Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

110 How I CAMJ.: TO WRITJ.: Br-:~-HuR. [ f'eptem her
before my work was finishetl, I became a believm· in Christ,
and am yet.
It i!l known that I had not been in the Holy Land when I
wrote this book, hut I had the privilege of going there afterwat·ds,
an1l as I was mo!lt f01·tumite in being the guest of the
Sultan of Turkey, I was enabled to see all that there was to he
!leen. E\'ery dom· was open to me, no mattet· how sam·ed the
enclosure. l\ly main object in going had been to discovet• any
mistakes which I might have made, but I am happy to say that
I failed to do so, and I believe that the work is as authentic a.~
it possibly could be. I even discovered that I ha1l been co!'l'ect
iu minot· details which ha1l heen l:.u·gely the result of imagination.
I l'Ode over the game path whid1 Jesus took from
~lount Olivet to Bethlehem; then dismounted and took the
path where the Saviour walked. In the story, the mother and
sister of Ben Hur had stopped by a large white stonQ to await
His coming, and as I reached that point of the journey I found
the large white stone. I also fonncl the tomb whet·e they took
refuge when fleeing from the city of lepers.
It would be difficult for me to approximate the nnmher of
timE's that 1 have been a!lkt>«l which chaptet·, or 11cene of "Ben.
lim·" I considet· to be my best. No author can t~ll which i!l
!.is best sentem•e or !lcene, hut onl,r what most appealR to him.
I can say. in my ease. it wa!l not the meeting of the Wise ~len
of the East. it was not the chariot race, it wa!l not the a1l ventures
in the palan, a11d had
questiom which he «lesil't>ll to put to the \Vis«> Men. The intt•J·view
took place in hi>< ow11 house. lliHl he :Ldtlt·essf'«l them as
follows: ;, I have come to tell you of the ~az:u·•~1w.''
ff,,mt! and G'uuntry.
" Ere the soul's mimi can under~tuwl. the Lu1l of per~onalit_v mu~t
Le crushed out, the worm of sen~e destrnyffi pa~t resul'l'ection."
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