The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-22

hall on West Temple street. There is
a good deal of general interest in the
doctrines and work of the Theoso-
phists, and for that reason the follow
ing paper read last night is repro
duced.
The connection between a portion of
the address and the United Press dis
patch from San Diego. which follows it
will be apparent.
A legend from the land of the Pha-
roahs relates that during initiation the
sphinx propounded riddle TO the as
pirant to the great mysteries; If the
neophite failed to solve the same he
forfeited his chance to gain spiritual
life and was compelled to remain IN
the bondage of natural existence un>
til, by repeated lessons and expert
ences, repeated efforts, failures and
successes, he should become able to
understand the true nature of man.
This same problem confrontS you all
today; and the great sphinx, Time, de-
mands the answer from each. Before
one can shake off the coils of mortal
life he must delVe into this mystery
and learn its correct solution; the ma
ture and destiny of man must be traced
in their completeness if we would OBJ
tain a knowledge of nature, if he would
escape the thralldom of life amid dis
agreeable physical conditions, and
emerge into the light of spiritual be-
ing, which is the only true existence.
Perhaps we may not now be able
TO gain a full solution of the great
mystery of man, his coming, his jour
ney and his good, but there are clues
st hand which, if patiently followed,
viii eventually lead to the correct re-
ply.
AS far back in the misty stretches of
time as the imagination can reach, we
find no beginning for man; never the
time he was not, nor peer1ng into the
distant future, can we conceive OF
time when he viii cease to be- His
being, his life and progress are an
eternal becoming, without end or be-
ginning. THE SOUL" says the Gita,
lis not a thing of which man may
say: 1t hath been, it is about to be,
or will be hereafter for ii is with
out birth and meeteth not death; 1t is
ancient, constant and eternal, and is
not slain when the mortal form is
destroyed"
What is man? One of the ancient
sages has written: That which is
neither spirit nor matter, neither light
nor darkness, but is verify the con-
tainer and root of these"
Humanity is a shadow or reflection
from the divine world, and has passed
by gradual steps from the highest spir-
itual plane down to the lowest of ma
within itSelf-or rather iS-the reflec-
ton of everything that has been, and
this reflection becomes the germ, the
prophecy of that which is yet to be-
Humanity is essentially part of the
absolute unknowable Diety itself, and
hence is the root and container of all
the light and life of all the varied as
poets of existence which it passes
through. Each individual man is =
single spark in the divine flame of alb
Solute be-ness: each spark contains the
potentiality. the power of evolving all
the qualities of the Godhead; and at
the close of some one of the great cy-
cles of existence all will be reunited
and form a &C ,lete unity in thought
and purpose. From our position in the
present we cannot trace our course OF
growth very far either in the past or
future; not far, when we attempt to
realize what eternity means. True,
the INSTRUMENTATION outlines the path
of humanity for countless aeonS Of
years in the past, but this is only
fraction of the time covered by the
experiences of the human soul Count
less cycles of time extend back into the
mist of darkness of the unknowable
and the cycles ahead are countless.
We emerge from the unknowable for
a journey through time. and return
home, at the close of that period of
life, to rest, and then start another
ward forever. We must recognize that
we cannot trace the pathway of hui
manity either to its source, or final
goal; whatever speculations are in
duiged in, therefore, on the progress
and destiny of man, must be relative,
and can deal only with the past and
future that lies very close to Hls. Our
minds are not sufficiently expanded to
grasp a view of the whole
The course of life has led US into all
sorts of conditions; at one time in the
past mankind lived in the greatest
of ease and pleasure; no labor was
required, for bountiful nature FURNISHED
food in abundance. This was the gar
den Of Eden, which covered the whole
earth; men We're then pure and in
nOcent; they were not evil because they
knew not what evil was; they were
good because they did not know how
TO be any other way; they could not
be said to be virtuous because they had
never been put to the test. But as
perfect man must know both good and
evil and knowing it, must be strong
enough to work always with the good,
the time at last arrived when the gar
den of happiness must be left to one
side Adam ate of the fruit of the tree
of knowledge, not in disc Incidence to the
law, but in accordance with the law of
perfect growth. Then his surroundings
began to grow darker, selfishness be-
each imagined his own interests to be
paramount to all others. Then injus-
tice and crime appeared, and pain and
sorrow. During all this time there were
divine teachers living among men who |
strove to guide them nationally along |
the paths of true development. Many
followed from the first the divine |
teachings, but others refused TO learn |
except by bitter experience. Finally |
the gods withdrew from personal con- !
tact with mankind, for they had be- /
come so gross that they would not I
listen to the advice of wisdom. But /
oven then the gods sent messengers /
and teachers to mankind from age to /
age. Some of these were great heroes, /
some were sages and some We're saw |
iors of the race, like Krishna, Buddha /
and Jesus. At every epoch of the /
worlds history there have been such /
teachers OF divine wisdom for those /
who were ready to relinouiSh their |
love of self and turn to the path of viz
tue. A few thousand years ago, just
before the point in the present cycle /
was reached, almost the whole world /
had lapsed into a state of barbarism.
Mankind had lost almost the last
vestige Of its spiritual knowledge and
its mystic powers. Then came the
dawn of our present civilization as
and passed the lowest degree of ma
teriality and have now started up
ward on the path from earth TO
heaven. We have entered that current
of action which will make a heaven