ExLibris 
 C. R. OCDEN
 
 1 .1 ' >l,i: NVVI.I), .M.I).
 
 CHRISTO-THEOSOPHY, 
 
 OR SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS 
 AND THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAiN. 
 
 GEORGE WYLD, M.D., EDIN., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIFt OF JESUS CHRIST AS A CONTINUOUS NARRATIVE OF THE 
 FOUR GOSPELS." 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 KEGAN, PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & Co., LIMITED. 
 I8 95 . 
 
 Price 3/6 net.
 
 In sending- this issue forth in my 86th 
 year, I wish most emphatically to call the 
 special attention of my readers to the foot- 
 note on page 49, which reads thus : 
 
 / permit this theory to stand as just written, 
 but I now add that since writing this paper I 
 have come much more round to the theory that 
 most of the mediumistic phenomena of the above 
 kind are produced by foreign spirits. 
 
 For I am as convinced now as when I 
 wrote it of the great importance and truth 
 of its teaching, nor during these intervening 
 years have I swerved from my conviction. 
 
 GEORGE WYLD, M.D. 
 
 2jth March, 1906. 
 
 1127854
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 As this book has been out of print for some years, 
 a second edition, with corrections and additions, seems 
 to be called for ; and especially because the term 
 Theosophy is in the air, and because I feel that the 
 reading public should know that there is and always 
 has been a Christian Tlieosopliy, which must be in 
 antagonism to that system of Hindoo Cosmogany 
 and Magic, vamped together by the late Madame 
 Blavatsky. 
 
 The first edition of this book was published in 1880, 
 when I was President of " The British Branch of the 
 Theosophical Society," from which position I at once 
 retired, when the foundress, in her journal, The 
 TheosopJiist (May, 1882, Supplement, p. 6), used these 
 words : " There is no God, personal or impersonal," 
 for I replied, if there be no God there can be no 
 Theosophy. 
 
 The only foundation of Theosophy, is laid in the 
 idea Spirit is the Sub-stance of Matter ; and in 
 illustration of this idea the reader is referred to the 
 papers herein published.
 
 :v. Preface. 
 
 The subject is one of absorbing interest, but not the 
 less are the simple but all comprehending words of 
 The Master, that in love to God and love to Man, as 
 containing the whole of the law and the prophets, 
 are found the whole of morality and religion, an all 
 sufficient wisdom for the innumerable multitudes 
 living on this earth. 
 
 WlMKLF.nOX, 
 January 1 ,
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 I. THE SYNOPSIS... i 
 
 II. THE KEY TO THKOSOPHY ... ... ... 3 
 
 III. SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS... ... ... 19 
 
 IV. MAX AS A SPIRIT ... ... ... 43 
 
 V. THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN ... 63 
 VI. THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST AS AN AUTO- 
 BIOGRAPHY... ... ... .. ... go 
 
 VII. MIRACLES AS NOT CONTRARY TO NATURE .. 101 
 
 VIII. THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS 128 
 
 IX. MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, AND FAITH HEALING 150 
 X. CLAIRVOYANCE AND ITS REVELATION OF THE 
 
 AUTONOETIC SOUL ... ... ... 1 66 
 
 XI. ANAESTHETICS AND THEIR REVELATION OF 
 
 THE SOUL 203 
 
 XII. MATTER: AND ITS SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCES 
 
 A DEMONSTRATION ... ... ... 214 
 
 XIII. BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 227 
 
 XIV. DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION ... ... 247 
 
 XV. REINCARNATION .. ... .. 258 
 
 XVI. SLEEP AND TRANCE . 262
 
 I.T H K SYNOPSIS. 
 
 THE highest Religion, Philosophy, Science, Poetry, 
 and Art, are one, namely, the Still Small Voice of 
 God speaking in the spiritual centre of the soul 
 of man. 
 
 For as there is one God The infinite and eternal 
 Mind which is the substance of matter who manifests 
 Himself as Spirit, Force, and Phenomena, so man as 
 the Microcosm made in the image of God, is a triune 
 being of Spirit, Soul, and Body. 
 
 To love this one God in Spirit is the whole of 
 religion, and to love thy brother and thy sister as 
 thyself is the whole of morality. 
 
 " Therefore, hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is 
 one God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart, and strength (and body), and soul, and 
 mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. On these two 
 hang all the law and the prophets, and no other 
 commandments arc greater than these." 
 
 " And where two or three are gathered together in 
 My name, there am I in the midst." 
 
 " And behold, the kingdom of heaven is within you, 
 but except ye be born of the Spirit ye cannot enter 
 into that kingdom. Hut to him who overcometh will 
 I give to eat of the hidden manna, and of the tree 
 which is in the midst of the paradise of God." 
 
 R
 
 ! HEOSOPHY. 
 
 " And to such as believe, all things are possible ; 
 and greater works shall ye do than I do ; for if ye 
 have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say 
 to this mountain, be removed hence to yonder place, 
 and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible 
 unto you ; and lo, I am with you always to the end of 
 the world."
 
 II. THK KKY TO THEOSOPHY. 
 
 THEOLOGIANS dogmatically assert the existence of 
 the soul. Many scientists make the counter 
 assertion that there is no proof of the existence of 
 the soul. Theosophists maintain that the existence 
 of the soul can be demonstrated by experimental 
 Psychology. 
 
 Theosophy signifies the knowledge, or the science, 
 of the wisdom and will of God, and Mis relation to the 
 external universe and to man. 
 
 God is the supreme unity. He is the centre and 
 the circumference, and is thus the key to man and 
 Christ, to earth and heaven, and to universal law. 
 He is absolute unity, and thus absolute perfection ; 
 but He may be said to manifest himself as a trinity 
 of Spirit, Power, and Matter. 
 
 Man as the microcosm, " is made in the image of 
 God," and is thus also a triune being of body, soul, 
 and spirit. 
 
 This triune nature of man as the Son, is thus the 
 key to the nature of God as the Father, and is thus 
 the key to Theosophy. Without this key it is impos- 
 sible to know what man is, and impossible to know 
 what Christ is, and impossible to understand 
 scientifically how man can see God in Christ, and thus 
 save his soul.
 
 4 TIIKOSOPHY. 
 
 When, therefore, the ancients wrote on their 
 temples, Man,knois thyself, they enigmatically gave the 
 key to all knowledge and all Theosophy. Because to 
 know thyself in the centre that is, to be born of the 
 Spirit is to know God. 
 
 This is the doctrine taught by the esoteric Brah- 
 mans and Buddhists, by the Kabbalistic Jews, by 
 Pythagoras, by the Platoi lists, the Neo-1'latonists, by 
 Christ Himself, by St. John in the Logos, by St. Paul, 
 by Paracelsus, by the Rosicrucians, by the Alchemists, 
 by Jacob Boehmen, and by the ecstatic Saints 
 who, becoming one with Christ, thus saw and kneu 
 God. 
 
 We know our bodies to be organic machines, fur- 
 nished with the five senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, 
 tasting, and feeling, and these organs bring us en rap- 
 />(>// with the external universe. 
 
 Matter, or the external universe, is the equilibrium 
 of the forces of attraction and repulsion. 
 All forces are modes of action of v>ie force 
 Klectricity has been described to me by an ecstatic 
 in trance as the arm of God, and is thus probably, in 
 its essence, the one force used by the Divine mind. 
 
 Thus the foundation or substance of matter is force, 
 and the substance of force is the will of God, and the 
 visible universe is thus only the materialised thought > 
 of the Divine mind. 
 
 All force manifests itself in vibrations ; and all ex-
 
 II IK K.KY TO THKOSOPHV. 
 
 ternal things being the result of force, the mystery of 
 hew mind recognises external matter is explained, for 
 as matter is only an external form of force, it is 
 recognised by mind, which is the central force.* 
 
 The Soul is the aggregation of the mental forces, 
 including the will, and by this soul man rules his 
 actions and knows the external world. 
 
 The Spirit is the third factor in the triune man. 
 It is that which is an atom or spark of the Spirit of 
 God. It is latent in the natural man. It is the 
 hidden centre or " light of every soul born into the 
 world, and hidden from the foundation of the world." 
 It is the secret Logos which became effulgent in the 
 Christ, and it is that by which only God can be 
 known. It is above and beyond reason. It is of the 
 nature of the knowledge and wisdom and essence of 
 God. 
 
 Thus the soul reasons on the evidences furnished 
 by our organisation, but the spirit knows by intuition. 
 
 The soul works by physical agents, and its power is 
 limited by mechanism. The spirit works by will, and 
 its powers are supreme over physical law. The soul 
 accumulates and remembers facts ; the spirit sees 
 and knows all things. 
 
 The soul rules the body ; the spirit rules the soul, 
 and God rules the spirit. Thus the soul is the ego of 
 
 On the Nature of Perception. By K. S. VVyld, I.L.IX
 
 6 THKOSOl'HV. 
 
 the bod}', the spirit is the ego of the soul, and (iod is 
 the ego of the spirit. 
 
 As the soul is the ruler of the body in this physical 
 world, so the spirit is the ruler of the soul in the 
 spiritual world. The spirit is the unity in man, and 
 thus is en rapport with the unity of God. 
 
 As the spirit is a unity it is indivisible, and there- 
 fore indestructible, and hence immortal. 
 
 [t is by the power of the ONE that all compounds 
 are made, and hence when man becomes a spirit, his 
 five senses become one all-seeing and knowing sense-, 
 and as such can, like God, create- forms external to 
 himself, and thus in the world of spirits, " surround 
 himself with the forms of his affections." 
 
 Bishop Berkeley says, " As we can only know ex- 
 ternal nature through the mind, we have no proof 
 that nature exists externally to the mind." 
 
 This dogma the common sense of mankind rejects, 
 and yet, in a sense, it is philosophically true, but, in 
 the world of spirit, it is simply true, for there external 
 forms are created by the mind, and are materialised 
 objective thoughts. 
 
 The Heavenly habitations are described as solid 
 and splendid mansions, and so indeed they are solid 
 in relation to spirit force, as much so as hills and 
 trees and houses are solid in relation to the grosser 
 quality of son I force. 
 
 Kingdom of I leaven being within us," sigr.i-
 
 THE KKV TO THKOSOIMIV. / 
 
 ties a condition of the soul and spirit, and not a posi- 
 tion in space ; and hence, the Kingdom of Heaven 
 may be and often is on this earth, and the departed 
 souls of our beloved ones may, as spirits, be in our 
 very midst. 
 
 Hut as *' God is of purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity," so pure spirits, if we are sensual, may be 
 incapable of seeing us, for our vitiating essence cannot 
 harmonise with the subtle essence. 
 
 As men and women on this earth congregate in 
 congenial societies, whether their nature be frivolous, 
 vicious, selfish, or thoughtful, or holy, so in the spirit 
 world we shall be in societies, in relation to our affec- 
 tions for good or evil. 
 
 Those who, while on this earth, give themselves to 
 ' the world, the flesh, and the devil," are fed by these ; 
 but those who give themselves to truth and love and 
 God, are ministered unto by angels. 
 
 Spiritualism, by the phenomena which come 
 through mediums, demonstrates that there is a force 
 connected with human beings unrecognised by what 
 is called Science. 
 
 It claims to demonstrate the existence of the soul 
 after death, by producing messages and visible forms, 
 asserting that they are those of our departed friends. 
 
 Regarding the question of identity, I speak in 
 another place, but here I would say that just as a 
 Professor Owen, from the discovery of a single fossil-
 
 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 bone ot an unknown animal could postulate the entire 
 animal, so the philosopher from a single spiritual fact, 
 be it only a single instance of clairvoyance, or only 
 the moving of a chair in obedience to volition, say one 
 yard, can construct an entire spiritual science. 
 
 The Theosophist therefore does not so much in- 
 terest himself in the insatiable accumulation of 
 spiritual phenomena as in that philosophy of spirit 
 which is built on spiritual facts, his absorbing interest 
 being in the nature, capabilities, and development of 
 his own personal soul and spirit, in their relation to 
 himself, to external nature, and to God. 
 
 The Spiritual Adept or Saint is one who has 
 devoted himself to God, and who by a long and severe 
 training in self-denial, commands, by means of spirit 
 force, his own soul and nature, and thus acts as if he- 
 were a true Son of God on earth. 
 
 In relation to self-denial marriage signifies the 
 union of the positive soul with the pure, beautiful, 
 and intuitional spirit. 
 
 When, then, men and women unite as one in this 
 perfect accord, marriage is the happiest of all earthly 
 conditions, and is, moreover, not only consistent with 
 the perfect earthly life, but essential to that life. 
 Moreover, when two souls vibrate in perfect harmony, 
 the result may be a Son of God. 
 
 Nevertheless and notwithstanding this, it is not Un- 
 less true that the highest spiritual gifts ;md powers
 
 THE KEY TO THEOSOPHV. 9 
 
 have, in all ages of the world and of the Church, been 
 recognised as the special inheritance of the virgin and 
 celibate. 
 
 So also Magnetic and Psychic and Pneumic 
 healers know that their power over disease is in 
 direct relationship to their continence, for in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven there is neither marriage nor 
 giving in marriage. 
 
 This is a mystery in connection with the creation 
 of immortal souls, and with the creative force of self- 
 denial, and hence irregularity in the sexual instinct 
 is truly termed dissipation, that is, it dissipates or 
 scatters the soul force, and is thus directly antagon- 
 istic to that soul force which, as unity, is remembrance, 
 and by which man so controls his body as to rise to 
 true manhood, or to that concentration by which 
 true spiritual powers are obtained. Hence, all such 
 dissipation is directly opposed to the obtaining of the 
 spiritual or saintly power of miraculous works. 
 
 Marriage, I have said, signifies that union of soul 
 and spirit which constitutes the perfect Duad. But 
 if it ends in the physical union of man and woman, 
 then woman as a form is worshipped in the place 
 of spirit, the essential, and this leads to the idolatry 
 of matter. 
 
 Thus the animal love towards the woman is the 
 substitution of external for internal delights, and calls 
 forth the jealousy of that "Divine Sophia," with whom
 
 10 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 those who, with profound reverence, worship God as a 
 spirit, and thus evoke their spiritual centre and find 
 the Logos, are united. These know that there is a 
 spiritual marriage incompatible with that of the flesh, 
 but regarding these matters there is also a fanaticism. 
 And yet the females of the Mammalia have a rule in 
 this which is of important signification, and cannot, I 
 conceive, have arisen from physical inheritance. 
 
 Returning to adeptship, let us consider wherein 
 lies the distinction between the adept and the spirit 
 medium. 
 
 A spirit medium is one whose soul is easily detach- 
 ed from the body, and generally because that bod)- is 
 in a state of weakness. 
 
 This detached soul of the medium entering tin- 
 world of spirit, sees and associates with other departed 
 souls, and by their help moves tables and writes in 
 closed spaces, or reads the mind of those present, or 
 associates with other spirits, or as the doiiblr, not only 
 acts at a distance from the body but manifests itself 
 as a visible body, or ghost, or double, at a distance. 
 
 The soul of the medium being thus absent from the 
 body, that body may become occupied by a wander- 
 ing or foreign soul, who makes use of that body for 
 its own ends, and may degrade or render its victims 
 insane. 
 
 It will be seen that thus the bod}- of the medium 
 in trance is in a negative position, a mere body in
 
 TI1H KKV TO THKOSOPHY. II 
 
 the possession of strangers, and hence professional 
 mediums who give promiscuous seances, becoming 
 possessed by spirits of a nature analogous to the 
 surrounding company, may on certain occasions act 
 wisely, but too often foolishly, ignorantly, or falsely. 
 
 Even those mediums who are confined to the family 
 circle can scarcely rise above the quality of that 
 circle, and hence although pure and noble messages 
 are from time to time given through such mediums, 
 yet even these mediums, becoming surrounded by 
 spirits in their own likeness, are apt to reflect ideas 
 and sentiments consistent with their own desires ; 
 and hence may be, and often are, the victims of 
 misplaced confidence, and may be forced to lie and 
 deceive. 
 
 It must be evident that undeveloped spirits who 
 come from a Purgatorial world to teach us earthly 
 wisdom, must often be less capable of doing so than 
 embodied spirits who, living in a physical world, use 
 with modesty that truth and reason which are given 
 to them. 
 
 Moreover, those souls which, apart from divine 
 desires, leave the body and associate with spirits, 
 generally encounter those no better, and often worse 
 than themselves, and are thus seduced to evil, and 
 this even by spirits assuming the form of angels of 
 light ; hence mediumship is a dangerous possession, 
 and is only for those whose lives are pure, unselfish,
 
 12 THKOSOl'HY. 
 
 and holy. But mediums whose lives are pure, un- 
 selfish, and holy are saints, and may sometimes reveal 
 to men the wisdom of angels. 
 
 All that is claimed by mediums is the reverse of 
 the powers claimed by the adept. The medium is 
 negative but the adept is positive. 
 
 The oriental adept refuses to submit his body to 
 the use of others, but so brings his body under the 
 control of his own soul that he can project his soul 
 and spirit, and, while living on this earth, act as if he 
 were a disembodied spirit. Hence the adept can 
 consciously see the minds of others. He can act by 
 his soul force on external spirits. He can, it is said, 
 accelerate the growth of plants and quench fire, and, 
 like Daniel, subdue ferocious wild beasts. He can 
 M-nd his soul to a distance, and there not only read 
 the thoughts of others, but speak to and touch these 
 distant objects ; and not only so, but he can exhibit 
 to his distant friends his spiritual body in the exact 
 likeness of that of the flesh. 
 
 Mieo\er. as the adept acts by the power of his 
 spirit, and over other spirits, he can, as a unitivc force, 
 < reate out of the surrounding multiplex atmosphere, 
 the likeness of an}- physical object, or he can command 
 physical objects to come into his presence. 
 
 These statements will not be credited by those 
 
 rant of such things, but Oriental Adepts assert 
 
 that these statements are absolute facts, and, knowing
 
 THK KKV TO THEOSOPHY. 13 
 
 what I do of mesmerism,! can believe these statements. 
 Granting that they may be facts, the so-called adept is 
 still open to wide delusions, and as his aim usually 
 is only to obtain power for its own sake, his life may 
 become one of hard self-worship or devilry. 
 
 Mesmerism, now called hypnotism, as being within 
 the reach of scientific experimentation, throws great 
 light on occult phenomena. 
 
 The mesmeric, sensitive as a clairvoyant, can see the 
 thoughts of others, and can read print in closed spaces ; 
 and the mesmeriser can at times order the entranced 
 soul or spirit of the sensitive to travel to a distance, 
 and then not only see those there present, but touch 
 them. 
 
 The mesmeric sensitive thus resembles the medium 
 in so far as she is passive, but she differs both from 
 the medium and from the adept in this, that her soul 
 or spirit is under the control of a being living on this 
 earth instead of being under the control of foreign 
 spirits, as with mediums, or under the control of his 
 own spirit, as with the adepts. As the adept can only 
 obtain spiritual power after the severest discipline and 
 self-control, he becomes thus trained to control his 
 spiritual desires. But should he fail to do so, and 
 become the victim of selfish desires, he becomes an 
 evil magician, and then his fall is as that of Lucifer. 
 
 Mesmeric healing appears to me to be of three 
 degrees :
 
 14 1 IN OSOI'IIY. 
 
 ist. As mere "animal magnetism" the diseased 
 or negative subject by receiving the positive magnet- 
 ism of the operator is strengthened. 
 
 2nd. The magnetiser, by using \vill force, can so 
 act on the brain and mind of the sensitive as to alter 
 molecular action, and thus heal disease. 
 
 }rd. The wholesome, pure, and benevolent man or 
 woman, by simply placing the hands on the patient, 
 and calmly desiring the blessing of God, would seem 
 to become sometimes as a medium for the transmission 
 <>f spiritual benevolence. 
 
 1'he power of oriental adepts to heal diseases rests, 
 it is said, chiefly on the power of the will, but the 
 power of Christ and His disciples to heal disease was 
 the po\\er of the love and will of God. 
 
 The Christian Alchemists asserted that their power 
 to convert the lo\ver metals into gold, and to create 
 precious stones, consisted in the use as a basis of that 
 ultimate unitive in matter which \vas reached by a 
 scries of successive fermentation, by which the ulti- 
 mate spirit was distilled ; and so, also, they asserted 
 that tin- regenerated and sanctified body, soul, and 
 spirit of man. \\erc also thus reached by a successive 
 scries of deaths and resurrections. 
 
 Jesus of Na/areth being filled \\ith the Holy Spirit 
 became the Christ, the only-begotten and well-beloved 
 Sou of God, />tir f.\r,-//i-iu;\ the complete and perfect 
 spiritual Man, and thus the Saviour of the souls of
 
 THE KHV TO THEOSOPHY. 15 
 
 those who, regarding Him as the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life, become one with Him as He is one with the 
 Father. 
 
 This position Christ obtained through perfect sub- 
 mission to the will of God, and He thereby obtained 
 spiritual gifts and powers beyond all possibility to 
 soul or human force. 
 
 If we become one with Him as He was one with 
 God, then \vc shall also, after a measure, possess like 
 gifts. 
 
 Those saints who entirely surrendered self to the 
 the will of God, being filled with the Spirit, became 
 luminous, healed diseases, and wrought miracles. 
 
 The oriental adept sometimes " scales the heavens 
 by violence," and at other times by the pure desire of 
 the soul, but the saints ascended to heaven, as did 
 Klijah, by the power of the love of God. 
 
 The sacrifice of Christ is self-sacrifice, and is the 
 sacrifice of the soul and body to the will and love of 
 God, and this is the only true method of salvation by 
 ( Christ. 
 
 Thus religion and morality are nothing more and 
 nothing less than love to God and love to man. Or 
 the spirit of the Son seeking the spirit of God the 
 Father, and "as the Father worketh hitherto," so we 
 desire now to work. 
 
 No form of Christianity can be true which ignores 
 or under-estimates the deep significance of the miracles
 
 1 6 j iiKosorm . 
 
 of Christ, for such miracles are inseparable from the 
 truly divine life, and exhibit the divine possibilities 
 contained in the triune manhood. 
 
 This is Theosophy, that "the Will of God be done 
 on Earth, as in Heaven." 
 
 By miracles, I mean the power of the One Spirit to 
 supplant all secondary forces, whether the spirit mani- 
 fest itself as when the Spirit of God moving on the 
 face of the waters called life into existence and the 
 earth out of chaos ; or when the Spirit of Christ 
 healed diseases and cast out demons, or changed water 
 into wine, or passed into a closed chamber, "the door 
 being shut," or when the spirit of man, when like 
 Christ.it does like works, because lie is with His 
 saints to the end of the world. 
 
 The diagram I now submit, the initial hint of which 
 I got from my late friend, John Dove, represents my 
 views as to the difference between soul and spirit, and 
 the gradations of each. It will be observed that, in 
 occult language, " as above so below," there are four 
 corresponding gradations of Soul and Spirit, and the 
 diagram represents the Evolution of Soul into tin- 
 higher Spirit :-
 
 THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY. 
 
 %* The Holy Spirit of the Lord 
 
 A The Spirit of Man at one with the will of God 
 
 B The Spirit acts with Divine Reason 
 
 C The Spirit Vision, or Clairvoyance, or Intuition 
 
 D The Spirit Revery or Delusion. 
 
 X The River of Oblivion. 
 
 The Soul's Revery or day dreaming 
 The Imagination 
 The Rational Soul 
 
 The Soul or will force 
 
 X X Represents the middle wall of partition the 
 river of oblivion, which separates the soul sphere from 
 the spirit sphere. 
 
 Represents the soul in a position of equipoise or 
 oblivious sleep, placed in " the valley of the shadow of 
 death." 
 
 d Represents the soul in a state of revery liable 
 to delusion, or " Electro-Biology." 
 
 D Represents the soul on first awaking in the 
 spirit sphere of revery, mesmeric or other, namely, in 
 the condition easily imposed o,n by soul force ; in a 
 purgatorial state of hallucination, and prone to impose 
 on others. It is from this region, I believe, that for 
 the most part, come those spirits which haunt our 
 promiscuous seances. They descend through the 
 narrow way and " biologise " the mediums who are in 
 a condition of soul revery at d. 
 
 C This represents the position of the clairvoyant 
 spirit, but still within the influence of the correspond- 
 ing region of soul imagination at c, namely, the 
 
 C
 
 18 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 Image-ation, or imagination, or creative power of the 
 soul. C being the creative power of the spirit. The 
 soul imagination creates images, but in the imagination 
 or creative power of the spirit these images become 
 objective realities. 
 
 B This is the position of spiritual reason and 
 spiritual knowledge and power. 
 
 A This is the position where the spirit, being 
 beyond earth and human reason, has become a perfect 
 unity, at one with the Holy Spirit of the Lord, and in 
 perfect subjection to the will of God. Its utterances 
 being, " Thus saith the Lord." 
 
 The evolution of the Soul or reasoning faculty 
 being thus through dreaming to more and more pro- 
 found entrancement in the Spirit.
 
 III. SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS.* 
 
 FIFTY-FIVE years ago, at Edinburgh, in the year 
 I made the acquaintance of the late Mr. John Dove, 
 subsequently sub-editor of The Builder, and was by 
 him first introduced to the marvels of mesmerism and 
 clairvoyance. 
 
 Mr. Dove was for thirty years an incessant experi- 
 mental student of alchemy and its cognate mystical 
 co-relations. 
 
 He was the most indefatigable and strongly enthu- 
 siastic man I have ever known ; but it was not difficult 
 to discover how one of so determined, persistent, and 
 impetuous a will should have made few friends and 
 retained still fewer ; and thus it was that for many 
 years I was almost his only visitor. 
 
 I have always believed that if Mr. Dove had to his 
 unequalled powers of persistent experimentation, and 
 his wonderful faculty of comparison and generalisa- 
 tion, superadded worldly wisdom, and the art of lucid 
 and abridged statement, and had soared with a less 
 transcendental ambition, and turned his great analy- 
 tical faculties to the discoveries of science in the 
 ordinary current manner, he might have become the 
 greatest chemist of the age. 
 
 * Read before the Cambridge University Psychological Society, 
 Novemter aoth, 1879.
 
 2O THEOSOPHY. 
 
 It was under the tuition* of this man that my mind 
 was first opened to the conception of that mystery of 
 nature called " animal magnetism," with its phen- 
 omena of trance and rigidity of the limbs, and total 
 indifference to the tortures of the bod}-, as applied by 
 inquiring, and sometimes ferocious sceptics that 
 condition which may be described as " being dead in 
 the flesh but alive in the spirit," when the realisation 
 of mind acting independently of the human organs of 
 sense is manifested, as in clairvoyance, when the 
 bodily and mental secrets of those present can be 
 seen and revealed by the ecstatic, when objects miles 
 and hundreds of miles distant are seen and described, 
 when not only the secrets of those present but the 
 worldly acts of those who have departed this life are 
 made known, and when sometimes the secrets hidden 
 in the womb of fate are foretold. 
 
 In those days the clairvoyante always spoke in her 
 own name, in the first or third person singular. 1 ler 
 expressions were, " I see so and so," or, " She says so 
 and so " ; this third person seeming to indicate the 
 other, not her conscious self, on the plane of this 
 earth, namely, the new, or exalted, or spiritual coun- 
 terpart of the earth man. The clairvoyante in those 
 early days never spoke of being controlled by indi- 
 viduals or bands of foreign spirits, but professed to 
 utter the revelations of her inner and secret spiritual 
 nature and vision.
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 21 
 
 It must not be thought from these observations 
 that I deny that evil, or fallen, or earth-bound spirits 
 may infest the bodies of those physically, mentally, or 
 morally diseased ; or that, on rare occasions, angelic 
 .spirits may not whisper to our souls. On the con- 
 trary, I believe, as the Bible and other histories teach, 
 that a large proportion of what is called insanity is, 
 as the victims themselves persistently declare, the 
 result of demoniacal possession by unclean spirits ; 
 while, on the other hand, I believe that a large pro- 
 portion of all instructive and grand and noble and 
 creative thoughts, comes to our soul or spirit through 
 its unconscious communion with angelic intelligence, 
 or through the spirits of those who live in spirit and 
 in truth. 
 
 The late Sir James Simpson, the renowned Edin- 
 burgh physician, and the late Sir William Hamilton, 
 the profound metaphysician, took great interest in 
 Mr. Dove's mesmeric experiments. Dr. Simpson was 
 in the habit afterwards of ridiculing the subject, hav- 
 ing doubtless before his eyes the fate of the good Dr. 
 Elliotson, who having introduced mesmerism practi- 
 cally to his patients at University College Hospital, 
 was, as the reward of his benevolent work, execrated 
 by the profession and expelled from the hospital, 
 while his practice fell from about 5,000 a year to 
 about ^1,000 ; and all this because he desired to 
 impart a knowledge regarding a mystery in human
 
 22 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 nature which he knew to be of transceudant import- 
 ance in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. And 
 now in these latter days hypnotism is the fashion. 
 
 For some ten years subsequent to the above events 
 I had little opportunity of pursuing my observations 
 in mesmerism and its kindred subjects, but in 1^55 
 Mr. Home arrived in London, and my avidity for 
 that form of psychology known as Spiritualism 
 became profoundly awakened. 
 
 A knowledge of mesmerism not only predisposes 
 the mind to a ready acceptance of many of the phe- 
 nomena called spiritual, but throws a light on the-e 
 phenomena which cannot be otherwise obtained. 
 
 In the presence of Home, hands of human form 
 and character became materialised, and made them- 
 selves known both to sight and feeling ; and I can 
 never forget the overwhelming sensations I experi- 
 enced on first seeing and touching these hands 
 warm, sensitive, detacUed hands which grasped un- 
 hand with the perfect reality of human hands, and yet 
 dissolved from the grasp as no human hands could 
 do. On awaking next morning after the night which 
 followed my first experience, I had some difficult}- in 
 persuading myself that the whole had not been a 
 dream. 
 
 Shortly after my first introduction to the mystery 
 of spiritual phenomena, I retired from further active 
 investigation of the subject, in the belief that it was
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 23 
 
 one accompanied by great moral, if not physical 
 danger ; but my interest became again excited when 
 the Davenport Brothers arrived in London, and 
 demonstrated the fact that no form of material bonds 
 could resist the disintegrating force of magical power. 
 
 I readily admit that here, as elsewhere, fraudulent 
 imitations sometimes took place so closely simulating 
 the reality as to deceive all except those who, by 
 repeated tests and crucial experiments kuoiv that 
 there is a spiritual force exhibited in the presence of 
 certain human beings, which, being the ultimate force 
 in nature, can analyse and dissolve and supersede all 
 secondary chemical and mechanical forces. 
 
 The Dialectic Society, by a Committee, investi- 
 gated the claims of Spiritualism in 1870, and invited 
 those who had experience to give evidence. I was 
 also invited to attend some of the sittings of the 
 committee, but I was never called upon to give 
 evidence. 
 
 At one of these meetings I met Mr. Serjeant Cox* 
 for the first time, and volunteered to him the opinion 
 I had formed that as man was potentially a spiritual 
 being, the phenomena called spiritual might come 
 from a force in the possession of some one bodily 
 present at a seance, quite independent of the aid of the 
 spirits of departed human beings. 
 
 * This paper was read and printed before the death of 
 Mr. Serjeant Cox.
 
 24 TIIEOSOPHY. 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Cox expressed himself much interested 
 in this view, and two years afterwards published his 
 important and interesting book in illustration of lJu~ 
 psychic force. 
 
 The views I hold, however, on this subject differ 
 from those held by Mr. Cox as expressed in his writ- 
 ings ; for while he held that all the so-called spiritual 
 phenomena are produced by the psychic force of 
 human beings in the body, I, on the contrary, hold 
 that all phenomena within the capability of departed 
 human spirits can be produced by the spirits of human 
 beings not departed, but that, as presented to us, some 
 of the phenomena are from the one source and some 
 from the other ; that this psychic force can be exer- 
 cised by some beings in the body, but that much more 
 easily and frequently the souls of departed human 
 beings can and do exercise the same force. 
 
 Again I ceased actively to occupy myself with 
 Spiritualism until the spring of 1877, when Slade 
 arrived in London. 
 
 I paid three visits to Slade, and obtained about 
 twenty experiments, and became absolutely convinced 
 that in his presence writing could be obtained in 
 closed spaces, access to which by human hands or 
 instruments was an absolute impossibility. 
 
 Thus it was that when Lankcster dragged Slade 
 into the police-court, I at once came forward and 
 became his bail for 100, and afu-ru anls appeared as 
 a witness in his defence.
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 25 
 
 I stated in court that I would, in order to 
 save time, base my evidence entirely on one ex- 
 periment. 
 
 My statement was that I took one out of many 
 slates lying on a side table before me. Having taken 
 this slate in hand, I would not permit Slade to touch 
 it. I examined it for a considerable time on both 
 sides. It was a dry, dusty, new school slate, without 
 the slightest trace of writing on its surface. I then 
 took a small fragment of slate pencil and laid it on 
 the table, and covered it with my slate. I then seized 
 both of Slade's legs between mine, and both his hands 
 in mine, and having rested my elbow on the slate, I 
 said to Slade, " I am ready ; now write." Instantly 
 I heard a sound as of rapid, energetic writing with a 
 slate pencil, and then three raps to indicate that the 
 message was finished. I released Slade's hands, and 
 carefully raising the slate from the table, I found a 
 message clearly written in strong dusty slate writing, 
 composed of about twenty words, and containing five 
 of my family names, and a message urging two of my 
 sceptical brothers to investigate the subject. I added 
 that the table on the top of which the slate rested was 
 a solid, hard wood table, and that physical access to 
 the under surface of my slate was, as it lay on the 
 table, an impossibility. 
 
 This experiment, together with many others I had, 
 enabled me in court solemnly to assert that I could
 
 26 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 not be more certain of my own existence than I was 
 that the writing on the slate could not possibly have 
 come through human hands or instruments. 
 
 The theory I formed at the time, but afterwards 
 modified, regarding the production of slate writing, 
 was that it was probably in most instances produced 
 by the soul or spirit of Slade himself, but unknown to 
 Slade ; and it may, perhaps, assist the sceptic to 
 comprehend how such things Arc possible if I offer 
 the following attempt at an explanation. 
 
 We all know that the magnet can repel ami 
 attract, and elevate from the ground in opposition to 
 the laws of inertia and gravity, a bit of iron. 
 
 This, although the most commonplace of experi- 
 ments, and one known to man for thousands of years, 
 is yet, as to its meaning, altogether beyond the com- 
 prehension of the most profound students of magnetism. 
 It is a mystery of mysteries, and yet it is universally 
 known and believed. 
 
 It is incomprehensible how one bit of iron can 
 attract and draw through space another bit of iron 
 without any conceivable attachment or physical com- 
 munication. 
 
 Why, then, do all human beings believe in a fact 
 which is not only incomprehensible, but, abstractedly 
 considered, an impossibility? 
 
 The reply is, we believe it because we know it to 
 be a fact. Exactly so ; and the initiated believe in
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 2/ 
 
 spiritual phenomena for exactly the same reason they 
 know them to be facts with the absolute conviction 
 of their own existence. 
 
 If, then, the magnet, contrary to the laws of inertia 
 and gravity, can move a bit of iron in a closed space, 
 to and fro and up and down, why should it seem im- 
 possible that the human mind, or will, or soul, or spirit 
 should, without the intervention of human hands, 
 move in like manner, but with intelligence, a bit 
 of slate pencil, and write intelligent sentences ? 
 If the soul, when free and clairvoyant, can see with- 
 out eyes, why should it not be able to act without 
 hands ? 
 
 The phenomena of magnetism and slate-writing are 
 both equally wonderful ; the only difference is, that 
 slate-writing not being at all times obtainable, like 
 magnetism, is more extra-ordinary. 
 
 I felt so intensely earnest in my convictions re- 
 garding the genuineness of the Slade performance, 
 and the profound bearing it had on the laws of 
 mind and matter, that I felt I could have submitted 
 to any martyrdom in its defence, and, therefore, 
 I never hesitated to appear as a witness in defence 
 of Slade ; although knowing that ninety-nine 
 persons in the hundred regarding him as a common 
 impostor, I could not appear at a police court publicly 
 in his defence without incurring great professional 
 risks.
 
 28 THKOSOPHY. 
 
 The result was as I anticipated. I was abused and 
 denounced in many quarters ; I received many insult- 
 ting anonymous letters, some friends quarrelled with 
 me, and my professional receipts began and con- 
 tinued to decline. 
 
 But there is a grand promise by the Master, that 
 no one who forsakes friends and worldly goods for 
 the truth, but shall even here receive an ample re- 
 compense. 
 
 So it has been with myself. For one friend I have 
 lost I have gained many better friends, and even un- 
 worldly prosperity has been indirectly through these 
 friends increased ; and not only so, but my pro- 
 fessional reputation, apart from practice, has been 
 greatly increased also, indirectly through Spiritualism ; 
 for there came to me in a mysterious manner, indirectly 
 in connection with the Slade trial, an idea which I 
 conveyed to the profession through the London press, 
 which communication showered upon me immediately 
 in reply about four hundred letters of thanks and 
 congratulations from medical men in all parts of 
 England. 
 
 Reverting to what I have said regarding the dif- 
 ferent views held by Mr. Serjeant Cox and myself on 
 this subject, I here observe that man is equally a 
 spiritual being whether his body be alive or dead, and 
 that the spirits of certain human beings may leave the 
 b:>dy in sleep or during entrancemcnt, or during mere
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 2C> 
 
 " absence of mind," when the double may become 
 visible ; while other human beings exists who can, by 
 practice of will-force, project their souls or spirits 
 externally to the body, and operate on matter at a 
 distance by what is called magical power. 
 
 If we can realise these statements and understand 
 how the spirit is the man, and the body a mere 
 machine of a temporary nature by which matter is- 
 brought in contact with matter in the ordinary course 
 of nature, and that matter itself is only a form 
 assumed by force, we have the key to all the phe- 
 nomena called spiritual, whether occurring through 
 the agency of foreign spirits operating through 
 mediums, or by the will force of positive magicians,, 
 or by the pneumic force of ecstatics. 
 
 Human beings uninfluenced by agnosticism almost 
 without exception believe that after the death of their 
 bodies they exist as intelligent operating spiritual 
 beings. If so, wherein lies the difficulty of believing 
 that such beings should on rare occasions walk the 
 earth, and through the agency of a medium's body 
 operate in spirit circles ? 
 
 The orthodox doctrine is that the spirits of the 
 departed are confined either in heaven or hell, and 
 cannot re-visit the earth. But the Christian teaching 
 is, that evil spirits operate with demoniacs, and that 
 good spirits and angels at rare intervals also re-appear 
 on this earth.
 
 30 THEOSOI'JIY. 
 
 I say such high spirits arc described as rarely 
 appearing on this earth, and therefore I believe, if 
 spirits they are, which haunt our promiscuous spirit 
 circles, they must be idle, foolish, or purgatorial 
 spirits for the most part. 
 
 Once realise that the spirit is the man and the 
 bod\' a mere temporary appearance, and that what 
 we call matter is only form assumed by force, and all 
 the phenomena called spiritual can be understood, 
 and the foundation of a true experimental psychology 
 is established. 
 
 Let us review the order of these phenomena, and 
 on the above theory attempt a possible solution of the 
 problems. 
 
 1. Mesmeric power can be demonstrated to act on 
 sensitives who will obey from a distance the will of 
 the operator, thus demonstrating the action of mind 
 on mind at a distance. 
 
 2. The very common experiment of blindfolding 
 certain individuals and then touching them with one 
 finger, or sometimes willing them without contact, 
 and thus compelling them to act according toymir 
 secret thoughts, demonstrates again the silent action of 
 mind cm mind, and mind on the bodies of second 
 persons. 
 
 3. Audible raps by invisible agencies are produced 
 on tables, etc., in the presence of psychics, and thereby 
 spirit messages spelt out.
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 31 
 
 4. So, then, we can understand that it is but a step 
 further to move tables and articles of furniture in the 
 presence of psychics by the forces of attraction and 
 repulsion guided by intelligence, as possessed by the 
 spirits either of the living or the departed. 
 
 5. From the moving of furniture it is easy to pro- 
 ceed a step further and produce direct spirit-writing 
 in closed spaces by the operation of attraction and 
 repulsion, guided by intelligence, or by the will of 
 foreign spirits who may be present. 
 
 6. Everyone experienced in these phenomena has 
 both seen and felt human-like materialised hands 
 some soft, some hard, some dry, and others moist, 
 some warm, others cold. 
 
 7. If hands can be materialised by spirit force, it is 
 only one step further to materialise the semblance of 
 an entire human body, and accordingly such forms 
 have hundreds of times been produced (although this 
 is a production many times more difficult than the 
 production of handsj, and have in many respects 
 acted as human beings in the flesh. Such forms may 
 be sometimes only animated automata, or they may 
 be forms inhabited by the souls of living or departed 
 human beings, or they may be merely masks or 
 simulacra. 
 
 These materialisations, however, are in dark rooms, 
 often unconsciously simulated by entranced, or some- 
 times fraudulent, mediums.
 
 32 TMEOSOPIIV. 
 
 8. A form presenting itself as any known individual 
 departed this life may be a mere simulacrum, it being 
 as easy for spirits to produce the likeness of any 
 desired form as it is for the actor or painter in this, 
 life to do so ; and more so, for spirits have access to 
 all kinds of information. And hence the identity of 
 personating spirits cannot easily, if at all, be proved 
 logically to third persons, but can only be instinctively 
 perceived to be true by those to whom the communi- 
 cation is directly given, my own opinion being that 
 not one materialisation in twenty is the individuality 
 it pretends to be. 
 
 To comprehend how spiritual materialisations are 
 possible, we must reflect on the fact that all sub- 
 stances are composed of a few elements, and that 
 those elements exist in the air and moisture and 
 earth in contact with us.' 
 
 There was a time when this planet was an incan- 
 descent mass, which, as it cooled, became a globe <>t 
 crystalline rocks, surrounded probably by hot steam, 
 which ultimately became condensed as water. I'rom 
 the action of this water on the solid rocks, and with 
 the assistance of the atmosphere, a soil was produced, 
 out of which soil, by a process beyond all natural 
 knowledge, sprang plants and ultimately animals. 
 
 If so, then we have inorganic substances as the 
 matrix out of which spirit created living and organic 
 beings. We know that the air plant flourishes with-
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 33 
 
 out any soil, and that gold-fish flourish in water 
 without visible organic food ; and if so, it is not diffi- 
 cult to believe that Louise Lateau, of Belgium, or 
 Miss Fansha,* of New York, might live for years 
 without organic nourishment. 
 
 We know that the seeds of plants have the power 
 of creating from inorganic elements at a certain rate 
 of time, flowers and fruits unlike the original seed. 
 That, for instance, the seed of a rose can, out of clay 
 and fetid manure, create a rose of ravishing fragrance 
 and beauty. 
 
 If seeds have such a power, is it impossible to con- 
 ceive that the God-like human spirit, when it has 
 "faith as a grain of mustard seed" may have also a 
 creative power, and create from the elements around 
 us the semblance of human hands, faces, and forms ? 
 
