DEAR

November 25th, 1906.

It is a pleasure for me to look back occasionally to last April and the good time we had at Cincinnati. I wonder whether you do the same thing? It was a privilege to have this opportunity to meet so many of the members, members with whose names I had been familiar for years, but had never met. I feel closer to you now. The bond which exists between us all is undoubtedly drawn tighter by personal acquaintance.

Now I do not want that bond to get slack, as it would in time if I did not have the good luck to see you again for some years; so to prevent this I want to write to you occasionally as the best substitute for a personal visit.

I trust that the work at progresses to your satisfaction. Being human, we cannot hope to do all we should or all we like; but if we do all we can, we should rest content, and not fret because it is not twice as much. Certainly so far as we can tell, the Branch at seems to be active and alive, with a fresh, vivid feeling that indicates that all is going as well as it can go in this troubled world where there is so much that is opposed to the spiritual principles which we endeavour to live and to inculcate.

The older I grow the more convinced I am that living them is the real thing. Unless we show by our own lives that what we teach is a power for good, we cannot hope to do much good to others; while, if we do live our principles, sooner or later we become a power for good in the community in which we live, that is out of all apparent proportion to our abilities and our seeming opportunities.

I believe that one person who really lives the Life does more good than twenty who only teach it, and that the measure of our usefulness in the Movement is indicated by the purity and goodness of our lives.

We may be quite sure that if our heart is in the right place and we try to do our duty as we see it, we shall not get into trouble through ignorance. The Master would be sure to see that we shall know anything that it is necessary for us to know.

So please accept my greetings and a clasp of the hand of comradeship and a word of good cheer, as we journey on the Path together. It is a hard task we have, and we need all the help we can give each other.

With best wishes to you all at

I am sincerely,

C. A. GRISCOM.

A History of Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion, by Edward G. Browne, Professor of Arabic and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1920.

This thoroughly elaborated and generously illustrated work is the latest of a series of volumes in which Professor E. G. Browne has undertaken to reveal the intellectual and spiritual life of Persia to the West. The present volume covers the period 1265-1502; or, roughly, from nearly a century before Chaucer's birth to about a century after his death.

Much of the book is, naturally, occupied with the Tartar dynasty, the wonderfully gifted family, descended from Genghis Khan, "Prince of Princes," which played such a dominant part in medieval Asia, conquering an empire, or a series of empires, far greater than that of the Cæsars, and including China, India, Persia and much of Eastern Europe.

Yet military greatness is not the most striking quality of the Tartar, Mongol, or Mogul rulers-for all three names are applied to them; several of them were also writers; while two of them, Kublai Khan and Akbar, displayed, in China and India, a spirit of religious tolerance and eclecticism, genuinely Theosophical, which it would be hard to parallel elsewhere among the rulers of that or any other period.

Even more interesting than the historical and purely literary examples of Persian creative work, are the poems of the mystics. Among the best of these, are poems by Ibn-i-Yamin, who died about the year 1344 of our era; and some verses by Salman-i-Sawaji, who died a generation later, in 1376.

It is interesting to compare the spirit of these poems with the almost contemporary English "Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman."-C. J.

La Sociedad Teosófica y la Teosofia, and Fragmentos, I Tomo, are admirable translations into Spanish, recently published by the Venezuela Branch of The Theosophical Society, of Professor Mitchell's well-known pamphlet and of the first volume of Cave's Fragments. Those members in Venezuela who are responsible for such publications, deserve the highest praise for their devotion and enterprise. The cost in labour and in money must have been considerable. The appearance of both books is sufficient evidence of the loving care which was given to their preparation. We congratulate the "Rama Venezuela" most heartily, wishing them continued and lasting success in their good work for the cause of Theosophy.-E. T. H.

In the January number of the Harvard Theological Review there appears an article entitled "Church and Religion in Germany," by Dr. Richard Lempp of Stuttgart, one time student in the Harvard Divinity School, and after four years of service as Chaplain with the German army in France and Belgium, now secretary to the Evangelischer Volksbund für Würtemberg. The editors

state in an introductory footnote that they requested Dr. Lempp to write the article for the Review, because "His studies and experience have thus peculiarly fitted him to deal with the subject" of "the state of religion in Germany as affected by the war, and its outlook in the period of reconstruction upon which -we may hope-the world is now entering."

