The herald., 1897-01-11
Will THE THEos0PHIsrs
The Relation OF Theosophy to Chris.
tiarily
James Pryse of New York in an Inter-
esting Discourse-Mrs. Halsith on
the Reality of Theosophy.

James Pryse of New York addressed
large and greatly interested audience
at BlavatslSy hall, 525 West Fifth street
Sunday morning, taking for his subject
Theosophy and Christianity.
1t was said by Matthew Arnold that
people could not get along without
Christianity, nor could they get along
with it as it is. Christianity is gener-
ally supposed to be comparatively mod
err religion-in fact, that 1t begun with
Jesus Christ; that previous to that the
only religion that had God as it's head
was Judaism. Now Christianity is SIM
ply continuation of old forms of relig-
ion, and whatever new things were in
troduced into it are not true. All that
is vital is as old as mankind. In every
ancient religion there were two as
pects--one for the priests, and one for
the people. The priests were thorough
ly versed in science as we'll as in relig-
ion--for science and religion went hand
in hand, just as they will in the future.
Religion must agree with science, and
science must be broad enough to cover
all facts of life, and hence will be relg-
ions also. Christianity was in the first
place simply a continuation of "the
mysteries" and a fusing together of all
the old religious systems. Owing to the
general confusion and decay of ma
tions, the few remaining teachers had
their pupils all pledged to secrecy re-
garding the real inner occult meaning
of their teachings-"tfe mysteries"
The bands of Christians were called
"Ecclesia," which does not mean a
church, but Il society. They took new
names for the gods and god'desses,
changed the symbols and otherwise
made a few minor changes. But If one
had been born 5000 years ago in Chaldea
he would have found much the same
religion as today in all essential points.
The ecclesiastical basis of Christianity
as well as the historical basis, is
fraud. There are only three writers
outside of the New Testament who refer
to Jesus at all--Josephus, Pliny and one
other-and, as is we'll known to all
scholars, in each of these places where
he is referred TO it is forgery or inter-
polation. Masonry on the one hand and
Catholicism on the other are both OFF,
shoots of the ''the mysteries" Plotinus,
Porphyry and others, in the early days
of the church, represented the true,
spiritual meaning of the scriptures
they We're trained occultists and seers.
If their teachings had prevailed the
a perfect religion, but they were thrown
out as heretics. For long time every
body in the church, in common with
those out of it, believed in reincarcera-
ton. But the priests drove 1t out be-
cause they wanted a religion different
from the pagan. But the people still
believed in pre- existence until 300 years
after Christ, when the priests finally
succeeded in stamping it out of the
church.
The theologians have two sets of books
one set for the people, another for
themselves. There is nothing in Chris
tianity that did not come from the older
religions. The four gospels and part of
the epistles are translations from older
works The book of Revelations is prob
ably many centuries older than gener-
ally supposed. Without special training
one can no more understand it than
work on astronomy. The Gospel of John
Is a great occult work which cannot be
fathomed without special training. These
works were not written by the apostles,
and every scholar knows it who has
studied them in the original. The most
important words, translated as faith,
hope, love, ETC., and many others are
the same as those used in "the myster-
les" There are a number of scholars
at work on the translation of the books
OF the New Testament, and when their
work is brought out it will read entirely
different from the present version, be-
cause these scholars are honest, and this
translations have never been honestly
MADE before. These books speak of the
spiritual and psyshic forces at work
in man, and you can no more tell the
ordinary man what they mean than you
can tell blind man what color is.
1t is indescribable to him. There are
several doctrines in Christianity as it
is taught today which are apparently
irreconcilable with theosophy. They
claim that Jesus was the only Son of
GOD on earth; then there is the belief
in vicarious atonement and in personal
God and the resurrection of the dead.
These are all theological dogmas, and
have nothing whatever to do with Chris
tianity. They are absolutely not to be
found in the New Testament or in the
Old Testament. The translation says
Jesus was "the only begotten son of
God" The original does not say that
at all, but it means "born from one,"
born from himself" When a man
reaches spiritual birth he is said to
be born from himself-monogenes is the
Greek word in the original, and it is the
same that is applied to every Greek
god-Jupiter, Saturn and all the rest
were said to be monogenes, the same
as Jesus. The expression "son of man"
liCdNS lHstl Hc was dl dNdtOT anu Qdu
special mission. Christos means the
anointed. The term ws used in "the mys-
teries" centuries before Jesus. There
are in the pagan mysteries the names of
various men with "Christos" after them.
Every man who became "at one with
all men became Christos. The Chris
tos Is said to incarnate in man to save
him that Is ones own high self. Chris
tos meant simply a noble mana dis
ciple. Jesus could not be called, Christ
until he was crucified. In regard to the
idea Of personal God, the word used in
the New Testment is the same as the
pagans used for 1.-The soul of the world
the divine life that moves the world.
Each man has his father in heaven"
and all the fathers in heaven act as
unit, though they are individuals. Jesus
speaks Of my Father and your Fa-
ther," also "our Father" They are one,
as we should be. Those who are called
dead in the New Testament are not peo-
pie in graveyards, but dead in tres
passes and sins, as Jesus himself said.
The resurrection from the dead is when
man gains knowledge of his own spirit
1t must take place while still in the
physical body. All great teachers who
have been initiated taught reincarna-
ton and Karma, but the people fol-
lowed Irenaeus and Tertullian and lost
sight of the truth. It was common in
old works to speak of man as the ''son"
OF his previous incarnation. So Jesus
is referred to as "Son of David" The
people, many of them, considered him