THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW

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1 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Vol. XXXI DECEMBER 15, 1902 No. 184 ON THE WATCH-TOWER Wb hve recently witnessed very interesting prde of the militi of the orthodox Protestnt churches in Englnd. The troops were full of mrtil rdour nd declred The Den of their intention to die for the cuse; it ws, Ripon s " Heresy " however, motley rry, nd could not hve given its leders ny gret confidence in its bility to cope with modern conditions of wrfre, seeing tht the rnk nd file were still rmed with bows nd rrows, flint-locks, nd t best " brown bess " or two. The occsion of th demonstrtion of indigntion ws lecture by Dr. Fremntle, the Den of Ripon, on " Nturl Chrtinity," delivered in London t the beginning of November, to meeting of the " Churchmen's Union." The reporter's summry of the Den's lecture ws publhed s follows : The fult of those who hd written on nturl religion ws tht they hd ssumed contrst between th nd reveled religion. The Bible ws in the fullest sense humn nd nturl. The Bible culminted in Chrt, nd

2 2Q0 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Chrt bd been viewed in pst times in n unnturl light. Dputes hd mde Chrt's life unrel to us, nd it seemed to him tht we were hmpered still by the wrong processes of the pst. Tking the morl supremcy of Chrt for grnted, they were met on the threshold of two Gospels by wht seemed prodigy the birth of Chrt from Virgin. H own belief ws tht they might sfely leve tht out of ccount nd tret it i exctly the sme wy s the words " descended into hell " were treted. Outside the first two chpters of St. Mtthew nd the first two chpters of St. Luke the Virgin-birth ws bsolutely non-extent in the New Test ment. The nturl inference ws tht it ws unknown to the writers of the New Testment, except to those who penned those four chpters. And might it not be tht they rose from munderstnding? As to the mircles, ws it irreverent to believe tht our Lord Himself could not hve mde dtinction between wht modern science would re cogne s deth nd the mny forms of swooning, syncope, or hysteri, which sometimes deceived the west in modern times, nd tht when He bde H dciples to hel the sick nd re the ded He ws speking of process very different from tht which would be ccepted in these scientific dys s the ring of n ctul body to life? But mny of the so-clled mircles, such s demonicl possession nd its cure, were quite nturl, lthough he dmitted tht if some of the references in the Gospels were tken literlly they were contrry to nture s we knew it. He hd never been ble to think of the Resurrection s violtion of nturl lw. * Whereupon the religious nd conservtive press rose s one mn nd fell upon the courgeous lecturer. Never since the dys of Colenso hs there been such hurly- H Qusi-Apologi burly. The Bhop of London repudited such teching s hereticl, nd lmented tht it should hve been uttered in h diocese ; the Den himself ws inundted with n vlnche of protests nd entreties. Where upon he publhed in the Ripon Gzette " sort of kind of" n pologi, to the effect tht the reporter hd not given the context ; tht the rest of the pper... nd so forth nd so on. As to the " immculte conception " nd " resurrection," the Den's position given s follows in h own words : Tht there re difficulties in some mtters connected with the mnifest tion of God in Chrt it would be untruthful not to dmit, especilly in those of the Virgin birth, in some of the "wonderful works," nd iu the Resurrec tion. But in the first of these, though the fcts (i) tht it never mentioned in the New Testment except in the first two chpters of St. Mtthew nd St, Luke, nd (2) tht it ws not prt of the creed of Nic, mke it of less

3 ON THE WATCH-TOWER 2g1 uthority (s in the prllel cse of the words " Descended into Hell "), yet the ccounts~might be understood without ny violtion of biologicl lw. The incrntion nd divinity of our Sviour stnd on the firm ground of wht He did nd thought, nd wht He hs been to mnkind. As to the lst point, tht of the Resurrection, the views of Bhop Horsley, of Den Goulburn, nd of Bhop Westcott, which hve so often been urged by Cnon McCoIl, s well s by myself in Ripon Cthedrl nd elsewhere, were followed, nmely, tht the Resurrection ws not return to the mortl conditions of th life, but mnifesttion of the spiritul stte, nd the " spiritul body." As to the " mighty works " of our Lord, in some cses we could see them to be instnces of the power of Mjestic Presence nd Personlity over wekened nd hystericl frmes ; nd possibly other cses might be similrly ccounted for. But since in ll things, even the com monest, there n element of the unknown, we must expect tht th would be the cse still more in the works of Chrt Himself. If we could know everything no doubt ll would pper quite nturl ccording to the higher conception of nture, for which the writer contending. Th brought out in the lte Duke of Argyll's gret work, The Reign of Lw. * * * As we see, the newspper mn ws not so fr out in h report, whtever Dr. Fremntle my men by the enigmticl sentence " yet the ccounts might be understood with- f out Thetb^ ny violtion of biologicl lw." Th OrthodOT will doubtless for the moment mollify some wht the mterilts who bost themselves to be the orthodox. But the pity of it, tht no one should hve the courge to point out to the combtnts tht the " virgin birth " ws no physicl mircle for the dciples of the Lord, but fct, n eternl spiritul most mrvellous fct, known to the mystic nd the sint, though unfortuntely mteriled nd htoriced by the ignornt of the erly Chrtin Nme who were outside the inner com munities. The common-sense of Chrtendom Fremntle, but (nd th not yet see) the only wy out for them with Den wht he nd h mny co-lbourers the mystic wy. ccounts s htory cnnot stnd, but once ccepted s " htori do The ced " inner fcts they become s cler s dylight to the spiritul. Pul tught th, " " John tught th, nd ll tht host of " dciples of the Lord," " postles," " brethren of the Lord," whom the mterilts when they got the upper hnd nthem ted s heretics. With regrd to the re? irrection, difficult it

4 20,2 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW to find single scholr who does not gree with the view of Dr. Fremntle ; but ll th nd vstly much more hs been explined over nd over gin to our reders. Since writing the bove we hve red the Times' reporter's letter in which he declres tht he submitted h report to the Den before publhing, fct borne out by one of our collegues who ws present. Th mkes it bd for the Ripon Gzette, for we cnnot suppose tht the Den wilfully deprted in newspperdom from the idel he holds before him in the domin of the higher criticm. *«Mny yers go H. P. Blvtsky introduced the striking figure of Fther John Fther John of of Kronstdt to our reders nd won for him golden opinions ; h recent doings, however, should plce him on still higher pedestl of respect ; not only he good nd holy mn, true sint, but lso he mn of sound common-sense, s my be seen from the following curious prgrph from the St. Petersburg correspondent of The Times (October 28th) : The ignornce nd the religious fnticm of the Russin pesntry re illustrted in striking mnner by the lmost blsphemous venertion of which the fmous Fther John of Kronstdt, much ginst h will, mde the object. A short time go pesnt in the government of Kostrom wrote hymn in honour of Fther John, plcing him lmost on n equlity with the persons of the Trinity. The Kronstdt priest wrote severe letter to the pesnt rebuking him for h blsphemy, but th hd no effect, so tht he ws compelled to go in person to Kostrom in order to put stop to the growth of sect which ws being founded to worship him. Th only one instnce out of mny. During the services t Kron stdt voices re frequently herd excliming " Thou rt holy, thou rt holy ; behold he hs come down from Heven." The reply of the priest usully " How dre you spek so. I m only sinful mn like you. It Stn who speking through your mouth in order to cuse confusion mong the devout. Who re you? Come out from the crowd." As rule th com mnd not obeyed, nd the police re unble to dcover the fntics. There re cses in which pesnts openly mintin their conviction tht Fther John the Chrt, the reincrntion of the Divine Spirit. In pr ticulr, there one ged pilgrim who holds fst to th belief in spite of ll the efforts mde to turn him from it nd who, when he rrested nd thretened with punhment, declres with enthusm tht he will gldly die for h Sviour. Portrits of Fther John re frequently used s ikons nd

5 ON THE WATCH-TOWER tg$ re venerted in the sme wy. Severl sects hve been formed to uphold the doctrine of the divinity of the Kronstdt priest in spite of h vehement protests. The Dukhobors Of somewht sner nd sterner stuff Fther John mde thn tht fntic of the Agpemonite community to whom our coeditor referred in the October number ; wer f js he thn the leders of those foolh Dukhobors whom we so mtkenly commerted few yers go s pure nd sintly religionts oppressed by tyrnnicl government. We hve now hd the Dukhobors for some two or three yers in Cnd, nd find they re n bsolutely im possible people. They were given lnd, welcomed nd helped. After twelvemonth or so religious mni possessed them ; they drove wy ll their cttle, believing tht God did not tke plesure in mn submitting the nimls to restrint ; they then sked the Government to give them lnds free of every possible restriction of ny kind, so tht they might hve nught, s they imgined, between them nd God ; nd finlly, with women nd children, without clothes nd provions, in the erly winter, these poor deluded ones set off to mrch hundreds of miles to Winnipeg to meet the Chrt. They met the Chrt, it true, but not s their poor fevered brins imgined ; but in the shpe of chrity nd help from the frmers, the creful protection of the mounted police, the trnsport of their women nd children, nd of their sick in litters. They were setting out to " Chrtine the world," so they thought. The crusders gin, nd with like results! Imgine wht it must hve been in similr circles when in the erly dys they thought tht every moment the Chrt ws coming mteril Chrt of course, for tht hs lwys been the trouble throughout the Chrtin centuries. We re gld to notice in the November sue of the Contem porry Review n rticle on " The Newer Dpenstion," by E. Wke Cook, written in spirit of ctholicity The Signs of the which refreshing. The Newer Dpenstion, * New Age ccording to the writer, hs been grdully dvncing upon " us in spite of the conservtm of the Churches,"

6 THE TttEOSOPHlCAL REVIEW since the beginning of the New Dpenstion, " nd we hve now mterils which, if they could be summed up nd united by gret religious genius, would give us Newer Dpenstion s fr in dvnce of the New s tht ws bove the Old." Mr. Cook thinks th " Spiritul Rensnce " running in three strems, nd the one to which h present pper chiefly devoted Chrtin Science, of which movement he gives n pprecitive but not unduly bsed review. He refers, however, to our own movement s one which... " flows from the mingling of Estern with Western thought more cheerful Theosophy which likely to ply prt in the Religion of the future. It hs lredy given us s doctrine of extence, vst scheme of Spiritul Evolution, besides which the Drwin-Spencer scheme bgtelle nd flls into plce s mere detil of th stupendous conception " n opinion which might hve fllen from the lips of our Vice-President. But the finl section of the rticle gives the best indiction of the brod outlook which the writer tkes, nd nothing could be more completely in ccord with the views which from time to time hve been set forth in th Review. It runs thus : With Chrtin Science thus unexpectedly reinforcing on those points dropped by the Churches, nd lifting Chrtins Chrtinity just to higher pltform ; with Theosophy re-vivifying nd enriching Western thought by the wonders of the Est ; with Spiritulm demonstrting future life, nd the extence of ltent fculties nd powers, nd giving mening to life never before dcerned ; with Physicl Science opening up new vts into the Infinite, new wonderlnds, nd giving us glimpses of the wful potencies we re subduing to our service ; with ll th we hve movement of unprecedented significnce. And lthough the different prts of the dvncing rmy my sometimes wge internecine wr, it frtricidl, s they re ll complementry to ech other nd to the older movements. The brodening nd deepening ot the Religious Consciousness by th Spiritul Rensnce nd the wondrous reveltions of Physicl Science mrk stge in our development s much in dvnce of the New Dpens tion s tht ws in dvnce of the Old. All the diverse nd pprently conflicting movements hve yet strnge underlying tendency to unity, nd re mnifesting vster mening hidden from the worker by the dust of progress. [E.] There something to be lerned by those who spire to be

7 ON THE WATCH-TOWER helers of the soul by study of the principles which guide the helers of the body. In h ddress to the Religio Medici medicl students of the Liverpool University, Sir Frederick Treves took the confession of fith of Sir Thoms Browne, nd contrsted it with tht of the doctor of the present dy. The ttitude towrds the symptoms of dese hs entirely chnged we lern. Then, they were regrded s the work of mlignnt entity, n influence which ws outside the body nd quite dtinct from it. It followed tht every symptom of dese ws regrded s wholly noxious, nd s needing to be stmped out by unconsidered violence. Now, these sme symptoms re recogned s of beneficent intent, s the course of " ppendicit " demonstrtes. A per fortion occurs in the little tube, nd n crid poon finds its wy into the cvity of the bdomen ; the mnifesttions which follow re termed the symptoms of peritonit. They re d tressing nd urgent, but they re ll benevolent in intent, nd re the outcome nd sve the ptient's life. of Nture's vigorous effort to minime the clmity Might not personl vnity, or intellectul pride, lso be beneficent provion of Nture s defence ginst the crid poons of envy, htred nd mlice? Mny of the symptoms of dese, insted of being pounded out of the body by violence s wholly pernicious, should rther be regrded s mens for guiding the physicin in the tretment he should dopt. Might there not be word of wdom here for those scetics who regrd the nturl wnts of the body s hideous vices, nd the pursuit of hppiness s the unforgivble sin? * * * The second gret element in the Religio Medici concerns the reltion of the physicin to h ptient, nd here there probbly little divergence between the... old fith nd the The true Dciple new Two nd hlf centuries hve not of yesculpius served to modify the bs of right doing, nd the few tenets professed by Sir Thoms Browne will find ccept nce t the present dy. They rnge under three heds :

8 296 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW In the first plce the doctor must be strong, nd h strength must depend on the fullness of h knowledge, nd upon fine nd cultivted sense, quick perception, redy judgment, nd delicte susceptibility. The sick mn in h wekness looks to h doctor for the supporting hnd nd the strong rm ; he moving in the drk nd he needs to be led ; he hunted by pprehension nd h fers must be llyed. The second need bsolute fidelity ; ll those who profess to ttend upon the sick undertke solemn trust. The fullness nd simplicity of the confidence of the sick mn re the mesure of the scrupulous honesty with which it must be received. The third necessity of the doctor tht he must be kind ; he must be mn of wide sympthies, qulifiction which enbles nd possessed of tht rre him to put himself in the ptient's plce. Genuine sympthy cnnot be ssumed, or if ssumed its rtificility too pprent to deceive even child. Such the idel held up by the first surgeon in Englnd for the guidnce of the helers of the body. But s the vlue of the soul trnscends tht of the body, so does the responsibility of the soul-physicin trnscend tht of the ordinry doctor. The former my well ly to hert the motto given by Sir Frederick to h students, " Fortiter, Fideliter, Feliciter." * % * [A.] We deeply regret to nnounce tht Mme. Meulemnn, who ws in very rel sense the hert of our movement in Hollnd, pssed wy in sleep on November 24th. As we hve only just received the telegrm t the very lst moment before going to press, it only possible to nnounce the sd news sd for us, her mny friends nd lovers, for the form in which we loved her tken wy. Our profoundest sympthy with our Dutch collegues. But she not ded, nor does she sleep ; she ws too strenuous lbourer to bndon the work she loved better thn life, now tht she relieved of the burden of her suffering body.

