THE COURIER.
machine tho ships, ollleers and crews
of Admiral Dewey's fleet were In
perfect working unlet. The Atlantic
Heel was nominally under the com
mand of one man, but that the al
legiance of tlio Meet was divided and
that neither Sampson nor .Schley
were sure of the location of Cervcra's
fleet was shown by subsequent events.
Though Sampson's guess was better
than Schley's. Nothing emphasizes
Dewey's preparedness more than the
fortuities that actually happened off
Cuba. Sampson was not present
when the battle actually toolc place
but wasolT looking for Ccrvcra where
he thought he might, lie and Schley
almost ran away from Ccrvera's hid
ing place. Whereas Admiral Dewey
exiled to the obscurity of the Pacific
ocean had carefully investigated the
harbor where he knew the Spanish
ships lay. It is certain that he knew
the harbor was not protected by
mines. Otherwise he would not have
led half the navy of the United States
into the harbor. Whether by bribes
or sp'es he found out that the tragedy
of the Maine could not occur in Ma
nila Bay does not; signify. There Is
Internal evidence that he knew the
waters he sailed into were Innocuous.
The sailors' unanimous enthusiasm
for and conlldcncc In Admiral Dewey
during and after the battle is an
other evidence of his greatness. No
captain was jealous of him and the
tributes to his genius by the pro
fession Is greater, If poss'ble, than
that shown by his countrymen, only a
few of whom have ever seen the
ocean or know a cat-boat from a three
masted vessel. Members of any
profession be It legal, medical or
military do not render homage until
it is earned. And the universal as
sent of all officers and saUors to the
diploma which Admiral Dewey has
received is expert testimony against
the theory that the Manila Bay vie
tory was an aleatory Incident of the
war with Cuba.
Admiral Dewey's conduct after the
battle was indicative of great wis
dom. If the on'y Admiral had been
a dark horse, In command of the Pa
cific fleet because of chairjc and win
ning his victory In consequence of a
number of lucky happenings, we
might at the present tune be con
ducting a very serious correspondence
with Germany, or we might be fight
ing German troops as well as Aguin
aldo's In the Filipinos. The states
manship of his message to the Ger
man Admiral Von Dledcrlchs,. the
reserve and decision of his treatment
of German naval Impertinence In
Manila Bay undoubtedly prevented
international discussion if not war.
Then his course since he returned has
still further emphasized the Ad
miral's wisdom and trustworthiness.
Immediately after his interview with
the President, more vigorous war
measures were undertaken, more
ships and men were ordered to the
Filipinos and General Otis was ex
horted to greater activity.
The influence of Admiral Dewey's
opinion, that the war having been
begun should be vigorously prosecuted
to a speedy end Is far-reaching.
Credited with conservative views of
expansion he is firmly convinced that
the United States can only treat with
the Filip'nos aftar they have sur
rendered. Admiral Dewey's reputation then
rests upon, his preparedness for the
battle, and this preparedness Includes
the confidence ollieers and crews had
in him as well as the ability of the
.engineers to handle the ship, the
marksmanship of the gunners and the
familiarity of every man with his
duties, and it includes the Admiral's
knowledge of the bottom of Manila
Bay. In no lesser degree Admiral
Dewey's reputation and In a larger
degree our idolatry of him is based
noon his treatment of the impertinent
German fleet, after the battle. The
assumption and impudence of. the
Germans was very trying to Amcrl
cans and when the only admiral suc
ceeded in impressing upon their ad
miral that he would fire upon any
ships that got between the American
navy and Manila the relief on this
side of the ocean was Inexpressible.
Thirdly the reserve and modesty so
signally exhibited since his return are
Indications of greatness that only a
great man in the midst of such
temptations to display ever showed.
Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy.
