,,modern ,,saints ,,and ,,seers ,,translated ,,from ,,the ,,french ,,of ,,jean ,,finot ,,by ,,evan ,,marrett ,,london ,,william ,,rider ,,son1 ,,ltd4 ,,cathedral ,,house1 ,,paternoster ,,row1 ,e4,c4 #aibj ,,preface ,,the ,,forest ,,of ,,illusions ,listen within yourselves1 and gaze into the infinity of ,space and ,time4 ,there resounds the song of the ,stars1 the voice of ,numbers1 the harmony of the ,spheres4--,,hermes ,,trismegistus4 ,in these days the phenomenon of religion1 which we believed to have receded into the background of human life1 is reappearing among us1 more vigorous than ever4 ,the four years' desolation into which the world was plunged has rendered the attraction of the beyond irresistible1 and man turns towards it with passionate curiosity and undisguised longing4 ,the millions of dead who have vanished from mortal sight seem to be drawing the present towards the unsounded deeps of the future4 ,in many cases their loss has taken all joy and colour from the lives of those who survive them1 and tear-stained faces are instinctively turned towards the portals of the ,great ,mystery4 ,occultism is triumphant4 ,in its many different forms it now emerges from obscurity and neglect4 ,its promises excite our deepest thoughts and wishes4 ,eagerly we examine the strength of the bridge that it has built between this world and the next2 and though we may see our hopes slip down between the crevices1 though we may find those who have been disappointed in a more despairing state than before--what matter8 ,we still owe thanks to occultism for some cherished moments of illusion4 ,the number of its followers increases steadily1 for never before has man experienced so ardent a desire for direct contact with the ,unknowable4 ,science will have to reckon with this movement which is carrying away even her own high-priests4 ,she will have to widen her frontiers to include the phenomena that she formerly contemned4 ,the supernatural world1 with its abnormal manifestations1 fascinates modern humanity4 ,the idea of death becomes more and more familiar4 ,we even demand1 as ,renan happily expressed it1 to know the truth which shall enable us not to fear1 but almost to love1 death3 and an irresistible force urges us to explore the depths of subconsciousness1 whence1 it is claimed1 may spring the desired renewal and intensification of man's spiritual life4 ,but why is it that we do not return to the old-established religions8 ,it is because1 alas1 the ,great ,agony through which the world has passed has not dealt kindly with any form of established faith4 ,dogmatic theology1 which admits and exalts the direct interference of the divinity in our affairs1 has received some serious wounds4 ,the useless and unjustifiable sacrifice of so many innocent lives1 of women1 of old men1 of children1 left us deeply perplexed4 ,we could not grasp the reason for so much suffering4 ,never1 at any period in the past1 have the enemies of humanity and of ,god so blasphemed against the eternal principles of the universe--yet how was it that the authors of such crimes went unpunished8 ,agonising doubts seized upon many faithful hearts1 and amid all the misery with which our planet was filled we seemed to distinguish a creeping paralysis of the established faiths4 ,just at the time when we most had need of religion1 it seemed to weaken and vanish from our sight1 though we knew that human life1 when not enriched and ennobled by spiritual forces1 sinks into abysmal depths1 and that even any diminution in the strength of these forces is fatally injurious to our most sacred and essential interests4 ,attempts to revive our faith were bound to be made sooner or later1 and we shall no doubt yet witness innumerable pilgrimages towards the source of religion4 ,the psychology of the foundations of the spiritual life2 the mysterious motives which draw men towards1 or alienate them from1 religious leaders2 the secret of the influence exercised by these latter upon mankind in the mass--all these things are now and always of intense interest4 ,through the examination of every kind of disease1 the science of medicine discovers the laws of health2 and through studying many religions and their followers we may likewise arrive at a synthesis of a sane and wholesome faith4 ,the ever-increasing numbers of strange and attractive places of worship which are springing up in all countries bear witness to man's invincible need to find shelter behind immediate certainties1 even as their elaborate outer forms reflect the variety of his inward aspirations4 ,in the great forest of ecstasies and illusions which supplies spiritual nourishment to so many of our fellow-humans1 we have here confined ourselves to the examination of the most picturesque and unusual plants1 and have gathered them for preference in the soil of ,russia and of the ,united ,states4 ,these two countries1 though in many respects further apart than the ,antipodes1 furnish us with characteristic examples of the thirst for renewal of faith which rages equally in the simple soul of an uncultured peasant and in that of a business man weary of the artificialities of modern life4 ,many of us held mistakenly that our contemporaries were incapable of being fired to enthusiasm by new religions1 whose exponents seemed to us as questionable as their doctrines4 ,but we need only observe the facts to behold with what inconceivable ease an age considered prosaic and incredulous has adopted spiritual principles which frequently show up the lack of harmony between our manner of life and our hidden longings4 ,the religious phenomena which we see around us in so many complex forms seem to foreshadow a spiritual future whose content is illimitable4 ,such examples of human psychology1 whether normal or morbid1 as are here offered to the reader1 may well recall to mind some of the strangest products of man's imagination4 ,the tales of ,hoffmann or of ,edgar ,allan ,poe pale before these inner histories of the human soul1 and the most moving novels and romances appear weak and artificial when compared to the eruptions of light and darkness which burst forth from the depths of man's subconsciousness4 ,these phenomena will interest the reader of reflective temperament no less than the lover of the sensational and the improbable in real life4 ,,contents ,,preface3 ,,the ,,forest ,,of ,,illusions ,,part ,i ,,the ,,salvation ,,of ,,the ,,poor ,a4 ,,the ,,organised ,,sects ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,negativists ,,ii4 ,,the ,,white-,,robed ,,believers ,,iii4 ,,the ,,stranglers ,,iv4 ,,the ,,fugitives ,v4 ,,the ,,soutaievtzi ,,vi4 ,,the ,,sons ,,of ,,god ,,vii4 ,,the ,,tolstoyans ,,viii4 ,,the ,,spiritual ,,christians ,,ix4 ,a ,,laboratory ,,of ,,sects ,x4 ,,the ,,douchobortzi ,,xi4 ,,the ,,molokanes ,,xii4 ,,the ,,stoundists ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,merchants ,,of ,,paradise ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,jumpers ,,and ,,the ,,holy ,,brothers ,,xv4 ,,the ,,little ,,gods ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,followers ,,of ,,grigorieff ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,napoleonites ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,divine ,,men ,,xix4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,rasputin ,,xx4 ,,the ,,inspired ,,seers ,,xxi4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,sister ,,helen ,,xxii4 ,,the ,,self-,,mutilators ,b4 ,,the ,,non-,,sectarian ,,visionaries ,i4 ,,the ,,brothers ,,of ,,death ,,ii4 ,,the ,,divinity ,,of ,,father ,,ivan ,,iii4 ,,among ,,the ,,miracle-,,workers ,c4 ,,the ,,rising ,,flood ,i4 ,,the ,,mahometan ,,visionaries ,,ii4 ,,the ,,religion ,,op ,,the ,,polar ,,marseillais ,,iii4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,candle ,,iv4 ,,the ,,new ,,israel ,v4 ,,conclusion ,,part ,,ii ,,the ,,salvation ,,of ,,the ,,wealthy ,a4 ,,religion ,,and ,,economy ,i4 ,,the ,,mormons1 ,,or ,,latter-,,day ,,saints ,,ii4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,business ,,iii4 ,,the ,,adepts ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,of ,,suns ,b4 ,,religion ,,and ,,miracles ,i4 ,,the ,,christian ,,scientists ,,ii4 ,,schlatter1 ,,the ,,miracle-,,man ,,part ,,iii ,,the ,,depths ,,of ,,the ,,subconscious ,,mind ,i4 ,,sects ,,in ,,france ,,and ,,elsewhere ,,ii4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,murder ,,iii4 ,,the ,,reincarnationists' ,,paradise ,,conclusion ,,modern ,,saints ,,and ,,seers ,,part ,i ,,the ,,salvation ,,of ,,the ,,poor ,a4 ,,the ,,organised ,,sects ,the tragic death of the monk ,rasputin made a deep impression upon the civilised world1 and truth was lost to view amid the innumerable legends that grew up around his life and activities4 ,one leading question dominated all discussions3--,how could an individual so lacking in refinement and culture influence the life of a great nation1 and become in indirect fashion one of the main factors in the struggle against the ,central ,powers8 ,through what miracle did he succeed in making any impression upon the thought and conduct of a social order infinitely superior to himself8 ,psychologists are fascinated by the career of this adventurer who ploughed so deep a furrow in the field of ,european history2 but in seeking to detach the monk from his background1 we run the risk of entirely failing to comprehend the mystery of his influence1 itself the product of a complex and little understood environment4 ,the misery of the ,russian people1 combined with their lack of education1 contributed largely towards it1 for the desire to escape from material suffering drove them to adopt the weirdest systems of salvation for the sake of deliverance and forgetfulness4 ,the perception of the ideal is often very acute among the uneducated4 ,they accept greedily every new message that is offered them1 but alas1 they do not readily distinguish the true from the false1 or the genuine saint from the impostor4 ,the orthodox clergy of the old ,russian regime1 recruited under deplorable conditions1 attained but rarely the moral and intellectual eminence necessary to inspire their flock with feelings of love and confidence2 while1 on the other hand1 the false prophets and their followers1 vigorously persecuted by official religion1 easily gained for themselves the overwhelming attraction of martyrdom4 ,far from lessening the numbers of those who deserted the established church1 persecution only increased them1 and inflamed the zeal of its victims1 so that they clung more passionately than ever to the new dogmas and their hunted exponents4 ,these sects and doctrines1 though originating among the peasantry1 did not fail to spread even to the large towns1 and waves of collective hysteria1 comparable to the dances of death of the ,middle ,ages1 swept away in their train all the hypersensitives and neurotics that abound in the modern world4 ,even the highest ranks of ,russian society did not escape the contagion4 ,we shall deal in these pages with the most recent and interesting sects1 and with those that are least known1 or perhaps not known at all4 ,beginning with the doctrines of melancholia1 of tenderness1 of suffering1 of exalted pietism1 and of social despair--which1 whether spontaneous or inspired1 demoniac or divine1 undoubtedly embody many of the mysterious aspirations of the human soul--we shall find ourselves in a strange and moving world1 peopled by those who accomplish1 as a matter of course1 acts of faith1 courage and endurance1 foreign to the experience of most of us4 ,these pages must be read with an indulgent sympathy for the humble in spirit who adventure forth in search of eternal truth4 ,we might paraphrase on their behalf the memorable discourse of the ,athenian statesman3 ,when you have been initiated into the mystery of their souls you will love better those who in all times have sought to escape from injustice4 ,we should feel for them all the more because for so long they have been infinitely unhappy and infinitely abused4 ,against the dark background of the abominations committed by harsh rulers and worthless officials1 the spectacle of these simple souls recalls those angels described by ,dante1 who give scarcely a sign of life and yet illuminate by their very presence the fearful darkness of hell2 or those beautiful ,greek sarcophagi upon which fair and graceful scenes are depicted upon a background of desolation4 ,these pastorals of religious faith have a strangely archaic atmosphere1 and ,i venture to think that my readers will enjoy the contemplation of such virgin minds1 untouched by science1 in their swift and effortless communings with the divine4 ,the mental profundities of the moujik exhale sweetness and faith like mystic flowers opening under the breath of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,in them1 as in the celebrated ,psychomachy of ,prudence1 the ,christian virtues meet with the shadows of forgotten gods1 ,holy ,faith is linked to ,idolatry1 ,humility and ,pride go hand in hand1 and ,libertinism seeks shelter beneath the veils of ,modesty4 ,this thirst for the ,supreme ,good will in time find its appeasement in the just reforms brought by an organised democracy to a long-suffering people4 ,some day it may be that order1 liberty and happiness shall prevail in the ,muscovite countries1 and their inhabitants no longer need to seek salvation by fleeing from reality4 ,then there will exist on earth a new paradise1 wherein ,god1 to use ,saint ,theresa's expression1 shall henceforth take ,his delight4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,negativists ,the most propitious and fertile soil in which collective mania can grow is that of unhappiness4 ,famine1 unjust taxation1 unemployment1 persecution by local authorities1 and so on1 frequently lead to a dull hatred for the existing social1 moral and religious order1 which the simple-minded peasant takes to be the direct cause of his misfortunes4 ,thus it was that the ,negativists denied everything--,god1 the ,devil1 heaven1 hell1 the law1 and the power of the ,tsar4 ,they taught that there is no such thing as right1 religion1 property1 marriage1 family or family duties4 ,all those have been invented by man1 and it is man who has created ,god1 the ,devil1 and the ,tsar4 ,in the record of the proceedings taken against one of the principal upholders of this sect1 we find the following curious conversation between him and the judge4 ,your religion8 ,i have none4 ,in what ,god do you believe8 ,in none4 ,your ,god is your own1 like the ,devil1 for you have created both4 ,they belong to you1 like the ,tsar1 the priests1 and the officials4 ,these people believe neither in generosity nor in gratitude4 ,men give away only what is superfluous1 and the superfluous is not theirs4 ,labour should be free2 consequently they kept no servants4 ,they rejected both trade and money as useless and unjust4 ,give to thy neighbour what thou canst of that of which he has need1 and he in turn will give thee what thou needest4 ,love should be entirely free4 ,marriage is an absurdity and a sin1 invented by man4 ,all human beings are free1 and a woman cannot belong to any one man1 or a man to any one woman4 ,here are some extracts taken from some other legal records4 ,two of the believers were brought before the judge1 accompanied by a child4 ,is this your wife8 the judge inquired of the man4 ,no1 she is not my wife4 ,how is it then that you live together8 ,we live together1 but she is not mine4 ,she belongs to herself4 ,turning to the woman1 the judge asked3 ,is this your husband8 ,he is not mine4 ,he does not belong to me1 but to himself4 ,and the child8 ,is he yours8 ,no1 he is not ours4 ,he lives with us2 he is of our blood2 but he belongs to himself4 ,but the coat you are wearing--is that yours8 demanded the exasperated judge4 ,it is on my back1 but it is not mine4 ,it belonged once to a sheep2 now it covers me2 but who can say whose it will be to-morrow8 ,the ,negativists invented1 long before ,tolstoi1 the doctrine of inaction and non-resistance to evil4 ,they were deceived1 robbed and ruined1 but would not apply to the law1 or to the police4 ,their method of reasoning and their way of speaking had a peculiar charm4 ,a solicitor who visited one of the ,siberian prisons reports the following details concerning a man named ,rojnoff4 ,arrested and condemned to be deported for vagabondage1 he escaped repeatedly1 but was at length imprisoned4 ,the inspector was calling the roll of the prisoners1 but ,rojnoff refused to answer to his name4 ,purple with rage1 the inspector approached him and asked1 ,what is your name8 ,it is you who have a name4 ,i have none4 ,after a series of questions and answers exchanged between the ever more furious official and the prisoner1 who remained perfectly calm1 ,rojnoff was flogged--but in spite of raw and bleeding wounds he still continued to philosophise4 ,confess the truth1 stormed the inspector4 ,seek it1 replied the peasant1 for yourself1 for indeed you have need of it4 ,as to me1 ,i keep my truth for myself4 ,let me be quiet--that is all ,i ask4 ,the solicitor visited him several months later1 and implored him to give his name1 so that he might obtain his passport and permission to rejoin his wife and children4 ,but ,i have no need of all that1 he said4 ,passports1 laws1 names--all those are yours4 ,children1 family1 property1 class1 marriage--so many of your cursed inventions4 ,you can give me only one single thing--quietness4 ,the ,siberian prisons swarmed with these mysterious beings4 ,poor souls6 ,their one desire was to quit as soon as possible this vale of injustice and of tears6 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,white-,,robed ,,believers ,sometimes this longing for a better world1 where suffering would be caused neither by hunger nor by laws1 took touching and poetic forms4 ,about the month of ,april1 #ahie1 all eyes in the town of ,simbirsk were turned upon a sect founded by a peasant named ,pistzoff4 ,these poor countryfolk protested against the injustices of the world by robing themselves in white1 like celestial angels4 ,we do not live as we should1 taught ,pistzoff1 an aged1 white-haired man4 ,we do not live as our fathers lived4 ,we should act with simplicity1 and follow the truth1 conquering our bodily passions4 ,the life that we lead now cannot continue long4 ,this world will perish1 and from its ruins will arise another1 a better world1 wherein all will be robed in white1 as we are4 ,the believers lived very frugally4 ,they were strict vegetarians1 and ate neither meat nor fish4 ,they did not smoke or drink alcohol1 and abstained from tea1 milk and eggs4 ,they took only two meals daily--at ten in the morning1 and six in the evening4 ,everything that they wore or used they made with their own hands--boots1 hats1 underclothing1 even stoves and cooking utensils4 ,the story of ,pistzoff's conversion inevitably recalls that of ,tolstoi4 ,he was a very rich merchant when1 feeling himself inspired by heavenly truth1 he called his employes to him and gave them all that he had1 including furniture and works of art1 retaining nothing but white garments for himself and his family4 ,his wife protested vehemently1 especially when ,pistzoff forbade her to touch meat1 on account of the suffering endured by animals when their lives are taken from them4 ,the old lady did not share his tastes1 and firmly upheld a contrary opinion1 declaring that animals went gladly to their death6 ,pistzoff then fetched a fowl1 ordered his wife to hold it1 and procured a hatchet with which to kill it4 ,while threatening the poor creature he made his wife observe its anguish and terror1 and the fowl was saved at the same time as the soul of ,madame ,pistzoff1 who admitted that fowls1 at any rate1 do not go gladly into the cooking-pot4 ,the number of ,pistzoff's followers increased daily1 and the sect of the ,white-robed ,believers was formed4 ,their main tenet being loving-kindness1 they lived peacefully and harmed none1 while awaiting the supreme moment when the whole world should become white4 ,for the rest1 the white-robed ones and their prophet followed the doctrines of the molokanes1 who drank excessive quantities of milk during ,lent--hence their name4 ,this was one of the most flourishing of all the ,russian sects4 ,violently opposed to all ceremonies1 they recognised neither religious marriages1 churches1 priests nor dogmas1 claiming that the whole of religion was contained in the ,old and ,new ,testaments4 ,though well-educated1 they submitted meekly to a communal authority1 chosen from among themselves1 and led peaceful and honest working lives4 ,all luxuries1 even down to feminine ornaments or dainty toilettes1 were banned4 ,they considered war a heathen invention--merely assassination on a large scale--and though1 when forced into military service1 they did their duty as soldiers in peace-time1 the moment war was in view it was their custom to throw away their arms and quietly desert4 ,there were no beggars and no poor among them1 for all helped one another1 the richer setting aside one-tenth of their income for the less fortunate4 ,hunted and persecuted by the government1 they multiplied nevertheless1 and when banished to far-away districts they ended by transforming the waste1 uncultivated lands into flourishing gardens4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,stranglers ,a sect no less extraordinary than the last was that of the ,stranglers 7douchiteli74 ,it originated towards the end of #ahgd1 and profited by a series of law cases1 nearly all of which ended in acquittal4 ,the ,stranglers flourished especially in the ,tzarevokokschaisk district1 and first attained notoriety under the following circumstances4 ,a large number of deaths by strangling had been recorded1 and their frequency began to arouse suspicion4 ,whether they were due to some criminal organisation1 or to a series of suicidal impulses1 the local police were long unable to decide1 but in the end the culprits were discovered4 ,were they1 however1 in reality culpable8 ,the unfortunate peasants1 after much reflection1 had come to the conclusion that death is not terrible1 but that what is indubitably to be feared is the last agony--the difficult departure from terrestrial life4 ,they decided1 therefore1 to come to the assistance of the ,death ,angel1 and1 when any sufferer approached the final struggle1 his neighbours or relatives would carry him off to some isolated spot1 tie up his head firmly but kindly in a cushion--and soon all was over4 ,before1 however1 they had recourse to such drastic measures1 they would inquire from the wizards 7or znachar7 of the district1 doctors being almost unknown1 whether the invalid still had any chance of recovery1 and it was only after receiving a negative reply that the pious ceremony took place4 ,we say pious because there is something strangely pathetic in this crowning of the martyrs1 as the peasants called it4 ,arising in the first place from compassion1 the motive for the deed was1 after all1 a belief in the need for human sacrifice4 ,the invalid who consents to give up his life for the honour of heaven accomplishes thereby an act of sublime piety2 but what merit has he who dies only from necessity8 ,the corpses were buried in the forest and covered with plants and leaves1 but no sign was left that might betray them to the suspicious authorities4 ,when a member of the community disappeared1 and the police made inquiries1 they always had the greatest possible difficulty in finding his remains4 ,sometimes even his nearest relations did not know where the saviours of his soul had hidden him4 ,but there was one thing that marked the discovery of a dead ,strangler4 ,his body never bore any trace of violence1 and as dissection always proved1 in addition1 the existence of some more or less serious disease1 the sham murderers were eventually left in peace4 ,a small local paper1 the ,volgar 7,april1 #ahie71 from which these facts are taken1 reports that several actions brought against them ended in their acquittal4 ,lord ,avebury recounts that certain cannibal tribes kill those of their members who have reached the stage of senile decay1 and make them the substance of a more or less succulent repast4 ,these savages act1 no doubt1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 from some perception of the misery and uselessness of old age1 but the ,russian peasants cannot be compared to them4 ,the ,stranglers are not moved by any unconscious sentiment4 ,their belief is the logical application of a doctrine of pessimism1 whose terrible consequences they have adopted1 although they know not its terminology4 ,what is the life of a moujik worth8 ,nothing1 or nearly nothing4 ,is it not well1 then1 to accelerate the coming of deliverance8 ,let us end the life1 and1 snapping the chains that bind us to mortals1 offer it as a sacrifice to heaven6 ,so reason these simple creatures1 inexorable in their logic1 and weighed down by untold misery4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,fugitives ,the suffering of a people nourishes the spirit of rebellion1 enabling it to come to birth and to survive4 ,there are some religious sects based exclusively upon popular discontent4 ,the biegouny1 or ,fugitives1 did nothing but flee from one district to another4 ,they wandered throughout ,russia with no thought of home or shelter4 ,those who joined the sect destroyed their passports1 which were considered a work of ,satan1 and adopted a belief in the ,satanic origin of the ,state1 the ,church and the ,law4 ,they repudiated the institution of marriage1 the payment of taxes1 and all submission to authority4 ,their special imagery included1 among other things1 the devil offering a candle to the ,tsar1 and inviting him to become the agent for ,satanic work upon earth4 ,sometimes their feelings led them to commit acts of violence2 one1 for instance1 would interrupt divine service2 another would strike the priest4 ,a peasant named ,samarin threw himself upon the priest in a ,russian church1 forced him away from the altar1 and1 having trampled the ,holy ,sacraments under foot1 cried out1 ,i tread upon the work of ,satan6 ,when arrested and condemned to penal servitude for life1 ,samarin was in despair because the death sentence had not been passed1 so sure was he that he would have gone straight to heaven as a reward for his heroic exploit4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,soutaievtzi ,the ,soutaievtzi 7founded in #ahhj by a working-man of ,tver1 named ,soutaieff7 scoffed at the clergy1 the ikons1 the sacraments1 and military service1 while upholding the principle of communal possession4 ,they very soon became notorious4 ,soutaieff travelled all over the country preaching that true ,christianity consists in the love of one's neighbour1 and was welcomed with open arms by ,tolstoi himself4 ,he taught that there was only one religion1 the religion of love and pity1 and that churches1 priests1 religious ceremonies1 angels and devils1 were mere inventions which must be rejected if one wished to live in conformity with the truth4 ,as to ,paradise1 when all the principles of love and compassion were realised upon earth1 earth itself would be ,paradise4 ,private ownership being the cause of all misery1 as well as of crimes and lies1 it must be abolished1 together with armies and war4 ,further1 ,soutaieff preached non-resistance to evil1 and the avoidance of all violence4 ,one of his sons1 when enrolled as a conscript1 refused to carry a rifle4 ,arguments and punishments had no effect4 ,he proved that heaven itself was opposed to the bearing of arms by quoting the ,gospel to all who tried to compel him2 and in the end he was imprisoned4 ,neither did ,soutaieff allow that a man should be judged by his neighbour4 ,judge not1 that ye be not judged1 was his motto1 and his life filled his followers with enthusiasm1 and many besides with astonishment4 ,this uncultured peasant1 who had the courage to throw on the fire the money he had earned as a mason in ,st4 ,petersburg1 who carried the idea of compassion to such lengths that he followed thieves in order to give them good flour in place of the bad that they had stolen from him by mistake--this simple-minded being1 whose only desire was to suffer for the truth1 possessed without doubt the soul of a saint and a visionary4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,sons ,,of ,,god ,the sons of ,god held that men were really gods1 and that as divinity is manifested in our fellows and in ourselves1 it is sufficient to offer prayers unto--our neighbours6 ,every man being a god1 there are as many ,christs as there are men1 as many ,holy ,virgins as there are women4 ,the sons of ,god held assemblies at which they danced wildly1 first together and then separately1 until the moment when the women1 in supreme ecstasy1 turned from the left1 and the men from the right1 towards the rising sun4 ,the dance continued until all reached a state of hysterical excitement4 ,then a voice was heard--,behold the ,holy ,spirit6--and the whole company1 emitting cries and groans1 would pursue the dizzy performance with redoubled vigour until they fell to the ground exhausted4 ,their sect originated in the neighbourhood of a great hill1 where dwelt a man named ,philipoff with his disciples4 ,he had retired there to work against the influence of anti-,christ1 and it was there that ,god appeared to him1 and said1 ,truth and divinity dwell in your own conscience4 ,neither drink nor marry4 ,those among you who are already married should live as brothers and sisters4 ,women were held in high esteem by the sons of ,god1 being venerated as mothers or nieces of the ,saviour4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,tolstoyans ,the numerous admirers of ,count ,tolstoi will find in his writings some derivations1 whether conscious or unconscious1 from the principles elaborated by many of the ,russian sects4 ,the doctrine of non-resistance1 or inaction1 the abolition of the army1 vegetarianism1 the defiance of law1 and of dogmatic ,christianity1 together with many other conceptions which either scandalised or enraptured his readers1 were already widespread among the ,russian peasantry2 though ,tolstoi was able to give them new forms of expression and an original1 if disquieting1 philosophic basis4 ,but even as the products of the earth which we consume return to earth again1 so do ideas and doctrines ever return to the source from which they sprang4 ,a great reformer usually gathers his ideas from his environment1 until1 transformed by the workings of his brain1 they react once more upon those to whom they actually owed their origin4 ,renan has traced very accurately the evolution of a religious leader1 and ,tolstoi passed through all its logical phases1 only stopping short of the martyrdom necessary ere he could enter the ranks of the prophets4 ,imbued with the hopes and dreams that flourished all around him1 he began1 at a ripe age and in full possession of his faculties1 to express his philosophy in poetic and alluring parables1 the hostility of the government having only served to fire his enthusiasms and embitter his individual opinions4 ,after first declaring that the masters of men are their equals1 he taught later on that they are their persecutors1 and finally1 in old age1 arrived at the conclusion that all who rule or direct others are simply criminals6 ,you are not at all obliged to fulfil your duties1 he wrote1 in the ,life and ,death of ,drojine1 #ahie1 dedicated to a ,tolstoyan martyr4 ,you could1 if you wished1 find another occupation1 so that you would no longer have to tyrannise over men4 4 4 4 ,you men of power1 emperors and kings1 you are not ,christians1 and it is time you renounced the name as well as the moral code upon which you depend in order to dominate others4 ,it would be difficult to give a complete list either of the beliefs of the ,tolstoyans1 or of their colonies1 in many of which members of the highest aristocracy were to be found4 ,we have in ,russia tens of thousands of men who have refused to swear allegiance to the new ,tsar1 wrote ,tolstoi1 a couple of years before his death1 and who consider military service merely a school for murder4 ,we have no right to doubt his word--but did ,tolstoi know all his followers8 ,like all who have scattered seed1 he was not in a position to count it4 ,but however that may be1 he transformed the highest aspirations of man's soul into a noble philosophy of human progress1 and attracted the uneducated as well as the cultured classes by his genuine desire for equality and justice4 ,early in ,june1 #ahie1 several hundreds of verigintzi 7members of a sect named after ,veregine1 their leader7 came from the south of ,russia to the ,karsk district4 ,the government's suspicions were aroused1 and at ,karsk the pilgrims were stopped1 and punished for having attempted to emigrate without special permission4 ,inquiries showed that all were ,tolstoyans1 who practised the doctrine of non-resistance to evil on a large scale4 ,for their co-religionists in ,elisabethpol suddenly refused to bear arms1 and nine soldiers also belonging to the sect repeated without ceasing that our heavenly ,father has forbidden us to kill our fellowmen4 ,those who were in the reserve sent in their papers1 saying that they wished to have nothing more to do with the army4 ,one section of the verigintzi especially distinguished themselves by the zeal with which they practised the ,tolstoyan doctrines4 ,they reverenced their leader under the name of ,general ,tolstoi1 gave up sugar as well as meat1 drank only tea and ate only bread4 ,they were called the fasters1 and their gentleness became proverbial4 ,in the village of ,orlovka they were exposed to most cruel outrages1 the inhabitants having been stirred up against them by the priests and officials4 ,they were spat upon1 flogged1 and generally ill-treated1 but never ceased to pray1 ,o ,god1 help us to bear our misery4 ,their meekness at last melted the hearts of their persecutors1 who1 becoming infected by their religious ardour1 went down on their knees before those whom they had struck with whips a few minutes before4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,spiritual ,,christians ,the ,slavonic atmosphere exhales an intense longing for the ideal and for heaven4 ,often a kind of religious ecstasy seems to sweep over the whole length and breadth of the ,russian territories1 and ,tolstoi's celebrated doctrines reflected the dreamy soul of the moujik and the teachings of many ,russian martyrs4 ,it would1 however1 be a mistake to suppose that it is only the peasants buried in the depths of the country who provide favourable soil for the culture of the religious bacillus4 ,it is the same with all classes--merchants1 peasants1 labourers and aristocrats4 ,the working-classes1 especially those of the large towns1 usually offer more resistance to the influence of religious fanatics1 but in ,petrograd and ,moscow they are apt to follow the general current4 ,lack of space forbids us to study in all their picturesque details the birth and growth of religious sects in these surroundings4 ,we must confine ourselves to one of the more recent manifestations--that of the mysterious spiritual ,christians4 ,in #ahic1 a man named ,michael ,raboff arrived in ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,peasant by birth1 carpenter by trade1 he immediately began to preach the tenets of his spiritual ,christianity4 ,he became suspect1 and with his friend ,nicholas ,komiakoff was deported to a far-distant neighbourhood2 but in spite of this his seed began to bear fruit1 for the entire district where he and ,komiakoff were sent to work was soon won over to the new religion4 ,the director himself1 his wife1 and all his workmen embraced it1 and though the workshops were closed by the police1 the various members distributed themselves throughout the town and continued to spread ,raboff's message4 ,borykin1 the master-carpenter1 took employment under a certain ,grigorieff1 and succeeded in converting all his fellow-workers4 ,finally ,grigorieff's house was turned into a church for the new sect1 and an illiterate woman named ,vassilisa became their prophetess4 ,under the influence of the general excitement1 she would fall into trances and give extravagant and incomprehensible discourses1 while her listeners laughed1 danced and wept ecstatically4 ,by degrees the ceremonial grew more complex1 and took forms worthy of a cult of unbalanced minds4 ,at the time when the police tried to disperse the sect it possessed a quite considerable number of adherents2 but it died out in ,may1 #ahie1 scarcely two years after its commencement4 ,the spiritual ,christians called themselves brothers and sisters1 and gave to ,raboff the name of grandfather1 and to the woman ,vassilisa that of mother4 ,they considered themselves spiritual ,christians because they lived according to the spirit of ,christianity4 ,for the rest1 their doctrine was innocent enough1 and1 but for certain extravagances and some dangerous dogmas borrowed from other sects1 their diffusion among the working-classes of the towns might even have been desirable4 ,sexual chastity was one of their main postulates1 and they also recommended absolute abstention from meat1 spirits1 and tobacco4 ,but at the same time they desired to abolish marriage4 ,when the police raided ,grigorieff's workshops1 they found there about fifty people stretched on the ground1 spent and exhausted as a result of the excessive