Mahatma Letter to H. S. Olcott - LMW 2 No. 7

Quick Facts
People involved
Written by:	Serapis Bey
Received by:	Henry Steel Olcott
Sent via:	unknown
Dates
Written on:	June-August 1875
Received on:	June-August 1875
Other dates:	unknown
Places
Sent from:	unknown
Received at:	New York
Via:	unknown

This is Letter No. 7 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Second Series. In it Mahatma Serapis Bey offers encouragement to Henry Steel Olcott to continue working with Elbridge Gerry Brown, and to persuade Brown to increase the size of his periodical Spiritual Scientist. Letters 4-8 of this series are closely related.

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Page 1 transcription, image, and notes

Brother Henry — Greeting!

"Be courageous and hopeful”. Blessed words! The divine, ever working Law of Compensation whose humble ministry we are has not overlooked the tiny seed, cast by the charitable hand of our brother on the soil of the future harvests — of good and evil. The above words will come back to thee, brother. Thou hast created — happiness — and happiness must be created unto thee. The seed will grow and thrive, and under the beneficent shade of the heavenly shrub planted by thine own hands, wilt thou one day seat thyself with thy beloved boys and may be find rest for thy weary head.

Brother, wise beginnings ought to grow in size as in beauty. Advise thy youngest brother of the city of Boston “to try” and increase his paper to XVI pages.

S.

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NOTES:

• thy youngest brother refers to Boston spiritualist Elbridge Gerry Brown.

Context and background

Mr. Jinarajadasa provided this background information:

...the Egyptian Brotherhood originally intended to make the nucleus of the Movement not two but three. The third person was a young American, Elbridge Gerry Brown, the editor of the Spiritual Scientist, Boston. Gerry Brown stood out from other spiritualists by a desire to understand the occult laws behind spiritualistic phenomena. It was the intention of the Egyptian Brotherhood that the Theosophical Movement should, as its first work, initiate a broadening and deepening of Spiritualism. While proof as to survival after death was most valuable, it was only one fact in a larger philosophy which the Adept Brothers intended to give to mankind. Gerry Brown evidently in the beginning responded to these ideals, for he placed his paper at the service of the Brotherhood. BothH.P.B. and H.S.O. not only contributed articles, but also much money to the support of the Scientist. This part of the plan, however, broke down....

Gerry Brown went bankrupt in September 1878, owing money to both H.P.B. and Colonel Olcott....

Physical description of letter

The original of this letter is preserved at the Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai, India.

Publication history

This letter was published for the first time in the Second Series of Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, and then reproduced with a facsimile in Did Madame Blavatsky Forge the Mahatma Letters?

Commentary about this letter

Mr. Jinarajadasa wrote little commentary about this very short letter:

So Gerry Brown lost the great opportunity offered him by the Masters of becoming one of a noble triad whom future Theosophists would ever hold in reverent gratitude.