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WORKS BY W. J. COLVILLE. 
 
 BERTHA : A Romance of Easter-tide. 
 
 Setting forth the principles of the Spiritual Philosophy, 
 and introducing graphic accounts of Spiritual Manifestations 
 of the most astonishing and fascinating order, in the course 
 of a popular and exciting Tale. Handsomely bound in cloth, 
 320 pp. Price, 3s. Gd. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ; Or, 
 
 The Future Triumph of The Spirit upon Earth. 
 
 Being Spiritual Teachings given at the Residence of Lady 
 Caithness, Duchesse De Pomar, 51, Rue de L'Universite, 
 Paris, Thursday evening, June 26. Also an Impromptu 
 Poem, " The Star Circle." Price, 4d. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM, AND Its True Relations to Secu- 
 larism and ChriSsTianity. Price, Id. 
 
 WHAT IS PROPERTY ? A Lecture on the Land 
 Question. Price, Id. 
 
 THE SPIRIT SPHERES ATTACHING TO THE 
 EARTH, AND THE Mission of Modern Spiritualism 
 to Humanity, as affecting all Institutions and 
 Classes of Society. Price, Id. 
 
 THE LOST CONTINENT, ATLANTIS; and the 
 
 Civilization of the Pre-Historic World. Price, Id. 
 
 LONDON: 
 J. BURNS, 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, W.G. 
 
INSPIRATIONAL LECTURES 
 
 AND 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEMS 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 AV. J. COLA^ILLE. 
 
 Author of "Bertha: A Romance of Easter-tide," &c,, &c. 
 
 PERSONAL SKETCH OF THE SPEAKER. 
 
 ^-m-^ 
 
 J. BURNS, 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, W.C. 
 

 PRINTED BY 
 
 lAMES BURNS, 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, W. C\ ^ 
 
 LONDON. 
 
NOTICE TO READERS. 
 
 -^- 
 
 CN 
 
 THE following Inspirational Lectcreis and Poems 
 were, with three exceptions, delivered in Neumeyer 
 Hallj London^ during April, May, and June, 188i. Arrange- 
 ments were made to secure thirteen Lectures and PoemSj 
 at the commencement of the series ° the other five were 
 reported and secured for publication as follows. 
 
 Lady Caithness desired the publication of the remarkable 
 utterances delivered in her salon, in Paris, and very kindly 
 defrayed the cost of their reporting and publication. A 
 v/^ gentleman greatly interested in the question of Re-embodi- 
 »^ ment, secured a report of the lecture given on that subject, 
 in Neumeyer Hall, Sunday afternoon, June 1. A lecture 
 given on " Progress and Poverty " elicited much interest, 
 but it was not reported, as it contained very similar ideas to 
 that on '^ What is Property ? " given in Leeds, August 14 ; 
 that lecture found place in this Volume. The closing lecture, 
 on " Atlantis," was reported verhatim as it fell from the 
 lips of the speaker, in Neumeyer Hall, Sunday evening, June 
 29, 1884, a kind friend defraying the expenses. Thus 
 eighteen Lectures and Poems are embodied in the following 
 pages, while the original intention was only to report and 
 publish thirteen. 
 
 ^ 
 
iv NOTICE TO READERS. 
 
 The poems, ^Yitll one exception, were all given publicly in 
 Neumeyer Hall, at the close of the morning or evening ser- 
 vices. That following the lectm^e on '' What is Property ? " 
 was given in Psychological Hall, Leeds, and being peculiarly 
 suitable was attached to the lecture on the Land Question, in 
 print. 
 
 Each Lecture and Poem has been revised by the speaker, 
 through whose hand the inspiring spirits can always correct 
 reporter's or typographical errors, one of W. J. Colville's 
 spirit guides having been, when on earth, actively engaged in 
 literary labour of that particular kind. 
 
 These observations are made in justice alike to the public 
 at large and those kind friends through whose generosity 
 verbatim reports of W. J. Colville's utterances on special 
 themes have been secured. Should this Volume meet with 
 an extensive sale, a second collection cf W. J. Colville's 
 Inspirational Utterances will shortly appear. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Personal Sketch of W. J. Colville vii 
 
 Invocation ....,, xiii 
 
 INSPIRATIONAL LECTURES. 
 
 I. What the World needs to make it Happy 1 
 
 IL Seven Steps to Spiritual Perfection , 17 
 
 III. The Coming of the Kingdom of God . 44: 
 
 IV. Spiritualism, and its Relations to Theo- 
 
 SOPHY AND TO CHRISTIANITY . . 59 
 
 V. Resurrections : Their Spirit and their 
 
 Letter ...... 84 
 
 VI. Religious Truths and Controversial 
 
 Theologies ... = . = 97 
 
 VII. The Philosophy op Re-Embodiment . 112 
 
 VIIL Reason and Intuition . . . .129 
 
 IX. True Prayer : Its Nature and Efficacy ' 145 
 X. The True Gift of Healing, and the 
 
 True Spiritual Physician . . . 159 
 XL The Spiritual Significance and Use of 
 
 Fire ....... 177 
 
 XII. The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, 
 
 and the Descent of the Holy Spirit 196 
 
 XIII. A Spiritual View of the Trinity . . 210 
 
 XIV. What is Property ? .... 226 
 XV. True Spiritual Marriage „ „ . 245 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XVI. The Spiritual Significance of the 
 
 Apocalypse . . . , .261 
 
 XVII. The Spirit Spheres attaching to the 
 Earth, and the Mission of Modern 
 Spiritualism to Humanity, as affect- 
 ing ALL Institutions and Classes of 
 Society ...... 279 
 
 XVIII. The Lost Continent, Atlantis ; and 
 the Civilization of the Pre-historic 
 World . . . . . .296 
 
 IMPEOMPTU POEMS. 
 
 The Cross -Bearer .... 
 
 A Glimpse of Paradise 
 
 The Star Circle ..... 
 
 The Twin Angels .... 
 
 Who and What is Christ ? 
 
 The Home of the Soul 
 
 The Idol-Breaker .... 
 
 The Way to God .... 
 
 The Power of Sympathy 
 
 Cleansing Fires ..... 
 
 Ascension through Sorrow . 
 
 Our Mother Who art in Heaven 
 
 The Cry for Bread .... 
 
 Two Hearts that beat as One . 
 
 The Opening of the Seals . 
 
 The Golden Age .... 
 
 The Real and the Ideal 
 
 15 
 
 ■ 42 
 80 
 95 
 110 
 126 
 143 
 157 
 175 
 194 
 208 
 222 
 242 
 258 
 276 
 294 
 314 
 
 Erratum.— Pa^e 229 : for " Black Forest " read New Forest. 
 
PERSONAL 
 SKETCH OF W. J. COLVILLE. 
 
 N presenting this Volume of Discourses and Poems to tlie 
 public, it may be interesting to all readers, especially 
 to tliose who have neither seen nor heard the Lecturer, 
 to be made acquainted with a few facts concerning him. 
 
 It is quite beyond us, in the brief space at our disposal, 
 to do more than present a few salient points of interest to 
 the reader, without any attempt at elaboration. Plain facts 
 are always valuable and interesting, and as phrenology and 
 physiognomy have commanded a considerable share of the 
 attention of thoughtful people of late, a word-picture of a 
 celebrated personage is often an illustration of the truth of 
 these sciences. 
 
 In the very early spring of 1877, W. J. Colville was first 
 introduced to Mr. Burns, the publisher of this volume. At 
 that time he was about 18 years of age, and had enjoyed very 
 few educational advantages ; nevertheless his inspired oratory 
 was so remarkable, that after hearing him speak once in the 
 drawing room at the Spiritual Institution, the Editor of The 
 Medium considered himself justified in hiring a short-hand 
 w^riter to take dow^n W, J. Colville's oration, at Doughty Hall, 
 on the following Sunday evening. That lecture and many 
 others were soon after published in The Medium, and the 
 name of W. J. Colville soon became a household word with 
 all English-speaking Spirituahsts. 
 
 The story of his sudden and singular discovery of his 
 mediumistic powers has often been told, and is doubtless 
 familiar to many who will read this record, though it w^ill be 
 new to others. 
 
 On the 24th of May, 1874, Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan (now 
 
viii PERSONAL SKETCH 
 
 Mrs. Riclimond) spoke in the Concert Hall, West Street, 
 Brigliton. W. J. Cohdlle, who was then under 16, and knew 
 nothing whatever of Spiritualism (though he was extremely 
 interested in liberal religion, and was at that time an active 
 member of a Unitarian congregation, though as a professional 
 singer he frequently officiated in the choirs of churches of 
 widely different theology) was attracted by the unusual 
 announcement that a lady, described on the placards as a 
 " trance medium," w^ould lecture upon " Spiritualism, under 
 influence of her spirit guides," and also give " an impromptu 
 poem on a subject chosen by the audience." 
 
 Attending the meeting on the evening in qaestion, he be- 
 came conscious of spirit presence during Mrs, Tappan's 
 inspired invocation. He distinctly remembers seeing a misty 
 form behind the speaker, the outlines of whose features he 
 could clearly trace, while throughout the oration and poem 
 his attention and gaze were rivetted upon the speaker, he 
 feeling all the time under a most agreeable spell, as though 
 some very pleasant change were about to take place in him- 
 self and his surroundings. 
 
 No sooner had he returned home than he astonished all 
 at the supper table, by asking in a deep bass voice if the 
 company present knew anything about Spiritualism, telling 
 them that if they did not they would show their wisdom if 
 they refrained from abusing it. (The conversation had 
 turned on Spiritualism, through W. J. Colville having told 
 the folks at the table, that he had been to hear a Mrs. 
 Tappan instead of going to a church as usual.) " Well," 
 said a lady present, '' you say that Mrs. Tappan gives im- 
 promptu poems on any subjects the audience may give her ; if 
 there are any spirits here, let them influence you and give us 
 a similar test ; and that wall be a test if you give a poem, as 
 Ave know you have never displayed the slightest poetical 
 genius, and do not even care to read poetry." The w'ords 
 were hardly out of the lady's mouth, when W. J. Oolville's 
 features underwent a complete transformation, and, in a girlish 
 voice of very peculiar tone, he expressed his readiness to im- 
 provise on any suitable theme. 
 
 He describes his sensation at the time in the following 
 words, which we have from his own lips : " I suddenly felt 
 myself lifted in tlie air. I seemed to have an enormous 
 head and a very small body. My lips seemed to be moving 
 
OF W. J. COLVILLE. ix 
 
 mechanically, under the pressure of some influence over 
 Avhich I could exert, and could will to exert, no power what- 
 ever. I heard some one commenting upon a poem, and then 
 I sat down and finished my supper, and wondered if I had 
 not been to sleep. That was my first experience as a medium 
 for speaking, though from my earliest childhood I had had 
 spiritual experiences, and constantly felt, saw, and heard 
 beings around me, who were not in material form." 
 
 After that first striking example of inspired utterance, 
 W. J. Colville was constantly requested to display his phe- 
 nomenal abilities, in the drawing-rooms of the aristocracy 
 and gentry. About that time, or soon after, he was the sub- 
 ject of many very successful mesmeric experiments, though 
 he was never really subject to the influence of more than 
 one person, a young gentleman of extraordinary psychological 
 power and very attractive personal appearance, to whom W. 
 J. Colville continued devotedly attached from the first 
 moment of their meeting till circumstances, over which 
 neither of them had the least control, separated them, doubt- 
 less at the right time, as this loss of his dearest friend opened 
 the way for our Lecturer's prominent appearance before the 
 public at large. 
 
 All through his public career, which has been a very strik- 
 ing and eventful one, W. J. Colville has relied entirely upon 
 the guidance of his invisible friends. He assures all that 
 they have never deceived and never once led him to make a 
 move he afterwards repented. The only occasions when he 
 has acted unwisely have been when he has not taken or 
 acted upon the advice of his unseen directors, whom he 
 regards as his dearest friends, and between whom and him- 
 self the closest bonds of sympathy always exist. 
 
 Sometimes while speaking he is quite unconscious, at 
 other times he hears everything that is said, but his own 
 mind never interferes with the controlling spirit. No one 
 can listen to his utterances for any length of time, \^dthout 
 discovering traces of the distinctive individuality of the 
 various spirits who constitute his band of guides. At times 
 the style is argumentative, and the lectures are closely 
 reasoned in plain, forcible language, adapted to hard-headed 
 thinkers and controversialists ; at other times the language is 
 singularly flowery and poetic, and the subject matter is 
 idealistic or transcendental ; while the answers to questions 
 
X PERSONAL SKETCH 
 
 upon hundreds of different subjects, which are constantly 
 being given both pubhcly and privately through this remark- 
 able instrument of the Spirit-world, give evidence of a 
 reservoir of intelligence somewhere, which appears inex- 
 haustible. 
 
 Though W. J. Colville is admirably adapted for introduc- 
 ing Spiritualism to new hearers and in places where its claims 
 have never been fairly presented to the public, and while he 
 excels in deahng with almost every topic of public interest, 
 his great power has been chiefly manifested in long engage- 
 ments in one place, as in the case of his lengthy ministrations 
 in Berkeley Hall, and other places in the city of Boston, 
 U. S. A. The more one hears him the more one wishes to 
 listen to what he says (or rather to what his guides have to 
 say through him), and it is only when he has the opportunity 
 of following up a train of thought, by a long series of con- 
 catenated lectures, that the full greatness of his abilities as an 
 orator begins to dawn upon the listener. Of course all 
 lectures are not of equal value, and conditions have something 
 to do with their delivery, though not nearly so much as with 
 the majority of mediumistic orators. 
 
 W. J. Colville cannot be called an uncultured or illiterate 
 person, though he never received any education beyond that 
 obtained in a preparatory school, and he was never either an 
 apt scholar nor a regular attendant when he was getting his 
 education. He has, however, considerable natural abilities, 
 has keen perceptive faculties, but not a very good memory. 
 He can be very agreeable in private life, when he chooses to 
 exert himself to please, but very often persons, who desire to 
 intrude upon his privacy or force themselves upon his notice, 
 find him absent-minded and indifferent to their desires. 
 
 In personal appearance he is decidedly attractive, though 
 one would not call him singularly handsome. His manners, 
 when he is in a happy mood, are pleasant and polite. He 
 can converse fluently and entertainingly upon his travels and 
 experiences in the world, and often manifests a large amount 
 of genuine humour, not always unmixed with satire. He is 
 five feet seven inches in height, not very stout, singularly 
 well-built, though by no means powerfully organized. His 
 features are finely chiselled. He has a fine head, expansive 
 brow, expressive blue eyes, fair hair and a very clear skin. 
 
 The leading phrenological indications of character seem to 
 
OF W. J. COLVILLE. xi 
 
 be Conscieritiousness, manifesting itself in a devout reverence 
 for the moral sense of every individual, a hatred for shams 
 and artifices, and a singular breadth of thought and toleration 
 for everybody's convictions, no matter how singular they 
 may appear to the world. Benevolence, expressing itself in a 
 desire to help everybody, without however any particular 
 feeling of regard for relations or fellow countrymen. Ideality, 
 manifested in an appreciation of everything beautifid in 
 nature and art, and a great belief in the influence of the 
 beautiful to elevate the human race. Causality, evidenced 
 in a determination to know the why and wherefore of all 
 things as far as possible. These four organs seem exceptionally 
 prominent, while Mirthfulness, Self-esteem, Approbativeness, 
 Combativeness and Cautiousness, are all quite sufficiently 
 developed. Continuity, Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, 
 and some others are conspicuous by their absence rather than, 
 by their presence. 
 
 W. J. Colville is a natural Theist : he could not be an. 
 Atheist were he to try ever so hard to give up his faith in a 
 Supreme Intelligence. He is a born Spiritualist, and finds it 
 as hard to comprehend Materialism as Materialists find it 
 difficult to discover the reasonableness of Spiritualism. 
 Though fond of music, ritual and all the accessories of 
 ostentatious systems of religion, he has a hatred of all sectarian 
 limitations, and perhaps his intense love of liberty is after all 
 liis dominant characteristic. He is quite willing that all 
 others should enjoy their freedom, but he must have his own. 
 He makes a bad servant, but a kind and considerate master." 
 He is not tyrannical or aggressive, but very impatient of all 
 restraint, and therefore succeeds far better on an independent 
 basis than as the hireling of a society. 
 
 As an author, W. J. Colville has made a great name, both 
 in England and America. He wields a graceful and a facile 
 pen, but declares himself utterly unable to excel in any 
 literary enterprise, without the assistance of his spirit friends. 
 He has a splendid voice, both for speaking and singing, clear^ 
 resonant and penetrating, capable of giving great expression 
 to all he essays to interpret. As an instrumental musician 
 he would never rise into celebrity, by reason of his lack of 
 application to study, it being quite unnatural to him to work 
 in any direction which requires a special effort of his own 
 mind. This trait would be a weakness in many, but in him 
 
xu 
 
 PERSONAL SKETCH. 
 
 it is a source of strength, as witli his peculiar gifts and sensi- 
 tive organization, he is now often able to speak at length 
 three times on a Sunday, and five evenings in the week, 
 to large public audiences ; also frequently to sing in public, 
 accomplish a great deal of literary work, and take a large 
 amount of out-door exercise without apparent fatigue. 
 
 His chosen companions are vigorous young men, and he 
 has a great love of animals, from whom he says he gets more 
 good than from any other quarter. Dogs are his especial 
 favourites, with whom he is always on terms of mutual con- 
 fidence and affection. He is kind and considerate to children, 
 but has no faculty for training them, until they are approach- 
 ing maturity. He seems entirely destitute of appreciation of 
 wedded bliss, and, though thoroughly domesticated from 
 childhood, is utterly unfit to enter the married state ; and, 
 indeed, he assures us he cannot understand the attraction 
 of the sexes, except theoretically. 
 
 He is almost always in the enj 3}Tnent of excellent health, 
 and finds his work a j)leasure, and is evidently peculiarlv 
 cut out by nature to do exactly the work he is so ably 
 performing. 
 
 With these few introductory remarks, we refer the reader 
 to the Lectures. 
 
 CHARLES BLAOKIE MONORIEFF. 
 
INVOCATION. 
 
 OTHOU unchanging Spirit I wIlo alone canst never change, 
 while all things change around Thee ; Thou who art at 
 the centre of all being, where perfect repose remains in its un- 
 disturbed serenity for ever : the generations of men coming 
 and going upon the little planet earth are ever seeking to find 
 Thee out to perfection, and are always failing in their search, 
 because Thou alone art Infinite, and all they are finite. 
 "^ Spirits released from the bonds of flesh still search for Thee, 
 but they to full perfection ne'er discern Thee, for they also 
 are less, than infinite ; and as Thy perfect Mind and Will 
 govern all things, inimitably and unerringly, from age to age, 
 we can but seek to know Thee more and more, by contem- 
 plating the vastness, the majesty, the order, the beauty of 
 Thy creation. We know not how souls at first received 
 their birth from Thee ; we cannot fathom the eternal abyss 
 of Thy wisdom and Thy love, but Thy spirit is ever teaching 
 us that the pure in heart shall see Thee, and the experiences 
 of our own souls confirm the heavenly teaching. We come 
 to Thee upon this day, when thousands upon thousands are 
 congregated to dwell upon Thy love in providing means of 
 salvation for man from sin and its consequences. We have 
 gathered in this place to-day, that we may learn of Thee, 
 Thou who art Thyself the Creator, Sustainer, Saviour and 
 Redeemer of men ; and we come to Thee as children to a 
 gracious Father and a tender Mother : not to appease 
 Thine ire or supplicate Thee to be gracious, but to strive to 
 
XIV 
 
 INVOCATION, 
 
 remove whatever impediments stand between us and a know- 
 ledge of Thyself. We know not all Thy laws, we keep not 
 all we know ; we need angelic, yea, divine strength to perfect 
 and sustain us : and as the fair spring flowers open wide their 
 petals to receive the light, as human eyes and ears are 
 ever ready to welcome the sights and sounds of spring-time, 
 and receive new baptisms of nature's lovliness and joy, so 
 may we spiritually open eveiy avenue of our being to receive 
 Thy Light, and by it be blessed indeed for time and for 
 eternity. Amen. 
 
LONDON LECTURES,. 1884. 
 
 -^•^/ 
 
 L 
 
 WHAT THE AYORLD XEED3 TO MAKE 
 IT HAPPY. 
 
 WE have chosen, as the subject upon which to open up 
 this Course of Lectures, •• What the World xeeds 
 TO MAKE IT Happy." Tliis theme we have not idly 
 or accidentally selected, but have thoughtfully made choice 
 of it as a fitting introduction to all we may have to say 
 in subsequent Discourses. 
 
 In order to make ourselves plain to our hearers, it is very 
 necessary that we should at the outset of any special course 
 of teaching, lay down ver}^ plainly certain general principles, 
 upon which we intend to build, certain cardinal propositions 
 which it will be needful for you to keep plainly before you, 
 as our subjects unfold themselves in orderly sequence. 
 ^ We start with the search for Happiness, and lay it down 
 as a central affirmation, that every human spirit, either in 
 this world or any other, seeks happiness ; and that happiness 
 can only be found in what may be truly termed a life of 
 spiritual perfection. 
 
 The trite saying : " Virtue is its own reward, vice its own 
 punishment," is ever true. But — What is virtue ? What is 
 vice ? Can we point to any one on eartli and say : Behold I 
 he is altogether virtuous, or to any one else and exclaim : 
 Behold I he is altogether vicious ? We cannot pronounce any 
 one wholly good, neither can we pronounce any one wholly 
 happy ; we can pronounce no one wholly evil, neither can 
 we pronounce any one wholly miserable. Virtue and vice. 
 
2 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 happiness and misery, are on earth, at least, but relative terras. 
 Absolute happiness and absolute virtue belong only to those 
 celestial or deific states of being, where souls having com- 
 pleted their probationary progress enjoy uninterrupted felicity, 
 as the result of unpolluted integrity and unsullied charity. ^ 
 
 The search for happiness is purely natural and thoroughly 
 justifiable. It is so universal that it is shared by all sentient 
 beings without exception. Only very occasionally do we 
 meet one w^ho even professes to be indifferent to happiness ; 
 and this indifferentism is so morbid and unhealthy a thing, 
 that we instinctively recoil from it, and cannot be made to see 
 any virtue, beauty, or religion in it. Many persons' religious 
 views are, however, so gloomy and pessimistic, that they wage 
 incessant warfare against the natural and legitimate indul- 
 gence of our love of the beautiful, and our desire to enjoy our- 
 selves and to see others enjoying themselves around us. The 
 Puritans, for instance, considered not only dancing, theatricals, 
 and evening parties, but even instrumental music and all other 
 songs than sacred ones, sinful. They proposed to regard the 
 earth as a dreary wilderness, a wretched waste, an arid desert, 
 a vale of tears in which all the elect of God should appear 
 among their fellows with sober countenances, and be known 
 as saints by the gloominess and rigour of their conduct and 
 appearance. 
 
 No doubt Cromwell's soldiers, who destroyed all the costly 
 and excjuisite works of art they could lay their hands upon, 
 were actuated in part, at least, by a laudable protest against 
 idolatry, which they wished to stamp out, root and branch, 
 through the length and breadth of the land, but an insolent 
 reactionary wave of feeling and action can be only temporarily 
 healthful ; it is in itself a storm, a scourge, a pestilence, a 
 consuming fire A^'hich sweeps and burns everything before it, 
 and like John the Baptist, who preached repentance only, 
 like Carlyle wdio did little else than expose the wrongs and 
 injustice in the world, it can never be more than a necessary 
 precursor of some truth yet to dawn, which could never make 
 its advent were it not for the hard and crude preparation 
 w^hich a sturdy iconoclasm has made for it. 
 
 Dr. Watts, tinctured mth Puritanism though he was, and 
 introducing into his hymnology many verses teaching the 
 severest Calvinistic doctrines, has nevertheless made himself 
 memorable as the author of these beautiful and justly- 
 
HAPPINESS. 3 
 
 celebrated lines, forming part of a really clianning and inspir- 
 ing hymn : — 
 
 *' Religion never was designed to make our pleasures less," 
 
 But the contexts very positively show that Dr. Watts' idea 
 of pleasure is not that of the worldling, who speaks of enjoy- 
 ment as though it were inseparable from expensive living 
 and noisy recreation. He takes the ground that all our true 
 joys must spring from that celestial world towards which we 
 are all tending, and that before we rise to the immortal state 
 beyond the stream of death, a reflected glory from the realms 
 of bliss may light our pathway here, and cause us to enjoy, 
 in anticipation at least, much of the happiness which will be 
 uninterruptedly ours in a higher state of being than the pre- 
 sent. 
 
 / It is quite an open question, whether this constant living in 
 the future is practically best or not. The best thinkers of 
 this age are not usually averse to Mr. Moncure D. Conway's 
 theory of an '' Earthward Pilgrimage ; " though, on the 
 other hand, if earth be all, it is extremely unsatisfactory, as it 
 raises many hopes it never gratifies, and constantly mocks us 
 with delusive dreams of a fruition which can never come. 
 The middle ground between two extremes is ever the wisest 
 and safest stand to take ; the golden mean is ever the most 
 desirable position. We need the prospect of results to nerve 
 us to noble endeavours here and now, and we need to give 
 assiduous attention to the duties of the present hour, or we 
 shall never qualify ourselves for future happiness, which is 
 after all but the liarvest of life's seed-time here below. / 
 
 We find ourselves in conflict perpetually with two directly 
 opposite schools of thought, both of which contain many 
 great and good men and women, with whom personally we 
 have no quarrel, but the fallacy or incompleteness of whose 
 theories we feel bound to expose ; as false theories of life are 
 only too likely to give rise to erroneous modes of living, as 
 we cannot expect a conscientious supporter of any theory not 
 to be influenced by that theory in his daily conduct. The 
 Church has always laid immense stress upon mere belief. 
 Believe and be saved, disbelieve and be damned, has been for 
 ages the watchword of orthodoxy. Liberal thinkers very 
 naturaUy and reasonably object to this wholesale condem- 
 nation for eternity as well as time, of all who do not believe 
 
4 L Os\D OK LECT URES. 
 
 tlie Clinrcli dogmas, or place reliance upon a personal saviour 
 and redeemer in the person of Jesus Christ. But though ^ve 
 sympathize most v^'armly with all who dissent from doctrines 
 their reason cannot accept, we can nevertheless see the rise 
 of the doctrine that salvation is the result of faith, in a very 
 natural experience of human life. The doctrine has its 
 analogy in the affairs of material life. Take an instance : one 
 of you desires to go from London to Xew York, and you 
 jjeisistently sail in an easterly instead of a westerly direction. 
 You have got into your head that ISTew York lies east from 
 London, and so long as you believe this you will go on sailing- 
 east and getting farther and farther away from your desired 
 destination. 8ome one points out to you your mistake, and 
 causes you to see, acknowledge, and rectify your error, with 
 this result : you at once change your course completely, you 
 convert yourself, or you are converted through the iustru- 
 mentahty of the person who has made you see your error 
 cind rectify it, and henceforth you sail west instead of east, 
 and in due time arrive at your journey's end and find your- 
 self safely landed in the port where you desire to be. 
 
 You can readily multiply instances to prove that a right 
 faith is necessary to a right life, and that as works are neces- 
 sary to spiritual growth, and works largely depend on faith, 
 faith may he necessary as a cause while works are its natural 
 effects. The temperance advocate may go on preaching 
 against the use of alcohol, hut people will go on manufactur- 
 ing and drinking it till they see it to be an evil ; you may 
 talk as much as you will about temperance legislation and 
 enforced abstinence under penalty attached to disobedience, 
 but laws cannot be passed until people are disj)osed to pass 
 them, and even if passed while generally unpopidar they will 
 be to a great extent evaded, disregarded, and in many cases 
 openly defied. Moral suasion and mental advancement will 
 accomj^lish in this country far more in a single week than 
 coercive measures in twenty years. People are no longer the 
 children in understanding they were in the dark ages, no 
 longer can they be governed by fear, and made to live 
 soberly because they fear the chastisement of an outraged 
 sovereign. The culture of the intellect and the development 
 of the moral sense in the individual, constitute the pride and 
 glory of the nineteenth century, and all preaching tobe lastingly 
 effective must be addressed to the souls and intellects of men. 
 
HAPPINESS. 5 
 
 to their sense of right and of utility, not to tlieir craven 
 dread of punisliment, or their debasing fear of a divine or 
 human tyrant./ 
 
 The search for happiness is universal, the instinct of self- 
 preservation is naturally implanted in every living creature : 
 and as no instinct is given to us for naught, as no natural 
 impulse is in itseh' sinlul or unworthy, it is surely justifiable 
 on the part of us all, to do all that in us lies to promote our 
 own happiness and welfare as well as that of others. The 
 mistake has been to regard a purely natural animal instinct as 
 an evidence of supernatural grace. Perhaps no text has 
 been more frequently spoken from in Christian pulpits than 
 this : "^Yhat shall we do to be saved? '' It has formed a 
 fruitful topic for innumerable tracts and sermons of the most 
 rhapsodic and exciting kind, and yet the occasion of that 
 question being originally asked, by the keepers of the 
 prison where Paul and Silas were confined, according to the 
 Acts of the Apostles, does not necessarily justify the im- 
 mense stress which evangelical divines invariably lay upon it. 
 We are told that there was a fearful earthquake which caused 
 great alarm to the jailors, and that through its instrumentality 
 and also by the aid of spirit-power, the fettered disciples had 
 their chains broken and were themselves set free. The super- 
 stitious and terrified officers oi' the law shrieked out to the 
 delivered captives : " What shall we do to be saved ? " and 
 received the answer : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
 ye shall be saved, and all your households."' The salvation 
 referred to by Paul and his companion was, undoubtedly, 
 salvation from that fear which made life burdensome, and in. 
 the event of a sudden natural upheaval, a burden almost too 
 heavy to be borne. 
 
 / The fear of death is one of the greatest curses of humanity. 
 It arises no donbt from the inscrutable mystery which ever 
 enshrouds man's future, and also from the sense of nnpre- 
 paredness for life beyond, which oppresses every heart when 
 conscious of duties imfulfilled and time and opportunities for 
 improvement and amendment wasted. Eemove all fear of 
 death and of the hereafter from the minds of men, and you 
 have done for the world what ages of work in every other 
 direction could never accomplish. Can intelligent, thinking- 
 people be happy or feel any security, with the awful dread of 
 eternal misery constantly hanging over their heads ?/ Can 
 
() L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 any sane and cautions individual erect a homestead at the 
 hase of Etna or Vesuvius, and feel contented and secure 
 wlien at any moment a volcanic eruption may bring death 
 and desolation to himself and all he holds most dear. The 
 fear of death has been and to a large extent still is the night- 
 mare of the world. To assuage this terror and calm this fear, 
 rivers of blood have been outpoured in vain ; human as well 
 as animal sacrifices have been offered upon the altars of all 
 religions. Christianity has not been exempt from the terrible 
 charge of murder : the heretics burnt at the stake by Catholics 
 and Protestants alike; the bloody wars engaged in; the cruel 
 massacres perpetrated to appease the wrath of an offended 
 deity, render sickening the pages of history, which record the 
 progress of a religion avowedly under direction of the 
 heavenly Prince of Peace. We condemn no one system 
 more than another ; we find fault with no one class of persons 
 more than with others ; we attribute much, though not all of 
 the iniquities perpetrated in Religion's sacred name, to the 
 terrible dread of divine wrath, which has so overwhelmed 
 men's minds that they have made frantic attempts to appease 
 the offended Sovereign of the Universe, by slaughtering 
 upon altars dedicated to His name whatever the devotee most 
 higlily prized or dearly loved. In this age of the study of 
 comparative theology, we are obliged to place side by side 
 the glories and defects of all the religious systems of the 
 world, so far as we able, and with what result ? Surely we 
 are forced to the conclusion that no one system of religion 
 has a monopoly of truth or a monopoly of error, but that all 
 systems have been defiled, even from their inception, with 
 the fearful thought of an angry God and some dreadful out- 
 pouring of His wrath in the world to come. 
 
 We have just celebrated the Thirty-sixth Anniversary of 
 the advent of Modern Spiritualism, and in addresses appro- 
 priate to the occasion have endeavoured to ennumerate some 
 of the most important advantages of Spiritualism to the 
 world. First and foremost among these advantages do we 
 place the revelation Spiritualism makes of the hereafter, and 
 the immense influence it has exerted in freeino- tlie human 
 mind from that enslaving fear of death, which is so wide- 
 spread and so terrible in many instances. Spiritualism may 
 have intoxicated those who have been too suddenly brought 
 under the searching beams of its stupendous light; some 
 
HAPFI^^ESS. 7 
 
 may have been so elated witli its consolations, so blinded 
 ^vith its revelations, that so much light has made them dizzy, 
 and they have staggered and fallen by the wayside, while the 
 enemies of Spiritualism have rejoiced over their temj^orary 
 bewilderment, and proclaimed with the voices of trumpeters, 
 that Spiritualism leads its victims to immorality or the mad- 
 house./ But to the great majority of those upon whom its 
 light has shone, its warnings have been equal to its promises, 
 and its faithful delineations of sorrow as well as joy in the 
 spirit-world, have led to sober reflections upon the respon- 
 sibility attached to human life, and the inevitable results in 
 the future of all acts committed, words spoken, and thoughts 
 encouraged here. Spiritualism is, after all, the only system 
 that can effectually overcome that unfounded or exaggerated 
 fear of death, which is so prevalent in the world, and so 
 direful in its consequences to humanity. No amount of 
 Atheism, Materialism or Agnosticism can do anything more 
 than leave the future life an utter blank, an impenetrable 
 mystery. / To disbelieve in a future life, or to doubt there is 
 one, proves nothing ; and in the absence of proof to the con- 
 trary, orthodoxy may be true after all. 
 
 Before we can effectually refute the false theories of our 
 orthodox brethren, we must first prove what there reallj/ is 
 beyond death ; we must clasp hands across the mystic river 
 with our brethren gone befoi'C, for only when we can explore 
 the land where they are dwelling, and bring tidings to the 
 world concerning the Realm of Spirit, have we positive, 
 definite knowledge wherewith to silence doubt and put to 
 flight erroneous theories./ In the absence of definite know- 
 ledge concerning the life after death, any theory may be 
 true ; we can never displace an error unless we have a fact 
 to put in its place, which renders it (the error) an impossibility. 
 Let aU our teachers remember this when they pour out 
 tirades of abuse against those w^ho differ from them, and hold 
 up to ridicule the opinions and doctrines of others. To 
 prove others wrong is not to prove yourselves right ; you 
 must prove that something is true ; prove an affirmation, ere 
 you can dethrone an error or destroy a superstition. No 
 error is completely overturned except by a truth, which 
 renders it impossible. , You are falsely accused, for instance, 
 of committing some misdemeanour, in a certain place, at a 
 certain time. How is the accusation to be refuted and vour 
 
8 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 reputation restored '? Simply by your proving where you 
 really were at that particular time, and if it can be shown to 
 the satisfaction of the court, where you were at that moment, 
 common sense declares you could not have been elsewhere. 
 You have thereby saved your character and escciped fine or 
 imprisonment. 
 
 / Agnosticism is an improvement u^Don Orthodoxy, in a 
 purely negative sense : it deadens the fear of hell, but who 
 shall say that the sceptic is not oftentimes the most miserable 
 of men '? He tells you he does not believe this, that, and the 
 other; but can he jjroi;e anything to the contrary? What 
 certainty can he have that the very things he denies may not 
 be realities after all. Knowledge not ignorance, certainty not 
 doubt, gives real and lasting happiness, and no one can be 
 said to be truly happy until he has some satisfactory 
 philosophy which can stand by him in foul weather as in 
 fair, never lea^dng him in his hours of loneliness, depression 
 and well-nigh despair. 
 
 Far be it from us to assert that a knowledge of phenomenal 
 Spiritualism is necessary to this result. There are intuitive 
 evidences of the justice of God and the real nature of life 
 here and hereafter, which need no phenomena to make them 
 more secure ; but how any thoughtful and affectionate person 
 can be satisfied or happy when he holds orthodox opinions 
 concerning the future, is more than we can imagine, y 
 
 A few years ago we knew a lady who had seven children, 
 all of whom she professed to love very dearly. Three of 
 these children were converted, according to her belief, and 
 were members of Christian churches; the other four were 
 •'• yet in their sins." Two of her sons, both of them " uncon- 
 verted,"' were engaged in very dangerous business, and at 
 any moment might be hurried into eternity, This lady said 
 she fully believed that if either or both of her sons should 
 (lie in their then condition, they would go to hell and remain 
 there for ever; while she and her three other children were 
 secure of heaven. Was this woman concerned about her 
 unconverted children ? Apparently not; she dwelt so much 
 upon her own personal security that she paid little heed to 
 the moral state of her sons in peril of eternal doom. And 
 why should she ? She professed to love God, and bow in 
 all things to His ^^•ill. One of her favourite texts, when 
 tpiestioned on this matter, was : " Shall not the judge of all 
 
HAPPINESS, 
 
 the earth do right? But ^^hat is right, if it is not that 
 which is increasingly revealed to man through the moral 
 sense, with growing brightness age after age, as right ? Are 
 we to take certain isolated texts and distorted views of 
 Scripture, and cling to them with a death-grip, when they 
 outrage our every sense of rectitude, and at the same time 
 flatly contradict the precept and example of that Great 
 Teacher whom Christendom acknowledges as God made 
 manifest in flesh ? Callousness, indifferentism, selfishness : 
 Is this rehgion ? To be satisfied with safety for oneself 
 when others are in danger: Is this nobilit}^ ? Such consum- 
 mate selfishness, according to the Gospels, led to the doom of 
 Dives, for whom the cleansing fires of a spiritual Gehenna 
 were necessary to the bringing out of his latent regard for 
 the welfare of his brethren who yet remained on earth. We 
 are told in the Lives of the Saints, that many a holy man 
 has been so overcome Avhen contemplating the wicked in 
 futurity, that though the weather was bitterly cold, his cell 
 unwarmed, and himself most thinly clad, he became so heated 
 with intensity of feeling that the perspiration streamed dow-n 
 him in torrents ; and if poor, frail, fallible, imperfect man can 
 be so deeply touched at the mere thought of the sufferings of 
 his fellow-beings, can we for a moment dare to blaspheme 
 the Eternal, by imagining th^Ct he can regard as eternally 
 right that w^hich we in our imperfect charity cannot bear to 
 so much as consider wdth complacency for a single instant V 
 / This brings us to a point wdiere we wish to say something- 
 concerning the nature of Happiness in the Spirit Spheres. 
 We are constantly asked if friends in the higher fife know 
 how their loved ones suffer on the earth, and in adjacent 
 spheres; if so, can they be happy? Many prevaihng con- 
 ceptions of the spirit-world arc remarkably incorrect. Ortho- 
 dox theories teach that all who die in Christ are instantly at 
 rest, immediately translated to some fair and glorious world 
 where they will sorrow and sigh nevermore. Happiness, 
 however, in the spirit-world depends, as it does on earth, 
 up^pn inward growth and harmony. Nothing can give us 
 happiness unless we have developed within us power to appre- 
 ciate and enjoy. A box at the opera is of no use to a deaf 
 man, or to one who cannot enjoy the music. A ticket to a 
 flower show% or a picture gallery, is of no possible service to 
 one who is blind to form and colour, or who has no regard 
 
10 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 for floral and artistic beauties. Enjoynient is ours wlien we 
 have earned the right, and developed the power to enjoy, but 
 no sooner. Death is the great emancipator, who sets us all 
 free by his mystic touch, to find our own level : but death 
 does not endow us with either knowledge or spiritual 
 development; these are not consequent upon his icy touch. 
 Happiness in the material world is dependent upon know- 
 ledge and contentment, upon usefulness and symmetry, upon 
 abilit}^ to discover the use of life, and the disposition to 
 employ every energy in the performance of some useful 
 tasks, which, while they do not overtax or strain the mind, 
 constantly and harmoniously employ its every capability./ 
 
 Work has been too often associated with the fall of man ; 
 we hear that labour is a curse, and that if our first parents 
 had not transgressed the command of God in Eden, 6000 
 years ago, w^e should have enjoyed a physical immortality of 
 luxurious indolence and ease. But neither work nor death 
 came into the world by sin, which is any deliberate breaking 
 of a Divine command or natural law ; work and deatli are 
 alike necessary to the evolution of higher and ever higher 
 states of being, and correct views of both work and death (for 
 both are inevitable) are in our opinion essential to the most 
 perfect unfoldment of human nature here and hereafter. 
 
 We have already spoken of the fear of death as one of the 
 greatest blights and curses of the world, and have asked you 
 to consider well the importance of a spiritual revelation which 
 explains the part played by death in the evolution of ulti- 
 mately perfect states of being. We have only to study 
 natural science, to learn how vegetables died, and animals 
 died, before primeval man could walk this planet : and as 
 there can be no discordance between the word and works of 
 Deity, that cannot be a true message from the Infinite, which 
 in any way falsifies the message from the Eternal, which he 
 delivers to us through the agency of his magnificent creation. 
 / We have now to inquire : Is not work as inseparable from 
 human happiness as it is from human usefulness ? Our 
 answer is an unqualified affirmation. Work and happiness 
 are inseparable. Idleness and misery go hand-in-hand, and 
 if we are truly intent on making ourselves and others happy, 
 we shall carefully see to it that as far as can be, every human 
 being is usefully and appropriately employed. 
 
 We hear in these days a great deal about the sin of 
 
HAPPINESS. 11 
 
 drunkenness. You organize vast Temperance organizations. 
 Blue Ribbon Armies, &c., c%e., but do the great masses of 
 temperance advocates, sincere and philanthropic though they 
 may be, weigh sufficiently the signiticance and importance of 
 the view of the subject taken by Henry George, and many 
 other earnest social revolutionists ? Henry George's remedy 
 for every ill is ''Land Nationalization.''' You may not all 
 agree with him in his views upon land distribution, but no 
 really earnest thinker can fail to coincide entirely with his 
 views on Home influence. Mr. George very truly says, that 
 while intemperance is the cause of a vast amount of misery, 
 intemperance is oftener produced by unhappiness at home, 
 than unhappiness at home is produced by intemperance. The 
 mind naturally seeks comfort and recreation somewhere. If 
 after the toil and worry of the day, your husbands, fathers, 
 brothers, sons, and lodgers come home to an uninviting sub- 
 stitute for a home, can you expect them to remain sober and 
 steady, and stay at home when they have practically no 
 home to stay in ? / 
 
 We are constantly being asked to point those outside the 
 (Spiritual Movement to Churches, Hospitals, Orphanages, &c., 
 erected and sustained by Spiritualists. We are told that the 
 immense Charitable Institutions, of England and America are 
 the pride and glory and du'ect outgrowth of Christianity, 
 If they are, let us credit Christianity with having done some 
 good, but let us strive to accomplish yet more good than our 
 Christian brethren have accomplished. Our work must be 
 to create and sustain bright and happy homes, and we shall 
 never have these till work is regarded as an honour, instead 
 of a dishonour, while all useful occupations, and those who 
 engage in them, are placed on a footing of rational equality, 
 equally honoured and equally respected. Every sincere and 
 conscientious worker should be regarded as a necessary part 
 of human society ; so soon as this is, so soon we shall, per- 
 haps, begin to understand what is really meant by that 
 '' Christ " about which ^^e hear so much as a person, but 
 which the early Christians regarded as a body of faithful and 
 united workers, of whom Jesus was the head. But as the 
 foot cannot say to the hand, nor the eye to the ear : I have 
 no need of thee ; as members veiled and unseen are as 
 necessary to the whole frame as ever the most conspicuous 
 and ornamentrl can be, so in an ideal state of societv, he who 
 
1 2 L OND ON L EOT URES. 
 
 cleanses the streets and he who discourses eloquently on 
 matters pertaining to religion ; she who with broom in hand 
 sweeps clean the kitchen and she who with piano or easel 
 makes vocal or beautiful the drawing-room, must be accounted 
 as absolutely necessary, the one to the other, and both to all. 
 Imagine Mr. Gladstone deprived of the assistance rendered 
 him by the sons and daughters of toil ! He w^ould have to 
 spend all his time and strength in making provision for his 
 material wants. With what result ? He would be unable 
 to devote time, talent and energy, as he does now, to the 
 affairs of State. Mr. Gladstone's tailor, baker and cook are 
 just as essential to his Parliamentary eloquence as he is 
 himself. 
 
 We throw this fact into especial prominence, to enforce the 
 dignity of labour, and to do what in us lies to reconcile all 
 persons to their state in life, no matter what it may be. 
 There are many who complain of drudgery, and sigh for 
 more exalted stations. We hear no end of grumblers, finding 
 fault with their work, and sighing over its uselessness. They 
 arc clerks, or servants, or agriculturists, or housekeepers ; 
 their days are all spent in making up parcels, and delivering 
 them, in weighing out provisions, ia cleaning rooms, and 
 mending clothes. To what end is all this turmoil, this worry, 
 this unceasing strife ? Martha, in the kitchen, is disposed to 
 envy Mary, seated at the footstool of some great teacher, 
 drinking in words of inspiration as they fall from his heaven - 
 anointed lips ; but has Martha any reason to complain ? ( If 
 Mary's is the " better part." it is only so because Mary 
 has attained to such a height of spirituality, that she can 
 enjoy the sublimity of the Great Teacher's utterances. If 
 Martha's mind were as receptive to spiritual things as Mary's, 
 she might enjoy equal communion mth a master-mind, in- 
 tuitively, if not outwardly. And this brings us to that point 
 where we see practically illustrated the utter impossibility of 
 simply local heavens and hells, conferring happiness or misery 
 iipon their occupants. 
 
 Let us take the case of a modern Martha and Mary. A 
 pattern Martha is a born housekeeper ; one who is never so 
 happy as when she is dusting and sweeping, baking, ordering, 
 superintending. Hei' house is her palace, and she is the 
 happy and active queen, never so content as when she is con- 
 trolling all things under her, and making them serve her 
 
HAPPINESS. 13 
 
 purpose. The pattern Mary is a student : she is always 
 engrossed in artistic and literary occupations ; her mind is 
 not on the kitchen, but on the study. Let these two women 
 change places, and they would be out of their native elements. 
 As well try and make fish fly in the air and birds swim in the 
 water, as put these women in each other's places. The house- 
 keeper's happiness is as a housekeeper. If it be genuine and 
 enduring it consists in this, that she realizes the necessity of 
 the work in which she is engaged. She does not, like 
 Martha of Bethany, trouble herself about providing a great 
 many more dishes than her guests require, neither does she 
 attach such supreme importance to domestic affairs that s!ie 
 loses sight of the value of higher and more directly spiritual 
 pursuits. She rather takes into account the relative value of 
 diverse occupations, realizes her own ability to fill a certain 
 niclie in the great temple of humanity; and she fills her 
 niche admirably, knowing that even thou-^h a humble and 
 minor one, if it were left unoccupied all the rest of the 
 building woul 1 be unfinished, and, perhaps, insecnre. The 
 pattern Mary never despises her sister's occupations, never 
 lo)ks down on those less educated, and less interested in 
 aesthetic pursuits than herself. . Slie acknowledges her 
 indebtedness to her Martha-like sisters, and they — if they 
 are intelligent, humane women — return the compliment, and 
 let the Marys see how indispensable they are to them, and 
 to all the brethren. 
 
 The secret of a happy life, is that the liver feels himself 
 or herself to be engaged in some useful, necessary and eleva- 
 ting work ; and if at times life's burdens press very heavily, 
 and the load seems almost too grievous to be borne, the tried 
 spirit takes comfort with two blessed assurances : one is, that 
 wdiatever we do faithfully as our contribution to the world's 
 store, blesses some one ; and the other is, that all our 
 sufferings while they have a vicarious have also a personal 
 value. When we have learned all the lessons that can be 
 taught us by temptation, suffering and trial, we shall know 
 no more of trials and temptations. Every sorrow is a part 
 of our education, and no one can ever be truly resigned to 
 life, until he feels that every burden imposed upon him is 
 both for his own and others' good. 
 
 Our last thought carries us beyond the realms of time and 
 sense, beyond the murky shades of material existence, to the 
 
14: L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 Leatiiied spirits whom we call angels or celestial beings, 
 who, while they are cognizant of human sorrow, are not made 
 sad by it, and while they mingle even in the life of the hells, 
 are not contaminated thereby. One of the greatest draw- 
 backs to Spirituahsm in the feeling of many is, that it teaches 
 that the loved ones who have gone to the spirit-world, are 
 not so fully at rest as orthodoxy has said they were. It is 
 difficult for some minds to reconcile the discrepancy between 
 the doctrine of perfect happiness in the angelic spheres, and 
 the acquaintance with human misery which angels must have 
 if they are ministering spirits to those yet on earth. Of 
 course, it is needless to declare that we loiow of progression 
 beyond the grave, and that all happiness is naeasurable and 
 increases wdth the spiritual development of the individual ; 
 but when happiness is complete, malice, hatred, and all un- 
 charitableness are completely eliminated from the breast of 
 the perpetually happy spirit. That spirit is never exacting, 
 never self-seeking, always working for others' good, bestow- 
 ing no single thought on self-aggrandizement. Such a spirit 
 has attained to the celestial degree of life. He may not 
 know everything ; an infinity of knowledge may yet be his 
 to grasp, but wishing no ill to any, loving all tenderly and 
 truly wherever he goes — be it even into haunts of deepest 
 crime — he remains pure as the light, which shining into the 
 foulest dungeon is uncorrupted still. 
 
 Spirits who have not yet fully out-grown their moral 
 imperfections, are like water — they can be polluted ; those 
 wdio have overcome every temptation and conquered in the 
 fray, are like the pure unsullied light — go where they will 
 they are forever unsullied. Their sight and knowledge of 
 human misery does not really distress them, because they 
 have themselves passed through it, reaped its advantages, 
 and have therefore learned how essential it is to the round- 
 ing out of character and development of the moral nature. 
 The angel is like the friend on a mountain-top, while you, 
 his charge, are in the valley. You cannot see more than a 
 step before you ; he see the fair pastures and the glorious 
 homes ahead. He does not weep over your lot, he does not 
 pity you or condole with you ; he spurs you on over the Hill 
 Difficulty, through the Valley of Himiiliation, on to the Land 
 of Beulah, and at length to the Celestial City. 
 
 When one can look at life wuth angel's eyes, and see its 
 
HAPPINESS. 15 
 
 purpose and its outcome, then good-bye to every rejoining 
 word and discontented mood. If ^Ye would be truly hap])y 
 in this or any other world or life, we must strive earnestly to 
 bless rather than to be blessed, to confer happiness rather than 
 to obtain it, and in so doing we shall develop a Kingdom of 
 Heaven within us, which we can carry Avith us wherever we 
 go, as our unfading source of joy for ever and ever. 
 
 We leave w^ith you for your consideration a new motto : 
 " Strive to be a Glow-worm ! " while we leave it to yourselvef^. 
 in your quiet hours, to work out tlie meaning of the precept. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE CEOSS-JBEAPtER. 
 
 I ASKED of the angels, bright anl fair : what work have you for me 2 
 I told them, the heaviest cross I'd bear, to set my brethren free 
 From their load of want, and pain, and care. Biit the angels answered me 
 " We call you not to bear such cross ; there's your burden, can you see 
 That tiny cross, so near the ground, which is among the rushes found."' 
 
 I gazed with wond'rous great amaze upon that cross so small ; 
 
 For I had asked a mightier task — I had asked the angels all, 
 
 Some great and glorioas work to do, that should startle all mankind : 
 
 And when I raised that tiny cross, surprised its weight to find 
 
 Far heavier than I thought 'twould be, life's burdens great and tall, 
 
 I prayed the angels to exchanga my load for one less small. 
 
 For, said I, Oh ! if I may but take a burden of precious gold. 
 Its very glory will bear me up ; that heavier cross I'll hold 
 Most willinsf ly, and bear it thro' the desert, bleak and wild. 
 But give me not this tiny cross, so heavy for a child ; 
 Yet so unlovely 'tis withal, its beauty none can see, 
 And, if I bear it, what reward will ever come to me ? 
 
 A meek-faced angel, clad in robes of dazzling, snowy white. 
 With coronet of lilies fair, and jewels, sparkling bright. 
 Bowed down with kind and tender smile to me, her erring child. 
 And said, " You but deceive yourself; this cross, that you despise 
 And think so lowly, yet will yield a harvest passing good, 
 Flowers and fruits, most beautifal, will spring from that bare wood ]'" 
 
16 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 " But," said I, " Angel I may I not some glorious burden bear ? 
 Behold those martyrs, radiant-browed, with glorious light for hair : 
 Behold philanthropists who stand among the highest there, 
 Where all the spirits look so bright — what burdens did they bear ? 
 Oh ! may I not, like them, go down to the weary earth below. 
 And carry e'en the heaviest load, that I like them may grow?" 
 
 Straightway, as tho' with fairy wand, the angel touched my eyes. 
 
 And showed to me the earthly life of those in Paradise ; 
 
 And one, more bright than all the rest, advancing close to me, 
 
 Revealed her work in earthly form, when she in drudgery 
 
 Had toiled and slaved, both night and day, to keep a cellar clean, 
 
 Protect twelve children from the frost, while scarcely could she glean, 
 
 By honest industry, enough to keep fire in the grate. 
 
 To feed and warm the helpless ones who on her toil must wait. 
 
 " And was that all ?" I then enquired, " That God did ask of thee. 
 
 So gifted, beautiful, and wise, of such divine degree ; 
 
 Wert thou not numbered 'mid the throng of those the woild counts great. 
 
 And did not Emperors and Kings adorn thy form in state. 
 
 And summon thee to palace halls, to sing thy songs so grand, 
 
 Or hang thy pictures on their walls, o'er all some mighty land ?" 
 
 " Nay," answered she, " it was not so ; my spirit highest rose. 
 
 When far from grandeur and display, it dwelt 'mid human woes." 
 
 Then to the angel straight I turned — To my wise and gentle guide. 
 
 And eagerly did take from her, from yonder paradise. 
 
 The lowly cross I bore on earth throughout a life of pain. 
 
 Till I, by blessing other lives, the heavenly spheres might gain. 
 
 This little story from the spheres, 1 bring to you to-day. 
 That while on earth in want and toil your spirits need to stay, 
 This blessed truth may buoy them up, above the clouds of pain : 
 The lowliest workers oftentimes the heights of heaven gain I 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 God grant that all, both high and low, as men count low and great. 
 May follow Charity's blest law, and find heaven's pearly gate; 
 And then with earthly journeys o'er, where every trial doih cease. 
 May each and all, at God's right hand, enjoy eternal peace ! 
 
( 1^ ) 
 
 IL 
 
 SEVEN STEPS TO SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 
 {Delivered, Good Frlda>j, April llth, ]8S4.) 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY lias always been consecrated in the 
 Christian world to solemn commemoration of the suffer- 
 ings and death of that great hero of the Gospels, Jesus 
 the Christ, around whose memory so much affectionate 
 devotion clusters, wherever persons are to be found who 
 can appreciate loyalty to conviction under the most trying- 
 circumstances possible, conscientious, steadfast, unselfish 
 devotion to truth and the highest interests of humanity, 
 no matter to how great an extent seff- sacrifice may be 
 necessarv to the maintenance of this unswervino- and God- 
 like integrity. 
 
 The hero of the Gospels has been deified quite naturally. 
 His deification is as easy to be accounted for as the simplest 
 forms of hero worship. CVeneration is an organ of the 
 human brain quite as indispensable to man's being as any 
 other organ can be, and the cultivation of the religious 
 instinct should always be included in every scheme of educa- 
 tion, which lays any claim to being perfect or even good. ) 
 Objection may be made by Secularists and others to the use 
 of the Bible in public schools supported by public money, and 
 indeed to every form of teaching that can with any degree 
 of truth be denominated sectarian, but widely as persons may 
 differ concerning every non-essential, (the great essentials of 
 character are everywhere insisted upon as necessary to 
 the best and happiest life on earth, whether people believe or 
 disbelieve in consciousness hereafter.^) 
 
 The beauty of the moral character of Jesus can never be 
 overestimated ; criticize his conduct on certain exceptional 
 occasions as you will, these exceptions the more strikingly 
 prove the rule, and show him to us all the more conspicuously 
 in his accustomed robe of gentleness and humility. If he 
 occasionally gave way to impetuosity or hastiness of temj)er, 
 
1 8 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 if he once in a while seems arrogant and self-asserting, these 
 few and occasional blemishes in a character nsually extra- 
 ordinarily near perfection, make the general featm-es of the 
 character all the more prominent and remarkable. 
 
 ATe Imow quite well that there are many in these days 
 who will tell yon that Jesus is a myth ; that no such man 
 ever existed, or that if he did exist, contemporaneous history 
 is silent concerning him, and therefore nothing whatever can 
 be with certainty attributed to a man who, if not a myth, was 
 an almost unknown personage dnring his earthly lifetime. 
 Did we teach the necessity of belief in Christ as indispensable 
 to salvation ; did we regard the Grospels as final and in the 
 highest sense authoritative on all subjects of which they treat; 
 did we pledge ourselves to accept everything and reject nothing 
 put forward as truth by the Evangelists ; did we acknowledge 
 no other court of appeal than the Scriptures ; did we, as our 
 orthodox friends are apt to do, weigh and measure all things 
 by the biblical standard, to the shutting out of all modern 
 inspiration, — we might find a difficulty in treating of the in- 
 fluence of Jesus upon the world, unless we could prove vriih 
 certainty, not only the fact of his personal existence but also 
 the miraculous manner of his life, death and resurrection. 
 Having, however, taken no such premises as our orthodox 
 brethren take, our task is very much lighter than theirs ; as it 
 is ours to deal Vvdth the character as it stands out in history, 
 independent of any special theories concerning the original, 
 while it is theirs to refer to Jesus as " very God of very God, 
 begotten of his Father before all worlds were made." 
 
 Let us consider the character of Jesus as we would that of 
 any other man, or of any great hero of romance. Some 
 people are very anxious to draw hard and fast lines between 
 works of fact and works of fiction, and between what is 
 founded on fact and what is purely imaginative. Xo clear 
 lines can ever be traced in these cases. Fact and fiction are 
 so interwoven, so mysteriously interblent, that it is impossible 
 to say where one leaves off and the other begins. So-called 
 fiction is often fact in a fancy costume, as facts are not 
 materially altered by change of time and phice, or by any 
 alteration whatever in the mere garb in which they are 
 presented to the public. 
 
 CNo one can write higher than his experience or inspirations 
 carry him, and no one can be inspired with anything beyond 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 19 
 
 tlie experiences of the inspirer. Sometimes, if you are 
 novelists, you will find yourselves making ideal characters, 
 by taking parts of a great many characters which are real to 
 you in your experiences through life, and throwing them 
 together till they form your hero or heroine. Sometimes, if 
 you are mediumistic, you ^vill write almost automatically; 
 you will at least follow some impulse so strong that it is 
 practically irresistible. Frequently these inspirations come 
 to you from spiritual beings who, when they lived on earth, 
 underwent exactly the experiences of which you find your- 
 selves compelled to write. The theory of Inspiration needs 
 liberalizing and unfolding ; it is so narrow in many minds 
 that it leads multitudes of intelligent persons to taboo the 
 facts of spiritual communion altogether. 
 
 These remarks, bearing somewhat upon the " Theological 
 Conflict " in which many of you have been interested lately, 
 we have merely introduced to let you perceive as plainly as 
 possible the view^s we take of mere disputations concerning 
 what is historical ; Cwhen we have practically to deal with 
 great propositions of a moral character, which neither lose 
 nor gain anything in the estimation of true philosophers, by 
 being connected with or disassociated from any particular 
 country, period, or personage.! 
 
 " Seven Steps to Spiritual Perfection" is the topic we have 
 announced for this morning, and as the churches throughout 
 the length and breadth of the land are at this time consider- 
 ing the seven last sentences or words of Jesus on the cross, 
 we intend to take these up very briefly, one by one, and see 
 what spiritual truth they may contain, and what important 
 lessons they may be capable of conveying to those who 
 study them. 
 
 We ask you, in imagination, to put yourselves in the place 
 of those who witnessed the wondrous spectacle of the cruci- 
 fixion of an innocent man between two malefactors, whose 
 only crime was his too plain-speaking concerning matters 
 which it w^as to the interest of the priests and civil rulers to 
 have kept quiet, that power might remain vested exclusively 
 in their own hands. There is nothing improbable in the 
 story told by the Evangelists. Crucifixion was a Roman 
 mode of punishment, and Judea was at one time a Roman 
 province, under Roman jurisdiction. The putting to death 
 of a heretic, who was also in insurrection, is not difficult to 
 
20 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 realize, when tlie tragic end of Socrates and martyrs innii- 
 nierahle is still on record. 
 
 We are told concerning Jesus, that on the Sunday before 
 his Passion, he ^Yas triumphantly introduced into Jerusalem, 
 accompanied by the hosannas of the multitude, and the 
 adoration of the very people who only five days later would 
 shout: "Crucify him, crucify him I" The incidents are so 
 graphically portrayed, that if any one should style the 
 Gospels romances, they must admit that they are not only 
 most cleverly written, but that they abound in telhng portraits 
 of human nature, as it is all the world over and in all periods 
 of human history. 
 
 C Popular applause is no criterion of real merit, and no 
 spiritual worker should ever be anxious for it. Very often 
 applause is granted to mediocrity and withheld from excep- 
 tional talent ; because while a multitude are ready to appre- 
 ciate commonplaceness, only the very few are, among prepared 
 minds, ready to benefit by a supernal revelation of truth.J 
 
 The great struggle in the closing days of the life of Jesus, 
 seems to be between the old Messianic idea of a deliverer 
 interpreted materially and interpreted spiritaally. The ortho- 
 dox party among the Jews was determined to literalize every 
 prediction of the olden prophets, therefore, whenever they 
 were disposed to regard Jesus as an inspired teacher, they 
 tried to make him a king. Their ideas of atonement, or 
 redemption, were eminently vicarious or substitutionary, for 
 no matter how sunk in materiality and injustice they might 
 i^e, they constantly expected a man to rise up among them of 
 the house and lineage of David, who should put himself at 
 the head of an army which should soon discomfit all the 
 enemies of Israel, and lead his victorious troops to a complete 
 triumph over the Romans, to whom the Jews considered it 
 a great disgrace to be in bondage. The spiritual, or reform 
 party, contended for an interior or moral interpretation of the 
 Law and Prophets. They declared that all prophecies were 
 made conditionally, that they referred to Israel only so far as 
 Israel obeyed the divine law; for should Israel rebel against 
 Jehovah, then her doom was certain, and even greater, 
 because of the opportunities and advantages she had had over 
 all the other races of mankind. 
 
 Great opportunities necessarily imply great responsibilities. 
 If you have ten talents, you must account for ten ; but if 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 21 
 
 only two are entrusted to yon, then only two more than 
 these are you expected to win. The nnprofitable servant 
 was not upbraided because of his slender endowments ; he 
 had one talent, but used none, and for this reason he was 
 cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing 
 of teeth. 
 
 ( Jesus taught the unpopular doctrine of the divine impar- 
 tiality. The God whom he w^orshipped and revealed was a 
 Universal Parent, not the leader and patron of one single 
 privileged clan. Strange though it may seem, there is a deep- 
 -rooted prejudice in the human mind against any philosophy 
 which teaches that God and his laws respect no one person or 
 nation more than another. Teach divine favouritism ; teach 
 that some persons are elect, or that some will be rewarded 
 for efforts which are not recognised in others ; teach that 
 those who have not encountered the manifold temptations of 
 life shall, on the score of simple abstinence from sins they 
 have had no inclination to commit, enter the highest 
 heavens immediately they leave their material frames, and 
 you may count upon a large congregation of Pharisees, who 
 will applaud you to the echo, and .adore you for your ortho- 
 doxy ; but preach the highest truth which appeals to your 
 inmost sense of right, and your followers will surely be in a 
 minority, and if you live wdiere freedom is not secured by 
 law, you stand a great chance of meeting the fate of many a 
 true reformer, who has consulted conviction rather than 
 policy. 
 
 Jesus had boldly told the most reputable and influential 
 citizens of Jerusalem that they were '' whited sepulchres." 
 He had boldly rebuked them for their long prayers and 
 fastings, which they thought must surely win the favour of 
 heaven and pardon for all their sins.^' He had turned out 
 those who bought and sold in the courts of the Temple, 
 where it was customary to take advantage of the ignorance 
 of those who came from the country, to offer sacrifices in the 
 holy city, and did not know the marketable value of the 
 birds and animals kept for sale to those ^^■ho visited the 
 temple from the surrounding country. 
 
 Some people have found fault v^dth the harshness displayed 
 by Jesus on this occasion, but righteous indignation against 
 wrong is in no sense inr-onsistent with universal charity. No 
 one who is truly charitable can see a wrong and not endeavour 
 
22 LOXDOX LECTURES. 
 
 to redress it ; no one imbued with a strong sense of justice, 
 and having a concern for tlie welfare of others, can fail to 
 express indignation at a course of action which pauperizes 
 those in humble circumstances, taking a mean and unjust ad- 
 vantage of their necessities and ignorance ; for the very con- 
 cern for these people will lead to a vigorous protest against 
 such courses of action as do harm to the multitude, and 
 increase the ill-gotten gains of haughty and tyrannical mono- 
 polists. C Laxity of morals, and indifference to the wrongs of 
 others, can be no part of charity, as true charity can never be 
 unjust, and true justice can never be uncharitableO 
 
 \Ye are told that the first words uttered by Jesus on the 
 cross were : " Father ! forgive them, for they know not what 
 they do." In these words human sin is attributed to human 
 ignorance, aud the plea for forgiveness is based upon the 
 ignorance of the wrong-doer. 
 
 ]SI^ow, are we justified in attributing sin to ignorance in all 
 cases ? Is not very much evil resultant from deliberate 
 wrong desire ? We may argue the point as we will, and 
 arrive, perhaps, at widely divergent conclusions in some 
 instances, but all moralists bent on improving society, must 
 agree that our work is to remove evils, not to punish evil- 
 doers ; except by the administration of such chastisement as 
 is indispensable to the overcoming of the love of evil in the 
 heart of the wrong-doer. 
 
 CWe can scarcely go too far in applying the doctrine of 
 jSTecessity to all persons except ourselves, because we cannot 
 tell what their temptations may have been, how hardly they 
 have struggled to overcome, and how futile their best 
 endeavours may have been. AVe can know something of 
 ourselves, and our own experiences ; our moral sense is given 
 to us as a lever to hft us higher, and it is never necessary to 
 believe in an offended Deity, to account for the existence and 
 acti\dty of the moral sense, or conscience, wdthin man. This 
 conscience is the voice of the soul, pleading to be delivered 
 from carnal bondage. Matter is a prison-house for the soul, 
 until such time as the spirit has vanquished it ; then it 
 becomes the ready tool and obedient vassal in the hands of 
 its rightful controller. j) 
 
 To attribute human sin to ignorance, and to style it folly, 
 is quite rational, even should we take the worst possible view 
 of human nature, and consider man at his lowest as bein^ 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 23 
 
 utterly selfish, actuated by no motives higher than concern 
 for personal welfare. CEven were we all consummately selfish, 
 we should have no interest in committing crime or depreda- 
 tion, did we really know what was necessary to our own 
 individual welfare. No adage is truer than that old and oft- 
 quoted one: " Virtue is its own reward ; vice its own punish- 
 ment." We are confronted with the mystery of pain and 
 evil in the world, and often ask : Are these things recon- 
 cilable with the perfect wisdom and love of the Supreme 
 Being, about which we hear so much ? Absolute, positive, 
 or eternal evil cannot be reconciled with a Supreme Being of 
 infinite justice, as there can be but one absolute, positive, 
 eternal, or primal state of being in the universe. If it be 
 good, there can only be relative and temporal evil ; if that 
 primal state be evil, then goodness must have begun in time, 
 and must be destined to expire with the lapse of ages.j 
 
 The Persians endeavoured at one time to account for the 
 coexistence of good and e^dl by what is known as a system 
 of Dualism. They worshipped Ormuzd and Ahriman con- 
 jointly. Ormuzd was said to be the Creator and Source of 
 light and good, while Ahrimaurwas regarded as the Fount of 
 darkness and evil ; but there cannot be in nature two such 
 rival powers ; and this the most enlightened among the 
 Persians clearly saw when they foretold the ultimate and 
 complete subjugation of evil to good and darkness to light, 
 as only Good and Light are positive existences in all the 
 boundless realms of space. 
 
 The importance of Universalism can never be over- 
 estimated, as it has a direct moral bearing upon every theory 
 of reform and act of life. We know full well that many 
 Materialists and many Calvinists are most excellent people, 
 and their efforts are exceptionally praiseworthy in many 
 instances, as they rise above their respective deities in their 
 daily conduct. The God of Calvin is an angry, capricious 
 spirit, whose tyranny far outweighs his graciousness ; the 
 " Nature " of the Materialist is a soulless force, a blind destiny, 
 an inexorable fate, possessing neither justice nor compassion. 
 .We cannot but admire the philanthropy of persons who are 
 better than their creeds, but these very persons exemphfy in 
 their own lives the fallacy of their theories. In them good- 
 ness of heart ceitainly does atone for errors of the head; biit 
 wliere is the profound thinker who does not desire to see a 
 
24: LOXDOX LECTURES. - 
 
 true and lastin,^' union, on a rational and moral basi;?, effected 
 between tlie affections and the intellect ? We are well aware 
 that sectarian eff'orts can never accomplish this.^ Denomina- 
 tional Univerrialism in America is considered by some 
 stagnant or at best but slightly progressive ; still it is 
 admitted on every hand that Hosea Ballou, Murray and 
 many other brave pioneers who fought manfally for the 
 doctrine of universal salvation, at a time when to avow one's 
 belief in the boundlessness of the love of God was to awaken 
 in its direst fury the almost fiendish wrath of bigoted ad- 
 herents to the system of Calvin, in j^ew England, have 
 exerted a vastly wider influence upon the thought of America, 
 and indeed upon the whole civilized world, than any sectarian 
 scheme could possibly have done, no matter how successful. 
 The very idea of the universality of God's fatherhood and 
 man's brotherhood, must have a tendency towards the 
 unification of human interests and sympathies. If we are all 
 fellow travellers to the same goal, all fellow sufferers, fellow 
 pilgrims, all regarded with equal kindness by the Eternal 
 Mind, we must, surely, unless we utterly fail to inwardly 
 realize what we outwardly profess, be stimulated to such 
 efforts for the promotion of the general good of the human 
 family, as may make the self-denying love of a saviour some- 
 thing infinitely more to us than a beautiful dream, a lovely 
 fairy tale, an ancient legend of singular pathos, or, what is 
 much less, considered morally, a mere relic of ancient super- 
 stitions and phantasies. 
 
 C In due course during this series of Lectures, we shall devote 
 an hour to a special consideration of the presumed zodiacal 
 origin of Christianity, and shall proceed to show how utterly 
 incomplete and unsatisfactory are theories of " equinoctial 
 christolatry," which pretend to account for the Gospel 
 narratives. We do not deny that the very ancient Egyptians, 
 or even that pre-historic races, had their conceptions of Deity, 
 their belief in incarnate deities, and their theories of rewards 
 and punishments after death, and that Christianity, even in 
 its original simjDlicity, that the religion of Jesus itself per- 
 petuated many old-world ideas, and endorsed many ancient 
 precepts. 
 
 The beauty of the religion of Jesus is its eclectisism and its 
 catholicity. Were it a distinct revelation, utterly separated 
 by impassable barriers from all other religions, it would not 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION, 25 
 
 have answered to the spiritual and social needs of mankind ; 
 neither would it have promoted unity of sentiment and 
 universal toleration among men. God can have no favourites. 
 A Hottentot or a Negro must be quite as sacred in the eyes 
 of Infinite Goodness as a polished Anglo-Saxon. The 
 barbarian and the civilizee, the Jew and the Gentile, are 
 alike precious in the sight of Infinite Love and Wisdom ; 
 and he whose painful death all Christians commemorate to-day, 
 taught nothing more plainly than the absolute impartiality of 
 the Eternal Mind. It is quite erroneous to suppose that the 
 idea of God's fatherhood originated with Jesus, or that his 
 teachings were in all instances more than sweet echoes from 
 many an old refrain ; but what we have to consider to-day is 
 not so much the antiquity or the origin of a precept, as the 
 intrinsic value of a cOiUmand or example itself. 
 
 The old bases are shifting ; we tremble for the fate of 
 those who repose confidence in miracles and testimony 
 only, for so obscure is the testimony and so bewildering the 
 explanations of miracles, given by those who Avould make 
 religion stand or fall upon the basis of authority of an ecclesi- 
 astical kind, that every fresh scientific discovery and every 
 new development of advanced thought in any community, 
 deals another blow which the old fortresses and bulwarks of 
 sand cannot resist, without being severely shaken and often 
 well-nigh shattered by the magnitude of the billows which 
 assail them. CBut when we build upon the rock, how different 
 it is with us I How coolly and bravely we can watch the 
 fury of the storm, and smile upon the breakers as they spend 
 their strength and fury in futile efforts to remove our edifice, 
 whose foundations are upon the rock of ages; nay, within 
 that rock, imbedded in the very nature of the Power w^hich 
 governs and sustains the universe. We can afford to be 
 patient and sweet-tempered, when we know that our 
 opponents must necessarily take up our positions eventually ; 
 but the most lovely disposition is apt to become soured by 
 repeated endeavours to champion a doomed and a dying 
 cause. The majesty of the Gospel hero was never so con- 
 spicuous as when impaled upon the cross : he, in all the 
 sublimity and invincibihty of conscious rectitude, does not 
 defy or malign but compassionates, forgives, and prays for 
 his enemies. A truly great character can never stoop to feel 
 resentment against personal enemies, though righteous in- 
 
26 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 dignation against wrong is never inconsistent with the 
 divinest and deepest charity.} Jesus does not say one solitary 
 word against his persecutors ; the utmost he expresses is 
 compassion and sorrow for their weakness and their folly. 
 The burden of his j)rayer is : Father ! do not make them 
 suffer for the wrong they have done to nie. It would 
 intensify my agony a thousand-fold, were I to feel that my 
 accusers should suffer because they have thus in their blind- 
 ness put me to grief and shame. 
 
 In one light, at least, this prayer may be regarded as 
 sentimental simply, but the sentiment is so pure, so lofty, 
 so worthy of a celestial spirit, that though it is from one 
 standpoint open to jDOSsible criticism, it leads us at once to 
 another point in our subject, intimately associated with the 
 general to]3ic: and that is, to an inquiry into the uses of 
 suffering. We may ask, with all reverence, was that prayer 
 of Jesus answered, or must it be refused acceptance at the 
 throiic of justice? Our answer is two-fold, and perhaps at 
 first sight paradoxical. The prayer was answered doubtless 
 in the spirit, but in the letter it must be denied, in so far as 
 this, that the penalty due to sin can never be cancelled, 
 never can be borne for one by another ; because the penalty 
 itself is a necessary part of the scheme of redemption from 
 the love and practice of evil to the love and practice of ^drtue. 
 
 Take the case of your own children. These words ma}' 
 reach some tender, loving parents, whose very affection for 
 their offspring compells them to be stern. Your boy T^^shes 
 to play truant, but you force him to school, not because 
 you are unmoved by his tears and entreaties to be allowed to 
 play, but because in your superior wisdom and better judg- 
 ment, you foresee most disastrous consequences resulting in 
 the future from an encouragement of an unhealthy propensity, 
 to make work subordinate to play, and amusement the 
 sovereign good of existence. You have a very dear child, 
 who sometimes steals, sometimes acts deceitfully, sometimes 
 is disobedient or untruthful, and though it grieves you to the 
 heart to punish her, you chastise her because you plainly see 
 that unless she is made to suffer for her errors, she will go on 
 repeating them. ( It is not necessary for you to judge 
 motives, it is never just to put the worst construction upon 
 the conduct of anyone. Give everyone the benefit of the 
 doubt ; you had far better err on the side of leniency than 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 27 
 
 too harsh criticism, and it is indeed true that we often help 
 to make people what we consider them already to be. Still, 
 though it is both uncharitable and unjust ever to attribute 
 liuman sin and folly to the worst motives which can possibly 
 actuate the transgressor, we have to grapple with an evil 
 which if unsubdued will cause the perpetrator of such evil an 
 incalculable amount of suffering in the future. 
 
 Our view of Deity presents the Eternal to us as a Being of 
 perfectly piacific and complacent justice, the serenity of whose 
 nature can never be disturbed by a single jarring sentiment ; 
 who know^s neither passion, pride, anger nor love of glory ; 
 a Being who, instead of creating a universe for his ow^n glory, 
 as men count glory, created it out of pure beneficence, and 
 governs it by laws, which when fully understood will be 
 admired and loved by every conscious being.} 
 
 Spinoza suggests that this is the only possible universe, 
 while the laws governing it are the only possible laws, and 
 while we cannot take our stand with Spinoza in all his deduc- 
 tions, we nevertheless can trace in such a declaration, a very 
 vivid glimpse of the divine character, as revealed in the 
 persons of the purest minds with whom we have ever asso- 
 ciated, or of whom we have ever heard. CWe deem no 
 conception of the Divine character so high as that which 
 treats of God as a perfect Unit, in whose all-embracing 
 Justice, Love and Wisdom — like two hemispheres — are 
 blended into one eternal orb of light. When we speak of the 
 world, dx) we speak of the Eastern hemisphere, or of the 
 Western only : do we not speak of both together? Two 
 hemispheres are necessary to one sphere. A sphere cannot 
 exist apart from two hemispheres, but hemispheres can be 
 conceived of apart from spheres. 
 
 Now, it seems to us that Justice is, and ever must be, the 
 perfect sphere of Deity. Ask us for a definition of Justice, 
 and we define it as Love and Wisdom : no more Love than 
 Wisdom, no more Wisdom than Love. This thought con- 
 cerning Justice would not only revolutionize all orthodox 
 theories of the object and nature of future punishment ; it 
 has power also to completely re-model every law and institu- 
 tion having for object the correction of social sinners. To 
 remit penalty, to do away with chastisement, is the height of 
 cruelty ; but to adjust all penalties to the needs of mankind, 
 to so improve prisons that a prison is transformed into a 
 
28 L OND ON L EOT URES. 
 
 school and palace of industry, is surely to keep clearly before 
 us the only two justifiable reasons for submitting any to tlie 
 pain of incarceration, viz., the reformation of the offender and 
 the protection of society, j) 
 
 If Jesus intended to petition his Heavenly Father to 
 remit the penalty necessarily consequent upon transgression, 
 he was humane but not wise; but if be intended by the 
 utterance of such a prayer aloud, even in the hearing of his 
 bitterest persecutors, to set an example of perfect forbearance, 
 and to present to the world a philosophy of evil worthy of 
 the deepest consideration and world-wide application, then 
 his wisdom and humanity are alike revealed, and his example 
 is indeed worthy of all imitation, so long as sin and sorrow 
 continue to perplex mankind. The words of the dying are 
 invariably treasured as no other utterances are. There is a 
 sanctity about the final scene of earthly life, which invests 
 the chamber of death with a peculiar and most touching 
 solemnity ; and were we to see no other good in the death of 
 Jesus than the inspiration to human forbearance, arising from 
 the record of this first sentence of Jesus on the cross, so wide 
 reaching may be the benefits of that single sentence, that to 
 utter it under such circumstances would explain for ever the 
 utility of the tremendous sacrifice on Calvary. 
 
 Vicarious suffering offers insurmountable obstacles to many 
 who are for ever vainly endeavouring to harmonize the 
 decrees of Infinite Justice with the miserably unsatisfactory 
 theories of life, invented by Orthodoxy on the one hand and 
 Materialism on the other. Both these systems are to us self- 
 evidently false, because they contradict the facts of nature in 
 innumerable instances. The sense of justice, innate in man, 
 the conception of perfect justice and unbounded loving- 
 kindness now becoming more universal day-by-day, are in 
 themselves testimony to the existence of a God, such as 
 neither the orthodox Christian nor the Atheist recognises 
 or has yet found in nature. C When Thomas Paine turned 
 from the lesser Bible to the greater, — when he forsook 
 allegiance to the letter of a volume called the '•' ^Yord of 
 Grod," though ^Titten by frail and fallible men. no one knows 
 just when or how, and turned to the sublimities of the 
 universe, and found a perfect God revealed through Nature, 
 compelling him to become a Deist, he believed in so large 
 a revelation that he could never narrow his mind to accept a 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 29 
 
 .smaller revelation, in the ecclesiastical sense of its heini:^ 
 miraculous or special, — people called him, and many still call 
 him, an infidel. If to be faithful to the moral sense and un- 
 faithful to the traditions of the elders, is heresy or iiilidelity, 
 then Jesus was an arch-heretic, an arch-infidel, and was put 
 to death by Roman soldiery at the instigation of Jewish 
 Pharisees, because God was to him greater than Ccesar, and 
 the living spirit of the ever-speaking Eternal, of more 
 value than Rabbinical interpretations of what con>^titutes 
 divine revelation. 
 
 Whenever one rises to so broad and lofty a conception of 
 truth that puny minds cannot explore the whole of one's 
 horizon, then that spiritual discoverer is pronounced either a 
 blasphemer or insane. It is mere absurdity, to say Jesus was 
 either God or an impostor, because he made himself equal 
 with God. He did nothing of the kind. To say that he 
 did is to agree with his blind and fanatical persecutors, and 
 utterly fail to grasp the spiritual meaning of those words of 
 his which unfold a doctrine of the divine indwelling, utterly 
 beyond the comprehension of those whose mental eyes are so 
 dim, that at best to use a Gospel metaphor, they " see men 
 as trees walkino-." The A^erv iact of Jesus addressing' a 
 Power superior to himself, and (Jailing that power The 
 Father, is proof positive to any common-sense critic, un- 
 warped by theological prejudice, that Jesus believed devoutly 
 in a God, who was his God as well as the God of the rest of 
 mankind, his Father as well as the Father of all humanity. J) 
 
 Throughout the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and 
 Luke, the phrase " son of man " is constantly employed by 
 Jesus when speaking of himself. It is only in the fourth 
 Gospel, which commences as no history or biography would 
 ever commence, that he seems to be conscious of his own 
 importance, and to be worldng in any way for his own 
 glorification. C The fourth Gospel is both a Grecian and a 
 Gnostic document, and savours so conspicuously of the Pla- 
 tonic doctrine concerning the Logos, that any student familiar 
 with the classics can trace a decided parallel between Plato- 
 nism and Johannism. Gnosticism made its advent, itis true, 
 after the introduction of Christianity into Europe, but such 
 an advent of Gnosticism was but a reappearance of a very 
 ancient school of philosophy. 
 
 The much vaunted i\.gnostici3m of to-day, is of course the 
 
30 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 only possible system which can be correctly speaking an 
 antidote to Gnosticism, as Spiritualism is an antidote to 
 i\IateriaHsm, Atheism an antidote to Theism, and vice versa. 
 Socrates was most certainly condemned to drink the hem- 
 lock, by reason of his determination to enlighten the 
 Athenian youth concerning the inner meaning of the pre- 
 vailing Mythology. Jesus was to Galilee what Socrates was 
 to Greece ; both teachers conformed to the scholastic as well 
 as the universal mode of conveying instruction. Jesus spake 
 to his immediate followers in parables which he interpreted 
 to them only, while to the multitude he taught in parables 
 which he did not interpret, because had he done so he would 
 have been, to use his own powerful Kabalistic language, 
 •' casting pearls before swine," and giving ^' holy things to 
 dogs." ') Though up to a certain point Jesus adopted the 
 classic method in the conveyance of spiritual truth, he 
 aroused the ire of the priests and scribes against him by 
 reason of his persistent attempts to enlighten all men upon 
 the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven : this Kingdom 
 being a kingdom to be established upon the earth, in which 
 spiritual knowledge and power should take the place so long 
 usurped by arbitrary temporal and ecclesiastical despotism. 
 
 It is a very open question, indeed, with many, as to whether 
 the universalization of educational advantages tends to the 
 uplifting of a people morally or not. (It is open to question, 
 whether illiteracy and morality of a very high order may 
 not and often do not go hand-in-hand. Your boot-black may 
 be a superior boy, morally, to the son of the millionaire, 
 who regards himself as a walking encylopedia during his 
 career as an undergraduate at a university. Be this as it may, 
 ignorance is, without doubt, the fruitful parent of countless 
 abominations, and to fight resolutely against it with might 
 and main, is a plain and imperative duty forced upon all of 
 us by the necessities of society. The very fact that sin can 
 in any case be attributed to ignorance, is sufficient reason for 
 opposing it ^vith all our might ;^ but it is just here, when 
 we are discussing the great need of ridding the world of vice 
 from the prevalent disorders which afflict it so grievously, 
 that we come to a decided point of issue with our conserva- 
 tive brethren. The fear of hell, the dread of God's displea- 
 sure, never redeemed or uplifted anybody. Fear is only 
 valuable protectively ; it can never be so reformatively, so 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. :U 
 
 far as the wrong doer is concerned, as fear, when it acts 
 as a restraining impulse, only deters people from the com- 
 mission of wrong from motives of cowardice, and cowardice 
 can be no part of religion. 
 
 C The religion of Jesns will never be the established religion 
 of this or any other comitry, until your entire system of 
 correction is altered. Punishment must be a thing of the 
 past, reformation the work of the future. The picking of 
 oakum, for instance, is not a corrective discipline so much as 
 a punitive one. The only proper kind of work for criminals 
 is work of the most useful and appropriate character. Every 
 criminal should undergo a strict and healthy education, fitting 
 them for useful and remunerative positions when the term of 
 their prison discipline has expired. There can be no greater 
 punishment for anyone than that meted out by conscience. 
 Thus, when we leave sinners to their consciences, we place 
 them in that lake of ever-burning fire, from which they can- 
 not escape until they have paid the uttermost farthing ; but it 
 should be farthest i'rom our thoughts, ever to seek to make 
 any one suffer needlessly. All genuine corrective discipline 
 is something vastly higher than punishment, as it raises the 
 one who is even a victim to his own folly, and is in itself such 
 salutary discipline that he who undergoes it is for ever after 
 thankful for the sorrow which has worked in him genuine 
 repentance, followed by practical reformation. ') 
 
 We have dwelt so long upon this first word from the 
 cross, that we fear the remaining six sentences must be 
 passed over almost without exposition. But there is an old 
 saying, that the first step, either upward or downward, is the 
 most important step of all ; and if this be true, its truth must 
 be our excuse to-day for consuming so much time upon the 
 first utterance of the seven we have to consider, as it is the 
 key note to them all. 
 
 The second utterance to which we shall call your attention, 
 is the answer made by Jesus to the penitent thief: "This 
 day thou shalt be with me in paradise " ; prefaced with the 
 emphatic prefix, " Verily, I say unto thee." 
 
 The two thieves who were crucified with Jesus on Calvary 
 represent two classes of sinners, very common now as then. 
 One class is composed of those who sin wilfully, the other 
 being made up of those who sin thoughtlessly. The wilful 
 sinner is he who with open eyes refuses to be guided by spiri- 
 
32 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 tual liglit : he loves darkness rather than light ; he knows his 
 deeds are evil ; he takes delight in sin, and hates the thought 
 of reformation. To such as he apply those awful words 
 concerning the unforgiven and unpardonable sin, Blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost, which never can be forgiven either 
 in this world or that which is to come. 
 
