272

A RATIONAL CHRISTIAN

A Vigorous Thinker and a Christian Gentleman in the Best Sense.

[Ecma?] Extracts From the Writing of the Late Gilbert C. Monell - His Work and Influence in Omaha.

"All study of science is based upon the idea that we can learn more; but nearly all dogmas of a spiritual kind are based upon the spiritual idea of perfect knowledge - at least so far as the dogma is concerned."

These are the words in which an old citizen of Omaha defined the difference between the scientific search after the useful and the good and the religious search after the same desirable things.

"Any theological creed," he maintained, "formulated by a human device is not necessarily religion, nor are we bound to accept is as a standard of faith or rule of life, unless it expresses our intelligent belief. There were people here once who, when they heard or read such expressions as this, said this man was an atheist. But an atheist does not love God, and this man said:
"If we know but little, our faith will be limited and simple; if we know more, our religion and our responsibilities will be of a higher grade; but, however much we may learn, we can never harm religion by learning all there is to be known of truth."

By which it will be seen that he loves truth. And no one can sincerely love truth without loving God.

He who wrote this was Gilbert Chichester Monell, and he was a physician in this city, well known to all who have lived here long. He has been dead several years.

It is one of the greatest tragedies of life that so many foolish men put their thoughts into words, and that so many good men die without having preserved one of their convictions in such form that it will be of any use to other men.

Life is a series of experiments, And most of the experiments are failures. Therefore, the conscientious writing of a man who lived nobly serves the same purpose that a beacon does. It teaches one when to make for the open sea.

Perhaps Dr. Monell might have objected to the title of rationalist, because to some that conveys an idea that christianity is renounced. (Although it must be confessed that a poor estimate is placed upon christianity when it is assumed that it cannot hold its own in a mind which is given to rational modes of thinking.) If Dr. Monell is termed a rational Christian, possibly a term will be used which will most nearly describe that fearless yet reverential thought with which his mind approached all things connected with the Deity. The following long extract from his volume called "The Creation and the Scripture" will express in part the earnest simplicity of his belief:

"Theology is yet confounded with religion, and men are still debarred from church privileges for heresy, though leading a righteous life. The pulpit still sneers at the science it does not understand, and misrepresents the religion of scientific men it cannot persecute in the flesh. This is done in the face of fact that the study of science does not encourage infidelity or unbelief, and in the face of a long array of men eminent in science who have been [warm?] supporters of christianity. It may be that intellectual development tends to explode theological absurdities, but it is not true that science has ever sought to lessen the distance between right and wrong, or render [?] less sinful and odious, but establishes with more and more certainty that a right life is obedience to God. Caste in India and elsewhere has heretofore been an almost impassable barrier to the introduction of christianity, but when the locomotive and the railway carriage entered the land, and the [Parsee?] must walk or ride beside a meaner brother, he soon found a text allowing him to ride without pollution. When water was introduced into Calculia the proud Brahmin would not drink from the hydrant to which the lower class had access; but when he saw the only alternative was to drink the foul water of the River Hoogly, he soon found a license to drink the pure water of the hydrant without realizing, as we do, that the first blow was then struck on the entering wedge that was to break-up caste. Thus the introduction of steam, the telegraph and other triumphs of science are prompt missionaries of Christian qualities where other agencies have failed. Thus science at least prepares the way for religious light, and in a few years the Bible of the missionary, instead of the miserable Pundit, will have a controlling influence. Let it be clearly understood that science is not religion, but that it furnishes an ever-widening foundation upon which is outside of and beyond us, and works for righteousness, clearly proving that there should be no barrier to intellectual development this side of heaven's perfections."

This is a full illustration of the view he held of the relations between science and religion. They suggest those of Draper. Whether he was influenced by Draper or not I cannot say. But what finally became his convictions appear to be the fine result of a life of studious and beautiful thought, in which the attitude of the mind was always inquiring and never dogmatic. Surrounded by the influences of the orthodox Protestant church he appears to have been aggressive only when he fought against the arrogant attitude it held toward men who accepted without inquiry any scheme of philosophy or receipt of salvation.

"A religion," he says, "that involves our eternal existence should not be determined by doubtful speculation or tabooed by too sacred or further investigation."

This which follows has even a stronger hint of his irritation concerning this attitude of the church.

"Men organized as a church may show more religion than the unorganized messes outside of such bodies, but this gives the church no authority to adopt a shibboleth of membership and forbid all access to Christ except by its use as a password."

To the liberal minded it may seem as if Dr. Monell had here said something superfluous, because among the liberal minded it is so generally admitted that the churches hold only a small part of those who try to make the most of the life that God has lent them. But he who has much attended church will remember many occasions upon which clergymen have, with a great show magnanimity, admitted that there might be without the pale a few who would enter heaven. But - they have always solemnly warned their listeners - the true way to do was to openly acknowledge Christ by becoming one of his flock. And they never suspect the stupendous egotism of the easy assumption that His flock is composed of those who are speaking.

