The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1898, Page 24

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1898. Paris! That name suggests more ldeas to more people than any other word among the languages of men. It recalls the revolution which at the close of the last century overthrew the old order of | things, signifies the most brilliant real- jzatlon of the present social system, which that revolution brought into be- ing, and now, more potently than any other one word, intimates a prophecy of another revolution and a new social or- der yet to be. All the world reads with interest of Paris; or if any one here or there is so | sated and staled by the frequent repeti- tion of its story as to turn aside indif- ferently from a book bearing as a title that magic name the flagging intere: would be revived and the jaded curlosity be roused again by sceing upon the vol- ume Inscribed as author the name of Zola. To-day the name of the man is almost as famous as the name of the cit Whenever in intelligent circles either is mentioned the other is soon heard. Each name serves contending parties as a battle-cry in the conflicting opinions .of the time. Each has strong friends and bitter enemies. Few men regard either with Indifference. For these reasons “Paris, by Emile Zola,” is destined to be the subject of as flerce a controversy as h: ever been | waged in the annals of literature, anu an excellent translation into English by | Ernest A. Vizetelly just published in two of volumes by the Macmillan Company London and New York, will give to B ish and American iders and critics a falr cause and opportunity to take part in the conflict with as much keenness as the French themselves. The work is for sale in this city by all booksellers, and San Francisco, therefore, is as well sit- uated to share in the fray as any other community. The work is the culmination of the most | ambitious literary effort of our time. In the trilogy of the three cities, Lourdes, Rome and Paris, Zola has attempted to accomplish much more than the narra- | tion of interesting incidents, the delinea- tion of striking characters, the picturing of the manners and morals of the time, and the portrayal of the emotions and passions of men involved in the meshes of chance and circumstance, lured by for- tune and confronted by fate. AIFof these things have a place in the drama un- folded in the trilogy, but they are but accessories to the central theme, which 18 no less than the struggle of humanity toward a new birth through which it shall attain a clearer perception of truth than has ever yet been taught in church or temple, sage, prophet or priest since the world began. Paris as depicted in this work is very different from the Paris of popular con- ception, of fasuionable novels or of guide books. It is even different from the Paris of the earlier novels of Zola himself. It §s not simply a splendid capital where luxury and misery crowd together, where tragedies and comedies mingle incessant- ly, where pleasure-seckers from the four quarters of the earth assemble to vie with one another in extravagance. where our civilization has blossomed into its most voluptuous rose and bears it sharpest thorn. It is as Zola himself describes it, *A huge vat In which a world fermented, something of the best and somethjfng of the worst, a frightful mixture such as gorceresses might have used; precious powders mingled with filth, from all of | them. | sought fir: which was to come the filter of love and eternal youth.” This being the conception of Paris out of which the story and all of its philoso- phy grow, it is scarcely necessary to say the book will not find favor with those to whom a novel is merely a means of pass- ing with pleasure an fdle hour. It is not meant for those who desire only a pleas- ant tale or an exciting romahce to amuse 1t is a work for the study of the serious; to be read as an illustration of total depravity, or as a prophecy of the | speedy coming of the dawn of a brighter e It is a challenge to every form of| conventional religion, to the Church of | Rome and to the whole scheme and dog- ma of Christianity. The keynote of the book is a denuncia- | tion of religion founded on charity and a demand for a religion founded on justice. The hero whose experiences and intellec- tual development constitute the continu- ity of the plot throughout the trilogy st for satisfaction for his aspl rations at Lourdes, but found there only the glorification of mysticism and renun- clation of reason. He turned to Rome to see if the faith and ardor of primitive Christianity could be renewed by the church, but found there what Zola calls “the rotted’trunk of a tree that could never put forth another spring time.” He went at last to Paris and sought consola- vorks of charity, only tofindthat charity itself is