Dr. Lempp does indeed seem peculiarly fitted to reveal,-both by what he says and by the way in which he says it, the appalling lack of principle and of religion which is eminently characteristic of Germany as a whole today, and in past years. To all that he does reveal, Dr. Lempp is himself completely and complacently oblivious; and we wish that, in printing such an article of insidious propaganda, hypocrisy, and false pleading, the Editors of the Harvard Theological Review had at least disclaimed all responsibility for the opinions expressed, even if they did not see fit to disavow them.

In effect, we are to believe that the rehabilitation in Germany of religious faith, and of church prosperity after the revolution of 1918, was rendered almost impossible at the start by "the oppressive conditions of the Armistice." which "had crippled all railway traffic and even the postal service." Whatever dependence German religion may have on railway traffic, the author adds that, “In view, however, of the fluctuating value of money, the immense debt of the nation-the whole desperate situation, in which there seems no prospect of escape from starvation and economic ruin-the definite solution of these problems, especially those relating to financial support [of the churches] and school reform, will probably be delayed for a considerable time. . . . I may add, in this connection, that if our enemies should adopt a more reasonable attitude, and moderate their oppressive terms so that we may live, the churches in their new relation to the states may still be of invaluable service to the nation; whereas, if the present unreasonable attitude persists, chaos will certainly result, in which, as in Russia, the churches also will be engulfed. In that event, the moral as well as the material ruin of Germany will be sealed." It is not difficult to supply what Dr. Lempp conveys by ill-concealed innuendo,-that the brutal Allies, unless they soften their terms, will be responsible for the "moral as well as material ruin" of Germany. This conclusion is indeed startling, coming even from a German.

Nowhere in this article is there a hint of repentance, a single admission of the moral wrongs committed by Germany, an acknowledgment of the blindness of by far the majority of the German clergy, who aided, abetted and approved the War, and the way in which it was fought. On the contrary: "Many who were tired of war and the suffering it entailed blamed the churches for encouraging the people to persevere to the point of victory." Again: "Most of them [i. e. "the clergy"], taking into account the state of mind of our enemies, saw no chance of arriving at a mutual understanding"-which, if it implies anything, implies that the German clergy, even during the War, were informed of Allied press opinion, and had the chance to learn the facts. "Many people," adds this ordained minister, "were finally convinced of the soundness of that judgment only by the terms of the Armistice and the peace of Versailles"-a chain of logic which clearly disregards principle, let alone truth.

In view of the veils which propaganda and self-interest are throwing over Germany-her past mere peccadilloes and her future all admirable intentions,-it is well to note carefully the mental attitude of a highly educated and intelligent writer, speaking from the heart of Germany today. He sketches the different relations between Church and State since the Armistice, and refers to the "Kirchentag," a new (1919) Assembly of "Consistories, synods, theological parties, missionary societies, and Christian associations" of German Protestants. "Its first session was closed with the adoption of several very important declarations: An address to the Protestants of Germany regarding the humiliating impeachment

of the Emperor and the detention of our prisoners of war; another to the Protestants in the lost provinces of Alsace, Poland, West Prussia, and Danzig [he fails to mention Lorraine]; and a statement regarding the German foreign missions, which have been ruthlessly destroyed by our enemies." And over the page, "One of the saddest effects of our defeat is the ruin of our works of charity." (All italics are mine.)

The reviewer feels impelled to call the attention of QUARTERLY readers to such an article as typical of German opinion today. It is all too manifest that Germany is nothing more than an insecurely caged criminal, who is ready for escape at the first opportunity. That Dr. Lempp's article closes with an appeal for "a new prophet, some creative genius, who, amid present confusion of thought and the crumbling of foundations, shall point a new way"-and refers to the success of Rudolf Steiner's "theosophy," is significant. These are perhaps added indications of the extent to which Germany is blinded by psychic delusions, obsessed by her unmerited sufferings, "tied and bound with the chain" of her sins. A. G.

Archaic England: An Essay in Deciphering Prehistory from Megalithic Monuments, Earthworks, Customs, Coins, Place-Names, and Faerie Superstitions, by Harold Bayley, London, Chapman and Hall; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott, 1920.