Mark Twain in The Cosmopolitan
says that Mrs. Eddy did rot write the
book, Science and Health which was
published with her name on the title
page, but that a man with a knowl
edge of the English language and the
laws of its construction compiled her
ideas. It la, of course, a disappoint
ment to Christian Scientists to find
out that the individual whom they
revere as "Mother Eddy" did "not
write the expensive book from which
she has made so much money. Never
theless what is true in the book is vf
the same value as before. I can not
admit, if converts to her belief have
discovered for themselves the sound
ness of much of her doctrine that
even proofs of Mrs. Eddy's mercenary
and insincere spirit have anything to
do with the case. Whether she la
vented her Interpretation of the
scriptures or recelved.h'nts from schol
ars learned in the 'writings of the
Gnost'os, if original experiments have
demonstrated that her interpretation
drives away pain and produces a calm
and thankful heart, in so far it is
good, and discrediting the author or
prophet cannot alter the results of
individual experiments conducted ac
cording to the formulas recommended
by her. Mrs Eddy is the end of the
century prophet. The sect which ac
cepts her prophesies, claims to have
found a new and better key to the
scriptures and a new and saner way of
living. Like all new sects, Christian
Science devotees excite opposition.
The founder of the sect is watched
and her past is examined with the
hope of finding something discredit
able. Investigation of tills sort is
resented by believers in the genuine
ness of Mrs. Eddy's inspiration. To
outsiders who do not believe that she
is either a prophet or a false prophet)
investigation of Mrs. Eddy seems fair
enough. So fur the results of the in
vcstigatlon indicate that Mrs. Eddy
Is, to be most charitable, a very good
business woman and that she lias
made money from the promulgation
of her discovery of tho real meaning
of the scriptures. It Is :slso a shock
to find that she has been marr.'cd
three times, but she might be able to
explain that.
The control of mind and spirit over
matter Is greater than we have been
accustomed to regard It. We cannot
deny matter altogether without In
volvlng ourselves In a maze of contra
dictions uud inconsistencies. But in
loosening the hold of matter on spirit
the Christian Scscntists have bene
tiled society.
Oom Paul,
Oom Paul Kruger Is a man of prlinl-
tive habits as well as of whiskers and
features. Until lately his wife and
daughters have dono all the house-
work. Thewhitehousc.tho president's
homo is u white washed cottage, where
on tho front porch the Boos with
their trowsers tucked Into their boots
gather to discuss tho cause of war
witli England, and the possibility of
successfully resisting British troops.
The President is not to bedistinguish
ed from the rest of the Boers by
greater fastidiousness in costume.
He Is generally dressed In a long
black c'oak, shapeless and greasy from
long wearing and slovenly habits.
After the fashion or alt primitive
people, Oom Paul sp-aks in parables
and his phraseology Is biblical. Hejhas
not escaped the censure Incurred by
all office holders who grow rich while
holding ollice. Concess'onuircs and
f ranch isoholdors testify that any sort
of concession or franchise may be
purchased if the Kruger boys, sons of
Oom Paul, are given a large enough
fee.
The English have no abstract right
to enjoy suir rage in the Boer republic
unless the Boers choose to grant it.
But Great Britain lias a right to dis
possess and coerce a people who are
not making tho most- advantageous
useof the country they occuny. As the
Germans dispossesed tho effete Ro
mans, as the Normans conquered
England, us the English drove back
tho American Indians from the coast
and occupied it themselves, so the
English will take possession of the
Transvaal and those Boers who sur
vive will have to learn, of England
how to keep up with the procession.
They must build railroads and quit
using metaphorical speech. End of
the century business men get from
one side of the globe to another side
us quickly us possible and when there
go as quickly as possible from one
part to another.
Tlie Boer ox cart has been su
pcr.cedcd.byeurs and steam power and
the people who will not adopt them
will be shoved aside even while they
are standing on their own ground.
The oriental parable as a means or
communicating Ideas is as slow and
antiquated as the ox curt. The short
terse sentences of commerce ure the
only ones in use. The former tukes
too much time and would multiply
the cost of telegrams. The law and
right by which England is getting'
ready to occupy and boss the Trans
vaul is known as the law or the sur
vivulofthe fittest and the horror of
nature for a vacuum.
Oom Paul's dutch obstinacy will
yield to the new style guns of the
English, and after the process of as
similation is completed oven the
Boers, though against their will, will
be benefited.
The Gnostics.