 9. Certain individuals, as Mr. Home for instance, 
 at times are possessed of the power of elongating 
 their bodies some inches. We may conceive of this if 
 we reflect that cold indiarubber cannot be elongated, 
 but if warmed, that is, if made subject to vibration, it 
 can. This fact in itself is almost as mysterious as 
 the powers of the magnet to attract and repel iron. 
 Thus it is analogously with the human body. In its 
 normal condition it grows at a slow rate, but under 
 the analysing, dissolving, and expanding influence of 
 the ultimate force in nature, spirit, such acts can be 
 
 * See Spiritualist, Oct. 13, 1878. 
 
 D
 
 34 THKOSOl'HY. 
 
 accelerated. The rapid growth of plants, as exhibited 
 by Indian jugglers, is an insoluble mystery to our 
 jugglers, and may be a further illustration of a like 
 spirit power. 
 
 10. The power of will or mesmeric force, or 
 spiritual force, or prayer, to heal disease, is easily 
 understood on the dynamic theory of matter.* 
 
 All form is the result of given forces. That which 
 becomes deformed or diseased, does so either because 
 the animal force is deficient or deranged, hence all 
 which is required to heal is that a normal force dis- 
 place the defective or irregular force. Harmon}' is 
 thus produced in the molecular position and construc- 
 tion of the body, and a cure is the result. 
 
 11. The alchemist asserts that the base metallic 
 lead may be converted into the royal gold, and that 
 the man of clay may be transformed into the divine 
 man by the action of spiritual force ; and this we can 
 as readily believe as we can that natural forces, being 
 the machinery used by the Divine Mind, such forces 
 can be accentuated as, we say, occurs in the working 
 of miracles. For miracle is only the accentuation of 
 the ordinary forces in nature, as when water was con- 
 verted into wine or the blind into seeing eyes by the 
 power of spirit to dissolve and re-arrange the mole- 
 cules of matter. 
 
 * The World Dynamical and Immaterial, by R. S. Wyld, LI ..I). 
 Oliver and Boyd.
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 35 
 
 I 2. The passage of matter through matter is of all 
 spiritual phenomena the most difficult to realise. 
 Moreover, being instantaneous, it has never been 
 actually seen in action. Christians believe in Christ 
 having so acted when He appeared " in the midst of 
 His disciples, the doors being shut"; and so also with 
 Peter when he passed unfettered out of prison. And 
 Spiritualists can enumerate not less than a thousand 
 instances where books and other solid substances have 
 entered closed chambers. 
 
 The dynamic explanation is that there is no such 
 thing as solid matter, but only a certain proximity of 
 atoms, or centres of force, held in position by attrac- 
 tion, and that by an expansive, spiritual or centrifugal 
 force these atoms can be so separated as to admit of 
 the passage of other so-called solid substances. 
 Atoms if placed in a like electrical condition, would 
 repel each other ; and as spirits assert that magnetism 
 is their motive-power, we can realise how the mole- 
 cules of so-called solid matter may expand and 
 contract instantaneously. 
 
 Let * represent a molecule of so-called solid matter; 
 it is conceivable that the atoms of the molecule might 
 be so polarised as to fly asunder, the result being to 
 separate them thus -,\' and so rendering opaque,solid 
 matter transparent and patulous. But this is further 
 illustrated in my paper on Matter. 
 
 We know that solid ice, by the application of a
 
 36 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 force called heat, which is only certain vibrations, 
 can be dissolved into liquid water ; and we know by 
 an increased amount of heat force, that is, by more 
 rapid vibrations, this water may be dissipated into 
 invisible steam. Apply an expanding force which 
 can, like spirit, act instantaneously, and the magical 
 performance of matter instantaneously passing 
 through matter is so far explained. "In a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye, all can be changed." 
 
 13. Certain individuals, mediums, magicians, and 
 ecstatics have been levitated from the earth to 
 various elevations, as witnessed by many in England, 
 America, and India, and as is also well known to the 
 historians of the Romish Church. 
 
 Masses of clouds, that is, masses of watery vapour, 
 float in the sky, contrary to the law of gravity, being 
 probably electrically repelled from the earth, and he 
 who has observed large birds, such as ravens, floating 
 for miles without almost moving a muscle although 
 he knows that this is generally explained by the 
 supposed correlation between the air currents and the 
 steering power of the bird has yet suggested to his 
 mind that the electric state of the bird in relation to 
 the earth may be the true explanation of how a 
 heavy bird can float in air independent of visible 
 muscular action. 
 
 Thus when levitation takes place with human beings, 
 although it may be from the assistance of foreign
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 37 
 
 spirits, yet the more likely explanation is that the 
 body and the earth being in a like magnetic condition, 
 the one repels the other ; or, as with saintly ecstatics, 
 it may be described as the " elevating, or centrifugal, 
 or radiating force of Divine Love." I should add that 
 the power to float in the air possessed by certain 
 Indian adepts is by Hindu philosophers attributed to 
 the power of the will to alter magnetic conditions. 
 
 14. The highest manifestation of spirit force is 
 illustrated in those who, living a pure and holy live, 
 do in ecstatic prayer not only rise from the ground 
 but become effulgent, for " when the eye is single the 
 whole body is full of light"; but of this I have spoken 
 more abundantly in my paper on the Christian Saints. 
 Spiritual phenomena demonstrate that there is 
 within man's body, and, when that body dies, external 
 to that body, an intelligent spiritual force, which can 
 directly by will-power, or indirectly by controlling 
 other spirits, move without the intervention of a 
 visible organisation material substance, and thus in 
 five minutes refute the materialistic talk and ignorance 
 of three thousand years. 
 
 But Spiritualism has its evil as well as its true side. 
 It is a great evil when ignorant, or foolish, or idle, 
 or selfish people make it a subject of amusement. It 
 is a great evil when these people receive the vapid, or 
 commonplace, or inflated verbiage of some " inspira- 
 tional medium," as not only a guide for their lives,
 
 ; V S THEOSOP1IV. 
 
 but as a revelation of celestial truth, or of a new 
 religion higher than that we have in the teachings 
 and life of Christ. 
 
 Spiritual phenomena demonstrate that the miracu- 
 lous history in our Bible is consistent with known facts. 
 They demonstrate that the spirit of man can act on 
 matter irrespective of a physical organisation, and 
 that, therefore, the spirit lives and acts independent of 
 the organic body. And they show that there exists in 
 man a spiritual nature, which proves him to be not 
 only an immortal being, but capable of coming into 
 spiritual relationship with God. 
 
 Thus spiritual phenomena provide us with a key to 
 the only true psychology, an experimental knowledge 
 of the nature and powers of the human soul, and show 
 June the salvation of that soul is the ultimate psycho- 
 logical fact 
 
 For myself, I believe that the phenomena and philo- 
 sophy of Spiritualism are destined to remould science, 
 philosophy, psychology, and dogmatic theology from 
 their very foundation, by showing how a spiritual 
 and divine intelligent force constitutes the essence of 
 all things. 
 
 The power to move matter by will, and without the 
 intervention of mechanism, demonstrates the intel- 
 ligent spiritual nature of man ; while the spiritual 
 phenomena which occur in the presence of believers 
 can, in five minutes, refute the material philosophy of 
 thousands of years.
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 39 
 
 Beyond this, the higher philosophy of Spiritualism 
 reveals the structure of the human soul, and thus 
 becomes the only scientific psychology. 
 
 The mere knowledge of the facts of Spiritualism 
 cannot save the soul ; but true Spiritualism can show 
 /tozv the soul is saved as a psychological and physio- 
 logical fact. 
 
 When Spiritualists proceed farther and speak of 
 Spiritualism as a new religion, they utter that which 
 to me has no meaning. The essence of all religion is 
 one and identical. It is the cry of the soul after its 
 hidden centre and its Lord as the child cries for its 
 mother, "as the hart panteth after the water-brooks." 
 
 There may be those who in Spiritualism find a new 
 sect, or a new superstition ; but to discover a new 
 religion would be as impossible as to find a new God. 
 
 Spiritualism, as it demonstrates man to be a spirit, 
 at the same time demonstrates the fact of a spiritual 
 life hereafter. But the immense majority of human 
 beings require no such demonstration, as ninety-nine 
 in a hundred instinctively believe and are assured 
 that there is a future life. 
 
 Swedenborg and Spiritualism certainly show good 
 reasons for believing that our future life will be the 
 counterpart of this life, and that we shall occupy a 
 position there in exact relation to our works here. 
 
 But Christianity also teaches the same when it says, 
 " Shall not the Lord render to every man according to
 
 40 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 his works?" and "One star differed! from another star 
 in glory," and " To whom much is given, of him shall 
 much be required," and " He who knew not shall be 
 beaten with few stripes." 
 
 Moreover, Modern Spiritualism cannot be a new 
 religion, inasmuch as the whole Bible is full of Spirit- 
 ualism, and the Roman Church has never ceased to 
 exemplify this in the lives of her saints. 
 
 Protestantism has laughed to scorn these spiritual 
 claims of the Romish Church, but modern Spiritualism 
 proves that these claims are founded on facts. 
 
 The Romish St. Teresa was a saint and prophetess, 
 but so also was the Lutheran Seeress of Prevorst. The 
 spiritual teachings of both are identical, and their 
 lives were equally pure and given to God ; but St. 
 Teresa worshipped more the Supreme, while the Seeress 
 gave herself chiefly to spiritual philosophy and to the 
 benefaction of the afflicted. 
 
 The simple doctrine of the love of God and the love 
 of man taught by Christ as the sum and substance of 
 all religion and morality cannot be surpassed, and can 
 be understood by all ; but the hidden and esoteric 
 doctrine of Christ can be understood by those only 
 who hold the mystical key, and in this respect the 
 Romish Church is wiser than Protestantism. I admit 
 this ; but let no one suppose from this admission that 
 a true Theosophist, to whom had been revealed the 
 secret of the Logos, could r\vr find it necessary to
 
 SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS. 41 
 
 enter that Church, or that he could regard, except 
 with horror, his subjugation to a priesthood which, 
 asserting that it holds the keys of the kingdom of 
 heaven, too often, alas, has used those keys only to 
 shut the door, " neither going in itself, nor suffering 
 them who are entering to go in." 
 
 The true Theosophist requires no such priesthood, 
 but for him it is sufficient, when he discovers that all 
 his pa.st life he has been feeding on the husks which 
 the swine do eat, to say, " I will arise and go to my 
 Father," for he then experiences " the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God." Even the Popish St. Teresa, 
 when in her highest ecstasies she became united to 
 Christ, and thus found that she was one with God, 
 shows the non-necessity of all priestly interference ; 
 and she could then, in the magnificent language of 
 St. Paul, say, " Neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 That spiritual phenomena are real I know as cer- 
 tainly as I know that I exist. In this paper I there- 
 fore assume their reality.* 
 
 Should the sceptic say that I should demonstrate 
 the facts before I construct my theory, I reply that no 
 
 * In the library of the Spiritual Alliance, 2, Duke Street, Charing 
 Cross, the inquirer will find the records of thousands of spiritual facts 
 contained in several hundred volumes.
 
 42 THEOSOIMIV. 
 
 amount of written or oral evidence can convince the 
 obstinate sceptic, that is, one whose organisation 
 renders spiritual vision impossible. But this I can 
 promise him, that no man of average common sense, 
 common instincts, and common honesty,could radically 
 or thoroughly investigate the subject by reading, by 
 conversations with those who know, and by persistent 
 experimental investigation in spite of many disap- 
 pointments, and fail at last to know, as I do, that 
 spiritual phenomena are as real as his own life. 
 
 The laborious student of this most deeply interest- 
 ing but intricate and occult subject, will discover that 
 there is a form of Spiritualism which, while dealing 
 with a low class of spirits for foolish or wicked 
 purposes, is the forbidden necromancy or witchcraft. 
 This is a form of Spiritualism which might convert 
 this earth into a pandemonium by the demoniacal 
 possession of human beings, a condition of the world 
 which existed in the days of Christ, " who came to 
 save the world by destroying the works of the Devil." 
 Another form of Spiritualism is soul-force and that is 
 in union with Spirit, magic which may be used for 
 good purposes, or may be perverted into dangerous 
 and demoniacal power. A third form of Spiritualism 
 believes in our communion with angels and saints. 
 But there is yet a fourth form of Spiritualism, which 
 is the voice of God illuminating the centre of the soul, 
 and this is altogether holy and divine.
 
 IV. MAN AS A SPIRIT; 
 
 AND SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA AS PRODUCED BY 
 THE SPIRITS OF THE LIVING.* 
 
 WE are often told that in Spiritualism our great first 
 duty is to accumulate facts. So, indeed, it is ; but 
 in this paper I shall, being thoroughly satisfied of 
 the reality of the facts, take them for granted, and 
 attempt to maintain a theory as to their nature. 
 
 Briefly stated, my theory is this. Man is a spirit ; 
 therefore, if the phenomena we call Spiritual are pro- 
 duced by spirits, there is no reason why the operating 
 spirits should not be those of the living beings 
 present. I wish it to be distinctly kept in mind that 
 I do not say that all the phenomena we are acquainted 
 with are so produced ; I simply say and believe that 
 most of the phenomena we have yet obtained might 
 be produced by the spirits of the living. 
 
 Secondly, I say that inasmuch as we, as spirits, 
 know we are present, but have no absolute proof 
 that spirits of the departed are present, the pre- 
 sumption is that our spirits, known to be present, are 
 the operators. 
 
 Thirdly, The presence of a medium is almost 
 
 *Read before the British Association of Spiritualists, 
 December loth, 1877.
 
 44 TIIEOSOPHY. 
 
 always necessary to the production of the phenomena, 
 --therefore the presumption is that the spirit of the 
 medium is the chief operator, and yet after further ex- 
 perience, I am persuaded that most of the phenomena 
 called Spiritual are produced by spiritual beings out- 
 side ourselves. 
 
 One day, in the year 1853, I met an old artistic and 
 mesmeric friend, Mr. Collin, who, knowing me to be 
 interested in psychological phenomena, asked me if I 
 had seen Mr. Home, the wonderful American medium, 
 who had just arrived in London. I replied that I had 
 not, when he said, " Then lose no time in making his 
 acquaintance, for you will find that Spiritualism is a 
 fact, and that it beats mesmerism into fits." He then 
 narrated to me what he had seen and felt, namely, the 
 production of spirit hands, which to the evidence of 
 the senses were identical with human hands. 
 
 I replied, that I had believed in mesmerism since 
 the year 1839, and was therefore mentally prepared to 
 receive almost any mystery ; but he must excuse me if 
 I declined to believe in his narrative until I had 
 witnessed the facts with my own eyes. 
 
 Mr. Collin admitted that I was quite right, but at 
 the same time assured me that I had only to witness 
 the phenomena to be at once convinced of the solid 
 reality of the facts. 
 
 A few days later I had the good fortune to secure a 
 sitting with Mr. I Ionic, when, sure enough, in bright
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 45 
 
 gas-light, a hand became visible, and grasped my 
 hand with a reality "as palpable as this I wear," com- 
 pelling an instantaneous belief, Mr. Home being about 
 ten feet distant from me, and all other hands at the 
 table being joined together. 
 
 Mr. Home afterwards passed into a trance, and said 
 to me : " I see Isabella," a cousin of mine, who had 
 shortly before passed into spirit life. That he saw 
 Isabella mentally I felt convinced, because he gave 
 me the most positive evidence, by mimicking her 
 gestures and actions, which in one minute detail I have 
 never seen repeated in any other woman. Being well 
 acquainted with the phenomena of mind-reading and 
 clairvoyance, I at once, in my own mind, secretly con- 
 cluded that Home was a clairvoyant ; but no sooner 
 had this idea entered my mind, than Mr. Home 
 replied to my thought by saying, " You think this is 
 mind-reading, but it is not ; I see Isabella." I felt that 
 I could not have obtained a better proof that the 
 vision was one of mind-reading, and yet not necessarily 
 so, for Home might at one and the same time be able 
 to read thought and to see spirits. 
 
 I did not at that time see how my theory applied 
 to the production of palpable hands, but this revela- 
 tion so astonished me, that, when I awoke the follow- 
 ing morning, I had some difficulty in believing that the 
 whole had not been a dream. 
 
 Home, as we know, on certain occasions became
 
 46 THKOSOI'HY. 
 
 elongated several inches, but it is much easier to be- 
 lieve that his own spirit, the master of his own body, 
 exercised this disintegrating act, than that a foreign 
 spirit performed the operation. 
 
 Home also floated in the air, but we do not find any 
 necessity to call in the aid of foreign spirits to accom- 
 plish this feat. Home might have been repelled from 
 the earth, just as two bodies similarly electrified repel 
 each other ; or his irradiating or levitating spirit may 
 have rendered his body specifically lighter than the 
 atmosphere ; and this view I would rather suggest, as 
 the motion, of Home floating through the upper part 
 of the room, and in and out of window, had a close 
 resemblance to the gliding, floating actions of the fish 
 in water, moving here and there as by volition. 
 
 I did not at that time continue my investigations, 
 because events occurred which showed to me that the 
 subject was one the investigation of which might in- 
 volve terrible consequences. 
 
 Some years later Mrs. Hardinge came to London, 
 and delivered those powerful orations which purported 
 to be from the dictations of wise spirits from the 
 spirit-land. 
 
 Here a-.iin 1 received the impression that these 
 orations were not the dictation of departed spirits, but 
 the improvisations of her own partially entranced, and 
 therefore clairvoyant spirit. 
 
 I had on former occasions seen very plain, common.
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 47 
 
 and uninteresting women, when entranced, become at 
 once, as it were, transfigured in both mind and body, 
 and speak and act in a manner far beyond their 
 natural powers ; and why should not Emma Hardinge, 
 with her educated and powerful mind, in her partially 
 entranced condition, deliver orations transcending her 
 natural abilities? 
 
 Mr. Dove and I urged this view on Mrs. Hardinge, 
 and she admitted that she believed it might often be 
 so, at least to some extent. 
 
 These views I expressed at the meeting held in the 
 Harley Street Rooms, to discuss the question of 
 Spiritualism, and Mr. Coleman has printed them in 
 his interesting little book, The History of Spit ititalisin 
 in England. It was objected to my views that com- 
 munications were received on subjects either forgotten, 
 and therefore not in our minds, or on subjects beyond 
 our knowledge. To this my answer was, that to the 
 entranced and clairvoyant spirit, all minds and books 
 were open for inspection and instruction ; and that, 
 although subjects had faded from our memories, there 
 yet remained their impress on the tablets of our 
 minds, or their aura adhering to us. 
 
 Afterwards the Davenport brothers arrived and 
 astonished us, and asserted that their bonds were 
 untied by spirits, and that spirit hands assisted them. 
 No doubt the Davenports were released from the most 
 perfect tying, and no doubt spirit hands and arms
 
 48 THKOSOPIIY. 
 
 were visibly multiplied ; but I said, if departed spirits 
 can do this work, why not spirits present in our own 
 bodies ? 
 
 Regarding this theory I received what seemed to 
 me a strong confirmation, when on asking Mr. Everett 
 if he could give me any idea how he was liberated 
 from the most perfectly secure handcuffs, as applied 
 by the most experienced police-sergeants, he replied 
 that he did not know how it was, but that at the 
 moment the act took place he felt himself entranced 
 This confirmed me in my belief that the handcuffs 
 were removed by the mechanical dexterity of his 
 own spirit. Although his enhancement might have 
 been a necessity for the intervention of spirits. 
 
 Lastly arrived Slade, and, with regard to slate- 
 writing, I would observe that there is no order of 
 spiritual phenomena which impresses me more power- 
 fully. Slade and his slate-writing were to me objects 
 of absorbing interest. All was done in the light, and 
 above board. The evidence that the writing was pro- 
 duced by a spiritual intelligence, without the inter- 
 vention of human hands, was overwhelming ; and in 
 his presence the materialism of 3,000 years was refuted 
 in five minutes. When, therefore, brutal and in- 
 tok-rant ignorance seixecl Slade, and dragged him into 
 a police-court, I felt prepared to run any risk and 
 incur any responsibility in his defence. 
 
 Slade believed that the writing was chiefly pro-
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 49 
 
 duced by the spirit of his deceased wife ; but I be- 
 lieved that it was produced by his own partially 
 entranced spirit. This view has recently received a 
 confirmation by the admission of Mr. Watkins, one 
 of the most surprising of the slate-writers. He is 
 convinced that his own spirit frequently produces the 
 writing, as " he feels a something go out of him as the 
 writing is being done, and a something returning into 
 him as the writing is finished." 
 
 But it is objected, how can an ignorant medium 
 write Greek ? My reply is, that the spirit of the 
 medium may instinctively know Greek, or receive a 
 vision of it, or find it in the brain of those present, or 
 in books.* 
 
 Swedenborg tells us that spirits surround themselves 
 with the forms of their affections. If so, why should 
 Slade's spirit not desire and see Greek texts written 
 before the mind's eye. 
 
 Let us apply these views to form manifestations. 
 Mrs Compton, a common, uninteresting woman, goes 
 into a cabinet, and has her black dress nailed to the 
 floor of the room. Shortly afterwards out walks the 
 form of a fine young lady dressed in white, and, by 
 permission, a bit of the white dress is cut off. The 
 cabinet is now searched, but Mrs. Compton is not 
 
 * I permit this theory to stand as just written, but I now add that 
 since writing this paper I have come much more round to the theory 
 that most of the mediumistic phenomena of the above kind are produced 
 by foreign spirits. 
 
 E
 
 50 TIIKOSOI'HY. 
 
 there. The young lady form in white now returns to 
 the cabinet, when shortly afterwards out walks a big 
 man with a beard, which on examination, is found to 
 be not glued to, but growing out of the skin of his 
 face. The cabinet is again searched, Mrs. Compton is 
 not there. This bearded man returns to the cabinet, 
 which is again searched, and there sits Mrs. Compton 
 in her black dress nailed to the floor, with a bit cut 
 out, which is found exactly to correspond to the bit 
 cut out of the white dress of the young lady form. 
 
 Here we have an astounding narrative, subjecting 
 the believer to the risk of being shut up as a lunatic ; 
 but what necessity does there exist for calling in tin- 
 assistance of foreign spirits ? Mrs. C. is a spirit, and 
 her body belongs to that spirit ; which can by a spiri- 
 tual chemistry disintegrate it and re-form the materials 
 into any shape which it may desire. 
 
 Let us now consider the most recent and the most 
 astounding of all the spiritual phenomena which have 
 occurred in this country. 
 
 Dr. Monck is entranced, and in lamp-light ard 
 under the close inspection of Mr. Colley, Mr. Stainton- 
 Moses, M rs. Going, and others, a mist seems to emanate 
 from his body, near the region of his heart. This mist 
 becomes columnar, it gyrates on its axis, when 
 gradually there is evolved the solid frame, make, 
 and character of tlu- defeated Samuel Wheeler. So 
 exactly does this being resemble Samuel Wheeler, in
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 51 
 
 both soul and body, that his oldest friends assert that 
 the figure is absolutely Samuel Wheeler returned in 
 the flesh. 
 
 I was not permitted to witness this astounding 
 apparition, and I admit that those who have been so 
 privileged are better entitled than myself to make 
 assertions regarding it. But Mr. Stainton-Moses has 
 recorded his impression that the apparition seemed to 
 him to be a spiritual automaton, and this is the view 
 I, in the absence of experience, now hold. 
 
 The fact that the figure revealed a secret known 
 only to one individual is, to my mind, no proof of 
 identity, for in the spirit-life the secrets of all hearts 
 are open for inspection. Nor does the absolute con- 
 viction of others, as to the identity, convince me. 
 The fact that the figure is sometimes materialised 
 only to the waist, gives one the idea of an automaton; 
 and as to the conviction of friends, we know that 
 spirits can almost " deceive even the elect ;" and have 
 \\T not, to the minds of accomplished ladies and 
 gentlemen, Arthur Orton presenting himself as Roger 
 Tichborne? but more incredible still, unknown quan- 
 tities, X.Y.Z., returning from the colonies, and claim- 
 ing to be lost husbands long reputed as dead, are as 
 such joyfully received by sad and solitary widows. 
 To this it may, indeed, be said that the wish was 
 father to the thought. Such illustrations are, how- 
 ever, not necessary to my theory, for if spirit has, as
 
 52 III1 OSOI'HY. 
 
 Swedenborg says, the power to create physical 
 simulacra, \vhy should it not have the po\ver to create 
 a simulacrum of our most intimate friend ? 
 
 When I read that on one occasion Dr. Monck 
 awoke out of his trance, and seeing Samuel Wheeler,, 
 the two rushed into each other's arms, I was at first 
 puzzled how to reconcile this fact with my theory 
 that the medium must be entranced when the spirit- 
 form is materialised. But on reflection I find that the 
 facts of the double explain this difficulty. A young 
 lady friend of mine on one occasion, as she was pro- 
 ceeding homeu ,-inls on a cold day, strongly desired to 
 be at home, and in the kitchen warming herself. At 
 that moment two servants in the kitchen saw the 
 handle of the door turn, the door open, and the 
 young lady walk in and warm herself at the fire. 
 They regarded her as identical with their young 
 mistress, even to the minute detail of a pair of new 
 green kid gloves ; but suddenly she disappeared, and 
 in about a quarter of an hour the young mistress 
 actually appeared in the body, and wearing a pair of 
 green kid gloves which she had bought after leaving 
 home. Here we have the double, although the 
 original is awake, and unentranced, beyond the stage 
 it might have been of a mere absence of mind. But 
 further, we know that there are individuals who can 
 project their double at will in the walking state, and 
 converse \\ith it as with a second distinct individual.
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 53 
 
 If so, Dr. Monck may be one of those persons, and 
 may have the power of projecting his spirit in the 
 form of himself or of any friend he or his spirit may 
 desire. I am confirmed in this idea by the figure 
 having on one occasion addressed Mr. Wedgwood 
 thus : " Mr. Wedgwood, I am Monck: s Samuel 
 Wheeler." To my mind these words do not suggest 
 an independent identity, but rather a subordinate 
 creation or spiritual automaton. 
 
 But the Spiritualist replies, it may be with anger, 
 <( Why should you deprive us of the greatest comfort 
 of our lives, the belief that we are in daily communion 
 with the spirits of those we loved on earth?" and very 
 far indeed is it from my desire to do so, but I would 
 say that in memory I can love the departed as much 
 as if they were present. Again, it is said the outcome 
 of the science of the nineteenth century is atheism ; 
 but grant the return of one single spirit from the 
 eternal shores, and immortality is at once established. 
 I grant this, and say that the spirits of the departed 
 have a thousand times re-appeared as ghosts, before 
 taking their final leave of this world. Ghost stories 
 are established beyond all question, and the impres- 
 sion produced on the mind by these spontaneous 
 ghosts is far more solemn and profound than that 
 which is produced by those spiritually manufactured 
 or produced by mediums. 
 
 Further, the double demonstrates the existence of
 
 54 THKOSOI'IIY. 
 
 the spirit outside the body, and so far independent of 
 the body. No one, I conceive, could behold a ghost 
 or a double, and not feel that man is a spirit, and an 
 immortal being. 
 
 Moreover, the entranced man can see without eyes 
 objects five thousand miles distant. He can hear 
 without ears at distances beyond all natural acoustics. 
 He can taste without contact with the food. He can 
 see the past, the present, and the future. To him the 
 secrets of the heart are open. He can heal the 
 diseases of others, and for his own body you may cut 
 it limb from limb, and his spirit will regard the 
 mutilation with entire indifference. You may burn 
 his body with fire, and he will only rejoice in his 
 victory over matter. Is not this a physical demon- 
 stration that spirit is independent of matter? 
 a unity, therefore, indivisible, and therefore incapable 
 of decay, and therefore immortal ? JUit I hold that 
 the universal belief in a future state is a demonstra- 
 tion of the fact. All error produces sin and misery, 
 and all truth produces, sooner or later, health and 
 happiness. The belief in a future state is productive 
 of health, strength, and happiness, and therefore I 
 hold that this demonstrates the harmony of this 
 belief with man's nature, and thus demonstrates tlu- 
 reality of a future life. Miracles I define as the 
 dominion of spirit over matter, and thus miracles I 
 hold demonstrate the immortality of the soul. The
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 55 
 
 spiritual man by faith can shut the mouths of lions, 
 and quench the violence of fire ; cast out demons, and 
 raise the dead to life. Of matter itself spiritual phen- 
 omena go to prove that per se it has no existence, 
 matter being only form assumed by force. Granting, 
 for convenience, ultimate atoms, spirit takes these and 
 builds them into any form it may desire or imagine. 
 Just as a certain acid seizing on a certain alkali may 
 produce a wJiitc triangular crystal, so a stronger acid 
 will displace the weaker, and produce with the same 
 alkali, it may be, a red hexagonal crystal, and so on ad 
 infinitnin. 
 
 Read in this light, spiritual chemistry or form 
 materialisings, are profoundly interesting, and go to 
 prove that the spirit of man has, like the Spirit of 
 God, dominion not only over the fowls of the air and 
 the beasts of the field, as Adam had, but over the 
 elements of matter. The idealist excercising his 
 hands can with clay or marble mould or chisel the 
 divinest forms. The spiritual man can create or 
 materialise those forms by the mere force of his 
 spiritual imagination, and the whole universe is only 
 the materialised thoughts of the Divine Mind. 
 
 I have spoken much of entrancement, and I may 
 say that my Spiritual theory is mainly founded on 
 that most profoundly interesting fact that man, when 
 he becomes entranced, is not only above and beyond 
 matter, but he becomes the controller of matter. He
 
 56 THF.OSOPHY. 
 
 reveals the hidden angel, and demonstrates that " the 
 kingdom of heaven is within him." I beg the reader's 
 attention to the diagram, page 17. 
 
 a to d represents the earthly or soul life. D to A 
 the spirit life. X X represents the middle wall of 
 partition, or river of oblivion, which divides the earth- 
 plane from the spirit-plane. 
 
 a represents the ordinary life of self-consciousness 
 and reason and vigilance, d represents the plane of 
 reverie or day-dreaming, or " Electro-biology." re- 
 presents the position, the point intermediate between 
 the earth or spirit-plane, the point of oblivious sleep. 
 D represents the plane of spirit reverie and spirit- 
 dreaming. This I conceive to be the region of 
 elementary and evil and foolish, or purgatorial spirits 
 the plane of spirit " Electro-biology," or delusion 
 the spirits which chiefly infest our dark stances : and 
 this may be the position occupied by our spirits when 
 infested in sleep by foul and evil vampires. C repre- 
 sents the position of spiritual lucidity or clairvoyance, 
 or inspirational speaking in company at times with 
 higher departed spirits. B represents a more intense 
 lucidity and clairvoyance ; and here, the spirit some- 
 times escaping from the influence of the lower plane, 
 is controlled by the " Holy Spirit of the Lord," at A, 
 and hence the form of oracle is "Thus saith the Lord." 
 To this position I conceive St. Paul ascended when he- 
 was caught up into the third heaven, and saw tilings
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 57 
 
 " impossible to utter." A represents the position to 
 which Christ continually ascended, and thus being, as 
 it were, absorbed in God, could say, " I and the Father 
 are one," and became entitled to the name of " the 
 only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God." 
 
 I have often been asked, If those phenomena are 
 produced by our own spirits, how is it that we are 
 ignorant of the fact ? I reply, Man is only half 
 known to himself. The man awake has no knowledge 
 of the man asleep, nor the man asleep of the man 
 awake. The somnambule has no knowledge of the 
 normal man, nor the normal man of the somnambule. 
 The chrysalis has no knowledge of the butterfly, nor 
 the butterfly any remembrance of the chrysalis. We 
 know that the ordinary man is ignorant of the 
 entranced man, and the entranced man, on returning 
 to soul life, has at once lost all knowledge and memory 
 of the entranced man, who one minute before as- 
 tonished us by his scientific knowledge. My diagram 
 may help you to see how this is so. It shows the 
 earth-plane and the spirit-plane as two states, separated 
 by the wall or river of oblivion, and yet by habitual 
 -entrancements we learn to remember both spheres. 
 
 I desire, however, here to add that Christ, as " the 
 Son of Man which is in heaven," dwelt daily both on 
 earth and in heaven, and was for ever conscious of 
 both lives, and thus He obtained power and applied 
 titles to Himself presumptuous to mere man.
 
 58 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 Of course my illustration, page 17, is only a diagram, 
 but some forty years ago I had a curious corrobor- 
 ation of the idea of a door leading to the other 
 life. At the time when Sir James Simpson introduced 
 the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic, medical 
 students amused themselves by experimenting with it 
 on their own bodies. One day a friend of mine of 
 Oriental blood, took chloroform, and described his 
 sensations. 
 
 He said he felt himself whirling round and round 
 in ever-diminishing circles, when at last he perceived 
 a small round hole, through which he darted and 
 became oblivious. 
 
 I believe the action of anaesthetics is to entrance the 
 man. On one occasion, after taking chloroform for 
 the relief of an intense pain, I distinctly found myself 
 outside my body, as given in detail in my paper on 
 anaesthetics. 
 
 True Spiritualism is the highest of all the sciences. 
 because it reveals to us a knowledge of the world 
 which now is, and of that which is to come, demon- 
 strating that the spirit of man is supreme over, and 
 independent of matter, and therefore immortal. 
 
 We are told by Christ that those who live the life 
 shall know the doctrine, and the most ancient reli- 
 gions, philosophies, and mystics tell us the same 
 thing. Man, they say, is a spiritual being, and should 
 have, if in his right place, the control over matter,
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 59 
 
 and they teach that to obtain this control over nature 
 we must, in the first place, obtain a perfect control 
 over ourselves. We must live a severely pure life, and 
 by contemplation, fasting, and prayer, develop our 
 spiritual powers. That many in olden and more recent 
 times possessed these powers is the teaching of the Old 
 Testament, and of the Christian saints. 
 
 In olden times, in the Middle Ages, and in our da)-, 
 there have existed side by side the white and the 
 black magic, just as in the Bible we have angels of 
 light and of darkness, the works of the Lord and the 
 works of the devil. Both possessed spiritual power 
 over matter, but whereas those who practised white 
 magic did so as a philosophy and religion, and as a 
 means to good ends, those, on the other hand, who 
 practised black magic, did so merely to obtain power 
 over human beings for the gratification of their own 
 diabolical selfishness. 
 
 Even with the best and greatest, the possession of 
 those spiritual powers must subject the possessor to 
 dangerous temptations, so much so that even of 
 Christ we read that being led by the spirit into the 
 wilderness, and after fasting forty days and forty 
 nights, and no doubt with intense prayer to God 
 His Father, obtaining divine and miraculous gifts, 
 He was yet tempted of the devil, to magically 
 convert stones into bread, to cast Himself from the 
 pinnacle of the temple, and to aspire to the kingdoms
 
 6b THEOSOPHY. 
 
 of this earth. This may be regarded as showing the 
 crucial turning point of Christ's life. But He made 
 no hesitation, replying to the tempter, " Get thee 
 behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt wor- 
 ship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
 serve." 
 
 A belief in the capabilities of man's spirit over 
 matter is profoundly interesting, but how few could 
 thus become spiritualised and exercise these gifts 
 without danger; for even the angels kept not their 
 first estate, but, as Milton says, by " ambition, that 
 last infirmity of noble minds," fell. 
 
 In The Spiritualist of the 7th of December there is 
 an interesting exposition of the views of the New 
 York Theosophists, by Colonel Olcott, but I regret to 
 find find him saying, " We Theosophists of the inner 
 ring adhere to the Oriental religious philosophies, as 
 better guides to happiness than the Christian 
 theology." 
 
 I suppose Colonel Olcott must mean the corrupted 
 interpretations of Christ's doctrines, not the teaching 
 of Christ Himself, because no one can conceive of a 
 higher religion and morality than that of Christ ; for 
 in Him there is placed before us a life and an ex- 
 ample, by following which we shall reach the truest 
 life which now is, and the highest which is to come. 
 
 As with the Mystics, so Christ teaches the severest 
 self-discipline as necessary to man's own salvation, but
 
 MAN AS A SPIRIT. 6 1 
 
 He as emphatically teaches that to love, and work 
 and even die for others if need be, is our highest 
 privilege. 
 
 Selfishness is not only shown to be the essence of 
 all sin, but directly or indirectly the cause of almost 
 all disease, both acute and chronic, and love and un- 
 selfishness are shown to be the great cure for sin and 
 disease. 
 
 The entire unselfishness of Christ was the cause of 
 His entire sinlessness, and the power by which He 
 cured the bodies and souls of men was the power of 
 unselfish love. 
 
 Thus " Christ crucified " became the sublimest 
 philosophy. It signifies the crucifixion of our affec- 
 tions and lusts which war against the soul. It 
 signifies the daily death of the body, necessary to 
 the daily resurrection of the spirit, and "all who 
 have -this faith will purify themselves as Christ was 
 pure" ; and thus it is that "love to God and love to 
 man " are the sum and substance of all the law and 
 the prophets, the essence of all religion and of all 
 morality. 
 
 All who beheld Stephen as he, the first Christian 
 martyr, testified to the truth, " saw his face as it had 
 been the face of an angel "; and Jesus Christ, "taking 
 with Him (as three witnesses) Peter and James and 
 John, went up into a mountain, and as He prayed the 
 fashion of His face was changed, and shone as the
 
 62 THKOSOl'HY. 
 
 sun, and His raiment became as light." And yet this 
 Being, although possessed of all power, for our 
 example submitted to death ; and thus by the total 
 abnegation of self, by the renunciation of the devil, 
 by the crucifixion of those affections and lusts which 
 war against the soul, became as Christ crucified, dead 
 in the flesh but alive in the spirit. And He who spent 
 His life in care and sorrow, and with the perfect 
 foreknowledge of a fearfully cruel death, yet went 
 about continually doing good, healing all manner of 
 diseases, forgiving His enemies, casting out devils, 
 opening the eyes of the physically and spiritually 
 blind, raising the bodily and spiritually dead first 
 \v;is transfigured, and ultimately, as " Enoch who 
 walked with God," was carried up into the presence of 
 "His Father and our Father, His God and our God." 
 Having at one and the same time been a dweller 
 on this earth, and an inhabitant of heaven, He thus, 
 " the well-beloved Son of God," and the perfect, 
 divine, and miraculous Son of Man, becomes the 
 Saviour of the world, not by His righteousness being 
 imputed to us, as some say, but by our adopting His 
 righteousness, " the way, the truth, and the life," for 
 now and for evermore. Thus it is, I conceive, that 
 the pure in heart shall sec God, and thus it is that 
 God in the centre and in the circumference is the 
 key to man, and Christ, to earth and hraven, and to 
 universal law.
 
 V. THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN.* 
 
 THK central doctrine taught in this paper is that by 
 His transfiguration on the Mount, Christ manifested 
 Himself as the Spiritual, Heavenly, and Angelic man, 
 and that this manifestation was typical of that which 
 is within the possibility of those elect few, who, living 
 truly the Divine life, can evoke in ecstatic prayer the 
 hidden, Christ-like spiritual centre of the soul, and 
 that this act has in many instances been demonstrated 
 in the lives of the saints. 
 
 We are told that man was created in the image of 
 God. If so, then the Spirit of Man and the Spirit of 
 God are of one essence, and the Spirit of Man is thus 
 the Son of God, while Jesus of Nazareth, when he 
 became the Christ, was emphatically the well-beloved 
 Son of God. Jesus, as the Son of Man, taught the 
 so-called practical or exoteric doctrine of love to God 
 and love to man as the sum and substance of all 
 religion and all morality ; and Jesus, as the Christ, or 
 Son of God, taught the esoteric or spiritual interpre- 
 tation of this love to God and man. The simple 
 doctrine of love to God and love to man is sufficient 
 for the ultimate salvation of all those who sincerely 
 
 * Read at the British Association of Spiritualists, 3rd March, 1879, 
 under the title, " Esoteric Christianity."
 
 64 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 attempt to live the life ; but the esoteric or spiritual 
 doctrine teaches how man, while on this earth, may 
 fully live the life, and thus at one and the same time 
 be actually an inhabitant of earth and of heaven. 
 
 I desire it to be understood that I have no more 
 doubt of the historic Jesus Christ than I have of the 
 historic Plato, St. Paul, or St. Augustine ; but, at the 
 same time, I believe that the word Christ, as used by 
 Bible and early Christian writers, and by the mystics, 
 signifies also that divine and miraculous spiritual man 
 which we may all, to some extent, possibly become, 
 and which Jesus of Nazareth pre-eminently was. 
 
 It is believed by some that Jesus Christ revealed to 
 His beloved disciples secrets regarding His nature and 
 doctrine, which were not openly taught to the people ; 
 but, however that may be, we know that when Peter, 
 in answer to the Master's question, " Whom say ye 
 that I am ? " replied, " Thou art the Christ, the Son 
 of the living God." Jesus answered, " Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not 
 revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in 
 heaven " : and He charged His disciples that they 
 should reveal unto no man that He was the Christ. 
 
 Again, when Jesus took Peter, and James, and 
 John up into a high mountain, and was transfigured 
 before them so that his face shone as the sun, and 
 His garments became as light, so overwhelmingly 
 splendid that Peter, James, and John fell on their
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 65 
 
 faces to the earth, He again charged them that they 
 should tell no man what they had seen till He had 
 risen from the dead. 
 
 So also, in the first chapter of John's Gospel, the 
 Logos, or word or wisdom of God, is used to signify 
 the esoteric Christ in a mystical manner ; and Origen, 
 who lived at the end of the second and the beginning 
 of the third century, says in his preface to John's Gos- 
 pel : "To the literal -minded (or carnal) we teach the 
 Gospel in the historic (or literal) way, preaching Jesus 
 Christ and Him crucified, but to the proficients, fired 
 with the love of Divine wisdom, we impart the 
 Logos." 
 
 Thus it is the nature of man and the method of his 
 salvation, body and soul, by the invocation of the 
 Christ, or the hidden light and spiritual life, which St. 
 John says are within every man, that is the subject of 
 this paper. 
 
 It is maintained that the theory propounded is in 
 strict accordance with the exoteric and esoteric teach- 
 ings of Jesus of Nazareth, and St. John, and St. Paul, 
 as recorded in the Gospels and Epistles, and these 
 records, notwithstanding many verbal variations, are 
 accepted as genuine records of the life and doctrines 
 of the founder of the Christian religion. 
 
 The miraculous narrative is also accepted, it being 
 understood that a miracle is not a direct interference 
 by the Creator with the order of nature, but is the 
 
 F
 
 66 THEOSOI'HY. 
 
 substitution of the spiritual or god-like force of 
 the Divine Man for the secondary or lower forces in 
 nature. 
 