efforts which ,raboff's cult demanded of them4 ,at their meetings a man or woman would first read aloud a chapter from ,holy ,scripture4 ,the listeners would make comments1 and one of the more intelligent would expound the selected passage4 ,growing more and more animated1 he would finally reach a state of ecstasy which communicated itself to all present4 ,the whole assembly would cry aloud1 groan1 gesticulate and tear their hair4 ,some would fall to the ground1 while others foamed at the mouth1 or rent their garments4 ,suddenly one of the most uplifted would intone a psalm or hymn which1 beginning with familiar words1 would end in incoherency1 the whole company singing aloud together1 and covering the feet of their spiritual mother with kisses4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,a ,,laboratory ,,of ,,sects ,we will now travel to the south of ,russia1 and examine more closely what might be called a laboratory of sects1 or in other words a breeding-ground of religions whose idealism1 whether foolish or sublime1 is often sanctified by the blood of believers1 and descends like dew from ,hermon into the midst of our busy civilisation4 ,the mystical tendencies of the popular soul sometimes develop in a fashion little short of prodigious1 and to no country do we owe so many remarkable varieties of religious faith as to that portion of ,russia which lies between ,kherson and ,nicolaiev4 ,there is seen in full activity the greatest religious laboratory in the world2 there originate1 as a rule1 the morbid bacilli which invade the rest of ,russia2 and there do sects grow up like mushrooms1 only to disappear with equal rapidity4 ,an orthodox missionary named ,schalkinsky1 who was concerned especially with the erring souls of the region of ,saratov1 has published a work in which he gives a fantastic picture of the events of quite recent years4 ,he was already the author of several books dealing with the sect of the bezpopovtzi1 and his high calling and official position combine to give authority to his words4 ,when we consider the immense variety of these sects1 we can easily imagine what takes place in every small village that becomes possessed of the craving for religious perfection4 ,prophets1 gods and demi-gods1 holy spirits and apostles1 all kinds of saints and mystics1 follow thick and fast upon one another's heels1 seeking to gain the ascendancy over the pious souls of the villagers4 ,some are sincere and genuinely convinced believers2 others1 mere shameless impostors2 but all1 manifesting the greatest ardour and eloquence1 traverse the countryside1 imploring the peasants to abandon their old beliefs and embrace the new holy and salutary dogmas4 ,the orthodox missionaries seem only to increase the babel by organising their own meetings under the protection of the local authorities4 ,some of the sectarians will take part in public discussions1 either in the open air or in the churches1 but most of them content themselves with smiling mockingly at the assertions of the anti-,christian faith 7i4e4 the orthodox official religion74 ,with the new regime conditions may undergo a radical change1 but in former times religious doubts1 when too openly manifested by the followers of the new truths1 were punished by imprisonment or deportation4 ,sometimes the zeal of the missionaries carried them too far1 for1 not content with reporting the culprits to the ecclesiastical authorities1 they would denounce them publicly in their writings4 ,the venerable ,father ,arsenii1 author of fifteen pamphlets against the molokanes1 delivered up to justice in this way sufficient individuals to fill a large prison2 and another orthodox missionary crowned his propaganda by printing false accusations against those who refused to accept the truth as taught by him4 ,in a centre like ,pokourlei1 which represented in miniature the general unrest of the national soul1 there were to be found among the classified sects more than a dozen small churches1 each having its own worshippers and its own martyrs4 ,an illiterate peasant1 ,theodore ,kotkoff1 formed what was called the fair-spoken sect1 consisting of a hundred and fifty members who did him honour because he invented a new sort of ,holy ,communion with a special kind of gingerbread4 ,another1 ,chaidaroff1 nicknamed ,money-bags1 bought a forest and built a house wherein dwelt fifteen aged holy men1 who attracted the whole neighbourhood4 ,many men in the prime of life followed the example of the aged ones1 and retired to live in the forest1 while women went in even greater numbers and for longer periods4 ,husbands grew uneasy1 and bitter disputes took place1 in which one side upheld the moral superiority of the holy men1 while the other went so far as to forbid the women to go and confess to them4 ,one peasant claimed to be inspired by the ,holy ,ghost1 and promenaded the village1 summer and winter1 in a long blouse without boots or trousers1 riding astride a great stick on which he had hung a bell and a flag1 and announcing publicly the reign of ,anti-,christ4 ,in addition the village was visited by orthodox missionaries1 but1 as the ,reverend ,father ,schalkinsky naively confesses1 the inhabitants fled them like the plague4 ,they interviewed1 however1 the so-called chiefs of the new religions1 who listened to them with gravity and made some pretence of being convinced by the purveyors of official truth4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,douchobortzi ,the religious ferment of ,south ,russia was due to some special causes1 its provinces having served since the seventeenth century as lands of exile for revolutionaries of all kinds1 religious1 political and social4 ,dangerous criminals were also sent there1 and a population of this nature naturally received with open arms all who preached rebellion against established principles and doctrines4 ,about the year #agej1 a ,prussian non-commissioned officer1 expatriated on account of his revolutionary ideas1 appeared in the neighbourhood of ,kharkov4 ,he taught the equality of man and the uselessness of public authority1 and was the real founder of the douchobortzi1 who believed in direct communion with the divinity by aid of the spirit which dwells in all men4 ,the sparks scattered by this unknown vagabond flared up some time later into a conflagration which swept away artisans1 peasants and priests1 and embraced whole towns and villages4 ,the beliefs of the sect were that the material world is merely a prison for our souls1 and that our passions carry in themselves the germs of our punishments4 ,nothing is more to be decried than the desire for worldly honour and glory4 ,did not ,our ,lord ,himself say that ,he was not of this world8 ,emperors and kings reign only over the wicked and sinful1 for honest men1 like the douchobortzi1 have nothing to do with their laws or their authority4 ,war is contrary to the will of ,god4 ,christ having declared that we are all brothers and sisters1 the words father and mother are illogical1 and opposed to ,his teachings4 ,there is only one ,father1 the ,father in ,heaven1 and children should call their parents by their ,christian names4 ,except for these leading tenets1 their doctrine was variable1 and they not only gave rise to about a hundred other sects1 but were themselves in a continual state of evolution and change4 ,at one time it was their custom to put to death all children who were diseased in mind or body4 ,as ,god dwells in us1 they said1 we cannot condemn ,him to inhabit a body that is diseased4 ,one leader of the sect believed himself to be the judge of the universe1 and terrorised his co-religionists4 ,another ordered all who betrayed the doctrines of the sect to be buried alive1 and legal proceedings which were taken against him and lasted several years showed him to be responsible for twenty-one religious murders4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,molokanes ,a sect of considerable importance1 that of the molokanes1 owed its origin to the douchobortzi4 ,it was founded by a sincere and ardent man named ,oukleine1 about the end of the eighteenth century4 ,moloko means milk2 hence the name of the sect1 whose adherents drank nothing else4 ,improving upon the principles of liberty professed by the douchobortzi1 the molokanes taught that where the ,holy ,ghost is1 there is liberty2 and as they believed the ,holy ,ghost to be in themselves they consequently needed neither laws nor government4 ,had not ,christ said that ,his true followers were not of this world8 ,down1 then1 with all law and all authority6 ,the ,apostle ,paul states that all are equal1 men and women1 servants and masters2 therefore1 the ,tsar being a man like other men1 it is unnecessary to obey him4 ,the ,tsar has ten fingers and makes money2 why then should not the molokanes make it1 who also have ten fingers8 7,this was the reply given by some of them when brought up for trial on a charge of manufacturing false coinage47 ,war is a crime1 for the bearing of arms has been forbidden4 7,it is on record that soldiers belonging to the sect threw away their arms in face of the enemy in the ,crimean ,war47 ,one should always shelter fugitives1 in accordance with ,st4 ,matthew xxv4 #ce4 ,deserters or criminals--who knows why they flee8 ,laws are often unjust1 tribunals give verdicts to suit the wishes of the authorities1 and the authorities are iniquitous4 ,besides1 the culprits may repent1 and then the crime is wiped out4 ,the molokanes have always been led by clever and eloquent men4 ,uplifted by a sense of the constant presence of the ,holy ,ghost1 they would fall into ecstatic trances1 fully convinced of their own divinity and desiring only to be transported to ,heaven4 ,of this type was the peasant ,kryloff1 a popular agitator who inflamed the whole of ,south ,russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century4 ,intoxicated by the success of his oratory1 he grew to believe in his own mission of ,saviour1 and undertook a pilgrimage to ,st4 ,petersburg in order to be made a priest of the spiritual ,christians4 ,poor visionary6 ,he was flogged to death4 ,another molokane leader was one ,andreieff1 who long preached the coming of the prophet ,elijah4 ,one fine day1 excited by the eloquence of his own discourses1 he set forth with his followers to conquer the promised land1 a rich and fertile district in the neighbourhood of ,mount ,ararat1 but accomplished nothing save a few wounds gained in altercations with the inhabitants4 ,on returning to his own country1 he was deported to ,siberia for having hidden some dangerous criminals from justice4 ,as the number of molokanes increased1 they decided to emigrate en masse to the ,caucasus4 ,their kind actions and enthusiastic songs attracted crowds of the poor and sick1 as well as many who were troubled by religious doubts4 ,at their head marched ,terentii ,bezobrazoff1 believed by his followers to be the prophet ,elijah1 who announced that when his mission was accomplished he would ascend to ,heaven to rejoin ,god1 his ,father1 ,who had sent him4 ,but alas1 faith does not always work miracles6 ,the day being fixed beforehand1 about two thousand believers assembled to witness the ascension of their ,elijah4 ,by the prophet's instructions1 the crowd knelt down and prayed while ,elijah waved his arms frantically4 ,finally1 with haggard mien1 he flung himself down the hillside1 and fell to the ground4 ,the disillusioned spectators seized him and delivered him up to justice4 ,he spent many years in prison1 but in the end confessed his errors and was pardoned4 ,many other ,elijahs wished to be transported to heaven1 but all met with the same fate as ,bezobrazoff4 ,these misfortunes1 however1 did not weaken the religious ardour of the molokanes4 ,a regular series of false ,christs1 as the ,russians called them1 tormented the imaginations of the southern peasantry4 ,some believed themselves to be ,elijah1 some the angel ,gabriel2 while others considered themselves new saviours of the world4 ,one of these latter made his debut in the role of ,saviour about #ahdj1 and after having drained the peasants of ,simbirsk and ,saratov of money1 fled to ,bessarabia with his funds and his disciples4 ,later he returned1 accompanied by twelve feminine angels1 and with them was deported to ,siberia4 ,but the popular mind is not discouraged by such small matters4 ,side by side with the impostors there existed men of true faith1 simple and devout dreamers4 ,taking advantage of freedom to expound the ,gospel1 they profited by it for use and abuse1 and it seemed to be a race as to who should be the first to start a new creed4 ,even as the douchobortzi had given birth to the molokanes1 so were the latter in turn the parents of the stoundists4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,stoundists ,this sect believed that man could attain to perfection of life and health only by avoiding the fatigue of penance and fastings2 and that all men should equally enjoy the gifts of ,nature1 ,jesus ,christ having suffered for all4 ,land and capital should belong to the community1 and should be equally divided1 all men being brothers1 and sons of the same ,god4 ,wealth being thus equalised1 it was useless to try to amass it4 ,trade was similarly condemned1 and a system of exchange of goods advocated4 ,the stoundists did not attend church1 and avoided public-houses1 those sources of disease and misery4 ,the government made every effort to crush them1 but the more they were persecuted1 the more they flourished4 ,the seers and mystics among them were considered particularly dangerous1 and were frequently flogged and imprisoned--in fact1 the sect as a whole was held by the ,russian administration1 to be one of the most dangerous in existence4 ,it originated in the year #ahfb1 and from then onwards its history was one of continuous martyrdom4 ,like the molokanes1 the stoundists refused to reverence the ikons1 the sacraments1 or the hierarchy of the orthodox church1 and considered the ,holy ,scriptures to be simply a moral treatise4 ,they abominated war1 referring to it as murder en masse1 and never entered a court of law1 avoiding all quarrels and arguments1 and holding it to be the most degrading of actions for a man to raise his hand against his fellow4 ,all their members learnt to read and write1 in order to be able to study the ,scriptures4 ,they recognised no power or authority save that of ,god1 refused to take oaths1 and protested against the public laws on every possible occasion4 ,their doctrine was really a mixture of the molokane teachings and of ,communism as practised by the ,german colonists1 led by ,gutter1 who settled in ,russia about the end of the eighteenth century and were banished to ,new ,russia in #ahah4 ,strengthened by persecution and smacking of the soil1 it was no wonder that stoundism became the religion par excellence of the ,russian moujik1 assuming in time proportions that were truly disquieting to the authorities4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,the ,,merchants ,,of ,,paradise ,side by side with these flourishing sects whose followers could be numbered by millions1 there existed other communities1 founded upon naive and child-like superstitions1 strange fruits of the tree of faith4 ,the members of one of these believed that it was only necessary to climb upon the roofs in order to take flight to heaven4 ,the deceptions practised on them by charlatans1 the relentless persecution of the government1 even the loss of reason1 all counted for nothing if only they might enjoy some few moments of supreme felicity and live in harmony with the divine6 ,to experience such ecstasy they despoiled themselves of their worldly goods1 and gave away their money to impostors in exchange for pardon for their sins4 ,the famous sect called the ,merchants of ,paradise was founded by a peasant1 ,athanasius ,konovaloff4 ,together with his son ,andrew1 he preached at ,osikovka1 from #ahhe to #ahib1 the absolution of sins in return for offerings in kind4 ,there was need for haste1 he declared4 ,time was flying1 and there were but few vacant places left in ,paradise4 ,these places were of two kinds--those of the first class1 at ten roubles each1 which enabled the purchaser to repose upon a celestial sofa2 and those of the second class1 at five roubles1 whose occupiers had to spend eternity seated upon footstools4 ,the credulous peasants actually deprived themselves of food in order to procure their places4 ,in #ahhg1 a man who was much respected in the village sold his crops1 and went to buy himself one of the first-class places4 ,his son heard of it1 and was in despair over this lavish expenditure of ten roubles4 ,why1 he demanded1 could not his father be content with a second-class place1 like so many of their neighbours8 ,the dispute was brought into the courts1 and the old man loudly lamented the criminal indifference of his son4 ,in my poor old age1 he cried1 after having worked so hard1 am ,i to be condemned to sit for ever on a footstool for the sake of five roubles8 ,then1 addressing his offspring--,and you1 my son1 are you not ashamed so to disregard the future life of your parent1 who maintained you throughout your childhood8 ,it is a great sin with which you are burdening your soul4 ,places in ,paradise were promised not only to the living1 but also to those who had omitted to secure them before departing on their eternal journey4 ,the relatives would apply to the prophet1 who fixed the price according to the fortune left by the deceased4 ,a curious ceremonial always accompanied the payment of money to ,konovaloff4 ,it was first placed upon the ground2 ,konovaloff would lift it with his teeth and lay it on the table2 and it was finally put in his pocket by his son1 ,andrew4 ,he was also assisted in his operations by two old women4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,jumpers ,,and ,,the ,,holy ,,brothers ,the ,jumpers1 or sopouny1 founded by one ,petroff1 considered it their duty to blow upon one another during ,divine ,service4 ,this arose from a misinterpretation of the ninth verse of the fortieth psalm4 ,it was also their custom to pile benches one upon another and pray from the top of them1 until some hysterical female fell to the ground in a religious paroxysm4 ,one of those present would then lean over her and act the scene of the resurrection4 ,petroff was a great admirer of ,king ,david1 and would sing his psalms to the accompaniment of dancing1 like the psalmist before the ,ark4 ,his successor1 ,roudometkin1 reorganised the ,jumpers1 and gave their performances a rhythmic basis4 ,foreseeing the near advent of the ,saviour1 he caused himself to be crowned king of the spiritual ,christians in #ahhg1 and married a spiritual wife1 though without discarding his material one4 ,his successors all called themselves ,kings of the spiritual ,christians1 but they had not the authority of poor ,roudometkin1 who had been removed to prison in ,solovetzk4 ,we may class with the ,jumpers the ,holy ,brothers1 or chalapouts1 who believed in the indwelling presence of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,they were visionaries of a more exalted kind1 and often attained to such a state of religious enthusiasm that in their longing to enter heaven they climbed to the roofs of houses and hurled themselves into space4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,little ,,gods ,the sect of the little gods1 or bojki1 was founded about #ahhj by a peasant named ,sava4 ,highly impressionable by nature1 and influenced by the activities of at least a dozen different sects that flourished in his native village 7,derabovka1 near ,volsk71 ,sava ended by believing himself to be ,god4 ,though naturally aggressive1 and of an irascible temperament1 he soon became as serious as a philosopher and as gentle as a lamb4 ,his intelligence seemed to increase visibly4 ,he discoursed like a man inspired1 and said to the inhabitants of ,derabovka3-- ,if there be a ,god in ,heaven1 there must also be one on earth4 ,and why not8 ,is not the earth a creation of ,heaven1 and must it not resemble that which created it8 4 4 4 ,where then is this earthly ,god to be found8 ,where is the ,virgin ,mary8 ,where are the twelve apostles8 ,the dreamer wandered about the village1 uttering his thoughts aloud4 ,at first men shrugged their shoulders at his strange questions4 ,but he continued to hold forth1 and in the end the peasants gathered round him4 ,it was the sweetest moment of his life when the villagers of ,derabovka at last found the deity who had been sought so eagerly4 ,for whom could it be1 if not ,sava himself8 4 4 4 ,thus ,sava proclaimed himself ,god2 gave to his kinsman ,samouil the name of ,saviour2 to a peasant-woman of a neighbouring village that of the ,virgin ,mary2 and chose the twelve ,apostles and the ,holy ,ghost from among his acquaintance4 ,the nomination of the latter presented1 however1 some difficulties4 ,the ,holy ,ghost1 argued the peasants1 had appeared to ,jesus by the river ,jordan in the form of a dove1 and how could one represent it by a man8 ,they refused to do so1 and decided that in future all birds of the dove species should be the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the authorities began to seek out the gods1 as they were called locally4 ,samouil was arrested and charged with being a false ,saviour1 but defended himself with such child-like candour that the tribunal was baffled4 ,the movement therefore continued1 and was indeed of a wholly innocent nature1 not in any way menacing the security of the government1 and filling with rapture all ,sava's followers4 ,it was the custom of the little gods to gather in some forest1 and there to hide the ,virgin ,mary in a leafy glade1 and await her apparition4 ,sava himself1 and ,samouil1 the ,saviour1 would be concealed close at hand1 and she would emerge from her hiding-place in their company4 ,the lookers-on then gave vent to loud cries of joy1 and all united in glorifying the goodness of ,heaven4 ,the ,virgin wore on these occasions a rich and beautiful robe in which all the colours of the rainbow were blended4 ,the company would gather round her1 while the ,apostles reverently kissed her feet4 ,sacred hymns were then sung1 and the worshippers dispersed filled with unbounded ecstasy4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,the ,,followers ,,of ,,grigorieff ,the forms taken by religious mania are not always as harmless as in the case of the ,god ,sava4 ,ivan ,grigorieff1 founder of the ,russian ,mormons1 began by preaching that ,god created the world in six days1 but by degrees he came to attack established religion as well as the existing social order4 ,according to him1 the molokanes were pestilent1 the douchobortzi were destroyers of the faith1 and the chlysty were mad cattle4 ,there was only one truth1 the truth of ,grigorieff6 ,the ,bible should be interpreted according to the spirit1 and as the ,apostle ,paul had said that ,christ was to be found in those who believed in ,him1 then ,grigorieff could be no other than ,christ4 ,he went to ,turkey1 returned in the role of ,saviour1 and preached the necessity for a spiritual life4 ,several women were chosen to share his life and that of the twelve ,apostles whose duty it was to glorify him4 ,passing from one hallucination to another1 he insisted on a general cessation of labour4 ,work not1 he said1 for ,i will be gentle and merciful to you4 ,you shall be like the birds who are nourished without need to till the earth3 ,work not1 and all shall be yours1 even to the corn stored away in the government granaries4 ,and so the peasants of ,gai-,orlov left their fields unfilled1 and cultivated nothing save hymns and prayers4 ,they seemed to be uplifted as by some wave of dreamy1 poetic madness4 ,even the unlettered imitated ,grigorieff in composing psalms and hymns1 some specimens of which are to be found in ,father ,arsenii's collection4 ,they breathe an almost infantile mysticism4 ,the dweller in heaven1 ,the ,king ,salim1 ,saviour of the world1 ,shall descend upon earth4 ,the clouds flee away1 ,the light shines4 4 4 4 ,we will climb the mountain1 ,it is ,mount ,sion that we climb1 ,and we will sing like angels4 ,when ,grigorieff's mind began definitely to fail1 and1 forgetful of divine service1 he passed his time in the company of his spiritual wives1 doubt seized upon the members of his church1 and they composed a melancholy psalm which was chanted to ,grigorieff by his ,apostles4 ,father1 ,saviour1 ,hope of all men 4 4 4 ,thou gavest us the spark1 ,the spark of faith4 ,but to-day1 little father1 ,thou hidest the light1 ,thou hidest the light4 4 4 4 ,our life is changed4 ,we weep for thy faith1 ,lost and deranged1 ,we weep for thy holy life4 ,upon the ,mount ,sion ,there grew a vine of ,god4 4 4 4 ,grigorieff appeared to be touched1 and replied with a psalm which explained1 in rhymed couplets1 how the ,holy ,ghost 7that is to say1 ,grigorieff7 was walking in a garden when brigands appeared1 and tried to carry him off--an allusion to some of his followers who had caused dissension by proclaiming themselves to be ,holy ,ghosts4 ,but the sun descended upon the ,garden of ,paradise1 the celestial garden 4 4 4 and so on4 ,one day1 however1 ,anti-,christ1 in the person of a travelling magistrate1 descended upon ,gai-,orlov and carried off ,grigorieff4 ,he was sent to prison1 where he died of poison administered by one of his spiritual wives1 who was jealous of her rivals4 ,but his teachings did not die with him4 ,his work was continued by the peasant ,verestchagin1 with the help of twelve venerable apostles4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,napoleonites ,imagination can scarcely conceive of some of the strange forms under which the thirst for religious truth in ,southern ,russia was revealed4 ,in this great laboratory of sects1 all the dreams of humanity had their more or less inspired representatives4 ,even the smallest town was in the same case as1 for example1 the prison of ,solovetzk1 which was usually inhabited by large numbers of sectarian leaders4 ,a ,mr4 ,sitzoff1 who spent some time there1 has published a description of this modern ,tower of ,babel4 ,it harboured1 among others1 a douchoboretz2 a god of the ,sava persuasion1 with his wife1 representing the ,holy ,ghost2 a chlyst1 who rotated indefatigably round a tub of water2 a captain who claimed the honour of brotherhood with ,jesus ,christ2 a man named ,pouchkin1 who supposed himself to be the ,saviour reincarnated2 a skopetz who had brought a number of people from ,moscow to be initiated into the sect of the ,russian eunuchs2 and the staretz ,israil1 a famous seer1 who desired to found a ,church ,triumphant among the inhabitants of the prison4 ,these ardent reformers of religion made a terrible uproar during the hours for exercise1 each one wishing to convert the rest1 and frequently the warders had to intervene1 to save the terrified ,holy ,ghost1 for example1 from the brother of ,christ or the prophet ,elijah4 ,before taking leave of these and other equally bizarre products of the great laboratory1 we must mention the sect of the ,napoleonites1 some few members of which were still to be found recently in ,southern ,russia4 ,william ,hepworth ,dixon1 who visited the country in #ahgj1 claims to have met some in ,moscow1 and according to him they were then rapidly increasing in numbers4 ,the douchobortzi and the molokanes were deeply impressed by the advent of ,napoleon the ,first4 ,it seemed to them that a man who had taken part in so many heroic adventures must be an envoy of the ,deity4 ,they conceived it his mission to re-establish the throne of ,david and to put an end to all their misfortunes1 and there was great joy among the milk-drinkers when the ,napoleonic mystery was expounded to them by their leaders4 ,it was arranged to send five molokane delegates to greet the heavenly messenger1 and five old men set forth1 clad in garments white as their beards4 ,but they arrived too late4 ,napoleon had left ,russia after the disaster of #ahab1 and when the molokanes tried to follow him they were arrested on the banks of the ,vistula and thrown into prison4 ,the popular imagination1 however1 refused to abandon its idol1 and the idea of ,napoleon ascending into heaven continued to arouse much enthusiasm4 ,many of the ,napoleonites lamented the wickedness of his enemies1 who had driven him out of ,russia1 thus depriving mortals of a saviour from on high4 ,at their meetings they spoke of ,napoleon's heroic exploits1 and knelt before his bust4 ,it was said that when he entered ,russia a star had appeared in the sky1 like that which heralded the birth of ,christ2 that he was not dead1 but had escaped from ,st4 ,helena by sea and was living in ,irkutsk2 that one day the heavens would be torn open by a great storm1 and ,napoleon would appear as leader of the ,slavonic people2 that he would put an end to all discord and1 surrounded by angels and brave soldiers1 would re-establish justice and happiness on earth to the sound of trumpets4 ,the hour draws near6 ,this cry of supremest hope was ever upon the lips of the members of the ,napoleonite church4 ,but to become almost ,god was a promotion of which the little corporal had surely never dreamed6 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,the ,,divine ,,men ,the origin of this sect seems to be lost in the mists of the past4 ,some connect it with the teachings of ,vishnu1 some with mysterious practices of antiquity2 but the divine men were certainly children of the ,slavonic soil4 ,those who seek for resemblances may find certain analogies between these adepts of virginal virginity1 or of the great garden of the ,tsar--for both these names were applied to them--and the adamites or aryanists2 for eager minds seeking supreme salvation are apt to meet upon the great road that leads to deliverance4 ,the rather sarcastic name of chlysty 7or flagellants1 by which they were also known7 indicates one of the methods used by them in their desire to please the ,lord4 ,a life-and-death struggle1 lasting for some centuries1 took place between ,russian orthodoxy and this sect whose socialistic ideas threatened to overthrow the aristocratic dogmas of the official church4 ,the real founder of the sect was a man named ,philipoff1 who lived about the middle of the seventeenth century4 ,according to him1 ,jesus ,christ was only one of many ,christs who have come to the succour of humanity during the course of ages4 ,the divine spirit incarnates in men of high morality1 so that ,christs appear and disappear1 living with and among us from time to time4 ,the chlysty1 therefore1 might always have one or more ,christs among them2 but all were not of equal standing4 ,some were great and some small6 ,philipoff was convinced that he was the great ,christ1 having the right to choose the twelve ,apostles and the ,holy ,mother4 ,by degrees he came to think himself ,god the ,father1 and adopted a divine son in the person of a peasant named ,sousloff1 who succeeded him as leader of the sect after his death4 ,another ,christ1 named ,loupkin1 who bestowed the title of ,holy ,virgin upon his wife1 ,akoumina1 gave a great impetus to the growth of the sect4 ,his followers proclaimed him their spiritual ,tsar1 and received him everywhere with imposing ceremonies4 ,he allowed his feet and hands to be kissed and obeisances to be made to the ,virgin4 ,as a result of his propaganda many prominent members of the orthodox church were won over4 ,on the death of ,akoumina1 the role of ,holy ,virgin was taken by the ,canoness ,anastasia1 of the convent of ,ivanoff1 and as time went on many of the aristocracy of ,moscow and other parts came to swell the ranks of the believers in the living ,christs4 ,philipoff's doctrines differed to some extent from those of ,loupkin4 ,branches of his church were to be found in most of the ,russian provinces1 and as time went on these emancipated themselves and became independent1 and many new ,christs made their appearance4 ,in #aijc1 nearly every ,russian province was said to be seriously affected by the doctrines of the divine men4 ,apart from the secondary articles of faith which differentiated the churches1 their main principles may be epitomised as follows3-- ,there are seven heavens1 and the seventh is the ,paradise of the divine men4 ,there dwell the ,holy ,trinity1 the ,mother of ,jesus1 the ,archangels1 and various ,christs who have visited our planet4 ,it is not a question of material bodies1 but of spiritual principles4 ,god incarnates in good men whenever ,he feels it to be necessary1 and those who are chosen for this divine honour become ,christs4 ,the ,christ of the ,gospels died like all the rest4 ,his body is interred at ,jerusalem1 and his resurrection only meant the deliverance of his spirit4 ,his miracles were merely symbolical4 ,lazarus was a sinner2 ,christ cured him and made him a good man2 hence the legend of the raising from the dead4 ,the ,gospels contain the teachings of the ,christ of that epoch1 but the ,christs of our time receive other teachings appropriate to the needs of the present day4 ,the orthodox religion of ,russia is a material religion1 lacking the ,spirit1 whose presence is only to be found in the creed of the divine men4 ,in order that their truth shall triumph1 these latter may belong nominally to the official religion4 ,they may even attend its churches1 but must leave their souls on the threshold4 ,a divine man must guard his soul from the infidels1 the wicked1 the voracious wolves--thus were the orthodox believers designated4 ,the human soul was created before the body4 7,a divine mother1 questioned as to her age in a court of law1 declared that though her body was only seventy years old1 her soul had lived through nearly as many centuries47 ,metempsychosis was one of their beliefs4 ,souls change their habitations1 and work upwards to supreme perfection4 ,that of a ,christ on earth becomes an angel after death2 that of an imperfect man requires repeated incarnations4 ,the body is the source of evil1 and the soul the source of good4 ,the body1 therefore1 with all its instincts and desires1 must be dominated by the soul4 ,divine men must abstain from meat and alcoholic drinks1 and also from marriage in the material sense4 ,by a singular misapprehension of the idea of dominating the body1 they looked upon marriage as a spiritual institution1 believing that the soul of a man who had lived with his wife in any but a fraternal relationship would enter that of a pig after his death1 and that children coming into the world through marriage were the joy of ,satan4 ,but love between men and women should exist outside the bonds of marriage1 the sins of the flesh being then redeemed by the virtues of the spirit4 ,adultery was thus tolerated1 and even held in high honour1 by many branches of the sect1 who believed that the vulgar relations between the sexes were thus spiritually purified1 and that men and women who loved under these conditions were like the doves and turtle-doves favoured by heaven4 ,they avoided having children1 and abortion was not only tolerated but encouraged4 ,rasputin1 who borrowed largely from the doctrines of the divine men1 made great use of this strange idea of spiritual love in bringing about the triumph of debauchery in the highest ranks of ,russian society4 ,the multiplicity of ,christs caused some regrettable misunderstandings1 and at times actual duels took place4 ,the difficulty was resolved1 however1 by some of the churches in admirably simple fashion--for1 in spite of all1 many of these strange people were inspired by the ,gospel teachings4 ,the opponents exchanged blows1 and he who longest continued to offer his cheek to the other was considered to have proved himself a superior ,christ4 ,the chlysty were divided into sections1 each having its angels1 its prophets1 and its ,christ4 ,they met in their ,jerusalem1 which was usually a cellar1 and their services took place at night1 the participants all wearing white robes4 ,the ceremonies consisted chiefly of graceful movements--first a solo dance1 then evolutions in pairs1 after which a cross would be formed by a large number of dancers1 and finally the dance of ,david took place1 in imitation of the ,biblical ,king before the ,ark4 ,the dancers then fell exhausted to the ground1 their tired bodies no longer opposing the manifestation of their souls1 and the prophets and prophetesses gave voice to divine inspirations4 ,once a year the high ceremonial was held4 ,a tub filled with water was placed in the middle of the room1 and lit up by wax candles1 and when the surface of the water became ruffled the ecstatic watchers believed ,god to be smiling upon them1 and intoned in chorus their favourite hymn--- ,we dance1 we dance1 ,and seek the ,christ who is among us4 ,in some of the churches this ceremony concluded with the celebration of universal love4 ,on account of its numerous ramifications1 the sect presented many divergent aspects4 ,the teleschi1 following the example of ,adam and ,eve in ,paradise1 performed their religious rites in a state of nature2 and there were other branches whose various dogmas and practices it would be impossible to describe4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,rasputin ,the career of ,rasputin provides one of the most disquieting chapters in the history of sexual and religious emotions1 and furnishes remarkable proof of the close relationship which exists between these two sides of human life1 to all