Gntistlkos, possessing the power of
knowing, from ginosko I know. In
the first ccntuiy of Christianity the
Gnostics taught that they alone hud
a true knowledge of the Christian
religion. They uttempted to incor
porate tenets of the pagan philosophy
with some or the doctrines of Chris
tianity. 'Practlcully," says t':e his
torlun of Gnosticism, -it Influenced
tho lives of its adherents in two
.totally distinct ways. The Hcllmiiz
lug Gnostics, striving to free them
selves from stupid and degrading
bonds., became ascetics, austere, rigid
and uncompromising. Tho Oriental
view, however, of the quality and
antagonistic power of light and dark
ness, good and evil, which was .adopt
ed by the other portion of the Gnos
tics, led them Into the practice of the
grossest sensuality, in token, they
said, of tho-r utter contempt for mat
tcr and still more for tho demiurgos
body und Its enjoyments. Every
thing terrestrial, in short, has as
little to do witli their mind, which
wus one with tho supremo Deity, us
had matter with God." From tho
first to the sixth century Gnosticism
grow, combated all the time by Judu
M
ism, Plutonism, Neo-Patonlsm. find
above all by Christianity. In rel,.
tion to tho orthodox church, tlie
Gnostics reigned a naive surprise at
not being fully recognized as most
faithful followers of Christianity anil
members of the large. Christian "body.
All they aspired to, they:said, was to
be allowed to form a small central
circle within the large out:r crele,
to be a kind of thcosophic community
consisting or the more ndvanced
members of the church. lho ad.
hcreJ, for the most part, to the out
ward forms of Christian worship and
occasionally surpassed the Christian
ceremony in pomp and splendour.''
Such was tho fascination that Gnos
tlcism exercised over the p pular
mind, that had it not been Tor Its
innumerable schisms, yhich prevent
ed its alliance with the political
powers in the regions where the Gnos
tie sects flourished, Gnosticism would
not have so nearly disappeared at the
end of tlicsixth century.
The dangerous tendency of any re
ligion which, before death, divorces
the body from the spirit, which
teaches that the body is a contempt
ible, unworthy cage for the Im
prisonment of an ineffable, powerful,
haughty spirit, despising Its bonds,
which it en break by questioning
their strength and denying all evi
dences or mutter. Is Indicated by the
history of the Gnostics and by all
otlier similar sects.
The nrunant we deny responsibility
for acts done in the body, the mo.
nunt we excusa ourselves to ourselves
by admitting that a certain wicked
ness was committed by Mr. Hyde and
not by the'Usplrlng and pure-minded
Dr. Jekyl who Is an Immortal spirit
incapab'e ofevll and not responsible
for Mr. Hyde, that moment we are
in greatest danger from carnal tempt
ations. .. .
The Bible says the body is a temple.
It is not a cage. Within it, the spirit '
lives. And there Is no p'sltive evi
dence that spirits dwell on this earth
at all except by and in the body.
Sometimes lirelong invalids are
conquered by tho pains or the body.
Its incessant und insistunt demands
huve subjuguted the spirit und the.
mind so that the invalid is only an
aching body. Tlie long habit or pain
und complaint iias conquered, and
adversity has destroyed the spirit
i nsteud of refining It.
Then there ure cr'minal whose
bodies have subjuguted the spirit,
not by u sophistry of u contention
between tlie powers of good und evil
und tlie doctrine of tlie irresponsi
bility of the spirit for tlie triumph of
evil, but by the deliberate coronation
of lust for gold, power, or the grati
fication of the appetite.
By denying responsibility for tlio
acts of the body, by theoretically ig
noring and despising It, the body is
left to Its own devices and will from y
ambush attack the spirit. A king
without a kingdom or subjects Is in
effectual und his anomalous pos'tlon
embarrasses intercourse witli his
neighbors. A ghost is unpleasant as
well as terrifying, We do nut know
anything that wo have not learned by
seeing, hearing, smel ing, touching
tasting and by an instinct which Is
none of these and has not yet been
numed. We do not knowjmw tp ad
dress u ghost. We know that matter
so fur us ho is concerned docs not
exist. Wo know that all our own
communications are obedient to tlio
laws of mutter and I hut the major
premise of our own thinking Is based
on matter. Therefore comminilcu
tion with u ghost is embarrassing and
almost everyone, Is willing to postpone-.
it until nuturallzed In another world 4
Thoso who dony matter In tUU
Ti
i
