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ZTbe  ©pen  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

H)e\>ote&  to  tbe  Science  of  IReligton,  tbe  IReltglon  ot  Science,  an&  tbe 
Extension  ot  tbe  IReliaious  parliament  11&ea 

(EC  PIegeler. 
Editor:  Dr.  Paul  Carus.  Associates:   <  M^^y  Carus. 


VOL.  XXL    (No.  12.)         DECEMBER,  1907.  NO.  619. 


CONTENTS: 


PACB 


Frontispiece.    St.  Catharine.    Fra  Angelico. 

What  is  God?    Orlando  J.  Smith 705 

St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria.    Conclusion.     (Illustrated.)     Editor 727 

Goethe's  Soul  Conception.    Editor 745 

Perchance.    Amos  B.  Bishop 752 

Jacob  Boehme.     Belle  P.  Drury 757 

Oriental  Sages.    (Poem.)    M.  H.  Simpson 762 

The  Pagan  Conception  of  Sin.    The  Rev.  W.  B.  Evalt 763 

In  Answer  to  Mr.  Evalt.    Edwin  A.  Rumball 764 

The  Superpersonal  God.    In  Comment  on  a  Communication  from  Pere  Hya- 

cinthe.     Editor 765 

The  Syllabus  Again.    Hyacinthe  Loyson 766 

General  PUster 7^7 

Book  Reviews  and  Notes 768 

CHICAGO 

Xtbe  ©pen  Court  publisbtitG  Company 

LONDON :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 
Per  copy,  lo  cents  (sixpence).    Yearly,  $i.oo  (In  the  U.  P.  U.,  58.  6d.). 


Copyright,  1907,  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co.       Entered  at  the  Chicago  Post  OflSce  as  Second  Qass  Matter. 


Zlbe  ©pen  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

H)ct>ote&  to  tbe  Science  ot  IReliaton,  tbe  IReligion  ot  Science,  anD  tbe 
Bitension  ot  tbe  IReligious  parliament  Hbea 

Editor:  Dr.  Paul  Carus.  Associates:   \  j^^^gy  olus^ 


VOL.  XXL    (No.  12.)         DECEMBER,  1907.  NO.  619. 


CONTENTS: 


PAGB 


Frontispiece.    St.  Catharine.    Fra  Angelico. 

What  is  God?    Orlando  J.  Smith 705 

St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria.    Conclusion.     (Illustrated.)     Editor 727 

Goethe's  Soul  Conception.    Editor 745 

Perchance.    Amos  B.  Bishop 752 

Jacob  Boehme.     Belle  P.  Drury 757 

Oriental  Sages.    (Poem.)    M.  H.  Simpson 762 

The  Pagan  Conception  of  Sin.    The  Rev.  W.  B.  Evalt 763 

In  Answer  to  Mr.  Evalt.    Edwin  A.  Rumball 764 

The  Superpersonal  God.    In  Comment  on  a  Communication  from  Pere  Hya- 

cinthe.     Editor 765 

The  Syllabus  Again.    Hyacinthe  Loyson 766 

General  PUster 767 

Book  Reviews  and  Notes 768 

CHICAGO 

^be  ©pen  Court  publisbtng  Companie 

LONDON :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 
Per  copy,  lo  cents  (sixpence).    Yearly,  $i.oo  (In  the  U.  P.  U.,  58.  6d.). 

Copyright,  1907,  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co.       Entered  at  the  Chicago  Post  Office  as  Second  Qass  Matter. 


^ 


THE  MONIST 


^ 


A  QUARTERLY  MAGAZINE 


Devoted  to  the  Philosophy  of  Science 


^ 


'i 


J 


DR.  PAUL  CARUS 

EDITOR 


S    E.  C.  HEGELER 
ASSOCIATE,  j    MARY  CARUS 


**The  Monist''  also  Discusses  the  Fundamental  Problems  of  Philosophy  in  theif 

Relations  to  all  the  Practical  Religfious,  Ethical,  and 

Sociolog;ical  Questions  of  the  day* 


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A  sixteen  years  Index  of  **The  Monist' 
wiU  be  carefully  filed  for  future  execution. 


is  now  in  preparation.    Advance  orders  for  said  Index 


TESTIMONIALS  FROM  THE  READERS  OF  "THE  MONIST' 


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"  'The  Monist'  is  certainly  performing  an  important 
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wnrld."  --  (i.  Sergi,  Proiessor  of  Anthropology  in  the 
University  of  Rome,  Italy. 


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■  *¥  ■ 


ST.  CATHARINE. 
By  Fra  Angelico,  I3S7-I45S- 

Frontispiece  to  The  Open   Court. 


The  Open  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

Devoted  to  the  Science  of  Religion,  the  Religion  of  Science,  and 
the  Extension  of  the  Religious  Parliament  Idea. 

VOL.  XXI.     (No.  12.)  DECEMBER,  1907.  NO.  619 

Copyright  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  1907. 


WHAT  IS  GOD? 

BY  ORLANDO  J.   SMITH.* 

MEN,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  have  been  unable  to  recog- 
nize the  universe  as  something  without  order,  regulation  or 
law.  Those,  even,  who  are  called  atheists  do  not  deny  the  existence 
of  a  supreme  power  of  regulation  ;  they  deny  certain  conceptions 
of  that  power.  The  agnostics  do  not  deny  the  existence  of  a  supreme 
regulator ;  they  deny  only  that  it  can  be  known  or  comprehended. 

In  different  stages  of  human  culture,  men  have  held  numerous 
varying  conceptions  of  God.  The  dull  conceptions  of  primitive  men 
gave  way  to  better  conceptions,  and  these  to  still  better  conceptions, 
as  men  improved  in  knowledge.  Our  old  conception  of  God,  handed 
down  from  a  remote  period,  supplies  to  us  a  view  of  the  cosmic 
order  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  facts  about  nature  as  they 
are  now  known  to  us.  It  is  as  the  sacred  legends  of  other  peoples, 
which  are  now  outgrown. 

While  the  belief  in  the  God  of  authority  has  declined,  the  con- 
viction that  the  universe  is  ruled  by  law,  marvelous  in  its  perfection, 
has  grown  precisely  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  modern  knowl- 
edge. What  is  this  law,  this  order,  this  power  or  principle  of  ad- 
justment? 

We  know  something  of  a  gardener  by  his  garden,  of  an  artist 
by  his  picture,  of  an  orator  by  his  speech,  of  a  poet  by  his  verses,  of 
a  commander  by  his  victories  or  defeats.  Shall  we  say  that  we,  who 
are  constantly  in  the  presence  of  the  regulations  of  nature,  who  have 
no  experience,  no  existence  apart  from  them,  can  form  no  impression 
of  the  regulator?  Shall  we  say  that  we,  who  know  that  a  certain 
seed  planted  under  certain  conditions  will  produce  a  certain  result, 
and  that  another  seed  planted  under  the  same  conditions  will  produce 

*  Copyright,   1907,  by  Orlando  J.  Smith. 


706  THE  OPliN    COURT. 

a  (lifFercnt  result ;  that  the  consequences  of  some  actions  arc  p;oo(l 
and  of  others  harmful ;  that  some  actions  are  essential  to  life  and  that 
others  produce  death — shall  we  say  that  we,  with  all  this  wisdom, 
know  nothing^  of  the  law,  of  the  eternal  verities? 

We  shall  know  God  by  reasoning  from  the  consequences  of  the 
law,  as  known  to  us,  back  to  the  meaninc^  of  the  law ;  by  reasoninp; 
from  the  facts  to  God.  rather  than  from  God  to  the  facts.  We  arc 
the  ijoverned  ;  wc  know  something  of  the  governor.  We  are  ruled  ; 
we  know  our  ruler  throus^h  his  ways  of  ruling.  We  need  not  go  back 
two  thousand  or  five  tlnjusand  years  to  find  God.  He  did  not  speak 
once  or  twice  and  then  grow  <lunil).  Wc  must  take  nature  as  it  is, 
life  as  it  is.  and  find  God  in  these  facts. 

I  believe  that  the  facts  of  human  experience  ])oint  straight  back 
to  a  su])reme  power  of  errorless  adjustment  which  men  have  called 
God.  I  have  dared,  in  what  follows,  to  put  my  speculations  and 
conclusions  concerning  God's  ways  and  what  God  is.  in  the  mouth 
of  God,  as  if  God  spoke  familiarly  to  us.  adapting  himself  to  our 
l)resent  condition  and  state  of  knowledge.  I  adopt  this  form  of  ex- 
pression for  the  sake  of  directness  and  clearness.  These  conclusions 
are  not  the  product  of  my  fancy  only  ;  they  are  not  groundless  or  as 
dreams.  They  are  built  upon  the  facts  of  life  as  we  know  them  ; 
upon  the  scientific  kiK)wledge  of  the  present  time  concerning  the  sys- 
tem of  nature,  and  upon  reasonable  deductions  from  these  facts  and 
knowledge. 

AS    IF   GOD   SPOKE. 


What  am  I  ?  What  are  man's  relations  to  me  and  my  relations 
to  man?  What  is  the  nature  of  the  government  of  the  universe? 
Is  it  merciful  or  loving,  just  or  unjust?  Do  I  acquit  myself  of 
accountability  for  evil,  nr  do  I  assume  the  responsibility  for  all  that 
is?     These  are  the  questions  that  I  would  answer. 

Your  scientific  minds  now  know  that  matter  and  force  are  in- 
destructible, and  they  know  also  that  this  fact  is  a  half  truth,  the 
other  half  being  that  matter  and  force  are  uncreatable — the  whole 
truth  being  that  matter  and  force  can  neither  be  created  nor  de- 
stroyed. They  know  also,  by  rational  inference,  that  what  is  true  of 
the  system  of  nature,  so  far  as  their  observation  extends,  has  been 
and  will  be  true  in  all  times  and  places. 

They  comprehend  also  that  what  is  true  of  matter  and  force  is 
true  also  of  all  thinjTs — that  all  changes  arc-  transformations;  that 


WHAT   IS  GOD?  707 

nothing  can.  in  its  essence,  be  created  or  destroyed.  A  building  is 
not  created:  it  consists  of  brick,  stone,  lime,  wood,  glass  and  metal, 
of  labor  and  of  mind,  all  of  which  existed  before  its  construction. 
As  nothing  in  it  is  created,  so  nothing  in  it  can  be  destroyed.  Its 
substances  may  Ije  transformed  b}'  fire  or  decay,  but  the  matter, 
energy  and  intelligence  which  entered  into  it  will  still  exist. 

In  these  simple  facts  you  shall  find  the  key  to  the  government 
of  the  universe.  As  my  government  is  here  and  now,  it  has  been 
and  will  be  in  all  times  and  places,  without  change  or  exception, 
through  eternity  and  infinite  space.  No  atom  is  destroyed,  no  atom 
is  created.  Nothing  is  made  out  of  nothing.  Throughout  the  uni- 
verse there  is  ceaseless  motion  ;  nothing  stands  at  rest.  Transforma- 
tions are  ceaseless ;  in  variety  and  number  they  are  infinite.  The  way 
of  transformation  is  single.  A  seed  is  a  transformation,  not  a  be- 
ginning; decay  is  a  transformation,  not  an  ending.  Birth  is  not  a 
beginning ;  death  is  not  an  ending.  In  the  universe  there  is  no  crea- 
tion and  no  annihilation. 

Think  you  that  I,  who  have  created  no  atom,  who  have  destroyed 
no  atom,  would  create  or  destroy  a  human  mind  ?  Think  you  that 
nature  would  give  eternal  life  to  a  senseless  speck  of  dust,  and  deny 
it  to  the  consummate  flower  of  all  life — the  mind  of  a  man  ?  ( )pen 
your  eyes  to  the  whole  truth,  the  simple  truth,  that  the  soul  of  the 
individual  man,  like  matter  and  force,  is  not  created,  and  will  not  be 
destroyed. 

Observe  the  fatal  inconsistencies  in  the  assumption  that  the  soul 
of  the  individual  is  created  at  his  birth.  Some  souls  are  born  strong. 
brave,  wise,  honest ;  some  have  genius,  some  beauty,  some  fair- 
mindedness,  some  innocence,  some  honor.  These,  under  the  theory 
that  I  am  the  creator  of  souls,  would  have  no  merit ;  they  would  be 
the  beneficiaries  of  my  favor.  Other  souls  are  born  ignorant,  cruel, 
corrupt,  selfish,  cowardly,  base :  some  are  malicious,  some  ugly, 
some  foolish,  some  depraved.  These,  under  the  theory  that  I  am  the 
creator  of  souls,  would  have  no  demerit ;  they  would  be  the  victims 
of  my  disfavor.  The  theory  that  I  am  the  creator  of  souls  would 
convict  me  of  putting  a  blessing  or  a  curse  upon  each  soul  in  the 
very  act  of  creating  it. 

If  I  am  the  creator  of  souls,  then  I  have  placed  in  one  soul  the 
seed  of  hypocrisy,  in  another  ingratitude,  in  another  treachery,  in 
another  murder.  Would  these  souls  be  responsible  for  these  quali- 
ties with  which,  if  I  am  their  maker,  I  have  endowed  them?  They 
would  not  be  responsible ;  they  would  be  wholly  innocent.  I,  if  I 
have  created  them,  am  responsible,  I  am  guilty  ;  I,  if  I  have  made 


708  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

them,  am  tlic  livpocrite,  tlic  iiif^^rate.  tlic  traitor,  the  murderer,  that  1 
have  created. 

Tlie  theory  that  I  am  the  creator  of  souls  would  convict  me  of 
heing  the  maker  and  inventor  of  all  liars,  debauchees,  thieves,  im- 
postors, slanderers,  tyrants  and  torturers ;  it  would  convict  me  of 
being,  through  my  creations,  the  author  of  all  the  ignorance,  mean- 
ness, vice  and  cruelty  in  the  world  ;  it  would  convict  me  of  being  the 
greatest  criminal  in  the  world,  of  being,  in  fact,  the  only  criminal, 
since  all  criminals  would  be  of  my  creation,  under  this  theory,  and 
really  my  victims,  created  vile,  without  will  or  choice  of  their  own. 

Reasoning  built  upon  a  false  postulate  will  carry  to  the  end  the 
errors  of  its  foundation.  Your  theology,  based  upon  the  assumption 
that  I  am  the  creator  of  souls,  presents  me  necessarily  as  a  God  of 
favor  and  of  wrath.  It  declares  that  I  loved  Jacob  and  hated  Esau ; 
that  I  have  had  a  favored  people ;  that  I  am  an  arbitrary  God,  having 
mercy  on  whom  I  will  have  mercy  and  that  whom  I  will  I  harden  ; 
that  I  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate 
me ;  that  I  condemn  all  men  for  the  sin  of  Adam.  Maintaining  that 
I  create  without  justice,  it  holds  that  I  will  save  without  justice; 
that  salvation  can  be  secured  only  through  the  grace  of  God  ;  that  the 
favor  of  my  salvation  can  be  gained  only  by  those  who  believe  and 
accept  certain  revelations  concerning  me.  and  will  be  refused  to  all 
who  doubt  or  deny  these  revelations. 

And  what  is  the  substance  of  these  revelations?  That  I  waited 
in  silence  and  loneliness  thrcnigh  an  eternity  before  I  created  any- 
thing: that  I  finally  created  a  globe  with  the  life  thereon;  that  I 
became  so  dissatisfied  with  this  work  that  I  destroyed  nearly  all  life 
with  a  flood,  beginning  anew  ;  that  again  I  became  incensed  with  my 
creatures,  and  became  reconciled  with  mankind  only  through  the 
sacrifice  of  my  son,  begotten  of  a  woman  ;  that  I  then  invented  a 
new  plan  of  salvation  and  a  new  sin — the  new  way  of  salvation 
being  the  belief  in  an  atonement  through  the  martyrdom  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  new  sin  being  the  dfiubt  or  denial  of  this  plan  of  sal- 
vation. 

And  what  is  this  doubt  or  denial,  which  is  represented  as  the 
worst  of  sins?  It  is  the  doubt  or  denial  that  1  changed,  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  my  plan  of  redemption,  my  way  of  salvation  ; 
changed  my  relations  to  man  and  man's  obligations  to  me.  It  is 
the  doubt  or  denial  that  I  then  invented  a  new  sin.  a  deadly  sin — 
greater  than  treachery,  ingratitude,  cruelty,  murder — where  there 
had  been  no  sin  before. 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  709 

And  what  is  this  beHef,  represented  as  so  marvelously  good  that 
without  it  man  cannot  be  saved?  It  is  the  beHef  that  I  am  a  vacil- 
lating God ;  that  I  have  changed,  and  consequently  may  change 
again,  my  way  of  governing  the  universe ;  that  I  have  invented  a 
new  sin,  and  consequently  may  invent  other  new  sins. 

Another  conclusion,  based  upon  the  postulate  that  I  am  the  cre- 
ator of  souls,  is  this:  that  I  am  the  God  of  good  only,  and  that  I  am 
perpetually  in  conflict  with  another  God,  the  God  of  evil ;  that  the 
world  is  rent  and  torn  by  an  unceasing  combat  between  the  God  of 
beneficence  and  the  God  of  malevolence ;  that  I  am  responsible  only 
for  the  good  that  exists,  and  that  Satan  is  responsible  for  the  evil. 

Know,  you  men,  that  I  have  no  rival,  no  antagonist,  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  universe ;  that  I  am  one,  single  and  supreme ;  that 
no  soul  has  been  or  will  be  the  beneficiary  of  my  favor  or  the  victim 
of  my  wrath ;  that  I  have  no  partiality,  no  favors ;  that  I  have  not 
been  angry,  resentful  or  regretful ;  that  I  have  made  no  failures,  have 
repented  of  no  errors ;  that  I  have  invented  no  new  terms  of  salva- 
tion, no  new  sin ;  that  no  one  shall  be  damned  for  an  honest  doubt ; 
that  my  ways  are  just  and  unalterable,  requiring  no  repairs,  no 
changes. 

Know  that  there  is  only  one  way  of  salvation — eternal  and 
changeless ;  the  same  in  the  distant  stars  as  here — "Whatsoever  a 
man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  rfeap." 

II. 

Each  soul,  like  the  atom,  like  the  universe,  is  eternal ;  its  ante- 
cedents had  no  beginning,  its  consequences  will  have  no  end.  The 
individual  builds  his  own  character ;  he  is  sick  because  he  has  neg- 
lected the  laws  of  health ;  ignorant  because  he  has  failed  to  improve 
his  opportunities ;  fretful,  despondent,  lazy  or  cowardly  because  he 
has  cultivated  mean-spiritedness ;  a  drunkard,  boaster,  ingrate,  thief, 
liar,  hypocrite  or  murderer  because  he  has  dishonored  himself.  Each 
man  reaps  as  he  has  sown ;  he  is  what  he  has  made  himself  in  his 
previous  existence ;  he  is  forever  working  out  his  own  damnation 
or  his  own  salvation.  From  the  complete  responsibility  for  himself 
man  cannot  escape.  Suicide  cannot  kill  him;  death  cannot  destroy 
him. 

Man's  life  is  an  endless  battle  in  which  the  good  and  brave  are 
victorious,  and  the  mean  and  cowardly  are  defeated.  The  character 
of  each  being  shows  what  its  life  has  been  ;  its  strength  and  goodness 
are  medals  of  honor  for  its  victories ;  its  weakness  and  vileness  are 
the  badges  of  defeat.     Your  soul  is  mean;  it  is  the  hovel  of  your 


7IO  THE  OPEN"    COURT. 

own  niakiiiL;'.  ^  <>ur  soul  is  nohk- :  it  is  the  ])alace  of  your  <^>\vii  hiiild- 
inji". 

What,  tluii,  'if  t.vil  ?  I  )<>nl)tins4  tlu'  noccssity  for  evil,  you  slioukl 
first  consider  a  world  without  evil — a  world  without  ij^^norancc.  diffi- 
culty. danj.jer.  sufferinjj^  or  selfishness — to  know  whether  such  a  world 
would  be  to  your  liking. 

In  a  world  without  ij^norance  no  one  could  £jain  or  impart  any 
intelligence,  each  one's  cuj)  of  knowledge  being  full.  There  could 
l)e  no  discussion,  no  inquiry,  no  issue  between  right  and  wrong,  no 
alternatives ;  and  consequently  there  could  be  no  enlightenment 
through  experience,  no  pleasure  of  discovery,  no  stimulation  of 
thought ;  indeed  there  would  be  no  reasoning,  since  reasoning  is  an 
inquiry  into  the  undetermined,  an  effort  of  the  mind  to  overcome 
ignorance.  In  a  world  without  ignorance  there  would  be  no  exercise 
of  the  mind,  no  intellectual  achievement.  The  mind  would  be  dead 
in  all  respects  in  which  it  is  inspiring  or  fruitful. 

.And  so  in  a  world  without  difificulty  there  would  be  no  incentive 
to  forethought,  to  energy,  to  patience,  to  self-control,  to  fortitude. 
The  noblest  virtues  which  test  and  make  manhood  would  cease  to 
exist.  The  virtue  of  courage  does  not  exist  without  the  evil  of 
danger,  the  virtue  of  sympathy  does  not  exist  without  the  evil  of 
suffering,  and  so  no  otlur  virtue  could  exist  without  its  correspond- 
ing evil. 

.\  man  without  eyes  could  see  no  evil,  and  without  his  other 
senses  could  hear,  taste,  smell,  feel  and  know  no  evil.  But,  so 
emasculated,  he  would  be  a  clod,  not  a  man.  A  world  without  evil 
would  be  as  toil  without  efTort.  as  achievement  without  opposition, 
as  light  without  darkness,  as  a  battle  with  no  antagonist.  It  would 
be  a  world  witlK)ut  meaning. 

Whv  should  you  not  ha\e  hap])iness  without  effort?  Because 
\ou  would  not  ha\e  earned  it.  In  this  universe  each  soul  gets  pre- 
ciselv  what  it  earns,  no  more  and  no  less. 


"But  we  suffer  often  without  sin.  The  friend  whom  I  believed 
to  be  honest,  ])roves  to  be  treacherous.  The  beautiful  llame  which 
attracts  the  unknowing  infant,  deforms  the  child.  That  which  we 
believed  to  be  wholesome  is  injurious.  A  ])rescription  carelessly 
prepared  contains  ])oison  of  which  I  have  no  knowledge.  An  action 
which  was  innocent,  even  noble,  is  followed  by  unhappy  conse- 
quences. ( )ne  goes  down  to  hel])  the  wretched,  and  acquires  a  loath- 
some or  fatal  disease." 


WHAT   IS  GODr  71  I 

Aly  law  has  no  exceptions.  Would  you  have  it  that  fire  should 
burn  those  only  who  know  fire?  that  poison  should  kill  those  only 
who  take  it  knowingly?  Should  I  put  a  premium  on  ignorance  by 
saying,  "For  that  which  you  do  ignorantly  you  shall  not  suffer?" 
Would  you  interrupt  the  vast  uK^vcment  of  cause  and  effect — by 
which  alone  justice  is  accomplished — that  men  may  be  protected 
from  the  consequences  of  their  own  ignorance?  And  all  this  for 
what?  That  ignorance  may  be  transformed  into  a  thing  so  sacred 
that  I  may  lay  no  penalty  upon  it?  What  sort  of  men,  women  and 
children  would  you  produce  if  ignorance  were  an  insurance  against 
evil,  the  sole  guarantee  of  happiness?  Who  would  be  wise,  if  each 
bit  of  knowledge  brought  a  penalty  from  which  ignorance  is  exempt? 
If  T  should  thus  reward  ignorance  and  penalize  knowledge,  you  men 
wnuld  be  infants  forever. 

^Fy  ways  are  stern  ways.  Fire  burns,  poison  kills  ;  there  is  no 
preventive  nor  antidote  for  either  in  ignorance,  in  innocence  or  in 
good  motive.  The  one  protection  from  the  ravages  of  either  is 
knowledge.  Many  evils,  such  as  pestilence  and  famine,  which  you 
formerly  accepted  as  manifestations  of  the  wrath  of  God,  are  now 
known  by  you  to  be  the  results  of  man's  ignorance.  The  "black 
death"  is  now  unknown  ;  tuberculosis  is  curable  ;  knowledge  is  over- 
coming, one  after  another,  your  worst  diseases.  A  simple  screen 
will  protect  infants  from  injury  by  fire.  Prudence,  foresight  and  co- 
operation will  relieve  the  horrors  of  famine.  The  panacea  for  all 
evils  is  knowledge,  not  ignorance. 

Is  evil,  then,  in  a  sense  good?  Danger  is  good  as  a  trial  of  cour- 
age ;  suffering  is  good  as  a  penalty  of  indolence  ;  medicine,  not  good 
to  taste  or  smell,  is  good  as  a  corrective.  Evil  is  good  as  a  trial, 
penalty  or  corrective.  Good  comes  out  of  evil,  as  life  comes  from 
decomposition ;  as  the  perfume  of  the  rose  comes  from  the  stench 
of  the  fertilizer ;  as  strength  and  health  come  from  the  knife  of  the 
surgeon ;  as  wisdom  comes  through  the  penalties  of  ignorance. 


What  you  call  chance  or  luck,  good  fortune  or  ill  fortune,  upon 
which  you  base  the  assumption  that  you  may  suffer  from  unearned 
evil,  is  manifest  in  a  superficial  sense  only  ;  in  the  deeper  sense  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  hazard  in  the  world.  This  is  illustrated  in  the 
experience  of  your  insurance  corporations,  which  are  built  upon  the 
sound  assumption  that  fires,  accidents,  marine  disasters,  and  even 
death  itself,  will  always  bear  a  definite  ratio  to  time,  numbers  and 
other  factors. 


712  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

Throug:h  the  workinpf  of  this  law  of  averages,  the  individual  in 
his  eternal  life  passes  through  all  forms  of  experience  possible  to 
human  beings.  He  has  been  born  rich  and  poor,  king  and  peasant, 
in  barbarism  and  enlightenment ;  he  has  been  shipwrecked,  seared 
by  fire,  mangled  in  battle,  tortured  by  all  kinds  of  disease,  unjustly 
condemned  ;  he  has  died  in  infancy,  in  youth,  in  middle  life,  in  old 
age :  he  has  suffered  from  treachery  and  malice :  he  has  lived  under 
all  forms  of  government,  from  the  most  liberal  to  the  most  despotic ; 
he  has  been  blinded,  injured  by  accidents,  by  lightning  and  the  con- 
vulsions of  nature ;  he  has  been  born  deaf  and  dumb  and  otherwise 
defective;  he  has  lived  in  tropical  jungles  and  in  lands  of  ice  and 
snow ;  he  has  been  a  naked  savage,  and  has  been  the  heir  of  ease  and 
luxury,  fawned  upon  by  eager  menials ;  he  has  known  all  temptations, 
enjoyed  all  pleasures,  suffered  all  pains  ;  he  has  been  master  and  slave, 
victor  and  vanquished,  slayer  and  slain ;  he  has  been  born  into  all 
superstitions,  and  has  had  access  to  all  knowledge,  wisdom  and  light ; 
he  has  benefited  and  suffered  impartially  with  his  fellow  men  from 
all  possible  experiences,  favorable  and  imfavorable. 

What  you  call  misfortune  in  the  life  of  a  man  is  merely  an 
incident  of  his  eternal  life,  in  which  adversity,  as  well  as  prosperity, 
has  its  uses  and  its  compensations.  What  you  call  good  fortune  is 
not  always  good,  nor  is  bad  fortune  always  evil.  Adverse  fortune 
strengthens  a  man's  unselfishness  and  fortitude,  while  good  fortune 
may  weaken  his  nobler  qualities,  as  riches  develop  idleness  and  vanity, 
and  as  inherited  privilege  fosters  self-love,  arrogance  and  contempt 
for  one's  kind.  The  heir  to  a  throne,  subject  to  adulation  and  flattery, 
the  beneficiary  of  unearned  honors  and  dignities,  is  really  more  un- 
fortunate than  he  who  is  born  to  poverty  and  toil. 

I  try  you  by  all  difficulties,  troubles  and  dangers,  by  good  and 
by  evil  fortune.  I  try  you  by  discomfort  and  pain,  by  drought  and 
flood,  by  heat  and  cold,  by  fullness  and  hunger,  by  good  and  bad 
harvests,  by  sickness  and  health,  by  blindness  and  deafness,  by 
poverty  and  riches,  by  hardship  and  luxury,  by  rank  and  privilege,  by 
flattery  and  servility,  by  truth  and  falsehood,  by  unjust  accusations, 
by  malice  and  slander,  by  the  lash  of  your  master,  by  wrongs  to  your 
manhood,  by  heartbreak  and  torture.  J>y  indignity  and  insult,  by 
honors  unearned,  I  try  you.  These  experiences  are  tests  of  your 
manhood,  trials  of  your  worthiness  without  which  your  souls  would 
shrivel  for  lack  of  exercise.  I  would  make  men  of  you.  The  post 
of  hardshi])  and  danger  is  the  post  of  honor. 

"For  as  gold  is  tried  by  fire, 
So  a  heart  must  be  tried  by  pain." 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  713 

1  try  you  by  torture  and  by  the  lash  of  your  master,  that  you 
may  learn  compassion  for  the  wronged  and  the  outraged,  that  you 
may  learn  to  hate  cruelty  and  slavery.  You  have  heard  that  I  am 
the  God  of  love,  and  this  is  true ;  I  am  also  the  God  of  hate.  I  say 
unto  you  hate  injustice,  hate  cruelty  and  slavery,  hate  the  lash  of  the 
master!  Until  you  learn  to  hate  these  with  all  your  heart  and  soul 
you  shall  be  an  unfinished  man,  something  less  than  a  man. 