There are many to whom religion can never be a rite. It must be a communion. Prayer meetings are to them a profanation. They would no sooner pray before others, than they would declare to the mortal object of their dearest love, all those emotions which are so instinctively hidden from the world. The badly frescoed roof of a meeting house [?] the vision that in lifting the eyes to God would encounter nothing but the stare. The interposition of another man's ideas between the soul and God is a degrading interruption, and puts a leaden weight upon the wings of the devotion which would soar through the great Silence to that beneficient Unknown which loving faith has named the God.

Dr. Monell seems to have felt this- and he is the first man I ever chanced to meet- in flesh or in books- who feels as I have always felt about prayer place first I heard men and women kindly directing the Creator how to run the universe, and fled the prayer meeting with checks burning at the intolerable impudence toward Divinity. Indeed, I think I have never heard a prayer offered in public yet which did not state a case for God, and then in effect tell him he could draw his conclusions as to what ought to be done. Remember this flippancy is mine. Dr. Monell is never flippant. He was too cultivated and too earnest [?] man. He seems to have been striking with the tense hands of a liberator at the chains of superstition on the wrists of his follows. Talking about enchantments Christian and pagan, he says:
"The modern pagan has there enchantments still, and relies on their use as hopefully and trustfully as modern christians do on their formal prayers, long orations, and pious platitudes, though the pagan does not know that he thus violates the teaching of Jesus. The teachings of Jesus were so precise as to the equal and universal application of God's laws to material things that is is hard to understand how intelligent minds can believe that mere mortal prayer can change or arrest the operation of a law of all creation, and instituted for all time, in order to accommodate man's fallen estate and temporary desire. The teaching of Jesus is so precise in confining prayer to the closet as a personal communion with God, and forbidding it as public worship in the synagogue as well as in the street to be seen of men, that it is hard for true reverence to understand how ministers can make a merit of long prayers in the pulpit, and how other professors do not merit the rebuke of Jesus to the Pharisees for thus assuming a personal influence with God which would render a prayer more effectual from their lips than from the lips of a publican."

But though Dr. Monell does not lack in emphasis, he quite understands the point of view of other men, and he is patient even with determined ignorance. He tries to see, without heat, the aspects of each case. Concerning Darwin, he says:
"If we have once forced upon our intelligence a law of life to [?] Darwin believes he has the clue, we must openly deny allegiance to the Maker, or else we must admit our personal responsibility more practically than we do now; for it is only by so doing that we can preserve our bodies pure, as temples of God, and make habits of body, as well as emotions of mind, an essential part of practical religion. Thus parents, instead of transmitting to their children anger, pride and self-indulgence, would seek to transmit the better qualities, and thus render it easier to train them to love, temperance and virtue. Whether Darwin's doctrine be true to the fullest extent or not, enough has been established to teach us more than we ever understood before, how children suffer unnecessarily for a parent's fault, and how, without implicating the justice or tender mercy of God. He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children. If teachers of religion and Christian parents, instead of sneering at Darwin, would inform themselves of just what he does teach, they would find enough which, if well enforced from the pulpit and well obeyed in the new, would soon not only improve bodily health and happiness and promote spiritual religion. Let a parent fully realize by proper knowledge that a sin of the soul, when indulged. modifies and degrades his physical structure, and that the brain itself and every molecule of the body is thus made a partaker of sin, and if he is not worse than a heathen, he will correct bad habits of mind as well as body, instead of transmitting them to the children."

A man has a right to think what he chooses of Darwin, and not be frightened out of his opinions by the easy sneers of those who imagine that J. Darwin's theories interfere with the truths taught in the bible. Mr. Newton was once also thought to advance a theory which was opposed to the teachings of the bible. But this theory was true. It is now looked upon in a very different way even by those who first insist that a truth must agree with the bible before they accept the truth, whatever it may be. The nebular hypothesis was once also considered as not in accord [?] bible teachings. This is not urged in substantiation of the correctness of Mr. Darwin's theories, but only to argue that many persons are reluctant to accept a new scientific theory or discovery lest it conflict with the teachings of the book they most reverence.

It is a pleasure to note the care with which Dr. Monell denies materialism.

"Spiritual conceptions," he says, "may be based upon material facts, but this does not constitute materialism a judge of spiritual experience, nor does any scientist, so far as I know, pretend that scientific knowledge should judge or oppose the faith of anyone in that spiritual experience which is based upon the unseen and the invisible. Science only affirms that such emotional belief should not be a standard to determine or discredit scientific accuracy in the study of natural laws; neither should such emotional experience be accepted as authority to the faith of others. The knowledge of scientific facts and the application of that knowledge to our daily duties is quite a different matter from a spiritual experience here and a spiritual faith as to the hereafter. The two are independent of each other, yet, by working in harmony, the culture of one will always aid the culture of the other."