appearances diametrically opposed4 ,the supposed monk had undoubted hypnotic powers1 and through his success in sending people to sleep in his native ,siberian village 7in the neighbourhood of ,tomsk71 he earned the reputation of being a holy man4 ,as they had never heard of either suggestion or hypnotism1 the ,siberian peasants were all the more impressed by his miracles4 ,before long he decided to make use of his mysterious power on a larger scale1 and departed for ,st4 ,petersburg1 where the news of his exploits had preceded him4 ,the ,tsarina1 who suffered from insomnia1 sent for him1 and--thanks also to certain qualities which it is best not to specify--,rasputin's fortune was made in a day4 ,the village of his origin had an undesirable reputation1 for its inhabitants were loose-livers1 and the scandal of the surrounding countryside4 ,but even in this environment the monk's family had made themselves conspicuous by their low and unmentionable customs4 ,the young ,gregory1 known by the diminutive of ,gricha1 began his exploits at a very tender age1 and earned the sobriquet of ,rasputin1 which means debauched4 ,he was mixed up in all kinds of dubious affairs--for instance1 thefts of horses1 the bearing of false witness1 and many acts of brigandage4 ,he was even sentenced more than once to be flogged--a penalty of which the local law-courts made generous use in those days4 ,one of his boon companions1 a gardener named ,vamava1 later became ,bishop of ,tobolsk through his influence4 ,but the time came when ,gricha thought it well to abandon his small misdoings1 and take up a more lucrative trade4 ,he discarded his peasant costume1 and adopted a robe similar to that worn by monks4 ,grave and serious1 declaring that he was ranged on the side of the ,lord1 he went about begging importunately1 on the pretext of wishing to build a church4 ,in this way he succeeded in amassing a very considerable sum of money1 and subsequently founded a new sect whose bizarre nature surpassed that of any others that had recently seen the light4 ,its chief doctrines were borrowed from the chlysty1 with some modifications to suit the decadent atmosphere of the ,russian ,court4 ,it taught that none could be saved without first having repented2 and none could repent without first having sinned4 ,therefore to sin became a duty1 and it may be imagined how full of attraction was this religion of sin for those who had neither the will nor the desire to practise virtue4 ,rasputin began proceedings in his native province4 ,he was a marvellous preacher1 and easily attracted many followers1 though some of the forms taken by the new religion were indescribable4 ,the believers of both sexes were in the habit of assembling in an open field1 in the midst of which a bonfire was lighted4 ,they would form a chain and dance round the fire1 praying for their sins to be forgiven1 as they had repented of them4 ,gradually the fire would die out1 and the leader then launched his command--,now1 my children1 give yourselves up to sin6 ,the sequel may be left untold1 but truly the saturnalia of ancient ,rome grow dim before the spectacle of the ceremonies established by ,rasputin4 ,his hypnotic practices1 combined with the attractions of his religion1 only served to augment his popularity1 and1 burdened with past glory1 he arrived in the capital to win the favour not only of ladies of high degree1 but also of many prominent members of the established church4 ,father ,john of ,cronstadt1 whom he first visited1 was deeply impressed when ,rasputin revealed to him the extent of his intimacy with the ,lord1 and introduced him to the ,archbishop ,theophanus1 almost as great a celebrity as himself4 ,finding it impossible to establish the ,siberian practices openly in ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,rasputin made great use of hypnotism4 ,the fascination that he wielded over all in his vicinity gave authority to his words1 and he devoted himself to exorcising the demons that slept in the bodies of the pretty sinners of high society4 ,in this1 scourging played a considerable part1 and as all sorts of illnesses and unsatisfied desires were attributed to the demons1 the number of cases treated by the holy man was almost incalculable4 ,even the prelates whom ,rasputin ousted from their positions in some cases still continued to believe in him after his death4 ,the ,bishop ,hermogen1 whom he disgraced at ,court1 declared1 the day after the assassination1 his conviction that ,rasputin possessed a spark of godhead when he first arrived in ,petrograd4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,inspired ,,seers ,the official clergy1 finding it incumbent on them to defend the articles of the orthodox faith1 were themselves frequently swept away by the storm of religious mania4 ,before the war the fortress of ,solovetzk sheltered quite an army of these harmless rebels1 who1 troubled by the general desire for human perfection1 had ended in blasphemy4 ,especially from the monasteries were they recruited4 ,it seemed as though their souls were violently assaulted by devils1 like those of the anchorites of olden days4 ,monks and nuns alike were equally discontented1 equally eager to uproot evil1 whether real or imaginary1 by seeking out new ways of salvation4 ,one such was the unfortunate ,israil1 originally head of the monastery of ,selenginsk1 later a prisoner at ,solovetzk4 ,he preached eloquently and fervently the renunciation of property1 and persuaded his mother and sisters to abandon their worldly goods and devote themselves to the service of the ,virgin4 ,to a nunnery6 he cried1 with all the conviction of ,hamlet driving ,ophelia from this world1 and they sang psalms with him and went to conceal their misery in a convent4 ,then1 with a staff in his hand1 he traversed ,russia1 and visited many staretz1 or holy men4 ,they taught him the beginning and the middle of the end which does not exist1 but poor ,israil was still conscious of an emptiness in his heart4 ,in the pursuit of truth he retired to a virgin forest on the banks of the river ,schouia1 near the desert of ,krivoziersk1 and remained there for years engaged in prayer1 until at last1 touched by such piety1 the ,lord gave peace to his soul4 ,surrounded by holy books1 he practised meditation1 and ,god manifested ,his love by sending him visions and dreams which1 coming direct from ,heaven1 promised salvation to himself and to all who should follow him4 ,in one dream he saw a great temple above the cave where he was praying4 ,millions of people sought to enter it1 but could not1 and shed bitter tears of disappointment4 ,one man alone could approach the altar4 ,it was ,israil1 the beloved of the ,lord4 ,he went straight through the great doors1 and all the rest followed him4 ,the holy man then decided that he must act as guide to his fellows who1 like himself1 were possessed by the fever for eternal salvation4 ,he knew how to distinguish between dreams sent by heaven1 and those emanating from the infernal regions4 ,it was a great day for the new religion which was to be born in the desert of ,krivoziersk when the ,father ,joseph came to join ,israil1 the tale of whose glory by this time resounded throughout the whole neighbourhood4 ,they remained on their knees for whole weeks at a time1 praying together4 ,israil painted sacred pictures1 and ,joseph carved spoons1 for the glory of the ,lord4 ,an inexplicable emotion filled their souls2 they trembled before the ,eternal1 fasted1 and shed scalding tears2 then1 overcome by fatigue1 fell fainting to the ground4 ,israil beheld the heavens descending upon earth4 ,they had no dread of wild beasts1 and1 disregarding the need for food or sleep1 they thus dwelt far from the haunts of men1 in the light of ,eternity4 ,one day ,israil rose abruptly in an access of religious frenzy1 climbed a hill1 saluted the ,east three times1 and returned radiant to his companion4 ,the burden which lay at the door of my heart1 he cried1 the burden which hindered my spirit from soaring heavenwards1 has disappeared6 ,henceforward the ,kingdom of ,heaven is in me1 in the depths of my soul1 in the soul of the ,son of my ,father6 ,he proceeded to share this kingdom with the brothers ,warlaam1 ,nikanor1 and others who had been touched by the finger of ,god4 ,unbelievers were gradually won over1 and a community was formed whose members lived on prayers and celestial visions1 and obeyed the rules laid down for them by ,israil4 ,the sick were cured by his prayers1 and the incredulous were abashed by the holiness of his appearance4 ,his fame spread1 and ever greater crowds were attracted1 so that while the faithful rejoiced in the triumph of the beloved1 ,israil himself deemed the time to be ripe for his promotion in the ranks of sanctity4 ,he proclaimed himself to be ,jesus ,christ4 ,on ,holy ,thursday he washed the feet of his disciples1 blessed the bread and wine1 and distributed it to the assembled believers4 ,but1 alas1 by this time dreams of a strangely sensual nature had seized upon him1 and seemed to pervade his whole being4 ,in one of these dreams he found himself in an empty temple1 and on approaching the altar1 perceived a dead woman lying there4 ,he lifted her up1 and as he touched her she showed signs of life4 ,suddenly1 slipping from his grasp1 she leapt upon the altar1 and1 radiating heavenly beauty1 threw herself into his arms4 ,come1 come1 my spouse6 she said4 ,come1 that ,i may outpour for thee the wine of my love and the delights of my ,eternal ,father6 ,on hearing these words from the ,queen of ,heaven1 ,israil dissolved into tears4 ,he was filled with boundless rapture1 and in his excitement could not forbear from sharing this joyful experience with his disciples4 ,his ,golgotha was drawing near4 ,the new religion was openly denounced1 and rigorously suppressed4 ,the apostles were imprisoned1 and the ,jesus ,christ of ,krivoziersk was sent for to the town of ,kostroma1 that he might give account of himself1 his visions1 and his crimes4 ,ultimately he was condemned to a spell of confinement1 and forced to perform the most humiliating duties4 ,his asceticism1 his many virtues1 his fasting and prayers1 the love which ,god had manifested for him--all were forgotten1 and ,israil1 who had held the ,queen of ,heaven in his arms1 was in future obliged to clean out the stables of the monastery of ,makariev1 to light the fires1 and prepare the brothers' baths for them4 ,the beloved of the ,lord fully expected to see the earth open and engulf his impious judges in its yawning depths--but no such thing happened4 ,his spirit grew uneasy1 and1 taking advantage of the ,russian ,government's appeal for missionaries to convert the ,siberian peoples1 he set forth to preach his own religion to them instead of that of ,tsarism4 ,arrived at ,irkutsk1 he sought first of all to save the souls of the chief authorities1 the ,governor-,general and the ,archbishop4 ,but his efforts beat in vain against the indifference of these high dignitaries4 ,happy are those who follow me1 he assured them1 for ,i will reveal to them the secrets of this world1 and assure them of a place in my ,father's kingdom4 ,however1 they did not heed him1 and horrified at such lack of faith1 ,israil presented the ,governor-,general with a formal document on the ,second ,coming of ,our ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4 ,still the souls of his contemporaries remained closed to the revelation1 and while he meditated upon their blindness and deplored their misfortune1 he was suddenly seized by their equally faithless representatives and transported to the farthest limits of the country4 ,there he found many of his old disciples1 and proceeded to form the sect of the inspired seers4 ,he taught them with all earnestness that they would shortly see the ,lord1 ,saint ,simeon1 and the ,queen of ,heaven1 and soon after this1 when in a state of ecstatic exaltation1 they did1 as by a miracle1 behold ,god surrounded by ,his saints1 and even the ,infant ,jesus4 ,but a new era of persecution was at hand for ,israil4 ,heaven was merciful to him1 but the powers of the earth were harsh4 ,however1 the more he was persecuted1 the more his followers' ardent belief in his divinity increased1 and their enthusiasm reached a climax when the police had the audacity to lay hands on the son of the ,lord4 ,but ,israil was quite unmoved by the fate of his earthly body1 or by the prospect of earthly punishment4 ,his soul dwelt with ,god the ,father1 and it was with the profoundest disdain that he followed the representatives of evil4 ,during the trial his disciples loudly expressed their belief in him1 and what seemed to strengthen their faith was the fact that ,israil1 like the ,divine ,master1 had been betrayed by a ,judas4 ,they believed also that his death would be followed by miracles4 ,israil himself desired to be crucified1 but ,heaven withheld this supreme grace1 and also denied his followers the joy of witnessing miracles at his graveside4 ,the ,holy ,synod contented itself with sentencing him to lifelong imprisonment at ,solovetzk4 ,we may add that the founder of the inspired seers left1 at his death1 several volumes of verse4 ,unhappy poet6 ,in the west he might have been covered with honour and glory2 in the far north his lot was merely one of extreme unhappiness4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,sister ,,helen ,sister ,helen ,petrov1 of the convent of ,pskov1 declared in a moment of divine illumination that the ,church had no hierarchy1 that priests were harmful1 that ,god had no need of intermediaries1 that men should not communicate1 and should1 indeed1 absolutely refrain from entering churches4 ,it was the vision of an inspired soul1 or of a diseased mind--for the two extremes may meet4 ,a pure religion1 based upon the direct communion of man's spirit with ,god1 free from false and artificial piety1 having no churches or ceremonies1 but exhaling the sentiment of brotherly love--what a vision splendid is this1 so often sought but never yet attained6 ,in the age preceding the birth of ,christ many of the finer spirits were already rebelling1 like ,sister ,helen1 against the use of agents between the human soul and ,god4 ,simeon the ,just1 ,hillel1 ,jesus1 son of ,sirach1 and many others1 like ,isaiah of old1 besought men to cease importuning ,god with offerings of incense and the blood of rams4 ,what is needed1 they said1 is to have a pure heart and to love virtue4 ,no one1 however1 succeeded in formulating this teaching in so sublime a fashion as ,christ ,himself4 ,for what is pure ,christianity1 as revealed by ,him1 if not the divine aspiration towards ,heaven of all men as brothers1 without fetters of creed and dogma1 and without intermediaries8 ,in the name of the ,divine ,messenger1 ,sister ,helen protested against the errors of men4 ,she reproached them with their sins and their mistakes4 ,but though the same teachings eighteen centuries before had brought about a moral renaissance1 repeated by ,helen they only caused untold miseries to descend upon her head4 ,driven from the ,church and threatened with a prison-cell1 her heart grew bitter within her1 and her once pure spirit was clouded over4 ,a vision came to her1 in which she learnt that the end of the world was drawing near1 ,anti-,christ having already made his appearance4 ,we must prepare for the ,last ,judgment1 she declared4 ,all family life must be renounced1 wives must leave their husbands1 sisters their brothers1 and children their parents4 ,the ,day of ,god is at hand6 ,after being expelled from the convent1 the beautiful ,helen--for she was beautiful when she first gave herself to ,god--carried her sacred message to the simple-minded peasants4 ,by them she was understood and venerated1 and their admiration filled her with ecstasy4 ,two priests and several other nuns were attracted by the reports of her sanctity1 and came to join her4 ,she still repeated that ,anti-,christ was already upon earth1 and that the end was near4 ,one day she saw him face to face and tried to kill him1 for the glory of ,heaven1 but he escaped4 ,however1 she remembered his appearance1 and was able to describe him to her followers4 ,he is no other1 she said1 than ,father ,john of ,cronstadt who1 although a great worker of miracles1 is in fact an evil genius in the service of ,satan4 ,and all her hearers rejoiced1 and paid homage to ,helen's clairvoyant powers4 ,their enthusiastic adulation1 together with the conviction of the love ,christ bore her1 threw the good sister into a frenzy of intense excitement1 until she1 who formerly had only desired to ameliorate the lot of mankind1 suddenly perceived in herself an incarnation of the divine4 ,but she sought1 nevertheless1 to resist the idea1 and said to her followers1 ,i am only a poor daughter of the ,lord1 and ,he has chosen me to spread the truth about ,his sufferings1 and to proclaim the great punishment of mankind--the end of the world4 ,she spoke with such emotion that her hearers1 visualising the agony to come1 shed tears abundantly1 and prayed and fasted4 ,but now the prophetess had another vision1 for on the night before ,good ,friday ,christ ,himself appeared to her4 ,weep not1 ,helenouchka 7little ,helen71 ,he said4 ,the end of the world approaches for the wicked1 and for those who knew ,me not--the pagans1 ,jews1 and priests4 ,but you1 my faithful ,bride1 shall be saved1 and all who follow you4 ,on the day when the world is darkened and all things crumble into ruins1 the true kingdom of ,god shall dawn for the beloved children of heaven4 ,another time ,helen was overcome with joy because her heavenly ,spouse visited her by night4 ,dost thou not see1 said the divine ,lover1 with what brilliance the sun is shining1 how the flowers are opening1 and every face is illumined with joy8 ,these are the 'last rays' bidding farewell to life4 ,but thou1 ,helen1 shalt peacefully enjoy the raptures of love4 ,on the appointed day thy celestial ,spouse1 accompanied by ,his angels1 shall come to rescue thee1 and thou shalt dwell with ,him three hundred years4 ,one of the priests who had adopted ,helen's religion composed numerous hymns in her honour1 and these were chanted in chorus by the believers4 ,the opening line of one which was sung to greet her when she awoke each morning1 ran as follows3 ,rejoice1 ,saint ,helen1 fair ,bride of ,christ1 rejoice6 ,poor ,saint ,helen6 ,she was not allowed to enjoy her heavenly idyll for long4 ,just when the new religion promised consolation to so many1 the believers and their prophetess were delivered up to the rigours of the justice of this world1 which called down upon their heads in turn the catastrophe of the day of judgment4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,the ,,self-,,mutilators ,the thirst for perfection1 the ardent desire to draw near to ,god1 sometimes takes the form of an unhappy perversion of reason and common sense4 ,the popular soul knows no hesitation when laying its offerings upon the ,altar of the ,good4 ,it dares not only to flout the principles of patriotism1 of family love1 and of respect for the power and the dogmas of the established church1 but1 taking a step further1 will even trample underfoot man's deepest organic needs1 and actually seek to destroy the instinct of self-preservation4 ,what even the strictest reformers1 the most hardened misanthropists1 would hardly dare to suggest1 is accomplished as a matter of course by simple peasants in their devotion to whatever method of salvation they believe to be in accordance with ,god's will4 ,thus came into existence the self-mutilators1 or skoptzi1 victims1 no doubt1 of some mental aberration1 some misdirected sense of duty1 but yet how impressive in their earnestness6 ,the sect having been in existence for more than a century ought perhaps to be excluded from our present survey2 but it has constantly developed1 and even seemed to renew its youth1 so merits consideration even if only in the latter phases of its evolution4 ,the skoptzi were allowed1 at the beginning of the twentieth century1 to form separate communities1 and the life of these communities under quite exceptional social conditions1 without love1 children1 marriage or family ties1 offers a melancholy field for observation4 ,indeed1 these colonies of mutilated beings1 hidden in the depths of ,siberia1 give one a feeling as of some monstrous and unfamiliar growth1 and present one of the most puzzling aspects of the religious perversions of the present age4 ,after being denounced and sentenced1 and after performing the forced labour allotted to them--a punishment specially reserved for the members of sects considered dangerous to orthodoxy--the skoptzi1 men and women alike1 were permitted to establish their separate colonies1 like those of ,olekminsk and ,spasskoie4 ,the forced labour might cripple their limbs1 but it did not weaken their faith1 which blossomed anew under the open skies of ,siberia1 and seemed only to be intensified by their long sufferings in prison4 ,the martyrs who took refuge in these ,siberian paradises were very numerous4 ,it has been calculated that at the end of the nineteenth century they numbered more than sixty-five thousand1 and this is probably less than the true figure1 for1 considering the terrible ordinances of their religion1 it is not likely that they would trouble much about registering themselves for official statistics4 ,we may safely say that in #ahhi there were about twelve hundred and fifty in the neighbourhood of ,yakutsk who had already accomplished their term of forced labour4 ,they formed ten villages1 and it would be difficult to specify their various nationalities1 though it is known that in ,spasskoie1 in #ahhe1 there were1 among seven hundred and ten members of the sect1 six hundred and ninety-three ,russians1 one ,pole1 one ,swede1 and fifteen ,finns4 ,to outward view their colonies were rather peculiar4 ,each village was built with one long1 wide street1 and the houses were remarkable for the solidity of their construction1 for the flourishing gardens that surrounded them1 and for their unusual height in this desolate land where1 as a rule1 nothing but low huts and hovels were to be seen4 ,a house was shared1 generally1 by three or four believers1 and--perhaps owing to their shattered nervous systems--they appeared to live in a state of constant uneasiness1 and always kept revolvers at hand4 ,the brothers occupied one side of the building1 and the sisters the other2 and while the former practised their trades1 or were engaged in commerce1 the women looked after the house1 and led completely isolated lives4 ,on the arrival of a stranger they would hide1 and if he offered to shake hands with one of them1 she would blush1 saying1 ,excuse me1 but that is forbidden to us1 and escape into the house4 ,the existence of the sisters was indeed a tragic one4 ,deprived of the sweetness of love or family life1 without children1 and at the mercy of hardened egoists1 such as the skoptzi usually became1 their sequestered lives seemed to be cut off from all normal human happiness4 ,according to the author of an interesting article on the skoptzi of ,olekminsk1 which appeared in #ahie in the organ of the then-existing ,russian ,ethnographical ,society1 these women were sometimes of an astonishing beauty1 and when opportunity offered1 as it sometimes did 7their initiation not always being quite complete71 they would marry orthodox settlers1 and leave their so-called brothers4 ,cases are on record of women acting in this way1 and subsequently becoming mothers1 but any such event caused tremendous agitation among the brothers and sisters1 similar to that provoked in ancient ,rome by the spectacle of a vestal virgin failing in her duty of chastity4 ,platonic unions between the self-mutilators and the ,siberian peasant-women were fairly frequent1 so deeply-rooted in the heart of man does the desire for a common life appear to be4 ,the skoptzi loved money for money's sake1 and were considered the enemies of the working-classes4 ,although drawn for the most part from the ,russian provinces1 where ideas of communal property prevailed1 they developed into rigid individualists1 and would exploit even their own brothers4 ,indeed they preyed upon one another to such an extent that in the village of ,spasskoie there were1 among a hundred and fifty-two skoptzi1 thirty-five without land1 their portions having been seized from them by the capitalists of the village4 ,their ranks were swelled chiefly by illiterate peasants4 ,as to their religion1 it consisted almost exclusively in the practice of a ceremony similar to that of the ,valerians1 the celebrated early ,christian sect who had recourse to self-mutilation in order to protect themselves from the temptations of the flesh4#a ,the lot of the skoptzi was not a happy one1 but they were upheld and consoled by their belief in the imperial origin of their faith4 ,according to them1 ,selivanoff1 the prophet and founder of the sect1 was no other than the ,tsar ,peter the ,third himself 7#agbh-agfb74 ,they did not believe in his assassination by the ,empress ,catherine1 but declared that she1 discovering to what initiation he had submitted1 was seized by so violent a passion of rage that she caused him to be incarcerated in the fortress of ,petropavlovsk4 ,from there they believed that he had escaped1 with the help of his gaoler1 ,selivanoff1 and had assumed the latter's name4 ,what strengthened them in this belief was the marked favour shown by the ,tsar ,alexander ,i for ,selivanoff4 ,alexander being naturally inclined to mysticism1 was impressed by this strange character1 and requested him to foretell the issue of the war with ,napoleon4 ,he was equally well disposed to the sect of ,madame ,tartarinoff1 which closely resembled that of the self-mutilators1 and1 influenced by his attitude1 all the ,russian high officials felt themselves bound to pay court to the new religions4 ,one of the ,imperial councillors1 ,piletzky1 who was supposed to be writing a book refuting the doctrines of the skoptzi1 defended them1 on the contrary1 with such warmth that his volume--obviously inspired by the opinions of the ,court--was prohibited by the ,bishop ,filarete as ,anti-,christian4 ,but though they could talk volubly of the illustrious origin of their leader ,selivanoff1 the second ,christ1 and of their divine mother1 ,akoulina ,ivanovna1 their doctrines were in fact obscure and nebulous1 and they avoided--with good reason--all religious argument4 ,they insisted1 however1 upon the sacredness of their initiation ceremony--which invariably ended in deportation for life1 or the delights of the prison-cell4 ,from the physiological point of view1 the skoptzi resembled the ,egyptian eunuchs1 described by ,m4 ,ernest ,godard4 ,those who had undergone the initiation at the age of puberty attained extraordinary maxillary and dental proportions4 ,giants were common among them1 and there was frequently produced the same phenomenon that ,darwin discovered in the animal world--enlargement of the pelvic regions4 ,this doctrine1 which ought to have repelled the populace1 attracted them irresistibly4 ,the young1 the brave1 and the wealthy1 in the full flower of their strength1 abandoned at its call the religion of life and yoked themselves to that of death4 ,it seemed to fascinate them4 ,after conversion they despised all human passions and emotions1 and when persecuted and hunted down they took their revenge by expressing profoundest pity for those who were powerless to accomplish the act of sacrifice which had brought them near to divinity4 ,they often let this pity sway them to the extent of running into danger by preaching their holy word to infidels4 ,like the ascetics of ,ancient ,judea1 who left their retreats to make sudden appearances in the midst of the orgies of their contemporaries1 these devotees of enforced virginity would appear among those who were disillusioned with life1 and instruct them in the delights of the supreme deliverance4 ,in their ardent desire to rescue all slaves of the flesh1 some rich merchants of ,moscow1 who had adopted the doctrine1 placed the greater part of their fortunes at the disposal of their co-religionists1 and in this way the sect was enabled to extend its influence throughout ,russia1 and even into neighbouring countries4 ,at one time in ,bucharest and other towns certain carriages drawn by superb horses attracted much admiration4 ,these were some of the strange presents--the price of a still stranger baptism--with which the ,church of the ,second ,christ rewarded its members6 #a ,valerius1 passionate and devout at the same time1 was the first to sacrifice himself thus on the altar of purity1 following the example of ,origen1 who had used this heroic method to safeguard the virtue of the women of his entourage4 ,but while ,origen was rewarded for his action by the ,patriarch of ,jerusalem1 ,valerius was expelled from the church1 and retired to ,arabia1 where his sect flourished in the third century 7,a4,d474 ,b4 ,,the ,,non-,,sectarian ,,visionaries ,in addition to the sects having their prophets and leaders and a certain amount of organisation1 almost every year in ,russia saw--and probably still sees--the birth of many separate heresies of short duration4 ,for instance1 in one part a whole village would suddenly be seized by religious ardour1 its inhabitants deserting the fields and passing their time in prayer1 or in listening to the ,gospel teachings as expounded to them by some inspired peasant4 ,or elsewhere1 the women would all leave their husbands and depart into the forests1 where in the costume of ,mother ,eve they would give themselves up to meditating upon the sins of humanity and the goodness of ,god4 ,on the outskirts of a village near ,samara1 in ,east ,russia1 a forester was one day attracted to a cabin by the resounding cries and groans that issued from it4 ,on entering1 a strange sight met his eyes--three women1 completely naked1 praying and weeping4 ,they were like skeletons1 and one of them died soon after being forcibly brought back to the village4 ,in spite of all entreaties she refused to let the orthodox priest come near her1 and begged that no cross should be placed over her grave4 ,the police searched the forest1 and found several other women in a similar condition4 ,inquiry revealed that they had left their homes in the neighbourhood of ,viatka in order to expiate the sins of their fellows4 ,for nourishment they depended on herbs and strawberries1 and prayer was their sole occupation4 ,their unquenchable desire was to be allowed to die for the greater glory of ,jesus ,christ4 ,they belonged to no sect1 and did not believe in sacred symbols or in priests4 ,in order to get into direct communication with ,god1 they discarded their garments and lived in a state of nature1 eating nothing but what they could find by the wayside4 ,thirty or forty of these women were gathered in and sent back to their homes4 ,the peasants of the ,baltic ,provinces1 although better educated than those of ,southern ,russia1 became victims of religious mania just as frequently4 ,it was in the ,pernov district that the cult of the god ,tonn was brought to light4 ,the chief function of this god was to preserve cattle and other livestock from disease1 and to gain his favour the peasants brought him offerings twice a year4 ,his statue was placed in a stable1 and there his worshippers were wont to gather1 praying on bended knee for the health of their cows and horses4 ,in time1 however1 the statue was seized by the police1 to the great grief of the peasants of the district4 ,in another part there dwelt a magician who was said to cure all bodily ills by the aid of the sixth and seventh books of ,moses4 ,the tribunal of ,kaschin1 near ,tver1 once had occasion to judge a peasant named ,tvorojnikoff who1 as a result of his private meditations1 had succeeded in evolving a new religion for himself and his friends4 ,after working for six months in ,st4 ,petersburg as a mechanic1 and studying the vanity of human affairs1 he came to the conclusion that orthodox religious observances were an invention of the priests1 and that it was only necessary to believe in order to be saved4 ,an action was brought against him1 whereupon his mother and sister1 who were called as witnesses1 refused to take the oath1 that being only an invention of men4 ,tvorojnikoff described his doubts1 his sufferings1 and the battle which had long raged in his soul1 and declared that at last1 on reaching the conclusion that faith is the only cure1 he had found happiness and peace4 ,what have ,i done to be punished8 he demanded4 ,what do you want with me8 ,instead of sending me to prison1 explain how ,i have sinned4 ,read the ,gospel with me6 ,but his entreaties were ignored4 ,the religious expert1 who was present in the person of a delegate of the ecclesiastical authorities1 thought it beneath his dignity to discuss eternal truths with a peasant1 and the poor dreamer received a sentence of imprisonment4 ,the ,russian legal records are full of the misdeeds of many such1 whose sole crimes consisted in dreaming with all sincerity1 and in spite of cruel deceptions and disappointments1 of the day when man should at last attain perfection upon earth4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,brothers ,,of ,,death ,from time to time this thirst for the ideal1 this dissatisfaction with the actual1 gave rise to a series of collective suicides4 ,we may recall the celebrated propaganda of the monk ,falaley1 who preached that death was man's only means of salvation4 ,he gathered his unhappy hearers in a forest1 and there expounded to them the emptiness of life and the best method of escaping from it4 ,his words bore fruit1 and the simple peasants who heard them decided to have done with this life of sin4 ,one night eighty-four persons congregated in an underground cavern near the river ,perevozinka1 and began to fast and to pray4 ,the peasants gathered round their improvised camp1 built of straw and wood1 ready to die when the signal was given4 ,but one woman1 taking fright at the idea of so horrible a death1 fled and warned the authorities4 ,when the police arrived1 one of the believers cried out that ,anti-,christ was approaching1 and the poor creatures then set fire to the camp and died--as they thought--for ,christ4 ,a few fanatics who were saved received sentences of imprisonment and deportation1 but one of them--,souchkoff--succeeded in escaping1 and continued to spread the truth of ,god4 ,whether it was his own eloquence or the misery and despair of the people that helped his doctrine1 it bore at any rate such fruits that soon afterwards sixty families in one locality made up their minds to die en masse1 believing that simple murder--the murder of the faithful by the faithful--would hasten the day of supreme deliverance4 ,a peasant named ,petroff entered the house of his neighbour1 and killed the latter's wife and children1 afterwards carrying his blood-stained hatchet in triumph through the village4 ,in the barn of another a dozen peasants gathered with their wives1 and the men and women laid their heads upon the block in turn1 while ,petroff1 in the role of the angel of death1 continued his work of deliverance4 ,he then made his way to a hut near by where a mother and three children awaited his services1 and finally1 overcome with fatigue1 he laid his own head on the block1 and was despatched to eternal glory by ,souchkoff4 ,but the kind of death recommended by ,chadkin about the year #ahfj was even more terrible4 ,in this case it was not a question of a wave of madness that came and passed1 but of the prolonged torture of death by voluntary starvation4 ,chadkin's teaching was that as ,anti-,christ had already come1 there was nothing left to do but escape into the forests and die of hunger4 ,when he and his adherents had reached a sufficiently isolated spot1 he ordered the women to prepare death-garments1 and when all were suitably arrayed1 he informed them that in order to receive the heavenly grace of death1 they must remain there for twelve days and nights without food or water4 ,frightful were the sufferings endured by these martyrs4 ,the cries of the children1 as they writhed in agony1 were heartrending1 but ,chadkin and his followers never wavered4 ,at last1 however1 one of the sufferers1 unable longer to face such tortures1 managed to escape1 and ,chadkin1 fearing the arrival of the police1 decided that all the rest must die at once4 ,they began by killing the children2 next the women and the men2 and by the time the police appeared on the scene there remained alive only ,chadkin and two others1 who had forgotten in their frenzy to put an end to themselves4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,divinity ,,of ,,father ,,ivan ,it seems enough1 in ,russia1 when a single individual is obsessed by some more or less ridiculous idea1 for his whole environment to become infected by it also4 ,the ease with which suggestions make their way into the popular mind is amazing1 and this reveals its strong bias towards the inner life1 the life of dreams4 ,the actual content of the dreams is of small importance1 provided that they facilitate the soul's flight to a better world1 and supply some link in a chain which shall attach it more firmly to the things of eternity4 ,consequently1 those who have any supernatural experience to relate are almost sure to find followers4 ,an illiterate woman named ,klipikoff one day proclaimed the good news of the