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being made over a Hindu lad whose body was supposed to have been marked out for the descent of Maitrai, but happily the matter was put an end to by litigation in court. It would thus appear that the belief in the coming of the Messiah is not confined to any particular sect or section of men, but prevails among all classes of mystics; and the ridicule which men have drawn upon themselves in connection with the coming of the looked for Saviour goes to show that even this little matter has not been properly understood by the followers of these creeds in our day. The truth is that the coming Messiah is as much a myth as any other tenet of mysticism; it certainly bears no reference to any particular human or super-human being whose descent on earth might be expected to put an end to the prevailing evil. The tenet represents a pure doctrinal allegory, depicting, in metaphorical garb, the fact of the attainment of divine perfection by the individual soul. There being no source of true happiness in the external world, it is simply impossible for any one to establish an order of things of the kind that will bring lasting good to the soul or be permanently satisfactory to all. Certainly, bliss is not to be culled from one's environment and surroundings, being nothing other than the natural emotion of pure joy which arises in the soul when it is no longer obsessed with the thought of the other than itself. As already pointed out more than once, there can be no happiness for the soul if it happen to be barren in itself. The coming Messiah must, therefore, spring up from within, if he is to confer happiness on the soul. The soul that is freed from the taint of its wrong beliefs is
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