brotherhood of the ark; but I knew that I should have his mystic presence with me in the lodge at the mountain's base, for the absence or presence of a genius is a matter of state rather than of place.

When I had nearly reached the lodge, I thought of the mortal I had seen struggling on the cloud-bound crag to the right of the monastery, and my soul went out to help him rend the cloud and find the path; "for" I said, "it may be permitted him, though it is for me to dwell in the lodge." Then I rested against the verdant terrace that marked the approach to the lodge, and my soul went up to his and we wrestled with the forms in the labyrinthine cloud till a voice sounded from the Celestial City, "The united desire of the two souls accomplisheth that which is denied to one; admit the pilgrim." Then the cloud parted and the way to the monastery of the ark appeared. I heard its gates open with a musical sound and then the pilgrim's genius appeared to conduct him over the rough path and intervening chasm.

When I arose from the velvet terrace where my natural form had rested, and entered the lodge I could still hear the musical strains that had issued from the monastery, and realized that it is the law of higher life that each should rejoice in the preferment of others, for therein doth the joy of angels consist.

"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." Isaiah, xxv. 7.

CAPRICORN.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

ANOTHER installment of "How to study Solar Biology" will be given in our next; the contributor of this series was unexpectedly called out of the city and did not return in time for this issue.

THE Comments of the translator of Occult Medicine will be somewhat modified by Van Helmont's theory of the action of remedies which will be given in our next. HAVING returned from his vacation, Prof. Butler resumed his Sunday night lectures before THE SOCIETY ESOTERIC on the evening of the 19th of August. The Sunday afternoon meetings will not be resumed until September 9th. The lectures commence at 3 and 7.45 P. M.

"THEO-SOPHIA, from the Wisdom of the Wise," which attracted so much attention at the time it appeared in the April and May numbers of THE ESOTERIC, has been reprinted in pamphlet form and is now ready for delivery. Price 15cts. post paid.

"CORRESPONDENCE" forms quite a feature of the present issue, more space than usual being warranted on account of "Unity of Desire" experiences, and recommendations regarding the location of the Esoteric College. A suggestive and impressive thought on this latter subject will be found under head of "An Astral Vision," on page 131.

ALTHOUGH forty pages of reading matter is our present standard we gave our readers forty-six in the August number and give them forty-four in the current issue. The law of expansion has been our rule from the start, and by the co-operation of our subscribers we trust to be able to continue the same course. The more numerous our readers, the more we are warranted in giving, as the greater the number issued the less in proportion is the cost of a single subscription, and consequently we are enabled to serve our readers, as well as the cause, more abundantly. Therefore we earnestly request our readers to secure all the new subscribers they can, and also to send us the names of those they cannot see in person, but think would appreciate THE ESOTERIC. Subscriptions may commence at any time, as we can supply all back numbers from date of first issue, July 1887. For inducements to getters up of clubs, see page 42, Volume II.

THE ESOTERIC.

A Magazine of Advanced and Practical Esoteric Thought.

Copyrighted, 1888.

VOL. II.]

{

[No. 4.

SEPT. 22. TO OCT. 22.

UNCONSCIOUS SOUL-GROWTH.

THE real secret of development from lower to higher forms of existence, is a simple unconscious adherence or obedience to the laws and conditions most closely affecting the substance being acted upon.

In his endeavors and longings for a better comprehension of the laws operating through his organism, man, in the present age, matures nobler and more perfect ideas with regard to his important earth-mission.

More and more, as his knowledge of inner resources becomes plain, he learns intuitively to link in unbroken continuance the natural with the spiritual world. Thus, in treating the subject of growth, we may positively assume that both natural and spiritual development are promoted and brought to maturity by the same great plan of procedure.

A slight consideration of the phenomenon of vegetable or animal growth will convince all that the growth of soul may be explained, through analogical reasoning, upon the same basis with the growth of less important life.

In those humble, modest ways, universally characteristic with Nature, she constantly holds before us the lessons which fully unveil life's deepest mysteries. Day by day, year by year, she parades them before our blinded eyes, and because of their extreme simplicity and frequency of occurrence we ignore them. We delight rather to look above them, and in our yearnings to gain the heights, before we have felt beneath us the solid foundation of a right beginning, we lose all.

