n--and the calm strength of his convictions. It was
impossible to be in his presence for any length of time without
feeling the power that emanated from him, and recognising that here
was a mighty soul struggling for expression.

Other characteristics were his extreme modesty, and his continual
endeavour to accord praise and merit to those working for the cause so
dear to his own heart. When questioned on many of the intricate points
raised in a lecture or in conversation on some abstruse theosophical
subject, he made no pretence at knowledge he did not possess; on such
occasions his confession of ignorance would be charming, even touching
in its _naivete_.

But the qualities he seemed to feel it his special object to awaken in
the minds of others--as will be acknowledged, I think, by those who
knew him best--may be inferred from his continual insistence on the
double duty, incumbent on students of Theosophy, of practising on all
occasions the utmost tolerance, refusing not only to condemn but even
to judge harshly the opinions or actions of others, and of seizing
every opportunity to help another because of the recognition of the
One Life throughout the world, May we who read the following pages
catch somewhat of the deep earnestness and enthusiastic spirit
breathing through them, and may the joy of service dissipate all
meaner, motives, taking as our watchword also the only key to true
growth, the very heart of altruism, that exhortation he never wearied
of repeating: _Aidez! Aidez toujours!_

F. R.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

It will soon be: 1500 years since the decision of the Council of 543
A.D.[1] condemned to oblivion sublime teachings which ought to have
been carefully preserved and handed down to future generations as a
beacon amid social reefs; teachings that would have uprooted that
frightful egoism which threatens to annihilate the world, and
instilled patience into the hearts of such as were being crushed
beneath the wheel of the cosmic law, by showing them the scales of
Justice inclining to the side filled with their iniquities of bygone
times; teachings which would have been welcomed by the masses, and the
understanding of which would not have called for any lofty
intellectual culture.

It was one of the greatest misfortunes that could have befallen the
races of the West, more especially the European, that they were thus
deprived for centuries of this indispensable knowledge. We look upon
it as a