WILLIAM QUAN JUDGE,
A REMINISCENCE*
Laura C. Holloway-Langford
A letter written full thirty years ago, and penned for the entertainment and instruction of a friend, retains to this day all its old-time charm of substance and of style. How touched with sadness it is, yet how the characteristic gaiety of the Irish nature of the writer reasserts itself. There is the same magnetism in its lines that was expressed in the smile of him who wrote it -- William Quan Judge -- and who that ever knew that smile can forget it? So wondrously kind and winsome was it and so compelling in its challenge to confidence and to comradeship. Lighting up a countenance usually serious in expression, it gave to the beholder a sense of security in the perfectly sincere nature of the man, in his geniality, and good heart. This old letter awakens an ocean of memories, recalling friendships and picturing faces that long ago vanished. It has withstood the withering touch of time and radiates a warmth all its own, for its theme -- for the most part -- is the Masters, and its key-note is laudation of the Messenger sent by them to this western world.
It has been in good company all these years, resting under protecting care, and lying beside those said to have been penned by the Masters themselves, and, from her who knew them, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
More than any other person in this country, Mr. Judge, is associated in the minds of the Theosophical public with the Masters, and with Madame Blavatsky, for he remained here after she and Colonel Olcott had gone away to India, and he was the one active and tireless worker whose privilege it was to tell others of Theosophy; and this he did unflagingly [sic] from the time the Society was started until his death. His fidelity was as changeless as is the spirit that is expressed in every line of this letter, which informs of the work and the workers, and of his joy in being again with those whose lives are given wholly to the service of the Masters.
This letter, treasured perhaps all unintentionally for the very use it is now serving, was written at a critical time in his career, when his worldly ambitions were fading or had, really, completely faded away, and he was prepared to renounce every personal desire and make a total surrender of himself to his chosen life-work. He himself did not know how nearly he was linked to the Masters, for he was by nature diffident in appraising his gifts, and he was still aspiring to be at a period when he had already succeeded; he had already been chosen while yet he was asking to merit attainment.
Mr. Judge was a natural mystic: he did not have to learn the laws of Being; he knew them instinctively, and by night and by day, through sunshine and in storms, he was using his thoughts to reach the point of mystical union between soul and universal spirit, between our own conscious mind and the God within us, and he reveled in that consciousness at times even to the point of almost complete unconsciousness of outward surroundings. There was one quiet retreat in New York which he frequented -- a privileged guest -- where he could be alone, and, from these long sessions of silence, he would go forth refreshed, and ready to face the world with strength renewed.
This old letter, written by William Quan Judge (one cannot help noting the quaintness of the middle name) is as full of the mystic flavor of ancient Ireland as is the story of the Brehon kings, and it acts upon one's subconscious self as would the rich wine of the East upon the sensitive nerves of a child. He was of Irish lineage, born in Dublin, and trained in childhood and youth to know and to revere the history of his native land -- a land that was more to him than his place of birth, for it was to him the country of mysticism, of enchantment, forever sacred to its ancient historic past, and forever to be preserved for the sake of its spiritual glory. This letter recalls, too, people and events of interest now to Theosophists, and to be of ever-increasing interest as time passes. The beginnings of a great movement, like the springs of personal character, are of importance to a right understanding of it in its entirety. It was written by one of the chief actors in the theosophic drama, and one who knew its possibilities. He was one of the creators of that drama, and played a leader's part in it in his lifetime, and is forever identified with its name and its fame. Mr. Judge had been a Theosophist for many a year when he wrote this letter, but it reveals the selfsame nature that was his when he first started out to live the life and make himself worthy of the place he was aspiring to reach.
Life was bright to him and opening up many avenues of professional opportunities when his attention was first attracted to the subject. He had a well-trained mind and, along with the study of the law, his chosen profession, he had studied philosophy and sought to understand metaphysics. He had an aptitude for the law, and but one disqualification for it: he had spiritual aspirations intensely strong, and of spiritual aspirations the law takes no cognizance. His literary tastes, his studious habits, these were permissible; but when he turned from the recreations and pastimes of his associates and sought the teachings of the Russian woman, who was one of the noted people in New York in the early seventies, he parted company with all ambitions to gain greatness in his profession, and severed all kinship with common-place hopes and desires.
