THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20095, 26 November 1930, Page 15

THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY.

•ro Tilt EDITOR or THE TRT.SS Sir,—l must confess that 1 have been sadlv disappointed by the tinswer of the" Rev. Tremayne Cnrnow, to the letter in which 1 deplored the lack of direct spiritual knowledge by the leaders of our churches. Your correspondent instead of dealing with the main subject matter of my letter, preferred to discuss the otymology of the word " gnostic " ending v/ith the statement tliixt the Gnostics were really recognised as heretics by the early Christian Church.'' But what was it to be an heretic, after all? In my opinion, heretics were the verv life of the early Church, and the product of courage, intelligence, and honesty combined. Being compelled to accept dogmas to which they not subscribe, they preferred a life of ostracism and martyrdom to that of a dishonour*?'! dishonest acquiescence. Dogmas being static, while the Divine Life is dvnamic, these noble souls could be held,' cribbed, and cabined by the verv thing which they believe to ba tho'negation of life—Copernicus, Savonarola. Guidano Bruno, 'who prayed while the consuming flames were licking hi« bodv, and St. Francis of Assisi, who founded" an heterodox sect (which later was recognised by the Church). This noble son of God was so full of lovo that he even spoke to the animals, whom he called by the name of brothers, while the dogmatic Church denies them even a soul! As if anything in the Universe could exist without being animated bv the Divine Life,, the very basis of'reality, without which nothing could even bo conceived. What about the Maul of Domremy, who .was burnt at the stake for having saved her own country from the invaders, aiul also for claiming to have had a direct communication with Spiritual Power. It took her own Churcn centuries to recognise the greatness and nobility and the purity of her deeds! All these heretics claimed to know this Divine Life, which to them was a living realitv, otherwise they could not have faced 'all the persecutions, the dangers of ostracism, rind even death at the stake. These heroes have been called "God inebriated houls " —a glorious designation. Further still, listen to tho prophets of old. How they thundered, with what fervour they spoke, what eloquence and force of inner knowledge, which transcended and annihilated the limitations of time and space, so that_ their words still tingle in our ears, as if they were spoken to-day! Will the "'os.age ot the present day Church bo heard 20 centuries hence? The "Gloomy Dean waxes indignant over the iniquities of income taxes, remaining torgetful of the groat promise held out to us when we shall dwell in that blessed Land whence there will be "No returns. However, I am neither gloomy nor despondent, for the ray of hope is reaching us from tlio Lambeth Conference, and we have reason to believe m the probability of our CUureh he coming n dvnamic force again, thus fulfilling the "purpose of its existence namely, to be the channel of the living Keality, and not the exponent of static dogmpis. The Day is at hand, for the Churcli, like everv other branch of human ae, tivities, is subject to the great law of adaptation to the newer and also high ,-r spiritual keynote. This law .is hi «xorable, and when it is ignored, disintegration sets in. I have no fear hi stating that the disappearance of those great civilisations of the past was due, primarilv, to their inability to give o:\prossioii to the higher' keynote demanding recognition.—Yours, etc., ri. colons:a. N, nvetn bur -'olh, 1930.

10 [as EmToa Of las i-Kiist ,~ir. —It i's lenainiy a considerably step forward to lmL Archdeacon Taylor. lory nearly, to admit that there reuilv is not necessarily any incomji.itilJilit.V between membership of the Theosophieal Society on the bu§is of itb three fundamental objects and a thorough-going Christian' belief and

practice. Tina is important whou it is further remembered that us to members ''their bond ol union is not the profession of a common belief but a common search and aspiration tor tiutli." ''Freedom ol Thought" is a. very jealously-guarded prerogative of members, and in the Society's constitution, plainly printed in every official magazine, this interesting sentence occurs: "No teacher nor writer fiom H. P Blavatsk.v downwards has any authority to impose his teachings or opinion on members." Archdeacon Taylor is somewhat doubtful, however, of the term "creed Hi the Society's first object, which reads: "To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of humanity, withuui distinction ol race, sex, creed, caste, or colour." Dees the Archdeacon suggest that those only who belong to the Christian creed belong to "the universal brotherhod of humanity"? Is he not in this, and his other references to the subject, unduly narrowing dowp the wonderfully beautiful idea of the Fatherhood of God, in winch the idea of "universal brotherhood" is clearly implicit? Just one quotation from St. Paul should inake this abundantly clear: "There is one God and Father of all, who is above oil, and through all, and in you all" (fcphesians IV.. 6). It is no doubt from this and many another similar passage that we derive the Christian idea of God as Spirit, of God as a vast conscious life infinite, imminent, and umni-prosent "in wTioni we live, and niove and have our b<!ing." When this is realised the mode of approach aecins to become a matter of little import Surely we may approach the "All Pervasive" either as the ''Within" o.- the "Without" ; whether the formulary used be words or helpful actions. How can the Archdeacon, in the name of Christianity, possibly object to a reliance on "the God within" when the greatest of all authorities on the subject taught that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.'' It is somewhat difficult, too. to fellow the Archdeacon in his reasoning when lie states that because the Society mi't?ls on Sunday it is therefore "either a religion or an opposition to religion." As a matter of fact it need be and is neither. Tt is a religious and uhilosopbie society based on the three )isndamental objects already outlined. —Yoiirs, etc.,

(TIGS. 111. IJROWN. V ice-president Christehureli Lutlge or the Theosophical Society. N':>v«rnber 2oth, 1930