III. 

"Must  these  trials,  difficulties  and  terrors  be  endured  forever? 
Is  there  nothing  in  store  for  us  but  a  dreary  round  of  experience 
in  which  we  stand  constantly  in  the  presence  of  trouble  and  danger? 
Is  there  no  haven  of  ease,  no  harbor  of  security,  in  which  we  may 
finally  cast  anchor,  life's  troubles  being  ended,  the  last  enemy  con- 
quered, to  live  in  peace  forevermore  ?" 

There  are  two  ways  to  end  trouble — one  way  is  to  decline  it ; 
the  other  way  is  to  conquer  it.  By  the  one  way  you  go  downward, 
by  the  other  upward.  Examples  of  both  ways  of  ending  trouble  are 
all  about  you.  Every  living  thing  is  an  immortal  soul,  beginningless 
and  deathless,  the  same  as  man  is.  The  brute,  the  bird,  the  fish,  the 
insect,  the  tree,  the  plant,  each  is  an  immortal  soul.  Each  is  where  it 
is  of  right.  Your  scientists  know  that  there  is  no  misplaced  atom 
in  the  world,  and  I  say  unto  you  that  there  is  no  misplaced  soul  in 
the  world.  Each  soul  is  in  the  place  that  it  has  earned.  I  am  as  just 
to  the  meanest  insect  as  I  am  to  the  noblest  man. 

In  all  life  below  you,  trouble  diminishes  in  exact  proportion  as 
intelligence  and  character  grow  feebler  and  weaker.  The  brute  does 
not  worry  about  right  and  wrong,  about  education,  about  religion, 
about  government,  about  health,  about  schools  of  healing,  about  be- 
reavement, about  good  or  ill  fortune,  about  insult  or  indignity,  about 
death.  It  is  unconscious  of  sin,  has  no  apprehension  for  the  future, 
and  is  exempt  from  most  of  the  diseases  which  afflict  mankind.  The 
life  below  -the  brute  suffers  still  less  from  trouble.  The  plant  knows 
no  such  thing  as  anxiety,  toil,  sorrow  or  pain.  It  exists  in  a  haven 
of  ease  and  security,  in  a  harbor  of  rest.  You  can  secure  that 
haven  of  ease,  that  harbor  of  rest,  but  you  must  descend  to  gain  it. 
You  must  cease  to  strive,  cease  to  resist,  cease  to  assert  yourself, 
cease  to  work,  cease  to  think,  cease  to  be  a  man,  cease  to  be  an  in- 
telligence. This  descent  will  take  ages  and  ages;  it  cannot  be  ac- 
complished quickly,  but  it  can  be  made.  It  has  been  made ;  it  is 
being  made.  There  are  human  souls  among  you  that  are  traveling 
downward  at  a  rate  which  will  lead  in  time  to  the  lower  levels  of  life. 


714  THK   OI'KN    COl'RT. 

llie  (Icscendinp^  soul  shall  have  many  ()j)portunitics  to  turn 
hack  ;  it  shall  have  numerous  warninj^s.  in  the  i^^rowing^  aversion  of 
its  fellows,  in  its  own  recognition  of  its  increasing  debasement,  in 
all  the  associations  and  consequences  of  a  life  degenerating,  going 
down  to  littleness  or  meanness. 

One  soul,  desiring  only  ease  and  comfort,  without  toil,  care  or 
anxiety,  may  ultimately  gain  its  desire  as  a  buHock.  well  fed  and 
well  housed  for  the  market,  or  as  a  pet  animal,  cared  for  solicitously 
by  loving  hands;  another,  desiring  only  ease  and  comfort  with  ad- 
miration, may  gain  its  desire  as  a  bird  of  brilliant  and  showy  plu- 
mage :  another,  a  vicious  groveler  with  a  hateful  character,  may  in 
time  become  a  venomous  and  repulsive  reptile :  a  soul  purely  indolent 
and  idle,  without  aspiration  or  enthusiasm,  may  descend  into  the 
form  of  a  harmless  insect.  The  soul  may  even  descend  to  a  beautiful 
an<l  glorified  state  of  ease  and  rest,  corresponding  to  some  popular 
conceptions  of  heaven.  Tt  may  become  a  tree,  beautiful  in  form  and 
foliage,  a  .shrub  or  plant,  producing  flowers  e.\(|uisite  in  form,  color 
and  perfume. 

( )f  the  way  of  meeting  trouble  by  concpiering  it.  you  have  ex- 
amples also  all  about  you.  There  are  those  who  do  not  fear  death; 
the\'  have  con<|uered  it.  'i'hey  conijuer  death  by  coni])relien(ling  it. 
bv  knowing  that  death  is  of  small  conse(|uence.  that  it  is  inevitable, 
that  fear  will  not  remf)ve  it  or  delay  it.  and  that  the  only  evil  in 
death  is  the  foolish  fear  of  it.  There  are  those  who  con(|uer  ])ain. 
either  bv  ascertaining  how  to  avoid  or  i)revent  it.  or  by  the  courage 
to  bear  it.  knowing  that  it  will  come  to  an  end.  There  are  those 
who  conc|uer  fear,  knowing  that  it  is  worse  than  tlie  danger  appre- 
hended, and  that  it  presents  itself  continuously  when  there  is  no 
danger.  There  are  those  who  conquer  sorrow,  knowing  that  time  will 
heal  it.  and  helping  by  cheerfulness  this  process  of  time.  There 
are  those  who  conquer  bereavement,  knowing  that  death  cannot 
.separate  those  who  love  each  other.  There  are  those  who  concjuer 
ignorance  by  diligently  making  .some  daily  progress  in  knowledge 
or  wisdom.  Wherefore  I  think  well  of  man.  knowing  that  each  one 
may  be  a  hero  and  a  conqueror  if  he  so  wills  ;  that  he  need  not  wait 
for  some  great  opportunity,  for  .some  dazzling  height  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  ;  knowing  that  he  can  be  a  eon(|ueror  this  (la\  ami  hour. 
in  the  silence  within  his  own  soul. 

My  ways  are  stern  and  hard  :  they  are  also  mild  antl  gentle. 
Each  soul  shall  have  its  heart's  desire.  If  it  desires  perfect  ease, 
freedom  from  toil,  pain  and  trouble,  it  shall  descend  t(-»  that  place  ; 
the  way  is  open ;  it  is  an  easy  way. 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  715 

The  soul  thai  would  ascend  shall  have  also  its  heart's  desire. 
The  way  is  not  easy,  hut  its  compensations  are  many  and  substantial. 
There  is  no  limit  in  its  ascent ;  it  may  .G^row  in  wisdom  forever  with- 
out exhausting-  all  wisdom,  grow  in  ])o\\er  without  exhausting  all 
power,  grow  in  beauty  without  exhausting  all  beauty,  grow  in  good- 
ness without  exhausting  all  goodness.  But  it  must  pay  in  effort,  in 
toil,  in  thought,  in  sacrifice,  for  all  that  it  gains. 

You  will  observe  that  there  is  no  limit,  in  the  meaner  forms  of 
life  on  your  globe,  to  the  possibilities  of  degradation  for  the  de- 
scending soul.  There  is  also  no  boundary  in  the  eternal  life  before 
you  to  the  progress  of  the  determined  ascending  soul.  All  heights 
are  accessible,  all  depths  are  open  to  the  soul  of  the  individual  man 


The  human  form,  however  humble  or  even  degraded,  still  con- 
fers a  certain  stamp  of  nobility.  You  are  a  man  ;  you  have  made 
progress  ;  you  might  have  been  a  beast,  a  bird,  a  fish,  a  re])ti]e,  or  even 
something  lower.  However  poor  a  man  you  may  be,  still  you  have 
the  opportunities  of  all  manhood  before  you.  There  is  no  good  or 
glory  beyond  your  reach.  The  universe  exists  for  you.  It  is  your 
heritage,  your  arena,  your  throne.  It  has  no  secrets  which  you 
cannot  grasp,  no  barriers  which  you  cannot  surmount,  no  forces 
hostile  to  you  which  you  cannot  conquer. 

The  greatest  things  in  your  world  are  not  its  rivers,  lakes  and 
mountains ;  not  its  forests,  plains  and  palaces.  None  of  these  can 
see,  feel  or  love;  none  can  think,  aspire  or  dare.  ]Man,  who  can 
conquer  the  forests  and  plains,  who  can  build  palaces,  who  can  read 
the  stars  and  suns,  who  can  taste  of  both  pain  and  joy,  is  the  noblest 
object  in  your  world.  The  raggedest  child  in  London  is  greater 
than  St.  Paul's :  the  poorest  peasant  in  France  is  nobler  than  the 
tallest  peak  of  the  Alps. 

The  individual  man  need  not  grovel  or  abase  himself.  He  is 
older  than  Rome,  older  than  the  Pyramids,  older  than  the  Koran 
and  the  Bible,  older  than  any  book  ever  written  or  printed,  and  he 
shall  survive  them  all.  He  builds  his  own  destiny  ;  he  makes  his 
own  fate.  He  is  the  eternal  master  of  himself,  a  king  of  a  royal 
line  older  than  any  throne  or  dynasty.  The  noble  man  has  a  noble 
kingdom  ;  it  extends  as  far  and  wide  as  his  thought  and  love  can 
reach.  The  base  man  has  a  mean  kingdom  ;  but,  if  he  so  wills,  he 
can  broaden  it,  better  it.  He  can  lose  it  only  through  his  own  ab- 
dication, for  in  all  the  universe  he  has  no  real  enemy  but  himself. 
'   None  can  harm  you  but  yourself.     Your  friend  may  rob  you ; 


7l6  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

he  robs  only  himself.  Your  master  may  beat  you  ;  he  degrades  him- 
self. A  tyrant  may  torture  you;  he  injures  his  own  soul,  not  you. 
You  have  nothing  to  fear  but  your  own  ignorance ;  nothing  can  help 
you  but  your  own  wisdom.  I  do  not  mean  the  wisdom  of  your 
schools ;  I  mean  the  wisdom  of  life — the  wisdom  that  conquers  fear, 
knowing  that  the  soul  has  nothing  to  fear  but  itself;  the  wisdom 
that  conquers  malice,  treachery,  dishonesty,  knowing  these  as  roads 
that  lead  down  to  hell.  Know  that  no  god  or  saviour  shall  fight  your 
battles  for  you.  Know  that  no  church  can  save  you :  that  Christ, 
Jehovah,  Allah,  Buddha  or  Brahma  cannot  save  you  ;  know  that 
one  only  can  save  you,  and  that  that  one  is  yourself.  Your  fortress 
is  within  yourself ;  you  have  no  outlying  possessions  to  be  protected, 
no  detachments  to  be  guarded.  No  external  treason,  stratagem  or 
valor  can  injure  you.  Your  battle  is  forever  within  yourself,  your 
higher  self  against  your  lower  self. 

The  individual  man  is  his  own  saviour  and  creator,  and  makes 
his  own  heaven  and  hell.  Heaven  and  hell  are  real.  They  are  always 
with  you.  and  shall  follow  you  through  all  experiences.  Now,  and 
every  day  of  your  lives,  you  must  choose  between  them.  You  can 
accept  either,  scorn  either. 

Hell  is  visible  to  you  in  the  consequences  of  your  indolence, 
your  dishonesty,  your  degeneracy.  Heaven  is  visible  in  the  fruits 
of  your  industry,  your  self-respect,  your  increasing  knowledge — in 
bodies  sound,  strong  and  clean  ;  in  muscles  that  can  stand  a  strain ; 
in  organs  that  resist  disease ;  in  eyes  that  drink  beauty ;  in  ears 
attuned  to  music ;  in  minds  that  reason  and  understand,  appreciative 
of  noble  thoughts  and  deeds,  eager  for  wisdom,  hospitable  to  truth, 
scornful  of  lies ;  in  moral  natures  set  to  the  golden  rule,  kindly, 
cheerful,  generous,  loving  and  just ;  in  courage  true,  in  honor  bright. 

IV. 

You  would  have  an  explanation  of  heredity,  of  the  theory  that 
the  character  of  each  soul  is  predetermined  in  the  character  of  its 
parentage. 

To  vicious  parents  a  vicious  child  is  born.  If  this  birth  were 
the  beginning  of  the  child's  life,  if  it  were  created  in  the  act  of  being 
born,  then  it  would  be  true  that  the  character  of  the  child  would  be 
predetermined  by  its  parentage,  as  the  character  of  its  parents  would 
have  been  predetermined  by  their  parentage,  and  so  on  back  through 
all  of  their  antecedents.  And  it  would  also  follow  that  no  soul 
would  be  justly  responsible  for  what  it  is  at  birth,  that  this  respon- 
sibility would  rest  wholly  with  the  power  or  forces  which  created  it. 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  717 

But  the  child  is  not  created.  It  is  a  soul  which  has  pre-existed 
through  eternity.  Coming  to  this  earth,  it  is  attracted  by  its  own 
kind.  Vicious  itself,  it  necessarily  becomes  the  offspring  of  vice. 
And  so  also  the  ignorant  soul  is  born  to  dull  lineage,  the  wise  soul 
to  wise  ancestry,  the  good  soul  to  good  antecedents. 


You  would  know  also  whether  all  life  is  as  you  see  life  on  this 
earth ;  whether,  upon  your  departure  from  your  present  body,  you 
will  enter  into  another  body  on  this  earth  or  elsewhere,  or  whether 
there  is  any  truth  in  the  theory  that  a  soul  can  exist  consciously  apart 
from  its  body. 

You  shall  find  the  answer  to  these  questions  in  analogies  drawn 
from  the  life  about  you.  Nothing  exists  in  the  universe  of  which 
some  example,  prototype  or  illustration  may  not  be  seen  in  your  life 
here.  One  law  rules  all  that  is ;  the  consequences  of  the  law  are  all 
of  kin,  near  or  remote. 

In  your  experiences  here  you  are  familiar  with  many  changes 
from  one  state  to  an  opposite  state.  Day  turns  into  night,  waking 
into  sleep,  summer  into  winter,  life  into  death.  And  these  changes 
are  followed  again  by  opposite  changes — night  into  day,  sleep  into 
waking,  winter  into  summer,  death  into  life. 

Other  alternations,  from  one  state  to  its  opposite,  are  observed 
in  your  experience  here — from  toil  to  rest,  from  pain  to  ease,  from 
war  to  peace,  from  the  world  of  reality  to  the  world  of  your  imagina- 
tion. You  may  observe  also  the  alternation  from  one  form  of  phys- 
ical body  to  an  opposite  form  in  the  lives  of  your  two  hundred 
thousand  species  of  insects,  exemplified  in  the  transformation  of  the 
caterpillar  into  the  butterfly.  The  groveling  and  repulsive  worm 
descends  to  its  grave  in  the  cocoon,  from  which  it  ascends  a  winged 
and  brilliant  butterfl}'.  Here  you  may  observe  the  alternation  from 
creeping  to  flying,  from  ugliness  to  beauty.  Here  you  have  an  ex- 
ample also  of  the  pre-existence  and  after-existence  of  a  soul.  The 
worm  has  an  after-existence  in  the  butterfly ;  the  butterfly  had  a 
pre-existence  in  the  worm.  Under  your  observation,  one  soul  oc- 
cupies two  bodies. 

As  you  pass  from  night  to  day  here,  so  you  shall  pass  from  your 
life  here  to  an  opposite  life  beyond  the  grave.  Here  you  see  darkly  ; 
there  you  shall  see  clearly.  Here  lies  may  pass  as  truth,  the  counter- 
feit as  genuine,  hypocrisy  as  holiness,  folly  as  wisdom,  the  noble  may 
be  obscured  and  the  vulgar  exalted ;  there  deceptions  have  no  exist- 
ence, there  vou  can  deceive  no  one,  and  no  one  can  deceive  vou. 


7l8  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

The  opposite  life  beyond  the  <jravc  is  an  nnniaskincr  of  souls: 
it  is  a  place  of  happiness,  peace  and  rest  for  the  p^ood.  the  honest, 
the  sincere  ;  it  is  a  hell  for  impostors  and  hy[)ocritcs.  for  the  malicious, 
the  selfish,  the  unji^rateful.  the  treacherous,  the  dishonest.  There  each 
one's  character  is  a  book  open  for  whomsoever  would  read  ;  there  no 
meanness  or  vileness.  no  imselfishness  f)r  nobility,  can  be  concealed. 
Mere  you  see  physical  deformity  ;  there  you  sec  moral  deformity. 
Here  a  mean  soul  may  be  concealed  in  a  beautiful  body;  there  the 
ujj^liness  of  the  soul  shall  be  revealed.  Here  a  beautiful  soul  may  be 
imprisoned  in  a  body  deformed  by  accident,  toil  or  sacrifice ;  there 
the  glory  of  the  soul  shall  be  also  revealed.  Here  one  may  hide  the 
sins  of  the  mind — its  secret  envy,  treachery,  malice,  bestiality  ;  there 
these  secrets  are  exposed.  There  all  mysteries  are  unraveled  ;  the 
letters  that  are  burned,  the  clues  that  are  hidden,  the  evidence  that 
has  been  withheld  or  falsified,  shall  come  into  the  lit^ht ;  the  innocent 
shall  be  vindicated,  and  the  guilty  shall  be  known.  It  is  the  land  of 
truth,  in  which  no  deception,  mystification  or  lie  can  exist. 

The  courageous  ones  in  \(»ur  ordinary  life  here — the  men  who 
carry  cheerfully  the  burdens  and  .sorrows  of  others:  the  women  who 
fight  patiently  through  long  years  for  shelter,  warmth  and  food  for 
their  fatherless  children  :  the  lonely  and  forlorn  souls  who  walk  in  the 
straight  road  of  duty  and  honor;  all  the  honest,  brave,  helpful  and 
true-hearted — shall  be  recognized  in  the  after-life  as  real  heroes,  and 
as  the  more  heroic  because  there  was  little  rest  in  their  long,  prosaic 
battle ;  because  they  sought  no  plaudits,  and  hoped  for  no  day  when 
they  w^ould  receive  the  homage  of  mankind. 

In  the  after-life  the\  who  have  acted  nobly  here,  seeking  no 
approbation  or  glory,  shall  be  glorified  :  and  they  who  have  played 
;i  coward's  part  shall  be  scorned.  In  your  life  beyond  the  grave, 
everv  honest  soul  shall  have  recognition,  and  every  pretender  shall 
be  found  out.  In  that  life  you  shall  know  that  the  only  real  nf)ble 
is  the  noble  soul,  that  the  only  real  king  is  the  kingly  soul. 


"Do  we  exist  in  the  life  beyond  the  grave  as  disembodied  souls?" 
1  shall  answer  this  question  also  through  analogies  observable  in  the 
life  here. 

(  )bserve  a  nut.  say  the  walnut.  As  it  hangs  on  the  tree,  you  see 
its  outer  hull  or  hii^k.  Is  this  its  ])hysical  body?  li  is  an  essential 
phvsical  bodv  at  one  stage  of  the  life  of  the  walinU.  The  walnut 
falls  to  the  ground,  and  this  hull  decays.  Is  the  walnut  now  dead, 
its  bod\    beiuij-  dead:      \o  ;  tlu-  walnut  has  an  inner  bodw  its  shell. 


WHAT    IS   COD?  719 

finer  and  stronger  than  its  outer  husk.  Cover  the  wahiut  now  with 
earth,  give  it  moisture  and  heat,  and  its  shell  will  crack  open  and 
decay.  Is  the  walnut,  having  suffered  from  the  decay  of  two  bodies, 
finally  dead  ?  Xo  ;  the  soul  of  the  walnut  shall  not  stay  in  its  grave  ; 
it  shall  experience  a  resurrection  ;  it  shall  cover  itself  with  a  new  body 
which  shall  reach  out  its  leaves  gladly  for  the  blessing  of  the  sun. 
The  soul  of  the  walnut  shall  enter  upon  a  new  life  which  is  the 
opposite  of  its  life  in  its  hull  and  shell.  It  was  the  nut ;  it  is  now-  the 
tree.  The  matter  in  the  nut — its  outer  hull,  its  inner  shell,  its  meat 
or  kernel — has  gone  through  the  process  of  decomposition  which 
you  call  death,  but  the  soul  «»f  the  nut  knows  no  death  ;  it  lives  in  the 
tree. 

The  physical  body  of  a  man  is  as  the  outer  husk  of  the  walnut. 
1die  death  of  man's  body  does  not  kill  man's  soul,  which  is  enclosed 
in  an  inner  body  of  infinitely  finer  substance  than  its  outer  husk. 
Your  scientists  have  discovered  your  subconscious  mind ;  they  shall 
later  discover  your  subconscious  body.  You  cannot  with  your  present 
sight  see  this  inner  body  with  which  the  soul  is  clothed  after  the 
death  of  its  outer  body,  and  neither  can  you  see  a  current  of  elec- 
tricity ;  but  this  inner  body  is  finer  than  the  outer  husk,  even  as  elec- 
tricity is  finer  than  muscular  energy. 

The  sensation  of  the  soul  emerging  from  its  outer  body  is  the 
sensation  of  emancipation,  not  of  emasculation.  The  soul  was  the 
slave  of  its  old  bod}',  compelled  to  feed  it,  clothe  it,  shelter  it,  keep 
it  in  repair ;  to  suft'er  for  its  injuries,  to  be  hampered  by  its  limita- 
tions, to  see  only  through  its  eyes,  to  hear  only  through  its  ears. 
The  soul,  in  its  finer  and  more  perfect  body,  is  set  free.  Conditions 
are  now  reversed  ;  the  body  is  now  the  slave  of  the  mind,  the  mind 
is  no  longer  the  slave  of  the  body. 

Your  seers,  in  glimpses  of  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  have  seen 
much  of  truth — that  the  soul  moves  through  its  own  wdll,  not  through 
the  expenditure  of  muscular  energy  ;  that  the  will  to  be  elsewhere, 
far  distant,  to  pass  through  any  physical  obstacle,  is  accomplished 
instantaneously.  Many  of  you  men  have  had  dreams  in  your  child- 
hood in  which  you  could  propel  yourselves  by  the  exercise  of  your 
will  only — dreams  of  floating  above  the  earth  slowly  or  rapidly,  with- 
out effort :  of  turning  to  the  right,  to  the  left,  or  about,  solel^•  in 
response  to  desire  ;  and  of  a  sense  of  lightness  and  buoyancy,  dift'erent 
from  anv  thing  known  to  you  in  your  waking  hours.  A  dream  is 
based  wholly  on  reality.  Each  fantastic  shred  goes  back  to  something 
known,  experienced  or  thought  of  before.  These  dreams  of  child- 
hood go  back  to  the  experience  of  the  child  in  its  life  before  its 


720  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

hirtli — the  life  from  which  tlie  child  came  when  it  entered  the  flesh, 
the  life  to  which  it  will  return  after  the  death  of  its  body. 


The  soul  being  free,  in  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  from  the 
dominion  of  the  body,  is  done  with  the  pleasures  and  pains  of  the 
body.  The  soul  which  finds  its  greatest  enjoyment  in  physical 
pleasures  here,  shall  suffer  there  from  the  absence  of  these  pleasures ; 
and  the  soul  which  has  suflfered  here  through  a  weak  or  defective 
body  shall  be  relieved  there  of  this  burden.  There  all  physical  afflic- 
tions shall  end.  Sight  shall  follow  blindness,  the  deaf  shall  hear,  the 
lame  shall  walk,  and  ease  shall  come  after  pain. 

The  better  souls,  those  whose  pleasures  are  of  the  mind  or  heart 
— the  kindly,  generous  and  courageous  souls ;  the  souls  with  good 
will,  open  hearts  and  open  minds — are  at  peace  and  rest  in  the  other 
life.  They  have  returned  home,  as  it  were,  after  a  pilgrimage  in 
alien  lands.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lower  souls — the  gross,  dull 
or  vicious — do  not  find  the  other  world  a  land  to  their  liking.  Stripped 
of  the  mask  of  the  flesh,  they  can  deceive  no  one,  not  even  them- 
selves. Deprived  of  all  means  of  sensual  gratification,  they  long  to 
return  to  the  more  congenial  and  pleasant  life  in  the  flesh,  to  get 
back  into  physical  bodies  which  will  cover  their  mental  or  moral 
nakedness.  And,  since  each  soul  gets  its  desire,  they  do  return 
without  long  delay  to  the  land  of  their  choice.  The  stay  of  the  low- 
est is  briefest,  the  stay  of  the  good  is  longest,  in  the  land  of  truth. 
Those  who  have  concjuered  the  trials,  difficulties  and  evils  of  the 
flesh  may  return  no  more.  The  life  in  the  flesh  is  a  school  from  which 
you  shall  not  pass  finally  and  forever  until  you  shall  have  learned 
its  lessons, 

V. 

In  what  sense  do  1  regulate,  govern  or  adjust  the  vniivcrse? 
Are  my  powers  limited  or  unlimited?  Am  I  a  personality,  an  in- 
telligence, a  law  or  a  principle? 

Take  the  simplest  ecjuation — one  plus  one  equals  two.  Do  you 
assume  that  that  statement  is  true  in  itself,  that  it  always  was  antl 
always  must  be  true,  that  it  is  an  unchangeable  truth?  or  do  von  as- 
sume that  it  is  true  only  because  I  have  made  it  true,  and  that  I 
could  make  it  false  if  I  chose  to  do  so?  If  you  assume  that  my  power 
is  unlimited,  and  that  1  could  change  the  law  so  that  the  product  of 
one  plus  one  would  be  three,  or  eleven,  or  ninety,  would  you  assume 
that  I  could  also  change  the  multiplication  table  at  will,  so  that  three 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  721 

times  seven  would  be  sixty,  or  that  four  times  seven  would  be  fifteen, 
or  that  five  times  seven  would  be  nothing? 

Consider  other  questions.  Do  you  believe  that  it  would  be  pos- 
sible for  me  to  turn  right  into  wrong,  or  wrong  into  right  ?  Could  I 
make  a  virtue  of  treachery,  cruelty,  malice  or  lying?  Could  I  make 
a  vice  of  sincerity,  charity  or  truthfulness?  Could  I  change  the  facts 
and  the  history  of  the  past?  Could  I  obliterate  the  fact  that  there 
had  ever  been  an  America?  and,  having  done  this,  would  it  become 
true  consequently  that  xA.merica  never  did  exist?  Could  I  abdicate 
my  own  omnipotence?  Could  I  reduce  myself  and  the  universe  to 
nothingness  ? 

Apply  your  own  mind  to  these  questions.  Forget  or  ignore  for 
the  time  all  that  you  have  been  taught  concerning  me  and  my  ways. 
Put  aside  the  theory  that  any  subject  is  too  sacred  to  be  reasoned 
about.  Do  not  wait  to  get  the  opinion  of  some  one  wiser  than  your- 
self. Use  your  own  reason  :  you  are  dull  indeed  if  these  questions 
are  beyond  }'Our  powers.  Using  your  own  reason,  you  shall  have 
the  satisfaction  of  solving,  or  of  making  some  progress  in  solving, 
this  mystery  which  is  no  mystery — the  mystery  of  my  ways  and  of 
what  I  am. 

Trusting  your  own  reason,  without  misgiving  and  without  fear, 
you  shall  necessarily  reach  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  beyond 
the  power  of  any  force  that  you  can  conceive  of  to  change  the  facts 
of  the  past,  to  obliterate  the  fact  that  there  had  ever  been  an  America, 
and  to  make  true  an  opposite  fact,  that  America  had  never  existed. 

That  which  you  conceive  to  be  true,  after  examining  it  with 
carefulness  and  sincerity,  turning  upon  it  all  the  light  that  you  have, 
you  must  accept  as  the  truth.  You  would  be  a  man ;  do  not,  then, 
belittle  or  distrust  yourself.  That  which  you  accept  as  truth  may  be 
an  error,  but  the  intellectual  courage  which  impels  you  to  accept  it 
as  truth  in  the  first  place,  will  also  impel  you  to  reject  it  when  its 
error  becomes  apparent  to  you. 

The  truth  that  no  power,  human  or  divine,  can  change  the  facts 
of  the  past  is  self-evident ;  you  shall  have  no  occasion  to  reject  or 
revise  it.  Indeed  this  truth  is  literally  the  foundation  of  all  truth — 
that  truth  is  unalterable  and  deathless  ;  that  the  existence  of  the  con- 
tinent of  America  being  a  truth,  God  himself  cannot  change  or  ob- 
literate it. 

Building  on  this  fundamental  truth,  you  will  perceive  that  the 
equation,  one  plus  one  equals  two,  being  true,  will  forever  remain 
true ;  and  that,  as  it  will  be  true  in  the  future,  time  without  end, 
so  it  has  been  true  in  the  past,  time  without  beginning.     And  you 


"^22  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

will  perceive  als<-)  that  all  (nhor  truth  concerninL;;  niathciiiatics.  con- 
cerning: ri.q:ht  and  wronj^.  C(Miccrnin.i2:  the  whole  svsteni  of  nature, 
concerning  the  jjovernment  <^f  the  universe,  is  also  chant^eless.  he.s^in- 
nins:less,  endless,  eternal.  If  tluse  truths  could  have  heen  altered 
in  the  past,  then  they  may  be  altered  in  the  future.  If  they  were 
made  in  the  past,  then  they  may  he  unmade  in  the  future.  If  time 
was  when  they  did  not  e.xist.  tlu'U  time  may  come  when  tlie\-  will 
cease  to  exist. 