a blunder, that the reli- gion founded on it has become bankrupt, and that alms can never cure the suffer- ing of mankind. The story opens with Froment serving in one of the churches of Parls as an un- believing priest, convinced of the useless- ness of all his efforts to help others to- ward salvation. He goes forth on a mis- sion of charity, and straightway the nar- rative plunges into the slums and miser- jes of Paris. From the wretched tene- ments where poverty dies of hunger, and enforced idleness breeds the mad spirit of anarchy, he goes to certain rich phil- anthropists to seek aid for a starving man. Here he enters into the stream of corruption which wealth breeds, and comes into contact with one of the lead- ing characters of the story, Baron Du- villard, who “rotted and devoured, cor- rupted and swallowed everything he touched, and was also the tempter per- sonified—the man who bought all con- sciences that were for sale.” In this circle of the aristocracy of wealth he finds many patrons of chari- table institutions, but not one to help the | dying wretch in whom for the moment he | is particularly interested. He turns from them to the statesmen of the time and a striking chapter of the story describes a scene in the Chamber of Deputies when a | scandal breaks out over the bribery re- | sorted to by Duvillard to carry through | = a great railway scheme. Among the | characters introduced in this scene are | many which can be recognized even by American readers as portraits of well- known politicians and journalists. Froment fails in this circle as in the former one and is led to a visit to the residence of “Sylvaine,” the mistress of Duvillard, a woman of ‘“virginal coun- tenance,” with aspirations for success on the stage; a character which can be read- ily recognized as that of a Parisian cele- brity recently in this country. Here also he fails. No help is forthcoming. The starving workingman dies in his- garret. His friend Salvat, who also is destitute and starving, goes forth desperate into the streets of Paris with a bomb made of a powerful explosive he has stolen from | the laboratory of a great sclentist, Guil- laume Froment, and the first act of the drama ends with an attempt of the an- archist to blow up the house of Duvillard, an act which resuits only in the killing of an innocent working girl. From this point the story moves slowly forward through a maze of philosophical discussions, dissertations on society, dia- tribes on religion and studies more or less profound of all the complex problems of our disturbed and perplexed civilization. There are scenes of all kinds. A spiritual sermon by a popular and eloquent preach- er at the Madeline, an orgy at a decadent cafe, a debate in the Chamber of Depu- ties, a public execution by the guillotine, a marriage in high life, love among the curs when Guillaume, distracted by the | anguish brought on by the strain of his | self-sacrifice, turns anagchist, and plans to destroy the basilica of the Sacred Heart at a time when it was filled with thou- sands of devout worshipers. From the ac- complishment of this fearful crime the suffering man is saved by his brother, and then the story hastens to a swift con- clusion. Pierre finds the secret of happiness in life is labor and love. Guillaume, the man | of intellect, discovers that through the | sacrifice of self there comes a nobler self, 2 broader sympathy With humanity and a finer and fuller enjoyment in the exer- cise of the intellect itself. He turns the power of his great explosive to use in EMIL ZOLA, AUT G\ S\ My " N i . ‘g\]' HOR OF “PARIS.” lowly and bitter hatred among the fam- ilies of the rich, courtly incidents in the | homes of the old aristocracy, meanness | and madness in the tenements, pictures of labor in the workshops and one idyllic scene in the forest of Saint Germain. It is worth noting as an evidence that the book is fin de siecle that the lovers make the trip to the forest on bicycles. More- over, one of the most important conver- sations in the story is ecarried on over a telephone. The crisis of the story comes when Pierre Froment, having renounced the priesthood, falls in love with Marie, the affianced bride of his brother Guillaume. The scene in which Guillaume surrenders his love to his brother is one of the finest Zola ever wrote. The supreme climax oc- labor-saving machine, and thereby renders it a blessing and not a.