divinity of ,father ,ivan of ,cronstadt4 ,the incredulous smiles of her fellow-citizens were gradually transformed into enthusiastic expressions of belief1 and ,madame ,klipikoff proceeded to found a school4 ,about twenty women began to proclaim openly throughout ,cronstadt that ,father ,ivan1 the miracle-worker1 was divine1 and he had difficulty in repudiating the honours that the infatuated women tried to thrust upon him4 ,according to the priestesses of this unrecognised cult1 ,father ,ivan was the ,saviour ,himself1 though he hid the fact on account of the ,anti-,christians--that is to say1 the priests and the church authorities4 ,those who were converted to the new doctrine placed his portrait beside that of the ,divine ,mother1 and prayed before it4 ,they even fell on their knees before his garments1 or any articles belonging to him1 and though the old man expressed horror at such idolatry1 he nevertheless permitted it4 ,one of the local papers described a ceremony that took place in one of the houses where the pilgrims1 who journeyed to ,cronstadt from all parts of ,russia1 were lodged4 ,father ,ivan deigned to give his benediction to the three glasses of tea that the hostess proffered him1 and after his departure she divided their contents among the assembled company1 in return for various offerings4 ,there were1 however1 cases in which1 instead of kneeling before the garments of miracle-workers or committing suicide1 the visionaries strove to reach heaven by offering up the lives of their fellow-men in sacrifice4 ,in the law-courts of ,kazan a terrible instance of one of these religious murders was brought to light4 ,it was revealed that the inhabitants of a neighbouring village had suspended by the feet a beggar named ,matiounin1 and then1 opening one of his veins1 had drunk his blood4 ,there are throughout ,russia many records of proceedings brought against such murderers--for instance1 the tragic case of ,anna ,kloukin1 who threw her only daughter into an oven1 and offered her charred body to ,god2 and that of a woman named ,kourtin1 who killed her seven-year-old son that his mortal sins might be forgiven4 ,the vague remembrance of ,abraham1 who offered up his only son1 and the conviction that ,anti-,christ1 born of a depraved woman1 a ,jewess1 travels the earth in search of ,christian souls--these are the most obvious motives for murders such as we have described4 ,their real cause sprang1 however1 from the misery of the people and their weariness of life4 ,by a kind of reaction these murders--whose perpetrators often could not be found--frequently gave rise to even stranger crimes and disturbances4 ,suspicion was apt to fall upon any ,jews dwelling in the district1 and there resulted trials1 such as that of ,beilis1 or ,jewish pogroms which filled the civilised world with horror4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,among ,,the ,,miracle-,,workers ,the pilgrims and workers of miracles who wander through ,russia can always find1 not only free lodging1 but also opportunity for making their fortunes4 ,their gains mount1 often1 to incredible figures1 and the faith and piety that they diffuse have both good and bad aspects4 ,there are places1 for instance1 like ,cronstadt1 which1 at one time inhabited mainly by drunkards1 became before the war a holy town4 ,apart from ,father ,ivan and his peculiar reputation1 there were hundreds of other pilgrims who1 though quite unknown on their arrival1 soon gained there a lucrative notoriety4 ,one of these was the staretz 7ancient7 ,anthony1 who in three or four years amassed a considerable fortune4 ,his popularity attracted representatives of all classes of society4 ,people wrote for appointments in advance1 and went in order of precedence as to a fashionable doctor4 ,it was quite common to have to wait ten or fifteen days for the desired interview4 ,in ,petrograd1 where the population belonged half to the twentieth and half to the sixteenth century1 ,anthony was quite the mode4 ,the salons literally seized upon him1 and1 flattered and fondled1 he displayed his rags in the carriages of fashionable women of the world1 while the mob1 touched by the spectacle of his acknowledged holiness1 gave him enthusiastic ovations4 ,his journey from ,petrograd to ,cronstadt was a triumphal progress4 ,the crowds pressed around him and he walked among them barefooted1 in spite of this being expressly forbidden by law4 ,finally1 however1 the police were roused1 and one fine day he set forth at the government's expense for the far-off lands--of ,siberia4 ,cronstadt1 town of drunkards and of miracle-workers par excellence1 boasted about two hundred staretz4 ,the most famous among them were the four brothers ,triasogolovy--,hilarion1 ,james1 ,ivan and ,wasia4 ,the crowds1 who had formerly visited ,cronstadt only on ,father ,ivan's account1 became ever greater1 and were divided up among the various saints of the town1 one of the most popular being ,brother ,james1 who undertook to exorcise demons4 ,his methods were simple4 ,a woman once came to him1 begging to be delivered from the numerous evil spirits that had taken possession of her soul4 ,in view of their numbers1 ,brother ,james felt it necessary to have recourse to heroic measures4 ,he rained blows upon the penitent1 who emitted piercing shrieks1 and as this took place in the hotel where the holy man was living1 the servants intervened to put an end to the sufferings of the possessed one4 ,but ,brother ,james1 carried away by enthusiasm in a good cause1 continued to scourge the demons until the woman1 unable to bear more1 broke the window-pane and leapt into the street4 ,crowds gathered1 and the ,brother1 turning to them1 prophesied that shortly he would be--arrested6 ,thereupon the police made their appearance and removed him to the lock-up1 and the crowds dispersed1 filled with admiration for ,brother ,james1 who not only coped with demons1 but actually foretold the evil that they would bring upon him4 ,in addition to the genuine visionaries1 there were many swindlers who took advantage of the popular credulity4 ,such was the famous pilgrim ,nicodemus1 who travelled throughout ,russia performing miracles4 ,in the end the police discovered that he was really a celebrated criminal who had escaped from prison4 ,but ,nicodemus was1 as a matter of fact1 better than his reputation1 for1 in granting absolution for large numbers of sins1 his charges were relatively small4 ,he is said to have assured whole villages of eternal forgiveness for sums of from twenty to a hundred roubles4 ,frequently some out-of-work cobbler would leave his native village and set forth on a pilgrimage in the character of a staretz2 or some medical officer1 unable to make a living out of his drugs1 would establish himself as a miracle-worker and promptly grow rich4 ,when one staretz disappeared1 there were always ten new ones to take his place1 and the flood mounted to such an extent that the authorities were often powerless to cope with it4 ,persecution seemed only to increase the popular hysteria1 and caused the seekers after truth to act as though intoxicated1 seeing themselves surrounded by a halo of martyrdom4 ,c4 ,,the ,,rising ,,flood ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,mahometan ,,visionaries ,the flood of religious mania reached even beyond the borders of ,european ,russia1 and its effects were seen as much among the followers of other religions as among the ,christians4 ,mahometanism1 although noted for its unshakable fidelity to the dogmas of ,mahomet1 did not by any means escape the mystic influences by which it was surrounded4 ,to take one example from among many3 in the month of ,april1 #ahie1 a case of religious mania which had broken out among the ,mahometan inhabitants of the south of ,russia was brought before the law-courts at ,kazan4 ,it concerned a set of ,tartars called the ,vaisoftzi1 which had been founded in #ahhj by a man named ,vaisoff1 whose existence was revealed in unexpected fashion4 ,a lawyer having called at his house1 at the request of one of his creditors1 ,vaisoff showed him the door1 explaining that he did not consider himself under any obligation to repay what had been given to him4 ,the other returned later1 however1 accompanied by several policemen1 and ,vaisoff's adherents then attacked the latter1 while chanting religious hymns and proclaiming the greatness of their leader4 ,they next barricaded themselves into the house1 which was besieged by the police for some days1 during which prayers issued from it towards heaven and stones towards the representatives of the law4 ,finally the rebels were overpowered1 and sentenced to several years' imprisonment4 ,the police had a similar experience on another occasion when they tried to arrest one of the ,vaisoftzi1 but in the end they got the upper hand1 and several ,tartars were delivered up to justice4 ,after being judged and sentenced1 they presented themselves before the ,court of ,appeal1 but when the usual questions were put to them1 all began to pray and sing loudly4 ,silence was at last reestablished1 and the judge again asked one of them for his name and profession4 ,who are you1 that you should question me8 was the reply1 and once again all chanted together in chorus4 ,the ,tartars who had crowded into the court seemed deeply impressed by this attitude1 and the judge thought it well to dismiss the prisoners while the case was considered4 ,they were brought back to hear the sentence1 and again began to sing their prayers and hymns1 while one of them cried out3 ,i am the chief of the heavenly regiment2 ,i am the representative of ,vaisoff upon earth2 and you1 who are you that you should take upon yourself the right to judge me8 ,the others then calmly continued their interrupted song to the ,lord1 but they were all condemned to a period of forced labour1 and their spokesman1 in addition1 to twenty-five strokes with the birch4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,polar ,,marseillais ,let us now travel to the extreme north1 to the land where dwell the ,yakuts1 the ,marseillais of the ,polar regions4 ,living a life of gay and careless vagabondage in this snowy world1 they took part in one of the most characteristic episodes of the general religious upheaval4 ,at ,guigiguinsk1 a straggling village on the borders of the ,arctic ,ocean1 lived a ,yakut tribe already converted to ,christianity4 ,their new faith had not in any way modified the happy-go-lucky nature of the inhabitants of this frozen land2 neither had it in any way clarified their religious conceptions4 ,there are many gods1 said they1 but ,nicholas is the chief--and no matter how miserable their life1 they danced and sang1 remembering no doubt how in their ancient home in the far-off south1 their ancestors also sang1 filling the whole world with their gaiety4 ,theirs was a fine climate and a fine country6 ,the sun often shone1 the grass grew high1 and the snow only lasted for six months in the year4 ,so everyone talked and danced and sang4 ,there were orators who held forth for whole days2 there were dancers who danced for weeks and weeks4 ,from father to son these two ruling passions have been handed down even to the ,yakuts of the present day4 ,now1 as in former times--as when ,artaman of ,chamalga so sang with his whole soul that the trees shed their leaves and men lost their reason--the ,yakuts sing1 and their songs disturb the spirits1 who crowd around the singer and make him unhappy4 ,but he sings on1 nevertheless2 though the whole order of nature be disturbed1 still he sings4 ,now1 as in former times1 the ,yakut believes in the soul of things1 and seeks for it everywhere4 ,every tree has a soul1 every plant1 every object2 even his hammer1 his house1 his knife1 and his window4 ,but beyond these there is ,ai-toen1 the supreme1 abstract soul of all things1 the incarnation of being1 which is neither good nor bad1 but just is--and that suffices4 ,far from concerning himself with the affairs of this world1 ,ai-toen looks down upon them from the seventh heaven1 and--leaves them alone4 ,the country is full of souls and spirits1 which appear constantly1 and often incarnate in the shadows of men4 ,beware of him who has lost his shadow1 say the ,yakuts1 for such a one is thought to be dogged by misfortune1 which is always ready to fall upon him unawares4 ,even the children are forbidden to play with their shadows4 ,those who desire to see spirits must go to the ,shamans1 of whom there are only four great ones1 but plenty of others sufficiently powerful to heal the sick1 swallow red-hot coals1 walk about with knives sticking into their bodies--and above all to rejoice the whole of nature with their eloquence4 ,for the ,yakuts consider that there is nothing more sacred than human speech1 nothing more admirable than an eloquent discourse4 ,when a ,yakut speaks1 no one interrupts him4 ,they believe that in the spoken word justice and happiness are to be found1 and in their intense sociability they dread isolation1 desiring always to be within reach of the sound of human voices4 ,by the magic of words1 an orator can enslave whole villages for days1 weeks and months1 the population crowding round him1 neglecting all its usual occupations1 and listening to his long discourses with unwearied rapture4 ,sirko ,sierowszewski1 who spent twelve years in the midst of these people1 studying them closely1 affirms in his classic work on the ,yakuts 7published in #ahif by the ,geographical ,society of ,st4 ,petersburg7 that their language belongs to a branch of the ,turko-,tartar group1 and contains from ten to twelve thousand words4 ,it holds1 in the ,polar countries1 a position similar to that held by the ,french tongue in the rest of the world1 and may be described as the ,french of the ,arctic regions4 ,the ,yakuts are one of the most curious races of the earth1 and one of the least known1 in spite of the hundreds of books and pamphlets already published about them4 ,their young men frequently appear as students at the ,university of ,tomsk1 though they are separated from this source of civilisation by more than three thousand miles of almost impassable country4 ,the journey takes from fifteen months to two years1 and they frequently stop en route in order to work in the gold mines1 to make money to pay for their studies4 ,these are the future regenerators of the ,yakut country4 ,about thirty years ago there arrived among these care-free children of nature a ,russian functionary1 a sub-prefect1 who took up his residence at ,guigiguinsk1 on the shores of the ,arctic ,sea4 ,he was a tremendous talker1 though it is impossible to say whether this was the result of his desire to found a new religious sect1 or whether the sect was the result of his passion for talking4 ,at any rate1 he harangued the populace indefatigably1 and they gathered from all quarters to listen to the orator of the ,tsar1 and were charmed with him4 ,in one of his outpourings he declared that he was none other than ,nicholas1 the principal god of the whole country1 and his listeners1 who had never before beheld any but little gods1 were filled with enthusiasm at the honour thus bestowed upon their particular district4 ,the sub-prefect ended by believing his own statements1 and accepted in all good faith the homage that was paid to him1 in spite of ,christianity4 ,a writer named ,dioneo1 in a book dealing with the extreme north-east of ,siberia1 tells us that even the local priest himself was finally converted1 and that after a year or so the ,governor of ,vladivostock1 who had heard rumours1 began to grow uneasy about his subordinate1 and despatched a steamer to ,guigiguinsk to find out what had become of him4 ,upon arrival the captain hastened to fulfil his mission1 but the people suspected that some danger threatened their god and took steps to hide him1 assuring the inquirers that he had gone away on a visit and would not return for a long time4 ,as navigation is only possible in those parts for a few weeks in the year1 the captain was obliged to return to ,vladivostock4 ,another year passed1 and still there was no news of the sub-prefect4 ,the captain returned to ,guigiguinsk1 and having received the same reply as before to his inquiries1 made pretence of departure4 ,he came back1 however1 the next day1 and with his sailors1 appeared unexpectedly among the ,yakuts4 ,an unforgettable spectacle met their eyes4 ,the little town was en fete1 church bells ringing1 songs and reports of firearms intermingling4 ,great bonfires flamed along the seashore1 and a solemn procession was passing through the streets4 ,seated on a high throne in a carriage1 the sub-prefect1 the great god of ,guigiguinsk1 was haranguing the crowds1 with partridges' wings1 ribbons1 tresses of human hair and other ornaments dear to the ,yakuts1 dangling round his neck4 ,to his carriage were harnessed eight men1 who drew it slowly through the town1 while around it danced and sang shamans and other miracle-workers1 accompanying themselves on tambourines4 ,thus did the believers in the new religion celebrate the happy escape of their god from danger4 ,the appearance of the captain and his armed men produced a sensation4 ,the great god was seized and carried off1 and forced to submit1 subsequently1 to all kinds of humiliations4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,candle ,on the outskirts of ,jaransk1 in the ,viatka district1 a race called the ,tcheremis has dwelt from time immemorial4 ,while ,russian scholars1 like ,smirnov1 were employed in unveiling all the mysteries of their past1 the authorities were endeavouring to imbue them with ,russian conceptions of religion and government4 ,but these people were not easily persuaded to walk in the right way1 and from time to time there arose violent differences of opinion between them and the representatives of officialdom4 ,in #ahij1 at the time of the ,scientific and ,industrial ,exhibition at ,kazan1 an appeal was made to the ,tcheremis to send some objects of anthropological and ethnographical interest4 ,they responded by sending those representing their religion1 for1 having rejected orthodoxy1 they wished the beauties of their new faith to be admired4 ,they therefore exhibited at ,kazan large spoons and candles1 drums that were used to summon the people to religious ceremonies1 and various other articles connected with their mysterious beliefs1 and the ,committee of the ,exhibition awarded them a medal for a collection of invaluable objects for the study of the pagan religion of the ,tcheremis4 ,the natives1 knowing nothing of the complicated organisation of scientific awards1 simply concluded that the medal had been given to them because their religion was the best1 and the leader of their community wore it round his neck1 and recounted everywhere how out of all the religions that had been examined at ,kazan1 only that of the ',great ,candle' had been found to be perfect4 ,all the believers rejoiced over the prestige thus won by their faith1 and a wave of religious ecstasy swept over the country4 ,three of the fathers of the church affixed copies of the medal to their front doors1 with the inscription3 ,this was given by the ,tsar to the best of all religions1 and the people made merry1 and gave themselves up to the bliss of knowing that they had found the true and only way of salvation1 as acknowledged by the representatives of the ,tsar himself4 ,poor creatures6 ,they were not aware of the contents of ,article #ahe of the ,russian criminal code1 which ordained that the goods of all who abandoned the orthodox faith should be confiscated1 until they expressed repentance and once more acknowledged the holy truths of the official church4 ,so it came about that in spite of the triumph of their religion at the ,exhibition of ,kazan1 legal proceedings began1 and in #ahia and #ahib1 as many as fourteen actions were brought against the adepts of the ,great ,candle1 and numbers of them were sentenced to imprisonment and to the confiscation of their goods4 ,all this in spite of the fact that their beliefs did not in any way threaten to undermine the foundations of society4 ,there are six religions contained in the books which the ,tsar has given to his people--they said1 when brought before the tribunal--and there is a seventh oral religion1 that of the ,tcheremis4 ,the seventh recognises neither the sacraments nor the gospel4 ,it glorifies ,god in person1 and the faith which has been handed down from father to son4 ,it has been given to the ,tcheremis exclusively1 because they are a poor1 unlettered people1 and cannot afford to keep up priests and churches4 ,they call it the religion of the ,great ,candle1 because in their ceremonies a candle about two yards in length is used2 and they consider ,friday a holiday because on it are ended the prayers which they begin to say on ,wednesday4 ,when questioned by the judge1 the accused complained that the orthodox clergy expected too many sacrifices from them1 and charged them heavily for marriages and burials1 this being their reason for returning to the more merciful religion of their forefathers4 ,according to the ,journal of the ,religious ,consistory of the ,province of ,viatka1 the ,tcheremis were guilty of many other crimes4 ,they did not make the sign of the cross1 and refused to allow their children to be baptised or their dead to be buried with the rites of the orthodox church4 ,truly there is no limit to the heresies of men1 even as there is none to the mercies of heaven6 ,further1 the missionaries complained with horror that1 in addition to seven principal religions1 the ,tcheremis acknowledged seventy-seven others1 in accordance with the division of humanity into seventy-seven races4 ,it is ,god1 they said1 who has thus divided humanity1 even as ,he has divided the trees4 ,as there are oaks1 pines and firs1 so are there different religions1 all of heavenly origin4 ,but that of the ,tcheremis is the best4 4 4 4 ,the written ,bible1 known to all men1 has been falsified by the priests1 but the ,tcheremis have an oral ,bible1 which has been handed down intact1 even as it was taught to their forbears by ,god4 4 4 4 ,the ,tsar is the god of earth1 but he has nothing to do with religion1 which is not of this world4 ,the prayers of these dangerous heretics1 who were punished like common criminals1 mirror the innocence of their souls4 ,they implored ,god to pardon all their sins1 great and small2 to grant good health to their cattle and their children4 ,they thanked ,him for all ,his mercies1 prayed for the ,tsar and all the ,imperial family1 for the soldiers1 for the civil authorities1 and for all honest men2 and finally for the dead who now labour in their celestial kingdom4 ,the tribunal1 however1 implacably brought the law to bear upon them1 and thinking their punishment too great for their crimes1 they had recourse to the ,court of ,appeal1 where they begged to be judged according to the good laws of the ,tsar1 not the bad ones of the ,consistory4 ,but the sentence was ratified1 and the religion of the ,great ,candle procured for its followers the martyrdom that they had so little desired4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,new ,,israel ,although most of the sects of which we have spoken sprang from the orthodox church1 the molokanes and the stoundists were indirect fruits of the ,protestant church1 and even among the ,jews there were cases of religious mania to be found4 ,leaving out of account the karaitts of ,southern ,russia1 formerly the frankists--who ultimately became good ,christians--we may remark from time to time some who rejected the articles of the ,jewish faith1 and even accepted the divinity of ,christ4 ,such a one was ,jacques ,preloker1 founder of the new ,israel1 a ,russian-,jew philosopher who discovered the divine sermon on the ,mount eighteen hundred and seventy-eight years after it had been delivered4 ,this was the beginning of a revolution of his whole religious thought1 which resulted in #ahgi in the founding of a new sect at ,odessa4 ,the philosopher desired an intimate relationship with the ,christian faith1 and dreamed of the supreme absorption of the ,jewish ,church into that of ,christ4 ,in his new-found adoration for the ,christian ,gospel1 he tried by every means in his power to lessen the distance between it and ,judaism1 but1 though some were attracted by his ardour1 many were repelled by the boldness of his conceptions4 ,towards the end of his life1 the bankrupt philosopher1 still dignified and serious1 although fallen from the height of his early dreams1 made his appearance on the banks of the ,thames1 and there endeavoured to continue his propaganda and to explain to an unheeding world the beauties of the ,jewish-,christian religion4 ,,chapter ,v ,,conclusion ,it is as difficult to pick out the most characteristic traits of the innumerable ,russian sects as it is to describe the contours of clouds that fleet across the sky4 ,their numbers escape all official reckoning and the variety of their beliefs renders classification very difficult4 ,in these pages the sectarian organism has been presented in its most recent and most picturesque aspects1 and its chief characteristic seems to be that it develops by a process of subdivision4 ,each existing sect divides itself up into various new ones1 and these again reproduce themselves by breaking apart1 like the first organisms in which life was manifested on the earth4 ,every separated portion of the parent becomes an offspring resembling the parent1 and the number of divisions increases in proportion to the number of adherents4 ,as in the protozoa1 multiplication commences with a mechanical rupture1 and with the passage of time and the influence of outside elements1 the sects thus born undergo visible modifications4 ,by turns sublime or outrageous1 simple or depraved1 they either aspire heavenwards or debase the human spirit to the level of its lowest passions4 ,making common use of the truths of the ,gospel revelations1 they include every phase of modern social life in their desire for perfection4 ,liberty1 equality1 wealth1 property1 marriage1 taxes1 the relation between the ,state and the individual1 international peace1 and the abolition of arms--all these things1 even down to the very food we eat1 become the prey of their reformatory ardour4 ,the sects that abound in ,anglo-,saxon countries do little but copy one another in evolving new and amazing variations of ,bible interpretation4 ,confined within these limits1 they rarely even touch upon the serious problems that lie outside the text of the ,gospels1 and we might say of them as ,swift said of the religious sects of his day--,they are only the same garments more or less embroidered4 ,but the ,russian sects vividly reveal to us the secret dreams and aspirations of millions of simple and honest men1 who have not yet been infected by the doctrinal diseases of false science or confused philosophy2 and further1 they permit us to study the manifestation in human life of some new and disquieting conceptions4 ,in their depths we may see reflected the melancholy grandeur and goodness of the national soul1 its sublime piety1 and its thirst for ideal perfection1 which sometimes uplifts the humble in spirit to the dignity and self-abnegnation of a ,francis of ,assisi4 ,the mysticism which is so deep-rooted in the ,russian national consciousness breaks out in many different forms4 ,not only poets and writers1 painters and musicians1 philosophers and moralists1 but statesmen1 socialists and anarchists are all impregnated with it--and even financiers and economic reformers4 ,tolstoi1 when he became a sociologist and moralist1 was an eloquent example of the mental influence of environment2 for his teachings which so delighted--or scandalised1 as the case might be--the world1 were merely the expression of the dreams of his fellow-countrymen4 ,so was it also with the lofty thoughts of the philosopher ,soloviev1 the macabre tales of ,dostoievsky1 the realistic narratives of ,gogol1 or the popular epics of ,gorky and ,ouspensky4 ,the doctrines of ,marx took some strange shapes in the ,russian milieu4 ,eminently materialistic1 they were there reclothed in an abstract and dogmatic idealism--in fact1 ,marxism in ,russia was transformed into a religion4 ,the highly contestable laws of material economics1 which usually reduce the chief preoccupations of life to a miserable question of wages or an abominable class-war1 there gained the status of a veritable ,messianic campaign1 and the triumphant revolution1 imbued with these dogmas1 strove to bring the ,german paradox to an end1 even against the sacred interests of patriotism4 ,the falling away of the working-classes and of the soldiers1 which so disconcerted the world1 was really nothing but the outer effect of their inner aspirations4 ,having filled out the hollow ,marxian phraseology with the mystic idealism of their own dreams1 having glimpsed the sublime brotherhood which would arise out of the destruction of the inequality of wages and incomes1 they quite logically scorned to take further part in the struggle of the nations for independence4 ,of what import to them was the question of ,teutonic domination1 or the political future of other races8 ,it is much the same with the peasant class4 ,the partition of the land is their most sacred dogma1 and they can scarcely imagine salvation without it4 ,this materialistic demand1 embellished by the dream of social equality1 has become a religion4 ,mysticism throws round it an aureole of divine justice1 and the difficulty--or the impossibility--of such a gigantic spoliation of individuals for the sake of a vague ideal1 has no power to deter them4 ,the land--so they argue--belongs to the ,lord1 and the unequal way in which it is divided up cannot be according to ,his desire4 ,the kingdom of heaven cannot descend upon earth until the latter is divided among her children1 the labourers4 ,the far-off hope of victory faded before these more immediate dreams1 and the continuation of a war which seemed to involve their postponement became hateful to the dreamers2 while the emissaries of ,germany took advantage of this state of affairs to create an almost impassable gap between the few who were clear-sighted and the mass who were blinded by visions4 ,the extreme rebelliousness which characterises the ,russian religious visionaries is manifested to an almost equal extent by all political parties and their leaders4 ,consequently the spirit of unity which prevailed 7during the war7 in other countries met with insuperable difficulties in ,russia4 ,the whole nation seems to have been driven1 by the long suppression of free thought and belief1 added to the miseries brought about by the old regime1 to take refuge in unrealities1 and this has resulted in a kind of deformity of the national soul4 ,it was a strange irony that even the aristocracy should end by falling victim to its own environment4 ,exploited by miracle-mongers1 thrown off its balance by paroxysms of so-called mysticism1 it disappeared from view in a welter of practices and beliefs that were perverse and childish even at their best4 ,,translator',s ,,note ,it seems appropriate to call attention here to an article from the pen of ,prince ,eugene ,troubetzkoy1 ,professor of ,law at the ,university of ,moscow1 which appeared in the ,hibbert ,journal for ,january1 #aibj4 ,writing apparently in the autumn of #aiai1 the ,prince declared that the civil war then in progress in ,russia was accompanied by a spiritual conflict no less determined and portentous1 and pointed out that the doctrine of ,bolshevism was a deliberate distortion of ,marxism1 immediate revolution having been substituted by the ,bolshevists for the evolution preached by ,marx4 ,he went on to say that one of the most striking characteristics of ,bolshevism was its pronounced hatred of religion1 and especially of ,christianity1 the ideal of a life beyond death being diametrically opposed to the ideal of ,bolshevism1 which tempts the masses by promising the immediate realisation of the earthly paradise4 ,and1 ,bolshevism's practical method for realising its ,utopia being the armed conflict of classes 4 4 4 the dream of the earthly paradise1 to be brought into being through civil war1 becomes instantly the reality of hell let loose4 ,after dwelling in detail on various aspects of the situation1 the writer makes some statements which will be of special interest to readers of ,m4 ,finot's study of pre-war religious conditions in ,russia4 ,he speaks of the growth of unbelief among the masses1 and declares that the empty triumph of ,bolshevism would have been impossible but for the utter enfeeblement of the religious life of the nation2 but--and this is the point of interest--thanks to the persecutions which the revolution has set on foot1 there has come into being a genuine religious revival4 4 4 4 ,the ,church1 pillaged and persecuted1 lost all the material advantages it had hitherto enjoyed3 in return1 the loss of all these relative values was made good by the absolute value of spiritual independence4 4 4 4 ,this it is that explains the growing influence of the ,church on the masses of the people3 the blood of the new martyrs won their hearts4 4 4 4 ,these awful sufferings are becoming a source of new power to religion in ,russia4 ,the ,prince then describes the complete reorganisation of the church which was carried through at ,moscow in #aiag-ah1 and the restoration of the patriarchal power in the person of the ,archbishop ,tykone 7now ,patriarch71 a man of great personal courage1 high spirituality1 and remarkable sweetness of disposition4 ,the people rallied round him in enormous numbers1 attracted by his courageous resistance to the ,bolshevist movement--7a resistance which had then frequently endangered his life1 and may since have ended it7--and by his determined avoidance of all pomp and ostentation4 ,in the great religious processions which took place at that time1 hundreds of thousands passed before him1 but he had no bishops and very few clergy in his retinue1 only one priest and one deacon4 ,when urged to adopt more ceremony and display in his public appearances1 he replied1 ,for the love of ,god1 don't make an idol of me4 ,he was always ready with a humorous word1 and filled with a serene and unshakable confidence1 even in the most dangerous situations4 ,the people looked upon him as ,holy ,russia personified1 and said that the persecutors who would have buried her for ever had brought her back to life4 ,in an appendix to the above-quoted article appears a statement from a responsible ,british source in ,siberia to the effect that a strong religious movement has begun among the laity and clergy of the ,russian ,church4 4 4 4 ,the moujiks are convinced that ,lenin is ,anti-,christ2 and an urgent appeal for ,russian ,testaments and ,bibles to be sent from ,england1 the writer having been told by a prominent ecclesiastic that ,russian ,bibles are now almost unprocurable4 ,thus1 having long revolted from orthodoxy in the day of its material prosperity1 the masses seem1 in the day of adversity1 to be returning to it4 ,further developments may1 of course1 take place in almost any direction1 but we may rest assured of one thing--that no changes of government1 however drastic1 will ever succeed in stamping out the mystical religious strain which is so deeply embedded in the soul of the ,russian people4 ,,part ,,ii ,,the ,,salvation ,,of ,,the ,,wealthy ,a4 ,,religion ,,and ,,economy ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,mormons1 ,,or ,,latter-,,day ,,saints ,in the ,american of the ,united ,states there exist two distinctly opposed natures3 the one positive and practical1 the other inclined to mysticism4 ,the two do not clash1 but live1 on the contrary1 on perfectly good terms with one another4 ,this strange co-existence of reality and vision is explained by the origin of the race4 ,the ,american is1 to a very great extent1 a descendant of rigorous ,puritanism4 ,the ,english1 who preponderated in numbers over the other elements of the ,european immigration into ,north ,america1 never forgot that they had been the comrades of ,penn or of other militant sectarians1 and never lost the habit of keeping the ,bible1 the ledger1 and the cash-book side by side4 ,they remained deeply attached to their religion1 which they looked upon as a social lever1 although for many of them their faith did not go beyond a conviction of the immanence of the supernatural in human life4 ,thus it was that their spirits were often dominated by a belief in miracles1 all the more easily because their intellectual culture was not always as highly developed as their business ability1 and consequently the clever manufacturers of religious wonders were able to reap incredible harvests among them4 ,there is perhaps no country where the seed sown by propagandists springs up more rapidly1 where an idea thrown to the winds finds more surely a fertile soil in which to grow4 ,a convinced and resolute man1 knowing how to influence crowds by authoritative words1 gestures and promises1 can always be certain of attracting numerous followers4 ,in ,america the conditions are without doubt propitious for the founders of new religions4 ,i ,how is a new religion started in the ,united ,states8 ,joe ,smith wakes up one morning with the thought that the hour has come for him to perform miracles1 that he is called thereto by the ,divine ,will1 that the existence and the secret hiding-place of a new ,bible printed on sheets