^^y  ways  are  hiri^e  ways.  They  w  ere  l)e.<,nnnin.i.,dess  ;  thev  shall 
lie  endless:  they  were  nut  set  to  WDrk  in  some  dim.  far-otT  time,  as 
an  eui^ine  starts  the  wheels  of  a  factory.  Cease  to  confuse  your 
reasoning:  about  a  be.^inninj:,'-  or  creation.  There  never  was  a  time 
when  the  uni\erse  \tas  not  the  seat  of  truth  and  law.  precisely  as 
it  is  now,  and  as  it  will  be  forever. 


In  your  practical,  everyday  affairs  you  do  not  connect  me  in- 
timately with  your  conduct  or  misconduct.  You  do  not  sav  that  it 
was  throrgh  God's  interference  that  you  made  an  error  in  addition 
or  subtraction  ;  throuiT^h  me  that  you  ate  somethini^  that  disag:reed 
with  you.  that  you  fori^ot  an  ajipointment  or  that  you  cheated  in 
trade ;  nor  do  you  say  that  it  is  throu.gh  me  that  you  are  courteous 
and  cheerful,  that  you  do  your  day's  work  honestly  or  that  you  pav 
your  debts.  lie  who  would  succeed  in  athletics  does  not  take  a 
course  in  prayer,  or  seek  advice  from  his  minister;  he  takes  exercise 
and  a  course  in  training;.  And  so  one  who  would  be  a  farmer  or  a 
mechanic  seeks  in. ^t ruction  and  trainini^  in  the  vocation  of  his  choice  ; 
and  those  who  would  enji^age  in  intellectual  pursuits  seek  knowledge 
and  experience  to  aid  them  in  their  undertakings.  You  do  not 
assume  that  I  will  plow  your  fields,  meet  your  note  in  bank,  patch 
your  roof,  mend  your  broken  machinery  or  give  you  an  education. 
You  assume  that  you  must  do  these  things  for  yourselves. 

Your  farmers  know^  that  an  ear  of  corn  can  be  grown  only  under 
definite  and  exact  conditions — that  a  certain  seed  must  be  planted 
in  a  certain  quality  of  soil  in  a  certain  climate  at  a  certain  time ;  that 
the  soil  must  have  a  certain  preparation,  and  that  the  plant,  after 
it  develops  from  the  seed,  must  have  certain  cultivation.  1  le  would 
be  foolish  who  would  assume  that  a  seed  of  corn  would  ])roduce  an 
ear  if  planted  in  an  ice  field,  or  in  a  sand-bank,  or  in  the  climate  of 
Labrador,  or  that  an  ear  of  corn  could  be  produced  from  a  seed  of 
cotton.     In  all  of  your  practical  affairs  you  know  but  one  law.  the 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  723 

law  of  cause  and  effect — the  law  that  consequences  are  true  to  their 
antecedents— in  which  you  have  discovered  no  variation. 

In  these  practical  affairs  you  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  me, 
and  I  am  in  harmony  with  you — for  I  am  the  law  of  cause  and  effect. 
From  this  law  you  expect  no  miracles  and  no  favors.  You  do  not 
look  upon  this  law  as  a  great  personality  to  be  propitiated  by  homage, 
worship  or  praise,  or  to  be  moved  by  supplication.  You  know  that 
the  greatest  man  in  the  world,  or  the  wisest  or  the  best — the  com- 
mander, the  philosopher,  the  hero,  the  martyr,  the  saviour — can 
grow  a  stalk  of  corn  from  no  seed  other  than  a  seed  of  corn ;  that 
the  way  of  growing  corn  is  the  same  for  all,  be  they  high  or  low, 
good  or  bad. 

So  far  you  know  me  well.  Would  you  know  me  completely? 
Know  then  that,  as  I  am  in  the  growth  of  corn  and  in  its  fruitage, 
I  am  in  all  other  growth  and  fruitage,  even  in  the  growth  and  fruit- 
age of  a  man ;  that,  as  an  ear  of  corn  can  be  produced  only  by  pur- 
suing right  ways  and  by  avoiding  wrong  ways,  so  also  can  the 
fruitage  of  manhood  be  produced  only  by  pursuing  right  ways  and 
by  avoiding  wrong  ways  ;  that,  as  the  harvest  of  corn  can  be  gained 
through  the  acceptance  of  no  ceremony,  creed  or  system  of  worship, 
so  the  salvation  of  souls  can  be  gained  through  the  acceptance  of  no 
ceremony,  creed  or  system  of  worship. 

Know  that  I  have  but  one  process,  and  that  it  is  generative — 
that  each  cause  is  a  seed  which  begets  its  certain  effect ;  that  every 
human  action  is  a  cause  which  begets  its  certain  fruitage,  even  as 
a  seed  of  corn  begets  its  certain  fruitage  ;  that  your  evil  actions  beget 
evil  fruit,  and  that  your  good  actions  beget  good  fruit.  Know  that 
all  my  judgments,  all  salvation  or  condemnation,  is  included  in  this 
simple  process.  Know  that  I  have  only  one  commandment :  As  a 
man  soweth,  so  shall  he  also  reap. 

If  I  really  have  a  favored  church  or  creed,  if  I  am  impressed  by 
rites  and  ceremonies,  by  prayer  or  worship,  these  facts  would  be 
demonstrable  through  your  statistics.  Your  insurance  corporations 
have  ascertained  with  much  accuracy  the  relative  risks  in  their  poli- 
cies. Have  they  determined  that  there  is  any  real  difference  in  the 
risk  upon  a  Mohammedan  mosque  or  a  Christian  church?  that  there 
is  any  difference  in  the  risk  upon  the  home  of  a  Christian,  a  free- 
thinker or  an  atheist?  that  there  is  any  difference  in  the  life  risk  or 
accident  risk  of  one  who  is  assiduous  in  rites  and  ceremonies,  or  in 
prayer  and  worship,  against  one  who  neglects  these  completely? 

The  teaching  that  my  favor  is  extended  to  any  creed,  church 
or  faith,  that  it  can  be  gained  through  any  rite  or  ceremony,  through 


724  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

prayers  or  worship,  is  confirmed  nowhere  by  your  statistics.  This 
teaching  has  no  foundation  in  truth.  The  home  of  a  believer  is 
subject  to  fires,  the  lif^htnine^.  earthquakes,  storms,  decay,  precisely 
the  same  as  the  home  of  an  unbeliever.  The  home  of  a  j^^ood  man  is 
subject  to  injurious  and  destructive  natural  ap^encies  to  precisely  the 
same  deg^rec  as  the  home  of  vice.  The  morally  good  are  subject  to 
disease,  to  injury  by  accident,  to  death  in  battle,  upon  precisely  the 
same  terms  as  the  morally  bad.  Moral  goodness  is  a  protection 
against  moral  disease,  not  against  physical  ills ;  physical  goodness 
is  a  protection  against  physical  evils,  not  against  moral  disease. 

I  have  only  one  law  for  believers  and  unbelievers :  for  those 
who  worship  me,  for  those  who  misrepresent  me,  for  those  who  deny 
me ;  for  the  good  and  the  vicious,  for  the  saint  and  the  sinner ;  for 
the  noble  and  the  mean — the  law  that  you  shall  reap  as  you  sow. 
The  house  with  a  sound  roof  shall  be  better  protected  from  the  rain 
than  the  house  with  an  unsound  roof,  though  the  first  shelters  the 
guilty,  and  the  second  shelters  the  innocent.  If  a  sinner  builds  a 
house  of  iron  and  dedicates  it  to  the  vilest  purposes,  it  shall  be  better 
protected  from  fire  than  a  house  built  of  wood,  though  the  house  of 
wood  be  dedicated  to  religion  or  charity.  The  dishonest  farmer  who 
plants  wisely  and  cultivates  well  shall  have  better  crops  than  the 
honest  farmer  who  plants  unwisely  and  cultivates  negligently.  The 
sinner  who  takes  good  care  of  his  ])hysical  body,  gives  it  proper 
exercise,  rest  and  food,  shall  have  a  better  body  than  the  saint  who 
neglects  his  body.  The  act  d<Mie  rightly,  whether  the  doer  be  good 
or  bad,  wise  or  foolish,  shall  beget  a  reward  ;  the  act  done  wrongly, 
whether  the  doer  be  good  or  bad,  wise  or  foolish,  shall  beget  a 
penalty. 


You  recognize  that  the  antecedent  three  inulti plied  by  three  be- 
gets the  consequence  Jiitie,  and  can  ])ro(luce  no  other  result,  and  that, 
in  all  other  examples  of  nnilliplicalion,  the  consequence  must  be 
true  to  its  antecedent.  You  know  consequently  that  the  multiplica- 
tion table  is  true  in  itself,  and  that  it  requires  no  divine  supervision 
back  of  it  to  keep  it  true.  And  so  in  all  of  your  other  experiences, 
from  the  simplest  to  the  most  complex,  you  should  know  that  con- 
sequences are  true  to  their  antecedents,  that  eflFects  are  true  to  their 
causes,  without  divine  supervision.  Know,  then,  that  the  law  that 
consequences  are  true  to  their  antecedents  is  the  fundamental  fact 
of  the  universe ;  that  it  is  the  regulator  and  governor  of  the  universe ; 
that  it  is  the  one  law  to  which  man,  air,  water,  earth,  stars,  suns,  all 


WHAT  IS  GOD?  725 

things,  are  ceaselessly  subject;  that  there  is  nothing  back  of  it;  that 
it  requires  no  regulation  or  supervision,  being  perfect  in  itself ;  that 
there  is  no  deity  apart  from  or  superior  to  this  supreme  law  of  com- 
pensation. 

Know  that  there  is  only  one  law  of  your  being,  that  there  is  only 
one  law  of  nature.  Your  wisest  men  have  discovered  no  fact  that 
is  not  subject  to  the  supreme  law  that  consequences  are  true  to  their 
antecedents.  You  have  no  truth,  no  science,  that  is  not  grounded  in 
this  law.  Cease  to  search  for  the  key  to  the  mystery  of  nature  in 
riddles,  subtleties  and  complexities.  You  shall  find  this  key  in  the 
plain  and  simple  fact,  known  to  all  men  in  exact  proportion  to  their 
knowledge — for  there  is  no  knowledge  disconnected  from  this  one 
truth — that  consequences  are  true  to  their  antecedents. 

Know  that  the  consequences  of  your  every  act  and  thought  are 
registered  instantly  in  your  character.  This  day,  this  hour,  this 
moment,  is  your  time  of  judgment.  He  v.'ho  deceives,  betrays,  kills — 
he  who  entertains  malice,  treachery  or  other  vileness,  secretly  in  his 
heart — takes  the  penalty  instantly  in  the  debasement  of  his  char- 
acter. And  so,  also,  for  every  good  thought  or  act,  be  it  open  or 
secret,  he  shall  receive  an  instant  reward  in  the  improvement  of  his 
character. 

Every  night  as  you  lie  down  to  sleep  you  are  a  little  better  or 
a  little  worse,  a  little  richer  or  a  little  poorer,  than  you  were  in  the 
morning.  You  have  nothing  substantial,  nothing  that  is  truly  your 
own,  but  your  character.  You  shall  lose  your  money  and  your  prop- 
erty ;  your  home  shall  be  your  home  no  longer ;  the  scenes  which 
know  you  now  shall  know  you  no  more ;  your  flesh  shall  be  food  for 
worms ;  the  earth  upon  which  you  tread  shall  be  cinders  and  cosmic 
dust.  Your  character  alone  shall  stay  with  you,  surviving-  all  wreck- 
age, decay  and  death ;  your  character  is  you ;  it  shall  be  you  forever. 
Your  character  is  the  perfect  register  of  your  progress  or  of  your 
degradation,  of  your  victory  or  of  your  defeat ;  it  shall  be  your 
glory  or  your  shame,  your  blessing  or  your  curse,  your  heaven  or 
your  hell. 


I  am  omnipotent  and  omnipresent  in  the  sense  only  that  the  su- 
preme law  of  compensation  is  omnipotent  and  omnipresent.  I  have 
no  power  of  abdication ;  I  have  no  power  to  change  the  cosmic  order. 
I  am  not  a  man ;  I  am  not  a  higher  or  glorified  man.  I  have  no 
human  motives,  feelings  or  passions  ;  I  have  no  pity,  mercy,  love  or 
hate ;  I  bear  no  malice,  receive  no  insults,  give  no  favors.     I  give 


726  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

you  one  thing  only,  and  that  is  compensation.    I  am  the  law,  single, 
supreme,  changeless  and  eternal. 

I  have  made  no  revelation  to  one  man  that  is  not  open  to  all 
men ;  I  have  revealed  nothing  in  one  time  that  is  not  revealed  in  all 
time.  My  revelation  is  an  open  book ;  it  is  in  every  seed,  every 
growth,  every  ripening,  every  decomi)osition- — in  every  cause,  in 
every  effect.  Recognize  the  one  law  of  all  life — that  consequences 
are  true  to  their  antecedents — and  you  shall  comprehend  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  system  of  nature,  its  unity,  its  beauty,  its  majesty. 
You  shall  no  longer  fear  gods  or  devils  ;  you  shall  be  happier  and 
better  men  and  women  through  your  acceptance  of  the  truth  that 
the  law  of  perfect  compensation  rules  the  world  ;  you  shall  com- 
prehend the  rightness  of  the  cosmic  order,  and  the  means  of  its 
adjustment;  you  shall  solve  the  mystery  which  you  call  God! 


ST.  CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDmA.* 

[concluded.] 

The  notion  that  Christ  as  the  \*iceroy  of  God  on  earth  had  a 
bride  constantly  remained  as  much  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as 
the  idea  of  the  anti-Christ.  The  world  was  regarded  as  divided 
into  two  camps,  the  kingdom  of  God  governed  by  Christ,  identified 
with  the  Church  under  the  leadership  of  the  Pope,  and  the  empire 
of  unbelief  which  composed  the  entire  pagan  world  and  also  the 
heretics  of  Christianity.  In  the  mystic  literature  these  ideas  turn 
up  again  and  again,  and  during  the  Middle  Ages  the  bride  of  Christ 
is  usually  thought  to  be  the  Church,  while  among  Protestants  it  is 
generally  the  soul.  As  an  instance  we  will  quote  a  passage  from 
Hildegard  of  Bingen,  an  abbess  and  a  prophetess  who  saw  visions 
quite  similar  to  those  of  St.  John  the  Divine  in  the  Revelations. 
She  herself  was  almost  illiterate,  but  her  adviser,  presumably  her 
father  confessor,  reduced  her  prophecies  to  an  approximately  correct 
Latin  and  had  them  published. 

Pope  Eugene  lY  happened  to  visit  in  1147-48  the  Abbot  of 
Treves.  There  he  met  Henry,  Archbishop  of  Mentz  who  through 
Kuno,  the  Abbot  of  Disibodenberg  had  become  deeply  impressed 
with  the  spiritual  profundity  and  genuineness  of  Hildegard's  visions, 
and  when  a  report  of  them  was  submitted  to  the  Council  of  Treves, 
the  Pope,  urged  by  the  Abbot  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  who  happened 
to  be  present,  readily  acknowledged  the  divine  origin  of  Hildegard's 
revelations  and  encouraged  her  in  a  personal  letter  to  continue  in 
her  writings. f 

We  quote  a  passage  from  one  of  the  prophecies  recorded  in  the 
book  Schias  ascribed  to  Hildegard.  the  substance  of  which  is  re- 

*  This  article  was  begun  in  the  November  number  and  was  preceded  by 
another  on  the  same  subject  entitled  "The  Bride  of  Christ,"  which  appeared  in 
August. 

t  For  further  details  see  Wilb.ehn  Preger's  Gcschichfc  dcr  dcutschcn 
Mystik,  pp.  2,2)  f- 


728  Till-:  Ol'KX    COURT. 

pcatedly  expressed  in  similar  words,  and  which  makes  reference  to 
the  Antichrist  as  well  as  the  bride  of  Christ  which  here  symbolizes 
the  Church : 

■'!  perceived  a  voice  from  heaven  which  s])()ke  to  me:  Althoup;h 
everything;  on  earth  tends  toward  the  end.  yet  the  bride  of  iny  sun 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  is  hard  i)ressed  in  her  children  as  well 
as  she  herself  by  the  niessenj^ers  of  the  Son  of  Perdition  as  well  as 
by  himself,  shall  by  no  means  be  annihilated  however  much  she  may 
be  hard  pressed.  On  the  contrary  she  will  rise  at  the  end  of  time 
stronger  and  more  vigorous,  and  more  beautiful,  and  glorious,  so 
that  she  will  meet  the  embraces  of  her  Loved  One  in  a  more  graceful 
and  lovely  manner,  and  it  is  this  that  the  vision  which  thou  seest 
indicates  in  a  mystical  way." — (Quoted  from  Preger,  loc.  cit.,  p.  34.) 

The  sensualism  of  Hildegard's  prophecy  is  quite  in  keeping 
with  the  hyperspirituality  in  which  hysterical  minds  of  her  type  love 
10  indulge. 

The  idea  that  the  Church  was  the  bride  of  Christ  has  continued 
down  to  modern  times,  and  has  been  cultivated  even  among  Prot- 
estants, who  have  been  most  reluctant  to  accept  the  legend  of  St. 
Catharine,  because  the  very  idea  of  attributing  a  personal  bride  to 
Christ  seems  to  give  them  a  shudder,  as  if  it  were  blasjihemy,  for  it 
savors  too  much  of  mediaeval  legends,  saintworship,  and  paganism. 
Yet  the  belief  in  a  symbolical  bride  is  still  retained  as  is  evidenced 
by  many  chorals  sung  even  to-day  which  celebrate  the  marriage  of 
the  Lamb,  or  the  marriage  of  the  King,  the  bride  being  mostly  the 
soul,  or  the  elect,  represented  by  the  wise  virgins.  We  quote  the 
follow'ing  lines : 

"The   Bridcgrooni    is   advancing 
Each  lionr  lie  draws   more  nigh. 
Up!  Watch  and  pray,  nor  slimil)er 
At  midnight  comes  tlie  cry. 

"The  watchers  on  the  mountain 
Proclaim  the  bridegroom  near. 
Go,  meet  him  as  he  cometh 
With    hallehijahs    clear." 

In  another  choral   we  read: 

"Jerusalem  tlie  holy 
To  purity  restored ; 
Meek  bride,  all  fair  antl  lowly. 
Go  forth  tu  meet  tliv  Lord. 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA.  729 

"With  love  and  wonder  smitten 
And  bowed  in  guileless   shame. 
Upon   thy  heart   be   written 
The  new  mysterious  name." 

And  a  third  clmrchsong  of  the  same  character  begins  with  tliis 
stanza : 

"The   marriage   feast   is   ready, 
The  marriage  of  the  lamb. 
He  calls  the  faithful  children 
Of  faithful   Abraham. 

"Now  from  the  golden  portals 
The    sounds   of   triumph    ring; 
The   triumph   of  the   Victor, 
The   marriage  of  the   King." 

The  church  hymns  here  quoted  are  by  no  means  all  the  songs 
of  this  character.  There  are  many  more  that  belong  to  the  same 
class,  for  instance:  "Behold  the  Bride-groom  Cometh,"  beginning 
"Our  lamps  are  triinmed  and  burning"  ;  and  "The  Lord  is  coining  by 
and  by,"  with  the  refrain,  "Will  you  be  ready  when  the  Bridegroom 
comes?"  We  mention  further,  "Wake,  awake,  the  night  is  flying," 
and  there  are  several  others  more. 

Protestantism  has  most  assuredly  gone  to  the  extreme  in  re- 
jecting romantic  similes  and  fantastic  notions,  yet  the  underlying 
idea  is  the  same  as  in  pre-Christian  festivals  and,  if  we  discovered  in 
an  ancient  cuneiform  inscription  the  two  lines : 

"The  triumph  of  the  Victor, 
The   marriage   of  the   King!" 

our  Assyriologists  would  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  words  have 
reference  to  Bel  IMarduk,  who  after  his  victory  over  the  dragon 
Tiamat  enters  in  triumphal  parade  to  celebrate  his  marriage  with 
Istar  Tsarpanitu.* 

The  legend  which  makes  Catharine  the  bride  of  Christ  has  been 
much  neglected  since  the  rise  of  Protestantism,  which  had  more 
influence  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  than  is  commonly  con- 
ceded. There  are  innumerable  pictures  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century  representing  the  mystic  marriage, 
but  the  Reformation  seems  to  have  acted  as  a  blight  on  the  romanti- 
cism of  the  legend.  Even  Roman  Catholic  artists  had  become  too 
sober,  we  might  say,  too  prosaic,  and  perhaps  too  timid,  to  revert 
to  this  formerly  so  very  popular  subject. 

*  Schrader,  Keilinscliriften  und  das  Altc  Testament,  pp.  371  and  394. 


730 


THE   OPEN    COURT. 


The  London  National  Gallery  contains  at  least  six  St.  Catha- 
rines, one  aniono^  them  (No.  168)  is  the  famous  St.  Catharine  of 
-Alexandria  by  Raphael.     .Another  (No.  249)  is  by  Lorenzo  da  San 


SI.     L.MilAKl.M::. 

By  Raphael,  1483-1520.     In  the  National  Gallery  at  London. 

Severino,  a  mystic  marriaj^^e  of  St.  Catharine  of  Siena,  to  whom 
Cas  we  have  seen  in  our  previous  article  on  "Tin-  Piride  of  Christ"*) 
*  The  Open  Court,  Aug.,  1907,  p.  461. 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


731 


on  account  of  the  sameness  of  the  name  the  same  mystic  relation 
is  attributed.  The  "Two  Catharines"  by  Ambrogio  Borgognonef 
is  also  one  of  the  National  Gallery  collection   (No.  298). 

St.  Catharine  of  Siena  was  a  most  striking-  figure  in  the  Middle 
Ages  and  did  not  fail  to  impress  the  people  with  her  extraordinary 
powers  as  a  saint.  She  lived  1347- 1380,  at  the  time  when  the  idea 
of  the  mystic  marriage  had  already  taken  deep  root  in  the  hearts  of 
the  faithful.  Being  the  daughter  of  a  poor  dyer  she  rose  from  the 
humblest  surroundings.  As  early  as  in  her  thirteenth  year  she 
joined  the  Dominican  order  in  which  solely  because  of  her  sanctity 


By  Pinturicchio,  1454-1513. 
National  Gallery,  London. 

and  in  spite  of  her  lack  of  culture  she  took  a  leading  position  and 
played  a  prominent  part  even  in  the  historical  events  of  the  age. 
Popular  belief  naturally  fastened  upon  her  all  the  honors  of  her 
namesake  of  Alexandria,  and  her  mystic  marriage  has  been  pictured 
in  her  home,  the  Dominican  convent  at  Siena,  and  by  Umbrian 
painters. 

The  Pall  Mall  Magazine  in  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "Half 
Holidays  at  the  National  Gallery."  in  an  attempt  to  make  the  subject 

t  Ibid.,  p.  462. 


7Z^ 


THE  OPEN   COURT, 


inlclli{,:^ible   to   the   inudcni    I'injtcstant    spirit,    makes   tlic    following 
comment  upon  San  Severino's  picture: 

"The  mystic  marriage  wliich  forms  the  subject  of  this  picture, 
where  the  infant  Christ  is  placing  the  ring  on  her  finger,  suggests 
the  secret  of  her  power.  Once  when  she  was  fasting  and  praying, 
Christ  himself  api)eare(l  to  her.  she  said,  and  gave  her  his  heart. 
For  love  was  the  keynote  of  her  religon.  and  the  mainspring  of  her 
life.  In  no  merely  figurative  sense  did  she  regard  herself  as  the 
spouse  of  Christ,  but  dwelt  upon  the  bliss,  beyond  all  mortal  happi- 
ness, which  she  enjoyed  in  communion  with  her  Lord.  Tiie  world 
has  not  lost  its  ladies  of  the  race  of  St.  Catharine,  beautiful  and 


By  Carlo  Crivelli,*    1430-1493. 
In  the  National  Gallery,   London. 


By  an  unknown  artist  of  the 
Uniijrian  School.  National  Gal- 
lery, London. 


pure  and  holy,  who  live  lives  of  saintly  mercy  in  the  power  of  human 
.'111(1  heavenly  love." 

It  stands  to  reason  that  the  rivalry  of  the  two  Catharines  led 
to  acrimonious  disputes  which  in  those  days  were  taken  more 
seriously  than  the  later  horn  generation  of  a  scientific  age  can  ap- 
preciate. St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria  being  the  older  one  had  a 
prior  and  a  better  claim  and  could  no  longer  be  ousted   from  her 

*  A  copy  of  this  picture  in  the  church  of  St.  Giobbe  at  Venice  bears  the 
name  Previtali,  which,  considering  the  fact  that  tl\ey  are  apparently  made  by 
the  same  hand,  is  strong  evidence  that  the  artist  worked  under  two  names. 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


733 


eminent  position,  so  a  compromise  was  made  in  which  the  two 
Catharines  were  regarded  as  being  both  genuine  brides  of  Christ, 
yet  at  the  same  time  it  was  understood  that  ecclesiastical  authority 
would  henceforth  tolerate  no  other  saints  to  aspire  for  the  same 
honor. 


A  painting  by  Pinturicchio  (also  in  the  National  Gallery)  shows 
the  donor  kneeling  with  folded  hands  before  our  saint  who  listens 
to  his  prayer  with  a  truly  royal  grace. 

Two  more  pictures  of  St.  Catharine  in  the  National  Gallery  of 


734 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


London  are  the  one  by  Carlo  Crivello,  the  other  by  an  unknown 
master  of  the  Umbrian  school. 


ST.    CATHARINE. 
Detail  from  the  above. 
Considering   the   fact   that   in    Northern   Germany   and    in   the 
Netherlands  the  Reformation  spread  with  great  rapidity  in  the  first 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


7.35 


half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  that  with  it  every  trace  of  a 
behef  in  a  mystic  marriage  was  thoroughly  wiped  out  together 
with  all  saint-veneration  or  reverence  for  legendary  lore,  we  arc 
astonished  to  find  a  great  number  of  Catharine  pictures  in  these  very 
countries. 


MADONNA  AND   CHILD  TOGETHER   WITH   FEMALE  SAINTS  AND  DONOR  S 

FAMILY. 
Artist  known  as  "Master  of  the  Life  of  Mary." 

We  call  special  attention  to  a  picture  painted  by  an  artist  called 
Meister  der  heiligen  Sippc  (i.  e.,  the  master  of  the  holy  family)  who 
represents  the  mystic  marriage  like  a  German  family  scene  in  which 
the  bride  is  a  typical  German  noblewoman  of  the  time,  well  educated, 


7Z^ 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


with  ail  expression  of  simple-hearted  devotion,  and  dressed  with 
painstaking  elegance. 

Another  artist,  known  as  the  Master  of  the  Life  of  Mary, 
places  the  scene  of  the  mystic  marriage  into  a  gracefully  blossoming 
arbor,  the  foliage  of  which  is  so  ideally  sparse  as  to  indicate  very 
early  springtime.  Here  too  the  features  of  all  the  saints  are  gen- 
uinely Teutonic,  exhibiting  the  self-satisfied  complacency  of  wealthy 
patricians,  while  the  modt-st  <lonors  with  tlu-ir  austere  faces  are 
crowded  into  the  corners. 


V  ;(f^',\ 

r^a 

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■  *.'      ■■      ■  /.^ 

W 

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IH^^ 

ML' 

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^tl>il 

.*  /" 

*■  .  ^f^- 

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Ir^^i, 

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J 

THE  CI.ORIFlCA'llOX   Ol"  THE  VIRGIN. 
Artist  unknown.     In  tliL-  hospital  at  Cues. 


In  a  painting  called  "'\'W-  ( llorification  of  the  X'irgin"  an  tui- 
known  master  of  the  (Jerman  scliO()r])resents  us  with  a  general  view 
of  the  Christian  world-conception  of  his  age.  In  the  heavens  appears 
the  Trinity.  In  the  center  God  the  Son  is  represented  as  the  Christ- 
child  in  the  arms  of  his  mother,  while  on  her  right  is  God  the  Father 
and  on  her  left  the  Holy  Ghost.  Below  on  earth  the  male  saints 
are  headed  by  John  the  Baptist,  while  St.  Catharine  takes  the  leader- 
ship of  the  female  saints. 


ST.  CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


737 


In  further  evidence  of  the  extraordinary  popularity  of  St.  Cath- 
arine in  Germany  we  reproduce  two  pictures  of  Master  Wilhelm, 
who  may  have  used  the  same  model  for  both,  showing  here  once 
in  profile  and  then  full  face.  Yet  we  shall  find  that  all  his  saints 
possess  a  great  family  likeness  in  that  they  possess  extremely  small 


MADONNA  AND  SAINTS. 
By  "Master  Wilhelm."     In  the  Berlin  Museum. 

hands  and  unusually  large  foreheads.  Of  a  similar  type,  though 
not  quite  so  pronounced,  are  the  St.  Catharines  by  Stephen  Lochner 
and  by  the  Master  of  the  Life  of  Mary,  while  an  unknown  artist  of 
the  Westphalian  school  endows  his  St.  Catharine  with  hands  of 
normal  size. 