| menace to the world. Bertheroy, the | | eminent savant, checrs them in their work. He calms their agitations and fierce de- operating a sires for a reforming revolution: *Does not science suff Why hasten the | times when one single step of science brings humanity nearer to the goal of | than do a hundred | ind social revolt? Why | which sweeps away truth and justice years of politi it is science alc and with sincere hearts the light comes at last, and with it peace and work and love. The contrast between these earnest souls and those of the mad anarchists, the profligate rich, the lying journalists, the self-seeking statesmen, the devouring courtesans, the almost equally vicious women of the circles where money rules and licentiousness affords the chief amusement of tedious lives, is vividly and Impressively brought out in a multitude of scenes of dramatic intensity. Through all there runs the one thought, the one lesson. Wide apart as are the dgflerent characters of the story, and dx\'é!‘sle as are their fortunes and their ambitions, the unity of the drama Is never broken. The fate of Salvat, the anarchist, is linked with the political for- tunes of the statesmen, and on them in turn depends the outcome of Sylvaine's desire to be admitted to the Comedie Francaise. The life of each affects the lives of all the others, and every incident has a bearing on the fortunes of all. Never has the constructive skill of Zola been better displayed than in the man- agement of this complex drama, and if the movement of the play were not so hindered by the mass of didactic dis- course the story would rank as one of the most intense and dramatic he has ever written. In the closing chapter Zola sums up the substance of his philosophy and preachesd the moral of his tale. Out of the seeth- ing vat good is to come. What matters all the wrongs and sins and miseries of the time, since humanity always ad- vances. “Liberty sprang forth from the vat to wing her flight throughout the world. And why in her turn should not justice spring from it?"” It is by science the revolution is to be achieved. ‘“Now that science has destroyed that false idea of heaven, and shown what dupery lies in reliance on the morrow of death, the slave, the workman, weary of dying for happiness’ sake, demands that happiness and justice shall find place on earth. Therein lies the new hope. Justice after eighteen hundred years of impotent char- ity.” This, then, is the philosophy of Zola, the lesson he has drawn from his life and labor and love in Paris, and which he has chosen to teach to the world in the form of a study of the city from which he has drawn so much inspiration and so much hope. The book closes with a triumphal burst of word music. The city glows in the light of the declining sun. The Beau- tiful Marie calls the attention of her hus- band to the glory of the scene: ‘Look, covered with a harvest of gold.” Zola adds: And Paris flared—Paris, which the divine sun had sown with light, and where in glory waved the great future harvest of truth and justice.” So runs the philosophy, the dream, the romanceof ideaswilder than anyromance of action. And now for reality: At the very time this exuberant prophecy of the fty, and a better practice than charity, was passing through the press Paris was in an uproar. A man who asked for jus- tice was being haled through the streets while an angry mob followed howling at his heels. The prisoner was the author of this prophecy of the new religion of aris and the cry of the Parisians was: Conspuez Zola!” JOHN McNAUGHT. dogmas, casts down gods and creates light and happiness. And I, member of | the Institute as 1 am, decorated and pos- | sessed of means, I am the only true revo- | lutionist. | Thus to those in the story who seek the | betterment of the world by right methods i HOW I PAINT A HEAD. HOW I PAINT A HEAD. By Magda M. Heuermann. Published by 8. R. Church, City. Here is a short work that may safely | look,” she exclaimed, “‘Paris is all golden | coming of a better faith than Christian-| be recommended to students of art. Its author is a lady who has established for herself a reputation not only in the circles wherein she moves, ‘but has succeeded in gaining a clientele to be envied. The principles enunciated by Mrs. Heuermann have apparently been found by her to be of a most helpful character, and they are stated with a clarity that is remarkable. The work under review Is well illustrated and printed and strongly bound. NEW AMER|CAI:I NOVELS. WARREN HYDE—By the “Unchaperoned.” New Yo Fepnno & Co. For sale at Doxey’s. ON THE WINNING SIDE—By Jeannetta H. Walworth. New York: R. T. Fenno & Co. For sale at Doxey s. We do not know who the author of “Unchaperoned”’ may be, but it is to be regretted that he or she has been let lcose on the literary market without a guardian, Presumably the writer is a woman and we would humbly advise her to engage at once a cultured chaperon, who might keep her wayward fancies within bounds and teach her at least ti elementary canons of good taste. ‘‘War- ran Hyde,” not to waste adjectives upon it, is « mawkish, pretentious volume, un- worthy of notice save to protest against its offensive motif. Tt is inconceivable that a self-respecting firm of publishers should