The Sword of Song

THE SWORD OF SONG 64 149. Ra.26—The Sun-God. 149. Nuit.27—The Star-Goddess. 152. Campbell.28—“The waters w ild w ent o’er his child, And he was left lamenting.” 152. The Ibis Head.29—Characteristic of Tahuti. 157. Roland’s crest.30—See “Two poets of Croisic,” xci. 159. A jest.31—See above : Ascension Day. 162. A mysterious way.32— “ God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform ; He plants His foodsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.” Intentional species ? 171. The old hymn.33—This hymn, quoted I fear with some failure of memory—I have not the documents at hand—is attributed to the late Bishop of Natal, though I doubt this, as the consistent and trustful piety of its sentiment is ill-suited to the author of those disastrous criticisms of the Pentateuch. The hymn is still popular in Durban. Its extraordinary beauty, for a fragment, is only surpassed by Sappho’s matchless. — ! — ! — ! ! — ! — ! — ! — ! ! — ! — ! — ! 'ennea k' exe - konta ! — — 185. “How very hard.”34— “ How very hard it is to be A Christian !”—Easter Day, I. i. 2. 195. Srotapatti.35—One who has “entered the stream” of Nirvana. For the advantages of doing so, see the ap- pended Jataka story, which I have just trans- lated from a C ingalese Palm-leaf MS. See Appendix I. 228. You know for me, etc.36—See Huxley, Hume, 199, 200. 239. Spirit and matter are the same.37—See Huxley’s reply to Lilly. 273. “ I am not what I see.”38—In Memoriam. But see H. Spencer, “Principles of Psychology,” General Analysis, ch. vi. 281. “’Tis lotused Buddha.”39— “Hark ! that sad groan ! Proceed no further ! ’Tis laurelled Martial roaring murther.” —BURNS, Epigram. But Buddha cannot really roar, since he has passed away by that kind of passing away which leaves nothing whatever behind. 322. A mere law without a will.40—I must not be supposed to take any absurd view of the meaning of the word “law.” This passage denies any knowledge of ultimate causes, not asserts it. But it tends to deny benevolent fore- sight, and a fortiori benevolent omnipotence. Cf. Zoroaster, Oracles: “Look not upon the visible image of the Soul of Nature, for her name is Fatality.” Ambrosius is very clear on this point. I append his famous MS. complete in its English Translation, as it is so rare. How rare will be appreciated when I say that no copy either of original or translation occurs in the British Museum ; the only known copy, that in the Bodleian, is concealed by the pre-Adamite system of cataloguing in vogue at that hoary but unvenerable institution. For convenience the English has been modernised. See Ap- pendix II. 329. Maya fashioned it.41—Sir E. Arnold, Light of Asia. 335. Why should the Paramatma cease.42— The Universe is represented by orthodox Hin- dus as alternating between Evolution and In- volution. But apparently, in either state, it is the other which appears desirable, since the change is operated by Will, not by Necessity. 341. Blavatsky’s Himalayan Balm.43—See the corkscrew theories of A . P. Sinnet in that masterpiece of confusion of thought—and nomenclature !—“Esoteric Buddhism.” Also see the “Voice of the Silence, or, The Butler’s Revenge.” Not Bp. Butler. 366. Ekam Advaita.44—Of course I now re- ject this utterly. B ut it is, I believe, a stage of thought necessary for many or most of us. The bulk of these poems w as w ritten w hen I was an A dvaitist, incredible as the retrospect now appears. My revision has borne Buddhist fruits, but some of the Advaita blossom is left. Look, for example, at the dreadfully Papistical tendency of my celebrated essay : AFTER AGNOSTICISM Allow me to introduce myself as the original Irishman whose first question on landing at New Yor k was, “I s t here a Gover nment in this country? ” and on being told “Yes,” instantly replied, “Then I’m agin it. ” For after some years of consistent Agnosticism, being at last asked to contribute to an Agnostic organ, for the life of me I can think of nothing better than to attack my hosts! Insidious cuckoo! Ungrateful Banyan! My shame drives me to Semetic analogy, and I sadly reflect that if I had been Balaam, I should not have needed an ass other than myself to tell me to do the precise contrary of what is expected of me. For this is my position; w hile the postulate of Agnosticism are in one sense eternal, I believe that the conclusions of Agnosticism are daily to be pushed back. We know our ignorance; with that fact we are twitted by those who do not know enough to understand