of the Holy Ghost? Russia has
her accepted saints and thaumaturgical relics, and miracle-working images. The
St. Mitrophaniy of Voroneg is an authenticated miracle-worker, but his miracles
are limited to healing; and though hundreds upon hundreds have been healed
through faith, and though the old cathedral is full of magnetic effluvia, and
whole generations will go on believing in his power, and some persons will
always be healed, still no such miracles are heard of in Russia as the
Madonna-walking, and Madonna letter-writing, and statue-talking of Catholic
countries. Why is this so? Simply because the emperors have strictly forbidden
that sort of thing. The Czar, Peter the Great, stopped every spurious
"divine" miracle with one frown of his mighty brow. He declared he
would have no false miracles played by the holy icones (images of saints), and
they disappeared forever.*
There are cases on
record of isolated and independent phenomena exhibited by certain images in the
last century; the latest was the bleeding of the cheek of an image of the
Virgin, when a soldier of Napoleon cut her face in two. This miracle, alleged
to have happened in 1812, in the days of the invasion by the "grand
army," was the final farewell.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dr. Stanley:
"Lectures on the Eastern Church," p. 407.
** In the
government of Tambov, a gentleman, a rich landed proprietor, had a curious case
happen in his family during the Hungarian campaign of 1848. His only and
much-beloved nephew, whom, having no children, he had adopted as a son, was in
the Russian army. The elderly couple had a portrait of his -- a water-color
painting -- constantly, during the meals, placed on the table in front of the young
man's usual seat. One evening as the family, with some friends, were at their
early tea, the glass over the portrait, without any one touching it, was
shattered to atoms with a loud explosion. As the aunt of the young soldier
caught the picture in her hand she saw the forehead and head besmeared with
blood. The guests, in order to quiet her, attributed the blood to her having
cut her fingers with the broken glass. But, examine as they would, they could
not find the vestige of a cut on her fingers, and no one had touched the
picture but herself. Alarmed at her state of excitement the husband, pretending
to examine the portrait more closely, cut his finger on purpose, and then tried
to assure her that it was his blood and that, in the first excitement, he had
touched the frame without any one remarking it. All was in vain, the old lady
felt sure that Dimitry was killed. She began to have masses said for him daily
at the village church, and arrayed [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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But since then,
although the three successive emperors have been pious men, their will has been
respected, and the images and saints have remained quiet, and hardly been
spoken of except as connected with religious worship. In Poland, a land of
furious ultramontanism, there were, at different times, desperate attempts at
miracle-doing. They died at birth, however, for the argus-eyed police were
there; a Catholic miracle in Poland, made public by the priests, generally
meaning political revolution, bloodshed, and war.
Is it then, not
permissible to at least suspect that if, in one country divine miracles may be
arrested by civil and military law, and in another they never occur, we must
search for the explanation of the two facts in some natural cause, instead of
attributing them to either god or devil? In our opinion -- if it is worth anything
-- the whole secret may be accounted for as follows. In Russia, the clergy know
better than to bewilder their parishes, whose piety is sincere and faith strong
without miracles; they know that nothing is better calculated than the latter
to sow seeds of distrust, doubt, and finally of skepticism which leads directly
to atheism. Moreover the climate is less propitious, and the magnetism of the
average population too positive, too healthy, to call forth independent
phenomena; and fraud would not answer. On the other hand, neither in Protestant
Germany, nor England, nor yet in America, since the days of the Reformation,
has the clergy had access to any of the Vatican secret libraries. Hence they
are all but poor hands at the magic of Albertus Magnus.
As for America
being overflowed with sensitives and mediums, the reason for it is partially
attributable to climatic influence and especially to the physiological
condition of the population. Since the days of the Salem witchcraft, 200 years
ago, when the comparatively few settlers had pure and unadulterated blood in
their veins, nothing much had been heard of "spirits" or
"mediums" until 1840.* The phenomena then first appeared among the
ascetic and exalted Shakers, whose religious aspirations, peculiar mode of life,
moral purity, and physical chastity all led to the production of independent
phenomena of a psychological
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from next page]] the whole household in deep mourning. Several weeks
later, an official communication was received from the colonel of the regiment,
stating that their nephew was killed by a fragment of a shell which had carried
off the upper part of his head.
* Executions for
witchcraft took place, not much later than a century ago, in other of the
American provinces. Notoriously there were negroes executed in New Jersey by
burning at the stake -- the penalty denounced in several States. Even in South
Carolina, in 1865, when the State government was "reconstructed,"
after the civil war, the statutes inflicting death for witchcraft were found to
be still unrepealed. It is not a hundred years since they have been enforced to
the murderous letter of their text.
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AMERICAN TYPE.
as well as physical
nature. Hundreds of thousands, and even millions of men from various climates
and of different constitutions and habits, have, since 1692, invaded North
America, and by intermarrying have substantially changed the physical type of
the inhabitants. Of what country in the world do the women's constitutions bear
comparison with the delicate, nervous, and sensitive constitutions of the
feminine portion of the population of the United States? We were struck on our
arrival in the country with the semi-transparent delicacy of skin of the
natives of both sexes. Compare a hard-working Irish factory girl or boy, with
one from a genuine American family. Look at their hands. One works as hard as
the other; they are of equal age, and both seemingly healthy; and still, while
the hands of the one, after an hour's soaping, will show a skin little softer
than that of a young alligator, those of the other, notwithstanding constant
use, will allow you to observe the circulation of the blood under the thin and
delicate epidermis. No wonder, then, that while America is the conservatory of
sensitives the majority of its clergy, unable to produce divine or any other
miracles, stoutly deny the possibility of any phenomena except those produced
by tricks and juggling. And no wonder also that the Catholic priesthood, who
are practically aware of the existence of magic and spiritual phenomena, and
believe in them while dreading their consequences, try to attribute the whole
to the agency of the Devil.
Let us adduce one
more argument, if only for the sake of circumstantial evidence. In what
countries have "divine miracles" flourished most, been most frequent
and most stupendous? Catholic Spain, and Pontifical Italy, beyond question. And
which more than these two, has had access to ancient literature? Spain was
famous for her libraries; the Moors were celebrated for their profound learning
in alchemy and other sciences. The Vatican is the storehouse of an immense
number of ancient manuscripts. During the long interval of nearly 1,500 years
they have been accumulating, from trial after trial, books and manuscripts
confiscated from their sentenced victims, to their own profit. The Catholics
may plead that the books were generally committed to the flames; that the
treatises of famous sorcerers and enchanters perished with their accursed
authors. But the Vatican, if it could speak, could tell a different story. It
knows too well of the existence of certain closets and rooms, access to which
is had but by the very few. It knows that the entrances to these secret
hiding-places are so cleverly concealed from sight in the carved frame-work and
under the profuse ornamentation of the library-walls, that there have even been
Popes who lived and died within the precincts of the palace without ever
suspecting their existence. But these Popes were neither Sylvester II.,
Benedict IX., John XX., nor
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the VIth and VIIth
Gregory; nor yet the famous Borgia of toxicological memory. Neither were those
who remained ignorant of the hidden lore friends of the sons of Loyola.
Where, in the
records of European Magic, can we find cleverer enchanters than in the
mysterious solitudes of the cloister? Albert Magnus, the famous Bishop and
conjurer of Ratisbon, was never surpassed in his art. Roger Bacon was a monk,
and Thomas Aquinas one of the most learned pupils of Albertus. Trithemius,
Abbott of the Spanheim Benedictines, was the teacher, friend, and confidant of
Cornelius Agrippa; and while the confederations of the Theosophists were
scattered broadcast about Germany, where they first originated, assisting one
another, and struggling for years for the acquirement of esoteric knowledge,
any person who knew how to become the favored pupil of certain monks, might
very soon be proficient in all the important branches of occult learning.
This is all in
history and cannot be easily denied. Magic, in all its aspects, was widely and
nearly openly practiced by the clergy till the Reformation. And even he who was
once called the "Father of the Reformation," the famous John
Reuchlin,* author of the Mirific Word and friend of Pico di Mirandola, the
teacher and instructor of Erasmus, Luther, and Melancthon, was a kabalist and
occultist.
The ancient
Sortilegium, or divination by means of Sortes or lots -- an art and practice
now decried by the clergy as an abomination, designated by Stat. 10 Jac. as
felony,** and by Stat. 12 Carolus II excepted out of the general pardons, on
the ground of being sorcery -- was widely practiced by the clergy and monks.
Nay, it was sanctioned by St. Augustine himself, who does not "disapprove
of this method of learning futurity, provided it be not used for worldly
purposes." More than that, he confesses having practiced it himself.***
Aye; but the clergy
called it Sortes Sanctorum, when it was they who practiced it; while the Sortes
Praenestinae, succeeded by the Sortes Homericae and Sortes Virgilianae, were
abominable heathenism, the worship of the Devil, when used by any one else.
Gregory de Tours
informs us that when the clergy resorted to the Sortes their custom was to lay
the Bible on the altar, and to pray the Lord that He would discover His will,
and disclose to them futurity in one of the verses of the book. Gilbert de
Nogent writes that in his days
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Vide the
title-page on the English translation of Mayerhoff's "Reuchlin und Seine
Zeit," Berlin, 1830. "The Life and Times of John Reuchlin, or
Capnion, the Father of the German Reformation," by F. Barham, London,
1843.
** Lord Coke: 3
"Institutes," fol. 44.
*** Vide "The
Life of St. Gregory of Tours."
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THE "LOT."
(about the twelfth
century) the custom was, at the consecration of bishops, to consult the Sortes
Sanctorum, to thereby learn the success and fate of the episcopate. On the
other hand, we are told that the Sortes Sanctorum were condemned by the Council
of Agda, in 506. In this case again we are left to inquire, in which instance
has the infallibility of the Church failed? Was it when she prohibited that
which was practiced by her greatest saint and patron, Augustine, or in the
twelfth century, when it was openly and with the sanction of the same Church
practiced by the clergy for the benefit of the bishop's elections? Or, must we
still believe that in both of these contradictory cases the Vatican was
inspired by the direct "spirit of God"?
If any doubt that
Gregory of Tours approved of a practice that prevails to this day, more or
less, even among strict Protestants, let them read this: "Lendastus, Earl
of Tours, who was for ruining me with Queen Fredegonde, coming to Tours, big
with evil designs against me, I withdrew to my oratory under a deep concern,
where I took the Psalms, . . . My heart revived within me when I cast my eyes
on this of the seventy-seventh Psalm: 'He caused them to go on with confidence,
whilst the sea swallowed up their enemies.' Accordingly, the count spoke not a
word to my prejudice; and leaving Tours that very day, the boat in which he
was, sunk in a storm, but his skill in swimming saved him."
The sainted bishop
simply confesses here to having practiced a bit of sorcery. Every mesmerizer
knows the power of will during an intense desire bent on any particular
subject. Whether in consequence of "co-incidents" or otherwise, the
opened verse suggested to his mind revenge by drowning. Passing the remainder
of the day in "deep concern," and possessed by this all-absorbing
thought, the saint -- it may be unconsciously -- exercises his will on the
subject; and thus while imagining in the accident the hand of God, he simply
becomes a sorcerer exercising his magnetic will which reacts on the person
feared; and the count barely escapes with his life. Were the accident decreed
by God, the culprit would have been drowned; for a simple bath could not have
altered his malevolent resolution against St. Gregory had he been very intent
on it.
Furthermore, we
find anathemas fulminated against this lottery of fate, at the council of
Varres, which forbids "all ecclesiastics, under pain of excommunication,
to perform that kind of divination, or to pry into futurity, by looking into
any book, or writing, whatsoever." The same prohibition is pronounced at
the councils of Agda in 506, of Orleans, in 511, of Auxerre in 595, and finally
at the council of Aenham in 1110; the latter condemning "sorcerers,
witches, diviners, such as occasioned death by magical operations, and who
practiced fortune-telling by the
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holy-book
lots"; and the complaint of the joint clergy against de Garlande, their
bishop at Orleans, and addressed to Pope Alexander III., concludes in this manner:
"Let your apostolical hands put on strength to strip naked the iniquity of
this man, that the curse prognosticated on the day of his consecration may
overtake him; for the gospels being opened on the altar according to custom,
the first words were: and the young man, leaving his linen cloth, fled from
them naked."*
Why then roast the
lay-magicians and consulters of books, and canonize the ecclesiastics? Simply
because the mediaeval as well as the modern phenomena, manifested through
laymen, whether produced through occult knowledge or happening independently,
upset the claims of both the Catholic and Protestant Churches to divine
miracles. In the face of reiterated and unimpeachable evidence it became
impossible for the former to maintain successfully the assertion that seemingly
miraculous manifestations by the "good angels" and God's direct
intervention could be produced exclusively by her chosen ministers and holy
saints. Neither could the Protestant well maintain on the same ground that
miracles had ended with the apostolic ages. For, whether of the same nature or
not, the modern phenomena claimed close kinship with the biblical ones. The
magnetists and healers of our century came into direct and open competition
with the apostles. The Zouave Jacob, of France, had outrivalled the prophet
Elijah in recalling to life persons who were seemingly dead; and Alexis, the
somnambulist, mentioned by Mr. Wallace in his work,** was, by his lucidity,
putting to shame apostles, prophets, and the Sibyls of old. Since the burning
of the last witch, the great Revolution of France, so elaborately prepared by
the league of the secret societies and their clever emissaries, had blown over
Europe and awakened terror in the bosom of the clergy. It had, like a
destroying hurricane, swept away in its course those best allies of the Church,
the Roman Catholic aristocracy. A sure foundation was now laid for the right of
individual opinion. The world was freed from ecclesiastical tyranny by opening
an unobstructed path to Napoleon the Great, who had given the deathblow to the
Inquisition. This great slaughter-house of the Christian Church -- wherein she
butchered, in the name of the Lamb, all the sheep arbitrarily declared scurvy
-- was in ruins, and she found herself left to her own responsibility and
resources.
So long as the
phenomena had appeared only sporadically, she had always felt herself powerful
enough to repress the consequences. Super-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Translated from
the original document in the Archives of Orleans, France; also see "Sortes
and Sortilegium"; "Life of Peter de Blois."
** "Miracles
and Modern Spiritualism."
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stition and belief
in the Devil were as strong as ever, and Science had not yet dared to publicly
measure her forces with those of supernatural Religion. Meanwhile the enemy had
slowly but surely gained ground. All at once it broke out with an unexpected
violence. "Miracles" began to appear in full daylight, and passed
from their mystic seclusion into the domain of natural law, where the profane
hand of Science was ready to strip off their sacerdotal mask. Still, for a
time, the Church held her position, and with the powerful help of superstitious
fear checked the progress of the intruding force. But, when in succession
appeared mesmerists and somnambulists, reproducing the physical and mental
phenomenon of ecstasy, hitherto believed to be the special gift of saints; when
the passion for the turning tables had reached in France and elsewhere its
climax of fury; when the psychography -- alleged spiritual -- from a simple
curiosity had developed itself and settled into an unabated interest, and
finally ebbed into religious mysticism; when the echoes aroused by the first
raps of Rochester, crossing the oceans, spread until they were re-percussed
from nearly every corner of the world -- then, and only then, the Latin Church
was fully awakened to a sense of danger. Wonder after wonder was reported to
have occurred in the spiritual circles and the lecture-rooms of the mesmerists;
the sick were healed, the blind made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to
hear. J. R. Newton in America, and Du Potet in France, were healing the
multitude without the slightest claim to divine intervention. The great
discovery of Mesmer, which reveals to the earnest inquirer the mechanism of
nature, mastered, as if by magical power, organic and inorganic bodies.
But this was not
the worst. A more direful calamity for the Church occurred in the evocation
from the upper and nether worlds of a multitude of "spirits," whose
private bearing and conversation gave the direct lie to the most cherished and
profitable dogmas of the Church. These "spirits" claimed to be the
identical entities, in a disembodied state, of fathers, mothers, sons, and
daughters, friends and acquaintances of the persons viewing the weird
phenomena. The Devil seemed to have no objective existence, and this struck at
the very foundation upon which the chair of St. Peter rested.* Not a spirit
except the mocking manni-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* There were two
chairs of the titular apostle at Rome. The clergy, frightened at the
uninterrupted evidence furnished by scientific research, at last decided to
confront the enemy, and we find the "Chronique des Arts" giving the
cleverest, and at the same time most Jesuitical, explanation of the fact.
According to their story, "The increase in the number of the faithful
decided Peter upon making Rome henceforth the centre of his action. The
cemetery of Ostrianum was too distant and would not suffice for the reunions of
the Christians. The motive which had induced the Apostle to confer on Linus and
Cletus successively the episcopal character, in order to render them capa-
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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kins of Planchette
would confess to the most distant relationship with the Satanic majesty, or
accredit him with the governorship of a single inch of territory. The clergy
felt their prestige growing weaker every day, as they saw the people
impatiently shaking off, in the broad daylight of truth, the dark veils with
which they had been blindfolded for so many centuries. Then finally, fortune,
which previously had been on their side in the long-waged conflict between
theology and science, deserted to their adversary. The help of the latter to
the study of the occult side of nature was truly precious and timely, and
science has unwittingly widened the once narrow path of the phenomena into a
broad highway. Had not
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] ble of sharing the solicitudes of a church whose
extent was to be without limits, led naturally to a multiplication of the
places of meeting. The particular residence of Peter was therefore fixed at
Viminal; and there was established that mysterious Chair, the symbol of power
and truth. The august seat which was venerated at the Ostrian Catacombs was
not, however, removed. Peter still visited this cradle of the Roman Church, and
often, without doubt, exercised his holy functions there. A second Chair,
expressing the same mystery as the first, was set up at Cornelia, and it is
this which has come down to us through the ages."
Now, so far from it
being possible that there ever were two genuine chairs of this kind, the
majority of critics show that Peter never was at Rome at all; the reasons are
many and unanswerable. Perhaps we had best begin by pointing to the works of
Justin Martyr. This great champion of Christianity, writing in the early part
of the second century in Rome, where he fixed his abode, eager to get hold of
the least proof in favor of the truth for which he suffered, seems perfectly
unconscious of St. Peter's existence!!
Neither does any
other writer of any consequence mention him in connection with the Church of
Rome, earlier than the days of Irenaeus, when the latter set himself to invent
a new religion, drawn from the depths of his imagination. We refer the reader
anxious to learn more to the able work of Mr. George Reber, entitled "The
Christ of Paul." The arguments of this author are conclusive. The above
article in the "Chronique des Arts," speaks of the increase of the
faithful to such an extent that Ostrianum could not contain the number of
Christians. Now, if Peter was at Rome at all -- runs Mr. Reber's argument -- it
must have been between the years A.D. 64 and 69; for at 64 he was at Babylon,
from whence he wrote epistles and letters to Rome, and at some time between 64
and 68 (the reign of Nero) he either died a martyr or in his bed, for Irenaeus
makes him deliver the Church of Rome, together with Paul (! ?) (whom he persecuted
and quarrelled with all his life), into the hands of Linus, who became bishop
in 69 (see Reber's "Christ of Paul," p. 122). We will treat of it
more fully in chapter iii.
Now, we ask, in the
name of common sense, how could the faithful of Peter's Church increase at such
a rate, when Nero trapped and killed them like so many mice during his reign?
History shows the few Christians fleeing from Rome, wherever they could, to
avoid the persecution of the emperor, and the "Chronique des Arts"
makes them increase and multiply! "Christ," the article goes on to
say, "willed that this visible sign of the doctrinal authority of his
vicar should also have its portion of immortality; one can follow it from age
to age in the documents of the Roman Church." Tertullian formally attests
its existence in his book "De Praescriptionibus." Eager to learn
everything concerning so interesting a subject, we would like to be shown when
[[Footnote continued on next page]]
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PETER.
this conflict
culminated at the nick of time, we might have seen reproduced on a miniature
scale the disgraceful scenes of the episodes of Salem witchcraft and the Nuns
of Loudun. As it was, the clergy were muzzled.
But if Science has
unintentionally helped the progress of the occult phenomena, the latter have
reciprocally aided science herself. Until the days when newly-reincarnated
philosophy boldly claimed its place in the world, there had been but few
scholars who had undertaken the difficult task of studying comparative
theology. This science occupies a domain heretofore penetrated by few
explorers. The necessity which it involved of being well acquainted with the
dead languages, necessarily limited the number of students. Besides, there was
less popular need for it so long as people could not replace the Christian
orthodoxy by something more tangible. It is one of the most undeniable facts of
psychology, that the average man can as little exist out of a religious element
of some kind, as a fish out of the water. The voice of truth, "a voice
stronger than the voice of the mightiest thunder," speaks to the inner man
in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, as it spoke in the
corresponding century B.C. It is a useless and unprofitable task to offer to
humanity the choice between a future life and annihilation. The only chance
that remains for those friends of human progress who seek to establish for the
good of mankind a faith, henceforth stripped entirely of superstition
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] did Christ WILL anything of the kind? However:
"Ornaments of ivory have been fitted to the front and back of the chair,
but only on those parts repaired with acacia-wood. Those which cover the panel
in front are divided into three superimposed rows, each containing six plaques
of ivory, on which are engraved various subjects, among others the 'Labors of
Hercules.' Several of the plaques were wrongly placed, and seemed to have been
affixed to the chair at a time when the remains of antiquity were employed as
ornaments, without much regard to fitness." This is the point. The article
was written simply as a clever answer to several facts published during the
present century. Bower, in his "History of the Popes" (vol. ii., p.
7), narrates that in the year 1662, while cleaning one of the chairs, "the
'Twelve Labors of Hercules' unluckily appeared engraved upon it," after
which the chair was removed and another substituted. But in 1795, when
Bonaparte's troops occupied Rome, the chair was again examined. This time there
was found the Mahometan confession of faith, in Arabic letters: "There is
no Deity but Allah, and Mahomet is his Apostle." (See appendix to
"Ancient Symbol-Worship," by H. M. Westropp and C. Staniland Wake.)
In the appendix Prof. Alexander Wilder very justly remarks as follows: "We
presume that the Apostle of the Circumcision, as Paul, his great rival, styles
him, was never at the Imperial City, nor had a successor there, not even in the
ghetto. The 'Chair of Peter,' therefore, is sacred rather than apostolical. Its
sanctity proceeded, however, from the esoteric religion of the former times of
Rome. The hierophant of the Mysteries probably occupied it on the day of
initiations, when exhibiting to the candidates the Petroma (stone tablet
containing the last revelation made by the hierophant to the neophyte for
initiation)."
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and dogmatic
fetters is to address them in the words of Joshua: "Choose ye this day
whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on
the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye
dwell."*
"The science
of religion," wrote Max Muller in 1860, "is only just beginning. . .
. During the last fifty years the authentic documents of the most important
religions in the world have been recovered in a most unexpected and almost
miraculous manner.** We have now before us the Canonical books of Buddhism; the
Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster is no longer a sealed book; and the hymns of the
Rig-Veda have revealed a state of religions anterior to the first beginnings of
that mythology which in Homer and Hesiod stands before us as a mouldering
ruin."***
In their insatiable
desire to extend the dominion of blind faith, the early architects of Christian
theology had been forced to conceal, as much as it was possible, the true
sources of the same. To this end they are said to have burned or otherwise
destroyed all the original manuscripts on the Kabala, magic, and occult
sciences upon which they could lay their hands. They ignorantly supposed that
the most dangerous writings of this class had perished with the last Gnostic;
but some day they may discover their mistake. Other authentic and as important
documents will perhaps reappear in a "most unexpected and almost
miraculous manner."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Joshua xxiv., 15.
** One of the most
surprising facts that have come under our observation, is that students of
profound research should not couple the frequent recurrence of these
"unexpected and almost miraculous" discoveries of important
documents, at the most opportune moments, with a premeditated design. Is it so
strange that the custodians of "Pagan" lore, seeing that the proper
moment had arrived, should cause the needed document, book, or relic to fall as
if by accident in the right man's way? Geological surveyors and explorers even
as competent as Humboldt and Tschuddi, have not discovered the hidden mines
from which the Peruvian Incas dug their treasure, although the latter confesses
that the present degenerate Indians have the secret. In 1839, Perring, the
archaeologist, proposed to the sheik of an Arab village two purses of gold, if
he helped him to discover the entrance to the hidden passage leading to the
sepulchral chambers in the North Pyramid of Doshoor. But though his men were
out of employment and half-starved, the sheik proudly refused to "sell the
secret of the dead," promising to show it gratis, when the time would come
for it. Is it, then, impossible that in some other regions of the earth are
guarded the remains of that glorious literature of the past, which was the
fruit of its majestic civilization? What is there so surprising in the idea?
Who knows but that as the Christian Church has unconsciously begotten free
thought by reaction against her own cruelty, rapacity, and dogmatism, the
public mind may be glad to follow the lead of the Orientalists, away from
Jerusalem and towards Ellora; and that then much more will be discovered that
is now hidden?
*** "Chips
from a German Workshop," vol. i., p. 373; Semitic Monotheism.
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BRUCKION.
There are strange
traditions current in various parts of the East -- on Mount Athos and in the
Desert of Nitria, for instance -- among certain monks, and with learned Rabbis
in Palestine, who pass their lives in commenting upon the Talmud. They say that
not all the rolls and manuscripts, reported in history to have been burned by
Caesar, by the Christian mob, in 389, and by the Arab General Amru, perished as
it is commonly believed; and the story they tell is the following: At the time
of the contest for the throne, in 51 B.C., between Cleopatra and her brother
Dionysius Ptolemy, the Bruckion, which contained over seven hundred thousand
rolls, all bound in wood and fire-proof parchment, was undergoing repairs, and
a great portion of the original manuscripts, considered among the most
precious, and which were not duplicated, were stored away in the house of one
of the librarians. As the fire which consumed the rest was but the result of
accident, no precautions had been taken at the time. But they add, that several
hours passed between the burning of the fleet, set on fire by Caesar's order,
and the moment when the first buildings situated near the harbor caught fire in
their turn; and that all the librarians, aided by several hundred slaves
attached to the museum, succeeded in saving the most precious of the rolls. So
perfect and solid was the fabric of the parchment, that while in some rolls the
inner pages and the wood-binding were reduced to ashes, of others the parchment
binding remained unscorched. These particulars were all written out in Greek,
Latin, and the Chaldeo-Syriac dialect, by a learned youth named Theodas, one of
the scribes employed in the museum. One of these manuscripts is alleged to be
preserved till now in a Greek convent; and the person who narrated the
tradition to us had seen it himself. He said that many more will see it and
learn where to look for important documents, when a certain prophecy will be
fulfilled; adding, that most of these works could be found in Tartary and
India.* The monk showed us a copy of the original, which, of course, we could
read but poorly, as we claim but little erudition in the matter of dead
languages. But we were so particularly struck by the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* An after-thought
has made us fancy that we can understand what is meant by the following
sentences of Moses of Chorene: "The ancient Asiatics," says he,
"five centuries before our era -- and especially the Hindus, the Persians,
and the Chaldeans, had in their possession a quantity of historical and
scientific books. These works were partially borrowed, partially translated in
the Greek language, mostly since the Ptolemies had established the Alexandrian
library and encouraged the writers by their liberalities, so that the Greek
language became the deposit of all the sciences" ("History of
Armenia"). Therefore, the greater part of the literature included in the
700,000 volumes of the Alexandrian Library was due to India, and her next
neighbors.
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the vivid and
picturesque translation of the holy father, that we perfectly remember some
curious paragraphs, which run, as far as we can recall them, as follows: --
"When the Queen of the Sun (Cleopatra) was brought back to the half-ruined
city, after the fire had devoured the Glory of the World; and when she saw the
mountains of books -- or rolls -- covering the half-consumed steps of the
estrada; and when she perceived that the inside was gone and the indestructible
covers alone remained, she wept in rage and fury, and cursed the meanness of
her fathers who had grudged the cost of the real Pergamos for the inside as
well as the outside of the precious rolls." Further, our author, Theodas,
indulges in a joke at the expense of the queen for believing that nearly all
the library was burned; when, in fact, hundreds and thousands of the choicest
books were safely stored in his own house and those of other scribes,
librarians, students, and philosophers.
No more do sundry
very learned Copts scattered all over the East in Asia Minor, Egypt, and
Palestine believe in the total destruction of the subsequent libraries. For
instance, they say that out of the library of Attalus III. of Pergamus,
presented by Antony to Cleopatra, not a volume was destroyed. At that time,
according to their assertions, from the moment that the Christians began to
gain power in Alexandria -- about the end of the fourth century -- and
Anatolius, Bishop of Laodicea, began to insult the national gods, the Pagan
philosophers and learned theurgists adopted effective measures to preserve the
repositories of their sacred learning. Theophilus, a bishop, who left behind
him the reputation of a most rascally and mercenary villain, was accused by one
named Antoninus, a famous theurgist and eminent scholar of occult science of
Alexandria, with bribing the slaves of the Serapion to steal books which he
sold to foreigners at great prices. History tells us how Theophilus had the
best of the philosophers, in A.D. 389; and how his successor and nephew, the no
less infamous Cyril, butchered Hypatia. Suidas gives us some details about
Antoninus, whom he calls Antonius, and his eloquent friend Olympus, the
defender of the Serapion. But history is far from being complete in the
miserable remnants of books, which, crossing so many ages, have reached our own
learned century; it fails to give the facts relating to the first five
centuries of Christianity which are preserved in the numerous traditions
current in the East. Unauthenticated as these may appear, there is unquestionably
in the heap of chaff much good grain. That these traditions are not oftener
communicated to Europeans is not strange, when we consider how apt our
travellers are to render themselves antagonistic to the natives by their
skeptical bearing and, occasionally, dogmatic intolerance. When exceptional men
like some archaeologists, who knew how to win the
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ISHMONIA.
confidence and even
friendship of certain Arabs, are favored with precious documents, it is
declared simply a "coincidence." And yet there are widespread
traditions of the existence of certain subterranean, and immense galleries, in
the neighborhood of Ishmonia -- the "petrified City," in which are
stored numberless manuscripts and rolls. For no amount of money would the Arabs
go near it. At night, they say, from the crevices of the desolate ruins, sunk deep
in the unwatered sands of the desert, stream the rays from lights carried to
and fro in the galleries by no human hands. The Afrites study the literature of
the antediluvian ages, according to their belief, and the Djin learns from the
magic rolls the lesson of the following day.
The Encyclopedia
Britannica, in its article on Alexandria, says: "When the temple of
Serapis was demolished . . . the valuable library was pillaged or destroyed;
and twenty years afterwards* the empty shelves excited the regret . . .
etc." But it does not state the subsequent fate of the pillaged books.
In rivalry of the
fierce Mary-worshippers of the fourth century, the modern clerical persecutors
of liberalism and "heresy" would willingly shut up all the heretics
and their books in some modern Serapion and burn them alive.** The cause of
this hatred is natural. Modern research has more than ever unveiled the secret.
"Is not the worship of saints and angels now," said Bishop Newton,
years ago, "in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in
former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically the same . .
. the very same temples, the very same images, which were once consecrated to
Jupiter and the other demons, are now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and other
saints . . . the whole of Paganism is converted and applied to Popery."
Why not be
impartial and add that "a good portion of it was adopted by Protestant
religions also"?
The very apostolic
designation Peter is from the Mysteries. The hierophant or supreme pontiff bore
the Chaldean title [[Heb char]], Peter, or interpreter. The names Phtah,
Peth'r, the residence of Balaam, Patara, and Patras, the names of
oracle-cities, pateres or pateras and, perhaps,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Bonamy says in
"La Bibliotheque d'Alexandrie," quoting, we suppose, the Presbyter
Orosius, who was an eye-witness, "thirty years later."
** Since the above
was written, the spirit here described has been beautifully exemplified at
Barcelona, Spain, where the Bishop Fray Joachim invited the local spiritualists
to witness a formal burning of spiritual books. We find the account in a paper
called "The Revelation," published at Alicante, which sensibly adds
that the performance was "a caricature of the memorable epoch of the
Inquisition."
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Buddha,* all come
from the same root. Jesus says: "Upon this petra I will build my Church,
and the gates, or rulers of Hades, shall not prevail against it"; meaning
by petra the rock-temple, and by metaphor, the Christian Mysteries; the
adversaries to which were the old mystery-gods of the underworld, who were
worshipped in the rites of Isis, Adonis, Atys, Sabazius, Dionysus, and the
Eleusinia. No apostle Peter was ever at Rome; but the Pope, seizing the sceptre
of the Pontifex Maximus, the keys of Janus and Kubele, and adorning his
Christian head with the cap of the Magna Mater, copied from that of the tiara
of Brahmatma, the Supreme Pontiff of the Initiates of old India, became the
successor of the Pagan high priest, the real Peter-Roma, or Petroma.**
The Roman Catholic
Church has two far mightier enemies than the "heretics" and the
"infidels"; and these are -- Comparative Mythology and Philology.
When such eminent divines as the Rev. James Freeman Clarke go so much out of
their way to prove to their readers that "Critical Theology from the time
of Origen and Jerome . . . and the Controversial Theology during fifteen
centuries, has not consisted in accepting on authority the opinions of other
people," but has shown, on the contrary, much "acute and
comprehensive reasoning," we can but regret that so much scholarship
should have been wasted in attempting to prove that which a fair survey of the
history of theology upsets at every step. In these "controversies"
and critical treatment of the doctrines of the Church one can certainly find
any amount of "acute reasoning," but far more of a still acuter
sophistry.
Recently the mass
of cumulative evidence has been re-inforced to an extent which leaves little,
if any, room for further controversy. A conclusive opinion is furnished by too
many scholars to doubt the fact that India was the Alma-Mater, not only of the
civilization, arts, and sciences, but also of all the great religions of
antiquity; Judaism, and hence Christianity, included. Herder places the cradle
of humanity in India, and shows Moses as a clever and relatively modern
compiler of the ancient Brahmanical traditions: "The river which encircles
the country (India) is the sacred Ganges, which all Asia considers as the
paradisaical river. There, also, is the biblical Gihon, which is none else but
the Indus. The Arabs call it so unto this day, and the names of the countries
watered by it are yet existing among the Hindus." Jacolliot claims to have
translated every ancient palm-leaf manuscript which he had the fortune of being
allowed by the Brahmans of the pagodas to see. In one of his
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* E. Pococke gives
the variations of the name Buddha as: Bud'ha, Buddha, Booddha, Butta, Pout,
Pote, Pto, Pte, Phte, Phtha, Phut, etc., etc. See "India in Greece,"
Note, Appendix, 397.
** The tiara of the
Pope is also a perfect copy of that of the Dalai-Lama of Thibet.
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AND KEYS.
translations, we
found passages which reveal to us the undoubted origin of the keys of St.
Peter, and account for the subsequent adoption of the symbol by their
Holinesses, the Popes of Rome.
He shows us, on the
testimony of the Agrouchada Parikshai, which he freely translates as "the
Book of Spirits" (Pitris), that centuries before our era the initiates of
the temple chose a Superior Council, presided over by the Brahm-atma or supreme
chief of all these Initiates. That this pontificate, which could be exercised
only by a Brahman who had reached the age of eighty years;* that the Brahm-atma
was sole guardian of the mystic formula, resume of every science, contained in
the three mysterious letters,
A
U M
which signify
creation, conservation, and transformation. He alone could expound its meaning
in the presence of the initiates of the third and supreme degree. Whomsoever
among these initiates revealed to a profane a single one of the truths, even the
smallest of the secrets entrusted to his care, was put to death. He who
received the confidence had to share his fate.
"Finally, to
crown this able system," says Jacolliot, "there existed a word still
more superior to the mysterious monosyllable -- A U M, and which rendered him
who came into the possession of its key nearly the equal of Brahma himself. The
Brahm-atma alone possessed this key, and transmitted it in a sealed casket to
his successor.
"This unknown
word, of which no human power could, even to-day, when the Brahmanical
authority has been crushed under the Mongolian and European invasions, to-day,
when each pagoda has its Brahm-atma** force the disclosure, was engraved in a
golden triangle and preserved in a sanctuary of the temple of Asgartha, whose
Brahm-atma alone held the keys. He also bore upon his tiara two crossed keys
supported by two kneeling Brahmans, symbol of the precious deposit of which he
had the keeping. . . . This word and this triangle were engraved upon the
tablet of the ring that this religious chief wore as one of the signs of his
dignity; it was also framed in a golden sun on the altar, where every morning
the Supreme Pontiff offered the sacrifice of the sarvameda, or sacrifice to all
the forces of nature."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It is the
traditional policy of the College of Cardinals to elect, whenever practicable,
the new Pope among the oldest valetudinarians. The hierophant of the Eleusinia
was likewise always an old man, and unmarried.
** This is not
correct.
*** "Le
Spiritisme dans le Monde," p. 28.
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Is this clear
enough? And will the Catholics still maintain that it was the Brahmans of 4,000
years ago who copied the ritual, symbols, and dress of the Roman Pontiffs? We
would not feel in the least surprised.
Without going very
far back into antiquity for comparisons, if we only stop at the fourth and
fifth centuries of our era, and contrast the so-called "heathenism"
of the third Neo-platonic Eclectic School with the growing Christianity, the
result may not be favorable to the latter. Even at that early period, when the
new religion had hardly outlined its contradictory dogmas; when the champions
of the bloodthirsty Cyril knew not themselves whether Mary was to become
"the Mother of God," or rank as a "demon" in company with
Isis; when the memory of the meek and lowly Jesus still lingered lovingly in
every Christian heart, and his words of mercy and charity vibrated still in the
air, even then the Christians were outdoing the Pagans in every kind of
ferocity and religious intolerance.
And if we look
still farther back, and seek for examples of true Christism, in ages when
Buddhism had hardly superseded Brahmanism in India, and the name of Jesus was
only to be pronounced three centuries later, what do we find? Which of the holy
pillars of the Church has ever elevated himself to the level of religious
tolerance and noble simplicity of character of some heathen? Compare, for
instance, the Hindu Asoka, who lived 300 B.C., and the Carthaginian St.
Augustine, who flourished three centuries after Christ. According to Max
Muller, this is what is found engraved on the rocks of Girnar, Dhauli, and
Kapurdigiri:
"Piyadasi, the
king beloved of the gods, desires that the ascetics of all creeds might reside
in all places. All these ascetics profess alike the command which people should
exercise over themselves, and the purity of the soul. But people have different
opinions and different inclinations."
And here is what
Augustine wrote after his baptism: "Wondrous depth of thy words! whose
surface, behold! is before us, inviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous
depth, O my God, a wondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; yes . . . an
awfulness of honor, and a trembling of love. Thy enemies [read Pagans] thereof
I hate vehemently; Oh, that thou wouldst slay them with thy two-edged sword,
that they might no longer be enemies to it; for so do I love to have them
slain."
Wonderful spirit of
Christianity; and that from a Manichean converted to the religion of one who
even on his cross prayed for his enemies!
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Translated by
Prof. Draper for "Conflict between Religion and Science"; book xii.
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Who the enemies of
the "Lord" were, according to the Christians, is not difficult to
surmise; the few inside the Augustinian fold were His new children and
favorites, who had supplanted in His affections the sons of Israel, His
"chosen people." The rest of mankind were His natural foes. The
teeming multitudes of heathendom were proper food for the flames of hell; the
handful within the Church communion, "heirs of salvation."
But if such a
proscriptive policy was just, and its enforcement was "sweet savor"
in the nostrils of the "Lord," why not scorn also the Pagan rites and
philosophy? Why draw so deep from the wells of wisdom, dug and filled up to
brim by the same heathen? Or did the fathers, in their desire to imitate the
chosen people whose time-worn shoes they were trying to fit upon their feet,
contemplate the reenaction of the spoliation-scene of the Exodus? Did they
propose, in fleeing from heathendom as the Jews did from Egypt, to carry off
the valuables of its religious allegories, as the "chosen ones" did
the gold and silver ornaments?
It certainly does
seem as if the events of the first centuries of Christianity were but the reflection
of the images thrown upon the mirror of the future at the time of the Exodus.
During the stormy days of Irenaeus the Platonic philosophy, with its mystical
submersion into Deity, was not so obnoxious after all to the new doctrine as to
prevent the Christians from helping themselves to its abstruse metaphysics in
every way and manner. Allying themselves with the ascetical therapeutae --
forefathers and models of the Christian monks and hermits, it was in
Alexandria, let it be remembered, that they laid the first foundations of the
purely Platonic trinitarian doctrine. It became the Plato-Philonean doctrine
later, and such as we find it now. Plato considered the divine nature under a
three-fold modification of the First Cause, the reason or Logos, and the soul
or spirit of the universe. "The three archial or original
principles," says Gibbon,* "were represented in the Platonic system
as three gods, united with each other by a mysterious and ineffable
generation." Blending this transcendental idea with the more hypostatic
figure of the Logos of Philo, whose doctrine was that of the oldest Kabala, and
who viewed the King Messiah, as the metatron, or "the angel of the
Lord," the Legatus descended in flesh, but not the Ancient of Days
Himself;** the Christians clothed with this mythical representation of the
Mediator for the fallen race of Adam, Jesus, the son of Mary. Under this
unexpected garb his personality was all but lost. In the modern Jesus of the
Christian Church, we find the ideal of the imaginative Irenaeus, not the adept
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire."
** "Sohar
Comment.," Gen. A. 10; "Kabbal. Denud.," i., 528.
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of the Essenes, the
obscure reformer from Galilee. We see him under the disfigured Plato-Philonean
mask, not as the disciples heard him on the mount.
So far then the
heathen philosophy had helped them in the building of the principal dogma. But
when the theurgists of the third Neo-platonic school, deprived of their ancient
Mysteries, strove to blend the doctrines of Plato with those of Aristotle, and
by combining the two philosophies added to their theosophy the primeval
doctrines of the Oriental Kabala, then the Christians from rivals became
persecutors. Once that the metaphysical allegories of Plato were being prepared
to be discussed in public in the form of Grecian dialectics, all the elaborate
system of the Christian trinity would be unravelled and the divine prestige
completely upset. The eclectic school, reversing the order, had adopted the
inductive method; and this method became its death-knell. Of all things on
earth, logic and reasonable explanations were the most hateful to the new
religion of mystery; for they threatened to unveil the whole ground-work of the
trinitarian conception; to apprise the multitude of the doctrine of emanations,
and thus destroy the unity of the whole. It could not be permitted, and it was
not. History records the Christ-like means that were resorted to.
The universal
doctrine of emanations, adopted from time immemorial by the greatest schools
which taught the kabalistic, Alexandrian, and Oriental philosophers, gives the
key to that panic among the Christian fathers. That spirit of Jesuitism and
clerical craft, which prompted Parkhurst, many centuries later, to suppress in
his Hebrew Lexicon the true meaning of the first word of Genesis, originated in
those days of war against the expiring Neo-platonic and eclectic school. The
fathers had decided to pervert the meaning of the word "daimon,"* and
they dreaded above all to have the esoteric and true meaning of the word Rasit
unveiled to the multitudes; for if once the true sense of this sentence, as
well as that of the Hebrew word asdt (translated in the Septuagint
"angels," while it means emanations),** were understood rightly, the
mystery of the Christian trinity would have crumbled, carrying in its downfall
the new religion into the same heap of ruins with the ancient Mysteries. This
is the true reason why dialecticians, as well as Aristotle himself, the
"prying philosopher," were ever obnoxious to Christian theology. Even
Luther, while on his work of reform, feeling the ground insecure under his
feet, notwithstanding that the dogmas had
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The beings
which the philosophers of other peoples distinguish by the name 'Daemons,'
Moses names 'Angels,' " says Philo Judaeus. -- "De Gigant," i.
253.
** Deuteronomy
xxxiii. 2., [[Heb chars] is translated "fiery law" in the English
Bible.
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been reduced by him
to their simplest expression, gave full vent to his fear and hatred for
Aristotle. The amount of abuse he heaped upon the memory of the great logician
can only be equalled -- never surpassed -- by the Pope's anathemas and
invectives against the liberals of the Italian government. Compiled together,
they might easily fill a copy of a new encyclopaedia with models for monkish
diatribes.
Of course the
Christian clergy can never get reconciled with a doctrine based on the
application of strict logic to discursive reasoning? The number of those who
have abandoned theology on this account has never been made known. They have
asked questions and been forbidden to ask them; hence, separation, disgust, and
often a despairing plunge into the abyss of atheism. The Orphean views of ether
as chief medium between God and created matter were likewise denounced. The
Orphic AEther recalled too vividly the Archeus, the Soul of the World, and the
latter was in its metaphysical sense as closely related to the emanations,
being the first manifestation -- Sephira, or Divine Light. And when could the
latter be more feared than at that critical moment?
Origen, Clemens
Alexandrinus, Chalcidius, Methodius, and Maimonides, on the authority of the
Targum of Jerusalem, the orthodox and greatest authority of the Jews, held that
the first two words in the book of Genesis -- B-RASIT, mean Wisdom, or the
Principle. And that the idea of these words meaning "in the
beginning" was never shared but by the profane, who were not allowed to
penetrate any deeper into the esoteric sense of the sentence. Beausobre, and
after him Godfrey Higgins, have demonstrated the fact. "All things,"
says the Kabala, "are derived from one great Principle, and this principle
is the unknown and invisible God. From Him a substantial power immediately
proceeds, which is the image of God, and the source of all subsequent
emanations. This second principle sends forth, by the energy (or will and
force) of emanation, other natures, which are more or less perfect, according
to their different degrees of distance, in the scale of emanation, from the
First Source of existence, and which constitute different worlds, or orders of
being, all united to the eternal power from which they proceed. Matter is
nothing more than the most remote effect of the emanative energy of the Deity.
The material world receives its form from the immediate agency of powers far
beneath the First Source of Being* . . . Beausobref** makes St. Augustine the
Manichean say thus: 'And if by Rasit we understand the active Principle of the
creation, instead of its beginning, in such a case we will clearly perceive
that Moses never meant to say
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Rees's
"Encyclopaedia," art. Kabala.
** "Histor.
Manich.," Liv. vi., ch. i., p. 291.
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that heaven and
earth were the first works of God. He only said that God created heaven and
earth through the Principle, who is His Son. It is not the time he points to,
but to the immediate author of the creation.' Angels, according to Augustine,
were created before the firmament, and according to the esoteric
interpretation, the heaven and earth were created after that, evolving from the
second Principle or the Logos -- the creative Deity. "The word
principle," says Beausobre, "does not mean that the heaven and earth
were created before anything else, for, to begin with, the angels were created
before that; but that God did everything through His Wisdom, which is His
Verbum, and which the Christian Bible named the Beginning," thus adopting
the exoteric meaning of the word abandoned to the multitudes. The Kabala -- the
Oriental as well as the Jewish -- shows that a number of emanations (the Jewish
Sephiroth) issued from the First Principle, the chief of which was Wisdom. This
Wisdom is the Logos of Philo, and Michael, the chief of the Gnostic Eons; it is
the Ormazd of the Persians; Minerva, goddess of wisdom, of the Greeks, who
emanated from the head of Jupiter; and the second Person of the Christian
Trinity. The early Fathers of the Church had not much to exert their
imagination; they found a ready-made doctrine that had existed in every
theogony for thousands of years before the Christian era. Their trinity is but
the trio of Sephiroth, the first three kabalistic lights of which Moses
Nachmanides says, that "they have never been seen by any one; there is not
any defect in them, nor any disunion." The first eternal number is the Father,
or the Chaldean primeval, invisible, and incomprehensible chaos, out of which
proceeded the Intelligible one. The Egyptian Phtah, or "the Principle of
Light -- not the light itself, and the Principle of Life, though himself no
life." The Wisdom by which the Father created the heavens is the Son, or
the kabalistic androgynous Adam Kadmon. The Son is at once the male Ra, or
Light of Wisdom, Prudence or Intelligence, Sephira, the female part of Himself;
while from this dual being proceeds the third emanation, the Binah or Reason,
the second Intelligence -- the Holy Ghost of the Christians. Therefore,
strictly speaking, there is a TETRAKTIS or quaternary, consisting of the
Unintelligible First monad, and its triple emanation, which properly constitute
our Trinity.
How then avoid
perceiving at once, that had not the Christians purposely disfigured in their
interpretation and translation the Mosaic Genesis to fit their own views, their
religion, with its present dogmas, would have been impossible? The word Rasit,
once taught in its new sense of the Principle and not the Beginning, and the
anathematized doctrine of emanations accepted, the position of the second
trinitarian personage
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EN-SOPH.
becomes untenable.
For, if the angels are the first divine emanations from the Divine Substance,
and were in existence before the Second Principle, then the anthropomorphized
Son is at best an emanation like themselves, and cannot be God hypostatically
any more than our visible works are ourselves. That these metaphysical
subtleties never entered into the head of the honest-minded, sincere Paul, is
evident; as it is furthermore evident, that like all learned Jews he was well
acquainted with the doctrine of emanations and never thought of corrupting it.
How can any one imagine that Paul identified the Son with the Father, when he
tells us that God made Jesus "a little lower than the angels"
(Hebrews ii. 9), and a little higher than Moses! "For this MAN was counted
worthy of more glory than Moses" (Hebrews iii. 3). Of whatever, or how
many forgeries, interlined later in the Acts, the Fathers are guilty we know not;
but that Paul never considered Christ more than a man "full of the Spirit
of God" is but too evident: "In the arche was the Logos, and the
Logos was adnate to the Theos."
Wisdom, the first
emanation of En-Soph; the Protogonos, the Hypostasis; the Adam Kadmon of the
kabalist, the Brahma of the Hindu; the Logos of Plato, and the
"Beginning" of St. John -- is the Rasit -- of the Book of Genesis. If
rightly interpreted it overturns, as we have remarked, the whole elaborate
system of Christian theology, for it proves that behind the creative Deity,
there was a HIGHER god; a planner, an architect; and that the former was but
His executive agent -- a simple POWER!
They persecuted the
Gnostics, murdered the philosophers, and burned the kabalists and the masons;
and when the day of the great reckoning arrives, and the light shines in
darkness, what will they have to offer in the place of the departed, expired
religion? What will they answer, these pretended monotheists, these worshippers
and pseudo-servants of the one living God, to their Creator? How will they
account for this long persecution of them who were the true followers of the
grand Megalistor, the supreme great master of the Rosicrucians, the FIRST of
masons. "For he is the Builder and Architect of the Temple of the
universe; He is the Verbum Sapienti."*
"Every one
knows," wrote the great Manichean of the third century, Fauste, "that
the Evangeliums were written neither by Jesus Christ,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
altogether mystical coloring of Christianity harmonized with the Essene rules
of life and opinions, and it is not improbable that Jesus and John the Baptist
were initiated into the Essene Mysteries, to which Christianity may be indebted
for many a form of expression; as indeed the community of Therapeutae, an
offspring of the Essene order, soon belonged wholly to Christianity"
("Yost," i., 411 -- quoted by the author of "Sod, the Son of the
Man").
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nor his apostles,
but long after their time by some unknown persons, who, judging well that they
would hardly be believed when telling of things they had not seen themselves,
headed their narratives with the names of the apostles or of disciples
contemporaneous with the latter."
Commenting upon the
subject, A. Franck, the learned Hebrew scholar of the Institute and translator
of the Kabala, expresses the same idea. "Are we not authorized," he
asks, "to view the Kabala as a precious remnant of religious philosophy of
the Orient, which, transported into Alexandria, got mixed to the doctrine of
Plato, and under the usurped name of Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop of
Athens, converted and consecrated by St. Paul, was thus enabled to penetrate
into the mysticism of the mediaeval ages?"*
Says Jacolliot:
"What is then this religious philosophy of the Orient, which has
penetrated into the mystic symbolism of Christianity? We answer: This
philosophy, the traces of which we find among the Magians, the Chaldeans, the
Egyptians, the Hebrew kabalists and the Christians, is none other than that of
the Hindu Brahmans, the sectarians of the pitris, or the spirits of the
invisible worlds which surround us."**
But if the Gnostics
were destroyed, the Gnosis, based on the secret science of sciences, still
lives. It is the earth which helps the woman, and which is destined to open her
mouth to swallow up mediaeval Christianity, the usurper and assassin of the
great master's doctrine. The ancient Kabala, the Gnosis, or traditional secret
knowledge, was never without its representatives in any age or country. The
trinities of initiates, whether passed into history or concealed under the
impenetrable veil of mystery, are preserved and impressed throughout the ages.
They are known as Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur,
as Plato, Philo, and Pythagoras, etc. At the Transfiguration we see them as
Jesus, Moses, and Elias, the three Trismegisti; and three kabalists, Peter,
James, and John -- whose revelation is the key to all wisdom. We found them in
the twilight of Jewish history as Zoroaster, Abraham, and Terah, and later as
Henoch, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Who, of those who
ever studied the ancient philosophies, who understand intuitionally the
grandeur of their conceptions, the boundless sublimity of their views of the
Unknown Deity, can hesitate for a moment to give the preference to their
doctrines over the incomprehensible dogmatic and contradictory theology of the
hundreds of Christian sects? Who that ever read Plato and fathomed his [[To
On]], "whom no person has seen except the Son," can doubt that Jesus
was a disciple of the same
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A. Franck:
"Die Kabbala."
** "Le
Spiritisme dans le Monde."
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secret doctrine
which had instructed the great philosopher? For, as we have shown before now,
Plato never claimed to be the inventor of all that he wrote, but gave credit
for it to Pythagoras, who, in his turn, pointed to the remote East as the
source whence he derived his information and his philosophy. Colebrooke shows
that Plato confesses it in his epistles, and says that he has taken his teachings
from ancient and sacred doctrines!* Moreover, it is undeniable that the
theologies of all the great nations dovetail together and show that each is a
part of "one stupendous whole." Like the rest of the initiates we see
Plato taking great pains to conceal the true meaning of his allegories. Every
time the subject touches the greater secrets of the Oriental Kabala, secret of
the true cosmogony of the universe and of the ideal, preexisting world, Plato
shrouds his philosophy in the profoundest darkness. His Timaeus is so confused
that no one but an initiate can understand the secret meaning. And Mosheim
thinks that Philo has filled his works with passages directly contradicting
each other for the sole purpose of concealing the true doctrine. For once we
see a critic on the right track.
And this very
trinitarian idea, as well as the so bitterly denounced doctrine of emanations,
whence their remotest origin? The answer is easy, and every proof is now at
hand. In the sublime and profoundest of all philosophies, that of the universal
"Wisdom-Religion," the first traces of which, historical research now
finds in the old pre-Vedic religion of India. As the much-abused Jacolliot well
remarks, "It is not in the religious works of antiquity, such as the
Vedas, the Zend Avesta, the Bible, that we have to search for the exact
expression of the ennobling and sublime beliefs of those epochs."**
"The holy
primitive syllable, composed of the three letters A ---- U ---- M., in which is
contained the Vedic Trimurti (Trinity), must be kept secret, like another
triple Veda," says Manu, in book xi., sloka 265.
Swayambhouva is the
unrevealed Deity; it is the Being existent through and of itself; he is the
central and immortal germ of all that exists in the universe. Three trinities emanate
and are confounded in him, forming a Supreme unity. These trinities, or the
triple Trimurti, are: the Nara, Nari, and Viradyi -- the initial triad; the
Agni, Vaya, and Sourya -- the manifested triad; Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, the
creative triad. Each of these triads becomes less metaphysical and more adapted
to the vulgar intelligence as it descends. Thus the last becomes but the symbol
in its concrete expression; the necessarianism of a purely meta-
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "Asiat.
Trans.," i., p. 579.
** Louis Jacolliot:
"The Initiates of the Ancient Temples."
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physical
conception. Together with Swayambhouva, they are the ten Sephiroth of the
Hebrew kabalists, the ten Hindu Prajapatis -- the En-Soph of the former,
answering to the great Unknown, expressed by the mystic A U M of the latter.
Says Franck, the
translator of the Kabala:
"The ten
Sephiroth are divided into three classes, each of them presenting to us the
divinity under a different aspect, the whole still remaining an indivisible
Trinity.
"The first
three Sephiroth are purely intellectual in metaphysics, they express the
absolute identity of existence and thought, and form what the modern kabalists
called the intelligible world -- which is the first manifestation of God.
"The three
that follow, make us conceive God in one of their aspects, as the identity of
goodness and wisdom; in the other they show to us, in the Supreme good, the
origin of beauty and magnificence (in the creation). Therefore, they are named
the virtues, or the sensible world.
"Finally, we
learn, by the last three Sephiroth, that the Universal Providence, that the
Supreme artist is also absolute Force, the all-powerful cause, and that, at the
same time, this cause is the generative element of all that is. It is these
last Sephiroth that constitute the natural world, or nature in its essence and
in its active principle. Natura naturans."*
This kabalistic
conception is thus proved identical with that of the Hindu philosophy. Whoever
reads Plato and his Dialogue Timaeus, will find these ideas as faithfully
re-echoed by the Greek philosopher. Moreover, the injunction of secrecy was as
strict with the kabalists, as with the initiates of the Adyta and the Hindu
Yogis.
"Close thy
mouth, lest thou shouldst speak of this (the mystery), and thy heart, lest thou
shouldst think aloud; and if thy heart has escaped thee, bring it back to its
place, for such is the object of our alliance" (Sepher Jezireh, Book of
Creation).
"This is a
secret which gives death: close thy mouth lest thou shouldst reveal to the
vulgar; compress thy brain lest something should escape from it and fall
outside" (Agrouchada-Parikshai).
Truly the fate of
many a future generation hung on a gossamer thread, in the days of the third
and fourth centuries. Had not the Emperor sent in 389 to Alexandria a rescript
-- which was forced from him by the Christians -- for the destruction of every
idol, our own century would never have had a Christian mythological Pantheon of
its own. Never
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Franck: "Die
Kabbala."
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RECHRISTENED.
did the Neo-platonic
school reach such a height of philosophy as when nearest its end. Uniting the
mystic theosophy of old Egypt with the refined philosophy of the Greeks; nearer
to the ancient Mysteries of Thebes and Memphis than they had been for
centuries; versed in the science of soothsaying and divination, as in the art
of the Therapeutists; friendly with the acutest men of the Jewish nation, who
were deeply imbued with the Zoroastrian ideas, the Neo-platonists tended to
amalgamate the old wisdom of the Oriental Kabala with the more refined
conceptions of the Occidental Theosophists. Notwithstanding the treason of the
Christians, who saw fit, for political reasons, after the days of Constantine,
to repudiate their tutors, the influence of the new Platonic philosophy is conspicuous
in the subsequent adoption of dogmas, the origin of which can be traced but too
easily to that remarkable school. Though mutilated and disfigured, they still
preserve a strong family likeness, which nothing can obliterate.
But, if the
knowledge of the occult powers of nature opens the spiritual sight of man,
enlarges his intellectual faculties, and leads him unerringly to a profounder
veneration for the Creator, on the other hand ignorance, dogmatic
narrow-mindedness, and a childish fear of looking to the bottom of things,
invariably leads to fetish-worship and superstition.
When Cyril, the
Bishop of Alexandria, had openly embraced the cause of Isis, the Egyptian
goddess, and had anthropomorphized her into Mary, the mother of God; and the
trinitarian controversy had taken place; from that moment the Egyptian doctrine
of the emanation of the creative God out of Emepht began to be tortured in a
thousand ways, until the Councils had agreed upon the adoption of it as it now
stands -- the disfigured Ternary of the kabalistic Solomon and Philo! But as
its origin was yet too evident, the Word was no longer called the
"Heavenly man," the primal Adam Kadmon, but became the Logos --
Christ, and was made as old as the "Ancient of the Ancient," his
father. The concealed WISDOM became identical with its emanation, the DIVINE
THOUGHT, and made to be regarded coequal and coeternal with its first
manifestation.
If we now stop to
consider another of the fundamental dogmas of Christianity, the doctrine of
atonement, we may trace it as easily back to heathendom. This corner-stone of a
Church which had believed herself built on a firm rock for long centuries, is
now excavated by science and proved to come from the Gnostics. Professor Draper
shows it as hardly known in the days of Tertullian, and as having
"originated among the Gnostic heretics."* We will not permit
ourselves to contradict such a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Conflict between Religion and Science," p. 224.
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learned authority,
farther than to state that it originated among them no more than their
"anointed" Christos and Sophia. The former they modelled on the
original of the "King Messiah," the male principle of wisdom, and the
latter on the third Sephiroth, from the Chaldean Kabala,* and even from the Hindu
Brahma and Sara-asvati,** and the Pagan Dionysus and Demeter. And here we are
on firm ground, if it were only because it is now proved that the New Testament
never appeared in its complete form, such as we find it now, till 300 years
after the period of apostles,*** and the Sohar and other kabalistic books are
found to belong to the first century before our era, if not to be far older
still.
The Gnostics
entertained many of the Essenean ideas; and the Essenes had their
"greater" and "minor" Mysteries at least two centuries before
our era. They were the Isarim or Initiates, the descendants of the Egyptian
hierophants, in whose country they had been settled for several centuries
before they were converted to Buddhistic monasticism by the missionaries of
King Asoka, and amalgamated later with the earliest Christians; and they
existed, probably, before the old Egyptian temples were desecrated and ruined
in the incessant invasions of Persians, Greeks, and other conquering hordes.
The hierophants had their atonement enacted in the Mystery of Initiation ages
before the Gnostics, or even the Essenes, had appeared. It was known among
hierophants as the BAPTISM OF BLOOD, and was considered not as an atonement for
the "fall of man" in Eden, but simply as an expiation for the past,
present, and future sins of ignorant but nevertheless polluted mankind. The
hierophant had the option of either offering his pure and sinless life as a
sacrifice for his race to the gods whom he hoped to rejoin, or an animal
victim. The former depended entirely on their own will. At the last moment of
the solemn "new birth," the initiator passed "the word" to
the initiated, and immediately after that the latter had a weapon placed in his
right hand, and was ordered to strike.**** This is the true origin of the Christian
dogma of atonement.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Sohar"; "Kab. Den."; "The Book of Mystery," the
oldest book of the kabalists; and Milman: "History of Christianity,"
pp. 212, 213-215.
** Milman:
"History of Christianity," p. 280. The Kurios and Kora are mentioned
repeatedly in "Justin Martyr." See p. 97.
*** See Olshausen:
"Biblischer Commentar uber sammtliche Schriften des Neuen
Testaments," ii.
**** There is a
wide-spread superstition (?), especially among the Slavonians and Russians,
that the magician or wizard cannot die before he has passed the
"word" to a successor. So deeply is it rooted among the popular
beliefs, that we do not imagine there is a person in Russia who has not heard of
it. It is but too easy to trace the origin of this superstition to the old
Mysteries which had been for ages spread all over
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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http://www.theosophywales.org.uk [[Vol. 2, Page]] 43 THE SORCERER'S TERRIFYING
DEATH-BED.
Verily the
"Christs" of the pre-Christian ages were many. But they died unknown
to the world, and disappeared as silently and as mysteriously from the sight of
man as Moses from the top of Pisgah, the mountain of Nebo (oracular wisdom),
after he had laid his hands upon Joshua, who thus became "full of the
spirit of wisdom" (i.e., initiated).
Nor does the
Mystery of the Eucharist pertain to Christians alone. Godfrey Higgins proves
that it was instituted many hundreds of years before the "Paschal
Supper," and says that "the sacrifice of bread and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] the globe. The ancient Variago-Rouss had his
Mysteries in the North as well as in the South of Russia; and there are many
relics of the by-gone faith scattered in the lands watered by the sacred
Dnieper, the baptismal Jordan of all Russia. No Znachar (the knowing one) or
Koldoun (sorcerer), male or female, can die in fact before he has passed the
mysterious word to some one. The popular belief is that unless he does that he
will linger and suffer for weeks and months, and were he even finally to get
liberated, it would be only to wander on earth, unable to quit its region
unless he finds a successor even after death. How far the belief may be
verified by others, we do not know, but we have seen a case which, for its
tragical and mysterious denoument, deserves to be given here as an illustration
of the subject in hand. An old man, of over one hundred years of age, a
peasant-serf in the government of S----, having a wide reputation as a sorcerer
and healer, was said to be dying for several days, and still unable to die. The
report spread like lightning, and the poor old fellow was shunned by even the
members of his own family, as the latter were afraid of receiving the unwelcome
inheritance. At last the public rumor in the village was that he had sent a
message to a colleague less versed than himself in the art, and who, although
he lived in a distant district, was nevertheless coming at the call, and would
be on hand early on the following morning. There was at that time on a visit to
the proprietor of the village a young physician who, belonging to the famous
school of Nihilism of that day, laughed outrageously at the idea. The master of
the house, being a very pious man, and but half inclined to make so cheap of
the "superstition," smiled -- as the saying goes -- but with one
corner of his mouth. Meanwhile the young skeptic, to gratify his curiosity, had
made a visit to the dying man, had found that he could not live twenty-four
hours longer, and, determined to prove the absurdity of the
"superstition," had taken means to detain the coming
"successor" at a neighboring village.
Early in the
morning a company of four persons, comprising the physician, the master of the
place, his daughter, and the writer of the present lines, went to the hut in
which was to be achieved the triumph of skepticism. The dying man was expecting
his liberator every moment, and his agony at the delay became extreme. We tried
to persuade the physician to humor the patient, were it for humanity's sake. He
only laughed. Getting hold with one hand of the old wizard's pulse, he took out
his watch with the other, and remarking in French that all would be over in a
few moments, remained absorbed in his professional experiment. The scene was
solemn and appalling. Suddenly the door opened, and a young boy entered with
the intelligence, addressed to the doctor, that the koum was lying dead drunk
at a neighboring village, and, according to his orders, could not be with
"grandfather" till the next day. The young doctor felt confused, and
was just going to address the old man, when, as quick as lightning, the Znachar
snatched his hand from his grasp and raised himself in bed. His deep-sunken
eyes flashed; his yellow-white beard and hair streaming round his livid face
made him a
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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wine was common to
many ancient nations."* Cicero mentions it in his works, and wonders at
the strangeness of the rite. There had been an esoteric meaning attached to it
from the first establishment of the Mysteries, and the Eucharistia is one of
the oldest rites of antiquity. With the hierophants it had nearly the same
significance as with the Christians. Ceres was bread, and Bacchus was wine; the
former meaning regeneration of life from the seed, and the latter -- the grape
-- the emblem of wisdom and knowledge; the accumulation of the spirit of
things, and the fermentation and subsequent strength of that esoteric knowledge
being justly symbolized by wine. The mystery related to the drama of Eden; it
is said to have been first taught by Janus, who was also the first to introduce
in the temples the sacrifices of "bread" and "wine" in
commemoration of the "fall into generation" as the symbol of the
"seed." "I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman,"
says Jesus, alluding to the secret knowledge that could be imparted by him.
"I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink
it new in the kingdom of God."
The festival of the
Eleusinian Mysteries began in the month of Boedromion, which corresponds with
the month of September, the time of grape-gathering, and lasted from the 15th
to the 22d of the month, seven days.** The Hebrew festival of the Feast of
Tabernacles began on the 15th and ended on the 22d of the month of Ethanim,
which Dunlap shows as derived from Adonim, Adonia, Attenim, Ethanim;*** and
this feast is named in Exodus (xxiii. 16) the feast of ingatherings. "All
the men of Israel assembled unto King Solomon at the feast in the month
Ethanim, which is the seventh."****
Plutarch thinks the
feast of the booths to be the Bacchic rites, not the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] dreadful sight. One instant more, and his long,
sinewy arms were clasped round the physician's neck, as with a supernatural
force he drew the doctor's head closer and closer to his own face, where he
held him as in a vise, while whispering words inaudible to us in his ear. The
skeptic struggled to free himself, but before he had time to make one effective
motion the work had evidently been done; the hands relaxed their grasp, and the
old sorcerer fell on his back -- a corpse! A strange and ghostly smile had
settled on the stony lips -- a smile of fiendish triumph and satisfied revenge;
but the doctor looked paler and more ghastly than the dead man himself. He
stared round with an expression of terror difficult to describe, and without
answering our inquiries rushed out wildly from the hut, in the direction of the
woods. Messengers were sent after him, but he was nowhere to be found. About
sunset a report was heard in the forest. An hour later his body was brought
home, with a bullet through his head, for the skeptic had blown out his brains!
What made him
commit suicide? What magic spell of sorcery had the "word" of the
dying wizard left on his mind? Who can tell?
* "Anacalypsis";
also Tertullian.
**
"Anthon," art. Eleusinia.
*** Dunlap:
"Musah, His Mysteries," p. 71.
**** Kings, viii.
2.
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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 45 THE HEBREW KADESHIM.
the Eleusinian.
Thus "Bacchus was directly called upon," he says. The Sabazian
worship was Sabbatic; the names Evius, or Hevius, and Luaios are identical with
Hivite and Levite. The French name Louis is the Hebrew Levi; Iacchus again is
Iao or Jehovah; and Baal or Adon, like Bacchus, was a phallic god. "Who
shall ascend into the hill (the high place) of the Lord?" asks the holy
king David, "who shall stand in the place of his Kadushu [[Heb char]]"?
(Psalms xxiv. 3). Kadesh may mean in one sense to devote, hallow, sanctify, and
even to initiate or to set apart; but it also means the ministers of lascivious
rites (the Venus-worship) and the true interpretation of the word Kadesh is
bluntly rendered in Deuteronomy xxiii. 17; Hosea iv. 14; and Genesis xxxviii.,
from verses 15 to 22. The "holy" Kadeshuth of the Bible were
identical as to the duties of their office with the Nautch-girls of the later
Hindu pagodas. The Hebrew Kadeshim or galli lived "by the house of the Lord,
where the women wove hangings for the grove," or bust of Venus-Astarte,
says verse the seventh in the twenty-third chapter of 2 Kings.
The dance performed
by David round the ark was the "circle-dance" said to have been
prescribed by the Amazons for the Mysteries. Such was the dance of the
daughters of Shiloh (Judges xxi. 21, 23 et passim), and the leaping of the
prophets of Baal (I Kings xviii. 26). It was simply a characteristic of the
Sabean worship, for it denoted the motion of the planets round the sun. That
the dance was a Bacchic frenzy is apparent. Sistra were used on the occasion,
and the taunt of Michael and the king's reply are very expressive. "The
king of Israel uncovered himself before his maid-servants as one of the vain
(or debauched) fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself." And he retorts:
"I will play (act wantonly) before [[Heb char]], and I will be yet more
vile than this, and I will be base in my own sight." When we remember that
David had sojourned among the Tyrians and Philistines, where their rites were
common; and that indeed he had conquered that land away from the house of Saul,
by the aid of mercenaries from their country, the countenancing and even,
perhaps, the introduction of such a Pagan-like worship by the weak "psalmist"
seems very natural. David knew nothing of Moses, it seems, and if he introduced
the Jehovah-worship it was not in its monotheistic character, but simply as
that of one of the many gods of the neighboring nations -- a tutelary deity to
whom he had given the preference, and chosen among "all other gods."
Following the
Christian dogmas seriatim, if we concentrate our attention upon one which
provoked the fiercest battles until its recognition, that of the Trinity, what
do we find? We meet it, as we have shown, northeast of the Indus; and tracing
it to Asia Minor and Europe, recognize it among every people who had anything
like an established re-
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ligion. It was
taught in the oldest Chaldean, Egyptian, and Mithraitic schools. The Chaldean
Sun-god, Mithra, was called "Triple," and the trinitarian idea of the
Chaldeans was a doctrine of the Akkadians, who, themselves, belonged to a race
which was the first to conceive a metaphysical trinity. The Chaldeans are a
tribe of the Akkadians, according to Rawlinson, who lived in Babylonia from the
earliest times. They were Turanians, according to others, and instructed the
Babylonians into the first notions of religion. But these same Akkadians, who
were they? Those scientists who would ascribe to them a Turanian origin, make
of them the inventors of the cuneiform characters; others call them Sumerians;
others again, respectively, make their language, of which (for very good
reasons) no traces whatever remain -- Kasdean, Chaldaic, Proto-Chaldean,
Kasdo-Scythic, and so on. The only tradition worthy of credence is that these
Akkadians instructed the Babylonians in the Mysteries, and taught them the
sacerdotal or Mystery-language. These Akkadians were then simply a tribe of the
Hindu-Brahmans, now called Aryans -- their vernacular language, the Sanscrit*
of the Vedas; and the sacred or Mystery-language, that which, even in our own
age, is used by the Hindu fakirs and initiated Brahmans in their magical
evocations.** It has been, from time immemorial, and still is employed by the
initiates of all countries, and the Thibetan lamas claim that it is in this
tongue that appear the mysterious characters on the leaves and bark of the
sacred Koumboum.
Jacolliot, who took
such pains to penetrate the mysteries of the Brahmanical initiation in
translating and commenting upon the Agrouchada-Parikshai, confesses the
following:
"It is
pretended also, without our being able to verify the assertion, that the
magical evocations were pronounced in a particular language, and that it was
forbidden, under pain of death, to translate them into vulgar dialects. The
rare expressions that we have been able to catch like -- L'rhom, h'hom,
sh'hrum, sho'rhim, are in fact most curious, and do not seem to belong to any
known idiom."***
Those who have seen
a fakir or a lama reciting his mantras and con-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Let us remember
in this connection that Col. Vans Kennedy has long ago declared his opinion
that Babylonia was once the seat of the Sanscrit language and of Brahmanical
influence.
** " 'The
Agrouchada-Parikshai,' which discloses, to a certain extent, the order of
initiation, does not give the formula of evocation," says Jacolliot, and
he adds that, according to some Brahmans, "these formulae were never
written, they were and still are imparted in a whisper in the ear of the
adepts" ("mouth to ear, and the word at low breath," say the
Masons). -- "Le Spiritisme dans le Monde," p. 108.
*** "Le
Spiritisme dans le Monde," p. 108.
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UNMITIGATED HUMBUG?
jurations, know
that he never pronounces the words audibly when preparing for a phenomenon. His
lips move, and none will ever hear the terrible formula pronounced, except in
the interior of the temples, and then in a cautious whisper. This, then, was
the language now respectively baptized by every scientist, and, according to
his imaginative and philological propensities, Kasdeo-Semitic, Scythic,
Proto-Chaldean, and the like.