 (^ We beheve in innate goodness as well as in innate depra- 
 vity in man, as you very well know. As you are also aware, 
 doubtless, w^e do not agree with the Swedenborgian doctrine 
 of the final confirmation of any soul in evil ; still, it is a fact 
 which must be admitted on all sides that there can be no re- 
 formation, and no forgiveness or sense of forgiveness, until 
 the party who has done a wrong perceives it, and desires to 
 amend and make atonement.^) The impenitent thief repre- 
 sents those who go out into the spirit-world without a wish 
 to rise ; they enter the ranks of those who were disobedient 
 at a former period of special spiritual enlightenment, and 
 have not thrown off their love of evil, through entire dis- 
 pensations. The Epistle of Peter declares that Jesus went 
 and preached to spirits in prison, who were rebellious in the 
 time of Noah ; the Noachian Deluge symbolizing the cul- 
 mination of a spiritual and temporal cycle. 
 
 C The Orientals, who comprehend b(^tter than Occidentals 
 usually do the procession of dispensations, have calculated 
 the length of each separate Messianic period to be about 
 2,170 years, during which cycle of time the sun passes through 
 one of the twelve zodiacal signs in the journey around the 
 more distant sun Alcyone, as the earth in its annual revolu- 
 tion accomplishes a passage through one of these signs in 
 every month. It is true that these divisions of the heavenly 
 bodies into zodiacal constellations, is empirical, at the same 
 time these constellations were employed by the savans of 
 antiquity to set forth spiritual truths in relation to the earth 
 and the spiritual spheres surrounding it. One thing is evi- 
 dent, viz., the remarkable progress made by the earth, when- 
 ever one of these periods reaches its culmination. If the 
 year has twelve months ; and three be summer, three winter, 
 three spring, and three autumn ; and you know when to 
 expect the longest and the shortest days, seed-time and har- 
 vest ; if you know when to expect the birth of the lambs 
 and tlie advent of spring -flowers, and when to make provision 
 against the stormy winds and. snows of winter ; — is it incre- 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 33 
 
 dible that the spiritual students of ancient days were able to 
 calculate the length of time that must elapse between the 
 beginning and ending of a cycle or dispensation of time? 
 The larger movements of Spirit are regulated with as nice 
 accuracy as any affairs of earth can be, so that the wise men 
 guided by the Star of Bethlehem (doubtless the pentagram 
 or five-pointed star), to expect the advent of a new dispen- 
 sation of truth to earth, were led by the twin sciences of 
 Astronomy and Astrology, as well as by that interior light, 
 without which all external calculations would have been de- 
 void of spiritual significance.} 
 
 We are told of the repentant thief being led by Jesus with 
 him into Paradise, a term always used to signify a state of 
 expectancy, preparation, education, growth, but not fruition. 
 The disobedient and benighted spirits of a former age, con- 
 fined in Hades, are made aware of the advent of a new angel 
 to the earth, and so many as are ready to respond to that 
 angel's call, are released from their prisons and updrawn to 
 more spiritual and progressive states. Why went the repen- 
 tant thief out into these realms with Jesus, but because there 
 is but one way whereby spirits who have committed wrong 
 finally outgrow it, and are released from its consec[uences ? 
 CHas any one been dishonest on the earth ? Then his mission 
 to the earth when he influences it from the spirit-side of life, 
 must prevent and counteract dishonesty. Those warnings 
 against dishonour ; those impulses which seize you unawares 
 at times, and seem like voices calling you, and hands pulling 
 you away from scenes and acts of perfidy, are literally due to 
 the contact with you of those in spirit, who have suffered 
 from the commission of sins you are liable to fall into. Your 
 guardian angel reaches you through these intermediaries, and 
 they work out their own redemption by preventing wrongs 
 similar to those they have once committed. ') 
 
 Interpret this story of the penitent thief in the light of 
 this view of spiritual existence, and while it will not endorse 
 the theology, which tells the sinner there is an instant 
 passage for him from the gallows to glory, if he but rely on 
 Christ for pardon, we may assuredly state without the 
 slightest hesitation, that no one can ever even wish to be 
 reformed, without at once being set to work in the spiritual 
 vineyard. 
 
 The penitent thief's petition was a very modest one. He 
 
34 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 only asked to be remembered by the saviour when he came 
 into his Idngdom. He expressed faith in the ultimate 
 tiiumph of right over wrong. He saw beyond the jaws of 
 death the glorious victory of the spirit over death. He 
 recognised kingship of soul in one who was doomed to a 
 malefactor's death. The very expression/' Lord ! remember 
 me when thou comest into thy Idngdom," was a marvel of 
 spiritual insight, and proved the speaker of such words to 
 have been already led by the spirit of truth, to forsake evil 
 and to conquer the love of it. 
 
 The lesson we draw from this second episode, is an 
 evidence of the second step towards spiritual perfection we 
 may all take as a result of our suffering, Jesus first attributes 
 human sin to ignorance, and prays forgiveness for his perse- 
 cutors. The forgiving spirit is the base-rock on which all 
 spirituahty must rest. The next time he expresses himself, 
 he promises to help a penitent in carrying out his virtuous 
 resolves. He overlooks the past completely, holds out the 
 right hand of fellowship to a fallen brother who desires to 
 rise, and gives him a good new start, lending him his own 
 companionship and assistance. 
 
 Do most people act thus magnanimously ? A great many 
 w"ell-disj)osed people take a fallen person to reform, but they 
 let every one know^ they are performing an act of magnan- 
 imity, by taking one who has been a great sinner into their 
 household. IS^o greater mistake, however, can ever be made 
 than talking about the past weaknesses of those you are 
 stri^^.ng to assist. A penitent is sure to be sensitive enough 
 wuthout having his or her former transgressions made the 
 subject of comment and criticism. Remember always wdien 
 you have dealings with those who have been led astray, that 
 the less the world knows about their past life the better, 
 ills' ever allude to it, try not to think about it, give them credit 
 for a present desire to live ^drtuously, and be sure reminders 
 of past folly are always dangerous, unless administered with 
 the utmost kindness and delicacy, by truly wise and sympa- 
 thetic friends. " Let the dead past bury its dead," and feel 
 that when a sin or weakness has been truly repented of, the 
 thief, no longer in the love of theft, is a thief no longer, and 
 must be treated as an honest and respectable member of 
 society. ]) 
 
 The second great step towards perfection of character is, 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 35 
 
 to forgive wrong and never to pride yourself on having done 
 so to the pain of the penitent. 
 
 The third utterance ascribed to Jesus on the cross is : 
 " AYoman I behoM thy son. Son I behold thy mother." In 
 the narrative before us, we have presented to our minds a 
 touching picture of that love for others and care for their 
 welfare, which ever characterizes the true exemplar of man- 
 Idnd, even in the midst of excruciating bodily torture. 
 
 Some, who have prepared themselves for fault-finding and 
 harsh criticism, whenever they open the Bible, have found 
 much fault with the character of Jesus on the score of his 
 undutifulness to his mother, and disregard for her feelings 
 generally. Some have even gone so far as to say, that he 
 was almost entirely lacking in fihal love and devotion, and to 
 support such a view they cite a few passages in the author- 
 ized English version, which seem at first sight to justify the 
 assumption. For instance, when he was twelve years old, 
 itnd he had accompanied his mother to Jerusalem at the 
 annual feast, he caused both his mother and her spouse much 
 anxiety by absenting himself from the company, and remain- 
 ing two days in the temple, disputing with the doctors of 
 the law, hearing them and asking them questions. Then at 
 the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee, when his mother was 
 present, he seems to have spoken disrespectfully to her, 
 though she showed the greatest respect for his commands, 
 and told the servants to do whatever he bade them. On 
 another occasion, when it is said his mother stood without, 
 desiring to speak with him, he gave utterance to that starthng 
 question: "Who is my mother?" which would electrify a 
 well-ordered English company, were it put by a son under 
 similar circumstances to-day. These and other instances are 
 among the most prominent examples of the seeming disregard 
 of Jesus for his mother. 
 
 Roman Catholics explain these passages differently from 
 Protestants ; and in the case of the conduct of Jesus at the 
 marriage feast, the Vulgate makes it appear in quite a different 
 light to King James's version. The Vulgate rendering is : 
 " Woman I (or mother) w^hat is this to thee and to me ? 
 Mine hour is not yet come." A priest of the Church of 
 Rome preaching on this, the first recorded miracle of Jesus, 
 would not only exculpate Jesus from all possible charge of 
 incivility to his mother, but might even go so far as to say 
 
36 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 that tliough his time for worldng miracles had not then 
 arrived, he perfoiTaed this his first pubhc miracle in compli- 
 ance with his mother's request. 
 
 As we have no time to enter into a discussion upon this 
 point to-day, we will content ourselves with offering a very 
 few^ practical suggestions which seem to grow naturally out 
 "of this ]3rolific and attractive subject. First, the conduct of 
 Jesus, w^hen twelve years of age, can be justified in one 
 way, and that a way in which all your children can be justified, 
 if they seemingly disobey or neglect their parents. (^A parent 
 must never stand between a child and his sense of ri^ht. 
 Honour your father and mother, but do not blindly obe}' 
 them, as things are not right because your parents do or 
 advise' them. There are many circumstances in life, where 
 young people have to decide between their parents and their 
 own conscience ; that is, a choice between God and man. If 
 your parents unduly interfere with you and try to force you 
 to neglect duties or effect compromises with conscience, then 
 disobedience of a calm, dignified order is right. And this 
 remark applies also to keeping and brealdng law. There 
 is a higher law than the law^ of the land, and those who dis- 
 obey the outer to obey the inner law, are only discarding the 
 letter for the spirit, and are therefore not sinners.^ 
 
 We do not suppose the mother of Jesus ever stood between 
 him and his duty, but his remarkable words : " Wist ye not 
 that I must be about my Father's business," convey very 
 distinctly his supreme con^dction that he had amission which 
 he came into the world to fulfil, and that that must be ful- 
 filled in spite of every possible obstacle. Perhaps he was an 
 ardent, hot-headed boy, an impulsive youth not quite suffi- 
 ciently regardful at times of his mother's feelings. If this 
 w^as so, then mellowed and chastened by suffering, how 
 'much more beautiful does his character appear on the cross, 
 when thirty -three years old, than when, as an ardent boy of 
 twelve, he doubtless enjoyed confounding the Sanhedrim 
 wnth his wonderful wisdom. 
 
 The thought, however, Ave wish to bring into especial pro- 
 minence with reference to his aj^parent slight of his mother, 
 when he asked : " Who is my mother ? " is this : his draw- 
 ing the attention of the bystanders to(a great law of spiritual 
 relationship, entirely overlooked by those Spiiitualists and 
 others in the present day, who make of heaven a large family 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION'. 37 
 
 mansion, where aunts and uncles, nieces and nepllev^'s, live 
 together in the bonds of physical kinslii}) for eternity. 
 Relationship of spirit is something so much deeper than 
 relationship of body, that it becomes arrant folly to exj^ect to 
 meet and live with all in the spirit-world, to whom you have 
 been related by ties of blood on earth. If there has been a 
 tie of spirit as well as a tie of blood, then you are truly united 
 in the spirit-life, but if there be no such tie of spirit, then all 
 the blood affinity in creation will not unite you, whereas if 
 there be a tie of spirit, no earthly power can ever separate 
 you, except temporarily, and then only in seeming.) 
 
 Jesus answered the question he raised. He told who his 
 mother was; she was the one who stood nearest to him in 
 her devotion to his Heavenly Father; she was the one be- 
 tween whose soul and his the deepest bonds of sympathy were 
 found; and there is no reason to doubt that in his case, 
 she who was his physical mother was his closest companion 
 in spirit. But it is not always so. Unnatural mothers who 
 desert their children, those who bear unwelcome children, 
 have not the motherly impulse which binds them as mothers 
 to their off"spring. In the spirit-world, while the foster- 
 mother, who has discharged all a mother's duty and shown 
 all a mother's love, will stand much nearer the child she has 
 befriended than his mother after the flesh. CSome people are 
 very' anxious about relationships hereafter. If all could 
 realize that a true affection is of the spirit only, and that 
 material kinship has no necessary connection with it, how 
 much more rational would be their conception of true family 
 unions in the hereafter, and on how much more solid a basis 
 would friendships for eternity be seen to stand. J) 
 
 Another thought w^hich presses in upon us at this time is 
 that of the peculiar regard felt by Jesus for his beloved dis- 
 ciple John, the one whom he singled out from all the rest as 
 his closest companion. He had seventy-two disciples w^e are 
 told, and twelve apostles, who were his immediate pupils and 
 followers ; three out of this twelve, who accompanied him 
 whithersoever he went and were pri\'ileged to witness his trans- 
 figuration, but only one most intimate friend of all, about 
 whom he w^as most deeply concerned in the hour of his final 
 anguish, and to whom he confided his mother. 
 
 It may seem strange, that the first words of Jesus on the 
 cross were about his enemies and a penitent thief, but these 
 
38 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 enemies and that tliief were in more pressing need tlian the 
 highly spiritnal and devoted mother and friend, who are not 
 mentioned till after^vards ; and we may very justly remark, 
 thatCno one can really be said to truly fulfil family and 
 friendly obligations aright, unless he first cultivates those 
 loving and compassionate dispositions which make the love of 
 one's enemies possible and practicable. There are people on 
 earth to-day, who love their enemies and would do all in their 
 power to serve them. It is easy to be kind to those who are 
 always kind to you, but kindness to a foe is a glorious 
 triumph of spirit over temptation. Still, though kindness to 
 enemies and forgiveness of injuries must ever constitute a 
 most important part of true spirituality, there are nearer ties 
 binding us to those who are peculiarly with us in spirit, even 
 in the celestial spheres, and the special friends who stand 
 nearer to you than all others on earth, may still be your 
 chosen companions and most intimate associates in the life 
 above. ) 
 
 The fourth sentence spoken by Jesus on the cross was : 
 ^' I thirst" ; a simple natural exclamation wrung from him by 
 the heat and his sufferings, and yet considered spiritually 
 doubtless expressive of a burning desire to realize the benefits 
 conferred upon the world by his life of humiliation and 
 sorrow. At this point the strength of Jesus seems utterly 
 to fail, and many there are who with cold and callous tongues 
 have slandered the hero of Calvary, affecting to see in this 
 and especially the next and fifth utterance : •' My God I my 
 God I why hast thou forsaken me ? " evidence that Jesus 
 died in despair. Many and many are the views taken of 
 these mysterious words, but as two are peculiarly prominent 
 in the world at present, we will endeavour very freely to 
 point out the fallacy of both, from our standpoint, while we 
 endeavour, though very imperfectly, to give you our own 
 conscientious interpretation of the passage. 
 
 One theory is that of the strictly orthodox school, which 
 teaches that God literalh^ forsook his Son on the cross, 
 because he was there atonino: for the sins of the elect, and 
 was made accursed, as the sin of God's people was laid upon 
 him, and he bore it vicariously that they might escape the 
 punishment due to it. This view we set aside as derogatory 
 to the character of the Infinite, and utterly at variance with 
 all truly enlightened views of the nature and object of 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 39 
 
 punishment for sin. CTlie other prevailing theory is a 
 dastardly one : it is that Jesus really died in despair. No 
 language can be too strong to express our deprecation of so 
 wretched a doctrine, for even should you regard Jesus as a 
 deluded man, should you fancy him having made a mistake 
 in surrendering all earthly hopes and pleasures to accomplish 
 an impossible task, you can scarcely cpiestion his sincerity, 
 unless your own lives are so paltry that you cannot conceive 
 of real disinterestedness. 
 
 No one who ever strives to do his best goes out of earthly 
 life despairing, though apparent despair is often a discipline 
 through which many have to pass ere they can attain to that 
 spiritual eminence from which they can look back upon all 
 the sorrows of time, and be thankful for them all.^ Jesus no 
 doubt experienced, just before the closing scene in his life's 
 tragedy, a feeling akin to what often causes the most intense 
 pain to multitudes, who are struggling against tremendous 
 odds, and have at last to face the fact that, in a worldly sense, 
 their lives have been failures. To be obliged to suffer, year 
 after year, on behalf of others, and then find yourself at last 
 in a position in which you feel your own impotence most 
 keenly ; to go on labouring in a righteous cause, and at length 
 to have to leave the world without seeing any results attending 
 your undertaking, is the bitterest drop of all in the cup of 
 human sorrow, many a true worker has to drink to the very 
 dregs. It is comparatively easy to be brave and gay on the 
 battlefield, with the drums and fifes sounding all around you : 
 the very noise of the cannon, the nishing hither and thither 
 of the men, the excitement of the whole scene makes you 
 forget your danger, or, at least, enables you to put on a brave 
 front and face the enemy ; and then the thought that you 
 are fighting for freedom, and may die gloriously for country 
 and for freedom, spurs you on. Your sacrifice seems worth 
 something. C You cannot but picture to yourself the benefits 
 to others accruing from your loss and that of your comrades : 
 but some of the world's greatest heroes and heroines have 
 been left to die of staiwation in wretched garrets, or have 
 pined to death in gloomy prisons in which they have wasted 
 out their existence with no prospect of release, and no hope 
 of blessing others. Some there are who seem fated with 
 persistent ill-luck; whatever they touch turns to ashes in 
 their grasp; they live only to suffer and be disappointed, 
 
40 L OND ON LECT URES, 
 
 and no one seems any tlie better for their misery. Such 
 experiences are tlie hardest of all to endure, and to those who 
 in such distress of mind and body cannot see the hand of God 
 in their affliction, and can trace no light beyond the tomb, 
 life is truly a heavy burden, and we do not wonder if, some- 
 times, such lives end in suicide, j) 
 
 But Jesus rose above even this his greatest trial of all, im- 
 paled upon the cross, without an earthly friend or helper who 
 could aid him ; this last and greatest trial seemed all that was 
 needful to complete his earthly work, and enable him to utter 
 his sixth cry, " It is finished I " 
 
 How very few there are who can expire with such 
 triumphant words upon their lips I The wail of most at the 
 hour of earthly dissolution is : " It is unfinished." There is 
 so much more to be done, and they have neither time nor 
 strength now to do it ; the sun sets and their day's v^^ork is 
 not completed, so they dread to appear before their judge 
 with " nothing but leaves " in their hands. 
 
 Very often a great and crushing sorrow is the very thing 
 absolutely needed to bring out the full strength and glory of 
 a character, as choice exotics are often forced into bloom by 
 excessive heat, that the}^ may be ready to grace some nuptial 
 board, or appear in the j)lace of honour at some sjjlendid 
 national or reh'gious fete, so there are some spirits whose 
 experiences are akin to those of Adelaide Proctor s heroine, 
 in the story of " A Faithful Soul." ( The poetess tells us a 
 spirit was in purgatory, but almost ready to be admitted 
 into paradise, when her thoughts strayed lovingly toward a 
 dear one on the earth, to whom she had confided all her love, 
 and whom she trul}?- believed had responded fully to her 
 heart's affection. She asked permission of her angel guardian 
 to go and console her sorrowing lover, and was told that a 
 thousand years of further purgatorial cleansing would be 
 needed if she did so. She gladly accepted the penalty, so 
 anxious was she to console the object of her love, of whom 
 alone she thought, never of herself. The sight of his infidelity, 
 or inconstenc}^, so grieved her, that within the compass of a 
 single moment of earthly time, her suffering was so intense 
 that it was equivalent to a thousand years of ordinary pur- 
 gation, in the effects it produced upon her who endured it. 
 This was the final stroke which weaned her from the earth, 
 and in that intense though momentary suffering, she became 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 41 
 
 ready to join the happy souls in paradise. No greater 
 mistake can be made than to suppose that the greatest 
 sufferers are the greatest sinners. Suffering is a part o:" 
 education, and were we to do witliout it, we should never 
 be prepared for the happiness which cannot be ours, until 
 the power to realize it has been brought out by pain.J) 
 
 The seventh and last exj^ression attributed to the Gospel 
 hero is : '"' Father I into thy hands I commit (or commendj 
 my spirit," This saying is the grandest and loftiest of 
 them all. C Complete submission to the \^nll of the Eternal, 
 means complete and lasting joy. When all the stormy 
 scenes of life are over, and the tired spirit forsakes the 
 failing tenement of clay, happy will it be for each of you, if 
 you can with calm and blest assurance feel that you are but 
 going into a Father's arms, to take your abode in a Heavenly 
 Father's house. How short is earthly life ; though it should 
 extend through cycles of time, how brief would it still be 
 when contrasted with eternity ! In the stupendous light of 
 the soul's immortality, the importance of all earthly things 
 fades into utter insignificance ; and yet earthly life, with all 
 its alternating joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, is necessary 
 to prepare the spirit for the life beyond. } 
 
 May you all be so inspired to hve in harmony with 
 conscience here, that the change called death may be to all 
 of you a liappy exit from scenes of difficulty and imperfect 
 joy below, to larger liberty, deeper love and clearer vision 
 in the Life Immortal ! 
 
4:2 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM 
 
 A GLIMPSE OF PARADISE. 
 
 I beheld a Golden Ladder, in the visions of the night ; 
 
 I saw blight angel spirits, wing toward the earth their flight; 
 
 I saw a golden ladder, as Jacob saw of old, 
 
 But the beauty of that ladder, in language ne'er was told. 
 
 The Steps were very varied : some seemed so small and low. 
 That any child might climb them, some were so high, I know 
 That only conqueror spirits, who'd wrestled in life's fray, 
 Could put their feet upon them, and tread their mystic way. 
 
 The First Step, which I noticed, was where the children play. 
 As innocent as lambkins, through the bright summer day ; 
 The Second Step was steeper, and youths and maidens there 
 "Were faltering as they trod it, it seemed so high in air. 
 
 I scarce could see the Seventh, it merged into the sky, 
 While oftentimes dark shadows and storm-clouds passing by, 
 "Would whelm the travellers struggling, to reach its glorious height. 
 But always the pure summit was crowned in Heaven's own light. 
 
 Once on the earth I witnessed a child with weary feet. 
 Seeking to mount this Ladder ; he would his mother meet. 
 And she had gone to Heaven, both priest and nurse did say. 
 And he was lone and weary, upon life's toilsome way. 
 
 His little feet were bruised, by the stones along the road, 
 His little heart was breaking, his little head was bowed ; 
 But an angel came to guide him, to lead him by her hands. 
 And safely he was guided to the summit, where he stands. 
 
 One day the Ladder trembled, as though a raging storm 
 Had shaken its foundations, while dark clouds vtiled its form ; 
 The lightning fiasheJ, while thunders with their terrific roar. 
 Convulsed the angry heavens, till the rain did in torrents pour. 
 
 Drenched to the skin, so weary, the child still plodded on, 
 Thouuh frightened by the thunder, he still pressed luravely on ; 
 And he could not see the angel, at times, it was so dark, 
 But still she held him firmly, though to her voice he could not hark. 
 
 I watched him struggling onward, when the storm had spent its power , 
 Graver and sadder seemed he, yet, like an opening flower, 
 I watched his dawning courage, his coming manhood's grace, 
 "SVhen he, a noble ruler, might fill a glorious place. 
 
 The years rolled by, and upward and onward still pressed he, 
 Laden at times with sorrow, at times seemed full of glee ; 
 Till one day from the Ladder, his earth-form fell away, 
 And his happy, radiant spirit passed through the Gates of Day \ 
 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. 43 
 
 Then when those f^ates were opened, what visions did I seel 
 
 Of such serene enjoyment, as passes earthly glee ; 
 
 The Mother greets her darling, the Child his motlier's hand 
 
 Presses with true atTection, while o'er the blessed land 
 
 Not one poor soul is burdened, with the grief ye ofttimes know, 
 
 All see results of labour and its blessed purpose know. 
 
 There, in that lovely region, where souls begin to see 
 
 The accomplishments of earth-life, and sorrow's ministry ; 
 
 All doubts and dangers ended, they read the power of thought, 
 
 And learn by what strange prowess, heaven's flowers to bloom are bi-oughf. 
 
 Oh ! toilworn hands so weary ; oh ! hearts so full of care ; 
 Oh ! well-nigh breaking spirits, with the burdens that ye bear: 
 Remember earth-life is seed-time, and each loving deed or prayer. 
 Yea, ea.ch gentle thought is a seedling, ye must water and tend with care \ 
 
 BENEDICTION 
 
 May the angels, who, under the Eternal^ keep watch and 
 ward over all men, so guide you all through life's manifold 
 scenes of trial and sorrow, difficulty and danger, pleasure and 
 bereavement, gain and loss, that when this chapter in your 
 soul's experience closes, you may gladly pass to spheres 
 eupernal, with songs of joy on your lips and praises to the 
 Infinite for his oroodness, in all your hearts forever. Amen. 
 
( ^^ ) 
 
 III. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 [Delivered in Paris.) 
 
 The Second Coming of Christ. The Second Article in 
 the Dominical Praijer. The Progress of Spirits 
 through the Ages. Spiritiudism and its Teachings 
 contrasted and compared luith those of Tlieosophij. 
 
 THE four subjects upon winch we have been requested by 
 the present company to discourse this evening, are each 
 and all of them so vast, comprehensive, and far reaching, 
 that it is impossible to do more in the very limited time at 
 our disposal than simply give you the barest outline of such 
 information as we possess, and opinions which we hold upon 
 these fascinating and most important themes^ ranging over a 
 territory so vast, that it may almost be said to comprise the 
 entire area covered by (the Spiritual Philosophy, — a philo- 
 sophy, let us assure you, which undertakes to offer the only 
 really satisfactory answers which can ever be given to man on 
 earth, in reply to his ceaseless queries regarding the whence 
 and whither of the human spirit. J) 
 
 We hope at some time (in this city, when conditions are 
 ripe), to give an extended course of lectures upon these and 
 kindred topics, which through the kindness and talent of some 
 of our kind and sympathetic friends, may be translated into 
 the French language, and circulated broadcast over France, 
 shortly after their appearance in English dress ; as, though it 
 may appear to the superficial onlooker that the French nation 
 takes little or no deep interest in such matters, pertaining as 
 they do to the immortal destiny of mankind, no one acquain- 
 ted with the rapid and widely-extended sale of the writings 
 of Allan Kardec, both before and since his passage from 
 earthly to spirit life^ can continue to believe that France is 
 not hungering and thirsting for a Spiritual Revelation. 
 
 The works of Kardec were initial and preparatory, but he 
 
COMING OF TEE KINGDOM OF GOD. 4;"5 
 
 would be tlie last of all men, were lie here in earthly form, to 
 even permit the idea to go forth that he thought his works 
 perfect or final. Sitting as he did at the feet of wise and 
 enhghtened spiritual teachers, he learned never to ignore the 
 province of human reason, and most of all, never to close the 
 door against the conscience or moral sense, which is indeed 
 the true and essential Christ, AYord or Xo^os which enlightens 
 every man coming into the world; be he barbarian or civi- 
 lized, Jew or Gentile, bound or free, Oriental or Occidental, 
 Cone Spirit is at the base of all creation, one universal Soul, one 
 Infinite Will, one sovereign Mind, at ihe centre of the uni- 
 verse ; and that supreme, matchless, unique intelligence men 
 call God. 
 
 The great beauty of Kardec's philosoj)hy consists in the 
 fact of his always having conscientiously endeavoured to har- 
 monize all life-exj)eriences with the one absolute and essential 
 principle of Justice, which he conceived as Love and Wisdom 
 united in their most perfect forms. J) Looking upon all eccle- 
 siastical dogmas and creeds as transitory, he, in common with 
 all tndy spiritually-minded men, was constantly expecting and 
 inviting a Xew Revelation, not to contradict or supplant, but 
 only to explain, continue, and more perfectly unfcJd the inner 
 meaning of the teachings of the seers and sages of the days 
 gone by. Therefore, ""The Spirits' Book," "" The Book on 
 Mediums," " Heaven and Hell," " Genesis," and other works 
 by the same author, are all endeavours after the perfect way. 
 the perfect light, the perfect truth. These works have pre- 
 pared the studious and intuitive among French philosoijhers, 
 to look for a fuller and more lucid interpretation of the laws 
 of being, than even the spirits inspiring the mediums, whom 
 Kardec assisted to unfold and exercise their erifts, could o-ive 
 at the time when he and they sat regularly together for 
 spiritual communion. 
 
 Qlf it be asked : Why cannot the highest and most perfect 
 truth be given to earth all at once, or at any time and in any 
 place where truthseekers are gathered together? we answer: 
 That w^henever the Spirit of Truth is made manifest, every 
 man must hear in his own language of the wonderful works 
 of God ; therefore, there must ever be a diversity of tongues, 
 gifts and interpretations, till all have arrived at an equal 
 standard of spiritual perfection. Then will the Babel cease. 
 and one voice only ^\^ll be heard, and that will speak the uni- 
 
46 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Tersal language of the Spirit, malring truth known on earth 
 even as it is known in heaven. ~) 
 
 As we have been requested to express a few thoughts con- 
 cerning the Second Coming of Christ, we must beg of you to 
 consider how it can be possible for the true Messiah to come 
 to any mind, until that mind is prepared to recognise his mis- 
 sion and understand his teachings. Can the sun-light come 
 to you, if you dwell in darkness, immured in gloomy caverns, 
 prisons, or cellars, into which no light can penetrate, because 
 there are no windows to admit it ? Can the air make known 
 to you its advent, until the casement or the portals shall be 
 open to receive it ? Can the earth bask consciously in solar 
 warmth and light, while she at night-time is turning her face 
 away from the solar orb ? Can the stars make known their 
 presence to you, though they shine ever so brightly in the 
 ether space around you, if mists and shadows arise from the 
 earth, engirdling the planet and rendering its atmosphere so 
 dense, that only the blackness is discernible ? In the material 
 world analogies abound which clearly and logically portray 
 the means whereby spiritual truths are made manifest or con- 
 cealed. God, you are told, has always had a chosen people, 
 but the records which inform you that this is so, tell you 
 also that God is no respecter of persons, that there is naught 
 but impartial justice in the divine decrees. C Such apparent 
 contradictions as these lead the casual and the flippant reader 
 of the Bible to pronounce it a mass of contradictions, or else 
 to accept it blindly without investigation, as the infallible and 
 entire Word of God. But God's Word can be confined be- 
 tween the covers of no book, however sacred : no institution 
 and no age can enjoy a monopoly of truth, or bask alone in 
 the favour of the Eternal Spirit ; but in every age and to all 
 peoples, the divine fiat has gone forth : '' Let there be light!" 
 and there was light. J) 
 
 You are told in the first chapter of Genesis, that on the 
 fourth day God made two great lights, and set them in the 
 heavens : the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule by 
 iiight; and that he made the stars also. The scientific student 
 of revelation, who is a naturalist, a geologist and an astrono- 
 mer as well as a theologian, can perhaps believe that not till 
 after what is geologically termed the tertiary penod, sun, 
 moon and stars appeared upon the earth, and that in the 
 fourth great epoch of creative energy, God made them ap- 
 
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. iT 
 
 pear to earth as the vapours dispersed, and the atmosphere of 
 earth became so clear that they grew visible. But where is the 
 man of letters at the present day, who accepts the Mosaic cos- 
 mogony literally, except as a crude and primitive fable or 
 allegory, by means of which the author of the Pentateuch 
 instructed his infai^tile scholars, who sought from him an ex- 
 planation of how the world and all the orbs of light sprang 
 into being at their origin. 
 
 C The first chapter of the fourth Gospel tells us of the Iogo% 
 or divine word which was in the beginning, was with God, 
 and which was God, without which not anything was made 
 which was made. This Word or logos, a little later on in 
 the same chapter, is described as the light and life of men ; 
 as the light which shined in darkness, which the darkness 
 could not comprehend ; and as the liglit which lighteth every 
 man who comes into the world. Then the writer goes on to 
 declare how^ that light was manifest in personal form, em- 
 bodied on this planet in the form of the ideal or perfect man : 
 and how that light and life, declaring itself as the essential 
 ego or divine individuality, spoke of having existed before 
 Abraham, being older than all the prophets. 
 
 This mystical language undoubtedly reefers us to a divine 
 indwelling spirit in man, which the Orientals have called the 
 atma or Divine Soul. The j)hilosophers of Greece always 
 made a distinction, and that not without a very decided dif- 
 ference, betW'een the animal or rational and the divine soul. 
 The seven principles of being, acknowledged as comprising 
 man in his perfect state by Oriental Mystics andTheosophists, 
 were all acknowledged by the ancients, from whom Scriptures 
 in their modern form have come down to the present day. 
 These seven principles of being include all that the Occultists 
 call elementary spirit, or sub-human life, and all that the 
 Spiritualists declare they hold communion with, when they 
 enjoy blessed and delightful intercourse with "■ loved ones 
 gone before," and exalted spirits described as guardian angels. 
 Theosophy and Spiritualism are not and cannot in their 
 essence be irreconcihible, or in anv sense antao:onistic. Thev 
 only become so w^hen broad and comprehensive terms are 
 employed to designate limited, contracted, and dogmatic 
 schools of thought. The larger tiTith may also contain and 
 make plain the lesser, but the lesser can never make false the 
 greater; the fraction may be contained within the sum, but the 
 
48 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 snm can never be expressed in fractions, as all fractional parts 
 are necessarily separately less than tlie sum, which is the 
 whole, or all parts united. There is a great and most unfor- 
 tunate tendency in many quarters, to underrate some truths, 
 so as to bring others into more conspicuous relief. It may be 
 that some particular truths are not at present adapted to cer- 
 tain minds, and that they may as yet be unable to compre- 
 hend the perfect unity, which is a salient and necessarily cha- 
 racteristic attribute of all true revelation ; but nothing worth 
 gaining is ever gained, and much well worth preserving is 
 hopelessly lost, by any attempt to limit or monopohze the 
 divine outpourings. ) 
 
 God is infinite, and man is finite. Man is ever circum- 
 scribed to a limited area, and can only do so much work, 
 spend so much money, and visit so many places : therefore, 
 an idea of the Divine Being borrowed from human experience 
 in outward life, is always a dwarfed and circumscribed idea. 
 To hear many persons talk of the divinity of Jesus Christ, 
 of the Word of God, of the operations of the Holy Spirit, 
 of the sclieme of redemption, the plan of salvation, and 
 other profound spiritual subjects, you would certainly infer 
 that God was a being of the most arbitrary limitations ; 
 that he could love just so many but no more ; could send his 
 Son in one human form to one world once, to offer to 
 his children salvation, and then at length to judge them, but 
 no more. You would think that God could only write one 
 book, could only work through one institution, and that, if 
 we accept the mission of Jesus, we must regard all other 
 spiritual teachers as deluded or impostors ; while to accept 
 the Bible and embrace Christianity, must mean to renounce 
 all other sacred treatises, and separate oneself entirely from all 
 other systems of religion. 
 
 C The Christian missionary goes out to Asia to convert the 
 heathen ; and by heathen he often means not only the 
 idolatrous, the degraded, and the illiterate, but under the 
 term " pagan " he includes all the most enlightened, spiritual, 
 progressive, and saintly mystics of the Brahman and Budd- 
 histic types. Among heathen philosophers he includes Con- 
 fucius and Plato, while no two men have left an impression 
 upon the world for good, intellecttially, greater than that left 
 by these two noted sages. Still Confucianism and Platonisni 
 are insufficient to satisfy the d.e^ ye arnin gs of the human 
 
COMING OF TUB KINGDOM OF GOD. 49 
 
 soul. So is Theosophy, as interpreted by Madame Blavatsky, 
 Col. Olcott, and others of its distinguished leaders ; as in the 
 midst of the most brilliant intellectual activity there is a 
 dearth of that spiritual food which is tlie true bread of life, 
 the manna which comes down from Heaven, feeding the soul 
 with the fare of whicli angels partake, and wherewith even 
 they are satisfied. 
 
 The term " Christ " has many meanings to the exoteric 
 student. "' Sometimes it conveys the idea of a priest or king 
 solely, one who has been anointed with consecrated oil, and 
 ordained by the imposition of apostolic hands to the work of 
 ministry ; but the Jesus of the Gospels was not so anointed. 
 According to the Evangelists he came not as a king or priest 
 appointed or ordained of men : his kingdom was not of the 
 terrestrial world. He had no gorgeous jewels, no robes of 
 state, no brilliant retinue, no flattering courtiers at his feet; 
 his followers were fishermen and many common people, who 
 heard gladly though the chief priests and rulers defied him, 
 persecuted him, and at length put him to death. His court 
 was composed of sinners he had converted from the error of 
 their ways, and who from gratitude for so great a blessing 
 were willing to share his toilsome lot, and ease, if might be, 
 the load on his burdened shoulders. His birth was that of a 
 pauper, his death that of a criminal, and yet his name is, 
 according to the New Testament, the one name given unto 
 men whereby they may be saved; the name at the mere 
 mention of which, every knee in heaven and earth must 
 bow. 
 
 The Churcli on earth has been so literal in the construction 
 it has put upon this passage, that whenever the name of 
 Jesus occurs in the service, caps are lifted or he?.ds bent 
 down; but what means the name,hw.t the outward expression 
 of the spirit? CThe name of God signifies not the titles 
 applied on earth to Deity, but the manifestation of divine 
 life in earthly form, and when it is predicted that at the name 
 of Jesus every knee shall bow, the writer of tlie esoteric 
 document, from which, the words are taken, means that 
 divine or celestial expressions of life on earth shall 'yet so 
 completely dominate all forces and forms of matter, so 
 thoroughly subdue all forms of pride, tyranny, selfishness and 
 imposture, that when the true Golden Age shall have dawned, 
 right will be sovereign instead of might, and those alone 
 
 H 
 
50 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 accounted liigliest and most worsliipful through ^^'hom the 
 spirit of truth is most perfectly made manifest in love. 
 
 Yon \\\\\ pardon ns if, for a moment, Ave refer you again to 
 the earliest chapters of Genesis, and this time ask you to care- 
 fully note the difference between the man (mankind), male 
 and female, created in the first chapter, and the Adam, 
 formed in the second. This Adam was the first spiritual 
 messenger, of whom the Jews had preserved any written 
 record. He was to them the first man. the source whence 
 they derived all their characteristics as a peculiar people. 
 This the esoteric Jews fully understood, while the ignorant 
 and bigoted believed all Gentiles were sons of Eve, by the 
 serpent, while they (the Jews) were sons, by Adam ; and 
 this in a certain sense the Talmud teaches, only the Talmud 
 being itself an esoteric book, can never be correctly interpreted 
 by iiteralists, as the letter never does more than constitute a 
 veil or covering for the inner meanings conveyed to the 
 initiated, by means of those very veils which conceal them 
 from the vulgar. 
 
 Christ is called the second Adnm, in the Epistles ; and it 
 is declared that, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 all be made alive. But " Christ" is here a title applied to the 
 Spirit, and especially given to Jesus by the writers of the New 
 Testament, as the most perfect manifestation or expression of 
 the Spirit witnessed upon earth. If all must die in Adam the 
 first, all be alive for evermore in Adam the second, then a 
 distinction is made between the simply rational and the 
 inmost or divine soul; the former in and of itself is not im- 
 mortal, tlie latter lives for ever, and is like Melchisedek, who 
 was the symbol of the soul to Abraham, without beginning 
 of days or end of life. Thus our considerations of this sub- 
 ject cause us to arrive at this conclusion, 7nz., the soul is 
 alone immortal. Outer personalities, astral bodies, all may be 
 but shells, envelopes, or derivations, but in them is no life 
 2:)er sc. The essential unit of life is eternal and immortal, has 
 an unbroken consciousness through all the ages, and is indeed 
 the breath of God in man, tlie candle of the Lord, the spark 
 from heaven's eternal fire, individualized for ever. 
 
 In Kardec's Philosophy, and in that of Roustaing, great 
 stress has been invariably laid upon the doctrine of Re- 
 Incarnation — not a particularly happy word, as it does not 
 convey the idea of spiritual embodiment anything like so 
 
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 51 
 
 clearly as the term Re-Embodiment, now more generally 
 made use of by advanced spiritual teachers. Both incarnation 
 and re-incarnation are faulty expressions, if the lexicons be 
 correct, as reference to any dictionary will tell you that 
 incarnate means "made flesh" : so we have it in the creed 
 of the Church — " he was made flesh " {incarnatiis est). 
 
 Now, spirit can never be made flesh, though it requires 
 spirit to make flesh, as no flesh is eternal, and no material 
 can exist except when and where spirit operates to produce 
 it. The spirit never becomes -material, though it derives per- 
 ception of material things through a material organism. The 
 soul and the body are always perfectly distinct, and in order 
 that a spirit should produce, animate, and control a body, it 
 is only necessary that there shouhl be a vital union between 
 the spirit and its organism. This is proved by psychological 
 facts, and notably by theosophical experiments, which, instead 
 ol" simply demonstrating the existence and power of elementary 
 intelligences, prove absolutely the sovereign and supreme 
 sway of human intelligence over al^l forms of matter and lower 
 grades of spiritual being. Supposing Madame Blavatsky, or 
 any other Theosophist, really does accomplish all that is done 
 in the name of Tiieosophy, according to its organ in India 
 and the testimony of its -friends in Europe, — What can be 
 shown more clearly than that the human mind, or will, or 
 spirit, is capable of disintegrating and reuniting matter, and 
 controlling weaker wills and lower spirits till they perfectly 
 obey its domination ? Spiritualists may plead for the agency 
 of disembodied spirits, and pronounce Madame Blavatsky a 
 physical medium, but what are disembodied human spirits 
 but those who were once embodied, and "\vhat powers can 
 there be e^rted by the diseinbgdied, which are not present, 
 even though usually latent, in the embodied man ? 
 
 The doctrine of Re-embodiment naturally leads tlie thinker 
 to something like the following conclusions, if he only care- 
 fully follows out a logical train of deductive reasoning, which 
 must inevitably lead him to that point where lie acknowledges 
 at length, with the understanding as with the sentiment of 
 the spirit, the Divine Justice in all the affairs of life ; the 
 Universal Paternity of the Divine Mind, the universal 
 fraternity of mankind, and the necessity of every con- 
 ceivable human temptation and trial, to round the spirit out 
 at length in the full glories of resplendent angelhood. 
 
QZ 
 
 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 The angels, — ^Yllat are tliey, and how do they differ from 
 ordinary spirits ? is a question repeatedly asketl, but never 
 answered till the soul understands the meaning of the 
 command : Be ye perfect I and knows that the perfect way is 
 the path of everlasting blessedness, because of perfect love to 
 Godj and love to all souls in the universe. Celestial life is 
 quite distinct, in its rounded beauty, from that cherubic or 
 seraphic life, which is associated with the idea of perfect 
 innocence and purity, compatible with childish simplicity but 
 not with mature spiritual development. Paradise has been 
 forfeited, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
 evil has been partaken of at the instigation of the serpent, or 
 man and woman would not be here struggling with sin, 
 battling with temptation, shut out from a realization of 
 heavenly things, as the dwellers on earth usually are. 
 
 The Christ-man is he who has been subjected to every 
 human trial and sorrow, and yet has overcome them all. He 
 has been in the wilderness with the wild beasts, and has 
 known what it is to have the tempter appear to him as an 
 angel of light, telling him, if he yields to sense and not to 
 conscience, he shall be accounted worthy to take rank among 
 the gods. "It is finished I'" is the parting ejaculation of one 
 who lias braved every storm, completed every work, and at 
 length has grown prepared for that supreme triumph over 
 death, which makes the resurrection and ascension possible. 
 
 The narrative of Christ and his earth-experiences is utterly 
 unintelligible to all save those who can read between the lines 
 the history of the progress of the spirit, but when the real 
 nature of the spirit is understood, then both a personal and a 
 corporate, an ideal and an actual, Christ can be not only 
 imagined, but actually perceived and inwardly realized. 
 After the flesh we then know Christ no longer, but in the 
 spirit he is with us always. We do not say that a knowledge 
 of an historic Christ is needful to all, for were it needful it 
 would be vouchsafed to all mankind, and there could not be, 
 as there are, hundreds of millions of human beings destitute 
 of all knowledge of his very existence. It is not needful to 
 know anything of history to know Christ, neither need we 
 use the terms Christ, or Christian, to signify our allegiance to 
 the spirit of truth. 
 
 The Kingdom o_f Heaven is within, and when we pray, 
 " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in 
 
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, 
 
 06 
 
 lieaven " — What can we mean, if we pray devoutly and 
 sincerely, but that we long to see the day, ^vhen in ourselves 
 and all around us, the Will of God, which is essential Justice, 
 Love, and Wisdom unclouded, shall be obeyed, and obeyed 
 because it is beloved ? Coercive measures may be necessary 
 among ruffians and barbaiic peoples, but they never tend to 
 a love of law, only to a fear of it, and frequently to its 
 hatred. Tlie la^y of love and the love of law are inseparable, 
 and who can intelligently love or obey a law he does not 
 appreciate, because he does not understand it.^ The rigour 
 of the letter of Mosaism can never win the world to the 
 simple Israelitish trust in Jehovah, as an Infinite Parent, 
 which made the Psalmist exclaim, in a moment of filial trust 
 and grateful recognition of God's bounty: " Like as a father 
 pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." 
 •' The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over 
 all his works." These, and many other beautiful passages 
 from the rich treasury of ancient Hebrew literature, express 
 not slavish fear nor servile submission, but are full of that 
 fervour" of love which is the essence of all true relioion. 
 
 Can we have any ennobling idea of God, if we merely rest 
 on sovereignty, and declare that all are- not equal in God's 
 sight, and that it is not for us to complain of inequalities, 
 because God is a sovereign, and has a sovereign ri^-ht to do 
 as he pleases with his own ; while all we receive is a free 
 gift from him to us ? We do not deny the sovereignty of 
 Deity, nor man's entire dependence upon the Infinite Spirit 
 for life, and breath, and all things ; but upon the simple plea 
 of sovereignty, you can justify the awful travesties of Calvin, 
 when he taught the reprobation of some and the election of 
 others. Calvinism, Fatalism, Mohammedanism, Secularism, 
 and, alas ! Judaism and Christianity only too often have this 
 fearful blot upon their escutcheons. Neither the God of the 
 Calvinist, nor the Mohammedan, nor the orthodox Jew, nor 
 the narrow-minded Christian is impartial ; while the '* nature," 
 at whose shrine the Secularist bows, is but a blind, remorseless 
 tyrant. Struggle as you may to reconcile all human in- 
 equalities by the theory of Divine Sovereignty, or that of 
 Secularism, which denies intelligence, affection, and conscious- 
 ness to the Power that moulds our lives, brings us into 
 being, and hurries us out of it, you will utterly fail to evolve 
 , a philosophy acceptable to the highest minds on earth. Man 
 
04 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 has tlioiight out a wiser and a better God, and possesses a 
 truer and more loving nature. 
 CWhere the philosophy of Re-embodiment chimes in so 
 beautifully with the deepest and truest thought of man, is 
 where it takes its stand upon the cardinal, primal, centriil, 
 and ultimate affirmation of Divine Justice. This justice 
 being the base of all the operations of nature, no one is pre- 
 ferred before another. God has no favourites, all are equal 
 in his sight. His universe is the expression of his infinite 
 benevolence, while those who have suffered most, have learnt 
 most and enjoy most ; while those who have suffered least, 
 have learnt least and enjoy least. We do not care what your 
 theories or hypotheses may be, if you grant the truth of this 
 divine and central axiom, but we shall for ever refuse to bow 
 before a God or Nature which substitutes caprice for justice, 
 and partiahty for equal love. 
 
 No one can fail to see in the best and brightest lives, lived 
 out on earth by saint and seer, by prophet, martyr and 
 reformer, an evidence of this most perfect justice at the 
 centre of all being. 9 The child is instinctively just, and it 
 needs the sophisticating influence of earthly commerce and 
 seh -interest, to make foul play acceptable to any of your 
 children. All men and women, wherever found, instinctively 
 admire a truly just and absolutely impartial person ; such an 
 one can always influence a family, control an army, or a 
 State ; mutiny can never continue where he is in command, 
 and if, from age to age, we see with increasing brightness 
 this love and sense of perfect justice and impartial goodness 
 developing in human life, surely no one in his senses can 
 question the existence of Infinite Rectitude and Impartiality 
 as the base and centre of all existence. Clf you can acknow- 
 ledge and adore this Justice, and yet be opposed to the 
 philosophy of Re-embodiment, we do not think on any moral 
 grounds you can need to accept it, as you have learned the 
 lesson it is ordained to teach ; but to those who cannot other- 
 wise perceive this loving justice in all the affairs of life, 
 Re-embodiment offers such explanations of life, and such 
 consolation in the midst of adversity, as nothing else can 
 give. 
 
 The mystery of creation is insoluble to the modern 
 Scientist, who can perceive nothing beyond mere law, or fate, 
 governing all things. Among physical Scientists, no one. 
 
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, G5 
 
 perhaps, stands higher than Darwin, the far-famed apostle of 
 Evohition ; but Evohition witliout Invohition is inconceivable. 
 Nothing can be unrolled which has not first been rolled up. 
 The outer universe is like a scroll, gradually opened, revealing 
 the mystic characters which Spirit^Iias written upon it through 
 all tlie ages. To the purely materialistic mind, the lesser is 
 constantly evolving the greater, the lower producing the 
 higher : blind force begets intelligence, and man, composed of 
 primal atoms or of molecules, is supposed to possess powers 
 and attributes which these atoms or molecules do not individ- 
 ually possess. But surely the merest tyro in science must be 
 aware, that combinations and multiplications cannot create 
 attributes foreign to the nature of substances multiplied or 
 combined:; Before anything can he evolved by multipli- 
 cation or combination, the essential elements must exist in 
 the primal atoms, and if it be possible to trace all life — 
 organic and inorganic, mineral, vegetable, animal and human 
 — to original atom.s, then these must be self-intelhgent, if 
 they are really the basis of existence. _) 
 
 To illustrate : a single atom may be so infinitesimal, that 
 it is quite invisible, both to the nahed eye and with the aid 
 of the strongest microscopic power available, while a million 
 atoms combined maybe clearly visible. Would it be possible 
 for the million (all alike, primarily or individually) to mani- 
 fest size and form, unless each separate atom had size and 
 forai? The size and form in the one case may be so minute 
 that it is beyond microscopic detection, in the other, so great 
 that it is easily perceived by unassisted human vision. ( If it 
 be true, that size, form, colour, or any material attribute, 
 must exist in the unit or it cannot be manifest in the bulk, — 
 will not the same course of necessary reasoning lead us, by 
 processes of logical deduction, to the inevitable conclusion 
 that will, mind, spirit, intelligence, w^e. what word you choose 
 to express the governing force in nature, must lie at the root 
 of all existence? Thus the spiritual man is the real man, 
 the spiritual world the real world ; while original cells, or 
 primordial cellular tissues, or animalculoe, in the form of pro- 
 toplasm, can be only the earliest and most rudimentary mani- 
 festation of Spirit in its primal contact with the earth. 
 
 The monad is the first ; the duad, the second ; the triad, 
 the third registration of spiritual impulsions through matter ; 
 while every type of life registers further and further efforts 
 
56 • LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 of Spirit, till at length the human form is produced, and 
 Spirit rests from \\\q. work of producing any further types of 
 life on earth. This is what is meant by God " resting from 
 his work on the seventh day " or first Sabbath of the world. 
 God (or to speak correctly the Eloliim, or divine emanation, 
 i.e., the Divine Soul) was engaged through countless aeons, 
 vaguely called days, in the creation of species. The evening 
 and morning alluded to signify alternating states of impregna- 
 tion and harvest : the night between the evening and the morn- 
 ing, the period of gestation or germination, which is always 
 carried on in secrecy and darkness within the earth or womb. 
 
 No type produces its successor, but every type has been 
 necessary to induce that condition of soil and atmosphere, 
 which rendered the advent of the next higher type possible. 
 We avow our faith in direct and specific acts of Spiritual 
 Creation, and declare this truth not inconsistent with any 
 demonstrable theory of evolution. The Darwinian order of 
 tlie succession of types may be correct ; the only error may be 
 in supposing that there is no direct spiritual impulse, to pro- 
 duce each separate and successive type. The monkey did 
 not develop into man, but the monkey was an earlier mani- 
 festation of Spirit than man. The spirit, who was yet to 
 form a human body, first produced the organism of an ape : 
 but no animal form contains or embodies the Divine Soul, 
 but only gives expression to certain emanations from the 
 Soul-unit, which is never embodied in any form below man. 
 Therefore, the animals are not immortal ; they have no per- 
 sistent individuality, while the life that animates tliem is a 
 derived and reflected life. 
 
 If this be true of animals, may it not, say some, hi true 
 also of savages and of all human beings who have not attained to 
 the dignity of spiritual self-hood. The doctrine of Conditional 
 Immortality is finding favour in many quarters to-day, because 
 it appears from many passages in the New Testament that 
 immortal life is a reward ; and to those who are not New 
 Testament Christians, the doctrine commends itself as con- 
 sistent with earthly life as a state probation, and heaven as a 
 state of felicity, never enjoyed until earned. There is no 
 good ground, however, for supposing that the individuality 
 of any being is ever lost. The only question is : Had that 
 being ever a conscious and distinct individuality to lose ? We 
 never knew of a human beins: who had not some soul-life 
 
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 57 
 
 within him ; and we cannot conceive of the human form ex- 
 cept as the expression of the human soul directly, while the 
 perfect man is the Christ-man or Messiah, who manifests not 
 simply some of the Hfe of the soul, dimly through the veil 
 of flesh, but manifests the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; 
 and that fulness of the Godhead is naught else than the full 
 display of the soul-life, which is one with the Divine, and is 
 the direct link between man and the Infinite Spirit. 
 
 At first, when the soul approaches the earth, though it has 
 all divine possibilities within it, tliese are but in embryo, and 
 the embryonic emanation from the yet unembodied soul, 
 produces upon earth the simple monad. Through all the 
 succession of types on earth, the soul is labouring unseen, till 
 at length it presents not a form derived from some of its 
 attributes separately, but a form produced by all its attributes 
 conjointly. As there is great difficulty in the way of realiz- 
 ing how the types first appeared in form upon the earth, 
 we mast call to your notice the fact of materialization, 
 admitted alike by Sj)iritualists and Theosophists ; though 
 the Theosophist explains the plienomena differently from the 
 Spiritualist. It is recorded by Spirituahsts that in many 
 seances flowers have been materialized, and then have as 
 suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. It is also stated by 
 many competent Avitnesses, that human forms have been 
 gradually built up from the floor, apparently ; at first appear- 
 ing like thin columns of moving vapour, and at length 
 assuming the full proportions of the human body. It is 
 stated by those who have had experience with Hindoo 
 Fakirs, that a perfect tree from the seed of a gourd has been 
 developed, and has flowered and then dematerialized in less 
 than half an hour. The friends of Madame Blavatsky de- 
 clare, that in her presence they have seen a cobra formed 
 and then as mysteriously vanish, simply by her placing her 
 handkerchief on the table, and employing her occult powers. 
 Whatever explanation may be given of these phenomena, 
 they must command the attention of the scientific world, in 
 the near future, to an extent they have not yet done ; and 
 whether the general conclusion be Theosophic or Spiritualistic,, 
 in either case, immense light will be thrown upon the pro- 
 blem of creation ; will or intelligence, whether embodied or 
 disembodied, being indispensable to the production of such 
 marvellous phenomena. 
 
o8 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 Apply the fact of materialization to creation, or to evolu- 
 tion, and you can understand how the original types first 
 sprang into existence. At certain epochs of the earth's 
 history, a type pre- existent in spirit assumed a human form : 
 and as the spiritual medium declares that he or she is under 
 the control of higher spirits than his own : and as the 
 Theosophist, the initiate, or the adept, declares he has elemen- 
 tary spirits under his control, so both statements may be correct. 
 The higher e\'^r controls the lower throughout all space. Rise 
 high as you will, there will always be some power above you, 
 and to that power you may stand as a medium or subject. 
 While subject to the higher, the lower may be subject unto 
 you ; and so throughout the boundless realms of sj^ace, life 
 may appear as a ladder, upon the rounds of which intelligences 
 ever stand, each round controlling the one beneath it. 
 
 The first human beings who appeared on earth, may have 
 entered life through the portal of Spirit-materialization : and 
 in the coming days, when celestial life shall be ultimated be- 
 low, — not the mere typal germ, not the lowest and crudest 
 expression of life will be made manifest, but glorious souls 
 will take upon themselves a form as they may please, and 
 the Second Coming of Christ, in like manner as he ascended, 
 may be interpreted spiritually, to signify his re-appearance 
 on the earth, in all the glory of celestial presence.^ 
 
 Not as a puling infant, 
 
 ISfot as a weakly child. 
 
 Not as a man of sorrows, 
 
 Will the Saviour at length appear ; 
 
 But he who comes to gather 
 
 His sheep into his fold, 
 
 To number up his jewels, 
 
 And place them in the gold ! 
 
 The radiant golden setting 
 
 Of heaven's immortal state : 
 
 AYill take them to his Kingdom, 
 
 Through Purity's white gate, 
 
 Through pearls from sorrow formed, 
 
 Through gems from pain groY\ai bright, 
 
 Into his endless Kingdom, 
 
 With unspeakable delight. 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM, AND ITS TRUE RELATIONS TO 
 THEOSOPHY AND TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 {Delivered in Paris.) 
 
 (Spiritualism and Theosopliy, continued. Spiritualism 
 and its True Relations to Esoteric Christianity ^ and 
 to every Social andj Political Reform. Who ivas 
 Melchisedek ? The Hermetic Philosophy. The 
 Coming of the Kingdom of Harmony. Anno 
 Dominoe. The Golden Age, amd final Destiny of 
 Earth. 
 
 IN our last Lecture, we were only able to vaguely touch 
 upon a few of the most conspicuous ideas, which tlie four 
 subjects suggested to us on that occasion, brought into 
 prominence.. Could we give, say twelve consecutive Lectures 
 upon the esoteric side of Spiritualism and Theosophy, and 
 then sum up our remarks by showing what practical influence 
 for good spiritual teaching must necessarily exert upon the 
 world in the transformation or transfiguration of earthly 
 life, we might be able to present you with something- 
 like a systematic dissertation upon the various themes 
 with which you liave requested us to deal. As it is, 
 we must leave it to yourselves at your own leisure, through 
 private meditation and such inspiration as you can indivi- 
 dually obtain, to supply the manifest deficiencies in the 
 scheme of philosophy we are endeavouring to present to 
 you ; as v^e can at best do no more than ju^ touch lightly 
 here and there upon some of the sublimest truths and deepest 
 principles of spiritual being, into which you are evidently 
 such anxious and studious inquirers. 
 
 (In our previous Discourse, we called your attention to the 
 seeming conflict between Theosophy and Spiritualism, as no 
 real conflict at all. Certainly, nominal Spiritualists and 
 
60 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 Theosophists are often bitterly opposed to each otlier, and 
 say unkind — and, we think, unjust— things, sometimes the one 
 of the other. Sucli- conduct ill becomes seekers after trutli. 
 We must credit all our fellow students with sincerity equal 
 to our own, and in all docility and humbleness of mind, must 
 allow that none of us have all the light, or are able to dis- 
 cover all there is of truth. 
 
 Students of spiritual things are like persons on a mountain- 
 side : &x)me are nearer the summit than others ; some very 
 near the base. Those who stand highest have the Avidest 
 view of the gorgeous natural 23anorama spread out before 
 them ; those who have gained the summit, can look all round 
 and view the scenery from all sides. Perhaps on one side 
 there are hills ; on another, water ; on another, table land ; 
 on another, a deep declivity. Those who look only to the 
 north, cannot see what is to the south ; those whose eyes are 
 turned westward, cannot see what is to the east ; and is it 
 surprising, while all are climbing on the various sides respec- 
 tively, diametrically opposite views should be taken of the 
 surroundings '? Yet all these views are right, as relative or 
 partial truths ; all are wrong, as absolute or tinal conclusions. 
 
 Students of religion, of the spiritual nature of man, or 
 indeed of any natural science, are like these mountain 
 climbers : one sees one side of a truth, another sees from 
 another standpoint ; and like the men in the fable, who dis- 
 puted over the colour of a chameleon, they all were right in 
 declaring what they saw ; till at length a wiser man than any 
 one of them interposed, stepped in and told them how the 
 white chameleon "s^^as also red, blue, yellow, green, purple, 
 grey, or any other colour they had seen it — it looked different 
 in different lights. Science points you to the perfect ray of 
 white light, and tells you white is the sum of colour. There 
 are three primary, and a much larger number of prismatic, 
 hues, but altogether they form white. Some who orAj saw 
 the blue ray, might declare light is blue ; some who saw only 
 the red or the yellow, might declare light to possess only the 
 one colour they perceived. 
 
 So with the jarring sects, so with divided schools of 
 thought, wherein many men have mau}^ minds. The Chris- 
 tian, the Theosophist, the Jew, the Buddhist, the Spiritualist, 
 and the controlling spirits, — all are right and all are safe 
 when they confine themselves to declarations of VN'hat 
 
T HE SOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. Gl 
 
 they know ; but just so soon as arrogant and negative 
 assumptions are put forward as incontestable facts, and tiiat 
 is pronounced impossible - or untrue that some particular 
 individuals have not discovered, then the strife commences, 
 the clash of wea^^ons is heard, battle begins in darkness, and 
 persons are often accused of bigotry and uircharitableness, or 
 folly or guilt, merely because they refuse to put out their 
 eyes because some of their neighbours are blind, or to shut 
 their ears to all the voices of the Spirit because some of their 
 companions are deaf. 
 
 Should you visit Brighton, or any other South Coast town 
 in England, and look across the Channel with the naked eye, 
 you could not possibly discover France, while from Dieppe 
 you could not view JSTewhaven ; and were it not for the 
 traveller, who has crossed the water in a boat, or for the 
 powerful field-glass which su|)plements your ^dsion, those 
 who had never seen across the waters, and had never crossed 
 them, could not imagine what lay beyond. Facts are what 
 we know ; what we only guess at should be put forward 
 most modestly and tentatively, while they who are assured 
 of the truth of facts, no matter how stupendous, are always 
 justified when questioned seriously upon them, to give 
 direct affirmative answers to their interrogators. Still there 
 has always, been need of secret orders and occult brother- 
 hoods, to give special training to those who were prepared 
 beyond others, to understand and exercise supernal j^owers 
 of spirit over matter ; and as dangerous weapons and sharp 
 tools are only safe in the hands of the wise and mature, 
 while the ignorant and infants would soon wrest them to 
 their own undoing and that of others, so there have ever 
 been but few upon the earth, who have been capable of 
 rending the veil and peering behind the screen of symbol 
 into the inner mysteries of the Spirit. You are doubtless 
 aware, that while Freemasonry acknowledges three necessary 
 and common degrees of initiation, viz., Entered Ajoj^rentice, 
 Fellow Craftsman, and Master Mason ; and while entrance 
 into the blue lodge is needful to entitle to the advantages 
 accruing from entrance into the brotherhood the world over, 
 still there may be many higher degress taken than these 
 three ; while the Past Grand Master of an ordinary order, 
 may not know anything of even the first principles of some 
 higher and more secret brotherhoods beyond, the very exis- 
 
G2 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 tence of which may be unknown to the mass of mankind, 
 ordinary Masons inckided. 
 
 Some years since, when, a Theosophical Society was 
 started in New York, it was declared that it was necessary 
 to take nine degrees to qnahfy a member to enter into the 
 full mysteries and powers of the order ; that only three 
 degrees could be taken in Europe or America, the remaining 
 six could only be taken in the East. Since that time you 
 have heard much of Koot Hoomi and the Himalayan 
 Brothers, while " Isis Unveiled" and the " Theosophist," 
 also, " Ghost Land " and *"' Art Magic " have familiarized the 
 reading public with some of the mysteries of Occult Science 
 and Brotherhoods; but all the orders which are made 
 mention of to the public at large, are quite external compared 
 with that most powerful and divine of all brotherhoods upon 
 the earth, viz., the Order of Melchisedek. 
 
 This Order is composed of the Sons of God, or, as they 
 have also been called. Sons of Osiris, or Sons of the Sun. 
 This Order never varies from age to age. Its immediate 
 inspiration is from the Guardian Angel of i\\Q Planet, who 
 never changes, and who is the God or presiding Deity of the 
 world. Under the dominion of this Supreme Archangel are 
 twelve angels, who manifest to the earth through twenty- 
 four embodiments, twelve males and twelve females con- 
 stituting this Order, the very existence of which is practically 
 unknown to all but those in communion with it. The 
 members of this surpassing Order, are the ruling spirits of 
 the planet. The Order itself is- in the spirit world, but 
 there are ahvays upon the earth the perfect circle of chosen 
 representatives, and these are they who have attained to one- 
 ness wdth celestial spheres of life. 
 
 Predicting a Messiah, the prophets of old declared that he 
 should belong to this Order, while in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, Christ and Melchisedek are identified. Jesus was 
 always regarded by the early Christians, who were Gnostics 
 and esoteric Spiritualists, as the earthly manifestation of this 
 Divine Circle, while the entire radius of the circle comprised 
 the 144:,000 redeemed out of all the nations of the earth, and 
 styled the first-fruits of the Heavenly Kingdom, in the 
 Apocalypse. 
 
 Tracing the progress of this Order through tw^elve dispen- 
 sations of time, and allowing that 1M,000 expresses the 
 
TEEOSOPHY AND GERISTIANTTY. 63 
 
 number of those ingatliered in each successive dispensation, 
 the number of souls who attain to oneness with this Order is 
 1,728,000 during the grand cycle of time, in which is 
 accomplished the precession of the equinoxes, during which 
 period of 25,84:0 years or thereabouts, the sun travels 
 through all the zodiacal signs, and completes its journey 
 around Alcyone, the far- distant star, or to speak correctly, 
 the central sun of this universe, and often called the centre 
 of the sidereal heavens. 
 
 It is to this sun that the apex of Egypt's greatest 
 Pyramid was designed directly to point, and as Professor 
 Piazza Smyth, the Astronomer Royal of Scotland, has 
 suggested in his able and fascinating work, " Our Inheritance 
 in the Great Pyramid," in the year 2,170 B.C., the polar 
 star [Alpha Draconis) shone directly down the shaft of the 
 Pyramid, while twice every year — once at the vernal and 
 again at the autumnal equinox — the sun illuminated the 
 entire disc of the stupendous fane, with golden rays of glory. 
 Whatever may be the meaning of the lidless sarcophagus in 
 the King's Chamber, to the student of weights and measures, 
 — granting the perfect demonstration in the Pyramid of many 
 a mathematical problem, and granting also its proof that the 
 Egyptians of old possessed a system of weights and measures 
 vastly superior to the French metric system, now almost 
 universally regarded as the best extant, — the Pyramid of 
 Gizeh was evidently intended as a Masonic Temple, a temple 
 of science and religion, a temple to the sun externally, and to 
 the Deity esoterically ; as the sun was ever regarded as the 
 manifested presence of the planetary Archangel, while 
 Alcyone was revered as the home of God. 
 
 Modern scientists may turn a deaf ear to spiritual inter- 
 pretations of ancient mysteries, if they will, but who is great 
 in the scientific world to-day, Avho does not know that either 
 the pryamidal fonn is a blank, or it is the expression of 
 ancient spiritual and scientific knowledge. Professor Smytli 
 sees in it a prophecy of Christ, and predicts his second 
 coming and the end of the world shortly, as the Grand 
 Gallery 1881-|- inches in length, is by him understood to 
 refer to the duration of the Christian era. This gallery then 
 abruptly terminates, but following a tortuous passage through 
 which it is extremely difficult to crawl' along, what is the 
 surprise of the explorer at finding himself in the magnificent 
 
64 LOXDON LECTURES. 
 
 Kin2:'s Chamber, where all is lio-ht and beantv. but in that 
 chamber as in all other parts of the Pyramid, there are no 
 hieroglyphics or inscriptions of any Idnd, — the Pyramid speaks 
 only in form, in its simple expressive design, and to those 
 who are altogether Rninitiated it speaks not at all. It is the 
 stone which ihe builders have rejected, and is destined to 
 become the head stone of the corner in the temple of 
 material science ; while viewed S23iritually, the truths it 
 symbolizes and the spiritual facts it declares, are destined yet 
 to be acknowledged as the keystone of the Arch, by all who 
 in the comino- era shall become Masons, in the true Lodsre of 
 the Spirit. 
 
 It has been said by some interpreters, that the Pyramid 
 speaks no more after 1881 or 1882 a.d. True it is that about 
 the middle of the year 1882, the 18S1|- years symbolized by 
 the Grrand Gallery came to an end, but it is difficult to 
 compute ^^-ith precise accuracy the true year of the com- 
 mencement of the Christian Dispensation, especially as there 
 are those who have studied the records deeply, who declare 
 that Jesus was born about 100 years earlier than Christian 
 historians declare, while others make a distinction between 
 the culmination of astronomical and spiritual cycles, the 
 latter being said to culminate about 300 years later than the 
 former. It is useless to try and prove spiritual truths merely 
 by reference to external history, as that history is by no 
 means infallible or indubitably correct, and sph'itual facts 
 do not in any sense depend upon the letter of history. No 
 one really lives the '"' Christ-life "'' bv simply believing that a 
 star shone over Bethlehem 188iyears ago, and led the 
 Persian Mao-i to a stable where thev found a babe, in whom 
 
 O t. ■ - 
 
 the predictions of Isaiah were fulfilled. Many there cire ^yhp 
 believ e in the letter of sacred documents, ^vho know nothing 
 and care nothing for their spirit . These are not in com- 
 mnnion with the Christ Sphere or Star Circle. These know 
 nothing of vital nnion with celestial states. These have 
 ideas about God and immortality accepted blindly upon 
 authority or tradition, but being destitute of interior light, 
 tliey are in gross internal darkness : the light that is in them 
 is clarlaiess, for it is only the letter which killeth ; while they 
 who have by celestial influx received the light of the Spirit, 
 need not that any man should teacli them, for the Spirit 
 t_eaches them from mthin. The Holy of Holies, the Ark of 
 
THE OS OP II Y AND CHRISTIANITY. 05 
 
 the Covenant, tlie Mercy Seat, and the Shekinah arc all 
 within, and Solomon's true Temple of perpetual wisdom is_ 
 enclosed within their shrine of outward life. 
 
 The religion of Jesus, considered esoterically, is the simple 
 universal religion of the Spirit, which acknowledges one 
 universal Deity, and the manifestation of that Deity to man 
 through the medium of his own soul. Who can read the 
 Sermon on the Mount, the Golden Rule, the two Great 
 Commandments, upon which Jesus said all the Law and 
 Prophets hang, without perceiving at a glance that Jesus 
 insisted upon universal truths, and enforced the essential 
 precepts of the Hebrews upon the minds of all his hearers. 
 
 What says the Siiiaitic law" ? Nothing, but wdiat your best 
 social reformers of the present day can heartily endorse. The 
 recognition of one spiritual Deity ; and the paying of undi- 
 vided homage to the Eternal mind alone : the prohibition of 
 all profane language and impious oaths ; the observance of 
 one day out of seven as a day of rest from labour, that man 
 and beast alike may be refreshed and reinvigorated for the 
 next six day's toil ; the utter overthrow of murder, adultery, 
 theft, false witness against one's neighbours, covetousness 
 and all uncharitableness and injustice ; siirely this will be re- 
 garded as good by every intelligent utilitarian, who simply 
 seeks the physical and worldly good of the human family. 
 The commandments of the Decalogue are all wise and true, 
 while the rigour of their enforcement by imperfectly en- 
 lightened legislators, w^as completely set aside by Christ, He 
 came not to destroy but to fulfil the law • but not to endorse 
 or perpetuate human cruelty, aggressiveness and violence ; 
 though no doubt the sanctions and penalties common among 
 mutinous Hebrew tribes at certain degenerate and idolatrous 
 periods of their history, were necessary to the enforcement of 
 law and the maintenance of order, and w^ere really intended 
 to protect society, at the expense of disturbers of the peace. 
 
 Though we heartily dissent from corporal punishment in 
 all its forms, we know of parents and teachers who conscien- 
 tiously employ it, believing it to be for the good of those 
 under them and dear to them. " Spare the rod and spoil the 
 child," they interpret literally, forgetting that the severest 
 suffering any delinquent can undergo, comes to him from the 
 upbraiding of his own conscience. There are judges who 
 believe they are doing right when they sentence criminals to 
 
66 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 execution, but woe to those who beheving such penalties to be 
 sinful, pronounce such doom upon their fellow-men, to main- 
 tain their seats and salaries, or who strive to soothe their 
 smarting consciences by applying that most abominable and 
 treacherous of all infernal salves : " If I do not do it some 
 one else will, and it might as well be myself as another." It 
 mighinot as well be yourself as another : there may be others 
 who are in similar positions to your own, who have not your 
 light, and for them to sin in ignorance is not sin to them ; for 
 you to sin with your eyes open is sin to Tou. 
 
 The whole doctrine of the Gospel hinges upon indiA-iduality 
 and individual accountability. '' Xo man can deliver his 
 brother, or make a2Teement unto God for him." '"' Every 
 man shall bear his own burden." '' Whatsoever a man soweth 
 that shall he also reap." These and hosts of similar passages 
 from the Old and New Testaments might be qnoted to show 
 how thoroughly the essential religion of all Bibles is in accord 
 with man's intuitive sense of right, and how the really inspired 
 '•' Christ of God " ever points man to his own indwelling soul, 
 and teaches him there to find the Deity. 
 
 All foohsh disputations about the personality of God are 
 vain. God snay be more than personal, he cannot be less. 
 Every attribute we love and admire in man, as our spiritual 
 being unfolds, must have its counterpart in the Eternal, whose 
 offspring we are ; and it will not be till spiritual culture is 
 pursued mth that assiduity with which physical and intellec- 
 tual pursuits are followed, that there will arise upon earth a 
 multitude who Avill unite in common brotherhood, to make 
 practical the teaching of the Golden Rule. 
 
 The word Christianity is unimportant, so is the use of the 
 name Christ, but the Gospel, called the gospel of Christ, is 
 eternally true, and practically beneficial to all minds in every 
 age. That nominal Christianity is not essential, we have 
 only to turn to Matt., vii., to hear Jesus say : " JSot every one 
 that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
 of heaven ; but he that doetli the will of my Father which 
 is in heaven." Jesus says that those who do his Father's 
 will are truly his relations, •' the same is my mother and sister 
 and brother : " and when we enquire as to what that will 
 truly is, do we not find it beautifully set forth in that inimit- 
 ably touching and graphic description of the judgment, 
 recorded in Matt., xxv., where Jesus says as plainly as tongue 
 
TB EOS OF MY AND CHRISTIANITY. G7 
 
 can speak, if words mean anything, that the doing of Grod's 
 will is all summed up in a life of pure benevolence. He who 
 never turns a deaf ear to the mourner's cry, who never refuses 
 to extend the hand of sympathy to th.e down-trodden and o])- 
 pressed ; he who can call a Magdalen a sister and a prodigal 
 a brother ; going in and out among the destitute, the sinful 
 and the sad ; compelling even the libertine, the drunkard, 
 and the blasphemer to feel the power of all-constraining 
 love ; — he who does these things, shall never fail. The 
 fifteenth psalm and the Gospel of Jesus, describe the righteous 
 man in precisely similar ways ; and should you turn to the 
 Vedic Hymns, the Precepts of Hermes, the Law of Buddha, 
 the Maxims of Confucius, or the Teachings of Zoroaster, 
 you would find that there is in all theologies a golden thread 
 of love, which truly glorifies them, and which justifies the 
 esoteric interpretation of the old Hebrew declaration : " The 
 Lord is one, and his name one ;" name being synonymous 
 with outward expression or revelation. Surely it cannot be 
 derogatory to the dignity of Jesus, to declare that he as a 
 truth -teller revealed in many instances precisely what the 
 ancient seers had taught ; not the originality or newness, but 
 tjie truthfulness of what is taught is th-e true touchstone by 
 which we may try the spirits who communicate with us, and 
 decide whether they are or are not of God. Truth, the same 
 in every age, has appeared in many guises, been clad in many 
 varying habiliments, but if we dig deeply enough we shall 
 assuredly find a unitary basis for all the religions of the world, 
 upon which they all rest secure for ever. 
 
 Can any one read the Gospels, and declare that Christianity 
 must needs be founded upon what these say Jesus taught, and 
 then identify the religion of Jesus with those accessories and ex- 
 crescences, which, notably since the days of Constantine, have 
 disfigured the simple Gospel of Truth ? The accretions which 
 are hiding truth are Hke the eclipsing vapours which, rising 
 from the earth, obscure the sun ; and unhappy indeed are 
 they who worship the earthly miasma, and imagine they are 
 paying homage to the diAane light. 
 
 Christianity to-day is in precisely the same predicament 
 that Judaism was in 2,000 years ago. The light of the 
 Spirit had been quenched by sensuality, dominant tyranny, 
 and the worship of Mammon, which is the grossest of all 
 idolatries. The spiritual significance both of the Law and 
 
0)8 L ONI) ON LEGT URES. 
 
 Prophecy was hidden from the people. Tliey engaged in 
 empty forms ; they prayed hke parrots, heathenishly using 
 A^ain repetitions ; they made an ostentatious display of devo- 
 tion in synagogues, and at corners of the streets, that they 
 might be seen of men ; and they had the only reward such 
 mock religion can ever win : they were applauded by their 
 fellow Pharisees, and had the satisfaction of recounting, 
 avowedly to God, but really to be heard and admired of men, 
 their many virtues, in the holy temple which they profaned by 
 their self-laudation and idolatrous self-complacency, and 
 wicked despising of their fellowmen who, though outwardly 
 more sinful than they, by reason of humility and desire 
 to improve, were nearer to the kingdom of heaven, even 
 though publicans and harlots, than were these self-satisfied 
 formalists. 
 
 These outwardly pious people condemned Jesus bitterly, 
 and pronounced his mission from Beelzebub, because he cast 
 out devils and worked miracles of healing on the Sabbath 
 day, thereby transgressing in their eyes unpardonably the 
 letter of the Decalogue. But Jesus says, '• The Sabbath was 
 made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." " It is lawful 
 to do well on the Sabbath day." No outward observance 
 which stands in the way of charity can ever be of divine 
 appointment. There must ever be a misconception of the 
 divine will whenever any command is considered divine, vrhich 
 does not always stimulate every pure and ennobling wish of 
 the human heart. Jesus even justified his followers in pluck- 
 ing ears of corn on the Sabbath, to satisfy their hunger, 
 though some would see in that act of theirs a breach of two 
 commandments. He even justified the action of David and 
 his companions, who ate the showbread, which none but 
 priests might eat ; and when discoursing on the law of love, 
 he attributes every asperity of the olden law to the men of 
 old, and not to the Eternal Parent. 
 
 True Christianity is therefore the religion of the Spirit. 
 Compare it with esoteric Buddhism, or any other system of 
 spirituality you may please, and it will be found in perfect 
 agreement with the spirit and intention of every truly in- 
 spired teacher, through whose ministry the world has caught 
 glimpses of the eternal right. 
 
 To return, for a moment, to the Pyramid and the mysteries 
 of the ancient world, we must ask you to observe the very 
 
THEOSOPIIY AXD CHRISTIANITY. GO 
 
 great difference wliicli exists between the spiritual religion of 
 Egypt, expressed mathematically and geometrically in solid 
 masonry, and tlie animal worship which savours more of 
 fetishism and idolatry. The grandest structures have no 
 animal representations at alL The lotus flower, the cross, the 
 ibis, the apis, the anubis, &c., &c., are all exoteric, and form 
 no part of the symbolism of the Grand Pyramid. This is 
 perfect unity in trinity, a perfect wdiole, a compact unit, and 
 yet three-sided, resting upon a perfectly square base. The 
 Square means Universal Brotherhood, and signifies the 
 primal and ultimate imity and brotherhood of man. The 
 Triangle represents Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood; 
 esoterically, the Love, Wisdom and Power of the Eternal. 
 The Father (Osiris), the Mother (Tsis), the Child (Horus), 
 signify respectively the Father- Love and Mother-Wisdom 
 of the Eternal, as in the eighth chapter of Proverbs, Wisdom, 
 personified, declares : ^' I was with hir^i in the beginning." 
 Wisdom is spoken of as she, while Love is the Word or 
 logos, by whom all things were made. Love in man has 
 unfortunately degenerated into lust and passion, but wisdom 
 in woman has never become quite corrupt. But woman's 
 wisdom is intuition : it is the hidden wisdom, the wisdom of 
 the veiled Isis, but in the coming days, all over the civihzed 
 world, and eventually over the whole earth, will this 'hidden 
 wisdom unite itself with love, and then there shall be a 
 perfect birth of the Christ-child, or the Horus of the ancient 
 days.' Love originates, wisdom carries to pei'fection, all 
 truths throughout the universe. The motive must be loving, 
 the execution must be wise, and then the law i^ perfect and 
 all-powerful. Then the children born on earth will not be 
 born in sin nor conceived in iniquity. They will not need a 
 baptismal font to cleanse them, they will not need to be born 
 again of water (or matter), they will bask in the sunlight of 
 the Spirit, and on the altars of their hearts will leap high 
 the divine flames, the fires of the Holy Spirit, wdiich will 
 not only purify from dross but will enlighten and illuminate 
 the inmost mind. 
 
 The most ancient philosophy of Hermes, upon which the 
 old Egyptian rites and emblems are based, teaches these 
 truths most explicitly, and they are symbolized in all the 
 ceremonies of Egypt and of Grreece ; while in India, the 
 Yedic or Vedantic philosophy inculcates precisel}^ the stime 
 
70 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 spiritual truths, and so closely do the books of Hermes 
 and the Vedas correspond, that many scholars regard them 
 as transcripts or probable copies of each other. The student 
 who is searching for the cradle of man, and is wading through 
 a mass of antique lore, assisted by the modern sciences, 
 comparative theology and philology, cannot but think that 
 either India gave birtli to the Egyptian faith, or Egypt to 
 the Indian. But it is not needful to arrive at any definite 
 conclusion on a mere matter of history like this, to perceive 
 the grand spiritual oneness of all ancient faiths ; it is not 
 needful to infer that one nation borrowed or copied from 
 another, or that by means of immigration and emigration 
 spiritual facts were made known to nation after nation : the 
 Spirit speaks in every age and every tongue. The true 
 illuminati have ever been led by the inner light and the 
 guardian angels, who have been their inspirers ; all alike 
 have seen the sun, the stars, the constellations in the heavens 
 above them ; all alike have felt the breath and heard the 
 voice of the Deity witliin ; all alike have held communion 
 with the angels, who visited them in their starlit towers or 
 shaded retreats among the rocks, upon the mountain sides or 
 in the valleys : all have been knit together in a fraternity of 
 Spirit, which makes all members of the Star Circle. And 
 these are they who can read in the heavens above them and 
 in the earth beneath, the signs of the coming of a new 
 Messiah ; these can trace the Jking in humble guise, by the 
 light of the Pentagram in one age, and the Sexagram in 
 another ; but all acknowledge the perfect Circle as the only 
 absolute emblem of Deity, and that circle is Truth itself, the 
 sum of all perfection. 
 
 Modern Spiritualism, with its physical phenomena and 
 divers utterances (sometimes apparently conflicting), is only 
 the harbinger of the New Era. Signs and wonders are 
 envelopes : letter carriers, telegraphic messengers, rappings 
 upon 3^our doors, ringing of your bells to arrest your atten- 
 tion. Phenomena can never be the ultimate, and it is 
 indeed entirely useless, unless it conveys a truth to your 
 minds ; and it is worse than useless, it is positively evil, 
 when perverted to unholy ends. 
 
 And here we draw a very clear and well-marked line of 
 demarcation between mere magic and genuine spiritual com- 
 munion. Simple magic is not divine ; it can, however. 
 
THEOSOPEY AND CHRISTIANITY. 71 
 
 become so,, if employed for holy ends. Jesus mlder\^ ent the 
 temptation in the wilderness, when he knew how fierce the 
 struo'«"le was wliich wao-es in the medium's or initiate's 
 breast, if he is ever called ujDon to choose between devoting 
 his powers to self-glorifying magic, and a work of pure self- 
 sacrifice and devotion to the interests of his fellow-men. 
 We are told that the devil requested Jesus to convert stones 
 into bread, to satisfy his personal hunger in the desert, and 
 that Jesus withstood the tempter, and replied to him in these 
 words : " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 
 word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."' Then we 
 are told that Jesus did produce bread, and with it fed several 
 thousands of hungry congregants who liad assembled to hear 
 him, and had travelled far without thinking of their material 
 wants, and who were famished with hunger. 
 
 Taking these stories literally or figuratively, the careful 
 student cannot fail to see the lesson which they teach. In 
 the one case selfishness says, Work a miracle to gratify yonr 
 own ^appetite ; in the other, Love for suffering humanity 
 prompts the exercise of miraculous power, to feed a starving- 
 throng. 
 
 The second temptation endured by Christ was somewhat 
 like nnto the first, though the first appealed to the flesh, and 
 the second to the mind. When carnal aj^petite had been 
 resisted and restrained, then the temptation was to vain- 
 gloriousness, to love of display, to self-agrandisement in the 
 eye's of the people. Imagine a man throwing himself dowai 
 from a pinnacle or parapet, and, being sustained by invisible 
 power, falling to the ground unhurt I How great would be 
 tha consternation among the people, how willingly would 
 those who sought a sign, and could track the Messianic 
 dehverer only in deeds of magical prowess, have come for- 
 ward and crow^ned him as their Idng ! But miracles per- 
 formed for selfish ends, are only questionable magic. Angels 
 do not stand by to protect those who rashly imperil their 
 lives for no good end, whereas when one is on the path of 
 duty and is obliged to encounter danger on some errand of 
 mercy, he may rest assured that loving angels protect him 
 on his w'ay ; and even though the earthly form should perish, 
 the spirit w^ould have conquered in life's fray, and be pre- 
 pared for entrance upon purer and brighter fields of being 
 in the life beyond. 
 
iZ 
 
 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 The third temptation of Jesus was to the spirit. 
 Worshipping the devil, hterally means worshipping Mammon, 
 sacrificing principle for policy; and should any magician or 
 student of the occult undergo even such rigorous discipline 
 as Jesus underwent in the desert ; should he fast forty days 
 and forty nights ; should he succeed in completely subduing 
 the flesh to the will; should he be able to work miracles 
 innumerable, yet if he worked only for popularity and fame, 
 for selfish interest and worldly gain, he would be but a 
 Simon Magus withstanding the apostles of truth ; a black 
 magician, a wizard, a sorcerer, an enchanter or worker of 
 spells, exercising an unholy, unhealthy, baneful influence 
 upon mankind, and forming such alliances with spirits of 
 darkness, as led people in the middle ages to beheve that 
 persons signed compacts with the e^^l one, selling themselves 
 to the devil that they might win earthly conquests. 
 