Soul-growth and perfecting of character is the prime object in man's presence upon this planet. A belief being entertained of this, the great question presents itself: What must be done to accomplish this highly necessary achievement?

God requires of us no impossible task. In all the innumerable departments of Ĥis great Natural Laboratory, impossible feats are neither expected nor attempted. The sublime ends for which each was intended are reached by different roads and attain their goals of perfect use by apparently different methods and laws, applying perfectly to individual peculiarities.

The child, under laws analogous with the flower's, grows and passes through the different stages of physical development, and yet, how widely the paths diverge! The same earth, the same air, may furnish sustenance to both. The flower grows on and on to perfect development and subserves the humble use for which it was created; the child in like manner attains

the ends of physical growth and if, like the flower, he could remain unconscious to those external influences which wrongly beset his reasoning powers, his innner life would quickly and naturally attain the pure spirituality, which is illustrated externally in the beautiful perfection of the flower. And now the answer to the above question. As implied, God asks us to do only reasonable things. He requires only just such an amount of effort or energy in any department of the universe as is consistent with the end to be achieved.

To man He has been especially indulgent, in that He has shed upon him the very light of divinity and unlimited resources of power. This great possession which man holds pre-eminently his own, above all other objects of creation, is often lost sight of and crushed beneath a mountain of self-sufficiency and misapplication of the reasoning faculties.

Growth of soul-power and inner purity can come only through the Divine environment of all that is good and eternal. This environment is alike free to all mankind. It thrusts itself upon us at every step in life and from the very fact of its universality and constant presence we fail to estimate its importance. Rather than look for a means of development always at hand and ready to act upon us, we anxiously journey through life's winding by-ways and long for that which is ever following us, ever surrounding us.

Constant reasoning and anxiety for the Higher Life will not entirely prevent its coming in a partially satisfactory manner, but the growth will be attained more speedily and perfectly by relinquishment of all worry or misgivings for the future. Give up all anxious thought; fear no evil of personal harm- simply hold yourself in position and desire, clearly and in faith that soul-illumination may be visited upon you, and God through the action of His immutable laws will do all. Remember that these laws are ever present. It is useless to search for them. They beset you continually, ever seeking an opportunity to act upon you, precisely as they encompass the flower and bring it surely and beautifully to its ultimate of

use.

A separate environment is not given to each production in nature. The air, the earth, the water, that sustain one tree of a forest are alike free and useful to all the others.

Your environment in a natural point of view, is mine, and the same great good may be derived from it by each, if submissiveness is practiced and consistent adherence to laws of environment is observed in a faithful

manner.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow."

Here is the substance of it all. This question of soul-growth has been before humanity since Christ uttered these words on the mount. When will we imbibe the truths of the divine theory embraced within these simple words which are upon the lips of all the civilized world?

In the very simplicity of the parable of the lilies, we pass it unnoticed, thereby thoughtlessly refusing the key which alone can admit us to the temple within, and give us the true Christ-like growth.

The hidden simile of the lilies' and the soul's growth is one of the many indescribably beautiful and perfect comparisons of the natural with the spiritual, with which Christ's sayings are pregnant.

And above all other teachers and seers of whom history informs us, his doctrines, from their simplicity and foundation upon a natural line

of thought, are given a stamp of divine origin which the consistent truthseeker can scarcely question. Of all nature's floral offerings none present the clear embodiment of purity that is manifest in the lily of the mountain as described by the Great Teacher. "They toil not, neither do they spin." How could we more plainly be told that our futile struggles for a higher life and our endeavors to force a growth is entirely uncalled for? At last these struggles, these feelings of anxiety must cease and the great change will come only through humble and complete passivity.

Learn patience, learn to acknowledge your littleness and incompleteness before eternal forces and your dependence upon them. Accept reverses without a murmur, for often they will prove the most fortunate occurrences of your life. Faithfully keep your true position. Calm the external senses, which mislead you, and bring them completely under your powers of true understanding. This can be accomplished by following the careful instructions which are made a prominent feature in THE ESOTERIC. When you have done this, and even as the change goes on, your innerlife will expand and come to consciousness of a necessity, through the action of these ever present laws and forces.

Step by step, little by little, unnoticed as with the flower, your growth will proceed. So quietly and calmly will the God-given qualities unfold that you will scarcely know that the change has been inaugurated until, by and by, in the fulness and satisfaction of your attainments you will realize that you have risen to a new and infinitely higher plane of existence.

