HM*MMamwm m tilluL 42w3*±^*r^B kW »H «4. W u wB&DfiJMDI Class Book *- - L Copyright^ . COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT OUR HERITAGE ^U/i^jtAf £J- OUR HERITAGE (A ROMANCE OF THE SIERRAS) IN FIVE BOOKS by THOMAS E. KEPNER Boston HE ROXBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. $ tfi%« Copyrighted, 1914 By THOMAS E. KEFISTER Rights Reserved JUN--I 1914 8f xro ©CI.A374950 THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER PREFACE. The superficial observer, accustomed to weigh Literature by avoirdupois, will assert that this Work is too brief. The intelligent reader will know where to look for authorities ; to cite or discuss them would be to compile an encyclopedia. John Lord's Beac- on Lights of History, comprises fifteen volumes ;, Ridpath's Universal History, seventeen ; the Li- brary of Original Sources, ten ; the Catholic En- cyclopedia, eight ; the Britanica, twenty-nine ; the Americana is perhaps equally comprehensive ; Al- bert Pike's Morals and Dogma is an extensive library of esoteric learning; and yet, in none of these, among the great volume of massive works, has the attempt to present the drama of our race and civilization, either in a continuous or com- prehensive way, been made. The Individual who might seek to gain a com- prehensive view of Man and his destiny from any "Five Foot Shelf" would lose his way amid mazes of speculative thought, become confused by the great mass of immaterial detail, or involve him- self in mystic visions, so that the arms, extended to embrace what are but formless shadows, would return empty to his breast. The Author has sought to present the whole life story of our race and civilization in clear, con- cise, comprehensive language. More than Phil- osophy, more than Theosophy, more than Theol- PREFACE. ogy, more than History, more than Literature, the purpose has been to make this work an edu- cation ; to interest the candid reader in a continu- ous world drama, extending over thousands of years of authentic history, interwoven with all accessible knowledge bearing on the main theme — The Continuity of Individual Life ; a study of those principles which have given Man control over the forces of nature; principles, which en- able the Individual to master himself; prin- ciples, which make nations great ; principles, which have made history ; principles, which make •civilization possible; principles, which every In- dividual should know in his efforts to make him- self, his family, his country, better, happier, wis- er. So long as Ignorance, Misery, and Vice shall continue to afflict mankind, Books, like this never can cease to be of general interest. If the purpose has been substantially accom- plished, the fifteen years of continuous applica- tion required to prepare this manuscript have not been spent in vain. The Author. CONTENTS BOOK I. Vin CHAPTER I Nevada II His Wanderings III What He Thought IV Self-Reliance V The Ocean of Time VI Two Great Schools VII Religion and Theology VIII Necessity of Religion IX World Knowledge X The First Form of Government XI Primitive Legal Conceptions XII I am Debtor BOOK II. Egyptian Achievements I Irrigation II Western Civilization arose in Egypt III The Power of Thought IV The Esoteric View V As Seen by the Adepts VI The Poison of Material Prosperity VII The Disintegration of States VIII Moses, the Adept BOOK III Marie CHAPTER I The Hebrew Commonwealth II The Decalogue III Woman Equal to Man IV The Family V Administration of Justice VI The Mosaic Law and Evolution VII The Judgeship VIII Recreation IX The Kingdom of Solomon X The Temple of Solomon XI The Mysteries XII Know Thyself XIII The Cross XIV The People of Ephraim XV The Kingdom of Israel XVI The Essenes BOOK IV. The Anglo-Saxons I Recognition II The Germans III Their Religion IV Their Influence on Modern Society V Their Conquest of England CHAPTER VI Alfred the Great VII The Truth Shall Make You Free VIII The Norman Conquerors IX Roman Jurisprudence X England Under Foreign Kings XI Love is Eternal BOOK V. / American Institutions I The Colonial Period II The Revolutionary War III The Constitution IV Separation of Church and State V The Greatest Century VI The Universal Law VII Vin and Marie BOOK I VIN NEVADA 15 CHAPTER I. NEVADA. Seated in the seagrass chair which he had brought from Hongkong, on the open veranda overlooking the river, Vin gazed with growing admiration at the sparkling water of the Truckee hurrying from its source in beautiful Tahoe to its rest in Pyramid lake, more than two thousand feet below. Vin wished that he might plunge into the crystal water of that ice-cold stream, for the ride across the desert from Las Vegas had been long and tedious, the reflected rays of the June sun had heated the Pullman car almost to suffocation, while the finely powdered alkali dust had burned his eyes and entered every pore. Twenty-odd miles to the southwest towered the snow-crowned summit of Mount Rose. A score of miles to the northwest Peavine mountain reared its lofty crest. In the opposite direction, thirty-five miles away, Mount Davidson was plainly visible. Look where he would, the beau- tiful valley of the Truckee seemed to* be entirely er closed by mountain peaks and ranges, having the suggestion of other and higher peaks and ranges beyond. The sun had just passed below the western range. The higher peaks were gorgeous in the r?ys of the setting sun. The valley of the Truckee was filled with a radiant mountain twilight. A kingfisher darted from his tree on 16 OUR HERITAGE Belle Isle, and with a shrill cry of triumph plunged into the stream, then arose and flew away with an evening meal for himself and mate. The scent of newly mown alfalfa was in the air. The clouds, slowly rising over the western range, soft as down, were resplendent in all the colors of the rainbow. The sky above was azure blue. The air soft and balmy. Reclining in his chair, Vin thought about the history of the great State in which he had decided to make his home. Nevada, the battle- born state ! Nevada, admitted into the sisterhood of States on the day when he first saw the light (began his present incarnation) in far-away Minnesota. Admitted as a State, in order that her vote might make sure the ratification of the work of the Immortal Lincoln. Nevada, with her mighty expanse of desert lands, waiting for some Moses to strike the rock that the life-giving waters might gush forth, calling into existence a million prosperous, happy homes. Nevada, with her lofty mountains, her barren crags, bristling with volcanic rock, dreary and desolate as "The Orthodox Hell with the fires out", — yet indescrib- ably magnificent and grand. Nevada, with her vast fertile valleys, her beautiful sunlit lakes and mountain streams, and her rich mines ! Nevada, empire wide from east to west, empire long from north to south ! All this appealed to Vin. He re- membered that when the Nation was in dire dif- ficulty and distress, when the national treasury was exhausted, when bonds of the government of the United States, bearing seven and one-tenth NEVADA IT percent interest, sold in front of the capitol at Washington for forty-three cents on the dollar, — that Nevada, great, generous sister that she was, opened her exhaustless storehouses and poured more than a billion gold and silver dollars into the resources of the Nation, and brought victory out of defeat. That, after the war was over, Nevada renewed and increased her bounty. Her vast metalic wealth inspired the people of this nation with that enthusiasm which produced an era of industrial and commercial enterprise such as the world had never before seen. It built and equipped great trans-continental railroads ; it established great ocean steamship lines ; it laid the Atlantic cable; it spanned the globe with telegraph and telephone lines ; it hastened the resumption of specie payments; it built costly castles in Europe ; it built great cities in our own land ; and, it made San Francisco the voluptuous queen of the Pacific. That, then, the blight of demonetization fell across this country, and Nevada slept. Slept ! for nearly thirty years. Slept! until the bray of Jim Butler's burro sounded the discovery of Tonopah, of Goldfield, of Manhattan, of Ely, of National and other great mines. But, Vin reflected that, gold and silver are no longer the only nor even the principal wealth within her borders. That, the dining-car had been supplied with plums, peaches and figs from Pahrump, with lettuce and toma- toes from Las Vegas, with cantaloupe from Ma- son Vallty. He looked to Yerington and to Ely, the greatest copper camps in the world ; he looked 18 OUR HERITAGE to Fallon and to Lovelock, to all the places in this great State, where irrigation and agriculture are becoming a principal factor in the industrial life of this commonwealth, and he said : "Impor- tant as has been her mineral production, exhaustless as her wealth seems in that regard, the production of fruit and grain will make Nevada great !" Nevada has made .men famous in law and in literature, in finance and in statesmanship. Her early senators were giants in the councils of this Nation. She fixed in history the names of Fair, Flood, Jones, Mackay, Ralston, Sharon, Sutro, Stewart, Mark Twain, and many others, and on the Comstock, in Nevada, were written the mining laws of this Nation, — the fairest and best of any statutes on that subject in the world. Although Vin had only been in the State for a few months, he felt strangely at ease in his new surroundings. He loved Nevada for what she has wrought, for what she is, for that which she is destined to become. HIS WANDERINGS 19 CHAPTER II. HIS WANDERINGS. Vin was fifty years of age. He did not appear to be more than thirty-five. He believed that his present existence was but a continuation of many which had preceded it. In the full vigor of mature manhood, with well-knit muscles, he was a tireless walker, a clever boxer, a fine horse- man. And although he was at peace with God, at peace with himself and with the world, an indefin- able longing filled his breast. He had never loved. Still, it was there — Love, aching in his heart; — a want which never had been satisfied, never could be satisfied until he should find her. Born on a farm of Teutonic parentage in far- away Minnesota, Vin in due time had graduated from the University of his native State. He had journeyed far and dwelt in many lands. Passing down the valley of the Father of Waters, he crossed the stormy Atlantic. The gates of Hercules had opened to receive him. Rome had given to him of the treasures of her law and government. Greece had bestowed upon him the riches of her literature and philosophy. Pales- tine had surrendered to him the esoteric mysteries of her theology. He traversed the Nile to its source, and dreamed away the return in a house-boat. He stood in the shadows of the Pyramids. All along the blue Mediterranean sea, Vin saw the indelible imprints of man's past, the 20 OUR HERITAGE glorious monuments of antiquity. He visited the site of ancient Babylon, beheld the winding sheet of her material greatness, and heard the jackal howl amid the ruins of one of the most magnifi- cent cities of the ancient world. He sat at the feet of the Indian sages, and learned anew the doctrines of the continuity, the everlastingness of Life, — the Immortality of the Individual Soul. Among the first to carry the ensign of the Republic into the wilds of the Orient, he had followed the indomitable Chaffee to the relief of the legations at Pekin. He had absorbed some- what of the learning of every land, but whenever he thought of making a permanent abode, Vin heard an inexorable voice saying unto him, "Arise, get thee hence, this is not the place of thy habitation." And so, after twenty years of travel, of study, of active experience, of reflection, Vin came to Nevada. And as he watched the sunset hues fade from the tops of the tallest peaks, he thought that a State which had been so lavish in her bounty to the whole world might also be generous to him; that, at last, he had found the place to make a home. WHAT HE THOUGHT 21 CHAPTER III. WHAT HE THOUGHT. Vin watched the silvery moon rise above Mount Davidson and listened to that voice which Socrates has taught us to use rightly. His heart vibrated to its ring. He discerned between the voluntary action of his mind, and the invol- untary perceptions of his Soul. He had learned to watch for and to trust that gleam of Light which flashes across the Mind from within, and to act upon those involuntary perceptions, know- ing that they are true, that they emanate from the Eternal; that, like day and night, they are neither to be disputed nor gainsaid. The Truth which thus came to him would, he thought, come to all men whose Minds are open to the Infinite. "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, that is genius." The chief merit in any book of genius seemed to him to consist in the fact that Books, Creeds, Dogmas, Theories and Traditions were set at naught, and that they portray not what the dead ages of superstition, but what their Author thought. Trained in the Roman Catholic Church, it had taken him years of time, of thought, of study, of reflection, and many a hard-fought battle with himself, before Vin became satisfied of the utter fallacy of the so-called Christian Religion. He had passed through all the gradations from a 22 OUR HERITAGE blind, unreasoning, unreasonable faith — through darkness, through doubt, through despair, — out of fear, out of superstition, out of servitude, to a knowledge of himself, his duty, and his destiny. He reflected that there are about one hundred and eighty-six different theological denomina- tions, which may be classified or grouped as follows: Twenty-seven groups comprise one hundred and fifty-four of those denominations, the remaining thirty being unrelated or not subject to classification. Of those groups, there are six kinds of Adventists, fifteen sorts of Baptists, and four of Dunkards. Some centuries ago, the Catholic Apostolic Church was split into the eastern and western branches ; the western branch, comprising three divisions, namely, Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic, and Polish Catholic, whilst the eastern branch consists of five divisions. There are seventeen kinds of Methodists ; three of Congregationalists ; four of Quakers; and an even dozen of Mennonites. Manifestly those several theological denomina- tions cannot all be right even in their essential characteristics. Jesus the Essene was a non-conformist. Opposing the apparent, he condemned it as transient. He emphasized the inner, the real, the enduring. He devoted his life to reveal the resources of man. He sought to enlighten the mind, to enlarge the sphere of his usefulness, to increase his influence for good. He sought to tell man that he is not dependent, but inde- WHAT HE THOUGHT 23 pendent ; that the individual can and must detach himself. Man must stand or fall, alone. He must learn that by the exercise of his own present powers, newer and larger powers, finer qualities, better talents are developed. The capacity of the individual soul is infinite. The man with one intellectual talent may gain ten other talents. Men are not born, some with great, others with little, Souls. Whilst the physical body is little or big according to the law of Nature, the essential Man is divine or human, generous or mean, spiritual or sensual, virtuous or vulgar., immortal or mortal, as it pleases — Himself. Sometime or other, Man will appreciate his importance. Arising, he will stand uprightly. Physically, Man is weak. His years are comparatively few. For ages, the human race stood as helpless as a child in the presence of the great natural forces. Gradually, reason awoke ! Slowly, the mind developed. By slow, timid, timorous, feeble, faltering steps Man journeyed out of Bondage, out of Fear, out of Superstition, out of Servitude, he learned that he could conquer the Ocean, and harness the light- ning, and subdue the air, and rule the land, until now Man stands absolute master of all the vast physical forces above, and around, and beneath him ! Forces, which were once worshipped as Deities ! Why, then, should we stand in awe of the traditions of the past? Man has yet to learn his worth. He has yet to learn that as a rational, thinking, volitional 24 OUR HERITAGE being he is responsible for his own Soul, and answerable for his own actions. The real man does not expect aid from on high. Man has yet tc learn that through all the ages of the past there never has been, neither will there ever be, a substitute. Life is not lived by proxy. The individual cannot shift his responsibility. He must live his own life, recognize the facts of Nature, carry his own burdens, meet his own destiny, and answer for his own conduct. He has yet to learn that he is not responsible for the real or imaginary conduct of Adami, and that the virtues of Jesus of Nazareth cannot be trans- ferred to him. Then, he will realize that the consequences of a wrongful act cannot be avoided. Then, too, he will recognize that those consequences — the invisible police, the unseen avengers, — accept no gifts, hear no prayers, are not to be deceived by cunning nor deluded by sophistry. Then, he will be ashamed to rely lupon the virtues of any other, even if it were -possible to do so. Then, he will begin to realize that the best and most sublime character of history — the great among even the Great Lights of the Race, — is merely an example of that which all may become. The Individual is not dependent upon the conduct or will of another for his virtues, neither is any other responsible for his failure to' measure up to the best that is in him. A debt may be paid. A slave may be bought! A dog may be led ! A horse may be driven ! But where is there a Man who can be Bought, or Driven, or WHAT HE THOUGHT 25 Led? "J esus P a *d it all" used to be a popular hymn : He paid the price which the world has exacted from all great thinkers since the dawn of civilization. Sometime or other, Man will realize that Life is his very own : To have and to hold, to increase, and to recreate in his own physical body. Eternal Life ! The first of all things, the essence of all things! That priceless jewel, which the great mass of so-called Christian people throw away — ■ like swine trample pearls in the mire, — and when it has gone, pray for Eternal Life from on High ! What Blasphemy ! If, therefore, one claims to know and speak of God, and carries you back- ward to the phraseology of some old moldered temple, in another country, in another world, believe him not. It is so much easier to quote scripture than it is to Think. Sometime or other, Man will have done with abject deference to the past. Perhaps the greatest error of Theology consists in its failure to recognize the fact that it is dealing with Life. Not Death, Life ! The dress which fits a doll today, will fit it a thousand years hence, but the garments of the child are soon outgrown and must be laid away. There is a childhood period of peoples, no less than of individuals. Law, Language, Literature, the Arts, the Sciences, and all the infinite and intricate institutions of the State have had their formative and evolutionary periods. Theology, among all the departments of human thought, alone remains bound to the traditions of the past. In the great march of 28 OUR HERITAGE humanity, there is, and ever must be, a constant putting away of childish things. Change and progress is the universal law. It is the Law of Life. Every orthodox clergyman agrees not to change. He makes a contract with his Church not to find Truth, and promises to deny it if he does. The Clergyman is not allowed to think. He must walk the straight and narrow path trodden by the ignorance and superstition of the past. He must confine himself to the traditions — the fall of man, the expulsion from the garden, the scheme of salvation, the second birth, the atonement, the happiness of the saved and the misery of the damned. On those occasions when he might be expected to say something to enlighten his hearers, the average clergyman contents himself with telling a story which has no point or purpose other than to create laughter. Admit that Moses was great: Did he have any patent on greatness? Assume that Solomon was wise: Did he wear out Wisdom? Suppose that Jesus of Nazareth was virtuous : Did he exhaust virtue ? Whence, then, this Worship of the Past! SELF-RELIANCE 27 CHAPTER IV. SELF-RELIANCE. RELY ON YOURSELF! The Will of each Individual is like the compass of a ship. Where the Will points there the Life goes ! "If the needle directs it to the rocks, there is wreck and disaster, — if to the open sea there is clear sailing-." God leaves each Individual at perfect Liberty. The Individual is neither constrained nor compelled. He must himself learn the way of right and wrong, and having learned, must choose. "We injure ourselves. God will not injure us. We invite our own miseries. God does not send them. The evils and sorrows that afflict mankind are of mankind's own making." The relations of Man to the Divine are too pure to be profaned by the intervention of any other. The Individual needs no intermediary in order that he may know himself. He requires no substitute in order that he may see and know God. When the Individual is true to those construct- ive principles which condition Life on this planet, even as a flower or a tree is true to those laws which condition its growth, when he knows him- self, old things drop away. Teachers, Texts, Traditions crumble and fall. All things are new. He lives, now. Past and Future merge into the Present. He lives in the Eternal ; has Eternal 28 OUR HERITAGE Life, now ; a thousand years are but as yesterday. Knowing that there is no Death but Change and Progress, he keeps things under his feet. He no longer says, "I Believe." He says, rather, "I Think !"— "I Know !" He lives his Life, but not in any conventional manner or appointed way. The power which he has himself developed is new. The way is new. And, as he pursues his course, he does not perceive the footprints of any other. The way, the thought, the Life is wholly new; they are his very own. "What a piece of work is Man ! How noble in Reason ! How Infinite in faculty ! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an Angel ! In Apprehension, how like a God !" He asks nothing; hopes nothing; fears nothing. He scorns appearances. His power is cumula- tive. All the past, the foregone days in which he has toiled and thought, work their strength in this. None can come near him without his consent. None can harm or wrong him, except himself. He is indifferent to riches and the purely material advantages of the world ; his Life does not consist in the things which he possesses. He is as happy in poverty as in wealth ; no less happy in wealth than in poverty. Independent of criticism, he cares not for esteem. He devotes his time and energy to the highest ideals of Life, and is animated by the most unselfish purposes. And he knows that should he so far fail in his effort as to permit selfish and immoral purposes to influence his thought or conduct, he will SELF-RE LIASTCE 29 thereby lose his spiritual development and forfeit his power. This law of Nature has been demon- strated, again and again. There is no known exception. It is as true as the fact that an elec- trical engine will stop when the current which runs it is disconnected or grounded. As true, as is the fact that an eagle, soaring high in the sky, will fall to earth when it ceases to exercise the energy which enabled it to reach that altitude. As true, also, as is the fact that a man in the full strength and vigor of manhood will lose his health, if he violates the laws of hygiene or ceases to exercise. Vin was not anxious to talk ! He appreciated the motive which prompted the old Egyptian philosophers to conceal their most profound knowledge from the multitude ; to communicate it only through emblems, forms, and symbols ; and even in such indirect and obscure manner to communicate it only to those who had been duly approved and initiated; for, they rightly recognized the narrow limitations of the popular mind, — the bigotry and prejudiced opinion of the uninformed. What the ignorant do not understand, they scoff at. They seemingly imagine that by sneers they can drown the voice of reason ; or perhaps supposing that they thus show superiority instead of idiocy. And it has been due to this that many of the greatest discoveries of science and philosophy were not communicated to the world until recent years. "Light rays" and "Wireless telegraphy" were known and their 30 OUR HERITAGE importance fully appreciated by the Egyptian adepts, thousands of years before the "Creation" a? fixed by Usher; and many of them used the "Violet Ray" in their laboratory work, as electric energy was doubtless employed in the construc- tion of the Pyramids. But if they had made their scientific attainments known to the multitude of their day and generation, the Mob, urged on by the popular priesthood, would have torn them to atoms ; just as the great teachers of mankind have been persecuted, destroyed, and crucified. In the time of Galileo, the Theological School would not believe that the Earth moves round the Sun ; and, if any one had then asserted that messages could be sent from a station on land to a ship in mid-ocean, or from one ship to another at a distance, without any visible means of communication, in all probability, he would have been put to torture and death as a deliberate prevaricator, as a vain babbler, a corruptor of youth, and a setter-forth of strange gods ! For many thousands of years, the Theological School, so ignorant, so proud, so self-sufficient, so vain, resting so secure in its "infallible" tradi- tions of the past, aided by despotism, prevented any general knowledge of the simplest scientific facts. The history of the conflict between a few brave men and women of genuine inspiration and genius, on the one side, and the great, ignorant, Theological mass, on the other, has been admirably written by Andrew D. White. During that contest between Science and Faith, the few appealed to Reason, to Liberty, to the Known, SELF-RELIANCE 31 to Justice, to Honor, to Friendship, to Love, and to Truth; the many appealed to Fear, to Igno- rance, to Miracle, to Passion, to Prejudice, to Superstition and to Servitude. The few said, "Think." The many shouted, "Believe." With precisely equal obstinacy, the average man and woman lives today in the most profound ignorance of himself, of his own latent powers and possibilities, because he will not take the time or the trouble to understand himself, to know himself, and comprehend the essential elements of that mental science which would enable him to understand his own Life, and to master those principles by which he may develop his spiritual powers, and thus improve his condi- tion on this planet. The experience of those who have attempted to communicate such knowledge to the unin- formed has not been such as to encourage others to make the attempt. Uniformly they have been persecuted and condemned by a popular mob, incited to violence by Bigotry and Envy, by Fear and Ignorance, by Jealousy and Superstition. Thus Socrates was condemned ! Thus, Jesus the Essene was crucified! Thus, Galileo was imprisoned ! Thus, Kepler was persecuted. But, their Thought still lives, will live through the ages. And so, for many centuries, it has been customary for those having superior knowledge of spiritual things, of Man and his Destiny, to conceal it. And whilst they live exemplary lives, in subordination to civil govern- ment and its laws, as good citizens, they have 32 OUR HERITAGE been wont to preserve the most profound silence regarding their knowledge, and hence, when they pass on, their experience and knowledge goes with them. The world receives but little benefit from their superior knowledge. They leave none to carry forward the torch which they have so laboriously lighted. They live rather as specta- tors of the progress and decay of Nations, and put forth no effort to make confidantes, converts, or disciples. Vin thought that men and women of genuine genius and inspiration should be brave enough to live for the future. WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? Certain it is that the same disintegrating and destructive influences, the same selfishness, the same love of power, the same struggle for place, the same ignorant theological mass, the same disregard of the rights and privileges of the people, the same immense wealth in the hands of a few members of society, the same abject poverty on the part of the many, accompanied by the same systematic effort on the part of the the- ological school to gain control of the forces of government, which destroyed Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylonia, and other ancient states, are now actively at work in the fairest portion of the western hemisphere. Should America escape the fate of all the nations which made antiquity illustrious, it will be due in the main to the cour- age, the energy, the intelligence, the self-reliance of a few brave men and women of thought and SELF -RELIANCE 33 genius. "An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man ; as, the Reformation of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism, of Wesley ; Abolition, of Clarkson ; Scipio, Milton called, 'The height of Rome;' and all history resolves itself very easily into- the biography of a few stout and earnest persons." It is to Individ- uals, rather than to the united efforts of many, that all the milestones of progress, reached by humanity struggling toward Light, are due. Of the whole of mankind, probably not one in ten thousand has any aspiration beyond the daily needs of the body. For the many, in this age as in all others, in America as elsewhere, God, Soul, Spirit, Life, Immortality, are mere words, conveying no real meaning. For the many, God is only Bel, Moloch, Zeus, or at best, Osiris, Methras, or Adonai, under another name, wor- shipped with the old Pagan ceremonies and ritualistic formulas. It is the statue of Olym- pian Jove, worshipped as the Father, in the Christian Church that was a Pagan Temple. It is the statue of Venus become the Virgin Mary. The vast majority of mankind, now as through- out the ages, do not really believe that God is either just or good. They fear his lightning. They dread his wrath. The many only imagine that they believe that there is Life beyond the tomb. Yet they persecute those who profess a superior knowledge to that which they, at best, only think they believe, because it is incompre- hensible to them. To the vast majority of so-called Christian people, God is the reflected 34: OUR HERITAGE image, in infinite space, of the earthly tyrant on his throne; only infinitely powerful, his wrath more implacable, his methods more arbitrary and irscrutable. To curse humanity, the human tyrant need only be, in fact, that which, in every age, the Theological School has pictured God. All over the world, in America as elsewhere, there are Creeds, Dogmas, Ritualistic Forms, the best of which are only less objectionable than the v/orst. They have little that is true, nothing that Hs Divine in them. The Theological School has ever postulated as God something more cruel, more relentless, more revengeful, more wicked and treacherous than the most arbitrary tyrant that ever sat on a throne; something like Nero, something that delighted in sacrifice, rather than a better, more beautiful, more just, more loving, more virtuous being that Man. The Life and Work of Jesus the Essene, pre- sented one of a long series of suggestions that a Gospel of Love might be better adapted to the welfare of the world than a ruthless creed of 'crime, greed, hatred, sorrow and vengeance; and yet, for seventeen long centuries, the teachings of Jesus — the Gospel of Love, the Fatherhood of God, the Universal Brotherhood of Man, — became the Theology of Hate and Strife and Turmoil, until the basic principles of that doctrine are almost entirely absent from the practice of the Christian Church, and with the result that the Creed is losing its influence. Clergy and Laity alike no longer believe what they profess. The proof is that they no longer SELF-RELIANCE 35 live as though they believe it. "By their acts, ye shall know them." So Vin thought. After the heat of the day, the night wind blow- ing down the valley of the Truckee seemed so cold that he had drawn his rug about him, and gazed at the bare gray crags of Peavine moun- tain, which presented an ever changing pano- rama in the silvery sheen of the moon silently rising toward the zenith. The mountain air was a tonic. Nowhere in his travels, along the Medi- terranean sea, in the Garden of Allah, in the shadows of the Himalayas, in the Orient, or on board a liner in mid-ocean, had he breathed such air. Clear, and dry, and cool, it seemed to Vin that the air currents forming in the frozen zone under the Great Bear, moving southward over eternal snow and ice, over river and lake, over woodland and moor, seasoned by the odor of balsam, fir, hemlock, oak, pine and spruce, tem- pered by the great Japanese current, are again cooled as they cross the High Sierra and pour like an elixir of life into the beautiful valley of the Truckee. The air filled his lungs without any conscious effort of breathing, as it thrilled and invigorated every fiber of his being. 36 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER V. THE OCEAN OF TIME. We stand upon the Shore of the Great Ocean of Time. The waves roll in with an infinite sweep and bring to us, now and again, from the vast treasuries of philosophical and religious thought, which lie buried in the unfathomable caves of that unbounded sea, a shell, a pearl, a gem of deepest and purest ray. We do well to gather these lessons of the Ages, ponder them as best we may, listen to the mighty voices as they come to us in broken and fragmentary cadence, whispering from the great bosom of the past. If the people of this generation were now spending their first day on earth, among the many wonders of the world upon which they might gaze would be the blue, over-arching sky, and greatest of all objects would be the far-off sun, silently moving, as it would seem, across the heavens ; and, as the day passed, they would observe that this ball of light and warmth was slowly sinking down into the west. With what peculiar feelings would they note that fact? How all eyes would watch the close of the first day ! And as plain, lake, river, and mountains began to grow dim and take on fantastic shapes in the twilight, and the air began to grow chill, with what fear and trembling would they look into each other's eyes, and clasp each other's hands in the darkness! And doubtless there would be THE OCEAN OF TIME 37 prophets of evil who would say, "It is the first and the last day', never will there be another." But, suddenly, looking up, they would behold a new sky, the heavens beautiful with myriad shining stars; the silvery Moon following the course of the departed Sun. And there might be those who would say, "Beautiful as is the night, there will be another and more glorious Day !" And thus they would wonder and speculate about the splendor of the day that had gone, about the night which was passing, and hope for another day, until, the long hours of doubt and fear and hope wore away, and the East grew light, and the Sun came up like thunder; and, then, they would shout and dance with joy that another day of Life and Light had come. And whilst they might quake with fear at the next approach oi darkness, in the process of time they would harn to trust the darkness as well as the light, and they would soon say, "It is only those who do not know who quake with fear when the Sun goes down." And, knowing nothing of the orderly course of the universe, there might be those who would attribute the rising and setting Sun to the will or caprice of some being more powerful than Man. Such might say that the Sun rose because of the shouts of joy and dancing of the people, and so in the process of time a class would develop whose duty it would be to dance and shout and sing at the approach of dawn; and as time passed they would assert that without such intervention of song and dance there would be no Sunrise and no day. Thus would come into 38 OUR HERITAGE existence a theological class. Others there would be who would make the assertion that the Earth and Sun, the Moon and all the Stars were gov- erned by fixed and unchangeable laws, and that no song or dance could affect in any degree the orderly course of the Universe. Similarly, if the people of this generation were living their first year on Earth, with what joy would they have passed the Spring, and the warm growing days of Summer; but with what dread fear and foreboding would they look upon the dying grass and the falling leaves ! With what apprehension would they observe the days grow- ing shorter and shorter, and the nights longer and colder! With what trembling would they behold the Sun daily falling towards the South, as winter gradually settled down with its pierc- ing cold, its mantle of snow, and frost and ice. And when chill November's surly blast made field and forest bare, the prophets of evil, fit progenitors of the theological class, would say: "Everything is dying." In the bleak days of December, they would say : "Everything is dead." Whilst there might be others who would assert that, "As day has followed night throughout the year that has gone, so Spring will follow Winter." And thus would they wonder and speculate as to whether ever again the flowers would bloom and the birds sing! This is not our first day or our first year. We have passed through many days and nights and years. Many, divers and uniform the changes which we have witnessed in our several THE OCEAN OF TIME 39 incarnations. We have watched the seasons come and go. We have witnessed the years follow each other in their ceaseless onward march. We have seen the centuries come and go. And back of us, beyond the pale of our individual memories, lies the accumulated experience of the thousands of generations of our race, who have thought and toiled, suffered and triumphed, known victory and defeat in the long battle of the ages. We know that long, long ago the Egyptian sages discovered many of the laws of the Universe; that their careful and continuous daily observations, through thousands of years, enabled them to tell exactly when the Sun would rise or set, when the vernal equinox would come, when the days would begin to grow shorter and the nights longer; when the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon would occur; and which would be the morning and the evening Star at any season of the year. But, whilst they calculated days and years and vast periods of time with accuracy, they constructed no satisfactory theory of the Universe because they regarded the Earth and not the Sun as the centre of the solar system. They regulated the calendar of our year, deter- mined the longest and the shortest day, as well as that day in March and September when day and night are of equal length. To them, this Earth was the center of the universe. To them, there were no other worlds peopled, perhaps, with living beings, to divide the care and atten- tion of Deity. To them, the world was a great plain of unknown, perhaps inconceivable limits, 40 OUR HERITAGE and the Sun, Moon and Stars journeyed above it, to give them light. The worship of the Sun became the basis of all the religions of antiquity. To them light and heat were mysteries, as indeed they are to us. Because, the Sun caused the day, and his absence the night; because, when he journeyed northward Spring and Summer followed in his footsteps, and when he returned southward, Autumn winds and inclement weather, and long, dark, cold nights ruled the earth ; because, his influence pro- duced the leaves and the flowers, and brought regular inundation, and ripened the harvests, the Sun necessarily became to them the most inter- esting object of the material universe. To them, he was the innate Life of bodies — the Life of Nature. Author of Life, the Sun was the efficient cause of all generation, for without him there was no existence, no form, no movement. He was to them indivisible, immense, imperishable, and everywhere present. It was their need of Light, of his creative energy, that was felt by all primi- tive men, and nothing was more fearful to them than the absence of the Sun, whether caused by an eclipse or by night. The beneficent influences of the Sun caused his identification with the prin- ciple of Good ; and the Brahma of the Hindus, the Mithras of the Persians ; and the Athom, Amun, Phtha, and Osiris of the Egyptians ; the Bel of the Chaldeans ; the Adonai of the Phoenicians ; the Adonis and Apollo of the Greeks were but personifications of the Sun, the regenerating principle, image of that fecundity which perpet- THE OCEAN OF TIME 41 uates and recreates the world's existence. So, also, the struggle between the good and evil principles were personified, as was that between Light and Darkness, Life and Death, destruction and recreation, in allegories and fables which poetically represented the apparent course of the Sun, who-, descending toward the South, was figuratively said to be conquered and put to death by darkness — the genius of evil ; whilst, returning again towards the North, the Sun seemed to them to be victorious over Death — to rise again from the tomb. This figurative Death and Resurrection of the Sun were also symbolic of the succession of Day and Night, of Light and Darkness, of Life and Death of the Individual, — o t Death which is a necessity of Life, and of Life which is born of Death. And everywhere the ancients saw evidences of the contest between the two principles which, to them, ruled the world. Everywhere this contest was embodied in alle- gory, fable, and fictitious history, into which they ingeniously wove all the astronomical phenomena which accompanied, preceded, or followed the different movements of the Sun, — day and night, the changes of season, and the approach or with- drawal of inundation. Thus grew into stature and fantastic propor- tions those fabulous histories of the contests between Typhon and Osiris, Hercules and Juno, the Titans and Jupiter, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the rebellious Angels and Deity, the Evil Genii and the Good, and other like fables, found not only in Asia, but in the north of Europe, and 42 OUR HERITAGE among the Aztecs and Peruvians of the western hemisphere, carried thither, in all probability, by those Phoenician voyagers who bore there their arts and civilization. Thus, too, the Scythians lamented the death of Acmon ; the Persians that of Zohak conquered by Pheridon; the Hindus that of Soura-Parama slain by Soupra-Muni; as the German Druids did that of Balder torn to pieces by the Blind Hother. * * * * The idea of infinite space existed in the first men, as it now exists in our age. It, and the idea of infinite time, are the first innate ideas. It is impossible to think how thing can be added to thing, how event can follow event, forever. The idea ever returns that, no matter how extensive the bulk, no matter how long the chain of events, there must be, still further onward, an empty void, without limit, in which nothing is. In the same way, the idea of time without beginning or end forces itself upon the mind. Time without events is also an empty void. It is nothing. In that empty void space primitive man felt intui- tively that there was no Light no Life. They felt, what we know scientifically, that there must be a thick darkness there, accompanied by an intensity of cold of which we have no conception. Into that cold darkness they supposed the Sun, the Planets, and the Stars went down, when they seemed to set under the western horizon. Dark- ness, to them, was an enemy, a harm, a vague dread or fear, an unknown terror; the very em- THE OCEAN OF TIME, 43 bodiment of the principle of evil, out of which, they supposed, darkness was formed. And so, as the Sun bent southward toward that cold void of darkness, they shuddered with fear ; and when, at the coming of the winter Solstice, the Sun commenced his northward march, they rejoiced and feasted; as they did at the summer Solstice, when he seemed most to smile upon them in his pride of place. Those days have been celebrated as feast days for many thousands of years. The Roman Catholic Church has made them Holy Days of Obligation, and appropriated to them the two Saints John. Masonry has done the same. And that day in April when the soft zephyrs play among the branches, when the grass begins to come forth, and the dull gray trees prepare their new garments of green, they celebrated as the Day of Life, the resurrection from the tomb of darkness and death. The Christian Church, Protestant as well as Catholic, has seized upon this ancient day of Life and appropriated to it the name — Easter Sunday ; the day on which Jesus of Nazareth was said to have been raised from the Tomb. And whilst these and other great festi- vals are still celebrated, the reasons which caused them to be first recognized have ceased to be re- membered. 