It is not easy for a man to cast off the hereditary influences of religious thought, and Dr. Monell is shaking himself free from the superstitions that must have been to a mind like his weights upon the wings of an eagle, accomplished something which could not have been done without much pain. But notice that however much he inveighs against theology, he preaches always religion in its profoundest and most elevating significance. There is no cringing in his religion. It is the knowledge that accept with exaltation the lease of life, and makes of living on of the exquisite arts. Neither the sky above nor the ground beneath may hold a secret which it is not man's right and joy to learn and use. To look God in the face and thank him for life--that is his idea of religion. To learn to care for the body which is the consummate form of mechanism and beauty--that his idea of reverence.

He says: "This knowledge of natural law, especially as applied to our bodily life, is the real stronghold of a healthy spiritual life. By educating our senses, controlling our desires, and conforming our habits to the laws of nature, our bodily senses and our erratic passions will be easier maintained in a normal condition and co-operate with God is a willing and joyful service, instead of lashing us to an indulgence only restrained by fear of punishment. Service to God thus becomes a joy and rejoicing instead of a [pepsi?] pressure here to escape a worse [penairy?] hereafter. It is to enter heaven with open-armed welcome instead of escaping hell by the skin of the teeth."

He resents with bitterness the interference of the church between God and the soul which, anxious to adopt itself to holy living. [?] hampered with tedious technicalities and forms.

"Even the sacraments," he says, "given by Christ as a free gift from God, are forbidden except as followed by a self-constituted authority and often by self-elected officers who thus constitute themselves arbiters of God's grace and judges of men's souls.

The spectacle of an intelligent man or woman applying for permission to make an open profession of faith and to honor God in proper ordinances, being held back while the application is being discussed, and then such applicant being compelled to go before church officers often unfit for such an office, and there to be catechized, voted upon and finally adjudged as to the soul's inner experience,, is a spectacle more befitting the days of Torquemada and the inquisition than the nineteenth century of [?] and councils."

A little farther down the same page are these words:
"Christ says, 'Come unto me, all ye that are weary, and I will give you rest.' Theology says, 'Come and be examined, and if worthy, I will give you rest.' "

A large part of the book is a plea for tolerance toward the heathen. Dr. Monell does not believe in what he terms "splenetic sniffs" at men of other faiths than ours. He has the greatness to perceive that God is running the universe, and not a small part of the globe habituated by Christians. He says: "We can learn lessons from every prominent religion of the past if we will attach sufficient importance to them to study them with scientific accuracy and impartiality."

This book is so full of things such as these, so simple and true, yet seldom degenerating into platitudes, that to begin the reading of it is to continue with the zest which one might feel if he were listening to the conversation of a man of extended experience, profound reverence and a vision that could get at Truth through the [?] of traditions. The manuscript was found among his effects after his death, and edited by two person, who loved him, one a man, and the other a woman, one of kin, and one not so, but both of whom had received much of the best part of their spiritual inspiration from this gentle and courageous philosopher, who had the power to face a fact without flinching, and to always sustain his optimism.

The following is proof of this: "The elements of truth and goodness have ever been flowing as a living stream through the whole history of the world, and ever deepening and widening. Let us not by narrow-mindedness obstruct its onward flow. The idea we form of God being based only upon our intellectual nature and conceptions, we cannot personify a god beyond what we are able to conceive and idealize. To be fitted for the full reception of the holy spirit, the intellect of man must be developed to comprehend God's revelation in his works, and to study and understand his laws as revealed for our benefit. Observation of natural laws must develops a god behind them, but only scientific study of nature will reveal higher and more refined ideas. Not that science alone can define the spiritual nature of deity or personify His person, for our natures are both spiritual and material, and any harmonious or proper idea of a Divine Being can only be based on material knowledge spiritually applied, or, as Christ expressed it, by the spirit of truth applying to our hearts the knowledge obtained by instruction. It is thus by advanced intelligence the God we worship has been disabused of almost fiendish attributes; the bible we revere as the lamp to our feet and the light to our path has ceased to sanction horrible doctrines."

"A Christian, above all others, should develop his mind, as the controlling element of his being, not only for his own benefit, but that he may increase his religious influence among men, and add to the general stock of truth for the benefit of his successors, or, as Solomon aptly expresses it, increase wisdom. "

It will be noticed that he was a man absolutely without affectation in his expression. He cared only to say the thing he wished to say so that it would be understood aright. His language has the simplicity that is to be found only in a man whose words have no more vanity in them than his clothes. One clothes an idea with dignity, the other clothes his body with appropriateness. But he is superior to both. They are his possessions. They do not in any way control him. To be thus judicious, temperate in thought, yet daring, modest, yet determined in aspiration, full of fancy, yet not the slave of it, pure, optimistic and trustful, is to be a man who has conquered life while he lives it and death when he encounters it. Both are his servitors. Life and death are the joint purveyors to him of his immortality.
ELIA W. PEATTIE.