 Goethe has illustrated the baneful effects of all such spurious 
 courses in his '•' Faust and Mephistopheles." This learned 
 poet and philosopher was no doubt acquainted with the 
 Rosicrucian and other secret Orders, prevalent in Germany in 
 the 17th and 18th centuries, and existent still, thouo^h of 
 course veiled in the garb of secrecy from the intrusion of the 
 vulgar. The fables of the Rosicrucians concerning the phi- 
 losopher's stone and elixir vitce, were not simply childish 
 tales or imaginative dreams, as many persons imagine them. 
 The transmutation of metals is scientifically possible. The 
 crucible of the mystic foretells the triumj^h of chemistry in 
 future years, while alchemy itself is a true science, when 
 spiritually as well as physically understood. The j)hilosopher's 
 stone and the elixir of hfe wdll only be discovered in the 
 moral world, however, when man has learned to govern vnW. 
 by spirit, as matter is governed by will. The Kingdom of 
 God wiU not have fully come, the reign of the Prince of 
 Peace T^ill not in reality have begun, until man has passed 
 beyond the magical departments of Theosophy, wherein the 
 power of human -wdll is made manifest, to that divine estate 
 where the lower v^ill says to the higher : Thou, not I, must 
 rule I Theosophy in its modern Indian guise, and in its 
 purely wonder-working phases, is but the exercise of human 
 will over man, beast and matter; over elementary kingdoms 
 of life here and in the unseen world ; but the Divine Theo- 
 sophy of Buddha, or the holiest of Lamas of Thibet, — of all 
 
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 73 
 
 who have truly followed in the wake of the most gifted of 
 the world's true sages — is what the word Theosophy really 
 means : the Wisdom of God, divine wisdom which will enable 
 the devotees, at heavenly wisdom's pure and sacred shrine, to 
 literally fulfil the predictions made by Christ concerning his 
 followers : They shall heal the sick and cast out e\al or obses- 
 sing spirits ; they shall cure insanity, and relieve those op- 
 pressed by sin from its enslaving power ; they shall take up 
 serpents and drink of poisons, and 3^et shall remain unharmed, 
 because they are filled with the Spirit's resistless might ; and 
 the soul having subdued every form of matter, by ha^mig 
 perfectly controlled the human organism, which epitomizes 
 all the forces of the three material kingdoms of nature, and 
 having completely subdued the will of the mind to that of 
 the Divine Soul, shall pass unscathed through every fiery 
 ordeal of persecution and temptation ; shall be able to demon- 
 strate to a wondering and awe-struck people such supreme 
 triumphs of the soul as Daniel made manifest in the lion's 
 den, and Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-nego in the burning, 
 fiery furnace, heated seven times beyond its ordinary heat, 
 at Nebuchadnezzar's cruel command. 
 
 If any Materialist should cavil at such wonders,, and 
 pronounce them imjDOssible, we can only say they are impos- 
 sible to him, ^and to all on his plane of thought. But is not 
 navigation impossible to many ? Can every one steer ships 
 across the ocean safely ? Are not the feats accomplished in 
 the chemist's laboratory impossible to many ? But shall any 
 deny them because they are exceptional, and can only be 
 .proven by men of special training ? The lion-tamers of the 
 East, the serpent-charmers, who toy \^dth venomous creatures 
 whose fangs have not been removed; can fascinate and control 
 the lower life of nature, which corresjjonds to what they in 
 themselves have overcome. No one can tame and control any 
 beast or bird, insect or reptile, until he has first subdued that 
 in himself to which that creature corresponds. 
 
 And when at length man shall be perfect on the earth, 
 the planet shall be perfect also. Slaughter will be unknown, 
 ravenous beasts and deadly plants will become extinct, as the 
 earth no longer affords means for their development and 
 subsistence. As the mammoth, mastodon, and other monsters, 
 which roamed primeval forests, are now extinct, because con- 
 ditions are no longer offered for their perpetuation, so will 
 
74 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the earth at length outgrow all that is destructive and un- 
 sightly. The supreme wdll of mind over matter, and of soul 
 over mind, will at length convert the whole earth into a 
 paradise. Then \^all the Golden Age have come ; then will 
 diseases and death itself be unknown ; then in place of death 
 will there be peaceful and glad transition, and the soul no 
 longer needing its earthly tabernacle, will dissolve it. 
 Flesh and blood will never enter heaven, the material forms 
 will never pass to spirit-life. Still, the ascension of Jesus in- 
 to heaven, is typical of the translation which will at length 
 be in place of death ; for those whose earthly careers are 
 ended, will glide painlessly and imperceptibly from their 
 material forms ; becoming invisible to mortal sight, it mil 
 appear as though their bodies went beyond the clouds, though 
 every particle of material will gravitate to its place in the 
 material kingdom, while the spirit, in a spiritual form, will 
 ascend to its native element, and appear in outward guise 
 upon an earth again, only if such reappearance be needed 
 to demonstrate immortal life to the dwellers upon some out- 
 ward orb. Death shall be swallowed up in victory ! There 
 shall be no more death, and no more sea ; no more division, 
 no more strife or wrong. The lamb of gentleness shall lie 
 down with the lion of strength ; the little child of peaceful- 
 ness, docility, and love, shall be the guide ; and the coming 
 rulers of the world shall be those who, in gentleness and child- 
 likeness, are prepared to occupy supernal thrones and judge 
 the tribes of Israel. 
 
 The predictions of Jesus with regard to the future glory 
 of his followers, refer to that divine estate of angelhood when 
 the twelve powers of the mind, called the twelve tribes of 
 Israel, in Kabahstic phrase, shall be governed absolutely by 
 the soul within ; and those in whom this soul-life is manifest, 
 are more than adepts, initiates, or magicians, — they are 
 numbered among those who, like the Christ of Galilee, or 
 the Buddha of the East, -iised all their powers solely for con- 
 quest over AA'rong, disease and death ; and who* therefore, 
 with every magician's power, have beyond all this the invin- 
 cible might and majesty of the Di^dne Soul. This at length 
 must conquer. Hells there maybe, hells there must be, hells 
 there are, till this divine result shall be accomplished. A 
 spiritual gehenna must burn outside the gates of earth, and 
 outside those of Paradise, till every weed is burned, every 
 
THEO.SOFEY AND CHRISTIANITY. 75 
 
 iota of alloy consumed, every scrap of chaff burned in the un- 
 quenchable fire. But Dives in the flame is there for cor- 
 rection, for the burning away of the sin of selfishness, which 
 made him on the earth forgetful both of brethren and the 
 poor. He must suffer, and all must suffer, until by spiritual 
 effort they span the gulf, bridge the yawning chasm, and 
 through love to the brethren become themselves the angels 
 who will do what as yet Moses and the prophets have not 
 done. 
 
 Every one who has done a wrong on earth, must return to 
 rectify it; every spirit who has wronged another, must meet 
 that other and make restitution. The fires are ever burning, 
 the crucible grows never cold, the law is eternal, the means of 
 purification everlasting, the fire which cleanses never goes 
 out; and into the everlasting fire, not that they may everlast- 
 ingly remain in it, God plunges all his jewels, and only takes 
 them out when all their alloy has been burned away I 
 
 This is the truth taught ahke by esoteric Christianity, by 
 modern Spiritual Revealments, and by true Theosophy, 
 Nirvana, the Kingdom of God, of Christ, or Heaven, means 
 not extinction of being, loss of entity or individuality ; it 
 imphes oneness with all in love. As the globules which form 
 the ocean and the sand grains which make up the hilJs are all 
 individual, as the crystal dew-drops never lose their entity, 
 so the soul. Individual once, is individual ever. The soul that 
 says, I AM I will never be less than the self-conscious ego it 
 now. is. The outward frame may change, ever so often; 
 the astral body or spiritual form may change, as does the 
 material envelope, but these are neither immortal nor indivi- 
 dual; they are but ever-changing agglomerations of moving 
 forces, which the spirit attracts, dissipates and repels. Memory, 
 affection, understanding, will, — these are of the Soul, the 
 primal unit only ; and this four-fold nature of man is im- 
 mortal, while the purely earthly part may but appertain to 
 the elementary kingdom of nature, and be transported 
 through the universe to other worlds, as they require what 
 the perfected earth has rejected. 
 
 This Golden Age, or epoch of perpetual harmony, has been 
 heralded by Spiritualism. Already the knocldngs have been 
 heard, and thirty-three years after 1848, there were those 
 who told you that the purely initial stages of the Movement 
 were passed through, and that from 1881, the calendar should 
 
76 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 recommence with Woman's Era, Anno Dominoe instead of 
 Anno Domini • but the perfect era is that of the Divine 
 Duahty, when the Christ and the Madonna, the lady and the 
 lord, must rule together. But as man has had his special 
 period of dominion, w^oman may also have hers, and there- 
 fore through two little female children, the Rochester knock- 
 ings were produced, in the self-same year when the first 
 Woman's Rights Convention was held in the United States.^ 
 
 To-day the English Parliament is agitated with the ever- 
 recurring question of Woman's Suffrage. Protests against 
 taxation without representation, are growing more numerous 
 and influential daily, and surely no one who can read the 
 signs of the times, can fail to see that the next great event 
 in all civilized lands, will be the acknowledgment before 
 the law of woman's perfect equality with man. Xo longer 
 veiled in the harem or even in the cloister, no longer 
 comj)elled to sit tacitly by, and while taxed as heavily as 
 her brother, have no voice with him in controlling affairs 
 of State ; no longer refused admission to the priestly or pro- 
 phetic or ministerial office, compelled to bow in submission to 
 the will of lords and masters, she will take^her place on earth 
 as queen of society, even as the Catholic Church has declared 
 that Mary Immaculate is queen of heaven. But how ano- 
 malous is the sj^ectacle of crowds bending low in fervent 
 adoration at Mary's shrine, exalting womanhood by pronoun- 
 cing a woman " mother of God and queen of heaven," while 
 the priesthood declares that through woman's intercession, the 
 Son of God receives the prayers of men, and through his 
 mother answers their requests, while she is called the spouse 
 of the Holy Spirit, the daughter of God the Father, and the 
 bringer-forth of God made manifest in flesh. Blow anoma- 
 lous, we say, is the spectacle of all this supreme devotion paid 
 to v/oman, by Jews and Protestants styled idolatrous, while 
 woman is still forbidden to approach the altar to offer the 
 sacrifice on the people's behalf, or to enter the pulpit to 
 exhort both men and women to repentance. 
 
 All over the world the cry is going up to-day, that men, 
 and young men especially, do not and will not go to church. 
 A moral interregnum is feared and predicted, by reason of 
 the present wide-spread indifference to religion. Morality is 
 at a discount, vice at a premium, in the highest places of fetate. 
 The law sanctions woman's degradation, but even in polite 
 
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 77 
 
 circles the male delinquent forfeits no right or privilege, ex- 
 cept for imnsiially dastardly conduct; while the female sinner 
 is ostracized and condemned. Where is the justice of a man- 
 made law, permitting man a liberty denied to woman? Where 
 is the justice of condemning one sinner and altogether excul- 
 pating her particeps criininis ? Where is the justice of a 
 state of society, which underpays female labour and imposes 
 in many parts of Europe the hardest labour upon woman, and 
 compels young men to devote some of the best years of their 
 early life to the indolent and demoralizing life of members of 
 a standing army ? 
 
 Is it not a fact that one of the loudest cries raised against 
 woman's entrance into Halls of Legislation, arises from the 
 plea that they are not fit for women, that woman should 
 breathe a purer atmosphere than that of those fetid halls V 
 But must legislation ever' be carried on in impure places'? 
 Are legislative enactments necessarily so corrupt, that they 
 can only be matured in centres of moral infection ? If there 
 be vice in Parliament or Congress ; if the aggressive spirit 
 rule and the voice of woman has not been heard there since 
 their foundation : if to-day the nations are embroiled in war- 
 fare, and the best blood of the countries^ is shed on the battle- 
 field; if civil service and'other reforms be the great cries of 
 the age ; if 'present forms of government are so distasteful 
 to the people that Nihilistic insurrection and Communal strife 
 are the rule and not the exception all over Europe; if the 
 cry of alarm goes up from England because of Fenian out- 
 breaks and dynamite explosions, which neither the arm of the 
 Civil Law nor the Church can quell ; if the Russian Emperor 
 is ill hourly danger because of tlie detestation in Avhich the 
 office of Czar is held by the bulk of Russia's population ; 
 if Absolutism in Germany is threatening with forcible dis- 
 ruption, and England's policy with Egypt is more than 
 Cjuestioned on every hand; if the French Republic be as 
 yet insecure, and across the ocean America is fast becoming 
 a prey to bribery and corruption, while onh^ her immense size 
 and her vigorous youth are her jirotection, — surely the time 
 has come when, after 1,800 years, and more, of masculine 
 monopol}' — yielding so bitter a fruitage of crime, pauperism, 
 vice, persecution, and war — the new era may be inaugurated 
 with the voice of woman pleading for justice. And should a 
 female Paul arise and forbid men to speak, telling husbands 
 
78 L OND ON LECT (IRES. 
 
 to keep silence in tlie clinrcli, and if tliey wisli to know any- 
 thing ask their wives at home, though the mascnline half of 
 the population would raise an indignant howl and pronounce 
 the promoter of such a proposition an idiot, still the spirit of 
 justice would apjDrovingly witness the turning of the tables on 
 man, that he for a Avhile going out of office, should give to 
 the other half of humanity the right to rule, at least, for a 
 term in his stead. 
 
 AYe do not say that woman will be sole ruler in the Xew 
 Dispensation, but we do pronounce this dawning age the age 
 of woman's supremacy. That it would be, Henry Bulwer 
 (Lord Lytton) foresaw, when he penned the "Coming 
 Bace," and portrayed the women among the Vril-Ya as 
 superior to the men. Anno Domince, the year of the Lady, 
 introduces to the world that female portion of the Spirit of 
 Truth, which remained in S23irit-life unknown to the earth, 
 while the teacher Jesus expressed but one-half the Messianic 
 angel to the world. But ultimately, and even now wherever 
 the highest culture is to be found, men and women will rule 
 and work together. For in the highest parts of the earth, 
 the era of harmony, of true duality, is dawning, but where the 
 single ministration is all that can be given, it will be woman's 
 voice and woman's influence that will cause the ^Aulderness to 
 bloom and the arid waste to sing. It will be woman, who, 
 by moral suasion and the power of right over might, will put 
 down intemperance and fraud, abolish war throughout the 
 earth, and lead the nations to a commonwealth of peace, 
 while the governing body will be composed of persons from 
 all the annexed nations, and there A^'ill be a Universal 
 Parliament. 
 
 The dream of the near future for Europe, for America, for 
 the Colonies — Australia, South Africa and British India — is 
 the establishment of independent repubhcs first, then the 
 amalgamation of the various races and nationalities into one 
 great iinited and pacific nation. As many streams may run 
 into one great sea, and lose themselves in the vast body of 
 water, though they take their rise in many sources and flow 
 distinct until at length they empty themselves with many 
 mouths into one great ocean, as the Amazon and its tribu- 
 taries do, so to the prophetic eye of Spirit, the time e'en 
 now draws nigh when all the most enlightened nations shall 
 become one people, and the differences between races will be 
 
THEOSOPHY AND CERISTIAKITY. 79 
 
 forgotten, as they were forgotten in old Rome, when she 
 became the mistress of the world ; because a Roman had in 
 his veins the mingled stream, which bespoke for him an 
 origin among long- disaffected and disunited tribes. 
 
 Even now the fusing process is in progress in the United 
 States, even more than in England or Europe;' and when 
 this blending is complete, war will be impossible. You will 
 have no enemies, and no people will be foreign to you. You 
 will have opened all your |)orts to every nation. Absolute 
 free trade will everywhere prevail. The rights and welfare 
 of humanity, not of a single tribe, will be considered : and to 
 be human will be enough, while patriotism will mean 
 universal fraternity. The Crescent and the Cross will retire 
 from Europe, and be no more the signs of civilization. The 
 Circle will be the emblem of united life, while the Sexagram, 
 (six-pointed star) will be the symbol of that actualized pro- 
 gression, which will give to half the globe, redeemed from 
 strife, a foretaste of the yet far-distant age of universal 
 peace. 
 
 Africa may yet be convulsed. The worship of Allah may 
 lead the Fetish, tribes to -the acknowledgment of one God, 
 while the earth, commencing its career through the second 
 half of the Grand Cycle,' at the middle point of which we 
 now stand, will through the next six ages pass on into the 
 embrace of those bright dual souls, who will yet perfect 
 their form upon its surface. Then when every atom of the 
 globe is harmonized ; when human will controls matter 
 utterly and absolutely, and the intellect, no longer proud and 
 overbearing, bends before the Spirit, will God's Kingdom 
 have come, and his will will be done on earth as it is in 
 heaven. 
 
 And who are the workers, who, like John the Baptist, 
 are preparing the way for this glorious consummation? 
 Divers and singularly different are they. Carlyle and 
 Garibaldi rebuking wrong, Gordon in Egyj^t fighting for 
 justice and liberty, all who in any branch of science, art, 
 literature, religion or reform are seeking to raise the human 
 mind, even though it be by purely material means, all are 
 among the heralds of the New Messiah. Those who know 
 not of immortality even, as they also who are aware of it, 
 are working for this glorious end. And most of all the}'' 
 who would emancipate Woman, and thereby unfetter 
 
80 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 the soul ; give reign to intuition ; let affection rule the earth ; 
 make the law loveable, and because beloved obeyed. Join in 
 this work, and you, in your sphere, have entered upon the 
 
 Golden Age of Harmony. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE STAR CIECLE. 
 
 FAR from the earth ! 
 Beyond its atmosphere, where planets roll 
 Majestic through all space, where worlds of light, 
 Uoseen by mortal eye, shine ia their places bright: 
 There can our eyes behold, in shining sparkling gold, 
 A Circle of Bright Souls, whose music onward rolls, 
 Outward toward the earth, and inward toward the sun, 
 That distant orb, Alcyone, round which,- their courses run. 
 The worlds uncounted, through eternal day. 
 Matchless and glorious on their heavenly way. 
 
 By what divinest power ; in what supreme estate ; 
 Can souls immortal live, who've entered heaven's gate ? 
 What is the angel-throng ; what the archangel hosts ; 
 What the nine choirs of soul, who make but truth their boast ? 
 Can they approach the earth ; do they to earth draw nigh ? 
 Yea I nearer than ye think, with all your phantasy I 
 
 Each planet guarded is by a Celestial Soul, 
 
 Who, taking charge of it, as though upon a scroll, 
 
 Writes all its history ; and, by the potent will 
 
 That angels all possess, this angel, up the Hill 
 
 Of ProgTess, — howe'er long, with mingled wail and song. 
 
 With mingled peace and strife, through life and death, and life 
 
 Re-born, grown more divine through earth's experience, — 
 
 Leads up the Human Soul to Heaven's sweet recompense I 
 
 Ah ! can ye count the Stars, which twinkle through the night ? 
 
 Say I can ye e'er discern one tithe of their pure light ? 
 
 Can any human art, or scientific skill. 
 
 Pierce through the ether vault, and through the spaces, still, 
 
 Where worlds majestic move, and tell what life is there. 
 
 Or limit worlds unseen, floating in ether air? 
 
 Science may touch the earth, as with a magic wand, 
 
 And straightway to her sight, may nature's law expand 
 
 And show how atoms move, as they select their place, 
 
 And prove how robes * are formed ; and how at lengtli the grace 
 
 * Material forms arc here spoken of as " robes " of Spirit. 
 
TKEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 81 
 
 Of manhood, womanhood, tVom childhood, may adoru 
 What once was wilderness, an arid waste forlorn. 
 Art may with magic power portray earth, sea and sky 
 While mutic may take wings, and soar on ecstacy. 
 E'en as Beetlioven delved into the lieart's deep well, 
 Or Mendelssohn, on wings, to heavens ineffable, 
 Carried beyond the earth the pleadings of the soul, 
 And outwardly expressed somewhat of God's control. 
 
 The Sculptor takes the block of marble from the mine. 
 And, by most strange control, may from it best divine 
 Th' expression of a saint, or some pure little child, 
 Who as a goddess stands to man, all undefiled ; 
 While from the bi'ow of Jove Minerva glorious springs. 
 To bear along heaven's road, on intellectual wings. 
 Her consort, who is known as Ruler, great and high, 
 The'mightiest of gods, the Chief Divinity ] 
 
 Then Angelo, in Rome, St Peter's dome thought out ; 
 And Raphael made divine, through genius none can doubt. 
 The form of human life, transfigured e'en below ; 
 While Phidias, in Greece, at Athens, dealt such blow 
 To marble, that it woke responsive to his touch, 
 As though his living breath impregnated so much 
 The solid bust of stone, that life shone in the eye I 
 In Art so great as this, perchance ye may descry 
 Some glimmerings of light from that perpetual Star, 
 ^Vhich ever shines on earth, with radiance from afar. 
 
 When Dante spoke of heaven, beyond all shades of night, 
 And Beatrice found enrobed in dazzling light, 
 In pure and snowy sheen transfigured, perfect love 
 Awoke his trembling lyre, and praise to God above 
 From every sti-ing sent up its pure and sweet refrain, 
 Which Milton seemed to hear, above earth's cry of pain. 
 When " Paradise Regained " his chosen theme must be, 
 And o'er the warlike years, he. Paradise could see, 
 Kot past, but yet to be. 
 
 When Homer vrrote of gods and goddesses, who strove 
 In ancient Troy, he caught some of that living flame, 
 Which through the passing years the poets all declaim ; 
 Till Wordsworth, Shelley, find, in dreams of perfect peace, 
 The light of that pure Star, whicli bids all passion cease. 
 
 But 'twas in Bethlehem, when Orient Magi stood 
 
 Before a weakly babe, to offer treasm-es good ; 
 
 And 'twas on Indian plains, where pm-e Gautama found 
 
 The life of perfect rest, that heaven did most abound. 
 
 Confucius must point unto a Western Star, 
 
 "Which shone in Buddha's eyes ; while Galilee afar 
 
 Must hear its valleys ring, and hill-tops sweetly sound 
 
 With that divinest voice, through which souls peace have found. 
 
 That Star, in ancient times, was unto Egypt known, 
 And kings and nobles bowed before its light alone. 
 
 M 
 
82 LONDOX LECTURES. 
 
 While priest and prophet caught from heaven that livinsr flame. 
 
 Which gave them the design their ancient structures claim ; 
 
 Worship was offered to Osiris, God of Light, 
 
 And Isis counterpart, who ruled wilh mildest might 
 
 Of justice, bathed in love and wisdom, robed in peace. 
 
 There was the primal Star, whose light can never cease, 
 
 The matchless Central Sun, round which all planets run 
 
 Through Constellations Twelve, passing, while man must delve 
 
 On earth, through every state which leads to heaven's own gate. 
 
 The Circle of the Stars must needs a centre find, 
 An all-controlling force must all in union bind. 
 That centre is pure rest, where all is calm for aye, 
 Where peace and order rule in love eternally. 
 Though there is strife around, that centre is the same. 
 Past, present, and to be, it shines with steadfast flame. 
 
 There, at the centre, dwells the Angel of the matchless space. 
 
 In which Twelve Planets move in orbits of supernal grace. 
 
 Twelve Systems, each with twelve mysterious Orbs of light. 
 
 They shine in union pure, harmonious to the sight 
 
 Of angels evermore, while to their uttermost. 
 
 One hundred-forty-four bright children this Star must boast. 
 
 There are Twelve Systems, which revolve in ceaseless day 
 Around Alcyone, while on their earthly way 
 They surely must include the system where ye dwell, 
 And take in Planet Earth, to whom the tale they tell. 
 That she is but a part of that mysterious whole, 
 Which answers to the voice of the Great Central Soul ! 
 
 In man, one central Orb — one Centre — must be found ; 
 That Centre is the Soul, I see revolving round, 
 When man is perfect made, twelve Powers of the Mind ; 
 Then, again, twelve Gifts of Sense, which bind 
 The Spirit to the clay, and clay to life of mind. 
 
 In this most glorious whole — the circuit of the sky. 
 In this interior grace of soul ye may descry 
 Tlie bonds which knit ye all together in one race, 
 Assuring each and all of future dwelling place, 
 Among those orbs of light, among those stars so bright. 
 Ye gaze upon by night, scarce visible to sight ! 
 
 Now ministering to earth, we watch a gracious Queen, 
 One who, in earthly form, has persecuted been ; 
 One who, at Holyrood, must soitow, strive, and turn 
 Only to God in need : to him whose love doth burn, 
 Bright as that central fire, though all else should expire. 
 
 She, and a mystic band of virgin souls most white, — 
 
 Clad in the purity which victors from the fight 
 
 Have won, through trials o'ercome, temptations dashed to earth,- 
 
 As the Vestal Virgins watched the temple fires of earth, 
 
 "\Vlien Rome was Queen ; so now, unseen by mortal eye, 
 
 The souls of many watch, and guide earth's destiny. 
 
THE OS OF EY AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 She, this illusti-ous Queen, is chosen at this day, 
 To give an outward form to truth's surpassing ray. 
 At one point of tlie Star; and there are many see 
 She holds her light to eartli, in love and purity. 
 
 And there are other souls, ■who work in other ways. 
 
 The Star, the Sexagrani,with undiminished rays. 
 
 Will be the typic Star, for this New Age to be. 
 
 The Star Cu-cle in Heaven must shine eternally, 
 
 Twelve pointed ; and when all earth's periods shall be run. 
 
 Then from the Tree of Life, twelve fruits, securelj^ won. 
 
 Shall be the harvest growth, the yielding of the whole, 
 
 Which the Twelve Angels brought from the Region of the Soul 
 
 This Star shines with the light of every martyred soul. 
 Of every lowly life unrecognised below; 
 While every genius pure, and prophet's radiant light, 
 Give torm unto this Star, as downward flows its light. 
 It is the Dual Star of Wisdom and of Love ; 
 Its perfect name is Truth, high in the Heavens above. 
 Its outward shimmerings, near the confines of the earth, 
 Are breathings from those friends who wake, into new bu'th, 
 Whate're is pure within. Follow, ye all, this light ; 
 To others be ye stars ; then will life's path grow bright. 
 And heaven's immortal peace your spirits will infill, 
 And Truth, your amulet, will guard you from all ill I 
 
 BENEDICTIOK 
 
 ^ May the Dual perfect Light of the Star of God's perfect 
 Truth, ever wise and ever loving, be your constant Guide 
 through Time and your Crown Eternally I ) 
 
( S4: ) 
 
 V. 
 
 RESURRECTIONS : 
 THEIR SPIRIT AXD THEIR LETTER. 
 
 {Delwered on Easter Sundae/, April 13, ISS-i.) 
 
 THE Gospel Stories of the Resnrrection, have been so often 
 read and commented upon, tliat, perhaps, Httle fresh 
 matter may be added in this Discourse, to Avhat yon 
 have heard abeady. jSTevertheless, as festival and holiday 
 occasions bring many strangers to our gatherings, as well as 
 our regular attendants, we feel that we may be spealring to 
 some in the present audience, to AAiiom what we have to say 
 may place the matter of the ResuiTection from the Dead in 
 quite a new, and we hope a helpful, light. 
 C The doctrine of the resuscitation of the physical body at 
 the last Great Day, the Day of Judgment or final account, 
 looked forward to with trembling hopes and fears by all the 
 nations of the world, from times immemorial, we need 
 scarcely remind you is by no means new, i.e., it did not 
 originate with Christianity or any developments of Christianity, 
 and few, indeed, if any, are the Christian dogmas, ^A'hicli in 
 their traceable origin do not antedate the year 1 of the 
 Christian era, by several thousands of years. 
 
 The Book of the Dead, which conveys, perhaps, more 
 definite information concerning the religious beliefs of the 
 ancient Egyptians than any other accessible document, dis- 
 tinctly unfolds the idea of a physical resurrection in the 
 future, very similar to that looked forward to by Christians. 
 The Egyptians were all believers in the immortality of the 
 soul, but differed among themselves, even as the Jews after- 
 wards differed concerning the fate of the bodv. 
 
 Pharisean and Sadducean views of immortality, were at 
 variance as regards the resurrection only. All the Jews, who 
 accepted the Talmud as in any way authoritative, were 
 believers in the immortality of the soul : and though Moses 
 made the earth the centre of moral gravity for man, so long 
 
RESURRECTIONS. 80 
 
 as lie dwelt upon it, tlie best Rabbinical interpretations of the 
 Hebrew Law coincided perfectly with the universal faith of 
 Orientals, in the immortahty of the Breath of God in man, 
 as the Soul is ever called by the Hebrews. 
 
 No one, reading the Gospel narratives, can fail to be struck 
 with the animosity existing between Pharisee and Sadducee, 
 on this very question of the Resurrection. Some commen- 
 tators have called the Sadducees sceptics, and even infidels, 
 but they were as good Theists as were the Pharisees ; they 
 disagreed only in the peculiar views they took of the fate of 
 the body after death., j) 
 
 Sadducean conceptions of immortality and a future state, 
 are more spiritual than Pharisean ones, as the latter bow 
 blindly before a shrine of dust, and look forward to a per- 
 petuation throughout eternity of the limitations of time and 
 sense ; w^hile the former contemplate the spirit as entirely 
 distinct from the body, and see no need of a carnal resur- 
 rection from the dead. 
 
 C The Egyptians, from whom the Pharisees, no doubt, 
 originally derived their ideas, were those who considered the 
 embalming of the body a work of the utmost importance. 
 All distinguished persons were so embalnied, that they might 
 last for thousands of years before their bodily assumption 
 into heaven, -were the judgment delayed so long. 3 There are 
 mummies now in the British Museum which go to prove to 
 every Egyptologist, that this looking forward to a physical 
 resurrection was one of the greatest hopes and most note- 
 worthy peculiarities of the materialistic side of the Egyptian 
 religion. Some there were indeed among the Egyptians, 
 who so confounded the real man with his physical nature, 
 that those were not lacking to teach the inseparability of 
 existence from the outward frame. Three forms or degrees of 
 embalming w^ere devised ; and it was supposed by some that 
 immediately the body crumbled into dust, the individuality 
 of its former occupant was destroyed also. CjSTo one can listen 
 to some Christian sermons preached to-day, avowedly in 
 defence of immortality, without tracing a close resemblance 
 to the most materialistic thought of ancient Eg}^t, if he 
 knows anything of the nature of that thought ; while even 
 spiritual communications concerning the future of man, can 
 scarcely be said to transcend the sublimest and most interior 
 thought of the enlightened Egyptians of old. J) 
 
SG L OND ON LECT URES, 
 
 Regularly, at Easter-tide, tlie Chnrcli arrays herself in her 
 brightest garb, sings her sweetest songs, decks her altars and 
 her priests in sumptuous array, and calls all the world to 
 worship at the feet of the Resurrected Jesus ; while in the 
 glad Spring-time all nature invites the world to witness those 
 stupendous transformations of scenery, which by their annual 
 and orderly occurrence point the worshipper at the shrines of 
 nature only, to that Supreme, revivifying Force in being, which 
 only allows death to prey for awhile upon the beauties of the 
 world, soon resurrecting them by the power of the Spirit 
 working through the agency of what is popularly called 
 '• natural law ; " till with each succeeding spring-time, the world 
 has advanced yet nearer to that glorious Golden Age, or 
 millennial period, so long foretold and so eagerly sought for by 
 poet, seer, and prophet, in every age and clime. 
 C It was Thomas Paine who said, that a contemplation of 
 ISTature led not to Atheism but to Deism ; and in Deism this 
 brave reformer found what he called a positive and absolute 
 antidote to Atheism. On the one hand regarded as the 
 champion of infidelity by many Materialists ; on the other, 
 execrated by theological bigots because of his determination 
 to cut loose from all theological restraints, this man — great 
 ^\Titer, fluent speaker, and able politician, though he was — 
 has been perhaps more misunderstood and mahgned than 
 almost any w^'iter or agitator of modern times. Read his 
 voluminous articles, peruse them carefully, criticise them 
 fairly, and you will find in the teachings of the author of '•' The 
 Age of Reason," some of the soundest and most natural 
 Theistic arguments ever presented to the Avorld. We do not 
 wish you to understand us to agree with every rabid criticism 
 made by Paine ; his language is often excessively severe, and 
 his conclusions oftentimes faulty and extremely external. 
 Nevertheless, with all his defects he has marked an era in the 
 history of literature and government, and when styled the 
 Author-hero of American Independence, by an eminent 
 American Statesman and man of letters, his praises were not 
 too loudly sung.^ 
 
 Turn to France, and the France of to-day — nominally and 
 enthusiastically republican, yet with many seeds of monarchy 
 still remaining — is turning from the Church with its cere- 
 monies and its priesthood, to the acknowledgment of no 
 other Deity than the God revealed through nature ; whose 
 
RESURRECTIONS. 87 
 
 words are spoken in the roar of tlie ocean, in the peal of the 
 thunder, in the murmuring streams, in the babbUng brooks, 
 in the voices of birds, and most of all in the intuitions of 
 humanity. And if to crown the meed of Revelation accorded 
 through these strictly natural messengers, there shall come a 
 direct voice from the Realm of Spirit, speaking through the 
 prophets and prophetesses of the approaching new Spiritual 
 Dispensation, France is ready to lend the listening ear, and 
 to receive the new angels gladly. 
 
 But the power of the Roman Hierarchy has waned, and 
 waned for ever, across the Channel. The magnificent ritual 
 and music at Notre Dame, and the hundred other magnificent 
 churches, Avhere the ceremonies vie with those of Rome 
 itself, all fail to captivate the masses of the people, as of yore. 
 The Church is as vigilant as ever, but the love of the people 
 is surely drifting into other channels. What shall those 
 channels be ? Who shall carve them out ? Who shall direct 
 the spirit of the new nation into the grooves of harmony 
 and purity ? Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, are three great 
 words, and these are the watchwords of the new French 
 Republic ; but who shall translate them into the language 
 of daily life ? Who shall give to the French nation a word 
 signifying Home ? Who shall so change the tide of religious 
 and social life, that the country shall be born anew into more 
 than its ancient glories ? Neither the Army nor the Fleet 
 can accomplish, this new birth. 
 
 C Your standing regiments of idle men, here and abroad, are 
 a standing disgrace, not an honour to the nation which sup- 
 ports them. And in Grermany, where every boy must enter 
 the army and be qualified to take up arms for his country in 
 time of war, are the morals of the land any better than with 
 your Gallic neighbours ? ) In Germany neither Catholicism, 
 Lutheranism, Calvinism, nor Judaism can control the masses. 
 Religion there is at a greater discount even than here. Kant, 
 Strauss, Fichte, Goethe, and a hundred other illustrious minds, 
 have taught the Teutonic race to think for themselves. (But 
 to what does Free-thought lead ? Is it a desideratum, if it 
 leads only to scepticism and a denial of everything, save 
 what can be apprehended by the five senses of the body ?^} 
 
 How is it witli Italy? Garibaldi may have freed tbe 
 country technically. The Papal Dominions have long since 
 been ceded to the Crown, and the Pope is now little better 
 
88 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 than a prisoner in the Vatican, supported by donations from 
 England and America^ while the Church is in ill-odour with 
 the multitude. 
 
 C What of Russia, where Absolutism prevails, and Nihilism 
 also ; where the Czar is nominally supreme, and yet in peril 
 every moment. The Russian Church is powerless to stem 
 the tide of growing discontent : while here in England, 
 dynamite outrages make the hves of many a daily terror ; 
 while Parliament dilly-dallies with the greatest questions of 
 the day, and spends session after session in needless comment 
 upon trifles.J) 
 
 The one word which every true prophet and reformer 
 must emphasize to-day all over Europe is Renaissance I and 
 that means New Birth. You have had Ruskin endeavouring 
 to bring about a renaissance in Art ; you have had an 
 attempted ssstheticism caricatured in " Punch," and repre- 
 sented by Oscar Wilde; but renaissance is more than a 
 resuscitation of pre-Raphaelite eccentricities, or even ex- 
 cellencies. The world is not a crab, for ever completing 
 series after series of retrospective movements, in order to 
 make onward progress. (^Forward, not backward, is the cry 
 of the prophet. Not \d\h. Ritualism to restore the Church to 
 what it was before the Reformation; not with ^Estheticism 
 to restore the world to what it was in media3val times; but 
 with Modern Spiritualism, when divested of the puerilities 
 and superstitions which are still unfortunately attached to it, 
 will the true prophet ever throw in his lot, advancing boldly 
 and bravely over the crumbling ruins of effete dynasties and 
 exploded fallacies, over the wreck of Superstition's altars and 
 those of dread, to where the angel in every household shall 
 attest the fact of immortal being-, and death shall be indeed 
 robbed of all its sting, the grave despoiled of all its seeming- 
 victory. J) 
 
 Death I lohere is tliy stino- ? Gf-rave ! where is thy 
 ^dctory? Surely in the worship of Mammon, which has 
 blinded the eyes of mankind, that the spirit is as though it 
 were not, and the future seems to hold nought but oblivion 
 and silence forever. Why are the joy-bells pealing forth 
 their clarion notes to-day ? Why have multitudes of wor- 
 shippers and sightseers assembled in all the great temples of 
 religion throughout the Christian world to-day? Surely the 
 occasion is one of great joy I What good news has the 
 
RESURRECTIONS. 89 
 
 preacher to tell, as he mounts the pulpit stands and addresses 
 that vast concourse of human beings ? Some in his audience 
 have come from far, for words of comfort ; some have but 
 yesterday consigned all that was earthly of their best beloved 
 to the tomb ; some have come, like the women in the Gospels, 
 to anoint the inanimate forms of their beloved dead, with the 
 sweetest spices they can procure, — the heavy sigh, the scahl- 
 ing tear, the simple flower laid upon the grave, the heartfelt 
 prayer uttered or unexpressed, — all are noted by the angels ; 
 and though the preachers shall tell you the angels who came 
 to the women at the sepulchre of Jesus, nearyl nineteen 
 centuries ago, have gone away into heaven, and from thence 
 appear on earth no more,Cstill those brooding angels may 
 smile, nay," perhaps, oftener weep, at the materiality of 
 Christendom, as the preacher ignores or derides Modern 
 Spiritual Communion ; as they are still here to whisper in 
 dulcet tones the heart-consoling message into the mourner's 
 ear : '' Your friends are not in the grave ; they are arisen, 
 and they go with you as perpetual companions, as abiding 
 comforters following your footsteps where'er your journev 
 hes." 
 
 The facts of physiology have demonstrated the fallacy of 
 a corporeal resurrection, and no comfort whatever can the 
 soul derive from the thought of perpetual imprisonment in a 
 form of clay. Matter may not be evil, the earth may not be 
 a hell, but the true place for matter is in its perfect subordi- 
 nation to Spirit. The true use of earth is as a school. Do 
 you wish to remain in a preparatory school for ever. If you 
 have graduated from the lower, you go to the higher 
 seminary. You may return to school for a while, if you have 
 not yet learned all the lessons taught in that school, and 
 longer need its discipline ; but once you have gained all the 
 knowledge to be imparted there, you can never return to it 
 except as a teacher. We do not say spirits aat.11 never be re- 
 embodied on the earth, either as scholars or teachers. If the 
 need shall ever arise for future embodiment, the need will 
 undoubtedly be supplied. But possible re-embodiment, 
 though scouted by some even in the ranks of Spiritualism, 
 must surely be far less dreadful to contemplate than that 
 awful resurrection on the last great day, depicted by Young 
 in ghastly verse ; and when to the ghastliness of the scene 
 you add the blasphemy theremth associated by many in the 
 
90 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 orthodox cliurcli, — we mean the resurrectioii of the A^-icked to 
 everlasting torment — the dogma becomes so heinous, that to 
 advocate it is far worse than to proclaim oneself an Atheist. 
 Better let the cold ashes lie for ever inanimate in the tomb, 
 than raise them only to throw them to the devil ; better, far 
 better, think of your friends as living again in the flowers 
 and grasses which adorn your burying -places, than believe 
 that even one spirit shall have its body raised again by God, 
 that it may endure eternal anguish.J) 
 
 We do not wonder at prevailing hatred of religion, if such 
 travesty of the divine character has been allied with religion 
 as popularly presented for fifteen centuries. But what says 
 the New Testament, from which these hateful dogmas are 
 avowedly deduced : " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive." " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
 men unto me," These and many other texts need only to 
 be quoted, they explain themselves. Redemption is as wide 
 as the fall ; if all fell in Adam then all will be raised in 
 Christ. But there is no gospel which provides a resurrection 
 or a saviour for a smaller number than the number which 
 have fallen into sin. Take whatever view you will of Christ 
 or x4.dam, literalize or spiritualize the legends of the Old, and 
 the gospels and epistles of the New, Testament as you please, 
 the fact remains, no more are lost than are restored, no more 
 die than will be raised again ; and surely no person, with 
 one spark of humanity within him, can sing the Easter 
 Anthem, praising God in his heart that half the human race 
 will rise to everlasting shame and sorrow. 
 
 Great interest is manifested by many in the purely literal 
 resurrection of Jesus, \A'hile to us the spiritual triumph is all 
 that seems really important. Literally, there can be no 
 identical resurrection of the body, the body being so mutable 
 that it changes completely in an average period of seven 
 years, and somewhat every moment. Waste and recupera- 
 tion remodel your structures so often, that you really have no 
 individuality apart from your spirit, which holds all there is 
 of your real being. The body of Jesus, we are told, even by 
 the most conservative in matters pertaining to religion, 
 was a perfect human body. He assumed man's flesh, and 
 was subject for thirty-three years to human limitations. 
 Even the Athanasian Creed teaches this. How then can 
 there be a physical resurrection of the identical bod}" worn by 
 
RESURRECTIONS. 91 
 
 Jesns during earthly life ? His body as a man was not his 
 body as an infant. He lived long enough to accumulate 
 between four and five distinct bodies, and if a physical resur- 
 rection of the entire earthly body of Jesus were to take 
 place, would it not be necessary to raise every particle of 
 matter which had ever formed his body ? If he ate, drank, 
 slept and discharged all the natural functions common to 
 human life, this resurrection was impossible ; and, as an 
 earnest of our own, were it possible, it would be worthless, 
 as every tyro in science knows that the very food employed 
 in upbuilding the physical structure, may be derived from the 
 resurrected bodies of defunct ancestors. 
 
 If the body which is to rise at the judgment, is the identi- 
 cal body in! which the spirit passed from earth, how sad the 
 prospect of a resurrection which in many cases must be the 
 resuscitation of an impaired and unlovely structure, from 
 which the burdened spirit was only too happy to effect a 
 hasty exit, at the hour of its dissolution. 
 
 If the raising of Lazarus, of the Widow's Son at Nain, or 
 of the boy restored to life by Elijah, be cited as examples of 
 resurrection, then immortality would be disproved rather than 
 proved by such a doctrine, as we are nowhere led to infer 
 that these resurrected bodies were immortalized. It may be 
 said of them, as Frederick 'Robertson, the eminent incumbent 
 of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, said of the resurrections of 
 inanimate nature CA^ery spring-time: "They all die again." 
 Only the spirit is immortal ; only the soul lives for ever ; 
 and whensoever you predicate immortality upon what is 
 mutable, you embark upon a sea of difficulty and doubt, 
 which can logically carry you nowhere but into the howling 
 wilderness of blank denial of all, save what is transitory and ' 
 perishing. 
 
 CThe instances of resurrection from the dead, to which we 
 have already alluded, are not parallel Avith anything other 
 than the accounts often rendered of similar wonders having 
 taken place in various Oriental countries, where interment 
 often takes place almost immediately after the patient is 
 thought to be dead, especially when he has been suffering 
 from a contagious disorder, or plague is rife in a district. In 
 the South of Italy, it is quite common for less than 24 hours 
 to elapse between death and burial. In the Orient this space 
 of time is considered ample, and it is needless to remind you, 
 
92 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 tliat not so far away from home, wliere interment is usually 
 deferred much longer, persons have been buried in trances, 
 and even robbers going to ]3lunder new-made graves, have 
 awakened the supposed corpses by cutting the jewellery from 
 the persons of the apparently dead. In the case of Lazarus, 
 who it is said had been dead four days, we are only told 
 the bystanders said so. The remark, he has become offen- 
 sive, was not made by Jesus. Utterly unconscious of all 
 outward things he may have been ; utterly beyond restoration 
 by any ordinarymeans thatcould have been applied : dead to all 
 but the voice and will of Jesus, who — endowed with almost 
 superhuman affection and will, a personal friend of Lazarus 
 and his family, one at whose feet the family was wont to sit, as 
 the disciples of the Greek philosophers might have sat before 
 Socrates or Plato — may have alone possessed the power to call 
 him back to life ; and remembering that the hfe of Jesus was 
 was that of a rigid ascetic oftentimes ; that he had undergone 
 forty days in the -v^-ilderness, alone with wild beasts and 
 evil spirits, and had conquered temptation in its three-fold 
 forms before entering upon his public ministry as a teacher 
 and a healer ; — one who knows anything of the records of 
 what is now po]3ularly designated Theosophy, -s^ill have no 
 difficulty in finding an explanation of wonderful phenomena, 
 so soon as he compares it with the goal towards which all 
 true TheosojDhists are stri^dng, and the accredited testimony 
 of those who have made Oriental Mysticism and Magic a 
 life study. 
 
 To the Adept, or Initiate, the GosjdcI is not paradoxical. 
 It simply illustrates in the person of the Evangehsts' hero, 
 the practical carrying out of the laws and principles laid down 
 by the sages of the Orient. It is quite beside our subject 
 this morning to institute comparisons between Buddhism, or 
 any strictly Oriental system, and Christianity. To our minds 
 Christianity is only a later development of older systems, a 
 more recent flowering out of the tree of religions in the world. 
 Constantinian Christianity, which has equalled Mohammedan- 
 ism in its devotion to the sword as a means of propagandism, 
 is certainly no part of the religion of the Nazarene. 
 
 The assumptions of orthodoxy, on the subject of the 
 resurrection of Jesus, are nowhere supported by Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke or John, who simply content themselves with 
 recording, each in his own way, that Jesus appeared to his 
 
RESURRECTIONS. 93 
 
 disciples after liis death and burial, and satisfied tliem that it 
 was he himself who communed with them ; all agree that 
 the body of Jesus was not in the tomb when the women 
 went to seek it on the resurrection morn, and all alike speak 
 of the difficulty, even his most intimate friends encountered, 
 in recognising him when he appeared to them. He had been 
 dead only since Friday afternoon ; they had possibly seen 
 him on Saturday, when he was interred ; all his disciples had 
 sat with him at supper on Thursday evening, and yet though 
 he rose before daybreak on Sunday morning, they mistook 
 him for the gardener ; and even Mary had a long conversa- 
 tion with him before she knew him, and she was last at the 
 cross and first at the tomb. Would you forget the appearance 
 of a friend in one, two, or three days ? Would you need 
 your friend to speak your name in some peculiar way, that 
 you might know him, if he stood before you in the identical 
 body in which he died so recently ? It was only after Jesus 
 had called Mary by her name, in the old familiar way, that 
 she turned to lilto and said, Rabboni. Then, on the same 
 day at evening, Avhen two disciples were journeying to 
 Emmaus, w^e are told Jesus met them on the way, and ex- 
 pounded Moses and the Prophets to ^them, and yet they 
 did not know him till tlrey had persuaded him to sup with 
 them, and then he made himself known in the breaking of 
 bread. True, we are told he made himself so visible to Thomas 
 that the doubting apostle thrust his hands into the wound- 
 prints, and believed, wdien he had material evidence that a 
 solid body stood before him. But such occurrences as these, 
 coupled with the statement often made, '' he vanished out of 
 their sight," show these manifestations to have been far more 
 closely akin to modern Spiritual Phenomena than to any 
 alleged corporeal resurrection, as taught by the orthodox. 
 
 Materiahzation has been the means of convincing hundreds, 
 not to say thousands, of the precious fact that their beloved, 
 miscalled dead, are yet alive. The triumphant spirit of 
 Jesus may have disintegrated the material form, and thereby 
 rendered it invisible. When on the cross, he exclaimed : ''It 
 is finished I" may he not have alluded to the completion of his 
 earth experiences, and the final victory over matter he had 
 won ? The disintegration of a material body offers no insu- 
 perable obstacle to the chemist, who discourses glibly enough 
 upon volatilization and etherealization of substance, by pro- 
 
94 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 cesses known to clieraistry. Who is there of note in the 
 scientific world, who refnses to call man^sbody an agglomera- 
 tion of molecules? Who is there who dissents from the 
 atomic theory ? All scientific discoveries prove that it is 
 within the power of man, under given conditions, to render 
 "Visible things invisible, and invisible visible. The conversion 
 of solids and fluids into gases, is a triumph of human intelli- 
 gence. The consolidation of atmospheric particles into solid 
 form, and the demateriahzation of forms so constructed in the 
 chemist's laboratory, is a simple triumph of mind over matter. 
 And wdiere shall these triumphs end ? Who shall say to the 
 human will : " Thus far thou canst go, but no further I " As 
 well might Canute's flatterers attempt to persuade him he could 
 control the ocean tides, as for modern Agnostics to persuade 
 the rational SpirituaHst that materialization is impossible. The 
 philosophy of the subject is natural and scientific. Its appli- 
 cability to individual phenomena must, of course, be decided 
 by the amount of evidence granted at a specified time, and 
 in a certain place. The Acts of the Apostles tell us, Jesus 
 was seen by about oOO brethren at once, and inform us also 
 that Saul saw Jesus on his way to Damascus ; and yet Paul 
 says after the flesh he has not seen Christ, but in the spirit 
 only. He it is who declares there is a nataral (animal) and 
 there is a sjDiritual body ; that flesh and blood cannot enter 
 the Kingdom of Heaven ; though Jesus was seen in heaven 
 by the martyr Stephen, and Paul was caught up to the third 
 heaven by power divine. 
 
 The Resurrection is surely the complete and final victory 
 of the soul over sense ; and whensoever and wheresoever 
 your own low^er nature is entirely the servant of your spirit, 
 you will have the freedom to come and go in ways at present 
 utterly beyond your ken. The risen life, we are all im]3lored 
 to live, is not a life in which the animal body clogs the spirit 
 for eternity ; but life's conflict ended, the battle fought, the 
 victory won, the soul governs matter where once it was ruled 
 by it, and when a needed manifestation is vouchsafed, im- 
 mortality is demonstrated by the power of Spirit over all 
 material things. 
 
 Xo soul can die ; no thought can perish ; no good become 
 extinct. Immortal is every pure desire; immortal the results 
 of every noble effort. Only the outward form may perish ; 
 only the vesture change ; while the soul, without beginnings 
 
RESURRECTIONS, 95 
 
 knows no end, and at length arrives at its true Home, where 
 life is a psean of praise to the Infinite ; a psalm of joy ; a 
 constant well-spring of happiness and bliss to all the 
 universe. 
 
 Conquer Sense by your own Spirit, and the Resurrection, 
 with all its glories, is yours for aye ! } 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE TWIN ANGELS. 
 
 BEHOLD ! How all things die ! 
 Death's cold and icy hand upon the flowers is laid — 
 They perish in their very IJloom : Are they of death afraid ? 
 Perchance they may be ; still it seems to spirit's watchful eyes, 
 They only fall asleep to wake again at glad sunrise. 
 
 Behold, how forest glories fade I The trees grow sad and bare, 
 The cold wind whistles where the leaves once so abundant, fair, 
 Clothed the drear bark with verdant hue, thro' all the summer time ; 
 But winter's cold and icy breath shears all in northern clime. 
 
 Somewhere, far off across the seas, the trees are always green, 
 The flowers never fade away, all things are decked in sheen, 
 Impervious to the hand of death, it seems to him who strays 
 Thro' orange groves, on isles of spice ; but there the savage lays 
 
 In wait, and the tiger and serpent are there. 
 
 So of those fair groves ye must needs beware. 
 
 But 'tis in those fair tropic lands, the withering power of death 
 Is felt more quickly, than where your cheeks are fanned with the icj' breath 
 Of the North-East winds from the Baltic Seas, and the frozen zone afar. 
 Where ye think ye can find the brain of the earth, and the mystic Polar Star. 
 
 Life feeds on death, and wheresoe'er life's table is thickest spread 
 
 With daintiest viands and beverage, whereon gods might be fed, 
 
 If is there Transition's Angel takes the fullest, broadest rule, 
 
 And this veiled angel — Oh I what is she, but a Teacher in Nature's ScliooL 
 
96 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 In the far-off ages, so long ago that ye needs must turn to the rocks, 
 And hear them tell of the direful storms and terrific eai'thquake shocks. 
 Which rent the crust of the planet of yore, before man his place could take, 
 As head of creation ; 'twas then and there, in some dark and distant place. 
 That the Spirit of God in the storm-wind moaned, and in thunder's awful din, 
 Prepared the way for the Age of Gold, which e'en now doth but scarce begin ! 
 
 O beautiful Angel I whom men most dread : Why should we turn from thee. 
 And veil our faces with trembling hands, when thou offerest liberty. 
 
 To the captive spirit imprisoned here, 
 
 That sighs and prays for a brighter sphere ? 
 
 But, mystical Angel ! thou'rt not alone, or we might be afraid of thee ; 
 Thou hast a fair Sister, arrayed with flowers, and with all the springtide's glee, 
 And her name is not Death, but Renewal of Life ! she the Resurrection brings, 
 Fair Goddess of Spring, of the opening flowers, of the bird that most sweetly 
 
 sings. 
 W'ere it not for thy veiled handmaid, Death, thine herald, we ne'er could know 
 
 thee ; 
 The sweets of reunion were never felt, if bereavements could not be. 
 
 O beautiful Angel of Life Renewed I by the sepulchre sit to-day ; 
 To the weeping mourners, who come to grieve, and over their dead t-o pray. 
 Reveal, as thou didst in the olden time, the life which the Spirit doth know. 
 Say softly to every sorrowing heart: " Not dead but arisen '" Then go 
 
 And point to the Life, which all may share. 
 
 When Love conquers Strife and Sin everywhere I 
 
 BEXEDICTIOX. 
 
 May the Aiigels of tlie Kesurrection bring you all glad 
 tidings of Life Immortal, and reveal to you the Father's 
 boundless Love to all His Children. 
 
( ^7 ) 
 
 VL 
 
 RELIGIOUS TRUTHS AND CONTROVERSIAL 
 THEOLOGIES. 
 
 THE attention of tlie World has perhaps never been more 
 extensively called to the study of Comparative Theo- 
 logy than at the present moment, when this somewhat 
 new science, with its kindred science, also a novelty, Compa- 
 rative Philology, is arresting the serious attention of all 
 classes of minds, scholars especially. 
 
 Until within the past half century the prevailing thought 
 in Christendom was that all the inhabitants of the world, 
 excepting Christians and Jews, were idolaters, bowing down 
 to images of wood and stone, and believing these poor idols 
 to be the supreme powers who governed and guided the uni- 
 verse. When occasional!}^ a Unitarian, or an extremely Broad 
 Churchman within the pale of the Establishment, undertook 
 to say a kind word for the- great religions of the world, far 
 more ancient and widely spread than Christianity, he was 
 denounced as a heresiarch or a blasphemer ; as it has ever 
 been the policy of professing Christians to claim for their own 
 system a monopoly of truth, and for Christian countries a 
 monopoly of civilization. Christians, it is true, are not singu- 
 lar in this, as it is customary for all partisans to exaggerate 
 the excellence of their favourite institutions, while they per- 
 sistently decry all others. But party feeling is not an element 
 of true religion, neither has it any foundation in what is 
 popularly termed the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 . Let us spend a fcAV moments to-day in considering the 
 true origin and nature of Religion, and its relation to contro- 
 versial theologies, always remembering that Theology is or 
 ought to be a true science ; as the word means the Science 
 of God, or divine things ; as Geology means the science of 
 the earth, and Philology the science of language. 
 
 Many of the fiercest disputes between theologians have 
 hinged upon the interpretation given to the logos, or W^ord, 
 introduced to our notice not only by the author of the fourth 
 
98 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 Gospel, at its comni en cement, but earlier by Plato, who dis- 
 courses frequently and sublimely upon it. It is noticeable to 
 even the most cursory student of language, that the termina- 
 tion only varies when the logos is changed into " logy"': and 
 that these " ologies/' about which we hear so much to-day, 
 all spring from the identification of science, knowledge, trea- 
 tise, word, &c., with the logos of the philosophers. 
 
 It is needless to state that " science " means knowledge, 
 and that without definite and demonstrable information con- 
 cerning a certain subject, there can be no science of that sub- 
 ject. If Geology and Philology are sciences, must not 
 Theology also be regarded as a science, and must it not be 
 the province of all true theologians to speculate no longer, 
 but to commence with the demonstration of spiritual truth 
 to the comprehension of their pupils, as far as may be? We 
 beg you to bear in mind, however, that no abstruse mathe- 
 matical problem, for instance, can ever be demonstrated to 
 those Avho have no knowledge of mathematics, and no capa- 
 bilities for succeeding in a study of mathematical laws and 
 principles. Not every brain is a mathematical brain, as not 
 every brain is adapted to classical studies. It is frequently 
 remarked, the best Classic is the poorest Mathematician, and 
 vice versa. University men usually excel either in one branch 
 of study or the other, but not usually in both, and this not 
 because of any opposition between Classics and Mathematics, 
 but rather by reason of the fact that excessive cultivation of 
 certain organs of the brain, has a natural tendency to induce 
 depression in other directions. 
 
 jSTo one who devotes himself to Pugilism is likely to become 
 a great intellectual luminary. Xo one who follows warfare 
 as a profession, and loves cruel sport, is apt to be a great 
 expert at the peaceful arts, because of the inflammation of 
 certain propensities, tending naturally to attract the forces of 
 the brain to particular points, as centres which absorb more 
 than their due allowance of the universal energy, which be- 
 comes focahzed at these points, and from them rather than 
 from other points in the organism, it is most extensively thrown 
 out to the world. 
 
 No one in his right mind endeavours to limit knowledge by 
 his personal attainment ; no one but an idiot will be found to 
 deny the existence of every thing which is not included 
 within the narrow compass of what he has individually 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 90 
 
 realized. The realm of sound is an unknown and utterly 
 untrodden realm to the man who was born deaf, and if you 
 ask him to give a definition of sound, as he fancies sound to 
 exist, he must compare it to something he can appiH)ach 
 through one of the four avenues of sense which are not closed 
 to him ; but you cannot accurately describe a noise by com- 
 paring it to anything which can be tasted, felt, seen, or smelt. 
 and yet the deaf man who sees, tastes, feels, and smells, but 
 does not hear, is obliged to compare sound in imagination 
 with something his own perceptions have enabled him 
 to apprehend ; while the blind man, who compares scarlet 
 in his own mind with a very loud noise, is equally at sea 
 so far as -correct apprehension goes, though in another 
 direction. 
 
 The spiritual nature of man, to those destitute of spiritual 
 perception, is necessarily an algebraic x, an unknown quan- 
 tity : yea, it is to some more, or rather less than this : it is an 
 nn thinkable condition of being, as much so as Zollner's Fourth 
 Dimension in space is to a majority who have read his de- 
 cidedly clever W'Ork, '•' Transcendental Physics." 
 
 Can there not be a fourth dimension in space ? Certainly 
 there can, says the eminent Leipzic Professor; but we, ai-: 
 three dimensional beings, cannot realize it, and had we only 
 two dimensions ourselves, the thought of a third would be 
 equally impracticable. 
 
 We all measure the universe by such measuring rods as we 
 can devise and handle. We can sound no ocean without a 
 plummet line, and thus the facts of existence by the majority 
 of writers and speakers, are so superficially and impertinently 
 dealt with, that a minimum of human knowledge is nearly 
 always at a premium, and a maximum at a decided discount. 
 Xothing can be more puerile and contradictory than material- 
 istic negation. When those who are studying the facts of 
 nature from their material side, bring us facts, we gladly 
 accept them, and are willing to bow before any teacher, even 
 though the sum of his Imowledge be expressed in a treatise 
 upon the habits of earth -\\'orms, provided his knowledge of 
 these lowly creatures is greater than our own. But should 
 any professor of science undertake to blot out all the facts 
 of nature, with which he is personally unacquainted, just 
 because there are limits to his knowledge and powers of 
 discovery, we should dechne to reo-ard him as any authoritv 
 
100 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 at all on matters concerning which he had at first the good 
 sense to confess himself ignorant. 
 
 There can be no science of Agnosticism, no philosophy of 
 ignorance, no text-books to explain to students the nature 
 of non-existence. All scientific declarations are strictly- 
 affirmative. We could never knoio that 2x2 were not o, 
 nnless we did know that they made 4. The knowdedge 
 that something is wdiat it is, precludes all possibility of our 
 thinking it may be what it is not. But where knowledge 
 ceases and ignorance begins, science is necessarily cut short in 
 her career. 
 
 From the earliest times there have been those on earth 
 who admitted Theology into the category of their studies, 
 and perhaps the most ancient Religion known to men, w^as 
 that which is popularly termed Astro-Theology. The Astro- 
 Theological system of Hindostan, Egypt, and other ancient 
 Oriental climes, was so stupendous, and moreover so deeply 
 spiritual, so intensely esoteric, that very few modern Egypto- 
 logists have done au}^ more than just touch the outer fringe 
 of the garment w^orn by religious truth in the olden days.J 
 
 Recently, a long series of consecutive papers have been 
 23ubhshed in the Medium and Daybreak, a London Spiri- 
 tualistic Journal, the substance of which their author, Wm. 
 Oxley, has just brought out in book form. Associated with 
 these papers there has w^aged what has been termed a 
 '■' Theological Conflict," in the same paper, extending over 
 many weeks. In this conflict an attempt has been made to 
 show, on the one hand, that Christianity is only a later deve- 
 lopment of the religion of Egypt, and on the other, that 
 Jesus of Nazareth was a veritable personage, a great histori- 
 cal character, and the real as w^ell as the alleged founder of 
 the Christian religion. C The conflict has been on the whole 
 Avell conducted, though in our opinion personal feelings mar 
 almost every controversy most seriously, and because of this 
 conviction we usually decline to enter into discussion or de- 
 bate with any one, either by lip or pen. 
 
 In a debate each party has a client, each takes a position 
 he feels bound to sustain, and the result usually is a pitched 
 battle between two opponents, or two diameterically opposite 
 classes of ideas, which are defended on both sides with heated 
 partisan effrontery. In the presentation of what yon feel to 
 be truth to the world, it i^ better never to act and speak as 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 101 
 
 tliougli yon had an enemy to attack or an opponent to silence 
 Those lectures which give one the idea of having been given 
 simply to answer somebody, are not as a rule most effective 
 spiritually. Clear, impersonal argument, free from all sug- 
 gestion that your audience necessarily disagrees with you, is 
 far more likely to reach the intellect and sympathies of your 
 auditors than any amount of aggressive reasoning, however 
 logical. 
 
 We were once present at a banquet, where a number of 
 distinguished orators had collected. One among the number 
 was a man of fine commanding presence, bold eagle eye, 
 lofty brow, possessed of an unusually large amount both of 
 brain power^and psychologic influence. His voice was loud 
 and stirring, and could be heard at the farthest corner of a 
 larger building than the Metropolitan Tabernacle. This fine, 
 imperious, noble-looking fellow, ■^^ith an immense amount of 
 self-satisfaction, said : " I always go to battle, to fight the 
 foe, when I ascend the platform. My auditors are my ene- 
 mies, my tongue is my arrow, with which I pierce them to 
 the quick. They fear me, they know they cannot resist my 
 words, for I speak as one having authority. I never permit 
 myself to address an assembly until my quiver is full of the 
 sharpest arrows. I fortify myself with unanswerable reasons 
 for all I advance, and I challenge the dissentient from my 
 conclusions, to estabhsh the fallacy of a single point in my 
 argument." 
 
 When this celebrated orator had resumed his seat, an old, 
 trembling man rose to his feet. With feeble voice, and snow- 
 white locks, and tottering Hmbs he faltered forth his tribute 
 to the power of speech. With winning smile and in kindly 
 tones, utterly destitute of pride or hauteur, he said : " My 
 friends, — T know you are such, and whenever I address a 
 company, large or small, savage or civihzed, I address my 
 friends, and those whom I address know that I wish to be a 
 friend to every one present. I have been in many lands, and 
 spoken to many singular assemblies, but never to a hostile 
 one. I have no enemies, as I feel no animosity toward any. 
 I know I am not highly gifted, but God has used me — poor, 
 imperfect creature though I am — to comfort some of his sor- 
 ro\Ndng children, and that is my mission to humanity, to try 
 and be a comforter." 
 
 While the venerable man was speaking, tears were in many 
 
102 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 eyes. No heart in the room could have been untouched by 
 his few simple words. Out of the abundance of his kindly 
 heart, his mouth spake words of tender sympathy, and every 
 one who heard him, laiew he spoke from his owm pure soul, 
 and so he reached the souls of all whom he addressed. C The 
 eloquent orator, the erudite scholar, the haughty priest, the 
 crafty barrister, — all may wield an influence, but the influence 
 of love is the only sovereign antidote to the innumerable ills 
 which afilict society.^ 
 
 How was it with these two speakers ? The former had 
 twenty times the learning of the latter : the latter had a 
 hundred times more feeling than the former : the one ham- 
 mered away at dry statistics, read genealogical tables from 
 beginning to end, consulted authorities innumerable to fortify 
 his position, and when he had established it, all he could 
 prove was some unimportant fact of literal history. The aged 
 man could never have competed successfully with the younger 
 in scholarly attainments, and yet all who listened to them 
 both said of the one : " He is a great orator, a smart, clever, 
 well-read man ; he pleads his cause finely, but after all we 
 can't decide until we've heard what can be said by his op- 
 ponent." Those who had listened to the saintly veteran, 
 exclaimed : " AYe know he tells the truth, for we have the 
 witness in ourselves ; he heals our wounds, he ends our 
 doubts, he dislodges our fears, he shows us hght on the 
 darkest pathway, and therefore we are assured he is sent by 
 God, for he opens up our understandings, he silences our 
 fears, and he makes us loathe our sins and deal justly by our 
 neighbours." 
 
 We have cited this narrative, culled from our own expe- 
 rience, to illustrate our theme, as we feel it needs illustration 
 in this day. When everything is being shaken, even to its 
 foundations, it behoves all to see to the foundations, whether 
 they be secure or insecure. C Controversy may wage till 
 everything historical is disputed ; and there are those who 
 declare that Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and all the 
 great systems of the world, are built on sand, and are them- 
 selves mere mythologies. The personality of Jesus is denied, 
 so is that of Buddha. The Old and New Testaments are 
 discounted as fabrications of the priesthood, or regarded as 
 Kabahstic treatises upon the Solar Mythos. Osiris and Jesus 
 are said to be the same, and both are said to be the material 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 103 
 
 sun. The disciples of Christ are said to be the twelve 
 Zodiacal signs, while the Holy Sj)irit can. be only solar light 
 or heat. 
 
 The glowing symbolism of the East undoubtedly points to 
 astronomical and astrological principles and facts. Mathema- 
 tics and Geometry unquestionably must be called in to solve 
 the problem of the Pyramid, and decipher the riddle of the 
 Sphinx ; while it is self-e^ddent to us, that material science in 
 the olden time was in the keeping of a learned and initiated 
 minority, while the multitude were destitute of all such in- 
 formation as the priests possessed.J) As Egypt is the centre 
 around which present controversies revolve, and as it is to 
 Egypt that the thought of all Europe is turned to-day, poli- 
 tically and religiously, by reason of the present war, and the 
 appearance of the Mahdi, it may be well for us to offer a few 
 remarks upon that land and its antiquities, in so far as they 
 throw light upon the subject immediately before us. 
 
 How old the Great Pyramid maybe, is not decided. Pro- 
 fessor Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, long ago fixed 
 the date of its construction at 2,170 B.C., and by many ingen- 
 ious interpretations endeavoured to foretell the second coming 
 of Christ, as probable soon after 1881 a.d. It is true that 
 Professor Smyth's predictions have not yet failed, because he 
 takes into consideration, the narrow passage-way connecting 
 the Grand Gallery with the King's Chamber, and as this 
 measures at the least something over fifty inches in length, 
 and each inch is said to represent a year, there is yet, even 
 now, ample time for the fulfilment of the Professor's expecta- 
 tions, and even now may be the time of war and danger, jDre- 
 figured by the narrow passage already mentioned. ( But as 
 those of the school of Dupuis are too external on the one 
 hand, so are Christian apologists apt to be too literal 
 also, though in another direction, in that, while the Materialist 
 sees only the letter of the allegory, the Christian often loses 
 sight of principles in personalities, and limits all manifesta- 
 tions of truth to a single outpouring of the Spirit, once for all, 
 in Palestine, through Jesus of Nazareth, at the commence- 
 ment of the Christian era."^ 
 
 Professor Smyth has very forcibly called the attention of 
 the reading world, to the suggestive fact of the site of the 
 Grand Pyramid being truly central. It is stated that this is 
 on middle ground absolutely, and that such central position 
 
3 04 L OAD ON LECT UBES. 
 
 (the very centre of all the land upon the globe) could 
 not have been chosen accidentally, especially at a time when 
 knowledge was not ripe as to-day. It is further stated that 
 this Pyramid pointed, at the time of its construction, directly 
 to Alcyone, the far-distant star or sun around which the sun 
 of this system accomplishes a period of revolution once in 
 every Grand Cycle, and that the star alpha draconis (the polar 
 star 4,000 years ago) shone directly down the shaft of the 
 Pyramid, at the time of its erection. 
 
 Ignoring the celebrated ^^^sdom of the Ancients, the Chris- 
 tian apologist traces the facts just referred to, directly to deific 
 inspiration, claiming that God himself must have been the 
 architect and inspirer of this temple to his honour, in the land 
 of Egypt; and as this Pyramid is frequently alluded to 
 (though vaguely to the uninitiated) in the Old Testament, 
 proof positive is supposed to be forthcoming of the authen- 
 ticity and prophetic, as well as historic, accuracy of the 
 Scriptures, when the mystery of the Pyramid shall be fully 
 comprehended. 
 
 C Without denying the prophetic character of the several 
 books of the Old Testament, or derogating one iota from 
 the dignity of Jesus as a Messiah, and afulfiller of prophecy, 
 it is quite possible to interpret the central wonder of ancient 
 and modern Egypt, more universally than above ; but to do 
 so requires an amount of knowledge not ordinarily within 
 the grasp of the Christian minister, Avho is taught to bend 
 every fact concerning the ancient world, until it serves to 
 estabhsh the miraculous origin of Judaism and Christianity, 
 and the purely human origin of all other systems. 
 
 What the Christian and the Jew are wont to say of Brali- 
 manism and Buddhism, that the Brahman and Buddhist are 
 equally apt to say of Judaism and Christianity, the view 
 taken of Mohammed by Christians, is substantially the view 
 taken of Jesus by Mohammedans and Jews ; and where, we 
 ask, is the logic or e^adence to prove the divinity of one or 
 two systems of religion, and the purely human character of 
 all the rest? If God spoke to Moses, to Abraham, and to 
 Melchisedek, why should he not have spoken to others not 
 mentioned on the Hebrew scroll, but regarded with veneration 
 as divine messengers by hundreds of millions of Orientals ? 
 Christianity and Judaism together do not embrace one quarter 
 
 of the inhabitants of the globe, while the Oriental faith is 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 105 
 
 sliared by a much larger number. The spread of Moham- 
 medanism has been quite as wonderful as that of Christianity, 
 and proselytism has been carried on by Mohammedan mis- 
 sionaries in many instances quite as fairly as by Christian 
 embassies. 
 
 Mohammedanism is spurned by many, and rightly, because 
 it debases woman, keeping her veiled and in subjection to her 
 lord throughout her lifetime, while it substitutes the harem 
 for the home, and esteems voluptuousness as compatible with 
 the loftiest spiritual exaltation. But, in Christian lands, has 
 not woman been abased ? Is she not to-day shut out from 
 public offices, though taxed equally with man for all property 
 she has earned or may have inherited? Has not woman been 
 denied access to your halls of learning and your pulpits, 
 until very recently, when she has been admitted to equality 
 with man under protest ; and has it not been that very 
 church which adores woman in the person of the " Immacu- 
 late mother of God, the Virgin Mary," which has banished 
 woman utterly from the priesthood, and declared that Paul's 
 severest words on feminine subjection are none too strong ? 
 Though all over Europe in Christian lands the Virgin is 
 adored, sometimes it appears to the exclusion of her Son, still 
 outside the gates of all ecclesiastical and civil places of power, 
 woman must stand knocking vainly for admittance, until the 
 hberating hand of Republicanism, Free-thought, or Spiritual- 
 ism shall open the long-closed doors to her, and admit her 
 equally with her brothers to every place of rank and power 
 and glory.) 
 
 The most ancient symbol of Egypt is the Circle, expressive 
 of the absolute unity of the Divine Mind, and of all Nature. 
 The spherical form is that of worlds perfected, and is the one 
 form presented to you as symbolizing the perfection of unitary 
 life in the Heavens. This form, most perfectly portrayed to 
 the gaze of the ancient savans, in the sun Alcyone, was the 
 accepted symbol of Deity, over all the land of Egypt, while 
 the emblems of immortality were all closely allied. Among 
 these, the serpent with its tail in its mouth was not infrecpient. 
 The most distant sphere known to be a sun was considered 
 the highest expression of divine life discernible by man, and it 
 was to the spiritual life there made manifest, and not to the 
 matter of which the outer form of worlds is composed, that 
 the ancients paid their homage. The ineffable centre of life 
 
lOG L OXD ON LECTURES. 
 
 was regarded as a ceatral sun, while to this system of worlds 
 the sun, which is the centre of this system, symboUed and 
 expressed the ruler of the system spiritually. 
 C Believing, as did the ancient astrologers and astronomers, 
 in the inhabited condition of all worlds in space at some 
 period of their history, much maligned and misrepresented 
 though astrology has been and still is, the original astrological 
 theory was in effect, that worlds all came into existence in the 
 same way, were all governed by the same laws, all existed 
 for the same purpose, all were intended to afford scope for 
 the development of spiritual power, the ultimate attainment 
 of the spirit being its exercise of complete dominion over all 
 forms and forces of matter. 
 
 The angel who dwelt in the sun (Osiris) was not regarded as 
 the Eternal Being, but as the angel or guardian of the solar 
 system. This archangelic guardian of the earth, with Isis, 
 his consort, was worshipped as the highest expression of Deity 
 the human mind could directly contemplate, while under 
 the direction of this supernal potentate, twelve angels were 
 said to move, each having for his Kingdom one of the Signs 
 of the Zodiac. It was further believed by the Egyptians, 
 that the earth, regularly passed from one spiritual dispensa- 
 tion to another, in an average period of from 2,lo0 to 2,200 
 years, and the completed cycle of the earth occupied a period 
 of 2o,8i0 years, or very nearly that space of time, it being 
 universally conceded that tlie journey of the sun (the home 
 of Osiris and Isis) around Alcyone, was accomplished in pre- 
 cisely the same amount of time required by the earth to 
 complete the grand cycle of twelve Messianic Periods. At 
 the culmination and commencement of each special spiritual 
 period, it was always declared that some special angelic minis- 
 trations were vouchsafed to the earth, and from this recog- 
 nition of periods (spiritual periods of seed-time and harvest), 
 arose the doctrine of Avatars, Messiahs, and Incarnate 
 Deities. 
 
 The Adam of the second chapter of Grenesis, is considered 
 by some as identical with Osiris, and also with Melchisedek, 
 as he evidently refers to the most ancient Spiritual Messenger, 
 of whom mention is made in the Jewish Kabala ; and surely 
 no one familiar with the story of the Exodus, can be surprised 
 to hear that Judaism, considered religiously, is largely a 
 derivation from the older Egyptian religion. The ornaments 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 107 
 
 I'-oiTowed from the Egyptians Ly tlie Israelites, refer no clouLt 
 to ornaments and ceremonies, symbols and metaphors, which 
 afterT\-ards formed part of the Jewish forms of government 
 and worship. 
 
 The oldest form of government kno\Yn to man is Theocracy. 
 All the governments of ancient Egypt were theocratic, as 
 spiritual power vras looked np to as the supreme cpiahfication 
 of rnlers for the tennre of office. The civil rulers were 
 always in subordination to the ecclesiastical. The piophets 
 were the most highly esteemed of all, next in order came the 
 priests, who were often members of royal families, royal per- 
 sonages being generally ordained priests. Sacerdotalism, in 
 its darker aspects, was a far later development, and arose from 
 the coriuption of the prophetic and priestly office, when filled 
 by seltish, designing men, who sought their own personal 
 aggrandisement rather than the welfare of the people, on 
 whose behalf they were expected to perform all their func- 
 tions. 
 
 Free-masonry and Eehgion are so nearly allied, that the 
 history of the one cannot be written without also writing the 
 history of the other. Free-masonry, in its most modern form 
 in Christian lands, has added many ornamental and external 
 lodges, which appear to' confine it io an advocacy of the 
 Christian religion ; but the Mason who regards his lodge as 
 a kind of club or benefit society, who makes use of Masonry 
 as a passport to favour at home and abroad, but who does 
 not care for it except for financial reasons, social prestige, and 
 its many collateral advantages, does not comprehend anything 
 of the original scope of Masonry, which included a complete 
 study of the occult sciences, and the practice of spiritual power. 
 
 The same terms may be employed in England to-day as 
 in Egypt 6,000 years ago. The square may still form the 
 base, the triangle may still be supported upon it ; the three 
 primal degrees of Masonry — Entered Apprentice, Fellow^ 
 Craftsman, and Master Mason — maay still be taken by all w^ho 
 enter the Blue Lodge, and are thenceiorth regarded brother 
 Masons by the fraternity in all parts of the globe. But it 
 has been stated, and that truly, that there are not simply 
 three, but nine, degrees w^hich may be taken, and six of these 
 degrees are beyond any height attained by the ordinary Past 
 Grand Master. These degrees include the study and practice 
 of Magic, and are acknowledged, even verbally, by none in 
 
108 L ONL ON LEGT URES. 
 
 modern society, save tliose who call themselves Theosophists, 
 or profess to take extraordinary interest in the spiritual side 
 of occult brotherhoods. 
 
 What does the ordinary man of the world, who is an ex- 
 ternal Mason, know more than others of Rosicrucian mysteries, 
 of Eleusinian and Bacchic rites, and of the far-famed myste- 
 ries of Egypt and Asia ? To him Magic is imposition, even 
 Spiritualism is but an imposture, while the book of Daniel, 
 the Apocalypse, and the Kabala are incomprehensible fables 
 or absurdities. He is either a member of a Christian church 
 or Jewish synagogue, dealing with the letter of Scripture 
 only, or he is a sceptic, regarding all spiritual matters as 
 superstition. But ancient Masonry, while it included all the 
 external and collateral advantages attaching to modern 
 Masonry, and was far more necessary then than now, was far 
 wider in its scope and deeper in its purpose ; as it constituted 
 the brotherhood, which held together the learned and the 
 inspired in all quarters of the globe. 
 
 The literati and iUuminati, however, never disclosed the 
 meaning of their secret rites and ceremonies to any outside 
 their Orders, neither did the most ancient and powerful lodge 
 of all, ever inscribe its secrets in hieroglyphics, all of which 
 penetrate no deeper than the surface of the true wisdom of 
 the ancients. Every so-called lost art, every science called 
 modern, was known to the ancients. Plato speaking figura- 
 tively to the uninitiated, nevertheless, even to them discloses 
 the fact of his acquaintance with the circulation of the blood : 
 yet modern scientists attribute the discovery of this fact of 
 human life to Harvey. Far away in Egypt, the builders of 
 the Pyramid were fully conversant ^Yith the rotundity of the 
 earth, and its spherical motions, though in modern times 
 Galileo was condemned for divulging a tithe of this most 
 ancient knowledge. Socrates quaffing the hemlock at Athens : 
 the early Christians, who were Essenes and Gnostics, perse- 
 cuted by fire and sword because they inveighed against 
 heathen idolatries and attempted to unfold the " mystery of 
 Godliness " to the world, are alike instances of the frantic 
 endeavours made by interested parties, in times of corrup- 
 tion, to hold knowledge away from the people. 
 
 The modern priesthood includes those, whose knowledge 
 is so superficial that they really know nothing of the " hidden 
 wisdom " mentioned in the Epistles, and those also who know 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. 100 
 
 more than they tliink it wise or safe to divulge. The Pope's 
 Encydical against Free-masonry, is only a proof of the 
 natural horror with which an arrogant hierarchy must always 
 regard a rival secret power. The Church of Rome has its 
 milk for babes and its stromr meat for full-o;rown men. 
 The Church never admits the laity into its inmost mysteries, 
 but proclaims to them the InfaUibility dogma, threatening 
 them with excommunication in this w^orld and everlastino: 
 punishment in the future state, if they heed not the voice of 
 Peter's successor, who speaks with authority from heaven. 
 But to-day this^ authority is questioned all over Europe, 
 and that Protestant supremacy which has so long held sway, 
 both in England and America, is also being rapidly set 
 aside. The Church no longer has a monopoly of learning, 
 therefore its influence is waning with the learned, while the 
 working people are daily becoming more impatient of all 
 restraint, and prefer even violent and suicidal revolutionary 
 movements, to stagnation under the dominion of aggressive 
 rulers. 
 
 The Logos or Divine Word, proclaimed as the Breath of 
 God by Plato as well as by John, is that divine Spirit of Truth 
 w^hich the Hebrew^s traced to the time of Adam, the 
 Messianic Messenger whose advent to the earth inaugurated 
 the Dispensation prior to the Hebraic ; that period of history 
 in which Egypt passed through one of her exceptionally 
 glorious cycles of dominion. Then the tide of insj3iration 
 flowed from the banks of the Nile to the Jordan ; at the 
 same time there arose in Asia, both Confucius, — the Chinese 
 philosopher, whose mission was to the intellect of man more 
 particularly, — and Sakya Muni Gautama, the Indian Prince, 
 ■whose mission w^as to the spirit of manldnd. These two 
 great lights shone together, the influence of the philosopher 
 blending with and merging into that tidal wave of thought, 
 wdiich gave to Greece its halcyon days of philosophic splen- 
 dour, w^hen Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, marked 
 the full blossoming of the flowers of intellect, on the borders 
 of the Hellenic seas. 
 
 Then came Jesus, not in the might and pride of intellect, 
 but as Buddha came, with self-renunciation, humility, charity, 
 the \ieapons of the Spirit only. His mission w^as to unfold 
 the logos in every human breast, to glorify God's image in 
 the human soul, not to maintain the rigour of Mosaism nor 
 
 "O' 
 
110 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the intellectual speculations of philosophy, hut to tell all 
 mankind to worship the Father by deeds of loving-kindness 
 to their brethren. In his Gospel, Love is the fulfilment of 
 the Law. He asks not for your worship, he craves not your 
 laudation, he asks only that you cultivate God's image in 
 your heart. Thus controversy ends, and- the practice of 
 religion supplants all dogma ; for he who loveth not his 
 brother, whom he hath seen, can never love the Eternal, who 
 is invisible, and who asks nought at our hands but that wre 
 fulfil the royal law, and frame our lives after the pattern of 
 the Golden Kule. Not Christ as a person, but Love as the 
 ruling principle of life, must be accepted, or the world 
 remains unsaved and unredeemed. 
 
 When standing armies are abolished, when vice and 
 pauperism no longer abound, when the fallen are upraised by 
 the hand of love, and the whole Race of Man is the object of 
 your care, then, but not till then, will God's Kingdom have 
 come on Earth ; then, but not till then, Avill His Will be 
 done on Earth as it is in Heaven I j 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 "WHO AND WHAT IS CHEIST? 
 
 FAR oif, in distant lands, in ages long gone by, 
 The Ancients thought they saw th' Eternal riding by 
 In solemn state, through heaven, whene'er the sun shone bright ; 
 They worshipped at His shrine, and called it their delight 
 To build rich temples fair, in every Orient land. 
 Which might, through ceaseless years, in hoary grandeur stand, 
 To point the mystic road. 
 To Light's supreme abode. 
 
 On the banks of the mystic Kile, an ancient altar stands, 
 Built to the Solar God, with swift and dext'rous hands, 
 Pointing the way to heaven, when its apex, crowned with light, 
 Is twice a-year adorned, when there's equal day and night. 
 
 To the Angel of the Sun, Osiris, who doth hide 
 
 Half of his heavenly form in Isis, his veiled *bride ; 
 
 And to Horus, the Child Divine, the Egyptians honour paid, 
 
 While their costliest works of art, were on such altars laid. 
 
RELIGIOUS TRUTHS, THEOLOGIES. Ill 
 
 'Twas in depth of wiater time, when the days had shortest grown, 
 When the breath of summer flowers and singing- birds had flown, 
 They appointed a solemn feast, on the birth of a glad New "Sear, 
 To celebrate deliverance from cold and death and fear. 
 
 It was then that the Ancients traced the Saviour of Man, who, laid 
 
 Three days in the cold, dark tomb, was then re-born, arrayed 
 
 In the resurrection robes of the lengthening light of day, 
 
 While the spirits who ruled the night, were conquered and fled away. 
 
 'Twas then that Virgo appeared with Bootes at her side, 
 
 Standing as though far off, watching his radiant bride ; 
 
 While Capricoriius, the Goat, was the Zodiacal Sign 
 
 'Neath which, in th.Q^ stable of earth, must be laid the new Child Divine. 
 
 It was afterwards, far, far away from the haunts of the men of old. 
 There appeared oa the earth the siga which the Ancients had long foretold : 
 The five-pointed Star, whose light led the Magi from Persia, to where 
 Mary, the Jewish maid, must a child in virginity bear. 
 
 But the virgin need only be pure, free from guile, full of wisdom and love. 
 For motherhood may be divine, when sanctioned by light from above ; 
 And the Teacher, who came to the West, was the Star which Confucius foretold, 
 When he spake of its bright Western beams, its radiance of heavenly gold. 
 
 Bat was one form on earth all God's Sons ? His the Father in Heaven one child — 
 Bat one only ? who spoke to the earth, in Judea, with tones so mild 
 Yet so thrilling, that multitudes heard and acknowledged his spiritual sway, 
 Though the rulers and priests hound to death, he who revealeth i\i<i perfect way. 
 
 The Christ must be ever within, a Sun of Righteousness to shine, 
 
 God's image within the Soul, pronouncing man's life divine, 
 
 As the Logos, the breathing Word, the Will, and the Light, and the Way, 
 
 And the Truth, that must lead you to God at length, howe'er widely ye stray. 
 
 Whensoever the Spirit of Truth, Loving-kindness, or Charity sweet. 
 
 Shall pervade all your hearts and your minds, then the Christ in your heartswill 
 
 ye greet ; 
 And it matters not where be the shrine, or what be the phrase ye employ. 
 In fellowship, loving mankind, ye find Christ, and God's Kingdom of joy. 
 
 BENEDICTIOISr. 
 
 May tlie Light of God's Perfect Trutli so illume your 
 minds while here ye rove, that Heavenly Peace may fill your 
 hearts, and give you some blessed foretaste of Eternal Joy. — 
 Amen. 
 
( 112 ) 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 
 
 BY special request of a gentlemau here present, and also 
 in compliance -with the urgent and often-expressed 
 wishes of other friends, we have taken for onr subject 
 this afternoon, " The Philosophy of Pe-incarxatiox," or, 
 to speak more correctly, we must say Re-embodiment, as in- 
 carnation and re-incarnation are words scarcely fitted to ex- 
 press the thoughts we wish to convey concerning the human 
 spirit and its manifestations through earthly organisms. 
 Cincarnation means to be made flesh, re-incarnation to be 
 made flesh over again ; but as the soul never becomes 
 material, as the spirit is never converted into matter, there 
 can be really no incarnations and no re-incarnations, though 
 embodiments of spirit may be numerous and successive, so 
 long as an earthly form is calculated to afford the spirit means 
 for the unfoldment and exercise of its latent talents. 
 