He often said that he never had a really conscious existence until "Isis" was unveiled to him.
It was in the autumn of 1874 that he met Madame Blavatsky, and thereafter he was bent upon the pursuit of the teachings of the eastern sages as expounded by her. The junior of the many younger lawyers and newspaper men who frequented the informal receptions of Madame Blavatsky, he was the only one who identified himself with Theosophy. This meeting between Mr. Judge and his life-long teacher occurred forty-one years ago, and was the beginning of a friendship that was, in its essence, ideal. Irascible and temperamentally volcanic, Madame Blavatsky's moods varied with the mental conditions under which she was doing the occult work of the moment. The real life of her was lived in the performance of that work, and everything else was of minor significance, if of any importance whatsoever. Therefore, for her to be variable, and, as changeable, temperamentally, as a camelion [sic], was for her to be perfectly natural.
Unquestionably her make-up was more complex than that merely feminine. She was not like women generally. She was a cosmic woman -- combining in her individuality characteristics common to all nationalities and all strata of society; not a personality merely, but a composite Being, the resultant of many reincarnations: the finished product of no one material existence. And, so far as a rigid investigation has been able to establish a truth, William Quan Judge was the only individual who knew in its fulness the measure of her karmic greatness, and was able to overlook the defects of a present vestment which seemed to have been adopted for the purpose of baffling those who cared not to know her aright. She was a stumbling block and rock of offense to the many; an enigma to the majority of those, who, with ordinary curiosity, sought to know her. But to the Theosophist, who in his inmost heart believed in and looked up to the Brotherhood, she was no problem: she was the one of that Brotherhood chosen to attempt the cheerless task of carrying the message that such a Brotherhood had an existence, and had a very real interest in and concern for all mankind.
Encountering obstacles that -- like giants -- threatened her progress, and receiving the jeers and doubts of the multitude, she turned to individuals for that recognition she longed for, and which yet was denied her. The world received her on all the planes except the one upon which she lived, and it gladly accorded her powers of intellect greater than any woman of her age; but of the teachings she offered, it would not hear, and she saw that her way would be hedged by thorns, and barred by the ignorance of those who were not willing to acquaint themselves with the message she had to give. She worked with zeal and without reward or hope of reward. She wrote with unceasing industry and gave her writings to the world. She made herself of no importance in a movement which owed its conception and life to her: she often remained dumb, while blatant voices about her proclaimed their titles to leadership. She was unpretentious in her daily living; free of arrogance, and never asserting her right to precedence or consideration.
The mud and the slime thrown upon her in her life-time, great as it was, is not comparable with the ignomy cast upon her by those who, since her death, have worn the mask of her fame and basked in the splendor of her achievements; by those who, wearing the livery of Theosophy have imagined themselves to be draped about with the Mantle of the Messenger -- a Mantle which they seem not to know was fashioned after no conventional pattern, but was a model all its own -- a seamless garment.
The friendship between Mr. Judge and Madame Blavatsky had this one characteristic that made it different from the ordinary friendships of their life -- it was untainted by disloyalty, untarnished by quarrels or contradictions, and unbroken by doubt or misgivings of any kind whatsoever. Of him, she said one day, to a person sitting beside her desk, to whom she had given permission to interrupt her writing: "Judge is a true friend; he has worked and he has never given me any trouble by complaining or criticizing, and, he is silent." She emphasized this last phrase, and looked with a clear, earnest gaze upon her visitor.
And Mr. Judge, on his part, was the soul of loyalty. Who is there who ever heard him use his lips to frame an unkind word of her? Who ever knew him to express any but cordial, honest, loyal, and reverential speech about her? His record for fidelity, for affection, for faithful service, is reared on a foundation solid and abiding. He worked as she directed from the day he pledged himself to the Masters until the night he died -- a period of twenty-two years as time is reckoned on the calendar.
