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vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350 |
< Where Do We Drift? (continued from page 8-197) >
the English tongue, and thus through the nations that chiefly speak it, the Americans and Englishmen. Having thus established our proposition, we proceed to see how and in what direction the impending change is and will be directed.
England for the last few centuries has had its finger in every pie that has been the cause of contention in Europe and elsewhere. England had not a small share in the French Revolution. England, in losing its honour in the struggle with the Americans, saved the honour of a rising people and furthered the cause of liberty. England had much to do in the struggle between the North and the South in America, and, strange as it might appear, the negroes had as much to thank England for their liberation as the United States. The Franco-Prussian war, though seemingly a war between two people, came to a speedy conclusion because England willed it so. The Sick Man of Europe was slaughtered by his physician. To the mass of the people our conclusions would appear far-fetched and irrelevant; but those who are privileged to be behind the scenes must think and believe as we do. England, passive or active, is the cynozure of the million eyes of the world. England is the mighty agent of good and evil. On England’s nod depends the future of the world; and that nod she must give in spite of herself; she must march with the times; she cannot choose but do it. As a blind and passive agent she has effected much good. How much more she can achieve, if she but will see, that in the good of the world lies her own greatness, and in the freedom of the world her own distinctive existence?
What does the world now present to our view? America is reaping the fruits of her recent struggles and is quietly and inostensibly furthering the cause of liberty and true civilization. But in Europe, the sky is thunder-laden. Germany and France are prepared to do or to die. While the French Republic has recovered from its recent disaster, Germany is eaten up by internal dissensions, and the monster Socialism ranges there at will. The Emperor is a marked man, and Bismarck is fast becoming powerless, for peace has its victories as well as war, but these are neither for the Emperor nor his minister. Italy and Spain are quietly slipping out of the arms of the Pope. Turkey is dieing a natural or unnatural death. Russia is entering a struggle, which may destroy the very foundations of its empire, and we believe the coming storm must proceed from the land of the Cossacks. But it is Englishmen who have their hands most full of work. The Ameer of Cabul is dead, but has left behind him a world of trouble as a legacy to Englishmen. The Zulus, those despised Africans, have tarnished the glory of Britain. While the Burmese are shaking off their sleep and preparing for a leap on the British lion. Such is the political horizon of the world. There is enough of fury in the immediate future. The struggle must commence, and that soon.
Leaving aside politics, however, let us see what gentler things forbode. Why is it, then, in the first place, that Christianity is fast going out of fashion? Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are mere drugs in the market. This fact, we believe, speaks volumes for the advance of thought generally. We are beginning to understand the relative positions of the Bible and science. We understand the nature of God better, while the Greek adjuration ‘Know Thyself’ does not fall flat on our ears. We do know ourselves better, and our wishes and our powers. It is this assurance of man’s soul-powers and capabilities that have produced the telephone, the microphone, and the phonograph. It is this discovery that makes us ask ourselves, whether it is only now that man is beginning to understand himself; is it only at present that nature speaks to him with confidence, and entrusts him with secrets which gratify his instincts and raise him to the elevation of his highest thought?
This last question has prompted many researches into the past, the far, dim past, which history has taken no account of, the history of ages which modern works are silent on, the history of what is called the pre-Adamite man. The results of the enquiry are startling. It is proved to our satisfaction, that there flourished once a race of men, who were our superiors every way, in politics, science, philosophy—our highest and best possessions, these were as nothing before them. Our boasted civilization thus comes to a stand-still. We certainly are not the first in the field—others have been there before us. Our article is headed by the question—Where Do We Drift? Shall we venture to answer the query? Shall we assert, To The Unrecognised Past?
We are, it will be thus seen, on the eve of great events. It is for us to be prepared to meet and prove equal to our grand destiny. The storm is coming on, it must come; we cannot prevent it. Let us meet it boldly; and then soon follows the day of India’s regeneration and of the regeneration of the world. Do our readers happen to remember those curious lines, called ‘Mother Hubbard’s Prophesy.’ They thus end:—
“In eighteen hundred and eighty one!”
Who knows but that the prophesy may be fulfilled. The lines have a deeper meaning than can be gleaned from the words only. The world, the impure, unchaste, selfish world comes to an end in eighteen hundred and eighty one; but from its ashes rises a world more beautiful, more grand, more truthful and more pure!