chapter i of Hebrews, that speaks of the creation of "worlds" — in the

plural. It is very singular, he adds, that all the cosmogonies should agree to suggest the same idea, and preserve the tradition of a first series of revolutions, owing to which the world was destroyed and again renewed.
Had the Cardinal studied the Zohar his doubts would have been changed into certainties. Thus saith the "Idra Suta":
There were old worlds which perished as soon as they came into existence: worlds with and without form called Scintillas — for they were like the sparks under the smilli's hammer, flying in all directions. Some were the primordiaJ worlds which could not continue long, because the " Aged "—his name be sanctified — bsd not as yet assumed his form,* the workman was not yet the "Heavenly Man." t
Again in the Midrash, written long before the Kabalah of Simeon Ben lochai. Rabbi Abahu explains:
The Holy One, blessed be his name, has successively formed and destroyed mndry worlds before this one J . . . Now this refers both to the first races [the "Kings
of Edom"] and to the worlds destroyed.^
"Destroyed'* means here what we call "obscuration." This becomes evident when we read the explanation given further on:
Still when it is said that they [the worlds] ^risked, it is only meant thereby \\ they [their humanities] lacked the true form, till the human [our] form came tnl^
* The/9'M of Tikkun or the Protoeonoe, " Mret-Bom," i>., the I7nivers«l Porxn and Idea, had aot yet been mirrDnd in Cliaoa.
■* Zchar. Ui. vqbc. The " Heavenly Mau" is Adam Kadmon~the aynUicsia of the fiephiraUt, " Manu Sviyambhuva " t» the kynthesU of the Pmj&patis.
I Bfteshtlh Rabba. Panha IX.
I This rricTs to (.he three Konnda that preceded our Fourth ftousd.
THE KINGS OP BDOM. 745
being, in which all thinj^ are comprised and which contains all fonna • . , .^— it does not mean death, but only denotes a sinking down from their statns [that of worlds in activity].t
When, therefore, we reid of the "destruction" of the Worlds, the word has many meanings, which are very clear in several of the Com- mentaries on the Zohar and in Kabalistic treatises. As said elsewhere, it means not only the destruction of many Worlds which have ended their life-career, but also that of the several Continents which have disappeared, as also their decline and geographical change of place.
The mysterious "Kings of Edom" are sometimes referred to as the "Worlds" that had been destroyed; but it is a "cloak." The Kings who reigned in Edom before there reigned a King in Israel, or the "Edoraitc Kings," could never symbolize the "prior worlds," but only the "attempts at men" on this Globe — the Pre- Adamite Races, of which the Z?Aiir speaks, and which we explain as the First Root-Race. For as, speaking of the six Earths (the six "Limbs" of Microprosopus), it is said that the seventh (our Earth) came not into the computation when the six were created (the six Spheres above our Globe in the Terrestrial Chain), so the first seven Kings of Edom are left out of calculation ifl Genesis. By the law of analogy and permutation, in the Chalda^an Book of Numbers^ as also in the Books of Knowledge and of Wisdom, the "seven primordial worlds" mean also the "seven pri- mordial" races (sub-races of the First Root-Race of the Shadows); and, again, the Kings of Edom are the sons of "Esau, the father of the Edomites";J i.e.^ Esau represents in the Bible the race which stands between the Fourth and the Fifth, the Atlantean and the Aryan. "Two naliotis are in tliy womb," said the Lord to Rebekah; and Esau was red and hairy. From verse 24 to 34, chapter xxv of Genesis con- tains the allegorical histor>' of the birth of the Fifth Race.
Says the Siphra Dtzenioulha :
And the Kings of ancient days died and their chiefs [crowns] were found no more.
And the Zohar states:
The Plead of a nation that has not been formed at the beginning in the likeness of the White Head : its people is not from this Form. . . . Before it [the White Head, the Fifth Race or Ancient of the Ancients] arranged itself in its [own, or
• This senteuce coutfiins a dual aense and a profound mystery in Ihe Occult Sciences, the secret oi which 1/. and when, known — confers tremendous powers on the Adept to change his visible form.