If Mr. Judge had no other claim upon the affections and confidence of Theosophists, his rank as her nearest and dearest friend and trusted co-laborer should enshrine him in their hearts. Without him there is no reality in the work that has been done in the name of Theosophy, for he was a mighty force in that work, and was from the foundation of the Society recognized as a representative of the Brotherhood that ordained it.
And who is it who writes this declaration to Theosophists? It is one who for nearly twenty years has put off doing what this old letter, and other letters, asked to have done when the time should come. One who now, impelled by an influence too persuasive to be resisted, humbly portrays for those who want it, the cardinal truths of a life that was lived in its last years in a carnival of pain, and which went out weighted with grief over the deeds of those who, having eyes to see, were blind, and, having ears to hear, were deaf -- but alas, not dumb, for their voices still perplex the ears of those who are trying to comprehend what the Spirit would tell them, and cannot because of the Babel of sound that roars around them.
The time of change is coming: the aftermath of war within, and war without, and again is nearing a period of peace and repose, when the nightmares of those who created nightmare conditions will be succeeded by true vision to those Theosophists who have been faithful to the command: "Watch and wait." And, standing on the brink of time from whence one goes forward to eternity, (as we metaphorize the change we call death), the scribe who records this Reminiscence reads the meaning of the old words anew, in not only this one cherished letter, but in all the series of letters of which it is a part, and transcribes with earnest zeal the facts and the memories evoked. So that when, "at sunset and even tide, one clear call" shall come, the voyage across the astral sea will be made rejoicing, if, as was promised, this service to the Teachers is completed to their satisfaction, and this old letter and all these letters are passed on to the hand now open to receive them -- as a legatee of the Law of Karma -- the one to whom has already been given one of the Master's letters, and the contents of many of the other letters for use and for record.
With willing hand the work is performed, and with no feeling of doubt of the acceptance of this simple, honest narration of a few facts -- from a book of facts, long in process of completion.
* * * * * * *
For many years there was a small group of people who met each Sabbath evening in the home of one of their number for the purposes of social and spiritual recreation. They were people who earnestly desired to know aright, all that each could learn and whose right to receive wisdom was based upon their willingness to impart what of light they had already gained by persistent and well-directed effort.
Into this friendly circle Mr. Judge was early admitted as one who was far ahead of his associates in philosophic and metaphysical studies. He was an addition to the group highly appreciated and he was often moved by gratitude to express his thanks for the ready sympathy and good fellowship he enjoyed. At the period to which allusion is now being made, he was not a robust man, but was suffering from the effects of a fever contracted while on a trip in South America; mentally he was at his best, and socially he was a witty, companionable person, sometimes gay, always agreeable, and ever eager to talk on the subject of Theosophy. The picture of him that is retained by the two of that group now living is that of a gentle, unpretentious and deeply studious man: one not content with conditions, but one who knew that he could and would evolve out of them and hence was patient and at peace, while still in the strife of active life.
Among the individuals that composed this group was a nature that had some natural but untrained gifts of clairvoyance, and to this one Mr. Judge gave more of his confidence than to the others -- not thereby robbing them, but, needing the assistance this psychic could sometimes give him, he revealed more of his mind to that one. But each and all shared alike in all the "visions" seen and reported, and between them all, there grew to be a strong magnetic tie, which united them in their investigations, and held them together in spirit, as long as they lived.
It was to this group that Mr. Judge one night in the winter of 1883 told that he was planning to make a change in his life, which might bring shipwreck to his domestic and business relationships, but that he should not resist the fate moving him to prepare for an enlarged field of labor in the cause he loved.
And it was to this group that he later confided the intention of the Masters to have him rejoin Madame Blavatsky and renew the task he had performed with her before she went away to India -- that of writing and now of revising "Isis Unveiled." It was to this group, and to the psychic of the group particularly, that he turned for advice and comfort in the line of conduct he must follow in pursuing the path he saw opening up before him. And he evidently acquainted Madame Blavatsky -- then in India -- with the history of his association with this group, for at a later period, she talked with two of its members about it with the familiarity of a personal associate. She amazed them by her knowledge of the various psychic scenes presented before them through the clairvoyant power of one of the group. And, most of all, she confirmed the oft-discussed declaration of their psychic that Mr. Judge was attended by an elemental, saying: "The Masters give their consent for elemental beings to attach themselves to mortals who enjoy their approval, and who in turn can instruct and advance them along their evolutionary path." She confirmed, too, the many incidental manifestations made from time to time to the group by this elemental, whose activities were as varied as the results of some of them were remarkable. Mr. Judge never avowed any special knowledge of this being, nor seemed to consider it surprising that he should have such a companion -- a companion who found its own development in serving him throughout his lifetime.
