_Attending Divine Service._—Breaking the express commandment of Jesus. Becoming “as the hypocrites are,” who love to pray in Synagogue and Temples, “that they may be seen of men.” (Matt.vi.) _Taking the Oath, on the Bible._—A Christian law, devised and adopted to perpetuate and carry out the unequivocal commandment of the Founder of Christianity, “Swear not at all, neither by heaven nor by the earth” (Matt. v.). As the heaven and the earth are supposed to have been created _only_ by God, a book written by _men_ thus received the prerogative over the former. _Unpopularity._—We hate but those whom we envy or fear. Hatred is a concealed and forced homage rendered to the person hated; a tacit admission of the superiority of the unpopular character. The true value of _back-biting and slander_. A proof of the fast coming triumph of the victim chosen. The bite of the fly when the creature feels its end approaching. _A Few Illustrations to the Point from Schopenhauer._ Socrates was repeatedly vilified and thrashed by the opponents of his philosophy, and was as repeatedly urged by his friends to have his honour avenged in the tribunals of Athens. Kicked by a rude citizen, in the presence of his followers, one of these expressed surprise for his not resenting the insult, to which the Sage replied: “Shall I then feel offended, and ask the magistrate to avenge me, if I also happen to be kicked by an ass?” To another remark whether a certain man had abused and called him names, he quietly answered: “No; for none of the epithets he used can possibly apply to me.” (From Plato’s “Georgics”) The famous cynic, Cratus, having received from the musician Nicodromus a blow which caused his face to swell, coolly fixed a tablet upon his brow, inscribed with the two words, “_Nicodromus facit_.” The flute player hardly escaped with his life from the hands of the populace, which viewed Cratus as a household god. Seneca, in his work “_De Constanta Sapientis_,” treats most elaborately of insults in words and deeds, or _contumelia_, and then declares that no Sage ever pays the smallest attention to such things.—“Well, yes!” the reader will exclaim, “but these men were all of them _Sages_!”—“And you, are you then only _fools_? Agreed!” LUCIFER ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VOL. I. LONDON, OCTOBER 15TH, 1887. NO. 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE LADY OF LIGHT. (_Written for_ LUCIFER.) Star of the Day and the Night! Star of the Dark that is dying; Star of the Dawn that is nighing, Lucifer, Lady of Light![19] * *