9 t ::p 297 THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS (continued from p. 227) The Third Life- Wve The middle of the third Root-Rce hd been reched ; the nervous pprtus of niml mn hd been built up to point t which it needed for its further improvement the more direct flow of thought from the spiritul Trid to which it ws ttched ; the Group-Soul hd completed its work for these, the higher pro ducts of evolution, s the medium by which the Life of the Second Logos protected nd nourhed H infnt children ; it ws now to form the foundtion the down-pouring life ws to be received; of the cusl body, the vessel into which the term of the nte ntl life of the Mond ws touched, nd the time ws ripe for h birth into the lower world. The mother-life of the Logos hd built for him the bodies in which he could now live s seprte entity in the world of forms, nd he ws to come into direct possession of h bodies nd tke up h humn evolution. We hve seen (vol. xxx., p. 457) tht the Monds derive their being from the First Logos, nd the down-flow of their life into the spiritul Trids cusing the vortices of ctivity which ctch up into union with themselves the upwrd reching strem of life from the lower plnes nd form in tht union the cusl bodies clled the third Life- Wve, nd properly relted to Him s its source. The cusl body once formed, the spiritul Trid hs per mnent vehicle for further evolution, nd when Consciousness becomes ble to function freely in th vehicle, the Trid will be ble to control nd direct fr more effectively thn ever before the evolution of the lower vehicles. The erlier efforts to control re not, however, of very in telligent description, ny more thn the first movements of the body of the infnt show they re directed by ny intelligence,

10 20.8 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW lthough we know tht n intelligence connected with it. The Mond now, in very rel sense, born on the physicl plne, but still he must be regrded s bbe, nd must pss through n immense period of time before h power over the physicl body will be nything but infntile. Humn Development And th clerly seen if we look t mn s he ws in h erly dys. Those long-perhed Lemurins if we except those entities who hd lredy developed Consciousness to consider ble extent nd who took birth in the clumsy Lemurin bodies in order to led humn evolution were very poorly developed s to their sense orgns ; those of smell nd tste were not developed, but were only in process of building. Their sensitiveness to plesure nd pin ws slight. In the Atlntens the senses were much more ctive ; sight ws very keen nd hering ws cute ; tste nd smell were more developed thn mong the Lemurins, but were still not highly evolved; corse nd rnk foods were found perfectly tolerble nd even greeble, nd very highly-flvoured rticles of diet, such s decying met, were preferred to more delicte vinds, which were considered tsteless. The body ws not very sensitive to injuries, nd severe wounds did not cuse much pin, nor were followed by prostrtion, even extensive lcertions filing to in cpcitte the sufferer, nd heling very quickly. The remnnts of the Lemurin Rce now exting, s well s the widely spred Atlnten, still show reltive insensitiveness to pin, nd under go, with very prtil dblement, lcertions tht would utterly prostrte fifth rce mn. A North Americn Indin hs been reported s fighting on fter the side of the thigh hd been slshed wy, nd tking the field gin fter twelve or fifteen hours. Th chrctertic of the fourth rce body enbles svge to ber with composure, nd to recover from, tortures tht would prostrte fifth rce mn from nervous shock. These differences derive lrgely from the vrying develop ments of the permnent tom, the nucleus of the physicl body. There, in the fifth Root-Rce, fuller strem of life pouring down, cusing nd incresing with the greter internl develop

11 THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS 299 ment of the permnent tom. As evolution goes on, there n incresing complex of vibrtory powers in the physicl permnent tom, similr increse in the strl tom, nd gin in the mentl unit. As birth follows birth, nd these permnent nuclei re put out on ech plne to gther round them the new mentl, strl nd physicl encsements, the more highly developed permnent toms drw round them the more highly developed toms on the plnes to which they belong, nd thus build up better nervous pprtus through which the ever-incresing strem of Consciousness cn flow. In th wy built up the delictely orgned nervous pprtus of the fifth rce mn. In the fifth rce mn the internl differentition of the nervous cells much incresed, nd the intercommunictions re much more numerous. Speking generlly, the Consciousness of the fifth rce mn working on the strl plne, nd with drwn from the physicl body except so fr s the cerebro-spinl nervous system concerned. The control of the vitl orgns of the body left to the sympthetic system, trined through long ges to perform th work, nd now kept going by impulses from the strl centres other thn the ten, without deliberte ttention from the otherwe occupied Consciousness, lthough of course sustined by it. It however, s we shll presently see, quite, possible to drw the ttention of Consciousness gin to th prt of its mechnm, nd to ressume intelligent control of it. In the more highly evolved members of the fifth Rce, the min impulses of Consciousness re sent down from the lower mentl world, nd work down through the strl to the physicl, nd there stimulte the physicl nervous ctivity. Th the keen, subtle, intelligent Consciousness, moved by ides more thn by senstions, nd showing itself more ctively in the mentl nd emotionl brin-centres thn in those concerned with sensory nd motor phenomen. The sense-orgns of the fifth rce body re less ctive nd cute thn those of the highest fourth Rce in responding to purely physicl impcts. The eye, the er, the touch, the smell, re less keen, nd do not respond to vibrtions which would ffect the fourth rce sense-orgns. It significnt, lso, tht these orgns re t their keenest in erly childhood, nd diminh in

12 300 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW sensitiveness from bout the sixth yer onwrd. On the other hnd, while less cute in receiving pure sense-impcts, they become more sensitive to senstions intermingled with emotions, nd deliccies of colour nd of sound, whether of nture or of rt, ppel to them more effectively. The higher nd more in tricte orgntion of the sense-centres in the brin nd in the strl body seems to bring bout incresed sensitiveness to beuty of colour, form nd sound, but diminhed response to the senstions in which the emotions ply no prt. The fifth rce body lso fr more sensitive to shock thn re the bodies of the fourth nd third Rces, being more de pendent upon Consciousness for its upkeep. A nervous shock fr more keenly felt, nd entils fr greter prostrtion. A severe mutiltion no longer question of lcerted muscle, of torn tsues, but of nervous shock; the highly orgned nervous system crries the messge of dtress to the brincentres, nd it sent on from them to the strl body, dturbing nd upsetting the strl Consciousness. Th followed by d turbnce on the mentl plne ; imgintion roused, memory stimultes nticiption, nd the rush of mentl impulses in tensifies nd prolongs senstions. These gin stimulte nd excite the nervous system, nd its undue excittion cts on the vitl orgns, cusing orgnic dturbnce ; hence depression of vitlity, nd slow recovery. So lso in the highly evolved fifth rce body mentl condi tions lrgely rule the physicl, nd intense nxiety, mentl suffering, nd worry, producing nervous tension, redily dturb orgnic processes nd bring bout wekness or dese. Hence mentl strength nd serenity directly promote physicl helth, nd when the Consciousness definitely estblhed on the strl or the mentl plne, emotionl nd mentl dturbnce re fr more productive of ill-helth thn ny privtions inflicted on the physicl body. The evolved fifth rce mn lives literlly in h nervous system. Incongruous Souls nd Bodies But we should here notice significnt fct, bering on the ll-importnt question of the reltion of the nervous or gntion to Consciousness. When humn consciousness

13 THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS 3OI hs not yet grown beyond the lter Lemurin or Atlnten type, but born into fifth rce body, it presents curious nd interesting study. (The resons for such birth cnnot here be enlrged upon ; briefly, s the more dvnced ntions nnex the lnds occupied by little evolved tribes, nd kill them off either directly or indirectly, the people thus evicted from their bodies hve to find new hbitts ; summrily the suitble svge conditions re becoming rrer nd rrer, under the ever expnding flood of higher rces, nd they hve to tke birth under the lowest vilble conditions, such s the slums of lrge cities, in fmilies of criminl types. They re drwn to the conquering ntion by krmic necessity.) Such persons incrnte in fifth rce bodies of the worst vilble mteril. in these fifth rce bodies the qulities They then show out tht belong to the fourth or the third ; nd though they hve the physicl outer nervous orgntion, they hve not the internl differentition in the nervous mtter tht only comes with the ply on physicl mtter of energies coming from the strl nd mentl worlds. We observe in them the non-responsiveness to impressions from out side, unless the impressions re of violent order, tht mrks the low grde of development of the individul consciousness. We notice the flling bck into inerti when violent physicl stimulus bsent ; the recurrent crving for such violent stimulus when roused by physicl necessities ; the stirring into fint mentl c tivity under vehement impcts on the sense-orgns, nd the blnkness when the sense-orgns re t rest ; the complete bsence of ny response to thought or high emotion not rejection but n unconsciousness of it. Excitement or violence in such person cused s rule by something outside by something coming before him physiclly which h dwning mind connects with the possibility of grtifying some pssion which he remem bers, nd desires gin to feel. Such person my not be intent on robbery or murder t ll, but my be stimulted into either or both by the mere sight of well-dressed psser-by who seems likely to hve money money, tht mens grtifiction by food, drink or sex. The stimulus to ttck the psser-by t once given, nd will be followed physicl t once by ction, unless checked by nd obvious dnger, such s the sight of policemn.

14 302 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW It the embodied physicl tempttion which rouses the ide of committing the crime ; mn who plns crime beforehnd more highly developed ; the mere svge commits crime on the impulse of the moment, unless fced by nother physicl embodi ment, tht of force which he fers. And when the crime committed, he impervious to ll ppels to shme or remorse ; he susceptible only to terror. These remrks do not, of course, pply to the intelligent criminl, but only to the congenitl brutl nd obtuse type, the third or fourth rce svge in fifth rce body. Clirvoynce We hve seen tht strl orgntion precedes nd shpes the physicl nervous system, nd we hve now to consider how th must ffect the workings of Consciousness. We should expect to find tht Consciousness on the strl plne will become wre of impcts on its strl sheth in vgue nd unprece wy, just s in the minerls nd the plnts nd the lowest nimls, it becme wre of impcts on its physicl body. Th wreness of strl impcts will long precede ny definite orgn tion in the strl sheth tht will evolve it into n strl body. And, s we hve seen, the first orgntion in the strl sheth response to impcts received through the physicl body, nd relted to the physicl body in its evolution. Th orgn tion hs nothing to do directly with the reception, co-ordintion nd understnding of strl impcts, but engged in being cted upon by, nd re-cting on, the physicl nervous system. Consciousness everywhere precedes Self-Consciousness, nd the evolution of Consciousness on the strl plne proceeds contem porneously with the evolution of Self-Consciousness these will be delt with in the next sections on the physicl. The impcts on the strl sheth from the strl plne pro duce vibrtory wves over the whole strl sheth, nd the un shethed Consciousness grdully becomes dimly wre of these surgings without relting them to ny externl cuse. It groping fter the much more violent physicl impcts, nd such power of ttention s it hs evolved turned on them. The ggregtions of strl mtter before mentioned nturlly shre in the generl surgings of the strl sheth, nd the vibrtions

15 THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS 303 mingle with those coming from the physicl the vibrtions sent down to it by the Consciousness body, nd ffect lso through these ggregtions. Thus connection estblhed between strl impcts nd the sympthetic prt in its evolution. As the Consciousness begins slowly to recogne the strl grdully clssified system, nd they ply considerble working in the physicl n externl world, these impcts from under the five senses s re the impcts from the physicl mingle with those from the physicl plne nd re not dtinguhed s being different from them in origin. So long s the sympthetic system cting s the dominnt pprtus of Consciousness, so long will the origin, strl or physicl, of impcts remin s the sme to Conscious ness. Even the higher nimls in which the cerebro-spinl system well developed, but in which it not sense-centres, the chief mechnm yet, sve in its of Consciousness fil to d tinguh between physicl nd strl sights, sounds, etc. A horse will lep over n strl body s though it were physicl one ; ct will rub herself ginst the legs of n strl figure ; dog will growl t similr ppernce. In the dog nd the horse there the dwning of n unesy sense of some difference, shown by the fer often mnifested of such ppernces by the dog, nd by the timidity of the horse. The nervousness of the horse despite which he cn be trined to fce the dngers of bttle field, nd even, s with Arb mres, lern to pick up nd crry wy h fllen rider through ll the lrming surroundings seems chiefly due to h confusion nd bewilderment s to h environment, nd h inbility to dtinguh between wht lter he will lernedly cll " objective relities," ginst which he cn injure h body, nd " delusions," or " hllucintions." To him they re ll rel, nd the difference of their behviour lrms him ; in the cse of n exceptionlly intelligent horse the nervousness often greter, s he evolves dwning sense of difference themselves, nd th yet more dquieting. tinguhes in the phenomen The svge, living more in the cerebro-spinl system, d between the physicl nd the strl, though the ltter to him re s "rel" s the physicl ; he reltes them to nother world, to which he relegtes ll things tht do not behve in the wy he considers norml, He does not know tht, with regrd

16 304 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW to these, he conscious through the sympthetic nd not through the cerebro-spinl system ; he conscious of them tht ll The Lemurins nd erly Atlntens were lmost more conscious strlly thn they were physiclly. Astrl impcts, throwing the whole strl sheth into wves, cme through the sense-centres of the strl to the sympthetic centres in the physicl body, nd they were vividly wre of them. Their lives were dominted by senstions nd pssions more thn by intellect, nd the specil pprtus of the strl sheth, the sympthetic system, ws the dominnt mechnm of Consciousness. As the cerebro-spinl system becme elborted, nd more nd more ssumed its peculir position s the chief pprtus of Consciousness on the physicl plne, the ttention of Conscious ness ws fixed more nd more on the externl physicl world, nd its spect of intelligence ws brought into greter nd greter prominence. The sympthetic system becme subordinte, nd its indictions were less nd less flood of the more violent physicl vibrtions. regrded, submerged under the Hence lessening of strl consciousness nd n increse of intelligence, though there still remins in lmost everyone vgue sense of nonunderstood impressions received from time to time. At the present stge of evolution th form of clirvoynce found in persons of very limited intellect ; to its rtionle, nd little control over its exerce. increse it re pt to cuse nervous dturbnces they hve little ide s Attempts to of very refrc tory kind, nd these ttempts re ginst the lw of evolution, which works ever forwrd towrds higher end, nd does not move bckwrds. As the lw cnnot be chnged, ttempts to work ginst it only cuse dturbnce nd dese. We cnnot revert to the condition in which the sympthetic system ws dominnt, sve t the cost of helth, nd of the higher intellectul evolution. Hence the serious dnger of following mny of the directions now publhed brodcst, to meditte on the solr plexus, nd other sympthetic centres. When the cerebro-spinl system thrown temporrily into beynce, the impulses from the strl sheth through the symp thetic system mke themselves felt in Consciousness. Hence " lucidity " in trnce, self-induced or imposed, the power of

17 THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS 305 crystl-reding, nd other similr devices. The prtil or com plete suspension of the ction of Consciousness n the higher vehicle cuses it to direct ttention on the lower. When by the ply of intellect nd the perfecting of the physicl intellectul pprtus, the orgntion of the strl body begins, then the true strl senses, clled the Chkrs, or wheels, from their whirling ppernce, re grdully evolved. These develope on the strl plne, s strl senses nd orgns, nd re built nd controlled from the mentl plne, s were the brincentres from the strl. Consciousness then working on the mentl plne nd building its strl mechnm, s before it worked on the strl plne, building its physicl mechnm. But now it works with fr greter power nd greter understnd ing, hving unfolded so mny of its powers. Further, it shpes centres in the physicl body from the sympthetic nd cerebro spinl systems, to ct s physicl plne pprtus for bringing into the brin consciousness the vibrtions from the higher plnes. As these centres re vivified, knowledge " brought through," i.e., grsped by Consciousness working in the physicl nervous system. Th the higher clirvoynce, powers of Con sciousness in the strl body intelligently exerced nd selfdirected. In th upwrd-climbing, the powers of Consciousness re wkened on the physicl plne, nd re then severlly wkened on the strl nd the mentl. The strl nd mentl sheths must be highly evolved ere they cn be frther developed into the subtle body, cting independently on the higher plnes, nd then building for itself the necessry pprtus for the exerce of these higher powers in the physicl world. And even here, when the pprtus redy, built by pure thought nd pure desire, it must be vivified on the physicl plne by the fire of Kundlini, roused nd directed by the Consciousness the physicl brin. (to be continued) working in Annie Besnt. / OF Iv. Vc. OF.- J

18 3 6 THE PIPER OF ELFAME The moorlnd trcks were spongy with wter; rindrops hung on bog-myrtle nd whortleberry twigs. There were purplebrown shdows in the goyls ; ws no mt. horizon dtnt. ll sounds were muffled, yet there The ir ws still, the dtnce cler nd soft, the Upon the moor where two rods met there st mn ; h hir ws grey, but he ws not old, it hd lost its colour in youth ; h fce kept the youthfulness h hir hd lost, it looked s though it would never grow old ; it ws delicte, joyous, untouched by cre or the fiend " worry." It hd boyh ness t vrince with h ctul ge, for he ws pst h thirtieth birthdy. He seemed to be witing, but with no egerness or im ptience. He sng folk-song of the West in low voice, mere sweet tuneful breth of sound ; he wtched hwk hovering high bove round brrow thick with brcken which ws chnging colour. He touched little blue flower growing in the hether, with delicte recognition of its beuty ; he did not pluck it. At lst he looked down the rod, mn ws wlking quickly towrds him ; th mn ws upright of bering, nd swift of movement ; he looked neither to the right nor to the left ; he pressed on over the moorlnd regrding neither flower nor bird. He who wited stood up; when the newcomer cme brest of him he spoke : " My good fortune! " he sid, with n ese nd friendliness uncommon in n Englhmn ddressing strnger, mnner hitting the hppy men between stiffness nd fmilirity. " The gods re good to me becuse I tret their hndiwork s I would wh mine to be treted. I m lost, nd st me down in pece in the hope of someone pssing before sunset. me?" The other, he ws spre, hrsh-fetured fce nd tightly shut lips, nswered : Cn you direct mn, with worn

19 THE PIPER OF ELFAME 307 " If I know where you re going perhps I cn. I looked t mp of the rods th morning, nd I crry such things firly clerly in my hed." " Is it possible? Wht gift! I never drem of giving such things house-room in my hed ; but then its spce limited. I don't mind where I go s long s I get lodging somewhere. I hve neither plns nor prejudices ; frmhouse brn would con tent me. But I wnt some shelter ; it too wet to sleep under the sky." The mn to whom he spoke h nme, Richrd Thrme, ws s hrsh s h fce hesitted ; t lst he sid : " If you don't mind where you go, perhps you hd better wlk with me. I do not know the villges, but I m going over yonder, nd I dresy we shll pss frm ; or even perhps where I m going someone might if you were belted on the moor or they would direct you to n inn." " Yes, perhps they would do so. I should scrcely venture to beg lodging of your friends for strnger." " " Friends! sid Thrme bluntly nd " brusquely. I'm not going to friends. I've comrde here nd there whom I qurrel with nd stick to ; but none in th soft, wet lzy-lnd. If you will tke guide who doesn't know h own wy over well, I'll guide you." "Thnk you," sid the other, wlking beside him. "Sy nothing ginst th lnd of the gods nd firies, I beg you. I ws here six weeks go ; the plce ws sheet of royl purple nd gold. Look t it now! Some gold remins, where the gorse -bloom. The hether dull brown nd green ; the brcken ple yellow nd russet brown. Look t the sweep of the hills, nd the drk tors ; see the little wterflls s white s milk flshing down the goyls. Wht bredth! wht perfume! wht freedom "! " Freedom! There's pron on th moor." " For God's ske don't remind me of then!look t the horizon line, nd the sky ple bove light, it it, it ple with fierceness of looks. See the shining strek tht runs ll long." It's " sign of bd wether," sid Thrme, who begn to wh he hd rested h instinct to put lost wnderers in the right rod. " You re probbly n " rtt?