♦ *' Idra Suta." Zohar. Hi. 136c. " AsinJciagdown from their status"— i5 plain ; from active Worlds they have fallen into a temporary obacuratioa— they rest, and beace are entirely changed.
t Gtn,, XXX vi. 43.
r46
THE SECRET DOCTRIKE.
present) Form ... all Worlds have been destroyed; therefore it is writtea; and Bela, the Son of Beor. reigned in Edom [Gen., xxxvi. Here the ** Worlds ** stand for Racesj. And he [such or another King of Edom] died, and another reigned in his stead. A
No KabaList who has hitherto treated of the symbolism and allegory hidden under these "Kings of Edom" seems to have perceived more than one aspect of them. They are neither the "worlds that were destroyed," nor the "Kings that died" — alone; but both, and mudi more, to treat of which there is no space at present. Therefore, leaving the mystic parables of the Zohar^ we will return to the hard facts of materialistic Science; first, however, citing a few from the long list of I great thinkers who have believed in the plurality of inhabited Worlds in general, and in Worlds that preceded our own. These are, the great mathematicians Leibnitz and Bcrnouilli, Sir Isaac Newton himselC as may be read in his Optics; Buffon. the Naturalist; CondiUac, the Sceptic: Bailly, Lavater, Bemardin de St. Pierre, and, as a contrast to the two last named — suspected at least of Mysticism — Diderot and most of the writers of the Encydop€edia, Following these come Kant, the founder of modern Philosophy; the poet Philosoph^ers, Goethe, Krause. Schelling; and many Astronomers, from Bode, Fergusson and Herschel, to Lalande and Laplace, with their many disciples in more recent years.
A brilliant list of honoured names indeed; but the facts of phj^sical Astronomy speak even more strongly than these names in favour the presence of life, of even organized life, on other Planets. Thus four meteorites which fell respectively at Alais in France, in the Ca of Good Hope, in Hungary, and again in France, on analysis, there was found graphite, a fonn of carbon known to be invariably associated with organic life on this Earth of ours. And that the presence of this carbon is not due to any action occurring within our atmosphere is shown by the fact that carbon has been found in the very centre of a meteorite; while in one which fell at Argueil, in the south of France, in 1857, there was found water and turf, the latter being always fo by the decomposition of vegetable substances.
And further, examining the astronomical conditions of the Planets, it is easy to show that several are far better adapted for t! development of life and intelligence— even under the conditions wi which men are acquainted — than is our Earth. For instance, on the Planet Jupiter the seasons, instead of varying between wide limits
cat
WHAT FLAMMARION TELI^ US.
747
do ours, change by almost imperceptible degrees, and last twelve times as long as ours. Owing to the inclination of its axis the seasons on Jupiter are due almost entirely to the eccentricity of its orbit, and hence change slowly and regularly. We shall be told, that no life is possible on Jupiter, as it is in an incandescent state. But not all Astronomers agree with this. For instance, what we state is declared by M. Flammarion; and he ought to know.
On the other hand Venus would be less adapted for human life such as exists on Earth, since its seasons are more extreme and its changes of temperature more sudden ; though it is curious that the duration of the day is nearly the same on the four inner planets. Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars.
On Mercury, the Sun's heat and light are seven times what they are on the Earth, and Astronomy teaches that it is enveloped in a very dense atmosphere. And as we see that life appears more active on Earth in proportion to the light and heat of the Sun, it would seem more than probable that its intensity is far. far greater on Mercury than here.
Venus, like Mercury, has a very dense atmosphere, as also has Mars, and the snows which cover their poles, the clouds which hide their surface, the geographical configuration of their seas and continents, the variations of seasons and climates, are all closely analogous — at least to the ej'e of the physical Astronomer. But such facts and the considerations to which they give rise have reference only to the possibility of the existence on these Planets of human life as known on Earth. That some forms of life such as we know are possible on these Planets, has been long since abundantly demonstrated, and it seems perfectly useless to go into detailed questions of the physiology, etc., of these hypothetical inhabitants, since, after all, the reader can arrive only at an imaginary extension of his familiar surroundings. It is better to rest content with the three conclusions which M. Flammarion, whom we have so largely quoted, formulates as rigorous and exact deductions from the known /a^-Zj and laws of Science.
i. The various forces which were active in the beginning of evolution gave birth to a great variety of beings on the several worlds; both in the organic and inorganic kingdoms.
ii. The animated beings were constituted from the first according to forms and organisms in correlation with the physiological state of each inhabited globe.