A ROMANCE OF THEOSOPHY.
Manifestations Which an Ardent Believer Says He Witnessed.

New York Times: After forty years of study in the realms of occultism, J. R. Perry of Wilkesbarre witnessed a series of wonderful phenomena during a visit to this city, within the last fortnight.

Mr. Perry relates what is known among theosophists, that not long before her death Mme. Blavatsky appointed as her successor in the work of which see had been so long the acknowledged head Henry B. Foulke of Philadelphia. Mr. Foulke for many years had been a student of theosophy and a traveler in Europe and India in search of the knowledge of occult truths. Mme. Blavatsky promised him the approval and guidance of the mysterious powers who had directed her own work on earth, assuring him also of her personal co-operation from the unseen realms. Mr. Foulke, as the condition of his acceptance of this appointment, required unquestionable manifestations of the power of Mme. Blavatsky to fulfill her promises. He requested that her master should precipitate her portrait upon canvas, indicating also his own propinquity, after the manner which theosophists claim often to have witnessed.

In the parlors of Mme. Eugenie Beate, the Philadelphia psychic, through whose occult powers many pictures of the departed are said to have been made. Mr. Perry declares that he witnessed the fulfillment of Mr. Foulke's demands. Several canvases had been for some time prepared and waiting for the desired precipitation. When Mr. Perry entered Mme. Beste's parlor she showed him three canvases which had nothing on them. He placed them on a chair, with the face side to the wall. The canvasses, and upon one of them found a correct and beautiful portrait f Mme. Blavatsky.

The next morning, according to Mr. Perry, while he, Mme. Beste and Mrs. Kase were looking at the portrait, he saw in the upper left-hand corner of the background the gradual appearance of a face and head, and finally clean-cut figure. "There was the white-robed form of Mme. Blavatsky, sitting," says Mr. Perry, "with all expression of quiet repose upon her countenance, and her marvelously beautiful hands gracefully folded. Upon the window sill sits a Hindu idol, an exact picture of one belonging to Mr. Foulke, which was taken by him to England some years ago and loaned to the madame. Below the window are shelves containing books, with the initials I. D. and S. D., no doubt intended to refer to the volumes she has written, "Isis Unveiled" and 'Secret Doctrine."

"Thus had the request of the chosen one been literally compiled with, under such conditions that no one can accuse Mr. Foulke of any complicity or duplicity in its production, as he was not present and was an utter stranger to myself until I met him the following day, after he had been sent for to look at the marvelous precipitation."

Henry H. Foulke had already given up his large real estate business in Walnut street in order to follow what he felt to be higher aims of life in the pursuit and dissemination of occult knowledge. He now believes that he has the backing of the masters who stood behind Madame Blavatsky in her work. To confirm him in this belief he has received what he doubts not are precipitated letters from the masters themselves. Mr. Foulke will soon go to India to prosecute the work of theosophy.

THREW THE CHICKENS OUT.
But They Returned as Fast as They Were Ejected.

Dr. Sol. C. Martin, jr., of Argonaut rowing club [faine?], told an interesting incident of an experience of his, says the St. Louis Republican, while traveling in in California some years ago.

"We were stranded in 'Frisco," said the doctor, "dead broke and ashamed to write home. Things became desperate with us, and at last I decided to 'shake' the other fellows and strike out for myself. I secured passage on one of the steamships running between 'Frisco and some of the small places along the cost, for the price of my watch, which I sold.

"Arriving at a small mining and timber town I secured a position as waiter at the Metropolitan hotel, the only hotel in the camp, an imposing frame structure. The landlord employed me at $10 a week, and charged me $15 a week for board. The night of my arrival myself and a German named Fritz, who was in the same boat with me, were stowed away in an old kitchen, or shed, which had not been used for some time. About midnight I was awakened by Fritz, who was swearing softly to himself.

"A moment later I discovered the cause of his annoyance. He had found the room to be the roosting place of the fowls, and was busily engaged throwing friended chickens and ducks out of the window. After he had been engaged in this manner for some fifteen minutes, and the place seemingly as full of fowls as ever, I thought to examine into the cause.

"On looking out of the window where Fritz was throwing the fowls I saw there was an opening for them to enter just below the window, with a plank for them to walk up wide enough for two fowls. Up [?] plank in procession, two by two, came the fowls Fritz was throwing out. As fast as they were ejected they re-entered. We gave up trying to clear the room that night, you may be sure, and the next morning we decamped."

LIFE.

Yet a little while,
Yet a little way.
We shall reap, and rest and smile
All the day,
Up! let's trudge another mile.

