Our heritage (a romance of the Sierras) in five books

Preface

The superficial observer, accustomed to weigh Literature by avoirdupois, will assert that this Work is too brief.

The intelligent reader will know where to look for authorities ; to cite or discuss them would be to compile an encyclopedia. John Lord's Beacon Lights of History, comprises fifteen volumes ;, Ridpath's Universal History, seventeen ; the Library of Original Sources, ten ; the Catholic Encyclopedia, eight ; the Britanica, twenty-nine ; the Americana is perhaps equally comprehensive ; Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma is an extensive library of esoteric learning; and yet, in none of these, among the great volume of massive works, has the attempt to present the drama of our race and civilization, either in a continuous or comprehensive way, been made.

The Individual who might seek to gain a comprehensive view of Man and his destiny from any "Five Foot Shelf" would lose his way amid mazes of speculative thought, become confused by the great mass of immaterial detail, or involve himself in mystic visions, so that the arms, extended to embrace what are but formless shadows, would return empty to his breast.

The Author has sought to present the whole life story of our race and civilization in clear, concise, comprehensive language. More than Philosophy, more than Theosophy, more than Theol-

PREFACE.

ogy, more than History, more than Literature, the purpose has been to make this work an education ; to interest the candid reader in a continuous world drama, extending over thousands of years of authentic history, interwoven with all accessible knowledge bearing on the main theme — The Continuity of Individual Life ; a study of those principles which have given Man control over the forces of nature; principles, which enable the Individual to master himself; principles, which make nations great ; principles, which have made history ; principles, which make •civilization possible; principles, which every Individual should know in his efforts to make himself, his family, his country, better, happier, wiser.

So long as Ignorance, Misery, and Vice shall continue to afflict mankind, Books, like this never can cease to be of general interest.

If the purpose has been substantially accomplished, the fifteen years of continuous application required to prepare this manuscript have not been spent in vain.

The Author.

I am Debtor

BOOK II. Egyptian Achievements

I Irrigation

II Western Civilization arose in Egypt

III The Power of Thought

IV The Esoteric View

V As Seen by the Adepts

VI The Poison of Material Prosperity

VII The Disintegration of States

VIII Moses, the Adept

BOOK III Marie

CHAPTER

I

The Hebrew Commonwealth

II

The Decalogue

III

Woman Equal to Man

IV

The Family

V

Administration of Justice

VI

The Mosaic Law and Evolution

VII

The Judgeship

VIII

IX

The Kingdom of Solomon

X

The Temple of Solomon

XI

XII

Know Thyself

Chapter I. Nevada

Seated in the seagrass chair which he had brought from Hongkong, on the open veranda overlooking the river, Vin gazed with growing admiration at the sparkling water of the Truckee hurrying from its source in beautiful Tahoe to its rest in Pyramid lake, more than two thousand feet below. Vin wished that he might plunge into the crystal water of that ice-cold stream, for the ride across the desert from Las Vegas had been long and tedious, the reflected rays of the June sun had heated the Pullman car almost to suffocation, while the finely powdered alkali dust had burned his eyes and entered every pore.

Twenty-odd miles to the southwest towered the snow-crowned summit of Mount Rose. A score of miles to the northwest Peavine mountain reared its lofty crest. In the opposite direction, thirty-five miles away, Mount Davidson was plainly visible. Look where he would, the beautiful valley of the Truckee seemed to* be entirely er closed by mountain peaks and ranges, having the suggestion of other and higher peaks and ranges beyond.

The sun had just passed below the western range. The higher peaks were gorgeous in the r?ys of the setting sun. The valley of the Truckee was filled with a radiant mountain twilight. A kingfisher darted from his tree on

Belle Isle, and with a shrill cry of triumph plunged into the stream, then arose and flew away with an evening meal for himself and mate. The scent of newly mown alfalfa was in the air. The clouds, slowly rising over the western range, soft as down, were resplendent in all the colors of the rainbow. The sky above was azure blue. The air soft and balmy.