748
THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
iii. The humanities of other worlds differ from us, as much in th* inner organization as in their external physical type.
Finally the reader who may be disposed to question the validity these conclusions as being opposed to the Bible^ may be referred to an Appendix in M. Flammarion's work dealing in detail with this question, since in a work like the present it seems unnecessary to point out the logical absurdity of those churchmen who deny the plurality of worlds on the ground of biblical authority.
In this connection we may well recall those days when the burning zeal of the Primitive Church opposed the doctrine of the Earth's rotundity, on the ground that the nations at the Antipodes would be outside the pale of salvation ; and again, we may remember h.ov7 long it took for a nascent Science to break down the idea of a solid firma- ment, in the grooves of which the stars moved for the special edifice tion of terrestrial humanity.
The theory of the Earth's rotation was met by a like opposition-^ even to the martyrdom of its discoverers — because, besides depriving our orb of its dignified central position in space, the theory produced an appalling confusion of ideas as to the Ascension — the terms "up" and "down" being proved to be merely relative, thus complicating not a little the question of the precise locality of Heaven!*
According to the best modem calculations, there are no less than 500,000,000 Stars of various magnitudes, within the range of the best telescopes. As to the distances between them, they are incal- culable. Is, then, our microscopical Earth— a "grain of sand on an infinite sea-shore" — the only centre of intelligent life? Our own S itself 1,300,000 times larger than our Planet, sinks into insiguifican- beside the giant Sun, Sirius, and the latter in its turn is dwarfed by other luminaries in infinite Space. The self-centred conception of Jehovah as the special g^uardian of a small and obscure semi-noma tribe, is tolerable beside that which confines sentient existence to microscopical Globe. The primary reasons were without doubt: (tf) astronomical ignorance on the part of the early Christians, coupled with an exaggerated appreciation of raan*s own importance — a crude form of selfishness; and {b) the dread that, if the hypothesis of millions
• In thnt learned and witty work, G&d and his Soot, by the rcrlouhtablc "SalacUn" of A^foOfttl repute, the atnuainf; calcuUtion that, if Christ had aaccnded with the rapidity of a cannon ball.ltf would not >-ct have reached eveo Sirius, reminds one vividly of the past. Il raises, perhaps, a wA I ill-founded suspicion that even our age of ibcienUfic eulighteiiment may he as prosily absurx! in 111 , laatcrialUUc negaUuns as the men of the Middle Ages were absurd and nuterialisUc In Uidr rttt- 1 gious aflirmiitioiis.
SCIENCE AND OCCITI.TISM MAY YET AGREE.
749
of other inhabited Globes were accepted, the crushing rejoinder would ensue: "Was there then a Revelation to each World?" — involving the idea of the Son of God eternally "going the rounds/' as it were. Happily it is now unnecessary to waste time and energy in proving the possibility of the existence of such Worlds. All intelligent persons admit it. That which now remains to be demonstrated is, that if it is once proven that there are inhabited Worlds besides our own, with humanities entirely different from each other as from our own — as maintained in the Occult Sciences— then the evolution of the pre- ceding Races is half proved. For where is that Physicist or Geologist who is prepared to maintain that the Earth has not changed scores of times, in the millions of years which have elapsed in the course of its existence; and that changing its '*skin." as it is called in Occultism, the Earth has not had each time her special Humanities adapted to such atmospheric and climatic conditions as were entailed by such change? And if so, why should not our preceding four and entirely different Mankinds have existed and thrived before our Adamic Fifth Root Race?
Before closing our debate, however, we have to examine the so- called organic evolution more closely. Let us search well and see whether it is quite impossible to make our Occult data and chronology agree — up to a certain point — with those of Science.
SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON ESOTERIC GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY.