-ROSETTI

A RATIONAL CHRISTIAN

A Vigorous Thinker and a Christian Gentleman in the Best Sense.

[Ecma?] Extracts From the Writing of the Late Gilbert C. Monell - His Work and Influence in Omaha.

"All study of science is based upon the idea that we can learn more; but nearly all dogmas of a spiritual kind are based upon the spiritual idea of perfect knowledge - at least so far as the dogma is concerned."

These are the words in which an old citizen of Omaha defined the difference between the scientific search after the useful and the good and the religious search after the same desirable things.

"Any theological creed," he maintained, "formulated by a human device is not necessarily religion, nor are we bound to accept is as a standard of faith or rule of life, unless it expresses our intelligent belief. There were people here once who, when they heard or read such expressions as this, said this man was an atheist. But an atheist does not love God, and this man said:
"If we know but little, our faith will be limited and simple; if we know more, our religion and our responsibilities will be of a higher grade; but, however much we may learn, we can never harm religion by learning all there is to be known of truth."

By which it will be seen that he loves truth. And no one can sincerely love truth without loving God.

He who wrote this was Gilbert Chichester Monell, and he was a physician in this city, well known to all who have lived here long. He has been dead several years.

It is one of the greatest tragedies of life that so many foolish men put their thoughts into words, and that so many good men die without having preserved one of their convictions in such form that it will be of any use to other men.

Life is a series of experiments, And most of the experiments are failures. Therefore, the conscientious writing of a man who lived nobly serves the same purpose that a beacon does. It teaches one when to make for the open sea.

Perhaps Dr. Monell might have objected to the title of rationalist, because to some that conveys an idea that christianity is renounced. (Although it must be confessed that a poor estimate is placed upon christianity when it is assumed that it cannot hold its own in a mind which is given to rational modes of thinking.) If Dr. Monell is termed a rational Christian, possibly a term will be used which will most nearly describe that fearless yet reverential thought with which his mind approached all things connected with the Deity. The following long extract from his volume called "The Creation and the Scripture" will express in part the earnest simplicity of his belief:

"Theology is yet confounded with religion, and men are still debarred from church privileges for heresy, though leading a righteous life. The pulpit still sneers at the science it does not understand, and misrepresents the religion of scientific men it cannot persecute in the flesh. This is done in the face of fact that the study of science does not encourage infidelity or unbelief, and in the face of a long array of men eminent in science who have been [warm?] supporters of christianity. It may be that intellectual development tends to explode theological absurdities, but it is not true that science has ever sought to lessen the distance between right and wrong, or render [?] less sinful and odious, but establishes with more and more certainty that a right life is obedience to God. Caste in India and elsewhere has heretofore been an almost impassable barrier to the introduction of christianity, but when the locomotive and the railway carriage entered the land, and the [Parsee?] must walk or ride beside a meaner brother, he soon found a text allowing him to ride without pollution. When water was introduced into Calculia the proud Brahmin would not drink from the hydrant to which the lower class had access; but when he saw the only alternative was to drink the foul water of the River Hoogly, he soon found a license to drink the pure water of the hydrant without realizing, as we do, that the first blow was then struck on the entering wedge that was to break-up caste. Thus the introduction of steam, the telegraph and other triumphs of science are prompt missionaries of Christian qualities where other agencies have failed. Thus science at least prepares the way for religious light, and in a few years the Bible of the missionary, instead of the miserable Pundit, will have a controlling influence. Let it be clearly understood that science is not religion, but that it furnishes an ever-widening foundation upon which is outside of and beyond us, and works for righteousness, clearly proving that there should be no barrier to intellectual development this side of heaven's perfections."

This is a full illustration of the view he held of the relations between science and religion. They suggest those of Draper. Whether he was influenced by Draper or not I cannot say. But what finally became his convictions appear to be the fine result of a life of studious and beautiful thought, in which the attitude of the mind was always inquiring and never dogmatic. Surrounded by the influences of the orthodox Protestant church he appears to have been aggressive only when he fought against the arrogant attitude it held toward men who accepted without inquiry any scheme of philosophy or receipt of salvation.

"A religion," he says, "that involves our eternal existence should not be determined by doubtful speculation or tabooed by too sacred or further investigation."

This which follows has even a stronger hint of his irritation concerning this attitude of the church.

"Men organized as a church may show more religion than the unorganized messes outside of such bodies, but this gives the church no authority to adopt a shibboleth of membership and forbid all access to Christ except by its use as a password."

To the liberal minded it may seem as if Dr. Monell had here said something superfluous, because among the liberal minded it is so generally admitted that the churches hold only a small part of those who try to make the most of the life that God has lent them. But he who has much attended church will remember many occasions upon which clergymen have, with a great show magnanimity, admitted that there might be without the pale a few who would enter heaven. But - they have always solemnly warned their listeners - the true way to do was to openly acknowledge Christ by becoming one of his flock. And they never suspect the stupendous egotism of the easy assumption that His flock is composed of those who are speaking.