44 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER VI TWO GREAT SCHOOLS. From the very earliest times of which we have any record, down to the immediate present, two opposing psychological forces have been engaged ir> an active and seemingly irreconcilable conflict regarding the Status — the rights, the privileges, the immunities, nay, the Liberty and correspond- ing responsibility, of the Individual, as well as regarding Humanity in the aggregate. The one has been moved to action by the most unselfish Love of Humanity. The other has been animated by a spirit of greed and the Love of Power. The one has ever taught that Truth, and Truth alone, can make Man free; and that the Individual must thus become free before he can hope for happiness, here or hereafter. The other has emphasized belief in its dogmas as the universal panacea for all the ills which flesh is heir to. The one has ever sought to break the bonds of Fear, Ignorance, and Superstition which bind mankind. The other has constantly striven to strengthen those bonds. The one has sought to accomplish its purpose by means of a broad, liberal, non-sectarian, universal Education, until all men, everywhere, may be able to see, to understand, and to appreciate the vital fact of Humanity — the fact that Liberty, — personal, political, psychical, spiritual, intellectual Liberty, — is not only a right or privilege, inherent in TWO GREAT SCHOOLS 45 every individual, but that there is also an imper- ative and paramount duty resting upon the In- dividual to exercise that right, to discharge that obligation. The other has opposed any such form of Education, well knowing that, if per- mitted, it would shatter its assumed authority and relieve mankind from its dominating influ- ence. The one has evolved certain plain, practi- cal, simple principles, defining a straight and nar- row path, along which the Individual may jour- ney out of Darkness, out of Doubt, out of De- spair, out of Fear, out of Superstition to a Knowledge of himself, his duty, and his destiny; and whereby, continuing his individual efforts, he may bring his Life into Harmony with those principles which condition the evolution of Life on this planet, the unerring result of which is the development, within his own Soul, of a knowl- edge of Spiritual things, accompanied by the absolute and abiding conviction that his In- dividual Life is immortal. The other has offered mankind an easy, a subtle, a seductive method of substitutional atonement by means of which the Individual who will submit his life to its domi- nating influence, believe only that which he is told to believe, and abide without question by its assumed authority, is given the promise that he may thus escape the consequences of his own actions; that he may thus evade Nature's law of personal responsibility ; that he may thus nullify the law of retributive justice and shift the burden of his own wrong-doing from his own Soul to that of the soulless organism of which he is a 46 OUR HERITAGE part. The one of these forces is called Fraternity; the other, Dogmatic Theology. Their differences are fundamental. Fraternity has much in common with Religion, as defined by Saint James, the brother of Jesus the Essene, "To relieve the widow and fatherless in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the world." The basic principles of the societies of anti- quity which practised the Great Mysteries, the three Pillars of the Temple at Jerusalem, the essential doctrines of the Essenes and the Druids, as well as the Great Fraternal Societies of our own times, all represent the same Truth, under different names : Faith (in God, in Humanity in the aggregate, and in ourselves in particular) ; Hope (That Light will overcome Darkness, that Truth will vanquish Error, that the day will come when the universal law of Love will bind man- kind in a world-wide, united Brotherhood, — a brotherhood composed of both men and women) ; and CHARITY (relieving the necessities, toler- ant of the errors, the faults, the mistakes of our fellows) ; these have been and are the basic prin- ciples of Fraternity, everywhere. For, as an old writer said, "He only is wise, who judges others Charitably ; he only is strong who is Hopeful, and there is no Beauty like a firm Faith in God, in our fellows, and in ourselves." RELIGION AND THEOLOGY 47 CHAPTER VII. RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. During the childhood of a people, Religion is largely a superstition, a fear, a dread of the unknown. It is largely sensuous, pictorial, objective. Under despotic forms of government, the Church was allied to the political and military fcrms of government, was frequently cruel and oppressive, and bent the leligious sentiment of the people to its will. In an age of Art, religious sentiment found expression in paintings, in stat- uary, in costly temples and great cathedrals. In an age of credulity, Religion became an unques- tioning Faith. In times of debate it became a Creed or Dogma; but, in an age of reason, Religion has become a philosophy. The line of demarcation between Religion and Theology cannot be too sharply drawn. Between them is a great gulf. Change and Progress, the law of Life, is also the law of Religion. Latin Theology, which forms the basis of doc- trine of the Christian Church, Protestant and Catholic, is based upon the alleged sin and fall of Man, the total depravity of our first parents, the tradition of a substitutional atonement, the dogmas of time probation, endless punishment, and the rest of it. It is based, also, upon the slander and shame of motherhood. It may seem strange that after thousands of years of experience, of study, of debate, that the 48 OUR HERITAGE great questions, so vitally affecting- the welfare of humanity, are still unanswered. The reason has been suggested. The superstitions of the unciv- ilized races, the fear of natural forces, the dread of the unknown, must give place to more intelli- gent conceptions. The giving up of the old and passing on to the new is the slow work of centu- ries. The childhood period, which found help in the objective, the pictorial, the sensuous, must give place to reason and to the intuitions of the intelligent Soul, must pass from outward forms and ritualistic ceremonies to inner duties, and to those conditions of the Mind and Heart which constitute character. And, as the process con- tinues, Religion must pass from the external, the formal, and the coercine to the authority of Truth. The unquestioning faith of credulity must listen to the voice of Reason, accept the facts of History, and look Philosophy squarely in the eye. In Religion, as in all else, the Individual must give to himself a reason for the hope that is in him. The Dark Centuries of the Christian era taught that the Earth was flat and stationary; the sky, a loof; the stars, countless gems, and we can hardly conceive now how utterly incredible must have seemed the statements of the Copernican astronomers. Nor is it strange that the Theolog- ical School fought for its old theory. To give up that seemed to them like surrendering an impor- tant bulwark to the powers of darkness. Then it was that the Christian Church began to ossify, to crystalize into Dogma. Then, Creeds were form- RELIGION AND THEOLOGY 49 ulated and placed before the people to be accepted on pain of persecution, excommunication, eternal torment and eternal death ; but, as authority to enforce temporal punishment weakened, the better thinkers accepted a broader and larger view. And although the controversy still goes for- ward, it has changed somewhat in its character. Once, Vin remembered, the controversy was between Methodists and Presbyterians, between Baptists and Congregationalists, and between Protestants, as a class, and Roman Catholicism. Now, all these are making common cause in defense of the Latin Dogmas. Protestant and Catholic alike accept Latin Theology and its Dogmas of the Sin, and Fall, and Total Depravity of mankind, of the Atonement, built upon that Sin and Fall, a sort of moral bankruptcy or insol- vency provision expiring by limitation of time. The essential difference being that the Roman Catholic Church extends the benefit of that pro- vision for those of its children for whom proper financial arrangements can be made, and for a time at least, into the future life beyond the tomb ; whilst the limitation is fixed by the ortho- dox protestant churches at the moment of the change called Death, and beyond that, there is for the departed, no possibility of reformation, repentance or salvation. And this very marked similarity of essential belief explains the fre- quency with which so many preachers of the Episcopal Church have passed over to the Cath- olic. It also explains the tendency of the Protest- 50 OUR HERITAGE ant Churches toward Roman Catholicism. And thus is Latin Theology, both Protestant and Catholic, making common cause in resisting the doctrines of the early Christian Church at Alex- andria, on the one hand, and on the other, it is trying to resist the attacks of skepticism and infidelity which Latin Theology has not only called forth, but has actually made necessary in the interests of Truth. A belief in God is fundamental to Religion; but the conception one forms of the Supreme Ruler, the Grand Architect of the Universe, has much to do with the strength or weakness of his position. When it was thought that this Earth was the center of the Universe, that the Sun was but a little ball of Light passing round it, there was not much difficulty in thinking of a being who had made it, and who dwelt beyond the sky, and that everything had been arranged in a purely mechanical way by such larger and more powerful being. Now, all that has gone. The solid sky has dissolved into infinite space. The • Sun has become more than a million times larger *tl-an the Earth. The Stars, receding into meas- ureless depths, have become centers of vast sys- tems until, instead of one Sun, we have millions •of Suns and many of vast size. Astronomers tell us that Cirius is two hundred times larger than our Sun ; that the nearest fixed Star is twenty million miles away, and that the next but one is forty millions of miles distant from our Earth. That, the little nebulous spot in the constellation Hercules is found, under the most powerful glass, RELIGION AND THEOLOGY 51 to be a vast stellar system comprising some four- teen thousand suns. Such Facts as these make it difficult, if not impossible, to think of a God outside of Nature, who made and rules all these countless systems of Suns and Worlds. But, that is merely one of the absurdities of Latin Theology ; and it is that very absurdity which has shattered the faith of the present age in the existence of God. But it is not difficult to think of the order of the Universe, of the existence and continuity of natural forces, for these L.re everywhere manifest. Neither is it difficult to think of Life and Love, of Reason, Justice, or Truth, for these are known to and a part of ourselves. Life knows Life; Love knows Love; Reason knows Reason; Jus- tice knows Justice ; and Truth knows Truth : and in knowing these larger facts and finer qualities, one begins to know the Great Architect of the Universe. Not an Angry, Arbitrary, Distant, External, Outside Being, but God in Nature and in Man; God in Life and Love, in Justice, in Reason, and in Truth. And, as the Universe is infinite, so we suppose that these principles and qualities are also infinite; and yet, they are ever present, nearer to us than we are to our dearest friends. They are ourselves. Hence we are of God. It does not yet appear what Man is des- tined to become. From such a standpoint Atheism is impossible. So far as Latin Theology is concerned, one may or may not be able to persuade himself to believe in some external, physical conception of an 52 OUR HERITAGE infinite personality; but the facts of the Uni- verse, the orderly course of Nature and Nature's law, of Life and Love, of Justice, Reason and Truth everybody may readily afhrm ; and, in affirming these, we affirm the immanency of God, for God is Life, and God is Love. That is Greek Theology. That was the teaching of Clement. That is Scripture. That, also, the Truth as taught by Jesus the Essene, and all the other Great Lights of the race through all the ages of Man's past. God is in every law of Nature. In Nature's great book we see the Wisdom, the Strength, the beautiful Harmony of the Great Architect of the Universe. God is in the Reason, the Love, the Life of mankind. And it is because this is so that Man has, or ever could formulate any idea of God. And the whole plan and purpose of the psychological force called Fraternity is to enable man to develop and unfold the Divine in himself, tc enable the Individual, by his own voluntary act, to become in his measure like the Divine, to become perfect, even as his "Father in Heaven is perfect." And in this, we see the purpose of a Bible and a Church, of Prayer, of Song, and of the Sabbath. But these do not make a Religion. Religious sentiment calls them forth. They aid in the true development and happiness of man- kind. And here we see the need of Faith, the confidence, the hope, the trust which leads the Soul to rest upon the True and the Good. Here we see the necessity of repentance, of turning fiom Error to Truth, from Darkness to Light, RELIGION AND THEOLOGY 53 from Death to Life. Here, too, we see what prayer is, the communion of Truth with Truth, of Justice with Justice, of Love with Love, of Life with Life, of the Soul with the Infinite. 'Prayer is the heart's sincere desire, uttered or unex- pressed." It is the receptive and longing attitude of the Individual seeking the Beautiful, the Good, the True. There is nothing so rational, so real, so near, so true, so helpful, so Divine as Religion when it is understood. The Soul that has this knowledge has Eternal Life now, and is filled with its peace, its joy, its hope; it lives in the eternal and knows that the physical change called Death is only Change and Progress. From these broader and larger views, the Latin Dogmas of Original Sin, Substitutional Atonement, Time Probation, Endless Punish- ment, and the Slander and Shame of Motherhood drop away as unworthy of God, and hence un- worthy of Man. And the Souls that have such knowledge move on to the endless future of cul- ture, of doing, of evolution, of life, of growth and happiness. Hell is here. It is wherever error and wrong are. It will last for each Soul until it has been t?ught in the stern school of adversity and expe- rience, and the discipline of sorrow and suffering, and won by Love and Truth it turns to the Light, that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and then its heaven begins, imper- fect and lowly it may be, but the path is open 54 OUR HERITAGE towards Light, towards Life, towards Love and Truth. Against such just and rational views of Relig- ion the Dogmas of Latin Theology, Infidelity and Atheism seem alike impotent and powerless. The Religious teachers of our age owe it to them- selves, to the present age, to the myriads who will come after us, to teach a truer Religion than any the world has known, in order that Humanity may be won to Truth, to Faith, to Hope, to Charity, to Love, to the Divine. NECESS11Y OF RELIGION 55 CHAPTER VIII. NECESSITY OF RELIGION. A Nation Without Religion which appeals to the Intelligence, the Justice, the Reason and Truth of the people is like an individual without character. Leaving out the Code of Conduct which was a supplementary growth, Latin Theology may be denned as a theory of original causation. And if there be those who, in contempt for the errors and follies, in disgust at the political activities and corruptions which Latin Theology has fostered and made possible in the name of Relig- ion, have contracted toward Religion a repug- nance which causes them to overlook the essen- tial Truth which Religion, considered as a philos- ophy, contains ; they would do well to consider that however extensive Individual knowledge may become, it can never satisfy intelligent in- quiry. If, with Spencer, we regard Individual Knowledge as a constantly growing sphere, every addition to its surface brings the Individual into a larger contact with the surrounding unknown phenomena of Nature. And throughout all future time the Intelligence of this world may occupy itself, as now, not only with ascertained phenom- ena and its relations to the known, but also with that unascertained something which it implies. If, therefore, Individual Knowledge cannot monopo- 56 OUR HERITAGE lize Intelligent Thought, if it must always con- tinue to be possible for the Intelligent Soul to dwell upon that which transcends knowledge, there never can cease to be a place for something in the nature of Religious Philosophy, since it is distinguished from everything else in that its subject matter transcends the sphere of actual knowledge. In a transition period, such as that through which the people of America are now passing, the Faith of many has been lost. Many no longer believe in Latin Theology. To it they can never go back. To it they can neither be cajoled nor driven back. The only sane alternative for such is in some broader and more rational view of Religion than any which has been generally known. The average American mind is neither credulous nor skeptical. It cannot be satisfied with the extremely orthodox nor the extremely radical positions ; but it is drawn to the larger and better middle ground, lying between the extremes of Atheism and Agnosticism on the one hand and the Latin Dogmas of Original Sin, Total Depravity, a Substitutional Atonement, a Time Probation, and Endless Punishment on the other. And when those antiquated doctrines, held alike by Protestants and Catholics, are swept away there remain the real basic principles of Religion as taught by Jesus the Essene, and other Great Lights of the race: the Immanency of God in Nature, the Divinity of the Individual, Eternal Life, Eternal Love, Eternal Truth. And upon these broader and deeper and more NECESSITY OF RELIGION 57 substantial foundations, which the intelligent thought of the people of America can readily accept, let us trust that there will arise some great church, big enough, broad, liberal, and loving enough to hold the thinking of all its members, strong enough to conserve the Faith, Hope, and Charity of the world. So Mote It Be ! 58 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER IX. WORLD KNOWLEDGE. Thought may be low; it never can be Little. To think is to be great. Conduct may be unwor- thy ; it never can be insignificant. Every thought, every action, affects character and is so much cyst into the woild's balance of good or evil. The sentiments of beauty, the emotions of Joy and Sorrow, of Hope and Love, the principles of Justice may seem transient, but they touch the eternal. They mean more than all the inanimate constellations of space. The world in which we live is vast in its extent. Its continents and islands, its mountains, valleys and plains, its lakes, rivers and oceans are great. They are old, yet they are ever new. Man spends his years amid these large and impressive mate- rial surroundings. He looks forth upon the everchanging panorama of Life and beauty. He observes the seasons come and go. He hears the song of the birds, the sighing of the wind, the heavy crash and roll of the thunder and the storm. He feels the soft twilight of the desert. Dazzled by the splendor of the Sun, he is awed by the silvery beauty of the Moon and far-off Stars of night. And whilst Man has lived and moved and had his being amid these large and imposing material surroundings, his moral and mental environment are now far more impressive. The weakness of Thought has been in its nar- WORLD KNOWLEDGE 59 row limitations. Men have thought of the time iti which they lived, of the state, people, or nation of which they formed a part. They have thought of the Creed under which they were brought up, of the form of government under which they lived. Hence, Men have thought and labored. as Families, as Clans, as Parties, as Races, and now and again as Castes or Unions. Frequently they have been arrayed one against the other. Indeed, for thousands of years there was no comprehen- sive Thought; and hence there was no world knowledge. The several Nations which peopled the Globe, their Thought, their Religion, their Governments, their Creeds were strangers. They looked upon each other with suspicion. They regarded their neighbors rather as enemies than as friends. And it is only in recent times that anything approaching international friendship has been possible and, consequently, only in recent times has there been anything like world knowledge. With these larger mental and moral surround- ings, this broader world knowledge, our Age is beginning to realize that all History, that all forms of Government, that all phases of civiliza- tion, all Art, all Philosophy, all Religion and all Science are but parts of one grand and contin- uous world Drama. Not one continent or ocean, but all continents and all oceans ; not one people, but all peoples; not one Age, but all Ages; not one Philosophy, but all Philosophies ; not one Religion, but all Religions which have been observed during all the long time in which the 60 OUR HERITAGE countless millions of our race have gone forth to toil with their hands and to puzzle their brains with the problems of thought, and heart and soul have rejoiced and sorrowed, have known victory or defeat in strange new scenes where Right is ever trying to overcome Error, where Life, Love and Truth are ever rising above Death, Envy, Doubt, and Despair. All these have been necessary in order that Civilization might be. FIRST FORM OF GOVERNMENT 61 CHAPTER X. THE FIRST FORM OF GOVERNMENT. The first form of government was probably patriarchal or tribal. The head of a family, or tribe growing up out of a family, was ruler, and priest, and warrior. He made and administered the law; he conducted the religious rites and cere- monies, he led the army. Might made right. The only security was strength, and the foundation of tribal strength consisted in the absolute power of the head of the tribe or family. Between neighboring tribes armed strife was of frequent occurrence, which sometimes resulted in the con- solidation of conquered tribes under the rule of kings. In the very nature of the case such a gov- ernment must be despotic. Until the close of the middle ages, the nations of Europe were distinctively of this type. The foundations of the Roman Empire were military and, after the decline and fall of that Government, the States that grew up out of its ruins were all conducted on a military basis. And whilst the industrial pursuits, especially agriculture, had to be carried on, such pursuits were subservient to the military, and the work was done by women and slaves. And although Europe has been in a state of armed conflict much of the time since the beginning of the Hundred Years War, yet the industrial has gradually gained upon the military. Agriculture has grown in importance. The 62 OUR HERITAGE mechanical and industrial arts have been devel- oped, and have become a powerful factor in shaping national and international Thought. Disputed boundaries have been settled by trea- ties. The rights of Nations, to some extent at least, have been settled by agreements of peace, instead of being left to the fortunes of war. And although the governments of the world, especially those of Europe, still maintain large armies and navies, the industrial and peace-loving spirit is in the ascendancy. And it is impossible to esti- mate how much this means in the progress of the world. The losses of war cannot be counted. The destruction is not alone in property, but in the loss of young and vigorous men. Who can estimate with accuracy how much of productive power, how much of genius, of inspiration and scholarship have been ruthlessly cut off by war ! All the gentler feelings of Industry, the Pursuits of Peace, the Ties of Home, the growing senti- ment of the Brotherhood of Man are rising up against armed strife. War is now a sad and last resort. Other forms of greatness than the mili- tary ; other, higher and finer forms of courage are now demanded. The world is beginning to real- ize that the heroes of peace are needed. Nor are they less highly honored than were the heroes of war. PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS 63 CHAPTER XL PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS. Primitive legal conceptions are valuable. They contain, potentially at least, all the forms in which law has subsequently been developed. They are to the student of jurisprudence what the primitive crusts of the earth are to the geol- ogist. Nevertheless, the study of jurisprudence has been conducted much as inquiry in physics or physiology was prosecuted before observation had taken the place of assumption. Theories — ■ plausible and more or less comprehensive, but utterly without foundation, such as "The Law of Nature" or the "Social Compact" — have univer- sally enjoyed preference over careful, patient, and systematic research into the primitive conditions of society and legal institutions. And they have served to obscure the Truth by diverting atten- tion from the only quarter in which Truth can be found. The development of those principles of Liberty, Equality, and Justice which are enshrined in the Constitution of the United States covers a period of many centuries of authentic History. They were old when the organic law of our Govern- ment was adopted. Old, when the English Bill of Rights was established. Old, when the Peti- tion of Right was presented to the First Charles for his approval. OLD, when Magna Charta was wrested from King John on the 15th of June, 64 OUR HERITAGE 1215. OLD, when Alfred the Great compiled his Code, and thus restored and re-established the Common Law. OLD, when the rules of the Common Law were formulated in the forests of Germany, more than two thousand years ago. OLD, when the Mosaic Law was promulgated. OLD, as our race and civilization. Primitive man could account for sustained or periodically recurring action only by presuppos- ing a personal agency. The Sun rising or declin- ing, (or seeming to them to* do so) was a person, and necessarily a divine person. The Earth, yielding her increase, was a person and divine. The wind and the whirlwind were regarded as the Voice of God. Nor were such notions con- fined to the material universe, its physical ele- ments or manifestations. They obtained through- out the realm of primitive Thought : The head of a tribe or kingdom, exercising judicial functions, was supposed to possess superior or supernatural knowledge ; his judgments or decrees were regarded as the direct result of Inspiration. When conducting the tribal religious rites or ceremonies, it was likewise supposed that he was clothed with divine wisdom and authority. Rules of law were closely interwoven with theological precepts from the very earliest times, ascending to the most remote antiquity to which the light of history or the faint glimmerings of tradition reach. Consequently, all offenses, whether law- less acts or infractions of theological precept, were regarded primarily as Sins ; whether the offense were the taking of human life, theft of PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS 65 property, removing a landmark, reviling a parent, sacrilege, adultery, or of whatever class, the act was regarded as having been committed, not against the Individual, not even against the peace Ox- dignity of the aggregate community, but against the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Thus, the law administered at Athens by the Senate of Areopagus was an ecclesiastical Code ; whilst at Rome, from a very early period, the pontifical jurisprudence punished adultery, sacri- lege, and perhaps murder. This Thought finds expression in a Psalm attributed to David, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight!" At a later period, transgressions which are known to modern juris- prudence as "Torts" were elaborated in detail. But it was not until recent times that the idea of offense against the aggregate community resulted in what we now understand as Criminal Law. Indeed, the only authoritative statement of Right and Wrong to be found in primitive jurispru- dence is a judicial decree; not a judgment based upon the existence or even supposing the exist- ence of a law, nor even assuming that a law had been violated, but a decree which was supposed to have been breathed into the judicial mind by a higher power at the moment of pronouncing the judgment or decree. In other words, the patri- archal chieftain or king announced the law, defined the offense, adjudged the accused guilty of having committed it, and imposed the penalty, all at the time of pronouncing his judgment or decree. * * * * «6 OUR HERITAGE Passing from this formative period of Society and its primitive notions of jurisprudence, we approach an era of customary law, where it is found that customs, rules, principles or observ- ances form a substantive body of law. And it may be observed that government here exists under the form of aristocracies which were com- posed of a number of families, frequently united under an actual, sometimes merely an assumed blood relationship. Over such an aristocracy, there was frequently a king having a merely nominal authority; an hereditary general, as in Lacedaemon ; a mere functionary, like the Chief Archon at Athens; or a formal hierophant, such as the Rex Sacrificulus at Rome. The important point is that whilst the military, the political or civil, and the priestly or sacer- dotal orders were more or less clearly defined, at the commencement of the aristocratic period, the priestly caste eventually became dominant, and everywhere the military and political ele- ments became either subservient or were entirely eliminated as authoritative heads of government. The ultimate result at which such aristocracies arrived was a king, exercising despotic power, limited only by the special privileges and pre- rogatives of the priestly caste. * * * * It is important to observe that society in these early communities was everywhere divided into two classes, namely, the Initiated and the Pro- fane. All ancient peoples practiced the Myste- PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS 67 ries. There were several degrees of Initiation. Admission to the first was doubtless quite com- mon. It was frequently conferred during the childhood of the candidate ; but, the process of initiation gradually excluded all except the higher officials of government and members of the priestly caste from a knowledge of the higher decrees, which are commonly referred to as the Great Mysteries. Thus, in the process of time, the Adepts became a distinct order, devoted to the study of law, Philosophy and Religion. Indeed, from the very earliest times, all learning was esoteric. It was communicated only to the Initiates. And when, in the process of time, the priestly order or adepts became the sole students of Law the claim of divine inspiration for each particular judgment or decree, which had satis- fied the vanity of the patriarchal chieftain or king, was deemed to be inconsistent with their dignity. Then it was that the priesthood asserted the claim of a Divine Origin for the entire body of Law. Then, too, that they first claimed a monopoly of knowledge regarding those principles of procedure by which contro- versies may be determined in an orderly man- ner. The law thus monopolized and adminis- tered by the Initiates, whether a priestly order, an aristocracy, or a sacerdotal caste or college, may be termed unwritten or customary law. This Era was followed by one of stone-written tablets, constitutions or codes. Of those ancient compilations, the Code of Hammurabi may serve 68 OUR HERITAGE as an illustration. Scholars tells us that Ham- murabi was the Sixth King of the First Baby- lonian dynasty. The Code, thus attributed to him, consists of a stone of black diorite, about eight feet in height. The upper part bears an image of the Sun God, from whom Hammurabi is represented as having received the laws with which the remainder of the Tablet is covered. The Code consists of forty-four columns of in- scriptions, falling into three divisions, namely, PROLOGUE, CODE, and EPILOGUE. Con- siderable space is devoted in the Prologue to the titles and glorious deeds attributed to Hammu- rabi, the value of which consists in the numerous references to historical events, as well as to the mythological and other interesting allusions which it enshrines. The Code commences with two sections relat- ing to witchcraft, followed by three dealing with witnesses and judges. A series of laws regard- ing theft, and stolen property in the hands of another than the thief, leads to kidnapping and fugitive slaves, ending with burglary and brigan- dage. Follow the laws relating to land, a series which contain provisions relating to the culti- vation of fields, responsibility of herdsmen, and various sections concerning gardners. Other provisions treat of the rights and responsibilities of merchants and their agents. Debt and deposit are treated with considerable detail. Under the subject of marriage are seen provisions punish- ing adultery, unchastity and violation ; while pro- PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS 69 visions regarding divorce and separation are closely followed by sections regulating the tak- ing of a second wife or concubine. The laws of inheritance regulate the rights of wife, children, servants, and slaves. Another series defines and fixes the penalty for assault, murder, and kindred offenses; in all such cases, the penalty included the fees paid to doctors and nurses, and other ex- penses incidental to the recovery or death of the injured party. The Code concludes with five sections relating to slaves, and is immediately followed by the Epilogue. This, in brief outline, is the Code of Hammu- rabi. It is essentially a collection of commercial laws. It is silent regarding those principles of Equality, Justice, and Liberty which should con- trol in those controversies arising between an in- dividual and his government. * * * * Compilations of law, like that of Hammurabi, made their appearance at periods much the same everywhere ; not identical dates, but periods sim- ilar in regard to the relative development of the several communities. Everywhere they were given the sanction of Divine Inspiration and Theological authority. Chief among the advantages which such Codes conferred upon their respective communities was the protection they afforded against the pious frauds of the Theological School. The ec- clesiastical element had frequently abused their monopoly of customary law, whilst their exclu- 70 OUR HERITAGE sive possession of legal learning and procedure had been a formidable obstacle to the success of those popular movements which began about this time. With the discovery of letters, it was found that inscribed tablets offered far better se- curity for the accurate preservation of law than the memory of a number of persons, however strengthened by habitual exercise. Fragments of those ancient compilations which have been recovered, show that civil, ecclesiastical and moral ordinances were mingled with but little regard to essential differences. The severance of law from morality, and both from theological precept belongs to a very much later period of human evolution. In other words, the principal value of such codes did not consist in any ap- proach to systematic classification, to terseness or clearness of expression but, rather, in the in- formation which they furnished to everybody as to what the law was. * * * * Contrary to the course of events in western so- cieties, the sacerdotal element of Old India maintained its supremacy for many centuries ; and although their legal learning was eventually compiled and published in the form of a Code, yet their long monopoly of all learning enabled the Priesthood to promulgate an ideal system which they deemed proper for the instruction of their disciples, rather than a body of law which ever had been actually observed in Hindostan. In other words, the Hindu Code, or Law of PRIMITIVE LEGAL CONCEPTIONS 71 Manu, is in large part an ideal system of what its Brahmin compilers believed should be the law, rather than a code of law ever actually ob- served in Hindostan or elsewhere. 72 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER XII. "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians ; both to the wise and to the unwise." On one occasion, acknowledging his indebted- ness to all the Ages of the Past, Vin was heard to say: "I am debtor to Aristophanes, to Aristides, to Arkwright, and to Alfred; to Buddha, to Barre, Burke, Bacon and Bancroft, to Buckle, to Buck- ner, and to Blackstone; to Confucius, to Cicero, to Clement, Copernicus, Columbus and Cromp- ton; to Diodorus, Descartes, Demosthenes, Dar- win, and to Draper ; to Epictetus, Euripidas, Edi- son, Erickson, and to Emerson; to Fichte, to Fulton, and to Franklin ; to Galileo, to Goethe, and to Gibbon; to Herodotus, to Hume, and to Hugo; to Hubbard, Haeckel, Huxley and Hum- boldt; to Isocrates, Isaiah, Ibsen, and to Inger- .soll; to Jeremiah, to Jesus, to Justinian, and to Jefferson ; to Knox, Kant, and to Kepler ; to Lap- lace, Locke, Leibnitz, Lecky, Longfellow, Lu- ther, and to Lincoln; to Marcus Aurelius, Ma- gellan, Morse, Moses, Mahomet, Montesquieu, ^and to Macaulay ; to Napoleon and to Newton ; I am debtor to Origin, to Pathagoras, Plutarch, Plato, Pope, Pindar, Paine, and to Pike; to Rid- path and to Rawlins; to Socrates, Stevenson, Spencer, and Shakespeare ; to Tacitus, Tyndall, Tucker, and to Tocqueville ; to Volta and to Vol- taire; to Watts, Webster, and to Washington; OUR HERITAGE 73 to Zurababel, to Zoroaster and to Xenophon — Discoverers, Explorers, Historians, Inventors, Poets, Philosophers, Scientists, Statesmen, Stu- dents, Thinkers ! I am debtor to the myriad mil- lions who have suffered and toiled and thought! I am debtor to the vast esoteric learning of the world! I thank the brave men with brave thoughts, and the Mothers who taught them to be Brave, Strong, and True ! They are the At- lases upon whose broad and mighty shoulders rests the grand fabric of our civilization. They are the men who have broken and are steadily breaking the shackles of superstition! I am debtor to all those who have appealed to Reason, to Honor, to Law, to Liberty, to Justice, to Freedom, to Equality, to the Known, to Life, to Love, to Friendship, to Happiness, to Truth, ,here ! in this world ! I thank them ! They have made civilization possible !" BOOK II EGYPTIAN ACHIEVEMENTS CHAPTER I. IRRIGATION. After a long ramble on a fine day in midsum- mer, Vin found himself, late in the afternoon, near the summit of one of the tallest peaks of Peavine Mountain. The beautiful valley of the Truckee, dotted with virgin pine, with ranch, orchard, vineyard and meadow, traversed by the lordly Truckee, intersected by irrigation ditches was spread out beneath him. Irrigation is the Life of the arid States. The material prosperity of all the nations that made antiquity illustrious was based upon arti- ficial irrigation of a naturally arid soil. Nature furnished the sunshine, and man supplied the water. All the nations? There was one important ex- ception. Through the valley of Egypt flowed the great River Nile; its sources in regions for centuries wholly unknown ; its course from South to North. Observing that the annual re- turn of its flood-waters was always preceded by the appearance of a beautiful Star, which, about the time of the Summer Solstice, appeared in the heavens in the general direction of the source of the Nile, and seemingly warned the husbandmen of the coming inundation, the Star was likened to that animal which, by barking, gives warning of 78 OUR HERITAGE danger; and the Star was soon styled Sirius, the Dog. Long before the era of history, the annual in- undations of that river had formed the alluvial lands of upper and lower Egypt, which they continued to raise higher and higher and to fer- tilize by their deposits. At first those inunda- tions were calamities but, in the process of time, the ancient Egyptians by means of levees and drains, artificial reservoirs and lakes, stored the surplus waters for the purposes of irrigation and, from that time, the waters of the Nile be- came blessings which were looked for with joy- ful anticipation, as they had before been awaited with terror. "Upon the deposit left by the Sa- cred River, as it withdrew into its banks, the husbandman sowed his seed, and the rich soil and the genial sun assured an abundant harvest." From Egypt, the science of irrigation was car- ried to the region of ancient Babylon and there, too, its beneficent uses were recognized and en- couraged. Assyria grew great because her people learned to apply water to desert land. The same was true of Greece and of Rome. Through the gar- den of Plato flowed a diverted stream of clear, cold, sparkling water from the Athenian hills. The Lombard kings, following the Roman prac- tice, extended and encouraged irrigation in Italy. From Lombardy the art was extended to France. The Moors encouraged it in Spain, Sicily and in Algeria. In Persia, India, and China this form of IRRIGATION 79 husbandry has been practised from time imme- morial, and is still continued. The same was found to prevail in Mexico among the Azetecs, the Toltecs, the Vaquis, and other tribes at the time of the Spanish conquest, carried thither, no doubt, by those Phoenician voyagers who brought there their industries and art; and it has remained undisturbed in the jurisprudence of that country until now. It existed also in Peru. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, we read : "I did not repel or set back the waters ; I did not turn aside the flowing of a canal. I did not soil the waters." Thus we see that this is the oldest method of skilled husbandry, and probably a large number of the Human Race have ever depended upon artificial irrigation for their food products. 80 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER II. WESTERN CIVILIZATION AROSE IN EGYPT. The Greek historians regarded the Egyptians as the oldest race of mankind. Herodotus and Pathagoras were initiated into the Mysteries of the Egyptian Brotherhood; and from the infor- mation thus acquired, they made up their esti- mate of the antiquity of Egyptian civilization. According to their calculations, based upon rec- ords kept by the Egyptian Brotherhood, the ac- cession of Menes-, founder of Memphis and first mortal ruler of Egypt, antedates the year 12,000 B. C. Prior to the accession of Menes, Egypt was said to have been for thousands of years under the domination of several dynasties of gods : First, the Eight Gods ; then, the Twelve Gods; then, Osiris, Typhon, and last of all, Horus, who immediately preceded Menes, the first mortal king. From the same sources, Plato compiled considerable information regarding the ancient continent and civilization of Atlantis, of which the Azores are supposed to be the only visible landmark. It is assumed, therefore, to be the concensus of authority that Western civilization arose in the Valley of the Nile. If there were no other evi- dence than that pertaining to the subject of irri- WESTERN CIVILIZATION 81 gation, Vin thought that conclusion would be irresistible. The secluded position of the singularly fertile valley of the Nile enabled mankind to develop a civilization which far surpassed that of other primitive nations, and with which only that of far-off Babylonia, where somewhat similar local conditions obtained, could in any degree vie. The traditions of antiquity point to two cities as the fountains of Human Wisdom — Memphis, in Egypt; and Babylonia, of the Chaldees. In the Valley of the Nile were no frosts, no storms of rain, no snow. There were no forests. There, Nature perennially restored the soil with her own riches and yielded her abundance without much labor. There, the conditions for fixed and permanent abodes and agricultural pursuits were alone ideal. There, was found no place for the vocation of the hunter, the wild flight of the nomad, or the silent vigil of the herdsman. Long before the era of history, those ancient husband- men laid the foundation of the future greatness of Egypt. Details of the primitve period of Egyptian history are meagre. Races, like individuals, have but little recollection . of their own infancy. Doubtless at a very remote period the aboriginal inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile were dis- placed by foreign invaders. Perhaps, nomads from Asia ; possibly, fugitives from Atlantis. Be that as it may, many centuries of development and growth, followed by conquest and invasion,. 82 OUR HERITAGE and other periods of growth and development, must have preceded the building of the gigantic Pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty. During the thousands of years preceding the era of authen- tic history, the Egyptians progressed so far that nothing seemed too difficult for their accomplish- ment. The Pyramids bear witness to this. How proudly self-conscious must the people have been who thus set up a perpetual memorial for them- selves. And whilst their passion for the huge was relinquished in succeeding centuries, it should be regarded merely as an evidence of a greater refinement of Life, the grace of which still looks forth from the monuments of the Fifth Dynasty. Then a dark age intervened. From the Sixth to the Twelfth Dynasty events are shrouded in mystery which, however, is gradually yielding to the efforts of modern scholarship and is becoming clearer. With the dawn of the Twelfth Dynasty the second period •of Egyptian history begins. No doubt it was during this golden age, comprising some two 'centuries (from about B. C. 2778 to B. C. 2565), upon which the Egyptians of succeeding genera- tions looked back as the classic period of their literature, that Egyptian arms were first carried to remoter lands. Then it was that Nubia be- came an Egyptian province, and the gold of its deserts thenceforth belonged to the Pharaohs, Traditions of this period are embodied in the semi-mythical figure of the Great King — Sesos- WESTERN CIVILIZATION 83 tris. According to the traditions of the time, that monarch subjugated distant lands to the north, but we have little means of knowing how much truth there may be in such legends. It seems clear, however, that at about that time, the Egyptians maintained commercial relations with the nations of the Mediterranean seaboard, for their dainty vases are found in Egyptian rubbish heaps of that period, and may have been import- ed into the Valley of the Nile then, as later, as receptacles for delicate oils. Again, the history of Egypt is veiled in ob- scurity. The continuity of the narrative, as re- constructed by modern scholarship, is broken. She fell a prey to foreign conquerors, and the Hyksos long reigned in Egypt as her lords. But, gradually the little City of Thebes arose to power and mastery, and eventually expelled the foreign kings. With the commencement of the Eight- eenth Dynasty, Egypt was again free. Then it was that that upper Egyptian line established a kingdom which rendered the name of Thebes, its City, and Amun, its God, forever famous. Then dawned the greatest era of material pros- perity which the Valley of Egypt ever saw. The military expeditions of the great warriors of that Dynasty subjugated a region which ex- tended to northern Syria and eastward to the Euphrates. "Egypt became the neighbor of the kingdom of Matanni (or Mitanni) on the Eu- phrates, of the rising power of Assyria, of an- cient Babylonia." 84 OUR HERITAGE Then it was that the two civilizations, which had been developing for thousands of years on the banks of the Euphrates and in the Valley of the Nile, were brought into direct contact, and "we shall hardly be wrong in saying that during those centuries a great part of the civilized world, whose heirs we are, then met together in common life." And whilst the Egyptians had been wont to consider all other peoples as wretched barbarians, they found that narrow view untenable when once they had met face to face the civilization of ancient Babylon. Trade and commercial intercourse exerted a powerful influence; and in the long result their traditional repugnance for and their fear of foreigners passed away, and Chaldean fashions came into vogue among wealthy Egyptians. And although it is difficult to estimate the effect of Egyptian supremacy on the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, recent discoveries show conclu- sively that great quantities of small Egyptian wares, of glass, bronze, and silver were exported during that period. And the inference forces itself upon the mind that it was then that the in- dustrial art of Phoenicia acquired its Egyptian- ized style. Then it was that our civilization adopted all those things which still play their part in our daily lives, the forms of household furniture, of columns, of statues, seals, weapons, and many other articles which were undoubt- edly perfected in the Valley of the Nile, and WESTERN CIVILIZATION 85 which are met with in the oldest Greek and Etruscan times. During that period of Egyptian supremacy, her influence was felt throughout the countries bordering the Mediterranean; an influence, of which we can now estimate the force only by these traces which have survived the ravages of time ; and it is a reasonable inference that her in- tellectual riches, her customs and laws, her poetry and religion, her arithmetical and medical skill were no less widely diffused. "If, for ex- ample, our Religion tells us of an immortality of the soul more excellent than the melancholy ex- istence of the shades, the conception is one first met with in ancient Egypt; and Egyptian, like- wise, is the idea that the fate of the dead is de- termined by the life led upon earth. These con- ceptions come to us by way of the Jewish scriptures, but may not the Jews have obtained them from Egypt, the land that bore its dead so needfully in mind?" The silent paths by which such thoughts have passed from nation to na- tion, and from age to age, are, it is true, beyond all showing. Again, if much of our Bible reminds us forcibly of the proverbial literature of Egypt, the idea of seeking its origin in the Valley of the Nile is one which readily occurs. Nor is the search fruitless. The conclusion that this, as well as much else which we have long called our own, comes to us from the civilization of ancient Egypt can no longer be successfully challenged. So Vin thought. 