Blavatsky H.P. - A Light Shining in Darkness: Difference between revisions

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One word in this connection must be said. We know quite as well as ''Light'' that, in point of fact, the Cooks and Talmadges of Christendom do ''not'' represent the sweet doctrine of the Master they audaciously pretend to follow. If our contemporary will honour us by reading the preface to the second volume of ''Isis Unveiled'', he will see our real sentiment expressed upon this point. We know hundreds, no doubt, of men and women whose lovely lives reflect a charming beauty upon their professed faith. But these no more represent the average—or what may be called the practical, executive and real Christianity-—than an Averroes or a Jalâl al-dîn reflects the tone of executive and popular Mohammedanism. If our contemporary were to put his fingers in the missionary vice along with ours, he would know how it was himself, and perhaps not lecture us in so paternal a tone. The test of Philosophy is always best made under circumstances which “try men’s souls”; one can be charmingly serene when far away from the field of battle. Let anyone, who aspires to the martyr’s crown, come to India and Ceylon, and help us in trying to establish a society on the basis of Tolerance and Brotherhood. He would then find of what stuff the average Christian is made, and might well be pardoned if, in the rush of his righteous indignation, he should even talk as though a religion that had hatched such vermin and begotten a Torquemada, were itself an enemy of the whole human family. Certainly it is not that, and most assuredly it is far better than the general run of its professors. We ''do'' accept Christians as members of our Society, and, in fact, a Christian clergyman was one of its Founders. We ''do'' believe that a Christian is as much entitled—though no more entitled—to the undisturbed enjoyment of his belief, as any other; and, as Colonel Olcott very emphatically said in his address at our recent Anniversary Meeting at Bombay—“''From the day when the Christians will live up to their so-called ‘Golden Rule . . .’ you will never hear a word {{Page aside|98}} spoken or see a line written by us against the missionaries or their religion''.” We do not need any prophet to tell us that we are getting no more than was in the contract; and that theoretically we have no right to even wince when the missionary party calls us adventurers, liars, and all that sort of thing. We try to be humble, but our humanity is volcanic and rebellious; still, we are not without hope that, in time, we may be able to rather enjoy a run through the “upper and nether millstones” of the ''Padris''. Meanwhile, we implore our equanimous friend of ''Light'', who holds the torch amid the London fogs, to remember that Shakespeare wrote:

{{Style P-No indent|—and draw the obvious moral therefrom.}}