There are many to whom religion can never be a rite. It must be a communion. Prayer meetings are to them a profanation. They would no sooner pray before others, than they would declare to the mortal object of their dearest love, all those emotions which are so instinctively hidden from the world. The badly frescoed roof of a meeting house [?] the vision that in lifting the eyes to God would encounter nothing but the stare. The interposition of another man's ideas between the soul and God is a degrading interruption, and puts a leaden weight upon the wings of the devotion which would soar through the great Silence to that beneficient Unknown which loving faith has named the God.

Dr. Monell seems to have felt this- and he is the first man I ever chanced to meet- in flesh or in books- who feels as I have always felt about prayer place first I heard men and women kindly directing the Creator how to run the universe, and fled the prayer meeting with checks burning at the intolerable impudence toward Divinity. Indeed, I think I have never heard a prayer offered in public yet which did not state a case for God, and then in effect tell him he could draw his conclusions as to what ought to be done. Remember this flippancy is mine. Dr. Monell is never flippant. He was too cultivated and too earnest [?] man. He seems to have been striking with the tense hands of a liberator at the chains of superstition on the wrists of his follows. Talking about enchantments Christian and pagan, he says:
"The modern pagan has there enchantments still, and relies on their use as hopefully and trustfully as modern christians do on their formal prayers, long orations, and pious platitudes, though the pagan does not know that he thus violates the teaching of Jesus. The teachings of Jesus were so precise as to the equal and universal application of God's laws to material things that is is hard to understand how intelligent minds can believe that mere mortal prayer can change or arrest the operation of a law of all creation, and instituted for all time, in order to accommodate man's fallen estate and temporary desire. The teaching of Jesus is so precise in confining prayer to the closet as a personal communion with God, and forbidding it as public worship in the synagogue as well as in the street to be seen of men, that it is hard for true reverence to understand how ministers can make a merit of long prayers in the pulpit, and how other professors do not merit the rebuke of Jesus to the Pharisees for thus assuming a personal influence with God which would render a prayer more effectual from their lips than from the lips of a publican."

But though Dr. Monell does not lack in emphasis, he quite understands the point of view of other men, and he is patient even with determined ignorance. He tries to see, without heat, the aspects of each case. Concerning Darwin, he says:
"If we have once forced upon our intelligence a law of life to [?] Darwin believes he has the clue, we must openly deny allegiance to the Maker, or else we must admit our personal responsibility more practically than we do now; for it is only by so doing that we can preserve our bodies pure, as temples of God, and make habits of body, as well as emotions of mind, an essential part of practical religion. Thus parents, instead of transmitting to their children anger, pride and self-indulgence, would seek to transmit the better qualities, and thus render it easier to train them to love, temperance and virtue. Whether Darwin's doctrine be true to the fullest extent or not, enough has been established to teach us more than we ever understood before, how children suffer unnecessarily for a parent's fault, and how, without implicating the justice or tender mercy of God. He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children. If teachers of religion and Christian parents, instead of sneering at Darwin, would inform themselves of just what he does teach, they would find enough which, if well enforced from the pulpit and well obeyed in the new, would soon not only improve bodily health and happiness and promote spiritual religion. Let a parent fully realize by proper knowledge that a sin of the soul, when indulged. modifies and degrades his physical structure, and that the brain itself and every molecule of the body is thus made a partaker of sin, and if he is not worse than a heathen, he will correct bad habits of mind as well as body, instead of transmitting them to the children."

A man has a right to think what he chooses of Darwin, and not be frightened out of his opinions by the easy sneers of those who imagine that J. Darwin's theories interfere with the truths taught in the bible. Mr. Newton was once also thought to advance a theory which was opposed to the teachings of the bible. But this theory was true. It is now looked upon in a very different way even by those who first insist that a truth must agree with the bible before they accept the truth, whatever it may be. The nebular hypothesis was once also considered as not in accord [?] bible teachings. This is not urged in substantiation of the correctness of Mr. Darwin's theories, but only to argue that many persons are reluctant to accept a new scientific theory or discovery lest it conflict with the teachings of the book they most reverence.

It is a pleasure to note the care with which Dr. Monell denies materialism.

"Spiritual conceptions," he says, "may be based upon material facts, but this does not constitute materialism a judge of spiritual experience, nor does any scientist, so far as I know, pretend that scientific knowledge should judge or oppose the faith of anyone in that spiritual experience which is based upon the unseen and the invisible. Science only affirms that such emotional belief should not be a standard to determine or discredit scientific accuracy in the study of natural laws; neither should such emotional experience be accepted as authority to the faith of others. The knowledge of scientific facts and the application of that knowledge to our daily duties is quite a different matter from a spiritual experience here and a spiritual faith as to the hereafter. The two are independent of each other, yet, by working in harmony, the culture of one will always aid the culture of the other."

