The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of the Aquarian Age of the World and of the Church Universal

Transcribed From the Book of God’s Remembrances, Known as the Akashic Records

by Levi H. Dowling (1844-1911)

This digital master edition is a rigorously exact, highly accurate, and unedited transcription of the Gospel portion of the original 1911 print edition.

Links to page scan images from the original 1911 print edition are enabled to verify authenticity and accuracy. The page scan images are from The Internet Archive.

Released May 2010 by The Aquarian Gospel Society

This Gospel is Public Domain — use and copy wisely

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Digital Transcription and Bibliographic Details

Original Title Page from the 1911 edition

Introduction to the 1908 first edition by Henry A. Coffeen (1841-1912) (to be added)

Introduction to the 1911 edition by Eva S. Dowling (1844-1923) (to be added)

Index from the 1911 edition (to be added)

The Aquarian Gospel Society

SECTION I.

ALEPH.

Birth and Early Life of Mary, Mother of Jesus.

CHAPTER 1.

Palestine. Birth of Mary. Joa­chim’s feast. Mary is blest by the priests. His prophecy. Mary abides in the temple. Is betrothed to Joseph.

Augustus Cæsar reigned and Herod Antipas was ruler of Jerusalem.

²Three provinces comprised the land of Palestine: Judea, and Samaria, and Galilee.

³Joachim was a master of the Jewish law, a man of wealth; he lived in Nazareth of Galilee; and Anna, of the tribe of Judah, was his wife.

⁴To them was born a child, a goodly female child, and they were glad; and Mary was the name they gave the child.

⁵Joachim made a feast in honor of the child; but he invited not the rich, the honored and the great; he called the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind, and to each one he gave a gift of raiment, food, or other need­ful thing.

⁶He said, The Lord has given me this wealth; I am his steward by his grace, and if I give not to his children when in need, then he will make this wealth a curse.

⁷Now, when the child was three years old her parents took her to Jerusalem, and in the temple she received the blessings of the priests.

⁸The high priest was a prophet and a seer, and when he saw the child he said,

⁹Behold, this child will be the mother of an honored prophet and a master of the law; she shall abide within this holy temple of the Lord.

¹⁰And Mary did abide within the temple of the Lord; and Hillel, chief of the Sanhedrim, taught her all the precepts of the Jews, and she delighted in the law of God.

¹¹When Mary reached the age of womanhood she was betrothed to Joseph, son of Jacob, and a carpen­ter of Nazareth.

¹²And Joseph was an upright man, and a devoted Essenes.

SECTION II.

BETH.

Birth and Infancy of John, the Harbinger, and of Jesus.

CHAPTER 2.

Zacharias and Elizabeth. Prophetic messages of Gabriel to Zacharias, Elizabeth and Mary. Birth of John. Prophecy of Zacharias.

Near Hebron in the hills of Judah, Zacharias and Eliza­beth abode.

²They were devout and just, and every day they read the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms which told of one to come, strong to re­deem; and they were waiting for the king.

³Now, Zacharias was a priest, and in his turn he led the temple service in Jerusalem.

⁴It came to pass as Zacharias stood before the Lord and burned the incense in the Holy Place, that Gabriel came and stood before his face.

⁵And Zacharias was afraid; he thought that some great evil was about to come upon the Jews.

⁶But Gabriel said, O man of God, fear not; I bring to you, and all the world, a message of good will, and peace on earth.

⁷Behold, the Prince of Peace, the king you seek, will quickly come.

⁸Your wife will bear to you a son, a holy son, of whom the prophet wrote,

⁹Behold, I send Elijah unto you again before the coming of the Lord; and he will level down the hills and fill the valleys up, and pave the way for him who shall redeem.

¹⁰From the beginning of the age your son has borne the name of John, the mercy of the Lord; his name is John.

¹¹He will be honored in the sight of God, and he will drink no wine, and from his birth he will be filled with Holy Breath.

¹²And Gabriel stood before Elizabeth as she was in the silence in her home, and told her all the words that he had said to Zacharias in Jerusalem.

¹³When he had done the serv­ice of his course, the priest went home, and with Elizabeth rejoiced.

¹⁴Five months passed by and Gabriel came to Mary in her home in Nazareth and said,

¹⁵Hail Mary, hail! Once blessed in the name of God; twice blessed in the name of Holy Breath; thrice blessed in the name of Christ; for you are worthy, and will bear a son who shall be called Immanuel.

¹⁶His name is Jesus, for he saves his people from their sins.

¹⁷When Joseph’s daily task was done he came, and Mary told him all the words that Gabriel spoke to her, and they rejoiced; for they believed that he, the man of God, had spoken words of truth.

¹⁸And Mary went with haste to tell Elizabeth about the promises of Gabriel; together they rejoiced.

¹⁹And in the home of Zacha­rias and Elizabeth did Mary tarry ninety days; then she returned to Nazareth.

²⁰To Zacharias and Elizabeth a son was born, and Zacharias said,

²¹Most blessed be the name of God, for he has opened up the fount of blessings for his people, Israel.

²²His promises are verified;  for he has brought to pass the words which holy prophets spoke in olden times.

²³And Zacharias looked upon the infant John, and said,

²⁴You will be called the proph­et of the Holy One; and you will go before his face, and will prepare his way.

²⁵And you will give a knowl­edge of salvation unto Israel; and you will preach the gospel of re­pentance and the blotting out of sins.

²⁶Behold, for soon the Day Star from on high will visit us, to light the way for those who sit within the darkness of the shadow­land, and guide our feet unto the ways of peace.

CHAPTER 3.

Birth of Jesus. Masters honor the child. The shepherds rejoice. Zacharias and Elizabeth visit Mary. Jesus is circumcised.

The time was nearly due for Jesus to be born, and Mary longed to see Elizabeth, and she and Joseph turned their faces toward the Judean hills.

²And when upon their way they came to Bethlehem the day was done, and they must tarry for the night.

³But Bethlehem was thronged with people going to Jerusalem; the inns and homes were filled with guests, and Joseph and his wife could find no place to rest but in a cave where animals were kept; and there they slept.

⁴At midnight came a cry, A child is born in yonder cave among the beasts. And lo, the promised son of man was born.

⁵And strangers took the little one and wrapped him in the dainty robes that Mary had prepared and laid him in a trough from which the beasts of burden fed.

