he above mentioned extreme ideas of "punishments,"
through the Law of Karma, we ask you to consider the following lines
written by a writer having great insight, and published in a leading
magazine several years ago. The idea of "The Kindergarten of God"
therein expressed, we think, is far nearer in accordance with the
highest Occult Teachings, than the other idea of "Divine Wrath" and
punishment for sin, along the lines of a misinterpretation of the Law of
Karma, worthy of the worshipers of some ancient Devil-God. Read this
little quotation carefully, and then determine which of the two views
seems to fit in better with your highest spiritual conceptions:

"A boy went to school. He was very little. All that he knew he had drawn
in with his mother's milk. His teacher (who was God) placed him in the
lowest class, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the
man did not kill; but he was cruel, and he stole. At the end of the day
(when his beard was gray--when the night was come), his teacher (who was
God) said: Thou hast learned not to kill. But the other lessons thou
hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.

"On the morrow he came back, a little boy. And his teacher (who was God)
put him in a class a little higher, and gave him these lessons to learn:
Thou shalt do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou
shalt not cheat. So the man did no hurt to any living thing; but he
stole and he cheated. And at the end of the day (when his beard was
gray--when the night was come), his teacher (who was God) said: Thou
hast learned to be merciful. But the other lessons thou hast not
learned. Come back tomorrow.

"Again, on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And his teacher (who
was God) put him in a class yet a little higher, and gave him these
lessons to learn: Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. Thou shalt
not covet. So the man did not steal; but he cheated, and he coveted. And
at the end of the day (when his beard was gray--when the night was
come), his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned not to steal.
But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back, my child,
tomorrow.

"This is what I have read in the faces of men and women, in the book of
the world, and in the scroll of the heavens, which is writ with
stars."--_Berry Benson, in The Century Magazine, May, 1894._

But there is still another view of K