 That the spiritual man is in possession of this force 
 is taken for granted, as a fact known to whoever has 
 truthfully and laboriously investigated the evidence ; 
 hence a belief in the miracles of Christ is a natural 
 consequence of this knowledge, and marvellous it is 
 that many thoughtful " ministers of Christ " actually 
 doubt or deny the necessity of this belief, as if it were 
 possible there could be a Christ without miracles ; for 
 Christ being " the Son of God with power," must, as a 
 necessity of His nature, be a worker of miracles. 
 
 The esoteric idea of the Christ of the Gospels and 
 the Epistles is that the term Christ signifies the spirit- 
 ual head or inner secret light of every man ; and thus 
 the salvation of man, soul and body, is not a mere 
 phrase, but a transformation realised by this inner 
 secret and hidden Christ, or light, or spirit coming 
 to His temple, man's body, and living and ruling 
 there. 
 
 The spiritual man being thus known and acknow- 
 ledged now becomes the true master, and as the 
 highest, is thus ruler over all lower forms of matter ; 
 and not only so, but man being thus truly a son of 
 God, is thus in heaven while on earth, even as " the 
 Son of Man who is in heaven." 
 
 The spiritual man thus evoked is the image of God
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 6/ 
 
 re-discovered and constitutes man a son of God, the 
 divine and miraculous man, the Christ-like man, the 
 worker of miracles, the supreme lord over all forces 
 and materials, the converter of water into wine, the 
 t^iver of sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, food to 
 the hungry, health to the diseased, raising the dead, 
 casting out devils, and thus demonstrating that the 
 spiritual man is supreme over the laws of Nature and 
 *' solid " matter itself and capable of transforming this 
 vile body into the glorified body, the transformed 
 spiritual body with angelic and heavenly associates, 
 .as on the Mount. 
 
 In short, as God created man in His own image, so 
 the Christ-born man, as a son of God, is supreme 
 over all forms and forces lower than Himself, and 
 over all disease and sin, and is thus saved body, soul, 
 and spirit. 
 
 It is not meant to deny that many who pass 
 through the ordeal of what is popularly called 
 " conversion " are so far born again as to their 
 outward lives and inward thoughts, and in so far are 
 saved by the Christ ; but it is maintained that this 
 form of salvation is a mere shadow of the substance, 
 ^nd that it is not the true and absolute salvation or 
 regeneration of soul and body announced by Jesus 
 Christ as " the way and the truth, and the life " here 
 and hereafter, inasmuch as these converts are not 
 entirely Christ-like or the possessors of miraculous
 
 68 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 powers. " If any man be in Christ (or in spirit) he is 
 a new creature ; all old things have passed away, and 
 all things have become new." Those thus saved are 
 " one with Christ, as He is one with the Father "; and 
 while on earth they are in heaven, even as " the Son 
 of Man who is heaven" 
 
 Let us contemplate the life, teachings, works, trans- 
 figuration, crucifixion, death and resurrection of 
 Jesus, the Christ of God, potentially and actually 
 the Saviour of the world, morally, physically, and 
 spiritually. 
 
 This miraculous and Divine Being, born of a woman, 
 but moulded in some mystical sense by the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit of the Father while within the 
 mystery of woman's hidden nature, appeared on earth 
 about two thousand years ago. 
 
 A few of His years, during the prime of human life,, 
 were spent in communion with God, " being about 
 His Father's business." When about the age of 
 thirty, having fasted forty days and forty nights, and 
 overcome the devil, He from the mountain preached 
 the Sermon on the Mount, a matchless epitome of all 
 moral and spiritual perfection, and then immediately 
 began to put His moral and spiritual precepts into 
 action, transmuting spiritual truths into moral and 
 physical facts by going about continually doing good, 
 and curing all manner of diseases, and teaching th.it 
 love to God and love to man were the sum and
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 69 
 
 substance of all religion and all morality. He hated 
 intensely all cruelty and all lying, but especially all 
 hypocrisy and formalism and priestcraft. He opened 
 the eyes of the blind ; He caused the deaf to hear, 
 the lame to walk, the leper to be cleansed, and the 
 demoniac to be purified and in his right mind. He 
 raised the dead to life, and was Himself, as an 
 evidence of His spiritual nature, transfigured so that 
 " His face shone as the sun and His raiment became 
 as light." He taught the law of self-sacrifice, or the 
 crucifixion of the flesh, as a pre-requisite to that 
 spiritual regeneration which is eternal life. He Him- 
 self "despised and rejected of men," abhorred by 
 formalists, hated by the priests, was persecuted, 
 scourged, spit upon, and crucified as the result of His 
 perfectly true, holy, and loving life. 
 
 To be fully possessed by the Divine power, beauty, 
 majesty, and significance of this God-begotten man, 
 we must devour, as it were, the story of His life, His 
 words and acts, His afflictions and crucifixion, with the 
 intense earnestness as of a new revelation, and in one 
 unbroken effort. 
 
 If read thus the story comes out with a power, 
 truth, beauty, majesty, and love which are overwhelm- 
 ing ; and he who, whilst thus surveying the complete 
 Christ the manifestation of such love and holiness 
 on His side, and such hideous wickedness on the part 
 of man is not torn with a tempest of grief and
 
 70 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 admiration, has not yet entered into the depths of the 
 truest emotion. 
 
 This Jesus Christ declares Himself, and is declared 
 by others, to be the only-begotten and well-beloved 
 Son of God, and the only Way, and Truth, and Life 
 by which we can go to our Father. 
 
 In order, if possible, to see how such claims can be 
 true, how Christ, as the Spirit, can be the Saviour of 
 man, body and soul, let us attempt to discover the 
 nature and capabilities of man, and his destination. 
 No more profoundly interesting questions can be 
 asked, and nowhere can we find so profound a solution 
 as in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ, Himself 
 the all-wise and divine man. 
 
 Man, according to St. Paul, and a true psychology, 
 is a trinity of body, soul, and spirit. 
 
 The visible earthly body is not the man, but only 
 the mechanism used by the soul, which is the man. 
 The visible body is said to be composed of certain 
 atoms called matter ; which matter is only a series of 
 forms assumed by certain forces. 
 
 Force being the substance of matter, there is no such 
 thing as " solid " matter, and no two " atoms of mat- 
 ter " are actually in contact. 
 
 Matter being only certain forms assumed by certain 
 forces, can be dissolved and become invisible by the 
 action of heat and other forces, including spiritual 
 force ; and can be re-formed by man, as a spiritual
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 71 
 
 force, into its original, or any likeness desired by the 
 spiritual force controlling the secondary forces. 
 
 Matter can thus be rendered as invisible as the soul 
 and spirit of man now are. 
 
 Inhabiting the visible body is the soul or mental 
 force of the man, and this is the man on this earth 
 and in this world. 
 
 This soul wills, reasons, loves, hates, and moves its 
 bodily machine according to its affections. It lives in 
 a physical world, and accommodates itself to physical 
 conditions. It marries and begets children ; it digs 
 the ground, and grows corn, and wine, and oil, and 
 sheep, and oxen out of the ground. It moves the 
 body to eat these and other forms of matter, in order 
 that it may appropriate their forms and forces, and 
 thus rebuild its ever decomposing body. 
 
 The soul does all this and many other things for 
 about seventy years. 
 
 It clothes its body in garments of skin, or cotton, or 
 wool, or silk, and lives in a hovel, a cottage, a mansion, 
 or a palace, according to its powers of appropriation. 
 
 The man who is clothed in cotton and lives in a 
 cottage, and "eats his bread by the sweat of his brow," 
 is often despised by the man who has a gorgeous 
 house and furniture, and who is " clothed in purple 
 and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day"; and 
 yet our eartJily life is but as a grain of sand on the 
 sea-shore.
 
 72 THEOSOPIIY. 
 
 In about seventy years all this formalism comes to 
 an end. The body first gets stiff", the eyes dim, the 
 hearing dull, and the limbs unsteady ; and ultimately 
 the man is said to die ! 
 
 But it is not so ; the reality is not as the appear- 
 ance ; for even as no so-called matter can be annihil- 
 ated, neither can any force. 
 
 Matter is changed in form and position, according 
 to the direction of the internal force ; but the internal 
 force of man being his reasoning soul, remains a 
 reasoning soul after the decay of his body, just as an 
 electric force remains an electric force, although the 
 jars, and tin-foil, and wire by which the electric force 
 is held captive or directed, are broken and strewn on 
 the floor. 
 
 The soul, thus being at the death of the body free 
 to act on its own account, remains the living and 
 reasoning soul of man, useful or mischievous, happy 
 or miserable, according to the thoughts, words, or 
 deeds done in the flesh. 
 
 This is the doctrine of Christ and of all religious 
 teachers, and it is in conformity with the wholesome 
 instincts of the vast majority of human beings. It is. 
 also in harmony with man's highest happiness, and 
 therefore we pronounce it true. 
 
 Those who will not or cannot believe this doctrine, 
 are abnormal human beings, the victims it may be, of 
 their own modes of thought ; or, it may be, so
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 73 
 
 organically constituted as to be incapable of appre- 
 hending the spiritual nature of man just as from an 
 organic defect some are colour-blind, and cannot dis- 
 tinguish red from green. 
 
 But man is a trinity ; and just as his bodily form is 
 inhabited and animated by his soul-force, so his soul- 
 force, being itself after the death of the body still in 
 form as a man or woman, is on its departure from the 
 body either a wandering, and it may be a visible soul 
 or ghost, or it may be confined as a purgatorial 
 creature, doomed for a certain time to purgation as 
 by fire. Or it may be that the soul, while on earth, 
 having lived a life of purity, love, and holiness, passes 
 into paradise, and lives with the angels and " the 
 spirits of the just made perfect." 
 
 If this result is gained, then that soul has found its 
 spiritual head, or centre, or essence, the Christ within 
 it, and has become truly a son of God. 
 
 Thus the man becomes a saved and angelic 
 creature in heaven. But just as man, as Adam 
 who was made in the form of God, and was a true 
 child of God lost his immortal life here, so man, 
 when he finds and regains the lost and hidden Christ 
 within him, becomes an immortal and angelic being : 
 the divine and miraculous man even while on this 
 earth. 
 
 Even if the story of Adam be regarded as mythical, 
 it none the less expresses the mystical truth that the
 
 74 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 true man is a son of God, a Christ-like, miracle-work- 
 ing man, " having dominion over the fowls of the air, 
 the beasts of the field," and all subordinate creation. 
 
 Thus we can find an explanation of the words of 
 the apostle : " If any man be in Christ (or in holy 
 spirit), he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
 away, and all things have become new." Thus also- 
 are explained the words of Jesus when He says : " No 
 man hath ascended up into heaven, but He who came 
 down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in 
 heaven." Thus also can be understood Paul's words 
 when he said : ' I knew a man in Christ, how he was 
 caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable 
 words, which it is not laivful for a man to utter." 
 
 This is the hidden and esoteric doctrine taught by 
 Jesus, "the secret of the Logos," as especially revealed 
 by John, namely, The Gospel, The Good News, or the 
 coming of the kingdom of heaven on this earth, as 
 demonstrated by the abolition of sin, disease, devils, 
 and mortality, before the face of Christ, the Divine 
 and Miraculous Man. 
 
 It may be asked, as by Nicodemus, " How can 
 these things be?" and it may be replied, "Art thou a 
 teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things? " 
 
 Jesus says: "Repent and believe the Gospel;" 
 that is, believe in the good neivs of the coming of 
 the kingdom of heaven, and let your prayer to the 
 Father be " Thy kingdom come on earth even as in 
 heaven."
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 75 
 
 Some formal evangelical sects teach dogmatically 
 that the Gospel is the belief that "the blood of Christ 
 has been shed as a price for the sins of the world." 
 So indeed it has ; but the blood of Christ is the life 
 of Christ, for " the blood is the life," and thus it is 
 that Christ, by His life, and teachings, and self- 
 sacrifice, and transfiguration, and death, and resurrec- 
 tion, if adopted by us, becomes "the way, the truth, 
 and the life," whereby we are saved. 
 
 By this faith sin and disease disappeared before 
 Him, and He thus became the Saviour of the body, 
 and by this faith the soul is cleansed and then glori- 
 fied. The Gospel, or good news, is thus no mere 
 form of words, or sounding phrase, but the actual fact 
 that the kingdom of heaven has come to all who 
 believe, repent, and live the complete life of Christ. 
 
 The fruits of this salvation are " long-suffering, 
 patience, love unfeigned, joy, peace," and its gifts are 
 the powers of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual man, with 
 his Christ-like power to " heal all manner of diseases, 
 and to cast out all devils from Himself and others." 
 
 These are not words, but facts. The spiritual man 
 has not only " the life which now is, but that which is 
 to come "; the original form in which he was created 
 is re-discovered ; and being in the form of God, a 
 divine man on eartJi, he is supreme master of him- 
 self, and therefore of the external phenomenal world, 
 because to the Divine Man is given the power to
 
 76 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 create, re-dissolve, and re-create externals by the 
 force of his spiritual alchemy. 
 
 " Where two of you shall agree as concerning any- 
 thing you shall ask, it shall be done for them of My 
 Father which is in heaven," and " Lo, I am with you 
 alway, even to the end of the world." 
 
 If this promise of Christ is true, and if we have not 
 the promised miraculous proof that Christ is with us, 
 then we may be good moral followers of Jesus ; but 
 we are not saved here, soul and body, by the blood or 
 life of Christ's mystical power over all secondary 
 laws, and therefore over matter. 
 
 It may be replied that this cannot be the true 
 meaning of Christ's words, because since the days of 
 the apostles no such powers have been possessed by 
 mortal man. 
 
 But it is replied, not so, for in no age of the world 
 has " God left Himself without a witness," and to 
 those who have been enlightened this statement is 
 known to be true. 
 
 Pre-eminently to re-create this vile body into a 
 new and glorious body, and thus to "glorify God with 
 our souls and bodies which are His," has been prac- 
 tically accomplished in all ages of the world, and 
 divine and miraculous men and women have never 
 ceased from the face of the earth. 
 
 Moses was an illustration of this when descending 
 from Mount Sinai, where he for forty days communed
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 77 
 
 with God, his face shone so that the people dared 
 not approach him ; and thus also Stephen, the first 
 Christian martyr, whose face the people saw " as it 
 had been the face of an angel"; and like events have 
 happened in modern times, and in all times. The 
 lives of the saints, as in the instances of St. Ignatius, 
 St. Teresa, and Savonarola, are an unanswerable 
 evidence of this assertion, and the history of the 
 Church of Christ affords a continuous succession of 
 examples of holy men and women while in ecstatic 
 prayer becoming, as St. Teresa expresses it, married 
 mystically to the Divine Son, and thus actually 
 becoming one ivitli God, as Christ said He was one 
 with God. 
 
 Those who ascended to this spiritual eminence 
 became elevated from the ground, while their faces 
 shone with an effulgence, and their chambers became 
 filled with light exact counterparts of the trans- 
 figured Christ. 
 
 This statement will not be received by the natural 
 man, but it is not the less true, as those who have 
 been initiated know. 
 
 Those who have watched the beauty of the sleep- 
 ing child whose angel is beholding the face of God, 
 or who have hung over the "rapture of repose " in the 
 face of the good, whose spirit has just taken its last 
 embrace on departing, may conceive of the beauty of 
 those " born of the spirit," and with such it will not
 
 78 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 41 seem a thing impossible " that God should raise the 
 " dead soul " to the manifestation of the effulgent 
 spirit, even on this earth. 
 
 If it be now asked, as in the days of Christ, " Are 
 there few that be thus saved ? " it may be replied, as 
 by Christ, " Strive ye to enter in at the strait gate, 
 for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able," 
 4< for many be called, but few chosen," and " strait is 
 the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
 find it." 
 
 If matter be merely a form assumed by certain 
 forces, then each man's form is the form of his soul 
 force ; and if so, it can readily be understood that 
 when the soul is purified by a life of holiness, and 
 when " forsaking the husks which the swine do eat," 
 it says, " I will arise and go to My Father," that the 
 Christ or spirit " coming suddenly to its temple," the 
 cMitire man becomes transformed into a resemblance 
 of the transfigured Christ. 
 
 And as the spiritual man is " in the form of God," 
 he becomes God-like in act, as well as thought. He 
 becomes a worker of miracles ; and being a forgiver of 
 sin, or a healer of the diseased, he can transform into 
 his own likeness the bodies of those who believe. 
 
 The souls of these men and women have found their 
 Christ or Spiritual Light, and are at one with the 
 Father. 
 
 As the humble chrysalis is by the transforming
 
 THK DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 79 
 
 power of the sun's heat converted into the glorious 
 butterfly, so the careworn and travel-toiled Jesus, by 
 the force of His spiritual prayer, was transfigured, 
 " when His face shone as the sun and His raiment 
 became as light," and Peter, and James, and John fell 
 on their faces to the earth before Him. 
 
 Thus it is that the spiritual man not only com- 
 mands his own body, but can transform all lower 
 forms, and the miraculous becomes his natural con- 
 dition. 
 
 As " God visits the sins of the father upon the 
 children to the third generation," we can thus easily 
 see why the spiritual regeneration of soul and body is 
 a rare and exceptional event, and all but unattainable, 
 except among the " few who are chosen." 
 
 But if the sins are visited to the third generation, 
 so also are the virtues ; and we can see how it may 
 come to pass that if children were only begotten and 
 reared in perfect love, those of the third generation 
 might become actually sons of God. 
 
 To attain this end we might well afford to " sell all 
 which we have and follow Christ" ; and we can appre- 
 ciate the wisdom of that man who bartered all that 
 he had, and purchased the one field in which was 
 hidden the sacred treasure. 
 
 For thousands of years this hidden light has been 
 from time to time found and acted upon, and men 
 and women who, having " crucified the flesh with its
 
 80 THEOSO1M1Y. 
 
 affections and lusts, which war against the soul," have 
 lived the Christ-like life, and been gifted with the 
 miraculous power of healing and prophecy. 
 
 The moral teachings and beneficent life of Jesus are 
 sufficient for the great majority of human beings ; but 
 the esoteric teachings of Christ are revealed only to 
 the few, and it is with the esoteric only that " the 
 spirit maketh intercession with our spirits with groan- 
 ings which cannot be uttered." The simple good 
 ones of the earth have " the promise of the life tc 
 come" but those esoterically saved by the Christ with- 
 in them coming to His temple are, while on earth, 
 also in heaven, and are already " children of the 
 resurrection." 
 
 Jesus taught the law of love, which, if followed, 
 leads to the kingdom of heaven, and thus the young 
 man who had kept this law from his youth was told 
 that he was not far from the the kingdom of heaven, 
 but although not far from it he was not within tliat 
 kingdom. 
 
 The water, in his case, had not been converted 
 into wine; the moral man was not the divine man; 
 he was a lover, but not the bridegroom ; he was 
 not, in the miraculous sense, one with God as Christ 
 and His chosen arc. 
 
 To be " Christ-like," then, is the sum of the idea 
 herein propounded 
 
 This is a commonplace phrase, but those who use
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 8 1 
 
 it generally only realise half its signification. The 
 meaning usually attached to it is that of one who 
 lives a loving, peaceful, true, and religious life ; who 
 daily is a peacemaker, easily forgives his enemies, and 
 doing daily all the good he can, makes continual self- 
 sacrifices. 
 
 This indeed is much, and few there be who attain 
 to it ; but this is only the moral or exoteric side of 
 Christ's life. 
 
 As we have already said, when, in answer to the 
 Master, the disciple replied, " Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God," Jesus replied, "Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not 
 revealed it unto thee, but My Father, who is in 
 heaven " ; and He charged His disciples that they 
 should reveal the secret to no man. 
 
 Again, when Jesus was transfigured, when " His 
 face shone as the sun and His raiment as light," and 
 Moses and Elias were with Him, being on the same 
 plane of spirit or heaven, He again charged His 
 disciples that they should tell no man until He was 
 risen from the dead. 
 
 We repeat thus secretly was revealed the secret 
 or esoteric life of Christ, " the secret of the Logos " ; 
 and thus Jesus, while on earth, was at the same time 
 the Christ in heaven, " even the Son of Man zv/io is in 
 heaven," and thus one with the Father. To be 
 Christ-like, therefore, is " to be one with Him [and 
 
 G
 
 82 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 with God], as He was one with the Father." It is to 
 be a divine and miraculous man on earth and in 
 heaven at one and the same time while on this side 
 the grave. 
 
 But we live in a physical world, ruled by physi- 
 cal laws, and while here the command is given to 
 41 increase and multiply and replenish the earth, and 
 subdue it." 
 
 It is not, then, orderly that the whole human race 
 should now be over-spiritualised on this earth, for 
 were it so, there being then neither " marrying nor 
 giving in marriage," the earth would become a 
 desolation. 
 
 There must be always hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water, and the supreme men must be few and far 
 between. 
 
 Although, then, it has been given only in rare and 
 exceptional cases, and as illustrations of the possibil- 
 ities of man's nature to be truly Christ-like, yet we 
 may all, more or less, be like Christ in the second 
 degree, and this is practically what we must all strive 
 after. 
 
 There is one grand law : " Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and 
 strength ; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self." " This do, and thou shalt live," for this is the 
 sum and substance of all religion and all morality. 
 
 The love of one's neighbour as one's self renders all
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 83 
 
 immorality impossible, for with this love we could not 
 steal, nor bear false witness, nor envy or decry, nor 
 slander, nor hate, nor kill, nor degrade any soul, but 
 love and honour all men and all women. 
 
 We could pardon our enemies, and " pray for those 
 who despitefully use us and persecute us," "returning 
 blessing for cursing," " enduring all things, hoping all 
 things, believing all things." 
 
 As aids to this life, we must live simply, purely, 
 lovingly, prayerfully, and contentedly, rejoicing 
 always in the Lord. 
 
 It is good at stated periods to partake of the bread 
 and wine of the altar, but it is better always " to eat 
 our food with gladness and singleness of heart, giving 
 God thanks." Hence that grace before food which 
 has degenerated into a mere form, and of which most 
 men seem ashamed, should be a sincere prayer to God, 
 -so to " give us our daily bread," that this bread may 
 be by the spirit transformed into the body and blood 
 or life of Christ in us ; and who shall place limits to 
 the power of thankfulness, and love, and gratitude, 
 thus to transform the food for soul and body ? 
 
 In food thus taken the water may become converted 
 into wine, and the loaves and fishes into miraculous 
 nourishment, and we may become nourished as the 
 " angels who excel in strength." The exhalations of 
 the body may become as frankincense, and the 
 "" odour of sanctity " be a realised blessing.
 
 84 TUEOSOI'HY. 
 
 Further, "cleanliness (in body, clothes, homes, 
 food, and thoughts) is next to godliness," and our 
 sleep should be as that which the beloved receive, a 
 time of stillness, and holiness, and nearness to God,, 
 when " our old men shall see visions, and our young 
 men shall dream dreams," and possibly when, as it is 
 with children, our "angels may behold the face of our 
 Father in heaven," as, supping with these angels, we 
 return at morning tide to our renewed and invigorated 
 selves. 
 
 This body, being thus cleansed, should not be 
 injured or maligned by foolish, grotesque, vulgar, 
 unwholesome, or indelicate externals, for how hideous 
 that this soul and body, which are the Lord's, should 
 be by man sold for houses or lands, or the upper scats 
 in the synagogues, or to be called Rabbi ; and by 
 women for the vulgarity and indecency of dress, in 
 place of being clothed with the humility of a meek 
 and quiet spirit. 
 
 But " the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the 
 spirit against the flesh," and "the carnal mind is 
 enmity against God "; therefore, our whole life must 
 be a constant desire and prayer to be kept from all 
 evil, and led into all truth ; to be enabled to love God, 
 to forgive our enemies, and to look for the kingdom 
 of heaven. 
 
 The essential centre of all true, internal, esoteric, 
 and spiritual religion is one and the same. It is a
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 85 
 
 seeking after God, " if haply we may find Him." It 
 is a cry after the hidden God within us. It is the 
 nirvana or God-ward rapture of repose and knowledge 
 of the esoteric Brahman and Buddhist. It is the 
 mystical participation of the body and blood, the life 
 of Christ in the Eucharist ; it is the longing desire of 
 the soul and body after our inner Lord, the Lord of 
 the temple, the Lord of heaven and earth. It is sig- 
 nified by the wisdom of the Book of Solomon, by the 
 divine Sophia, with whom the soul of Jacob Bcehmen 
 danced with divine delight, by the Logos of the 
 Alexandrian Greeks, or the operative wisdom of God 
 in the world, " the word " of St. John, " the mystery 
 kept secret since the world began," " God manifest 
 in the flesh," the Christ, the hidden " light of every 
 man that cometh into the world," " the light shining 
 in darkness and the darkness comprehending it not," 
 " the bread of life which cometh down from heaven, 
 and of which, if a man eat, he will hunger no more." 
 
 True religion thus interpreted renders all sectarian- 
 ism an impossibility, for its one law is love love to 
 God and love to man and its result must be 
 ultimately to fill the earth with the glory of God, as 
 the waters cover the channel of the sea. 
 
 When the whole earth was given over to wicked- 
 ness, and the love of God, which is an expanding 
 force, had been entirely driven out of the world, the 
 natural and scientific consequence was a real or
 
 86 THKOSOl'HV. 
 
 symbolical collapse of the earth, and its consequent 
 submergence. Out of this catastrophe the earth had 
 so far recovered, until at the time of the coming of 
 Christ, wickedness had again become ascendant 
 with its hideous cruelties and inconceivable moral 
 putrescence. Then the Saviour of the earth, and of 
 man, body and soul, appeared, and by His law of 
 self-sacrifice and love, which has grown ever since, 
 and has in these days of seeking after truth grown 
 rapidly, the earth and man have been saved from a 
 second cataclysm. And the expanding force of the 
 love of God is destined thus to change this globe into 
 " a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwclleth 
 righteousness," when, " by faith, mountains shall be 
 removed, and rough places made plain," and when 
 " none shall say ' Know the Lord, for all shall know 
 Him from the least even to the greatest.'" 
 
 But as " Christ crucified was to the Jews a 
 stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness," so 
 spiritual religion is to the Pharisee or formalist 
 hateful, and to the materialist absurd ; because the 
 formalist, or the carnal or material mind, is at enmity 
 with that spiritual wisdom which can only l>e 
 spiritually discerned. 
 
 The man of mere words or forms, whether the 
 words are the empty shibboleth of the sectarian or 
 the mere nomenclature of the scientist, cannot under- 
 stand or know spiritual things
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 8/ 
 
 If we offer the Esquimaux the fragrant fruits of 
 the earth, he rejects them with disgust ; but if we 
 offer him a lump of reeking blubber, he will devour it 
 with gratitude. 
 
 So, also, if we offer the dogmatic religionist, or the 
 mere formalist, the simple " beauty of holiness " as the 
 essence of religion, he will deny it, and, if he had the 
 power, might, as of old, burn him who offers it, with 
 his teachings, in the fire ; but offer him an incompre- 
 hensible series of phrases, or offer him outward 
 garments and ceremonials as true religion, and he will 
 embrace you as a brother. 
 
 And so, again, if you can prove to the scientist any 
 insignificant physiological fact extorted, it may be, 
 by a cruel vivisection, he will extol you and enrol 
 your name in the annals of a Royal Society. But 
 offer to demonstrate to him that man is a trinity of 
 body, soul, and spirit, and that his visible body is a 
 mere machine used by his soul, and that, when in a 
 trance, you may cut his body to pieces with the 
 owner's entire indifference ; and that the internal soul 
 can see without visible eyes, and hear without visible 
 ears, and handle without visible hands, and sec and 
 know equally the near and the far, the present, the 
 past, and the future ; attempt to demonstrate the 
 truth of this to the materialist, and that religion is the 
 highest science and philosophy, and proves that man's 
 soul and spirit are supreme over all secondary laws,
 
 88 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 and over matter, and that the spiritual man being 
 master of himself, is a supreme master over matter, 
 and can thus, as a spiritual force, pass through matter, 
 which is a mere form of secondary force, as heat passes 
 through iron, or light passes through glass ; attempt 
 to demonstrate such truths as these to the materialist 
 and he may desire either to place you in a madhouse, 
 or may hale you before the magistrate in the attempt 
 to cast you into outer darkness with stripes and 
 imprisonment. 
 
 True religion, nevertheless, is the highest of all the 
 sciences and of all philosophies, for it not only gives a 
 key to the mysteries of matter, but because the 
 salvation of our bodies and souls can thereby be dem- 
 onstrated to be physiological and psychological facts, 
 and those who begin to live the life will begin to 
 perceive that the doctrine is true, and those who full}' 
 live the life will know that it is true. 
 
 The fact that magical powers may be possessed by 
 men of a low moral nature, and used for foolish or vile 
 purposes is no objection to the fact of the divine and 
 miraculous man, any more than the fact that the 
 greatest mental genius is sometimes associated with 
 the most degrading vice is an objection to mental 
 genius. 
 
 Should, however, any man attain to the spiritual 
 supremacy over matter, he is not only in a position of 
 the greatest responsibility, but of imminent danger.
 
 THE DIVINE AND MIRACULOUS MAN. 89 
 
 unless he gives himself entirely to unselfishness ; and 
 indeed " it were better for that man that a millstone 
 were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into 
 the depths of the sea," than that he should use 
 these powers for any purpose antagonistic to the 
 glory of God and the good of the human race, or 
 to the coming of the external and internal kingdom 
 of heaven, the salvation of the bodies and souls of 
 men and women.
 
 VI. THK LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 AS AN AUTO-BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 This paper forms the preface to my Life and 
 Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a con- 
 tinuous narrative of the four gospels * and 
 aims at giving that life and teaching as much as 
 possible in the words of the gospels, without com- 
 ment, and, therefore, I have ventured to give it, 
 tis above, the title of an autobiography, and I may 
 here add that before publication I submitted this 
 epitome of Christ's life to eight Theologians of 
 the various schools in the Church, who accepted it 
 with approval. 
 
 In the attempt, humbly, yet most earnestly, to 
 contemplate critically the nature of this mysterious 
 and Divine Being, it seems well to give the briefest 
 epitome of the life, using as exclusively as possible 
 the words of the Gospels and of Jesus Himself ; and 
 as these words contain not only revealed, but hidden 
 Divine wisdom, the reader should deeply ponder 
 them. 
 
 The names Christ Jesus, X /HOT-MS* I/<r<ux, signify the 
 Anointed Saviour; and the Kl Angelofthe Lord" 
 announced to Mary that Jesus should be born of her, 
 
 * II. Fronde, Oxford l'i)i\t.TMiy 1'ivss. l L. I. 35.
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST. 9 1 
 
 as " Holy the Son of God " mystically " the Logos 1 
 or Word or Wisdom of God, the True Light that 
 lighteth every man coming into the world ; who 
 giveth to those who receive Him the right to become 
 children of God : which Word became flesh and dwelt 
 among us, as the glory of the only begotten of the 
 Father, full of grace and truth." 
 
 " 2 And the child grew and waxed strong, and the 
 grace of God was upon him, and he advanced in 
 wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and 
 man ; while at the age of twelve all who heard him 
 disputing with the doctors in the temple, were amazed 
 at his understanding." 
 
 This Divine Being began His public ministry 3 about 
 the age of thirty, and continued it, as is supposed, for 
 about three years. 
 
 Being 4 baptised by John, " As He came out of the 
 water the heavens were opened to Him and a voice 
 proclaimed, This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
 well pleased." 
 
 Shortly after this, " 5 being full of the Holy Ghost, 
 he was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be 
 tempted of the devil " to acts of magic, and especially 
 tempted to make himself Master of " all the kingdoms 
 of the earth, and the glory of them," which from His 
 miraculous powers He could certainly have accom- 
 
 !J. i. i. 18. 2 L. 2. 40 3 L. 3. 23. 4 M. 3. 16. 
 5 K. i. 12 ; M. 4. I ; L. 4. I.
 
 92 THEOSOPIIV. 
 
 plishcd, and have thus realised the ardent expec- 
 tations of the Jews : but His " 'kingdom was not of 
 this world," and He replied to the tempter " Get thee 
 hence, Satan." 
 
 Having driven the money-changers out of the 
 temple He afterwards preached " 2 Repent for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand " : and He taught the 
 doctrine of Regeneration, or the necessity of being 
 from the natural reborn into the spiritual man ; but 
 said " 4 narrow is the gate and few be they who 
 find it." 
 
 After that, having " 5 remained all night in prayer to 
 God," He preached the " 6 Sermon on the Mount," an 
 epitome of all moral and spiritual perfection : in 
 holiness, humility, purity, love, forgiveness of enemies, 
 faith, singleness of eye, and " seeking first the kingdom 
 of God " ; and enforcing the doctrine of self-denial, 
 elsewhere described as " 'taking up the cross daily " ; 
 through which He, by total self-sacrifice even unto a 
 fearful death, " 8 gave his life a ransom for many," and 
 showed Himself to be " 9 the Way, the Truth, and the 
 Life," whereby only the soul can be saved and brought 
 to the Father" ; having declared Himself to be " 10 The 
 Bread of Life," ""The Light of the World," and 
 "'-The Christ the Son of the Living God." 
 
 1 I. i a. 36- * K. i. 15. J. 3. i. * M. 7. 14. L6.. 12. 
 
 ' M. 5. 6-7. L. 6. i L. 9. 23. " M. 20. 28. o J. 14. 6. 
 
 10 J. 5. 21. J. 8. 12. ls M.i6. 15.
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST. 93 
 
 He throughout his teaching vehemently denounced 
 all ^Pharisaism, priestcraft, and hypocrisy, and in 
 open violation of Pharisaism, " 2 being grieved with 
 the hardening of their hearts," 'wrought many of His 
 miracles of healing on the Sabbath day, and thus the 
 Pharisees " 4 became filled with madness," and ulti- 
 mately compassed His physical destruction. 
 
 He especially taught that in love to God consisted 
 the whole of religion, and in love to man the 
 whole of morality, for He said " 5 On these two 
 commandments hangeth the whole Law and the 
 Prophets," and " there are none other commandments 
 greater than these." 
 
 He for ever taught the Fatherhood of God as 
 of One who loved all His children, G making His 
 sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending 
 rain on the just and the unjust"; and He said 
 " 7 For God so loved the world, that He gave 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 on him, should have eternal life." " 8 And this is Life 
 Eternal, that they should know Thee the only true 
 God, and Him whom Thou has sent, Jesus Christ." 
 For the Fatherhood of God implies the Sonship of 
 Man, and hence the brotherhood of the human race, 
 and The Christ exhibits God with man, and thus 
 shows External Life. 
 
 1 K. 7. L. ii. 42; 13. 15. M. 15. 12523. a K. 3. 5. 3 L. 6. 6. 
 L. 13. 14. J. 5. 10. 14 ; 9. 4 L. 6. ii. 5 M. 22. 40. 6 M. 5. 45. 
 i J. 3.16. 8 J-i7-3-
 
 94 THEOSOPIIV. 
 
 He taught the mystic secret, that " l The kingdom 
 of God is within you " ; but " 2 Except ye become as 
 little children, ye cannot enter that kingdom " ; " 8 for 
 the things of the Spirit are hidden from the wise and 
 prudent but revealed unto babes." 
 
 He said that He Himself was " 4 The Son of Man 
 which is in heaven," and this He illustrated by His 
 5 Transfiguration,when "His face shone as the sun, and 
 His garments were white as light," as a type of all child- 
 ren of men, who when ultimately fully re-born of the 
 Spirit, become sons and daughters of God : as has 
 been shown by those saints who attained to that 
 mystical perfection, to which are granted the gifts of 
 healing, prophecy, and illumination. 
 
 He gave the Lord's prayer, and said, " when thou 
 prayest enter into thy inner chamber and shut the 
 door, and if My word abide with you, ask in My 
 name and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, 
 knock and it shall be opened unto you ; for all things 
 are possible to those who believe, and if ye have faith 
 as a grain of mustard seed mountains shall be 
 removed." 
 
 Miraculous works accompanied all His teaching, 
 and He said " 6 The Father worketh hitherto and I 
 work," and " 7 Believe Me for the very works' sake." 
 
 These miracles were not mere wonders, but were all 
 beneficent or significant. 
 
 1 L. 17. 21. M.i8.2. >M. it. 25. *J-3-'3- 6 K. 9.2. M. 17. 2. 
 J. 5. 17. 'J. 5. 36. & 14 ii.
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST. 9$ 
 
 lie healed " l all manner of diseases"; He gave 
 sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf ; He caused 
 the lame to walk and the lepers to become clean, and 
 He cast out unclean spirits. He stilled the tempest, 
 multiplied bread, and raised the dead to life, 2 and 
 quickened whom He willed and " 3 as many as 
 touched Him were made whole." 
 
 He thus showed Himself, not only as " 4 Lord of the 
 Sabbath," but as Lord 5 by faith and prayer, over Man 
 and Nature. 6 For as Man and Nature are, or rather 
 were, only the reflection of the mind and will of God, 
 or the objective thought of God, thus making the 
 natural and the supernatural one, so Jesus as the 
 Christ, or as THE Son of God, as " 7 God made man- 
 ifest," could by will recreate or regenerate the souls 
 and bodies of men, and thereby show that " 8 the 
 Kingdom of God was at hand," and thus " 9 to the 
 poor was this good news preached." 
 
 These acts were not contrary to Nature, but were 
 super-Natural ; namely, accentuations of Nature, or 
 Nature fundamentally revealed ; that is, they were 
 the results of the operation of a force beyond those of 
 the vital and physical or secondary laws, namely, the 
 operation of the ultimate or primal spiritual law, as 
 normal to the Divine and Miraculous Son of God, 10 
 
 J M.4. 23. 2 J. 5. 21. 3 K. 6. 5-6. 4 K.2.a8. 5 M 21. 21-22. 
 
 J. 14. 12 ; 16 15. " Gen. I. 3. Ps. 33. 6, 7, 9. 7 J. I. 14. 
 
 K. i. 15. 9 M. ii. 5. 10 J. i. 12.
 
 96 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 with power the whole esoteric doctrine of the 
 Christ being, that the sons and daughters of men, 
 as regenerate, should have the Christ or Word in 
 them, as their vital force, and thus spiritually, that 
 is miraculously, become Sons of God, and so become 
 " l One with Him as He was one with the Father." 
 For the Holy Spirit is One. 
 
 Therefore if we grant a divine Spirit, as the Creator 
 of the external world and man, then this Creator, as 
 Spirit, must be the fundamental cause or Sub-stance of 
 Matter. For Creation, as a manifestation of power 
 plus intelligence, is a universal miracle ; and if Nature 
 has progressed by the evolution of the lower to the 
 higher forms, it must have done so, because there was 
 a pre-existing, higher than itself ; it being inconceiv- 
 able that matter per se could rise beyond its own level ; 
 and hence evolution is only another expression for 
 progress, according to intelligence, order, and will. 
 And if man's spiritual nature be in the " 2 Image of 
 God," then man, when " in the spirit," must have 
 " 2 dominion over all lower creatures " and forces, and 
 8 Jesus the Christ as THE Son of God, the receiver of 
 " 4 the Spirit without measure," must logically be 
 Lord over all Matter; and therefore, to speak of" The 
 Christ of God " without Miracles, is not only meaning- 
 less, but a contradiction in terms. 
 
 J. 17. 21. *Gen. i. 26. * M. 16. 16. M-3-34-
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST. 97 
 
 Very shortly before His death, Jesus " 1 stedfastly 
 set His face to go to Jerusalem," knowing that insults, 
 torture, and crucifixion awaited Him ; and a week 
 before His death He 2 entered Jerusalem in triumph, 
 amidst the cries of " Hosanna to the Son of David " ; 
 and when bidden by the Pharisees to rebuke, what to 
 them seemed blasphemy, He answered, " I tell you 
 that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry 
 out." 
 
 " As 3 He entered Jerusalem He wept over it," and 
 predicted its destruction, and entering into the temple 
 He for the second time 4 drove out the money- 
 changers, saying, " My house shall be called a house 
 of prayer for all nations, but ye have made it a den 
 of thieves ; and the chief priests and the scribes heard 
 it, and [seeing how their craft was at stake] sought 
 how they might destroy Him." 
 
 5 In the evening He kept the Passover with His 
 disciples, and instituted "The Lord's Supper," saying, 
 as He brake the Bread and gave the Cup, " This is 
 My Body and this is My Blood of the New Covenant, 
 which is shed for many for the remission of sins this 
 do in remembrance of Me." 
 
 Then as the last act of humility and love, He 
 " washed the disciples' feet," and then passing into 
 the Garden of Gethsemane, He endured the agony of 
 
 1 L. 9. 51. * L. 19. 40. 3 L. 19. 41. 4 M. 21. 12. ' L. 22. 15-21. 
 M. 26. 20. 
 
 II
 
 98 TIIEOSUI'HV. 
 
 His Spiritual Passion, as He prayed, ul O My Father, 
 if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; and being 
 in an agony He prayed more earnestly, His sweat 
 being as great drops of blood falling to the ground." 
 
 Being then seized. He was condemned to death. 
 and spat upon, and for mankind suffered the hideous 
 tortures of Roman scourging and crucifixion, while He 
 said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do," and hanging on the Cross He cried with a loud 
 voice, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me?" and then, " Father, into Thy hands I commend 
 My Spirit ; and He bowed His head and gave up tin- 
 ghost." 
 
 His body being wrapped in linen clothes, was laid 
 in a tomb hewn out of the rock, and lay there for pact 
 of three days and nights, or about thirty-six hours; 
 after which He rose from the dead, 2 while " the earth 
 did quake and the veil of the temple was rent in 
 twain from the top to the bottom," and thus 
 especially showed His lordship over matter, as 1 It- 
 broke down " the middle wall of partition," the \vil 
 between body and spirit, and visibly fulfilled His 
 mystical words, " 3 I am the Resurrection and tin- 
 Life." 
 
 During forty days He appeared at various intervals, 
 4 naturally and 5 supernaturally, to His disciples; 
 
 1 \l. 26.39. L. 22. 44. a M. 27. 51. 8 J. ii. 25. 
 4 J. 20. 14 ; 21. i. ' J. 20. 19.
 
 LIKE AND TEACHINGS Ob' JESUS CHRIST. 99 
 
 and finally He blessed them, and " * while He blessed 
 them He was parted from them and carried up into 
 heaven"; having previously promised, " 3 where two 
 or three are gathered together in My name, there am 
 I in the midst of them " ; and " 3 Lo, I am with you 
 always, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 Thus Jesus of Xa/.areth, as the perfect Son of Man, 
 the divine ideal Man, exemplified the law of human 
 salvation, by a 4 perfect human life ; and Jesus the 
 Christ as THE Son of God as the Logos, or Word, 
 the Wisdom and "' Glory of God, manifest in the flesh, 
 *' (i The Mystery of God, even Christ in whom are 
 hidden all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge," 
 the Lord of Spirit and therefore of all forces, and over 
 all Sub-stances, and to whom as a necessity of His 
 nature, belonged all 7 power with " 8 legions of 
 angels " if asked for is the Saviour of the human 
 race, soul and body, by His triumph over " the World, 
 the Mesh, and the Devil," over Sin, Disease, and 
 1 )eath. 
 