7i^ 


Till-:   Ol'liN    COUKT, 


The  life  of  the  saint  has  bcccn  made  the  subject  of  careful 
study  especially  in  Eno^land.  where  Mrs.  Jameson*  and  Dr.  Einenkel 
liave  treated  the  subject  uith  q^reat  ability.  Both  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  to  look  u])on  jlypatia  as  the  prototype  of  St.  Catharine's 


^P^#^V9 

mlim 

liff-fT^ 

By ',  ^ 

IP 

^  ■ 

V^iM 

Ik  ' 

Mrvrl 

wK^^Er^   V^H^^H- 

VvWf<^.^    1  vim 

ST.    CATIIARIXF.. 


By  "Master  Williclm."  Detail 
from  the  Madonna  of  the  Bean 
Blossom. 


By  Jan  Van  Eyck,  1386- 1440. 
Kgl.  Gemaldegalcrie,  Dresden. 


martyrdom.  The  latter  deems  the  similarities  of  the  life  of  the 
saint  and  her  pagan  parallel  exceedingly  striking.  He  says  (pp. 
xi-xii)  : 

*  Sacred  atid  Legendary  Art,  II,  87-88. 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


7i') 


"Time,  place  and  background  exactly  agree.  Both  ladies  are 
of  high  and  noble  origin ;  both  deepl>',  and  from  their  childhood,  im- 
bued in  the  sciences  of  paganism  ;  both  reasoning  with  philosophers, 


ST.    CATHARINE. 


By  an  artist  of  the  "Westphalian 
School."      In   the    Wallraf-Richartz 

Museum  at  Cologne. 


Artist  known  as  "Master  of  the  Life 
of  Mar}-."  In  the  Wallraf  -  Richartz 
Museum  at  Cologne. 


and,  indeed,  philosophers  themselves  ;  both  suffering  and  dying  for 
their  belief.  Here,  too,  in  the  religious  story  as  in  Egyptian  his- 
tory,  we  have  a   representative   of  the   worldly  power  playing  an 


740 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


SAINTS  CATHARINE,  HUBERT,  AND  QUIRINUS. 
By  Stephen  Lochner  in  the  Munich  Gallery. 


ST.  CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


741 


important  part  in  the  tragedy,  he  being  in  reality  the  only  slayer 
of  the  virgin.  If  we  come  to  speak  of  the  alterations  which  the 
plain  historical  facts  have  undergone,  there  is  indeed  not  one  of 
them  which  might  not  easily  be  accounted  for,  either  by  the  change 
of  religion  or  by  the  changes  of  times." 


In  the  oldest  report  of  the  legends,  the  Menologium  Basilianum, 
we  read  that  "seeing  the  slaughter  of  animals,  she  was  so  greatly 
moved  that  she  went  to  King  Maximus."  This  is  a  trace  left  of  a 
religious  movement  against  bloody  sacrifices.  Though  the  Chris- 
tians had  adopted  the  argument  and  used  it  against  the  pagan  mode 


742 


THE  OPEN    COURT. 


of  worship,  tliev  did  not  make  it  as  i)roniinciit  as  it  a|)pears  here. 
For  the  God  of  the  Christians  was  also  the  God  of  the  Jews,  and  as 
such   he   liad   demanded   bl<i(i<l\    sacrifices   as   nnuh   as   anv   of   thi' 


MADONNA   AND   CHILD,    WITH    SAl.NIS    I;AK1!ARA   AND   CATHARINE. 

By  Bernardino  Luini,  1470-1535.  St.  Catharine  may  be  recog- 
nized by  tlie  wheel  whicli  slie  wears  as  an  ornament  while  the 
emblem  of  St.  Barbara  is  the  tower  with  three  windows. 

pagan  gods.     In  fact,  if  we  can  trust  historical  reports,  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem  must  have  reeked  with  the  blood  of  slaughtered  bul- 


ST.   CATHARINE  OF  ALEXANDRIA. 


743 


locks  and  other  cattle  which  the  pious  Jews  in  their  zealous  devotion 
offered  in  uncounted  numbers. 

There  were  Oriental  philosophers  in  Alexandria  who  had  been 
under  Jaina  and  Buddhist  influences  and  denied  the  rig-hteousness 
of  the  ceremonial  shedding  of  blood.  Rut  we  need  not  even  go  so 
far  as  distant  India  to  explain  the  feeling  that  revolted  against 
bloody  sacrifice.  The  Neoplatonists  had  given  frequent  utterance 
to  the  same  sentiment,  and  the  great  religious  leader,  Apollonius  of 
Tyana*  left  no  opportunity  unimproved  to  preach  against  the  impiety 
of  bloody  sacrifice. 


THE   VIRGIN    ENTHRONED. 

Sienese  of  late  fifteenth  century.   The  Virgin  is  attended  by  saints 
among  whom  is  St.  Catharine. 


We  cannot  doubt  that  whatever  be  the  historical  source  of  the 
St.  Catharine  legend  we  have  here  tradition  which  is  ultimately  based 
upon  a  myth  of  a  solar  bride.  It  is  certainly  not  a  mere  accident 
that  the  emblem  of  St.  Catharine  is  the  wheel  which  from  time 
immemorial  has  been  the  symbol  of  the  sun,  and  we  must  remember 
that  the  ancient  punishment  of  an  execution  on  the  wheel  was  origi- 
nally meant  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  sun-god. 

*  See  "Apollonius  of  Tyana,"  by  T.  Whittaker,  Monist,  XIII,  i6i. 


744  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Does  Fra  Ang^elico  perhaps  follow  an  ancient  tradition  when  he 
represents  St.  Catharine  clothed  in  a  garment  covered  with  the  stars 
of  the  heavens?  The  story  of  the  bride  of  Christ  certainly  testifies 
to  the  tenacity  of  religious  ideas,  and  perhaps  also  to  the  truth  that 
even  in  different  religions,  pagan  as  well  as  Christian,  the  same  ideas 
and  the  same  allegories  turn  up  again  and  again,  as  if  they  were  the 
permanent  element  in  all  historical  changes. 


GOETHE'S  SOUL  CONCEPTION. 

BY    THE    EDITOR. 

THE  present  number  of  The  Open  Court  contains  an  article 
"What  is  God?"  by  Orlando  J.  Smith,  and  I  heartily  recommend 
to  our  readers  a  careful  consideration  of  the  ideas  there  presented. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  Mr.  Smith's  God-conception  is  the  same 
as  my  own.  In  fact  he  uses  quite  similar  arguments,  in  one  case 
the  very  same  in  almost  the  same  language  as  I  do  myself ; — I  refer 
to  the  one  based  upon  the  eternality  of  such  truth  as  is  represented 
by  the  multiplication  table. 

Our  differences  begin  when  he  discusses  the  nature  and  im- 
mortality of  the  soul.  To  him  the  soul  is  a  monad,  a  unit,  a  certain 
something  which  migrates  from  one  personality  to  another  and  is 
reincarnated  again  and  again.  This  view  is  untenable  from  my 
conception  of  things  spiritual,  because  spiritual  things  are  not  enti- 
ties. They  are  not  substantial,  and  they  can  never  assume  the  forms 
of  monads.  If  the  soul  is  not  a  substantial  entity  that  originates ; 
if  it  is  form  and  not  matter  or  energy,  its  continuance  can  not  depend 
upon  the  identity  of  a  substance  of  any  kind  bvit  must  be  a  preser- 
vation of  form.  This  in  fact  is  the  real  state  of  things,  for  a  pres- 
ervation of  form  actually  takes  place  in  our  bodily  constitution. 
There  is  a  preservation  of  our  bodily  appearance  under  constant  slow 
modifications  ;  we  retain  the  structure  of  our  sense  organs,  and  espe- 
cially of  our  memory.  The  continuity  of  our  life  is  simply  due  to  the 
preservation  of  form  in  the  constant  flux  of  the  vital  functions  which 
constitute  life.  The  changes,  growth,  and  all  the  various  fluctua- 
tions of  our  body  account  most  easily  for  those  of  our  consciousness. 

The  fundamental  problem  of  psychology  has  found  its  classical 
formulation  in  the  contrast  that  obtains  between  Brahmanism  and 
Buddhism,  the  former  set  forth  in  the  philosophy  of  both  the 
Vedanta  and  the  Upanishads,  and  the  latter  in  the  Questions  of  King 
Milinda  and  other  Buddhist  books.    Brahmanism  asserts.  Buddhism 


746  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

denies  the  separate  existence  of  a  soul  entity,  called  atman,  i.  e.. 
"self," — an  immutable  eternal  self.  And  if  the  Vedanta  view  i- 
taken  seriously,  there  is  no  middle  g^round.  Either  the  soul  is  or 
is  not  a  concrete  substantial  thin.c:.  Tcrtiion  iioii  dotitr.  There  is 
but  the  one  alternative  of  yea  or  nay.  and  we  must  accept  either 
horn  of  the  dilemma.  The  only  way  to  reconcile  the  two  views 
would  be  by  takins^^  the  \'e(lanta  view  as  a  poetical  allej^^orv  invented 
for  the  purpose  of  drivin.q-  home  to  the  ])eople  the  truth  of  the 
actuality  and  importance  of  the  soul.' 

The  assumption  of  a  soul-entity  not  only  conflicts  with  facts 
that  are  well  established  by  science  but  also  leads  into  innumerable 
complications.  For  these  reasons  we  reject  the  Vedanta  view  of 
an  atman,  and  side  with  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of  the  anatman,  the 
non-existence  of  a  special  self.  Nevertheless  the  soul  remains  as 
real  as  ever,  and  the  rules  of  morality  g-ain  rather  than  lose  in  sig- 
nificance ;  for  we  must  insist  that  the  actions  of  man  are  even  more 
important  if  they  mould  the  soul,  than  if  we  assume  it  to  be  an  im- 
mutable entity. 

Having  repeatedly  discussed  the  problem  of  the  soul,  both  in 
articles  and  books,  (for  instance  The  Soul  of  Man  and  Whence  and 
Whither),  we  will  not  enter  here  into  the  subject  again,  but  we  w^ill 
say  that  Mr.  Orlando  J.  Smith's  view  of  the  soul  is  of  great  interest 
to  us,  on  account  of  the  similarity  which  it  bears  to  Goethe's  view. 

Goethe  had  a  dislike  for  abstract  considerations.  He  was  too 
much  of  a  poet  and  liked  to  think  even  spiritual  truths  in  such  a  way 
as  to  let  them  assume  a  definite  and  concrete  shape.  He  was  too 
human  not  to  prefer  the  scnse-j^erceptible  image  which  is  palpable, 
to  the  formula  which  is  general  and  devoid  of  all  tangible  elements, 
and  so  if  certain  views  became  too  abstract  for  him  he  clothed  them 
in  poetical  allegories. 

As  to  his  view  of  the  nature  of  the  soul  Goethe  was  careful  not 
to  commit  himself  definitely  in  his  writings,  but  in  conversation  he 
now  and  then  uttered  ideas  which  indicate  that  his  views  of  re- 
incarnation resembled  strongly  the  Vedanta  view  and  also  the  theory 
here  presented  by  Mr.  Orlando  Smith. 

The  main  tenets  of  immortality,  and  even  of  reincarnation,  are 
repeatedly  expressed  in  Goethe's  own  writings  and  in  his  letters. 
We  have  collected  the  pertinent  evidences  in  an  article  on  the  subject 

'The  subject  has  been  treated  in  an  article  "Brahmanisni  and  Buddhism, 
or  the  Religion  of  Postulates  and  the  Religion  of  Facts"  in  The  Open  Court, 
Vol.  X,  p.  4851  ff. 


GOETHE  S   SOUL   CONCEPTION.  747 

which  has  appeared  in  The  Open  Court  (Vol.  XX,  p.  367  ff.)  under 
the  title  "Goethe's  \''iew  of  Immortality." 

In  his  writings  Goethe  abstained  from  committing  himself  to 
the  belief  in  a  soul-entity,  and  his  views  are  stated  in  such  general 
terms  that  they  might  suit  either  the  Buddhists  or  the  Vedantists, 
but  in  his  conversations  he  went  further,  taking  decidedly  the 
Brahman  view,  and  we  will  here  present  those  additional  expressions 
of  his  thought  which  he  mentions  privately  to  Eckermann  and  Falk. 

Goethe  said  to  Eckermann  on  September  i,  1829: 

"I  do  not  doubt  our  continuance,  for  nature  can  not  do  without 
continuity  ;  but  we  are  not  all  immortal  in  the  same  way,  and  in 
order  to  manifest  himself  as  a  great  entelechy,  a  man  must  first  be 
one." 

Here  Goethe  falls  back  upon  a  technical  term  of  Aristotle  which 
denotes  that  something  which  makes  things  actual.  The  word 
"entelechy"  means  the  cjuality  of  having  become  complete,  of  being 
perfected,  or  having  attained  its  purpose.-  and  is  used  in  contrast 
to  "dynamis,"^  i.  e.,  potential  existence,  which  is  the  idea  of  a  thing, 
its  possibility,  its  mere  potentiality.  Accordingly,  entelechy  denotes 
that  principle  or  factor  which  renders  things  actual. 

The  idea  of  an  entelechy  as  a  separate  being  is  decidedly  meta- 
physical and,  if  taken  seriously,  would  lead  to  dualism.  There  is 
not  reality  and  a  principle  that  makes  reality  real.  There  is  not 
motion,  and  an  agent  of  motion,  a  being  that  makes  motion  move. 
There  is  not  actuality  and  a  thing  that  makes  actuality  act.  The 
actuality  of  things  and  also  of  living  beings  is  their  existence  itself 
and  living  beings  (i.  e.,  organisms)  originate  in  a  slow  process  of 
evolution  by  a  combination  of  their  parts,  or  as  we  had  better  call 
it  by  organization.  We  may  regard  them  as  actualizations  of  eternal 
types,  but  in  that  case  we  can  only  mean  their  potential  existence, 
which  is  the  possibility  of  their  special  combinations,  in  the  same 
sense  as  mathematical  truths  are  eternal  and  exist  even  before  any 
mathematician  has  discovered  and  actualized  them. 

Goethe  apparently  takes  the  word  in  the  sense  of  an  entity.  On 
March  2,  1830,  we  find  the  term  "entelechy"  mentioned  again  in 
another  slightly  different  connection.  There  he  is  reported  as  hav- 
ing said: 

'''  irrc/.txiia  is  derived  from  tm'/j'/c.  "perfect",  and  tjfn',  "  to  have".  The  ad- 
jective iiTt/w  means  also  "powerful,  mighty,  commanding";  and  the  verb  trrfA- 
/-tir,  from  which  it  is  derived,  "to  enjoin,  to  command".  The  root  of  the  latter  - 
the  same  as  that  of  the  noun  ri'/.oc.  "end",  "purpose". 

^  iK'vauic.  potentiality. 


748  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

"The  persistence  of  the  individual  and  the  fact  that  man  rejects 
what  does  not  agree  with  him,  are  proofs  to  me  that  such  a  thing  as  an 
entelechy  exists.  Leibnitz  cherished  similar  ideas  concerning  such 
independent  entities,  only  that  what  we  call  'entelechy'  he  called 
'monads.'  " 

Almost  seventeen  years  prior  to  these  conversations  with  Ecker- 
mann  Goethe  used  the  term  "monad"  in  a  talk  with  Falk  who  accom- 
panied him  on  his  return  from  the  funeral  of  Wieland.  With  ref- 
erence to  the  impossibility  that  Wieland's  soul  could  have  been  an- 
nihilated, Goethe  said : 

"There  can  be  no  thought  of  an  annihilation  in  nature  of  such 
high  psychic  powers,  nor  under  any  conditions,  for  she  is  not  waste- 
ful of  her  capital.  Wieland's  soul  is  by  nature  a  treasure,  a  real 
gem.  Moreover,  during  the  whole  of  his  long  life  he  did  not  use 
up  these  spiritual  and  beautiful  talents,  but  increased  them 

"A  personal  continuance  of  our  soul  after  death  by  no  means 
conflicts  with  the  observations  which  I  have  made  for  many  years 
concerning  the  constitution  of  our  own  beings  and  all  those  in 
nature.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  be  an  outcome  of  them  and 
finds  in  them  new  confirmation. 

"How  much  or  how  little  of  a  personality  deserves  to  be  pre- 
served, is  another  question,  and  an  affair  which  we  must  leave  to 
God.  At  present  I  will  only  say  this:  I  assume  different  classes 
and  degrees  of  ultimate  aboriginal  elements  of  all  beings  which  are, 
as  it  were,  the  initial  points  of  all  phenomena  in  nature.  I  might 
call  them  souls  because  from  them  the  animation  of  the  whole  pro- 
ceeds. Perhaps  I  had  better  call  them  monads.  Let  me  retain  this 
term  of  Leibnitz,  because  it  expresses  the  simplicity  of  these  simplest 
beings  and  there  might  be  no  better  name.  Some  of  these  monads 
or  initial  points,  experience  teaches,  are  so  small  and  so  insignificant 
that  they  are  fit  only  for  a  subordinate  service  and  existence.  Others 
however  are  quite  strong  and  powerful 

"All  monads  are  by  nature  so  indestructible  that  they  can  not 
stop  or  lose  their  activity  at  the  moment  of  dissolution,  but  must 
continue  it  in  the  very  same  moment.  Thus  they  only  part  from 
their  old  relations  in  order  to  enter  at  once  into  new  ones.  In  this 
change  all  depends  on  the  power  of  intention  which  resides  in  this 
or  that  monad. 

"Each  monad  proceeds  to  whithersoever  it  belongs,  into  the 
.water,  into  the  air,  into  the  earth,  into  the  fire,  into  the  stars,  yea 
the  secret  tendency  which  conducts  it  thither,  contains  at  the  same 


GOETHE  S   SOUL   CONCEPTION.  749 

time  the  secret  of  its  future  destiny.     Any  thought  of  annihilation 
is  quite  exchided 

"Should  we  venture  on  suppositions,  I  really  do  not  understand 
what  could  prevent  the  monad  to  which  we  owe  the  appearance  of 
Wieland  on  our  planet  to  enter  in  its  new  state  of  existence  into  the 
highest  combination  of  this  universe.  By  its  diligence,  its  zeal,  its 
genius,  through  which  it  has  incorporated  into  its  own  existence  so 
many  historical  states,  it  is  entitled  to  anything.  I  should  not  be 
astonished  at  all  should  I,  after  millenniums,  meet  Wieland  again 
as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  Then  I  should  see  him  and  bear 
witness  how  he  with  his  dear  light  would  gladden  and  quicken 
everything  that  would  come  near  him. 

"To  bring  light  and  clearness  into  the  nebular  existence  of  some 
comet  should  be  deemed  a  joyous  task  for  a  monad  such  as  the  one 
of  our  Wieland !  Considering  the  eternity  of  this  universe  of  ours, 
no  other  duty,  generally  speaking,  can  be  assumed  for  monads  than 
that  they  in  their  turn  should  partake  of  the  joys  of  the  gods  as 
blessed  creative  powers.  They  are  conversant  with  the  becoming 
of  creation.  Whether  called  or  uncalled,  they  come  by  themselves 
from  all  sides,  on  all  paths,  from  the  mountains,  from  the  oceans, 
from  the  stars.    Who  can  prevent  them? 

'T  am  sure  that  I,  such  as  you  see  me  here,  have  lived  a  thou- 
sand times,  and  hope  to  come  again  another  thousand  times." 

There  is  a  great  lack  of  lucidity  in  these  sentences.  On  the 
one  hand  the  monads  are  the  simplest  realities,  a  kind  of  atoms, 
which  belong  to  fire,  water,  earth,  and  other  elementary  existences ; 
on  the  other  hand,  they  are  psychic  agencies,  and  are  introduced  to 
personify  the  law  that  sways  the  formation  of  a  nebula  into  a 
planetary  system ;  and  again  they  are  assumed  to  be  psychic  entities. 
Perhaps  some  monads  are  thought  to  be  chemical  atoms  and  others 
psychic  powers ;  and  the  latter,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Greek  deities, 
are  expected  to  do  the  work  of  the  natural  laws.  Such  thoughts 
are  poetry,  not  science ;  fiction,  not  psychological  facts ;  mythology, 
not  philosophy. 

If  we  knew  Goethe  from  this  passage  alone  we  would  say  that 
he  was  a  mystic.  We  grant  that  he  had  a  mystic  vein  whenever 
he  happened  to  speak  or  refer  to  the  soul,  but  even  here  he  disliked 
the  excrescences  of  mysticism.  He  avoided  having  anything  to  do 
with  clairvoyance  and  other  pathological  or  semi-pathological  phe- 
nomena. He  not  only  disliked  to  delve  into  inquisitions  of  mysterious 
events,  but  also  to  analyze  psychological  problems  in  abstract  specu- 
lations.   Thus  his  views  remained  hazy  and  indistinct.     He  accepted 


750  THE  Ol'EN    COURT. 

imniortality  as  a  fact,  not  because  it  could  be  ])rovC(l. — iti  fact  be 
thoug^bt  it  could  not  be  proved. — but  because  be  could  not  dispense 
witb  an  infinite  outlook  into  tbc  past  as  well  as  tbc  future. 

( iotbe's  conversation  witb  Falk  is  perba])s  tbe  most  important 
passage  to  be  quoted  on  tbc  mooted  topic,  and  it  may  be  well  to 
bear  in  mind  tbat  it  was  I'alk  and  not  Goetbe  wbo  wrote  tbese  sen- 
tences, and  tbat  tbey  tberefore  must  be  used  witb  discretion.  Never- 
theless we  can  not  doubt  tbat  Cioetbc  held  similar  views,  an<l  tbat 
be  believed  in  the  existence  of  monads  or  entelecbies.  Yea  tbe  ex- 
I)ression  was  so  dear  to  him  tbat  in  his  first  conception  of  tbe  con- 
clusion of  Faust  he  used  the  word  entelechy  when  sayin<j  that 
Faust's  soul  was  carried  uj)  to  heaven  by  an^^els.  In  tbe  printed 
editions  he  replaced  it  by  the  term  "Faust's  Immortal." 

Eckermann  has  recorded  several  of  Goethe's  remarks  which 
corroborate,  at  least  in  c^eneral,  that  he  held  these  notions.  For  in- 
stance under  March  ii,  1828.  we  find  the  following^  comment  of 
Goethe's : 

"Each  entelechy  is  a  piece  of  eternity,  and  those  few  years 
during  which  it  is  joined  to  its  terrestrial  body  do  not  make  it  old." 

In  a  conversation  witb  his  friends.  Chancellor  von  Mueller 
and  Herrn  von  Riemer,  October  19.  1823.  Goethe  declared  that  it 
would  be  quite  impossible  for  a  thinking  being  to  entertain  the  idea 
of  its  own  non-existence  or  tbc  discontinuance  of  its  thought  and 
life.  Accordingly  every  one  carried  a  proof  of  his  own  immortality 
quite  immediately  in  himself,  but  as  soon  as  he  tried  to  commit  him- 
self to  objective  statements,  as  soon  as  he  would  venture  to  come  out 
with  it,  as  soon  as  be  wanted  to  prove  dogmatically  or  comprehend  a 
personal  continuance,  as  soon  as  he  would  bolster  up  this  inner  ob- 
servation in  a  commonplace  way,  he  woidd  lose  himself  in  contra- 
dictions." 

In  his  "Prose  Sayings"  Goethe  says: 

"The  highest  we  have  received  from  God  and  Nature  is  life, 
viz.,  tbe  rotating  motion  of  tbe  monad  arouild  itself,  which  knows 
no  rest  nor  ceasing.  The  tendency  to  preserve  and  cherish  life  is 
naturally  and  indelibly  inborn  in  every  one,  but  its  nature  remains 
a  mystery  to  us  as  well  as  to  others.  The  second  favor  which  comes 
from  the  Supreme  Being  is  what  we  call  experience  in  life,  our  be- 
coming aware  of  things,  and  the  influences  which  the  living  and 
moving  monad  exerts  upon  the  surroundings  of  tbe  outer  world. 
Thereby  the  monad  feels  itself  as  infinite  within  and  limited  with- 
out."— Spri'iche  in  Prosa,  1028- 1029. 


GOETHE  S  SOUL   CONCEPTION.  75I 

In  a  conversation  with  Chancellor  von  Miiller.  February,  25, 
1824,  Goethe  expressed  his  dislike  to  investig-ate  the  question  of  life 
after  death. 

"To  be  engrossed  with  the  ideas  of  immortalit}-  is  only  for  the 
leisure  classes,  and  especially  for  women  who  have  nothing  to  do. 
An  able  man  who  needs  to  make  himself  useful  here,  and  who  ac- 
cordingly has  to  exert  himself  daily,  to  struggle  and  to  work,  leaves 
the  future  world  alone  and  is  active  and  useful  in  this  one." 

Considering  all  these  quotations  it  is  certain  that  Goethe  as- 
sumed the  existence  of  a  soul-entity,  an  entelechy  or  monad,  which 
in  his  opinion  was  necessary  for  comprehending  the  nature  of  the 
soul  and  its  immortality,  and  the  latter  was  not  the  traditional  Chris- 
tian, but  an  Oriental  belief,  i.  e.,  a  reincarnation  or  metempsychosis 
of  some  kind.  He  speaks  repeatedly  of  his  former  existences ;  so 
for  instance  in  a  poem  addressed  to  Frau  von  Stein,  he  declares 
that  in  the  sympathy  which  binds  their  souls,  he  feels  that  in  "by- 
gone ages  she  must  have  been  either  his  sister  or  his  wife."'* 

When  he  traveled  in  Italy  Goethe  declared  that  he  must  have 
lived  there,  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  state  that  it  must  have  been  in  the 
days  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian.  Pie  wrote  on  October  12,  1786  from 
\"enice : 

"Indeed  I  feel  even  now  as  if  I  were  not  seeing  things  here  for 
the  first  time,  but  as  if  I  saw  them  again." 

With  all  due  respect  for  his  greatness,  we  believe  that  Goethe 
has  not  elaborated  his  views  of  the  soul  nor  matured  them  into  clear 
and  scientifically  tenable  propositions.  He  was  too  much  of  a  poet 
and  too  little  of  a  philosopher, — in  spite  of  his  several  scientific 
labors.  He  actually  disliked  explanations  in  abstract  terms.  It  is. 
however,  interesting  to  find  that  ]\Ir.  Orlando  J.  Smith  in  his  con- 
ception of  immortality  is  backed  by  such  a  great  man  as  Goethe. 

*  "Ach,  du  warst  in  abgelebten  Zeiten 
Meine  Schwester  oder  meine  Frau." 


PERCHANCE. 


BY  AMOS  B.  BISHOP. 


SEDUCED  by  solitude  and  a  far  horizon  I  am  tempted  to  emulate 
the  courage  at  least  of  Montaigne — he  who  dared  to  be  on  occa- 
sion irrelevant  and  casual  and  short — and  rove  in  the  company  of 
some  ideas  which,  however  old  in  essence,  are  fascinatingly  new  to 
me.  Isolation  can  invite  great  guests  to  the  mind,  and  it  has  been 
one  of  my  surprises  in  a  virgin  land  to  find  it  preoccupying  me  with 
the  gods. 

The  reason  for  it  begins  with  the  perception  of  the  change  in 
scale  here  between  man  and  nature.  Country  long  familiar  with 
human  presence  is,  as  well  as  the  city,  man's  handiwork.  Nature  is 
benedictory,  or  now  and  again  obtrudes  a  cataclysm.  But  on  the 
whole  it  has  the  efifcct  of  acknowledging  a  master.  In  the  wilds 
this  is  reversed.  Storm-distorted  trees,  creeping  shadows ;  even 
the  marching  clouds,  are  instinct  with  a  drama  quite  their  own. 
Countless  miles  of  forest  utter  a  voice  deep  and  steady  as  that  of  the 
sea.  It  is  nature's  realm.  Her  presence  becomes  almost  visible. 
It  threatens  in  the  storm  winds,  it  smiles  in  the  afterglow  that  sets 
the  earliest  stars ;  and  in  the  still  white  nights.  The  most  sophisti- 
cated man,  in  the  rctireincnt  of  virgin  woods  and  lonely  waters, 
does  not  escape  the  realization  of  a  great  presence  abroad.  Primi- 
tive, childlike  men  did  more.  They  feared  it,  again  they  loved  it. 
They  deified  it :  and  the  gods  were  born. 

The  future  fortunes  of  the  gods  are  particularly  engaging  at 
a  moment  like  the  present  when  religion  has  the  effect  of  being  in 
one  of  its  periods  of  abeyance.  Each  race  and  every  age  has  seen 
the  gods  withdraw  as  sophistication  took  the  stage,  to  return  when 
feeling  surged  up  again  to  command.  Religion,  however,  returns 
with  a  difference;  just  as  the  sophistication  that  exiles  it  assumes 
never  twice  the  same  guise.  It  is  even  very  long  since  the  gods 
became  a  euphemistic  phrase.    Religion  to  moderns  means  a  God: 


PERCHANCE.  753 

although  it  is  easy,  by  personifying  attributes,  to  fill  a  pantheon; 
and  certain  creeds  of  the  moment  analyze  to  the  secularist  into  poly- 
theism. However,  it  is  monotheism  alone  that  is  acknowledged 
to-day.  To  the  gayety,  the  variety,  the  irresponsibility  of  the  gods 
succeeds  a  God  ;  single,  grave,  responsible,  and  perfect.  With  him 
religion  stands  or  falls. 

