The San Francisco call., 1896-04-08

| dress you claims to know good deal.
This subject has never been discussed in
San Francisco before, and 1t may not be
discussed hereafter
The professor, with a foreign accent
rough enough to break up old scrap iron,
I began his lecture with the expression of
his surprise on beholding "such a noble
audience; the cream of society here" He
then proceeded TO demolish astrology,
which he did to his own satisfaction very
neatly. When Napoleon Bonaparte was
born, thousands of other children came
into the world at the same moment of
time and under exactly the same planet
airy influences, yet only one of them
turned out to be famous general, and that
was Bonaparte. Thousands of children
were born at the same moment as the Bard
OF Avon, yet there has been only one
William Shakespeare. These and other
examples, the speaker alleged, were suf-
ficlent to show that the claims of astrology
were impossible and nonsensical.
The professor blamed the Blavatskyan
theosophsts for advocating the idea of re.
incarnation. According to the professor
every human being when born is an angel,
and he becomes bad because of his evil
environment. That being so, how can he
become better by leaving the spiritual
the same evil surroundings? The PROPOSE
ton was absurd, he said. The Buddhists
say that once in every 5000 years a god is
reincarnated for the purpose of lifting up
humanity. That is the true theosophy.
The word Kabbala, the professor ex-
planned, meant tradition received or ac-
cepted. "The Book of Creation was the
first book. 1t was by the Patriarch Abra-
ham taught to Melchisedek, King of Salem
1t consists of booklet of only four pages
in the Hebrew language. The book was
an open secret, he said, the highest con-
ception OF wisdom. He who would under
stand it must have received the wisdom
from some one qualified to receive it and
to read between the lines. The other
books of the Kabbala were in the Chaldeau
tongue.
Tradition says that the Kabbala was
handed down from Adam to his sons and
thence down to Abraham, Adam had no
theatefs to attend, no cards to play. and
he had nothing to do but to ask, "Why
am here2" and to think about the ma
ture and the cause of his surroundings
Among the Kabbalistic books of recent
origin, the speaker explained, was one by a
rabbi who was born in Egypt 400 wears
ago. He was an ascetic, and taught that
in order to attain spirituality it was neces-
sary to subjugaie the passions and the ap-
petites Of the flesh.
The next Kabbalist was re bbi who lived
a century ago. He did not preach nor
practice asceticism, but said: ''God
Almighty is more pleased when | smoke
my long pipe tnan he Is with the prayers
of hundred rabbis." He performed
many wonders and was prosecuted by the
other rabbis. He did not write line, but
handed down his wisdom to Jacob Joseph.
The professor then went on to describe
the idea of the Kabbala as concentration of
mind.
IF I miss square meal,' he said, 81
feel hole in my heart. but if l should re-
ceive q telegram stating that had won
100000 in a lottery would forget to eat
or drink anything for three days. On the
other hand, if should receive telegram
that my father was dead would be utterly
crushed down. Mind is everything; the
body nothing"
The professor informed his hearers that
the discovery of the Roentgen or X ray
was predicted in one of the ancient Kab-
baiistic books, which announced that in