 And thus, as the highest conceivable object of 
 intellectual, moral, and spiritual perfection, as the 
 manifestation of the essential as underlying the 
 phenomenal, in Him, as THE Son of God, '' we 
 behold the Divine face, and comprehend how He is 
 the ONE Central 10 Door, through which the entire 
 
 1 L. 24. 51. 2 M. 18. 20. 8 M. 28. 20. * II eb. 2. 10. 5 J. 17. 5. 
 
 < Col. 2. 3. "' T- 17. 2. M. 28. 18. " M. 26. 53. 9 ]. i. 18 ; 
 
 14. 9. 10 J. 10. 9.
 
 100 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 human race must ultimately enter, and " l The flaming 
 Sword " being quenched regain its lost Paradise ; 
 a and " having overcome be permitted to eat of the 
 tree of Life which is in the garden," and be then-In- 
 drawn back anew into the Heart of GOD. 
 
 1 ('.en. 3. 24. - Rev. 2. 9.
 
 VII. MIRACLES 
 
 \< NOT CONTRARY TO NATURE, BUT AS DUE To 
 THE ACCENTUATION OF NATURAL FORCE 
 THROUGH THE DIRECT ACTION OF 
 SPIRITUAL POWER. * 
 
 IN all ages of the Christian Church, theologians, and 
 in recent times, Butler, Moslcy, Trench, and Westcott, 
 have defined Miracles as Acts directly performed by 
 the interference of the Creator, and as contrary to 
 Nature, or as suspensions of the laws of Nature by tin- 
 personal Act of God. 
 
 In answer to this definition, sceptics, and notably 
 Hume, have said, "The Laws of Nature are fixed 
 and invariable, and if so, then Miracles are 
 impossible." 
 
 To this objection theologians have replied, " The 
 Author of Nature could at His pleasure, alter or 
 suspend the laws of Nature, and that, in the case of 
 Jesus Christ and His immediate disciples He did so, as 
 necessary evidences of Christ's Divine Mission, and 
 
 * This paper, in a brief form, appeared in the Scots Magazine, 1888, 
 when I was urged to state my views in a more complete shape, and this 
 I now attempt to do, and I may here say that this paper, when in 
 proof, was submitted to the criticism of various thinkers and 
 iheolocians.
 
 102 TIIKOSOIMIV. 
 
 that further, the testimony as to miracles of the wit- 
 nesses present was complete and unanswerable." 
 
 To this the sceptics have said, <: The teachings of 
 Jesus are reasonable or unreasonable. If reasonable, 
 they required no corroboration by acts contrary to 
 Nature called Miracles ; and if unreasonable, miracles, 
 even if they occurred, could not establish unreason ; 
 and further, that at this distance of time it is impossible 
 to confirm the evidence offered, and moreover, the con- 
 firmation of alleged acts, contrary to our universal 
 experiences of natural laws, would require an amount of 
 evidence infinitely transcending that required to prove 
 any natural historic facts ; and lastly, that those who 
 credit Miracles with the historic evidence of witnesses, 
 are inconsistent with themselves, for they reject 
 all evidence as to Miracles since the Apostolic 
 Age." 
 
 The case for and against Miracles being thus stated- 
 my position is as follows : 
 
 God is the author of Visible Nature. He is also 
 the author of the Invisible Forces by the operation < I 
 which only Nature exists. For the creation of tlu 
 universe must have been by an intelligence working 
 by Spirit, through those forces which are now the 
 sub-stance of matter. 
 
 The entire universe is thus tin- one universal Miracle, 
 and hence, Miracles are not contrary to Nature, but 
 are the essence of Nature.
 
 MIKACLKS. IO3 
 
 The forces of Nature are, therefore, according to the 
 Mind and Will of God, and are thus of infinite power 
 and efficiency. 
 
 If so, then all acts occurring in Nature must be in 
 accordance with the Mind and Will of God, as 
 expressed in His Laws. And we therefore conclude 
 that the invisible, as well as the visible universe, is 
 only the reflection of the Divine Will. If so, then 
 Miracles being acts in and on Nature, must be pro- 
 duced by the same forces which rule in the current 
 order of Nature. Hence the natural and the super- 
 natural are not contrary the one to the other, but can 
 only be two degrees of One force; and thus I define 
 Miracle, as the result of an accentuation or modification 
 of Natural force, tl trough the direct action of Spiritual 
 />oiL>er. 
 
 As illustrations of the accentuation of force on the 
 natural plane, we find that radiant heat is produced 
 by vibrations of the ether and light by a still higher 
 accentuation or acceleration of these vibrations. 
 
 So also of the " Miracles of beauty " in flowers ; the 
 red colour is produced by certain vibrations, the yellow 
 by accentuation of these vibrations, and the violet by 
 a still further accentuation. And so also if we define 
 certain diseases as the result of inefficient action, we 
 can understand how these diseases could be cured by 
 the accentuation of that action, as directed by Spiritual 
 intelligence, thus working Miracles.
 
 104 THKOSOI'HV. 
 
 This is pre-eminently the age of experimental 
 science, and we know as a sorrowful fact, that tin- 
 majority of scientific men are Agnostics, having no 
 belief in the supernatural or in Miracles. This 
 scepticism more or less prevails everywhere, extending 
 even to women in society, many of whom jauntily 
 boast of their agnosticism and of their full sympathy 
 with the Agnosticism of Science ; while some of the 
 noblest of women have devoted their great genius in 
 constructing deeply interesting works of fiction in 
 support of their disbelief in the supernatural. 
 
 Further still, many broad church clergymen, if they 
 do not deny the Miracles of Christ, gladly elude 
 questioning on the subject and say to you in effect : 
 " Even if the Miracles of Christ could be proved to be 
 historic facts they would not affect our attitude, for we 
 regard His life and teachings as divine evidences 
 of His Moral and Spiritual perfection, of which 
 no Miracles could increase our admiration and 
 reverence." 
 
 To this I would reply that, although the Moral and 
 Spiritual perfection of Christ's life and teaching may 
 not require Miracles in attestation, yet this absolute 
 perfection as existing in Christ only, out of all tin- 
 countless millions who have appeared on this planet 
 during, say six thousand years, is itself an evidence of 
 the supernatural, and that such a being as the only 
 fully begotten Son of (iod, must, like God, work
 
 MIRACLES. 105 
 
 Miracles, from the power possessed by His Spiritual 
 being over the the laws of matter. 
 
 Moreover, the Gospels, from the first to the last 
 verses, are saturated with the idea of the supernatural, 
 and it is only because the clerical sceptics assume that 
 a Miracle is contrary to Nature, and therefore impos- 
 sible, that they fail to see that the Christ without 
 Miracles is meaningless and absurd. 
 
 The attitude of the scientific world towards Miracles 
 was brought before me in a startling manner, when 
 the volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica containing 
 the letter M was published in 1888. 
 
 At that date I eagerly opened the volume to sec 
 and study the latest utterances of science on Miracles, 
 and was much disappointed and surprised to find the 
 word Miracle omitted. I thought that, as a universal 
 dictionary, the word could not intentionally have been 
 left out, and that at least a reason should be given 
 why the subject was not discussed. Accordingly 
 I wrote to the editor at Cambridge, but getting no 
 reply, I again approached him through a personal 
 friend of his, a distinguished professor ; but even he 
 got only a post-card in these words " The subject of 
 Miracles appears to be omitted by the plan of 
 a work which excludes matters of dogmatic contro- 
 versy." Surely an irrational excuse, when we find in 
 the same work discussions on all other forms of 
 religious and philosophic dogmas.
 
 IO6 THEOSOI'HV. 
 
 The question of Miracles would seem then to be 
 excluded from the latest scientific dictionary, on the 
 ground of the supernatural having no standing in what 
 is called scientific culture. 
 
 This ignoring of the miraculous has no doubt arisen 
 out of the wide prevalence of the doctrine of evolution, 
 so profoundly fascinating to the scientific mind ; 
 and here I desire to say that I sympathise with that 
 doctrine, but I cannot conceive of any matter evolving 
 from itself higher forms unless there be a pre- 
 existing mind, towards whose ideal, and by whose will, 
 matter is caused to ascend, for matter, /></ st\ cannot 
 ascend above its own level. 
 
 Let us here ask ourselves what is science, and what 
 is its fundamental position ? The answer is, that the 
 object of science is to know the laws of Nature. But 
 if the laws of Nature be only the expression of tin 
 Mind and Will of God, then the fundamental 
 aim of true science must be to discover the Mind and 
 Will of God. 
 
 In this light the pursuit of science is the highest 
 possible occupation of the thinking and devout mind ; 
 and instead of science and theology being opposed 
 the one to the other, science is only another name for 
 the highest theology, and thus true science and true 
 theology are one. 
 
 If we apply this idea to the tnodus opera ndi of 
 creation, we arrive at the conclusion that (iod created
 
 MIKACLKS. IO/ 
 
 the visible universe of matter and the invisible universe 
 of power, and that although " by the word of the 
 Lord were the heavens made," yet the arm of the Lord 
 which obeyed the word, was the force of Nature. It 
 seems almost irreverent, if not profane, to say so, but 
 it must have been so, for matter without force is non- 
 existent, and the sub-stance of all matter is force ; and 
 if we admit that this ultimate force in Nature, called 
 attraction or cohesion, is of the nature of magnetism, 
 then we arrive at the conclusion that the Divine Mind 
 used magnetism in creating all things. 
 
 Sceptics have laid much stress on their objection to 
 Miracles, because theologians have described them as 
 acts produced personally by the Divine Mind, inter- 
 fering with His own laws by suspension of these laws, 
 and I cannot but sympathise with the sceptic in th 
 objection, for such suspension would indicate a limita- 
 tion to the Divine omnipotence of the Creator's plan 
 in the universe. 
 
 Moreover, the theological idea does not seem to be 
 corroborated by the historic facts, for, according to 
 the records, we do not find that God personally 
 interfered, but the record is that Miracles were always 
 performed in the presence, and by the agency, of men 
 chosen for the purpose, and Jesus says " No man hath 
 seen God at any time ; the Only Begotten, who is in 
 the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." 
 
 Hut man was made in God's image, and The Christ
 
 108 THEOSOI'UV. 
 
 was the entire image of God, and the fully regenerated 
 are in Christ, and thus in God ; and so with these 
 men, as with Christ, Miracles, as the result of the Will 
 of the Spirit acting on those forces which are the sub- 
 stance of matter, were natural acts ; for Miracle is the 
 natural act of the Spirit man, as ordinary acts are 
 the natural work of the material organic man. And 
 to deny this in the case of Christ Himself is, as I 
 have said, not only meaningless, but a contradiction 
 in terms. 
 
 Not that to be in Christ is essential to miraculous 
 power, for we know from Biblical history and the 
 history of all ages, that wicked men wrought Miracles, 
 as said of Beelzebub for Miracle is only this th 
 action of Spiritual beings on the force of Nature, and 
 thus on matter. 
 
 Again there are those who question or deny the 
 facts of Miracle, who yet believe that man is a Spiritual 
 being, and as such survives the death of his body. 
 
 If so, then man, in the Spirit \Vorld, must be a 
 continual worker of Miracles, for he must think, and 
 communicate, and move, and act, on and in a world 
 external to himself, and independently of an organisa- 
 tion visible to the eye of sense. 
 
 If so, then it becomes easy of comprehension, how 
 this invisible spirit may, from time to time and under 
 peculiar conditions, interfere in the affairs of man on 
 this earth.
 
 MIKACLKS. ICX> 
 
 The history of the Bible is full of such instances, 
 and Jesus Himself at His birth, His baptism, His 
 temptation, His transfiguration, His agony in the 
 garden, and at His resurrection, was helped by Angelic 
 beings, and He repeatedly asserts that evil spirits 
 contended with Him. 
 
 No orthodox theologian disputes these statements, 
 but sceptics laugh all such to scorn, and speak of the 
 belief in witchcraft as a mad craze of the days of dark- 
 ness and ignorance. 
 
 But Moses, when he led the Children of Israel to 
 the promised land, found witchcraft or devil-worship 
 the religion of the people, and knowing that all such 
 practices .were entirely destructive of the souls and 
 bodies of human beings, and led to the most horrible 
 iniquities, he doomed all who thus practised, to exter- 
 mination, as vermin in the land. 
 
 Sceptics, we say, have laughed all such statements 
 to scorn, and yet the belief in witchcraft has come 
 through all the ages even to this day, and has been 
 believed in by the greatest minds in all times, from 
 Moses and St. Paul downwards, and has not only 
 always been practised among the Negro races, but at 
 present, in the southern states of America, it is found to 
 be on the increase among those liberated slaves who 
 are left to their own devices, and many of whom, 
 reverting to the habits of their race, practise all manner 
 of devilries.
 
 MO THBOSOPHY. 
 
 Witchcraft is only the association between the evil 
 spirits of departed human beings and the souls of men 
 and women living on the earth. It is obtained by the 
 cultivation of all forms of vice and by what is called 
 selling oneself to the devil, according to the story of 
 Mephistopheles and Faust Scientists, I say, may 
 laugh at these statements as absurdities, but notwith- 
 standing, the facts of witchcraft are known to many 
 thousands of educated men and women now living. 
 
 Hut there is another phase of this subject, the 
 investigation of which has long occupied the deep 
 attention of millions of our fellow creatures, and 
 that is the evidences as to the facts of modern 
 Spiritualism. 
 
 This subject was taken up at the Church Congress, 
 1 88 1, under the presidency of Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop 
 of Durham ; when the Rev. William Thornton and 
 the Rev. Canon Wilberforce and others, while deplor- 
 ing the irregularities of Spiritualism, yet admitted that 
 the facts were an unanswerable evidence against 
 Materialism ; and as Materialism is the religion which 
 sceptical science wishes to set up, if Spiritualistic facts 
 (an refute Materialism, its uses for good must be 
 immense ; and it is very noteworthy, that the facts 
 are believed in by our greatest living Naturalist, In 
 our most subtle Chemist, by one of our greatest 
 Mathematicians, and by our greatest poet since 
 Shakespeare ; while from the University of Cambridge
 
 MlkACLKS. I I 1 
 
 has emanated a Society whose president is recognised 
 as the highest moral and intellectual representative of 
 that seat of learning, and whose work is, to separate 
 the chaff from the wheat, and in the place of a 
 speculative, to establish an experimental Psychology. 
 
 Descartes said : " I think ; therefore, I am," and of 
 God we may say, " He thinks, and therefore all things 
 are." If so, then the disembodied Spiritual man, by 
 thought, as Swedenborg philosophically says, "sur- 
 rounds himself with the forms of his affections." 
 And just as with the natural man, whose imagination 
 creates ideas, so with the Spiritual man, these ideas 
 become objective facts, and as such beings say ; of 
 solidity ; beyond all human and terrestrial experience ; 
 for here our surrounding world is atomic and 
 phenomenal ; but the Spiritual world is unatomic and 
 therefore insoluble and therefore eternal, whose centre 
 is that Spiritual force by which all things are made; 
 and thus we can understand the naturalness of Miracle 
 to the Spiritual being. This, at least, is demonstrated, 
 that Spiritual beings can move, dissolve, and recom- 
 pose material sub-stances, and that according to their 
 own assertions, they do so by controlling, without 
 visible organisation, the forces of Nature as Spiritual 
 alchy mists. 
 
 If we apply these ideas to the natural man himself, 
 we find this when he lifts, let us say, a book from the 
 table, he does so by his will operating on his brain,
 
 112 TllKOSOIMIY. 
 
 and his brain transmitting its message to the nerves 
 and muscles of his arm and hand. 
 
 This is called a natural act, and yet the first impulse- 
 is from a Spiritual force operating directly on the 
 brain ; and as we have defined Miracle as the direct 
 action of Spirit through natural force on matter, this 
 simple act of lifting the book is a Miracle, as wonderful 
 and incomprehensible as any historic Miracle, the only 
 difference being that it is performed through a visible 
 organisation, while historic Miracles were performed 
 through an invisible mechanism. 
 
 The facts of mesmerism go towards the establishing 
 of the miraculous. These facts were long ridiculed by 
 scientific men, but quite recently, under the name of 
 hypnotism, the subject has become everywhere 
 interesting. 
 
 These facts I have been familiar with for over fifty 
 years, and I find that in the mesmeric trance, the 
 Psychic sees, hears, and feels irrespective of the 
 physical senses ; sometimes revealing hidden secrets. 
 or describing acts occurring at a distance, or pre- 
 dicting future events ; while recently, in hypnotic case> 
 habitual drunkenness and other vices have been 
 immediately cured. 
 
 The Psychic in his entranced state, that is, when his 
 Spiritual nature is evoked, makes promises of an 
 amended life, and when he returns to his earthly 
 body, although he may have no remembrance of the
 
 MIRACLES. 113 
 
 promise given in his Spiritual state, he yet religiously 
 keeps to his promises. 
 
 Acts like these are analogous to those cases of 
 sudden conversion which occur under the spiritual- 
 ising influences of that ecstasy, which sometimes is the 
 result of impassioned revival preaching, and in both 
 instances they are a form of Miracle in the sense that 
 a Miracle is the direct action of Spirit over matter. 
 
 In this connection I desire to draw attention to 
 the evil practices of many French scientists now 
 experimenting on hypnotic cases, in which suggestions 
 are often forced on the Psychic, that at a said hour 
 and day he or she may attempt to commit some crime. 
 
 This is a Satanic practice, and identical with the 
 evil practices of black magic and witchcraft, wherein 
 attempts are made to enslave the soul. The Spiritual- 
 istic explanation alone can account for these strange 
 phenomena, and the practice of hypnotism and 
 mesmerism should be in the hands only of those 
 who are guided by truth, benevolence, and reverence. 
 
 With regard to the Saints it has been objected : 
 that even if true, the Miracles of the Saints of modern 
 times are feeble and even childish as compared with 
 the one Miracle of the Universe. 
 
 To this I reply that, in this age of materialistic 
 dogmatism, the fact that a grain of sand could be 
 moved six inches by a psychical force, unknown to 
 science, would be as significant as the stupendous 
 
 I
 
 114 THEOS01MIV. 
 
 revolutions of the stars in the appalling depths of 
 infinite space. 
 
 But again it is urged, if evil Spirits, or idle or 
 purgatorial Spirits, or magnetic influence?, can work 
 Miracles, the theologian \vill unite with the sceptic and 
 ask If Miracles can be produced from these inferior 
 or evil sources, wherein lies the deep significance and 
 solemn importance of the Miracles of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 To this I would reply that, as Miracle is only the 
 action of Spirit on matter, evil or wicked or foolish 
 Spirits can thus act by reason of their nature ; but 
 when Jesus Christ came, He triumphed over all evil 
 or unclean or foolish Spirits, who were leading the 
 world to the infcrnals, and established the kingdom of 
 truth and rightcousnesss, by the brightness of 1 1 is 
 coming. He showed himself as supreme over all 
 lower forces and over matter, and brought life and 
 immortality to light. With Him all Miracles were 
 significant or benevolent. With Him Miracles were 
 as the efflorescence of the laws of Nature ; they were 
 as the heavens upbrcaking through the earth as the 
 Voice of God moving on the waters, and were with 
 Him the essence of His life. 
 
 This has been the voice of all those who became 
 fully regenerated by the Spirit. Of those saints who 
 by entire abnegation of self, became united to the 
 Lord, and were enabled to say being on the plane 
 of Spirit "We are one with Christ and one with
 
 MIRACLES. 115 
 
 God." These Saints obtained " the perfect interior 
 repose " and knew that when in the Spirit, " To will 
 in Christ was to create." To them were opened the 
 secrets of the heart and to know as a fact that " the 
 pure in heart shall see God," that to be single-eyed 
 was to be full of light, and that to the eye of faith all 
 mysteries become palpable realities. And to them 
 was given the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven 
 which is within us, with the gifts of healing, illumina- 
 tion and prophecy. 
 
 This claim is in harmony with the promises of Jesus 
 when He said, " To faith all things are possible and 
 greater works shall ye do than I do, and lo, I am with 
 you always to the end of the world " ; and surely in 
 this age of all but universal scepticism, especially 
 should the heart and soul now cry out for the living 
 God, for an age which is for ever seeking self, and its 
 own glorification, more than any other, demands the 
 manifestation of miracles The Vis Medicatrix Cliristi. 
 
 I recall the theory that matter is composed of atoms 
 of infinite smallness, which never touch, but are in 
 continual movement ; or that the ultimate atoms are 
 only centres ot force, and possessing polarity, and 
 that such atoms can be arranged, separated, and re- 
 arranged, by chemical and magnetic actions as 
 directed by the mind of man, as well as by the force 
 of Nature. Then, if we conceive of man, as not only 
 possessing mind, by which he by instruments manipu-
 
 Il6 THKOSOI'IIV. 
 
 lates the forces of Nature, but as being made in the 
 image of God, and therefore possessing a spiritual 
 nature, is it not easily conceivable that this God-like 
 man should be able, like God, by Will, to direct the 
 forces of Nature, so as to evoke a Spiritual chemistry, 
 and thus call into existence from the surrounding 
 elements, new forms ? 
 
 If so, then let us attempt to apply these generalisa- 
 tions to the Miracles of Jesus Christ. 
 
 We read that Jesus went about continually doing 
 good and healing all manner of diseases. We find 
 also that the multitude so crowded around Him and 
 so drew from His vitality, that, from time to time He 
 withdrew into the mountains, and remained all night 
 in prayer to God. 
 
 Those possessed by evil spirits, and the blind, and 
 the lame, and lepers, came to Him everywhere, and 
 He healed them all, and He quickened whom He 
 willed, and as many as touched Him were made 
 whole. 
 
 We may from these narratives conclude, that during 
 His ministry many hundreds, if not thousands, of 
 Miracles were wrought, but the cases specially given 
 amount to only sixty, and these may be classified as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Miracles of healing and over demons. 
 
 2. Miracles in relation to animal and vegetable life 
 and matter such as the miraculous multiplication of
 
 MIRACLES. 117 
 
 fishes ; the blighting of the fig tree ; water converted 
 into wine ; the swine driven mad. 
 
 3. Miracles over the elements The stilling of the 
 tempest. 
 
 4. Miracles connected with His own body Walk- 
 ing on the sea ; various disappearances and re- 
 appearances ; the Transfiguration ; the Resurrection 
 and the Ascension. 
 
 The Miracles of healing present the fewest difficulties 
 to the sceptic, because many diseases, which have 
 resisted medicinal treatment for years, have been 
 suddenly cured by mental emotions, and in recent 
 times many diseases have been cured by simple faith 
 or by prayer, and many are cured by change of habits 
 or of air and food, while epilepsy has been cured by 
 magnetic means, but no records exist as to the cure of 
 congenital blindness or of malignant leprosy by such 
 means. 
 
 These exceptional cases would require a creative 
 Spiritual power over the tissues and the blood, beyond 
 all experiences, in the power of mental faith, or prayer, 
 or magnetic stimulants. 
 
 There further exists this distinction, that the 
 healing power of Jesus was immediate, and infallible 
 in its action. 
 
 But these Miracles of Jesus were not contrary to 
 Nature, but might be regarded as accentuations of the 
 powers of Nature by the direct Spiritual Will of Christ.
 
 Il8 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 They were acts of creation, like those which originated 
 the first ideas of the various organs of the body. 
 
 Evolutionists attempt to show how the organs of 
 sense might be gradually evolved, but it seems 
 inconceivable that Nature should create eyesight in 
 animals unless the idea of vision was in the Divine- 
 mind. But granting this, then it is conceivable that 
 the desire for sight might gradually, in unlimited time, 
 become gratified, through the action of the inspired 
 animal consciousness ; and thus it becomes to me 
 conceivable, hoiv the Spiritual desire of Jesus might at 
 once create vision. Granting this, alt other instances 
 of healing become easily acceptable. 
 
 If we take the case of blindness from cataract, it is 
 conceivable that the cataract might gradually become 
 absorbed by electric or other stimulation, and if tin- 
 Spirit Mind can manipulate magnetic forces, as always 
 asserted, it is easily comprehended /wzc/thc Spirit Mind 
 might at once cure cataract. Such cures being 
 examples of the direct stimulation of natural forces 
 by Spirit Will, and as such, Miracles are not 
 contrary to natural action, but only differ in this, 
 that natural cures are generally gradual, but the cures 
 by Jesus were immediate, because in the Spirit plane 
 time is non-existent. 
 
 I have already spoken of demons or disembodied 
 human souls, as infesting human beings, and causing 
 Epilepsy and Insanity. That insanity to a
 
 MIRACLES. 119 
 
 extent is caused by demon possession, Jesus teaches, 
 and modern experience confirms that teaching ; and 
 that these demons can be exorcised and driven out, 
 has always been the doctrine and practice of the 
 Church, and also the doctrine and practice of mes- 
 merists, and a belief in this is easy to the experimental 
 Psychologist. 
 
 The Miracle of the swine being driven mad, and 
 rushing down a steep place into the sea and being 
 drowned, has recently excited the mirth of a distin- 
 guished naturalist : but this Miracle is as easy of belief 
 to the practical Psychologist, as the belief in the cause 
 and cure of human insanity, while the Miracle itself 
 signified the destruction of all uncleanness. 
 
 The blasting of the fig tree might have been only 
 the fulfilment of a prediction, the tree being withered 
 suddenly, from some blight, and the signification of 
 the Miracle being the destruction of pretentious 
 hypocrisy. So, also, the tribute money found in the 
 fish's mouth, might have been only an illustration of 
 the faculty of pre-vision possessed by Jesus. 
 
 The conversion of water into wine, by an immediate 
 re-arrangement of the component molecules of water, 
 and its surrounding air, by the controlling power of a 
 Spiritual alchemy, was a Miracle significant of the 
 conversion of the lower animal man, into the regen- 
 erated Spiritual man, and might have been accom- 
 plished by the accentuation of a process analogous to
 
 120 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 catalytic fermentation. In any case the act was not 
 much more wonderful or mysterious than the natural 
 process of fermentation, itself an entire mystery, 
 whereby the mild juice of the grape is converted into 
 a spirit, which, if abused, brings ruin and destruction 
 to whole races of men. 
 
 Moreover, the Miracle is one which it is claimed has 
 been repeated by occult forces, and while on this 
 point, it may not be overstraining the argument, to 
 indicate the conceivability of the Eucharistic wine, in 
 the presence of holy men, being in rare instances 
 converted into a physical source of Spiritual life. 
 
 The multiplication of the loaves and fishes is prob- 
 ably regarded as the most inconceivable of all the 
 Miracles of Christ, and yet it is not more wonderful 
 than the fact that one grain of wheat might in one 
 year, of three crops, be increased to one hundred 
 million grains of wheat ; or the fact that one fish 
 might, by natural generation, be converted into ten 
 thousand millions of fishes in one year. One distinc- 
 tive difference in Miracles from natural acts is, that 
 the Miracle, occurring in the plane of Spirit, in which 
 region there is no measure of time, occurs at once ; 
 whereas natural acts require time, and yet the growth 
 of magnificent flowers in Spring and Summer, from 
 seeds so small as sometimes to require a magnifying 
 glass for their observation, is ;is mysterious and won- 
 derful as any Miracle.
 
 MIRACLES. 121 
 
 There is, however, another possible interpretation of 
 the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, that as Jesus 
 was attended by Ministering Angels, these could have 
 brought together this sudden accumulation of food. 
 
 The stilling of the tempest might, like the blasting 
 of the fig tree, have been only a prediction ; but if 
 otherwise, I admit that I cannot apply the theory of 
 the accentuation of Nature to its solution. But I 
 doubt not that a Being who could control the forces 
 of Nature as to the creation of tissues in the healing 
 of congenital blindness, could control the forces which 
 caused the wind and waves to arise. 
 
 The walking of Jesus on the sea admits of an easier 
 solution in accordance with the laws of Nature. 
 
 We have all from time to time been conscious of 
 sensations of dull heaviness at one time, and buoyant 
 lightness at other times, and this may have arisen from 
 our magnetic condition. It is admitted by men of 
 science, that this planet may be in a negative magnetic 
 state in relation to the sun, while man is said to be, in 
 relation to the earth, in a positive magnetic state, and 
 if so, then he naturally gravitates to the earth. 
 
 But in certain instances, well known to the students 
 of practical psychology, this magnetic relationship has 
 become modified during trance, and men have been 
 then lifted from the earth. This fact has been within 
 my own experience ; while the Romish Church is 
 full of like illustrations as to the levitation of the
 
 122 THKOSOI'HY. 
 
 Spiritualised Saints, and whether these Church 
 instances be facts or theories, they indicate the 
 naturalness, as it were, of the idea in relation to the 
 Spiritualised man, and in this direction, we find no 
 difficulty in comprehending how Our Lord, the Lord 
 of all forces, not only walked on the sea, but ultimately 
 ascended into the heavens. 
 
 But heaven was in Him, and He in it, and flesh and 
 blood cannot inherit that kingdom ; and thus as He 
 ascended, His natural frame ceased to exist ; and in 
 this direction also, we find a solution of the sudden 
 appearances and disappearances of Jesus, through the 
 solvent power of Spirit over matter, as illustrated when 
 the chains and bars ceased to exist as bonds, on the 
 release of Peter from prison. For as we know that 
 fire can dissolve and vapourise iron, so also we know 
 that Spirit, as the creative power, can dissolve and 
 re-create all the forms of matter according to its will ; 
 this fact also being within the knowledge of the 
 experimental Psychologist. 
 
 And so also in the Transfiguration, which signified 
 the divine illumination of man, absolutely regenerated 
 by the Holy Spirit and as partially illustrated by the- 
 face of Stephen, the first Martyr, " whose face shone 
 as the face of an Angel " we are shown the transcen- 
 dent " Light of the World " the Lord coming to His 
 temple the Son of Man shown to be in heaven, while 
 on earth.
 
 MIRACLES. 123 
 
 Lastly, we approach the crowning Miracle of 
 Christ's life, the Resurrection of His body from the 
 dead. 
 
 Jesus had said, " Destroy this temple and in three 
 days I will raise it again " ; and also " I lay down My 
 life that I may take it again ; and He said " I am the 
 Resurrection and the Life." 
 
 In considering most reverently this crowning act of 
 Christ's life, let us ask ourselves the question, What is 
 Death ? 
 
 The answer is simply this, that death is the depar- 
 ture of the soul from the body. If so, then Jesus 
 voluntarily submitted to an agonising death, as He 
 cried with a loud voice, " Father, into Thy hands I 
 commend My Spirit, and He bowed His Head and 
 gave up the ghost." 
 
 After, as is supposed, about thirty-six hours, His 
 Spirit returned, and entering His body, raised it to 
 life. 
 
 This act is denounced by sceptics as one entirely 
 incredible ; and yet we know that as an act, it is 
 substantiated by other evidences. 
 
 Jesus had, during His ministry, illustrated the 
 resurrection by three instances. He raised to life the 
 widow's son, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus. 
 The expression in the case of Jairus' daughter being, 
 " Her Spirit returned and she arose and walked." If 
 so, then we are justified in applying the same words
 
 124 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 in the other instance, and of Jesus \ve may say: His 
 Spirit returned and He arose and came forth, as the 
 watchmen quaked and became as dead men. 
 
 The Resurrection, therefore, as such, was not a 
 unique act ; but inasmuch as the Resurrection of Jesus 
 was for a special purpose, predicted and effected by 
 Jesus as His own act, it is a unique act in the history 
 of the human race ; an act whereby He triumphed 
 over death and brought life and immortality to light. 
 
 The devout mind regards the Resurrection of Jesus 
 us wholly ineffable and shrinks from applying to the 
 solution of its mystery any ratiocination ; and yet it 
 must have happened by a process in harmony with the 
 nature and relationship of soul and body, and if the 
 Soul or Spirit of man be the real man, and his body 
 only his earthly tenement, nothing can be more 
 credible than that the Soul or Spirit may be able to 
 leave its house and again return to that house. It 
 was so with Paul, when caught up to the third heavens, 
 where he saw things not lawful to utter, and it has 
 been so with many saintly beings in the history of 
 mankind. 
 
 In "The Christian Library," about the middle of 
 the last century, as quoted by Dr. Crowell, it is 
 recorded, that " The Rev. M. Tennant one day 
 suddenly appeared to die, and being placed in a coffin 
 was in due course about to be buried, but on the 
 urgent solicitation of his physician, the funeral was
 
 MIRACLES. 125 
 
 put off for a time, and a few days afterwards the 
 supposed dead man came to life." 
 
 On recovering, he affirmed that he had been in 
 Paradise, and had seen that which eye had not seen 
 nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive ; and that the revelation was ineffable 
 and could not be spoken. 
 
 Other instances of a like kind have occurred within 
 my own experience, and it is well known, that those 
 who have been drowned and afterwards brought to life 
 by inflation of the lungs, have often declared that they 
 have had visions of Paradise ; and similar experiences 
 have often occurred to those who have experienced all 
 the happiness of the blessed life, while their bodies 
 were dead, while under the influence of chloroform, as 
 they endured the horrors of fearful operations. 
 
 This line of reasoning is given in more detail in my 
 paper on the Auto-noetic action of the mind, as a 
 proof of the immortality of the Soul; in which it is 
 shown that to be in trance is to be dead in the flesh 
 but alive in the Spirit. 
 
 Therefore, again, I would beg reverently to say, 
 that although we regard the Nature of the Christ as 
 ineffable, we are yet justified in believing that His 
 physical Nature was in harmony with the laws of God 
 as manifested in Nature, and if so, that His resurrec- 
 tion presents no insuperable difficulty to the human 
 understanding.
 
 126 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 Now, with regard to the Miracles of Christ generally, 
 they were not mere wonders, but were all either 
 benevolent or significant. He healed all manner of 
 diseases ; He gave sight to the blind and hearing to 
 the deaf ; He caused the lame to walk, and cleansed the 
 leper and cast out unclean spirits, and raised the 
 Spiritually and physically dead, and quickened whom 
 He willed, and as many as touched Him were made 
 whole. Thus in Jesus The Christ, as the highest con- 
 ceivable object of Moral and Spiritual power, as the 
 manifestation of the essential as underlying the 
 phenomenal, we behold the Son of God with power, 
 and One to whom Miracles were the essence of His 
 Nature, and for the third time, I say, that the term 
 The Christ of God, without Miracles, becomes not 
 only meaningless, but a contradiction in terms. 
 
 It is quite true, as often objected, that the Spiritual 
 significance of Christ's life and teaching is of higher 
 signification than are the historic facts. But the 
 Miracles of Christ have an infinite significance, for 
 with Him, the curing of diseases and the forgiveness 
 of sins were synonymous, while they demonstrated 
 that the fundamental sub-stance of matter is Spirit, 
 and that " all power belongcth unto God." 
 
 If so, then all the doubts and Agnosticism and 
 Materialism and Atheism of this age of self-styled 
 scientific culture, is only a passing phase, the result of 
 surface knowledge, which is doomed, I fully believe, at
 
 MIKACLKS. 127 
 
 no distant day to give place to that fundamental 
 knowledge, with entire belief in Science, as nothing 
 less than the Holy thing which is the Mind and Will 
 of God, made manifest in the universe of Mind and 
 Matter. In this light, to attempt to show that the 
 Miracles of Jesus Christ admit of a scientific analysis, 
 cannot be irreverent ; while, on the other hand.it may 
 help towards a demonstration that the natural and 
 the supernatural are not, as has heretofore been said, 
 contrary the one to the other, but are only two degrees 
 of the Will of God ; and that thus considered, revela- 
 tion and true science are not opposed, but are only the 
 deductive and inductive methods of Divine Reason.
 
 VIII. THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS; 
 
 THEIR METHOD AND THEIR POWER.* 
 
 IN my various writings I have repeatedly attempted 
 to draw a comparison and a contrast between the 
 method of the Oriental Mystics and the method 
 followed by the Christian Saints. 
 
 In the address I delivered to the British Theosophical 
 Society in January, 1880, I attempted to show that the 
 powers claimed by the Oriental Mystics and the 
 powers manifested by the Christian Saints were cog- 
 nate, but that the method by which these powers were 
 obtained, although initially the same namely, the 
 force of will or desire yet immediately diverged or 
 polarised in opposite directions. 
 
 The Oriental Adept, by soul or will force and a 
 systematic training of his soul and body, attempts to 
 seize on the Spirit, and thus to scale the heavens and 
 there to rule as a demi-god. 
 
 The Christian Saint, on the other hand, undergoes 
 no systematic training, but he ardently wills or desires 
 to shun the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to 
 " crucify those affections and lusts which war against 
 the soul." 
 
 * Read before the British Theosophical Society, 3lst July, 1881, and 
 reprinted from the Psychological Review.
 
 TIIK CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 1 2Q 
 
 He takes Jesus Christ as his model, and attempts 
 literally to realise the life and teachings of his Master. 
 He believes that if he lives the life he will have a 
 revelation of the doctrine, and he believes that if he 
 knows the doctrine he will have a gift of the Spirit, 
 and thus he desires to possess that knowledge which 
 is Christ's power. 
 
 The Oriental Adept trusts to the powers of his 
 own divine birth-right, the Christian Saint trusts 
 entirely to the gift of God. The Adept asserts the 
 power of his own will, the Saint desires with abject 
 humility to submit to the will of God operating with 
 his own spirit. 
 
 The pneumatological results are, sometimes, to a 
 great extent identical ; that is, both the Adept and 
 the Saint become more or less spiritual beings with 
 the powers of the Spirit. But the Adept, as he chiefly 
 worships abstract power, lives in secret as a thinker 
 and practical psychologist. The Saint, taking Jesus 
 Christ in all respects as his model, expends his life in 
 openly transmuting his spiritual powers into good 
 works, and by his miraculous powers converting and 
 regenerating the souls and bodies of the wicked and 
 diseased men and women around him. 
 
 The Oriental Adept, by a long, severe, and syste- 
 matic discipline, by pure diet, cleansings, and magnetic 
 aid, attempts to regenerate his body. 
 
 The Saint has often committed the great error of 
 
 K
 
 130 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 despising his body. He has abused it unnaturally and 
 cruelly. He forgets that as his body should be the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, he should make it clean, 
 strong, and beautiful. He disgraces his body instead 
 of " presenting it a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
 unto God, which is his reasonable service." 
 
 The Saint, in his attempt to imitate the sufferings 
 of Jesus, seem to forget that these sufferings were of 
 the soul, and thus it is that he often mistook the letter 
 for the Spirit, and distorted the original into a carica- 
 ture. 
 
 With reverence I conceive that Jesus of Nazareth, as 
 Jesus, had a body of perfect health, and as the Christ 
 had a body in all respects perfect, being a body 
 regenerated as by water and the Spirit 
 
 The powers obtained by the Adept and the S;iint 
 are those of the Spirit. 
 
 They are what is called miraculous powers, by 
 which I mean the central power of the One Spirit as 
 distinguished from the circumferential powers of the 
 complex soul. 
 
 By the central dynamics of the Spirit the possessor 
 becomes a clairvoyant, a seer, a prophet. He can 
 directly, or as an instrument, change the magnetic 
 conditions, and thus rearrange the molecular constitu- 
 tion of matter, and thus heal disease, or ascend from 
 the earth, or transmit his power and his form to a 
 distance.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 13! 
 
 He can triumph over fire and water, subdue wild 
 beasts, control madness, and convert the wicked into 
 good men. As St. Catherine says, " Those in perfect 
 obedience to God, receive the obedience of all 
 creatures." But the Adept, so far as we know, is 
 satisfied with the possession and secret exercise of 
 these powers ; while the Christian Saint, as an imitator 
 of his Lord, openly expends his strength and his life 
 in his desire to regenerate the souls and bodies of 
 wicked and diseased human beings. 
 
 In my attempt to bring before the reader a true 
 portrait of the Saints, I will give a brief outline of 
 the lives of four Saints two women and two men, 
 namely, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Teresa of 
 Spain, St. Francis of Assissi, and, lastly, the Cure 
 D'Ars of France. 
 
 Of these four Saints, St. Elizabeth was a married 
 woman ; the other three were celibates. The three 
 first lived in the middle ages, but the Cure D'Ars died 
 only thirty-four years ago. 
 
 I shall attempt to show that these Saints, by the 
 power of faith, love, purity, fasting, and prayer, 
 obtained all and, so far as we know, more than 
 Oriental Adepts obtain by physical and soul training 
 and will force. 
 
 The Romish Church as a corporation, dealing as it 
 docs with millions of ignorant and superstitious men 
 and women, chiefly of the Latin and Celtic races, has
 
 132 THKOSOPHY. 
 
 not unfrcqucntly degraded the Saints in the eyes of 
 thoughtful people, by showman-like, overlaying them 
 with a childish garniture of tinsel. 
 
 Protestants on the other hand, in their blind intoler- 
 ance of all that has arisen within the Romish Church, 
 have not only remained deeply ignorant of the lives 
 of the Saints, but have ignorantly laughed to scorn 
 their asserted sanctity, and their miraculous powers. 
 
 But the Theosophist knowing scientifically, as he 
 does, the reality and power of the hidden spirit in 
 man, and its godlike nature and attributes when 
 evoked, and knowing the capability of man actually 
 and potentially to become, as a matter of fact, a 
 Christ-like being can not only believe, but can truly 
 and philosophically explain the nature and power of 
 the Saint, his physiology and his psychology, the 
 method and nature of his power the practical sci 
 of the true Christian religion. 
 
 St. Elizabeth was a daughter of Andrias II., King 
 of Hungary, and was born at Presburg in 1207. 
 
 At the age of fourteen she was married to the 
 Landgraf of Thuringia. She had three children a 
 son and two daughters. Her husband died when on 
 his way to Palestine when she was twenty years of 
 age, and she died at the early age of twenty-four 
 years. 
 
 As a Saint, her life has this peculiar interest, (hat
 
 TIIK CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 133 
 
 she was a married woman and had children ; it being 
 a general idea of Theosophists and others, that 
 celibates only were capable of reaching the exaltation 
 and marvellous powers of the supernatural spiritual 
 life. 
 
 But although married, she was married to one who 
 entirely appreciated her saintly virtues, and who was 
 himself a perfectly pure and saintly man, living in 
 simple love, and dying while on his way as a crusader 
 to the Holy Land. 
 
 This St. Elizabeth, although a king's daughter, lived 
 a life of what is called " the joy of holy poverty," that 
 is, she gave up all worldly riches for the good of 
 others, and received in exchange the graces, gifts, and 
 powers of the Saint. 
 
 The power to heal disease, and to convert the 
 wicked, and to work physical miracles, accompanied 
 her during her husband's life, but especially after his 
 death. 
 
 She worked incessantly among the poor, carrying 
 to them alms and bread, while she herself fasted ; and 
 there is a well known picture which represents her as 
 meeting her husband on the mountains, when on one 
 of these missions, when the loaves in her apron were 
 transformed into roses, symbolical of her beautiful 
 and fragrant deeds, while above her head shone the 
 luminous cross of divine love and life. 
 
 She not only gave all her property to the poor, but
 
 134 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 nursed them in their illnesses, washing their sores, and 
 associating with the terrible lepers. 
 