Reclining in his chair, Vin thought about the history of the great State in which he had decided to make his home. Nevada, the battleborn state ! Nevada, admitted into the sisterhood of States on the day when he first saw the light (began his present incarnation) in far-away Minnesota. Admitted as a State, in order that her vote might make sure the ratification of the work of the Immortal Lincoln. Nevada, with her mighty expanse of desert lands, waiting for some Moses to strike the rock that the life-giving waters might gush forth, calling into existence a million prosperous, happy homes. Nevada, with her lofty mountains, her barren crags, bristling with volcanic rock, dreary and desolate as "The Orthodox Hell with the fires out", — yet indescribably magnificent and grand. Nevada, with her vast fertile valleys, her beautiful sunlit lakes and mountain streams, and her rich mines ! Nevada, empire wide from east to west, empire long from north to south ! All this appealed to Vin. He remembered that when the Nation was in dire difficulty and distress, when the national treasury was exhausted, when bonds of the government of the United States, bearing seven and one-tenth

NEVADA IT

percent interest, sold in front of the capitol at Washington for forty-three cents on the dollar, — that Nevada, great, generous sister that she was, opened her exhaustless storehouses and poured more than a billion gold and silver dollars into the resources of the Nation, and brought victory out of defeat. That, after the war was over, Nevada renewed and increased her bounty. Her vast metalic wealth inspired the people of this nation with that enthusiasm which produced an era of industrial and commercial enterprise such as the world had never before seen. It built and equipped great trans-continental railroads ; it established great ocean steamship lines ; it laid the Atlantic cable; it spanned the globe with telegraph and telephone lines ; it hastened the resumption of specie payments; it built costly castles in Europe ; it built great cities in our own land ; and, it made San Francisco the voluptuous queen of the Pacific. That, then, the blight of demonetization fell across this country, and Nevada slept. Slept ! for nearly thirty years. Slept! until the bray of Jim Butler's burro sounded the discovery of Tonopah, of Goldfield, of Manhattan, of Ely, of National and other great mines. But, Vin reflected that, gold and silver are no longer the only nor even the principal wealth within her borders. That, the dining-car had been supplied with plums, peaches and figs from Pahrump, with lettuce and tomatoes from Las Vegas, with cantaloupe from Mason Vallty. He looked to Yerington and to Ely, the greatest copper camps in the world ; he looked to Fallon and to Lovelock, to all the places in this great State, where irrigation and agriculture are becoming a principal factor in the industrial life of this commonwealth, and he said : "Important as has been her mineral production, exhaustless as her wealth seems in that regard, the production of fruit and grain will make Nevada great !"

Nevada has made .men famous in law and in literature, in finance and in statesmanship. Her early senators were giants in the councils of this Nation. She fixed in history the names of Fair, Flood, Jones, Mackay, Ralston, Sharon, Sutro, Stewart, Mark Twain, and many others, and on the Comstock, in Nevada, were written the mining laws of this Nation, — the fairest and best of any statutes on that subject in the world.

Although Vin had only been in the State for a few months, he felt strangely at ease in his new surroundings. He loved Nevada for what she has wrought, for what she is, for that which she is destined to become.

HIS WANDERINGS 19

Chapter II. His Wanderings

Vin was fifty years of age. He did not appear to be more than thirty-five. He believed that his present existence was but a continuation of many which had preceded it. In the full vigor of mature manhood, with well-knit muscles, he was a tireless walker, a clever boxer, a fine horseman. And although he was at peace with God, at peace with himself and with the world, an indefinable longing filled his breast. He had never loved. Still, it was there — Love, aching in his heart; — a want which never had been satisfied, never could be satisfied until he should find her.