of gold have been revealed to him by an angel1 and that its discovery will be the salvation of the world4 ,he proclaims these things and convinces those who hear him1 and the ,book of the ,mormons which he produces becomes sacred in the eyes of his followers4 ,in ever-increasing numbers they hasten first to ,illinois1 then to ,utah2 and when ,brigham ,young1 ,smith's successor1 presents the ,mormon colony with religious and political laws which are a mixture of ,christianity1 ,judaism and ,paganism1 and include the consecration of polygamy1 they found a church which claims more than a hundred thousand adherents1 and is ruled by twelve apostles1 sixty patriarchs1 about three thousand high priests1 fifteen hundred bishops1 and over four thousand deans4 ,after being dissolved by the decree of the #ajth of ,october1 #ahhh1 the ,church of the ,latter-,day ,saints seemed to be lost1 without hope of revival4 ,the ,state of ,utah1 where ,brigham ,young had established it in #ahdh1 was invaded by ever-growing numbers of ,gentiles1 who were hostile to the ,mormons1 but these latter1 far from allowing the debris of their faith to bestrew the shores of the ,great ,salt ,lake1 succeeded1 on the contrary1 in strengthening the foundations of the edifice that they had raised4 ,the number of its adherents increased1 and the colony became more flourishing than ever4 ,if1 at one time1 it was possible to speak of its dying agonies1 those who visit it to-day cannot deny the fact of its triumphant resurrection4 ,two principal causes have been its safeguard3 the firm and practical working-out of the economic and philanthropic principles upon which its organisation has always rested1 and the resolute devotion and capability of those who direct it as the heads of one great family4 ,every member is concerned to maintain the regular and effective functioning of its mechanism1 and all work for the same ends in a spirit of religious co-operation4 ,we must not lose sight of the fact that in addition to the elements they borrowed from ,buddhism1 ,christianity1 ,gnosticism and ,islam1 the ,mormons introduced into their new ,gospel a social ideal inspired by the ,communistic experiments of the first half of the nineteenth century4 ,the founders of ,mormonism--,joseph ,smith1 ,heber ,kimball1 ,george ,smith1 the brothers ,pratt1 ,reuben ,hedlock1 ,willard ,richards1 and ,brigham ,young--were not visionaries1 but men risen from the people who desired to acquire wealth while at the same time bringing wealth to those who took part in their schemes4 ,we find in their doctrine1 and in their legal and religious codes1 not only the idea of multiple union claimed by ,enfantin and his forty disciples of ,menilmontant1 but also the theories of ,buchez1 who desired to free labour from the servitude of wages1 to bring about solidarity of production1 and to communalise capital1 after first setting aside an inalienable reserve4 ,they followed the example of ,cabet in making fraternity1 which should guarantee division of goods1 the corner-stone of their social structure1 and1 avoiding the delusions of ,considerant and other ,communists1 they brought about1 stage by stage1 the rapid and lasting development which has characterised their successive establishments in ,missouri1 ,illinois1 and on the borders of ,california4 ,,ii ,militant as well as constructive1 the ,mormon leaders1 like many other reformers1 believed themselves to be charged with a mission from on high1 and were quick to condemn as rebels all who failed to rally to the standard of the ,latter-,day ,saints4 ,joe ,smith was not content with making thousands of converts1 but1 after having turned his colony at ,independence into an ,arsenal of the ,lord1 and surrounding himself with a veritable army1 he proclaimed that1 as the ,bible gave the saints empire over all the earth1 the whole ,state of ,missouri should be incorporated in his ,new ,jerusalem4 ,the ,gentiles replied with a declaration of war1 and ,joe ,smith and his twelve apostles were seized1 publicly flogged1 divested of their garments1 tarred and feathered1 and chased out of the ,state with shouts and laughter and a hail of stones4 ,the ,mormons took up arms4 ,the ,governor of ,missouri called out the militia4 ,vanquished in the encounter that followed1 the ,mormons had to abandon all their possessions and take flight4 ,they then founded a town called ,far ,west1 and remained there for three years1 at the end of which time fresh aggressions and more battles drove them out of the ,state of ,missouri into that of ,illinois1 where they built the large town of ,nauvoo4 ,many thousands of fresh recruits were won over1 but once again their designs for the acquisition of land--as well as of souls--stirred up a crusade against them4 ,joe ,smith and the other leaders of the sect were taken prisoners and shot--a procedure which endowed ,mormonism with all the sacredness of martyrdom4 ,to escape further persecutions1 the ,saints decided on a general exodus1 and the whole sect1 men and women1 old people and children1 numbering in all about eighty thousand souls1 set forth into the desert4 ,it was a miserable journey4 ,they were attacked by ,red ,indians1 and decimated by sickness2 they strayed into wrong paths where no food was to be found2 they were buried in snowdrifts2 and many of them perished4 ,but the others1 sustained by an invulnerable faith1 and by the undying courage of their leaders1 pushed on ever further and further1 until in the summer of #ahdg1 after the cruel hardships of a journey on foot over nearly three hundred leagues of salt plains1 the head of the column reached the valley of the great ,salt ,lake4 ,here ,brigham ,young's strategic vision beheld a favourable situation for the re-establishment of the sect4 ,he himself1 with a hundred and forty-three of his companions--the elite of the church--directed the construction of the beginnings of the colony1 and then returned to those who had been left behind1 bringing back a caravan of about three thousand to the spot where the ,new ,jerusalem was to be built4 ,it was given the name of ,utah1 and ,filmore1 the ,president of the ,united ,states1 appointed ,brigham ,young as governor4 ,the latter1 however1 desired to become completely autonomous4 ,he was soon in conflict with those under him1 and his open hostility to the ,american constitution caused him to be deposed4 ,his successor1 ,colonel ,stepton1 finding the situation untenable1 resigned almost at once1 and the ,mormons1 recovering their former militancy and independence1 then sought to free themselves altogether from the guardianship of ,america1 and to be sole masters in their own territory4 ,in order to reduce them to submission1 ,president ,buchanan sent them a new governor in #aheg with some thousands of soldiers4 ,the ,mormons resisted for some time1 and finally demanded admittance into the ,union4 ,not only did ,congress refuse this request1 but it passed a law rendering all polygamists liable to be brought before the criminal courts4 ,the ,war of ,secession1 however1 interrupted the measures taken against the sect1 which remained neutral during the military operations of the ,north and ,south4 ,brigham ,young1 who had remained the ,mormons' civil and religious head1 occupied himself only with the economic and worldly extension of his church1 until in #ahgj1 five years after the termination of the war1 the attention of ,congress was once more directed towards him4 ,for the second time the ,mormons were forbidden by law to practise polygamy1 under penalty of deportation from ,america1 but they resisted energetically and refused to obey4 ,defying the governor of ,utah1 ,general ,scheffer1 they rallied fanatically round ,brigham ,young1 who was arraigned and acquitted--and the ,mormon ,church remained ruler of the colony4 ,after ,young's death1 government was carried on jointly by the twelve apostles1 until on ,october #agth1 #aija1 ,george ,smith was elected universal ,president of all branches4 ,a ,frenchman1 ,jules ,remy1 who visited the ,mormons some time back1 has given a striking description of them3-- ,order1 peace and industry are revealed on every side4 ,all these people are engaged in useful work1 like bees in a hive1 thus justifying the emblem on the roof of their ,president's palace4 ,there are masons1 carpenters1 and gardeners1 all carrying out their respective duties2 blacksmiths busy at the forge1 reapers gathering in the harvest1 furriers preparing rich skins1 children picking maize1 drovers tending their flocks1 wood-cutters returning heavily loaded from the mountains4 ,others again are engaged in carding and combing wool1 navvies are digging irrigation canals1 chemists are manufacturing saltpetre and gunpowder1 armourers are making or mending firearms4 ,tailors1 shoemakers1 bricklayers1 potters1 millers1 sawyers--every kind of labourer or artisan is here to be found4 ,there are no idlers1 and no unemployed4 ,everybody1 from the humblest convert up to the bishop himself1 is occupied in some sort of manual labour4 ,it is a curious and interesting sight--a society so industrious and sober1 so peaceful and well-regulated1 yet built up of such divers elements drawn from such widely differing classes4 4 4 4 ,all these people1 born in varied and often contradictory faiths1 brought up for the most part in ignorance and prejudice1 having lived1 some virtuously1 some indifferently1 some in complete abandonment to their lowest animal instincts1 differing among themselves as to climate1 language1 customs1 tastes and nationality1 are here drawn together to live in a state of harmony far more perfect than that of ordinary brotherhood4 ,in the centre of the ,american continent they form a new and compact nation1 with independent social and religious laws1 and are as little subject to the ,united ,states government that harbours them as to that1 for instance1 of the ,turks4 ,such they were1 and such they have remained1 ever developing their activities and industries1 and--as another traveller has said--having no aim save that of turning their arid and uncultivated ,promised ,land into a fertile ,judea--an aim in which they have marvellously succeeded4 ,,iii ,mormonism owes its success chiefly to its practical interpretation of the ,communistic ideals1 and to its determination to encourage labour by means of religion and patriotism1 setting before it as object the satisfaction of each individual's social needs1 under the direction of those who have proved themselves capable and vigilant and worthy of confidence4 ,it is a republic from which are banished the two most usual causes of social collapse--idleness and egotism2 a hive1 according to its founder1 in which each bee1 having his particular function1 is always under the eye of those who direct individual activities in the interests of collective welfare4 ,the ,president of the ,mormon ,church is its moving spirit4 ,he surveys it as a whole1 encourages or moderates its energies1 according to circumstances1 preserves order and regularity1 and exercises his paternal influence over every cell of the hive1 giving counsel when needed1 redressing grievances1 preventing false moves1 yet leaving to every corporation not only its administrative freedom but its own powers for industrial extension4 ,under these conditions the ,church of the ,latter-,day ,saints unites the social and economic advantages of individual and collective labour4 ,the corporations are like stitches that form a net1 holding together through community of interests and a general desire for prosperity1 yet each having its own separate formation and the power to enlarge itself and increase its activities without compromising the others or lessening their respective importance4 ,one of the most remarkable is the ,mercantile ,co-operative ,society of ,sion1 the central department of wholesale and retail trade4 ,it was founded in #ahfc by ,brigham ,young1 who was its first president1 and is in direct relationship with the ,mormon colonies all over the world1 having a capital fund of more than a million dollars which belongs exclusively to the ,mormons4 ,its organisation1 like that of all ,mormon institutions1 is based upon the deduction of a tithe of all profits1 which practically represents income tax4 ,the ,sugar ,corporation has an even larger capital1 and was founded directly by the church through the advice of ,brigham ,young1 who recommended that ,mormon industries should be patronised to the exclusion of all others4 ,the salt industry also is of much importance1 the ,inland ,crystal ,salt ,company having at great expense erected elaborate machinery in order to work the salt marshes around the ,great ,lake1 and to obtain1 under the best possible conditions1 grey salt which is converted into white in their refineries4 ,other corporations under the presidency of the supreme head of the ,mormon ,church are the ,consolidated ,company of ,railway ,carriages and ,engines1 the ,sion ,savings ,bank1 the ,co-operative ,society for ,lighting and ,transport1 and the chief ,mormon paper1 the ,desert ,evening ,news1 which is the official organ of the church1 and has a considerable circulation4 ,,iv ,these corporations are not only commercial or industrial institutions1 but are animated by a spirit that is pre-eminently fraternal4 ,their heads are concerned with the well-being of every member1 and material1 moral or intellectual assistance is given to all according to their needs4 ,to each corporation is attached a delegate1 whose functions do not appear to be of great importance1 but who renders1 in reality1 services of considerable value4 ,the man who holds this post is one of unimpeachable honesty and integrity1 with a kind and conciliatory disposition1 chosen for these qualities to act as intermediary between the bishop and the saints of all classes1 from the highest to the lowest4 ,he has free entry into the ,mormon homes1 and is always ready to give advice and counsel to any member of the church in his district2 and he even penetrates into the houses of the ,gentiles1 wherever a ,mormon1 man or woman1 may happen to be employed4 ,take1 for instance1 the case of a young ,scandinavian servant-girl1 living with unbelievers4 ,the mother1 who had remained in ,europe1 wished to rejoin her daughter1 but the girl had not been able to raise more than a third of the sum necessary to pay the expenses of the journey4 ,the delegate took note of this and referred the case to the bishop1 who1 after inquiry1 sent the old mother the required amount4 ,again1 two neighbours might be disputing over the question of the boundary between their respective properties4 ,the delegate would do all in his power to settle the affair amicably1 and to restore harmony2 and failing in this would bring the two parties concerned before the bishop4 ,or there might be an invalid requiring medicine and treatment1 an old person needing help1 a layette to be bought for a new-born child--in all such cases the delegate sees that the needs are supplied1 for the strength of this ,church of the ,latter-,day ,saints lies in the fact that all the ,mormons1 from the ,president down to the humblest workman1 call themselves brothers and sisters and act as such towards one another4 ,thanks to the delegate1 who is friend1 confidant and confessor in one1 immediate help can be obtained in all instances1 and no suffering is left unrelieved4 ,thus it comes about that there are no poor among the ,mormons1 and very few criminals4 ,the delegate has no need to search into the secrets of men's minds1 for all are open to him4 ,to a great extent he is able to read their innermost hearts1 for men speak freely to him1 without veils or reservations4 ,as far as is possible he sees that their desires are granted2 he notifies all cases of need to the ,relief ,societies2 he conducts the sick and aged to the hospitals2 he is the messenger and mouthpiece for all communications from the people to the bishop and from the bishop to his flock4 ,it is the delegate also who is charged with the duty of seeing that one-tenth of each person's income1 whatever its total sum may be1 is contributed for the upkeep of the ,mormon faith and its church4 ,he reminds the dilatory1 and admonishes the forgetful1 always in friendly fashion4 ,in fact it is he1 who--to use a popular expression--brings the grist to the mill4 ,this contribution of a tenth part obviates all other taxation1 and as it is demanded from each in proportion to his means1 its fairness is disputed by none4 ,v ,brotherly co-operation also prevails in the ,mormon system of colonisation4 ,the leaders of the church have always been aware of the dangers of overcrowding1 and at all times have occupied themselves with the founding of new settlements to receive the surplus population from the centres already in activity4 ,it is for this reason that the church has been so urgent in seeking and demanding new territory to irrigate and cultivate1 in ,mexico1 ,colorado1 ,wyoming1 ,arizona1 ,idaho1 and even as far afield as ,canada4 ,the transplanting of a swarm from the parent hive is undertaken with the greatest care4 ,let us take for example the colonisation of the ,big ,horn ,valley1 in the north of ,wyoming4 ,before coming to a decision the apostles themselves inspected the locality1 which had been recommended as suitable for a new colony of saints4 ,finding that it fulfilled all requirements1 they published their resolve in the official ,press1 and invited all who desired to become members of the colony to present themselves before their bishop with the necessary guarantees4 ,the ,president of the church then sought out a brother capable of organising the scheme1 and this brother1 proud and grateful at being chosen for such a mission1 sold all his goods and took up his new responsibilities4 ,on the appointed day the new colonists grouped themselves around their leader1 with their wagons1 baggages1 provisions1 agricultural tools1 horses and cattle1 and so on4 ,one of the twelve apostles being appointed as guide1 they set forth for the ,big ,horn ,valley4 ,here they built their dwelling-places1 dug a canal to provide water for the whole settlement1 founded all kinds of co-operative societies1 including one for the breeding of cattle--and prospered4 ,in this way1 upon a ,socialism quite distinct from that of the ,european theorists1 and differing widely from that practised by the ,new ,zealanders1 are built up institutions1 which have given proof1 wherever started1 of their power of resistance to human weaknesses4 ,the ,mormon colonies1 fundamentally collectivist1 like the sect from which they originally sprang1 still bear the imprint given to them by the initiators of the movement4 ,each one becomes industrially and commercially autonomous1 but all are firmly held together in a common brotherhood by the ties of religion4 ,the ,big ,horn ,mormons1 although so far away1 never for a single day forget their brothers of ,salt ,lake ,city1 and all alike hold themselves ever in readiness to render mutual assistance and support4 ,,vi ,the ,mormon considers activity a duty4 ,co-operation implies for him not only solidarity of labour but union of will1 and these principles are applied in all phases of his public or private life--in politics1 education1 social conditions of every kind1 and even amusements4 ,he holds it obligatory under all circumstances to contribute personal help or money according to his means1 knowing that his brothers and sisters will do likewise1 and that he can rely upon them with absolute certainty4 ,nevertheless1 dissension does occasionally arise in the heart of this close-knit brotherhood4 ,the authority of the ,president1 or that of the apostles and bishops may be the cause of rivalries and jealousies1 as in the case of ,joseph ,morris1 ,brigham ,young's confidant1 who wished to supplant his chief4 ,he and his partisans were assaulted and put to death by ,young's adherents4 ,a spirit of discord also manifests itself at times in the national elections1 and there are plottings and intrigues1 especially when there seems to be hope of supremacy in ,congress1 or when one of the twelve apostles offers himself as candidate for the ,senate without first consulting the ,mormon ,church4 ,such shadows are inseparable from all human communities4 ,what it is important to study in the ,church of the ,latter-,day ,saints is the evolution of a communism which has more than half a century of activity to its credit1 and which1 in contrast to so many other fruitless attempts1 has given marked proofs of a vitality that shows no sign of diminishing4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,business ,joe ,smith was1 to speak plainly1 nothing but an adventurer4 ,having tried more than twenty avocations1 ending up with that of a gold-digger1 he found himself at last at the end of his resources1 and decided1 in truly ,american fashion1 that he would now make his fortune4 ,he thereupon announced that he was in close communication with ,moses1 and that he had in his possession the two mosaic talismans1 ,urim and ,thummim1 and the manuscript of the ,biblical prophet1 ,mormon--the latter having as a matter of fact been obtained from ,solomon ,spaulding1 pastor of ,new ,salem1 ,ohio1 in #ahab4 ,it was different with ,john ,alexander ,dowie1 who with remarkable wisdom seized the psychological moment to appear in the ,united ,states as a ,barnum and a ,pierpont ,morgan of religion combined4 ,by what was an indisputable stroke of genius1 he incorporated into his religion the most outstanding features of ,american life--commerce1 industry1 and finance1 the tripod upon which the ,union rests4 ,what could be more up-to-date than a commercial and industrial prophet1 business man1 stock-jobber1 and organiser of enterprises paying fabulous dividends8 ,and--surely the crowning point of the new spirit6--the man who now declared himself to be the most direct representative of ,god upon earth was accepted as such because people saw in him1 not only the ,messianic power that he claimed1 but an extraordinary knowledge of the value of stocks and shares side by side with his knowledge of the value of souls6 ,he was of ,scottish origin1 and had reached his thirtieth year before his name became known4 ,as a child he was disinclined to take religion seriously1 and had a habit of whistling the hymns in church instead of singing them4 ,later he was distinguished by a timidity and reserve which seemed to suggest that he would never rise above the environment into which he had been born4 ,his studies and his beliefs--which for long showed no sign of deviating from the hereditary ,scottish faith--were under the direction of a rigidly severe father4 ,at the age of thirteen his parents1 attracted by the ,australian mirage of those days1 took him with them to ,adelaide1 and he became under-clerk in a business house there1 serving an apprenticeship which was to prove useful later on4 ,at twenty he returned to ,edinburgh1 desiring to enter the ministry1 as he believed he had a religious vocation1 and plunged into the study of theology with a deep hostility to everything that was outside a strictly literal interpretation of the ,scriptures4 ,full of devotion and self-abnegation in his desperate struggle with the powers of evil1 he read the ,holy ,book with avidity1 and was constant in his attendance at theological conferences4 ,thus1 nourished on the marrow of the ,scotch theologians1 he returned to ,australia and was ordained to the priesthood at ,alma4 ,soon afterwards he was appointed minister to the ,congregational ,church in ,sydney1 where his profound learning was highly appreciated4 ,he who desires to attract and instruct the masses must have two gifts1 without which success is impossible--eloquence and charm4 ,dowie had both4 ,as an orator he was always master of himself1 yet full of emotion1 passionate in his gestures1 and easily moved to tears4 ,we must admit that he did not1 like so many others1 owe his influence to his environment4 ,in ,new ,south ,wales1 where he made his debut as a preacher at ,sydney1 his eloquence and his learning made so great an impression--especially after he had emerged victorious from a controversy with the ,anglican bishop1 ,vaughan1 brother to the ,cardinal--that the governor of the province1 ,sir ,henry ,parkes1 offered him an important ,government position4 ,he refused to accept it1 desiring1 as he said1 to consecrate his life to the work of ,god4 ,persuaded--or wishing to persuade others--that he had been personally chosen by ,god to fulfil the prophecy of ,st4 ,mark xvi4 #ag1 #ah1 he took up the practice of the laying-on of hands1 claiming that in this way1 with the help of prayer1 the sick could be cured4 ,on these words of the evangelist his whole doctrine was based4 ,through assiduous reading he familiarised himself with medical science1 as well as with hypnotism1 telepathy and suggestion1 his aim being to organise and direct a crusade against medicine as practised by the faculty4 ,he gathered together materials for a declaration of war against the medicos1 attacking them in their1 apparently1 most impregnable positions1 and showing up1 often through their own observations1 the fatal inanity--in his eyes--of their therapeutics4 ,at the same time he managed to acquire experience of commerce1 finance and administration1 and1 thus equipped1 he opened his campaign4 ,thaumaturgy1 science1 occultism1 eloquence1 knowledge of men and of the world--all these he brought into play4 ,the prestige he gained was remarkable1 and of course the unimpeachable truth of ,bible prophecy was sufficient to establish the fact of his identity with the expected ,elias6 ,logic itself commands you to believe in me1 he said in his official manifesto4 ,john the ,baptist was the messenger of the ,alliance 7which is the ,scotch ,covenant71 and ,elias was its prophet4 ,but ,malachi and ,jesus promised the return of the messenger of the ,alliance1 and of ,elias the ,restorer4 4 4 4 ,if we are deceived1 it is ,god who has deceived us1 and that is impossible4 ,for the office with which we are charged is held directly from ,god1 and those who have helped us in founding our ,church1 and who have given us their devotion1 testify that they have been instructed to do so by personal revelations4 ,all the believers in ,dowieism affirmed that ,john ,alexander ,dowie was ,elias the ,second1 or ,elias the ,third 7if ,john the ,baptist were considered to be the ,second71 but ,dowie himself went further still4 ,he was too modern to base his influence on religion alone1 and he actually had the cleverness to become not only a banker1 manufacturer1 hotel-keeper1 newspaper proprietor1 editor and multi-millionaire1 but also the principal of a college and the boss of a political party which acknowledged him as spiritual and temporal pope and numbered over sixty thousand adherents4 ,he had ten tabernacles in ,chicago1 and ruled despotically the municipal affairs of one of the suburbs of the city4 ,,ii ,it is interesting to study closely the way in which ,dowie gradually attained to such a powerful position4 ,up to his arrival in ,chicago1 and even for some years after it1 his career differed little from that of the ordinary open-air evangelist with long hair and vague theories1 such as may be seen at the street-corners of so many ,english and ,american towns4 ,in ,new ,south ,wales his excessive ardour at temperance meetings in the public squares caused such disorder that he was twice imprisoned1 and he came to the conclusion that ,melbourne would offer better scope for his mission4 ,he went there to establish a ,free ,christian ,tabernacle1 but almost immediately an epidemic of fever broke out1 and he became popular through his intrepidity in visiting the sick1 whom he claimed to be able to cure by a secret remedy1 the use of which1 as a matter of fact1 only resulted in augmenting the lists of dead4 ,but to his religious propaganda the ,australians turned a deaf ear1 and after persevering for ten years he gave up1 partly because the authorities had intimated that he had best pitch his camp elsewhere1 partly1 perhaps1 because he was glad to leave what he later referred to as that nest of antipodean vipers4 ,we find him in ,san ,francisco in #ahhh1 preaching his new religion at street-corners1 and once more causing almost daily disturbances by the vigour of his eloquence4 ,here again his hopes miscarried1 and from thenceforward he fixed his eyes on ,chicago1 where he should meet the devil on his own ground4 ,this final resolution bore good fruit1 for ,chicago is pre-eminently the city of ,satan1 and those who desire to wage war against him can always be sure of plentiful hauls1 whatever nets they use4 ,it is that type of ,american town where all is noise and animation1 where the population is cosmopolitan1 and confusion of tongues is coupled with an even greater confusion of beliefs2 where it is possible to pursue the avocations of theologian and pork-butcher side by side1 and no one is surprised4 ,called ,queen of the ,west by some1 ,porkopolis 7from its chief industry7 by others1 it is a giant unique in its own kind4 ,while its inhabitants1 in feverish activity1 climb or are rushed in lifts to the nineteenth and twentieth storeys of its immense buildings1 there is heard from time to time a call from regions beyond this life of incessant bustle2 the voice of a preacher dominates the tumult1 and this million and a half of slaughterers of sheep and oxen1 jam-makers and meat-exporters1 factory-hands1 distillers1 brewers1 tanners1 seekers of fortune by every possible means1 suddenly remembers that it has a soul to be saved1 and throws it in passing1 as it were1 to whoever is most dexterous in catching it4 ,in such a milieu ,dowie might indeed hope to pursue his aims with advantage4 ,his personality had a certain hypnotic fascination4 ,his eloquence1 his patriarchal appearance1 his supposed power of curing even the most intractable diseases1 his use of modern catch-words1 his talent for decorating the walls of his little temple with symbols such as crutches1 bandages and other trophies of divine healing1 all combined to bring him before the public eye4 ,he had a dispute with the doctors1 who accused him of practising their profession illegally1 and another with the clergy1 who attacked him in their sermons2 the populace was stirred up against him1 and laid siege to his tabernacle1 and he himself threw oil upon these various fires1 and became a prominent personage in the daily ,press4 ,it is true that the arrest of some ,dowieists whose zeal had carried them beyond the limits of the law of ,illinois was commented upon2 that long reports were published of the death of a member of the ,church of ,sion who had succumbed through being refused any medical attention save that of the high-priest of the sect2 that much amusement was caused by the dispersal of a meeting of ,dowieists by firemen1 who turned the hose upon them2 and much interest aroused by the legal actions brought against ,dowie for having refused to give information concerning the ,bank of ,sion4 ,all these affairs provided so many new sensations4 ,but what is of importance is to attract the public1 to hold their attention1 to keep them in suspense4 ,the time came when it was necessary to produce some more original idea1 to strike a really decisive blow1 and so ,dowie revealed to a stupefied ,chicago that he was the latest incarnation of the prophet ,elijah4 ,then while the serious ,press denounced him for blasphemy1 and the comic ,press launched its most highly poisoned shafts of wit against him1 the whole of ,sion exulted in clamorous rejoicings4 ,for the prophet knew his ,chicago4 ,credulity gained the upper hand1 and the whole city flocked to the tabernacle of ,sion1 desirous of beholding the new ,elias at close quarters4 ,,iii ,the definite organisation of ,dowieism--or ,sionism1 as it is more usually called--dates from #ahid4 ,from this time forward ,dowie ceased to be merely a shepherd offering the shelter of his fold to those desiring salvation1 and1 allowing evangelisation as such to take a secondary place1 became the director1 inspector and general overseer of a religious society founded upon community of both material and moral interests1 and upon fair administration of the benefits of a commercial and industrial enterprise having many sources of revenue4 ,in this society1 political1 sociological and religious views were combined1 so that it offered an attractive investment for financial as well as spiritual capital4 ,dowie was not only the religious and temporal leader of the movement1 but also the contractor for and principal beneficiary from this gigantic co-operative scheme1 which combined selling and purchasing1 manufacture and distribution1 therapeutics1 social questions and religion4 ,like most founders of sects1 the prophet of the ,new ,sion was at first surrounded by those despairing invalids and cripples who try all kinds of remedies1 until at last they find one to which they attribute the relief of their sufferings1 whether real or fancied4 ,such as these will do all that is required of them2 they will give all their worldly goods to be saved2 and they paid gladly the tenth part which ,dowie immediately demanded from all who came to him1 some of them even pouring their entire fortunes into the coffers of the new ,elias4 ,the ranks of his recruits were further swelled by crowds of hypochondriacs1 and by the superstitious1 the idle1 and the curious1 who filled his temple to such an extent that soon he was obliged to hire a large hall for his ,sunday meetings1 at which he was wont to appear in great magnificence with the cortege of a religious showman4 ,these displays attracted widespread attention1 and indeed ,dowie neglected nothing in his efforts to make a deep and lasting impression on the public mind4 ,here is the account of an eye-witness3-- ,the prophet speaks4 ,the audience preserves a religious silence4 ,his voice has a quality so strange as to be startling4 ,to see that broad chest1 that robust and muscular frame1 one would expect to hear rolling waves of sound1 roarings as of thunder4 ,but not so4 ,the voice is shrill and sibilant1 yet with a sonority so powerful that it vibrates on the eardrums and penetrates to the farthest corners of the hall4 ,presently the real object of the sermon is revealed4 ,the enemies of ,sion are denounced with a virulence that borders upon fury1 and the preacher attacks violently those whom he accuses of persecuting his church4 ,he poses as a martyr1 and cries out that the blood of the martyr is the seed of faith2 he pours out imprecations upon other religious sects2 calls down maledictions upon the qualified doctors1 who are to him merely sorcerers and poisoners2 consigns the vipers of the press to destruction2 and1 carried away by the violence of his anathemas1 launches this peroration upon the ears of his admiring audience3 ,if you wish to drink your reeking pots of beer1 whisky1 wine1 or other disgusting alcoholic liquors2 if you wish to go to the theatre and listen to ,mephistopheles1 to the devil1 to ,marguerite1 the dissolute hussy1 and ,doctor ,faust1 her foul accomplice2 if you wish to gorge yourselves upon the oyster1 scavenger of the sea1 and the pig1 scavenger of the earth--a scavenger that there is some question of making use of in the streets of ,chicago 7laughter72 it you wish1 ,i say1 to do the work of the devil1 and eat the meats of the devil1 you need only to remain with the ,methodists1 ,baptists1 or such-like4 ,sion is no place for you4 ,we want only clean people1 and1 thanks to ,god1 we can make them clean4 ,there are many among you who need cleansing4 ,you know that ,i have scoured you as was necessary1 and ,i shall continue to do it1 for you are far from clean yet4 ,then1 entering into a dialogue with his hearers upon the vital point of ,sionism1 he asks3 ,does ,america pay her tithe to ,god8 ,the audience replies ,no4 ,do the churches pay their tithes to ,god8 ,no4 ,do you yourselves pay your tithes to ,god8 ,stand up1 those of you who do4 ,the listeners stand up in thousands4 ,there are a number of robbers here who remain seated1 and do not pay their tithes to ,god4 ,now ,i know who are the robbers4 ,do you know what should be done with you8 ,i will tell you4 ,there is nothing for you but the fire--the fire6 ,is it not villainy to rob one's brother8 ,yes4 ,is it not villainy to rob one's mother8 ,yes4 ,is it not the vilest villainy to rob ,god8 ,yes4 ,well1 there are some among you who are not ashamed of committing it4 ,you are robbing ,god all the time4 ,you are like ,ahaz1 the ,judean king famed for his impiety1 and if you remain as you are1 you will be doomed to eternal death4 ,to whom does the tithe belong8 ,what is done with it8 ,i am going to answer that4 ,if anyone here says that what ,i possess is taken out of the tithes1 he lies--and ,i will make his lie stick in his throat4 ,the tithes and all other offerings go straight to the general fund1 and do not even pass through my hands4 ,but ,i have a right to my share of the tithes4 ,have ,i--or not8 ,yes4 ,yes1 and ,i shall take it when ,i have need of it4 ,it is you whom ,i address--you vile robbers1 hypocrites1 liars1 who pretend to belong to ,sion and do not pay the tithe4 ,do you know what is reserved for you8 ,you will burn in eternal fire4 ,rise--depart from ,sion6 ,but no one departs4 ,all the defaulters hasten to pay1 for the prophet inspires them with a terror very different from their dread of the tax-collector1 and there is no single example of one sufficiently obstinate