ISIS UNVEILED:
A MASTER-KEY
TO THE
MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN
SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY,
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
“Cecy est un livre de bonne Foy.”--MONTAIGNE.
VOL. II.--_THEOLOGY._
FOURTH EDITION.
NEW YORK:
J. W. BOUTON, 706 BROADWAY.
LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH.
1878.
COPYRIGHT, BY
J. W. BOUTON.
1877.
TROW’S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO.,
PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS,
_205-213 East 12th St._,
NEW YORK.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE iv
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson and Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
Volume Second.
_THE “INFALLIBILITY” OF RELIGION._
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH: WHERE IS IT?
Church statistics 1
Catholic “miracles” and spiritualistic “phenomena” 4
Christian and Pagan beliefs compared 10
Magic and sorcery practised by Christian clergy 20
Comparative theology a new science 25
Eastern traditions as to Alexandrian Library 27
Roman pontiffs imitators of the Hindu Brahm-âtma 30
Christian dogmas derived from heathen philosophy 33
Doctrine of the Trinity of Pagan origin 45
Disputes between Gnostics and Church Fathers 51
Bloody records of Christianity 53
CHAPTER II.
CHRISTIAN CRIMES AND HEATHEN VIRTUES.
Sorceries of Catherine of Medicis 55
Occult arts practised by the clergy 59
Witch-burnings and auto-da-fé of little children 62
Lying Catholic saints 74
Pretensions of missionaries in India and China 79
Sacrilegious tricks of Catholic clergy 82
Paul a kabalist 91
Peter not the founder of Roman church 91
Strict lives of Pagan hierophants 98
High character of ancient “mysteries” 101
Jacolliot’s account of Hindu fakirs 103
Christian symbolism derived from Phallic worship 109
Hindu doctrine of the Pitris 114
Brahminic spirit-communion 115
Dangers of _untrained_ mediumship 117
CHAPTER III.
DIVISIONS AMONGST THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
Resemblance between early Christianity and Buddhism 123
Peter never in Rome 124
Meanings of “Nazar” and “Nazarene” 129
Baptism a derived right 134
Is Zoroaster a generic name? 141
Pythagorean teachings of Jesus 147
The Apocalypse kabalistic 147
Jesus considered an adept by some Pagan philosophers
and early Christians 150
Doctrine of permutation 152
The meaning of God-Incarnate 153
Dogmas of the Gnostics 155
Ideas of Marcion, the “heresiarch” 159
Precepts of Manu 163
Jehovah identical with Bacchus 165
CHAPTER IV.
ORIENTAL COSMOGONIES AND BIBLE RECORDS.
Discrepancies in the Pentateuch 167
Indian, Chaldean and Ophite systems compared 170
Who were the first Christians? 178
Christos and Sophia-Achamoth 183
Secret doctrine taught by Jesus 191
Jesus never claimed to be God 193
New Testament narratives and Hindu legends 199
Antiquity of the “Logos” and “Christ” 205
Comparative Virgin-worship 209
CHAPTER V.
MYSTERIES OF THE KABALA.
En-Soph and the Sephiroth 212
The primitive wisdom-religion 216
The book of Genesis a compilation of Old World legends 217
The Trinity of the Kabala 222
Gnostic and Nazarene systems contrasted with Hindu myths 225
Kabalism in the book of Ezekiel 232
Story of the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter found
in the history of Christna 241
Untrustworthy teachings of the early Fathers 248
Their persecuting spirit 249
CHAPTER VI.
ESOTERIC DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM PARODIED IN CHRISTIANITY.
Decisions of Nicean Council, how arrived at 251
Murder of Hypatia 252
Origin of the fish-symbol of Vishnu 256
Kabalistic doctrine of the Cosmogony 264
Diagrams of Hindu and Chaldeo-Jewish systems 265
Ten mythical Avatars of Vishnu 274
Trinity of man taught by Paul 281
Socrates and Plato on soul and spirit 283
True Buddhism, what it is 288
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY CHRISTIAN HERESIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES.
Nazareans, Ophites, and modern Druzes 291
Etymology of IAO 298
“Hermetic Brothers” of Egypt 307
True meaning of Nirvana 319
The Jaïna sect 321
Christians and Chrestians 323
The Gnostics and their detractors 325
Buddha, Jesus, and Apollonius of Tyana 341
CHAPTER VIII.
JESUITRY AND MASONRY.
The _Sohar_ and Rabbi Simeon 348
The Order of Jesuits and its relation to some of the
Masonic orders 352
Crimes permitted to its members 355
Principles of Jesuitry compared with those of Pagan
moralists 364
Trinity of man in Egyptian _Book of the Dead_ 367
Freemasonry no longer esoteric 372
Persecution of Templars by the Church 381
Secret Masonic ciphers 395
Jehovah not the “Ineffable Name” 398
CHAPTER IX.
THE VEDAS AND THE BIBLE.
Nearly every myth based on some great truth 405
Whence the Christian Sabbath 406
Antiquity of the Vedas 410
Pythagorean doctrine of the potentialities of numbers 417
“Days” of _Genesis_ and “Days” of Brahma 422
Fall of man and the Deluge in the Hindu books 425
Antiquity of the Mahâbhârata 429
Were the ancient Egyptians of the Aryan race? 434
Samuel, David, and Solomon mythical personages 439
Symbolism of Noah’s Ark 447
The Patriarchs identical with zodiacal signs 459
All Bible legends belong to universal history 469
CHAPTER X.
THE DEVIL-MYTH.
The devil officially recognized by the Church 477
Satan the mainstay of sacerdotalism 480
Identity of Satan with the Egyptian Typhon 483
His relation to serpent-worship 489
The Book of Job and the Book of the Dead 493
The Hindu devil a metaphysical abstraction 501
Satan and the Prince of Hell in the Gospel of Nicodemus 515
CHAPTER XI.
COMPARATIVE RESULTS OF BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
The age of philosophy produced no atheists 530
The legends of three Saviours 537
Christian doctrine of the Atonement illogical 542
Cause of the failure of missionaries to convert
Buddhists and Brahmanists 553
Neither Buddha nor Jesus left written records 559
The grandest mysteries of religion in the Bagaved-gita 562
The meaning of regeneration explained in the
Satapa-Brâhmana 565
The sacrifice of blood interpreted 566
Demoralization of British India by Christian
missionaries 573
The Bible less authenticated than any other sacred book 577
Knowledge of chemistry and physics displayed by Indian
jugglers 583
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Recapitulation of fundamental propositions 587
Seership of the soul and of the spirit 590
The phenomenon of the so-called spirit-hand 594
Difference between mediums and adepts 595
Interview of an English ambassador with a reïncarnated
Buddha 598
Flight of a lama’s astral body related by Abbé Huc 604
Schools of magic in Buddhist lamaseries 609
The unknown race of Hindu Todas 613
Will-power of fakirs and yogis 617
Taming of wild beasts by fakirs 622
Evocation of a living spirit by a Shaman, witnessed
by the writer 626
Sorcery by the breath of a Jesuit Father 633
Why the study of magic is almost impracticable in
Europe 635
Conclusion 635
PREFACE TO PART II.
Were it possible, we would keep this work out of the hands of many
Christians whom its perusal would not benefit, and for whom it was not
written. We allude to those whose faith in their respective churches
is pure and sincere, and those whose sinless lives reflect the
glorious example of that Prophet of Nazareth, by whose mouth the
spirit of truth spake loudly to humanity. Such there have been at all
times. History preserves the names of many as heroes, philosophers,
philanthropists, martyrs, and holy men and women; but how many more
have lived and died, unknown but to their intimate acquaintance,
unblessed but by their humble beneficiaries! These have ennobled
Christianity, but would have shed the same lustre upon any other faith
they might have professed--for they were higher than their creed. The
benevolence of Peter Cooper and Elizabeth Thompson, of America, who
are not orthodox Christians, is no less Christ-like than that of the
Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, of England, who is one. And yet, in
comparison with the millions who have been accounted Christians, such
have always formed a small minority. They are to be found at this day,
in pulpit and pew, in palace and cottage; but the increasing
materialism, worldliness and hypocrisy are fast diminishing their
proportionate number. Their charity, and simple, child-like faith in
the infallibility of their Bible, their dogmas, and their clergy,
bring into full activity all the virtues that are implanted in our
common nature. We have personally known such God-fearing priests and
clergymen, and we have always avoided debate with them, lest we might
be guilty of the cruelty of hurting their feelings; nor would we rob a
single layman of his blind confidence, if it alone made possible for
him holy living and serene dying.
