Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-04
THE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL. MONDAY JANUARY 4 1891

my own will in His, and that l might be
| His child in His Son Jesus Christ. While
in this earnest seeking and longing the
door has opened before me. so that l have
seen and learned more in a quarter of ar
| hour than I could have gained in many
| years at the great schools
| Jacob Boehme's departure from the
world was as remarkable as his life. Early
| on the morning of November Is, 1924, he
asked his son Tobias if he heard the ex-
! ear. No. replied the son. Open the door
that it NAV be better heard Now wha;
! is the time? Three hours hence is my
| time When the hours had nearly passed
he took leave of his wife and son, blessed
them and said, Now I so hence into Para
disc %, Lord of Sabbath! save me ac-
| cording to Thy pleasure oh, Thou cruci-
fed Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me
and take me to Thy kingdom! Now I am
| going into Paradise and he brought a
deep sigh and was gone
THE third system of theosophy is that
| which is set forth by the New York So
| ciety by Colonel Olcott. The object is the
search after divine knowledge The term
divine is made to apply to the abstract
! principle and not TO the personal Cod.
| The so-called occult phenomena produced
| by the leading theosophists of this system
! in both the Old and New World is regard
| ed as having no higher character than
! conjuring tricks. 1t is closely allied to
| spiritualism and orthodoxy unhesitatingly
| pronounces it anti-Christian. Modern the
| osophy does not admit that Jesus christ
was the incarnate God. He is accepted
| as great teacher and eXampler, but
! should not be worshipped.
''Theosophists make high claims for the
| antiquity of their system. They carry yCu
| back to the Orient and lose you and your
Bible in the religion of Buddha. They put
| our Redeemer on an equal footing with
Plato. They attempt to prove that OriSen
and other of the early fathers We're Ar
yans, and that reincarnation is the natural
course of all human existence. The chief
! objection that we raise TO all this is that
they take our Bible, which is a tested
philosophy, away from us, and give us a
theory, and many conflicting theories,
without proof, demonstration or veritica-
ton.
Put the teachings of Buddha are so
beautiful they tell us. Yes, but are they
more beautiful than the teachings of
Christ? And do they stand the tests of
wisdom and science and criticisinS as do
these revelations of God. 1 protest against
any and every encroachment upon our
Bible. / protest against every system and
utteIance that detracts from the name
and character of Jesus and lowers the
standard of the cross. l protest against
the ASSUMPTIONS of men in instituting phil
osophies in the name of God without the
demonstrations of Gods presence with
them / protest against the perverted use
of the term theosophy, as applied to the
present existing societies, II their outline
of objects fairly represents them.
',rheoSophy, in its right sense, is IN IL
lun1ination cast over all previous spiritual
SPECULATION and draws together, into one,
the divergent systems of spiritual expert
ence completing them into science, to
be understood and practiced by the holi-
est of men, Such a science is compatible
only with the pure and faithful OF COD S
elect Only such can understand and en-
JOY i: and to them their experiences With
in the invisible must be glorious.
81 say openly and frankly to theosophlsts
If their organization contemplates such
life and searching after light and truth as
that Of Jacob Boehme 1 could not object to
jourreying with you. If you aim for the
same results with the same motives ana
objects, call yourselves theosophists and
the thinking, believing. religious world can
not successfully oppose you.
How refreshing, inspiring, sharpening
it would be for the Christian world to read
and interpret the handwriting OF COD III an
ages and of all peoples, and compare thls
phenomena with the Word, and recognize
that our Father in heaven has given visions
of His glory to all nations. even though
they had not His written Revelation. 10
the man of faith Aristotle reveals wealth.
of vision. Sweedenborgen Convinces him
that mans powers are next 10 dlVlne,
Thomas Aquinas fills him with a rapture
of expectation. Jacob Boehme leads him to
Christ, opens the door to eternity, intro
dUces him to the unseen inhabitants OF
heaven and the glory of the eternal.
81 protest again. and most solemnly,
against that spirit of Christianity which
denies the right of the most earnest ana
searching investigation of things spiritual.
There is a skepticism in the church to-day
that insists on the literal Interpretation of
life and the universe. 1t shuts up all the
windows of the soul against the light that
shines out and down upon us from heaven
through the Word, and through the eXer-
else of faith. 1t SCOTS at the mystic who
says he has gone into the closet and COM
muned with his Father, God. 1t ridicules
the faith and joy that makes brilliant the
eye, bright the countenance, vigorous the
whole frame of the enthusiast who has
heard the angel voice announcing that his
prayer is heard and his soul is accepted at
the throne of God. 1t denies the right to
believe that the spirit of God bears testi-
mony with mans spirit that he is child
Of heaven.
Let us be conservative, and not condemn
simply from a name. Let us understand the
efforts of God to reveal Himself, recognize
truth coming from whatsoever source 1t
may. The teacher of public morals and re-
lfgious truths should be governed by two
principles in all his minStrations. He
should have exact knowledge of the things
he does promuIgate, and he should be pos
sessed of the largest spirit of liberation.
The age in which We live requires this more
than any previous time. Truths have been
strained, doctrines have been perverted and
the world has been misguided while the
maSses are more and moro awake to the
question, WHAT is truth? Often in the
history of the church, when evangelical
piety seemed to be waning-almost lost
God has been secretly working, and where
it was least expected, to preserve His
name and restore His power.
In such times there have always been
peSS:mistS who were ever ready to cry,
Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and
dieeed down Thine altars. and am left
alone, and they seek my life When God
answers back, Nay, ye are mistaken.
have reserved to Myself 1000 men who have
not bowed the knee to Baal.'
THE disciples of Christ came to Him one
day in a Self-eXulting spirit, saying. Mas
ter, we saw one casting out devils in Thy
name; and we forbade him, because he fol-
loTeth not us; Instead of commencing
them, Jesus said. Forbid him not; for he
that is not against US is for us Luke
iN:49-50.
During the Peninsular war the Duke of
Wellington, observing that one of his Off
GERS of artillery was serving a gun with
remarkable precision against n body of
men posted in a wood TO the left, rode up
to the Subaltern and said, Well aimed cap
tain; but no more-they. are our own
Nirety-ninth. Without exact knowledge
and the spirit of liberation we may be
found levelinE our guns upon our friends,
or those that could be, by a little effort,
made our friends.
'Many whom we think to be directly op-
posed to truth may hold half-truths and be
seal ching for the whole truth and proD-
erIy guided, they may be brought into a
clearer light than ever before revealed
we are living at the beginning of the
age of the ideal when the whole church of
God through divine illumination, will make
resplendent the name and glory of God
among men, and reveal to them the ioyS of
immortality even before the gates of death
are opened to admit them to the everlasting
kingdom"