Born on a farm of Teutonic parentage in far-away Minnesota, Vin in due time had graduated from the University of his native State. He had journeyed far and dwelt in many lands. Passing down the valley of the Father of Waters, he crossed the stormy Atlantic. The gates of Hercules had opened to receive him. Rome had given to him of the treasures of her law and government. Greece had bestowed upon him the riches of her literature and philosophy. Palestine had surrendered to him the esoteric mysteries of her theology. He traversed the Nile to its source, and dreamed away the return in a house-boat. He stood in the shadows of the Pyramids. All along the blue Mediterranean sea, Vin saw the indelible imprints of man's past, the glorious monuments of antiquity. He visited the site of ancient Babylon, beheld the winding sheet of her material greatness, and heard the jackal howl amid the ruins of one of the most magnificent cities of the ancient world. He sat at the feet of the Indian sages, and learned anew the doctrines of the continuity, the everlastingness of Life, — the Immortality of the Individual Soul. Among the first to carry the ensign of the Republic into the wilds of the Orient, he had followed the indomitable Chaffee to the relief of the legations at Pekin. He had absorbed somewhat of the learning of every land, but whenever he thought of making a permanent abode, Vin heard an inexorable voice saying unto him, "Arise, get thee hence, this is not the place of thy habitation." And so, after twenty years of travel, of study, of active experience, of reflection, Vin came to Nevada. And as he watched the sunset hues fade from the tops of the tallest peaks, he thought that a State which had been so lavish in her bounty to the whole world might also be generous to him; that, at last, he had found the place to make a home.

WHAT HE THOUGHT 21

Chapter III. What He Thought

Vin watched the silvery moon rise above Mount Davidson and listened to that voice which Socrates has taught us to use rightly. His heart vibrated to its ring. He discerned between the voluntary action of his mind, and the involuntary perceptions of his Soul. He had learned to watch for and to trust that gleam of Light which flashes across the Mind from within, and to act upon those involuntary perceptions, knowing that they are true, that they emanate from the Eternal; that, like day and night, they are neither to be disputed nor gainsaid. The Truth which thus came to him would, he thought, come to all men whose Minds are open to the Infinite. "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, that is genius." The chief merit in any book of genius seemed to him to consist in the fact that Books, Creeds, Dogmas, Theories and Traditions were set at naught, and that they portray not what the dead ages of superstition, but what their Author thought.

Trained in the Roman Catholic Church, it had taken him years of time, of thought, of study, of reflection, and many a hard-fought battle with himself, before Vin became satisfied of the utter fallacy of the so-called Christian Religion. He had passed through all the gradations from a blind, unreasoning, unreasonable faith — through darkness, through doubt, through despair, — out of fear, out of superstition, out of servitude, to a knowledge of himself, his duty, and his destiny.

He reflected that there are about one hundred and eighty-six different theological denominations, which may be classified or grouped as follows: Twenty-seven groups comprise one hundred and fifty-four of those denominations, the remaining thirty being unrelated or not subject to classification. Of those groups, there are six kinds of Adventists, fifteen sorts of Baptists, and four of Dunkards. Some centuries ago, the Catholic Apostolic Church was split into the eastern and western branches ; the western branch, comprising three divisions, namely, Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic, and Polish Catholic, whilst the eastern branch consists of five divisions. There are seventeen kinds of Methodists ; three of Congregationalists ; four of Quakers; and an even dozen of Mennonites. Manifestly those several theological denominations cannot all be right even in their essential characteristics.

Jesus the Essene was a non-conformist. Opposing the apparent, he condemned it as transient. He emphasized the inner, the real, the enduring. He devoted his life to reveal the resources of man. He sought to enlighten the mind, to enlarge the sphere of his usefulness, to increase his influence for good. He sought to tell man that he is not dependent, but inde-

WHAT HE THOUGHT 23

pendent ; that the individual can and must detach himself.

Man must stand or fall, alone. He must learn that by the exercise of his own present powers, newer and larger powers, finer qualities, better talents are developed. The capacity of the individual soul is infinite. The man with one intellectual talent may gain ten other talents. Men are not born, some with great, others with little, Souls. Whilst the physical body is little or big according to the law of Nature, the essential Man is divine or human, generous or mean, spiritual or sensual, virtuous or vulgar., immortal or mortal, as it pleases — Himself.

Sometime or other, Man will appreciate his importance. Arising, he will stand uprightly.

Physically, Man is weak. His years are comparatively few. For ages, the human race stood as helpless as a child in the presence of the great natural forces. Gradually, reason awoke ! Slowly, the mind developed. By slow, timid, timorous, feeble, faltering steps Man journeyed out of Bondage, out of Fear, out of Superstition, out of Servitude, he learned that he could conquer the Ocean, and harness the lightning, and subdue the air, and rule the land, until now Man stands absolute master of all the vast physical forces above, and around, and beneath him ! Forces, which were once worshipped as Deities ! Why, then, should we stand in awe of the traditions of the past?