An analysis of religious beliefs in general, this volume is in
particular directed against theological Christianity, the chief
opponent of free thought. It contains not one word against the pure
teachings of Jesus, but unsparingly denounces their debasement into
pernicious ecclesiastical systems that are ruinous to man’s faith in
his immortality and his God, and subversive of all moral restraint.
We cast our gauntlet at the dogmatic theologians who would enslave
both history and science; and especially at the Vatican, whose
despotic pretensions have become hateful to the greater portion of
enlightened Christendom. The clergy apart, none but the logician, the
investigator, the dauntless explorer should meddle with books like
this. Such delvers after truth have the courage of their opinions.
ISIS UNVEILED.
_PART TWO.--RELIGION._
CHAPTER I.
“Yea, the time cometh, that whomsoever killeth you, will
think that he doeth God service.”--_Gospel according to
John_, xvi., 2.
“Let him be ANATHEMA ... who shall say that human Sciences
ought to be pursued in such a spirit of freedom that one
may be allowed to hold as true their assertions even when
opposed to revealed doctrines.”--_Œcumenical Council of
1870._
“GLOUC.--The Church! Where is it?”--_King Henry VI._, Act
i., Sc. 1.
In the United States of America, sixty thousand (60,428) men are
paid salaries to teach the Science of God and His relations to His
creatures.
These men contract to impart to us the knowledge which treats of the
existence, character, and attributes of our Creator; His laws and
government; the doctrines we are to believe and the duties we are
to practice. Five thousand (5,141) of them,[1] with the prospect of
1273 theological students to help them in time, teach this science
according to a formula prescribed by the Bishop of Rome, to five
million people. Fifty-five thousand (55,287) local and travelling
ministers, representing fifteen different denominations,[2] each
contradicting the other upon more or less vital theological
questions, instruct, in their respective doctrines, thirty-three
million (33,500,000) other persons. Many of these teach according
to the canons of the cis-Atlantic branch of an establishment which
acknowledges a daughter of the late Duke of Kent as its spiritual
head. There are many hundred thousand Jews; some thousands of
Orientals of all kinds; and a very few who belong to the Greek
Church. A man at Salt Lake City, with nineteen wives and more than
one hundred children and grandchildren, is the supreme spiritual
ruler over ninety thousand people, who believe that he is in frequent
intercourse with the gods--for the Mormons are Polytheists as well as
Polygamists, and their chief god is represented as living in a planet
they call Colob.
The God of the Unitarians is a bachelor; the Deity of the
Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and the other orthodox
Protestant sects a spouseless Father with one Son, who is identical
with Himself. In the attempt to outvie each other in the erection
of their sixty-two thousand and odd churches, prayer-houses, and
meeting-halls, in which to teach these conflicting theological
doctrines, $354,485,581 have been spent. The value of the Protestant
parsonages alone, in which are sheltered the disputants and their
families, is roughly calculated to approximate $54,115,297. Sixteen
million (16,179,387) dollars, are, morever, contributed every year
for current expenses of the Protestant denominations only. One
Presbyterian church in New York cost a round million; a Catholic
altar alone, one-fourth as much!
We will not mention the multitude of smaller sects, communities, and
extravagantly original little heresies in this country which spring
up one year to die out the next, like so many spores of fungi after a
rainy day. We will not even stop to consider the alleged millions of
Spiritualists; for the majority lack the courage to break away from
their respective religious denominations. These are the back-door
Nicodemuses.
And now, with Pilate, let us inquire, What is truth? Where is it to
be searched for amid this multitude of warring sects? Each claims to
be based upon divine revelation, and each to have the keys of the
celestial gates. Is either in possession of this rare truth? Or, must
we exclaim with the Buddhist philosopher, “There is but one truth on
earth, and it is unchangeable: and this is--that there is _no_ truth
on it!”
Though we have no disposition whatever to trench upon the ground that
has been so exhaustively gleaned by those learned scholars who have
shown that every Christian dogma has its origin in a heathen rite,
still the facts which they have exhumed, since the enfranchisement
of science, will lose nothing by repetition. Besides, we propose to
examine these facts from a different and perhaps rather novel point
of view: that of the old philosophies as esoterically understood.
These we have barely glanced at in our first volume. We will use them
as the standard by which to compare Christian dogmas and miracles
with the doctrines and phenomena of ancient magic, and the modern
“New Dispensation,” as Spiritualism is called by its votaries. Since
the materialists deny the phenomena without investigation, and since
the theologians in admitting them offer us the poor choice of two
palpable absurdities--the Devil and miracles--we can lose little by
applying to the theurgists, and they may actually help us to throw a
great light upon a very dark subject.
Professor A. Butlerof, of the Imperial University of St. Petersburg,
remarks in a recent pamphlet, entitled _Mediumistic Manifestations_,
as follows: “Let the facts (of modern spiritualism) belong if you
will to the number of those which were more or less known by the
ancients; let them be identical with those which in the dark ages
gave importance to the office of Egyptian priest or Roman augur; let
them even furnish the basis of the sorcery of our Siberian Shaman;
... let them be all these, and, if they are _real facts_, it is
no business of ours. All the facts in nature _belong to science_,
and every addition to the store of science enriches instead of
impoverishing her. If humanity has once admitted a truth, and then in
the blindness of self-conceit denied it, to return to its realization
is a step forward and not backward.”
Since the day that modern science gave what may be considered the
death-blow to dogmatic theology, by assuming the ground that religion
was full of mystery, and mystery is unscientific, the mental state
of the educated class has presented a curious aspect. Society seems
from that time to have been ever balancing itself upon one leg, on
an unseen tight-rope stretched from our visible universe into the
invisible one; uncertain whether the end hooked on faith in the
latter might not suddenly break, and hurl it into final annihilation.
The great body of nominal Christians may be divided into three
unequal portions: materialists, spiritualists, and Christians proper.
The materialists and spiritualists make common cause against the
hierarchical pretensions of the clergy; who, in retaliation, denounce
both with equal acerbity. The materialists are as little in harmony
as the Christian sects themselves--the Comtists, or, as they call
themselves, the positivists, being despised and hated to the last
degree by the schools of thinkers, one of which Maudsley honorably
represents in England. Positivism, be it remembered, is that
“religion” of the future about whose founder even Huxley has made
himself wrathful in his famous lecture, _The Physical Basis of Life_;
and Maudsley felt obliged, in behalf of, to express himself thus: “It
is no wonder that scientific men should be anxious to disclaim Comte
as their law-giver, and to protest against such a king being set up
to reign over them. Not conscious of any personal obligation to his
writings--conscious how much, in some respects, he has misrepresented
the spirit and pretensions of science--they repudiate the allegiance
which his enthusiastic disciples would force upon them, and which
popular opinion is fast coming to think a natural one. They do
well in thus making a timely assertion of independence; for if it
be not done soon, it will soon be too late to be done well.”[3]
When a materialistic doctrine is repudiated so strongly by two such
materialists as Huxley and Maudsley, then we must think indeed that
it is absurdity itself.
