“It is said in the world,” he went on, “that there is more than one way to skin a cat. There is also more than one way to get rid of a worker for the Teachers whom you follow. When we cannot deflect a worker through his evil passions, his hatred, anger, avarice, lust, jealousy or fear, we are sometimes able to weaken him through his good passions, his love, his loyalty, or his self-sacrifice.” “Thank you for your confidence,” I said. “And now I will wish you good evening.” As I passed along the line I murmured to myself: “Truly is the serpent more subtle than any beast of the field, and man needs all his wisdom to stand against him.” _May 1._ LETTER XXXVI THE “LUSITANIA” (_This letter was written on the 7th of May, at 10.30 A.M., New York time, one hour after the sinking of the Lusitania, and nine hours before the writer knew of it._) AND still they press forward against us--the menacing powers of darkness and evil, seeking to vent their rage against the world and to glut themselves on the blood of the slain. I have not been near you for a few days because I have had no time. Did you fancy that I had escaped time? Not yet. Had I escaped time, I could not speak thus to the world in the grip of time. Had I quite transcended space, your room could not hold me. During the six days that you have not seen me I have been here, there and everywhere in Europe--even in Asia have I been, for the attack is world-wide. A little while ago I told you that we had driven back the forces of evil. They have rallied and come forward again, not quite as strong, but more desperate and more frenzied. They seek now to embroil the United States, and the whole continent of the old dead race that fed them on blood by magical rites ages ago, that continent where the new race has to be born when this prolonged labor is over. Had I remembered the Law of Rhythm I should have known that the tide of evil would flow back again, and that we should have to struggle with it a second time. It may even now gather fresh force and renew the attack, a little weaker still. The evil beings whom we have slain are slain, they can trouble us no more for a time; but the slain are few beside the many still active. Help us with your thoughts. Many of our friends in the world have staggered and grown weary during the last few days. Do not you! As thy day, so shall thy strength be, O World that we struggle for, and for which we shall win in the end the crown of peace and brotherhood! As I have said before, the world is in the throes of an initiatory ceremony. The trial by water, the trial by air, the trial by fire--all these must the world go through before it can take its place among the initiates of the stellar hierarchies. There is no drawing back now, and the world must not fail. Should it fail there would soon be a vacant place in the circles of the Zodiac. But the world will not fail.