It was ten years from the time of his first association with Madame Blavatsky, that Mr. Judge was making plans to join her in Europe, and, as we shall see, he did join her early in the following year, and thereafter worked continuously for the cause he loved.
This old letter was written at a later date, when he had met her and her party from Adyar, and had said farewell to his adopted country, as he thought, for all time. It closed with a note of triumph, yet that triumph is dimmed with the shadow of pain, for sad and real was the cost of renunciation of home and family ties, even in the face of the joy that was his that he was called by the Master to go to India.
But, between the time of his final decision to meet the Theosophical party in Europe, and of his departure from England on his journey to India, there were many months -- part of a year. A year full of events of absorbing interest, and of spiritual experiences richer and deeper than any he had ever known.
The old letter tells of both, but not from it wholly is known the completed story of this period of the life of William Quan Judge -- a life that every true Theosophist in self-justice should know aright, if for no other reason than this one now stated. Mr. Judge was chosen, according to the oft-repeated statements of Madame Blavatsky, to be the head of the Theosophical Society in her stead, and he was notified by her of that fact as soon as she knew it, and that was before she sailed from India. A letter written by her in April, 1884, contains an invitation to the person to whom it was addressed to meet her in Europe, and in it she tells of the mission of Mr. Judge and of this work he is to take up in India later. "Judge," she says, "is being drawn by the magnet of fate (karma) to the goal of his highest ambition; closer association with the Masters, and he will go soon, or, as soon as he is ordered to go."
Mr. Judge, in speaking of his personal life to his friends, had several times told them incidents connected with his little daughter, an only child, whose sudden and unanticipated death had, as he expressed it, "about broken his heart." And, later, when writing about the grief it was costing him to cast anchor and set sail for India, he referred again to the loss of his child, and mentioned this sorrow as one of the sources of his present strength. He had felt that his philosophical studies had helped him at that time, and now he was trying to meet the new situation with the help of this same inner source of strength. It was no easy step for Mr. Judge to take, for before leaving Europe he must sever his relationships, business and social, in America, and, in fact, bid farewell to his past.
And just here it may be said, in justice to Madame Blavatsky, who was often charged with being indifferent to family ties, and caring only for the advancement of Theosophy, that no sister could have been more touched by a brother's sufferings than was she over the battle that was being fought in the mind of Mr. Judge. And he himself, in later years, declared that she never in any manner whatsoever, tried to influence him in any way in his difficulties, saying she could not interfere with his karma. Her position was that each individual must decide for himself what was his paramount duty, and, having decided, to act. "Not all who start out on the Path continue on the Journey," she said, "but the way is always open, and, at any time, a new start may be made, if the will to try remains. And, whatever the present conditions are, or may be, there are the Teachings, and every one can be at work mastering them."
Such was her invariable attitude, and she never departed from it in any case in the slightest particular.
* * * * * * *
Mr. Judge was in London in the memorable spring of 1884 when Theosophists were expecting the coming of Madame Blavatsky and her party, and longing for them, for the situation of affairs in the London Lodge was altogether unsatisfactory.
At that time, Dr. Anna Kingsford was president of the Lodge, and Mr. Edward Maitland was vice-president. Both were known as the exponents of Esoteric Christianity, and she was the author -- as all the world knows -- of "The Perfect Way."
Mr. Sinnett had returned from India, and had published his "Esoteric Buddhism," and, after a ten-years' sojourn in India, had decided to remain in London, permanently. There were those who considered that Mr. Sinnett was entitled to the position, occupied by Dr. Kingsford, particularly after she had objected, publicly, to his views as expressed in his book. Those who followed the controversy, as it soon became, will recall the several able pamphlets issued by Dr. Kingsford, Mr. Subba Row, Mr. C. C. Massey, and others, and the extent of the trouble that resulted. The annual election was postponed until the arrival of Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, and the English Theosophists were divided into two camps.