20 308 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW He spoke s one who whes to mention ll extenuting circumstnces. " No ; you must not form so high n estimte of me. I only like to look t things." " At beutiful things? " sid Thrme with little sneer. " Of course. No mn in h senses looks t ugly ones ; but there relly very little ugliness." " Do you think so? " sid Thrme drily. " Wht of the people who hve to look t ugliness or go blind? " " I think most people who sy they re compelled to see ugliness re luntics who like it. dtinguh ugliness from beuty. Of course some people don't I knew womn who pinted jm-pots nd suce-bottles with Aspinll's enmel, nd stuck them bout her room." " She ws perhps blindly striving fter the beutiful," sid Thrme srcsticlly. The rel pitifulness which lurked in the hlf-comic story touched him, though he did not know why he should be touched ; the mn's tone nettled him. Thrme's pst mde the ttitude of h chnce cquintnce intensely jrring, especilly to h present mood ; whole string of mind-pictures rose before him ; ll the unsuspected intriccies nd subtleties, the joy nd pin of the phses of life which th mn seemed to put out of ccount. All tht he knew ws ignornce to Thrme, while ll tht ws to Thrme the most poignnt relity ws unseen nd unknown by the other. " Perhps she ws," he sid. " I never thought of tht. Lst week I ws in flt green country in the north ; it ws grey mty dy." " Ghstly blck-grey mt, with dsh of dirty yellow in it ; I know those northern towns." " No ; there ws colour in it, like the bloom on plum ;the clouds were the sme colour, with ple flme striking through them, where the sun ws hidden. with nun in blue gown rod ws bordered with poplrs in th country, s I cme to winding grey rod, nd white cp wlking long ; they don't understnd it ;the poplrs rule. There ws n old brown stone cross by tht rodside ;beyond the rod wound through flt green fields with the mt hnging over them; one field ws like long it

21 THE PIPER OF ELFAME 309 horse-shoe, bordered with trees touched bronze by erly utumn, tht bronze ws the sort of dy to bring out bronzes nd (it greens) mde bckground for field of willow withies." Grown for bsket weving, I" suppose?" I" don't know. Very likely. But the willow green ginst the bronze, in the quiet plum-grey mt ws mrvel of colouring!do you know the purpose of colour?" I" did not suppose hd ny. thing's red becuse b it sorbs some light wves, nd reflects others bck from its surfce." " I'm not thinking of the mechnicl process. Colour the lnguge of the gods thus they trnslte the 'things unspekble' to erth. They send divine ides sweeping throughout the world for ; few of us to interpret, A! It few to understnd it silently, nd for mny to feel without understnding. Tht's the whole purpose, mening nd office of colour in wter mountin." Thrme hesitted whether he ought to pity nd field, wood, plin, nd luntic or curse bbbling fool. " You get fine colour in London, too," pursued h com " pnion. Wonderful effects down by the river ;I've seen street of wet mud turned to gold, erly on winter's morning. And t evening, too, from the bridges, I've seen the silver-grey wter with fire roses glowing in in the hlf light fine to see nd to feel the throb of the city. It glorious to hve tht sense of life t full tide." " depends on the qurter you live in." Do you think so?" see beuty in ll. see street it, It I it, I ; it it mrket lit with flring nphth lmps. If you re red bove it on the top of 'bus, you see well." " You think people see things better when they're red bove them it ;perhps you're right. But you must climb from the street to rech the roof." You re llegoring I" think. chllenge your sttement. Of course you must climb to the roof, but you'll see eqully well if I you mount your 'bus in Prk Lne." rudely. The one mn ws suffering ply of fncy, thought nd speech. ;?" Do you understnd wht you see in " sid Thrme lmost the other ws enjoying the He nswered gily :

22 310 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW " You get the effect t ny rte. Wht plce tht fr wy over the moor? " " The pron." " They've no business to put it here." Thrme hd n impulse of unnecessry cndour such s sometimes vits very reserved people. " I'm on my wy to it," he sid. " My youngest brother lies ded there. I'm going to see h body." " You should hve told me you were in trouble. Tht must be gloomy plce in which to live s " hesittingly, for Thrme, though he spoke like mn of some eduction, hd rough method of pronuncition, nd ws very shbbily dressed " s wrder." " Or s convict, which ws my brother's cse." " I I beg your prdon for introducing subject which pins you. But, fter ll, there something beutiful in in " " In being convicted criminl? " " No ; I ws going to sy in being unjustly condemned." " Doubtless. Very beutiful sve for the condemned. But tht ws not my brother's position ; nd if others hd been born in the prticulr tide of the city's life in which he nd I found ourselves, perhps its glorious throbbing would hve tken them where it took him." " You men me? Quite likely. But I observe it hs not tken you there." " Chnce," replied Thrme, " nd obstincy. I forced my wy up ; forged hed, nd wrenched from fte better conditions. It ws too lte for him then ; h fte ws seled when he ws boy. Yet he ws better mn thn I, more kindly, more generous. Th ugly tlk, nd it revolts you, no doubt. But it does not revolt you more thn yours revolts me." " We won't tlk, then," sid the other. They trmped on in silence. It begn to grow dusk ; the clouds stooped suddenly nd wrpped the moor in their soft clmmy folds. The men wlked through the mt, till Thrme spoke: " I'm sorry," he sid. " I'm t fult. I don't know where we re."

23 still : " Do you see? " he sid gsping. THE PIPER OF ELFAME 3II They stood still ; the soft white mt drifted pst them wve like. There cme towrds them through the mt-wves fint piping, thin nd shrill. " There's someone whtling. A shepherd perhps," sid Thrme ltening. " Cn you tell which wy the sound comes? I cn't." The other ltened. " Th wy," he sid promptly. " We must leve the rod. My er will guide me." They wlked few pces over hether nd soft, spongy erth. The mt lifted little ; the piping sounded close t hnd, high, cler, nd flute-like. Thrme's compnion stood Thrme peered through the mt. " Yes," he sid. " I see the mn ; he's sitting on rock. I Hullo, suppose the people who live here re used to th wether. there! Cn you direct us? We're lost in the mt." " Common fte of mn," sid mellow voice, with curious lilt in it. " Which wy do you wh to go? So mny wys re right ; it depends which wy you hve chosen." " Where re we? " " In Elfme." " Tht doesn't men much to me," sid Thrme. He ws now stnding beside the piper ; slender youth with glittering eyes, ple fce, nd long fir hir on which dewdrops hung ; on h hed ws quint peked cp ; he hd reed pipe in h hnd. " Which the nerest villge from th prt of the moor? " little of " I know nothing of ny moor." Thrme stred t him. " Why, you're on mn " So re you in Elfme," sid the piper. " But you know s it s I it,! " he sid. of the moor. Ask your friend wht he knows of the plce." As he spoke he put the pipe to h lips nd sent ripples of sound into the mt. Thrme turned to h chnce trvelling compnion nd

24 313 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW strted. The mn's fce ws white with very nguh of joy ; h eyes stremed ters nd h mouth lughed ; he broke into rhythmic chnt of rpturous words ; he spoke of the hills nd vles s blze with light ; he told of voices singing nd lughing, nd the throb of hrp-strings pulsing through the ir ; he told of tll, white, yellow-hired women, nd men like poet's drem of the sons of God ; mde them shine with the light of their feet ; he told how they trod those hills nd he sng of the everblooming blossoms in their hnds nd binding their brows ; he cried out concerning the perfume of the flowers tht blew from them to him. nd Lstly he told of gret white tower upon the hill summit ; from its windows rosy light streming, within it sound of lughter nd song, nd t the door tll queen, with flme bout her brows, nd in her hnd blossoming rod tht gve forth music. And the mn strode up the hillside to meet the tll, we queen, lughing nd sobbing, out h rms into the mt. nd stretching Thrme herd h voice nd sw him vguely outlined through its lifting folds ; mn vnhed. on sudden the voice stopped, nd the Thrme turned to the piper. " You my be the devil," he sid. " I don't know who you re ; I never believed in him, nor in the good God who llows plces like the one in which I ws rered, nd suffers children to be born in them. But whether you re the devil or not, you shll not pipe wy my wits s you hve done tht fool's." " My good sir," sid the piper lughing, " I don't wnt your wits. I hve enough for my needs, which ll devil or mn cn resonbly demnd for immedite use. Why do you cll your friend fool? ' ' " He's no friend of mine," sid Thrme. "But if you sy you hve not tken h wits, you're lir. You hve driven him md with your piping, nd you hve murdered him, for he hs probbly fllen down dused mining shft, if there re ny on the moor." " By no mens," replied the piper. " To-morrow t sunre he will be sleeping on the hill summit, nd he will tell you, if you sk him, of h drems. He will write them down moreover, nd the world will be the firer becuse he hs hd vion of Elfme."

25 THE PIPER OF ELFAME 313 " Vions re not rel. There no Elfme." " Truly some hve sid thus," responded the piper. " But the west of them hve ffirmed tht your city eqully unrel. I plyed once to bhop who ws lost in the mt, s bhops s well s lymen sometimes my be ; the lmps of Elfme were lighted for him, but he thought my pipe the shrill crok of frogs, nd the light of the we queen will-o'-the-wp. Now on the other hnd there ws mn who escped from the pron yonder who found h wy to the very hert of firylnd. He styed there two dys nd nights nd then he ws found by h jilers sleep on the hill. Three dys therefter he died in pron ; they sid he died of exposure, but they were wrong. He died becuse he hd seen Elfme nd ws md with longing for it." " Will tht poor wretch do the sme? " " No. He hs power to tell h fellows concerning wht he hs seen. But when mn knows nd cnnot tell wht he knows, he sometimes dies, or goes md with dumbness nd longing." Thrme cst himself on the wet ground beside the rock, lening on h elbow nd looking up t the piper, who sid : " You re not frid of the devil then? " " Of you? No. Ply me into Elfme if you cn." " Or if I dre, so your eyes sy," sid the piper, lughing. He toyed idly with h pipe. " Ply! " sid Thrme imperiously. " Wht good in tht? " sid the piper. " You would only see the ugliness of Elfme, if I piped you there." " Is there ugliness in Elfme? " " Assuredly," sid the piper. " How else should there be beuty." " But he did not see it." " No ; he did not look for it. He never looks for the ugliness of the city, much less for tht of Elfme. He would live by bog side nd never see whether lost trveller ws struggling therein or no." " Do you pre him for tht? " " No," replied the piper. " I do not pre or blme bird or best for cting fter h kind. Nor do I pre you becuse you see nothing but the folk who re fst in slough.

26 314 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW He does not help those who re plunged in the mud ; but he serves those well who stnd on firm ground nd do not wh to her descriptions of the nture of morsses." " Must there lwys be ugliness? " sid Thrme with sigh. " So long s there beuty. In the grden of the King of Elfme there neither, so it sid." " Wht there, then? " " Tht which neither ugliness nor beuty, good or evil, plesure or pin. Cn you picture it? " " No." "No! " sid the piper, nd h pipe lughed nd sobbed t one nd the sme time. " Why should there be ny of these things? " sid Thrme. " If there something which none of them, why should we not hve done without them ll? " " Divers resons hve been given," sid the piper. "Whether they would stfy you I do not know." Thrme mused. The piper mde strnge music with h pipe. " The people of Elfme," sid Thrme, " if such there be, cn hve nothing in common with humnity." " Wht do you men by humnity? " sid the piper. " It word tht covers mny kinds of people ; so mny tht you could not find one word tht should pply to ll. If there were no such men s you, there would be wherein your people none to drin the sloughs sink nd die, none to cry out on ugliness, nd hrry people's souls becuse of wnt nd evil ; nd there would be no sints or sges who hd climbed to their thrones in Heven by the sinner's rod. If there were not such s he, the folk who like the sweet songs of Elfme would grow dry nd brren t hert, bewildered by the foulness you cnnot choose but see." " You re right, whoever you re. I see it eternlly." "It but hlf; they see the other hlf, nd the firer. There re men who see only the weknesses of the strong, the follies of the we, nd the sins of the sintlike. mt nd drkness." " They re to blme, re they? " They wnder in

27 THE PIPER OF ELFAME 315 " You re of them, nd should know. They hve their use. Nor re they more to blme thn those who blspheme Truth by refusing to see ugliness becuse of the beuty tht lwys hides in it ; who close their eyes to wekness, evil nd pin, who refuse to fce the drkness tht mkes possible the light. These re dzzled by light, nd see nothing clerly. A we mn sees Elfme nd your city too ; he knows the links tht bind ech to ech ; he knows the just mesure of the beuty nd ugliness tht re shining in the sun or lost in the mt. Do not qurrel with your trvelling comrde becuse he treds nother rod thn yours. Mke stright h pth, so tht when the wys re clen enough for him to wlk them without shuddering he my bring the songs of Elfme to ring in the city's hert." " The mt lifting," sid Thrme. " The wind ring. There's the moon. Well! fery or humn, whichever you be, you hve tlked with me s mn to mn. You hve not fooled me." " There ws no need," sid the piper grvely. " You cn do it for yourself ; I would wh pece upon you if yours were the wy of pece. " The mt hd vnhed; bright moonshine showed the sweep of the moors, nd pile of rocks on the summit of the hill. Thrme nodded to the piper, nd turned to wlk towrds the dtnt pron. A shrill music crept fter him, nd dnced round him s he went ; he turned, nd sw the piper stnding on the hilltop cirn ; h pipe ws t h lips, nd the high sweet notes were echoed from the sleeping tors. Thrme never herd how h chnce trvelling compnion returned from Elfme ; he never knew h nme, so tht when yer lter he hppened to see the book in which he told portion of wht he sw there, he pssed it by unred. Besides, in ny cse he ws too busy to red for he ws striking nd encountering gret blows on the very verge of the Slough of Despond. Michel Wood. it,

28 316 THE EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE AS TO THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES* Chrtin trdition will hve it tht lredy s erly s bout 30 A.D. the followers of Jesus were most bitterly persecuted by the Jewh uthorities. On the contrry, we know tht Chrtins nd Jews were undtinguhed by the Romn uthorities until the closing yers of the first century, nd tht, too, not only in Plestine but lso mong the Dpersion considertion which in the opinion of some critics tends somewht to weken the strength of the trditionl line of demrction which regrded s hving been drwn between Jew nd Gentile Chrtins in the Dpor by Puline propgnd. Moreover, we re further ssured by Tlmud scholrs tht ccording to Jewh trdition Jews nd Jewh Chrtins were not dtinctly seprted out till the reign of Trjn ( d.), or even still lter in Hdrin's time ( d.). It impossible to reconcile these contrdictory dt ; for though we my lmost entirely eliminte the negtive evidence of clssicl writers by the persusion tht the officil Romn ws ignornt or creless of the rights or wrongs of the contemptuously lumped Jew sme fmily s fr s their superstitio mtter, nd nd Chrtin together s of the ws concerned, the Chrtin nd Jewh trditions pper to be in stritest contrdiction, even though we suppose tht the Plestinin Rbb who first evolved the Tlmud pid ttention only to the stte of ffirs in the lnd of Isrel proper nd were not concerned with the Dpersion. It my indeed be tht in the beginning the Tnic Rbb pid no ttention to Gentile Chrtins of ny grde in Plestine, but regrded them s Hethen, nd the vst mjority of them s Amme-h-retz, entirely outside the ple of Jewry nd its privi * Th series of studies begn in the June number.

29 THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 317 leges ; it my be tht they were only concerned with born Jews who were bndoning the externls of the Lw nd introducing into Jewry wht the Rbb considered to be polythetic views which set t nught the rigid monothetic commndments of the Torh. But even so, if the testimony of Pul s to himself genuine, there ws the bitterest persecution lmost century before the Tlmud indirectly dmits it. Now in spite of the brillint criticl bility of vn Mnen nd h school I m still inclined to regrd the mjority of the Puline letters s lrgely genuine, nd therefore s being our erliest htoricl witnesses to Chrtinity. From these we lern tht lredy upwrds of genertion before the fll of Jeruslem, which immensely intensified the propgnd of more liberl nd spiritul views throughout the ntion, there ws bitter persecution on the prt of the Jewh uthorities ginst heresy, nd tht mong the victims of th persecution were the followers of Jesus. We do not hve to deduce th from enigmticl sentences or confused trditions, but on the contrry we hve before us wht purports to be not only the testimony of n eye witness, but the confession of one who hd tken leding prt in the persecution. In h Letter to the Gltins 13) Pul declres tht before h (i. conversion he ws engged in persecuting nd "wsting" the " Church of God." If th declrtion of the gret propgndt sttement of fct, nd not rhetoricl embellhment, generous exggertion in contrition for previous hrshness (be gotten of zel for the " trdition of the fthers towrds those with whom he ws now the co-believer, in stritest contr it diction with the opinion of these Tlmudic ") or scholrs who ssert tht Jews nd Jewh Chrtins continued together comprtive hrmony till the reign of Trjn. The grphic detils of th persecution s given in the Acts, nd its fr-reching chrcter, s suggested by the furnh ing of Pul by the uthorities with letters ginst the heretics even mong the Dpersion t Dmscus, my presumbly be set down s of circumstnces in lter Hggdic expnsion, or the scription of lter dte to Puline times.* But we hve to ccount for the extence of * " " Church t Dmscus Otherwe t dte when, ccording to cnonicl trdition, the first Church t Jeruslem hd hrdly been formed.