Scarcely two of
even the most learned Sanscrit philologists are agreed as to the true
interpretation of Vedic words. Let one put forth an essay, a lecture, a
treatise, a translation, a dictionary, and straightway all the others fall to
quarrelling with each other and with him as to his sins of omission and
commission. Professor Whitney, greatest of American Orientalists, says that
Professor Muller's notes on the Rig Veda Sanhita "are far from showing
that sound and thoughtful judgment, that moderation and economy which are among
the most precious qualities of an exegete." Professor Muller angrily
retorts upon his critics that "not only is the joy embittered which is the
inherent reward of all bona fide work, but selfishness, malignity, aye, even
untruthfulness, gain the upper hand, and the healthy growth of science is
stunted." He differs "in many cases from the explanations of Vedic
words given by Professor Roth" in his Sanscrit Dictionary, and Professor
Whitney shampooes both their heads by saying that there are, unquestionably,
words and phrases "as to which both alike will hereafter be set
right."
In volume i. of his
Chips, Professor Muller stigmatizes all the Vedas except the Rik, the
Atharva-Veda included, as "theological twaddle," while Professor Whitney
regards the latter as "the most comprehensive and valuable of the four
collections, next after the Rik." To return to the case of Jacolliot.
Professor Whitney brands him as a "bungler and a humbug," and, as we
remarked above, this is the very general verdict. But when the Bible dans
l'Inde appeared, the Societe Academique de Saint Quentin requested M. Textor de
Ravisi, a learned Indianist, ten years Governor of Karikal, India, to report
upon its merits. He was an ardent Catholic, and bitterly opposed Jacolliot's
conclusions where they discredited the Mosaic and Catholic revelations; but he
was forced to say: "Written with good faith, in an easy, vigorous, and
passionate style, of an easy and varied argumentation, the work of M. Jacolliot
is of absorbing interest . . . a learned work on known facts and with familiar
arguments."
Enough. Let
Jacolliot have the benefit of the doubt when such very imposing authorities are
doing their best to show up each other as incompetents and literary journeymen.
We quite agree with Professor Whitney that "the truism, that [for European
critics?] it is far easier to pull to
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pieces than to
build up, is nowhere truer than in matters affecting the archeology and history
of India."*
Babylonia happened
to be situated on the way of the great stream of the earliest Hindu emigration,
and the Babylonians were one of the first peoples benefited thereby.** These
Khaldi were the worshippers of the Moon-god, Deus Lunus, from which fact we may
infer that the Akkadians -- if such must be their name -- belonged to the race
of the Kings of the Moon, whom tradition shows as having reigned in Pruyay --
now Allahabad. With them the trinity of Deus Lunus was manifested in the three
lunar phases, completing the quaternary with the fourth, and typifying the
death of the Moon-god in its gradual waning and final disappearance. This death
was allegorized by them, and attributed to the triumph of the genius of evil
over the light-giving deity; as the later nations allegorized the death of
their Sun-gods, Osiris and Apollo, at the hands of Typhon and the great Dragon
Python, when the sun entered the winter solstice. Babel, Arach, and Akkad are
names of the sun. The Zoroastrian Oracles are full and explicit upon the
subject of the Divine Triad. "A triad of Deity shines forth throughout the
whole world, of which a Monad is the head," admits the Reverend Dr.
Maurice.
"For from this
Triad, in the bosoms, are all things governed," says a Chaldean oracle.
The Phos, Pur, and Phlox, of Sanchoniathon,*** are Light, Fire, and Flame,
three manifestations of the Sun who is one. Bel-Saturn, Jupiter-Bel, and Bel or
Baal-Chom are the Chaldean trinity;**** "The Babylonian Bel was regarded
in the Triune aspect of Belitan, Zeus-Belus (the mediator) and Baal-Chom who is
Apollo Chomaeus. This was the Triune aspect of the 'Highest God,' who is,
according to Berosus, either El (the Hebrew), Bel, Belitan, Mithra, or Zervana,
and has the name [[Pater]], "the Father."***** The Brahma, Vishnu,
and Siva,****** corresponding to Power, Wisdom, and Justice, which answer in
their turn
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* W. D. Whitney:
"Oriental and Linguistic Studies, The Veda, etc."
** Jacolliot seems
to have very logically demonstrated the absurd contradictions of some
philologists, anthropologists, and Orientalists, in regard to their Akkado and
Semito mania. "There is not, perhaps, much of good faith in their
negations," he writes. "The scientists who invent Turanian peoples
know very well that in Manu alone, there is more of veritable science and philosophy
than in all that this pretended Semitism has hitherto furnished us with; but
they are the slaves of a path which some of them are following the last
fifteen, twenty, or even thirty years. . . . We expect, therefore, nothing of
the present. India will owe its reconstitution to the scientists of the next
generation" ("La Genese de l'Humanite," pp. 60-61).
*** Cory:
"Anc. Frag."
**** Movers:
"Phoinizer," 263.
***** Dunlap:
"Sp. Hist. of Man," p. 281.
****** Siva is not
a god of the Vedas, strictly speaking. When the Vedas were written, he held the
rank of Maha-Deva or Bel among the gods of aboriginal India.
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RELIGIONS.
to Spirit, Matter,
Time, and the Past, Present, and Future, can be found in the temple of
Gharipuri; thousands of dogmatic Brahmans worship these attributes of the Vedic
Deity, while the severe monks and nuns of Buddhistic Thibet recognize but the
sacred trinity of the three cardinal virtues: Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience,
professed by the Christians, practiced by the Buddhists and some Hindus alone.
The Persian
triplicate Deity also consists of three persons, Ormazd, Mithra, and Ahriman.
"That is that principle," says Porphyry,* "which the author of
the Chaldaic Summary saith, 'They conceive there is one principle of all
things, and declare that is one and good.' " The Chinese idol Sanpao,
consists of three equal in all respects;** and the Peruvians "supposed
their Tanga-tanga to be one in three, and three in one," says Faben.***
The Egyptians have their Emepht, Eicton, and Phta; and the triple god seated on
the Lotos can be seen in the St. Petersburg Museum, on a medal of the Northern
Tartars.
Among the Church
dogmas which have most seriously suffered of late at the hands of the
Orientalists, the last in question stands conspicuous. The reputation of each
of the three personages of the anthropomorphic godhead as an original revelation
to the Christians through Divine will, has been badly compromised by inquiry
into its predecessors and origin. Orientalists have published more about the
similarity between Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Christianity than was strictly
agreeable to the Vatican. Draper's assertion that "Paganism was modified
by Christianity, Christianity by Paganism,"**** is being daily verified.
"Olympus was restored but the divinities passed under other names,"
he says, treating of the Constantine period. "The more powerful provinces
insisted on the adoption of their time-honored conceptions. Views of the
trinity in accordance with the Egyptian traditions were established. Not only
was the adoration of Isis under a new name restored, but even her image,
standing on the crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that
goddess with the infant Horus in her arms has descended to our days, in the
beautiful artistic creations of the Madonna and child."
But a still earlier
origin than the Egyptian and Chaldean can be assigned to the Virgin
"Mother of God," Queen of Heaven. Though Isis
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "De Antro
Nympharum."
**
"Navarette," book ii., c. x.
*** "On the
Origin of Heathen Idolatry."
**** Isis and
Osiris are said, in the Egyptian sacred books, to have appeared (i.e., been
worshipped), on earth, later than Thot, the first Hermes, called Trismegistus,
who wrote all their sacred books according to the command of God or by
"divine revelation." The companion and instructor of Isis and Osiris
was Thot, or Hermes II., who was an incarnation of the celestial Hermes.
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is also by right
the Queen of Heaven, and is generally represented carrying in her hand the Crux
Ansata composed of the mundane cross, and of the Stauros of the Gnostics, she
is a great deal younger than the celestial virgin, Neith. In one of the tombs
of the Pharaohs -- Rhameses, in the valley of Biban-el-Molouk, in Thebes,
Champollion, Junior, discovered a picture, according to his opinion the most
ancient ever yet found. It represents the heavens symbolized by the figure of a
woman bedecked with stars. The birth of the Sun is figured by the form of a
little child, issuing from the bosom of its "Divine Mother."
In the Book of
Hermes, "Pimander" is enunciated in distinct and unequivocal
sentences, the whole trinitarian dogma accepted by the Christians. "The
light is me," says Pimander, the DIVINE THOUGHT. "I am the nous or
intelligence, and I am thy god, and I am far older than the human principle
which escapes from the shadow. I am the germ of thought, the resplendent WORD,
the SON of GOD. Think that what thus sees and hears in thee, is the Verbum of
the Master, it is the Thought, which is God the Father. . . . The celestial
ocean, the AETHER, which flows from east to west, is the Breath of the Father,
the life-giving Principle, the HOLY GHOST!" "For they are not at all
separated and their union is LIFE."
Ancient as may be
the origin of Hermes, lost in the unknown days of Egyptian colonization, there
is yet a far older prophecy, directly relating to the Hindu Christna, according
to the Brahmans. It is, to say the least, strange that the Christians claim to
base their religion upon a prophecy of the Bible, which exists nowhere in that
book. In what chapter or verse does Jehovah, the "Lord God," promise
Adam and Eve to send them a Redeemer who will save humanity? "I will put
enmity between thee and the woman," says the Lord God to the serpent,
"and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel."
In these words
there is not the slightest allusion to a Redeemer, and the subtilest of
intellects could not extract from them, as they stand in the third chapter of
Genesis, anything like that which the Christians have contrived to find. On the
other hand, in the traditions and Manu, Brahma promises directly to the first
couple to send them a Saviour who will teach them the way to salvation.
"It is from
the lips of a messenger of Brahma, who will be born in Kuroukshetra, Matsya,
and the land of Pantchola, also called Kanya-Cubja (mountain of the Virgin),
that all men on earth will learn their duty," says Manu (book ii., slokas
19 and 20).
The Mexicans call
the Father of their Trinity Yzona, the Son Bacab, and the Holy Ghost Echvah,
"and say they received it (the doctrine)
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ADOPTED BY CHRISTIANS.
from their
ancestors."* Among the Semitic nations we can trace the trinity to the
prehistorical days of the fabled Sesostris, who is identified by more than one
critic with Nimrod, "the mighty hunter." Manetho makes the oracle
rebuke the king, when the latter asks, "Tell me, O thou strong in fire,
who before me could subjugate all things? and who shall after me?" And the
oracle saith thus: "First God, then the Word, and then 'the Spirit.'
"**
In the foregoing
lies the foundation of the fierce hatred of the Christians toward the
"Pagans" and the theurgists. Too much had been borrowed; the ancient
religions and the Neo-platonists had been laid by them under contribution
sufficiently to perplex the world for several thousand years. Had not the
ancient creeds been speedily obliterated, it would have been found impossible
to preach the Christian religion as a New Dispensation, or the direct
Revelation from God the Father, through God the Son, and under the influence of
God the Holy Ghost. As a political exigence the Fathers had -- to gratify the
wishes of their rich converts -- instituted even the festivals of Pan. They
went so far as to accept the ceremonies hitherto celebrated by the Pagan world
in honor of the God of the gardens, in all their primitive sincerity.*** It was
time to sever the connection. Either the Pagan worship and the Neo-platonic
theurgy, with all ceremonial of magic, must be crushed out forever, or the
Christians become Neo-platonists.
The fierce polemics
and single-handed battles between Irenaeus and the Gnostics are too well known
to need repetition. They were carried on for over two centuries after the
unscrupulous Bishop of Lyons had uttered his last religious paradox. Celsus,
the Neo-platonist, and a disciple of the school of Ammonius Saccas, had thrown
the Christians into perturbation, and even had arrested for a time the progress
of proselytism by successfully proving that the original and purer forms of the
most important dogmas of Christianity were to be found only in the teachings of
Plato. Celsus accused them of accepting the worst superstitions of Paganism,
and of interpolating passages from the books of the Sybils, without rightly
understanding their meaning. The accusations were so plausible, and the facts
so patent, that for a long time no Christian writer had ventured to answer the
challenge. Origen, at the fervent request of his friend, Ambrosius, was the
first to take the defense in hand, for, having belonged to the same Platonic
school of Ammonius, he was considered the most competent man to refute the
well-founded charges. But his eloquence failed, and the only remedy that could
be found was to destroy the writings of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Lord
Kingsborough: "Ant. Mex.," p. 165.
** "Ap.
Malal.," lib. i., cap. iv.
*** Payne Knight:
"Phallic Worship."
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Celsus themselves.*
This could be achieved only in the fifth century, when copies had been taken
from this work, and many were those who had read and studied them. If no copy
of it has descended to our present generation of scientists, it is not because
there is none extant at present, but for the simple reason that the monks of a
certain Oriental church on Mount Athos will neither show nor confess they have
one in their possession.** Perhaps they do not even know themselves the value
of the contents of their manuscripts, on account of their great ignorance.
The dispersion of
the Eclectic school had become the fondest hope of the Christians. It had been
looked for and contemplated with intense anxiety. It was finally achieved. The
members were scattered by the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The Celsus above
mentioned, who lived between the second and third centuries, is not Celsus the
Epicurean. The latter wrote several works against Magic, and lived earlier,
during the reign of Hadrian.
** We have the
facts from a trustworthy witness, having no interest to invent such a story.
Having injured his leg in a fall from the steamer into the boat in which he was
to land at the Mount, he was taken care of by these monks, and during his
convalescence, through gifts of money and presents, became their greatest friend,
and finally won their entire confidence. Having asked for the loan of some
books, he was taken by the Superior to a large cellar in which they keep their
sacred vessels and other property. Opening a great trunk, full of old musty
manuscripts and rolls, he was invited by the Superior to "amuse
himself." The gentleman was a scholar, and well versed in Greek and Latin
text. "I was amazed," he says, in a private letter, "and had my
breath taken away, on finding among these old parchments, so unceremoniously
treated, some of the most valuable relics of the first centuries, hitherto
believed to have been lost." Among others he found a half-destroyed
manuscript, which he is perfectly sure must be a copy of the "True
Doctrine," the [[Aogos ale thes]] of Celsus, out of which Origen quoted
whole pages. The traveller took as many notes as he could on that day, but when
he came to offer to the Superior to purchase some of these writings he found,
to his great surprise, that no amount of money would tempt the monks. They did
not know what the manuscripts contained, nor "did they care," they
said. But the "heap of writing," they added, was transmitted to them
from one generation to another, and there was a tradition among them that these
papers would one day become the means of crushing the "Great Beast of the
Apocalypse," their hereditary enemy, the Church of Rome. They were
constantly quarrelling and fighting with the Catholic monks, and among the
whole "heap" they knew that there was a "holy" relic which
protected them. They did not know which, and so in their doubt abstained. It
appears that the Superior, a shrewd Greek, understood his bevue and repented of
his kindness, for first of all he made the traveller give him his most sacred
word of honor, strengthened by an oath he made him take on the image of the
Holy Patroness of the Island, never to betray their secret, and never mention,
at least, the name of their convent. And finally, when the anxious student who
had passed a fortnight in reading all sorts of antiquated trash before he
happened to stumble over some precious manuscript, expressed the desire to have
the key, to "amuse himself" with the writings once more, he was very
naively informed that the "key had been lost," and that they did not
know where to look for it. And thus he was left to the few notes he had taken.
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BUTCHERS SAINTED.
hand of the
monsters Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, and his nephew Cyril -- the murderer
of the young, the learned, and the innocent Hypatia!*
With the death of
the martyred daughter of Theon, the mathematician, there remained no
possibility for the Neo-platonists to continue their school at Alexandria.
During the life-time of the youthful Hypatia her friendship and influence with
Orestes, the governor of the city, had assured the philosophers security and
protection against their murderous enemies. With her death they had lost their
strongest friend. How much she was revered by all who knew her for her
erudition, noble virtues, and character, we can infer from the letters
addressed to her by Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, fragments of which have reached
us. "My heart yearns for the presence of your divine spirit," he
wrote in 413 A.D., "which more than anything else could alleviate the
bitterness of my fortunes." At another time he says: "Oh, my mother,
my sister, my teacher, my benefactor! My soul is very sad. The recollection of
my children I have lost is killing me. . . . When I have news of you and learn,
as I hope, that you are more fortunate than myself, I am at least only
half-unhappy."
What would have
been the feelings of this most noble and worthy of Christian bishops, who had
surrendered family and children and happiness for the faith into which he had
been attracted, had a prophetic vision disclosed to him that the only friend
that had been left to him, his "mother, sister, benefactor," would soon
become an unrecognizable mass of flesh and blood, pounded to jelly under the
blows of the club of Peter the Reader -- that her youthful, innocent body would
be cut to pieces, "the flesh scraped from the bones," by
oyster-shells and the rest of her cast into the fire, by order of the same
Bishop Cyril he knew so well -- Cyril, the CANONIZED Saint!!**
There has never
been a religion in the annals of the world with such a bloody record as
Christianity. All the rest, including the traditional fierce fights of the
"chosen people" with their next of kin, the idolatrous tribes of
Israel, pale before the murderous fanaticism of the alleged followers of
Christ! Even the rapid spread of Mahometanism before the conquering sword of
the Islam prophet, is a direct consequence of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See the
historical romance of Canon Kingsley, "Hypatia," for a highly
picturesque account of the tragical fate of this young martyr.
** We beg the
reader to bear in mind that it is the same Cyril who was accused and proved
guilty of having sold the gold and silver ornaments of his church, and spent
the money. He pleaded guilty, but tried to excuse himself on the ground that he
had used the money for the poor, but could not give evidence of it. His
duplicity with Arius and his party is well known. Thus one of the first
Christian saints, and the founder of the Trinity, appears on the pages of
history as a murderer and a thief!
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bloody riots and
fights among Christians. It was the intestine war between the Nestorians and
Cyrilians that engendered Islamism; and it is in the convent of Bozrah that the
prolific seed was first sown by Bahira, the Nestorian monk. Freely watered by
rivers of blood, the tree of Mecca has grown till we find it in the present
century overshadowing nearly two hundred millions of people. The recent
Bulgarian atrocities are but the natural outgrowth of the triumph of Cyril and
the Mariolaters.
The cruel, crafty
politician, the plotting monk, glorified by ecclesiastical history with the
aureole of a martyred saint. The despoiled philosophers, the Neo-platonists,
and the Gnostics, daily anathematized by the Church all over the world for long
and dreary centuries. The curse of the unconcerned Deity hourly invoked on the
magian rites and theurgic practice, and the Christian clergy themselves using
sorcery for ages. Hypatia, the glorious maiden-philosopher, torn to pieces by
the Christian mob. And such as Catherine de Medicis, Lucrezia Borgia, Joanna of
Naples, and the Isabellas of Spain, presented to the world as the faithful
daughters of the Church -- some even decorated by the Pope with the order of
the "Immaculate Rose," the highest emblem of womanly purity and
virtue, a symbol sacred to the Virgin-mother of God! Such are the examples of
human justice! How far less blasphemous appears a total rejection of Mary as an
immaculate goddess, than an idolatrous worship of her, accompanied by such
practices.
In the next chapter
we will present a few illustrations of sorcery, as practiced under the
patronage of the Roman Church.
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CHAPTER II.
"They
undertake by scales of miles to tell
The bounds,
dimensions, and extent of hell;
* * * * * * * * * *
Where bloated souls
in smoky durance hung
Like a Westphalia
gammon or neat's tongue,
To be redeemed with
masses and a song." -- OLDHAM: Satires upon the Jesuits.
"York. -- But
you are more inhuman, more inexorable --
O, ten times more
-- than tigers of Hyrcania." -- King Henry VI., Part Third, Act i., Scene
iv.
"War. -- And
hark ye, Sirs; because she is a maid
Spare for no
faggots, let there be enough;
Place barrels of
pitch upon the fatal stake." -- King Henry VI., Part First, Act v., Scene
iv.
IN that famous work
of Bodin, on sorcery,* a frightful story is told about Catherine of Medicis.
The author was a learned publicist, who, during twenty years of his life,
collected authentic documents from the archives of nearly every important city
of France, to make up a complete work on sorcery, magic, and the power of
various "demons." To use an expression of Eliphas Levi, his book
offers a most remarkable collection of "bloody and hideous facts; acts of
revolting superstition, arrests, and executions of stupid ferocity."
"Burn every body!" the Inquisition seemed to say -- God will easily
sort out His own! Poor fools, hysterical women, and idiots were roasted alive,
without mercy, for the crime of "magic." But, "at the same time,
how many great culprits escaped this unjust and sanguinary justice! This is
what Bodin makes us fully appreciate."
Catherine, the
pious Christian -- who has so well deserved in the eyes of the Church of Christ
for the atrocious and never-to-be-forgotten massacre of St. Bartholomew -- the
Queen Catherine, kept in her service an apostate Jacobin priest. Well versed in
the "black art," so fully patronized by the Medici family, he had won
the gratitude and protection of his pious mistress, by his unparalleled skill
in killing people at a distance, by torturing with various incantations their
wax simulacra. The process has been described over and over again, and we
scarcely need repeat it.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La
Demonomanie, ou traite des Sorciers." Paris, 1587.
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Charles was lying
sick of an incurable disease. The queen-mother, had everything to lose in case
of his death, resorted to necromancy, consulted the oracle of the
"bleeding head." This infernal operation required the decapitation of
a child who must be possessed of great beauty and purity. He had been prepared
in secret for his first communion, by the chaplain of the palace, who was
apprised of the plot, and at midnight of the appointed day, in the chamber of
the sick man, and in presence only of Catherine and a few of her confederates,
the "devil's mass" was celebrated. Let us give the rest of the story
as we find it in one of Levi's works: "At this mass, celebrated before the
image of the demon, having under his feet a reversed cross, the sorcerer
consecrated two wafers, one black and one white. The white was given to the
child, whom they brought clothed as for baptism, and who was murdered upon the
very steps of the altar, immediately after his communion. His head, separated
from the trunk by a single blow, was placed, all palpitating, upon the great black
wafer which covered the bottom of the paten, then placed upon a table where
some mysterious lamps were burning. The exorcism then began, and the demon was
charged to pronounce an oracle, and reply by the mouth of this head to a secret
question that the king dared not speak aloud, and that had been confided to no
one. Then a feeble voice, a strange voice, which had nothing of human character
about it, made itself audible in this poor little martyr's head." The
sorcery availed nothing; the king died, and -- Catherine remained the faithful
daughter of Rome!
How strange, that
des Mousseaux, who makes such free use of Bodin's materials to construct his
formidable indictment against Spiritualists and other sorcerers, should have
overlooked this interesting episode!
It is a
well-attested fact that Pope Sylvester II. was publicly accused by Cardinal
Benno with being a sorcerer and an enchanter. The brazen "oracular
head" made by his Holiness was of the same kind as the one fabricated by
Albertus Magnus. The latter was smashed to pieces by Thomas Aquinas, not
because it was the work of or inhabited by a "demon," but because the
spook who was fixed inside, by mesmeric power, talked incessantly, and his
verbiage prevented the eloquent saint from working out his mathematical
problems. These heads and other talking statues, trophies of the magical skill
of monks and bishops, were fac-similes of the "animated" gods of the
ancient temples. The accusation against the Pope was proved at the time. It was
also demonstrated that he was constantly attended by "demons" or
spirits. In the preceding chapter we have mentioned Benedict IX., John XX., and
the VIth and VIIth Gregory, who were all known as magicians. The latter Pope,
moreover, was the famous Hildebrand, who was said to have
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PRIESTS AS SORCERERS.
been so expert at
"shaking lightning out of his sleeve." An expression which makes the
venerable spiritualistic writer, Mr. Howitt, think that "it was the origin
of the celebrated thunder of the Vatican."
The magical
achievements of the Bishop of Ratisbon and those of the "angelic
doctor," Thomas Aquinas, are too well known to need repetition; but we may
explain farther how the "illusions" of the former were produced. If
the Catholic bishop was so clever in making people believe on a bitter winter
night that they were enjoying the delights of a splendid summer day, and cause
the icicles hanging from the boughs of the trees in the garden to seem like so
many tropical fruits, the Hindu magicians also practice such biological powers
unto this very day, and claim the assistance of neither god nor devil. Such "miracles"
are all produced by the same human power that is inherent in every man, if he
only knew how to develop it.
About the time of
the Reformation, the study of alchemy and magic had become so prevalent among
the clergy as to produce great scandal. Cardinal Wolsey was openly accused
before the court and the privy-council of confederacy with a man named Wood, a
sorcerer, who said that "My Lord Cardinale had suche a rynge that
whatsomevere he askyd of the Kynges grace that he hadd yt"; adding that
"Master Cromwell, when he . . . was servaunt in my lord cardynales housse
. . . rede many bokes and specyally the boke of Salamon . . . and studied
mettells and what vertues they had after the canon of Salamon." This case,
with several others equally curious, is to be found among the Cromwell papers
in the Record Office of the Rolls House.
A priest named
William Stapleton was arrested as a conjurer, during the reign of Henry VIII.,
and an account of his adventures is still preserved in the Rolls House records.
The Sicilian priest whom Benvenuto Cellini calls a necromancer, became famous
through his successful conjurations, and was never molested. The remarkable
adventure of Cellini with him in the Colosseum, where the priest conjured up a
whole host of devils, is well known to the reading public. The subsequent
meeting of Cellini with his mistress, as predicted and brought about by the
conjurer, at the precise time fixed by him, is to be considered, as a matter of
course, a "curious coincidence." In the latter part of the sixteenth
century there was hardly a parish to be found in which the priests did not
study magic and alchemy. The practice of exorcism to cast out devils "in
imitation of Christ," who by the way never used exorcism at all, led the
clergy to devote themselves openly to "sacred" magic in
contradistinction to black art, of which latter crime were accused all those
who were neither priests nor monks.
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The occult
knowledge gleaned by the Roman Church from the once fat fields of theurgy she
sedulously guarded for her own use, and sent to the stake only those
practitioners who "poached" on her lands of the Scientia Scientiarum,
and those whose sins could not be concealed by the friar's frock. The proof of
it lies in the records of history. "In the course only of fifteen years,
between 1580 to 1595, and only in the single province of Lorraine, the
President Remigius burned 900 witches," says Thomas Wright, in his Sorcery
and Magic. It was during these days, prolific in ecclesiastical murder and
unrivalled for cruelty and ferocity, that Jean Bodin wrote.
While the orthodox
clergy called forth whole legions of "demons" through magical
incantations, unmolested by the authorities, provided they held fast to the
established dogmas and taught no heresy, on the other hand, acts of
unparalleled atrocity were perpetrated on poor, unfortunate fools. Gabriel Malagrida,
an old man of eighty, was burnt by these evangelical Jack Ketches in 1761. In
the Amsterdam library there is a copy of the report of his famous trial,
translated from the Lisbon edition. He was accused of sorcery and illicit
intercourse with the Devil, who had "disclosed to him futurity." (?)
The prophecy imparted by the Arch-Enemy to the poor visionary Jesuit is
reported in the following terms: "The culprit hath confessed that the
demon, under the form of the blessed Virgin, having commanded him to write the
life of Antichrist (?), told him that he, Malagrida, was a second John, but
more clear than John the Evangelist; that there were to be three Antichrists,
and that the last should be born at Milan, of a monk and a nun, in the year
1920; that he would marry Proserpine, one of the infernal furies," etc.
The prophecy is to
be verified forty-three years hence. Even were all the children born of monks
and nuns really to become antichrists if allowed to grow up to maturity, the
fact would seem far less deplorable than the discoveries made in so many
convents when the foundations have been removed for some reason. If the
assertion of Luther is to be disbelieved on account of his hatred for popery,
then we may name discoveries of the same character made quite recently in
Austrian and Russian Poland. Luther speaks of a fish-pond at Rome, situated
near a convent of nuns, which, having been cleared out by order of Pope
Gregory, disclosed, at the bottom, over six thousand infant skulls; and of a
nunnery at Neinburg, in Austria, whose foundations, when searched, disclosed
the same relics of celibacy and chastity!
"Ecclesia non
novit Sanguinem!" meekly repeated the scarlet-robed cardinals. And to
avoid the spilling of blood which horrified them, they instituted the Holy
Inquisition. If, as the occultists maintain, and science half confirms, our
most trifling acts and thoughts are indelibly impressed
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TORQUEMADA.
upon the eternal
mirror of the astral ether, there must be somewhere, in the boundless realm of
the unseen universe, the imprint of a curious picture. It is that of a gorgeous
standard waving in the heavenly breeze at the foot of the great "white
throne" of the Almighty. On its crimson damask face a cross, symbol of
"the Son of God who died for mankind," with an olive branch on one
side, and a sword, stained to the hilt with human gore, on the other. A legend
selected from the Psalms emblazoned in golden letters, reading thus:
"Exurge, Domine, et judica causam meam." For such appears the
standard of the Inquisition, on a photograph in our possession, from an original
procured at the Escurial of Madrid.
Under this
Christian standard, in the brief space of fourteen years, Tomas de Torquemada,
the confessor of Queen Isabella, burned over ten thousand persons, and
sentenced to the torture eighty thousand more. Orobio, the well-known writer,
who was detained so long in prison, and who hardly escaped the flames of the
Inquisition, immortalized this institution in his works when once at liberty in
Holland. He found no better argument against the Holy Church than to embrace
the Judaic faith and submit even to circumcision. "In the cathedral of
Saragossa," says a writer on the Inquisition, "is the tomb of a
famous inquisitor. Six pillars surround the tomb; to each is chained a Moor, as
preparatory to being burned." On this St. Foix ingenuously observes:
"If ever the Jack Ketch of any country should be rich enough to have a
splendid tomb, this might serve as an excellent model!" To make it
complete, however, the builders of the tomb ought not to have omitted a
bas-relief of the famous horse which was burnt for sorcery and witchcraft.
Granger tells the story, describing it as having occurred in his time. The poor
animal "had been taught to tell the spots upon cards, and the hour of the
day by the watch. Horse and owner were both indicted by the sacred office for
dealing with the Devil, and both were burned, with a great ceremony of
auto-da-fe, at Lisbon, in 1601, as wizards!"
This immortal
institution of Christianity did not remain without its Dante to sing its
praise. "Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit," says the author of
Demonologia, "has discovered the origin of the Inquisition, in the
terrestrial Paradise, and presumes to allege that God was the first who began
the functions of an inquisitor over Cain and the workmen of Babel!"
Nowhere, during the
middle ages, were the arts of magic and sorcery more practiced by the clergy
than in Spain and Portugal. The Moors were profoundly versed in the occult
sciences, and at Toledo, Seville, and Salamanca, were, once upon a time, the
great schools of magic. The kabalists of the latter town were skilled in all
the abstruse sciences; they
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knew the virtues of
precious stones and other minerals, and had extracted from alchemy its most
profound secrets.
The authentic
documents pertaining to the great trial of the Marechale d'Ancre, during the
regency of Marie de Medicis, disclose that the unfortunate woman perished
through the fault of the priests with whom, like a true Italian, she surrounded
herself. She was accused by the people of Paris of sorcery, because it had been
asserted that she had used, after the ceremony of exorcism, newly-killed white
cocks. Believing herself constantly bewitched, and being in very delicate
health, the Marechale had the ceremony of exorcism publicly applied to herself
in the Church of the Augustins; as to the birds, she used them as an
application to the forehead on account of dreadful pains in the head, and had
been advised to do so by Montalto, the Jew physician of the queen, and the
Italian priests.
In the sixteenth
century, the Cure de Barjota, of the diocese of Callahora, Spain, became the
world's wonder for his magical powers. His most extraordinary feat consisted,
it was said, in transporting himself to any distant country, witnessing
political and other events, and then returning home to predict them in his own
country. He had a familiar demon, who served him faithfully for long years,
says the Chronicle, but the cure turned ungrateful and cheated him. Having been
apprised by his demon of a conspiracy against the Pope's life, in consequence
of an intrigue of the latter with a fair lady, the cure transported himself to
Rome (in his double, of course) and thus saved his Holiness' life. After which
he repented, confessed his sins to the gallant Pope, and got absolution.
"On his return he was delivered, as a matter of form, into the custody of
the inquisitors of Logrono, but was acquitted and restored to his liberty very
soon."
Friar Pietro, a
Dominican monk of the fourteenth century -- the magician who presented the
famous Dr. Eugenio Torralva, a physician attached to the house of the admiral
of Castile, with a demon named Zequiel -- won his fame through the subsequent
trial of Torralva. The procedure and circumstances attendant upon the
extraordinary trial are described in the original papers preserved in the
Archives of the Inquisition. The Cardinal of Volterra, and the Cardinal of
Santa Cruz, both saw and communicated with Zequiel, who proved, during the
whole of Torralva's life, to be a pure, kind, elemental spirit, doing many
beneficent actions, and remaining faithful to the physician to the last hour of
his life. Even the Inquisition acquitted Torralva, on that account; and,
although an immortality of fame was insured to him by the satire of Cervantes,
neither Torralva nor the monk Pietro are fictitious heroes, but historical
personages, recorded in ecclesiastical documents of Rome and Cuenca,
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AND WURZBURG.
in which town the
trial of the physician took place, January the 29th, 1530.
The book of Dr. W.
G. Soldan, of Stuttgart, has become as famous in Germany, as Bodin's book on
Demonomania in France. It is the most complete German treatise on witchcraft of
the sixteenth century. One interested to learn the secret machinery underlying
these thousands of legal murders, perpetrated by a clergy who pretended to
believe in the Devil, and succeeded in making others believe in him, will find
it divulged in the above-mentioned work.* The true origin of the daily
accusations and death-sentences for sorcery are cleverly traced to personal and
political enmities, and, above all, to the hatred of the Catholics toward the
Protestants. The crafty work of the Jesuits is seen at every page of the bloody
tragedies; and it is in Bamberg and Wurzburg, where these worthy sons of Loyola
were most powerful at that time, that the cases of witchcraft were most
numerous. On the next page we give a curious list of some victims, many of whom
were children between the ages of seven and eight years, and Protestants.
"Of the multitudes of persons who perished at the stake in Germany during
the first half of the seventeenth century for sorcery, the crime of many was
their attachment to the religion of Luther," says T. Wright, " . . .
and the petty princes were not unwilling to seize upon any pretense to fill
their coffers . . . the persons most persecuted being those whose property was
a matter of consideration. . . . At Bamberg, as well as at Wurzburg, the bishop
was a sovereign prince in his dominions. The Prince-Bishop, John George II.,
who ruled Bamberg . . . after several unsuccessful attempts to root out
Lutheranism, distinguished his reign by a series of sanguinary witch-trials,
which disgrace the annals of that city. . . . We may form some notion of the
proceedings of his worthy agent,** from the statement of the most authentic
historians, that between 1625 and 1630, not less than 900 trials took place in
the two courts of Bamberg and Zeil; and a pamphlet published at Bamberg by
authority, in 1659, states the number of persons whom Bishop John George had
caused to be burned for sorcery, to have been 600."***
Regretting that
space should prevent our giving one of the most curious lists in the world of
burned witches, we will nevertheless make a few extracts from the original
record as printed in Hauber's Bibliotheca
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Dr. W. G. Soldan:
"Geschichte der Hexenprocesse, aus den Quellen dargestellt," Stuttgart,
1843.
** Frederick
Forner, Suffragan of Bamberg, author of a treatise against heretics and
sorcerers, under the title of "Panoplia Armaturoe Dei."
*** "Sorcery
and Magic," by T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., etc., Corresponding Member of the
National Institute of France, vol. ii., p. 185.
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Magica. One glance
at this horrible catalogue of murders in Christ's name, is sufficient to
discover that out of 162 persons burned, more than one-half of them are
designated as strangers (i.e., Protestants) in this hospitable town; and of the
other half we find thirty-four children, the oldest of whom was fourteen, the
youngest an infant child of Dr. Schutz. To make the catalogue shorter we will
present of each of the twenty-nine burnings, but the most remarkable.*
IN THE FIRST
BURNING, FOUR PERSONS.
Old Ancker's widow.
The wife of Liebler.
The wife of
Gutbrodt.
The wife of Hocker.
IN THE SECOND
BURNING, FOUR PERSONS.
Two strange women
(names unknown). The old wife of Beutler.
IN THE THIRD
BURNING, FIVE PERSONS.
Tungersleber, a
minstrel.
Four wives of
citizens.
IN THE FOURTH
BURNING, FIVE PERSONS.
A strange man.
IN THE FIFTH
BURNING, NINE PERSONS.
Lutz, an eminent
shop-keeper.
The wife of
Baunach, a senator.
IN THE SIXTH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
The fat tailor's
wife.
A strange man.
A strange woman.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Besides these
burnings in Germany, which amount to many thousands, we find some very
interesting statements in Prof. Draper's "Conflict between Religion and
Science." On page 146, he says: "The families of the convicted were
plunged into irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the historian of the Inquisition,
computes that Torquemada and his collaborators, in the course of eighteen
years, burned at the stake 10,220 persons, 6,860 in effigy, and otherwise
punished 97,321! . . . With unutterable disgust and indignation, we learn that
the papal government realized much money by selling to the rich, dispensations
to secure them from the Inquisition."
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CRUELTY.
IN THE SEVENTH
BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
A strange girl of
twelve years old.
A strange man, a
strange woman.
A strange bailiff
(Schultheiss).
Three strange
women.
IN THE EIGHTH
BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
Baunach, a senator,
the fattest citizen in Wurzburg.
A strange man.
Two strange women.
IN THE NINTH
BURNING, FIVE PERSONS.
A strange man.
A mother and
daughter.
IN THE TENTH BURNING,
THREE PERSONS.
Steinacher, a very
rich man.
A strange man, a
strange woman.
IN THE ELEVENTH
BURNING, FOUR PERSONS.
Two women and two
men.
IN THE TWELFTH
BURNING, TWO PERSONS.
Two strange women.
IN THE THIRTEENTH
BURNING, FOUR PERSONS.
A little girl nine
or ten years old.
A younger girl, her
little sister.
IN THE FOURTEENTH
BURNING, TWO PERSONS.
The mother of the
two little girls before mentioned.
A girl twenty-four
years old.
IN THE FIFTEENTH
BURNING, TWO PERSONS.
A boy twelve years
of age, in the first school.
A woman.
IN THE SIXTEENTH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
A boy of ten years
of age.
IN THE SEVENTEENTH
BURNING, FOUR PERSONS.
A boy eleven years
old.
A mother and
daughter.
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IN THE EIGHTEENTH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
Two boys, twelve
years old.
The daughter of Dr.
Junge.
A girl of fifteen
years of age.
A strange woman.
IN THE NINETEENTH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
A boy of ten years
of age.
Another boy, twelve
years old.
IN THE TWENTIETH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
Gobel's child, the
most beautiful girl in Wurzburg.
Two boys, each
twelve years old.
Stepper's little
daughter.
IN THE TWENTY-FIRST
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
A boy fourteen
years old.
The little son of
Senator Stolzenberger.
Two alumni.
IN THE
TWENTY-SECOND BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
Sturman, a rich
cooper.
A strange boy.
IN THE TWENTY-THIRD
BURNING, NINE PERSONS.
David Croten's boy,
nine years old.
The two sons of the
prince's cook, one fourteen, the other ten years old.
IN THE
TWENTY-FOURTH BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
Two boys in the
hospital.
A rich cooper.
IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH
BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
A strange boy.
IN THE TWENTY-SIXTH
BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
Weydenbush, a
senator.
The little daughter
of Valkenberger.
The little son of
the town council bailiff.
IN THE
TWENTY-SEVENTH BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
A strange boy.
A strange woman.
Another boy.
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IN THE
TWENTY-EIGHTH BURNING, SIX PERSONS.
The infant daughter
of Dr. Schutz.
A blind girl.
IN THE TWENTY-NINTH
BURNING, SEVEN PERSONS.
The fat noble lady
(Edelfrau).
A doctor of
divinity.
Item.
"Strange"
men and women, i.e., Protestants, 28
Citizens,
apparently all WEALTHY people, 100
Summary: Boys,
girls, and little children, 34
In nineteen months,
162 persons.
"There
were," says Wright, "little girls of from seven to ten years of age
among the witches, and seven and twenty of them were convicted and burnt,"
at some of the other brande, or burnings. "The numbers brought to trial in
these terrible proceedings were so great, and they were treated with so little
consideration, that it was usual not even to take the trouble of setting down
their names, but they were cited as the accused No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and so
on.* The Jesuits took their confessions in private."
What room is there
in a theology which exacts such holocausts as these to appease the bloody
appetites of its priests for the following gentle words:
"Suffer the
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the
kingdom of Heaven." "Even so it is not the will of your Father . . .
that one of these little ones should perish." "But whoso shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depths of
the sea."
We sincerely hope
that the above words have proved no vain threat to these child-burners.
Did this butchery
in the name of their Moloch-god prevent these treasure-hunters from resorting
to the black art themselves? Not in the least; for in no class were such
consulters of "familiar" spirits more numerous than among the clergy
during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. True, there were
some Catholic priests among the victims, but though these were generally
accused of having "been
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Sorcery and
Magic"; "The Burnings at Wurzburg," p. 186.
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led into practices
too dreadful to be described," it was not so. In the twenty-nine burnings
above catalogued we find the names of twelve vicars, four canons, and two
doctors of divinity burnt alive. But we have only to turn to such works as were
published at the time to assure ourselves that each popish priest executed was
accused of "damnable heresy," i.e., a tendency to reformation -- a
crime more heinous far than sorcery.
We refer those who
would learn how the Catholic clergy united duty with pleasure in the matter of
exorcisms, revenge, and treasure-hunting, to volume II., chapter i., of W.
Howitt's History of the Supernatural. "In the book called Pneumatologia
Occulta et Vera, all the forms of adjuration and conjuration were laid
down," says this veteran writer. He then proceeds to give a long
description of the favorite modus operandi. The Dogme et Rituel de la Haute
Magie of the late Eliphas Levi, treated with so much abuse and contempt by des
Mousseaux, tells nothing of the weird ceremonies and practices but what was
practiced legally and with the tacit if not open consent of the Church, by the
priests of the middle ages. The exorcist-priest entered a circle at midnight;
he was clad in a new surplice, and had a consecrated band hanging from the
neck, covered with sacred characters. He wore on the head a tall pointed cap,
on the front of which was written in Hebrew the holy word, Tetragrammaton --
the ineffable name. It was written with a new pen dipped in the blood of a
white dove. What the exorcists most yearned after, was to release miserable
spirits which haunt spots where hidden treasures lie. The exorcist sprinkles
the circle with the blood of a black lamb and a white pigeon. The priest had to
adjure the evil spirits of hell -- Acheront, Magoth, Asmodei, Beelzebub,
Belial, and all the damned souls, in the mighty names of Jehovah, Adonay,
Elohah, and Sabaioth, which latter was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who dwelt in the Urim and Thummim. When the damned souls flung in the face of
the exorcist that he was a sinner, and could not get the treasure from them,
the priest-sorcerer had to reply that "all his sins were washed out in the
blood of Christ,* and he bid them depart as cursed ghosts and damned flies."
When the exorcist dislodged them at last, the poor soul was "comforted in
the name of the Saviour, and consigned to the care of good angels," who
were less powerful, we must think, than the exorcising Catholic worthies,
"and the rescued treasure, of course, was secured for the Church."
"Certain
days," adds Howitt, "are laid down in the calendar of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* And retinted in
the blood of the millions murdered in his name -- in the no less
innocent blood than
his own, of the little child-witches!
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ABOMINATIONS.
Church as most
favorable for the practice of exorcism; and, if the devils are difficult to
drive, a fume of sulphur, assafoetida, bear's gall, and rue is recommended,
which, it was presumed, would outstench even devils."
This is the Church,
and this the priesthood, which, in the nineteenth century, pays 5,000 priests
to teach the people of the United States the infidelity of science and the
infallibility of the Bishop of Rome!
We have already
noticed the confession of an eminent prelate that the elimination of Satan from
theology would be fatal to the perpetuity of the Church. But this is only
partially true. The Prince of Sin would be gone, but sin itself would survive.
If the Devil were annihilated, the Articles of Faith and the Bible would
remain. In short there would still be a pretended divine revelation, and the
necessity for self-assumed inspired interpreters. We must, therefore, consider
the authenticity of the Bible itself. We must study its pages, and see if they,
indeed, contain the commands of the Deity, or but a compendium of ancient
traditions and hoary myths. We must try to interpret them for ourselves -- if
possible. As to its pretended interpreters, the only possible assimilation we
can find for them in the Bible is to compare them with the man described by the
wise King Solomon in his Proverbs, with the perpetrator of these "six
things . . . yea seven . . . which doth the Lord hate," and which are an
abomination unto Him, to wit: "A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands
that shed innocent blood; an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that
be swift in running to mischief; a false witness that speaketh lies, and he
that soweth discord among brethren" (Proverbs vi. 16, 17, 18, 19).
Of which of these
accusations are the long line of men who have left the imprint of their feet in
the Vatican guiltless?
"When the
demons," says Augustine, "insinuate themselves in the creatures, they
begin by conforming themselves to the will of every one. . . . In order to
attract men, they begin by seducing them, by simulating obedience. . . . How
could one know, had he not been taught by the demons themselves, what they like
or what they hate; the name which attracts, or that which forces them into
obedience; all this art, in short, of magic, the whole science of the
magicians?"*
To this impressive
dissertation of the "saint," we will add that no magician has ever
denied that he had learned the art from "spirits," whether, being a
medium, they acted independently on him, or he had been initiated into the science
of "evocation" by his fathers who knew it before himself. But who was
it then that taught the exorcist? The priest
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* St. Augustine:
"City of God," i, xxi., ch. vi.; des Mousseaux: "Moeurs et
Pratiques des Demons."
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who clothes himself
with an authority not only over the magician, but even over all these
"spirits," whom he calls demons and devils as soon as he finds them
obeying any one but himself? He must have learned somewhere from some one that
power which he pretends to possess. For, ". . . how could one know had he
not been taught by the demons themselves . . . the name which attracts, or that
which forces them into obedience?" asks Augustine.
Useless to remark
that we know the answer beforehand: "Revelation . . . divine gift . . .
the Son of God; nay, God Himself, through His direct Spirit, who descended on
the apostles as the Pentecostal fire," and who is now alleged to
overshadow every priest who sees fit to exorcise for either glory or a gift.
Are we then to believe that the recent scandal of public exorcism, performed
about the 14th of October, 1876, by the senior priest of the Church of the Holy
Spirit, at Barcelona, Spain, was also done under the direct superintendence of
the Holy Ghost?*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* A correspondent
of the London "Times" describes the Catalonian exorcist in the
following lines:
"About the
14th of October it was privately announced that a young woman of seventeen or
eighteen years of age, of the lower class, having long been afflicted with 'a
hatred of holy things,' the senior priest of the Church of the Holy Spirit
would cure her of her disease. The exhibition was to be held in a church
frequented by the best part of the community. The church was dark, but a sickly
light was shed by wax lights on the sable forms of some eighty or a hundred
persons who clustered round the presbyterio, or sanctuary, in front of the
altar. Within the little enclosure or sanctuary, separated from the crowd by a
light railing, lay, on a common bench, with a little pillow for her head to
recline upon, a poorly-clad girl, probably of the peasant or artisan class; her
brother or husband stood at her feet to restrain her (at times) frantic kicking
by holding her legs. The door of the vestry opened; the exhibitor -- I mean the
priest -- came in. The poor girl, not without just reason, 'had an aversion to
holy things,' or, at least, the 400 devils within her distorted body had such
an aversion, and in the confusion of the moment, thinking that the father was
'a holy thing,' she doubled up her legs, screamed out with twitching mouth, her
whole body writhing, and threw herself nearly off the bench. The male attendant
seized her legs, the women supported her head and swept out her dishevelled
hair. The priest advanced and, mingling familiarly with the shuddering and
horror-struck crowd, said, pointing at the suffering child, now sobbing and
twitching on the bench, 'Promise me, my children, that you will be prudent
(prudentes), and of a truth, sons and daughters mine, you shall see marvels.'
The promise was given. The exhibitor went to procure stole and short surplice
(estola y roquete), and returned in a moment, taking his stand at the side of
the 'possessed with the devils,' with his face toward the group of students.
The order of the day's proceedings was a lecture to the bystanders, and the
operation of exorcising the devils. 'You know,' said the priest, 'that so great
is this girl's aversion to holy things, myself included, that she goes into
convulsions, kicks, screams, and distorts her body the moment she arrives at
the corner of this street, and her convulsive struggles reach their climax when
she enters the sacred house of the Most High.' Turning to the prostrate,
shuddering, most unhappy object of his attack, the priest commenced: 'In the
name of
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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SPIRITUALISM.
It will be urged
that the "bishop was not cognizant of this freak of the clergy"; but
even if he were, how could he have protested against a rite considered since
the days of the apostles, one of the most holy prerogatives of the Church of
Rome? So late as in 1852, only twenty-five years ago, these rites received a
public and solemn sanction from the Vatican, and a new Ritual of Exorcism was
published in Rome, Paris, and other Catholic capitals. Des Mousseaux, writing
under the immediate patronage of Father Ventura, the General of the Theatines
of Rome, even favors us with lengthy extracts from this famous ritual, and
explains the reason why it was enforced again. It was in consequence of the
revival of Magic under the name of Modern Spiritualism. The bull of Pope
Innocent VIII. is exhumed, and translated for the benefit of des Mousseaux's
readers. "We have heard," exclaims the Sovereign Pontiff, "that
a great number of persons of both sexes have feared not to enter into relations
with the spirits of hell; and that, by their practice of sorcery . . . they
strike with sterility the conjugal bed, destroy the germs of humanity in the
bosom of the mother, and throw spells on them, and set a barrier to the
multiplication of animals . . . etc., etc."; then follow curses and
anathemas against the practice.
This belief of the
Sovereign Pontiffs of an enlightened Christian country is a direct inheritance
by the most ignorant multitudes from the southern Hindu rabble -- the
"heathen." The diabolical arts of certain kangalins (witches) and
jadugar (sorcerers) are firmly believed in by these people. The following are
among their most dreaded powers: to inspire love and hatred at will; to send a
devil to take possession of a person and torture
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] God, of the saints, of the blessed Host, of
every holy sacrament of our Church, I adjure thee, Rusbel, come out of her.'
(N. B. 'Rusbel' is the name of a devil, the devil having 257 names in
Catalonia.) Thus adjured, the girl threw herself -- in an agony of convulsion,
till her distorted face, foam-bespattered lips and writhing limbs grew
well-nigh stiff -- at full length upon the floor, and, in language semi-obscene,
semi-violent, screamed out, 'I don't choose to come out, you thieves, scamps,
robbers.' At last, from the quivering lips of the girl, came the words, 'I
will'; but the devil added, with traditional perversity, 'I will cast the 100
out, but by the mouth of the girl.' The priest objected. The exit, he said, of
100 devils out of the small Spanish mouth of the woman would 'leave her
suffocated.' Then the maddened girl said she must undress herself for the
devils to escape. This petition the holy father refused. 'Then I will come out
through the right foot, but first' -- the girl had on a hempen sandal, she was
obviously of the poorest class -- 'you must take off her sandal.' The sandal
was untied; the foot gave a convulsive plunge; the devil and his myrmidons (so
the cura said, looking round triumphantly) had gone to their own place. And,
assured of this, the wretched dupe of a girl lay quite still. The bishop was
not cognizant of this freak of the clergy, and the moment it came to the ears
of the civil authorities, the sharpest means were taken to prevent a repetition
of the scandal."
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him; to expel him;
to cause sudden death or an incurable disease; to either strike cattle with or
protect them from epidemics; to compose philtres that will either strike with
sterility or provoke unbounded passions in men and women, etc., etc. The sight
alone of a man said to be such a sorcerer excites in a Hindu profound terror.
And now we will
quote in this connection the truthful remark of a writer who passed years in
India in the study of the origin of such superstitions: "Vulgar magic in
India, like a degenerated infiltration, goes hand-in-hand with the most
ennobling beliefs of the sectarians of the Pitris. It was the work of the
lowest clergy, and designed to hold the populace in a perpetual state of fear.
It is thus that in all ages and under every latitude, side by side with
philosophical speculations of the highest character, one always finds the
religion of the rabble."* In India it was the work of the lowest clergy;
in Rome, that of the highest Pontiffs. But then, have they not as authority
their greatest saint, Augustine, who declares that "whoever believes not
in the evil spirits, refuses to believe in Holy Writ?"**
Therefore, in the
second half of the nineteenth century, we find the counsel for the Sacred
Congregation of Rites (exorcism of demons included), Father Ventura de Raulica,
writing thus, in a letter published by des Mousseaux, in 1865:
"We are in
full magic! and under false names; the Spirit of lies and impudicity goes on
perpetrating his horrible deprecations. . . . The most grievous feature in this
is that among the most serious persons they do not attach the importance to the
strange phenomena which they deserve, these manifestations that we witness, and
which become with every day more weird, striking, as well as most fatal.
"I cannot sufficiently
admire and praise, from this standpoint, the zeal and courage displayed by you
in your work. The facts which you have collected are calculated to throw light
and conviction into the most skeptical minds; and after reading this remarkable
work, written with so much learnedness and consciousness, blindness is no
longer possible.
"If anything
could surprise us, it would be the indifference with which these phenomena have
been treated by false Science, endeavoring as she has, to turn into ridicule so
grave a subject; the childish simplicity exhibited by her in the desire to
explain the facts by absurd and contradictory hypotheses. . . . ***
[Signed] "The
Father Ventura de Raulica, etc., etc."
Thus encouraged by
the greatest authorities of the Church of Rome, ancient and modern, the
Chevalier argues the necessity and the efficacy of exorcism by the priests. He
tries to demonstrate -- on faith, as usual --
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Louis Jacolliot:
"Le Spiritisme dans le Monde," p. 162.
** St. Augustine:
"City of God."
*** "Moeurs et
Pratiques des Demons," p. ii.
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RELICS.
that the power of
the spirits of hell is closely related to certain rites, words, and formal
signs. "In the diabolical Catholicism," he says, "as well as in
the divine Catholicism, potential grace is bound (liee) to certain signs."
While the power of the Catholic priest proceeds from God, that of the Pagan
priest proceeds from the Devil. The Devil, he adds, "is forced to
submission" before the holy minister of God -- "he dares not
LIE."*
We beg the reader
to note well the underlined sentence, as we mean to test its truth impartially.
We are prepared to adduce proofs, undeniable and undenied even by the Popish
Church -- forced, as she was, into the confession -- proofs of hundreds of
cases in relation to the most solemn of her dogmas, wherein the
"spirits" lied from beginning to end. How about certain holy relics
authenticated by visions of the blessed Virgin, and a host of saints? We have
at hand a treatise by a pious Catholic, Jilbert de Nogen, on the relics of
saints. With honest despair he acknowledges the "great number of false
relics, as well as false legends," and severely censures the inventors of
these lying miracles. "It was on the occasion of one of our Saviour's
teeth," writes the author of Demonologia, "that de Nogen took up his
pen on this subject, by which the monks of St. Medard de Soissons pretended to
work miracles; a pretension which he asserted to be as chimerical as that of
several persons who believed they possessed the navel, and other parts less comely,
of the body of Christ."**
"A monk of St.
Antony," says Stephens,*** "having been at Jerusalem, saw there
several relics, among which was a bit of the finger of the Holy Ghost, as sound
and entire as it had ever been; the snout of the seraph that appeared to St.
Francis; one of the nails of a cherub; one of the ribs of the Verbum caro
factum (the Word made flesh); some rays of the star that appeared to the three
kings of the East; a phial of St. Michael's sweat, that exuded when he was
fighting against the Devil, etc. 'All which things,' observes the monkish
treasurer of relics, 'I have brought with me home very devoutly.' "
And if the
foregoing is set aside as the invention of a Protestant enemy, may we not be
allowed to refer the reader to the History of England and authentic documents
which state the existence of a relic not less extraordinary than the best of
the others? Henry III. received from the Grand Master of the Templars a phial containing
a small portion of the sacred blood of Christ which he had shed upon the cross.
It was attested to be genuine by the seals of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and
others. The
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Des Mousseaux:
"Table des Matieres."
**
"Demonologia"; London, 1827, J. Bumpus, 23 Skinner Street.
*** "Traite
Preparatif a l'Apologie pour Herodote," c. 39.
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procession bearing
the sacred phial from St. Paul's to Westminster Abbey is described by the
historian: "Two monks received the phial, and deposited it in the Abbey .
. . which made all England shine with glory, dedicating it to God and St.
Edward."
The story of the
Prince Radzivil is well known. It was the undeniable deception of the monks and
nuns surrounding him and his own confessor which made the Polish nobleman
become a Lutheran. He felt at first so indignant at the "heresy" of
the Reformation spreading in Lithuania, that he travelled all the way to Rome
to pay his homage of sympathy and veneration to the Pope. The latter presented
him with a precious box of relics. On his return home, his confessor saw the
Virgin, who descended from her glorious abode for the sole purpose of blessing
these relics and authenticating them. The superior of the neighboring convent
and the mother-abbess of a nunnery both saw the same vision, with a reenforcement
of several saints and martyrs; they prophesied and "felt the Holy
Ghost" ascending from the box of relics and overshadowing the prince. A
demoniac provided for the purpose by the clergy was exorcised in full ceremony,
and upon being touched by the box immediately recovered, and rendered thanks on
the spot to the Pope and the Holy Ghost. After the ceremony was over the
guardian of the treasury in which the relics were kept, threw himself at the
feet of the prince, and confessed that on their way back from Rome he had lost
the box of relics. Dreading the wrath of his master, he had procured a similar
box, "which he had filled with the small bones of dogs and cats"; but
seeing how the prince was deceived, he preferred confessing his guilt to such
blasphemous tricks. The prince said nothing, but continued for some time
testing -- not the relics, but his confessor and the vision-seers. Their mock
raptures made him discover so thoroughly the gross impositions of the monks and
nuns that he joined the Reformed Church.
This is history.
Bayle shows that when the Roman Church is no longer able to deny that there
have been false relics, she resorts to sophistry, and replies that if false
relics have wrought miracles it is "because of the good intentions of the
believers, who thus obtained from God a reward of their good faith!" The
same Bayle shows, by numerous instances, that whenever it was proved that
several bodies of the same saint, or three heads of him, or three arms (as in
the case of Augustine) were said to exist in different places, and that they
could not well be all authentic, the cool and invariable answer of the Church
was that they were all genuine; for "God had multiplied and miraculously
reproduced them for the greater glory of His Holy Church!" In other words
they would have the faithful believe that the body of a deceased saint may,
through divine miracle, acquire the physiological peculiarities of a crawfish!
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LYING SPIRITS.
We fancy that it
would be hard to demonstrate to satisfaction that the visions of Catholic
saints, are, in any one particular instance, better or more trustworthy than
the average visions and prophecies of our modern "mediums." The
visions of Andrew Jackson Davis -- however our critics may sneer at them -- are
by long odds more philosophical and more compatible with modern science than
the Augustinian speculations. Whenever the visions of Swedenborg, the greatest
among the modern seers, run astray from philosophy and scientific truth, it is
when they most run parallel with theology. Nor are these visions any more
useless to either science or humanity than those of the great orthodox saints.
In the life of St. Bernard it is narrated that as he was once in church, upon a
Christmas eve, he prayed that the very hour in which Christ was born might be
revealed to him; and when the "true and correct hour came, he saw the
divine babe appear in his manger." What a pity that the divine babe did
not embrace so favorable an opportunity to fix the correct day and year of his
death, and thereby reconcile the controversies of his putative historians. The
Tischendorfs, Lardners, and Colensos, as well as many a Catholic divine, who
have vainly squeezed the marrow out of historical records and their own brains,
in the useless search, would at least have had something for which to thank the
saint.
As it is, we are
hopelessly left to infer that most of the beatific and divine visions of the
Golden Legend, and those to be found in the more complete biographies of the
most important "saints," as well as most of the visions of our own
persecuted seers and seeresses, were produced by ignorant and undeveloped
"spirits" passionately fond of personating great historical
characters. We are quite ready to agree with the Chevalier des Mousseaux, and
other unrelenting persecutors of magic and spiritualism in the name of the Church,
that modern spirits are often "lying spirits"; that they are ever on
hand to humor the respective hobbies of the persons who communicate with them
at "circles"; that they deceive them and, therefore, are not always
good "spirits."
But, having
conceded so much, we will now ask of any impartial person: is it possible to
believe at the same time that the power given to the exorcist-priest, that
supreme and divine power of which he boasts, has been given to him by God for
the purpose of deceiving people? That the prayer pronounced by him in the name
of Christ, and which, forcing the demon into submission, makes him reveal
himself, is calculated at the same time to make the devil confess not the
truth, but that only which it is the interest of the church to which the exorcist
belongs, should pass for truth? And this is what invariably happens. Compare,
for instance, the responses given by the demon to Luther, with those obtained
from the devils by St. Dominick. The one argues against the
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private mass, and
upbraids Luther with placing the Virgin Mary and saints before Christ, and thus
dishonoring the Son of God;* while the demons exorcised by St. Dominick, upon
seeing the Virgin whom the holy father had also evoked to help him, roar out:
"Oh! our enemy! oh! our damner! . . . why didst thou descend from heaven
to torment us? Why art thou so powerful an intercessor for sinners! Oh! thou
most certain and secure way to heaven . . . thou commandest us and we are
forced to confess that nobody is damned who only perseveres in thy holy
worship, etc., etc."** Luther's "Saint Satan" assures him that
while believing in the transubstantiation of Christ's body and blood he had
been worshipping merely bread and wine; and the devils of all the Catholic
saints promise eternal damnation to whomsoever disbelieves or even so much as
doubts the dogma!
Before leaving the
subject, let us give one or two more instances from the Chronicles of the Lives
of the Saints, selected from such narratives as are fully accepted by the
Church. We might fill volumes with proofs of undeniable confederacy between the
exorcisers and the demons. Their very nature betrays them. Instead of being
independent, crafty entities bent on the destruction of men's souls and
spirits, the majority of them are simply the elementals of the kabalists;
creatures with no intellect of their own, but faithful mirrors of the WILL
which evokes, controls, and guides them. We will not waste our time in drawing
the reader's attention to doubtful or obscure thaumaturgists and exorcisers,
but take as our standard one of the greatest saints of Catholicism, and select
a bouquet from that same prolific conservatory of pious lies, The Golden
Legend, of James de Voragine.***
St. Dominick, the
founder of the famous order of that name, is one of the mightiest saints on the
calendar. His order was the first that received a solemn confirmation from the
Pope,**** and he is well known in history as the associate and counsellor of
the infamous Simon de Montfort, the papal general, whom he helped to butcher
the unfortunate Albigenses in and near Toulouse. The story goes that this saint
and the Church after him, claim that he received from the Virgin, in propria
persona, a rosary, whose virtues produced such stupendous miracles that they
throw entirely into the shade those of the apostles, and even of Jesus himself.
A man, says the biographer, an abandoned sinner, was bold enough to doubt the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* De Missa Privata
et Unctione Sacerdotum.
** See the
"Life of St. Dominick" and the story about the miraculous Rosary;
also the "Golden Legend."
*** James de
Varasse, known by the Latin name of James de Voragine, was Vicar General of the
Dominicans and Bishop of Genoa in 1290.
**** Thirteenth
century.
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THE DEVILS.
virtue of the
Dominican rosary; and for this unparalleled blasphemy was punished on the spot
by having 15,000 devils take possession of him. Seeing the great suffering of
the tortured demoniac, St. Dominick forgot the insult and called the devils to
account.
Following is the
colloquy between the "blessed exorcist" and the demons:
Question. -- How
did you take possession of this man, and how many are you?
Answer of the
Devils. --We came into him for having spoken disrespectfully of the rosary. We
are 15,000.
Question. -- Why
did so many as 15,000 enter him?
Answer. -- Because
there are fifteen decades in the rosary which he derided, etc.
Dominick. -- Is not
all true I have said of the virtues of the rosary?
Devils. -- Yes!
Yes! (they emit flames through the nostrils of the demoniac). Know all ye
Christians that Dominick never said one word concerning the rosary that is not
most true; and know ye further, that if you do not believe him, great
calamities will befall you.
Dominick. -- Who is
the man in the world the Devil hates the most?
Devils. -- (In
chorus.) Thou art the very man (here follow verbose compliments).
Dominick. -- Of
which state of Christians are there the most damned?
Devils. -- In hell
we have merchants, pawnbrokers, fraudulent bankers, grocers, Jews,
apothecaries, etc., etc.
Dominick. -- Are
there any priests or monks in hell?
Devils. -- There
are a great number of priests, but no monks, with the exception of such as have
transgressed the rule of their order.
Dominick. -- Have
you any Dominicans?
Devils. -- Alas!
alas! we have not one yet, but we expect a great number of them after their
devotion is a little cooled.
We do not pretend
to give the questions and answers literally, for they occupy twenty-three
pages; but the substance is here, as may be seen by any one who cares to read
the Golden Legend. The full description of the hideous bellowings of the
demons, their enforced glorification of the saint, and so on, is too long for
this chapter. Suffice it to say that as we read the numerous questions offered
by Dominick and the answers of the demons, we become fully convinced that they
corroborate in every detail the unwarranted assertions and support the
interests of the Church. The narrative is suggestive. The legend graphically
describes the battle of the exorcist with the legion from the bottomless pit.
The sulphurous flames which burst forth from the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears,
of the demoniac; the sudden appearance of over a hun-
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dred angels, clad
in golden armor; and, finally, the descent of the blessed Virgin herself, in
person, bearing a golden rod, with which she administers a sound thrashing to
the demoniac, to force the devils to confess that of herself which we scarcely
need repeat. The whole catalogue of theological truths uttered by Dominick's
devils were embodied in so many articles of faith by his Holiness, the present
Pope, in 1870, at the last OEcumenical Council.
From the foregoing
it is easy to see that the only substantial difference between infidel
"mediums" and orthodox saints lies in the relative usefulness of the
demons, if demons we must call them. While the Devil faithfully supports the
Christian exorcist in his orthodox (?) views, the modern spook generally leaves
his medium in the lurch. For, by lying, he acts against his or her interests
rather than otherwise, and thereby too often casts foul suspicion on the
genuineness of the mediumship. Were modern "spirits" devils, they
would evidently display a little more discrimination and cunning than they do.
They would act as the demons of the saint which, compelled by the
ecclesiastical magician and by the power of "the name . . . which forces
them into submission," lie in accordance with the direct interest of the exorcist
and his church. The moral of the parallel we leave to the sagacity of the
reader.
"Observe
well," exclaims des Mousseaux, "that there are demons which sometimes
will speak the truth." "The exorcist," he adds, quoting the
Ritual, "must command the demon to tell him whether he is detained in the
body of the demoniac through some magic art, or by signs, or any objects which
usually serve for this evil practice. In case the exorcised person has
swallowed the latter, he must vomit them back; and if they are not in his body,
the demon must indicate the proper place where they are to be found; and having
found them they must be burned."* Thus some "demons reveal the
existence of the bewitchment, tell who is its author, and indicate the means to
destroy the malefice. But beware to ever resort, in such a case, to magicians,
sorcerers, or mediums. You must call to help you but the minister of your
Church!" "The Church believes in magic, as you well see," he
adds, "since she expresses it so formally. And those who disbelieve in
magic, can they still hope to share the faith of their own Church? And who can
teach them better? To whom did Christ say: 'Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations . . . and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world?'
"**
Are we to believe that
he said this but to those who wear these black
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Rituale
Romanum," pp. 475-478. Parisiis, 1852.
** "Moeurs et
Pratiques des Demons," p. 177.
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AND WOLVES.
or scarlet liveries
of Rome? Must we then credit the story that this power was given by Christ to
Simon Stylites, the saint who sanctified himself by perching on a pillar
(stylos) sixty feet high, for thirty-six years of his life, without ever
descending from it, in order that, among other miracles stated in the Golden
Legend, he might cure a dragon of a sore eye? "Near Simon's pillar was the
dwelling of a dragon, so very venomous that the stench was spread for miles
round his cave." This ophidian-hermit met with an accident; he got a thorn
in his eye, and, becoming blind, crept to the saint's pillar, and pressed his
eye against it for three days, without touching any one. Then the blessed
saint, from his aerial seat, "three feet in diameter," ordered earth
and water to be placed on the dragon's eye, out of which suddenly emerged a
thorn (or stake), a cubit in length; when the people saw the
"miracle" they glorified the Creator. As to the grateful dragon, he
arose and, "having adored God for two hours, returned to his cave"*
-- a half-converted ophidian, we must suppose.
And what are we to
think of that other narrative, to disbelieve in which is "to risk one's
salvation," as we were informed by a Pope's missionary, of the Order of
the Franciscans? When St. Francis preached a sermon in the wilderness, the
birds assembled from the four cardinal points of the world. They warbled and
applauded every sentence; they sang a holy mass in chorus; finally they
dispersed to carry the glad tidings all over the universe. A grasshopper,
profiting by the absence of the Holy Virgin, who generally kept company with
the saint, remained perched on the head of the "blessed one" for a
whole week. Attacked by a ferocious wolf, the saint, who had no other weapon
but the sign of the cross which he made upon himself, instead of running away
from his rabid assailant, began arguing with the beast. Having imparted to him
the benefit to be derived from the holy religion, St. Francis never ceased
talking until the wolf became as meek as a lamb, and even shed tears of
repentance over his past sins. Finally, he "stretched his paws in the hands
of the saint, followed him like a dog through all the towns in which he
preached, and became half a Christian"!** Wonders of zoology! a horse
turned sorcerer, a wolf and a dragon turned Christians!
These two
anecdotes, chosen at random from among hundreds, if rivalled are not surpassed
by the wildest romances of the Pagan thaumaturgists, magicians, and
spiritualists! And yet, when Pythagoras is said to have subdued animals, even
wild beasts, merely through a power-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See the narrative
selected from the "Golden Legend," by Alban Butler.
** See the
"Golden Legend"; "Life of St. Francis";
"Demonologia."
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ful mesmeric
influence, he is pronounced by one-half of the Catholics a bare-faced impostor,
and by the rest a sorcerer, who worked magic in confederacy with the Devil.
Neither the she-bear, nor the eagle, nor yet the bull that Pythagoras is said
to have persuaded to give up eating beans, were alleged to have answered with
human voices; while St. Benedict's "black raven," whom he called
"brother," argues with him, and croaks his answers like a born
casuist. When the saint offers him one-half of a poisoned loaf, the raven grows
indignant and reproaches him in Latin as though he had just graduated at the
Propaganda!
If it be objected
that the Golden Legend is now but half supported by the Church; and that it is
known to have been compiled by the writer from a collection of the lives of the
saints, for the most part unauthenticated, we can show that, at least in one
instance, the biography is no legendary compilation, but the history of one
man, by another one who was his contemporary. Jortin and Gibbon demonstrated
years ago, that the early fathers used to select narratives, wherewith to
ornament the lives of their apocryphal saints, from Ovid, Homer, Livy, and even
from the unwritten popular legends of Pagan nations. But such is not the case
in the above instances. St. Bernard lived in the twelfth century, and St.
Dominick was nearly contemporaneous with the author of the Golden Legend. De
Voragine died in 1298, and Dominick, whose exorcisms and life he describes so
minutely, instituted his order in the first quarter of the thirteenth century.
Moreover, de Voragine was Vicar-General of the Dominicans himself, in the
middle of the same century, and therefore described the miracles wrought by his
hero and patron but a few years after they were alleged to have happened. He
wrote them in the same convent; and while narrating these wonders he had
probably fifty persons at hand who had been eye-witnesses to the saint's mode
of living. What must we think, in such a case, of a biographer who seriously
describes the following: One day, as the blessed saint was occupied in his
study, the Devil began pestering him, in the shape of a flea. He frisked and
jumped about the pages of his book until the harassed saint, unwilling as he
was to act unkindly, even toward a devil, felt compelled to punish him by
fixing the troublesome devil on the very sentence on which he stopped, by
clasping the book. At another time the same devil appeared under the shape of a
monkey. He grinned so horribly that Dominick, in order to get rid of him,
ordered the devil-monkey to take the candle and hold it for him until he had
done reading. The poor imp did so, and held it until it was consumed to the
very end of the wick; and, notwithstanding his pitiful cries for mercy, the
saint compelled him to hold it till his fingers were burned to the bones!
Enough! The
approbation with which this book was received by the
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"GOLDEN LEGEND."
Church, and the
peculiar sanctity attributed to it, is sufficient to show the estimation in
which veracity was held by its patrons. We may add, in conclusion, that the
finest quintessence of Boccaccio's Decameron appears prudery itself by
comparison with the filthy realism of the Golden Legend.
We cannot regard
with too much astonishment the pretensions of the Catholic Church in seeking to
convert Hindus and Buddhists to Christianity. While the "heathen"
keeps to the faith of his fathers, he has at least the one redeeming quality --
that of not having apostatized for the mere pleasure of exchanging one set of
idols for another. There may be for him some novelty in his embracing
Protestantism; for in that he gains the advantage, at least, of limiting his
religious views to their simplest expression. But when a Buddhist has been
enticed into exchanging his Shoe Dagoon for the Slipper of the Vatican, or the
eight hairs from the head of Gautama and Buddha's tooth, which work miracles,
for the locks of a Christian saint, and a tooth of Jesus, which work far less
clever miracles, he has no cause to boast of his choice. In his address to the
Literary Society of Java, Sir T. S. Raffles is said to have narrated the
following characteristic anecdote: "On visiting the great temple on the
hills of Nagasaki, the English commissioner was received with marked regard and
respect by the venerable patriarch of the northern provinces, a man eighty
years of age, who entertained him most sumptuously. On showing him round the
courts of the temple, one of the English officers present heedlessly exclaimed,
in surprise, 'Jesus Christus!' The patriarch turning half round, with a placid
smile, bowed significantly, with the expression: 'We know your Jasus Christus!
Well, don't obtrude him upon us in our temples, and we remain friends.' And so,
with a hearty shake of the hands, these two opposites parted."