It is not easy for a man to cast off the hereditary influences of religious thought, and Dr. Monell is shaking himself free from the superstitions that must have been to a mind like his weights upon the wings of an eagle, accomplished something which could not have been done without much pain. But notice that however much he inveighs against theology, he preaches always religion in its profoundest and most elevating significance. There is no cringing in his religion. It is the knowledge that accept with exaltation the lease of life, and makes of living on of the exquisite arts. Neither the sky above nor the ground beneath may hold a secret which it is not man's right and joy to learn and use. To look God in the face and thank him for life--that is his idea of religion. To learn to care for the body which is the consummate form of mechanism and beauty--that his idea of reverence.

He says: "This knowledge of natural law, especially as applied to our bodily life, is the real stronghold of a healthy spiritual life. By educating our senses, controlling our desires, and conforming our habits to the laws of nature, our bodily senses and our erratic passions will be easier maintained in a normal condition and co-operate with God is a willing and joyful service, instead of lashing us to an indulgence only restrained by fear of punishment. Service to God thus becomes a joy and rejoicing instead of a [pepsi?] pressure here to escape a worse [penairy?] hereafter. It is to enter heaven with open-armed welcome instead of escaping hell by the skin of the teeth."

He resents with bitterness the interference of the church between God and the soul which, anxious to adopt itself to holy living. [?] hampered with tedious technicalities and forms.

"Even the sacraments," he says, "given by Christ as a free gift from God, are forbidden except as followed by a self-constituted authority and often by self-elected officers who thus constitute themselves arbiters of God's grace and judges of men's souls.

The spectacle of an intelligent man or woman applying for permission to make an open profession of faith and to honor God in proper ordinances, being held back while the application is being discussed, and then such applicant being compelled to go before church officers often unfit for such an office, and there to be catechized, voted upon and finally adjudged as to the soul's inner experience,, is a spectacle more befitting the days of Torquemada and the inquisition than the nineteenth century of [?] and councils."

A little farther down the same page are these words:
"Christ says, 'Come unto me, all ye that are weary, and I will give you rest.' Theology says, 'Come and be examined, and if worthy, I will give you rest.' "

A large part of the book is a plea for tolerance toward the heathen. Dr. Monell does not believe in what he terms "splenetic sniffs" at men of other faiths than ours. He has the greatness to perceive that God is running the universe, and not a small part of the globe habituated by Christians. He says: "We can learn lessons from every prominent religion of the past if we will attach sufficient importance to them to study them with scientific accuracy and impartiality."

This book is so full of things such as these, so simple and true, yet seldom degenerating into platitudes, that to begin the reading of it is to continue with the zest which one might feel if he were listening to the conversation of a man of extended experience, profound reverence and a vision that could get at Truth through the [?] of traditions. The manuscript was found among his effects after his death, and edited by two person, who loved him, one a man, and the other a woman, one of kin, and one not so, but both of whom had received much of the best part of their spiritual inspiration from this gentle and courageous philosopher, who had the power to face a fact without flinching, and to always sustain his optimism.

The following is proof of this: "The elements of truth and goodness have ever been flowing as a living stream through the whole history of the world, and ever deepening and widening. Let us not by narrow-mindedness obstruct its onward flow. The idea we form of God being based only upon our intellectual nature and conceptions, we cannot personify a god beyond what we are able to conceive and idealize. To be fitted for the full reception of the holy spirit, the intellect of man must be developed to comprehend God's revelation in his works, and to study and understand his laws as revealed for our benefit. Observation of natural laws must develops a god behind them, but only scientific study of nature will reveal higher and more refined ideas. Not that science alone can define the spiritual nature of deity or personify His person, for our natures are both spiritual and material, and any harmonious or proper idea of a Divine Being can only be based on material knowledge spiritually applied, or, as Christ expressed it, by the spirit of truth applying to our hearts the knowledge obtained by instruction. It is thus by advanced intelligence the God we worship has been disabused of almost fiendish attributes; the bible we revere as the lamp to our feet and the light to our path has ceased to sanction horrible doctrines."

"A Christian, above all others, should develop his mind, as the controlling element of his being, not only for his own benefit, but that he may increase his religious influence among men, and add to the general stock of truth for the benefit of his successors, or, as Solomon aptly expresses it, increase wisdom. "

It will be noticed that he was a man absolutely without affectation in his expression. He cared only to say the thing he wished to say so that it would be understood aright. His language has the simplicity that is to be found only in a man whose words have no more vanity in them than his clothes. One clothes an idea with dignity, the other clothes his body with appropriateness. But he is superior to both. They are his possessions. They do not in any way control him. To be thus judicious, temperate in thought, yet daring, modest, yet determined in aspiration, full of fancy, yet not the slave of it, pure, optimistic and trustful, is to be a man who has conquered life while he lives it and death when he encounters it. Both are his servitors. Life and death are the joint purveyors to him of his immortality.
ELIA W. PEATTIE.