30 318 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW whtever ws the exct nture of the " hvoc " in the time of Pul, t the time of the redction of the Acts ( d.) it ws still lively remembrnce tht there hd been much persecution t the hnds of the Jews, tht to sy most probbly from the Mhnic Rbb nd their dherents fct confirmed by the Tlmud, which in number of pssges llows us to conclude tht during the first thirty-five yers of the second century the gret Akib himself, who ws so zelous for the Lw, nd the virtul founder of the Tlmud method, ws the most strenuous nd implcble opponent of Chrtinity. And if there ws persecution, there must hve previously been con troversy, nd controversy of the most embittered nture, nd if bitter dpute then presumbly scndl nd slnder. We re certin then tht the strife ws t fever het in the first qurter of the second century, just prior to the compiltion of our four cnonicl Gospels ; the " " common document (s we sw in previous pper) shows further tht it ws in mnifest tion some hlf century prior to the redction of these documents, sy somewhere bout 75.d., while if we cn ccept the testi mony of the Letter to the Gltins s tht of genuine declr tion by Pul himself, we must push bck the beginnings struggle nother hlf century or so.* Seeing, then, tht few reject th testimony, us re concerned of the s fr s most of there nothing priori to prevent the genes of the originl forms of some of these Tlmud stories going bck even to some 30 yers.d., while for others we cn t best only push their origin bck stge by stge with the evolution of Chrtin dogm tht to sy with the externling nd htoricing of the mystic techings of the inner trdition. As * In th connection it would be interesting to determine the exct dte of Pul's conversion, but th impossible to do with ny precion. The vrious uthorities give it s nywhere between d., the 28 limit mking it lmost coterminous with the erliest possible dte of the crucifixion ccording to the cnonicl dt. Th erly dte, however, llows no time for nything but sudden nd unorgned outbrek of officil fury directed ginst the followers of Jesus immeditely fter h execution (ccording to cnonicl trdition), nd such sudden outbrek seems out of keeping with the extended " persecuting" nd "wsting" of the "Church of God " referred to by Pul. But ws the " Church " of trdition s imgined by the scribe of the Acts (viii. 3), the sme s the " Church of God " in Pul's living memory? Did the ltter then possess the identicl story relted century lter in the cnonicl Gospels? And if so, why does Pul seem to be lmost entirely ignornt of th story in spite of lengthy cquintnce with tht " " Church while wsting it, nd in spite of subsequent conversion?

31 Chrtin populr propgnd pths of prosic THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 319 grdully deprted from the sober htory nd simple ethicl instruction, owing to the externling of the exlted nd romntic experiences of the mystics nd the bringing of the " mysteries " to erth by htoricing them, so did the Rbbinicl opponents of th new move ment confront its extrvgnce with the remorseless logic of mteril fct. For instnce, the Chrt (sid the mystics) ws born of " vir gin "* ; the unwitting believer in Jesus s the htoricl Messih in the exclusive Jewh sense, nd in h being the Son of God, ny God Himself, in course of time sserted tht Mry ws tht vir gin ; whereupon Rbbinicl logic, which in th cse ws simple nd common logic, met th extrvgnce by the nturl retort tht Jesus ws therefore illegitimte, bstrd (Mmzer). Round th point there nturlly rged the fiercest con troversy, or rther it ws met with the most contemptuous retorts, which must hve broken out the instnt the virginity of Mry s physicl fct ws publicly mooted by the simple believers of the generl Chrtin body. Th prticulr dogm, however, must hve been comprtively lte development in the evolution 01 populr Chrtinity, for the " common " document knows nothing of the writers of the second nd fourth Gospels it, it, tcitly reject while some of the erliest redings of our Gospels dtinctly ssert tht Joseph ws the nturl fther of Jesus. For the Mmzer element in the Tlmud stories, therefore, we hve, in my opinion, no need to go bck further thn the first qurter of the second century or so s the erliest terminus quo. For most of the other min elements, however, we hve no mens of fixing dte limit by the criticm of cnonicl docu ments ;ll we cn sy tht s erly s 30.d. even circum stnces were such s to led us to expect the circultion of stories of hostile nture. From the persecution t in the time of Pul till the redction of * The spiritul birth, by which mn becomes " twice-born " the simple mystic fct tht so puzzled the Rbbi Nicodemus, ccording to the writer of the fourth Gospel. ffor the ltest study of th subject see F. C. Conybere's rticle, " Three Erly Doctrinl Modifictions of the Text of the Gospels," in The Hibbert Journl (London 1902), ; I. i.

32 320 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW the Acts full century elpses, from which we hve preserved no witnesses tht will help us concerning nything but the Mntzer element. And even when, following immeditely on the period of the Acts redction, we come to the testimony of Justin Mrtyr,* in the middle of the second century, we hve to be content with generlities, though fortuntely (in th con nection) such generlities s put it entirely out of doubt tht stte of ffirs hd long exted such s presupposes the extence nd wide circultion of similr stories to those found in the Tlmud. From the generl testimony of Justin, no mtter how we my dcount it by h demonstrble blundering in some points of detil, we re certin tht the seprtion between Jews nd Chrtins hd for yers been mde bsolute, nd if we cn trust the repeted sttements of th enthustic pologt, we must believe tht the stges of the seprtion hd been throughout mrked by bitterness nd persecution of quite medievl chrcter. In h first Apology Justin seeks to rebut the objection tht the one whom the Chrtins cll " " the Messih ws simply mn born of humn prents, nd tht h wonder-workings were done by mgicl mens the min contention of the Tlmud Rbb ;t th he does by ppel to prophecy (c. xxx.). Develop ing h rguments Justin nively dmits tht the Chrtins bse themselves on the Septugint Greek trnsltion! of the Hebrew propheticl writings ; nevertheless he ccuses the Jews of not understnding their own books, nd surpred tht h cobelievers re considered s foes nd enemies by the Jews becuse of their interprettion of Hebrew prophecy point, we my remrk, in which modern criticm prcticlly sympthes with the Rbb. Ny, so bitter were the Jews ginst them, tht whenever they hd hd the power they hd not only punhed the The dtes of Justin's genuine writings re vriously conjectured, but the generl opinion tht they my be plced d. t Lctntius (Institt. Div., v. 3,) lso t the beginning of the fourth century, in forms us tht the Romns still regrded Jesus s mgicin, nd tht the Jews from the beginning hd ttributed the wonder-doings to mgicl mens. { In connection with the origin of which Justin commits ludicrous blunder, when he mkes Herod contemporry of Ptolemy, the founder of the Alexndrin Librry n nchronm of 250 yers!

33 Chrtins but lso put them THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 321 to deth chrge he repets in severl pssges ;* declring tht in h own dy the Jews were only deterred from doing so by the Romn uthorities.t For instnce, in the recent revolt ginst the Romns led by Br Kochb ( d.), Justin declres tht th populr Messih specilly singled out the Chrtins for torture if they refused to deny tht Jesus ws the Messih nd utter blsphemies ginst him (c. xxxi.). It to be noted, however, tht Eusebius nd others I stte tht Br Kochb punhed the Chrtins (tht to sy, Jewh Chrtins resident in Plestine) for politicl resons, becuse they refused to join their fellow countrymen ginst the Romns, nd not on theologicl grounds. If, nevertheless, in spite of th conflict of testimony, we re still to believe Justin, it of interest to remember tht R. Akib, the founder of the Tlmudic method, nd the Rbbi who represented in the Tlmud s the gretest opponent of Chrtinity, threw ll h gret influence on the side of Br Kochb, cknowledged him s the true Messih nd pid the penlty of h enthustic chmpionship with h life. From Justin's Dilogue with Tryphon we derive still further informtion, the interest of which would be gretly incresed for our present reserch if the identifiction of Justin's Tryphon with the R. Trphon of the Tlmud, the contemporry of Akib, could be mintined. In ddition to the generl declrtion tht the Jews hte the Chrtins (c. xxxv.) stte of ffirs summed up in The Letter to Diognetus (c. v.), which some still ttribute to Justin, in the words " the Jews mke wr ginst the Chrtins s ginst foreign ntion " we hve some importnt detils given us which, ccording to the fncy nd tste of the reder, cn either be set down s embellhments begotten of odium theologicum, or be tken s throwing htoric light on the stte of ffirs nd temper the times which originted the Tlmud Jesus stories. - Thus in ch. cxvii., speking of Jesus s the " Son of God," See Dil. c. Tryph., xvi., ex., exxxiii. f Ibid., xvi. { Eusebius, Chron., nd Orosius, Ht., vii. 13 ; (Jen; 1847), 79. i. But see Strck's EinUitung in cf. den Tlmud (3rd ed.), p. 80. of note to Otto's Justini Oper

34 322 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW nd ddressing the Jew Tryphon, Justin dds, " whose nme the high priests nd techers of your people hve cused to be pro fned nd blsphemed throughout the erth." If th ccustion ws true in Justin's.time, it cn only refer to the spreding fr nd wide of inimicl stories bout Jesus ; t tht time stories of th kind were spred everywhere throughout the Romn empire, nd the source of them ws ttributed by the Chrtins to the Jewh priestly rtocrcy nd especilly to the Rbbinicl doctors, in other words the Mhnic Tlmudts of those dys nd erlier. Moreover Justin twice (ccxvii. nd cviii.) ctegoriclly sserts tht fter the " resurrection " the Jews sent out specilly elected body of men, some sort of officil commsion pprently, " throughout the world," to proclim tht godless nd lwless sect hd ren from one Jesus, Glilen impostor, whose followers sserted tht he hd ren from the ded, wheres the fct of the mtter ws tht he hd been put to deth by crucifixon nd tht subsequently h body hd been stolen from the grve by h dciples (c. cviii.). The genes of th extensive commsion my with gret probbility be scribed to the imgintive rhetoric of Justin plying on the germ provided by the floting trdition, tht Pul ws furnhed with letters of repression ginst the heretics when he set forth for Dmscus, s stted by the compiler of the Acts. A commsion to dprove the dogm of the physicl resurrection would not hve been necessry until tht dogm hd gined firm root in populr belief, nd th we hold ws lte develop ment (the vulgr htoricing of mystic fct) though somewht erlier thn the dogm of the immculte conception ; but even so it would pper to be somewht out commsion to del with th point only. bsurd proceeding to send There my be, however, some greter substrtum of truth in Justin's repeted ssertions (cc. xvi.,xcvi. nd cxxxiii.) tht it ws the custom of the Jews publicly to curse those who believed on " the Chrt " in their syngogues ; nd to th he dds tht not only were the Jews forbidden by their Rbb to hve ny del ings of ny kind with Chrtins (c. cxii.), but tht they were dtinctly tught by the Phree Rbb nd the leders of their

35 THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 323 syngogues to revile nd mke fun of Jesus fter pryer (c. cxxxvii.). In fct Justin will hve it tht ll the preconceived evil opinion which the generl public cherhed ginst the Chr tins ws originted by the Jews (c. xvii.), whom he ccuses of delibertely stting tht Jesus himself hd tught ll those impious, unspekble nd detestble crimes with which the Chrtins were chrged (c. cviii.) n ccustion which in no cse cn be substntited by the Tlmud pssges, nd which we my presumbly set down to Justin's rhetoric. But, whether or not Justin cn be believed in ll h detils, nd no mtter how we my soften down h sttements, there still remins strong enough evidence to show tht in h dy the bitterest hostility exted between Jews nd Chrtins, or t ny rte between officil Judm nd tht type of Chrtinity for which Justin stood. Since Justin ttributes ll the scndlous stories bout Chrtins,* nd ll the scoffing t the most cherhed beliefs of Justin nd the populr Chrtinity of h dy to the Rbb, it evident tht wht the Jews sid ws the very ntipodes of wht Justin believed, nd tht, s my be seen from the retort of the steling of the body, the gretest mircles nd dogms of populr Chrtinity were met on the side of the Rbb by the simplest retorts of vulgr reson. The evidence of Justin, therefore, tken s whole leves us with very strong impression, ny, for ll but irreconcilbles, produces n bsolute conviction, tht in h time, tking our dtes t minimum, stories similr to, nd even more hostile thn, the Tlmud stories were in widest circultion ; while Justin himself will hve it tht they were in circultion from the very beginning of things Chrtin. So fr, however, we hve come cross nothing but generlities ; we hve filed to find nything * In connection with which it of mournful interest to note tht Origen (C. Cels., vi. 27) sys tht when " Chrtinm " first begn to be tught, the Jews spred bout reports tht the Chrtins, presumbly in their secret rites, scrificed child nd te its flesh, nd tht their meetings were scenes of indcriminte immorlity ; tht even in h own dy (c. 250.d.) such chrges were still believed ginst them, nd they were shunned by some on th ccount. The curious vitlity of th slnder remrkble, for not only did the generl Chrtins ot those dys chrge the " heretics " of the Chrtin nme, to whose ssemblies they could not gin ccess, with precely the sme crime of ceremonil murder, but even up to our own dys in Anti-semitic Estern Europe it still the fvourite vulgr chrge ginst the Jews strnge turning of the wheel of fte!

36 324 THB THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW of definite nture which we cn identify with some dtinct detil of the Tlmud stories. To do th we must mount some qurter of century, nd turn to the frgments of Celsus preserved to us in the polemic of Origen, who wrote h refuttion of Celsus's ttck on the Chr tins somewhere towrds the middle of the third century. Origen in h prefce ( 4) tells us tht Celsus himself ws long since ded, nd lter on he dds more precely tht Celsus lived bout Hdrin's time (emp d.), nd lter. The most lerned of the Church Fthers, however, seems to hve blundered in th respect, nd though there (i. 8) still dpute s to the exct dte, modern criticm, bsing itself on dt supplied by the pssges cited by Origen from Celsus's True Word, generlly of opinion tht Celsus survived till s lte s 175.d. In ny cse Origen wrote full seventy-five yers fter Celsus hd withdrwn from the controversy, nd though we my plce the writing of the sttements of Celsus s lte s 175.d., we hve lso to llow for the possibility, if not the probbility, tht the memory of th sturdy opponent of Chrtinity my hve reched bck some qurter or even hlf century erlier. Celsus in h trete rhetoriclly throws mny of h rgu ments into the form of dpute between Jew nd Jesus (Pref. nd 28.) Th Jew declres tht the extrordinry things Jesus seems to hve done were effected by mgicl mens 6), nd Origen lter on (iii. sys tht th ws the generl ccus tion brought ginst the mircle-workings by ll Jews who were not Chrtins. Th one of the min elements of the Tlmud 6, stories. i. 1) From quottion from Celsus 26) we further lern tht " the Jews sserted tht very few yers " hd elpsed since the dogm of Jesus being the " Son of God " hd been promulgted by the Chrtins, doubtless referring to the dogm of the " virgin birth," for the pssge cn hrdly men tht Jesus begn h teching only few yers prior to the writing of Celsus's trete. Developing h rgument, the Jew goes on to sy 28) tht the dogm of the " virgin birth " ws n invention, the fcts of the cse being :" tht Jesus hd come from villge in Jude, nd ws the son of poor Jewess who gined her living by the (i. (i. (i.