Among Christians there is nothing but dissension. Their various
churches represent every degree of religious belief, from the
omnivorous credulity of blind faith to a condescending and high-toned
deference to the Deity which thinly masks an evident conviction of
their own deific wisdom. All these sects believe more or less in the
immortality of the soul. Some admit the intercourse between the two
worlds as a fact; some entertain the opinion as a sentiment; some
positively deny it; and only a few maintain an attitude of attention
and expectancy.
Impatient of restraint, longing for the return of the dark ages,
the Romish Church frowns at the _diabolical_ manifestations, and
indicates what she would do to their champions had she but the power
of old. Were it not for the self-evident fact that she herself is
placed by science on trial, and that she is handcuffed, she would
be ready at a moment’s notice to repeat in the nineteenth century
the revolting scenes of former days. As to the Protestant clergy, so
furious is their common hatred toward spiritualism, that as a secular
paper very truly remarks: “They seem willing to undermine the public
faith in all the spiritual phenomena of the past, as recorded in the
_Bible_, if they can only see the pestilent modern heresy stabbed to
the heart.”[4]
Summoning back the long-forgotten memories of the Mosaic laws, the
Romish Church claims the monopoly of miracles, and of the right
to sit in judgment over them, as being the sole heir thereto by
direct inheritance. The _Old Testament_, exiled by Colenso, his
predecessors and contemporaries, is recalled from its banishment. The
prophets, whom his Holiness the Pope condescends at last to place,
if not on the same level with himself, at least at a less respectful
distance,[5] are dusted and cleaned. The memory of all the diabolical
abracadabra is evoked anew. The blasphemous _horrors_ perpetrated
by Paganism, its phallic worship, thaumaturgical wonders wrought
by Satan, human sacrifices, incantations, witchcraft, magic, and
sorcery are recalled and DEMONISM is confronted with _spiritualism_
for mutual recognition and identification. Our modern demonologists
conveniently overlook a few insignificant details, among which is the
undeniable presence of heathen phallism in the Christian symbols. A
strong spiritual element of this worship may be easily demonstrated
in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of
God; and a physical element equally proved in the fetish-worship of
the holy _limbs_ of Sts. Cosmo and Damiano, at Isernia, near Naples;
a successful traffic in which _ex-voto_ in wax was carried on by the
clergy, annually, until barely a half century ago.[6]
We find it rather unwise on the part of Catholic writers to
pour out their vials of wrath in such sentences as these: “In a
multitude of pagodas, the phallic stone, ever and always assuming,
like the Grecian _batylos_, the brutally indecent form of the
_lingham_ ... the Maha Deva.”[7] Before casting slurs on a symbol
whose profound metaphysical meaning is too much for the modern
champions of that religion of sensualism _par excellence_, Roman
Catholicism, to grasp, they are in duty bound to destroy their
oldest churches, and change the form of the cupolas of their own
temples. The Mahody of Elephanta, the Round Tower of Bhangulpore,
the minarets of Islam--either rounded or pointed--are the originals
of the _Campanile_ column of San Marco, at Venice, of the Rochester
Cathedral, and of the modern Duomo of Milan. All of these steeples,
turrets, domes, and Christian temples, are the reproductions of the
primitive idea of the _lithos_, the upright phallus. “The western
tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London,” says the author of _The
Rosicrucians_, “is one of the double _lithoi_ placed always in
front of every temple, Christian as well as heathen.”[8] Moreover,
in all Christian Churches, “particularly in Protestant churches,
where they figure most conspicuously, the two tables of stone of the
Mosaic Dispensation are placed over the altar, side by side, as a
united stone, the tops of which are rounded.... The right stone is
_masculine_, the left _feminine_.” Therefore neither Catholics nor
Protestants have a right to talk of the “indecent forms” of heathen
monuments so long as they ornament their own churches with the
symbols of the Lingham and Yoni, and even write the laws of their God
upon them.
Another detail not redounding very particularly to the honor of the
Christian clergy might be recalled in the word Inquisition. The
torrents of human blood shed by this _Christian_ institution, and
the number of its human sacrifices, are unparalleled in the annals of
Paganism. Another still more prominent feature in which the clergy
surpassed their masters, the “heathen,” is _sorcery_. Certainly in
no Pagan temple was black magic, in its real and true sense, more
practiced than in the Vatican. While strongly supporting exorcism as
an important source of revenue, they neglected magic as little as
the ancient heathen. It is easy to prove that the _sortilegium_, or
sorcery, was widely practiced among the clergy and monks so late as
the last century, and is practiced occasionally even now.
Anathematizing every manifestation of occult nature outside the
precincts of the Church, the clergy--notwithstanding proofs to the
contrary--call it “the work of Satan,” “the snares of the fallen
angels,” who “rush in and out from the bottomless pit,” mentioned by
John in his kabalistic _Revelation_, “from whence arises a smoke as
the smoke of a great furnace.” “_Intoxicated by its fumes, around
this pit are daily gathering millions of Spiritualists, to worship at
“the Abyss of Baal._”[9]
More than ever arrogant, stubborn, and despotic, now that she has
been nearly upset by modern research, not daring to interfere with
the powerful champions of science, the Latin Church revenges herself
upon the unpopular phenomena. A despot without a victim, is a word
void of sense; a power which neglects to assert itself through
outward, well-calculated effects, risks being doubted in the end.
The Church has no intention to fall into the oblivion of the ancient
myths, or to suffer her authority to be too closely questioned. Hence
she pursues, as well as the times permit, her traditional policy.
Lamenting the enforced extinction of her ally, the Holy Inquisition,
she makes a virtue of necessity. The only victims now within reach
are the Spiritists of France. Recent events have shown that the meek
spouse of Christ never disdains to retaliate on helpless victims.
Having successfully performed her part of _Deus-ex-Machina_ from
behind the French Bench, which has not scrupled to disgrace itself
for her, the Church of Rome sets to work and shows in the year
1876 what she can do. From the whirling tables and dancing pencils
of profane Spiritualism, the Christian world is warned to turn to
the divine “miracles” of Lourdes. Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical
authorities utilize their time in arranging for other more easy
triumphs, calculated to scare the superstitious out of their senses.
So, acting under orders, the clergy hurl dramatic, if not very
impressive anathemas from every Catholic diocese; threaten right
and left; excommunicate and curse. Perceiving, finally, that her
thunderbolts directed even against crowned heads fall about as
harmlessly as the Jupiterean lightnings of Offenbach’s _Calchas_,
Rome turns about in powerless fury against the victimized _protégés_
of the Emperor of Russia--the unfortunate Bulgarians and Servians.
Undisturbed by evidence and sarcasm, unbaffled by proof, “the
lamb of the Vatican” impartially divides his wrath between the
liberals of Italy, “the impious whose breath has the stench of the
sepulchre,”[10] the “schismatic Russian _Sarmates_,” and the heretics
and spiritualists, “who worship at the bottomless pit where the great
Dragon lies in wait.”
Mr. Gladstone went to the trouble of making a catalogue of what he
terms the “flowers of speech,” disseminated through these Papal
discourses. Let us cull a few of the chosen terms used by this
vicegerent of Him who said that, “whosoever shall say _Thou fool_,
shall be in danger of hell-fire.” They are selected from authentic
discourses. Those who oppose the Pope are “wolves, Pharisees,
thieves, liars, hypocrites, dropsical children of Satan, sons of
perdition, of sin, and corruption, satellites of Satan in human
flesh, monsters of hell, demons incarnate, stinking corpses, men
issued from the pits of hell, traitors and Judases led by the spirit
of hell; children of the deepest pits of hell,” etc., etc.; the
whole piously collected and published by Don Pasquale di Franciscis,
whom Gladstone has, with perfect propriety, termed, “an accomplished
professor of _flunkeyism_ in things spiritual.”[11]
Since his Holiness the Pope has such a rich vocabulary of
invectives at his command, why wonder that the Bishop of Toulouse
did not scruple to utter the most undignified falsehoods about the
Protestants and Spiritualists of America--people doubly odious to a
Catholic--in his address to his diocese: “Nothing,” he remarks, “is
more common in an era of unbelief than to see a _false revelation
substitute itself for the true one_, and minds neglect the teachings
of the Holy Church, to devote themselves to the study of divination
and the occult sciences.” With a fine episcopal contempt for
statistics, and strangely confounding in his memory the audiences
of the revivalists, Moody and Sankey, and the patrons of darkened
seance-rooms, he utters the unwarranted and fallacious assertion
that “it has been proven that Spiritualism, in the United States,
has caused one-sixth of all the cases of suicide and insanity.”
