l ignorance,
the burden that They have taken out of love for man and for his
helping. And I have often thought, when I have been trying dimly to
understand the mysteries of this divine compassion, and the greatness
of the love and of the pity which moves those mighty Ones to mix
themselves up with our small, petty selves, I have often thought how
strange must seem to Them, from Their position, the indifference with
which we take such priceless blessings, the indifference with which we
accept such mighty sacrifice. For the love that These deserve at our
hands is surely beyond all claim of kindred, of blood, of touch
between man and man; the claim that They have upon us, these Men who
are Masters and Teachers, for what They have given and made possible
for you and me, seems to me a claim beyond all measuring, a debt
beyond all counting. And when one looks at the Society as a whole, and
realises how little as a whole it takes account of those deep occult
truths into touch with which it has come, how little it realises how
mighty the possibility that these supreme acts of sacrifice have
opened before every one of us, it seems almost too sad to be credible,
too pathetic to be expressed; one realises how sometimes Their hearts
must be wrung, as the heart of the Christ was wrung when He stood and
looked over Jerusalem, and knew that the people to whose race He
belonged were driving further and further away their possibilities,
and were despising that which He had brought for their redemption. How
often His cry: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thee together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not"--how often must that same cry go out from the
heart of the Masters, when They look at the movement for which They
are responsible, and realise how little its greatness is understood by
those who are its members, and are reckoned within its pale.[1] For if
even for one brief hour you could realise the heart of the Master,
and what He feels and knows with regard to this movement which is His,
it seems to me that in the light of even that brief meditation there
would be a throwing away of personalities, there would be a trampling
down of silly pride, a casting aside of careless obstinacy, a yearning
to have some share in the sacrifice, and to give ourselves, however
petty we may be, side by side with that sublime sacri