There is scarcely a
report sent by the missionaries from India, Thibet, and China, but laments the
diabolical "obscenity" of the heathen rites, their lamentable
impudicity; all of which "are so strongly suggestive of devil-worship,"
as des Mousseaux tells us. We can scarcely be assured that the morality of the
Pagans would be in the least improved were they allowed a free inquiry into the
life of say the psalmist-king, the author of those sweet Psalms which are so
rapturously repeated by Christians. The difference between David performing a
phallic dance before the holy ark -- emblem of the female principle -- and a
Hindu Vishnavite bearing the same emblem on his forehead, favors the former
only in the eyes of those who have studied neither the ancient faith nor their
own. When a religion which compelled David to cut off and deliver two hundred
foreskins of his enemies before he could become the king's son-in-law (I Sam.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Mythology of the Hindus," by Charles Coleman. Japan.
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xviii.) is accepted
as a standard by Christians, they would do well not to cast into the teeth of
heathen the impudicities of their faiths. Remembering the suggestive parable of
Jesus, they ought to cast the beam out of their own eye before plucking at the
mote in their neighbor's. The sexual element is as marked in Christianity as in
any one of the "heathen religions." Certainly, nowhere in the Vedas
can be found the coarseness and downright immodesty of language, that Hebraists
now discover throughout the Mosaic Bible.
It would profit
little were we to dwell much upon subjects which have been disposed of in such
a masterly way by an anonymous author whose work electrified England and
Germany last year;* while as regards the particular topic under notice, we
cannot do better than recommend the scholarly writings of Dr. Inman. Albeit
one-sided, and in many instances unjust to the ancient heathen, Pagan, and
Jewish religions, the facts treated in the Ancient and Pagan Christian
Symbolism, are unimpeachable. Neither can we agree with some English critics
who charge him with an intent to destroy Christianity. If by Christianity is
meant the external religious forms of worship, then he certainly seeks to
destroy it, for in his eyes, as well as in those of every truly religious man,
who has studied ancient exoteric faiths, and their symbology, Christianity is
pure heathenism, and Catholicism, with its fetish-worshipping, is far worse and
more pernicious than Hinduism in its most idolatrous aspect. But while
denouncing the exoteric forms and unmasking the symbols, it is not the religion
of Christ that the author attacks, but the artificial system of theology. We
will allow him to illustrate the position in his own language, and quote from
his preface:
"When vampires
were discovered by the acumen of any observer," he says, "they were,
we are told, ignominiously killed, by a stake being driven through the body;
but experience showed them to have such tenacity of life that they rose, again
and again, notwithstanding renewed impalement, and were not ultimately laid to
rest till wholly burned. In like manner, the regenerated heathendom, which
dominates over the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, has risen again and again,
after being transfixed. Still cherished by the many, it is denounced by the
few. Amongst other accusers, I raise my voice against the Paganism which exists
so extensively in ecclesiastical Christianity, and will do my utmost to expose
the imposture. . . . In a vampire story told in Thalaba, by Southey, the
resuscitated being takes the form of a dearly-beloved maiden, and the hero is
obliged to kill her with his own hand. He does so; but, whilst he strikes the
form of the loved one, he feels sure that he slays
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Supernatural Religion."
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WITH ISLAM.
only a demon. In
like manner, when I endeavor to destroy the current heathenism, which has
assumed the garb of Christianity, I do not attack real religion.* Few would
accuse a workman of malignancy, who cleanses from filth the surface of a noble
statue. There may be some who are too nice to touch a nasty subject, yet even
they will rejoice when some one else removes the dirt. Such a scavenger is
wanted."**
But is it merely
Pagans and heathen that the Catholics persecute, and about whom, like
Augustine, they cry to the Deity, "Oh, my God! so do I wish Thy enemies to
be slain"? Oh, no! their aspirations are more Mosaic and Cain-like than
that. It is against their next of kin in faith, against their schismatic
brothers that they are now intriguing within the walls which sheltered the
murderous Borgias. The larvae of the infanticidal, parricidal, and fratricidal
Popes have proved themselves fit counsellors for the Cains of Castelfidardo and
Mentana. It is now the turn of the Slavonian Christians, the Oriental
Schismatics -- the Philistines of the Greek Church!
His Holiness the
Pope, after exhausting, in a metaphor of self-laudation, every point of
assimilation between the great biblical prophets and himself, has finally and
truly compared himself with the Patriarch Jacob "wrestling against his
God." He now crowns the edifice of Catholic piety by openly sympathizing
with the Turks! The vicegerent of God inaugurates his infallibility by
encouraging, in a true Christian spirit, the acts of that Moslem David, the
modern Bashi-Bazuk; and it seems as if nothing would more please his Holiness
than to be presented by the latter with several thousands of the Bulgarian or
Servian "foreskins." True to her policy to be all things to all men
to promote her own interests, the Romish Church is, at this writing (1876),
benevolently viewing the Bulgarian and Servian atrocities, and, probably,
manoeuvring with Turkey against Russia. Better Islam, and the hitherto-hated
Crescent over the sepulchre of the Christian god, than the Greek Church
established at Constantinople and Jerusalem as the state religion. Like a
decrepit and toothless ex-tyrant in exile, the Vatican is eager for any
alliance that promises, if not a restoration of its own power, at least the
weakening of its rival. The axe its inquisitors once swung, it now toys
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Neither do we, if
by true religion the world shall at last understand the adoration of one
Supreme, invisible, and Unknown Deity, by works and acts, not by the profession
of vain human dogmas. But our intention is to go farther. We desire to
demonstrate that if we exclude ceremonial and fetish worship from being
regarded as essential parts of religion, then the true Christ-like principles
have been exemplified, and true Christianity practiced since the days of the
apostles, exclusively among Buddhists and "heathen."
** "Ancient
Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," p. xvi.
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with in secret,
feeling its edge, and waiting, and hoping against hope. In her time, the Popish
Church has lain with strange bedfellows, but never before now sunk to the
degradation of giving her moral support to those who for over 1200 years spat
in her face, called her adherents "infidel dogs," repudiated her
teachings, and denied godhood to her God!
The press of even
Catholic France is fairly aroused at this indignity, and openly accuses the
Ultramontane portion of the Catholic Church and the Vatican of siding, during
the present Eastern struggle, with the Mahometan against the Christian.
"When the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the French Legislature spoke some
mild words in favor of the Greek Christians, he was only applauded by the
liberal Catholics, and received coldly by the Ultramontane party," says
the French correspondent of a New York paper.
"So pronounced
was this, that M. Lemoinne, the well-known editor of the great liberal Catholic
journal, the Debats, was moved to say that the Roman Church felt more sympathy
for the Moslem than the schismatic, just as they preferred an infidel to the
Protestant. 'There is at bottom,' says this writer, 'a great affinity between
the Syllabus and the Koran, and between the two heads of the faithful. The two
systems are of the same nature, and are united on the common ground of a one
and unchangeable theory.' In Italy, in like manner, the King and Liberal
Catholics are in warm sympathy with the unfortunate Christians, while the Pope
and Ultramontane faction are believed to be inclining to the Mahometans."
The civilized world
may yet expect the apparition of the materialized Virgin Mary within the walls
of the Vatican. The so often-repeated "miracle" of the Immaculate
Visitor in the mediaeval ages has recently been enacted at Lourdes, and why not
once more, as a coup de grace to all heretics, schismatics, and infidels? The
miraculous wax taper is yet seen at Arras, the chief city of Artois; and at every
new calamity threatening her beloved Church, the "Blessed Lady"
appears personally, and lights it with her own fair hands, in view of a whole
"biologized" congregation. This sort of "miracle," says E.
Worsley, wrought by the Roman Catholic Church, "being most certain, and
never doubted of by any."* Neither has the private correspondence with
which the most "Gracious Lady" honors her friends been doubted. There
are two precious missives from her in the archives of the Church. The first purports
to be a letter in answer to one addressed to her by Ignatius. She confirms all
things learned by her correspondent from "her friend" --
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Discourses
of Miracles wrought in the Roman Catholic Church; or a full Refutation of Dr.
Stillingfleet's unjust Exceptions against Miracles." Octavo, 1676, p. 64.
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VIRGIN.
meaning the Apostle
John. She bids him hold fast to his vows, and adds as an inducement: "I
and John will come together and pay you a visit."*
Nothing was known
of this unblushing fraud till the letters were published at Paris, in 1495. By
a curious accident it appeared at a time when threatening inquiries began to be
made as to the genuineness of the fourth Synoptic. Who could doubt, after such
a confirmation from headquarters! But the climax of effrontery was capped in
1534, when another letter was received from the "Mediatrix," which
sounds more like the report of a lobby-agent to a brother-politician. It was
written in excellent Latin, and was found in the Cathedral of Messina, together
with the image to which it alludes. Its contents run as follows:
"Mary Virgin,
Mother of the Redeemer of the world, to the Bishop, Clergy, and the other
faithful of Messina, sendeth health and benediction from herself and son:**
"Whereas ye
have been mindful of establishing the worship of me; now this is to let you
know that by so doing ye have found great favor in my sight. I have a long time
reflected with pain upon your city, which is exposed to much danger from its
contiguity to the fire of Etna, and I have often had words about it with my
son, for he was vexed with you because of your guilty neglect of my worship, so
that he would not care a pin about my intercession. Now, however, that you have
come to your senses, and have happily begun to worship me, he has conferred upon
me the right to become your everlasting protectress; but, at the same time, I
warn you to mind what you are about, and give me no cause of repenting of my
kindness to you. The prayers and festivals instituted in my honor please me
tremendously (vehementer), and if you faithfully persevere in these things, and
provided you oppose to the utmost of your power, the heretics which now-a-days
are spreading through the world, by which both my worship and that of the other
saints, male and female, are so endangered, you shall enjoy my perpetual
protection.
"In sign of
this compact, I send you down from Heaven the image of myself, cast by
celestial hands, and if ye hold it in the honor to which it is entitled, it
will be an evidence to me of your obedience and your faith. Farewell. Dated in
Heaven, whilst sitting near the throne of my son, in the month of December, of
the 1534th year from his incarnation.
"MARY
VIRGIN"
The reader should
understand that this document is no anti-Catholic forgery. The author from whom
it is taken,** says that the authenticity of the missive "is attested by
the Bishop himself, his Vicar-General,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* After this, why
should the Roman Catholics object to the claims of the Spiritualists? If,
without proof, they believe in the "materialization" of Mary and
John, for Ignatius, how can they logically deny the materialization of Katie
and John (King), when it is attested by the careful experiments of Mr. Crookes,
the English chemist, and the cumulative testimony of a large number of
witnesses?
** The "Mother
of God" takes precedence therefore of God?
*** See the
"New Era" for July, 1875. N. Y.
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Secretary, and six
Canons of the Cathedral Church of Messina, all of whom have signed that
attestation with their names, and confirmed it upon oath.
"Both the
epistle and image were found upon the high altar, where they had been placed by
angels from heaven."
A Church must have
reached the last stages of degradation, when such sacrilegious trickery as this
could be resorted to by its clergy, and accepted with or without question by
the people.
No! far from the
man who feels the workings of an immortal spirit within him, be such a
religion! There never was nor ever will be a truly philosophical mind, whether
of Pagan, heathen, Jew, or Christian, but has followed the same path of
thought. Gautama-Buddha is mirrored in the precepts of Christ; Paul and Philo
Judaeus are faithful echoes of Plato; and Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus won
their immortal fame by combining the teachings of all these grand masters of
true philosophy. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good,"
ought to be the motto of all brothers on earth. Not so is it with the
interpreters of the Bible. The seed of the Reformation was sown on the day that
the second chapter of The Catholic Epistle of James, jostled the eleventh
chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the same New Testament. One who
believes in Paul cannot believe in James, Peter, and John. The Paulists, to
remain Christians with their apostle, must withstand Peter "to the
face"; and if Peter "was to be blamed" and was wrong, then he
was not infallible. How then can his successor (?) boast of his infallibility?
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every house
divided against itself must fall. A plurality of masters has proved as fatal in
religions as in politics. What Paul preached, was preached by every other
mystic philosopher. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage!"
exclaims the honest apostle-philosopher; and adds, as if prophetically
inspired: "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not
consumed one of another."
That the
Neo-platonists were not always despised or accused of demonolatry is evidenced
in the adoption by the Roman Church of their very rites and theurgy. The
identical evocations and incantations of the Pagan and Jewish Kabalist, are now
repeated by the Christian exorcist, and the theurgy of Iamblichus was adopted
word for word. "Distinct as were the Platonists and Pauline Christians of
the earlier centuries," writes Professor A. Wilder, "many of the more
distinguished teachers of the new faith were deeply tinctured with the
philosophical leaven. Synesius, the Bishop of Cyrene, was the disciple of
Hypatia. St. Anthony reiterated the theurgy of Iamblichus. The Logos, or word
of the Gospel
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RITUAL.
according to John,
was a Gnostic personification. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others of the
fathers drank deeply from the fountains of philosophy. The ascetic idea which carried
away the Church was like that which was practiced by Plotinus . . . all through
the middle ages there rose up men who accepted the interior doctrines which
were promulgated by the renowned teacher of the Academy."*
To substantiate our
accusation that the Latin Church first despoiled the kabalists and theurgists
of their magical rites and ceremonies, before hurling anathemas upon their
devoted heads, we will now translate for the reader fragments from the forms of
exorcism employed by kabalists and Christians. The identity in phraseology,
may, perhaps, disclose one of the reasons why the Romish Church has always
desired to keep the faithful in ignorance of the meaning of her Latin prayers
and ritual. Only those directly interested in the deception have had the
opportunity to compare the rituals of the Church and the magicians. The best
Latin scholars were, until a comparatively recent date, either churchmen, or
dependent upon the Church. Common people could not read Latin, and even if they
could, the reading of the books on magic was prohibited, under the penalty of
anathema and excommunication. The cunning device of the confessional made it
almost impossible to consult, even surreptitiously, what the priests call a
grimoire (a devil's scrawl), or Ritual of Magic. To make assurance doubly sure,
the Church began destroying or concealing everything of the kind she could lay
her hands upon.
The following are
translated from the Kabalistic Ritual, and that generally known as the Roman
Ritual. The latter was promulgated in 1851 and 1852, under the sanction of
Cardinal Engelbert, Archbishop of Malines, and of the Archbishop of Paris.
Speaking of it, the demonologist des Mousseaux says: "It is the ritual of
Paul V., revised by the most learned of modern Popes, by the contemporary of
Voltaire, Benedict XIV."**
[[Column one]]
KABALISTIC. (Jewish
and Pagan.)
Exorcism of Salt.
The Priest-Magician
blesses the Salt, and says: "Creature of Salt,*** in thee may remain the
WISDOM (of God); and may it preserve from all corruption our minds and
[[Continued on next page]]
[[Column two]]
ROMAN CATHOLIC
Exorcism of
Salt.****
The Priest blesses
the Salt and says: "Creature of Salt, I exorcise thee in the name of the
living God . . . become the health of the soul and of the body! Every-
[[Continued on next page]]
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Paul and
Plato."
** See "La
Magie au XIXme Siecle," p. 168.
*** Creature of
salt, air, water, or of any object to be enchanted or blessed, is a technical
word in magic, adopted by the Christian clergy.
**** "Rom.
Rit.," edit. of 1851, pp. 291-296, etc., etc.
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[[Column one:
KABALISTIC. (Jewish and Pagan.) -- Continued]]
bodies. Through
Hochmael (God of wisdom), and the power of Ruach Hochmael (Spirit of the Holy
Ghost) may the Spirits of matter (bad spirits) before it recede. . . .
Amen."
Exorcism of Water
(and Ashes).
"Creature of
the Water, I exorcise thee . . . by the three names which are Netsah, Hod, and
Jerod (kabalistic trinity), in the beginning and in the end, by Alpha and
Omega, which are in the Spirit Azoth (Holy Ghost, or the 'Universal Soul'), I
exorcise and adjure thee. . . . Wandering eagle, may the Lord command thee by
the wings of the bull and his flaming sword." (The cherub placed at the
east gate of Eden.)
Exorcism of an
Elemental Spirit.
"Serpent, in
the name of the Tetragrammaton, the Lord; He commands thee, by the angel and
the lion.
"Angel of
darkness, obey, and run away with this holy (exorcised) water. Eagle in chains,
obey this sign, and retreat before the breath. Moving serpent, crawl at my
feet, or be tortured by this sacred fire, and evaporate before this holy
incense. Let water return to water (the elemental spirit of water); let the
fire burn, and the air circulate; let the earth return to earth by the virtue
of the Pentagram, which is the Morning Star, and in the name of the
tetragrammaton which is traced in the centre of the Cross of Light. Amen."
[[Column two: ROMAN
CATHOLIC -- Continued]]
where where thou
art thrown may the unclean spirit be put to flight. . . . Amen."
Exorcism of Water.
"Creature of
the water, in the name of the Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost . . . be exorcised. . . . I adjure thee in the name of the Lamb . . .
(the magician says bull or ox -- per alas Tauri) of the Lamb that trod upon the
basilisk and the aspic, and who crushes under his foot the lion and the
dragon."
Exorcism of the
Devil.
. . . . . . . . . .
. .
"O Lord, let
him who carries along with him the terror, flee, struck in his turn by terror
and defeated. O thou, who art the Ancient Serpent . . . tremble before the hand
of him who, having triumphed of the tortures of hell (?) devictis gemitibus
inferni, recalled the souls to light. . . . The more whilst thou decay, the
more terrible will be thy torture . . . by Him who reigns over the living and
the dead . . . and who will judge the century by fire, saeculum per ignem, etc.
In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen."*
It is unnecessary
to try the patience of the reader any longer, although we might multiply
examples. It must not be forgotten that we have quoted from the latest revision
of the Ritual, that of 1851-2. If we were to go back to the former one we would
find a far more striking identity, not merely of phraseology but of ceremonial
form. For the purpose of comparison we have not even availed ourselves of the
ritual of ceremonial magic of the Christian kabalists of the middle ages,
wherein the language modelled upon a belief in the divinity of Christ is, with
the exception of a stray expression here and there, identical with the Catholic
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Rom.
Rit.," pp. 421-435.
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KABALISTIC.
Ritual.* The
latter, however, makes one improvement, for the originality of which the Church
should be allowed all credit. Certainly nothing so fantastical could be found
in a ritual of magic. "Give place," apostrophizing the
"Demon," it says, "give place to Jesus Christ . . . thou filthy,
stinking, and ferocious beast . . . dost thou rebel? Listen and tremble, Satan;
enemy of the faith, enemy of the human race, introducer of death . . . root of
all evil, promoter of vice, soul of envy, origin of avarice, cause of discord,
prince of homicide, whom God curses; author of incest and sacrilege, inventor
of all obscenity, professor of the most detestable actions, and Grand Master of
Heretics (!!) (Doctor Haereticorum!) What! . . . dost thou still stand? Dost
dare to resist, and thou knowest that Christ, our Lord, is coming? . . . Give
place to Jesus Christ, give place to the Holy Ghost, which, by His blessed
Apostle Peter, has flung thee down before the public, in the person of Simon
the Magician" (te manifeste stravit in Simone mago).**
After such a shower
of abuse, no devil having the slightest feeling of self-respect could remain in
such company; unless, indeed, he should chance to be an Italian Liberal, or
King Victor Emmanuel himself both of whom, thanks to Pius IX., have become
anathema-proof.
It really seems too
bad to strip Rome of all her symbols at once; but justice must be done to the despoiled
hierophants. Long before the sign of the Cross was adopted as a Christian
symbol, it was employed as a secret sign of recognition among neophytes and
adepts. Says Levi: "The sign of the Cross adopted by the Christians does
not belong exclusively to them. It is kabalistic, and represents the
oppositions and quaternary equilibrium of the elements. We see by the occult
verse of the Pater, to which we have called attention in another work, that
there were originally two ways of making it, or, at least, two very different
formulas to express its meaning -- one reserved for priests and initiates; the
other given to neophytes and the profane. Thus, for example, the initiate,
carrying his hand to his forehead, said: To thee; then he added, belong; and continued,
while carrying his hand to the breast -- the kingdom; then, to the left
shoulder -- justice; to the right shoulder -- and mercy. Then he joined the two
hands, adding: throughout the generating cycles: 'Tibi sunt Malchut, et Geburah
et Chassed per AEonas' -- a sign of the Cross, absolutely and magnificently
kabalistic, which the profanations of Gnosticism made the militant and official
Church completely lose."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Art-Magic," art. Peter d'Abano.
**
"Ritual," pp. 429-433; see "La Magie au XIXme Siecle," pp.
171, 172.
*** "Dogme et
Rituel de la Haute Magie," vol. ii., p. 88.
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How fantastical,
therefore, is the assertion of Father Ventura, that, while Augustine was a
Manichean, a philosopher, ignorant of and refusing to humble himself before the
sublimity of the "grand Christian revelation," he knew nothing,
understood naught of God, man, or universe; ". . . he remained poor,
small, obscure, sterile, and wrote nothing, did nothing really grand or
useful." But, hardly had he become a Christian ". . . when his reasoning
powers and intellect, enlightened at the luminary of faith, elevated him to the
most sublime heights of philosophy and theology." And his other
proposition that Augustine's genius, as a consequence, "developed itself
in all its grandeur and prodigious fecundity . . . his intellect radiated with
that immense splendor which, reflecting itself in his immortal writings, has
never ceased for one moment during fourteen centuries to illuminate the Church
and the world"!*
Whatever Augustine
was as a Manichean, we leave Father Ventura to discover; but that his accession
to Christianity established an everlasting enmity between theology and science
is beyond doubt. While forced to confess that "the Gentiles had possibly
something divine and true in their doctrines," he, nevertheless, declared
that for their superstition, idolatry, and pride, they had "to be
detested, and, unless they improved, to be punished by divine judgment."
This furnishes the clew to the subsequent policy of the Christian Church, even
to our day. If the Gentiles did not choose to come into the Church, all that
was divine in their philosophy should go for naught, and the divine wrath of
God should be visited upon their heads. What effect this produced is succinctly
stated by Draper: "No one did more than this Father to bring science and
religion into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible from its true
office -- a guide to purity of life -- and placed it in the perilous position
of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious tyranny over the mind of
man. The example once set, there was no want of followers; the works of the
Greek philosophers were stigmatized as profane; the transcendently glorious
achievements of the Museum of Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of ignorance,
mysticism, and unintelligible jargon, out of which there too often flashed the
destroying lightnings of ecclesiastical vengeance."**
Augustine and
Cyprian*** admit that Hermes and Hostanes believed in one true god; the first
two maintaining, as well as the two Pagans, that he is invisible and
incomprehensible, except spiritually. Moreover we invite any man of
intelligence -- provided he be not a religious fanatic -- after reading
fragments chosen at random from the works of Hermes
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
*
"Conferences," by Le Pere Ventura, vol. ii., part i., p. lvi.,
Preface.
** "Conflict
between Religion and Science," p. 62.
*** "De
Baptismo Contra Donatistas," lib. vi., ch. xliv.
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MAGUS" ST. PAUL?
and Augustine on
the Deity, to decide which of the two gives a more philosophical definition of
the "unseen Father." We have at least one writer of fame who is of
our opinion. Draper calls the Augustinian productions a "rhapsodical
conversation" with God; an "incoherent dream."*
Father Ventura
depicts the saint as attitudinizing before an astonished world upon "the
most sublime heights of philosophy." But here steps in again the same
unprejudiced critic, who passes the following remarks on this colossus of
Patristic philosophy. "Was it for this preposterous scheme," he asks,
"this product of ignorance and audacity, that the works of the Greek
philosophers were to be given up? It was none too soon that the great critics
who appeared at the Reformation, by comparing the works of these writers with one
another, brought them to their proper level, and taught us to look upon them
all with contempt."**
For such men as
Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Apollonius, and even Simon Magus, to be accused
of having formed a pact with the Devil, whether the latter personage exist or
not, is so absurd as to need but little refutation. If Simon Magus -- the most
problematical of all in an historical sense -- ever existed otherwise than in
the overheated fancy of Peter and the other apostles, he was evidently no worse
than any of his adversaries. A difference in religious views, however great, is
insufficient per se to send one person to heaven and the other to hell. Such
uncharitable and peremptory doctrines might have been taught in the middle
ages; but it is too late now for even the Church to put forward this
traditional scarecrow. Research begins to suggest that which, if ever verified,
will bring eternal disgrace on the Church of the Apostle Peter, whose very
imposition of herself upon that disciple must be regarded as the most
unverified and unverifiable of the assumptions of the Catholic clergy.
The erudite author
of Supernatural Religion assiduously endeavors to prove that by Simon Magus we
must understand the apostle Paul, whose Epistles were secretly as well as
openly calumniated by Peter, and charged with containing "dysnoetic
learning." The Apostle of the Gentiles was brave, outspoken, sincere, and
very learned; the Apostle of Circumcision, cowardly, cautious, insincere, and
very ignorant. That Paul had been, partially, at least, if not completely,
initiated into the theurgic mysteries, admits of little doubt. His language,
the phraseology so peculiar to the Greek philosophers, certain expressions used
but by the initiates, are so many sure ear-marks to that supposition. Our
suspicion has been strengthened by an able article in one of the New York peri-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Conflict,
etc.," p. 37.
** Ibid.
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odicals, entitled
Paul and Plato,* in which the author puts forward one remarkable and, for us,
very precious observation. In his Epistles to the Corinthians he shows Paul
abounding with "expressions suggested by the initiations of Sabazius and
Eleusis, and the lectures of the (Greek) philosophers. He (Paul) designates
himself an idiotes -- a person unskilful in the Word, but not in the gnosis or
philosophical learning. 'We speak wisdom among the perfect or initiated,' he
writes; 'not the wisdom of this world, nor of the archons of this world, but
divine wisdom in a mystery, secret -- which none of the Archons of this world
knew.' "** What else can the apostle mean by these unequivocal words, but
that he himself, as belonging to the mystae (initiated), spoke of things shown
and explained only in the Mysteries? The "divine wisdom in a mystery which
none of the archons of this world knew," has evidently some direct
reference to the basileus of the Eleusinian initiation who did know. The
basileus belonged to the staff of the great hierophant, and was an archon of
Athens; and as such was one of the chief mystae, belonging to the interior
Mysteries, to which a very select and small number obtained an entrance.*** The
magistrates supervising the Eleusinians were called archons.
Another proof that
Paul belonged to the circle of the "Initiates" lies in the following
fact. The apostle had his head shorn at Cenchrea (where Lucius, Apulcius, was
initiated) because "he had a vow." The nazars -- or set apart -- as
we see in the Jewish Scriptures, had to cut their hair which they wore long,
and which "no razor touched" at any other time, and sacrifice it on
the altar of initiation. And the nazars were a class of Chaldean theurgists. We
will show further that Jesus belonged to this class.
Paul declares that:
"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
master-builder, I have laid the foundation."****
This expression,
master-builder, used only once in the whole Bible, and by Paul, may be
considered as a whole revelation. In the Mysteries, the third part of the
sacred rites was called Epopteia, or revelation, reception into the secrets. In
substance it means that stage of divine clairvoyance when everything pertaining
to this earth disappears, and earthly sight is paralyzed, and the soul is
united free and pure with its Spirit, or God. But the real significance of the
word is "overseeing," from [[optomai]] -- I see myself. In Sanscrit
the word evapto has the same meaning, as
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Paul and
Plato," by A. Wilder, editor of "The Eleusinian and Bacchic
Mysteries," of Thomas Taylor.
** "Paul and
Plato."
*** See Taylor's
"Eleus. and Bacchic Myst."
**** I Corin., iii.
10.
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well as to obtain.*
The word epopteia is a compound one, from [[Epi]] -- upon, and [[optomai]]-- to
look, or an overseer, an inspector -- also used for a master-builder. The title
of master-mason, in Freemasonry, is derived from this, in the sense used in the
Mysteries. Therefore, when Paul entitles himself a "master-builder,"
he is using a word pre-eminently kabalistic, theurgic, and masonic, and one
which no other apostle uses. He thus declares himself an adept, having the
right to initiate others.
If we search in
this direction, with those sure guides, the Grecian Mysteries and the Kabala,
before us, it will be easy to find the secret reason why Paul was so persecuted
and hated by Peter, John, and James. The author of the Revelation was a Jewish
kabalist pur sang, with all the hatred inherited by him from his forefathers
toward the Mysteries.** His jealousy during the life of Jesus extended even to
Peter; and it is but after the death of their common master that we see the two
apostles -- the former of whom wore the Mitre and the Petaloon of the Jewish
Rabbis -- preach so zealously the rite of circumcision. In the eyes of Peter,
Paul, who had humiliated him, and whom he felt so much his superior in
"Greek learning" and philosophy, must have naturally appeared as a
magician, a man polluted with the "Gnosis," with the
"wisdom" of the Greek Mysteries -- hence, perhaps, "Simon*** the
Magician."
As to Peter,
biblical criticism has shown before now that he had probably no more to do with
the foundation of the Latin Church at Rome, than to furnish the pretext so
readily seized upon by the cunning Irenaeus to benefit this Church with the new
name of the apostle -- Petra or Kiffa, a name which allowed so readily, by an
easy play upon words to connect it with Petroma, the double set of stone
tablets used
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In its most
extensive meaning, the Sanscrit word has the same literal sense as the Greek
term; both imply "revelation," by no human agent, but through the
"receiving of the sacred drink." In India the initiated received the
"Soma," sacred drink, which helped to liberate his soul from the
body; and in the Eleusinian Mysteries it was the sacred drink offered at the
Epopteia. The Grecian Mysteries are wholly derived from the Brahmanical Vedic
rites, and the latter from the ante-vedic religious Mysteries -- primitive
Buddhist philosophy.
** It is needless
to state that the Gospel according to John was not written by John but by a
Platonist or a Gnostic belonging to the Neo-platonic school.
*** The fact that
Peter persecuted the "Apostle to the Gentiles," under that name, does
not necessarily imply that there was no Simon Magus individually distinct from
Paul. It may have become a generic name of abuse. Theodoret and Chrysostom, the
earliest and most prolific commentators on the Gnosticism of those days, seem
actually to make of Simon a rival of Paul, and to state that between them
passed frequent messages. The former, as a diligent propagandist of what Paul
terms the "antitheses of the Gnosis" (1st Epistle to Timothy), must
have been a sore thorn in the side of the apostle. There are sufficient proofs
of the actual existence of Simon Magus.
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by the hierophant
at the initiations, during the final Mystery. In this, perhaps, lies concealed
the whole secret of the claims of the Vatican. As Professor Wilder happily
suggests: "In the Oriental countries the designation [[Heb char]], Peter
(in Phoenician and Chaldaic, an interpreter) appears to have been the title of
this personage (the hierophant). . . . There is in these facts some reminder of
the peculiar circumstances of the Mosaic Law . . . and also of the claim of the
Pope to be the successor of Peter, the hierophant or interpreter of the
Christian religion."*
As such, we must
concede to him, to some extent, the right to be such an interpreter. The Latin
Church has faithfully preserved in symbols, rites, ceremonies, architecture,
and even in the very dress of her clergy, the tradition of the Pagan worship --
of the public or exoteric ceremonies, we should add; otherwise her dogmas would
embody more sense and contain less blasphemy against the majesty of the Supreme
and Invisible God.
An inscription
found on the coffin of Queen Mentuhept, of the eleventh dynasty (2250 B.C.),
now proved to have been transcribed from the seventeenth chapter of the Book of
the Dead (dating not later than 4500 B.C.), is more than suggestive. This
monumental text contains a group of hieroglyphics, which, when interpreted,
read thus:
PTR. RF. SU.
Peter- ref- su.
Baron Bunsen shows
this sacred formulary mixed up with a whole series of glosses and various
interpretations on a monument forty centuries old. "This is identical with
saying that the record (the true interpretation) was at that time no longer
intelligible. . . . We beg our readers to understand," he adds, "that
a sacred text, a hymn, containing the words of a departed spirit, existed in
such a state about 4,000 years ago . . . as to be all but unintelligible to
royal scribes."**
That it was
unintelligible to the uninitiated among the latter is as well proved by the
confused and contradictory glossaries, as that it was a
"mystery"-word, known to the hierophants of the sanctuaries, and,
moreover, a word chosen by Jesus, to designate the office assigned by him to
one of his apostles. This word, PTR, was partially interpreted, owing to
another word similarly written in another group of hieroglyphics, on a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Introd. to
Eleus. and Bacchic Mysteries," p. x. Had we not trustworthy kabalistic
tradition to rely upon, we might be, perhaps, forced to question whether the
authorship of the Revelation is to be ascribed to the apostle of that name. He
seems to be termed John the Theologist.
** Bunsen:
"Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. v., p. 90.
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OF "PETRUM."
stele, the sign
used for it being an opened eye.* Bunsen mentions as another explanation of PTR
-- "to show." "It appears to me," he remarks, "that
our PTR is literally the old Aramaic and Hebrew 'Patar,' which occurs in the
history of Joseph as the specific word for interpreting; whence also Pitrum is
the term for interpretation of a text, a dream."** In a manuscript of the
first century, a combination of the Demotic and Greek texts,*** and most
probably one of the few which miraculously escaped the Christian vandalism of
the second and third centuries, when all such precious manuscripts were burned
as magical, we find occurring in several places a phrase, which, perhaps, may
throw some light upon this question. One of the principal heroes of the
manuscript, who is constantly referred to as "the Judean Illuminator"
or Initiate, [[Teleiotes]], is made to communicate but with his Patar; the
latter being written in Chaldaic characters. Once the latter word is coupled
with the name Shimeon. Several times, the "Illuminator," who rarely
breaks his contemplative solitude, is shown inhabiting a [[Krupte]] (cave), and
teaching the multitudes of eager scholars standing outside, not orally, but
through this Patar. The latter receives the words of wisdom by applying his ear
to a circular hole in a partition which conceals the teacher from the
listeners, and then conveys them, with explanations and glossaries, to the
crowd. This, with a slight change, was the method used by Pythagoras, who, as
we know, never allowed his neophytes to see him during the years of probation,
but instructed them from behind a curtain in his cave.
But, whether the
"Illuminator" of the Graeco-Demotic manuscript is identical with
Jesus or not, the fact remains, that we find him selecting a
"mystery"-appellation for one who is made to appear later by the
Catholic Church as the janitor of the Kingdom of Heaven and the interpreter of
Christ's will. The word Patar or Peter locates both master and disciple in the
circle of initiation, and connects them with the "Secret Doctrine."
The great hierophant of the ancient Mysteries never allowed the candidates to
see or hear him personally. He was the Deus-ex-Machina, the presiding but
invisible Deity, uttering his will and instructions through a second party; and
2,000 years later, we discover that the Dalai-Lamas of Thibet had been
following for centuries the same traditional programme during the most
important religious mysteries of lamaism.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See de Rouge:
"Stele," p. 44; PTAR (videus) is interpreted on it "to
appear," with a sign of interrogation after it -- the usual mark of
scientific perplexity. In Bunsen's fifth volume of "Egypte," the
interpretation following is "Illuminator," which is more correct.
** Bunsen's
"Egypt," vol. v., p. 90.
*** It is the
property of a mystic whom we met in Syria.
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If Jesus knew the
secret meaning of the title bestowed by him on Simon, then he must have been
initiated; otherwise he could not have learned it; and if he was an initiate of
either the Pythagorean Essenes, the Chaldean Magi, or the Egyptian Priests,
then the doctrine taught by him was but a portion of the "Secret
Doctrine" taught by the Pagan hierophants to the few select adepts
admitted within the sacred adyta.
But we will discuss
this question further on. For the present we will endeavor to briefly indicate
the extraordinary similarity -- or rather identity, we should say -- of rites
and ceremonial dress of the Christian clergy with that of the old Babylonians,
Assyrians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and other Pagans of the hoary antiquity.
If we would find
the model of the Papal tiara, we must search the annals of the ancient Assyrian
tablets. We invite the reader to give his attention to Dr. Inman's illustrated
work, Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism. On page sixty-four, he will
readily recognize the head-gear of the successor of St. Peter in the coiffure
worn by gods or angels in ancient Assyria, "where it appears crowned by an
emblem of the male trinity" (the Christian Cross). "We may mention,
in passing," adds Dr. Inman, "that, as the Romanists adopted the mitre
and the tiara from 'the cursed brood of Ham,' so they adopted the Episcopalian
crook from the augurs of Etruria, and the artistic form with which they clothe
their angels from the painters and urn-makers of Magna Grecia and Central
Italy."
Would we push our
inquiries farther, and seek to ascertain as much in relation to the nimbus and
the tonsure of the Catholic priest and monk?* We shall find undeniable proofs
that they are solar emblems. Knight, in his Old England Pictorially
Illustrated, gives a drawing by St. Augustine, representing an ancient
Christian bishop, in a dress probably identical with that worn by the great
"saint" himself. The pallium, or the ancient stole of the bishop, is
the feminine sign when worn by a priest in worship. On St. Augustine's picture
it is bedecked with Buddhistic crosses, and in its whole appearance it is a
representation of the Egyptian [[Design T]] (tau), assuming slightly the figure
of the letter [[design Y]]. "Its lower end is the mark of the masculine
triad," says Inman; "the right hand (of the figure) has the
forefinger extended, like the Assyrian priests while doing homage to the grove.
. . . When a male dons the pallium in worship, he becomes the representative of
the trinity in the unity, the arba, or mystic four."**
"Immaculate is
our Lady Isis," is the legend around an engraving
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The Priests of
Isis were tonsured.
** See
"Ancient Faiths," vol. ii., pp. 915-918.
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BUDDHIST PAGODAS.
of Serapis and
Isis, described by King, in The Gnostics and their Remains, [['H KYRIA ICIC
ATNH]] ". . . the very terms applied afterwards to that personage (the
Virgin Mary) who succeeded to her form, titles, symbols, rites, and ceremonies.
. . . Thus, her devotees carried into the new priesthood the former badges of
their profession, the obligation to celibacy, the tonsure, and the surplice,
omitting, unfortunately, the frequent ablutions prescribed by the ancient
creed." "The 'Black Virgins,' so highly reverenced in certain French
cathedrals . . . proved, when at last critically examined, basalt figures of
Isis"!*
Before the shrine
of Jupiter Ammon were suspended tinkling bells, from the sound of whose chiming
the priests gathered the auguries; "A golden bell and a pomegranate . . .
round about the hem of the robe," was the result with the Mosaic Jews. But
in the Buddhistic system, during the religious services, the gods of the Deva
Loka are always invoked, and invited to descend upon the altars by the ringing
of bells suspended in the pagodas. The bell of the sacred table of Siva at
Kuhama is described in Kailasa, and every Buddhist vihara and lamasery has its
bells.
We thus see that
the bells used by Christians come to them directly from the Buddhist Thibetans
and Chinese. The beads and rosaries have the same origin, and have been used by
Buddhist monks for over 2,300 years. The Linghams in the Hindu temples are
ornamented upon certain days with large berries, from a tree sacred to
Mahadeva, which are strung into rosaries. The title of "nun" is an
Egyptian word, and had with them the actual meaning; the Christians did not
even take the trouble of translating the word Nonna. The aureole of the saints
was used by the antediluvian artists of Babylonia, whenever they desired to
honor or deify a mortal's head. In a celebrated picture in Moore's Hindoo
Pantheon, entitled, "Christna nursed by Devaki, from a highly-finished
picture," the Hindu Virgin is represented as seated on a lounge and
nursing Christna. The hair brushed back, the long veil, and the golden aureole
around the Virgin's head, as well as around that of the Hindu Saviour, are
striking. No Catholic, well versed as he might be in the mysterious symbolism
of iconology, would hesitate for a moment to worship at that shrine the Virgin
Mary, the mother of his God!** In Indur Subba, the south entrance of the Caves
of Ellora, may be seen to this day the figure of Indra's wife, Indranee,
sitting with her infant son-god, pointing the finger to heaven with the same
gesture as the Italian Madonna and child. In Pagan and Christian Symbolism, the
author gives a figure from a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The
Gnostics and their Remains," p. 71.
** See illustration
in Inman's "Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," p. 27.
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mediaeval woodcut
-- the like of which we have seen by dozens in old psalters -- in which the
Virgin Mary, with her infant, is represented as the Queen of Heaven, on the
crescent moon, emblem of virginity. "Being before the sun, she almost
eclipses its light. Than this, nothing could more completely identify the
Christian mother and child with Isis and Horus, Ishtar, Venus, Juno, and a host
of other Pagan goddesses, who have been called 'Queen of Heaven,' 'Queen of the
Universe,' 'Mother of God,' 'Spouse of God,' 'the Celestial Virgin,' 'the
Heavenly Peace-Maker,' etc."*
Such pictures are
not purely astronomical. They represent the male god and the female goddess, as
the sun and moon in conjunction, "the union of the triad with the
unit." The horns of the cow on the head of Isis have the same
significance.
And so above,
below, outside, and inside, the Christian Church, in the priestly garments, and
the religious rites, we recognize the stamp of exoteric heathenism. On no
subject within the wide range of human knowledge, has the world been more
blinded or deceived with such persistent misrepresentation as on that of
antiquity. Its hoary past and its religious faiths have been misrepresented and
trampled under the feet of its successors. Its hierophants and prophets, mystae
and epoptae,** of the once sacred adyta of the temple shown as demoniacs and
devil-worshippers. Donned in the despoiled garments of the victim, the
Christian priest now anathematizes the latter with rites and ceremonies which
he has learned from the theurgists themselves. The Mosaic Bible is used as a
weapon against the people who furnished it. The heathen philosopher is cursed under
the very roof which has witnessed his initiation; and the "monkey of
God" (i.e., the devil of Tertullian), "the originator and founder of
magical theurgy, the science of illusions and lies, whose father and author is
the demon," is exorcised with holy water by the hand which holds the
identical lituus*** with which the ancient augur, after a solemn prayer, used
to determine the regions of heaven, and evoke, in the name of the HIGHEST, the
minor god (now termed the Devil), who unveiled to his eyes futurity, and
enabled him to prophesy! On the part of the Christians and the clergy it is
nothing but shameful ignorance, prejudice, and that contemptible pride so
boldly denounced by one of their own reverend ministers, T. Gross,**** which
rails against all investigation "as a useless or a criminal labor, when it
must be feared that they will result in the overthrow of preestablished systems
of faith." On the part of the scholars it is the same apprehension of the
possible necessity of having to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid., p. 76.
** Initiates and
seers.
*** The augur's,
and now bishop's, pastoral crook.
**** "The
Heathen Religion."
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CONFESSION ABOUT THEURGIC AMULETS.
modify some of
their erroneously-established theories of science. "Nothing but such
pitiable prejudice," says Gross, "can have thus misrepresented the
theology of heathenism, and distorted -- nay, caricatured -- its forms of
religious worship. It is time that posterity should raise its voice in
vindication of violated truth, and that the present age should learn a little
of that common sense of which it boasts with as much self-complacency as if the
prerogative of reason was the birthright only of modern times."
All this gives a
sure clew to the real cause of the hatred felt by the early and mediaeval Christian
toward his Pagan brother and dangerous rival. We hate but what we fear. The
Christian thaumaturgist once having broken all association with the Mysteries
of the temples and with "these schools so renowned for magic,"
described by St. Hilarion,* could certainly expect but little to rival the
Pagan wonder-workers. No apostle, with the exception perhaps of healing by
mesmeric power, has ever equalled Apollonius of Tyana; and the scandal created
among the apostles by the miracle-doing Simon Magus, is too notorious to be
repeated here again. "How is it," asks Justin Martyr, in evident
dismay, "how is it that the talismans of Apollonius (the [[telesmata]])
have power in certain members of creation, for they prevent, as we see, the
fury of the waves, and the violence of the winds, and the attacks of wild
beasts; and whilst our Lord's miracles are preserved by tradition alone, those
of Apollonius are most numerous, and actually manifested in present facts, so
as to lead astray all beholders?"** This perplexed martyr solves the
problem by attributing very correctly the efficacy and potency of the charms
used by Apollonius to his profound knowledge of the sympathies and antipathies
(or repugnances) of nature.
Unable to deny the
evident superiority of their enemies' powers, the fathers had recourse to the
old but ever successful method -- that of slander. They honored the theurgists
with the same insinuating calumny that had been resorted to by the Pharisees
against Jesus. "Thou hast a daemon," the elders of the Jewish
Synagogue had said to him. "Thou hast the Devil," repeated the
cunning fathers, with equal truth, addressing the Pagan thaumaturgist; and the
widely-bruited charge, erected later into an article of faith, won the day.
But the modern
heirs of these ecclesiastical falsifiers, who charge magic, spiritualism, and
even magnetism with being produced by a demon, forget or perhaps never read the
classics. None of our bigots has ever looked with more scorn on the abuses of
magic than did the true initiate
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Peres du
Desert d'Orient," vol. ii., p. 283.
** Justin Martyr:
"Quaest.," xxiv.
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of old. No modern
or even mediaeval law could be more severe than that of the hierophant. True,
he had more discrimination, charity, and justice, than the Christian clergy;
for while banishing the "unconscious" sorcerer, the person troubled
with a demon, from within the sacred precincts of the adyta, the priests,
instead of mercilessly burning him, took care of the unfortunate
"possessed one." Having hospitals expressly for that purpose in the
neighborhood of temples, the ancient "medium," if obsessed, was taken
care of and restored to health. But with one who had, by conscious witchcraft,
acquired powers dangerous to his fellow-creatures, the priests of old were as
severe as justice herself. "Any person accidentally guilty of homicide, or
of any crime, or convicted of witchcraft, was excluded from the Eleusinian
Mysteries."* And so were they from all others. This law, mentioned by all
writers on the ancient initiation, speaks for itself. The claim of Augustine,
that all the explanations given by the Neo-platonists were invented by
themselves is absurd. For nearly every ceremony in their true and successive
order is given by Plato himself, in a more or less covered way. The Mysteries
are as old as the world, and one well versed in the esoteric mythologies of
various nations can trace them back to the days of the ante-Vedic period in
India. A condition of the strictest virtue and purity is required from the
Vatou, or candidate in India before he can become an initiate, whether he aims
to be a simple fakir, a Purohita (public priest) or a Sannyasi, a saint of the
second degree of initiation, the most holy as the most revered of them all.
After having conquered, in the terrible trials preliminary to admittance to the
inner temple in the subterranean crypts of his pagoda, the sannyasi passes the
rest of his life in the temple, practicing the eighty-four rules and ten
virtues prescribed to the Yogis.
"No one who
has not practiced, during his whole life, the ten virtues which the divine Manu
makes incumbent as a duty, can be initiated into the Mysteries of the
council," say the Hindu books of initiation.
These virtues are:
"Resignation; the act of rendering good for evil; temperance; probity;
purity; chastity; repression of the physical senses; the knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures; that of the Superior soul (spirit); worship of truth; abstinence
from anger." These virtues must alone direct the life of a true Yogi.
"No unworthy adept ought to defile the ranks of the holy initiates by his
presence for twenty-four hours." The adept becomes guilty after having
once broken any one of these vows. Surely the exercise of such virtues is
inconsistent with the idea one has of devil-worship and lasciviousness of purpose!
And now we will try
to give a clear insight into one of the chief ob-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Taylor's
"Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries"; Porphyry and others.
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INITIATION.
jects of this work.
What we desire to prove is, that underlying every ancient popular religion was the
same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and identical, professed and practiced by the
initiates of every country, who alone were aware of its existence and
importance. To ascertain its origin, and the precise age in which it was
matured, is now beyond human possibility. A single glance, however, is enough
to assure one that it could not have attained the marvellous perfection in
which we find it pictured to us in the relics of the various esoteric systems,
except after a succession of ages. A philosophy so profound, a moral code so
ennobling, and practical results so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is
not the growth of a generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been
piled upon fact, deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science, and
myriads of the brightest human intellects have reflected upon the laws of
nature, before this ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. The proofs of
this identity of fundamental doctrine in the old religions are found in the
prevalence of a system of initiation; in the secret sacerdotal castes who had
the guardianship of mystical words of power, and a public display of a
phenomenal control over natural forces, indicating association with preterhuman
beings. Every approach to the Mysteries of all these nations was guarded with
the same jealous care, and in all, the penalty of death was inflicted upon
initiates of any degree who divulged the secrets entrusted to them. We have
seen that such was the case in the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, among the Chaldean
Magi, and the Egyptian hierophants; while with the Hindus, from whom they were
all derived, the same rule has prevailed from time immemorial. We are left in
no doubt upon this point; for the Agrushada Parikshai says explicitly,
"Every initiate, to whatever degree he may belong, who reveals the great
sacred formula, must be put to death."
Naturally enough,
this same extreme penalty was prescribed in all the multifarious sects and
brotherhoods which at different periods have sprung from the ancient stock. We
find it with the early Essenes, Gnostics, theurgic Neo-platonists, and
mediaeval philosophers; and in our day, even the Masons perpetuate the memory
of the old obligations in the penalties of throat-cutting, dismemberment, and
disemboweling, with which the candidate is threatened. As the Masonic
"master's word" is communicated only at "low breath," so
the selfsame precaution is prescribed in the Chaldean Book of Numbers and the
Jewish Mercaba. When initiated, the neophyte was led by an ancient to a secluded
spot, and there the latter whispered in his ear the great secret.* The Mason
swears, under the most frightful penalties, that he will not communicate the
secrets of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Franck: "Die
Kabbala."
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any degree "to
a brother of an inferior degree"; and the Agrushada Parikshai says:
"Any initiate of the third degree who reveals before the prescribed time,
to the initiates of the second degree, the superior truths, must be put to
death." Again, the Masonic apprentice consents to have his "tongue
torn out by the roots" if he divulge anything to a profane; and in the
Hindu books of initiation, the same Agrushada Parikshai, we find that any
initiate of the first degree (the lowest) who betrays the secrets of his
initiation, to members of other castes, for whom the science should be a closed
book, must have "his tongue cut out," and suffer other mutilations.
As we proceed, we
will point out the evidences of this identity of vows, formulas, rites, and
doctrines, between the ancient faiths. We will also show that not only their
memory is still preserved in India, but also that the Secret Association is
still alive and as active as ever. That, after reading what we have to say, it
may be inferred that the chief pontiff and hierophants, the Brahmatma, is still
accessible to those "who know," though perhaps recognized by another
name; and that the ramifications of his influence extend throughout the world.
But we will now return again to the early Christian period.
As though he were
not aware that there was any esoteric significance to the exoteric symbols, and
that the Mysteries themselves were composed of two parts, the lesser at Agrae,
and the higher ones at Eleusinia, Clemens Alexandrinus, with a rancorous
bigotry that one might expect from a renegade Neo-platonist, but is astonished
to find in this generally honest and learned Father, stigmatized the Mysteries
as indecent and diabolical. Whatever were the rites enacted among the neophytes
before they passed to a higher form of instruction; however misunderstood were
the trials of Katharsis or purification, during which they were submitted to
every kind of probation; and however much the immaterial or physical aspect
might have led to calumny, it is but wicked prejudice which can compel a person
to say that under this external meaning there was not a far deeper and
spiritual significance.
It is positively
absurd to judge the ancients from our own standpoint of propriety and virtue.
And most assuredly it is not for the Church -- which now stands accused by all
the modern symbologists of having adopted precisely these same emblems in their
coarsest aspect, and feels herself powerless to refute the accusations -- to
throw the stone at those who were her models. When men like Pythagoras, Plato,
and Iamblichus, renowned for their severe morality, took part in the Mysteries,
and spoke of them with veneration, it ill behooves our modern critics to judge
them so rashly upon their merely external aspects. Iamblichus explains the
worst; and his explanation, for an unprejudiced mind, ought to be
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IN TENDENCY.
perfectly
plausible. "Exhibitions of this kind," he says, "in the Mysteries
were designed to free us from licentious passions, by gratifying the sight, and
at the same time vanquishing all evil thought, through the awful sanctity with
which these rites were accompanied."* "The wisest and best men in the
Pagan world," adds Dr. Warburton, "are unanimous in this, that the
Mysteries were instituted pure, and proposed the noblest ends by the worthiest
means."**
In these celebrated
rites, although persons of both sexes and all classes were allowed to take a
part, and a participation in them was even obligatory, very few indeed attained
the higher and final initiation. The gradation of the Mysteries is given us by
Proclus in the fourth book of his Theology of Plato. "The perfective rite
[[telete]], precedes in order the initiation -- Muesis -- and the initiation,
Epopteia, or the final apocalypse (revelation)." Theon of Smyrna, in
Mathematica, also divides the mystic rites into five parts: "the first of
which is the previous purification; for neither are the Mysteries communicated
to all who are willing to receive them; . . . there are certain persons who are
prevented by the voice of the crier ([[Kerux]]) . . . since it is necessary
that such as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by
certain purifications which the reception of the sacred rites succeeds. The
third part is denominated epopteia or reception. And the fourth, which is the
end and design of the revelation, is the binding of the head and fixing of the
crowns*** . . . whether after this he (the initiated person) becomes . . . an
hierophant or sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth,
which is produced from all these, is friendship and interior communion with
God." And this was the last and most awful of all the Mysteries.
There are writers
who have often wondered at the meaning of this claim to a "friendship and
interior communion with God." Christian authors have denied the
pretensions of the "Pagans" to such "communion," affirming
that only Christian saints were and are capable of enjoying it; materialistic
skeptics have altogether scoffed at the idea of both. After long ages of
religious materialism and spiritual stagnation, it has most certainly become
difficult if not altogether impossible to substantiate the claims of either
party. The old Greeks, who had once crowded
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Mysteries
of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians."
** "Divine
Legation of Moses"; The "Eleusinian Mysteries" as quoted by
Thos. Taylor.
*** This expression
must not be understood literally; for as in the initiation of certain
Brotherhoods it has a secret meaning, hinted at by Pythagoras, when he
describes his feelings after the initiation and tells that he was crowned by
the gods in whose presence he had drunk "the waters of life" -- in
Hindu, a-bi-hayat, fount of life.
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around the Agora of
Athens, with its altar to the "Unknown God," are no more; and their
descendants firmly believe that they have found the "Unknown" in the
Jewish Jehova. The divine ecstasies of the early Christians have made room for
visions of a more modern character, in perfect keeping with progress and
civilization. The "Son of man" appearing to the rapt vision of the
ancient Christian as coming from the seventh heaven, in a cloud of glory, and
surrounded with angels and winged seraphim, has made room for a more prosaic
and at the same time more business-like Jesus. The latter is now shown as
making morning calls upon Mary and Martha in Bethany; as seating himself on
"the ottoman" with the younger sister, a lover of "ethics,"
while Martha goes off to the kitchen to cook. Anon the heated fancy of a
blasphemous Brooklyn preacher and harlequin, the Reverend Dr. Talmage, makes us
see her rushing back "with besweated brow, a pitcher in one hand and the
tongs in the other . . . into the presence of Christ," and blowing him up
for not caring that her sister hath left her "to serve alone."*
From the birth of
the solemn and majestic conception of the unrevealed Deity of the ancient
adepts to such caricatured descriptions of him who died on the Cross for his
philanthropic devotion to humanity, long centuries have intervened, and their
heavy tread seems to have almost entirely obliterated all sense of a spiritual
religion from the hearts of his professed followers. No wonder then, that the
sentence of Proclus is no longer understood by the Christians, and is rejected
as a "vaglary" by the materialists, who, in their negation, are less
blasphemous and atheistical than many of the reverends and members of the
churches. But, although the Greek epoptai are no more, we have now, in our own
age, a people far more ancient than the oldest Hellenes, who practice the
so-called "preterhuman" gifts to the same extent as did their
ancestors far earlier than the days of Troy. It is to this people that we draw
the attention of the psychologist and philosopher.
One need not go
very deep into the literature of the Orientalists to become convinced that in
most cases they do not even suspect that in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This original and
very long sermon was preached in a church at Brooklyn, N. Y., on the 15th day
of April, 1877. On the following morning, the reverend orator was called in the
"Sun" a gibbering charlatan; but this deserved epithet will not prevent
other reverend buffoons doing the same and even worse. And this is the religion
of Christ! Far better disbelieve in him altogether than caricature one's God in
such a manner. We heartily applaud the "Sun" for the following views:
"And then when Talmage makes Christ say to Martha in the tantrums: 'Don't
worry, but sit down on this ottoman,' he adds the climax to a scene that the
inspired writers had nothing to say about. Talmage's buffoonery is going too
far. If he were the worst heretic in the land, instead of being straight in his
orthodoxy, he would not do so much evil to religion as he does by his familiar
blasphemies."
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THE THIRD DEGREE.
the arcane
philosophy of India there are depths which they have not sounded, and cannot
sound, for they pass on without perceiving them. There is a pervading tone of
conscious superiority, a ring of contempt in the treatment of Hindu
metaphysics, as though the European mind is alone enlightened enough to polish
the rough diamond of the old Sanscrit writers, and separate right from wrong
for the benefit of their descendants. We see them disputing over the external
forms of expression without a conception of the great vital truths these hide
from the profane view.
"As a rule,
the Brahmans," says Jacolliot, "rarely go beyond the class of
grihesta [priests of the vulgar castes] and purahita [exorcisers, divines,
prophets, and evocators of spirits]. And yet, we shall see . . . once that we
have touched upon the question and study of manifestations and phenomena, that
these initiates of the first degree (the lowest) attribute to themselves, and
in appearance possess faculties developed to a degree which has never been
equalled in Europe. As to the initiates of the second and especially of the
third category, they pretend to be enabled to ignore time, space, and to
command life and death."*
Such initiates as
these M. Jacolliot did not meet; for, as he says himself, they only appear on
the most solemn occasions, and when the faith of the multitudes has to be
strengthened by phenomena of a superior order. "They are never seen,
either in the neighborhood of, or even inside the temples, except at the grand
quinquennial festival of the fire. On that occasion, they appear about the
middle of the night, on a platform erected in the centre of the sacred lake,
like so many phantoms, and by their conjurations they illumine the space. A
fiery column of light ascends from around them, rushing from earth to heaven.
Unfamiliar sounds vibrate through the air, and five or six hundred thousand
Hindus, gathered from every part of India to contemplate these demi-gods, throw
themselves with their faces buried in the dust, invoking the souls of their
ancestors."**
Let any impartial
person read the Spiritisme dans le Monde, and he cannot believe that this
"implacable rationalist," as Jacolliot takes pride in terming
himself, said one word more than is warranted by what he had seen. His
statements support and are corroborated by those of other skeptics. As a rule,
the missionaries, even after passing half a lifetime in the country of
"devil-worship," as they call India, either disingenuously deny
altogether what they cannot help knowing to be true, or ridiculously attribute
phenomena to this power of the Devil, that outrival the "miracles" of
the apostolic ages. And what do we see this French
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Le
Spiritisme dans le Monde," p. 68.
** Ibid., pp. 78,
79.
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author,
notwithstanding his incorrigible rationalism, forced to admit, after having
narrated the greatest wonders? Watch the fakirs as he would, he is compelled to
bear the strongest testimony to their perfect honesty in the matter of their
miraculous phenomena. "Never," he says, "have we succeeded in
detecting a single one in the act of deceit." One fact should be noted by
all who, without having been in India, still fancy they are clever enough to
expose the fraud of pretended magicians. This skilled and cool observer, this
redoubtable materialist, after his long sojourn in India, affirms, "We
unhesitatingly avow that we have not met, either in India or in Ceylon, a
single European, even among the oldest residents, who has been able to indicate
the means employed by these devotees for the production of these
phenomena!"
And how should
they? Does not this zealous Orientalist confess to us that even he, who had
every available means at hand to learn many of their rites and doctrines at
first hand, failed in his attempts to make the Brahmans explain to him their
secrets. "All that our most diligent inquiries of the Pourohitas could
elicit from them respecting the acts of their superiors (the invisible
initiates of the temples), amounts to very little." And again, speaking of
one of the books, he confesses that, while purporting to reveal all that is
desirable to know, it "falls back into mysterious formulas, in
combinations of magical and occult letters, the secret of which it has been
impossible for us to penetrate," etc.
The fakirs,
although they can never reach beyond the first degree of initiation, are,
notwithstanding, the only agents between the living world and the "silent
brothers," or those initiates who never cross the thresholds of their
sacred dwellings. The Fukara-Yogis belong to the temples, and who knows but
these cenobites of the sanctuary have far more to do with the psychological
phenomena which attend the fakirs, and have been so graphically described by Jacolliot,
than the Pitris themselves? Who can tell but that the fluidic spectre of the
ancient Brahman seen by Jacolliot was the Scin-lecca, the spiritual double, of
one of these mysterious sannyasi?
Although the story
has been translated and commented upon by Professor Perty, of Geneva, still we
will venture to give it in Jacolliot's own words: "A moment after the
disappearance of the hands, the fakir continuing his evocations (mantras) more
earnestly than ever, a cloud like the first, but more opalescent and more
opaque, began to hover near the small brasier, which, by request of the Hindu,
I had constantly fed with live coals. Little by little it assumed a form entire
human, and I distinguished the spectre -- for I cannot call it otherwise -- of
an old Brahman sacrificator, kneeling near the little brasier.
"He bore on
his forehead the signs sacred to Vishnu, and around his
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BRAHMAN.
body the triple
cord, sign of the initiates of the priestly caste. He joined his hands above
his head, as during the sacrifices, and his lips moved as if they were reciting
prayers. At a given moment, he took a pinch of perfumed powder, and threw it
upon the coals; it must have been a strong compound, for a thick smoke arose on
the instant, and filled the two chambers.
"When it was
dissipated, I perceived the spectre, which, two steps from me, was extending to
me its fleshless hand; I took it in mine, making a salutation, and I was
astonished to find it, although bony and hard, warm and living.
" 'Art thou,
indeed,' said I at this moment, in a loud voice, 'an ancient inhabitant of the
earth?'
"I had not finished
the question, when the word AM, (yes) appeared and then disappeared in letters
of fire, on the breast of the old Brahman, with an effect much like that which
the word would produce if written in the dark with a stick of phosphorus.
" 'Will you
leave me nothing in token of your visit?' I continued.
"The spirit
broke the triple cord, composed of three strands of cotton, which begirt his
loins, gave it to me, and vanished at my feet."*
"Oh Brahma!
what is this mystery which takes place every night? . . . When lying on the
matting, with eyes closed, the body is lost sight of, and the soul escapes to
enter into conversation with the Pitris. . . . Watch over it, O Brahma, when,
forsaking the resting body, it goes away to hover over the waters, to wander in
the immensity of heaven, and penetrate into the dark and mysterious nooks of
the valleys and grand forests of the Hymavat! " (Agroushada Parikshai.)
The fakirs, when
belonging to some particular temple, never act but under orders. Not one of
them, unless he has reached a degree of extraordinary sanctity, is freed from
the influence and guidance of his guru, his teacher, who first initiated and
instructed him in the mysteries of the occult sciences. Like the subject of the
European mesmerizer, the average fakir can never rid himself entirely of the
psychological influence exercised on him by his guru. Having passed two or
three hours in the silence and solitude of the inner temple in prayer and
meditation, the fakir, when he emerges thence, is mesmerically strengthened and
prepared; he produces wonders far more varied and powerful than before he
entered. The "master" has laid his hands upon him, and the fakir
feels strong.
It may be shown, on
the authority of many Brahmanical and Buddhist sacred books, that there has
ever existed a great difference between
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Louis Jacolliot:
"Phenomenes et Manifestations."
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adepts of the
higher order, and purely psychological subjects -- like many of these fakirs,
who are mediums in a certain qualified sense. True, the fakir is ever talking
of Pitris, and this is natural; for they are his protecting deities. But are
the Pitris disembodied human beings of our race? This is the question, and we
will discuss it in a moment.
We say that the
fakir may be regarded in a degree as a medium; for he is -- what is not
generally known -- under the direct mesmeric influence of a living adept, his
sannyasi or guru. When the latter dies, the power of the former, unless he has
received the last transfer of spiritual forces, wanes and often even
disappears. Why, if it were otherwise, should the fakirs have been excluded
from the right of advancing to the second and third degree? The lives of many
of them exemplify a degree of self-sacrifice and sanctity unknown and utterly
incomprehensible to Europeans, who shudder at the bare thought of such
self-inflicted tortures. But however shielded from control by vulgar and
earth-bound spirits, however wide the chasm between a debasing influence and
their self-controlled souls; and however well protected by the seven-knotted
magical bamboo rod which he receives from the guru, still the fakir lives in
the outer world of sin and matter, and it is possible that his soul may be
tainted, perchance, by the magnetic emanations from profane objects and
persons, and thereby open an access to strange spirits and gods. To admit one
so situated, one not under any and all circumstances sure of the mastery over
himself, to a knowledge of the awful mysteries and priceless secrets of
initiation, would be impracticable. It would not only imperil the security of
that which must, at all hazards, be guarded from profanation, but it would be
consenting to admit behind the veil a fellow being, whose mediumistic
irresponsibility might at any moment cause him to lose his life through an
involuntary indiscretion. The same law which prevailed in the Eleusinian
Mysteries before our era, holds good now in India.
Not only must the
adept have mastery over himself, but he must be able to control the inferior
grades of spiritual beings, nature-spirits, and earthbound souls, in short the
very ones by whom, if by any, the fakir is liable to be affected.
For the objector to
affirm that the Brahman-adepts and the fakirs admit that of themselves they are
powerless, and can only act with the help of disembodied human spirits, is to
state that these Hindus are unacquainted with the laws of their sacred books
and even the meaning of the word Pitris. The Laws of Manu, the Atharva-Veda,
and other books, prove what we now say. "All that exists," says the
Atharva-Veda, "is in the power of the gods. The gods are under the power
of magical conjurations. The magical conjurations are under the control of the
Brahmans. Hence
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ARE NOT.
the gods are in the
power of the Brahmans." This is logical, albeit seemingly paradoxical, and
it is the fact. And this fact will explain to those who have not hitherto had
the clew (among whom Jacolliot must be numbered, as will appear on reading his
works), why the fakir should be confined to the first, or lowest degree of that
course of initiation whose highest adepts, or hierophants, are the sannyasis,
or members of the ancient Supreme Council of Seventy.
Moreover, in Book
I., of the Hindu Genesis, or Book of Creation of Manu, the Pitris are called
the lunar ancestors of the human race. They belong to a race of beings
different from ourselves, and cannot properly be called "human
spirits" in the sense in which the spiritualists use this term. This is
what is said of them:
"Then they
(the gods) created the Jackshas, the Rakshasas, the Pisatshas,* the Gandarbas**
and the Apsaras, and the Asuras, the Nagas, the Sarpas and the Suparnas,*** and
the Pitris -- lunar ancestors of the human race" (See Institutes of Manu,
Book I., sloka 37, where the Pitris are termed "progenitors of
mankind").
The Pitris are a
distinct race of spirits belonging to the mythological hierarchy or rather to
the kabalistical nomenclature, and must be included with the good genii, the
daemons of the Greeks, or the inferior gods of the invisible world; and when a
fakir attributes his phenomena to the Pitris, he means only what the ancient
philosophers and theurgists meant when they maintained that all the
"miracles" were obtained through the intervention of the gods, or the
good and bad daemons, who control the powers of nature, the elementals, who are
subordinate to the power of him "who knows." A ghost or human phantom
would be termed by a fakir palit, or chutna, as that of a female human spirit
pichhalpai, not pitris. True, pitara means (plural) fathers, ancestors; and
pitra-i is a kinsman; but these words are used in quite a different sense from
that of the Pitris invoked in the mantras.
To maintain before
a devout Brahman or a fakir that any one can converse with the spirits of the
dead, would be to shock him with what would appear to him blasphemy. Does not
the concluding verse of the Bagavat state that this supreme felicity is alone
reserved to the holy sannyasis, the gurus, and yogis?
"Long before
they finally rid themselves of their mortal envelopes, the souls who have
practiced only good, such as those of the sannyasis and the vanaprasthas,
acquire the faculty of conversing with the souls which preceded them to the
swarga."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Pisatshas,
daemons of the race of the gnomes, the giants and the vampires.
** Gandarbas, good
daemon, celestial seraphs, singers.
*** Asuras and
Nagas are the Titanic spirits and the dragon or serpent-headed spirits.
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In this case the
Pitris instead of genii are the spirits, or rather souls, of the departed ones.
But they will freely communicate only with those whose atmosphere is as pure as
their own, and to whose prayerful kalassa (invocation) they can respond without
the risk of defiling their own celestial purity. When the soul of the invocator
has reached the Sayadyam, or perfect identity of essence with the Universal
Soul, when matter is utterly conquered, then the adept can freely enter into
daily and hourly communion with those who, though unburdened with their
corporeal forms, are still themselves progressing through the endless series of
transformations included in the gradual approach to the Paramatma, or the grand
Universal Soul.
Bearing in mind
that the Christian fathers have always claimed for themselves and their saints
the name of "friends of God," and knowing that they borrowed this
expression, with many others, from the technology of the Pagan temples, it is
but natural to expect them to show an evil temper whenever alluding to these
rites. Ignorant, as a rule, and having had biographers as ignorant as
themselves, we could not well expect them to find in the accounts of their
beatific visions a descriptive beauty such as we find in the Pagan classics.
Whether the visions and objective phenomena claimed by both the fathers of the
desert and the hierophants of the sanctuary are to be discredited, or accepted
as facts, the splendid imagery employed by Proclus and Apuleius in narrating
the small portion of the final initiation that they dared reveal, throws
completely into the shade the plagiaristic tales of the Christian ascetics,
faithful copies though they were intended to be. The story of the temptation of
St. Anthony in the desert by the female demon, is a parody upon the preliminary
trials of the neophyte during the Mikra, or minor Mysteries of Agrae -- those
rites at the thought of which Clemens railed so bitterly, and which represented
the bereaved Demeter in search of her child, and her good-natured hostess
Baubo.*
Without entering
again into a demonstration that in Christian, and especially Irish Roman
Catholic, churches** the same apparently indecent customs as the above
prevailed until the end of the last century, we will recur to the untiring
labors of that honest and brave defender of the ancient faith, Thomas Taylor,
and his works. However much dogmatic Greek scholarship may have found to say
against his "mistranslations," his memory must be dear to every true
Platonist, who seeks rather to learn the inner thought of the great philosopher
than enjoy the mere external mechanism of his writings. Better classical
translators may have
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* See Arnolius:
"Op. Cit.," pp. 249, 250.
** See Inman's
"Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism."
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THOMAS TAYLOR.
rendered us, in
more correct phraseology, Plato's words, but Taylor shows us Plato's meaning,
and this is more than can be said of Zeller, Jowett, and their predecessors.
Yet, as writes Professor A. Wilder, "Taylor's works have met with favor at
the hands of men capable of profound and recondite thinking; and it must be
conceded that he was endowed with a superior qualification -- that of an
intuitive perception of the interior meaning of the subjects which he
considered. Others may have known more Greek, but he knew more Plato."*
Taylor devoted his
whole useful life to the search after such old manuscripts as would enable him
to have his own speculations concerning several obscure rites in the Mysteries
corroborated by writers who had been initiated themselves. It is with full
confidence in the assertions of various classical writers that we say that
ridiculous, perhaps licentious in some cases, as may appear ancient worship to
the modern critic, it ought not to have so appeared to the Christians. During
the mediaeval ages, and even later, they accepted pretty nearly the same
without understanding the secret import of its rites, and quite satisfied with
the obscure and rather fantastic interpretations of their clergy, who accepted
the exterior form and distorted the inner meaning. We are ready to concede, in
full justice, that centuries have passed since the great majority of the
Christian clergy, who are not allowed to pry into God's mysteries nor seek to
explain that which the Church has once accepted and established, have had the
remotest idea of their symbolism, whether in its exoteric or esoteric meaning.
Not so with the head of the Church and its highest dignitaries. And if we fully
agree with Inman that it is "difficult to believe that the ecclesiastics
who sanctioned the publication of such prints** could have been as ignorant as
modern ritualists," we are not at all prepared to believe with the same author
"that the latter, if they knew the real meaning of the symbols commonly
used by the Roman Church, would not have adopted them."
To eliminate what
is plainly derived from the sex and nature wor-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Introduction to
Taylor's "Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries," published by J. W.
Bouton.
** Illustrated
figures "from an ancient Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, printed at
Venice, 1524, with a license from the Inquisition." In the illustrations
given by Dr. Inman the Virgin is represented in an Assyrian "grove,"
the abomination in the eyes of the Lord, according to the Bible prophets.
"The book in question," says the author, "contains numerous
figures, all resembling closely the Mesopotamian emblem of Ishtar. The presence
of the woman therein identifies the two as symbolic of Isis, or la nature; and
a man bowing down in adoration thereof shows the same idea as is depicted in
Assyrian sculptures, where males offer to the goddess symbols of themselves"
(See "Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," p. 91. Second
edition. J. W. Bouton, publisher, New York).
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ship of the ancient
heathens, would be equivalent to pulling down the whole Roman Catholic
image-worship -- the Madonna element -- and reforming the faith to
Protestantism. The enforcement of the late dogma of the Immaculation was
prompted by this very secret reason. The science of symbology was making too
rapid progress. Blind faith in the Pope's infallibility and in the immaculate
nature of the Virgin and of her ancestral female lineage to a certain remove
could alone save the Church from the indiscreet revelations of science. It was
a clever stroke of policy on the part of the vicegerent of God. What matters it
if, by "conferring upon her such an honor," as Don Pascale de
Franciscis naively expresses it, he has made a goddess of the Virgin Mary, an
Olympian Deity, who, having been by her very nature placed in the impossibility
of sinning, can claim no virtue, no personal merit for her purity, precisely
for which, as we were taught to believe in our younger days, she was chosen among
all other women. If his Holiness has deprived her of this, perhaps, on the
other hand, he thinks that he has endowed her with at least one physical
attribute not shared by the other virgin-goddesses. But even this new dogma,
which, in company with the new claim to infallibility, has quasi-revolutionized
the Christian world, is not original with the Church of Rome. It is but a
return to a hardly-remembered heresy of the early Christian ages, that of the
Collyridians, so called from their sacrificing cakes to the Virgin, whom they
claimed to be Virgin-born.* The new sentence, "O, Virgin Mary, conceived
without sin," is simply a tardy acceptance of that which was at first
deemed a "blasphemous heresie" by the orthodox fathers.