86 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER III. THE POWER OF THOUGHT. Thought, like Truth, is Eternal. The Thought of the ages of man's past is the Law of the Present ; it will be the law of the fu- ture. After our physical bodies shall have mol- dered away and joined their kindred dust, that which shall live, as a part of the great body of Truth, is the only Act worth doing, the only Thought worthy of expression. And whilst, after the physical change called Death, the Soul can see and understand and appreciate what takes place on this planet, and can watch over the welfare of those it loves, its greatest happi- ness must consist in seeing its beneficent influ- ences widening from age to age, helping to shape for good the destinies of Individuals, of States, and of the World, its bitterest punishment must consist in seeing its evil influences causing mis- ery and suffering. Because Thought is supreme, because Truth is Eternal, the human family is bound together by those invisible ties which, in the highest sense, do make for Brotherhood. That which other men, during the long past, have thought and said, and done, forms a vast network of circum- stance which conditions and controls us all. This is the Choir Invisible. Not one in ten thou- sand but takes his Faith on trust. We believe as THE POWER OF THOUGHT 8) the masters of Thought command us. Individ- ual reason seems powerless in the presence of authority. The Dead rule. The Living obey. In law and in literature, in philosophy and in religion, the Thought of the old Egyptian sages is still supreme. How important that we cor- rectly understand their teaching. The development of our law may be likened to the growth of a Tree. Although the gourd of the Prophet Jonah grew up and withered in a night, that Tree which now casts its shadow far and wide over the earth has been of slow growth. Many, many centuries ago some Egyptian hus- bandman with hand or foot covered the seed of justice with a little earth and passed, regardless, on his journey into the dim twilight of our race. He died and was forgotten. The seed lay there still, the mighty force within it acting in the darkness. A tender shoot stole softly up, and fed by the Light, the Air, the Dew put forth its little leaves and lived. The centuries marched onward. The shoot became a sapling, and its green leaves came and went with Spring and Autumn. The sapling grew. The dews fed its leaves; the birds builded in its small limbs for many generations. The centuries came and passed away, and Moses, from both written and traditional sources, compiled his Code and stamped the laws of the Egyptians with the seal of divine inspiration. The centuries rolled on ! The Hebrew warriors slept in its shade ; our Ger- man ancestors met in their Whitenagemot, the 88 OUR HERITAGE Congress of that time, around the Sapling, and the Angels and the Saxons carved out a new home in Britain. Still the centuries marched on with never-ceasing tread! Alfred fought and conquered the Danes, restored the Common Law, and compiled his Code; William, the Con- queror parcelled England out among his lords; Richard, the Lion-hearted, fought at Acre and Ascalon; and, John's Bold Barons wrested from him the Great Charter, and lo ! the Sapling had become a Tree ! And still it grew ! Thrusting its- great arms wider abroad, lifting its proud head ever higher toward the heavens, defiant of the storms of political and theological strife that roared and eddied through its branches. And when Columbus sailed on, and on, plowing with his keels the unknown western Atlantic, when Cortez and Pizarro bathed the Cross in Blood; when the Puritan, the Huguenot, the Cavalier, and the Follower of Penn sought refuge beyond the ocean, the Great Tree of Justice still stood, firm rooted, vigorous, stately, haughtily dom- ineering over all the forest, heedless of the long centuries that had hurried past since the Egyp- tian patriot planted the little acorn in the earth, a hale and proud old tree, with wide circumfer- ence shading many a rood of ground, fit to furnish timbers for a fleet to carry the thunder of the Great Republic's guns all round the world, and yet, if one could have stood and watched it every instant from the moment when the little shoot first pushed its way to light, until the THE POWER OF THOUGHT 89 American Eagle builded in its branches, he never could have seen the Tree or Sapling grow! Indeed, everything which has power to challenge the admiration and respect of men must have its roots deep in the past, and the more slowly any institution has grown, so much the more endur- ing is it likely to prove. Closely interwoven with the history of our law is found the warp and woof of Philosophy and Religion. Popular worship among the ancient Egyptians was very similar to that of primitive man, every- where. The great forces of nature were wor- shipped as divinities. No ancient people was more devout, or more constant in the service of the gods, than were the people of ancient Egypt. Every town had its guardian deity; even as now, in Catholic countries, every town has its patron saint. Of course, those local deities (if we may be pardoned the expression) assumed a greater or lesser degree of national importance with the growth or decay of the particular community over which they presided. Then, too, as one faction became dominant over another, how nat- ural for them to emphasize the importance of their god! This tendency to boast of the prow- ess of a deity finds expression in the Song of Miriam ! While Memphis was the chief center of the Empire, Rah, the Nature God of that City, was everywhere recognized as a national deity. When the little City of Thebes arose to power 90 OUR HERITAGE and mastery, Amun, the local god of that city, assumed an importance theretofore denied him, and the compound name, Amun-Rah, thereupon came into general use. The names of other pop- ular deities were compounded because of a simi- lar confusion of their powers and attributes. The logical result of all this would be the event- ual recognition of one Supreme Deity. This Tendency towards Monotheism culmin- ated in the effort, made toward the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, under the reign of King Amenotep IV, whom later generations charac- terized as "The Heretic King," to eliminate all the minor gods, and to establish the worship of the Sun God as the Supreme and Only Deity. The effort was not successful, and the reaction which followed left the old religious or theolog- ical forms more firmly fixed than ever in the pop- ular belief and observance. Nevertheless, this event is of transcendent interest and importance, since it shows that the idea of Monotheism, underlying a great number of popular deities, was not only current in Egypt, but it had attained to the dignity of official recognition at about the time of Moses. THE ESOTERIC VIEW. 91 CHAPTER IV. THE ESOTERIC VIEW. The Initiates regarded those popular deities as mere manifestations of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. We to whom the Universe has become but a great machine, not instinct with a great Soul, but a clockwork of proportions unimaginable, although still infinitely less than infinite, and part at least of which, we can imitate with our orreries; we, who have measured the distances and dimensions, learned the specific gravity and determined the orbits of the Moon and the Planets; we, who know the distance to the Sun and his size, have measured the orbits of the flashing comets, and the distance to the fixed Stars, and know the latter to be Suns like our Sun, each with its retinue of worlds, governed by the same unerring laws and outwardly imposed forces, centripetal and centrifugal; we, who with our telescopes have separated the galaxy and nebulae into other Stars and groups of Stars, dis- covered new planets by first discovering their disturbing forces upon those already known, and learned that they all, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Sat- urn, and the others, as well as the bright and ever changing Moon, are mere dark, dull, opaque clods like our Earth, and not brilliant orbs of fire and heavenly light; we, who have counted the mountains and chasms of the Moon with glasses 92 OUR HERITAGE that could distinctly reveal to us the Temple of Solomon, if it stood there in its old, original glory; we, who no longer imagine that the Stars control our destinies; we, who can calculate the eclipses of the Sun and Moon, backward and forward, for ten thousand years; we, with our vastly increased conceptions of the power of the Grand Architect of the Universe, but our wholly material view of that Universe itself; we cannot, even in a remote degree, feel, though we may partially and imperfectly imagine, how those great, simple, open-hearted children of Nature felt in regard to the Starry Hosts, there upon the slopes of the Himalayas, on the Chaldean plains, and upon the banks of that great, strange River, the Nile. ! The Universe, to them, was alive! instinct with life; instinct with forces and powers, mys- terious and beyond their comprehension ; it was no machine, no system of clockwork to them. It was a vast creature, an army of creatures, alive, and in sympathy with or inimical to man. All was mysterious and miraculous to them, and the Stars, flashing across the heavens, spoke to their hearts almost in an audible whisper. Jupiter with his kingly splendors, was emperor of the Starry Hosts. Venus looked lovingly upon the earth and blessed it. Mars, with his crimson fires, seemed to threaten wars and misfortune. While Saturn, cold and grave, chilled and repelled them. The variable and ever-changing Moon, faithful companion of the Sun, was their THE ESOTERIC VIEW 93 constant source of wonderment. The Sun was to them the visible emblem of the generative and creative power. They regarded the Earth as a great plain, over which the Sun, the Moon, and the Planets revolved. Of the Stars, some were beneficent, bringing with them springtime, fruits, and flowers; some, faithful sentinels, advising them of approaching inundation, of storm, or of deadly winds and pestilence ; some, heralds of evil, which, steadily foretelling, they seemed to cause. The eclipses of the Sun and Moon were regarded as portents of evil, their causes beyond comprehension, hidden in mystery, supernatural. The journeyings of the Sun, the regular return of the Stars, the coming of Arcturus, Orion, Sir- ius, the Pleiades and Aldebaren were, to them, voluntary, not mechanical. What wonder, then, that Astronomy became the most important of Sciences, and that those who learned it became rulers ; and that vast edifices, the Pyramids, the Temple of Bel, and other gigantic structures, everywhere in the ancient world, were dedicated to astronomical purposes. And what wonder that they worshipped Amun, the God of the Sun, of Nature, of Light, of Life ! What wonder that they personified the Planets and the Stars, and eagerly believed the fables invented for them, in that age when capacity for belief was infinite, as indeed it now is and ever will be. And he greatly errs who imagines that because the mythological fables of antiquity are all refer- able to and have their foundation in the phenom- 94 OUR HERITAGE ena of the Starry Hosts, and all their gods are but names given to the Sun, the Stars, the Plan- ets, the Zodiacal Signs, the Elements, the forces of Nature and Universal Nature herself, that therefore they worshipped the Stars and what- ever animate and inanimate things seemed to them to exercise an influence over human fort- unes and destiny. Because, in all Nations, ascending to the remotest antiquity to which the Light of historical knowledge or the faint glim- merings of tradition reach, seated above all the gods which represent the Stars, the Elements, and those which personify the innate forces of Universal Nature, we find a still higher Deity, si- lent, undefined, incomprehensible, the Supreme God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, from whom all the others flow or emanate. "Above the time god, Horus, the Moon goddess or earth god- dess Isis, and the Sun god, Osiris, of the Egyp- tians, was Amun, the Nature God, and above him the Infinite, Incomprehensible Deity, Athom; Brehm, the silent, self-contemplative, one orig- inal god, was the source to the Hindus, of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Above Zeus, or before him, were Kronos and Ouranos. Over the Alohoyim was the great Nature God, Al, and still beyond him, Abstract Existence, IHUM, He that Is, Was, and Shall Be. Above all the Per- sian deities was the Unlimited Time God, ZERUANE-AKHERENE; and over Odin and Thor was the great Scandanavian Deity Alfa- dir!" AS SEEN BY THE ADEPTS 95 CHAPTER V. AS SEEN BY THE ADEPTS. The Egyptian Sages had long taught their ini- tiates that there is but one God. Their esoteric learning embraced the great doctrines of ancient Theosophy. They treated of God, of Man, and of Nature. They regarded all the phenomena of Nature, which the profane worshipped as divini- ties as mere manifestations of the Supreme God. The High Sciences and lofty morality which they taught have inspired the emulation of the greatest men of every age. They studied the most abstract Sciences. They calculated eclipses. They discovered or preserved the famous geometrical theorems which the Greeks afterwards learned from them. They regulated the Julian calendar nirfeteen centuries before Caesar was born. They cultivated the fine Arts. They conducted practical investigations regard- ing the necessities of Life, and made known their discoveries. They inspired the Nation with that enthusiasm which produced the Pyramids, the Avenues of Thebes, the Labyrinth, the Temples of Karnac, the Monolithic Obelisks, and the great Lake, Meoris, the most gigantic irrigation project that antiquity ever saw. Their Wisdom had, for thousands of years, furnished a sure foundation for governmental policy ; their Science and Art formed a firm basis 96 OUR HERITAGE for the most lofty ambition, the holiest inspira- tion, and exalted achievement; their Religion was synonymous for Life, Light, and Immor- tality. They ever sought to impress upon the mind of the novitiate, the great fact that the harmonious relation or cooperation of man with those prin- ciples of Nature, which condition the develop- ment, the evolution, the growth of the Individ- ual Life on this planet, will produce the Wise Man, the Maji, the Master. The whole matter is summed up in those brief words, attributed to Hermes, engraven upon the Tablet of Emer- ald, designated by one of the great writers of modern times as the Immutable Law of the Equilibrium, — "What is Superior is as that which is Inferior; and what is below is as that which is above, to form the marvels of the Unity." But, like all human institutions, the Tide of their Civilization reached its flood! POISON OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY 97 CHAPTER VI THE POISON OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY. Material Prosperity, when it reaches a certain point, seems to develop a subtle poison. A spirit of selfishness develops with great wealth. Then, comes the struggle for Position, for Place, for Power ! Then, Dishonest Practices ! Then, the Protest of the Wronged and Plundered People ! Then, Interneccine Strife ! Then, the Final Struggle for Existence; and, at last, Na- tional Death. With the exception of this, a People may recover from any evil. Ignorance, Piracy, Robbery, and Violence of every descrip- tion may be succeeded by Virtue, Patriotism, National Honor and genuine greatness, but where is there an example of a corrupt and mer- cenary People who have ever recovered their vir- tue and patriotism? Their doom has ever been the lowest state of wretchedness, slavery, and misery ! Trodden down, scorned, obliterated from the list of Nations forever! This poison was in the blood of Egypt. About the time of Moses, a spirit of Greed, of Graft, of Selfishness took possession of her peo- ple. The struggle for Place, for Position, for Power began. Dishonesty, Domination, Op- pression and Suppression of the weaker classes followed in successive steps. Sorrow and suffer- 98 OUR HERITAGE ing were everywhere. The cry of the wronged and plundered People was unheard or unheeded. Disintegration and Death had set their irrevoc- able seal upon the proudest of States. Egypt Died. The History of her death struggle is the sad and tragic story of that appalling Spiritual Dark- ness which finally and forever settled over the beautiful and sunlit land of the Pharaohs. From .such a bondage, and from such a fate, did the so- called Israelites flee! Like a far-off remembering of the Soul, it seemed to Vin that the preliminary stages in the disintegration, dishonor, and death of Egypt are now casting their shadows across the fairest por- tion of the western hemisphere. DISINTEGRATION OF STATES 99 CHAPTER VII THE DISINTEGRATION OF STATES. Great Wealth in the hands of a few members of society, accompanied by abject poverty on the part of the many, a spirit of Greed, of Graft, of Corruption, accompanied by base subserviency, has always preceded the corruption and downfall of States. The possession of vast private for- tunes has always inspired the desire to control the forces of government and to dictate the pol- icy of the Nation. The People never yet existed that could stand this strain. Sidon and Tyre, whose merchant princes possessed the wealth of kings; Babylon and Palmyra, the ancient seats of Asiatic luxury; Rome, laden with the spoils of a world, overcome by her vices rather than by the hosts of her invaders ; these are a few of the more notable historical instances of the destruct- ive influences of great wealth when controlled absolutely by a few members of society. "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, When wealth accumulates, and Men decay!" The influence of the clergy, observed Mr. Gibbon, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but, so intimate is the rela- tion between the throne and the altar that the banner of the Church has very rarely been seen on the side of the People in their efforts to es- tablish or maintain a free government. Indeed, 100 OUR HERITAGE until the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Church and State were every- where one and inseparable. The tendency of popular institutions is toward despotism. Executive power constantly en- croaches upon the rights and privileges of the people. It encroaches not alone with a con- scious purpose, but because it is restless, un- wearied, constantly drawn by the progress of events into new fields of contest. And whilst the encroachment of executive power may be scarcely perceptible at the outset, it is as certain and relentless as time itself. Against this perennially increasing power of the executive, the people put forth immense strength only to end in as great weakness. Popu- lar effort is misdirected. The people are wont to strike at the person of the Executive rather than" at the source of his authority; which is the prin- cipal reason why revolutionary movements so frequently prove abortive. Therefore it is that those popular movements, coming from those high mountains, which domineer over the moral horizon, Wisdom, Justice, Reason, Right, built of the purest snow of the ideal, after a long fall from rock to rock, after reflecting the sky in their transparency, after being swollen by a hun- dred affluents in the majestic course of triumph, suddenly lose themselves in quagmires, like the Nevada rivers in the sand. Popular effort is exhausted and discounted in reviving things long since dead; in embalming DISINTEGRATION OF STATES 101 old dogmas, regilding faded shrines, restoring ancient superstitions, enforcing the worship of symbols as the actual means of salvation, tying the corpse of the Past, mouth to mouth with the living Present. Hence, it is one of the fatalities of Humanity to be condemned to continual struggles with Bigotry, with Hypocrisy, with Fear, with Envy, with Superstition, with Servi- tude, with the Pleas of Tyranny and the form- ulas of Error. Despotism, seen in the Past, seems respect- able. So, also, the mountain, bristling with vol- canic rock, when seen through the haze of dis- tance, seems blue, and smooth, and beautiful. The sight of a single dungeon is worth more to dispel illusions and create a proper estimate of arbitrary power than the most eloquent volumes ever written. The Rack, the Thumbscrew, the Iron Boot, the Infinite Instruments of the In- quisition should be preserved in Memoriam, for- ever. As an object lesson, they might do much to direct public effort rightly. So Vin thought. Unless Liberty be protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, a time will surely come to every commonwealth when it will be wholly governed by an ignoble oligarchy; an oligarchy, composed of professional politicians, of great financial institutions, of those enriched by huge bankruptcies, by arbitrary expansions and equally unwarranted contractions of the cur- rency, by the depreciation of all securities, by 102 OUR HERITAGE the crash of banks, by panics, which, impoverish- ing multitudes, are caused by cheap and cunning knavery. Then, all delusions regarding Equal- ity, Justice, and Liberty perish, and the wronged and plundered people may regain their Freedom only by passing through untold suffering and hardship. In periods of Public Distress, there are always those who incite to violence and anarchy, crying : "Down with Property ! Down with Law and Or- der! Down with Governments Dansons la Car- magnole!" — while there must be the just and normal relation of Constitution and Law, within which, to be effective, Public Effort must be confined. Make a breach in either, as did the people of France in 1793, and the Great Steam Hammer, with swift and ponderous blows, shat- ters the machinery of government to atoms and, at last, wrenching itself away, lies inert and dead amid the ruin it has wrought. Two essential characteristics are absolutely necessary in order that Reform may be effective. Reform must be moderate. It must be persistent as the evil it is intended to eradicate. Certain it is that no government ever has been, or ever can be, long conducted by the People and for the People, without a rigid adherence to those prin- ciples which Reason commends as just and right. Such principles must be the great standard by which men and legislation are measured. They must be inexorable in their application. All must come up to their standard or declare DISINTEGRATION OF STATES 103 against it. Measures which bring fundamental principles into question are frauds against Lib- erty, and their logical result is the ruin of the party and the disintegration of the State which adopts them. Arbitrary power is the inevitable consequence of misplaced confidence in political parties. Never has it resulted from the operation of Just, Sound, Well-tried principles ! The Thirst for Power, once awakened, is insa- tiable. Neither Individuals, Societies, Govern- ments, Nations, nor Parties ever have power enough. The Empire makes its safety the plea for open robbery. The Great Monarchies, with- out making any excuse, partition among them- selves a kingdom ; they obliterate a Republic. "To maintain the balance of power" is a common plea for the destruction of rival states. Spain, haughty with her dominions and drunk with power, endeavored to crush the Netherlands. Philip the II. married Queen Mary, and that pre- cious pair sought to win Great Britain back to her allegiance to the Holy See. Afterwards, Spain attempted to conquer the Kingdom with her "Invincible" Aramada. Napoleon set his friends and relatives on thrones and parcelled amongst them half Europe. The American Re- public cloaks its ambition with the specious plea of "Duty to extend the area of Freedom," claim- ing it as her manifest destiny to annex other ter- ritories, distant provinces, and islands of the sea, under empty or fraudulent pretexts. She stood 104 OUR HERITAGE quietly by whilst the Japanese ravished the Her- mit Empire ! The Nation that grasps at the Commerce of the World cannot fail to become selfish, calculat- ing, dead to those noble aspirations and impulses which make a people great. Rather than endan- ger its commercial interests it will submit to in- sult; whilst to subserve those interests it will wage unjust war on frivolous or fraudulent pre- texts; its free people cheerfully allying them- selves with monarchy to crush a commercial rival. War for a great principle ennobles a na- tion; but when inspired by a spirit of commer- cial greed it is despicable and inevitably leads to destruction and disintegration. Why? Because it produces wrong and injustice which forbid mankind to be its friend. It is lamentable to see a nation split into fac- tions, each following this or that brazen-faced, swash-buckler leader, with a blind, unreasoning, unquestioning hero-worship. It is contemptible to see it divided into parties, whose sole end is the spoils of victory, and its leaders the Low, the Base, the Venal, and the Small. No matter how prosperous such a nation may seem to be, Lib- erty is in the last stages of decay and near its end. "It wrangles over the volcano and the earthquake." It would be natural to suppose that a nation in distress would call its wisest sons into council. On the contrary, great men seem never so scarce as when they are most needed. Small men are DISINTEGRATION OF STATES 105 never so bold as when incapable greenness, sophomoric pretense, and showy incompetence are most dangerous. When France was in the throes of Revolutionary Agony, she was con- trolled by an Assembly of Pettifoggers, — Robe- spierre, Marat, and Couthon ruled instead of Marabeau, Vergniaud, and Carnot. England was governed by the Rump Parliament after the exe- cution of her King. Cromwell extinguished one body; Napoleon the other. These considerations should teach us that it is not enough for a people to gain Liberty. They must guard it vigilantly if they would retain it. Public Opinion is a great force. It is omnipo- tent. It is the business of the Statesman to find the means to shape and wisely direct it ; for it is according as this is done that Public Opinion is conservative, constructive, and beneficial, or destructive and ruinous. 106 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER VIII. MOSES, THE ADEPT. ^Moses was brought up in the Palace of the King, either as heir apparent or as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was initiated into all the learning of the Egyptian Brother- hood. He was an Adept. Himself a Priest of Heliopolis, Moses was learned in the Law. After the migration, he married the daughter of Jethro, a Priestess of Ann or Heliopolis. In the establishment of a Priesthood after the migration, in the powers and privileges, as well as in the immunities and the sanctity which he conferred upon it, Moses closely imitated Egyp- tian institutions, and made public the worship of that Deity whom the Egyptian Brotherhood had long worshipped in private. The doctrines thus announced were far in advance of the popular no- tions of the people, and it is easy to understand why they continually relapsed into rebellion against the majesty of their Invisible King and imitated every fantastic ceremony which their profane ancestors had long practised in Egypt. Even Aaron, (Aharun) upon their first clamor- ous discontent, restored the worship of Apis, in the image of which Egyptian Deity he made the Golden Calf! The great mass of the emigrants did not be- lieve in One, Only Deity until a late period of MOSES, THE ADEPT 107 their history if, indeed, they ever reached that high plane of mental and moral and spiritual en- lightenment. "Who among the Baalim is like unto thee, O Jehovah!" expressed the whole creed of the Hebrew people. Nevertheless, their ideas gradually improved. Being lowest in the historical Books, amended in the Prophetic Writings, they reached their highest level among the Poets. It is too clear for argument that it was a part of the Egyptian Race that migrated from the Valley of the Nile, under the leadership of Moses ; and it is a reasonable inference that the minority, or some portion of it, which had vainly sought to establish the supremacy of the Sun God became dissatisfied with the established or- der of things, and determined to emigrate. Is not such conclusion consistent with the known history of western civilization in every age? Is it not the brave, the daring, the intelligent, the religious, the self-reliant, who have ever been led through the wilderness into the Promised Land? Verily, Verily, they have always been the vanguard of western civilization ! They established a Commonwealth on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean sea, some fifteen centuries before the Christian era, which would do credit to our Revolutionary fathers. There, we find the first tentative experiments in democracy and popular government. There, the people first came to their own. There, they were first recognized as the ultimate source of author- 108 OUR HERITAGE ity, next to the authority of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. There, all officials were chosen by direct vote of the people; they were nomi- nated, says Josephus, from among those over whom they were to rule, but such as the whole nation have tried and can approve as good and righteous men. There, the Common Law was formulated. There, the trial jury, a jury com- posed of witnesses, having some knowledge of the facts, was established. There, too, we find the first free and independent judiciary which ihistory records. BOOK III MARIE 110 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER I. THE HEBREW COMMONWEALTH. After leaving the Valley of the Nile, the emi- grants settled in the region of the Jordan and entered upon a national existence peculiarly their own in character. The Commonwealth consisted of a number of tribes, loosely bound together as one confederate body, each occupy- ing its own territory, and exercising supreme au- thority over local affairs. There has been some controversy regarding the number of tribes. No doubt the number in any year corresponded to the number of months in the lunar calendar; and, when there were twelve lunar months in any year, the two tribes of Joseph (Ephraim and Manassah) were counted as one tribe; whilst, when there were thirteen complete lunar months in any year, the tribes of Joseph were counted as two, making thirteen tribes. The tribes formed a confederation somewhat like that which existed between the thirteen American Colonies prior to the adoption of the Constitu- tion of the United States. The History of the Hebrew Commonwealth is interesting princi- pally because it is there that we find the first tentative experiments in democracy and popular government. Stagnation is the rule. Progress, the rare ex- ception amongst Individuals as well as Nations. HEBREW COMMONWEALTH 111 In accordance with this rule, a process of stag- nation, ossification, mental stasis, degeneration, early commenced in the theological oligarchy of the Hebrew Commonwealth. Prohibitions and ordinances originally prescribed for reasons deemed wise and sufficient to a few simple acts came in time to apply to all other acts of like character; because people — Individuals, Families, or Nations, — menaced with the anger of the gods for doing one thing feel a natural terror in doing any other thing, however remotely like it. One kind of food having been interdicted, probably for sanitary reasons, the prohibition was gradu- ally extended to all food resembling it. A wise provision for ensuring general cleanliness, dic- tated, in the process of time, long routines of ceremonial ablutions. Again, that separation of civil and priestly authority, a most salutary measure for the maintenance of free institutions, produced, in the long result, the most disastrous and blighting of all human institutions, a hypo- critically pious, sanctimonious, corrupt, and powerful priesthood. The members of such a caste could not but consider that transgressions of their ordinances should be punished by civil penalties, whilst disregard of civil obligations should expose the delinquent to ecclesiastical correction or discipline. But, there was a pop- ular and progressive minority among the people of the Hebrew Commonwealth, found princi- pally in the Tribe of Ephraim, which resisted these tendencies, and a conflict early arose be- 112 HEBREW COMMONWEALTH tween this progressive body of individual citi- zens, on the one hand, and the House of Levi and its adherents, on the other; a conflict, which was fundamental in its character, and which ex- tended through several centuries, culminating in the revolution which divided the nation, follow- ing the death of Solomon. And it is to that progressive minority, com- posed of a few brave men and women of genuine genius and inspiration, and the principles of Equality, Justice, and Liberty, which they saved to posterity, that the people of the United States are indebted for those principles which are en- shrined in the Constitution of the United States. THE DECALOGUE 113 CHAPTER II. THE DECALOGUE. It has been observed that the Mosaic Law was based in large part on the Commandments, which contain, in less than three hundred words, a comprehensive statement of what its compil- ers believed should constitute the whole duty of Man to God and to his Fellowmen. The Deca- logue was a Constitution. Whilst it would be interesting to trace the evolution of the principles stated in the com- mandments from the time they were first recog- nized, until they were engraven upon the Tab- lets of Stone, the scope of this Book precludes more than a brief indication of their origin. Some of them (Thou shalt not kill, steal, commit adultery, or swear falsely), are as old as the human race. Vin had witnessed uncivilized tribes in the mountains of Luzon administer a rude justice, which was confined to these funda- mental principles of right and wrong. Primitive man found that the commission of such acts led to retaliation; punishment, swift and sure, was meted out at the hands of the neighboring tribes- man who had been wronged. Self-preservation, the first and greatest law of Nature, required of Primitive Man that he do none of those things. Those acts were not forbidden, in the first in- stance, by stone-written constitutions, which 114 OUR HERITAGE were clearly of supplementary origin, but by the common and unwritten custom and consent of mankind; and therein is their true authority, even now. As the nation developed, it was found that the underlying cause of the Commis- sion of such Acts was Selfishness, and thereupon a ban was also placed upon Covetousness. The Humanity and Wisdom which character- ize the Mosaic laws have challenged the admira- tion of the world for many centuries. Sanctity of life, kindness to the poor, discouragement of luxury and extravagance, and regulations re- garding the mortgage and transfer of real prop- erty which tended to make disproportionate for- tunes difficult are among the more important provisions. There were statutes regulating the acquisition, the transfer and use of property, in- cluding regulations for its transfer, and recovery when wrongfully appropriated by another. There was a law defining murder and other homicides, as well as other felonies and misde- meanors. Penalties, extending from formal exe- cution, down to the infliction of "Forty stripes less one," to small fines and other means of com- pensating for wrongful acts, were provided. The provisions of the Mosaic law in regard to the relation of Master and Servant, to Injuries inflicted on the Body, to the respect due to Parents, to the Protection of the Widow, the Fatherless, the Unfortunate; to Delicacy in the treatment of Woman; to Unjust Judgments; to Bribery and Corruption ; to Revenge, Hatred, THE DECALOGUE 115 and Covetousness ; to Falsehood and Scandal ; to Unchastity, Theft, Murder and Adultery, can never be gainsaid. Legislative Assemblies, composed of represen- tatives chosen from among the principal men of the several tribes, were instituted to discuss peace and war and other matters of public im- portance and interest; an organized form of gov- ernment somewhat similar, in its lack of author- ity to carry its enactments into effect, to the Con- tinental Congress. The people of the several tribes, in council assembled, were recognized as the ultimate source of authority; the resolutions of the general assembly were merely advisory, and could be carried into effect only as the sev- eral tribes in council assembled concurred. The Individual was the unit of the Nation. The first beginning, the first tentative experi- ments in democracy and popular government are directly traceable to the provisions of the Mo- saic Code, under which the Hebrew Common- wealth was established and endured for several centuries. 116 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER III. WOMAN EQUAL TO MAN. In their treatment of Woman, says Herodotus, the Egyptians were centuries in advance of their contemporaries. Their customs in this regard were not very different from those which obtain among the better classes today. Woman was recognized as the equal of her husband or other male relatives. She had all the legal rights which were enjoyed by him. She was admitted to a portion, at least, of the esoteric learning of the Hermetic Brotherhood. The daughter of Jethro and wife of Moses was a Priestess of He- liopolis. The wives and daughters of Kings suc- ceeded to the throne like the male members of the royal family ; nor was this rule of succession rescinded even though it had more than once en- tailed upon the nation the troubles incident to a contested succession; foreign princes, on several occasions, had claimed title to the throne through marriage with an Egyptian princess. "It was not a mere influence that they possessed, •which women often acquire in the most arbitrary eastern communities ; neither was it a political importance accorded to a particular individual, like that of the Sultana Valideh, the Queen Mother of Constantinople; it was a right ac- knowledged by law, both in private and in pub- lic life." WOMAN EQUAL TO MAN 117 Marriage was encouraged. Upon arriving at maturity, the youth was expected to marry. The marriage ceremony was social, rather than re- ligious or statutory. The nuptials were usually celebrated at the home of the bride. There she was arrayed for her husband. There, the bridal chamber was prepared. Her bridesmaids and friends were in attendance. The bridegroom, ac- companied by his relatives and friends, came from his own place and, as he approached the home of his fiancee, she came forth with her friends to meet him. The two processions joined. There was dancing and song, merry- making, and afterwards feasting, which contin- ued throughout the night. On the morrow the wedded pair, perhaps accompanied by their friends, went to their own home, and the new family was established. The family tie was strong and enduring. Divorce was of rare oc- currence. The words "Father" and "Mother 1 ' then meant all that they now imply in our best homes. The emigrants carried these customs into their new home, and made them a part of their religion. The precept, "Honor thy father and thy mother," was not merely a command, thundered, as the theologians assert, from Mount Sinai ! It was a Vital and Living Truth, upon which the strength of the Commonwealth was built. Yet, strange as it may seem, Latin Theology is based upon the slander and shame of mother- hood. Within the "Inspired" pages of the Bible, 118 OUR HERITAGE not an American Bible, there is little but shame and humiliation for Woman. She is there re- garded as the property of Man. She is expected to keep silent in the Church, to ask forgiveness for becoming a Mother. She is as much inferior to her husband as he is supposed to be inferior to Christ. The Bible is too pure to be read in public by her polluted lips. In the Bible is found no description of a civilized home; a free wo- man, surrounded by loving children, adored by a free man, her husband, was unknown to the "Inspired" authors of that Book. The Bible was written, edited, revised, and re-written by Men, selfish, vain, conceited, ambitious Men! The Bible is the great Bulwark of Special Privilege and Assumed Authority. And so long as Woman continues to regard the Bible as the great standard by which her rights are to be measured, just so long will she continue to be the Inferior, the Servant, the Serf, the Slave of Man. Naturally, the Intelligent Women of Eu- rope and America, as well as the Chinese Repub- lic, are beginning to rebel against such servitude, and in that rebellion is seen the promise of a bet- ter, brighter, more beautiful and beneficent world. THE FAMILY 119 CHAPTER IV. THE FAMILY. The Family was privileged to protect its mem- bers from aggression or injury, and to avenge a member, if slain. The next of kin had the abso- lute right to slay the offender whenever and wherever he might be found. This privilege of the Avenger of Blood or next of kin gave rise to the Cities of Refuge, which were established for the safety of those who were so unfortunate as to kill another by accident ; for example, "When a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slip- peth from the helve and lighteth upon his neigh- bor that he die, he shall flee unto one of those cities and live." In such case, although there was neither malice nor premeditation, and conse- quently no criminal intent, yet the Avenger of Blood might not forgive the homicide. The des- ignated Cities of Refuge were the only places where such unfortunate offenders were safe from pursuit and death. Their terms of seclusion ter- minated only with the death of the High Priest under whom the slaughter and flight happened, or by the coming of the fiftieth year, or Year of Jubilee. Thus the term of seclusion might be any time — fifty years to a few days, more or less ; but for the slayer to venture beyond the limits of 120 OUR HERITAGE the city to which he had retired prior to the hap- pening of either of those events was to court death at the hands of the Avenger of Blood. The loyalty of the Family for its members was characteristic of the Clan and Tribe, as well as of the entire Nation when threatened by a for- eign foe; but however urgent the necessity, strong the pressure, or close the union, during periods of public danger, the union was at once dissolved, and Tribes, Clans, Families, fell apart and resumed their independent positions or rela- tions, as soon as the danger had passed. These conditions offered an almost insuperable barrier to any close Union; still the Commonwealth en- dured for several centuries. The young men were familiar with the use of weapons, such as the Spear, Sling and Stone, Sword, Shield, Bow and Arrows, and Javelin. Accustomed to danger and hardship, they were subject to command as soldiers, citizen soldiers «of the Commonwealth, as soon as they were 'able to bear arms and join battle." The excep- tions to this rule were as follows: "Those who have built a home and have not lived in it for a year; those who have planted vineyards and have not been partakers of their fruits; as well as those who are betrothed, or who have recently married, lest they have such an affection for those things as to become voluntary cowards." In what other Nation of Antiquity, exclaimed Doctor John Lord, were seen such respect to pa- rents, such fidelity to husbands, such charming THE FAMILY 121 delights of home, such ardent loves, such sincere friendships, such regard to the principles of Jus- tice! Indeed, if we except ancient Egypt, we would seek in vain among the Nations of An- tiquity, for anything approaching in purity the moral and social institutions of the People of Ephraim during the existence of the Common- wealth. In addition to being independent of each other, the tribes were independent of the general gov- ernment. Dependent upon its citizen soldiers, the Commonwealth was strong for defense, but it could carry on no aggressive campaign against a foreign foe. And it was doubtless the ineffi- ciency of such a government to cope with ques- tions of national and international moment, which led to the policy of seclusion adopted by the Commonwealth. The recommendation of Moses, warning the nation against foreign alli- ances, was not very different in spirit from that which Washington, in his farewell address, made to the people of America, warning them against making conventions with the governments of Europe. "A rim of bristling localism was drawn around the Commonwealth, and everything be- yond that exclusive periphery was avoided and ignored, this as a principle of statescraft and an article of religion." One of the scenes in the drama hereafter to be described makes it important to observe that the children were required to learn the Law, not the ecclesiastical rules or precepts, which are 122 OUR HERITAGE sometimes inaccurately referred to as "The Law," but those principles of Equality, Justice, and Liberty which regulate the rights of Man- kind. Those principles they were required to memorize. As the first thing they are taught, says Josephus, which will be the best thing they can be taught, and the cause of their future fe- licity and happiness. For it is a good thing that the Law should be engraven in their memories, so that it may not be possible to blot them out. This requirement gave rise to the further rule that "no one shall be permitted to plead ignor- ance of the Law." And continuing, Josephus said, "The Law also will have great authority, foretelling what they will suffer if they break it, and imprinting in their Souls what they com- mand, so that there may always be within their minds that intention of the laws which they have broken, and have been thereby the cause of their own mischief." ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 123 CHAPTER V. THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. The Student may observe, among the institu- tions of the Commonwealth, the first independ- ent Judiciary which history records. The Judges, according to Josephus, were chosen from among those who have been most zealous in the exer- cise of virtue. "Let those who are chosen to judge be held in high honor; and let none be permitted to revile any other when jihe judges are present nor carry themselves in an insolent manner before them." Before assuming his du- ties, the Judge was required to take a solemn oath to determine causes according to his best judgment of what right and justice dictated. His conduct could not be called in question, ex- cept by a process of impeachment, "Unless any one can show that they have taken bribes to the perversion of Justice, or can make any other accusation against them, whereby it may appear that they have passed an unjust sentence." The Court was held at the "Entering in of the Gates." There the Judges heard all causes, which were brought before them in the orderly course of trial. During the continuance of the Commonwealth, the administration of criminal justice left little to be desired. A person charged with crime was deemed innocent until his guilt was established, 124 OUR HERITAGE beyond reasonable doubt, in a court having juris- diction of the offense ; his rights were clearly de- fined and jealously guarded. The testimony of a single witness was not sufficient to establish guilt; neither was the testimony of servants ac- credited; because, says Josephus, of their ig- noble character, and the probability that they may not speak truth either through hope of re- ward or fear of punishment. But "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three wit- nesses, shall the matter be established." In criminal cases, the witnesses, sitting as as- sessors or jurymen, were the final judges of fact. It was by their solemn oath, of his innocence or guilt, that the accused must stand or fall. If, therefore, the jury of witnesses, after hearing and comparing all of the evidence, including the sworn testimony of the accused, if he desired to be heard, were in doubt regarding his guilt, and were unwilling to raise up their hands against him, the accused was forthwith discharged; for "the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people." The Judges were with- out authority to impose sentence until the Jury after hearing all of the testimony, raised up their hands against the accused and, by so doing, de- clared him to be "Guilty, as charged, beyond all reasonable doubt." The functions of the Jury do not so clearly ap- pear in the administration of civil justice, al- though there is some authority for the state- ADMINISTKATION OF JUSTICE 125 ment that here too the witnesses were the final judges of fact. The sentimental features of the story have been given undue prominence in the Book of Ruth. The controversy over the estate of Elimelech is interesting; the law of the case may be stated as follows : Where a man died, leaving a wife but no children, the next or near- est male relative had a conditional inheritance ; he might inherit the estate, provided he could marry the widow. Mahlon, the husband of Ruth and owner of the estate in question, died, leav- ing no children. The next of kin entered into possession of the estate and retained it under claim of title and color of right, but without mar- rying the widow. The story of Ruth, of her gleaning in the fields of Boaz, his kindness, and their mutual attachment are well known. Now about noon, says Josephus, Boaz went down to the city, and called the senate together, and when he had sent for Ruth, he called for the kinsman also. And when the kinsman was come, Boaz asked him if it were true that he claimed the inheritance of Elimelech and his sons; and the kinsman admitted that he did retain it, alleg- ing that he was permitted to do so by the laws, because he was the nearest of kin. Then, said Boaz, "thou must not remember the laws in part, but do everything according to them ; now, the widow of Mahlon hath come hither, whom thou must marry according to the law, in case thou wilt retain their fields." And the kinsman re- plied that he was unable to comply with that 126 OUR HERITAGE condition, because "he had a wife already and children also." And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people who were in the gate, "Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chi- lon's, and all that was Mahlon's," and all the peo- ple that were in the gate (Court) and the elders, said : "We are witnesses." And when this was done, the kinsman took off his shoe and delivered it to Boaz as a token that he surrendered all in- terest in the land. The Targum, instead of the shoe, says right hand glove. In later times the Jews delivered a handkerchief for the same pur- pose. The giving of a glove was in the middle ages a ceremony of investiture in granting lands or dignities. In A. D. 1002, two bishops were put in possession of their sees, each by receiving a glove; so, in England, during the reign of Ed- ward II., the deprivation of gloves was a cere- mony of degradation. MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION 127 CHAPTER VI. THE MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION. Whence came this Wisdom? Was it the result of study, of experience, or reflection? Was it due to the principles of Evolution? Was it su- pernaturally taught by the Almighty? Considered from the viewpoint of Latin The- ology, Moses was not a legislator in the sense in which Solon, Lycurgas, Justinian, Alfred the Great, and others, were regarded as the authors of their respective Codes ; quite the contrary ; Moses is regarded as an Amenuensis of the Al- mighty ! And according to that Dogma, which at best is only supported by the vaguest conjec- ture, the Mosaic Law came to the people in the wilderness under a sanction from on high, most, solemn and glorious. Such has been the view of the Christian Church, and its predecessors, for many centuries, and this notwithstanding the fact that Josephus, throughout the Antiquities of the Jews, considered and constantly refers to Moses merely as a Legislator. Still, the supposi- tion that in some mysterious way, "The Lord spake unto Moses," telling him what to write, was not without a measure of plausibility prior to A. D. 1859. Down to that time, the Theologi- cal School had rested secure in the conviction that the annals of our race had been fully chron- icled. 