What  can  make  him  fall?  What  is  now  religion's  chief  foe, 
sophistication's  latest  avatar? 

It  is  the  fashion  to  instance  science :  and  in  the  name  of  truth 
science  has  smiled  austerely  at  the  title.  Science  does  analyze  cosmos 
into  mechanism ;  and  permeates  thinking  with  an  exactitude  that 
eliminates  much  of  the  material  on  which  religious  cults  thrive. 
But  science  rather  passes  by  on  the  other  side  than  charges  into 
religion.  It  finds  religion  not  germane  to  its  inquiry.  It  leaves  room 
behind  the  mechanical  frame  for  a  cause  which  shall  be  intelligent, 
responsible,  or  anything  else.  "Atoms,  space,  and  law"  do  not  of 
necessity  tell  the  whole  story.  Science  inherently  declines  to  speak 
about  more  than  these.  It  is  for  ethics  to  ask.  Is  there  a  God?  For 
ethics  approaches  cosmos  with  a  dififering  analysis.  Its  concern  is 
to  discover  the  nature  of  the  order  of  the  world:  if  it  is  moral,  if 
evil  and  suffering  "bear  the  high  mission  of  the  flail  and  fan,"  if 
cause  and  effect  regard  quality.  Obviously  it  is  a  moral  order  alone 
that  can  rationalize  a  God.  If  the  order  of  the  world  discovers 
itself  not  to  be  moral,  not  to  regard  quality,  a  single  cause, — in- 
telligent and  responsible — does  not  fill  the  measure  of  a  God.  Sev- 
eral causes  dividing  responsibility  in  the  old  fashion  of  Olympus 
can  retain  divine  virtue  by  their  loss  of  divine  power.  One  or  several 
causes  frankly  disclaiming  divinity,  acknowledging  imperfection, 
make  conceivable  primal  agents.  In  more  definite  phrase,  if  the 
order  of  the  world  is  not  moral,  monotheism  disappears  from  pos- 
sible concepts,  polytheism  and  pluralism  are  ethically  tenable.  But 
Olympus  is  no  more,  and  pluralism  is  not  religious.  Monotheism 
holds  the  scene. 

Is  then  the  order  of  the  world  moral?  The  test  is  to  bring 
together  descriptions  of  a  moral  order  and  of  the  actual  scheme. 

A  moral  order  is  one  where  cause  and  effect  are  qualitative. 
The  most  highly  organized  is  the  most  precious.  Wealth  of  con- 
sciousness conserves.  Suffering  brings  ultimate  benefit.  Imperfec- 
tion and  struggle  justify  themselves.  Quality  is  the  selective  prin- 
ciple on  which  creation  moves. 

Is  this  a  description  of  the  actual  scene  ?  '  A  different  situation 
stares  from  history  and  from  every  day.     The  child  injured  before 


754  ■""■  Ol'I'N    COURT. 

hirlh  or  honi  to  be  dwartod.  niaiuK-d,  brutalized  throup^h  no  fault 
of  its  own  and  to  its  own  permanent  loss :  the  power  of  accident  to 
cut  oflf  the  most  costly  and  potent  life:  "the  distracted  industry  of 
nature"  in  a  reproduction  unequal  to  providinj^j  for  its  own :  are 
facts  apparently  eternal  and  facts  irreducible  to  j^ood.  They  cHsclose 
an  element  of  brute  injustice  in  the  scheme  that  no  amount  of  anal- 
ysis removes,  .\nalysis  discovers  its  source  in  the  a.scendancy  of 
the  mechanical  categ^ories.  <  )nc  physical  reaction  perforce  starts 
another  without  regard  to  the  conscious  ])henomena  invcjlved.  A 
fjreat  machine  j^rinds  on.  indifferent  to  the  phenomena  of  conscious- 
ness. Consciousness  can  elude  ii.  can  nianaj^e  it  now  and  a^ain  : 
but  fitfnlly  ;  not  fundamentally.  Jt  is  physical  reaction  that  is  in 
command,  consciousness  that  protests  with  less  or  greater  success. 
The  child  can  be  ruined  because  it  lacks  the  mechanical  reaction 
to  resist  the  mechanical  attack.  Reactions  of  the  sexual  origans 
create  the  immense  human  ])otential  as  carelessly  as  they  create  the 
brute.  Satisfaction  of  physical  nee<ls  is  competent  to  start  down  the 
ages  a  stream  of  human  woe  :  while  an  instant's  mistake  in  a  drug. 
in  a  calculation,  can  destroy  a  genius.  1liis  amazing  incommen- 
surateness  l)etween  cause  and  effect  displays  the  difference  in  the 
plans  on  which  consciousness  and  the  machine  work.  X'alue  to  the 
one  is  not  value  to  the  other :  and  the  machine  is  able  to  make  its 
standard  of  value,  success  in  i)h\sical  reaction,  prevail.  "It  is  doubt- 
less more  ])olite  to  deny  God's  existence  than  to  accuse  him  of  this." 
because  oi  it  the  jilace  at  the  beginning  of  things  that  science  leaves 
\acant.  ethics  leaves  vacant  too.  .Science  declines  to  posit  a  cause, 
ethical  i)erce])tion  irrationalizes  a  ( iod.  The  scheme  of  things 
affirms  itself  innocent  of  intention.  If  it  is  not  moral,  neither  is  it 
immoral.     It  is  simply  unmoral. 

.\s  ethics  discovers  this,  religion  of  to-day  finds  its  chief  foe 
to  be  of  its  own  household.  l<'thics  arises  from  its  pc)sition  of 
servitude,  and  assumes  to  be  the  critic  of  its  patron:  with  a  measure 
of  success  that  casts  religion  back  on  jjurely  emotional  su])ports. 
thus  bringing  into  view  a  further  agent  for  analyzing  cosmos. 

Science  and  ethics  are  concerned  wholly  with  the  same  material. 
the  world  yielded  1)y  observation  and  subject  to  ratiocinative  proof. 
Neither  of  them  transcends  demonstration.  I'oth  are  limited  to  the 
theatre  of  reasou.  W  itli  emotion  it  is  a  diffi-rent  story.  ICmotion's 
subject  matter  is  needs  and  their  fulfilment.  Prove  to  emotion  that 
humanity  needs  a  (Iod.  and  it  will  lay  every  mental  resource  luuler 
tribute  to  the  utmost,  to  provide  that  (Iod.  And  nothing  is  more 
easv  than  t"  prove  such  a  need.     The  possession  of  a  God  assures 


PERCHANCE.  755 

to  the  hard-pressed  human  soul  an  infinite  background  of  help,  of 
knowledge,  of  tenderness,  that  makes  it  strong  to  go  forward  and 
to  endure.  Before  a  God  the  spirit  of  man  sinks  humbly  down  into 
the  blessedness  of  self-surrender;  and  gains  a  trust  transcending  ac- 
cident. As  a  methodological  device  for  securing  hai)pincss  religion 
has  no  peer. 

But  through  this  ver\-  need  for  a  God  emotion  realizes  that  the 
world  does  not  rationalize  a  God.  It  therefore  makes  bold  to  supply 
beyond  the  grave  a  world  which  shall  correct  the  scheme  of  this. 
Heaven  posits  compensation  for  the  ignoring  of  quality  on  earth. 
It  erects  appreciation  over  against  the  power  of  physical  reaction. 
In  so  doing  it  bestows  divinity  on  a  first  cause,  who  after  all,  has 
done  things  well.  Mewed  at  this  its  summit,  religion  has  traveled 
a  long  w^ay  from  its  origin.  A  mere  cry  to  the  void  at  length  attains 
a  fulness  of  content  which  presents  from  the  emotional  point  of 
departure  a  logical  comi)leteness  fairly  magnificent.  This  complete- 
ness amounts,  indeed,  to  a  reproach.  For  while  the  believer  finds 
it  too  magnificent  not  to  be  true,  the  observer  accustomed  to  dis- 
illusionment in  the  character  of  truth  finds  it  too  magnificent  to  be 
true.  There  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  Emotion's  analysis  of  cosmos 
does  not  move  on  the  plane  used  b}-  science  and  ethics.  Its  supple- 
mentary world  transcends  their  demonstration  and  eludes  their 
proof.  In  the  absence  of  an  oracle  to  deny  that  both  planes  are  real 
an  intellectual  cleavage  on  the  subject  is  likely  to  persist.  The 
seeker  after  symmetry  in  the  universe  will  find  religion  by  assuming 
the  supplementary  world  ;  and  the  observer  intent  on  exact  thinking 
lose  religion  by  eschewing  that  assumption. 

Something  of  the  same  sort  happens  in  relation  to  the  quality 
of  ultimate  truth.  There  is  apparently  no  evidence,  for  truth  refuses 
to  be  run  down.  Facts  of  to-day  are  probably  hypotheses  of  to- 
morrow. Surds  stare  from  analyses  on  every  hand.  Always  not 
quite  is  truth's  irrefragable  motto. 

In  such  case  philosophic  opinion  decides  itself  largely  by  tem- 
perament. Some  observers  see  the  finer  sides  of  consciousness  in 
such  high  relief  that  the  truth  l)ack  of  a  world  merely  illumined  by 
them  seems  perforce  ver\-  good.  Others  are  attracted  to  the  ascend- 
ancy of  the  mechanical  categories,  the  unmoral  working  of  the 
machine ;  and  they  gain  the  obsession  that  the  root  of  things  is  a 
blankly  gazing  sphinx  before  which  man  and  all  his  works  fall  to 
pieces  like  the  angel  in  Thompson's  magnificent  picture. 

There  is  a  very  practical  bearing  to  the  dissonance  of  view,  and 
the  lack  of  support  of  either  position  by  evidence.     If  any  hypoth- 


756  THK  OPEN   COURT. 

esis  as  to  the  quality  of  ultimate  truth  is  as  tenable  as  any  other: 
if.  were  the  mists  to  dissolve  before  its  face,  truth  is  as  likely  to  ap- 
pear u,c:ly  or  indifferent,  as  good ;  it  is  only  the  child  who  craves 
truth  in  its  nakedness.  Adjurations  in  high  places  to  seek  ultimate 
truth,  to  accept  truth  and  truth  only,  might  as  well  say.  What  chil- 
dren are  here.  For  maturity  should  know  enough  to  lay  its  em- 
phasis on  stabilities  that  prove  themselves  good.  Love,  for  instance. 
Not  the  physical  affair  that  serves  to  people  the  world.  But 
love  that  cherishes  another  spirit  beyond  its  own  ;  love  that  com- 
forts and  companions  in  a  world  potentially  hard  and  lonely.  Fur- 
ther, there  is  honor ;  which  gives  the  high  pleasure  of  straightening 
the  soul  erect  to  a  losing  duty :  and  sacrifice,  through  which  lies  the 
wav  of  freedom.  These  things,  lovely  and  sure  beyond  dispute, 
deserve  the  attention  of  the  average  man  more  than  the  search  for 
a  truth  which  is  possibly  like  the  Prophet  of  Khorassan,  too  repellent 
to  raise  its  veil.  Strong  daring  makes  the  desirable  equipment  for 
explorers  in  philosophic  seas.  By  which  token,  most  minds  are 
better  at  home. 


JACOB  BOEHME. 

BY  BELLE  P.  DRURV. 

JACOB  BOEH^IE  was  born  in  or  near  Gorlitz  in  upper  Lusatia 
in  1575.  He  was  a  grave  and  thoughtful  child  with  the  gift  of 
immediate  vision  regarding  the  wonders  of  fairy  tradition,  as,  later, 
he  had  of  the  mysteries  of  religion.  After  having  learned  to  read 
at  school  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker.  Alone  at  his  work  in 
the  shop  one  day  a  stranger  appeared  and  said:  "Jacob,  thou  art  little 
but  shalt  be  great  and  become  another  man  such  an  one  as  at  whom 
the  world  will  wonder.  Therefore  be  pious,  fear  God  and  reverence 
his  word.  Read  diligently  the  Holy  Scripture  wherein  thou  hast 
comfort  and  instruction  ;  For  thou  must  endure  much  misery  and 
poverty  and  suffer  persecution,  but  be  courageous  and  persevere, 
for  God  loves  and  is  gracious  to  thee." 

This  incident  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind  and  he  made 
such  rapid  progress  in  his  Christian  life  that  he  became  a  reproach 
to  his  master  who  set  him  at  liberty,  telling  him  to  seek  his  living 
as  he  liked  best.  For  a  time  he  became  a  traveling  apprentice, 
wandering  about  with  little  in  hand,  and  possessed  of  a  tender  con- 
science and  melancholy  soul.  He  was  distressed  that  the  very  prin- 
ciple of  Protestantism  was  being  forsaken  when  ecclesiastics  began 
to  prove  their  positions  not  by  Scriptures  but  by  articles  of  faith. 

Boehme  married  young  and  settled  in  Gorlitz,  working  hard  at 
his  homely  trade.  When  Stilling  visited  this  town  he  said  Gorlitz 
was  interesting  to  him  because  Jacob  Boehme  was  a  master  shoe- 
maker and  citizen  of  the  place,  and  that  it  was  extremely  affecting 
to  him  to  find  his  memory  still  so  much  cherished  and  its  influence 
so  beneficial  although  it  was  now  two  hundred  years  since  he  lived 
and  was  so  undeservedly  and  basely  treated  by  the  clerg}'.  Boehme 
inculcated  nothing  in  his  doctrines  or  writings  which  was  contrary 
to  the  Augsburg  confession.  He  went  constantly  to  church  and 
frequentlv  received  the  sacrament.     In  his  manner  of  life  he  was 


75^  '"I-  ol'KX    COURT. 

blameless,  a  faithful  subject,  an  exenijjlary  father,  a  kind  neighbor, 
yet  the  priesthood  treated  him  as  a  heretic,  and  would  not  suffer 
his  body  to  be  buried  in  the  churchyard.  I'.ut  the  case  was  referred 
to  the  Court  at  Dresden  which  ordered  that  I%)ehme"s  corpse  sliouM 
be  interred  with  all  the  honors  (hw  a  fjood  Christian  and  the  whole 
of  the  clergy  should  atteutl  his   funeral! 

r.oehme  is  staled  the  "Teutonic  Philosopher"  because  he  wrote 
of  ( lod,  nature  and  man  in  the  Teutonic  or  common  Ciernian  tongue, 
llis  language  is  often  obscure  and  inadetiuate.  his  ideas  transcendent 
and  even  fantastic,  lie  also  uses  strange  hierogly|)hical  figures,  and 
gives  to  everything  an  air  of  mystery,  yet  Cousin  in  his  history  of 
speculative  ])hilosoiili\-  ])ronounces  Bochme  the  most  ])rofoun(l  ami 
unaffected  of  the  mystics  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Coleridge  regarded  him  with  veneration  and  acknowledged  his 
personal  obligations  to  the  ■"ilhnninaled  cohbU-r." 

His  abstractions  are  i)ictured  in  actual  forms.  He  is  as  gro- 
tesque as  Dante,  as  pithy  and  picturesque  in  speech  as  T<>hn  Bunyan. 

Boehme  was  illiterate  and  claimed  no  wisdom  of  his  own.  no 
ability  to  think,  speak  or  write  of  himself,  llis  works  claim  to  be 
an  opening  of  the  spirit  of  God  working  in  him  and  out  of  the 
common  path  of  man's  reasoning  wisdom.  They  show  the  first  rise 
of  nature  and  creature,  how  all  things  come  from  a  working  will 
of  the  Holv  Triune  Incomprehensible  ( iod  manifesting  himself  as 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit  through  an  outward  j^erceptiblc  work- 
ing Triune  Power  of  Fire.  Light  and  Spirit — both  in  the  eternal 
heaven  and  in  this  tem])oral  transitory  state  of  material  nature:  bow- 
man is  the  real  offspring  of  ( lod.  born  ])artaker  of  the  divine  nature, 
He  shows,  at  length,  how  some  angels  and  man  are  fallen  from  God. 
what  they  arc  in  their  fallen  state  and  the  difference  between  the 
fall  of  angels  and  that  of  nun.  lie  labors  to  show  what  is  meant 
bv  the  curse.  h()w  and  why  sin.  misery,  wrath  and  death  shall  reign 
but  for  a  time  till  the  Love.  Wisdom  and  Power  of  God  shall  in  a 
supernatural  way  trium])h  o\er  sin,  misery  and  death,  make  fallen 
man  rise  to  the  glory  of  angels  and  this  material  .system  shake  off  its 
curse  and  enter  into  everlasting  union  with  heaven  from  whence  it 
came." 

To  stud\-  the  writings  of  lloehme  is  to  attain  to  .something  of 
the  wisdom  of  the  luist  which  .Solomon  had.  it  is  to  attain  the  mys- 
teries of  nature  and  also  Divine  Wisdom  and  Theosophy  or  the  wis- 
dom of  faith,  for  this  is  the  wisdom  by  which  Moses  wrought  his 
wf)nders   which   were   abr)ve   nature   an<l    all    the   ])ropliets    from    the 


JACOB   BOEHME.  759 

first  to  Christ.  It  is  that  which  Jesus  himself  taught  his  disciples 
and  which  the  Comforter  continually  teaches  the  holy  servants  of 
(^od.  ?)ut  Bochme's  hiographer  adds :  "They  who  come  to  mankind 
with  a  plain  uncouth  message  for  them  tt)  strive  with  earnestness  or 
else  their  expected  heaven  will  turn  to  hell  are  odious  messengers 
especially  to  those  who  in  their  several  forms  of  religion  have  been 
promised  eternal  happiness  at  a  far  cheaper  rate!" 

Boehme's  originality  is  thought  to  consist  in  the  way  he  applies 
the  principles  of  the  theosophists  to  the  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
He  claims,  indeed,  divine  illumination  but  admits  that  the  light  was 
communicated  to  him  by  degrees,  at  intervals,  and  not  without  ob- 
scurity. He  does  not.  like  Swedenborg,  profess  to  hold  intercourse 
with  spirits  in  other  states  of  being  but  aided  by  divine  grace  he 
lived  along  the  whole  line  of  his  nature  with  a  completeness  attained 
by  few.  He  says  he  did  nothing  of  himself,  only  sought  earnestly 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  thus  seeking,  the  Gate  was  opened  so  he  saw 
more  in  one  quarter  of  an  hour  than  if  he  had  been  many  years  at 
a  university.  He  saw  and  knew  the  Being  of  all  Beings,  he  knew 
and  saw  in  himself  all  the  three  worlds,  the  divine,  the  paradisical, 
the  dark  world.  He  saw  things  as  in  chaos  which  it  took  him  years 
to  bring  forth  into  external  writings. 

He  was  persecuted  and  exiled,  although  the  doctors  of  divinity 
who  examined  him  admired  his  meekness  of  spirit,  depth  of  knowl- 
edge and  fulness  of  matter  with  which  he  answered  all  inquiries 
One  Doctor  who  examined  him  at  W'ittenberg  said :  "Who  knows 
but  God  has  designed  him  for  some  extraordinary  w^ork,  and  how 
can  we  with  justice  pass  judgment  against  that  which  we  understand 
not?  For  surely  he  seems  to  be  a  man  of  wonderful  high  gifts  of 
the  spirit  though  we  can  not  at  present  from  any  ground  of  cer- 
tainty approve  or  disapprove  of  many  things  he  holds." 

The  superstitious  of  the  time  thought  Boehme  possessed  of 
magical  powers,  and  one  man  went  so  far  as  to  try  to  conjure  the 
familiar  spirit  away  from  him ! 

After  the  publication  of  "Aurora  or  the  Morning  Light"  chem- 
ists and  other  learned  men  sought  out  the  author.  From  them  he 
learned  some  Latin  and  Greek  words  he  afterward  used  in  expressing 
his  ideas  or  rather  his  illustrations.  His  writings  began  to  be  quite 
generally  read  in  many  countries,  even  in  Rome.  Infidels  catching 
at  the  bait  of  his  mysterious  philosophy  were  draw^n  to  the  true  faith, 
and  he  influenced  ministers  to  be  less  controversial. 

He  wTote  the  following  in  a  friend's  album : 


760  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

"To  whom  time  and  eternity 
Harmoniously  as  one  agree; 
His  soul  is  safe,  his  life's  amended, 
His  battle's  o'er,  his  strife  is  ended." 

Bochnie's  mysticism  is  not  sciitinK-iital  or  effeminate.  A  few 
points  in  his  theory  are  as  follows: 

As  regards  the  Trinity  he  supposes  that  in  the  abyss  of  the 
Divine  Nature  there  exists  Desire — a  going  forth  which  is  called 
the  "Father."  The  object  and  realization  of  such  tendency  is  the 
"Son."  The  bond  and  result  of  this  reciprocal  Love  is  the  "Holy 
Spirit." 

As  there  is  an  Eternal  Spirit  so  also  there  is  an  Eternal  Nature. 
God  is  not  mere  Being,  lie  is  also  "Will" — the  Will  manifests  itself 
m  external  nature.  Eternal  Nature  has  in  it  seven  forms  of  life, — 
Active  Principles  or  Fountain  Spirits  typified  in  the  seven  golden 
candlesticks  of  Revelation.  These  forms  or  qualities  reciprocally 
generate  and  are  generated  by  each  other  and  their  center  is  the  Son 
of  God. 

The  simultaneous  action  of  these  qualities  becomes  concrete  in 
the  visible  universe,  on  our  planet  their  operation  has  been  corrupted 
b\-  moral  evil.  The  names  of  the  seven  Fountain  Spirits  are:  The 
Astringent  Quality,  the  Sweet  Quality,  the  Bitter,  the  Quality  of 
Fire,  of  Love,  of  Sound,  of  Corporeity  or  Essential  Substance.  The 
Father  is  the  dark  fiery  principle,  the  Son  the  ])rinciple  of  Light  and 
Grace,  the  Holy  Ghost  the  creative  preserving  principle.  The  Light 
or  Son  had  not  been  but  for  the  Darkness — the  Father — and  from 
the  two  arises  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  archetypal  form  of  the  universe. 
Evil  is  necessary  to  manifest  good.  What  were  virtue  without 
temptation?  In  life's  warfare  lies  its  greatness.  Our  author  be- 
lieved in  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  determined  by  the  deeds  done 
in  this.  He  does  not  believe  that  God  is  a  mere  vital  force,  nor  yet 
does  he  relegate  Deity  beyond  the  skies.  God  is  the  life  of  all  crea- 
tures, He  dwelleth  in  me,  I  am  in  his  heaven  if  I  love  him  wherever 
I  go.     The  universe  is  born  of  him  and  lives  in  him. 

God  created  three  kingdoms  of  spirits  to  correspond  with  the 
three  persons  in  the  Trinity.  To  each  a  monarch  and  seven  princes 
were  assigned,  corresponding  to  the  Fountain  Spirits.  One  of  these 
sovereigns,  Lucifer,  fell  through  pride.  The  seventh  quality  of 
Lucifer's  realm  collided  in  space  with  our  world,  and  the  earth,  once 
a  heavenly  world,  was  broken  up  in  chaos.  Before  man  was  created 
nature  had  fallen  and  out  of  this  chaos  God  made  earth. 

Adam  was  made  to  be  the  restoring  angel  of  this  world,  but 


JACOB   BOEHME.  761 

when  he  began  to  love  the  external  world  it  was  thought  better  for 
him  to  lose  the  feminine  in  his  own  nature,  so  Eve  was  made,  but 
this  did  not  serve  to  arrest  his  downfall :  he  ate  of  the  tree  and  his 
angelic  life  ceased.  No  divine  wrath  was  visited  on  him :  disease 
and  death  ensued  solely  because  he  chose  an  animal  instead  of  an 
angelic  life. 

God  inflicts  no  punishment  on  lost  souls,  their  own  sins  and 
passions  are  their  flames  and  chains.  Redemption  is  our  deliverance 
from  the  restless  isolation  of  self  or  "ownhood,"  and  our  return  to 
union  with  God. 

He  sometimes  breaks  away  from  the  authority  of  Scriptural 
text  and  says,  "It  is  evident  that  the  dear  man  Moses  did  not  write 
this  as  it  is  contrary  to — etc. 

Boehme's  style  is  often  very  difficult  to  master,  but  again  it  is 
simple  and  clear  as  in  such  passages  as  this : 

"Therefore,  O  noble  man,  there  is  nothing  nearer  to  you  than 
heaven  is  ;  all  the  principles  with  eternity  are  in  you  and  the  holy 
paradise  is  again  generated  in  you,  wherein  God  dwells.  When 
will  you  seek  for  God?  Seek  Him  in  your  soul  only  that  is  pro- 
ceeded out  of  the  eternal  nature  wherein  the  divine  birth  stands. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

ORIENTAL   SAGES. 

RV    M.    H.    SIMPSON. 

Six  scliolarly  tliinkers  considered  one  day 
The  grouping  in  every  possible  way 

Of  Ego,  Xon-Ego,  and  Non  ; 
Debating  which  word  should  be  first  of  the  three. 
.\n(l  what  the  most  obvious  meaning  might  be 

Of  I*-go.  Non-Ego  ami  N()n. 

'Tis  "Not  Not-Self,  but  Self  alone." 

Said  Number  One  sedately. 
'Tis  "Not- Self  is.  and  Self  is  Not." 

The  second  answered  straightly. 
'Tis,  "Neither  Self  nor  Not-Self  is." 

Submitted  Number  Three; 
But  "Self  to  Not-Self  is  as  Naught." 

Cried  Number  Four,  "for  me." 
Yet  "Not-Self  is  to  Self  as  Naught," 

Cried  Five,  "is  just  as  good." 
"The  Self  is  Not-Self,  yet  'tis  not," 

The  sixth  had  iinderslood. 

.\nd  then  a  seventh  joined  tiie  group. 

Who  solemnly  ;iverrcd 
The  separate  form,  "Self,  Not-Self,  Not," 

Was  much  to  be  preferred ; 
For  they,  he  said,  the  factors  were 

Of  every  combination. 
And  naturally  moved  around 

In  ceaseless  permutation. 

And  every  thinker  nnich  admired 

The  thoughts  of  all  the  rest, 
While  each  within  his  secret  soul 

Flsteemed  his  own  the  best. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  763 

THE  PAGAN  CON'CEPTION  OF  SIN. 

'/'('  i]ic  Editor  of  The  Open  Court: 

Tn  the  last  issue  of  llic  Ofcii  Court  tlic  Christian  missionary  is  cunipared 
unfavorahly  witli  tlie  native  wlioni  lie  has  set  himself  to  eonvert  froni  the 
error  of  his  ways. 

T  am  sure  the  writer  did  not  mean  to  he  unfair  or  to  eloud  the  facts  of  the 
case  hut  he  has  exposed  himself  nevertheless  to  the  sus])icion  of  lack  of  the 
chivalrous  spirit. 

He  seems  to  rejoice  somewhat  in  the  fact  that  the  Ilindu  has  no  word 
for  sin.  or  at  least  has  "no  systematized  statement  on  this  matter,"  and  he 
seems  to  think  that  this  alisence  of  a  definite  terminology  is  a  distinct  evidence 
of  superiority  hoth  in  their  ethical  standards  and  in  their  national  character. 
Now  the  fact  that  such  a  .systematized  statement  is  absent  from  their  Upan- 
i.shads  might  to  some  minds  suggest  that  the  Hindu  mind  was  weak  in  its 
ability  to  draw  clear  distinctions  and  mark  out  clearly  defined  lines  between 
sin  and  holiness.  Some  people  might  feel  justified  in  drawing  such  a  conclu- 
sion. 

lint  in  the  Xew  Testament  there  is  no  one  word  for  sin  !  There  are  some 
eight  words,  each  with  its  own  angle  of  observation  and  definition  of  the 
notion — sin. 

For  instance  TrapciTrrw/xa,  "trespass,"  Matt.  \  i.  14,  Rom.  v.  15;  ayvor^fia, 
"error,"  Hebr.  i.x.  7;  VTrrj/jLa,  "defect,"  Rom.  xi.  12:  6(f>ei\rina,  "debt";  dpofiia, 
"iniquity,"  Rom.  vi.  19,  and  xi.  12;  dfiapria,  (sin)  "missing  the  mark,"  Rom. 
vii.  13;  Trapd^acrts,  "transgression,"  Rom.  iv.  15;  napaKovw,  "disobedience,"  Rom. 
V.  19.  .\11  of  these  words,  yet  n.o  one  separate  word,  taking  up  the  idea  into 
itself  with  full  power  of  complete  expression.  It  might  l)e  inferred  that  a 
people  who  could  so  parcel  out  the  idea  and  mark  out  its  diversities  and  rela- 
tivities and  associations,  and  show  how  it  touched  life  at  so  many  points, 
were  a  people  with  a  highly  organized  ethical  system  and  a  highly  organized 
moral  standard,  and  therefore  among  them  might  be  found  many  men  and 
women  of  well  developed  moral  characters,  and  that  among  such  people  we 
might  reasonably  expect  many  subjects  of  actual  spiritual  regeneration. 