To think for one
moment that any of the popes, cardinals, or other high dignitaries "were
not aware" from the first to the last of the external meanings of their
symbols, is to do injustice to their great learning and their spirit of
Machiavellism. It is to forget that the emissaries of Rome will never be
stopped by any difficulty which can be skirted by the employment of Jesuitical
artifice. The policy of complaisant conformity was never carried to greater
lengths than by the missionaries in Ceylon, who, according to the Abbe Dubois --
certainly a learned and competent authority -- "conducted the images of
the Virgin and Saviour on triumphal cars, imitated from the orgies of
Juggernauth, and introduced the dancers from the Brahminical rites into the
ceremonial of the church."** Let us at least thank these black-frocked
politicians for their consistency in employing the car of Juggernauth, upon
which the "wicked heathen"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See King's
"Gnostics," pp. 91, 92; "The Genealogy of the Blessed Virgin
Mary," by Faustus, Bishop of Riez.
** Prinseps quotes
Dubois, "Edinburgh Review," April, 1851, p. 411.
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CAR OF JUGGERNAUTH.
convey the lingham
of Siva. To have used this car to carry in its turn the Romish representative
of the female principle in nature, is to show discrimination and a thorough
knowledge of the oldest mythological conceptions. They have blended the two
deities, and thus represented, in a Christian procession, the
"heathen" Brahma, or Nara (the father), Nari (the mother), and Viradj
(the son).
Says Manu:
"The Sovereign Master who exists through himself, divides his body into
two halves, male and female, and from the union of these two principles is born
Viradj, the Son."*
There was not a
Christian Father who could have been ignorant of these symbols in their physical
meaning; for it is in this latter aspect that they were abandoned to the
ignorant rabble. Moreover, they all had as good reasons to suspect the occult
symbolism contained in these images; although as none of them -- Paul excepted,
perhaps -- had been initiated they could know nothing whatever about the nature
of the final rites. Any person revealing these mysteries was put to death,
regardless of sex, nationality, or creed. A Christian father would no more be
proof against an accident than a Pagan Mysta or the [[Mustes]].
If during the
Aporreta or preliminary arcanes, there were some practices which might have
shocked the pudicity of a Christian convert -- though we doubt the sincerity of
such statements -- their mystical symbolism was all sufficient to relieve the
performance of any charge of licentiousness. Even the episode of the Matron
Baubo -- whose rather eccentric method of consolation was immortalized in the
minor Mysteries -- is explained by impartial mystagogues quite naturally.
Ceres-Demeter and her earthly wanderings in search of her daughter are the
euhemerized descriptions of one of the most metaphysico-psychological subjects
ever treated of by human mind. It is a mask for the transcendent narrative of
the initiated seers; the celestial vision of the freed soul of the initiate of
the last hour describing the process by which the soul that has not yet been
incarnated descends for the first time into matter, "Blessed is he who
hath seen those common concerns of the underworld; he knows both the end of
life and its divine origin from Jupiter," says Pindar. Taylor shows, on
the authority of more than one initiate, that the "dramatic performances
of the Lesser Mysteries were designed by their founders, to signify occultly
the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthly body, and
enveloped in a material and physical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Manu,"
book I., sloka 32: Sir W. Jones, translating from the Northern
"Manu," renders this sloka as follows: "Having divided his own
substance, the mighty Power became half male, half female, or nature active and
passive; and from that female he produced VIRAJ."
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nature . . . that
the soul, indeed, till purified by philosophy, suffers death through its union
with the body."
The body is the
sepulchre, the prison of the soul, and many Christian Fathers held with Plato
that the soul is punished through its union with the body. Such is the
fundamental doctrine of the Buddhists and of many Brahmanists too. When
Plotinus remarks that "when the soul has descended into generation (from
its half-divine condition) she partakes of evil, and is carried a great way
into a state the opposite of her first purity and integrity, to be entirely
merged in which is nothing more than to fall into dark mire";* he only
repeats the teachings of Gautama-Buddha. If we have to believe the ancient
initiates at all, we must accept their interpretation of the symbols. And if,
moreover, we find them perfectly coinciding with the teachings of the greatest
philosophers and that which we know symbolizes the same meaning in the modern
Mysteries in the East, we must believe them to be right.
If Demeter was
considered the intellectual soul, or rather the Astral soul, half emanation
from the spirit and half tainted with matter through a succession of spiritual
evolutions -- we may readily understand what is meant by the Matron Baubo, the
Enchantress, who before she succeeds in reconciling the soul -- Demeter, to its
new position, finds herself obliged to assume the sexual forms of an infant.
Baubo is matter, the physical body; and the intellectual, as yet pure astral
soul can be ensnared into its new terrestrial prison but by the display of
innocent babyhood. Until then, doomed to her fate, Demeter, or Magna-mater, the
Soul, wonders and hesitates and suffers; but once having partaken of the magic
potion prepared by Baubo, she forgets her sorrows; for a certain time she parts
with that consciousness of higher intellect that she was possessed of before
entering the body of a child. Thenceforth she must seek to rejoin it again; and
when the age of reason arrives for the child, the struggle -- forgotten for a
few years of infancy -- begins again. The astral soul is placed between matter
(body) and the highest intellect (its immortal spirit or nous). Which of those
two will conquer? The result of the battle of life lies between the triad. It
is a question of a few years of physical enjoyment on earth and -- if it has
begotten abuse -- of the dissolution of the earthly body being followed by
death of the astral body, which thus is prevented from being united with the
highest spirit of the triad, which alone confers on us individual immortality;
or, on the other hand, of becoming immortal mystae; initiated before death of
the body into the divine truths of the after life. Demi-gods below, and GODS
above.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Enead," i., book viii.
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THE EPOPTEIA.
Such was the chief
object of the Mysteries represented as diabolical by theology, and ridiculed by
modern symbologists. To disbelieve that there exist in man certain arcane
powers, which, by psychological study he can develop in himself to the highest
degree, become an hierophant and then impart to others under the same
conditions of earthly discipline, is to cast an imputation of falsehood and
lunacy upon a number of the best, purest, and most learned men of antiquity and
of the middle ages. What the hierophant was allowed to see at the last hour is
hardly hinted at by them. And yet Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus,
Proclus, and many others knew and affirmed their reality.
Whether in the
"inner temple," or through the study of theurgy carried on privately,
or by the sole exertion of a whole life of spiritual labor, they all obtained
the practical proof of such divine possibilities for man fighting his battle
with life on earth to win a life in the eternity. What the last epopteia was is
alluded to by Plato in Phaedrus (64); ". . . being initiated in those
Mysteries, which it is lawful to call the most blessed of all mysteries . . .
we were freed from the molestations of evils which otherwise await us in a
future period of time. Likewise, in consequence of this divine initiation, we
became spectators of entire, simple, immovable, and blessed visions, resident
in a pure light." This sentence shows that they saw visions, gods, spirits.
As Taylor correctly observes, from all such passages in the works of the
initiates it may be inferred, "that the most sublime part of the epopteia
. . . consisted in beholding the gods themselves invested with a resplendent
light," or highest planetary spirits. The statement of Proclus upon this
subject is unequivocal: "In all the initiations and mysteries, the gods
exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in a variety of shapes, and
sometimes, indeed, a formless light of themselves is held forth to the view;
sometimes this light is according to a human form, and sometimes it proceeds
into a different shape."*
"Whatever is
on earth is the resemblance and SHADOW of something that is in the sphere,
while that resplendent thing (the prototype of the soul-spirit) remaineth in
unchangeable condition, it is well also with its shadow. But when the
resplendent one removeth far from its shadow life removeth from the latter to a
distance. And yet, that very light is the shadow of something still more
resplendent than itself." Thus speaks Desatir, the Persian Book of Shet,**
thereby showing its identity of esoteric doctrines with those of the Greek
philosophers.
The second
statement of Plato confirms our belief that the Mysteries of the ancients were
identical with the Initiations, as practiced now
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Commentary
upon the Republic of Plato," p, 380.
** Verses 33-41.
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among the Buddhists
and the Hindu adepts. The highest visions, the most truthful, are produced, not
through natural ecstatics or "mediums," as it is sometimes erroneously
asserted, but through a regular discipline of gradual initiations and
development of psychical powers. The Mystae were brought into close union with
those whom Proclus calls "mystical natures," "resplendent
gods," because, as Plato says, "we were ourselves pure and
immaculate, being liberated from this surrounding vestment, which we denominate
body, and to which we are now bound like an oyster to its shell."*
So the doctrine of
planetary and terrestrial Pitris was revealed entirely in ancient India, as
well as now, only at the last moment of initiation, and to the adepts of
superior degrees. Many are the fakirs, who, though pure, and honest, and
self-devoted, have yet never seen the astral form of a purely human pitar (an
ancestor or father), otherwise than at the solemn moment of their first and
last initiation. It is in the presence of his instructor, the guru, and just
before the vatou-fakir is dispatched into the world of the living, with his
seven-knotted bamboo wand for all protection, that he is suddenly placed face
to face with the unknown PRESENCE. He sees it, and falls prostrate at the feet
of the evanescent form, but is not entrusted with the great secret of its
evocation; for it is the supreme mystery of the holy syllable. The AUM contains
the evocation of the Vedic triad, the Trimurti Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, say the
Orientalists;** it contains the evocation of something more real and objective
than this triune abstraction -- we say, respectfully contradicting the eminent
scientists. It is the trinity of man himself, on his way to become immortal
through the solemn union of his inner triune SELF -- the exterior, gross body,
the husk not even being taken in consideration in this human trinity.*** It is,
when this trinity, in anticipation of the final
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Phaedrus," p. 64.
** The Supreme
Buddha is invoked with two of his acolytes of the theistic triad, Dharma and
Sanga. This triad is addressed in Sanscrit in the following terms:
Namo Buddhaya,
Namo Dharmaya,
Namo Sangaya,
Aum!
while the Thibetan
Buddhists pronounce their invocations as follows:
Nan-won Fho-tho-ye,
Nan-won Tha-ma-ye,
Nan-won
Seng-kia-ye,
Aan!
See also
"Journal Asiatique," tome vii., p. 286.
*** The body of man
-- his coat of skin -- is an inert mass of matter, per se; it is but the
sentient living body within the man that is considered as the man's body
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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CONFERRED WITH.
triumphant reunion
beyond the gates of corporeal death became for a few seconds a UNITY, that the
candidate is allowed, at the moment of the initiation, to behold his future
self. Thus we read in the Persian Desatir, of the "Resplendent one";
in the Greek philosopher-initiates, of the Augoeides -- the self-shining
"blessed vision resident in the pure light"; in Porphyry, that
Plotinus was united to his "god" six times during his lifetime; and
so on.
"In ancient
India, the mystery of the triad, known but to the initiates, could not, under
the penalty of death, be revealed to the vulgar," says Vrihaspati.
Neither could it in
the ancient Grecian and Samothracian Mysteries. Nor can it be now. It is in the
hands of the adepts, and must remain a mystery to the world so long as the
materialistic savant regards it as an undemonstrated fallacy, an insane
hallucination, and the dogmatic theologian, a snare of the Evil One.
Subjective
communication with the human, god-like spirits of those who have preceded us to
the silent land of bliss, is in India divided into three categories. Under the
spiritual training of a guru or sannyasi, the vatou (disciple or neophyte)
begins to feel them. Were he not under the immediate guidance of an adept, he
would be controlled by the invisibles, and utterly at their mercy, for among
these subjective influences he is unable to discern the good from the bad.
Happy the sensitive who is sure of the purity of his spiritual atmosphere!
To this subjective
consciousness, which is the first degree, is, after a time, added that of
clairaudience. This is the second degree or stage of development. The sensitive
-- when not naturally made so by psychological training -- now audibly hears,
but is still unable to discern; and is incapable of verifying his impressions,
and one who is unprotected the tricky powers of the air but too often delude
with semblances of voices and speech. But the guru's influence is there; it is
the most powerful shield against the intrusion of the bhutna into the
atmosphere of the vatou, consecrated to the pure, human, and celestial Pitris.
The third degree is
that when the fakir or any other candidate both feels, hears, and sees; and
when he can at will produce the reflections of the Pitris on the mirror of
astral light. All depends upon his psychological and mesmeric powers, which are
always proportionate to the intensity of his will. But the fakir will never
control the Akasa, the spiritual life-principle, the omnipotent agent of every
phenomenon, in the same degree as an adept of the third and highest initiation.
And the
[[Footnote(s)]]
--------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] proper, and it is that which, together with the
fontal soul or purely astral body, directly connected with the immortal spirit,
constitutes the trinity of man.
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phenomena produced
by the will of the latter do not generally run the market-places for the
satisfaction of open-mouthed investigators.
The unity of God,
the immortality of the spirit, belief in salvation only through our works,
merit and demerit; such are the principal articles of faith of the
Wisdom-religion, and the ground-work of Vedaism, Buddhism, Parsism, and such we
find to have been even that of the ancient Osirism, when we, after abandoning
the popular sun-god to the materialism of the rabble, confine our attention to
the Books of Hermes, the thrice-great.
"The THOUGHT
concealed as yet the world in silence and darkness. . . . Then the Lord who
exists through Himself, and who is not to be divulged to the external senses of
man; dissipated darkness, and manifested the perceptible world."
"He that can
be perceived only by the spirit, that escapes the organs of sense, who is
without visible parts, eternal, the soul of all beings, that none can
comprehend, displayed His own splendor" (Manu, book i., slokas, 6-7).
Such is the ideal
of the Supreme in the mind of every Hindu philosopher.
"Of all the
duties, the principal one is to acquire the knowledge of the supreme soul (the
spirit); it is the first of all sciences, for it alone confers on man
immortality" (Manu, book xii., sloka 85).
And our scientists
talk of the Nirvana of Buddha and the Moksha of Brahma as of a complete
annihilation! It is thus that the following verse is interpreted by some
materialists.
"The man who
recognizes the Supreme Soul, in his own soul, as well as in that of all
creatures, and who is equally just to all (whether man or animals) obtains the
happiest of all fates, that to be finally absorbed in the bosom of Brahma"
(Manu, book xii., sloka 125).
The doctrine of the
Moksha and the Nirvana, as understood by the school of Max Muller, can never
bear confronting with numerous texts that can be found, if required, as a final
refutation. There are sculptures in many pagodas which contradict, point-blank,
the imputation. Ask a Brahman to explain Moksha, address yourself to an
educated Buddhist and pray him to define for you the meaning of Nirvana. Both
will answer you that in every one of these religions Nirvana represents the
dogma of the spirit's immortality. That, to reach the Nirvana means absorption
into the great universal soul, the latter representing a state, not an
individual being or an anthropomorphic god, as some understand the great
EXISTENCE. That a spirit reaching such a state becomes a part of the integral
whole, but never loses its individuality for all that. Henceforth, the spirit
lives spiritually, without any fear of further modi-
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PROVOKED BY DRUGS.
fications of form;
for form pertains to matter, and the state of Nirvana implies a complete
purification or a final riddance from even the most sublimated particle of
matter.
This word,
absorbed, when it is proved that the Hindus and Buddhists believe in the
immortality of the spirit, must necessarily mean intimate union, not
annihilation. Let Christians call them idolaters, if they still dare do so, in
the face of science and the latest translations of the sacred Sanscrit books;
they have no right to present the speculative philosophy of ancient sages as an
inconsistency and the philosophers themselves as illogical fools. With far
better reason we can accuse the ancient Jews of utter nihilism. There is not a
word contained in the Books of Moses -- or the prophets either -- which, taken
literally, implies the spirit's immortality. Yet every devout Jew hopes as well
to be "gathered into the bosom of A-Braham."
The hierophants and
some Brahmans are accused of having administered to their epoptai strong drinks
or anaesthetics to produce visions which shall be taken by the latter as
realities. They did and do use sacred beverages which, like the Soma-drink,
possess the faculty of freeing the astral form from the bonds of matter; but in
those visions there is as little to be attributed to hallucination as in the glimpses
which the scientist, by the help of his optical instrument, gets into the
microscopic world. A man cannot perceive, touch, and converse with pure spirit
through any of his bodily senses. Only spirit alone can talk to and see spirit;
and even our astral soul, the Doppelganger, is too gross, too much tainted yet
with earthly matter to trust entirely to its perceptions and insinuations.
How dangerous may
often become untrained mediumship, and how thoroughly it was understood and
provided against by the ancient sages, is perfectly exemplified in the case of
Socrates. The old Grecian philosopher was a "medium"; hence, he had
never been initiated into the Mysteries; for such was the rigorous law. But he
had his "familiar spirit" as they call it, his daimonion; and this
invisible counsellor became the cause of his death. It is generally believed
that if he was not initiated into the Mysteries it was because he himself
neglected to become so. But the Secret Records teach us that it was because he
could not be admitted to participate in the sacred rites, and precisely, as we
state, on account of his mediumship. There was a law against the admission not
only of such as were convicted of deliberate witchcraft* but even
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We really think
that the word "witchcraft" ought, once for all, to be understood in
the sense which properly belongs to it. Witchcraft may be either conscious or
unconscious. Certain wicked and dangerous results may be obtained through the
mesmeric powers of a so-called sorcerer, who misuses his potential fluid; or
again they may be achieved through an easy access of malicious tricky
"spirits" (so much the worse if
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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but even of those
who were known to have "a familiar spirit." The law was just and
logical, because a genuine medium is more or less irresponsible; and the
eccentricities of Socrates are thus accounted for in some degree. A medium must
be passive; and if a firm believer in his "spirit-guide" he will
allow himself to be ruled by the latter, not by the rules of the sanctuary. A
medium of olden times, like the modern "medium" was subject to be
entranced at the will and pleasure of the "power" which controlled
him; therefore, he could not well have been entrusted with the awful secrets of
the final initiation, "never to be revealed under the penalty of
death." The old sage, in unguarded moments of "spiritual
inspiration," revealed that which he had never learned; and was therefore
put to death as an atheist.
How then, with such
an instance as that of Socrates, in relation to the visions and spiritual
wonders at the epoptai, of the Inner Temple, can any one assert that these
seers, theurgists, and thaumaturgists were all "spirit-mediums"?
Neither Pythagoras, Plato, nor any of the later more important Neo-platonists;
neither Iamblichus, Longinus, Proclus, nor Apollonius of Tyana, were ever
mediums; for in such case they would not have been admitted to the Mysteries at
all. As Taylor proves -- "This assertion of divine visions in the
Mysteries is clearly confirmed by Plotinus. And in short, that magical
evocation formed a part of the sacerdotal office in them, and that this was
universally believed by all antiquity long before the era of the later
Platonists," shows that apart from natural "mediumship," there has
existed, from the beginning of time, a mysterious science, discussed by many,
but known only to a few.
The use of it is a
longing toward our only true and real home -- the after-life, and a desire to
cling more closely to our parent spirit; abuse of it is sorcery, witchcraft,
black magic. Between the two is placed natural "mediumship"; a soul
clothed with imperfect matter, a ready agent for either the one or the other,
and utterly dependent on its surroundings of life, constitutional heredity --
physical as well as mental -- and on the nature of the "spirits" it
attracts around itself. A blessing or a curse, as fate will have it, unless the
medium is purified of earthly dross.
The reason why in
every age so little has been generally known of the mysteries of initiation, is
twofold. The first has already been explained by more than one author, and lies
in the terrible penalty following the least indiscretion. The second, is the
superhuman difficulties and even dangers which the daring candidate of old had
to encounter, and either conquer, or die in the attempt, when, what is still
worse, he did not lose his
[[Footnote (s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] human) to the atmosphere surrounding a medium.
How many thousands of such irresponsible innocent victims have met infamous
deaths through the tricks of those Elementaries!
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TALMUD.
reason. There was
no real danger to him whose mind had become thoroughly spiritualized, and so
prepared for every terrific sight. He who fully recognized the power of his
immortal spirit, and never doubted for one moment its omnipotent protection,
had naught to fear. But woe to the candidate in whom the slightest physical
fear -- sickly child of matter -- made him lose sight and faith in his own
invulnerability. He who was not wholly confident of his moral fitness to accept
the burden of these tremendous secrets was doomed.
The Talmud gives
the story of the four Tanaim, who are made, in allegorical terms, to enter into
the garden of delights; i.e., to be initiated into the occult and final
science.
"According to
the teaching of our holy masters the names of the four who entered the garden
of delight, are: Ben Asai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Rabbi Akiba. . . .
"Ben Asai
looked and -- lost his sight.
"Ben Zoma
looked and -- lost his reason.
"Acher made
depredations in the plantation" (mixed up the whole and failed). "But
Akiba, who had entered in peace, came out of it in peace, for the saint whose
name be blessed had said, 'This old man is worthy of serving us with glory.'
"
"The learned
commentators of the Talmud, the Rabbis of the synagogue, explain that the
garden of delight, in which those four personages are made to enter, is but
that mysterious science, the most terrible of sciences for weak intellects,
which it leads directly to insanity," says A. Franck, in his Kabbala. It
is not the pure at heart and he who studies but with a view to perfecting
himself and so more easily acquiring the promised immortality, who need have
any fear; but rather he who makes of the science of sciences a sinful pretext
for worldly motives, who should tremble. The latter will never withstand the
kabalistic evocations of the supreme initiation.
The licentious
performances of the thousand and one early Christian sects, may be criticised
by partial commentators as well as the ancient Eleusinian and other rites. But
why should they incur the blame of the theologians, the Christians, when their
own "Mysteries" of "the divine incarnation with Joseph, Mary,
and the angel" in a sacred trilogue used to be enacted in more than one
country, and were famous at one time in Spain and Southern France? Later, they
fell like many other once secret rites into the hands of the populace. It is
but a few years since, during every Christmas week, Punch-and-Judy-boxes,
containing the above named personages, an additional display of the infant
Jesus in his manger, were carried about the country in Poland and Southern
Russia. They were called Kaliadovki, a word the correct etymology of which we
are
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unable to give
unless it is from the verb Kaliadovat, a word that we as willingly abandon to
learned philologists. We have seen this show in our days of childhood. We
remember the three king-Magi represented by three dolls in powdered wigs and
colored tights; and it is from recollecting the simple, profound veneration
depicted on the faces of the pious audience, that we can the more readily appreciate
the honest and just remark by the editor, in the introduction to the Eleusinian
Mysteries, who says: "It is ignorance which leads to profanation. Men
ridicule what they do not properly understand. . . . The undercurrent of this
world is set toward one goal; and inside of human credulity -- call it human
weakness, if you please -- is a power almost infinite, a holy faith capable of
apprehending the supremest truths of all existence."
If that abstract
sentiment called Christian charity prevailed in the Church, we would be well
content to leave all this unsaid. We have no quarrel with Christians whose
faith is sincere and whose practice coincides with their profession. But with
an arrogant, dogmatic, and dishonest clergy, we have nothing to do except to see
the ancient philosophy -- antagonized by modern theology in its puny offspring
-- Spiritualism -- defended and righted so far as we are able, so that its
grandeur and sufficiency may be thoroughly displayed. It is not alone for the
esoteric philosophy that we fight; nor for any modern system of moral
philosophy, but for the inalienable right of private judgment, and especially
for the ennobling idea of a future life of activity and accountability.
We eagerly applaud
such commentators as Godfrey Higgins, Inman, Payne Knight, King, Dunlap, and
Dr. Newton, however much they disagree with our own mystical views, for their
diligence is constantly being rewarded by fresh discoveries of the Pagan
paternity of Christian symbols. But otherwise, all these learned works are
useless. Their researches only cover half the ground. Lacking the true key of
interpretation they see the symbols only in a physical aspect. They have no
password to cause the gates of mystery to swing open; and ancient spiritual
philosophy is to them a closed book. Diametrically opposed though they be to
the clergy in their ideas respecting it, in the way of interpretation they do
little more than their opponents for a questioning public. Their labors tend to
strengthen materialism as those of the clergy, especially the Romish clergy, do
to cultivate belief in diabolism.
If the study of
Hermetic philosophy held out no other hope of reward, it would be more than
enough to know that by it we may learn with what perfection of justice the
world is governed. A sermon upon this text is preached by every page of
history. Among all there is not one that conveys a deeper moral than the case
of the Roman Church. The divine law of compensation was never more strikingly
exemplified than in the
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SELF-DOOMED.
fact that by her
own act she has deprived herself of the only possible key to her own religious
mysteries. The assumption of Godfrey Higgins that there are two doctrines
maintained in the Roman Church, one for the masses and the other -- the
esoteric -- for the "perfect," or the initiates, as in the ancient
Mysteries, appears to us unwarranted and rather fantastic. They have lost the
key, we repeat; otherwise no terrestrial power could have prostrated her, and
except a superficial knowledge of the means of producing "miracles,"
her clergy can in no way be compared in their wisdom with the hierophants of
old.
In burning the
works of the theurgists; in proscribing those who affect their study; in
affixing the stigma of demonolatry to magic in general, Rome has left her
exoteric worship and Bible to be helplessly riddled by every free-thinker, her
sexual emblems to be identified with coarseness, and her priests to unwittingly
turn magicians and even sorcerers in their exorcisms, which are but necromantic
evocations. Thus retribution, by the exquisite adjustment of divine law, is
made to overtake this scheme of cruelty, injustice, and bigotry, through her
own suicidal acts.
True philosophy and
divine truth are convertible terms. A religion which dreads the light cannot be
a religion based on either truth or philosophy -- hence, it must be false. The
ancient Mysteries were mysteries to the profane only, whom the hierophant never
sought nor would accept as proselytes; to the initiates the Mysteries became
explained as soon as the final veil was withdrawn. No mind like that of
Pythagoras or Plato would have contented itself with an unfathomable and
incomprehensible mystery, like that of the Christian dogma. There can be but
one truth, for two small truths on the same subject can but constitute one
great error. Among thousands of exoteric or popular conflicting religions which
have been propagated since the days when the first men were enabled to
interchange their ideas, not a nation, not a people, nor the most abject tribe,
but after their own fashion has believed in an Unseen God, the First Cause of unerring
and immutable laws, and in the immortality of our spirit. No creed, no false
philosophy, no religious exaggerations, could ever destroy that feeling. It
must, therefore, be based upon an absolute truth. On the other hand, every one
of the numberless religions and religious sects views the Deity after its own
fashion; and, fathering on the unknown its own speculations, it enforces these
purely human outgrowths of overheated imagination on the ignorant masses, and
calls them "revelation." As the dogmas of every religion and sect
often differ radically, they cannot be true. And if untrue, what are they?
"The greatest
curse to a nation," remarks Dr. Inman, "is not a bad religion, but a
form of faith which prevents manly inquiry. I know of no nation of old that was
priest-ridden which did not fall under the swords
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of those who did
not care for hierarchs. . . . The greatest danger is to be feared from those
ecclesiastics who wink at vice, and encourage it as a means whereby they can
gain power over their votaries. So long as every man does to other men as he
would that they should do to him, and allows no one to interfere between him
and his Maker, all will go well with the world."*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Ancient
Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," preface, p. 34.
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CHAPTER III.
"KING. -- Let
us from point to point this story know." -- All's Well That Ends Well. -- Act
v., Scene 3.
"He is the
One, self-proceeding; and from Him all things proceed.
And in them He
Himself exerts His activity; no mortal
BEHOLDS HIM, but HE
beholds all!" -- Orphic Hymn.
"And Athens, O
Athena, is thy own!
Great Goddess hear!
and on my darkened mind
Pour thy pure light
in measure unconfined;
That sacred light,
O all-proceeding Queen,
Which beams eternal
from thy face serene.
My soul, while
wand'ring on the earth, inspire
With thy own
blessed and impulsive fire!" -- PROCLUS; TAYLOR: To Minerva.
"Now faith is
the substance of things. . . . By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them
that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace." -- Hebrews
xi. 1, 31.
"What doth it
profit, my brethren, though a man hath faith, and have not works? Can FAITH
save him? . . . Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when
she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?" --
James ii. 14, 25.
CLEMENT describes
Basilides, the Gnostic, as "a philosopher devoted to the contemplation of
divine things." This very appropriate expression may be applied to many of
the founders of the more important sects which later were all engulfed in one
-- that stupendous compound of unintelligible dogmas enforced by Irenaeus, Tertullian,
and others, which is now termed Christianity. If these must be called heresies,
then early Christianity itself must be included in the number. Basilides and
Valentinus preceded Irenaeus and Tertullian; and the two latter Fathers had
less facts than the two former Gnostics to show that their heresy was
plausible. Neither divine right nor truth brought about the triumph of their
Christianity; fate alone was propitious. We can assert, with entire
plausibility, that there is not one of all these sects -- Kabalism, Judaism,
and our present Christianity included -- but sprung from the two main branches
of that one mother-trunk, the once universal religion, which antedated the
Vedaic ages -- we speak of that prehistoric Buddhism which merged later into
Brahmanism.
The religion which
the primitive teaching of the early few apostles most resembled -- a religion
preached by Jesus himself -- is the elder of these two, Buddhism. The latter as
taught in its primitive purity, and carried to perfection by the last of the
Buddhas, Gautama, based its
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moral ethics on
three fundamental principles. It alleged that 1, every thing existing, exists
from natural causes; 2, that virtue brings its own reward, and vice and sin
their own punishment; and, 3, that the state of man in this world is
probationary. We might add that on these three principles rested the universal
foundation of every religious creed; God, and individual immortality for every
man -- if he could but win it. However puzzling the subsequent theological
tenets; however seemingly incomprehensible the metaphysical abstractions which
have convulsed the theology of every one of the great religions of mankind as
soon as it was placed on a sure footing, the above is found to be the essence
of every religious philosophy, with the exception of later Christianity. It was
that of Zoroaster, of Pythagoras, of Plato, of Jesus, and even of Moses, albeit
the teachings of the Jewish law-giver have been so piously tampered with.
We will devote the
present chapter mainly to a brief survey of the numerous sects which have
recognized themselves as Christians; that is to say, that have believed in a
Christos, or an ANOINTED ONE. We will also endeavor to explain the latter
appellation from the kabalistic stand-point, and show it reappearing in every
religious system. It might be profitable, at the same time, to see how much the
earliest apostles -- Paul and Peter, agreed in their preaching of the new
Dispensation. We will begin with Peter.
We must once more
return to that greatest of all the Patristic frauds; the one which has
undeniably helped the Roman Catholic Church to its unmerited supremacy, viz.:
the barefaced assertion, in the teeth of historical evidence, that Peter
suffered martyrdom at Rome. It is but too natural that the Latin clergy should
cling to it, for, with the exposure of the fraudulent nature of this pretext,
the dogma of apostolic succession must fall to the ground.
There have been
many able works of late, in refutation of this preposterous claim. Among others
we note Mr. G. Reber's, The Christ of Paul, which overthrows it quite
ingeniously. The author proves, 1, that there was no church established at
Rome, until the reign of Antoninus Pius; 2, that as Eusebius and Irenaeus both
agree that Linus was the second Bishop of Rome, into whose hands "the
blessed apostles" Peter and Paul committed the church after building it,
it could not have been at any other time than between A.D. 64 and 68; 3, that
this interval of years happens during the reign of Nero, for Eusebius states
that Linus held this office twelve years (Ecclesiastical History, book iii., c.
13), entering upon it A.D. 69, one year after the death of Nero, and dying
himself in 81. After that the author maintains, on very solid grounds, that
Peter could not be in Rome A.D. 64, for he was then in Babylon; wherefrom he
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SUCCESSION.
wrote his first
Epistle, the date of which is fixed by Dr. Lardner and other critics at
precisely this year. But we believe that his best argument is in proving that
it was not in the character of the cowardly Peter to risk himself in such close
neighborhood with Nero, who "was feeding the wild beasts of the Amphitheatre
with the flesh and bones of Christians"* at that time.
Perhaps the Church
of Rome was but consistent in choosing as her titular founder the apostle who
thrice denied his master at the moment of danger; and the only one, moreover,
except Judas, who provoked Christ in such a way as to be addressed as the
"Enemy." "Get thee behind me, SATAN!" exclaims Jesus,
rebuking the taunting apostle.**
There is a
tradition in the Greek Church which has never found favor at the Vatican. The
former traces its origin to one of the Gnostic leaders -- Basilides, perhaps,
who lived under Trajan and Adrian, at the end of the first and the beginning of
the second century. With regard to this particular tradition, if the Gnostic is
Basilides, then he must be accepted as a sufficient authority, having claimed
to have been a disciple of the Apostle Matthew, and to have had for master
Glaucias, a disciple of St. Peter himself. Were the narrative attributed to him
authenticated, the London Committee for the Revision of the Bible would have to
add a new verse to Matthew, Mark, and John, who tell the story of Peter's
denial of Christ.
This tradition,
then, of which we have been speaking, affirms that, when frightened at the
accusation of the servant of the high priest, the apostle had thrice denied his
master, and the cock had crowed, Jesus, who was then passing through the hall
in custody of the soldiers, turned, and, looking at Peter, said: "Verily,
I say unto thee, Peter, thou shalt deny me throughout the coming ages, and never
stop until thou shalt be old, and shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not." The latter part
of this sentence, say the Greeks, relates to the Church of Rome, and prophesies
her constant apostasy from Christ, under the mask of false religion. Later, it
was inserted in the twenty-first chapter of John, but the whole of this chapter
had been pronounced a forgery, even before it was found that this Gospel was
never written by John the Apostle at all.
The anonymous
author of Supernatural Religion, a work which in two years passed through
several editions, and which is alleged to have been written by an eminent
theologian, proves conclusively the spuriousness of the four gospels, or at
least their complete transformation in the hands
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Christ
of Paul," p. 123.
** Gospel according
to Mark, viii. 33.
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of the too-zealous
Irenaeus and his champions. The fourth gospel is completely upset by this able
author; the extraordinary forgeries of the Fathers of the early centuries are
plainly demonstrated, and the relative value of the synoptics is discussed with
an unprecedented power of logic. The work carries conviction in its every line.
From it we quote the following: "We gain infinitely more than we lose in
abandoning belief in the reality of Divine Revelation. Whilst we retain, pure
and unimpaired, the treasure of Christian morality, we relinquish nothing but
the debasing elements added to it by human superstition. We are no longer bound
to believe a theology which outrages reason and moral sense. We are freed from
base anthropomorphic views of God and His government of the Universe, and from
Jewish Mythology we rise to higher conceptions of an infinitely wise and
beneficent Being, hidden from our finite minds, it is true, in the impenetrable
glory of Divinity, but whose laws of wondrous comprehensiveness and perfection
we ever perceive in operation around us. . . . The argument so often employed
by theologians, that Divine revelation is necessary for man, and that certain
views contained in that revelation are required for our moral consciousness, is
purely imaginary, and derived from the revelation which it seeks to maintain.
The only thing absolutely necessary for man is TRUTH, and to that, and that
alone, must our moral consciousness adapt itself."*
We will consider
farther in what light was regarded the Divine revelation of the Jewish Bible by
the Gnostics, who yet believed in Christ in their own way, a far better and
less blasphemous one than the Roman Catholic. The Fathers have forced on the
believers in Christ a Bible, the laws prescribed in which he was the first to
break; the teachings of which he utterly rejected; and for which crimes he was
finally crucified. Of whatever else the Christian world can boast, it can hardly
claim logic and consistency as its chief virtues.
The fact alone that
Peter remained to the last an "apostle of the circumcision," speaks
for itself. Whosoever else might have built the Church of Rome it was not
Peter. If such were the case, the successors of this apostle would have to
submit themselves to circumcision, if it were but for the sake of consistency,
and to show that the claims of the popes are not utterly groundless, Dr. Inman
asserts that report says that "in our Christian times popes have to be
privately perfect,"** but we do not know whether it is carried to the
extent of the Levitical Jewish law. The first fifteen Christian bishops of
Jerusalem, commencing with James and including Judas, were all circumcised
Jews.***
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
*
"Supernatural Religion," vol. ii., p. 489.
** "Ancient
Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," p. 28.
*** See Eusebius,
"Ex. H.," bk. iv., ch. v.; "Sulpicius Severus," vol. ii.,
p. 31.
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In the Sepher
Toldos Jeshu,* a Hebrew manuscript of great antiquity, the version about Peter
is different. Simon Peter, it says, was one of their own brethren, though he
had somewhat departed from the laws, and the Jewish hatred and persecution of
the apostle seems to have existed but in the fecund imagination of the fathers.
The author speaks of him with great respect and fairness, calling him "a
faithful servant of the living God," who passed his life in austerity and
meditation, "living in Babylon at the summit of a tower," composing
hymns, and preaching charity. He adds that Peter always recommended to the
Christians not to molest the Jews, but as soon as he was dead, behold another
preacher went to Rome and pretended that Simon Peter had altered the teachings
of his master. He invented a burning hell and threatened every one with it;
promised miracles, but worked none.
How much there is
in the above of fiction and how much of truth, it is for others to decide; but
it certainly bears more the evidence of sincerity and fact on its face, than
the fables concocted by the fathers to answer their end.
We may the more
readily credit this friendship between Peter and his late co-religionists as we
find in Theodoret the following assertion: "The Nazarenes are Jews,
honoring the ANOINTED (Jesus) as a just man and using the Evangel according to
Peter."** Peter was a Nazarene, according to the Talmud. He belonged to
the sect of the later Nazarenes, which dissented from the followers of John the
Baptist, and became a rival sect; and which -- as tradition goes -- was
instituted by Jesus himself.
History finds the
first Christian sects to have been either Nazarenes like John the Baptist; or
Ebionites, among whom were many of the relatives of Jesus; or Essenes
(Iessaens) the Therapeutae, healers, of which the Nazaria were a branch. All
these sects, which only in the days of Irenaeus began to be considered
heretical, were more or less kabalistic. They believed in the expulsion of
demons by magical incantations, and practiced this method; Jervis terms the
Nabatheans and other such sects "wandering Jewish exorcists,"*** the
Arabic word Nabae, meaning to wander, and the Hebrew [[Heb char]] naba, to
prophesy. The Talmud indiscrimi-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It appears that
the Jews attribute a very high antiquity to "Sepher Toldos Jeshu." It
was mentioned for the first time by Martin, about the beginning of the
thirteenth century, for the Talmudists took great care to conceal it from the
Christians. Levi says that Porchetus Salvaticus published some portions of it,
which were used by Luther (see vol. viii., Jena Ed.). The Hebrew text, which
was missing, was at last found by Munster and Buxtorf, and published in 1681,
by Christopher Wagenseilius, in Nuremberg, and in Frankfort, in a collection
entitled "Tela Ignea Satanae," or The Burning Darts of Satan (See
Levi's "Science des Esprits").
** Theodoret:
"Haeretic. Fab.," lib. ii., 11.
*** Jervis W.
Jervis: "Genesis," p. 324.
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nately calls all
the Christians Nozari.* All the Gnostic sects equally believed in magic.
Irenaeus, in describing the followers of Basilides, says, "They use
images, invocations, incantations, and all other things pertaining unto
magic." Dunlap, on the authority of Lightfoot, shows that Jesus was called
Nazaraios, in reference to his humble and mean external condition; "for
Nazaraios means separation, alienation from other men."**
The real meaning of
the word nazar [[heb char]] signifies to vow or consecrate one's self to the
service of God. As a noun it is a diadem or emblem of such consecration, a head
so consecrated.*** Joseph was styled a nazar.**** "The head of Joseph, the
vertex of the nazar among his brethren." Samson and Samuel ([[Heb char]]
Semes-on and Sem-va-el) are described alike as nazars. Porphyry, treating of
Pythagoras, says that he was purified and initiated at Babylon by Zar-adas, the
head of the sacred college. May it not be surmised, therefore, that the
Zoro-Aster was the nazar of Ishtar, Zar-adas or Na-Zar-Ad,***** being the same
with change of idiom? Ezra, or [[Heb char]], was a priest and scribe, a
hierophant; and the first Hebrew colonizer of Judea was [[Heb char]] Zeru-Babel
or the Zoro or nazar of Babylon.
The Jewish
Scriptures indicate two distinct worships and religions among the Israelites;
that of Bacchus-worship under the mask of Jehovah, and that of the Chaldean
initiates to whom belonged some of the nazars, the theurgists, and a few of the
prophets. The headquarters of these were always at Babylon and Chaldea, where
two rival schools of Magians can be distinctly shown. Those who would doubt the
statement will have in such a case to account for the discrepancy between
history and Plato, who of all men of his day was certainly one of the best
informed. Speaking of the Magians, he shows them as instructing the Persian
kings of Zoroaster, as the son or priest of Oromasdes; and yet Darius, in the
inscription at Bihistun, boasts of having restored the cultus of Ormazd and put
down the Magian rites! Evidently there were two distinct and antagonistic
Magian schools. The oldest and the most esoteric of the two being that which,
satisfied with its unassailable knowledge and secret power, was content to
apparently relinquish her exoteric popularity, and concede her supremacy into
the hands of the reforming Darius. The later Gnostics showed the same prudent
policy by accommodating themselves in every country to the prevailing religious
forms, still secretly adhering to their own essential doctrines.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Lightfoot," 501.
** Dunlap:
"Sod, the Son of the Man," p. x.
*** Jeremiah vii.
29: "Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a
lamentation on high places."
**** Genesis xlix.
26.
***** Nazareth?
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EURYDIKE FABLE EXPLAINED.
There is another
hypothesis possible, which is that Zero-Ishtar was the high priest of the
Chaldean worship, or Magian hierophant. When the Aryans of Persia, under Darius
Hystaspes, overthrew the Magian Gomates, and restored the Masdean worship,
there ensued an amalgamation by which the Magian Zoro-astar became the
Zara-tushra of the Vendidad. This was not acceptable to the other Aryans, who
adopted the Vedic religion as distinguished from that of Avesta. But this is
but an hypothesis.
And whatever Moses
is now believed to have been, we will demonstrate that he was an initiate. The
Mosaic religion was at best a sun-and-serpent worship, diluted, perhaps, with
some slight monotheistic notions before the latter were forcibly crammed into
the so-called "inspired Scriptures" by Ezra, at the time he was
alleged to have rewritten the Mosaic books. At all events the Book of Numbers
was a later book; and there the sun-and-serpent worship is as plainly traceable
as in any Pagan story. The tale of the fiery serpents is an allegory in more
than one sense. The "serpents" were the Levites or Ophites, who were
Moses' body-guard (see Exodus xxxii. 26); and the command of the
"Lord" to Moses to hang the heads of the people "before the Lord
against the sun," which is the emblem of this Lord, is unequivocal.
The nazars or
prophets, as well as the Nazarenes, were an anti-Bacchus caste, in so far that,
in common with all the initiated prophets, they held to the spirit of the
symbolical religions and offered a strong opposition to the idolatrous and
exoteric practices of the dead letter. Hence, the frequent stoning of the
prophets by the populace and under the leadership of those priests who made a
profitable living out of the popular superstitions. Otfried Muller shows how
much the Orphic Mysteries differed from the popular rites of Bacchus,* although
the Orphikoi are known to have followed the worship of Bacchus. The system of
the purest morality and of a severe asceticism promulgated in the teachings of
Orpheus, and so strictly adhered to by his votaries, are incompatible with the
lasciviousness and gross immorality of the popular rites. The fable of
Aristaeus pursuing Eurydike into the woods where a serpent occasions her death,
is a very plain allegory, which was in part explained at the earliest times.
Aristaeus is brutal power, pursuing Eurydike, the esoteric doctrine, into the
woods where the serpent (emblem of every sun-god, and worshipped under its
grosser aspect even by the Jews) kills her; i.e., forces truth to become still
more esoteric, and seek shelter in the Underworld, which is not the hell of our
theologians. Moreover, the fate of Orpheus, torn to pieces by the Bacchantes,
is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Otfried Muller:
"Historical Greek Literature," pp. 230-240.
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another allegory to
show that the gross and popular rites are always more welcome than divine but
simple truth, and proves the great difference that must have existed between
the esoteric and the popular worship. As the poems of both Orpheus and Musaeus
were said to have been lost since the earliest ages, so that neither Plato nor
Aristotle recognized anything authentic in the poems extant in their time, it
is difficult to say with precision what constituted their peculiar rites. Still
we have the oral tradition, and every inference to draw therefrom; and this
tradition points to Orpheus as having brought his doctrines from India. As one
whose religion was that of the oldest Magians -- hence, that to which belonged
the initiates of all countries, beginning with Moses, the "sons of the
Prophets," and the ascetic nazars (who must not be confounded with those
against whom thundered Hosea and other prophets) to the Essenes. This latter sect
were Pythagoreans before they rather degenerated, than became perfected in
their system by the Buddhist missionaries, whom Pliny tells us established
themselves on the shores of the Dead Sea, ages before his time, "per
saeculorum millia." But if, on the one hand, these Buddhist monks were the
first to establish monastic communities and inculcate the strict observance of
dogmatic conventual rule, on the other they were also the first to enforce and
popularize those stern virtues so exemplified by Sakya-muni, and which were
previously exercised only in isolated cases of well-known philosophers and
their followers; virtues preached two or three centuries later by Jesus,
practiced by a few Christian ascetics, and gradually abandoned, and even
entirely forgotten by the Christian Church.
The initiated
nazars had ever held to this rule, which had to be followed before them by the
adepts of every age; and the disciples of John were but a dissenting branch of
the Essenes. Therefore, we cannot well confound them with all the nazars spoken
of in the Old Testament, and who are accused by Hosea with having separated or
consecrated themselves to Bosheth [[Heb char]] (see Hebrew text); which implied
the greatest possible abomination. To infer, as some critics and theologians
do, that it means to separate one's self to chastity or continence, is either
to advisedly pervert the true meaning, or to be totally ignorant of the Hebrew
language. The eleventh verse of the first chapter of Micah half explains the
word in its veiled translation: "Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir,
etc.," and in the original text the word is Bosheth. Certainly neither
Baal, nor Iahoh Kadosh, with his Kadeshim, was a god of ascetic virtue, albeit
the Septuaginta terms them, as well as the galli -- the perfected priests --
[[tetelesmenous]], the initiated and the consecrated.*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Movers," p. 683.
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NAZIREATES.
The great Sod of
the Kadeshim, translated in Psalm lxxxix. 7, by "assembly of the
saints," was anything but a mystery of the "sanctified" in the
sense given to the latter word by Webster.
The Nazireate sect
existed long before the laws of Moses, and originated among people most
inimical to the "chosen" ones of Israel, viz., the people of Galilee,
the ancient olla-podrida of idolatrous nations, where was built Nazara, the
present Nazareth. It is in Nazara that the ancient Nazoria or Nazireates held
their "Mysteries of Life" or "assemblies," as the word now
stands in the translation,* which were but the secret mysteries of
initiation,** utterly distinct in their practical form from the popular
Mysteries which were held at Byblus in honor of Adonis. While the true
initiates of the ostracised Galilee were worshipping the true God and enjoying
transcendent visions, what were the "chosen" ones about? Ezekiel
tells it to us (chap. viii) when, in describing what he saw, he says that the
form of a hand took him by a lock of his head and transported him from Chaldea
unto Jerusalem. "And there stood seventy men of the senators of the house
of Israel. . . . 'Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients . . . do in the
dark?' " inquires the "Lord." "At the door of the house of
the Lord . . . behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz" (Adonis). We
really cannot suppose that the Pagans have ever surpassed the "chosen"
people in certain shameful abominations of which their own prophets accuse them
so profusely. To admit this truth, one hardly needs even to be a Hebrew
scholar; let him read the Bible in English and meditate over the language of
the "holy" prophets.
This accounts for
the hatred of the later Nazarenes for the orthodox Jews -- followers of the
exoteric Mosaic Law -- who are ever taunted by this sect with being the
worshippers of Iurbo-Adunai, or Lord Bacchus. Passing under the disguise of
Adoni-Iachoh (original text, Isaiah lxi. 1), Iahoh and Lord Sabaoth, the
Baal-Adonis, or Bacchus, worshipped in the groves and public sods or Mysteries,
under the polishing hand of Ezra becomes finally the later-vowelled Adonai of
the Massorah -- the One and Supreme God of the Christians!
"Thou shalt
not worship the Sun who is named Adunai," says the Codex of the Nazarenes;
"whose name is also Kadush*** and El-El. This Adunai will elect to himself
a nation and congregate in crowds (his worship will be exoteric) . . .
Jerusalem will become the refuge and city of the Abortive, who shall perfect
themselves (circumcise) with a sword . . . and shall adore Adunai."****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," ii., 305.
** See Lucian:
"De Syria Dea."
*** See Psalm
lxxxix. 18.
**** "Codex
Nazaraeus," i. 47.
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The oldest
Nazarenes, who were the descendants of the Scripture nazars, and whose last
prominent leader was John the Baptist, although never very orthodox in the
sight of the scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem were, nevertheless, respected
and left unmolested. Even Herod "feared the multitude" because they
regarded John as a prophet (Matthew xiv. 5). But the followers of Jesus
evidently adhered to a sect which became a still more exasperating thorn in
their side. It appeared as a heresy within another heresy; for while the nazars
of the olden times, the "Sons of the Prophets," were Chaldean
kabalists, the adepts of the new dissenting sect showed themselves reformers
and innovators from the first. The great similitude traced by some critics
between the rites and observances of the earliest Christians and those of the
Essenes may be accounted for without the slightest difficulty. The Essenes, as
we remarked just now, were the converts of Buddhist missionaries who had
overrun Egypt, Greece, and even Judea at one time, since the reign of Asoka the
zealous propagandist; and while it is evidently to the Essenes that belongs the
honor of having had the Nazarene reformer, Jesus, as a pupil, still the latter
is found disagreeing with his early teachers on several questions of formal
observance. He cannot strictly be called an Essene, for reasons which we will
indicate further on, neither was he a nazar, or Nazaria of the older sect. What
Jesus was, may be found in the Codex Nazaraeus, in the unjust accusations of
the Bardesanian Gnostics.
"Jesu is Nebu,
the false Messiah, the destroyer of the old orthodox religion," says the
Codex.* He is the founder of the sect of the new nazars, and, as the words
clearly imply, a follower of the Buddhist doctrine. In Hebrew the word naba
[[Heb char]] means to speak of inspiration; and [[Heb char]] is nebo, a god of
wisdom. But Nebo is also Mercury, and Mercury is Buddha in the Hindu monogram
of planets. Moreover, we find the Talmudists holding that Jesus was inspired by
the genius of Mercury.**
The Nazarene
reformer had undoubtedly belonged to one of these sects; though, perhaps, it
would be next to impossible to decide absolutely which. But what is
self-evident is that he preached the philosophy of Buddha-Sakyamuni. Denounced
by the later prophets, cursed by the Sanhedrim, the nazars -- they were
confounded with others of that name "who separated themselves unto that
shame,"*** they were secretly, if not openly persecuted by the orthodox
synagogue. It be-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ibid.; Norberg:
"Onomasticon," 74.
** Alph. de Spire:
"Fortalicium Fidei," ii., 2.
*** Hosea ix. 10.
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NEW TESTAMENTS.
comes clear why
Jesus was treated with such contempt from the first, and deprecatingly called
"the Galilean." Nathaniel inquires -- "Can there any good thing
come out of Nazareth?" (John i. 46) at the very beginning of his career;
and merely because he knows him to be a nazar. Does not this clearly hint, that
even the older nazars were not really Hebrew religionists, but rather a class
of Chaldean theurgists? Besides, as the New Testament is noted for its
mistranslations and transparent falsifications of texts, we may justly suspect
that the word Nazareth was substituted for that of nasaria, or nozari. That it
originally read "Can any good thing come from a nozari, or Nazarene";
a follower of St. John the Baptist, with whom we see him associating from his
first appearance on the stage of action, after having been lost sight of for a
period of nearly twenty years. The blunders of the Old Testament are as nothing
to those of the gospels. Nothing shows better than these self-evident
contradictions the system of pious fraud upon which the super-structure of the
Messiahship rests. "This is Elias which was for to come," says
Matthew of John the Baptist, thus forcing an ancient kabalistic tradition into
the frame of evidence (xi. 14). But when addressing the Baptist himself, they
ask him (John i. 21), "Art thou Elias?" "And he saith I am
not"! Which knew best -- John or his biographer? And which is divine
revelation?
The motive of Jesus
was evidently like that of Gautama-Buddha, to benefit humanity at large by
producing a religious reform which should give it a religion of pure ethics;
the true knowledge of God and nature having remained until then solely in the
hands of the esoteric sects, and their adepts. As Jesus used oil and the
Essenes never used aught but pure water,* he cannot be called a strict Essene.
On the other hand, the Essenes were also "set apart"; they were
healers (assaya) and dwelt in the desert as all ascetics did.
But although he did
not abstain from wine he could have remained a Nazarene all the same. For in
chapter vi. of Numbers, we see that after the priest has waved a part of the
hair of a Nazorite for a wave-offering before the Lord, "after that a
Nazarene may drink wine" (v. 20). The bitter denunciation by the reformer
of the people who would be satisfied with nothing is worded in the following
exclamation: "John came neither eating nor drinking and they say: 'He hath
a devil.' . . . The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say: 'Behold
a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber.' " And yet he was an Essene and
Nazarene, for we not only find him sending a message to Herod, to say that he
was one of those who cast out demons, and who performed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Essenes
considered oil as a defilement," says Josephus: "Wars," ii., p.
7.
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cures, but actually
calling himself a prophet and declaring himself equal to the other prophets.*
The author of Sod
shows Matthew trying to connect the appellation of Nazarene with a prophecy,**
and inquires "Why then does Matthew state that the prophet said he should
be called Nazaria?" Simply "because he belonged to that sect, and a
prophecy would confirm his claims to the Messiahship. . . . Now it does not
appear that the prophets anywhere state that the Messiah will be called a
Nazarene."*** The fact alone that Matthew tries in the last verse of
chapter ii. to strengthen his claim that Jesus dwelt in Nazareth merely to
fulfil a prophecy, does more than weaken the argument, it upsets it entirely;
for the first two chapters have sufficiently been proved later forgeries.
Baptism is one of
the oldest rites and was practiced by all the nations in their Mysteries, as
sacred ablutions. Dunlap seems to derive the name of the nazars from nazah,
sprinkling; Bahak-Zivo is the genius who called the world into existence****
out of the "dark water," say the Nazarenes; and Richardson's Persian,
Arabic, and English Lexicon asserts that the word Bahak means
"raining." But the Bahak-Zivo of the Nazarenes cannot be traced so easily
to Bacchus, who "was the rain-god," for the nazars were the greatest
opponents of Bacchus-worship. "Bacchus is brought up by the Hyades, the
rain-nymphs," says Preller;***** who shows, furthermore, that****** at the
conclusion of the religious Mysteries, the priests baptized (washed) their
monuments and anointed them with oil. All this is but a very indirect proof.
The Jordan baptism need not be shown a substitution for the exoteric Bacchic
rites and the libations in honor of Adonis or Adoni -- whom the Nazarenes
abhorred -- in order to prove it to have been a sect sprung from the
"Mysteries" of the "Secret Doctrine"; and their rites can
by no means be confounded with those of the Pagan populace, who had simply
fallen into the idolatrous and unreasoning faith of all plebeian multitudes.
John was the prophet of these Nazarenes, and in Galilee he was termed "the
Saviour," but he was not the founder of that sect which derived its
tradition from the remotest Chaldeo-Akkadian theurgy.
"The early
plebeian Israelites were Canaanites and Phoenicians, with
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Luke xiii. 32.
** Matthew ii. We
must bear in mind that the Gospel according to Matthew in the New Testament is
not the original Gospel of the apostle of that name. The authentic Evangel was
for centuries in the possession of the Nazarenes and the Ebionites, as we show
further on the admission of St. Jerome himself, who confesses that he had to
ask permission of the Nazarenes to translate it.
*** Dunlap:
"Sod, the Son of the Man."
**** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., p. 233.
***** Preller: vol.
i., p. 415.
****** Ibid., vol.
i., p. 490.
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BAPTISM.
the same worship of
the Phallic gods -- Bacchus, Baal or Adon, Iacchos -- Iao or Jehovah"; but
even among them there had always been a class of initiated adepts. Later, the
character of this plebe was modified by Assyrian conquests; and, finally, the
Persian colonizations superimposed the Pharisean and Eastern ideas and usages,
from which the Old Testament and the Mosaic institutes were derived. The
Asmonean priest-kings promulgated the canon of the Old Testament in
contradistinction to the Apocrypha or Secret Books of the Alexandrian Jews --
kabalists.* Till John Hyrcanus they were Asideans (Chasidim) and Pharisees
(Parsees), but then they became Sadducees or Zadokites -- asserters of
sacerdotal rule as contradistinguished from rabbinical. The Pharisees were
lenient and intellectual, the Sadducees, bigoted and cruel.
Says the Codex:
"John, son of the Aba-Saba-Zacharia, conceived by his mother Anasabet in
her hundredth year, had baptized for forty-two years** when Jesu Messias came
to the Jordan to be baptized with John's baptism. . . . But he will pervert
John's doctrine, changing the baptism of the Jordan, and perverting the sayings
of justice."***
The baptism was
changed from water to that of the Holy Ghost, undoubtedly in consequence of the
ever-dominant idea of the Fathers to institute a reform, and make the
Christians distinct from St. John's Nazarenes, the Nabatheans and Ebionites, in
order to make room for new dogmas. Not only do the Synoptics tell us that Jesus
was baptizing the same as John, but John's own disciples complained of it,
though surely Jesus cannot be accused of following a purely Bacchic rite. The
parenthesis in verse 2d of John iv., " . . . though Jesus himself baptized
not," is so clumsy as to show upon its face that it is an interpolation,
Matthew makes John say that he that should come after him would not baptize
them with water "but with the Holy Ghost and fire." Mark, Luke, and
John corroborate these words. Water, fire, and spirit, or Holy Ghost, have all
their origin in India, as we will show.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The word
Apocrypha was very erroneously adopted as doubtful and spurious. The word means
hidden and secret; but that which is secret may be often more true than that
which is revealed.
** The statement,
if reliable, would show that Jesus was between fifty and sixty years old when
baptized; for the Gospels make him but a few months younger than John. The
kabalists say that Jesus was over forty years old when first appearing at the
gates of Jerusalem. The present copy of the "Codex Nazaraeus" is
dated in the year 1042, but Dunlap finds in Irenaeus (2d century) quotations from
and ample references to this book. "The basis of the material common to
Irenaeus and the 'Codex Nazaraeus' must be at least as early as the first
century," says the author in his preface to "Sod, the Son of the
Man," p. i.
*** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. i., p. 109; Dunlap: Ibid., xxiv.
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Now there is one
very strange peculiarity about this sentence. It is flatly denied in Acts xix.
2-5. Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, belonged to the sect of St. John's
disciples; he had been baptized, and instructed others in the doctrines of the
Baptist. And yet when Paul, cleverly profiting by his absence at Corinth, finds
certain disciples of Apollos' at Ephesus, and asks them whether they received
the Holy Ghost, he is naively answered, "We have not so much as heard
whether there be any Holy Ghost!" "Unto what then were you
baptized?" he inquires. "Unto John's baptism," they say. Then
Paul is made to repeat the words attributed to John by the Synoptics; and these
men "were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus," exhibiting,
moreover, at the same instant, the usual polyglot gift which accompanies the
descent of the Holy Ghost.
How then? St. John
the Baptist, who is called the "precursor," that "the prophecy
might be fulfilled," the great prophet and martyr, whose words ought to
have had such an importance in the eyes of his disciples, announces the
"Holy Ghost" to his listeners; causes crowds to assemble on the
shores of the Jordan, where, at the great ceremony of Christ's baptism, the
promised "Holy Ghost" appears within the opened heavens, and the
multitude hears the voice, and yet there are disciples of St. John who have
"never so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost"!
Verily the
disciples who wrote the Codex Nazaraeus were right. Only it is not Jesus
himself, but those who came after him, and who concocted the Bible to suit themselves,
that "perverted John's doctrine, changed the baptism of the Jordan, and
perverted the sayings of justice."
It is useless to
object that the present Codex was written centuries after the direct apostles
of John preached. So were our Gospels. When this astounding interview of Paul
with the "Baptists" took place, Bardesanes had not yet appeared among
them, and the sect was not considered a "heresy." Moreover, we are
enabled to judge how little St. John's promise of the "Holy Ghost,"
and the appearance of the "Ghost" himself, had affected his
disicples, by the displeasure shown by them toward the disciples of Jesus, and
the kind of rivalry manifested from the first. Nay, so little is John himself
sure of the identity of Jesus with the expected Messiah, that after the famous
scene of the baptism at the Jordan, and the oral assurance by the Holy Ghost
Himself that "This is my beloved Son" (Matthew iii. 17), we find
"the Precursor," in Matthew xi., sending two of his disciples from his
prison to inquire of Jesus: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look
for another"!!
This flagrant
contradiction alone ought to have long ago satisfied reasonable minds as to the
putative divine inspiration of the New Testa-
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NAZARIA.
ment. But we may
offer another question: If baptism is the sign of regeneration, and an
ordinance instituted by Jesus, why do not Christians now baptize as Jesus is
here represented as doing, "with the Holy Ghost and with fire,"
instead of following the custom of the Nazarenes? In making these palpable
interpolations, what possible motive could Irenaeus have had except to cause
people to believe that the appellation of Nazarene, which Jesus bore, came only
from his father's residence at Nazareth, and not from his affiliation with the
sect of Nazaria, the healers?
This expedient of
Irenaeus was a most unfortunate one, for from time immemorial the prophets of
old had been thundering against the baptism of fire as practiced by their
neighbors, which imparted the "spirit of prophecy," or the Holy
Ghost. But the case was desperate; the Christians were universally called
Nazoraens and Iessaens (according to Epiphanius), and Christ simply ranked as a
Jewish prophet and healer -- so self-styled, so accepted by his own disciples,
and so regarded by their followers. In such a state of things there was no room
for either a new hierarchy or a new God-head; and since Irenaeus had undertaken
the business of manufacturing both, he had to put together such materials as
were available, and fill the gaps with his own fertile inventions.
To assure ourselves
that Jesus was a true Nazarene -- albeit with ideas of a new reform -- we must
not search for the proof in the translated Gospels, but in such original
versions as are accessible. Tischendorf, in his translation from the Greek of
Luke iv. 34, has it "Iesou Nazarene"; and in the Syriac it reads
"Iasoua, thou Nazaria." Thus, if we take in account all that is
puzzling and incomprehensible in the four Gospels, revised and corrected as
they now stand, we shall easily see for ourselves that the true, original
Christianity, such as was preached by Jesus, is to be found only in the
so-called Syrian heresies. Only from them can we extract any clear notions
about what was primitive Christianity. Such was the faith of Paul, when
Tertullus the orator accused the apostle before the governor Felix. What he complained
of was that they had found "that man a mover of sedition . . . a
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes";* and, while Paul denies every
other accusation, he confesses that "after the way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers."** This confession is a whole
revelation. It shows: 1, that Paul admitted belonging to the sect of the
Nazarenes; 2, that he worshipped the God of his fathers, not the trinitarian
Christian God, of whom he knows nothing, and who was not invented until after
his death; and, 3, that this unlucky confession satisfactorily explains why the
treatise, Acts of the Apostles, together with John's Revelation, which at one
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Acts xxiv. 5.
** Ibid., 14.
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period was utterly
rejected, were kept out of the canon of the New Testament for such a length of
time.
At Byblos, the
neophytes as well as the hierophants were, after participating in the
Mysteries, obliged to fast and remain in solitude for some time. There was
strict fasting and preparation before as well as after the Bacchic, Adonian,
and Eleusinian orgies; and Herodotus hints, with fear and veneration about the
LAKE of Bacchus, in which "they (the priests) made at night exhibitions of
his life and sufferings."* In the Mithraic sacrifices, during the
initiation, a preliminary scene of death was simulated by the neophyte, and it
preceded the scene showing him himself "being born again by the rite of
baptism." A portion of this ceremony is still enacted in the present day
by the Masons, when the neophyte, as the Grand Master Hiram Abiff, lies dead,
and is raised by the strong grip of the lion's paw.
The priests were
circumcised. The neophyte could not be initiated without having been present at
the solemn Mysteries of the LAKE. The Nazarenes were baptized in the Jordan;
and could not be baptized elsewhere; they were also circumcised, and had to
fast before as well as after the purification by baptism. Jesus is said to have
fasted in the wilderness for forty days, immediately after his baptism. To the
present day, there is outside every temple in India, a lake, stream, or a
reservoir full of holy water, in which the Brahmans and the Hindu devotees
bathe daily. Such places of consecrated water are necessary to every temple.
The bathing festivals, or baptismal rites, occur twice every year; in October
and April. Each lasts ten days; and, as in ancient Egypt and Greece, the
statues of their gods, goddesses, and idols are immersed in water by the
priests; the object of the ceremony being to wash away from them the sins of
their worshippers which they have taken upon themselves, and which pollute
them, until washed off by holy water. During the Aratty, the bathing ceremony,
the principal god of every temple is carried in solemn procession to be
baptized in the sea. The Brahman priests, carrying the sacred images, are
followed generally by the Maharajah -- barefoot, and nearly naked. Three times
the priests enter the sea; the third time they carry with them the whole of the
images. Holding them up with prayers repeated by the whole congregation, the
Chief Priest plunges the statues of the gods thrice in the name of the mystic
trinity, into the water; after which they are purified.** The Orphic hymn calls
water the greatest purifier of men and gods.
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
*
"Herodotus," ii., p. 170.
** The Hindu High
Pontiff -- the Chief of the Namburis, who lives in the Cochin Land, is
generally present during these festivals of "Holy Water" immersions.
He travels sometimes to very great distances to preside over the ceremony.
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BETHLEHEM.
Our Nazarene sect
is known to have existed some 150 years B.C., and to have lived on the banks of
the Jordan, and on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, according to Pliny and
Josephus.* But in King's Gnostics, we find quoted another statement by Josephus
from verse 13, which says that the Essenes had been established on the shores
of the Dead Sea "for thousands of ages" before Pliny's time.**
According to Munk
the term "Galilean" is nearly synonymous with that of
"Nazarene"; furthermore, he shows the relations of the former with
the Gentiles as very intimate. The populace had probably gradually adopted, in
their constant intercourse, certain rites and modes of worship of the Pagans;
and the scorn with which the Galileans were regarded by the orthodox Jews is
attributed by him to the same cause. Their friendly relations had certainly led
them, at a later period, to adopt the "Adonia," or the sacred rites
over the body of the lamented Adonis, as we find Jerome fairly lamenting this
circumstance. "Over Bethlehem," he says, "the grove of Thammuz,
that is of Adonis, was casting its shadow! And in the GROTTO where formerly the
infant Jesus cried, the lover of Venus was being mourned."***
It was after the
rebellion of Bar Cochba, that the Roman Emperor established the Mysteries of
Adonis at the Sacred Cave in Bethlehem; and who knows but this was the petra or
rock-temple on which the church was built? The Boar of Adonis was placed above
the gate of Jerusalem which looked toward Bethlehem.
Munk says that the
"Nazireate was an institution established before the laws of
Musah."**** This is evident; as we find this sect not only mentioned but
minutely described in Numbers (chap. vi.). In the commandment given in this
chapter to Moses by the "Lord," it is easy to recognize the rites and
laws of the Priests of Adonis.***** The abstinence and purity strictly
prescribed in both sects are identical. Both allowed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Ant.
Jud.," xiii., p. 9; xv., p., 10.
** King thinks it a
great exaggeration and is inclined to believe that these Essenes, who were most
undoubtedly Buddhist monks, were "merely a continuation of the
associations known as Sons of the Prophets." "The Gnostics and their
Remains," p. 22.
*** St. Jerome:
"Epistles," p. 49 (ad. Poulmam); see Dunlap's
"Spirit-History," p. 218.
****
"Munk," p. 169.
***** Bacchus and
Ceres -- or the mystical Wine and Bread, used during the Mysteries, become, in
the "Adonia," Adonis and Venus. Movers shows that "Iao is
Bacchus," p. 550; and his authority is Lydus de Mens (38-74); "Spir.
Hist.," p. 195. Iao is a Sun-god and the Jewish Jehovah; the intellectual
or Central Sun of the kabalists. See Julian in Proclus. But this
"Iao" is not the Mystery-god.
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their hair to grow
long* as the Hindu coenobites and fakirs do to this day, while other castes
shave their hair and abstain on certain days from wine. The prophet Elijah, a
Nazarene, is described in 2 Kings, and by Josephus as "a hairy man girt
with a girdle of leather."** And John the Baptist and Jesus are both
represented as wearing very long hair.*** John is "clothed with camel's
hair" and wearing a girdle of hide, and Jesus in a long garment
"without any seams" . . . "and very white, like snow," says
Mark; the very dress worn by the Nazarene Priests and the Pythagorean and Buddhist
Essenes, as described by Josephus.
If we carefully
trace the terms nazar, and nazaret, throughout the best known works of ancient
writers, we will meet them in connection with "Pagan" as well as
Jewish adepts. Thus, Alexander Polyhistor says of Pythagoras that he was a
disciple of the Assyrian Nazaret, whom some suppose to be Ezekiel. Diogenes
Laertius states most positively that Pythagoras, after being initiated into all
the Mysteries of the Greeks and barbarians, "went into Egypt and afterward
visited the Chaldeans and Magi"; and Apuleius maintains that it was
Zoroaster who instructed Pythagoras.
Were we to suggest
that the Hebrew nazars, the railing prophets of the "Lord," had been
initiated into the so-called Pagan mysteries, and belonged (or at least a
majority of them) to the same Lodge or circle of adepts as those who were
considered idolaters; that their "circle of prophets" was but a
collateral branch of a secret association, which we may well term
"international," what a visitation of Christian wrath would we not
incur! And still, the case looks strangely suspicious.
Let us first recall
to our mind that which Ammianus Marcellinus, and other historians relate of
Darius Hystaspes. The latter, penetrating into Upper India (Bactriana), learned
pure rites, and stellar and cosmical sciences from Brahmans, and communicated
them to the Magi. Now Hystaspes is shown in history to have crushed the Magi;
and introduced -- or rather forced upon them -- the pure religion of Zoroaster,
that of Ormazd. How is it, then, that an inscription is found on the tomb
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Josephus:
"Ant. Jud.," iv., p. 4.
** Ibid., ix.; 2
Kings, i. 8.
*** In relation to
the well-known fact of Jesus wearing his hair long, and being always so
represented, it becomes quite startling to find how little the unknown Editor
of the "Acts" knew about the Apostle Paul, since he makes him say in
1 Corinthians xi. 14, "Doth not Nature itself teach you, that if a man
have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" Certainly Paul could never have
said such a thing! Therefore, if the passage is genuine, Paul knew nothing of
the prophet whose doctrines he had embraced and for which he died; and if false
-- how much more reliable is what remains?
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ABOUT ZOROASTER.
of Darius, stating
that he was "teacher and hierophant of magic, or Magianism?"
Evidently there must be some historical mistake, and history confesses it. In
this imbroglio of names, Zoroaster, the teacher and instructor of Pythagoras,
can be neither the Zoroaster nor Zarathustra who instituted sun-worship among
the Parsees; nor he who appeared at the court of Gushtasp (Hystaspes) the
alleged father of Darius; nor, again, the Zoroaster who placed his magi above
the kings themselves. The oldest Zoroastrian scripture -- the Avesta -- does
not betray the slightest traces of the reformer having ever been acquainted
with any of the nations that subsequently adopted his mode of worship. He seems
utterly ignorant of the neighbors of Western Iran, the Medes, the Assyrians,
the Persians, and others. If we had no other evidences of the great antiquity
of the Zoroastrian religion than the discovery of the blunder committed by some
scholars in our own century, who regarded King Vistaspa (Gushtasp) as identical
with the father of Darius, whereas the Persian tradition points directly to
Vistaspa as to the last of the line of Kaianian princes who ruled in Bactriana,
it ought to be enough, for the Assyrian conquest of Bactriana took place 1,200
years B.C.*
Therefore, it is
but natural that we should see in the appellation of Zoroaster not a name but a
generic term, whose significance must be left to philologists to agree upon.
Guru, in Sanscrit, is a spiritual teacher; and as Zuruastara means in the same
language he who worships the sun, why is it impossible, that by some natural
change of language, due to the great number of different nations which were
converted to the sun-worship, the word guru-astara, the spiritual teacher of
sun-worship, so closely resembling the name of the founder of this religion,
became gradually transformed in its primal form of Zuryastara or Zoroaster? The
opinion of the kabalists is that there was but one Zarathustra and many
guruastars or spiritual teachers, and that one such guru, or rather huru-aster,
as he is called in the old manuscripts, was the instructor of Pythagoras. To
philology and our readers we leave the explanation for what it is worth.
Personally we believe in it, as we credit on this subject kabalistic tradition
far more than the explanation of scientists, no two of whom have been able to
agree up to the present year.
Aristotle states
that Zoroaster lived 6,000 years before Christ; Hermippus of Alexandria, who is
said to have read the genuine books of the Zoroastrians, although Alexander the
Great is accused of having destroyed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Max Muller has
sufficiently proved the case in his lecture on the "Zend-Avesta." He
calls Gushtasp "the mythical pupil of Zoroaster." Mythical, perhaps,
only because the period in which he lived and learned with Zoroaster is too remote
to allow our modern science to speculate upon it with any certainty.
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them, shows
Zoroaster as the pupil of Azonak (Azon-ach, or the Azon-God) and as having
lived 5,000 years before the fall of Troy. Er or Eros, whose vision is related
by Plato in the Republic, is declared by Clement to have been Zordusth. While
the Magus who dethroned Cambyses was a Mede, and Darius proclaims that he put
down the Magian rites to establish those of Ormazd, Xanthus of Lydia declares
Zoroaster to have been the chief of the Magi!
Which of them is
wrong? or are they all right, and only the modern interpreters fail to explain
the difference between the Reformer and his apostles and followers? This
blundering of our commentators reminds us of that of Suetonius, who mistook the
Christians for one Christos, or Crestos, as he spells it, and assured his
readers that Claudius banished him for the disturbance he made among the Jews.
Finally, and to
return again to the nazars, Zaratus is mentioned by Pliny in the following
words: "He was Zoroaster and Nazaret." As Zoroaster is called
princeps of the Magi, and nazar signifies separated or consecrated, is it not a
Hebrew rendering of mag? Volney believes so. The Persian word Na-zaruan means
millions of years, and refers to the Chaldean "Ancient of Days."
Hence the name of the Nazars or Nazarenes, who were consecrated to the service
of the Supreme one God, the kabalistic En-Soph, or the Ancient of Days, the
"Aged of the aged."