37 THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 325 work of her own hnds ; tht h mother hd been turned out of doors by her husbnd, who ws crpenter by trde, on being convicted of dultery; tht being thus driven wy by her husbnd, nd wndering bout in dgrce, she gve birth to Jesus, bstrd ; tht Jesus on ccount of h poverty (hd to work for h living nd) ws hired out to go to Egypt ;* tht while there he cquired certin (mgicl) powers which Egyptins pride themselves on possessing ; tht he returned home highly elted t possessing these powers, nd on the strength of them gve himself out to be god."t In th pssge from Celsus we hve precely the min outline of the Tlmud Jesus stories, nd therefore n exct externl proof tht in h dy t ny rte (whenever tht ws, whether or even ) stories precely similr to the Tlmud stories were the stock-in-trde Jewh objections to Chrtin dogmtic trdition. And if more prece proof still demnded we hve only to turn over few pges of Origen's voluminous refuttion (i. to the pssge 32), where the Church Fther gin refers to the quottion from the Jew of Celsus given bove, nd dds the im portnt detil from Celsus tht the prmour of the mother of Jesus ws lter on (i. soldier clled Pnther, 69), in nme which he lso repets sentence, by the by, which hs in both plces been ersed from the oldest Vticn MS., nd bodily omitted from cely the nme given Jesus simply. clled Jeschu But before Jthree codices in th country nd from others. Now th in some of the Tlmud stories ben Pnder (or we leve Origen it ; pre in them Pndir), or Ben Pender my be useful to note one or two scrps of informtion which he hs let fll in the controversy, nd which re of importnce for us in our present investigtion. Cn th possibly be bsed on some vulgr version of well-known Gnostic myth of those dys Jesus went down s servnt or slve into Egypt tht to sy, the Chrt or divine soul descends s servnt into the Egypt of the body. It common element in the erly mystic trditions tht the Chrt took on the form of servnt in h descent through the spheres, nd in mny trditions Egypt the symbol of the body, which seprted by the " Red Se " nd the " " Desert from the " Promed Lnd." *? fthe lst two prgrphs re gin quoted by Origen JSee notes on both pssges by Lommtzsch in h Origett contr Celsuni (Berlin 1845). ; (i. 38). ;

38 326 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Referring to the htoriced t the Bptm, Celsus mystery of the descent of the Dove puts the rgument into the mouth of h Jew 48), tht there no testimony for th except the word of one of those who met with the sme punhment s Jesus. To (i. th Origen replies tht it gret blunder on Celsus's prt to put such n rgument into the mouth of Jew, for " the Jews do not connect John with Jesus, nor the punhment of John with tht of Jesus." Now in the first plce to be observed tht Celsus sys nothing bout ny " John," nd the second tht Origen it gives us clerly to understnd tht the Jews denied tht John the Bptt, who ws well-known htoricl chrcter, hd nything to do with Jesus. Th n importnt piece of evidence for those who believe tht the Bptt element, which does not pper in the " common document," ws lter development. Cn be Celsus hd in mind some erly form of the Bptm story,tht in which some other thn John the Bptt plyed prt Elsewhere Celsus, in speking of the betryl of Jesus, does not scribe sttement it if in? it to Juds, but to " mny dciples " (ii. 11), curious Celsus repeting wht he hs herd or red, nd not merely guilty of gross error or of wilful exggertion. But indeed Celsus ctegoriclly ccuses the Chrtins (ii. 27) of chnging their gospel story in mny wys in order the better it to nswer the objections of their opponents ;h ccustion tht some of " them, s were in drunken stte producing selfinduced vions,* remodel in their gospel from its first written form threefold, fourfold nd mnifold fshion, nd reform it so tht they my be ble to refute the objections brought ginst it." Th my be tken to men either tht the Chrtins were engged in doing so in Celsus's dy, or tht such redcting ws hbitul. If, however, we re to regrd the " threefold " nd " fourfold " of Celsus s referring to our three nd four cnonicl Lit., "coming to pper to themselves" ets to it(rr.vi uro. Th very puzzling sentence trnslted by F. Crombie (The Works of Origen, Edin burgh, 1872, in "The Ante-Nicene Chrtin Librry") s "ly violent hnds upon themselves," which does not seem to be very pproprite in th connection. But e>co"ti'cu the usul word used of drems nd vions, nd hve therefore ven tured on the bove trnsltion. Celsus probbly ment to suggest tht these Chrtin writers were the victims of their own hllucintions those who under stnd the importnce of the vion-fctor in the evolution of Chrtin dogm nd "htory" will thnk Origen for preserving th expression of h opponent, though they my put construction on the words tht neither Celsus nor Origen would hve greed with * I ;

39 THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES 327 gospels, nd h " mnifold " s referring'to the " mny " of our " Lukn " introduction, it difficult to imgine tht th ws going on in Celsus's time unless h memory went bck some fifty yers or so. It therefore, more simple to regrd the sttement, s mening tht the externl gospel story hd been continully ltered nd reformulted to meet objections, in brief, tht the ltest forms of it were the product of literry evolution in which mystic experiences plyed prominent prt. We thus see tht the testimony of Celsus, n entirely outside witness, not only strongly endorses the generl testimony of Justin, but lso dds convincing detils which conclusively prove tht the Jewh Jesus stories of h dy were precely of the sme nture s those we find in the Tlmud, nd though we cnnot conjecture with ny certinty wht my hve been the prece dte of ny prticulr story, we re justified in rejecting the contention of those who declre tht the Tlmud stories re ll of very lte dte, sy the fourth century or so, nd in climing tht there nothing to prevent most of them going bck to the middle of the second century, even on the most conservtive estimte, while some of them my go bck fr erlier. Advncing nother genertion we come to the testimony of Tertullin, which exceedingly importnt not only with regrd to the Tlmud Jesus stories, but lso in respect of fr more obscure line of trdition preserved in the medievl Toldoth Jeschu, or Htory of Jesus, s we shll see towrds the close of our re serches. Writing somewhere bout A.D., in h De Spetcul (c. xxx.), in highly rhetoricl perortion in which he depicts the glorious spectcle of the second coming, s he imgines when he shll see ll the Hethen opponents of the Chrtins, philosophers nd poets, ctors nd wrestlers in the it, Gmes, tossing on the billows of hell-fire, the hot-tempered Bhop of Crthge bursts out tht, perhps, however, fter ll he will not hve time to gze upon the tortures of the Hethenf but tht ll h ttention will be turned on the Jews who rged ginst the Lord? Then will he sy unto them your crpenter's son, your hrlot's son* - : " Th ;your Sbbth-breker, your See lso Jerome, Ad Htliodorum (Tom. IV., P. II., p. 12, ed. Bened.), nd compre Theodoret, H. S., iii. iz, s cited in Oehler Tertullini qu supersunt Omni (Leipzig 1853), 62, ; i. n s

40 328 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Smritn, your demon-possessed! Th He whom ye bought from Juds ; th He who ws struck with reed nd fts, d honoured with spittle, nd given drught of gll nd vinegr! Th He whom H dciples hve stolen secretly, tht it my be sid He ws ren, or the grdener bstrcted tht h lettuces might not be dmged by the crowds of vitors "! All these elements pper in order in the medievl Toldoth, nd the crpenter's son nd the hrlot's son pper in the Tlmud stories. We hve thus exhusted our externl evidence till the dte of the finl redction of the Mhn, d., beyond which it of no dvntge to go.* It my, however, be noted tht the Pnder hd the most extensive story must hve circultion of ll of them, nd must pre sumbly hve further hd some element in s fr s the nme ws concerned,t which ws so difficult to ignore, tht finlly becme incorported, though confusedly, in Chrtin trdition. Thus we find Epiphnius ( d.) stting (Her., lxxviii. 7), in the genelogy of Jesus, tht Joseph ws the son of it, it certin Jcob whose surnme ws Pnther ;while John of Dmscus, in the first hlf of the eighth century, in giving the genelogy of Mry, tells us (De Fid. Orthod., iv. 14) tht Jochim ws the fther of Mry, Brpnther the fther of Jochim, nd Levi the fther of Brpnther, nd therefore presumbly Pnther himself. But enough hs lredy been sid for our purpose, which ws the very simple one of dposing of the flimsy nd superficil rgument tht the Tlmud Jesus stories must hve been entirely the invention of lte Bbylonin Rbb, nd tht Mhnic times were utterly ignornt of them, s being too close to the supposed ctul fcts, which unthinking pologts further presume must hve been known to ll the Jews of Plestine. considertion of the stories themselves. We now pss to G. R. S. Med. See, however, Richrd von der Aim (i.e., Friederich Wilhelm Ghillny), Die Urtheile heidncher und jftdcher Schrifste.'ler der vier ersten Jhrhunderte uber Jesus und He ersten Chrten :Eine Zuschrift n die gebildeten Deutschen zur ueiteren Orientirung in der Frge uber die Gottheit Jesu (Leipzig 1864), continution of h Theologche Briefe n die Gebildeten der deutschen Ntion vols., Leipzig 1863). fgerld Mssey in h Nturl Genes (London 1883), ii. 489 sttes tht Porphyry ( d.), nother entirely outside witness, gives the nme Pnder s " Pnzerius" presumbly in some frgment quoted from h fmous Aginst the Chrtins but hve been unble to verify th unreferenced sttement. * ; I ; (3 ; ;

41 329 DOCTOR AND SAINT By the Poet A Dilogue Myself when young, did egerly frequent Doctor nd Sint, nd herd gret rgument About it nd bout : but evermore Cme out by the sme door wherein I went. " Ethics progressive science," remrked our Philosopher, in her most doctoril tone. " O der," sighed the Sint, " tht seems to mix up things so dredfully ; it leds to the ' sliding scle ' of morlity." The Philosopher snorted, bsolutely snorted. " Wht would you propose then? The sme rule of thumb for sint nd villin "? " No," replied the Sint, hesittingly. " / don't propose nything, I hven't sufficient brin power to formulte rules for nyone, but " fondly " I hve conscience." "I see," sid the Philosopher. "So, in the cse of the ' Schools ' telling you tht two' nd two mke four, nd if in some prticulr instnce, Ethics should cry loud to you tht they ought, by every morl rule, to mke five, you would er." " I don't know wht I should do," declred the Sint. " Perhps I should go home nd sk God to strengthen my poor " wek brin." I don't think you would," struck in the Poet grimly. " I think you would be much more likely to stnd in corner nd thnk God you were not s other men re, i.e., the Philosopher nd myself." The Sint smiled. These dilogues were of frequent occur rence. The Philosopher nd the Poet hd set themselves wht ppered likely to prove n impossible tsk, tht of piercing the

42 330 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW pprently impenetrble shroud of Ethics which enveloped th sweetly unresonble do." Sint. Sid the Philosopher to the Poet : " I know wht you would "Wht?" " Why. You would preen your plumge, flp your little wings nd proceed to tell us tht in your cse two nd two did ctully mke five. Becuse, s it ws necessry, for rttic purposes, tht the word should rhyme with ' strive,' nd 'four ' did not rhyme with 1 strive,' ergo, s the Beutiful the only True, so two nd two, by virtue of poet's license, did, could nd should mke five." " Very likely," ssented the Poet, with fine crelessness. " And then, too, wht joy it would give you to point to the Poet Decdent, def to tht music of Philosophy which supposed to rivl Apollo's lute. The sort of creture to whom Tennyson llows the qulity of 4 fntstic beuty ' Such s lurks In some wild Poet, when he works Without conscience or n im." " Without conscience," murmured the Sint (utomticlly, s it seemed). " Do you know wht will hppen to you? " sid the Philo sopher, ddressing the Sint " severely. Your poplectic con science will die, killed by pmpering, nd you will spend the rest of your life in stte of ' fntstic beuty ' like our friend (looking t the Poet) without one." not here The Sint smiled. " Not in th incrntion, I think. I m brod-minded, you know, like you nd the Poet, but I cn lwys see the next step, just the next, nd no more." " Good Lord! " exclimed the Poet. " How hideously un interesting. No horizons! No free-brething; no nothing, but just tht ' " next step.' " I don't know," mused the Philosopher. " There re worse sttes of mind thn seeing the next step, s certin even oe your own poets hve sid," turning to the Poet : " Keep Thou my feet ; I do not sk to see The dtnt scene ; one step enough for me.'

43 DOCTOR AND SAINT 331 " Quote firly," scremed the Poet. " Wht? " sid the Philosopher. " Quote firly," repeted the Poet. " Give us the context." " I cn't," sid the Philosopher. " Why? " " I hve no memory for detil," loftily. " Then don't ply with edged tools," sid the Poet, " or the knife my cut you though tht quite detil. But the reson tht the uthor of 1 Led, Kindly Light,' sks to hve h feet kept, nd only to be shown one step t time, becuse he hs seen so much in h previous experiences tht he eye sore nd brin-sick. He hs hd, s it were, debuch of vion, nd ennuye. The cure now the ' next step ' tretment. He tells us so, plinly enough : I ws not ever thus, nor pryed tht Thou Shouldst led me on ; I loved to choose nd see my pth ; but now Led Thou me on. * * * * Keep Thou my feet ; I do not sk to see The dtnt scene ; one step enough for me." " The true htory of the conversion of soul," murmured the Sint. "Conversion of fiddlestick," lughed the Poet. "The mn ws brin-tired nd hert-sick nd wnted rest nd n nodyne. He found it in the ever-welcoming rms of the Holy Romn Church! " Here the dilogue ws interrupted. C. F. Like the Romn soldiers we hve stripped from Him the crpenter's clothes, nd put upon Him the purple rgs of wonder working imperilm, nd plced in H hnd the sceptre of worldly ostenttion, nd in tht gue we hve.bowed the knee to the purple nd the sceptre, nd doing homge to these things, we hve cried, " Behold our God! " But now the time hs come when we must tke from off Him these twdry trppings, nd give Him bck H workmn's grments. Then we my find ourselves constrined to bow the knee gin in purer homge, offered no longer to the clothes but to the Mn. Bcon, Dt Argumtnt Scitntirum.

44 332 A GHOST-THEORY Nture, s everyone knows, or should know, tkes her slow, sure revenges ; dmintrting not merely without fvour, but with pure indifference, be the result wht it my. It dconcerting perhps, yet most slutry, to note how convincingly, t length, her " plin story " will " " put down opinions long held for vlid ; to find tht so fr from h getting hed of the gret Mother, to ny rel purpose, she hs t one stride dtnced her self-ppointed stewrd ; mrching pst him, with the key to her mysteries yet sfe t her girdle. The whirligig of Time, indeed, for the most csul observer, brings bout strtling chnges, not only in the physicl world, but lso, nd more noticebly, in tht of knowledge, or experimentl belief. Were the sues involved but vible t one glnce these chnges, or, s the cse my well be, reversls merely, would doubt less stonh us still more less on ccount of wht would pper s contrsts thn by reson of the fundmentl oneness mrking the stupendous whole. Shut in, s we re, however, from our very birth by nrrowing wlls of vible mtter, nd depending, s we must, chiefly upon the bodily senses for lmost every externl evidence of cuse nd effect, it smll wonder tht we erly regrd s substnce wht, t best, purely ccidentl, sme time fil to rele hve, nd lmost course of nture. nd t the tht the " mirculous," so-clled, my certinly hs, entire ffinity with the ccepted Tht which strikes us s being novel, s hving no recogned precedent, need not, for ll tht, imply ny rel infringement of settled lw ; it fr more probbly represents simply nother, nd clerer, view of given phenomen tht hve been in ctive, though unobserved, exerce from time immemoril. It fmilir trum tht modern science hs led to the re

45 A GHOST-THEORY djustment of mny preconceived ide ; tht wht my firly be termed the spontneous dcoveries of ny ge more thn keep pce with norml intellectul progress, less generlly dmitted, though the significnce of th lst fct cn scrcely be over estimted. The often cruel ssocitions of primitive witchcrft, nd the qusi-sublime enthusm of Spinoz or Swedenborg, for in stnce, re but seprte phses of one perstent intuition n intuition tht, while fluctuting s regrds its prcticl results, ge fter ge, yet t no single period hs secured for its mys terious clims more thn n rbitrry, inconclusive hold on the imgintion. And yet, notwithstnding the growth of generl knowledge nd the dvnce mde of lte yers in the exct sciences, the vitlity of th ever-bffling intuition hs never, perhps, been more in evidence thn it t present. Until yesterdy, so to spek, it ws usul to bestow merely tolernt smile upon the old-fshioned belief in spectres, yet few up-to-dte thinkers would now cre to endorse, without reserve, Sir Wlter Scott's sweeping dictum tht " the incresing civiltion of ll well-regulted countries hs blotted out the belief in ppritions." On the contrry, most cndid minds would doubtless gree with Herbert " Spencer, tht the propitition of the spirits of ncestors the first germ in ll religion " ; nd would deduce from th tht the revived spiritulm of our own dy descends linelly from susceptibilities too closely bound up with generl humn consciousness to be lightly desped. Here, however, it sought merely to tret briefly of but one prticulr in connection with spectres, tht would seem to suggest fresh reding of n estblhed trdition, tht, viz., which scribes to the conventionl ghost n ir of deep, methodicl reserve, if not of downright restrint. Self-consciousness, s dtinct from pre-determintion, tht to sy, does not seem to ply ny prt in ghostly deportment ; still less re spectres represented s showing the slightest interest in the behviour of chnce specttor. A shdowy form, wrpped in preternturl loofness, the usul description given of such ppernces ; the whole bering

46 334 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW of the typicl ghost greeing in th respect with tht of somnmbult, of hypnotm. nd compring even more closely with the effects Now, it well-known tht some hypnotts, besides possess ing the power of influencing subject, re lso ble to hypnote themselves, pssing t will into stte of temporry unconscious ness. Is it not, then, t lest possible tht the preoccuption noticed in ccredited spectres my be simply the result of selfhypnotm? tht, since the will when concentrted upon one's personlity hs been proved to produce in certin cses n hypnotic condition, the occsionl tension of the mind t the supreme moment of so-clled deth my t times in like mnner more or less permnently influence the bent of the d embodied form? The word form here used dvedly ; it being, in the writer's opinion, quite constent with belief in the immortlity of the soul proper, to ccept theory recogning the extence of certin prticles, or elements of humnity, tht, underlying the vible structure of the living subject, re not immeditely ffected by its dsolution. Upon these underlying prticles the finl effort of the true spirit, or intelligence, bout to seprte from its fmilir instru ment, the body, my conceivbly mke reltively fixed impres sion ; nd it t lest thinkble tht while during the body's life th elementry imge, or form, remins unsuspected, beneth the tngible surfce, it my yet fter deth, under certin conditions, not only become vible, but my hunt, indefinitely, plces once inhbited by the living mn. Admitting tht ghost my itself possess subjective vlue, by simply depriving it of ll needless terrors the bove hypothes should, if nything, give new weight nd prominence relities. to spiritul Confronted s men re, t ll sesons, by so grim mentor s the individul conscience tht inviolte witness of God, stnding in relentless condemntion of our former or lter selves we my well refuse to tremble before mere empty shde ; whether we cn s esily fford to dms, out of hnd, ny theory tht in the slightest degree tends towrds solution of life's grver problems, nother mtter. " Rhbdos."