 We know there are some persons who are so averse to the 
 theory of a plurality of terrestrial existences for the same 
 spirit, that they become angry and abusive if the question of 
 re-embodiment is only mooted in their hearing. ^ For all such 
 we are sorry,, but it is not our province to blame them nor to 
 call them by the hard names they apply to others. Truth is 
 its own apology for being, it cannot be obliterated in support 
 of any theory whatsoever, it refuses to bend at the shrine of 
 any idol, no matter how venerable. If it is unpalatable to 
 certain minds, the minds must grow eventually to embrace 
 it and glory in it ; but truth can never change, because the 
 laws of being are not in harmony with certain people's ideas 
 of what they ought to be. 
 (If there be one cry more earnest than all others in the 
 world of thought to-day, it is the cry for justice. Nothing 
 short of the strictest and most absolute justice will satisfy the 
 irrepressible cravings of the human •mind. Every cry for 
 liberty, for freedom, for emancipation, is but the expression 
 of some deep-seated yearning for equity. Even the dyna- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 113 
 
 mite explosions are evidence of the tremendous outcry of the 
 human mind against tyranny, usurpation, and partiaHty. 
 Whether Irishmen are right or wrong in the opinion of your 
 Government, they feel themselves to be unfairly treated. 
 Whether their grievances are as real as they say they are or 
 not, still the protest against mjustice is the inspiration of 
 every struggle and outrage. Once let a people feel them- 
 selves unjustly treated, and you have aroused the implacable 
 hatred of that people against you. Once let a child or a 
 person in your employ feel that you have favourites, and that 
 he is not one of them, that others, for no merit of their 
 own, are preferred before him, to gratify your whim or arbi- 
 trary caprice, and over that child or adult you can gain no 
 power, unless he fears you and renders you an unwilling 
 obedience, perforce or through cowardice. 
 
 The entire religious world is agitated, nay, convulsed at 
 this very hour, because of the failure of theologies to account 
 for the government of the universe consistent with the justice 
 of the Eternal. No doctrines have driven so many persons 
 into Atheism as those of Calvin. Election and Reprobation 
 are so horrifying to the lover of impartiality, that the very 
 name of God is blasphemed wherever- Calvinism has held 
 sway. It is not against the idea of Supreme Goodness that 
 men turn with disgust to Agnosticism or infidelity ; wher- 
 ever Atheism is most rampant, is where the name of Deity 
 has been defiled by its association with measures reprehen- 
 sible among men, wherever civilization has made any pro- 
 gress. Some there are, indeed, who so confound illimitable 
 nature with their puny knowledge of a fragment of the 
 universe, that they imagine everything to be absolutely irre- 
 concilable that they cannot themselves reconcile, but surely it 
 must be admitted that the supreme and sovereign hope of the 
 world is directed toward the advent of an era of unsullied 
 equity, when all the bewildering inconsistencies of the present 
 shall be lost sight of for ever in the realization of humanity's 
 most ardent dream, a dream which, whether embodied in 
 Eden, Arcadia, Utopia or any other Oriental or classic form 
 in the past, is the hope of the world of working men to-day, 
 who, though less poetical in the clothing of their mental 
 images, have still in view the realization of the self same 
 dream which caused Plato to \^T:ite his " Republic," and gave 
 to all the Athenian Sages their di^'ine gift of prophecy. 
 
J 14 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 CJso one studying the classic authors can fail to discover, 
 that the primal basis of life, according to all of them, is 
 ►Spirit. No one penetrating even but a little way into the 
 spirit of the Eleusinian and Bacchic mysteiies, can fail to 
 trace in the splendid and voluptuous ritual of the Grreeks, an 
 attempt to illustrate the career of the Soul through many 
 stages of material existence, ultimating in the perfected bliss 
 of angelhood. It is impossible to consult the pages of the 
 celebrated Hermetic writings, without discovering ere long 
 that the old Egyptians in their very dramatic representation 
 of the movement of astral bodies, set forth in glo^^dng 
 imagery the transit of the Soul. Take whatever view you 
 may of Greek and Asiatic Mythology ; interpret the 
 religions of India, Persia, China, and Assyria, as you please ; 
 consult the pages of the Jewish or any other Kabala, and the 
 burden of every portrayal will be found to be none other 
 than an attempt of the human mind to answer the stupendous 
 questions of every age : \Yhence am I ? AYhat am I ? 
 AVhither am I bound ? 
 
 We are quite well aware that some Jews and some 
 Christians are sufficiently conceited to make it their boast, that 
 only through Moses or through Christ was the will of God 
 revealed to man, while outside the pale of Judaism and 
 Christianity there are to be found none who have enjoyed a 
 clear and direct revelation from the Infinite. It is certainly 
 not our purpose to enter upon a wordy war with any sectaries 
 regarding the superior excellence of some particular theology 
 or philosophy over all others ; sectarian strife is sufficiently 
 rife at present to excuse us from the charge of a neglect of 
 duty if we decline to enter the ranks of controversialists, 
 and match our strength \^T.th that of others in defence of 
 some peculiar form in which truth has been or now is em- 
 bodied. We claim that revelations are incessant, that the 
 Soul is ever the discoverer, while Reason may be the analj'st 
 and exponent of truth ; and that to no age more than to 
 others, to no people more than to others, has God vouchsafed 
 a sj)ecial revelation. 
 
 But may it not be that as some material substances are 
 diaphanous or transparent, while others are light-resisting, 
 that in the realm of mind some mental states may correspond 
 to windows of clear, white glass, while others may best be 
 compared to flint or brickwork ? It is not the fault of the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 115 
 
 sun, if the light streams in through open windows, but docs 
 not enter through the medium of soHd masonry ; it is not the 
 fault of this same sun, if Jupiter afar off responds to its every 
 radiation, and glories in space as a brilliant lighted world, 
 while Mercury anear the JSolar Orb is immured as yet in 
 chaotic vapours, like unto those which doubtless once sur- 
 rounded Jupiter. In the history of the progress of worlds 
 we discover them slowly emerging, through vast cycles of 
 time, from the gloomy darkness of their primeval state ; so 
 that while geologists -may utterly discard the notion that the 
 sun was created on the fourth day of this earth's develop- 
 ment, it may still be admitted that prior to the close of the 
 tertiary period, the earth was not responsive to solar light and 
 heat as afterwards, Not the nearness of a world to the central 
 orb of the system, nor its remoteness from that centre, 
 determines the heat or luminosity of the planet. The planet's 
 own growth regulates its own condition, and not until it has 
 passed beyond chaotic and transition periods, can it rejoice 
 as a reflector and assimilator of the light and heat which 
 are ever flowing toward it from the central globe. 
 
 When in ancient times Solar-worship was instituted, the 
 sun was the sacred emblem both of the Divine Soul and 
 of the human soul. What the Eternal Spirit is to universal 
 nature, that- the human spirit must be to human nature. 
 Every impulsion of life is from the Deity, and vibrates out- 
 ward from the centre toward the circumference of being. 
 Every form evolved upon an earth, is due to spiritual opera- 
 tions working from within, till at length these impulsions are 
 embodied in the forms of matter you behold around you. 
 First the inorganic, then the organic, must appear : first the 
 mineral deposits are formed, then the vegetable and animal 
 kingdoms appear, till nature's types cease with man, in whom 
 is the culmination of nature's evolutionary line. J) 
 
 Charles Darwin, studying the origin of man, was one of 
 the ablest and devoutest students of the ascent of forms of 
 life, the world has ever seen. Neither bigoted nor sceptical, 
 neither impetuous nor superstitious, neither iconoclastic nor 
 foolishly conservative, he was indeed an epoch-making man. 
 His greatness consisted largely in his sound judgment, cool 
 deliberation, and steadfast adherence to proven facts. 
 Hypotheses and theories were to him of minor value. He 
 discovered first, and theorized afterwards. He endeavoured 
 
116 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 to subject all theories to nature's revelations, and never 
 believed in tbe policy adopted by some, of paring down facts 
 till they were small enough to enter the narrow grooves of 
 antiquated theory. Better break every skin in Israel and 
 have new v^dne, than deny a truth, because only old wine can 
 be contained in venerable bottles. This was the teaching of 
 the great Gahlean teacher, and this was the pohcy of Darwin, 
 and for this, though ostracised at first, his name, even before 
 his passage from material life, became as a household word, to 
 be mentioned with reverence instead of scorn ; while from St. 
 Paul's and Westminster, and many humbler temples in the 
 land, arose eulogy, not execration, over his remains when these 
 were committed to their resting place in earth. 
 
 CFor what Darwin has done, the scientific world owes him 
 unfaltering loyalty. Eternal gratitude is due to such as he, 
 for the discoveries they make regarding man's corporeal en- 
 A^elope, even though that envelope be but a thing of dust and 
 clay, a school house, and a preparatory one at best, for its 
 immortal occupant, the Soul. But if material researches may 
 thus be valuable, if he who investigates the development of 
 the outward is truly called a hero — What shall be the rightful 
 honours paid to those who draw back the mystic curtain 
 which screens the Spirit from your view, rend the obscuring 
 vail in the midst of the temple, where humanity blindly 
 worships while it dreads the Unknown, and let in such light 
 concerning man's immortal origin and destiny as shall flood 
 the page of human history with light derived from spheres of 
 ageless and eternal Spirit ? 
 
 Immortality is the faith and hope of the world ; annihila- 
 tion is alike inconceivable and intolerable to any sane or 
 healthy person. Morbid sorrow, incurable disease, and a host 
 of Irindred afQictions may generate in the minds of men an 
 apparent desire for absolute extinction of being, but where is 
 the ordinarily happy or healthy woman, man or child, who 
 does not shrink from death, and recoil with horror from the 
 prospect of annihilation ? But who can realize what it can 
 be not to be ? Think of yourselves as mouldering in the 
 grave, or sufi'ering torment in a world of future punishment I 
 You may, but you cannot realize being nothing : no one, 
 and nowhere. Instinctively the thought of man turns to 
 immortality, and let the idea of extinction be broached ever so 
 remotely — by Theosophists, Occultists, or others who pretend 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 117 
 
 to find in the Buddhistic records a teaching of the ultimate 
 loss of the soul's individuality, — and a perfect storm of angry 
 indignation is aroused against the advocates of such a doc- 
 trine, even though the event of individual annihilation be 
 postponed to a period so remote, that no human arithmetic 
 can compute the £eons which must elapse ere the fatal hour 
 arrives. Instinctively the soul within you says — I am I I 
 always have been : I shall ever be. Xo chano-inor forms of 
 dust can e'er destroy my entity. I from eternity exist, and 
 to eternity my pathwiiy lies, hedged in though I may be with 
 mortal sorrows, afflicted mtli many cares, weighted down 
 with burdens grievous to be borne, I yet can see the future 
 glory which awaits me, when after all my earthly trials are 
 o'er, I reach the land of peace ineffable, where ample compen- 
 sation will be assuredly afforded me for all the labours and 
 the trials incident to time and sense. 
 
 We say, the Soul of man says this, because it has ever said 
 it, in all the various theories which men have framed con- 
 cerning the purpose and end of life. The soul spake thus 
 upon the banks of the sacred, mystic Nile, whose waters, for- 
 ever ebbing and flowing, suggested human experiences and 
 change ; while the lotus flowers, which bloomed always upon 
 its banks, were symbols of the Soul's eternity. It spoke thus 
 when Buddha, meditating upon eternal things, saw as in a 
 crystal mirror every changing scene of life pass before him, 
 while he himself remained unshaken by the lapse of ages. It 
 spoke thus when Jesus, questioned by his critics on the 
 Spirit's duration, pronounced those memorable words : '"Be- 
 fore Abraham was, I am !" The Soul says — I am I It hves 
 in an eternal present. Abraham, the type of human change 
 and sacrificial institutions, must be recent, when his brief 
 span of influence is contrasted with the soul's eternity. Not 
 only forward into the future but backward into the past, the 
 Spirit's vision stretches, and the Soul can say — I am I I was 1 
 I shall be I — Past, Present, Future, all roUed into one con- 
 sciousness of life. Simple being and the realization of being, 
 tliis is all that can be predicated concerning spiritual life itself. 
 
 We know there are many who profess to believe in 
 prospective, though not in j)ast immortality. We fail, how- 
 ever, to discover by what processes of logical reasoning they 
 can deduce the dogma of the endlessness of life one way if 
 not the other. Whatsoever is born may die, all that begins 
 
118 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 may end. Worlds, if they tegan, may cease to be : only that 
 which had no beginning can have no ending. This fact is 
 clearly kept in ^dew by scientists, who declare, and that most 
 logically and consistently, that only atoms are eternal. 
 Primaries, say they, have always existed, and will therefore 
 never cease to be. But no scientist ever claims to have dis- 
 covered primaries : they elude the grasp of every sense. 
 They are strictly and obstinatel}^ invisible. No amount of 
 toil or diligence has succeeded in wresting them from that 
 invisible state in which eternally they dwell. All that the 
 scientific ^^orld can know, by actual experiments concerning 
 matter, is that it is destructible.* The indestructible has 
 never been discovered, and yet its existence is a necessary 
 inference of science. If spiritual teachers shall come to you 
 with definitions of these essential primaries, is it not discreet 
 that you should .listen with all diligent attention to what they 
 have to say ? If every material research has failed, and 
 they are still beyond you, then if they be described to you 
 as souls, as conscious, seh-existing entities, preserving their 
 indeutity intact for ever, — Why rebel because your relentless 
 and barbaric divinities — Chance, Luck, Destiny, Fate, Law, 
 Necessity — are dethroned, when by their displacement you 
 behold in regal splendour, in robes of spotless beauty, one 
 only God revealed, whose completeness forms the sphere of 
 Justice, the hemispheres of which are Love and Wisdom, the 
 outgoings, Power almighty. 
 
 Sooner or later you will all find yourselves obliged to 
 vacate untenantable premises. If you endeavour to force a 
 dogma on the human mind, unsanctioned by right or reason, 
 your dogmatism may suffice (especially if you accompany it 
 "v\^th sufficient arrogant intolerance of all other opinions than 
 your own) for minds who are prepared to take your dictum 
 instead of the findings of their own reason and moral sense. 
 We emphatically declare that ordinary views of human 
 immortality are little better than Atheistic negations, because 
 they utterly fail at the crucial point, when asked to demon- 
 strate the Justice of the Eternal. What says the material- 
 istic thinker of to-day ? I believe in no Eternal Justice ; 
 
 * It is a dogma of the Materialists, that Matter is indestruclible, eternal, but 
 merely a dogma, which resolves itself into tlie logical conclusion that something must 
 be eternal ; and what is eternal must be absolute and primal, as no composilion can 
 be ultimate ; thence the theory of atoms. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 119 
 
 and tills after nineteen centuries or thereabout of nominal 
 Christianity, after centuries of preaching and the expenditure 
 of millions of pounds annually in Home and Foreign 
 Missions. Not the Archbishop of Canterbury but Charles 
 Bradlaugh is the hero of the liour. The Pope's Encyclical 
 ao^ainst Free-masonry arouses contempt, scarcely indignation. 
 Bishops are threatened with expulsion from Parliament, 
 while the very name of religion is the synonym of hypocrisy 
 or exploded fallacy with many. Why is this ? Surely not 
 because God and immortahty are the fevered fancies of a 
 disordered brain ; surely not because all the hopes of the 
 world for eternal life are built on sand, and will not bear the 
 force of the surging billows of modern enquir}^. The answer 
 is in this and in this only : that popular and prevalent 
 theological ideas have not demonstrated the problem of 
 Eternal Justice. 
 
 Pythagoras, the sage of Samos, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, 
 Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, these taught no other gospel than 
 that which in France, quite recently, the Spirit-world 
 endeavoured to re^dve through the faithful labours of tliat 
 devoted seeker after truth, who bore the nom de plume of 
 Allan Kardec. His vv^ritings are not faultless, no human 
 compositions are, even though dictated from the Realm of 
 Spirit. The mediums with whom he sat were not perfectly 
 transparent mirrors, in which every thought and sentiment 
 from spirit life could be accurately or mistakelessly portrayed. 
 Imperfections in style, incompleteness in statement, failure to 
 grasp entirely the drift of thought, — these mistakes and such 
 as these are common in the works which emanated from 
 Kardec's facile and prolific pen : but these mistakes aside, 
 and these imperfections discounted, The Spirit's Booh, 
 The Medium's Book, Heaven and Hell, Genesis, all of which 
 are now easily accessible in the English tongue, besides other 
 works not yet translated from the French, contain a fund of 
 information and constitute a compendium of spiritual philo- 
 sophy unrivalled in modern literature. We are not apologists 
 for Kardec or his system, we are not prepared to endorse 
 his every statement or to concur at all times in the views 
 expressed by the revelating spirits : all we would say to the 
 reading public concerning these remarkable volumes is, in 
 them you will find food for years of thought, texts for 
 thousands of discourses, while you will be confronted with 
 
120 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the results of many years assiduous toil performed by a man 
 who freely gave his time, his means, his strength, to collect- 
 ing and diffusing information calculated to exonerate the laws 
 of being from the charges brought against them, by those 
 who know nothing of his inspired philosophy, and to 
 vindicate the ways of God to man, as no other system than 
 his has ever attempted to do, with anything like the same 
 success. 
 
 The cardinal affirmations of Kardec's philosophy are these. 
 God is absolutely just, strictly impartial in all his under- 
 takings, no favourites has he, none whom he fancies, and 
 elects to bliss while others are the objects of his unreasoning 
 displeasure. No human soid is ever embodied on this or any 
 other earth, except to learn a needed lesson or undergo a 
 •salutary discipline. Every soul begins at one point, and all 
 progress towards one goal. The starting point is innocenjie 
 disconnected from wisdom, the goal is innocence and wisdom 
 fully joined. The experiences needful for some are needful 
 for all. There are no short cuts to heaven; happiness must 
 be earned, it can never be bestowed arbitrarily or vicariously. 
 There are no hells in this or any other life, which are not 
 schools and do not serve purposes of needful education. No 
 crosses, cares, afflictions nor temptations are needlessly pre- 
 sented to or undergone by an}", but every disciplme of life, 
 glorious or humiliating, pleasant or painful, is a needed part 
 of the education of the spirit, and has for object the bringing 
 forth of some latent power and excellence ^^■ithin. Surely 
 such premises as these must be acceptable to all, whose boast 
 it is that they acknowledge the universal Fatherhood of God, 
 and Brotherhood of Man, while it must be clear to all 
 thinkers, that there is but one alternative, — either there is a 
 God or a Devil. If there be no. law of perfect justice in the 
 universe, which metes out to all their just deserts, then there 
 is certainly a devil of injustice, even though it be, as the 
 Materialists assert, unconscious and non-intelligent. 
 
 If there be any power in nature, which brings children 
 into the world without consulting them and then loads them 
 down with unmerited disease and sorrow, only to snuff them 
 out' of all conscious being, after they have suffered for a 
 few years, with no reward ; if some — born in affluence, feted 
 and caressed throughout their lives, knowing scarcely anything 
 of pain, difficulty or temj3tation — shall be received into heavenly 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 121 
 
 glory immediately upon tlie death of the body, while others, 
 whose lot has been hard and who have fallen by reason of 
 divers and mighty temptations they were not strong enough 
 to resist, are doomed to long-continued if not everlasting 
 punishment in the life to come, — then, we say, where such 
 injustice prevails there is the devil. Teach every child 
 and scholar to regard justice as synonymous with divinity, 
 and injustice with devilry ; hold up in all your homes and 
 seminaries the idea of simple, absolute justice as the supreme 
 good, and you need not feel any alarm concerning the future 
 morality of the race. Say w^hatever you will against it, the 
 doctrine of the successive embodiments of the human spirit in 
 the material form, is illustrative of the Supreme Justice in 
 the universe, to an extent unparalleled by any other philosophy. 
 
 Perhaps there may be carping critics still, who object to 
 the phraseology of re-embodiment, and who pride themselves 
 upon their abihty to detect flaws in a system they utterly 
 fail to comprehend. So far all objections to the theory of 
 re-embodiment have been purely rhapsodic and extremely 
 superficial, or they have been couched in such spiteful or 
 flijDpant language as to render them utterly valueless as 
 additions to genuine controversy ; but as there may be 
 persons here to-day who have hitherto failed to grasp the 
 teaching on this subject, which has up to this time been 
 given to the world, and as there are seeming discrepancies 
 and discords in the teaching itself, we will endeavour to reply 
 to a few of the more general and salient objections constantly 
 brought forward by opponents, with such pride and vigour 
 as though their arguments were unanswerable. Enthusiasm 
 is not spite, nervousness is not vulgarity, and it is a pity 
 when the one is mistaken for the other. We do not under- 
 take to answer slander, but to the nervous and enthusiastic 
 opponent of the re-embodiment idea, we will offer a few 
 replies to his oft-reiterated statements, that re-embodiment 
 implies retrogression, w^hile, in truth, it implies always and 
 only the perpetual advancement or progress of the spirit, 
 accomplished by means of alternate existences in material and 
 spiritual states of being. 
 
 E,€-embodiment is not akin to the old idea of the trans- 
 migration of souls, with which it is often confounded by the 
 ignorant. Transmigration, of course, implies a going back 
 to a lower state than the one vou leave, when vou take on a 
 
122 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 fresh embodiment. Were one of you to become an animal, 
 after having been a human being, you would have to descend 
 the ladder of hfe, and place yourself on a lower round than 
 that on which you now stand. It is a well-attested fact in 
 physiology, that the human body includes all the elements 
 required to form every structure comprising the three king- 
 doms of nature below man, mental science proving also that 
 human intelligcDce embraces all the intelligence of the animal 
 Avorld, and superadded attainments. If transmigration have 
 a foundation in fact, then transmigration must antedate 
 human life. The soul not yet embodied in a structural 
 organism, through which it can manifest its own individuahty, 
 may through the lapse of ages produce inferior forms, which 
 manifest attributes of Spirit, but have no means of expressing 
 the Soul itself, but only impulsions or vibrations from the soul. 
 
 The Theosophists, \^'ith their elementary spirits or frag- 
 mentary souls not yet human, have clumsily and imperfectly 
 translated the spiritual significance of the occult science of the 
 ancients. Gnomes, Sylphs, Undines, and Salamanders ; 
 Spirits of earth, air, fire, and water ; Divinities of the four 
 elements, and all the troops of Elves and Fairies mentioned 
 in legendary lore, have not been simply fictions of the imagi- 
 nation. There are in spirit many types which have now no 
 form on earth, but there can be no form on earth which has 
 not a prototype in spirit. Some spiritual impulsions gain no 
 outward expression, others are being embodied around you 
 every moment. 
 
 The kingdoms of nature below man, visible and invisible, 
 are preparatory expressions of that soul-life which is struggl- 
 ing to express itself through matter. Transmigration may 
 be related to your past, but not to your future. Your soul I 
 having become sufficiently skilful to build the human, when 
 it next assumes a body will assume a higher not a lower form 
 than the one it now animates or occupies, and on passing into ! 
 spirit-hfe will not descend into kingdoms of elementaries nor 
 be borne aloft to supernal states of angelhood, for which it is 
 not prepared. Spiritual spheres impinge upon the earth, 
 they revolve with your planet, unseen through space, 
 the seven spheres of which, you have been often told, mean 
 seven distinct and appreciable gradations in spirit-life, sur- 
 rounding and intimately connected with the earth ; while 
 beyond the earthly atmosphere, dissevered from all material 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF KE~EiMB0DI3IEA'T. 123 
 
 bondage, are the homes of those who need not any longer to 
 be associated with cruder forms of hfe. 
 
 Are all children equal from the moment of their birth ? 
 Can all learn w^ith equal rapidity and ease ? Have all equal 
 genius or spiritual insight ? Ask any parent, ask any tutor, 
 and who is there among those who educate the young, who 
 will not inform you of the aptitudes of one and the obtuse- 
 ness of another ? It is often stated by the opponents of re- 
 embodiment, that spiritual influence or inspiration has every- 
 thing to do with the presence of genius in one and the 
 absence of it in others, but this view is erroneous at its 
 foundation, though often true in its outward statements. 
 The question naturally arises : Why is one inspired and not 
 another ? If God be impartial, this cannot be so. In the 
 light of the philosophy we are endeavouring to make clear, 
 this difficulty vanishes. Those who can most readily respond 
 to spiritual influx, are the recipients of it and benefit by it. 
 There is no calling one and passing of another by. The 
 call is to all. The few only are chosen, because the few only 
 are qualified. If, therefore, you can catch glimpses of those 
 anterior existences which have prepared some minds for 
 response to spiritual light, as some planets are responsive to 
 solar heat and light through development of conditions to 
 receive it, then the enigma is solved, discrepancies vanish, 
 Crod's methods are justified to man, and the human spirit 
 realizes equity not favouritism, strict justice not partiality, in 
 all the economy of nature. 
 
 Have you never stood by the death-bed of a darling friend, 
 and heard him whisper with faltering tongue : " Oh I that I 
 could live my life over again." He goes out into eternity 
 with that prayer upon his lips, and an answer to that petition 
 is not denied him. After a period of rest, refreshment, and 
 such experience as equips the soul for its new journey, he is , 
 again attracted toward an earthly form, again he plunges into 
 the mystic river, and is again landed on the shores of time. 
 This new experience endows him with new powers, and 
 enables him to win new victories. If the old lessons have 
 not been fully learned, then they must be freshly studied, 
 and more completely mastered. If there be new lessons to 
 be studied, then the infancy is but the period when the 
 alphabet of a new language, the rudiments of a new" science, 
 have to be acquired. You do not call it retrogression, if 
 
124 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 having mastered French, and wishing to learn Itahan, you 
 have to begin with alphabet and grammar. If, having 
 studied astronomy, you wish to learn music, even though you 
 be a gra3^-haired professor of science, you must begin with 
 scales and finger- exercises. The loiowledge acquired at other 
 times, on other subjects, is not lost : it is stored away in your 
 inner being, and when you need it, it can be brought forth 
 and utilized. But when engrossed in some especial work, 
 your every energy bent in one direction, you are temporarily 
 oblivious to all but what immediately engrosses you. 
 
 Earthly hves express the efforts of a spirit in certain 
 specific directions. The child, who learns his letters with 
 A^ery great difficulty, has probably never seen them before, 
 while he who picks them up readily, has only to be reminded 
 of what he has jDreviously known. Genius is due to past ex- 
 periences uniting you with minds who can now easily assist 
 you in the externahzing of what is within. No favourites 
 has God, no child of earth will forever be denied the experi- 
 ence needed to unfold the spirit ; and what sense is there in 
 that reasoning which, professing to prize life highly, denies 
 the necessity of earthly experience for some, while it admits 
 it for others? 
 
 Children, according to the Church, who die in their bap- 
 tismal innocence, are saved forever from earthly stain and 
 conflict, are pure as driven snow in heaven, and yet are not 
 so high as are the martyrs who have won their crowns. Why 
 should these pure spirits never have the martyr's chance to 
 win the martyr's crown ? Why should your boys and girls 
 who are kept at home safe from all pollution, be rewarded 
 for their virtue, when they have never been tempted in the 
 world ? " Count it all joy," says James, in his epistle, 
 " when ye fall into divers temptations," knowing that these 
 temptations work your good. Eyeiy temptation of life must 
 sooner or later be presented to every mind, and every mind 
 must overcome it. How A^ould you feel in heaven, among 
 the saints in light, if you discovered either that you were 
 occupying a place you had not merited, or that forever you 
 must fill a lower place than others, because of a lack of 
 eqrrity in the di^dne distributions ? To those who believe in 
 spiritual temptation, apart from earthly embodiments, to those 
 who believe in mediumship affording all the means necessary 
 for the spiritual unfoldment of departed spirits, we have only 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE~EMBODIMENT. 125 
 
 to say : if you grasp and enforce the primal truth of justice 
 in all the divine appointments, we can afford to differ on a 
 question of ways and means whereby experience is gained ; 
 but if any shall hope to receive prizes they do not deserve, to 
 wear laurels for which they have not fought, then they will 
 be disappointed, for God has no favourites. Automatic or 
 negative ^T.rtue does not pass current in heaven. If you have 
 always told the truth and been honest and chaste, because 
 temptations to intemj^erance, impurity, dishonour and false- 
 hood, have never assailed you, then those temptations await 
 you in future lives. ^Yhen you have overcome tiiem, but not 
 till then, can you know the joy and rest of heaven. 
 
 But what of relationships in the spirit spheres. Not as 
 sister, brother, cousin, niece, or aunt will you know each 
 other there, and not by earthly names will you be called. 
 Affection is eternal, love can never die, but merely earthly 
 bonds are dissolved at death. During the sleep of your 
 body, your soul is oft in sweet communion with the loved 
 ones who are yours for ever. When the mysteries of sleep 
 and double consciousness are solved, then wrill you realize, as 
 you do not now, your relationships in eternity. The body is 
 no more the individual, than the dress is the body, or the 
 house its occupant. A glove conceals a hand : remove it, 
 and the hand is there. The body is the raiment of the spirit ; 
 change it as you will, but the spirit's individuahty remains 
 intact. Every seven years your bodies may completely 
 change, and if these gradual changes do not destroy the 
 individuality of your real selves, neither will any number of 
 embodiments. At length, when angelhood is reached, your 
 memory will awaken from its lethargy, and you will fully 
 perceive how through an unbroken series of existences, you 
 have passed from primeval innocence to that angelic height, 
 where, mth purity restored, you have united wisdom hitherto 
 ungained.j) 
 
 In another lecture, we shall hope to enter yet more fully 
 into the question of memory. This Discourse has but touched 
 the fringe of an infinite subject. What has been said, how- 
 ever, will prepare you for what is to follow. 
 
126 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE HOME OF THE SOUL. 
 
 (CANTO 1.) 
 
 THE Poets have sung of the Home of the Soul, 
 In fau" regions, forever at rest ; 
 Have told of its glories, and sung in its praise, 
 With its beautiful mansions, so blest 1 
 
 They have said, that man's spirit, before it came down 
 
 To labour and toil on the earth, 
 Was with God in His Paradise, perfectly pure, 
 
 And in heaven the Soul found its birth. 
 
 The legends of old time, all over the world, 
 
 Have stated ihis truth, in a dream 
 Of some far-f jmed Eden, where man was at rest. 
 
 By the side of life's clear, flowing stream. 
 
 In Eden, the Spirit had but to enjoy 
 
 Each fruit and sweet flower so fair, 
 While the mind every moment itself might employ. 
 
 Contemplating God's bounties so rare. 
 
 Man and Woman, together in Love's sweetest bond, 
 
 In affection celestial did prove 
 How the sweets of pure union forever were theirs, 
 
 If obedient to God they would move. 
 
 While, in midst of the garden, life's fair, blooming tree 
 
 Was their solace, and shelter, and food. 
 While all creatures obeyed them, and came at their call. 
 
 For God smiled, and pronounced them " all good." 
 
 But a Serpent came in at the wide-open gate. 
 
 Which led to that Paradise land, 
 And tempted the woman to eat of such fruit 
 
 As developed her self-will, and caused her to stand 
 Abashed and affrighted, and conscious of Ul, — 
 God's law she had broken, was breaking it still. 
 With tears, lameatations, and bitterest cry, 
 She said to her husband, " Oh I where can we fly ? 
 " God's voice is upbraiding, I cannot abide 
 " The anguish his anger brings close to mj- side I" 
 
 O poor, foolish Adam ! to eat of the fruit 
 
 Which Eve, serpent-tempted, pressed close to thy mouth : 
 For this thou wasi driven to cold Northern clime, 
 
 No longer to bask in the sweet, sunny South. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF RE-EMBODIMENT. 127 
 
 This legend is only a story, of how 
 
 The Spirit of Man doth descend 
 From the regions immortal, where spirits have birth, 
 
 To earth's wilderness, where they must spend 
 A time of probation, in sorrow and pain, , 
 
 Until they a Paradise New shall attain. 
 
 The Serpent, beguiling, is Matter, whose sway 
 
 O'er the Spiiit exerted must be, 
 Until it grows strong through sharp conflict and pain, 
 
 'Mong the blessed in heaven to be ; 
 The Woman (Atfection) whene'er led astray, 
 
 Leads the Reason (the Man) into night, 
 While God's frown is the sorrow and anguish ye feel. 
 
 When your consciences say you're not right. 
 
 The Spirit, through earth-life, sighs ever and aye 
 
 For a Paradise yet in store, 
 As Milton declared there was one to regain, 
 
 And a brighter we knew not before ; 
 The Paradise future is innocent, too. 
 
 But in wisdom possession ye'll take 
 Of those bright realms immortal, when freed from all stain 
 
 Of the fruit of Life's tree ye'll partake. 
 
 (CANTO 2.) 
 
 In allegories strange and old, in mythologic guise. 
 The poets and philosophers have lifted up their eyes 
 Telling of fair Hesperides, or of Olympus' heights, 
 Or of Parnassus' sacred hill, or of the pure delight 
 Which over all Arcadia reigns, or of Utopia blest. 
 Or of the lyre of Orpheus, by which gods lull to rest 
 The pains and priefs of mortal man, 
 But heaven's full glories none may scan. 
 Until, from all earth's stains set free, 
 They rise as angels bright to be. 
 Among the hosts of shining light. 
 Who always love and choose the right. 
 
 If heaven is home, then surely there. 
 
 All ties of friendship will the closer bind. 
 
 Than when on earth ye scarcely knew your friends, 
 
 Because the veil of flesh did hide 
 
 Much of that radiant loveliness of soul. 
 
 Which once inspired your love and did your hearts control. 
 
 When Jesus said, " My mother and my brethren — who are they ? 
 
 And answer gave, " My brethren are all of those who tread life's chequered way. 
 
 Obedient to my Father's will," he spake a truth divine. 
 
 That true affection of the soul, if once it shall be thine, 
 
 Directed toward another soul, your union is for aye, 
 
 The bonds of flesh ne'er sunder ye. Death cannot take away 
 
 Or e'en obscure the Spirit's sight. 
 
 Or chill its sunbeams of delight. 
 
128 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 (CANTO 3.) 
 
 Oh ! where is the Home of the Soul ? for which every spirit prays ; 
 
 Oh ! where are the M msions of Love? of which the great teacher says : 
 
 I go to prepare a place for my friends, 
 
 That they may be with me, world without end I 
 
 The Home of the Soul is the Paradise state, your spirits of old did know, 
 
 Ere yet in the battle of life they fought, back to this beauteous state they'll go. 
 
 When life's battle is over, its conflict done, 
 
 Then bright as the noonday sun, 
 With innocence regained, wisdom attained, 
 
 Ye will forever walk in white, 
 For the knowledge of truth, and the love of good, 
 
 Make Heaven's celestial light I 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 To the Infinite Love and Wisdom of the Eternal Father 
 and Mother of all souls, we commit you with this prayer in 
 our hearts for you all : That life's multiple experiences may 
 land you when earthly life is o'er^ where all is rest and 
 joy forever I Amen. 
 
( 12^ ) 
 
 VIII. 
 
 REASON AND INTUITION. 
 
 ^ \KT^ frequently hear it remarked, tliat this is an Age of 
 yy Reason; and those who make that daim for the 
 present century, are often accustomed to despise 
 Intuition, as though it were but a mere phantasy or figment 
 of the imagination, forgetting that Reason is often blind 
 while Intuition sees clearly ; as true Intuition is, after all, 
 the reception of knowledge by the mind from other sources 
 than those of outward observation.^ 
 
 Our subject to-day brings us directly to that point where 
 we shall be obliged to discuss the theory of Inspiration, and 
 endeavour to account for the facts of Mediumship. Hitherto, 
 in this Course of Lectures, we have been principally occupied 
 in <lemonstrating spiritual propositions and solving spiritual 
 problems, without entering directly into the subject of in- 
 dividual mediumship, except in the case of those exceptional 
 personages, who have been quoted as the represeutative 
 lights , of the world, the special saviours and benefactors of 
 humanity. C However interesting and instructive dissertations 
 on ancient history and general principles of spiritual govern- 
 ment may be, a peculiar interest is always attached to that 
 which is neither ancient nor foreign, but forms part of the 
 private as well as the public life of humanity to-day. It is 
 interesting to study the progress of the human family through 
 ages of development, and everyone likes to know something 
 of his ancestors, their habits and conditions, but the live 
 questions of the hour must ever occupy the most prominent 
 place in all practical instructions ; the past being referred to 
 only by way of illustration, and as a means of explaining, as 
 far as may be, the mysteries of the present. } 
 
 The Age of Reason is upon you, as Thomas Paine 
 declared in the last century, when he gave to the world his 
 justly celebrated work bearing that title. But the Age of 
 Reason is an incomplete age ; it is of the intellect only : it 
 makes no provision for the Intuitions of woman, while it 
 
1 30 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 deifies the reasoning powers of man. Therefore in France it 
 was ushered in vv^th strife and bloodshed. Its work was 
 purely iconoclastic ; its weapons were carnal : it provoked 
 strivings innumerable, and desolated many homes in the en- 
 deavour to promote liberty. 
 
 jSTo one reading the History of the French Revolution, 
 can fail to perceive that the goddesses Reason and Liberty 
 utterly failed to usher in an age of genuine freedom or solid 
 advancement. The Republic of the last century only gave 
 Avay, after a very short reign, to another monarchy, to the 
 establishment of what has been commonly called the Second 
 Empire. Voltaire, Volney, Paine, Robespierre, and all the 
 great intellects of the 18th century, simply paved the way 
 for Buonaparte and his matchless conquests, a few years later ; 
 while the lirst Xapoleon, himself an exile in the closing years 
 of his earthly life, handed down to his successors no other 
 legacy than that of thirst for material conquest, resulting in 
 the overthrow of the Buonapartist dynasty by means of a 
 teriffic war between France and Germany. It is true, that 
 the influence of Paine, and indeed of almost all who took 
 part in the French Revolution intellectually, was great in 
 America ; and so highly is Paine esteemed by many of your 
 transatlantic brethren, that he has been placed on a pedestal 
 nearly if not quite as high as that on which a devoted 
 country has placed George Washington ; 0" The Author Hero 
 of the American Revolution" being a title often applied by 
 his friends to Paine ; while the strictly orthodox in the 
 Christian fold join in pronouncing eulogies upon the soldier, 
 Washington, but consign the author, Paine, to everlasting 
 condemnation in the world to come, while on earth his name 
 is cast out as evil, and his books proscribed as full of blas- 
 phemy and pestilential heresy. However, the feeling against 
 Paine is now rapidly diminishing, and while everyone must 
 regard him as an iconoclast, and something less than a direct 
 revealer of spiritual truth, it is manifestly unjust to pro- 
 noimce him either an Atheist or an infidel. He was in all 
 his writings a firm supporter of Deism, and allowed himself 
 to be elected president of a society of Theo-philanthropists, 
 in Paris, who were not only believers in a Supreme Spirit, 
 but also in human immortality ; though Paine himself seems 
 to have doubted whether all men were immortal.^ 
 
 Proceeding upon lines of intellectual argument only, he 
 
EEASOiV AND INTUITION, 13i 
 
 admitted the existence of a God, and it is but justice to 
 admit that Paine's idea of Deity was vastly superior to pre- 
 vailing orthodox notions. He beheved in a revelation from 
 God, through the medium of Nature, but rejected the 
 inspiration as well as the infallibility of scripture records. 
 He really stood far nearer to the Theists than to the Atheists 
 of to-day, though the latter often seem to claim him, because 
 he was at war with the churches, criticised the character of 
 Jesus, and overthrew dogmatic theology completely in his 
 essays. Thomas Paine came to inevitable conclusions, rely- 
 ing upon such means for solving the problem of the universe 
 as were at his disposal, and all credit be to him for so 
 valiantly risking all things in a worldly sense, in the interests 
 of what he believed to be the truth. Such a man merits 
 honour, not execration, and it is truly lamentable to witness 
 the spiteful and unreasoning hostility, which avowed advo- 
 cates of the religion of Jesus manifest towards one who had 
 doubtless many shortcomings, but to off-set these many 
 sterling good qualities. 
 
 The tales told of his death-bed agony and recantation at 
 the last, are wholly unreliable, and are about on a par with 
 many of the sensational tales told by fanatical religionists. 
 to frighten those who arc on the verge of free-thought, back 
 again into the orthodox fold. 
 
 Some years ago the story was freely circulated, that here 
 in London, in the neighbourhood of Regent Street, great 
 consternation had prevailed in a Unitarian chapel, because a 
 member of the congregation had suddenly got up during the 
 service, and proclaimed himself a believer in the absolute 
 deity of Jesus Christ, at the same time urging upon the 
 congregation the necessity of instant conversion to the true 
 faith (his own). The same paper which published that 
 account, went on further to state, that a great many persons 
 recognised the hand of God in the frenzied ejaculations of 
 this suddenly-converted and heaven-inspired disturber of the 
 sinful peace, in which a congregation of heretics were 
 wrapped on the borders of the lake of eternal fire, and that 
 many from that moment withdrew from the congregation 
 and severed their connection with Unitarianism, indentifying 
 themselves at once with orthodoxy, while only the minister 
 and a few others remained obdurate. As there is only one 
 Unitarian chapel in the neighbourhood of Eegent Street, 
 
132 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 that ill Little Portland Street, where Dr. Martineau 
 ministered for many years previous to the pastorate of the 
 Rev. Philip AYichsteed, the present minister, and no such 
 scene has ever occurred to the knowledge of anyone in that 
 chapel, it was soon decided that the story was a " pious 
 fraud." It is just j)ossible that the person who wrote it 
 believed it to be true, having gathered it from hearsay. It 
 is also possible that some insane person, or someone under 
 the influence of violent excitement, once behaved in an 
 unseemly manner in a Unitarian chapel somewhere, causing 
 a disturbance and a panic, but invariably such tales as these 
 are puie fabrications, so far as their import and local applica- 
 tion are concerned, and it is impossible to be too cautious 
 ere we lend credence to any story circulated to the detriment 
 of any person or body of persons holding generally unpopular 
 views. 
 
 Enthusiasts are so numerous in the orthodox camp, and 
 sensational preaching works such havoc among the intellects 
 of sensitive and emotional people who listen to it, while 
 partisan journalists and biographers are so anxious to bend 
 history to support orthodoxy, that you will do well to regard, 
 as simply beneath contempt, all the excited and scandalous 
 stories which have been and still are in circulation coucerninsr 
 the awful effects of heresy upon heretics, and especially are 
 death-bed scenes concocted to render more thrilling and 
 ghastly than they otherwise could be made, the consequences 
 of departing even in the slightest degree from the accepted 
 orthodox standards. 
 
 In the face of such facts as these, it is not to be wondered 
 at that immense capital has been made out of the dying 
 agonies and awful despair of heretics in their last moments 
 upon earth, while nothing whatever is said of the hopelessness 
 of some Christian believers in the hour of their last extremity. 
 Many of those who thus die seemingly in despair, however, 
 are only suffering from the effects of some distressing malady, 
 like that which caused the celebrated and saintly incumbent 
 of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, the Reverend Frederick Robert- 
 son, to declare that when very ill he often saw everything 
 through a thick, black crape veil. C Frames and feelings, even 
 at the hour of earthly dissolution, are no criterion of -s^icked- 
 ness or A'irtue, but are very frequently the result of despon- 
 dency occasioned by physical ailments solely.} Let this 
 
REASON AND INTUITION. 133 
 
 physiological truth be once accepted by the multitude, and it 
 will be, and that shortly, if education continues to advance 
 during the next half century as it has done during the past 
 fifty years, and one of the very strongest and crudest 
 weapons ever employed by the believers in an angry God 
 and everlasting damnation, against those wlio differed from 
 them in opinion, will be dashed from their grasp, or rendered 
 powerless in their hands. 
 
 (^ It has always been accounted a sin, in orthodox circles, for 
 persons to think for themselves. According to Orthodoxv, 
 God has evidently given brains to a very few, coupled with 
 permission to employ them on religious matters, while to the 
 great mass of mankind, reason must be employed on secular 
 matters only, and then only within a circumscribed area, de- 
 fined by the ruling powers ; as kingcraft has ever been allied 
 with priestcraft, and freedom of thought and speech on 
 matters political, has, till very recently, been considered 
 blasphemy, meriting imprisonment, and in extreme cases even 
 death itself. _) 
 
 One of the most prominent signs of the present times, is 
 the practical, if not the actual, disestablishment of Church 
 and State alike, in all civilized lands. This disestablishment 
 is, unfortunately, too often brought about by violent, aggres- 
 sive, and altogether reprehensible means, as tyranny in a new 
 form often usurps the place of the old tyrant, who has been 
 compelled by the masses to abdicate the throne. There are 
 laws on England's statute book to-day, which, if enforced, 
 would imprison or fine every religious freethinker and every 
 political dissenter throughout the land ; and it is only be- 
 cause of the powerful vox popuU, which cannot be silenced, 
 that heresy in any form is permitted. C But while we sympa- 
 tliize heartily with all who having wrongs seek redress; Avhile 
 we can side with the friends of Charles Bradlaugh and Mrs. 
 Besant, in their agitation for the repeal of the Blasphemy 
 Laws ; while we have hearts to feel with the oppressed sons 
 and daughters of Erin, who for centuries have been down- 
 trodden, and afflicted with an unjust yoke ; while we pity, 
 from the bottom of our hearts, the poor Russians, who have 
 been exiled to Siberia on the merest pretext, and can behold 
 in the foundations of Niliilism itself a rude, savage clamour 
 for simple justice, and the recognition of the rights of man- 
 Idnd universally, we cannot but deprecate and utterly diso\^^l 
 
134 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the aggressive policy of those who seek by the assassin's 
 hand, secretly or openly, to do evil that good may come. 
 
 War itself is an evil, and there is some justification for 
 dynamite, on the plea that it is the poor man's substitute for 
 gunpowder. But the secret foe, lurking in street corners, 
 ready to stab one in the dark, must ever be held in greater 
 detestation than he who openly declares himself your enemy, 
 and challenges you to mortal combat in the dayhght. But 
 are the manoeuvres of armies all upright, and can any one 
 reading the history of ancient warfare, and then studying 
 the annals of these days, fail to regard with contempt, if he 
 has any honour in him, the detestable intrigue always resorted 
 to, w^hen war is undertaken for ambition more than to vindi- 
 cate the oppressed. 
 
 Warfare is justified by Reason, but never by the Spirit. 
 Intuition has ever discountenanced it, and when John Bright 
 severed his connection with the English Cabinet, because of 
 England's aggressive foreign policy, especially in relation to 
 Egypt, he proved himself to be upon a spiritual eminence, 
 vastly higher than that on which Gladstone, or any other of 
 England's greatest statesmen, stand. We do not wish to be 
 misunderstood, as implying that warfare has neven been 
 justifiable, from the standpoint of those who engaged in it : 
 therefore, your martial heroes. Nelson, Washington, and 
 others deserve the tribute you pay to their bravery, and the 
 monuments you rear to their honour, and yet it is Buddha in 
 Asia and Christ in Europe and America, at whose shrine the 
 ci\dhzed world instinctively bows, not because of the intellec- 
 tual greatness, but by reason of the S|)iritual superiority of 
 these ideal characters. 
 
 Intuition or Spirituiil Insight is the Higher Reason. It is 
 Angelic Wisdom, it is the knowledge of the Soul: and know- 
 ledge gained in celestial spheres communicated intuitively to 
 man on earth, constitutes human intuition in its purest and 
 highest forms. Instinct is the attribute of the animal crea- 
 tion. Throuo-hout the animal Idngdom instinct reicrns su- 
 j)reme. and this voice of instinct is unerring and unfaltering 
 in its tone : it never leads astray. It is instinct which leads 
 the animal to search for such roots, herbs and grasses as will 
 heal it of its wounds, and restore it to health when in sick- 
 ness. Instinct leads the animal, the bird, the insect to make 
 provision for every matenal want ; but millions of living 
 
REASON AND INTUITION 135 
 
 creatures appear to have no higher instincts than those which 
 guide them to make adequate provision for material wants. 
 Many there are who appear completely destitute of any 
 higher love than clannish or the lowest type of family devo- 
 tion. Cruelty is rampant in the lower world, as animality 
 governs, and the instinct of self-preservation is the dominant 
 and inspiring sentiment of being. 
 
 Reason in man is higher than instinct in animals, but Rea- 
 son is far inferior to Intuition, and often even to Instinct, as 
 a guide in the present stage of man's development, though in 
 angelic Hfe Reason, or the power of intellect, v^dll be so com- 
 pletely blended with intuitive perception, or the clear and 
 direct apprehensions of Spirit, that in the perfect dual life of 
 angelhood, yet to be expressed in perfected human forms on 
 earth, Reason, as analyst, and Intuition, as discoverer, will 
 walk hand in hand : Reason explaining the why and where- 
 fore of whatever Intuition realizes or perceives. 
 
 Reason can never discover the primal cause or fount of 
 life : it knows simply nothing of the origin of being, and is 
 therefore utterly agnostic on all spiritual matters. The idea 
 of God is not irrational, but it is more than rational : so is the 
 idea of spirit-life and that of human immortality. Thomas 
 Paine, though avowedly a rationalist of the extremest type, 
 was not devoid of intuition or spiritual j)erception, and thus 
 his recognition of Deity is not in accordance with the views of 
 Rationalists at large. All spiritual questions must be referred 
 to the spiritual side of human nature, as reason unaided 
 can only deal with the outermost covering or envelope of life. 
 
 Why should it be j)reposteroug to declare in the teeth of 
 modern scepticism and open denial of all spiritual realities, 
 that man has spiritual faculties in addition to his intellectual 
 powers and means of sensuous observation? Science, though 
 silent on the question of the spirit world, cannot and does 
 not attempt to deny its existence. Huxley is an agnostic, so 
 are Spencer and Tyndall, and other luminaries in the world 
 of scientific research, who rely solely on the power of intel- 
 lect. A spiritual revelation is granted to man through the 
 avenues of spiritual perception, even as the eye is needed to 
 distinguish colour, the ear to detect sound, while each one of 
 the senses has its own peculiar work to do. If every bodily 
 sense has its own place and function, and the avocations of 
 one faculty are not those of others, surely to the rationalistic 
 
136 L OND ON LECTUREH. 
 
 mind it need not appear absurd to state that man has other 
 facnlties than the intellectual, other perceptions than the 
 sensnons, and that these other and higher perceptions, viz , 
 the spiritual or intuitive faculties, are the primal source whence 
 man derives all his absolute knowledge concerning s piritua l 
 existence. 
 
 It has usually been observed that woinan is more intuitive 
 than man, while man is more intellectual than woman, and 
 for this reason, woman has been denied admission into Par- 
 liament, and has not been permitted to take equal part with 
 man in the various trades, industries and professions, many 
 of which are equally adapted to both sexes. It is just be- 
 cause intuition, in the person of woman, has been kept out- 
 side the Council and the Senate, tliat Avar has raged so 
 terrifically in all parts of the civilized world, as well as among 
 barbaric peoples. It is on this account that the history of 
 Christianity has often been written in blood, and tyranny has 
 reigned instead of meekness and gentleness of spirit whicth 
 is commended in the Gospel, and is usually called Christian, 
 no matter how harsh and vengeful the action of professing 
 Christendom may be. Intuition in the human race is as 
 unerring as instinct is unerring in the animal, but intuition in 
 man far transcends animal instinct, for while instinct only 
 makes provision for material wants, intuition discovers a 
 moral code, realizes the existence of a spiritual world and a 
 spiritual life, and, in a word, reveals God to the Soul, which 
 can alone behold him. 
 
 It is not with the intellect or outer mind that spiritual 
 truths are grasped. All that reason can do is to admit their 
 probability, after Intuition has presented them to Reason, that 
 reason may decide whether to accept them or reject them. 
 Intuition does not contradict reason, but it always transcends 
 it; and surely the transcendent and the contradictory are 
 vudely different the one from the other. You are all 
 acquainted with the facts of the multiplication table : you 
 have learnt it in your childhood, and are convincevl that the 
 propositions it lays down are axiomatic or self-evident. 
 Should anyone, therefore, come to you and say : " It has 
 been revealed to me by intuition, or by inspiration, that the 
 multiplication table is incorrect," you would give no credence 
 to such a statement, for the simple reason that you know of 
 the truth of that which your opponent assails. 
 
REASON AND INTUITION. 137 
 
 No religions truth can ever be opposed to any fact in 
 science., and it cannot possibly be any part of true religion to 
 believQ that the world was formed in six periods of twenty- 
 four hours each ; neither can religion be affected by the 
 credibility or incredibihty of such stories as Jonah and tlie 
 whale, Balaam and the ass, and other fables or allegories 
 introduced into the Hebrew Scriptures, to set forth spiritual 
 truths, but no more miraculously inspired than were ^-Esop's 
 fables or Bunyan's allegories. 
 
 Tliomas Paine, in his "Age of Reason," confines himself 
 almost entirely to a criticism of the letter of the Bible ; into 
 the spiritual meanings of ancient fables he does not and can- 
 not enter. So when Swedenborg appears, with the key of 
 Correspondences to unlock the mysteries of the ancient 
 records, he does not attem^^t to underrate any scientific dis- 
 covery, nor to persuade anyone to believe in a pretended 
 revelation from heaven, which falsifies the discoverable facts 
 of nature, constantly being revealed with ever-increasing 
 distinctness to the delvers for wisdom in the mines of the 
 external universe. 
 
 Whatever may be the fallacy of some of Swedenborg's 
 conclusions, his idea of Co.rrespondence is in the main un- 
 doubtedly correct, as it simply implies that there is an inner 
 as well as an outer world, and that that inner realm has its 
 own language, its own signs, and makes its own appeal, in 
 its own way, to the spiritual senses of humanity, employing 
 all outward things as coverings simply for the esoteric truth 
 concealed below the surface, and under the guise of literal 
 external history. 
 
 When Swedenborg said, there are three senses in which 
 the Divine Word or truth itself may be understood, he 
 certainly need not have confined himself to the Old and New 
 Testaments, for there are many other sacred books in the 
 world which contain truth as well as the books pronounced 
 divine by Swedenborg. It is very easy, however, to perceive 
 the individual limitations of the great Swedish seer, when 
 he personally accepted as divine only such books of the 
 Bible as appeared to him to contain the inward or spiritual 
 sense. Not finding the spiritual sense in the Chronicles, 
 for instance, he refuses to include them in the sacred canon. 
 He also rejects all the Epistles, reducing the New Tes- 
 tament to five books only : the four Gospels and the 
 
1 38 L ONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Apocalypse, whicli latter work seems to have been his 
 peculiar study. 
 
 Now, it is evident to all observing minds, that all 
 teachers claiming inspiration have accepted such manuscripts 
 as divinely inspired as appealed to their own sense of right, 
 and awoke answering echoes within their o\^ti consciences. 
 Luther rejected the Epistle of James, because it did not 
 harmonize vrith his peculiar views of justification by faith 
 alone ; he also ignored the Revelation, because of its ex- 
 tremely mystic character, and the extreme value which in 
 his opinion the author put upon his work. It seems evident, 
 that every individual reformer or teacher finds it his own 
 especial province to discover the precious ore which, though 
 mixed with alloy, is undoubtedly buried beneath the letter 
 of all the world has ever held sacred, and in so far as the 
 reformer is a revelator, adding something to the stock of 
 human knowledge, his work is a valuable addition to human 
 literature ; as the world depends entirely upon well-proven 
 affirmatives for its progression. 
 
 No error can be greater than to limit nature by our know- 
 ledge of it, to the rejection of all facts which we individually 
 have not perceived. How is it in all departments of scientific 
 research ? Are there not intuitive or prophetic minds, who 
 declare that there are more planets than have yet been dis- 
 covered ? Then, at length, when Reason has acted upon the 
 suggestion of Intuition, the telescope reveals that which 
 hitherto was only supposed to exist. Do not all discoveries 
 simply fulfil the dream of some poet, the prophecy of some 
 seer, while the romancist, or writer of what is often called 
 the wildest fiction, is simply the anticipator of coming facts 
 in outward life ? Jules Verne, Cervantes, Lord Lytton, and 
 other writers of a highly romantic or visionary type, have 
 stated nothing impossible in perspective. Even " 20,000 
 leagues under the Sea " has been pronounced by the French 
 Academy, which body has recognised intuition as a sixth 
 sense, as a prediction of the future attainments of mankind ; 
 while the Vrii-Ya of Lytton are not more wonderful people 
 than the progress of society from barbarism to the present 
 day leads us to expect as the future inhabitants of earth. 
 
 What is Intuition ? Reason, cold, calculating, dealing 
 only with what reaches the senses, may evolve a system of 
 religion which deals with abstractions, but the abstract is 
 
REASON AND INTUITION 139 
 
 never lovable, and never awakens the sentiment of affection 
 in its worshippers. An abstract Deity may be inferred by 
 reason, a vast reservoir of intelligence, governing all things 
 by immntable, inexorable laws. But snch a God is king 
 simply, there is nothing of the fatherhood or motherhood of 
 the Infinite Spirit in snch a conception. J) Snch a being may 
 inspire you with awe but not with love. The worshippers 
 of such a being are usually fatalists or stoics, and it is to be 
 noted that whenever the thought of God is of a masculine 
 entity only, and wherever the priesthood is composed 
 exclusively of men, that there vengeance is mistaken for 
 justice, and human anger is considered to have its counter- 
 part in the wrath of the Eternal. 
 
 Universalism and Unitarianism have instinctively worked 
 for the emancipation and elevation of woman. These de- 
 nominations have opened their pulpits to women as well as 
 men, and there is no law governing the churches of these 
 denominations, forbidding such insj^iration as may flow 
 through human minds and lips to-day, even though it should 
 not accord with the prevailing sentiments of Christendom, 
 Truly the masculine element of reason is not as yet suffi- 
 ciently blended with intuition in the Unitarian body, and 
 therefore there is a complaint, that Unitarian services are too 
 cold arid Simply intellectual, to satisfy the emotional side of 
 human nature, and emotion has always played a prominent 
 part in the history of the spiritual experiences of the race. 
 
 C Emotion is as natural as intellect. The heart which feels 
 is quite as important as the brain which thinks or the mind 
 that reasons; and when the wise man of old penned the 
 salutary injunction, " Keep thy heart, for out of it are the 
 issues of life," he invented a precept which the world can 
 never afford to despise or forget. The heart physically is as 
 important as the brain. Rupture of the heart will produce 
 instant dissolution. Heart affections frequently carry persons 
 off in a moment, who are outwardly robust and likely to live 
 for many years, judging by external indications ; but outward 
 indications are frequently deceitful, as w^e cannot judge of a 
 person's bodily health, at all times, by superficial appearances, 
 so we often err most wofully when we rely entirely upon the 
 observations of the senses and the calculations of the reason, 
 in forming estimates of character. 
 
 A new era is dawning in the science of medicine. The 
 
UO LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 old, clumsy, imperfect methods of diagnosis are being sup- 
 perceded by clairvoyant or psycliometric delineations. In 
 America, to a mucli larger extent than in England, Clair- 
 voyantes and Psychometrists are employed to assist physicians. 
 These sensitive persons are always mediumistic, and though 
 they may have powers of discernment of their own, peculiar 
 to their extremely sensitive condition of mind and body, no 
 one, sensitive enough to be clairvoyant in his normal state, is 
 other than highly mediumistic, for mediumship is after all 
 due to sensitiveness of brain and body, more than to all other 
 causes combined. 
 
 Spirits are not called up by mediums '' from the vasty 
 deep" ; the medium is not an evoker of spirits, by means of 
 charms or spells, but when the clairvoyant describes a friend 
 of yours, beside you in spirit, that friend is not brought 
 thither by the medium, for he does not follow the medium 
 about. You perhaps are not so organized as to be able to 
 see the spirit form or hear the spirit voice, while the medium's 
 peculiarly susceptible condition enables him to see and hear 
 sights and sounds produced by vibrations on the atmosphere, 
 impossible for you to detect. 
 
 Science declares that as man has progressed, he has come 
 into a condition enabling him to see many colours and hear 
 many sounds, of whose existence previously he had never 
 even dreamed. Perhaps there are new colours, perhaps there 
 are new sounds, some one suggests. There may be sounds 
 and colours new to earth and its inhabitants, but wherever 
 the faculties of man are at their lowest, he realizes the least, 
 while wherever they are at their highest, he realizes most. 
 
 The spiritual world is not far distant, as some suppose; it 
 is the very life and soul of the material earth. Just as spirit 
 must pervade the material organism of man, or vitality would 
 cease, so the spirit-world must penetrate the outer world, or 
 there could be no animation or objective life on earth. 
 
 Intuition does not argue or reflect, does not calculate or 
 measure, it simply realizes. Is it wonderful that the spiritual 
 nature of man should possess such realistic powers, when 
 man's outward frame has similar susceptibilities ? If you 
 have open eyes, and are not colour-blind, when light streams 
 in upon you, you discover of what colours it is composed. 
 You need no one to teach you that light is warm, if, touching 
 vour cheeh, it makes your face burn. No one needs to asse- 
 
REASON AND INTUITION UI 
 
 verate that ice is cold, if once you have handled it. All 
 knowledge is gained experimentally, and without experimen- 
 tal knowledge there can be but supposition or blind belief. 
 But how much there is accepted in the material world daily, 
 merely on hearsay, and how many there are who have had 
 no opportunities to personally verify what they have been 
 told I It is optional with these, whether they accept or reject 
 the testimony of others, but witness of an impartial character 
 is universally accepted as authoritative throughout the world, 
 in all departments of life. 
 
 Intuition is the action of the soul, independently of mind 
 and body, and therefore it is often far more reliable than any 
 information gained in outward ways can possibly be. We 
 have known not only one but numberless instances of intui- 
 tive knowledge putting to flight the most feasible and well- 
 considered conclusions of eminent scholars, which were never- 
 theless erroneous, because they had built upon false data, 
 therefore their hypotheses, no matter how logical, were foun- 
 dationless.- You often hear it said of a fallacious system, — 
 grant the premises ujDon which the theory is built, and the 
 theory itself is incontrovertible. The reformers of the world 
 deny the premises of old theology, they deny many of what 
 are falsely called the cardinal verities of religion, as the light 
 of the Spi-rit reveals the error of those pessimistic views of 
 life upon which all such doctrines as the total depravity of 
 man, God's unabating \^Tath, and everlasting torment, find 
 support. 
 
 Intuition does not confine itself to general and great C[ues- 
 tioris ; it enters into every detail of material life ; it often 
 speaks through dreams, warnings, and presentiments, but 
 quite as frec|uently through the vision of the spirit directly, 
 during the waking hours of the body's life. 
 
 Recently a lady of our acquaintance hired a servant, who 
 had no one to say a kind word for her. She had no charac- 
 ter, no reputation, no references to produce, and she generally 
 bore a very bad name. The lady to whom she applied for a 
 situation, after having met ^\\xh. constant rebuffs in other 
 places, said, " I know you have no testimonials with you, I 
 know you have few friends and many enemies, I know I 
 shall be thought foolish for engaging you, and perhaps even 
 my husband may scold me for my imprudence in taking a 
 servant into the house ^^uthout a character: but I know vou 
 
142 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 are an injured woman, I hnoio yon are honest, and have been 
 cruelly maligned, and I feel it only an act of justice to do 
 what I can to give you a comfortable home, and make such 
 amends to you as are in my power, for the injuries you have 
 sustained through the false reports maliciously circulated 
 against you." The lady's husband did upbraid her, acquain- 
 tances did comment upon what they called her insane folly, 
 her unaccountable madness ; but the servant proved a treasure, 
 and was the means of doing her employers a most important 
 service. Reason would have said. Have nothing whatever to 
 do with her; but reason could not see through the falsehood, 
 it could only argue from it as though it were a truth. 
 
 When Jesus said to his disciples, "Whosoever's sins ye 
 remit they are remitted, and whosoever's sins ye retain they 
 are retained," he spoke concerning the intuitive heart-reading, 
 soul-discerning power, which the truly spiritual ever possess. 
 He endowed them with no sacerdotal authority, such as 
 Romanists and Ritualists lay claim to ; he never placed the 
 destiny of human souls for eternity in the hands of frail and 
 feeble man, but he declared that those who are truly deve- 
 loped in their interior being, have powers of spiritual dis- 
 cernment the rest of the world do not possess. 
 
 When the age of Intuition shall have fully come, then 
 deception will be impossible, as it is in the brighter spheres 
 of spirit-life. Imposture cannot bear the searching scrutiny 
 of spiritual investigation. Words may be false, actions trea- 
 cherous, reputations forged, but if coming into living contact 
 with another mind, you Can analyse it, then brass can no 
 longer pass for gold, hypocrisy w^ill be unmasked, wrongs 
 righted, and deceitfulness abandoned, when the earth produces 
 a race of men and women, who can see beneath the surface, 
 and judge with the unerring judgment of the Spirit. 
 
 See that ye despise not these interior Voices, which, to 
 supplement, not to supplant, human reason, are God's revela- 
 tion to Man through the medium of the Soul within.j 
 
REASON AND INTUITION 113 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE IDOL-BREAKER. 
 
 THE world has many idols, false deities, who stand 
 Before the Lord Almighty, e'en in this Christian land I 
 But the grossest of the idols, of all 'fore which ye bow, 
 Is the false god, named Mammon, with gold upon its brow ! 
 
 Gold is the powerful idol, for which ye all forsake ; 
 Ambition, the besetting sin, whose thirst ye strive to slake, 
 Even with blood outpoured upon the battle field, 
 Thirst for some new possession, for this your lives ye yield. 
 
 "WTio shall go out to battle — invincii)le in might, — 
 Arid, by the power of Spirit, put ancient wrongs to flight ? 
 Who shall express in Council, that human love, whose might 
 Shall overrule the Senate, till all obey the right ? 
 
 Who will be the Crusader, engaged in holy war. 
 To carry Heaven's own banner, to lands both near and far ; 
 And, through the force of kindness, subdue the ancient frowa 
 Of haughty, grasping nobles, and elevate the clown ? 
 
 Ye build your massive temples, and rear them to the sky, — 
 
 Your steeple-houses lofty, that all who're passing by. 
 
 May hear your choirs sing anthems : " God is a man of war. 
 
 Mighty is he in battle," while, o'er in Egypt far, 
 
 Your troops subdue th' Egyptians, not by the power of love. 
 
 But by cold steel, gunpowder, — these come not from above ! 
 
 Ye claim as teacher, Jesus, that saviour of mankind. 
 Who strove by cords of mercy, his sheep to him to bind ; 
 Ye call his name more sacred than any name that's heard, — 
 Then why not pay obedience to his most loving word ? 
 
 'Tis true, he said his spirit, with wings of peace o'erspread. 
 The dove of loving-kindness would not rest on every head. 
 Until the sword had gone forth to scatter death, dismay, 
 But they who used the sword, he said, must perish in the fray. 
 
 " It must be that offences come : 
 
 But, woe to him by whom they come 1" 
 
 Are there offences here, against the law of right ; 
 Are there not discords now, warring agamst the light ? 
 
 Baal, as God, still enthroned will be. 
 
 Till all obey the law of Charity. 
 
 Elijah, in the ancient time, with visage stern and bold, 
 
 Calls BaaTs worshippers to meet their God: on him to call, they're told. 
 
144 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 With knives and lancets they afflict their bodies, for his ire 
 Demands such brutal sacrifice, while Elijah says, "By fire 
 Shall the true God answer ye this day ; 
 So to your rites of worship speed ye on your way." 
 
 For hours and hours the people cry : 
 " O Baal! answer." But no reply 
 In answer comes to their earnest prayer ; 
 Their cries and sobs may rend the air, 
 But Baal sleeps or hunts that day. 
 And hears not when his people pray. 
 
 Ah I in your hours of need, false deities will ye forsake : 
 Trust, then, alone in the living God, and for your portion take, 
 
 That Lighc which inly he reveals, 
 
 The Love which every sorrow heals ! 
 
 'Tis told of an Idol-Breaker, that, journeying forth one day 
 
 On a holy expedition, he found upon his way 
 
 One idol, than all more beauteous, and he would stay his hand, 
 
 And save that precious relic, which did so lovely stand. 
 
 But the Spirit urged him on to strike, and, with one fatal blow. 
 
 The idol fell low at his feet, while in his sight did glow, 
 
 Gem», rubies, sapphires, diamonds rare, 
 
 "With countless treasures beyond compare ! 
 
 The idol, which was broken, yielded up this goodly store ; 
 The idol kept the treasures from the people, as of yore. 
 So, at this moment, idols, — the Love of Place and Power, 
 Selfishness, Yaia Ambition, — defraud ye, at this hour, 
 Of universal ti'easures. When freemen strike the blow, 
 And level the fairest idol, till on earth it lieth low, 
 Then, in surpassing beaut}', will the treasures it conceals, 
 Lie open to your vision, for your use, your woes to heal I 
 
 Break ! break ! the massive Idol : the thirst for rank and power 
 Remember, all are brethren ; look forward to the hour, 
 When Love's triumphant conquest shall bid all wars to cease. 
 And labour, as ye may, to bring the Age of Universal Peace 1 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 May the Light of Love and Wisdom, blended into one 
 perfect ray of Heavenly Light, so guide you in all your 
 undertakings, that in yoMY hearts and homes the Demon of 
 Strife shall perish, and the Angel of Peace sit enthroned 
 triumphant. Then from your happy homes, and peaceful 
 lives, may influences go forth to banish Strife among the 
 Nations, till dawns the Reign of Universal Peace, by 
 Prophets long foretold. Amen. 
 
un ) 
 
 TRUE PRAYER: 
 ITS NATURE AND EFFICACY. 
 
 " Prayer is the Sours sincere desire." 
 
 sang tliat truly inspired and sweetly devotional poet. 
 Montgomery, whose charming sacred lays form a very 
 choice and important part of Christian hymnology. 
 Montgomery has, perhaps, contributed no finer gem to the 
 diadem of the world's religious fervour than the poem or 
 hymn which contains the text or motto of our Discourse this 
 morning. C Here in a single sentence the entire significance of 
 Prayer is stated ; here we have a compendium of the choicest 
 theology, a definition capable of eternal unfoldment, at once 
 logical, terse, brief, spiritual, and while sufficiently simple to 
 be intelligible to the youngest child, at the same time deep, 
 profound, scientific and didactio« enough for the most erudite 
 scholar, and the most sceptical philosopher.) 
 
 We are quite well enough aware, however, of the agnostic 
 tendencies of to-day, not to expect that Materialism will con- 
 cede anything to Spiritualism \Adthout a hard struggle ; and 
 far from blaming or deriding the scepticism of the hour, we 
 regard it as a healthy indication of the world's progress, 
 because wherever there is doubt there must be thought to 
 engender that doubt. Belief is very easy to some minds, if 
 you can justly call gullibility or superstition belief. Unbehef 
 is also easy to many, as nothing can well be easier than to 
 deny, or, at least, ignore everything with which you are per- 
 sonally unacquainted. The fool, in the time of David, said 
 positively in his heart, " There is no God." The fool says 
 the same thing to-day : " There is no God, because I have 
 not seen God ; no future life for man, because it has not been 
 satisfactorily demonstrated to me personally." While the 
 sceptic — who is not a fool but often a very earnest and truth- 
 loving man, seeking for the highest wisdom — may often be 
 
146 LONDON LECTURED. 
 
 found to exclaim : ''I cannot feel sure that thereis a Supreme 
 Spirit governing all things. I cannot feel sure that man is 
 immortal; there may or there may not be a God, a heaven, a 
 resurrection." And in this attitude of hazy doubt many of 
 your great minds are at this moment. 
 
 This doubt is, however, not the gloaming Avhich heralds the 
 approach of night, it is the twilight Avhich precedes the 
 dawn of a new day. The stars may have become invisible, 
 the moon may have set, the sun may not yet have arisen for 
 these minds, and they are groping their way amid the 
 shadows ; the darkling mists encircle them, the cold wet dews 
 are fahing, but out in the cold, out in the shadow, they are 
 but awaiting the sunrise, even though they know not that 
 there be a sun. The attitude of the thoughtful world to- 
 day is that of eager expectancy. Every one seems on the 
 qui Vive, on the tijjtoe of expectancy, awaiting nobody knows 
 what, but certainly a tangible something whose approach is felt 
 mysteriously in the darkness, but whose form is yet concealed 
 from the eyes of the waiting throng. Imagine a man, born 
 blind, just receiving sight, and can you not picture to your- 
 selves a vision before his opening eyelids, of a confused mass 
 of moving substance, in which no form is clearly outlined, 
 where men and trees seem fused together as though they 
 were one incongruous existence ? Can 3^ou not picture to 
 yourselves one of Lord Lytton's heroes or heroines coming 
 up from the nether world, and standing one morning upon an 
 Alp, awaiting the sunrise and marvelling as to what possible 
 thing the sun can be like in appearance, never having seen it. 
 It is as though the w^orld's thinkers, who are just redeemed 
 from the slavery of ecclesiastical bondage, were for the first 
 time admitted into the open field, and allowed to await the 
 sunrise. The stars have retired, the moon has set, powers 
 temporal and ecclesiastical no longer act for them as lumi- 
 naries, and they are lel't in the chill, bleak dawn of a new 
 oncoming day, to await the sunrise. 
 
 The world has just completed its passage through one 
 astronomical cycle, and you are now in a period of expect- 
 ancy, awaiting the culmination of the s^jiritual era which 
 ensues later. The premonitory knockings have been heard, 
 the initial steps to welcome the new angel have been taken, 
 but yet the Lord delays his coming, and the virgins with 
 lighted lamps must awhile yet stand outside the door of the 
 
TRUE PRAYER. U7 
 
 palace, awaiting its opening froai within, that they may he 
 admitted to take their seats around the Kin^-'s table, at the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb. Purely astronomical inter- 
 pretations of spiritual truth are in a strictly literal sense, 
 perhaps, correct, but when the true inner wisdom of the 
 Ancients shall be brought to liglit, then shall every symbol 
 glow with radiant spiritual light, and the pathway of the 
 Soul, from the dust to the celestial heavens, shall be seen 
 clearly outlined in the symbols which record the passage of 
 the sun in the heavens, and the journey ings of Sol with his 
 companions around the more distant Alcyone. 
 (_ Supposing the purely physical science of astronomy explains 
 to you the letter of the G-reek Mythos acceptably : supposing 
 you become converts to the learned though erratic French- 
 man, Dupuis, whose •' Christianity and Solar Worship " has 
 created quite a sensation in soiiie circles ; supposing Grerald 
 Massey's "Natural Genesis" shall so revolutionize the thought 
 of Christendom, that to the eyes of many Jesus becomes a 
 type of the sun of this system, and his disciples are the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiac : supposing the development 
 theory of the great Grerman sceptical author, Strauss, be 
 accepted alike by the Church and the world ; — Will spiritual 
 aspiration directed to Christ and his apostles avail nothing ? 
 Will it be- proved that all the prayers of Christendom are 
 vain, mere idle breath, because they have been addressed 
 to imaginary instead of real personages? Our answer is — 
 Let our quotation from Montgomery supply you with an 
 emphatic denial to your fears : '■' Prayer is the soul's sincere 
 desirC; uttered or unexpressed ; the motion of a hidden lire, 
 that trembles in the breast." 
 
 Thus prayer owes its efficacy to the nature and efforts of 
 your own spirit. True prayer is the work of the soul, and 
 by it you can reap spiritual harvests, just as by manual 
 labour you can avail yourselves of the resources of the 
 ground. We are all dependent upon at least two classes 
 of influences in the accomplishment of all we undertake. 
 No one can live either to or by himself alone. Crusoe on 
 his lonely island, before Friday visited him, was not alone, 
 and his consciousness of unseen companionship led him to 
 suspect the presence of the devil on the island, when a 
 mysterious footstep on the sand could be traced by him to no 
 human agency. The sensitive child who dreads the darkness, 
 
us LONDON LUC TUBES, 
 
 who cannot go npstairs alone, because of an overwhelming 
 timidity \\^hich paralyzes every sense, is a medium who as yet 
 has not had the laws of spirit communion explained to him. 
 The reason why spirits so often seem to be devils, is because 
 of false early training partly, and partly by reason of the 
 inner consciousness of mankind, that human life, as it now is, 
 is not sufficiently jDure to always attract the angels. How- 
 ever much we may differ from Madame Blavatsky, Colonel 
 Olcott, and the Theosophists generally, on some jDoi^its, we 
 gladly refer you to the pages of the " Theosoj)hist " for 
 learned and spiritual expositions of prayer. Nothing can be 
 finer than the Editor's ideas of invocation : nothing truer than 
 his mode of distinguishing between the attractive potencies 
 of thought, and the reality or unreality of personages ad- 
 dressed by name, or otherwise, in verbal or even inaudible 
 petitions. 
 
 The spirit aspires after some plane of spiritual being, and 
 allies itself with existence on that plane, by fervent spiritual 
 effort, which is desire, and desire is supplication, therefore, 
 according to our desires are our prayers effectual or non-effi- 
 cacioas.j) The Roman Catholic will invoke Vincent-de-Paul, 
 Francis Xa^der, Philip Neri, and a host of other 23ersonages who 
 cannot be omnipresent nor even ubiquitous. Xow, do Catholics 
 imagine that these saints, who on earth were only men, and 
 many of whom were canonized because of the service they 
 rendered to the Church while on earth, can hear every litany 
 "which mentions their names, and can respond to every petition 
 addressed to them ? It seems incredible that such views can 
 been entertained by an educated priesthood, though the Irish 
 peasantry cannot be expected to reflect very deeply on such 
 matters. Moreover, different people form very different ideas 
 of the beings whom they address, and thus it is spiritually 
 impossible that all can be -praying to the same individuaL 
 even though all are using the same name to personify the 
 spiritual state, into league with which they desire to come. 
 C Shallow iconoclasts, who can tear down easily enough, but 
 have few abilities or propensities for building up, ridicule 
 Prayer because its form is often grotesque and its methods 
 ignorant, but any child can destroy what has taken years 
 to fashion ; but can the child give you a better substitute 
 for the thing he has destroyed ? That is the %dtal question. 
 Prayer is an unspeakable comfort to millions of tired, weary 
 
TRUE PRAYER. 149 
 
 and desponding hearts. Relief found in prayer lias prevented 
 deatli b}'' suicide, in many instances. Prayer has lifted many 
 a burdened heart from under the heavy burden of woe, 
 which would otherwise have crushed it ; has rescued many a 
 broken-hearted one from the grave : has restored many a 
 shattered mind and body to health and reason ; and has 
 done more for the real salvation of the world from disease, 
 crime, and manifold distresses than all other agencies put 
 together. It behoves us, therefore, to consider its nature 
 and methods of operation most carefully, before we dare 
 to discountenance so powerful an aid to human well-being. 
 
 Prayers for rain and fine weather are amongst those most 
 frequently ridiculed. These we will consider first, passing on 
 ere we close to a consideration of those prayers which heal 
 the sick and work so-called miracles. 
 
 Now we need not remind this audience tl^at we are as 
 earnest sticklers for the immutability of the laws of nature as 
 any Materialist can possibly be. He differs from us, or we 
 differ from him, not concerning the impossibility of setting- 
 aside the laws of nature — upon this point we are fully agreed — 
 but upon the nature of the lav;s themselves. It is one thing 
 to agree to the proposition, that nature's laws are immutable, 
 and quite another to b6 satisfied with a definition given by a 
 man, or party, of those laws. To us, we may as well say 
 plainly— r-first as last — to our positive hnoidedge, law is the 
 i;^su.lt of spirit action. There is no blind force in nature, no 
 such thing as a destiny which is not planned by Intelligence. 
 If people prefer to think that they are swayed by blind laws, 
 if it consoles them to be resigned to the inevitable feeling that 
 the inevitable is traceable neither to love, wisdom, nor justice, 
 but to inexorable fate or unconscious being, they are at 
 liberty to enjoy their frozen philosophy, so long as they do 
 not endeavour to wrest from us our spiritual certainties. Let 
 these certainties be attacked, so highly do we prize them, that 
 we will leave no stone unturned in their defence, their expo- 
 sition and their reconciliation with the facts of material science, 
 as far as possible. 
 
 With the barbarous anthropomorphism of many Jews and 
 Gentdes we have no sympathy whatever, and thus we shall 
 offer no attempt at reconciliation with such conceptions of 
 God as make him man's slave and puppet. Some people 
 worship a god who might be one of the '• elementaries " of 
 
150 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the Occultists, so obedient do they expect him to be to all 
 their requests. A great deal of so-called prayer is insolent 
 dictation to the Supreme Being. Prayers are often offered at 
 prayer meetings which tell God exactly what he ought to do 
 and what to leave undone. Many changes are suggested by 
 his creatures, wdio cannot understand why he does not jorofit 
 by them. N^ow we do not wonder that persons who read the 
 Bible indiscriminatingly and believe every word of it to be 
 literal truth, should act as they do, because we are informed 
 that Moses often persuaded the Lord to change his mind, and 
 that whatsoever is asked of God in the name of Christ, believ- 
 ingly, shall be received. 
 
 Now, it becomes the duty of every rational student of 
 Scripture, to throw such light as modern revelation enables 
 him to throw upon obscure and misleading stateraents.J) Set- 
 ting aside, this morning, all views of correspondences, we 
 will deal critically with the texts in dispute. In a previous 
 Discourse delivered in this hall, upon the "' God and the 
 Lords of the Bible," we stated, as you will remember, that 
 the Ancients universally beheved in planetary angels, in the 
 tutelary or guardian spirits of nations, tribes, famihes and in- 
 dividuals, and thus the tribal dieties of the Hittites, Amala- 
 Idtes and others may have been at variance with the tribal 
 or tutelary ruler of the Jewish clan. We are told in the 
 Psalms that all Gods must bow to the one true God. 
 Adonai, the Jewish name for God Jehovah, signifies the 
 Eternal One, he who ahvays was, i.e., he who is self- existent, 
 and thus can have had no besrinnino-. But it is not the 
 Eternal One (Adonai) with whom the patriarchs interceded, 
 but only his angel or representative. We are told that 
 Abraham, on the plains of Mamre, encountered three angels 
 or men, i.e., spirits inhuman form, who prophesied concerning 
 the destruction of the wicked city, Sodom, whither two of 
 them went at eventide to accomplish its overthrow. The 
 one to whom Abraham j^aid the greatest deference is styled 
 the Lord. CIt was quite common for the Ancients to address 
 spiritual visitors as " my lord," and quite common for them 
 to say, " thus saith the lord," when they spoke of the com- 
 mands or instructions they had received from the spirit 
 directors of human affairs, with Avhom they may have con- 
 versed by means of clairaudient and clairvoyant powers, or 
 through the very ancient phenomenon of materialization or 
 
TRUE PRAYER. lol 
 
 form manifestation, which \A'as once far more common and 
 trimiiphant in Oriental climes than it is now in England and 
 America. 
 
 Now, is it not eminently rational to believe, that the 
 Ancients used the word "lord" just as we use it to-day? 
 A member of the Upper House of Parliament is a lord. Is 
 he, therefore, the Almighty [Sliadai) ? Is he, therefore, a 
 celestial being, one whose thoughts and intents are always 
 pure ? Is it not conceivable that lords may be cruel, capri- 
 cious, tyrannical, uujust, while other lords are humane, chari- 
 table, w\s>e, and sticklers for equity ? iSTo one who knows 
 anything of ancient history can be unaware of the fact, that 
 earthly rulers were frequently styled lords and gods, even while 
 on earth, and that after their entrance into spirit life, many who 
 had not been particularly virtuous while on earth were wor- 
 shipped with divine honours.^ Read the story of the deifica- 
 tion of Romulus, in Roman history, for example. Read 
 words attributed to Jesus by the Evangelist, who declares 
 that he reminds those who criticize bis authority, that those 
 were called gods upon whom the spirit came. Turn to the 
 account given in the Acts of the Apostles, of the desire of the 
 multitude to worship Paul and Barnabas, as Mars and Jupi- 
 ter respectively, because of the wondrous healing powers 
 tbese mediums for the Spirit had exercised, and you will see 
 in a moment that between the Eternal One, the Infinite 
 God, whom no man hath seen at any time, and these innu- 
 merable lords, the Jewish law itself forbade any comparison to 
 be drawn. Does not the Decalogue forbid you to liken God to 
 any thing in heaven above or in the earth beneath. ? Is it, 
 then, just to infer, that crude anthropomorphism or a de- 
 graded creature or hero worship is that original and pure 
 Monotheism, which is and always has been Israel's pride 
 and glory ? God is a sj)irit, invisible, incomprehensible, 
 without parts and passions, unchanging, ever just and kind 
 and wise, according to the best rational commentators upon 
 the Law and the Prophets. (The lords were only human spirits, 
 many of them near the earth, not yet having outgrown 
 earthly pride and prejudice. They were fallible and change- 
 able, and w^ere in many instances only the familiars of a 
 priesthood, which was not always above sacrificing spiritual- 
 ity for worldly considerations. 
 
 Now, that you can invoke such spirits as these, that you 
 
lo2 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 can really order about spirits, who, if not your inferiors, are 
 certainly not more than your equals, is very reasonable to 
 infer. Without resorting to the '' elementaries " of the Theo- 
 sophists, we may find many dwellers upon the threshold of 
 earth, who are quite ready to do all in their power to further 
 the worldly interests of those who summon them. Very 
 earth-bound spirits, when left to themselvers, are poor, forlorn, 
 miserable beings, blind, deaf, and altogether impotent in the 
 world of spirits. Devoid of spiritual perception, they are 
 miserable out of the flesh, having lost every means of enjoy- 
 ment. As their jDleasures are purely sensuous, if they ca^. 
 control any of you, if they can borrow your organisms to work 
 through, if you will supply them mth animal magnetism 
 which they can manipulate, they will often gladly follow you 
 about, and look after your temporal interests as best they 
 can. But they are very fallible, because wisdom belongs only 
 to exalted states of spiritual being. 
 
 At the expense of this digression, which we have found 
 necessary to amplify our subject and make plain to you our 
 philosophy, we will return to the to]3ic, prayers for rain, &c., 
 and request you to discriminate closely between an effective 
 and a useless petition, independent of the form of speech in 
 which the desire of the mind is clothed. It is of course im- 
 possible even for the Almighty to answer all prayers addressed 
 to him in the letter, as one person who is a devout believer in 
 the efficiency of prayer may be praying I'or rain at the instant 
 when some one equally devout is prapng for fair weather ; 
 and it is incredible that God should favour one petition and 
 reject the other, and yet remain no respecter of persons. But 
 when prayer for rain is steady, continuous, and united, when 
 large congregations of earnest people, all over the land, are 
 uniting their wills and desires at a given time for a given re- 
 sult, we are not bold enough to say that no result follows 
 upon this concentration of mind and united direction of will. 
 iSTot that there can, in any case, be any possible change in the 
 laws of nature, but these laws of nature are found to be, by 
 spiritual students, only the exercise of will, and then it must 
 be borne in mind that the weather is, after all, to a great 
 extent, under man's control. jMan has the power to plant 
 trees and also to uproot them. Where trees have been planted 
 rain has been brought to districts where no rain has been 
 known to fall within the memory of man : and where trees 
 
TRUE PRAYER, 153 
 
 have bsen nprooted, there rain has ceased falHng and the land 
 has become barren. Thus the command of rain is not physi- 
 cally or scientifically anything like an impossibility, and who 
 shall sa}^ to what extent united mind may influence the mate- 
 rial world? 
 
