[THERE IS A ROAD, STEEP AND THORNY . . . . .]

[Lucifer, Vol. IX, No. 49, September, 1891, p. 4]

[After the passing of H.P.B., the magazine Lucifer was edited mainly by Annie Besant. In her Editorial opening up the Ninth Volume, she speaks of the position of Lucifer in the intellectual world, of its opposition to Materialism, the philosophy it offers from hoary antiquity, of the religion it brings which outrages neither the intellect nor the conscience, etc. She winds up by saying that it “bends low to whisper in the ear of the patient, aspiring seeker after the Hidden Wisdom.” She then publishes within quotation marks the passage which appears below. It has been thought by many students that this passage is from Annie Besant’s own pen. William Kingsland, however, who was with H.P.B. for a long time, and whose opinion is of great value in such matters, ascribes this passage to H.P.B., and uses it as such in his fine work entitled The Real H.P. Blavatsky (London: John M. Watkins, 1928). It is quite possible that Annie Besant used in her Editorial, and placed in the mouth of Lucifer, some passage from an unpublished manuscript of H.P.B.—Compiler.]

There is a road, steep and thorny, beset with perils of every kind, but yet a road, and it leads to the very heart of the Universe: I can tell you how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that opens inward only, and closes fast behind the neophyte for evermore. There is no danger that dauntless courage cannot conquer; there is no trial that spotless purity cannot pass through; there is no difficulty that strong intellect cannot surmount. For those who win onwards there is reward past all telling—the power to bless and save humanity; for those who fail, there are other lives in which success may come.

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[At this point, in Vol. IX of Lucifer, September, 1891, pp. 8-20, the Editors published an Essay from the pen of H.P.B. entitled “The Substantial Nature of Magnetism.” Internal evidence shows it to have been written much earlier. In accordance with this, it will be found in Volume V III of the present Series.—Compiler.]

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