Man has yet to learn his worth. He has yet to learn that as a rational, thinking, volitional being he is responsible for his own Soul, and answerable for his own actions. The real man does not expect aid from on high. Man has yet tc learn that through all the ages of the past there never has been, neither will there ever be, a substitute. Life is not lived by proxy. The individual cannot shift his responsibility. He must live his own life, recognize the facts of Nature, carry his own burdens, meet his own destiny, and answer for his own conduct. He has yet to learn that he is not responsible for the real or imaginary conduct of Adami, and that the virtues of Jesus of Nazareth cannot be transferred to him. Then, he will realize that the consequences of a wrongful act cannot be avoided. Then, too, he will recognize that those consequences — the invisible police, the unseen avengers, — accept no gifts, hear no prayers, are not to be deceived by cunning nor deluded by sophistry. Then, he will be ashamed to rely lupon the virtues of any other, even if it were -possible to do so. Then, he will begin to realize that the best and most sublime character of history — the great among even the Great Lights of the Race, — is merely an example of that which all may become.

The Individual is not dependent upon the conduct or will of another for his virtues, neither is any other responsible for his failure to' measure up to the best that is in him. A debt may be paid. A slave may be bought! A dog may be led ! A horse may be driven ! But where is there a Man who can be Bought, or Driven, or

WHAT HE THOUGHT 25

Led? "J esus P a *d it all" used to be a popular hymn : He paid the price which the world has exacted from all great thinkers since the dawn of civilization.

Sometime or other, Man will realize that Life is his very own : To have and to hold, to increase, and to recreate in his own physical body. Eternal Life ! The first of all things, the essence of all things! That priceless jewel, which the great mass of so-called Christian people throw away — ■ like swine trample pearls in the mire, — and when it has gone, pray for Eternal Life from on High ! What Blasphemy ! If, therefore, one claims to know and speak of God, and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old moldered temple, in another country, in another world, believe him not. It is so much easier to quote scripture than it is to Think.

Sometime or other, Man will have done with abject deference to the past. Perhaps the greatest error of Theology consists in its failure to recognize the fact that it is dealing with Life. Not Death, Life ! The dress which fits a doll today, will fit it a thousand years hence, but the garments of the child are soon outgrown and must be laid away. There is a childhood period of peoples, no less than of individuals. Law, Language, Literature, the Arts, the Sciences, and all the infinite and intricate institutions of the State have had their formative and evolutionary periods. Theology, among all the departments of human thought, alone remains bound to the traditions of the past. In the great march of humanity, there is, and ever must be, a constant putting away of childish things.

Change and progress is the universal law. It is the Law of Life.

Every orthodox clergyman agrees not to change. He makes a contract with his Church not to find Truth, and promises to deny it if he does. The Clergyman is not allowed to think. He must walk the straight and narrow path trodden by the ignorance and superstition of the past. He must confine himself to the traditions — the fall of man, the expulsion from the garden, the scheme of salvation, the second birth, the atonement, the happiness of the saved and the misery of the damned. On those occasions when he might be expected to say something to enlighten his hearers, the average clergyman contents himself with telling a story which has no point or purpose other than to create laughter. Admit that Moses was great: Did he have any patent on greatness? Assume that Solomon was wise: Did he wear out Wisdom? Suppose that Jesus of Nazareth was virtuous : Did he exhaust virtue ?

Whence, then, this Worship of the Past!

Chapter IV. Self-reliance

RELY ON YOURSELF!

The Will of each Individual is like the compass of a ship. Where the Will points there the Life goes ! "If the needle directs it to the rocks, there is wreck and disaster, — if to the open sea there is clear sailing-." God leaves each Individual at perfect Liberty. The Individual is neither constrained nor compelled. He must himself learn the way of right and wrong, and having learned, must choose. "We injure ourselves. God will not injure us. We invite our own miseries. God does not send them. The evils and sorrows that afflict mankind are of mankind's own making."