He says that it is not possible that the spirits “teach either an
exact science, because they are lying demons, or a useful science,
because the character of the word of Satan, like Satan himself, is
sterile.” He warns his dear _collaborateurs_, that “the writings in
favor of Spiritualism are under the ban;” and he advises them to let
it be known that “to frequent spiritual circles with the intention
of accepting the doctrine, is to apostatize from the Holy Church,
and assume the risk of excommunication;” finally, says he, “Publish
the fact that the teaching of no spirit should prevail against that
of the pulpit of Peter, which is the teaching of the Spirit of God
Himself!!”
Aware of the many false teachings attributed by the Roman Church to
the Creator, we prefer disbelieving the latter assertion. The famous
Catholic theologian, Tillemont, assures us in his work that “all the
illustrious Pagans are condemned to the eternal torments of hell,
_because_ they lived before the time of Jesus, and, therefore, could
not be benefited by the redemption!!” He also assures us that the
Virgin Mary personally testified to this truth over her own signature
in a letter to a saint. Therefore, this is also a revelation--“the
Spirit of God Himself” teaching such charitable doctrines.
We have also read with great advantage the topographical descriptions
of _Hell and Purgatory_ in the celebrated treatise under that name
by a Jesuit, the Cardinal Bellarmin. A critic found that the author,
who gives the description from a _divine_ vision with which he was
favored, “appears to possess all the knowledge of a land-measurer”
about the secret tracts and formidable divisions of the “bottomless
pit.” Justin Martyr having actually committed to paper the heretical
thought that after all Socrates might not be altogether fixed in
hell, his Benedictine editor criticises this too benevolent father
very severely. Whoever doubts the Christian charity of the Church
of Rome in this direction is invited to peruse the _Censure_ of
the Sorbonne, on Marmontel’s _Belisarius_. The _odium theologicum_
blazes in it on the dark sky of orthodox theology like an aurora
borealis--the precursor of God’s wrath, according to the teaching of
certain mediæval divines.
We have attempted in the first part of this work to show, by
historical examples, how completely men of science have deserved
the stinging sarcasm of the late Professor de Morgan, who remarked
of them that “they wear the priest’s cast-off garb, dyed to escape
detection.” The Christian clergy are, in like manner, attired in the
cast-off garb of the _heathen_ priesthood; acting diametrically in
opposition to their _God’s_ moral precepts, but nevertheless, sitting
in judgment over the whole world.
When dying on the cross, the martyred Man of Sorrows forgave his
enemies. His last words were a prayer in their behalf. He taught his
disciples to curse not, but to bless, even their foes. But the heirs
of St. Peter, the self constituted representatives on earth of that
same meek Jesus, unhesitatingly curse whoever resists their despotic
will. Besides, was not the “Son” long since crowded by them into the
background? They make their obeisance only to the Dowager Mother,
for--according to their teaching--again through “the direct Spirit
of God,” she alone acts as a mediatrix. The Œcumenical Council of
1870 embodied the teaching into a dogma, to disbelieve which is to
be doomed forever to the ‘bottomless pit.’ The work of Don Pasquale
di Franciscis is positive on that point; for he tells us that, as
the Queen of Heaven owes to the present Pope “the finest gem in her
coronet,” since he has conferred on her the unexpected honor of
becoming suddenly immaculate, there is nothing she cannot obtain from
her Son for “her Church.”[12]
Some years ago, certain travellers saw in Barri, Italy, a statue
of the Madonna, arrayed in a flounced pink skirt over a swelling
_crinoline_! Pious pilgrims who may be anxious to examine the
regulation wardrobe of their God’s mother may do so by going to
Southern Italy, Spain, and Catholic North and South America. The
Madonna of Barri must still be there--between two vineyards and a
_locanda_ (gin-shop). When last seen, a half-successful attempt had
been made to clothe the infant Jesus; they had covered his legs with
a pair of dirty, scollop-edged pantaloons. An English traveller
having presented the “Mediatrix” with a green silk parasol, the
grateful population of the _contadini_, accompanied by the village
priest, went in procession to the spot. They managed to stick the
sunshade, opened, between the infant’s back and the arm of the
Virgin which embraced him. The scene and ceremony were both solemn
and highly refreshing to our religious feelings. For there stood
the image of the goddess in its niche, surrounded with a row of
ever-burning lamps, the flames of which, flickering in the breeze,
infect God’s pure air with an offensive smell of olive oil. The
Mother and Son truly represent the two most conspicuous idols of
_Monotheistic_ Christianity!
For a companion to the idol of the poor _contadini_ of Barri, go
to the rich city of Rio Janeiro. In the Church of the Duomo del
Candelaria, in a long hall running along one side of the church,
there might be seen, a few years ago, another Madonna. Along the
walls of the hall there is a line of saints, each standing on a
contribution-box, which thus forms a fit pedestal. In the centre
of this line, under a gorgeously rich canopy of blue silk, is
exhibited the Virgin Mary leaning on the arm of Christ. “Our Lady” is
arrayed in a very _décolleté_ blue satin dress with short sleeves,
showing, to great advantage, a snow-white, exquisitely-moulded
neck, shoulders, and arms. The skirt equally of blue satin with
an overskirt of rich lace and gauze puffs, is as short as that of
a ballet-dancer; hardly reaching the knee, it exhibits a pair of
finely-shaped legs covered with flesh colored silk tights, and blue
satin French boots with very high red heels! The blonde hair of this
“Mother of God” is arranged in the latest fashion, with a voluminous
_chignon_ and curls. As she leans on her Son’s arm, her face is
lovingly turned toward her Only-Begotten, whose dress and attitude
are equally worthy of admiration. Christ wears an evening dress-coat,
with swallow-tail, black trousers, and low cut white vest; varnished
boots, and white kid gloves, _over one of which_ sparkles a rich
diamond ring, worth many thousands we must suppose--a precious
Brazilian jewel. Above this body of a modern Portuguese dandy, is a
head with the hair parted in the middle; a sad and solemn face, and
eyes whose patient look seems to reflect all the bitterness of this
last insult flung at the majesty of the Crucified.[13]
The Egyptian Isis was also represented as a Virgin Mother by her
devotees, and as holding her infant son, Horus, in her arms. In some
statues and _basso-relievos_, when she appears alone she is either
completely nude or veiled from head to foot. But in the Mysteries,
in common with nearly every other goddess, she is entirely veiled
from head to foot, as a symbol of a mother’s chastity. It would
not do us any harm were we to borrow from the ancients some of the
poetic sentiment in their religions, and the innate veneration they
entertained for _their_ symbols.
It is but fair to say at once that the last of the _true_ Christians
died with the last of the direct apostles. Max Müller forcibly asks:
“How can a missionary in such circumstances meet the surprise and
questions of his pupils, unless he may point to that seed,[14] and
tell them what Christianity was meant to be? unless he may show that,
like all other religions, Christianity too, has had its history; that
the Christianity of the nineteenth century is not the Christianity
of the middle ages, and that the Christianity of the middle ages was
not that of the early Councils; that the Christianity of the early
Councils was not that of the Apostles, and that what has been said by
Christ, that alone was well said?”[15]
Thus we may infer that the only characteristic difference between
modern Christianity and the old heathen faiths is the belief of the
former in a personal devil and in hell. “The Aryan nations had no
devil,” says Max Müller. “Pluto, though of a sombre character, was a
very respectable personage; and Loki (the Scandinavian), though a
mischievous person, was not a fiend. The German Goddess, Hell, too,
like Proserpine, had once seen better days. Thus, when the Germans
were indoctrinated with the idea of a real devil, the Semitic Seth,
Satan or Diabolus, they treated him in the most good-humored way.”
