ansmitted dogmatism is
growing continually weaker, fading away in churches and colleges. The
pulpit of today is tolerant indeed in comparison with the pulpit of
our fathers, and the bright, free thought of the advanced people
surrounds the colleges with an atmosphere which is gradually
penetrating their walls and modifying their policy. An important duty
devolves upon every loyal, progressive thinker,--the duty of speaking
out firmly, manfully and distinctly, to swell the volume of thought
which carries mankind onward to a nobler future.

OCCULTISM DEFINED.

BY ONE WHO KNOWS.

My own claims to be considered as an exponent of true Occultism are
founded upon the following grounds: When quite young, in fact, before
I had attained my thirteenth year, I became acquainted with certain
parties who sought me out and professed a desire to observe the
somnambulic faculties for which I was then remarkable. I found my new
associates to be ladies and gentlemen, mostly persons of noble rank,
and during a period of several years, I, and many other young persons,
assisted at their sessions in the quality of somnambulists, or
mesmeric subjects. The persons I thus came into contact with were
representatives of many other countries than Great Britain. They
formed one of a number of secret societies, and all that I am
privileged to relate of them is, that they were students of the two
branches of Occultism hereafter to be described; that they claimed an
affiliation with societies derived from the ancient mysteries of
Egypt, Greece, and Judaea; that their beliefs and practices had been
concealed from the vulgar by cabalistic methods, and that though their
real origin and the purpose of their association had at times been
almost lost, it had revived, and been restored under many aspects.
They claimed that alchemy, mediaeval Rosicrucianism, and modern
Freemasonry were off-shoots of the original Cabala, and that during
the past 150 years new associations had been formed, and the parties
who had introduced me into their arcanum were a society in affiliation
with many others then in existence in different countries. These
persons, deeming that the intrusion into their ranks of unprepared
minds would be injurious to the harmony necessary for their studies,
carefully avoided assuming any position of prominence in reference to
the society, so that they might never be solicited to admit those
whose presence might be prejudicial. Indeed i