47 335 THE MAYOR OF MAN-SOUL Almighty God hd herd for long time the gret gronings tht cme from the City of Mn-Soul, nd He determined to come nd shew Himself to the Myor. So He cme plinly grbed min gte, which ws clled Hert Gte. in white nd stood before the Being so lrge, it ws never used t ll ; it ws covered lmost entirely with thick hrd grey lichen, nd the lock ws choked with the creeping hnds of the ivy. It ws supposed to be kept for gret occsions, but on considertion the Myor of Mn- Soul never thought nything relly gret enough to justify h use of it. The Strnger knocked for some time, nd then pssed on until He cme to number of smller doors which bnged incessntly, swinging to nd fro. Crowds, like pesnts on mrket-dy, flitted incessntly in nd out. No one would lten. At lst mn cme wlking rther more slowly, nd reding rolls of pper, nd frowning s he murmured to himself the words he red. The Strnger sid : of the City s you re going in "? " Will you give messge to the Myor And He trced gret Nme on piece of the rolls nd told the student He whed for personl interview with the Myor. The mysterious hving been through mny hnds. nme ws hnded to the Myor t lst, fter Now the Myor ws rther scholr himself, nd he sid : " Der me, th very interesting n ncient cursive hnd writing," nd he took it wy to mgnify it. After few dys he sid to the student, who ws still witing out of pity for the strnger without the gte : " I cnnot mke it out, it the most remrkble bit of MS. I hve ever seen! " The student suggested tht if he would see the strnger he

48 336 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW would probbly lern ll bout looked very tired, tht he ws it, nd he dded tht the strnger sttely nd beutiful mn, nd worthy to hve n udience. " Tut, " tut sid the Myor. " We never see people stright I! off like tht you know, without investigting the cse first. think of it, there ; it ' frgment of MS. in the city rchives Now very like th bit somewhere mong the most ncient records, I'll go nd hve look t once." And wht shll I" sy to the strnger " Oh, tell him to wit," sid the Myor. her tht The student cme gin bout? " week fterwrds, privte udience would be ccorded. hoping to After he hd been kept witing hlf the morning, the Myor cme in hurriedly, nd exclimed thing!would you believe the old MS. it, : " It's I most extrordinry hve found took me ll the morning to do but I'm quite n enthust in these things you know well, th MS. record ing s th new scrp. Relly I in the very sme writ could lmost believe in some sort of collusion between the writers nd these words therefore your strnger's nme you see, you trnsliterte them fter the newest method, would men ' the Lord of the Inner World something I nd my old MS., s fr s if hve been ble to mke it out, bout the Inner World most extrordinry thing And the Myor hurried wy, hving ordered punctully for one o'clock, s he ws going to lunch with ll! " h crrige gret city mgnte, who must never be kept witing. So yer fter yer pssed, nd the Myor becme more nd more lerned nd powerful nd populr, nd the Strnger wited outside the gte with peculir expression in H eyes, s could see right down the little drk twted streets nd through nd through the City of Mn-Soul. if He * * At lst the Myor died, nd the trdition remined in h fmily tht strnger hd once come nd brought piece of writing nd tht no one knew wht h nme ws. But the Myor's old nurse told the whole story to the Myor's dughter, nd she dded it ws rumoured tht the strnger ws still witing outside the southern wll, nd tht

49 THE MAYOR OF MAN-SOUL 337 student hd once told her tht he ws the kindest of men to spek to but very sd, nd he looked very we. So the Myor's dughter went to seek the Strnger, nd she found Him seted under the trees on the southern slope outside the City wll. And she ltened to Him s He told her of the building of Mn-Soul ges go, nd of ll the events of the City from erliest times. the And t lst He told her who He ws nd why He hd come, nd how He hd tried gin nd gin to spek to her fther, the Myor. And then He sid : " Child, return into the City, for the sun setting, nd tell to others ll tht I hve told you." " Oh, but how cn I? " she sid. " No one would lten I " " Ah, you hve lernt tht too," sid the Strnger. " Then, child, you hve little more to lern from Me t present." And gin He looked wy down cross the City of Mn- Soul with peculir look, s if He could see right through the drk streets, nd s if He hd the power to wit to ll eternity, without tking H eyes from it. Then He sid to the Myor's dughter : with you th pper, on which re seven stnd it, nd give coming genertion it it " Return, nd tke signs, nd try nd under your dughter to give to hers, nd in shll be explined." So she returned nd kept her own counsel, nd in due time she gve to her dughter seven-times folded script. Xn-'. Nothing so firmly believed s tht which mn knoweth lest. -Montigne. And humnity tht hero who ever dies nd comes to life gin ;who ever loves nd htes, yet loves the most ;who bends like like n egle to the sun deserving to-dy wreth, nd oftener both together the gret dwrf, the little gint, the homoeopthiclly prepred divinity, in whom tht which diluted, but still there. Heine. ; worm to-dy, nd sors to-morrow cp nd bells, to-morrow lurel divine indeed terribly 4

50 338 READINGS AND RE-READINGS: "ZANONI" It ws mfortune for Lytton tht he begn writing t period when h own prticulr instincts were no longer on ll fours with the instincts of the time. By nture Romntict of the pre-revolution period, he found himself with the old stock of Sentiment nd Pssion fce to fce with world tht grievously suspected them. Intellectully he could do nothing less himself, nd were h denuncitions of the French Revolution trifle less vehement we might lmost imgine tht he ws full-blown rtionlt. But Lytton ws lwys s fr from rtionlm s from the genuine idelm of the preceding century. Both in h life nd in h books he mde desperte efforts t reconciling the two points of view, nd t finding in one nd the sme thing both Pssion nd Respectbility. In th, however, in the mjority of cses he filed. Where we cn regrd h pssion s genuine it strikes us s ridiculous, nd where he ims t respectbility it bsurd. And between these two stools he ws lwys coming to the ground. The fult ws not entirely Lytton's. He ws born out of h due time, nd Sentiment, Pssion, Art nd ll the cpitl lettered bstrctions so der to him, were beginning to lose their chrm. In Znoni the problem of Lytton's life nd chrcter red to its highest terms. It ws in the writing of Znoni tht he first understood h own position in reltion to the world. Hitherto he hd lived from hnd to mouth, s it were, unwre of whither he ws siling, or, it might be, drifting. But the ttempt to nlyse the chrcter of Znoni ws relly the ttempt to nlyse h own, nd Lytton thus becme conscious of the problem of himself. Quite number of people hve tken Znoni more seriously thn perhps it deserves. As lwys hppens with men who dbble in pseudo-mysticm, clouds of mystery hve been hung

51 READINGS AND RE-READINGS : " ZANONI 339 bout Lytton nd h books. People whper tht he ws mgicin, or profound student of occultm, or Rosicrucin very high up, or something eqully vgue nd eqully mysterious. It would be interesting to hve the opinion of relly sne, sen sible student of occultm on the occultm of Znoni. It so esy by mens of few mysticl quottions nd the liberl use of cpitl letters nd itlics, to convince some people tht one knows more thn one cres to sy, nd Lytton ws quite the mn to enjoy himself thoroughly in the comfortble folds of legend nd myth. At the sme time, it cler tht Lytton hd not only red widely, but tht he hd red deeply nd symptheticlly. How fr he hd lived in experience it more difficult to sy. Judging by h books he ws wverer both in study nd in prctice ; belonged so essentilly to the wek period of Englh literture, so essentilly to the ebb of gret movement, tht it impossible he should hve been other thn wek. It tkes gret mn to be even respectble in wek period. Znoni first ppered in There hd ppered, how ever, in the Monthly Mgzine of the previous yer n unfinhed story by Lytton under the title of " Zicci." Zicci simply nother nme for Znoni, nd the story the first sketch of the lter nd completed work. Wht ctully hppened ppers to hve been th. Lytton begn sketch of sort of Rosicrucin romntic demi-god nd hero without knowing exctly wht he ws going to do with it. As he went on he got enmoured of the ide, nd grew more nd more dstfied with wht he hd done. He therefore dropped the writing of " Zicci " nd reconstructed or rther constructed the story under the form of Znoni. such evolution he Some of ides he himself reltes in cheply mystifying form in the introduction to Znoni. He there explins tht in h first ttempt t deciphering the strnge mnuscript he used the wrong key. In relity he hd no use for key in "Zicci " t ll since there ws nothing to unlock. It curious from purely literry stndpoint no less thn from mysticl stndpoint to compre the sketch of Zicci with the picture of Znoni. " " Zicci excessively florid nd super ficil, it decorted up to the eyebrows with Lytton's own sentiment ; it full of the bombst of n ide not yet grsped.

52 340 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW The writer obviously groping bout in the drk, he writes rpidly in order to dcover wht it he wnts to write. But in Znoni he hd dcovered h ide, he hd found t lst wht he hd blindly been groping for ; nd in Znoni he set himself more seriously to work thn before. A single exmple of the kind of chnge he mde will serve s sort of scle of trnsvlution. In "Zicci" there occurs th delightfully romntic description of leve-tking : " He dropped purse, hevy with gold, into Gionett's bosom nd ws gone." In Znoni the bsurd expression reduced to th " quieter scle : He dropped purse into Gionett's hnd, s he spoke, nd ws gone." There re still very vible trces of the old romnticm left, which mketh, s the Apocryph sy, to spek of everything by tlents ; but the chnge from " Zicci " very gret, nd the mesure of the chnge in Lytton's own ides. In order to understnd the genes of Znoni it not only necessry to hve red " Zicci " but it even more necessry to know something of Lytton himself. Like h gret predecessor Byron, Lytton ws enmoured of h own personlitynd took immense pins to stge it with becom ing mgnificence. H moods he dressed up s individuls, h whims s complete chrcters, nd Znoni my be red quite constently s the interply, not of individuls t ll but of moods of Lytton's mind. Now there hd occurred erly in Lytton's life n epode which hd produced profound effect upon him. He hd fllen in love with young Irh girl, nd she hd been mrried to somebody else. After three yers of mrried life she died, leving tender messges for Lytton. Th trgic epode produced in Lytton the melncholy from which for long time he did not recover, nd it ws in th mood tht he wrote Flklnd h " Sorrows of Werther " s he clled it nd it ws in th mood tht he imgined the chrcter of Mejnour. Th erly dppointment lso led Lytton to imgine tht he ws no longer cpble of love. " Love," he sid, " ded in me for ever." He mtook h ftigue of pssion for the lck of pssion ; the occuptions into which h mind ws forced he m took for its nturl bent, nd hence rose quite nturlly the ide of Mejnour, the cold, pssionless, pure intellect. But s time pssed nd Lytton recovered from the first gret shock to h

53 READINGS AND RE-READINGS : " ZANONI " 34I nture, he begn once more to tke n interest in love. H temporrily dbled emotions recovered something of their former nturl exlttion. No longer did he spire towrds the icy heights on which he conceived tht Mejnour st, but he felt now inclined to descend into the vlley " for Love the vlley, come thou down nd find him." And th newly wkened mood, which mrked the recovery of h emotionl nture, he personified in Znoni, the fellow-dciple of Mejnour, intellectul, but yet cpble of pssion. The ide of conflict between these two moods ws the notion upon which'he struck when writing " Zicci," nd it ws th dcovery tht led him into the writing of Znoni. For Lytton plinly sw tht these two moods of h own mind were typicl, or might be mde typicl, of vstly greter ppliction. Suppose tht the Mejnour-mood were elevted to cosmicl dimensions (nd the Romnticts were fond of imgining th), nd becme the Pth of Intellect, or the Pth of Knowledge ; nd suppose the Znoni-mood red nd trnslted (in Bottom's sense) into universl terms to represent, sy, the Pth of Devotion then without further to-do we hve the purely personl conflict in Lytton's mind, bounding out of its nrrow cell nd filling ll the world. It in some such wy tht dmirers of Lytton hve been willing to regrd h work ; nd, let it be dmitted, tht it ws in th wy tht Lytton not only regrded it himself but whed others to regrd it lso. For Lytton ws by no mens humble. Beconsfield once sid of Greville tht he ws the most conceited mn of h cquintnce, nd dded by wy of emphs " nd I hve red known Bulwer Lytton." Cicero nd No sooner hd the ide of mking the world h stge dwned upon him thn he threw himself with rdour into the study of h subject. Tempermentlly mystic, he now begn tht wide nd minute reding which mnifests itself upon every pge of Znoni. Certinly of most of the writers who hve ttempted mysticl romnce Lytton the best equipped. It mrvellous tht, living in h time, he should not only hve come cross so much but tht he should hve understood so much. With the strnge exception of reincrntion, lmost every one of our modern Theosophicl techings to be found in more or

54 342 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW less explicit form in h books. There re numerous llusions, too, to mgic formule, nd to much, in fct, which our literture ignores. But hving sid so much, it does not follow tht Lytton ws therefore equl to the tsk he hd set himself. The Bhgvd Gitd contins, we re told, the nlys of the vrious Wys, nd doubtless to those who understnd tht profoundest of books, the crown of the yet unfinhed work of ll philosophy, the mtter cler, but it certin tht Lytton ws s fr s most of us from understnding the rel Pth, either of Intellect or of Love. Wht he did understnd much better thn most of us were the personl problems of the newly self-conscious ; he sw lso, s hs been sid, the reltion tht necessrily exts between personl nd universl moods ; but he ws not ex perienced enough to mke the universl moods cler either to himself or to h reders. But let us tke some pssges which ber out Lytton's own conception of the problem he ws work ing t. From Mejnour's first ppernce, it plin tht Lytton intends him to stnd s the type of perfected knowledge of, in fct, the Pth of Wdom. It unfortunte tht he should lwys hve confused Wdom nd Knowledge, nd used either word indifferently ; but tht one of h limittions. On Mejnour's introduction we re bid remrk " the icy nd profound ddin on the brod brow of the old mn." " Wdom," he sys, " con templting mnkind leds but to the two results Compssion or D din"; nd it to Ddin tht Mejnour, ccording to Lytton's first conception, hd rrived. Agin, Znoni describing Mej nour, sys nd the description my serve very well for Intellect, the Seprtor " Thou who lovest nothing, htest nothing, feelest nothing, nd wlkest the world with the noeless nd joyless footsteps of drems " ; nd once more Mejnour's dvice to Glyndon strikes the sme note : " Thy first tsk must be to withdrw ll thought, feeling nd sympthy from others. The elementry stge of th knowledge to mke self, nd self lone, thy study nd thy world.... I live but in knowledge I hve no life in mnkind." Now ll th, if only Lytton could hve kept it up, would hve done very well for Intellect though not for Wdom but Lytton, s we shll see, could not mintin h ide lwys t th stte of clrity. H sound instincts pre

55 READINGS AND RE-READINGS : " ZANONI " 343 vented him doing so. When Glyndon " fell heights " from these lofty into less inhumn kind of extence the writer s well s the reder proceeds more hppily nd more freely. As prllel to such n ide of Mejnour, we hve lso, in the erly scenes, picture of Znoni, s the union of Intellect nd Emotion ; or s, sy, the Pth of Devotion. There re such " pssges s these : The hert," sys Znoni " finely, never ignornt, becuse the mysteries of the feelings re s full of wonder s those of the intellect.... True love less pssion thn symbol.... Is there no guilt in the know ledge tht hs divided us from our rce? Is not th sublime egotm, th stte of bstrction nd reverie th self-wrpt nd self-dependent mjesty of extence, resigntion of tht nobility which incorportes our own welfre, our joys, our hopes, our fers, with others? " All tht, though intensely personl, t the sme time fine expression of the other side of the clim of the Emotions to shre in the Life. And were we to consider the bove extrcts lone it would be possible to consider Znoni in the light of universl problem, of definite nd reled fctors. But it only by the suppression of host of contrdictions tht such n llegory cn constently be found. For with ll h instence upon the iciness nd indifference, the pssionlessness nd generl torpor of Mejnour's hert, it plin tht the rel Mejnour something quite different. Lytton ws not the mn to be ble to rele the life of pure intellect in nd for itself still less the pth of Wdom. He could spek of it only under the illusion of h own dormnt pssion ; he could see it only in the colour of h own nture. And it th incpcity to rele the intellectul life tht mkes of Mejnour in Lytton's hnds monster of frigidity in theory, but in relity most fscinting, pssionte devotee of truth nd progress. It interesting to set by the side of Lytton's conception of Mejnour the Mejnour of Lytton's cretion. How, for exmple, does the following pssge squre with the iceberg theory tht Lytton hd in h mind? Mejnour justifying h scrifice of thousnds of spirnts for the ske of single success. He inspired in th, he sys, by "the hope to form mighty nd numerous rce with force nd power sufficient to permit them to cknowledge to mnkind their