I  have  lived  in  southern  East  India,  in  Cannanore  and  in  Aladras,  but  in 
three  years  observation  of  the  Hindu  character  and  from  a  standpoint  preju- 
diced in  their  favor,  I  always  felt  the  difference  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Hindu  and  the  Christian,  (I  speak  of  the  ideal  life  in  both  European  and 
Hindu).  I  liked  the  Hindu,  and  I  have  never  seen  cause  to  change  my  opinion 
or  shift  my  regard,  but  there  was  always  something  lacking  in  the  Hindu 
which  I  felt,  and  sometimes  saw,  that  the  Christian  only  could  supply. 

Now.  I  do  not  think  it  quite  fair  to  take  tlie  "revivalist"  as  a  fair  sample 
of  Christian  intelligence,  indeed  I  never  met  the  species  in  India,  although 
I  met  many  earnest  catechists  and  pastors  of  all  sorts. 

Before  the  calm  of  the  Hindu  mind  the  revivalist  is  more  likely  to  excite 
amused  comment  than  interested  remark,  and  no  missionary  society  selects 
men  because  of  their  renown  as  revivalists.  They  select  their  men  for  far 
other  qualities. 

As  to  the  gibe  about  the  widow's  mite,  perhaps  ]\Ir.  Rumball  thinks  Pro- 
fessor Deussen's  remark  final.  "The  widow's  mite  is  never  anything  more 
than   a   mite."      If   either    Professor   Deussen   or   'Sir.    Rumball   had  kept   the 


764  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

good  company  of  standard  exegetes  they  would  have  heard  of  the  hfe  behind 
the  mite,  and  have  learned  even  in  my  humble  Sunday-school  that  the  "mite" 
was  an  expression  of  a  subjective  life,  and  an  evidence  of  subjective  worth  of 
character;  surely  these  gentlemen  must  recall  the  comment  on  the  widow's 
action  made  at  the  time,  "she  hatli  cast  in  more  than  they  all."  Did  the  mite 
remain  always  the  mite?     Nay  brethren,  but  from  the  first  it  was  not  so. 

I  value  your  paper.  I  take  it.  read  it,  pay  for  it,  keep  it,  bind  it,  lend  it, 
when  I  move  all  back  numbers  move  with  mc,  1  furnish  lists  of  likely  sub- 
scribers, etc.,  and  I  do  this  because  it  instructs  and  informs  me  and  helps  to 
keep  me  out  of  certain  ruts  of  thought ;  but  give  us  a  square  deal  in  The 
Open  Court  before  the  ever  enlarging  tribunal  of  your  select  readers. 

Rev.  W.  B.  Evalt. 

Grace  Episcopal  Church,  Brookfield,  Mo. 

P.  S.  On  page  612  it  is  stated  that  the  word  tKidvfila  is  often  found  in  the 
New  Testament, — never,  the  word  is  iiridvula. 


IN  ANSWER  TO  MR.  EVALT. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Open  Court: 

I  thank  you  for  the  opportunity  of  placing  beside  the  criticism  of  Mr. 
Evalt,  my  reply,  which  I  trust  will  to  some  e.xtent  make  clearer  the  points 
which  he  raises. 

In  so  far  as  my  critic  has  given  a  side  of  the  subject  which  I  did  not 
propose  to  myself  to  touch,  all  must  feel  grateful.  The  great  difference  be- 
tween us  seems  chiefly  to  be  one  of  emphasis.  One  important  part,  however, 
has  either  not  been  clearly  expressed  on  my  part  or  misunderstood  by  him. 
He  says  of  me  that  I  seem  to  think  the  "absence  of  a  definite  terminology 
is  a  distinct  evidence  of  the  superiority  both  in  their  ethical  standards  and 
national  character"  of  the  Hindu  compared  to  the  Christian.  My  words  were 
really  as  follows :  "Christian  critics  who  narrowly  desire  to  make  all  non- 
Christian  nations  conform  to  their  own  moral  standard  must  here  be  reminded 
that  the  ethical  standard  of  the  Upanishads  if  not  the  same  is  by  no  means 
inferior  to  their  ozcn."  This  is  not  quite  the  same  as  saying  that  it  is  "supe- 
rior." 

My  mention  of  the  Christian  revivalist  who  covers  sea  and  land  to  bring 
about  "cases "  of  conviction  of  sin,  was  not  intended  as  only  having  reference 
to  his  peculiar  type  of  religion.  Rather,  do  I  receive  him  as  an  extreme  and 
therefore  clearly  defined  example  of  a  rather  large  class  of  Christian  teachers, 
who  make  much  ado  about  the  "sins"  of  an  age,  that  is  already — thanks  to  a 
more  natural  view  of  this  strange  thing  we  call  life — modifying  its  views  about 
sin  and  inquiring  with  Burns  "why  they  do  it."  I  yet  think  that  it  is  significant 
of  much  between  the  Christian  religion  and  the  religion  of  the  Upanishads 
that  this  latter  draws  our  attention  far  more  to  the  individual  determinism 
and  potentiality  for  godliness  than  does  the  religion  that  yet  speaks  of  us  as 
"miserable  sinners." 

As  for  the  question  of  the  "widow's  mite,"  I  fail  to  see  how  my  critic 
could  have  so  misunderstood  me.  Whatever  acquaintance  Professor  Deussen 
and  myself  have  had  with  "standard  exegetes,"  it  is  certain  that  neither  of  us 
is  ignorant  of  the  subjective  value  of  an  action.  The  confusion  may  have 
arisen   in  consequence  of  my   not   distinguishing  more  clearly  between   what 


MISCELLANEOUS.  765 

I  call  "organized  Christianity"  and  real  Christianity.  I  am  sure  that  Mr. 
Evalt  laments  as  every  good  man  does,  that  the  Christianity  of  the  Churches 
does  give  such  importance  to  the  objective  value  of  an  action.  It  is  not  we 
who  say  that  "the  widow's  mite  is  never  anything  more  than  a  mite,"  it  is 
"organized  Christianity,"  that  is  saying  so,  by  its  conduct,  that  is,  by  its  def- 
erence to  the  rich  and  its  indifference  to  the  poor.  It  is  the  $10,000.00  gift 
that  is  praised  by  the  "religious"  weeklies,  the  mite  is  forgotten.  I  therefore 
support  the  words  of  Professor  Deussen.  The  correction  iKiOvfiia  to  e-mevn.ia 
is,  of  course,  due  to  a  misprint.  In  closing  I  would  like  to  say  that  I  am  glad 
the  matter  has  been  brought  up,  for  the  emphasis  thus  given  to  it  may  create 
a  greater  interest  in  these  things  of  the  soul.  Every  one  who  can  come  into 
the  open  court  of  courteous  discussion  on  religion  is  a  great  gain,  especially 
if  he  is  more  concerned  about  what  is  right  than  who  is  right. 

Edwin  A.  Rumball. 


THE   SUPERPERSONAL  GOD. 

IN    COMMENT   ON    A    COMMUNICATION    FROM    PERE    HVACINTHE    LOYSON. 

Father  Hyacinthe  Loyson,  in  a  letter  of  September,  1907,  writes  with 
reference  to  conversations  we  had  at  Paris  on  various  philosophical  subjects 
and  especially  on  the  problem  of  God,  as  follows : 

"My  God  is  superpersonal  like  yours,  like  the  En-Sof  of  the  Cabbala 
which  I  have  been  studying  a  little  lately;  but  this  God  is  at  the  same  time 
the  Heavenly  Father  of  the  Gospel,  the  inmost  ear  which  hears  the  inarticulate 
language  of  the  soul,  the  inmost  mouth  which  speaks  to  it  in  an  inarticulate 
language, — inarticulate  also  but  the  more  profound  and  the  more  efficacious 
because  it  is  inarticulate." 

In  comment  on  Father  Hyacinthe's  remark  I  would  say  that  I  gladly 
grant  that  his  further  description  of  God  does  not  contradict  my  conception 
of  Him,  and  I  have  insisted  at  various  times  that  God  is  not  only  the  world- 
order  such  as  we  formulate  it  in  great  outlines  as  natural  laws,  but  also  and 
mainly  what  in  Biblical  language  we  would  call  "The  Still  Small  Voice."  It 
is  He  that  speaks  to  us  in  the  most  intimate  sentiments  of  religious  feelings, 
inarticulate  though  these  feelings  may  be.  I  still  hold  the  idea  that  God  can 
be  understood  from  the  standpoint  of  a  scientific  investigation,  but  I  also 
grant  that  to  the  unscientific  man  a  scientific  formula  is  unmeaning,  and  he 
would  naturally  be  more  satisfied  with  the  hazy  picture  of  his  inarticulate 
sentiment  because  that  to  him  is  the  realiy,  and  the  scientific  formula,  as  it 
has  been  boiled  down  in  the  alembic  of  a  logical  analysis,  is  to  him  a  foreign 
and  meaningless  jumble  of  words.  I  would  at  the  same  time  insist  that  the 
still  small  voice  is  powerful  not  only  in  the  heart  of  a  devotee ;  it  is  not  purely 
a  subjective  sentiment,  but  there  is  something  real  corresponding  to  it  in  the 
objective  universe.  There  is  a  feature  in  the  destiny  of  the  evolution  of  life 
that  tenderly  preserves  the  finer  and  nobler  aspirations,  which  naturally  gives 
the  impression  that  a  fatherly  care  guides  and  protects  mankind. 

The  scientific  way  of  looking  at  things  is  after  all  one  method  only  of 
treating  our  experiences.  We  claim  that  there  is  nothing  that  cannot  be 
subjected  to  it,  and  it  is  the  only  way  of  reaching  the  standpoint  of  a  higher 
conception  which  will  enable  us  to  rise  above  the  standpoint  of  sentimentality. 
Culture  based  upon  science  affords  a  foundation  for  a  man  that  will  enable 


766  THK  OI'KN    COURT. 

liiin  to  rise  above  a  mere  seiitimeiUal  ni<>ralit\  or  unodiK-^^,  a^  liigli  a--  primi- 
tive mankind  rises  above  the  brute  creation.  Yet  for  all  that,  in  spite  of  the 
unparalleled  importance  of  science,  the  sentimental  method  of  contemplating 
the  world  which  utilizes  the  short  cut  of  mystic  imagery  is  also  quite  justi- 
I'lable,  and  will  be  a  very  good  surrogate  of  a  real  philosophical  insight  into 
the  nature  of  the  divinity  of  the  cosmos.  It  will  enable  the  man  who  is  in- 
capable of  scientific  thou).fht  to  enter  at  least  with  his  sentiments  into  the 
inmost  heart  of  the  nature  of  bcinn  which  thereby  he  will  understand  ac- 
cording to  the  measure  not  merely  of  his  own  intellect,  but  also  of  the  culture 
of  his  heart.  What  the  philosopher  thinks  in  clear  definitions,  which  appear 
cold  and  dry  to  an  outsider,  the  myotic  theologian  tries  to  comprehend  in 
sentiments  by  the  assistance  of  allegories,  symljols  and  parables,  sometimes 
in  poetic  visions  and  ecstatic  yearnings.  v.  c 


rHK  SYLLABUS  AGAIN. 

l'"athcr  llyacinthe  Luyson,  ha\  ing  been  asked  l)y  many  Chri>tians  what 
to  do  in  the  present  crisis,  published  a  letter  in  I.c  Sicclc  of  Paris,  France,  in 
which  he  says. 

"What  shall  Christianity  do?  If  Christianity  possessed  to-day  the  spirit 
which  animated  it  in  former  years  it  would  again  convene  an  ecumenical 
council,  i.  e.,  a  universal  council,  in  order  to  act  upon  the  deposition  of  Pope 
Pius  X,  and  to  provide  for  the  vacancy  of  the  Holy  See.  For  why  should 
there  not  be  at  Rome,  at  Constantinople,  at  Jerusalem,  at  Paris,  or  at  some 
other  place  among  the  multiplicity  and  diversity  of  churches,  a  supreme  bishop 
recognized  freely  by  all,  (>riiiius  inter  funics  as  lluy  used  to  say,  and  serving 
as  a  bond  to  unite  all  Christianity." 

We  doubt  very  much  if  it  would  be  possible  to  convene  an  ecumenical 
council.  The  interpretations  of  Christianity  are  too  different  to  let  all  Chris- 
tians unite  in  one  truly  Catholic  organization.  Father  Hyacinthe  is  very  pes- 
simistic as  to  the  probability  of  a  reform  of  Rome,  but  he  is  rather  optimistic 
with  regard  to  the  i)rogress  of  religion  cm  tlu'  l)asis  of  greater  freedom.  He 
-ays  : 

"The  reform  of  tiie  Catholic  Cluircli  ha-  been  the  dream  of  my  whole  life; 
I  loved  that  Church  too  passionately  for  it  to  be  otherwise.  Rut  still  more 
do  I  love  truth.  Now  the  truth  is,  as  history  testifies,  that  new  wine  is  not 
put  into  old  bottles;  ;md  it  is  etjually  true,  as  the  converters  of  souls  bear 
witness,  that  hardened  sinners  are  not  converted.  The  forms  of  the  Roman 
Church  are  the  old  bottles,  and  the  poi)es,  even  the  most  sincere  and  the  most 
])ious  (perhaps  we  should  say.  cs/^cciuHy  the  most  sincere  and  the  most  pious). 
/;/  so  far  as  tlu-y  arr  /"o/t.s-.  are  the  liar(li'ne<l  dinners,  hardened  in  their  in- 
fallibility. 

"Then  let  us  cease  trying  to  reform  a  ehuroli  u  inch  is  decidedly  incapable 
(jf  reform,  at  least  unless  (jod  by  a  miraculous  intervention  should  put  his 
own  hand  upon  it,  which  he  will  never  do.  Let  us  join,  if  we  fee!  ourselves 
called  upon  to  do  so,  one  of  the  churches  independent  of  Rome  in  the  Orient 
or  Occident,  where  we  may  be  i)ermitte<l  to  think  freely  as  men  and  to  live 
devoutly  as  Christians  according  to  the  si>iril  and  the  Cospel.  Uhi  Chnslus. 
ibi  licclcsia. 

"But  if  we  prefer  to  live  apart   (we  are  not  alone  when  we  are  with  God), 


MISCELLANEOUS.  767 

let  us  take  from  all  chinches  at  our  pleasure  the  elcnienls  necessary  to  nourish 
our  faith ;  let  us  purify  them  from  all  alloy  of  error ;  let  us  enlighten  them  and 
interpret  them  if  neces>ary;  let  us  join  them  into  one  harmonious  and  living 
whole 

"A  union  will  re>ult  nauirally  or  supernaturally  according  to  the  needs 
of  public  worship,  between  the  liberal  and  conservative  believers,  and  with  the 
religion  of  the  future  we  will  then  have  the  Church  of  the  future." 

The  Pope  has  Ijeen  nnich  criticized  for  his  S\llal)us,  but  we  sliould  bear 
in  mind  that  he  has  .stanch  supporters.  Here  is  a  letter  written  to  one  of  our 
contributors  from  Air.  Henr\-  V.  Radford,  a  Roman  Catholic  convert  who,  as 
such,  is  perhaps  more  ardent  in  his  convictions  than  those  born  in  the  Church. 

■'Of  course,  being  a  solemn  definition  of  my  holy  Church,  the  contents  of  the 
Syllabus  would  have  my  unquestioning  acceptance,  as  an  adherent,  even  before 
I  read  the  document ;  but  having  read  it.  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  every  line  ap- 
pears to  me  conformable  to  reason  and  most  natural.  There  is  nothing  new  or 
startling  in  any  article  of  the  Syllabus  (there  never  is  in  any  definition  of  the  'An- 
cient Faith' )  :  I  was  taught  to  condemn  every  one  of  the  propositions  years  ago, 
while  attending  Catholic  schools  and  a  Catholic  college.  Every  part  of  the  Syl- 
labus is  in  complete  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the  Church  that  have  been 
familiar  to  intelligent  Catholics  from  time  immemorial,  and  which  are  daily 
being  everywhere  promulgated  by  the  Church — from  the  pulpit,  in  books,  in 
periodicals,  and  through  every  other  channel  available  to  her.  It  is.  indeed, 
a  dignified  and  necessary  document,  but  there  is  nothing  in  it  that  will  cause 
any  strife — and  hardly  any  discussion — among  her  own  followers.  They  have 
held  opinions  identical  with  those  of  the  Svllabus  from  time  out  of  mind. 

"As  to  the  effect  of  thi.^  document  upon  those  outside  of  the  Roman 
Church,  I  should  saj-  that  it  would  be  considerable.  This  calm  reiteration  of 
Catholic  faith,  in  the  face  of  so-called  'scientific  progress'  and  twentieth 
centur}'  scepticism,  coming  from  the  real  (though  perhaps  unrecognized) 
heart-center  of  modern  Christianity,  from  the  Great  White  Shepherd  of 
Christendom,  seated  on  the  indestructible  Throne  of  Peter,  should  act  as  a 
bracer  to  all  the  old-line  Protestant  denominations,  who  are  not  yet  ready 
to  make  a  full  surrender  to  the  relentless  forces  of  'liberalism'  (i.  e..  infidelity ) 
by  which  they  are  beset,  l)oth  from  within  and  from  without.  And,  to  open 
infidelity  itself,  this  document  will  act  as  another  check,  saying  to  those  who 
would  seduce  the  faithful  :  "Thus  far  thou  shalt  go,  and  no  farther.'  " 


GENERAL   PFISTER. 

We  are  deeply  grie\ed  to  read  in  a  press  cablegram  an  announcement  of 
the  death  of  General  Albert  von  Pfister,  Ph.D.,  who  was  not  only  a  soldier  but 
also  a  scholar  and  an  author.  He  was  well  known  in  America  through  his 
writings  on  the  histor\'  of  the  United  States,  and  also  because  he  was  sent  to 
Chicago  to  represent  his  sovereign,  the  King  of  Wiirttemberg,  at  the  Schiller 
Festival  in  1905.  During  his  sojourn  in  the  L'nitcd  States  he  was  honored 
wherever  he  went,  in  Xew  Vorlc.  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington  and 
Chicago,  and  through  his  genial  waj^s  and  amiable  personality  gained  the  love 
and  sympathy  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  died  suddenly  in  his 
eightv-sixth  vear  at  his  summer  home  in  Trossingen. 


768  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

BOOK  REVIEWS  AND  NOTES. 

The  Essence  of  Buddhism.  By  P.  Laksluni  i\'arasu.  Madras:  Srinivasa 
Varadachari  &  Co.,  1907.     Pp.  xix,  212. 

This  book  is  an  attempt  by  a  Hindu  man  of  science  at  a  rationabstic  inter- 
pretation of  Buddhism  rather  than  a  traditional  and  conservative  exposition 
of  it.  Though  the  author  calls  himself  an  humble  disciple  of  the  Master,  he 
shows  a  great  deal  of  independent  judgment.  He  rejects  in  Buddhism  what 
does  not  quite  appeal  to  his  scientific  training,  and  upholds  only  those  points 
which  can  be  consistently  maintained;  and  lie  riglitly  considers  this  attitude 
to  be  in  perfect  accord  with  the  true  spirit  of  the  Buddha.  For  every  Buddiiist 
scholar  of  consequence  has  .shown  such  a  great  regard  for  the  general  validity 
of  ideas  as  to  "not  infrequently  set  aside  the  sutras,  which  are  commonly 
regarded  as  the  basis"  of  the  Buddha's  teachings.  Thus  Mr.  Narasu  may  be 
said  to  have  modernized  his  religion  according  to  his  own  judgment. 

The  book  is  composed,  the  author  says,  of  several  essays  on  Buddhist 
subjects  originally  contributed  to  certain  southern  Indian  magazines,  and  they 
are  here  organically  arranged  so  as  to  make  a  serial  reading.  The  subjects 
treated  are:  The  Historic  Buddha,  The  Rationality  of  Buddhism,  The  Moral- 
ity of  Buddhism,  Buddhism  and  Caste,  Vv'^oman  in  Buddhism,  The  Four  Great 
Truths,  Buddhism  and  Asceticism.  Buddhism  and  Pessimism,  The  Noble 
Eightfold  Path,  The  Riddle  of  the  World,  Personality,  Death  and  After,  and 
The  Sumnuim  Bonum.     The  book  as  a  whole  is  very  readable. 

The  author  thinks  that  "the  marrow  of  civilized  society  is  ethical  and  not 
metaphysical,"  and,  in  accordance  with  this  view,  he  seems  to  be  shy  of  deeply 
entering  into  the  theological  phase  of  Buddhism,  which  was  developed  by 
.•\gvaghosha,  Nagarjuna,  Aryadeva,  Asanga,  Vasubandhu,  and  others.  He 
finds  the  essence  of  Buddhism  in  the  so-called  three  "seals  of  Dharma,"  i.  e., 
anitya,  anaturata,  and  nirvana :  that  the  universe  is  a  perpetual  flux  of  be- 
coming, that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  ego-substratum,  and  that  Nirvana 
is  the  attainment  of  perfect  love  and  righteousness  while  negatively  it  is 
the  extinction  of  lust,  hatred,  and  ignorance. 

Mr.  Narasu's  Buddhism  is  broad  and  liberal  enough  to  include  the  con- 
ceptions of  Dharmakaya,  Amitabha,  and  even  of  Sukhavati.  Evidently,  he 
must  have  read  some  of  those  books  on  the  Mahayana  Buddhism,  which  have 
been  written  mostly  by  Japanese  scholars. 

This  book  has  a  short  introduction  by  Mr.  Dharmapala  who  apparently 
does  not  subscribe  to  all  of  the  author's  statements  concerning  Buddhism 
as  the  latter  views  it  from  his  "purely  rationalistic"  standpoint.  But  the 
reader  with  a  fair,  impartial  mind  will  find  it  interesting  to  notice  how  many 
different  shades  of  belief  are  included  under  Buddhism, — from  a  fantastic 
occultism  of  some  theosophist  to  a  rationalistic,  positivistic  interpretation  of 
the  non-atman  theory  of  men  of  science. 

The  value  of  the  book  would  have  been  increased  if  the  author  had  traced 
every  quotation  to  its  source,  and  taken  pains  to  supply  a  good  index,     d.  t.  s. 


THE    OPEN    COURT 


A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 


VOLUME    XXI 


CHICAGO 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

LONDON   AGENTS 

KEGAN  PAULj  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  LTD. 

1907 


Copyright  by 

Th«  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 

1907. 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XXI. 

MAIN  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Abbott,  David  P.  Comments  upon  Dr.  O.  O.  Burgess's  "A  Puzzling 
Case,"  43;  Half  Hours  with  Mediums,  92,  129;  In  Reply  to  C.  W. 
Bennett's  "Spirit  Portraiture,"  306. 

Algebraic  Fallacies.     Wm.  F.   White,   365 

Alice  in  the  Wonderland  of  Mathematics.    William  F.  White 11 

Allen,  Joseph  C.  The  Use  of  Pseudonyms  in  the  Bible.  In  Comment  on 
Kampmeier's  "Pious  Fraud,"  182;  Was  Judas  a  Traitor?  688. 

Ancient  Mysticism  and  Recent  Science.     Charles  Kassel 385 

Anglican  Catholic  Communion,  The.     Wm.  Thornton  Parker 636 

Arreat,  Lucien.     Some  Superstitions  of  Southern  France 118 

Aspirations    ( Poem) .     Edwin  Emerson 572 

Autographs  of  Mathematicians.     Wm.  F.  White 428 

Avesta  is  Veda;  The  Inscriptional  Deva  is  Not  Demon.     Lawrence  H. 

Mills 376 

Axioms,  Do  They  Apply  to  Equations'.    Wm.  F.  White 176 

Axioms  in  Elementary  Algebra.     Wm.  F.  White 176 

Barck,  Carl.     The  History  of  Spectacles 206 

Barton,  Wm.  E.  Introduction  to  "The  Messianic  Hope  of  the  Samari- 
tans," 272 ;  The  Samaritan  Messiah.  Further  Comments  of  the  Sa- 
maritan High  Priest,  528. 

Bell,  Hermon  F.     A  Criticism  of  Modern  Theology 678 

Bennett,  C.  W.     Spirit  Portraiture 306 

Berkowitz,  J.  H.     Spinoza   (Poem) 51 1 

Bethlehem   Prophecy,  The.     Franklin  N.  Jewett 238 

Bigelow,  Poultney.    A  Japanese  Panmalaya  Suggested  by  Lafcadio  Hearn 

and   Formosa 624 

Biggs,  S.  R.  H.     A  Spiritualist's  View 318 

Bishop,  Amos  B.     Perchance 752 

Blaise,  T.  T.     Science  Superior  to  Mysticism 568 

Boehme,  Jacob.     Belle  P.  Drury 757 

Boston  of  Feudal  Japan,  The.    Ernest  W.  Clement 485 

Brewster,  E.  T.     The  "Emmanuel  Classes."   557 

Briand.  M.    The  Position  of  France  on  the  Separation  Law 85 

Bride  of  Christ,  The.     Paul  Carus. 449 

Bridges  and  Isles,  Figure  Tracing,  LTnicursal  Signatures,  Labyrinths.  Wm. 

F.  White 429 

Buddhist  Conception  of  Death,  The.     Soyen  Shaku 202 


IV  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

PAGE 

Burgess,   Dr.  O.   O.     A    Puzzling  Case.      (With   Comments  by   David   P. 

Abbott.)   43,  318 

Carruth,  W.  IT.     (Tr.)     Lutlier  on  Translation 465 

Cams,  Paul.  The  Bride  of  Christ,  440;  The  Charity  Ball,  122;  Tlie  Doll's 
Festival,  188;  Elisabet  Ney :  Obituary  Note,  637;  Eros  on  the  Ship 
of  Life,  245;  The  Fourth  Gospel.  With  Special  Reference  to  Dr. 
Moxom's  Article,  26Q;  Goethe  and  Criticism,  301  ;  Goethe's  Confession 
of  Faith,  472;  Goethe's  Nature  Philosophy,  227;  Goethe's  Polytheism 
and  Christianity,  435;  Goethe's  Soul  Conception,  745;  Ilamlct  the 
Hindu,  359;  How  To  Govern  the  Philippines,  629;  In  Comment  on 
Kampmeier's  "Pious  Fraud,"  185 ;  Justice,  Its  Nature  and  Actualiza- 
tion, 351;  Lawrence  ITcyworth  Mills.  189;  Man  a  Creator,  378;  Mod- 
ern Theology:  An  Explanation  and  Justification,  684;  A  New  System 
of  Notation  for  Violin  Music,  584;  Old  Symbols  in  a  New  Sense, 
573;  A  Pagan  Nun,  320;  Recent  Photographs  of  Simians,  169;  The 
Resurrection  and  Immortality,  198;  A  Retrospect  and  a  Prospect,  i; 
Schiller,  the  Dramatist,  330,  407 ;  St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria,  664, 
727;  Mr.  Sewallon  the  Personality  of  God,  506;  Socrates  a  Fore- 
runner of  Christianity,  523;  Soyen  Shaku  at  Kamakura,  123;  The 
Superpersonal  God,  765. 

Catch  Questions,  A  Few.    Wm.  F.  White 298 

Catharine,  St.,  of  Alexandria.     Paul  Cams 664,  727 

Charity   Ball,    The 122 

Checking  the  Solution  of  an  Equation.     Wm.  F.  White 364 

Christianity,  The  Hon.  P.  Ramanathan  on 381 

Christianity,  Socrates  a  Forerunner  of.     Paul  Cams 523 

Clement,  Ernest  W.     The  Boston  of  Feudal  Japan 485 

Climate,  The  Evolution  of.    Lawrence  H.  Daingerficld 641 

Conquest  of  River  and  Sea.     Edgar  Larkin 22 

Creation  Narrative  of  Genesis  i.  i-ii.     Franklin  N.  Jewett 481 

Daingerfield,  Lawrence  H.    The  Evolution  of  Climate 641 

De  Morgan,  Miss  Mary.     (Obituary.)    702 

Devil,  The.    F.  W.  Fitzpatrick 69 

Dodge,  Robert  M.     Did  Jesus  Predict  His  Resurrection?   193 

Doll's   Festival,   The 188 

Drury,  Belle  P.    Jacob  Boehme 757 

Emerson,  Edwin.  Aspiration   (Poem) 572 

"Emmanuel  Classes,"  The.     E.  T.  Brewster 557 

Eros  on  the  Ship  of  Life.     Paul  Cams 245 

Escott,  E.  B.     Geometric  Puzzles 502 

Eshleman,  Cyrus  H.    Ethical  Instruction.     (With  Editorial  Comment.)    ..  249 
Ethical  Instruction.     (With  Editorial  Comment.)     Cyrus  H.  Eshleman...  249 

Evalt,  Rev.  W.  B.    The  Pagan  Conception  of  Sin 763 

Evalt,  W.  B.    In  Answer  to.    Edwin  .\.  Rumball 764 

Fitzpatrick,  F.  W.     The  Devil 69 

Fourth  Dimension  by  Analogy,  A  Question  of.    Wm.  F.  White 297 

Fourth   Gospel,   The.     With   Reference   to   Dr.   Moxom's   Article.      Paul 

Cams 269 

France  on  the  Separation  Law.  The  Position  of.    M.  Briand 85 

France,  Some  Superstitions  of  Southern.    Lucien  Arreat 118 


INDEX.  V 

PAGE 

Freethinker  on  the  Religion  of  Science,  A.      (With  Editorial  Comment.) 

