Letters That Have Helped Me

by William Quan Judge; Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell Ver Planck Keightley

"To a greater extent than I have ever realised I know he entered into my life and I am equally sure into the lives of thousands, and this fact I see we are to acknowledge as time passes more and more.... He swore no one to allegiance, he asked for no one's love or loyalty; but his disciples came to him of their own free will and accord, and then he never deserted them, but gave more freely than they asked and often in greater measure than they could or would use. He was always a little ahead of the occasion, and so was truly a leader."—E. B. Rambo.

"Judge was the best and truest friend a man ever had. H. P. B. told me I should find this to be so, and so it was of him whom she, too, trusted and loved as she did no other. And as I think of what those missed who persecuted him, of the loss in their lives, of the great jewel so near to them which they passed by, I turn sick with a sense of their loss: the immense mystery that Life is, presses home to me. In him his foes lost their truest friend out of this life of ours in the body, and though it was their limitations which hid him from them, as our limitations do hide from us so much Spiritual Good, yet we must remember, too, that these limitations have afforded to us and to the world this wonderful example of unselfishness and forgiveness. Judge made the life portrayed by Jesus realisable to me."—A. Keightley.

"William Q. Judge was the nearest approach to my ideal of a Man that I have known. He was what I want to be. H. P. B. was something more than human: She was a cosmic power. W. Q. J. was splendidly human: and he manifested in a way delightfully refreshing and all his own that most rare of human characteristics—genuineness. His influence is continuingly present and powerful, an influence tending steadily, as ever, in one direction—work for the Masters' Cause."—Thos. Green.

"His last message to us was this 'There should be calmness. Hold fast. Go slow.' And if you take down those words and remember them, you will find that they contain an epitome of his whole life struggle. He believed in Theosophy and lived it. He believed because he knew that the great Self of which he so often spoke was the eternal Self, was himself. Therefore he was always calm. He held fast with unwavering tenacity to his purpose and to his ideal. He went slow, and never allowed himself to act hastily. He made time his own, and he was justice itself on that account. And he had the power to act with the rapidity of lightning when the time for action came. We can now afford to console ourselves because of the life he lived, and should also remember that this man, William Quan Judge, had more devoted friends, I believe, than any other living man; more friends who would literally have died for him at a moment's notice; would have gone to any part of the world on the strength of a hint from him. And never once did he use that power and influence for his own personal ends;—never once did he use that power, great as it was, not only in America, but in Europe, Australasia and elsewhere as well, for anything but the good of the Theosophical movement.

"Poor Judge. It was not the charges that stung him, they were too untrue to hurt. It was the fact that those who had once most loudly proclaimed themselves his debtors and his friends were among the first to turn against him. He had the heart of a little child and his tenderness was only equalled by his strength.... He never cared what people thought of him or his work so long as they would work for brotherhood.... His wife has said that she never knew him to tell a lie, and those most closely connected with him theosophically agree that he was the most truthful man they ever knew."—E. T. H.

"I knew him with some degree of intimacy for the past eight years, meeting him often and under varied conditions, and never for one moment did he fail to command my respect and affection, and that I should have had the privilege of his acquaintance I hold a debt to Karma. A good homely face and unpretentious manner, a loving disposition, full of kindliness and honest friendship, went with such strong common sense and knowledge of affairs that his coming was always a pleasure and his stay a delight. The children hung about him fondly as he would sit after dinner and draw them pictures."—A. H. Spencer.

"His life was an example of the possibility of presenting new ideas with emphasis, persistence and effect, without becoming eccentric or one-sided, without losing touch with our fellows, in short, without becoming a 'crank.'... The quality of 'common sense' was Mr. Judge's. Those who have heard him speak, know the singular directness with which his mind went to the marrow of a subject, the unaffected selflessness that radiated from the man. The quality of 'common sense' was Mr. Judge's pre-eminent characteristic."—William Main.

"For to the mystical element in the personality of Mr. Judge was united the shrewdness of the practised lawyer, the organising faculty of a great leader, and that admirable common sense, which is so uncommon a thing with enthusiasts.... In his teaching was embodied most emphatically that received by the prophet Ezekiel when the Voice said to him: 'Stand upon thy feet and I will speak to thee.' He was the best of friends, for he held you firmly, yet apart. He realised the beautiful description Emerson gives of the ideal friend, in whom meet the two most essential elements of friendship, tenderness and truth. 'I am arrived at last,' says Emerson, 'in the presence of a man so real and equal ... that I may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.... To a great heart he will still be a stranger in a thousand particulars, that he may come near in the holiest ground.' And upon that 'holiest ground' of devotion to the highest aim, of desire alone for the welfare of others, the Chief was always to be approached. And blended with the undaunted courage, the keen insight, the swift judgment, the endless patience, that made his personality so powerful, were the warm affections, the ready wit, the almost boyish gaiety that made it so lovable.... One of the Chief's last messages to us said: 'They must aim to develop themselves in daily life in small duties.'... There was a beautiful story of Rhoecus, who could not recognise in the bee that buzzed about his head the messenger of the Dryad, and so lost her love."

Katherine Hillard.