⁶Three persons clad in snow-­white robes came in and stood be­fore the child and said,

⁷All strength, all wisdom and all love be yours, Immanuel.

⁸Now, on the hills of Bethle­hem were many flocks of sheep with shepherds guarding them.

⁹The shepherds were devout, were men of prayer, and they were waiting for a strong deliverer to come.

¹⁰And when the child of prom­ise came a man in snow-white robe appeared to them, and they fell back in fear. The man stood forth and said,

¹¹Fear not! behold I bring you joyful news. At midnight in a cave in Bethlehem was born the prophet and the king that you have long been waiting for.

¹²And then the shepherds all were glad; they felt that all the hills were filled with messengers of light, who said,

¹³All glory be to God on high; peace, peace on earth, good will to men.

¹⁴And then the shepherds came with haste to Bethlehem and to the cave, that they might see and honor him whom men had called Im­manuel.

¹⁵Now, when the morning came, a shepherdess whose home was near, prepared a room for Mary, Joseph and the child; and here they tarried many days.

¹⁶And Joseph sent a messenger in haste to Zacharias and Elizabeth to say, The child is born in Bethle­hem.

¹⁷And Zacharias and Elizabeth took John and came to Bethlehem with words of cheer.

¹⁸And Mary and Elizabeth re­counted all the wondrous things that had transpired. The people joined with them in praising God.

¹⁹According to the custom of the Jews, the child was circumcised; and when they asked, What will you call the child? the mother said, His name is Jesus, as the man of God declared.

CHAPTER 4.

Consecration of Jesus. Mary offers sacrifices. Simeon and Anna prophesy. Anna is rebuked for worshipping the child. The family returns to Bethlehem.

Now, Mary took her son, when he was forty days of age, up to the temple in Jerusalem, and he was consecrated by the priest.

²And then she offered purifying sacrifices for herself, according to the custom of the Jews; a lamb and two young turtle doves.

³A pious Jew named Simeon was in the temple serving God.

⁴From early youth he had been looking for Immanuel to come, and he had prayed to God that he might not depart until his eyes had seen Messiah in the flesh.

⁵And when he saw the infant Jesus he rejoiced and said, I now am ready to depart in peace, for I have seen the king.

⁶And then he took the infant in his arms and said, Behold, this child will bring a sword upon my people, Israel, and all the world; but he will break the sword and then the nations will learn war no more.

⁷The master’s cross I see upon the forehead of this child, and he will conquer by this sign.

⁸And in the temple was a widow, four and eighty years of age, and she departed not, but night and day she worshipped God.

⁹And when she saw the infant Jesus she exclaimed, Behold Im­manuel! Behold the signet cross of the Messiah on his brow!

¹⁰And then the woman knelt to worship him, as God with us, Im­manuel; but one, a master clothed in white, appeared and said,

¹¹Good woman, stay; take heed to what you do; you may not worship man; this is idolatry.

¹²This child is man, the son of man, and worthy of all praise. You shall adore and worship God; him only shall you serve.

¹³The woman rose and bowed her head in thankfulness and wor­shipped God.

¹⁴And Mary took the infant Jesus and returned to Bethlehem.

CHAPTER 5.

Three magian priests honor Jesus. Herod is alarmed. Calls a council of the Jews. Is told that prophets had foretold the coming of a king. Herod resolves to kill the child. Mary and Joseph take Jesus and flee into Egypt.

Beyond the river Euphrates the magians lived; and they were wise, could read the language of the stars and they divined that one, a master soul, was born; they saw his star above Jerusalem.

²And there were three among the magian priests who longed to see the master of the coming age; and they took costly gifts and has­tened to the West in search of him, the new-born king, that they might honor him.

³And one took gold, the sym­bol of nobility; another myrrh, the symbol of dominion and of power; gum-thus the other took, the sym­bol of the wisdom of the sage.

⁴Now when the magians reached Jerusalem the people were amazed, and wondered who they were and why they came.

⁵And when they asked, Where is the child that has been born a king? the very throne of Herod seemed to shake.

⁶And Herod sent a courtier forth to bring the magians to his court.

⁷And when they came they asked again, Where is the new born king? And then they said, While yet beyond the Euphrates we saw his star arise, and we have come to honor him.

⁸And Herod blanched with fear. He thought, perhaps, the priests were plotting to restore the kingdom of the Jews, and so he said within himself, I will know more about this child that has been born a king.

⁹And so he told the magian priests to tarry in the city for a while and he would tell them all about the king.

¹⁰He called in council all the Jewish masters of the law and asked, What have the Jewish prophets said concerning such a one?

¹¹The Jewish masters answered him and said, The prophets long ago foretold that one would come to rule the tribes of Israel; that this Messiah would be born in Bethle­hem.

¹²They said, The prophet Mi­cah wrote, O Bethlehem Judea, a little place among the Judean hills, yet out of you will one come forth to rule my people, Israel; yea, one who lived in olden times, in very ancient days.

¹³Then Herod called the ma­gian priests again and told them what the masters of the Jewish law had said; and then he sent them on the way to Bethlehem.

¹⁴He said, Go search, and if you find the child that has been born a king, return and tell me all, that I may go and honor him.

¹⁵The magians went their way and found the child with Mary in the shepherd’s home.

¹⁶They honored him; bestowed upon him precious gifts and gave him gold, gum-thus and myrrh.

¹⁷These magian priests could read the hearts of men; they read the wickedness of Herod’s heart, and knew that he had sworn to kill the new born king.

¹⁸And so they told the secret to the parents of the child, and bid them flee beyond the reach of harm.

¹⁹And then the priests went on their homeward way; they went not through Jerusalem.

²⁰And Joseph took the infant Jesus and his mother in the night and fled to Egypt land, and with Elihu and Salome in ancient Zoan they abode.

CHAPTER 6.

Herod learns of the supposed mission of John. The infants of Bethle­hem are massacred by Herod’s or­der. Elizabeth escapes with John. Because Zacharias cannot tell where his son is hidden, he is mur­dered. Herod dies.

Now, when the magian priests did not return to tell him of the child that had been born a king, King Herod was enraged.

²And then his courtiers told him of another child in Bethlehem, one born to go before and to pre­pare the people to receive the king.

³This angered more and more the king; he called his guards and bid them go to Bethlehem and slay the infant John, as well as Jesus who was born to be a king.

⁴He said, Let no mistake be made, and that you may be sure to slay these claimants to my throne, slay all male children in the town not yet two years of age.

