The herald., 1895-12-27

! III titS ouoiuCSS. uorC 10 IiOt q SCiutiiid VI
evidence, either in known fact or theory,
that the single tax would have any appre-
| cable effect on this law of combination.
This is an age of large undertakings. We
cannot turn backward the wheels of time
! to primitive conditions; if we could there
would be some hope for the single tax. As
we cannot. there is absolutely none.
w. G. b. RANDOLPH, Station "D."
Rev. J. :. Thompson About Theosophy
EDITOR HERALD-In the Unity church,
Sunday before last. Rev. J. S. Thompson
entertained an attentive congregation with
a presentation of the faults and virtues of
the teachings of theosophy. The principles
and elements of the latter, as revealed by
the reverend in the course of his sermon,
were novel and surprising, not merely to
the Unitarians, but likewise to the Theo-
sophists themselves. If theosophy were
what the reverend represented it to be no
Theosophist would adhere to it. But the
theosophy of the Vedas, of krishna, of
Buddha. o. the Ecenes, of the Neoplation-
lists, anu of the between four and five hum
dred lodges of the present philosophical So
ciety Is quite different thing from that
explained in the Unity church by it's elo-
quent and talen ed minister. Theosophy
does not teach "a harsh judgment for all
those who are not we'll born" but, to the
contrary. AYERS emphatically that the indi-
vidual has his destiny in his own hand. BY
his present conduct he weave5 the fabric of
his future vicssitudes. given cause has
it's given effect; and if we fail to act well
in this our present earth life, we shall not
be "born well' upon our return. And this
not because of sentiment or whim, but be-
cause of an immutable law.
III the judgment be harsh none but the
culprit is to blame, as by virtue of the law
IL stfrl,f Ixr
derstood, every individual becomes his
own judge, his own witness, and his own
stern, immutable accuser. He who plants
thistles cannot expect 10 harvest crop OF
grapes. But that is not harsh judgment.
On the contrary, there is boundless con-
ISOLATION in the apostolic promise, "As ye
SOW ye shall reap as it insures the eNecu-
ton of perfect equity, perfect justice.
"Its ltheosophy weak points," the rever-
end goes on to say, "ssem to be series OF
weird and dreary incantations." why
weird and dreary? Right now we are i'll
entitled to call our present existence weird
and dreary? Is it weird and dreary to
spend life in the performance of duty
and righteousness. especially ii our position
is that of a teacher and guardian of a
peoples morals? For him who has at
heart the welfare of his fellow men how
can any effort in that direction be called
dreary? And is it indeed possible that
Jealous reformer, true follower of Christ,
can desire to desert the field of his unself-
ish battles for truth and charity and with
draw into the felicity and unconcern of
heaven, leaving an ignorant and helpless
world to wrestle with the phantoms of ST.
perstition and unbelief as best they can,
without instructor and guide?
To every individual who has rightly APP
pretended his position, the mission he has
to fulfill in this world of woe and illusion
is clear and peremptory; he must work for
the spread of light; he must consecrate
himself to the service and salvation of his
race. And not until that grand aim is
won; not until the forces of seltishness
and fierce hate is cancelled by love and
compassion, is the mission of the reformer
ended. If death intervenes, shall that free
us from the obligations our solidarity with
the race hold on us; shall that obliterate
our hopes and aspirations for the emanci-
patton of an enslaved humanity? Should
we not rather consider it as a divine priv
ilege to have means and method of re-
turning again and again to the theater of
action. until the last battle is fought and
the victory and reign of love and truth es-
tablished.
If zone life on this earth is sufficient"
as the reverend afIirms, then existence is a
sad joke. Can it be possible that this pres
ent life of ours is without a purpose; with
out meaning? For if we grant to this
life a purpose, can such purpose be
found in anything else than to learn the
mysteries OF life and death? Here the
question arises: Can sentient experience
be gained outside of physical existence
and, if so. why then are we here at all?
Again, if physical experiences can not be
gained outside of the earth conditions, then
what perfect intelligence and what SUI
preme wisdom is to be found in a scheme
which prepares a whole material universe,
full of the most stupendous aspects, the
most bewildering marvels, for man to eX-
plore and unravel, and then cutting them
short at the very outset, as ignorant and
inexperienced with regard to the problems
of earthife, as q school boy plodding
through his first reader is to the course of
knowledge to be obtained in a college?
The doctrine of reincarnation has
swayed the minds of men during all epochs
of phl!osophic inquiry. 1t is taught in the
Bagwat Gita; the Song of Resurrection by
Isis; the Talmud; the Zahar and Kether
Malkuth, and in the old and New Tesla
ments. In Matthew xvi:l3, upon Christ's
question, ''Whom do men say | am:'
the apostle answered, "Some say that
thou art John, the Baptist. some Elias and
others Jerenias, or one of the prophets"
an answer which Enthusiastically testifies to
the belief in the likelihood of the return of
those men. "Before Adam was, | am"
Christ exclaims in John viii. In Matthew
MILD, Christ declares John. the Baptist,
the incarnation of Elias. John iii:l3 has
that mo man has assembled up 10 heaven
but that he first came down from heaven"
thus asserting pre-existence of man. But
the Bible is teemng with expressions
which testify TO the com non belief in re-
incarnation at the time it was written.
What the reverend aims at by his talk
of ian endless, impossible and unreforma-
tory help is not to be found out from the
context. At all events. it does not apply to
theosophic postulates. Theosophy has no
other hell than what man himself creates.
And if man is admitted to have the power
of creating a kingdom of heaven for his
comfort, then, if analogy and logic have
any significance. he must also be admitted
capable of creating a kingdom of hell for
his discomfort. though such a hell is a state
of consciousness and neither endless, inn
possible or unreformatory. As long as
man "will' be reformed and saved, he has
all the opportunity of saint. but If he
will not be saved, neither theosopby, Uni
tarianism nor any other ism or philosophy
can save him from annhilation. II this
was not so his character OF free moral
agent would have no basis.
intellectual, moral ard spiritual people
do right without any fear of hell, reincar-
nation at any angry Cod" are sentiments
which can impossbly be the output of
sober study of theosophy. God as a par
taker of human attributes. human emo
tons, etc., is SO utterly incompatible and
hostile to the kosmic maiar-grower. oper-
atiDg anywhere with its center everywhere,
and its circumference nowhere, suggested
and contemplated as the deilic concept of
theosophy, that the esteemed preacher