This book would prove both fascinating and instructive to the reader interested in the survival of ancient wisdom through tradition, folk-lore, and symbolism. Madame Blavatsky laid great stress on the evidence for a kernel or substratum of truth to be found within all forms of tradition and folk-lore, and the study of a great mass of such material is sympathetically presented in the 875 pages of this book. The author's preceding volumes, The Lost Language of Symbolism, and A New Light on the Renaissance, which deal with the same general subject, have been commended for accuracy of scholarship and wealth of illustration.—A. G.

Precepts and Judgments, translated from the French of Marshal Foch by Hilaire Belloc (Henry Holt and Co.), serves as an excuse to remind our readers of an article by Professor Mitchell in the THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY of October, 1918, which dealt with an earlier book by Foch, entitled The Principles of War. Professor Mitchell's article should be read and re-read by everyone who desires to put Theosophy into practice. Theosophy has revealed to us that the principles which underlie the various arts and sciences are identical. It has revealed to us the true meaning of the law of correspondences, and of the Hermetic saying, “as above, so below." Professor Mitchell, in his article, made it clear that because Marshal Foch, with his amazing lucidity, lays bare the real principles of warfare,— everything he writes can be applied with equal force to the spiritual combat, and, in fact, to all the struggles, outer as well as inner, of daily life. A friend tells us that he preaches constantly to a group of salesmen from texts supplied by Foch: Foch, on 'how to sell'!

Take, as example, what is said about Discipline in Precepts and Judgments. Here is an answer to the question, so often formulated: How can I learn to work for and with the Masters? Blind obedience, says Foch, obedience to rules and to commandments, is but a first step, a step to be taken in the nursery. "To be disciplined does not mean, either, that one only carries out an order received to such a point as appears to be convenient, fair, rational or possible. It means that one [deeply studies and then] frankly adopts the thoughts and views of the superior in command, and that one uses all humanly practicable means in order to give him satisfaction. Laziness of mind leads to indiscipline, just as does insubordination."-T.

QUESTION NO. 254.-Imagination and will are said to be the two great magical instruments. Life trains the will. Ought parents to train the imaginations of their children and if so, what are the best ways of doing this?

ANSWER.-Surely it must depend on the source of the imagination. The inaking of images comes from two sources: (1) Reproduction of past experiences stored up in the astral (?) "memory," and these may have their origin in other lives as well as this; (2) creative impulses proceeding from the real man-the Higher Ego of the child.

The steady development of the spiritual Will is the road by which such creative imagination can become operative, and the methods must be those which train the will to overcome the selfishness which is, as a rule, the characteristic of the animal body and psychic constitution of the growing child.

In source (1), are included images which arise from physiological activities and the lower mind, stimuli from the outside environment, as well as those which arise from the Skandhas of past lives, and these latter, of course, may be deposits of (1) and (2). In the general principle, therefore, parents should educate the spiritual will of children by training them in unselfishness: and this calls forth the true image-making power of the soul. A. K.

ANSWER.-There is White and Black Magic. We must beware in which we train our children. Self-indulgence, self-assertion, self-will, and self-gratification are four of the Devil's warders-urging us to enter upon the highway to Hell. If a child ever be allowed to imagine itself as of primary importance, it is holding out hands to the four warders. Keep the child's imagination centred on the Path. It cannot begin too young to be obedient, to think first of others, to be decorous, silent, reverent, courteous, quiet and gentle. Let it practise its imagination by trying to be good. Give it ideals, such as those of a knight or a lady of old,-a Greek hero, a Saint, or again some historical character, like Richard the Lion Hearted, Washington or Lincoln. Let it establish some standard and then try to live up to the standard and by the standard. This may be made so interesting and picturesque that being good becomes as exciting as football. For that matter, the spiritual life may be illustrated by analogies drawn from the gridiron or the battlefield, or wherever men are called upon to sacrifice for an ideal. The very best training, of course, was laid down for us in two immortal words: "Follow me." This, however, requires that the parent himself should have started on the "Imitation." G. W. ANSWER.-If imagination is a magical instrument, surely parents ought to train their children in the right use of it.

Two suggestions present themselves; both are vital. Help the children to know the Master as their best friend and constant companion, and also as their model, as the one who understands them perfectly, because he has been through every experience and overcome every temptation. Make very concrete the temptations that come within every child's daily experience and make concrete also the joy of overcoming them.

The second suggestion grows out of the first-teach the child to know the two