The same may be said of hell. Hades was quite a different place
from our region of eternal damnation, and might be termed rather an
intermediate state of purification. Neither does the Scandinavian
_Hel_ or Hela, imply either a state or a place of punishment;
for when Frigga, the grief-stricken mother of Bal-dur, the white
god, who died and found himself in the dark abodes of the shadows
(Hades) sent Hermod, a son of Thor, in quest of her beloved child,
the messenger found him in the inexorable region--alas! but still
comfortably seated on a rock, and reading a book.[16] The Norse
kingdom of the dead is moreover situated in the higher latitudes of
the Polar regions; it is a cold and cheerless abode, and neither the
gelid halls of Hela, nor the occupation of Baldur present the least
similitude to the blazing hell of eternal fire and the miserable
“damned” sinners with which the Church so generously peoples it.
No more is it the Egyptian Amenthes, the region of judgment and
purification; nor the Onderâh--the abyss of darkness of the Hindus;
for even the fallen angels hurled into it by Siva, are allowed
by Parabrahma to consider it as an intermediate state, in which
an opportunity is afforded them to prepare for higher degrees of
purification and redemption from their wretched condition. The
Gehenna of the _New Testament_ was a locality outside the walls of
Jerusalem; and in mentioning it, Jesus used but an ordinary metaphor.
Whence then came the dreary dogma of hell, that Archimedean lever
of Christian theology, with which they have succeeded to hold in
subjection the numberless millions of Christians for nineteen
centuries? Assuredly not from the Jewish Scriptures, and we appeal
for corroboration to any well-informed Hebrew scholar.
The only designation of something approaching hell in the _Bible_
is _Gehenna_ or Hinnom, a valley near Jerusalem, where was situated
Tophet, a place where a fire was perpetually kept for sanitary
purposes. The prophet Jeremiah informs us that the Israelites used
to sacrifice their children to Moloch-Hercules on that spot; and
later we find Christians quietly replacing this divinity by their
god of _mercy_, whose wrath will not be appeased, unless the Church
sacrifices to him her unbaptized children and sinning sons on the
altar of “eternal damnation!”
Whence then did the divine learn so well the conditions of hell, as
to actually divide its torments into two kinds, the _pæna damni_ and
pænæ sensus, the former being the privation of the beatific vision;
the latter the _eternal_ pains _in a lake of fire and brimstone_?
If they answer us that it is in the _Apocalypse_ (xx. 10), we are
prepared to demonstrate whence the theologist John himself derived
the idea, “And _the devil_ that deceived them was cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone, where _the beast_ and the false prophet are
and shall be tormented for ever and ever,” he says. Laying aside the
esoteric interpretation that the “devil” or tempting demon meant
our own earthly body, which after death will surely dissolve in the
_fiery_ or ethereal elements,[17] the word “eternal” by which our
theologians interpret the words “for ever and ever” does not exist in
the Hebrew language, either as a word or meaning. There is no Hebrew
word which properly expresses _eternity_; עולם _oulam_, according to
Le Clerc, only imports a time whose beginning or end is not known.
While showing that this word does not mean _infinite_ duration, and
that in the _Old Testament_ the word _forever_ only signifies a long
time, Archbishop Tillotson has completely perverted its sense with
respect to the idea of hell-torments. According to his doctrine, when
Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be suffering “eternal fire,” we must
understand it only in the sense of that fire not being extinguished
till both cities were entirely consumed. But, as to hell-fire the
words must be understood in the strictest sense of infinite duration.
Such is the decree of the learned divine. For the duration of the
punishment of the wicked must be proportionate to the eternal
happiness of the righteous. So he says, “These (speaking of the
wicked) “shall go away εις κόλασιν αιῶνιον into _eternal_ punishment;
but the righteous εις ζωην αιωνιον into life eternal.”
The Reverend T. Surnden,[18] commenting on the speculations of his
predecessors, fills a whole volume with unanswerable arguments,
tending to show that the locality _of Hell is in the sun_. We suspect
that the reverend speculator had read the _Apocalypse_ in bed,
and had the nightmare in consequence. There are two verses in the
_Revelation of John_ reading thus: “And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the sun, and power was given him to scorch men with
fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name
of God.”[19] This is simply Pythagorean and kabalistic allegory. The
idea is new neither with the above-mentioned author nor with John.
Pythagoras placed the “sphere of purification in the sun,” which
sun, with its sphere, he moreover locates in the middle of the
universe,[20] the allegory having a double meaning: 1. Symbolically,
the central, spiritual sun, the Supreme Deity. Arrived at this region
every soul becomes purified of its sins, and unites itself forever
with its spirit, having previously suffered throughout all the lower
spheres. 2. By placing the sphere of _visible_ fire in the middle
of the universe, he simply taught the heliocentric system which
appertained to the Mysteries, and was imparted only in the higher
degree of initiation. John gives to his Word a purely kabalistic
significance, which no “Fathers,” except those who had belonged to
the Neo-platonic school, were able to comprehend. Origen understood
it well, having been a pupil of Ammonius Saccas; therefore we see him
bravely denying the perpetuity of hell-torments. He maintains that
not only men, but even devils (by which term he meant disembodied
human sinners), after a certain duration of punishment shall be
pardoned and finally restored to heaven.[21] In consequence of this
and other such heresies Origen was, as a matter of course, exiled.
Many have been the learned and truly-inspired speculations as to the
locality of hell. The most popular were those which placed it in the
centre of the earth. At a certain time, however, skeptical doubts
which disturbed the placidity of faith in this highly-refreshing
doctrine arose in consequence of the meddling scientists of those
days. As a Mr. Swinden in our own century observes, the theory was
inadmissible because of two objections: 1st, that a fund of fuel
or sulphur sufficient to maintain so furious and constant a fire
could not be there supposed; and, 2d, that it must want the nitrous
particles in the air to sustain and keep it alive. “And how,” says
he, “can a fire be eternal, when, by degrees, the whole substance of
the earth must be consumed thereby?”[22]
The skeptical gentleman had evidently forgotten that centuries ago
St. Augustine solved the difficulty. Have we not the word of this
learned divine that hell, nevertheless, _is_ in the centre of the
earth, for “God supplies the central fire with air _by a miracle_?”
The argument is unanswerable, and so we will not seek to upset it.
The Christians were the first to make the existence of Satan a dogma
of the Church. And once that she had established it, she had to
struggle for over 1,700 years for the repression of a mysterious
force which it was her policy to make appear of diabolical origin.
Unfortunately, in manifesting itself, this force invariably tends
to upset such a belief by the ridiculous discrepancy it presents
between the alleged cause and the effects. If the clergy have not
over-estimated the real power of the “Arch-Enemy of God,” it must be
confessed that he takes mighty precautions against being recognized
as the “Prince of Darkness” who aims at our souls. If modern
“spirits” are devils at all, as preached by the clergy, then they can
only be those “poor” or “stupid devils” whom Max Müller describes as
appearing so often in the German and Norwegian tales.
Notwithstanding this, the clergy fear above all to be forced to
relinquish this hold on humanity. They are not willing to let us
judge of the tree by its fruits, for that might sometimes force
them into dangerous dilemmas. They refuse, likewise, to admit,
with unprejudiced people, that the phenomena of Spiritualism has
unquestionably spiritualized and reclaimed from evil courses many an
indomitable atheist and skeptic. But, as they confess themselves,
what is the use in a Pope, if there is no Devil?