have put its name to a story which is so obviously, through all the windings of its complicated plot, the product of a diseased brain. The second of these novels comes under a different and more pleasing category. It is a tale full of the warm sensuous coi- oring of the South. The plot is incon- sequential, the story loosely put together, the iInterest carelessly sustained, but these faults are atoned for by vivid word photos of character and scenery. The idea, too, is original, embodying the trials in the old slavery days, not of slaves or slaveholders, but of the poor “white trash” that stood between. Eliza Martin, come of an overseer’s family, nearly breaks her proud heart on returning, after many years of fashion- able schooling, to her sordid home in the “quarters.” Her brother, Strong Martin, educated at college with his master’s son, has his life embittered, being falsely sus- pected of a theft which the said son com- mitted. The war comes to level all things. Strong wins distinction and honor on the “Blue” side, and though repudiated by his family eventually wins happiness, while Eliza, the heroine, becomes mistress of one of those stately homes she once could not have entered. BOOK NOTES. In “The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories” Abraham Cahan has made studies of the Russian Jewish quarter of the East Side in New York. His volume of short stories will appear this month | from the Riverside Press. author of R. T. Richard Le Gallienne has been giving a series of readings from his own works at the Lyceum Theater under the manage- ment of Major Pond. It is stated that he intends to stay for a year, at least, in America. Mrs. Le Gallienne accompanies | him. Francis Wilson has made a record of his friendship with the late Eugene Field in a volume called “The Eugene Field I Knew,” which is in the Scribner’s press. “Like the Apostle,” says Mr. Wilson, *‘he was all things to all men—and much to many. . . . He was a terror to the politiclans, a Homer to the children, and different to, as well as from, everybody.” Out of his intimacy with the author of “Little ‘Boy Blue” he has made a book full of fascination. “The Loves of the Lady Arabella.” is the title of a new novel by Mollie Elliot Seawell, author of “The Sprightly Ro- mance of Marsae,” and “The History of the Lady Betty Stair,” etc. It is to be published by the Macmillan Company early in the spring, “Out of the 500 letters I receive daily,” says M. Zola, “barely 5 per cent contain insul Many people might think twenty-five abusive letters a day a gene- rous allowance, and, if he reads them all, M. Zola will have an unusually rich vocabulary for his next realistic novel. The Macmillan Company announce a new edition of Gllbert Parker's novels to be published early in the spring. This edition will include.“An Adventurer of the North,” “A Lover's Diary,” “A Ro- many of the Snows,’ “Pierre and His People,” “When Valmond Came to Pon- tiac.” We are to have a new edition of the poems of Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson. The only American edition of her work up to the present time was brought out some years ago in San Francisco, largely for private circulation. T. Fisher Unwin of London made a reprint, which has been on sale in England. “A Voyage of Consolation” is the title of the new book by Mrs. E. C. Cotes (Sara Jeanette Duncan) which is to be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. In this book Mrs. Cotes returns to the field which she developed with such success in “A Social Departure” and “An American Girl in London.” Some characters which delighted thousands of readers reappear in this new book, and their entertaining experiences on the Continent are set forth with unfailing good spirits and an apt appreciation of the picturesque and humorous features of FEuropean travel. The text is admirably supplemented with vivacious illustrations Messrs. Little, Brown & Co. of Boston will issue, in conjunction with Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., London, an important publication entitled “All the World's Fighting Ships,” by F. C. Jane, illustrated with portrait details of over 1000 warships, with notes and other useful statistics; the second volume of the “History of the Royal Navy from the Earliest es to the Present Day,” edited by Willam Laird Clowes; also a new edition of “Ironclads in Action,” in two volumes, by H. W. Wilson, with a preface by Captain A. T. Mahan. «The Disaster,” the new romance of the Franco-Prussian war, by Paul and Victor Margueritte, which is to be published im- mediately by D. Appleton & Co., has al- ready been the subject of favorable com- parison with Zola's “Debacle.” The father of the Marguerittes was a distinguished French general who was killed at Sedan, and the younger of the two brothers has had nine years of military service, so that they come naturally by their intimate knowledge of military affairs. They pic- ture the struggles of the Army of the | Rhine in various battles and they describe the surrender of Metz by Bazaine. Thelr graphic studies of the soldier's “experi- | ences are relieved by episodes of friend- ship and love which add brightness to their strong pictures of war. — < “The realization of the best within us."