 But the spiritual aspects of the que?tion leave these physi- 
 cal points to be decided by human experience. The spiritual 
 nature of Prayer is altogether independent of any physical 
 result. You may, perhaps, have prayed for rain thousands of 
 times, and never have succeeded in getting a single drop ; 
 but if you prayed for rain because you saw the flocks dying 
 and the harvest shrivelHng, and your heart was touched at the 
 thought of the multitudes who would suffer starvation unless 
 rain came, and thinking in that plight rain was the only sa- 
 viour, you prayed for it, meaning all the while that you longed 
 to succeed in inducing the higher powers to bless the sufferers 
 of earth, the spirit of your prayer ascended to celestial abodes, 
 your own spirit was enlarged and refreshed ; you received 
 spiritual rain upon your own heart, and while the higher 
 wisdom you invoked may have given only a spiritual answer 
 to your prayers, the response came spiritually to the spiritual 
 cravino- and effort of vour mind. Praver. then, is mental 
 effort. It is nothing physical. It can afford to do without 
 words, or it may externalize itself through them. But its 
 efficacy is -due to its nature, and in any case it places you in 
 communion Avith spirits whom you summon by encouraging 
 and expressing thoughts which are, to them, attractive and 
 agreeable. Pray unselfishly for another's benefit, and you 
 can never pray in vain. Pray for self only, and you form no 
 alliances with pure and unselfish spirits. 
 
 It is not claimed by us, as we have before stated, that the 
 laws of being are changed to suitour needs, or in obedience 
 to our requests. If the Author of all being be infinitely good, 
 and if the laws of being are the regular and orderly manifes- 
 tations of his nature and will, then if we could change them 
 or their Author in the slightest degree, we should be cursing 
 and not blessing the universe. It is utterly incompatible with 
 reason to suppose that an angel more far-seeing than yourself 
 would humour you to your injury, because you asked for 
 something ignorantly which it would be your destruction to 
 receive. In human ignorance man prays for many things 
 which would destroy him if he received them. A child may 
 
 V 
 
154 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 look upon a beantifnl bottle, filled with clear, transparent, 
 sparlding liquid, and cry for it, urge tlie parent to let him just 
 taste of it if no more, because it looks so bright and delicious. 
 The parent, knowing it is poison, steadily refuses it. The 
 child cries bitterly, thinks his mother very cruel, because she 
 has denied his request. It grieved her to refuse her httle 
 one, and make him cry, but could she poison him to gratify 
 'Ms whim? and, had she granted his request, would she not 
 -have been taking a dastardly advantage of his ignorance ? 
 The letter of the child's cry was for poison, but the spirit of it 
 ■was for some cooling, delicious beverage. Angels cannot heed 
 the letter of your cries. You are so blind you often ask for 
 poisons ; they, knowing what you really need, give you a 
 bitter draught of purging medicine when you petition them 
 for unwholesome sweetmeats. But in the depths of your 
 hearts, when you are not c[uite bereft of reason, you must feel 
 thankful if you can only realize the blessing of a Tsithholding 
 as well as of a conferring Providence. 
 
 On earth you often hate to suffer. You cannot see anv use 
 in sorrow and pain, and so long as you look upon suffering as 
 the arbitrary result of the wrath of God, we do not wonder at 
 your resistance. If you cannot see beyond the grave, we are 
 not surprised that you bemoan earthly inequalities. But when 
 you shall have attained to angelic states, and shaU have be- 
 come endowed witli the angel's wonderful power of retrosj)ec- 
 tion as well as prophecy, for nothing will you be more 
 thankful than for hfe's cares and crosses, for without them 
 all the beaut}' and sweetness of celestial life would be lost 
 upon you. oN o heart is strong in loving, that has not sulfered. 
 I\o soul can sympathize, who has felt no grief, and thus in 
 place of the cherubic and seraphic throng of pure and happy 
 souls, who in tlieir unf alien splendour have never known 
 earthly trial and sorrow, Spirituahsm reveals to you angels 
 who are of your own race, who have suffered on this or some 
 other earth, as you are suffering, and who now enjoy what 
 you Avill never enjoy, unless you bear the cross, and thereby 
 earn the crown. 
 
 If Spiritualism demonstrates anything it is the law of 
 equity ; if it destroys anything it is the idea of substitutionary 
 suffering, earning for you unmerited bhss ; if it declares any 
 truth more vividly than another it is that pain is disciplinary, 
 educational, remedial, but never punitive in the vindictive 
 
TRUE PRAYER. loo 
 
 sense in which the word "punishment" is too often em- 
 ployed; and because of its close alliance with the teachings 
 of that Christ, who condemned retaliative measures in no 
 measured accents, it is the target at which abuse is ever level- 
 led by those divines and their followers who boast of the 
 Christian name ; who make profession of discipleship to 
 Jesus,~and yet not only countenance but positively advocate 
 capital punishment, the vilest forms of human pollution, and 
 a thousand-and-one Idndred abuses utterly at variance with 
 the sublime spirituality of that " Sermon on the Mount," 
 which they verbally acknowledge as infallible truth, the direct 
 word of the incarnate Deity, but which they resolutely set 
 aside in every law court in the land. So long as capital 
 punishment is allowed to stain the British escutcheon, the 
 Gospel of Jesus will be a dead letter in England, and Chris- 
 tianity a spurious imitation of gospel teachings. So long 
 as spiritual methods of healing are not only tabooed but- 
 even legislated against in Christian lands, the acknowledg- 
 ment of the Bible as a divine book will make the Church 
 and Nation a laughing-stock. So long as cures by faith and 
 prayer are repudiated, and the plain teachings of Jesus are 
 laughed to scorn in the popular magazine and newspaper, 
 and even in the pulpit, infidelity will have its own way, and 
 the latest theological hobby, " conditional immortality," will be 
 ere long exchanged for no immortality at all. If the spiri- 
 tual medium, who heals by laying on of hands, is a quack 
 or an impostor because he does not use drugs and minerals, 
 or exhibit a diploma or carry surgical instruments and band- 
 ages about mth him, then Jesus is the founder of a school of 
 quackery and imposture, because he declared concerning- his 
 followers — " They shall lay their hands on the sick and they 
 shall recover." Then were all the apostles quacks and impos- 
 tors ; then were all the early Christians either poor, deluded 
 fanatics, or in league with quackery and imposture, because 
 they applied magnetized handkerchiefs and aprons to the 
 bodies of those suffering from physical ailments, and cured 
 mental disorders by spiritual power, not by the incarceration 
 of victims of medical tyranny in lunatic asylums, where the 
 poor, crazy sufferers are made ten times worse by the harsh 
 treatment they often receive, and the cruel isolation from all 
 their friends consequent upon their captivity. 
 
 Spiritualists are accused of not building hospitals, not 
 
1 56 L OKI) ON LECT VRES, 
 
 doing practical work by employing organized agencies, to re- 
 move crime, disease and insanity. Perhaps it "will be found 
 on closer inspection, that institutionalism does far more to 
 aggravate crime and misery than to relieve these evils. The 
 Roman Catholic Clmrch is far more entitled to respect than 
 are the Protestant organizations, because this Clinrcli has 
 never repudiated spiritual gifts, though it has oftentimes 
 greatly erred and abused its power, by attributing to satanic 
 agency every manifestation whicli resisted the control of the 
 Church. The manifestations at Lourdes, at Knock, Ireland, 
 in various parts of France and elsewhere, are genuine beyond 
 doubt. Clironic cases of palsy, epilepsy, &c., &c., have been 
 peimanentl}^ cured through spirit agency, with the assistance 
 of priests ^\ho are strong magnetizers and spirit mediums. 
 Eut this power of healing is not locked up in the bosom of the 
 Eomish Clmrch. The Virgin Mary and the many saints canon- 
 ized by Eome, have not the exclusive power and right to heal 
 men's minds and bodies. The unlettered country girl, who 
 is sent for to see her dying mother, and who reaches home 
 just when her mother's life is despaired of by the physician, 
 tllro^^■ing herself down in a paroxysm of grief, tears and sup- 
 plication at her mothers bedside, brings back to life the be- 
 loved parent whom no medical skill caii save. She isjiraying 
 frantically to God to save her mother, and all the while she is 
 answering her own prayers. Every pore in her skin is open ; 
 she is violently agitated, and parting with her life-force cop- 
 icusly — her love, her sympathy, her intense desires ior her 
 mother's recovery ally her with kind, gentle, and powerful 
 healing spirits. She who knows nothing of magnetism, 
 psychology, or Spiritualism; she who has not the faintest 
 idea of the power of \\ ill, and knows not the first thing about 
 directing her magnetism to the healing of disease, is having it 
 directed for her by unseen hosts, and her prayer is answered 
 in harmony with these wonderful psychological laws which 
 are to-da}" being studied alike by scientist and peasant. 
 
 Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, Nature 
 says to all her children. Open your windows, and the light 
 and air are yours. Close them, and you may suffocate in 
 darkness. Fathom the laws of being, and understand prayer 
 as spiritual effort simply, and you will know that when the 
 soul works, it may acconiplish the end it seeks, while, if it be 
 idle, the field wherein the treasure lies is all uncultivated. 
 
TRUE PRAYER. 157 
 
 Prayer is not to supplant, but to supplement and crown exer- 
 tion. Muller, of Bristol, who relied on prayer for many years 
 to support his orphanages, was a most indiistrions man, an 
 indefatigable Avorher. Dr. Cnllis, of Boston, U. S. A., who 
 keeps open his Consumptives' Home by prayer, is very ener- 
 getic. Do not. we beg of j'on, run away with the idea that 
 you may pray instead of working. Prayer is work in itself, 
 and no one who wishes to shiik labour and pray in idleness 
 will receive any blessing therefrom. 
 
 Prayer is the desire of the Soul, and according to the nature 
 of your a.^pirations will be the character of the respondents to 
 your petitions, and the likelihood of your blessing humanity 
 through their agency. ') 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 A CHILD kneels at his reolher's knee, and lisps his little prayer : 
 " God I O Father! high in heaven, o'er me exert Thy care ; 
 vSend down some blest angelic guard, to watch me while I sleep. 
 And lilessmy father, far away, sailing across the deep I 
 Bless mother, bless my sisters dear, my little brothers, too. 
 And help me in my daily life, to be to duty true I" 
 
 A sailor, wandering o'er the main, sees the pale moon at night. 
 
 Shine softly, as in bye gone years it shed its mellow light 
 
 Over his old, beloved home, in country lanes so far ; 
 
 He gazes toward the silent heaven=, and sees the evening star, 
 
 And straightway all his heart goes back, across the briny sea, 
 
 And he remembers, when a child beside his mother's knee, 
 
 ile prayed that God would m;ike him good, and make his life sublime, 
 
 And now, in manhood's riper way, he prays the same old rhyme, 
 
 But slightly altered, e'er he sleeps : " Our Father I" he repeats. 
 
 Then hears no more until the storm against his cabin beats. 
 
 And he, old seaman though he be, crouches in fear and dread. — 
 
 A storm has risen o'er all the main, by it the ship is led 
 
 Over the rocks, where quicksands lie, and e'er he draws a breath, 
 
 A fearful cry goes up from those ^\ho dread an awful death ! 
 
 " Oh, save me I" screams, in accents wild, a mother ; at her breast 
 
 A little infint sleeping lies, as bird in soft, warm nest. 
 
 The child hears not the awful storm, knows not of danger nigh, 
 
 But suddenly awakes to hear his mother's startled cry ; 
 
 And then, with tiny arms outspread and eyes distent with fear, 
 
 He looks into his mother's eyes, and sees her bitter tear. 
 
1 o8 X OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 " Oh, save my child I"' the mother shrieks, in accents piercing, wild. 
 
 " If you liave known a mother's love. Oh, save my darling child 
 
 And save me, also, lest so lone and desolate he be, 
 
 That even should 1 pass to heaven, and know his misery. 
 
 My crown, and harp, and palm would be a weight I could not bear : 
 
 I only ask to live for him — Father I hear my prayer !" 
 
 rStraightway the gallant seaman flies to rescue, swift to save ; 
 A lifeboat speedily he brings, and from their watery grave. 
 Parent and child are rescued both, and safely reach the land. 
 While the brave seaman struggles on, to save the rest who stand. 
 Timid and faltering, on the wreck, till, lo ! his strength gives way. 
 And quickly he falls overboard, swept by the waves away 1 
 
 " Our Father 1" is his dying prayer : " Father I I come to Thee I 
 Oh, gather me among Thy sheep, unworthy though I be I"' 
 Scarcely the words have left his lips, when, lo 1 his eyes grow dim, 
 They see not the retreating earth, he hears a heavenly hymn, 
 A tender voice sings in his ear : " My son ! I wait for thee ; 
 Now earthly storms no more can tear my darling child from me !" 
 
 Oh i say, what mortal tongue can speak the glories of that state, 
 Where angel spirits, full of love, for all earth's shipwrecked wait? 
 Was that instruction lost on him, when at his mother's knee, 
 He learned to lisp his infant prayer : " Father I take me to Thee I" 
 
 All through his life, a brooding love could ne'er forgotten be ; 
 That love was his bright, polar star, on land or on the sea. 
 The memory of that little prayer, in childhood he did say, 
 Kept bright, within his heart, a spark of love's eternal ray. 
 
 The mother and the child he saved, can ne'er forget to pray 
 
 For him, their rescuer from death ; they cry to God each daj-. 
 
 For him who saved them from the storm. They do not know he stands 
 
 In spirit, close beside them both, with outstretched, loving hands. 
 
 No prayer is lost ! The way to God is open unto all ; 
 No soul can cry in its distress, and vainly voice its call ; 
 God's angels are around, and they His messengers are made : 
 They come as they in ancient time came, where the patriarch laid. 
 
 Prayer is the ladder Jacob saw : your prayers are angels mounting up, 
 Answers are angels coming down, to place life's waters in your cup. 
 Be brave I the way to God is wide, and all may pass that way ; 
 Desire to bless your brethren, then through pure desire you truly pray ! 
 
 BENEDICTIOX 
 
 May the prayer- of your eveiy lieart, be an aspiration of 
 perpetnal work for man ; and, striving to bless your brethren, 
 may yon reahze the fuhiess of God's Benediction, and 
 possess His Peace within your hearts for ever I 
 
( 159 ) 
 
 THE TRUE GIFT OF HEALING, AND THE 
 TRUE SPIRITUAL PHYSICIAN. 
 
 {^Delivered on Hospital Sunday^) 
 
 ACCORDING to long-establislied custom in the Metro- 
 polis, one Sunday in every year is set aj^art for special 
 consideration of the claims of certain very deserving 
 charitable institutions, Hospitals, Dispensaries, and Convales- 
 cent Homes in particular, when collections are made at almost 
 all the churches and synagogues in the city and suburbs, in 
 aid of these philanthrojpic institutions, and philanthro^Dic they 
 truly are. 
 
 From this remark, you v^^iU see at once that our Discourse 
 on this occasion will be in no sense condemnatory or opposi- 
 tional. We have no fault whatever to find with the 
 machinery already in motion for relieving pain and healing- 
 sickness, but the cry on every hand is, that the provision 
 made is lamentably insufficient. Though the population of 
 London, including all the adjacent towns included in the 
 Postal District, is probably at the present moment nearer 
 five millions than four, the number of beds, in all the 
 hospitals put together, is very considerably under 10,000, 
 and when we take into consideration the fact that at least 
 half of this immense population is made up of persons whose 
 circumstances mil not permit of their having the best medical 
 assistance the country affords, comfortable accommodation, 
 and good, nourishing diet, anywhere out of a public institu- 
 tion, in case of accident or illness depriving them of their 
 ordinary means of earning a livelihood; when we also 
 remember the further fact that these institutions are frequently 
 most painfully crippled in their means of usefulness by the 
 inadequacy of the pecuniary support they receive, and when 
 we remember also, that a very large number of persons dread 
 going to a hospital more than words can express, it is surely 
 
160 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 high time that public attention was called to other methods 
 of healing than those adopted by regular medical practitioners, 
 especially to those metliods which are so simple and yet so 
 wonderfully efficacious that they can be employed in every 
 home without danger or risk of failure. 
 
 Q The present medical knowledge of the world is a boon for 
 which all should be thankful, and never against knowledge, 
 but always against monopoly solely, should the voice of the 
 reformer be raised. Undoubtedly there are cases at the 
 present day which require the surgeon's knife and the learned 
 physician's skill ; at the same time we have no hesitation in 
 declaring that the time is fast approaching when mineral 
 medicines, at least, will be employed no more, while surgery 
 will die a natural death as accidents become scarcer, and the 
 Gift of Healing is so far developed and employed as to do 
 away with amputations and excisions almost entirely.^) 
 
 As many of you are, no doubt, Bible students, and as some 
 of you have only very recently severed your connection with 
 orthodox Christian churches, while others again may still be 
 members of one or other of the orthodox bodies, it will, no 
 doubt, be interesting to most of you, at least, if we endeavour 
 to explain the miracles of healing recorded in the New 
 Testament, by the aid of such light as we can bring to bear 
 upon them, through our experiences with healing by spirit- 
 power and magnetic influence in the present day ; while 
 Jews and Christians, alike giving credence to the Old 
 Testament, may be ready to hear what may be said from a 
 spiritual point of view concerning those wonderful phenomena 
 which are said to have transpired through the agency of the 
 divine, working through the earthly organisms of specially 
 inspired prophets among the Hebrews. 
 
 Perhaps the most marvellous of all the stories in the Law 
 with reference to this subject, is that of Elijah healing the 
 widow's son at Zarephath. The account of this stupendous 
 miracle Avill be found in the first book of Kings, chapter xvii., 
 truly a chapter of miracles from beginning to end, and one 
 which we do not wonder has puzzled many commentators and 
 drawn out many diverse opinions, as its interpretation has 
 been diversely attempted. The story at its commencement, of 
 Elijah and the ravens, is now largely discredited, but among 
 scholars its meaning has been rendered clearer by the change 
 recently made in the reading. Instead of " ravens " we are 
 
GIFT OF HEALING, IGl 
 
 now told by scholars to read "Arabs," or the wandering, 
 almost savages tribes, who infested the desert, and were far 
 more notorious for their depradations than their acts of hos- 
 pitality and kindness. No doubt they were originally rendered 
 savage by the attacks made upon them by their neighbours, 
 and other more powerful and better armed peoples, and like 
 all animals and men when subject to attack from others, they 
 had become warlike and deceitful, C It is absurd to blame the 
 dweller in tents in the desert for his ferocity or his treachery, 
 and then applaud the manoeuvres of disciplined armies, and 
 justify a man for springing upon a burglar in the dark and 
 shooting him, while the death penalty is not yet repealed 
 either in Eno-]and or America. : 
 
 It is fear and constant exposure to hostile influences that 
 make men and animals dangerous and savage. Even a 
 domestic cat or dog will become very dangerous if it has been 
 perpetually teazed and irritated from kittenhood or puppyhood 
 while children who are unnecessarily thwarted by their parents 
 or guardians, and who have to light for everything they 
 obtain, are not very likely to grow up docile men and 
 women. 
 
 The story of Elijah and these wild Arabs is intensely 
 instructive and suggestive, and while Dr. Talmage and other 
 sensatir)nalists and mountebanks in the pulpit, endeavour to 
 persuade their unthinking followers that modern revisions of 
 ancient texts do away with the spirituality and beauty of 
 them altogether, these poor literalists have no eyes for the 
 larger, while they gullibly endorse the lesser, miracle. Elijah 
 was safe amons^ the Arab hordes or Bedouins of the desert : 
 not only was he safe among them, but he, a true servant and 
 prophet of the Most High, was kindly, generously, and hos- 
 pitably treated by them. They brought him bread and meat 
 both morning and evening. 
 
 ^ Our opinion is that this charming story forms part of the 
 instructive history considered sacred by the wise old Hebrew 
 fathers, because they saw in it a standing reproach to aggres- 
 sion and cruelty as means of subduing the hearts and wills of 
 savages, and incorporated with the sacred canon many beauti- 
 ful and thrilling tales, of how good and noble men found 
 themselves safe everywhere, always conscious of God's pro- 
 tection, ever secure from danger, because they aroused not 
 the hostility, but the love and respect for virtue, which ever 
 
 w 
 
162 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 lies latent in the breast of every savage, and even of every 
 animal. 
 
 How much more helpfiil and inspiring is the new progres- 
 sive view of miracles than that old literalipm it is fast dis- 
 placing, ; and may we not venture to predict, that, when 
 the present wave of reactionary iconoclasm has spent itself 
 in demolishing the rapidly decaying superstructure of 
 superstition, which ignorance and priestcraft have built upon 
 the rock of truth, the grand old Hebrew prophets will 
 be revealed to the world, not as special favourites of Jehovah. 
 — in the old sense, for the new religion will despise favourit- 
 ism and acknowledge one universal Spirit of impartial Love 
 and Wisdom, as the Sovereign Ruler and Sustainer of all — 
 but as men who were able to conquer difficulties others found 
 insurmountable, by reason of the power within them, which 
 gave them an authority and dignity none could withstand. 
 
 When we are told, farther on in the same chapter, that a 
 hospitable mdow at Zarephath entertained Elijah, and as a 
 reward for so doing, found her barrel of meal and cruse of oil 
 did not waste, we need not see in this anything more miracu- 
 lous than the fact of kindness never going unrewarded ; and 
 if our eyes are not limited by purely earthly horizons, though 
 we find sometimes that virtue goes in rags and wickedness in 
 purple on the earth, and therefore cannot apply the story of 
 that particular widow's immunity from loss in a literal sense 
 to all outward benefactions, we may surely in the light of 
 immortality take comfort with the blest assurance, that no 
 one who ever takes compassion upon the sorrows and sufferings 
 of a fellow child of God (and all are God's children), shall 
 ever fail to be richly compensated in one way or another, 
 either materially or spiritually on earth or in the hereafter : 
 though it must never be forgotten that benevolence must be 
 distinct from selfishness, or it is not, to use theological lan- 
 guage, of the nature of grace. Should you give a large 
 contribution to-day to some charitable institution, with a view 
 to improving your worldly circumstances — remembering that 
 the Bible says somewhere, that those who give to the poor 
 and needy lend to God, and that whatever they lend to the 
 Almighty will be paid back to them with liberal interest, good 
 measure pressed down and running over — your actions are not 
 benevolent except in seeming. Those who make merely a 
 business transaction of 2:ivinQ-, are like those in the 16th 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 1G3 
 
 century all over Europe, who were accustomed to buy indul- 
 gences, and expected by sacrificing a little money, which the 
 priests were always glad to receive, to be absolved from the 
 consequences of sin in this world and the next. It was 
 against this perfidious practice and atrociously immoral idea 
 that Luther so vigorously protested, and though he w^asby no 
 means a model man with a perfect theology, he was needed 
 just when he lived, to bring into prominence the doctrine of 
 justification by faith and not by works, which properly inter- 
 preted means neither more nor less than this, (that it is the 
 spirit within, the motive which prompts to action, and not the 
 act itself, which is precious in the sight of heaven, and entitles 
 the doer of the deed to a place among the angels.^ 
 
 But we must not linger upon this special topic to-day, 
 except in connection with the work of Healing, with which 
 we have more directly to deal, and Faith as a necessary re- 
 quisite in the modus operandi of Healing, has always excited 
 considerable comment and controversy. 
 
 Throughout the New Testament we are told how insepar- 
 able are faith and the power to heal, or the ability to be 
 liealed. . In some instances the Evangelists tell us that Jesus 
 said to those whom he had cured of painful maladies and 
 long-standing infirmities : ' '•' Thy sins are forgiven thee," and 
 at other tiiues his words were : " Thy faith hath made thee 
 whole." Then we are informed that under somewhat diffe- 
 rent circumstances, Jesus could do no mighty works because 
 of the unbelief of the people among whom he went. Again 
 it is recorded that he marvelled, or was filled with astonish- 
 ment, at their incredulity, and in those places he could work 
 no miracle ; and then at times his disciples came to him 
 complaining that tJiey could not heal, and he attributed their 
 want of success to their own lack of faith, saying unto them : 
 " faithless and perverse generation I If ye have faith as a 
 grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Hemovc 
 hence to yonder place, and it shall remove : and nothing- 
 shall be impossible to you." All things are possible with God, 
 and all things are possible to him that believeth unwaveringly 
 in God, because the power of God through him can be per- 
 fectly expressed. In this hurried mention of many texts and 
 circumstances scattered throughout the gospel narratives, we 
 have given you a brief epitome of the general teaching of 
 Jesus concerning healing, and that peculiar phase of it, the 
 
J 64 L ONB ON LECT URES. 
 
 casting out of devils (unclean demons), allusions to whicli 
 occupy a large part of the canonical New Testament. 
 
 We do not, of course, expect to be able to do anything 
 more than give you the vaguest outline of the philosophy of 
 this teaching in a single lecture, however, we shall not be so 
 far discouraged by the shortness of our time and the niagni- 
 tude of our sul)ject, as to refrain from attempting to send you 
 away from here with a few thoughts to turn over in your 
 mind at your leisure, coupled Avith a few suggestions for the 
 relief of sufftring and cure of disease, which, we hope, you 
 may all find of some use to you whenever called upon to 
 minister to those whose minds or bodies are impaired. 
 
 We never read that Jesus, or his immediate followers or 
 successors, carried cases of surgical instruments about with 
 them, or that they prescribed or dispensed medicines of any 
 kind. They relied entirely upon the word of power, faith, 
 prayer, and similar spiritual and mental agencies. It is 
 stated in one place, that Jesus told his disciples when they 
 had not succeeded in perfoiming cures and casting out impure 
 spirits, that they must pray and fast, as the power to perlorm 
 sucli wonders came forth only by prayer and fasting, and 
 there is no reason why we should throw the" slightest dis- 
 credit upon this passage, though many advanced ciitics cast 
 it out as an interpolation, for it agrees perfectly with, the 
 general tenour of the life and teaching of the great Galilean 
 seer, as the Evangelists nnitedly represent him. 
 C He was a man of abstinence and prayer. He fasted forty 
 days and nights prior to entering upon his public ministry, 
 and constantly during his three years' active work he was 
 accustomed to spend whole nights in prayer, and to withdraw 
 himself to solitary places, feeding upon bread which fed the 
 soul more than it affected the body. But whatever affects 
 the mind reacts upon the body, while all physical ailments 
 and conditions have a reactionary effect upon the spirit, so 
 long as it remains embodied ; therefore, food reform is not 
 morally unimportant, while improved methods of sanitation 
 are as effectual in helping to reform the morals, as they are 
 in aiding the physical improvement of mankind. 
 
 It is fashionable to-day to ignore miracles, to laugh at the 
 supra -material, to sneer at all the marvellous records of the 
 past, classing them together as old wives' fables and non- 
 sensical traditions, which the sooner we discard the better it 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. IGr 
 
 {} 
 
 will be for us. This is the Agnostic or purely negative and 
 materialistic view of the subject, bat among advanced 
 thinkers of a.liigherand more intuitive type, the miracles 
 aftbrd a most fascinating basis for study and experiment, and 
 while many eminently spiritually-minded persons discard the 
 purely marvellous or magical, and lay no stress upon anything 
 except what is purely moral, miracles lose nothing but gain 
 a great deal by being Ijfted out of the letter into the spirit, 
 for when spiritualized they are setters-forth of many of the 
 sublimest truths the world has ever dreamed of, or longed to 
 see made manifest on earth./ 
 
 Theodore Parker was called an infidel by many, because 
 he took an entirely spiritnal view of the wonders said to have 
 been performed by Jesus during his sojourn on earth. Had 
 any one asked Mr. Parker during his ministry in Boston, 
 thirty years ago, whether he believed in the literal raising of 
 Lazarus, the literal opening of tlie eyes of men born blind, he 
 would probably have answered No ! but he would never have 
 left the one, who addressed him seeking light, in the arid 
 wilderness of blank denial ; he would have at once begun to 
 give you his views of how Jesus, as a great moral healer and 
 emancipator, opened the mental eyes of those who were 
 mentally and morally blind, and woidd have told you, in his 
 gentle, persuasive, yet powerful and most emphatic manner, 
 liow much more important it was to improve morals and unfold 
 mental capacity, to heal spiritual wounds and bind up broken 
 hearts, than cure any number of purely physical ailments. 
 
 .William Ellery Channing, another noted Unitarian, though 
 of another school of thought, would, no doubt, have said he 
 believed in the letter as well as the spirit ; but Parker was 
 so deeply imbued with a conviction of the eternal superiority 
 of moral over physical changes, that he was, perhaps, too 
 little accustomed to pay attention to the outward workings of 
 the great spiritual law he so truly recognised, and fervently 
 believed in, which renders possible, yea, probable, and, we 
 may say, certain, those outward results, which though less 
 valuable, perhaps, than the invisible and interior, are never- 
 theless the outward results and natural expressions in material 
 life of the carrying out of those supernal principles of spiritual 
 being, which have ever a material effect to produce in the 
 upraising of man's material nature, when they are called into 
 exercise in the mundane sphere. 
 
166 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 It lias often been appositely remarked, that extremes 
 meet, and it is indeed strange to find that Roman Catholics 
 have many ideas in common with the heresiarch Parker ; 
 though when he was in Rome, shortly before his passage to 
 spiritual life, he so shocked some of the priests with whom he 
 argued, that they pronounced his views favourable to idolatry. 
 Only a short time ago we heard a Catholic priest dechire, 
 that the seven devils cast out of Mary Magdalene were the 
 seven deadly sins, and this view is by no means uncommon 
 among educated Catholics. Such interpretations as these go 
 to the very root of the matter, and explain many very 
 difficult and problematic questions which are constantly 
 cropping up concerning sin and its connection with disease 
 and suffering. 
 
 We are told in Genesis, that suffering entered the world 
 by sin, that if man had never sinned, never rebelled against 
 his Maker, never broken God's commands, that he would 
 never have forfeited Paradise, but have enjoyed during his 
 entire sojourn on earth, perfect immunity from distress of 
 every kind ; and this doctrine, usually considered the very 
 quintessence of orthodoxy, is in perfect keeping with the 
 views entertained by many Secularists, who declare that if 
 the laws of nature are perfectly known and obeyed, that no 
 one needs to suffer, and that when they are fully understood 
 and implicitly followed, a Secular golden age will dawn upon 
 the earth. On the other hand, Geology and all the natural 
 sciences lead us inevitably to conclude, that animals died 
 before man could appear on earth, while the New Testament 
 rebukes the prevailing idea that all sufferers are sinners, and 
 attributes to Jesus the following words concerning a man 
 wdio was born blind, whom he afterwards healed: "Neither 
 liatli this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of 
 God should be made manifest in him." 
 
 C No delusion is more painful, no doctrine more repre- 
 hensible, than that which teaches you to regard all sufferers 
 as culprits undergoing chastisement for sins committed, while 
 you, who are enjoying good health, pride yourselves upon 
 your goodness. Such views are calculated to develop any- 
 thing but charitable dispositions. The very best view w*e 
 can take of suff'ering is, that it is an educator ; it is a sign of 
 imperfection surely, as we cannot expect suffering to be 
 eternal, to have any part in the nature of God. No one 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 107 
 
 wislies to suffer, and suffering is by no means capable of 
 relieving monotony^ and forming a pleasing change in the 
 ordinary routine of life. Sin is the transgression of the law, 
 says an Epistle, and if sin be merely a breach of law, either 
 ignorantly or wilfully, then suffering, disconnected from 
 pangs of conscience and remorse, may be due entirely to 
 ignorance, while that suffering which is accompanied by the 
 stings of an upbraiding conscience, can only proceed from 
 wilful transgression of the moral law". 
 
 But it is no one's business to wait to know what has been 
 the cause of suffering, before he sets to w^ork to relieve it. 
 Persons may have been ever so wilful, ever so profligate, 
 their own evil acts may have brought upon them their 
 present pitiable condition, but who shall dare to say that the 
 present imperfect state of society is not largely responsible 
 for the crimes and misdemeanours of the bulk of the people ? 
 Are we not all, in a sense, our brother's keepers, are any of 
 us quite free from the imputation of having set temptations 
 in the way of others, or failed to remove stumbling-blocks 
 we might have taken out of our brother's w^ay ? It should 
 ever be ours to treat the sinner, as well as the sufferer, as 
 one wrestling with a painful and dangerous malady, and as 
 you erect hospitals, not dungeons, for the physically sick and 
 those afflicted with mental aberration, so you should abolish 
 all loathsome prison-houses throughout the land, and see 
 what constructive and reformatory measures w^ll do towards 
 ridding the world of the incubus of pauperism and crime 
 "which now oppresses it.^) 
 
 The True Healer must be something more than a skilful 
 medical practitioner, and he need not always be that. 
 Healers must be bom, not made. It is professionalism 
 which produces bad doctors, bad clergymen, bad lawyers, and 
 bad representatives of all trades and callings. Until very 
 recently, only five occupations were considered fit for the 
 sons of the gentry. A young gentleman, unless he could 
 afford to live in idleness, which is often considered most 
 genteel in the " upper circles " of society, must either enter 
 the Church, or the legal or medical professions, unless he 
 joined the Army or the Navy. Quite recently commercial- 
 life has been tolerated for the younger sons of the upper ten 
 thousand, but even twenty years ago business in all its forms, 
 as distinct from iwofession, w^as looked down upon with. 
 
168 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 contempt. And with what result ? The greatest injury to 
 Church and State alike. 
 
 Many and many a young man has managed to take a 
 degree at Oxford or Cambridge, and has entered the Church 
 professionally. To him, conducting the public worship of 
 God and exhorting the congregation was simply a means of 
 obtaining a livelihood. Prayers were gabbled through as 
 though ministers were parrots, sacraments were adnjini.'?tered 
 in so slovenly a manner that persons began to look upon all 
 church ordinances as empty forms, meaningless ceremonies, 
 while sermons, purchased wholesale for a few shillings the 
 barrel, were read in so unedifying a manner in many churches, 
 that it became customary in many places to sleep through 
 them. Ministers of religion have been guilty of causing 
 more than half the prevalent indifference to religion, and we 
 can attribute the low ebb at which the life of the Church of 
 England was found by the Tractarians at Oxford, when Dr. 
 Puscy first became notorious, to nothing other than the making 
 of the performance of what were called religious duties, a 
 merelv business act. The Dissenting Bodies in England have 
 never become quite so formal as the Established Church, 
 because it always needed some backbone, some pluck, some 
 courage to be a Dissenter till very lately. In America, 
 ortliodoxy originally took the Congregational instead of the 
 Episcopah'an form of church government, therefore, across 
 the Atlantic the Episcopal Church has rarely degenerated as 
 much as in England, while all over the continent of Europe 
 the Established Church has been the Roman, and there that 
 church is losing, as rapidly as it is- gaining in countries where 
 it looks to the future to make progress, instead of to the past, 
 as the time of its greatest triumphs. 
 
 C Professionalism is always dangerous when it creeps into 
 Religion, Science, or Art, though it is only just and right that 
 workers should receive a proper remuneration for the time 
 and energy they expend in any pursuit, but something more 
 than professional activity is needed in the Church and out of 
 it, if this country is to experience a genuine renaissnnce of 
 religion or art. Does not the genuine Artist love his art, 
 and does not the lover of art love it for its own sweet sake 
 alone, or for the good he sees he can do through its agency ? 
 Ministers of religion, Physicians, Lawyers, Singers, Teachers, 
 Painters, must all be voluntary and enthusiastic workers in 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 109 
 
 their special fields of indiistiy. or tlie}^ are not really in their 
 right places. A person who loves public life only because of 
 the eclat, excitement, and emolument connected with it, may 
 be a brilliant professionalist, but can never interpret truly the 
 beauties and the mysteries of his art. 
 
 Do you think IMilton composed verse only for fame and 
 money ? Do you think Beethoven ^^Tote music without 
 feeling it in the very depths of his own soul? Could Angelo 
 or Raphael have painted as they did, unless their souls were 
 in their work ? Did Massillon or Fenelon preach as hirelings, 
 and have your truest physicians ever gone about among the 
 poor and suffering, thinking only of their fees ? Do not 
 imagine we are denying the oft-quoted truism : '•' The 
 labourer is worthy of his hire." If you reap spiritual 
 advantages sown for you by others, as the apostle says, it is 
 a small matter if the spiritual workers come in for a share, 
 even a large share of your temporal wealth. But should any 
 feel that were they w^ealthy they would w^ork no longer, they 
 have experienced within them their own unfitness for the 
 W'Ork in which they are now engaged. We wish to especially 
 emphasize this thought to-day, as it bears directly upon what 
 w^e have to say of true Spiritual Healers. 
 
 We hear a great deal of Magnetic Healers and Healing 
 Mediums,-but do we sufficiently take into consideration the 
 importance of those purely spiritual qualifications which^ in 
 their vast importance, far outweigh all the minor considera- 
 tions of temperament and physique, which weigh so much 
 with many. The tme Healer is a sympathizer. No truly 
 sympathetic person is destitute of healing powder, or fails to 
 exercise it, though often he employs it unconsciously to 
 himself. The very food you prepare becomes charged with 
 your life -emanations, and persons should beware of a dis- 
 contented or ill-natured cook, for many are the evils conse- 
 quent upon eating food prepared for you by persons who are 
 not kindly disposed to you. Have you not often remarked 
 that the very simplest food tastes better at home than most 
 expensive fare in large and fashionable restaurants ? There 
 is an indescribable something about home coolring which 
 renders all food pleasant and nutritious ; if your home be a 
 true one, and links of affection bind its inmates together. 
 
 Some persons laugh at the idea of personal magnetism 
 being conveyed from one article to another, or from hu- 
 
1 70 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 man bodies to whatsoever comes in contact with them, while 
 they are quite ready to beheve in infectious disorders, conta- 
 gious diseases, &c., &c. In a word, they beheve in the power 
 of disease over health, but not in the power of health over 
 disease. Such theories form part of de^dl-worship. They 
 are a practical avowal of belief in the devil and disbelief in 
 God, and it should be the special endeavour of every Theist 
 to combat them as resolutely as he combats their counterparts 
 in the realm of morals. " Evil communications corrupt good 
 manners." "■ One black sheep makes many." These, and 
 similar proverbs, are only half truths. Is not the other side 
 of the question true also ? Why not have a j)roverb : One 
 white sheep makes many ; good communications are antidotes 
 to evil manners. These and similar aphorisms becoming 
 common sayings, Avould do an immense deal to leaven the 
 thought of the age with a purer philosophy than that w^hich 
 takes its rise in the odious and blasphemous doctrine of the 
 total depravity of human nature. 
 
 How any one can deny total depravity, see its fallacy and 
 not fight down the prevalent fallacy of the infectious charac- 
 ter of disease, while good health is said not to be communi- 
 cable, would be a paradox unless we knew how very slowly 
 reforms make their way, and how relentless is medical 
 bigotry, and how unwilling people are to think for themselves 
 on questions of health, instead of employing doctors to think 
 for them. A gentleman said to us one day, speaking of 
 auricular confession, bringing foi^^ard an argument in its 
 favour : " Do you not think it a good thing, perhaps, to en- 
 trust your soul to the keeping of a priest, as you would en- 
 trust your body to a physician ? " Our reply evidently 
 startled him. It was substantially as follows : ''We think it 
 so bad a thing to entrust your body to the keeping of a 
 physician, that we scarcely think your illustration does any- 
 thing more than afford another argument against the practice 
 you are inclined to uphold." The gentleman said further : 
 '• But have not doctors special training, and are they not 
 specially quahfied for the work they take in hand ? " We 
 merely replied : " We hope so, and we hope the same of 
 ministers of religion, but no more fatal error can be fallen 
 into than resigning yourselves unthinkingly into the hands 
 of anybody. You have reason and conscience of your own, 
 and while you may profit by advice, you must ever turn for 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 171 
 
 liigliest counsel and guidance to tliose inner voices, wliich 
 have been in every age the special directors of man, from the 
 times of the earliest history to the present moment." 
 
 God has specially revealed himself to his children, through 
 the inner voice of the Spirit, and this inner voice, as we said 
 in our lecture on ''' Reason and Intuition," is the final and 
 authoritative court of appeal, to which each human being can 
 turn in his extremity. 
 
 We hear so much to-day about animal magnetism, galvan- 
 ism, and electricity as healing forces, that one is often apt to 
 imagine that, as the terms magnetism and electricity are often 
 employed by spirits as well as by Spiritualists when they 
 speak of the means whereby cures have been affected, 
 these purely physical agents constitute the total resources of 
 the spirit-world and its instruments, and constitute together a 
 universal nostrum efficacious at all times, under all circum- 
 stances. We certainly do not and cannot deny that great 
 good has often been accomplished by material agents, when 
 under spirit direction, but these material agents have no power 
 to heal you unless intelligently directed. Now, it very often 
 happens, that persons who have no idea that they possess any 
 healing power, are the greatest healers, but these are usually 
 persons of kind and sympathetic nature. They wish to 
 relieve-pain, and would gladly do so voluntarily if they only 
 knew how, and it is a source of unceasing regret to many such, 
 that they can do so little to relieve those around them. Be- 
 longing to this class are many true physicians, some are indeed 
 in the medical profession, and these are the kind, good doctors 
 you are always so glad to see. You never start nor shrink 
 away when one of these approaches. No matter how ill or 
 nervous you may be, the physician is your friend, your confi- 
 dant. The very sight of his kindly face does you good, and 
 you send for him whenever anything ails you, not so much 
 because you have faith in the power of medicine to heal you, 
 as that you instinctively feel you wall get good if he only 
 comes near you. ■ 
 
 Men and women, who possess naturally this healing power, 
 are the only ones who have really a right to offer themselves 
 to the public, either as doctors or nurses ; and as many of 
 these sympathetic souls know nothing of materia medica, 
 have had no hospital experience and no special training of 
 any kind qualifpng them for attendance in the sick chamber, 
 
1 72 L OND ON LECTUR ES. 
 
 it frequently happens that those from whom sufferers derive 
 the most good, are persons who have no diplomas and no certi- 
 ficates. The world may call them " quacks," but they are 
 invariably appealed to when ordinary methods have been 
 relinquished as unavailing, and often by their means persons 
 are raised to health and strength, even from the very jaws of 
 death. 
 
 Of co>!irse, if accidents are simply local and physical, and 
 persons are in no mental trouble and sinq^ly rec[uire the sur- 
 geon's assistance or the services of the herbalist, ordinary 
 surgical and medical treatment does well enough, except in 
 cases where physicians persist in employing mineral remedies, 
 and these for the most part instead of being remedies are 
 destructive to the constitution which they seem temporarily 
 to purge, and to the use of such poisonous substances a large 
 per-centage of unnecessary ailments, brought on no one knows 
 how, may be traced. 
 
 Mineral electricity is now extensively employed as a thera- 
 peutic agent by many illustrious members of the medical 
 profession, and when skilfully handled and judiciously 
 administered it is a valuable acquisition, but in numberless 
 instances, electricity pulls down but cannot build up. For 
 dissipated and overfed persons, for all who are bloated, 
 whose blood is impure and whose circulation is impeded by the 
 presence of foreign matter in the blood and general sluggish- 
 ness of the system, mineral electricity may be of service, but 
 for sensitive, debilitated, nervous, overworked persons, of 
 naturally delicate frames, with no great stock of vitality 
 to draw upon at the best of times, electrical apparatus is 
 often dangerous and destructive. Animal magnetism is i"ar 
 safer and far surer in its effects, as animal magnetism is in 
 reality the concentrated essence of human life, vapourized 
 and transmitted in the form of an invisible fluid from one 
 organism to another. 
 
 Foods and medicines need to be digested and assimilated. 
 Many systems are too^ weak to be able to do either. They 
 cannot swallow food, they cannot digest or assimilate it, even 
 if they succeed in forcing it down. In cases of utter ex- 
 haustion, and even seeming death, the body may be revivified 
 by the infusion of magnetic life through the pores,^ And to 
 return to the story of Elijah — Has it never struck you forcibly, 
 how thoroughly the prophet magnetized the apparently dead 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 173 
 
 child, while he called upon God to return the soul to the 
 body it had just vacated, or about which it was hovering ere 
 it took its final departure ? Here we find prayer, earnest 
 aspiration, intensely strong desire, fervent calling upon God, 
 accompanied by earnest endeavour to restore life by physical 
 manipulation. Elijah combined the use of animal magnetism, 
 wdll-power, and spiritual fervour, and thus became a conduit 
 or channel through which healing power from the spirit-world 
 and the surrounding atmosphere could flow into the inanimate 
 form, upon which he stretched himself three times, respiring 
 heavily, by that means breathing out his bodily vigour into the 
 boy's physical frame. The warmth and vitality penetrating 
 every pore, mingling with the departing life force within, and 
 enabling the returning spirit, assisted by Elijah's fervent will 
 and prayer, to upbuild the earthly tenement, and restore her 
 son whole to his mother's loving arms. 
 
 C When Jesus healed a woman who had suffered twelve 
 years from a painful malady, while she only touched the 
 hem of his garment, it is said that as soon as she had touched 
 him, he perceived that virtue had gone out of him. This 
 virtue is the elixir of life, without which the body could not 
 be sustained a single moment, and which, in forms invisible 
 to ordinary sight, passes through the pores of the healer, 
 saturating- his dress, impregnating the air about him, and 
 then reaching the negative, susceptible frame of the patient, 
 finds an inlet and effects a cure. Health and disease are com- 
 municated in precisely similar ways. You know how timid 
 people are about sending their clotlies to a laundry, if they 
 have the faintest suspicion of clothes being sent there which 
 have been worn or used by persons suffering from certain 
 diseases generally considered infectious. You know how 
 alarmed some people are lest they should take the breath of 
 a sick person, fearing it should contaminate them. All we 
 ask you to accept is the demonstrable fact, that God was 
 neither cruel nor insane when he ordained the laws of nature, 
 and therefore in his universe it is not possible that while 
 disease can be caught good health cannot be communicated 
 from one to another. In the Acts of the Apostles, we are 
 told that handkerchiefs and aprons were laid upon the 
 apostles, and then transferred to the sick, and that these 
 magnetized articles healed them, while so great was the faith 
 of some in the power of one apostle, that they were satisfied 
 
1 7i LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 if but the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow 
 theifl. The only physical means of cm'e of the ordinary kind 
 mentioned in the Xew Testament, are clay and oiL The 
 oil is recommended by James, and it must be appHed accom- 
 panied by fervent prayer ; while the clay, which Jesus used 
 to anoint the eyes of a blind man, was made from his own 
 spittle ; and those who have studied the matter know that 
 the saliva of a healthy person, or even animal, is extremely 
 efficacious as a healing agent, as even the tongue of a dog has 
 been known to heal wounds which resisted all other modes 
 of treatment. 
 
 You will, however, be careful to observe, that purely 
 physical remedies can onh^ be adequate to effect a cure when 
 the injury sustained is of the body only. But how many 
 of the poor invalids you meet in your daily walks are suffer- 
 ing from bodily ailments only? If the distress is mental, 
 then the angel of healing in the person of some ready 
 sympathizer and tender friend, is alone able to do the needed 
 work. If illness proceed from financial embarrassment, or the 
 lack of sufficient food or raiment, then, of course, it is useless 
 to say. Be ye clothed and warmed and fed I unless you pro- 
 vide things necessary for the body. But how many are there 
 who are suffering from ailments, brought on almost entirely 
 by unhappiness and discontent I How many homes are 
 wretched, how many have skeletons in their cupboards, who 
 strive to appear gay I How many have secret griefs preying 
 upon their mind, robbing them of rest and taking from them 
 all a^opetite, utterly deranging all the functions of the body I 
 Such cases as these baffie the physician's skill at every turn. 
 They are ordered to Brighton or to Hastings, to Scarborough, 
 to Wales, to Devonshire, to the Isle of Wight. A sea 
 voyage is prescribed, but they may go to the antipodes, and 
 return no better. Neither the sea air, nor the mineral springs, 
 nor the fairest country scenes, nor the gayest Continental life, 
 has cheered them. 
 
 They are unhappy, and it is to these the Spiritual Healer 
 can turn and say, " Come unto me, ye that are wear}^ and 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Only sympathy, 
 aided by diiect spiritual ministration, can afford aid in such 
 instances as these ; and these are the most painful, chronic 
 and important cases of all. To help these you need no great 
 educational advantages or personal attractions. You need no 
 
GIFT OF HEALING. 175 
 
 copious supply of animal magnetic force, but you must have 
 love for your neighbour ; you must, at any rate, be willing to 
 be an instrument under heaven for blessing and relicAdng 
 your less fortunate and happy brethren ; and if your soul 
 goes out to others, and it is your prayer to help and heal 
 them, you will inspire them with new faith, new courage, and 
 the faith you have inspired will make them whole.?: 
 
 Time forbids us to enter more deeply into this engrossing- 
 theme to-day. The little we have said will, we hope, induce 
 you to inquire further into this beautiful truth. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE POAYER OF SYMPATHY. 
 
 THERE is a charmed, potent speU, which bindeta souls in love's embrace ; 
 No mortal tongues the bliss can tell, which tx) this sacred fount we trace. 
 It is a balm for every wound, for every sorrow, every grief. 
 And none can fly to it in vain, for speedy succour and relief. 
 
 This grace divine is known on earth but feebly, for the chains of clay, 
 Imprisoning your spirits here, full oft shut out its healing ray ; 
 The laws and customs man has made, the barriers of land and sea, 
 Shut you away full oft from those, who are your own through sympatliy. 
 
 But, wheresoe'er a kindred soul meets yours, in ways unknown to sense, 
 Striking a sweet, responsive chord within your breast, you go not thence 
 Without a raptm'e more divine than any earthly joy can bring ; 
 It is as though an angel's voice did in your inmost being sing. 
 
 Throughout the realms of earth and mind, this subtle principle is traced, 
 Affinity together binds the atoms, so that they are placed 
 Nearest to those with whom they dwell in peace, attracted by some power, 
 W^hich, hidden deep in Nature's heart, compels them all to yield their dower. 
 
 As Goethe beautifully taught, there are affinitizing souls, 
 
 And heaven would scarcely heaven be unless this law of love controls. 
 
 Though, in a wide and boundless sense, angelic love flows free to all. 
 
 Still, e'en in heaven, there are some souls, whom yours, in special sense, you call. 
 
 Not through the ties of flesh and blood, are spirits bound through endless day ; 
 Not by an earth-relationship, tread they the same celestial way ; 
 But by a deeper bond than this, are they united on that shore. 
 Where only pure affection lives, when all the dreams of earth are o'er. 
 
176 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Sometimes a stranger crosses o'er your threshold, and you know him not 
 By any earthly bond, and still your spirit says, you've ne'er forgot 
 How, in some lifetime long ago, perhaps not on this earthly plane, 
 You've met and parted ; now you meet again, and trace your kinship plain. 
 
 Sometimes when reading stories — old Iliads, and tales of long ago — 
 The author of some wond'rous prose or poetry awakes a glow, 
 j^esponsive to his thought, within the inmost circle of your mind, 
 In spkit, you for him enquire, and you will him hereafter find. 
 
 Xo link of love can severed be, which bindeth souls in love's great chain, 
 
 Xo tender throb of sympathy can fail some day response to gain ; 
 
 And if not here at all on earth, assuredlj', for aye ia heaven. 
 
 Will sympathy make known to you her perfect power, when earth is riven. 
 
 Is there a heart within this room — is there a soul in any place — 
 Who strives some other life to bless, and knows not by what means of grace 
 The heart forlorn may reached be ? Then, seeing not an open door, 
 You need not sigh, in vain lament, for him ye think so lone and poor I 
 
 Your sympathy can traverse seas I No continents can bar its course ; 
 
 It flies as on the wings of light, impelled by love's resistless force. 
 
 And oftentimes, when ye have felt a thrill of gladness through your pain, 
 
 It has but been a loving heart returning to your side again. 
 
 In sleep, or reverie, or trance, or some bright angel from above, 
 
 One who has loved you many an age, consoling you with heavenly love I 
 
 BEXEDICTIOX. 
 
 May Love's celestial power, 
 
 And Sympathy's sweet might, 
 Protect your every Life 
 
 From Sorrow's chilling blight ; 
 And may ye Angels be, 
 
 To ease the world's dull pain, 
 And, through a Life of gentle Love, 
 
 Heaven's highest Homes attain I 
 
 Amen. 
 
( 177 ) 
 
 XL 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE AND USE 
 
 OF FIRE. 
 
 OUR subject to-day is one of extreme interest and great 
 importanee from, a spiritual point of view, and even 
 from a material standpoint it is not an unprofitable, or 
 unattractive theme for consideration. 
 
 Fire was accounted one of the " four elements " by tlie 
 Ancients, and was said to be inhabited by a class of beings 
 called salamanders, the highest and purest of elementary 
 spirits, whose work in connection with the earth was to purify 
 and redeem it. 
 
 Many modern theorists, speaking of the past of this planet, 
 state that once the earth was enveloped in a fire -mist, and 
 that as this gradually cleared away the atmosphere was ren- 
 dered pure and wholesome, and the earth slowly became fit 
 for human habitation. 
 
 In the Kabala Fire always means the purifying or redeem- 
 ing element. 
 
 Among the Rosicrucians Fire was considered necessary to 
 accomplish the marvellous feat of transmutation, by means of 
 which all metals were said to be at lens^th convertible into 
 gold. 
 
 Fire, in the Old Testament, is always introduced as a test 
 of divine power, as in the story of Elijah and the prophets of 
 Baal. We are told that Elijah and Baal's worshippers agreed, 
 that the true God was the one who should make known his 
 presence by fire. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were 
 thrust into Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace, heated 
 seven times beyond its usual heat, and because the fire con- 
 sumed neither them nor their apparel, they were known to 
 have been on the side of right, and genuine servants of the 
 Most High. 
 
 In the New Testament, Jesus takes up the symbol, and 
 employs Fire to signify corrective chastisment, and all pro- 
 
178 LONDON LECTURES. . 
 
 cesses of purification, both in this and other reahiis of being ; 
 while Paul, following in this respect closely in the footsteps 
 of his master, says, the fire shall try every man and the work 
 of every man, and those who can abide the test by fire, with- 
 out suffering the loss of their possessions or the destruction 
 of their work, shall receive a reward, but those whose work 
 is burned shall themselves be saved, yet so as by fire. 
 
 The Roman Church, the Greek Church, and the high 
 Anglican Church all endorse certain views of purgation after 
 death, and admit the existence of the fires of purgatory for 
 those whose sins are only venial. But unhappily for the 
 interests of true religion, all these churches couple the in- 
 famous doctrine of everlasting torment for those who die in 
 mortal sin, with the reasonable and scriptural fact of purifica- 
 tion through suffering of those whose crimes are of a 
 milder hue. 
 
 At the time of the Protestant Reformation, Luther and 
 others found the doctrine of purgatory overlain with rubbish 
 and overgrown with weeds. The reformers of the IGth 
 century, like Cromwell and his followers in the 17th, hon- 
 estly endeavoured to put an end to abuses, to root up tares, 
 and save the precious wheat in all instances from destruction. 
 But, unfortunately, in the one case nearly all the poetry of 
 religion and much that contained spiritual truth was removed, 
 while in the other and later development of Protestantism, 
 everything beautiful in art was assailed, and sweet sounds 
 were considered a profanation of the temples if they were 
 supplied by instruments assisting the human voice. 
 
 In periods of reformation the sword always goes before the 
 Prince of Peace, and has a part to play in making the way 
 ready for those who are to sow germs full of spiritual vitality, 
 in gardens long occupied by noxious weeds, which it seems 
 in many instances impossible to uproot without plucking up 
 some of the flowers of religion also. CThe task of an icono- 
 clast is an extremely hard and unpoetical one, and in order 
 to be an iconoclast or idol-breaker, one must have a stern, 
 rugged disposition, a great deal of self-assurance, and very 
 little respect for antiquities ; yet the iconoclast need not be, 
 and often is not, an unkind or heartless man. 
 
 Ingersoll, in America, who is one of the most determined 
 opponents of the prevailing creeds, and whose lectures are 
 often extremely denunciatory, bears a charming reputation 
 
FIRE. 171) 
 
 among those who know liini, as an excellent husband, father, 
 neighbour and citizen. People say he is extremely kind- 
 hearted, and we can quite understand how a very humane 
 and tender-hearted man or even w^oman, can take just 
 Ingersoll's position, without intentionally causing any real 
 pain to any wdio seek to derive genuine consolation from 
 what is beautiful in religious conceptions. 
 
 Surely annihilation would be a milder doom than everlast- 
 ing torment ; surely a universe that governs itself would be a 
 better universe to contemplate than one governed by such a 
 God as the one depicted by Calvin. All protest against what 
 w^e feel to be religious truths, has been merely an inundation 
 caused by a \dgorous dow^npour of honest and needful assault 
 upon doctrines so atrocious and so conspicuous, that to get 
 rid of them, even at the expense of some poetry and even truth, 
 was a- desideratum, and w'henw-e feel certain, as w^e must if 
 we have any confidence in the immortality of truth itself, that 
 no truth can be destroyed, that though apparently dead it 
 rises into new and more glorious life, seeming the stronger 
 and lovelier for its every apparent defeat, w^e can but w^el- 
 come the storm and tempest w^hich lay it low, knowing that 
 when seemingly crushed, it is only gathering strength for 
 fresh encounters WT.th error, and that its own intrinsic utility 
 and self-evident rectitude, if nothing else, wall render it at 
 length acceptable to progressed and enlightened manO 
 
 Let us, for an instant, look at the effect produced by 
 literal fire in the material world. There is nothing nervous 
 people dread so much as being burnt. Drowning is said to 
 be comparatively an easy death. It is not the sinking of a 
 ship but the burning of a ship at sea, with water all around 
 it, that seems so terrible. You can scarcely bear to hear the 
 description of a burning wreck, on which are human beings 
 or even animals. It is the sound of the fire-engine w^hich 
 alarms you more than any other sound, until you get 
 thoroughly accustomed to it, by hearing it so often and 
 learning to place deserved confidence in the noble army of 
 firemen, whose braveiy and efficiency can scarcely be over- 
 ajDpreciated. But still the dread of fire in all large cities, and 
 in large hotels especially, makes the lives of many people a 
 burden to them, while the electric flash inspires terror in the 
 breast of millions. 
 
 It is certainly true, that fire is in a physical sense a very 
 
180 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 dreadful and a very deadly thing. iSTo one can witness a 
 volcano in eruption, without being pretty thoroughly con- 
 vinced of the real existence of the old traditional lake of lire 
 in the bowels of the earth. No one can be out in a ra2:inLC 
 storm, without feeling deeply awed by the tremendous power 
 of the lightning, which with its livid flame can in an instant 
 fell the stoutest forest iiQe, and lay low a building whose 
 foundations are in the granite rocks, and which has success- 
 fully withstood the action of all other elements. It is not 
 hard to account for that old-world dread of evil deities, and 
 of the anger of the Supreme, which was and is so fearfully 
 manifest to superstitious minds in the action of the raging 
 element. 
 
 But is not Fire the saviour as well as the consumer of the 
 earth ? Is it not through fire that earth and air are purified, 
 being rid by the activity of this fell destroyer of what would 
 inevitably produce its ruin, were it not for the interposition 
 of this awful dehverer ? It is the lightning which destroys 
 blight. After a thunderstorm the air is purer, the earth 
 fresher, and all conditions of life healthier. The maximum 
 result of the work of lightning is good, only the minimum 
 is evil ; and is it not so with those fearful city fires, which 
 have brought desolation in their train to thousands ? If 
 thousands have been made to suffer, millions have been made 
 to rejoice, and if either the many or the few must suffer, then 
 humanity and wisdom alike dictate that it is better to sacri- 
 fice the few and save the many, than to save the few and 
 let the many perish. If fires are evils, then they are among 
 lesser evils, not among the greater ones. They are impossible 
 in a perfect state of civilization, and only occur where dirt, 
 danger, and instability must sooner or later be removed, to 
 make way for cleanliness, safety, permanence, and all the 
 other necessary appurtenances and results of a perfect state 
 of society. 
 
 Historically speaking, the praise of Fire is written in un- 
 dying letters of flame, in the records of all great peoples. 
 The fire of London in 1666 burned a great deal of property, 
 very valuable to the holders of it, and caused much distress 
 all over the city ; but the fire burnt the plague also. Fire is 
 in a certain good sense very often a most intelligent and dis- 
 criminating respecter of persons and property. Electricity, 
 its wild state in the atmosphere, seems to strike haphazard. 
 
FIRE. 181 
 
 but fires wliicli break ont in cities ahiiost invariably burn 
 down narrow streets of ill-built tenement houses. Wherever 
 filth and disease are most represented, there the fire does its 
 destructive work most quickly ; wherever miserable shanties 
 abound, and streets are so narrow that persons can almost 
 shake hands with their opposite neighbours from the upper 
 story windows, fires destroy most rapidly and effectually. 
 . In America, the fires of Boston and Chicago have made 
 both those cities much healthier, safer and more beautiful. 
 The distress the fires occasioned awoke great sympathy with 
 the sufferers, and did positive good, in awakening feelings of 
 compassion for others in the breasts of those who were not 
 grievous sufferers themselves ; while, had those fires not 
 broken out when they did, it is difficult to decide as to how 
 far inferior in all respects those two great cities would have 
 been to what they now are. Modern buildings, models of 
 comfort, elegance and safety, almost perfect in their sanitary 
 arrangements, now occupy sites formerly disfigured by wooden 
 structures, which, had they lasted much- longer, would have 
 occasioned much disease and distress, and been great hind- 
 rances to the increase of commerce, unless they had been 
 pulled down. 
 
 Some people will think, very naturally, that it would have 
 been much' better to have pulled them down, and built others 
 before the fire broke out. Perhaps it would, but the fire had 
 other work tlian merely to remove impediments to business, 
 by destroying rickety buildings. Fire is a great purifier and 
 transmuter, and has manifold uses to serve in the chemical 
 changes produced in the vicinity of its activity. It is a well- 
 attested fact among agriculturists, that fire so far changes the 
 condition of soil, that plants and vegetables will grow on land 
 where the soil has been burnt, which never could be made to 
 grow there till after the fire had changed the soil, while other 
 kinds of vegetation died out and could not be reproduced 
 after the outbreak. QFire destroys many kinds of animalculee, 
 w^hich are the floating germs of disease in the air, and which 
 would attack many hundreds of persons, causing a fearful 
 increase in the rate of mortality, did not fire consume them : 
 while in addition to these purely sanitary facts, we must not 
 overlook some curious instances, which have come under our 
 notice, of the effects of fire upon disembodied spirits, who are 
 yet dwellers upon the earth or in its atmosphere, owing to 
 
182 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 the materiality of their states of mind, and the earth-bound 
 character of their affections. ') - 
 
 Of course, purely physical fire cannot affect disembodied 
 spirits, therefore, one of the arguments against a literal hell 
 has been, that it would destroy a physical structure almost 
 instantly, and then the sj^irit would no longer feel pain. But 
 there are fire-resisting substances, and chemical substances 
 may be applied to the human body, causing it to resist fire, 
 but with these we have not now immediately to do, and it 
 surely cannot be supposed that God has ordained the resur- 
 rection of all who die in sin, in fire-proof bodies at the last 
 great day, for the express purpose of securing to them an 
 eternity of torment. Such an act can hardly be considered 
 possible, if God be an infinite tyrant. If he be a God of 
 Love. Wisdom, Justice, or anything men unitedly pronounce 
 divine, such an action must be impossible to him. 
 
 There is a most remarkable passage in the New Testa- 
 ment which logically teaches that there are, and in the very 
 nature of things there must be, limits to Deity, and limits so 
 arbitrary that they are eternal fixities involved in the very 
 nature of the Divine Being. The Infinite is necessarily 
 limited by its own infinitude. The passage to which we refer 
 is to be found in the account given by Paul of his view of 
 the immutability of God's covenant, and the fixity of the 
 divine decrees (see Heb., vi., 18). After enumerating many 
 of the consolations naturally springing from a participation 
 in the covenanted blessings, which are secured to all who obey 
 the prescribed conditions for obtaining them, he speaks of im- 
 mutable things ^in which it was impossible for God to lie. 
 Can a God of Infi.nite Truth ever tell a falsehood '? Can he 
 ever wish to tell one ? Can a God of Infinite Wisdom ever 
 be guilty of folly or know a foolish wish? Can a God of 
 Infinite Love ever think an unkind thought, or a God of 
 Justice ever will to do other than justly to the meanest as well 
 as to the greatest and noblest of his creatures ? 
 Q It is impossible for God to be unkind, unjust, foolish or 
 untruthful. He who is essential rectitude must do right. 
 His Will is infinite in power, but that will can never be other 
 than wise and clement, and it is just here that Theists throw 
 overboard the infamous doctrine of everlasting torment, 
 without even thinking it necessary to consider any fancied 
 claims its apologists may think it has on the thought of the 
 
FIRE. 183 
 
 religious world. Orthodox Christians beg us to remember 
 that Jesus advocated it, and therefore it must be true. To 
 this plea, in its defence, we give the following shockingly- 
 heterodox answer : Even if Jesus did teach it, we still refuse 
 to admit its claims, as there is that in the nature of the doc- 
 trine itself, which awakens a thrill of hatred and disgust for 
 it in the hearts of all really humane people, who think about 
 it, even while they are themselves assured that they will never' 
 suffer its agonies. But Jesus did not teach it \_) At all events, 
 the Gospels do not say he did, though we admit there are 
 passages in the New Testament which appear to favour it, 
 and it is our province in this Discourse to consider the most 
 notable of them, as they bear directly upon our present 
 topic : the Value and Use of Fire considered Spiritually. 
 
 Only a few days ago, we heard a lecturer say Jesus invented 
 the frightful dogma of everlasting torments. He did not. 
 He preached against it, if the Evangelists speak truly, and it 
 would be far too great a concession to the prevailing idolatry 
 to allow that such a hideous dogma was ever conceived in the 
 brain of any good and pure-minded man. It sprang from 
 human barbarity and terror, in a savage age, and wherever it 
 has prevailed it has been a destructive parasite, blasting reli- 
 gions and civilizations alike, justifying the sword of Moham- 
 med and the horrors of the Inquisition equally. It is at the 
 root of the upholding of unnecessary wars, and the death 
 penalty in so-called Christian lands. Eliminate it utterly from 
 the creeds of Christendom, and you have slain a viper which 
 Christianity has nurtured for centuries in its bosom to its own 
 undoing, so that the very term " Christian " is to-day held in 
 contempt by many devout Theista, who have a strong admi- 
 ration for the character of its alleged founder, as represented 
 by the Evangelists. 
 
 Any student of Jewish history will see, in the reference 
 made by Jesus to fire and worms as constituting elements of 
 future punishment, direct references to the pit of Gehenna, 
 a pit in which the fires were never allowed to go out. To a 
 Jew, living in or near Jerusalem, the metaphor was singularly 
 apposite as an illustration of the nature of future punishment. 
 Gehenna was just outside Jerusalem, a pit where refuse of 
 every kind was deposited. The fires, of course, were always 
 kept burning as a sanitary precaution ; they were everlasting 
 fires, while the image of worms was drawn from the fact 
 
 j^ 
 
] 84 L OND ON LECT URFS. 
 
 that worms were constantly found feeding on the rubbish 
 which accumulated at the mouth of the pit. If the expres- 
 sion " everlasting fire " is used with reference to Gehenna, 
 the allusion is very plain, the significance very clear. The 
 fires are ever kept burning, not as a means of punishing the 
 guilty with unending torment, but exclusively as means of 
 consuming filth and keeping the city wholesome. 
 C Crematories have been established just outside the gates of 
 ancient cities, as cremation was practised by many nations of 
 antiquity, and in hot countries especially cremation is very 
 far preferable to burial, and with an ever-increasing popula- 
 tion, will soon be found necessary in England and the United 
 States, as well as all over Europe, and in the thickly populated 
 districts of the Orient, where cremation is a sanitary neces- 
 sity. Cremation w^as practised by many of the most illustrious 
 Orientals, and Lord Lytton in his descriptions of the " Com- 
 ing Race," declares that they join in a very beautiful and 
 impressive, but- by no means melancholy, burial service during 
 Avhicli the body is almost instantly destroyed by means of 
 " vril," and that the ashes of the departed are preserved by 
 the family. This is a distinct allusion to very ancient cus- 
 toms, and to the best of these the world is now turning in 
 its almost frantic endeavours to improve upon existing 
 imperfect modes of burial. '} 
 
 In all allusions to cremation w'e find everything suggestive 
 of purification, but nothing whatever of fire as a means of 
 inflicting unending suffering. In the book of Psalms, you 
 read the following words : " Thou hast tried us, God, even 
 as silver is tried ; thou madest us to pass through the fire." 
 Evidently the allusions are intended exclusively to refer to 
 such corrective chastisement as purified the mind, and made 
 the spirit of the warrior strong to encounter the difficulties 
 and dangers of life, to which he woukl othermse weakly 
 succumb. 
 
 C The Trial by Fire w^as one of the greatest tests ever ap- 
 plied to the initiate into the Ancient Mysteries. If the 
 candidate for honours could successfully pass the trial by fire, 
 he was considered worthy of the highest office, and was re- 
 vered as one under the special protection of the gods ; while 
 many legends, traditions and superstitions are rife in many 
 countries, not excepting England, testifying to a feeling or 
 belief, prevalent in greater or less degree in all countries, that 
 
FIRE. 185 
 
 the specially inspired are impervious to tlie effects of fire. 
 Thus fire-eating and fire-resisting are among the tricks of 
 modern conjurors, intended to simulate the wonderful per- 
 formances of the magicians of the East. 
 
 Since the advent of Modern Spiritualism, the fire test has 
 been applied to several mediums, and well-authenticated 
 cases, in which mediums have resisted this element, are now 
 .published, and are accessible to all who wish to read the 
 record of such tnily marvellous phenomena. A lady in 
 Chicago, some years ago, had her hands washed and closely 
 examined by eminent chemists, to make sure that no fire- 
 proof chemicals were upon them, before she submitted to the 
 lire test. Then in the presence of many competent witnesses, 
 w^ho bear willing testimony to the genuiness of the occurrence, 
 she bared the flesh of her arm, thrust it into a mass of live 
 coal, and her arm was not even singed or seared, ever so 
 slightl}^ Her invisible protectors, being questioned through 
 her entranced lips concerning the modus operandi of this 
 startling miracle, declared that powerful spirits, acquainted 
 with many facts in occult chemistry, unknown to the 
 world at large, collected from the atmosphere and from the 
 bodies of the medium and sitters, such material as when 
 prepared by the spirits, in the form of an invisible preparation 
 which they applied to the flesh of the lady, rendered her 
 arm imper^dous to the flame. Spirits have declared on 
 several occasions and through various mediums, whenever 
 fabric has been protected against fire, that a simihir process 
 has been devised ; and while the world is not expected to 
 believe anything extraordinary without sufficient proof of its 
 reality, it is surely unscientific, unphilosophic and, indeed, 
 irrational to deny the possibility of that to which others bear 
 testimony, merely because you yourselves have not personally 
 witnessed the phenomena. ) 
 
 Fire-worship played an important part in the beliefs and 
 ceremonies of the Ancients, and indeed the religion of the 
 Parsees was so largely made up of the adoration of Fire, 
 that they have quite commonh^ borne the name of Fire -wor- 
 shippers. As it is now the custom to study rather than deride 
 the worship of the Ancients, doubtless many of you are to 
 some extent familiar \\i\h. the peculiar tenets of the Parsees 
 and others, w^ho believed implicitly in Light as the expression 
 of Deity, in the Sun as the home of the god of the solar 
 
 z 
 
3 86 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 system, ard in Fire as the vivifying and purifying flame, 
 without which nothing could exist, be born or renewed. 
 Doubtless among some nations fire, heat or warmth was re- 
 garded as the manifestation of the divine emanation, or the 
 Holy Spirit, and it is a noteworthy fact that fire and flame 
 are the chosen emblems of the Holy Ghost in Christian 
 records. The baptism of the Spirit is called the baptism of 
 fire. John predicted that Jesus would baptize with the Holy 
 Spirit and with fire, signifying both inward illumination and 
 the purification of the afi^ections from all dross. Fire is the 
 regenerator and renew^er as well as the destroyer, and Ave 
 venture to say there w^as never a more sublime conception of 
 the work of preservation and destruction, proceeding from 
 one and the same spirit, than that grand old Brahmanical 
 idea of Siva, the third person of the Brahmanical trinity, 
 W'ho is called both Destroyer and Reproducer. 
 
 To apply these ancient beliefs to the doctrine of purgation 
 after death, as taught in the New Testament, is not difficult, 
 and when we remember that Jesus was speaking to Orientals, 
 and that Paul preached and wrote to Orientals also, it is by 
 no means unlikely that all the incomprehensible and seemingly 
 far-fetched allusions in the (iospels and Epistles, really re- 
 ferred, at the time the w^ords were originally spoken or written, 
 to beliefs and practices so common and universally known, as 
 to render the peculiar form of illustration adopted, that 
 most eminently calculated to impress the minds of those for 
 whose immediate benefit the teaching was given under that 
 guise. 
 
 C If, instead of denouncing, modem teachers would explain 
 the dark sayings of old, the cause of spiritual liberation and 
 true religious progress would make twenty times the head- 
 way it now^ does against blind and slavish idolatry of the letter 
 on the one hand, and equally blind forgetfulness of all things 
 spiritual on the other^ 
 
 The simple explanation now given by almost all intelligent 
 exponents of the Gospel, of the illustration of a camel going- 
 through the eye of a needle, is a sample of how very easily 
 most absurd and misleading dogmas have been built upon a 
 misunderstandirjg of some local reference.- One requires to 
 know something of the city of Jerusalem and its precincts, 
 to understand how the eye of a camel can have anything to 
 do, even figuratively, with a rich man entering the kingdom 
 
FIRE. 187 
 
 of heaven, but when, the camel's eye is explaiaed, as a Uttle 
 gate leading into the city, through which belated travellers 
 entered after the' larger gates were closed, and when it is 
 further stated that a laden camel had to be unladen ere he 
 could enter through that narrow aperture, the illastration is 
 peculiarly significant and apt. Cliches cannot be carried into 
 the heavenly state. The ideal state of human society is 
 communistic. Jesus taught equal rights and united interests. 
 His early followers were practical communists : they did not 
 allow ancestral privileges. They taught as did Paul : If a 
 man will not work neither let him eat. They regarded it as 
 a crying shame that some should possess vast acres of the 
 country which they had not cultivated, and therefore not law- 
 fully obtained except throu'^h the sanction of a partial, unjust 
 and tyrannous law, favouring monopoly and crashing dowa 
 the common people under the iron heel of the tyrannical 
 aggressor. Jesus said these artificial distinctions must be 
 dispensed with. Men must all be brothers, and so it is said, 
 that when an early Christian church was formed, almost im- 
 mediately after pentecost, the disciples had all things in 
 common, and gave to every man as he had need. Henry 
 Greorge to-day might be a lineal descendant of the apostle 
 Paul, and indeed of most of the early Christians, so closely 
 do his views on " Progress and Poverty" agree with those of 
 the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and the primitive Christians 
 generally.,) 
 
 There is perhaps no one passage of Scripture, certainly no 
 parable, which has afforded a text for more frightful sermons 
 than the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and yet no 
 parable can possibly set forth the doctrine of future punish- 
 ment, as a means of purification, more clearly than does that 
 much misinterpreted and belied narrative of the only way 
 by which an obdurate spirit can be brought to repentance in 
 the life beyond. The Church of Rome has never endeavoured 
 to teach the dogma of everlasting torment from this parable, 
 but has always used it to justify the doctrine of purgatory. 
 In the same way, the celebrated passages concerning fire, in 
 Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, have been, and still are, 
 brought forward by the Roman Church, to support the doc- 
 trine of purgatorial cleansing for all who do not die in mortal 
 sin. Unfortunately, the Roman Church employs other texts 
 of Scripture, as we think quite unwarrantably, to support the 
 
188 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 heinous dogma of unending torment for all who die in what 
 the Church calls mortal sin ; and as it is a mortal sin to neglect 
 mass on a Sunday, or holiday of obligation, you may easily 
 perceive on what a slender thread immortal life hangs, for 
 those who accept all the dogmas of the Vatican. 
 
 The parable of the rich man and Lazarus, illustrates per- 
 fectly the lesson we intend to convey in our present Discourse 
 upon Fire, viz., that as material fire is a purifier in the 
 material world, so spiritual fire is a redeemer in the world of 
 spirits ; and in enforcing this lesson we feel we are not taking 
 up your time in empty quibbling or vain disputation. CWe are 
 setting forth a principle of nature, which it would be well for 
 every legislator, employer, guardian and parent to remember, 
 ■viz., that punishment should never be other than corrective. 
 Whenever vengeance or the retaliative spirit is made mani- 
 fest, means of correction are forgotten, and methods of cruel 
 and foolish torture usurp their place. ^ 
 
 We are told in the Gospel of a certain rich man (Dives), 
 and of a certain beggar (Lazarus), who lay at his gate 
 covered with sores, to whom the Eastern dogs, a very low 
 branch of the canine family, were kinder than the opulent 
 man, at whose gates the dying beggar lay. It will well repay 
 us to prolong our meditation a few minutes, by endeavouring 
 to fully take in the situation depicted, and analyze the charac- 
 ters presented to our notice. 
 
 Some interpreters have understood the rich man to repre- 
 sent the wealthy Jews, who in the time of Jesus neglected 
 the poor ; Lazarus, their poorer brethren ; and the dogs, the 
 Gentiles, who were called dogs by the arrogant Hebrews, just 
 as Christians are still called dogs by Mohammedans, dog being 
 an Oriental term of reproach, signifying an unworthy person, 
 the dog in Asia and Southern Europe being a very different 
 animal from the sleek, pampered and well-fed creature who 
 feeds upon the best of the land in London or New York, and 
 is his mistress's favourite companion in her carriage at the 
 most fashionable squares, parks, boulevards or avenues. To 
 live a dog's life in England to-day, or to be compared to a 
 dog, w^ould often mean that you were preferred before all 
 others, and were entitled to a very great amount of conside- 
 ration ; but go to Constantinople or Damascus, for instance. 
 and make the acquaintance of the dogs there, and they will 
 fill you, for the most part, with mingled feelings of pity and 
 
FIRE. 189 
 
 disgust. They are mostly fierce, famishing, filthy creatures, 
 almost utterly repulsive in their appearance and demeanour, 
 but they are not destitute of fine feeling, however. Despite 
 their degradation, they will be faithful to those w^ho feed and 
 succour them, and to the sick poor they are often extremely 
 kind, and being possessed, as all dogs are in greater or lesser 
 degree, of heahng power in the tongue, they do to-day to 
 the lazaroni of the South, what they did to the poor beggar, 
 of whom Jesus spoke. C They give relief to the suffering by 
 licking their wounds, and you will find in your own expe- 
 rience, that a dog's tongue will often heal a troublesome sore 
 that no ointment will relieve. J^^ 
 
 The dog of the East was a sjanbol of the poor, degraded 
 and outcast, and also of the heathens, who were pariahs, or 
 outcast from fellowship with the orthodox. Jesus took occa- 
 sion to rebuke the pharisaism of the self-righteous Jews, and 
 told them how their own poor were often ministered unto by 
 the Gentiles, whom they called dogs or outcasts, while their 
 own people neglected them. The consequences to the Hebrew 
 race, of this inequality and injustice, he likened to the w^ealthy 
 finding themselves in a lake of burning fire, tormented in 
 a flame which nothing could put out. iSTot even a single 
 drop of water could they get to cool their parched lips. 
 They wordd, in the day of their dire humiliation, see Abra- 
 ham, afar off, with the despised poor whom they had forsaken, 
 in his bosom : Abraham's bosom being a Jewish figure of 
 speech, a name for Paradise. To be with Abraham, the 
 father of the faithful, was the goal of the Jew's most ardent 
 expectations. The punishment of those who had had the 
 wherewithal to reheve distress, and had not even relieved it 
 among their own people, w^hom the law commanded them to 
 treat as their own flesh, was that they should find the tables 
 completely turned upon them in the future life. They would 
 be filled with chagrin, remorse and anguish, realizing how 
 utterly they were shut out from the covenanted blessings ; 
 not covenanted to the rebellious and the selfish, however, but 
 to those who fulfilled the conditions of the covenant, i.e., 
 obeyed the spirit as well as the letter of the Law. CWhen 
 the spirit is neglected, then even Sabbath observance and 
 attendance at the Synagogue on solemn feast days become 
 abominable in the sight of heaven, as it is a vain pretext 
 and endeavour certainly to deceive men, and to deceive God 
 
190 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 also, if it were possible to conceal the heart from the All- 
 seeing. ') 
 
 The rich man, who is a representative of the ojnilent 
 classes who shut up their bowels of compassion from their 
 needy brethren, is at first only conscious of his own misery 
 and loss. He cries out in his pain for water, and requests 
 that Lazarus may bring it to him. He is told that is impos- 
 sible, between them there is a great gulf fixed, and yet 
 locally they are so near together they can see each other ; at 
 all events the denizen of hell can see the happy souls in 
 paradise, and that sight adds to his misery, as it taunts him 
 with what he might have become, and where he might then 
 have been, if, with his many advantages, he had led as pure a 
 life as that of the beggar he despised. He asks that court 
 may be shown him still. Though he has fallen thus low, 
 it seems to him but natural that Lazarus, on earth onl}?- a 
 beggar, should be sent with water for his refreshment. ( But 
 he had to learn that there are no class distinctions in the 
 Unseen World, that there promotion is only according to 
 merit, and that one, who on earth was a lowly beggar, may 
 be far too high to be commissioned even to take his station 
 by the side of one of the greatest lords of the earth, who 
 has feasted sumptuously and apparelled himself gorgeously 
 every day, while he cared nothing, and perhaps knew nothing, 
 except by hearsay, of the starving mendicant dying at his 
 gate. ) It is said that the beggar desired the crumbs from the 
 rich man's table, but it is not said that he got them. 
 
 In London, and all large modern cities. Dives lives in a 
 palace and Lazarus starves at his gate. Aristocratic Belgra- 
 via ignores the very existence of the slums at the East end 
 of the city. Harrowing accounts appear in the papers daily, 
 of deaths through starvation, in the cold winter months, of 
 poor seamstresses who make the shirts which many of the 
 fashionable gentlemen wear, and never pay for, at their ele- 
 gant fetes and parties. Many and many a tradesman is 
 ruined, compelled to go into bankruptcy, because of the 
 unwillingness or inability of the rich, or seemingly rich, to 
 settle their accounts, and many are the poor laundresses and 
 seamstresses, who are sent away day after day without their 
 hard-earned pittance, because the opulent, or at the least, the 
 make-believe wealthy consider them miserable inferiors, who 
 should esteem it an honour to be allowed to work for the 
 
FIRE. 191 
 
 gentry and nobility, whether they get paid for their toil or 
 not. 
 
 There are indeed many honourable exceptions : lords and 
 ladies, earls and marquises, duchesses and counts, who not 
 only pay all their just debts, but are positively benevolent, 
 sympathetic and helpful to the poor, to the very farthest 
 limit of their power. '^And these, who are born to the purple, 
 need not cast it off but wear it honourably ; they do their 
 duty in the exalted station to which they have been called, 
 usually by circumstances beyond their own control. Were 
 they to step off their pedestals, they might do less good ihan 
 they are now accomplishing, and even Buddha, who left his 
 father's house at midnight, and threw in his lot with the 
 mendicant friars of India, might possibly have chosen the yet 
 better way, and attained Nirvana earlier had he remained at 
 home, faithful to his home, and fulfilled honourably and justly 
 all the duties of exalted station. 
 
 There is an old parable in the Old Testament, about the 
 trees choosing a bramble for their king, but they did not elect 
 him to office until they offered the highest station to the 
 olive and the cedar, and other beautiful and stately trees, 
 more fit to represent them. The stately trees declined to 
 serve, and therefore the bramble got in. There is a lesson 
 for election times, and all whom the people want to serve as 
 candidates for office. Somebody must serve ; if a suitable 
 person is not chosen an unsuitable one will be, so it is really 
 hazardous and wrong for persons to cloak themselves with 
 false humihty, and refuse honours pressed upon them, by 
 accident of birth, passing away of relations, or other similar 
 causes. 
 
 They who trust in riches, and love them inordinately, are 
 the only ones necessarily outside the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 Not the possession of money, but the miser's love of it, is the 
 root of evil, and only the miser or the egotist, who cares not 
 who starves as long as he has his turtle soup and the best of 
 wines, who cares not who goes naked so long as he is dressed 
 in the latest style, in garments of the costliest material ; only 
 he who sneeringly asks the question of Cain, " Am I my 
 brother's keeper ? " refusing to take any interest in the wel- 
 fare of others, ignoring the poor and the unfortunate com- 
 pletely ; only he and such as he have a hell awaiting them in 
 spirit-life. When death shall close their eyes upon all earthly 
 
192 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 scenes, death wiYl be to them the thief, that steals from them 
 all upon which they have placed their love, the moth which 
 corrodes, the rust which eats away their fairest treasures. 
 Then despoiled of all their boasted rank and powers, their 
 spiritual eyes sealed against the light of heaven, their ears 
 deaf to all celestial melodies, a burning fire of fury, remorse 
 and impotent despair consuming their very vitals, will lead 
 them in their pain to cry out for one whom they despised on 
 earth, to be sent unto them to relieve their pain. 
 
 Had the rich man asked to see Lazaras face to face, that 
 he might crave his pardon for the wrong he had done him on 
 earth, perhaps he would have been sent to him, with water 
 in his hand to cool the rich man's tongue. But the rich man 
 still thought only of himself; the love of self was still 
 supreme within him, dominating the love of neighbour and 
 the love of Grod, and no reformation would have been worked 
 within him if the torment he was enduring had been lessened, 
 before the cleansing fires had burned away the dross of sel- 
 fishness, which was his' deadly sin, and the occasion of his 
 doom. The fires must longer burn, his request must be 
 denied, simple though it be, in seeming cruelty, though really 
 in love. 
 
 God works in all the hells ; the flames are lighted by his 
 love, and they at length remove the rust of that most crying 
 sin of all, the sin of selfishness ; so when the rich man had 
 endured his pain a little longer, he begins to think of his 
 brethren and forgets himself. He had never troubled to set 
 them a good example when he was with them on earth, and 
 now it must add fuel to the flame that torments him, to 
 remember that had he acted differently toward them, they 
 would not be in the danger they are now in, of sharing this 
 place of torment when they leave the earth. Though the 
 parable closes indefinitely as regards the future of the rich 
 man, it leaves him on the upward track, for surely no theolo- 
 gian or religionist of any school, can possibly deny that when, 
 through bitter suffering, a nature is aroused from the sinful 
 slumber of consummate selfishness, to express a concern for 
 others' welfare, indeed for their eternal salvation, that that 
 soul can be beyond the pale of redemption, hopelessly lost to 
 goodness and to God. 
 
 If there were no such a thing as hell fire, it would be indeed 
 a sorry look out for those who die in their sins. If peojDle 
 
FIRE, 103 
 
 could be eternally satisfied with evil,, or if God could be 
 eternally satisfied with it, then all our confidence in the abso- 
 lute nature and eternity of goodness would be destroyed, 
 and not even God could be pronounced perfect. But all the 
 traditions of the world point to one, and but to one, and that 
 an inevitable conclusion, viz., that all souls have deep within 
 them something purer and better than the paltry self-love, 
 which is often all that a spirit manifests during an earthly life- 
 time, and during a period of abasement in spirit-life, conse- 
 quent upon misdoing. 
 
