doubts and questions have arisen as to some things since the present cloud gathered. among others it has been said that it were better that —— had left the chair: it would be well for him to go, and so on. these views should not be held. if held, they should be dismissed. there are two forces at work in the t.s., as well as in the world and in man. these are the good and the bad. we cannot help this: it is the law. but we have rules, and we have preached of love and truth and kindness; and above all, we have spoken of gratitude, not only of masters, but among us. now this applies to this question of ——. again, he may be incompetent ... and yet be competent for the little he has to do.... now let me tell you: the work must not fail because here and there personalities fall, and sin, and are unwise. truth remains, and it is, whoever falls: but the multitude look to the visible leader. if he falls apart like an unjointed puzzle, at once they say, "there is no truth there, nothing which is": and the work of a century is ruined and must be rebuilt again from its foundations, and years of backward tendency must come between the wreck of one undertaking and the beginning of another. let me say one thing i know: only the feeling of true brotherhood, of true love towards humanity aroused in the soul of someone strong enough to stem this tide, can carry us through. for love and trust are the only weapons that can overcome the real enemies against which the true theosophist must fight. if i, or you, go into this battle from pride, from self-will, from desire to hold our position in the face of the world, from anything but the purest motives, we shall fail. let us search ourselves well and look at it as we never looked before: see if there is in us the reality of the brotherhood which we preach and which we are supposed to represent.

let us remember those famous words: "be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." let us remember the teaching of the sages that death in the performance of our duty is preferable to the doing by us of the duty of another, however well we may do the latter: the duty of another is full of danger. let us be of and for peace, and not for war alone.