128 OUR HERITAGE It is not profitable to review the long series of guesses, by the greatest minds in the Church, from Eusebius to Archbishop Usher, whereby the date of man's appearance on this planet was fixed in round numbers, four thousand years be- fore our era ; a single illustration will suffice. In the seventeenth century, Doctor John Lightfoot, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and one of the most eminent theologians of his time, declared it to be the result of his profound and exhaustive study of the Hebrew Scriptures, that "Heaven and Earth were created altogether, in the same instant" and that "this work took place, and man was created by the Trinity on Oc- tober 28, 4004 B. C., at nine o'clock in the morn- ing." After Doctor Lightfoot's notable achieve- ment, the origin of our race and world was regarded as settled beyond controversy, and one had only to turn to the first or second chapters of Genesis to find on the margin the date, and in the text a brief, though graphic account of the manner of Man's appearance. According to the Book of Genesis, the story of the origin of Man is that the Supreme Being decided to make the World and a Man ; that he made the world and the man, and placed the man in a garden. After a while, the Supreme Being noticed that the Man was irritable, restless, and uneasy ; that he seemed lonesome ; and then, the Supreme Being decided to make a companion for the man. But, having used up all the original "nothing" in making the World and the Man MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION 129 there was no more "nothing" from which to make a Woman. The Supreme Being was not, however, without resources. He caused a deep sleep to fall upon the Man, chloroformed him, and took a rib, or as the French would say, a cutlet, out of the Man's side, and from it fash- ioned a Woman ! And after completing the Woman, the Supreme Being brought her to the Man. To see how she liked him? Bless you, my child, that is not the spirit of Latin Theology. No! To see how he liked her! The Man liked the woman, at least he said so, and they started house-keeping. And the Supreme Being told them of certain things they might do, and of others that they might not do; and, of course, those others were the things they most wanted to do. And they did. They knocked the apples out of that tree in a hurry. And when the Su- preme Being found that the Man and Woman had eaten an apple, he was very angry. And the Man laid the blame on the Woman ! And the Supreme Being turned them out of the garden. What a Man ! What a God ! Trouble commenced ; Roses developed thorns ; Snakes grew poisoned fangs, and the world has been full of discord, trouble, turmoil and "Original Sin" from that day to this. Every Theology in the world has attempted to account for the existence of the Universe, for Good and Evil by such a story as that. In the Vedas, another account of the same transaction, written several thousand years be- fore Adam and the Garden of Eden, is to be 130 OUR HERITAGE found. There, the story is that Brahma decided to make the world, a Man, and a Woman, and the scene of this Creation story was the Island of Ceylon, which, according to the account, was the most beautiful Island of which any mind can conceive, such Birds, such Songs, such Flowers, such Foliage, such Verdure ! And the Trees were so arranged that when the soft zephyrs played among the branches, every Tree was a thousand Eolian Harps ! When Brahma placed them there, lie said : "Let them have a period of courtship, for it is my desire and will that true Love shall for- •ever precede marriage." Then, they had their courtship with the nightingale singing and the stars shining, with the flowers blooming, and they fell in Love, and were married by the Su- preme Brahma, who admonished them never to leave the island; but, after a time, the Man, whose name was Adami, (the woman's name was Heva), said to his wife, "I believe I'll look about a bit." He went to the northern extremity of the Island, and found a narrow neck of land connect- ing with the mainland; and the Devil, who is ^always playing pranks, produced a mirage, and when Adami looked over to the mainland, he Avas so much pleased with the prospect, that lie went back and said to Heva, "The country over there is a thousand times better than this, let us go!" But Heva answered, "Let well enough alone ! Let us stay here ! We are happy here, and have everything we need !" But Adami insisted, and they went. The instant they MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION 131 reached the mainland, they heard a great crash and, looking back, they saw that the neck of land had fallen into the sea ; the mirage disappeared ; there was nothing but rocks and sand, the torrid rays of the tropical sun, and the wind, singing- sad requiems over their chagrin and disappoint- ment. And the Supreme Brahma came and cursed them both to the deepest hell ! Then it was that Adami said, ''Curse me, but curse not her. It was not her fault; it was mine! That's the kind of a Man to start a world with; a Man who can see his mistake and admit it! And thereupon the Supreme Brahma said, "I will save her but not thee." And then Heva spoke, out of the fullness of her Love, out of a heart in which there was Love enough to make all her daughters rich in holy affection, and said, "If thou wilt not spare him, O Brahma, spare neither me; I do not wish to live without him; I love him." And then the Supreme Brahma said, "I will spare you both and watch over you and your children, forever." Unfortunately our knowledge of the world and of Man's past does not enable us to be thus ex- act, either as to the time or manner of Man's appearance on this Earth, but we know that, at the hour stated by Doctor Lightfoot, an exceed- ingly cultivated people, enjoying all the fruits of a highly developed civilization, had been swarm- ing in the great cities of Egypt, and that other 132 OUR HERITAGE nations, only less advanced, had, at that time, reached a high development in Asia. But the theory of the Theological School re- garding the origin of our Race, of our Law, and of our World, is only less absurd than their con- jectures on other subjects. The Fathers of Latin Theology taught that the Earth was flat and stationary; the sky a Roof; the Stars count- less Gems ; and the Sun only a little ball of light passing over the Earth. Then it was that this Planet came to be regarded as the center of the Universe. Then, it was not difficult to imagine a God, "dwelling beyond the sky", who had made the world, hung up the stars, and arranged every- thing in a mechanical way. Neither was it diffi- cult, then, to suppose that such superior being may have dictated his statutes to Moses. Now, all that has gone ! The solid sky has dissolved into infinite space. The Sun has become more than a million times larger than the Earth. The Stars, receding into infinite space, have become centers of vast systems, until, instead of one Sun, we have millions of Suns and many of vast size. "When we gaze of a moonless, clear night, on the heavens glittering with Stars, and know that each fixed star of all the myriads is a Sun, each probably peopled with living beings, we sensibly feel our own unimportance in the scale of crea- tion, and at once reflect that much of what has in different ages been Religious faith, could never have been believed, if the nature, size, and dis- tance of those Suns, and of our own Sun, Moon, MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION 133 and Planets had been known to the Ancients as they are to us." Do not these considerations make it absurd to suppose that the Mosaic Code was a revelation? Is it not equally absurd to sup- pose that one of the wisest statesmen who ever lived, was merely a Stenographer? Just so! Vin thought it time that a more rational view of the history of our Race and World should be publicly taught. The Mosaic Law was and is authoritative be- cause it was developed in accordance with those principles which govern the Evolution of Truth in all ages. But, wailed Doctor John Lord, in one of his lectures, "Sweep away his authority as an inspiration, and you undermine the whole author- ity of the Bible; you bring it down to the level of all other books; you make it valuable only as a thesaurus of interesting stories and impressive moral truths, which we accept as we do all other kinds of knowledge, leaving us free to reject what we cannot understand or appreciate, or even what we dislike." On the contrary, when the au- thority of Moses, as an inspiration, is swept away, we do not undermine the authority of the Bible ; instead of having such an effect, it tends to establish its Truth and add to its Authority. To say that the Bible is not true, or that its au- thority can be thus destroyed, "is as if one should say that a flower, or a tree, or a planet is not true ; to scoff at them is to scoff at the law of the Uni- verse. In welding together into noble form, whether in the Book of Genesis, or in the Psalms, 134 OUR HERITAGE or in the Book of Job, or elsewhere, the great conceptions of men acting under earlier inspira- tion, whether in Egypt, or Chaldea, or India, or Persia, the compilers of our Sacred Books have given to Humanity a possession ever becoming more and more precious ; and modern Science, in substituting a new heaven and a new earth for the old, the reign of law for the reign of caprice, and the idea of Evolution for that of Creation, has added and is steadily adding a new revela- tion divinely inspired." The Mosaic Law is no exception to the rule that everything which has power to challenge the admiration, obedience, or respect of men must have its roots deep in the past, and the more slowly any institution has grown, so much the more enduring is it likely to prove. So far as present information enables us to form an opinion, the Mosaic Law is the first great landmark in the substitution of a reign of law and comparative justice for the reign of arbi- trary power and caprice in the conduct of govern- ment. Its principles were the result of many thousands of years of Egyptian civilization, fol- lowed by other periods of conquest, degradation, evolution, and civilization, culture, and govern- ment. Like all of his illustrious successors, Moses used the material which time had tried, which accumulated experience had proven. Nor does it detract from his fame as a man of genius and inspiration that he did not originate the more profound of his declarations. Was it not Fame MOSAIC LAW AND EVOLUTION 135 enough that he gathered together the Laws and Institutions of a great and powerful Nation, eliminated what was unsuited to the new condi- tions, and compiled them into a Code, which has entered into the legislation of all civilized na- tions "What matters it, then, that we have come to know that the accounts of Creation, the Fall, the Deluge, and much else in our Sacred Books, were remembrances of lore obtained from the Chaldeans? What matters it that the Beautiful Story of Joseph is found to be in part derived from an Egyptian romance, of which the heir- oglyphs may still be seen? What matters it that the story of David and Goliath is poetry; and that Samson, like so many men of strength in other Religions, is probably a Sun Myth? What matters it that the inculcation of high duty in the childhood of the World is embodied in such quaint stories as those of Jonah and Balaam? The more we realize these facts, the richer be- comes that great body of literature brought to- gether within the covers of the Bible. What matters it that those who incorporated the Crea- tion lore of Babylonia and other Oriental Nations into the Sacred Books of the Hebrews, mixed with it their own conceptions and deductions \ What matters it that Darwin changed the whole aspect of our Christian Myths ; that Lyell and his compeers placed the Hebrew story of Creation and of the Deluge of Noah among legends ; that Copernicus put an end to the standing still of the Sun for Joshua; that Halley, in promulgating his 136 UR HERITAGE law of Comets, put an end to the doctrine of "Signs and Wonders''; that Pinel, in showing that all insanity is physical disease, relegated to the realm of Mythology the Witch of Endor and all stories of demoniacal possession; that the Rev. Dr. ScharT, and a multitude of recent Chris- tian travellers in Palestine, have put into the realm of legend the story of Lot's wife trans- formed into a pillar of salt; that the anthropolo- gists, by showing how man has risen everywhere from low and brutal beginnings, have destroyed the whole Theological theory of the "Fall of Man?" Our great body of Sacred Literature is thereby only made more and more valuable to us ; more and more we see how long and patient- ly the Forces of the Universe, which make for righteousness, have been acting in and upon man- kind, through the only agencies fitted for such work in the earliest ages of the World, through Myth, Legend, Parable, and Poem." So Vin thought! THE JUDGESHIP 137 CHAPTER VII THE JUDGESHIP Nations, like individuals, grow strong in ad- versity. We often profit more by our enemies than by our friends. We can support ourselves only by that which resists us. We owe our suc- cess to opposition. The Hebrew Commonwealth was no exception to this rule. It took time to subdue the desert, which must be watered by artificial means. The Nation grew strong in the stern school of adversity. In the process of time, the People by Industry, Care, and Toil brought the desert wilderness under cultivation and made it bloom and blossom as a garden; just as is now being done in Nevada. Then, the accumulation of wealth was rapid; and, when the tariff wall, which had restricted foreign commerce was broken down, Israel became the granary of the world. The Office of Judge, as that title is used in the Book of Judges, was not contemplated in the es- tablishment of the Commonwealth. The Epoch embracing the rule of Eli, as High Priest, and Samuel, as judge or dictator, was transitory, from the Democracy which preceded to the Des- potism, which followed. It would be presump- tuous to assert that all the causes which made Despotism possible among that people, three thousand years ago, can be fully traced at this 138 OUR HERITAGE time. The whole subject is too new and too deeply hedged in by passion, prejudice, and pre- conception to be fully treated at the present time; and yet, Vin thought that it was largely due to one cause; the same cause, or enemy, or evil which has stood in the pathway of human progress since the dawn of the first civilization which this Earth ever saw; a spirit of Greed, of Graft, of Selfishness, accompanied by an utter disregard of the rights and welfare of the great mass of the people. It remains to be seen whether the People of the American Common- wealth will profit by the lessons of history. The irrigation system, which the emigrants brought with them from the Valley of the Nile, during the course of several centuries, made the hills and valleys of that arid, mountainous state bloom and blossom as a garden. The Nation grew rich. Wealth accumulated in a few hands. With material prosperity came a steady decline in morals and in spiritual religion. Forms and ritualistic ceremonies were multiplied. The Na- tion became imbued with a spirit of commercial greed and avarice. The objects of their desires changed. Once they had loved Equality, Justice, Liberty! Then they loved commerce and Fin- ance. The Judiciary, chief bulwark of Liberty, became corrupt. The Judges accepted bribes. The House of Levi was not exempt from the general corruption; the officiating priests were sensual and worldly. The times were perilous and full of danger. The surrounding nations, THE JUDGESHIP 139 discovering the richness of the country, the weakness of the government, and the avarice of the people, commenced a systematic conquest, first commercial, and later, of arms. The Relig- ious capital of the Nation, situated at Shechem, was sacked and burned. Such were the circumstances, when Samuel arose. He roused tht People from their lethargy, and the "Philistines" were defeated at Mizpah, where a great battle was fought. Thereafter, Samuel ruled Israel as Judge or Dictator. His purpose was to effect a moral and religious re- formation, without which there could be no gen- uine patriotism. He began by admonishing and encouraging the principal men of the Tribes, when they sought his advice. Then, he went from city to city, from village to village, from hamlet to hamlet, counseling, encouraging, and instructing the People in their rights and duties as citizens. Afterwards, he founded a school for the education of young men. This first School of the Prophets was animated by the spirit of a teacher who was feared and revered, as no leader had been admired in the whole history of the Nation, since Moses. This School was independ- ent of the Theological element, and as the first great Teacher of Equality, Justice, and Liberty, as well as Morality and Religion, distinct from that caste, the Life and Work of Samuel are of great interest. He communicated his own burn- ing spirit wherever he went; and the number of his disciples was doubtless quite large. Details 140 OUR HERITAGE of his work are meagre. But there can be no doubt that he roused the People to a new sense of Duty, as well as to a better and higher sense of Patriotism and Morality than they had before known, and had it not been for the influences at work among the wealthy classes the common- wealth might have been preserved. The allegori- cal statement, contained in the third chapter of the first Book of Samuel, seemed to Vin to indi- cate that the priesthood had become so corrupt, that there was a systematic effort on the part of the People to eliminate that institution. Under such circumstances, the House of Levi threw the great weight of its influence on the side of the Aristocracy in its demand for a King. Rarely, indeed, has the banner of the established Church been seen on the side of the people ! The change in government was strenuously opposed by Sam- uel, who clearly foresaw that the Monarchy would be accompanied by Tyranny, Oppression, and Injustice, from which there could be no es- cape, for which there would be no redress. He told the People in detail just what they might expect to suffer at the hands of any King they might have. The loss of personal liberty, the annihilation of local government, the probable lapse to immorality, these were evils in his eyes for which the attractions of Monarchy offered no compensation. But the People, under the influ- ence of so-called Progressive Leaders, disregard- ed the wise council of the. Venerable Statesman and demanded a king. Thus the Hebrew Com- THE JUDGESHIP 141 monwealth, composed of Thirteen Independent Tribes, degenerated to Despotism. Three thou- sand years later, a Confederacy, composed of Thirteen Independent Colonies, arose to the Dignity of a Federal State of masterly construc- tion. 142 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER VIII. RECREATION. When Vin returned home on a sultry after- noon in midsummer, he found a letter, the sub- stance of which was contained in the following paragraph : "Come and spend a few weeks with us at Carnelian Bay, and forget the curious, musty old books and papers which you so con- stantly study. Come and meet my sister-in-law, Marie Clairmont, who has just returned from Italy. If this beautiful mountain lake does not charm you, her music will. Our car will call for you tomorrow afternoon." This letter, evidently written impulsively and in some haste, was signed "Maybelle Clairmont,'' a beautiful woman to whom Vin had been pre- sented at a reception some weeks before. She had been the most lavishly gowned of all the women in that brilliant gathering. Clad in an evening dress of the very latest Parisian mode, fabricated from some soft, flimsy, dark colored material, which seemed to emphasize rather than to con- ceal the lines of her exquisitely proportioned form. The shade of her gown had evidently been selected as a contrast to her clear, warmly white complexion, and her abundance of light auburn hair; her broad, softly-rounded, cream white shoulders, her slender waist ; her bust and neck, which might well have inspired envy in the RECREATION 143 Goddess of Milo; her throat encircled in a neck- lace of diamonds; her hands blazing with gems; her waist clasped by an old-gold band of antique workmanship, she had been an object of admira- tion on the part of the men, of envy to the wo- men of her set. How her husband could main- tain her in such splendor was a constant source of wonderment. Still there never had been any scandal. She held her head proudly. She walked like a queen. A woman, whom poets looking only at her fair face, might have called the em- bodiment of their dreams. She had been particu- larly gracious to Vin on that occasion. But he was neither charmed nor deceived. He saw the canker at the heart of that "Lily" that looked so pure and graceful. When she smiled, he thought of Cleopatra. He knew that the Love of such a woman has always been a degradation to the Man who accepted it, a shame to him who was weak enough to rely upon it. A Woman who makes a boast of her physical beauty ! And as Vin held her invitation in his hand, exhaling a faint perfume, he saw her again as she appeared at the reception that evening ; but he did not look upon her beautiful face ; he saw her. To him she was hideous, would be hideous forever. Her vaunted beauty was to him a mere garment of tissues ; perishable, shrinkable, fit only to mingle with the dust from whence it came. A wide ex- perience had taught him that such a female of the genus homo marries with the lie upon her lips; swears fidelity, before God to a husband, 144 OUR HERITAGE who is apparently able to maintain her in luxury, with infidelity in her heart, and so makes the mystic union, which might otherwise be a bless- ing, a blasphemy and a curse. Such women cor- rupt the earth; turn good to evil; deepen folly into crime and corruption, with the seduction of their physical beauty, which modern society gowns only make more seductive; they make fools and beasts of men, who are weak enough to yield to the message of their lying eyes. Vin read her Soul. It was as an open book to him ; and it was branded with a name which Society gives to those who are publicly vile ; but which, of strict right and justice, should be bestowed on all women of her type, who occupy positions of pride and place in the world, and who have not even the excuse of poverty for selling themselves for gold. He was surprised that such a woman as he believed Maybelle Clairmont to be should think of including him among her guests, for he had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with her, and his acquaintance with Thomas Clairmont, her husband, who was engaged in trade, was hardly more extensive. His first impulse was to decline the invitation. Yet it so chanced that one of those impulses, to which we can give no name, but which Vin had learned to recognize, which frequently play a most important part in the unfolding of our life dramas, moved him to ac- cept the proffered invitation, which he had so unexpectedly received. No sooner had he reached that conclusion than the "Honk, Honk" of a large RECREATION 145 touring car, as it swung into the street and stopped before his door, appraised him that May- belle Clairmont was as good as her word, that her car had arrived to carry him to Carnelian Bay. Hastily packing a few necessary clothes in a small portmanteau, and throwing a heavy ulster across his arm, Vin descended and entered the waiting car, which was immediately whirled away, with incredible swiftness, toward Lake Tahoe. The car moved so silently and swiftly that Vin concluded the motive power must be electricity. In a seemingly short space of time, the Lake burst upon his view. A magnificent sheet of azure blue water lifted six thousand feet above the level of the Pacific, walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountains which towered more than three thousand feet above its crystal surface. As Vin saw the shadows of the mountains vividly photographed upon its smooth, mirror-like sur- face, he thought it the fairest picture he had ever seen. It was bewitching, entrancing, enchanting, fascinating! The road traversed the north shore of the Lake, through a forest of virgin pine ; the shore bordered by narrow sand beaches, indented with deep curved bays and coves, and where the sand ended the mountainsides seemed to rise rapidly into space, like a wall slightly out of the perpendicular, thickly wooded with pine. This scene of beauty was indelibly impressed upon his mind as the car sped on, entered beautiful 146 OUR HERITAGE grounds, and came to a stop before a large bun- galow, covered with mountain laurel. i As Vin alighted from the car, Maybelle Clair- mont arose from a reclining chair and came gracefully across the wide veranda to welcome him. She was clad in a simple white dress, un- relieved by any ornament, except a band of old gold which kept her hair in place ; and a knot of mountain violets nestled among the lace at her throat. She looked far lovelier than when Vin had first met her. There was a deep light in her eyes, and a slight roseate flush on either cheek, while her smile as she greeted him was gracious- ness personified. After greeting his hostess and the interchange of a few commonplace remarks, Vin's attention was attracted to another lady seated in a low wicker chair at the end of the veranda, whom he surmised to be Marie Clairmont. Their eyes met, and it seemed to Vin that he had met her before. But where? The eyes of his hostess, following his glance, a slight frown momentarily contracted her brows; then, with an instant return of her gracious manner she said, "Marie, allow me; my friend Vin — Mr. Vincent Kingsley !" As Vin bowed, Marie arose and advanced to meet them. Vin studied her as she moved across the veranda, with a vague sense of Memory, Wonder, Admiration; surely, she was known to him; at least, there was a strong resemblance to one whom he had known, and loved, — and lost awhile; — an indistinct, far-off, remembering of RECREATION 147 the Soul ! Her forehead was broad and high, her head large for a woman. Her eyebrows long and level ; her dark-brown eyes at times became almost black ; her mouth was very expressive, not too large, slightly depressed at the corners ; her teeth were perfect ; her naturally red lips seemed unusually expressive. Her figure was remark- ably athletic, with broad, well-formed shoulders and naturally slender waist. Her hands looked small, but her fingers were unusually long and flexible. She could smile easily. Her laugh was natural. Clad in a soft, white gown, with a red rose nestled amid the old Flemish lace at her throat, she was not a beauty, yet she possessed a quiet dignity, a delicately subtle attractiveness, an undoubted individual charm, which silently asserted itself, just as the odor of wild roses, hid- den in the tangle of the hedge, delights the chance wayfarer with their sweet fragrance, though the flowers themselves be hidden from view. As she turned her face toward Vin, the last rays of the setting sun caught her dark- brown hair and transformed it to the similitude of a golden halo encircling her clear white brows. "I am glad to see you!" she said simply, advanc- ing and extending her hand to Vin. "I am quite ^accustomed to meet strangers ; but, I already know Mr. Kingsley very well by reputation, at least. Maybelle has never tired of singing your praises." And as Vin accepted her slightly pressed her proffered hand, he expressed his pleasure. "I 148 OUR HERITAGE could stay on here indefinitely, Miss Clairmont," he said, with an unwonted softness in his dark eyes. "Did any one ever imagine a more beauti- ful scene? Can the eye ever grow weary, in calm or storm, of gazing upon it? And the air is so pure and fine, so delicious, so bracing! And why shouldn't it be, — is it not the same the Angels breath ?" "Truly!" murmered Marie, "It is a place for recreation! For happy, joyous, profitable med- itation." "It is a restful corner of a tired world ! But — " at that moment a servant appeared at the door- way, "Dinner is served, Miss Clairmont!" They sat down to table and were waited upon by admirably trained servants, who apparently had no thought of anything than attendance upon their comfort. There was no trace of haste or excitement in the household. Seemingly everyone, including the servants, had determined to enjoy themselves to the full during their sum- mer sojourn at the most beautiful mountain lake in the world. That evening it was arranged to sail on the lake, and the entire houseparty repaired to the yacht Dora, one of the most magnificent vessels ever built for an inland lake. Steam was up, and in a very few moments, being loosed from her moorings, her bowsprit swung round and pointed outward from Carnelian Bay. Silently, swiftly, with a stately, sweeping curve, she glided across RECREATION 149 the waters of the Bay into the open waters of the Lake. The Moon, large and round, was just rising above the snow-capped rim of mountains piled tier on tier, surrounding the Lake. Seated in groups about the deck, they watched the sentinel peaks put on the soft-white glory of the Moon, and their eyes followed the conquering light as it swept down among the shadows, and set the captive crags and forests free. They watched the softly tinted pictures grow and brighten upon the water until every detail of forest, crag, preci- pice, pinnacle, landslide and ravine was wrought in and finished, and the miracle of Nature's en- chantment was complete. The wonderful beauty of the scene imposed silence. They stopped the engines and allowed the yacht to drift near the center of the Lake. Not a breath of wind. No cloud in the sky. The light of the Moon fell with a wierd splendor across the gloom of the sur- rounding mountains; a beam, touching the sum- mit of a snow-clad peak, here and there, deepened the solemn, awe-inspiring effect of the Lake and magnified the giant forms of its sentinel moun- tains. Every hill and mountain, every crevice and crag, every shrub and giant pine had its beau- tiful, wierd counterpart reflected in the mirror- like surface of the Lake. What wonder that the Indian hunters, looking upward three thousand feet to the tops of the sentinel mountains ; look- ing downward three thousand feet to the re- flected tops of the same mountains, or others 150 OUR HERITAGE like them, should imagine that this Lake was bewitched; that it had no bottom, but was sus- tained at its great altitude by the will or caprice of the Great Spirit! A low, soft murmur of in- visible streams sounded on the deep silence of the summer night, increasing the fascination of the surrounding landscape, half of which was only a reflection, and the whole seemingly more like the setting of a dream, than a stern reality of Life's drama. The unfathomed and unfathom- able depths of vast caverns lying lost among the slopes of the mountains, partially shrouded by a heavy growth of Pine, lighted now and again by shafts of light, reflected from the water, which ever and anon gleamed with phosphorescence, and sparkled and shone in the moonlight, as though charged with electricity. The stars looked large. The faint rippling of the water against the sides of the yacht, suggested the whispering of uncanny spirits. They were entranced by the grandeur of the scene and their own loneliness in the midst of it. Vin moved away from his companions, and leaning over the rail, looked into the shadows along the shore, emphasized by contrast with the brilliance of the Moon, and his thoughts travelled backward along the course of his Life, into those other shadows of joy and sorrow, of Light and Darkness, of Hope and Fear, of Vic- tory and Defeat, of Life and Death, which en- shroud the Soul, looking for the sweet face of Marie Clairmont. Those hills and mountains, RECREATION 151 those crags and crevices, those stately pines, that grand old Lake, the brilliant Moon, were the same when the Azetec spearmen lived and ruled the land which is now Nevada, will be still the same, when those who gaze upon it now shall have joined the Choir Invisible. Nature and Nature's law remain the same throughout the Ages ! Man, only, may improve ! The issue rests with him, not with God ! How few make the effort to improve ! How few give heed to Life and its problems, either now or beyond the tomb! The vast majority of mankind lead a treadmill existence, — never changing, never leaving the beaten path, never seeking to im- prove, never advancing. They are the same their fathers have been, will be the same throughout the ages ! Just as the modern inhabitants of old Egypt, look quite like the portraits of their an- cestors engraven on the tombs five thousand years ago, so the heart and brain of the vast majority of the human race are quite the same now, as they have been throughout the ages. The toil and sorrow, the defeat and despair of the many, merely contrasts the improvement of the few. So Vin thought, as a few bars struck from a piano in the deck saloon startled him from his reverie. Could a mere piano produce harmony in such volume? It sounded more like an orchestra. He glanced around the deck, then through an open porthole into the saloon. His glance rested on the sweet face of Marie Clairmont, seated at the piano, and Vin remembered and knew her.. 152 OUR HERITAGE The music swelled to a passionate cadence! Melodies, sweet as the song of a nightingale, crossed and recrossed each other, like rays of living light, glittering among green leaves; voices of birds and streams and waterfalls ; cries of gladness, songs of praise, and peans of triumph echoed through the tumultuous noise of some great pageant; and then, as he listened, in the midst of this there came a tune, sweet and sug- gestive, a joyous, loving melody that touched his heart and stilled its rapid beating; until, with a full chord of splendid harmony, that rolled out across the air, like a wave upon the waters of the JLake, the entrancing intoxicating music slowly ebbed away into silence. Vin's heart beat with the pulsations of that wondrous lyric storm. Maybelle Clairmont was the first to break the spell. Her voice sounded loud and discordant. None heard what she said. Acting upon a sudden impulse, Vin entered the deck saloon and approached the fair musician where she was still seated at the piano. "You have given me very great pleasure!'' — lie^aid. "You are a wonderful musician!" Then in a low, clear tone, intended for her ears alone, he continued, — "Tell me, Marie Clairmont, do you remember me? Think a moment! Is there not a time, upon which you can look back; and looking, see my face? Think! Did you ever see me? I refer to scenes long since past, — " As he spoke, a startled expression came into Sier eyes; she flushed slightly; wonder, joy, start- RECREATION 153 led surprise, recognition, seemed struggling for expression, but before she could reply, Maybelle Clairmont, who had approached Vin from be- hind, with the evident intention of overhearing his inquiry, interrupted, — "Did I not say you would be charmed!" she asked, laughingly. "Indeed!" replied Vin gravely — "You builded better than you knew ! Thank you, from the bot- tom of my heart !" 154 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER IX. THE KINGDOM OF SOLOMON. Saul and David were great Monarchs. They were not great men. Neither was a Statesman. In character they were fair representative types of the two classes of kings who reigned over the southern or Jewish Kingdom, during several suc- ceeding centuries, the one subservient to the House of Levi; the other, denying the authority of the priesthood, and resenting any interference in political affairs. The intense dislike of the ecclesiastical element to that type of ruler whom they could neither influence nor control is appar- ent in the manifest coloring of the narratives of the Scribes, as is their admiration for that other type which yielded readily to their influence and authority. No doubt there was some ground for the division of Jewish Kings into good and bad; but that the one class was wholly bad, or the other entirely virtuous or blameless, should not be asserted of those monarchs any more than the public officials of more recent times, many of whom, apparently without much reference to their moral, intellectual or spiritual attainments have been heralded as "defenders of the Faith!" Indeed, it might be justly said that Philip, the second, of Spain, and Nero, of Rome, were rein- carnations of David, son of Jesse ! The important point is that those first kings KINGDOM OF SOLOMON 155 assumed and exercised an authority which was absolute in its nature over every subject of the realm. The laws to which the people had been accustomed, under the Commonwealth, were dis- regarded by both Saul and David. That ardent Love of Liberty, which had characterized the people of the Hebrew Commonwealth, had given place to the hope of conquest. The authority of the king was not confined by any forms of trial or rules of procedure. The execution of a sen- tence was immediate and without any appeal. Nevertheless, Saul did much to establish the kingdom. He was very successful in his wars, early in his career, he had incurred the displeasure and active enmity of the priesthood ; later he was denounced by Samuel. The power of the kingly office turned his head and developed all the latent evil that was in him. He never tried to concili- ate the House of Levi, and the turbulence in which his career ended may have been due to the hostility of the ecclesiastical element. And it was principally in this respect that Saul differed from his successor ; for whilst David was less moral and far more tyrannical than Saul had ever been, he had strong sympathies with the ecclesiastical element; he readily brought the priesthood to his support, and admitted them to a share in his government. Apparently from po- litical motives, David submitted to the rebuke of the High Priest for his own wrong-doing, and has been accredited with sincere repentance un- der the lash of ecclesiastical authority. David 156 OUR HERITAGE and Uriah ! David, the sweet singer of Israel ! Did he not add Murder to Adultery! But, measured by the standard of the Theological School, for Saul there was neither repentance nor forgiveness ! Following the battle of Gilboa, in which both Saul and Jonathan were slain, David reigned for about seven years as King of Judah. The People of the Northern tribes were not fascinated by the monarchy. They were making preparations to return to their ancient customs and re-establish the Commonwealth ; but final and decisive action was too long delayed. Abner gained control of the army, proclaimed Ishbosheth King of Israel, and the opportunity to re-establish the Common- wealth was gone forever. Upon the death of Ishbosheth, "Came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron," and acknowledged him as their sovereign lord and king. One of the great events of that eventful reign was the reduction of the ancient city of Salem, near the northern boundary, but within the territory of Judah and, because of its more central location, David transferred his capitol to that city, thenceforth know as Jerusalem. After for- tifying that naturally strong position, David built a palace with the aid of Phoenician artisans, furnished by Hiram, King of Tyre. Another great event was the transfer of the Sacred Ark to Jerusalem. Theretofore, the Ark had been under the protection of the people of Ephraim, and its permanent removal to Jerusalem was a source of KINGDOM OF SOLOMON 157 constantly growing irritation to the people of the northern tribes, who felt, not without cause, that they had not only lost their personal and tribal independence, through the change in govern- ment, but the symbol of the national religious faith, as well. From that time, the discontent of the people of Ephraim steadily increased, and the chasm between the northern and southern tribes continued to constantly widen and grow deeper. Nevertheless, it was a day of joy and gladness when the royal hero, enthroned in his new palace, on that rocky summit, from which he could sur- vey both Ephraim and Judah, received the sym- bol of the national religious faith amid all the demonstrations which popular and theological enthusiasm could express ; and, as the long and imposing procession, headed by priests, nobles and generals, containing more than eight thou- sand priests and Levites, passed through the gates into the city, with shouts of song and praise, sacred dances, sacrificial rites, and sym- bolic ceremonies, the exultant Soul of David burst out in one of the most rapturous of his Songs, "Lift up your heads, O ye Gates ; and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in!" There followed a period of peace. Everything favored material prosperity. Wealth accumulated in the hands of a few. Daily, the rich grew richer ; the poor, poorer. The King surrounded himself with pomps and guards. None were admitted to the presence without announcement and obeis- 158 OUR HERITAGE ance, while David was seated upon a throne, bearing a golden sceptre in his hand, and wearing a golden and jeweled crown upon his brow. The King was clothed in purple and gold. He made powerful alliances ; he increased his army to two hundred and eighty thousand highly disciplined soldiers. During this period, the King devoted himself to the welfare of his subjects, and gathered material for the future building of a Temple. Afterwards, there followed a period of conflict. War was waged which required all the resources of the kingdom and taxed to the ut- most the ability and energy of its greatest gen- erals. David finally took the field as commander in chief and achieved a series of successes which extended his kingdom to the Euphrates and secured large and valuable spoils from the cities of Syria. Meanwhile, it is important to observe the growing discontent of the people of Ephraim with the established order of things. Taxes, tithes, requisitions for the support of the gen- eral government were heavy and burdensome. Excessive military operations increased the bur- den, whilst tithes to the Levites, and assess- ments made for the benefit of the priesthood, added to a special tax for the future building of a Temple, all of which were strenuously insisted upon, burdened the people almost beyond endur- ance. With the administration of civil justice, there was constant and growing dissatisfaction ; of criminal justice, there was none. Then it was that Absalom returned to Jeru- KINGDOM OF SOLOMON 159 salem. He had been in exile for slaying his half brother, Amnon. After several years of prepar- ation, Absalom gained the good will of the people of the northern tribes and gradually made him- self the center of a revolutionary movement, which included all the tribes, except Judah; a movement which was strong, for it was founded upon a general and growing discontent and dis- satisfaction with the established government. It was weak in that it was aimed at the person of the sovereign. Weak, also, in the dissolute conduct of its leader. The revolution came as a complete surprise to David, who was forced to flee ! But the volunteer forces of Absalom were unable to prevail against the veteran armies of the King, which remained loyal under the leader- ship of Joab and, following the death of Absalom, the rebels disbanded, only to be again united under the leadership of Sheba, who sounded the trumpet of defiance from the mountains of Ephraim. This new movement was shortly sup- pressed by intrigue. It has been customary to associate with the name of Solomon the culmination of the Jewish Kingdom in a reign of unexampled prosperity and splendor. It was the Glory Period of Jeru- salem ! Solomon grew up amidst the troublous times which marked the last ten years of his fa- ther's reign. He was about ten years of age when Absalom was killed, and a youth of some fifteen years when he was crowned King. Following the revolutionary movement of Absalom, the 160 OUR HERITAGE heir apparent, Adonijah, attempted to secure the Crown by intrigue; but, Bathsheba (Uriah's faithless wife), a beautiful, ambitious, voluptu- ous, unscrupulous woman, secured the transfer of the Crown to Solomon, who was crowned King during the life of David and with his sanc- tion; an abdication on the part of David which was quite similar to that of Charles V. of Spain. The kingdom, thus inherited by Solomon, was perhaps the most powerful in the then known world. It was the result of several centuries of prosperity under the Commonwealth, and the fruits of the conquests of Saul and David. The great trade routes between Egypt and the North and East were controlled by Solomon. The Nation was enriched by commerce. Cara- vans brought to' Jerusalem the most valuable wares from every country of the world. The luxuries of Tyre, chariots and horses and fine linen from Egypt; purple cloths and robes of varied colors from Assyria; Gold, Silver, Gums, Perfumes, Precious Stones, Ivory and Spices from the Indus; Gold and Silver from Spain, all found their way to Jerusalem, as at a later period they found their way to Athens, and still later to Rome. Large as was his heritage, the prosperity of the realm was, for a time at least, prudently promoted. Alliances were formed with Egypt, with Assyria and other nations. His first wife was an Egyptian Princess. The royal palace glistened with gold, silver and precious stones. KINGDOM OF SOLOMON 1G1 Parks and Gardens were supplied with water from immense reservoirs. "When the youthful monarch repaired to those gardens in his gor- geous chariot, he was attended by Nobles, whose robes of purple floated in the wind, and whose long, black hair, powdered with gold dust, glis- tened in the sun, while the King, clothed in white, blazing with jewels, scented with per- fumes, wearing both crown and sceptre, pre- sented a scene of gladness and glory. When he travelled, he was borne on a splendid litter of precious woods, inlaid with gold and hung with purple curtains, preceded by mounted guards ; with princes for his companions, and women for his idolaters." 162 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER X. THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. Although it had been the ambition of David to build a Temple, and whilst he had collected a large amount of material and money for that express purpose, its actual accomplishment was impossible because of his many military ex- peditions. The long and peaceful reign of his successor was favorable to that and other vast enterprises. If the statements of the Scribes may be accredited, it required the constant labor ■of ten thousand men in the forests of Lebanon to cut and square the timber, and this for a period of ten years. There were several thou- sand ordinary laborers. Eighty thousand more worked in the quarries and prepared and squared the stone. It is difficult to see how such an army could work to advantage, unless, as has been suggested, they worked in relays, so many a month or quarter. As Mount Moriah did not furnish sufficient level space for the Temple site, a wall of solid masonry, nearly three hundred feet high was built on the eastern and southern sides ; and a fill made. Some of the stones used in the con- struction of this wall were twenty feet long and three thick, so perfectly squared that no mor- tar was necessary. "The buried foundations for the courts of this Temple, and the vast treasure houses still remain to attest the strength and TEMPLE OF SOLOMON 163 solidity of the work ; seemingly as indestruc- tible as are the Pyramids of Egypt, and only paralleled by the uncovered ruins of the palaces of the Caesars on the Palatine hill at Rome, which fill all travellers with astonishment/' And although this Temple was small, compared with those of Egypt, the richness of its decor- ations, of its sacred vessels and altars, consumed immense quantities of gold, silver and brass, and made it especially remarkable. Vin saw a single gold leaf taken by an American vandal from the Palace at Pekin, which was sold for slightly more than three hundred dollars in United States gold coin. The plates of gold for enlarging the building and symbolic figures, the costly woods, the rich draperies, the brazen altars, the lamps and vessels of gold, the elabor- ate castings and carvings, the profusion of rare gems, must have necessitated a greater expend- iture than the most famous Temples of Greece, whose beauty and charm consisted mainly in their exquisite proportions and statuary. Whilst the skilled labor necessary to the construction of this Temple was furnished by Hiram, the King, the interior decorations were superintended by Hiram, the Artificer. 164 O U R HERITAGE CHAPTER XL THE MYSTERIES. Among all Ancient Nations there was one Faith, one Religion, one Idea of Deity among the enlightened, educated, intelligent and initi- ated, there was another and very different one for the Common People. The Egyptians and early emigrants to Palestine differed from all other Nations in that women, among them, were admitted to< a knowledge of the Mysteries; but, at the time of which we speak, the women had been excluded from any share in such knowl- edge. The conceptions of God formed by individuals among them varied according to their mental and spiritual enlightenment. Poor, Imperfect, Unworthy, investing Deity with the commonest and coarsest atributes of Man among the Sen- sual and Vulgar; Lofty, Pure and Spiritual among the Intelligent and Virtuous. Vin thought it important to bear in mind that the conceptions formed by the enlightened few among the Hebrews were drawn from the Great Mysteries of Egypt. That they possessed a knowledge of Life and Immortality, of the true Nature and Attributes of God, as the same class of men in other Nations, such as Buddha, Confucius, Christna, Plato, Socrates, Zoroas- ter, and others, entertained, is entirely beyond question; but their learning was esoteric. It THE MYSTERIES 165 was communicated only to those who had the capacity to receive and the virtue to practice it. Symbols were the universal language of ancient learning. This was the most obvious method of instruction, of conveying thought impressions, for the understanding was addressed through the eye. The most ancient expressions, denoting the communication of thought, signify ocular exhibi- tion. The first teachers of mankind adopted this method of instruction, which comprises an end- less store of pregnant hieroglyphics. The an- cient sages, both Barbarian and Greek, involved their learning in similar indirect methods or enigmas. Their lessons were communicated either by visible symbols, or in those parables and "Dark sayings of Old," which the Hebrews considered it a sacred duty to hand down un- changed to successive generations. The Myster- ies, both great and lesser, were a series of sym- bols, and what was spoken during their commun- ication consisted wholly of accessory explana- tions of a particular symbol, "sacred commen- taries, explanatory of established symbols, with little of those independent traditions, embodying physical or moral speculations, in which the elements or the planets were the actors, and the creation and revolutions of the world were inter- mingled with recollections of ancient events ; and yet, with so much of that also, that Nature became her own expositor, through the medium of arbitrary symbolical instruction; and the an- cient views of the relation between the Human and Divine received dramatic forms." 