—Rev. William Rader. # |t is the vision of Christ."—Rev. J. G. Gibson. “ Heaven is a place.”"—Rev. C. B. Cherington. A place of many cities and many heavens."—Major Frank Robinson. rY IDEA OF HEAVEN. “ Heaven is but a higher plane of Cosmos."—D. J. Lawrence. A place of spirit { abode."—Chiquita. “ A state of progression.”—Mark Thall. “ The kingdom of heaven is within us."—Rev. D. V. Bowen. HAT is heaven like? Fervid eloquence, in- spired by ardent imagination in thousands of pulpits, during the Christian centuries has been employed to describe the unseen glories of the blessed place or condition. Wise men have differed as to whether heaven is a place or a condition. Belief differs still concerning that. Faith and hope alike lead all worshipers of the unseen God to look for- ward to a life of bliss beyond the grave as a reward for good deeds done in the flesh. The following opin- lons are in line with that view, but at the same time there is a wide divergence of opinion on the question: What is your idea of heaven? SR R The doctrine of heaven is so Inextricably con- nected with pagan fancies and unreal and impossible definitions that there is an inclination on the part of theologians to surrender to the well-established fancies of the popular mind and to epeak of heaven in terms of poetry and symbolism. But it is this old idea that prompts Frederick Harri- gon to speak of heaven as a vacuous eternity, a future of ceaseless psalmody, and who asks with fine scorn: *“Why should this great end staring at all of us along the vista of each human life be forever a matter of dithyrambic hypotheses and evasive tropes.” To be brief and at the same time intelligible 26 would say that I do not believe that heaven is the Elysian plains of the Greeks; nor in the green para- dise of the Scandinavian; nor in the conventional dream of streets of gold, and songs and harps, for which the orthodox Christian longs. I say T do not believe in these, but, strictly speaking, I do, and so do you, my reader. We all believe in the fundamental truths of these grand old pictures painted by the rommon mind, and respect, with reverent admiration, the mighty rose of Dante, with its petals made up or living angels, its glorious center the very holy of holies; in the transcendent pictures of Milton; and in the city of the new Jerusalem, which John saw de- scending out of heaven. We always think of heaven through the imagina- tion. Nobody has returned to tell us what heaven ls, and I confess that we all must be agnostic, just as Faul was when he said: “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face; now we know in part, but then we shall know even as we are known.” Heaven is not up nor down; neither here nor there; but, in the thought of the New Testament, (s the absence of sin. It is life, without life’s agonies; it is a temper; it may leave locality; if there is to be a place, then this present world will probably be that place. Heaven is harmony. It is progressive be- rause it is life; redemptive forever, because it is the very expression of eternal love;*a condition of spirit- nal satisfaction. Heaven is the realization of the best within us. It is life at its highest. Every soul makes its own heaven; its own hell. I believe in degrees there. Some have greater capacities than cthers. Heaven is time winnowed of its limitations and imperfections. The social problem is the attempt to translate the dream »f heaven into present industrial and political con- fiitions. : REV. WILLIAM RADER, | Congregationalist. . . As a Christian I like to think of heaven in the words of Christ. “In my father’s house are many v mansions. I go to prepare a REV. J. GEORGE place for you, and if I go I GIBSON, shall come back again and Bapti recelve you unto myself.” ————— Where heaven is I do not know. The Bible, as far as I have studied it, does not tell. From my reading of the old book it seems to me it is a place of abode and not a mere condition or existence. Will it have pearly gates and streets of gold? I do not kpow. In fact I do not care. There will be no =) | | trouble there. That is evidently the meaning of Christ when he says just before the woras we have quoted—"“Let not your heart be troubled.” I for one will be pleased with the furniture of heaven, what- ever it is, and with the locality of heaven, wherever it is, if there is no trouble in it. To me heaven is the vision of