But the word nazar
may also be found in India. In Hindustani nazar is sight, internal or
supernatural vision; nazar band-i means fascination, a mesmeric or magical
spell; and nazaran is the word for sightseeing or vision.
Professor Wilder
thinks that as the word Zeruana is nowhere to be found in the Avesta, but only
in the later Parsi books, it came from the Magians, who composed the Persian
sacred caste in the Sassan period, but were originally Assyrians. "Turan,
of the poets," he says, "I consider to be Aturia, or Assyria; and
that Zohak (Az-dahaka, Dei-okes, or Astyages), the Serpent-king, was Assyrian, Median,
and Babylonian -- when those countries were united."
This opinion does
not, however, in the least implicate our statement that the secret doctrines of
the Magi, of the pre-Vedic Buddhists, of the hierophants of the Egyptian Thoth
or Hermes, and of the adepts of whatever age and nationality, including the
Chaldean kabalists and the Jewish nazars, were identical from the beginning.
When we use the term Buddhists, we do not mean to imply by it either the
exoteric Buddhism instituted by the followers of Gautama-Buddha, nor the modern
Buddhistic religion, but the secret philosophy of Sakyamuni, which in its
essence is certainly identical with the ancient wisdom-religion of the
sanctuary, the pre-Vedic Brahmanism. The "schism" of Zoroaster, as it
is called, is a
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ZOROASTRIANS.
direct proof of it.
For it was no schism, strictly speaking, but merely a partially-public
exposition of strictly monotheistic religious truths, hitherto taught only in
the sanctuaries, and that he had learned from the Brahmans. Zoroaster, the
primeval institutor of sun-worship, cannot be called the founder of the
dualistic system; neither was he the first to teach the unity of God, for he
taught but what he had learned himself with the Brahmans. And that Zarathustra
and his followers, the Zoroastrians, "had been settled in India before
they immigrated into Persia," is also proved by Max Muller. "That the
Zoroastrians and their ancestors started from India," he says,
"during the Vaidik period, can be proved as distinctly as that the
inhabitants of Massilia started from Greece. . . . Many of the gods of the
Zoroastrians come out . . . as mere reflections and deflections of the
primitive and authentic gods of the Veda."*
If, now, we can
prove -- and we can do so on the evidence of the Kabala and the oldest
traditions of the wisdom-religion, the philosophy of the old sanctuaries --
that all these gods, whether of the Zoroastrians or of the Veda, are but so
many personated occult powers of nature, the faithful servants of the adepts of
secret wisdom -- Magic -- we are on secure ground.
Thus, whether we
say that Kabalism and Gnosticism proceeded from Masdeanism or Zoroastrianism,
it is all the same, unless we meant the exoteric worship -- which we do not.
Likewise, and in this sense, we may echo King, the author of the Gnostics, and
several other archaeologists, and maintain that both the former proceeded from
Buddhism, at once the simplest and most satisfying of philosophies, and which
resulted in one of the purest religions of the world. It is only a matter of
chronology to decide which of these religions, differing but in external form,
is the oldest, therefore the least adulterated. But even this bears but very
indirectly, if at all, on the subject we treat of. Already some time before our
era, the adepts, except in India, had ceased to congregate in large communities;
but whether among the Essenes, or the Neo-platonists, or, again, among the
innumerable struggling sects born but to die, the same doctrines, identical in
substance and spirit, if not always in form, are encountered. By Buddhism,
therefore, we mean that religion signifying literally the doctrine of wisdom,
and which by many ages antedates the metaphysical philosophy of Siddhartha
Sakyamuni.
After nineteen
centuries of enforced eliminations from the canonical books of every sentence
which might put the investigator on the true path, it has become very difficult
to show, to the satisfaction of exact science, that the "Pagan"
worshippers of Adonis, their neighbors, the Naza-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Max Muller:
"Zend Avesta," 83.
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renes, and the
Pythagorean Essenes, the healing Therapeutes,* the Ebionites, and other sects,
were all, with very slight differences, followers of the ancient theurgic
Mysteries. And yet by analogy and a close study of the hidden sense of their
rites and customs, we can trace their kinship.
It was given to a
contemporary of Jesus to become the means of pointing out to posterity, by his
interpretation of the oldest literature of Israel, how deeply the kabalistic
philosophy agreed in its esoterism with that of the profoundest Greek thinkers.
This contemporary, an ardent disciple of Plato and Aristotle, was Philo
Judaeus. While explaining the Mosaic books according to a purely kabalistic
method, he is the famous Hebrew writer whom Kingsley calls the Father of New
Platonism.
It is evident that
Philo's Therapeutes are a branch of the Essenes. Their name indicates it --
[[Essaioc]], Asaya, physician. Hence, the contradictions, forgeries, and other
desperate expedients to reconcile the prophecies of the Jewish canon with the
Galilean nativity and god-ship.
Luke, who was a
physician, is designated in the Syriac texts as Asaia, the Essaian or Essene.
Josephus and Philo Judaeus have sufficiently described this sect to leave no
doubt in our mind that the Nazarene Reformer, after having received his
education in their dwellings in the desert, and been duly initiated in the
Mysteries, preferred the free and independent life of a wandering Nazaria, and
so separated or inazarenized himself from them, thus becoming a travelling
Therapeute, a Nazaria, a healer. Every Therapeute, before quitting his
community, had to do the same. Both Jesus and St. John the Baptist preached the
end of the Age;** which proves their knowledge of the secret computation of the
priests and kabalists, who with the chiefs of the Essene communities alone had
the secret of the duration of the cycles. The latter were kabalists and
theurgists; "they had their mystic books, and predicted future
events," says Munk.***
Dunlap, whose
personal researches seem to have been quite successful in that direction,
traces the Essenes, Nazarenes, Dositheans, and some other sects as having all
existed before Christ: "They rejected pleasures, despised riches, loved
one another, and more than other sects, neg-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Philo: "De
Vita. Contemp."
** The real meaning
of the division into ages is esoteric and Buddhistic. So little did the
uninitiated Christians understand it that they accepted the words of Jesus
literally and firmly believed that he meant the end of the world. There had
been many prophecies about the forthcoming age. Virgil, in the fourth Eclogue,
mentions the Metatron -- a new offspring, with whom the iron age shall end and
a golden one arise.
***
"Palestine," p. 525, et seq.
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UTTERANCES OF JESUS.
lected wedlock,
deeming the conquest of the passions to be virtuous,"* he says.
These are all virtues
preached by Jesus; and if we are to take the gospels as a standard of truth,
Christ was a metempsychosist "or re-incarnationist" -- again like
these same Essenes, whom we see were Pythagoreans in all their doctrine and
habits. Iamblichus asserts that the Samian philosopher spent a certain time at
Carmel with them.** In his discourses and sermons, Jesus always spoke in
parables and used metaphors with his audience. This habit was again that of the
Essenians and the Nazarenes; the Galileans who dwelt in cities and villages
were never known to use such allegorical language. Indeed, some of his
disciples being Galileans as well as himself, felt even surprised to find him
using with the people such a form of expression. "Why speakest thou unto
them in parables?"*** they often inquired. "Because, it is given unto
you to know the Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given," was the reply, which was that of an initiate. "Therefore, I
speak unto them in parables; because, they seeing, see not, and hearing, they
hear not, neither do they understand." Moreover, we find Jesus expressing
his thoughts still clearer -- and in sentences which are purely Pythagorean --
when, during the Sermon on the Mount, he says:
"Give ye not
that which is sacred to the dogs,
Neither cast ye
your pearls before swine;
For the swine will
tread them under their feet
And the dogs will
turn and rend you."
Professor A.
Wilder, the editor of Taylor's Eleusinian Mysteries, observes "a like
disposition on the part of Jesus and Paul to classify their doctrines as
esoteric and exoteric, the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God 'for the apostles,'
and 'parables' for the multitude. 'We speak wisdom,' says Paul, 'among them
that are perfect' (or initiated)."****
In the Eleusinian
and other Mysteries the participants were always divided into two classes, the
neophytes and the perfect. The former were sometimes admitted to the
preliminary initiation: the dramatic performance of Ceres, or the soul,
descending to Hades.***** But it was
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Sod,"
vol. ii., Preface, p. xi.
** "Vit.
Pythag." Munk derives the name of the Iessaens or Essenes from the Syriac
Asaya -- the healers, or physicians, thus showing their identity with the Egyptian
Therapeutae. "Palestine," p. 515.
*** Matthew xiii.
10.
****
"Eleusinian Mysteries," p. 15.
***** This descent
to Hades signified the inevitable fate of each soul to be united for a time
with a terrestrial body. This union, or dark prospect for the soul to find
itself
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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given only to the
"perfect" to enjoy and learn the Mysteries of the divine Elysium, the
celestial abode of the blessed; this Elysium being unquestionably the same as
the "Kingdom of Heaven." To contradict or reject the above, would be
merely to shut one's eyes to the truth.
The narrative of
the Apostle Paul, in his second Epistle to the Corinthians (xii. 3, 4), has
struck several scholars, well versed in the descriptions of the mystical rites
of the initiation given by some classics, as alluding most undoubtedly to the
final Epopteia.* "I knew a certain man -- whether in body or outside of
body, I know not: God knoweth -- who was rapt into Paradise, and heard things
ineffable [[arreta pemato]], which it is not lawful for a man to repeat."
These words have rarely, so far as we know, been regarded by commentators as an
allusion to the beatific visions of an "initiated" seer. But the
phraseology is unequivocal. These things "which it is not lawful to
repeat," are hinted at in the same words, and the reason for it assigned,
is the same as that which we find repeatedly expressed by Plato, Proclus,
Iamblichus, Herodotus, and other classics. "We speak WISDOM only among
them who are PERFECT," says Paul; the plain and undeniable translation of
the sentence being: "We speak of the profounder (or final) esoteric
doctrines of the Mysteries (which were denominated wisdom) only among them who
are initiated."** So in relation to the "man who was rapt into
Paradise" -- and who was evidently Paul himself*** -- the Christian word Paradise
having replaced that of Elysium. To complete the proof, we might recall the
words of Plato, given elsewhere, which show that before an initiate could see
the gods in their purest light, he had to become liberated from his body; i.e.,
to separate his astral soul from it.**** Apuleius also describes his initiation
into the Mysteries in the same way: "I approached the confines of death;
and, having trodden on the threshold of Proserpina, returned, having been
carried through all the elements. In the depths of midnight I saw the sun
glittering with a splendid light, together with the infernal and supernal gods,
and to these divinities approaching, I paid the tribute of devout
adoration."*****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] imprisoned within the dark tenement of a body,
was considered by all the ancient philosophers and is even by the modern
Buddhists, as a punishment.
* "Eleusinian
Mysteries," p. 49, foot-note.
** "The
profound or esoteric doctrines of the ancients were denominated wisdom, and
afterward philosophy, and also the gnosis, or knowledge. They related to the
human soul, its divine parentage, its supposed degradation from its high estate
by becoming connected with "generation" or the physical world, its
onward progress and restoration to God by regenerations or . . .
transmigrations." Ibid, p. 2, foot-note.
*** Cyril of
Jerusalem asserts it. See vi. 10.
****
"Phaedrus," 64.
***** "The
Golden Ass," xi.
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APOCALYPSE.
Thus, in common
with Pythagoras and other hierophant reformers, Jesus divided his teachings into
exoteric and esoteric. Following faithfully the Pythagoreo-Essenean ways, he
never sat at a meal without saying "grace." "The priest prays
before his meal," says Josephus, describing the Essenes. Jesus also
divided his followers into "neophytes," "brethren," and the
"perfect," if we may judge by the difference he made between them.
But his career at least as a public Rabbi, was of a too short duration to allow
him to establish a regular school of his own; and with the exception, perhaps, of
John, it does not seem that he had initiated any other apostle. The Gnostic
amulets and talismans are mostly the emblems of the apocalyptic allegories. The
"seven vowels" are closely related to the "seven seals";
and the mystic title Abraxas, partakes as much of the composition of Shem
Hamphirosh, "the holy word" or ineffable name, as the name called:
The word of God, that "no man knew but he himself,"* as John
expresses it.
It would be
difficult to escape from the well-adduced proofs that the Apocalypse is the
production of an initiated kabalist, when this Revelation presents whole
passages taken from the Books of Enoch and Daniel, which latter is in itself an
abridged imitation of the former; and when, furthermore, we ascertain that the
Ophite Gnostics who rejected the Old Testament entirely, as "emanating
from an inferior being (Jehovah)," accepted the most ancient prophets,
such as Enoch, and deduced the strongest support from this book for their
religious tenets, the demonstration becomes evident. We will show further how
closely related are all these doctrines. Besides, there is the history of
Domitian's persecutions of magicians and philosophers, which affords as good a
proof as any that John was generally considered a kabalist. As the apostle was
included among the number, and, moreover, conspicuous, the imperial edict
banished him not only from Rome, but even from the continent. It was not the
Christians whom -- confounding them with the Jews, as some historians will have
it -- the emperor persecuted, but the astrologers and kabalists.**
The accusations
against Jesus of practicing the magic of Egypt were numerous, and at one time
universal, in the towns where he was known. The Pharisees, as claimed in the
Bible, had been the first to fling it in his
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
*
"Apocalypse," xix. 12.
** See Suet. in
"Vita. Eutrop.," 7. It is neither cruelty, nor an insane indulgence
in it, which shows this emperor in history as passing his time in catching
flies and transpiercing them with a golden bodkin, but religious superstition.
The Jewish astrologers had predicted to him that he had provoked the wrath of
Beelzebub, the "Lord of the flies," and would perish miserably
through the revenge of the dark god of Ekron, and die like King Ahaziah,
because he persecuted the Jews.
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face, although
Rabbi Wise considers Jesus himself a Pharisee. The Talmud certainly points to
James the Just as one of that sect.* But these partisans are known to have
always stoned every prophet who denounced their evil ways, and it is not on
this fact that we base our assertion. These accused him of sorcery, and of
driving out devils by Beelzebub, their prince, with as much justice as later
the Catholic clergy had to accuse of the same more than one innocent martyr.
But Justin Martyr states on better authority that the men of his time who were
not Jews asserted that the miracles of Jesus were performed by magical art --
[[magike phantasia]] -- the very expression used by the skeptics of those days
to designate the feats of thaumaturgy accomplished in the Pagan temples.
"They even ventured to call him a magician and a deceiver of the
people," complains the martyr.** In the Gospel of Nicodemus (the Acta
Pilate), the Jews bring the same accusation before Pilate. "Did we not
tell thee he was a magician?"*** Celsus speaks of the same charge, and as
a Neo-platonist believes in it.**** The Talmudic literature is full of the most
minute particulars, and their greatest accusation is that "Jesus could fly
as easily in the air as others could walk."***** St. Austin asserted that
it was generally believed that he had been initiated in Egypt, and that he
wrote books concerning magic, which he delivered to John.****** There was a
work called Magia Jesu Christi, which was attributed to Jesus******* himself.
In the Clementine Recognitions the charge is brought against Jesus that he did
not perform his miracles as a Jewish prophet, but as a magician, i.e., an
initiate of the "heathen" temples.********
It was usual then,
as it is now, among the intolerant clergy of opposing religions, as well as
among the lower classes of society, and even among those patricians who, for
various reasons had been excluded from any participation of the Mysteries, to
accuse, sometimes, the highest hierophants and adepts of sorcery and black
magic. So Apuleius, who
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* We believe that
it was the Sadducees and not the Pharisees who crucified Jesus. They were
Zadokites -- partisans of the house of Zadok, or the sacerdotal family. In the
"Acts" the apostles were said to be persecuted by the Sadducees, but
never by the Pharisees. In fact, the latter never persecuted any one. They had
the scribes, rabbis, and learned men in their numbers, and were not, like the
Sadducees, jealous of their order.
**
"Dial.," p. 69.
*** Fabricius:
"Cod. Apoc., N. T.," i., 243; Tischendorf: "Evang. Ap.," p.
214.
**** Origen:
"Cont. Cels.," II.
***** Rabbi Iochan:
"Mag.," 51.
******
"Origen," II.
******* Cf.
"August de Consans. Evang.," i., 9; Fabric.: "Cod. Ap. N.
T.," i., p. 305, ff.
********
"Recog.," i. 58; cf., p. 40.
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MAGICIAN.
had been initiated,
was likewise accused of witchcraft, and of carrying about him the figure of a
skeleton -- a potent agent, as it is asserted, in the operations of the black
art. But one of the best and most unquestionable proofs of our assertion may be
found in the so-called Museo Gregoriano. On the sarcophagus, which is panelled
with bas-reliefs representing the miracles of Christ,* may be seen the full
figure of Jesus, who, in the resurrection of Lazarus, appears beardless
"and equipped with a wand in the received guise of a necromancer (?)
whilst the corpse of Lazarus is swathed in bandages exactly as an Egyptian
mummy."
Had posterity been
enabled to have several such representations executed during the first century
when the figure, dress, and every-day habits of the Reformer were still fresh
in the memory of his contemporaries, perhaps the Christian world would be more
Christ-like; the dozens of contradictory, groundless, and utterly meaningless
speculations about the "Son of Man" would have been impossible; and humanity
would now have but one religion and one God. It is this absence of all proof,
the lack of the least positive clew about him whom Christianity has deified,
that has caused the present state of perplexity. No pictures of Christ were
possible until after the days of Constantine, when the Jewish element was
nearly eliminated among the followers of the new religion. The Jews, apostles,
and disciples, whom the Zoroastrians and the Parsees had inoculated with a holy
horror of any form of images, would have considered it a sacrilegious blasphemy
to represent in any way or shape their master. The only authorized image of
Jesus, even in the days of Tertullian, was an allegorical representation of the
"Good Shepherd,"** which was no portrait, but the figure of a man
with a jackal-head, like Anubis.*** On this gem, as seen in the collection of
Gnostic amulets, the Good Shepherd bears upon his shoulders the lost lamb. He
seems to have a human head upon his neck; but, as King correctly observes,
"it only seems so to the uninitiated eye." On closer inspection, he
becomes the double-headed Anubis, having one head human, the other a jackal's,
whilst his girdle assumes the form of a serpent rearing aloft its crested head.
"This figure," adds the author of the Gnostics, etc., "had two
meanings -- one obvious for the vulgar; the other mystical, and recognizable by
the initiated alone. It was perhaps the signet of some chief
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* King's
"Gnostics," p. 145; the author places this sarcophagus among the
earliest productions of that art which inundated later the world with mosaics
and engravings, representing the events and personages of the "New
Testament."
** "De
Pudicitia." See "The Gnostics and their Remains," p. 144.
*** Ibid., plate
i., p. 200.
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teacher or
apostle."* This affords a fresh proof that the Gnostics and early orthodox
(?) Christians were not so wide apart in their secret doctrine. King deduces
from a quotation from Epiphanius, that even as late as 400 A.D. it was
considered an atrocious sin to attempt to represent the bodily appearance of Christ.
Epiphanius** brings it as an idolatrous charge against the Carpocratians that
"they kept painted portraits, and even gold and silver images, and in
other materials, which they pretended to be portraits of Jesus, and made by
Pilate after the likeness of Christ. . . . These they keep in secret, along
with Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, and setting them all up together, they
worship and offer sacrifices unto them after the Gentiles' fashion."
What would the
pious Epiphanius say were he to resuscitate and step into St. Peter's Cathedral
at Rome! Ambrosius seems also very desperate at the idea -- that some persons
fully credited the statement of Lampridius that Alexander Severus had in his
private chapel an image of Christ among other great philosophers. "That
the Pagans should have preserved the likeness of Christ," he exclaims,
"but the disciples have neglected to do so, is a notion the mind shudders
to entertain, much less to believe."
All this points
undeniably to the fact, that except a handful of self-styled Christians who
subsequently won the day, all the civilized portion of the Pagans who knew of
Jesus honored him as a philosopher, an adept whom they placed on the same level
with Pythagoras and Apollonius. Whence such a veneration on their part for a
man, were he simply, as represented by the Synoptics, a poor, unknown Jewish
carpenter from Nazareth? As an incarnated God there is no single record of him
on this earth capable of withstanding the critical examination of science; as
one of the greatest reformers, an inveterate enemy of every theological
dogmatism, a persecutor of bigotry, a teacher of one of the most sublime codes
of ethics, Jesus is one of the grandest and most clearly-defined figures on the
panorama of human history. His age may, with every day, be receding farther and
farther back into the gloomy and hazy mists of the past; and his theology --
based on human fancy and supported by untenable dogmas may, nay, must with
every day lose more of its unmerited prestige; alone the grand figure of the
philosopher and moral reformer instead of growing paler will become with every
century more pronounced and more clearly defined. It will reign supreme and
universal only on that day when the whole of humanity recognizes but one
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This gem is in
the collection of the author of "The Gnostics and their Remains." See
p. 201.
**
"Heresies," xxvii.
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NAZARENES.
father -- the
UNKNOWN ONE above -- and one brother -- the whole of mankind below.
In a pretended
letter of Lentulus, a senator and a distinguished historian, to the Roman
senate, there is a description of the personal appearance of Jesus. The letter
itself, written in horrid Latin, is pronounced a bare-faced forgery; but we
find therein an expression which suggests many thoughts. Albeit a forgery it is
evident that whosoever invented it has nevertheless tried to follow tradition
as closely as possible. The hair of Jesus is represented in it as "wavy
and curling . . . flowing down upon his shoulders," and as "having a
parting in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Nazarenes."
This last sentence shows: 1. That there was such a tradition, based on the
biblical description of John the Baptist, the Nazaria, and the custom of this
sect. 2. Had Lentulus been the author of this letter, it is difficult to
believe that Paul should never have heard of it; and had he known its contents,
he would never have pronounced it a shame for men to wear their hair long,*
thus shaming his Lord and Christ-God. 3. If Jesus did wear his hair long and
"parted in the middle of the forehead, after the fashion of the Nazarenes
(as well as John, the only one of his apostles who followed it), then we have
one good reason more to say that Jesus must have belonged to the sect of the
Nazarenes, and been called NASARIA for this reason and not because he was an
inhabitant of Nazareth; for they never wore their hair long. The Nazarite, who
separated himself unto the Lord, allowed "no razor to come upon his
head." "He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his
head grow," says Numbers (vi. 5). Samson was a Nazarite, i.e., vowed to
the service of God, and in his hair was his strength. "No razor shall come
upon his head; the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb"
(Judges xiii. 5). But the final and most reasonable conclusion to be inferred
from this is that Jesus, who was so opposed to all the orthodox Jewish
practices, would not have allowed his hair to grow had he not belonged to this
sect, which in the days of John the Baptist had already become a heresy in the
eyes of the Sanhedrim. The Talmud, speaking of the Nazaria, or the Nazarenes
(who had abandoned the world like Hindu yogis or hermits) calls them a sect of
physicians, of wandering exorcists; as also does Jervis. "They went about
the country, living on alms and performing cures."** Epiphanius says that
the Nazarenes come next in heresy to the Corinthians whether having existed
"before them or after them, nevertheless synchronous," and then adds
that "all Christians at that time were equally called Nazarenes"!***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* 1 Cor. xi. 14.
** See the
"Israelite Indeed," vol. ii., p. 238; "Treatise Nazir."
*** "Epiph.
ed. Petar," vol. i., p. 117.
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In the very first
remark made by Jesus about John the Baptist, we find him stating that he is
"Elias, which was for to come." This assertion, if it is not a later
interpolation for the sake of having a prophecy fulfilled, means again that
Jesus was a kabalist; unless indeed we have to adopt the doctrine of the French
spiritists and suspect him of believing in reincarnation. Except the kabalistic
sects of the Essenes, the Nazarenes, the disciples of Simeon Ben Iochai, and
Hillel, neither the orthodox Jews, nor the Galileans, believed or knew anything
about the doctrine of permutation. And the Sadducees rejected even that of the
resurrection.
"But the
author of this restitutionis was Mosah, our master, upon whom be peace! Who was
the revolutio (transmigration) of Seth and Hebel, that he might cover the
nudity of his Father Adam -- Primus," says the Kabala.* Thus, Jesus
hinting that John was the revolutio, or transmigration of Elias, seems to prove
beyond any doubt the school to which he belonged.
Until the present
day uninitiated Kabalists and Masons believe permutation to be synonymous with
transmigration and metempsychosis. But they are as much mistaken in regard to
the doctrine of the true Kabalists as to that of the Buddhists. True, the Sohar
says in one place, "All souls are subject to transmigration . . . men do
not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He; they do not know that they
are brought before the tribunal, both before they enter this world and after
they quit it," and the Pharisees also held this doctrine, as Josephus
shows (Antiquities, xviii. 13). Also the doctrine of Gilgul, held to the
strange theory of the "Whirling of the Soul," which taught that the
bodies of Jews buried far away from the Holy Land, still preserve a particle of
soul which can neither rest nor quit them, until it reaches the soil of the
"Promised Land." And this "whirling" process was thought to
be accomplished by the soul being conveyed back through an actual evolution of
species; transmigrating from the minutest insect up to the largest animal. But
this was an exoteric doctrine. We refer the reader to the Kabbala Denudata of
Henry Khunrath; his language, however obscure, may yet throw some light upon
the subject.
But this doctrine
of permutation, or revolutio, must not be understood as a belief in
reincarnation. That Moses was considered the transmigration of Abel and Seth,
does not imply that the kabalists -- those who were initiated at least --
believed that the identical spirit of either of Adam's sons reappeared under
the corporeal form of Moses. It only shows what was the mode of expression they
used when hinting at one of the profoundest mysteries of the Oriental Gnosis,
one of the most majestic arti-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Kabbala
Denudata," ii., 155; "Vallis Regia," Paris edition.
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BECOMES INCARNATE.
cles of faith of
the Secret Wisdom. It was purposely veiled so as to half conceal and half reveal
the truth. It implied that Moses, like certain other god-like men, was believed
to have reached the highest of all states on earth: -- the rarest of all
psychological phenomena, the perfect union of the immortal spirit with the
terrestrial duad had occurred. The trinity was complete. A god was incarnate.
But how rare such incarnations!
That expression,
"Ye are gods," which, to our biblical students, is a mere
abstraction, has for the kabalists a vital significance. Each immortal spirit
that sheds its radiance upon a human being is a god -- the Microcosmos of the
Macrocosmos, part and parcel of the Unknown God, the First Cause of which it is
a direct emanation. It is possessed of all the attributes of its parent source.
Among these attributes are omniscience and omnipotence. Endowed with these, but
yet unable to fully manifest them while in the body, during which time they are
obscured, veiled, limited by the capabilities of physical nature, the thus
divinely-inhabited man may tower far above his kind, evince a god-like wisdom,
and display deific powers; for while the rest of mortals around him are but
overshadowed by their divine SELF, with every chance given to them to become
immortal hereafter, but no other security than their personal efforts to win
the kingdom of heaven, the so chosen man has already become an immortal while
yet on earth. His prize is secured. Henceforth he will live forever in eternal
life. Not only he may have "dominion"* over all the works of creation
by employing the "excellence" of the NAME (the ineffable one) but be
higher in this life, not, as Paul is made to say, "a little lower than the
angels."**
The ancients never
entertained the sacrilegious thought that such perfected entities were
incarnations of the One Supreme and for ever invisible God. No such profanation
of the awful Majesty entered into their conceptions. Moses and his antitypes
and types were to them but complete men, gods on earth, for their gods (divine
spirits) had entered unto their hallowed tabernacles, the purified physical
bodies. The disembodied spirits of the heroes and sages were termed gods by the
ancients. Hence, the accusation of polytheism and idolatry on the part of those
who were the first to anthropomorphize the holiest and purest abstractions of
their forefathers.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Psalms viii.
** This
contradiction, which is attributed to Paul in Hebrews, by making him say of
Jesus in chapter i., 4: "Being made so much better than the angels,"
and then immediately stating in chapter ii. 9, "But we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels," shows how unscrupulously the
writings of the apostles, if they ever wrote any, were tampered with.
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The real and hidden
sense of this doctrine was known to all the initiates. The Tanaim imparted it
to their elect ones, the Isarim, in the solemn solitudes of crypts and deserted
places. It was one of the most esoteric and jealously guarded, for human nature
was the same then as it is now, and the sacerdotal caste as confident as now in
the supremacy of its knowledge, and ambitious of ascendancy over the weaker
masses; with the difference perhaps that its hierophants could prove the
legitimacy of their claims and the plausibility of their doctrines, whereas
now, believers must be content with blind faith.
While the kabalists
called this mysterious and rare occurrence of the union of spirit with the
mortal charge entrusted to its care, the "descent of the Angel
Gabriel" (the latter being a kind of generic name for it), the Messenger
of Life, and the angel Metatron; and while the Nazarenes termed the same
Abel-Zivo,* the Delegatus sent by the Lord of Celsitude, it was universally
known as the "Anointed Spirit."
Thus it is the
acceptation of this doctrine which caused the Gnostics to maintain that Jesus
was a man overshadowed by the Christos or Messenger of Life, and that his
despairing cry from the cross "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani," was
wrung from him at the instant when he felt that this inspiring Presence had
finally abandoned him, for -- as some affirmed -- his faith had also abandoned
him when on the cross.
The early
Nazarenes, who must be numbered among the Gnostic sects, believing that Jesus
was a prophet, held, nevertheless, in relation to him the same doctrine of the
divine "overshadowing," of certain "men of God," sent for
the salvation of nations, and to recall them to the path of righteousness.
"The Divine mind is eternal," says the Codex,** "and it is pure
light, and poured out through splendid and immense space (pleroma). It is
Genetrix of the AEons. But one of them went to matter (chaos) stirring up
confused (turbulentos) movements; and by a certain portion of heavenly light
fashioned it, properly constituted for use and appearance, but the beginning of
every evil. The Demiurge (of matter) claimed divine honor.** Therefore Christus
("the anointed"), the prince of the AEons (powers), was sent
(expeditus), who taking on the person of a most devout Jew, Iesu, was to
conquer him; but who having laid it (the body) aside, departed on high."
We will explain further on the full significance of the name Christos and its
mystic meaning.
And now, in order
to make such passages as the above more intelligible, we will endeavor to
define, as briefly as possible, the dogmas in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," i. 23.
** Ibid., preface,
p. v., translated from Norberg.
*** "According
to the Nazarenes and Gnostics, the Demiurge, the creator of the material world,
is not the highest God." (See Dunlap: "Sod, the Son of the
Man.")
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SUN OF GNOSTICISM.
which, with very
trifling differences, nearly all the Gnostic sects believed. It is in Ephesus
that flourished in those days the greatest college, wherein the abstruse
Oriental speculations and the Platonic philosophy were taught in conjunction.
It was a focus of the universal "secret" doctrines; the weird
laboratory whence, fashioned in elegant Grecian phraseology, sprang the
quintessence of Buddhistic, Zoroastrian, and Chaldean philosophy. Artemis, the
gigantic concrete symbol of theosophico-pantheistic abstractions, the great
mother Multimamma, androgyne and patroness of the "Ephesian
writings," was conquered by Paul; but although the zealous converts of the
apostles pretended to burn all their books on "curious arts," [[ta
perierga]], enough of these remained for them to study when their first zeal
had cooled off. It is from Ephesus that spread nearly all the Gnosis which
antagonized so fiercely with the Irenaean dogmas; and still it was Ephesus,
with her numerous collateral branches of the great college of the Essenes,
which proved to be the hot-bed of all the kabalistic speculations brought by
the Tanaim from the captivity. "In Ephesus," says Matter, "the
notions of the Jewish-Egyptian school, and the semi-Persian speculations of the
kabalists had then recently come to swell the vast conflux of Grecian and
Asiatic doctrines, so there is no wonder that teachers should have sprung up
there who strove to combine the religion newly preached by the apostle with the
ideas there so long established."
Had not the
Christians burdened themselves with the Revelations of a little nation, and
accepted the Jehovah of Moses, the Gnostic ideas would never have been termed
heresies; once relieved of their dogmatic exaggerations the world would have
had a religious system based on pure Platonic philosophy, and surely something
would then have been gained.
Now let us see what
are the greatest heresies of the Gnostics. We will select Basilides as the
standard for our comparisons, for all the founders of other Gnostic sects group
round him, like a cluster of stars borrowing light from their sun.
Basilides
maintained that he had all his doctrines from the Apostle Matthew, and from
Peter through Glaucus, the disciple of the latter.* According to Eusebius,** he
published twenty-four volumes of Interpretations upon the Gospels,*** all of
which were burned, a fact which makes us suppose that they contained more
truthful matter than the school of Irenaeus was prepared to deny. He asserted
that the unknown,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Clemens:
"Al. Strom." vii., 7, § 106.
** H. E., iv. 7.
*** The gospels
interpreted by Basilides were not our present gospels, which, as it is proved
by the greatest authorities, were not in his days in existence. See
"Supernatural Religion," vol. ii., chap. Basilides.
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eternal, and
uncreated Father having first brought forth Nous, or Mind, the latter emanated
from itself -- the Logos. The Logos (the Word of John) emanated in its turn
Phronesis, or the Intelligences (Divine-human spirits). From Phronesis sprung
Sophia, or feminine wisdom, and Dynamis -- strength. These were the personified
attributes of the Mysterious godhead, the Gnostic quinternion, typifying the
five spiritual, but intelligible substances, personal virtues or beings
external to the unknown godhead. This is preeminently a kabalistic idea. It is
still more Buddhistic. The earliest system of the Buddhistic philosophy --
which preceded by far Gautama-Buddha -- is based upon the uncreated substance
of the "Unknown," the A'di Buddha.* This eternal, infinite Monad
possesses, as proper to his own essence, five acts of wisdom. From these it, by
five separate acts of Dhyan, emitted five Dhyani Buddhas; these, like A'di
Buddha, are quiescent in their system (passive). Neither A'di, nor either of
the five Dhyani Buddhas, were ever incarnated, but seven of their emanations
became Avatars, i.e., were incarnated on this earth.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The five make
mystically ten. They are androgynes. "Having divided big body in two
parts, the Supreme Wisdom became male and female" ("Manu," book
i., sloka 32). There are many early Buddhistic ideas to be found in Brahmanism.
The prevalent idea
that the last of the Buddhas, Gautama, is the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, or
the ninth Avatar, is disclaimed partially by the Brahmans, and wholly rejected
by the learned Buddhist theologians. The latter insist that the worship of
Buddha possesses a far higher claim to antiquity than any of the Brahmanical
deities of the Vedas, which they call secular literature. The Brahmans, they
show, came from other countries, and established their heresy on the already
accepted popular deities. They conquered the land by the sword, and succeeded
in burying truth, by building a theology of their own on the ruins of the more
ancient one of Buddha, which had prevailed for ages. They admit the divinity
and spiritual existence of some of the Vedantic gods; but as in the case of the
Christian angel-hierarchy they believe that all these deities are greatly
subordinate, even to the incarnated Buddhas. They do not even acknowledge the
creation of the physical universe. Spiritually and invisibly it has existed
from all eternity, and thus it was made merely visible to the human senses.
When it first appeared it was called forth from the realm of the invisible into
the visible by the impulse of A'di Buddha -- the "Essence." They
reckon twenty-two such visible appearances of the universe governed by Buddhas,
and as many destructions of it, by fire and water in regular successions. After
the last destruction by the flood, at the end of the precedent cycle -- (the
exact calculation, embracing several millions of years, is a secret cycle) the
world, during the present age of the Kali Yug -- Maha Bhadda Calpa -- has been
ruled successively by four Buddhas, the last of whom was Gautama, the
"Holy One." The fifth, Maitree-Buddha, is yet to come. This latter is
the expected kabalistic King Messiah, the Messenger of Light, and Sosiosh, the
Persian Saviour, who will come on a white horse. It is also the Christian
Second Advent. See "Apocalypse" of St. John.
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REVERENTIAL TOWARD THE DEITY.
Describing the
Basilidean system, Irenaeus, quoting the Gnostics, declares as follows:
"When the
uncreated, unnamed Father saw the corruption of mankind, he sent his first-born
Nous, into the world, in the form of Christ, for the redemption of all who believe
in him, out of the power of those who fabricated the world (the Demiurgus, and
his six sons, the planetary genii). He appeared amongst men as the man, Jesus,
and wrought miracles. This Christ did not die in person, but Simon the Cyrenian
suffered in his stead, to whom he lent his bodily form; for the Divine Power,
the Nous of the Eternal Father, is not corporeal, and cannot die. Whoso,
therefore, maintains that Christ has died, is still the bondsman of ignorance;
whoso denies the same, he is free, and hath understood the purpose of the
Father."*
So far, and taken
in its abstract sense, we do not see anything blasphemous in this system. It
may be a heresy against the theology of Irenaeus and Tertullian,** but there is
certainly nothing sacrilegious against the religious idea itself, and it will
seem to every impartial thinker far more consistent with divine reverence than
the anthropomorphism of actual Christianity. The Gnostics were called by the
orthodox Christians, Docetae, or Illusionists, for believing that Christ did
not, nor could, suffer death actually -- in physical body. The later
Brahmanical books contain, likewise, much that is repugnant to the reverential
feeling and idea of the Divinity; and as well as the Gnostics, the Brahmans
explain such legends as may shock the divine dignity of the Spiritual beings
called gods by attributing them to Maya or illusion.
A people brought up
and nurtured for countless ages among all the psychological phenomena of which
the civilized (!) nations read, but reject as incredible and worthless, cannot
well expect to have its religious system even understood -- let alone
appreciated. The profoundest and most transcendental speculations of the
ancient metaphysicians of India and other countries, are all based on that
great Buddhistic and Brahmanical principle underlying the whole of their
religious metaphysics -- illusion of the senses. Everything that is finite is
illusion, all that which is eternal and infinite is reality. Form, color, that
which we hear and feel, or see with our mortal eyes, exists only so far as it
can be conveyed to each of us through our senses. The universe for a man born
blind does not exist in either form or color, but it exists in its privation
(in the Aristotelean sense), and is a reality for the spiritual senses
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Irenaeus," i. 23.
** Tertullian
reversed the table himself by rejecting, later in life, the doctrines for which
he fought with such an acerbity and by becoming a Montanist.
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of the blind man.
We all live under the powerful dominion of phantasy. Alone the highest and
invisible originals emanated from the thought of the Unknown are real and
permanent beings, forms, and ideas; on earth, we see but their reflections;
more or less correct, and ever dependent on the physical and mental
organization of the person who beholds them.
Ages untold before
our era, the Hindu Mystic Kapila, who is considered by many scientists as a
skeptic, because they judge him with their habitual superficiality,
magnificently expressed this idea in the following terms:
"Man (physical
man) counts for so little, that hardly anything can demonstrate to him his
proper existence and that of nature. Perhaps, that which we regard as the
universe, and the divers beings which seem to compose it, have nothing real,
and are but the product of continued illusion -- maya -- of our senses."
And the modern
Schopenhauer, repeating this philosophical idea, 10,000 years old now, says:
"Nature is non-existent, per se. . . . Nature is the infinite illusion of
our senses." Kant, Schelling, and other metaphysicians have said the same,
and their school maintains the idea. The objects of sense being ever delusive
and fluctuating, cannot be a reality. Spirit alone is unchangeable, hence --
alone is no illusion. This is pure Buddhist doctrine. The religion of the
Gnosis (knowledge), the most evident offshoot of Buddhism, was utterly based on
this metaphysical tenet. Christos suffered spiritually for us, and far more
acutely than did the illusionary Jesus while his body was being tortured on the
Cross.
In the ideas of the
Christians, Christ is but another name for Jesus. The philosophy of the
Gnostics, the initiates, and hierophants understood it otherwise. The word
Christos, [[Christos]], like all Greek words, must be sought in its
philological origin -- the Sanscrit. In this latter language Kris means
sacred,* and the Hindu deity was named Chris-na (the pure or the sacred) from
that. On the other hand, the Greek Christos bears several meanings, as anointed
(pure oil, chrism) and others. In all languages, though the synonym of the word
means pure or sacred essence, it is the first emanation of the invisible
Godhead, manifesting itself tangibly in spirit. The Greek Logos, the Hebrew
Messiah, the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* In his debate
with Jacolliot upon the right spelling of the Hindu Christna, Mr. Textor de
Ravisi, an ultramontane Catholic, tries to prove that the name of Christna
ought to be written Krishna, for, as the latter means black, and the statues of
this deity are generally black, the word is derived from the color. We refer
the reader to Jacolliot's answer in his recent work, "Christna et le
Christ," for the conclusive evidence that the name is not derived from the
color.
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HERESIARCH.
Latin Verbum, and
the Hindu Viradj (the son) are identically the same; they represent an idea of
collective entities -- of flames detached from the one eternal centre of light.
"The man who
accomplishes pious but interested acts (with the sole object of his salvation)
may reach the ranks of the devas (saints);* but he who accomplishes,
disinterestedly, the same pious acts, finds himself ridden forever of the five
elements" (of matter). "Perceiving the Supreme Soul in all beings and
all beings in the Supreme Soul, in offering his own soul in sacrifice, he identifies
himself with the Being who shines in his own splendor" (Manu, book xii.,
slokas 90, 91).
Thus, Christos, as
a unity, is but an abstraction: a general idea representing the collective
aggregation of the numberless spirit-entities, which are the direct emanations
of the infinite, invisible, incomprehensible FIRST CAUSE -- the individual
spirits of men, erroneously called the souls. They are the divine sons of God,
of which some only overshadow mortal men -- but this the majority -- some
remain forever planetary spirits, and some -- the smaller and rare minority --
unite themselves during life with some men. Such God-like beings as
Gautama-Buddha, Jesus, Tissoo, Christna, and a few others had united themselves
with their spirits permanently -- hence, they became gods on earth. Others,
such as Moses, Pythagoras, Apollonius, Plotinus, Confucius, Plato, Iamblichus,
and some Christian saints, having at intervals been so united, have taken rank
in history as demi-gods and leaders of mankind. When unburthened of their terrestrial
tabernacles, their freed souls, henceforth united forever with their spirits,
rejoin the whole shining host, which is bound together in one spiritual
solidarity of thought and deed, and called "the anointed." Hence, the
meaning of the Gnostics, who, by saying that "Christos" suffered
spiritually for humanity, implied that his Divine Spirit suffered mostly.
Such, and far more
elevating were the ideas of Marcion, the great "Heresiarch" of the
second century, as he is termed by his opponents. He came to Rome toward the
latter part of the half-century, from A.D. 139-142, according to Tertullian,
Irenaeus, Clemens, and most of his modern commentators, such as Bunsen,
Tischendorf, Westcott, and many others. Credner and Schleiermacher** agree as
to his high and irreproachable personal character, his pure religious
aspirations and elevated views. His influence must have been powerful, as we
find
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* There is no
equivalent for the word "miracle," in the Christian sense, among the
Brahmans or Buddhists. The only correct translation would be meipo, a wonder,
something remarkable; but not a violation of natural law. The
"saints" only produce meipo.
**
"Beitrage," vol. i., p. 40; Schleiermacher: "Sammil.
Werke," viii.; "Einl. N. T.," p. 64.
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Epiphanius writing
more than two centuries later that in his time the followers of Marcion were to
be found throughout the whole world.*
The danger must
have been pressing and great indeed, if we are to judge it to have been
proportioned with the opprobrious epithets and vituperation heaped upon Marcion
by the "Great African," that Patristic Cerberus, whom we find ever
barking at the door of the Irenaean dogmas.** We have but to open his
celebrated refutation of Marcion's Antitheses, to acquaint ourselves with the
fine-fleur of monkish abuse of the Christian school; an abuse so faithfully
carried through the middle ages, to be renewed again in our present day -- at
the Vatican. "Now, then, ye hounds, yelping at the God of Truth, whom the
apostles cast out, to all your questions. These are the bones of contention
which ye gnaw," etc.*** "The poverty of the Great African's arguments
keeps pace with his abuse," remarks the author of Supernatural
Religion.**** "Their (the Father's) religious controversy bristles with
misstatements, and is turbid with pious abuse. Tertullian was a master of his
style, and the vehement vituperation with which he opens and often interlards
his work against 'the impious and sacrilegious Marcion,' offers anything but a
guarantee of fair and legitimate criticism."
How firm these two
Fathers -- Tertullian and Epiphanius -- were on their theological ground, may
be inferred from the curious fact that they intemperately both vehemently
reproach "the beast" (Marcion) "with erasing passages from the
Gospel of Luke which never were in Luke at all."***** "The lightness
and inaccuracy," adds the critic, "with which Tertullian proceeds,
are all the better illustrated by the fact that not only does he accuse Marcion
falsely, but he actually defines the motives for which he expunged a passage
which never existed; in the same chapter he also similarly accuses Marcion of
erasing (from Luke) the saying that Christ had not come to destroy the law and
the prophets, but to fulfill them, and he actually repeats the charge on two
other occasions.****** Epiphanius also commits the mistake of reproaching
Marcion with omitting from Luke what is only found in Matthew."*******
Having so far shown
the amount of reliance to be placed in the Patristic literature, and it being
unanimously conceded by the great majority of biblical critics that what the
Fathers fought for was not truth, but their own interpretations and unwarranted
assertions,******** we will now
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Epiph.
Haera.," xlii., p. 1.
** Tertullian:
"Adv. Marc.," ii. 5; cf. 9.
*** Ibid., ii. 5.
**** Vol. ii., p.
105.
***** Ibid., vol.
ii., p. 100.
****** "Adv.
Marc.," iv., 9, 36.
*******
"Supernatural Religion," p. 101; Matthew v. 17.
******** This
author, vol. ii., p. 103, remarks with great justice of the
"Heresiarch" Marcion, "whose high personal character exerted so
powerful an influence upon his
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
proceed to state
what were the views of Marcion, whom Tertullian desired to annihilate as the
most dangerous heretic of his day. If we are to believe Hilgenfeld, one of the
greatest German biblical critics, then "From the critical standing-point
one must . . . consider the statements of the Fathers of the Church only as
expressions of their subjective view, which itself requires proof."*
We can do no better
nor make a more correct statement of facts concerning Marcion than by quoting
what our space permits from Supernatural Religion, the author of which bases
his assertions on the evidence of the greatest critics, as well as on his own
researches. He shows in the days of Marcion "two broad parties in the
primitive Church" -- one considering Christianity "a mere
continuation of the law, and dwarfing it into an Israelitish institution, a
narrow sect of Judaism"; the other representing the glad tidings "as
the introduction of a new system, applicable to all, and supplanting the Mosaic
dispensation of the law by a universal dispensation of grace." These two
parties, he adds, "were popularly represented in the early Church, by the
two apostles Peter and Paul, and their antagonism is faintly revealed in the
Epistle to the Galatians."**
[[Footnote(s)]]
----------------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] own time," that "it was the misfortune
of Marcion to live in an age when Christianity had passed out of the pure
morality of its infancy; when, untroubled by complicated questions of dogma,
simple faith and pious enthusiasm had been the one great bond of Christian
brotherhood, into a phase of ecclesiastical development in which religion was
fast degenerating into theology, and complicated doctrines were rapidly
assuming the rampant attitude which led to so much bitterness, persecution, and
schism. In later times Marcion might have been honored as a reformer, in his
own he was denounced as a heretic. Austere and ascetic in his opinions, he
aimed at superhuman purity, and, although his clerical adversaries might scoff
at his impracticable doctrines regarding marriage and the subjugation of the
flesh, they have had their parallels amongst those whom the Church has since
most delighted to honor, and, at least, the whole tendency of his system was
markedly towards the side of virtue." These statements are based upon
Credner's "Beitrage," i., p. 40; cf. Neander: "Allg. K.
G.," ii., p. 792, f.; Schleiermacher, Milman, etc., etc.
* Justin's
"Die Evv.," p. 446, sup. B.
** But, on the
other hand, this antagonism is very strongly marked in the "Clementine
Homilies," in which Peter unequivocally denies that Paul, whom he calls
Simon the Magician, has ever had a vision of Christ, and calls him "an
enemy." Canon Westcott says: "There can be no doubt that St. Paul is
referred to as 'the enemy' " ("On the Canon," p. 252, note 2;
"Supernatural Religion," vol. ii., p. 35). But this antagonism, which
rages unto the present day, we find even in St. Paul's "Epistles."
What can be more energetic than such like sentences: "Such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
. . . I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostle" (2
Corinthians, xi.). "Paul, an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . . but there
be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel [Footnote continued on
next page]
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Marcion, who
recognised no other Gospels than a few Epistles of Paul, who rejected totally
the anthropomorphism of the Old Testament, and drew a distinct line of
demarcation between the old Judaism and Christianity, viewed Jesus neither as a
King, Messiah of the Jews, nor the son of David, who was in any way connected
with the law or prophets, "but, a divine being sent to reveal to man a
spiritual religion, wholly new, and a God of goodness and grace hitherto
unknown." The "Lord
[[Footnote(s)]]
------------------------------------------------------------
[Footnote continued
from previous page] of Christ . . . false brethren. . . . When Peter came to
Antioch I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were
come he withdrew, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other
Jews dissembled . . . insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their
dissimulation," etc., etc. (Galat. i and ii.). On the other hand, we find
Peter in the "Homilies," indulging in various complaints which,
although alleged to be addressed to Simon Magus, are evidently all direct
answers to the above-quoted sentences from the Pauline Epistles, and cannot
have anything to do with Simon. So, for instance, Peter said: "For some
among the Gentiles have rejected my lawful preaching, and accepted certain
lawless and foolish teaching of the hostile men (enemy)" -- Epist. of
Peter to James, § 2. He says further: "Simon (Paul) . . . who came before
me to the Gentiles . . . and I have followed him as light upon darkness, as
knowledge upon ignorance, as health upon disease" ("Homil.," ii.
17). Still further, he calls him Death and a deceiver (Ibid., ii. 18). He warns
the Gentiles that "our Lord and Prophet (?) (Jesus) announced that he
would send from among his followers, apostles to deceive. "Therefore,
above all, remember to avoid every apostle, or teacher, or prophet, who first
does not accurately compare his teaching with that of James, called the brother
of our Lord" (see the difference between Paul and James on faith, Epist.
to Hebrews, xi., xii., and Epist. of James, ii.). "Lest the Evil One
should send a false preacher . . . as he has sent to us Simon (?) preaching a
counterfeit of truth in the name of our Lord, and disseminating error"
("Hom." xi., 35; see above quotation from Gal. 1, 5). He then denies
Paul's assertion, in the following words: "If, therefore, our Jesus indeed
appeared in a vision to you, it was only as an irritated adversary. . . . But
how can any one through visions become wise in teaching? And if you say, 'it is
possible,' then I ask, wherefore did the Teacher remain for a whole year and
discourse to those who were attentive? And how can we believe your story that
he appeared to you? And in what manner did he appear to you, when you hold
opinions contrary to his teaching? . . . For you now set yourself up against
me, who am a firm rock, the foundation of the Church. If you were not an
opponent, you would not calumniate me, you would not revile my teaching . . .
(circumcision?) in order that, in declaring what I have myself heard from the
Lord, I may not be believed, as though I were condemned. . . . But if you say
that I am condemned, you blame God who revealed Christ to me." "This
last phrase," observes the author of "Supernatural Religion,"
" 'if you say that I am condemned,' is an evident allusion to Galat. ii,
11, 'I withstood him to the face, because he was condemned' "
("Supernatural Religion," p. 37). "There cannot be a
doubt," adds the just-quoted author, "that the Apostle Paul is
attacked in this religious romance as the great enemy of the true faith, under
the hated name of Simon the Magician, whom Peter follows everywhere for the
purpose of unmasking and confuting him" (p. 34). And if so, then we must
believe that it was St. Paul who broke both his legs in Rome when flying in the
air.
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God" of the
Jews in his eyes, the Creator (Demiurgos), was totally different and distinct
from the Deity who sent Jesus to reveal the divine truth and preach the glad
tidings, to bring reconciliation and salvation to all. The mission of Jesus --
according to Marcion -- was to abrogate the Jewish "Lord," who
"was opposed to the God and Father of Jesus Christ as matter is to spirit,
impurity to purity."
Was Marcion so far
wrong? Was it blasphemy, or was it intuition, divine inspiration in him to
express that which every honest heart yearning for truth, more or less feels
and acknowledges? If in his sincere desire to establish a purely spiritual
religion, a universal faith based on unadulterated truth, he found it necessary
to make of Christianity an entirely new and separate system from that of
Judaism, did not Marcion have the very words of Christ for his authority?
"No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment . . . for the
rent is made worse. . . . Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else
the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they
put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." In what particular
does the jealous, wrathful, revengeful God of Israel resemble the unknown
deity, the God of mercy preached by Jesus; -- his Father who is in Heaven, and
the Father of all humanity? This Father alone is the God of spirit and purity,
and, to compare Him with the subordinate and capricious Sinaitic Deity is an
error. Did Jesus ever pronounce the name of Jehovah? Did he ever place his
Father in contrast with this severe and cruel Judge; his God of mercy, love,
and justice, with the Jewish genius of retaliation? Never! From that memorable
day when he preached his Sermon on the Mount, an immeasurable void opened
between his God and that other deity who fulminated his commands from that
other mount -- Sinai. The language of Jesus is unequivocal; it implies not only
rebellion but defiance of the Mosaic "Lord God." "Ye have
heard," he tells us, "that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and
a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Ye have heard
that it hath been said [by the same "Lord God" on Sinai]: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you; Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew v.).
And now, open Manu
and read:
"Resignation,
the action of rendering good for evil, temperance, probity, purity, repression
of the senses, the knowledge of the Sastras (the holy books), that of the
supreme soul, truthfulness and abstinence from anger, such are the ten virtues
in which consists duty. . . . Those who
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study these ten
precepts of duty, and after having studied them conform their lives thereto,
will reach to the supreme condition" (Manu, book vi., sloka 92).
If Manu did not
trace these words many thousands of years before the era of Christianity, at
least no voice in the whole world will dare deny them a less antiquity than
several centuries B.C. The same in the case of the precepts of Buddhism.
If we turn to the
Pratimokska Sutra and other religious tracts of the Buddhists, we read the ten
following commandments:
1. Thou shalt not
kill any living creature.
2. Thou shalt not
steal.
3. Thou shalt not
break thy vow of chastity.
4. Thou shalt not
lie.
5. Thou shalt not
betray the secrets of others.
6. Thou shalt not
wish for the death of thy enemies.
7. Thou shalt not
desire the wealth of others.
8. Thou shalt not
pronounce injurious and foul words.
9. Thou shalt not
indulge in luxury (sleep on soft beds or be lazy).
10. Thou shalt not
accept gold or silver.*
"Good master,
what shall I do that I may have eternal life?" asks a man of Jesus.
"Keep the commandments." "Which?" "Thou shalt do no
murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not
bear false witness,"** is the answer.
"What shall I
do to obtain possession of Bhodi? (knowledge of eternal truth)" asks a
disciple of his Buddhist master. "What way is there to become an
Upasaka?" "Keep the commandments." "What are they?"
"Thou shalt abstain all thy life from murder, theft, adultery, and
lying," answers the master.***
Identical
injunctions are they not? Divine injunctions, the living up to which would
purify and exalt humanity. But are they more divine when uttered through one
mouth than another? If it is god-like to return good for evil, does the
enunciation of the precept by a Nazarene give it any greater force than its
enunciation by an Indian, or Thibetan philosopher? We see that the Golden Rule
was not original with Jesus; that its birth-place was India. Do what we may, we
cannot deny Sakya-Muni Buddha a less remote antiquity than several centuries
before the birth of Jesus. In seeking a model for his system of ethics why
should Jesus have gone to the foot of the Himalayas rather than to the foot of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Pratimoksha
Sutra," Pali Burmese copy; see also "Lotus de la Bonne Loi,"
translated by Burnouf, p. 444.
** Matthew xix.
16-18.
***
"Pittakatayan," book iii., Pali Version.
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BACCHUS.
Sinai, but that the
doctrines of Manu and Gautama harmonized exactly with his own philosophy, while
those of Jehovah were to him abhorrent and terrifying? The Hindus taught to
return good for evil, but the Jehovistic command was: "An eye for an
eye" and "a tooth for a tooth."
Would Christians
still maintain the identity of the "Father" of Jesus and Jehovah, if
evidence sufficiently clear could be adduced that the "Lord God" was
no other than the Pagan Bacchus, Dionysos? Well, this identity of the Jehovah
at Mount Sinai with the god Bacchus is hardly disputable. The name [[char]] is
Yava or Iao, according to Theodoret, which is the secret name of the Phoenician
Mystery-god;* and it was actually adopted from the Chaldeans with whom it also
was the secret name of the creator. Wherever Bacchus was worshipped there was a
tradition of Nysa and a cave where he was reared. Beth-San or Scythopolis in
Palestine had that designation; so had a spot on Mount Parnassus. But Diodorus
declares that Nysa was between Phoenicia and Egypt; Euripides states that
Dionysos came to Greece from India; and Diodorus adds his testimony:
"Osiris was brought up in Nysa, in Arabia the Happy; he was the son of
Zeus, and was named from his father (nominative Zeus, genitive Dios) and the
place Dio-Nysos" -- the Zeus or Jove of Nysa. This identity of name or
title is very significant. In Greece Dionysos was second only to Zeus, and
Pindar says:
"So Father
Zeus governs all things, and Bacchus he governs also."
But outside of
Greece Bacchus was the all-powerful "Zagreus, the highest of gods."
Moses seems to have worshipped him personally and together with the populace at
Mount Sinai; unless we admit that he was an initiated priest, an adept, who
knew how to lift the veil which hangs behind all such exoteric worship, but
kept the secret. "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it
Jehovah-NISSI"! or Iao-Nisi. What better evidence is required to show that
the Sinaitic god was indifferently Bacchus, Osiris, and Jehovah? Mr. Sharpe
appends also his testimony that the place where Osiris was born "was Mount
Sinai, called by the Egyptians Mount Nissa." The Brazen Serpent was a nis,
[[Heb char]], and the month of the Jewish Passover nisan.
If the Mosaic
"Lord God" was the only living God, and Jesus His only Son, how
account for the rebellious language of the latter? Without hesitation or
qualification he sweeps away the Jewish lex talionis and substitutes for it the
law of charity and self-denial. If the Old Testament
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Judges xiii.
18, "And the angel of the Lord said unto him: Why askest thou after my
name, seeing it is SECRET?"
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is a divine
revelation, how can the New Testament be? Are we required to believe and
worship a Deity who contradicts himself every few hundred years? Was Moses
inspired, or was Jesus not the son of God? This is a dilemma from which the
theologians are bond to rescue us. It is from this very dilemma that the
Gnostics endeavored to snatch the budding Christianity.
Justice has been
waiting nineteen centuries for intelligent commentators to appreciate this
difference between the orthodox Tertullian and the Gnostic Marcion. The brutal
violence, unfairness, and bigotry of the "great African" repulse all
who accept his Christianity. "How can a god," inquired Marcion,
"break his own commandments? How could he consistently prohibit idolatry
and image-worship, and still cause Moses to set up the brazen serpent? How
command: Thou shalt not steal, and then order the Israelites to spoil the
Egyptians of their gold and silver?" Anticipating the results of modern
criticism, Marcion denies the applicability to Jesus of the so-called Messianic
prophecies. Writes the author of Supernatural Religion:* "The Emmanuel of
Isaiah is not Christ; the 'Virgin,' his mother, is simply a 'young woman,' an
alma of the temple; and the sufferings of the servant of God (Isaiah lii. 13 -
liii. 3) are not predictions of the death of Jesus."**
[[Footnote(s)]]
---------------------------------------------------------------
* Vol. ii., p. 106.
** Emmanuel was
doubtless the son of the prophet himself, as described in the sixth chapter;
what was predicted, can only be interpreted on that hypothesis. The prophet had
also announced to Ahaz the extinction of his line. "If ye will not
believe, surely ye shall not be established." Next comes the prediction of
the placing of a new prince on the throne -- Hezekiah of Bethlehem, said to
have been Isaiah's son-in-law, under whom the captives should return from the
uttermost parts of the earth. Assyria should be humbled, and peace overspread
the Israelitish country, compare Isaiah vii. 14-16; viii. 3, 4; ix. 6, 7; x.
12, 20, 21; xi.; Micah v., 2-7. The popular party, the party of the prophets,
always opposed to the Zadokite priesthood, had resolved to set aside Ahaz and
his time-serving policy, which had let in Assyria upon Palestine, and to set up
Hezekiah, a man of their own, who should rebel against Assyria and overthrow
the Assur-worship and Baalim (2 Kings xv. 11). Though only the prophets hint
this, it being cut out from the historical books, it is noticeable that Ahaz
offered his own child to Moloch, also that he died at the age of thirty-six,
and Hezekiah took the throne at twenty-five, in full adult age.
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CHAPTER IV.
"Nothing
better than those MYSTERIES, by which, from a rough and fierce life, we
are polished to
gentleness (humanity, kindness), and softened." -- CICERO: de Legibus,
ii., 14.
"Descend, O
Soma, with that stream with which thou lightest up the Sun. . . .
Soma, a Life Ocean
spread through All, thou fillest creative the Sun with beams." --
Rig-Veda, ii., 143.
". . . the
beautiful Virgin ascends, with long hair, and she holds two ears in her hand,
and sits on a seat and feeds a BOY as yet little, and suckles him and gives him
food." -- AVENAR.
IT is alleged that
the Pentateuch was written by Moses, and yet it contains the account of his own
death (Deuteronomy xxxiv. 6); and in Genesis (xiv. 14), the name Dan is given
to a city, which Judges (xviii. 29), tells us was only called by that name at
that late day, it having previously been known as Laish. Well might Josiah have
rent his clothes when he had heard the words of the Book of the Law; for there
was no more of Moses in it than there is of Jesus in the Gospel according to
John.
We have one fair
alternative to offer our theologians, leaving them to choose for themselves,
and promising to abide by their decision. Only they will have to admit, either
that Moses was an impostor, or that his books are forgeries, written at
different times and by different persons; or, again, that they are full of
fraudulent interpolations. In either case the work loses all claims to be
considered divine Revelation. Here is the problem, which we quote from the
Bible -- the word of the God of Truth:
"And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty,
but by my name of JEHOVAH was I not known to them" (Exodus vi. 3), spake
God unto Moses.
A very startling
bit of information that, when, before arriving at the book of Exodus, we are
told in Genesis (xxii. 14) that "Abraham called the name of that
place" -- where the patriarch had been preparing to cut the throat of his
only-begotten son -- "JEHOVAH-jireh"! (Jehovah sees.) Which is the
inspired text? -- both cannot be -- which the forgery?
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Now, if both
Abraham and Moses had not belonged to the same holy group, we might, perhaps,
help theologians by suggesting to them a convenient means of escape out of this
dilemma. They ought to call the reverend Jesuit Fathers -- especially those who
have been missionaries in India -- to their rescue. The latter would not be for
a moment disconcerted. They would coolly tell us that beyond doubt Abraham had
heard the name of Jehovah and borrowed it from Moses. Do they not maintain that
it was they who invented the Sanscrit, edited Manu, and composed the greater
portion of the Vedas?
Marcion maintained,
with the other Gnostics, the fallaciousness of the idea of an incarnate God,
and therefore denied the corporeal reality of the living body of Christ. His
entity was a mere illusion; it was not made of human flesh and blood, neither
was it born of a human mother, for his divine nature could not be polluted with
any contact with sinful flesh.* He accepted Paul as the only apostle preaching
the pure gospel of truth, and accused the other disciples of "depraving
the pure form of the gospel doctrines delivered to them by Jesus, mixing up
matters of the Law with the words of the Saviour."**
Finally we may add
that modern biblical criticism, which unfortunately became really active and
serious only toward the end of the last century, now generally admits that
Marcion's text of the only gospel he knew anything about -- that of Luke, is
far superior and by far more correct than that of our present Synoptics. We
find in Supernatural Religion the following (for every Christian) startling sentence:
"We are, therefore, indebted to Marcion for the correct version even of
'the Lord's Prayer.' "***
If, leaving for the
present the prominent founders of Christian sects, we now turn to that of the
Ophites, which assumed a definite form about the time of Marcion and the
Basilideans, we may find in it the reason for the heresies of all others. Like
all other Gnostics, they rejected the Mosaic Bible entirely. Nevertheless,
their philosophy, apart from some deductions original with several of the most
important founders of the various branches of Gnosticism was not new. Passing
through the Chaldean kabalistic tradition, it gathered its materials in the
Hermetic books, and pursuing its flight still farther back for its metaphysical
speculations, we find it floundering among the tenets of Manu, and the earliest
Hindu ante-sacerdotal genesis. Many of our eminent antiquarians trace the
Gnostic philosophies right back to Buddhism, which does not impair in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Tertullian:
"Adv. Marci," iii. 8 ff.
** "Sup.
Rel.," vol. ii., p. 107; "Adv. Marci," iii. 2, § 2; cf. iii. 12,
§ 12.
*** "Sup.
Relig.," vol. ii., p. 126.
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AND OPHITE TRINITIES.
the least either
their or our arguments. We repeat again, Buddhism is but the primitive source
of Brahmanism. It is not against the primitive Vedas that Gautama protests. It
is against the sacerdotal and official state religion of his country; and the
Brahmans, who in order to make room for and give authority to the castes, at a
later period crammed the ancient manuscripts with interpolated slokas, intended
to prove that the castes were predetermined by the Creator by the very fact
that each class of men was issued from a more or less noble limb of Brahma.
Gautama-Buddha's philosophy was that taught from the beginning of time in the
impenetrable secresy of the inner sanctuaries of the pagodas. We need not be
surprised, therefore, to find again, in all the fundamental dogmas of the
Gnostics, the metaphysical tenets of both Brahmanism and Buddhism. They held
that the Old Testament was the revelation of an inferior being, a subordinate
divinity, and did not contain a single sentence of their Sophia, the Divine
Wisdom. As to the New Testament, it had lost its purity when the compilers
became guilty of interpolations. The revelation of divine truth was sacrificed
by them to promote selfish ends and maintain quarrels. The accusation does not
seem so very improbable to one who is well aware of the constant strife between
the champions of circumcision and the "Law," and the apostles who had
given up Judaism.
The Gnostic Ophites
taught the doctrine of Emanations, so hateful to the defenders of the unity in
the trinity, and vice versa. The Unknown Deity with them had no name; but his
first female emanation was called Bythos or Depth.* It answered to the Shekinah
of the kabalists, the "Veil" which conceals the "Wisdom" in
the cranium of the highest of the three heads. As the Pythagorean Monad, this
nameless Wisdom was the Source of Light, and Ennoia or Mind, is Light itself.
The latter was also called the "Primitive Man," like the Adam Kadmon,
or ancient Adam of the Kabala. Indeed, if man was created after his likeness
and in the image of God, then this God was like his creature in shape and
figure -- hence, he is the "Primitive man." The first Manu, the one
evolved from Swayambhuva, "he who exists unrevealed in his own
glory," is also, in one sense, the primitive man, with the Hindus.
Thus the
"nameless and the unrevealed," Bythos, his female reflection, and
Ennoia, the revealed Mind proceeding from both, or their Son are the
counterparts of the Chaldean first triad as well as those of the Brahmanic
Trimurti. We will compare: in all the three systems we see
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* We give the
systems according to an old diagram preserved among some Kopts and the Druses
of Mount Lebanon. Irenaeus had perhaps some good reasons to disfigure their
doctrines.
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THE GREAT FIRST
CAUSE as the ONE, the primordial germ, the unrevealed and grand ALL, existing
through himself. In the
INDIAN PANTHEON.
Brahma-Zyaus.
THE CHALDEAN. Ilu,
Kabalistic En-Soph.
IN THE OPHITE. The
Nameless, or Secret Name.
Whenever the
Eternal awakes from its slumber and desires to manifest itself, it divides
itself into male and female. It then becomes in every system
THE DOUBLE-SEXED
DEITY, The universal Father and Mother.
IN INDIA. Brahma.
Nara (male), Nari (female).
IN CHALDEA. Eikon
or En-Soph. Anu (male), Anata (female).
IN THE OPHITE
SYSTEM. Nameless Spirit. Abrasax (male), Bythos (female).
From the union of
the two emanates a third, or creative Principle -- the SON, or the manifested
Logos, the product of the Divine Mind.
IN INDIA. Viradj,
the Son.
IN CHALDEA. Bel,
the Son.
OPHITE SYSTEM.
Ophis (another name for Ennoia), the Son.
Moreover, each of
these systems has a triple male trinity, each proceeding separately through
itself from one female Deity. So, for instance:
IN INDIA. The
Trinity -- Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, are blended into ONE, who is Brahma (neuter
gender), creating and being created through the Virgin Nari (the mother of
perpetual fecundity).
IN CHALDEA. The
trinity -- Anu, Bel, Hoa (or Sin, Samas, Bin), blend into ONE who is Anu
(double-sexed) through the Virgin Mylitta.
IN THE OPHITE
SYSTEM. The trinity consisted of the Mystery named Sige, Bythos, Ennoia. These
become ONE who is Abrasax, from the Virgin Sophia (or Pneuma), who herself is
an emanation of Bythos and the Mystery-god and emanates through them, Christos.
To place it still
clearer, the Babylonian System recognizes first -- the ONE (Ad, or Ad-ad), who
is never named, but only acknowledged in thought as the Hindu Swayambhuva. From
this he becomes manifest as Anu or Ana -- the one above all -- Monas. Next
comes the Demiurge called Bel or Elu, who is the active power of the Godhead.
The third is the principle of Wisdom, Hea or Hoa, who also rules the sea and
the underworld. Each of these has his divine consort, giving us Anata, Belta,
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"ONLY-BEGOTTEN" SONS.
and Davkina. These,
however, are only like the Saktis, and not especially remarked by theologists.
But the female principle is denoted by Mylitta, the Great Mother, called also
Ishtar. So with the three male gods, we have the Triad or Trimurti, and with
Mylitta added, the Arba or Four (Tetraktys of Pythagoras), which perfects and
potentializes all. Hence, the above-given modes of expression. The following
Chaldean diagram may serve as an illustration for all others:
Triad / Anu, Bel,
Hoa. / Mylitta -- Arba-il, or Four-fold God,
become, with the
Christians,
Trinity / God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, / Mary, or mother of these three Gods
since they are one, or, the Christian Heavenly Tetraktys.
Hence, Hebron, the
city of the Kabeiri was called Kirjath-Arba, city of the Four. The Kabeiri were
Axieros -- the noble Eros, Axiokersos, the worthy horned one, Axiokersa,
Demeter and Kadmiel, Hoa, etc.
The Pythagorean ten
denoted the Arba-Il or Divine Four, emblematized by the Hindu Lingham: Anu, 1;
Bel, 2; Hoa, 3, which makes 6. The triad and Mylitta as 4 make the ten.
Though he is termed
the "Primitive Man," Ennoia, who is like the Egyptian Pimander, the
"Power of the Thought Divine," the first intelligible manifestation
of the Divine Spirit in material form, he is like the "Only-Begotten"
Son of the "Unknown Father," of all other nations. He is the emblem
of the first appearance of the divine Presence in his own works of creation,
tangible and visible, and therefore comprehensible. The mystery-God, or the
ever-unrevealed Deity fecundates through His will Bythos, the unfathomable and
infinite depth that exists in silence (Sige) and darkness (for our intellect),
and that represents the abstract idea of all nature, the ever-producing Cosmos.
As neither the male nor female principle, blended into the idea of a
double-sexed Deity in ancient conceptions, could be comprehended by an ordinary
human intellect, the theology of every people had to create for its religion a
Logos, or manifested word, in some shape or other. With the Ophites and other
Gnostics who took their models direct from more ancient originals, the
unrevealed Bythos and her male counterpart produce Ennoia, and the three in
their turn produce Sophia,* thus completing the Tetraktys, which will emanate
Christos, the very essence of the Father Spirit. As
[[Footnote(s)]]
-----------------------------------------------------------
* Sophia is the
highest prototype of woman -- the first spiritual Eve. In the Bible the system
is reversed and the intervening emanation being omitted, Eve is degraded to
simple humanity.
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the unrevealed One,
or concealed Logos in its latent state, he has existed from all eternity in the
Arba-Il, the metaphysical abstraction; therefore, he is ONE with all others as
a unity, the latter (including all) being indifferently termed Ennoia, Sige
(silence), Bythos, etc. As the revealed one, he is Androgyne, Christos, and
Sophia (Divine Wisdom), who descend into the man Jesus. Both Father and Son are
shown by Irenaeus to have loved the beauty (formam) of the primitive woman,*
who is Bythos -- Depth -- as well as Sophia, and as having produced conjointly
Ophis and Sophia (double-sexed unity again), male and female wisdom, one being
considered as the unrevealed Holy Spirit, or elder Sophia -- the Pneuma -- the
intellectual "Mother of all things"; the other the revealed one, or
Ophis, typifying divine wisdom fallen into matter, or God-man -- Jesus, whom
the Gnostic Ophites represented by the serpent (Ophis).
Fecundated by the
Divine Light of the Father and Son, the highest spirit and Ennoia, Sophia
produces in her turn two other emanations -- one perfect Christos, the second
imperfect Sophia-Achamoth,** from [[Heb char]] hakhamoth (simple wisdom), who
becomes the mediatrix between the intellectual and material worlds.
Christos was the
mediator and guide between God (the Higher), and everything spiritual in man;
Achamoth -- the younger Sophia -- held the same duty between the
"Primitive man," Ennoia and matter. What was mysteriously meant by
the general term, Christos, we have just explained.
Delivering a sermon
on the "Month of Mary," we find the Rev. Dr. Preston, of New York
City, expressing the Christian idea of the female principle of the trinity
better and more clearly than we could, and substantially in the spirit of an
ancient "heathen" philosopher. He says that the "plan of the
redemption made it necessary that a mother should be found, and Mary stands
pre-eminently alone as the only instance when a creature was necessary to the
consummation of God's work." We will beg the right to contradict the
reverend gentleman. As shown above, thousands of years before our era it was
found necessary by all the "heathen" theogonies to find a female
principle, a "mother" for the triune male principle. Hence,
Christianity does not present the "only instance" of such a
consummation of God's work -- albeit, as this work shows, there was more
philosophy and less materialism, or rather anthropomorphism, in it. But hear
the reverend Doctor express "heathen" thought in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See
"Irenaeus," book i., chap. 31-33.