to brave his threats of damnation4 ,in other ways also ,elias was all-powerful4 ,he made a mock of political or ecclesiastical elections1 holding that a leader's power should not be subject to suffrages or renewals of confidence4 ,thanks to these sermons1 dialogues1 and the general mise en scene1 the autocracy of ,dowie was beyond question4 ,,iv ,the new ,elias called himself the divine healer1 and1 like ,schlatter1 he attracted all who believed in the direct intervention of ,god1 acting personally upon the sufferer4 ,in their eyes he was simply the representative of ,god1 source of health and healing4 ,it was not he who brought about the cures1 but ,god1 and therefore the payments that were made to him were in reality payments to ,god4 ,this teaching was largely the source of ,dowie's power4 ,there were two large hotels in ,chicago which were continually filled to overflowing with pilgrims from all parts who came to seek divine healing4 ,these left behind them sums of money--often considerable--in token of their gratitude to ,god2 not to the prophet1 who would accept nothing4 ,it is obvious that if none of his cures had been effectual1 ,dowie1 in spite of his power over credulous minds1 could not have succeeded4 ,thaumaturgy must perform its miracles4 ,if it fails to do so1 it is a fraud1 and its incapacity proves its ruin4 ,but if it accomplishes them1 its fame becomes widespread4 ,these miraculous cures generally take place1 not singly1 but in numbers1 because there are always people who respond to suggestion1 and invalids who become cured when the obligation to be cured1 in the name of ,god1 is placed upon them4 ,thus ,chicago saw and wondered at the miracles1 and had no doubts of their genuineness4 ,there was the case of ,mr4 ,barnard1 one of the heads of the ,national ,bank of ,chicago1 whose twelve-year-old daughter was suffering from spinal curvature4 ,she grew worse1 in spite of all the efforts of the most eminent doctors and surgeons1 and it seemed that nothing could be done4 ,the child must either die1 or remained deformed for the rest of her life4 ,the father and mother were overcome with grief1 and after having gone the round of all the big-wigs of the medical profession1 they tried first bone-setters1 then ,christian ,scientists1 without avail4 ,finally they went to ,dowie1 who had already cured one of their friends4 ,up till then they had not had confidence in him1 and they only went to him as a counsel of despair1 so to speak1 and because a careful re-reading of the ,bible had persuaded them that ,god could and would cure all who had faith in ,his supreme power4 ,dowie1 perceiving that they and their daughter had true faith1 laid his hands on the child and prayed4 ,in that same moment the curvature disappeared1 and the cure was complete1 for there was never any return of the trouble4 ,in recognition of this divine favour ,mr4 ,barnard1 who had hitherto belonged to the ,presbyterian ,church1 voluntarily joined the ,sionists1 and became their chief auxiliary financier4 ,dowie made him manager of the ,bank of ,sion1 under his own supervision1 and confided to him the financial administration of the church4 ,similarly a ,mr4 ,peckman1 whose wife he cured1 and who was leader of the ,baptist ,church of ,indiana1 gave thanks to ,god and to ,dowie1 ,his prophet1 by founding a colony affiliated to ,sionism which paid its tithes regularly4 ,there are many other examples of successful cures1 but also many failures4 ,these1 however1 did not lower the prestige of the modern ,elias1 who said to his detractors3 ,god has the power to cure1 and all cures are due to ,him alone4 ,he desires to cure all who suffer1 for ,his pity is infinite2 but it may very well happen that the consumptives and paralytics who come to me after being given up by the doctors1 are not always cured by ,god1 however much ,i pray for them4 ,why is this8 ,the reason is simple4 ,disease and death must be looked upon as ills due to the devil1 who1 since the fall of the rebellious angels1 is always in a state of insurrection against ,god4 ,and it is certain that whoever has not faith--absolute and unquestionable faith--is in the power of ,satan4 ,the ,scripture tells us precisely1 'he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved2 he that believeth not is condemned4' ,when a sufferer is not healed through my intercession1 it means that in the struggle for that particular soul1 the devil has been victorious4 ,so1 supported by this thesis1 ,dowie triumphed over the objections of his critics1 not only in the eyes of ,sion1 but of all ,chicago4 ,even when he lost his only daughter1 ,esther1 his authority was in no way affected4 ,esther ,dowie was twenty-one1 and the pride of her father's heart4 ,she had finished her studies at the ,university of ,chicago1 and a happy future seemed to be opening out before her4 ,one day in the month of ,may she was preparing for a large reception which was being held in honour of young ,booth-,clibborn1 grandson of ,general ,booth of the ,salvation ,army4 ,the event was an important one1 for it was hoped that this meeting would bring about an understanding between the ,salvationists and the ,sionists1 and ,miss ,dowie wished to give the visitor the most gracious welcome possible4 ,she was lighting a spirit-lamp1 for the purpose of waving her hair1 when a draught of air blew her peignoir into the flame4 ,it caught fire1 and the poor girl was so terribly burned that she succumbed soon afterwards1 although her father and all the elders of the ,church prayed at her bedside1 and although ,dowie permitted a doctor to attend her and to make copious use of vaseline4 ,after her death1 the jury decided that she must have been burnt internally1 the flames having penetrated to her throat and lungs4 ,before she died she begged her father to forgive her for having disobeyed him--for ,dowie strictly forbade the use of alcohol1 even in a spirit-lamp--and implored the adherents of ,sionism not to expose themselves to death through disobedience1 as she had done4 ,the attitude adopted by the prophet under this blow was almost sublime4 ,letters of condolence and of admiration rained upon him4 ,he wept over his daughter's dead body1 and was broken-hearted1 while1 instead of drawing attention to the extenuating circumstances for his own inability to save her--as he would have done in all other cases--he fervently prayed to ,god to forgive her for having sinned against the laws of ,sion4 ,his grief was so sincere that not only the ,sionists but the whole of ,chicago joined in it4 ,lack of faith was not the only thing that prevented cures4 ,omitting to pay the tithes could also render them impossible2 for the tithes were due to ,god1 and those who failed to pay them committed a voluntary offence against the divine power4 ,when we remember that there were at least sixty thousand ,sionists1 it is obvious that these tithes must have amounted to an enormous sum--and of this sum ,dowie never gave any account4 ,his spiritual power was founded upon his moral power4 ,it is certain that he tried to influence his followers for good in forbidding them alcoholic drinks and gambling1 and in advising exercise and recreation in the open air1 and the avoidance of medicaments and drugs which he believed did more harm than good4 ,he said to them--,your health is a natural thing1 for health is the state of grace in man1 and the result of being in accord with ,god1 and disease has no other cause than the violation of law1 religious or moral4 ,he ordained that all should live in a state of cleanliness1 industry and order1 so that communal prosperity might be assured4 ,and of this prosperity which they owed to ,god and to ,his representative1 what more just than that a part of it should be given to ,god and to ,dowie1 ,his prophet8 ,what more legitimate than that there should be no separation between the material life and the spiritual life8 ,he had a special machine constructed which registered1 by a kind of clockwork1 the intercessions made on behalf of the various applicants for healing4 ,each one would receive a printed bulletin1 stating1 for example--,prayed on the #ajth of ,march1 at four o'clock in the afternoon1 ,john ,a4 ,dowie4 ,if the patient was not in ,chicago1 ,dowie would pray by telephone1 so that the immediate effect of the divine power might be felt4 ,he also made use of a phonograph for recording his homilies1 sermons and prayers1 and these records were sent1 at a fixed price1 to his adherents in all parts of the world4 ,v ,the city of ,sion lies between ,chicago and ,milwaukee1 about forty-two miles to the north of the former4 ,it comprises an estate of #fdjj acres on the shores of ,lake ,michigan4 ,this land--some of the best in ,illinois--was let out in lots1 on long lease1 by ,dowie to his followers1 and brought in thousands of dollars yearly4 ,at the same time that he created this principle of speculation in land1 he was also engaged in founding a special industry1 whose products were sold as products of ,sion4 ,his choice fell upon the lace industry1 and thanks to very clever management he was able to establish large factories modelled on those of ,nottingham1 employing many hundreds of workers whose goods commanded a considerable sale4 ,before he undertook its organisation the possessions of the ,church were few4 ,fifteen years afterwards1 it had a fortune of more than a million pounds4 ,in order to carry out his plan of building a town in which neither spirits nor tobacco should be sold1 and which should be inhabited only by ,sionists1 it was necessary that all the land should belong to him1 and he had to reckon with the probably exorbitant demands of the sellers4 ,to circumvent these his real intentions had to be hidden1 and with the help of his faithful auxiliaries this was successfully accomplished4 ,i do not know what has become of ,sionism during recent years4 ,will the dynasty be continued after the reign of ,john ,dowie by that of his son ,william ,gladstone ,dowie2 or will the death of the prophet1 as stated by those who have seen the eclipse of other stars of first magnitude1 be the signal for the dissolution of the sect8 ,what matters1 however1 is the genesis and not the duration of an enchantment which has united around one central figure1 so many thousands who thirsted for the simultaneous salvation of their souls and of their purses4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,adepts ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,of ,,suns ,nearly all ,communistic theories when applied in practice prove failures1 but there seems to be one infallible safeguard--that supplied by religion4 ,faith1 when mingled with the trials and disenchantments of life1 appears to mitigate them1 and communal experiments based on religious beliefs nearly always prosper4 ,this applies to the half-religious1 half-communal sects of modern ,russia1 and the principle has also been adopted by the ,american apostles of communism4 ,one of these1 ,dr4 ,teed of ,chicago1 understood it well1 and his sect was1 in fact1 merely a religious sect based on the principle of communal possessions4 ,its adherents took the name of ,koreshans1 after the title ,koresh 7or the sun7 boasted by its founder4 ,he1 ,koresh1 ,light of ,lights1 ,sun of ,suns1 was called by ,heaven to teach the truth to mortals1 and to show them which road to eternal salvation they should follow in order to prosper upon earth4 ,founded in ,chicago1 the sect moved recently to ,florida1 and there1 from day to day1 ,teed had the satisfaction of seeing the number of believers steadily increase4 ,he had at first to put up with a good deal of ridicule1 for his teaching1 based upon that of ,fourier1 and incorporating some of the mystical ideas of ,swedenborg1 was not at all to the taste of his fellow-citizens4 ,the doctor then evolved the brilliant idea of dividing his system into two doctrines--the way to heaven1 or the mystical doctrine2 and the way to earthly prosperity1 or the economic doctrine4 ,it was permissible to follow the second without adopting the first1 and the result may easily be guessed4 ,attracted by the prospect of terrestrial benefits1 believers flocked to the fold1 and invariably ended by accepting the second half of the teaching also 7the mystical doctrine71 all the more willingly because their material happiness and prosperity depended on the degree of their union with the founder4 ,the mysticism of ,koresh had some novel features1 for the ,american doctor saw the wisdom of making use of some of the prestige lately gained by science4 ,his religion1 consequently1 was essentially scientific4 ,he1 ,koresh1 was the unique man1 who1 thanks to his scientific studies and to celestial inspiration1 could understand the mysteries of nature4 ,he had reached the summit of scientific knowledge and the greatest possible human perfection--that is to say1 sainthood--and all who approached him were made participators in his holiness4 ,thanks to this gift1 pertaining only to ,koresh1 his followers could enjoy the bliss of heaven upon earth2 for the ,kingdom of ,god upon earth was near at hand1 and ,koreshism was preparing the way for its disciples4 ,but what had to be done in order to attain the higher degrees of salvation8 ,teed was a sufficiently clever psychologist to know that nothing fascinates the crowd so much as mysteries and things that cannot be understood1 and he acted accordingly4 ,his doctrine is so obscure that only those claiming divine illumination could hope to find their way amid its cloudy precepts4 ,let us give an example3-- ,in recognition of the principal source of the force of the intrinsic and innate life of the ,christian revelation1 the ,koreshan doctrine elevates the founder of ,christianity to the place of father1 become perfect1 thanks to the sacrifice of his son1 which it has been given to us to understand by the flesh of ,jehovah4 ,the believers could give it whatever meaning they liked1 and for those who despaired of understanding this part of the ,koreshan revelation1 the prophet kept in reserve thousands of other dogmas1 all equally enigmatic and equally obscure4 ,we will not attempt to discuss them6 ,the teaching included the attainment of perfection through marriage1 and claimed omniscience for ,koreshism1 which could throw new light upon all things1 including such subjects as astronomy and philosophy4 ,the earth is not round1 light is not diffused1 as science teaches1 and man has not five senses1 but seven--so said ,koresh4 ,he described his doctrine as communistic and co-operative4 ,the use of money was forbidden1 its place being taken by cheques representing the amount of services rendered to the community4 ,the colony founded at ,estero1 in ,florida1 was almost exclusively commercial and industrial1 not agricultural like most communal settlements4 ,electric railways and factories were built--and are still being built--there1 for steam1 like money1 is banned in the colony of ,koresh2 while being in possession of a seaport1 the ,koreshans propose to enter into commercial relationship with the whole world4 ,the ,bureau of ,equitable ,commerce directs the business affairs of the community1 and at its head is the chief of the ,commonwealth 7or public fortune74 ,all the inhabitants share in the general prosperity1 and in order to prevent the more capable individuals from developing into capitalists1 the fortunes of all are carefully equalised by means of a progressive tax upon income4 ,the land belongs to all1 and is non-transferable1 like the factories4 ,no payment is demanded of new-comers2 it is enough if they bring the moral capital of an irreproachable life1 and are good workers2 and any poor people who desire to seek salvation in the colony are enabled to travel to it by contributions from the public funds4 ,absolute tolerance of all beliefs forms the spiritual basis of the sect4 ,new ,jerusalem1 the capital of the colony1 covers about eighty-six square miles1 having streets four hundred feet in width1 and separate industrial quarters4 ,the business affairs of the community are undeniably prosperous4 ,b4 ,,religion ,,and ,,miracles ,o men born upon earth1 why abandon yourselves to death1 when you are permitted to obtain immortality8 ,,hermes ,,trismegistus4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,christian ,,scientists ,the marriage between ,science and the ,bible1 brought about by ,mary ,baker ,eddy1 has given birth to a most prosperous sect4 ,in this amalgam1 the ,christianity is not of the purest1 and the ,science appears rather in the form of the negation of its own principles2 but so great is humanity's desire for the union of revelation and experience that believers crowd from all parts to range themselves behind the hew banner4 ,there is something almost disconcerting in the ardour and devotion of ,mrs4 ,eddy's followers4 ,truly1 in the success of ,christian ,science we see one more proof of the ease with which a new religion can be started if1 in addition to faith1 it concerns itself with man's earthly welfare4 ,the founder of the sect was a clever woman4 ,well aware of the power and fascination of the mysterious1 she exploited it with a profound understanding of the human heart4 ,she mingled the realities of life with the mysteries of thought1 and the sun of her revelations is always veiled by intangible clouds4 ,from her gospel one might cull at random scores of phrases that defy human understanding4 ,evil is nothing1 no thing1 mind or power1 she says in ,science and ,health4 ,as manifested by mankind1 it stands for a lie1 nothing claiming to be something4 ,and again--,mortal existence has no real entity1 but saith ',it is ,i4' ,the nonsensicalness of her phraseology can find no comparison save in the inconceivable chaos of her teachings4 ,she goes so far as to imply that the supreme effort of a woman's spirit should suffice to bring about conception4 ,jesus ,christ having been conceived of the ,holy ,ghost1 she suggests that man should follow this example1 and renounce the lusts of the flesh4 ,proportionately as human generation ceases1 the unbroken links of eternal1 harmonious being will be spiritually discerned--and in another place1 ,when this new birth takes place1 the ,christian ,science infant is born of the spirit1 born of ,god1 and can cause the mother no more suffering4 ,in the explanations of the ,bible given in her ,key to the ,scriptures we are told that when we come upon the word fire1 we are to translate it as fear1 and the word fear as heat2 while we must remember that ,eve never put the blame for her sin upon the serpent1 but1 having learnt that corporeal sense is the serpent1 she was the first to confess her misdeed in having followed the dictates of the flesh instead of those of the spirit4 ,like all prophets and saviours1 ,mrs4 ,eddy was crucified during her lifetime4 ,she had to engage in a continuous struggle with the envy and jealousy of those who sought to misrepresent her teachings and bring her glory to the dust4 ,but she was far from being an ordinary woman1 and even in childhood seemed to be marked out for an exceptional career4 ,at the age of eight1 like ,joan of ,arc1 she heard mysterious voices1 and her mother1 who was of ,scottish origin and subject to attacks of religion1 remembered the story of the ,infant ,samuel and encouraged her to speak with the ,lord4 ,but ,mary was alarmed by the voices1 and wept and trembled1 instead of replying to them like a good child4 ,about her forty-fifth year1 however1 being in the grip of a serious illness1 she did hold converse with the ,lord1 who told her how she might be cured4 ,she listened and obeyed1 and was cured4 ,this was her great initiation4 ,she then retired from the world1 and spent several years engaged in meditation and prayer1 while her study of the ,bible revealed to her the key to all mysteries1 human and divine4 ,the deductions of her philosophy are often characterised by an astonishing naivete4 ,god being ,all-in-all1 ,he made medicine1 she tells us2 but that medicine was ,mind4 4 4 4 ,it is plain that ,god does not employ drugs or hygiene1 nor provide them for human use2 else ,jesus would have recommended and employed them in ,his healing4 ,she frequently makes use of ingenious statements whose very candour is disarming1 but she had considerable dialectical gifts1 and can argue persuasively1 especially against spiritualism4 ,in ,science and ,health she violently denies the authenticity of spiritualistic phenomena1 ,as readily can you mingle fire and frost as spirit and matter4 4 4 4 ,the belief that material bodies return to dust1 hereafter to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and desires1 is incorrect4 4 4 4 ,the caterpillar1 transformed into a beautiful insect1 is no longer a worm1 nor does the insect return to fraternise with or control the worm4 4 4 4 ,there is no bridge across the gulf which divides two such opposite conditions as the spiritual1 or incorporeal1 and the physical1 or corporeal4 ,in the confusion of precepts and principles championed by ,mrs4 ,eddy there are sometimes to be found thoughts worthy of a great metaphysician4 ,her teaching1 when purified from admixture1 does at any rate break away energetically from all materialistic doctrines4 ,her literary output was considerable1 for in addition to her gospel1 ,science and ,health1 she wrote ,the ,concordance of ,science and ,health1 ,rudimentary ,divine ,science1 ,christian ,science versus ,paganism1 and other works1 including some verse4 ,the ,christian ,science churches1 with their adherents1 who number more than a million1 are spread all over the world1 each having an independent existence4 ,they are found chiefly in the ,united ,states1 ,england1 ,germany1 and the ,british ,colonies4 ,the number of healers exceeds several thousands1 for the most part of the female sex4 ,in ,france the first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist has been founded in ,paris1 in the ,rue ,magellan1 under the name of ,washington ,palace4 ,the ,christian ,science leader denounced the established churches and spared them no criticism1 and her doctrine contained a seed of truth which enabled it to triumph even over its own lack of logic and coherence4 ,the world1 submerged in matter1 either denies spirit or turns away from it4 ,mrs4 ,eddy exalts the power of spirit above that of matter1 the universal goddess1 by means of statements which are heroic rather than scientific4 ,matter does not exist4 ,god is all1 and ,god is spirit2 therefore all is spirit4 ,matter is not spirit1 but is a fiction which only exists for those who persist in believing in it against the evidence of facts4 ,as matter does not exist1 and is only a lie and the invention of ,satan1 the body1 which we see in the form of matter1 does not exist either4 ,the suffering caused by the body is simply an error of mortal mind1 for since the body does not exist1 there can be no such thing as bodily suffering4 ,therefore instead of concerning ourselves with the healing of the supposed body1 with the prevention or cure of pain and suffering1 we must go straight to spirit4 ,spirit is perfect1 and the thought of pain or disease can have no place in it4 ,let us then leave the curing of our bodies1 and seek to rectify our spirits4 ,doctors and surgeons1 on the contrary1 follow the errors of centuries in concerning themselves with the body1 and causing it to absorb drugs which1 having no connection with disease1 can neither cure nor relieve it4 ,mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as in the cure of sin4 ,the more excellent way is divine ,science in every case4 4 4 4 ,the hosts of ,aesculapius are flooding the world with diseases1 because they are ignorant that the human mind and body are myths4 ,a follower of the true doctrine1 according to ,mrs4 ,eddy1 is never ill for the simple reason that he does not believe in the body or in any of its infirmities4 ,if he should be overtaken by illness1 it is because his spirit is ill1 and his faith not sufficiently pure4 ,from this results a very simple method of healing4 ,the healer merely seeks to re-establish the faith of the sufferer1 and to convince him of the non-reality of his illness4 ,no medicine is given1 the treatment consisting of thoughts and suggestions from ,science and ,health4 ,christian ,science healers need to have a robust and unshakable faith1 for if they do not succeed in their task it is because their own spirit has been infected by doubt4 ,mrs4 ,eddy declared that our concrete and practical age required1 above all1 a religion of reality2 that men could no longer be content with vague promises of future bliss4 ,what they needed was a religion of the present that would end their sufferings and procure for them serenity and happiness on earth4 ,the title of applied ,christianity has been adopted by ,christian ,science1 which advises us to make use of the teachings of ,jesus in our daily life1 and to reap all the advantages of such a practice4 ,we have need of truth applied to life just as we have need of telegraphs1 telephones and electric apparatus1 and now--say the ,scientists--for the first time in man's existence he is offered a really practical religious machinery1 which enables him to overcome misfortune and to establish his happiness1 his health1 and his salvation on a solid basis4 ,the ,scientists claim to have recourse to the same spiritual law by means of which ,jesus effected ,his cures1 and they declare that its efficacy is undeniable1 since all ,mrs4 ,eddy's pupils who use it are able to heal the sick4 ,one may suggest that ,jesus performed miracles because ,he was the ,saviour of the world4 ,mrs4 ,eddy replies that statements are attributed to ,him which never issued from ,his lips2 that ,he said 7in the ,gospel according to ,st4 ,john7 that it was not ,he who spoke or acted1 but ,his ,father2 and stated elsewhere1 that the ,son could do nothing of ,himself4 ,also that ,jesus never sent ,his disciples forth to preach without adding that they should also heal4 ,heal the sick1 was ,his supreme command4 ,and that ,he never counselled the use of drugs or medicines4 ,the healing of the sick1 according to ,mrs4 ,eddy1 was one of the chief functions of the representatives of the ,church during the first three centuries of ,christianity1 her subsequent loss of importance and power being largely due to the renunciation of this essential principle4 ,healing is not miraculous1 but merely the result of a normal spiritual law acting in conformity with the ,divine ,will4 ,the leader of the new ,scientists explains that ,jesus had no supernatural powers1 and that all ,he did was done according to natural law4 ,consequently everybody1 when once brought into harmony with spiritual truth1 can accomplish what ,he accomplished4 ,some of ,mrs4 ,eddy's statements have an undeniable practical value4 ,for instance1 she attacks fear as one of the chief causes of human misery1 and declares that it is wrong to fear draughts of air1 or wet feet1 or the eating and drinking of certain substances--and wrong1 above all1 to fear microbes4 ,but exaggeration is always harmful4 ,the total suppression of fear would mean the suppression of often necessary and desirable precautions4 ,in order to succeed1 however1 a religion has need of the absolute1 for conditional truths are not likely to impress the public2 and the founder of ,christian ,science was well aware of this4 ,health1 according to the ,scientists1 is truth4 ,in order to enjoy existence1 we must live in the truth and avoid sin1 and ultimately death itself will disappear1 being entirely superfluous4 ,jesus said that whoso believed on ,him should never see death1 and ,he would not have said this if death were necessary for salvation4 ,therefore believers are taught that humanity will in time conquer sickness and death1 and that this blessed consummation will be reached when human beings attain to the heights of the ,christian ,science gospel1 and are guided by it in all the thoughts and actions of their everyday life4 ,other equally enchanting prospects are conjured up1 like mirages in the desert1 before the dazzled eyes of ,mrs4 ,eddy's followers4 ,making use of the ancient conception of angels1 she teaches that such beings are always close at hand1 for angels are ,god's thoughts passing to man2 spiritual intuitions1 pure and perfect4 ,these angels of ,his presence 4 4 4 abound in the spiritual atmosphere of ,mind4 ,thus ,christian ,science is seen to be a religion of health1 longevity and happiness1 the fruits of spiritual action2 a religion which denies both the theoretical and practical existence of matter4 ,there are1 however1 occasions when the invocations of science prove powerless to deal with rebellious matter4 ,but this does not embarrass ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she considers that her doctrine is in advance of the age1 and that men themselves must progress in order to rise to its level4 ,their spirits will then become pure and perfect1 and matter will have no more power over them4 ,man will be able to live quite differently1 for hygienic conditions--even those considered most indispensable--will no longer be of any importance4 ,one of the most irresistible attractions of ,christian ,science lies in its declaration that it will be possible at some future time to overcome death--a dream that has been known in all epochs4 ,yet1 for all our love of life1 how unprofitably we squander it6 ,our normal life could be prolonged to a hundred and fifty1 or even two hundred years1#a but we have stupidly imposed upon ourselves an artificial barrier which we scarcely ever surpass6 ,mrs4 ,eddy knew well what charm the possibility of destroying the ,king of ,terrors would add to her doctrine1 and she made effective use of it4 ,we may note that the idea of overcoming death can be traced back for some three thousand years or so4 ,hermes1 the ,thrice ,greatest ,one1 taught that only by error had death become installed upon our planet1 and that nothing in the world could ever be lost4 ,death does not exist2 the word 'mortal' is void of meaning1 and is merely the word 'immortal' without its first syllable4 ,he taught further that the world was the second ,god1 immortal and alive1 and that no part of it could ever die2 that the eternal and the immortal must not be confused1 for the eternal was ,god ,uncreate1 while the world which ,he had created and made in ,his own image was endowed with ,his immortality4 ,hermes also suggested that it was only necessary to send our bodily sensations to sleep in order to awake in ,god and rejoice in immortality6 ,there was a close relationship between ,hermes1 the ,essenes of ,egypt1 and ,st4 ,john1 the author of ,revelation4 ,indeed1 if we search carefully1 we find that the ,gnostics of every school believed in the possibility of banishing death from the earth4 ,whosoever drinketh of the water that ,i shall give him shall never thirst2 but the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life4 7,st4 ,john iv4 #ad74 ,and what superiority over the claims of ,mrs4 ,eddy is shown by ,hermes1 when he declares that in order to reach the spiritual worlds we only need to free ourselves from sensation6 ,unsuspected sources of inspiration1 as yet unutilised1 abound in the writings of the ,pythagoreans1 the ,essenes1 and even the ,neo-,platonists4 ,the creators of future religions are likely to draw much water from these wells1 but ,christian ,science can lay claim to be the first to have made use of the mysticism of the past in a practical fashion1 so that its adherents rejoice in the prospect of endless life1 even as did the visionaries of former ages4 ,when one examines the doctrine closely1 its lack of originality becomes apparent4 ,the idea that matter does not exist has had numerous protagonists in the realms of philosophy1 and is ardently defended by ,berkeley4 ,in the dialogues of ,hylas and ,philonous1 the latter speaks of the absolute impossibility of matter1 which has no existence apart from spirit4 ,but ,mrs4 ,eddy succeeded in giving this purely metaphysical conception a concrete value in the affairs of every-day life4 ,she opened the first ,school of ,christian ,science ,mind-healing in #ahfg with one student2 towards the end of the century her followers numbered close on a hundred thousand2 while to-day the ,mother ,church can boast over a million adherents1 to say nothing of its financial resources4 ,without doubt suggestion is the basis of the miraculous cures which are the pride of ,christian ,science1 but the prophetess and her followers have always denied this4 ,as ,jesus ignored the power of suggestion1 they also must not only ignore it1 but wage merciless war upon it4 ,they deny both suggestion and matter1 while making use of each--but neither the use of suggestion nor the doctrine of the non-existence of matter could alone or together have procured for the new sect its truly phenomenal success4 ,that is due largely to ingenious methods of publicity1 on the most modern lines 7and is not advertisement itself one of the most effective forms of suggestion874 ,when one miraculous cure after another was announced1 money flowed in1 and ,mrs4 ,eddy made use of it to increase the numbers of believers4 ,adapting herself to the mentality of her hearers1 or readers1 she demanded large fees for the manifestations of the spirit which was incarnated in herself and her helpers1 and left behind her when she died1 an immense personal fortune1 and hundreds of prosperous churches4 ,matter does not seem to be altogether negligible1 even for pure spirits who do not believe in its existence1 and consider it an invention of the devil6 #a ,see ,la ,philosophie de la ,longevite 7,bibliotheque de ,philosophie ,contemporaine1 ,felix ,alcan1 #abth edition71 by ,jean ,finot4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,schlatter1 ,,the ,,miracle-,,man ,the town of ,denver1 the pearl of ,colorado1 was en fete4 ,hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were flocking to it from all parts of ,america1 and all1 immediately they arrived1 made straight for the house of ,alderman ,fox1 where dwelt ,francis ,schlatter1 the greatest miracle-worker of the century4 ,for two months ,denver was able to contemplate an unparalleled variety of invalids with illnesses both rare and common1 all--or nearly all--of whom departed reassured as to their progress1 if not completely cured4 ,the trains were overcrowded1 the hotels overflowed with visitors1 and all the ,states rang with hymns of praise in honour of ,schlatter1 the saint of ,denver4 ,but perpetual joy is not of this world4 ,on the #adth of ,november1 #ahie1 there were still thousands of people outside ,alderman ,fox's house1 but their grief and despair were pitiable to witness4 ,the women sobbed1 the men cursed1 and all this1 mingled with the woeful complaints of the sick1 created an extraordinary atmosphere in the usually gay and cheerful town4 ,the cause of it was that ,saint ,schlatter had fled from ,colorado without warning in the night--whether for a short time or for ever nobody knew4 ,the news spread far and wide1 the affair assumed the proportions of a public calamity1 and the ,rocky ,morning ,news and other ,colorado journals shed copious tears over the sad lot of the abandoned pilgrims4 ,even the ,american newspapers1 which so often foresee events that never happen1 had not been able to foresee this thunderbolt that had descended in the midst of their readers4 ,on the previous day the saint had1 as usual1 given his blessing to the thousands of pilgrims gathered from all quarters1 and had appeared to be in his customary state of serene kindliness4 ,nothing had suggested his desertion--for the disappointed crowds considered it a desertion indeed4 ,even ,alderman ,fox1 deeply troubled as he was1 could offer no consolation to his fellow-citizens4 ,he1 who was formerly stone-deaf1 had gone one day to see ,schlatter at ,omaha1 and when the latter took his hand his deafness had completely disappeared4 ,full of gratitude1 he offered ,schlatter a large sum of money1 which was refused4 ,he then offered the hospitality of his house at ,denver1 and this being accepted1 ,schlatter arrived there1 preceded by the glory of his saintly reputation and his miraculous cures4 ,two months passed thus1 and never had prophet a more devoted and enthusiastic disciple than the worthy alderman of ,colorado's capital city4 ,then fell the blow6 ,when ,alderman ,fox had entered his guest's room the night before1 the bed was empty4 ,dressed just as he had arrived1 in his unique costume1 ,schlatter had disappeared1 leaving behind him as sole trace of his visit this message3--,mr4 ,fox--my mission is ended1 and the ,father calls me4 ,i salute you4 ,francis ,schlatter4 ,november #acth4 ,after that he was sought for in vain4 ,he who intoxicated the weak soul of the people--to quote one of the ,colorado clergy--and made the land of sin ring with songs of heavenly triumph1 had completely disappeared4 ,in the words of another of them1 the plant that had grown up in barren soil was withered away by the wrath of ,god4 ,but the grief of those who had believed in him lasted for many years4 ,schlatter was born in ,alsace in #ahee1 and after his arrival in ,america he followed many avocations1 finally adopting that of a holy man4 ,with head and feet bare1 he traversed the ,states from one end to another1 and proclaimed himself a messenger of heaven4 ,he preached the love of ,god and peace among men4 ,he was imprisoned1 and continued to preach1 and though his fellow-prisoners at first