It is always suspicious, and suggestive of the Keeley Motor, when people talk learnedly about knowledge too precious for common humanity. This is what Mr. Elliott Coues seems to mean, when he sends forth whispers concerning the investigations, in Washington, by his Bombay guest, Baba Joshee, and himself. Give the world what knowledge you have, and the world will know what to do with it. You are not its divine guardians. Humanity can take care of itself. If ghosts and dõeppelgangers and the astral body have any rational explanation, those who are in the secret should let it out. The doctors are quite right in setting down as a charlatan the man who will not let his brethren know the full value and combination of his prescriptions. Why have the secrets of Freemasonry been so well kept? Because there is nothing in Freemasonry to reveal, of which outsiders can make any definite use. Tell the world its whole story, and the world will practically be none the wiser.
The utility of Masonry is not in a few passwords and ceremonies, which may be published, but in a fraternal atmosphere, which may be felt, but cannot be expressed with ink and types.
In the excavated houses of Pompeii, there were cindered human bodies, which fell into dust the moment the air touched them. May it not be so with the jealously-guarded Theosophical mysteries now hinted at? The moment daylight pours in, the magic-lantern picture is taken out and done for.