It seems possible to calculate the approximate duration at any rate of the geological periods from the combined data of Science and Occultism now before us. Geology is, of course, able to determine one thing with almost certainty — the thickness of the several deposits. Now, it also stands to reason that the time required for the deposition of any stratum on a sea-bottom must bear a strict proportion to the thickness of the mass thus formed. Doubtless the raft of the erosion of land, and of the sorting out of matter on to ocean beds, has varied from age to age, and cataclysmic changes of various kinds have broken the "uniformity** of ordinary geological processes. Provided, then, that we have some definite numerical basis on which to work, our task is rendered less difficult than it might at first sight appear. Making
75°
THB SECRET DOCTRIHE.
due allowance for variations in the rate of deposit, Professor Lefevre gives us the relative figures which sum up geological time. He does not attempt to calculate the lapse of years since the first bed of the Laurentiau rocks was deposited, but postulating that time as :r, he presents us with the relative proportions in which the various periods stand to it. Let us premise our estimate by stating that, roughly speaking, the Primordial rocks are 70,000 ft., the Primary 42,000 fl., the Secondary 15.000 ft., the Tertiary 5.000 ft., and the Quaternary some 500 ft. in thickness:
paaaetf^
Dividing into a hundred parts the lime, whatever its aettial length, that has since the dawn of life on this earth [lower Laurentiau strata], we shall be led lo attribute to the Priiuonlial age more than half of the whole duration, saj- 53'5; to the Primary 32*2; to the Secondary 11-5; to the Tertiary 2*3; to the Quaternary 05 or one-half per cent.*
Now, as it is certain, on Occult data, that the time which has elapsed since the first sedimentary deposits is 320,000,000 years, we are able to construct the following table:
RoiTGU Approximations of Length op Gkological Periods
Years.
Primordial
Primary
Laurentiau
Cambrian
Silurian
Devonian
Coal
Permian
171,200.000.
!.
03.040,000.
Secondary
Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous
36,800,000.
Tertiary
Quaternary'
Eocene
Miocene Pliocene
7,360,000.,
i.6oo,ooo.t
Such estimates harmonize with the statements of Esoteric Ethnology in almost every particular. The Tertiary Attautean part-cycle, from
^ FMhsophjt Historical 9m4 Critieat, p. 4ftt.
t Probably in
SECEDERS PROM DARWINISM. 7151
the "apex of glory" of that Race in the early Eocene to the great Mid-Miocene cataclysm, would appear to have lasted some three-and-a- half to four million years. If the duration of the Quaternary is not, as seems likely, rather over-estimated, the sinking of Ruta and Daitya would be Post-Tertiary. It is probable that the results here given allow somewhat too long a period to both the Tertiary and Qnatemar>', as the Third Race goes very far back into the Secondary age. Never- theless, the figures are most suggestive.
But the argument from geological evidence being in favour of only 100,000,000 years, let us compare our claims and teachings with those of exact Science.
Mr. Edward Clodd,* in referring to M. de Mortillet*s work MatMaux pour VHutoire de V Homme^ which places man in the Mid-Miocene period, t remarks that:
Ik would be in defiance of all that the doctrine of evolution teaches, and more- over win no support from believers in special creation and the fixity of species, to seek for so highly specialized a mammalian as man at an early stage in the life- history of the globe.
To this, one could answer: (a) the doctrine of evolution, as inaugu- rated by Darwin and developed by later evolutionists, is not only the reverse of infallible, but it is repudiated by several great men of Science, e.g., de Quatrefages, in France, Dr. Weismann, an ex- evolutionist in Germany, and many others, the ranks of the Anti- Danvinists growing stronger with every year; J and {!>) truth to be worthy of its name, and remain truth and fact, hardly needs to beg for support from any class or sect. For were it to win support from believers in special creation, it would never gain the favour of the evolutionists, and vict versa. Truth must rest upon its own firm foundation of facts, and take its chance of recognition, when every prejudice in the way is disposed of. Though the question has been already fully considered in its main aspect, it is, nevertheless, advisable to combat every so-called "scientific" objection as we go along,
• Knowlrdge, Art. "The Antiquity of Man in Western Europe," March 31st. i88».
« Who, in another work, Im P^ihisi&ri^jue AntiquiU de F Homme, some twenty yean ago, gvnerousty allowed only 330,000 years to our mankind) Since we learn now that he places man in the Mid- Miocene period, we must say that the much respected Professor of Prehislorlc Anthropolofry in Paria is tioniewbat contradictory cuid inconsistent. If not nul/ in his news.