** In King's
"Gnostics," we find the system a little incorrect. The author tells
us that he followed Bellermann's "Drei Programmen uber die Abraxas
Gemmen."
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FOR MARY'S ANSWER."
Christian ideas.
"He" (God), he says, "prepared her (Mary's) virginal and
celestial purity, for a mother defiled could not become the mother of the Most
High. The holy virgin, even in her childhood, was more pleasing than all the
Cherubim and Seraphim, and from infancy to the maturing maidenhood and
womanhood she grew more and more pure. By her very sanctity she reigned over
the heart of God. When the hour came, the whole court of heaven was hushed, and
the trinity listened for the answer of Mary, for without her consent the world
could not have been redeemed."
Does it not seem as
if we were reading Irenaeus explaining the Gnostic "Heresy, which taught
that the Father and Son loved the beauty (formam) of the celestial
Virgin"? or the Egyptian system, of Isis being both wife, sister, and
mother of Osiris-Horus? With the Gnostic philosophy there were but two, but the
Christians have improved and perfected the system by making it completely
"heathen," for it is the Chaldean Anu -- Bel -- Hoa, merging into
Mylitta. "Then while this month (of Mary)," adds Dr. Preston,
"begins in the paschal season -- the month when nature decks herself with
fruits and flowers, the harbingers of a bright harvest -- let us, too, begin
for a golden harvest. In this month the dead come up out of the earth, figuring
the resurrection; so, when we are kneeling before the altar of the holy and
immaculate Mary, let us remember that there should come forth from us the bud
of promise, the flower of hope, and the imperishable fruit of sanctity."
This is precisely
the substratum of the Pagan thought, which, among other meanings, emblematized
by the rites of the resurrection of Osiris, Adonis, Bacchus, and other
slaughtered sun-gods, the resurrection of all nature in spring, the germination
of seeds that had been dead and sleeping during winter, and so were
allegorically said to be kept in the underworld (Hades). They are typified by
the three days passed in hell before his resurrection by Hercules, by Christ,
and others.
This derivation, or
rather heresy, as it is called in Christianity, is simply the Brahmanic
doctrine in all its archaic purity. Vishnu, the second personage of the Hindu
trinity, is also the Logos, for he is made subsequently to incarnate himself in
Christna. And Lakmy (or Lakshmy) who, as in the case of Osiris and Isis, of
En-Soph and Sephira, and of Bythos and Ennoia, is both his wife, sister, and
daughter, through this endless correlation of male and female creative powers
in the abstruse metaphysics of the ancient philosophies -- is Sophia-Achamoth.
Christna is the mediator promised by Brahma to mankind, and represents the same
idea as the Gnostic Christos. And Lakmy, Vishnu's spiritual half, is the emblem
of physical nature, the universal mother of all the material and revealed
forms; the mediatrix and protector of nature, like Sophia-Achamoth, who is made
by the Gnostics the mediatrix between the Great
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Cause and Matter,
as Christos is the mediator between him and spiritual humanity.
This
Brahmano-Gnostic tenet is more logical, and more consistent with the allegory
of Genesis and the fall of man. When God curses the first couple, He is made to
curse also the earth and everything that is on it. The New Testament gives us a
Redeemer for the first sin of mankind, which was punished for having sinned;
but there is not a word said about a Saviour who would take off the unmerited
curse from the earth and the animals, which had never sinned at all. Thus the
Gnostic allegory shows a greater sense of both justice and logic than the
Christian.
In the Ophite
system, Sophia, the Androgyne Wisdom, is also the female spirit, or the Hindu
female Nari (Narayana), moving on the face of the waters -- chaos, or future
matter. She vivifies it from afar, but not touching the abyss of darkness. She
is unable to do so, for Wisdom is purely intellectual, and cannot act directly
on matter. Therefore, Sophia is obliged to address herself to her Supreme
Parent; but although life proceeds primally from the Unseen Cause, and his
Ennoia, neither of them can, any more than herself, have anything to do with
the lower chaos in which matter assumes its definite shape. Thus, Sophia is
obliged to employ on the task her imperfect emanation, Sophia-Achamoth, the
latter being of a mixed nature, half spiritual and half material.
The only difference
between the Ophite cosmogony and that of the St. John Nazarenes is a change of
names. We find equally an identical system in the Kabala, the Book of Mystery
(Liber Mysterii).* All the three systems, especially that of the kabalists and
the Nazarenes, which were the models for the Ophite Cosmogony, belong to the
pure Oriental Gnosticism. The Codex Nazaraeus opens with: "The Supreme
King of Light, Mano, the great first one,"** etc., the latter being the
emanation of Ferho -- the unknown, formless LIFE. He is the chief of the AEons,
from whom proceed (or shoot forth) five refulgent rays of Divine light. Mano is
Rex Lucis, the Bythos-Ennoia of the Ophites. "Unus est Rex Lucis in suo
regno, nec ullus qui eo altior, nullus qui ejus similitudinem retulerit, nullus
qui sublatis oculis, viderit Coronam quae in ejus capite est." He is the
Manifested Light around the highest of the three kabalistic heads, the concealed
wisdom; from him emanate the three Lives. AEbel Zivo is the revealed Logos,
Christos the "Apostle Gabriel," and the first Legate or messenger of
light. If Bythos and Ennoia are the Nazarene Mano, then the dual-natured, the
semi-spiritual, semi-material Achamoth must be Fetahil when viewed from her
spiritual aspect; and if regarded in her grosser nature, she is the Nazarene
"Spiritus."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See "Idra
Magna."
** "Codex
Nazaraeus," part i., p. 9.
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CHRISTIANS.
Fetahil,* who is
the reflection of his father, Lord Abatur, the third life -- as the elder
Sophia is also the third emanation -- is the "newest-man." Perceiving
his fruitless attempts to create a perfect material world, the
"Spiritus" calls to one of her progeny, the Karabtanos -- Ilda-Baoth
-- who is without sense or judgment ("blind matter"), to unite
himself with her to create something definite out of this confused
(turbulentos) matter, which task she is enabled to achieve only after having
produced from this union with Karabtanos the seven stellars. Like the six sons
or genii of the Gnostic Ilda-Baoth, they then frame the material world. The
same story is repeated over again in Sophia-Achamoth. Delegated by her purely
spiritual parent, the elder Sophia, to create the world of visible forms, she
descended into chaos, and, overpowered by the emanation of matter, lost her
way. Still ambitious to create a world of matter of her own, she busied herself
hovering to and fro about the dark abyss, and imparted life and motion to the inert
elements, until she became so hopelessly entangled in matter that, like
Fetahil, she is represented sitting immersed in mud, and unable to extricate
herself from it; until, by the contact of matter itself, she produces the
Creator of the material world. He is the Demiurgus, called by the Ophites
Ilda-Baoth, and, as we will directly show, the parent of the Jewish God in the
opinion of some sects, and held by others to be the "Lord God"
Himself. It is at this point of the kabalistic-gnostic cosmogony that begins
the Mosaic Bible. Having accepted the Jewish Old Testament as their standard,
no wonder that the Christians were forced by the exceptional position in which
they were placed through their own ignorance, to make the best of it.
The first groups of
Christians, whom Renan shows numbering but from seven to twelve men in each
church, belonged unquestionably to the poorest and most ignorant classes. They
had and could have no idea of the highly philosophical doctrines of the
Platonists and Gnostics, and evidently knew as little about their own
newly-made-up religion. To these, who if Jews, had been crushed under the
tyrannical dominion of the "law," as enforced by the elders of the
synagogues, and if Pagans had been always excluded, as the lower castes are
until now in India, from the religious mysteries, the God of the Jews and the
"Father" preached by Jesus were all one. The contentions which
reigned from the first years following the death of Jesus, between the two
parties, the Pauline and the Petrine -- were deplorable. What one did, the
other deemed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See "Codex
Nazaraeus," i., 181. Fetahil, sent to frame the world, finds himself
immersed in the abyss of mud, and soliloquizes in dismay until the Spiritus
(Sophia-Achamoth) unites herself completely with matter, and so creates the
material world.
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a sacred duty to
undo. If the Homilies are considered apocryphal, and cannot very well be
accepted as an infallible standard by which to measure the animosity which
raged between the two apostles, we have the Bible, and the proofs afforded
therein are plentiful.
So hopelessly
entangled seems Irenaeus in his fruitless endeavors to describe, to all outward
appearance at least, the true doctrines of the many Gnostic sects of which he
treats and to present them at the same time as abominable "heresies,"
that he either deliberately, or through ignorance, confounds all of them in
such a way that few metaphysicians would be able to disentangle them, without
the Kabala and the Codex as the true keys. Thus, for instance, he cannot even tell
the difference between the Sethianites and the Ophites, and tells us that they
called the "God of all," "Hominem," a MAN, and his mind the
SECOND man, or the "Son of man." So does Theodoret, who lived more
than two centuries after Irenaeus, and who makes a sad mess of the
chronological order in which the various sects succeeded each other.* Neither
the Sethianites, (a branch of the Jewish Nazarenes) nor the Ophites, a purely
Greek sect, have ever held anything of the kind. Irenaeus contradicts his own words
by describing in another place the doctrines of Cerinthus, the direct disciple
of Simon Magus. He says that Cerinthus taught that the world was not created by
the FIRST GOD, but by a virtue (virtus) or power, an AEon so distant from the
First Cause that he was even ignorant of HIM who is above all things. This AEon
subjected Jesus, he begot him physically through Joseph from one who was not a
virgin, but simply the wife of that Joseph, and Jesus was born like all other
men. Viewed from this physical aspect of his nature, Jesus was called the
"son of man." It is only after his baptism, that Christos, the
anointed, descended from the Princeliness of above, in the figure of a dove,
and then announced the UNKNOWN Father through Jesus.**
If, therefore,
Jesus was physically considered as a son of man, and spiritually as the
Christos, who overshadowed him, how then could the "GOD OF ALL," the
"Unknown Father," be called by the Gnostics Homo, a MAN, and his
Mind, Ennoia, the SECOND man, or Son of man? Neither in the Oriental Kabala,
nor in Gnosticism, was the "God of all" ever anthropomorphized. It is
but the first, or rather the second emanations, for Shekinah, Sephira, Depth,
and other first-manifested female virtues are also emanations, that are termed
"primitive men." Thus Adam Kadmon, Ennoia (or Sige), the logoi in
short, are the "only-begotten" ones but not the Sons of man, which
appellation properly belongs to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Irenaeus," 37, and Theodoret, quoted in the same page.
** Ibid., i, xxv.
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INTO HELL."
Christos the son of
Sophia (the elder) and of the primitive man who produces him through his own
vivifying light, which emanates from the source or cause of all, hence the
cause of his light also, the "Unknown Father." There is a great
difference made in the Gnostic metaphysics between the first unrevealed Logos
and the "anointed," who is Christos. Ennoia may be termed, as Philo
understands it, the Second God, but he alone is the "Primitive and First
man," and by no means the Second one, as Theodoret and Irenaeus have it.
It is but the inveterate desire of the latter to connect Jesus in every
possible way, even in the Haeresies, with the Highest God, that led him into so
many falsifications.
Such an
identification with the Unknown God, even of Christos, the anointed -- the AEon
who overshadowed him -- let alone of the man Jesus, never entered the head of
the Gnostics nor even of the direct apostles and of Paul, whatever later
forgeries may have added.
How daring and
desperate were many such deliberate falsifications was shown in the first
attempts to compare the original manuscripts with later ones. In Bishop
Horseley's edition of Sir Isaac Newton's works, several manuscripts on
theological subjects were cautiously withheld from publication. The article
known as Christ's Descent into Hell, which is found in the later Apostles'
Creed, is not to be found in the manuscripts of either the fourth or sixth
centuries. It was an evident interpolation copied from the fables of Bacchus
and Hercules and enforced upon Christendom as an article of faith. Concerning
it the author of the preface to the Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King's
Library (preface, p. xxi.) remarks: "I wish that the insertion of the
article of Christ's Descent into Hell into the Apostles' Creed could be as well
accounted for as the insertion of the said verse" (First Epistle of John,
v. 7).*
Now, this verse
reads: "For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the
Word and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." This verse, which has
been "appointed to be read in churches," is now known to be spurious.
It is not to be found in any Greek manuscript," save one at Berlin, which
was transcribed from some interpolated paraphrase between the lines. In the
first and second editions of Erasmus, printed in 1516 and 1519, this allusion
to these three heavenly witnesses is omitted; and the text is not contained in
any Greek manuscript which was written earlier than the fifteenth century.** It
was not
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* See preface to
the "Apocryphal New Testament," London, printed for W. Hone, Ludgate
Hill, 1820.
** "It is
first cited by Virgilius Tapsensis, a Latin writer of no credit, in the latter
end of the fifth century, and by him it is suspected to have been forged."
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mentioned by either
of the Greek ecclesiastical writers nor by the early Latin fathers, so anxious
to get at every proof in support of their trinity; and it was omitted by Luther
in his German version. Edward Gibbon was early in pointing out its spurious
character. Archbishop Newcome rejected it, and the Bishop of Lincoln expresses
his conviction that it is spurious.* There are twenty-eight Greek authors --
Irenaeus, Clemens, and Athanasius included, who neither quote nor mention it;
and seventeen Latin writers, numbering among them Augustine, Jerome, Ambrosius,
Cyprian, and Pope Eusebius, who appear utterly ignorant of it. "It is
evident that if the text of the heavenly witnesses had been known from the
beginning of Christianity the ancients would have eagerly seized it, inserted it
in their creeds, quoted it repeatedly against the heretics, and selected it for
the brightest ornament of every book that they wrote upon the subject of the
Trinity."**
Thus falls to the
ground the strongest trinitarian pillar. Another not less obvious forgery is
quoted from Sir Isaac Newton's words by the editor of the Apocryphal New
Testament. Newton observes "that what the Latins have done to this text
(First Epistle of John, v.), the Greeks have done to that of St. Paul (Timothy
iii. 16). For, by changing [[o]] into [[th]], the abbreviation of [[theos]]
(God), in the Alexandrian manuscript, from which their subsequent copies were
made, they now read, "Great is the mystery of godliness, GOD manifested in
the flesh"; whereas all the churches, for the first four or five
centuries, and the authors of all the ancient versions, Jerome, as well as the
rest, read: "Great is the mystery of godliness WHICH WAS manifested in the
flesh." Newton adds, that now that the disputes over this forgery are over,
they that read GOD made manifest in the flesh, instead of the godliness which
was manifested in the flesh, think this passage "one of the most obvious
and pertinent texts for the business."
And now we ask
again the question: Who were the first Christians? Those who were readily
converted by the eloquent simplicity of Paul, who promised them, with the name
of Jesus, freedom from the narrow bonds of ecclesiasticism. They understood but
one thing; they were the "children of promise" (Galatians iv. 28).
The "allegory" of the Mosaic Bible was unveiled to them; the covenant
"from the Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage" was Agar (Ibid.,
24), the old Jewish synagogue, and she was "in bondage with her
children" to Jerusalem, the new and the free, "the mother of us
all." On the one hand the synagogue and the law which persecuted every one
who dared to step across the narrow
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Elements of
Theology," vol. ii., p. 90, note.
** Parson's
"Letters to Travis," 8vo., p. 402.
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THE SADDUCEES.
path of bigotry and
dogmatism; on the other, Paganism* with its grand philosophical truths
concealed from sight; unveiling itself but to the few, and leaving the masses
hopelessly seeking to discover who was the god, among this overcrowded pantheon
of deities and sub-deities. To others, the apostle of circumcision, supported
by all his followers, was promising, if they obeyed the "law," a life
hereafter, and a resurrection of which they had no previous idea. At the same
time he never lost an occasion to contradict Paul without naming him, but
indicating him so clearly that it is next to impossible to doubt whom Peter
meant. While he may have converted some men, who whether they had believed in
the Mosaic resurrection promised by the Pharisees, or had fallen into the
nihilistic doctrines of the Sadducees, or had belonged to the polytheistic
heathenism of the Pagan rabble, had no future after death, nothing but a
mournful blank, we do not think that the work of contradiction, carried on so
systematically by the two apostles, had helped much their work of proselytism.
With the educated thinking classes they succeeded very little, as
ecclesiastical history clearly shows. Where was the truth; where the inspired
word of God? On the one hand as we have seen, they heard the apostle Paul
explaining that of the two covenants, "which things are an allegory,"
the old one from Mount Sinai, "which gendereth unto bondage," was
Agar the bondwoman; and Mount Sinai itself answered to "Jerusalem,"
which now is "in bondage" with her circumcised children; and the new
covenant meant Jesus Christ -- the "Jerusalem which is above and
free"; and on the other Peter, who was contradicting and even abusing him.
Paul vehemently exclaims, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son" (the
old law and the synagogue). "The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
with the son of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The term
"Paganism" is properly used by many modern writers with hesitation.
Professor Alexander Wilder, in his edition of Payne Knight's "Symbolical
Language of Ancient Art and Mythology," says: "It ('Paganism') has
degenerated into slang, and is generally employed with more or less of an
opprobrious meaning. The correcter expression would have been 'the ancient
ethnical worships,' but it would be hardly understood in its true sense, and we
accordingly have adopted the term in popular use, but not disrespectfully. A
religion which can develop a Plato, an Epictetus, and an Anaxagoras, is not
gross, superficial, or totally unworthy of candid attention. Besides, many of
the rites and doctrines included in the Christian as well as in the Jewish
Institute, appeared first in the other systems. Zoroastrianism anticipated far
more than has been imagined. The cross, the priestly robes and symbols, the
sacraments, the Sabbath, the festivals and anniversaries, are all anterior to
the Christian era by thousands of years. The ancient worship, after it had been
excluded from its former shrines, and from the metropolitan towns, was
maintained for a long time by the inhabitants of humble localities. To this
fact it owes its later designation. From being kept up in the Pagi, or rural
districts, its votaries were denominated Pagans, or provincials."
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the free
woman." "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free; be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. . . . Behold, I
Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
nothing!" (Gal. v. 2). What do we find Peter writing? Whom does he mean by
saying, "These who speak great swelling words of vanity. . . . While they
promise them liberty, they themselves are servants of corruption, for of whom a
man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. . . . For if they have
escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Saviour, they are again entangled therein, and overcome . . . it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them"
(Second Epistle).
Peter certainly cannot
have meant the Gnostics, for they had never seen "the holy commandment
delivered unto them"; Paul had. They never promised any one
"liberty" from bondage, but Paul had done so repeatedly. Moreover the
latter rejects the "old covenant," Agar the bondwoman; and Peter
holds fast to it. Paul warns the people against the powers and dignities (the
lower angels of the kabalists); and Peter, as will be shown further, respects
them and denounces those who do not. Peter preaches circumcision, and Paul
forbids it.
Later, when all
these extraordinary blunders, contradictions, dissensions and inventions were
forcibly crammed into a frame elaborately executed by the episcopal caste of
the new religion, and called Christianity; and the chaotic picture itself
cunningly preserved from too close scrutiny by a whole array of formidable
Church penances and anathemas, which kept the curious back under the false
pretense of sacrilege and profanation of divine mysteries; and millions of
people had been butchered in the name of the God of mercy -- then came the
Reformation. It certainly deserves its name in its fullest paradoxical sense.
It abandoned Peter and alleges to have chosen Paul for its only leader. And the
apostle who thundered against the old law of bondage; who left full liberty to
Christians to either observe the Sabbath or set it aside; who rejects
everything anterior to John the Baptist, is now the professed standard-bearer
of Protestantism, which holds to the old law more than the Jews, imprisons
those who view the Sabbath as Jesus and Paul did, and outvies the synagogue of
the first century in dogmatic intolerance!
But who then were
the first Christians, may still be asked? Doubtless the Ebionites; and in this
we follow the authority of the best critics. "There can be little doubt
that the author (of the Clementine Homilies) was a representative of Ebionitic
Gnosticism, which had once been the
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EBIONITES.
purest form of
primitive Christianity. . . ."* And who were the Ebionites? The pupils and
followers of the early Nazarenes, the kabalistic Gnostics. In the preface to
the Codex Nazaraeus, the translator says: "That also the Nazarenes did not
reject . . . the AEons is natural. For of the Ebionites who acknowledged them
(the AEons), these were the instructors."**
We find, moreover,
Epiphanius, the Christian Homer of The Heresies, telling us that "Ebion
had the opinion of the Nazarenes, the form of the Cerinthians (who fable that
the world was put together by angels), and the appellation of
Christians."*** An appellation certainly more correctly applied to them
than to the orthodox (so-called) Christians of the school of Irenaeus and the
later Vatican. Renan shows the Ebionites numbering among their sect all the
surviving relatives of Jesus. John the Baptist, his cousin and precursor, was
the accepted Saviour of the Nazarenes, and their prophet. His disciples dwelt
on the other side of the Jordan, and the scene of the baptism of the Jordan is
clearly and beyond any question proved by the author of Sod, the Son of the
Man, to have been the site of the Adonis-worship.**** "Over the Jordan and
beyond the lake dwelt the Nazarenes, a sect said to have existed already at the
birth of Jesus, and to have counted him among its number. They must have
extended along the east of the Jordan, and southeasterly among the Arabians
(Galat. i. 17, 21; ii. 11), and Sabaeans in the direction of Bosra; and again,
they must have gone far north over the Lebanon to Antioch, also to the
northeast to the Nazarian settlement in Beroea, where St. Jerome found them. In
the desert the Mysteries of Adonis may have still prevailed; in the mountains
Aiai Adonai was still a cry."*****
"Having been
united (conjunctus) to the Nazarenes, each (Ebionite) imparted to the other out
of his own wickedness, and decided that Christ was of the seed of a man,"
writes Epiphanius.
And if they did, we
must suppose they knew more about their contemporary prophet than Epiphanius
400 years later. Theodoret, as shown elsewhere, describes the Nazarenes as Jews
who "honor the Anointed as a just man," and use the evangel called
"According to Peter." Jerome finds the authentic and original
evangel, written in Hebrew, by Matthew the apostle-publican, in the library
collected at Caesarea, by the martyr Pamphilius. "I received permission
from the Nazaraeans, who at Beroea of Syria used this (gospel) to translate
it," he
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Super.
Relig.," vol. ii., p. 5.
** Norberg: Preface
to "Cod. Naz.," p. v.
*** Epiph.:
"Contra Ebionitas."
**** See preface,
from page 1 to 34.
***** Ibid., p. 7,
preface.
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writes toward the
end of the fourth century.* "In the evangel which the Nazarenes and
Ebionites use," adds Jerome, "which recently I translated from Hebrew
into Greek,** and which is called by most persons the genuine Gospel of
Matthew," etc.
That the apostles
had received a "secret doctrine" from Jesus, and that he himself
taught one, is evident from the following words of Jerome, who confessed it in
an unguarded moment. Writing to the Bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus, he
complains that "a difficult work is enjoined, since this translation has been
commanded me by your Felicities, which St. Matthew himself, the Apostle and
Evangelist, DID NOT WISH TO BE OPENLY WRITTEN. For if it had not been SECRET,
he (Matthew) would have added to the evangel that which he gave forth was his;
but he made up this book sealed up in the Hebrew characters, which he put forth
even in such a way that the book, written in Hebrew letters and by the hand of
himself, might be possessed by the men most religious, who also, in the course
of time, received it from those who preceded them. But this very book they
never gave to any one to be transcribed, and its text they related some one way
and some another."*** And he adds further on the same page: "And it
happened that this book, having been published by a disciple of Manichaeus, named
Seleucus, who also wrote falsely The Acts of the Apostles, exhibited matter not
for edification, but for destruction; and that this book was approved in a
synod which the ears of the Church properly refused to listen to."****
He admits, himself,
that the book which he authenticates as being written "by the hand of
Matthew"; a book which, notwithstanding that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Hieronymus:
"De Virus.," illust., cap. 3. "It is remarkable that, while all
church fathers say that Matthew wrote in Hebrew, the whole of them use the
Greek text as the genuine apostolic writing, without mentioning what relation
the Hebrew Matthew has to our Greek one! It had many peculiar additions which
are wanting in our evangel." (Olshausen: "Nachweis der Echtheit der
sammtlichen Schriften des Neuen Test.," p. 32; Dunlap: "Sod, the Son
of the Man," p. 44.)
** Hieronymus:
"Commen. to Matthew," book ii., ch. xii., 13. Jerome adds that it was
written in the Chaldaic language, but with Hebrew letters.
*** "St.
Jerome," v., 445; "Sod, the Son of the Man," p. 46.
**** This accounts
also for the rejection of the works of Justin Martyr, who used only this
"Gospel according to the Hebrews," as also did most probably Titian,
his disciple. At what late period was fully established the divinity of Christ
we can judge by the mere fact that even in the fourth century Eusebius did not
denounce this book as spurious, but only classed it with such as the Apocalypse
of John; and Credner ("Zur Gesch. des Kan.," p. 120) shows Nicephorus
inserting it, together with the Revelation, in his "Stichometry,"
among the Antilegomena. The Ebionites, the genuine primitive Christians,
rejecting the rest of the apostolic writings, made use only of this Gospel
("Adv. Haer." i., 26), and the Ebionites, as Epiphanius declares,
firmly believed, with the Nazarenes, that Jesus was but a man "of the seed
of a man."
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he translated it
twice, was nearly unintelligible to him, for it was arcane or a secret.
Nevertheless, Jerome coolly sets down every commentary upon it, except his own,
as heretical. More than that, Jerome knew that this original Gospel of Matthew
was the expounder of the only true doctrine of Christ; and that it was the work
of an evangelist who had been the friend and companion of Jesus. He knew that
if of the two Gospels, the Hebrew in question and the Greek belonging to our
present Scripture, one was spurious, hence heretical, it was not that of the
Nazarenes; and yet, knowing all this, Jerome becomes more zealous than ever in
his persecutions of the "Haeretics." Why? Because to accept it was
equivalent to reading the death-sentence of the established Church. The Gospel
according to the Hebrews was but too well known to have been the only one
accepted for four centuries by the Jewish Christians, the Nazarenes and the
Ebionites. And neither of the latter accepted the divinity of Christ.
If the commentaries
of Jerome on the Prophets, his famous Vulgate, and numerous polemical treatises
are all as trustworthy as this version of the Gospel according to Matthew, then
we have a divine revelation indeed.
Why wonder at the
unfathomable mysteries of the Christian religion, since it is perfectly human?
Have we not a letter written by one of the most respected Fathers of the Church
to this same Jerome, which shows better than whole volumes their traditionary
policy? This is what Saint Gregory of Nazianzen wrote to his friend and
confidant Saint Jerome: "Nothing can impose better on a people than
verbiage; the less they understand the more they admire. Our fathers and
doctors have often said, not what they thought, but what circumstances and
necessity forced them to."
But to return to
our Sophia-Achamoth and the belief of the genuine, primitive Christians.
After having
produced Ilda-Baoth, Ilda from [[Gk char]], a child, and Baoth from [[Gk char]],
the egg, or [[Gk char]], Baoth, a waste, a desolation, Sophia-Achamoth suffered
so much from the contact with matter, that after extraordinary struggles she
escapes at last out of the muddy chaos. Although unacquainted with the pleroma,
the region of her mother, she reached the middle space and succeeded in shaking
off the material parts which have stuck to her spiritual nature; after which
she immediately built a strong barrier between the world of intelligences
(spirits) and the world of matter. Ilda-Baoth, is thus the "son of
darkness," the creator of our sinful world (the physical portion of it).
He follows the example of Bythos and produces from himself six stellar spirits
(sons). They are all in his own image, and reflections one of the other, which
become darker
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as they
successively recede from their father. With the latter, they all inhabit seven
regions disposed like a ladder, beginning under the middle space, the region of
their mother, Sophia-Achamoth, and ending with our earth, the seventh region.
Thus they are the genii of the seven planetary spheres of which the lowest is
the region of our earth (the sphere which surrounds it, our aether). The
respective names of these genii of the spheres are Iove (Jehovah), Sabaoth,
Adonai, Eloi, Ouraios, Astaphaios.* The first four, as every one knows, are the
mystic names of the Jewish "Lord God,"** he being, as C. W. King
expresses it, "thus degraded by the Ophites into the appellations of the
subordinates of the Creator; the two last names are those of the genii of fire
and water."
Ilda-Baoth, whom
several sects regarded as the God of Moses, was not a pure spirit; he was
ambitious and proud, and rejecting the spiritual light of the middle space
offered him by his mother Sophia-Achamoth, he set himself to create a world of
his own. Aided by his sons, the six planetary genii, he fabricated man, but
this one proved a failure. It was a monster; soulless, ignorant, and crawling
on all fours on the ground like a material beast. Ilda-Baoth was forced to
implore the help of his spiritual mother. She communicated to him a ray of her
divine light, and so animated man and endowed him with a soul. And now began
the animosity of Ilda-Baoth toward his own creature. Following the impulse of
the divine light, man soared higher and higher in his aspirations; very soon he
began presenting not the image of his Creator Ilda-Baoth but rather that of the
Supreme Being, the "primitive man," Ennoia. Then the Derniurgus was
filled with rage and envy; and fixing his jealous eye on the abyss of matter,
his looks envenomed with passion were suddenly reflected in it as in a mirror;
the reflection became animate, and there arose out of the abyss Satan, serpent,
Ophiomorphos -- "the embodiment of envy and of cunning. He is the union of
all that is most base in matter, with the hate, envy, and craft of a spiritual
intelligence."***
After that, always
in spite at the perfection of man, Ilda-Baoth created the three kingdoms of
nature, the mineral, vegetable, and animal, with all evil instincts and
properties. Impotent to annihilate the Tree of Knowledge, which grows in his
sphere as in every one of the planetary regions, but bent upon detaching
"man" from his spiritual protectress, Ilda-Baoth forbade him to eat
of its fruit, for fear it should reveal to mankind
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See King's
"Gnostics," p. 31.
** This Iove, Iao,
or Jehovah is quite distinct from the God of the Mysteries, IAO, held sacred by
all the nations of antiquity. We will show the difference presently.
*** King's
"Gnostics."
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ILDA-BAOTH.
the mysteries of
the superior world. But Sophia-Achamoth, who loved and protected the man whom
she had animated, sent her own genius Ophis, in the form of a serpent to induce
man to transgress the selfish and unjust command. And "man" suddenly
became capable of comprehending the mysteries of creation.
Ilda-Baoth revenged
himself by punishing the first pair, for man, through his knowledge, had
already provided for himself a companion out of his spiritual and material
half. He imprisoned man and woman in a dungeon of matter, in the body so unworthy
of his nature, wherein man is still enthralled. But Achamoth protected him
still. She established between her celestial region and "man," a
current of divine light, and kept constantly supplying him with this spiritual
illumination.
Then follow allegories
embodying the idea of dualism, or the struggle between good and evil, spirit
and matter, which is found in every cosmoogony, and the source of which is
again to be sought in India. The types and antitypes represent the heroes of
this Gnostic Pantheon, borrowed from the most ancient mythopoeic ages. But, in
these personages, Ophis and Ophiomorphos, Sophia and Sophia-Achamoth,
Adam-Kadmon, and Adam, the planetary genii and the divine AEons, we can also
recognize very easily the models of our biblical copies -- the euhemerized
patriarchs. The archangels, angels, virtues and powers, are all found, under
other names, in the Vedas and the Buddhistic system. The Avestic Supreme Being,
Zero-ana, or "Boundless Time," is the type of all these Gnostic and
kabalistic "Depths," "Crowns," and even of the Chaldean
En-Soph. The six Amshaspands, created through the "Word" of Ormazd,
the "First-Born," have their reflections in Bythos and his
emanations, and the antitype of Ormazd -- Ahriman and his devs also enter into
the composition of Ilda-Baoth and his six material, though not wholly evil,
planetary genii.
Achamoth, afflicted
with the evils which befall humanity, notwithstanding her protection, beseeches
the celestial mother Sophia -- her antitype-- to prevail on the unknown DEPTH
to send down Christos (the son and emanation of the "Celestial
Virgin") to the help of perishing humanity. Ilda-Baoth and his six sons of
matter are shutting out the divine light from mankind. Man must be saved.
Ilda-Baoth had already sent his own agent, John the Baptist, from the race of
Seth, whom he protects -- as a prophet to his people; but only a small portion
listened to him -- the Nazarenes, the opponents of the Jews, on account of
their worshipping Iurbo-Adunai.* Achamoth had assured her son, Ilda-Baoth, that
the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Iurbo and Adunai,
according to the Ophites, are names of Iao-Jehovah, one of the emanations of
Ilda-Baoth. "Iurbo is called by the Abortions (the Jews) Adunai"
("Codex Nazaraeus," vol. iii., p. 73).
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reign of Christos
would be only temporal, and thus induced him to send the forerunner, or
precursor. Besides that, she made him cause the birth of the man Jesus from the
Virgin Mary, her own type on earth, "for the creation of a material
personage could only be the work of the Demiurgus, not falling within the
province of a higher power. As soon as Jesus was born, Christos, the perfect,
uniting himself with Sophia (wisdom and spirituality), descended through the
seven planetary regions, assuming in each an analogous form, and concealing his
true nature from their genii, while he attracted into himself the sparks of
divine light which they retained in their essence. Thus, Christos entered into
the man Jesus at the moment of his baptism in the Jordan. From that time Jesus
began to work miracles; before that, he had been completely ignorant of his
mission."*
Ilda-Baoth,
discovering that Christos was bringing to an end his own kingdom of matter,
stirred up the Jews against him, and Jesus was put to death.** When on the
Cross, Christos and Sophia left his body and returned to their own sphere. The
material body of the man Jesus was abandoned to the earth, but he himself was
given a body made up of aether (astral soul). "Thenceforward he consisted
of merely soul and spirit, which was the reason why the disciples did not
recognize him after the resurrection. In this spiritual state of a simulacrum,
Jesus remained on earth for eighteen months after he had risen. During this
last sojourn, he received from Sophia that perfect knowledge, that true Gnosis,
which he communicated to the very few among the apostles who were capable of
receiving the same."
"Thence,
ascending up into the middle space, he sits on the right hand of Ilda-Baoth,
but unperceived by him, and there collects all the souls which shall have been
purified by the knowledge of Christ. When he has collected all the spiritual
light that exists in matter, out of Ilda-Baoth's empire, the redemption will be
accomplished and the world will be destroyed. Such is the meaning of the
re-absorption of all the spiritual light into the pleroma or fulness, whence it
originally descended."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* King: "The
Gnostics and their Remains," p. 31.
** In the
"Gospel of Nicodemus," Ilda-Baoth is called Satan by the pious and
anonymous author; -- evidently, one of the final flings at the half-crushed
enemy. "As for me," says Satan, excusing himself to the prince of
hell, "I tempted him (Jesus), and stirred up my old people, the Jews, against
him" (chap. xv. 9). Of all examples of Christian ingratitude this seems
almost the most conspicuous. The poor Jews are first robbed of their sacred
books, and then, in a spurious "Gospel," are insulted by the
representation of Satan claiming them as his "old people." If they
were his people, and at the same time are "God's chosen people," then
the name of this God must be written Satan and not Jehovah. This is logic, but
we doubt if it can be regarded as complimentary to the "Lord God of
Israel."
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THEOGONY.
The foregoing is
from the description given by Theodoret and adopted by King in his Gnostics,
with additions from Epiphanius and Irenaeus. But the former gives a very
imperfect version, concocted partly from the descriptions of Irenaeus, and
partly from his own knowledge of the later Ophites, who, toward the end of the
third century, had blended already with several other sects. Irenaeus also
confounds them very frequently, and the real theogony of the Ophites is given
by none of them correctly. With the exception of a change in names, the
above-given theogony is that of all the Gnostics, and also of the Nazarenes.
Ophis is but the successor of the Egyptian Chnuphis, the Good Serpent with a
lion's radiating head, and was held from days of the highest antiquity as an
emblem of wisdom, or Thauth, the instructor and Saviour of humanity, the
"Son of God." "Oh men, live soberly . . . win your
immortality" exclaims Hermes, the thrice-great Trismegistus.
"Instructor and guide of humanity, I will lead you on to salvation."
Thus the oldest sectarians regarded Ophis, the Agathodaemon, as identical with
Christos; the serpent being the emblem of celestial wisdom and eternity, and,
in the present case, the antitype of the Egyptian Chnuphis-serpent. These
Gnostics, the earliest of our Christian era, held: "That the supreme AEon,
having emitted other AEons out of himself, one of them, a female, Prunnikos
(concupiscence), descended into the chaos, whence, unable to escape, she
remained suspended in the mid-space, being too clogged by matter to return
above, and not falling lower where there was nothing in affinity with her
nature. She then produced her son Ilda-Baoth, the God of the Jews, who, in his
turn, produced seven AEons, or angels,* who created the seven heavens."
In this plurality
of heavens the Christians believed from the first, for we find Paul teaching of
their existence, and speaking of a man "caught up to the third
heaven" (2 Corin., xiii.). "From these seven angels Ilda-Baoth shut
up all that was above him, lest they should know of anything superior to
himself.** They then created man in the image of their Father,*** but prone and
crawling on the earth like a worm. But the heavenly mother, Prunnikos, wishing
to deprive Ilda-Baoth of the power
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This is the
Nazarene system; the Spiritus, after uniting herself with Karabtanos (matter,
turbulent and senseless), brings forth seven badly-disposed stellars, in the
Orcus; "Seven Figures," which she bore "witless"
("Codex Nazaraeus," i., p. 118). Justin Martyr evidently adopts this
idea, for he tells us of "the sacred prophets, who say that one and the
same spirit is divided into seven spirits" (pneumata). "Justin ad
Graecos"; "Sod," vol. ii., p. 52. In the Apocalypse the Holy
Spirit is subdivided into "seven spirits before the throne," from the
Persian Mithraic mode of classifying.
** This certainly
looks like the "jealous God" of the Jews.
*** It is the
Elohim (plural) who create Adam, and do not wish man to become "as one of
US."
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with which she had
unwittingly endowed him, infused into man a celestial spark -- the spirit.
Immediately man rose upon his feet, soared in mind beyond the limits of the
seven spheres, and glorified the Supreme Father, Him that is above Ilda-Baoth.
Hence, the latter, full of jealousy, cast down his eyes upon the lowest stratum
of matter, and begot a potency in the form of a serpent, whom they (the
Ophites) call his son. Eve, obeying him as the son of God, was persuaded to eat
of the Tree of Knowledge.* It is a self-evident fact that the serpent of the
Genesis, who appears suddenly and without any preliminary introduction, must
have been the antitype of the Persian Arch-Devs, whose head is Ash-Mogh, the
"two-footed serpent of lies." If the Bible-serpent had been deprived
of his limbs before he had tempted woman unto sin, why should God specify as a
punishment that he should go "upon his belly"? Nobody supposes that
he walked upon the extremity of his tail.
This controversy
about the supremacy of Jehovah, between the Presbyters and Fathers on the one
hand, and the Gnostics, the Nazarenes, and all the sects declared heterodox, as
a last resort, on the other, lasted till the days of Constantine, and later.
That the peculiar ideas of the Gnostics about the genealogy of Jehovah, or the
proper place that had to be assigned, in the Christian-Gnostic Pantheon, to the
God of the Jews, were at first deemed neither blasphemous nor heterodox is
evident in the difference of opinions held on this question by Clemens of
Alexandria, for instance, and Tertullian. The former, who seems to have known
of Basilides better than anybody else, saw nothing heterodox or blamable in the
mystical and transcendental views of the new Reformer. "In his eyes,"
remarks the author of The Gnostics, speaking of Clemens, "Basilides was
not a heretic, i.e., an innovator as regards the doctrines of the Christian
Church, but a mere theosophic philosopher, who sought to express ancient truths
under new forms, and perhaps to combine them with the new faith, the truth of
which he could admit without necessarily renouncing the old, exactly as is the
case with the learned Hindus of our day."**
Not so with
Irenaeus and Tertullian.*** The principal works of the latter against the
Heretics, were written after his separation from the Catholic Church, when he
had ranged himself among the zealous followers of Montanus; and teem with
unfairness and bigoted prejudice.****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Theodoret:
"Haeret."; King's "Gnostics."
** "Gnostics
and their Remains," p. 78.
*** Some persons
hold that he was Bishop of Rome; others, of Carthage.
**** His polemical
work addressed against the so-called orthodox Church -- the Catholic --
notwithstanding its bitterness and usual style of vituperation, is far more
fair, considering that the "great African" is said to have been
expelled from the Church of
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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BASILIDES.
He has exaggerated
every Gnostic opinion to a monstrous absurdity, and his arguments are not based
on coercive reasoning but simply on the blind stubbornness of a partisan
fanatic. Discussing Basilides, the "pious, god-like, theosophic
philosopher," as Clemens of Alexandria thought him, Tertullian exclaims:
"After this, Basilides, the heretic, broke loose.* He asserted that there
is a Supreme God, by name Abraxas, by whom Mind was created, whom the Greeks
call Nous. From her emanated the Word; from the Word, Providence; from Providence,
Virtue and Wisdom; from these two again, Virtues, Principalities,** and Powers
were made; thence infinite productions and emissions of angels. Among the
lowest angels, indeed, and those that made this world, he sets last of all the
god of the Jews, whom he denies to be God himself, affirming that he is but one
of the angels."***
It would be equally
useless to refer to the direct apostles of Christ, and show them as holding in
their controversies that Jesus never made any difference between his
"Father" and the "Lord-God" of Moses. For the Clementine
Homilies, in which occur the greatest argumentations upon the subject, as shown
in the disputations alleged to have taken place between Peter and Simon the
Magician, are now also proved to have been falsely attributed to Clement the
Roman. This work, if written by an Ebionite -- as the author of Supernatural
Religion declares in common with some other commentators**** -- must have been
written either far later than the Pauline period, generally assigned to it, or
the dispute
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] Rome. If we believe St. Jerome, it is but the
envy and the unmerited calumnies of the early Roman clergy against Tertullian
which forced him to renounce the Catholic Church and become a Montanist.
However, were the unlimited admiration of St. Cyprian, who terms Tertullian
"The Master," and his estimate of him merited, we would see less
error and paganism in the Church of Rome. The expression of Vincent of Lerius,
"that every word of Tertullian was a sentence, and every sentence a
triumph over error," does not seem very happy when we think of the respect
paid to Tertullian by the Church of Rome, notwithstanding his partial apostasy
and the errors in which the latter still abides and has even enforced upon the
world as infallible dogmas.
* Were not the
views of the Phrygian Bishop Montanus, also deemed a HERESY by the Church of
Rome? It is quite extraordinary to see how easily the Vatican encourages the
abuse of one heretic Tertullian, against another heretic Basilides, when the
abuse happens to further her own object.
** Does not Paul
himself speak of "Principalities and Powers in heavenly places"
(Ephesians iii. 10; i. 21), and confess that there be gods many and Lords many
(Kurioi)? And angels, powers (Dunameis), and Principalities? (See 1
Corinthians, viii. 5; and Epistle to Romans, viii. 38.)
*** Tertullian:
"Praescript."
**** Baur; Credner;
Hilgenfeld; Kirchhofer; Lechler; Nicolas; Ritschl; Schwegler; Westcott, and
Zeller; see "Supernatural Religion," vol. ii., p. 2.
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about the identity
of Jehovah with God, the "Father of Jesus," have been distorted by
later interpolations. This disputation is in its very essence antagonistic to
the early doctrines of the Ebionites. The latter, as demonstrated by Epiphanius
and Theodoret, were the direct followers of the Nazarene sect* (the Sabians),
the "Disciples of John." He says, unequivocally, that the Ebionites
believed in the AEons (emanations), that the Nazarenes were their instructors,
and that "each imparted to the other out of his own wickedness."
Therefore, holding the same beliefs as the Nazarenes did, an Ebionite would not
have given even so much chance to the doctrine supported by Peter in the
Homilies. The old Nazarenes, as well as the later ones, whose views are embodied
in the Codex Nazaraseus, never called Jehovah otherwise than Adonai, Iurbo, the
God of the Abortive** (the orthodox Jews). They kept their beliefs and
religious tenets so secret that even Epiphanius, writing as early as the end of
the fourth century,*** confesses his ignorance as to their real doctrine.
"Dropping the name of Jesus," says the Bishop of Salamis, "they
neither call themselves Iessaens, nor continue to hold the name of the Jews,
nor name themselves Christians, but Nazarenes . . . The resurrection of the
dead is confessed by them . . . but concerning Christ, I cannot say whether
they think him a mere man, or as the truth is, confess that he was born through
the Holy Pneuma from the Virgin."****
While Simon Magus
argues in the Homilies from the standpoint of every Gnostic (Nazarenes and
Ebionites included), Peter, as a true apostle of circumcision, holds to the old
Law and, as a matter of course, seeks to blend his belief in the divinity of
Christ with his old Faith in the "Lord God" and ex-protector of the
"chosen people." As the author of Supernatural Religion shows, the
Epitome,***** "a blending of the other two, probably intended to purge
them from heretical doctrine"****** and, together with a great majority of
critics, assigns to the Homilies, a date not earlier than the end of the third
century, we may well infer that they must differ widely with their original, if
there ever was one. Simon the Magician proves throughout the whole work that
the Demiurgus,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Epiphanius:
"Contra Ebionitas."
** The Ophites, for
instance, made of Adonai the third son of Ilda-Baoth, a malignant genius, and,
like his other five brothers, a constant enemy and adversary of man, whose divine
and immortal spirit gave man the means of becoming the rival of these genii.
*** The Bishop of
Salamis died A. D. 403.
****
"Epiphanius," i., 122, 123.
***** The
"Clementines" are composed of three parts -- to wit: the Homilies,
the Recognitions, and an Epitome.
******
"Supernatural Religion," vol. ii., p. 2.
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ESOTERICALLY.
the Architect of
the World, is not the highest Deity; and he bases his assertions upon the words
of Jesus himself, who states repeatedly that "no man knew the
Father." Peter is made in the Homilies to repudiate, with a great show of
indignation, the assertion that the Patriarchs were not deemed worthy to know
the Father; to which Simon objects again by quoting the words of Jesus, who
thanks the "Lord of Heaven and earth that what was concealed from the
wise" he has "revealed to babes," proving very logically that
according to these very words the Patriarchs could not have known the
"Father." Then Peter argues, in his turn, that the expression,
"what is concealed from the wise," etc., referred to the concealed
mysteries of the creation.*
This argumentation of
Peter, therefore, had it even emanated from the apostle himself, instead of
being a "religious romance," as the author of Supernatural Religion
calls it, would prove nothing whatever in favor of the identity of the God of
the Jews, with the "Father" of Jesus. At best it would only
demonstrate that Peter had remained from first to last "an apostle of
circumcision," a Jew faithful to his old law, and a defender of the Old
Testament. This conversation proves, moreover, the weakness of the cause he
defends, for we see in the apostle a man who, although in most intimate
relations with Jesus, can furnish us nothing in the way of direct proof that he
ever thought of teaching that the all-wise and all-good Paternity he preached
was the morose and revengeful thunderer of Mount Sinai. But what the Homilies
do prove, is again our assertion that there was a secret doctrine preached by
Jesus to the few who were deemed worthy to become its recipients and
custodians. "And Peter said: 'We remember that our Lord and teacher, as
commanding, said to us, guard the mysteries for me, and the sons of my house.
Wherefore also he explained to his disciples, privately, the mysteries of the
kingdoms of the heavens.' "**
If we now recall
the fact that a portion of the Mysteries of the "Pagans" consisted of
the aporrheta, or secret discourses; that the secret Logia or discourses of
Jesus contained in the original Gospel according to Matthew, the meaning and
interpretation of which St. Jerome confessed to be "a difficult task"
for him to achieve, were of the same nature; and if we remember, further, that
to some of the interior or final Mysteries only a very select few were
admitted; and that finally it was from the number of the latter that were taken
all the ministers of the holy "Pagan" rites, we will then clearly
understand this expression of Jesus quoted by Peter: "Guard the Mysteries
for me and the sons of my
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Homilies," xviii., 1-15.
** "Clementine
Homilies"; "Supernatural Religion," vol. ii.
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house," i.e.,
of my doctrine. And, if we understand it rightly, we cannot avoid thinking that
this "secret" doctrine of Jesus, even the technical expressions of
which are but so many duplications of the Gnostic and Neo-platonic mystic
phraseology -- that this doctrine, we say, was based on the same transcendental
philosophy of Oriental Gnosis as the rest of the religions of those and
earliest days. That none of the later Christian sects, despite their boasting,
were the inheritors of it, is evident from the contradictions, blunders, and
clumsy repatching of the mistakes of every preceding century by the discoveries
of the succeeding one. These mistakes, in a number of manuscripts claimed to be
authentic, are sometimes so ridiculous as to bear on their face the evidence of
being pious forgeries. Thus, for instance, the utter ignorance of some
patristic champions of the very gospels they claimed to defend. We have
mentioned the accusation against Marcion by Tertullian and Epiphanius of
mutilating the Gospel ascribed to Luke, and erasing from it that which is now
proved to have never been in that Gospel at all. Finally, the method adopted by
Jesus of speaking in parables, in which he only followed the example of his
sect, is attributed in the Homilies to a prophecy of Isaiah! Peter is made to
remark: "For Isaiah said: 'I will open my mouth in parables, and I will
utter things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.'
" This erroneous reference to Isaiah of a sentence given in Psalms
lxxviii. 2, is found not only in the apocryphal Homilies, but also in the
Sinaitic Codex. Commenting on the fact in the Supernatural Religion, the author
states that "Porphyry, in the third century, twitted Christians with this
erroneous ascription by their inspired evangelist to Isaiah of a passage from a
Psalm, and reduced the Fathers to great straits."* Eusebius and Jerome
tried to get out of the difficulty by ascribing the mistake to an
"ignorant scribe"; and Jerome even went to the length of asserting
that the name of Isaiah never stood after the above sentence in any of the old
codices, but that the name of Asaph was found in its place, only "ignorant
men had removed it."** To this, the author again observes that "the
fact is that the reading 'Asaph' for 'Isaiah' is not found in any manuscript extant;
and, although 'Isaiah' has disappeared from all but a few obscure codices, it
cannot be denied that the name anciently stood in the text. In the Sinaitic
Codex, which is probably the earliest manuscript extant . . . and which is
assigned to the fourth century," he adds, "the prophet Isaiah stands
in the text by the first hand, but is erased by the second."**
It is a most
suggestive fact that there is not a word in the so-called
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Supernatural Religion," p. 11.
** Hieron.:
"Opp.," vii., p. 270, ff.; "Supernatural Religion," p. 11.
*** Ibid.
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GOD.
sacred Scriptures
to show that Jesus was actually regarded as a God by his disciples. Neither
before nor after his death did they pay him divine honors. Their relation to
him was only that of disciples and "master"; by which name they
addressed him, as the followers of Pythagoras and Plato addressed their
respective masters before them. Whatever words may have been put into the
mouths of Jesus, Peter, John, Paul, and others, there is not a single act of
adoration recorded on their part, nor did Jesus himself ever declare his
identity with his Father. He accused the Pharisees of stoning their prophets,
not of deicide. He termed himself the son of God, but took care to assert
repeatedly that they were all the children of God, who was the Heavenly Father
of all. In preaching this, he but repeated a doctrine taught ages earlier by
Hermes, Plato, and other philosophers. Strange contradiction! Jesus, whom we
are asked to worship as the one living God, is found, immediately after his
Resurrection, saying to Mary Magdalene: "I am not yet ascended to my
Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and
your Father, and to my God and your God!" (John xx. 17.)
Does this look like
identifying himself with his Father? "My Father and your Father, my God
and your God," implies, on his part, a desire to be considered on a
perfect equality with his brethren -- nothing more. Theodoret writes: "The
haeretics agree with us respecting the beginning of all things. . . . But they
say there is not one Christ (God), but one above, and the other below. And this
last formerly dwelt in many; but the Jesus, they at one time say is from God,
at another they call him a SPIRIT."* This spirit is the Christos, the
messenger of life, who is sometimes called the Angel Gabriel (in Hebrew, the
mighty one of God), and who took with the Gnostics the place of the Logos,
while the Holy Spirit was considered Life.** With the sect of the Nazarenes,
though, the Spiritus, or Holy Ghost, had less honor. While nearly every Gnostic
sect considered it a Female Power, whether they called it Binah, [[Heb char]],
Sophia, the Divine Intellect, with the Nazarene sect it was the Female
Spiritus, the astral light, the genetrix of all things of matter, the chaos in
its evil aspect, made turbido by the Demiurge. At the creation of man, "it
was light on the side of the FATHER, and it was light (material light) on the
side of the MOTHER. And this is the 'two-fold man,' "*** says the Sohar.
"That day (the last one) will perish the seven badly-disposed stellars,
also the sons of man, who have confessed the Spiritus, the Messias (false), the
Deus, and the MOTHER of the SPIRITUS shall perish." ****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Theodoret:
"Haeret. Fab.," ii., vii.
** See
"Irenaeus," I., xii., p. 86.
*** "Auszuge
aus dem Sohar," p. 12.
**** "Cod.
Naz.," vol. ii., p. 149.
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Jesus enforced and
illustrated his doctrines with signs and wonders; and if we lay aside the
claims advanced on his behalf by his deifiers, he did but what other kabalists
did; and only they at that epoch, when, for two centuries the sources of
prophecy had been completely dried up, and from this stagnation of public
"miracles" had originated the skepticism of the unbelieving sect of
the Sadducees. Describing the "heresies" of those days, Theodoret,
who has no idea of the hidden meaning of the word Christos, the anointed
messenger, complains that they (the Gnostics) assert that this Messenger or
Delegatus changes his body from time to time, "and goes into other bodies,
and at each time is differently Manifested. And these (the overshadowed
prophets) use incantations and invocations of various demons and baptisms in
the confession of their principles. . . . They embrace astrology and magic, and
the mathematical error," (?) he says.*
This "mathematical
error," of which the pious writer complains, led subsequently to the
rediscovery of the heliocentric system, erroneous as it may still be, and
forgotten since the days of another "magician" who taught it --
Pythagoras. Thus, the wonders of healing and the thaums of Jesus, which he
imparted to his followers, show that they were learning, in their daily
communication with him, the theory and practice of the new ethics, day by day,
and in the familiar intercourse of intimate friendship. Their faith was
progressively developed, like that of all neophytes, simultaneously with the
increase of knowledge. We must bear in mind that Josephus, who certainly must
have been well-informed on the subject, calls the skill of expelling demons
"a science." This growth of faith is conspicuously shown in the case
of Peter, who, from having lacked enough faith to support him while he could
walk on the water from the boat to his Master, at last became so expert a
thaumaturgist, that Simon Magus is said to have offered him money to teach him
the secret of healing, and other wonders. And Philip is shown to have become an
AEthrobat as good as Abaris of Pythagorean memory, but less expert than Simon
Magus.
Neither in the
Homilies nor any other early work of the apostles, is there anything to show
that either of his friends and followers regarded Jesus as anything more than a
prophet. The idea is as clearly established in the Clementines. Except that too
much room is afforded to Peter to establish the identity of the Mosaic God with
the Father of Jesus, the whole work is devoted to Monotheism. The author seems
as bitter against Polytheism as against the claim to the divinity of Christ.**
He seems
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Theodoret: "Haeret.
Fab.," ii., vii.
**
"Homilies," xvi., 15 ff.; ii., 12; iii., 57-59; x., 19. Schliemann:
"Die Clementinem," p. 134 ff; "Supernatural Religion," vol.
ii., p. 349.
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INSPIRATION.
to be utterly
ignorant of the Logos, and his speculation is confined to Sophia, the Gnostic
wisdom. There is no trace in it of a hypostatic trinity, but the same
overshadowing of the Gnostic "wisdom (Christos and Sophia) is attributed
in the case of Jesus as it is in those of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Moses.* These personages are all placed on one level, and called
'true prophets,' and the seven pillars of the world." More than that,
Peter vehemently denies the fall of Adam, and with him, the doctrine of
atonement, as taught by Christian theology, utterly falls to the ground, for he
combats it as a blasphemy.** Peter's theory of sin is that of the Jewish
kabalists, and even, in a certain way, Platonic. Adam not only never sinned,
but, "as a true prophet, possessed of the Spirit of God, which afterwards
was in Jesus, could not sin."*** In short, the whole of the work exhibits
the belief of the author in the kabalistic doctrine of permutation. The Kabala
teaches the doctrine of transmigration of the spirit.**** "Mosah is the
revolutio of Seth and Hebel."*****
"Tell me who
it is who brings about the re-birth (the revolutio)?" is asked of the wise
Hermes. "God's Son, the only man, through the will of God," is the
answer of the "heathen."******
"God's
son" is the immortal spirit assigned to every human being. It is this
divine entity which is the "only man," for the casket which contains
our soul, and the soul itself, are but half-entities, and without its
overshadowing both body and astral soul, the two are but an animal duad. It
requires a trinity to form the complete "man," and allow him to
remain immortal at every "re-birth," or revolutio, throughout the
subsequent and ascending spheres, every one of which brings him nearer to the
refulgent realm of eternal and absolute light.
"God's
FIRST-BORN, who is the 'holy Veil,' the 'Light of Lights,' it is he who sends
the revolutio of the Delegatus, for he is the First Power," says the
kabalist.*******
"The pneuma
(spirit) and the dunamis (power), which is from the God, it is right to
consider nothing else than the Logos, who is also (?) First-begotten to the
God," argues a Christian.*****
"Angels and
powers are in heaven!" says Justin, thus bringing forth a purely
kabalistic doctrine. The Christians adopted it from the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Homilies," iii., 20 f; ii., 16-18, etc.
** Ibid., iii., 20
ff.
*** Schliemann:
"Die Clementinem," pp. 130-176; quoted also in "Supernatural
Religion," p. 342.
**** We will speak
of this doctrine further on.
***** "Kabbala
Denudata," vol. ii., p. 155; "Vallis Regia."
******
"Hermes," X., iv., 21-23.
******* Idra Magna:
"Kabbala Denudata."
******** Justin
Martyr: "Apol.," vol. ii., p. 74.
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Sohar and the
heretical sects, and if Jesus mentioned them, it was not in the official
synagogues that he learned the theory, but directly in the kabalistic
teachings. In the Mosaic books, very little mention is made of them, and Moses,
who holds direct communications with the "Lord God," troubles himself
very little about them. The doctrine was a secret one, and deemed by the
orthodox synagogue heretical. Josephus calls the Essenes heretics, saying:
"Those admitted among the Essenes must swear to communicate their
doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself, and equally
to preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels.*
The Sadducees did not believe in angels, neither did the uninitiated Gentiles,
who limited their Olympus to gods and demi-gods, or "spirits." Alone,
the kabalists and theurgists hold to that doctrine from time immemorial, and,
as a consequence, Plato, and Philo Judaeus after him, followed first by the
Gnostics, and then by the Christians.
Thus, if Josephus
never wrote the famous interpolation forged by Eusebius, concerning Jesus, on
the other hand, he has described in the Essenes all the principal features that
we find prominent in the Nazarene. When praying, they sought solitude.**
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet . . . and pray to thy Father
which is in secret" (Matthew vi. 6). "Everything spoken by them
(Essenes) is stronger than an oath. Swearing is shunned by them" (Josephus
II., viii., 6). "But I say unto you, swear not at all . . . but let your
communication be yea, yea; nay, nay" (Matthew v. 34-37).
The Nazarenes, as
well as the Essenes and the Therapeutae, believed more in their own
interpretations of the "hidden sense" of the more ancient Scriptures,
than in the later laws of Moses. Jesus, as we have shown before, felt but
little veneration for the commandments of his predecessor, with whom Irenaeus
is so anxious to connect him.
The Essenes
"enter into the houses of those whom they never saw previously, as if they
were their intimate friends" (Josephus II., viii., 4). Such was undeniably
the custom of Jesus and his disciples.
Epiphanius, who
places the Ebionite "heresy" on one level with that of the Nazarenes,
also remarks that the Nazaraioi come next to the Cerinthians,*** so much
vituperated against by Irenaeus.****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Josephus:
"Wars," II., chap. 8, sec. 7.
** See Josephus;
Philo; Munk (35). Eusebius mentions their semneion, where they perform the
mysteries of a retired life ("Ecclesiastic History," lib. ii., ch.
17).
***
"Epiphanius," ed. Petau, i., p. 117.
**** Cerinthus is
the same Gnostic -- a contemporary of John the Evangelist -- of whom Ireraeus
invented the following anecdote: "There are those who heard him (Polycarp)
say that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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NABATHEANS.
Munk, in his work
on Palestine, affirms that there were 4,000 Essenes living in the desert; that
they had their mystical books, and predicted the future.* The Nabatheans, with
very little difference indeed, adhered to the same belief as the Nazarenes and
the Sabeans, and all of them honored John the Baptist more than his successor
Jesus. The Persian Iezidi say that they originally came to Syria from Busrah.
They use baptism, and believe in seven archangels, though paying at the same
time reverence to Satan. Their prophet Iezed, who flourished long prior to
Mahomet,** taught that God will send a messenger, and that the latter would
reveal to him a book which is already written in heaven from the eternity.***
The Nabatheans inhabited the Lebanon, as their descendants do to the present
day, and their religion was from its origin purely kabalistic. Maimonides
speaks of them as if he identified them with the Sabeans. "I will mention
to thee the writings . . . respecting the belief and institutions of the
Sabeans," he says. "The most famous is the book The Agriculture of
the Nabathaeans, which has been translated by Ibn Waho-hijah. This book is full
of heathenish foolishness. . . . It speaks of the preparations of TALISMANS,
the drawing down of the powers of the SPIRITS, MAGIC, DEMONS, and ghouls, which
make their abode in the desert."**** There are traditions among the tribes
living scattered about beyond the Jordan, as there are many such also among the
descendants of the Samaritans at Damascus, Gaza, and at Naplosa (the ancient
Shechem). Many of these tribes have, notwithstanding the persecutions of
eighteen centuries, retained the faith of their fathers in its primitive simplicity.
It is there that we have to go for traditions based on historical truths,
however disfigured by exaggeration and inaccuracy, and compare them with the
religious legends of the Fathers, which they call revelation. Eusebius states
that before the siege of Jerusalem the small Christian community -- comprising
members of whom many, if not all, knew Jesus and his apostles personally --
took refuge in the little town of Pella, on the opposite shore of the Jordan.
Surely these simple people, separated for centuries from the rest of the world,
ought to have preserved their traditions fresher than any other nations! It is
in Palestine that we have to search for the clearest waters of Christianity,
let alone its source. The first Christians, after the death of Jesus, all
joined together for a time, whether
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed forth from
the bath-house . . . crying out, 'Let us fly, lest the bath-house fall down,
Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, being within it' " (Irenaeus:
"Adv. Haer.," iii. 3, § 4).
* Munk:
"Palestine," p. 525; "Sod, the Son of the Man."
**
"Haxthausen," p. 229.
***
"Shahrastani"; Dr. D. Chwolsohn: "Die Ssabier und der
Ssabismus," ii., p. 625.
**** Maimonides,
quoted in Dr. D. Chwolsohn: "Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus," ii., p.
458.
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they were
Ebionites, Nazarenes, Gnostics, or others. They had no Christian dogmas in
those days, and their Christianity consisted in believing Jesus to be a
prophet, this belief varying from seeing in him simply a "just man,"*
or a holy, inspired prophet, a vehicle used by Christos and Sophia to manifest
themselves through. These all united together in opposition to the synagogue
and the tyrannical technicalities of the Pharisees, until the primitive group
separated in two distinct branches -- which, we may correctly term the
Christian kabalists of the Jewish Tanaim school, and the Christian kabalists of
the Platonic Gnosis.** The former were represented by the party composed of the
followers of Peter, and John, the author of the Apocalypse; the latter ranged
with the Pauline Christianity, blending itself, at the end of the second
century, with the Platonic philosophy, and engulfing, still later, the Gnostic
sects, whose symbols and misunderstood mysticism overflowed the Church of Rome.
Amid this jumble of
contradictions, what Christian is secure in confessing himself such? In the old
Syriac Gospel according to Luke (iii. 22), the Holy Spirit is said to have
descended in the likeness of a dove. "Jesua, full of the sacred Spirit,
returned from Jordan, and the Spirit led him into the desert" (old Syriac,
Luke iv. 1, Tremellius). "The difficulty," says Dunlap, "was
that the Gospels declared that John the Baptist saw the Spirit (the Power of
God) descend upon Jesus after he had reached manhood, and if the Spirit then
first descended upon him, there was some ground for the opinion of the
Ebionites and Nazarenes who denied his preceding existence, and refused him the
attributes of the LOGOS. The Gnostics, on the other hand, objected to the
flesh, but conceded the Logos."***
John's Apocalypsis,
and the explanations of sincere Christian bishops, like Synesius, who, to the
last, adhered to the Platonic doctrines, make us think that the wisest and
safest way is to hold to that sincere primitive faith which seems to have
actuated the above-named bishop. This best, sincerest, and most unfortunate of
Christians, addressing the "Unknown," exclaims: "Oh Father of
the Worlds . . . Father of the AEons . . . Artificer of the Gods, it is holy to
praise!" But Synesius had Hypatia for instructor, and this is why we find
him confessing in all sincerity his opinions and profession of faith. "The
rabble desires
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Ye have
condemned and killed the just," says James in his epistle to the twelve
tribes.
** Porphyry makes a
distinction between what he calls "the Antique or Oriental
philosophy," and the properly Grecian system, that of the Neo-platonists.
King says that all these religions and systems are branches of one antique and
common religion, the Asiatic or Buddhistic ("Gnostics and their
Remains," p. 1).
*** "Sod, the
Son of the Man."
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"INFANT-MASSACRE."
nothing better than
to be deceived. . . . As regards myself, therefore, I will always be a
philosopher with myself, but I must be priest with the people."
"Holy is God
the Father of all being, holy is God, whose wisdom is carried out into
execution by his own Powers! . . . Holy art Thou, who through the Word had
created all! Therefore, I believe in Thee, and bear testimony, and go into the
LIFE and LIGHT."* Thus speaks Hermes Trismegistus, the heathen divine.
What Christian bishop could have said better than that?
The apparent
discrepancy of the four gospels as a whole, does not prevent every narrative
given in the New Testament -- however much disfigured -- having a ground-work
of truth. To this, are cunningly adapted details made to fit the later
exigencies of the Church. So, propped up partially by indirect evidence, still
more by blind faith, they have become, with time, articles of faith. Even the
fictitious massacre of the "Innocents" by King Herod has a certain
foundation to it, in its allegorical sense. Apart from the now-discovered fact
that the whole story of such a massacre of the Innocents is bodily taken from
the Hindu Bagaved-gitta, and Brahmanical traditions, the legend refers,
moreover, allegorically, to an historical fact. King Herod is the type of
Kansa, the tyrant of Madura, the maternal uncle of Christna, to whom
astrologers predicted that a son of his niece Devaki would deprive him of his throne.
Therefore he gives orders to kill the male child that is born to her; but
Christna escapes his fury through the protection of Mahadeva (the great God)
who causes the child to be carried away to another city, out of Kansa's reach.
After that, in order to be sure and kill the right boy, on whom he failed to
lay his murderous hands, Kansa has all the male newborn infants within his
kingdom killed. Christna is also worshipped by the gopas (the shepherds) of the
land.
Though this ancient
Indian legend bears a very suspicious resemblance to the more modern biblical
romance, Gaffarel and others attribute the origin of the latter to the
persecutions during the Herodian reign of the kabalists and the Wise men, who
had not remained strictly orthodox. The latter, as well as the prophets, were
nicknamed the "Innocents," and the "Babes," on account of
their holiness. As in the case of certain degrees of modern Masonry, the adepts
reckoned their grade of initiation by a symbolic age. Thus Saul who, when
chosen king, was "a choice and goodly man," and "from his
shoulders upward was higher than any of the people," is described in
Catholic versions, as "child of one year when he began to reign,"
which, in its literal sense, is a palpa-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Hermes
Trismegistus," pp. 86, 87, 90.
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ble absurdity. But
in 1 Samuel x., his anointing by Samuel and initiation are described; and at
verse 6th, Samuel uses this significant language: " . . . the Spirit of
the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be
turned into another man." The phrase above quoted is thus made plain -- he
had received one degree of initiation and was symbolically described as "a
child one year old." The Catholic Bible, from which the text is quoted,
with charming candor says in a foot-note: "It is extremely difficult to
explain" (meaning that Saul was a child of one year). But undaunted by any
difficulty the Editor, nevertheless, does take upon himself to explain it, and
adds: "A child of one year. That is, he was good and like an innocent child."
An interpretation as ingenious as it is pious; and which if it does no good can
certainly do no harm.*
If the explanation
of the kabalists is rejected, then the whole subject falls into confusion;
worse still -- for it becomes a direct plagiarism from the Hindu legend. All
the commentators have agreed that a literal massacre of young children is
nowhere mentioned in history; and that, moreover, an occurrence like that would
have made such a bloody page in Roman annals that the record of it would have
been preserved for us by every author of the day. Herod himself was subject to
the Roman law; and undoubtedly he would have paid the penalty of such a
monstrous crime, with his own life. But if, on the one hand, we have not the
slightest trace of this fable in history, on the other, we find in the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It is the correct
interpretation of the Bible allegories that makes the Catholic clergy so
wrathful with the Protestants who freely scrutinize the Bible. How bitter this
feeling has become, we can judge by the following words of the Reverend Father
Parker of Hyde Park, New York, who, lecturing in St. Teresa's Catholic Church,
on the 10th of December, 1876, said: "To whom does the Protestant Church
owe its possession of the Bible, which they wish to place in the hands of every
ignorant person and child? To monkish hands, that laboriously transcribed it
before the age of printing. Protestantism has produced dissension in Church,
rebellions and outbreaks in State, unsoundness in social life, and will never
be satisfied short of the downfall of the Bible! Protestants must admit that
the Roman Church has done more to scatter Christianity and extirpate idolatry
than all their sects. From one pulpit it is said that there is no hell, and
from another that there is immediate and unmitigated damnation. One says that
Jesus Christ was only a man; another that you must be plunged bodily into water
to be baptized, and refuses the rites to infants. Most of them have no prescribed
form of worship, no sacred vestments, and their doctrines are as undefined as
their service is informal. The founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, was the
worst man in Europe. The advent of the Reformation was the signal for civil
war, and from that time to this the world has been in a restless state, uneasy
in regard to Governments, and every day becoming more skeptical. The ultimate
tendency of Protestantism is clearly nothing less than the destruction of all
respect for the Bible, and the disruption of government and society." Very
plain talk this. The Protestants might easily return the compliment.
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ABOUT JESUS.
official complaints
of the Synagogue abundant evidence of the persecution of the initiates. The
Talmud also corroborates it.
The Jewish version
of the birth of Jesus is recorded in the Sepher-Toldos Jeshu in the following
words:
"Mary having
become the mother of a Son, named Jehosuah, and the boy growing up, she
entrusted him to the care of the Rabbi Elhanan, and the child progressed in
knowledge, for he was well gifted with spirit and understanding.
"Rabbi
Jehosuah, son of Perachiah, continued the education of Jehosuah (Jesus) after
Elhanan, and initiated him in the secret knowledge"; but the King,
Janneus, having given orders to slay all the initiates, Jehosuah Ben Perachiah,
fled to Alexandria, in Egypt, taking the boy with him.
While in
Alexandria, continues the story, they were received in the house of a rich and
learned lady (personified Egypt). Young Jesus found her beautiful,
notwithstanding "a defect in her eyes," and declared so to his
master. Upon hearing this, the latter became so angry that his pupil should
find in the land of bondage anything good, that "he cursed him and drove
the young man from his presence." Then follow a series of adventures told
in allegorical language, which show that Jesus supplemented his initiation in
the Jewish Kabala with an additional acquisition of the secret wisdom of Egypt.
When the persecution ceased, they both returned to Judea.*
The real grievances
against Jesus are stated by the learned author of Tela Ignea Satanae (the fiery
darts of Satan) to be two in number: 1st, that he had discovered the great
Mysteries of their Temple, by having been initiated in Egypt; and 2d, that he
had profaned them by exposing them to the vulgar, who misunderstood and
disfigured them. This is what they say:**
"There exists,
in the sanctuary of the living God, a cubical stone, on which are sculptured
the holy characters, the combination of which gives the explanation of the
attributes and powers of the incommunicable name. This explanation is the
secret key of all the occult sciences and forces in nature. It is what the
Hebrews call the Scham hamphorash. This stone is watched by two lions of gold,
who roar as soon as it is approached.*** The gates of the temple were never
lost sight of, and the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Eliphas Levi
ascribes this narrative to the Talmudist authors of "Sota" and
"Sanhedrin," p. 19, book of "Jechiel."
** This fragment is
translated from the original Hebrew by Eliphas Levi in his "La Science des
Esprits."
*** Those who know
anything of the rites of the Hebrews must recognize in these lions the gigantic
figures of the Cherubim, whose symbolical monstrosity was well calculated to
frighten and put to flight the profane.
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door of the
sanctuary opened but once a year, to admit the High Priest alone. But Jesus,
who had learned in Egypt the 'great secrets' at the initiation, forged for
himself invisible keys, and thus was enabled to penetrate into the sanctuary
unseen. . . . He copied the characters on the cubical stone, and hid them in
his thigh;* after which, emerging from the temple, he went abroad and began
astounding people with his miracles. The dead were raised at his command, the
leprous and the obsessed were healed. He forced the stones which lay buried for
ages at the bottom of the sea to rise to the surface until they formed a
mountain, from the top of which he preached." The Sepher Toldos states
further that, unable to displace the cubical stone of the sanctuary, Jesus
fabricated one of clay, which he showed to the nations and passed it off for
the true cubical stone of Israel.