L.   L 492 

Fnkuzawa,  Yukichi.  The  Moral  Cofle  of.    Joseph  Lale 321 

Fuller,  Donald.     Wonderland   (  Poem ) 702 

Geometric  Puzzles.     E.   B.   Escott 502 

Geometric   Puzzles.     Wni.   F.   White 241 

Gile,  F.  H.     Ode  to  Hypocrisy   ( Poem) 635 

God  and  His  Immortals.     Lawrence  Heyworth  Mills ^^ 

God  and  His  Immortals :  Their  Counterparts.    Lawrence  Heyworth  Mills.  164 

God  Hypothetically  Conceived  as  More  than  Personal.   Lawrence  H.  Mills.  547 

God,  Mr.  Sewall  on  the  Personality  of.    Paul  Cams 506 

God,  The  Superpersonal.     Paul  Cams 765 

God,  What  is  ?     Orlando  J.   Smith 705 

Goethe  and  Criticism.     Paul  Cams 301 

Goethe's  Confession  of  Faith.     Paul  Cams 472 

Goethe's  Nature  Philosophy.     Paul  Cams 227 

Goethe's  Polytheism  and  Christianity.     Paul  Cams 435 

Goethe's  Soul  Conception.     Paul  Cams 745 

Haeckel,  A  Visit  With  Professor.     Paul  Cams 615 

Half  Hours  With  Mediums.     David  P.  Abbott 92,  129 

Hamlet,  the  Hindu.     Paul  Cams 359 

Hearn,  Lafcadio,  Japanese  Panmalaya  Suggested  by.     Poultncy  P>igelow. .  624 

Immortality,  The  Resurrection  and.     Paul  Cams 198 

Jacob,  Son  of  Aaron.    The  Messianic  Hope  of  the  Samaritans.     With  In- 
troduction by  Wm.  E.  Barton 272 

Japan,  The  Boston  of  Feudal.     Ernest  W.  Clement 485 

Japanese  Panmalaya  Suggested  by  Lafcadio  Hearn  and  Formosa.     Poult- 

ney  Bigelow 624 

Jesus :  A  Symbol.    Edwin  A.  Rumball 372 

Jesus  Predict  His  Resurrection  ?  Did.     Robert  M.  Dodge 193 

Jesus's  View  of  Himself  in  the  Fourth  Gospel.     Philip  Stafford  Moxom. .  .  257 
Jewett,  Franklin  N.     Questions  from  the  Pew :  The  Bethlehem  Prophecy, 
238;  The  Last  Judgment,  370;  Paul's  Doctrine  of  Faith  from  the  Old 
Testament,  420;  The  Creation  Narrative  of  Genesis  i.  i-ii,  481;  The 
Place  for  Sacrificing,  564. 

Judas,  Was  He  a  Traitor  ?    Joseph  C.  Allen 688 

Justice,  Its  Nature  and  Actualization.     Paul  Cams 351 

Justice,  Law  and.     C.  A.  F.  Lindorme 345 

Kampmeier,  A.     "Pious  Fraud."    S3 

Kampmeier,  A.     Remarks  on  "Luther  on  Translation."   574 

Kassel,  Charles.    Ancient  Mysticism  and  Recent  Science 385 

Lale,  Joseph.    The  Moral  Code  of  Yukichi  Fukuzawa 321 

Larkin,  Edgar  L.    Conquest  of  River  and  Sea 22 

Last  Judgment,  The.     Franklin  N.  Jewett 370 

Law  and  Justice.    C.  A.  F.  Lindorme 345 

Law  of  Commutation.     Wm.  F.  White 297 

Lewis,  Benson  M.     How  Joseph  Smith  Succeeded 498 

Lindorme,  C.  A.  F.     Law  and  Justice 345 

Loyson,  Hyacinthe.     "A  Retrospect  and  a  Prospect."   188;  The  Syllabus 
of  Pope  Pius  X,  699,  766. 


VI  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

PACE 

Luther  on  Translation.    Tr.  by  W.  H.  Carruth 465 

"Luther  on  Translation,"  Remarks  on.    A.  Kampmeier 574 

Man  a  Creator.     Paul  Carus 378 

Marquis,  Don.     The  Nobler  Lesson  (Poem)  249;  Prophets,  320. 

^Mathematical  Reasoning.  The  Nature  of.     William  F.  White 65 

Mathematics,  Alice  in  the  Wonderland  of.     William  F.  White 11 

Mathematics,  In  the  Mazes  of:  A  Series  of  Perplexing  Questions.     Wm. 

F.  White,  176,  241,  297,  298,  364,  365,  428,  429. 

Mediums,  Half  Hours  with.     David  P.  Abbott 92.  129 

Messianic  Hope  of  the   Samaritans,  The.     Jacob,   Son   of  Aaron,   Higli 

Priest  of  the  Samaritans.    With  Introduction  by  Wm.  E  Barton 272 

Mills,  Lawrence  Heyworth 189 

Mills,   Lawrence  H.     Avesta   is   Veda ;    The    Inscriptional    Deva   is    Not 

Demon,  376;  God  and  His  Immortals,  S3',  God  and  His  Immortals: 

Their    Counterparts,    164;    God    Hypothetically    Conceived    as    More 

than  Personal,  547. 

Moral  Code  of  Yukichi  Fukuzawa,  The.     Joseph  Lale 321 

Moxom,  Philip  Stafford.    Jcsus's  View  of  Himself  in  the  Fourth  Gospel..  257 

Mysticism,   Science   Superior  to.     T.   T.   Blaise 568 

Nature  of  Mathematical  Reasoning.     William  F.  White 65 

Ne}',  Elisabet :  Obituary  Note 637 

Ney,  Elisabet,  Sculptor.     Bride  Neill  Taylor 592 

Nobler  Lesson,  The.     (Poem.)     Don  Marquis 249 

Ode  to  Hypocrisy  ( Poem) .     F.  H.  Gile 635 

Old  Symbols  in  a  New  Sense.     Paul  Carus^^ 573 

Oriental  Sages  ( Poem) .     M.  H.  Simpson 762 

Pagan  Nun,  A 320 

Parker,  Wm.  Thornton.     Tlic  Anglican  Catliolic  Communion,  636;  The 

Swastika:  A  Prophetic  Symbol,  539. 
Paul's  Doctrine  of  Faith  from  the  Old  Testament.     Franklin  N.  Jewett...  420 

Perchance.     Amos  B.  Bishop 752 

Philippines,  How  to  Govern  the.     Paul  Carus 629 

Philosophy  of  Socrates,  On  the.    James  Bissett  Pratt 5^3 

"Pious  Fraud."     A.  Kampmeier 53 

Pious  Fraud,  In  Extenuation  of.     C.   B.  Wilmer,  Joseph   C.   Allen,  and 

Paul   Carus I79.   182,    185 

Pius  X,  The   Syllabus  of 577 

Pius  X,  The  Syllabus  of.     1  lyacinthe  Loyson 699,  766 

Pratt,  James  Bissett.     On  the  Philosophy  of  Socrates 513 

Problems  of  Antiquity,  The  Three.     Wm.  F.  White 298 

Prophets.     Don  Marquis 320 

"Puzzling  Case,  A."    O.  O.  Burgess 318 

Puzzling  Case,  A.    O.  O.  Burgess,  Commented  upon  l)y  David.  P.  Abbott.     43 

Questions  from  the  Pew.    Franklin  N.  Jewett 238,  370,  420,  481,  564 

Ramanathan,   P.,  on  Christianity 381 

Religion  of  Science,  A  Freethinker  on.     (With  Editorial  Comment.)....  492 

Resurrection  and  Immortality,  The.     Paul  Carus 198 

Resurrection,  Did  Jesus  Predict  His?    Robert  M.  Dodge.  .". I93 

Retrospect  and  a  Prospect.     Paul  Cams i 

"Retrospect  and  a  Prospect."    Hyacinthe  Loyson 188 


INDEX.  Vll 

PAGE 

Rumbal],  Edwin  A.    Jesus:  A  Symbol,  372;  In  Answer  to  Mr.  Evalt,  764; 
Sin  in  the  Upanishads,  609. 

Sacrificing,  The  Place  for.     Franklin  N.  Jewett 564 

St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria.     Paul  Cams 664,  727 

Samaritan   Messiah,   The.      Further    Comments   of   the    Samaritan    High 

Priest.     William  E.   Barton 528 

Schiller,  the  Dramatist.     Paul  Cams 330,  407 

Science  Superior  to  Mysticism.     T.  T.  Blaise 568 

Separation  Law,  The  Position  of  France  on  the.     M.  Briand 85 

Seven  Gods  of  Bliss.     Teitaro   Suzuki .  397 

Sewall  on  the  Personality  of  God.     Paul  Carus 506 

Shaku,  Soyen.    The  Buddhist  Conception  of  Death 202 

Simians,  Recent  Photographs  of.     Paul  Carus i6g 

Simpson,  M.  H.     Oriental  Sages    ( Poem) 762 

Sin  in  the  Upanishads.     Edwin  A.  Rumball 609 

Sin,  The  Pagan  Conception  of.    W.  B.  Evalt 763 

Smith,  Joseph,  How  he  Succeeded.     Benson  M.  Lewis 498 

Smith,  Orlando  J.     What  is  God  ?    70S 

Socrates  a  Forerunner  of  Christianity.     Paul  Carus 523 

Socrates,  On  the  Philosophy  of.     James  Bissett  Pratt 513 

Soyen   Shaku  at  Kamakura 123 

Spectacles,  The  History  of.     Carl  Barck 206 

Spinoza   (Poem).     J.  H.  Berkowitz 511 

Spirit  Portraiture.     C.  W.  Bennett  (with  Reply  by  David  P.  Abbott)....   306 

Spiritualist's  View,  A.     S.  R.  H.  Biggs 318 

Superstitions  of  Southern  France,  Some.     Lucien  Arreat 118 

Suzuki,  Teitaro.     The  Seven  Gods  of  Bliss 397 

Swastika,  The :  A  Prophetic  Symbol.     William  Thornton  Parker 539 

Taylor,  Bride  Neill.     Elisabet  Ney,  Sculptor 592 

Theology,  A  Criticism  of  Modern.     Hermon  F.  Bell 678 

Theology,  Modern :  An  Explanation  and  Justification.     Paul  Carus 684 

Upanishads,  Sin  in  the.     Edwin  A.  Rumball 609 

Violin  Music,  A  New  System  of  Notation  for.     Paul  Carus 584 

Visit  With  Professor  Haeckel,  A 615 

White,  Wm.  F.  Alice  in  Wonderland,  11;  Nature  of  Mathematical  Rea- 
soning, 65 ;  In  the  Mazes  of  Mathematics ;  A  Series  of  Perplexing 
Questions:  Axioms  in  Elementary  Algebra,  176;  Do  Axioms  Apply 
to  Equations?  176;  Geometric  Puzzles,  241;  A  Question  of  Fourth 
Dimension  by  Analogy,  297 ;  Law  of  Commutation,  297 ;  A  Few 
Catch  Questions,  298;  The  Three  Famous  Problems  of  Antiquity,  298; 
Checking  the  Solution  of  an  Equation,  364;  Algebraic  Fallacies,  365; 
Autographs  of  INIathematicians,  428;  Bridges  and  Isles,  Figure  Tra- 
cing, Unicursal  Signatures,  Labyrinths,  429. 
Wilmer,  C.  B.  A  Protest.  Comments  on  Kampmeier's  "Pious  Fraud,".  .  179 
Wonderland   ( Poem) .     Donald  Fuller 702 


VIll  THE  OPEN   COURT, 

BOOK  REVIEWS  AN'D  NOTES. 

PAGB 

Alston,  Leonard.     Stoic  and  Christian  in  tlie  Second  Century 128 

Alviclla,  Comte  Goblet  d'.     A  travers  le  Far-West 446 

Ashley,  W.  J.    Tlie  Progress  of  the  German  Working  Classes  in  the  Last 

Quarter  of  a   Century 511 

Honucci,  Alessandro.    La  derogahilita  del  diritto  naturale  nella  scolastica.    62 
Brown,   Hiram   Chellis.     The   Historical    Bases   of   Religions,    Primitive, 

Babylonian   and   Jewish 192 

Chamberlain.  Leander.    The  True  Doctrine  of  Prayer 63 

Clement,  Ernest  W.    Hildrcth's  Japan  as  It  Was  and  Is 447 

Cocnohium 703 

Conway.  Moncurc  I).    My  Pilgrimage  to  the  Wise  Men  of  the  East 447 

Errara,  L.    Una  legon  elementaire  sur  le  darwinisme 62 

Foster,  George  Burman.    The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion 60 

Freimark,  Hans.     Helena  Petrovna  Blavatsky 575 

Garman,  Charles  Edward,   Former   Students  of.     .Studies   in   Philosophy 

and   Psychology 638 

Gasc-Desfosses,  Ed.     Magnetismc  vital 512 

Gaultier.  Paul.    Lc  sens  de  I'art 255 

Gould.  F.  J.    The  Children's  Book  of  Moral  Lessons 512 

Gulick,  John  T.     Evolution :  Racial  and  Habitudinal 61 

Harrison,  Frederic.     Memories  and  Thoughts 251 

Hillicr,  Sir  Walter.    The  Chinese  Language  and  How  to  Learn  It 637 

Hird,  Dennis.     An  Easy  Outline  of  Evolution,  575;  A  Picture  Book  of 

Evolution,  236. 

HofFding,  Harald.     The  Philosophy  of  Religion 638 

Howard,  Burt  Estes.     The  German  Empire 256 

James,  Henry.     Morality  and  the  Perfect  Life 255 

Jennings,  H.  S.     Behavior  of  the  Lower  Organisms,  62 ;  Contributions  to 

the  Study  of  the  Behavior  of  Lower  Organisms 61 

Jeremias,  A.,  and  Hugo  Winckler.     (Her.)     Im  Kampfe  um  den  alten 

Orient 576 

Johnson,  Edith  Henry.    The  Argument  of  Aristotle's  Metaphysics 512 

Jordan,  Louis  Henry.  Comparative  Religion :  Its  Genesis  and  Growth.  .  .   127 

Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 64 

Klein.  Carl  H.  von.    The  Medical  Features  of  the  Papyrus  Ebers 61 

Leonard,  William  Ellery.     Sonnets  and  Poems 444 

Logan,  J.  D.     The  Religious  Function  of  Comedy 576 

Lyon,  Georges.     Enseignemcnt  et  religion 704 

MacCunn,  John.     Si.\  Radical  Thinkers 575 

Martin,  Martha.     Nature  Lyrics  and  Other  Poems 445 

Miles,  Eustace.    Life  After  Death :  or  the  Theory  of  Reincarnation 384 

Monahan.  Michael.     Bcnigna  Vena:  Essays.  Literary  and  Personal 125 

Miinsterberg.  Hugo.     Harvard  Psychological  Studies 191 

Xanatiloka,  Bhikkhu.     Das  Wort  des  Buddha 320 

Narasu,  P.  Lakshmi.     The  Essence  of  Buddhism 768 

Ncwlandsmith,  Ernest.    7'he  Temple  of  Love 575 

Old  Roof  Tree,  The 448 

Pdciderer,  Otto.     Religion  and  Historic  Faiths 703 


INDEX.  IX 

PAGB 

Pfungst,  Arthur.     Poems IQI 

Politisch-Autliropologische  Rcvnc 320 

Robbins,  Reginald  C     Poems  of  Personality 63 

Rogers,  A.  K.    The  Religious  Conception  of  the  World 638 

Sidney,  Philip.     The  Truth  About  Jesus  of  Nazareth 123 

Smith,  Goldwin.     In   Quest  of  Light 126 

Sociological  Papers 640 

Sterrett,  J.  Macbride.     The  Freedom  of  Authority 125 

Stickney,  Albert.     Organized  Democracy 190 

Thorndike,   Lynn.      The    Place   of   Magic    in    the    Intellectual    Plistory   of 

Europe 576 

Vivian,  Philip.    The  Churches  and  Modern  Thought 447 

Vorlander,  Karl.     Kant,  Schiller,  Goethe 192 

Webster's   International   Dictionary 384 

Ziegler,  J.  H.     Die  wahre  Einheit  von  Religion  und  Wissenschaft 59 


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Eros  and 
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A  Fairy  Tale  of 
Ancient  Greece. 

Retold  After  Apu- 
leius.  By  Dr.  Paul 
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Essay  on  the  Creative 
Imagination.  By  Prof.  Th. 

Kibot.  Translated  from  the 
French  by  A.  H.  N.  Baron,  Fel- 
low in  Clark  University.  1906. 
Cloth,  e:ilt  top.  Pp.  357.  $1.75 
net.     (7s.  6d.  net.) 

Imagination  is  not  the  possession 
only  of  the  inspired  few,  but  i?  a  func- 
tion of  the  mind  common  to  all  men  in 
some  degree ;  and  mankind  has  displayed 
as  much  imagination  in  practical  life  as 
in  its  more  emotional  phases — in  mech- 
anical, military,  industrial,  and  commer- 
cial inventions,  in  religious,  and  political 
institutions  as  well  as  in  the  sculpture, 
painting,  poetry  and  song.  This  is 
the  central  thought  in  the  new  book  of 
Th.  Ribot,  the  well-known  psychologist, 
modestly  entitled  An  Essay  on  the 
Creative  Imagination. 

It  is  a  classical  exposition  of  a  branch 
of  psychology  which  has  often  been  dis- 
cussed, but  perhaps  never  before  in  a 
thoroughly  scientific  manner.     Although 

the  purely  reproductive  imagination  has  been  studied  with  considerable  enthusiasm  from 
time  to  time,  the  creative  or  constructive  variety  has  been  generally  neglected  and  is 
popularly  supposed  to  be  confined  within  the  limits  of  esthetic  creation. 

"Ur  CnilClren.  Hints  from  Practical  Experience  for  Parents  and 
Teachers.     By  Paul  Carus.     Pp.207.     $1.00  net.      (4s.6d.net.) 

In  the  little  book  Our  Children,  Paul  Carus  offers  a  unique  contribution  to  peda- 
gogical literature.  Without  any  theoretical  pretensions  it  is  a  strong  defense  for  the 
rights  of  the  child,  dealing  with  the  responsibilities  of  parenthood,  and  with  the  first 
inculcation  of  fundamental  ethics  in  the  child  mind  and  the  true  principles  of  correc- 
tion and  guidance.  Each  detail  is  forcefully  illustrated  by  informal  incidents  from  the 
author's  experience  with  his  own  children,  and  his  suggestions  will  prove  of  the  greatest 
possible  value  to  young  mothers  and  kindergartners.  Hints  as  to  the  first  acquaintance 
with  all  branches  of  knowledge  are  touched  upon — mathematics,  natural  sciences,  for- 
eign languages,  etc. — and  practical  wisdom  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  money, 
hygiene,  and  similar  problems. 

Yin  Cllill  Wen,  The  Tract  of  the  Quiet  Way.  With  Extracts  from 
the  Chinese  commentary.  Translated  by  Teitaro  Suzuki  and  Dr.  Paul 
Carus.     1906.     Pp.  48.     25c  net. 

This  is  a  collection  of  moral  injunctions  which,  among  the  Chinese  is  second 
perhaps  only  to  the  Kan-Ying  P'ien  in  popularity,  and  yet  so  far  as  is  known  to  the 
publishers  this  is  the  first  translation  that  has  been  made  into  any  Occidental  language. 
It  is  now  issued  as  a  companion  to  the  T'ai-Shang  Kan-Ying  P'ien,  although  it  does 
not  contain  either  a  facsimile  of  the  text  or  its  verbatim  translation.  The  original 
consists  of  the  short  tract  itself  which  is  here  presented,  of  glosses  added  by  commen- 
tators, which  form  a  larger  part  of  the  book,  and  finally  a  number  of  stories  similar 
to  those  appended  to  the  Kan-Ying  P'ien,  which  last,  however,  it  has  not  seemed  worth 
while  to  include  in  this  version.  The  translator's  notes  are  of  value  in  justifying  cer- 
tain readings  and  explaining  allusions,  and  the  book  is  provided  with  an  index.  The 
frontispiece,  an  artistic  outline  drawing  by  Shen  Chin-Ching,  represents  Wen  Ch'ang, 
one  of  the  highest  divinities  of  China,  revealing  himself  to  the  author  of  the  tract. 

The  motive  of  the  tract  is  that  of  practical  morality.  The  maxims  give  definite 
instructions  in  regard  to  details  of  man's  relation  to  society,  besides  more  general  com- 
mands of  universal  ethical  significance,  such  as  "Live  in  concord,"  "Forgive  malice,"  and 
"Do  not  assert  with  your  mouth  what  your  heart  denies." 


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Aristotle  on  His  Prede- 
cessors. Being  the  first  book 
of  his  metaph3'sics.  Translated 
from  the  text  of  Christ,  with  intro- 
duction and  notes.  By  A.  E. 
Taylor,  M.  A.,  Fellow  of  Merton 
College,  Oxford;  Frothingham 
Professor  of  Philosophy  in  Mc- 
Gill  University,  Montreal.  Pp. 
160.  Cloth,  75c  net.  Paper,  35c 
postpaid. 
This  book  will  be  welcome  to  all 
teachers  of  philosophy,  for  it  is  a  transla- 
tion made  by  a  competent  hand  of  the 
most  important  essay  on  the  history  of 
Greek  thought  down  to  Aristotle,  written 
by  Aristotle  himself.  The  original  served 
this  great  master  with  his  unprecedented 
encyclopedic  knowledge  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  his  Metaphysics;  but  it  is  quite 
apart  from  the  rest  of  that  work,  forming 
an  independentessayinitself,  and  will  re- 
main forever  the  main  source  ofourinfor- 
mation  on  the  predecessors  of  Aristotle. 
Considering  the  importance  of  the  book,  it  is  strange  that  no  translation  of  it  appears 
to  have  been  made  since  the    publication  of  that  by  Bekker  in  1831. 

The  present  translation  has  been  made  from  the  latest  and  most  critical  Greek  text 
available,  the  second  edition  of  W.  Christ,  and  pains  have  been  taken  not  only  to  repro- 
duce it  in  readable  English,  but  also  to  indicate  the  exact  way  in  which  the  translator 
understands  every  word  and  clause  of  the  Greek.  He  has  further  noted  all  the  im- 
portant divergencies  between  the  readings  of  Christ's  text  and  the  editions  of  Zellar 
and  Bonitz,  the  two  chief  modern  German  exponents  of  Aristotelianism. 

Not  the  least  advantage  of  the  present  translation  is  the  incorporation  of  the  trans- 
lator's own  work  and  thought.  He  has  done  his  best,  within  the  limited  space  he  has 
allowed  himself  for  explanations,  to  provide  the  student  with  ample  means  of  iudging 
for  ^himself  in  the  light  of  the  most  recent  researches  in  Greek  philosophical  literature, 
the  value  of  Aristotle's  account  of  previous  thought  as  a  piece  of  historical  criticism. 

Babel  and  Bible*     Three  Lectures  on  the  Significance  of  Assyrio- 
logical  Research  for  Religion,  Embodying  the  most  important  Criticisms 
and  the  Author's  Replies.    By  Dr.  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  Professor  of  Assyr- 
iology  in  the  University  of  Berlin.     Translated  from  the  German.     Pro- 
fusely illustrated.     1906.     Pp.  xv,  240.     $1.00  net. 
A  new  edition  of  "Babel  and  Bible,"  comprising  the  first,  second  and  third  lectures 
by  Dr.  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  complete  with  discussions  and  the  author's  replies,  has  been 
published  by  The  Open  Court   Publishing  Company,  making  a  stately  volume  of  25.S 
pages. ^ ^^ ^ ^ _^_ 

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Spinoza 
and  Religion 

By 

Elmer  Ellsworth  Powell 

Professor  of  Philosophy  in  Miami 
University 


This  book  is  accurately  described  on  the  title  page  as  "  a 
study  of  Spinoza's  metaphysics  and  of  his  particular  utter- 
ances in  regard  to  religion,  with  a  view  to  determining  the 
significance  of  his  thought  for  religion  and  incidentally 
his  personal  attitude  toward  it." 


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*•  Professor  Powell  has  produced  an  exceedingly  able  and  authoritative 
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Spinoza's  real  attitude  to  God  and  to  religion.  And  those  who  read  it  will  obtain 
incidentally  the  benefit  of  a  clear  and  consistent  presentation  of  the  whole  philo- 
sophic system  of  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  understand  of  all  the  great  thinkers 
of  European  history." — The  Glasgow  Herald. 


"It  is  a  particularly  illuminating  exposition  of  the  whole  subject  that  is  here 
given  by  Professor  Powell  ....  A  book  of  uncommon  intelligence,  acumen 
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sition, and  his  work  is  likely  to  affect  current  opinion  as  to  the  general  position 
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by  every  student  of  philosophy  and  religion,  and  phould  be  specially  studied  by 
those  who  claim  that  Spinoza  is  specifically  a  Jewish  philosopher." — The  Avier- 
ican  Hebrew.  

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NEW     SHAKESPE,ARE.ANA 

A  Quarterly  Review  devoted  to  the  Higher  Criticism  of  Shakes- 
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"  Diese  neue  Shakespeare-Zeitschrift  ist  sehr  willkommen  " — Jahrbuch  der  Deutschen  Shakes- 
peare Gesellschaft,  igo2. 

"Coming  from  so  dignified  and  notable  a  source  as  The  New  York  Shakespeare  Society,  'New 
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York  Dramatic  Mirror,  October  12,  1901. 

^' New  Shakespeareana  appeals  strongly  to  all  Shakespearean  students." — Notes  and  Queries 
(London)  November  12th,  1904. 

THE  SHAKESPEARE  PRESS,  Publishers 

WESTFIELD,  UNION  COUNTY  NEW  JERSEY,  U.  S.  A. 

The  Bankside  Shakespeare 

The  Comedies,  Histories  and  Tragedies  of  Mr.  William  Shakespeare  as  presented  at  the 
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A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  President  of  the  New  York  Shakespeare  Society.  Twenty  one  volumes  de  luxe. 
Price  One  Hundred  Dollars.  With  the  Bankside  Restoration  Series — [ten  plays  rewritten  during 
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serving the  right  to  advance  these  prices  at  any  time. 

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Bankside  Shakespeare  under  the  general  editorship  of  Dr.  Appleton  Morgan,  each  in  a  separate 
volume  prefixed  by  a  critical  essay  from  the  pen  of  a  Shakespearean  scholar  of  repute." — The 
Life  of  Shakespeare  (^Library  Edition).     By  Sidney  Lee,  page  268. 

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Address  all  Correspondence  and  Remittances  to 

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(Printers  to  the  New  York  Shakespeare  Society) 
WESTFIELD,  NEW  JERSEY,  U.  S.  A. 


PLANT  BREEDING 

Comments  on  the  Experiments  of 

NiLSSON   AND  BURBANK 

BY 

Hugo   De  Vries,   Professor  of  Botany  in    the  University   of  Amsterdam 


A  scientific  book  in  simple  language.     Intensely  interesting  as  well  as  instructive.     Of 
special  value  to  every  botanist,  horticulturist  and  farmer. 

Pp.  XV  +  360.     Illustrated  with  114  beautiful  half  tone  plates  from  nature.     Printed  on 
fine  paper,  in  large  type.     Cloth,  gilt  top.     Price,  $1.50  net.     Mailed,  $1.70. 

Supplied  by  your  dealer;  or  direct,  on  receipt  of  your  order  with  the  mailing  price . 


"  Naturally  I  have  perused  the  contents  of  your  book, 
Plant  Breeding,  v^ith  intense  interest.  Therefore  I  first  of 
all  beg  you  to  accept  my  heartfelt  thanks  for  the  exceedingly 
appreciative  and  sympathetic  representation  of  the  work  of 
our  institution  here,  and  indeed  of  my  own  part  therein. 
Next  I  must  congratulate  you  most  cordially  upon  the  excel- 
lent service  you  have  performed  in  this  standard  work.  It  is 
simply  marvelous  !  The  clear,  concise  presentation,  the  con- 
sistent, sustained  treatment  of  the  whole  history  of  selection  in 
agricultural  plants  according  to  your  modern  theory  which 
now,  at  last,  makes  everything  clear,  the  masterful  disposition 
of  the  rich  and  manifold  material — all  unite  to  make  this  book 
decidedly  the  best  which  has  been  accomplished  along  this 
line  up  to  now." 

Extrcut  from  a   letter  to  Professor  De  I  'rics  by  Dr.   Hjahnar  Nihson  of  the 
Swedish  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  at  Svalof. 


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Behind  the  Scenes  with  the  Mediums 

By  DAVID  P.  ABBOTT 

328  Pa^es,  Cloth,  Gilt  Top  -         -         -  Price,  $1.30  net 

TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 


I.  Introduction. 

II.  Washington  Irvingr  Bishop's  Sealed  Letter 
Reading  in  a  New  Dress. 

III.  Test  where  a  Trick  Envelope  with  a  Double 
Front  is  Used. 

IV.  Test  where  the  Medium  Secretly  Filches  a 
Letter  from  the  Pocket  of  the  Sitter. 

V.  The  Mystic  Oracle  of  the  Swinging  Pendulums, 
or  Mind  Over  Matter.— A  Rapping  Hand.— 
Light  and  Heavy  Chest. 