; The root and baaic iMea of the origin and transfonnation of specie! — the heredity of acquired faculties— seems to have found lately vtrry serious opponents in Germany. Du Bois-Reymond and Dr. Pflilger, the PhyHioloelsta, besides other men of Sdeucc as emioenl as any, find insuperable diffi- culties and even impossibilities in the doctrine
752
THK SECRET DOCTRINE.
when making what are regarded as heretical and anti-scientific state ments.
Let us briefly glance at the divergencies between orthodox and Esoteric Science, on the question of the age of the globe and of man. With the two respective synchronistic tables before him. the reader will be enabled to see at a glance the importance of these divergencies; and to perceive, at the same time, that it is not impossible — nay, it Is most likely — that further discoveries in Geologj' and the finding of fossil remains of man will force Science to confess that it is Esoteric Philosophy which is right after all, or, at any rate, nearer to the truth.
Parallelism of Life.
SciKNTIFtC HvPOTHBSIiS. ESOTERIC ThKORV.
Science divides the period ol the leaving the classilicatioD of the geo- Globe's history, since the bcj^nning of logical periods to Western Science, Eso- life on Earth (or the Azoic age), into five teric Philosophy divides onlj* the Lifc- miuu divisions or periods, according to periods on the Globe. In the present Hseckel.* Manvantara the actual period isseparatt
into seven Kalpasand seven great humi Races. Its first Kalpa, answering to the Primordial Epoch is the age of the:
"PlUMEVAL*''t
Devas or Divine Men, the •'Creators' and Progenitors.! The Esoteric Philosophy agrees with
• the
Primordial Epoch. Laurcntian, Cambrian. Silurian. The Primordial epoch, Science tells us, is by uo means devoid of vegetable and
animal life. In the Laureutian deposits the statement made by Science {set
are found specimens of the Hozoon cana- dense — a chambered shell. In theSilurian are discovered.sea-wecds (algae), molluscs, Crustacea, and lower marine organisms, also the first trace of fishes. The Pri- mordial epoch shows algrc, molluscs, Crus- tacea, polyps, and marine organisms, etc. Science teaches, therefore, that marine life was present from the very beginnings of time, leaving us, however, to speculate for ourselves as to how life appeared on Earth. If it rejects the biblical "crea-
parallcl column), demurring, however, to one particular. The 300.000,000 years of vegetable life (see *'BrAhmanicaI Chron- ology") preceded the "Divine Men," or Progenitors. Also, no teaching denies that there were traces of life mithin the Earth, besides ihe Eozoon cauadensc. in the Primordial Epoch. Only, whc: the said vegetation belonged to Round, the zoological relics now fou iu the Laurentian, Cambrian, and Siluri systems, so called, are the rrlics of the
e. in
re^^^
• History of Creation, p. so.
r The Nnmc names arc rcUincd a§ ihOM g:iven by Science, to make the parallcU clemrer. Onr terra* are quite differenl.
t IjcX the student remrmbrr that the Doctrine trachea that there are aevcu degrees of Devttf or "Progcoitora," or seven ClaMCS, from the moat perfect to the leas exalted.
THE TWO SCIENCES CONTRASTED.
753
tion" fas we do), why does it not give us Third Round. Al first astral like the another, approximately plausible hypo- rest, they consolidated and materialized tnesifl? pari passu with the new vegetation.
Primary. "Primary."
Devonian,* Coal. Permian. "Fern-forests, sigillaria, conifcnc. fishes, first trace of reptiles." Thus saith Modern Science.
Secondary.
Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous.
This is the age of Reptiles. o( the giganlicmegalosauri.ichthyosauri. plesio- sauri, etc. Science denies the presence of man in this period. But it has still to explain how men caine to know of these monsters and describe them before the age of Cuvier! The old annals of China, India, Egypt, and even of Judea are full of them, as demonstrated elsewhere. In this period also appear the first marsupial mammals t — insectivorous, carnivorous, phytophagous; and, as Prof. Owen thinks, a herbiferous hoofed mammal.