166 OUE HERITAGE It is through the Mysteries, said Cicero, that we have learned the first principles of Life. The Mysteries were a sacred drama, exhibiting some legend significant of Nature's changes, of the visible Universe in which the Deity is re- vealed, and whose import was, in many re- spects, as open to the Profane as to the Initiates. Nature is the Great Teacher of Mankind. It is the revelation of God. It neither dogmatizes nor attempts to tyrannize, by emphasizing a par- ticular creed or system of Faith. It presents its symbols, faithfully and uniformly, and leaves Man to draw his own conclusions. It presents the Text without any special commentary ; and as all history shows, it is the Man-made com- mentary which leads to Error, to Heresy, to Persecution. The Great Teachers of mankind have not only adopted the lessons of Nature, but so far as pos- sible they have adhered to her method of instruc- tion. "In the 'Mysteries, beyond the current tra- ditions or sacred and enigmatic recitals of the Temples, few explanations were given to the spectators, who were left, as in the School of Nature, to make inferences for themselves." No other method could have suited every degree of intelligence. To employ Nature's universal symbolism, instead of the technicalities of lan- guage, rewards the humblest inquirer, and dis- closes its secrets to everyone in proportion to his preparatory training and his power to com- prehend them. If their deeper philosophical meaning were lost to some, their moral and po- THE MYSTERIES 167 litical signification were within the reach of all,. The speculations of the Wise Men of Persia, of Hindostan, of Arabia, of Chaldea and Phoen- icia were known to the Heremetic Brotherhood of Egypt and by them taught in the Great Mys- teries; their learning was carried thence to Pal- estine by Moses and his compeers, and added to from time to time. It was known to the Essenes. Initiation was a school in which the candidate was taught the lessons of Nature, the existence of one God, the Immortality of the Individual, the Everlastingness of Life, Rewards and Pun- ishments in a future state beyond the tomb, the Phenomena of Nature, the Arts, the Sciences, Legislation, Morality, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Animal Magnetism, and other occult sciences. Initiation was also regarded as a mystical Death. There, the stains and imperfections of a Life of Error were purged away, and the Soul, reborn, was restored to a renovated existence of Life, Light, and Immortality, under the loving care and protection of the Supreme God, its Father in Heaven. Public odium was cast upon those who refused to be Initiated. They were con- sidered Profane, unworthy of public employment or private confidence, and believed to be doomed to Eternal Punishment. To betray the secrets of Initiation, or to hold the Mysteries up to ridicule was to court death at the hands of public vengeance. The Temple of Solomon presented a symbolic image of the Universe. In its arrangement and its furniture, it resembled the Temples of all the 168 OUR HERITAGE nations which practiced the Great Mysteries. All of the interior decorations were mystically and symbolically connected with the same sys- tem. The ceiling, starred like the firmament, was supported by twelve columns, each repre- senting a month of the year, the border that ran around the columns represented the Zodiac, and one of the twelve celestial signs was appropri- ated to each column. The brazen sea was sup- ported by twelve oxen, three facing each cardi- nal point, and representing the seasons. The Lamp was symbolic of that Light of Reason, which enables man to read, in the Great Book of Nature, the record of the Wisdom, the Strength, the Harmony, the Goodness, the Reve- lation, the Thought of the Grand Architect of the Universe. But now, as in all former ages, only the intelligent few, among the Adepts, can fully understand or appreciate the profounder mean- ings concealed in the symbols of the Temple of Solomon. Is it strange, therefore, that the Theo- logians have puzzled their brains with unprofit- able speculations regarding their meaning? The two Schools are fundamentally opposed to each other. In his description of the vestments of the High Priest, Josephus, protesting against the charge of impiety made against the Hebrews, by certain writers, for condemning the deities of other na- tions, declared the accusation false, because, in the construction of the Temple, in the vestments of the sacrificers, and in the sacred vessels, the THE MYSTERIES 169 whole world was represented. Of the three parts into which the Temple was divided, two repre- sented the land and the sea, which are open to all men, and the third represented heaven which is the dwelling place of God and reserved for him alone. "The twelve loaves of shew bread signify the twelve months of the year. The can- dlestick represented the twelve signs through which the seven planets run their courses, and, the seven lights, those planets ; the veils, of four colors, the four elements ; the tunic of the High Priest, the Earth ; the hyacinth, nearly blue, the heavens; the gold, light; the breastplate, in the middle, this Earth in the center of the Universe ; the two sardonyxes, used as clasps, the Sun and the Moon; and the twelve precious stones of the breast-plate, arranged by threes, like the seasons, the twelve months, and the twelve signs of the zodiac." Even the loaves were arranged in two groups of six, like the zodiacal signs above and below the Equator. Clemens, the learned bishop of the early Christian Church at Alexan- dria, and Philo, the Therapeut, adopted all these explanations. 170 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER XII. KNOW THYSELF. The ceremony of Initiation occupied a portion of three days. Beginning on the evening of what is now Friday, it continued through that night, through the following day and night, and terminated at dawn of the Third Day. After hav- ing been instructed, the candidate was left in total darkness, with the admonition to meditate! At the approach of dawn on the third day, the chamber in which the candidate was seated was so arranged that the first rays of the rising sun struck the wall opposite the candidate, and there, in letters of Living Light, he might read the equivalent for the words, "MAN, KNOW THY- SELF!" The three Pillars of the Portico represented the Attributes of Deity, namely Wisdom, Strength, and Harmony. The ancient Egyp- tians arranged their deities in triads : "The Fa- ther (or Spirit, or Active Principle, or Genera- tive Power;) the Mother, (or Matter, or Passive Principle, or the Conceptive Power;) and the Son (Issue or Product,) the Universe proceeding from those two principles. These were Osiris, Isis, and Horus." In the same manner, Plato postulates Thought, the Father, the Primitive Matter, the Mother; and Kosmos, the Son, the Universe animated by a Soul. The German KNOW THYSELF 171 Druids worshipped a Triune Deity : ODIN, the Father; Frea, his wife, emblem of Universal Matter; and Thor, their Son, the Mediator. But, above these, was their Supreme God, "the author of everything that existeth, the Eternal, the An- cient, the Living and Awful Being, the Searcher into concealed things, the Being that never changeth." In like manner, the Christian Church, both Protestant and Catholic, worships the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Such also were the popular notions regarding the meaning of the Three Pillars of the Portico ; but, to the Adepts, they had a far deeper meaning and a more potent signification. The following is one of the propositions which Pathagoras learned from his Initiation into the Egyptian Brotherhood : "In every rightangled triangle, the sum of the squares of the base and perpendicular is equal to the square of the hypothenuse." Pur- suant to this, the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid, if the Individual Life represent the base of the triangle, and Universal Nature the per- pendicular, the hypothenuse will represent the Soul, the product or result of the Harmonious Relation or Co-operation of the Individual Life with those principles of Nature which condition the Evolution, the Growth, the Unfolding De- velopment of Human Life on this Earth — and we obtain a glimpse of the Esoteric Significa- tion of the Three Pillars of the Temple of Solo- mon. 172 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER XIII. THE CROSS. The Cross has been a sacred symbol from the most remote antiquity. It is found upon all of the enduring monuments of the world, in Egypt, in Assyria, in Arabia, in Hindostan, in Persia, and on the Buddhist towers of Ireland. The Ger- man Druids trimmed an oak tree into its shape, and held it sacred. They built their Temples in its form. It was revered in Mexico and Peru at the time of the Spanish conquest. It is certain, says an old writer, that the Indians, the Egyp- tians, and the Arabians paid veneration to the sign of the Cross thousands of years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Pointing to the four quarters of the Universe, the Cross was every- where symbolic of Universal Nature. Its four points represented the four cardinal points, the four minor colors, the four principal elements, and the four seasons. Taken as a whole, it was symbolic of the Great Book of Nature, wherein all generations of mankind may read the record of the Wisdom, the Strength, the Harmony of the Grand Architect of the Universe. And whilst, in later centuries, the Cross became an instrument of Inquisition and even of Death, (Christna, the Hindoo Redeemer, was said to have expired upon a cruciform tree, his side pierced with arrows) ; yet, we should remember THE CROSS 173 that to the ancient Egyptian Brotherhood, as well as to the Essenes, the Cross was pre-emi- nently a symbol of Life. Not Death, Life ! That Life which was in Buddha and Confucius, in Zoroaster and Jesus, in Christna and Socrates, and all the other Great Lights of the World since the dawn of Civilization; that Eternal Life for which we all hope through Faith in the Infinite Goodness and Mercy of our Father in Heaven ! "In the Cross I glory, — Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the Light of Sacred Story, Gathers round its head, sublime. "When the woes of life o'ertake me, Hopes deceive and fears annoy; Never shall the Cross forsake me, Lo! It glows with peace and joy. "When the sun of bliss is beaming, Light and Love upon my way — From the Cross a radiance streaming, Adds more lustre to the day. "Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, By the Cross are sanctified, Peace is there which knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide." Associated with the Cross in many of the an- cient Temples is found the Serpent, coiled in the form of a circle. In this form, the Serpent was the Symbol of Eternity. The Rose is an ancient 174 OUR HERITAGE Symbol of the Dawn; of the coming of the Life and the Light of a new day. And these Symbols, the Cross, the Serpent, and the Rose, taken to- gether, may be read, The Dawn of Eternal Life ! — of which, Initiation into the Great Mysteries was regarded as the first step. All of the philosophers and legislators who made antiquity illustrious were students of the Initiation, and all the beneficent modifications in the institutions, law, and religion of the sev- eral peoples instructed by them were owing to their extension and establishment of the Great Mysteries. In the chaos of popular institutions, those Mysteries alone kept Humanity from laps- ing into absolute brutishness. "Zoroaster and Confucius drew their doctrines from the Myster- ies." Clemens, of Alexandria, speaking of the Great Mysteries, said : "Here ends all instruc- tion ; Nature and all things are seen and known." Had moral Truth alone been taught the Initiate, the Mysteries never could have deserved nor received the magnificent eulogiums of the most enlightened men of antiquity, — of Pindar, Plu- tarch, Isocrates, Diodorus, Plato, Euripidas, Socrates, Aristophanes, Cicero, Epictetus, Mar- cus-Aurelius, and many others, philosophers hos- tile to the sacerdotal spirit, or historians devoted to the investigation of ,Truth. No! All the sciences were taught there, and those oral or written traditions, briefly communicated, which reached back to the Dawn of Civilization, the first age of the world. PEOPLE OF EPHRAIM 175 CHAPTER XIV. THE PEOPLE OF EPHRAIM. Immediately after the dedication of the Tem- ple, other gigantic works were commenced and carried to completion. A special palace was con- structed for the Egyptian Queen, Solomon's first wife. Connected with those several palaces were extensive gardens, constructed and main- tained at great expense, filled with all the tri- umps of horticultural art, and watered with streams from vast reservoirs. In those gardens, the luxurious court could wander among beds of spices, fruits and flowers ; but, the voluptuous King was not content. The People were enslaved to aggrandize a single Man. The ancient Tri- bal divisions were disregarded, and the whole country was divided into twelve revenue districts, which were sold to the highest bidder for cash. The tax collectors made large sums from the excess taxation which they exacted. The forced labor by which the public improvements were made sapped the loyalty of the people. National prosperity is ever based upon private industry, on farms, orchards, ranches, vineyards owned, operated, and cultivatel by individual citizens. The support of an enormous harem was a scan- dal and disgrace to the entire nation, and filled the more virtuous people of the northern tribes with loathing and disgust for all the trappings 176 OUR HERITAGE of monarchy and arbitrary power, which they retained as an ethnic characteristic long after Solomon and his kingdom had ceased to be re- membered among them. The heavy burden which David had laid upon the nation was in no manner lightened during the reign of the most voluptuous tyrant the world has ever seen. The small measure of Liberty accorded the people by Saul and David entirely disappeared under the regime of their profligate and dissolute successor. The prediction and warning of Samuel, fore- shadowed from the first establishment of the Monarchy, was realized to the full under the grinding despotism of Solomon. The vast accu- mulation of wealth and luxury in the hands of a few, accompanied by abject poverty on the part of the many, was but a poor exchange for that Patriotism and Religious enthusiasm which had led the Hebrew people to victory during the early years of the Commonwealth. Solomon was exalted to the highest pinnacle of material splendor. He descended to the low- est abyss of shame. He did not perpetuate his greatness. He squandered a great inheritance. With all his vaunted wisdom and early piety, he became an egotist, a sensualist, and a tyrant. What vanity he displayed before the Queen of Sheba ! What a slave to passion ! How disgrace- ful his conduct! How hard the bondage to which he subjected his people! Moreover, if we turn from the glamor and shame of the Court to a consideration of the representatives of the PEOPLE OF EPHRAIM 177 Theological School, we find, as stated by one of the poets of that era, that "The Priest and Pro- phet have erred through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment, for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean." More than a year elapsed, after the death of Solomon and the accession of his son as King of Judah, before Rehoboam took any action to bring the northern people, hereafter referred to as Ephraim, under his sceptre. Then it was that Rehoboam met the Elders of Ephraim at Shechem for the purpose of inducing them to acknowledge him as their king. But the Peo- ple of Ephraim had called Jeroboam, who had been an industrious, active, strong-minded youth, whom Solomon had promoted and made much of, and later exiled because of his too great ambi- tion; and Jeroboam and all the Elders of Eph- raim, said unto the King of Judah : "Thy Father made our yoke grievous ; now, therefore, make thee the grievous service of thy Father, and his heavy yoke, which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee." That is the first plain ref- erence in all history to the proposition, immor- talized by Jefferson, that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the gov- erned." Rehoboam was not prepared with an answer. He asked for three days in which to consider his reply. He first sought advice from 178 OUR HERITAGE those venerable men who had been among his father's counsellors; their advice, had it been acted upon, might have changed the course of history. "Gentle words, timely concessions, and kind treatment would bind the northern tribes to him forever." But their advice was not in ac- cord with the ambition of Rehoboam, who turned to the younger generation of courtiers. Court sycophants and party hacks can always be found to defend the usurpation or abuse of arbi- trary power. The light insolence, the sophomo- ric greenness, the inexperience of Rehoboam's chosen advisers knew no right but might. Who were the People of Ephraim, that they dare op- pose the will of their rightful king? Rehoboam should treat them as slaves ! Instead of lighen- ing, he should increase their burdens ! His lit- tle finger should be heavier upon them than his father's loins ! Instead of using common whips, such as Solomon's taskmasters had used, he should chastise them with scorpions ! When this de- cision was communicated to the Elders of Ephraim, they instantly raised the rallying-cry, which, in the time of Dav.d, under Absalom and Sheba, had well nigh anticipated the drama then to be enacted: "What portion have we in David? What inheritance in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David !" Appalled at the result of his decision, Reho- boam sent Adoram, who had been the chief task- PEOPLE OF EPHRAIM 179 master during the odious past, to pacify the peo- ple, seek their forgiveness for his harsh words, promise them the desired reforms, and persuade them to acknowledge him as their king. Reho- boam's choice of an ambassador was unfortunate as his decision had been ; and "all Israel stoned him with stones that he died !" Terrified, Re- hoboam fled to Jerusalem ! Never again was a king of Judah seen within the borders of Ephraim ! 180 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER XV. THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. We take leave at this point of the Southern Kingdom. It has been assumed that the People of Ephraim struggled through some two hundred years of anarchy and civil strife and were finally carried into captivity by the armies of Assyria and dispersed or perhaps destroyed, and whilst that was doubtless the fate of their tribal organi- zations there had been a considerable migration northward, across the Bosphorus, into Europe, during those centuries of civil strife; just as our immediate ancestors abandoned Europe and sought a new home in America in the seven- teenth century; just as many people from our own country are now seeking a new home in the Canadian northwest, so they sought refuge in the Forests of Germany. The expectation of the Elders of Ephraim that the reforms they had demanded from Reho- boam would be secured to them under the new government was doomed to disappointment; in- stead of the desired reforms, the government soon became more arbitrary than before the revolution. Meanwhile, Jeroboam established his capitol at Shechem. According to the tradi- tion of the period, "No spot could have been more delightful for a royal residence, and it was besides, not only the chief town of Ephraim, but KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 181 the most ancient sanctuary of Israel in Palestine. Abraham had raised an altar in its valley; Jacob had bought land and dug his famous well in it; it contained Joseph's grave; and Joshua had caused the Blessings and Curses of the law to be read from Mounts Ebal and Gerizim on its northern and southern sides." But the people of that ancient and historical city were chary of Liberty. Having but little love for the institu- tions of monarchy, they hated arbitrary power. Many generations before, they had crowned Abimelech as their king with great popular ac- claim, and, almost immediately, they had turned against him. They early gave Jeroboam trouble. His seat of government was changed several times during his short reign. During the period of about two centuries, the People of Ephraim successively chose the ablest and more virtuous of their leaders as their king. Each successive monarch was animated, almost from the moment he became such, by a spirit of Tyranny. The government changed continually. Each change made it more arbitrary. "Dynas- ties rose and fell at short intervals, most of them in the second generation ; only one survived until the fifth." During that period there were nineteen kings of Ephraim. Many of them were assassinated. Nearly all died violent deaths. Some of the revolutions were the work of the army alone; such, in turn, were overthrown by a more popular movement. Members of the Commonwealth, advanced to political power, 182 OUR HERITAGE rioted on the public spoils. The people, amazed at so many revolutions, in vain attempted to es- tablish a free government. Gloomy and dreadful as is the picture, one point stands out, clearly and distinctly defined, throughout this period of anarchy and fratracidal strife : Every popular movement was an effort on the part of the people to re-establish the free in- stitutions enjoyed by their ancestors under the Commonwealth. Their efforts were misdirected. They struck at the person of the tyrant, rather than at the source of his authority and, therefore, their efforts were turned to naught. This, as we have seen, is the principal reason why revolu- tions prove abortive. Reforms, to be effective, must be leveled at the authority of the execu- tive. They must be moderate, but persistent as the evil they are calculated to eradicate. But the People of Ephraim, frequently thwarted by unscrupulous leaders, fought on, with a devotion to the cause of Equality, Justice, and Liberty, which gave promise of a better world. During that period of Anarchy, the Theologi- cal School abandoned the north country, and thereafter lived in and around Jerusalem. Rarely indeed have the members of that School been found on the side of the people in their efforts to establish a free government. The corner stone of traditional faith is conservatism. And whilst the great majority of the representatives of the Theological School, adhering rigidly to their in- fallible traditions of the past, became as sensual KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 183 and worldly, as irreligious and dissipated in their habits of life, as were the Priests of Rome in the days of Martin Luther, there were doubtless a few exceptions. During that period, the School of the Prophets produced some of the most re- markable men the world has ever known. Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and some few others, still tower, like Beacon Lights, over the common ruin of the priesthood, pointing Hu- manity to the Hills from whence cometh our strength. Their doctrines that there is but one God — immutable, infinite, changeless ; that he is Just and Good, and has a parental interest in the welfare and improvement of mankind; that Light will overcome Darkness; that Good will conquer Evil; that Truth will vanquish Error, — these grains of Truth they garnered with pains- taking care, from the Zend Avesta and the Vedas; from Egypt, India, and Persia; from Buddha, Christna, and Confucius ; from Herodo- tus and Pathagoras; from the Great Mysteries of the world, and with a Faith which never fal- tered, passed them on through fires of Persecu- tion and storms of Political and Theological strife to our own times. The silent paths by which Truth has passed from nation to nation, from country to country, from age to age, never can be fully traced; but there remain a few great landmarks which Error, Persecution, and Mistaken Zeal have failed to obliterate. About a thousand years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, Buddha reformed the 184 OUR HERITAGE religious teaching of Manous; he called to the priesthood all men, without distinction of rank or caste, who felt inspired to study and teach; his disciples were known as Samaneans. They recognized the existence of a single, uncreated God, in whose bosom everything grows, is de- veloped and transformed, and whose feasts were those of the Solstices. The doctrines of Buddha pervaded India, China, and Japan. The Priests of Brahma, professing a dark and bloody creed, fit offspring of the Theological School, united against Buddhism and, with the aid of Despot- ism, exterminated its followers; but blood only served to fertilize their doctrines, and produced a new society called Gymnosophists. A large number of that sect fled to Ireland, and there they erected the round towers, some of which still stand, solid and unshaken as at first, visible monuments of the remotest ages. Manifestly, there were but two avenues of escape open to the People of Ephraim in their losing conflict with Arbitrary Power: They might return to their allegiance to the House of David, and the Faith of their Fathers as misrep- resented by an offensive priesthood. From that 'course the free and independent spirits of the People of Ephraim, seven thousand of whom worshipped the Supreme Architect of the Uni- verse in spirit and in truth, turned with loathing and disgust. The Odious, Sensual, Drunken jLevites, Priests of the Temple, Servants of the Altar, disciples of the Theological School though KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 185 they were, formed an insuperable barrier, which the liberty-loving people of Ephraim would not pass. The alternative led those loyal defenders of their cherished institutions and laws into the unknown, northern wilderness to seek a better country, where they and their posterity might be free! And as we proceed to examine this inter- esting subject, it will be seen that the People of Ephraim reached Europe where, encountering the Romans, they were called German by Caesar and Tacitus, because, as the name implied, they were Shouters in Battle. It will be seen that the Saxons carried their laws and institutions to England, where they were ever ready to defend them with their blood. How their laws and in- stitutions were crushed to earth by the Danish invasion, and how Alfred, the greatest of revo- lutionary heroes, and one of the wisest monarchs that ever sat on a throne, made the first use of his power, after the Saxons restored it, to re- establish their ancient laws. How their laws were again trampled under foot by the Norman conquerors, and how the evils resulting from the want of them united all classes in the effort which compelled King John to restore them by Magna Charta. It will be seen how, during many generations, the English people struggled for their rights with the Plantagenets, the Tu- dors, and the Stuarts ; and how the struggle finally ended in the revolution of 1688, when the liberties of the English people were placed upon an impregnable basis by the Bill of Rights. 186 OUR HERITAGE "For Freedom's battle, once begun, Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft, is ever won!" THE ESSENES 187 CHAPTER XVI. THE ESSENES. On a beautiful morning in August, 191 — , Maybelle Clairmont's guests assembled on the broad veranda overlooking the lake. The for- est surrounding the villa on three sides was dense and cool, the sky cloudless and brilliant with sunshine, the broad lake spread out before them was smooth and tranquil, but ever and anon the water rippled and sparkled as though charged with electricity; while the circling border of mountain peaks, clothed with evergreen trees, scarred by landslides, cloven by canyons and caverns, crowned with glittering snow, fitly framed the picture. "Since today is Sunday, and the conventions forbid our doing anything," began Maybelle Clairmont, "I propose that Mr. Kingsley tell us, — he has a lecture on the subject, — something about Jesus of Nazareth, — that isn't the title, but I am sure we will all be interested. What is the title of the lecture, Mr. Kingsley?" "Jesus, the Essene!" responded Vin, gravely. "Jesus, the Essene!" repeated Thomas Clair- mont. "That seems to be a new title ! May I ask what it implies?" "Certainly," said Vin. "You may ask and be answered!" — and after a moment's hesitation, he continued, "But, if I am to deliver the lecture, perhaps I had better not anticipate — " 188 OUR HERITAGE "Please tell us now" — urged Marie Clairmont. "Briefly stated," said Vin, "Jesus of Nazareth was a student of the School or Society known as Essenes. They believed that Truth was not to be found in any one Creed and they, therefore, deemed it to be the duty of every Wise Man to gather Truth from the several quarters where it might be found and to employ it, when thus united, in destroying the dominion of Error and Vice. In that School — " "Do you find anything about the Essenes in the Bible?" interrupted Thomas Clairmont. "No!" said Vin, "but they are quite fully de- scribed by Josephus and other ancient writers !" "Then, do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth was Divine?" asked Maybelle Clairmont. "Yes, and No," — replied Vin. "He was Divine just as you or I, or any other individual, who is true to the best that is in him, may be, or become Divine. He was hardly Divine in any other sense." "Then you are not a Christian!" again inter- rupted Maybelle Clairmont. "Indeed, No !— There is no such thing!" Vin spoke with such conviction that for a moment all seemed at a loss for a reply, at length — "In- deed !"— murmered Maybelle, vaguely. Vin burst out laughing.— "Indeed !"— Is that all you can find to say. The word "Christian" is a misnomer. There is no such being alive. You are not a Christian,— no man is. Many people pretend to be ! Now, I make no such pretension. I am not a 'Christian !' I have but one faith, — " THE ESSENES 189 "And that is?" — asked Marie. "A very profound one !" — replied Vin in thrill- ing tones. "The Faith of the Masters, of whom Jesus, of Nazareth, the Essene, was one. And the best of it is that it is True ! As True as a Flower or a Tree is True, as True as are the workings of the Universe !" "Do tell us about the Essenes !" — urged Marie. There was a moment's tense silence. Then Vin spoke in measured, distinct accents, with the easy and assured manner of a practised orator : "When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod, the king, the Jews were a perculiar product. Their ancestors had spent some time in captivity, where they became fa- milar with the doctrines of Asia and more espe- cially with those of Chaldea and Persia. "In the fruitful and easily irrigated region be- tween the Euphrates and the Tigris, where the natural incentives to civilization were inferior only to those of the Valley of Egypt, no less than three of the Great Monarchies of the ancient world — Chaldea, Assyria, Babylonia, — were es- tablished, rose to power, flourished, declined, and fell, each in its turn! That is the land of fabu- lous wisdom and romance known to the authors of the Old Testament as the East. The Chal- deans have been proverbial for their learning for more than three thousand years. The Author of the Book of Daniel speaks of the Chaldeans as interpreters of Stars and Signs; the poets and historians of Rome designate by the name, 190 OUR HERITAGE Chaldean, whoever was famous in a knowledge of the Stars, the Love of Books, the Gift of Proph- ecy. The same reputation is diffused in other Literature. The mighty cities which they founded are hardly any longer to be distin- guished from the dust of the plain, the winding sheet of their material greatness ; but, that beautiful astrological idolatory of which they were the authors has entered into the dreams and poems of all lands, and has pierced with its tender glow, even the gloom and melancholy of Byron: "Ye Stars! Which are the poetry of Heaven! If in your bright leaves we would read the fate Of men and empires, — 'tis to be forgiven That in our aspirations to be great, Our destines o'erleap their natural State And claim a kindred with you ; for ye are A beauty and a mystery, and create In us, such Love and Reverence from afar That fortune, fame, power, Life, have named Themselves, a Star !" The nobler part of Chaldea, as of every land and kindred, can never perish. The traditions of an- tiquity point to two cities as the fountains of Human Wisdom, — Memphis, in Egypt; and Babylon of the Chaldees ! "During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles had been accorded many privileges. Their judges were selected from among their own people. Many of them held high office. Daniel was the friend and counsellor of the king, and chief of the College of Wise Men at Babylon. Mordecai was THE ESSENES 191 Prime Minister; Esther, his cousin, was the mon- arch's wife. The bond which made such relations possible between captive and captor was Fra- ternity, based upon a mutual knowledge of the Mysteries. "The returning exiles were but a remnant of the Tribe of Judah which had been carried into captivity. More remained voluntarily in Assyria and Persia than returned to Judea. The Temple, rebuilt by Zerubbabel, bore but a feeble resem- blance to that which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. It had no costly vessels, no golden ornaments, no expensive draperies, and although the walls of the city were partially restored, the streets of Jerusalem were filled with debris, and the ruins of ancient palaces and temples were everywhere. The vast treasures, which had been accumulated under the old monarchy, formed no inconsiderable portion of the gold and silver which enriched the Babylonian and Persian kings. The wealth of one of the richest cities of the ancient world had been carried to Babylon, only to be seized by Alexander in his conquests of the East ; then, to be hoarded by Syrian and Egyptian kings, who succeeded Alexander; and finally, it was carried in triumph to Rome by Caesar. Whatever ruin war may cause ; whatever palaces and temples it may raze; whatever libraries and statuary it may destroy, the precious metals have always been seized and carried away. "For the space of some two hundred years after their return from captivity, the Jews were, per- haps, more sincerely religious than they had been 192 OUR HERITAGE during any period of their history. They kept with a slavish and fanatical observance, all the technicalities which successive generations of the Order of Aaron had engrafted onto the Mosaic law. They kept the Sabbath, which began on the evening of what is now Friday, with a strictness unknown to their ancestors. Fasts and ritual- istic ceremonies were multiplied. Then it was that the remnant of the Nation became Jews in the popular acceptance of that term. Then, that they developed all those traits of character which they have ever since retained. The People who migrated from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, who established the Hebrew Common- wealth, who made the Kingdom of Solomon illus- trious, who finally settled Northern Europe, were not the narrow and fanatical tribe or remnant known as Jews. Indeed, any individual may develop the same traits of character which now characterize the Jewish people, and in the same manner which they acquired them. The treat- ment accorded the Jews, during the dark centu- ries of the Christian era, simply tended to aggra- vate and emphasize those characteristics. "After their return from Babylonia, the domi- nant order was that of the Pharisees, and whether that name was derived from the 'Parsees' who were disciples of Zoroaster, or from some other source, it is certain that their doctrines were bor- rowed from the Persians in large part. The The- ology taught by the authors of the Old Testa- ment borrowed at every period of its existence from every Creed with which it came in contact. THE ESSENES 193 It was one thing in the days of Moses and Aaron, another in those of David and Solomon, and another and very different thing in those of Daniel and Philo. Like the disciples of Zoroas- ter, the Pharisees claimed to have an exclusive and mysterious knowledge of the true meaning of the sacred writings, which were wholly unknown: to the common people. Like them, they taught: that a constant war is waged between the good and evil. Like them, they believed in the 'Sin,' the 'Fall' and the 'total depravity' of mankind, and, like them, they attributed that Sin, and Fall, and Total Depravity to the Demons, and espe- cially to 'Lucifer,' their chief. Like them, also, they believed that the righteous were especially protected by angels, or special representatives of Jehovah. Their doctrines on all these subjects were based upon a more or less strained interpre- tation of the Jewish Scriptures. The Pharisees styled themselves 'Interpreters' ; a name signify- ing their claim to the exclusive knowledge of the true meaning of the Scriptures by virtue of that tradition by which Moses was alleged to have received them on Mount Sinai, and which succes- sive generations of the Order of Aaron had trans- mitted, as they claimed, unaltered unto them. Their very costume, their doctrine of the trans- migration of Souls, their system of Astronomy,, their belief in the influence of the Stars, their sys- tem of Demons, of Angels and Archangels, all these were of foreign origin. Another Sect, essentially Jewish, called Sadducees, opposed those foreign doctrines of the Pharisees. 194 OUR HERITAGE ''During the peaceful occurrences, following the conquests of Alexander in three quarters of the globe, many Grecian colonies were established in Asia and Africa. The Philosophy of Egypt and Greece, of Persia and Palestine, of Arabia, Assyria, and Chaldea met and everywhere inter- mingled. The eclectic philosophy, thus formed, comprised two principal seats of learning, namely, the Therapeuts, and the Essenes. The Jewish-Greek School of Alexandria, or Thera- peuts, is now known only by two of its more illus- trious students, namely Aristobulus and Philo. Belonging to Asia by its origin, to Egypt by its residence, and to Greece by its language and hab- its of thought, that School endeavored to> show that all Truth, so far as it was embraced in the religious philosophies of other Nations, was transplanted there from Palestine. Aristobulus declared that the facts detailed in the Sacred Books of the Jews were so many allegories, con- cealing the most profound meanings, and that Plato had borrowed from them all of his finest ideas. Philo, who lived a century later, followed •the same theory, and endeavored to show that the Hebrew Scriptures, by their system of allego- ries, were the true source of all religious and philosophical doctrine. According to him, the literal meaning is for the vulgar alone. Whoever lias meditated on philosophy, purified himself by virtue, and raised himself by contemplation to God and the intellectual world, and received their inspiration, pierces the gross envelope of the let- ter, discovers a wholly different order of things, THE ESSENES 195 and is Initiated into Mysteries of which the ele- mentary or literal interpretation offers but an imperfect image. A historical fact, a figure, a word, a letter, a rite, a custom, the parable or vision of a prophet, all veil the most profound meanings. Following these suggestions of Philo, the Greek-Jew, the Fathers of the Christian Church were led into a labyrinth from which Latin Theology has never yet been extricated. "In the early days of the Christian Church there was an Initiation. Persons were admitted on special conditions only. In order to arrive at a complete knowledge of the doctrine, they were required to pass three degrees of instruction. Con- sequently, the Initiates were divided into three classes ; the first, Auditors ; the second, Catechu- mens ; and the third, The Faithful. The Auditors were a sort of Novices, who were prepared by certain ceremonies and certain instruction to receive the Dogmas of Christianity. A portion of those Dogmas were communicated to the Catechumens, who, after particular purifications, received baptism, otherwise known as the Initia- tion of the Theogenesis (Divine Generation) ! But the grand mysteries of that Theology (The Incarnation, Nativity, Passion and Resurrec- tion ;) were communicated only to The Faithful. Those doctrines, and the celebration of the Holy Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, were kept with profound secrecy. Those Mysteries were divided into two parts : The first styled the Mass of the Catechumens or Low Mass; the second, the Mass of the Faithful or High Mass. 196 OUR HERITAGE The celebration of the Priests of Mithras, or Per- sian Rites, was also styled a Mass, and the cere- monies used there, centuries before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, were those which were later adopted by the Christian Church, and are now used by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. There were found all the sacraments of the Catholic Apostolic Church, even the Breath of Confirmation. The Priest of Mithras promised the candidate deliverance from Sin, by means of confession and baptism, and a future life of mis- ery or happiness. There, the oblation of bread, image of the resurrection was celebrated. The baptism of newly born infants, extreme unc- tion, confession of sins, all belonged to the Mithric rites. The candidate for Initiation into those ancient rites was purified by a species of baptism, a mark in the form of the Cross was placed upon his forehead, he offered bread and water, pronouncing, at the same time, certain mysterious words. Thus the statement of Solomon, "There is nothing new under the Sun" is exemplified. "We come now to a consideration of the Essenes. The Essenes were regarded by Josephus as a very ancient sect. They resided originally in two principal towns, both in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, in Palestine, namely, Engaddi, about thirty miles southeast of Jeru- salem, and Hebron, about twenty miles south of that city. They lived in total abstinence and continence, and whilst they neglected wedlock, there was no ban placed upon such relation. They THE ESSENES 197 chose out other person's children, while they were pliable and fit for instruction, and educated them according to their own manners. They had a great affection for each other; 'Love one another V formed the keynote of their teaching. The whole of their time was devoted to labor, study, meditation, and prayer. Scrupulously attentive to every call of humanity and to every moral duty, they worshipped an Intelligent and Supreme Ruler of the Universe, the Father in Heaven. They taught that God is Good, that he is the Father of Mankind, and has a parental interest in the welfare and improvement of Man- kind. Life to them was Eternal. The great fes- tivals celebrated by them were the Solstices. They offered no sacrifices. In their devotions which began at the earliest Dawn, they faced the Rising Sun, as the Pharisees turned toward the Temple at Jerusalem. They reverenced the Sun, not as a God, but as the Symbol of Life and Light. They observed the Mosaic law with scrupulous exactness, whilst disregarding many of the forms and technicalities which successive generations of the Order of Aaron had engrafted onto that law. Their ceremonies were symbolical. They had, according to Philo, four degrees. If any adult be inclined to join them, says Josephus, he was required to follow their mode of living for a year, and having given evidence during that time that he could observe their continence, he ap- proached nearer their mode of living, and was given a form of Baptism; but he was not then permitted to live with them, for, after that dem- 198 OUR HERITAGE onstration of his fortitude, his temper was tried for two more years, and if he then be found worthy he was admitted into their society. Such candidates were required to take a solemn oath that they would be perpetual Lovers of Truth and Wisdom; that they would keep their hands clean from all wrong doing; that they would not conceal anything from the members of their own society, nor reveal any of their secrets to others. During the dark centuries immediately preceding the Chris- tian era, the Essenes became the most widely scattered, better known, and more influential society of antiquity. Their learning was re- ferred to as "The Knowledge of the Word." They dwelt, says Josephus, in every city ; and if any of their sect come from other places, what they have lies open to them, just as if it were their own, and they go in to such as they never met before, just as if they had been ever so long acquainted with them ; consequently, they carry nothing with them when they travel into' remote parts, although they take their weapons for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there was in every city where they dwelt, one especially appointed to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. "They held Plato in high esteem. They taught that Truth, in its entirety, was not to be found in the teaching of any one society or creed and they therefore, deemed it to be the duty of every Wise Man to gather Truth from the sev- eral quarters where it might be found, and to THE ESSENES 199 employ it, when thus united, in destroying the dominion of error, impiety, and vice. Their word was held binding as an oath, but swearing — call- ing God to witness, — was deemed worse than perjury, because, he who cannot be believed with- out swearing by God is ( condemned already. Simple in their diet and habits of life, they were taught to bear suffering with fortitude ; and, as for death, if it be for their glory, they deemed it better than living always. They deemed it a good omen to wear white garments, with a girdle of leather around the waist. The war with the Romans, says Josephus,. served to show what great souls they had in their trials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, and made to pass through all kinds of torment, in order that they might be induced to plaspheme their God, or to eat that which their rules forbade, yet they could not be made to do either; but they smiled in their pain, and laughed those to scorn who inflicted the torture upon them, and yielded up their souls with great cheer- fulness as expecting to receive them again. "There can be no doubt that John the Baptist belonged to that School. 'J orm > the Son of a Priest who administered in the Temple at Jeru- salem, whose mother was of the House of Aaron, was in the desert, until the time when he began his public ministry. He drank neither wine nor strong drink. Clad in a robe of white hair-cloth, with a girdle of leather around the waist, living upon such food as the desert afforded, he preached in the region around Jordan, the bap- 200 OUR HERITAGE tism of repentance for the remission of sins, that is the necessity of repentance proven by reforma- tion. He taught the people charity and liberal- ity; the publicans, Equality, Justice, and Liber- ty; the soldiery, Peace, Contentment, Fair Deal- ing and Truth, to do violence to none, to accuse none falsely, and to be content with their pay. He emphasized the importance of virtue, and denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees as a gen- eration of vipers, and told them of the folly of trusting to their descent from Abraham. Thus John, who was often consulted by Herod and to whom that monarch paid great deference and who was frequently governed by his advice, taught some Creed older, yet identical with Christianity. That is plain. And it is equally certain that the very large majority of his fol- lowers were neither Pharisees nor Sadducees. They must therefore, have been Essenes. It is, also, beyond controversy that Jesus of Nazareth applied to John for baptism, as a sacred rite, well known and long practiced. Tt was becoming to him, he said, to fulfill all righteousness.' John denounced Herod for marrying his brother's wife ; and, for that, he was imprisoned before Je- sus began his ministry, and was finally executed to gratify her. "Nor is that all ! "Translating from the figurative language, in- to the true and ordinary sense of the Greek text, in the 18th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we read that — 'A certain Jew, named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man of ex- THE ESSENES 201 tensive learning came to Ephesus. He had learned in the Mysteries the true doctrine in regard to God and, being a zealous enthusiast, he spoke and taught diligently the truth in regard to Deity, having received no other baptism than that of John.' He knew nothing regarding Jesus of Nazareth, for he had resided at Alexan- dria and only just arrived at Ephesus. Doubtless, he was either an Essene, or a disciple of Philo, and hence a Therapeut. And, in the 19th Chapter of the same Book, we read — "While Appollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper parts of Asia Minor, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said to them, 'Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye became believers?' And they said, 'We have not so much as heard that there is any Holy Ghost!' And Paul asked, 'In what, then, were you bap- tized?' And they replied, 'In John's baptism!' The disciples were first called Christians when Barnabas and Paul began to preach at Antioch. "The religious philosophy taught by John could have been nothing other than the eclectic philos- ophy of the Essenes. Nor can there be any reasonable doubt that John belonged to that School. The place where he preached, the doc- trines he taught, his macerations and frugal diet, all prove it conclusively. 'There was no other sect to which he could have belonged, certainly none so numerous as his, except the Essenes.' "To that School, also, the child Jesus was taken, when he disappeared at the age of twelve years, 'while he was pliable and fit for learning!' 