The New Avatar and The Destiny of the Soul

They are reminded that we are dealing with real and permanent values, and with what man may do and ought to do for himself.

Lying squarely across this upward pathway of man, to be pursued by free choice and personal effort, is the dogma of the Vicarious Atonement and the forgiveness of sin, of which “His Holiness” claims to hold the exclusive agency.

Through appeal to superstition and fear this preposterous and sacrilegious claim to-day, as in all the past, paralyzes the will and discourages the personal efforts of millions of men and women. Between that blind credulity which makes personal effort unnecessary, and the miracle and dogma which make it seem useless, the upward and onward march of man is hindered or annulled, notwithstanding the fact that many men and women lead noble lives who are yet communicants of the Church, both Catholic and Protestant. True, they may, with little thinking, reason and reflection from early education and “lip-service,” give intellectual assent to these dogmas. But the lives they lead and the personal effort put forth prove them “better than their creeds.” They say with the lips, “Christ has forgiven us,” or “Jesus will save us,” and while they are saying these things they go to work saving themselves by “leading the life” through personal effort and experience.

In other words, they “save themselves” in spite of their creeds and superstitions.

It is, therefore, with this exact “measure of values,” that we are dealing; and the necessity and value of these considerations are nowhere so plain to-day, or so imperative, as just here, in the face of these demoralizing dogmas and pretensions of men, who contradict all natural law and steal unblushingly the prerogatives of God, as his “Vicegerent.” The marvel of it is that it excites neither surprise nor protest, but is treated with a smile of good-natured complacency outside its circle of dupes.

He who treats it seriously, as a thing that, more than any other, demoralizes, discourages and paralyzes millions, is regarded as “sensational,” “emotional,” or an “alarmist.”

In the face of all the facts, of which the daily papers are full, and the record of the Vatican crowded, I prefer that my own arraignment shall stand. No one who knows half these facts can dispute or gainsay them. We are making history here to-day, as mankind has had to make it in all the past, in the face of these “Lions in the path” of civilization and progress.

If I must choose between being superficial, ignorant and insincere, or being an “alarmist,” I certainly and unhesitatingly choose to be an alarmist! The strongest ally of Superstition to-day is credulity, or indifference. The average man says, “I do not believe there is any danger”; and if he “spoke his heart” would add, “if there is, I do not care.”

I would only reply, “If you mean to be honest, read, observe, and see.” You may wait too long. Spain and Portugal are just awakening from the priest-ridden lethargy of centuries, and are making history anew. May a just God and all the angels help and protect them.

The great daily newspapers of the country are very conservative wherever Rome is concerned. She is too powerful and her resources too well organized and available to be disregarded.

It is therefore very significant that an editorial in one of the largest and most influential of these papers to-day gives a clear, concise, and impartial epitome of the “Row in Spain,” clearly locating its cause and animus in the Vatican, and showing how unbearable this tyranny and exploitation had become to a large portion of the people of Spain.

I refer to this here for a special purpose, which involves and lies at the foundation of all other issues and considerations. And that is the statement in this editorial, that while the Church of Rome has held practically undisputed sway in Spain for centuries, with immense tracts of land, houses and revenues, independent of civil authority, with 20,000 priests, 5,000 communities with 60,000 inmates in a population of only 20,000,000 of people —Seventy per cent. of the people are entirely uneducated. With every opportunity, plenty of time and almost boundless resources, Rome has kept the people in ignorance, the easier to rob them; determined to own the land, the resources, and the people – body and soul – as the Autocrat of heaven and earth! A slavery in the name of “Religion” found nowhere else on earth to-day.

So much for Spain and the Vatican to-day. For the sequel, watch the daily papers.

And what has this to do with America? With Psychology? With the Measure of Values?

Simply this: Is anyone so dense as to suppose that the Seventy per cent. of dense ignorance in Spain is an accident, or an oversight of the Vatican and its servants? There lie the “policy” and the secret of the power of Rome.

In America our foundations, our bulwarks, and our hope and security of Freedom, Enlightenment, and Progress lie in our Free Public Schools. These Rome hates, condemns as “Godless,” and would destroy if she could, as continually proved by the letters and edicts of the Popes.

Seeing, however, that she cannot do this, and fearful of losing her hold on her thirteen or fourteen million of communicants in America, she rushes the building of Parochial Schools, and threatens her people with dire penalties who patronize any other. Since she cannot prevent education here, as in Spain, she must “educate” in her own way, in order to retain her power over the rising generation. The basis of this education are ignorance, superstition, and fear; its crown, the slavery of conscience and the “Dogma of Obedience.” The brutality of Ignorance in Spain is the sophistry of Priestcraft under the name of “Religion,” in America.

The Genius of the Vatican is “Infallibility.” It not only never errs, but it never changes. It dons another mask, adopts another slogan, and is now engaged in a great crusade to educate!

Constructive Psychology, the building of Individual Character, means the precise opposite of every principle, proposition, and practice of Popery. I desire to make this plain and unmistakable.

Nothing on earth transcends in importance this basic, universal, and eternal antithesis. It marks and monuments, in all time, the Parting of the Ways between Good and Evil; between Liberty and Despotism; between Light and Darkness; between Evolution and Devolution; between “Modernism” and Paganism; between Civilization and the Dark Ages; between the “Sermon on the Mount” – the Beatitudes, and the Spanish Roman Vatican Inquisition!

And this “antithesis,” this issue, is as imminent, as active, as burning in America to-day, as it is in Spain. It only faces different ways.

Spain is compelled to redeem her past; America to guard and protect her future.

It is, from first to last, a Psychological Problem.

It is an analysis by fire, in the crucible of fate and destiny, to determine accurately the measure of values to the Individual, to Society, and to Civilization.