 Notwithstanding all which, being.after her husband's 
 death, set aside by her brother-in-law, she fell into 
 great troubles was driven from place to place 
 resting in pig-styes, and was beaten, insulted, and 
 slandered. 
 
 But, king's daughter though she was, she endured 
 all this with the most beautiful patience, resignation, 
 and love ; esteeming herself only too happy to suffer 
 thus the agonies of her Lord. 
 
 She had many beautiful visions of Christ, and ex- 
 perienced not only "the joy of self-sacrifice," but "the 
 joy of actual union with Christ," or the One Spirit. 
 
 These early Saints, living in an age of darkness and 
 cruelty, went to such extremes of self-abasement and 
 mortification, as seem to me to dishonour God, as if 
 their loving Father or their Lord, could possibly be 
 gratified by excesses which were beneficial to no one, 
 and which precipitated their own death. Mortifications 
 which not only killed the body, but which were in 
 themselves sometimes revolting and disgusting. 
 
 When in doubt as to the truthfulness of any action 
 or mode of life, we cannot err in asking ourselves, 
 " Did Jesus Christ act thus, or did he teach thus ? " 
 and if He did not, then that action and mode of life 
 is not in accordance with His will, but is an error, if 
 not a sin.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 135 
 
 But inasmuch as St. Elizabeth did all in faith and 
 love, and errred because of the badness of the age in 
 which she lived, her works may be said to have been 
 counted to her as righteousness, and thus by the 
 crucifixion of the flesh in love, she attained to the 
 resurrection of the Spirit. 
 
 She believed all things were given to those who 
 prayed in faith, and, while thus engaged, her face is 
 described as becoming luminous, and her body as 
 ascending in the air, as she saw and conversed with 
 angelic beings. 
 
 After her death, it is said, her body emitted a 
 perfume, her face became radiant, and the birds of the 
 air sang her requiem. 
 
 Her utter unselfishness during life melted all hearts, 
 and thus she received those spiritual and miraculous 
 gilts which the ntter surrender of the Self-hood to the 
 Divine, seems, by the law of our higher nature, to 
 secure. 
 
 St. Francis of Assissi, founder of the Franciscan 
 order, was born twenty -five years before St. Elizabeth, 
 in 1182, and died 1226, aged forty-four years. 
 
 It was from his influence that St. Elizabeth, in the 
 first place, drew her inspiration. 
 
 He began life as a gay, generous, handsome, and 
 extravagant young man, the admiration of his native 
 city.
 
 136 THEOSOl'HV. 
 
 He was also a chivalrous soldier, but being taken 
 prisoner, and falling into bad health, he came under 
 spiritual influences, and from henceforth determined 
 to live in severe literal exactness, according to the rule 
 of the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospels 
 
 He adopted " holy purity and poverty," with their 
 entire freedom from worldly cares, and having re- 
 nounced all claim to his patrimony, he assumed the 
 garb of the monk, and the avocation of the preaching 
 mendicant. 
 
 He supported himself by begging from door to 
 door, and lived on crusts of bread, and water. 
 
 His enthusiasm necessarily attracted many, and he 
 and his associates became itinerant preachers of the 
 Gospel, and boldly attacked all the vices and luxury 
 of the age. 
 
 " He exalted poverty to an active and positive 
 principle," for " blessed are the poor in spirit, and to 
 the poor is the Gospel preached." Some of his 
 followers became missionaries to foreign lands, and 
 there denouncing what they considered idolatries, 
 suffered martyrdom, and "their blood thus became the 
 seed of the church." 
 
 Although his rule was severity itself, yet he himself 
 ever remained the simple, humble, and loving man. 
 
 Like Daniel, by his purity, he subdued wild beasts, 
 and he regarded all the lower animals as his brothers 
 and sisters, addressing them in loving words, and the
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 137 
 
 birds are said to have listened to him and to have 
 obeyed his voice, ceasing to chatter when they dis- 
 turbed his devotions, and ascending into the air 
 singing at heaven's gate when he asked them to do so. 
 
 He wept as he saw lambs led to the slaughter, and 
 the rivers and hills he also spoke to, as if they were 
 his brothers and sisters. 
 
 Almost we might call him a Christian pantheist, 
 for he believed that 
 
 " He prayeth well who loveth well, 
 Moth man, and bird, and beast ; 
 I le prayeth best who loveth best 
 All things both great and small ; 
 For the dear Clod who loveth us, 
 He made and loveth all." 
 
 He read the thoughts of men, and he cured their 
 diseases, and frequently, in ecstatic prayer, visions of 
 Christ stood before him, as he, rising in the air, became 
 luminous, and the chapel was full of light, " For the 
 eye being single, the whole body was full of light." 
 
 He wept much for his own sins and for the sins of 
 others, and gloried in being despised and rejected of 
 men. 
 
 His rule was purity, chastity, obedience, humility, 
 love, faith, fasting, and prayer. 
 
 Finally, desiring ardently in all things to be worthy 
 of the glory of carrying the cross of Christ, he became 
 pierced with the Stigmata the five wounds of the 
 crucifixion.
 
 138 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 These wounds he bore for two years. They were 
 seen by many, although he carefully hid them, as too 
 sacred for profane or curious eyes, and he carried 
 them to his grave. 
 
 He was a man utterly devoted to his ideal Christ ; 
 by following whose rule literally and with intensity, he 
 being thus in the Spirit by the creative power of 
 imagination and love, became regenerated into the 
 likeness of his Master, and with his Master's powers. 
 
 About 300 years later than St. Francis, was born 
 St. Teresa, at Avila, in Old Castile, in the year 1515. 
 She died 1583, aged 68 years. 
 
 From a child she was a mystic, and longed for 
 martyrdom ; and when 1 8 years of age she became a 
 Carmelite nun. 
 
 She was, however, 40 years of age before the serious 
 business of her life began in asceticism, and that 
 continual desire of the soul which is prayer followed 
 by visions and supernatural powers. 
 
 Unlike St. Elizabeth, St. Teresa was a woman of a 
 subtle, metaphysical, analytical, and literary turn of 
 mind, and for these reasons, and also because she 
 lived in a more historic period, her life has for us a far 
 greater interest than those of the older Saints. 
 
 Like St. Francis and others, she also when in 
 ecstatic prayer frequently became luminous, and 
 ascended from the earth ; and she describes her
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 139 
 
 spiritual visions as transcending all merely human 
 imaginations, and altogether beyond human vision. 
 
 She describes some of these visions as that of the 
 crucifixion of the flesh, which was as an ecstatic pain, 
 and, in common with most of the Saints, being on the 
 Spirit-plane, she encountered demons, and had con- 
 flicts with the Evil One. 
 
 A saying of hers was, " The highest power of the 
 soul consisted not in thinking, but in loving"; and 
 another saying was, " The highest perfection and 
 power come from the total abnegation of self, and, 
 by submitting our will to the will of others, we obtain 
 the perfect mastery over selfishness and its sins." 
 
 In describing her ecstatic unions with Christ and 
 God she uses the remarkable theosophic expression, 
 afterwards used by Bcehme, " It seemed as if the Spirit 
 of my Soul became one with God." 
 
 Thus also she obtained what in theosophic language 
 she calls " the perfect interior repose? 
 
 She also, with theosophic wisdom, says "With God, 
 to speak or think is to do or create." 
 
 Her revelations were more interior than external, 
 and hence her physical miracles were fewer than with 
 some other saints, but she still healed many sick folk. 
 
 She was beautiful in death, and from her body came 
 the odour of sanctity. 
 
 With her was that'clearness and exactness of reason 
 which comes to the pure in heart ; and she knew, as a
 
 140 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 biographer says, that " The illumination of the under- 
 standing was the Science of the Saints." 
 
 Her life is a deeply interesting mystical study; and 
 Protestants without an understanding of such lives 
 must continue to remain ignorant of those deep 
 secrets of the soul and spirit which alone can reveal 
 the Hidden Christ. 
 
 Lastly, I will bring before you the life of one 
 although not canonised, yet not the less a saint 
 Jean Marie Baptiste Vicnnay, commonly called the 
 Cure D'Ars. 
 
 He was born at Darclilly, a village near Lyons, 
 1786, and died 1859, aged 73 years. 
 
 His parents were poor, simple farmers. He was 
 always a simple and good child, and at an early age 
 took seriously to religion. 
 
 He was a simple, pure, loving, and pious soul, and 
 he set himself literally to live the life of Christ, like a 
 little child. 
 
 Poverty, continual self-denials, the absence of all 
 self-indulgence, total self-abnegation, humility, untiring 
 forgiveness and charity, with continual prayer, were his 
 rule of life. 
 
 He established an orphanage, himself occupying a 
 humble chamber almost devoid of furniture. 
 
 He lived on crusts of bread and water; and if at 
 any time kind souls, compassionating his poverty, left
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 141 
 
 presents at his house, these he invariably and imme- 
 diately gave away to the poor. 
 
 As one very thinly separated from the Spirit world, 
 he encountered demons, and for twenty years was 
 tormented by the Evil One; whom he called Grappin. 
 
 This demon came nightly to him for twenty years, 
 calling out his name and denouncing him, knocking 
 his furniture about, screaming and roaring like a con- 
 demned soul, and threatening his life. 
 
 These facts were substantiated by many sceptics 
 who went for the purpose of testing their reality. 
 
 At first he was greatly alarmed, but he soon got 
 accustomed to these things, enduring them with the 
 utmost patience and good nature. 
 
 At last Grappin, finding himself despised, left him ; 
 but then began the persecutions of men -the neigh- 
 bouring priests and others who envied his celebrity, or 
 suffered from the reflections which his pure and holy 
 life cast on themselves. 
 
 These persecutions included the vilest calumnies, 
 but all this he not only bore with the sweetest patience, 
 but rejoiced that he was found thus worthy to suffer 
 for his Lord. 
 
 His simple goodness, charity, humility, and truth at 
 last, after eight years, lived this persecution down ; 
 and some of those who had reviled him, came and on 
 their knees and in tears asked his forgiveness. 
 
 Many miracles of healing were wrought through his
 
 142 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 prayers, and the faith of the sick, especially cases of 
 lameness and paralysis. 
 
 On one occasion, it is asserted, that with two or 
 three pounds of flour, all that remained in the house, 
 the housekeeper made about two hundred pounds of 
 bread for the orphanage. She asserted that the batch 
 rose and multiplied under her hands. Those who 
 believe in spiritual powers and in the promises of 
 Christ have no right to deny this statement. 
 
 On another occasion the granary was found empty, 
 but in answer to prayer, next day it was found filled 
 with corn. 
 
 The sceptic will at once say " O, yes, by the hands 
 of kind friends, who no doubt knew of the famine." 
 But those who are acquainted with the phenomena 
 of Spirit apports know that this asserted miracle 
 might have happened. 
 
 He became and was, for twenty years, a centre, 
 attracting pilgrims from all quarters; and it is asserted 
 that from fifty to eighty thousand people were at- 
 tracted to his remote village annually, that they might 
 see him, or confess their sins, or be healed of their 
 diseases of body and mind. 
 
 At these most laborious duties he, as a rule, worked 
 eighteen hours a-day in the chapel for twenty years, 
 without one holiday, an amount of labour on a mini- 
 mum of rest and sleep and nourishment which seems 
 supernatural.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 143 
 
 He read the secrets of those who came for con- 
 fession, and often told all before one word was 
 confessed ; and at other times if acts of sin were 
 withheld by the penitent, he sometimes pointed out 
 the day and hour such sins were committed. 
 
 At other times he could pick out of the waiting 
 crowd those who stood most in need of his assist- 
 ance, and many men of the world and sceptics were 
 converted by a glance of the eye, a look or a 
 word. 
 
 He prayed and wept much for his own sins and the 
 sins of others ; and on one occasion as he thus wept, 
 the hardened sinner then under confession said : 
 " Father, why do you weep so? " His reply was, " I 
 weep dear friend, because you do not weep." 
 
 He was an unlettered man, but he also, like 
 St. Teresa, had that clearness of mental vision and 
 logic which comes to those whose eye being single 
 their whole bodies are full of light. 
 
 On one occasion a man \vho earned a portion of 
 his living by playing the fiddle at Sunday dances 
 called on the Cure and begged for his prayers in aid 
 of his crippled child. 
 
 The Cure, in confessing him, begged him to give 
 up this fiddling. The man could not find in his heart 
 to do so, but on returning home he suddenly repented, 
 and breaking his fiddle into bits, threw them into the 
 fire. As the wood burned the crippled child suddenly
 
 144 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 leaped from his bed, crying out, " I am cured, I am 
 cured," as he ran through the house. 
 
 On another occasion the crippled child of a soldier 
 was cured by a word ; and another child, eight years 
 old, believing in the promise of the good Cure, was 
 "suddenly cured next day, and ran through the vil- 
 lage like a hare." 
 
 He used to say many deep things, although himself 
 so simple, as thus 
 
 " A pure soul can get all it asks of God." 
 
 " When I give away everything to God he gives me 
 
 all I ask." 
 "Prayer disengages the soul from matterit unites 
 
 us with God and fills us with light." 
 " It is Sin which brings all war, pestilence, disease, 
 
 and death." 
 " God casts no man into hell : he casts himself 
 
 there." 
 " The best way to be rich is to give everything, for 
 
 then we have treasures in heaven." 
 " In self-surrender is the power of the saints." 
 "Those who are true and pure see all things with 
 
 clear and exact minds." 
 
 He is described as one who seemed to be an em- 
 bodied spirit before whose gaze and in whose presence 
 all vanity and folly fled away. 
 
 His biographer says, "Faith was his only Science 
 and explained all mysteries, while his intimate union
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 145 
 
 with God showed all mysteries as palpable realities" 
 
 A commentator says "Sanctity is the fruit of Sacri- 
 fice : it is a death and a new brith ; but there is no death 
 without suffering, and no childbirth without its pangs." 
 
 Thus, the Cure D'Ars says, "When I could follow 
 this rule I got all I asked, and fastings and vigils 
 attract gifts from God." 
 
 Praise and flattery gave him positive pain, but under 
 slanders and censures he felt peace and gratitude, say- 
 ing, " how pleased he was that these good people had 
 found him out." 
 
 He died as he had lived, in perfect peace, expressing 
 only one regret that his illness should give anyone 
 trouble. 
 
 Thus passed away, in our own day, this sweet and 
 beautiful soul an illustration of the graces and 
 powers given to those who fully live the entirely 
 unselfish life, who, utterly emptying themselves of 
 self, are filled with the Holy Spirit. Triumphing over 
 " the world, the flesh, and the devil," in patience, 
 humility, and love, they are regenerated as the well- 
 beloved sons of God and brothers of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I have dwelt at greater length on the life of the 
 Cure D'Ars because he lived in our own day, and thus 
 not only touches us more nearly, but because his life 
 and his words and his acts and his miraculous powers, 
 have been witnessed by innumerable observers, many 
 of whom are now living in our midst. 
 
 L
 
 146 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 Those who believe in the phenomena of modern 
 Spiritualism, can have no difficulty in believing in 
 nearly all which is recorded of the Cure D'Ars and 
 the other Saints described in this paper. 
 
 Those who may think it profanity to draw a parallel 
 between the saintly powers of holy men and women 
 and the many times disorderly and often wicked 
 manifestations occurring among Spiritualists, or rather 
 Spirit-ists, must remember that evil spirits can work- 
 miracles or wonders as well as good spirits; and it is 
 admitted that modern Spiritualism, so called, too 
 frequently no more resembles that spiritual power 
 which comes through " holy purity " than the mis- 
 chievous and unclean gambols of apes, resemble the 
 dignified walk and conversation of good and high- 
 souled men and women.* 
 
 It will have been noticed that many of the Saints, 
 when engaged in ecstatic prayer, have been raised 
 from the ground. 
 
 This is a statement which the sceptic will not 
 readily accept, and yet the present writer knew a lady 
 who, while on one occasion engaged before the altar, 
 in intense prayer, began to find herself rising from the 
 ground, but on becoming alarmed, re-alighted. Yes, 
 there is a magic in intense prayer ; and the elevation 
 
 * While admitting so much, I must still assert, that it is only through 
 the phcmmcna of modern Spiritualism that materialism is refuted.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 147 
 
 produced by Divine love is not only psychologically 
 but physically true.* 
 
 The Saints were men and women, who resolved 
 literally and exactly to live the life and follow the 
 teachings of Jesus Christ, and thus they became born 
 in His likeness. 
 
 By purity of life, by fastings, by self-denials, and 
 by continual desire or prayer they became spiritual- 
 ised human beings, and as such, according to the 
 mystic teachings of Jacob Bcehme, they became 
 Christ-like actually, and their will and imagination 
 became creative. 
 
 Thus, " the Science of the Saints " is the Science 
 of Theosophy and Christian Magic. 
 
 The mechanism of the saintly life is not taught by 
 the Romish Church, but it would seem to teach that 
 the Saints were so far mediums, inasmuch as their 
 powers are often ascribed to the assistance of other 
 departed saints. 
 
 Undoubtedly the Saints were mediums ; but how 
 far their powers were centred in their own spiritual 
 nature, and how far they were assisted by angelic 
 
 * These elevations of the body, contrary to the law of gravity, occur 
 only during ecstacy, and are mystically explained by the attractive power 
 of Divine love, drawing the loving soul from earth to heaven. 
 
 Physically, I venture to give the explanation : that as two magnetic 
 negatives repel each other, the earth being magnetically negative, repels 
 that human being from its surface whose body is rendered magnetically 
 negative by the total abnegation of selfishness.
 
 148 THEOSOPIIY. 
 
 beings, is difficult to determine. If any one be truly 
 in spirit, or in the spirit plane, -he is " in Christ " and 
 at one with the Divine, and hence the marvellous 
 powers thus manifested cannot be strictly individual- 
 ised. 
 
 Jesus Christ worked miracles by His personal power, 
 and yet even He was ministered to by angels. 
 
 Celibacy and extreme fastings are rules with the 
 Saints ; but this being a physical world, the great 
 majority of men and women must marry, and increase, 
 and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. 
 
 The entire Saint must therefore be an exceptional 
 being, the singular spiritual phenomenon of his age, 
 produced as a manifestation of the Son born of the 
 Holy Spirit in the midst of a carnal world. " A light 
 shining in darkness," although, as in the days of Jesus, 
 " the darkness (for the most part) comprehcndeth it 
 not." 
 
 But although the entire Saint with miraculous 
 powers must be an exceptional being, it is yet open to 
 all to live a life of purity in body and soul a life of 
 self-denial in all things, including a simple diet, with 
 occasional reasonable fasts a life of humility, truth, 
 charity, faith, and prayer, or continual desire for all 
 good. 
 
 Those who can thus live, and especially if, m patience, 
 they persevere therein, will at least so far become
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SAINTS. 149 
 
 regenerated as to obtain an increase of health, beauty, 
 happiness, clear mental vision, and magnetic healing 
 power, and they will be able somewhat to comprehend 
 how the Saints came to know that " Blessed are the 
 pure in heart, for they shall see God."* 
 
 * In recent times various Societies have been formed for the investi- 
 gation of Christo-Theosophy, but they have produced no results, because 
 they have degenerated into mere debating societies, with discords ; 
 while a true Christo-Theosophic Society, I conceive, should aim at 
 mutual encouragement in the practice of the Saintly life.
 
 IX. MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, AND MIND 
 HEALING. 
 
 IN this paper it is not necessary to go minutely into 
 the history of Mesmerism, as the reader can find that 
 in Dr. Gregory's book. But I may briefly say that 
 to Mesmer, an Austrian physician, who flourished 
 from about 1780 to 1815, we are indebted for the 
 revival in our country of an occult art, known some 
 4,000 years ago to the Egyptian priests, as evidenced 
 by many drawings on walls and mummy cases. That 
 in London, about 1840, there was a Mesmeric 
 Institution, of which Archbishop Whately was the 
 president, and Dr. Elliotscn the ruling spirit ; and 
 that for some ten years the subject, under the name 
 of hypnotism, has been scientifically investigated 
 with experiments at certain hospitals in France, 
 Germany, and Holland. 
 
 The subject in Scotland occupied much attention 
 about the year 1839, when Sir William Hamilton, 
 Sir James Simpson, M.D., Dr. Robert Chambers, and 
 Mr. Dove engaged themselves in many mesmeric 
 experiments, and it was at that date that I first 
 became acquainted with Clairvoyance. 
 
 The name hypnotism was first suggested by Mr. 
 Braid, a surgeon practising in Manchester, who in
 
 MESMKRISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 151 
 
 1843 published a book entitled Hypnotism, or 
 Nervous Sleep. 
 
 Mr. Braid was convinced of the truth of the 
 phenomena of mesmerism, but denied its leading 
 theory, namely, that an aura proceeded from the 
 operator to the patient, of a magnetic character. He 
 asserted that there was no such aura, but that the 
 phenomena of mesmerism were entirely subjective, 
 and were mainly produced by a paralysis of the 
 volitional power in man, and a substitution of the 
 involuntary and automatic powers, and that, in effect, 
 the phenomena were entirely due to the physical and 
 mental condition of the patient, and independent of 
 any agency proceeding from outside himself ; and this 
 is generally the theory now held by the Continental 
 hypnotists, as described and illustrated by Dr. 
 Tuckey, in his interesting book Psycho- Therapeutics, 
 or Curing by Suggestion. 
 
 Now, in the first place, regarding this word hyp- 
 notism, we may say that it suggests no theory in 
 solution of the problem in question, the word being 
 simply derived from the Greek word for sleep, and 
 we know that out of ordinary sleep no hypnotic 
 phenomena arise. 
 
 But although the word itself suggests no theory, 
 yet the theory attached to it to-day is, as I have 
 said, the same as that given by Mr. Braid, and signifies 
 the sleep of the volitional faculties and the awaking
 
 152 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 of the automatic conditions of the brain, which 
 passively submits to the dictations and suggestions of 
 the operator, and thus through the unconscious imag- 
 ination, as it were, of the patient, suggests cures which 
 in many cases are realised. 
 
 These cases of cure by suggestion, are illustrations 
 of the power of the mind over the body an extremely 
 interesting subject, and one which is realised exten- 
 sively in " The mind cure " of our day. 
 
 The question which I ask myself, however, in 
 relation to this so-called cure by suggestion is this. 
 How can the hypnotist explain why a suggestion 
 given to the mind when in a sleepy condition should 
 effect permanent cures, while the same suggestion 
 given to the mind in its rational state fails to cure? 
 
 The hypnotist will say that the patient is in an 
 inferior position while half or wholly asleep to the 
 position he is in while in the full exercise of his 
 reason, and yet grand curative results, both to body 
 and mind, come through this inferior position. 
 
 I can understand how trifling or imaginary diseases 
 may be thus cured, but I cannot understand ho\v 
 moral exaltations, as in the cure of confirmed 
 drunkenness, and other degrading immoralities, can be 
 thus permanently produced. 
 
 But the soul and body often arc washed, as it were, 
 and the unclean demons driven out, in hypnotic 
 operation ; and if so, I conclude that there is an
 
 MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 153 
 
 efficient cause, and that the cause is not merely a 
 suggestion given to the half unconscious mind of the 
 patient, but -must be the result of the inner and 
 higher soul awaking out of its slumbers and assuming 
 the command of the self-indulgent lower self. 
 
 If so, then hypnotism is only a means of producing 
 trance, more or less complete, for trance must mean 
 an awaking of the internal and hidden spirit, whereby 
 the Spirit The Lord comes to His temple and 
 drives from thence the concupiscences of the flesh ; 
 and here we have an analogy to certain cases of 
 genuine and permanent and sudden "conversion of 
 the soul " which sometimes result from the entrancing 
 preaching of the words of righteousness. 
 
 If now we ask ourselves wherein does hypnotism 
 differ from mesmerism, we must return to the question 
 of the aura, said to be transmitted from the operator 
 to his patient. 
 
 This aura is denied by hypnotists generally, but it 
 is believed in by all mesmerists for the following 
 reasons : 
 
 1. When in good condition, but not otherwise, the 
 mesmerist is often conscious of a certain tingling at 
 the tips of his fingers, as he operates on the patient. 
 
 2. The patient without knowing of this, will 
 sometimes say, I " feel a sensation coming from you " 
 it may be cool, cold, or warm, soothing or irritating, 
 according to circumstances, and is sometimes felt to
 
 154 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 be too strong, when the patient will request the 
 operator to make the passes from a greater distance. 
 
 3. Sometimes in dark rooms the sensitive will 
 say he sees the aura streaming from the hands. 
 
 4. This aura is on those occasions described as 
 red, or purple, or violet, or yellow, or as in the aureola 
 of the saint, white. 
 
 5. Patients can sometimes be magnetised through 
 a wall or at a distance, they being ignorant of any 
 such operation being attempted. 
 
 6. The aura has sometimes been rendered visible 
 on the photographic plate. 
 
 7. The operator who cures, say a neuralgic pain, 
 seems sometimes to cure vicariously, by the pain 
 which he has cured in another, being transferred to 
 himself, explainable by his having lost that aura 
 which he has given to another. 
 
 The fact that Dr. Tuckey's book on Hypnotism 
 passed through three editions in three years, is 
 sufficient evidence of the hold the subject has ac- 
 quired over the medical profession, who up to within 
 some ten or twelve years, have always denounced 
 mesmerism as quackery. 
 
 This sudden interest in Hypnotism, or Mesmerism 
 under another name, would be surprising, were it not 
 that it is only one more evidence that the thoughts of 
 the few are interesting only to the few, because they 
 are in advance of the age. But it for ever comes to
 
 MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 1 55 
 
 pass that all things come to those who know ho\v to 
 wait ; although the waiting is often long for the 
 reception of new ideas, for if they in any way touch 
 the amour propre of those in authority, they are 
 resented for a period as offensive or dangerous, but 
 afterwards, when the time comes, these ideas, under 
 some new name or habiliments, are issued to an 
 admiring world, as new and important discoveries ; 
 and so it is that while some men have laboured and 
 laboured even unto death, other men with smiling and 
 self-satisfied faces have, with much jubilation, entered 
 into their labours. 
 
 Dr. Tuckey's book is called Pyscho-TIierapentics. 
 But as the Psyche of Dr. Tuckey and of the French 
 Hypnotist is a " function of the cortical substance of 
 the brain," the term Psycho-Therapeutics seems to me 
 rather misleading, for the Mesmerist and the Spiritu- 
 alist do not regard the soul as a function of matter, 
 but rather as the queen of the body ; and, as the 
 French views are entirely materialistic, one cannot 
 understand why the Psyche should appear at all in 
 their argument. 
 
 Further, the French theories on the modus operandi 
 of cure by suggestion, which form the substance of 
 French Hypnotism, are certainly, I should say, quite 
 unintelligible to all but certain teachers of physiology. 
 
 For instance, we are told that the phenomena are 
 to be explained on the theory of " The arrest of the
 
 156 TIIEOSOrHY. 
 
 function of a structure or organ by the action upon it 
 of another function." This is called the doctrine of 
 " Inhibition," and Dr. Tuckey says of it that " It offers 
 an explanation of Hypnotic states, which is at least as 
 satisfactory as that we have of the action of many 
 drugs," and this valuation of the doctrine I would at 
 once admit, because the fact is that the action of many 
 medicinal substances in the cure of disease is quite 
 inexplicable. 
 
 It seems to me that the hypnotic state is one more 
 or less of jv/y^-entrancement, produced by fixing the 
 mind on a point, and thus excluding all circumferen- 
 tial action. The mesmeric condition in entrancement 
 is the same, and is likewise produced by the sensitive- 
 fixing his mind on the eye of the operator, as on a 
 point; or it is produced by the monotonous manual 
 action of the operator, paralysing, as it were, all 
 circumferential mental action. 
 
 As an illustration : the Oriental fakirs produce self- 
 entrancement by fixing their eyes on the tip of the 
 nose or on the navel, the cars, at the same time, some- 
 times being closed by the thumbs. 
 
 The self-entranced soul may then act independently ; 
 while, on the other hand, the sensitives mcsmcrically 
 entranced become the mediums for the will of the 
 operator. 
 
 Both states are states of more or less entrancement, 
 but what is entrancement ?
 
 MESMERISM, H\ PNOTISM, ETC. 157 
 
 Entranccment is a state in which the soul or mind 
 or ego has more or less left the body so that the body 
 can be cut to pieces without experiencing pain ; 
 because the ego is outside, and is acting independently 
 of the senses, as an autonoetic power, clairaudient and 
 clairvoyant, and at times controlling its vacant body 
 automatically. 
 
 But I would ask, how is the Hypnotist certain that 
 by his passes he does not mesmerise his patients? 
 Probably he often does ; and this at least is the case, 
 that he does not relieve them of their pains unless he 
 first puts them into a state of hypnosis, and to attempt 
 to explain this success by saying it arises from a state 
 of inhibition or suspension of function, seems to me no 
 rational explanation at all. 
 
 For instance, when a hypnotised subject promises in 
 an unconscious state to abandon the use of alcohol, 
 and when he awakes keeps his promise for weeks, or 
 for years, it may be, and yet in total forgetfulness of 
 any promise ever given, what theory of inhibition or 
 suppressed higher function of the brain can explain 
 this? Or when he promises to do some intricate and 
 absurd action a week hence and at a given hour, ho\v 
 is the memory afterwards awakened by suppressed 
 function, and this a week to a minute after the uncon- 
 scious promise had been given ? When questioned, 
 the Materialistic Hypnotist can give no further 
 explanation beyond a form of words, seemingly
 
 158 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 invented to hide his ignorance ; and yet \ve are told 
 that Elliotson, Simpson, Gregory, Whateley, Hamil- 
 ton, Chambers, and hundreds of wise men were in 
 total ignorance of the subject " now scientifically 
 explained for the first time." 
 
 I have given reasons for believing in the Mesmeric 
 Aura, but I do not believe it is this aura which heals, 
 but rather the will of the operator which directs this 
 sympathetic aura. 
 
 "The blood is the life" of the body, and "good 
 blood" may leave its transcendental manifestation 
 in the aura which emanates from the sound hearted 
 operator, who often in difficult cases of cure, finds 
 himself as it were depleted, or as if he were laying 
 down his life for his friend, a suggestion confirmed by 
 the well known fact that it is unwholesome for a 
 young child to sleep with an old nurse. 
 
 That it is the current directed by the will which 
 heals, all mesmerists know by experience, for when their 
 attention is not fixed on the case in hand, the result 
 is for the patient a failure, and although the theory of 
 an Animal Magnetism cannot be proved, yet the 
 practical mesmerist finds it a theory which assists his 
 efforts; and the mysterious attractions and repulsions 
 which occasionally occur between two persons, without 
 any discoverable reason, may perhaps have a psycho 
 magnetic origin. 
 
 I would briefly define hypnotism, as in ordinary
 
 MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 159 
 
 cases of cure, the submission of the soul of the patient 
 to the will of the operator. 
 
 And I should briefly define mesmerism as an 
 analogous operation, plus a psychical sympathy trans- 
 ferring a vital magnetism. 
 
 The hypnotist regards his patient somewhat as an 
 automatic machine moved towards cure by suggestion, 
 while the mesmerist rather regards him or her as a 
 brother or sister in distress, to whom he desires to 
 impart the blessing of sympathy. 
 
 In either case the power used is not only deeply 
 interesting, but profoundly important a power that 
 may be turned to evil and malignant purposes, as in 
 witchcraft, or that may be used in the love of truth 
 and goodness. 
 
 If so, then the matter is not one for idle curiosity 
 on the one hand, or for hard scientific exploration on 
 the other hand, but should be regarded as a Divine 
 gift, whereby, bearing each others' infirmities, we may 
 fulfil the highest law. 
 
 It is dangerous for the uninstructed to amuse them- 
 selves with mesmeric experiments, but probably 
 every healthy and kind-hearted man or woman could, 
 by mesmerism, more or less relieve pain and cure 
 disease, especially among the poor. 
 
 It has been proposed that mesmeric and hypnotic 
 experiments and cures should be legally restricted to 
 the medical faculty ; but this I think would be a
 
 I<50 THEOSOIMIV. 
 
 great mistake, for although itinerant mesmerists have 
 often shown repulsive experiments, and sometimes 
 damaged their subjects, yet, on the other hand, the 
 view taken in the subject by medical men is almost 
 entirely materialistic, while the experiments of the 
 French schools have often been dangerous and 
 degrading, and even criminal. 
 
 The poet is born and not made, so also is the true 
 mesmerist born and not made by law or otherwise. 
 
 The good mesmerist does not require a minute 
 knowledge of protoplasm or germ cells, but he must 
 be a man of pure blood and kind heart, and sound 
 mind, and he should believe in God and in man as 
 a son of God. His desire must for ever be to relieve 
 suffering and to confer happiness, and he must believe 
 in the possibility of miracles of healing, in the sense 
 that miracle is only the direct action of spirit on 
 matter. 
 
 If so, then it would not be more absurd to assert 
 that the only interpretation of the life and teachings 
 of Jesus Christ should be exclusively in the hands of 
 a dominant priesthood, that it would be absurd to 
 teach that the law should give to legalised medical 
 men an exclusive right to teach and practise the 
 divine gift of magnetic healing. 
 
 Magnetic healing is a sacred subject, for it is the 
 science of the power of mind and spirit over matter. 
 
 That this sacred science may be grossly abused in
 
 MKSMKKLSM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. l6l 
 
 the direction of devilry is most true ; but so also has 
 liberty sometimes become synonymous with blood- 
 shed, and so also has that religion, which should be of 
 love, often become identified with hideous cruelties, 
 but none the less arc liberty, religion, and mesmerism, 
 in safest keeping, when left to experience to define 
 their truest levels. 
 
 FaitJi Healing and Ckristian Science may be 
 regarded as cognate with mesmerism and with each 
 other. 
 
 The " Peculiar People," taking St. James at his 
 word, when sick did not send for the village doctor, 
 but sent for the elders of their chapel, who came, and 
 laying their hands on the sick and anointing them 
 with oil, prayed that the Holy Spirit might raise 
 them up and restore them to health and life as 
 children of God. And when you reasoned with these 
 good and simple people, and asked whether if they 
 should break a leg they would still refuse to send for 
 the surgeon, they were ready with the reply, that the 
 children of God were as those of whom the Psalmist 
 predicted, "A bone of them shall not be broken." 
 These simple " Peculiar People " were ultimately 
 represented at " Bethshan," or the Home of Rest, 
 where ladies and gentlemen of holy lives and simple 
 faith professed to cure all forms of disease by the 
 simple rule of calling on the diseased to believe that 
 on the laying on of hands the Holy Ghost must 
 
 M
 
 l62 TIIKOSOIMIY. 
 
 infallibly cure them, and it is quite well known that 
 many were thus immediately and permanently cured 
 of long-standing diseases. 
 The Christian scientists say : 
 
 1. Man is in his essence a spiritual being and a 
 child of God. 
 
 2. If so, then as a spiritual being, man cannot suffer 
 from physical disease. 
 
 3. If so, then the whole art of Faith and Christian 
 Science Healing is, to deny that you are diseased, 
 and to affirm that you, as a child of God, are in 
 perfect health. 
 
 The teachers of this method will not assert that 
 you are always at once made whole, but they teach 
 that the persistent utterance of this faith must 
 gradually restore you to health. That the mind has 
 a marvellous influence over the body has always been 
 taught by physicians, and it has been illustrated in 
 those cases where " maternal marks " have been 
 supposed to appear on the bodies of infants born into 
 the world with skin marks corresponding to intense! v- 
 felt and sudden emotions of horror or disgust felt by 
 the mother when pregnant ; and if diseases can be 
 thus produced by the mind, we may logically 
 conclude that diseases may be likewise thus cured by 
 the mind. A striking illustration of this power of 
 imagination is recorded in the case of a criminal who 
 \\;is to suffer death by a slow process of blood-letting.
 
 MKSMEKIS.M, HYPNOTISM, KTC. 163 
 
 and who being blindfolded, a trickling of water was 
 arranged to flow over his arm, while those present 
 commented on his gradual dissolution, the result 
 ultimately being the death of the criminal. 
 
 There arc also the perfectly \vell attested cases of 
 the Stigmata, or five wounds of Christ, appearing on 
 the hands and feet and chest of the Ascetic Saints as 
 they prayed daily to suffer as their Lord suffered. 
 
 Again, it is a matter of common observation that 
 the doctor who is sceptical of his powers effects few- 
 cures, compared with that doctor who by conviction, 
 or by pretence, asserts that he can cure all cases 
 coming under his hands. The real or assumed faith 
 on the part of the physician is transferred to the 
 patient, who is cured, not by the drugs which he 
 swallows, but by the faith which makes him whole. 
 
 The great merit of the teaching of Faith Healing 
 and Christian Science Healing consists in accumulating 
 the evidences of the power of faith, and in the accept- 
 ing as literal the saying of Jesus, '' Whatsoever ye ask- 
 in faith that will ye receive " ; and it must be 
 immensely to the benefit of our sceptical age to 
 encourage by all means this faith in God and in Christ 
 and in ourselves as sons of God. But while this is so, 
 it is not the less true that as we live in a physical 
 world, we must attend to the laws of nature and obey 
 their commandments. Paul says, " First that which 
 is natural, and then that which is spiritual" ; and in
 
 164 rmosoi'iiv. 
 
 relation to health of body, the laws of hygiene arc 
 comprised in the word purity pure air, pure water, 
 pure food, pure bodies, and a pure mind. " Know ye 
 not that your bodies arc the temple of the Holy 
 Spirit ?" says the Apostle, and those who believe this 
 purify themselves as Christ was pure. 
 
 It remains to ask the question, What are the limits 
 of Faith Healing ? We may freely grant that faith 
 often becomes " the substance of things hoped for," 
 and that the indulgence of hope and love transfigures 
 the outward man, while in fear there is that torment 
 which leads to despondency, disease, and death. In 
 this light, under Faith Healing, many become 
 amended in soul and body, but miracles do not occur 
 except on the spiritual plane. The mere saying " I 
 believe " will not cure inveterate or organic disease, 
 but actual belief does. But that actual belief which 
 does cure organic or inveterate disease is not attain- 
 able on the physical plane. It is the inheritance of 
 the spirit, and hence entrancemcnt has been found in 
 mesmerism and hypnotism essential to the cure of 
 deep-seated disease. No man, as Jesus says, by 
 taking thought, " can add a cubit to his stature," and 
 no man by simply ignoring that he is diseased can be 
 cured of organic disease, although he may be, and 
 often is, cured of functional diseases. By faith he 
 rises out of those fears which arc a torment, and 
 which corrupt and degrade body and mind, and
 
 MKSMKRISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 165 
 
 ascends into the pure atmosphere of " joy in 
 believing," which brings renewed energy and strength. 
 Hut so long as we live in a physical world it is absurd 
 to deny that we can have diseased bodies, and it is 
 not only absurd but it is wrong to deny these bodies. 
 Our duty rather is to believe that these bodies can be 
 rendered healthy and beautiful by the right conduct 
 of the mind, and by faith in purity. If the doctrine 
 be true that we have only to ignore our bodies in 
 order to be filled by the spirit which heals, then we 
 should, to be logical, ignore the necessity for food and 
 ignore broken bones in a fractured leg, but the most 
 ultra Christian Science Healer admits these exceptions. 
 
 By faith all things arc possible. By mental faith 
 most functional diseases can be cured, but the 
 experiences of Mesmerism and Hypnotism show that 
 it is only when in trance or when on the spirit plane 
 that the deepest rooted diseases can be cured ; and so 
 far as I know, only one being has ever existed on 
 this planet who, by a word, could at once cure " all 
 manner of diseases." 
 
 But there is an attitude of the soul in prayer, 
 whereby, shutting out all circumferential thoughts, 
 one abstracts himself into the unity, and in this 
 position it is open to anyone to ask relief from 
 physical or mental suffering, and he or she will find 
 that these prayers are often heard and answered, and 
 that often immediately.
 
 X. CLAIRVOYANCE 
 
 AS A DEMONSTRATION OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL. 
 
 DR. GREGORY and other careful writers on clair- 
 voyance have ahvays distinguished between that form 
 of clairvoyance called thought-reading, and that 
 which may be called direct clairvoyance, or the power 
 which the psychic has of seeing when blindfolded, 
 independently of the knowledge of those present. 
 
 But although careful observers have made this 
 distinction, yet I find that a large proportion of the 
 cases published in various journals and books have 
 not recognised this distinction, and, moreover, that 
 the majority of cases thus recorded might come 
 under the category of thought-reading. 
 
 All those therefore, who desire that mesmeric and 
 other occult phenomena should be recorded not only 
 with the most scrupulous attention to exactness, but 
 with careful discrimination, must feel much indebted 
 to The Society for Psychical Research^ tot their excel- 
 lent reports on thought-reading, as recorded in their 
 Proceedings. 
 
 The term clairvoyance is French, and means clear- 
 seeing, but it appears to me to be an inadequate term, 
 Ixxrause it might signify clear optical vision, or clear 
 mental vision, whereas what is signified bv the term
 
 CLAIRVOYANT: K. 167 
 
 is the power which certain individuals possess, of see- 
 ing external objects under circumstances which render 
 the sight of these objects impossible to physical 
 optics. In short, by clairvoyance we mean the power 
 which the mind has of seeing or knowing thoughts 
 and physical conditions, and objects hidden from, or 
 beyond the reach of the physical senses ; and if the 
 existence of this faculty can be established, we arrive 
 at a demonstration that man has a power within 
 his body as yet unrecognised by physical science a 
 power which is called soul or mind-seeing, and for the 
 description of such a power the term might be auto- 
 noeticy (airrovov/Ti/cos-).* 
 
 Many cases of clairvoyance occur when the psychic 
 is apparently in his or her normal condition with the 
 eyes open and the mind apparently normal. I say 
 apparently normal, because I believe that in clairvoy- 
 ance there is always an abnormal condition ; but most 
 cases of clairvoyance occur when the psychic is in a 
 condition more or less of entrancemcnt ; by which is 
 meant, a condition when the body can sometimes be 
 cut, and the limbs amputated without any sensation 
 of pain a condition which might be expressed in the 
 words of the Apostle, as being " dead in the flesh, but 
 alive in the spirit.'' 
 
 I regard mind-reading as the most common form of 
 clairvoyance, and the capability of seeing the contents 
 
 * Suggested to me by Professors lUackie and Donaldson.
 
 ]68 TIIKOSOPHV. 
 
 of closed boxes or envelopes as the most rare form, 
 because, as I believe, the faculty is generally connected 
 more or less with the known, or, it may be, the un- 
 known sympathy of human beings ; and hence the 
 clairvoyant diagnosis of hidden disease is much more 
 common than the seeing of inanimate objects inside 
 inanimate envelopes or boxes. 
 
