REV. MR. CARTER AND "THEOSOPHY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8986, 17 September 1892, Page 3

REV. MR. CARTER AND "THEOSOPHY."

TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—The Rev. Mr. Carter's second letter, about Buddhism instead of Theosophy, was wide of the mark, and only tends to further prove his non-acquaintance with the ethics of the system he so unconditionally condemns. Permit me, in view of his lecture to-morrow, to give him at anyrate one Theosophical idea to ; think out. The primary object of the Theosophist is to promote the brotherhood of humanity, to restore what ages of misconception and wrongly-directed energy have laid in ruins. The present day affords ample scope for his exertions. Millions of our fellowinen are engaged in a stern battle for bread. Sentimentalists and carping objectionists sit in their cushioned seats and talk-talk-talk. The humblest Theosophist would act; and if beyond his power to make a sweeping change, because he cannot change inviolate law of cause and effect, he can at anyrate do a little to help to mitigate their condition. Perhaps the Rev. Mr. Carter does not know what '* Brotherhood of Humanity " means; I will tell him. It means that "we are to love our neighbours as ourselves," that we are "in honour to prefer one another." There is nothing more necessary to elevate and raise the human race than the realisation of a common brotherhood. Look around and we find that the " weaker goes to the wall and, in the present state of society, " mifdit not right" holds full sway There ft.re men and women battered, bruised, and stung until the hour of despair has come ; and when % they can no longer fight in the battle of life they expire in agony. There are men, women, and children crushed under burdens heaped upon them by their employers there are thousands of honest — yes, honestmen driven into vagabondism and roguery by ill-treatment. This is the state of the human family after centuries of civilisation a.nd religion, and one of the principal objects of Theosophy is to ameliorate these conditions in a brotherly spirit. This being so, it seems to me that though a man need not be a Theosophist to be a Christian, yet to be a true Theosophisfc a man is a Christian in the truest sense. la concluding this discussion permit me to add that I am not actuated by any ill-feeling to Mr. Carter, but am defending from intolerance a system calculated to benefit myself and my brethren, black or white, of whatever creed and of every nationality.— am, etc., W. H. Draffin.