mocked at him1 they ended by listening4 ,he only had to place his hand on the heads of the sick1 and they were cured4 ,after being released from prison1 he went to ,texas4 ,his peculiar dress1 bare feet1 and long hair framing a face which seemed indeed to be illuminated from within1 drew crowds to follow him1 and he was looked upon as ,elijah come to life again4 ,hearken and come to me1 he said4 ,i am only a humble messenger sent by my ,heavenly ,father4 ,and thousands came4 ,he cured the incurable1 and consoled the inconsolable4 ,once he was shut up in a mad-house1 but emerged more popular than ever4 ,then he went on a pilgrimage through the towns of ,mexico1 preaching his ,father's word among the adulterers of goods and the ,worshippers of the ,golden ,calf4 ,an object of reverence and admiration1 he blessed the children and rained miracles upon the heads of the sick1 finally arriving at ,san ,francisco in #ahid4 ,from there1 still on foot and bare-headed1 he crossed the ,mohave ,desert1 spent several weeks at ,flagstaff1 and then continued his wanderings among the ,indian tribes4 ,they recognised his saintliness and came out in crowds to meet him1 amazed at the power of the ,lord as manifested by him4 ,he spent five days in the company of the chief of the ,navajos1 performing many miracles1 and filling with wonder the simple souls who crowded round to touch his hands4 ,after having traversed several other districts1 he stopped at ,denver1 which became his favourite residence4 ,in this paradise of the ,new ,world his most startling miracles took place4 ,it became known as his special town1 and from all parts there flocked to it believers and unbelievers1 good1 bad and indifferent1 attracted by the fame of the heavenly messenger4 ,women and men followed in his train1 expressing their admiration and gratitude2 even the reporters who came to interview him were impressed by his simplicity1 and described in glowing terms the miracles accomplished by the prophet of ,denver4 ,the ,american journals which thus put themselves at his service throw a strange light upon this twentieth-century saint4 ,for ,schlatter the ,silent1 as some called him1 only became eloquent when in the presence of newspaper reporters4 ,he took heed to sin not with his tongue1 as the psalmist sings1 and kept his mouth with a bridle and held his peace1 as long as the wicked were before him2 but when confronted by reporters his thoughts became articulate1 and it is only through them that his simple ,gospel has been handed down to us4 ,i am nothing1 he would say to them4 ,my ,father is all4 ,have faith in ,him1 and all will be well4 ,or--,my ,father can replace a pair of diseased lungs as easily as ,he can cure rheumatism4 ,he has only to will1 and the sick man becomes well or the healthy one ill4 ,you ask me in what does my power consist4 ,it is nothing--it is ,his will that is everything4 ,one day when a crowd of several thousands was pressing round him1 ,schlatter addressed a man in his vicinity4 ,depart6 he said to him1 with a violence that startled all who heard4 ,depart from ,denver2 you are a murderer6 ,the man fled1 and the crowd applauded the saint1 remarking that it was not in his power to heal the wicked4 ,faith in him spread even to the railway companies of ,new ,mexico1 for one day there appeared a placard of the ,union ,pacific ,railway stating that those of the employees1 or their families1 who wished to consult ,schlatter would be given their permits and their regular holiday4 ,following on this announcement1 the ,omaha ,world ,herald describes the impressive spectacle of the thousands of men1 women and children1 belonging to all grades of the railway administration1 who went to the holy man of ,denver to ask pardon for their sins1 or to be healed of their diseases4 ,thus did the transport systems1 combined with the newspapers1 pay homage to the exploits of the new prophet4 ,and still the miracles continued4 ,the blind saw1 the deaf heard1 and the cripples walked4 ,the lamp of faith lighted in ,new ,mexico threw its beams over the whole of ,america1 and the remarkable charm of ,schlatter's personality influenced even the most incredulous4 ,the fame of his deeds reached ,europe1 and some of the ,english papers told of cures so marvellous that ,new ,mexico bade fair to become the refuge of all the incurables in the world4 ,in the ,omaha ,world ,herald a long article by ,general ,test was published1 in which he said3 ,all those who approach him find consolation and help4 ,dr4 ,keithley has been cured of deafness4 4 4 4 ,i have used spectacles for many years1 but a touch of his hand was enough to make me have need of them no longer4 ,one of the officials of the ,union ,pacific ,railway1 a ,mr4 ,sutherland1 after an accident1 could neither walk nor move his limbs4 ,he was taken to ,denver1 and returned completely cured1 not only of his inability to walk1 but also of deafness that had troubled him for fifteen years4 ,a ,mr4 ,stewart1 who had been deaf for twenty years1 was also completely cured by the saint4 ,nothing seemed able to resist his miraculous powers4 ,blindness1 diphtheria1 phthisis1 all disappeared like magic at the touch of his hand2 and gloves that he had worn proved equally efficacious4 ,a ,mrs4 ,snook1 of ,north ,denver1 had suffered from cancer for some months1 when1 worn out by pain1 she sent to the holy man for the loan of one of his gloves4 ,he sent her two1 saying that she would be cured--and she was cured4 ,the same thing happened with ,john ,davidson of #agth ,street1 ,denver2 with ,colonel ,powers of ,georgetown2 and a dozen others1 all of whom had suffered for years from more or less incurable maladies4 ,an engineer named ,morris was cured of cataract instantaneously4 ,a totally blind wood-cutter was able to distinguish colours after being touched by ,schlatter4 ,a ,mrs4 ,holmes of ,havelock1 ,nebraska1 had tumours under the eyes4 ,she pressed them with a glove given her by the prophet1 and they disappeared4 7,this case is reported in the ,denver ,news of ,november #abth1 #ahie47 ,gloves began to arrive from all parts1 and lay in mountains on ,schlatter's doorstep4 ,he touched them with his hand1 and distributed them to the crowd4 ,faith being the sole cause of the cures1 it was unnecessary1 he said1 to lay hands on the sick4 ,when he did so1 it was only in order to impress the souls of those who had need of this outer sign in order to enjoy the benefits sent them by the ,father through ,his intermediary4 ,this explains how ,schlatter was able to treat from three to five thousand people every day4 ,he would stand with outstretched hands blessing the crowds1 who departed with peace in their souls4 ,and the pearl of ,colorado rejoiced1 seeing how the deaf heard1 the cripples walked1 the blind saw1 and all glorified the name of the ,saint of ,denver4 ,his disinterestedness was above suspicion1 and the contempt that he showed for the almighty dollar filled all the believers with astonishment and admiration4 ,what should ,i do with money8 he said4 ,does not my ,heavenly ,father supply all my needs8 ,there is no greater wealth than faith1 and ,i have supreme faith in my ,father4 ,gifts poured in upon him1 but he refused them all with his customary gentleness1 so that at last people ceased to send him anything but gloves4 ,these1 after having touched them with his hands1 he distributed among the sick and the unfortunate4 ,his fame increased with the ardour of his faith4 ,suspicion was disarmed1 and great and small paid him homage4 ,out of touch as he was with modern thought1 and reading nothing but the prophets1 he attained to a condition of ecstasy which at last led him to announce that he was ,christ come down from heaven to save his fellow-men4 ,having lived so long on the footing of a son of ,god1 he now was convinced of his direct descent1 and his hearers going still further1 were filled with expectation of some great event which should astonish all unbelievers4 ,under the influence of this general excitement he proceeded to undergo a forty days' fast4 ,he announced this to his followers1 who flocked to see the miracle1 preceded by the inevitable reporters2 and while fasting he still continued to heal the sick and give them his blessing1 attracting ever greater crowds by his haggard visage and his atmosphere of religious exaltation4 ,then1 having spent forty days and forty nights in this manner1 he sat down at table to replenish his enfeebled forces1 and the beholders gave voice to enthusiastic expressions of faith in his divine mission4 ,but the famished ,schlatter attacked the food laid before him with an ardour that had in it nothing of the divine4 ,the onlookers became uneasy1 and one of them went so far as to suggest that his health might suffer from this abrupt transition4 ,have faith1 replied ,schlatter4 ,the ,father who has permitted me to live without nourishment for forty days1 will not cease to watch over ,his ,son4 ,the town of ,denver formed a little world apart4 ,miracles were in the air1 faith was the only subject of conversation1 and everyone dreamed of celestial joys and the grace of salvation4 ,in this supernatural atmosphere distinctions between the possible and the impossible were lost sight of1 and the inhabitants believed that the usual order of nature had been overthrown4 ,for instance1 ,james ,eckman of ,leadville1 who had been blinded by an explosion1 recovered his sight immediately he arrived at ,denver4 ,general ,test declared that he had seen a legless cripple walk when the saint's gaze was bent upon him4 ,a blind engineer named ,stainthorp became able to see daylight4 ,a man named ,dillon1 bent and crippled by an illness several decades before1 recovered instantaneously4 ,when the saint touched him1 he felt a warmth throughout his whole body2 his fingers1 which he had not been able to use for years1 suddenly straightened themselves2 he was conscious of a sensation of inexpressible rapture1 and rose up full of faith and joy4 ,a man named ,welsh1 of ,colorado ,springs1 had a paralysed right hand which was immediately cured when ,schlatter touched it4 ,all ,new ,mexico rejoiced in the heavenly blessing that had fallen upon ,denver4 ,special trains disgorged thousands of travellers1 who were caught up in the wave of religious enthusiasm directly they arrived4 ,the whole town was flooded with a sort of exaltation1 and there was a recrudescence of childishly superstitious beliefs1 which broke out with all the spontaneity and vigour that usually characterises the manifestation of popular religious phenomena4 ,what would have been the end of it if ,schlatter had not so decisively and inexplicably disappeared8 ,it would be difficult to conceive of anything more extraordinary than the exploits of this modern saint1 which came near to revolutionising the whole religious life of the ,new ,world4 ,the fact that they took place against a modern background1 with the aid of newspaper interviews and special trains1 gives them a peculiar cachet4 ,indeed1 the spectacle of such child-like faith1 allied to all the excesses of civilisation1 and backed up by the ground-work of prejudices from which man has as yet by no means freed himself1 is one to provide considerable food for reflection for those who study the psychology of crowds in general1 and of religious mania in particular4 ,the case of ,schlatter is not a difficult one to diagnose4 ,he suffered from ambulatory automatism1 the disease investigated by ,professor ,pitres of ,bordeaux1 and was a wanderer from his childhood up4 ,incapable of resisting the lure of vagabondage1 he thought it should be possible to perform miracles because it was ,god his ,father who thus forced him to wander from place to place4 ,all nature being directed according to ,his ,will1 said ,schlatter1 and nothing being accomplished without ,him1 ,i am driven to warn the earth in order to fulfil ,his designs4 ,being simple-minded and highly impressionable1 the first cure that he succeeded in bringing about seemed to him a direct proof of his alliance with ,god4 ,as ,diderot has said1 it is sometimes only necessary to be a little mad in order to prophesy and to enjoy poetic ecstasies2 and in the case of ,schlatter the flower of altruism which often blossoms in the hearts of such madmen was manifested in his complete lack of self-seeking and in his compassion for the poor and suffering which drew crowds around him4 ,as to his miracles1 we may--without attempting to explain them--state decisively that they do not differ from those accomplished by means of suggestion4 ,the cases of blindness treated by ,schlatter have a remarkable resemblance to that of the girl ,marie described by ,pierre ,janet in his ,psychological ,automatism4 ,this patient was admitted to the hospital at ,havre1 suffering1 among other things1 from blindness of the left eye which she said dated from infancy4 ,but when by means of hypnotism she was transformed into a child of five years of age1 it was found that she saw well with both eyes4 ,the blindness must therefore have begun at the age of six years--but from what cause8 ,she was made to repeat1 while in the somnambulistic state1 all the principal scenes of her life at that time1 and it was found that the blindness had commenced some days after she had been forced to sleep with a child of her own age who had a rash all over the left side of her face4 ,marie developed a similar rash and became blind in the left eye soon afterwards4 ,pierre ,janet made her re-live the event which had had so terrible an effect upon her1 induced her to believe that the child had no rash1 and after two attempts succeeded in making her caress her 7imaginary7 bedfellow4 ,the sight of the left eye returned1 and ,marie awoke--cured6 ,the saint of ,denver could not1 of course1 make use of methods adopted by doctors in the hospitals1 but he had something much stronger and more effective in his mysterious origin1 his prophet-like appearance1 and his airs as of one illuminated by the spirit4 ,suggestion1 when acting upon those who are awake1 spreads from one to another like an attack of yawning or of infectious laughter4 ,crowds are credulous1 like children who look no further than their surface impressions4 ,the case of ,w4 ,c4 ,dillon1 who had been bent and crippled for years1 but was able to straighten his limbs at once under ,schlatter's influence1 recalls that of the young sailor in the household of ,dr4 ,pillet1 who for several weeks was bent forward in a most painful position4 ,he had received a severe blow at the base of the chest1 after which he seemed unable to stand upright again4 ,he was put into a hypnotic sleep1 and asked if he could raise himself4 ,why not8 he replied4 ,then do so1 said the doctor--and he rose from his bed completely cured4 ,a remarkable thing with regard to ,schlatter's cures is that they were so frequently concerned with cases of paralysis4 ,now ,charcot has proved that such cases are usually found in hysterical subjects suffering from amnesia or anaesthesia 7general or partial loss of sensation71 and according to modern medical research paralysis and anaesthesia are almost identical4 ,we know1 further1 with what ease hypnotic suggestion can either provoke or dispel partial or general anaesthesia1 and this applies equally to partial or general paralysis4 ,paralysis is often1 if not always1 due to a simple amnesia--forgetfulness to make use of certain muscles--which can be overcome by suggestion4 ,schlatter1 with his undeniable hypnotic power1 had consequently small difficulty in accomplishing miracles--that is to say1 in producing incomprehensible and inexplicable phenomena4 ,his custom of dealing with people in crowds gave him greater chances of success than if he had merely treated individual cases4 ,faith is the only thing that cures1 he declared--and1 as if by magic1 his hearers became possessed of faith and intoxicated by the benefits obtained from his divine intervention4 ,truly the life of this impulse-ridden vagabond1 so lacking in self-interest1 so devoted to the needs of the sick and poor1 throws a new light upon the souls of our contemporaries4 ,there seems to exist in every human being1 no matter how deeply hidden1 an inexhaustible desire for contact with the ,infinite4 ,and this desire can be as easily played upon by the tricks of impostors as by the holiness of saints1 or the divine grace of saviours4 ,,part ,,iii ,,the ,,depths ,,of ,,the ,,subconscious ,,mind ,,chapter ,i ,,sects ,,in ,,france ,,and ,,elsewhere ,during the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century1 scarcely a single country has been free from religious manifestations of the most varied kind1 all concerned with new ways and means of attaining salvation2 and if one were to include all the different phases of occultism as well1 one would be astounded at the mystical ardour of which modern humanity is possessed4 ,from the spiritualists and the theosophists to the crystal-gazers and the palmists1 all these occult practices are1 in reality1 merely the result of a more or less intensified desire to communicate with the spiritual worlds4 ,france1 although considered a country pre-eminently sceptical1 has not escaped the general tendency1 for even in what appeared to be the most rationalistic epoch--that of the ,revolution--the ,cult of ,reason was founded1 to be succeeded by the ,religion of the ,supreme ,being introduced by ,robespierre4 ,and what numbers of new sects and religions can be recorded since then6 ,there was1 first of all1 the ,theophilanthropy of ,jean-,baptiste ,chemin and ,valentine ,hauy1 representing the faith of those who love man in ,god1 and ,god in so far as ,he loves man4 ,the ,empire1 in persecuting this doctrine1 only added to its vitality1 for it has hot even yet completely died out4 ,the religion of ,father ,enfantin1 which had a great vogue in the last century1 conformed in many respects to the name of its founder4 ,man and woman1 united by religion1 were to form priests in duplicate for the guidance of their flock1 young and old1 lovers and married couples alike4 ,the ,saint-,simonites--so admirable in some ways--allied themselves to this doctrine1 and succeeded in attracting a number of sympathisers4 ,the life of ,french sects has always been of short duration1 though there have existed among them many that in other countries would certainly have won for their founders the laurel-wreath of fame4 ,such was1 for instance1 the ,church of ,france1 inaugurated by the ,abbe ,chatel1 whose idea was to entrust sacerdotal functions to the most worthy among his followers1 by means of a public vote4 ,the sect prospered for a time1 but soon disappeared amid general indifference1 and the ,abbe ended his days as a grocer4 ,the doctrine of ,fabre ,palaprat had more success1 being drawn from the esoteric teachings of the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john4 ,he either suppressed or modified many of the ,catholic dogmas1 abandoned the use of ,latin and inaugurated prayers in ,french4 ,the ,fusionists were founded by ,jean-,baptiste de ,tourreil4 ,after a divine revelation which came to him in the forest of ,meudon1 near ,paris1 he broke with ,catholicism and preached the intimate union of man and nature4 ,he anticipated to some extent the naturalist beliefs which spread through both ,france and ,england at the beginning of the present century1 and his posthumous work entitled ,the ,fusionist ,religion or the ,doctrine of ,universalism gives an idea of his tendencies4 ,there was an element of consolation in his doctrine1 for the harmony between man and the universe1 as taught by him1 renders death only a prolongation of life itself1 and makes it both attractive and desirable4 ,the ,neo-,gnostic ,church of ,fabre des ,essarts was condemned by ,leo ,,xiii with some severity as a revival of the old ,albigensian heresy1 with the addition of new false and impious doctrines1 but it still has many followers4 ,the ,neo-,gnostics believe that this world is a work of wickedness1 and was created not by ,god but by some inferior power1 which shall ultimately disappear--and its creation also4 ,while the ,manichaeans teach that the world is ruled by the powers of both good and evil1 ,god and ,satan1 the ,neo-,gnostics declare that it is ,satan who reigns exclusively upon earth1 and that it is man's duty to help to free ,god from ,his powerful rival4 ,they also preach the brotherhood of man and of nations1 and it is probably this altruistic doctrine which has rendered them irresistible to many who are wearied and disheartened by the enmities and hatreds that separate human beings4 ,in #aijj1 after a letter from ,jean ,bricaut1 the patriarch of universal ,gnosticism in ,lyons1 the ,neo-,gnostics united with the ,valentinians1 and their union was consecrated by the ,council of ,toulouse in #aijc4 ,but some years afterwards1 ,dr4 ,fugairon of ,lyons 7who took the name of ,sophronius7 amalgamated all the branches1 with the exception of the ,valentinians1 under the name of the ,gnostic ,church of ,lyons4 ,these latter1 although excluded1 continued to follow their own way of salvation1 and addressed a legal declaration to the ,republican ,government in #aijf in defence of their religious rights of association4 ,in the ,gnostic teaching1 the ,eons1 corresponding to the archetypal ideas of ,plato1 are never single2 each god has his feminine counterpart2 and the ,gnostic assemblies are composed of perfected ones1 male and female4 ,the ,valentinians give the mystic bride the name of ,helen4 ,the ,gnostic rites and sacraments are complicated4 ,there is the ,consolamentum1 or laying on of hands2 the breaking of bread1 or means of communication with the ,astral ,body of ,jesus2 and the ,appareillamentum1 or means of receiving divine grace4 ,in peculiarities of faith and of its expression some of our ,french sects certainly have little to learn from those of ,america and ,russia4 ,the ,religion of ,satanism--or1 as it was sometimes called1 the ,religion of ,mercy--founded by ,vintras and ,boullan1 deserves special mention4 ,vintras was arrested--unjustly1 it seems certain--for swindling1 and in the visions which he experienced as a result of his undeserved sufferings he believed himself to be in communication with the ,archangel ,michael and with ,christ ,himself4 ,having spent about twelve years in ,london1 he returned to ,lyons to preach his doctrine1 and succeeded in making a number of proselytes4 ,he died in #ahge4 ,some years afterwards a doctor of divinity named ,boullan installed himself at ,lyons as his successor4 ,he taught that women should be common property1 and preached the union with inferior beings 7in order to raise them71 the union of charity1 and the union of wisdom4 ,he healed the sick1 exorcised demons1 and treated domestic animals with great success1 so that the peasants soon looked upon him as superior to the cure who was incapable of curing their sick horses and cattle4 ,vintras had proclaimed himself to be ,elijah come to life2 ,boullan adopted the title of ,john the ,baptist resurrected4 ,he died at the beginning of the twentieth century1 complaining of having been cruelly slandered1 especially by ,stanislas de ,guaita1 who in his ,temple of ,satan had accused ,boullan of being a priest of ,lucifer1 of making use of spells and charms1 and--worst of all--of celebrating the ,black ,mass4 ,the founder of the ,religion of ,humanity had a tragic and troublous career4 ,genius and madness have rarely been so harmoniously combined for the creation of something that should be durable and of real value4 ,for one cannot doubt the madness of ,auguste ,comte4 ,it was manifested in public on the #abth of ,april1 #ahbf1 and interrupted the success of his lectures1 which had attracted all the leading minds of the time1 including ,humboldt himself4 ,after a violent attack of mania1 the founder of the philosophy of ,positivism took refuge at ,montmorency4 ,from there he was with difficulty brought back to ,paris and placed under the care of the celebrated alienist1 ,esquirol4 ,he was released when only partially cured1 and at the instigation of his mother consented to go through a religious marriage ceremony with ,madame ,comte1 after which he signed the official register ,brutus ,bonaparte ,comte6 ,the following year he threw himself into the ,seine1 but was miraculously saved1 and1 gradually recovering his strength1 he recommenced his courses of lectures1 which aroused the greatest interest both in ,france and abroad4 ,the ,positivist leader had always shown signs of morbid megalomania4 ,his early works are sufficient to prove that he was the prey to an excessive form of pride1 for he writes like a ,messiah consciously treading the path that leads to a martyr's crown4 ,his private troubles aggravated the malady1 and the escapades of his wife1 who frequently left his house to rejoin her old associates1 were the cause of violent attacks of frenzy4 ,later the philosopher himself was seized by an overwhelming passion for ,clotilde de ,vaux1 a writer of pretensions who was1 in reality1 distinguished neither by talent nor beauty4 ,the feeling that she inspired in him has no parallel in the annals of modern love-affairs4 ,after some years1 however1 she died of consumption1 and the germ of madness in ,comte1 which had been lying latent1 again showed itself1 this time in the form of a passionate religious mysticism4 ,his dead mistress became transformed1 for him1 into a divinity1 and he looked upon everything that she had used or touched as sacred1 shutting himself up in the midst of the furniture and utensils that had surrounded her during her life-time4 ,three times a day he prostrated himself1 and offered up fervent prayers to the spirit of ,clotilde1 and he often visited her grave1 or sat1 wrapped in meditation1 in the church that she had frequented4 ,he sought to evoke her image1 and held long conversations with it1 and it was under her influence that he founded a new religion based chiefly on his ,positivist ,catechism4 ,in this cult1 ,clotilde symbolised woman and the superior humanity which shall proceed from her4 ,although a profound and original thinker1 ,comte was like the rest in considering himself the ,high ,priest of his own religion4 ,he sought to make converts1 and wrote to many of the reigning sovereigns1 including the ,tsar2 and he even suggested an alliance1 for the good of the nations1 with the ,jesuits6 ,but to do him justice we must admit that he led an ascetic and saint-like life1 renouncing all worldly pleasures4 ,an ,englishman who saw much of him about #ahea declared that his goodness of soul surpassed even his brilliancy of intellect4 ,though he had so little sympathy for the past and present religions upon whose grave he erected his own system1 he himself reverted1 as a matter of fact1 to a sort of fetishism2 and his ,humanity1 with which he replaced the former gods1 manifested nearly all their defects and weaknesses4 ,in his ,sacerdoce and ,nouvelle ,foi ,occidentale the principal ideas are borrowed from inferior beliefs of the ,asiatic races4 ,he incorporated the arts of hygiene and medicine in his creed1 and declared that medicine would reinstate the dominion of the priesthood when the ,positivist clergy succeeded in fulfilling the necessary conditions4 ,the remarkable success of this religion is well known4 ,numerous sects based on ,comte's doctrines were founded in all parts of the world1 and his philosophy made a deep impression on the minds of thinking men1 who assisted in spreading it through all branches of society4 ,even to-day believers in ,positivism are found not only in ,france1 but above all in ,north and ,south ,america4 ,in ,brazil1 ,comte's influence was both widespread and beneficial1 and the very laws of this great ,republic are based on the theories of the ,positivist leader4 ,the value of certain of his fundamental doctrines may be questioned1 equally with the ruling ideas of his religion1 his ,messianic role1 and his priesthood4 ,but there is nevertheless something sublime in the teaching that individual and social happiness depends upon the degree of affection and goodwill manifested in the human heart4 ,this is no doubt one reason why the adherents of the ,positivist ,church are so often distinguished by their high morality and their spirit of self-sacrifice4 ,in addition to purely local sects and religions1 ,france has always harboured a number of ,swedenborgians1 whose beliefs have undergone certain modifications on ,french soil4 ,for instance1 thaumaturgy was introduced by ,captain ,bernard1 and healing by means of prayer by ,madame de ,saint-,amour4 ,but ,leboys des ,guais1 the acknowledged leader of the sect about #ahej1 reverted to the unalloyed doctrines of the founder1 and thanks to ,mlle4 ,holms and ,m4 ,humann1 and their church in the ,rue de ,thouin1 the ,swedenborgian religion still flourishes in ,france to-day4 ,the ,irvingites1 founded in ,scotland towards the end of the eighteenth century1 also made many ,french converts4 ,irving preached the second coming of ,christ1 and believed that the ,holy ,ghost was present in himself4 ,he waited some time for ,god the ,father to endow him with the miraculous gifts needed for establishing the new ,church1 and then1 finding that many of his followers were able to heal the sick with surprising success1 he concluded that heaven had deigned to accept him as the second ,saviour4 ,he organised a ,catholic ,apostolic ,church in ,london1 and proclaimed himself its head2 while in ,paris the principal church of the sect1 formerly in the ,avenue de ,segur1 has now been moved to the ,rue ,francois-,bonvin4 ,woman is excluded from the cult1 and consequently the name of the ,virgin is omitted from all ,irvingite ceremonies1 while the ,immaculate ,conception and the ,assumption of the ,virgin are denied4 ,but many other sects exist in addition to those already mentioned4 ,often their life is short as a summer night1 and they appear and disappear1 leaving no trace behind them save a passing exaltation in the hearts of their followers4 ,those who join them seem for a time to be satisfied with dreams and illusions1 but usually end by returning to the bosom of the established ,church--or by being confined in an asylum4 ,these innumerable sects with their illusory pretensions serve to demonstrate the truth of our thesis--that the most ardent desire of present-day humanity is for the renewal or transformation of the faith to which it has grown accustomed4 ,a well-known critic has claimed that it is possible for all the dramatic or comic incidents that have been played in all theatres of all ages to be reduced down to thirty-six situations from the use of which not even a genius can escape4 ,to how many main variations could we reduce the desire for reform displayed by our religious revolutionaries8 ,the search for salvation takes on so many vague and incalculable shapes that we can only compare them to clouds that float across the sky on a windy day2 but there are1 all the same1 signs of kinship to be discovered even between the sects that appear to be furthest apart4 ,the ,chlysty1 from whom the religion of ,rasputin was partly derived1 show some resemblance to the ,shakers1 and to the ,christian ,scientists1 both of whom have evolved along lines diametrically opposed4 ,the ,shakers1 direct descendants of the ,huguenots1 teach that the end of the world is at hand1 and that all men should repent in preparation for the coming of the heavenly kingdom4 ,their meetings have always been characterised by visions and revelations1 and they sing and dance for joy1 leaping into the air and trembling with nervous excitement--to which fact they owe their name4 ,in tracing out their history we find many striking analogies with the sects of our own day4 ,it was in #aggj that the ,shakers believed ,christ to have reincarnated in the body of ,anne ,lee1 the daughter of a ,manchester blacksmith4 ,although married1 she preached--like ,mrs4 ,eddy a hundred years later--the benefits of celibacy1 the only state approved by ,god4 ,her convictions were so sincere1 and her expression of them so eloquent1 that when charged with heresy she succeeded in converting her accusers4 ,the cult of virginity was adopted by her followers1 who considered her their ,mother in ,christ1 inspired from on high2 and when she counselled them to leave ,england and emigrate to the ,new ,world1 they followed her unquestioningly1 even to embarking in an old and long-disused vessel for the ,promised ,land4 ,arrived there1 however1 their lot was not a happy one1 for they met with much persecution1 and ,anne ,lee herself was imprisoned4 ,but after her release she preached with greater force and conviction than ever the end of sexual unions and the near approach of the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,her eloquence attracted many1 and even today her religion still has followers4 ,among their settlements we may mention that of ,alfred1 ,maine1 where a number of spiritual families live harmoniously together1 convinced that the ,kingdom of ,god has already descended upon earth1 and that they are existing in a state of celestial purity like that of the angels in heaven4 ,they refuse to eat pork or to make use of fermented drinks1 and dancing still plays a part in their religious services4 ,sometimes1 in the midst of the general excitement1 a sister or a brother will announce a message that has been delivered by some unseen spirit1 whereupon all the hearers leap and dance with redoubled vigour4 ,to-day1 even as a hundred years ago1 the ,shakers affirm1 not without reason1 that ,heaven and ,hell are within ourselves1 and that that is why we must live honestly and well in order to share in the heavenly kingdom from which sinners are excluded4 ,just so do ,christian ,scientists declare that we may be led by faith towards heaven1 happiness and health4 ,even murder1 that most extreme perversion of all moral feeling1 has been adopted as a means of salvation by several ,russian sects as well as by the ,hindus1 evolving in widely contrasted environments4 ,the general desire to gain1 somehow or other1 the favour of the ,eternal ,principle of ,things1 thus expresses itself in the most varied and the most unlikely forms1 one of the most striking being that of the religion of murder1 which throws a lurid light upon the hidden regions of man's subconscious mind4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,murder ,there are certain periodical publications which as a rule are neither examined nor discussed4 ,yet their existence dates back for many years1 and in this age of filing and docketing they must by now provide a regular gold-mine for the study of human psychology4 ,what increases their value is that they avoid all attempt at literary effect4 ,no picked phrases1 no situations invented or dramatised to suit the taste of the author2 nothing but facts taken from real life and recorded by the functionaries of ,his ,majesty the ,emperor of ,india4 ,we are referring to those very interesting ,reports of the ,indian ,government to which we owe practically all our knowledge of fakirism and its miracles1 of the artificial conservation of human life in the tomb1 and of the strangulation rites of the ,thugs4 ,they are indeed a valuable contribution to the study of the perversions of religious faith--that most alluring and yet least explored section of psychology4 ,a librarian at the ,british ,museum showed me some years ago one of the most suggestive documents that the art of cartography has ever produced4 ,it was the famous map prepared by ,captain ,paton1 about #ahij1 for the ,british ,government1 showing the various neighbourhoods in which the ,thugs had strangled and buried their victims4 ,drawn up according to precise information furnished by several leaders of the sect1 it indicated every tomb in the province of ,oudh1 where the majority of the worshippers of the goddess ,kali were to be found4 ,the written descriptions that accompanied the map were particularly interesting1 for--like ,swift1 when he enumerated the benefits that would accrue to the starving ,irish people if they killed their children like sheep and ate them instead of mutton--,captain ,paton felt himself compelled to record the glorious deeds of some of the most valiant of the ,thugs4 ,he gave details which would have rejoiced the imagination of a de ,quincey or an ,edgar ,allan ,poe4 ,about #ebjj murders had been committed by a company of forty people1 all highly thought of and commanding general respect4 ,at their head was the venerable ,buhram1 who laid claim to #ica assassinations during his forty years of religious activity in the province of ,oudh4 ,the second in merit1 one ,ramson1 had strangled #fjh people4 ,the third1 it is true1 could only claim about #ejj1 but he had reached this figure in thirty years1 and had made a record of #be murders in one year4 ,others had to their credit #cgg1 #cdj and #bfd assassinations respectively1 after which one dropped from these heights to figures of twenty1 ten or even only five annual murders in honour of ,kali4 ,this record undoubtedly represented the supreme flower of the religion of this goddess1 who not only taught her followers the art of strangulation1 but also succeeded in hiding their deeds from the suspicious eyes of unbelievers4 ,murders followed thick and fast1 one upon another1 but though thousands of ,hindus1 rich and poor1 young and old1 were known to disappear1 their terrified families scarcely dared to complain4 ,english statisticians go so far as to say that from thirty