Science does not ailmit the appearance of man before the close of the Tertiary
Divine Progenitors (SecoMdar>' Groups), and the two and a halF Races. The Eso- teric Doctrine repeats that which was said above. These are all relics of the preced- ing Round, t
Once, however, the prototypes are pro- jected out of the Astral Envelope of the Earth, an indefinite amount of modifica- tion ensues.
"Sbcondarv."
According to every calculation the Third Race had already made its appear- ance, as during the Tnassic there were already a few mammals, and it must have separated before their appearance.
This then, is the age of the Third Race, iu which the origins of the early Fourth may be perhaps also discoverable. We are, however, here left entirely to conjec- ture, as no definite data are yet given out by the Initiates.
The analogy is but a poor one, still it may be argued that, as the early mam- malia and pre-mammalia are shown in their evolution merging from one kind into a higher one, anatomically, so are the
* It may \x said that we arr iaconitiftteat En not introducing into thin tabic a Priraary-af{e Man. The parallelism of Races and geoloflrical periods here adopted. i«, so far na the origin of the Pinit aod Second are concerned, purely tentative, do direct infonnation bHug* available. Having previously di!K:assed the question of a possible race in the Carboniferou debate.
t Geologista tell us tbat "in the Secondary epoch, the only mammais which have been fbitherto] discovered in Europe are the fossi] remains of a small raartnpial or pouch -bearer.*' {Kmowtedge. March jist, iS8t, p. 464.) Surely the mantupial or didclphiH (the only surviving animal of the family of those which were on Earth during the presetice on it of androgyne man| cannot be the only oaimal that was then on Earth ' Its presence speaks loudly Tor that of other (though unknown *! mammals, hesidca the monotrcmes nnd marsupials, and thus shows the appellation of " mammnHnn nge" given only to the Tertiary period to be misleading aod erroneous, as it allows one to infer that there were no mommala, bat reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fishes alone in the Mcsozoic times— the Secondary.
X During the interim between one Round and another, the Globe and everything on it remaitis m sttjtm quo. Rememt>er, vegetatiou began to its ethereal form before what is called the Primordial, ninning through the Primary, and condensing iu it, and reaching its full physical life in Ibe Secondary.
754
The shcret doctrtne.
period.* why? Because man has to he shown youngerthan the highcrmammaU. But Esoteric Philosophy teaches as the reverse. And as Science is quite unable to come to anything like au approximate conclasion as to the age of man, or even as to the geological periods, the Occult teaching is, therefore, more logica] and reasonable, even if accepted only as a hypothesis.
TKRTIARV.t
human races in their procreative pTorca^^i. A parallel might certainly be found Be- tween the monotremata, didelphia (or marsupialia) and the placental mammals. divided in their turn into three ordersj like the First, Second, and Third Root- Races of men.^ But this would require more space than can be now allotted to the subject.
"Tkrtiarv."
Eocene, Miocene. Pliocene. The Third Race has now almost utterly
No man is yet allowed to have lived disappeared, carried away by the fearful
during this period. geological cataclysms of the Secondary
Says Mr. E. Clodd, in Kno7vUdge: "Al- age, leaving behind it but a few hybrid
though the placental mammals and the races.
order of primates to which man is related, The Fourth, bom millions of years
* Tliow who ttc\ inclined to aoeer at that doctrine of Esoteric Ethnology, which pre-supposes ite existence of Men in the flecondnry age, will do well to note the fact that one of the mo Anthropologist « of (he day, M. de Quotrerages, seriously argues in that direction. He writes : "There is then nothing impowslhle in Ihc idea that he [man] . . . should liave appearrd upon ibc Kloh« with the 6ntt representatives of the type to which he hclongs by his organization." ( The /fmmam S^tcifSt p. I5J.) This stntement approximates most clowly to our fundamental assertion that maa preceded the other mBmniHlla.
Professor tjtthvn admits that the "latxiurs of Boucher de Perthes, Lartel. Christy, Bour^eoiK. Desnoyers, Broca. De Morilllet, Hamy, Caudry. CapelHnl, and a hundred others, have overcome an iloutils, and clcatly established the prDgresadve development uf the human organism and iDdttstria from the mioccne epoch of the tertiary age.'* {miosophy Historical and Critical. Pt. II, p. 499,