202 OUR HERITAGE In that School he spent the years of his youth and early manhood. From that School, he went forth, as a Master, to preach the Gospel of Peace and the religion of Love. For the cause it represents, he labored throughout a long life, not merely for a few months, and finally suffered and died. At every step along the thorny pathway of his public ministry, he gave unmistakable evidence that an essential part of his purpose was to educate a select group of men for the purpose of enabling them to carry forward the work after he should have finished his earthly labors. No doubt he sought to establish a Lodge or Branch of the Essenes at Jerusalem, that hotbed of Pharisaism. There is a Masonic tradition, probably authentic, that both John, the Baptist, and Jesus of Naz- areth, were Masters of the Lodge at Jerusalem. He selected the intelligences, which he deemed best suited to receive from him a personal in- struction and, under his direction to become demonstraters of the law and teachers among their fellowmen. "We find the following in one of the Gospels, 'Unto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but unto men that are without all these things are done in parables, that seeing, they may see and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear and not understand.' And, again, the disciples came and said unto him, 'Why speakest thou the truth in parables?' — and he answered, 'Because it is given unto you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but unto them it is not given.' Whilst in the Book of THE ESSENES 203 Hebrews, we read that Jesus of Nazareth, before commencing his Ministry, 'Was made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.' What was the Order of Melchizedek? It is referred to in the following Chapter of that Book as an order at once more ancient and more excellent than the Order of Aaron. No doubt the poetic and figur- ative language in which that Book is written simply means that, before commencing his pub- lic ministry, Jesus of Nazareth became a Priest of the Order of Essenes. Like John, the Baptist, there was no other School to which he could have belonged, except the Essenes. The beautiful and figurative language, attributed to Matthew, descriptive of the visit of the Wise Men, signi- fies to the Initiate simply that his education was world wide. Jesus knew the Law and the Proph- ets, and was equally familiar with the learn- ing of the ancient Egyptian Brotherhood, the Philosophy of Plato and Socrates, as well as with the speculations of the Priests of Persia and Hin- dostan. In other words, Jesus was an Essene. "At intervals through History, have appeared those whose Souls were open to the Infinte, to whom the Divine was real, and the present a part of the Eternal. It is toward that plane that the Ages journey. Then, all Souls will be illum- inated by the Infinite. Then, Man will no more doubt or question the great, unseen, perhaps physically unseeable, realities of the Infinite, than we now question the existence of a law of grav- ity, or that great, unseen force which is called electricity. 204 OUR HERITAGE "Physically, Man is weak. His years are few. For ages, the human race stood as helpless as a child in the presence of Nature's forces; but, gradually, reason awoke ; slowly, the mind devel- oped ; by feeble, faltering, timid, timorous steps, Man journeyed out of Darkness, out of Fear, out of Superstition, out of Bondage, he learned to conquer the Ocean, and harness the Lighning, and subdue the Air, and direct the Wind, and rule the World, until Man stands absolute Mas- ter of all the vast physical forces above, and around, and beneath him. "Above this, is the higher plane of the Spirit. To the materialist, Life is but a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eter- nities. In vain, he seeks to reach beyond the heights; he cries aloud, the only answer is an echo of his wailing cry ; from the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead, there comes no word. Death is the end. That is the door to which Omar Kayham found no key; that, the veil through which he could not see ! But Man is more than vitalized dust. He is a rational, think- ing, volitional being; and,as such, is raised far above mere material existence. The Mind is just as much a part of Truth, as the Body is a part of Matter; the Mind lives on Truth, just as certainly as the Body lives upon material sub- stances. Tntellectural and moral growth is not less important than material welfare. Truth is nourishment as well as wheat. Reason, by fast- ing, becomes puny. Let us lament, as over stom- achs, over minds which do not eat. If there be THE ESSENES 205 anything more poignant than a body agonizing for want of bread, it is a Soul which is dying of hunger for Light.' And whilst it has sometimes been said that 'Man has a Soul/ the essential fact is that the Individual is a Spirit or Soul, and, as such, has a Body. There is, then, a dual nature in every human being. The high and the low, the great and the small, the generous and the mean, the spiritual and the sensual, the Divine and Human, the Eternal and the Temporal, the Coronal and the Basilar, all meet together in Man; and, it is on the frontier or borderland, between the higher and the lower planes of being, that Man is waging a struggle for existence, There, the conflict between the Coronal and the Basilar ! There, the battle-ground of each Life ! There, too, the surging forces and the wavering line of civilization in the long battle of the ages ! How short the seeming distnce between the civil- ized and uncivilized races ! How long, and how tedious has been the journey to pass over it! How near each Life to a possible animalism? Just the little distance of dropping from the higher to the lower in himself! How much of the animal, of cruelity and greed, of deceit and selfishness, is there in our civilization? And were the efforts of organized society to relax, were the restraints and conserving influences of the home removed, were Education, and Fratern- ity, and Religion to cease, how quickly would the priceless progress of the long centuries be lost! "We are only beginning to realize what the Genus Homo is, and that which we are destined 206 OUR HERITAGE to become ! That, beyond us rise the vast spirit- ual heights and possibilities of the race! The real Man or Woman, the essential Man and Woman, may perceive and know God. Humanity is related to Justice and Right, to Love and Truth, to the Divine. The Individual is not only related to these higher qualities, they are him- self, they constitute all that is real in the In- dividual Life; and, to the fully awakened Soul, the consciousness of the Divine is just as real as the sentiment of Love which binds the heart of a child to its earthly parents. "The difference, between those who live upon the higher and the lower planes, does not consist in the addition of any new quality, but the Spirit- ual have developed their latent powers and possi- bilities ; and although the Individual cannot, by taking thought, add a cubit unto his stature, by an act of the will, by a proper development, a proper exercise, a proper use of the powers within him, the Individual may make of himself a moral giant — Educated, Intelligent, Intellectual, Re- fined, Spiritual, Immortal, or, by a neglect and disuse of those powers, he may dwarf himself to a Pigmy — Bestial, Brutal, Ignorant, Sensual, Vulgar, Mortal! "This is no discovery of mine. It is the lan- guage of the Great Masters, of the Psychological Force called Fraternity ; which teaches how the Individual may grope his way out of Darkness, out of Doubt, out of Despair, to a Knowledge of Himself, his Duty, and his Destiny. Approx- imately three thousand years ago, Confucius, THE ESSENES 207 borrowing the language of the Great Mysteries, announced that his doctrine consisted solely in being upright in heart, and in Loving thy neigh- bor as thyself. Five hundred years later, the Hebrew Law declared, 'Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Mind, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Heart, and with all thy Strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.' In the following century, Zoroaster expressed this thought to the Persians in these words, 'Hold it not meet to do unto others what thou wouldst not wish done to thyself.' About the same time Socrates, the Grecian Philospher, said 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Whilst his con- temporary German sages taught devotion to friends, indulgence for wrong, humanity, hos- pitality, respect for age, temperance, and a chiv- alrous deference to woman. "Saul of Tarsus, a free-born, Roman citizen, educated in the schools of Athens, familiar with the learning of the ancient Egyptian Brother- hood as the same was understood and taught by Herodotus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and other great minds ; then, he sat at the feet of Ga- maliel and relearned those ancient doctrines from the viewpoint of that Jerusalem seer. No wonder that, for a time, he was troubled with doubt and despair. Much learning had well-nigh made him mad ! But, as he journeyed from the Holy City to Damascus, suddenly, his vast learning crystal- ized, his vision became clear, he saw Himself, his Duty, and his destiny. It is profitable to turn to the 13th Chapter of First Corinthians, and 208 OUR HERITAGE read the plain simple language of that great Man, descriptive of one of the principles of the ancient Egyptian Brotherhood ; a principle which in later centuries had been recognized as one of the Pillars of the Temple at Jerusalem, as it is now a fundamental principle of Fraternity, every- where. But, because of his narrow, crabbed nature Saint Paul did more to degrade Woman and retard the civilization of the world than any other contemporary of the great teacher ! "Socrates was the reverse of skeptic. No man ever looked upon Life with more positive or practical eye. No man ever pursued his mark with a clearer perception of the road which he was travelling. No man ever combined, in like manner, the absorbing enthusiasm of a mission- ary, with the acuteness, the originality, the in- ventive resources, and the generalizing compre- hension of a philosopher. And yet, that man was condemned to death ; condemned, by a hostile tribunal composed of more than five hundred citizens of Athens, drawn at hazard from all classes of society. A majority of six turned the scale in the most momentous trial, with one exception, that the world has ever witnessed. And the vague charges, upon which Socrates was condemned were that he was a vain babbler, a corrupter of youth, and a setter-forth of strange Gods! "It is profitable to contemplate the closing scene of his Life; a scene which Plato has in- vested with such Immortal Glory! The affect- ing farewell to the Judges ; the long thirty days THE ESSENES 209- which passed in prison, before the execution of the verdict; his playful equanimity amid the un- controllable emotions of his companions ; the gathering of his friends on that solemn evening, when the fading of the sunset hues upon the tops of the Athenian hills was the signal that the last hour had come ; the introduction of the fatal hemlock ; the immovable countenance of Socrates, the firm hand; and then, the burst of frantic lamentation from all his friends as, with his habitual ease and cheerfulness, he drained the cup to its dregs ! Then, the solemn silence enjoined by himself; the pacing to and fro; the strong religious persuasions attested by his last words ; the cold palsy of the poison, creeping from the extremities to the heart, — the gradual torpor ending in death ! "O, for a modern spirit like this ! O, for one hour with Socrates ! O, for one hour of that voice, whose questioning would make men see what they know and what they do not know ; what they mean, and what they only think they mean ; that which they believe in truth, and that which they only believe in name; wherein they agree, and wherein they differ. That Voice is, indeed, silent; but, there is a voice in each man's heart and conscience which, if he will, Socrates has taught him to use rightly. That Voice still enjoins him to give to himself a reason for the hope that is in him, both hearing and asking questions. It tells him that the fancied repose which self-inquiry disturbs, is more than compensated by the real repose which it gives; 210 OUR HERITAGE that, wise questioning is the half of knowledge ; that, Life without self-examination is no Life at all! "Jesus of Nazareth was a student of the great Mysteries. He emphasized the Inner, the Real, the Enduring. By precept and example, he sought to establish a religion of character based upon the universal law of Love. He sought to break through the veil with which successive generations of the Order of Aaron had obscured the Truth, and lead mankind into the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary of the Spirit. The Father- hood of God, the universal Brotherhood of Man, formed the keynote of his teaching ; and, in order that the question, 'Who is my neighbor?' might be finally and forever answered, he gave that dramatic account of the Jew, who journeyed down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who beat him, robbed him, stripped him of his raiment, left him to die. How a priest of the Temple, mumbling his prayers, passed by on the other side! How a Levite came and looked upon him and passed on his way, swing- ing his censer! How a man whom the Jew had been taught to loath and despisefrom his youth up, looked with compassion on him, bound up his wounds, took him to an Inn, paid for his refresh- ment, and left him with a blessing! Thence, hitherto, and for all time, every one who is in trouble, everyone who needs aid or comfort is a neighbor and a brother. The true Adept con- siders neither the country nor the creed of the unfortunate ! THE E S S E N E S 211 "No intelligent Man would ever deny that Jesus of Nazareth taught a lofty morality, 'Love one another, do good to those who per- secute you, forgive the repentant sinner, place no obstacle in his way, cast no stone at him, especially if you too have sinned, Do> unto others as ye would that they should do unto you !' Such, and not abstruse questions of Theology were his simple and sublime teaching; such, also the lessons of Fraternity, everywhere. And however widely Men may differ as to Creeds and Churches, as to Dogma and Doctrine, we all believe that there is an Intelligent Grand Arch- itect, who is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe ; and that the Life of the Individual is Immortal. "Clement and Origen, of the second and third centuries, represented the genius and culture of the Greek mind and philosophy ; a philosophy, which had produced a Seneca and a Socrates, an Epictetus, Euripidas, and a Marcus Aurelius, and the Thought of the early Christian church at Alexandria bears the impress of those Masters. They taught that God is immanent in Nature; that Man is a Spirit, a child of God, made in his image ; that, God is Good ; that, he has a parental interest in the welfare and improvement of Humanity. They taught that Life is a training, a school, wherein we may learn and grow into the knowledge and likeness of the Infinite ; and that we are destined to an eternity of progress toward the Infinite. They had large views re- garding 'inspiration' and taught, as did the Author of the Book of Job, that 'There is a spirit 212 OUR HERITAGE in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.' They taught, also, that God reveals himself to all men, everywhere, whose Souls are open to the Infinite; that, God was in the world thousands of years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth ; and that Jesus was but a larger and fuller manifestation of the Divine. History shows how those views of Clement and Origen were early shut off from any large share or influence in the Western World. It shows how the Roman Catholic Church, with its cold, forensic Theology, its Latin Testament, reinforced by the Civil Law, became the domin- ant power which ruled the world with a rod of iron for more than a thousand years. How, the Protestant Reformation was aimed at some of the abuses of the Roman Priesthood, rather than at the Theology upon which the assumed power of that organization rests. It shows that, the Protestant Churches, adhering to Latin The- ology, adopted its Dogmas of a distant, angry, outside-of-nature God, that had to be 'reconciled' to Humanity through the sorrow incident to the suffering and death of 'His Only Son,' the total depravity of Mankind, a time probation, a sub- stitutional atonement, endless punishment, and the rest of it; and that, during recent years, the Thought of the Western World, no longer satis- fied with the cold, puzzling, unintelligible Latin Dogmas, which confound the Reason and offend the deepest sense of Justice of the Human Soul, is finding its way back to the better teaching of the early Christian Church at Alexandria, and THE ESSENES 213 thence to the simple and sublime teaching of the Great High Priest of the Ancient Order of Essenes ! "All Men do not see Alike ! "Even the Visible Creation is not for all who look upon it, of one form or one color. What is a Library to one who cannot read? What is an Art Gallery to one who has no apprecia- tion of the beautiful? What is Music to one who cares nothing for Harmony? What are Charity, and Friendship, and Justice, and Love and Truth to the heart that is cold and cruel and selfish? How do we know Beauty and Harmony, or Friendship and Justice, or Love and Truth? How and why do we infer the Infinite? The answer is that the Individual can see, understand, and appreciate these larger facts and finer quali- ties, because they are part of his own, real self ; because, in the essence of his being, the Individ- ual is himself Divine ! There is no other hypo- thesis upon which the Life of Mankind can be philosophically explained. The Individual can know Beauty, only as he has the elements of Beauty in his own Character. He can know Friendship, and Love, and Truth only as he has these Divine principles in himself, and as a part of Himself ! BOOK IV THE ANGLO-SAXONS RECOGNITION 217 CHAPTER I. RECOGNITION. The wind was blowing a gale, "a regular Ne- vada zephyr," as Marie decided she needed action and change of scene. Quickly pulling on a pair of heavy walking boots, donning crimson sweater, crimson cap, and a heavy dark gray golf-skirt, she locked the door of her studio and started on a brisk walk through the piney woods, which fringe the shore of Carnelian Bay. The weather, always changeable and uncertain in the High Sierras, had turned sharply cold. Marie's eyes brightened, her pulse quickened, as she drew the keen mountain air deeply into her lungs. She was glad to be alive ! Perhaps one of the strangest things in the whole course of human existence is the sudden- ness with which certain events transpire. We may have expected or even longed for their oc- currence, yet suddenly, in an hour or even a min- ute, change the whole current of our thought and influence, for good or ill, our entire future. Like the quick flash of the lightning, the loud crash and rumble of the storm, the unexpected shock of an earthquake, so clamorous incidents thun- der upon the regular routine of even a common- place life, crumbling its hopes, shattering its pleasures into dust and scattering them to the four winds: and this kind of destructive trouble 218 OUR HERITAGE generally comes in the midst of apparent pros- perity, without the least warning, and with all the abrupt fierceness of a mountain storm. We see it in the sudden, almost instantaneous and ir- reparable downfall of certain members of society, who have been wont to hold their heads proudly above their acquaintances and compeers, and may have even presumed to pose as examples of Light and Virtue to the whole community in which they live; we see it, in the capricious for- tunes of public men, who are in high favor one day and in disgrace the next; we see it in the physical change called Death which, however long it may have been expected, always comes suddenly and reveals in us emotions we never dreamed. Vast changes are wrought with such suddenness and inexplicable quickness that it is hardly surprising that there should be certain sects which, when everything is prospering more than usually well, make haste to put on gar- ments of sackcloth and, casting ashes upon their heads, pray aloud, "Prepare us, O Lord, for the evil days that are at hand !" The moderation of the Stoics who, deeming it impious to either grieve over sorrow, or to rejoice over prosperity, maintained an equable middle course, between the opposing elements of Joy and Sorrow, with- out allowing very much demonstration over happiness or melancholy, was really a wise tem- peramental habit to cultivate. We build slowly! We destroy swiftly! RECOGNITION 219 Our ancient forebears who built the Temples at Jerusalem, with many myriad blows felled, hewed, and squared the timbers, quarried the stone, and carved the intricate ornaments which were to be the Temples. Stone on stone, the walls arose; slowly, the roof was framed and fashioned, and years elapsed before the Houses were finished, fit and ready for the worship of God. So, they were built! A single motion of the hand of a rude and barbarous spearman, moved by a senseless impulse of a brutal will, flung in the blazing brand; and, with no other human agency, a few short hours sufficed to re- duce each building to a smoking mass of black, unsightly ruins. Be patient, therefore, and wait! "The issues are with God; to do of right belongs to us !" Greatness is of slow growth. Mental, Moral, Intellectual, and Spiritual at- tainments develop slowly ; and whilst they are difficult of attainment, they must be used in or- der that they may be retained. If you have great intellectual ability, if you have peculiar talents in any line, you cannot even retain them unless you use them for Humanity. Joy, like Sorrow, comes suddenly ! Marie was thinking of Vin. Her course led her along the base of a rugged ledge of granite, and as she presently rounded a giant boulder, she almost stumbled over the body of a man, who was seated in a sheltered nook, his hands clasping his knees, his back against a rock, star- ing at the translucent water of the lake, which 220 OUR HERITAGE was plainly visible through an opening in the trees, caused by some old landslide. He looked up sharply, and Marie recognized Vincent Kingsley. "Oh!" murmured Marie, not a little startled at thus meeting the object of her thought— "It's you !" "Yes, I," replied Vin, as he arose. "I am sorry — " stammered Marie. "Then I'll go away." "I mean, — sorry to disturb your reverie!" "I am glad you did. I needed to be aroused. You see, Marie, I came out here to make a few mental notes for a book I am writing, — and I sat down in the sun and thought about something else." "Something nice?" "Lovely! I was thinking of you!" Marie's color brightened ! "What were you thinking?" "Many things ! One was that perhaps I should not have been so abrupt the other even- ing." As he spoke, Vin looked at her thoughtfully. Marie wondered how his eyes, which were so quiet and tranquil, could make her feel so queer. "I have wondered, — I have thought about you a good deal ! I have wondered where we have met !" she said, in her rich, musical voice. "True! We have known each other before, only you do not quite remember where." Marie looked startled. Vin smiled and RECOGNITION 221 added — ''The Soul never dies ! Nothing dies ; not even memory! Shall we walk?" "No! Let us sit here for a moment. I must think." The huge mountain, covered with a heavy growth of pine, the trees from one to five feet in diameter, a hundred feet high, with here and there a jagged pinnacle of rock, its peak crowned with snow, towered behind them.- They were surrounded by forest, through an opening in which the Lake, lashed to fury by the wind, was plainly visible. No other living thing was in sight. The sighing of the wind, mingled with the hollow sound of a falling stream, made per- petual music ; the air in their sheltered nook seemed breathless as though in suspense, waiting for the echo of some word to betray the long forgotten secret of her life. Such a tense si- lence held them that it seemed almost unbear- able. Marie tried to control the rising tide of emotion, memory, and thought which surged in her Soul like a tempest, swiftly she tried to argue with herself that the extraordinary con- fusion of her mind was due to her own imagin- ation ; nevertheless, despite her struggles, she remained fast, as it were, in a web that bound every faculty and sense of perception, a net fine as gossamer silk, yet beyond her power to break. Finally, she raised her eyes and saw Vin watch- ing her with patient, appealing tenderness. "Tell me!" she whispered, "We are Strang- 222 OUR HERITAGE ers! We met the other evening at Maybelle Clairmont's for the first time, — and yet — " Vin caught her hands in his own. "Not strangers !" he said, his voice trembling a little, — "Not strangers, but old and sincere friends !" The strong gentleness of his handclasp awoke a train of recollections in her mind; she looked into his face and suddenly every line became startlingly familiar. The deep, dark brown eyes, the broad brows and intellectual features, the mass of wavy dark brown hair, slightly streaked with gray, encircling his brows were all as well known to her as is the portrait of a beloved to her lover, and her heart almost stood still at the wonder and joy of the Recognition. "Old friends !" he repeated with quiet empha- sis. "Only since we last met we have been widely separated. Be patient! Trust your own Soul ! In a little while you will remember me, as well as I remember you !" With a thrill of joy, Marie said: "I remember you, now ! I have seen you often! But where? Tell me where, if you know, — surely you do know!" Vin seemed to find speech difficult. He still held her hands with a tender clasp in which there was a compelling force. If two dear friends, parted by some sudden catastrophe like the fire which destroyed San Francisco and ren- dered thousands destitute and homeless, or like the collision off Cape Race which sank the peer- RECOGNITION 223 less Titanic and plunged hundreds of passen- gers into an ice-cold, watery grave, were all unexpectedly to meet in some solitary place, after many years, where neither had expected to see a living Soul, their emotion could not be keener than was theirs. Vin's eyes were gravely v thoughtful as he answered, after what seemed to Marie an interminable interval, — "Yes, I do know ! But I think, perhaps, I bet- ter not tell you, now. As I have already said, you will remember. We never forget. Still it is natural, everything has come about so sud- denly, — that you should be alarmed, and try to resist the force which draws us to one another. It is a force which we cannot resist, and no mat- ter what influence may intervene, it will take no denial. Perhaps we had better walk on — " he continued, averting his gaze for a moment, al- though he still held her hand. "If I say more, I may say too much. Shall we climb to the top of that crag, and see the sun set?" Marie trembled, not with cold or fear, but with an exquisite sense of joy as she assented, — "It will be a delightful scene!" They moved on, hand in hand, in absolute silence. Vin guided her up the rough and rugged trail which wound around the side of the cliff. The wind had gradually blown itself out as the sun approached the horizon, and the fall- ing stream sounded clearer, sometimes with a clamorous insistence as though it sought to 224 OUR HEEITAGE match itself against the tumult of her emotions, in a vain endeavor to drown or obscure her thoughts. The odor of wild violets was in the air. At length they reached a shelf of rock and paused. They were in full view of Lake Tahoe, which took on a weird splendor in the rays of the setting sun. The water which had been lashed to foam during the day was now calm, though it was not actually still, and sparkled and shown as though it were effervescent, — while ever and anon it seemed to flash and rip- ple with a diamond like lustre, as though it were charged with electricity. Behind them and on either side, broken and monstrously misshapen cliffs, rising tier upon tier to the snow line, with here and there a red peak, like a pyramid of fire, grooved by the winter torrents and summer ava- lanches, for rock, as well as character, may be worn down by water. Beneath them, the pine trees sighed and beckoned in the evening breeze, as though wooing them to return. A soft misty vapor rose from the surface of the lake, which the fitful gusts of air, which rush over the snow- clad mountains, turned to clouds, and tossed them to and fro, or piled them up into fantastic shapes. They stood silently, hand in hand, watching the cloud phantoms, and waiting for the deepening glow which, when it should be- gin to fade at the surface of the lake, would spread slowly upward, and transform the sur- rounding mountains into an almost supernat- ural splendor and grandeur. RECOGNITION 225 Suddenly, Marie spoke! "Your lecture, about the Essenes ! — How do you know all that, which you told us?" she asked. "By the study of past records !" Vin replied. "I read and study what modern men and women declare they have no time to read !" and he added, "Books and papers which the great ma- jority of men and women have little, if any, ca- pacity to comprehend!" "If one could only actually see those ancient Peoples, as they once existed, what a revelation it would be!" murmured Marie, and she added after a moment's hesitation: "Our new and wonderful discoveries and in- ventions, I suppose they are new and wonderful to our age, might appear but trifling and insig- nificant after all. The Pyramids and other gi- gantic works could hardly have been constructed without the aid of electrical power. I think sometimes that our age is only rediscovering what those ancient Peoples knew. Even the winged-gods of Mythology may have had their origin in a flying-machine, such as is now being perfected." "You are quite right in thinking that 'New* things are only old and long forgotten things re- vived or reinvented," responded Vin in a low musical voice. "And, if you had gone a step further and said that our present lives are only continuations of our past, you would hardly have been wrong. 226 OUR HERITAGE We are coming more and more to accept as prob- able, what the ancient Egyptian adepts, the Essenes and others accepted as an established fact, that Life is Eternal, that it is Everlasting, and imperishable. That the physical change called Death is only change and progress. May I continue?" Marie gave a mute sign of assent, and Vin continued as follows : "It transpires sometimes, even in the rush and turmoil of this materialistic age, that a Man and a Woman are brought together, who, of their own immediate knowledge, have had no previous acquaintance with each other, and yet, a word, a gesture, they do not understand how it happens, a whole train of recollections is set in motion, and they are convinced that they have known each other always. Then nothing can separate them ! Soul rushes to Soul ! All forms and conventions, all customs and ceremonies, social usages and traditions crumble and fall to ashes before the power which overwhelms them. Such sudden attractions sometimes occur even among the most ordinary surroundings, and So- ciety stands aghast ! Those like Maybelle Clair- mont, who are wedded to the conventions, frown and shake their heads, and jeer and sneer and whisper at what they cannot understand, calling such impetuosity 'folly' or worse, while remain- ing blind to the great fact that it is no less than the active assertion of an Eternal Law; a law, which can neither be broken nor ignored with RECOGNITION 227 impunity. Just as in wireless telegraphy one point of vibration irresistibly strikes another over intervening space, and in spite of opposing currents and forces, so, despite intervening cur- rents and lines of divergence, despite time, for a thousand years are but as yesterday, the Im- mortal Soul strikes its kindred fire across the wreck and ruin of the past, until they meet in the irresistible and compelling 'flash' of that Di- vine message called Love !" The mountains encircling the Lake now began to be "illuminated with an ever-changing glow of soft, golden light, orange and purple hues inter- mingled, while a thin blue-white cloud of vapor slowly moved above the surface of the water. A sky of splendid color met their gaze. A mo- tionless, gray mist slowly settled over the for- est, like a gigantic stage, set for a Master's art. They watched the scene in absorbed fascination. Marie was conscious that the firm, strong hand holding her own had strengthened its clasp. Suddenly, Vin spoke — "Now ! Shall I tell you where we once met?" "Marie nodded her head in assent, — and, like a flash of lightning, lake, mountains, the whole landscape vanished, and in all the range of her vision nothing remained but the mantle of gray misty vapor, like a gigantic stage set for the actors. Then, her vision as suddenly cleared, her faculties became vigorously alert, she heard the sound of joyous, marching music, and there on the stage before her with thousands 228 OUR HERITAGE of incandescent lights gleaming from palaces and towers, shone an ancient city. Majestic build- ings, — vast, stately, gigantic! Streets crowded with Men and Women, dressed in white and varied colored garments ! Roof gardens, filled with all the triumphs of horticultural art, flowers and trailing vines.' Trees, broad branched and fully leafed ! Broad terraces, overlooking a slug- gish, yellow river, with lotus-lillies growing thickly near the bank ! Music, — like a thousand eolian harps, that echoed in silver and brazen twangings from shaded gardens and covered balconies. Just opposite where they sat, or seemed to sit, a broad avenue, brilliantly lighted, extended until it opened into a great square, embellished with images of gods and animals, Marie saw the sparkling spray of many foun- tains. To the left of the Avenue, a beautiful garden could be discerned, and from that bower of flowers a girl's voice, singing a soft, sweet melody, like a nightingale calling its mate, came floating towards her on the breeze; and as the song was finished, a procession, — Men and Women and bands of little children, in holiday attire; maidens, garlanded, bearing wreaths of all the flowers, escorted one, who was clad in some silvery-white tissue, whose face was closely veiled, so that not even the outline of her features were discerned, walking demurely, bearing in her hand a single, pure-white rose, toward the garden gate. Meanwhile, the marching music, Marie had first heard, sounded nearer and nearer, and she presently perceived another procession, RECOGNITION 229 rapidly approaching the garden; a company of some secret, priestly order, men and women, young men and maidens, and little children, escorted a regal figure, whose face was half con- cealed by his knightly plume ; and as the proces- sion halted near the Garden Gate, Marie watched with absorbed interest that Man as he advanced alone, and taking the hand of the demure maiden led her before the officiating priest, who was clad in a long, brilliant robe which blazed with gems ; and, as the Priest raised his hands in- voking a divine blessing upon the two whom he had just made one, Marie recognized her own face in the maiden's, and in his, the face of Vin ! Startled, thrilled in every fiber of her being, Marie withdrew her hand from that of her com- panion, and saw — the solemn grandeur of Lake Tahoe with a deep golden glow streaming over the summit of the western mountains, flung upward by the reflected rays of the setting Sun on the Pacific. If one would see the Sun come up like thunder, he should view it from the top of Mount Washington ; while to see him set in richest glory and splendor, he must see it from the High Sierras. Marie heaved an involuntary sigh ; and, at last, with some hesitation, she looked full at Vin. His eyes met hers steadfastly! How naturally their lips met ! 230 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER II. THE GERMANS. After leaving the land of Palestine, the People of Ephraim did not again become known to history, until, approximately three hundred years later, they had grown to national proportions in the forests of Germany. The name, Ger- man, given to the entire race by Caesar and Tacitus, meant that they were "Shouters in battle !" This appellation is an equivalent of Homer's favorite epithet of Menelaus, "Good at the war-cry!" The name "Deutsche," sig- nifying popular or general, was first applied to the language and laws of the entire Na- tion as distinguished from local laws or cus- toms. The first recorded notice of any of the German Tribes was that of the Teutons, on the shores of the Baltic, where they were visited by Pytheas of Massalia in the time of Alexander, the Great. The historians, contemporary of Alexander, did not believe the statement of Pytheas, but "Time has shown that many of his accounts were too accurate not to have been founded on personal observation." It was, therefore, in the fourth century before our era, or approximately three hundred years after the first emigrants had left Palestine, that we find the People of Ephraim in the Forests of Germany; within a THE GERMANS 231 few generations afterward, they had not only peopled the whole of Germany, but they had entirely forgotten their ancient migrations. It took them just about the length of time to people Germany, that it has taken their descendants to subdue the fairest portion of the Western Hem- isphere. When the Germans first came in contact with Rome, it was fortunate, indeed, that they should fall under the observation of the accurate and philosophical historian, — Cornelius Tacitus, who described them in the most graphic manner. "The expressive conciseness of his descriptions has served to exercise the diligence of innumer- able antiquarians, and to excite the genius and penetration of the philosophical historians of" later times." The subject has been so fully treated that it is unnecessary to review it iiv detail. An accurate and concise statement of some of the more important characteristics and institutions of the German people, and particu- larly of the Angles and the Saxons is all that will be attempted. 232 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER III. THEIR RELIGION. When they first came in contact with the Romans, the Religion of the Germans was in- timately associated with the Thought, the Life, and the Character of the People. They wor- shipped a Triune Deity, Odin, the Almighty Father; Frea, his wife, emblem of Universal Matter; and Thor, their Son, the Mediator; but, above these, was their Supreme God, "The Author of everything that existeth, the eternal, the ancient, the living and awful being, the searcher into concealed things, the being that never changeth." The following are some of the maxims of the supreme book of Odin : "If thou hast a friend visit him often, the path will grow over with grass and the trees soon cover it, if thou dost not constantly walk upon it. He is a faithful friend who, having but two loaves, gives his friend one. Be never first to break with thy friend. Sorrow wrings the heart of him who has no one save himself with whom to take counsel. There is no virtuous man who has not some vice ; no bad man who has not some virtue. Happy he, who obtains the praise and good will of men, for all that depends upon the will of another is hazardous and uncertain; riches fly away in the twinkling of an eye. They are the most incon- stant of friends. Flocks and herds perish, parents THEIR RELIGION 233 die, friends are not immortal ; thou, thyself, diest. I know of but one thing that doth not die — the judgment that is passed upon the dead! Be humane towards those whom thou meetest on the road. If the guest who comes to thy house is cold, give him fire; the man who has journeyed over the mountains needs fire and dry garments. Mock not the aged, for words full of sense often come from the wrinkles of age. Be moderately wise and not over prudent. Let no one seek to know his destiny, if he would sleep tranquilly. There is no malady more cruel than to be dis- contented with our lot. The glutton eats his own death, and the wise man laughs at the fool's greediness. Nothing is more injurious to the young than excessive drinking; the more one drinks, the more he loses his reason. The bird of forgetfulness sings before those who intoxicate themselves and wiles away their Souls. Man, devoid of sense believes that he will live always if he avoids war; but, if the lances spare him, old age will give him no quarter. Better live well than live long." Whilst, the following maxims of the Druidical Judges are taken from the com- pilation of Dyrnwal Moelmud, who flourished about the time of Alexander, the Great : "The three privileges and protection of the Social State are, Security of Life and Person ; security of possession and dwelling; security of natural rights. The three things that confirm the social state are : The effectual security of property ; just punishment when it is due; and mercy tem- pering justice when equity requires it. The three 234 OUR HERITAGE elements of Law are : Knowledge, natural rights, and conscientiousness. The three proofs of a Judge are: Knowledge of the Law; knowledge of the customs which the law does not supersede ; and knowledge of the times and the business thereto^ belonging. The three things which a Judge should always study : Equity, habitually ; Mercy, conscientiously; and Knowledge, pro- foundly and accurately. The three ornaments of the Social State are : The learned Scholar ; the Ingenious Artist ; and the Just Judge !" Whilst the Indian Books of the period, contained the following : "Honor thy father and thy mother. Never forget the benefits thou hast received. Learn while thou art young. Be submissive to the laws of thy country. Seek the company of virtuous men. Speak not of God but with res- pect. Live on good terms with thy fellow men. Speak ill of no one. Mock at the bodily infirm- ities of none. Pursue not unrelentingly a con- quered enemy. Strive to acquire a good repu- tation. The best bread is that for which one is indebted to his own labor. Take counsel of wise men. The more one learns, the more he acquires the faculty of learning. Knowledge is the most permanent wealth. As well be dumb as ignorant. The true use of knowledge is to discern good from evil. What one learns in youth endures like the engraving upon the rock. He is wise who knows himself. Let thy books be thy best friends. Deceive no one, not even thy enemy. Wisdom is a treasure which everywhere com- mands its value. Speak mildly, even to the poor. THEIR RELIGION 235 It is sweeter to forgive than to take vengeance. Gaming and quarrels lead to misery. There is no true merit without the practice of virtue. To honor our mother is the most fitting homage we can pay the Deity. There is no tranquil sleep without a clear conscience. He badly under- stands his interest who breaks his word." Caesar, in his description of the manners and customs of the Gauls and other German tribes, which comprises a part of his sixth Book on the Gallic wars, states that they believed in God and in the Immortality of the Soul ; that, they had at least one written language in which the Greek characters were employed ; that, their favorite studies were Astronomy, Geography, and the physical sciences. Certain it is that a Nation having such knowledge would be likely to know of The East! They would be likely to prose- cute voyages of discovery in quest of new lands, as it is known that Leif Ericson discovered America, centuries before Columbus sailed on, and on ! The Priests of the Germans were Druids, according to Caesar ; and there was, according to Diodorus Siculus, some connection between their philosophy and that of Pathagoras, which has long been recognized as exerting a powerful influence on Free Masonry. They corresponded, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, with the Wise Men of the East! In fact, Pliny said, the Druids were the Magi of the Germans, and the close similarity of their learning with that of the Wise Men of Egypt, and the East, has 236 OUR HERITAGE been pointed out by many learned writers — an- cient, as well as modern ! These facts embittered the hostility of the Roman Catholic Church against them, and stim- ulated the zeal of the ecclesiastics to destroy every vestige of what they were pleased to call "Heathenism." The Church, said Lewis in his History of the German People, "felt that it was not safe, while so much as a story or a song em- bodying the National Idolatry was preserved. It is but a meagre account, therefore, 'of their Religion, as it was when they first came in con- tact with Rome, that we can gather from contem- porary writers." Fortunately, the People of Ephraim may still be identified. Changing their habitat, they did not change their laws or customs. The Laws and Institutions, the Religion and Customs of the Germans were the same which had been codi- fied by Moses and which the People of Ephraim had struggled so hardly and for so many gener- ations to maintain. What other ancient nation had ever observed those Laws? What other Nation had ever observed the Jury Trial? In what other Nation was the verdict of a Jury final in criminal cases? Where, in all the His- tory of Humanity, were the rights of an accused so jealously guarded? Their customs, their public institutions, their rules for the Admin- istration of Justice; their Social Institutions; their delicacy in the treatment of Woman; their Family Relations, all find, at the time they be- came known to Caesar and Tacitus, a parallel in THEIR RELIGION 237 the Mosaic Law, and nowhere else ! In the Family, the Individual still found his protection ! By the Family, the Individual was vindicated, if injured, and avenged if slain ! And whilst the "Avenger of Blood" or next of kin, still performed his office, it was with this difference : In the absence of malice or premeditation, the slayer might make peace with the aggrieved family by paying fair damages (weregeld) in the presence of the Village Community. They held sacred their home. The family tie was strong and enduring. Marriage was encouraged, but not at too early an age. The ceremony was simple ; the tie was formed by the man offering, the maiden accepting, a steed, a yoke of cattle, or arms. The matron lived in high honor, not merely as the Mistress of a household : but rather, as the Companion, the Counsellor, the Friend of her husband. Xo youth might marry until, after reaching majority, he had been de- clared, by the General Assembly of the District in which he lived, fit for Military Service. The Halt, the Maimed, the Physically unfit, were not permitted to marry. And the preservation of continence to a late period in life was considered highly honorable ; for, says Caesar, "It is held among the Germans that by such reservation of the physical powers, the stature is increased, the strength augmented, and the whole body nerved with additional strength." The Women frequently accompanied the Army as it marched to battle, and their cheers and shouts fired the hearts of their husbands and lovers. 238 OUR HERITAGE In the administration of Justice, there had been but little change. "Eye for Eye," and "Limb for Limb," ran their rough customary Code as of yore ! The same as in the days of the Hebrew Commonwealth. The Judges sat in the place of Public Assembly, in the open air, sur- rounded by assessors of jurymen; a jury, which was composed of men of the same neighborhood as the accused, frequently they were members of the same family as the accused, but always they had some knowledge of the facts ; that was the prime requisite of an assessor or juror. "It was by their solemn oath of his innocence or guilt that he must stand or fall !" Their verdict was final. All that was necessary to> acquit one charged with crime was for the Assessors or Jurors, after hearing the evidence, to say that they believed the statement of the accused; or, if the accused declined to testify, that they were in doubt as to his guilt. That same was the rule under the Hebrew Commonwealth. The land owners of a particular community formed a Canton, which, as an association, held all the land surrounding a village settlement, whether woodland, meadow, or moor, not appro- priated to private ownership, for the benefit of the whole community, under the name of Com- mons ; a name which still survives, as we think of Boston Commons ! The Canton was the most influential form in which government ex- pressed itself among the German People. Its members met in council, like the town-meetings of New England and other States. They fought THEIR RELIGION 239 side by side in the Army ; their cattle formed one herd; their cultivated land, one unbroken field. The landless man had no voice in the council. He had all the rights and privileges pertaining to the free man, except the right of suffrage; and this might well be the rule in every Nation. A feature which seemed to Tacitus to utterly separate them from the world to which he be- longed, but which was the result of their pain- ful experience in Palestine, was their hatred of cities, and their love, even within their little set- tlements, of a jealous independence. "They live apart, each by himself, as woodland, plain, or fresh spring attracts them !" A number of Can- tons formed a District, which, usually had nat- ural boundaries, as a mountain range, a river, or other permanent object. A number of Districts (probably not an exact number) formed a hun- dred, having a Count as its governing head. The Elders (Edelings) of a District met in General Assembly, at a fixed time and place, where they chose by majority vote, from among the Elders, those who should hold, usually for life, the office of Judge. There, also, was chosen the leader, called a Duke, who held the chief command dur- ing war and, at its close, returned to his former position in society. Just as Washington returned to private life after the close of the Revolution- ary War, so the Duke surrendered his com- mand. The choice of a Duke was proclaimed by elevating the newly elected leader or Duke on a shield borne upon the shoulders of his friends. 