Christ. *“We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he i{s.” He will be there and to know him perfectly and see him with- out any veil of doubt between will be heaven. # g g Heaven is a place prepared by Ged for- his chil- dren, not a city, but many cities and many heavens, R where all the redeemed ones MAjJOR FRANK are praising God, singing ROBINSON, around his throne, walking Christ's Rescue Home. the gold - paved streets, plucking heavenly flowers and fruits. v . I do not believe that I care to discuss in public the topic in question. To suppose that heaven®is a | 7 real city, with real streets, ! DAVID STARR JORDAN.I is simply to draw upon our President everyday experience for that { Stanford Univensity. l which must transcend all experience. Any other idea of heaven, in so far as it is definite, must be drawn from experience, and we have no reason to suppose that our experience gives any clew to the nature of continued existence. . i Reading John xiv, second and third verses, where Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many man- —————————— 1 slons “Ff It were not 80 L REV. F. B. ! would have told you. I go CHERINGTON, to prepare a place for you. Plymouth Church. l And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself: that where I am there ye may be also—" reading these words I must believe that Jesus intended to teach that heaven is a place. But it is also a “condition,” in the sense that only those who are morally and spiritually prepared for it can enjoy it. Between the unprepared soul and heaven there is an “impassable gulf,” which is his own unfitness. ‘Where heaven is, and what it is like, I can no more tell than before my birth I could have told where this present world is or what it is like. s e 0= Oh, my, ves; I think of heaven, and I love to think of it as a real place, a place of abode, but spirit abode, - mind you, but just what it is CHIQUITA, like I cannot tell. When we have gathered around God's i The CubsriAkets great throne my spirit form — will be just as big and just as beautiful as anybody else’s. praising God and doing his will, and will be, oh, so happy. There is nothing like it, I.am sure, on this earth, and for that reason it is quite impossible for us as mortals to know about it or to form any but vague ideas of the ways and manners of a place so different from anything we ln.-ve seen, It you had asked me to define my impressions of the other and hotter place, it would have been much 7 easier for me to answer. Not S. H. FRIEDLANDER, I having had much of a fore- 3 taste of heaven in my earthly Theatrical Manager. l 1 experience, and having en- ! countered more or less of the tribulations that suggest what sort of an existence one may expect to drop into if he is billed for a post-mor- tem todr of the lower regions, you can readily under- stand that my preconceived notions of the “sweet by- and-by” are rather hazy, while the sulphurous side of the question finds me comparatively at home. T would get decidedly mixed up if I had to lay out a map of the golden streets or draw a diagram of the ‘We will spend our time', golden stair, but to describe gridirons and toasting forks and furnaces and all such paraphernalia would be no trouble whatever. My idea of heaven is a place where stage-struck girls, young and old, have dropped their mistaken am- bition along with their earthly habiliments, and who have no desire to exchange their earthly robes for tights, or the trailing garments of a Lady Mac- beth. I would want to see each unhappy damsel or dame transformed into a smiling and con- tented spirit, the world and its grease-paint forgot- ten forever. Stage-struck men and women are' af- flicted by a fever hard to cure. Perhaps their ruling passion, strong in death, “will be unquenchable by all the waters flowing in the river Styx.” . . . I was born a Methodist, and believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. This earthly ex- 1 T istence is a probation. At the C. F. CURRY, day of judgment all will be i judged justly, yet mercifully. Smpypcer That there Is a future state in ~—————— ! which all human beings will attain immortality and develop for good or evil is rec- ognized by the lowest savages, as well as by the brightest minds of the highest civilization. That the streets of heaven are literally paved with gold, I am not prepared to admit. Any human being who lives up to the Master’s maxim of “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them,” which is an epitome of the Ten Commandments, will be sure of everlasting. bliss in heaven, whether it be a real city, a place of abode or a condition in exist- ence. . . . “In my Father's house are many mansions” was al- ways a clear statement to me. I thought it to mean — just what it sald. Lately, however, I have shifted around to belleve that Christ spoke figuratively