The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-21
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
Yesterdays SERVICES APPRo-
PIRATE TO CHRISTMAS.
An Earnest Address by Mrs. DR.. Ell
len B. Ferguson on the Coming of
Christ-"Peace on Earth, Good
Will to Men"

cietV Yesterday was opened Dy the
president with the usual remarks upon
the objects of the society and read
ing from the Bhagavad Gita upon the
incarnation of Krishua. a vocal solo,
1T Came Upon the Midnight Clear,
was then rendered by Miss Green after
which a Christmas poem was read by
Dr. Ellen B. Ferguson who then took
the subject THE Coming of the Christ,
as the basis of the following remarks
in part:
Nineteen centuries ago an event oc-
CURED. according to Biblical history, in
which the whole world directly or indi-
rectly. consciously or unconsclously,
was interested. This event, in the ordi-
nary course OF nature, common enough,
was as told in the Bible narrative
heralded by extraordinary and very
unusual circumstances, viz, the ap-
pearance of a new star in the heavens,
the journey of wise men from Tar
of country TO seek for material evil
dences of the occurrence thus celestlaily
indicated, and a similar announcement
made by heavenly messengers, GIVING
to the event an Importance ana SIG
nificance far beyond any other recorded
in the history of the Jewish nation
This event, the birth CT a babe in the
small town of Bethlehem, of parents
obscure and unknown, was the central
point toward which all these prelimln-
airy phenomena congregated ana TO
which subsequent doctrinal teachings
have given the authority of super
naturalism and divine revelation. The
Bible narrative of the nativity. child
hood, public life and death of Jesus
of Nazareth you are all familiar, and
the ever recurring anniversary or
Christmas keeps alive in all hearts the
sentiments of kindred brotherhood ana
universal charity, which heralded his
coming as the refrain of the angels
song echoes down the cycles. Peace
on Earth, Good Will to Men" The
New Testament. which is the historical
record of the life and teachings OF the
personality called Jesus of Nazareth.
contains constant reference to an older
record in which the necessity for his
appearance on earth. and the prophe-
cies relating to his work and mission
are fully set forth; the whole forming
a connected history. according TO the
teachings of the Christian church of
the creation and fall of man, the neces-
sity of redemption, the birth, life and
crucifixion of a Savior, the divinity or
Christ his resurrection and atonement-
These records have been given to man
kind by the church stamped with the
authority of revelation and inspirat ton,
as the sole embodiment of spiritual
teaching and il gives us no alternative
but to accept or reject its dogmas. ac-
companying the possibility of rejection
with the anathemas of divine wrath.
Taking the historical records of the
Old and New Testament as literal in
stead of categorical narratives. the
church has made Adam the actual and
lineal ancestor of the human race. his
disobedience the original sin that has
flowed on as a continuous stream from
generation to generation, cursing and
blighting all with its communicating
virus, and covering the once beautiful
and peaceful earth with war and peSti-
lence, poverty and crime, and disease
and death. In like manner the per-
Sonal Jesus became the typical Christ
and the literal fall of man the neces-
sity for an atonement to be made by
Messiah who should be crucified on the
cross TO propitiate an angry God, who
had foreordained and predestined each
event in its sequence from before the
creation of Adam. These are the dog
mas presented by the Christian church
10 mankind as the only revelation of
divine wisdom. There is no inner or
spiritual meaning apart from their
literal acceptation. AS this season
brings TO our mind by Its social and
religious suggestions the relation be-
tween the allegorical and spiritual
doctrine of the divine incarnation. let
us endeaNor to crack .he shell of man.
made dogma and ignorance and extract
the kernel of spiritual truth that lies
hidden within. And when we do this
we shall md that the collection of
writings known as the Bible constitute
but one of a number of records which
are all derived from and based upon
one unifying system known at times
as the ancient wisdom religion or secret
a rrsf- che ErI hot =,
teachings were always symbolical and
NEUROLOGICAL, and have been given out
from time to time and from age to age
in a form appropriate to the nation
or age for whom they were written
and were usually based upon some
actual historical narrative which the
people would accept as true. These
categorical teachings were adapted to
the capacities of human understanding
in the childhood of the race and were
put forward by the divine hierarchy
of initiates as the best method of pre-
senting truths which could not be
reaped in any other form Confucius
and Buddha- Moses, Jesus and Paul
one and ali. taught their disciples great
spiritual truth yelled in allegory, SYM
Dol and parable, in a form which was
comprehensive by the people they adj
dressed. Theosophy furnishes the key
10 these teachings. and unfolds TO us
the Spiritual meaning OF nlNln ana
parable, reconciling legend with his
tory and stamping out superstition and
blind credulity, Journalism and bigotry
replacing them with truth resplendent
with the light of ages and eternal as
the universe. The Old Testament con-
tains the record of mans fall" con-
tains under the form of an historical
allegory the secret of those vast cos
mic cycles by which spirit manifests
in matter. by which the divine becomes
human. These cycles are portrayed in
the sacred books of the east as the in
breathing and outbreathing of Brahma.
The fail in the history of mans evo-
luton represents the descent of spirit
into matter. Man as a spiritual being
can only become self conscious through
experience of good and evil" Accord
ing to Hegel the unconscious would
never have undertaken the vast and
laborious task of evolving the universe
except in the hope of attaining self
consciousness. So man must attain
self-consciousness through a descent
into matter and physical life; by pas
sage Through those lower planes of
cosmie life and consciousness which.
constitute the phenomenal world of
manifestation, where everything is in
separately connected in our conscious
ness with its opposite: for It is this
opposition or duality in all things
good and evil, light and darkness, life
now-which is the basis of all Dhe-
nomena. The spiritual man or
trinity, at every rebirth or reincarna-