The relations of Man to the Divine are too pure to be profaned by the intervention of any other. The Individual needs no intermediary in order that he may know himself. He requires no substitute in order that he may see and know God.

When the Individual is true to those constructive principles which condition Life on this planet, even as a flower or a tree is true to those laws which condition its growth, when he knows himself, old things drop away. Teachers, Texts, Traditions crumble and fall. All things are new. He lives, now. Past and Future merge into the Present. He lives in the Eternal ; has Eternal

Life, now ; a thousand years are but as yesterday. Knowing that there is no Death but Change and Progress, he keeps things under his feet. He no longer says, "I Believe." He says, rather, "I Think !"— "I Know !" He lives his Life, but not in any conventional manner or appointed way. The power which he has himself developed is new. The way is new. And, as he pursues his course, he does not perceive the footprints of any other. The way, the thought, the Life is wholly new; they are his very own.

"What a piece of work is Man ! How noble in Reason ! How Infinite in faculty ! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an Angel ! In Apprehension, how like a God !"

He asks nothing; hopes nothing; fears nothing. He scorns appearances. His power is cumulative. All the past, the foregone days in which he has toiled and thought, work their strength in this. None can come near him without his consent. None can harm or wrong him, except himself. He is indifferent to riches and the purely material advantages of the world ; his Life does not consist in the things which he possesses. He is as happy in poverty as in wealth ; no less happy in wealth than in poverty. Independent of criticism, he cares not for esteem. He devotes his time and energy to the highest ideals of Life, and is animated by the most unselfish purposes. And he knows that should he so far fail in his effort as to permit selfish and immoral purposes to influence his thought or conduct, he will

SELF-RE LIASTCE 29

thereby lose his spiritual development and forfeit his power. This law of Nature has been demonstrated, again and again. There is no known exception. It is as true as the fact that an electrical engine will stop when the current which runs it is disconnected or grounded. As true, as is the fact that an eagle, soaring high in the sky, will fall to earth when it ceases to exercise the energy which enabled it to reach that altitude. As true, also, as is the fact that a man in the full strength and vigor of manhood will lose his health, if he violates the laws of hygiene or ceases to exercise.

Vin was not anxious to talk !

He appreciated the motive which prompted the old Egyptian philosophers to conceal their most profound knowledge from the multitude ; to communicate it only through emblems, forms, and symbols ; and even in such indirect and obscure manner to communicate it only to those who had been duly approved and initiated; for, they rightly recognized the narrow limitations of the popular mind, — the bigotry and prejudiced opinion of the uninformed.

What the ignorant do not understand, they scoff at. They seemingly imagine that by sneers they can drown the voice of reason ; or perhaps supposing that they thus show superiority instead of idiocy. And it has been due to this that many of the greatest discoveries of science and philosophy were not communicated to the world until recent years. "Light rays" and "Wireless telegraphy" were known and their importance fully appreciated by the Egyptian adepts, thousands of years before the "Creation" a? fixed by Usher; and many of them used the "Violet Ray" in their laboratory work, as electric energy was doubtless employed in the construction of the Pyramids. But if they had made their scientific attainments known to the multitude of their day and generation, the Mob, urged on by the popular priesthood, would have torn them to atoms ; just as the great teachers of mankind have been persecuted, destroyed, and crucified. In the time of Galileo, the Theological School would not believe that the Earth moves round the Sun ; and, if any one had then asserted that messages could be sent from a station on land to a ship in mid-ocean, or from one ship to another at a distance, without any visible means of communication, in all probability, he would have been put to torture and death as a deliberate prevaricator, as a vain babbler, a corruptor of youth, and a setter-forth of strange gods !

For many thousands of years, the Theological School, so ignorant, so proud, so self-sufficient, so vain, resting so secure in its "infallible" traditions of the past, aided by despotism, prevented any general knowledge of the simplest scientific facts. The history of the conflict between a few brave men and women of genuine inspiration and genius, on the one side, and the great, ignorant, Theological mass, on the other, has been admirably written by Andrew D. White. During that contest between Science and Faith, the few appealed to Reason, to Liberty, to the Known, to Justice, to Honor, to Friendship, to Love, and to Truth; the many appealed to Fear, to Ignorance, to Miracle, to Passion, to Prejudice, to Superstition and to Servitude. The few said, "Think." The many shouted, "Believe."

