" Let your virtues dissolve in the sea of purity."—Inayat Khan.

IF the Soul came be touched by its experiences, but remains always the same, why should man try to acquire virtues ?—what do they matter ?

Virtues do not belong to the Soul, they are not attributes, but the means by which it is liberated ; in other words, the material from which the soul of man fashions wings, which will enable it, at will, to soar to the highest heaven, and also to remain on earth, or descend into hell. In its fundamental essence the soul is always the same, it cannot change ; but during the journey it is held captive in matter, until as man it can achieve its own freedom, which can only be gained by control—or mastery—of all that lies below its own level. If the mind is negative to the soul, or Divine Self within man, the Gates are opened to him, and he is free to pass in and out ; but if, on the other hand, the mind assumes a positive attitude towards the things of the Spirit, refusing " to become as a little child," it draws around the soul a solid wall of mental matter, thus forming a prison-house which holds it to the earth.

Virtues, in themselves, are of no importance ; but the practice of them is an absolute necessity for the soul's liberation from all the bodies belonging to man ; which does not imply that he will leave them, or cease to live upon earth. When Jesus after his crucifixion " descended into Hell," it was by his own free will ; but before he did so, he had himself, as man, mastered Hell, by voluntarily experiencing it. His prayer to the Father, " If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done," shows his humanity surrendering itself—or being negative to—the Divine Will. The cup did not pass from him until it was empty. He, the Blessed One, drank the contents, meaning that they became part of himself. Nothing was spared him, his nearest disciples slept during his hour of agony, and deserted him. Every indignity was placed upon him, and he was condemned to die the death of a common malefactor ; but the uttermost depth of Hell must have been reached to call forth, from him who realized his oneness with the Father, the cry, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me " ; but, at that moment, when he felt that even God had forsaken him, he also touched the Highest Heaven, and conquered Earth and Hell.

After this he could walk through the deepest Hell, untouched and unmoved, to free the spirits in prison.