And so Rome sends her ablest advocates and preachers to the rescue
of those perishing in “the bottomless pit.” Rome employs her
cleverest writers for this purpose--albeit they all indignantly
deny the accusation--and in the preface to every book put forth by
the prolific des Mousseaux, the French Tertullian of our century,
we find undeniable proofs of the fact. Among other certificates of
ecclesiastical approval, every volume is ornamented with the text
of a certain original letter addressed to the very pious author by
the world-known Father Ventura de Raulica, of Rome. Few are those
who have not heard this famous name. It is the name of one of the
chief pillars of the Latin Church, the ex-General of the Order of the
Theatins, Consultor of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Examiner of
Bishops, and of the Roman Clergy, etc., etc., etc. This strikingly
characteristic document will remain to astonish future generations by
its spirit of unsophisticated demonolatry and unblushing sincerity.
We translate a fragment verbatim, and by thus helping its circulation
hope to merit the blessings of Mother Church:[23]
“MONSIEUR AND EXCELLENT FRIEND:
“The greatest victory of Satan was gained on that day when
he succeeded in making himself denied.
“To demonstrate the existence of Satan, is to reëstablish
_one of the fundamental dogmas of the Church_, which serve
as a basis for Christianity, and, without which, Satan would
be but a name....
“Magic, mesmerism, magnetism, somnambulism, spiritualism,
spiritism, hypnotism ... are only other names for SATANISM.
“To bring out such a truth and show it in its proper light,
is to unmask the enemy; it is to unveil the immense danger
of certain practices, _reputed innocent_; it is to deserve
well in the eyes of humanity and of religion.
“FATHER VENTURA DE RAULICA.”
A-men!
This is an unexpected honor indeed, for our American “controls” in
general, and the innocent “Indian guides” in particular. To be thus
introduced in Rome as princes of the Empire of Eblis, is more than
they could ever hope for in other lands.
Without in the least suspecting that she was working for the future
welfare of her enemies--the spiritualists and spiritists--the Church,
some twenty years since, in tolerating des Mousseaux and de Mirville
as the biographers of the Devil, and giving her approbation thereto,
tacitly confessed the literary copartnership.
M. the Chevalier Gougenot des Mousseaux, and his friend and
collaborateur, the Marquis Eudes de Mirville, to judge by their long
titles, must be aristocrats _pur sang_, and they are, moreover,
writers of no small erudition and talent. Were they to show
themselves a little more parsimonious of double points of exclamation
following every vituperation, and invective against Satan and his
worshippers, their style would be faultless. As it is, the crusade
against the enemy of mankind was fierce, and lasted for over twenty
years.
What with the Catholics piling up their psychological phenomena to
prove the existence of a personal devil, and the Count de Gasparin,
an ancient minister of Louis Philippe, collecting volumes of other
facts to prove the contrary, the spiritists of France have contracted
an everlasting debt of gratitude toward the disputants. The existence
of an unseen spiritual universe peopled with invisible beings has now
been demonstrated beyond question. Ransacking the oldest libraries,
they have distilled from the historical records the quintessence
of evidence. All epochs, from the Homeric ages down to the present
day, have supplied their choicest materials to these indefatigable
authors. In trying to prove the authenticity of the miracles wrought
by Satan in the days preceding the Christian era, as well as
throughout the middle ages, they have simply laid a firm foundation
for a study of the phenomena in our modern times.
Though an ardent, uncompromising enthusiast, des Mousseaux unwittingly
transforms himself into the tempting demon, or--as he is fond of
calling the Devil--the “serpent of _Genesis_.” In his desire to
demonstrate in every manifestation the presence of the Evil One, he
only succeeds in demonstrating that Spiritualism and magic are no new
things in the world, but very ancient twin-brothers, whose origin must
be sought for in the earliest infancy of ancient India, Chaldea,
Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, and Greece.
He proves the existence of “spirits,” whether these be angels or
devils, with such a clearness of argument and logic, and such
an amount of evidence, historical, irrefutable, and strictly
authenticated, that little is left for spiritualist authors who may
come after him. How unfortunate that the scientists, who believe
neither in devil nor spirit, are more than likely to ridicule M. des
Mousseaux’s books without reading them, for they really contain so
many facts of profound scientific interest!
But what can we expect in our own age of unbelief, when we find
Plato, over twenty-two centuries ago, complaining of the same? “Me,
too,” says he, in his _Euthyphron_, “when I say anything in the
public assembly concerning divine things, _and predict to them_ what
is going to happen, they ridicule as mad; and although _nothing that
I have predicted has proved untrue_, yet they envy all such men as we
are. However, we ought not to heed, but pursue our own way.”
The literary resources of the Vatican and other Catholic repositories
of learning must have been freely placed at the disposal of these
modern authors. When one has such treasures at hand--original
manuscripts, papyri, and books pillaged from the richest heathen
libraries; old treatises on magic and alchemy; and records of all the
trials for witchcraft, and sentences for the same to rack, stake, and
torture, it is mighty easy to write volumes of accusations against
the Devil. We affirm on good grounds that there are hundreds of the
most valuable works on the occult sciences, which are sentenced to
eternal concealment from the public, but are attentively read and
studied by the privileged who have access to the Vatican Library.
The laws of nature are the same for heathen sorcerer as for Catholic
saint; and a “miracle” may be produced as well by one as by the
other, without the slightest intervention of God or devil.
Hardly had the manifestations begun to attract attention in Europe,
than the clergy commenced their outcry that their traditional enemy
had reappeared under another name, and “divine miracles” also began
to be heard of in isolated instances. First they were confined to
humble individuals, some of whom claimed to have them produced
through the intervention of the Virgin Mary, saints and angels;
others--according to the clergy--began to suffer from _obsession_
and _possession_; for the Devil must have his share of fame as
well as the Deity. Finding that, notwithstanding the warning, the
_independent_, or so-called spiritual phenomena went on increasing
and multiplying, and that these manifestations threatened to
upset the carefully-constructed dogmas of the Church, the world
was suddenly startled by extraordinary intelligence. In 1864, a
whole community became possessed of the Devil. Morzine, and the
awful stories of its demoniacs; Valleyres, and the narratives of
its well-authenticated exhibitions of sorcery; and those of the
Presbytere de Cideville curdled the blood in Catholic veins.
Strange to say, the question has been asked over and over again,
why the “divine” miracles and most of the obsessions are so strictly
confined to Roman Catholic dioceses and countries? Why is it that
since the Reformation there has been scarcely one single divine
“miracle” in a Protestant land? Of course, the answer we must expect
from Catholics is, that the latter are peopled by _heretics_, and
abandoned by God. Then why are there no more Church-miracles in
Russia, a country whose religion differs from the Roman Catholic
faith but in external forms of rites, its fundamental dogmas being
identically the same, except as to the emanation of the Holy
Ghost? Russia has her accepted saints and thaumaturgical relics,
and miracle-working images. The St. Mitrophaniy of Voroneg is an
authenticated miracle-worker, but his miracles are limited to
healing; and though hundreds upon hundreds have been healed _through
faith_, and though the old cathedral is full of magnetic effluvia,
and whole generations will go on _believing_ in his power, and some
persons will always be healed, still no such miracles are heard of
in Russia as the Madonna-walking, and Madonna letter-writing, and
statue-talking of Catholic countries. Why is this so? Simply because
the emperors have strictly forbidden that sort of thing. The Czar,
Peter the Great, stopped every spurious “divine” miracle with one
frown of his mighty brow. He declared he would have _no false_
miracles played by the holy _icones_ (images of saints), and they
disappeared forever.[24]
There are cases on record of isolated and independent phenomena
exhibited by certain images in the last century; the latest was the
bleeding of the cheek of an image of the Virgin, when a soldier of
Napoleon cut her face in two. This miracle, alleged to have happened
in 1812, in the days of the invasion by the “grand army,” was the
final farewell.[25] But since then, although the three successive
emperors have been pious men, their will has been respected, and
the images and saints have remained quiet, and hardly been spoken
of except as connected with religious worship. In Poland, a land of
furious ultramontanism, there were, at different times, desperate
attempts at miracle-doing. They died at birth, however, for the
argus-eyed police were there; a Catholic miracle in Poland, made
public by the priests, generally meaning political revolution,
bloodshed, and war.