to fifty thousand human lives were sacrificed every year on the altar of this fatal goddess1 who1 desiring to thwart the growth of the too prolific life-principle in the universe1 incited her worshippers to the suppression and destruction of human beings4 ,but while using her power to shelter her followers from suspicion and discovery1 ,kali expected them1 for their part1 to take care that none witnessed the performance of her duties4 ,one day misfortune fell upon them4 ,a novice of the cult had the daring to spy upon the goddess while she was occupied in destroying the traces of her rite1 and ,kali's divine modesty being wounded1 she declared that in future she would no longer watch over the earthly safety of her followers1 but that they themselves must be responsible for concealing their deeds from the eyes of men4 ,thus1 after having worshipped her with impunity for centuries1 the ,thugs all at once found themselves exposed to the suspicions of their fellow-countrymen1 and above all1 of the ,british ,government4 ,captain ,sleeman played the part of their evil genius1 for in his anger at their abominable deeds he decided1 in spite of the resistance offered by the heads of the ,east ,india ,company1 to wage war to the knife against the religion of ,kali4 ,such alarming reports were received in ,england that at last the home authorities were aroused1 and in #ahcj a special official was appointed to direct operations 7the ,general ,superintendent of ,operations against ,thuggee74 ,captain ,sleeman was chosen to fill the appointment1 and he dedicated to it all his courage and practically his whole life4 ,the tale of the twenty years' struggle that followed would put the most thrilling dramas of fiction in the shade4 ,in the works founded on ,captain ,sleeman's reports1 and above all in his own official documents1 are found remarkable accounts of the ways in which the ,thugs lured their victims to their doom4 ,a ,mongol officer of noble bearing was travelling to the province of ,oudh accompanied by two faithful servants4 ,he halted on his way near the ,ganges1 and was there accosted by a group of men1 polite in speech and respectable in appearance1 who asked permission to finish their journey under his protection4 ,the officer refused angrily and begged them to let him go on his way alone4 ,the strangers tried to persuade him that his suspicions were unjust1 but1 seeing his nostrils inflate and his eyes gleam with rage1 they finally desisted4 ,the next day he met another group of travellers1 dressed in ,moslem fashion1 who spoke to him of the danger of travelling alone and begged him to accept their escort4 ,once more the officer's eyes flashed with rage2 he threatened them with his sword1 and was left to proceed in peace4 ,many times again the brave ,mongol1 always on his guard1 succeeded in thwarting the designs of his mysterious fellow-travellers1 but on the fourth day he reached a barren plain where1 a few steps from the track1 six ,moslems were weeping over the body of one who had succumbed to the hardships of the journey4 ,they had already dug a hole in the earth to inter the corpse1 when it was discovered that not one of them could read the ,koran4 ,on their knees they implored the ,mongol officer to render this service to the dead4 ,he dismounted from his horse1 unable to resist their pleadings1 and feeling bound by his religion to accede to their request4 ,having discarded his sword and pistols1 he performed the necessary ablutions1 and then approached the grave to recite the prayers for the dead4 ,suddenly cloths were thrown over his own and his servants' heads1 and after a few moments all three were precipitated into the yawning hole4 ,it may be asked why so much cunning was needed in order to add a few more members to the kingdom of the dead4 ,the reason is that the ,thugs were forbidden to shed human blood4 ,the sacrifice could only be accomplished through death by strangling4 ,it might often be easy enough to fall upon solitary travellers1 but woe to the ,thug who in any way brought about the shedding of blood6 ,consequently they had to have recourse to all sorts of ingenious methods for allaying suspicion1 so that their victims might be hastened into the next world according to the rites approved by their implacable goddess4 ,they believed in division of labour1 and always acted collectively1 employing some to entice the victim into the trap1 and others to perform the act of strangulation1 while in the third category were those who first dug the graves and afterwards rendered them invisible4 ,the murders were always accomplished with a kind of cold-blooded fanaticism1 admitting neither mercy nor pity1 for the ,thug1 convinced that his action would count as a special virtue for himself in the next life1 also believed that his victim would benefit from it4 ,feringhi1 one of the most famous of ,indian stranglers1 who also held a responsible official position1 was once asked if he was not ashamed to kill his neighbour4 ,no1 he replied1 because one cannot be ashamed to fulfil the divine will4 ,in doing so one finds happiness4 ,no man who has once understood and practised the religion of ,thuggee will ever cease to conform to it to the end of his days4 ,i was initiated into it by my father when ,i was very young1 and if ,i were to live for a thousand years ,i should still continue to follow in his footsteps4 ,the ,thugs of each district were led by one whom they called their jemadar1 to whom they gave implicit obedience4 ,the utmost discretion reigned among them1 and they never questioned the plans of their superiors4 ,we can imagine how difficult it was to combat a fanaticism which feared nothing1 not even death2 for when death overtook them1 as it sometimes did1 in the performance of their rites1 they merely looked upon it as a means of drawing nearer to their goddess4 ,the origin of this extraordinary religion seems to be hidden in the mists of the past1 though ,european travellers claim to have met with it in ,india in the seventeenth century4 ,we may note that during the ,mahometan invasion all sorts of crimes were committed in the name of religion1 and possibly the murders in honour of ,kali were a survival from this time4 ,as years went by the sect increased rapidly1 and many of the most peaceable ,hindus were attracted by it1 and joined it in the capacity of grave-concealers1 spies1 or merely as passive adherents who contributed large sums of money4 ,in ,sleeman's time about two thousand ,thugs were arrested and put to death every year1 but nevertheless their numbers1 towards the end of the nineteenth century1 were steadily increasing4 7,of recent years1 however1 a considerable diminution has been shown47 ,in #ahie only three are recorded to have been condemned to death for murder2 in #ahif1 ten2 and in #ahig1 twenty-five2 while travellers in ,rajputana and the ,hyderabad district speak of much higher figures4 ,the ,thugs always bear in mind the maxim that dead men tell no tales1 and their practice of killing all the companions of the chosen victim1 as well as himself1 renders the detection of their crimes extremely difficult2 while their mastery of the art of getting rid of corpses frequently baffles the authorities4 ,further1 the terrified families of the victims1 dreading reprisals1 often fail to report the deaths1 so that the sect has thus been enabled to continue its murderous rites in spite of all measures taken to stamp it out4 ,they avoid killing women1 except in the case of women accompanying a man who has been doomed to death1 when they must be sacrificed in order to prevent their reporting the crime4 ,stranger still1 they admit that murder is not always a virtuous action1 but that there are criminal murders which deserve punishment4 ,when a ,thug is killed1 said one of them to the celebrated ,sleeman1 or when one does not belong to the sect1 and kills without conforming to the rites1 it is a crime1 and should be punished4 ,they seem to experience a strange and voluptuous pleasure when performing their rites of strangulation--a pleasure increased1 no doubt1 by the knowledge that their goddess looks on with approval4 ,yet even the most hardened among them is capable of the greatest chivalry when women are concerned1 and a rigorous inquiry into the details of thousands of their crimes has failed to reveal any single attempt at violation4 ,a ,thug returning from one of his ritualistic expeditions may show himself to be a good and affectionate husband and father1 and a charitable neighbour4 ,apart from numerous acts of assassination1 on which he prides himself1 his conduct is usually irreproachable4 ,no wonder that he fills the ,english magistrates with stupefaction1 and that justice does not always dare to strike when it can act more effectively by persuasion or seclusion4 ,all things evolve with the passage of time1 and in the twentieth century even the rite of strangulation has undergone changes4 ,from the main sect of ,thuggee1 other branches of a new and unlooked-for type have sprung4 ,these1 instead of strangling their neighbours1 prefer to poison them1 the virtue being the same and the method easier and more expeditious4 ,their proceedings1 though more difficult to control1 are quite as lucrative for ,kali1 the devourer of human life1 and if they have made their goddess less notorious than did the ,thugs1 they certainly worship her with equal ardour4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,reincarnationist',s ,,paradise ,amid luxuriant vegetation1 in an enchanting position overlooking the ,pacific ,ocean1 flourishes the religion of reincarnation without beginning and without end4 ,its followers1 gathered there from all parts of the world1 steep themselves in the atmosphere of fraternal love and general benevolence which is exhaled by this doctrine of the evolution of souls1 leading to ultimate perfection4 ,the scenes which greet the dazzled eyes of the visitor are of such extreme beauty that he might well believe himself to have been miraculously transported to ancient ,hellas4 ,greek theatres and temples gleam whitely in the shade of majestic palm-trees1 and groups of young people dressed like the youths and maidens of ancient ,athens may be seen taking part in rhythmic dances and elaborate processions4 ,amid the dirt and chaos of our modern world this ,grecian city seems to have sprung up as by a miracle1 fully reconstituted not only in its outer appearance but also in its inner life of harmony and peace4 ,theosophists of every degree1 who in other lands seem so often to lose themselves in a mist of vague dreams and metaphysical speculations1 have here succeeded in expressing their ideals in concrete form4 ,why postpone the paradise promised by ,karma1 the fundamental law of life8 ,why not seek to enjoy it now1 without delay8 ,so a number of the scattered disciples of ,madame ,blavatsky1 following their new guide1 ,catherine ,tingley1 set to work to construct their holy city in ,california1 on the shores of the ,pacific1 like the ,jews who followed ,moses to the ,promised ,land4 ,these teachings1 handed down through untold ages1 rejoice to-day in a setting that would surely have astonished their ,hindu or ,egyptian progenitors2 and the revelations which came to ,madame ,blavatsky after her discovery of the forgotten truths of a dim and distant past bid fair to revivify our time-worn planet4 ,since the war there has been a tremendous revival of theosophical propaganda in allied and neutral countries1 in the ,old ,world and in the ,new1 and without doubt ,theosophy1 together with ,christian ,science--to which it is in many ways opposed--is destined to undergo striking developments4 ,the new theory of metempsychosis saw the light about fifty years ago4 ,it was brought to the ,united ,states by ,helena ,petrovna ,blavatsky1 a ,russian lady of noble birth and high educational attainments1 whose thought had been influenced partly by the esoteric wisdom of the past and partly by the religious unrest of her native land4 ,the doctrine of reincarnation has been accepted in ,india and ,egypt for at least three thousand years4 ,it was taught secretly in the ,eleusinian mysteries4 ,the philosophy of ,pythagoras and of ,plato is deeply impregnated with it4 ,the ,early ,christian ,church1 as well as the ,gnostics1 admitted it tacitly1 but in the fourth century it was condemned by the ,fathers of the ,church and banished from orthodox ,christianity4 ,nevertheless it has always had an irresistible attraction for thoughtful minds1 and many of the greatest thinkers1 artists and poets of all ages have been firmly convinced of its truth4 ,once installed in ,new ,york the ,russian prophetess sowed far and wide the seeds of her new faith1 whose consolatory doctrine attracted many who were saddened by the phenomenon of death1 while at the same time it brought her many enemies4 ,after a time she departed for ,india1 where her teachings became considerably enriched and widened by local and historical influences4 ,she died in ,london in #ahia4 ,we will pass in silence over the calumnious and dishonourable accusations which poisoned her years of triumph1 and with which it has been sought to tarnish her memory4 ,in these days we slander our prophets instead of killing them--a procedure which may cause them greater suffering1 but has no effect upon the spread of their doctrines4 ,madame ,blavatsky's philosophy is set forth in a series of elaborate works of which the chief are ,the ,secret ,doctrine1 the ,key to ,theosophy1 and ,isis ,unveiled1 constituting1 according to the author1 a key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology4 ,to this medley of thoughts and facts drawn from the mystical wisdom of all countries and all ages1 the magic of the writer's style gives a peculiar force and flavour1 and though she may not always convince1 she certainly offers food for thought and speculation--which is1 perhaps1 even more essential4 ,her frequent lack of precision and clearness seems only to enhance the effect of her affirmations and revelations4 ,a prophet who could easily be understood by intelligences of all grades would soon come to grief1 for religious teachers1 like philosophers and metaphysicians1 seem to be esteemed and admired largely in proportion to the vagueness of their doctrines4 ,the works of ,madame ,blavatsky are worthy of being classed among the most obscure1 and for that very reason have every chance of endurance4 ,in spite of the differences that arose among the principal ,theosophists 7who included ,colonel ,olcott1 ,william ,q4 ,judge1 and ,annie ,besant7 after their leader's death1 ,catherine ,tingley succeeded in rallying large numbers of the ,american believers to her banner1 and founded a colony at ,point ,loma1 ,california1 under the name of the universal and theosophical brotherhood1 which was approved by the ,theosophical conferences held in ,new ,york and ,chicago in #ahih4 ,theosophy is in fact a philosophy of altruism1 whose main tenets are brotherly love and justice4 ,by following truth the soul becomes purified1 and after a life consecrated to others and guided by the laws of justice1 the individual may hope to reincarnate in some higher form4 ,as the poet of ,sakuntala has said--,in other existences we all have loved and wept--but the divine ,kalidasa teaches that past lives should not be spoken of1 for the mystery of rebirth is sacred4 ,the duality of our being is shown1 on the one hand1 in our earthly sins and failures1 and on the other in the spiritual aspirations which ever urge us on to greater heights4 ,the law of ,karma affirms the relationship between cause and effect1 and teaches that as a man sows1 so shall he also reap--and consequently1 the better our thoughts and actions now1 the greater our advancement in the next life4 ,it is in the teachings of the divine ,krishna that we find the original source of the greater part of modern ,theosophy4 ,his precepts are full of consolation for restless minds1 and have the power to reconcile us not only to death1 but to life4 ,in the vast store-house of the world's legends there is none more beautiful than that of the immaculate maiden ,devaki1 who in a divine ecstasy1 amid strains of celestial music1 brought forth the child of ,mahadeva1 ,sun of ,suns1 in perfect serenity and bliss2 while the story of ,krishna's life1 his dangers and temptations1 his virtues and his beauty1 his wisdom and his final supreme initiation1 has provided the ,hindu world with conceptions of a grandeur1 originality and depth rarely met with elsewhere4 ,to this well of wisdom came ,plato and ,pythagoras1 and drew from it the chief ingredients of their philosophies2 and here1 too1 we receive from the lips of ,krishna1 thirty centuries before the birth of ,christ1 the first faint intimations of the immortality of the soul4 ,he taught his disciples that man1 living upon earth1 is triple in essence1 possessing spirit1 mind and body4 ,when he succeeds in harmonising the two first1 he attains the state of ,sattva1 and rejoices in wisdom and peace4 ,when he succeeds in harmonising mind and body only1 he is in the state of ,raja1 which is unstable and dangerous4 ,when the body preponderates1 he is in the state of ,tamas1 that bindeth by heedlessness1 indolence and sloth4 ,man's lot depends therefore on the correlation of these three states4 ,when he dies in the state of ,sattva1 his soul rises to regions of the utmost purity and bliss1 and comprehends all mysteries1 in close communion with the ,most ,high4 ,this is true immortality4 ,but those who have not escaped from ,raja and ,tamas must return to earth and reincarnate in mortal bodies4 ,in later years ,hermes ,trismegistus1 the ,thrice-,greatest ,one1 further developed these principles1 adding to them the mystical treasures of ,egyptian wisdom4 ,it has been said by ,lactance that ,hermes1 one knows not how1 succeeded in discovering nearly all the truth4 ,during the first few centuries of the ,christian era his works enjoyed a considerable vogue1 and he also had a very great influence on the ,renaissance period4 ,the ,hermetic books1 with all their mysteries1 have become part of the theosophical gospel1 as well as the doctrines of ,plato and of the ,neo-,platonists1 ,plutarch's treatises on ,isis and ,osiris1 the philosophies of ,plotinus and ,iamblichus1 the teachings of ,philo and of the ,gnostics1 and the works of innumerable others1 who in seeking to throw light on the super-physical realms seem often only to have succeeded in plunging them into greater darkness4 ,augmented by all these obscure products of philosophy and metaphysics1 the new ,theosophy gives the impression of a gigantic and impenetrable maze1 but it must be admitted that its followers have drawn from it maxims whose justice and high morality are beyond question4 ,the general trend of its teachings is indicated by the following sublime passages from the ,bhagavad ,gita1 or ,lord's ,song3-- ,he attaineth ,peace1 into whom all desires flow as rivers flow into the ocean1 which is filled with water1 but remaineth unmoved--not he who desireth desires4 ,whoso forsaketh all desires and goeth onwards free from yearnings1 selfless and without egoism--he goeth to ,peace4 4 4 4 ,freed from passion1 fear and anger1 filled with ,me1 taking refuge in ,me1 purified in the fire of wisdom1 many have entered into ,my ,being4 ,however men approach ,me1 even so do ,i welcome them1 for the path men take from every side is ,mine1 ,o ,partha4 ,but the many imitations and variations of this wonderful ,song have despoiled it of some of its freshness and beauty1 so that in these days it is rather like the airs played on barrel-organs whose original tunefulness is forgotten through wearisome repetition4 ,theosophists are also concerned1 with studying the sevenfold nature of man and of the universe1 with the existence of invisible worlds1 the graduated stages of death and rebirth1 and the attainment of divine wisdom through perfect purity of life and thought4 ,they are opposed to racial prejudices1 social classifications1 and all distinctions that separate and divide mankind1 and they inculcate the greatest possible respect for1 the widest possible tolerance between1 the world's different religions4 ,like ,christian ,scientists they do not believe in the practice of hypnotic suggestion1 but they disagree with the materialism of the ,scientists1 holding that1 in the search for truth1 purity of life is the one essential1 and worldly prosperity of small importance4 ,in #aiab and #aiac ,mrs4 ,tingley visited ,europe and made numerous converts in ,england1 ,italy1 ,france1 ,germany and the ,scandinavian countries1 while the ,theosophical ,conference held at ,point ,loma in #aiae1 in the interests of peace and universal brotherhood1 was an immense success4 ,the ,theosophists have always been ardent workers in the cause of international peace1 and while awaiting the dawn of a ,new ,age when war shall be unknown1 they strive to forestall its advent in their ,californian paradise4 ,dramatic and musical performances are given in theatres built in the ,greek style2 there is a college of ,raja-,yoga1 where thousands of pupils of all races are initiated into the mysteries of ,karma and ,reincarnation2 a ,school of ,antiquity1 temple of the living light1 where the secret of living in harmony with nature is taught2 frequent lectures1 conferences1 sports and games2 while animated conversations concerning memories of past lives have an undying fascination for the adherents of this doctrine which sends so many missionaries out into the world every year4 ,unlike other sects1 the ,theosophists do not seem anxious to publish their numbers abroad--whether because they make too many converts1 or too few1 it is impossible to say6--but there must certainly be hundreds of thousands scattered throughout the ,united ,states1 ,india1 and the ,anglo-,saxon countries4 ,,translator',s ,,note ,the foregoing chapter scarcely seems complete without some reference to the other two centres where an attempt has been made to express the ideals of ,theosophy in concrete form--one in the ,east1 at ,adyar1 ,madras1 the other in the ,west1 at ,krotona1 near ,los ,angeles1 ,california4 ,the former came into being in #ahhb under ,madame ,blavatsky's own leadership1 and has grown from a small property of only #bg acres to one of #bfc acres4 ,with its many fine buildings it has a river-frontage 7on the ,adyar river7 of one mile1 and a sea-frontage of two-fifths of a mile4 ,here ,mrs4 ,besant--,world-,president of the ,theosophical ,society1 apart from ,mrs4 ,tingley's followers--makes her home1 leaving it only for periodical lecturing tours throughout ,india1 or for visits to ,london and other ,european centres4 ,her lectures at ,queen's ,hall1 ,london1 in the years immediately preceding the war1 and again in #aiai1 were remarkable for the crowds who flocked to listen to one who1 whether her views find agreement or not1 is universally admitted to be in the front rank of living orators4 ,adyar possesses an excellent library1 with many valuable books and manuscripts relating to the ancient religions of ,india2 a publishing house1 the ,vasanta ,press1 whence are issued yearly numerous theosophical books1 pamphlets and magazines1 for purposes of study and propaganda2 a lecture hall which seats #aejj people1 but into which as many as #bcjj have found admittance on special occasions2 a ,masonic temple2 an extensive building for the housing of resident students2 and very beautiful grounds with a palm-grove and an ancient banyan tree1 in whose shade many of the most important theosophical lectures and conferences are held1 and around which more than #cjjj people of all nationalities have often been gathered to hear the discourses of the ,president and her colleagues4 ,a striking feature of the grounds is the massive sculptured trilithons1 about #bjjj years old1 brought from a ruined temple in southern ,india1 and erected here in picturesque surroundings4 ,the colony at ,krotona is of more recent origin1 and its environment is similar in some respects to that of ,point ,loma4 ,founded in #aiab by ,a4 ,p4 ,warrington1 the head of the ,american section of the ,theosophical ,society under ,mrs4 ,besant's leadership1 it stands on high ground on the outskirts of ,hollywood1 a suburb of ,los ,angeles1 with magnificent views of the ,santa ,monica ,mountains and of the valley leading to the sea twelve miles away4 ,this ,institute of ,theosophy takes its name from the ,school of ,science1 ,art and ,philosophy founded by the great ,pythagoras1 and aspires to be to-day what his ,krotona was in the past--a centre of spiritual enlightenment4 ,it is run on co-operative lines1 and on a non-profit basis4 ,there are no servants in the community1 and the means of support is from a ground-rent or tax charged to each house-builder1 from the renting of rooms1 and from voluntary donations4 ,the buildings are in picturesque ,moorish or ,spanish style1 their white walls gleaming amid the brilliant flowers and luxuriant greenery of this favoured climate4 ,they include a fine ,lending ,library and ,reference ,room1 a scientific research laboratory1 a publishing house1 an administration building1 and many pretty villas and cottages4 ,there is also a temple1 in whose auditorium religious ceremonies1 meetings1 lectures and concerts take place1 and an open-air stadium where each year a miracle play is to be produced1 the one first chosen being a dramatisation of ,sir ,edwin ,arnold's ,light of ,asia1 which ran for three weeks in the summer of #aiah4 ,the ,english ,headquarters of the ,society are now at #bc ,bedford ,square1 ,london4 ,,conclusion ,tell us then1 ,mary1 what hast thou seen upon thy way8 ,i have seen the shroud and the vestments and the angelic witnesses1 and ,i have seen the glory of the ,resurrected4 ,saints and prophets of all lands and all ages bear an unconscious resemblance one to another4 ,the craving for truth1 the unquenchable desire to escape from reality1 leads them into realms of mystery and dream1 where simple peasants and labourers1 religious men and agnostics1 philosophers and mystics1 all meet together4 ,their unsuspicious minds are easily dazzled by the least ray of light1 and deceived by the most unlikely promises1 and it is not surprising that they are often imposed upon and led to accept false ways of salvation4 ,many of the mystics show a desire to revert to the ,esoteric ,christianity dear to ,saint ,john1 the disciple whom ,jesus loved2 or to that of ,mani1 whose doctrine--unjustly distorted by his detractors--was concerned with direct initiation and final mergence in the ,divinity4 ,but it is not easy to progress against the stream of the centuries1 and with the ,catharists of ,hungary1 the ,albigenses of ,provence1 and the ,templars massacred in the name of ,st4 ,augustine--that ancient ,manichean who became the worst enemy of his fellow-believers--,esoteric ,christianity seemed to have died out4 ,nevertheless the desire for it has never been destroyed1 and continues to inspire the teachings of all those who revolt against dogmas that tend to restrict the soul's activities instead of widening them4 ,logically1 all viable religious evolution is a departure from the ,christianity which has moulded our present-day thought and morality and is the centre of all our hopes4 ,but every new revival has to reckon with it4 ,madame ,blavatsky1 for instance1 made ,gautama ,buddha--the king's son who became a beggar by reason of his immense compassion for mankind--the central pivot of her esotericism1 which was ,buddhist rather than ,christian in essence2 but ,annie ,besant1 the spiritual leader of modern ,theosophy1 has returned to ,christianity and acknowledges the divinity of the ,son of ,man4 ,this symbolic example should reassure ,christian believers1 showing how even those who depart from ,christianity contribute1 in spite of themselves1 to its continuous growth4 ,crowds of new phenomena are now demanding entry into the divine city of religion4 ,there is1 first of all1 science1 undertaking to present us with a morality conforming to the ,gospel teachings1 which it claims have become a dead letter4 ,but if twenty centuries of ,christianity have not transformed human nature1 neither has science4 ,materialism and commercialism have failed just as the ,church1 with her spirit of exclusion and domination1 has failed4 ,the fact that all these have worked separately and in hostility to one another is perhaps the reason1 for mutual understanding and respect1 once established between them1 might well result in a new revelation worthy of the new humanity which shall emerge from this tragic age4 ,a superior idealism1 at once religious1 social and scientific1 must sooner or later bring new light and warmth to the world1 for a world-crisis which has shaken the very foundations of our existence cannot leave intact its logical corollary1 faith1 in whose vicinity threatening clouds have long been visible4 ,as at the dawn of ,christianity1 the whole world has seemed to be rent by torturing doubts and by the menace of an approaching end4 ,after having been preserved from destruction by ,christ for two thousand years1 it suddenly found itself in the throes of the most appalling upheaval yet experienced1 with the majority of its inhabitants engaged in a murderous war4 ,the dream of human brotherhood1 glimpsed throughout the centuries1 seemed to be irretrievably threatened1 and once more arose the age-old question as to how the ,reign of ,love was to be introduced upon earth4 ,the present era shows other striking analogies to the early days of ,christianity1 as1 for instance1 in the democratic movement tending to establish the sovereignity of the people4 ,but it is no longer exceptional men1 like prophets1 who proclaim the dawn of the age of equality1 but the masses themselves1 under the guidance of their chosen leaders4 ,in the book of ,enoch the ,son of ,man tears kings from their thrones and casts them into ,hell2 but this was only an isolated seer daring to predict misfortune for those who built their palaces with the sweat of others4 ,the old-time prophets desired to reduce the rich to the level of the poor1 and a man denuded of all worldly goods was held up as an ideal to be followed4 ,this naturally necessitated mendicity1 and it was not till some centuries had passed that the ,church herself became reconciled to the possession of riches4 ,our own age1 however1 desires to uplift the poor to the level of the rich1 and a more generous spirit is manifested1 in accordance with the progress made by the science of social reform4 ,still it is1 at bottom1 the same spirit of brotherhood1 enlarged and deepened1 which now seeks to level from below upwards instead of from above downwards4 ,distrust and suspicion are directed chiefly towards the ,new ,rich1 products of the war1 who have built up their fortunes on the ruin and misery of others1 and to these might be addressed the words of ,jesus to the wealthy of ,his time--,be ye faithful stewards--that is to say1 ,make good investments for the ,kingdom of ,god in the interests of your fellow-men4 ,we are witnessing a revival of the good tidings for the poor1 in whom may be included the whole human community4 ,for the revolution of to-day differs from that of the simple ,galileans1 and is of grave and universal portent1 proceeding1 as it does1 from men who have thought and suffered1 and profited by the disorder and misery of thousands of years4 ,the ,gospel is in process of being renovated4 ,all these new churches and beliefs can only serve to strengthen the great work in which the ,word is incarnated4 ,whether produced by deliberate thought or by unconscious cerebration1 whether professed by saints or practised by initiates1 they hold up a mirror to the soul of contemporary humanity with all its miseries and doubts2 and for this reason1 whatever their nature or origin1 they are deserving of sympathetic study4 ,there are great religions and small ones1 and as with works of art1 we are apt to find in each1 more or less1 what we ourselves bring to it4 ,jeremiah1 when travelling through ,ancient ,egypt1 felt indignation at the sight of gods with hawks' or jackals' heads2 while the touching confessions of the dead1 consigned to papyrus--,i have not killed6 ,i have not been idle6 ,i have not caused others to weep6--only drew from him exclamations of anger and contempt4 ,herodotus1 a century later1 also understood nothing of this world of mysterious tombs1 with its moral teachings thousands of years old1 or of the great spiritual revelation with which the land of the ,pharaohs is impregnated4 ,both alike--,jeremiah1 unmoved by the cruelty and hardness of ,jehovah1 ,herodotus1 oblivious to the sensuality and immorality of his own gods1 who1 according to ,xenophon1 were adepts at thieving and lying--shook their heads in dismay before the ,egyptian symbols4 ,but ,plato1 on the contrary1 was able to appreciate the harmonious beauty of a divine ,trinity1 sublime incarnation of that which is eternal1 unproduced1 indestructible 4 4 4 eternally uniform and consistent1 and monoeidic with itself4 ,there are1 no doubt1 many ,jeremiahs to-day1 but there are also understanding souls capable of taking an interest in even the most bizarre manifestations of religious faith4 ,these throw a revelatory light upon some of the most painful problems of our time1 as well as upon the secret places of the human soul where lurks an ever eager hope1 often frustrated1 and alas1 often deceived4 ,all religious sects and reformers since the time of ,christ have only succeeded in modifying1 renovating1 uplifting or debasing the eternal principles already enunciated by the ,son of ,man4 ,he it was who founded the integral religion for all time1 but as it permits of the most varied interpretations1 innumerable and widely divergent sects have been able to graft themselves upon its eternal trunk4 ,after ,him1 said ,renan--who has been wrongly considered an opponent of ,christ--there is nothing to be done save to develop and to fertilize1 for ,his perfect idealism is the golden rule for a detached and virtuous life4 ,he was the first to proclaim the kingdom of the spirit1 and has established for ever the ideal of pure religion2 and as ,his religion is a religion of feeling1 all movements which seek to bring about the kingdom of heaven upon earth can attach themselves to ,his principles and to ,his way of salvation4 ,further1 any religious movement which appeals to our higher instincts must eventually contribute to the triumph of human brotherhood and to the beautifying of human life--which increases the interest of studying all attempts at revival and reform4 ,such a study will prevent us from being overwhelmed by the uglinesses of life1 or from becoming sunk in a morass of material pleasures1 and will open up ways of escape into the heavenly realms4 ,the true teaching of ,jesus has1 as a matter of fact1 never yet been realised in practice4 ,it holds up an ideal almost unattainable for mortals1 like the light of a fixed star which attracts us in spite of its unthinkable distance4 ,but we may1 perhaps1 by roundabout ways1 ultimately succeed in giving a definite form to the ,platonic dreams which ever hover around the shores of our consciousness4 ,among the saints and initiates who work outside the borders of accepted dogma1 there are often to be found some whose originality and real spiritual worth is not generally recognised1 and instead of turning away from their visions and revelations1 we should rather examine them with close attention4 ,even if our faith gains nothing1 we shall be sure to pick up psychological treasures which could be turned to the profit of science4 ,we have been re-living1 in these recent years1 the desolation of the prophets1 only that the suffering of the few in former times became with us the suffering of all4 ,there is the same difference between the troubles of ancient ,judea and those of the modern world1 as there is between her miniature wars and the colossal conflict whose aftermath is with us still4 ,yet now1 as in the time of ,isaiah1 the nations long for eternal peace1 and the desire for a world more in harmony with man's deepest thoughts and wishes is one of the dominant causes of religious schism and revolt4 ,let us hope that the world-wide catastrophe that we have witnessed may yet lead to the realisation of the ideal expressed by ,jesus1 and by the ancient prophet before ,him3-- ,and he shall judge among the nations1 and shall rebuke many people3 and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares1 and their spears into pruning hooks3 nation shall not lift up sword against nation1 neither shall they learn war any more4 ,and again--,the work of righteousness shall be peace2 and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever4 ,and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation1 and in sure dwellings1 and in quiet resting places4 ,many are being stirred to new life and action by dreams which hold1 in almost every case1 some fragment of the longed-for truth1 however foolish or illogical in expression2 and we should in consequence approach the dreamers with all the sympathy of which we are capable4 ,often their countenances are made beautiful by love1 and they will1 at the least1 provide us with a golden key to the fascinating mysteries of man's subconscious mind4 ,what though their doctrines vanish from sight under the scalpel of analysis8 ,it is no small pleasure to contemplate1 and even to examine closely1 such delightful phantoms4