56 344 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW mjestic conquests nd dominion to become the true lords of th plnet invders, perchnce, of others msters of the inimicl nd mlignnt tribes by which t th moment we re surrounded rce tht my proceed in their dethless destinies from stge to stge of celestil glory, nd rnk t lst mongst the nerest mintrnts nd gents gthered round the Throne of Thrones." Is tht vion of the future tht wits us, tht splendid idelm, quite constent with Lytton's Mejnour? Such n idel cn be prlleled perhps in the works of rel mn, singulrly like Mejnour in h pprent chilly oltion, nd singulrly like him too in h pssionte devotion to humnity Frederic Nietzsche ; nd the prllel lmost complete when one finds Mejnour sying of himself, " my rt to mke mn bove mn kind." Lytton's conception of Mejnour ws s wrong s mn's comprehension of h own work cn be ; nd those who seek in Znoni the lofty llegory of the two pths of Intellect nd Devo tion with the hope of finding them dtinctly mrked, will find more evidence in Lytton's intention thn in h book. For those who rele the essence of Romnticm nd the chrcter of its literture there remins, however, considerble vlue though on lower slopes in the mening lredy suggested. For them Mejnour will represent not n individul t ll, but mood of Lytton's mind, stnding out for while on the bckground of n emotionl temperment ; mood only dimly reled by Lytton himself, nd utterly dtsteful to h nture. Znoni, too, no individul but the symbol of the Mejnour-mood returning nd becoming re-bsorbed in the generl colour of Lytton's mind the intermedite type between Intellect s Lytton conceived it nd Emotion s he felt it. The problem Lytton thus set himself to solve ws in relity not the ntgonm between Pure Intellect nd Pure Emotion, but the reconcilition of two ictors in h own personlity which seemed to him mutully exclusive nd destructive. Confronted by personl ex perience of the ridity of wht he mtook for intellect (though he mnmed it wdom) nd the pprent senselessness of emotion, which he conceived ordinrily s sensuousness, he set himself to solve the possibility of their union. And it interest

57 READINGS AND RE-READINGS : " ZANONI 345 ing tht he should hve rrived in spite of ll h vgueness t the right solution. Whtever my hve been the qulity of h intellect nd nobody cn estimte it very high h instincts or intuitions were sound. He felt tht some union of Reson nd Emotion ws possible ; he dimly reled tht the union ws possible only by scrifice ; nd t lst he woke to the fct tht the scrifice ws the scrifice of the personl self; nd Znoni the type of th scrifice. There re some fine pssges which mke it plin how clerly t lst th problem presented itself to Lytton when once he hd put h preconceptions of Mejnouronone side. So long s he hd in h mind Mejnour s the type of pure In tellect to which he felt compelled to yield some forml reverence he ws bound to regrd Znoni's scrifice of intellect to love s crime needing ll h explntions, s fll from gret heights. But hving once reled tht the fll ws no fll t ll, tht in fct h Mejnour ws n impostor in whom he did not relly believe, h siling ws stright. Here Znoni's ddress to h own soul pssge referred to by H. P. B. with pprovl : " Soul of mine, the luminous, the Augoeides... how long, too usterely tught tht compnionship with the things tht die brings with it but sorrow with its sweetness, hst thou dwelt contented with thy mjestic solitude "? The secret of the union of the two ntures Adon-Ai explins to him thus: " When two souls re divided knowest thou not tht third in which both meet nd live the link between them? " Znoni mtkes Adon-Ai's mening, nd imgines tht it humn child tht ment, but Lytton gets over tht difficulty by mking the child symbolic. At lst Znoni reles tht it only through deth nd scrifice tht the third cn become ; tht it by h deth tht the true union to be ttined ; nd looking bck upon the intellect he ws drwn to he " sys : Even the error of our lofty knowledge ws but the forgetfulness of the wekness, the pssions nd the bounds which the deth we so vinly conquered only cn purge wy." He still under the domintion of the notion tht emotion wekness. Then he grdully res to the true mening of h ct. "In th hour, when the scrifice of self to nother brings the course of ges to its gol, I see the littleness of Life compred to the mjesty of Deth." And Adon-Ai thus speks to him : " Wer

58 346 THE THEOSOPHICAL REV W now in the moment when thou comprehendest Deth thn when thy unfettered spirit lerned the solemn mystery of Life ; the humn ffections tht thrlled nd humbled thee while bring to thee in these lst hours of thy mortlity, the sublimest heritge of thy rce the eternity tht commences from the grve ;... through the portls holy nd the we." of the grve lies the true initition into the And Znoni's lst messge to Mejnour, h dmsl of the pssing mood tht he hd once imgined the permnent element of himself, in these fine words " : Fre thee well for ever upon th erth I go with my free-will into the lnd of drkness ; but new suns nd systems blze round us from the grve. At lst I recogne the true ordel nd the rel victory.... Purified by scrifice nd immortl only through the grve th it to die." It hd been long time coming bout, nd s plin from even some of these lst extrcts Lytton ws by no mens certin tht rtionlly the thing ws right. However, the problem ws solved, nd Znoni stnds s book in which the uthor, setting out to exmine problem of which he ws not cpble, ctully succeeds in solving profound personl problem which he himself would probbly hve desped. A. J. O. A mn who loves to led n niml life n niml ruled by h interior niml heven. The sme strs (qulities) tht cuse wolf to murder, dog to stel, ct to kill, bird to sing, etc., mke mn singer, n eter, tlker, lover, murderer, robber, or thief. These re niml ttributes, nd they die with the niml elements to which they belong ; but the Divine principle in mn, which con stitutes him humn being, nd by which he eminently dtinguhed from the nimls, not the product of the erth, nor it generted by the niml kingdom ; but it comes from God, it God, nd immortl becuse, coming from Divine Source, it cnnot be otherwe but Divine. Mn should therefore live in hrmony with h Divine prent, nd not in the niml elements of h soul. Mn hs n Eternl Fther who sent him to reside nd gin experience within the niml ele ments, but not for the purpose of being bsorbed by them, becuse in the ltter cse mn would become n niml, while the niml principle would hve nothing to gin. Prcelsus, De Frntdmnito Spienti.

59 347 FINER STATES OF MATTER In the November number of th Review the endevour ws mde to show, on brod lines of considertion, the substntil hrmony of chemicl teching with occult knowledge of the septenry order of the different plnes of nture. Students of chemtry will know tht certin of the elements show chrcter tics which do not ccord with the clssifiction of MendelejefP s " periodic system," nd tht these pper to offer, in these prticulrs, exceptions to its generl rule for instnce, Copper divlent, Gold cts s trid, slts of Thllium nd Led hve properties tht one would hrdly hve expected from their posi tion in the tble, etc., etc. But these minor points, however ccumulted, do not invlidte the generl principle indicted by the tble, s well expressed in Tilden's summry of the mtter.* " Tht the periodic system of the elements stnds for some thing which ctully bsed on nturl physicl reltions no one cn now be supposed to doubt. It brings into view number of fcts in the chemicl htory of the elements which would otherwe be less pprent, nd it does undoubtedly support very strongly the ide tht ll the elements in Mendelejeff s nd Meyer's synops belong to one system of things, nd perhps hve common constituents, or my hve ren from common origin." Much dditionl light being thrown upon the questions broched in the lst few lines by the results of recent scientific work ; it my be interesting to tbulte those results, just s they re given, nd to see how fr they pper to prllel the brod lines of Theosophic thought. Any first views of things of th nture must necessrily be imperfect. The present ide merely to throw them together in such form s my offer them con- p. IOO. - Tilden's A Short Htory of the Progress of Scientific Chemtry in our own Times,

60 348 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW veniently for considertion nd correction by bler students who my cre to ccord them tht mesure of notice. The " chemicl htory " of the elements, in Theosophicl sense, fr-reching enquiry, nd some indiction of tht longer htory suggested by Mendelejeff s wonderful ppliction of h " periodic system " to the extension of our knowledge. In 1871 Mendelejeff predicted the properties of the then un dcovered elements Gllium, Scndium nd Germnium, with wht precion the following single exmple will show. The lst element ws to follow Silicon on the " negtive " side of Group IV., nd, no nme hving yet been decided upon, it ws referred to s Ek Silicon under the symbol Es ; when dcovered it ws clled Germnium nd symboled by Ge. Ek Silicon (Es) Germnium (Ge) Predicted by Mendelejeff, 1871 Dcovered by Winkler, 1886 Atomic Weight bout 72 Specific Grvity 5^5 Oxide EsO, Sp. gr. 47 Esily obtined by reduction with Crbon Dirty grey metl, fusing with difficulty Oxides when heted in ir Chloride EsCU, probbly boils below 100 Will not be cted on by cids Atomic Weight Specific Grvity S^og Oxide GeO, Sp. gr Esily obtined by reduction with Crbon Grey-white metl, fusing t 900 C. Oxides when heted in ir Chloride GeCl4, boils t 86 Brely ffected by cids* The properties of the elements nd of their compounds re here clerly seen to be mtter of prece nd clculble lw lw definitely ssocited with the progressions referred to within ech Group; their powers nd their limittions re fixed sequence within ech type. In the lrger spect of the question the chemicl htory of the elements tht of the reincrnting elementl essence of the third elementl kingdom s it built up into the succession of physicl forms tht we follow down these chemicl Groups of which there re " seven, ech on h own lot." And the properties of Germnium, for instnce, would pper to follow from nd to be the development of the - Corresponding prticulrs regrding Gllium nd Scndium re given in Meldol's Chemtry (Inorgnic), p. 173.

61 previous FINER STATES OF MATTER 349 " incrntion " of tht prticulr type of elementl essence to be, in fct, the chemicl krm of the cse. Rein crntion nd krm, s universl principles, must be s oper tive in the evolution of the chemicl elements s in tht of humn consciousness nd power ; nd in the former cse their pplic tion should be more full nd direct nd dcernible thn in the higher kingdoms, wherein vrying degrees of volition or choice introduce complex modifictions of their working. Recent developments of spectroscopic nd physicl investig tion re pproching the dcernment of these two fundmentl principles s fctors in nture, nd if they re to be embodied in the thought of the time it mtters little where nd how they re most esily recogned. Science now very busy with the ide tht the chemicl elements do " belong to one system of things," with common constituents nd common origin. The evidences of the vcuumtube nd the spectroscope re leding to most interesting conclu sions on these mtters. Certinly the investigtions re hrdly out of their initil stges, nd the conclusions drwn from them re little more thn sttements of the generl view presented by evidence known to be incomplete. But th generl view bers directly upon the problems of the constituents these elements nd the origin of nd of the system of things of which they re prt, nd it my be presented in form which seems to connect it directly with wht we lern of the plnes of nture nd their reltionship one with nother. We hve been mde fmilir with the fct tht cthode const of strems of prticles of extremely rys finely-divided mtter, nd tht th ltter results from the tering or breking up of the molecules of the gs in the vcuum-tube by the intense electric current driven through it. Perhps it would be more ccurte to describe the process s tering of frgments from the toms of gs subjected to the current, for these frgments ions, s they re clled re of much smller mss thn the chemicl constituents. toms from which they re torn, nd of which they re These ions, in wht my be clled their free stte, re observed to be in highly electrified condition ; they crry nd cn communicte negtive electricl chrges. Further, the

62 350 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW chrges they crry cn be pproximtely mesured, nd other dt then permit of their mss being estimted s from the 500th to the 1000th prt of the mss of n tom of Hydrogen there being ions of vrious msses within bout th rnge. In vestigtors pper to be in substntil ccord on th point, though th determintion necessrily involves considertions nd clcultions of no little complexity; so, for present purposes, the figures re ccepted s they re given. In th connection one reclls the " scientific " views of things which were bsed on the ssumption tht ll things knowble, our consciousness of them, nd the wide universe itself, were compred in wht we should refer to s the three lowest sub-plnes of physicl mtter ; indestructible toms were the beginning nd the end of ll. Nowdys, however, psychologts re recogning tht humn consciousness my ply independently of the physicl orgnm, nd tht its enormously-extended field reches into undefinble sttes nd regions nd possibilities of knowledge ; nd, con currently, physicts extend the concept of the Nture within which th consciousness lives nd moves nd evolves. The mere deling with prticles of mtter so minute s to mke Hydrogen toms reltively gigntic structures forces the mind to picture world which my extend s inimitbly in the direction of the infinitely smll s in tht of the infinitely gret. It thus found tht, whether from the side of consciousness or from the side of mtter, " nture retrets within " direction hopeful for the further quest. The importnce portion to their " mss." chemicl of these ions, moreover, in no direct pro Ions provide the mteril of which the toms re built up, whilst they re lso the vehicle of electricl energy nd themselves initite wht we cll the chem icl ctivities of the " elements." Ions flow, implpble, in cese less streming, from ll forms of mtter from wood, pper, gums nd resins, s from minerls nd crystls. They circulte through nd rdite from metls much s wter does through living sponge. A few grins of Rdium, t norml temperture, min tin n electricl dturbnce for yrds round, nd quickly " burn " unwry fingers holding them. It hs been computed tht ions re normlly freed in the tmosphere t the rte of twenty

63 FINER STATES OF MATTER 351 'of ech kind, positive nd negtive, per second in ech cubic centi metre of ir ; nd ions pper to be n ccompniment of light itself, sweeping from the sun in n immesurble tide. They pour constntly from nd through everything round, like rys of invible light, nd pervde ll spce bout us. We re enveloped in ions, t every moment of our lives, s in se of strnge ctivities or s in nother relm within the physicl world, from which its mtter derived nd its forces seem to flow. Th roughly, the stte of things pictured for us s the result, of the study of the ions of cthode rys, Becquerel rys, nd so forth. It interesting, only from the circumstnce tht, to mny if minds, fcts of th nture must estblh the ctulity of much tht we understnd of the derivtion nd reltionship nd interpenetrtion of different plnes in nture. But when the spectroscope dds its subtle nlys to the evidence in hnd, fresh fcts re which point to the possibility of grouping ions under their nturl types just s Mendelejeff tble groups the grosser mtter under its nturl types. Th possibility results from the records of wht spoken of s Mgnetic Perturbtion of Lines tht, the dturbnce of norml spectrl lines of given substnces when the ltter re vpored in strong mgnetic field, s, sy, between the poles of powerful electro-mgnet. We re forced to think tht under the sometimes s the enormous tempertures employed in these experiments, the chemicl toms of the mtter under notice re more or less torn into ions, much s they re in the vcuum-tube, nd tht it these ions which produce vrious lines of such high temperture spectr. When substnces re so treted within n intense mgnetic field, lines which normlly pper single re seen s double lines " doublets " or, in some cses, s triplets. These re the perturbtions, vrious in chrcter nd mgnitude, spoken of. Our chief point of in terest in th intricte mtter lies in fcts of the following order Whilst under these circumstnces, certin of the lines chrcter tic of Mgnesium re perturbed in certin wy nd in certin mesure, certin corresponding lines in the spectrum of Zinc re ffected in the sme wy nd in the sme mesure when produced under the like conditions, nd th : the cse gin with Cdmium

64 352 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW ll three metls belonging to Group II. of Mendelejeffs tble. There evidence estblhing similrity of th nture mong elements of other chemicl groups, corresponding lines being similrly ffected by the mgnetic field. From the fcts of th order lredy ccumulted the inves tigtors re led to believe, or t lest to suspect,* tht the sme ions (or ions, let us sy, of the sme type) re present in the toms of Mgnesium, Zinc nd Cdmium, nd tht the elements which lie in the sme chemicl group re built up, in prt t lest, of the sme kind or type of ions. It thought tht the differ ences between the elements of Group re more from the mnner of ssocition of the ions in the tom thn from differ ences in the fundmentl chrcter of the ions of which their toms re built. If th n pproximtely correct ccount of the reltion of ions to gross physicl mtter we might prolong the Groupdivions of Mendelejeffs tble upwrds to represent the corre sponding types of the ions of th subtler relm of which the physicl world thought to be but consequence. The pplic tion of the ground-pln of the tble to other sttes of mtter obviously suggests stepping over the edge of things into ll the rks nd perils of " other plnes, dimensions," etc. n dven ture not to be lightly undertken. The stges to be pssed in tht direction re not unfmilir to us, nd the question presents itself whether ny of the fcts now recorded by science re evi dence of wht we hold to succeed the three lower sub-plnes of physicl mtter in the upwrd or inwrd direction. If we ccept the definition of the mss of the ions we pper to skip inter vening sub-plnes nd to be deling with components of chemicl toms which belong to the strl relm. A Hydrogen tom compres eighteen units belonging to the fourth sub-plne higher or t its fourth depolymertion nd th the mtterlimit of the physicl plne. So if the ions relly re, not the 18th prt only but nything like the 500th to the 1,000th prt of the mss of Hydrogen tom, they fll beyond tht limit ; nd th leds one to think of the elementl essence of the strl * Sir Normn Lockyer's Inorgnic Evolution, p. 114 ; nd Dr. Preston's remrks quoted on p. 187.