when he made this statement, and that he had in mind varying degrees of happiness. I am inclined to believe that heaven is a pleasurable spirit existence, attainable only by Christian work and spiritual well doing during life. . . HENRY SCHMITT, Track Repalrer. If the Book of Revelation is any gulde, and it cer- tainly is, heaven is a eity of streets, beautiful build- 7~ ings and flowers and wonder- ful things far beyond the conception of man in his present state of existence. Just where such city is built or its size, I do not know; neither does that worry me. Heaven is described in the Revelation as a sure enough city. As John saw it, heaven was very much of a city, a place of .abode.. GEORGE B. PRATT, Street Car Conductor. . Of course I believe in heaven. As to its location, I have never given any thought. That's a matter too deep for me. I like to think of heaven as a place where there's no more sOrrow, nor care, nor trouble of any sort. Somewhere in God's great universe there must be a central point or rather a place of spirit abode. Tha£ is he:.ven. ELIZA HOFFMAN, Saleswoman, What is heaven? If it be all that is said of it, cer- tainly there must be peace and happiness. If such be the case, the seed which is sown in the mind of the soul at birth, of ambition or slothfulness, study or indo- lence, soclal prominence or a desire for a retired life, placed there by nature, which never deviated, and which has followed man's foot- steps in earth-life, certainly is not laid aside at the grave, if the spirit lives and passes on to the be- yond. That being the case, to have a haven of repose and perfect happiness, the nations of the world could MARK THALL, Theatrical Manager. not be massed together, all of one mind, enjoying the same phase of happiness, for what would be pleas- ure to the cne would be misery to the other. Then my idea of heaven-life, death and hereafter is that it is a state of progression, and as we leave this sphere so shall we begin in the other, and the seed which we sow here will be reaped according to their merits in the land to which we have through the laws of nature been transferred. . . . Heaven is God's presence and Jesus is the door. When the Redeemer taught his apostles of the life to T —— came he said: “I am the way.” His clearest descrip- tion of heaven is residence in the Father’s house. Christian Y ' belief asserts'its right to con- ceive an infinite heaven. If heaven is God’'s presence and God is everywhere, heaven will be everywhere when sin is vanquished and Christ is all and in all. Jesus says: “Ye, therefore, shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If this law were not in force in heaven, the earth would be a better place for perfecting the soul. REV. H. T. SHEPARD, Olivet Congregational Church. ’ Heaven and hell are states of consclousness, very near to each other. Heaven is not a place, but a con- — ditlon of consciousness. Con- sciousness is of the soul or individuality. We do not have to lay down this soul ————————————— to reach heaven. Aspiration and an act of the will set spiritward will lift and keep the soul on a plane of consciousness above the dis- cordant vibrations of the lower levels of the world's consciousness. Mankind will have to fin1 God within the interior of their own being and persistently hold the thought of at-one-ment if they wish to find heaven. MINNIE C. BELL, Hermetic Student. . . . It will be difficult indeed to form a conception of heaven that would be indorsed by all members of the Theosophical Society. The D. J. UWRENCE: society has no dogmas, and Prosident composed as it is of persons Theclplion] Sociy: of all sects, classes and ———— creeds it must of necessity contain the faiths of all conceptions, varying with their understandings. Logically a man could believe nothing else, at a given time, than that which he un- derstands to be true. ’ The Theosophical Society offers a wide field for research, in which reason should guide, and observed facts from the basis of understanding. Every belief should be proved logical, unreasonable and within the bounds of prabability. In dealing with religious questions one must not depart from the rational. If heaven means anything it means a state in which freedom and happiness exist. Freedom in the abstract cannot extst where one single desire binds. He who performs beneficial acts in the hope of reward is not happy unless the reward is obtained, and if the reward is obtained happiness ends. Among the Buddhists the very desire for heaven is considered a supreme selfishness. Jesus is made to say, ‘‘do good for the love of good,” ‘“‘the kingdom of God is within.” He who does not care for heaven, but is contented where he is, is already in heaven. The fulfillment of duties brings its own reward. It would appear from the foregoing statements that heaven then