“Such then is the subject of my quest, and such the profession 
of my faith,—it’s summing up can best be made in these few 
lines before me, from the wisdom of the great Confucius, which 
convey the secret aspirations of my soul in better words than 
mine:— 
“ ‘The higest study of all is that which teaches us to develop 
those principles of purity and perfect virtue, which Heaven be¬ 
stowed upon us at our birth, in order that we may acquire the 
power of influencing for good those amongst whom we are placed, 
by our precepts and example; a study without an aid—for our 
labours cease only when we have become perfect—an unattain¬ 
able goal, but one that we must not the less set before us from 
the very first. It is true that we shall not be able to reach it, but 
in our struggle towards it, we shall strengthen our characters and 
give stability to our ideas, so that whilst ever advancing calmly in 
the same direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the 
facilities with which we have been gifted to the best possible ac¬ 
count V 
“Philosophy teaches that knowledge is like Love—a veritable 
truth in contradiction,—we only can preserve it by giving it away. 
“Such knowledge as I have, I give it freely to humanity. 
“My aim, as I have said, is the eventual perfection of the 
race. That aim, Utopian distant, though it may appear, will 
come to pass some day, and meanwhile it is shared by other 
minds than mine. 
“Elbert, the Beautiful, speaking of Emerson, has somewhere 
said: 
‘Emerson says , “I have not yet seen a man”* 
“That is to say, he had never seen a man as excellent as the 
man he could imagine. And the thought the man whom one 
could create in imagination would some day become an actual, 
living reality. 
“Before the act comes the thought ; — before the build¬ 
ing we draw the plans. This is true of all our activities,—we 
have the feeling, the desire, the idea, the thought, — and 
after this comes the deed. So Deity has the desire for the per¬ 
fect man, and the universe is working toward that achievement.” 
The Master paused,—then rising, in a closing phrase he said: 
34 