 Thank God for the fires of hell ! Let us hope they are 
 everlasting, if races of men are to be constantly born like 
 unto ourselves upon this planet or any other. If there be an 
 eternal succession of worlds, then everlasting fires are needed, 
 not to make the everlasting punishment of any spirit in the 
 universe a fact, but to render the everlasting evil, with 
 which orthodoxy threatens the universe, an impossibility. 
 
 It is wisely said, that angels who kept not their first estate 
 are the only devils there are. Innocence is forfeited during 
 the battle of life, ignorance and wilfulness make unhappy 
 combinations of things all good in themselves. Fire, the des- 
 troyer, reduces the state of evil to a pile of ashes, hberates 
 materials from disorderly connections, breaks up the hells of 
 strife and discord, fashioned by ignorance, and causes the 
 Phoenix ever to arise from the pile of ashes, symbol of the 
 Soul's perfect conquest over all that enshrouds and enslaves it. 
 
 Do not try to explain away the Eternal Fire which purifies 
 the universe, for in doing so you may be trying to get rid of 
 man's best friend and benefactor, the searching flame of Divine 
 Love, which w^W. utterly consume the tares of ignorance and 
 vice, which grow now in the gardens of many lives, until at 
 length, every spirit now in suffermg will be able to say to the 
 Eternal : Thank God for the discipline of pain I " Before I 
 was afflicted I went astray, but now do I keep Thy Word." y 
 
 m^m 
 
 Z A 
 
1 94 L OK I) OK LECT URES. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 CLEANSING FIEES. 
 
 T ET thy gold be tried in the furnace ; let thy silver and gems be tried ; 
 J^ Let thy heart and thy mind be afflicted, that they may be purified. 
 If the stains of sin and error are all around them now, 
 Let the fire of correction cleanse them, and they shall be white as snow. 
 
 In the crucible of sorrow, God places many a heart 
 
 To cleanse it, and to purify, by the Sre that makes it smart ; 
 
 But men have vainly fancied, God places it in ire, 
 
 In an endless hell of torment, where his wrath lights the fire. 
 
 But 'tis not so, my brethren ; ye who are suffering now, 
 
 'Tis not in' anger that God sets His seal upon your brow ; 
 
 But as on Cain, in old time, the brand was in mercy set. 
 
 So the brand of God's indignation, we pray you, ne'er forget. 
 
 Is a brand of loving-kindness, when seen in the spheres beyond, 
 
 A mark of God's pure endeavour to save you, a sacred bond 
 
 Which will draw your spirits unto him, however widely they strayed, 
 
 The cord, or the chain of sorrow, on your hearts in love is laid. 
 
 Sometimes on the one foundation, silver and gold ye lay, 
 Then, in the day of judgment, God recompense will pay 
 For the silver and gold ye have given, to ease another's smart. 
 Will bring you sweet consolation, and satisfy your heart. 
 
 The silver and gold, ye'll remember, are not from an earthly mine; 
 
 They are thoughts of pure loving-kindness, which clearer than diamonds shine 
 
 The gems, which shall sparkle brightly in heaven's illustrious crown, 
 
 Ai-e lx)rn of your efforts for others, when ye've laid all selfishness down. 
 
 Sometimes, but hay and stub'ole ye place in God's temple seat, 
 Ye bring to him naught but rubbish — chaff for the burning meet; 
 Ye bring cowardice, hypocrisy, self-seeking, thirst for gain. 
 Falsehood, and many an error that cannot in heaven obtain. 
 
 Sometimes on the earth ye suffer the loss of all you love. 
 
 Sometimes in the fire of sorrow, which descendeth from above, 
 
 You lose, m an earthly trial, your love of the base and vile. 
 
 And ilien, ere ye leave the mortal, heaven's sunshine once more doth smile. 
 
 But many there be, who go outward to the Land of Souls, unblest 
 
 With any desire for heaven, without the sweet secret of rest ; 
 
 Without love of God in tlieir bosoms, without any care for his poor ; 
 
 For These, wh&n this earth-lfe is over, there remaineth God's threshing-floor. 
 
 He will purge his floor most thoroughly, will gather his wheat inio barns, 
 
 Will burn up the chaff, as the fuel which keeps that Gehenna alive. 
 
 Which, ever outside of earth's cities, is burning, for spirits who need 
 
 To be cleansed, ere they enter those portals, which nothing but pleasure can breed 
 
FIRE. 105 
 
 Not in anger doth God send afilictiou, bat Ditos, in anguish most dire. 
 
 Is suffering only by reason of God's love, wliich lighteth the fire 
 
 Which parches his throat, and consumes him with sorrow and grief lor his sin ; 
 
 His selfishness dies in the bright flame, he cries: "Let my bretliren begin 
 
 To lead a new life, lest they, also, to this place of torment are brought ; 
 
 Send an angel, or send me, I pray yon, that these sinners in time may be sought 1 " 
 
 " They will hear not the law nor the propliets," sai 1 Abraham unto him then : 
 "If one rose from the dead, they'd believe not," heaven's doctrines are far 'bove 
 
 their ken ; 
 But their brother himself, he must seek them, undoing the wrong he has done. 
 Must return to the earth as a preacher, and preach till they've new life begun I 
 
 Are any of you clothed in purple? Do you sumptuously fare every day ? 
 
 Do ye think naught of brethren in danger ? Do ye drive the poor beggar away ? 
 
 Then, surely, when'earlh-life is ovei*, the fire in your bosom will burn. 
 
 And ye'il ask, when too late, how to succour the homeless, the sad, the forlorn. 
 
 Too late ! yes, to you it will seem so, until ail your selfishness dies. 
 And, then, when pure love of your neighbour lights up with sweet mercy your eyes, 
 A way will be opened, your spirits will see how to rescue the sad. 
 And, employed by some glorious immortals, through your work will others grow 
 glad. 
 
 The fire must burn on till all error Is expunged from your inmost desire ; 
 
 Bless God for the liottest furnace, for the fiercest, torturing fire. 
 
 For surely hell fires are reserved for all, who impenitent die, 
 
 But in mercy, not anger, they're lighted: not to doom, bat to raise you on high I 
 
 benedictio:n'. 
 
 May tlie Light of God's Love burn brightly. 
 
 And enter your spirits below, 
 While yet upon earth you must labour. 
 
 Then, whenever from earth you go^ 
 Your transit may be to regions 
 
 Where you need not the cleansing flame, 
 But where, numbered among the angels, 
 
 Heaven's radiance your souls may claim. 
 
 Amen. 
 
( 196 ) 
 
 XIL 
 
 THE ASCENSION OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN, 
 
 AND THE DESCENT OF THE 
 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 IN onr Lecture upon '' The Resurrection," you will 
 remember, we started a train of thought which we were 
 not able to elaborate to any great extent on Easter Sun- 
 day. Now that we have been requested to give our views 
 upon the Ascension, and also upon the Descent of the Holy 
 Spirit upon the disciples after the ascension of Jesus into 
 heaven, we shall endeavour to be yet more explicit in the 
 expression of our opinions concerning the method of the 
 Resurrection ; as we believe the appearances of Jesus to his 
 disciples after his physical death, to have been nothing other 
 than ancient spiritual manifestations, recorded for the benefit 
 of mankind by those chosen disciples and holy brethren, who 
 were specially privileged to hold communion with the trium- 
 phant spirit of the great teacher and loving friend, from whose 
 material form they had so recently been called to part. 
 CThere is a growing tendency among all really advanced 
 thinkers, to spiritualize rather than to explain away Scripture 
 narratives ; and while recent Oriental discoveries have led 
 many to abandon the name of Christian, and vathhold their 
 allegiance from a restrictive Christianity, which exalts one 
 teacher at the expense of all others; while some have gone 
 so far as to deny the personality of Jesus altogether, no one 
 who is really a student of Oriental and classic history, can 
 fail to be struck with the surprising fact that all the religious 
 systems and sacred books of the world extant, have similar 
 traditions and similar accounts of ancient spiritual marvels. 
 The astronomical theory, and many other modern theories 
 account for some things, but they do not cover the entire 
 ground which must be covered before we can offer to the 
 w^orld anything like an adequate solution of the difficulties 
 presented to students, and indeed to almost everybody, who 
 
THE ASCENSION. 107 
 
 reads anything now-a-days concerning the mysteries of past 
 ages. 
 
 Spiritualism can and does offer the only really intelligible 
 and satisfactory explanation of the spiritual phenomena of 
 past times, and it is a great pity when professing Spiritualists, 
 instead of calling public attention to spiritual truths, imitate 
 materialists \Yho have no knowledge of spiritual things, 
 according to their own declaration, and therefore cannot be 
 expected to give it forth to the world — as to give what one 
 does not possess is an impossibility — and indulge in scoffing 
 assertions with regard to ancient marvels, which by reason 
 of their purely negative character, add nothing Avhatever to 
 a controversy, except fresh fuel for the inflammation of party 
 feeling and sectarian strife. 
 
 We have no blind or superstitious veneration for the Bible, 
 as you very well know, neither have we any foolish and un- 
 reasoning dislike to it. We wish to treat it fairly, but then 
 we endeavour to treat every book fairly. Thus, the Bible, 
 in our hands, receives no better and no worse treatment than 
 any other literary compilation, and we shall rejoice to see the 
 day wdien sacred anthologies are so common, that go where 
 you will, you will have placed in your hands compendium s of 
 the choicest literary and moral extracts, which wise and far- 
 reaching minds shall have gathered from all available sources, 
 ancient and modern. Moncure D. Conway in England, and 
 Giles Stebbins in America, have done something in this 
 direction, in the publication of two very valuable works) 
 adapted especially for reading in schools, and at public 
 religious meetings, but much more remains to be done in this 
 direction, and we only hope lovers of truly great sayings of 
 truly great men, will ere long make some decided effort to 
 place such works as those to which we have alluded, in the 
 hands of all readers, and not at a prohibitory price, as expen- 
 sive works of that character are scarcely needed, as only the 
 rich can purchase them, and the wealthy owners of good 
 libraries would find little or nothing unfamiliar to them in 
 such a treatise. Still a portable volume of moderate size, 
 filled with choice selections from the best ancient and modern 
 authors, is always valuable, as large, cumbersome works can 
 Avith difficulty be carried from place to place, and are often 
 practically useless, except to the very few, on account of tlieir 
 bulk and costliness. 
 
19S LOXDOX LECTURES. 
 
 CWe are often asked why we so constantly allude to the 
 Bible narratives, rather than to others, in our Discourses, and 
 also, why we nsually preach from a Scripture text ? Our 
 answer is : It is the province, both of the pulpit and the plat- 
 form, to teach morality and to unfold spiritual truths, and as 
 we can just as well do this work as we are able, by taking up 
 narratives with which the public are familiar, and expounding 
 them in the light of nniversal laws and principles, as by 
 alluding to incidents unknown to the greater portion of our 
 audiences, we take the popular Bible, and preach from it, not 
 to the exclusion of other works, but merely because by so 
 doing w^e the sooner gain the public ear and arrive at desired 
 results, viz., the unfoldment of those spiritual truths which 
 the Bible narratives certainly do set forth as well as any 
 others, and better than many ; while we add to this reason 
 another, and that is this : the Bible is used as a weapon for 
 the advocacy of the most pernicious doctrines. Once convince 
 the public that the Bible itself does not teach what orthodox 
 people say it teaches, and you have broken asunder the last 
 link which binds many sincere though timid and rather 
 superstitious people, to the now rapidly dying errors of the 
 past. 
 
 Oh, but the Bible says so I is a phrase often used to silence 
 any one and every one who dares to put forward an un- 
 orthodox doctrine. The user of the phrase means, of course, 
 that the Bible says exactly what he says, and, therefore, the 
 setter-forth of the strange doctrine is deluded, or an emissary 
 of Satan. This foolish habit of endeavouring to silence every 
 objector to one's own ideas of what the Bible enforces or sub- 
 stantiates, will be dismissed when the prevalent superstitions 
 concerning the Bible are at an end ; but they never will be 
 vanquished until some one enlightens the public mind on the 
 subject of inspiration and spiritual matters generally, to put 
 to flight the old infallibility dogma, and all notions of plenary 
 inspiration, in the old orthodox meaning of that term. 
 
 That the Bible is a record of the spiritual experiences of an 
 important section of mankind, is indisputable. The Bible, 
 indeed, is not the record of the spiritual experiences of the 
 whole human race, but it does embody the most startling 
 revelations made to Jews and the Grentile peoples also, from 
 whom the Anglo-Saxon race has gradually developed. 
 Orientals have their own records, somewhat similar and some- 
 
THE ASCENSION. 199 
 
 what different, but these records are not, as some suppose, 
 superior to the Bible ; they are, if anything, inferior to it, 
 probably because they are older, for one thing, and during 
 the past several thousands of years the Eastern and Western 
 parts of the Avorld, north of the equator, have been slowly 
 but surely advancing, every new race attaining to a higher 
 stage of civilization than its predecessor. 
 
 Ancestral influences are acknowledged by all students of 
 heredity, as playing a very important part in the development 
 of races and individuals. Truly the modern student is very 
 apt to ignore spiritual communion with ancestors altogether, 
 but the very doctrine of ancestral influences, as taught by 
 externahsts who believe in heredity, is the outside shell of a 
 great spiritual truth ; yea, their conclusions are quite correct, 
 only they go no further than effects and secondary causes. 
 The first cause, in such instances, is always spirit influence, 
 and when this is clearly demonstrated to all people, no scien- 
 tific facts will be set aside, but the theorizings of scientists will 
 be vastly improved and grandly supplemented. 
 
 The story of the Resurrection of Jesus is incomplete 
 without the Ascension, and the Ascension is again incomplete 
 without the Descent of the Holy Spiiit, and it will be well 
 for us to spend a short time this morning, in endeavouring 
 to account for the marvellous events recorded by the Evan- 
 gelist, on the basis of such, spiritual laws as render them 
 explicable, without the setting aside of any known law of 
 nature. A law may be overpowered by a mightier law, as a 
 strong man may be overcome by a stronger, but then it is 
 i\iQ laiD that this should be , so, and whatever takes place 
 under the operation of law, must be, correctly speaking, a 
 legal or natural event, though it be a supermaterial occur- 
 rence. 
 
 Supermaterial, superhuman, and superterrestrial are words 
 that still convey some meaning to our minds. Supernatural 
 we have outgrown, not because our views of spiritual action 
 over matter have become narrowed, but because our concep- 
 tions of nature have so far enlarged, that we confess our 
 inability to see beyond it. 
 
 Every miracle ever recorded may have taken place in 
 obedience to some immutable law of nature, which rendered 
 possible that which to most minds was strictly impossible. 
 The mere plea that something is incomprehensible, is no 
 
200 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 argument against its reality, and they are poor philosophers 
 who cannot make room in their system for accepting the 
 genuineness of many thingS; which to them are truly 
 miraculous. (Marvellous, inexplicable, even though perfectly 
 natural.) 
 
 The disintegration of the body of Jesus seems to us the 
 only rational interpretation of the story of the Resurrection, 
 when we consider it literally. If the record of his life be 
 true, then for three years, at least, and for how much longer 
 the New Testament does not tell us, he had been practising 
 the most rigid self-denial, and had acquired the power of 
 stilling tempests, multiplying loaves and fishes, healing all 
 manner of diseases, delivering those suffering from demonia- 
 cal possession, and what seems even more startling still to 
 some readers, there were times when he transported himself 
 to a distant place, or changed his appearance, so that his 
 enemies were powerless to lay hands upon 1dm. 
 
 On one occasion it is said that because he offended the 
 rulers by the plainness of his speech, they took up stones to 
 hurl at him, and would have thrust him over the brow of 
 the hill, but he eluded them and thus saved himself from his 
 persecutors. It must be remembered, however, that this 
 story, or a similar one, is not told of Jesus only, and therefore 
 the application becomes more powerful and universal, as it 
 cannot be said that only one man, and he the special son of 
 (jrod, was endowed with this extraordinary ability, or was 
 subject to so signal an instance of spiritual power exerted over 
 him on his behalf. 
 
 We are told that after Elijah was taken from Elisha, the 
 spirit carried Elisha to a place far distant, and there was en- 
 acted the scene with the bears, which has excited such heated 
 controversy in many quarters. The Acts of the Apostles 
 informs us that Philip was carried a long distance by invisible 
 agency, so without calling to our aid any of the records of 
 the Orient and tales of the magicians, which would probably 
 be regarded as spurious by a majority of professing Chris- 
 tians, we find in the Bible itself many accounts of such 
 phenomena as are in rare instances duplicated at the present 
 time, and wdiich in connection with Modern Spiritualism have 
 been vouched for by Lord Lindsay, and other notable persons, 
 whose witness on any other subject would be accepted any- 
 where, and that without cavil. 
 
THE ASCENSION. 201 
 
 That is a natural and very reasonable disposition of tlie 
 human mind, which refuses to accept as true anything pecu- 
 liarly uncommon, until the unusual phenomenon has been 
 observed so often and under such circumstances as to render 
 delusion and imposition alike impossible ; but when the testi- 
 mony of the ages and the records of all peoples agree, surely 
 such testimony as this is worthy of the profoundest conside- 
 ration of all thoughtful people. But had we no lessons to 
 teach, no moral truths to gather and illustrate by a recital of 
 the marvels, either of the past or present, we would let magic, 
 mystery and miracle rest for ever ; but as the supreme triumph 
 of the Spirit over Matter is the object of material embodi- 
 ment, and all initiatory discipline on earth and in probationary 
 realms of spiritual being, we feel our subjects to-day are 
 neither fanciful nor unimportant. They are of vital interest to 
 all seekers after truth, and can be made the means of setting 
 forth the object and results of many of those toilsome earth 
 experiences, which many persons are inclined to think are as 
 objectless as they are hard to bear. 
 
 It has been suggested by some that Jesus never died and 
 came to hfe a^-ain. and indeed that no one ever rose from the 
 dead. This doctrine has found favour ^\-ith Essenes or 
 Essenians, both ancient and modern, who account for the 
 seeming resurrection in this wise : Jesus, say they, was an 
 adept, a member of a mystic fraternity, the members of 
 which had power to apparently lay down their hves and take 
 them up again. Many of these brothers are said to have 
 been buried in swoons and trances from which they afterwards 
 revived. The Essenians would account for the resurrection 
 of Lazarus, the widow's son at Xain, the daughter of Jairus, 
 and others, all by reference to the powers of this mystic 
 fraternity over seeming death ; and so far as the explanation 
 goes, it is adequate in some cases (though not in all), as it 
 illustrates the powers of human will or psychological influence, 
 and opens a very broad field of investigation into the myste- 
 rious power which highly developed and mediumistic people 
 can exert, or be compelled or enabled by spirit power to exert 
 over the minds and bodies of the afflicted and the dying. 
 
 Perhaps it has struck some of you that the early Christians 
 built upon a false foundation, when they made all their sys- 
 tem to hang upon the resurrection of the man Jesus. Sup- 
 pose he never did rise in any hteral sense, are all hopes of 
 
 2 B 
 
202 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 immortality delusive, and is all preaching and prophesying 
 on the subject of immortality vain? These are yqyj great 
 and awful questions for the orthodox, who repose their every 
 hope of life immortal, on the testimony of those who declare 
 Jesus had risen from the dead and reappeared to them, con- 
 versing and eating with them. The resurrection of a physical 
 body, however, would be no proof of immortality, unless the 
 immortalization of the body were a demonstrated fact, and 
 wdien we read the acconnt given in the first chapter of Acts, 
 of the ascension of the body of Jesus, we are struck with 
 the awful incompleteness of the testimony to the ascension 
 there furnished ; for w^e are only told that, as the disciples 
 were gazing steadfastly up into heaven, Jesus vanished : "A 
 cloud received him out of their sight, are the exact w^ords 
 used in the authorized version. 
 
 True, it is stated that angels said unto them, that Jesus had 
 gone to heaven, and would come to earth again, but they 
 (the disciples) did not witness the entrance of Jesus in a 
 physical body into the spiritual world. The material body 
 vanished ; it became invisible, it was disintegrated, in our 
 opinion, as physical bodies according to universal testimony 
 do not enter the spirit world, and could not exist there, cer- 
 tain physical conditions being required for the sustentation of 
 a human body, composed of matter, which are not present 
 except within the atmosphere of the earth. 
 
 Jesus may have had the power to take up his body and lay 
 it down at will, without having carried a single physical atom 
 into the spiritual universe, and that he had this power is 
 abundantly proved, if the records of his post mortem appear- 
 ances are to be relied upon. It is not to the physical body 
 and its immortalization, that the world looks for consolation 
 in the hour of bereavement and the loss of all earthly things, 
 and it was not to this the disciples were taught to look by 
 Christ. The appearance of Jesus to Saul of Tarsus, as he 
 journeyed between Jerusalem and Damascus, is one of the 
 proofs of immortality which seems to have the greatest weight 
 with that celebrated teacher and controversialist,. who from a 
 persecutor of the Christians became their warmest friend and 
 foremost advocate, through the conviction brought to his mind 
 by that singular apparition. 
 
 Renan, in his life of St. Paul, suggests that Saul was 
 attacked with ophthalmia, a disease of the eyes common in 
 
THE ASCENSION. 203 
 
 Asia, and frequently occasioned by exposure to a severe 
 storm in districts where storms are both frequent and terrible, 
 and that when struck by liglitning he saw his past life pass 
 before him, much as drowning people often are enabled to 
 review their past. In that condition of helplessness, he no 
 doubt experienced a change of heart and mind, and as suffer- 
 ing and fright often produce reflection, and bring one into a 
 state of spiritual receptivity, this explanation is extremely 
 feasible ; while Paul's thorn in the flesh has been considered 
 by many commentators to have meant his weak eyes and 
 very defective sight, which made it necessary for him to 
 employ amanuenses to write epistles at his dictation, as, wdien 
 he writes a short epistle with his own hand, he calls it a long 
 letter under the circumstances, suggesting the idea that it 
 was written with great difflculty, and probably much pain to 
 the writer. 
 
 Stephen, we are told, saw heaven opened, and beheld 
 Jesus, but there is not a shred of evidence that in the cases 
 cited either Saul or SteiDhen saw Jesus physically or ob- 
 jectively, for no one else is said to have seen anything except 
 the changes produced by the visions upon the countenances 
 of the seers. If you have had any experience, no matter 
 how limited, with clairvoyants and clairaudients, you must 
 have observed the peculiarly beautiful expression which the 
 face of the somnambule wears when in the condition of trance, 
 rapture, or ecstacy. For this reason it has been the custom 
 for celebrated painters to study the psychologic art, and 
 entrance their " models " in order that an expression of 
 almost superhuman loveliness might be transferred to the 
 canvas. But when faces are all aglow with heavenly rapture, 
 and you know the expression of ecstacy cannot be feigned, 
 you see and hear nothing which causes you to understand 
 why the sensitive or medium should appear so wonderfully 
 happy, while if visions of a distressing character are pre- 
 sented to the seer, you see nothing which enables you to 
 account for the horror and frig) it, which will sometimes 
 render the features of a mediam positively livid. There 
 are so many avenues of perception open to exceptionally- 
 endowed persons, that are not open to the majority, that it is 
 the height of folly for any one, no matter how gifted or widely 
 experienced, to taboo as spurious or even unlikely, that which 
 has formed no part of his individual experience. The world 
 
204 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 progresses tliroiigli the accumulation of facts and their appli- 
 cation to religion, art and industry, and it is a safe position 
 for everybody to hold to, that he will deny nothing but what 
 is in direct opposition to some demonstrable reality. 
 
 We are often told that it is the part of every one, who 
 makes an affirmation, to prove it, and that no one is logically 
 called upon to prove a negative. Reasoning from such a 
 premise, it has often been remarked that neither Materialists 
 nor Christadelphians are under any necessity of proving that 
 man is not immortal. That is a very one-sided way of look- 
 ing at the matter. Such people do not satisfy themselves 
 with anything short of dogmatic assertion, that man is mortal 
 only ; now in the face of almost universal testimony to the 
 fact of human immortality, it is quite as reasonable to 
 demand proof of man's mortality as of his immortality ; 
 and it is just here where all materialistic evidence breaks 
 down. No one has ever been able to prove that the real 
 essential life of man has ever become extinct. Bodies of 
 flesh and blood we know have dissolved and corrupted, but 
 it is impossible to deny the great probability of an ethereal 
 and invisible condition of human embodiment, over which 
 death has no power. If material substances can become 
 invisible, and if the atoms of life are all invisible, then the 
 statement that the essential body of man is invisible, does not 
 appear fallacious to any true scientist. 
 
 The testimony of the New Testament is not really, as 
 many have supposed, to the material resurrection and ascen- 
 sion of Jesus, but to the fact of many persons having been 
 quite satisfied that they had communion with him after his 
 material death. The concurrent testimony of many clair- 
 voyants constitutes the bulk of evidence furnished by the 
 New Testament, while a spiritual certainty possessed the 
 minds of many, who do not claim to have had any such 
 such vision of Jesus, that he was really alive and present 
 with them ; this spiritual certainty being so powerful a con- 
 viction of their minds, that they were ready to suffer martyr- 
 dom in support of their faith in the tnie resurrection. 
 
 Paul was far too great a scholar, had a far too philosophic 
 mind, and was far too mediumistic a man to have hinged all 
 his preaching upon the reanimation of an earthly body, which 
 had once become a corpse. It is he who speaks of the wit- 
 ness of the spirit, of knowing Christ after the spirit and not 
 
THE ASCENSION. 205 
 
 after the flesh, of a spiritual body as totally distinct from 
 the material form, and of the impossibility of flesh and blood 
 inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. Donbtless Jesus did 
 materialize for the satisfaction of honest doubters, as many 
 spirits are materiahzing to-day as an accommodation to the 
 gross materialism and arrant scepticism of the present time, 
 but no matter how valuable and even necessary physical 
 manifestations may be for the enlightenment of sceptics, there 
 will surely come a time when they will no more be needed : 
 they will have done their work, and will cease when the 
 spiritualization of humanity renders them superfluous, as 
 staircases and ladders may be dispensed with when people 
 can fly or transport themselves through the air. 
 
 We have 'constantly observed that those Spiritualists who 
 attach most importance to physical manifestations, with which 
 they are never satisfied unless they can observe them under 
 " crucial test conditions," are always seeking to impose new 
 and yet more crucial tests, often cruelly aflhcting and dis- 
 gracefully villifying and insulting the sensitives with whom 
 they experiment ; and still they appear to derive less and. 
 less satisfaction from their experiments, the longer they con- 
 tinue them. Why is this, but because many of these medium 
 testers are persons almost wholly destitute of spiritual per- 
 ception. Phrenologically they are Materialists : they must 
 handle the spirits as they would handle material merchandise. 
 They would make mediumship a mere matter of buying and 
 selling ; they would look to nothing higher than the accumu- 
 lation of worldly wealth ; they would want the spirits to tell 
 them who would be the winner of the Derby, how they could 
 amass a fortune by gambling in stocks, and as for the 
 mediums who are brought under such accursed influences, 
 they soon become so morally corrupted that they do not care 
 whether manifestations are genuine or otherwise, so long as 
 they receive a handsome remuneration for legal or illicit 
 transactions, as the case may be. 
 
 Now, were the disciples of Jesus and the early Christians 
 a set of impecunious showmen, who went from place to place 
 vending their wares, — was it their object to make money by 
 exhibiting marvels before an open-mouthed public, ready to 
 swallow the latest fiction got up for their pastime ? The 
 temptation to make merchandise of spiritual gifts may have 
 constituted the third and last temptation the devil offered to 
 
206 - LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Jesus, called tlie temptation to worship the devil in order to 
 acquire material wealth and power ; but it was ever held in 
 execration by the primitive Cliristians, who were an honest, 
 self-denying company of spiritualized men and women, who 
 communed with each other and with the spirit-world for the 
 purpose of enlightening humanity on matters of the utmost 
 importance to one and all of the human race. Therefore. 
 Simon Magus, and the man who employed a damsel as a 
 soothsayer to bring him wealth, were severely denounced by 
 the apostles, for the strife was then as now between the 
 conscientious and the avaricious workers in the Spiritual 
 Movement. 
 
 We are told that Jesus promised his friends, that whereso- 
 ever two or three were gathered together in his name, there 
 he would be in the midst of them, but only when they were 
 assembled in his name did he promise to bestow his presence. 
 Ere he took his departure from the sight of men, he promised 
 a Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, which the world of 
 orthodoxy and self-seeking would not receive. It could not 
 embrace the Spirit of Truth, because that spirit would not 
 sanction its intrigues or gloss over its hypocrisies, which are 
 made to do duty for virtue. When he promises this spirit, 
 he does not only say he wuU send a Comforter, he says he 
 will come himself, and be their teacher and consoler, declaring 
 it is expedient for his disciples that he should depart, because 
 if he remain in material form among them, they will not be 
 called upon to exert their spiritual faculties in clasping hands 
 with a soul in immortalitv. across the borders of material 
 hfe. 
 
 Truly the spirit-world stoops to earth : it stoops to conquer 
 pride and prejudice, and man's benighted state of spiritual 
 darkness; but the highest attitude of the receptive mind is 
 that of desire to rise to a spiritual level over material doubt 
 and strife, rather than to drag the spirit down to the plane 
 of material things once more. Spiritual revelation is truly a 
 Jacob's ladder, but the d.escending angels only stoop to earth 
 that they may lift earth's children into communion with them 
 on their high rounds nearer the summit. All communica- 
 tions alleged to be spiritual may be so, but if they are, then 
 those which come in response to man's greed or lust, are 
 only revelations from those hells and purgatories within the 
 atmosphere of earth, where spirits, destitute as yet of spiritual 
 
THE ASCENSION. 207 
 
 perce})tion, are dwelling amid the murky shadows of the 
 outer earth. The Hindoos were not wrong when they 
 declared that one of the spiritual splieres was upon or within 
 the earth itself, for peopling the earth's atmosphere are count- 
 less millions of disembodied men and women, who are ever 
 ready to enter into converse with those upon earth, who seek 
 communion with them. 
 
 The great question at all seances is : In what name are you 
 assembled, or in other words, what motives and desires have 
 brought you together? Are you, or are you not, with one 
 accord in one place, as you are told those were who received 
 the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? If evil thoughts 
 and vain desires possess your minds, if uncharitableness or 
 selfishness are doQiinant Avithin your breasts, then it is in 
 vain that you sing sweet hymns and utter wordy prayers. 
 Spiritual beings are attracted or repelled by your thoughts, 
 and neither hymn nor prayer can be of any use in invoking 
 the Sjnrit of Truth, unless such effusions are the honest 
 expression of your inmost desires, or unless they promote 
 charitable and loyal dispositions in the hearts of others. 
 
 When the Spirit of Truth came, how did it manifest 
 itself? According to the second chapter of Acts, almost 
 every conceivable type of manifestation was produced. The 
 physical came first, to arrest attention and prepare the minds 
 of those assembled for what was to follow. The rushing 
 mighty wind, which shook the house where they assembled, 
 the visible cloven tongues of flame, came before the speak- 
 ing with many tongues ; and when those many tongues 
 were employed, they were not brought into play to merely 
 startle or astonish the multitude, but because all could not 
 understand one language, and the message of truth would be 
 no message at all to the people to whom it was addressed, 
 unless it were delivered to them in a language they could 
 understand. A jargon of unknown tongues in an English- 
 speaking audience, would be no evidence of the coming of 
 the Holy Spirit; but if different minds must be approached 
 in different ways, and different understandings require 
 different versions of the one Gospel of Immortality, then the 
 self same spirit, even the Spirit of Truth, makes use of divers 
 instrumentalities, and as Paul says, in 1 Cor., xii. : " There 
 are diversities of administrations, but one Lord." 
 
 The Spirit of God is ever present when divine results are 
 
208 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 accornplislied, and there is no other way of testing spirits or 
 teaching's, bat by watching the effect prodnced upon those 
 who embrace or give heed to them. In coveting earnestly 
 the best gifts, one only needs to have pure motives, and be 
 wishful to be made use of by the higher powers, for the 
 benefit of the race : and then whether his gift be healing, 
 prophesying, or any other gift, the Spirit of Truth will be 
 his guide, his comfort, and his reward, in this and in every 
 stage of existence.^ 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 ASCENSION THROUGH SORROW. 
 
 CAN earth confine the Spirit, throughout eternal day ? 
 Say, are vre doomed for ever to tread earth's toilsome ■way ? 
 ShaU bodies resurrected imprison still the soul, 
 Even when it has conquered, and reached the wished-for goal ? 
 
 Earth-bodies are to spirits, what earth is to the seeds 
 Of flowers and of grasses, — each one on matter feeds ; 
 And in the dim, strange darkness, buried beneath the sod, 
 Each germ of life unfoldeth, and seeks the light of God. 
 
 How wondrous is the pathway ! through which all spirits move ; 
 How mj^stic are the lessons ! which every heart must prove : 
 Ofttimes the anguished spirit cries out in grief and pain — 
 "What is the use of sorrow ? Oh 1 need I grieve again ? 
 
 The lesson of life's turmoil — of all its pain and strife — 
 Is never fally learned, till on the sacred height 
 Of perfected self-conquest, your souls enchanted stand, 
 Viewing celestial mountains, from some fair B3ulah land. 
 
 Along the toilsome pathway, the pilgrim-soul must speed, 
 Sometimes on fruits and nectar, again on griefs to feed ; 
 Sometimes by flowing waters, where flowers brightly bloom, 
 Sometimes through arid deserts, as lonely as the tomb. 
 
 God leads his children onward, through sunshine and through storm. 
 Their brows oft kissed with radiance from Heaven's bright centres, warm; 
 But oftentimes the desert develops most that power, 
 Which sends a Christ to battle, to win the victor's dower. 
 
TEE ASCENSION. 209 
 
 Temptation by the devil, ye every one must know : 
 Tempted by avarice and pride, by passions, by each low 
 And selfisli earthly motive, ye must to Satan say : 
 Get thou behind me. Tempter ! and triumph in life's fi'ay. 
 
 Oh I were it not for Olivet, for Calvary's sad cross ; 
 Oh ! were it not for earthly death, crowning all mortal loss ; 
 The resurrection angels for you would never sing — 
 Another soul has conquered, and death has lost its sting ! 
 
 Ascending 'mong the angels, behold the Soul arise, 
 The conqueror in triumph, through highest paradise. 
 Mounts on and up still higher, till realms celestial see, 
 Are opening to receive him, while angels chant with glee : 
 
 Welcome ! oh, conquering Spii'it ; welcome \ oh. Soul divine ; 
 "Welcome I to this your birthplace, the Kingdom that's now thine 
 Is empire o'er all matter, death's icy hand to thee 
 Henceforth will be a symbol of perfect victory I 
 
 BENEDICTIOI!^. 
 
 C May the Ascension of the Spirit over all material strife, 
 be yours in blest experience now, and in fulness of glory 
 hereafter. May Heaven's best blessings rest on you all, and 
 may you become one with all true conquerors for ever ! J) 
 
 2c 
 
( 210 ) 
 
 XIIL 
 
 A SPIRITUAL VIEW OF THE TRINITY. 
 
 N our last Discourse, we led you up in some measure to 
 where you were prepared to see (if you followed tlie 
 drift of our argument) how without one making three 
 or three making one, m any nonsensical manner suggested 
 hy way of ridicule by opposers of the doctrine of a Trinity 
 in Nature and a Trinity in God, the idea of the three -fold 
 expressions of the Divine Mind, prevalent all over the earth 
 from immemorial ages, may not after all be inconsistent with 
 Monotheism, or the most uncompromising declaration of the 
 Israelites : The Lord is One. 
 
 Upon the question of the unity of the Godhead, Unitarians 
 and Trinitarians are professedly agreed : they only differ as 
 to what is meant by absolutely unity, and so mystifying have 
 been the definitions of the Trinity put forward under the 
 name of Athanasius especially, that it is scarcely possible for 
 any person of ordinary mental calibre, to gather anything 
 like a definite idea of what the Fathers of the Church really 
 thought of the nature of Godj judging by such a compilation 
 as that called the Creed of S. Athanasius, yet that creed was 
 laboriously compiled by many of the most learned doctors of 
 the fourth century, gathered in solemn council to obtain from 
 the Holy Ghost a clear and definite refutation of the heresies 
 of Arius and his followers. So say all orthodox Church 
 historians, while even the candid Unitarian* feels compelled to 
 credit some, though not by any means all, of those engaged 
 in the Arian and Athanasian controversies, with at least a 
 sincere desire to arrive at truth, and defend the true faith 
 from all successful attacks in future. 
 
 The doctrine of the Trinity is certainly not one of those 
 doctrines which are '' plainly revealed in Holy Scripture," so 
 that no one carefully reading the Bible can fail to come to 
 the conclusion that God has revealed Himself in that Book 
 as three in one or one in three. The three persons and one 
 
THE TRINITY. 211 
 
 God, of the Church of England litany, are certainly not 
 plainly revealedas constituting the true Grodhead, but quite 
 the contrary is the case, for the word trinity doss not occur 
 even once in the whole Bible, and Jesus taught his discijDles 
 to pray to one only God, the Father, who is in heaven, whose 
 personality must certainly be one, if the term Father conveys 
 any idea to the human mind. 
 
 The most that can be- proved from the ISTew Testament is, 
 what the Arians endeavoured to prove, that there is but one 
 God, the Father, and one Lord or Master, Jesus Christ, and 
 a Spirit of Truth, whom Jesus said the Father would send 
 in his name. You may possibly make your case goo^i by 
 reference to Scripture texts, if you are Arians and believe in 
 the superiority of Jesus Christ to all other created beings ; 
 but you must in that case regard him but as a creature of 
 God, though the first and highest of all creatures. Arianism 
 deduces, from the plain language of the JSTew Testament, 
 that we are commanded to worship God the Father, that 
 our prayers should be addressed to God through Christ, for 
 the Holy, Spirit ; therefore, Arianism, though distinct from 
 Modern Unitarianism, is a purely monotheistic system, as it 
 regards Jesus as only a- finite being, even though a super- 
 angehc personage ; but the difference between God and any 
 creature, no matter how exalted, must ever be the difference 
 between the finite and the infinite, which is an infinite 
 difference. 
 
 Arianism permits of a secondary worship being offered to 
 Christ, much as the Roman Church allows of a secondary 
 worship being paid to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and 
 numerous saints and angels ; but though their prayers and 
 intercessions are asked for by devout Catholics, they are never 
 adored in the Catholic Church as parts of Deity. 
 
 The creed of Athanasius is not only utterly unintelligible, 
 but with its damnatory clauses it is one of the most objection- 
 able and preposterous compositions ever palmed upon the 
 world, as an embodiment of truth, while the damnatory 
 clauses are strong presumptive evidence of its internal weak- 
 ness, for whenever a position is insecure, it is necessary to 
 fortify it by threats, so as to suppress inquiry. To the 
 timid an( I superstitious, what can be more awful than question- 
 ing the veracity of a creed, which tells you if you do not 
 believe it in its entirety, you will perish everlastingly ? No 
 
212 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 doubt multitudes have suppressed their honest convictions, 
 from sheer dread that, perhaps if it were true, and though 
 they thought it was false they were not absolutely certain of 
 its falsity, they might be bringing upon themselves and 
 others the terrible penalty of everlasting torment. Believe 
 or be damned, is a very convenient motto for those, who 
 having usurped power on false premises, desire to maintain 
 their hold upon the people through fear : and as certain 
 passages of Scripture appear to favour this dogma, it has 
 been peculiarly easy for interested parties to twist texts to 
 suit their own arrogant assumptions. 
 
 The jSTew Testament is not a book which can be taken 
 literally, from end to end, as a divine compilation, neither is 
 it so plainly written that every one can understand exactly 
 what it means. Again, no original MS. has yet been dis- 
 covered, dating further back than the fourth century, the 
 three oldest MSS. being the Vatican and Sinaitic MSS.. 
 traceable to the fourth, and the Alexandrian MS., only 
 traceable to the fifth century. These three MSS. are 
 not literal transcripts of each other, thus it is evident 
 to any scholar, even of the humblest pretensions and 
 narrowest opportunities, that it is absurd as well as cruel 
 and unjust, to endeavour to decide any point of doctrine by 
 reference simply to a few ambiguous statements in the 
 Gospels or Epistles.^ 
 
 The declaration in the Epistle of John, that there are three 
 who bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the 
 Holy Ghost, and these three are one, is considered an inter- 
 polation by students almost universally, while the damnatory 
 clauses, apparently justified by the reputed saying of Jesus : 
 " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that 
 believeth not shall be damned," is open to quite another inter- 
 pretation than that usually put upon it. All such passages 
 are true in a prophetic sense, especially when " condemned " 
 is substituted for " damned," as it is in the Revised Version. 
 In the old law, " Whosoever sheddeth man's blood by man 
 shall his blood be shed," does not necessarily prescribe capital 
 punishment as the doom of murderers ; it makes a prophetic 
 statement, signifying that those who wrong their brethren 
 shall eventually suffer as they have made others to suffer ; 
 while David's prophesying against Tracked men, declaring 
 that their wives shall be widows and their children father- 
 
THE TRINITY. 213 
 
 less, when understood in the letter only, becomes offensive 
 as a prayer. 
 
 We have no time to enter upon these topics now, as our 
 subject is the Trinity, but as we have touched upon the law 
 of compensation, or just retribution, we promise at no distant 
 date to speak more fully upon methods of compensation in 
 spirit hfe ; showing, as far as we are able, how(every act of 
 life brings with it its own iDunishment or reward, not as an 
 arbitrary act of divine sovereignty, but as a result of infinite 
 w'isdom, displayed in the natural law of cause and effect, 
 which governs the spiritual as well as the material world.J) 
 
 The greatest objection which can ever be brought against 
 the popular Christian view of the Trinity, is that it makes 
 evil everlasting, and declares an opposition between different 
 attributes of the Divine Xature, Take the attributes of 
 Justice and Mercy, for example, as they have ever been the 
 principal subjects of contention in the Church. Justice is 
 always regarded as the especial attribute of God the Father, 
 Mercy, of God the Son. Xow, it is invariably stated by the 
 orthodox, that the Son came into the world to appease the 
 Father's wrath, but if father, Son and Holy Ghost are all 
 one, as the creeds of Christendom declare, then the wrath of 
 God must be the wrath of the Son as much as of the Father. 
 
 Old pictures of the Trinity represent the Father as a wtern- 
 visaged, elderly man, the Son as a younger man, and the 
 Holy Ghost as a dove : that is the popular picture of God, put 
 into the hands of children by Eoman Catholics and Eitualists, 
 while Gustave Dore, the celebrated French artist, in his 
 celebrated Illustrated Bible, has intruded this distressing cari- 
 cature of the world's belief in a Deity. (Dore's picture, as a 
 work of art, is exquisite, and perhaps when spiritualized by 
 the imagination of him who gazes upon it, it may illustrate 
 some occult truth concerning the operations of the Divine 
 Mind, but Madame Blavatsky, in her " Isis Unveiled," com- 
 menting on this picture, has to our mind given utterance to a 
 far deeper meaning, doubtless in the artist's own mind, when 
 she says, that to her and to all true mystics and deep students 
 of divine things, the chaos in the background, dim, vague, 
 awful though it be, is far more suggestive of the Eternal, 
 W'hom no man has seen w^ith fleshly eyes at any time, than 
 the two men of different ages and the bird, in the engraving. 
 
 The very fact of the Son being represented as younger 
 
214 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 than the Father, in the picture, shows that nothing can have 
 been originally intended, than the Law as given to Moses, 
 and the Gospel as revealed by Christ. Age may apply to 
 divine revelations to man ; one dispensation of truth on earth 
 may antedate another, but one person of the Godhead can- 
 not be of unequal age with another, if all three are alike 
 eternal. Thus the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, that the 
 three persons are co-equal and co- eternal, is defied rather 
 than expressed in many phases of Catholic art. 
 
 How extremely significant appear the grand old words of 
 the second commandment of the Decalogue, as they recur to 
 one's mind when gazing upon Christian pictures : " Thou 
 shalt not make unto thee any likeness of anything . that is 
 in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that 
 is in the water under the earth." Knowing how prone 
 to idolatry the people were, knowing how readily the 
 Israelites would lapse into the idolatries of the neigh- 
 bouring peoples, if they were allowed to have images and 
 pictures in their synagogues, Moses sternly forbade them to 
 cultivate what is ordinarily termed religious art. Col. Inger- 
 soU and others have made much capital out of this prohibition, 
 and have endeavoured to show how obedience to such a 
 command robbed the Hebrew people of all the inspiration 
 they might have derived from a pure and ennobling art ; but 
 the dangers are so great, of bowing down to the creature and 
 worshipping it as the Creator, limiting Deity within the 
 narrow groove of man's conception of some finite object, 
 that after all it may be well to exert a wise, restraining power, 
 and prevent as far as possible the introduction of objects, 
 calculated to lead the mind astray, into places of public wor- 
 ship. 
 
 This is an age of renaissance, however. Puritan supre- 
 macy has despoiled cathedrals of much of their ancient 
 beauty, and a work of restoration is now going on, by means 
 of which painting and sculpture are being brought back iato 
 something like their old prominence, in places of religious 
 assembly. We are not sorry that the tendency of the age is 
 to artistic revival, but we do regret the craze which possesses 
 the minds of those who desire to have everything mediaeval. 
 As in medieval times art was crippled and dwarfed by cor- 
 rupting and corrupt theological phantasies, the great masters 
 were like chained eagles : they longed to soar, and the 
 
THE TRINITY. 215 
 
 Clmrch doomed them to paint and sculp as it directed. 
 The working of theological bigotry is discoverable in the 
 subjects chosen and the manner in which they are treated, 
 even when the workmanship is so perfect that no artist of to- 
 day can rival, much less excel, it. 
 
 But what is a perfect skull or dragon compared to some- 
 thing intrinsically beautiful, outwrought with equal accuracy, 
 care and skill ? A^liat is the perfect delineation of an 
 emaciated misanthrope, compared with an equally perfect 
 portrayal of some form radiant with beauty ? In a brighter 
 and freer age. Art will be again the handmaid of Religion, 
 but even if the execution be not so grand in a hurrying age, 
 as in one of loneliness and contemplation when years passed 
 as months in the completion of some exquisite work of art. 
 Art is destined not to live as a memory of the dead past 
 simply, but, resurrected in more glorious apparel than any in 
 which it has yet arrayed itself upon earth, it will take 
 humanity captive, in a period of true renaissance, when it 
 stands as the embodiment of the loftiest conceptions of Deity, 
 the human mind can possibly attain unto. 
 
 In the art of the future, Christs, Madonnas, angels will 
 multiply, but finite forms' will never be' expressive, to the true 
 reader of the language of art, of the Eternal Infinite, but 
 only of those real and ideal forms in nature, which express 
 godlike powers, and enable man to see through the windows 
 of the eyes of those, whose souls have most expanded the 
 life of God within, which is the perennial spring of happiness, 
 the fount of true greatness, and essential life for ever. Take 
 the Christian's picture of Father, Son and Holy G-host, along 
 with Madame Blavatsky's suggestion as to the chaos illustrat- 
 ing, as far as can be illustrated, the unfathomable nature of the 
 absolute Godhead, who is beyond all lords, angels, and 
 messengers who have appeared to man. 
 
 In ancient Egypt, as we have previously reminded you 
 from this platform, the ideas of Deity were three-fold as well 
 as unitary, as among Christians, and indeed almost all ancient 
 peoples have introduced triangles and triadations, to set forth 
 their ideas of Eternal Mind ; even the original Monotheism 
 of Israel has not excluded the number three from the name 
 given to Deity, as there are three consonants in the name 
 Jehovah, J H V H, vowels not occurring in Hebrew writing, 
 and the H being repeated, there are but three letters in the 
 
216 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 name Jahveh or Jeliovali. By many scholars these three 
 letters or three syllables have been regarded as expressive 
 of the past, present, and future of the Eternal. 
 
 Of course this Israelitish name for deity, gives no clue as 
 to how the tri-personality of deity crept into the beliefs of 
 the world, disfiguring all of them except the Jewish ; for 
 the Jews, in spite of their innumerable persecutions at the 
 hands of Christians, wandering through all the Christian 
 countries,, have never renounced their unswerving fealty to 
 the religion of their fathers, toucfhing the unity of God. 
 Here and there a Jew becomes a convert to Christianity, 
 not generally with very beneficial results either to himself or 
 others, and usually not until almost a fortune, collected from 
 the credulous contributors to missionary societies, has been 
 spent on his " conversion." Though the Jews never preached 
 the doctrine of the tri-personality of the Deity, almost all 
 the ancients were deeply imbued with it, but the original 
 conceptions were nothing like the disfigured and distorted 
 versions of the Trinity, which have made the Athanasian 
 Creed possible. 
 
 In Egypt the Trinitarian idea was beautiful, poetic, and 
 natural: God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Child. 
 Osiris, the Father, w^as worshipped under the similitude of the 
 sun ; Isis, the Mother, under that of the earth; and Horus,the 
 Child, under that of the atmosphere ; but beyond Osiris, 
 Isis and Horus was the Grand Central Sun, the centre of the 
 Universe, around which all worlds revolve. To this supreme 
 central orb, ineffable and eternal, all loftiest thought was 
 directed, and if any outward form was ever introduced to 
 symbolize the absolute centre, it was that of Alcyone, the 
 centre of the Pleiades, and of the "sidereal heavens," because 
 the most distant orb known to the ancient world. 
 
 C In India, Brahma, Creator ; Vishnu, Preserver ; and Siva, 
 Destroyer and Reproducer, expressed the three-fold powers 
 of Deity to the Hindoo mind : but beyond the three was the 
 one Brahm, the Divine Essence, the Unchanging Being, who 
 had no visible forms, and was beyond all outward adoration. 
 Nirvana is said to signify the perfect absorption of the 
 mind of man in a contemplation of the Infinite, till the finite 
 becomes lost in the infinite. To Brahm no altars or temples 
 were erected: he was worshipped only in the heart of man, 
 and was truly the spiritual Deity of the Ancients. Is it 
 
THE TRINITY. 217 
 
 not singular . that the Church of England litany addresses 
 three persons and one God, following,, even if accidentally, 
 directly in the track of those very Brahmans it sends mis- 
 sionaries to convert to Christianity? The enlightened 
 Brahman cannot comprehend the mission of the Cliristian 
 missionary, because, reading the religious text books of Eng- 
 land in the light of his esoteric knowledge of the inner 
 meaning of terms and symbols, he finds Christian concep- 
 tions completely analogous with those of the wisest and purest 
 of the ancient Brahmans. But both Brahmanism and Chris- 
 tianity have become corrupt, so missionaries are needed both 
 in England and India; but for the Brahman of to-day and 
 the Christian of to-day, to try and convert each other, is 
 truly a blind man leading another, and both falling into a 
 
 ditchO 
 
 The idea of divine incarnations, in the persons of Avatars 
 or Messiahs^ is extremely natural, because no one can fully 
 realize or sincerely love the abstract. Abstract goodness to 
 us is unintelligible. Impersonal being we can scarcely con- 
 ceive of. The incarnation idea is an attempt of the human 
 mind to introduce jeality into the thought of God. Three per- 
 sons are two too many, as they produce a confusion in the mind, 
 and belief in them leads naturally to tritheism or polytheism, 
 which certainly prevads to a large extent in Christendom, 
 though all Christians most positively declare that they cannot 
 endure the idea of more Gods than one. But who has ever 
 joined in Trinitarian worship, without feeling the strange 
 incongruity of addressing three separate persons, and yet 
 maintaining that these three are but one. 
 
 The mischief which Trinitarianism always accomplishes, is 
 the division of the thought of God into, at least, two irrecon- 
 cilable parts. The Holy Ghost and Jesus agree very weU 
 together in the mind, as the fourteenth chapter of the fourth 
 Gospel, which mentions the Holy Spirit particularly, so closely 
 identifies the Spirit with Jesus, that the coming of the Com- 
 forter always seems to mean the coming of Christ in spirit, 
 though his physical form is not present. The attributes of 
 the Son and Holy Ghost are also in accordance. Both reveal 
 truth, both breathe forth loving-kindness, and the mind very 
 naturally associates the idea of Christ with the appearance of 
 Jesus upon earth, and that of his holy spirit as the manifes- 
 tation of Jesus to his disciples after his removal from the 
 
 2 D 
 
218 L OND ON LECT URES, 
 
 external world. •'"' AYlieresoever two or three are gathered 
 together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" ; "I 
 will not leave yon comfortless, I will come to you"; "The 
 Lord is that Spirit," and several similar passages in the Gos- 
 pels and Epistles, favour the idea of the Holy Spirit being 
 really a spiritual manifestation of the ascended Jesus ; but 
 between the idea of Father and Son there is no such, agree- 
 ment, unless we get rid entirely of every cardinal assumption 
 of orthodox Trinitarians, vAth reference to the mission of 
 Jesus and the attributes of God the Father. 
 
 The New Testament certainly does not teach orthodox 
 dogmas. If w^e carefully note such passages as " God so loved 
 the w^orld, that he gave his only begotten Son"; " His name 
 shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their 
 sins," vve can trace a perfect unity of feeling between God 
 the Father, and that Great and Holy Teacher, who said, " I 
 and my Father are one " ; but if God so loved the world that 
 lie gave his Son, then surely God was never so angry w'itli 
 the world that his Son was compelled to assume human nature 
 to assuage bis wrath, in order to deliver mankind from ever- 
 lasting torment. If the mission of Jesus was to deliver his 
 people from their sins, then it vras not to save them from the 
 penalty due to transgression, but from sin itself. 
 
 All orthodox views of the Trinity are built upon erroneous 
 ideas of justice, sin and the consequences of sin. It is mere 
 absurdity, insult to common sense, to indulge in fiery but 
 meaningless rhetoric concerning the sin of a finite creature, 
 committed in time, being an infinite transgression, meriting 
 an eternal punisliment. No human act can possibly be 
 infinite ; no human act can possibly merit eternal doom ; 
 neither can any act of man possibly merit everlasting happi- 
 ness or glory. 
 
 C iSTow we come to a point of issue, not only with the ortho- 
 dox believers in everlasting torment, but almost equally with 
 those kind-hearted Universalists, v/ho have represented the 
 God of Calvin without the devil of Calvin ; for Calvin, like 
 Mohammed, was really a reviver of the Persian duality, 
 Ormuzd and Ahriman, the power of Light and the power of 
 Darkness, though conjoined in one person. These Univer- 
 salists, who have taken aw^ay the fear of hell and the wrath 
 of God from their theology, have left us with a good-natured, 
 easy-going Deity, who is too kind to damn any of his creatures, 
 
THE TRINITY. 219 
 
 and who takes tliem all immediately to a heaven of happiness 
 when their earthly life, however short and unsatisfactory it 
 may have been, 1s ended. 
 
 Universalism, as taught in America a centmy ago as a pro- 
 test against Calvinism, was an excellent and necessary anti- 
 dote to the harsh and bitter theology w^hich it supplanted, but 
 to the logical mind, thinking deeply upon the nature of justice, 
 Universalism was a beautiful but unsatisfactory poem ; and 
 though the truths it realized have permeated all other deno- 
 minations to a greater or lesser degree, Universalism itself, 
 even in its sectarian form, has considerably advanced during 
 the past half-century, till Universalism and Unitarianism are 
 now almost identical in America. 
 
 Unitarianism is the stronger and healthier system of the two,., 
 though it often lacks the intuition, discernment and keen 
 spiritual perception of immortal verities, necessary to make 
 Unitaiianism the prevailing religion which speaks to the heart 
 as much as to the intellect. We have known many warm- 
 hearted and deeply spiritual Unitarians, but we have known 
 many extremely agnostic and sceptical. Their religion has 
 seemed of the head rather than of the heart. Their dis- 
 courses have been learned and extremely intellectual, but they 
 have lacked spiritual power, and have failed to include a 
 strong grasp of immortal life. It is on this account thai 
 Unitarianism does not keep and hold many of the greatest 
 thinkers of the age, who are strictly Unitarian in their thought 
 of God. No religious system is complete unless it has the 
 clearest and fullest grasp of Divine Justice, and of the law 
 of Divine Retribution, hereafter as well as here. Some Uni- 
 tarians, indeed many, have this. Many of their sermons are 
 full of living appreciation of the very highest truths which 
 Spiritualism can possibly teach, and these men recjuire no 
 phenomenal evidences to convince them of the immortality 
 of the human soul, and of progression after death. 
 
 The only satisfactory doctrine of the immortal world, which 
 commends itself to reason and intuition alike, is that God is 
 one, and his law is one. As the results of yesterday's activities 
 appear in your condition to-day, as you are to-day jjreparing 
 yourself to be to-morrow what you could not be, were it not 
 for your having been exactly what you now are, so in the 
 future state, every day prepares you for its successor. When 
 your body dies, and your spirit is emancipated, it does not 
 
220 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 tind itself at the end of a journey, but only at one halting ' 
 place along the road. Death only introduces you to another 
 state of being, where you can gain fresh experiences, but in 
 the spiritual world you must go on earning whatever you 
 obtain, meritiLg whatever you enjoy, and thus perpetual 
 misery could only be possible if a spirit were to go on inces- 
 santly committing sin, and thus bringing upon him constant 
 punishment for constant sins committed. Immortal happiness 
 is only possible to those who are everlastingly living in 
 accordance with the divine laws of being, which ordain that 
 true felicity must ever follow upon the performance of deeds 
 of genuine benevolence ; and it was this gospel Jesus taught, 
 when his mission was to save mankind from the misery con- 
 sequent upon wrong- doing, by leading persons out of evil 
 and the love of it, into the green pastures of philanthropy, and 
 beside the still waters of integrity. 
 
 Justice is to us the one complete and all-expressive word, 
 which pronounces the sum of Divine perfections. Justice 
 we regard as the 23erfect sphere, the absolute whole. Some 
 people seem to think by employing the phrase — God is 
 Justice, we take away all the softness and beauty of John's 
 delightful declaration — God is Love ; but when the poet 
 Eowring wrote that hymn, which has found an honoured 
 place in almost every hymn book, every verse ending with 
 " God is wisdom, God is love," did he take anything away 
 from the beauty and the poetry of the statement — God is 
 Love, by prefacing it with- — God is Wisdom ? Do we desire 
 to be governed by a being who is unwise, indiscreet, foolishly 
 fond ? A merely sweet-tempered ruler, who lacks force of 
 character and true wisdom, may be amiable, but he will cer- 
 tainly be weak, and often make mistakes which will work 
 disastrously to the governed. Perfect wisdom blended with 
 perfect love — these are the elements which go to make up a 
 perfect character, and to us the word Justice, properly inter- 
 preted, means love and wisdom in equal proportions. Love 
 is one hemisphere. Wisdom is the other, Justice is the sphere, 
 therefore, when we gain a true idea of justice, we do not 
 mean anything distinct from love and wisdom : we mean love 
 and wisdom both. 
 
 Thus the unity and the duality of the Divine Nature are 
 not irreconcilable but perfectly in accord. Our Father and 
 our Mother ! should be the cry of every true aspirant to the 
 
TEE TRINITY. 221 
 
 Divine. We need a Mater noster as well as a Pater noster, in 
 our theology. We need new pronouns to express the thought 
 of (iod. He and she, not he only, should be used when the 
 Deity is mentioned. Let us make man in our image, after 
 our likeness, said God to himself, or rather said the divine 
 Fatherhood to the divine Motherhood, and man appeared, 
 rational and emotional, spiritual and intellectual, male and 
 female. 
 
 As we watch the organisms of the lowest types of animate 
 life, we find they possess the organs of both sexes. Life 
 starts wdth masculinity and femininity conjoined, and only as 
 the progress of life is upward and onward through material 
 forms, do the sexes appear in separate organisms. The 
 grand old philosophers of ancient days followed nature's sug- 
 gestions perfectly, when they taught the duality of the human 
 soul : and told how the soul in its paradisiacal home, ere it 
 came in contact with material substance, was male and 
 female ; and how, again, when earthly pilgrimages are over, it 
 will be reunited, and form a perfect sphere. 
 
 The very highest spiritual truths are in such perfect accord 
 with nature's material revealments, that we are convinced 
 that in the New Dispensation, w^heii knowledge shall be 
 disseminated among the multitude, instead of being confined 
 as of yore to a privileged minority, the deepest mysteries of 
 spiritual being will be deduced from a study of external 
 life ; as nature's outward form is but the vesture of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Now, if we have a perfect Sphere as our symbol of Deity, 
 if our conception of the Eternal Mind, be of a Being of 
 infinite and perfect Justice, a Father and a Mother in whom 
 Love and Wisdom are blended in eternal union ; if we go 
 one step further and regard all life, all creative and sustaining 
 power throughout the universe, as an emanation from the 
 Divine Centre, as the proceeding influence of God, then w^e 
 have accounted, w^e think, satisfactorily for the w^orld- 
 wide belief in a Trinity as expressive and interpretative of 
 Unity. 
 
 The Circle is the whole, the Triangle the expression of the 
 Circle. God is Love ; God is Wisdom ; God is Power : 
 three manifestations of Deific Life. God is Justice, one 
 perfect unity of nature, one divine sum of attributes. Justice 
 is comparable to the perfect ray of white light ; Love, Wis- 
 
222 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 dom, and Power are as the three primary colours. Say 
 white, and you mean the whole ; say red, or blue, or yellow, 
 and you mean one of the three primary constitutive parts of 
 white. 
 
 Such a view of Deity, while it utterly destroys the carica- 
 ture of the natural and spiritual Trinity prevalent in Christen- 
 dom, nevertheless explains the origin of the idea of three 
 persons (properly manifestations) but of one God. In the 
 future, as in the olden Trinity, it will be God the Father, 
 God the Mother, and God the Child ; and the Child (Son 
 and Daughter), in essence like the Father and Mother, who 
 gave it birth, is none other than the Logos or Word, the 
 Divine Light, which is the life of man ; the Divine Energy 
 by which all things are formed and are sustained ; the Divine 
 Soul of the laws of Being, who is within you all ; the Well- 
 spring of your Immortality ; the Divine Nature,, deathless as 
 the Eternal, which, having had no beginning, shall also know 
 no end I ^ 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 OUR MOTHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN. 
 
 A LITTLE boy knelt at his father's side, 
 When fell the shades of even, 
 Repeating the old lamiliar prayer — 
 
 " Our Father who art in heaven." 
 And when he had ended his evening prayer, 
 
 And had chanted his little hymn, 
 Ere he kissed his father and bade him good-night, 
 
 He looked np with his eyes all dim 
 With unshed tears, and with quivering lip 
 
 Said : " Father, why may not I say — 
 Our Mother in heaven, whene'er I kiaeel down, 
 
 At morning and night to pray ? 
 
 " Is God only Father? In Ms mighty heart 
 
 Is there throbbing no Mother love ? 
 And if I shall see him in heaven so fair, 
 
 If I reach to the realms above, 
 Will God but appear as a strong mighty man ? 
 
 Oh, tell me, dear father, I pray, 
 Why manhood is only expressed in our God, 
 
 While woman is purest, men say ? 
 
 " I love you, dear father, you've always been kind, 
 And dear mother loved you when here, 
 
THE TRINITY. 223 
 
 But mother and father together are best, 
 
 *rwo parents I want to have here, 
 And you were so happy when mother was well. 
 
 It seems to me God cannot be 
 Quite happy in heaven, if he's all alone, 
 
 Ruling worlds by his sovereignty." 
 
 The father made answer : " God's word has declared, 
 
 That Jehovah, the God over all, 
 Is far beyond mortal conception and thought. 
 
 His glory must mortals appal. 
 Unless they behold him in Jesus, his Son, 
 
 And through him alone can ye trace 
 The tenderness greater than dear mother's love ; 
 
 Some day you will look on his face. 
 And when you are cleansed from every stain, 
 
 From all earthly foibles set free. 
 The dear loving Jesus will be to you more 
 
 Than the tenderest mother can be." 
 
 " But why," said the child, but half-satisfied yet ; 
 
 " Why is Jesus a man, why is he 
 To be ever expressive of God's inmost heart ? 
 
 Why may not my mother, to me — 
 Tae one whom I've loved, who has tended me here 
 
 With all love's devotions so free. 
 Oh, when I'm in heaven, say, shall I not find 
 
 My own mother nearest to me ? 
 
 " You say that good Jesus atoned for my slu. 
 
 Bore the pain which he bore on the cross. 
 To redeem me fi-om sorrow and save me from hell, 
 
 But still I remain at a loss 
 To know, why the Father of Jesus should send 
 
 His Son to this dark world of pain. 
 That those who had wronged him might, freed from all sin, 
 
 To the heights of his glory attain." 
 
 *' Oh, child ! 'tis a mystery, you must accept 
 
 All that God in the Bible declares. 
 Or never in heaven, my child, will you sing 
 
 God's praises ; for he who dares 
 To question His Word, or to doubt that the Lord 
 
 Is our Saviour from sin's endless night, 
 Shall never be found in the Lamb's book of life, 
 
 Or be clothed in garments of white." 
 
 The child said no more but betook him to rest, 
 
 He was tired with the heat of the day. 
 And his poor little brain had been heavily tasked. 
 
 To try to find out God's true way ; 
 His father had baffled him, caused him to doubt, 
 
 When fain he would make him believe, 
 But the germs of inquiry were rife in his mind. 
 
 And new trutii he was nigh to receive. 
 
224 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 As he knelt by his bedside alone in the dark, 
 
 He prayed that God's Spirit might come, 
 And reveal to his spirit the truth of the world, 
 
 Which his Mother oft told him was home. 
 He prayed that God's angels, who came in old time 
 
 To Joseph, in dead of the niglit, 
 Might come also to him, and reveal God's great law, 
 
 And into his spirit shed light. 
 
 Was he sleeping or dreaming ? He never could tell, 
 
 Throughout all life's after years ; 
 He only remembers a beautiful form, 
 
 Which still often in vision appears. 
 He thought he was standing on high table land. 
 
 Where the spice islands dot all tne seas, 
 Where bright birds, with gay plumage, incessantly sing, 
 
 And melody make with the breeze. 
 Tliere were hill-tops and valleys, and beautiful lakes. 
 
 The sky was than sapphires more blue. 
 The waters were emerald, sunbeams did shine. 
 
 Golden with radiant hue. 
 Beaming forth on the waters in colours unknown, 
 
 Unperceived by the flesh eye of man, 
 Till the landscape was covered with flowers which spoke. 
 
 As a friend speaks to his fellow man. 
 
 In the midst of that beauty an angel appeared, 
 
 But no wings on her shoulders saw he. 
 She was guiding a vessel, and onward she steered. 
 
 While the children on deck sang with glee ; 
 Till at length, close beside him the ship sank to rest. 
 
 And the face of the angel beamed bright. 
 And when she came closer, and touched his dim eyes, 
 
 He beheld her, with spiritual sight. 
 As his Mother, transfigured, grown young, and grown free 
 
 From the wrinkles care traced on her brow. 
 And she whispered : " My darling, I answer j'^our quest, 
 
 Come up into heaven, come now I " 
 
 She touched him with pressure more tender and mild. 
 
 Than mother on earth ever know. 
 She took him on board, and presented him there, 
 
 As her son, to her beautiful crew. 
 Saying, "These are my children, who gathered from earth. 
 
 In infancy's earliest bloom, 
 Need guidance and training in spiritual life ; 
 
 Look there at those flowers, whose perfume 
 Makes grateful the atmosphere, they whose bright forms 
 
 Are so matchless, so choice and so rare : 
 These are words, these are letters, in language of heaven. 
 
 Their voices sound forth in prayer, 
 In praise, and in answer ; wherever we go 
 
 The flowers instruct us in love, 
 They are all living creatures, have voice of their own, 
 
 And their songs make sweet music above." 
 
THE TRINITY. 225 
 
 He saw one bright blossom, more fair tlian the rest, 
 
 Far fairer than flowers of earth, 
 ■"Twas a typical flower, which bloometh in heaven, 
 
 Frorh breath of the angels its birth 
 Is perfected through stages of growth, which express 
 
 The efflux of heavenly truth. 
 And that flower is immortal, it sees no decay. 
 
 It lives in perpetual youth ! 
 
 That flower ope'd its petals, disclosing its heart. 
 
 And that heart was as white as the snow. 
 As the white beams of pure light, in perfected ray, 
 
 Shines forth from the heavens, aglow 
 With the light of God's presence, this beautiful flower 
 
 Disclosed two hearts blent in one. 
 Two lives which were blended in perfect accord. 
 
 And together they shone as the sun. 
 
 The flower said : " You ask me of God and the Soul ; 
 
 You say : Have I mother in heaven ? 
 God 's father and mother to every child, 
 
 To whom his love life has given ; 
 The angels are dual, and God is the same, 
 
 For celestial life doth display 
 The life of God's image, which feebly on earth 
 
 Is enshrined in your bodies of clay." 
 
 The flower ceased speaking, the boat glided on. 
 
 The Mother just kissed her child ; 
 He felt the warm imprint upon his red lips. 
 
 He awoke from his dream, and smiled, 
 And knew that the vision had answered his prayer, 
 And, henceforth, he knew not doubt's carking care. 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 May the light of God^s perfect Love, 
 
 And His Wisdom, eternally land, 
 Lead you all to discover His Justice divine, 
 
 And to the Eternal Mind. 
 May yotu' praises for ever and ever flow, 
 
 In deeds, thoughts, and words of peace. 
 Till you reach those fair regions where griefs enter not. 
 
 And doubtings forever cease ! 
 
 Amen. 
 
 2e 
 
( 226 ) 
 
 WHAT IS PEOPEETY? 
 
 C ... ... 
 
 ^ n°^HE snlvjeet with whicii we have to deal this eveijing, is 
 
 j_ one of paramonnt iroportance to the whole human 
 family. Its importance, indeed, cannot possibly be 
 over-estimated, as the proper distribution of Land lies at 
 the very root of the question,- — How can the ever-increasing 
 population of the globe be adequately sustained, or if the 
 increase continues to be as great during, the next centurj^ as 
 it has been during the past, how can man manage to exist 
 at all ? 
 
 There are some who think it safe and wise to leave eYery- 
 thing blindly in the bands of fate, but these are not the 
 reformers of the world, neither are they the men and women 
 by whose activities the world makes progress. The true 
 reformer is ever a genuine philanthropist; a whole-souled 
 worker for the mass of mankind, caring for the race rather 
 than for a few privileged members of it ; therefore, the 
 refoimer is ever opposed by those who have vested interests 
 in monopoly, and there are always to be found in abundance 
 those who think their own personal welfare, and that of their 
 offspring, is of so much more importance than that of mankind 
 universally, that they most vigorously oppose every movement 
 which is set on foot for the abolition of partisanship, clannish- 
 ness, and all other narrow and exclusive frames of mind, 
 which deny the right of all God's creatures to enjoy an equal 
 sbare in the good gifts provided by the Eternal for all His 
 children. 
 
 Of course there are those who believe in the divine right 
 of kings, in the justice of the laws of entail and primo- 
 geniture, which yet hold sway in England, and some even go 
 so far as to say that God has ordained some to positions of 
 honour, and others to positions of dishonour in this world, 
 and that it is sacrilegious to try to alter the divine decrees. 
 Eut in precisely similar ways has slavery been justified, while 
 polygamj' has also been upheld as both sanctioned and com- 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTYf 227 
 
 manded by' the autliority of Holy Writ Bat advanced 
 thinkers of all schools, in the churches and out of them, are 
 now beginning to regard nothing as sacred or divine which 
 contravenes justice or interferes with the equal rights and 
 liberties of all sections of mankind, and so desperate are the 
 people at large now becoming, that unless rights and liberties 
 be allowed to the multitude, through the adoption of pacific 
 measures, the passing and enforcement of wise, humane, and 
 equitable laws, England will soon be convulsed with as fierce 
 insurrections as have ever desolated any country of Europe. 
 
 The entire question of human emancipation from practical 
 slavery — and the slavery of many nominally free-born 
 children in England is worse than the negro slavery of the 
 past — hinges upon a correct and decisive answer being given 
 to the all-important enquiry : What is Property ? If Land 
 be Property, if private property in land be permissible and 
 even just, then in course of a very short time, comparatively 
 speaking, very few p3ople will be anything but abject slaves 
 utterly in the power of absolute and tyrannical masters. If 
 land positively belongs to a few wealthy landowners, and 
 these owners of the soil- choose to deny all except their own 
 particular favourites to tread upon their ground, then the 
 bulk of mankind will be forced into the air or the water, in 
 neither of which elements they can live, or even should they 
 be allowed to walk the earth on sufferance, by what possible 
 manner of means could they make provision for their simplest 
 and most pressing wants^ if they are denied the right to 
 cultivate the land or build upon it ? 
 
 The present terrible depression in trade all over England 
 is consequent upon land usurpation. The monopoly of thou- 
 sands of acres of valuable territory by persons who not only 
 do nothing themselves to increase the value of the land to 
 which they lay claim, but who veto the industries of all who 
 improve it, by taxing the working people of the country so 
 heavily for all improvements made, that it is in many in- 
 stances impossible for persons to continue to live and pay the 
 ever-increasing rates and rents, which go up as fast as the 
 slightest addition is made to the value of the land claimed 
 by nobles and millionaires who have perhaps lived out of 
 England, or, if at home, far away from the scene of those 
 industries which are daily increasing their revenues, though 
 they have done nothing whatever to deserve the addition of 
 
228 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 a single farthing to their incomes. There is surely some- 
 thing radically wrong in a system which allows property to 
 increase to an unlimited extent for the personal aggrandise- 
 ment of a few privileged persons, who are the drones, not the 
 workers, in the great hives of human industry ; and it is to 
 the finding of a remedy for this disgraceful and dangerous 
 crime, that the Land Nationalization Society has been estab- 
 lished in all parts of England. 
 
 You have doubtless all read, or at least heard of " Progress 
 and Poverty," and " Social Problems," two very valuable and 
 instructive works from the pen of that earnest American 
 champion of right and liberty, Mr. Henry George. Those 
 works have been, as all such works are sure to bo, most 
 severely criticized, and perhaps they are open to criticism in 
 many particulars, and we must, always remembering that no 
 author is final or infallible, regard criticism as a compliment 
 rather than an insult to an honest agitator, for it is the work 
 of every reformer to set people to thinking for themselves, 
 and we are convinced that whatever makes people discuss 
 these great problems, these burning questions of the day, 
 fearlessly and candidly, must lead, and that very soon, to so 
 complete a revolution in popular sentiment with reference to 
 these matters, that if the theme be only kept prominently 
 before the public, the word Property in the next generation 
 will have an entirely different signification to that commonly 
 accepted at the present moment. 
 
 Property is necessarily subject to increase, and can increase 
 without loss or injury, and even with constant gain, to those 
 who assist its increase, as w^ell as to the individuals who are 
 said to hold, own, or possess it. Land cannot be property in 
 the same sense in which the results of labour constitute pro- 
 perty, because no one by his own exertions can add to land, 
 except to a very small extent. Certainly there is such a thing 
 as " made land " here and there, as may be instanced in the 
 filling in of the Back Bay, in Boston, U.S.A., and the building 
 of palatial residences, gorgeous churches, and imposing 
 public buildings, where a few years ago it was all water. 
 But the immense bulk of land upon the earth was simply 
 found by man, and could in no possible sense be the property 
 of the finder, as nothing can be rightfully any one's property 
 unless it represent the result of his own personal industry. 
 Still, it is quite just and reasonable to admit that all who 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTY r 229 
 
 discover unoccupied or uncultivated land, kave a riglit to 
 take possession of it for building purposes, and have a right 
 to cultivate it for the supply of their necessities. Therefore, 
 property may consist in what is built upon land, and in what 
 is produced by the cultivation of the soil, as every one has a 
 right to the fruit of his own toil, to the reward of his own 
 labour. But the assumption we entirely repudiate is that 
 made by those who claim, that land itself belongs to certain 
 individuals, and that these persons have a right to hold it in 
 perfect idleness, that they may practise cruel sport upon it, or 
 simply retain it for their own amusement. 
 
 In many instances the land thus claimed has been actually 
 stolen from its original inhabitants, and has been stolen in the 
 most merciless manner, by usurping tyrants who turned it 
 into a hunting ground, after they had pillaged it and driven 
 the dispossessed inhabitants to starvation, or slain them at 
 the point of the sword. The story of the Black Forest, in 
 every child's History of England, tells the story most truly 
 and graphically, of how the land was cruelly wrested from 
 the people, and profligately spoiled by a company of heart- 
 less nobles. From some .of these dishonest men, people of 
 great gentility and family antiquity boast descent, and when 
 we hear of people's ancestors having " come over with the 
 Conqueror," and how they are numbered among the upper 
 ten thousand, because their ancestors were ruffians who des- 
 poiled countries and put whole populations to death, we 
 cannot but mourn for the false heredity and senseless vanit;v 
 which allows people of any degree of common sense to glory 
 in tracing their descent from men whose boast it was that by 
 the triumph of might over right, by^simple brute force and 
 the use of barbarous and bloody weapons, they gained a foot- 
 hold for themselves and their descendants on land which 
 only became theirs through grossest acts of heartless tyranny 
 and dastardly destruction of the means of others' subsistence. 
 
 This, we are told on every hand, is an age of progress, and 
 so it is in mechanical invention and labour-saving appliances ; 
 but is not labour often so saved that the saving of labour in 
 many instances means starvation to those who are dependent 
 upon labour for the means of life ? Formerly women could 
 earn good wages as seamstresses, and there were many trades 
 and industries at which they could earn a comfortable living, 
 at which they can now scarcely earn a penny. Everything 
 
230 L ONB ON LEGT URES. 
 
 is being done by macliinery, and the machine has brought in 
 its trail many a thousand evils, unfelt by your hard-worked 
 though healthy, happy, and sufficiently -fed ancestors. 
 
 This is an age of luxury, and the wants of the people 
 seem to be ever on the increase ; but does human happiness 
 or the prosperity of the multitude keep pace with this con- 
 stant increase in visible signs of wealth ? Ostentation and 
 display are rife on every hand, but do we not come face to 
 face everyday with poverty, the most abject, crime, the most 
 infamous, and misery, the most hopeless ? Are not the streets 
 of every town and city throughout the civilized world, 
 pictures of the most frightful contrasts ? On the one hand 
 churches, public buildings, mansions vie with each other in 
 magnificence and costliness. Splendidly-appointed carriages 
 roll by filled with the devotees of rank and fashion, while 
 across the way, the beggar covered with rags is as desolate 
 in modern London as was he who lay covered with sores, 
 with no friends but dogs, at the gate of Dives, in an old 
 Oriental centre of mingled luxury and misery. 
 
 The great problem of the age is what to do with the ever- 
 increasing number of those who are born, and who continue 
 eo exist unclothed, unwashed, unfed, unsheltered. Gospel 
 Temperance Societies, Total Abstinence Leagues, and many 
 other worthy organizations are formed to counteract vice and 
 misery and put down the sin of intemperance, the prolific 
 source of so much miser}^ and so many abominations ; but, 
 w^as Mr. George, when he replied to a question in Leeds, not 
 so very long ago, very wide of the mark when he declared 
 that drunkenness was occasioned by misery and squalor fully 
 as much as misery and squalor were brought on by drunken- 
 ness ? The root of the matter lies far deeper down than the 
 excrescences upon the surface of society, and while they do 
 well who strive to banish intemperance, they do still better 
 whose views and measures are yet more radical, and who, 
 seeing a deep-seated cause for the manifold evils all reformers 
 unite in bemoaning, and are endeavouring to suppress, are not 
 content with paliative measures, but going to the very root of 
 the matter, find in the Land Question the only real basis for 
 practical, solid and effectual reform. 
 
 Dr. Watts was a sound philosopher, when he taught child- 
 ren to sing, that Satan always finds mischief for idle hands 
 to do. He needs to preach to the sentimental advocates of 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTY? 231 
 
 indiscrimmate almsgiving to-day, wlio, wliile supporting tlie 
 lazaroni, who make begging a profession, are also supporting 
 the public houses far more than they support the poor. We 
 do not wish to suppress any natural and spontaneous outburst 
 of charity which any kind-hearted person, touched with sym- 
 pathy at the sight of human woes, may feel. We do not 
 say, never throw a penny to a beggar in the street, or give a 
 gratuity to an itinerant musician ; very often the poor are 
 forced into the streets to beg and sing, because they can get 
 no work to do, while they are both able and willing to work ; 
 but work is scarce, wages are low, and labourers are plentiful. 
 Thus, many who 'would fain work, must either beg or starve ; 
 but as discretion is the better part of valour, and w^e all 
 admire bravery and account it a virtue, though in these days 
 it is not the only or even the highest virtue, as it was among 
 the ancient Romans and the old Latin races, who had only 
 one word for virtue and bravery, as there were not two ideas 
 but only one to express, even charity may not be the less beauti- 
 ful or sincere, because it is discriminating and has a brain as' 
 well as a heart. The goddess Love need not be blind or 
 thoughtless, in order to retain her sweetness, her gentleness-, 
 and her poetry. She may well lose the mawkish sentiment- 
 ality in which she often disguises and disfigures herself, but 
 when people, w^ho are really kind-hearted, add to their 
 sympathy common sense, sound judgment, and real work for 
 the poor, charity will not be the en-ervated, crippled goddess 
 she often appears to-day, provoking a sneer rather than 
 applause from many, who though they do not wear their 
 hearts upon their sleeves for every daw to peck at, are 
 nevertheless sound, practical, political economists, who though 
 not characterized by sentimentality, are keenly alive to the 
 sorrows of the world, and do ail in their power to remove them. 
 We can never confine ourselves to the advocacy of any 
 one system of reform, when w^e see so ma;.y springing up 
 around ns, all proceeding from sincere good will to mankind 
 and earnest effort for the improvement of the race ; but if 
 there is one scheme more important than all the rest, it is the 
 Nationalization of the Land, as this scheme enters into the 
 cause of direct suffering, and while aiming at the immediate 
 relief of present distress, as do all other and less radical 
 measures,, it aims also at preventing a recurrence of these 
 disasters in the next generation. 
 
232 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 Work is the sovereign remedy for every ill. Labour, 
 which, occasions suffering and painful exhaustion, may be 
 traceable to the transgression of a divine law, or to human 
 imperfectioD ; but work itself is divine. All religions picture 
 an active God, and all who tell of angels speak of them as 
 busy as well as happy beings. Every child is born with a 
 love of occupation, and no system of school education or 
 home training is anything like complete, or even praise worthv 
 or worthy of recommendation, unless it makes provision for 
 the employment of every faculty of mind and body. Mis- 
 chief is the misdirection of energy. Never aim at the anni- 
 hilation or suppression of a faculty, taste, appetite, or talent, 
 but aim at harmony in the use of all. Aim at symmetrical 
 unfoldment, aim at roundness of character, and remember 
 that everybody is good for something, and, given a fair 
 chance, every one may become useful if not great.^ 
 
 Mrs. Weldon, whose name is now a household work to all 
 readers of the daily newspapers, when conducting an orphan- 
 age, entirely her own enterprise, some years ago in London, 
 says she found every child who could be picked up in the 
 gutter good for something ; and that brave, philanthropic 
 and cultured lady, who loves children and makes them love 
 her, has discovered means for calling forth their latent 
 powers, so that every one may be an ornament to society, if his 
 or her education is only persevered with. 
 
 Some reformers are Malthusians, and see no other way of 
 limiting distress than by limiting the population, and while 
 we are quite ready to admit that in the present state of 
 society many children are born only to grow up as criminals 
 and sufferers, we do not anticipate any evil from the birth of 
 any number of sound, healthy children who, coming from 
 good parents, and being themselves well educated, shall be 
 able to fill useful and honourable places in society. The 
 population of Great Britain, without Ireland, at the present 
 time is about thirty millions in round numbers, and it ha& 
 been computed that were it ninety millions, the country 
 would be quite large enough to sustain the people were the 
 land properly distributed and cultivated, and were monopolies 
 abolished and political rings broken up. In America the 
 land can sustain twenty times its present population, and then 
 not be at all overcrowded. Australia, amply large enough to 
 sustain hundreds of millions, is now occupied by just a few 
 
WRAT IS PROPERTY? 23a 
 
 millions of Anglo-Saxons and a handful of Aborigines. The 
 land, not yet under cultivation in the British colonies and 
 dependencies, can be made to sustain so great a number of 
 persons in comfort and even affluence, that the overpopula- 
 tion of the world is something so remote that it is quite 
 useless even to discuss it. But unless the Land Question is 
 decided, and that very swiftly, the world will be practically 
 overpeopled, with perhaps a twentieth part of the number 
 which could be easily sustained, without any further improve- 
 ments in agriculture or the practise of any superior economy 
 than that which already prevails. 
 
 Turn where you will, and you are on somebody's land. 
 Someone has set up a claim to private property in the very 
 earth you tread, therefore, you are on that land by permission 
 or on sufferance. It is not your own, and should you im- 
 prove it entirely at your own expense, the bulk of remunera- 
 tion would not go to you, who are the active, and, indeed, 
 sole cause of the bettered condition of that spot of earth. 
 The revenue derived from your labour increases the rent-roll 
 of your landlord, who is very likely, at the present moment, 
 on the Continent," spending his money abroad, and not adding 
 even to the support of trade in his native country, or in any 
 manner to the wealth and prosperity of the people whose 
 earnings he is squandering on selfish luxury, at some fashion- 
 able haunt of dissipation abroad. 
 
 One of the greatest and loudest outcries against oppressive 
 landlordism in Ireland, began with the protest against the 
 Irish land-owner exacting higher and higher rents from Irish 
 farmers, because they, his tenantry, improved the land, while 
 lie squandered their earnings abroad, and had a larger profit 
 every year, if they were only industrious enough to keep on 
 improving his property. Had they received the use of the 
 land, with the understanding that improvements were to be 
 accepted in lieu of rent, the scheme might have been fair 
 enough, and have been an incentive to the tenants to work ; 
 but who cares to improve land to fill fuller still the already 
 overfilled coffers of some peer or landlord, who cares nothing 
 whatever for his tenantry, and appoints bailiffs and stewards 
 to enforce extortionate rents, and evict all tenants who cannot 
 meet his disgraceful demands ? ( Do you wonder at the 
 present disorganized and dangerous condition of Ireland ? 
 Blame the Land League, and Mr. Parnell, if you will ; 
 
 2p 
 
2?A LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 protest with all your miglit and main against the iniquitous 
 outrages which the infuriated Celt has resorted to in his 
 desperation, but be not hard on the sinner whom injustice 
 has turned into a criminal, and then let the original offender 
 receive your compassion and laudation, while you condemn 
 to imprisonment, or even death, the lawless champion of free- 
 dom, who, though acting ever so rashly and unwisely, is still, 
 in his rude way, uttering his protest against that tyranny 
 and oppression, which you all, as Englishmen, affect to hate. 
 
 Home Rule may not be the means of saving Ireland, even 
 if it is obtained. England has Home Rule, but here the 
 condition of many of the working people, and of paupers 
 generally, is little better than in Ireland. England has not 
 been desolated by famine so much as Ireland. Englishmen 
 are not quite so improvident and impetuous as Irishmen, but 
 if things go on for another fifty years in England as they are 
 going now, England will be the scene of as much fighting 
 and desolation as Ireland is the scene of at the present 
 moment. 
 