With precisely equal obstinacy, the average man and woman lives today in the most profound ignorance of himself, of his own latent powers and possibilities, because he will not take the time or the trouble to understand himself, to know himself, and comprehend the essential elements of that mental science which would enable him to understand his own Life, and to master those principles by which he may develop his spiritual powers, and thus improve his condition on this planet.

The experience of those who have attempted to communicate such knowledge to the uninformed has not been such as to encourage others to make the attempt. Uniformly they have been persecuted and condemned by a popular mob, incited to violence by Bigotry and Envy, by Fear and Ignorance, by Jealousy and Superstition. Thus Socrates was condemned ! Thus, Jesus the Essene was crucified! Thus, Galileo was imprisoned ! Thus, Kepler was persecuted. But, their Thought still lives, will live through the ages. And so, for many centuries, it has been customary for those having superior knowledge of spiritual things, of Man and his Destiny, to conceal it. And whilst they live exemplary lives, in subordination to civil government and its laws, as good citizens, they have been wont to preserve the most profound silence regarding their knowledge, and hence, when they pass on, their experience and knowledge goes with them. The world receives but little benefit from their superior knowledge. They leave none to carry forward the torch which they have so laboriously lighted. They live rather as spectators of the progress and decay of Nations, and put forth no effort to make confidantes, converts, or disciples.

Vin thought that men and women of genuine genius and inspiration should be brave enough to live for the future.

WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF?

Certain it is that the same disintegrating and destructive influences, the same selfishness, the same love of power, the same struggle for place, the same ignorant theological mass, the same disregard of the rights and privileges of the people, the same immense wealth in the hands of a few members of society, the same abject poverty on the part of the many, accompanied by the same systematic effort on the part of the theological school to gain control of the forces of government, which destroyed Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylonia, and other ancient states, are now actively at work in the fairest portion of the western hemisphere. Should America escape the fate of all the nations which made antiquity illustrious, it will be due in the main to the courage, the energy, the intelligence, the self-reliance of a few brave men and women of thought and genius. "An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man ; as, the Reformation of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism, of Wesley ; Abolition, of Clarkson ; Scipio, Milton called, 'The height of Rome;' and all history resolves itself very easily into- the biography of a few stout and earnest persons." It is to Individuals, rather than to the united efforts of many, that all the milestones of progress, reached by humanity struggling toward Light, are due.

Of the whole of mankind, probably not one in ten thousand has any aspiration beyond the daily needs of the body. For the many, in this age as in all others, in America as elsewhere, God, Soul, Spirit, Life, Immortality, are mere words, conveying no real meaning. For the many, God is only Bel, Moloch, Zeus, or at best, Osiris, Methras, or Adonai, under another name, worshipped with the old Pagan ceremonies and ritualistic formulas. It is the statue of Olympian Jove, worshipped as the Father, in the Christian Church that was a Pagan Temple. It is the statue of Venus become the Virgin Mary. The vast majority of mankind, now as throughout the ages, do not really believe that God is either just or good. They fear his lightning. They dread his wrath. The many only imagine that they believe that there is Life beyond the tomb. Yet they persecute those who profess a superior knowledge to that which they, at best, only think they believe, because it is incomprehensible to them. To the vast majority of so-called Christian people, God is the reflected image, in infinite space, of the earthly tyrant on his throne; only infinitely powerful, his wrath more implacable, his methods more arbitrary and irscrutable. To curse humanity, the human tyrant need only be, in fact, that which, in every age, the Theological School has pictured God. All over the world, in America as elsewhere, there are Creeds, Dogmas, Ritualistic Forms, the best of which are only less objectionable than the v/orst. They have little that is true, nothing that Hs Divine in them. The Theological School has ever postulated as God something more cruel, more relentless, more revengeful, more wicked and treacherous than the most arbitrary tyrant that ever sat on a throne; something like Nero, something that delighted in sacrifice, rather than a better, more beautiful, more just, more loving, more virtuous being that Man.