Then, and then only, when the goal is reached, you can look into the past, and trace your soul's progress in its journeyings through the winding · labyrinth of experience. Then you will see how completely the laws which act upon the flower and bring it to perfect development, are likewise applicable to yourself, and humanity in general.

ROADS TO IMMORTALITY.

THE CAPTAIN'S DOUBLE. *

C. H. MACKAY.

A certain Captain von Härdteck of the sixth regiment of the line, at P**rch * had a remarkable experience. His parents sent him to the military academy, although he had shown no special inclination for an army career. Nevertheless he adapted himself very well to his calling. He was diligent, was scrupulously attentive to his duties, and on entering active service he was particularly favored, so that his promotion was hastened. He soon became a captain, and then for the first time he began to reflect upon the conditions of his profession. "It is difficult," he once said to himself, "to unite the true man with the soldier, inasmuch as the latter, too severely bound to forms, very easily loses himself in them and holds them for the essential. But just when the forms are strict, the heart must be yielding and humane if one is not to oppose himself to the first law of human nature."

Amid such reflections, and with the most scrupulous attention to his duties, he had passed three years as captain, when he began to feel a strange sensation internally and upon his head.

*The translator of "Roads to Immortality" has made the valuable acquaintance of the gentleman who published some parts of the same book in "the Path," and avails himself of his kind offer to make use of his translation of "the Captain's Double" and some other fragments. He does so with pleasure as he regards the translation a very good one.

"What is that?" he thought; "are my broodings injuring my health or confusing my understanding?" He examined himself closely, but found nothing that could cause concern. One evening when alone in his room he seemed to feel a presence at his side. He looked, but that which he thought to see turned backward as he turned. He looked straight forward again and, behold, at his side there stood a figure which, with some exertion, by turning only his eyes and not his head, he recognized as the image of himself!

He could not repress an involuntary shudder and fled from the chamber to rid himself of his strange companion. Outside the house, he saw the figure no more, but he continually seemed to feel its presence. "What will come of this?" he thought; "I am not a Sunday child that sees ghosts!"

The next day, at the same hour, the apparition came again, but this time much plainer than before. When he sat down it sat beside him; when he paced the room it accompanied him ; and when he stood still it stood still also. "This is no illusion!" he cried, " for I am conscious of everything else. What shall I do? In whom confide? nobody will believe me; they would even ridicule me. I must keep my own counsel and, though the case is a strange one, can do nothing more than meet it with manly courage." Captain von Härdteck had long been betrothed to Fräulein von Blum, but could not obtain permissiou to marry. He had sent a third petition to the ministry of war and was daily looking for an answer. Three days afterwards the colonel of his regiment came to him at dress parade and congratulated him on his speedy marriage. "The permission of the King," said he, "has arrived! in an hour, at the furthest, you will receive it and all the hindrances that stood in your way will be removed."

In his strange situation this news did not cause him such joy as it formerly would have done, for it was his duty to inform his betrothed of his peculiar condition, and he was doubtful how it would be received. "Heretofore," he thought, "my happiness has been delayed by earthly circumstances; and now heaven, or at least a spiritual being, comes in my way." With faint heart he set out to see his beloved one. What he feared, happened; she was horrified to learn of his ghostly companion and begged for time to reflect and consult her parents. Härdteck parted from her in sorrow and said, "My heart loves sincerely and were you in my place I would not hesitate; I will not complain, however, but will hope that your heart will conquer fear."

He passed two anxious days in uncertainty. On the third he received from the father of his beloved a letter which said that under the circumstances the proposed marriage could not take place. He was sorry to give an honorable man such an answer, but his love for his daughter compelled him to; he would count upon the uprightness of the captain and hoped their friendly relations would not be broken off.

Härdteck read the letter with silent resignation and said at last: "It is not my destiny to be happy; I must bear this loss, heavy though it be." The King's permission and the intended marriage were generally known, and everybody wondered that the affair should come to an end at the moment of fulfillment. The officers of the regiment took it as an insult to their comrade and demanded satisfaction of the young lady's father. The colonel himself summoned the captain and questioned him about the matter. Härdteck declared that he alone was to blame; something had hap