The New Avatar and The Destiny of the Soul Part 21

When these are swept away, and their doom is already declared by the leaders of thought in nearly all our inst.i.tutions of higher learning, the Roman _Avatar_ will stand revealed in all its nakedness and villainy to the execration of mankind. It is this "_Modernism_" that "His Holiness" so much fears and is trying to arrest. It is too late, unless civilization and the march of time move backward.

The most amazing thing about it all is, how the world, with its present intelligence and culture, can be so indifferent to this most aggressive, cruel, and relentless Avatar of all the ages, instead of repelling it with contempt and execration.

Thirty-seven Italian Cardinals,[2] proud and arrogant, rule the Church, elect the Pope, and a.s.sume dictators.h.i.+p of the earth, as also arbiters of human destiny, here and hereafter. America, the corn-bin of this modern Egypt, by courtesy has _one cardinal_, just to keep her in countenance.

The effrontery is cyclopean, but our supineness and indifference are deplorable and inexcusable.

s.h.i.+pping her impoverished, degraded, criminal, and priest-ridden hordes to America by the million every year, Rome is ma.s.sing her army for the overthrow of our government and all our present civilization. With her dogma of obedience, her army now _votes_ and will, by and by, _fight_ under the dictators.h.i.+p of the Cardinals at Rome. Already undermining our Public Free Schools, boycotting the public press, with their army of Jesuit spies and secret a.s.sa.s.sins of every liberty prized by man, the "merry war" goes on right under our eyes, and we sleep and dream and blindly a.s.sume that "there is no danger."

Read the history of the Crusaders, of the Protestant Reformation and of the "Holy Inquisition," and if further enlightenment is needed, study the origin, history, and denouement of all the Avatars of the past, the fate of Egypt, the cities of the plain, where paganism and a degenerate priesthood usurped the place of pure and undefiled religion, and literally wiped from the map of the world the civilizations of the past. _Nemesis_ is written in letters of flame across the starry heavens, as an atonement for the blood of nations and the degeneracy and diabolism of an ambitious, cruel, relentless, and unrestrained priesthood. And it is all being literally repeated to-day without the novelty of a new idea, or method, or device, or motive. It is _The Reincarnation of the Avatar of Siva, the Destroyer_.

[2] At the death of Pope Leo there were 65 Cardinals, 39 of whom were Italians.

CHAPTER XII

PORTENTS OF THE PRESENT TIME

There is no disguising nor denying the fact that during the past half century inst.i.tutional religion in the West has steadily lost its hold upon the great ma.s.s of the people. Creeds and dogmas are denied and repudiated.

The "higher criticism" represents the reluctant yielding of theologians to the existing conditions. In order to maintain any hold whatever upon the people and retain a semblance of the old faith, they have revised and modified beliefs and interpretations, and relaxed completely the former demand for the confession of faith and acceptance of the old creeds. Mere general verbal a.s.sent admitting of many mental reservations is now often deemed sufficient.

In the meantime, the living of the life and the doing of the work demanded by Jesus have come more and more into demand and general recognition.

The "Emmanuel Movement," now gaining such recognition and making such rapid progress, is sufficient evidence at this point.

With the Church of Rome no such change is manifest. By keeping its people in ignorance, by condemning all change or any improvement under the name of "Modernism," and by insisting upon the dogma of infallibility and blind obedience, Rome thus far has resisted all change and refused all compromise.

The change in Protestantism represents the growth of intelligence, the recognition of the rights of conscience, and individual and intellectual freedom.

The stability so apparent in Romanism relies solely on Ignorance, Superst.i.tion, and Fear, enforced by the dogma of "_Infallibility_," and reinforced by the power of "Excommunication" and the penalty of "Anathema."

The unity and stability of the Roman Church, thus secured by force, will presently be found to be apparent only. It could only work and hold in the dark ages. Internal division and dissension, now known to exist, await only some fresh act of oppression, or some new abomination, or abuse of political power, to disrupt its solidarity.

In the meantime physical science has steadily advanced, opening new avenues of wealth, industry, and opportunity, and so developing the resources of this Western world.

But more important and far-reaching still have been the discoveries regarding the finer forces of nature.

The wonderful development and application of discoveries in Electricity have not only opened a new world previously unknown and unsuspected, but have seemed to endow these subtle forces almost with an intelligence of their own. Cra.s.s materialism is dead and s.p.a.ce practically annihilated.

If a single wire or a vibrating disc cannot originate intelligent speech, it can retain, repeat, and transmit the qualities, tones and inflections of the human voice in a way that seems miraculous and uncanny. It is thus that our concepts of nature have been enlarged, refined, and actually spiritualized. "Brutal" and "dead" matter are no longer in evidence nor even mentioned.