⁵The guards went forth and did as Herod bade them do.

⁶Elizabeth knew not that Her­od sought to slay her son, and she and John were yet in Bethlehem; but when she knew, she took the infant John and hastened to the hills.

⁷The murderous guards were near; they pressed upon her hard; but then she knew the secret caves in all the hills, and into one she ran and hid herself and John until the guards were gone.

⁸Their cruel task was done; the guards returned and told the story to the king.

⁹They said, We know that we have slain the infant king; but John, his harbinger, we could not find.

¹⁰The king was angry with his guards because they failed to slay the infant John; he sent them to the tower in chains.

¹¹And other guards were sent to Zacharias, father of the harbin­ger, while he was serving in the Holy Place, to say, The king de­mands that you shall tell where is your son.

¹²But Zacharias did not know, and he replied, I am a minister of God, a servant in the Holy Place; how could I know where they have taken him?

¹³And when the guards re­turned and told the king what Zach­arias said, he was enraged and said,

¹⁴My guards, go back and tell that wily priest that he is in my hands; that if he does not tell the truth, does not reveal the hiding place of John, his son, then he shall die.

¹⁵The guards went back and told the priest just what the king had said.

¹⁶And Zacharias said, I can but give my life for truth; and if the king does shed my blood the Lord will save my soul.

¹⁷The guards again returned and told the king what Zacharias said.

¹⁸Now, Zacharias stood before the altar in the Holy Place en­gaged in prayer.

¹⁹A guard approached and with a dagger thrust him through; he fell and died before the curtain of the sanctuary of the Lord.

²⁰And when the hour of salu­tation came, for Zacharias daily blessed the priests, he did not come.

²¹And after waiting long the priests went to the Holy Place and found the body of the dead.

²²And there was grief, deep grief, in all the land.

²³Now Herod sat upon his throne; he did not seem to move; his courtiers came; the king was dead. His sons reigned in his stead.

SECTION III.

GIMEL.

Education of Mary and Elizabeth in Zoan.

CHAPTER 7.

Archelaus reigns. Mary and Eliz­abeth with their sons are in Zoan and are taught by Elihu and Sa­lome. Elihu’s introductory les­son. Tells of an interpreter.

The son of Herod, Archelaus, reigned in Jerusalem. He was a selfish, cruel king; he put to death all those who did not honor him.

²He called in council all the wisest men and asked about the infant claimant to his throne.

³The council said that John and Jesus both were dead; then he was satisfied.

⁴Now Joseph, Mary and their son were down in Egypt in Zoan, and John was with his mother in the Judean hills.

⁵Elihu and Salome sent mes­sengers in haste to find Elizabeth and John. They found them and they brought them to Zoan.

⁶Now, Mary and Elizabeth were marveling much because of their deliverance.

⁷Elihu said, It is not strange; there are no happenings; law gov­erns all events.

⁸From olden times it was or­dained that you should be with us, and in this sacred school be taught.

⁹Elihu and Salome took Mary and Elizabeth out to the sacred grove near by where they were wont to teach.

¹⁰Elihu said to Mary and Eliz­abeth, You may esteem yourselves thrice blest, for you are chosen mothers of long promised sons,

¹¹Who are ordained to lay in solid rock a sure foundation stone on which the temple of the perfect man shall rest—a temple that shall never be destroyed.

¹²We measure time by cycle ages, and the gate to every age we deem a mile stone in the journey of the race.

¹³An age has passed; the gate unto another age flies open at the touch of time. This is the prepara­tion age of soul, the kingdom of Im­manuel, of God in man;

¹⁴And these, your sons, will be the first to tell the news, and preach the gospel of good will to men, and peace on earth.

¹⁵A mighty work is theirs; for carnal men want not the light; they love the dark, and when the light shines in the dark they comprehend it not.

¹⁶We call these sons, Reveal­ers of the Light; but they must have the light before they can reveal the light.

¹⁷And you must teach your sons, and set their souls on fire with love and holy zeal, and make them conscious of their missions to the sons of men.

¹⁸Teach them that God and man were one; but that through carnal thoughts and words and deeds, man tore himself away from God; debased himself.

¹⁹Teach that the Holy Breath would make them one again, re­storing harmony and peace;

²⁰That naught can make them one but love; that God so loved the world that he has clothed his son in flesh that man may comprehend.

²¹The only Savior of the world is love, and Jesus, son of Mary, comes to manifest that love to men.

²²Now, love cannot be mani­fest until its way has been prepared, and naught can rend the rocks and bring down lofty hills and fill the valleys up, and thus prepare the way, but purity.

²³But purity in life men do not comprehend; and so, it, too, must come in flesh.

²⁴And you, Elizabeth, are blest because your son is purity made flesh, and he shall pave the way for love.

²⁵This age will comprehend but little of the works of Purity and Love; but not a word is lost, for in the Book of God’s Remembrance a registry is made of every thought, and word, and deed;

²⁶And when the world is ready to receive, lo, God will send a mes­senger to open up the book and copy from its sacred pages all the messages of Purity and Love.

²⁷Then every man of earth will read the words of life in language of his native land, and men will see the light, walk in the light and be the light.

²⁸And man again will be at one with God.

CHAPTER 8.

Elihu’s lessons. The unity of life. The two selfs. The devil. Love the savior of men. The David of the light. Goliath of the dark.

Again Elihu met his pupils in the sacred grove and said,

²No man lives unto himself; for every living thing is bound by cords to every other living thing.

³Blest are the pure in heart; for they will love and not demand love in return.

⁴They will not do to other men what they would not have other men do unto them.

⁵There are two selfs; the higher and the lower self.

⁶The higher self is human spirit clothed with soul, made in the form of God.

⁷The lower self, the carnal self, the body of desires, is a reflexion of the higher self, distorted by the murky ethers of the flesh.

⁸The lower self is an illusion, and will pass away; the higher self is God in man, and will not pass away.

⁹The higher self is the embodi­ment of truth; the lower self is truth reversed, and so is falsehood manifest.

¹⁰The higher self is justice, mercy, love and right; the lower self is what the higher self is not.

¹¹The lower self breeds hatred, slander, lewdness, murders, theft, and everything that harms; the higher self is mother of the virtues and the harmonies of life.

¹²The lower self is rich in prom­ises, but poor in blessedness and peace; it offers pleasure, joy and sat­isfying gains; but gives unrest and misery and death.

