, 1892-07-26
NO THEOSOPHY.
An Attack on the New Religion
Of the Day.


Teachings and Objections to the
Doctrines.
Rev. I. j. Lamont preached a sermon on
theOsOphy at the Presbyterian church. He
took his text from Matt. 6:23: "If, there
fore, the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness" After apollo
gizing for the treatment of the subject on
a Sabbath evening, Mr.. Lamont continued
his discourse. He said, in substance:
''There is something attractive in the
name theosophy; something classical about
it. 1t is derived from two Greek words /:
theos, which means God, and sophos,
which means wisdom. Their meaning,
when combined would be 'wisdom of
God, " and its advocates delight to call it
the wisdom religion" But there is
nothing classical aboutit. There is very lit
tie wisdom in it, and still less religion. It
is philosophy rather than religion, and
Pagan philosophy at that. 1t is spoken
Of as an occult science. Really it is a COM
binatlon Of Buddhism Neo-P Platonism, and
Spintuallsm. 1t is imported body and
soul, from India. Originally it was an un-
written philosophy. 1t is only of late that
1t has been committed to writing. Some
OF its initiates" so called are desirous of
extending its influence, and hence have
revealed its secrets to chosen champions,
These champions are now deluging Eng
land and America with its literature. We
have been sending missionaries to India to
enlighten them in the knowledge of the
the gospel; now they are sending mission
aries to enlighten US.
Gautauma Buudha was their great teach
er or prophet. Buddhism is known as the
Light OF Asia. India has made great pro-
gress in the arts and sciences. Mission.
aries tell Of temples hewn out of the solid
rock, gorgeously sculptured and exquisitely
hnlshed and furnished, surprising any
thing in Europe.
Among the advocates of this doctrine
most prominently known are Madam
Blayatsky, Annie Bessant, A. P. Sennett
and others. An earnest effort is being
made to establish it in this country. Not
few are falling in with its teachings, not
wlthstanding its origin and the fact that il
e contains beliefs that are utterly repugnant
To the mind. l can only account for this
on the scriptural ground that some people
are willing to adopt any sort of belief that
VIII furnish them an excuse for not sub.
uniting to the gospel, anything that will
release them from the necessity of repent
ance and faith in Christ. Paul saws in
Ihess. 2:11, "And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe lIe that they all might be
condemned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteOusness." Some
people 60 so far in resisting the truth that
they are led into all sorts of delusions.
The light that is in them is darkness.
TEACHINGS OF THEosoPHY.
The following is a fair statement of the
teachings Of theosophy:
l. There are some good things in theOso-
pny. Ii 1t were otherwise it would stand
no chance Of being accepted. 1t exalts
purity, 1t commends temperance, it exhorts
TO seIt-denial, it aims at perfection of char
acter. But it does so in such a way as to
make 1t practically impossible to attain
them in any great degree, and certainly in
no such sense as would be acceptable to
God.
2; 1t teaches that there are seven prin-
clples In mans constitution. We say there
are two, or at most three, namely. body.
soul and spirit. These seven are, body
vitality, astral body, animal soul, human
soul, spiritual soul and spirit. Hence we
have two bodies, three souls, one spirit and
vitality. Quite complex nature
O. There are seven periods in mans
age. Just as there are seven prismatic
colors, seven notes in the gamut, seven
days III the week, The Bible makes great
deal OF the figure seven. Theosophy does
so too. Shakespeare anticipated this
division In speaking of the seven ages of
man.
L. There are seven Kingdoms in Dature.
we teach that there are three, or at most
tour-the mineral, the vegetable, the ami
NAL and the spiritual. They name three
others preceding the mineral.
D, The planetary cham, which is an ex-
tension of the number seven principle.
Ihat IS, as they claim, there are seven plan
cts IN the solar system, and the Spiritual
nomad, in the course of its development,
from fN ba 81 ,o,. -,
per hundreds or thousands of times, each
time rising higher in the scale of being, now
assuming one form, now another. Between
these circuits there may lapse ages of time
spent IN activity, covering possibly mill
ions of years.
1t may be noUed in passing, that accord
ing TO modern astronomy there are eight
planets in the solar system, namely, Mer-
curry, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune. This fact would
seem to spoil the theory Of seven. But Whv
limit the radius of mans being to the solar
system Why not say that the soul is
destined to occupy all the stars in success
sion throughout eternity But, after all,
who knows anything about thisP
8. RelnCarnation. This is a prominent
doctrine in theOsophy. The soul returns
time and again to this earth, now known
as one man, now as another; now being a
negro Of Africa, now hOtentot OF India,
AOW q Wlh0 obdlbollldllg now "A uOu carrier,
etc. This is practically the old doctrine of
transmigTation of souls
z, Karma, This Is represented as one
OF the most interesting features of the sys-
tenn. 1t seems to mean faction as it re-
lates to human existence" Or "that COM
piCated group of atfinites for good and evil
generated by a human being during life
and the character of which inheres in the
molecules of his fifth principle all through
the interval which lapses between his
death from one object life and his birth
into the next.
8. Nirvana, which represents the state
of pure spirituality.
8. DeYachan. This term has reference
to the period between each round of earth
lives. 1t may be for millions of years.
10. The principle of selt-absorption
The secret of attaining to the highest spir-
ituality lies in concentrating the mind and
heart upon spirituality or the highest
good. In order to this, celibacy and ascot
ism are recommended.
IL. Vice and virtue determine the de-
gree of happiness or misery of each soul
but do not affect the spiritual condition.
There is no escape from the consequences
Of sin. There is no such thing as pardon.
One must work out his own deliverance.
There is no offer of help from above.
u. Ultimately the spiritual monad Tor
soul) is absorbed in Deity. Instead of our
becoming ''partakers of the divine nature, ="
as the bible teaches, the divine nature ab-
serbs u.s. There can be no such thing as
permanent personal identity.
DIRECTIONS TO THEOsOHHY.
1. 1t is agnostic IN its teachings. 1t vir-
tually holds that God cannot be known.
The most that we can learn of Him is from
the study of ourselves. But no one would
ever arrive at the true knowledge of God
from this source. The study ofOur natures,
in the light of revelation, does give us a
better conception of the Divine Being, but
it cannot originate such knowlege. As
DR.. Griffiths stated: "No man knows any
thing about God, except as he responds to
the highest wish in himself" Thus the
ology must be self-evOlYed. 1t is not rev.