Is it then, not permissible to at least suspect that if, in one
country divine miracles may be arrested by civil and military law,
and in another they _never occur_, we must search for the explanation
of the two facts in some natural cause, instead of attributing them
to either god or devil? In our opinion--if it is worth anything--the
whole secret may be accounted for as follows. In Russia, the clergy
know better than to bewilder their parishes, whose piety is sincere
and faith strong without miracles; they know that nothing is better
calculated than the latter to sow seeds of distrust, doubt, and
finally of skepticism which leads directly to atheism. Moreover
the climate is less propitious, and the magnetism of the average
population too positive, _too healthy_, to call forth _independent_
phenomena; and fraud would not answer. On the other hand, neither in
Protestant Germany, nor England, nor yet in America, since the days
of the Reformation, has the clergy had access to any of the Vatican
secret libraries. Hence they are all but poor hands at the magic of
Albertus Magnus.
As for America being overflowed with sensitives and mediums, the
reason for it is partially attributable to climatic influence
and especially to the physiological condition of the population.
Since the days of the Salem witchcraft, 200 years ago, when the
comparatively few settlers had pure and unadulterated blood in their
veins, nothing much had been heard of “spirits” or “mediums” until
1840.[26] The phenomena then first appeared among the ascetic and
exalted Shakers, whose religious aspirations, peculiar mode of life,
moral purity, and physical chastity all led to the production of
independent phenomena of a psychological as well as physical nature.
Hundreds of thousands, and even millions of men from various climates
and of different constitutions and habits, have, since 1692, invaded
North America, and by intermarrying have substantially changed the
physical type of the inhabitants. Of what country in the world do the
women’s constitutions bear comparison with the delicate, nervous, and
sensitive constitutions of the feminine portion of the population of
the United States? We were struck on our arrival in the country with
the semi-transparent delicacy of skin of the natives of both sexes.
Compare a hard-working Irish factory girl or boy, with one from a
genuine American family. Look at their hands. One works as hard as
the other; they are of equal age, and both seemingly healthy; and
still, while the hands of the one, after an hour’s soaping, will show
a skin little softer than that of a young alligator, those of the
other, notwithstanding constant use, will allow you to observe the
circulation of the blood under the thin and delicate epidermis. No
wonder, then, that while America is the conservatory of sensitives
the majority of its clergy, unable to produce divine or any other
miracles, stoutly deny the possibility of any phenomena except those
produced by tricks and juggling. And no wonder also that the Catholic
priesthood, who are practically aware of the existence of magic
and spiritual phenomena, and believe in them while dreading their
consequences, try to attribute the whole to the agency of the Devil.
Let us adduce one more argument, if only for the sake of
circumstantial evidence. In what countries have “divine miracles”
flourished most, been most frequent and most stupendous? Catholic
Spain, and Pontifical Italy, beyond question. And which more than
these two, has had access to ancient literature? Spain was famous for
her libraries; the Moors were celebrated for their profound learning
in alchemy and other sciences. The Vatican is the storehouse of an
immense number of ancient manuscripts. During the long interval of
nearly 1,500 years they have been accumulating, from trial after
trial, books and manuscripts confiscated from their sentenced
victims, to their own profit. The Catholics may plead that the books
were generally committed to the flames; that the treatises of famous
sorcerers and enchanters perished with their accursed authors. But
the Vatican, if it could speak, could tell a different story. It
knows too well of the existence of certain closets and rooms, access
to which is had but by the very few. It knows that the entrances to
these secret hiding-places are so cleverly concealed from sight in
the carved frame-work and under the profuse ornamentation of the
library-walls, that there have even been Popes who lived and died
within the precincts of the palace without ever suspecting their
existence. But these Popes were neither Sylvester II., Benedict IX.,
John XX., nor the VIth and VIIth Gregory; nor yet the famous Borgia
of toxicological memory. Neither were those who remained ignorant of
the hidden lore friends of the sons of Loyola.
Where, in the records of European Magic, can we find cleverer
enchanters than in the mysterious solitudes of the cloister? Albert
Magnus, the famous Bishop and conjurer of Ratisbon, was never
surpassed in his art. Roger Bacon was a monk, and Thomas Aquinas one
of the most learned pupils of Albertus. Trithemius, Abbot of the
Spanheim Benedictines, was the teacher, friend, and confidant of
Cornelius Agrippa; and while the confederations of the Theosophists
were scattered broadcast about Germany, where they first originated,
assisting one another, and struggling for years for the acquirement
of esoteric knowledge, any person who knew how to become the favored
pupil of certain monks, might very soon be proficient in all the
important branches of occult learning.
This is all in history and cannot be easily denied. Magic, in all its
aspects, was widely and nearly openly practiced by the clergy till
the Reformation. And even he who was once called the “Father of the
Reformation,” the famous John Reuchlin,[27] author of the _Mirific
Word_ and friend of Pico di Mirandola, the teacher and instructor of
Erasmus, Luther, and Melancthon, was a kabalist and occultist.
The ancient _Sortilegium_, or divination by means of _Sortes_
or lots--an art and practice now decried by the clergy as an
abomination, designated by _Stat. 10 Jac._ as felony,[28] and by
_Stat. 12 Carolus II._ excepted out of the general pardons, on the
ground of being _sorcery_--was widely practiced by the clergy and
monks. Nay, it was sanctioned by St. Augustine himself, who does
not “disapprove of this method of learning futurity, provided it be
not used for worldly purposes.” More than that, he confesses having
practiced it himself.[29]
Aye; but the clergy called it _Sortes Sanctorum_, when it was
they who practiced it; while the _Sortes Prænestinæ_, succeeded
by the _Sortes Homericæ_ and _Sortes Virgilianæ_, were abominable
_heathenism_, the worship of the Devil, when used by any one else.
Gregory de Tours informs us that when the clergy resorted to the
_Sortes_ their custom was to lay the _Bible_ on the altar, and to
pray the Lord that He would discover His will, and disclose to them
futurity in one of the verses of the book. Gilbert de Nogent writes
that in his days (about the twelfth century) the custom was, at
the consecration of bishops, to consult the _Sortes Sanctorum_, to
thereby learn the success and fate of the episcopate. On the other
hand, we are told that the _Sortes Sanctorum_ were condemned by the
Council of Agda, in 506. In this case again we are left to inquire,
in which instance has the infallibility of the Church failed? Was it
when she prohibited that which was practiced by her greatest saint
and patron, Augustine, or in the twelfth century, when it was openly
and with the sanction of the same Church practiced by the clergy for
the benefit of the bishop’s elections? Or, must we still believe that
in both of these contradictory cases the Vatican was inspired by the
direct “spirit of God?”
If any doubt that Gregory of Tours approved of a practice that
prevails to this day, more or less, even among strict Protestants,
let them read this: “Lendastus, Earl of Tours, who was for ruining
me with Queen Fredegonde, coming to Tours, big with evil designs
against me, I withdrew to my oratory under a deep concern, where I
took the _Psalms_.... My heart revived within me when I cast my eyes
on this of the seventy-seventh _Psalm_: ‘He caused them to go on with
confidence, whilst the sea swallowed up their enemies.’ Accordingly,
the count spoke not a word to my prejudice; and leaving Tours that
very day, the boat in which he was, sunk in a storm, but his skill in
swimming saved him.”
The sainted bishop simply confesses here to having practiced a bit of
sorcery. _Every mesmerizer knows the power of will during an intense
desire bent on any particular subject._ Whether in consequence of
“co-incidents” or otherwise, the opened verse suggested to his mind
revenge by drowning. Passing the remainder of the day in “deep
concern,” and possessed by this all-absorbing thought, the saint--it
may be unconsciously--exercises his will on the subject; and thus
while imagining in the accident the hand of God, he simply becomes
a sorcerer exercising his magnetic will which reacts on the person
feared; and the count barely escapes with his life. Were the accident
decreed by God, the culprit would have been drowned; for a simple
bath could not have altered his malevolent resolution against St.
