Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-12-01
MEMPHIS APPEAL.
SUNDAY READING.
FROM THE LECTURES OF THE AN
GENT AND ACCEPTED RITE.
XXVIIIth DEGREE


= xxvIIIth DEGREE.
Nature solicits US, for the well
being of humanity, TO reconstitute thu
great sympathetic and religious chains
which once bound men together. sym
pathy is a mysterious instinct which
unites human beings together, embraces
with equal force, reason and folly, good
and evil, and diminishes the merit ol
virtue as well as the criminality OF vice
tSelfinterest is that which divides and
dissevers them, and no society of men
can long endure, whether civil, political
or religious, the individuals of which are
governed by it, the aitrsltion of sympa.
thy among them being wanting. It il,
in that case, Cnly bank of shifting
sand.
To sscribe sympathy to the instinct Of
p imitation, is absurd TO.term it magnetic
is but 10 say that its phenomena resem-
bic those Of magnetism, aud are equally
ineOmprehensibie; and yet no better
term OF explanation can be found. What
ever it be, it Is the great instrument and
agent by which the Msgus works; and
he who can possess himself of it and
control IL, becomes q king and priest
among men, and works miracles.
II Sympathy produced the Crusades; and
then, IS always, when it exists in its
highest degree, IL produced, in those on
whom it acted, q loss of all power over
the will, and tnat mental bondage which
has been more often used for evil pur-
poses than for good. The dancing mania
in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy,
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries;
the commissions by which multitudes
were affected, in England and France,
in the eighteenth uud early in the nine
teenth the religious ecstacies, swOOn-
ings and spasms of later days in
America the child-pilgrimsges of the
middle ages, in the chief Of which, in the
year 1919, more than thirty thousand
boys gathered around a shepherd-bOy,
in France, who claimed to be an mas
sad0r from the Lord the people knelt
to him as a saint who performed mira
cles, new cbild-prOphets arose, and led
| whole armies to him, of the children Of
persons of all ranks, and seven large
ship loads sailed from Marseilles to Pal
estine-all these were caused by that
wOndrOus sympathy which binds the
human race together, and proves it 10 be
a unit, and, as it were, q single indi-
vidual.
Spiritual ambition, itself destitute Of
religion, Las often, for its own unworthy
! purposes, excited religious intOXicstiOn
in the ignorant mulutudes and our own
times have seen like mental epidemics,
! accom- panied by entire suspension OF the
viii, prevail among not only the igno-
rant but the intelligent, and lead 10 the
most als-ming results.
/ This mighty agent, like the other pow
ers OF Nature, may be used for good rs
/ well as for evil, by the Msgus as well as
/ by the S0Tcerer. The Ancient Hero
| Dhants knew its value and il has al
/ wavs bseu the bond of union of all Sc
! creU societies and occult associations
/ The Msgus is the Sovereign POutif of
/ Nature, pOssessed OF the traditional
I knowledge Of her secrets, and using a
/ force which he knows, to attain power
over other men. When the man of
/ geuiRs discovers a real law, he Possesses
] thereby an invincible force of action and
direction. He may die in the work but
what be has Willed is accomplished des-
Dite MS death, and often by means of his
death. A great actiOn always prepares
an equal reaction; and the secret of
great successes is wholly contained in
the f1re-knowIedge Of resetiOns. To
oppose 3 current thst is beginning its
circle, is to be crushed by il, like the Em-
perOr Julian TO oppose a current that
has run the whole round OF its action, is
10 put yourself at the head Of the con-
trary current. The Crest Man is be who
comes st the right time, and knows how
10 innOvats in the right manner. The
world has nearly run the round Of ma
terialism, unfsith, egOtism and cynicism,
and is prepared for q great movement OF
enthusiasm ana disinterestedness,- new
birth. a renovated civilization.
No jRdjUidUdi can effect this; but yet
it must be wrought, or the race of men
be annihilated OmnipOteuce will not
permit selfshDess to reign supreme for
ever. An association of men, using the
great magical agent, Sympathy, and
themselves inspired by profound Faith
and earnest sincerity, with an indOmi- I
table will and courage, may do so.
In religion, universal and hierarchieai /
orthodoxy, restoration of the Temples /
IN all their spleudor, re-estsblishment of
all ceremonies in their primitive pomp 4
hierarchicsl teaching Of symbolism 4;
mysteries, miracles and legends for the
children, light for the grown men who .
viii be careful not to give Offense to the .
little ones in their simplicity and belief; .
this is the desire and need OF humanity. I
PhilosOphically, everything exists by .
knowledge. To know Is 70 be. Science .
aud its object become one in the intellec- .
tusl life Of him who has knowledge. 70 .
doubt is not to know. Aud what we 10
nos know, does not as yet exist for US.
To live intellectually is TO learn.
Being is developed and Rmplified by .
knowledge. The first conquest of Sci I
ence is the first result Of the exact Sci 4
ences, in the sentiment OF reason. The .
laws Of nature are sigebraic. Wherefore .
the only reasonable faith is the adhe- .
renee Of the student to those theorems,
Of the entire accuracy whereof, in itself,
be is ignorant, but the applications and .
results whereof are sufficiently demon
strated to him.
Philosophy should be neither charla-
tsnism, nor empiricism, nor a system;
but he study Of being snd its realities
compared, the metaphysics of nature,
without mysticism, philos0phic reveries
or poetry; the pure mathematics OF
physical and moral realities. To religion
should be left the liberty of its infinite
aspirations; but it, in its turn, should
leave TO Science the rigorous conclusions
Of absolute experimentation.
Man is the chiid Of his works. He is
what be wills to be he is the image Of
She God whom he creates for himself;
be is the realization Of his own ideal.
If MS idesl wants basis, the whole edifice
Of his Immortality falls. Philosophy is
for the ideal. The Known is for US the
measure Of the Unknown; the Visible
enables Us to appreciate the Invisible;
the sensations are 10 the thoughts what
the thoughts are to the aspirations
Science is 3 celestial trigOnOmetry one
of the sides Of the absolute triangle is
Nature, submitted to our investigations:
another Is our Soul, which embraces and
reflects nature the third is the Absolute,
in which our Soul expands. Atheism is
10 longer possible, because we no longer
pretend to define God. He is, for US, the
most perfect and best of intelligent be-
iugs, and the ascending hierarchy of ex-
istences sufficiently demonstrates to US
that be exists.
Hate no one, Each will reap what he
sows. The result Of works is inevitable,
and il is for the Supreme Reason to Judge
and chastise the bad. He who goes in a
way without outlet will retraee his steps
or be crushed. Advise him gently, if he
will hear you; then let him 20 on hu-
man liberty must run its course.
We are not judges, one of another.
Life is a field Of battle. Let US not cease
to com bat, on account of those who fall
but let Us avoid marching over them;
when victory comes, let the wounded OF
both sides become brothers by suffering,
and IN the presence Of humanity, meet
together in the ambulances of the con-
querOrs.
such are the consequences Of the
philosophical dogma Of Hermes; such
has been ia all times the morality Of the
true Adopts; such is the philosophy of
the R0sicfucigus, inheritors of all the
ancient wisdom such is the secret doe
srine Of those associations that are de-
bounced a. subveFsive of public order,
and which have been always accused Of
conspiracy against thrones aud altars.
The symbols Of the Sages become the
faolg Of tha yulcyaF. the aIlauoriaa ard l