 America has Home Rule, and yet across the Atlantic the 
 self same evils are threatening the nation of the United 
 States, as are threatening England. There the Stewarts, the 
 Vanderbilts and other monopolists and millionaires, are fast 
 buying up all the available land, and if they are ever induced 
 to sell, though they buy cheap, they are determined to sell 
 dear, and, by controlling the stock markets, are the means of 
 bringing frequent panics upon the country. These panics, of 
 course, mean suffering to multitudes of innocent persons, and 
 though these men are spoken of in many avowedly Cliristian 
 circles as honourable and religious gentlemen, no thief or 
 highway robber can really be more dishonest than he who, 
 taking advantage of his neighbour's necessity, compels him 
 to pay an extortionate duty upon the very necessaries of life, 
 as is the case when railroads are under the control of indiv- 
 dual monopolists. Rates of passenger travel and freight 
 transportation are regulated by the arbitrary decree of the 
 man or men to whom not only the railroad property, but the 
 land through which the trains pass, belongs. By control- 
 ling railroads and steamships, freight can only be trans- 
 ported if the owner of the means of transportation gives 
 leave, and his permission gained, he charges whatever he 
 thinks fit. This makes the necessaries of life extremely dear. 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTY? 235 
 
 Therefore, in the Eastern States, Western produce can only be 
 obtained at fabulous prices, and though the States are nomi- 
 nally united, the monopolist does all he can to keep the union 
 a fact in name only. 
 
 Co-operation has been suggested as the sovereign remedy 
 for all these ills. Societary versus individual property has 
 been advocated, as peasant proprietary in land has been 
 suggested by many as the true solvent of the land difficulty. 
 Now, as to co-operation, theoretically it is irreproachable. 
 The ideal co-operative schemes, of which we hear so much, 
 are well nigh perfect. So were the Owens' communistic 
 plans, and the failure of either Co-operation or Communism, 
 in an actualized state of society, is due, not to an error in the 
 ideal system, but in the means of carrying it out. There is 
 a danger everywhere from the tendency of large organizations 
 soon coming under the dictation of a very few wealthy and. 
 influential men, and these are considered, by the country at 
 large, extremely important because of their wealth. No 
 matter how they got it, the vote of a man of immense capital 
 is worth more, in the eyes of all aspirants to political power, 
 than that of a labourer. 
 
 Make all votes of equal value, establish manhood, yea, and 
 womanhood suffrage, too, and if there be evils accruing to 
 the nation at first, from the adoption of so broad and liberal 
 a policy, these evils will be but the excrescences by means of 
 which the bad blood of the nation, the virus whichinnoculated 
 its veins in the old feudal times, and has been lurking as a 
 deadly poison within ever since, will be thrust forth ; as the 
 agitation, and even revolution, consequent upon the franchise, 
 cannot be permanent, though for a while a sudden accession 
 of liberty sweeps down like an avalanche upon the land, and 
 the timid fear for the future, not knowing that the turmoil of 
 the present is but the harbinger of happier and more peaceful 
 days. 
 
 Co-operation, independent of officialism and party strife, 
 will be a fact so soon as the great mass of men and women 
 find it to their interest to club together, and stand shoulder 
 to shoulder as one man, against a common foe. While 
 individuals cannot easily become large capitalists, except in 
 very rare instances, the accumulated and united capital of a 
 multitude can be a power sufficient to offset that of any and 
 every millionaire. 
 
236 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 Now, slioiild the great People arise in their might, and 
 determine to counteract the existing evils, they must compete 
 with the monopolies of the day, and can do so provided they 
 can trust one another, and work together as partners in a 
 common firm. A railroad built and managed as the property 
 of a million, controlled by representatives chosen from the 
 people, might leave undisturbed the manoeuvres of monopo- 
 lists, and yet at a cheap rate do all the business of the 
 country, and leave the monopolists' enterprise to sink or swim 
 as best it might. But the great question which arises is — 
 How shall the people get possession of the land whereon to 
 build and create wealth ? For nothing can be done without 
 land, and that is fast disappearing even from those who are 
 ready to pay a fair price for it. It is in the hands of an ever- 
 narrowing few, who hold it with a death grip, and who are 
 starving the million to support the handful. 
 
 There is at present an old land tax of four shillings in the 
 pound on all English land, a mere fraction of which is now 
 paid. Enforce that tax as a step towards the absolute nation- 
 alization of the land, and the burden of taxation will fall, not 
 upon those who make good, but bad, or no use of their 
 property. If four shillings in the pound should be the tax 
 levied upon the justly-estimated value of land all over the 
 country, then those whose land was of little or no use to 
 them need not pay the tax : they could at once allow it to 
 become the property of the Government. Those who culti- 
 vated land, and built upon it, would be the means of 
 employing many who are now idlers, able and willing to 
 work, but without employment or the means of subsistence. 
 Houses would become more plentiful, food would be cheaper, 
 clothes would find purchasers, and by the proper employ- 
 ment of the unoccupied thousands, strikes and panics would 
 be averted, and the country saved, and all through the settle- 
 ment of the land difficulty. No one should be allowed to 
 claim what he does not employ for the general good, and no 
 one should be permitted to so underpay labourers as to allow 
 the rich to be ever growing richer, while the poor are ever 
 becoming poorer. 
 
 Peasant Proprietary has been suggested as a means of 
 settling all the present embarrassing and pressing questions 
 with reference to land, but while peasant proprietary niay be 
 an ameliorative or palliative measure, it does not partake of 
 
WIfA T IS PR OPER TYf 237 
 
 the nature of a radical reform. It would temporarily reduce 
 the evil, it would allay some immediate distress, it would 
 split up vast estates and farms into many small ones, but it 
 does not propose a radical change in the present system of 
 land proprietorship. Private property in land is admitted by 
 the peasant proprietor as much as by the wealthiest earl or 
 duke, while the advocates of peasant proprietary, of course, 
 cannot object on principle to the ownership of land by 
 individuals, and until we clearly understand the injustice of 
 any claim to the ownership of land, v/e shall not have solved 
 our problem or settled our dispute. 
 
 The Peasant Proprietor says he has laboured hard to 
 possess himself of a small estate, w^hich he shall be able to 
 bequeath to his children after him, and he asks, very 
 naturally — Have I not a right to do what I will with my 
 own, and is not that my own for which I have industriously 
 laboured, year after year? Is that w^hich. I have earned to 
 be taken from me ? Am I to forfeit everything, and see my 
 property distributed among the maltitude ? Our answer is — 
 You can never have worked for or earned land, though you 
 may by your own industries have rendered land valuable 
 which w^as comparatively worthless before you took it in 
 hand. You may have procured the right to the fruitage of 
 certain acres of ground and to the buildings upon it, but the 
 land itself does not belong to you, merely because you have 
 discovered it, or brought forth its latent powers, causing it 
 to yield a luxuriant harvest. But if you, possessed of this 
 land as you think justly, should be compelled to deliver it 
 up to the Nation, you must of course claim and receive com- 
 pensation for what is reasonably your own. The Nation, or 
 the State, having the right to take the land, has not the right 
 to grasp the fruit of your toil. Now, you did not make the 
 land, therefore, it is not yours. The ground is the property 
 of God, and you did not buy it of the Creator. It has been 
 decreed to you by no special gift from Him. The land 
 belongs to all men equally. The Creator has given it to the 
 inhabitants of the earth, without favour or restriction, and no 
 one person can possibly say he has a greater right to land 
 than another has. 
 
 But how will you divide the land from the results of the 
 labour which has made it fruitful ? How will you separate 
 between the property of the man from whom you take the 
 
238 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 land, and the land itself? The answer„ to iis, is very simple. 
 If the Stale takes your land as it is, with all the improve- 
 ments or buildings upon it, which are results of your industry ., 
 you must be compensated for all that is yours ; as the State 
 has no right with anything except the land itself. An offer 
 may be made to you to retain possession of the land, by pay- 
 ment of ground rent to the State. You must pay yaur tax on 
 the land instead of on the property, and we do not think if the 
 taxation were shifted, if you were all obliged to pay for using 
 land because the land is national not private property, and 
 were then excused from all tax upon legitimate private 
 property, that any one of yoM would be injured. A reason- 
 able scheme of land nationalization merely forces all persons 
 to pay the public for the use of land, which is public property, 
 but does not extort money from any one because he improves 
 the land, and thereby cheapens the commodities of life, and 
 by increasing lawful competition benefits the entire com- 
 munity. 
 
 Now, the immediate advantages of land nationalization 
 would surely be these. The nation claiming the land, but 
 not its produce or the buildings erected upon it, would com- 
 pel all who keep land idle, as pleasure or hunting ground, 
 to pay dearly for the privilege of pla^dng dog-in- 
 the-manger, or devoting some of the best parts of the 
 country to purposes of cruel sport. Fox-hunting, grouse 
 and pigeon-shooting, and other sports indulged in by the 
 nobility and landed gentry, are surely of no use to the coun- 
 try, and why should a privileged few be allowed to amuse 
 themselves at the nation's expense, without paying, and that 
 pretty dearly, for the privilege. Suppose the land tax of 
 four shillings in the pound were rigorously enforced in every 
 case, on the evenly estimated value of land, and the valuation 
 were determined and fixed at a uniform rate by the chosen 
 representatives of the people, assembled in convocation, 
 then if any chose to pay this tax, they would be pouring 
 into the nation's coffers an amount of wealth by no means 
 inconsiderable, which could at once be utilized in many 
 schemes of improvement. But those who make no use of 
 land at all, and really receive no enjoyment from the nominal 
 possession of it, would surely, in most instances, deliver it 
 up to the nation, or else improve it or build upon it. 
 
 Now, if it were improved, cultivated, built upon, these 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTY? 239 
 
 works could not be undertaken without the employment of a 
 large number of men to do the necessary work. As the land 
 became fruitful or covered with houses, which could be sold 
 or rented, the wealth of the country would positively increase, 
 as wealth is created by labour, and the enrichment of the 
 masses does not necessarily mean the impoverishment of any 
 body. If land cannot be added to at will, while capital 
 can be increased by labour to a practically unlimited degree, 
 as all property was originally the result of labour, we do not 
 see that any one needs to suffer by the nation's claiming the 
 land. If those who are now holding it unoccupied shall be 
 obliged to pay the nation for their tenure of it, they will 
 simply be forced to make it productive, or in some way re- 
 munerative, that they may still afford to hold it ; and by 
 making it fruitful, or building upon it, they enrich the nation, 
 and have an opportunity of enriching themselves also, as 
 labour creates capital, thereby adding to the wealth of all 
 who work or furnish the means for the carrying on of any 
 industry. 
 
 If this land tax were at once rigorously enforced in every 
 instance, a very large amount of land would at once be given 
 up, and that land could be utilized iii providing bread for 
 the starving millions, and clothing for the multitudes who 
 now go naked in the streets. We want more houses, more 
 clothing for the masses. Hundreds of miserable creatures 
 are huddled together in foul, unhealthy tenements ; thou- 
 sands go supperless to bed, and starve in nakedness in the 
 streets, while the cry is everywhere, that the warehouses 
 are overstocked, that work can only be allowed half-time, 
 that England is producing more than she can consume. 
 Labourers and workmen of all trades are striking for higher 
 wages. Many mills and factories are only working half-time, 
 and others are closed altogether. A general panic seems 
 imminent, unless some radical plan is at once devised and 
 carried into execution for the remunerative employment of 
 the masses. 
 
 England does not produce too much, she produces too little. 
 Every unlet house is required as a home for many who are 
 homeless, every unsold yard of cotton or linen stuff is needed 
 absolutely, imperatively demanded, to cover the almost naked 
 limbs of the many who wander from place to place without 
 rags to cover their nakedness. The present condition of 
 
240 LONDON .LECTURES 
 
 England is as bad as that of old Rome ere she fell, and unless 
 England be warned and repent in time, her place among the 
 nations will know her no more. She will miserably perish^ 
 as did the great nations of the old world, who, when they 
 were priding themselves upon their greatness, fell, not from 
 the attacks of Goths and Vandals who swooped down upon 
 them from the North like vultures eager for their prey, but 
 because the plebians were many and the land was not theirs ; 
 they would not fight for the masters, who oppressed them in 
 times of peace, and commanded them to take up arms against 
 the invader in times of war. The patricians dug their graves 
 with their own hands, they pulled down their houses about 
 their own ears, and when they fell, the free world rejoiced as 
 it ever must over the downfall of a tyrant. 
 
 If England were besieged to-day, how would she sustain 
 herself, in the present disaffected condition of her children *? 
 Where would that union be found, which alone secures in- 
 vincibility ? England has so many vipers hugged close to 
 her bosom, that she needs to set matters straight at home 
 before she arouses the ire of all lovers of peace and justice, 
 by seeking to add to her forei2:n dominion by aggression and 
 bloodshed. The war with Egypt is a miserable fiasco, a 
 wretched burlesque, calling forth the contempt and ridicule 
 of all onlookers. England's present condition is not what it 
 was in the eyes of other nations, and should the time arrive 
 when. England shall again become the scene of bloody con- 
 flict, how will she sustain herself, how breast the storm which 
 even now seems gathering thick about her ? There is but 
 one means of prevention for coming disasters, but one means 
 of securing to England a great and noble place and name in 
 the annals of future history, that is — make Englishmen a 
 unit, let the masses be so employed and remunerated that 
 England becomes self-sustaining, not longer so miserably 
 dependent as she now is on foreign countries ; and this can 
 be done in the course of a few short years, solely by employ- 
 ing her own subjects upon the land which now lies idle, and 
 relieving the masses from the terrific burden of supporting a 
 few land-owners in luxury, while the million starves as soon 
 as it can no longer work, or starves, as is in many instances 
 the case, v/hile it is able and willing to work, but can get no 
 work to do. 
 
 You will perceive that the scheme which we propose is 
 
WHAT IS PROPERTY? 241 
 
 both an equitable and simple one ; it is, moreover, a very 
 practical and easy one. We do not wildly and quixotically 
 propose to divide the land into as many pieces as there are 
 inhabitants, and then give each individual a share. We pro- 
 pose to make the nation itself the steward of all the land, 
 then if you wish to hire land the State is your landlord. You 
 pay for the use of the land you occupy, not to a private indi- 
 vidual, but to the nation, in the persons of its chosen repre- 
 sentatives, who are bound to employ the national capital in 
 national improvement. To-day the multitudes are working 
 for tyrannical masters, many of whom hoard their wealth or 
 squander it abroad. If you work for the State you work 
 really for yourselves. The governors must be elected by you ; 
 they must represent you and use the money you contribute 
 to the general fund for public improvement. Thus can 
 the nation support itself, and you have no taxes to pay nor 
 higher rents, because you are industrious and use the land. 
 You pay for the use of land, if you claim it, whether you use 
 it or not. If you cannot afford to hold it in idleness, you 
 must employ it, and by employing it you benefit all who work 
 for you, and increase your own revenue into the bargain. 
 
 Every one knows that if a thousand or a million able-bodied, 
 skilful men should take possession of some unoccupied ground, 
 and build upon it and make it fruitful, they would be adding 
 to the wealth of mankind, without robbing anybody of a 
 penny ; and as this has been done abroad, and is still being 
 done in the Colonies and Western States of America, w^hy 
 not turn the estates now lying idle into habitable and pro- 
 ductive ground ? By employing under Government a large 
 number of workmen, who would work for the State instead 
 of the individual employer, and be well paid for their labour, 
 what results would accrue to the nation at large? Why, 
 very shortly all the unbought goods in the warehouses would 
 be upon the backs of those who at present are almost naked ; 
 work would become more plentiful and wages higher ; the 
 demand and supply would alike increase, and by this simple 
 addition to the amount of work in demand, a panic would be 
 averted, strikes would die out, and the working people would 
 become self-supporting, and more, they would earn enough to 
 live in comfort, and to make provision for a rainy day. 
 
 If parents can take care of their children and educate them, 
 let them do so, but in cases where children are brought up to 
 
 2g 
 
242 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 beg and steal, and liave no proper homes, the State might 
 well step in (or better, private parties), and see that no child 
 is allowed to grow up without an education, enabling him or 
 her to earn an honest living at some useful trade. 
 
 We believe in the sanctity of Home as much as any one ; 
 we advocate independence and self- ownership as much as 
 any ; we do not believe in an abstract State swallowing up 
 all individual homes and property, though the time will come 
 when communism will be rendered practicable, and be found 
 the highest state of societ}^ ; — all we ask for now is that the 
 one who works may have the benefit of his labour ; that no 
 dogs-in-the-manger be caressed ; that justice reign supreme ; 
 and no one be allowed an undue advantage over his neighbour. 
 
 In these few and imperfect suggestions for the nationaliza- 
 tion of land, we know we have not gone sufficiently into 
 detail to make our views clearly intelligible to all ; but in a 
 single lecture, that is, of course, impossible. What we have 
 said has been said merely in the hope of inducing you all to 
 consider this great question, and to place before you our honest 
 conviction as to what may and should be done, and that with- 
 out delay, to minimize distress, and at length remove it from 
 ihe globe. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE CRY J^OR BREAD. 
 
 "iTrHY are the children hungry ? Thej' cry for bread jn the street 5 
 ' ' Surely the earth produces enough for them all to eat! 
 I have seen the loaded fruit-trees, in the orchards all so fair, 
 I have gazed on the golden corn-fields, and, on resounding air,- 
 Have heard the song of feasters, and seen them cast away 
 The bread, for which men perish in many a street each day I 
 
 Why are the childreh naked, or covered but in rags ? 
 
 Why do they wander sadly ? While each one lamely drags 
 
 His tired form from door to door^ and through the bustling streets. 
 
 Petitions, with heart--rending cry, of every one he meets,-^ 
 
WRA T IS PR OPER TYf 2i3 
 
 Oh ! buy my pretty flowers, all withering in the sun ; 
 But if he cannot sell them, then, when the day is done, 
 He sleeps within some shelter, so hard, and cold, and rude. 
 Or, left out in the dreary streets, he starves for lack of food. 
 
 Why are the people homeless ? since there are mansions fair, 
 
 Unoccupied, yet beauteous, and gardens sweet and rare. 
 
 Where flowers bloom but none see them, for high walls built around. 
 
 Fence in these sacred precincts, where luxuries abound : 
 
 The children freeze and hunger, the women faint and die. 
 
 With weary babes i ressedto their breasts, in want and misery ! 
 
 Shall no one feed the children, take off the beggar's rags ? 
 
 Is charity so tardy that every day she lags ; 
 
 While death and sorrow increase, while land lies idle still. 
 
 That the noble may but own it, though it should the peasant kill ? 
 
 Have ye no homes made ready, to invite the children in ? 
 Have ye no schools to teach them to build, to knit, to spin ? 
 Have ye no food to give them — those waifs along life's way — 
 Those foundlings, whom the city swallows like beasts of prey. 
 
 Are there no empty homesteads, where children could shed light ? 
 Are there none, tender-hearted, who'd make their own lives bright. 
 If they would take the children and lead them in the way — 
 The path of honest labour — which brings the triumph day ? 
 
 The cry for bread goes upward ; the angels hear the cry ; 
 And when the children perish in want and misery ; 
 Their loving arms embrace them, their loving voices cheer. 
 And the angels draw to heaven those who on earth are drear. 
 
 Are there no angels dwelling upon the earth to-day, 
 
 Embodied here among you, to drive this curse avray ; 
 
 This dreadful curse of hunger, this poverty so dread : 
 
 Are there no means of succour ; can the children ne'er be fed ? 
 
 The Angel of the Earth declares, that it can render bread 
 
 For all the starving millions : then raise such food, we pray, 
 
 By dint of honest labour, that all have enough each day I 
 
 If mighty lords and ladies control the land of G-od, 
 
 If wealth stalks by in purple, while pressed against the sod, 
 
 Are the weary forms and faces of those who long to die, 
 
 Workless and wealth less, striving in ceaseless misery ; 
 
 Then pass good laws, we pray you, that all may sow and reap, 
 
 Tha-t all, through honest labour, may smile where now they weep. 
 
 Let loving justice guide you, let love for all mankind 
 Direct your every measure, till laws become refined 
 From ancient, feudal cringing to nobles, but in name ; 
 Take ye the rich, broad acres which now the proud lords claim, 
 Take them by legislation, by voice, which raised for right, 
 Clamours for Justice only, for Freedom's pure delight; 
 
 Take all that now lies idle : there build, there reap, there sow 
 For future generations plant good seed, that will grow. 
 And call that man the noblest, who truthfully can boast. 
 That his work is the bravest, and does of good the most. 
 
244 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 The barren lands rejoicing, the wilderness ■will sing, 
 
 Where now the cooped-up children, in dens which miseries brinj 
 
 Playing in fields and meadows, breathing the country air, 
 
 Eating the bread of honest toil, these wJU full shortly share 
 
 The blessings God is ready to freely shower on all. 
 
 Delay not to obey it — the spirit's urgent call ; 
 
 But go ye and deal justly, let loving justice guide, 
 
 And the laws that are most loving, most stable will abide. 
 
 BENEDICTION. - 
 
 May the light of love, so brightly;, 
 
 Shine on yonr every way, 
 That darkness, injustice, and wrong. 
 
 Like clouds shall pass away, 
 Before the rising brightness 
 
 Of the sun of the New Day, 
 Which rises (healing in its wings) 
 
 To drive all want away \ 
 
 Amen, 
 
( 245 ) 
 
 XV. 
 
 TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 
 
 THE question of Marriage, is one ever recurring, ever 
 interesting, ever important, as marriage is essential to 
 the constitution of home and the rearing of offspring ; 
 and as you aU very well know, the sanctity of home invaded, 
 children neglected, the true union of man and woman an- 
 nulled, necessarily leads to the disintegration of society, the 
 destruction and overthrow of all that is most worth preserv- 
 ing in the social order. But a question may well be asked, 
 and tliat is — Whether the prevailing ideas of the marriage 
 covenant are the highest conceivable, or whether, in a further 
 advanced and more 23erfect state of human society, the mar- 
 riage union may not be one of greater solidity and felicity 
 than it ordinarily is at present ? 
 
 C Unquestionably, Marriage is both a divine and natural 
 institution. The union of one man with one woman is ever 
 higher than polygamy, as it approaches nearer to the divine 
 ideal of celestial union, w^iich union is nothing less than the 
 perfect blending of the twp halves of one soul, in the perfect 
 bliss of angelic association for eternity. 
 
 Swedenborg, when discoursing upon the loves of the angels 
 and describing the married state in heaven, declares that 
 angels are dual beings ; that the highest degree of life 
 attainable in this direction, is that marria^-e of the individual 
 which makes two one. Within the human soul itself this 
 union is consummated, and to this Jesus doubtless alluded when 
 he said, that in the resurrection they would neither marry nor 
 be given in marriage, but would be as the angels. This 
 allusion to angelhood would be meaningless and vague, nnless 
 those addressed were familiar Yviiii the idea of angelhood, 
 and knew what the teacher meant when he said, that all who 
 participated in the blessedness of the resurrection would be as 
 the angels. 
 
 The word angel, of course, hterally and simply means a 
 
246 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 minister or messenger, and it is said in the Psalms, that 
 angels are spirits ; in the Apocalypse angels are mentioned as 
 having charge over the seven churches of Asia ; and there 
 are those who so interpret the angel in that connection, that 
 they ordain ministers to take charge of congregations, and 
 call them angels, as is the custom among the followers of 
 Edward Irving, the highest minister in the " Catholic Apos- 
 tolic Church " being designated an angel. This interpretation 
 may be in no sense erroneous, as an angel certainly does mean 
 an exalted minister and a divine messenger, and when in its 
 highest sense it is used to designate those who in spirit-life 
 have attained to the celestial deg'ree, it signifies those who, 
 having completely conquered every material temptation, and 
 learned every lesson earthly experience can teach, no more 
 require the discipline of earthly suffering and pain, neither 
 the sorrows and sej^arations, which may be encountered in 
 spirit-life, until the spirit has become quite delivered from the 
 bondage of all earthward desires and inclinations. 
 
 Plato, alluding to the inmost soul of man, declares that the 
 soul itself is dual, and therefore no human life, as expressed 
 on earth to-day, expresses more than half the primal life of 
 spirit. Thus a soul is two spirits, as a globe is two hemis- 
 pheres, and on account of this division of the soul on earth, 
 it is not good for man to be alone. Every human life seeks 
 companionship, all desire the complement to themselves, and 
 this perpetual longing for companionship evidences the fact 
 of the soul not being perfect upon the earth. Merely earthly 
 unions are for time only, but that marriage which is the best 
 you are capable of making at a given time, may serve a 
 useful purpose in time, though no place can be given to it in 
 eternity. Those companions, with whom you may have 
 pleasantly and peacefully passed a portion of your earthly life- 
 time, may greet you as dear friends in spirit life, but the 
 earthly partner there may not be the conjugal mate. 
 
 No earthly law can bind except for time, no ordinance or 
 statute of the Church or State refers to the hfe beyond the 
 grave. Thus the minister of religion or the civil magistrate, 
 pronouncing the marriage blessing over the husband and wife 
 at the altar, can declare no further than that the union, which 
 is there and then consummated, may last until death parts. 
 Even the Church of Rome, most inexorable in the tying of 
 the marriage knot, not permitting of divorce, allows widows 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 247 
 
 and widowers to many again. If the Cliurcli sanctions 
 second marriages, and yet believes in immortality, evidently 
 the Pope himself admits that the marriage covenant on earth 
 is a covenant for time only ; and if any one reads the intro- 
 dnction to the marriage service in the Chnrch of England 
 Prayer-book, he will soon discover that that chnrch has no 
 idea whatever of the perpetuation of earthly union in the 
 immortal world. Nevertheless, the Gospel says, that those 
 w^hom God has joined together no man can pnt asunder. If 
 the Church has joined you, the Church can divorce you, if 
 the State has united you, the State can separate you. But 
 if your union be . a union made by the Eternal, then no 
 earthly power, civil or ecclesiastical, has power to break the 
 bond. 
 
 We have often alluded in your hearing, to the soul's priority 
 to the material form, and have told you that the soul's con- 
 sciousness, not ending with the animation of the body, has 
 not begun with it, and is certainly not derived from it. The 
 soul unembodied, in the paradise from which you came to 
 earth, in that scarce-remembered home wdiere you dwelt before 
 matter attracted you to the earth, and caused you to take on 
 a physical embodiment, was pure as the snow as yet unfallen, 
 unsullied as the water from the clearest spring, ere yet it has 
 encountered the dust of earth. 
 
 The old-time fable of primeval paradise, the Eden state of 
 humanity unfallen. portrays in glowing Oriental allegory the 
 purity and peace of the primal home of souls. The Soul 
 itself, both primal and absolute, a unit of life, imperishable 
 and uncreated, ancient as the Divine Mind, immortal as the 
 Eternal Spirit, prior to assuming a material form dwelt as a 
 perfect globe or ultimate atom of life, in that paradise of 
 w^hich tht5 poets speak. When Schiller speaks of his 
 spirit's reminiscences, when Shelley speaks of trailing clouds of 
 glory accompanying the spirit earthward from its primal 
 home, — these poets sing of that pure life of innocence and 
 peace, which souls have left to tread the troubled round of 
 earthly being. 
 
 Some ask — Why should the spirit fall ? But then — Why 
 should the seed be planted? Why should the infant lose the 
 innocence of babyhood, and w^ith maturity encounter the 
 storms of earth, and buffet with the billows of a thousand ills 
 and dangers? As every possibiUty of future glory is embedded 
 
248 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 in the tiny seed implanted in the ground, as only what is 
 involved in the typal germ can be outwrought through evolu- 
 tion in the full-fledged blossom, as the acorn enshrines, though 
 latently, every possibility of the oak's fruition, so every babe 
 holds in his inmost hfe ever}^ promise of manhood, woman- 
 hood and angelhood, which shall ever burst forth from out 
 the infant being, as it progresses towards the perfection of 
 eternal life. 
 
 Darwin may boast of having found the law of evolution, 
 Spencer may follow him along his labyrinthine path, and seek 
 the soul imprisoned in the dust, as though the dust first gave 
 it birth. All the scientists, which the earth has ever pro- 
 duced, may enquire of protoplasm, of animalcules, of the 
 lowest signs of vitality on earth, but the dust will never un- 
 ravel the mysteries of Spirit, no material combinations evolve 
 intelligence, no " evoluted " outward forms can ever prove 
 the origin of spirit, though each one may register some 
 attainment of the soul, which on its outward journey has 
 faslnoned the monad ere it formed the duad, and the jelly- 
 fish and monkey ere the earth was rij)efor man. Then when 
 human life appeared, one half the soul was embodied in the 
 form of man, the other in the form of woman. 
 
 The Spirit of God, working through all the processes of 
 nature, formed man (humanity) at first, both male and female. 
 How many human beings were first formed, or where they 
 first appeared, the records do not say, but Genesis declares, 
 when God made human hfe in the image of the Deity, he 
 made that life both male and female. When first the sonl 
 approaches earth, the soul divides, and the philosophy of 
 countei'parts is, that one spirit is but half the soul. The two 
 halves seek each other through earthly life, and through the 
 spheres, until at length the celestial union is attained. The 
 two discover that they are but one, and in the bhss of life 
 eternal there is neither male nor female, but the perfect life in 
 which the two are one. 
 
 Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, " In Christ there is 
 neither male nor female," meaning that the divine life, and 
 that of humanity perfected, is not single but dual ; and when 
 in Genesis God speaks to God, or angel speak to angel, 
 saying, Let us make i]iQ human race in our image and after 
 our likeness, — the aUusion is to the duality of hfe. The half 
 of the soul addresses the other, and in that is expressed the 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 210 
 
 true duality, which is the perfect unity of God. King David 
 said, whenever he should wake up in God's likeness, he would 
 he satisfied; and no soul is satisfied before the celestial mar- 
 riage, for nothing short of it contents the spirit, and only to 
 the extent that earthly unions resemble the divine, are they 
 felicitous or spiritually lawful and endimng. 
 
 AVe do not deny that many unions upon earth are spiri- 
 tually lawful and accomplish good, even though they may not 
 be eternal. All human acts on earth can be but relatively 
 right, as only a relative amount of light is given to earth's 
 children, and if when at the marriage altar you can say to the 
 man beside you— This man I love more than all others ; I 
 have singled him out from his fellows to be my spouse, not 
 because of rank or wealth, but because of the love I bear 
 him, — then your husband is such to you in more than name. 
 But if for gold or lands you shall aRow the form of marriage, 
 submit to the outer rite, while the heart is a stranger to the 
 ceremony, then though your bridal array be ever so pure, 
 and you conform ever so perfectly to the laws of man, your 
 marriage is but mockery in the sight of heaven. The earthly 
 law is not clairvoyant, its representatives have not the power 
 to read the heart, therefore earthly ordinances are often un- 
 availing in the sight of heaven, because they are but cloaks, 
 disguises, resorted to to cover shame and wrong. 
 
 Xo one can positively foretell the future, no one can know 
 all that is in store for hini. The best may be deceived, or 
 may unconsciously, unwilKngly deceive themselves ; and if 
 you find you have made a mistake, you are not a sinner : you 
 are free from blame if the mistake be nothing more. Thus 
 we do not say that all unhappy marriages began in sin or 
 wHful deceit, but if they were free from this dishonour, they 
 certainly took rise in ignorance, and can be nothing higher 
 than painfid and humiliating experiences, needed, to teacli the 
 s]3irit which passes through them, lessons wliieh can be learned 
 successfully in no other school than that of such experiences 
 as these, painful though they be. 
 
 Those, who make such mistakes unconsciously, deserve 
 pity, not censure. They suffer quite sufficiently in their 
 own hves, without having to encounter the jibes and jeers and 
 condemnations of their pharisaical accusers. Even if adulter}^ 
 be committed, the pohcy Jesus adopted was not to curse the 
 sinner, but to seek her reformation. If those who follow 
 
 2h 
 
250 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 Jesus nominally would follow him in reality, instead of 
 recrimination and abnse we shonld hear of sympathy and 
 kindly exhortation, not condonence with iniquity, but the 
 helping hand outstretched to enlighten the benighted and 
 reform the evil doer. 
 
 Angels never indulge in harsh invective, they never censure 
 those who are not as pure as they are themselves, for well 
 they know that censure only drives the sinners deeper and 
 deeper into the pit of degradation. Those who draw in their 
 skirts and pass by on the other side, considering themselves 
 too holy even to touch the garments of a fallen sister, may 
 be the very first to fall when temptation is presented to them; 
 while those who have risen superior to it, can afford to 
 sympathize and uplift, not dreading the contagion of 
 ajiother's vice, then can safely seek the reformation of the 
 offender. 
 
 The present deplorable condition of morals, both public and 
 private, in all centres of modern culture, is due not only to 
 the weakness of human nature, as is often said, but in very 
 large degree to the extremely faulty and incom])lete training 
 of girls. This defect in their education, coupled with the 
 false notions of woman's riglitful sphere, instilled into the 
 minds of girls almost from infancy, is one of the most fruitful 
 causes of woman's degradation, where vice flaunts itself un- 
 blushingly in the streets of all your towns and cities. 
 
 Man is styled the lord of creation, woman is to be his vassal, 
 the creature of his will, the child of his caprice, the toy that 
 he may play with to-day and ruin to-morrow. The man 
 who blasts a woman's name, deceives her when she has con- 
 fided in his honour, is said to have been "indiscreet." He 
 " sowed wild oats " in youth, but all men are alike. He is 
 received with honour in society. He may pick his bride 
 from among the fairest in the land. He may lead a spotless 
 virgin in her teens to the hy menial altar, and is considered a 
 suitable partner for the flower of some illustrious flock of pure 
 and trusting maidens ; while the woman whom he has de- 
 ceived, whose life he lias cruelly blasted, is no fit company for 
 such honourable gentlemen as he. 
 
 Far be it from us to wish to degrade women to the level of 
 fashionable society men ; far be it from us to do other than 
 S2ek to secure in its fullest beauty the purity of woman ; but, 
 in common justice, let there be but one law for man and 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 251 
 
 woman, and let not that be accounted excusable in the 
 stronger which is condemned as inexcusable in the weaker 
 vessel. 
 
 According to the present law, woman is inferior to man, no 
 matter what her mental power or moral excellence may be, 
 Because she is a woman, she is therefore man's inferior. A 
 drunken and illiterate man of brutal habits enjoys the fran- 
 chise ; he can go to the polls and assist in electing a member 
 of Parliament, or a member of the Senate, but should a 
 woman be ever so talented, ever so worthy, ever so qualified 
 to vote intelligently, she must be denied a voice in the affairs 
 of State, merely because she is a woman. 
 
 It is both nonsensical and unjust for the opponents of 
 Woman Suffrage to say that woman's rightful place is home ; 
 it is equally unjust to deny the ballot to all women, because 
 some say they do not want it. Some men do not vote, and 
 no one can compel them, but suffrage rightfully considered is 
 a duty as well as a privilege, and as right laws affect women 
 as much as men, and women can earn property as well as 
 men through their own industry, what can possibly be a grosser 
 injustice than taxation without representation ? 
 
 Of course, if women prove themselves incompetent for 
 certain kinds of work, now undertaken by men only, those 
 particular fields of labour must ever be the scene of man's 
 undivided operations. Truly, woman does not go to battle, 
 and is not often fitted for a soldier's life, still there have been 
 women who, like Joan of Arc, have headed armies and dis- 
 played a bravery on the field of battle, which if man could 
 imitate he has never been known to surpass. But we have 
 had too much of warfare; we need not to deify those who 
 can excel only in works of slaughter. It is not he who 
 drives the knife into his brother or shoots him dead with a 
 revolver or slays him on the battle field, who will be accounted 
 worthy of renown in coming days. 
 
 It is Bright, the advocate of peace, who, even more than 
 Gladstone, powerful and eloquent though he be, isJooked up 
 to as the greatest statesman of the times, by thoss whose 
 spiritual vision is least beclouded. The altars of gods of war 
 are fast falling into decay. It is not the god of battles 
 who is adored by the most refined and spiritual of eartli's 
 inhabitants to-day. Thus woman's disinclination for cruel 
 sports and cruel battle, will be her passport to honour in the 
 
252 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 coming days, for she wlio renders strife impossible, is surely 
 greater tlian he who engenders it. 
 
 It is to woman that all the world looks, as the bringer-forth 
 of the Redeemer. A virgin must conceive, and bear a son, 
 and call his name Emmanel, which means God with us. The 
 virgin-mother of Christ, Mary immaculate, brought forth a 
 sinless babe, according to the records, and because of the 
 purity of her conception it was styled miraculous. A miracle, 
 indeed, it must have been, if ever wife or maiden brought 
 forth a child unpolhited with hereditary taint, in the days 
 when Israel, sunk in degradation, was a vassal of the profli- 
 gate and declining Roman Empire I Not to be wondered at, 
 is it, that a legend passing strange was woven around the 
 history of so remarkable a mother and her child. 
 
 But whenever an imusually-divine result has been obtained, 
 the world has attributed it to a miracle, deeming it necessary 
 that the laws of nature should be set aside, that a child should 
 be born without the stain of sin. But it is not obedience to 
 the law, but disobedience thereunto, which brings sin and 
 sorrow to tlie world. God's laws, the laws of nature, are not 
 themselves impure, and when the time shall have arrived that 
 they are thoroughly obeyed, every birth will be a divine 
 incarnation, every mother will be pure as unpolluted maid, 
 and God's sons and daughters will people the earth, and life 
 celestial shall at length be ultimated upon earth. 
 
 The dreams of sage, poet and prophet, concerning the 
 Golden Age, are not too bright and hopeful to be real. !N'o 
 picture of the future of the world is any too highly coloured. 
 Isaiah's prediction of the perfect people, whose swords are 
 converted into plough- shares and into pruning hooks, will yet 
 be perfectly fulfilled ; and when that day shall dawn, the age of 
 harmony shall be heralded by such divine messengers, as with 
 the dual voice of man and woman, the blended powers of 
 mind and soul, of intellect and of affection, shall demon- 
 strate that j^erfect union of all faculties of mind and spirit, 
 which are never truly understood or rightfully applied till 
 every organ of the brain and conception of the spirit tills its 
 own distinctive niche, and contributes its own peculiar part 
 to universal harmony. 
 
 The highest life must be a symphony; the powders of human 
 nature must play together like many instruments in an 
 orchestra, or many voices in a choir : as in the Book of Reve- 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 253 
 
 lation, the perfect life is symboled in the woman, whose 
 diadem shines bright with the blended lustre of twelve stars. 
 Twelve and its multiples ever signify completeness. The 
 head adorned with diadem of twelve stars, is an allusion to 
 the twelve-fold glories of the perfected reason, while the 
 clothing of the body with the sun, means that the inner light 
 of love, with all-encompassing sheen of golden glory, must 
 robe, as in a vestment of perpetual and unsullied light, she 
 who is tobjing forth the Male Child, who is to rule the earth 
 with Rod of Iron, signifying 2:)ower and might invincible, 
 strength adequate to accomplish the final overthrow of ignor- 
 ance and wrong-; while the moon beneath her feet, emblem 
 of all material desires and all external wealth, signifies the 
 ultimate conquest of the soul over matter, and thj@ complete 
 subjection of the material to the spiritual being. 
 
 Have you never pondered over the story of the Sphinx, 
 arrim and hoary with years, with woman's head and lion's bodv? 
 This mystic figure stood in ancient Egypt, propounding her 
 question to every passer-by. What was the riddle of the 
 Sphinx, but the query of to-day : How shall power and gentle- 
 ness, how shall love and law, how shall intellect and affection, 
 how shall science and religion, how shall man and woman be 
 so united, that there be no more conflict between the material 
 and the spiritual realms ? If any one can answer that interro- 
 gation, the veil is rent in the midst of the temple of human 
 life, the glass, through which truth is but darkly seen, is 
 broken, and, face to face, is the vision of truth discerned. 
 The destruction of the Sphinx is but the end of mystery, of 
 conflict, of all gloom and doubt, the unveiling of the secrets 
 of eternity, the acceptance by man on earth of truth in the 
 celestial degree. The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life. 
 
 How shall justice be merciful and mercy just ? How shall 
 infamy be^ slain, society protected, the criminal reformed, 
 and yet the death-penalty be abolished, and dungeon cells 
 -give place to light and airy schools of industry, reformatories 
 and hospitals for the morally sick and mentally deformed ? 
 How shall more than Plato's dream of an ideal repubhc 
 be made practical, and a state of society be attained where 
 the w^eak are made strong, the crooked straight, no one harshly 
 dealt with, and no one slain ? 
 
 The voices of the angels of the IsTew Messiah are on the 
 air : their songs upon the breeze proclaim deliverance to the 
 
254 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 captives, emancipation for all in bondage ; and this New Dis- 
 pensation of truth, even now dawning, is the age of man and 
 woman, of reason and of love, the age of reconciliation and 
 mutual understanding, when neither science nor religion, the 
 brain nor the heart, man nor woman shall be unduly exalted, 
 the one above the other. 
 
 True niarriage means ec[nality. Woman is to be man's 
 helpmate, and a helpmate is not a servant or an inferior, but 
 an equal. We often hear men speak of their wives as though 
 they were less than themselves intellectually. If that be so, 
 and sometimes it is, the woman is either superior in her 
 intuitive perceptions, which removes the inequality and 
 balances the temperaments, or the marriage is an unhappv 
 one. 
 
 It is often said, that a couple cannot agree : they are too 
 much alike. Though that expression sounds strange to un- 
 accustomed ears, and the prevailing idea has usually been, 
 that persons must be very nearly alike in order to blend well, 
 there is great truth in the expression — they cannot agree 
 because they are too much alike. No one is perfect, no one 
 has all the elements of greatness within himself, and it stands 
 to reason no one will be satisfied with a mere echo or repeti- 
 tion of himself, unless he be so insufferably conceited as to live 
 in perpetual thirst for flattery, able to conceive of nothing 
 more delightful than the heaven of the egotist, which would 
 be a hell to all sensible or unselfish persons. 
 
 Good contrasts are always better than bad matches. 
 Colours which are very dissimilar offset each other, showing 
 each other uj) to the best possible advantage. But a very 
 brilliant red or blue close beside the same colour, a shade 
 paler, is not usually an artistic success. Either one colour 
 must reign alone, or when there are but two, those two must 
 be such contrasts that the one helps the otlier, so that a 
 pleasing harmony of blended effect is produced. 
 
 Now, with regard to the blending of teniperaments. A 
 great deal has been said about positive and negative being 
 brought together, and the prevailing idea has been that a 
 strong, proud, masterful man should marry a gentle, docile, 
 confiding, and simple-minded woman. Some such unions 
 have been relativel}'' good, and the outward results have been 
 apparently satisfactory. There are some men, and women 
 also, who are never happy unless they are playing the part 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 255 
 
 of king or queen, master or mistress. They have a greater 
 desire to be obeyed than to be loved ; they Avant some one 
 to control, some one to look up to them, and follow their lead 
 unqiiestioningly. A man or woman of tliis type wants a 
 servant rather than a companion, a pupil rather than a con- 
 tidante. Then, on the other hand, there are those who are 
 never happy except when they are ruled. They love to 
 look lip to someone else, and are seemingly unable to 
 originate any ideas, or take tlie lead in any enterprise. 
 
 We know men who have absolutely ruled their wives, and 
 wives who have absolutely ruled their husbands, and have 
 yet been extremely happy and well-suited to each other. 
 But these unions are not the highest ; they are certainly not 
 the closest earthly approximations to the blessedness of 
 celestial oneness of life, for in the angelic state, one is as 
 positive as the other, one as negative as the other, only where 
 the one is positive the otlier is negative, and where the one 
 is negative the other is positive. They both are equal in all 
 the elements which go to make up character. They may be 
 likened to a world in which land and water are equally 
 divided. They are never wearisome to each other, can never 
 exhaust each other, for the one has what the other lacks, 
 and in such exact proportions, that the two really make one. 
 That is the spiritual theory of counterparts; that is the 
 prophecy of future marriage ; and whensoever you have 
 attained to so well-balanced a state of mind, that you are 
 equally poised and have found your equilibrium, there will 
 be no stronger and no weaker vessel, no masculine superiority, 
 no feminine inferiority ; for wheresoever one is superior to 
 the other, one is a mystery to the other, and one is a dis- 
 appointment to the other. 
 
 similarity of tastes is necessary to a happy uiiion, and yet 
 similarity in occupation may often be a mistake on earth. 
 Nevertheless, in the case of the poet and poetess, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brow^ning ; in the case of those eminent and noble 
 Spiritualists, Mr. and Mrs. Howitt, or Mr. and Mrs. S. C. 
 Hall, both have been literary, both have taken up the pen, 
 both have worked in the same field, yet there has been no 
 rivalry. They have always spoken affectionately and 
 approvingly of each other's work, and, though engaged in 
 similar pursuits, the one mind has suggested what the other 
 could nut have perceived, and so they have complemented 
 
2^P> LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 each other's labours, and given the Avoiid a ghmpse of what 
 true marriage nnion may be, will be, and must be. 
 
 But when the outward vfork is not similar, the apprecia- 
 tions and sympathies of the pair may be united. The man, 
 for instance, may be a great statesman, a man of letters, a 
 politician, or he may be a physician, a surgeon, a lawyer, or 
 a minister of religion. The woman, who is his wife, may be 
 a poetess, an artist, a singer, one who spends her time 
 entirely with the muses, yet she has a fine brain, quick 
 intellectual perceptions, a keen, analytical mind. She is far 
 more intuitive than her husband. She looks at matters 
 from the other side, but she is no ignoramus ; she is no soft, 
 simpering woman, w^ho writes silly sonnets, sings sentimental 
 songs from morning till night, and goes into hysterics at the 
 slightest disappointments. She is a brave, strong, sensible 
 woman ; musical, artistic, poetic, assthetic; and yet her 
 husband can discuss with her the merits of Gladstone's hitest 
 speech in Parliament. She can read his law books with him, 
 and help him to solve a knotty problem in theology. Per- 
 haps she could not take his place, and he certainly could not 
 fill hers; but she is charmed with his discourse, her mind 
 gladly drinks in the wisdom he imparts, while he, tired with 
 unceasing mental strain, finds in her love of the beautiful 
 and cultivation of the arts, the very balm he needs to soothe 
 his weary brain, after the struggles and turmoils of his 
 professional or business career. 
 
 Vrithout extending: our observations further alonsr this line, 
 vre have said enough to illustrate a principle, and that is, that 
 true equality does not mean that one shall be in all things 
 exactly on a par with the other, but that one shall always be 
 able to fill the void, or suppl}^ the defect in the life of his or 
 her companion. 
 
 Women should be brought up to fill any place in society 
 which man can fill, not that they may need to fill it, but they 
 must be ready for it in case it is opened to them. 
 ' The duties of motherhood are often so pressing, that 
 women who have families of young chikiren cannot, in duty 
 to their offspring, leave home to appear in public; and, 
 indeed, their time may be so occupied with home duties, that 
 to neglect them, even for important literary work, would be 
 a sin. A v/oman wdio intends to entrust her children to the 
 care of hirelings, should never become a mother. Her own 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 257 
 
 child, not a dog, should be a mother's constant companion 
 wherever she goes ; as a child needs to imbibe a mother's life 
 by constant contact ^Yith her, if the mother is to become 
 really the parent and guardian of her offspring. 
 
 But if some of the very best years of a woman's life are 
 spent in rearing chihlren, is that any reason why she should 
 not be a highly-cultured woman, capable of filling the highest 
 place in Church or State, should occasion demand ? No 
 qualifications can jiossibly be too great, to render one a 
 pattern mother, and if, when she has leisure from domestic 
 duties, she devotes herself to the improvement of society, by 
 efforts of tongue or pen, instead of spending her spare hours 
 in foolish and unhealthy dissipation, — will not the world at 
 large, and her own husband and children in particular, be 
 immensely benefitted, if the wife and mother, instead of 
 striving to be a fashionable belle, a queen of society, 
 endeavours to work with heart and br£iin for the improve- 
 ment of the race ? 
 
 Alas I for those husbands, sons, and brothers, who feel 
 that the women in their families are their inferiors. Alas ! 
 for those who cannot confide in the wife or mother, feeling 
 that only a man can understand them, and hav^e sufficient 
 common sense to pass an opinion worthy of their considera- 
 tion. Superior women make superior men, and that woman 
 alone is fitted to be the wife or mother of a man of real 
 power, who can be in all things his confidante and bosom 
 friend. 
 
 The present system of training girls, leads to the desecra- 
 tion of home, the supj^ort of men's clubs, where husbands 
 learn to forsake their wives, fathers to neglect their children. 
 The education of girls, not simply in accomplishments, the 
 training of daughters to be useful more than ornamental, and 
 the throwing open of the doors of every hall and college in 
 the civilized land to woman, is imperatively demanded, to 
 open the way for the purification of society, and the breaking 
 up of those infamous assemblies, Avhere man rules alone to 
 oppress woman, and where no other means are devised for 
 the healing of the nations than that warfare, strife, and 
 aggression, which sooner or later, unless it be abolished, must 
 lead to the overthrow of any nation which allows it. 
 
 Not to render women unfeminine, not to disqualify them 
 for the duties of wife and mother, but to render them the 
 
 2 I • 
 
258 LONDON LECTURED. 
 
 better able to perform these duties well, do we advocate the 
 acknowledgment, before the law, of man and woman as tlie 
 perfect equals of each other.^> 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 TWO HEARTS THAT BEAT AS ONE. 
 
 BEFORE the World from Chaos was brought forth ! 
 Before the sea or air or sky were known I 
 Before yon glorious orb of light portrayed 
 
 The glories of that light which suns have known I 
 Before God's Spirit breathed upon the slumbering clay, 
 
 And woke man into being by His mighty word, — 
 In realms afar, beyond all mortal ken, 
 Two human spirits tidings of God's plan had heard I 
 
 At that far-distant time they were as one, 
 
 Had never known a separate life, for there, 
 In paradise, before material birth, — 
 
 Knew not how souls must human bodies wear. 
 To unfold their powers, and bring into relief 
 
 The native graces «f that life within, 
 Which unto God for evermore must turn. 
 
 As it in God for ever must begin I — 
 
 These spirits — cherub, seraph, two in one — 
 
 Were like two children happy in their play. 
 Like two sweet infants who, in babyhood, 
 
 Can know no shadow of life's dark dismay ; 
 Obeying all God's will, they sweetly moved 
 
 Like two iEolian harps, who aye respond 
 Unto each breath of air, which reaches them. 
 
 In closest union were these spirits, fond. 
 United in such true, seraphic bliss. 
 
 As in the paradise unfi)rfeited, those beings know. 
 Who have not yet heard matter call to them. 
 
 And earth appeal to draw them into clay. 
 
 But one day came an angel, radiant, bright, 
 
 With golden crown upon a lofty brow. 
 Where wisdom sat, while from her eyes sweet love 
 
 shone forth, such as God's servants show, 
 Who, through life's pilgrimage of trial and pain. 
 
 At length to homes of perfect bliss attain. 
 So, soon as she approached, these spirits said : 
 
 " Oh ! why are we not beautiful as thou ? 
 We are content in our pure innocence. 
 
 But then we have no crowns upon our brow, 
 No palm of conquest, and no victor's dowers: 
 
 Oh 1 say, how can such bliss be ever ours ? "' 
 
TRUE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. 259 
 
 " My children," said the angel, bending down 
 
 In tenderest fondness o'er th it childlike pair ; 
 " I am a guardian sent to you, that I 
 
 The mystery of life's unfoldment may declare. 
 Ye have just felt the pain of strong desire, 
 
 To be more beautiful, more fully blest: 
 The earth attracts you downward unto it, 
 
 And ye must needs descend, then enter into rest. 
 
 " But if ye follow these impulsions, strange, 
 
 Then through long ages ye must separate be. 
 Endure all earthly ills, and wear all earthly chains, 
 
 And, for a while, of heaven forgetful be. 
 Ye needs must dwell apart, and union crave, 
 
 But when yo meet in heaven for evermore. 
 Then, beautiful as I, will ye appear. 
 
 And sing the angel's song, upon celestial shores." 
 " Oh ! let us go," the spirits answered ; " we 
 
 Can bear a little parting, though 'twill be such pain. 
 If in the future ages we, like you. 
 
 Can such transcendent height of glory gain." 
 
 " Then, be it so," the angel then replied ; 
 
 " And, lest ye wander all too far, I'll be your guide ; 
 
 Ye will not always know that I am near. 
 
 But, though unseen, your every cry I'll hear ; 
 
 And when ye think you're all alone, I'll be 
 
 Beside you, ever watching faithfully." 
 
 « # - « * * « • 
 
 Into a quiet garden came an angel form. 
 
 So beautiful and bright, it startled one who knelt 
 
 In lonely prayer and an.mish inexpressible. 
 
 A yearning in her heart for love she felt. 
 
 She had known honour, wealth, and power and state ; 
 
 Had been caressed and feted, made to taste 
 
 All that the world calls sweet and most desires : 
 
 But still her heart for something more aspires. 
 
 Suitors had she, and those who loved her well, 
 
 Yet in her heart a burning prayer did swell 
 
 For one, she felt most sure would some day bring 
 
 All she desired, upon life's rosy wing. 
 
 This was her guardian angel who drew near, 
 
 One whom she loveJ and trusted, and felt near ; 
 
 E'en when her earthly eyes were holden most, 
 
 She felt the nearness of her brighter sphere. 
 
 And while thus weeping, musing upon love. 
 
 And what would fully satisfy her heart. 
 
 This angel said : " Go quickly to a scene 
 
 Of pain and woe, where, in death's sharpest smart, 
 
 One lies in suffering, calling on the name 
 
 Of some dear maiden, whom he seems to see 
 
 Before him always in his every dream : 
 
 She only soothes him in iiis misery I " 
 
260 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 Beside a solitary couch a woman kneels : 
 
 A man is dying, in his palid cheek 
 No hue of health is left, and in his eyes 
 
 There is no lustre ; but, ^vith love so meek, 
 So saintly, so angelic, doth she look 
 
 Into his fading eyes, while he in hers 
 Gazes, until his deepest soul, within. 
 
 With tender memories of distant ages stirs. 
 His voice is faint, his eyes can scarcely see. 
 
 But yet he murmurs in his broken tone : 
 " We were together once, in some sweet paradise, 
 
 And when we both from this dark world have flown. 
 Then once again together shall we move. 
 The depths of wisdom and of love to prove I " 
 
 'Tis summer-time, and over hill and dale 
 
 The sun shines brightly, and the flowers are gay ; 
 But in one grave two hearts, that beat as one. 
 
 In peaceful quiet, softly, calmly lay. 
 They passed together from these scenes of care ; 
 
 They both had suffered, both through pain grown strong ; 
 They were prepared for the angel's crown, 
 
 Ready to join in heaven's triumphant song. 
 And when their eyes were opened, in the life above. 
 They knew that theirs was an eternal love: 
 Its birth in paradise they then discerned, 
 And the two mortals to one angel turned I 
 One in so far, that every thought agreed, and yet 
 
 Companions were they and for aye will be ; 
 And when ye all have fully vanquished sense. 
 
 And over earth gained final victory. 
 Then will some beauteous angel unto you 
 
 Make known the dual mystery of the spirit birth, 
 And teach you 'now two hearts that beat as one. 
 
 Though long times sundered while upon the earth, 
 At length must meet, and will for ever prove 
 The eternal sweetness of the soul's abiding love; 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 May the light of the Spirit of Truth be your constant 
 guide through earth, leading you day by day ever nearer 
 and nearer to that Divine Estate, where no life shall be sad 
 or lone or solitary ; but where all bask in the fulness of joy 
 immortal, and are satisfied for ever in the likeness of God : 
 Amen. f 
 
( 2G1 ) 
 
 XVL 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The Woman, the Male Child, and the Beast. 
 
 THE .book of. Revelatiorij though one of the boohs of the 
 canonical Scriptures, is so mystical and abstruse to 
 general readers, that it is anything but a revelation 
 to the majority of Bible students. To Martin Luther this 
 book (the Apocalypse) was so incomprehensible, that he 
 rejected it, refusing to allow that it was a divinely-inspired 
 document ; but to Emmanuel Swedenborg it was, with the 
 book of Daniel, the most fruitful source of spiritual instruction 
 and delight. 
 
 C In his " Apocalypse Unveiled," Swedenborg undertakes to 
 unfold the esoteric or inner meaning of the book, in the light 
 of a spiritual history and prophecy concerning the earth as well 
 as the spiritual world ; and while w^e do not intend to confine 
 ourselves to any particular metliods of interpretation, we cer- 
 tainly intend to treat the Apocalypse, not as a mythical history 
 of a golden Rome, which is all it appears to be to many 
 modern critics of the sceptical type, but as a figurative em- 
 bodiment of those essential truths and principles of being, 
 which the Ancients were ever wont to set forth in Kabalistic 
 form, for the enlightenment of all who were sufficiently 
 advanced spiritually to comprehend the metaphorical lan- 
 guage which, while it hides from the uninstructed, reveals to 
 the student of the figure-language of the ancient Orders of 
 spiritual scientists and historians all over the world, not only 
 the past but also the future history of the earth and its inhab- 
 itants. 
 
 Time was when but one language universally prevailed 
 among the learned, and even now that language has not 
 become obsolete, though it is understood only by the compar- 
 atively few, as masonic signs, emblems and pass-words have 
 no meaning to those who are not Masons. 
 
262 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 The confounding of tongues at the time of the building of 
 the Tower of Babel, doubtless alludes historically to a period 
 when diverse written languages were substituted for the simple, 
 universal and expressive language of numerals, adopted by the 
 Grecian sages in latter days, as well as by the Egyptians, Chal- 
 deans, and others at much earlier periods of human progress. 
 
 You have doubtless most of you heard of the Pythagorean 
 system of Numerals, and of how Pythagoras, the sage of Samos, 
 w^as wont to convey spiritual ideas to his pupils by means of 
 numbers. Almost the first thing which strikes the reader of 
 the book of Revelation, is the constant reference to numbers 
 in that book, and no one carefully perusing it can fail to see how 
 persistently the same numbers are employed in similar connec- 
 tions. In order to make the way plain for what is to follow, it 
 will be well for us to give you the generally-accepted signi- 
 ficance of numbers, only reminding you at the same time that 
 there is always room for some differences of interpretation, as 
 it is not every Order that subscribes to the original formularies 
 of the most ancient Spiritual Orders upon the earth. We 
 would further remark, that these numbers have a definite 
 place and value in nature, and that whether you turn your 
 eyes to the starry heavens above your heads or to the flowery 
 sward beneath your feet, you are constrained to allow that 
 nature herself, or the power that maps her out, is versed in 
 the kindred sciences of mathematics and geometry. Nature 
 mathematizes and geometrizes at every step of her way. The 
 number of stars in a system is fixed, the number of petals in a 
 flower is fixed, and these perfect expressions of exact principles 
 in geometry, go on from age to age, duplicating themselves, 
 W'ith no power to guide them other than that law, immutable 
 and eternal, the law of nature which is the law of God. 
 
 Behind all phenomena, mind may be traced by those who 
 have ability to discern it, but not by those who are so utterly 
 engrossed in the senses that their spiritual perceptions are too 
 dormant to be employed. The idea of a Divine Mind to- 
 morrow will be far clearer than it is to-day, even as tlie doubt 
 of to-day is healthier than the unreasoning credulity of yes- 
 terday. But doubt is only transitional : revolutions in 
 popular sentiment are always accomplished by the demolition 
 of much that is old and something that is beautiful ; but revo- 
 lutions and reactions are not permanent, uncertainty and 
 doubt are not ultimate conditions of the human mind, 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 263 
 
 and thus the progress of mankind has ever been through 
 periods of sorrow, difticult}^ doubt and strife, which have at 
 length resulted in the establishment of kingdoms or republics, 
 of greater harmony and justice than any which have been 
 overthrown at the time of a political crisis or social inundation, 
 which has dethroned despots but uplifted the mass of mankind. 
 
 You must have been forcibly struck, if you have ever 
 attentively read the Apocalypse, with the remarkable recur- 
 rence of certain numbers always in similar connections. 7 is 
 always applied to things divine ; 12 and its multiples to a 
 completed gathering, in which all states and conditions of life 
 are represented ; while G is the number of the Dragon, the 
 Beast, False Prophet and Accuser, which from times imme- 
 morial has expressed, its baneful power in all institutions 
 founded upon selfishness and supported by opjoression, 
 injustice, tyranny and strife. The number 1, of course, signifies 
 perfect and eternal unity ; it may mean the essential primary 
 or ultimate atom of life, whatever that maybe, or it may mean 
 the Eternal Spirit, or the perfect whole of God's Kingdom 
 may be intended ; but whenever and wherever introduced, it 
 always signifies the sphere of life unbroken and undivided. 
 
 The Circle was the most ancient symbol of Deity and of the 
 Soul itself, and must ever be the perfect symbol of unity, in 
 heaven or on earth. All suns and worlds grow spherical as 
 they advance towards perfection. The ultimate condition of 
 the earth, will undoubtedly be perfect sphericity of form, and 
 when it shall have attained to its ultimate estate of progress as 
 a globe, then will it describe a perfect circle round the sun, 
 and be itself perfect as a globe of equal land and water. AIL 
 temperaments and temperatures will be blended into a har- 
 monious whole : the race of man will be unitary, languages 
 will have lost themselves in one perfect and expressive tongue, 
 which all will speak and all will understand; while Science 
 and Religion — the one employing the intellect chiefly, and 
 the other making the more direct appeal to the emotions or 
 affections — will traverse the beautified earth, hand in hand as 
 a perfectly united pair, the one complementing the other, 
 but with never a word or thought of discord or division 
 between them. 
 
 The number 2 is, of course, expressive of duality. It 
 divides the Circle into two equal halves, breaks the Sphere into 
 two equal hemispheres, as justice, we told you in a previous 
 
264 LOKDON LECTURES. 
 
 lecture, "'.vas divisible into love and wisdom, and the Divine 
 Spirit should be adored as our Father and our Mother, the 
 infinite Two-in-one, even as the soul of man is also essentially 
 dual; and yet duality and unity are in such perfect accord, 
 that the one is dual and the two form a unit. The number 
 3 carries you just a step further outward from the Circle 
 or centre, and as the Triangle perfectly breaks and interprets 
 the Circle without detracting from its essential oneness, so the 
 figure 3, in all masonic and ecclesiastical emblems, means 
 not only fatherhood and motherhood, but offspring in addition. 
 Thus Justice may be the one, sovereign, all-inclusive attribute 
 of the Deity. • Love may be the one hemisphere and Wisdom 
 the other, so that love and wisdom form a compound when 
 perfectly blended, and that compound is justice ; love being 
 one half of justice, while wisdom is the other half; and then 
 when this perfect justice operates, it fills the universe with 
 life and light and law, so that the Divine Word goes forth, 
 the Logos is embodied, only you must ever bear in mind that 
 prevailing notions of the Trinity are mistaken, because they 
 separate the Child from the Holy Spirit, and call the Child the 
 Son only. The Child and the Holy Spirit are one and the 
 same, the offspring of Deity ; and the offspring or proceeding 
 influence of a unitary and yet dual parent, must necessarily be 
 dual also. The Son and the Daughter must constitute the 
 Child of God, while the sole-begotten of the Father and the 
 Mother, must be the perfect number of all souls in the universe, 
 who in their primal and ultimate estate must be all pure and 
 immaculate as the soul of that great teacher, whom all 
 Christendom adores as the brightness of God's glory and the 
 express image of his person. 
 
 The personality of God can never be fully explained to 
 human thought or understanding, by reason of man limiting 
 the idea of personality to that which is circumscribed, and has 
 definite size, form and strength. Perhaps individualiti/ is a 
 clearer and better word than personalitij, and conveys to the 
 mind a clearer idea of persistent and unchanging unity and 
 self-conscious identity. In man outward personality has no 
 stability, only the soul which is the primal unit is immortal, 
 and while no one has approached the soul through the avenues 
 of any one of the five bodily senses, as the soul cannot be 
 seen, heard, tasted, touched or smelt, and is therefore ignored 
 \ by Materialism altogether, as it requires intuition or interior 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 26o 
 
 perception to ascertain that there is a soul, even as it requires 
 an eye to discern colour, an ear to detect sound, nostrils to 
 distinguish odours, a palate to appreciate flavour, and bodily 
 sensation to know how objects feel, whether they be rough or 
 smooth, hot or cold ; and as it is easy to imagine the possession 
 of four senses without the iiftli, or even of only one without 
 the other four, so it appears to us quite logical, in the absence 
 of demonstrated proof of a .spirit or a spiritual world, to accept 
 it as not unlikely, that those who hold interior communion 
 wdth the spirit world, are simply possessed of more than 
 ordinary quickness of perception, in specified directions, or 
 may have the use of some subtle, discriminating sense, called 
 intuition, which transcends the bodily organs, but never denies 
 what outward perception can positively reveal. 
 
 The mystery of God is no greater than that of man. To 
 account for a universe without a Supreme Spirit, is far more 
 difficult than to admit the existence from eternity of a self- 
 conscious and all-controlling Will ; and surely if atoms may 
 be regarded as eternal, if motion may be thought to be eternal, 
 you can logically proceed one step further and admit one more 
 proposition, and that is, consciousness and will are eternal. If 
 this admission be not made, than nature is all blank, chaotic, 
 meaningless and void, and the order of the heavens and of the 
 earth is the result of a blind force, to believe in which requires 
 far more gullibility than to admit the existence of Deity. 
 
 But time warns us that, if w^e diverge in any measure from 
 our subject, w^e shall have to finish our discourse without 
 having explained, ever so slightly, those mysterious personages 
 who figure so prominently in the book of Revelation, with 
 which you will naturally expect us somewhat to deal. We 
 must, therefore, hasten our explanations of numbers and their 
 significance, and at once proceed to giving you, in the light of 
 the values ascribed to numbers, the meanings we attach to the 
 characters introduced upon the stage of this profound- and 
 glowing allegory. 
 
 We have finished our allusions to the Deity and to the Soul 
 when we have passed beyond the number 3, for 1, signifying 
 unity, 2, duality, and 3, trinity, exhaust the figures which are 
 consecrated to the embodiment of the idea of God, and the 
 first principle of nature. 4, which stands next in order, is, as 
 you all know, indicative of the Square, and this is the basis of 
 all equitable rule, of all true masonry, of all fellowship 
 
 2k 
 
266 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 between men and nations, of all propagation of truth, or evan- 
 gelization of the world. Upon the Square, the Great Egyptian 
 Pyramid, and all minor pyramids, built later and after its 
 pattern, repose. The Square is the base of the Triangle, 
 and with its -i corners, one directed to each separate point of 
 the comj^ass, eloquently describes the perfect thought of Uni- 
 versal Brotherhood. To act on the square is a common 
 expression, signifying to deal faii'ly with each other, o sig- 
 nifies Government, or the hand of power, the active employ- 
 ment of that ability and intention which the square embodies. 
 You have all heard of the five points of human fellowship in 
 masonry, and to those who are Masons, it will be un- 
 necessary, if they are at all indoctrinated into the mysteries 
 of their craft, to do more than allude to this emblem, 
 while to all who are not connected with any Secret Order, a 
 further explanation of the symbol would be scarcely intelligible. 
 6 is the one number out of all, which distinctly indicates 
 failure and incompleteness. It is the Number of the Beast, 
 and of the Man of Sin. It is never mentioned in the Apoca- 
 lypse, except in connection with the seeming triumph of un- 
 godliness. Following next in order after the 5 of Govern- 
 ment, it indicates government in which the spirit has no part, 
 for 7 is the number of the Spirit, and of all spiritual things. 
 
 There are 7 golden candlesticks, 7 spirits of God, 7 lamps 
 of fire burning before the throne, while you are constantly 
 referred to 7 spiritual spheres beyond the earth, as sig- 
 nifying the completed number of the states through which 
 all spirits on their road to perfect purity must pass. 7 days 
 or epochs of creative power are mentioned in the Genesis. 
 The seventh day nmst be the day of rest, and while Geology 
 •and Genesis ap23arently conflict, and in the letter Genesis is 
 faulty, and so written that it suited the childish comprehension 
 of the Hebrews, in a peiiod of their history when they needed 
 to be led and could not walk alone, still the instittition of the 
 Sabbath as an imperative necessity remains to-day, and will be 
 needed until the time arrives when men and animals are alike 
 80 constantly, agreeably and yet no longer exhaustively em- 
 ployed, that all days will be Sabbaths, because all will be times 
 of rest even though all are periods of ceaseless activity. True rest 
 does not mean something synonymous with idleness, but when 
 the faculties have been overstrained or too severely taxed, 
 then a temporary cessation of active w^ork is positively required, 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 267 
 
 to fit the jaded form or mind for another encounter with the ■ 
 struggles of existence. 
 
 TJie French Revolutionists endeavoured to substitute one 
 day in ten instead of one in seven, as a period of rest and re- 
 spite both for man and beast ; but the old Jewish legislators 
 had probed more deeply than they into the needs of human 
 nature, and one day in seven had to be restored as a period of 
 rest, because the Sabbath i& a hygienic, a sanitary, a physio- 
 logical necessity, necessary for ox and ass, for horse and mule, 
 as well as for son and daughter, man-servant and maid-servant : 
 and when in olden days the Sabbath laws \vere most severe 
 and were most unsparingly enforced, the wise Hebrew rulers 
 sought to put into execution only such statutes and ordinances 
 as contributed most effectually to the general maintenance of 
 health and order. Their methods may sometimes have been 
 unnecessarily severe, but times have changed since then, and 
 w^e doubt very much whether the bungling politicians of the 
 present day, could have devised better and wiser laws for the 
 government of a people, most difficult to rule, had they been 
 obliged to legislate in an Oriental, slave-holding country, for a 
 people w^ho were always prx)ne to rebellion, and wdiose culture 
 and opportunities were immensely inferior to those of modern 
 nations, whether Jew or Gentile. 
 
 8 is always significant of good, and by many interpreters 
 is considered as the Square raised to superior power, and 
 therefore illustrates the two-fold idea of Brotherhood and 
 of the Promulgation of Truth. 8 following upon 7, w^hich 
 signifies the spiritualization of mankind, and the attainment of 
 perfection morally, coupled with enduring success, must have 
 reference to such brotherhoods and methods as have for object 
 the dissemination of spiritual knowledge ; while 9 is never 
 mentioned except with reference to angelic life, 9 choirs of 
 angels being spoken of ; but this sacred number never refers 
 to mundane or external states of being. 
 
 The Number of the Beast is 6, and the three sixes in the 
 entire number 666, allude to failure physically, intellectually 
 and spiritually. Thus it is stated Kabalistically, when 666 is 
 given as the Xumber of the Beast, that the powers of darkness 
 shall not eventually triumph, though they reach to so elevated 
 a condition, that they are apparently on the very verge of 
 absolute conquest, but ere the moment of anticipated victory 
 arrives the Beast is put to flight. 
 
268 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 You have doubtless, all of you, been struck with the re- 
 markable way in which the Beast, the Serpent, the Old 
 Dragon and the Devil are identified. The Man of Sin, and 
 the False Prophet, are mentioned as emissaries of the Beast, 
 and seem to go before him, as John the Baptist prepares the 
 way for Christ, and Elijah is said to come before the instal- 
 lation of the King of Glory, upon his throne of undivided 
 power upon the earth. The dragon, serpent or beast is a 
 very interesting subject of study, as he is identified with the 
 devil, and hearing so much of the devil, as you all must if you 
 are accustomed to Christian teaching, it may be interesting 
 and profitable to enquire : Who or what is the Devil, and 
 how best can we withstand his assaults and protect ourselves 
 against his cunning ? 
 
 Genesis says God created the heavens and the earth, all 
 forms of vegetation, animal life and man. We are told he 
 formed the greater and the lesser lights which shine in thQ 
 firmanent above, but no hell, no devil did he create. But we 
 are told God had made a serpent, and that serpent was more 
 subtle than all the beasts of the field, and that serpent 
 apparently walked upright and had the gift of speech, before 
 he made, first Eve, and then Adam to fall into sin, and thus 
 to forfeit paradise. 
 
 JS^ow, a tallring snake or walking serpent would be a curi- 
 osity, which would draw great crowds to a menagerie, and 
 w^e are sure, if one could be found, it would be most eagerly 
 sought after by the naturalists all over the world. Persons 
 would even be willing to take long journeys in the interests 
 of science, to minutely observe such a remarkable phenomenon. 
 If there had been such a creature at Corinth in the days of 
 Paul, surely it would have excited considerable attention, 
 and been mentioned in contemporaneous history ; but Paul 
 tells the Corinthian Christians to beware lest the serpent 
 which tempted Eve likewise tempt them. 
 
 What is this mysterious Serpent ? It is a type of the 
 sensual nature of man ; its voice is heard in all lustful desires ; 
 the fruits of which it desires the race to partake are fruits 
 wliich, like apples of Sodom, are fair to look upon, but turn to 
 ashes in the mouth. Let every child be taught to flee from 
 this seducing reptile, this disturber of man's peace, by holding 
 the carnal appetites in check, and chaining the lusts of the 
 ilesh in bondage to reason and the soul. Never tell your 
 
TEE APOCALYPSE, 269 
 
 children there is a devil outside of them, whom they need to 
 fear ; never picture the roaring lion, as the enemy of souls, 
 seeking his prey, lurking in every corner to catch the unwary, 
 as an external foe ; but rather explain to all under your charge, 
 that there are two natures in every human being ; the one of 
 the earth earthy, seeking to drag the spirit down to the level 
 of the dust ; the other pure, spiritual, holy, ever seeking to 
 lift the animal nature into such union with itself that every 
 material instinct obeys the mandate of the soul, and all 
 material things become subservient to the sway of mind, the 
 supremacy of Spirit. 
 
 The Serpent is evidently an ancient symbol of the material 
 universe, and among olden philosophers it was customary to 
 divide the universe into the Kingdom of Light and the 
 Kingdom of Darkness : the Kingdom of Light being good, 
 and imderthe dominion of Spirit; the Kingdom of Darkness 
 being evil, and all Matter was considered evil by some philos- 
 ophers. This doctrine of the goodness of Spirit and the vile- 
 ness of Matter crept into the Christian Church in very 
 early times, and was notably advocated by the Manichseans 
 and others, w^ho espoused a corrupt philosophy, which 
 taught duality in quite another sense from that in which the 
 purest and most enlightened philosophy inculcated this 
 doctrine. 
 
 We have often told our hearers of the dualit}'" of the Soul, as 
 something entirely different from the old Persian duahsm, which 
 tried to support the idea of rival deites, and taught of Ormuzd 
 and Ahriman as co-equal gods ; but it must be remembered 
 that the Zendavesta declares that each of these divine persons 
 had power to create only six gods each, and 6 is the number of 
 the Beast, and never of the triumphant Spirit of Good. In 
 order to divide 12, the symbol of completion, numerically 
 speaking, into equal parts, you can only attribute failure to 
 both contending parties ; but should you grant perfection or 
 find victory to one, allowing that its power attained the seven- 
 fold degree, 5 would alone remain for the opposing party, and 
 thus there would be no equal division. These old allegories, 
 with their weird and fantastic illustrations, are all fraught with 
 the deepest interior significance to those who have acquainted 
 themselves with the modes adopted by the Ancients, to set 
 forth the constant struggle incessantly waging between the 
 powers of good and evil. But good only is eternal, primal, 
 
2 TO L OND OX L ECT URES. 
 
 absolute : good had no beginning and can have no end ; evil, 
 "beginning in time, may cease to be. 
 
 Theodore Parker owed much of hia success to his unfal- 
 tering faith in the essential goodness of human nature. He 
 never looked upon any life as useless^, or any condition of being 
 as irreclaimably and absolutely bad. Thus he won the hearts 
 as well as the ears of the multitude, and caused peoj)le to feel 
 the truth and beauty of his philosophy, as well as to think 
 upon what addressed itself to tlieir intellects. 
 
 To say that there cannot be two Almighties is merely to 
 assert a truism. How confident the author of the 139th psalm, 
 must of been of this, when he exclaimed, " If I make my bed in 
 hell, behold, Thou art there." Truly, that hell may have been 
 but slieol, the grave, as the hell in which the soul of the just 
 one was not left was only hades, or the place of departed 
 spirits. But then there are no other hells ever mentioned in 
 the Scripture than these two, the one, slieol, the grave for the 
 body: the othtv, hades, the place where spirits yet unprepared 
 for heaven must remain, until they are ready for the inheri- 
 tance of the saints in light. 
 
 Milton sings of Lucifer, the star that fell from Heaven, and 
 Milton became a Unitarian before he passed from earth. His 
 own works, "Paradise Lost" and " Paradise Regained," so 
 opened his eyes to the fallacy of the prevailing idolatry which 
 divides the universe between God and the Devil, that he threw 
 belief in the devil overboard, and was satisfied to trust in one 
 only true Almighty Source of life, who can be best described 
 in LordLvton's phrase, which he puts into the mouth of the 
 Vril-ya,-^The All-Good 1 
 
 Astronomers may point to the asteroids between Mars and 
 Jupiter, and imagine them to be the fragments of some dis- 
 rupted orb, and there are those who have taught that the 
 inhabitants of that lost planet are now embodied upon earth, 
 and doing penance here for crimes committed on that other 
 earth, which fell a prey to destruction because of the 
 wickedness of its inhabitants. This idea has been promin- 
 ently brought before the imblic of late, in a book entitled 
 " Spiritual Manifestations," by Pev. Charles Beecher, a 
 brother of the famous Brooklyn preacher, Rev. Henry Ward 
 Beecher; and also in Allan Kardec's recently translated 
 '•' Genesis." These views are considered purely visionary by 
 many, and they are certainly of a highly speculative char- 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 271 
 
 acter, but wlietlier right or wrong, they are an immense 
 improvement on the old idea of a future eternity of evil, and 
 the irreclaimability of those who have once forfeited their 
 original paradisiacal estate of innocence. 
 
 We do not say that we fully endorse those views, but we 
 do regard them as evidences of the progress of thought in 
 these days, and find no fault with them on moral grounds, as 
 their moral tendency is not objectionable ; the moral tendency 
 of every theory, which teaches the remedial nature of pun- 
 ishment, being upward in its tendency. 
 
 Certainly the real "Beast" or "Dragon" which we have 
 to combat, is one we either make or encourage for ourselves, 
 and the beast which to-day usurps the place of Deity in many 
 quarters, even among higldy-civilized and Christian peoples, 
 is the Golden Calf, which Aaron made, symbol of that love 
 of gold and worship of material power and state, which has 
 caused the downfall of many an ancient people, and 
 threatens to destroy all modern nations which feed this Beast 
 in their midst to -da}'. 
 
 The Dragon, no doubt, originally signified Draco or 
 Scorpio, the autumnal sign of the zodiac which heralded the 
 on-coming of winter, supposed by the ignorant among the 
 Ancients to be the season when spirits of darkness held empire 
 over the earth. The Great Dragon, a mighty constellation 
 or group of stars, was also greatly dreaded, and supposed to 
 be tbe throne and seat of the powers of darkness, as the 
 Pleiades w^ere always described as the homes of the gods. 
 
 It is not extraordinary that people imagined day to be the 
 work of God, and night the work of his Adversary. It is 
 not wonderful that summer inspired men's hearts with the 
 sense of the goodness of the Eternal, while winter suggested 
 to their minds the thought of an avenging rival of the Infinite, 
 who sought to frustrate his desio-ns. Nor is it wonderful that 
 Matter should have been considered evil and Spirit good, 
 while the sensual nature of man is ever prone to sin and folly, 
 and the spirit is ever urging the mind to resist the tempter. 
 
 Human nature on earth is ever poised between the 
 powers of light and darkness, the forces of good and evil : 
 but there can be neither positive evil nor positive darkness 
 anywhere in the universe, as if one be absolute, infinite, and 
 eternal, the other is not, for there can be only one Sovereign 
 Deity : either God or Devil you may believe in, but you 
 
272 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 cannot believe consistently in both. Evil or the devil is for 
 you the sum of whatsoever in the material world your spirit 
 has not yet subdued or conquered. Everything in itself is 
 good, but nothing is good relatively, when out of place, and 
 the purpose of life is evidently not fulfilled until every material 
 desire is completely under the dominion of the spirit, 
 
 ^ When man is perfected on earth, then will every material 
 propensity be legitimately employed ; then will all that 
 animal force, which now runs riot and makes such havoc in 
 society, be reduced to order and employed in obedience to the 
 wise dictates of the soul ; then mil men understand why they 
 are on earth, and why they have been compelled to endure 
 such manifold temptations, and in the final estate of man on 
 earth will celestial life be expressed in material form ; and 
 if the earth is ever destroyed, unless it be by some 
 catastrophe not in the ordinary course of planetary events, 
 it will be with the earth as with the human body : 
 the life will be transported elsewhere, and back again 
 into the primal chaos or original cosmos will all the sub- 
 stances which now compose the earth return, until in unboni 
 ages Spirit will again operate upon the slumbermg ether, and 
 bring into newness of being that matter or force, which ever 
 it be, that only becomes invisible when mortal forms dissolve, 
 and destruction seems to ensue to the eyes of man, not yet 
 acquainted with the cause of those transformation scenes in 
 nature, which seem to imply creation and destruction in the " 
 most absolute and arbitrary sense. 
 
 The Number of the Beast, 666, signifies the partial and 
 apparent triumph of the power of darkness over man's 
 physical, intellectual and spiritual nature. Before a great 
 light breaks upon the world, how gross is the darkness which 
 it dissipates ! In the old-world centres of civilization and 
 power, how black was the darkness which the da\\m of a hew 
 era drove away I Religion was falsified and even became a 
 sin ; priests vied Avith each other in the perpetration of the 
 most horrid crimes for selfish ends ; faith was lost in doubt ; 
 the knowledge of immortality was lost in the darkness of an 
 overwhelming scepticism, well nigh despair, while morals were 
 at their lowest ebb, so that in cultured Athens, Rome and 
 Ephesus, there were indeed beasts in the form of men who 
 jireyed upon their fellows, and perpetrated unblushing im- 
 morality, while they gloried in their superiority above the 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 273 
 
 citizens of all other cities on the globe. Tliough a few were 
 cultured, the many were in intellectual night, and those- 
 who possessed knowledge carefully veiled it from others, that 
 they alone might fill honourable places, and trade upon the 
 weakness of the ignorant, whom they purposely kept in 
 darkness ; while the neglect of sanitary laws reduced the 
 bodily health of the people to disease, and called down upon 
 the uno-odlv race what has been called the ven2:eance of 
 heaven, in the shape of direst pestilence and plague. 
 
 Is there not a Beast at large in the civilized world of to-day ? 
 Are not vices being nurtured in the very cradle of modern 
 culture ? Are not the rich becoming richer and the poor 
 poorer, under the dominion of those monopolies and govern- 
 ments which bend every appliance of modern genius to their 
 own profligate and selfish ends ? No country of the modern 
 world is unstained with the Mark of the Beast. Either that 
 mark is in the forehead or in the hand. It is in the foreheads 
 of those whose expanded brows betoken intellectual might, 
 unsoftened by the sweetness of love, and unmoved by the 
 tender emotions of mercy for their less fortunate neighbours 
 and compatriots. It is in the hands of those who do business 
 usuriously, seeking to keep just inside the pale of civil law, 
 while the moral law they utterly disregard. 
 
 Usury is one of the crying^sins of the times. Money-lending 
 is an abomination, as at present practised, for what is the 
 present m6de of transacting business on the market place or 
 on 'Change, but a practical and well-considered scheme to 
 fill the full yet the fuller, and send the hungry empty away ? 
 If one has money and needs no more to supply him with every 
 comfort and luxury the heart can wish, he, because he has 
 enough, can buy and sell to suit himself, can get things cheap 
 and sell them to the poor as dearly as he pleases. 
 
 The ten kingdoms of the modern civilized world are even 
 now, commercially, under the dominion of the Beast. It is 
 predicted that no one shall be allowed to buy or sell unless 
 he have received the mark of the beast. What is this but 
 monopoly, as at present permitted by so-called Christian 
 governments ? The time has come when science has been 
 perverted to overturn all hopes of immortality, and to devise 
 means whereby men may oppress one another yet more 
 cruelly, than when in barbaric times warfare was less deadly 
 than the polished arts of war known to civilized people. The 
 
 2l 
 
274 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Beast has gained dominion in the Church, wherever an 
 established religion has meant the establishment of a favoured 
 few, in places of emolument and power, regardless of their 
 qualification for office, which ought to be most sacred and 
 important. What with the hunting clergyman, w^ho preached 
 other people's sermons and took scarcehT- any interest at all 
 in the welfare of his parishioners, by no means an uncom- 
 mon feature in the clerical life of" England a short time ago, 
 and the modern minister w'ho looks upon the ministry only 
 as a profession, and is never anything more than a hireling 
 wanting to divide himself between God and Mammon, and 
 never ready to give to Grod even half of his energies, think- 
 ing even a tithe of the heart is too much for the Eternal, — 
 it is not surprising that the Beast in the Church has delivered 
 many people over to unblushing infidelity. 
 
 The ]3resent condition of many professed ministers of the 
 Gospel, is terrible to contemplate. They dare not express 
 their honest doubts, they dare not give up the ministry and 
 turn to other employment, because of the influence of friends 
 and the salary so indispensable to the maintenance of their 
 assumed position in society; while in America the state of 
 things is not much better than in England, for though there 
 is no established church, no revenues derived from Govern- 
 ment, and all denominations are on an equality before the 
 law, still, where pews are sold at auction to the highest 
 bidder, and men must please the fancy of the wealthy in 
 order to retain their lucrative, and, from worldly standpoints, 
 most enviable positions, church patronage and the sale of 
 livings have been equalled if not exceeded in immorality, in the 
 iniquitous system which makes worldly prestige and power 
 the measure by which religious enterprises are to be valued. 
 
 The Beast, or the Scarlet Woman of the Apocalypse, is 
 not the Church of Rome nor the old Roman Empire. Baby- 
 lon, the Beast, the Scarlet Woman, the Man of Sin, are all 
 typical of conditions of society which belong to all nations 
 and societies equally, in so far as tares and wheat grow 
 together in every field, and righteousness and iniquity stand 
 side by side throughout the whole civilized world. Turn out 
 the Beast from your every Church and Chapel, turn it out of 
 your every Spiritualistic or Secularistic Society, turn it out 
 of Synagogue, Mosque, and Pagoda alike, and v.dien the 
 Beast goes, mercenariness and selfishness will have to be 
 
THE APOCALYPSE, 27.5 
 
 dethroned, yea, utterly exterminated. The Beast in politics 
 is neither Conservative, Liberal, nor Radical especially. The 
 Beast always votes for whatever candidate is the fancy of 
 the hour, and sees that personal and exclusive privileges are 
 not interfered with. Whatever Mr. Bradlaugh may be as a 
 man or an Atheist, and however we may disagree with him 
 in his religious views, we cannot honestly refrain from point- 
 ing to him as an impersonation of a new spiritual power, 
 which intends to level class distinction, abolish perpetual 
 pensions, and destroy those infamous rings Avhich hold the 
 working classes in worse than negro slavery, in many parts of 
 England. Bradlaugh may not be the coming man, but he is 
 one of his heralds. Bradlaugli's work is to pull down rather 
 than to build up, but for the uprooting of tares he is peculiarly 
 well qualified, while Disraeli was employed by the spirit of 
 justice, in enfranchizing the Jews and liberalizing Conserva- 
 tism ; and Gladstone seems moved upon to stir up strife 
 and lead to a hatred of warfare unparalleled in the annals of 
 history. Bright is the prophetic soul, who sees beyond war 
 to its abolition, and esteems it a crime to take human life 
 unnecessarily. But the present war in Egypt, disastrous and 
 humiliating though it be, ' is imdoubtedly one of those con- 
 flicts which has long been predicted as incident to the passage 
 of the earth from the dispensation now closing, to that em- 
 blematized by. the King's Chamber, beyond the tortuous 
 and difficult passage-way which divides that regal chamber 
 from the Grand Gallery, in the Great Egyptian Pyramid. 
 