VI.  Tests  Given  in  a  Large  Store  Room  with  Cur- 
tains for  Partitions,  Using  Telegraphy,  etc. 

VII.  A  Billet  Test,  Using  a  Trick  Envelope— A  Spirit 
^Message  Written  on  a  Slate,  in  the  Sitter's 
Presence. 

VIII.  Flower  Materialization. 

IX.  The  Dark  Seance. — A  Deceptive  Grip.—  Mental 
Tests.— Spirit  Voices,  Taps  and  Lights. 

X.  Materialization.  —  Preparation  of  Luminous 
Costumes,  Method  of  Presentation,  etc. 

XI.  Tests  Given  in  a  Room  in  a  Hotel.— Slate- 
Writing  on  Slates  Selected,  Cleaned,  and  Held 
by  Sitter— Test  Wherein  the  Sitter's  Own  Slates 
are  Used.— Billet  Work  in  Connection  There- 
with.—The  Prepared  Table. 

XII.  Reading  Sealed  Billets  before  a  Company  in  a 
Room  in  which  Absolute  Darkness  Reigns. 


Mediumistic  Readings  of  Sealed  Writings. 

I.  Introduction. 

II.  Preparation  of  the  Writings. 

III.  Reading  the  Writings.— Production  of  a  Spirit 
Message. 

IV.  The  Secrets  Explained.— Slate  Trick  Requiring 
a  Special  Chair. 

Spirit  Slate  Writing  and  Billet  Tests. 

I.  Introduction. 

II.  Message  Produced  on  One  of  a  Stack  of  Slates, 
First  Method.— Method  Using  a  Rug  or  News- 
paper. 

III.  Message  on  One  of  a  Stack  of  Slates.  Second 
Method.— How  to  Pass  the  Slates  from  One 
Hand  to  the  Other. 

IV.  Message  Produced  When  but  Two  Examined 
Slates  are  Used.— Some  Expert  Maneuvering 
and  the  Importance  of  the  "Pass." 

V.  Message  Produced  on  One  of  Two  Slates 
Selected  from  a  Stack,  Third  Method,  where 
the  "Pass"  and  Some  Expert  Maneuvering  are 
Introduced.— Production  of  a  Message  Written 
with  a  Gold  Ring  Belonging  to  the  Sitter. 

VI.  To  Secretly  Read  a  Question  Written  on  a  Slate 
by  a  Sitter,  when  a  Stack  of  Slates  is  Used.— 
How  to  Secretly  Obtain  a  Confession  or  Ques- 
tion Written  on  Paper  and  Sealed  by  the  Sitter, 
when  a  Stack  of  Slates  is  Used. 


VII.  Message  Produced  on  a  Slate  Cleaned  and  held 
under  a  Table  by  a  Sitter. 

VIII.  Slate  Trick  Requiring  Three  Slates  and  a  Flap. 
—The  Same  Used  as  a  Conjuring  Trick.  Pre- 
paration of  the  Slates. 

IX.  Slate  Trick  Requiring  a  Double-Hinged  Slate 
and  a  Flap. 

X.  Independent  Paper  Writing.— Two  Slates  and 
a  Silicate  Flap  Used. 

XL  Slate  Trick  with  a  Single  Slate  and  a  Flap, 
which  is  suitable  for  Platform  Production.  — 
Methods  of  Forcing  the  Selection  of  a  Certain 
Word.  Methods  of  Forcing  the  Selection  of  a 
Sum  of  Figures.— The  Same  Trick  where  Two 
Slates  are  Used.  —  The  Same  When  Three 
Slates  are  Used,  and  a  Spoken  Question 
Answered,  with  Words  in  Colored  Writing. 

XII.  Methods  of  Obtaining  a  Secret  Impression  of 
the  Writing  of  a  Sitter.— A  Store-Room  Read- 
ing where  this  is  Used.— A  Test  Using  a  Pre- 
pared Book.  — How  to  Switch  a  Question.— 
Tricks  Depending  on  this  Principle.— Tests 
Given  by  Various  Chicago  Mediums.— Reading 
a  Message  by  Pressing  it  on  a  Skull  Cap  Worn 
by  Medium. 

XIII.  Tricks  Where  the  Sitter  Brings  His  Own 
Slates.— Various  Traps.— Psychometric  Tests. 
—Message  on  Slates  Wrapped  in  the  Original 
Paper  in  which  they  were  Purchased — Other 
Messages. 

XIV.  Message  on  a  Sitter's  Slate  Produced  by  a 
Rubber  Stamp.  —  Message  Produced  by  an 
Adroit  Exchange  of  .Slates. — Chemical  Tricks. 
Other  Methods. — Means  of  Securing  Informa- 
tion. 

Some  Modern  Sorcery. 

I.  Presentation  of  the  Tests. 

II.  Explanation  of  the  Secrets. 

III.  The  Same  as  Adapted  to  Work  in  a  Double 
Parlor. 

IV.  The  Use  of  the  Carte  Servanie  and  Blackboard. 

Some  Unusual  Mediumistic  Phenomena. 

Some  Strange  and  Unusual  Tests  with  an  Explana- 
tion. 

Materialization 

Additional  Information. 

Relation  of  Mediumship  to  Palmistry,  Astrology 
and  Fortune-Telling. 

Tests  in  Connection  with   the  Reproduction  of  the 
Sitter's  Palm. 
Performances  of  the  Annie  Eva  Fay  Type. 

Questions  Written  and  Retained  by  the  Spectators 
Answered  by  a  Blindfolded  Lady  on  the  Stage. 

Vest-Turning. 

Method  Explained. 

An  Improved  Billet  Test. 

Reading  Billets  for  an  Assembled  Company. 

Appendix;  Correspondence  With   Inquirers 
Through  "The  Open  Court." 

Mediumistic  Seances. 
A  Puzzling  Case. 
Spirit  Portraiture. 


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THE  JOURNAL  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

PSYCHOLOGY   AND   SCIENTIFIC    METHODS 

There  is  no  simihir  journal  in  the  field  of  scientific  philosophy.  It  is  issued  fortnightly  and  permits 
the  quick  publication  of  short  contributions,  prompt  reviews  and  timely  discussions.  The  contents 
of  recent  numbers  include  : 

A  Review  of  Pragmatism  as  a  Theory  of  Knowledge. — Ralph  Jiarton  Perry. 
A  Keview  of  Pragmatism  as  a  Philosophical  (>eneralization. — Ralph  B .  Perry. 
Contemporary  Realism  and  the  Problems  of  Perception. —  W.P.  Montague. 
The  Exaggeration  of  the  Social. —  Warner  Pile. 
Section  of  Anthropology  and  Psychology  of  the  New  York  Academy 

of  Sciences. — R.  S.   \\'ood7vorth. 
The  Pragmatic  Value  of  the  Absolute.  —  William  Ada7ns  Brown. 
Professor  Pratt  on  Truth. —  Willia»t  James. 

Prolegomena  to  a  Tentative  Realism. — Evander  Bradley  McGilvary. 
The  Psychology  of  the  Learning  Process. — Liici'nda  Pearl  Boggs. 
Snap  Shot  of  a  Hunt  for  a  Lost  ^ame.^Thotfias  P.  Bailey. 
Calkins's  The  Persistent  Problems  of  Philosophy. — W.  C.  Armslrofig. 
Parsons's  The  Family,  Bosanquet's  The  Family,  and  Smith  on  The  Japanese 

Code  and  The  Japanese  Family. — Mary  L.  Bush. 
Talbot's  The  Fundamental  Principle  of  Fichte's  Philosophy. —  W.  H.  Sheldon. 
Shearman's  The  Development  of  Symbolic  Logic. —  Walter  T.  Marz'iji. 
Sorley  on  Ethical  Aspects  of  Economics.— /*(?;ry  Hughes. 
Pratt's  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief. — P\  C.  French. 
Duncan's  The  New  Knowledge.  —  C.  R.  A/ann. 

TBE  JOURNAL  OF  PHILOSOPHY,  PSYCHOLOGY  &  SCIENTIFIC  METHODS 

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A   CHARMING   CHRISTMAS   GIFT! 

PALMS  OF  PAPYRUS: 

Being  Forthright  Studies  of  Men  and  Books,  with  some  pages  from  a   Man's  Inner  Life 

By  MICHAEL  MONAHAN 

Aulhor  of  Benignti  Vena,  etc. 

THE     BEST    AND     MOST    CHARACTERISTIC    COLLECriON    OF    HIS    WRITINGS 
WHICH     THE     AUTHOR     HAS     THUS      FAR      BEEN      ENABLED     TO     MAKE 

PALMS   OF   PAPYRUS  is  printed  from  a  new  and  handsome  font  of  eleven-point  type,  on  a  fine  English 

deckle-edge  paper,  with  Delia  Robbia  initials,  original  ornaments,  etc.      The  binding  is  both 

durable  and  artistic,  of  half  leather  and  boards,  heavily  stamped  in  gold. 

Richard  Lt  Galliinnt — I  admire  your  literary  articles  Wm.  Marian  Reeiiv(.in  the  St.  I.ouit  Mirror) — Michael 

immensely.     They  have  a  real  touch,  and  arc  full  of  life  .Monahan,  ot  the  PAPYRUS,  writes  the  choicest,  best  fla- 

and  brilliancy.  vored,  classical  English  I  know  of  in  contemporary  Ameri- 

Jamt!  HuntkiT — I   envy  you  your  magazine — it  is  a  can  letters, 

pulpit  which  you  possess  entirely  and  fill  admirably,  O  dc-  Leanard  D.  yHthott  (associate  editor   Currtnt   Liitra- 

Icctable  preacher.  lure)  —  You  have  helped  me  to  an  understanding   of  the 

Jack  London— I   have  enjoyed  the    PAPYRUS    very  larger  things, 

much.     I  like  a  free,  bold  utterance,  even  if  1  do  not  agree  Putnam' s  Monthly — There  is  sun,  wind    and    rain  in 

with  the  whole  of  it.  Michael  Monahan's  whimsical  fancies. 

The  edition  to  be  STRICTLY  J  750  copics  English  decfcle-edge  paper,  price S2.00 

LIMITED  as  follows:       \     75  copics  Japan  Vellum,  price 5.00 

NOTICE—  PALMS  OF   PAPYRUS  will  be  ready  for  delivery  (God  and  the  printer  permitting)  early  in  December. 
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THE   PAPYRUS      -     -     -       East  Orange,   N.  J. 


•WINCHESTEK 

REPEATING  SHOTGUNS 

are  strong  shooters,  strongly  made  and 
so  inexpensive  that  you  wo^'t  be  afraid 
to  use  one  in  any  kind  of  weather. 
They  are  made  lo,  12  and  16  gauge. 

A  FAVORITE  OF  AMERICAN  SPORTSMEN 

Sold    Everywhere. 


THE  CHINESE  LANGUAGE  T^l^lZ 

A    Manual    for    Beginners,    by    SIR    WALTER    HILLIER,    K.  C.  M.   G.,    C.  B. 


ANEW  Chinese  grammar  has  appeared  which,  as  we 
learn  from  private  sources,  is  being  used  officially  by 
the  English  authorities  for  the  preparation  of  their  can- 
didates for  office  in  the  English  colonies  of  China.  The 
author  says  in  the  preface:  "The  present  work  is  intended 
to  meet  the  wants  of  those  who  think  they  would  like  to 
learn  Chinese  but  are  discouraged  by  the  sight  of  the  for- 
midable text-books  with  which  the  aspiring  student  is  con- 
fronted; is  especially  intended  for  the  use  of  army  officers, 
of  missionaries,  and  of  young  business  men  connected  with 
the  trade  interests  of  China  who  wish  to  commence 
the  study  of  the  language  in  England  with  a  view  to  con- 
tinuing it  in  the  country  itself."    Pp.  263.     Price,  $3.75  net. 


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Space  and  Geometry  In 
the  Ligtit  of  Ptiysiolog- 
ical,  Psycliologieal  and 
Pliyslcal  Inquiry.    By 

Dr.  Ernst  Mach,  Emeritus  Pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Vienna. 
From  the  German  by  Thomas  J. 
McCormack,  Principal  of  the 
LaSalle-Peru  Township  High 
School.  1906.  Cloth,  gilt  top. 
Pp.143.     $1.00  net.      (5s.net.) 

In  these  essays  Professor  Mach  dis- 
cusses the  questions  of  the  nature.origin.and 
development  of  our  concepts  of  space  from 
tlie  three  points  of  view  of  the  physiology 
and  psychology  of  the  senses,  history,  and 

f)hysics,  in  all  which  departments  his  pro- 
uund  researches  have  gained  for  him  an 
authoritative  and  commanding  position. 
While  in  most  works  on  the  foundations  of 
geometry  one  point  of  view  only  is  empha- 
sized— be  it  that  of  logic,  epistemology,  psy- 
chology, history,  or  the  formal  technology 
of  the  science — here  light  is  shed  upon  the  subject  from  all  points  of  view  combined, 
and  the  diflferent  sources  from  which  the  many  divergent  forms  that  the  science  of 
space  has  historically  assumed,  are  thus  shown  forth  with  a  distinctness  and  precision 
that  in  suggestiveness  at  least  leave  little  to  be  desired. 

Any  reader  who  possesses  a  slight  knowledge  of  mathematics  may  derive  from 
these  essays  a  very  adequate  idea  of  the  abstruse  yet  important  researches  of  meta- 
geometry. 


Tlie  Vocation  of  Man.  By  Johann  Gottlieb  Fichte.  Translated 
by  William  Smith,  LL.  D.  Reprint  Edition.  With  biographical  intro- 
duction by  E.  Ritchie,  Ph.  D.  1906.  Pp.  185.  Cloth,  75c  net.  Paper,  25c; 
mailed,  31c.      (Is.  6d.) 

Everyone  familiar  with  the  history  of  German  Philosophy  recognizes  the  im- 
portance of  Fichte's  position  in  its  development.  His  idealism  was  the  best  exposition 
of  the  logical  outcome  of  Kant's  system  in  one  of  its  principal  aspects,  while  it  was 
also  the  natural  precurs  r  of  Hegel's  philosophy.  But  the  intrinsic  value  of  Fichte's 
writings  have  too  often  been  overlooked.  His  lofty  ethical  tone,  the  keenness  of  his  men- 
tal vision  and  the  purity  of  his  style  render  his  works  a  stimulus  and  a  source  of  satisfac- 
tion to  every  intelligent  reader.  Of  all  his  many  books,  that  best  adapted  to  excite  an 
interest  in  his  philosophic  thought  is  the  Vocation  of  Man,  which  contains  many  of  his 
most  fruitful  ideas  and  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  spirit  and  method  of  his  teaching. 

Tlie   Rise  of   Man.     a  sketch  of  the  Origin  of  the  Human  Race. 
By  Paul  Cams.    Illustrated.   1906.    Pp.100.   Boards,  cloth  back,  75c  net. 
(3s.  6d.  net.) 

Paul  Cams,  the  author  of  The  Rise  of  Man,  a  new  book  along  anthropological 
lines,  upholds  the  divinity  of  man  from  the  standpoint  of  evolution.  He  discusses  the 
anthropoid  apes,  the  relics  of  primitive  man,  especially  the  Neanderthal  man  and  the 
ape-man  of  DuBois,  and  concludes  with  a  protest  against  Huxley,  claiming  that  man  has 
risen  to  a  higher  level  not  by  cunning  and  ferocity,  but  on  the  contrary  by  virtue  of  his 
nobler  qualities. 


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Weltall  und  Menschheit  ^;rii'r  n  t'  ^"^7"f" 

ung  der  JNatur  und  der 
Verwertung  der  Naturkraefte  im  Dienste  der  Volker.  Herausgegeben  von 
Hans  Kraemer  u.  a.  5  vols.  Berlin:  Bong  &  Co.  Edition  de  luxe.  The 
Open  Court  Publishing  Co.  is  prepared  to  take  orders  for  the  work,  to  be 
mailed  b}'  parcels  post  from  Germany  direct  to  your  address  on  receipt 

of  remittance 
with  order. 
$20.00  net. 

This  is  one  of 
the  best  works  on 
the  development  of 
life  in  the  universe, 
the  evolution  of  man- 
kind, and  the  history 
of  civilization,  the 
sciences  and  indus- 
tries. In  fact,  so  far 
as  we  know  it  is  the 
very  best,  the  most 
scientific,  most  com- 
prehensive, and  at  the 
same  time  the  most 
popular  work  of  its 
kind.  It  consists  of 
five  stately  volumes  in 
royal  octavo,  each  of 
nearly  600  pages,  and 
written  by  different 
leading  German  sci- 
entists. It  is  pro- 
fusely illustrated  not 
only  with  a  view  of 
explaining  and  eluci- 
dating  the  subject 
matter  treated,  but 
also  and  especially  for 
the  purpose  of  pre- 
senting historical  pic- 
tures from  the  history 
of  the  sciences  and 
civilization.  In  addi- 
tion to  innumerable 
illustrations  in  the  text,  there  are  a  large  number  of  colored  plates  of  every  description, 
reproduced  from  valuable  paintings  and  artistically  executed. 

The  first  volume  contains  essays  on  the  crust  of  the  earth  by  Karl  Sapper,  and  on  terrestrial 
physics  by  Adolf  Marcuse. 

The  second  volume  contains  a  treatmentof  the  several  anthropological  problems  by  Hermann 
Klaatsch,  the  development  of  the  flora  by  H.  Potonie,  and  of  the  fauna  by  Louis  Beushausen. 
In  the  third  volume  we  find  an  article  on  astronomy  by  W.  Foerster;  and  the  first  part  of 
one  on  geography  by  K.  Weule.  The  latter  is  continued  in  the  fourth  volume,  which  also 
contains  an  essay  on  the  ocean  by  William  Marshall;  and  a  treatise  on  the  shape,  magnitude 
and  density  of  the  earth  by  A.  Marcuse.  The  fifth  and  last  volume  discusses  the  use  which 
man  makes  of  his  knowledge  of  nature,  the  subject  being  divided  into  an  essay  on  the  begin- 
ning of  technology  by  Max  von  Eyth  and  Ernst  Krause  (perhaps  better  known  as  Carus 
Sterne).  Prof.  A.  Neuburger  writes  on  the  general  utilization  of  the  natural  forces  in  our 
industries,  physics,  chemistry,  transportation,  etc.,  and  also  the  use  of  natural  forces  in  pri- 
vate residences. 

Three  shorter  articles  on  the  difficulties  of  scientific  observation,  on  the  influence  of  civil- 
ization upon  the  health  of  man,  and  a  conclusion  by  the  editor,  Hans  Kraemer,  close  the  last 
volume  of  the  work.  The  index  is  exceptionally  well  done.  An  English  translation  would 
be  highly  desirable,  but  considering  the  enormous  expense  which  it  would  involve  will 
scarcely  be  undertaken. 

We  will  add  that  this  great  work  is  attractive  not  only  because  its  contents  are  instructive, 
but  also  on  account  of  its  numerous  and  well-executed  illustrations,  for  which  reason  it  will 
be  welcome  even  to  those  who  do  not  read  German,  and  we  can  recommend  it  to  our  readers 
as  an  appropriate  and  valuable  Christmas  present. 


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Alone  In  Its  Field 


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THE  JOURNAL  OF  GEOGRAPHY 

AN  ILLUSTRATED  MAGAZINE    DEVOTED   TO  THE    INTERESTS   OF 
TEACHERS  OFGEOGRAPHY  IN  ELEMENTARY,  SECOND- 
ARY,    AND     IN     NORMAL    SCHOOLS 

EDITED   BY 

RICHARD  ELWOOD  DODGE. 
Professor  of  Geography,  Teachers  College,  New  York  City. 

THE  Journal  of  Geography,  publishedby  Teachers  College,  Columbia 
University,  New  York  City,  is  a  magazine  for  TEACHERS  of 
geography  in  Elementary,  Secondary  and  Normal  Schools  It  contains 
articles  for  teachers,  notes  concerning  recent  geographical  events  and 
stimulative  methods  of  teaching,  notices  of  recent  publications  and  re- 
views. It  is  the  only  magazine  in  America  specially  devoted  to  the 
TEACHING  of  Geography. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS  AT  $1.00  A  YEAR  (Ten  Numbers)  MAY  BEGIN  WITH  ANY  NUMBER. 

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THE   JOURNAL    OF    GEOGRAPHY 

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Schiller's  Gedichte  und  Dramen 
Volksausgabe  zur  Jahrhundert= 

feier,  1905 

Mit  einer  biographischen  Einleitung. 
Verlag  des  Schwabischen  Schillervereins. 

This  fine  work  was  issued  in  Germany  at  the  cost  of  one 
mark  by  the  Schillerverein  of  Stuttgart  and  Marbach  on  the  occasion 

j  of  the  Schiller  festival, in  May  of  lastyear.  The  work  is  published  in 
one  volume,  in  large  German  text,  on  good  paper,  with  frontispiece, 
cloth  binding,  and  tinted  edges,  588  pages,  large  octavo. 

':  The  cost  of  ocean  freight,  customs  entry,  handling  and  postage 

is  equal  to  double  the  published  price,  increasing  the  actual  cost  in 
America  to  seventy-five  cents.  Owing  to  the  limited  number  of  copies 
available,  the  book  is  offered  only  to  regular  subscribers  of  The  Open 
Court,  or  The  Monist — new  subscribers  not  excluded — at  75  cents 
delivered.  Orders  executed  as  received,  until  supply  is  exhausted. 
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Our  Children 

Hints  from  Practical  Experience  for 
Parents  and  Teachers.  By  Paul  Carus 
Pp,    207.     $1.00  net.     {4s.  6d.    net) 

In  the  little  book  Our  Children,  Paul  Carus  offers  a  unique  contribution  to  peda- 
gogical literature.  Without  any  theoretical  pretensions  it  is  a  strong  defense  for 
the  rights  of  the  child,  dealing  with  the  responsibilities  of  parenthood,  and  with 
the  first  inculcation  of  fundamental  ethics  in  the  child  mind  and  the  true  principles 
of  correction  and  guidance.  Each  detail  is  forcefully  illustrated  by  informal 
incidents  from  the  author's  exjjerience  with  his  own  children,  and  his  suggestions 
will  prove  of  the  greatest  possible  value  to  young  mothers  and  kindergartners. 
Hints  as  to  the  first  acquaintance  with  all  branches  of  knowledge  are  touched 
ufx)n  —  mathematics,  natural  sciences,  foreign  languages,  etc. — and  practical 
wisdom  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  money,   hygiene  and  similar  problems. 


PRESS  NOTICES 

"Brightly  written,  broad-minded,  instructive,  this  book  deserves  serious  perusal  and  praise." 

—CHICAGO  RECORD-HERALD. 

"  'Our  Children'  has  a  value  which  it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate.  The  strong  common  sense  of 
the  book  as  a  whole  can  better  be  judged  from  an  extract  than  from  any  praise  of  it,  however 
particularized. 

"It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  anything  coming  up  in  relation  of  parent  or  teacher  to  a  child 
which  does  not  find  discussion  or  suggestion  in  this  compact  and  helpful  little  book.  It  will  be 
an  aid  to  parents  and  teachers  everywhere— an  education  for  them  no  less  than  for  the  child." 

—THE  CHICAGO  DAILY  NEWS. 

"From  my  own  personal  point  of  view  I  can  only  welcome  this  volume  in  our  pedagogical 
literature  and  express  the  hope  that  it  may  become  a  household  book  in  the  library  of  every 
parent  and  teacher."  M.  P.  E.  GROSZMANN.  Pd.  D., 

Director  Groszmann  School  for  Nervous  Children 

"Mr.  Carus  writes  in  a  most  practical  manner  upon  his  subject,  setting  before  the  reader  the 
various  problems  common  to  all  parents  in  dealing  with  their  offspring.  This  book  is  admirable 
throughout  in  the  author's  treatment  of  his  subjects,  as  the  book  is  built  from  the  experiences 
of  Darents  and  teachers  and,   therefore,  cannot  fail  to  be  practicable." 

—THE  BOSTON  HERALD. 

"For  the  training  of  children  1  know  of  no  book  in  which  there  is  so  much  value  in  a  small 
compass  as  in  this."  -THE  TYLER  PUBLISHING  CO. 

"Little  things  are  recommended  that  will  appeal  to  the  child's  understanding  and  add  to  his 
interest  in  his  work."  -CLEVELAND  PLAIN  DEALER. 

"Its  author  has  given  to  the  world  a  careful,  loving,  thoughtful  set  of  rules  which  may  be  used 
with  profit  in  the  bringing  up  of  the  young. " 

^  »    »    V  -THE  MANTLE,  TILE  AND  GRATE  MONTHLY. 

"We  feel  certain  that  any  parent  who  thoughtfully  reads  and  studies  this  book  will  be  richly- 
paid;  and  if  the  readers  be  parents  with  growing  children  they  will  keep  the  book  by  them  for 
frequent  consultation:  not  for  iron  rules  but  for  sympathetic  suggestion." 

-THE  COMMERCIAL  NEWS  (Danville,  111.) 

"At  once  the  reader  knows  that  he  is  in  touch  with  a  mind  that  is  accustometl  to  sincere  and 
deep  thinking.  The  whole  book  is  a  plea  for  a  serious  notion  of  parenthofxl.  The  author  touches 
one  topic  after  another  with  a  fine  sense  of  feeling  for  the  'warm  spot'  in  it. 

"The  use  of  money,  square  dealing,  worldly  prudence,  sympathy  with  animals,  treatment  of  a 
naughty  child,  self  criticism,  and  punishment,  are  some  of  the  moro  important  themes  of  the 
boot"  — TUE  SUBURBAN, 


^be  ©pen  Court 

. . .  Hn  miustrateO  ^ontblie  flRafla3ine  . . . 


DR.  PAUL  CARUS 

EDITOR 


ASSOCIATES 


( E.  C.  HEGELER 
?MARY    CARUS 


DcvoteD  to  tbc  Science  ot  TRelifllon,  the  TReliglon  ot  Science,  anb  tbe  jEjtenslon  of 
tbe  IRelffllous  ipatUament  HDjea. 


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Zarathushtra,  Philo,  the 
Achaemenids,  and  Israel 

Being  a  Treatise  upon  the  Antiquity  and  Influence  of  the  Avesta^  for 
the  most  part  delivered  as  University  Lectures. 

By  Dr.  Lawrence  H.  Mills,  Professor  of  Zend  Philology  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  Translator  of  the  Thirty-first  Volume  of  the 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Author  of  the  Five  Zarathushtrian  Gathas, 
etc.  Part  i. — Zarathushtra  and  the  Greeks.  Part  II. — Zar- 
ATHUSHTRA,  THE  AcHAEMENiDS  AND  IsRAEL.  Composcd  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Trustees  of  the  Sir  J.  Jejeebhoy  Translation  Fund  of 
Bombay.  8vo.  Pp.  xiii,  208;  xiv,  252,  two  parts  in  one  volume, 
cloth,  gilt  top,  $4.00  net. 

Shortly  before  the  death  of  Professor  James  Darmesteter,  of  Paris,  the  great 
authority  on  the  "Zend-Avesta,"  he  surprised  the  general  public  by  changing  his 
views  concerning  the  antiquity  of  the  Zoroastrian  literature,  maintaining  that  the 
"Gathas"  were  largely  influenced  by  the  writings  of  Philo,  and  were  written  about 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  This  change  of  view  on  his  part  led  the  Parsees 
of  India  to  engage  Dr.  Mills  to  write  a  book  upon  the  great  antiquity  of  the  "  A  vesta. " 
After  several  years  of  continuous  devotion  to  the  subject,  the  present  volume  is  put 
forth  as  the  result,  and  it  amply  meets  all  expectations.  The  antiquity  of  the  Zoro- 
astrian literature  is  successfully  maintained,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  ordinary  readers 
can  appreciate  the  argument. 

**The  Avesta  in  no  sense  depends  upon  the  Jewish  Greeks.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  was  Philo  who  was  in  debt  to  it.  He  drank  in  his  Iranian  lore  from  the 
pages  of  his  exilic  Bible,  or  from  the  Bible-books  which  were  then  as  yet  detached, 
and  which  not  only  recorded  Iranian  edicts  by  Persian  Kings,  but  were  themselves 
half  made  up  of  Jewish- Persian  history.  Surely  it  is  singular  that  so  many  of  us  who 
'  search  the  scriptures'  should  be  unwilling  to  see  the  first  facts  which  stare  at  us  from 
its  lines.  The  religion  of  those  Persians,  which  saved  our  own  from  an  absorption 
(in  the  Babylonian),  is  portrayed  in  full  and  brilliant  colors  in  the  Books  of  the  Avesta, 
because  the  Avesta  is  only  the  expansion  of  the  Religion  of  the  sculptured  edicts  as 
modified.  The  very  by-words,  as  we  shall  later  see,  are  strikingly  the  same,  and  these 
inscriptions  are  those  of  the  very  men  who  wrote  the  Bible  passages.  This  religion  ot 
the  Restorers  was  beyond  all  question  historically  the  first  consistent  form  in  which  our 
own  Eschatology  appeared"  (pt.  i.  pp.  206-207). 

The  conclusions  come  with  great  force  in  support  of  the  genuineness  and 
authenticity  of  the  biblical  references  to  Cyrus  in  the  Old  Testament.  Students  of  the 
literature  of  the  Captivity  will  find  the  volume  invaluable.  The  facts  now  brought  to 
light  are  such  as  the  literary  critics  cannot  afford  to  neglect. 

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