Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-02-01


together, one pair with white ribbons for
purity and the other with bands of blue
for truth and fidelity. Then the grand
the couple man and wife. The two small
lamps were replaced by a single candle to
indicate the blending of the two lives. The
candle was givLl to the newly welded to
be burned one minute every anniversary
Of the marriage day while they renew
their VOWS of love and devotion. The CON-
pany then joined hands in circle around
the married pair, while the grand magen
invoked blessing, and the ceremony was
over.
Mr.. Richmond lives in Chicago, and the
grand temple and headquarters Of the or
der are on the second floor Of his house.
His religion is deeply mysterious to people
Of ordinary faith. 1t is jumbled up with
science theosophy, spiritualism and such
like things. In the words Of Mr.. Rich
mond it Is here described:
This order teaches the religion Of the stars,
based on q knowledge Of astronomy, geology,
mathematics and other sciences. 1t Is o scien-
tifc religion which accepts nothing q fact
until proved, and every proposition we make
il susceptible Of mathematical demonstration
and proof. l not only believe in hereafter
AuO ueAVcl1, udVc uLSOlulc pIOOI VI u ll1S
to come and know exactly what it is This
religion is Christianity, with the absurditics
of bodily resurrection, q material heaven
and an endless hell left out. 1t IL theosophy
with the wild and untenable speculations Of
dreamers omitted. 1t is spiritualism Of tho
highest type with the false communications
and ignorant teachings Of unbalanced beings
On the other side ignored. It is science which
does not place limit on inf1nity. It is tran
Gcendentalism in its best form, which ignores
nothing real while giving due prominence to
will force and mind or the psychic powers
1t teaches US to cultivate only the best-hon-
ssty, purity, sobriety. We try ever to bear in
mind the great law Of life, that we cannot
raise ourselves by the downfall Of others.
Mr.. Richmond does not say he really is
the originator of the religion of the stars.
He declares that knowledge possessed by
the ancients thousands of years before the
Christian era has been in tho keeping of a
chosen few, who transmitted their secrets
from one to another 10 tho present day.
Mr.. Richmond says he Is one of tho chosen
few. One night while on guard duty near
Nashville during the war, he says, a man
who was a perfect stranger to him In
formed him he had been selected us ono Of
the keepers of the word in fulhllment Of
the ancient prophesies. From childhood
he had been supposed to possess occult
powers, and so he began to ponder on the
meaning and Importance Of his new posi-
tion as keeper of the word" He went
to work at astronomy, astrology, mathe-
matios, geology, phrenology and the Bible,
and from them all evolved his religion of
the stars and the Ancient Order Of the
Magi, which were founded four years ago.
With the use of all these things Mr..
Richmond claims to have absolute proof
of life to come and to know exactly
what 1t is. Ho has located tho garden of
Eden also on the continent of Atlantis,
which sunk in the billowy Atlantic cen
turies ago. The use of cards as they were
applied by the worshipers of Isis and Osir-
Is Is another matter which Mr.. Rich
mond's scientific research has explained to
his entire satisfaction.
His religion is not Of the ordinary sort,
and his church, if it can be called one, is
still less SO. 1t isn't a church at all, in
fact. It's secret order in which there
are degrees as high as tho sixteenth
There are limitations, too, and mystery,
and the higher up one goes the more he
gets of the stral, the occult and the un-
usual. There are 400 members of the or
der in Chicago. There are other temples
about the country, says the Chicago Trib-
une, but they are all new and with lin.
tied membership