65 FINER STATES OF MATTER 353 plne, precursor of our chemicl elements. If we then consider the creful description given in The Astrl Plne of the'permnent types of th elementl essence nd its different sub-plnes, we shll see tht the order of Mendelejeff s tble nturl corol lry, physicl replic, of chrctertics of the plne bove. The seven Groups of the tble correspond with the seven types of elementl essence, nd the seven Series of the tble correspond with its seven sub-plnes. Should we, then, dopt the declred ion-mss nd indicte the scientific sttements under notice by prolonging the groupdivions nd pplying the order of the tble plne higher in the scle, we should, in ny cse, be representing fcts. wht ccords with The rks nd perils being thus reduced to minimum, we my s well give th rrngement effect nd turn to the con sidertion of wht ppers to be evidence of the four etheric subplnes referred to s being skipped. An immense mount of spectroscopic evidence vilble which seems to shew tht the molecules nd toms of elementl mtter re continuously broken up, or dsocited, s they re subjected to higher nd higher temperture th term to include the ction of electricity. As these chnges tke plce the spectr lter correspondingly in chrcter, nd show mrked differences in the number, the grouping, the intensity, nd the position or colour of the lines produced. Some elements re esily vpor ed, whilst others re exceedingly refrctory, nd the conse quence tht their temperture-stges vry enormously nd their successive dsocitions hve to be effected by very different tretment. Where lbortory mens fil, evidences re fforded by the immesurble tempertures of the strs, nd in th wy fcts re ccumulted from which it deduced s generl tion, tht there re four dtinct temperture-stges, four types of spectr resulting from them, four different sttes of mtter in the cse of our elementry bodies.* It not possible, here, to pr ticulre on the subject, but wht it leds to my be judged from one exmple of the ppliction of the ide to questions ring from the study of solr physics nd chemtry. We know tht if substnce under observtion intensely * Inorgnic Evolution, p. 32, nd the sme uthor's Studies in Spectrum Anlys. 5

66 354 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW hot its spectrum-lines will be bright ; if reltively cool, the lines my be drk ; if it rpidly pproching or receding from the observer the lines will be dplced towrds the violet or towrds the red end of the spectrum ; nd under vritions of pressure the lines re otherwe ffected. If the spectrum of given sub stnce produced by its indivible chemicl toms one would expect the lines of tht spectrum these diverse circumstnces, to be similrly ffected under nd one would expect ll the lines to be present in ech cse. But th not so. The question cn be put to the test by noticing the presence or bsence or vritions of recognble spectrum-lines s we look down through the hlf-million miles' depth of the solr tmosphere towrds the luminous surfce below. Fvourble circumstnces re here provided, for in the depths of th chromosphere we hve im mesurbly high tempertures, whilst in its outer regions it reltively cool ; nd in the stupendous dturbnces witnessed over sun-spot nd in the up-rushing prominences, we see strems of mtter dplced in ll the conditions to which the different tempertures cn reduce it. Thus spectr my be entirely modified nd lines be vriously ffected, nd long series of cre ful observtions hve been lboriously tbulted in order to decide whether nd how the lines in certin portion of the solr spectrum were ffected under these vrying conditions. The portion of the solr spectrum selected compred 345 lines, representing twelve recognble elements, including Iron, nd the generl results my be shown s follows :* Seen over Seen in Over spots spots only pro in. only nd in prom. Unffected The 345 lines together Iron lines lone It noteworthy tht these Iron lines re ffected in groups, s though one definite group rose from Iron t one level nd temperture nd nother group from different level or temper ture. The types of spectr spoken of del, mong other things, with just such nturl grouping of the lines. It hs been forcibly pointed out tht we cn hrdly explin th remrkble in the behviour of the Iron lines, except on the supposition Q. F. Chmbers' Hndbook of Descriptive nd Prcticl Astronomy, p. 32$. diversity tht

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69 FINER STATES OF MATTER 355 Iron relly consts of four different substnces which, t solr tempertures, re seprted, nd which belong to different tem perture-strt of the chromosphere. Similr evidence pplies to other elements, but th exmple must suffice. We re evidently deling here, not with Iron s we know it terrestrilly, but with four simpler constituents of Iron. Ech of these simpler constituents must yet be highly complex, for, on the verge, ech produces twenty-six lines tht, twenty-six different rtes of vibrtion nd it being surmed tht ech seprte line stnds for unit of mtter of some kind. When, then, we her of the spectrum of some given element hving more lines thn there re ultimte physicl tom th my possibly be evidence of units of mtter toms in its chemicl still finer thn tht of the etheric sttes, though it would be rsh to ssume tht th necessrily so in ny prticulr cse. here considered in connection Wht we hve with the Iron lines seems to justify our filling in the four etheric sub-plnes, so fr left blnk, to complete our digrm. Th now represents, on given scientific evidence, continuity through different grdes of mtter from solids, liquids, nd gses, through the four etheric sub-plnes nd into undefinble levels of the strl plne. A blnk occurs over Mendelejeffs eighth Group " the rejected " which, one would think, must be relted to the higher plnes s re the other Groups. Dcussions upon eighth divions or sttes or " spheres " hve usully been more provoctive ble nswers, so question-signs of thirst for informtion. of questions thn of intelligi figure in the spce left s expressions From wht hs been sid it will be understood tht the di grm presented but tenttive endevour to show the generl trend of recent scientific dcovery in these fields nd its generl hrmony with Theosophic thought. The subject brtles with difficulties s to the interprettion of scientific evidence, the pre ce impliction of its terms (" mss " for instnce) nd mny other mtters which cn hrdly be detiled. Aprt from these points, however, the wider question res s to whether ny prticulr form of strl mteril cpble of ffording dences upon which scientific views re bsed. the evi Without necessrily founding ny ssumption upon the circumstnce, one looks bout

70 356 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW in vin for ny definite reson why it should not do so. On the other hnd, there re references in our literture to the effect tht the ordinry burning of orgnic mtter does free some of its etheric nd strl constituents. Why, then, should not the enormous temperture nd violent druption of the electric rc nd sprk do the sme? And insmuch s vibility or invi bility my depend entirely upon the volume of mtter involved, or upon the mplitude of the vibrtion of its prticles, why should not such mteril produce luminous effects nd photogrphic lines in the ultr-violet portion of the spectrum when " electri fied " to temperture of thousnds of degrees? Wht we cll Light cn hrdly be thought of s physicl -plne energy t ll; it flows from the elsewhere nd should be generble nd modifible by the relted mteril. If toms nd their vestiges re continuously subjected to the destructive druption of electricl dchrges of enormous intensity one must, surely, get to strl mtter t lst ; it, theoreticlly, merely question of pounding fine enough! We my not succeed in lerning much bout th higher relm by the most refined mens tht physicl science likely to employ. But there does seem to be resonble ground for thinking tht perhps the fcts lredy before us t lest evidence the ctulity of the strl plne ; tht something of the order, nd even the properties, of its mteril inferred ; nd tht we per ceive the cusl reltion in which it stnds to the world in which we dwell. G. Dyne. The power of imgintion gret power in medicine. It produces deses in mn nd nimls nd it cures them. But th not done by the powers of symbols or chrcters mde in wx or being written on pper, but by n imgintion which perfects the will. Prcelsus,

71 357 STORIES FROM THE TRADITIONS OF ISLAM The Story of the Seeress Ibn Hchm hs relted tht the ster of the Chrtin monk Wrkt, deeply-lerned womn nd ble to foretell the future, met the fther of the Prophet, before h mrrige with Amin, nd told him she ernestly desired to be the mother of h first son. Abdullh, however, dregrded her nd mrried Amin. Shortly fterwrds he gin met the seeress nd she found fvour in h eyes, but she in her turn rejected h dvnces. " Oh Abdullh," she sid, " the light which shone upon your forehed gone. Behold Amin will ber you son who one of the predestined ones, nd I desired tht he should mine." The Birth of the Prophet hve been Just before the birth of the Prophet Spirit ppered to Amin nd sid " : You will give birth to child who will be the Lord of th people. him to the protection As soon s he born sy, ' I commend of the Only One, tht he my be preserved from the hrm of the wicked,' nd cll h nme Muhmmd." Amin hs lso relted tht when the Prophet ws born she sw light ll round him which spred to the sky nd mingled with the rys of the strs, lighting ll the lnd round so tht she sw the dtnt plces of Syri. And then she looked t the child nd he ws lying on h bck with h forefinger to the sky. So she sent for the we men who knew the pointing trditions nd the writings to sk wht she ought to do. Among them there cme from Hir Chrtin monk, Abdoul-Mesih, son of Amron the Ghssnide, descendnt of the Kings of Syri.

72 358 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Men sid tht he ws 360 winters old nd hd lernt divin tion from h uncle Sti'h the soothsyer in Yemen. He hd red mny books nd hd herd tht Isibn Mirim hd sid tht if he went wy he would send unto them Mnhmm (Syric : Muhmmd), nd tht the time ws now ripe. So she clled h nme Muhmmd. It relted tht he sid : H First Vions " The instructions cme to me t first like true vions in sleep nd like the rosy dwn of the morning." Sometimes he sid he herd the sound, s it were, of smll bell followed by the messge, nd he sid " : It ws very hrd for me to her it then, but when it hs cesed I remember wht it sys." Sometimes it cme like n ngel in the form of mn of glorious beuty, who ppered s if with h feet stnding horizon. on the Another trdition sys tht Gbriel cme in the form of Di'hy the Kelbite, the most beutiful mn mong Arbs (Chronique de Tbri). Yet nother sys tht it' ws the beutiful Chrtin slve Djebr. Some believe tht the Prophet received instructions from the strnge nd semi-mythicl Slmn the Persin, whose story given below. Khdijh's Psychicl Reserch Whtever the truth of the cse my hve been, Khdijh determined to investigte these bnorml phenomen s fr s her womn's wits, which were considerble, would tke her. She plied the Prophet with questions : Did he see it lwys? Did he see it with h eyes covered? Who ws it? Why did it come? God. Muhmmd insted tht it ws Gbriel, the Messenger of So Khdijh went in serch of the lerned monk Wrkt, who hd red ll the books of the Hebrews nd knew the most ncient trditions. He lso wrote himself in Hebrew wht God whed him to write.

73 STORIES FROM THE TRADITIONS OF ISlAm 359 He ltened with gret interest to the stories of Muhmmd's birth nd the testimony of the ged monk which Khdijh hd tresured in her memory. Then she sked him bruptly : " Hve you found the nme of Gbriel in ny of your books, nd wht Gbriel? " Wrkt cutiously replied : " Why do you sk me th? " So Khdijh told him of the first revelings nd of the wrestling with the ngel, who hd three times overcome him nd three times told him to " cry (or testify) in the nme of h God " ; nd how Muhmmd hd three times protested nd sid : " How cn I cry, I m not prophet "? Wrkt sid " : Gbriel the gret Nmus (i.e., one who revels secret messge). He the intermediry ngel between God nd the Prophets who brings them messges from God. It ws he who went to Moses nd lso to Jesus, nd if you re telling me the truth, your husbnd the next one, s it written. " Long yers hve I wited for th hour! Would tht I might remin nd witness h mintry nd h exile." H Witness'of Himself The Prophet sid once " : Verily I m the nerest mn to Jesus in the beginning nd the end, becuse there no Prophet between me nd Jesus, nd in the ltter prt of the time, he will be my vicegerent nd my successor." He lso prophesied tht Jesus would come gin nd live to the ge of 45, mrry nd hve children nd led the ntions. would then be buried in the grve of Muhmmd. " The Prophets re ll brothers by one Fther but their mothers re different, nd the root of ll their religions the sme. I hve been sent in the first clss of the children of Adm, ge fter ge. I pssed in the loins of my fthers until I cme from the clss from which I now come." The Strnger in White Omr hs relted tht one dy s they were sitting with the Apostle of God conversing He bout religious mtters, strnger in white entered swiftly nd seted himself before the Prophet so tht h knees touched h knees, nd lying h two hnds upon

74 360 THE THKOSOPHICAL REVIEW the hnds of the Prophet he gzed intently t him nd sid : " O Muhmmd, instruct me in Islm." None present knew the strnger, yet he hd no stins of trvelling upon h robe, which ws exceedingly white, nd h hir ws blck nd glossy. And the Apostle sid tht Islm ws to believe in one God the All-Powerful in the five clls to pryer, in the fst of Rmzn, nd so forth. When he hd finhed the strnger nswered : spoken truly." " Thou hst And the ssembled compny were much stonhed becuse he first questioned nswer he sid it ws the truth. the Apostle of God, nd when he herd the Then the strnger sid : " Inform me of Ihsn " (Rule of Life). And the Apostle nswered : " Tht thou worship God s if thou swest Him, for though thou dost not see Him, know tht He seeth thee." And the strnger sid gin : " Thou hst spoken truly. Inform me bout the Resurrection." The Prophet nswered : "lm s we s the questioner." When the strnger hd sked bout ll the points of religious beliefs he rose nd suddenly deprted, nd they ll st in silence for long time. At lst the Apostle sid to Omr " : Did'st thou know who tht person ws "? Omr sid " : God knows best! " And the Apostle sid " : Verily it ws Gbriel himself who cme to instruct thee by mens of h questions." (From the Shih Muslim.) (The Prophet's nswer to " Gbriel " bout the resurrection ws therefore skilful prry of question which ws not to be nswered in public, not confession H Rule of Life Drems of ignornce.) The Prophet used generlly to sy in the morning : you dremt? " nd whosoever hd would sy so. He sid the truest drem ws bout dybrek. " Hve

75 STORIES FROM THE TRADITIONS OF ISLAM 361 Vigils nd Nocturnl Devotions The Apostle of God sid once : " The most excellent pryers re those in the middle of the night. The most illustrious re those who sy pryers in the night." " Verily there re houses in Prde in which the externl prts re seen from the internl nd the internl from the ex ternl, nd God hs prepred them for those who spek gently, feed the hungry, nd sy pryers t night when others re sleeping.... The time of God's being ner H servnts in the ltter prt of the night fter the middle of the night ; therefore if you re ble to be of the number of those who remember God t tht time, be so "! " When nyone of you goeth to sleep the Devil ties three knots upon h neck, nd sys over ech knot : ' The night long sleep! ' Therefore if servnt wke nd remember God it openeth one knot, nd if he perform the blution it openeth nother, nd if he sy pryers it openeth the other, nd he reth in the morning in gldness nd purity ; otherwe he reth in lethrgic stte." Observing Dwn The Prophet often spoke of the importnce of observing dwn ; it ws one of the five clls obligtory to the Fithful. " Verily the recitl t dwn witnessed (by ngels). Angels come bout you both night nd dy." He, however, forbde Muslims to pry while the sun ws hlf bove nd hlf below the horizon lest they should be open to the chrge of idoltrously worshipping the physicl dc of the sun. The Prophets' Beds Someone once inquired of Ayesh how the Prophet performed h midnight devotions. She sid : " Why do you sk me th? No one hs ever sked me th before. " When the Apostle wkes in the night for the first time he ' sys : God ' very gret ten times ; then ' : Pre be to God ' ' ' ten times ; then : God most pure,' Pre be to Him, ' ' ' Pure the most Holy King,' I sk prdon of God,' There no God but God ' ech of these ten times. Then he would

76 362 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW begin h pryers. He lwys rose when he herd the cock crow nd wshed, nd then pryed. He would often stnd for h medittion in the night so long tht h feet were swollen nd pinful." The Prophet sid once tht the Rule of King Dvid ws the best. He (the King) slept hlf the night, then he ws wkened, nd spent third of the night in pryer, nd he fsted every lternte dy. Women's Pryers The Prophet did not forbid women to go to the mosques, but he sid it ws better for them to sy ll the pryers t home. He " lso sid : And if mn wkes to meditte nd does not wken h wife he will be punhed, nd if the wife cnnot wken her husbnd husbnd the wife." let her dsh cold wter on h fce, nd the H Personl Appernce Ali sid : " He ws of middle height ; h fce pink nd white, with lustrous blck eyes nd thick beutiful brillint hir which fell to h shoulders. H fce ws entirely surrounded by berd. He wlked s if he were pulling up h feet out of the ground, s lightly s if he were flying." Another hs sid " : I never sw nyone wlk more quickly, you might sy the ground ws wrinkled for him. He lifted up h feet nd stepped like one stepping on low ground, nd you knew he hd been long the rod by the smell of musk." Ali " lso sid : He hd in h fce so much gentleness tht in h presence you were obliged to look t him, nd he hd gret chrm of voice.... I never sw mn more beutiful thn the Prophet you might sy the sun ws moving in h fce." Another " sys : I sw the lord once on moonlight night nd sometimes I looked t h beuty nd then t the moon nd he ws brighter nd more beutiful to me thn the moon. " When he ws plesed h blessed fce would brighten so tht you might sy it ws piece of the moon nd then you knew tht he ws plesed."