 There arc almost innumerable cases of clairvoyance- 
 recorded in books and periodicals, and notably in Dr. 
 Gregory's book on Mesmerism, and in the volumes 
 of the Zoist and the Spiritual Magazine, but the 
 instances I shall present for consideration have been 
 gathered either from my own experience, or from the 
 records of my personal friends. I have selected these 
 in preference to cases from books ; partly because 
 those which are published are open already for inspec- 
 tion, but chiefly because instances occurring within 
 one's own experience, or that of personal friends, arc 
 brought before the mind with more detail and 
 intensity, and are capable of more thorough investiga- 
 tion ; and in order to increase confidence, I have, 
 where no objections were made, given names and 
 addresses. 
 
 1 first became acquainted with mesmerism and 
 clairvoyance in Edinburgh in 1839, when my late 
 friend, Mr. Dove, who subsequently became sub- 
 editor of the Builder newspaper, was engaged in mes- 
 meric experiments.
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 169 
 
 Mr. Dove was not only the most powerful mes- 
 ineriscr I have ever seen, but he was also a man of 
 extraordinary originality of mind, and his experiments 
 and his philosophy founded on these experiments, 
 excited much interest in the mind of George Combe, 
 but especially in the mind of my friend, Robert 
 Chambers, and in three distinguished men connected 
 with the University of Edinburgh, namely, Sir William 
 Hamilton, Bart., Professor of Logic (a believer in 
 clairvoyance), Ur. Gregory, afterwards Professor of 
 Chemistry, and Dr., afterwards Sir James Simpson, 
 Bart, the celebrated originator of anaesthetics as used 
 in the labours of child-bed. I mention Dr. Simpson 
 because, notwithstanding some adverse remarks in his 
 writings, he himself informed me in 1851 that he- 
 believed in the phenomena of mesmerism. 
 
 The name of Sir James Simpson is also introduced 
 here because it is, I believe, in great part owing to the 
 discovery and use of anaesthetics that mesmerism fell 
 a good deal into neglect, as compared with the 
 excitement created by the wonderful successes of Dr. 
 Ksdaile's Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta in 1845 ; and 
 indeed, I remember the celebrated surgeon, Mr. Listen, 
 upon the discovery of the use of anaesthetics, con- 
 gratulating his confreres that there would now be no 
 further use for what he was pleased to call the mes- 
 meric humbug. 
 
 Of late, however, the interest in mesmerism has
 
 THKOSOl'HY. 
 
 greatly revived, for one reason, because it is found to be 
 intimately connected with Spiritualistic phenomena. 
 
 In attempting to analyse and classify cases of clair- 
 voyance, they appear to me to arrange themselves in 
 the following order : 
 
 1. Thought-reading. 
 
 2. Brain reading of forgotten or absent thoughts. 
 
 3. Seeing bodily diseases, as if the body were trans- 
 
 parent. 
 
 4. Psychometry, as described by Professor Denton, 
 
 namely, the knowledge the psychic obtains 
 by a <///(-, such as a lock of the hair of some 
 absent person, or some portion of a distant 
 object. 
 
 5. Seeing objects secreted in boxes or envelopes, or 
 
 otherwise hidden or unknown to any one 
 present 
 
 6. Travelling clairvoyance, or seeing tilings at a 
 
 distance beyond physical vision. 
 
 7. Seeing future events. 
 
 8. Entrancemcnt and clairvoyance, as produced by 
 
 the use of anaesthetics. 
 
 I. Thought-reading. I have said that the facts 
 recorded in the first paper on " Thought-reading," as 
 drawn up by the Psychical Research Committee. 
 present an overwhelming testimony to the existence 
 of such a faculty, and when we find at page 27 of that 
 report that the odds against the hypothecs of coinci-
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 171 
 
 dence in certain experiments as recorded, are upwards 
 of 140 millions to i, may we not say that the testi- 
 mony amounts to a demonstration ? 
 
 It is not necessary, therefore, that I should attempt 
 to strengthen this testimony, but I may be permitted 
 to give one additional illustration of thought-reading 
 of a particularly interesting and illustrative character, 
 as follows : 
 
 A young lad)', who has suffered much inconvenience 
 as a thought-reader from her childhood, and who is 
 intimately known to some of the members of the 
 Psychical Society, having been lately called upon at a 
 public institution to pass an examination in harmony, 
 had a lesson set her on the black board, her own 
 teacher being present-. The solution of the problem 
 was much beyond her ability, but her teacher' 
 anxiously desiring that his pupil should succeed, but 
 having no knowledge of her thought-reading powers, 
 harmonised the passage in a complicated form in his 
 own mind, when, much to his surprise, immediately 
 the young lady took up the chalk and note for note 
 wrote down on the black board the harmony as it 
 existed in his own mind. 
 
 This, I think it will be admitted, is not only a 
 striking, but a very interesting illustration of the 
 faculty of thought-reading ; and, in estimating the 
 force of this instance, it must be remembered that 
 the mother, the teacher, and the pupil all assert that
 
 1/2 THEOSOI'IIY. 
 
 the exercise accomplished was much beyond the 
 normal capabilities of the young lady. Does this 
 case not suggest that successful pass examinations 
 may sometimes in part be the result of brain-picking ? 
 
 2. Brain-reading. This differs from thought- 
 reading in this, that the thought-reader desires you 
 to think strongly of the subject to be read, but the 
 brain-reader often not only reads the thoughts which 
 are at the time absent from your mind, but he often 
 reads thoughts which you have not only forgotten, 
 but the existence of which you deny, until subse- 
 quently they are recalled to your remembrance. 
 
 Brain-reading is often met with when you experi- 
 ment with sensitives, either in the dark or in the light, 
 and on these occasions facts which have long been 
 absent from your memory arc often recalled by the 
 sensitive. 
 
 In this place I may also mention that when you 
 experiment with sensitives in absolute darkness, you 
 may frequently obtain evidence of clairvoyance ; for 
 at your request any minute point on the hands or 
 face will be immediately touched, and with the 
 same rapidity and exactness as if you were in full 
 light. 
 
 Further, with regard to darkness, it is well known 
 to those who experiment with clairvoyants, that they 
 arc not so successful if the eye bandages arc to some
 
 CLAIRVOYANVl. 173 
 
 extent diaphanous as they arc when the bandages 
 produce absolute darkness. 
 
 This fact may perhaps not appear so incredible 
 if we reflect, that when \vc attempt to think deeply, 
 we often not only close the eyes, but we render the 
 darkness greater by pressing the fingers against the 
 eye-balls. While on this subject, I may observe that 
 habitual clairvoyants become, it has appeared to me, 
 liable to a deterioration of the eyesight beyond the 
 average of human beings ; but this is a subject 
 requiring further observation. 
 
 As an instance of brain-reading, I may mention 
 that on the 25th November I experimented with Mr. 
 Hopcroft, and having entranced him, I presented him 
 with twelve playing-cards enclosed in twelve envelopes, 
 and asked if he could name the cards. This he 
 entirely failed to do, but he at once said, "Those 
 cards were not put into these envelopes by yourself 
 they were placed there by a lady ; a tall, rather stout 
 lady about fifty years of age. She has been in 
 Devonshire, and you were not in the room when she 
 placed them in the envelopes you went out of the 
 room in order that you might say you had no hand 
 in it." 
 
 All this was exactly true, and there was no one in 
 the room but myself and psychic. It was not 
 thought-reading, for my thoughts were all in the 
 direction that the sensitive should Jicuttc the cards.
 
 174 TIIKOSOI'IIY. 
 
 Four years ago Miss Tilly, of 36, St. Mary's 
 Terrace, Paddington, was entranced in the presence 
 of an epileptic, my desire being, if possible, to arrive 
 at the brain or spinal cause of the disease ; but, 
 instead of reading my thought, the clairvoyant said, 
 "All I can see is that this illness has some connection 
 with a horse," the fact being that the fits began after 
 the lady had fiillcn with her horse in Rotten Ro\y. 
 
 Some years ago I called on Mr. Wilson, 103, 
 Caledonian Road, when he said, " This morning you 
 had a giddy fit ; you also have a pain in. your kidney, 
 and you have a child ill in bed." He told me nothing 
 else, and these three statements were perfectly- 
 correct. He could not possibly have known these 
 things beforehand, and his information was not from 
 Thought-reading, as my object in visiting him took 
 my thoughts in a different direction. 
 
 3. Clairvoyance in Disease. This is a most 
 interesting faculty in itself; but it has this further to 
 recommend it, that its object is not mere curiosity, 
 but the benevolent relief of human suffering. 
 
 Some years ago 1 had the good fortune to make 
 
 the acquaintance of Mrs. D . I told her I had a 
 
 very dear friend who for years had suffered intense 
 agony for hours every night in his back and chest, 
 and that latterly he had been obliged to sit up all 
 night in a chair, and that his legs had begun to swell.
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 1/5 
 
 Mrs. 1) expressed great sympathy for my 
 
 friend, and most kindly begged I would let her see 
 him, as she thought she would be able to suggest 
 something for his relief. 
 
 This gentleman had regularly for three years been 
 under many of the leading physicians of London. 
 Some said that there must be some obscure heart 
 affection. Others said it was neuralgia ; one said it 
 was gout ; and the last consulted said it was 
 malignant caries of the spine. 
 
 My friend met Mrs. D - in my house, and she 
 merely looked at him, and asked a few questions of 
 an unimportant kind. 
 
 1 then perceived that she wished to speak to me, 
 and so I asked my friend to go into the next room, 
 and when we were alone she said 
 
 " I have seen what the disease is ; I saw it as dis- 
 tinctly as if the body were transparent. There is a 
 tumour behind the heart, about the size of a walnut; 
 it is of a dirty colour, and it jumps and looks as if it 
 would burst. Nothing can do him any good but 
 entire rest." 
 
 I at once saw what she meant, and sat down and 
 wrote to my friend's medical attendant as follows : 
 " I believe I have discovered the nature of Mr. 
 's disease. He has an aneurism on the descend- 
 ing aorta, about the size of a walnut. It is this which 
 causes the slight displacement which has been
 
 176 TiiKOsoriiv. 
 
 observed in the heart, and the pressure of the tumour 
 against the intercostal nerves is the cause of the 
 agony in the back, and the peripheral pains in front 
 of the chest. You arc going to -morrow to sec Sir 
 James Paget in consultation ; show him my diagnosis, 
 and let me know what he says." 
 
 Next day the patient had this consultation, and at 
 
 once Mrs. D 's diagnosis was confirmed, and 
 
 afterwards all the doctors who had during the last 
 three years missed the true diagnosis now confirmed 
 it. They also all agreed with Mrs. D - that the 
 only thing to be done was to take entire rest. 
 
 This treatment during years was more or less 
 followed up, and with the result that the pains were 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 But the disease remained, and six years afterwards 
 the patient began to spit blood. Sir William Gull 
 attended the case, and I occasionally met him, and one 
 day asked him if he knew that I was the first medical 
 man to suggest aneurism. He replied, " I know that, 
 but I do not agree with you, for there is not one 
 scientific sign of aneurism." To this I replied, " I 
 know that it is aneurism." He replied, " I repeat, 
 there is- no scientific sign of aneurism." A few days 
 after this discussion the patient died in a moment 
 from the rupture of the aneurism. 
 
 4. Psychomctry. Dr. Buchanan, in 1X49, founc'
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 177 
 
 that out of a class of 130 students at the Eclectic 
 Medical College, Cincinnati, 43 signed a declaration, 
 that if they took into their hands certain medical 
 substances, concealed from them in paper, they 
 suffered sensations and effects analogous to those 
 experienced on swallowing those medicines for 
 instance, if they took Ipecacuanha, concealed in 
 paper, into their hands, they suffered from nausea and 
 sickness. 
 
 Reasoning and experimenting in the same direc- 
 tion, Professor Denton, geologist, Boston, wrote a 
 book called " The Soul of Things," which has passed 
 through several editions. 
 
 His theory is, that all bodies affect other bodies in 
 juxtaposition, and that each infects the other, as it 
 were, with its aura, or magnetism, or character, and 
 that thus the geological rocks and fossils can, to the 
 clairvoyant, reveal the history of the paleontology of 
 the various strata. In illustration of this he gives 
 a hundred clairvoyant descriptions of various fossils 
 and bits of rock. 
 
 With reference to geological specimens, the experi- 
 ments seem to me to prove nothing more than this, 
 that the clairvoyants read Professor Denton's mind 
 and confirmed his geological theories, and the fact 
 that the specimens passed through his hands would 
 alone be sufficient to infect or scent them, as it were, 
 with his ideas. 
 
 N
 
 178 THEOSOI'IIV. 
 
 I believe, however, that wearing apparel, rings, or 
 hair belonging to an individual, can often act as 
 a clue to the clairvoyant, and this is what Denton 
 calls Psychometry. 
 
 I have t\vo instances of this to offer you. I'd 
 fifteen years I have worn a ring which my uncle \\<>iv 
 for the last forty years of his life. 
 
 On one occasion, I placed this ring in Mr. Mac- 
 geary's hand, when instantly he was seized with 
 spasm at the heart, and gasped for breath. My uncle 
 had suffered from those symptoms, having died of 
 advanced heart disease ; but this Mr. Macgeary could 
 not. have known. 
 
 On another occasion, I placed this ring, which con- 
 tains my grandfather's hair, in the hand of Madame 
 Blavatsky, and asked her to describe my grandfather. 
 She said he was a tall and slender man, with a rrd 
 face ; he took a good deal of port wine, and he had 
 blue eyes. This was quite correct, but it was not 
 mind-reading, as my thoughts were on my grand- 
 father's character. 
 
 Professor Denton gives another instance. " A 
 doctor was on the ice, and witnessed the death of 
 a negro, who was accidentally dashed out of a swing 
 against a block of ice and killed. The doctor went 
 home, and began in the presence of some people 
 to describe the accident, as he at the same time com- 
 pounded and rolled in his fingers some pills. These-
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 179 
 
 pills were sent to an old lady, who had no knowledge 
 of the accident to the negro, but she took the pills, 
 and that night had a vivid dream of the catastrophe, 
 in all its details, as if she saw it." 
 
 5. Clairvoyance in reference to objects secreted in 
 boxes, or otherwise hidden from all present. 
 
 Mr. Hopcroft, to whom I have already alluded, was 
 some time ago attending a seance at Mr. Younger's, 
 Lcdbury Road, when he said, " That lady," pointing 
 to her, " has three and a half letters in her pocket" 
 The lady replied, " That is a good guess, but I have 
 only two and a half letters. I had another, but I 
 took it out of my pocket just as I left home, and put 
 it in my desk." Hopcroft replied, " That is strange, 
 because I sec three and a half letters in your pocket." 
 
 Nothing more was said about the letters, but just as 
 the seance broke up, the lady exclaimed, " Well, you 
 were right after all, for just as I left the house the 
 postman gave me a letter, and I put it in my pocket 
 and I forgot all about it." 
 
 This narrative is confirmed by Hopcroft and Mr. 
 Younger, and by Miss Fearn, who were present. 
 
 The late Mr. Adolph Didier once narrated to me 
 the following interesting cases, and I should say that 
 I knew Mr. Didier for years, and I have always found 
 him simple and truthful. 
 
 It has been often said by sceptics that there can be
 
 180 THEOSOI'IIY. 
 
 little truth in clairvoyance, as no one has ever gained 
 the reward offered for reading the number of a bank 
 note enclosed in an envelope. 
 
 In reply to this statement, Mr. Didier asserted that 
 on two occasions he read the numbers and gained 
 the prizes. 
 
 Lord Ingcstre once gave Didier an envelope con- 
 taining, as he said, a .5 note, and said if he read the 
 number he should have the note. 
 
 Didier replied, " I see only half a note." This was. 
 correct, and he received the reward. 
 
 On another occasion, at Bath, a clergyman offered 
 him a ,5 note if he would read the number, the note 
 being enclosed in an envelope. He succeeded in 
 giving the number, and he received the reward. 
 . On another occasion, Lord Ingest re took a book at 
 random from the shelves, and holding it closed behind 
 his back, asked Didier to read the first four lines on 
 page 27, and Didier succeeded in doing so. 
 
 On several occasions Didier, when perfectly blind- 
 folded, played ecarte with gentlemen who brought 
 their own cards, and on these occasions he sometimes 
 named the cards in his adversaries' hands, which,, 
 indeed, might be by mind-reading; but he also some- 
 times played his own hand without any one having 
 looked at it, the cards lying as they were dealt, with 
 their faces on the table. 
 
 In accordance with these statements, ( 'aptain James.
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. l8l 
 
 tells me that he has seen Alexis Didier, brother to 
 Adolph Didier, likewise play ecarte with his hand 
 lying on the table, face downwards, he being perfectly 
 blindfolded. 
 
 I may add that the eyes of Didier in these experi- 
 ments were generally closed by adhesive leather 
 plasters, over which several handkerchiefs were tied. 
 
 Any sceptic may test the efficacy of leather plasters 
 in producing absolute temporary blindness without 
 the addition of any handkerchiefs. 
 
 Captain James also informs me that he has himself 
 played Alexis Didier a game at billiards, his eyes 
 being perfectly blindfolded ; and Adolph informs me 
 that he has also on various occasions, when per- 
 fectly blindfolded, played good games of billiards. 
 
 The following case is very instructive : A gentle- 
 man placed in Didier's hand a closed envelope and 
 asked him to read its contents. Didier took the 
 gentleman's hand and said the words were Can you 
 polka ? The gentleman was delighted and relin- 
 quished Didier's hand, and said, " You are quite 
 right." 
 
 Didier then placed the envelope to his forehead, 
 and said, <; No ; I am wrong, the words are French 
 they are Fleur de Marie." 
 
 The gentleman replied, " Oh no, you were quite 
 right at first. Can you polka is correct." But Didier 
 maintained that the words were Fleur de Marie.
 
 1 82 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 The envelope was opened, and on the card was 
 written " Fleur de Marie," much to the gentleman's 
 surprise ; but it afterwards transpired that the wife* 
 in order to play a trick on her husband, had sub- 
 stituted her own for his writing. 
 
 This is a most instructive case, as it in the first 
 place proved thought-reading, and in the second case 
 it proved direct clairvoyance. 
 
 These cases were narrated to me by Didier himself, 
 and they are also narrated in Didier's book on Mes- 
 merism, published 1856, and dedicated to Lord 
 Ingestre; but the case in which he saw " Can you 
 polka," etc., is not recorded in his book as it is in this 
 paper the report in the book being that of a country 
 newspaper, and, as Didier tells me, incorrect, but 
 retained in the book as the evidence of a newspaper 
 report of a public meeting. 
 
 With reference to clairvoyants reading unopened 
 letters, the late Mr. Wedgwood, of Queen Anne Street, 
 informed me that he was very intimate with a lady 
 who had this faculty. On one occasion she read the 
 contents of a letter before it had reached the house, 
 and pointed out the letter among ten other letters 
 presented to her by a friend ; and the letter she 
 selected, when opened, was found to contain the words 
 she had seen beforehand. 
 
 The details of this case, as given by Mr. Wedgwood, 
 arc very minute.
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 183 
 
 Some years ago Mr. Redman brought his sensitive, 
 Frederick Smith, a youth of 17, to my house, and 
 experimented before myself, Mrs. Boole, and three 
 other ladies. 
 
 He was blindfolded by means of soft paper folded 
 double, and then gummed over his eyelids. This 
 alone, as I and Mrs. Boole found, produced on us, 
 when tested, so complete a blindness that we could 
 not distinguish the brightly lighted gas globes. But 
 in the case of Smith a silk handkerchief was tied over 
 this paper. 
 
 Under these circumstances Smith took a pack of 
 my o\vn cards, and concealing their faces from all 
 present he being at one side of the table and we at 
 the other threw down on the table any card we 
 asked for. 
 
 After this he read correctly on two occasions the 
 first line on the pages indicated of a book we gave 
 him we being all ignorant of the words ; and on 
 another occasion he read a verse of poetry correctly, 
 I merely pointing out the verse to be read, all present 
 being ignorant of the words. 
 
 All present agreed that Smith was perfectly blind- 
 folded, and that he proved himself to be a true direct 
 clairvoyant. 
 
 6. Travelling Clairvoyance, or seeing objects at a 
 distance impossible to human vision.
 
 184 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 The late Mr. Rouse, on the i8th November, 1883, 
 gave me the following narrative : 
 
 When Mr. Gladstone disestablished the Irish 
 Church, the title-deeds of a good many properties had 
 to be examined ; and among ethers the title-deeds of 
 Sir Benson Maxwell of Donegal were demanded, but 
 could not be found, and the advice of the lawyers u as 
 that the property should be placed in Chancery 
 pending an arrangement. 
 
 Matters were in this position when a friend 
 suggested that a clairvoyant might be consulted as to 
 the lost deeds, but this suggestion was scouted by the 
 family. However, the late Mrs. General Robertson, 
 of 49, Victoria Street, taking a great interest in the 
 case, on her own responsibility consulted Mr. Rouse. 
 She sat with him at the table, and almost immediately 
 Mr. Rouse was convulsively moved to take a pencil 
 and a sheet of paper, and to write in large letters, 
 " Go to Exeter and make inquiries" 
 
 This message being sent to the family in Ireland. 
 was by them regarded as absurd; but when Mrs. 
 Robertson went back to Mr. Rouse, and sat at the 
 table for further instructions, the same message, with 
 increased energy, was given, " Go to Exeter and 
 make enquiries." 
 
 At this stage of the case a friend in Ireland one 
 day said to Sir Benson Maxwell, " Your father was 
 very intimate with the Rev. Canon Boyd when he
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 185 
 
 was in Ireland why not talk the matter over with 
 him ? " Then it transpired that the Canon was then 
 at Exeter, and Mr. Rouse's enigmatical instructions 
 were called to mind. One of the family accordingly 
 proceeded to Exeter, and had an interview with Mr. 
 Boyd, who examined the contents of a large box in 
 his attics, and found the lost deeds. 
 
 Mr. Rouse had no knowledge whatever either of 
 the deeds or of Mr. Boyd's connection with them. 
 
 The details of this case are given in the Spiritualist, 
 /th April, 1876 
 
 On the 2Oth November, 1882, I called on Mrs. 
 Billing, who narrated to me as follows : 
 
 " When I was at Chicago, I had a visit from Mr- 
 Leonard Sweet, a distinguished lawyer, and a personal 
 friend of the late President Lincoln, and it was told 
 him through me that he had a certain package tied up 
 with a peculiar cord in his safe at home. He said he 
 had no knowledge of any such package, but he would 
 look into the sale. He came back to me next day for 
 a second sitting, when he was told that he had not 
 kept his word, for he had not examined his safe, and 
 he admitted he had not. He came back a third time, 
 and said he had examined the contents of the safe, 
 but there was no such package as described. He was 
 told there was such a package, but it was inside a 
 large envelope. He returned a fourth time, and said 
 he had found the package in the safe."
 
 1 86 THEOSOl'HY. 
 
 Mrs. Billing also said " Mr. Neville was engineer 
 on board the Jeannette, American Arctic explorer. 
 One day Mrs. Neville, being in New York, had an 
 impression that her absent husband was near her, and 
 she seemed to hear a voice say ' Listen /' She did listen, 
 and heard a ship's eight bells ring, and the voice said, 
 * We have just been crushed by the ice, but all are 
 saved.' 
 
 " Months afterwards the survivors of the crew 
 arrived at New York, and reported that the ship was 
 sunk on that day, and at the hour of eight bells." 
 
 As Mrs. Billing gave me these narratives, Mrs. 
 Magrae was sitting with her, and said, " Three years 
 ago I was sitting with Mrs. Billing at 4, Keppcl 
 Street, when she s>aid, ' Your nephciv in Cincinnati is 
 just dead', and twelve days afterwards the news arrived 
 that my nephew had died on that day." 
 
 I can only add that I had known Mrs. Hilling for 
 years, and I had received ample proofs of her clair- 
 voyant powers. 
 
 While on the subject of seeing distant localities, 1 
 may remark that there is a curious fact known t<> 
 mesmcriscrs, namely this, the clairvoyants often des- 
 cribe localities as if they were reversed. For instance, 
 they might describe a great club house in Pall Mall as 
 on the north instead of on the south side of the street 
 
 Dr. Gregory mentions this, and adds it is un- 
 accountable. But it has occurred to me that strong
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 1 87 
 
 thinking may possibly project a picture of our 
 thoughts as in a mirror, and hence the clairvoyant 
 sees this image, as all pictures in mirrors are 
 reversed. 
 
 In the Spectator, iith November, 1882, there is a 
 review by the editor of the " Life of Professor De 
 Morgan," by Mrs. De Morgan, in which the following 
 case of clairvoyance is given. The Professor was 
 dining in a house which Mrs. De Morgan had never 
 seen. At this time she was engaged in mesmerising 
 a girl for the cure of epilepsy, and the girl became 
 entranced, and said " I see the Professor ; he is in 
 the drawing-room, talking to the ladies and gentle- 
 men ;" and she also described the room and furnituro 
 and said, " I see a tray with wine, and water, and 
 biscuits." Mrs. DC Morgan thought this must be a 
 mistake, and urged that it must be coffee which she 
 saw ; but the girl would not give in, but insisted that 
 it was wine, water, and biscuits. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the Professor returned home, and 
 confirmed the girl's story in every particular as to the 
 room and furniture, and the wine, water, and biscuits. 
 
 The reviewer says this is the best attested case of 
 clairvoyance known, and he recommends it to the 
 Psychical Research Society as a standard of credi- 
 bility. It is certainly a good case, having reference 
 to the unimpeachable veracity of Professor and Mrs. 
 De Morgan ; but there are many cases on record of
 
 1 88 THEOSOI'IIV. 
 
 equal importance, and attested by witnesses of equal 
 reliability, and I think it will be admitted that my 
 next three cases are as reliable, and perhaps more 
 striking, than Professor De Morgan's case. 
 
 Mr. Podmorc has sent me the following very inter- 
 esting case received from Mrs. Ford, Adel Grange, 
 Leeds. She writes " In June, 1881, I sat with a 
 clairvoyant in London, who knew nothing about me. 
 He minutely described my house, and said, ' I enter 
 the porch by two steps.' I replied, ' No, one step ' ; 
 but he persisted there were two steps, and on my 
 return home I found I was wrong and he was right. 
 He also said, ' There is a little dog running about the 
 hall, with long hair, which tumbles into its eyes.' I 
 replied, ' We have no such dog ' ; but he persisted he- 
 saw it, and he described its colour ; and on my return 
 home four days afterwards, the first thing I saw was 
 this little dog, exactly as described, it having arrived 
 with a visitor to the house during my absence." 
 
 There are some minute and curious details in Mrs. 
 Ford's account, which space will not permit me to 
 quote. 
 
 My late friend, Henry Thompson, Fsq., of Fair- 
 field, Yorkshire, a conspicuous figure in the mesmeric 
 world some forty years ago, and an intimate friend of 
 the author of " Zanoni," has sent me the two following 
 excellent cases of clairvoyance. He says 
 
 " On one occasion, being in the same room with
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 189 
 
 one of my mesmeric patients, who was asleep on the 
 sofa, I rose from my seat and went to a box in the 
 room in search of the copy of a will I wished to 
 examine, when my patient said, ' You will not find 
 what you want in that box ; it is in a box under a 
 window, at 3, Gray's Inn.' 
 
 " I had no idea it was there, but being in London a 
 few days afterwards, I went to 3, Gray's Jnn, and 
 found the document in the box as described, in the 
 office of Mr. Devrille." This case illustrates both 
 thought-reading and direct clairvoyance. 
 
 Mr. Thompson describes his other case as follows: 
 " One day I was mesmerising Mrs. H., when she 
 suddenly gave an exclamation and said, ' Your 
 daughter has just fallen off her horse, and the horse 
 is galloping across the park; but she is not hurt. 
 She pulled herself off her horse when opening a gate, 
 the horse having swerved, being frightened by a dog.' " 
 Mr. Thompson adds "This description was correct 
 in every particular." 
 
 7. Clairvoyance as to future events. 
 
 This is the most difficult of all forms of clair- 
 voyance to receive or to understand, and yet it is of 
 much more frequent occurrence than reading words in 
 closed envelopes or boxes; and spiritualistic literature 
 contains many narratives in illustration of this 
 faculty.
 
 190 TIIEOSOPHY. 
 
 The theory is, that nothing happens by chance ; 
 but all things follow a sequence of causes and effects, 
 and that these can be seen and deciphered by some 
 clairvoyants whose insight penetrates beyond " things 
 which are visible." 
 
 My late friend, Mr. Joseph Hands, was an old 
 surgeon, and lived at 84, The Grove, Hammersmith. 
 He was one of the great Dr. Jenner's assistants, and 
 in his book on " Will Ability," pp. 136-7, he gives an 
 interesting account of how one of his clairvoyanh-s 
 predicted that a certain patient who was dying of 
 consumption would not die of that disease, but of 
 stoppage in the bowels on the left side, and that he 
 would die on a given day and at a fixed hour. This 
 prediction was told to the sister of the invalid, but not 
 to himself, and it all came to pass exactly as foretold. 
 
 Mr. Hands also narrates the following gipsy story, 
 told him by Mrs. Francis, then residing at Black- 
 heath : 
 
 Before she was married she, from kindness, per- 
 mitted a poor gipsy woman to pass through her 
 confinement in a room over the laundry. 
 
 After the event was over the gipsy, feeling grateful 
 for'the lady's kindness, one day said she felt impelled 
 to tell her of the future. She said, " Vou will be 
 married clandestinely to a naval officer, and become 
 the mother of three children ; but your husband will 
 treat you badly, and forsake you, and afterwards <lir
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. IQI 
 
 from an accident, and after a time the three children 
 will all die within a few days of each other, and at 
 last you will marry a second time." 
 
 All this happened exactly as predicted, and the 
 lady, although protesting to the doctor that her first 
 marriage was so unhappy that nothing would induce 
 her to marry a second time, yet at last fell a victim to 
 a barrister the three children all having died of 
 diphtheria. 
 
 On the i6th December, being on a visit to Sir 
 Charles Isham, Bart., Northamptonshire, I met there 
 Captain Norman Macleod of Maclcod, who narrated 
 to me the following cases, and kindly permitted me to 
 use his name. 
 
 Me said : " Some years ago, being with my regi- 
 ment at Gibraltar, I made the acquaintance of a lady 
 clairvoyante, the wife of a brother officer. 
 
 " On one occasion the officers having arranged to 
 have a horse race, the lady being entranced, was in 
 sport consulted as to the result. She replied, ' I see 
 the race, the horses are now running, and I see the 
 race is won by a black horse with white feet.' 
 
 " All present knew the horse alluded to, but 
 laughed at the prediction as a good joke, the horse 
 having, as we thought, no chance whatever. 
 
 " However, the race was duly run, and, to the 
 astonishment of all concerned, the black horse with 
 the white feet came in the winner."
 
 192 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 On another occasion a gentleman connected with 
 the garrison dreamt that a certain horse had just won 
 a certain important race in England, and so impressed 
 was this gentleman that he, when awake, got out of 
 bed and wrote down the name of the horse so as to 
 make no mistake. 
 
 Next day he told the officers of his dream, and the 
 lists of all the horses were searched, but no horse 
 bearing the name could be found. 
 
 There was no telegraphic communication between 
 England and Gibraltar in these days, but about a 
 week afterwards the news arrived that the race named 
 had been won by a horse bearing the name the 
 gentleman had seen in his dream. 
 
 This is an important case, as no guessing could 
 have revealed the name of an unknown horse. 
 
 My friend Mr. M , a retired surgeon, having in 
 
 early life got into a circle of racing men, the day 
 
 before the Derby, 1862, called on Mrs. R , who 
 
 said to him, " Mr. M , do you believe in dreams?" 
 
 to which he replied, " Yes " ; " For," she said, " my 
 
 friend Mr. S has three times dreamt that No. 17 
 
 on the card to-morrow will win the Derby." 
 
 Mr. M went to the Derby next day, and on 
 
 the grand stand met Mr. J. J , the leviathan book- 
 maker, and finding No. 17 on the card to be 
 Caractacus, asked what odds were given on him, and 
 Mr. J. J said 40 to one, and Mr. M laid 10
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 193 
 
 on the horse. Immediately another gentleman came 
 up to Mr. J. J -- , and getting the same odds, laid 
 25 on the horse. Mr. J. J - said, ' Won't you do 
 it again ? " " Yes." " Won't you do it a third 
 time ? " " Yes." And thus this second gentleman 
 laid ^75 on Caractacus 
 
 Immediately afterwards the Derby was run, and 
 Caractacus came in the winner, and my friend Mr. 
 M - got ,400, and the other gentleman got 
 
 Immediately afterwards Mr. M - heard a gentle- 
 man on the stand say, " A friend of mine has won a 
 lot of money. At a spirit seance last night it was 
 rapped out Caractacus was the horse, and he bet on 
 him." 
 
 But this curious story does not end here, for Mrs. 
 Crowe, a few days afterwards, wrote from Boulogne 
 congratulating Mr. M - on his success, and she 
 added " A stance was held here by some friends of 
 mine three months ago, when two young Englishmen 
 present said, ' If these spirits would tell a fellow what 
 horse would win the Derby, they might be of some 
 use ' ; whereupon the spirits rapped out, ' Caractacus 
 will win the Derby.'" 
 
 Nor is this all, for as I narrated these occurrences 
 to Mr. Rouse he said, " Well, that is curious. I never 
 went to the Derby but once in my life, and it was 
 the year Caractacus won. As I was looking about I 
 
 O
 
 194 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 met some outside betting men, and I asked what were 
 the odds on the horses, and they gave me a card, and 
 I spotted Caractacus at once, and a voice seemed to 
 say that's the horse, and so I laid IDS. on him, and 
 got 30 to i." 
 
 With reference to clairvoyance being degraded by 
 being turned into the selfish channels of betting and 
 business speculations, Mrs. Billing told me the 
 following story : 
 
 A young gentleman went to a clairvoyante in New 
 York, and begged she would give him some sittings 
 for speculation, as he was just going to be married, 
 and 5,000 dollars would be most useful in furnishing 
 his house. 
 
 The clairvoyante replied that she never sat for such 
 purposes ; but he pressed her so hard that she con- 
 sented to give him three sittings, and no more. 
 
 He sat three times and gained his 5,000 dollars ; 
 but not contented he returned a fourth time, and 
 implored one more sitting. She reminded him of his 
 promise to be content with three sittings ; but he so 
 urged it that she consented, but with a warning. The 
 result was that he lost his 5,000 dollars. 
 
 8. Clairvoyance as produced by the use of Anaes- 
 thetics. On this subject I will not here enter, as it 
 forms a separate paper in this book. 
 
 In this paper I have recorded the details of forty
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 195 
 
 cases of clairvoyance occurring within my own ex- 
 perience, or that of my personal friends, and, if 
 one may judge from the number of records (and I 
 could easily have doubled them), which one investi- 
 gator has met with, the amount of cases known to the 
 community must be immense. 
 
 If one single instance of clairvoyance is demonstra- 
 ted, it will prove that there is a faculty, or auto-noetic 
 power in man as yet unrecognised by science ; and 
 there can be only three ways of disposing of these 
 records : 
 
 1. That the narratives arc all instances of falsehood 
 or hallucination. 
 
 2. That they are merely cases of coincidence. 
 
 3. That they are records of facts. 
 
 But to those who know the sources of these narra- 
 tives, the suggestion that they are instances of either 
 falsehood or hallucination is absurd. The known 
 veracity of the narrators excludes the first hypothesis, 
 and there is no room for hallucination, in the fact that 
 Mrs. De Morgan's clairvoyant saw water, wine, and 
 biscuits in a room, or in Mr. Thompson's clairvoyant 
 seeing a certain document in a certain box at 3, 
 Gray's Inn ; or in Mrs. Ford's clairvoyant seeing and 
 describing the little dog ; and no falsehood, hallucina- 
 tion, or coincidence could enable the brothers Didier, 
 when perfectly blindfolded, to correctly play games of 
 ecarte, or games of billiards ; or enable Wilson to
 
 THEOSOPIIY. 
 
 inform me correctly of the particular events which 
 occurred to myself an hour previously, and three 
 miles from his house. 
 
 I think one may be excused if he sometimes feels 
 a little impatient with what appears to be stolid 
 scepticism in these matters. 
 
 For instance, one sceptic, being forced by the evi- 
 dence to admit the possibility of clairvoyance, said to- 
 me, " At least, let us be thankful so little of it is to be 
 found." 
 
 Another sceptic, when a perfectly blindfolded clair- 
 voyant read a sentence from a book, as held to his 
 forehead, replied, " Well, it would have been more 
 satisfactory if he had read with the back of his head." 
 
 But a third sceptic, when a clairvoyant read with 
 the back of his head, said, " That act alone aroused 
 my suspicion ; for how do you know he did not place 
 the page to the back of his head, in order that he 
 might, by the aid of a small mirror concealed down 
 his sleeve, catch a glimpse of the page ! " 
 
 A fourth said, " Eyesight in the usual way wa.s 
 sufficient for him ; and even if clairvoyance were true, 
 he took no interest in it." 
 
 A fifth said, even if I showed him a case of what I 
 called clairvoyance, he would simply say he was 
 deceived. 
 
 But my sixth sceptic was the worst of all ; for 
 although he is popularly believed to be one of the
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 197 
 
 greatest philosophers of the day, he yet, when I 
 assured him I was as certain of my occult facts as I 
 was of the existence of my right hand, replied, " I am 
 not bound to admit the existence of your right hand, 
 and as to your occult facts, if they were true, they 
 would upset the laws of the universe." 
 
 In the face of objectors of this quality, may one not 
 say There are none so blind as those who won't see, 
 and no credulity is so childish or so pedantic as some 
 specimens of incredulity? 
 
 Doubtless, in matters of this kind, the evidence 
 should be as exact as possible ; for, although verbal 
 variations will not shake the belief of those who know 
 that clairvoyance is true, they yet afford excuses for 
 the disbelief of those who assert that clairvoyance is 
 impossible. 
 
 For myself, I may be permitted to say that I 
 believe the statements I have made in this paper 
 demonstrate that there is a faculty in man of clair- 
 voyance ; a faculty which might be called Auto- 
 noetic, or mind-knowing, independently of the 
 physical senses. 
 
 As to the modus operandi, a clairvoyante, when in 
 trance, said to me, " Electricity is the arm of God " ; 
 and Bovee Dods says, " Mind can only touch matter 
 through electricity." It may be that in clairvoyance 
 mind employs an electric telegraph, using as its affer- 
 ent and efferent wires magnetic lines of will force,
 
 198 THEOSOH1Y. 
 
 analogous to the line of light in the photophone. 
 
 Many years of observation of these matters have 
 convinced me that there is such a faculty of this. 
 I have no more doubt than I have of ordinary vision. 
 
 The faculty of clairvoyance is comparatively rare,, 
 and is so far extraordinary, but to my mind it is not 
 more wonderful than is the faculty of ordinary vision. 
 
 If one single instance of direct clairvoyance can be 
 demonstrated, then one thousand failures to produce 
 a second instance would in no degree invalidate the 
 integrity of the first instance, and yet one continually 
 meets with those who, having perhaps devoted a feu- 
 hours to the investigation of this difficult subject, and 
 failed to obtain a uniform series of results, denounce 
 as dupes and simpletons believers, who may have 
 given twenty, or thirty, or forty years to the investiga- 
 tion. 
 
 I can foresee that thought-reading, as the most 
 common form of clairvoyance, inasmuch as the 
 physical theory of sympathetic brain vibrations may 
 seem to afford a materialistic clue to its solution, is 
 destined at no distant day to be widely accepted by 
 the scientific world. But this explanation docs not 
 satisfy my mind, and I believe further experiments 
 will prove that all thought-readers are more or less 
 psychics. 
 
 But in any case sympathetic brain vibrations cannot 
 explain that form of clairvoyance which sees distant
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 199 
 
 objects, through it may be miles of streets, or it may- 
 be through a segment of the earth's crust ; nor can 
 sympathetic vibrations account for the revelation 
 of secrets unknown to anyone present. Nor can 
 brain vibrations explain how Mrs. De Morgan's 
 maid persisted in seeing wine, ivater, and biscuits in a 
 distant room, when all the vibrations of Mrs. De 
 Morgan's brain desired that the psychic should there 
 see coffee ! 
 
 Somnambulism has always been recognised as a 
 fact by the medical profession, namely, the faculty 
 manifested in an abnormal condition of sleep, of 
 accomplishing feats of physicial and mental ability 
 far beyond the normal powers of the individual. 
 
 In Chambers's Encyclopedia the Archbishop of 
 Bordeaux narrates how a student rose from his bed 
 in sleep and composed and wrote down a sermon, and 
 wrote out music, and corrected it, and continued to 
 do all this although a sheet of pasteboard was 
 interposed between the face of the sleeper and the 
 paper on which he was writing. 
 
 This was spontaneous clairvoyance, and if so, why 
 should there be so much difficulty in admitting the 
 facts of mesmerically-induced clairvoyance? 
 
 Psychology, as it now exists, is, as the word literally 
 implies, a mere talking about the soul and its powers; 
 but if Psychologists were intimate with the phe- 
 nomena of clairvoyance, they would then be able to
 
 200 THEOSOPI1Y. 
 
 Construct a science of the soul as founded on psychical 
 facts. 
 
 I have said that clairvoyance is more extraordinary, 
 but that it is not more wonderful than ordinary 
 vision. The eye itself is an inscrutable mystery, for 
 how rays of light impinging on the infinitesimal 
 terminal points of the optic nerve can so vibrate in 
 the brain as to give visions of form and colour of 
 exquisite beauty, is a problem as yet beyond the 
 power of science to solve ; for how can the brain, 
 which is itself but a mechanism of albumen and fat 
 with some phosphorus, see and comprehend such 
 things ? 
 
 To myself it is much more difficult to conceive how 
 any mechanical arrangement of albumen, f<U, and 
 phosphorus can know the glory and seek the mystery 
 of the universe, than to believe that there is in man 
 a faculty or auto-noetic power called thought, mind, 
 or soul, which can, under peculiar conditions, and at 
 rare intervals, sec physical things independently of 
 mechanical optics by a faculty called clairvoyance. 
 
 I have thus by examples of each stage of clair- 
 voyance attempted to show how, step by step, \ve 
 advance from simple thought-reading to deeper brain- 
 reading, and from that to the still deeper diagnosis of 
 internal bodily disease, hidden from the eye of sense, 
 but revealed to the penetrating eye of the soul, and 
 from that to the travelling of the soul to distances on
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 2OI 
 
 this earth beyond optical vision, and thence to the 
 highest powers of the soul as an independent mind, 
 knowing the past, the present, and the future, and 
 leading to that ultimate climax of the soul, whereby 
 it ascends, as in holy enhancement, and enters the 
 regions where the Immortals dwell. 
 
 Thus this intelligent power called soul, operates not 
 only independently of the senses, but beyond the 
 reach of the physical senses, and shows itself as an 
 independent auto-noetic power, triumphing over pain 
 and disease and death, and penetrating matter, and 
 -acting as if its connection \vith matter were but a 
 passing accident. 
 