Mr. Judge was an interested on-looker, and thoroughly informed himself on all the details of the situation. These details were helpful to the heads of the Society when they finally reached Europe, and went to Paris, where Mr. Judge immediately joined them, and from whence Colonel Olcott went to London to cooperate in the settlement of the existing difficulties. Dr. Kingsford resigned from the Theosophical Society, as did Mr. Maitland, and Mr. Sinnett was chosen president of the London Lodge.
No sooner was Madame Blavatsky settled in her apartment in Paris, than she began the work of revising "Isis Unveiled," which, when finished, was republished in London.
Mohini M. Chatterjee, who had accompanied the Adyar party, with Mr. Judge worked daily with Madame Blavatsky, and when the task was completed, the work on "The Secret Doctrine" was entered upon, and busy weeks of continuous writing followed. Mr. Judge rejoiced in his absorption in literary work, but he was anticipating his immediate departure for India whenever the word to start was given him. To a friend who questioned the wisdom of his going to Adyar while his health was far from robust, he made answer that it was his determined purpose to go, as the Masters had ordered. This being his attitude of mind, the friend said no more to him about the matter, but as soon as possible sought an interview with Madame Blavatsky and put to her the fact that Mr. Judge was not strong, and perhaps the climate of India was not best adapted for him. To this Madame Blavatsky listened patiently; said the private interests of people were not for her to arrange, and repeated again what she had previously stated in the hearing of her caller, which was, in effect, that Judge was ordered by the Master to go to India and take charge of the Society. And then, looking intently at her visitor, she said: "It will need a head, for I shall never again live permanently in India."
"What, you not go back to Adyar?"
"Master has told me that; I do not know, and I am not sending Judge there, for I want him to stay here and help me; he is willing to help me; but he will go to India."
"Yes, he will go," was the impetuous answer, vehemently expressed, "and he will not stay there."
The audacious conduct of her guest did not seem to surprise Madame Blavatsky, and, to the amazement of that now greatly embarrassed person, she quietly asked:
"Why not?"
"Oh, I do not know. I am sorry I said anything, but Mr. Judge will return to America, and live there and die there."
"Then is the Theosophical Society to suffer and for long," she said, and Madame Blavatsky's manner, at that moment was that of a person overcome by weariness, and seemingly unable to combat it.
But she resumed her cheerfulness later, when her visitor begged her forgiveness for so presumptiously asserting what was not justified by personal knowledge.
"Things come to me like that," was contritely said, "and are given utterance when I ought to be silent. I do not know anything at all about the Masters, and cannot know their plans, and I beg you to forgive me, Madame Blavatsky; will you?"
"You do not know the Masters? Well, it is time you did."
"Would I know you better if I did?"
At this she laughed outright, and good humoredly agreed that such would be the case.
Colonel Olcott, coming into the room, at this moment, was asked by her what he thought of her being contradicted about Judge's going to India, and being advised as to the best course for the Masters to pursue. Then she told him of the prediction made that if Judge did go, he would not stay there but return to America.
"What makes you think so," he kindly asked of the now thoroughly discomfited caller.
"I do not know; I simply blurted out what I saw and felt, and here I am now in a nice monkey and parrot predicament."
At this speech they both laughed heartily and the subject was discontinued.
Colonel Olcott knew of the order that went to Mr. Judge while he was yet in New York; knew that he was in Europe for the purpose of going to India and the position he was to take when he got there, and so far as Mr. Judge or his friends in Paris knew, he never by word or act objected to his going.
That Mr. Judge did not get his order to sail immediately, was supposed by him and by others, to be due to the storm that was gathering and which ultimately burst upon the Theosophical Society by reason of the hostile action of the Psychical Research Society.