¹³It gives men apples that are lovely to the eye and pleasant to the smell; their cores are full of bit­terness and gall.

¹⁴If you would ask me what to study I would say, yourselfs; and when you well had studied them, and then would ask me what to study next, I would reply, your­selfs.

¹⁵He who knows well his lower self, knows the illusions of the world, knows of the things that pass away; and he who knows his higher self, knows God; knows well the things that cannot pass away.

¹⁶Thrice blessed is the man who has made purity and love his very own; he has been ransomed from the perils of the lower self and is himself his higher self.

¹⁷Men seek salvation from an evil that they deem a living mon­ster of the nether world; and they have gods that are but demons in disguise; all powerful, yet full of jealousy and hate and lust;

¹⁸Whose favors must be bought with costly sacrifice of fruits, and of the lives of birds, and animals, and human kind.

¹⁹And yet these gods possess no ears to hear, no eyes to see, no heart to sympathize, no power to save.

²⁰This evil is a myth; these gods are made of air, and clothed with shadows of a thought.

²¹The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self.

²²If man would find his savior he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned the savior, Love, will be exalted to the throne of power.

²³The David of the light is [1]Purity, who slays the strong Goliath of the dark, and seats the savior, Love, upon the throne.

CHAPTER 9.

Salome’s lessons. The man and the woman. Philosophy of human moods. The triune God. The Septonate. The God Tao.

Salome taught the lesson of the day. She said, All times are not alike. Today the words of man may have the greatest power; tomorrow women teaches best.

²In all the ways of life the man and woman should walk hand in hand; the one without the other is but half; each has a work to do.

³But all things teach; each has a time and season for its own. The sun, the moon have lessons of their own for men; but each one teaches at the appointed time.

⁴The lessons of the sun fall down on human hearts like withered leaves upon a stream, if given in the season of the moon; and so with lessons of the moon and all the stars.

⁵Today one walks in gloom, downhearted and oppressed; to­morrow that same one is filled with joy.

⁶Today the heavens seem full of blessedness and hope; tomorrow hope has fled, and every plan and purpose comes to naught.

⁷Today one wants to curse the very ground on which he treads; to­morrow he is full of love and praise.

⁸Today one hates and scorns and envies and is jealous of the child he loves; tomorrow he has risen above his carnal self, and breathes forth gladness and good will.

⁹A thousand times men wonder why these heights and depths, these light hearts and these sad, are found in every life.

¹⁰They do not know that there are teachers everywhere, each busy with a God-appointed task, and driving home to human hearts the truth.

¹¹But this is true, and every one receives the lessons that he needs.

¹²And Mary said, Today I am in exaltation great; my thoughts and all my life seem lifted up; why am I thus inspired?

¹³Salome replied, This is a day of exaltation; day of worship and of praise; a day when, in a measure, we may comprehend our Father-­God.

¹⁴Then let us study God, the One, the Three, the Seven.

¹⁵Before the worlds were formed all things were One; just Spirit, Universal Breath.

¹⁶And Spirit breathed, and that which was not manifest became the Fire and Thought of heaven, the Father-God, the Mother-God.

¹⁷And when the Fire and Thought of heaven in union breathed, their son, their only son, was born. This son is Love whom men have called the [2]Christ.

¹⁸Men call the Thought of heaven the Holy [3]Breath.

¹⁹And when the Triune God breathed forth, lo, seven Spirits stood before the throne. These are the Elohim, creative spirits of the universe.

²⁰And these are they who said, Let us make man; and in their im­age man was made.

²¹In early ages of the world the dwellers in the farther East said, Tao is the name of Universal Breath; and in the ancient books we read,

²²No manifesting form has Tao Great, and yet he made and keeps the heavens and earth.

²³No passion has our Tao Great, and yet he causes sun and moon and all the stars to rise and set.

²⁴No name has Tao Great, and yet he makes all things to grow; he brings in season both the seed time and the harvest time.

²⁵And Tao Great was One; the One became the Two; the Two be­came the Three, the Three evolved the Seven, which filled the universe with manifests.

²⁶And Tao Great gives unto all, the evil and the good, the rain, the dew, the sunshine and the flow­ers; from his rich stores he feeds them all.

²⁷And in the same old book we read of man: He has a spirit knit to Tao Great; a soul which lives within the seven Breaths of Tao Great; a body of desires that springs up from the soil of flesh.

²⁸Now spirit loves the pure, the good, the true; the body of de­sires extols the selfish self; the soul becomes the battle ground between the two.

²⁹And blessed is the man whose spirit is triumphant and whose lower self is purified; whose soul is cleansed, becoming fit to be the council chamber of the mani­fests of Tao Great.

³⁰Thus closed the lesson of Salome.

CHAPTER 10.

Elihu’s lessons. The Brahmic re­ligion. Life of Abram. Jewish sacred books. The Persian re­ligion.

Elihu taught; he said, In an­cient times a people in the East were worshippers of God, the One, whom they called Brahm.

²Their laws were just; they lived in peace; they saw the light within; they walked in wisdom’s ways.

³But priests with carnal aims arose, who changed the laws to suit the carnal mind; bound heavy bur­dens on the poor, and scorned the rules of right; and so the Brahms became corrupt.

⁴But in the darkness of the age a few great masters stood unmoved; they loved the name of Brahm; they were great beacon lights be­fore the world.

⁵And they preserved inviolate the wisdom of their holy Brahm,  and you may read this wisdom in their sacred books.

⁶And in Chaldea, Brahm[4] was known. A pious Brahm named Terah lived in Ur; his son was so devoted to the Brahmic faith that he was called [5]A-Brahm; and he was set apart to be the father of the Hebrew race.

⁷Now, Terah took his wife and sons and all his flocks and herds to Haran in the West; here Terah died.

⁸And Abram took the flocks and herds, and with his kindred journeyed further west;

⁹And when he reached the Oaks of Morah in the land of Ca­naan, he pitched his tents and there abode.

¹⁰A famine swept the land and Abram took his kindred and his flocks and herds and came to Egypt, and in these fertile [6]plains of Zoan pitched his tent, and here abode.

¹¹And men still mark the place where Abram lived—across the plain.

¹²You ask why Abram came to Egypt land? This is the cradle-­land of the initiate; all secret things belong to Egypt land; and this is why the masters come.

¹³In Zoan Abram taught his science of the stars, and in that sa­cred temple over there he learned the wisdom of the wise.