 And just as chemistry can show that there is no 
 such thing as the destruction of matter, but only its 
 ever-varying transformations ; and just as physics 
 can prove that although power may disappear in one 
 place, it is only that it may reappear in another place, 
 in obedience to the law of the Conservation of Energy, 
 so the soul of man, as a thinking and auto-noetic 
 power although its external clothing may pass 
 through various transformations and regenerations 
 can be demonstrated as a unity incapable of the sub- 
 divisions of decay ; and thus as an immortal life is 
 destined to survive " the war of elements, the wreck 
 of matter, and the crash of worlds." 
 
 We may sit in a darkened theatre before the act, 
 and by some minute chink in the dark curtain which
 
 202 THEOSOH1Y. 
 
 separates the audience from the stage, obtain a 
 glimpse of the splendid spectacular luminosity which 
 nwaits us ; and I would ask, Do not the rare glimpses 
 which clairvoyants sometimes obtain, perhaps reveal 
 that there may be a world of light, as Milton says 
 " Above the din and stir of this dim spot which men 
 call earth," to which the highest form of saintly 
 entranced clairvoyance may possibly reach, and show 
 " that some there be who by due steps aspire to lay 
 their just hands on that golden key which opes the 
 palace of eternity." 
 
 Thus the highest entranced soul knows, as an 
 absolute fact, that materialism is not true. It beholds 
 its immortal life, and in the innermost secret of its 
 own essence, it listens to the still small voice of the 
 eternal God.
 
 XL ANAESTHETICS, 
 
 AND THEIR REVELATIONS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 IN the year 1800, Humphrey Davy, then twenty- 
 two years of age, suggested that the inhalation of 
 nitrous oxide gas might be used in surgical operations 
 as a means of preventing pain ; but it was not until 
 1844 that Mr. Horace Wells, a dentist residing at 
 Hartford, Connecticut, used it in extracting teeth, 
 and thus demonstrated the truth of Humphrey Davy's 
 conjecture. 
 
 In the year 1846, Dr. Morton, of Boston, U.S., 
 demonstrated for the first time that the severest sur- 
 gical operations could be performed without pain 
 under the inhalation of the vapour of sulphuric ether. 
 Lastly, Sir James Simpson, of Edinburgh, in the same 
 year, introduced the beneficent use of chloroform in 
 the labours of child-bed. 
 
 Anaesthetics having thus conferred on poor suffer- 
 ing humanity the inestimable blessing of painless 
 surgery, I ask with reverence and hope : Are 
 anaesthetics not yet destined to confer on the human 
 race the infinitely greater boon of scientifically 
 demonstrating the existence, free from the body, of 
 the human soul ? 
 
 It is true that the vast majority of human beings
 
 204 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 do instinctively believe in the existence of the human 
 soul ; and this is of all arguments the strongest, 
 because any spiritual belief, which is all but universal 
 in the human mind, must be regarded as an instinctive 
 revelation in harmony with the nature of man, and 
 therefore true ; and when, further, this instinct is 
 found to increase the happiness and welfare of the 
 human race, the proof to me seems absolute, because 
 no falsehood can produce ultimate good. 
 
 There are, however, among the scientific minds of 
 the present day, an ever-increasing number of 
 thoughtful, truthful, and benevolent men, who yet 
 doubt or deny that there exists any entity or ego 
 apart from the body, and these men assert that when 
 the bodily organisation dies the man himself, so far 
 as evidence goes, becomes extinct. 
 
 Let us then inquire whether or not this materialistic 
 assertion is true, or whether the use of anaesthetics 
 cannot demonstrate that this assertion of unbelief is 
 contrary to fact. 
 
 It has been long known that persons who have been 
 all but drowned, so as to appear actually dead, but 
 who it may be after hours of manipulation have 
 been restored to consciousness, have sometimes 
 declared that the process of drowning, after the first 
 struggle, was not agonising, but actually pleasurable. 
 
 These individuals have sometimes said that the 
 cMitirc history of their lives has flashed before them as
 
 AX /ESTHETICS. 205 
 
 if photographed instantaneously, and that then they 
 have seemed to ascend to heavenly regions and 
 celestial felicity. 
 
 Again, many of those who in the dentist's hands 
 have inhaled nitrous-oxide, which produces asphyxia 
 exactly analogous to that of drowning, have expressed 
 their enjoyment of great spiritual happiness, even as 
 their teeth were being extracted. 
 
 The same results have often followed the use of 
 chloroform ; and I myself, one day in the year 1874, 
 while inhaling chloroform as a relief to the agony of 
 passing a small renal calculus, suddenly, to my great 
 wonder, found my ego, or soul, or reasoning faculty, 
 clothed, and in the form of my body, standing about 
 two yards outside my body, and contemplating that 
 body as it lay motionless on the bed. 
 
 This startling discovery was to me most significant,, 
 and becoming suddenly awakened to its importance, 
 I called on three medical men who had very large 
 experiences in the giving of anaesthetics. 
 
 In reply to my question, one gentleman said, " I 
 can quite believe your assertion, as I have often heard 
 patients express a similar idea, although in a confused 
 way." Another gentleman said, " He had himself on 
 three occasions taken chloroform, and on each 
 occasion he found himself, as it were, pleasantly 
 whirling and soaring in the air " ; and the third 
 gentleman said, " My patients have often said that
 
 206 THEOSOFHY. 
 
 under my operations they felt no pain, but saw all I 
 was doing like spectators looking on and watching 
 the operations." 
 
 In connection with these facts concerning drowning 
 and anaesthetics, I will here draw attention to what 
 are called mesmeric experiments. 
 
 I have, since the year 1839, witnessed many 
 mesmeric experiments, and I have found that certain 
 individuals, while their minds have been concentrated 
 on a physical point, and their breathing has thus 
 become slower and slower, have passed into trance 
 more or less profound, and while in this state it is well 
 known from the evidence of Dr. Esdaile, of Calcutta, 
 and others, that the severest surgical operations have 
 been performed, not only without pain, but while the 
 patient has at the same time passed into ecstatic joys. 
 
 The history of ecstatic martyrs has furnished addi- 
 tional evidence in this direction. 
 
 Thus we find in mesmeric trance a condition of 
 things exactly analogous to what we sometimes find 
 during the administration of anaesthetics. 
 
 Lastly, those who have studied Oriental Occultism 
 know that there is an order of Hindu ascetics who, 
 living lives of fasting, contemplation, and prayer, can 
 so discipline their bodies as by practice to retain the 
 breath until they become asphyxiated, and these 
 ascetics assert that thus they can project their souls 
 from the body,and, becoming entranced, ascend to God.
 
 AN/ESTHETICS. 2OJ 
 
 The Christian saints, without exactly practising the 
 same method, so far as the breath is concerned, also 
 at periods became entranced, and, " ascending to 
 heaven, united their souls with the Lord." 
 
 Now all this is one. 
 
 Whether by drowning, asphyxiating gases, mesmeric 
 trance, or " internal breathing," or the self-imposed 
 asphyxia of the Hindu ascetics, or the entrancemcnts 
 of the ecstatic saints, the modus operandi is analogous 
 and the result identical, namely, the temporary death 
 through the absence of breath in the lungs, and thus 
 the temporary freeing of the soul. As St. Peter says, 
 " Dead in the body, but alive in the spirit." 
 
 This trance is dangerous if pushed too far by 
 the operation of medicinal substances ; but in the 
 entrancement produced by mesmerism or ecstasy, the 
 condition may exist for hours, days, or even weeks^ 
 while the ecstatic declares on his return to earth- 
 consciousness that he has in spirit, outside his body, 
 been in Paradise, and beheld things impossible to 
 utter. Although St. Paul says that when caught up 
 into Paradise he beheld things not lawful to utter, he 
 knew not whether he was in or out of the body. 
 
 The sceptic will say all this proves nothing but 
 hallucination and dreams. 
 
 In reply to this objection, I would say that trance 
 is a condition entirely beyond mere sleep, and that 
 visions of the spirit are entirely distinct from the
 
 208 THEOSOrHV. 
 
 dreams of imperfect sleep, and those who have been 
 in trance know its intense reality. 
 
 No one in mere sleep can submit to painful opera- 
 tions, not only without flinching, but with the smile of 
 joy on his face ; and no one dreams that he is outside 
 his body ; he dreams that he is with his body. More- 
 over, those who awake from dreams at once admit the 
 dream, but those who return from the revelations of 
 enhancement assert that these were not dreams ; and, 
 therefore, sceptics who merely suggest explanations 
 cannot have the weight of those who assert their 
 beliefs from experience. 
 
 I therefore submit that sceptics have, in the use of 
 anaesthetics, a physical and scientific means of testing 
 the beliefs and assertions of pneumatologists as to 
 the existence outside the body of the soul or ego as a 
 scientific fact, capable of demonstration. 
 
 The sceptic will deny that the all but universal 
 belief of human beings in the existence of the soul 
 has any scientific weight. He will further deny the 
 authority of spiritual revelations. He will discredit 
 the experiments of mesmerists, and deny the 
 assertions of Hindu or Christian ecstatics ; but if he 
 experiment with medicinal anaesthetics on his own 
 person, he may find out, as I and others have done, 
 that the soul may be projected outside the body, and 
 externally exist as the true ego. 
 
 If thus the soul can be demonstrated as an
 
 ANESTHETICS. 2O9 
 
 objective fact, the next step is to postulate that the 
 ego, or soul, or mind is a unify. 
 
 All visible substances are compounds, and as com- 
 pounds are liable to disintegration, decay, and death. 
 Even the royal gold can thus, from its liability to 
 slow decay, be shown to be not an elementary but a 
 compound substance. But the soul as a unity is 
 incapable of division, therefore incapable of decay, 
 and is therefore immortal. 
 
 Finally, those who have demonstrated the existence 
 of their spiritual nature, know that in so doing they 
 have demonstrated to themselves the existence of the 
 Father of all Spirit God. 
 
 The publication of these views called forth the 
 following interesting corroborations : 
 
 " Many visions have been vouchsafed me, but I 
 know of none that gave me the exquisite delight as 
 that produced by an anaesthetic, and never did I so 
 regret the awakening as on that occasion ; and I feel 
 now that I was then really temporarily, to all intents 
 and purposes, dead in the body but alive in the 
 spirit. " M.A. (Cantab.) " 
 
 " Since the publication of your article, a remarkable 
 statement has been made to me by a gentleman to 
 whom I had just administered an anaesthetic. 
 Knowing my patient (an eminent litetary reviewer 
 and critic) to be of great intelligence, I asked him 
 immediately on recovery to describe any sensations 
 
 P
 
 2IO THEOSOPHY. 
 
 or impressions he may have experienced. With con- 
 siderable earnestness and excitement he said (in 
 nearly his own words), ' I thought I had /;/ souic ti'ur, 
 you know, got to the bottom and behind everything* 
 saw ilie cause and reason of tilings, and understood the 
 mystery of life and the great secret tJiat all ha-i-c 
 song/it. And I called to others to put in writing what 
 it was, and how I found it out, but I now remember 
 nothing more than this.' 
 
 "WALTER H. COFFIN." 
 
 Further, Mr. Stodart, dentist, told me he had met 
 with many analogous cases ; and at the Dental 
 Hospital they told me that the patients under gas 
 often saw visions and spoke of being out of their 
 bodies. 
 
 The above observations may be compared with 
 those of Sir Humphrey Davy, who made a long series 
 of experiments upon himself, to ascertain the effects 
 of breathing nitrous oxide. About one of his earlier 
 experiments he says : 
 
 " I gradually began to lose the perception of 
 external things, and a vivid and intense recollection 
 of some former experiments passed through my mind, 
 so that I called out, ' What an amazing concatenation 
 of ideas ! ' ' 
 
 In one of his later experiments Sir Humphrey 
 Davy experienced the following sensations :
 
 ANESTHETICS. 211 
 
 " By degrees, as the pleasurable sensations in- 
 creased, I lost all connection with external things ; 
 trains of vivid visible images rapidly passed through 
 my mind, and were connected with words in such a 
 manner as to produce perceptions perfectly novel. 
 I existed in a world of newly-connected and newly- 
 modified ideas. When I was awakened from this 
 semi-delirious trance my emotions were enthusiastic 
 and sublime, and for a minute I walked round the 
 room, perfectly regardless of what was said to me. 
 As I recovered my former state of mind I felt an 
 inclination to communicate the discoveries I had 
 made during the experiment. I endeavoured to recall 
 the ideas ; they were feeble and indistinct ; one 
 collection of terms, however, presented itself, and with 
 the most intense belief and prophetic manner I 
 exclaimed to Dr. Kinglake, ' Nothing exists but 
 thoughts ! the universe is composed of impressions, 
 ideas, pleasures, and pains ! ' 
 
 On the assumption that anaesthetics occasionally 
 separate the soul from the body, the above is an 
 example how entrance into the spiritual state 
 suddenly transformed one of the greatest physicists 
 of modern times into an idealist. 
 
 Mr. A. Uuguid, Kircaldy, reports: 
 
 " My wife's mother, Mrs. Arnot, left us for the 
 higher existence on Feb. 5th, 1880. There is a 
 married daughter living at Banchory, three miles from
 
 212 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 this town ; Mrs. Arnot died at eleven o'clock in the 
 forenoon. The married daughter was very ill in 
 labour, and the doctors in attendance thought it wise 
 to administer chloroform. She passed under the 
 influence thereof at twelve o'clock noon, and while 
 doing so told all those present that her mother was 
 dead, for she saw her, and that the baby was with her 
 mother. No tidings of the mother's death reached 
 the daughter's house till four o'clock in the afternoon,, 
 and on no account was she told after coming from, 
 under the influence of the chloroform. It is note- 
 worthy that she spoke of having seen her babe in 
 the spirit-world as well as her mother, which was. 
 quite consistent with fact, as the infant died in the 
 doctor's hands, and was in the spirit-world while the 
 mother was still under the influence of chloroform." 
 
 Another correspondent writes, " I took nitrous 
 oxide and chloroform for two operations, and seemed 
 to get behind the veil that covers creation, and I 
 seemed to see unceasing energy working out the will 
 of God." 
 
 An intimate friend also said to me, " I experi- 
 mented with chloroform according to your suggestion, 
 and I seemed to receive an absolute demonstration of 
 the spirit-world. I further saw that spirit was the 
 substance of matter, and that what we call matter was 
 a mere shadow. So strong was this conviction, that, 
 for days after my experience I could not restrain my
 
 AN/KSTHETICS. 213 
 
 laughter at the delusion that the things visible to the 
 physical eyes were the real things." 
 
 These communications are strongly confirmatory r.f 
 my views, and go to show that anaesthetics liberate 
 the soul by, as it were, drowning the body, that is, by 
 expelling the air from the lungs. That, in fact, they 
 drive the soul out of the body and thus render the 
 body incapable of experiencing pain, for it is by the 
 mind that pain is known, and hence the lower the 
 mental organisation in animals the less sensitive are 
 their bodies to pain. 
 
 The expression used by Mr. Coffin's patient, when 
 under anaesthesia, " that he had got to the bottom and 
 behind everything, and saw the cause and reason of 
 things, and understood the mystery of life and the 
 threat secret that all have sought," is the expression of 
 the profound truths known to saints and ecstatics ; 
 while the expression used by Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 when under the influence of nitrous oxide, that 
 4< nothing exists but thought," was a profound revela- 
 tion of Divine Philosophy. 
 
 I would therefore urge on Scientists, Psychologists, 
 and Materialists, further experiments with anaesthetics 
 as a means of arriving at an experimental demonstra- 
 tion of the independent existence and powers of the 
 human soul. And as probably not fewer than one 
 thousand patients arc daily put under anaesthetics in 
 Europe and America, what an enormous amount of 
 opportunity is offered for experiment.
 
 XII. MATTER : 
 
 ITS SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCES A DEMONSTRATION. 
 
 Tin-: phenomena of the passage of matter 
 matter has much interested Spiritualists. The facts 
 are that during dark stances, while the circles arc seated 
 around tables and with joined hands, wooden and 
 other rings being previously placed on the table, these 
 have frequently been found threaded on the arms of 
 those present, on the understanding and belief that 
 continuity of joined hands remained unbroken. 
 
 In the presence of the medium Husk this has 
 during the last twenty years been done probably a 
 thousand times, and the feat, taking it for granted 
 that all hands are at the moment joined, is obviously 
 a physical impossibility. 
 
 On no occasion, however, up to a certain date, 
 while I held any hand, was a ring ever placed either 
 on my own arm or on the arm of the hand I held, and 
 I therefore in those days suspected that in most, if not 
 in all instances, when the act was accomplished, it 
 was during a moment when two sitters inadvertent 1)-, 
 and perhaps unconsciously, relaxed their grasp of 
 each other's hands. 
 
 This explanation, however, was never admitted. 
 either by the medium or by the sitters, and I was
 
 MATTER. 215 
 
 always told that my magnetism was of so positive a 
 nature that the operation could not be performed 
 either on my own arm or on that of any hand I held. 
 
 The subject interested me more than any other in 
 Spiritualistic phenomena, for, if demonstrated, it 
 would establish the fact that Matter was subject to 
 Spirit, and then all other Spiritual phenomena would 
 be easy to accept, and I therefore determined, if 
 possible, to bring the question to a crucial test. 
 
 Accordingly I had an iron ring made of a size 
 which made it impossible to force it over my own or 
 Husk's hand, and this ring during four years I 
 invariably carried in my pocket and placed on the 
 table at the commencement of every seance I 
 attended. 
 
 This ring, during four years, was repeatedly found 
 on the arms of those present at seances, but on no 
 occasion, up to a certain date, was it ever placed on 
 my arm, or on that of any hand I held. 
 
 Still I persisted, because I was from time to time 
 promised a demonstration if only I persevered. 
 
 I did persevere, and the promise was fulfilled on 
 the evening of the 1 8th December, 1884, at the house 
 of my friend Mr. Stuart-Menteath. 
 
 Mr. Menteath had arranged to hold a series of 
 seances in his own house, with the medium Husk, and 
 as far as possible always to have the same sitters 
 present, and who should all be known to each other ;
 
 2l6 THF.OSOPHY. 
 
 and on the night of my ring demonstration, Mr. 
 Menteath, Miss Menteath, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Captain 
 James, General Maclean, the Rev. Mr. Newbold, and 
 myself were present. 
 
 We sat as usual at the table, and the light being 
 put out, a voice, apparently coming through Husk, 
 said, " Dr. Wyld, we think we shall be able to put 
 your ring on the medium's wrist to-night, so be sure 
 and hold his hand securely." 
 
 To this I objected that the controls had always 
 said that they could not pass the ring on to the arm 
 of anyone whose hand I held, and that as I knew that 
 no force could pass the ring over Husk's hand, I 
 should be content not to hold his hand. The voice 
 replied, " But we wish you to hold the medium's 
 hand." 
 
 Accordingly I laid hold of Husk's left hand with 
 my right hand, while Captain James held his right 
 hand, and with my left hand I then cautiously 
 examined Husk's forearm, but found no ring there. 
 Then taking my ring in my left hand, and holding it, 
 as directed, lightly with two fingers, I gave the 
 remaining fingers of my left hand to my next sitter. 
 The voice then said, " I will take the ring out of y< un- 
 hand, ring it three times on the table, and then place 
 it on the medium's wrist." 
 
 The ring was then immediately taken from me, 
 rung three times on the table, and placed round
 
 MATTER. 217 
 
 Husk's wrist, while he uttered a cry as of pain, and 
 struggled convulsively to free his hand from mine, 
 but I held all the tighter, and with my left hand 
 eagerly sought and found a ring on his left wrist, and 
 called for a light, while I held the hand and wrist of 
 Husk as in a vice. 
 
 When the light was produced we all saw the ring 
 on the wrist, and all tried to remove it, but without 
 success ; while I satisfied myself by the examination 
 of my private marks that the ring was my own ring ; 
 and I need scarcely say that my sensations of success, 
 after so many failures during four years, were intense. 
 
 The evidence stated categorically is as follows : 
 i. I have an ovoid ring made of hammered iron 
 t %in. thick, and privately marked, of a size I found 
 impossible to force over my own or Husk's hand, as 
 tested by myself and many others. 2. The measure- 
 ments were: Internal long diameter, 2'75in. ; short 
 diameter, 2in. ; internal circumference, 7'Sin. ; the 
 circumference of Husk's left hand at the date of the 
 experiment, as measured by a cord tightly tied round 
 it, being 9'i5in. 3. It is, of course, impossible, 
 according to physics, to pass any body measuring 
 9' 1 5 in. through a ring measuring only 7'8in. internal 
 circumference, and yet the feat was accomplished. 
 
 The ring on the wrist of Husk was certainly my 
 ring, intact and untampered with. All present at the 
 experiment tried to remove the ring from Husk's
 
 2l8 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 \vrist, but found it manifestly impossible. I am r 
 therefore, justified in stating this experiment to be a 
 demonstration of the occult passage of matter through 
 matter. 
 
 This ring suddenly fell from Husk's wrist to the 
 ground, about an hour after it had been placed there ; 
 and I immediately picked it up and found it unaltered 
 in any way, and I still have this ring in my possession. 
 
 On after experiments with this ring, I found that 
 although too small to be forced over my hand or over 
 Husk's hand, it could yet be forced, with some 
 difficulty, over the hands of most ladies, and I there- 
 fore had my oval ring No. 2 made, with diameters 
 about rV m - I GSS tnan that of ring No. I, anil this 
 ring could not be lorced over the hand of any young 
 lady on whom it had been tried. 
 
 I sent this ring to Husk, about the 26th January,. 
 1885, and on the 28th, at his own house, the ring was, 
 according to evidence, placed on Husk's wrist, while 
 my friend, Mr. Bampfylde, held his hand. 
 
 I sat with Husk on the 2Otli, when he showed me 
 my ring No. 2 on his wrist, and by the most minute 
 examination, requiring the use of a magnifying glass, 
 I satisfied myself with absolute certainty that it was 
 my own ring No. 2, and Mr. Bampfylde assured me 
 that he had handled my ring before the seance began, 
 and ^immediately afterwards, while he held Husk's 
 hand, it appeared on the wrist of I fusk.
 
 MATTER. 219 
 
 The sceptic may smile at my simplicity in per- 
 mitting Husk to have possession of the ring before- 
 hand, as it might enable him to make a duplicate, or 
 tamper with it, but my object was to bring the ring 
 and Husk's body magnetically en rapport, and my 
 ring remained untampercd with and no duplicate ring 
 ever appeared. 
 
 Having got my ring No. 2 on Husk's wrist, it struck 
 me that 1 should show it to Mr. Maskelync, of the 
 Egyptian Hall, as not only one who was interested in 
 such matters, but as confessedly the most expert 
 conjuror in England, if not in Europe. I did so, and 
 he expressed himself as much interested and quite 
 unable to account for the position of the ring on 
 Husk's wrist. He admitted that the ring was soundly 
 welded, and that it could not have been hot welded 
 on the arm, and he suggested the possibility of cold 
 welding, but admitted that that would require great 
 pressure and considerable time. He also admitted 
 that the ring, in his opinion, could not possibly be 
 removed, or, if possible, not without great injury to 
 Husk's hand. 
 
 Eurther, as Mr. Maskelync suggested the possibility 
 of removing the ring by force, if the shape of the 
 ring corresponded with the form of the moulded hand 
 in forcing the ring off; I being prepared for this 
 suggestion, offered him a soft copper twisted wire 
 ring I had made the exact size of the ring on the
 
 220 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 wrist, and which would readily take the ever changing 
 form of the hand as the ring was withdrawn ; but on 
 seeing the small copper ring he wisely declined to 
 make the attempt to pass it over Husk's hand. 
 (Light, loth April, 1885.) 
 
 Mr. Maskelync subsequently said that a ring could 
 b2 more easily forced over a hand than withdrawn 
 from it, but this I know, from frequent practice, to be 
 the reverse of the case, although the remark is true as 
 applied to finger rings. And with regard to the 
 suggestion of cold welding, every worker in iron will 
 assert that my ring is hot welded. 
 
 The publication in Liglit of this experiment as 
 " . / demonstration of the passage of Matter tJirougli 
 Matter" called forth many letters, but the late 
 Edmund Gurney, one of the most acute and earnest 
 members of TJie Society for PsycJiological Rcscarcli, 
 devoted his energies, in accordance with the well- 
 known and almost excessive prudence of this Society, 
 to an attempt to show that my experiment did not 
 rank as a " demonstration" 
 
 His arguments in various letters lay almost ex- 
 clusively in the direction that I could not be 
 absolutely certain of the identity of my rings with 
 the rings which appeared on Husk's wrist. But as 
 from fine marks of extreme minuteness and incapable 
 of imitation, as well as from marks made secretly by 
 myself, I was absolutely certain of the identity of
 
 MATTER. 221 
 
 my rings with those on Husk's wrist, Mr. Gurney's 
 arguments thus fell to the ground. 
 
 But even were it impossible to prove the identity of 
 the rings, that would not affect the case, which was 
 simply this: *' There is a ring on Husk's wrist, the 
 presence of which cannot be accounted for by men of 
 science, or by Maskelyne, the prince of jugglers, and I, 
 knowing its history, pronounce its presence on Husk's 
 wrist to be the result of occult force, and therefore 
 ' a demonstration of the passage of Matter through 
 Matter.' " 
 
 The case continuing to create much attention, about 
 a year after the above record, pressure was put on 
 the Society for Psychical Research to submit the phe- 
 nomenon to scientific investigation, and accordingly 
 a committee was appointed, and on the i/th April, 
 William Crookes, F.R.S., Victor Horsley, F.R.C.S., 
 W. C. Bull, F.R.C.S., and A. T. Myers, M.D., met 
 Husk at 24, Clarges Street, and subjected his hand 
 and ring to careful examination and measurement. 
 And their measurements of my ring, although they 
 are slightly larger than my own, I am willing to accept 
 as correct. 
 
 The verdict arrived at by the committee is in these 
 words : " We cannot infer that it is impossible that the 
 ring should have come into the position in which we 
 found it by known natural means." 
 
 It will be remarked that this verdict is worded with
 
 222 TIIEOSOPHY. 
 
 extreme caution, the double negative used being a 
 form of words which usually implies an apologetic 
 tone. But, however this may be, the verdict, gram- 
 atically considered, is contrary to the figures furnished 
 by the committee itself, and this can be very easily 
 and clearly shown. 
 
 Husk's hand was first moulded and then compressed 
 Avith metallic tape, and subsequently with copper wire. 
 The committee desired that he should submit to be 
 etherised in order that they might apply crucial 
 pressure, but as he declined to submit to this, three 
 other men were found who submitted to the operation, 
 and the committee seem to imply that had Musk 
 -submitted to this crucial operation, his hand might 
 have been compressed so as to show the possibility of 
 the ring being removed by natural means ; but as the 
 crucial experiments entirely failed to show this in 
 regard to the three other cases, it may be fairly 
 inferred that Husk's hand would not have been found 
 an exceptional one. 
 
 Two of the men operated on had large hands, and 
 these, as the ring was much smaller than their hands, I 
 exclude, but man No. 3 had a hand, by a curious 
 coincidence, almost identical in size with Husk's, but 
 slightly a smaller hand. 
 
 The various measurements are given in millcmctrcs, 
 and are as follows, the measurements less than the 
 ring in Husk's case being excluded :
 
 MATTER. 
 
 223 
 
 HUSK S HAND WHEN COMPRESSED 
 WITH METALLIC TAPE. 
 
 NO. 3 HAND WHEN SO 
 COMPRESSED. 
 
 1 84 175 
 
 195 195 
 
 200 196 
 
 198 191 
 
 From these measurements it will be seen that 
 Husk's hand, when compressed with metallic tape, was 
 considerably larger than the hand of man Nc. 3 when 
 so compressed. 
 
 HUSKS HAND COMPRESSED WITH 
 COPPER \VIRE. 
 
 NO. 3 HANI) WHEN CRUCIALLY 
 COMPKESSED UNDER ETHER. 
 
 184 162 
 
 I 89 I 80 
 
 192 189 
 
 i 94 i 86 
 
 My ring measures 182-5, and from the measure- 
 ments of Husk's hand it will be seen that they are all 
 larger than that of the ring, and that two of the 
 measurements of hand No. 3, when said hand was 
 compressed to the utmost, are also larger than the 
 ring. 
 
 The committee thus admit by their own figures that 
 the ring could not possibly have been forced over 
 hand, No. 3, and it is a most unwarrantable assumption 
 that the ring could have been forced over Husk's 
 hand, which was larger than hand No. 3, had he sub- 
 mitted to be etherised. 
 
 A true verdict therefore would have been in these 
 words : " So far as our experiments have extended,
 
 224 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 they prove that the ring could not be removed from 
 Husk's wrist without severe injury to his hand," this 
 being the verdict of Mr. Maskelyne as above. 
 
 With regard to Husk having declined to submit to 
 being deprived of his consciousness, when alone with 
 strangers, who "were determined (as he said to me) 
 that science should have the best of it," I think my 
 readers will not be surprised at his prudence. I think 
 the committee should have invited me to be present 
 at their experiments, and had they done so I could 
 not only have suggested tests which they seem to have 
 omitted, but 1 think I could have induced Husk to 
 submit to the action of ether, provided he were 
 adequately remunerated for his trouble and risk. 
 
 But suppose it were granted that a soft copper ring 
 could have been forced over a body larger in circum- 
 ference than itself, which, of course, is absurd, it must 
 be still more manifestly absurd to assert that a rigid 
 iron ring which could not possibly be forced to take 
 the ever varying form of the compressed hand in its 
 progress towards removal, could have been removed 
 intact. 
 
 Further, it was a strange omission on the part of 
 the committee, on the supposition that the object was 
 the discovery of truth and not the refutation of my 
 " demonstration," that they did not, as I had done, 
 construct a soft twisted copper wire ring the exact 
 size of the iron ring on Husk's wrist, and try their
 
 MATTER. 225 
 
 best to pass it over his hand, for this copper wire ring 
 would have much favoured the operation by taking in 
 its progress onwards the ever changing shape of the 
 compressed hand. 
 
 Had they tried this test they would have convinced 
 themselves of its utter futility. 
 
 Finally, the reader must bear in mind that both 
 Husk's hands were held at the moment the rings were 
 placed on his wrist ; although this part of the per- 
 formance is unimportant, knowing as we do that the 
 circumference of the ring being smaller than the cir- 
 cumference of the hand, its passage to the wrist by 
 natural means was impossible. 
 
 As is well known, most remarkable instances of the 
 passage of Matter through Matter arc recorded in 
 Zollner's " Transcendental Physics " (as demonstra- 
 tions of a fonrtli dimension, a phrase which is to me 
 synonymous with the dynamic substance of matter), 
 instances in themselves perhaps even more remarkable 
 than the case of my rings. But the peculiarity of my 
 case is, that whereas in every previous instance in 
 which rings have been placed in positions impossible 
 to physics, they have been at once, or very soon after 
 the feat, removed ; while my ring has been retained 
 on Husk's wrist for nine years, as a standing evidence 
 (if occult work, and in this respect the case is, I 
 believe, unique in the history of Spiritualism. 
 
 There is a well-known experiment in which, while 
 
 Q
 
 226 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 a disc with figures imprinted on it is made to revolve 
 with immense velocity, a flash of electricity is thrown 
 on the disc, when, due to the instantaneousness of the 
 flash, the figures on the disc are seen as motionless ; 
 and this experiment in its instantaneity resembles 
 these ring feats. 
 
 The occult explanation of these astounding facts 
 regarding iron and other rings, is, that Matter is 
 composed cf molecules coherent but not absolutely 
 in contact, and that just as by heat substances can be 
 vaporised, and by cold again condensed heat dis- 
 persing the molecules through vibratory action so 
 spirit will force can do likewise, but with possibly 
 enormously accelerated vibrations, or possibly the work 
 is done by reversing the magnetic polarity of the atoms. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted that these wonders 
 are impossible of belief except to those who know 
 them as absolute facts, and therefore the experiments 
 should, if possible, be repeated again and again, when 
 suitable mediums can be- found, for if the passage of 
 Matter through Matter can be established widely as 
 a fact, it must revolutionise the whole of science, and 
 as the greater contains the less, make all other 
 spiritualistic facts easy of belief, by the revelation of 
 Spirit as the Substance of force and Matter.* 
 
 * For the benefit of those who may desire to see the ring on Hulk's 
 wrist, he may be heard of at the office of Liqht, 2, Duke Sinrl. 
 Charing Cress.
 
 XIII. BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 CONTRASTED.* 
 
 WE have all heard much of late years of the parallel 
 between the life and teachings of Gautama Buddhaf 
 and Jesus Christ ; but we have not heard so much 
 about the contrasts in life and doctrine between these 
 two founders of the two great religions of the world. 
 
 Most students of Buddhism have arrived at the 
 conclusion that the morality taught by Gautama 
 could scarcely be surpassed in excellence, but that his 
 system might be a philosophy but could not be a 
 religion in the accepted sense of that term, inasmuch 
 as it denied the existence of a rational God or 
 Creator, and consigned the soul of man, after 
 successive and oblivious re-incarnations, to total 
 extinction as a personality. 
 
 Believing, as I once did, that many Buddhists were 
 TheosophistS) that is, seekers after the wisdom of God, 
 I could not then accept the atheistic and nihilistic 
 interpretation of the teachings of the pure and 
 gentle Gautama ; but the publication, by Triibner, of 
 Colonel Olcott's "Catechism of Buddhism," seems to 
 
 * Reprinted from my letters in Li^ht, 1882, and The Sfaclator. 
 
 t Sakya was the family name ; Muni, or the silent one; (lautama 
 the clan ; and Buddha means enlightened ; and so the full title is - 
 The Lord Sakya- Muni Gautama The Buddha.
 
 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 confirm these views, as hitherto expressed by Max 
 Mtiller, Rhys- Davids, and other learned Orientalists. 
 
 I had always thought that Nirvana signified that 
 rest in entrancement, through which the soul as an 
 active consciousness, existed in God, but tin's 
 ( atechism of Buddhism entirely dissipates that idea. 
 
 In the second volume of Max Mliller's "Selected 
 Kssays " may be found learned and interesting 
 papers regarding Buddhism, and I now avail myself 
 of the information thus given, in my present brief 
 review of Colonel Olcott's Catechism. 
 
 This Catechism, although it contains only 28 
 pages, must be regarded as a work of considerable 
 value and importance, because not only is it the first 
 attempt to produce in English a Catechism or formal 
 epitome of Buddhism, but because it, in a brief form,, 
 confirms the result of British Oriental scholarship, by 
 the Buddhist High Priest of Adam's Peak, and 
 Principal of the Buddhist College. 
 
 We may therefore accept of this Catechism as an 
 authorised statement of the Buddhistic system as 
 taught by the highest authorities in the Buddhist 
 Church of Ceylon. 
 
 In studying this Catechism, the first thing that 
 strikes us as surprising is the fact, that although 
 Buddhists are said to number 500,000,000 (Monier 
 Williams believes the true number to be under 
 300,000,000), and to have existed for 2,400 years, yet
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 22Q 
 
 .no Bible or Catechism of the system has hitherto ever 
 been published for the instruction of the believers. 
 
 This forms a remarkable contrast to the fact that 
 the Christian Bible has been translated into every 
 important language or dialect in the world, and has 
 been flooded over the world in millions. 
 
 Notwithstanding this Oriental apathy, Colonel 
 Olcott, who we may take for granted now avows him- 
 self openly as a convert to Buddhism, with the 
 enthusiasm of a recent convert, declares his belief 
 that Buddhism, as the most scientific of all religions, 
 is destined to become the religion of the whole 
 world ! 
 
 In his enthusiasm he gives the population of the 
 globe as about 1,300,000,000, and the Buddhists being 
 about 500,000,000 ; he adds " not quite half the 
 population of the earth." 
 
 But according to the most recent statistics the 
 population of the globe is close on 1,500,000,000, and 
 admitting that nominal Buddhists may number 
 500,000,000, we find them not " one-half nearly," but 
 one-tliird exactly, of the inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 Of these 500,000,000 nominal Buddhists, nearly 
 415,00x3,000 are Chinese, thus leaving about 85,000,000 
 as the number of Buddhists residing in Siam, India, 
 Thibet, etc. 
 
 Now of these supposed 415,000.000 Chinese, taken 
 in the lump as Buddhists, we know very little ; but
 
 230 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 this \ve know, that in China there are three religions, 
 those of Confucius, Laa-tsi, and Buddha, and that 
 idol worship and the worship of Spirits and of fore- 
 fathers is very common ; and religion, as such, is 
 considered of little serious importance ; and if so, I 
 think we may conclude that Chinese Buddhists have 
 no very close resemblance to their founder, and that 
 Chinese Buddhism is not likely to become the 
 universal religion of the future. 
 
 The followers of Christ, on the other hand, number 
 390,000,000, and if we estimate the value of a religion 
 by the physical, moral, and intellectual qualities of 
 the nations holding it, we must arrive at very different 
 conclusions to those of Colonel Olcott as to the 
 religion of the future. 
 
 Buddhism has now existed on the earth for 2,400 
 years ; but during that long period of the earth's 
 history it has, with the single exception of its founder, 
 produced not one man of great historic importance, 
 not one who has affected the destiny of the human race. 
 
 Buddhism has not produced a single example of 
 greatness in poetry, the arts, sciences, or literature, or 
 even war. 
 
 \o great painter, or poet, or thinker, or discoverer, 
 or mechanic, or chemist, or geologist, or electrician, 
 or astronomer. 
 
 No Plato, or Aristotle, or Galileo, or Copernicus, or 
 Xewton, or Watt, or Stcphcnson, or Kant, or Bacon.
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 231 
 
 No Phidias, or Apcllcs, or Raphael, or Michael 
 Angelo, or Leonardo, or Murillo, or Rubens, or 
 Velasquez, Reynolds, Hogarth, Rosa Bonheur, Land- 
 seer, Turner, Meissonier, or Millais. 
 
 No La Place, Franklin, Davy, Faraday, Lyeil, 
 Playfair, Fraunhoffer, or Darwin. 
 
 No Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, 
 Burns, Scott, Tennyson, Spinosa, or Dickens. 
 
 If so, then we ask where is the intellectual 
 material by means of which the world is to be con- 
 verted to Buddhism ? 
 
 It may be replied that Buddhism is the science of 
 the soul, and that it has nothing to do with the arts 
 and literature. But to this I would say that a true 
 science of the soul must bring that soul en rapport 
 with the Divine Spirit, the fountain of all knowledge 
 and wisdom ; and hence it is that the greatest dis- 
 coverers in all ages of the world have been men 
 deeply interested in Divine things. But as Buddhists 
 ignore the Divinity, they have thus shut out the 
 Divine sources of Inspiration. 
 
 In Colonel Olcott's Catechism, we arc told that 
 there is no personal God and no Creator, but that 
 two things only are eternal, viz., Akasa and Nirvana, 
 and that " everything has come out of this Akasa, in 
 obedience to a law inherent in it." 
 
 Now this Akasa, so far as the Western mind can 
 sec, has its nearest equivalent in Magnetism, and for
 
 232 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 myself I believe that all physical nature has its foun- 
 dation in Magnetism, and that the cohesive force in 
 matter is magnetic force. 
 
 If so, then so far good ; but whence came Magnet- 
 ism, and how came it to be a law ? 
 
 " The Buddhist," says Colonel Olcott, " cannot 
 conceive of a Creator," but neither, I reply, can the 
 Christian conceive of a self-created law of Akasa. 
 
 But Colonel Olcott says, " Nirvana is eternal," and 
 he thus describes that unthinkable quantity 
 
 " Nirvana is a condition of total cessation of 
 changes of perfect rest of the absence of desire, 
 and illusion, or sorrow, of the total obliteration of 
 everything that goes to make up the physical man." 
 
 " Before reaching Nirvana man is constantly bcin^ 
 reborn ; but, when he reaches Nirvana, he is reborn 
 no more." 
 
 This definition of Nirvana is sufficiently positive, 
 but Max Miiller gives a discussion between a teacher 
 and a scholar. The scholar asks, " Does Nirvana 
 exist, and if so, where is it?" To which the teacher 
 replies, " The position of Nirvana cannot be defined 
 any more than you can define the position of the 
 .flame of a candle which is blown out." 
 
 Now, if Nirvana is eternal, and a condition of perfect 
 rest, how came it to exist, and how can it be said to 
 exist at all, seeing that existence can only be philo- 
 sophically conceived as an active or passive force ?
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 233 
 
 And, if it is " as a flame blown out" how this ex- 
 tinguished flame can, with the assistance of Akasa, 
 create worlds and work out man's perfection, is 
 surely a puzzle beyond unravelling by the Western 
 mind. 
 
 But if, before Nirvana arrives, man is " constantly 
 being reborn " in all possible and troubled forms, and 
 with total unconsciousness of all previous in- 
 dividualities, one can scarcely be surprised that he 
 should long for an ending to all this phantasmagoria 
 by a final rest in total abnegation ! 
 
 In answer to Question 122, " Does Buddhism teach 
 the Immortality of the Soul ?" the answer is, " Every- 
 thing, man included, is subject to change. That 
 which is subject to change cannot be permanent, and 
 so there can be no immortal survival of a changeful 
 thing like the soul." 
 
 But " man's unsatisfied desires at death," the " last 
 yearnings of the dying person " arc reborn as a new 
 aggregation or individuality. 
 
 This survival of " the last yearnings " of the dying 
 man, as an individuality, might be accepted as the 
 Hebrew doctrine that " as the tree falls so it lies," 
 were it not that we are informed that these 
 materialised last yearnings have no recollection of 
 their paternity, nor have the constantly reiterated or 
 re incarnated " last yearnings " any remembrances 
 until Nirvana is arrived at. But as Nirvana has been
 
 234 THEOSOl'HY. 
 
 described as if it were a condition of obliteration, it 
 is not explained why remembrances should at such a 
 moment only be possible ; this Nirvana being, 
 according to its Sanscrit derivation, simply "a blowing 
 out." 
 
 Now, as to those who arc destined to arrive at the 
 ultimate knowledge of this Nirvana, the Catechism 
 seems contradictory, for, in reply to Question 72, it is 
 said, "A Buddhist is a being who, in some future 
 birth, is sure to appear on earth as a Buddha " ; but, 
 in reply to Question 76, it is said, "It is not in the 
 nature of every man to become a Buddha, for a 
 Buddha is developed only at long intervals, when 
 absolutely required as a teacher to show the forgotten 
 path to Nirvana, but every being may equally realise 
 Nirvana by conquering ignorance and gaining 
 wisdom." 
 
 In reply to Question 69, it is said, " True science 
 entirely supports this doctrine of Re- Incarnation as 
 cause and effect, for science teaches that man is the 
 result of a law of development from a lower to a 
 higher evolution," but I suspect Mr. Darwin would 
 rather stare at this application of his doctrine. 
 
 But, further, this law of evolution does not in any 
 way support the mystical idea of Re-Incarnation ; 
 the entire argument of evolutionists being founded 
 on the conduct of the natural la\v of generation. 
 