Madame Blavatsky had been in difficulty with Madame Coulomb and her husband, people who had lived at Headquarters, and who were at Adyar when she and her party sailed for Europe. Letters from Damodar Mavalankar, Subba Row, and others at Adyar frequently came to Madame Blavatsky in Paris, and as often as these letters were read, there was excitement and restlessness, and Madame Blavatsky would declare she must return to India at once; or that she would never go back there; and through all the changing moods she exhibited, Colonel Olcott, Mr. Judge, and Mohini worked on steadily, and ultimately she would find rest after her periods of excitement by renewed activity in pen work. She was writing "The Secret Doctine," [sic] and not all the Coulombs and Research Societies multiplied indefinitely could long divert her attention from the composition of this masterful book.
Again this old letter is consulted, and it sets its reader to wondering why was it necessary to suffer as did Madame Blavatsky over the Coulomb affair; Mr. Judge over his determination to foresake [sic] America and serve the Masters in India, and faithful Theosophists the world over, on account of the antagonistic position taken by the Psychical Research Society.
Why was it ordered that Mr. Judge should go to India, when, evidently, it was not intended he should remain there, else a mere clairvoyant would not have been permitted to see and proclaim such to be the case. Why was it that Madame Blavatsky and Mr. Judge, these two people of all the Theosophists, should be the martyrs to the cause that they were? Both were utterly unselfish in their attitude; both were blind to any other duty that conflicted with the Master's work; and both dedicated their lives, their abilities, and all their hopes of earthly happiness to the Theosophical Society, for the creation of which they were mainly responsible. Blavatsky and Judge! these were the two destined to suffer most for the cause they created, and suffer they did to the very end.
Colonel Olcott esteemed Madame Blavatsky and he revered the Masters and believed in her as their representative. Yet he would oppose her wishes, and reject her counsel whenever his judgment was in opposition to her plans. He was often a great trial to her, as she was to him, and there were times when they could not reconcile their momentary differences, and would quarrel like children. And, as time passed, these differences of opinions increased as the difficulties encountered multiplied, and the two fellow-workers would depend upon Mr. Judge's counsel, and trust his wise, sane judgments. He was unvarying in his attitude of patience, of self-abnegation, of complete devotion to them and to their mutual work, and he never expressed a hasty remark, or gave sarcastic or critical replies, no matter what the provocation was, or by whom offered. He was sent by Madame Blavatsky with the approval of Colonel Olcott to England, to Scotland, and to other countries before he went to India, and his missions to branch societies were performed to their satisfaction. When, late in the summer of 1884, he sailed for India, he went with no expectation of returning; nor had he the slightest personal wish beyond desiring to serve to the limit of his powers.
He came back to America not many months later, and quietly took up his duties, and as patiently performed them, as though he had never been away from them.
He lived eleven years in New York after his return from India, and survived Madame Blavatsky by five years. In those years he wrote much, and his writings remain, as valuable and important, though not equaling in quantity, the writings of Madame Blavatsky. United, their joint work would suffice for a complete Theosophical library. Their names are linked for all time as the two who, in the measure of their achievements, were as an Elder and a Younger Brother, the one directing and visioning; the other serving and accomplishing, both working for the cause of Theosophy and fulfilling the behests of the Masters.
* * * * * * *
The picture privileged to be seen of William Quan Judge the last week of his stay in his body was that of a man of full spiritual stature, erect, and strong, of bearing serene and abounding in vitality. An astral form arrayed in the vestments of an order of Hierophants, well known to the followers of the Masters, and appearing to psychic vision as one ready to receive and about to put on a signet emblematic of that order, to which in a former life he had been allied. A Fraternity, from which, throughout the ages, have been recruited the sages and the martyrs who, impelled by their love of men to come and dwell among them, have suffered and died for their redemption, and salvation.
___________________________
*Reprinted from The Word, November 1915. The first part was printed in the Canadian Theosophist, Vol. 55, April-March 1974. The editors, Doris and Ted Davy wrote in their introduction: "The following article was published anonymously in The Word magazine, November 1915. The Author is known to be Mrs. Laura C. Holloway-Langford, a one-time pupil of the Master K.H." [TOP]For those wishing to help redress the wrongs of over a century, please see: A CALL TO ACTION