is only a condition, an existence, but it is more. There can be no conditioned existence without some’place of manifestation. Among the Brahmins man is considered a septenary being, re- lated to seven planes of cosmos, the planes inter- penetrating each other as do the principles of man. The four lower principles—the physical body, a subli- mated physical counterpart, the principle of life and the vehicle of desire—form what is called the lower guaternary. These four lower principles are neces- sary to ail organized animal life. They are all of the earth and disintegrate with the physicar bodies. ‘Were there nothing more man would be merely an animal. But there is the real man, that divine trinity, the three higher principles of the Brahmins— the mind, soul and spirit, or the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of our Christian Gospel. Life in the quatenary is fleeting, transitory, changing with the physical elements. In the higher territory man is immortal. A man may live sensuaily, physically, mentally, morally. How he lives relates him to the corresponding conditions of existence. Heaven is but a higher plane of cosmos. Man’s term of bliss and the pleasures and pain of the intermediary stage depend upon the quality of life; the purpose and aim of existence. The reward of eternal bliss would be out of all proportion for a well spent life. Man eternally receives his merit uow and passes on to new experiences. We learn only through experience. The changes are continu- ous from the passive to the active, and natural as wakefulness and sleep. Great indeed is the destiny of man, and heaven but a resting place. . . . I accept the Gospel statement that “The kingdom of heaven is within us.” It is a state of the mind which receives truth and of the will which obeys it. To bring people into the Kking- dom Jesus and his disciples —— taught the doctrine of re- pentance. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This did not refer to a particular locality near by, but to the power of Christian trath, which could lead them iBto goodness. When the Lord said to the scribe, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven,” he alluded to the state of his mind, which lcouldnxsee the truth, and of his heart, which could ove it. REV. D. V. BOWEN, New Jerusalem Church, Paul tells us of those qualities which distm Y guish this heavenly kingdom within from the king- doms of the world and of Satan. They are “righteous- ness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” So if we come into a right state of mind and heart ay to spiritual things, wherever we go, having heaven within and living in its consciousness, we are in heaven. Heaven is of the spirit and all places are heavenly when the soul is right toward God and man. And in the future, after the death of the body, wherever heavenly spirits are, there heaven is, for there a sphere cf love and good will follow from each to all, and from all to each. The spirit of Christ is within and there is no desire for anything except what will promote the happiness of all. Those who are in heaven, in the spiritual world, were once men and women on this or some other earth. We read in the Scriptures of their being fré- quently seen by the prophets and apostles. When the heavens were opened to them they did not go away into distant realms, but simply “looked” through some mental change, their spiritual eyes were opened and the realities of the spiritual world were seen by them. This was what was called “being in the spirit.” Paul said that he was caught up into the third heaven, and yet he did not leave his earthly body. So there are three particular characteristics which distinguish the heavens into at least three speci:1 divisions, for those who live in one of the many mansions of the Father's hotusi. Many of the prophets describe the scener: spiritual world. Some of them heard vurces. YN?; t‘\?’g persons will have the kingdom of heaven within ex- .actly alike, and therefore there must be an infinite diversity of tastes, desires, which will cause men and women to seek their happiness in different ways. Put the animating spirit of all wur be love for others rather than self; in actual ministrations of useful deeds does the life of heaven consist. For this is the source of the highest and purest happiness. Yivery object in heaven is real. By a law of the spiritual world every one’s environment will*be th exact expression of the inward state of each one will correspond to the thoughts and affections. And if w» seek, as of first importance, the establishment of the kingdom of heaven “within us~ the Lord will give his angels charge over us, to keep us in all our way%, on earth, so that all the circumstances of life will 'be of such a disciplinary sharacter that we shall be prepared to enter a heavenly State hereafter.