240 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER IV. THEIR INFLUENCE ON MODERN SOCIETY. Their Influence on modern society and civil- ization cannot be overestimated. It was neces- sary for the permanent peace and welfare of society that their estimate of the personal worth and independence of the Individual, which con- stituted all that was pleasurable in the free life of the German people, should be bravely asserted and transmitted to modern times. In the States of Antiquity, the importance of the Individual was derived. In Rome, the honor, the privileges, the status of the Patrician Class was conferred by the Order to which they belonged. That same was true of every other rank. In Sparta, every grade of Humanity, from the Degraded Helot to the Supreme Oligarch, derived their rel- ative importance from the class to which they belonged. Moreover, the privileges referred to were the subject of bargain and sale, as appears from the statement of the Chief Captain, "With a great sum obtained I this freedom !" But Saul of Tarsus was free born. The Liberty, the privileges, the immunities of all those ancient peoples, such as they enjoyed, were conferred by or derived from some of the institutions of government. With the Germans, it was not so. Their tenacity of purpose has been noted. Their customs were persistent. The children were THEIR INFLUENCE 241 required to learn the law. Their institutions were transmitted from Father to Son. The child was taught to cherish and preserve the law and institutions of his ancestors. Each member of the Nation, upon reaching maturity, claimed and exercised the rights and privileges of free men as of right. Those rights, privileges, and immunities which form the sum total of Indi- vidual Freedom and Liberty were not derived from any institution of the State, not from any Society to which the Individual may have belonged ; they were inherent in every free man. They were born with him, a precious heritage, which none dare infringe, and which no power of the aggregrate community might alienate except as a punishment for crime. The Individual then spoke of his FREE DOOM! Liberty was his Birthright! What- ever agreements he entered into, whatever obli- gations he assumed, whatever duties he under- took to perform, all must be made of his own free will and accord. Any demand which society made upon him was resented, if it seemed to trench upon his personal rights as a free man. No power existed among the ancient Germans which could invade the absolute sanctity of a Free Man's person or home. Nevertheless, no feature of their character has more deeply influenced the history of modern times than the tie, which, without destroying the inde- pendence of the Individual, attached one man to another. They were absolutely loyal 242 OUR HERITAGE to a chosen leader. Their allegiance was not due to any government, but to individual and chosen leaders. Formally and solemnly assumed, it was strictly personal in its character. It gave a new and vigorous character to the so- called Christian Religion. The early German 'Christian' regarded himself as the liege-man of Christ, his personal master and lord; owing him fealty, and bound to serve him faithfully even unto Death. Thus were their ancient Notions, regarding the attributes of their Supreme God adapted to the 'Christian' Faith ! Indeed, said Ridpath, but for the growing fidelity of man to man, it were hard to discover how human society could have continued to exist in such an age of decadence and gloom as that into which Europe was plunged after the overthrow of the Roman Empire. The bravest and noblest youths blushed not to be numbered among the faithful com- panions of some renowned chieftain to whom they devoted their service. A noble emulation prevailed among the companions to attain the first place in the esteem of their chief; amongst the chiefs to acquire the greatest number of valiant companions. To be ever surrounded by a noble band of select youths was the pride and glory of the leaders; their ornament in peace, their defense in war. The fame of distinguished warriors diffused itself beyond the narrow limits of their own immediate community. Presents and embassies solicited their friendship, and the fame of their arms often assured victory to the cause which they espoused. In the hour of danger it THEIR INFLUENCI 243 was shameful for the leader to be surpassed in valor by his companions ! Infamous for the com- panions not to equal the valor of their chief ; whilst to survive his fall in battle was indelible dishonor. Thus the descendants of Ephraim, as they were known to Caesar and Tacitus, do not appear like "Barbarians." Their strength of character, their personal purity, their invincible spirit, their Love of Liberty, their faithfulness and reverence for law, their Love of Home; 'their devotion to friends ; their loyalty to a chosen leader ; their peculiarly vigorous and free public institutions, all combine to make them the superior of any Nation of their own or former times. Their Insti- tutions have come down to us, a Precious Heri- tage, which it is the duty, as it should be the pleasure and privilege, of every citizen to cherish and defend. Measured by the requirements of modern times, they were unlearned; but they had a firm grasp of all those things which go to make up character of the highest type, upon which the strength of States is built! Serious thoughfulness, valor in battle, and vigor of char- acter are among the features which appear most prominent in the Germans as they came under the observation and were delineated by the mas- terly pen of Tacitus. 244 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER V. THEIR CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. The Angles and the Saxons had found a per- manent footing in the Danish Islands, in the northwestern lowlands of Germany and along the River Elbe. In the Fifth Century of the pres- ent era, they were the leaders of that movement which wrested Britain from the Celts ; and, as there was but little to distinguish them from each other in law or language, in customs or institutions, or social usages, they soon became known as Anglo-Saxons. Of the western prov- inces that had obeyed the Caesars, Britain was the last to be occupied and the first which was abandoned. During the Roman occupation, com- merce had been encouraged ; agriculture had flourished; the mining industry had been fos- tered. The tin mines of Cornwall, operated by forced labor, had been scenes of endless oppres- sion. Taxation was burdensome. Enterprise was fettered by laws which turned every occupation, every trade, every industry into an hereditary caste. The despotic institutions of the Romans crushed all initiative and independent vigor of action on the part of the individual. The spirit of the Celtic tribes had been broken. They for- got how to fight for their country as they forgot how to govern it, and when the Roman garrisons were withdrawn, the Picts and Scots broke over the northern boundary and threatened the Celtic THEIR CONQUEST OF ENGLAND 245 tribes with annihilation. Then it was that the Saxons crossed the Channel and landed at Ebbs Fleet, the Plymouth Rock of English history. It is easy to discover, says Greene, in the misty level of the present Minster Marsh what was once a broad inlet of the sea, separating Thanet from the mainland of Britain, through which the Pirate Boats of the first Englishmen came sailing, with a fair wind, to the little gravelspit of Ebbs Fleet. "Those hardy warriors were, if the traditions of the time may be accredited, at the first invited by Vortigern, king of the British Celts, to come over to the Island and aid him in repelling the Picts and Scots ; no sooner, how- ever, had the Saxons landed in the Island than their cupidity was aroused, and sending for reinforcements of their countrymen, they swept the Celts before them, and seized the better part of Britain for themselves." The whole southern portion of the Island passed under the dominion of the invaders, and the foundations were pres- ently laid of the petty Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Bernecia, and Deira, which, by their mergement in the eighth century, were destined to form the basis of the greatness of the Mistress of the Seas. It is not probable that the Celts ever became familiar with the language or laws of the Romans. The superficial civilization which they acquired from the Caesars was utterly effaced by the Anglo-Saxon conquest, which was bloody and dreadful. It took thirty years to subdue Kent, sixty to complete the conquest of South 246 OUR HERITAGE Britain, whilst it required two centuries to com- plete the conquest of the entire Island; but the conquest was thorough and complete. Celtic and Roman institutions passed away and Britain was Anglo-Saxon in law, in language, in litera- ture, in customs, in governmental institutions, and in social usage. The effacement of the Celt was only the prelude to the settlement of his conquerors, and the establishment of their Vil- lage institutions ; it was the gradual transfer of the Angles and the Saxons from the Elbe and the Rhine to the Thames and the Humber. Details of the conquest are meagre, but when the darkness broke, said Macaulay, the Island that had been lost to view as Britain, reappeared as England. On the mainland, the German hordes that overthrew the Roman Empire were, in turn, conquered and subdued by the customs, laws and institutions of that government ; so that, on the continent of Europe, Social Life, Administrative Order, Customs, Law and Reli- gion all remained Roman in character. "On the continent, the Latin drove out the Celtic, it was not driven out by the German, and it is at this date the basis of the French, Spanish and Portu- guese languages." In Britain it was not so. There the Latin could not maintain its supremacy. "The new Britain, known to the world as Eng- land, is the one purely German Nation that rose upon the wreck of Rome." In England, alone, Rome died into a vague tradition of the past. In England, alone, the ancient laws and institutions THEIR CONQUEST OF ENGLAND 247 of the people of Ephraim, including Trial by Jury, were firmly established. The Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Chris- tianity preceded a series of salutary revolutions ; but the Catholic Apostolic Church had become deeply corrupted. "Roman policy and Gothic ig- norance, Grecian ingenuity and Syrian asceti- cism contributed to deprave her." Still, learning followed in the train of the Prelates. Latin became one of the languages of England, the lan- guage of her worship, her correspondence, and her literature. The civilization, art, letters which fled before the torch of the Anglo-Saxon con- quest returned with the Christian faith. Although the fabric of the Roman Law never took root in England, it is impossible not to recognize the effect of the influence of the Roman missionaries in the fact that the Codes of customary English law began to be put into writing soon after their arrival. In more ways than one, the organiza- tion of Anglo-Saxon society was affected by the conquest of Britain. Theretofore, excepting the experience of their remote ancestors in Palestine, the Saxons had known nothing of kings. Con- quest evolved the king, who surrounded himself with chosen leaders or companions and rewarded their loyalty with gifts of land; their distinction did not rest upon hereditary rank, but upon per- sonal services performed for the King. Event- ually, they formed a nobility, which superseded the "Elders" of the original constitution of the Anglo-Saxons ; and, as conquest evolved the king, so it evolved a semi-slave class. No rank saved 248 OUR HERITAGE the military prisoner from servitude. The offen- der whose kinsfolk failed to make up his fine, became a "crime-serf" to the complainant. "Fam- ine drove men to bend their heads in the evil days for meat. The debtor, unable to discharge his debt, flung on the ground the freeman's sword or spear, took up the laborer's mattock, and placed his head, as a slave, within a master's liands." Thus the ranks of the serving class were constantly recruited ; but it was not such a slav- ery as had been known to Rome, for stripes and bonds were rare. The power of a master over his servant was not without restrictions. If by an angry blow the servant was injured, the mas- ter must make restitution, extending even to free- dom. The cabins of this class clustered around the castle of the rich landlord. It would serve no useful purpose to trace the details of those conflicts by which the Anglo- Saxon race in England became a united people. For the period of two hundred years, the His- tory of England is the story of those struggles between Mercian, Northumbrian and West Sax- on kings to establish supremacy over the gen- eral mass of their countrymen and unite them in a single England. Happily, about the year ,828, the whole Anglo-Saxon race, in England, was knit together under a common ruler. ALFRED, THE GREAT 249 CHAPTER VI. ALFRED, THE GREAT. The effort of the West Saxons to establish National Sovereignty had barely been accom- plished, when the Danish Invasion struck down their laws and institutions, their rudiments of civilization, their short-lived greatness, and trampled them under foot in a common ruin. Denmark and Scandanavia poured forth pirate hordes such as had swept the seas in the days of Hengest. During the centuries that Britain had been passing through her period of conquest and settlement, the inhabitants of the Scanda- navian Peninsula had battled for existence with a stern climate, a sterile soil, and stormy seas. The first sight of the Danish invaders was as if the hand on the dial of history had gone back- ward three hundred years ; the same sights of horror which had attended the Anglo-Saxon con- quest were now repeated. Culture and Civiliza- tion, Law and Literature, Art and Religion, Administrative and Social Order, just as they began to bud were met with the storm of the Danish invasion and swept down once more. The struggle lasted for six generations. Much that the Anglo-Saxons suffered of tyranny and oppression, during that period of subjugation, resulted from the want of Trial by Jury. If that ancient privilege had been conceded to them, the reaction would not have taken place which drove 250 OUR HERITAGE back the Danes to their frozen homes in the north. But those ruffian sea-kings could not understand that and the reaction came. It was Alfred's memorable struggle with the Danes which gave him military fame. It was his moral virtues, his Love of Justice and Liberty, which made him great among the kings of the earth. Alfred did not aim to be an original legislator. In the code which he promulgated, he recognized the ancient customary laws of the people of Ephraim, as they had been observed and mod- ified by the Germans in the forests of Germany. He re-established the Jury System. He had promised the Saxons that he would do< so, and he was true to them as they had been loyal to him. But it was not easy of accomplishment; the local courts were opposed to it, for it limited tfieir power, the kind of power that all officials covet, the power to punish without regard to law. Day and Night, says Doctor Pauli, he was busied correcting local injustice. He keenly examined the records of the local courts, and if he found any injustice in them, he would call the Judges before him. He caused Freberne to be impeached and executed for sentencing Has- pin to death, when the Jury was in doubt as to his guilt. During the subsequent period of Saxon domination, no Man on English soil was powerful enough to deny a legal trial to the meanest peasant. Alfred had no wish to establish a new system either of law or government. "Those things that I met with, either in the days of Ine, my kinsman, ALFRED, THE GREAT 251 or of Offa, king of the Mercians, or of Athelberht who, first among the English race received Bap- tism, those which seemed to me rightest ; those I have gathered and rejected the others." The conception of a national law began with the Code (Doom Book) which Alfred compiled and pro- mulgated. The notion of separate systems of tribal customs passed away, and the customary law of Wessex, Mercia, and Kent blended in the Common Law of England. Another great service which Alfred rendered to the cause of Liberty was in separating execu- tive from judicial functions. Although the Elders of the Saxon State were warriors, to them had been committed, from time immemor- ial, the administration of justice; a duty, which they had not always faithfully discharged, some- times they had decided causes without regard to the verdict of the Jury. So, for the better admin- istration of Justice, Alfred appointed judges whose sole duty it was to interpret and adminis- ter the law ; they were sent through the Shires, at fixed intervals, to see that justice was done and report the decisions of the local courts. Thus came into existence the judges of Assize; an of- fice which has continued to this day amid all the changes which politics has wrought, amid all changes of dynasties, and the revolutions of Eng- lish thought and life. Nor did Alfred rest with the reform of the Courts. He denned the boundaries of Shires, and subdivided them into Parishes, which still re- main. He gave to each Hundred its court, from 252 ! OUR HERITA G. E which appeals lay to a court representing several hundreds, about three to each County. Each hundred was subdivided into tithings, composed of ten neighboring house-holders, who were held responsible for the production of criminals, and obliged to pay a fine if any such escaped. What is important to remember, says Pearson, is that life and property were not secured to the Anglo- Saxon by the State, during that period, but by the loyal co-operation of his neighbors. The Saxon guilds are unmatched in the history of their times as evidence of self-restraint, self-re- liance, mutual trust and patience, as well as in love of administrative order, justice and liberty, among a people who had learned to value their ancient laws and institutions, in the suffering which accompanied the tyranny and oppression of the Danes. Alfred arose at a great crisis in the affairs of his Nation. He restored the ancient laws and in- stitutions of his people in all their purity and vigor. The prudence by which he was guided was no less remarkable than his patient industry. He felt it to be his duty as a king, and as a man of genuine genius and inspiration and courage, to preserve and protect the laws and institutions of his ancestors, and pass them on to the myriads who were to come after him improved, if possi- ble, certainly without any derogation. He never disturbed the political foundations of the Nation. When all lay in ruins, he labored unweariedly to re-establish the former state of things. He ac- complished his purpose. The Saxons rejoiced in ALFRED, THE GREAT 253 the re-establishment of their freedom ; a freedom, which was more secure than before, because it was more highly appreciated. "That Tree, which now casts its shadow far and wide over the earth, when menaced with destruc- tion in its bud, was carefully guarded by Alfred; but, at a time when it was ready to burst forth into a plant, he was forced to leave it to the in- fluence of Time. Many great men have occupied themselves with the care of this Tree, and each in his own way has advanced its growth. Wil- liam the conqueror, with his iron hand, bent the tender branches to his will ; Henry the Second ruled the Saxons with true Norman pride ; but in Magna Charta, the old German nature became aroused and worked powerfully even among the Barons. It became free under Edward the Third, that prince so ambitious of conquest, the old language and the old law, the one somewhat altered, the other much softened, opened the path to a new era. The Nation stood like an oak in the full strength of its leafy maturity, and to this strength the Reformation is indebted for its ac- complishment. Elizabeth, the greatest woman who ever sat on a throne, occupied a central posi- tion in a golden age of power and literature. Then came the Stuarts, who, with their despotic ideas, outraged the deeply rooted Saxon individu- ality of the English, and by their own fall con- tributed to the surer development of that Free- dom which was founded so long before. The stern Cromwell, and the astute William the Third aided in preparing for the now advanced Nation 254 OUR HERITAGE that path in which it has ever since moved. The Anglo-Saxon race has already attained maturity in the new world and, founded on these pillars, it will triumph in all places and in every age. Al- fred's name will always be placed amongst those of the great spirits of this earth ; and so long as men regard their past history with reverence, they will not venture to bring forward any other in comparison with him who saved the West Saxon race from complete destruction, and in whose heart the virtues dwelt in such harmoni- ous concord." Thus did Alfred the Great accomplish his ap- pointed task ! The People were content in their re-established Freedom. Faction and discord were well-nigh eradicated, when an event took place which prostrated the entire Nation, in com- mon slavery and degradation, at the feet of a new Invader. TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE 255 CHAPTER VII. THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE! "Ye shall know the Truth,— the Truth shall make you free !" The Individual must be free ! Free, not only from physical but from moral and mental restraint ! The Individual cannot develop under either compulsion or restraint. He must be free. A simple illustration, borrowed from The Great Work, will make this point clear. Perhaps there is no subject, involving the pro- found mystery of Individual development, evolu- tion, growth, and life with which mankind at large is more familiar than is the process by which a chicken is produced in the parturient egg. An egg, subjected to the proper degree of tem- perature, and other conditions, for the space of twenty-one days, reaches the parturitive state. External conditions and influences have brought the egg to that condition ; and with those external influences and conditions, the egg had nothing to do ; over them, it had no control. The un- hatched chick is securely enclosed by the shell, which limits its entire world of activity and be- ing; but measured by its intelligent development its shell environment is perhaps no more limited than is the matrial universe to the Man or Woman whose consciousness is limited by the physical senses to the material plane. Nature has implanted within the very essence of the chick an intuitive consciousness of the fact that 256 OUR HERITAGE there is a larger and more beautiful world for it beyond the narrow limits of its shell. So there is in Man an intuitive consciousness of a larger, better, and more beautiful world for him than that of which his five physical senses bear wit- ness ; and, as some rays of light penetrate the shell, enclosing the unhatched chick, so Man per- ceives his larger and better sphere as "Through a glass, darkly." In its own way, which is the way of evolutionary unfoldment and develop- ment, the unhatched chick seeks to obtain open contact with the larger and better world outside its shell. So do some Individuals. There are two distinct and fundamentally dif- ferent processes by means of which the un- hatched chick may be liberated from its shell and brought into direct contact with the outside world. That same is literally true in the case of the Genus Homo. The one process is that which Nature provides. It is applied from within. It is dependent upon the voluntary, unaided, and inde- pendent Act of the Individual. It is the process of Evolution, of Unfoldment, of Development, of Natural and Healthy Growth. It is constructive. The other process is applied from without. This is not the plan which Great Nature provided. It is destructive of the Individual Life, Man, Woman or Chick, as the case may be. "Under this constructive or evolutionary process, Nature on the one hand, and the Individual on the other, both have an Important part to perform." Nature has fully performed her part when she has sup- plied the chick with all the materials and made TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE! 257 all the conditions necessary to its development, evolutionary unfoldment and growth ; then, the burden of responsibility is transferred to the un- hatched chick, and it must do the rest, if it would complete the process along constructive lines. This is true whether the incubator be natural or artificial. If the unhatched chick would become a fledgling it must put forth its individual effort to that end< in exact conformity with Nature's constructive plan of action. So must Man. "The chick must break the shell from within, and it must do this by its own unaided effort." So, if Man would demonstrate the existence of that world of beauty, of spiritual Nature, which lies beyond his physical senses, he must by his own individual effort, applied from within, break the Shell of materialism which limits his life to the Physical plane. "The analogies of the destructive process are in every way equally complete." The shell of the unhatched chick may be broken by the application of force from without, as every child raised in the country knows ; but this is not Nature's process, and it is destructive of the very life of the undeveloped chick inhabiting the shell. In like manner, this is true of any process where- by the spiritual sense channels of the Individual Human Soul, in the physical body, are forced open by other agencies or intelligences from without. As in the case of the unhatched chick, the process is destructive ; it destroys the life and individuality of the undeveloped Soul inhabiting the physical shell or body of the individual. "In other words, Nature has provided just one 25S OUR HERITAGE method or process, and one only, whereby the unhatched chicken may establish conscious and immediate contact with the larger outside world without violating the constructive principle of its own individual life and being, and inviting self- destruction. That is the method or process of evolution, the constructive process of Nature in Individual Life, which is the process of natural development, whereby through the principle of growth and the process of internal unfold- ment, it arrives naturally at a state or condi- tion wherein its own individual volition be- comes the motive power and its own, self- directed, intelligent efforts constitute the method of procedure. In this constructive process Nature has provided that at a certain point, let us name it the psychological moment, the intelligent, voluntary, and purposeful effort of the individual chick within the shell be- comes a vital necessity. That, in truth, is the one and only remaining factor, which will com- plete the constructive process and bring it to its natural fruition. Suppose at this particular point, this psychological moment, when Nature de- mands its voluntary co-operation, the Chick should fail to perform its individual part of the constructive process, and should refuse to strike out with its tiny beak and break the shell from within; What then?" Nature has provided no other means by which the shell may be broken at the right moment, or in the right place ; neither .has Nature provided any other method whereby TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE! 259 the shell may be broken in the right way, namely, from within. The final and vital act of breaking the shell must be done from within; it must be done at just one point, at the exact moment, and it must be performed by the individual act of the unhatched chick desiring to become a fledging. There can be no proxy. There is no other on the inside of the shell upon whom the responsibility may be shifted; and, if the unhatched chick should fail to respond to Nature's . law ; if it should fail to put forth its individual effort in di- rect and perfect harmony with the constructive process of Nature, there could be but one result, namely, failure to realize and measure up to its legitimate possibilities, failure to come in contact with its outside world of larger life and beauty. And here, also, the analogy holds good in its ap- plication to the process whereby the Individual Human Soul may break the shell of his material environment, which limits his life to the narrow sphere of his physical sense perceptions. Like the chick, the Individual Human Soul is the only inhabitant within his physical tenement, the body ; and the Individual Human Soul is, there- fore, the only agency, the only intelligence, the only individual, the only influence which is in the position to comply with Nature's law, to act, to apply force, to break the shell from within. As in the case of the parturient egg, Nature contem- plates and provides for the devolopment and evolutionary unfoldment of the individual to the point where, and the time when, of his own free will and accord, by his independent and purpose- 260 OUR HERITAGE ful act, he shall voluntarily break the shell of materiality which limits his life to the ma- terial plane. Nature performs her full part in the constructive process, in the case of man as in the case of the chick, when she furnishes the Individual Human Soul with all the conditions, the materials, the means, and the process in con- formity with which the Individual may apply to the problem his own intelligence in the exercise of his own capacities, faculties, and powers. The part which the Individual Human Soul must play is analagous in every respect to that of the chick : The Individual must put forth his own Individual effort in conformity with Nature's plan of devel- opment, evolutionary development, unfoldment and growth. The Individual alone can complete the process. There can be no proxy. The In- dividual can fulfill Nature's plan in but one way, namely, he must make the personal effort; he must Act of his own free will and volition ; and he must co-operate with Great Nature's constructive principle of evolutionary development, unfold- ment, and growth, from within, until, by his own voluntary and individual effort he breaks through the shell of materialism which closes the spiritual sense channels. When the unhatched chick breaks its shell and becomes a fledgling, it comes into direct contact with the larger and more beautiful world without its shell. When the In- dividual Human Soul voluntarily, of his own free will and accord, breaks the physical or material shell which separates him from the spiritual world, then, and not until then, will he enter the TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE! 261 Spiritual World by the constructive process and in accordance with the constructive principle of his own Being. Then, only, will his development be evolutionary ! Then, only, can he control the process himself! Then, only, will he know the Truth ! Then, and then only, will the Individual be Free! 262 OUR HERITAGE CHAPTER VIII. THE NORMAN CONQUEROR. During the period in which the Anglo-Saxons had been engaged repelling the Danish Invasion, the Normans had been equally diligent, on the other side of the Channel, founding a mighty State, which gradually extended its influence. The success of the Normans made them conspic- uous among the hordes which Scandanavia had poured forth to ravage Western Europe. They acquired knowledge and refinement. They adopted the Roman Law. They mastered the French tongue, which they raised to a dignity and importance it had never before possessed. They embraced Latin Theology. They were loyal defenders of the Papal Throne. * Jji * * * The Battle of Hastings was the first of a series of untoward events, which reduced the population of England to the tyranny of a for- eign dynasty. The suppression of a Nation has rarely been so complete. The land was parti- tioned out among the captains of the Invader. Strong legal, united with strong military, institu- tions, closely united with the ownership of the soil, enabled the Conqueror to oppress the Anglo- Saxon race! whilst a cruel Penal Code, more cruelly enforced, guarded the privileges and even the pleasures and sports of the Norman Lords. THE NORMAN CONQUEROR 263, Moreover, with the banner of Duke William had been raised the standard of the Papal States. The Roman Clergy were even more cruel than the Norman lords ; they could hardly be restrained from the immediate seizure of the Abbeys and Parishes of England, which they reckoned as. their legitimate spoils. Many of the hardships and much of the suffering which was inflicted upon the Anglo-Saxon race during this second period of subjugation is directly traceable to the insatiable greed of the Roman priesthood. For six hundred years (from 1066 to 1688), the History of the English People is the story of that struggle by which the Anglo-Saxon race re- gained its supremacy and became free, independ- dent, and powerful among the Nations of the Earth. These events have been chronicled in detail by many able and learned writers, and it seems unnecessary to multiply the pages of this Book with any extensive examination of the authorities ; a concise statement of the more sali- ent and important features of the struggle is all that will be attempted. The conflict was between two powerful families belonging to the same Great Teutonic race, the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. Each was jealous of the other. The Anglo-Saxons were devoted to their ancient laws and institutions which had become firmly fixed in their habits of Thought by centuries of usage, and which were strongly entrenched in their local organisms of government, the Hun- dreds, Parishes, and Shires. Against those in- herited laws and institutions of the Anglo- 264 OUR HERITAGE Saxons, the Norman King and Barons, aided, abetted, and assisted by the Roman clergy, fiercely contended for supremacy. The despotic institutions of the Normans favored the Roman law, which they brought with them, and which the Pope of Rome desired should be established in England. ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE 265 CHAPTER IX. ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE. Let us return to the year five hundred and twenty-eight, to the decaying Roman Empire, for such are the requirements of this Book. Roman Jurisprudence has as long an unbroken history as any set of human institutions. The character of the changes which it underwent have been substantially ascertained ; from its com- mencement, to its close, it was progressively modified for the better, or at least what was deemed to be better, and the course of its im- provement continued through a period during which other branches of human endeavor materi- ally slackened their pace, and when civilization and government repeatedly threatened to settle down into stagnation. And although the system of jurisprudence, commonly referred to as the Civil Law of Rome, is one of the most glorious monuments of antiquity, yet it was not fully developed or reduced to its present form until the Sixth Century of the present era. Then it was that Justinian consolidated it into its pres- ent form, namely, the Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes. Doubtless the way was prepared and the foundations laid by the classical jurists, but the superstructure was raised under the aus- pices of the Imperial Despots ; during the days of the Republic, the times of the first Emperors, and even until the codification of the laws under the direction of Justinian, there were many con- 266 OUR HERITAGE flicting rules of very unequal merit. In the space of ten centuries, observed Mr. Gibbon, the infinite variety of laws had filled many thousands of volumes, which no fortune could purchase and no individual capacity could digest; books could not easily be found, and the Judges, poor in the midst of plenty, were reduced to the exercise of their illiterate discretion. The Immortal Glory of reforming the juris- prudence of the Roman Empire belongs to Jus- tinian, who determined about the year 528 to unite in one body all the rules of law so as to form a system of law for the government of the Empire ; and in pursuance of that plan he appointed a commission, consisting of ten juris- consults, among them the celebrated Tribonian, to select, arrange, and classify the Imperial laws. That compilation, divided into twelve books, comprising the constitutions from Hadrian to Justinian, was called the Code. After the com- pletion of the Code, Justinian directed Tribo- nian to prepare a collection of selected extracts from the writings of the more eminent jurists. That work was accomplished in three years, and was published under the title of the Pandects, or the Digest. All of the judicial learning of former times, said Lord Mackenzie, was laid under contribution by Tribonian and his colleagues. Among the selected jurists, only three belonged to the age of the Republic, the Civilians who wrote under the first Emperors were seldom referred to; so that, most of the writers, whose learning contributed to the Digest ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE 267 lived within a period of one hundred years. Owing to the fact that neither the Code nor the Digest was adapted to elementary instruction, it was deemed wise to prepare a treatise on the principles of the law. This work was also pre- pared by Tribonian, and was called the Insti- tutes. Justinian then promulgated his Novels. The Code, the Digest, and the Institutes all compiled within a few years after A. D., 528, comprise the Corpus Juris Civilis. This system of jurisprudence fell into disuse with the final decline and fall of the Roman Empire; and it was not until about five hundred years later, that a copy of the Digest was found at Amain, in Italy, which discovery, concurring with the settled policy of the Roman Catholic Church, gave new authority to the Civil Law, and its use became general throughout Continental Europe. It would be difficult to formulate a system of jurisprudence containing greater wisdom and jus- tice than appear in the legacy of Justinian, regard- ing all questions pertaining to the Nature, the Acquisition, the Possession, the Use, the Trans- fer and the Inheritance of Property ; under the Civil Law, a man was sure of possessing his own and of transmitting it to his heirs. In those compilations prepared by Tribonian under the direction of Justinian, we see on every page a regard to the principles of Equity and Justice as between man and man ; we find that malicious witnesses should be punished; that corrupt judges were visited with severe penalties ; that, the authors of libel or slander were subject to 268 OUR HERITAGE severe punishment; and, that every person accused of crime was presumed to be innocent, until his guilt was established in a court of jus- tice, having jurisdiction of the offense. And, it .is mainly with regard to the administration of crim- inal justice that Roman Jurisprudence differs from the Common Law of England and the United States of America. The difference in this respect, between the two systems, is a wide one. The Trial Jury is unknown to the Roman system of Jurisprudence. Anglo-Saxon political ideas, their ideas of Free- dom, Equality, justice and Liberty, their rules for the conduct of criminal proceedings, for the administration of justice, all grew simultaneously with the Language and Literature of that peo- ple; and their ideas on all those subjects must be expressed in the English Language if they are to be clearly understood. And because this is true, the English Language, both in Great Britain and in the United States of America, has maintained itself without a rival. "Not merely because those speaking it as their mother tongue very greatly outnumbered all others, or because all acknowledged English supremacy, but for the simplicity of its structure; its logical order in the presentment of thought; its suitableness for the purposes of everyday life ; for the discussion of abstract truth and the apprehension of Anglo- Saxon political ideas; for the instrument of the Common Law ; for Science and observation ; for the debates of public life; for every kind of poetry, from humor to pathos, from descriptions of Nature to the action of the heart and mind." ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS 269 CHAPTER X. ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS. The result of the conflict between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons, briefly referred to in a preceding chapter, seemed to turn on the con- test between the Common Law, the home insti- tutions, the customs and the usages of the Anglo- Saxons, and the Civil Law of Rome as inter- preted by foreign lords and prelates. The first momentous decision favored the Common Law, on the occasion when King Stephen issued a royal decree forbidding the introduction of the Roman Law into the English courts of justice, which was treated, said Mr. Justice Blackstone, by the monkish clergy, as an act of impiety, and while, "it prevented the introduction of the civil law into the English courts of justice, yet did not hinder the clergy from reading and teaching it in their own schools and monastaries." Neither did it prevent the English judges from using it as a basis for their decisions in many cases, involving rights between man and man. But from that time the Nation was divided into two parties : "The Bishops and the clergy, many of them foreigners, who applied themselves wholly to the civil and canon laws, which now came to be inseparably interwoven with each other; and the nobility and laity, who adhered with equal pertinacity to the old common law ; both of them reciprocally jealous of what they were unac- 270 OUR HERITAGE quainted with, and neither of them, perhaps, allowing the opposite system that real merit which is abundantly to be found in each. This appears, on the one hand, from the spleen with which the monastic writers speak of our muni- cipal laws upon all occasions ; and, on the other, from the firm temper which the nobility showed at the famous parliament of Merton, when the prelates endeavored to procure an act declaring all bastards legitimate in case the parents inter- married at any time afterwards, alleging this only reason, because holy church declared such chil- dren legitimate; but ''all the earls and barons (says the Parliament roll) with one voice answered that they would not change the laws of England, which have hitherto been used and approved." And we find the same jealousy pre- vailing above a century afterwards, when the nobility declared with a kind of prophetic spirit, "that the realm of England hath never been, unto this hour, neither by consent of our Lord, the King, and the lords of Parliament, shall it ever be ruled or governed by the Civil Law.' And of this temper between the clergy and the laity many more instances might be given." And, after discussing the Common Law of England, the learned commentator continued: "These are the laws that so vigorously withstood the repeated attacks of the Civil Law, which estab- lished in the Twelfth Century a new Roman Empire over most of the States of the Continent ; states that have lost, and perhaps on that account, their political liberties; while the free constitu- ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS 271 tion of England, perhaps upon the same account, has been rather improved than debased." During those centuries of conflict, while the King and the Barons remained friendly and com- bined their power, the people were held in sub- jection; but, in the process of time, the nobility became antagonistic to the King. Then it was that mutual jealousy caused each to court the favor of the people who, though subject to the tyranny of each, furnished the material from which armies could be marshaled. The royal and baronial powers weakened each other, whilst they strengthened the power of the people to which each must appeal. The Commons wisely and persistently availed themselves of the Acts of each to restore their ancient liberties. The meanness and tyranny, the follies and vices, the arbitrary disregard of the principles of Justice and Equity which characterized the seventh Nor- man King was the salvation of English Liberty. "Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the fouler presence of John," was the estimate of his con- temporaries, which has passed, says Greene, into the sober judgment of history. The evils result- ing from the want of trial by jury, combined with other favorable causes, united all classes in the effort which wrenched the Great Charter from that despicable monarch on the 15th of June, 1215. In their demand for that Charter, barons and people alike appealed with steadfast confi- dence to the old Saxon laws as the basis for their asserted liberties. 