 It is somewhat curious that a catechism of
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 235 
 
 Buddhism should omit its Decalogue, or what may 
 be called the Ten Fundamental Laws of Morals, but 
 I give them as follows, from Max Miillcr's volume : 
 
 1. Do not kill. 
 
 2. Do not steal. 
 
 3. Do not commit adultery. 
 
 4. Do not lie. 
 
 5. Do not get intoxicated. 
 
 6. Abstain from unsuitable words. 
 
 7. Abstain from public spectacles. 
 
 8. Abstain from excess in dress. 
 
 9. Do not have a large bed. 
 
 10. Do not receive silver or gold. 
 
 By way of comparison I add the Ten Command- 
 ments given by Moses, one thousand years before 
 Buddha was born : 
 
 1. The Lord thy God is one Lord, and thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, 
 and mind. 
 
 2. Thou shalt not worship graven images. 
 
 3. Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain. 
 
 4. Thou shalt sanctify and rest on the Sabbath. 
 
 5. Thou shalt honour thy father and mother. 
 
 6. Thou shalt not kill. 
 
 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 
 8. Thou shalt not steal. 
 
 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness (lie). 
 10. Thou shalt not covet the things of others.
 
 236 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 It will be thus observed that the laws against adul- 
 tery, murder, falsehood, and theft are the same in 
 both Decalogues. 
 
 The Buddhist Decalogue has the advantage over 
 that of Moses in denouncing intoxication, foolish 
 words, and extravagant dress, but when it denounces 
 all public spectacles it is surely weak ; when it de- 
 nounces the use of gold and silver it is in error ; and 
 when it denounces a large bed it is simply foolish. 
 As if a selfish immorality could not be cultivated on a 
 small bed, and a high Spiritual life be compatible 
 with a large bed. But the wonderful characteristic 
 distinction between the two Decalogues is that 
 Buddha entirely ignores God, while Moses enunciates 
 the grand doctrine of the unity of God. 
 
 The life of Gautama Buddha and his moral code 
 were self-denying, pure, and beautiful, and Rhys- 
 Davids says : " The edicts are full of lofty righteous- 
 ness obedience to parents, kindness to children and 
 friends, mercy towards the lower creation, indulgence 
 to inferiors, reverence towards Brahmans, suppression 
 of anger, passion, and cruelty and extravagance ; 
 generosity, tolerance, and charity." 
 
 All this is always admitted, but when Colonel 
 Olcott says, " It is a peerless code of morals, and no 
 man who ever existed sacrificed so much for our sakes," 
 he says that which is easily disproved. 
 
 Kvcn Moses, who lived in a dark age one thousand
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 237 
 
 years before Buddha, teaches a lofty righteousness, 
 obedience to parents, mercy and rest for the brute 
 creation, kindness and rest for servants and for the 
 stranger in the land, and he lived and died for his 
 people, accepting nothing for himself. 
 
 Buddha beautifully says, "A man who foolishly 
 docs me wrong I will return to him the protection of 
 my ungrudging love ; the more evil comes from him 
 the more good shall go from me," and thus Buddhists 
 claim priority for Gautama over Jesus in propounding 
 the law of forgiving and loving enemies. 
 
 Moses, however, as is not generally known to super- 
 ficial students of the Bible, one thousand years before 
 Buddha, says, Leviticus, xix., 18, "Thou shalt not 
 avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of 
 thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self and be kind to strangers, remembering that thou 
 wast a stranger in the land of Egypt. 
 
 But Jesus goes far deeper, and with greater power 
 says, " I say unto you love your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, 
 and pray for them who despitefully use you and 
 persecute you." 
 
 How, then, can Colonel Olcott call the code of 
 Gautama a peerless code, and how can he say that 
 " no man who ever existed sacrificed so much for our 
 sakes "? 
 
 It is true that Gautama was a king's son, and
 
 238 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 forsook a palace for a cave in order that he might 
 study his own soul and preach truth and righteousness. 
 
 But is it so great a sacrifice to forsake the luxury, 
 and indolence, and languor, and ennui, and bad 
 health, and discontent of an Eastern Zenana and a 
 wailed garden, in order that one shall reach freedom, 
 and obtain the inestimable wealth of Spiritual know- 
 ledge, wisdom, and power ? 
 
 Hundreds of Christian ascetics have done in like 
 manner, and although Gautama forsook a palace for 
 the woods and caves, he was yet surrounded by loving 
 and adoring disciples. He lived a contented life, and 
 died a quiet and peaceful death. 
 
 How different it was with Jesus, with One who^ 
 although born in a manger, could easily, by His 
 Spiritual wisdom and power, have made Himself 
 King of the Jews, and could then by His power have 
 driven the hated Romans into the sea and made 
 Himself master oi the world. 
 
 But He refused this life when it was within His 
 reach ; He refused the kingdoms of the earth when 
 offered to Him, and lived as a wanderer, having 
 nowhere to lay His head. He lived a life of incessant 
 anxiety and toil ; cured innumerable sick and diseased 
 and devil-possessed people ; taught the most perfect 
 religion and morality ; but was for ever in danger of 
 His life, and was ultimately scourged, spit upon, and 
 crucified. Compared with this, the grandest life of
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 239 
 
 self-sacrifice that has appeared on this earth, the life 
 of Gautama was but as a dreamy and quiet 
 Epicureanism. 
 
 Some Buddhists I have met have not only 
 questioned the existence of Jesus as a historic fact, 
 but have even asserted His non-existence, on the 
 ground, partly, that the oldest Christian MSS. date 
 no earlier than the fourth century, thus leaving a 
 hiatus of 300 years for the growth of the Myth ! 
 
 I venture to assert that no man who has strong 
 individuality of charater could ever doubt the fact of 
 the historic Jesus. Men may invent subtleties, and 
 reason from their doubts, but the quality of indi- 
 viduality in the mind reveals the truth in history. 
 
 For myself, 1 have no doubt whatever of the 
 historic Gautama, for I hold it to be impossible that, 
 say, 300,000,000 of human beings could continue to 
 worship a code, unless derived originally from a living 
 and visible man. 
 
 At. the same time, it will surprise some of my 
 readers to know, on the authority of Max Miiller, 
 that very few Sanscrit MSS. are older than four or 
 five hundred years, and none older than the ninth or 
 tenth century that is, from 1,600 to 2,OOO years after 
 the death of Gautama. 
 
 That he existed as a man I have no doubt, but I 
 question very much whether the doctrines given by 
 this kindly and simple mind had any very exact
 
 240 THEOSOPHV. 
 
 resemblance to the incomprehensible doctrines con- 
 tained in the hundreds of folios of Buddhistic MSS. 
 Probably they have no more authority than our 
 monkish legends of the dark ages. 
 
 Buddhism no doubt teaches a beautiful system of 
 morals, and Gautama, the Buddha, was doubtless a 
 good and a great man ; but Buddhism as now pro- 
 pounded cannot be called a religion in any sense of 
 that word. 
 
 It denies the existence of a rational God, and give- 
 in His place a form of Magnetism and Negation. 
 
 It has no idea of what is called holiness, and it 
 addresses no prayers to any being higher than man's 
 inner nature, and it denies the immortality of the 
 individual man or soul. 
 
 And this is the system Colonel Olcott prefers to 
 the perfect moral and Spiritual teachings of the Christ, 
 and is the religion which he believes is to become the 
 religion of the future ! 
 
 Buddha taught morality as a way to self-annihila- 
 tion ; Christ taught morality as a way to God and 
 perfect happiness. 
 
 Buddha promises Nirvana, or " a blowing out," as 
 man's highest destiny ; Christ, through His disciples, 
 promises immediately at death a happiness which 
 " eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
 into the heart of man to conceive," a promise which 
 those who, while on earth, have ascended in holy
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 241 
 
 trance, have frequently experienced, and thus proved. 
 
 The doctrines of Re-Incarnation and Nirvana ex- 
 plain how it is that Eastern Theosophists obstinately 
 cleny, in the face of innumerable facts, the reality of 
 embodied Spirits ever appearing on this earth. 
 
 But possibly the Buddhism of Colonel Olcott and 
 the Ceylon High Priest, may no more represent the 
 truest and highest Buddhism, than ordinary verbal 
 Christianity resembles the mystic and esoteric teach- 
 ings of the Christ. 
 
 Finally I would ask, ho\v can Buddhists call them- 
 selves Theosophists ? 
 
 The meaning of that term is, one who seeks llie 
 wisdom of God ; but if there is no Spiritual God and 
 no Creator who is our Regenerator, and no being 
 more personal than Nirvana, then the term Theoso- 
 pliist is absurd. 
 
 The term Theosophist does not occur in Budd- 
 histical MSS., but is chiefly Christian, and Jacob 
 Bdhme is called the great Christian Theosophist. 
 
 He was a man who had all the moral qualities of 
 Gautama In trance he had revealed to him the 
 nature of matter, of man, of Christ, and of God, and 
 he for ever declares from personal knowledge that 
 Christ in man is eternal life. He knew that "Blessed 
 arc the dead who die in the Lord," and as he departed 
 this life the harmony of the heavens was opened to 
 him, and calling on the Lord Christ and on the Lord
 
 242 THEOSOrilY. 
 
 God of Sabbaoth, he yielded up in peace and 
 happiness his living soul. 
 
 So far then, as one can comprehend these teachings 
 of the so-called Theosophists of the Atheistic Buddhist 
 school, they are, that the soul and spirit are evolutions 
 from matter, and that the supreme knowledge which 
 saves the soul can only be acquired by the innermost 
 self-introspection, and herein lies the great contrast 
 between this form of Buddhism and Theism and 
 Christianity.' In this form of Buddhism there are no 
 such words or thoughts as " Lead me to the rock 
 which is higher than I " ; or, " Father, into Thy hands 
 I commend my spirit " ; or, " Our Father, who art in 
 heaven " ; or, indeed, any belief in any intelligence 
 higher than the highest celestial man. 
 
 The moral teachings of Gautama Buddha and of 
 Jesus Christ, are closely allied as to purity, love, and 
 self-denial ; but on the other side, while there is no 
 allusion by Buddha to a supreme intelligent First 
 Cause, the continual teaching of Jesus is the person- 
 ality and Fatherhood of God ; and hence I conceive 
 it is that while Buddhism, having no external elevating 
 force as its attraction upwards, has more and more 
 become degraded into the lowest superstition and 
 formalism, while Christianity, having, in direct com- 
 munication with its centre the attractive force of a 
 Divine love from above, must for ever be drawn up- 
 wards, and thus develop by evolution, those nations in 
 the direct ratio of their living belief.
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 243 
 
 The great interest at present taken in Buddhism 
 lias arisen out of the recent researches of Oriental 
 scholars, and more immediately from the influence of 
 that beautiful poem, " The Light of Asia." A large 
 proportion of thoughful people have become dissatis- 
 fied with the conventionality and formality of much 
 Christian teaching, and Buddhism has been presented 
 to these minds in a form pretending to be philosophical, 
 and by the poem, in a lovely form ; and the conse- 
 quence has been that many who were indifferent or 
 agnostical, have found in Buddhism, so presented, a 
 vague form of faith which has pleased their imagina- 
 tions. But the Buddhism of "The Light of Asia " has 
 no resemblance to the practical Buddhism of Thibet, 
 China, or Japan, where it has, as I have said, become 
 degraded into the lowest forms of superstition and 
 formality, as, for instance, in the praying-wheels of 
 individuals and of communities, and in the elevation 
 of gigantic phallic emblems in stone and metal in 
 places of public resort in China and Japan, and in 
 China by the destruction of female children. It is not 
 denied that Christianity in the Middle Ages also 
 descended to the lowest depths of superstition and 
 formality ; but in the midst of the vilest periods of 
 the Christian Church, arose men like Michael Angelo, 
 Raffaele, and Dante ; while this very degradation of 
 the Church was the cause of the rebound to a higher 
 order of things under Luther.
 
 244 THF.OSOI'HV. 
 
 Buddhism, however, having no internal or external 
 force of reaction, has not and cannot ever arise out of 
 its ashes ; and it is, we repeat, very noteworthy that, 
 beyond Gautama himself, out of Buddhism during the 
 last 2,400 years, as I have already said, has arisen no 
 prophet, no poet, no artist, no musician, no man of 
 science, no discoverer, and not even one warrior of 
 renown, or any regenerator of our race, while it is a 
 formalism almost exclusively confined to the Mongo- 
 lian race, the least spiritual of all the races of men. 
 
 Buddhism becomes transcendent in " The Light of 
 Asia " ; but Jesus has always been in the Sermon on 
 the Mount, " The Light of the World " ; and even a 
 Shakespeare, had he attempted to turn into an epic 
 the words of the Divine and miraculous Son of Man,, 
 could have attempted no more than " to gild refined 
 gold" 
 
 Mr. Lillie, however, shows by many quotations from 
 important MSS. that man)' Buddhists believe in a 
 personal God ; in saints living in Paradise ; in the 
 efficacy of prayer to God and to the saints ; while 
 Nirvana is described, not as an abstract idea, but as a 
 place or paradise for the blessed. 
 
 In illustration of these views I make the following 
 quotations from his book. With regard to God and 
 prayer to God, it is said : 
 
 "Those who follow religious observances shall be 
 taught to follow in the right way and give glory to God.""
 
 BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 245 
 
 " In Buddha God was revealed in the form of Mercy." 
 
 " Adi Buddha is without beginning ; he is perfect 
 and pure, the essence of wisdom and truth. He knows 
 all and is ever present. He tenderly loves those who 
 serve him. He is the Creator of all the Buddhas, ami 
 of Akasa. He is the God of Gods." 
 
 " O ! the happiness of seeing the Holy One." 
 
 " I adore the perfect Buddha. I offer to him and I 
 confess my sins." 
 
 " If I have sinned, may Buddha forgive my sins." 
 
 King Asoka, 250 years after Sakya-Muni, says : " I 
 pray that all with me may attain unto eternal salva- 
 tion." 
 
 Another says : " O that Sakya-Muni and our merci- 
 ful Father would descend and be present with us." 
 
 As to the personality of the immortal life, Gautama- 
 Buddha promised to reappear to his disciples, and he 
 is said to have many times reappeared as a person. 
 
 As to Nirvana, it is thus described : 
 
 " Those who keep the laws of the heavens have 
 happiness in this life and in the next." 
 
 " Exert thyself to obtain the inner quickening, and 
 when once freed from sin thou shalt reach the world 
 of beauty." 
 
 " He who virtuously preaches the law of eternal life 
 -shall himself obtain Nirvana." 
 
 " Once freed from sin thou shalt reach the Divine 
 world of the saints" which is described as a place.
 
 246 THKOSOPHY. 
 
 These extracts are sufficient to prove that many 
 Buddhists believe in a personal God, in prayer, and in 
 a conscious life in a future happy abode, and, indeed,, 
 we know that a conscious life after death is an all but 
 universal belief of mankind. 
 
 In recent years the phrase " Esoteric Buddhism " 
 has got into circulation, but regarding this invention 
 of Madame Blavatsky, I agree with Rhys Davids 
 that " it is neither Esoteric nor Buddhism," and to me 
 it would be as correct to speak of esoteric pills and 
 an esoteric police as to call this fantastic picture of 
 Hindoo cosmogony esoteric. 
 
 The system says " There is no Creator, personal <>r 
 impersonal, for physical matter must have had a 
 physical cause, and what we call soul and spirit are 
 only stages of matter in evolution, and what we call 
 God is only transcendental matter in motion." 
 
 Thus it was described to me by an adept, who,, 
 moreover, in relation to reincarnation as its funda- 
 mental doctrine, said, " The Mahatmas have irnson to 
 believe that man has been reincarnated on this earth 
 for 70,000,000 of years, and yet without any re- 
 collection of an)' period of this existence." 
 
 But when these enormously absurd Oriental figures 
 were used, it must surely have been in the female 
 sense of a million, only signifying a large number of 
 years, for our geologist^tells us that they only ask for 
 a period of about 1OO,OOO years, more- or le>s since 
 man appeared on this planet.
 
 XIV. DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION.* 
 
 That God, which ever lives and loves : 
 One God, one Law, one Element, 
 And one far-off Divine event, 
 To which the whole creation moves. 
 
 THE teaching of Darwin that the evolution from the 
 lower to the higher forms in plants and animals is 
 due to the variability of organisms, the struggle for 
 existence and the survival of the fittest, is with the 
 reservation of certain " modifications " accepted by 
 the great majority of scientific minds in Europe and 
 America. As Thomson, in his " Study of Animal 
 Life," says, "Evolution by natural descent, with 
 modifications, is the order of Nature and is Dar- 
 winism and truth, yet, as Wallace says, the relative 
 importance of the various factors in evolution is still 
 very uncertain." 
 
 The influence which Darwin has had on the 
 scientific study of natural history is immense, and as 
 we contemplate his fine statue in the Natural History 
 Museum at South Kensington we seem to see 
 Socratic sagacity and persistent individuality ; and 
 theologians now admit that geology, by the discover}- 
 of beds of extinct animals, has proved that the 
 
 * Reprinted from Light.
 
 248 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 animals now occupying this earth, arc not the primi- 
 tive species of animals which they formerly have 
 described as created by God and named by Adam. 
 Nearly all, then, admit the fact of evolution in Nature, 
 but the relative value of the factors in this evolution 
 is still discussed by the best minds. 
 
 Wallace and Darwin simultaneously, but unknown 
 to each other, arrived at the same idea regarding the 
 evolution by " Natural Descent " in plants and 
 animals, but these two great naturalists are not 
 entirely at one ; for while Wallace may be said in 
 some respects to be more Darwinian than Darwin in 
 regard to bodily evolution, he differs from Darwin 
 when the latter teaches that the origin of the 
 intellectual and moral faculties in man can be 
 accounted for by physical evolution, which Wallace 
 contends to be impossible. 
 
 Wallace says that the anatomical facts " amount 
 almost to a demonstration that man in his bodily 
 structure has been developed from some ancestral 
 form common to man and the anthropoid apes," but 
 "to a spiritual world we must refer, not only tin- 
 complex forces which we know as gravitation. 
 chemical force, and electricity, without which the 
 universe as at present could not exist, and without 
 which the religious, moral, and mathematical faculties 
 of man are inexplicable." 
 
 And here we may say that the resemblance
 
 DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION. 249 
 
 between the highest apes and the lowest men (in 
 whose body Thompson says may be found " a 
 museum of some seventy relics of lower animal 
 life ") is truly appalling ; but perhaps not more so 
 than is the narrow difference physically between the 
 idiotic or insane man and the man of sound mind. 
 
 Lamarck, the great French naturalist (1744-1829), 
 about eighty years before the publication of the 
 "'Origin of Species" (1859), says: "There is a 
 primary or predominant cause, which gives to animal 
 life the power of progressive organization, in con- 
 nection with the needs of its surroundings, and new 
 parts are evolved by efforts from within." 
 
 That is, according to Lamarck, animals have, 
 during unknown ages, been modified in their structure 
 by the formative power of their constitutional ten- 
 dency to progressive organization, which seems to me 
 to imply a reasoning prearrangement called into 
 action by the environment ; while Darwin says the 
 origin of species arises from the variability ever 
 occurring in plants and animals, and the survival of 
 the fittest in the struggle for existence. 
 
 Thus, Darwinism seems to me evolution, according 
 to fitness in physical law, while Lamarckism is evolu- 
 tion, caused by the creative power of the mind ; and 
 it is interesting and important to know that there is a 
 Neo-Lamarckism now engaging the thoughts of some 
 of the best naturalists in Europe and America.
 
 250 . THEOSOI'HY. 
 
 In the light of these divergent ideas it seems 
 scarcely accurate to compare Darwin's law in biology 
 with Newton's law in physics, for Newton's law is 
 based on exact mathematics, while Darwin's law is 
 based on a chain of evidence, of which some of the 
 links in illustration are still missing and may never 
 be found. 
 
 With regard to Man, for instance, the skull of the 
 highest ape is bestial, while that of the lowest tribe 
 of men is altogether human, and, making allowance 
 for a few, possibly idiotic skulls, of prehistoric man, 
 generally comparable in size and form \vith the 
 average skull in all parts of the world. But as the 
 ape's skull could not, according to Darwin, reach by 
 evolution an equality with that of Man for probably 
 hundreds of thousands of years, and if so, should 
 have strewn the earth with degrees of its development 
 in progressive evolution, sceptics have asked, " Where 
 are the missing links ?" 
 
 To this great question the Darwinians have replied, 
 11 \Ve have not yet explored one ten-thousandth part 
 of the later geological strata, and one day the mis.sing 
 links will be found." For myself, I cannot resist the 
 terrible suspicion that the highest ape may be my 
 distant relative, but the non-appearance, not only as 
 skeletons, but even as examples now living in remote 
 valleys and hills, of the missing links, is still to me 
 also suspicious. I have, however, no alternative t<
 
 DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION. 251 
 
 offer, except the suggestion, on which I do not rely, 
 that knowing as I do that Spiritual beings can suddenly 
 appear and disappear as strong, active, and reasoning 
 men, the primitive Adamic man might have had an 
 angelic origin, and that the higher apes may be de- 
 graded men, notwithstanding the missing links in their 
 descent. And here I might remark that the absence in 
 man of the hairy clothing of the ape, seems to me a 
 difficulty, for the primitive man, if he came from the 
 ape, would at first live in trees or caves, and could not 
 have had a more fitting clothing than hair, in hot, cold, 
 or wet weather ; and the more hairy he was the more 
 he would survive as the fittest in the struggle for 
 existence, with his fellows and with wild beasts ; 
 while the absence of hair in the naked negro proves 
 that man's nakedness has not arisen from wearing 
 clothes. 
 
 Then the origin of consciousness, without which 
 there could be no evolution, and the origin of the 
 organs of sense, can hardly come under the category of 
 variations and the survival of the fittest, and Darwin 
 himself, up to the last, used to say that he " could not 
 contemplate the difficulty of accounting for the first 
 organ of vision without a cold shudder." It is true 
 that younger Darwinians attempt to account for the 
 growth of the eye by the accidental presence of a 
 patch of pigment as a first step. But why more 
 than one eye ? why only two ? and why always
 
 252 THKOSOPHY. 
 
 symmetrical ? and why not occasionally a third eye 
 looking backwards as a protection from the pursuing 
 enemy springing from behind? And does not the 
 presence of two eyes and their beautiful symmetry, 
 suggest that ever recurring duality in nature, of sonic 
 universal idea: emphatically represented in the nu- 
 merical equality of the sexes, the solution of which 
 mystery is impossible to science. But as I know 
 there is a faculty of clairvoyance in which man sees 
 better without his physical eyes, I can readily conceive 
 of eyes being gradually created by the desires of the 
 animal for light. 
 
 Then no evidence exists, on temple wall or else- 
 where, that, except under artificial cultivation, any 
 new species has arisen on the earth during the period 
 of historic man, say seven thousand years ; nor any 
 change of form in that direction in animals ; and 
 although seven thousand years is, geologically con- 
 sidered, a short period, yet it is sufficient time to 
 admit of appreciable changes in proportions ; wlv'le 
 human skulls, possibly 100,000 years old, found in 
 caves, with the remains of extinct mammals, are of the 
 same type as those of our day. 
 
 That enormous changes did occur in the plants and 
 animals of this earth is, however, beyond question, 
 and therefore these must have arisen, when through 
 heat, moisture, or other causes, the growth of plants 
 and animals must have been immensely accelerated.
 
 DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION. 253 
 
 That all the Mammalia may have come from a 
 common ancestor is conceivable, and therefore, it is 
 not inconceivable that the mouse and the elephant 
 may have had a common ancestor. But it is not 
 conceivable that the Crustacea and the Insectivora 
 can have had the same ancestor as the Mammals, nor 
 that the mosquito and the lady-bird, for instance, 
 could have had any common ancestor with the whale, 
 the eagle, or the leech, or indeed that these animals 
 can even have a distant cousinly relationship. 
 
 Further, Wallace says: "The remarkable difference 
 between varieties and species with respect to fertility 
 when crossed is perhaps the greatest of all the 
 difficulties," and in a chapter of thirty-four pages he 
 attempts to answer these difficulties, but the ex- 
 planation given, he admits, is very difficult for the 
 reader to understand, and I confess myself as yet 
 unable to unravel it. 
 
 Then there exists the dispute as to the influence of 
 heredity, for while Weismann, who is followed by 
 most Darwinians, denies the heredity of acquired 
 characters, Spencer and others, believe in the heredity 
 of acquired characters as a factor in evolution. 
 Again, when we find that within a short century the 
 form and voice of the inhabitants of the United 
 States has so much altered from that of the typical 
 Briton, we are impressed with the idea that the 
 influence of climate and environment has not been
 
 254 TIIEOSOPHY. 
 
 sufficiently recognised. Lastly, instincts, which some 
 regard as obtained by evolution, others would regard 
 as mental causes of evolution. The one view may 
 be regarded as physical, the other as metaphysical. 
 
 With these admitted differences and difficulties 
 before us, although no untrained biologist can with- 
 out presumption dogmatically urge opinions contrary 
 to the Darwinians' fundamental law, and especially 
 in its details, yet it is open to all sincere minds seek- 
 ing truths and especially, as even Weismann says : 
 *' To this day it is impossible to demonstrate the 
 process of natural selection in its details in any one 
 point" to formulate their views, and I therefore ven- 
 ture to present the following argument : 
 
 There was a time when this planet was a molten 
 mass, during which time no vegetable or animal life 
 could exist on its surface. 
 
 In the course of millions of years a crust of 
 crystalline rocks became consolidated, and cooled 
 sufficiently to admit of the condensation of steam into 
 rain, rivers, and seas. These seas, rivers, and rain, 
 assisted by air and wind, during an indefinite time, 
 triturated the rocks and formed mud, and, in due 
 course, out of this mud first vegetable and then animal 
 life appeared. 
 
 The cause of the origin of this life on the planet is 
 entirely beyond the scope of our recognised sciences ; 
 and yet life appeared, and filled this earth with plants, 
 animals, activity, life, mind, and beauty.
 
 DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION. 255 
 
 Matthew Arnold would name the cause of this 
 " The Eternal, not ourselves, that makes for 
 Righteousness." Thomson calls it " The Almighty 
 Volition as a Continuous Reality " ; and the Hebrew 
 Cosmogonist says : " The Spirit of God moved on the 
 face of the waters, and said, ' Let the waters and the 
 earth bring forth grass, and fish, and birds, and beasts, 
 and man in Our image, with dominion over all the 
 earth.'" 
 
 It is impossible to doubt that the cause of this 
 planet must be the same cause as caused all the life 
 on the planet. 
 
 The physical cause of the planet and its motion is 
 the action of attraction and repulsion, or gravitation, 
 and this law is known to exist throughout the 
 universe of stars. 
 
 But, although the stars exist and move in 
 accordance with this law, yet the forces which rule 
 the earth and stars must be themselves ruled by their 
 cause, that is, by Absolute Reason and Will. 
 
 If so, that Reason and Will must be as universally 
 present as the forces of Nature are, and just as the 
 smallest pebble on our shores is acted on by, and 
 reacts on, the fixed stars, in a certain relation to six.e 
 and distance, so also must the ever-present Reason 
 and Will, or Mind, act on all Life or Mind, from that 
 of the lowest cell to the highest organisation. 
 
 Logically that must be so, and thus the ultimate
 
 256 TMF.OSOPIIV. 
 
 cells of protoplasm and all plants and animals having 
 Life or Mind, must have sensation, and if sensation 
 they must have desires, and those desires or actions 
 of Mind, must act on and be acted on by the Infinite 
 Mind, in as exact a ratio as that of the universal force 
 of physical Nature ; and thus every atcyn of Life or 
 Mind is en rapport with the Infinite Mind. 
 
 If so, then the desires of cells and of complete 
 animals, must be as cries to this " Infinite Hearer and 
 Answerer of Prayer," and thus we arrive at the logical 
 reason for a universal evolution in Matter, and in 
 Mind, and thus all forms are Creations, or Ideas 
 miraculously realised : in the sense that miracle is the 
 action of spirit on matter. 
 
 The standpoint of this paper is that Fierce, or 
 Motion, as in Lord Kelvin's theoretic vortex rings, as 
 ultimate atoms, is the Substance of Matter, and Spirit 
 is the Substance of Force, and the facts of experi- 
 mental Psychology, as recorded in many volumes, go 
 to demonstrate this statement. 
 
 In accordance with this view it is conceivable that 
 the highest apes might, by gradual increase of brain 
 in the direction of the moral and religious regions of 
 the cerebrum, caused by higher and higher desires. 
 ultimately grow a brain of that size and form, which 
 admitted of the manifestation by influx, of tin- 
 Spiritual as in Man, and evolution in this sense is a 
 gradual and ceaseless Miracle, or action of Spirit mi 
 Matter.
 
 DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION. 25 
 
 Phrenology is not now so much heard of as in the 
 days of George Combe, sixty years ago, but in the 
 pages of its now extinct journal, may be read many 
 illustrations of the gradual, and general or local 
 increase in size of the human brain, by devotion to 
 general or special mental culture ; and if so, the action 
 of Mind over Matter is thus illustrated, and the 
 heredity of acquired habits rendered probable. 
 
 Hut although I regard Mind as the fundamental 
 factor in Evolution, yet not the less can I admit that 
 in " the struggle for existence and the survival of the 
 fittest " we have a secondary factor, which, as a 
 machinery, or method, aids the wishes of Nature in 
 the production of higher forms.
 
 XV. REINCARNATION. 
 
 THE doctrine of Reincarnation has existed in the Hast 
 from the earliest times, and it is the fundamental 
 doctrine of Buddhism ; but it is a doctrine which has 
 no existence in the Hebrew or Christian scriptures : 
 and no Christian Seer or Saint ever held it, and I 
 think it can be easily shown to have no foundation in 
 reason, and indeed, to admit of an easy refutation In- 
 arithmetic. 
 
 Its advocates urge that justice demands reincarna- 
 tion, because one life is far too short to experience 
 all things, and because justice further demands that 
 those who have had miserable lives, should have other 
 chances of happiness. 
 
 The fact that there may be hundreds of millions of 
 people on the earth who believe in reincarnation is no 
 more an argument in its favour, than the equally wide 
 belief that vengeance is the chief characteristic of tin- 
 Creator, upholds that doctrine. 
 
 An unanswerable difficulty exists in the fact that of 
 all the hundreds of millions who have believed in tin- 
 doctrine, not one has ever had any memory of tin- 
 details of any past life, as substantiated by a know- 
 ledge of the details of the archeology or history of 
 their previous existences, while the vague ideas of
 
 REINCARNATION. 259 
 
 supposed recollections, as Swedenborg points out, are 
 due to imperfectly remembered visions in sleep. 
 
 That the happiness of men and women is most 
 unequal on this earth (although far from so unequal 
 as is supposed from the differences in their social 
 positions) is no argument in favour of reincarnation, 
 because one hour of celestial happiness might be 
 .sufficient to make amends for fifty years of earthly 
 misery. And if there be no recollection of past evil 
 deeds, there can be none of that remorse felt by the 
 reincarnated, leading them to repentance and a higher 
 life. Lastly, as man when on the spirit plane has the 
 potentiality of all knowledge, successive reincarnations 
 as a means of training, would be comparative foolish- 
 ness. 
 
 Then the obliterating of all personalities and the 
 confusing of all individuality, is a sufficient objection 
 to the doctrine, while the fraud committed on parents 
 whose children are not their own, but are only bodies 
 inhabited by more or less degraded foreign souls, is 
 -surely the utmost of injustice ; and, moreover, what 
 becomes of the souls which occupied their bodies 
 before the restless spirits drove them out and took 
 possession. 
 
 The doctrine, in its details, is the height of absurdity, 
 for one good lady told me that she believed in reincar- 
 nation because men would be reborn as women, and 
 thus justly suffer the pains of maternity! Another
 
 260 THEOSOPHY. 
 
 lady said to me she was ready to be reborn as a 
 murderer, in order to experience its sensations ; while 
 a learned Buddhist told me that the Mahatmas " had 
 reason to believe " that man had been reincarnated on 
 this earth for 70 millions of years, and that, although 
 the utmost which geologists ask for as the period of 
 man's residence on this planet is about 100,000 years, 
 more or less. 
 
 That earth-born souls may be reincarnated in other 
 planets with new bodies maybe true, but that all souls 
 are reincarnated in the bodies of other people's children 
 on this planet, is easily shown to be arithmetical ly 
 impossible. 
 
 For instance, let us suppose that within say seventy 
 years of the first appearance on this planet of men and 
 women, there were 100 individuals living and no deaths. 
 Then whence came the souls to these 100 men and 
 women. Of course they must have come by ordinary 
 generation, for to say they came from other planets 
 is only to beg the question, and would only remove 
 the difficulty one stage back. 
 
 Hut further,, there has been an ever increasing 
 number of human beings on this planet, and again I 
 would ask, from whence came the ever increasing 
 number of souls ? 
 
 The command was to man to increase and multiply, 
 and replenish the earth and subdue it, and now uv 
 have 1,500 millions of human bodies with souls
 
 REINCARNATION. 26l 
 
 residing on this earth ; and surely common sense 
 teaches us that they have been individualised in the 
 ordinary process of generation, and hence the sacred- 
 ness of marriage, because thereby immortal souls are 
 created. 
 
 Strange to say, there are a few English men and 
 women who profess to believe in reincarnation, 
 although I have found that most of the women who 
 said they believed in it, expected that they themselves 
 would be the exceptions. 
 
 The Buddhist believes in reincarnation because he 
 thereby hopes to escape from his personality, and 
 ultimately to plunge into an abyss of nothingness. 
 
 The Christian believes that his individuality will 
 exist for ever, in a spiritual world of ever progressing 
 wisdom, goodness, and happiness.
 
 XVI. SLEEP AND TRANCE. 
 
 ALTHOUGH sleep has been the universal experience 
 of man from his first creation until now, science has 
 yet remained entirely ignorant of its mechanism, 
 beyond the phrase that it is " a suspension of the 
 sensory and motor functions," a materialistic state- 
 ment which throws no light on the mystery. 
 
 If, however, we admit the teaching that man has a 
 soul inhabiting his body, we then can at once see that 
 the absence of this soul from the body must be the 
 sleep or rest of that bod}-. 
 
 The suddenness with which we often fall asleep, as 
 at the fireside after dinner, or over a dull book after 
 tea, is to most men and women a never-ending 
 wonder ; and although the sleep ma}- be so sudden 
 as to occur even in the middle of a word we may be 
 reading, and the awaking as instantaneous, yet in that 
 brief interval we are often conscious of dreams as of 
 another form of life, in which we find the mind as 
 active as in the waking state, but influenced as In- 
 strange and illogical surroundings. 
 
 At other times, during deep sleep, our dreams may 
 be beautiful, and even prophetic, and the conclusions 
 the Spiritualist arrives at are that sleep in such case- 
 is due to the departure of the soul from the body, and
 
 SLEEP AND TRANCE. 263 
 
 dreams are foolish, confused, horrible, logical, beauti- 
 ful, or prophetic, according to the distance the soul 
 has separated itself from the body, or to the spiritual 
 society or surroundings in which it may find itself. 
 
 In light, instantaneous sleep and awaking, when the 
 soul goes out and in, the dreams will be a confused 
 jumble of illogical sequences, because the soul moves 
 to and fro between sleeping and waking ; but in deep 
 sleep, such as young children may have, "whose angels 
 behold the face of God," the soul has entered on its 
 higher life, as apart from that of its prison house, our 
 earthly tabernacle. 
 
 Sleep is, then, only a degree of entrancement, and 
 differs from deep entrancement in the soul remaining 
 intact with the body. 
 
 Bad dreams may arise from bad health, or from the 
 soul's unwholesome thoughts, or from its associating 
 with those evil spirits which haunt the outside portals 
 of Paradise, and hence the idea of the vampire. But 
 the wholesome and good soul passes rapidly through 
 the door-way and ascends to the society of good spirits ; 
 and hence your old men may dream dreams and your 
 young men see visions of that which is prophetic. 
 
 Therefore, in composing your soul to sleep, let not 
 the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the 
 devil, but calmly commend yourselves to the keeping 
 of our Father who art in Heaven, that His kingdom 
 come.
 
 264 THKOSOPI1Y. 
 
 The myth of Castor and Pollux, each dying daily 
 for the other, may signify this daily sleep and awaking, 
 and if it were possible that we should pass in sleep 
 into Paradise and sup with the angels, we might also 
 participate in their strength, and our years be thus 
 indefinitely prolonged. 
 
 Sleep thus got will be " sore labours' bath, balm of 
 hurt minds, chief nourisher in life's feast," and as an 
 aid to those tossing on sleepless beds, many might 
 find, that if they could abstract themselves and fix 
 their spiritual gaze on the deep darkness in which 
 God dwells, and ask for sleep, it might come t<> 
 them calmlv and at once.
 
 HV THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
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 Sunday School Teachers, and Bible Students.' Liverpool Mercury. 
 
 ' This book seems to be likely to be very useful to all Students of the 
 Scriptures.' BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL. 
 
 An admirable work.' JOHN W. SODOR X MAN. 
 ' A valuable book.' DEAN OK LINCOLN. 
 
 ' A beautiful and admirable book. There is nothing which so well 
 brings out the life of our Lord. It will, I hope, be in the hands of 
 thousands. '--DEAN OK WINCHESTER. 
 
 'I appreciate very much this unique volume.' -Kiev. \V. LKI-KOV, 
 DKAN OK NORWICH. 
 
 'A most useful and interesting book.' REV. R. \V. I UKRKNI. 
 I) i. AN OK WORCESTER. 
 
 'The careful and conscientious preparation of this book I greatly 
 respect and admire.' REV. JAMES MARTINKU . I >. 1 >. 
 
 ' The idea of this book is excellent, and merits the widest circulation." 
 I'ROKKSSOK BLACK IK. 
 
 'We thank the Author most heartily for this book.' Ri.v. J. 
 KENNEDY, D.D. 
 
 A most useful book.' TIIK VICAR <>i- KKNSIV; ION. 
 
 ' This book renders the Church and the world great sen ire.' TIIK 
 
 ki.< IOR OK CRI-.I i . 
 
 An excellent idea, the result of much careful study.' - Gr?<it 7//<><>//A. 
 ' It is an undoubted gain to have the wonderful story presented in this 
 
 form.' REV. W. MOORE, WIMBLEDON. 
 
 ' 1 know of no theological writing which in so brief a space ronuins 
 MI profound a view of our Lord's lite as is given in the preface.'- |. \Y. 
 
 FARQUHAK, 
 
 ' A most useful book to give to sceptics ; many read it w ith interest a-, a 
 biography, who will not read the ( lospels in their usual form.' N.I'... M. A.
 
 CHISTO-THEOSOPHY PRESS NOTICES. 
 
 This is one of the most deeply interesting and valuable works on super- 
 sensible scienee which has appeared for a long time. The author, Dr. 
 George Wyld, formerly President of the British Theosophical Society, is, 
 probably, the profoundest Christian Theosophist of the age. He has for 
 many years been a patient, unselfish, intelligent student of the occult 
 sciences; and the result of his investigations, and his strictly scientific con- 
 clusions, as embodied in this work, will be of intense interest to all \\lio 
 believe in something better and higher than sense and matter. Tin: 
 PLATOMST (St. Louis). 
 
 Dr. Wyld's book contains a series of thoughtful, scholarly, and interesting 
 papers. The moral tone is stimulating and inspiring. Force, learning, and 
 sincerity, are his characteristics. -Tut TuEosormsT (Bombay). 
 
 The whole book is pervaded by the present sense of a noble aim, and no 
 spiritual mind who reads it can fail to obtain from it purer and better views 
 of life. LK;IIT. 
 
 The publication of this second edition of Dr. V.'yld's book is opportune. 
 In simple English he gives a clear view of the subject. It is a book com- 
 mendable not only for the high tone that it i-aintains, but because it 
 presents a manual for the many. TELEUK.U'H. 
 
 Dr. George Wyld whose highly intelligent face forms the frontespiece of 
 this book on the "all-absorbing subject of Theosophy, is the author of this 
 work which should be accepted as the best book of the movement. 
 
 NEWSAGENT. 
 
 Dr. Wyld's portrait prefixed to this book lets us know we have to do with 
 a refined fanatic. THE FKEE THIXKEI:. 
 
 This book is interesting from the large collection it contains of authui- 
 ticated spiritualistic facts. The author is much in earnest. GI.AM.KM 
 
 Hr.KAi.n. 
 
 Chapter XIII. contains a clear sighted comparison of Buddhism and 
 
 Christianity. LITKKATUKE. 
 
 Well worth reading Dr. Wyld is a Christian and Theosophi.-t, and in 
 haracters is consistent. nti 
 
 Dr. Wyld's work is worth studying as showing how the Christian Church 
 ha* always recognised the spiritual element in nature and in man. Cm i:m 
 BELLS.
 
 Deeply interesting.- -Able, M-holtirly and reverent, in matter, tyle and 
 treatment. Sincerity and conviction mark every line of a book which all 
 students should read. LYCEUM LANNKK. 
 
 The idea running through the book is that spirit is the substance of 
 matter, and it traces the highest religion, philosophy, science, poetry and art 
 to the one spiritual centre in the soul of man from which the voice of Gc 
 speaks. Tim Si'Ait. 
 
 A most interesting book. You have sounded the highest key-note 
 Christian life most clearly and distinctly. Lucidity with depth are your 
 characteristics. A. I. PK.NNY. 
 
 If your sentiments were commonly appreciated, the world would be 
 flooded with light and beauty. NEWTON CROSLAXU 
 
 I am reading your book a second time. I like it exceedingly. IM;J;I>J.I;H K 
 
 HOCKLEY. 
 
 I read your book again and again with great pleasure and entire agree- 
 ment, and carry it about with me. lli;v. MAUKICK DAVIKS. 
 
 I rose from the perusal of your paper on Man n* a Spirit with intense 
 admiration. It is splendid. MKS. HALLOCK. 
 
 Your views are to me profoundly suggestive. Tin; LATE Loan I>OKTH\MCK. 
 I have read with great interest your papers. THE HON. HOJ>I;.\ NOEL. 
 
 Your book has enraptured me. I have found in it the food i have all my 
 life been lacking. A. llionu:. 
 
 Your papers contain thoughtful and beautiful idea*. KKV. Ma. MANNKUS. 
 
 Your union of abstruse science with the deepest spiritual truth- i very 
 important. Your mission seems to be to render with clearness m 
 obscurities. It is a great gift to be able thus to illuminate. !',. DIET/. 
 
 Your book contains much which interc.-ts me. and I agree with you 
 entirely. A. M. II. W.vi i>. 
 
 You have the faculty of sei/in;' <ni r.^eiiiiaK. Your catena of prineipal.- 
 is excellent. Your insights are good and thorough. Kr.v. A. T. Aiwoun 
 and Mas. ATWOUU. 
 
 I \pcrinienied. a you describe, with amotiietie- , and obtained an 
 absolute proof of the spiritual world. I saw that -pint \va> the in;. 
 olid Mibstanre of matter, and that external matter \\a.-. the mere shadow. 
 K. P AMI hi; THOMAS.
 
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