THEO. Certainly not. His expulsion or resignation only relieves him from the obligation of obedience to the teacher, and from that of taking an active part in the work of the Society, but surely not from the sacred pledge of secrecy. ENQ. But is this reasonable and just? THEO. Most assuredly. To any man or woman with the slightest honourable feeling a pledge of secrecy taken even on one’s _word of honour_, much more to one’s Higher Self—the God within—is binding till death. And though he may leave the Section and the Society, no man or woman of honour will think of attacking or injuring a body to which he or she has been so pledged. ENQ. But is not this going rather far? THEO. Perhaps so, according to the low standard of the present time and morality. But if it does not bind as far as this, what use is a _pledge_ at all? How can anyone expect to be taught secret knowledge, if he is to be at liberty to free himself from all the obligations he had taken, whenever he pleases? What security, confidence, or trust would ever exist among them, if pledges such as this were to have no really binding force at all? Believe me, the law of retribution (Karma) would very soon overtake one who so broke his pledge, and perhaps as soon as the contempt of every honourable man would, even on this physical plane. As well expressed in the N. Y. “Path” just cited on this subject, “_A pledge once taken, is for ever binding in both the moral and the occult worlds._ If we break it once and are punished, that does not justify us in breaking it again, and so long as we do, so long will the mighty lever of the Law (of Karma) react upon us.” (The _Path_, July, 1889.) FOOTNOTES: [10] _Vide_ (at the end) the official rules of the T.S., Appendix A. _Nota bene_, “T.S.” is an abbreviation for “Theosophical Society.” [11] Publicans—regarded as so many thieves and pickpockets in those days. Among the Jews the name and profession of a publican was the most odious thing in the world. They were not allowed to enter the Temple, and Matthew (xviii. 17) speaks of a heathen and a publican as identical. Yet they were only Roman tax-gatherers occupying the same position as the British officials in India and other conquered countries.