¹⁴And when his lessons all were learned, he took his kindred and his flocks and herds and journeyed back to Canaan, and in the plains of Mamre pitched his tent, and there he lived, and there he died.

¹⁵And records of his life and works and of his sons, and of the tribes of Israel, are well preserved in Jewish sacred books.

¹⁶In Persia Brahm was known, and feared. Men saw him as the One, the causeless Cause of all that is, and he was sacred unto them, as Tao to the dwellers of the farther East.

¹⁷The people lived in peace, and justice ruled.

¹⁸But, as in other lands, in Per­sia priests arose imbued with self and self desires, who outraged Force, Intelligence and Love;

¹⁹Religion grew corrupt, and birds and beasts and creeping things were set apart as gods.

²⁰In course of time a lofty soul, whom men called Zarathustra, came in flesh.

²¹He saw the causeless Spirit, high and lifted up; he saw the weak­ness of all man appointed gods.

²²He spoke and all of Persia heard; and when he said, One God, one people and one shrine, the altars of the idols fell, and Persia was re­deemed.

²³But men must see their God with human eyes, and Zarathustra said,

²⁴The greatest of the Spirits standing near the throne is the Ahura Mazda, who manifests in brightness of the sun.

²⁵And all the people saw Ahura Mazda in the sun, and they fell down and worshipped him in temples of the sun.

²⁶And Persia is the magian land where live the priests who saw the star arise to mark the place where Mary’s son was born, and were the first to greet him as the Prince of Peace.

²⁷The precepts and the laws of Zarathustra are preserved in the Avesta which you can read and make your own.

²⁸But you must know that words are naught till they are made alive; until the lessons they contain become a part of head and heart.

²⁹Now truth is one; but no one knows the truth until he is the truth. It is recorded in an ancient book,

³⁰Truth is the leavening power of God; it can transmute the all of life into itself; and when the all of life is truth, then man is truth.

CHAPTER 11.

Elihu’s lessons. Buddhism and the precepts of Buddha. The mys­teries of Egypt.

Again Elihu taught; he said, The Indian priests became corrupt; Brahm was forgotten in the streets; the rights of men were trampled in the dust.

²And then a mighty master came, a Buddha of enlightenment, who turned away from wealth and all the honors of the world, and found the Silence in the quiet groves and caves; and he was blest.

³He preached a gospel of a higher life, and taught man how to honor man.

⁴He had no doctrine of the gods to teach; he just knew man, and so his creed was justice, love and right­eousness.

⁵I quote for you a few of many of the helpful words which Buddha spoke:

⁶Hate is a cruel word. If men hate you, regard it not; and you can turn the hate of men to love and mercy and good will, and mercy is as large as all the heavens.

⁷And there is good enough for all. With good destroy the bad; with generous deeds make avarice ashamed; with truth make straight the crooked lines that error draws, for error is but truth distorted, gone astray.

⁸And pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel the foot of him who draws the cart.

⁹He is a greater man who con­quers self than he who kills a thou­sand men in war.

¹⁰He is the noble man who is himself what he believes that other men should be.

¹¹Return to him who does you wrong your purest love, and he will cease from doing wrong; for love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of him who loves.

¹²The words of Buddha are re­corded in the Indian sacred books; attend to them, for they are part of the instructions of the Holy Breath.

¹³The land of Egypt is the land of secret things.

¹⁴The mysteries of the ages lie lock-bound in our temples and our shrines.

¹⁵The masters of all times and climes come here to learn; and when your sons have grown to manhood they will finish all their studies in Egyptian schools.

¹⁶But I have said enough. Tomorrow at the rising of the sun we meet again.

CHAPTER 12.

Salome’s lessons. Prayer. Elihu’s concluding lessons. Sums up the three years’ course of study. The pupils return to their homes.

Now, when the morning sun arose the masters and their pupils all were in the sacred grove.

²Salome was the first to speak; she said, Behold the sun! It mani­fests the power of God who speaks to us through sun and moon and stars;

³Through mountain, hill and vale; through flower, and plant and tree.

⁴God sings for us through bird, and harpsichord, and human voice; he speaks to us through wind and rain and thunder roll; why should we not bow down and worship at his feet?

⁵God speaks to hearts apart; and hearts apart must speak to him; and this is prayer.

⁶It is not prayer to shout at God, to stand, or sit, or kneel and tell him all about the sins of men.

⁷It is not prayer to tell the Holy One how great he is, how good he is, how strong and how com­passionate.

⁸God is not man to be bought up by praise of man.

⁹Prayer is the ardent wish that every way of life be light; that ev­ery act be crowned with good; that every living thing be prospered by our ministry.

¹⁰A noble deed, a helpful word is prayer; a fervent, an effectual prayer.

¹¹The fount of prayer is in the heart; by thought, not words, the heart is carried up to God, where it is blest. Then let us pray.

¹²They prayed, but not a word was said; but in that holy Silence every heart was blest.

¹³And then Elihu spoke. He said to Mary and Elizabeth, Our words are said; you need not tarry longer here; the call has come; the way is clear, you may return unto your native land.

¹⁴A mighty work is given you to do; you shall [7]direct the minds that will direct the world.

¹⁵Your sons are set apart to lead men up to righteous thoughts, and words, and deeds;

¹⁶To make men know the sin­fulness of sin; to lead them from the adoration of the lower self, and all illusive things, and make them con­scious of the self that lives with Christ in God.

¹⁷In preparation for their work your sons must walk in many thorny paths.

¹⁸Fierce trials and tempta­tions they will meet, like other men; their loads will not be light, and they will weary be, and faint.

¹⁹And they will know the pangs of hunger and of thirst; and without cause they will be mocked, imprisoned, scourged.

²⁰To many countries they will go, and at the feet of many masters they will sit, for they must learn like other men.

²¹But we have said enough. The blessings of the Three and of the Seven, who stand before the throne, will surely rest upon you evermore.

²²Thus closed the lessons of Elihu and Salome. Three years they taught their pupils in the sa­cred grove, and if their lessons all were written in a book, lo, it would be a mighty book; of what they said we have the sum.

²³Now, Mary, Joseph and Eliz­abeth with Jesus and his harbinger, set forth upon their homeward way. They went not by Jerusalem, for Archelaus reigned.