272 OUR HERITAGE The Great Charter is the first written formu- lation of civil rights and political liberties in English history. It emerged from Saxon institu- tions, and it has ever since been appealed to as the fundamental authority upon all questions pertaining to civil rights and political privileges, prerogatives, and powers in the kingdom. It has been said that King John, in a burst of impo- tent rage, flung himself on the ground and gnashed at sticks and straws after signing the Great Charter. That Charter was intended by its authors to prevent the exercise of arbitrary authority over his subjects by an English king; the royal pre- rogatives were limited in several important par- ticulars. This is the first instance in all history, where the people struck at the authority of the despot, rather than at his person! Of positive rights, demanded and conceded in the Charter, the two of prime importance were Habeas Cor- pus and the right of Trial by Jury. The first was that salutary provision of the old Saxon Law by which every free man was exempt from arbitrary arrest or imprisonment. The second, coming down from the same ancient source, pro- vided that every person accused of crime or mis- demeanor should be guaranteed a trial by an impartial jury of his peers, in accordance with the law of the land. These and other important provisions of the Great Charter were intended to limit the exercise of arbitrary power over those accused of real or imaginary offenses ; whilst the royal prerogatives were limited in several other ENGLAND UNDER "FOREIGN KINGS .273 equally important provisions, so that the tyranny which had been so freely practised during the feudal ascendency in England was thenceforth impossible, except in violation of the chartered and inherent rights of the people. From that time, said Lord Macaulay, the Nor- man barons came gradually to regard Britain as their country, the Anglo-Saxons as their coun- trymen. The descendants of those who had fought so fiercely at Hastings, began to draw near to each other in friendship. They found that their interests were common. They belonged to the same great race. The steps in the process by which enmity of race was effaced are not known with accuracy ; but it is clear that the distinction between classes was strongly marked when John became King, and before the end of the reign of his grandson it had well nigh disappeared. Early in the fourteenth century the amalgamation of factions was all but complete, and it was soon made manifest by signs not to be mistaken that a people inferior to none exist- ing in the world had been formed by the mix- ture of three branches of the Great German family, the Angles, the Saxons and the Normans, forming what we now call the Anglo-Saxon race ! "Then it was that the great English people was formed, that the national character began to exhibit those peculiarities which it has ever since retained, and that our fathers became emphati- cally islanders, islanders, not merely in geograph- ical position, but in their policies, their feelings, and their manners. Then, first appeared with 274 ,. fc OUR HERITAGE distinctness, that Constitution, which has ever since, through all changes, preserved its iden- tity." Then it was, that the Common Law arose to the dignity of a science. Then, too, that the most ancient colleges which still exist at the great national seats of learning, were founded. "Then was formed that language, less musical indeed than the languages of the South, but in force, in richness, in aptitude for all the highest purposes of the Poet, the Philosopher, and the Orator, inferior to none. Then, too, appeared the first faint dawn of that noble literature, the most splendid, and the most durable of the many glories of England." Thus the revolution which put an end to the tyranny of nation over nation was silently and imperceptibly effected. Moral causes effaced the distinction between Saxon and Norman, and then the distinction between Mas- ter and Servant. None can fix the precise time at which either distinction ceased. Many times the attempt was made to stretch the Royal authority far enough to justify the trial of free men without a Jury. Such attempts never had more than temporary success. Edward the second closed up a great rebellion by taking the life of its leader, the Earl of Lancaster, after trying him before a military court. Eight years later that same king, together with his lords and commons in Parliament assembled, admitted with shame and sorrow that the execution of Lancaster was a mere murder, because the courts were open, and he might have had a trial. When Queen Elizabeth, for sundry reasons affecting the ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS 275 safety of the state, ordered the destruction of Mary Stuart, the violation of English Law was allowed to pass unchecked, because the Protest- ant element of the Nation was satisfied with the theology of her majesty, and feared that the political and theological convulsion which must have followed the accession of Mary to the throne would demoralize the Nation. It is not too much to say that the pronounced loyalty of Elizabeth to the Reformation suppressed all revolutionary movements during her reign and left it for the ill-fated house of Stuart to meet, in death and banishment, the verdict of the English people against the unlimited prerogatives of the crown and the theology of Rome ; but, when that same Queen ordered that certain other offenders, not of her Army, should be tried according to the course of military law, she heard the storm of popular vengeance rising; and haughty, imperi- ous, self-willed though she was, she yielded the point, for she knew that on that subject the English people would not consent to be further trifled with. Stafford, as lord lieutenant of Ire- land, tried the viscount Stormont before a mili- tary commission and executed him ; when impeached, he pleaded in vain that Ireland was in a state of insurrection, that Stormont was a traitor, that the army would be helpless if it could not punish offenders without appealing to the civil courts ; the Parliament was deaf, the king could not save him, he was condemned to suffer death as a traitor and a murderer. The First Charles issued commissions for the trial of his 276 OUR HERITAGE enemies according to the course of military law ; yet, Parliament asserted in the Petition of Right, and Charles was constrained to concede that all his commissions were illegal. James the second claimed the power to suspend the law; but the experience of his predecessor admonished him that he could not suspend any man's right to a trial. He could easily have convicted the seven bishops of any offense he saw fit to charge them with, if he could have selected their judges from among the mercenary creatures to whom he had given commissions in his army ; but that he dare not do. He was constrained to send the bishops to a jury and then endure the mortification of see- ing them acquitted. He too might have had rebellion for an excuse. The conspiracy was even then ripe, which in a few short months made him a fugitive and an exile. He had reason to believe that William of Orange was making prep- arations to invade the kingdom. He raised an army to repel the invasion ; he was on Hounslow Heath reviewing the troops organized for that purpose, when he heard the great shout of joy that went up from Westminster Hall, was ech- oed back from Temple Bar, spread down the City and over the Thames, and rose from every vessel in the harbor, the simultaneous shout of two hundred thousand men for the triumph of justice and law. After the flight of James, Parliament assembled and made a Declaration of Rights, which was enacted as a Bill of Rights in I William and Mary, Session 2; wherein it was declared "That ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS 277 all and singular, the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the said Declaration are the true, ancient and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, deemed, and taken to be, and that all and every, the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed, as they are expressed in said declaration ; and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall serve their majesties and their successors according to the same in all times to come." This extraordinary declaration is more than legislation, and is like the provision of a permanent and unchangeable constitution. That Parliament of 1688 not only elected the per- sons who should fill the throne, but declared the succession thereafter, and excluded any one in the line of that succession, who might be a Roman Catholic, from ascending the throne or holding it, and absolving the English people from all allegiance to any such. Thus it appears, how through the fierce antag- onisms of two powerful Nations ; the jealous rivalry of two systems of jurisprudence; the con- flicts of two forms of Theology, that of Rome and that of the Anglo-Saxons ; the social strife of Nor- man caste with Saxon people ; the political strug- gles between an alien dynasty and the ancient laws and liberties of the Anglo-Saxons, — the three estates of the realm, united in the political organism of the First Edward, rude and imper- fectly defined, emerged in the Parliament of 1688, which was "assembled in a full and free repre- sentation of this Nation," and declared, in the 278 OUR HERITAGE legislation referred to, their ancient rights and liberties; and "established the constitutional monarchy of England, in which the Three Estates were, in distinct organisms, clothed with inde- pendent political authority to protect and con- serve the rights of each, the prerogative of caste, and the liberties of the people, as they were pre- scribed and defined by the Declaration of Rights, enacted into law by the Parliament composed of the Three Estates of the Realm, the King, Lords, and Commons." This result gathered the historic laws and institutions of the Past and made them stand together (Con Stituo) as the written and permanent constitution of the English Nation. That Constitution was born of conflict. Its path- way is marked by bloody strife almost from the moment that the People, by their memorable decision, abandoned their invisible king and sur- rendered their great birthright, Liberty, into the care and keeping of an earthly monarch. Kingly power long held the vantage ground of Liberty, but the descendants of Ephraim, by brave and persistent effort regained their Freedom, and now, not only maintain their ancient Rights, but dictate the policy and secure the destiny of the English Nation. "Quis jam locus, Quae regio in terris, nostri non plena laboris !" ! LOVE IS ETERNAL 279 ' CHAPTER XL LOVE IS ETERNAL. Happiness is the result of the Soul's harmoni- ous relation or adaptation to its environments The Soul should conform to Nature and ta Nature's law. Just as a flower or a tree is true ;. just as they obey without question those immuta- ble laws which enable the flowers to bloom, and the trees to blossom and bud, and bring forth: fruit, so the Intelligent Soul should bring itself into harmony with those principles, those eternal and immutable laws which condition its evolu- tion and growth on this Earth. It is possible for each individual to live, and move, and have his being in sunshine and happiness, whatever its material surroundings may be. Life does not consist in the things which one may possess I Such an atmosphere each may create. Then, the Soul is true to itself, and to the laws of its Nature ! Then, the Soul knows Happiness, an abiding and Eternal joy. Marie felt such Happi- ness. She had slept like a healthy child, tired out with play and pleasure. She awoke, like a child to whom the whole world is new and filled with joy and beauty. That the day should dawn clear and warm; that the sun should shine brightly; that a soft breeze should blow across the Lake seemed to her perfectly natural, for it was in accord with her Soul. The brilliant atmosphere in which she awoke left no room 280 OUR HERITAGE for clouds or storm ; but, as she descended the stairs she found Maybelle Clairmont, reclining in an easy chair, indolently turning the pages of a magazine, as she slowly enhaled the smoke of a Turkish cigarette. "You were late last night !" observed Maybelle. "Yes!" said Marie calmly. "I met Mr. Kings- ley in the afternoon, and we climbed to the top of a crag to see the sun set ! Afterwards, it took some time for us to find our way home !" "He is a strange fellow!" mused Maybelle, as she threw her cigarette into the grate, "Some- thing of genius, perhaps much more of mad- ness — " "You mistake!" interrupted Marie. "There is no madness in his composition, although there is much of genius !" She paused, seeming to hesi- tate about expressing her thoughts, and then continuing — "There is one thing I should perhaps explain ; it may save useless argument. He is absolutely immovable on one point, and that is — " "What? Pray tell!" interrupted Maybelle. "Simply this! continued Marie, "That there is and can be no Death, what seems Death is only change and progress; that Life is Eternal, and in all its forms indestructible!" Maybelle Clairmont laughed harshly ; then she said, "I've taken his measure, and I believe in a fairly accurate way. He's playing a part. He is clever, no doubt about that; but he assumes a certain profound mysticism in order to give him- self undue importance. Tom says that 'He's probably only an adventurer — ' " LOVE IS ETERNAL 281 Marie turned quickly, her eyes blazing with indignation, — "How can you, Maybelle ! — and he your guest! Mr. Kingsley is no adventurer ! Never was ! — Never can be ! — I've known him too long — " "You have known him for a few days, only !" — interrupted Maybelle. "I have known him by name, and in the Spirit! I have known him for a greater part of my Life !" "Indeed !" murmured Maybelle, half apologet- ically, half cynically, "You surprise me ! I thought" — "Never mind what you thought !" said Marie, her eyes flashing, dangerously : "Nothing gives small minds more cause for envy than genuine superiority, which they can neither imitate nor surpass ; and especially is this true when that superiority is never asserted, but only felt! You and Tom — " "I assure you — " began Maybelle. "There, there! I spoke hastily, I didn't mean to wound you ! But Vin, Mr. Kingsley, is too straightforward a man to be suspected of being an adventurer." Again Marie hesitated, as to whether she should make a confidant of her sis- ter-in-law, with whom she never had had any- thing in common. Then, after a moment, she continued : "He has asked me to be his wife !" "Of course you will refuse! He will treat you shamefully! He is one of the meanest men I have ever met ! Tom says — " "I won't hear it, Maybelle!" she said sharply. 282 OUR HERITAGE "I shall tell him what you have said! We will leave here today !" Maybelle was silent. "He is, of course, an extraordinary man," con- tinued Marie. "He is bound to offend the many ; to please only a few. He is not likely to escape the fate of unusual or remarkable characters ; but, I am sure, his integrity is beyond question. He has unusual opinions regarding Love and Mar- riage, almost as remarkable as his ideas about Life and its changes — " "What are those opinions about marriage ?" asked Maybelle. "Hardly conventional, I sup- pose!" "Conventional! Convention and Vin are as far apart as the East is from the West! No! He doesn't fit into any social code. He says that Love, like Life, is eternal ! That, when Love exists in its purity between a man and woman any sort of formal or legal tie would be utterly unnecessary, as Love, if it be such, does not, cannot Change ! That — " "He is mad! exclaimed Maybelle. "He must be mad!" Marie laughed, softly. The estimate Maybelle had formed of one, so vastly her superior, struck Marie as more amus- ing than blamable. How frequently do we hear the hasty and ill-considered verdict of narrow, unintelligent, envious, conceited persons pro- nounced on Men and Women of high attainment and great intellectual power and ability! That Maybelle Clairmont, the vain, pampered, social LOVE IS ETERNAL 283 butterfly, should show herself as not above the level of the common social standard, did not offend so much as it amused Marie. "Why do you laugh?" Maybelle demanded in petulant tones, — "He certainly must be mad !" "If he is mad, then I, too, am mad !" said Marie with a soft light in her eyes, — "for I believe as Vin does!" "What is his attitude regarding the equal fran- chise movement, I suppose he is opposed to it?" asked Maybelle. "On the contrary, he believes in the absolute equality of the sexes !" replied Marie. "He says Woman should vote ! That it is necessary for the preservation of civilization! That even if, in a rude state of society, the intel- ligence of one sex sufficed for the conservation of the interests of both, the vastly more intri- cate, more important, and more delicate ques- tions which now require intelligent solution, demand the intelligence of Woman as well as of Men, and that can never be obtained until they are vitally interested and have an actual responsibility for the conduct of public affairs. Very much of the inattention, the flippancy, the want of conscience, which we see manifested in public matters, even of the gravest moment, arises from the fact that Woman is debarred from taking her proper part in those important public affairs. He says that the arguments of those who fundamentally oppose equal suffrage for Woman are daily coming to be looked upon 284 OUR HERITAGE as more absurd. May I leave you now? Vin is going to take me out on the Lake !" And with that, Marie left her, glad' to be alone with her Lover ! The shore of Carnelian Bay, deeply indented with deep, sharply curved coves, and bordered by narrow sand beaches; and, where the sand ended, the steep mountains rose abruptly, like a vast wall a little out of the perpendicular, thickly covered with tall pines. The rocks at the bot- tom of the lake, sometimes white, sometimes gray, made the water vividly transparent. The water was so clear that where it was a hundred feet deep, or even deeper, every pebble, every speckled trout, every little spot of yellow sand was perfectly distinct in outline; so brilliantly transparent was the water, so> distinct all objects far below them, that their boat seemed to float in mid-air. Love never dies ! It is as everlasting as Life, itself. A relation between Man and Woman, which lacks eternal stability, is not Love ; at the best it is simply an affectionate attachment, a pleasant understanding, or agreeable friend- ship or companionship, which is limited to this world. Love is Eternal! It is a blessing and a benediction! It affords a ballast and protection against all the storms that blow! It confers an unspeakable peace. And in the last hour, when the coldness of approaching dissolution shall creep into the stiffening limbs, and the brain shall be stunned and the thoughts stifled in the throes of the new birth, there shall come to the tongue LOVE IS ETERNAL 285 a name, and as the last flickering rays of Life •flare up to go out of its earthly tenement for- ever, the tongue will speak that name which was long, long ago burned into the Soul by the beni- son of a Love that fadeth not away. BOOK V AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS THE COLONIAL PERIOD 289 AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. CHAPTER I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD. Let us go back, for that is a privilege of arc author, and consider the settlement and devel- opment of the American Colonies. The story how a few Anglo-Saxon people, fleeing from per- secution in Europe, braved the stern and rock- bound coast of New England, or plunged into- the unknown wilderness of tide-water Virginia, and thus started on a career, which has made their posterity the foremost race that ever lived, in all the tide of time, has been told in poetry and song, and repeated at country fire-side, until it is familiar to every schoolboy. It would be a vain show of learning to repeat that story in detail. Suffice it to say that the history of each Colony will show that the immigrants, whether the Pilgrim Fathers of New England; the Hol- landers of New Amsterdam ; the Quakers of Pennsylvania ; the Huguenots of South Carolina ; the Presbyterians of North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey, or the Catholics of Maryland, were, one and all, brave, self-reliant Men and Women. They held in a clear vision and with a vigorous grasp all the fundamental principles of Magna Charta and the rules of the Common Law, which they regarded as the birthright of every citizen. They had an intense Love of Indi- vidual, Political and Religious Freedom. They ■•290 OUR HERITAGE -were democratic in their politics. They were •dissenters in their theology. Under such circumstances, we should expect to find among their institutions a reestablishment of the ancient folk-mote in the Town Meetings of New England and other colonies. There, were elected by majority vote their select men and magistrates. There, they imposed upon them- selves the necessary taxes for highways, officers of the law, and schools. They formed self-gov- erned communities from the very first, selecting for their rulers their ablest and fittest men, dis- tinguished for intelligence and integrity, austere, grave, incorruptible, patriotic men ! At no time did unbridled license nor unlimited discretion have any place in their polity. Freedom ! subject to Law ! Liberty ! guaranteed by Law, made by Free Men, constituted their glory, as it is the object of our adoration, and the birthright of every citizen ! What Law formed the basis of their Institu- tions? The Common Law of England, as dis- tinguished from the Civil Law of Rome. The Common Law, as well as the institutions which it developed, or in the midst of which it grew up, iis pervaded by a spirit of freedom, which dis- tinguishes it from all other systems, and pecu- liarly adapts it to the requirements of a self- governed people. It has been clearly established by the learned researches which have been re- cently made that the elements of the Common Law, as well as of English polity are of Germanic origin. The Anglo-Saxon conquerors of Great THE COLONIAL PERIOD 291 Britain were not mere bodies of armed invaders ; but they went to England, during two or more centuries, as families and communities. What manner of people were they? Guizot has dwelt upon the fact that the distinguishing character- istic of the Germans was ''their powerful senti- ment of personal liberty, personal independence, and individuality." He affirms repeatedly that they it was who "introduced this sentiment of personal independence, this love of individual liberty, into European civilization ; that this was unknown among the Romans, unknown in the Christian Church, and unknown in nearly all the civilizations of antiquity. The liberty which we meet with in ancient civilizations is political liberty, — the liberty of the citizen, not the per- sonal liberty of the man himself." Conquering, colonizing, civilizing Great Britain, our Anglo- Saxon ancestors carried with them "from lands where the Roman eagle had never been seen, or seen only during the momentary incursions of Drusus and Germanicus," their language, their religion, their customs, their laws, and their vil- lage communities. These were indigenous, their own, without trace or tincture of the Roman law and institutions. They founded, and in the course of centuries their successors and descen- dants built up their institutions on their own model. Macaulay, speaking of this in his ac- customed graphic manner, says : "The founda- tions of our Constitution were laid by men who knew nothing of the Greeks, but that they had denied the orthodox procession and cheated the 292 OUR HERITAGE Crusaders, and nothing of Rome but that the Pope lived there. Those who followed contented themselves with improving on the original plan. They found models at home, and therefore they did not look for them abroad." Whilst the author of the "Spirit of the Laws," referring to the English Constitution, used the following well known words, "This beautiful system has been found in the forests of Germany" (Ce beau sys- teme a ete trouve dans les bois). Their profound love of personal freedom and independence was impressed upon the institutions which they founded. "Learned investigators differ concern- ing the extent to which Roman law existed and prevailed in England at the time of the Saxon conquest, and the extent to which its principles have been incorporated into English laws, usages, and institutions." As a system, it was, as has been pointed out, early and sturdily re- jected. Whilst there is a universal assent to the following propositions : "That the Saxon spirit of freedom was embodied in the various local courts ; that it was in those popular tribunals that the principles of law and local government were cultivated and disseminated; that the Saxons breathed into the English government and insti- tutions 'a spirit of equity and freedom which has never entirely departed from them,' and that in the course of time the Common law intertwined its roots inseparably into the constitution, polity, local and municipal institutions, the civil and criminal jurisprudence, the family relation, and the rights of person and of property." So from a THE COLONIAL PERIOD 293 period, at least as early as the time of Alfred, the local territorial subdivisions of England, such as the Parishes and Shires, enjoyed a consider- able degree of Freedom, and were permitted to assess upon themselves their local taxes and to manage their local affairs. The tax-payers were thus dignified by being an integral part of gov- ernment; they laid the foundations of municipal liberty, and decentralized political power; knowl- edge of the laws and reverence for and obedience to them were constantly taught by a participa- tion in their administration, as they had been centuries before in the forests of Germany, and still earlier by the People of Ephraim in Pales- tine. This is exactly the opposite of the systems prevailing among other Nations, where the cen- tral power absorbs, governs, and regulates every- thing, thereby preventing municipal freedom, and dwarfing the capacity to enjoy and exercise Individual Liberty, as well as the power to de- fend and preserve it. The system of decentralizing political power, of intrusting the direction of local affairs to local organisms of power, was from the earliest colo- nial period carried to a much greater extent than in England. "As you pass from one end of this country to the other, alike in the older regions and in the newest organized settlements, you will see the affairs of each road-district, school- district, township, county, village and city locally self-managed, including the administration of local justice. Every township in the United States has a local court, with power to summon 294 OUR HERITAGE a jury of the vicinage, thereby bringing justice home to the business and bosoms of the people, and making it their own affair. ... It is in no slight degree instructive to trace the institu- tions of this new country back to the germs of the Saxon or Anglo-Saxon polity ; for when we touch today, not only in the towns of New England but even in our frontier settlements, the electric chain wherewith Providence hath bound the ages and the generations of men to- gether, we discover that we are in historic com- munion with rude and remote ancestors, although separated from us by seas, mountains, and cen- turies. "Whoever among you may have read the graphic picture which Freeman in the opening of his work on the 'Growth of the English Constitu- tion' draws of democratic institutions in the Swiss Cantons of Uri and Appenzell, will never forget it. These, he says, have existed from the earliest times. They are, he insists, a continual survival of the earliest notions and usages of old, Teutonic freedom, — 'An immemorial freedom, a freedom only less eternal than the rocks that guard it, that puts to shame the antiquity of kingly dynasties, which, by its side, seem but as innovations of yesterday. There, year by year, on some bright morning of the spring-tide, the sovereign people, not intrusting its rights to a few of its own number, but discharging them itself in the majesty of its corporate person, meets in the open market-place or in the green meadow at the mountain's foot, to frame the laws THE COLONIAL PERIOD 295 tc which it yields obedience as its own work, to< choose the rulers whom it can afford to greet with reverence as drawing their commission from itself. Such a sight there are but few Englishmen who have seen ; to be among those few I reckon among the highest privileges of my life. This is a sight such as no other corner of the earth can set before the traveller. . . . The men of Appenzell have kept one ancient rite, which surpasses all that I have ever seen or heard of in its heart-stirring solemnity. When the newly-chosen landammann enters on his office, his first duty is to bind himself by an oath to obey the laws of the Commonwealth over which he is called to rule. His second duty is to administer to the multitude before him the same oath by which he has just bound himself. To hear the voice of thousands of free men pledging themselves to obey the laws they them- selves have made is a moment in one's life which can never be forgotten, — a moment for whose sake it would be worth while to take a far longer and harder journey than that which leads us to Uri or Appenzell.' " The assemblies thus de- scribed are mere local assemblies, not in any sense assemblies of a nation, but of a district or canton or township ; and it is, indeed, not a little remarkable that the learned author should have said such assemblies could be seen in no other corner of the world. For more than two hun- dred years before that passage was written, New England town-meetings had been continuously held, where every citizen was entitled to meet 296 OUR HERITAGE and vote, to determine and fix the amount of taxation for local affairs, and to elect the public officers by which their local affairs were to be administered for the coming year ; and in essence the same powers are now exercised by the whole body of the citizens of the thousands of muni- cipal and public corporations in the American States. Whilst the same powers have been ex- ercised in the same way by our forebears since at least the time of the Hebrew Commonwealth. Their love of learning was exceptional. All children were taught to read and write. "They had been settled at Plymouth, Salem, and Boston less than twenty years when they founded Har- vard College." As early as 1642, every township in Massachusetts had a schoolmaster; by 1665, every township embracing fifty families had a common school. Communities of over one hun- dred families had a grammar school, where Latin was taught. It matters little whether the Colon- ists drew their inspiration for popular education from England or Holland, because the majority of the people who settled the original Thirteen States were descendants of the great Germanic race, and it is from their institutions as a race that American institutions were drawn, albeit most of them came immediately from English In- stitutions. Representatives from the several townships and plantations formed a general assembly. In Vir- ginia, "on the 24th July, 1621, a regular govern- ment was constituted, composed of the governor, council and house of burgesses, elected by the THE COLONIAL PERIOD 297 people." This General Assembly was granted full power as to all matters concerning- the wel- fare of the Colony, and to make, ordain, and enact such general laws for the behoof of said Colony as shall appear necessary or requisite. This was the first body politic in America ; de- pendent upon, but distinct from, the parent gov- ernment. During the session of the General Assembly in 1623, it was asserted that the governor "shall not lay any taxes or imposts upon_ the Colonists, their lands or commodities, otherway than by authority of the General As- sembly, to be levied and employed as the said Assembly shall appoint." It is of interest to observe that this assertion of popular power over taxation and appropriation, the keynote of Lib- erty, preceded the conflict between the English House of Commons and Charles Stuart. After the establishment of the English Commonwealth in 165 1, it was agreed by treaty, among other things, that "Virginia shall be free from all tax, custom, and imposition whatever, and none to* be imposed on them without the consent of the General Assembly, and so that neither forts or castles be erected or garrisons be maintained, without their consent." The House of Burgesses in Virginia, the Legislature in Massachusetts, and other colonies, composed of delegates, chosen by the people of the several townships, exer- cised from the very earliest times the rights of sovereignty, especially in the collection and dis- bursements of taxes, and the direction of military affairs. "The infant colonies governed them- 298 OUR HERITAGE selves, and elected their own magistrates, from the governor to the selectmen, and this was true as well of the middle and southern as of the eastern colonies." The governors were chosen by the people in secret ballot until 1684, when all charters were revoked ; theretofore, the Colonies had received but little attention from their home government; they grew without in- terference and developed their institutions in their own way, according to the circumstances surrounding each, and the dangers confronting them. Owing to the necessity of defending themselves against wild beasts and still wilder men, the possession and use of firearms was uni- versal. Every man had a rifle and powderhorn, and in the early days of the settlements arms were continually carried even to church. "Thus were the new settlers inured to danger and self- defense and bloody contests with their savage foes." They formed a firm material from which armies could be marshalled, able to face regular troops, and engage in effective operations ; but for the universal use of weapons, American in- dependence could not have been so soon ac- complished. "Everywhere this new life of Eng- lishmen in a new land developed their self-re- liance, their power of work, their skill in arms, their habit of common association for common purposes, and their keen, intelligent knowledge of political conditions." With a tenacious grip on their rights as free men, which they drew from all Germanic institutions, rather than from England, alone ; in the full enjoyment of all the THE COLONIAL PERIOD 299 Individual, Civil and Religious Liberty, enjoyed by their ancestors in the forests of Germany ; with equal laws, and equal protection of the laws, the settlements rapidly grew and multi- plied. During the one hundred and fifty years, following the first settlements, while Europe was shaken to the center by strife, while the people of England were raising a bloody scaffold across the path of arbitrary power, the independent colonists were pursuing the even tenor of their way, laying the foundations of a new common- wealth, broadly and deeply, in the virgin soil of America, based on truer and more natural con- ditions, more just and equal and therefore more firm and enduring than any the world had seen. The people of the American Colonies had man- aged their own affairs for six generations. Their institutions were necessarily popular, and al- though many of the colonists had ever seen a king, they had not forgotten the circumstances under which their ancestors had migrated to the western world. The attachment which they pro- fessed for England was an ideal sentiment, rather than an actual feeling of loyalty. Rarely did a colonist visit England, and except among the later arrivals, their English relatives were un- known. Indeed, they migrated as families. Loy- alty to the king was gradually supplanted by devotion to the laws and institutions which they had brought with them or adopted in their new home, and which they regarded as their very own. The French and Indian wars developed their military capacity; the charm of British in- 300 OUR HERITAGE vincibility had been broken by the humiliating defeat of Braddock, whilst Washington had saved the remnant of the British army from annihilation on that memorable occasion. Sep- arated by three thousand miles of stormy ocean from the home government, the Colonies began to feel their importance, to realize the difficulty of their conquest by any forces England could marshall. They felt, perhaps they clearly fore- saw, their inevitable destiny. The fairest portion of North America was theirs by the right of actual possession, and long habits of self-govern- ment, and they were determined to keep it. "Why should they be dependent on a country that crippled their commerce, that stifled their manufacturers, that regulated their fisheries, that appointed their governors, and regarded them with selfish_ views ; as a people to be taxed in order that British merchants and manufacturers should be enriched?" They were not dependent. They were not helpless. In a general sense, they admitted their allegiance to the British crown ; but, as has been noted, the sentiment was rather ideal than real, whilst it was entirely destroyed, except among the wealthy and official classes, when the British government asserted and at- tempted to enforce the right to tax them without their consent. REVOLUTIONARY WAR 301 CHAPTER II. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. As the personal character of King John had made the demand for Magna Charta imperative ; so, added to the natural incentives and tenden- cies toward the Independence of the American colonies, there was the personality of George III, who ascended the Throne of England in 1760, and was one of the most incapable mon- archs of modern times. His ideas of government were primal and despotic. Stubborn, stupid, thick-headed ! the idea of Humanity and its rights was utterly lacking from his mind. He could not conceive of Liberty. In administering the government of England, his chosen ministers were men as illiberal, ignorant, and incompetent as himself! It was hardly within the range of probabilities that the Liberty-loving people of America would long endure the arbitrary meth- ods of that narrow-minded, despotic monarch! The American revolution, said Ridpath, was one of the most heroic events in the history of man- kind. It was not lacking in any element of glory. "Whether considered with reference to the gen- eral causes which produced it, or viewed with respect to the personal agency by which it was accomplished, the struggle of our fathers for liberty suffers not by comparison with the grand- est conflicts of ancient or modern times. The motives which those great men might justly 302 OUR HERITAGE plead for breaking their allegiance to the British crown and organizing a rebellion ; the patient self-restraint with which they bore for fifteen years a series of aggressions and outrages which they knew to be utterly subversive to the Liber- ties of Englishmen ; the calmness with which they proceeded from step to step in the attempted maintenance of their rights by reason ; the readi- ness with which they opened their hearts to entertain the new angels of Liberty ; the back- ward look which they cast through sighs and tears at their abandoned loyalty to England; the firy zeal and brave resolve with which at last they drew their swords, trampled in mire and blood the banner of St. George, and raised a new flag in the sight of the Nations; the per- sonal character and genius of the men who did it; their loyal devotion to principle; their fidel- ity ; their courage ; their lofty purpose and unsul- lied patriotism, all combine to stamp the strug- gle with the impress of imperishable grandeur. " The immediate cause of the Revolutionary war was the assertion of power by the British Par- liament to legislate for the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, including the subject of taxation. It was urged by the Ministry that taxation and protection are co-relative duties ; that great Brit- ain had aided and assisted the Colonies in the French and Indian wars, and therefore America was bound to submit to taxation. This has been the plea of arbitrary power all round the globe, but it was not in accord with the spirit of the British Constitution, much less with the spirit REVOLUTIONARY WAR 303 of the Common Law, neither was it in harmony with the convictions of reflecting Englishmen ; and a when the Colonies appealed with steadfast confidence to the cherished principles of the British Constitution, they found a powerful ally in the Love of Liberty, which had developed into a habit of mind in the true Englishman of the period. His attachment to it was stronger than the theory of the power of Parliament over distant colonies. And in the great debates which followed, it was fearlessly urged by Pitt that, "The Commons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this their cherished right, of giving and granting their own money. They would have been slaves, if they had not enjoyed it I rejoice that America has resisted. If .its millions of inhabitants had submitted, taxes would soon have been laid on Ireland ; and, if ever this Nation should have a tyrant for a king, six millions of free men, so dead to all the feel- ings of Liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would be fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." Mr. Bancroft said of the contest, — "It is the glory of England that the rightful- ness of the Stamp Act was in England itself the subject of dispute. It could have been so nowhere else. The King of France taxed the French colonies as a matter of course; the King of Spain collected a revenue by his own will in Mexico and Peru, in Cuba and Porto Rico, and wherever he ruled ; the States General of the Netherlands had no constitutional scruples about 304 OUR HERITAGE imposing duties on their outlying possessions. To England exclusively belongs the honor that between her and her colonies the question of right could arise; it is still more to her Glory, as well as to her happiness and freedom, that in that contest her success was not possible. Her principles, her traditions, her liberty, her consti- tution, all forbade that arbitrary power should become her characteristic. The Shaft, aimed at her new colonial policy, was tipped with a feather from her own wing." Thus, the friends of Con- stitutional Liberty, on both sides of the Atlantic, stood firmly for the maintenance of their cher- ished rights; -and the words of Otis, Adams, Washington, Franklin and others, on the one side; Pitt, Camden, Burke, Barre and others, on the other side, inspire us with wonder and admir- ation at the Wisdom, the Courage, the Patience, and the Moderation of the great men of the time. Those discussions made the writing of the Declaration of Independence easy, and inspired the Nation with the patriotism, the patience, and the self-sacrifice necessary to maintain and estab- lish the principles of that Immortal Production. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the Pur- suit of Happiness ; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- erned ; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right REVOLUTIONARY WAR 305 of the people to alter or abolish it, and to insti- tute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." All of which is not very different in spirit, from the memor- able proposition which the people of Ephraim submitted to Rehoboam, king of Judah, so many centuries before. "Make thou the grievous ser- vice of thy Father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will serve thee." The principles promulgated by the Declaration of Independence are of rights which spring from Eternal Justice, Eternal Liberty, and Eternal Truth; the assertion whereof was made for all generations, at all times and under all circum- stances, without any exception or qualification, for "the proposition which admits of exceptions can never be self-evident !" And yet the Women of America have been excluded from any share in the government ! The political effect of the Declaration was the announcement of the birth of a Nation. It estab- lished a government ; imperfect, but a govern- ment none the less. The war was no longer a civil war. Then it was that Britain became a foreign Nation to the people of America. Then, that every former subject of George III, resident in the American States, owed primary allegiance to the dynasty of the People, and became a citi- zen of the United Colonies. But, except in this, everything remained as before. The Colonies did not dissolve into a state of anarchy. The 306 OUR HERITAGE new Nation did not undertake a social revolu- tion. Internal government, or police power, was reserved by the several Colonies, and each, in its own way, was at perfect liberty to enter upon such domestic reform as circumstances seemed to require. But the colonies which were thence- forth independent of the British Crown were not independent of one another; the United States of America, presenting itself to the world as one political entity, assumed power over War and Peace, Foreign Alliances and Commerce. The struggle by which the American People maintained and established those principles is familiar. It is unnecessary to dwell upon it. Perhaps no one event had a more salutory effect upon the public spirit of the new Nation than the voluntary surrender of his commission by Washington at the close of the war. Mr. Ban- croft said of that memorable occasion — "Wash- ington spoke of the rectitude of the common cause; the support of congress; of his country- men ; of providence ; and he commended the interests of 'our dearest country to the care of Almighty God.' Then saying that he had fin- ished the work assigned him to do, he bade an affectionate farewell to the august body under whose orders he had so long acted, resigned with satisfaction the commission which he had ac- cepted with diffidence, and took leave of public life. His emotion was so great that, as he ad- vanced and delivered up his commission, he seemed unable to have uttered more/' But, in this patriotic and memorable action, Washington REVOLUTIONARY WAR 307 simply followed an ancient custom of his people for, as we have seen, the Duke who was elected to take chief command during a war, returned, at its close, to his former position in society. Nevertheless, this patriotic and memorable action should make it impossible for any future com- mander-in-chief to retain power after his work were accomplished, setting a proud example of the superiority of moral excellence over military success and genius or political power. 308 OUR HERITAGE THE CONSTITUTION. CHAPTER III. We proceed to that period following the Rev- olutionary War, during which the Constitution of the United States was adopted and the Fed- eral Government was established. The materials from which the Constitution was built were the gifts of the Ages. The Men who fashioned it followed the suggestions of no theoretical writer of their own or former times. Like Moses, like Alfred, they used the material which time had tried, and which accumulated experience had tested ; they fashioned it to meet the conditions of the new Nation. They were great constructive Statesmen. They builded wisely. Their par- amount purpose in creating the Federal Govern- ment was to secure the blessings of Liberty for themselves and their posterity. To that end, they declared rights, granted powers, and created the Federal Government. Observe how per- sonal Liberty in the several states is protected by the provisions as to exposte facto laws, against the power of States to enact them ; as to Contract rights, against the power of the States to impair them ; restrictions as to taxation, and as to legal tender; and Security by Habeas Corpus. Consider the limitations imposed on Federal authority in the Bill of Rights; privi- leges of free speech, of a free press, of peaceable assemblages of the people, of the right to keep THE CONSTITUTION 309 and bear arms ; immunities from search and seiz- ure, from self-accusation, from second trial ; and privilege of trial by due process of law, which includes indictment by a Grand Jury, and public and impartial trial by a Petit Jury, with all the safeguards known to the Common Law. Those great Men foresaw that troublous times would come, when rulers and people would grow restive under restraint ; they expected that con- tests would arise between classes and sections, possibly between the various races which inhabit this vast territory ; perhaps between capital and labor; and they supposed that, in such times, Judges themselves might not be safely trusted where the whole power of the Federal Gorvern- ment is arrayed against the accused party. And whilst little has as yet occurred to justify the doubt of judicial integrity which they seemed to feel, yet they could look only to the experience of that government whose history they best knew, and they saw there the ferocity of Jeffreys and Scroggs, the timidity of Guilford, and the venality of Saunders and Wright. It seemed necessary therefore, not only to make the judi- ciary as perfect as possible, but to give the citi- zen still another shield against his government; and to that end, they could think of no better provision than a public trial by an impartial jury. It is the best protection for innocence, and the surest mode of punishing guilt, that has ever been devised among men. It has borne the test of a longer experience and borne it better than any other legal institution that ever existed. 310 OUR HERITAGE England and the United States owe more of their Freedom, their Grandeur, their Happiness, and their Prosperity to that than to all other causes put together. It has had the approbation not only of those who have lived under it but of great thinkers who have looked at it calmly from a distance and judged it impartially; Montesquieu and De Tocqueville speak of it with an admira- tion as rapturous as that of Blackstone, of Cooley, or of Tucker. There was no subject upon which all of the inhabitants of the American States were more perfectly unanimous than they were in their determination to maintain that great bulwark of Liberty unimpaired. If the men who achieved the Independence of the American Colonies, when they came to frame a government for themselves and their posterity, had failed to insert a provision making the Jury System im- perative, perpetual, and universal, they would have been recreant to the principles of that Liberty of which they professed to be the special champions. They were guilty of no such neglect. They not only took care of the Jury System ! they regulated every step to be taken in a criminal trial. They knew very well that no people could be free under a government which had power to punish without restraint. Hamilton, speaking through the "Federalist," expressed the universal sentiment of his time, when he said that the arbitrary power of conviction and punishment for pretended offenses had been the great engine of Despotism in all ages, and in all countries. The existence of such a power is incompatible THE CONSTITUTION 311 with free institutions ; but they were not unwise enough to put unlimited power in the hands of the government, and then take away the protec- tion of the Law from the rights and privileges of the people; it was not thus that they sought "To secure the blessings of Liberty !" They de- termined that not one drop of blood, which had been shed during the centuries of conflict with arbitrary power should be forgotten, but that the fruits of every popular victory should be gar- nered up and preserved ; of all the great rights, privileges and immunities which had been so hardly won, they threw not an atom away. They went over the provisions of Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, the Declaration of Rights, the Bill of Rights, and the Rules of the Common Law, and whatever was found to favor Indi- vidual Liberty, they carefully inserted it in their own system, improved, by clear expresion ; Strengthened, by heavier sanction ; Extended, by a more universal application. They put all those provisions into the fundamental law of the Federal Government, so that neither Tyranny in the Executive, nor Popular Rage in the Legis- lative Body, could change them, without chang- ing, perhaps destroying, the Government itself. In addition to these popular individual con- siderations regarding the Jury System, others, of even greater significance to society at large may be mentioned ; among these are the iniquisi- torial powers of a duly constituted grand Jury. The grand jury is an informing and accusing body, rather than a judicial tribunal ; it may upon its own motion originate charges against -312 OUR HERITAGE offenders. Mr. Justice Field, in his charge to the grand jury before a federal court, used the fol- lowing language: "Into every quarter of the globe in which the Anglo-Saxon race have formed settlements, they have carried with them this time honored institution, ever regarding it with the deepest veneration and connecting its perpetuity with that of civil liberty. In their independent action the persecuted have found the most fearless protectors ; and in the records -of their doings are to be discovered the noblest stands against the oppressions of power, the virulence of malice, and the intemperance of pre- judice." One of the foremost among the great men who have served the cause of constitutional government, said : "In the annals of the world there is not found another institution so well adapted for avoiding all the inconveniences and abuses, which would otherwise arise from malice, from rigor, from negligence, or from partiality in the prosecution of crimes." And it is only in those States and Cities, like San Francisco, where the inquisitorial powers of the grand jury have been impaired, through the introduction of new and arbitary methods, such as prosecution upon information after examination and commitment by a justice of the peace, that graft and corrup- tion have been possible. So that Liberty of the Individual and protection of Society cannot but subsist so long as the Jury System remains sacred and inviolate. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE 313 CHAPTER IV. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. The first form of Government, as we have seen, was patriarchal or tribal. The family was the rudiment of the State. Among the Hebrews, the organization was by tribes, although the rights and privileges of the Individual were recognized; that same was true among the Ger- mans, although there the importance of the Indi- vidual had become largely augmented. The citizens of the several Grecian states were of one blood, real or assumed. Nations, as the word im- plies, were large communities of the same kind ; and such ''Nationalities" survive to this day, a source of strength in their harmonious unity, as of strife, where two or more of them exist in their original separateness, but, where they are, never- theless, held together under a common ruler. Rome learned to conserve Humanity by making utizens of those whom she vanquished ; a sys- tem of assimiliation, which was imitated, per- haps, by several of the European governments ii establishing colonies in foreign lands ; but the English, German, Irish and Scotch emigrants cane to America as Individuals, and made little attempt to perpetuate their Nationality. Fleeing fron political and theological persecution in Euope, and finding a refuge in America, they nattrally sought to maintain their Individuality as Fee Men. Hence, the principle of Individual 314 OUR HERITAGE Liberty was extended as it never had been before, except in the Forests of Germany. As the ocean is made up of drops, said Bancroft, so American Society is composed of Separate, Dis- tinct, constantly moving Individuals, ever in reciprocal motion, struggling against each other and with each other ; so that the Institution and Laws of the People of America rise out of the Mass of Individual Thought, which, in the aggre- gate, constitutes Public Opinion, and, like the waters of the Ocean, is rolling evermore. Religion was recognized as an attribute of the Individual. It cannot be usurped by any creed, corporation, or church ! In the earliest states known to history, government and theol- ogy were one and inseparable. Each community had its own particular deity, to which its mem- bers must worship and bow down. Rome, as she adopted into citizenship those whom she vanquished, sometimes recognized their gods. No one spoke publicly of Individual Religious Liberty, until a voice in Judea announced for ail Nations a simple, spiritual, and sublime Faiti, based on the Fatherhood of God and the Univfl-- sal Brotherhood of Man. During the infancy of the Christian Religion, the purity of that Fath was upheld ; but, no sooner was Christiaiity adopted by the Roman Empire, than it was slorn of its character of Individual Religious Lib