THEO. The Masters do _not_ guide the Society, not even the Founders; and no one has ever asserted that they did: they only watch over and protect it. This is amply proved by the fact that no mistakes have been able to cripple it, and no scandals from within, nor the most damaging attacks from without, have been able to overthrow it. The Masters look at the future, not at the present, and every mistake is so much more accumulated wisdom for days to come. That other “Master” who sent the man with the five talents did not tell him how to double them, nor did he prevent the foolish servant from burying his one talent in the earth. Each must acquire wisdom by his own experience and merits. The Christian Churches, who claim a far higher “Master,” the very Holy Ghost itself, have ever been and are still guilty not only of “mistakes,” but of a series of bloody crimes throughout the ages. Yet, no Christian would deny, for all that, his belief in _that_ “Master,” I suppose? although his existence is far more _hypothetical_ than that of the Mahatmas; as no one has ever seen the Holy Ghost, and _his_ guidance of the Church, moreover, their own ecclesiastical history distinctly contradicts. _Errare humanum est._ Let us return to our subject. THE ABUSE OF SACRED NAMES AND TERMS. ENQ. Then, what I have heard, namely, that many of your Theosophical writers claim to have been inspired by these Masters, or to have seen and conversed with them, is not true? THEO. It may or it may not be true. How can I tell? The burden of proof rests with them. Some of them, a few—very few, indeed—have distinctly either _lied_ or were hallucinated when boasting of such inspiration; others were truly inspired by great Adepts. The tree is known by its fruits; and as all Theosophists have to be judged by their deeds and not by what they write or say, so _all_ Theosophical books must be accepted on their merits, and not according to any claim to authority which they may put forward. ENQ. But would Mdme. Blavatsky apply this to her own works—the _Secret Doctrine_, for instance?