²⁴They journeyed by the Bitter Sea, and when they reached Engedi hills they rested in the home of Joshua, a near of kin; and here Eliz­abeth and John abode.

²⁵But Joseph, Mary and their son went by the Jordan way, and after certain days they reached their home in Nazareth.

SECTION IV.

DALETH.

Childhood and Early Education of John the Harbinger.

CHAPTER 13.

Elizabeth in Engedi. Teaches her son. John becomes the pupil of Matheno, who reveals to him the meaning of sin and the law of for­giveness.

Elizabeth was blest; she spent her time with John, and gave to him the lessons that Elihu and Salome had given her.

²And John delighted in the wildness of his home and in the les­sons that he learned.

³Now in the hills were many caves. The cave of David was a-near in which the Hermit of En­gedi lived.

⁴This hermit was Matheno, priest of Egypt, master from the temple of Sakara.

⁵When John was seven years of age Matheno took him to the wil­derness and in the cave of David they abode.

⁶Matheno taught, and John was thrilled with what the master said, and day by day Matheno opened up to him the mysteries of life.

⁷John loved the wilderness; he loved his master and his simple fare. Their food was fruits, and nuts, wild honey and the carob bread.

⁸Matheno was an Israelite, and he attended all the Jewish feasts.

⁹When John was nine years old Matheno took him to a great feast in Jerusalem.

¹⁰The wicked Archelaus had been deposed and exiled to a distant land because of selfishness and cru­elty, and John was not afraid.

¹¹John was delighted with his visit to Jerusalem. Matheno told him all about the service of the Jews; the meaning of their sacrifices and their rites.

¹²John could not understand how sin could be forgiven by killing animals and birds and burning them before the Lord.

¹³Matheno said, The God of heaven and earth does not require sacrifice. This custom with its cruel rites was borrowed from the idol worshippers of other lands.

¹⁴No sin was ever blotted out by sacrifice of animal, of bird, or man.

¹⁵Sin is the rushing forth of man into the fens of wickedness. If one would get away from sin he must retrace his steps, and find his way out of the fens of wickedness.

¹⁶Return and purify your hearts by love and righteousness and you shall be forgiven.

¹⁷This is the burden of the mes­sage that the harbinger shall bring to men.

¹⁸What is forgiveness? John inquired.

¹⁹Matheno said, It is the pay­ing up of debts. A man who wrongs another man can never be forgiven until he rights the wrong.

²⁰The Vedas says that none can right the wrong but him who does the wrong.

²¹John said, If this be true where is the power to forgive except the power that rests in man him­self? Can man forgive himself?

²²Matheno said, The door is wide ajar; you see the way of man’s return to right, and the forgiveness of his sins.

CHAPTER 14.

Matheno’s lessons. The doctrine of universal law. The power of man to choose and to attain. The ben­efits of antagonisms. Ancient sa­cred books. The place of John and Jesus in the world’s history.

Matheno and his pupil, John, were talking of the sacred books of olden times, and of the golden precepts they contained, and John exclaimed,

²These golden precepts are sub­lime; what need have we of other sacred books?

³Matheno said, The Spirits of the Holy One cause every thing to come and go in proper time.

⁴The sun has his own time to set, the moon to rise, to wax and wane, the stars to come and go, the rain to fall, the winds to blow;

⁵The seed times and the har­vest times to come; man to be born and man to die.

⁶These mighty Spirits cause the nations to be born; they rock them in their cradles, nurture them to greatest power, and when their tasks are done they wrap them in their winding sheets and lay them in their tombs.

⁷Events are many in a nation’s life, and in the life of man, that are not pleasant for the time; but in the end the truth appears: whatever comes is for the best.

⁸Man was created for a noble part; but he could not be made a free man filled with wisdom, truth and might.

⁹If he were hedged about, con­fined in straits from which he could not pass, then he would be a toy, a mere machine.

¹⁰Creative spirits gave to man a will; and so he has the power to choose.

¹¹He may attain the greatest heights, or sink to deepest depths; for what he wills to gain he has the power to gain.

¹²If he desires strength he has the power to gain that strength; but he must overcome resistances to reach the goal; no strength is ever gained in idleness.

¹³So, in the whirl of many-­sided conflicts man is placed where he must strive to extricate himself.

¹⁴In every conflict man gains strength; with every conquest he attains to greater heights. With every day he finds new duties and new cares.

¹⁵Man is not carried over dan­gerous pits, nor helped to overcome his foes. He is himself his army, and his sword and shield; and he is captain of his hosts.

¹⁶The Holy Ones just light his way. Man never has been left with­out a beacon light to guide.

¹⁷And he has ever had a lighted lamp in hand that he may see the dangerous rocks, the turbid streams and treacherous pits.

¹⁸And so the Holy Ones have judged; when men have needed added light a master soul has come to earth to give that light.

¹⁹Before the Vedic days the world had many sacred books to light the way; and when man needed greater light the Vedas, the Avesta and the books of Tao Great ap­peared to show the way to greater heights.

²⁰And in the proper place the Hebrew Bible, with its Law, its Prophets and its Psalms, appeared for man’s enlightenment.

²¹But years have passed and men have need of greater light.

²²And now the Day Star from on high begins to shine; and Jesus is the flesh-made messenger to show that light to men.

²³And you, my pupil, you have been ordained to harbinger the com­ing day.

²⁴But you must keep that pur­ity of heart you now possess; and you must light your lamp directly from the coals that burn upon the altar of the Holy Ones.

²⁵And then your lamp will be transmuted to a boundless flame, and you will be a living torch whose light will shine wherever man abides.

²⁶But in the ages yet to come, man will attain to greater heights, and lights still more intense will come.

²⁷And then, at last, a mighty master soul will come to earth to light the way up to the throne of perfect man.

CHAPTER 15.

Death and burial of Elizabeth. Ma­theno’s lessons. The ministry of death. The mission of John. In­stitution of the rite of baptism. Matheno takes John to Egypt, and places him in the temple at Sakara, where he remains eighteen years.

When John was twelve years old his mother died, and neighbors laid her body in a tomb among her kindred in the Hebron burying ground, and near to Zach­arias’ tomb.

²And John was deeply grieved; he wept. Matheno said, It is not well to weep because of death.

³Death is no enemy of man; it is a friend who, when the work of life is done, just cuts the cord that binds the human boat to earth, that it may sail on smoother seas.

⁴No language can describe a mother’s worth, and yours was tried and true. But she was not called hence until her tasks were done.