A ROMANCE OF THEOSOPHY.
Manifestations Which an Ardent Believer Says He Witnessed.

New York Times: After forty years of study in the realms of occultism, J. R. Perry of Wilkesbarre witnessed a series of wonderful phenomena during a visit to this city, within the last fortnight.

Mr. Perry relates what is known among theosophists, that not long before her death Mme. Blavatsky appointed as her successor in the work of which see had been so long the acknowledged head Henry B. Foulke of Philadelphia. Mr. Foulke for many years had been a student of theosophy and a traveler in Europe and India in search of the knowledge of occult truths. Mme. Blavatsky promised him the approval and guidance of the mysterious powers who had directed her own work on earth, assuring him also of her personal co-operation from the unseen realms. Mr. Foulke, as the condition of his acceptance of this appointment, required unquestionable manifestations of the power of Mme. Blavatsky to fulfill her promises. He requested that her master should precipitate her portrait upon canvas, indicating also his own propinquity, after the manner which theosophists claim often to have witnessed.

In the parlors of Mme. Eugenie Beate, the Philadelphia psychic, through whose occult powers many pictures of the departed are said to have been made. Mr. Perry declares that he witnessed the fulfillment of Mr. Foulke's demands. Several canvases had been for some time prepared and waiting for the desired precipitation. When Mr. Perry entered Mme. Beste's parlor she showed him three canvases which had nothing on them. He placed them on a chair, with the face side to the wall. The canvasses, and upon one of them found a correct and beautiful portrait f Mme. Blavatsky.

The next morning, according to Mr. Perry, while he, Mme. Beste and Mrs. Kase were looking at the portrait, he saw in the upper left-hand corner of the background the gradual appearance of a face and head, and finally clean-cut figure. "There was the white-robed form of Mme. Blavatsky, sitting," says Mr. Perry, "with all expression of quiet repose upon her countenance, and her marvelously beautiful hands gracefully folded. Upon the window sill sits a Hindu idol, an exact picture of one belonging to Mr. Foulke, which was taken by him to England some years ago and loaned to the madame. Below the window are shelves containing books, with the initials I. D. and S. D., no doubt intended to refer to the volumes she has written, "Isis Unveiled" and 'Secret Doctrine."

"Thus had the request of the chosen one been literally compiled with, under such conditions that no one can accuse Mr. Foulke of any complicity or duplicity in its production, as he was not present and was an utter stranger to myself until I met him the following day, after he had been sent for to look at the marvelous precipitation."

Henry H. Foulke had already given up his large real estate business in Walnut street in order to follow what he felt to be higher aims of life in the pursuit and dissemination of occult knowledge. He now believes that he has the backing of the masters who stood behind Madame Blavatsky in her work. To confirm him in this belief he has received what he doubts not are precipitated letters from the masters themselves. Mr. Foulke will soon go to India to prosecute the work of theosophy.

THREW THE CHICKENS OUT.
But They Returned as Fast as They Were Ejected.

Dr. Sol. C. Martin, jr., of Argonaut rowing club [faine?], told an interesting incident of an experience of his, says the St. Louis Republican, while traveling in in California some years ago.

"We were stranded in 'Frisco," said the doctor, "dead broke and ashamed to write home. Things became desperate with us, and at last I decided to 'shake' the other fellows and strike out for myself. I secured passage on one of the steamships running between 'Frisco and some of the small places along the cost, for the price of my watch, which I sold.

"Arriving at a small mining and timber town I secured a position as waiter at the Metropolitan hotel, the only hotel in the camp, an imposing frame structure. The landlord employed me at $10 a week, and charged me $15 a week for board. The night of my arrival myself and a German named Fritz, who was in the same boat with me, were stowed away in an old kitchen, or shed, which had not been used for some time. About midnight I was awakened by Fritz, who was swearing softly to himself.

"A moment later I discovered the cause of his annoyance. He had found the room to be the roosting place of the fowls, and was busily engaged throwing friended chickens and ducks out of the window. After he had been engaged in this manner for some fifteen minutes, and the place seemingly as full of fowls as ever, I thought to examine into the cause.

"On looking out of the window where Fritz was throwing the fowls I saw there was an opening for them to enter just below the window, with a plank for them to walk up wide enough for two fowls. Up [?] plank in procession, two by two, came the fowls Fritz was throwing out. As fast as they were ejected they re-entered. We gave up trying to clear the room that night, you may be sure, and the next morning we decamped."

LIFE.

Yet a little while,
Yet a little way.
We shall reap, and rest and smile
All the day,
Up! let's trudge another mile.

-ROSETTI