The herald., 1896-07-06

reincarceration. He must also perceive
that there is no blind, cruel fate sport
ing with human misery, but one unva-
rying, impartial law of justice and love.
He will see that all human beings spring
from one parent source. and that our
acts, life after life, acting upon others,
reacting upon ourselves, have bound
mankind so indissolubly together that
brotherhood is the greatest fact in ma
ture We cannot break the karmic
chains that bind us to our Fellows. II
we would liberate ourselves 1t can only
be accomplished by working unselhshly
for the liberation and uplifting or oth-
ers Only the understanding of this law
and the united effort of manhood to car
ry 1t out will bring the world into equi-
librium or harmony. This Is the effort
nature is making. When we realize TINS
and work with her the cure Will be
found for the pain, suffering and sor-
row Of the world.
SOUL REORGANIZATION.
w. c. B. Randolph spoke on Reincar-
nation of the Soul at 1856 South Broad
way, yesterday. He said:
HE who will not reason is bigot; ne
who cannot is a fool ,and he who dare
not is a slave" Absolute proofs of the
existence of the soul, its nature ard des-
tiny, are perhaps wanting, as lnut n so as
to the extinction of the soul on the dis
solution of the body. In studying this
question we must be content with that
theory which seems to answer best the
riddle of conscious existence, ana ex-
plains the known facts OF nature py
which we are surrounded. The Iheo-
sophist predicates a true character of
the absolute. consciousness, force and
substance. The materialist says matter
and force is all there Is, consciousness
being the result of the contact of these
two. We say "out Of nothing, nothing
comes." Consciousness cannot come
from dead matter. The less cannot con-
tain the greater. The materlalist says
that thought is produced by a mechan-
ism at the center of the brain, consisting
of five little hammers representing each
of the five senses. which strike on SEN
sitive register when stimulated by the
outer world. When we are remembering.
we simply examine the register and
read off the Impressions made by the
hammers. We answer that as to the
material facts Of the brain mechanism,
the scientist may get the exact facts, but
their differences and conclusions from
those facts are not warranted. Even
supposing impressions were so register
ed, what part of the brain or physical
makeup can turn itself about and read
the record? And II this could be done
by any one part of our body, we must
predicate consciousness on it's part or
it could not report what was registered.
We believe there is an inner observer
the soul, that synthesizes the workings
of all parts of the brain consciousness
in which is the faculty of memory, the
brain being only an instrument. Physi-
cal activity Is the result Of the presence
of the soul; not as the materialist be-
lieves, that consciousness Is the result
of molecular action.
Allowing that the soul exists it must
have it's laws of being. Christians be-
1inVa that Snirit fS aQfod hU Cod a 4
each physical birth and attached to the
body of the babe, there to remain until
death; 1t then goes either to an eternal
heaven, or an everlasting hell, according
to it's deserts. We criticise this belief
II a soul is immortal it must have ex-
listed from eternity. If it has infinity be-
fore it, it must have infinity behind it.
as there is only one infinity. Everything
in nature that has a beginning must have
an ending. So we say the soul always
existed; 1t is ray from the absolute,
sent down into matter to gain expe-
rience as an individual, and then by
evolutionary process, to re-emerge into
the all. The one life theory does not al
low Of sufficient time to develop the soul
into an all-wise and all-powerful being.
Take the stronger mind and give him
| perfect health and long life, devoted en-
| tirely to the studies of even one line of
research and when his body is worn out
| he will exclaim with Newton, 1--WE are
| but children playing on the shores of
| truth" Then think of the many millions
| of people, capable of learning, who are
distracted by disease, poverty or other
hindrances, who can scarcely open life's
| pook to read before they are hurried
| out of school; and infants who get no
training at all on this plane. These con-
sideratfons make us believe that we
live again to take up the work at each
birth where we left off at the close of
our last life. Eternal justice demands
that we live and try again, as it Is incon-
ceivable that one could in one short
life do things so good or bad as to merit
everlasting heaven or hell
we believe that all progress Is made
by conscious effort only. Righteousness
cannot be imputed" to a wicked sinner
on account Of his believing any plan of
salvation. And that effort can only be
| made in a life in which we come into
contact with material conditions. Com
sidering how much we may learn on
this material plane Of being, which we
do not now know. is it not improbable
that we should be placed here, as one
may say. momentarily, and then taken
away before we can even get glimpse
of what is for us. We believe that we
are earth-bound until earth has moth
ing further to offer us in knowledge and
wisdom and no attraction for our de-
sires. The beginnings of the process of
re1ncarnattOn are seen IN the lower king
doms. The seed of plant is but a
material bridge between the real plant
that is functionary in the subjective and
invisible realms, that plant reappearing
on the material plane when the objec-
tive arc of its cycle is reached, using the
seed to bridge it from the unseen to the
seen world. The caterpillar transfers
its consciousness from one body to an
other without returning to the subjective
state, but is compelled to retain it's hold
on the physical while the change is max
ing. This clinging to the physical when
reincarnating is only necessary on the
lower planes of nature In the case of
| man, all physical links are badly sew
cred, that which does still connect him
with his future body Is of astral matter
and not now defined. AS a workman
lays aside his tools at the close of day
OF toll, and retires to sleep and rest, so
does the soul at physical dissolution, be-
ginning it's work approximately where
1t left off. 1t carries over with 1t what
of character it has builded into itself in
the life just past.
Winter and summer, day and night,
etc., are all typical of these periods of
activity and repose, which, like the
swing of the pendulum, push us on to
work and carry us back to rest. This
process goes on until we have worked
off the last vestige Of selfishness and
ignorance and have evolved the divine
that now lies buried in the innermost
depths of our being.
Inc average man does not remember
his past life because the soul memory
mas not as yet been evolved in him. That
which the brain can record being con-
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