THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23887, 15 August 1939, Page 4

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

"MESSENGERS OF GOD" Taking as her subject "The Torchbearers throughout the Ages," Mrs A. J. Pollard, in an address to the Theosophical Society on Sunday night, spoke of those messengers of God who had proclaimed some of His wisdom in divers ways from age to age. Ancient astrologers had inspired the people to nobler living. Knight Templars and Knights of St. John had kept the torch of truth burning; in the Round Table painting, "The Vigil," one saw something of the ideal knight. The troubadours concealed many truths in their songs, as did the bards of Scotland. Truths were often found in parables, allegories, and stories. For example, in Algiers, wise men told stories lasting weeks to tourists. These inculcated a moral truth. Many years ago a great teacher had risen in South Russia and founded the Doukhobors. who even to-day had a high standard of living and belief in brotherhood. When John WicklifTe translated the Bible, he had opened the gate of knowledge to many people, and the Education Act of 1870 had made vast improvements. John Milton had filled his writings with mystical learning, while Dickens had preached reform in a practical way in his books Tennyson made men think during a period when their spiritual outlook was dimmed by materialism; and to John Ruskin they owed much for the breaking up of stagnant, corrupt ways of living. Such men lifted the thoughts of all to higher levels of actions, for it was the duty of the lorch-bearer to throw light on problems. These were troubled times in the world, so that it became the duty of all truth-lovers tc help to uplift the country by holding aloft the torch of wisdom.

DUNEDIN'S MAGIC CARPEJ You probably never considered the Otago Daily Times as being a magic carpet; it doesn't whisk you around the town in the physical sense of the word. However the Otago Daily Times does give you a mental iaunl daLly to all parts of the world and, better yet it transports you into every good shop in town—and graphically describes the merchandise or services these stores are offering That's why we call the Otago Daily Times a magic carpet. It permits thrifty buying without the fatigue that out-of-date " shopping-the-town " svstem entailed