⁵The calls of death are always for the best, for we are solving prob­lems there as well as here; and one is sure to find himself where he can solve his problems best.

⁶It is but selfishness that makes one wish to call again to earth departed souls.

⁷Then let your mother rest in peace. Just let her noble life be strength and inspiration unto you.

⁸A crisis in your life has come, and you must have a clear concep­tion of the work that you are called to do.

⁹The sages of the ages call you harbinger. The prophets look to you and say, He is Elijah come again.

¹⁰Your mission here is that of harbinger; for you will go before Messiah’s face to pave his way, and make the people ready to receive their king.

¹¹This readiness is purity of heart; none but the pure in heart can recognize the king.

¹²To teach men to be pure in heart you must yourself be pure in heart, and word, and deed.

¹³In infancy the vow for you was made and you became a Naza­rite. The razor shall not touch your face nor head, and you shall taste not wine nor fiery drinks.

¹⁴Men need a pattern for their lives; they love to follow, not to lead.

¹⁵The man who stands upon the corners of the paths and points the way, but does not go, is just a pointer; and a block of wood can do the same.

¹⁶The teacher treads the way; on every span of ground he leaves his footprints clearly cut, which all can see and be assured that he, their master, went that way.

¹⁷Men comprehend the inner life by what they see and do. They come to God through ceremonies and forms.

¹⁸And so when you would make men know that sins are washed away by purity in life, a rite symbolic may be introduced.

¹⁹In water wash the bodies of the people who would turn away from sin and strive for purity in life.

²⁰This rite of cleansing is a preparation rite and they who thus are cleansed comprise the Church of Purity.

²¹And you shall say, You men of Israel, hear; Reform and wash; become the sons of purity, and you shall be forgiven.

²²This rite of cleansing and this church are but symbolic of the cleansing of the soul by [8]purity in life, and of the kingdom of the soul, which does not come with outward show, but is the church within.

²³Now, you may never point the way and tell the multitudes to do what you have never done; but you must go before and show the way.

²⁴You are to teach that men must wash; so you must lead the way, your body must be washed, symbolic of the cleansing of the soul.

²⁵John said, Why need I wait? May I not go at once and wash?

²⁶Matheno said, ’Tis well, and then they went down to the Jordan ford, and east of Jericho, just where the hosts of Israel crossed when first they entered Canaan, they tarried for a time.

²⁷Matheno taught the har­binger, and he explained to him the inner meaning of the cleansing rite and how to wash himself and how to wash the multitude.

²⁸And in the river Jordan John was washed; then they re­turned unto the wilderness.

²⁹Now in Engedi’s hills Ma­theno’s work was done and he and John went down to Egypt. They rested not until they reached the temple of Sakara in the valley of the Nile.

³⁰For many years Matheno was a master in this temple of the Brotherhood, and when he told about the life of John and of his mission to the sons of men, the hier­ophant with joy received the har­binger and he was called the Brother Nazarite.

³¹For eighteen years John lived and wrought within these tem­ple gates; and here he conquered self, became a master mind and learned the duties of the harbinger.

SECTION V.

HE.

Childhood and Early Education of Jesus.

CHAPTER 16.

The home of Joseph. Mary teaches her son. Jesus’ grandparents give a feast in his honor. Jesus has a dream. His grandmother’s inter­pretation. His birthday gift.

The home of Joseph was on Marmion Way in Nazareth; here Mary taught her son the les­sons of Elihu and Salome.

²And Jesus greatly loved the Vedic hymns and the Avesta; but more than all he loved to read the Psalms of David and the pungent words of Solomon.

³The Jewish books of prophecy were his delight; and when he reached his seventh year he needed not the books to read, for he had fixed in memory every word.

⁴Joachim and his wife, grand­parents of child Jesus, made a feast in honor of the child, and all their near of kin were guests.

⁵And Jesus stood before the guests and said, I had a dream, and in my dream I stood before a sea, upon a sandy beach.

⁶The waves upon the sea were high; a storm was raging on the deep.

⁷Some one above gave me a wand. I took the wand and touched the sand, and every grain of sand became a living thing; the beach was all a mass of beauty and of song.

⁸I touched the waters at my feet, and they were changed to trees, and flowers, and singing birds, and every thing was praising God.

⁹And some one spoke, I did not see the one who spoke, I heard the voice, which said, There is no death.

¹⁰Grandmother Anna loved the child; she laid her hand on Jesus’ head and said, I saw you stand beside the sea; I saw you touch the sand and waves; I saw them turn to living things and then I knew the meaning of the dream.

¹¹The sea of life rolls high; the storms are great. The multitude of men are idle, listless, waiting, like dead sand upon the beach.

¹²Your wand is truth. With this you touch the multitudes, and every man becomes a messenger of holy light and life.

¹³You touch the waves upon the sea of life; their turmoils cease; the very winds become a song of praise.

¹⁴There is no death, because the wand of truth can change the dryest bones to living things, and bring the lovliest flowers from stag­nant ponds, and turn the most dis­cordant notes to harmony and praise.

¹⁵Joachim said, My son, to­day you pass the seventh milestone of your way of life, for you are seven years of age, and we will give to you, as a remembrance of this day, whatever you desire; choose that which will afford you most delight.

¹⁶And Jesus said, I do not want a gift, for I am satisfied. If I could make a multitude of chil­dren glad upon this day I would be greatly pleased.

¹⁷Now, there are many hungry boys and girls in Nazareth who would be pleased to eat with us this feast and share with us the pleas­ures of this day.

¹⁸The richest gift that you can give to me is your permission to go out and find these needy ones and bring them here that they may feast with us.

¹⁹Joachim said, ’Tis well; go out and find the needy boys and girls and bring them here; we will prepare enough for all.

²⁰And Jesus did not wait; he ran; he entered every dingy hut and cabin of the town; he did not waste his words; he told his mission every­where.

²¹And in a little time one hun­dred and three-score of happy, rag­ged boys and girls were following him up Marmion Way.

²²The guests made way; the banquet hall was filled with Jesus’ guests, and Jesus and his mother helped to serve.

²³And there was food enough for all, and all were glad; and so the birthday gift of Jesus was a crown of righteousness.

CHAPTER 17.

Jesus talks with the rabbi of the syna­gogue of Nazareth. He criticises the narrowness of Jewish thought.

Now, Rabbi Barachia of the synagogue of Nazareth, was aid to Mary in the teaching of her son.