This allegory, like
the rest of them in such books, is written "inside and outside" -- it
has its secret meaning, and ought to be read two ways. The kabalistic books
explain its mystical meaning. Further, the same Talmudist says, in substance,
the following: Jesus was thrown in prison,** and kept there forty days; then
flogged as a seditious rebel; then stoned as a blasphemer in a place called
Lud, and finally allowed to expire upon a cross. "All this," explains
Levi, "because he revealed to the people the truths which they (the
Pharisees) wished to bury for their own use. He had divined the occult theology
of Israel, had compared it with the wisdom of Egypt, and found thereby the
reason for a universal religious synthesis."***
However cautious
one ought to be in accepting anything about Jesus from Jewish sources, it must
be confessed that in some things they seem to be more correct in their
statements (whenever their direct interest in stating facts is not concerned) than
our good but too jealous Fathers. One thing is certain, James, the
"Brother of the Lord," is silent about the resurrection. He terms
Jesus nowhere "Son of God," nor even Christ-God. Once only, speaking
of Jesus, he calls him the "Lord of Glory," but so do the Nazarenes
when writing about their prophet Iohanan bar Zacharia, or John, son of
Zacharias (St. John Baptist). Their favorite expressions about their prophet
are the same as those used by James when speaking of Jesus. A man "of the
seed of a man," "Messenger of Life," of light, "my Lord
Apostle," "King sprung of Light," and so on. "Have not the
faith of our Lord JESUS Christ, the Lord of Glory," etc.,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Arnobius tells
the same story of Jesus, and narrates how he was accused of having robbed the
sanctuary of the secret names of the Holy One, by means of which knowledge he
performed all the miracles.
** This is a
translation of Eliphas Levi.
*** "La
Science des Esprits," p. 37.
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OF HIM.
says James in his
epistle (ii. 1), presumably addressing Christ as GOD. "Peace to thee, my
Lord, JOHN Abo Sabo, Lord of Glory!" says the Codex Nazaraeus (ii., 19),
known to address but a prophet. "Ye have condemned and killed the
Just," says James (v. 6). "Iohanan (John) is the Just one, he comes
in the way of justice," says Matthew (xxi. 32, Syriac text).
James does not even
call Jesus Messiah, in the sense given to the title by the Christians, but
alludes to the kabalistic "King Messiah," who is Lord of Sabaoth* (v.
4), and repeats several times that the "Lord" will come, but
identifies the latter nowhere with Jesus. "Be patient, therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord . . . be patient, for the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh" (v. 7, 8). And he adds: "Take, my brethren, the
prophet (Jesus) who has spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of
suffering, affliction, and of patience." Though in the present version the
word "prophet" stands in the plural, yet this is a deliberate
falsification of the original, the purpose of which is too evident. James,
immediately after having cited the "prophets" as an example, adds:
"Behold . . . ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end
of the Lord" -- thus combining the examples of these two admirable
characters, and placing them on a perfect equality. But we have more to adduce
in support of our argument. Did not Jesus himself glorify the prophet of the
Jordan? "What went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and
more than a prophet. . . . Verily, I say unto you, among them that are born of
women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
And of whom was he
who spoke thus born? It is but the Roman Catholics who have changed Mary, the
mother of Jesus, into a goddess. In the eyes of all other Christians she was a
woman, whether his own birth was immaculate or otherwise. According to strict
logic, then, Jesus confessed John greater than himself. Note how completely
this matter is disposed of by the language employed by the Angel Gabriel when
addressing Mary: "Blessed art thou among women." These words are
unequivocal. He does not adore her as the Mother of God, nor does he call her
goddess; he does not even address her as "Virgin," but he calls her
woman, and only distinguishes her above other women as having had better fortune,
through her purity.
The Nazarenes were
known as Baptists, Sabians, and John's Christians. Their belief was that the
Messiah was not the Son of God, but simply a prophet who would follow John.
"Johanan, the Son of the Abo Sabo Zachariah, shall say to himself, 'Whoever
will believe in my justice
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Israelite
Indeed," vol. iii., p. 61.
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and my BAPTISM
shall be joined to my association; he shall share with me the seat which is the
abode of life, of the supreme Mano, and of living fire' " (Codex
Nazaraeus, ii., p. 115). Origen remarks "there are some who said of John
(the Baptist) that he was the anointed" (Christus).* The Angel Rasiel of
the kabalists is the Angel Gabriel of the Nazarenes, and it is the latter who
is chosen of all the celestial hierarchy by the Christians to become the messenger
of the 'annunciation.' "The genius sent by the 'Lord of Celsitude' is
AEbel Zivo, whose name is also called GABRIEL Legatus."** Paul must have
had the sect of the Nazarenes in mind when he said: "And last of all he
(Jesus) was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time" (1 Corinth.,
xv. 8), thus reminding his listeners of the expression usual to the Nazarenes,
who termed the Jews "the abortions, or born out of time." Paul prides
himself of belonging to a haeresy.***
When the
metaphysical conceptions of the Gnostics, who saw in Jesus the Logos and the
anointed, began to gain ground, the earliest Christians separated from the
Nazarenes, who accused Jesus of perverting the doctrines of John, and changing
the baptism of the Jordan.**** "Directly," says Milman, "as it
(the Gospel) got beyond the borders of Palestine, and the name of 'Christ' had
acquired sanctity and veneration in the Eastern cities, he became a kind of
metaphysical impersonation, while the religion lost its purely moral cast and
assumed the character of a speculative theogony."***** The only
half-original document that has reached us from the primitive apostolic days,
is the Logia of Matthew. The real, genuine doctrine has remained in the hands
of the Nazarenes, in this Gospel of Matthew containing the "secret
doctrine," the "Sayings of Jesus," mentioned by Papias. These
sayings were, no doubt, of the same nature as the small manuscripts placed in
the hands of the neophytes, who were candidates for the Initiations into the
Mysteries, and which contained the Aporrheta, the revelations of some important
rites and symbols. For why should Matthew take such precautions to make them
"secret" were it otherwise?
Primitive
Christianity had its grip, pass-words, and degrees of initiation. The innumerable
Gnostic gems and amulets are weighty proofs of it. It is a whole symbolical
science. The kabalists were the first to embellish the universal Logos,******
with such terms as "Light of Light," the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Origen," vol. ii., p. 150.
** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. i., p. 23.
*** "In the
way these call heresy I worship" (Acts xxiv. 14).
**** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., p. 109.
*****
"Milman," p. 200.
****** Dunlap says
in "Sod, the Son of the Man": "Mr. Hall, of India, informs us
that he has seen Sanscrit philosophical treatises in which the Logos
continually occurs," p. 39, foot-note.
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BORROWED CHRISTIAN TERMS.
Messenger of LIFE
and LIGHT,* and we find these expressions adopted in toto by the Christians,
with the addition of nearly all the Gnostic terms such as Pleroma (fulness),
Archons, AEons, etc. As to the "First-Born," the First, and the
"Only-Begotten," these are as old as the world. Origen shows the word
"Logos" as existing among the Brachmanes. "The Brachmanes say
that the God is Light, not such as one sees, nor such as the sun and fire; but
they have the God LOGOS, not the articulate, the Logos of the Gnosis, through
whom the highest MYSTERIES of the Gnosis are seen by the wise."** The Acts
and the fourth Gospel teem with Gnostic expressions. The kabalistic:
"God's first-born emanated from the Most High," together with that
which is the "Spirit of the Anointing"; and again "they called
him the anointed of the Highest,"*** are reproduced in Spirit and
substance by the author of the Gospel according to John. "That was the
true light," and "the light shineth in darkness." "And the
WORD was made flesh." "And his fulness (pleroma) have all we
received," etc. (John i. et seq.).
The
"Christ," then, and the "Logos" existed ages before
Christianity; the Oriental Gnosis was studied long before the days of Moses,
and we have to seek for the origin of all these in the archaic periods of the
primeval Asiatic philosophy. Peter's second Epistle and Jude's fragment,
preserved in the New Testament, show by their phraseology that they belong to
the kabalistic Oriental Gnosis, for they use the same expressions as did the
Christian Gnostics who built a part of their system from the Oriental Kabala.
"Presumptuous are they (the Ophites), self-willed, they are not afraid to
speak evil of DIGNITIES," says Peter (2d Epistle ii. 10), the original
model for the later abusive Tertullian and Irenaeus.**** "Likewise (even
as Sodom and Gomorrah) also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise
DOMINION and speak evil of DIGNITIES," says Jude, repeating the very words
of Peter, and thereby expressions consecrated in the Kabala. Dominion is the
"Empire," the tenth of the kabalistic sephiroth.***** The Powers and
Dignities are the subordinate
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See John i.
** Origen:
"Philosophumena," xxiv.
*** Kleuker:
"Natur und Ursprung der Emanationslehre bei den Kabbalisten," pp. 10,
11; see "Libri Mysterii."
**** "These as
natural brute beasts." "The dog has turned to its own vomit again;
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (22).
***** The types of
the creation, or the attributes of the Supreme Being, are through the
emanations of Adam Kadmon; these are: "The Crown, Wisdom, Prudence,
Magnificence, Severity, Beauty, Victory, Glory, Foundation, Empire. Wisdom is
called Jeh; Prudence, Jehovah; Severity, Elohim; Magnificence, El; Victory and
Glory, SABAOTH; Empire or Dominion, ADONAI." Thus when the Nazarenes and
other Gnostics of the more Platonic tendency twitted the Jews as
"abortions who worship
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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genii of the
Archangels and Angels of the Sohar.* These emanations are the very life and
soul of the Kabala and Zoroastrianism; and the Talmud itself, in its present
state, is all borrowed from the Zendavesta. Therefore, by adopting the views of
Peter, Jude, and other Jewish apostles, the Christians have become but a
dissenting sect of the Persians, for they do not even interpret the meaning of
all such Powers as the true kabalists do. Paul's warning his converts against
the worshipping of angels, shows how well he appreciated, even so early as his
period, the dangers of borrowing from a metaphysical doctrine the philosophy of
which could be rightly interpreted but by its well-learned adherents, the Magi
and the Jewish Tanaim. "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a
voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which
he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,"** is a sentence
laid right at the door of Peter and his champions. In the Talmud, Michael is
Prince of Water, who has seven inferior spirits subordinate to him. He is the
patron, the guardian angel of the Jews, as Daniel informs us (v. 21), and the
Greek Ophites, who identified him with their Ophiomorphos, the personified
creation of the envy and malice of Ilda-Baoth, the Demiurgus (Creator of the
material world), and undertook to prove that he was also Samuel, the Hebrew
prince of the evil spirits, or Persian devs, were naturally regarded by the
Jews as blasphemers. But did Jesus ever sanction this belief in angels except
in so far as hinting that they were the messengers and subordinates of God? And
here the origin of the later splits between Christian beliefs is directly
traceable to these two early contradictory views.
Paul, believing in
all such occult powers in the world "unseen," but ever
"present," says: "Ye walked according to the AEon of this world,
according to the Archon (Ilda-Baoth, the Demiurge) that has the domination of
the air," and "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
the dominations, the powers; the lords of darkness, the mischievousness of
spirits in the upper regions." This sentence, "Ye were dead in sin
and error," for "ye walked according to the Archon," or
Ilda-Baoth, the God and creator of matter of the Ophites, shows unequivocally
that: 1st, Paul, notwithstanding some dissensions with the more important
doctrines of the Gnostics, shared more or less their cosmogonical views on the
emanations; and 2d, that he was fully aware that this Demi-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] their god Iurbo, Adunai," we need not
wonder at the wrath of those who had accepted the old Mosaic system, but at
that of Peter and Jude who claim to be followers of Jesus and dissent from the
views of him who was also a Nazarene.
* According to the
"Kabala," Empire or Dominion is "the consuming fire, and his
wife is the Temple or the Church."
** Colossians ii.
18.
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"POWERS," "DOMINIONS," ETC., EXPLAINED.
urge, whose Jewish
name was Jehovah, was not the God preached by Jesus. And now, if we compare the
doctrine of Paul with the religious views of Peter and Jude, we find that, not
only did they worship Michael, the Archangel, but that also they reverenced
SATAN, because the latter was also, before his fall, an angel! This they do
quite openly, and abuse the Gnostics* for speaking "evil" of him. No
one can deny the following: Peter, when denouncing those who are not afraid to
speak evil of "dignities," adds immediately, "Whereas angels,
which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusations against
them (the dignities) before the Lord" (ii. 11). Who are the dignities?
Jude, in his general epistle, makes the word as clear as day. The dignities are
the DEVILS!! Complaining of the disrespect shown by the Gnostics to the powers
and dominions, Jude argues in the very words of Peter: "And yet, Michael,
the Archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of
Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord
rebuke thee" (i. 9). Is this plain enough? If not, then we have the Kabala
to prove who were the dignities.
Considering that
Deuteronomy tells us that the "Lord" Himself buried Moses in a valley
of Moab (xxxiv. 6), "and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this
day," this biblical lapsus inguae of Jude gives a strong coloring to the
assertions of some of the Gnostics. They claimed but what was secretly taught
by the Jewish kabalists themselves; to wit: that the highest supreme God was
unknown and invisible; "the King of Light is a closed eye"; that
Ilda-Baoth, the Jewish second Adam, was the real Demiurge; and that Iao,
Adonai, Sabaoth, and Eloi were the quaternary emanation which formed the unity
of the God of the Hebrews -- Jehovah. Moreover, the latter was also called
Michael and Samael by them, and regarded but as an angel, several removes from
the Godhead. In holding to such a belief, the Gnostics countenanced the
teachings of the greatest of the Jewish doctors, Hillel, and other Babylonian
divines. Josephus shows the great deference of the official Synagogue in Jerusalem
to the wisdom of the schools of Central Asia. The colleges of Sora, Pumbiditha,
and Nahaidea were considered the headquarters of esoteric and theological
learning by all the schools of Palestine. The Chaldean version of the
Pentateuch, made by the well-known Babylonian divine, Onkelos, was regarded as
the most authoritative of all; and it is according to this learned Rabbi that
Hillel and other Tanaim after him held that the Being who appeared to Moses in
the burning bush, on Mount Sinai, and who finally buried him, was the angel of
the Lord,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* It is more likely
that both abused Paul, who preached against this belief; and that the Gnostics
were only a pretext. (See Peter's second Epistle.)
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Memro, and not the
Lord Himself; and that he whom the Hebrews of the Old Testament mistook for
Iahoh was but His messenger, one of His sons, or emanations. All this
establishes but one logical conclusion -- namely, that the Gnostics were by far
the superiors of the disciples, in point of education and general information;
even in a knowledge of the religious tenets of the Jews themselves. While they
were perfectly well-versed in the Chaldean wisdom, the well-meaning, pious, but
fanatical as well as ignorant disciples, unable to fully understand or grasp
the religious spirit of their own system, were driven in their disputations to
such convincing logic as the use of "brute beasts," "sows,"
"dogs," and other epithets so freely bestowed by Peter.
Since then, the
epidemic has reached the apex of the sacerdotal hierarchy. From the day when
the founder of Christianity uttered the warning, that he who shall say to his
brother, "Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire," all who have
passed as its leaders, beginning with the ragged fishermen of Galilee, and
ending with the jewelled pontiffs, have seemed to vie with each other in the
invention of opprobrious epithets for their opponents. So we find Luther
passing a final sentence on the Catholics, and exclaiming that "The
Papists are all asses, put them in whatever form you like; whether they are
boiled, roasted, baked, fried, skinned, hashed, they will be always the same
asses." Calvin called the victims he persecuted, and occasionally burned,
"malicious barking dogs, full of bestiality and insolence, base corrupters
of the sacred writings," etc. Dr. Warburton terms the Popish religion
"an impious farce," and Monseigneur Dupanloup asserts that the
Protestant Sabbath service is the "Devil's mass," and all clergymen
are "thieves and ministers of the Devil."
The same spirit of
incomplete inquiry and ignorance has led the Christian Church to bestow on its
most holy apostles, titles assumed by their most desperate opponents, the
"Haeretics" and Gnostics. So we find, for instance, Paul termed the
vase of election "Vas Electionis," a title chosen by Manes,* the
greatest heretic of his day in the eyes of the Church, Manes meaning, in the
Babylonian language, the chosen vessel or receptacle.**
So with the Virgin
Mary. They were so little gifted with originality, that they copied from the
Egyptian and Hindu religions their several
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The true name of
Manes -- who was a Persian by birth -- was Cubricus. (See Epiph. "Life of
Manes," Haeret. lxv.) He was flayed alive at the instance of the Magi, by
the Persian King Varanes I. Plutarch says that Manes or Manis means Masses or
ANOINTED. The vessel, or vase of election, is, therefore, the vessel full of
that light of God, which he pours on one he has selected for his interpreter.
** See King's
"Gnostics," p. 38.
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VIRGIN-MOTHERS COMPARED.
apostrophes to
their respective Virgin-mothers. The juxtaposition of a few examples will make
this clear.
HINDU. Litany of
our Lady Nari: Virgin (Also Devanaki.)
1. Holy Nari --
Mariama, Mother of perpetual fecundity.
2. Mother of an
incarnated God -- Vishnu (Devanaki).
3. Mother of
Christna.
4. Eternal
Virginity -- Kanyabava.
5. Mother -- Pure
Essence, Akasa.
6. Virgin most
chaste -- Kanya.
7. Mother Taumatra,
of the five virtues or elements.
8. Virgin Trigana
(of the three elements, power or richness, love, and mercy.)
9. Mirror of
Supreme Conscience -- Ahancara.
10. Wise Mother --
Saraswati.
11. Virgin of the
white Lotos, Pedma or Kamala.
12. Womb of Gold --
Hyrania.
13. Celestial Light
-- Lakshmi.
14. Ditto.
15. Queen of
Heaven, and of the universe -- Sakti.
16. Mother soul of
all beings -- Paramatma.
17. Devanaki is
conceived without sin, and immaculate herself. (According to the Brahmanic
fancy.)
EGYPTIAN. Litany of
our Lady Isis: Virgin.
1. Holy Isis,
universal mother -- Muth.
2. Mother of Gods
-- Athyr.
3. Mother of Horus.
4. Virgo generatrix
-- Neith.
5. Mother-soul of
the universe -- Anouke.
6. Virgin sacred
earth -- Isis.
7. Mother of all
the virtues -- Thmei, with the same qualities.
8. Illustrious
Isis, most powerful, merciful, just. (Book of the Dead.)
9. Mirror of
Justice and Truth -- Thmei.
10. Mysterious
mother of the world -- Buto (secret wisdom).
11. Sacred Lotus.
12. Sistrum of
Gold.
13. Astarte
(Syrian), Astaroth (Jewish).
14. Argua of the
Moon.
15. Queen of
Heaven, and of the universe -- Sati.
16. Model of all
mothers -- Athor.
17. Isis is a
Virgin Mother.
ROMAN CATHOLIC.
Litany of our Lady of Loretto: Virgin.
1. Holy Mary,
mother of divine grace.
2. Mother of God.
3. Mother of
Christ.
4 . Virgin of
Virgins.
5. Mother of Divine
Grace.
6. Virgin most
chaste.
7. Mother most
pure.
Mother undefiled.
Mother inviolate.
Mother most
amiable.
Mother most
admirable.
8. Virgin most
powerful.
Virgin most
merciful.
Virgin most
faithful.
9. Mirror of
Justice.
10. Seat of Wisdom.
11. Mystical Rose.
12. House of Gold.
13. Morning Star.
14. Ark of the
Covenant.
15. Queen of
Heaven.
16. Mater Dolorosa.
17. Mary conceived
without sin. (In accordance with later orders.)
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If the Virgin Mary
has her nuns, who are consecrated to her and bound to live in chastity, so had
Isis her nuns in Egypt, as Vesta had hers at Rome, and the Hindu Nari, "mother
of the world" hers. The virgins consecrated to her cultus -- the Devadasi
of the temples, who were the nuns of the days of old -- lived in great
chastity, and were objects of the most extraordinary veneration, as the holy
women of the goddess. Would the missionaries and some travellers reproachfully
point to the modern Devadasis, or Nautch-girls? For all response, we would beg
them to consult the official reports of the last quarter century, cited in
chapter II., as to certain discoveries made at the razing of convents, in
Austria and Italy. Thousands of infants' skulls were exhumed from ponds,
subterranean vaults, and gardens of convents. Nothing to match this was ever
found in heathen lands.
Christian theology,
getting the doctrine of the archangels and angels directly from the Oriental
Kabala, of which the Mosaic Bible is but an allegorical screen, ought at least
to remember the hierarchy invented by the former for these personified
emanations. The hosts of the Cherubim and Seraphim, with which we generally see
the Catholic Madonnas surrounded in their pictures, belong, together with the
Elohim and Beni Elohim of the Hebrews, to the third kabalistic world, Jezirah.
This world is but one remove higher than Asiah, the fourth and lowest world, in
which dwell the grossest and most material beings -- the klippoth, who delight
in evil and mischief, and whose chief is Belial!
Explaining, in his
way, of course, the various "heresies" of the first two centuries,
Irenaeus says: "Our Haeretics hold . . . that PROPATOR is known but to the
only-begotten son, that is to the mind" (the nous). It was the
Valentinians, the followers of the "profoundest doctor of the
Gnosis," Valentinus, who held that "there was a perfect AION, who
existed before Bythos, or Buthon (the Depth), called Propator. This is again
kabalistic, for in the Sohar of Simon Ben Iochai, we read the following:
"Senior occultatus est et absconditus; Microprosopus manifestus est, et
non manifestus" (Rosenroth: The Sohar Liber Mysteries, iv., 1).
In the religious
metaphysics of the Hebrews, the Highest One is an abstraction; he is
"without form or being," "with no likeness with anything
else."* And even Philo calls the Creator, the Logos who stands next God,
"the SECOND God." "The second God who is his WISDOM."** God
is NOTHING, he is nameless, and therefore called Ain-Soph -- the word Ain
meaning nothing.*** But if, according to the older Jews, Jehovah is the God,
and He manifested Himself several times to Moses and the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Franck: "Die
Kabbala," p. 126.
** Philo:
"Quaest. et Solut."
*** See Franck:
"Die Kabbala," p. 153 ff.
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WRITTEN BY JOHN.
prophets, and the
Christian Church anathematized the Gnostics who denied the fact -- how comes
it, then, that we read in the fourth gospel that "No man hath seen God AT
ANY TIME, but the only-begotten Son . . . he hath declared him"? The very
words of the Gnostics, in spirit and substance. This sentence of St. John -- or
rather whoever wrote the gospel now bearing his name -- floors all the Petrine
arguments against Simon Magus, without appeal. The words are repeated and
emphasized in chapter vi.: "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he
which is of God, he (Jesus) hath seen the Father" (46) -- the very
objection brought forward by Simon in the Homilies. These words prove that
either the author of the fourth evangel had no idea of the existence of the
Homilies, or that he was not John, the friend and companion of Peter, whom he
contradicts point-blank with this emphatic assertion. Be it as it may, this
sentence, like many more that might be profitably cited, blends Christianity
completely with the Oriental Gnosis, and hence with the KABALA.
While the
doctrines, ethical code, and observances of the Christian religion were all
appropriated from Brahmanism and Buddhism, its ceremonials, vestments, and
pageantry were taken bodily from Lamaism. The Romish monastery and nunnery are
almost servile copies of similar religious houses in Thibet and Mongolia, and
interested explorers of Buddhist lands, when obliged to mention the unwelcome
fact, have had no other alternative left them but, with an anachronism
unsurpassed in recklessness, to charge the offense of plagiarism upon the
religious system their own mother Church had despoiled. This makeshift has
served its purpose and had its day. The time has at last come when this page of
history must be written.
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CHAPTER V.
"Learn to know
all, but keep thyself unknown." -- GNOSTIC MAXIM.
"There is one
God supreme over all gods, diviner than mortals,
Whose form is not
like unto man's, and as unlike his nature;
But vain mortals
imagine that gods like themselves are begotten
With human
sensations, and voice, and corporeal members." -- XENOPHANES: Clem. Al.
Strom., v. 14, § 110.
"TYCHIADES. --
Can you tell me the reason, Philocles, why most men desire to lye, and delight
not only to speak fictions themselves, but give busie attention to others who
do?
"PHILOCLES. --
There be many reasons, Tychiades, which compell some to speak lyes, because
they see 'tis profitable." -- A Dialogue of Lucian.
"SPARTAN. --
Is it to thee, or to God, that I must confess?
"PRIEST. -- To
God.
"SPARTAN. --
Then, MAN, stand back!" -- PLUTARCH: Remarkable Lacedemonian Sayings.
WE will now give
attention to some of the most important Mysteries of the Kabala, and trace
their relations to the philosophical myths of various nations.
In the oldest
Oriental Kabala, the Deity is represented as three circles in one, shrouded in
a certain smoke or chaotic exhalation. In the preface to the Sohar, which
transforms the three primordial circles into THREE HEADS, over these is
described an exhalation or smoke, neither black nor white, but colorless, and
circumscribed within a circle. This is the unknown Essence.* The origin of the
Jewish image may, perhaps, be traced to Hermes' Pimander, the Egyptian Logos,
who appears within a cloud of a humid nature, with a smoke escaping from it.**
In the Sohar the highest God is, as we have shown in the preceding chapter, and
as in the case of the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, a pure abstraction,
whose objective existence is denied by the latter. It is Hakama, the
"SUPREME WISDOM, that cannot be understood by reflection," and that
lies within and without the CRANIUM of LONG FACE*** (Sephira), the uppermost of
the three "Heads." It is the "boundless and the infinite
En-Soph," the No-Thing.
The "three
Heads," superposed above each other, are evidently taken from the three
mystic triangles of the Hindus, which also superpose each other. The highest
"head" contains the Trinity in Chaos, out of which springs the
manifested trinity. En-Soph, the unrevealed forever, who is
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "Kabbala
Denudata"; preface to the "Sohar," ii., p. 242.
** See
Champollion's "Egypte."
*** "Idra
Rabba," vi., p. 58.
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THE CREATOR.
boundless and
unconditioned, cannot create, and therefore it seems to us a great error to
attribute to him a "creative thought," as is commonly done by the
interpreters. In every cosmogony this supreme Essence is passive; if boundless,
infinite, and unconditioned, it can have no thought nor idea. It acts not as
the result of volition, but in obedience to its own nature, and according to
the fatality of the law of which it is itself the embodiment. Thus, with the
Hebrew kabalists, En-Soph is non-existent [[Heb char]], for it is
incomprehensible to our finite intellects, and therefore cannot exist to our
minds. Its first emanation was Sephira, the crown [[Heb char]]. When the time
for an active period had come, then was produced a natural expansion of this
Divine essence from within outwardly, obedient to eternal and immutable law;
and from this eternal and infinite light (which to us is darkness) was emitted
a spiritual substance.* This was the First Sephiroth, containing in herself the
other nine [[Heb char]] Sephiroth, or intelligences. In their totality and
unity they represent the archetypal man, Adam Kadmon, the [[protogonos]], who
in his individuality or unity is yet dual, or bisexual, the Greek Didumos, for
he is the prototype of all humanity. Thus we obtain three trinities, each
contained in a "head." In the first head, or face (the three-faced
Hindu Trimurti), we find Sephira, the first androgyne, at the apex of the upper
triangle, emitting Hackama, or Wisdom, a masculine and active potency -- also
called Jah, [[Heb char]] -- and Binah, [[Heb char]], or Intelligence, a female
and passive potency, also represented by the name Jehovah [[Heb char]]. These
three form the first trinity or "face" of the Sephiroth. This triad
emanated Hesed, [[Heb char]], or Mercy, a masculine active potency, also called
El, from which emanated Geburah [[Heb char]], or Justice, also called Eloha, a
feminine passive potency; from the union of these two was produced Tiphereth
[[Heb char]], Beauty, Clemency, the Spiritual Sun, known by the divine name
Elohim; and the second triad, "face," or "head," was
formed. These emanating, in their turn, the masculine potency Netzah, [[Heb
char]], Firmness, or Jehovah Sabaoth, who issued the feminine passive potency
Hod, [[Heb char]], Splendor, or Elohim Sabaoth; the two produced Jesod, [[Heb
char]], Foundation, who is the mighty living one El-Chai, thus yielding the
third trinity or "head." The tenth Sephiroth is rather a duad, and is
represented on the diagrams as the lowest circle. It is Malchuth or Kingdom,
[[Heb char]], and Shekinah [[Heb char]], also called Adonai, and Cherubim among
the angelic hosts. The first "Head" is called the Intellectual world;
the second "Head" is the Sensuous, or the world of Perception, and
the third is the Material or Physical world.
"Before he
gave any shape to the universe," says the Kabala, "before
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Idra Suta:
"Sohar," ii.
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he produced any
form, he was alone without any form and resemblance to anything else. Who,
then, can comprehend him, how he was before the creation, since he was
formless? Hence, it is forbidden to represent him by any form, similitude, or
even by his sacred name, by a single letter, or a single point. . . . The Aged
of the Aged, the Unknown of the Unknown, has a form, and yet no form. He has a
form whereby the universe is preserved, and yet has no form, because he cannot
be comprehended. When he first assumed a form (in Sephira, his first
emanation), he caused nine splendid lights to emanate from it."*
And now we will
turn to the Hindu esoteric Cosmogony and definition of "Him who is, and
yet is not."
"From him who
is,** from this immortal Principle which exists in our minds but cannot be
perceived by the senses, is born Purusha, the Divine male and female, who
became Narayana, or the Divine Spirit moving on the water."
Swayambhuva, the
unknown essence of the Brahmans, is identical with En-Soph, the unknown essence
of the kabalists. As with the latter, the ineffable name could not be
pronounced by the Hindus, under the penalty of death. In the ancient primitive
trinity of India, that which may be certainly considered as pre-Vedic, the germ
which fecundates the mother-principle, the mundane egg, or the universal womb,
is called Nara, the Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, which emanates from the
primordial essence. It is like Sephira, the oldest emanation, called the
primordial point, and the White Head, for it is the point of divine light
appearing from within the fathomless and boundless darkness. In Manu it is
"NARA, or the Spirit of God, which moves on Ayana (Chaos, or place of
motion), and is called NARAYANA, or moving on the waters."*** In Hermes,
the Egyptian, we read: "In the beginning of the time there was naught in
the chaos." But when the "verbum," issuing from the void like a
"colorless smoke," makes its appearance, then "this verbum moved
on the humid principle."**** And in Genesis we find: "And darkness
was upon the face of the deep (chaos). And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters." In the Kabala, the emanation of the primordial
passive principle (Sephira), by dividing itself into two parts, active and
passive, emits Chochma-Wisdom and Binah-Jehovah, and in conjunction with these
two acolytes, which complete the trinity, becomes the Creator of the abstract
Universe; the physical world being the production of later and still more
material powers.***** In the Hindu Cosmogony, Swayambhuva emits
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Idra Suta:
"Sohar," iii., p. 288 a.
** Ego sum qui sum
(see "Bible").
*** See
"Institutes of Manu," translated by Sir William Jones.
**** Champollion.
***** We are fully
aware that some Christian kabalists term En-Soph the "Crown,"
[[Footnote
continued on next page]]
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FUNDAMENTALLY IDENTICAL.
Nara and Nari, its
bisexual emanation, and dividing its parts into two halves, male and female,
these fecundate the mundane egg, within which develops Brahma, or rather
Viradj, the Creator. "The starting-point of the Egyptian mythology,"
says Champollion, "is a triad . . . namely, Kneph, Neith, and Phtah; and
Ammon, the male, the father; Muth, the female and mother; and Khons, the
son."
The ten Sephiroth
are copies taken from the ten Pradjapatis created by Viradj, called the
"Lords of all beings," and answering to the biblical Patriarchs.
Justin Martyr
explains some of the "heresies" of the day, but in a very
unsatisfactory manner. He shows, however, the identity of all the
world-religions at their starting-points. The first beginning opens invariably
with the unknown and passive deity, producing from himself a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] identify him with Sephira; call En-Soph "an
emanation from God," and make the ten Sephiroth comprise
"En-Soph" as a unity. They also very erroneously reverse the first
two emanations of Sephira -- Chochma and Binah. The greatest kabalists have
always held Chochma (Wisdom) as a male and active intelligence, Jah [[Heb
char]], and placed it under the No. 2 on the right side of the triangle, whose
apex is the crown, while Binah (Intelligence) or [[Heb char]], is under No. 3
on the left hand. But the latter, being represented by its divine name as
Jehovah [[Heb char]], very naturally showed the God of Israel as only a third
emanation, as well as a feminine, passive principle. Hence when the time came
for the Talmudists to transform their multifarious deities into one living God,
they resorted to their Masoretic points and combined to transform Jehovah into
Adonai, "the Lord." This, under the persecution of the Mediaeval
kabalists by the Church, also forced some of the former to change their female
Sephiroth into male, and vice versa, so as to avoid being accused of disrespect
and blasphemy to Jehovah; whose name, moreover, by mutual and secret agreement
they accepted as a substitute for Jah, or the mystery name IAO. Alone the
initiated knew of it, but later it gave rise to a great confusion among the
uninitiated. It would be worth while -- were it not for lack of space -- to
quote a few of the many passages in the oldest Jewish authorities, such as
Rabbi Akiba, and the "Sohar," which corroborate our assertion.
Chochma-Wisdom is a male principle everywhere, and Binah-Jehovah, a female
potency. The writings of Irenaeus, Theodoret, and Epiphanius, teeming with
accusations against the Gnostics and "Haeresies," repeatedly show
Simon Magus and Cerinthus making of Binah the feminine divine Spirit which
inspired Simon. Binah is Sophia, and the Sophia of the Gnostics is surely not a
male potency, but simply the feminine Wisdom, or Intelligence. (See any ancient
"Arbor Kabbalistica," or Tree of the Sephiroth.) Eliphas Levi, in the
"Rituel de la Haute Magie," vol. i., pp. 223 and 231, places Chochma
as No. 2 and as a male Sephiroth on the right hand of the Tree. In the
"Kabala" the three male Sephiroth -- Chochma, Chesed, Netsah -- are
known as the Pillar of Mercy; and the three feminine on the left, namely,
Binah, Geburah, Hod, are named the Pillar of Judgment; while the four Sephiroth
of the centre -- Kether, Tiphereth, Jesod, and Malchuth -- are called the
Middle Pillar. And, as Mackenzie, in the "Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia,"
shows, "there is an analogy in these three pillars to the three Pillars of
Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty in a Craft Lodge of Masonry, while the En-Soph
forms the mysterious blazing star, or mystic light of the East" (p. 407).
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certain active
power or virtue, "Rational," which is sometimes called WISDOM,
sometimes the SON, very often God, Angel, Lord, and LOGOS.* The latter is
sometimes applied to the very first emanation, but in several systems it
proceeds from the first androgyne or double ray produced at the beginning by
the unseen. Philo depicts this wisdom as male and female. But though its first
manifestation had a beginning, for it proceeded from Oulom** (Aion, time), the
highest of the AEons, when emitted from the Fathers, it had remained with him
before all creations, for it is part of him.*** Therefore, Philo Judaeus calls
Adam Kadmon "mind" (the Ennoia of Bythos in the Gnostic system).
"The mind, let it be named Adam."****
Strictly speaking,
it is difficult to view the Jewish Book of Genesis otherwise than as a chip
from the trunk of the mundane tree of universal Cosmogony, rendered in Oriental
allegories. As cycle succeeded cycle, and one nation after another came upon
the world's stage to play its brief part in the majestic drama of human life,
each new people evolved from ancestral traditions its own religion, giving it a
local color, and stamping it with its individual characteristics. While each of
these religions had its distinguishing traits, by which, were there no other
archaic vestiges, the physical and psychological status of its creators could
be estimated, all preserved a common likeness to one prototype. This parent
cult was none other than the primitive "wisdom-religion." The
Israelitish Scriptures are no exception. Their national history -- if they can
claim any autonomy before the return from Babylon, and were anything more than
migratory septs of Hindu pariahs, cannot be carried back a day beyond Moses;
and if this ex-Egyptian priest must, from theological necessity, be transformed
into a Hebrew patriarch, we must insist that the Jewish nation was lifted with
that smiling infant out of the bulrushes of Lake Moeris. Abraham, their alleged
father, belongs to the universal mythology. Most likely he is but one of the
numerous aliases of Zeruan (Saturn), the king of the golden age, who is also
called the old man (emblem of time).***** It is now demonstrated by
Assyriologists that in the old Chaldean books Abraham is called Zeru-an, or
Zerb-an -- meaning one very rich in gold and silver, and a mighty prince.******
He is also called Zarouan and Zarman -- a decrepit old man.*******
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Justin:
"Cum. Trypho," p. 284.
** A division
indicative of time.
*** Sanchoniathon
calls time the oldest AEon, Protogonos, the "first-born."
**** Philo Judaeus:
"Cain and his Birth," p. xvii.
***** Azrael, angel
of death, is also Israel. Ab-ram means father of elevation, high-placed father,
for Saturn is the highest or outmost planet.
****** See Genesis
xiii. 2.
******* Saturn is
generally represented as a very old man, with a sickle in his hand.
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XISUTHRUS.
The ancient
Babylonian legend is that Xisuthrus (Hasisadra of the Tablets, or Xisuthrus) sailed
with his ark to Armenia, and his son Sim became supreme king. Pliny says that
Sim was called Zeruan; and Sim is Shem. In Hebrew, his name writes [heb char],
Shem -- a sign. Assyria is held by the ethnologists to be the land of Shem, and
Egypt called that of Ham, Shem, in the tenth chapter of Genesis is made the
father of all the children of Eber, of Elam (Oulam or Eilam), and Ashur (Assur
or Assyria). The "nephelim," or fallen men, Gebers, mighty men spoken
of in Genesis (vi. 4), come from Oulam, "men of Shem." Even Ophir,
which is evidently to be sought for in the India of the days of Hiram, is made
a descendant of Shem. The records are purposely mixed up to make them fit into
the frame of the Mosaic Bible. But Genesis, from its first verse down to the
last, has naught to do with the "chosen people"; it belongs to the
world's history. Its appropriation by the Jewish authors in the days of the
so-called restoration of the destroyed books of the Israelites, by Ezra, proves
nothing, and, until now, has been self-propped on an alleged divine revelation.
It is simply a compilation of the universal legends of the universal humanity.
Bunsen says that in the "Chaldean tribe immediately connected with
Abraham, we find reminiscences of dates disfigured and misunderstood, as
genealogies of single men, or indications of epochs. The Abrahamic
recollections go back at least three millennia beyond the grandfather of
Jacob."*
Alexander
Polyhistor says that Abraham was born at Kamarina or Uria, a city of
soothsayers, and invented astronomy. Josephus claims the same for Terah,
Abraham's father. The tower of Babel was built as much by the direct
descendants of Shem as by those of the "accursed" Ham and Canaan, for
the people in those days were "one," and the "whole earth was of
one language"; and Babel was simply an astrological tower, and its
builders were astrologers and adepts of the primitive Wisdom-Religion, or,
again, what we term Secret Doctrine.
The Berosian Sibyl
says: Before the Tower, Zeru-an, Titan, and Yapetosthe governed the earth,
Zeru-an wished to be supreme, but his two brothers resisted, when their sister,
Astlik, intervened and appeased them. It was agreed that Zeru-an should rule,
but his male children should be put to death; and strong Titans were appointed
to carry this into effect.
Sar (circle, saros)
is the Babylonian god of the sky. He is also Assaros or Asshur (the son of
Shem), and Zero -- Zero-ana, the chakkra, or wheel, boundless time. Hence, as
the first step taken by Zoroaster, while founding his new religion, was to
change the most sacred deities
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Bunsen:
"Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. v., p. 85.
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of the Sanscrit
Veda into names of evil spirits, in his Zend Scriptures, and even to reject a
number of them, we find no traces in the Avesta of Chakkra -- the symbolic
circle of the sky.
Elam, another of
the sons of Shem, is Oulam [[Heb char]] and refers to an order or cycle of
events. In Ecclesiastes iii. 11, it is termed "world." In Ezekiel
xxvi. 20, "of old time." In Genesis iii. 22, the word stands as "forever";
and in chapter ix. 16, "eternal." Finally, the term is completely
defined in Genesis vi. 4, in the following words: "There were nephelim
(giants, fallen men, or Titans) on the earth." The word is synonymous with
AEon, [[aion]]. In Proverbs viii. 23, it reads: "I was effused from Oulam,
from Ras" (wisdom). By this sentence, the wise king-kabalist refers to one
of the mysteries of the human spirit -- the immortal crown of the man-trinity.
While it ought to read as above, and be interpreted kabalistically to mean that
the I (or my eternal, immortal Ego), the spiritual entity, was effused from the
boundless and nameless eternity, through the creative wisdom of the unknown
God, it reads in the canonical translation: "The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way, before his works of old"! which is unintelligible
nonsense, without the kabalistic interpretation. When Solomon is made to say
that I was "from the beginning . . . while, as yet, he (the Supreme Deity)
had not made the earth nor the highest part of the dust of the world . . . I
was there," and "when he appointed the foundations of the earth . . .
then I was by him, as one brought up with him," what can the kabalist mean
by the "I," but his own divine spirit, a drop effused from that
eternal fountain of light and wisdom -- the universal spirit of the Deity?
The thread of glory
emitted by En-Soph from the highest of the three kabalistic heads, through
which "all things shine with light," the thread which makes its exit
through Adam Primus, is the individual spirit of every man. "I was daily
his (En-Soph's) delight, rejoicing always before him . . . and my delights were
with the sons of men," adds Solomon, in the same chapter of the Proverbs.
The immortal spirit delights in the sons of men, who, without this spirit, are
but dualities (physical body and astral soul, or that life-principle which
animates even the lowest of the animal kingdom). But, we have seen that the
doctrine teaches that this spirit cannot unite itself with that man in whom matter
and the grossest propensities of his animal soul will be ever crowding it out.
Therefore, Solomon, who is made to speak under the inspiration of his own
spirit, that possesses him for the time being, utters the following words of
wisdom: "Hearken unto me, my son" (the dual man), "blessed are
they who keep my ways. . . . Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily
at my gates. . . . For whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord. . . . But he that
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AEON.
sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul . . . and loves death" (Proverbs vii. 1-36).
This chapter, as
interpreted, is made by some theologians, like everything else, to apply to
Christ, the "Son of God," who states repeatedly, that he who follows
him obtains eternal life, and conquers death. But even in its distorted translation
it can be demonstrated that it referred to anything but to the alleged Saviour.
Were we to accept it in this sense, then, the Christian theology would have to
return, nolens volens, to Averroism and Buddhism; to the doctrine of emanation,
in short; for Solomon says: "I was effused" from Oulam and Rasit,
both of which are a part of the Deity; and thus Christ would not be as their
doctrine claims, God himself, but only an emanation of Him, like the Christos
of the Gnostics. Hence, the meaning of the personified Gnostic AEon, the word
signifying cycles or determined periods in the eternity and at the same time,
representing a hierarchy of celestial beings -- spirits. Thus Christ is
sometimes termed the "Eternal AEon." But the word "eternal"
is erroneous in relation to the AEons. Eternal is that which has neither
beginning nor end; but the "Emanations" or AEons, although having
lived as absorbed in the divine essence from the eternity, when once
individually emanated, must be said to have a beginning. They may be therefore
endless in this spiritual life, never eternal.
These endless
emanations of the one First Cause, all of which were gradually transformed by
the popular fancy into distinct gods, spirits, angels, and demons, were so
little considered immortal, that all were assigned a limited existence. And
this belief, common to all the peoples of antiquity, to the Chaldean Magi as
well as to the Egyptians and even in our day held by the Brahmanists and
Buddhists, most triumphantly evidences the monotheism of the ancient religious
systems. This doctrine calls the life-period of all the inferior divinities,
"one day of Parabrahma." After a cycle of fourteen milliards, three
hundred and twenty-millions of human years -- the tradition says -- the trinity
itself, with all the lesser divinities, will be annihilated, together with the
universe, and cease to exist. Then another universe will gradually emerge from
the pralaya (dissolution), and men on earth will be enabled to comprehend
SWAYAMBHUVA as he is. Alone, this primal cause will exist forever, in all his
glory, filling the infinite space. What better proof could be adduced of the
deep reverential feeling with which the "heathen" regard the one
Supreme eternal cause of all things visible and invisible.
This is again the
source from which the ancient kabalists derived identical doctrines. If the
Christians understood Genesis in their own way, and, if accepting the texts
literally, they enforced upon the uneducated masses the belief in a creation of
our world out of nothing; and
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moreover assigned
to it a beginning, it is surely not the Tanaim, the sole expounders of the
hidden meaning contained in the Bible, who are to be blamed. No more than any
other philosophers had they ever believed either in spontaneous, limited, or ex
nihilo creations. The Kabala has survived to show that their philosophy was
precisely that of the modern Nepal Buddhists, the Svabhavikas. They believed in
the eternity and the indestructibility of matter, and hence in many prior
creations and destructions of worlds, before our own. "There were old
worlds which perished."* "From this we see that the Holy One, blessed
be His name, had successively created and destroyed sundry worlds, before he
created the present world; and when he created this world he said: 'This
pleases me; the previous ones did not please me.' "** Moreover, they
believed, again like the Svabhavikas, now termed Atheists, that every thing
proceeds (is created) from its own nature and that once that the first impulse
is given by that Creative Force inherent in the "Self-created
substance," or Sephira, everything evolves out of itself, following its
pattern, the more spiritual prototype which precedes it in the scale of
infinite creation. "The indivisible point which has no limit, and cannot
be comprehended (for it is absolute), expanded from within, and formed a brightness
which served as a garment (a veil) to the indivisible points. . . . It, too,
expanded from within. . . . Thus, everything originated through a constant
upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated."***
In the later
Zoroastrian books, after that Darius had restored both the worship of Ormazd
and added to it the purer Magianism of the primitive Secret Wisdom -- [[Heb
chars]], of which, as the inscription tells us, he was himself a hierophant, we
see again reappearing the Zeru-ana, or boundless time, represented by the
Brahmans in the chakkra, or a circle; that we see figuring on the uplifted
finger of the principal deities. Further on, we will show the relation in which
it stands to the Pythagorean, mystical numbers -- the first and the last --
which is a zero (0), and to the greatest of the Mystery-Gods IAO. The identity
of this symbol alone, in all the old religions, is sufficient to show their
common descent from one primitive Faith.**** This term of "boundless
time," which can be applied but to the ONE who has neither beginning nor
end, is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Idra Suta:
"Sohar," iii., p. 292 b.
** Bereshith Rabba:
"Parsha," ix.
***
"Sohar," i., p. 20 a.
**** "The
Sanscrit s," says Max Muller, "is represented by the z and h. Thus
the geographical name 'hapta hendu,' which occurs in the 'Avesta,' becomes
intelligible, if we retranslate the z and h into the Sanscrit s. For 'Sapta
Sindhu,' or the seven rivers, is the old Vaidic name for India itself"
("Chips," vol. i., p. 81). The "Avesta" is the spirit of
the "Vedas" -- the esoteric meaning made partially known.
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AND ITS DERIVATIVES.
called by the
Zoroastrians Zeruana-Akarene, because he has always existed. "His
glory," they say, is too exalted, his light too resplendent for either
human intellect or mortal eyes to grasp and see. His primal emanation is
eternal light which, from having been previously concealed in darkness, was
called out to manifest itself, and thus was formed Ormazd, "the King of
Life." He is the first-born of boundless time, but like his own antitype,
or preexisting spiritual idea, has lived within primitive darkness from all
eternity. His Logos created the pure intellectual world. After the lapse of
three grand cycles* he created the material world in six periods. The six
Amshaspands, or primitive spiritual men, whom Ormazd created in his own image,
are the mediators between this world and himself. Mithras is an emanation of
the Logos and the chief of the twenty-eight izeds, who are the tutelary angels
over the spiritual portion of mankind -- the souls of men. The Ferouers are
infinite in number. They are the ideas or rather the ideal conceptions of
things which formed themselves in the mind of Ormazd or Ahuramazda before he
willed them to assume a concrete form. They are what Aristotle terms "privations"
of forms and substances. The religion of Zarathustra, as he is always called in
the Avesta, is one from which the ancient Jews have the most borrowed. In one
of the Yashts, Ahuramazda, the Supreme, gives to the seer as one of his sacred
names, Ahmi, "I am"; and in another place, ahmi yat ahmi, "I am
that I am," as Jehovah is alleged to have given it to Moses.
This Cosmogony,
adopted with a change of names in the Rabbinical Kabala, found its way, later,
with some additional speculations of Manes, the half-Magus, half-Platonist,
into the great body of Gnosticism. The real doctrines of the Basilideans,
Valentinians, and the Marcionites cannot be correctly ascertained in the
prejudiced and calumnious writings of the Fathers of the Church; but rather in
what remains of the works of the Bardesanesians, known as the Nazarenes. It is
next to impossible, now that all their manuscripts and books are destroyed, to
assign to any of these sects its due part in dissenting views. But there are a
few men still living who have preserved books and direct traditions about the
Ophites, although they care little to impart them to the world. Among the
unknown sects of Mount Lebanon and Palestine the truth has been concealed for
more than a thousand years. And their diagram of the Ophite scheme differs with
the description of it given by Origen and hence with the diagram of Matter.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* What is generally
understood in the "Avesta" system as a thousand years, means, in the
esoteric doctrine, a cycle of a duration known but to the initiates and which
has an allegorical sense.
** Matter:
"Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme," pl. x.
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The kabalistic
trinity is one of the models of the Christian one. "The ANCIENT whose name
be sanctified, is with three heads, but which make only one."* Tria capita
exsculpa sunt, unum intra alterum, et alterum supra alterum. "Three heads
are inserted in one another, and one over the other. The first head is the
Concealed Wisdom (Sapientia Abscondita). Under this head is the ANCIENT (Pythagorean
Monad), the most hidden of mysteries; a head which is no head (caput quod non
est caput); no one can know what that is in this head. No intellect is able to
comprehend this wisdom.** This Senior Sanctissimus is surrounded by the three
heads. He is the eternal LIGHT of the wisdom; and the wisdom is the source from
which all the manifestations have begun. These three heads, included in ONE
HEAD (which is no head); and these three are bent down (overshadow) SHORT-FACE
(the son) and through them all things shine with light."*** "En-Soph
emits a thread from El or Al (the highest God of the Trinity), and the light
follows the thread and enters, and passing through makes its exit through Adam
Primus (Kadmon), who is concealed until the plan for arranging (statum
dispositionis) is ready; it threads through him from his head to his feet; and
in him (in the concealed Adam) is the figure of A MAN."****
"Whoso wishes
to have an insight into the sacred unity, let him consider a flame rising from
a burning coal or a burning lamp. He will see first a two-fold light -- a
bright white, and a black or blue light; the white light is above, and ascends
in a direct light, while the blue, or dark light, is below, and seems as the
chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they
constitute only one flame. The seat, however, formed by the blue or dark light,
is again connected with the burning matter which is under it again. The white
light never changes its color, it always remains white; but various shades are
observed in the lower light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two
directions; above, it is connected with the white light, and below with the
burning matter. Now, this is constantly consuming itself, and perpetually
ascends to the upper light, and thus everything merges into a single
unity."*****
Such were the
ancient ideas of the trinity in the unity, as an abstraction. Man, who is the
microcosmos of the macrocosmos, or of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Idra Suta:
"Sohar," iii., p. 288.
** Ibid., sect. ii.
*** Ibid., vii.
**** Jam vero
quoniam hoc in loco recondita est illa plane non utuntur, et tantum de parte
lucis ejus particepant quae demittitur et ingreditur intra filum Ain Soph protensum
e Persona [[Heb char]] (Al-God) deorum: intratque et perrumpit et transit per
Adam primum occultum usque in statum dispositionis transitque per eum a capite
usque ad pedes ejus: et in eo est figura hominis ("Kabbala Denudata,"
ii., p. 246).
***** "Sohar,"
i., p. 51 a.
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archetypal heavenly
man, Adam Kadmon, is likewise a trinity; for he is body, soul, and spirit.
"All that is
created by the 'Ancient of the Ancients' can live and exist only by a male and
a female," says the Sohar.* He alone, to whom no one can say,
"Thou," for he is the spirit of the WHITE-HEAD in whom the
"THREE HEADS" are united, is uncreated. Out of the subtile fire, on
one side of the White Head, and of the "subtile air," on the other,
emanates Shekinah, his veil (the femininized Holy Ghost). "This air,"
says Idra Rabba, "is the most occult (occultissimus) attribute of the
Ancient of the Days.** The Ancienter of the Ancienter is the Concealed of the
Concealed.*** All things are Himself, and Himself is concealed on every
way.**** The cranium of the WHITE-HEAD has no beginning, but its end has a
shining reflection and a roundness which is our universe."
"They
regard," says Klenker, "the first-born as man and wife, in so far as
his light includes in itself all other lights, and in so far as his spirit of
life or breath of life includes all other life spirits in itself."*****
The kabalistic Shekinah answers to the Ophite Sophia. Properly speaking, Adam
Kadmon is the Bythos, but in this emanation-system, where everything is
calculated to perplex and place an obstacle to inquiry, he is the Source of
Light, the first "primitive man," and at the same time Ennoia, the
Thought of Bythos, the Depth, for he is Pimander.
The Gnostics, as
well as the Nazarenes, allegorizing on the personification, said that the First
and Second man loved the beauty of Sophia, (Sephira) the first woman, and thus
the Father and the Son fecundated the heavenly "Woman" and, from
primal darkness procreated the visible light (Sephira is the Invisible, or
Spiritual Light), "whom they called the ANOINTED CHRISTUM, or King
Messiah."****** This Christus is the Adam of Dust before his fall, with
the spirit of the Adonai, his Father, and Shekinah Adonai, his mother, upon
him; for Adam Primus is Adon, Adonai, or Adonis. The primal existence manifests
itself by its wisdom, and produces the Intelligible LOGOS (all visible
creation). This wisdom was venerated by the Ophites under the form of a
serpent. So far we see that the first and second life are the two Adams, or the
first and the second man. In the former lies Eva, or the yet unborn spiritual
Eve, and she is within Adam Primus, for she is a part of himself, who is
androgyne. The Eva of dust, she who will be called in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Book iii., p.
290.
** "Idra
Rabba," §§ 541, 542.
*** Ibid., iii., p.
36.
**** Ibid., p. 171.
***** "Nat.
und Urspr. d. Emanationslehre b. d. Kabbalisten," p. ii.
******
"Irenaeus," p. 637.
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Genesis "the
mother of all that live," is within Adam the Second. And now, from the
moment of its first manifestation, the LORD MANO, the Unintelligible Wisdom,
disappears from the scene of action. It will manifest itself only as Shekinah,
the GRACE; for the CORONA is "the innermost Light of all Lights," and
hence it is darkness's own substance.*
In the Kabala,
Shekinah is the ninth emanation of Sephira, which contains the whole of the ten
Sephiroth within herself. She belongs to the third triad and is produced
together with Malchuth or "Kingdom," of which she is the female
counterpart. Otherwise she is held to be higher than any of these; for she is
the "Divine Glory," the "veil," or "garment," of
En-Soph. The Jews, whenever she is mentioned in the Targum, say that she is the
glory of Jehovah, which dwelt in the tabernacle, manifesting herself like a
visible cloud; the "Glory" rested over the Mercy-Seat in the Sanctum
Sanctorum.
In the Nazarene or
Bardesanian System, which may be termed the Kabala within the Kabala, the
Ancient of Days -- Antiquus Altus, who is the Father of the Demiurgus of the
universe, is called the Third Life, or Abatur; and he is the Father of Fetahil,
who is the architect of the visible universe, which he calls into existence by
the powers of his genii, at the order of the "Greatest"; the Abatur
answering to the "Father" of Jesus in the later Christian theology.
These two superior Lives then, are the crown within which dwells the greatest
Ferho. "Before any creature came into existence the Lord Ferho
existed."** This one is the First Life, formless and invisible; in whom
the living Spirit of LIFE exists, the Highest GRACE. The two are ONE from
eternity, for they are the Light and the CAUSE of the Light. Therefore, they
answer to the kabalistic concealed wisdom, and to the concealed Shekinah -- the
Holy Ghost. "This light, which is manifested, is the garment of the
Heavenly Concealed," says Idra Suta. And the "heavenly man" is
the superior Adam. "No one knows his paths except Macroprosopus"
(Long-face) -- the Superior active god.*** "Not as I am written will I be
read; in this world my name will be written Jehovah and read Adonai,"****
say the Rabbins, very correctly. Adonai is the Adam Kadmon; he is FATHER and
MOTHER both. By this double mediatorship the Spirit of the "Ancient of the
Ancient" descends upon the Microprosopus (Short-face) or the Adam of Eden.
And the "Lord God breathes into his nostrils the breath of life."
When the woman
separates herself from her androgyne, and becomes
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Idra
Suta," ix.; "Kabbala Denudata"; see Pythagoras:
"Monad."
** "Codex
Nazaraeus," i., p. 145.
*** "Idra
Rabba," viii., pp. 107-109.
**** "Auszuge
aus dem Sohar," p. 11.
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NAZARENE IDEAS.
a distinct
individuality, the first story is repeated over again. Both the Father and Son,
the two Adams, love her beauty; and then follows the allegory of the temptation
and fall. It is in the Kabala, as in the Ophite system, in which both the Ophis
and the Ophiomorphos are emanations emblematized as serpents, the former
representing Eternity, Wisdom, and Spirit (as in the Chaldean Magism of
Aspic-worship and Wisdom-Doctrine in the olden times), and the latter Cunning,
Envy, and Matter. Both spirit and matter are serpents; and Adam Kadmon becomes
the Ophis who tempts himself -- man and woman -- to taste of the "Tree of
Good and Evil," in order to teach them the mysteries of spiritual wisdom.
Light tempts Darkness, and Darkness attracts Light, for Darkness is matter, and
"the Highest Light shines not in its Tenebrae." With knowledge comes
the temptation of the Ophiomorphos, and he prevails. The dualism of every
existing religion is shown forth by the fall. "I have gotten a man from
the Lord," exclaims Eve, when the Dualism, Cain and Abel -- evil and good
-- is born. "And the Adam knew Hua, his woman (astu), and she became
pregnant and bore Kin, and she said: [[Heb chars]]: Kiniti ais Yava. -- I have
gained or obtained a husband, even Yava -- Is, Ais -- man." "Cum
arbore peccati Deus creavit seculum."
And now we will
compare this system with that of the Jewish Gnostics -- the Nazarenes, as well
as with other philosophies.
The ISH AMON, the
pleroma, or the boundless circle within which lie "all forms," is the
THOUGHT of the power divine; it works in SILENCE, and suddenly light is
begotten by darkness; it is called the SECOND life; and this one produces, or
generates the THIRD. This third light is "the FATHER of all things that
live," as EUA is the "mother of all that live." He is the
Creator who calls inert matter into life, through his vivifying spirit, and,
therefore, is called the ancient of the world. Abatur is the Father who creates
the first Adam, who creates in his turn the second. Abatur opens a gate and
walks to the dark water (chaos), and looking down into it, the darkness
reflects the image of Himself . . . and lo! a SON is formed -- the Logos or
Demiurge; Fetahil, who is the builder of the material world, is called into
existence. According to the Gnostic dogma, this was the Metatron, the Archangel
Gabriel, or messenger of life; or, as the biblical allegory has it, the
androgynous Adam-Kadmon again, the SON, who, with his Father's spirit, produces
the ANOINTED, or Adam before his fall.
When Swayambhuva,
the "Lord who exists through himself," feels impelled to manifest
himself, he is thus described in the Hindu sacred books.
Having been
impelled to produce various beings from his own divine
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substance, he first
manifested the waters which developed within themselves a productive seed.
The seed became a
germ bright as gold, blazing like the luminary with a thousand beams; and in
that egg he was born himself, in the form of BRAHMA, the great principle of all
the beings (Manu, book i., slokas 8, 9).
The Egyptian Kneph,
or Chnuphis, Divine Wisdom, represented by a serpent, produces an egg from his
mouth, from which issues Phtha. In this case Phtha represents the universal
germ, as well as Brahma, who is of the neuter gender, when the final a has a
diaresis on it;* otherwise it becomes simply one of the names of the Deity. The
former was the model of the THREE LIVES of the Nazarenes, as that of the
kabalistic "Faces," PHARAZUPHA, which, in its turn, furnished the
model for the Christian Trinity of Irenaeus and his followers. The egg was the
primitive matter which served as a material for the building of the visible
universe; it contained, as well as the Gnostic Pleroma, the kabalistic
Shekinah, the man and wife, the spirit and life, "whose light includes all
other lights" or life-spirits. This first manifestation was symbolized by
a serpent, which is at first divine wisdom, but, falling into generation,
becomes polluted. Phtha is the heavenly man, the Egyptian Adam-Kadmon, or
Christ, who, in conjunction with the female Holy Ghost, the ZOE, produces the
five elements, air, water, fire, earth, and ether; the latter being a servile
copy from the Buddhist A'd, and his five Dhyana Buddhas, as we have shown in
the preceding chapter. The Hindu Swayambhuva-Nara, develops from himself the
mother-principle, enclosed within his own divine essence -- Nari, the immortal Virgin,
who, when impregnated by his spirit, becomes Tanmatra, the mother of the five
elements -- air, water, fire, earth, and ether. Thus may be shown how from the
Hindu cosmogony all others proceed.
Knorr von
Rosenroth, busying himself with the interpretation of the Kabala, argues that,
"In this first state (of secret wisdom), the infinite God Himself can be
understood as 'Father' (of the new covenant). But the Light being let down by
the Infinite through a canal into the 'primal Adam,' or Messiah, and joined
with him, can be applied to the name SON. And the influx emitted down from him
(the Son) to the lower parts (of the universe), can be applied to the character
of the Holy Ghost."** Sophia-Achamoth, the half-spiritual, half-material
LIFE, which vivifies the inert matter in the depths of chaos, is the Holy Ghost
of the Gnostics, and the Spiritus (female) of the Nazarenes. She is -- be it
re-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* He is the
universal and spiritual germ of all things.
** "Ad. Kabb.
Chr.," p. 6.
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MYTHS.
membered -- the
sister of Christos, the perfect emanation, and both are children or emanations
of Sophia, the purely spiritual and intellectual daughter of Bythos, the Depth.
For the elder Sophia is Shekinah, the Face of God, "God's Shekinah, which
is his image."*
"The Son
Zeus-Belus, or Sol-Mithra is an image of the Father, an emanation from the
Supreme Light," says Movers. "He passed for Creator."**
"Philosophers
say the first air is anima mundi. But the garment (Shekinah) is higher than the
first air, since it is joined closer to the En-Soph, the Boundless."***
Thus Sophia is Shekinah, and Sophia-Achamoth the anima mundi, the astral light
of the kabalists, which contains the spiritual and material germs of all that
is. For the Sophia-Achamoth, like Eve, of whom she is the prototype, is
"the mother of all that live."
There are three
trinities in the Nazarene system as well as in the Hindu philosophy of the ante
and early Vedic period. While we see the few translators of the Kabala, the
Nazarene Codex, and other abstruse works, hopelessly floundering amid the
interminable pantheon of names, unable to agree as to a system in which to
classify them, for the one hypothesis contradicts and overturns the other, we
can but wonder at all this trouble, which could be so easily overcome. But even
now, when the translation, and even the perusal of the ancient Sanscrit has
become so easy as a point of comparison, they would never think it possible
that every philosophy -- whether Semitic, Hamitic, or Turanian, as they call
it, has its key in the Hindu sacred works. Still facts are there, and facts are
not easily destroyed. Thus, while we find the Hindu trimurti triply manifested
as
Nara (or
Para-Pouroucha), Agni, Brahma, the Father,
Nari (Mariama),
Vaya, Vishnu, the Mother,
Viradj (Brahma),
Surya, Siva, the Son,
and the Egyptian
trinity as follows:
Kneph (or Amon),
Osiris, Ra (Horus), the Father,
Maut (or Mut),
Isis, Isis, the Mother,
Khons, Horus,
Malouli, the Son;****
the Nazarene System
runs,
Ferho (Ish-Amon),
Mano, Abatur, the Father,
Chaos (dark water),
Spiritus (female), Netubto, the Mother,
Fetahil, Ledhaio,
Lord Jordan, the Son.
The first is the
concealed or non-manifested trinity -- a pure abstraction. The other the active
or the one revealed in the results of creation,
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
*
"Sohar," p. 93.
**
"Movers," p. 265.
*** "Kabbala
Denudata," vol. ii., p. 236.
**** Champollion,
Junior: "Lettres."
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proceeding out of
the former -- its spiritual prototype. The third is the mutilated image of both
the others, crystallized in the form of human dogmas, which vary according to
the exuberance of the national materialistic fancy.
The Supreme Lord of
splendor and of light, luminous and refulgent, before which no other existed,
is called Corona (the crown); Lord Ferho, the unrevealed life which existed in
the former from eternity; and Lord Jordan -- the spirit, the living water of
grace.* He is the one through whom alone we can be saved; and thus he answers
to the Shekinah, the spiritual garment of En-Soph, or the Holy Ghost. These
three constitute the trinity abscondito. The second trinity is composed of the
three lives. The first is the similitude of Lord Ferho, through whom he has
proceeded forth; and the second Ferho is the King of Light -- MANO (Rex Lucis).
He is the heavenly life and light, and older than the Architect of heaven and
earth.** The second life is Ish Amon (Pleroma), the vase of election,
containing the visible thought of the Iordanus Maximus -- the type (or its
intelligible reflection), the prototype of the living water, who is the
"spiritual Jordan."*** Third life, which is produced by the other
two, is ABATUR (Ab, the Parent or Father). This is the mysterious and decrepit
"Aged of the Aged," the "Ancient Senem sui obtegentem et
grandaevum mundi." This latter third Life is the Father of the Demiurge
Fetahil, the Creator of the world, whom the Ophites call Ilda-Baoth,**** though
Fetahil is the only-begotten one, the reflection of the Father, Abatur, who
begets him by looking into the "dark water"; ***** but the Lord Mano,
"the Lord of loftiness, the Lord of all genii," is higher than the
Father, in this kabalistic Codex -- one is purely spiritual, the other
material. So, for instance, while Abatur's "only begotten" one is the
genius Fetahil, the Creator of the physical world, Lord Mano, the "Lord of
Celsitude," who is the son of Him, who is "the Father of all who
preach the Gospel," produces also an "only-begotten" one, the
Lord Lehdaio, "a just Lord." He is the Christos, the anointed, who
pours out the "grace" of the Invisible Jordan, the Spirit of the
Highest Crown.
In the Arcanum,
"in the assembly of splendor, lighted by MANO, to whom the scintillas of
splendor owe their origin," the genii who live in light "rose, they
went to the visible Jordan, and flowing water . . . they assembled for a
counsel . . . and called forth the Only-Begotten Son
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., pp. 47-57.
** Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 145.
*** Ibid., vol.
ii., p. 211.
**** Ibid., vol.
i., p. 308.
*****
Sophia-Achamoth also begets her son Ilda-Baoth, the Demiurge, by looking into
chaos or matter, and by coming in contact with it.
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EXPLAINED.
of an imperishable
image, and who cannot be conceived by reflection, Lebdaio, the just Lord, and
sprung from Lebdaio, the just lord, whom the life had produced by his
word."*
Mano is the chief
of the seven AEons, who are Mano (Rex Lucis), Aiar Zivo, Ignis Vivus, Lux,
Vita, Aqua Viva (the living water of baptism, the genius of the Jordan), and
Ipsa Vita, the chief of the six genii, which form with him the mystic seven.
The Nazarene Mano is simply the copy of the Hindu first Manu -- the emanation
of Manu Swayambhuva -- from whom evolve in succession the six other Manus,
types of the subsequent races of men. We find them all represented by the
apostle-kabalist John in the "seven lamps of fire" burning before the
throne, which are the seven spirits of God,"** and in the seven angels
bearing the seven vials. Again in Fetahil we recognize the original of the
Christian doctrine.
In the Revelation
of Joannes Theologos it is said: "I turned and saw in the midst of the
seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man . . . his head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire .
. . and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace" (i.
13, 14, 15). John here repeats, as is well known, the words of Daniel and
Ezekiel. "The Ancient of Days . . . whose hair was white as pure wool . .
. etc." And "the appearance of a man . . . above the throne . . . and
the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about."*** The fire
being "the glory of the Lord." Fetahil is son of the man, the Third
Life, and his upper part is represented as white as snow, while standing near
the throne of the living fire he has the appearance of a flame.
All these
"apocalyptic" visions are based on the description of the "white
head" of the Sohar, in whom the kabalistic trinity is united. The white
head, "which conceals in its cranium the spirit," and which is
environed by subtile fire. The "appearance of a man" is that of Adam
Kadmon, through which passes the thread of light represented by the fire.
Fetahil is the Vir Novissimus (the newest man), the son of Abatur,**** the
latter being the "man," or the third life,***** now the third personage
of the trinity. John sees "one like unto the son of man," holding in
his right hand seven stars, and standing between "seven golden
candlesticks" (Revelation i.). Fetahil takes his "stand on
high," according to the will of his father, "the highest AEon who has
seven sceptres," and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., p. 109. See "Sod, the Son of the Man," for
translation.
** Revelation iv.
5.
*** Ezekiel.
**** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., p. 127.
***** The first
androgyne duad being considered a unit in all the secret computations, is,
therefore, the Holy Ghost.
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seven genii, who
astronomically represent the seven planets or stars. He stands "shining in
the garment of the Lord's, resplendent by the agency of the genii."* He is
the Son of his Father, Life, and his mother, Spirit, or Light.** The Logos is
represented in the Gospel according to John as one in whom was "Life, and
the life was the light of men" (i. 4). Fetahil is the Demiurge, and his
father created the visible universe of matter through him.*** In the Epistle of
Paul to the Ephesians (iii. 9), God is said to have "created all things by
Jesus." In the Codex the Parent-LIFE says: "Arise, go, our son
first-begotten, ordained for all creatures."**** "As the living
father hath sent me," says Christ, "God sent his only-begotten son that
we might live."***** Finally, having performed his work on earth, Fetahil
reascends to his father Abatur. "Et qui, relicto quem procreavit mundo, ad
Abatur suum patrem contendit,"****** "My father sent me . . . I go to
the Father," repeats Jesus.
Laying aside the
theological disputes of Christianity which try to blend together the Jewish
Creator of the first chapter of Genesis with the "Father" of the New
Testament, Jesus states repeatedly of his Father that "He is in
secret." Surely he would not have so termed the ever-present "Lord
God" of the Mosaic books, who showed Himself to Moses and the Patriarchs,
and finally allowed all the elders of Israel to look on Himself.******* When
Jesus is made to speak of the temple at Jerusalem as of his "Father's house,"
he does not mean the physical building, which he maintains he can destroy and
then again rebuild in three days, but of the temple of Solomon; the wise
kabalist, who indicates in his Proverbs that every man is the temple of God, or
of his own divine spirit. This term of the "Father who is in secret,"
we find used as much in the Kabala as in the Codex Nazaraeus, and elsewhere. No
one has ever seen the wisdom concealed in the "Cranium," and no one
has beheld the "Depth" (Bythos). Simon, the Magician, preached
"one Father unknown to all."********
We can trace this
appellation of a "secret" God still farther back. In the Kabala the
"Son" of the concealed Father who dwells in light and glory, is the
"Anointed," the Seir-Anpin, who unites in himself all the Sephiroth,
he is Christos, or the Heavenly man. It is through Christ that the Pneuma, or
the Holy Ghost, creates "all things"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. iii., p. 59.
** Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 285.
*** Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 309,
**** Ibid., vol.
i., p. 287. See "Sod, the Son of the Man," p. 101.
***** John iv. 9.
****** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. ii., p. 123.
******* "Then
went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.
And they saw the God of Israel," Exodus xxiv. 9, 10.
******** Irenaeus:
"Clementine Homilies," I., xxii., p. 118.
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AND SERAPHIM?
(Ephesians iii. 9),
and produces the four elements, air, water, fire, and earth. This assertion is
unquestionable, for we find Irenaeus basing on this fact his best argument for
the necessity of there being four gospels. There can be neither more nor fewer
than four -- he argues. "For as there are four quarters of the world, and
four general winds [[(Katholica Pneumata)]] . . . it is right that she (the
Church) should have four pillars. From which it is manifest that the Word, the
maker of all, he who sitteth upon the Cherubim . . . as David says,
supplicating his advent, 'Thou that sittest between the Cherubim, shine forth!'
For the Cherubim also are four-faced and their faces are symbols of the working
of the Son of God."*
We will not stop to
discuss at length the special holiness of the four-faced Cherubim, although we
might, perhaps, show their origin in all the ancient pagodas of India, in the
vehans (or vehicles) of their chief gods; as likewise we might easily attribute
the respect paid to them to the kabalistic wisdom, which, nevertheless, the
Church rejects with great horror. But, we cannot resist the temptation to
remind the reader that he may easily ascertain the several significances
attributed to these Cherubs by reading the Kabala. "When the souls are to
leave their abode," says the Sohar, holding to the doctrine of the
pre-existence of souls in the world of emanations, "each soul separately
appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in
which it is to appear in this world. It is from this sublime form that the
image proceeds" (Sohar, iii., p. 104 ab). Then it goes on to say that the
types or forms of these faces "are four in number -- those of the angel or
man, of the lion, the bull, and the eagle." Furthermore, we may well
express our wonder that Irenaeus should not have re-enforced his argument for
the four gospels -- by citing the whole Pantheon of the four-armed Hindu gods!
Ezekiel in
representing his four animals, now called Cherubim, as types of the four
symbolical beings, which, in his visions support the throne of Jehovah, had not
far to go for his models. The Chaldeo-Babylonian protecting genii were familiar
to him; the Sed, Alap or Kirub (Cherubim), the bull, with the human face; the
Nirgal, human-headed lion; Oustour the Sphinx-man; and the Nathga, with its
eagle's head. The religion of the masters -- the idolatrous Babylonians and Assyrians
-- was transferred almost bodily into the revealed Scripture of the Captives,
and from thence came into Christianity.
Already, we find
Ezekiel addressed by the likeness of the glory of the Lord, "as Son of
man." This peculiar title is used repeatedly
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Adv.
Haes.," III., ii., 18.