With the advent of modern spiritualism came another group of phenomena.

Making the largest allowance for fraud, self-deception, and all the vagaries of the imagination, no intelligent individual, familiar with the phenomena, will attempt to deny the extension of man's psychic world of consciousness and the manifestation of intelligence in ways and under conditions previously unknown. The identification of these intelligences, always difficult, and generally problematical, need not here be discussed at all. The facts and the phenomena are all that we are here concerned with.

The most important consideration regarding all these phenomena is that they do not _develop_, but on the contrary _dominate_ the individual. They are, in fact, altogether subjective. The medium may put himself in the negative or pa.s.sive condition to be controlled, but he cannot _command_ nor _control_ the influence nor the "ent.i.ty" that influences him, and eventually he loses the power to resist it, and likewise the power of self-control.

Science demands _facts_, and here are facts in abundance. These facts supplement the discoveries in electricity and nature's finer forces, and pa.s.s from physics to metaphysics, from physiology to psychology, and push back the veil of the unseen, and hitherto unknown, many degrees.

The trend of all this progress, and of these discoveries, is exceedingly plain.

Our concepts of Nature, of Life, and of Man have been almost immeasurably enlarged, refined, and elevated.

Expectancy is in the air. "What next is going to happen?" is the question everywhere asked. The conditions and portents, in a general way, are those that herald a new Avatar; an Avatar now, of science rather than of religion; of knowledge rather than of faith, and this knowledge is to be of spiritual things, the foundations of which are already in evidence.

This science is not to be time-serving, but man-serving; not so much a renewal of faith as a revelation of knowledge; less anxious for the glory of G.o.d than for the elevation of man, which is the more direct and certain way of honoring Divinity.

This does not mean the decay nor the repudiation of religion, but a _realization_ of _true_ religion, such as heretofore prophets have foretold, revelation has forecast, and toward which humanity has toiled and journeyed in sorrow and pain; the very religion that Jesus lived and taught. "A clean life, an open mind, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for all, and human life a journeying upward toward the realms of eternal day, 'with no night there, and no sorrow.'"

_And why not?_ If man can conceive it, why may he not _realize_ it? The "Old Adam" as an excuse is exploded. The "New Adam" is indeed "a quickening spirit."

Nothing is plainer nor more demonstrable at the present day than the fact that mankind is slowly but surely shaking off the traditions and the superst.i.tions that have bound it in the past, rising above the myths and the folklore of every age and clime, and awaking as if from slumber, to behold a new day and a new world.

This awakening is even more in evidence and remarkable in the case of woman than of man. Progress here during the last decade has been such as the world has never before seen on any such scale, and it means more to the elevation of humanity than anyone has. .h.i.therto been able to forecast or to measure.

In the meantime social and economic conditions with the great ma.s.ses of the people are very far from what they should be.

Unrest and confusion are strongly in evidence. On the whole, there is far less suffering and dest.i.tution than ever before. Oppression and abominations meet with quick and powerful protest from all cla.s.ses, when exposed, and at least temporary relief is quick to follow.

The blame is confined to no one cla.s.s, rich or poor. The equitable distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunity that have developed beyond all precedent during the last half century, requires time. Justice and equity are not dead, but everywhere in evidence, dominating mankind at large. Public sentiment was never more keen and never nearer right than to-day. There is general confusion, however, as to methods and ways and means. The cunning shark and the selfish brute resort to concealment, cunning and subterfuge, to deceive the people and often succeed for a time, only to meet with condemnation and execration later. Injustice is often in evidence, but it is neither rampant nor dominant. It stands in fear of public sentiment.

These, in brief and in outline, are the conditions, the portents, to-day, everywhere in evidence:

1. The decay of creeds and dogmas.

2. Great progress in Science, Art, and the Crafts.

3. Immense discoveries regarding Nature's finer forces and the psychical powers latent in man.

4. Great expectancy as to new revelations.

5. Unprecedented increase in wealth and the development of natural resources.

6. Enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of woman, and immense progress as to her rights and opportunities.

7. Economic Justice recognized and aimed at, and fortified by public sentiment, with strong efforts to secure and maintain it.

The present age or epoch is not one of darkness, but of light; not of discouragement, but of hope. It is neither retrograde nor stagnant, but progressive to a degree never before witnessed in the history of man on so large a scale and involving all cla.s.ses and so many people at one time.

Organized or inst.i.tutional religion alone is on the wane. Evidence and utility are everywhere demanded. Nothing is sacred simply because it is old; nor true merely because it is dogmatically a.s.serted so to be.

Holy books, holy men, and holy days are matters of evidence, and not of blind credence.

What will the new religion--the new revelation--be? and whence will it come?