 It is an old statement and a very true one, that history 
 repeats itself. Thus, wdratever may have had 1800 years ago 
 a literal apjlication to the downfall of Rome and the disper- 
 sion of the Tribes of Israel, may equally refer to the present 
 crisis through which the earth is passing. The very cholera, 
 though a scourge, is a remedial agent. The beast of disease, 
 the beast of tyranny, of monopoly, and of every form of 
 evil, adopts a suicidal policy. Evil is self-destructive, and 
 thus every Apocalypse must end with the coming of a x^ew 
 Jerusalem, new heavens (a new spiritual order) and a new 
 earth (a new" social state); and when the power of the 
 Beast in modern lands to-day shall have attained to such 
 proportions that its imposing magnitude leads all who are 
 allied with it to expect a speedy and final victory, then will 
 the number 666 appear significantly on its every banner, 
 
276 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 ■which, translated into English, means what Mene, Mene. 
 Tekel, UjDharsin, meant in the days of Daniel, at Belshazzar's 
 feast : Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. 
 Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and 
 Persians. 
 
 And who shall the successor of the Beast be ? Who shall 
 reign, when the Beast is wounded unto death, but the Child 
 wath iron rod, who shall control all nations, whose mother is 
 the Woman clothed with the Sun (emblem of perfect spiritual 
 light and sanctified affection), the moon (symbol of all earthly 
 desires) under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars (the com- 
 pleted glories of the mind, its twelve resplendent powers in 
 full and harmonious exercise) upon her head. 
 
 This Child, who shall rule the earth, is an impersonation of 
 Intellectual Power, conceived in pure affection, the might of 
 Imowledge universally disseminated, not under the dominion 
 of avarice and Inst, but as the child of pure benevolence, 
 and truly enlightened affection for all mankind. ') 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE SEALS. 
 
 TRUTH, from earth's foundations, verily, was sealed ! 
 When the ancient Prophets only have revealed 
 Fragments of its glory, raylets of its light, 
 But its native splendour, in the heavens so bright, 
 Is beyond man's vision, far too bright for eyes 
 Trained to earthward gazing. All around you lies 
 A rich field of knowledge, wonders everj'where. 
 Could ye but discern them. But, what eye can dare 
 Gaze upon the glory of the noon-day sun ? 
 It is all too brilliant : so, when day is done. 
 Lifting tired ej'es heavenward, gazing at the stars, 
 Mortals ever welcome, through the misty bars, 
 Which conceal the heavens from the eye of man, 
 That mild, borrowed radiance, which, since earth began 
 To be fit for mortals, through the Queen of night. 
 Greets your straining vision, with a partial light. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 277 
 
 Oae by one, the bright stars are to man maJe known ; 
 One by one, the barriers are by man o'erthrown ; 
 Nearer, ever nearer, to the perfect day, 
 Man is slowly treading-, life'a mysterious way. 
 
 John, alone on Patmos, saw an angel come 
 
 From that world of glory, which will be man's home, 
 
 When he's learned life's lessons, conquered all the clay, 
 
 Risen at length victorious into heavenly day. 
 
 One of th' ancient Prophets, was this herald true. 
 
 One who once was mortal, toiling as do you ; 
 
 One who won the battle, and who wears the crown, 
 
 As ye all may wear it, when ye've earned renown. 
 
 John supposed this teacher was the Lord divine, 
 
 And would fain have worshipped at that spirit's shrine ; 
 
 But the angel truly told him, man must bow 
 
 Unto God, Him only must ye serve ; tliough now 
 
 Idols are uplifted, as in olden time, 
 
 And men worship mortals, thinking men divine ; 
 
 Not rememb'ring homage must to God be given. 
 
 Who reveals himself to man, through the soul which comes from heaven. 
 
 When the Seals were opened by the angel strong, 
 
 And God's mighty purpose was revealed in song. 
 
 Sung by choiring angels, with their harps of gold, 
 
 John fell down awe-stricken, for to him was told 
 
 How fierce tribulation should to earth draw nigh. 
 
 Ere the Beast was vanquished, and the Lamb gained victory. 
 
 What means many a figure ? asks the student now : 
 
 What is the Lamb's life-blood, sprinkled on each brow 
 
 Of God's chosen people? They whose names are found 
 
 In life's glorious record, where the true, renowned 
 
 In eternal story, though on earth in pain 
 
 They have cruelly suffered, crowns of glory gain. 
 
 Blood is truth celestial, and the Lamb -within 
 Is that loving-kindness, which doth surely win 
 Purity's best record; they their God will see. 
 Whose lives are all kindness ; true love is purity. 
 
 When the Seals are opened, and the Vials disclose 
 What men think is vengeance, God's wrath bringing woes 
 On a guilty people, is hut wisdom, love. 
 Blended well together, in the heavens above. 
 
 Bright angels guide the elements, angels control the sea, 
 
 And Nature's forces are not blind, but, with vitality. 
 
 Born of the Spirit's presence, forever are they rife. 
 
 Not with the force which killeth, but brings from death to life. 
 
 The chaff may be consumed, alloy be purged from gold. 
 
 In crucibles of sorrow, the noblest hearts grow bold ; 
 
 The epidemics raging, which now ye so much fear. 
 
 The pestilence, disaster, the wars ye think so near. 
 
 Are all but God's wise measures, of leading man at length, 
 
 To where, in golden ages, gentleness joined with strength, 
 
278 
 
 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Shall rule ■with rod of mercy, and yet as iron strong. 
 Shall be the sway of Spirit, when all the poets' song, 
 And all the prophets' vision, shall realized be, 
 In that new atre jmmortal, ■wlien Truth gains victory I 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 !May the Spirit of Truth open your minds, so that every 
 Seal of error, and darkness, and ignorance shall be shattered, 
 and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you 
 free 1 Amen, 
 
( 279 ) 
 
 XVIL 
 
 THE SPIRIT SPHERES ATTACHING TO THE 
 
 EARTH, 
 
 AND THE Mission of Modern Spiritualism to Hu3IANity, 
 
 AS AFFECTING ALL INSTITUTIONS AND ClASSES OF SoCIETY. 
 
 'HOEVER first suggested our speaking upon the theme 
 announced for the present lecture, must have had a 
 rather exalted opinion of the amount of information 
 which can be condensed in a single lecture of an hour's duration. 
 It is needless to say that time most peremptorily forbids our 
 doing much more than skim the surface of a subject, or rather 
 group of subjects, which affords matter for almost infinite con- 
 sideration. 
 CVre are glad the questioner has limited his desires for 
 knowledge, concerning the Spirit-world, to the planet earth 
 and its environment, as the immediate influx of spiritual 
 influence now'felt by mankind, certainly does proceed from 
 those states of spiritual being which are intimately connected 
 with the earth itself, and indeed nearly all the communications 
 of average interest received from the Spirit-world, reach you 
 through such intermediary minds as, by reason of their proxi- 
 mity to your own mental states, can easily play upon your 
 sensibilities, and conduct their thoughts through the channels 
 of your brains. The law of sympathy, or, as it is sometimes 
 called, affinity, is the one great and sovereign law which renders 
 spiritual communion possible ; and neither on earth nor in the 
 Spirit-world, can there be any communion or intercourse 
 between spirits, unless they are in some sense kindred minds. 
 You all know that sympathy, or spiritual affection or union, 
 is not dependent upon external associations, and is not 
 governed by laws relating to earthly consanguinity. The 
 very fact of marriage with one who is not a member of your 
 own family circle, and the possibility of loving your wife or 
 husband more than vour brother or sister, even more than 
 
280 LONDON LECTURES, 
 
 your parents, is a proof that there are ties of spirit deeper than 
 any nnions of sense. In alluding to a true and happy 
 marriage, we are saying nothing whateA'er concerning those 
 unions which are for time only, and exclusively of the senses. 
 We mention the true marriage union as the highest, closest, 
 holiest and most enduring of all, and all other unions, true 
 friendships and intimate acquaintanceships, which are consum- 
 mated in oneness of mind and thought, these are all practical 
 exemplifications of the suLlime fact of spiritual relationship 
 and lasting accord. 
 
 Upon the earth the spirit is perpetually hampered and 
 fettered by purely physical limitations, and thus scarcely any 
 one appears as he really is. Death is the great revelator and 
 emancipator in all instances, it strips you completely of your 
 assumed robes, which you are often compelled to wear in the 
 transaction of earthly business ; for is there not a disguising 
 of the true character, which cannot properly be called decep- 
 tion or hyjDOcrisy ? Are there not veils which you are obliged 
 to throw over your inmost feehngs, lest you should wound and 
 annoy those around you ; and does it not happen frequently 
 that perforce you must labour at uncongenial tasks, for you 
 are dependent upon the labour of your own hands for the 
 bread which sustains your bodily life ? 
 
 Now, the great difference between material and spiritual 
 life is this : on earth, while in the body, you have to be 
 actuated constantly by purely material considerations. You 
 must have shelter, food, clothing, and money with which to 
 purchase these things. The labour market may be in such a 
 condition that your talents are not recognised, and the work 
 you can best perform is not in demand. Thus very often a poet 
 works in a coal mine, a philosopher drives a coach, a born 
 politician is a waiter at a hotel, while persons of scarcely 
 any qualification for the ofiices they hold, are drawing large 
 salaries, and filling responsible positions, because of personal or 
 party influence unduty exerted in their favour. One of the 
 most painful and distressing anomalies of earthly existence, is 
 this crowding to the front of persons who have nothing but 
 cheek and cunning to recommend them, while the noblest, the 
 purest, and the most talented are in numberless instances kept 
 in the background. 
 
 AYere it not for disclosures from the spiritual side of life, 
 life would not be worth living to, at least, half the pop- 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 281 
 
 Illation of the globe ; and so strongly is this conclusion em- 
 phasized by the experiences of the race, that we find millions 
 npon millions of Orientals protesting that they want noiramor- 
 tahty. Consciousness after death is not w^hat they desire, they 
 prefer to contemplate annihilation of individuality, for in the 
 cessation of conscious being can they alone find rest from the 
 troubles and wo(^s of existence. 
 
 This condition of mind is morbid and unhealthy, and is not 
 in accordance with Oriental philosophy, at its highest and best. 
 It is the pessimistic hope of those who have had no experiences 
 calculated to make them optimists. Life to them has been one 
 long, uninterrupte'd' round of prosaic drudgery, toiling for 
 material necessaries only, finding no enjoyment except in 
 sleep or indolent repose. Possessed of constitutions not 
 naturally robust, subject to the enervating influ.ences of a 
 trying and unhealthy climate, they very naturally desire no 
 prolongation of life, as they understand it. The view they 
 take of life is, perhaps, the only one they can take, as they 
 have no spiritual insiijht into the life beyond, and their 
 religion is so mystical in its allusions to the hereafter, that 
 though it may satisfy a metaphysician, it offers no consolation 
 to the ordinary toiler in life's vineyard, Who from day to day 
 is doomed to the same humdrum round of labour, in which he 
 evinces no interest^ and which, in the very nature of things, is 
 not . calculated to inspire him with a sense of the value or 
 beauty of life. 
 
 Some persons are, phrenologically speaking, inca23able of 
 looking upon the bright side of nature or taking a hopeful 
 view of affairs in general, unless radical changes, most difficult 
 to accomplish, are effected in their mental development ; 
 while, so long as the spirit dwells within the body, the con- 
 dition of the physical frame has a great deal to do with the 
 feelings of the individual, on the mission and purpose of his 
 existence. A sound mind needs a sound body, just as' a good 
 performer needs a good instrument on which to display his 
 powers ; and in order to so revolutionize society, that the 
 world shall be as close a pattern of the higher spiritual 
 spheres as possible, it is high time that workers in the spiri- , 
 tual vineyard endeavoured to afford better conditions for a 
 brighter display of spiritual light, by improving, as far as 
 they are able, the tools and instruments which the spirits 
 have to use in their communications with mankind. 
 
 2 M 
 
282 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Up to a certain point Spiritualists and Secularists can and 
 ought to work together. Secularism maintains the necessity 
 of physical culture and mental improvement. Many Secu- 
 larists are striving earnestly to better the moral as well 
 as the intellectual and physical condition of those around 
 them, and it is anything but spiritual or liberal-minded to 
 refuse the right hand of fellowship to any honest toiler in 
 the vineyard of reform. If there is to be a great spiritual 
 awakening in all parts of the world, and that shortly, the 
 abolition of slums and rookeries, the cleansing of filthy 
 alleys, the sweeping away of dens of infection and infamy, 
 the taking of sanitary precautions against disease, the study of 
 physiology, and the equalization of mankind, that there be no 
 longer unjust and fictitious distinctions claimed between race 
 and race, class and class, or man and man, — all these are 
 works in which persons of widely different religious views 
 may unite ; and setting aside all difference of opinion on 
 other points, it should be the steadfast aim of all noble souls, 
 intent upon benefiting mankind, to set about the work of the 
 reconstruction of society, in accordance with the best methods 
 they can devise, and aided by the highest inspirations they 
 can receive. 
 
 ^ Spiritualism is a revelation. The facts it reveals are great 
 and most important discoveries ; but Spiritualism does not 
 create or invent the Spirit-world, or bring its denizens to 
 earth from far-off realms in space, where they would for 
 ever remain disconnected with the earth, were it not for the 
 evocatory power of Spiritualists. 
 
 Mediumship does not call up spirits from the vasty deep, 
 or summon them fr jm distant heavens ; though it is true 
 there is a kind of mediumship which does possess a summon- 
 ing and attractive power, but that mediumship is not confined 
 to those who go into trances, hear mysterious sounds, or see 
 spiritual visions. You may have no mediumistic power what- 
 ever, in the ordinary acceptance of the terra, and yet be a 
 greater medium, in every practical sense, than those whose 
 clairvoyance, or any other acknowledged spiritual gift, is a 
 household word wherever they are laiown ; and it is to this 
 intuitive, impressional mediumship that we wish to turn your 
 especial attention, when dwelling for a few moments upon the 
 invocatory power and nature of desire, and the ability of 
 thought and will to hold communion with the unseen spheres. 
 
THE SPIRIT SF BERKS. 283 
 
 Thought-reading is now the latest craze in fasliionahle 
 circles. Almost every popular newspaper devotes a con- 
 siderable amount of its space to discussing the pros and cons 
 of the theory. Mental telegraphy is admitted by many of 
 the greatest scientists of the age, who, while they will not 
 compromise themselves with Agnostics by admitting Spiri- 
 tualism, are quite prepared to avow their belief in some 
 subtle means of thought transfer, which Cumberland, Bishop, 
 and other traveUing thought-readers and conjurors bring into 
 prominence before the public. Of course, such men as 
 Bishop, Cumberland, and others are acting very foolishly 
 when they attempt to destroy the nation's faith in spiritual 
 communion, by their clumsy feats of legerdemain. Even 
 when some of their tricks are cleverly performed, they do not 
 touch the borders of genuine spiritual manifestations, as 
 there can be no proof or test of spirit-power unless there be 
 a display of intelligence. 
 
 When these conjurors and pretended exposers of Spiri- 
 tualism, undertake to counterfeit genuine spiritual phenomena, 
 they render themsejves ridiculous in the eyes of all who know 
 anything of genuine Spiritualism. Mr. Cumberland pretends 
 to show how spirits materialize, by putting glycerine and ' 
 muslin on his face, and dressed in a white robe, with a lamp 
 in his hand, imitates '•' John King." But let him, and all who 
 endeavour to unmask their own ignorance on spiritual 
 matters as he does, remember that numberless spiritual 
 manifestations have stood the closest scrutiny of eminently- 
 scientific and highly- qualified observers, who could not 
 possibly have been taken in by so silly and clumsy a subter- 
 fuge ; and when it is remembered that persons are satisfied 
 only with something which appeals to their inner nature, 
 when they have solid grounds for their confidence in spiritual 
 communion, the evidence against the conjuror as an exposer 
 of Spiritualism, becomes stronger and stronger with every 
 fresh investigation, until at length he is forced to retire from 
 the field, ignominiously defeated, or become himself a convert 
 to Spiritualism, and explain to his audiences how his own 
 performances have comj^elled him to relinquish his former 
 untenable premises. 
 
 Thought-reading is the entering wedge, the partly-opened 
 door, which leads to a knowledge of spiritual science, Mr. 
 Labouchere, the Editor of Truth, and many other popular 
 
284 L OND ON LEGT URES. 
 
 journalists, may as yet reluse to call themselves Spiritualists, 
 but recent articles in their journals prove them, to be con- 
 siderably baffled in their endeavours to explain thought- 
 reading. If it is not a trick, then what is it ? If it is an 
 evidence of the power of minds to communicate with each 
 other without the aid of the ordinary senses, then it goes a 
 long way to prove the communion of minds with one another 
 independent of the physical organism. 
 
 Thought-readers are of two classes. One class may be 
 said to be composed of adepts, the other of mediums. Adepts 
 are really mediums, but they are persons of unusual strength 
 of will, and though under the influence of spirits they are 
 not controlled to the same extent that persons of Weaker 
 will are ; thus there is a difference between them, as between 
 mesmeric operator and subject, or psychologist and sensitive. 
 No operator is so positive that he can be operated upon by 
 no one, still he may be beyond the reach of the mental power 
 of his audience and their surroundings ; thus though under 
 spirit control himself, he is controlled by beings of greater 
 will power than those in attendance upon persons whom he 
 can subject to his will. 
 
 Theosophists and Spiritualists make a great mistake in 
 opposing each other. It is a palpable error to suppose that 
 either Theosophy or Spiritualism may be true, but both can- 
 not be. A great deal of nonsense is no doubt often given off 
 by would-be mystics and occultists, concerning Himalayan 
 Brothers, elementary spirits, dopple-gangers, shells, astral 
 bodies, &c., &c., but there is a very considerable residuum of 
 sound, common sense and practical knowledge in the Theoso- 
 phist, and other periodicals and writings which treat of the 
 occult sciences. These sciences are not the phantastic and ephe- 
 meral absurdities most persons ignorant of the real nature of 
 Astrology and Alchemy imagine them to be, but even 
 Theurgy, Palmistry, and all the curious so-called superstitions 
 of mediseval times, were founded upon a knowledge of the 
 hidden forces of nature, and gave expression to facts relative 
 to spirit influence which comparatively few people, even to- 
 day, are competent to deal with, much less to explain away. 
 
 Spiritual Science must be added to material science. The 
 supra-material sciences are as natural as the material : Theo- 
 logy is as natural a science as Geology; and until the public 
 at large is willing to consider the claims of Spiritual Science, 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 285 
 
 as it deals witli Astronomy or Botany, Spiritualism will never 
 be fairly treated, and the invisible world will never be intelli- 
 gently understood, as a natural, objective, substantial, real 
 world, in wliicli force there does duty for matter here ; and 
 force is only a higher and more potential condition of being 
 than matter. Both force and matter are emanations from 
 Spirit, and both force and matter are at length resolvable inta 
 Spirit ; as Spirit, self-conscious, self-intelligent, and eternal, 
 is the only primal, absolute, and ultimate existence or sub- 
 stance in the universe. 
 
 It is customary to speak of things as real or substantial, to 
 tlie extent that they are discernible by the external faculties 
 of man. In the Spirit-world what is visible on earth is in- 
 visible, and wliat is invisible on earth is there visible. Thus 
 the lens is completely reversed, and to a spiritual body matter 
 offers no resistance, just as to a material body neither force 
 nor spirit offer resistance. 
 
 In a recent number of Morning Light, a Swedenborgian 
 weekly, the editor, while admitting that we have said many 
 things both useful and suggestive concerning correspondence 
 and the work and illuniination of Swedenborg, charges us 
 with having unduly confounded the natural with the super- 
 natural. 'We spoke of the Science of Correspondences as a 
 natural science. ^-^ The editor of Morning Light says it is not 
 a natural science, but a divine or spiritual science; and to him 
 all things spiritual are supernatural. 
 
 It is clear to any thinker, that a great deal of such quib - 
 bling is only verbal. We think all Swedenborgians are will- 
 ing to allow that there is but one God, and that everything 
 has been created and is being upheld by his divine power. 
 Then, if there be but one God, and the earth and the physi- 
 cal body are parts of his work, why make a distinction with- 
 out a difference, and assign part of the universe to one class 
 of laws and another part to totally different laws ? The 
 law of God is the law of nature : there is but one law as 
 there is but one God, and the sooner the oneness of the 
 universe is admitted, and the oneness of the laws that govern 
 it, the better both for science and religion, wliich will always 
 be opposing instead of friendly and allied powers, so long 
 as things spiritual and physical are spoken of as though one 
 were divine and the other something quite the reverse. 
 
 No more favourite mode of dealing with death is extant in 
 
286 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 orthodox circles, than that which represents the " last great 
 change " as one which completely and forever dissevers the 
 spirit from all connection with the earth. And yet Jesus, 
 whose resurrection according to Christianity brought immortal 
 life to light, promised to be ever with his people, so that 
 whenever two or three were gathered in his name, they might 
 enjoy communion with his spirit. " Prepare to meet thy God ! " 
 is reiterated so constantly in connection with man's passage 
 from earth to spirit-life, that people are all unconsciously 
 accustoming themselves to the belief, that the future life is so 
 entirely different from the present, that many deem it 
 positively sacrilegious to speak of the Spirit-world except as 
 some golden Rome or Heliopolis transferred to the unseen 
 spheres, where Halleluiahs are to be shouted eternally by the 
 redeemed in glory, ransomed through the blood of the lamb, 
 from all pain and penalty forever. 
 
 This investment of the Spirit-world with such a degree of 
 unnaturalness as to make it appear unreal and even uninviting 
 to the majority of aspirants for immortality, is one of the 
 most prolific sources of doubt and denial in the present day. 
 The step from orthodoxy to infidelity is a very simple one. 
 To give up the idea of a heaven, never more than vaguely 
 reahzed, to lose faith in records and traditions, and to treat 
 the testimony of the Ancients as a myth, is easy to many 
 minds. Thus, from extreme orthodoxy to hopeless infidelity 
 many pass without having realized that they have really 
 given up much that was worth preserving. The heaven of 
 orthodoxy is so deeply shadowed by its hell, that unbelief is 
 a positive comfort to many deeply sympathetic natures. A 
 God who cannot save all, cannot be Almighty ; a God who 
 will not if he can, is unworthy of our love; and the thought 
 of spending an eternity with such a being, even though 
 under his smile, is awful rather than satisfying to the deepest 
 longings of the human heart. 
 
 Spiritualism has done what neither Theism, Unitarianism, 
 nor Free-Religion could accomplish : it has effectually 
 naturalized the Spirit-world, and has niade countless human 
 hearts rejoice in living realization of an immortahty which is 
 theirs here and now. Its phenomena apjoeal t3 the senses, 
 while its philosophy satisfies the astutest intellect ; and we 
 need a combination of phenomena and philosophy, to reach 
 different sections of mankind, and solve the great problem of 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 287 
 
 man's nature and destiny, adequately to the comprehension 
 of all. 
 
 We regret a tendency among Spiritualists to exalt one 
 phase of spirit-communion above another. This tendency is 
 no doubt natural, and is easily accounted for and explained, 
 but it is not healthy, neither is it calculated to promote har- 
 mony or unity among common believers in the cardinal 
 verities of the modern spiritual revelation. One person will 
 visit London, and write to a newspaper underrating physical 
 phenomena, and, perhaps, over-estimating the importance of 
 philosophical addresses ; another person speaks coldly, almost 
 slightingly of what appeals to the intellect, and exaggerates 
 the importance of sensuous demonstrations. All such com- 
 parisons are mischievous, invidious and unfair. They are, 
 moreover, hasty and short-sighted, and do not evidence a 
 well-balanced mind. 
 
 The needs of human itature are so varied, that all the 
 different modes of spiritual operation now extant, are essen- 
 tial to the reaching of all classes of intellect, and the satisfac- 
 tion of every type of enquirer. Rivalry, jealousy, these 
 cursed tempters, are utterly out of place in a movement where 
 all true workers help each other. Every honest medium 
 helps every other honest medium, and those poor sensitives 
 who are too weak to resist temptation, and so pliant that 
 they echo the thoughts of all around them for the time being, 
 instead of being held up to ridicule, execration and reproach., 
 should be so kindly and tenderly dealt with, that they be 
 induced not to err, or fall in future, as they have done in the 
 past. 
 
 We have often heard and read the remark, that when a 
 medium has once been caught in deception, he should be 
 abandoned to the mercy of the cold world. Spiritualists 
 should refuse him countenance, turn their backs upon him, 
 show him the cold shoulder, write against him in the papers,, 
 and straightway commence vilifying him among all their 
 acquaintances, and warning the public against him. How 
 suicidal must such a policy be to the best interests of truth 
 and rectitude ! If you throw an easily-tempted sensitive upon 
 the mercies of an unsympathetic world, and do nothing 
 whatever to shelter, reform and uplift him, you are not 
 destroying an evil, ridding society of a nuisance, or removing a. 
 stumbling-block or rock -of offence out of your neighbour's way. 
 
288 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Unkindness never refonns, unmerciful punishment never 
 uproots iniquity. The one you trample under foot remains 
 the sinner he was : he is not strengthened or reformed by 
 your cruelty and cowardice, hut becomes an easier and easier 
 prey to the wiles of those unprincipled hoaxers, who are 
 ever ready to make use of tools for the accomplishment of 
 their own unworthy ends. And is it to be wondered at, that 
 wdien earth is constantly pouring into the Spirit-world troops 
 of liars, thieves, adulterers and blacklegs, that these unre- 
 formed characters should still hang round theirfavourite haunts 
 on earth ; and as dwellers on the threshold, or earth-bound 
 spirits, continue to infest those neighbourhoods and places of 
 assembly where they perpetrated their crimes and follies 
 while in the material form ? Every infirmity, which is but an 
 infirmity of the flesh, is overcome when the body dies, the 
 - weaknesses incident to an imperfect body, and the manifold 
 temptations to which you are unwillingly exposed, are shaken 
 oft' at the entrance to the immortal world. But desire is 
 fulfilled, and wherever there is aspiration toward any state of 
 existence, links of affinity bind you to that state, and you are, 
 as Swedenborg has said, a denizen of hell, only, if you choose 
 hell instead of heaven. 
 
 The visions of Swedenborg, and those of Dante, need not 
 be called in question, because the Lutheran and Roman 
 Catholic dogma of eternal punishment is set aside. Sweden- 
 borg was brought up a Lutheran, and Dante a Catholic. 
 Their ideas of the everlasting perpetuity of evil weremodified 
 by spiritual revelation, but not overcome, as there are states 
 of existence beyond the grave which temporarily answer to 
 every mortal conception of the hereafter. The sensualist finds 
 his harem in the invisible world, and as the Koran states, the 
 places filled on earth by women are there filled by paradisiacal 
 angels. Mohammed was a seer, but he saw those heavens 
 which only answer to human avarice and lust. He dreamed 
 a voluptuous dream which chorded well with the voluptuous- 
 ness of tlie Orientals among whom he dwelt, and to wiiom his 
 religion most forcibly appealed. The heaven of Mohammed, 
 however, becomes a hell eventually, for those who go out from 
 earth with no higher aspirations tlian those which, if lulfilled, 
 will gratify the senses, find that at length all libertinism cloys 
 upon the spirit, and satiety not satisfaction is the ultimate of 
 sordid dreams of animal enjoyment. • 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 289 
 
 The sensualist may hover round the earth, and still engage 
 in midnight revelry and song. Troops of spirits, who on 
 earth led dissipated lives, may be witnessed by clairvoyants 
 in every haunt of gaiety and dissipation. There are their 
 vrorlds, their spheres are within the atmosphere, on earth. If 
 they have not intentionally wronged their fellows, then they 
 are numbered among the frivolous and vain, and while their 
 lives are most woefully empty and unsatisfactory to the higher 
 nature, they are not in torment, neither do they experience 
 that loneliness and depression which those must undergo 
 whose selfishness has been such that they have never bestowed 
 a thought except lipon themselves and their own advance- 
 ment. 
 
 "Would that the misers and egotists of the earth"could see 
 what we have seen of the darker side of spirit life ! Such, 
 revelations would surely lead them to repent of their follies ere 
 it is too late, and sow, while here on earth, something better 
 than wretched tares for their reaping at the harvest hour of 
 mortal dissolution. But those who live entirely on the plane 
 of the senses, are so steeled against warnings of every Idnd, 
 that should visions' ever S9 startling be shown to them, they 
 AA'Ould dismiss them from their minds as quickly as possible, 
 refusing to accept the teaching they conveyed. AYe have 
 known many whro have had countless spiritual experiences, 
 and have attributed them all to ill health or over-excitement, 
 and have taken ardent spirits and sleeping-draughts, and all 
 kinds of physic, to prevent a recurrence of those unwelcome 
 disturbers of their peace. Among those who determinately 
 refuse to give heed to messengers from the unseen world, no 
 matter how vividly they make their presence known, are to 
 be found the nineteenth-century brethren of a modern Dives, 
 to whom it would be useless to offer a revelation, as they 
 would not repent though one rose from the dead. 
 
 There seems reluctance to send a messenger, on the part 
 of Abraham, in the story of Dives and Lazarus, but a close 
 analysis of the allegory will let us see that all that its author 
 intended to convey, was the existence of states of mind to 
 which spiritual truths could only make a useless appeal, and 
 because of the fruitlessness of the task it was not undertaken. 
 The mistake is only in supposing that the task would be eter- 
 nally fruitless, whereas the condition of a spirit or mortal at 
 any given time when he may be interviewed, is no just crite- 
 
290 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 rion of the state lie will be in, say a century, or even a year 
 from no^Y. 
 
 The Hindoos, who said there were fourteen spiritual spheres, 
 of which the earth was one, correctly located the earth-bound 
 sphere within the, atmosphere of the earth itself; though, if 
 they inferred that there were seven degrees of spiritual exist- 
 ence below the earth, they were astray in their calculations, so 
 far as hnman spirits are concerned; for there is no retro- 
 gression in nature, and no spirit really deteriorates when passed 
 from the body, though apparent deterioration may result from 
 the inability of a spirit to withstand new temptations, by 
 which he has been hitherto untried. 
 
 Spiritualism may apparently prove the deterioration of some 
 minds in the hereafter, but in all cases where deterioration 
 seems evident, one of two explanations will serve to show how 
 baseless may be the assum^ption. There are many on earth 
 who live outwardly respectable but hypocritical lives. They 
 pass current in society as virtuous, but their virtue consists in 
 nothing more than conformity to certain external requirements 
 of a superficial state of society ; polished manners, a smooth 
 tongue, a little easy, affected charity, some degree of attention 
 paid to religious observances, and the world caresses you with 
 its sweetest smile. You may be a caluminator or detractor 
 if you will, you may blacken reputations without mercy, you 
 may amass wealth in ways that will bear no honest investi- 
 gation, but so long as you keep within the bounds of 
 the letter of human law, you are free from censure, and are 
 indeed accounted a most exemplary member of society. 
 
 Now, in spirit life, everything goes by motive, intention, 
 desire, thought, will ; these are the realities which go to make 
 np character ; and by interior standards are you judged in the 
 hereafter. Some one may have been badly born, scarcely 
 educated at all, allowed to grow up like a weed without any 
 culture. A'Mien a child he may have been surrounded with a 
 whole host of adverse circumstances, and the power of evil 
 pitted against his feeble strength, may have been so over- 
 poweringly great, that it was impossible for him to withstand 
 the power of so great temptations. He may have striven a 
 million times to resist ; he may have succeeded over and over 
 again, but the world only knows when he has fallen. It 
 chronicles his failures, it makes capital out of his mistakes, it 
 holds up its hands in holy horror when the name of so great 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 291 
 
 a culprit is mentioned, and yet if those who pride themselves 
 on the easy, negative, automatic fashionable " virtue " they 
 think so praiseworthy, had been subjected to a hundreth part 
 of the temptation their " fallen " brother has endured, they 
 would have sunk unmentionably lower than he, in the pit of 
 degradation. 
 
 Your young men and women, w^ho have never been away 
 from home, and have known nothing of the world's seductions, 
 are in no position to offer contrasts to those who have fallen 
 into sin, when exposed to temptations the mere names of 
 whicli the carefully-nurtured and vigilantly-protected may 
 have never heard; ■ It is for no man to judge his brother, and 
 if there be one vice more hateful in the eyes of angels than 
 another, it is that spiritual pride which so often goes before 
 the deepest and most disgraceful falls. 
 
 In the Spirit-world every circumstance of earthly life is 
 taken into account. When the old Egyptians graphically 
 painted the scene in the Judgment Hall, before Osiris, they 
 were not at all astray in their conception of the true spiritual 
 judgment, when they weighed the actions of the departed 
 from earth, in scales adjusted with accurate nicety. But after 
 all, the acts are not so important as the motives, and yet from 
 pure motives, pure acts must ever spring, so the outward and 
 inner life must to^some extent correspond, but as all have not 
 equal light, and many sin in ignorance, the command is law- 
 ful — Judge not that ye be not judged. 
 
 We have never yet come across any one who was healthy, 
 who enjoyed idleness, and we are certain no healthy child likes 
 to be doing nothing. No picture of heaven can be more dis- 
 heartening than that which paints it as a world of monotonous 
 ease and listless indolence. The incessant music of heaven 
 must be a figure of the incessant motion and activity of those 
 who are in heaven. True music is harmony, and the perfect 
 harmony of life within and without must ever constitute the 
 bliss of the celestial world. 
 
 Many persons seem to think that Spirit Spheres are arbi- 
 trarily located around the earth, within a certain radius of its 
 circumference, and though there are earth-bound spirits who 
 are thus confined, spirit spheres, properly speaking, are strictly 
 individual. Spirits travel in their spheres. If their spheres 
 are bright and comfortable, then, w^herever they niiiy be, they 
 are in happiness and peace. If their inward condition is dark 
 
292 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 and doleful, then can they rest nowhere ; and should they 
 dwell where others are in bliss, the contrast to their own 
 condition would but add misery to their already pitiable 
 state. 
 
 Take, for a moment, the condition of a man on earth, who 
 owns a thousand acres of ground, possesses a stately mansion, 
 superbly furnished and decorated : has horses and carriages at 
 his command, and, in a word, everything the eye or ear or any 
 of the outward senses can desire. He may be afflicted with 
 some distressing malady, which baffles the skill of the ablest 
 physician. He may have some secret sorrow pressing upon 
 him, he may possess a churlish and unhappy nature, which 
 forbids him to enjoy. Of what use are all his fair fields to 
 him ? Can his money make him happy ? He who wears a 
 diadem, surrounded by every sign of prosperity, may be far 
 more wretched than the beggar on the roadside, who sleeps 
 on a door-step or in a hay-loft, and dreams of angels, to wake 
 refreshed for another day's wearisome search for bread, with an 
 eye open to the beauties of all around him. 
 
 jSi o place or rank can make happiness. Could mortals enter 
 heaven through the intercession of Christ, or Mary and the 
 Saints : could Peter be induced to open the gate of heaven, 
 and let the supphants in, they would not know heaven from 
 hell when they got there, unless they developed heavenly- 
 mindedness w^hile passing through the gate. 
 
 Christ went to paradise,' to hell, to prison all at once. He 
 went among the dark and wretched sufferers in the earth- 
 bound sphere, who needed his preaching and his sympathy. 
 Could he be unhappy on a holy mission of sijlf-denying love ? 
 Could he be thinking of the darkness and the gloom, w^hile 
 divine light was welling up within him, and shedding its 
 celestial refulgence an all around ? The glow-worm is never 
 in the dark ; it carries its own light with it. If your heaven 
 be within, if j^our happiness depends upon what you yourself 
 are, and not upon where you are, then you travel in heaven, 
 and heaven travels in you, and your constant enjoyment 
 springs from the fact of your shedding brightness wherever 
 you go ; so that if your mission be among prisoners and the 
 distressed, you are not partakers of their misery, while you are 
 lighteners of their woe. You are perfectly happy, just so soon 
 as you are perfectly absorbed in works of benefaction. "When 
 the spirit really awakes to a true sense of its condition, it sees 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 293 
 
 around it the results of its own labours, and for every tear tliat 
 it has caused, it must needs shed one ; while for every joy it 
 has conferred, it must needs feel within itself an answering 
 echo of pure content. 
 
 We have now just a minute in which to express our views 
 upon the true relations of Spiritualism to all existing Insti- 
 tutions. That there will be a coming Religion, and a coming 
 Church, we do not doubt; but Spiritualism, as a sectarian 
 movement, we are convinced will never prosper, if the advo- 
 cates of sectarian Spiritualism desire simply to add another to 
 the numberless divisions into which the religious world is al- 
 ready unhappily divided. 
 
 Oahspe, the new bible, is one out of many endeavours on 
 the part of the Spirit-world to effect a reconciliation between 
 sectarian spirits, as well as among sectarian mortals. That 
 singular compilation is the work of intelligences who now 
 have gravitated to a common centre, from the many restrictive 
 Oriental heavens, which for a while hold spirits estranged from 
 each other in rival parties, as sects and parties create and per- 
 petuate estrangments upon earth. There are Catholic, Pro- 
 testant, Jewish, Mohammedan, Parsee, Confucian, Zoroastrian 
 and numberless other heavens near the earth, and the influx 
 from these' upon recejjtive minds tends to build up those 
 earthly institutions, which are counterparts of those invisible 
 spheres. \Yith the advancement and liberalization of the 
 spirits forming those societies in the Sj^irit-world, they blend 
 into common fellowship and become organized into commu- 
 nities of kindred souls, where, seeing truth from a higher 
 standpoint than that of any of these sectaries, they co- 
 mingle till they become universal in their sympathies and 
 regard. 
 
 When Spiritualism shall have swept away the dark ac- 
 cumulations of error and bigotry from the Churches and 
 Colleges of earth, then will come a day when all schools will 
 blend in amicable union. Some may prefer the plainness of 
 the Quaker Meeting-house, others the sumptuousness of St. 
 Peter's at Rome : but, eventually, every Temple of Religion, 
 of Art, of Philosophy, of Science, will become a Spiritual 
 Temple, and Spiritualism will be the agent employed by tiie 
 Angel-world, in bringing about that much-needed and 
 longed-for reconciliation, which will at length make all 
 Religions, Languages, and Peoples one. 
 
2S4 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM= 
 
 THE GOLDEN AGE. 
 
 fl^HE Prophet bards of every clime 
 
 -»- Have sung of a Golden Age ; 
 
 The Projihets have seen in a glorious dream 
 
 The time, when the earth, grown sage 
 Through her lengthened discipline of strife. 
 
 Of pain, and weary woe, 
 Shall lay her weapons of war aside, 
 
 And peacefully forward go. 
 
 In the Golden Age shall the lion and lamb 
 
 Lie down together and feed. 
 While the little child shall guide them both, 
 
 And together shall sweetly lead 
 The strongest and gentlest, the brave and weak, 
 
 Till the nations shall bliss have found, 
 When old Tubal Cain makes them swords no more. 
 
 But plough-shares o'er all earth's bound. 
 
 From the far-off distance of buried years — 
 
 From the cities of those plains, 
 Where now but the rubbish and arid sand 
 
 Mark the seat of those old remains — 
 There cometh a voice, for the stones cry out, 
 
 And make mention of days gone by. 
 When both hemispheres were alive at once, 
 
 With a light that has seemed to die. 
 
 From old Egypt, now wasted with wars and years ; 
 
 From that mystic Hindostan, 
 Where the sacred city, Benares, remains ' 
 
 As a mark of primasval man ; 
 From Persia, Chaldasa, where buried lie 
 
 The Soothsayer's mystic arts, 
 And the Magian's power to foretell events 
 
 By the pulsing of heavenly darts; 
 From the buried cities of Greece and Rome ; 
 
 From Columbia's distant clime. 
 Where b.jried beneath the wigwams rude, 
 
 Of the Indian tribes, do chime 
 The mystic bells of a far-off year, 
 When Atlantic waters were rolling clear, 
 Engirdling an island of vast extent, 
 Whose treasures to East and West were sent ; — 
 Come mingled voices, with clearest tone. 
 Saying — The Past did most truly own 
 AH your modern knowledge, and might, and power 
 "Twill deliver it up at no distant hour. 
 
THE SPIRIT SPHERES. 29,^5 
 
 Are not the nations, with one accord. 
 
 Preparing for fatal war? 
 Is not your own land, even now, engaged 
 
 In conflict with realms afar? 
 Are ye not on the verge of a struggle fierce. 
 
 In which evil will surely die ? 
 For the hand of Justice uplifted is. 
 
 To redeem from tyranny. 
 
 Ye may sigh o^er those Nihilistic waves. 
 
 Which sweep o'er Europa's sod ; 
 Ye may tremhle awhile 'neath the pestilence. 
 
 Which seems as the frown of God : 
 But the thunders and lightnings clear the air. 
 
 Volcanoes they ease the earth. 
 And diseases and sorrows, and deadlj- wars. 
 
 But make way for sweet Freedom's birth. 
 
 The earth is in travail, and cries in her pain. 
 
 Her deliverance draweth nigh ; 
 And where now are the corpses of fallen slain. 
 
 Will peaceful homes, by-and-by. 
 Rise, marking the spots where the warriors fell ; 
 
 Men shall point to them soon, and say : 
 Lo ! there, through the horror and din of war, 
 
 God made for new light a way. 
 
 lu the Golden Age, which is coming apace. 
 
 Shall men to make war forget ; 
 They shall all be brothers, and form one race. 
 
 For all peoples will become yet 
 One concrete Nation, wherein shall live 
 
 Tlie Roman, the Greek, the Jew, 
 The Anglo-Saxon, and every race, 
 
 In the Riice which shall earth renew. 
 
 Lay aside your weapons, O men of strife ! 
 
 And learn to control by will, — 
 By the power of mind, an,l by love"s mild grace 
 
 Then higher up life's steep hill 
 Will ye mount together, as brother's all, 
 
 And the Golden Age ye will see. 
 When forgetting your quarrels ye work us one, 
 
 For Light, Truth, and Liberty I 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 May the Light of Truth supernal, made manifest in Love, 
 
 so infill your minds with an appreciation of true Equity, that 
 
 ' working for each other's weal, with pure hearts and intelligent 
 
 minds, ye may hasten the Golden Age, and do Uod's Will 
 
 on earth, even as it is done in Heaven. Amen. 
 
( 296 ) 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THE LOST CONTINENT, ATLANTIS; 
 
 AND THE CIVILIZATION OF THE 
 
 PRE-HISTOEIC WORLD. 
 
 HERODOTUS, wlio is popularly styled the Father of 
 History, may indeed be the first great historian who 
 has attempted a systematic and consecutive history of 
 the post-diluvian v^'orld ; but the history of antediluvian 
 times is still shrouded in such deep gloom, and invested Avith 
 sach transcendent mystery, that very fev^-, until quite 
 recently, have attempted to tell the story of the world before 
 the great and well nigh universal deluge, reference to which 
 will be found in the histories and mythologies of all peoples. 
 ; You are probably all of you aware that the Bible is by no 
 means the most ancient record in existence, and it does not 
 ]>rofess to deal in any way particularly with all the differing 
 races or varying sections of mankind. The first chapter of 
 Genesis is a prologue, and the prophet Malachi, an epilogue 
 to the Old Testament, while the Law and the Prophets, and 
 the history of Israel's wars and kings, all deal exclusively with 
 one nation (the Jewish), only telling of other peoples as 
 their history collides with that of Israel. Every nation has its 
 own record, and while records may dispute the palm for anti- 
 quity with one another, it is almost universally conceded by 
 students, that the Hebrew bible is not anything like so ancient 
 as the Vedas and other records of the far Orient. 
 
 The first chapter of Genesis may or may not be inter- 
 preted in accordance with modern facts in astronomy or 
 geology, according as the interpreter construes the narrative. 
 It is in its letter so vague, and deals so entirely in generalities, 
 that nothing can be said to be ]-»lainly taught therein, beyond 
 the general declarations that all things were created by God,: 
 and that the lower forms of life preceded the higher in their 
 order of appearance on the earth, while man came last of all. 3 
 
ATLANTIS, 297 
 
 Surely no one can have read this introduction to the Penta- 
 teuch, without remarking upon the saying, God made man in 
 his own image, male and female. The simultaneity of the 
 creation of man and woman must strike every reader very 
 forcibly who pays any heed to what he reads, while the 
 following chapter localizes an Asiatic paradise, as the birth- 
 place of one peculiar and distinct race of human beings, the 
 original progenitors of the House of Israel. With Adam the 
 Adamic race had birth, and this race, distinct from all others, 
 was forbidden to mingle with any other peoples. When Cain 
 slew Abel, and wandered far from home, he found the earth 
 peopled in those parts to which he journeyed, and these, other 
 inhabitants than the descendants of Adam, were undoubtedly 
 the offspring of those men and women, numbers and place of 
 abode not supplied by Genesis, whom God created on the 
 sixth day, mentioned in chapter one. 
 
 We merely call attention to these biblical statements, because 
 there are not a few among our hearers who are much interested 
 in the case of Genesis v. Geology, and a lecture we recently 
 delivered in this hall, on " Evolution and Involution," called 
 forth many comments, not only from those who heard it, but 
 from persons across the water, who had only seen mention 
 made of it in a few paragraphs in a London newspaper. The 
 editor of the "banner of Light" (Boston, U.S.A.) com- 
 mented in his columns upon those paragraphs, and went so far 
 as to say, probably they were erroneously reported, because 
 the statement was made that Genesis and Geology were not 
 irreconcilable. He pointed to the fact of their being two dis- 
 tinct accounts of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis, 
 and styled one the Elohistic and the other the Jehovistic 
 account. Bishop Colenso thought these accounts gave 
 evidence of a double authorship, and that opinion is shared by 
 many students to-day. 
 
 It is not our intention to enter into any controversy in this 
 discourse on the authenticity of the first book of Moses, 
 neither shall we at any time tell people to read Genesis if 
 they wish to become acquainted with the facts of geology, or 
 any of the natural sciences, for the Bible is no scientific text- 
 book. Still, there is a moderate and common-sense view of 
 the Bible, which, unfortunately, is not taken by the majority 
 of Bible interpreters of the present day, and that is, that though 
 the Bible came into existence in a purely natural manner, as 
 
298 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 did all other books, it was impossible in the days when it was 
 written for any book to be produced except by the learned, or 
 those who were singularly inspired. The Bible is the result 
 of ancient scholarship and insjDiration. It is emphatically a 
 Jewish history written from a Jewish standpoint, chronicling 
 those events which influenced the national life of Israel, 
 and leaving the history of other nations alone, when tlmt 
 history did not run in parallel lines with that of Israel. We 
 think we may fairly assert that the wise men of old, the most 
 learned among the rabbins, for instance, never denied the exis- 
 tence of these scientific facts, known to the Egyptians and 
 embodied in their architecture, but they did not attempt to 
 reveal them to the people under their charge, who, for the 
 most part, were quite unready to receive them. For a curious 
 and interesting dissertation on the Adamic race audits origin, 
 we refer you to the pages of a work, entitled " Genesis," by 
 Allan Kardec, recently translated into English, and obtainable 
 of any dealer in spiritualistic literature in England or abroad. 
 But we must not dwell any longer upon this introduction to 
 our subject, or we shall never be able, if we allow these con- 
 siderations to divert us, to say anything we wish to say on this 
 occasion/upon that wonderful centre of ancient learning, which 
 fell a prey to the destructive force of the waters about 12,000 
 years from the present time. 
 
 A few years since, Ignatius ])onnelly, of Minnesota, U.S.A., 
 published a work of thrilling interest, entitled " Atlantis," in 
 which he undertakes to prove that that mysterious island, 
 mentioned by Plato as having lain in the midst of the Atlantic 
 waters, beyond the pillars of Hercules, at the entrance to the 
 Mediterranean Sea, was not a mere fancy of mythology, but a 
 veritable solid reality, as much so as is the Australia of to-day. 
 
 What Ave have already remarked concerning a plurality of 
 races, and all human beings not having sprung from one 
 common forefather, Adam having been the forefather of one 
 race only, is amply borne out by the facts of physiology, which 
 go very far to prove this position beyond question, among 
 students of the natural history of man. The Negro, for 
 instance, with his thick features and woolly hair, has not only 
 these peculiarities to distinguish him. He has a cuticle 
 under the skin, which makes him a negro. Children born 
 from other races, who have not intermingled with negroes, 
 will never have this cuticle, no matter how long they may 
 
ATLANTIS. 299 
 
 sojourn in the tropics, or how dark their offspring may become 
 through exposure to the chmate. The Malay and the Cau- 
 casian are evidently distinct races of mankind, and though 
 they may blend in the future, and all races may at length 
 become one, a common race, to inhabit all the earth, is rather 
 a prediction for the future than a history of the past. But a 
 study of races is fast leading the student to conclude, that 
 there was a closer bond between the eastern and western 
 hemispheres, in very ancient days, than has ever been 
 imagined until very recently, except by a few such remarkable 
 men as Solon, Plato and others, whose knowledge of ancient 
 history and of the occult sciences led them to conclusions based 
 upon actual facts with reference to the past of man on earth, 
 which were impossible to the multitude, whose knowledge 
 and means of obtaining information were necessarily far more 
 limited. 
 
 Before the destruction of the Alexandrian library, under 
 the Turks, there existed in Egypt, at Alexandria, a collection 
 of MSS., probably the finest the world has ever known, and in 
 these books, accessible only to the learned, intelligible only to 
 the very few, was contained the history of the earth from the 
 earliest times ; and the history of Egypt not only 6,000 or 
 7,000 years^ ago,- which is now being unearthed by modern 
 students, but the J^iistory of Egypt contemporaneous with that 
 of Atlantis, pre-historic America, pre-historic Australia, and 
 pre -historic South Africa and parts of Asia. 
 
 We must now refer you to a fact in the history of the earth, 
 viz., a change in its polar axis, gradually brought about 
 through long periods of time, and reaching a culmination at 
 the close of every grand cycle of over 25,000 years. These 
 vast periods of time, during which mighty changes and up- 
 heavals are outwrought, were computed by the Ancients with 
 the same accuracy as that w^hich attends your determining 
 the length of the solar year, which you know to be between 
 36o and 366 days. The grand year of the Pleiades occupies 
 nearly 26,000 years of earthly time, during which the sun 
 accomplishes its journey through the twelve zodiacal signs. 
 During this vast period, the sun's rays strike the earth ver- 
 tically at different degrees of latitude, and while there is 
 always an equator, and while there are always poles, and 
 these poles are each 90 degrees from the equator, and while 
 the equatorial line is always the centre of the earth, and that 
 
300 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 spot "upon the earth's surface where day and night are of 
 equal length all the year round, the equator changes place, 
 though so slowly as be imperceptible to all save special 
 observers. 
 
 During half the cycle, the south pole advances and the 
 north pole retreats ; during the other half, the south pole 
 retreats and the north advances. At the present time the 
 north pole is slowly, but surely, creeping toward you, while 
 the south pole is retreating. The equator is travelling south- 
 ward, and, therefore, in northern latitudes the climate is 
 -steadily becoming more and more inhospitable. Certain scio- 
 lists deny this. They had better save their own reputations 
 for scientific knowledge, by accounting for facts now trans- 
 piring which prove the truthfulness of this theory, before they 
 deny the only natural and rational explanation of phenomena 
 transpiring under the eyes of every one, by refusing to admit 
 the truthfulness of any theoiy not sufficiently small to be in- 
 cluded in their theories, which stand them in the stead of fact. 
 
 No one looking at a map of the world, can fail to be 
 struck with the immense ]3reponderance of land north of the 
 equator, and of water south of it; and no one can see the 
 name " Greenland " applied to a desolate patch of country 
 in the northern part of North America, without wishing to 
 know the origin of the misnomer. G-reenland was once a 
 fertile country ; while all the northern part of Asia, now^ 
 called Sibeiia, was once a fruitful and hospitable region. 
 The Persian records, the Zendavesta, inform you that once 
 there was an earthly paradise, where now there are but fields 
 of ice, and that the tradition of a forfeited earthly paradise 
 in Asia, owes its historical value to this circumstance. Cer- 
 tain it is that in the northern hemisphere the climate of many 
 lands once salubrious, is now becoming more and more inhos- 
 pitable, while the heat is becoming more tempered in southern 
 latitudes, and this because of the changing aspect of the 
 earth to the sun. 
 
 As it would require a discourse of considerable length to 
 fully explain this problem in science, and we have no time to 
 deal with it now, we must refer you to the studies of sjDecia- 
 lists in this direction for further information ; contenting 
 ourselves for the present, with gi^'ing you a vague outline of 
 the world as it was prior to the culmination of that last 
 grand cycle of time, which must have culminated fully 
 
ATLANTIS. 301 
 
 11,000 years ago, tlie present era now closing being the 
 fifth dispensation in the present grand cycle of time, the 
 new era now commencing being the sixth epoch, and that 
 dnring which one -half the world will attain to a civilization 
 matchless in its importance and resnlts. 
 
 The new era now commencing marks that period which 
 will give to the northern half of the globe, a power and 
 supremacy unkno\Am save to the most privileged among the 
 the Ancients, who were however not the recipients of the 
 boons of culture and inspiration on so large a scale 
 as the Anglo-Saxon and allied nations will be during the 
 coming age, which will witness in the eastern and western 
 hemispheres conjointly, an attainment far transcending aught 
 that you anticipate, unless you give credence to Homeric 
 tales, and stories of Arabian enchanters, who have filled the 
 brain of age and youth alike with glowing pictures of a 
 distant past, in which gods and goddesses mingled freely 
 among mortals, and the occult sciences were something more 
 than idle dreams or fanciful imaginings.;' 
 
 The modern world still believes in a golden age departed, 
 while it also looks for one to come. , Milton was not a Calvi- 
 nist when he wrote his matchless verse, and sang of earthly 
 paradises long since destroyed. Tinctured with the Puri- 
 tanism which filWd the very air he breathed, he doubtless was, 
 but he echoed Hesiod and Homer, he pictured the constant 
 strivings of deities and devils, and personified the forces of 
 regeneration and decay in his inspired songs. To him 
 " Paradise Lost " was a sad truth, but " Paradise Regained " 
 was the yet truer dream. Like all great poets he was a 
 thorough ojDtimist, and was sorrowful and astonished at the 
 pessimism of the world, which criticised his verse but could 
 not understand his prophecies. The critics admired his story 
 of a lost Eden, and greatly preferred it to his glowing pro- 
 phecy of a future golden age. He lived more in the past 
 than in the future when he wrote the " Paradise Lost," he 
 lived in the future when he wrote his " Paradise Reo-ained " : 
 and he loved it best, as all true poets must, for he is not a 
 poet but a misanthrope who sees only death. The true poet 
 sees beyond death to the New Jerusalem, and across the 
 Jordan, which, whelming all earthly treasures, traces, capped 
 with living light, the glorious summits of the mountains of 
 the Celestial City. 
 
303 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 There is something inexpressibly sad in gazing upon a 
 rnin, if you must feel that all the life and beauty which once 
 •woke it into birth, have gone out into the rayless night of an 
 eternal oblivion. A buried city rising up from among piles 
 of rubbish, the accumulations of centuries, is sad beyond com- 
 parison, if you cannot realize the truth of immortality. But 
 when the very air around you is peopled with the impalpable 
 forms of the departed, — when you can wander through the 
 desolated halls and ruined temples, where once art, science, 
 and religion adorned themselves in their most beautiful array, 
 and summoned multitudes from far and near to witness their 
 imperial triumphs ; and wandering, musing upon these dead 
 and gone glories, talk with the emancipated spirits of those 
 who once woke those solitudes into every conceivable form 
 of loveliness and grace, — you are no more despondent, for you 
 realize in the ethereal hosts around you the victor spirits 
 who, having done with earth embodiments, are now rejoicing 
 in diviner worlds, reaping the fruits of their former labours, 
 and gazino- fondlv on the ruined school-houses where once 
 they gained their education ; but knowing all the Vvdiile that 
 they shall each one be rebuilt, and employed by future 
 generations for the advancement of spirits then requiring 
 education like unto that which these ascended ones have 
 long since gained. They can admire the dignity and utility 
 of that law which, while it ordains the destruction of naught, 
 makes provision that all things serve some useful end, so that 
 when they are no longer needed in some particular form they 
 have once- assumed, they are thrust back again into that void 
 or chaos, whence they sprang in former ages to serve the 
 needs of Spirit, there to lie seemingly dormant and useless, 
 but all the vvhile undergoing marvellous transformations, until 
 they shall be called back again to witness new scenes of 
 labour on the part of mind, and be in some yet undreamed- 
 of age the very tools wherevrith immortal spirits, awhile 
 embodied in material clay, shall develop those latent energies, 
 which only conflict with lower phases of existence can ever 
 adequately express. 
 
 The old Jewish Sabbatic law, as it bore on the question of 
 land, is a striking illustration in minor degree of that great 
 law of nature which renders certain lands peculiarly fruitful 
 for a period, and then compels them to lie Avaste for needed 
 purposes of recuperation through rest. The sabbath was in- 
 
ATLANTIS. 303 
 
 tendeei not to flatter God, but to benefit his cliiklren. The 
 land was to be cultivated six years, and then lie fallow during 
 the seventh, that it mio^ht a.Q^ain be fertilized and bear all that 
 was needed to support life, and keep the nation in a continued 
 condition of active pros|)erity. 
 
 Over-production is always the precursor of want and distress. 
 Poor wages, little work, and general dissatisfaction always 
 follow in the train of an overstepment of the law of prudence 
 in matters pertaining to labour. Work yourselves incessantly 
 without rest, year in and year out, and you disease your bodies 
 till they are unfit for further exertion, or you j)aralyze your 
 biains and end your days in a madhouse, or as a drivelling 
 idiot, harmless, indeed, but utterly incapable of enjoying any 
 of the blessings which would have accrued to you had you 
 taken a less feverish and more common-sense view of life, and 
 the number of hours that should rightfully be devoted either 
 to physical or mental labour. 
 
 C Not only does man need periodic rest, but all sentient 
 creatures need it, and they suffer accutely when deprived of 
 it ; and not only do all living creatures need it, but the earth 
 itself needs it, for whenever a land has been peculiarly prolific^ 
 and has been the scene of unparalleled achievements, the time 
 surely comes when it becomes unfit any longer to bear the 
 strain of such high pressure, and enters upon a state of sen- 
 ility, and ultimately apparent death. Having passed its 
 meridian, it begins slowly yet surely to decline the hill which 
 it once ascended. 
 
 But what is one's loss is another's gain. When the sun 
 shines brightest in England, through the long summer days, 
 the winter reigns at the Antipodes. AYhen it is high noon in 
 one hemisphere it is midnight in another. There is never a 
 withdrawal of light and heat from one portion of the globe, 
 without a conference of the same upon other sections of the 
 world. It is always summer somewhere, and it is a beautiful 
 thought, entertained by man}^ optimistic philosophers, and in 
 no sense disputed by tiie facts revealed by strictest physical 
 research, that every summer is in some sense more beautiful 
 than its predecessor, that with every succeeding year the world 
 becomes more widely adapted to human life in its highest 
 forms, and that the ultimationof tlie world will most probably 
 be something far different from the catastrophe predicted by 
 theology. For instead of a final conflagration, while yet it is 
 
304 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 inhabited, the hope of the true philosopher, founded upon 
 reason, observation, intuition, and spiritual revelation alike, 
 is that the time will come when every form of life will be per- 
 fected on earth, every noxious and ravenous form of life out- 
 grown, and where now the deadly upas tree sheds its fatal 
 shade, the healthful frait will hang ripe and rich on the 
 bending boughs of the trees, which will then be in its place. 
 Where now nations are embroiled in perpetual conflict peace 
 will reign supreme, and where now life is felt a burden almost 
 too heavy to be borne, want, wretchedness and despair will 
 have taken their final flight, and the earth will have reached 
 its meridian splendour, and bask in the noonday-glory of its 
 long-promised golden day. 
 
 The world is still young. It is only a growing child ; it 
 is still in its adolescent period ; and has not yet settled itself 
 to enjoy a maturity of peace and prosj)erity, of which there 
 is ever promise and indication in the nature of the earth 
 itself, despite the wailings of the pessimism which to-day is 
 possible because optimism is true, rather than from any other 
 reason. The general cry of to-day is : the world is getting 
 hopelessly bad ; things are going from bad to worse ; im- 
 moralities and crimes are on the increase ; and we shall soon 
 be hurried into perdition. The storm-clouds of God's 
 righteous anger are gathering thick about our heads, and 
 unless we instantly repent we shall all miserably perish. 
 Such lamentation as this shows nothing more than a quick- 
 ened conscience, a yearning for something higher than is yet 
 attained ; while the voice of conscience ever spurs us on to 
 nobler achievements, by making us discontented with our 
 present, leading us out of evil by impressing upon our minds 
 the hideousness and danger of all evil courses. 
 
 England is not now what Atlantis was in the palmiest 
 days of her most brilliant and glorious career. She is not in 
 specific directions even what Grreece and Rome, Egypt and 
 India, were in their brightest and now far-distant days. 
 But we seriously doubt if there ever was a time in the history 
 of the earth, no matter how old the computations of geolo- 
 gists may cause it to appear, when there was a prospect of so 
 rich a harvest of literature, science, religion and the arts as 
 there is in the modern Europe and the modern America, 
 with which you are all more or less familiar. 
 
 No student of ancient history can fail to see in the signifi- 
 
ATLANTIS. 305 
 
 cant signs of these present times, a nearing recapitulation of 
 events which transpired in the dim distance of pre-historic 
 ages. North of the Equator is now the scene of the greatest 
 mental and physical achievements of the race, while there 
 are colonies of English-speaking people at Cape Colony, in 
 Australia and Australasia. Still, the population increases 
 slowly there in proportion to the increase here, and progress 
 towards the cultivation of the entire ground, nominally 
 possessed by the descendants of European races, is still very 
 slow. 
 
 Formerly Australia was joined on to the southern parts of 
 Africa, and the island of Atlantis was the bridge between the 
 two hemispheres, so that by means of Atlantis a constant 
 system of communication was kept up between Asia, Africa 
 and the southern part of Europe on the one hand, and the 
 American continent on the other. The northern part of the 
 modem world was, in the days of Atlantis, buried beneath the 
 waves as the waters now cover Atlantis and many a land 
 and fruitful island connected with her, prior to the time of 
 her being, swallowed by the ocean when Atlantis sank. Then 
 northern climes arose from their long sleep beneath the 
 waves, for whenever one part of the world becomes a prey 
 to the waters, other lands are released, for the sea never 
 encroaches in one place without receding in another, or re- 
 cedes somewhere without encroaching somewhere else. But 
 the days will come when the earth has reached the zenith of 
 its perfection, when literally as well as figuratively there will 
 be no more sea, i.e., there will no longer be vast continents 
 of water acompanied by vast deserts of sand elsewhere. 
 Land and water will be equally divided. Land mil all be 
 watered and therefore all fruitful, while the waters will be 
 broken up into many rivers and inland seas, lakes, brooks, 
 and running streams ; and the ocean, which is only a barrier 
 between land and land, mil disappear. 
 
 It is computed that now the waters cover about two -thirds 
 of the surface of the globe. Tradition says once they 
 covered all the land, and dry land appeared so soon as the 
 waters subsided. They will continue to subside more and 
 more, until they occupy only one -half the territory of the 
 earth ; and in that day, when land and water are equally 
 divided on the globe, both hemispheres will be civihzed and 
 prosperous together, and from pole to pole the earth will not 
 
 2p 
 
306 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 contain one barren or unfruitful sj^ot, neither will it sustain 
 a single poisonous plant, noxious reptile, savage beast, nor 
 brutal man. 
 
 Whenever a section of the earth attains to its temporary 
 "zenith, that section of the world is the scene of a perfect state 
 of society, so far as perfection can obtain on earth, and it is 
 undoubtedly from this perfection of old-world centres of 
 prosperity, that the poets and philosophers, the fanciful his- 
 torians and compilers of mythologies, have gathered the data 
 from which they have been enabled to erect that stupendous 
 pile of mythologic lore, which is to-day the wonder and the 
 pride of the student of classics, the poets and the great 
 thinkers of every ancient clime and period. 
 
 As you have no doubt all heard of Plato's faith in Atlantis, 
 though comparatively few have probably read his story of 
 that mysterious land, it may not be uninteresting to this 
 audience if we briefly summarize the information we have 
 gathered from various sources, Platonic and other, concerning 
 the j)liysical, social, political and religious condition of that 
 far-famed and highly-blest land. 
 
 Atlantis, as we have already told you, lay between the 
 shores of the eastern and western world, from which it w^as 
 divided by narrow and easily-navigable waters ; the art of 
 navigation being very ancient, and the Atlantians being well 
 versed not only in this but indeed in all the arts and sciences, 
 ignorantly sup^ osed to be modern, when they are so ancient 
 no scholar can determine when they originated ; and so great 
 a man as the Astronomer Royal of Scotland (Professor 
 Piazzi Smyth) supposes them to have originated in very 
 early times, by direct revelation from heaven to Melchisedek, 
 or whoever may have been the mystic architect ; nd designer 
 of the Great Egyptian Pyramid. But if the Great Pyramid 
 was not erected till 2,170 B.C., it is comparatively speaking a 
 new building, and all that can with any show of reason be 
 assumed concerning the date of its erection is. that it could 
 not possibly have been later than that time. The astrono- 
 mical reasons for assigning that date as the time of its com- 
 pletion, can also be brought forward in support of its erection 
 at a much earlier time, and many who do not take the real 
 antediluvian world into consideration at all, refer that cele- 
 brated pile, justly called a miracle in stone, to 3.500 or 
 3,700 B.C. 
 
ATLANTIS. 307 
 
 But recent excavations in Central America have led to dis- 
 closures concerning the monumental remains there, which led 
 to the publication in a London paper some years ago, the fact 
 of there having been discovered at Pueblo, in New Mexico, a 
 pyramid of much larger dimensions than that of Gizeh, in 
 Egypt; the Mexican pyramid covering over forty acres of 
 ground, while the Egyptian structure covers not more than 
 about thirteen-and-a-half. The Mexican pyramid, scholars 
 decided, must have been in existence fully 7,000 years, and 
 how much longer no one seems prepared to decide. The 
 realm of discovery in the Western world is even richer for 
 future generations ' than in the East, as it marks a period in 
 history completely ignored by Herodotus, and all historians 
 since his time, and opens up a marvellous field of exploration 
 to all who care to enquire systematically into the origin and 
 blending of races, religions and languages. 
 
 Some very strong reasons for belief in the reality of 
 Atlantis, we will now adduce, before giving you, as the climax 
 of our recital, a brief sketch of the internal condition of At- 
 lantis, and; the state of her people spiritually as well as mate- 
 rially. . - ' 
 
 We have already noted the raythologic argument; and allow 
 us here a word concerning myths. T hey are invariably fanciful 
 histories, as well' as speculations, concerning the contending 
 forces of good and ill. Astronomical myths are very frequently 
 alluded to at present, and many if not all which can be legiti- 
 mately included in the astronomical category, had for their 
 object the preservation and transmission of astronomical facts, 
 which were kept secrets among the learned. Socrates drew 
 downuponrhimtheire of the Athenian monopolists, when he en- 
 deavoured to unveil the Mythos, as Galileo, Bruno, Copernicus, 
 Columbus and many others drew down upon them the anathe- 
 mas of Christian bigots, because they dispelled the Ptolemaic 
 illusion which kept the masses in ignorance, though there never 
 was a time when secret Orders, possessing knowledge on these 
 subjects, did not exist. 
 
 Historical myths are of another class, but not of a widely 
 differing one, for in order to veil yet more carefully the esoteric 
 meaning from the " vulgar," and preserve it for the initiated 
 only, astronomical facts were fancifully represented, and thrown 
 round the heroes and heroines of antiquity, when they were 
 made to pose as gods and goddesses in the temples and 
 
308 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 traditions of the classic lands. All tlie nations whose territory 
 borders npon the Hellenic seas, are peculiarly rich in 
 mythologic lore, and a modern examination of this goes very 
 far to prove the fact of there being personal histories behind 
 these wild, fantastic tales. The gods and goddesses of old 
 were not always spirits who communed w^ith seers and 
 sybils in the mystic shades and mountain fastnesses of the 
 classic world. They were quite as often the great and 
 mighty potentates and priests, the prophets, seers, and judges 
 of a by-gone age, around w^hose memories countless legends 
 had gathered, as Strauss, and Kant, and other German 
 authors of the life of Christ, say that through the centuries 
 -since his time, there has been a gradual development of 
 mythology around Jesus as a centre. 
 
 The celebrated myth, Prometheus, is now considered by 
 many saz;a?zs to be a fanciful biography of Pythagoras, the 
 celebrated sage of Samos, and so mystic has become the 
 record of the life of this great man, that it is quite as difficult 
 to clearly prove his personal existence to-day, as it is to 
 prove that of Jesus of Xazareth, simply by reference to con- 
 temporaneous history. If the mythical personages around 
 whose names such weird, awful, and beautiful legends have 
 gathered, were really the j)ersonal dwellers on some long-lost 
 island, the princes in some great monarchies, long since 
 defunct, the presidents of some glorious republics, after 
 which the modern world can only, as yet, feebly copy, — how 
 easy it is to read between the lines the history of the career 
 of religious ideas, and see how intimately, associated with 
 Theism, and how subordinate to it, has been that universal 
 tendency to a belief in divine incarnations, and all the count- 
 less divinities of Polytheistic systems; while above all, in 
 solitary grandeur, as one superb mountain towering over 
 every neighbouring hillock, and making them appear but 
 ant-hills by its side, has been the sublime and unquenchable 
 faith in one only Supreme Being, whom all nations have 
 adored even though afar off, and have in some manner 
 worshipped, even though, ofttimes, very ignorantly. 
 
 Paul at Ephesus, seeing an altar to the Unknown God, 
 and saying to the citizens — " Whom ye ignorantly worship, 
 him declare I unto you," reminded these so-called Pagans that 
 their own i^oets had always taught them of one Deit}^ in- 
 finitely beyond all lesser lords, whose offspring we all are. 
 
ATLANTIS. 301J 
 
 Judaism, rigidly monotheistic tliougli it is and ever has been, 
 has never denied that there are many gods, but only one, 
 Jehovah, to whom all gods must bow. These gods of the 
 nations David did not ignore. He mentions them constantly 
 in his Psalms, but he styles that idolatry, which gives to the 
 creature the homage due to the Eternal only, and denounces 
 the setting up of idols in the temple dedicated to the only 
 Infinite and Holy One, whose name is Jaliveh, he who ever 
 was, now is, and ever will be. 
 
 A review of Ignatius Donnelly's work, which we mentioned 
 with approval at the outset of our lecture, furnishes the read- 
 ing public with the foil owning facts concerning Atlantis, which 
 are extremely interesting and especially pertinent to our sub- 
 ject. A reviewer, mentioning the fact of Egyptian navi- 
 gators being 'sent out in the reign of Pharaoh Necho, to 
 explore the seas surrounding Africa, tells of their having, 
 after sailing for some considerable distance, found the sun 
 north of them. They were doubted in their day, as all dis- 
 coverers ever were and always will be by the ignorant, for 
 ignorance .engenders doubt, and nothing but knowledge can 
 supplant it, unless it be unreasoning belief, blind gullibility, 
 than which doubt is far preferable. To-day these men, who 
 found the sun north of them when journeying southward 
 from Egypt, canr only be looked upon as discoverers who 
 antedated Vasco de Gama, the reputed finder of the Cape 
 of Good Hope. This man was a discoverer relatively. The 
 knowledge of the Cape of Good Hope was lost to the 
 people with whom he mingled, but we very much doubt 
 whether either he or Vespucci or Columbus were not in posses- 
 sion of some secret history of the olden world, not accessible to 
 the multitude, when they set forth on their long and perilous 
 voyages in ill-manned ships, to find those mystic lands which 
 lay beyond the devil-occupied seas, where superstition, ignor- 
 ance and j)riestcraft had invented devils to act as scare-crows 
 to drive off inquiring minds from the fields of corn and fruit, 
 which the ecclesiastics preferred to claim as theirs and theirs 
 only. 
 
 The fact of the existence of Atlantis as a centre of civili- 
 zation, and a great seat of commerce between the eastern 
 and western hemispheres, can alone satisfactorily account for 
 the wonderful resemblance between the extant traces of 
 antique civilizations on both sides of the world. It will, 
 
310 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 moreover, unveil tlie mystery of the Mound Builders, those 
 mysterious people to whom science has paid of late no incon- 
 siderable amount of attention. It will explain the origin of 
 the hieroglyphics in the far-famed cave of Elephanta. and 
 will throw an immense amount of light upon the origin of 
 the jSTorth American Indians, as well as upon that of the 
 Aborisrines of Australia. 
 
 The American Indians are by no means the debased 
 people many think them to be. Those who Ivuow them truly 
 can never call them rude barbarians. Of late they have 
 decreased in numbers and increased in barbarity, and why ? 
 but because the American Grovernment, that of the United 
 States, has treated them meanly and dishonourably. They 
 are c&lled by every harsh name, because they fight with 
 spears and tomahawks against the cruel aggressors, who, 
 calling themselves civilized and Christian, think it no shame 
 to destroy mercilessly the Indian's wigwam, and thrust him 
 forth without food or shelter to die by the wayside, while 
 the march of civilization tramples him under its iron heel, 
 and calls such brutality and injustice the way of God and the 
 march of progress. The Canadian Government, which has 
 been far kinder and juster to the Indians than has been that 
 of the United States, has avowedly had much less trouble 
 with them. The true, manly, indej)endent Yankee, a lover 
 of freedom and a respecter of the rights of others, would 
 never oppress the Indian. The kinsmen of Garrison, Wen- 
 dell Phillips, Longfellow, Emerson, Parker, and a host 
 of worthies time forbids us to mention now,, are always pro- 
 testing against atrocities committed by stronger peoples to 
 subject weaker races to themselves, and then exterminate 
 them. The enlightened, liberal, loyal American Press has 
 never sanctioned outrages or any depredation committed upon 
 the Indian reservations ; but the mere money-grubber, the 
 mere fortune-hunter has ever boasted of his superiority to the 
 race on whose every right he has mercilessly trampled, and 
 pointed to those whom he has cruelly oppressed, as being un- 
 fit to live. Such barbarians are they, because they would not 
 he down and be crashed out of existence without making a 
 desperate effort to defend themselves and those they held 
 most dear. 
 
 Many Indian tribes are characterized by their intelligence, 
 refinement, and spirituality ; notably on the Pacific slope 
 
ATLANTIS. 311 
 
 are there tribes of Indians who boast an iihistrious pedigree, 
 and are the direct descendants of once powerful races, whose 
 territory embraced Mexico, Peru, and indeed all the region 
 now called the Central American territory. These races 
 were in constant communion with the Eastern world, by means 
 of Atlantis, and the very striking resmblance, existing pal- 
 pably to all archaeologists, between the remains of Oriental 
 and Occidental civilizations of days gone by, prove beyond a 
 peradventure, that there must have been a bond of union 
 between the "'old and new" worlds, such as Atlantis could 
 only have afforded. 
 
 The traditions- of the Indians are in many instances 
 evidences that they were once in communion with Egypt and 
 other Oriental climes. You may say in their faith in a Great 
 Spirit, and in the conscious existence of the human spirit 
 after the death of the body, and in rewards and punishments 
 in the hereafter, they simply share with all tribes who can 
 boast any civilization at all. But the religious resemblance 
 by no means ends with these fundamental generalities. 
 Many striking resemblances can be traced, in instances so 
 eminently particular, that identity of origin is very power- 
 fully established. For instance, A'^olney says, " In the Greeks 
 of Homer T find the customs, discourses and manners of the 
 Iroquois, Delawares and Miamis" (Indian tribes). He 
 futher says, the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides paint 
 almost literally the sentiments of the red men (Indians) 
 respecting " necessity, fatality, the miseries of the human life, 
 and the rigours of blind destiny." 
 
 The Oneidas (another tribe of Indians) claim, descent from 
 a stone, and did not the Greeks trace their origin to the 
 stones of Deucalion ? The snake locks of Medusa are 
 represented in the snake locks of an ancient hero of the 
 Iroquois. The translation of men to heaven bodily is a 
 feature of the American Indian as well as of the Hindoo 
 races. Longfellow tells us of " Hiawatha " rising to heaven 
 and vanishing from sight, amidst sweet music. These 
 admissions prove no doubt more than orthodox Jews 
 or Christians wish to see proved, for while they point 
 to a far-off origin of Indian and Atlantian, Greek and 
 Hindoo Myths, they treat the Old and Xew Testaments 
 as only two out of an immense collection of records, all 
 couched in similar language^ and all expressive of the 
 
312 L OND ON LECT URES. 
 
 oneness of symbolism common to the pre-liistoric as well 
 as to the classic world. 
 
 If time permitted we would gladly pursue our theme much 
 further, as we hope to do in subsequent discourses at no 
 distant date, but though we have said but little on this 
 fascinating branch of our subject, we venture to believe 
 we have said enough to let you see that the story of 
 Atlantis is founded on something far more solid than the 
 phantasmagoria which many persons consider stands as 
 a wild and fanciful legend, in the stead of any actual 
 historic fact. 
 
 Another class of evidences are purely physical, and to these 
 we can now allude but for a moment ; but we should not be 
 doing anything like justice to our theme did we fail to appeal 
 to the ocean itself, to confirm the assertions of Solon, Plato, 
 and the ancient seers at large, who wrote so eloquently and 
 instinctively of this strange, buried land. 
 
 Deep-sea soundings, recently made by ships of various 
 nations, conspicuous among which were the British ship, 
 " Challenger," and the U.S. vessel, " Dolphin," have gone 
 very far to sustain our conclusions, by discovering in the bed 
 of the ocean, immense deposits of lava and volcanic debris, 
 extending over thousands of miles of what evidently once 
 was land. The peaks of the Azores are exactly in the spot 
 where Plato located Atlantis, and Solon, who had travelled 
 in Egypt, and ]3ossessed himself of much information while 
 there, soon grew into perfect accord with the learned there, 
 that popular histories only touched upon very recent events 
 compared with those which were amply chronicled in Egypt 
 in Solon's day. 
 
 Solon's opinion was, that 9,000 years had elapsed then 
 since the sinking of Atlantis, and Solon lived about 2,300 years 
 ago. Add these numbers, and you have something over 
 11,000 years. We have already referred you to the duration 
 of the Grand Cycle, as a period extending between 25,000 
 and 26,000 years, and have told you that this period is divided 
 into 12 almost equal portions, called eras, ages, or dispensa- 
 tions, each one occupying about 2,150 years or thereabouts. 
 We are now just at the dawn of the sixth division of the 
 present Cycle, thus, multiplying 2,150 by 5, we get 10,750 
 years, and allowing for the fact that numbers in these cases 
 have only an approximate accuracy, we find the testimony of 
 
ATLANTIS. 313 
 
 the Grecian sages agreeing perfectly with the events of to- 
 day, spiritually interpreted. 
 
 How account for the story of a universal deluge, without 
 giving heed to the story of Atlantis? Noah's flood, of 
 4,000 years ago, was a very local matter, while every record 
 called sacred on the earth, from those of Hermes and the 
 Vedas to those of Scandinavia, all contain a narrative of a 
 universal flood. This tradition of the deluge is scientifically 
 explained by that revelation which the bed of the sea is now 
 making to the world, concerning the once populous and 
 fruitful lands it now covers, while, east and west, stones are 
 literally crying out in the revelations given to all who study 
 them, by those marvellous monumental remains which con- 
 tain histories, far more glowing and imjoerishably written, of 
 nations long since gone out of earthly existence, than are to 
 be found in any parchment scrolls or printed records. 
 
 In closing we can only add, that Lord Lytton's " Coming 
 Race" can w^ell be read as a reminiscence of the past, as well 
 as a dream and prophecy of the future. Time was when the 
 powerful Atlantian race was as glorious as Lytton's Vril-ya. 
 Aerial navigation, the use of wings as mechanical appendages, 
 were among their triumphs relating ^ to the comforts and 
 amenities of civilized life, while during the later and most 
 glorious portion-of their career, they had outgrown warfare, 
 and had triumphed over those innumerable stumbling-blocks 
 in the way of a nation's progress, which are yet jjerplexing 
 the statesmen of every land beneath the sun. 
 
 Their religion was a simple confidence in the All-Good. 
 Their rites, and ceremonies were those from which the mag- 
 nificent conceptions and glowing imagery of the early 
 Egyptians sprang. They were the originators of those 
 Schools of the Prophets, of which the Ancients speak so 
 much, while having attained to an almost inconceivable 
 spiritual altitude, their spiritual faculties became so alive to 
 the realities of the realm of spirit, that their land was verily 
 the abode of gods. Theirs was the original of Arcadia, 
 Olympia, Hesperides, and every charming resort of divinities 
 pictured to you in Homeric verse and Platonic philosophy. 
 Spirit communion, purified from sensuous dross and devoted 
 to pure and benevolent ends, revealed to them the certainties 
 of life immortal ; while education was the substitute for pun- 
 ishment, moral suasion and intellectual might were in the 
 
 2q 
 
311 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 stead of carnal weaj)ons of defence, while their land, charm- 
 ino-ly situated, perfectly watered, thoroughly under culti- 
 vation, yielding every fruit of the earth man could desire, in 
 rich profusion ; surrounded by easily-navigable seas, across 
 which access to other lands was constant, conspired to render 
 the Atlantians the favoured race, because the most moral, in- 
 tellectual and healthful. Disease, poverty, crime and painful 
 death became almost outgrown, ere the hour drew nigh for the 
 land to become the ocean's prey, and having flowered out into 
 such luxuriant beauty, to decline suddenly when its inhab- 
 itants were prepared to quit the earth, and their spirits to be 
 transported to another planet. A few were saved from i\iQ, 
 fate which overtook their land. These mingled with the life 
 of both hemispheres, some escaping to America, and some to 
 Asia. 
 
 When, in 2,000 years from now, the belt of civilization 
 again puts a girdle round the earth, in more than name or 
 pretence, a greater race, a larger one, covering wider territory 
 than the Atlantian, will have been formed, and the new mil- 
 lennium will be more glorious than the Golden Age, so deeply 
 mourned; so soon to be recovered and transcended, when the 
 paradise to be gained will far transcend in glory the paradise 
 the old world lost.^ 
 
 IMPROMPTU POEM. 
 
 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL. 
 
 s 
 
 URELY, things Ideal after all are Real ' 
 Aod things the most Ideal are the most Real, 
 Because the Soul discovers the Ideal, 
 
 And purbliod sense deals with the earthly Real. 
 The poor, worn body, in th' embrace of death, — 
 
 This, mortals ever seem to think the Real ; 
 The happy Spirit, fled from scenes of dust, 
 
 To them is only fancy, the Ideal I 
 
 The Artists' paint a glorious sunrise, 
 A lovely sunset, showing all the scene 
 
ATLANTIS. 315 
 
 Where earth and heaven meet in sweet accord. 
 As though estrangement they had never seen. 
 
 The colours, true to life, which greet his eye, 
 He puts upon the canvas in his joy ; 
 
 The splendours all around him he reveals. 
 And men declare 'tis but Ideal employ ! 
 
 The Poet sings a song of fadeless love, 
 
 Undying fealty to a loving heart, 
 And tells a tale of constancy divine. 
 
 In which no shade of doubt can bear a part. 
 The real writer says. It is not true ; 
 
 The prosy reader says. Can never be; 
 Such deep devotion for such loyal love, 
 
 Say men, the world of mortals ne'er can see. 
 
 The Christ of Gospels, and of painter's art, 
 
 'Who loses life and all the world counts dear, 
 To save his brethren from sin's bitter fruit, 
 
 Is but a myth, for surely none so clear, 
 So free from stain, so noble and so great. 
 
 Could ever dwell upon the shores of time : 
 Men cannot see, that what is great and best, 
 
 Is true forever, e'en on earthly clime. 
 
 The sputtering candle, and the broken mug. 
 
 The ragged urchin gamb'ling in the street; 
 The haggard face, the listless indolence. 
 
 Which every passer-by must often meet ; 
 The fish, the worm, the tire, the grate, the cat, — 
 
 These things are true to nature, they are Real ; 
 Butj,verily, the commonplace of life 
 
 Is not so real as the great Ideal. 
 
 These little things, these phantoms of an hour, 
 
 Will be unreal to-morrow, fled and gone ; 
 While all the visions of the starry night. 
 
 The Artist saw, will still be shimmering on ; 
 The Poet's love, the true historic Christ, 
 
 Will be alive when baubles are no more. 
 And every high ambition of the soul. 
 
 Will live and triumph when all earth is o'er. 
 
 That is the Real which shall longest live, 
 
 The Ideal world is the most real far; 
 The sun, the moon, the mountains towering high, 
 
 The peaceful valleys, and each blazing star, 
 High hopes, pure loves, deep sentiments most wise. 
 
 Ardent ambitions, and the Eternal State, 
 Man's immortality, — these will remain ; 
 
 Though all things petty soon shall meet their fate, 
 And be dissolved in elemental strife, 
 
 All that is great, and beautiful, and true. 
 Must live and reign, co-eval with its God, 
 
 And every day appear in some sweet fashion new. 
 
316 LONDON LECTURES. 
 
 Though seemingly it dies ; for what is death 
 But that transition which doth free the soul. 
 
 And let the ideal nature freely fly, 
 Until the Spirit doth all earth control. 
 
 O Poet ! Artist ! Singer ! Sculptor ! Scribe I 
 
 Though men deride yc for your loftiest dreams ; 
 Go, tell us more of Heaven's immortal dower ; 
 
 Go, tell the world how great to you it seems, 
 This mystic universe of stars and suns. 
 
 And while the world, in mai'ket-place and stall. 
 Will barter chattels for a mite of bread. 
 
 Go ye, and summon angels, men, to all 
 Proclaim the fact, while ages roll along. 
 
 The Ideal world doth the naost Real be, 
 Because it is the region of that Cause, 
 
 But whose eflfects on earth the noblest see. 
 Go, tell the world that every ardent hope. 
 
 And every dream of truth and love remains 
 A living entitj', when earth is dead ; 
 
 And that we live for aye in God's domains ! 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 May tlie sublimities, the Eternal Realities, of the Immortal 
 World, so vividly impress the likeness of themselves upon 
 your every mind, that, in the pursuit of what is truly Real, 
 ye realize the blessedness of the Ideal, even the fulness of 
 Life and Joy Immortal ! Amex. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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 Connecticut 
 
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