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throughout the
whole book of this prophet, which is as kabalistic as the "roll of a
book" which the "Glory" causes him to eat. It is written within
and without; and its real meaning is identical with that of the Apocalypse. It
appears strange that so much stress should be laid on this peculiar
appellation, said to have been applied by Jesus to himself, when, in the
symbolical or kabalistic language, a prophet is so addressed. It is as
extraordinary to see Irenaeus indulging in such graphic descriptions of Jesus
as to show him, "the maker of all, sitting upon a Cherubim," unless
he identifies him with Shekinah, whose usual place was among the Charoubs of
the Mercy Seat. We also know that the Cherubim and Seraphim are titles of the "Old
Serpent" (the orthodox Devil) the Seraphs being the burning or fiery
serpents, in kabalistic symbolism. The ten emanations of Adam Kadmon, called
the Sephiroth, have all emblems and titles corresponding to each. So, for
instance, the last two are Victory, or Jehovah-Sabaoth, whose symbol is the
right column of Solomon, the Pillar Jachin; while GLORY is the left Pillar, or
Boaz, and its name is "the Old Serpent," and also "Seraphim and
Cherubim."*
The "Son of
man" is an appellation which could not be assumed by any one but a
kabalist. Except, as shown above, in the Old Testament, it is used but by one
prophet -- Ezekiel, the kabalist. In their mysterious and mutual relations, the
AEons or Sephiroth are represented in the Kabala by a great number of circles,
and sometimes by the figure of a MAN, which is symbolically formed out of such
circles. This man is Seir-Anpin, and the 243 numbers of which his figure
consists relate to the different orders of the celestial hierarchy. The
original idea of this figure, or rather the model, may have been taken from the
Hindu Brahma, and the various castes typified by the several parts of his body,
as King suggests in his Gnostics. In one of the grandest and most beautiful
cave-temples at Ellora, Nasak, dedicated to Vishvakarma, son of Brahma, is a
representation of this God and his attributes. To one acquainted with Ezekiel's
description of the "likeness of four living creatures," every one of
which had four faces and the hands of a man under its wings, etc.,** this figure
at Ellora must certainly appear absolutely biblical. Brahma is called the
father of "man," as well as Jupiter and other highest gods.
It is in the
Buddhistic representations of Mount Meru, called by the Burmese Mye-nmo, and by
the Siamese Sineru, that we find one of the originals of the Adam Kadmon,
Seir-Anpin, the "heavenly man," and of all the AEons, Sephiroth,
Powers, Dominions, Thrones, Virtues, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See King's
"Gnostics."
** Ezekiel i.-ii.
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SEPHIROTH.
Dignities of the
Kabala. Between two pillars, which are connected by an arch, the key-stone of
the latter is represented by a crescent. This is the domain in which dwells the
Supreme Wisdom of A'di Buddha, the Supreme and invisible Deity. Beneath this
highest central point comes the circle of the direct emanation of the Unknown
-- the circle of Brahma with some Hindus, of the first avatar of Buddha,
according to others. This answers to Adam Kadmon and the ten Sephiroth. Nine of
the emanations are encircled by the tenth, and occasionally represented by
pagodas, each of which bears a name which expresses one of the chief attributes
of the manifested Deity. Then below come the seven stages, or heavenly spheres,
each sphere being encircled by a sea. These are the celestial mansions of the
devatas, or gods, each losing somewhat in holiness and purity as it approaches
the earth. Then comes Meru itself, formed of numberless circles within three
large ones, typifying the trinity of man; and for one acquainted with the
numerical value of the letters in biblical names, like that of the "Great
Beast," or that of Mithra [[Mithras abraxas]], and others, it is an easy
matter to establish the identity of the Meru-gods with the emanations or
Sephiroth of the kabalists. Also the genii of the Nazarenes, with their special
missions, are all found on this most ancient mythos, a most perfect
representation of the symbolism of the "secret doctrine," as taught
in archaic ages.
King gives a few
hints -- though doubtless too insufficient to teach anything important, for
they are based upon the calculations of Bishop Newton* -- as to this mode of
finding out mysteries in the value of letters. However, we find this great
archaeologist, who has devoted so much time and labor to the study of Gnostic
gems, corroborating our assertion. He shows that the entire theory is Hindu,
and points out that the durga, or female counterpart of each Asiatic god, is
what the kabalists term active Virtue** in the celestial hierarchy, a term
which the Christian Fathers adopted and repeated, without fully appreciating,
and the meaning of which the later theology has utterly disfigured. But to
return to Meru.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Gnostics
and their Remains."
** "Although
this science is commonly supposed to be peculiar to the Jewish Talmudists,
there is no doubt that they borrowed the idea from a foreign source, and that
from the Chaldeans, the founders of magic art," says King, in the
"Gnostics." The titles Iao and Abraxas, etc., instead of being recent
Gnostic figments, were indeed holy names, borrowed from the most ancient
formulae of the East. Pliny must allude to them when he mentions the virtues
ascribed by the Magi to amethysts engraved with the names of the sun and moon,
names not expressed in either the Greek or Latin tongues. In the "Eternal
Sun," the "Abraxas," the "Adonai," of these gems, we
recognize the very amulets ridiculed by the philosophic Pliny
("Gnostics," pp. 79, 80); Virtutes (miracles) as employed by
Irenaeus.
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The whole is
surrounded by the Maha Samut, or the great sea -- the astral light and ether of
the kabalists and scientists; and within the central circles appears "the
likeness of a man." He is the Achadoth of the Nazarenes, the twofold
unity, or the androgyne man; the heavenly incarnation, and a perfect
representation of Seir-Anpin (short-face), the son, of Arich Anpin (long-face).*
This likeness is now represented in many lamaseries by Gautama-Buddha, the last
of the incarnated avatars. Still lower, under the Meru, is the dwelling of the
great Naga, who is called Rajah Naga, the king-serpent -- the serpent of
Genesis, the Gnostic Ophis -- and the goddess of the earth, Bhumay Nari, or
Yama, who waits upon the great dragon, for she is Eve, "the mother of all
that live." Still lower is the eighth sphere, the infernal regions. The
uppermost regions of Brahma are surrounded by the sun, moon, and planets, the
seven stellars of the Nazarenes, and just as they are described in the Codex.
"The seven
impostor-Daemons who deceive the sons of Adam. The name of one is Sol; of
another Spiritus Venereus, Astro; of the third Nebu, Mercurius a false Messiah;
. . . the name of a fourth is Sin Luna; the fifth is Kiun, Saturnus; the sixth,
Bel-Zeus; the seventh, Nerig-Mars."** Then there are "Seven Lives
procreated," seven good Stellars, "which are from Cabar Zio, and are
those bright ones who shine in their own form and splendor that pours from on
high. . . . At the gate of the HOUSE OF LIFE the throne is fitly placed for the
Lord of Splendor, and there are THREE habitations."*** The habitations of
the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity, are placed beneath the key-stone -- the golden
crescent, in the representation of Meru. "And there was under his feet (of
the God of Israel) as it were a paved work of a sapphire-stone" (Exodus
xxiv. 10). Under the crescent is the heaven of Brahma, all paved with sapphires.
The paradise of Indra is resplendent with a thousand suns; that of Siva
(Saturn), is in the northeast; his throne is formed of lapis-lazuli and the
floor of heaven is of fervid gold. "When he sits on the throne he blazes
with fire up to the loins." At Hurdwar, during the fair, in which he is
more than ever Mahadeva, the highest god, the attributes and emblems sacred to
the Jewish "Lord God," may be recognized one by one in those of Siva.
The Binlang stone,**** sacred to this Hindu deity, is an unhewn stone like the
Beth-el, consecrated by the Patriarch Jacob, and set up by him "for a
pillar," and like the latter
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* So called to
distinguish the short-face, who is exterior, "from the venerable sacred
ancient" (the "Idra Rabba," iii., 36; v 54). Seir-Anpin is the
"image of the Father." "He that hath seen me hath seen my
Father" (John xiv. 9).
** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. iii., p. 57.
*** Ibid., vol.
iii., p. 61.
**** This stone, of
a sponge-like surface, is found in Narmada and seldom to be seen in other
places.
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DESCRIBES SIVA.
Binlang is
anointed. We need hardly remind the student that the linga, the emblem sacred
to Siva and whose temples are modelled after this form, is identical in shape,
meaning, and purpose with the "pillars" set up by the several
patriarchs to mark their adoration of the Lord God. In fact, one of these
patriarchal lithoi might even now be carried in the Sivaitic processions of
Calcutta, without its Hebrew derivation being suspected. The four arms of Siva
are often represented with appendages like wings; he has three eyes and a
fourth in the crescent, obtained by him at the churning of the ocean, as Pancha
Mukhti Siva has four heads.
In this god we
recognize the description given by Ezekiel, in the first chapter of his book,
of his vision, in which he beholds the "likeness of a man" in the
four living creatures, who had "four faces, four wings," who had one
pair of "straight feet . . . which sparkled like the color of burnished
brass . . . and their rings were full of eyes round about them four." It
is the throne and heaven of Siva that the prophet describes in saying " .
. . and there was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire
stone . . . and I saw as the color of amber (gold) as the appearance of fire
around about . . . from his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his
loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire" (Ezekiel i.
27). "And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace" (Revelation i. 15). "As for their faces . . . one had the
face of a cherub, and the face of a lion . . . they also had the face of an ox
and the face of an eagle" (Ezekiel i. 10, x. 14). This fourfold appearance
which we find in the two cherubims of gold on the two ends of the ark; these
symbolic four faces being adopted, moreover, later, one by each evangelist, as
may be easily ascertained from the pictures of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,*
prefixed to their respective gospels in the Roman Vulgate and Greek Bibles.
"Taaut, the
great god of the Phoenicians," says Sanchoniathon, "to express the
character of Saturn or Kronos, made his image having four eyes . . . two
before, two behind, open and closed, and four wings, two expanded, two folded.
The eyes denote that the god sees in sleep, and sleeps in waking; the position
of the wings that he flies in rest, and rests in flying."
The identity of
Saturn with Siva is corroborated still more when we consider the emblem of the
latter, the damara, which is an hour-glass, to show the progress of time,
represented by this god in his capacity of a destroyer. The bull Nardi, the
vehan of Siva and the most sacred em-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* John has an eagle
near him; Luke, a bull; Mark, a lion; and Matthew, an angel -- the kabalistic
quaternary of the Egyptian Tarot.
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blem of this god,
is reproduced in the Egyptian Apis; and in the bull created by Ormazd and
killed by Ahriman. The religion of Zoroaster, all based upon the "secret
doctrine," is found held by the people of Eritene; it was the religion of
the Persians when they conquered the Assyrians. From thence it is easy to trace
the introduction of this emblem of LIFE represented by the Bull, in every
religious system. The college of the Magians had accepted it with the change of
dynasty;* Daniel is described as a Rabbi, the chief of the Babylonian astrologers
and Magi;** therefore we see the Assyrian little bulls and the attributes of
Siva reappearing under a hardly modified form in the cherubs of the Talmudistic
Jews, as we have traced the bull Apis in the sphinxes or cherubs of the Mosaic
Ark; and as we find it several thousand years later in the company of one of
the Christian evangelists, Luke.
Whoever has lived
in India long enough to acquaint himself even superficially with the native
deities, must detect the similarity between Jehovah and other gods besides
Siva. As Saturn, the latter was always held in great respect by the Talmudists.
He was held in reverence by the Alexandrian kabalists as the direct inspirer of
the law and the prophets; one of the names of Saturn was Israel, and we will
show, in time, his identity in a certain way with Abram, which Movers and
others hinted at long since. Thus it cannot be wondered at if Valentinus,
Basilides, and the Ophite Gnostics placed the dwelling of their Ilda-Baoth,
also a destroyer as well as a creator, in the planet Saturn; for it was he who
gave the law in the wilderness and spoke through the prophets. If more proof
should be required we will show it in the testimony of the canonical Bible
itself. In Amos the "Lord" pours vials of wrath upon the people of
Israel. He rejects their burnt-offerings and will not listen to their prayers,
but inquires of Amos, "have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in
the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?" "But ye have borne
the tabernacles of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your
god" (v. 25, 26). Who are Moloch and Chiun but Baal -- Saturn -- Siva, and
Chiun, Kivan, the same Saturn whose star the Israelites had made to themselves?
There seems no escape in this case; all these deities are identical.
The same in the
case of the numerous Logoi. While the Zoroastrian Sosiosh is framed on that of
the tenth Brahmanical Avatar, and the fifth Buddha of the followers of Gautama;
and we find the former, after having passed part and parcel into the kabalistic
system of king Messiah, reflected in the Apostle Gabriel of the Nazarenes, and
AEbel-Zivo, the Legatus, sent on earth by the Lord of Celsitude and Light; all
of these --
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Matter, upon
the subject.
** Consult Book of
Daniel, iv., v.
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THE APOCALYPSE.
Hindu and Persian,
Buddhist and Jewish, the Christos of the Gnostics and the Philonean Logos --
are found combined in "the Word made flesh" of the fourth Gospel.
Christianity includes all these systems, patched and arranged to meet the
occasion. Do we take up the Avesta -- we find there the dual system so
prevalent in the Christian scheme. The struggle between Ahriman,* Darkness, and
Ormazd, Light, has been going on in the world continually since the beginning
of time. When the worst arrives and Ahriman will seem to have conquered the
world and corrupted all mankind, then will appear the Saviour of mankind,
Sosiosh. He will come seated upon a white horse and followed by an army of good
genii equally mounted on milk-white steeds.** And this we find faithfully
copied in the Revelation: "I saw heaven opened, and beheld a white horse;
and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. . . . And the armies
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses" (Revelation xix. 11,
14). Sosiosh himself is but a later Persian permutation of the Hindu Vishnu.
The figure of this god may be found unto this day representing him as the
Saviour, the "Preserver" (the preserving spirit of God), in the
temple of Rama. The picture shows him in his tenth incarnation -- the Kalki
avatar, which is yet to come -- as an armed warrior mounted upon a white horse.
Waving over his head the sword destruction, he holds in his other hand a
discus, made up of rings encircled in one another, an emblem of the revolving
cycles or great ages,*** for Vishnu will thus appear but at the end of the
Kaliyug, answering to the end of the world expected by our Adventists.
"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword . . . on his head were many
crowns" (Revelation xix. 12). Vishnu is often represented with several
crowns superposed on his head. "And I saw an angel standing on the
Sun" (17). The white horse is the horse of the Sun.**** Sosiosh, the
Persian Saviour, is also born of a virgin,***** and at the end of days he will
come as a Redeemer to regenerate the world, but he will be preceded by two
prophets, who will come to announce him.****** Hence the Jews who had Moses and
Elias, are now waiting for the Messiah. "Then comes the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Ahriman, the
production of Zoroaster, is so called in hatred of the Arias or Aryas, the
Brahmans against whose dominion the Zoroastrians had revolted. Although an Arya
(a noble, a sage) himself, Zoroaster, as in the case of the Devas whom he
disgraced from gods to the position of devils, hesitated not to designate this
type of the spirit of evil under the name of his enemies, the Brahman-Aryas.
The whole struggle of Ahura-mazd and Ahriman is but the allegory of the great
religious and political war between Brahmanism and Zoroastrianism.
**
"Nork," ii., 146.
*** Rev. Mr.
Maurice takes it also to mean the cycles.
****
"Duncker," ii., 363; Spiegel's "Avesta," i., 32, 34.
***** See the
"Book of Dehesh," 47.
****** See King's
translation of the "Zend Avesta," in his "Gnostics," p. 9.
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general
resurrection, when the good will immediately enter into this happy abode -- the
regenerated earth; and Ahriman and his angels (the devils),* and the wicked, be
purified by immersion in a lake of molten metal. . . . Henceforward, all will
enjoy unchangeable happiness, and, headed by Sosiosh, ever sing the praises of
the Eternal One."** The above is a perfect repetition of Vishnu in his
tenth avatar, for he will then throw the wicked into the infernal abodes in
which, after purifying themselves, they will be pardoned -- even those devils
which rebelled against Brahma, and were hurled into the bottomless pit by
Siva,*** as also the "blessed ones" will go to dwell with the gods,
over the Mount Meru.
Having thus traced
the similarity of views respecting the Logos, Metatron, and Mediator, as found
in the Kabala and the Codex of the Christian Nazarenes and Gnostics, the reader
is prepared to appreciate the audacity of the Patristic scheme to reduce a
purely metaphysical figure into concrete form, and make it appear as if the
finger of prophecy had from time immemorial been pointing down the vista of
ages to Jesus as the coming Messiah. A theomythos intended to symbolize the
coming day, near the close of the great cycle, when the "glad
tidings" from heaven should proclaim the universal brotherhood and common faith
of humanity, the day of regeneration -- was violently distorted into an
accomplished fact.
"Why callest
thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God," says Jesus. Is
this the language of a God? of the second person in the Trinity, who is
identical with the First? And if this Messiah, or Holy Ghost of the Gnostic and
Pagan Trinities, had come in his person, what did he mean by distinguishing
between himself the "Son of man," and the Holy Ghost? "And
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him;
but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be
forgiven," he says.**** And how account for the marvellous identity of
this very language, with the precepts enunciated, centuries before, by the
Kabalists and the "Pagan" initiates? The following are a few
instances out of many.
"No one of the
gods, no man or Lord, can be good, but only God alone," says Hermes.*****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The daevas or
devils of the Iranians contrast with the devas or deities of India.
**
"Nork," ii., 146.
*** The Bishop of
Ephesus, 218 A.D.; Eusebius: "H. E." iii., 31. Origen stoutly
maintained the doctrine of eternal punishment to be erroneous. He held that at
the second advent of Christ even the devils among the damned would be forgiven.
The eternal damnation is a later Christian thought.
**** Luke xii. 10.
***** "Hermes
Trismegistus," vi. 55.
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MAN.
"To be a good
man is impossible, God alone possesses this privilege," repeats Plato,
with a slight variation.*
Six centuries
before Christ, the Chinese philosopher Confucius said that his doctrine was
simple and easy to comprehend (Lun-yu, chap. 5, § 15). To which one of his
disciples added: "The doctrine of our Master consists in having an
invariable correctness of heart, and in doing toward others as we would that
they should do to us."**
"Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles,"*** exclaims Peter,
long after the scene of Calvary. "There was a man sent from God, whose
name was John,"**** says the fourth Gospel, thus placing the Baptist on an
equality with Jesus. John the Baptist, in one of the most solemn acts of his
life, that of baptizing Christ, thinks not that he is going to baptize a God,
but uses the word man. "This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a
man."***** Speaking of himself, Jesus says, "You seek to kill me, a
man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God.****** Even the
blind man of Jerusalem, healed by the great thaumaturgist, full of gratitude
and admiration for his benefactor, in narrating the miracle does not call Jesus
God, but simply says, ". . . a man that is called Jesus, made
clay."*******
We do not close the
list for lack of other instances and proofs, but simply because what we now say
has been repeated and demonstrated by others, many times before us. But there
is no more incurable evil than blind and unreasoning fanaticism. Few are the
men who, like Dr. Priestley, have the courage to write, "We find nothing
like divinity ascribed to Christ before Justin Martyr (A. D. 141), who, from being
a philosopher, became a Christian."********
Mahomet appeared
nearly six hundred years********* after the presumed deicide. The Graeco-Roman
world was still convulsed with religious dissensions, withstanding all the past
imperial edicts and forcible Christianization. While the Council of Trent was
disputing about the Vulgate, the unity of God quietly superseded the trinity,
and soon the Mahometans outnumbered the Christians. Why? Because their prophet
never sought to identify himself with Allah. Otherwise, it is safe to say, he
would not have lived to see his religion flourish. Till the present day
Mahometanism has made and is now making more proselytes than Christianity.
Buddha Siddhartha came as a simple mortal, centuries before Christ. The
religious ethics of this faith are now found to far exceed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Plato Protogoras;
"Cory," p. 274.
** Panthier:
"La Chine," ii., 375; "Sod, the Son of the Man," p. 97.
*** Acts ii. 22.
**** John i. 6.
***** Ibid., 30.
****** John viii.
40.
******* Ibid., ix.
11.
******** Priestley:
"History of Early Christianity," p. 2, sect. 2.
********* Mahomet
was born in 571 A. D.
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in moral beauty
anything ever dreamed of by the Tertullians and Augustines.
The true spirit of
Christianity can alone be fully found in Buddhism; partially, it shows itself
in other "heathen" religions. Buddha never made of himself a god, nor
was he deified by his followers. The Buddhists are now known to far outnumber
Christians; they are enumerated at nearly 500,000,000. While cases of
conversion among Buddhists, Brahmanists, Mahometans, and Jews become so rare as
to show how sterile are the attempts of our missionaries, atheism and
materialism spread their gangrenous ulcers and gnaw every day deeper at the
very heart of Christianity. There are no atheists among heathen populations,
and those few among the Buddhists and Brahmans who have become infected with
materialism may always be found to belong to large cities densely thronged with
Europeans, and only among educated classes. Truly says Bishop Kidder:
"Were a wise man to choose his religion from those who profess it, perhaps
Christianity would be the last religion he would choose!"
In an able little
pamphlet from the pen of the popular lecturer, J. M. Peebles, M.D., the author
quotes, from the London Athenaeum, an article in which are described the
welfare and civilization of the inhabitants of Yarkand and Kashgar, "who
seem virtuous and happy." "Gracious Heavens!" fervently exclaims
the honest author, who himself was once a Universalist clergyman, "Grant
to keep Christian missionaries away from 'happy' and heathen Tartary!"*
From the earliest
days of Christianity, when Paul upbraided the Church of Corinth for a crime
"as is not so much as named among the Gentiles -- that one should have his
father's wife"; and for their making a pretext of the "Lord's
Supper" for debauch and drunkenness (1 Corinthians, v. 1), the profession
of the name of Christ has ever been more a pretext than the evidence of holy
feeling. However, a correct form of this verse is: "Everywhere the lewd
practice among you is heard about, such a lewd practice as is nowhere among the
heathen nations -- even the having or marrying of the father's wife." The
Persian influence would seem to be indicated in this language. The practice
existed "nowhere among the nations," except in Persia, where it was
esteemed especially meritorious. Hence, too, the Jewish stories of Abraham
marrying his sister, Nahor, his niece, Amram his father's sister, and Judah his
son's widow, whose children appear to have been legitimate. The Aryan tribes
esteemed endogamic marriages, while the Tartars and all barbarous nations
required all alliances to be exogamous.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* J. M. Peebles:
"Jesus -- Man, Myth, or God?"
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KALAVATTI.
There was but one
apostle of Jesus worthy of that name, and that was Paul. However disfigured
were his Epistles by dogmatic hands before being admitted into the Canon, his
conception of the great and divine figure of the philosopher who died for his
idea can still be traced in his addresses to the various Gentile nations. Only,
he who would understand him better yet must study the Philonean Logos
reflecting now and then the Hindu Sabda (logos) of the Mimansa school.
As to the other
apostles, those whose names are prefixed to the Gospels -- we cannot well
believe in their veracity when we find them attributing to their Master
miracles surrounded by circumstances, recorded, if not in the oldest books of
India, at least in such as antedated Christianity, and in the very phraseology
of the traditions. Who, in his days of simple and blind credulity, but
marvelled at the touching narrative given in the Gospels according to Mark and
Luke of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus? Who has ever doubted its
originality? And yet the story is copied entirely from the Hari-Purana, and is
recorded among the miracles attributed to Christna. We translate it from the
French version:
"The King
Angashuna caused the betrothal of his daughter, the beautiful Kalavatti, with
the young son of Vamadeva, the powerful King of Antarvedi, named Govinda, to be
celebrated with great pomp.
"But as
Kalavatti was amusing herself in the groves with her companions, she was stung
by a serpent and died. Angashuna tore his clothes, covered himself with ashes,
and cursed the day when he was born.
"Suddenly, a
great rumor spread through the palace, and the following cries were heard, a
thousand times repeated: 'Pacya pitaram; pacya gurum!' 'The Father, the
Master!' Then Christna approached, smiling, leaning on the arm of Ardjuna. . .
. 'Master!' cried Angashuna, casting himself at his feet, and sprinkling them
with his tears, 'See my poor daughter!' and he showed him the body of
Kalavatti, stretched upon a mat. . . .
" 'Why do you
weep?' replied Christna, in a gentle voice. 'Do you not see that she is
sleeping? Listen to the sound of her breathing, like the sigh of the night wind
which rustles the leaves of the trees. See, her cheeks resuming their color,
her eyes, whose lids tremble as if they were about to open; her lips quiver as
if about to speak; she is sleeping, I tell you; and hold! see, she moves,
Kalavatti! Rise and walk!'
"Hardly had
Christna spoken, when the breathing, warmth, movement, and life returned little
by little, into the corpse, and the young girl, obeying the injunction of the
demi-god, rose from her couch and
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rejoined her
companions. But the crowd marvelled and cried out: 'This is a god, since death
is no more for him than sleep!' "*
All such parables
are enforced upon Christians, with the addition of dogmas which, in their
extraordinary character, leave far behind them the wildest conceptions of
heathenism. The Christians, in order to believe in a Deity, have found it
necessary to kill their God, that they themselves should live!
And now, the
Supreme, unknown one, the Father of grace and mercy, and his celestial
hierarchy are managed by the Church as though they were so many theatrical stars
and supernumeraries under salary! Six centuries before the Christian era,
Xenophanes had disposed of such anthropomorphism by an immortal satire,
recorded and preserved by Clement of Alexandria.
"There is one
God Supreme. . . . . . . . .
Whose form is not
like unto man's, and as unlike his nature;
But vain mortals
imagine that gods like themselves are begotten
With human
sensations, and voice, and corporeal members;
So if oxen or lions
had hands and could work in man's fashion
And trace out with
chisel or brush their conception of Godhead
Then would horses
depict gods like horses, and oxen like oxen,
Each kind the
Divine with its own form and nature endowing."**
And hear Vyasa --
the poet-pantheist of India, who, for all the scientists can prove, may have
lived, as Jacolliot has it, some fifteen thousand years ago -- discoursing on
Maya, the illusion of the senses:
"All religious
dogmas only serve to obscure the intelligence of man. . . . Worship of
divinities, under the allegories of which, is hidden respect for natural laws,
drives away truth to the profit of the basest superstitions" (Vyasa Maya).
It was given to
Christianity to paint us God Almighty after the model of the kabalistic
abstraction of the "Ancient of Days." From old frescos on cathedral ceilings;
Catholic missals, and other icons and images, we now find him depicted by the
poetic brush of Gustave Dore. The awful, unknown majesty of Him, whom no
"heathen" dared to reproduce in concrete form, is figuring in our own
century in Dore's Illustrated Bible. Treading upon clouds that float in
mid-air, darkness and chaos behind him and the world beneath his feet, a
majestic old man stands, his left hand gathering his flowing robes about him,
and his right raised in the gesture of command. He has spoken the Word, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Translated from
the "Hari-Purana," by Jacolliot: "Christna, et le Christ."
** Clement:
"Al. Strom.," v. 14, § 110; translation given in "Supernatural
Religion," vol. i, p. 77.
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HEAVEN.
from his towering
person streams an effulgence of Light -- the Shekinah. As a poetic conception,
the composition does honor to the artist, but does it honor God? Better, the
chaos behind Him, than the figure itself; for there, at least, we have a solemn
mystery. For our part, we prefer the silence of the ancient heathens. With such
a gross, anthropomorphic, and, as we conceive, blasphemous representation of
the First Cause, who can feel surprised at any iconographic extravagance in the
representation of the Christian Christ, the apostles, and the putative Saints?
With the Catholics St. Peter becomes quite naturally the janitor of Heaven, and
sits at the door of the celestial kingdom -- a ticket-taker to the Trinity!
In a religious
disturbance which recently occurred in one of the Spanish-American provinces,
there were found upon the bodies of some of the killed, passports signed by the
Bishop of the Diocese and addressed to St. Peter; bidding him "admit the
bearer as a true son of the Church." It was subsequently ascertained that
these unique documents were issued by the Catholic prelate just before his
deluded parishioners went into the fight at the instigation of their priests.
In their immoderate
desire to find evidence for the authenticity of the New Testament, the best
men, the most erudite scholars even among Protestant divines, but too often
fall into deplorable traps. We cannot believe that such a learned commentator
as Canon Westcott could have left himself in ignorance as to Talmudistic and
purely kabalistic writings. How then is it that we find him quoting, with such
serene assurance as presenting "striking analogies to the Gospel of St.
John," passages from the work of The Pastor of Hermas, which are complete
sentences from the kabalistic literature? "The view which Hermas gives of
Christ's nature and work is no less harmonious with apostolic doctrine, and it
offers striking analogies to the Gospel of St. John. . . . He (Jesus) is a rock
higher than the mountains, able to hold the whole world, ancient, and yet
having a new gate! . . . He is older than creation, so that he took counsel
with the Father about the creation which he made. . . . No one shall enter in
unto him otherwise than by his Son."*
Now while -- as the
author of Supernatural Religion well proves --
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* This work,
"The Pastor of Hermas," is no longer extant, but appears only in the
"Stichometry" of Nicephorus; it is now considered an apocrypha. But,
in the days of Irenaeus, it was quoted as Holy Scripture (see "Sup.
Religion," vol. i., p. 257) by the Fathers, held to be divinely inspired,
and publicly read in the churches (Iraenus: "Adv. Haer.," iv., 20).
When Tertullian became a Montanist he rejected it, after having asserted its
divinity (Tertullian: "De Orat.," p. 12).
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there is nothing in
this which looks like a corroboration of the doctrine taught in the fourth
gospel, he omits to state that nearly everything expressed by the pseudo-Hermas
in relation to his parabolic conversation with the "Lord" is a plain
quotation, with repeated variations, from the Sohar and other kabalistic books.
We may as well compare, so as to leave the reader in no difficulty to judge for
himself.
"God,"
says Hermas, "planted the vineyard, that is, He created the people and
gave them to His Son; and the Son . . . himself cleansed their sins,
etc."; i.e., the Son washed them in his blood, in commemoration of which
Christians drink wine at the communion. In the Kabala it is shown that the Aged
of the Aged, or "Long-Face," plants a vineyard, the latter typifying
mankind; and a vine, meaning Life. The Spirit of "King Messiah" is,
therefore, shown as washing his garments in the wine from above, from the
creation of the world.* Adam, or A-Dam is "blood." The life of the
flesh is in the blood (nephesh -- soul), Leviticus xvii. And Adam-Kadmon is the
Only-Begotten. Noah also plants a vineyard -- the allegorical hot-bed of future
humanity. As a consequence of the adoption of the same allegory, we find it
reproduced in the Nazarene Codex. Seven vines are procreated, which spring from
Iukabar Ziva, and Ferho (or Parcha) Raba waters them.** When the blessed will
ascend among the creatures of Light, they shall see Iavar-Zivo, Lord of LIFE,
and the First VINE!*** These kabalistic metaphors are thus naturally repeated
in the Gospel according to John (xv. 1): "I am the true vine, and my
Father is the husbandman." In Genesis (xlix.), the dying Jacob is made to
say, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah (the lion's whelp), nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Siloh) comes. . . . Binding his
colt unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes." Shiloh is
"King Messiah," as well as the Shiloh in Ephraim, which was to be
made the capital and the place of the sanctuary. In The Targum of Onkelos, the
Babylonian, the words of Jacob read: "Until the King Messiah shall
come." The prophecy has failed in the Christian as well as in the
kabalistico-Jewish sense. The sceptre has departed from Judah, whether the
Messiah has already or will come, unless we believe, with the kabalists, that
Moses was the first Messiah, who transferred his soul to Joshua -- Jesus.****
Says Hermas:
"And, in the middle of the plain, he showed me a great white rock, which
had risen out of the plain, and the rock was
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Sohar," xl., p. 10.
** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. iii., pp. 60, 61.
*** Ibid., vol.
ii., p. 281; vol. iii., p. 59.
**** We must remind
the reader, in this connection, that Joshua and Jesus are one and the same
name. In the Slavonian Bibles Joshua reads -- Iessus (or Jesus), Navin.
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MESSIAH.
higher than the
mountains, rectangular, so as to be able to hold the whole world; but that rock
was old, having a gate hewn out of it, and the hewing out of the gate seemed to
me to be recent." In the Sohar, we find: "To 40,000 superior worlds
the white of the skull of His Head (of the most Sacred Ancient in absconditus)
is extended.* . . . When Seir (the first reflection and image of his Father,
the Ancient of the Ancient) will, through the mystery of the seventy names of
Metatron, descend into Iezirah (the third world), he will open a new gate. . .
. The Spiritus Decisorius will cut and divide the garment (Shekinah) into two
parts.** . . . At the coming of King Messiah, from the sacred cubical stone of
the Temple a white light will be arising during forty days. This will expand,
until it encloses the whole world. . . . At that time King Messiah will allow
himself to be revealed, and will be seen coming out of the gate of the garden
of Odan (Eden). 'He will be revealed in the land Galil.'*** . . . When 'he has
made satisfaction for the sins of Israel, he will lead them on through a new
gate to the seat of judgment.'**** At the Gate of the House of Life, the throne
is prepared for the Lord of Splendor."*****
Further on, the
commentator introduces the following quotation: "This rock and this gate
are the Son of God. 'How, Lord,' I said, 'is the rock old and the gate new?'
'Listen,' He said, 'and understand, thou ignorant man. The Son of God is older
than all of his creation, so that he was a Councillor with the Father in His
works of creation; and for this is he old.' "******
Now, these two
assertions are not only purely kabalistic, without even so much as a change of
expression, but Brahmanical and Pagan likewise. "Vidi virum excellentem
coeli terraeque conditore natu majorem. . . . I have seen the most excellent
(superior) MAN, who is older by birth than the maker of heaven and earth,"
says the kabalistic Codex.******* The Eleusinian Dionysus, whose particular name
was Iacchos (Iaccho, Iahoh)******** -- the God from whom the liberation of
souls was expected -- was considered older than the Demiurge. At the mysteries
of the Anthesteria at the lakes (the Limnae), after the usual baptism by
purification of water, the Mystae were made to pass through to another door
(gate), and one
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "Idra
Rabba," vol. iii., § 41; the "Sohar."
** "Kabbala
Denudata," vol. ii., p. 230; the "Book of the Babylonian Companions,"
p. 35.
*** "Sohar
Ex.," p. 11.
**** "Midrash
Hashirim"; "Rabbi Akaba"; "Midrash Koheleth," vol.
ii., p. 45.
***** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. iii., p. 60.
****** "On the
Canon," p. 178 ff.
******* Vol. ii.,
p. 57; Norberg's "Onomasticon"; "Sod, the Son of the Man,"
p. 103.
********
"Preller," vol. i., p. 484; K. O. Muller: "History of Greek
Literature," p. 238; "Movers," p. 553.
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particularly for
that purpose, which was called "the gate of Dionysus," and that of
"the purified."
In the Sohar, the
kabalists are told that the work-master, the Demiurge, said to the Lord:
"Let us make man after our image."* In the original texts of the
first chapter of Genesis, it stands: "And the Elohim (translated as the
Supreme God), who are the highest gods or powers, said: Let us make man in our
(?) image, after our likeness." In the Vedas, Brahma holds counsel with
Parabrahma, as to the best mode to proceed to create the world.
Canon Westcott,
quoting Hermas, shows him asking: "And why is the gate new, Lord? I said.
'Because,' he replied, 'he was manifested at the last of the days of the dispensation;
for this cause the gate was made new, in order that they who shall be saved
might enter by it into the Kingdom of God.' "** There are two
peculiarities worthy of note in this passage. To begin with, it attributes to
"the Lord" a false statement of the same character as that so
emphasized by the Apostle John, and which brought, at a later period, the whole
of the orthodox Christians, who accepted the apostolic allegories as literal,
to such inconvenient straits. Jesus, as Messiah, was not manifested at the last
of the days; for the latter are yet to come, notwithstanding a number of
divinely-inspired prophecies, followed by disappointed hopes, as a result, to
testify to his immediate coming. The belief that the "last times" had
come, was natural, when once the coming of King Messiah had been acknowledged.
The second peculiarity is found in the fact that the prophecy could have been
accepted at all, when even its approximate determination is a direct
contradiction of Mark, who makes Jesus distinctly state that neither the
angels, nor the Son himself, know of that day or that hour.*** We might add
that, as the belief undeniably originated with the Apocalypse, it ought to be a
self-evident proof that it belonged to the calculations peculiar to the kabalists
and the Pagan sanctuaries. It was the secret computation of a cycle, which,
according to their reckoning, was ending toward the latter part of the first
century. It may also be held as a corroborative proof, that the Gospel
according to Mark, as well as that ascribed to John, and the Apocalypse, were
written by men, of whom neither was sufficiently acquainted with the other. The
Logos was first definitely called petra (rock) by Philo; the word, moreover, as
we have shown elsewhere, means, in Chaldaic and Phoenician,
"interpreter." Justin Martyr calls him, throughout his works,
"angel," and makes a clear distinction between the Logos and God the
Creator.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Sohar," vol. i., fol. 25.
** "Simil.,"
vol. ix., p. 12; "Supernatural Religion," vol. i., p. 257.
*** Mark xiii. 32.
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"The Word of
God is His Son . . . and he is also called Angel and Apostle, for he declares
whatever we ought to know (interprets), and is sent to declare whatever is
disclosed."*
"Adan Inferior
is distributed into its own paths, into thirty-two sides of paths, yet it is
not known to any one but Seir. But no one knows the SUPERIOR ADAN nor His
paths, except that Long Face" -- the Supreme God.** Seir is the Nazarene
"genius," who is called AEbel Zivo; and Gabriel Legatus -- also
"Apostle Gabriel."*** The Nazarenes held with the kabalists that even
the Messiah who was to come did not know the "Superior Adan," the
concealed Deity; no one except the Supreme God; thus showing that above the
Supreme Intelligible Deity, there is one still more secret and unrevealed.
Seir-Anpin is the third God, while "Logos," according to Philo
Judaeus, is the second one.**** This is distinctly shown in the Codex.
"The false Messiah shall say: "I am Deus, son of Deus; my Father sent
me here. . . . I am the first Legate, I am AEbel Zivo, I am come from on high!
But distrust him; for he will not be AEbel Zivo. AEbel Zivo will not permit
himself to be seen in this age."***** Hence the belief of some Gnostics
that it was not AEbel Zivo (Archangel Gabriel) who "overshadowed" Mary,
but Ilda-Baoth, who formed the material body of Jesus; Christos uniting himself
with him only at the moment of baptism in the Jordan.
Can we doubt Nork's
assertion that "the Bereshith Rabba, the oldest part of the Midrash
Rabboth, was known to the Church Fathers in a Greek translation"?******
But if, on the one
hand, they were sufficiently acquainted with the different religious systems of
their neighbors to have enabled them to build a new religion alleged to be
distinct from all others, their ignorance of the Old Testament itself, let
alone the more complicated questions of Grecian metaphysics, is now found to
have been deplorable. "So, for instance, in Matthew xxvii. 9 f., the
passage from Zechariah xi. 12, 13, is attributed to Jeremiah," says the author
of Supernatural Religion. "In Mark i. 2, a quotation from Malachi iii. 1,
is as-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Apolog.," vol. i., p. 63.
** "Idra
Rabba," x., p. 177.
*** "Codex
Nazaraeus," vol. i., p. 23.
**** Philo says
that the Logos is the interpreter of the highest God, and argues, "that he
must be the God of us imperfect beings" ("Leg. Alleg.," iii., §
73). According to his opinion man was not made in the likeness of the most High
God, the Father of all, but in that of the second God who is his word --
Logos" (Philo: "Fragments," 1; ex. Euseb. "Praepar.
Evang.," vii., 13).
***** "Codex
Nazaraeus," p. 57; "Sod, the Son of the Man," p. 59.
******
"Hundert und ein Frage," p. xvii.; Dunlap: "Sod, the Son of the
Man," p. 87; the author, who quotes Nork, says that parts of the
"Midrashim" and the "Targum" of Onkelos, antedate the
"New Testament."
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cribed to Isaiah.
In 1 Corinthians, ii. 9, a passage is quoted as Holy Scripture, which is not
found in the Old Testament at all, but which is taken, as Origen and Jerome
state, from an apocryphal work, The Revelation of Elias (Origen: Tract. xxxv.),
and the passage is similarly quoted by the so-called Epistle of Clement to the
Corinthians (xxxiv.). How reliable are the pious Fathers in their explanations
of divers heresies may be illustrated in the case of Epiphanius, who mistook
the Pythagorean sacred Tetrad, called in the Valentinian Gnosis, Kol-Arbas, for
a heretic leader.* What with the involuntary blunders, and deliberate
falsifications of the teachings of those who differed in views with them; the
canonization of the mythological Aura Placida (gentle breeze), into a pair of
Christian martyrs -- St. Aura and St. Placida;** the deification of a spear and
a cloak, under the names of SS. Longimus and Amphibolus;*** and the Patristic quotations
from prophets, of what was never in those prophets at all; one may well ask in
blank amazement whether the so-called religion of Christ has ever been other
than an incoherent dream, since the death of the Great Master.
So malicious do we
find the holy Fathers in their unrelenting persecution of pretended
"haeresies,"**** that we see them telling, without hesitation the
most preposterous untruths, and inventing entire narratives, the better to
impress their own otherwise unsupported arguments upon ignorance. If the
mistake in relation to the tetrad had at first originated as a simple
consequence of an unpremeditated blunder of Hippolytus, the explanations of
Epiphanius and others who fell into the same absurd error***** have a less
innocent look. When Hippolytus gravely denounces the great heresy of the
Tetrad, Kol-Arbas, and states that the imaginary Gnostic leader is,
"Kolarbasus, who endeavors to explain
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Writing upon
Ptolemaeus and Heracleon, the author of "Supernatural Religion" (vol.
ii., p. 217) says that "the inaccuracy of the Fathers keeps pace with
their want of critical judgment," and then proceeds to illustrate this
particularly ridiculous blunder committed by Epiphanius, in common with
Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Philostrius. "Mistaking a passage of Irenaeus,
'Adv. Haer.,' i., p. 14, regarding the Sacred Tetrad (Kol-Arbas), Hippolytus
supposes Irenaeus to refer to another heretic leader." He at once treats
the Tetrad as such a leader named "Colarbasus," and after dealing
(vi., 4) with the doctrines of Secundus, and Ptolemaeus, and Heracleon, he
proposes, §5, to show, "what are the opinions held by Marcus and
Colarbasus," these two being, according to him, the successors of the
school of Valentinus (cf. Bunsen: "Hippolytus, U. S. Zeit.," p. 54
f.; "Ref. Omn. Haer.," iv., § 13).
** See Godf.
Higgins: "Anacalypsis."
*** Inman:
"Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," p. 84.
**** Meaning --
holding up of different views.
***** "This
absurd mistake," remarks the author of "Supernatural Religion,"
vol. ii., p. 218, "shows how little these writers knew of the Gnostics of
whom they wrote, and how the one ignorantly follows the other."
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EPIPHANIUS.
religion by
measures and numbers,"* we may simply smile. But when Epiphanius, with
abundant indignation, elaborates upon the theme, "which is Heresy
XV.," and pretending to be thoroughly acquainted with the subject, adds:
"A certain Heracleon follows after Colarbasus, which is Heresy
XVI.,"** then he lays himself open to the charge of deliberate falsification.
If this zealous
Christian can boast so unblushingly of having caused "by his information
seventy women, even of rank, to be sent into exile, through the seductions of
some in whose number he had himself been drawn into joining their sect,"
he has left us a fair standard by which to judge him. C. W. King remarks, very
aptly, on this point, that "it may reasonably be suspected that this
worthy renegade had in this case saved himself from the fate of his
fellow-religionists by turning evidence against them, on the opening of the
persecution."***
And thus, one by
one, perished the Gnostics, the only heirs to whose share had fallen a few
stray crumbs of the unadulterated truth of primitive Christianity. All was
confusion and turmoil during these first centuries, till the moment when all
these contradictory dogmas were finally forced upon the Christian world, and
examination was forbidden. For long ages it was made a sacrilege, punishable
with severe penalties, often death, to seek to comprehend that which the Church
had so conveniently elevated to the rank of divine mystery. But since biblical
critics have taken upon themselves to "set the house in order," the
cases have become reversed. Pagan creditors now come from every part of the
globe to claim their own, and Christian theology begins to be suspected of
complete bankruptcy. Such is the sad result of the fanaticism of the
"orthodox" sects, who, to borrow an expression of the author of
"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," never were, like the Gnostics,
"the most polite, the most learned, and most wealthy of the Christian
name." And, if not all of them "smelt garlic," as Renan will
have it, on the other hand, none of these Christian saints have ever shrunk
from spilling their neighbor's blood, if the views of the latter did not agree
with their own.
And so all our
philosophers were swept away by the ignorant and superstitious masses. The
Philaletheians, the lovers of truth, and their eclectic school, perished; and
there, where the young Hypatia had taught the highest philosophical doctrines;
and where Ammonius Saccas had explained that "the whole which Christ had
in view was to reinstate and restore to its primitive integrity the wisdom of
the ancients -- to reduce
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* "Ref. Omn.
Haer.," iv., §13.
** Epiph.:
"Haer.," xxxvi., § 1, p. 262 (quoted in "Supernatural
Religion"). See Volkmar's "Die Colarbasus-gnosis" in Niedner's
"Zeitschr. Hist. Theol."
*** "Gnostics
and their Remains," p. 182 f., note 3.
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within bounds the
universally prevailing dominion of superstition . . . and to exterminate the
various errors that had found their way into the different popular
religions"* -- there, we say, freely raved the [[hoipolloi]] of
Christianity. No more precepts from the mouth of the "God-taught philosopher,"
but others expounded by the incarnation of a most cruel, fiendish superstition.
"If thy
father," wrote St. Jerome, "lies down across thy threshold, if thy
mother uncovers to thine eyes the bosom which suckled thee, trample on thy
father's lifeless body, trample on thy mother's bosom, and, with eyes
unmoistened and dry, fly to the Lord who calleth thee"! !
This sentence is
equalled, if not outrivalled, by this other, pronounced in a like spirit. It
emanates from another father of the early Church, the eloquent Tertullian, who
hopes to see all the "philosophers" in the gehenna fire of Hell.
"What shall be the magnitude of that scene! . . . How shall I laugh! How
shall I rejoice! How shall I triumph when I see so many illustrious kings who
were said to have mounted into heaven, groaning with Jupiter, their god, in the
lowest darkness of hell! Then shall the soldiers who have persecuted the name
of Christ burn in more cruel fire than any they had kindled for the
saints!"**
These murderous
expressions illustrate the spirit of Christianity till this day. But do they
illustrate the teachings of Christ? By no means. As Eliphas Levi says,
"The God in the name of whom we would trample on our mother's bosom we
must see in the hereafter, a hell gaping widely at his feet, and an
exterminating sword in his hand. . . . Moloch burned children but a few
seconds; it was reserved to the disciples of a god who is alleged to have died
to redeem humanity on the cross, to create a new Moloch whose burning stake is
eternal!"***
That this spirit of
true Christian love has safely crossed nineteen centuries and rages now in
America, is fully instanced in the case of the rabid Moody, the revivalist, who
exclaims: "I have a son, and no one but God knows how I love him; but I
would see those beautiful eyes dug out of his head to-night, rather than see
him grow up to manhood and go down to the grave without Christ and without
hope!!"
To this an American
paper, of Chicago, very justly responds: "This is the spirit of the
inquisition, which we are told is dead. If Moody in his zeal would 'dig out'
the eyes of his darling son, to what lengths may he not go with the sons of
others, whom he may love less? It is the spirit of Loyola, gibbering in the
nineteenth century, and prevented from lighting the fagot flame and heating
red-hot the instruments of torture only by the arm of law."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Mosheim.
** Tertullian:
"Despectae," ch. xxx.
*** Mosheim:
"Eccles. Hist.," c. v., § 5.
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CHAPTER VI.
"The curtains
of Yesterday drop down, the curtains of To-morrow roll up; but Yesterday and
Tomorrow both are." -- Sartor Resartus: Natural Supernaturalism.
"May we not
then be permitted to examine the authenticity of the Bible? which since the
second century has been put forth as the criterion of scientific truth? To
maintain itself in a position so exalted, it must challenge human
criticism." -- Conflict between Religion and Science.
"One kiss of
Nara upon the lips of Nari and all Nature wakes." -- VINA SNATI (A Hindu
Poet).
WE must not forget
that the Christian Church owes its present canonical Gospels, and hence its
whole religious dogmatism, to the Sortes Sanctorum. Unable to agree as to which
were the most divinely-inspired of the numerous gospels extant in its time, the
mysterious Council of Nicea concluded to leave the decision of the puzzling
question to miraculous intervention. This Nicean Council may well be called
mysterious. There was a mystery, first, in the mystical number of its 318
bishops, on which Barnabas (viii. 11, 12, 13) lays such a stress; added to
this, there is no agreement among ancient writers as to the time and place of
its assembly, nor even as to the bishop who presided. Notwithstanding the
grandiloquent eulogium of Constantine,* Sabinus, the Bishop of Heraclea,
affirms that "except Constantine, the emperor, and Eusebius Pamphilus,
these bishops were a set of illiterate, simple creatures, that understood
nothing"; which is equivalent to saying that they were a set of fools.
Such was apparently the opinion entertained of them by Pappus, who tells us of
the bit of magic resorted to to decide which were the true gospels. In his
Synodicon to that Council Pappus says, having "promiscuously put all the
books that were referred to the Council for determination under a
communion-table in a church, they (the bishops) besought the Lord that the
inspired writings might get upon the table, while the spurious ones remained
underneath, and it happened accordingly." But we are not told who kept the
keys of the council chamber over night!
On the authority of
ecclesiastical eye-witnesses, therefore, we are at liberty to say that the
Christian world owes its "Word of God" to a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Socrates;
"Scol. Eccl. Hist.," b. I., c. ix.
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method of
divination, for resorting to which the Church subsequently condemned
unfortunate victims as conjurers, enchanters, magicians, witches, and
vaticinators, and burnt them by thousands! In treating of this truly divine
phenomenon of the self-sorting manuscripts, the Fathers of the Church say that
God himself presides over the Sortes. As we have shown elsewhere, Augustine
confesses that he himself used this sort of divination. But opinions, like
revealed religions, are liable to change. That which for nearly fifteen hundred
years was imposed on Christendom as a book, of which every word was written
under the direct supervision of the Holy Ghost; of which not a syllable, nor a
comma could be changed without sacrilege, is now being retranslated, revised,
corrected, and clipped of whole verses, in some cases of entire chapters. And
yet, as soon as the new edition is out, its doctors would have us accept it as
a new "Revelation" of the nineteenth century, with the alternative of
being held as an infidel. Thus, we see that, no more within than without its
precincts, is the infallible Church to be trusted more than would be reasonably
convenient. The forefathers of our modern divines found authority for the
Sortes in the verse where it is said: "The lot is cast into the lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord";* and now, their direct heirs
hold that "the whole disposing thereof is of the Devil." Perhaps,
they are unconsciously beginning to endorse the doctrine of the Syrian
Bardesanes, that the actions of God, as well as of man, are subject to
necessity?
It was no doubt,
also, according to strict "necessity" that the Neoplatonists were so
summarily dealt with by the Christian mob. In those days, the doctrines of the
Hindu naturalists and antediluvian Pyrrhonists were forgotten, if they ever had
been known at all, to any but a few philosophers; and Mr. Darwin, with his
modern discoveries, had not even been mentioned in the prophesies. In this case
the law of the survival of the fittest was reversed; the Neo-platonists were
doomed to destruction from the day when they openly sided with Aristotle.
At the beginning of
the fourth century crowds began gathering at the door of the academy where the
learned and unfortunate Hypatia expounded the doctrines of the divine Plato and
Plotinus, and thereby impeded the progress of Christian proselytism. She too
successfully dispelled the mist hanging over the religious
"mysteries" invented by the Fathers, not to be considered dangerous.
This alone would have been sufficient to imperil both herself and her
followers. It was precisely the teachings
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Proverbs," chap. xvi., p. 33. In ancient Egypt and Greece, and among
Israelites, small sticks and balls called the "sacred divining lots"
were used for this kind of oracle in the temples. According to the figures
which were formed by the accidental juxtaposition of the latter, the priest
interpreted the will of the gods.
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MURDERED.
of this Pagan
philosopher, which had been so freely borrowed by the Christians to give a
finishing touch to their otherwise incomprehensible scheme, that had seduced so
many into joining the new religion; and now the Platonic light began shining so
inconveniently bright upon the pious patchwork, as to allow every one to see
whence the "revealed" doctrines were derived. But there was a still
greater peril. Hypatia had studied under Plutarch, the head of the Athenian
school, and had learned all the secrets of theurgy. While she lived to instruct
the multitude, no divine miracles could be produced before one who could
divulge the natural causes by which they took place. Her doom was sealed by
Cyril, whose eloquence she eclipsed, and whose authority, built on degrading
superstitions, had to yield before hers, which was erected on the rock of
immutable natural law. It is more than curious that Cave, the author of the
Lives of the Fathers, should find it incredible that Cyril sanctioned her
murder on account of his "general character." A saint who will sell
the gold and silver vessels of his church, and then, after spending the money,
lie at his trial, as he did, may well be suspected of anything. Besides, in
this case, the Church had to fight for her life, to say nothing of her future
supremacy. Alone, the hated and erudite Pagan scholars, and the no less learned
Gnostics, held in their doctrines the hitherto concealed wires of all these theological
marionettes. Once the curtain should be lifted, the connection between the old
Pagan and the new Christian religions would be exposed; and then, what would
have become of the Mysteries into which it is sin and blasphemy to pry? With
such a coincidence of the astronomical allegories of various Pagan myths with
the dates adopted by Christianity for the nativity, crucifixion, and
resurrection, and such an identity of rites and ceremonies, what would have
been the fate of the new religion, had not the Church, under the pretext of
serving Christ, got rid of the too-well-informed philosophers? To guess what,
if the coup d'etat had then failed, might have been the prevailing religion in
our own century would indeed, be a hard task. But, in all probability, the
state of things which made of the middle ages a period of intellectual
darkness, which degraded the nations of the Occident, and lowered the European
of those days almost to the level of a Papuan savage -- could not have
occurred.
The fears of the
Christians were but too well founded, and their pious zeal and prophetic
insight was rewarded from the very first. In the demolition of the Serapeum,
after the bloody riot between the Christian mob and the Pagan worshippers had
ended with the interference of the emperor, a Latin cross, of a perfect
Christian shape, was discovered hewn upon the granite slabs of the adytum. This
was a lucky discovery, indeed; and the monks did not fail to claim that the
cross had
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been hallowed by
the Pagans in a "spirit of prophecy." At least, Sozomen, with an air
of triumph, records the fact.* But, archeology and symbolism, those tireless
and implacable enemies of clerical false pretences, have found in the
hieroglyphics of the legend running around the design, at least a partial
interpretation of its meaning.
According to King
and other numismatists and archaeologists, the cross was placed there as the
symbol of eternal life. Such a Tau, or Egyptian cross, was used in the Bacchic
and Eleusinian Mysteries. Symbol of the dual generative power, it was laid upon
the breast of the initiate, after his "new birth" was accomplished,
and the Mystae had returned from their baptism in the sea. It was a mystic sign
that his spiritual birth had regenerated and united his astral soul with his
divine spirit, and that he was ready to ascend in spirit to the blessed abodes
of light and glory -- the Eleusinia. The Tau was a magic talisman at the same
time as a religious emblem. It was adopted by the Christians through the
Gnostics and kabalists, who used it largely, as their numerous gems testify,
and who had the Tau (or handled cross) from the Egyptians, and the Latin cross
from the Buddhist missionaries, who brought it from India, where it can be
found until now, two or three centuries B.C. The Assyrians, Egyptians, ancient
Americans, Hindus, and Romans had it in various, but very slight modifications
of shape. Till very late in the mediaeval ages, it was considered a potent
spell against epilepsy and demoniacal possession; and the "signet of the
living God," brought down in St. John's vision by the angel ascending from
the east to "seal the servants of our God in their foreheads," was
but the same mystic Tau -- the Egyptian cross. In the painted glass of St.
Dionysus (France), this angel is represented as stamping this sign on the
forehead of the elect; the legend reads, SIGNVM TAY. In King's Gnostics, the
author reminds us that "this mark is commonly borne by St. Anthony, an
Egyptian recluse."** What the real meaning of the Tau was, is explained to
us by the Christian St. John, the Egyptian Hermes, and the Hindu Brahmans. It
is but too evident that, with the apostle, at least, it meant the
"Ineffable Name," as he calls this "signet of the living
God," a few chapters further on,*** the "Father's name written in
their foreheads."
The Brahmatma, the
chief of the Hindu initiates, had on his headgear two keys, symbol of the
revealed mystery of life and death, placed
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Another
untrustworthy, untruthful, and ignorant writer, and ecclesiastical historian of
the fifth century. His alleged history of the strife between the Pagans,
Neoplatonics, and the Christians of Alexandria and Constantinople, which
extends from the year 324 to 439, dedicated by him to Theodosius, the younger,
is full of deliberate falsifications. Edition of "Reading," Cantab,
1720, fol. Translated. Plon freres, Paris.
** "Gems of
the Orthodox Christians," vol. i., p. 135.
*** Revelation xiv.
1.
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TALISMAN.
cross-like; and, in
some Buddhist pagodas of Tartary and Mongolia, the entrance of a chamber within
the temple, generally containing the staircase which leads to the inner
daghoba,* and the porticos of some Prachida** are ornamented with a cross
formed of two fishes, and as found on some of the zodiacs of the Buddhists. We
should not wonder at all at learning that the sacred device in the tombs in the
Catacombs, at Rome, the "Vesica piscis," was derived from the said
Buddhist zodiacal sign. How general must have been that geometrical figure in
the world-symbols, may be inferred from the fact that there is a Masonic
tradition that Solomon's temple was built on three foundations, forming the
"triple Tau," or three crosses.
In its mystical
sense, the Egyptian cross owes its origin, as an emblem, to the realization by
the earliest philosophy of an androgynous dualism of every manifestation in
nature, which proceeds from the abstract ideal of a likewise androgynous deity,
while the Christian emblem is simply due to chance. Had the Mosaic law
prevailed, Jesus should have been lapidated.*** The crucifix was an instrument
of torture, and utterly common among Romans as it was unknown among Semitic
nations. It was called the "Tree of Infamy." It is but later that it
was adopted as a Christian symbol; but, during the first two decades, the
apostles looked upon it with horror.**** It is certainly not the Christian
Cross that John had in mind when speaking of the "signet of the living
God," but the mystic Tau -- the Tetragrammaton, or mighty name, which, on
the most ancient kabalistic talismans, was represented by the four Hebrew
letters composing the Holy Word.
The famous Lady
Ellenborough, known among the Arabs of Damascus, and in the desert, after her
last marriage, as Hanoum Medjouye, had a talisman in her possession, presented
to her by a Druze from Mount Lebanon. It was recognized by a certain sign on
its left corner, to belong to that class of gems which is known in Palestine as
a "Messianic" amulet, of the second or third century, B. C. It is a
green stone of a pentagonal form; at the bottom is engraved a fish; higher,
Solomon's seal;*****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* Daghoba is a
small temple of globular form, in which are preserved the relics of Gautama.
** Prachidas are
buildings of all sizes and forms, like our mausoleums, and are sacred to votive
offerings to the dead.
*** The Talmudistic
records claim that, after having been hung, he was lapidated and buried under
the water at the junction of two streams. "Mishna Sanhedrin," vol.
vi., p. 4; "Talmud," of Babylon, same article, 43 a, 67 a.
**** "Coptic
Legends of the Crucifixion," MSS. xi.
***** The engraving
represents the talisman as of twice the natural size. We are at a loss to
understand why King, in his "Gnostic Gems," represents Solomon's seal
as a five-pointed star, whereas it is six-pointed, and is the signet of Vishnu,
in India.
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and still higher,
the four Chaldaic letters -- Jod, He, Vau, He, IAHO, which form the name of the
Deity. These are arranged in quite an unusual way, running from below upward,
in reversed order, and forming the Egyptian Tau. Around these there is a legend
which, as the gem is not our property, we are not at liberty to give. The Tau,
in its mystical sense, as well as the crux ansata, is the Tree of Life.
It is well known,
that the earliest Christian emblems -- before it was ever attempted to
represent the bodily appearance of Jesus -- were the Lamb, the Good Shepherd,
and the Fish. The origin of the latter emblem, which has so puzzled the
archaeologists, thus becomes comprehensible. The whole secret lies in the
easily-ascertained fact that, while in the Kabala, the King Messiah is called
"Interpreter," or Revealer of the mystery, and shown to be the fifth
emanation, in the Talmud -- for reasons we will now explain -- the Messiah is
very often designated as "DAG," or the Fish. This is an inheritance
from the Chaldees, and relates -- as the very name indicates -- to the Babylonian
Dagon, the man-fish, who was the instructor and interpreter of the people, to
whom he appeared. Abarbanel explains the name, by stating that the sign of his
(Messiah's) coming "is the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the sign
Pisces."* Therefore, as the Christians were intent upon identifying their
Christos with the Messiah of the Old Testament, they adopted it so readily as
to forget that its true origin might be traced still farther back than the
Babylonian Dagon. How eagerly and closely the ideal of Jesus was united, by the
early Christians, with every imaginable kabalistic and Pagan tenet, may be
inferred from the language of Clemens, of Alexandria, addressed to his brother
co-religionists.
[[Diagram]]
When they were
debating upon the choice of the most appropriate symbol to remind them of
Jesus, Clemens advised them in the following words: "Let the engraving
upon the gem of your ring be either a dove, or a ship running before the wind
(the Argha), or a fish." Was the good father, when writing this sentence,
laboring under the recollection of Joshua, son of Nun (called Jesus in the
Greek and Slavonian versions); or had he forgotten the real interpretation of
these Pagan symbols?
[[Footnote(s)]]
--------------------------------------------------
* King ("Gnostics")
gives the figure of a Christian symbol, very common during the middle ages, of
three fishes interlaced into a triangle, and having the FIVE letters (a most
sacred Pythagorean number) [[I. CH. THUS.]] engraved on it. The number five
relates to the same kabalistic computation.
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LEGEND.
Joshua, son of Nun,
or Nave (Navis), could have with perfect propriety adopted the image of a ship,
or even of a fish, for Joshua means Jesus, son of the fish-god; but it was
really too hazardous to connect the emblems of Venus, Astarte, and all the
Hindu goddesses -- the argha, dove, and fish -- with the "immaculate"
birth of their god! This looks very much as if in the early days of
Christianity but little difference was made between Christ, Bacchus, Apollo,
and the Hindu Christna, the incarnation of Vishnu, with whose first avatar this
symbol of the fish originated.
In the Hari-purana,
in the Bagaved-gitta, as well as in several other books, the god Vishnu is
shown as having assumed the form of a fish with a human head, in order to
reclaim the Vedas lost during the deluge. Having enabled Visvamitra to escape
with all his tribe in the ark, Vishnu, pitying weak and ignorant humanity,
remained with them for some time. It was this god who taught them to build
houses, cultivate the land, and to thank the unknown Deity whom he represented,
by building temples and instituting a regular worship; and, as he remained
half-fish, half-man, all the time, at every sunset he used to return to the
ocean, wherein he passed the night.
"It is
he," says the sacred book, "who taught men, after the diluvium, all
that was necessary for their happiness.
"One day he
plunged into the water and returned no more, for the earth had covered itself
again with vegetation, fruit, and cattle.
"But he had
taught the Brahmas the secret of all things" (Hari-purana).
So far, we see in
this narrative the double of the story given by the Babylonian Berosus about
Oannes, the fish-man, who is no other than Vishnu -- unless, indeed, we have to
believe that it was Chaldea which civilized India!
We say again, we
desire to give nothing on our sole authority. Therefore we cite Jacolliot, who,
however criticised and contradicted on other points, and however loose he may
be in the matter of chronology (though even in this he is nearer right than
those scientists who would have all Hindu books written since the Council of
Nicea), at least cannot be denied the reputation of a good Sanscrit scholar.
And he says, while analyzing the word Oan, or Oannes, that O in Sanscrit is an
interjection expressing an invocation, as O, Swayambhuva! O, God! etc.; and An
is a radical, signifying in Sanscrit a spirit, a being; and, we presume, what
the Greeks meant by the word Daemon, a semi-god.
"What an
extraordinary antiquity," he remarks, "this fable of Vishnu,
disguised as a fish, gives to the sacred books of the Hindus; especially in
presence of the fact that the Vedas and Manu reckon more than twenty-five
thousand years of existence, as proved by the most serious as the
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most authentic
documents. Few peoples, says the learned Halled, have their annals more
authentic or serious than the Hindus."*
We may, perhaps,
throw additional light upon the puzzling question of the fish-symbol by
reminding the reader that according to Genesis the first created of living
beings, the first type of animal life, was the fish. "And the Elohim said:
'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life' . .
. and God created great whales . . . and the morning and the evening were the
fifth day." Jonah is swallowed by a big fish, and is cast out again three
days later. This the Christians regard as a premonition of the three days'
sepulture of Jesus which preceded his resurrection -- though the statement of
the three days is as fanciful as much of the rest, and adopted to fit the
well-known threat to destroy the temple and rebuild it again in three days. Between
his burial and alleged resurrection there intervened but one day -- the Jewish
Sabbath -- as he was buried on Friday evening and rose to life at dawn on
Sunday. However, whatever other circumstance may be regarded as a prophecy, the
story of Jonah cannot be made to answer the purpose.
"Big
Fish" is Cetus, the latinized form of Keto -- [[Ketos]] and keto is Dagon,
Poseidon, the female gender of it being Keton Atar-gatis -- the Syrian goddess,
and Venus, of Askalon. The figure or bust of Der-Keto or Astarte was generally
represented on the prow of the ships. Jonah (the Greek Iona, or dove sacred to
Venus) fled to Jaffa, where the god Dagon, the man-fish, was worshipped, and
dared not go to Nineveh, where the dove was revered. Hence, some commentators
believe that when Jonah was thrown overboard and was swallowed by a fish, we
must understand that he was picked up by one of these vessels, on the prow of
which was the figure of Keto. But the kabalists have another legend, to this
effect: They say that Jonah was a run-away priest from the temple of the
goddess where the dove was worshipped, and desired to abolish idolatry and
institute monotheistic worship. That, caught near Jaffa, he was held prisoner
by the devotees of Dagon in one of the prison-cells of the temple, and that it
is the strange form of the cell which gave rise to the allegory. In the
collection of Mose de Garcia, a Portuguese kabalist, there is a drawing
representing the interior of the temple of Dagon. In the middle stands an
immense idol, the upper portion of whose body is human, and the lower
fish-like. Between the belly and the tail is an aperture which can be closed
like the door of a closet. In it the transgressors against the local deity were
shut up until further disposal. The drawing in question was made from an old
tablet covered with curious drawings and inscriptions in old Phoenician
characters, describing this Venetian
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* "La Genese
de l'Humanite," p. 9.
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VISHNU.
oubliette of
biblical days. The tablet itself was found in an excavation a few miles from
Jaffa. Considering the extraordinary tendency of Oriental nations for puns and
allegories, is it not barely possible that the "big fish" by which
Jonah was swallowed was simply the cell within the belly of Dagon?
It is significant
that this double appellation of "Messiah" and "Dag" (fish),
of the Talmudists, should so well apply to the Hindu Vishnu, the
"Preserving" Spirit, and the second personage of the Brahmanic
trinity. This deity, having already manifested itself, is still regarded as the
future Saviour of humanity, and is the selected Redeemer, who will appear at
its tenth incarnation or avatar, like the Messiah of the Jews, to lead the
blessed onward, and restore to them the primitive Vedas. At his first avatar,
Vishnu is alleged to have appeared to humanity, in form like a fish. In the
temple of Rama, there is a representation of this god which answers perfectly
to that of Dagon, as given by Berosus. He has the body of a man issuing from
the mouth of a fish, and holds in his hands the lost Veda. Vishnu, moreover, is
the water-god, in one sense, the Logos of the Parabrahm, for as the three
persons of the manifested god-head constantly interchange their attributes, we
see him in the same temple represented as reclining on the seven-headed
serpent, Ananta (eternity), and moving, like the Spirit of God, on the face of
the primeval waters.
Vishnu is evidently
the Adam Kadmon of the kabalists, for Adam is the Logos or the first Anointed,
as Adam Second is the King Messiah.
Lakmy, or Lakshmi,
the passive or feminine counterpart of Vishnu, the creator and the preserver,
is also called Ada Maya. She is the "Mother of the World," Damatri,
the Venus Aphrodite of the Greeks: also Isis and Eve. While Venus is born from
the sea-foam, Lakmy springs out from the water at the churning of the sea; when
born, she is so beautiful that all the gods fall in love with her. The Jews,
borrowing their types wherever they could get them, made their first woman
after the pattern of Lakmy. It is curious that Viracocha, the Supreme Being in
Peru, means, literally translated, "foam of the sea."
Eugene Burnouf, the
great authority of the French school, announces his opinion in the same spirit:
"We must learn one day," he observes, "that all ancient
traditions disfigured by emigration and legend, belong to the history of
India." Such is the opinion of Colebrooke, Inman, King, Jacolliot, and
many other Orientalists.
We have said above,
that, according to the secret computation peculiar to the students of the
hidden science, Messiah is the fifth emanation, or potency. In the Jewish
Kabala, where the ten Sephiroth emanate from Adam Kadmon (placed below the
crown), he comes fifth. So in
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the Gnostic system;
so in the Buddhistic, in which the fifth Buddha -- Maitree, will appear at his
last advent to save mankind before the final destruction of the world. If
Vishnu is represented in his forthcoming and last appearance as the tenth
avatar or incarnation, it is only because every unit held as an androgyne
manifests itself doubly. The Buddhists who reject this dual-sexed incarnation
reckon but five. Thus, while Vishnu is to make his last appearance in his
tenth, Buddha is said to do the same in his fifth incarnation.*
The better to
illustrate the idea, and show how completely the real meaning of the avatars,
known only to the students of the secret doctrine was misunderstood by the
ignorant masses, we elsewhere give the diagrams of the Hindu and
Chaldeo-Kabalistic avatars and emanations.** This basic and true fundamental
stone of the secret cycles, shows on its very face, that far from taking their
revealed Vedas and Bible literally, the Brahman-pundits, and the Tanaim -- the
scientists and philosophers of the pre-Christian epochs -- speculated on the
creation and development of the world quite in a Darwinian way, both
anticipating him and his school in the natural selection of species, gradual
development, and transformation.
We advise every one
tempted to enter an indignant protest against this affirmation to read more
carefully the books of Manu, even in the incomplete translation of Sir William
Jones, and the more or less careless one of Jacolliot. If we compare the
Sanchoniathon Phoenician Cosmogony, and the record of Berosus with the
Bhagavatta and Manu, we will find enunciated exactly the same principles as
those now offered as the latest developments of modern science. We have quoted
from the Chaldean and Phoenician records in our first volume; we will now
glance at the Hindu books.
"When this
world had issued out of darkness, the subtile elementary principles produced
the vegetal seed which animated first the plants; from the plants, life passed
into fantastical bodies which were born in the ilus of the waters; then,
through a series of forms and various animals, it reached MAN."***
"He (man,
before becoming such) will pass successively through plants, worms, insects,
fish, serpents, tortoises, cattle, and wild animals; such is the inferior
degree."
"Such, from
Brahma down to the vegetables, are declared the transmigrations which take
place in this world."****
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* The kabalistic
Sephiroth are also ten in number, or five pairs.
** An avatar is a
descent from on high upon earth of the Deity in some manifest shape.
***
"Bhagavatta."
****
"Manu," books i. and xii.
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VYASA.
In the
Sanchoniathonian Cosmogony, men are also evolved out of the ilus of the chaos,*
and the same evolution and transformation of species are shown.
And now we will
leave the rostrum to Mr. Darwin: "I believe that animals have descended
from at most only four or five progenitors."**
Again: "I
should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived
on this earth, have descended from some one primordial form.*** . . . I view
all beings, not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few
beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was
deposited."****
In short, they
lived in the Sanchoniathonian chaos, and in the ilus of Manu. Vyasa and Kapila
go still farther than Darwin and Manu. "They see in Brahma but the name of
the universal germ; they deny the existence of a First Cause; and pretend that
everything in nature found itself developed only in consequence of material and
fatal forces," says Jacolliot.*****
Correct as may be
this latter quotation from Kapila, it demands a few words of explanation.
Jacolliot repeatedly compares Kapila and Veda Vyasa with Pyrrho and Littre. We
have nothing against such a comparison with the Greek philosopher, but we must
decidedly object to any with the French Comtist; we find it an unmerited fling
at the memory of the great Aryan sage. Nowhere does this prolific writer state
the repudiation by either ancient or modern Brahmans of God -- the
"unknown," universal Spirit; nor does any other Orientalist accuse
the Hindus of the same, however perverted the general deductions of our savants
about Buddhistic atheism. On the contrary, Jacolliot states more than once that
the learned Pundits and educated Brahmans have never shared the popular
superstitions; and affirms their unshaken belief in the unity of God and the
soul's immortality, although most assuredly neither Kapila, nor the initiated
Brahmans, nor the followers of the Vedanta school would ever admit the
existence of an anthropomorphic creator, a "First Cause" in the
Christian sense. Jacolliot, in his Indo-European and African Traditions, is the
first to make an onslaught on Professor Muller, for remarking that the Hindu
gods were "masks without actors . . . names without being, and not beings
without names."****** Quoting, in support of his argument, numerous verses
from the sacred Hindu books, he adds: "Is it possible to refuse to the
author of these stanzas a definite and clear conception of the divine force, of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
* See Cory's
"Ancient Fragments."
** "Origin of
Species," first edition, p. 484.
*** Ibid., p. 484.
**** Ibid., pp.
488, 489.
***** "La
Genese de l'Humanite," p. 339.
******
"Traditions Indo-Europeennes et Africaines," p. 291.
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the Unique Being,
master and Sovereign of the Universe? . . . Were the altars then built to a
metaphor?"*
The latter argument is perfectly just, so far as Max Muller's negation is concerned. But we doubt whether the French rationalist understands Kapila's and Vyasa's philosophy better than the German philologist does the "theological twaddle," as the latter terms the Atharva-Veda. Professor Muller and Jacolliot may have ever so great claims to erudition, and be ever so familiar with Sanscrit and other ancient Or