Gregory had he been very intent on it.
Furthermore, we find anathemas fulminated against this lottery of
fate, at the council of Varres, which forbids “all ecclesiastics,
under pain of excommunication, to perform that kind of divination,
or to pry into futurity, by looking into any book, or writing,
whatsoever.” The same prohibition is pronounced at the councils of
Agda in 506, of Orleans, in 511, of Auxerre in 595, and finally at
the council of Aenham in 1110; the latter condemning “sorcerers,
witches, diviners, such as occasioned death by magical operations,
and who practiced fortune-telling by the holy-book lots;” and the
complaint of the joint clergy against de Garlande, their bishop at
Orleans, and addressed to Pope Alexander III., concludes in this
manner: “Let your apostolical hands put on strength to _strip naked_
the iniquity of this man, that the curse prognosticated on the day of
his consecration may overtake him; for the gospels being opened on
the altar _according to custom_, the first words were: _and the young
man, leaving his linen cloth, fled from them naked_.”[30]
Why then roast the lay-magicians and consulters of books, and
canonize the ecclesiastics? Simply because the mediæval as well as
the modern phenomena, manifested through laymen, whether produced
through occult knowledge or happening independently, upset the claims
of both the Catholic and Protestant Churches to divine miracles.
In the face of reiterated and unimpeachable evidence it became
impossible for the former to maintain successfully the assertion
that seemingly miraculous manifestations by the “good angels” and
God’s direct intervention could be produced exclusively by her chosen
ministers and holy saints. Neither could the Protestant well maintain
on the same ground that miracles had ended with the apostolic ages.
For, whether of the same nature or not, the modern phenomena claimed
close kinship with the biblical ones. The magnetists and healers of
our century came into direct and open competition with the apostles.
The Zouave Jacob, of France, had outrivalled the prophet Elijah in
recalling to life persons who were seemingly dead; and Alexis, the
somnambulist, mentioned by Mr. Wallace in his work,[31] was, by his
lucidity, putting to shame apostles, prophets, and the Sibyls of old.
Since the burning of the last witch, the great Revolution of France,
so elaborately prepared by the league of the secret societies and
their clever emissaries, had blown over Europe and awakened terror
in the bosom of the clergy. It had, like a destroying hurricane,
swept away in its course those best allies of the Church, the Roman
Catholic aristocracy. A sure foundation was now laid for the right of
individual opinion. The world was freed from ecclesiastical tyranny
by opening an unobstructed path to Napoleon the Great, who had given
the deathblow to the Inquisition. This great slaughter-house of the
Christian Church--wherein she butchered, in the name of the Lamb, all
the sheep arbitrarily declared scurvy--was in ruins, and she found
herself left to her own responsibility and resources.
So long as the phenomena had appeared only sporadically, she had
always felt herself powerful enough to repress the consequences.
Superstition and belief in the Devil were as strong as ever, and
Science had not yet dared to publicly measure her forces with those
of supernatural Religion. Meanwhile the enemy had slowly but surely
gained ground. All at once it broke out with an unexpected violence.
“Miracles” began to appear in full daylight, and passed from their
mystic seclusion into the domain of natural law, where the profane
hand of Science was ready to strip off their sacerdotal mask. Still,
for a time, the Church held her position, and with the powerful help
of superstitious fear checked the progress of the intruding force.
But, when in succession appeared mesmerists and somnambulists,
reproducing the physical and mental phenomenon of ecstasy, hitherto
believed to be the special gift of saints; when the passion for
the turning tables had reached in France and elsewhere its climax
of fury; when the psychography--alleged spiritual--from a simple
curiosity had developed itself and settled into an unabated interest,
and finally ebbed into religious mysticism; when the echoes aroused
by the first raps of Rochester, crossing the oceans, spread until
they were re-percussed from nearly every corner of the world--then,
and only then, the Latin Church was fully awakened to a sense of
danger. Wonder after wonder was reported to have occurred in the
spiritual circles and the lecture-rooms of the mesmerists; the sick
were healed, the blind made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to
hear. J. R. Newton in America, and Du Potet in France, were healing
the multitude without the slightest claim to divine intervention. The
great discovery of Mesmer, which reveals to the earnest inquirer the
mechanism of nature, mastered, as if by magical power, organic and
inorganic bodies.
But this was not the worst. A more direful calamity for the Church
occurred in the evocation from the upper and nether worlds of a
multitude of “spirits,” whose private bearing and conversation gave
the direct lie to the most cherished and profitable dogmas of the
Church. These “spirits” claimed to be the identical entities, in a
disembodied state, of fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, friends
and acquaintances of the persons viewing the weird phenomena. The
Devil seemed to have no objective existence, and this struck at the
very foundation upon which the chair of St. Peter rested.[32] Not a
spirit except the mocking mannikins of Planchette would confess to
the most distant relationship with the Satanic majesty, or accredit
him with the governorship of a single inch of territory. The clergy
felt their prestige growing weaker every day, as they saw the people
impatiently shaking off, in the broad daylight of truth, the dark
veils with which they had been blindfolded for so many centuries.
Then finally, fortune, which previously had been on their side in the
long-waged conflict between theology and science, deserted to their
adversary. The help of the latter to the study of the occult side of
nature was truly precious and timely, and science has unwittingly
widened the once narrow path of the phenomena into a broad highway.
Had not this conflict culminated at the nick of time, we might have
seen, reproduced on a miniature scale the disgraceful scenes of the
episodes of Salem witchcraft and the Nuns of Loudun. As it was, the
clergy were muzzled.
But if science has unintentionally helped the progress of the occult
phenomena, the latter have reciprocally aided science herself. Until
the days when newly-reincarnated philosophy boldly claimed its place
in the world, there had been but few scholars who had undertaken
the difficult task of studying comparative theology. This science
occupies a domain heretofore penetrated by few explorers. The
necessity which it involved of being well acquainted with the dead
languages, necessarily limited the number of students. Besides, there
was less popular need for it so long as people could not replace the
Christian orthodoxy by something more tangible. It is one of the most
undeniable facts of psychology, that the average man can as little
exist out of a religious element of some kind, as a fish out of the
water. The voice of truth, “a voice stronger than the voice of the
mightiest thunder,” speaks to the inner man in the nineteenth century
of the Christian era, as it spoke in the corresponding century B.C.
It is a useless and unprofitable task to offer to humanity the
choice between a future life and annihilation. The only chance that
remains for those friends of human progress who seek to establish
for the good of mankind a faith, henceforth stripped entirely of
superstition and dogmatic fetters is to address them in the words
of Joshua: “Choose ye this day whom you will serve; whether the gods
which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.”[33]
“The science of religion,” wrote Max Müller in 1860, “is only just
beginning.... During the last fifty years the authentic documents
of the most important religions in the world _have been recovered
in a most unexpected and almost miraculous manner_.[34] We have now
before us the Canonical books of Buddhism; the _Zend-Avesta_ of
Zoroaster is no longer a sealed book; and the hymns of the _Rig-Veda_
have revealed a state of religions anterior to the first beginnings
of that mythology which in Homer and Hesiod stands before us as a
mouldering ruin.”[35]
In their insatiable desire to extend the dominion of blind faith, the
early architects of Christian theology had been forced to conceal, as
much as it was possible, the true sources of the same. To this end
they are said to have burned or otherwise destroyed all the original
manuscripts on the _Kabala_, magic, and occult sciences upon which
they could lay their hands. They ignorantly supposed that the most
dangerous writings of this class had perished with the last Gnostic;
but some day they may discover their mistake. Other authentic and as
important documents will perhaps reäppear in a “most unexpected and
almost miraculous manner.”