THE REV. J. J. B. COLES, ON THEOSOPHY. 



49 



"By their fruits ye shall know them." Theosophy has been 

 practised for ages in the east. What is the situation in India 

 to-day 1 is it not parallel with that of the inhabitants of Palestine 

 who, on account of their wickedness, were dispossessed of their land 

 by the Hebrews 1 The theosophy, philosophy and idolatry of 

 India have not enabled its rulers to retain the Government which, 

 falling from their weak and enervated grasp, has been seized by the 

 English. But let the English beware lest they follow the example 

 of the Hebrews, and become entangled with the philosophies of the 

 conquered races and share their woes. 



Mr. David Howard said : I always feel some disappointment in 

 reading modern theosophists' ideas such as those we have had 

 brought before us this afternoon. There is really nothing new, 

 everything is to be found in what Buddha said, or Confucius, or 

 Plato, only Plato said it better than it is said to-day. It is a 

 reproduction of the Gnostic teaching of the time of Irenaeus ; he was 

 extremely clear in his pronouncements on Gnosticism, but did not 

 claim to understand it, it was too indefinite. Lucretius made 

 wonderful guesses, so could all the old alchemists, vying with the 

 sounder guesses of Sir William Crooks to-day. Paracelsus wrote a 

 great deal of mysticism, or humbug : Which ? The sound thinkers 

 work on clear, sound, open methods, the theosophist tries by the 

 back door, or hidden ways to ascertain the mysteries of Science. 

 To the old problems of the human heart were offered the old cures. 

 Do Buddha, Confucius or Plato really answer these problems of the 

 human heart 1 No one really understands their mysticism, though 

 Christians under the guidance of St. Paul saw what Plato was 

 aiming at, and could supply the real answer. Would not Buddha, 

 if he had met our Lord, have seen in him the answer to his long- 

 ings 1 We have the fuller revelation, why turn back to ancient 

 unsatisfactory exhausted myths ? We know that boiling oil was an 

 antiseptic, wine was aseptic, but do we turn back to these from 

 Pasteur and Lister, dare we go back from the revelation of the 

 Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Way, that Buddha could not find, 

 the Truth that was always just beyond Plato, and the Life, for it is 

 this life which He can give which is lacking in all these ancient 

 systems. 



Mrs. Sharpe said she had listened with great interest to the 

 lecture and speeches that afternoon. She could not avoid feeling 