²One morning after service in the synagogue the rabbi said to Jesus as he sat in silent thought, Which is the greatest of the Ten Commands?

³And Jesus said, I do not see a greatest of the Ten Commands. I see a golden cord that runs through all the Ten Commands that binds them fast and makes them one.

⁴This cord is love, and it be­longs to every word of all the Ten Commands.

⁵If one is full of love he can do nothing else than worship God; for God is love.

⁶If one is full of love, he cannot kill; he cannot falsely testify; he cannot covet; can do naught but honor God and man.

⁷If one is full of love he does not need commands of any kind.

⁸And Rabbi Barachia said, Your words are seasoned with the salt of wisdom that is from above. Who is the teacher who has opened up this truth to you?

⁹And Jesus said, I do not know that any teacher opens up this truth for me. It seems to me that truth was never shut; that it was always opened up, for truth is one and it is everywhere.

¹⁰And if we open up the win­dows of our minds the truth will enter in and make herself at home; for truth can find her way through any crevice, any window, any open door.

¹¹The rabbi said, What hand is strong enough to open up the windows and the doors of mind so truth can enter in?

¹²And Jesus said, It seems to me that love, the golden cord that binds the Ten Commands in one, is strong enough to open any human door so that the truth can enter in and cause the heart to understand.

¹³Now, in the evening Jesus and his mother sat alone, and Jesus said,

¹⁴The rabbi seems to think that God is partial in his treatment of the sons of men; that Jews are favored and are blest above all other men.

¹⁵I do not see how God can have his favorites and be just.

¹⁶Are not Samaritans and Greeks and Romans just as much the children of the Holy One as are the Jews?

¹⁷I think the Jews have built a wall about themselves, and they see nothing on the other side of it.

¹⁸They do not know that flow­ers are blooming over there; that sowing times and reaping times belong to anybody but the Jews.

¹⁹It surely would be well if we could break these barriers down so that the Jews might see that God has other children that are just as greatly blest.

²⁰I want to go from Jewry land and meet my kin in other countries of my Fatherland.

CHAPTER 18.

Jesus at a feast in Jerusalem. Is grieved by the cruelties of the sacri­ficers. Appeals to Hillel, who sympathizes with him. He re­mains in the temple a year.

The great feast of the Jews was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son, and many of their kin, went to Jerusalem. The child was ten years old.

²And Jesus watched the butch­ers kill the lambs and birds and burn them on the altar in the name of God.

³His tender heart was shocked at this display of cruelty; he asked the serving priest, What is the pur­pose of this slaughter of the beasts and birds? Why do you burn their flesh before the Lord?

⁴The priest replied, This is our sacrifice for sin. God has com­manded us to do these things, and said that in these sacrifices all our sins are blotted out.

⁵And Jesus said, Will you be kind enough to tell when God pro­claimed that sins are blotted out by sacrifice of any kind?

⁶Did not David say that God requires not a sacrifice for sin? that it is sin itself to bring before his face burnt offerings, as offerings for sin? Did not Isaiah say the same?

⁷The priest replied, My child, you are beside yourself. Do you know more about the laws of God than all the priests of Israel? This is no place for boys to show their wit.

⁸But Jesus heeded not his taunts; he went to Hillel, chief of the Sanhedrim, and he said to him,

⁹Rabboni, I would like to talk with you; I am disturbed about this service of the pascal feast. I thought the temple was the house of God where love and kindness dwell.

¹⁰Do you not hear the bleating of those lambs, the pleading of those doves that men are killing over there? Do you not smell that awful stench that comes from burning flesh?

¹¹Can man be kind and just, and still be filled with cruelty?

¹²A God that takes delight in sacrifice, in blood and burning flesh, is not my Father-God.

¹³I want to find a God of love, and you, my master, you are wise, and surely you can tell me where to find the God of love.

¹⁴But Hillel could not give an answer to the child. His heart was stirred with sympathy. He called the child to him; he laid his hand upon his head and wept.

¹⁵He said, There is a God of love, and you shall come with me; and hand in hand we will go forth and find the God of love.

¹⁶And Jesus said, Why need we go? I thought that God is every­where. Can we not purify our hearts and drive out cruelty, and every wicked thought, and make within, a temple where the God of love can dwell?

¹⁷The master of the great San­hedrim felt as though he was him­self the child, and that before him stood Rabboni, master of the higher law.

¹⁸He said within himself, This child is surely prophet sent from God.

¹⁹Then Hillel sought the par­ents of the child, and asked that Jesus might abide with him, and learn the precepts of the law, and all the lessons of the temple priests.

²⁰His parents gave consent, and Jesus did abide within the holy temple in Jerusalem, and Hillel taught him every day.

²¹And every day the master learned from Jesus many lessons of the higher life.

²²The child remained with Hillel in the temple for a year, and then returned unto his home in Naz­areth; and there he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.

CHAPTER 19.

Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple. Disputes with the doctors of the law. Reads from a book of prophecy. By request of Hillel he interprets the prophecies.

Again the great feast in Jerusa­lem was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son were there. The child was twelve years old.

²And there were Jews and proselytes from many countries in Jerusalem.

³And Jesus sat among the priests and doctors in the temple hall.

⁴And Jesus opened up a book of prophecy and read:

⁵Woe, woe, to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! I will disman­tle Ariel, and she shall groan and weep:

⁶And I will camp against her round about with hostile posts;

⁷And I will bring her low and she shall speak out of the earth; with muffled voice like a familiar spirit shall she speak; yea, she shall only whisper forth her speech;

⁸And foes unnumbered, like the grains of dust, shall come upon her suddenly.

⁹The Lord of hosts will visit her with thunder and with tempest, and with storm; with earthquake, and with devouring flames.

¹⁰Lo, all these people have de­serted me. They draw to me with speech, and with their lips they honor me; their hearts are far re­moved from me; their fear for me is that inspired by man.

¹¹And I will breathe an ad­verse breath upon my people, Is­rael; the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost; the understanding of their prudent men shall not be found.

¹²My people seek to hide their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may not be seen. They fain would cover up their works with darkness of the night, and say, Who sees us now? Who knows us now?

¹³Poor, foolish men! shall that which has been made say of its maker, He is naught, I made my­self?

¹⁴Or shall the pot speak out and say to him, who made the pot, You have no skill; you do not know?

¹⁵But this will not forever be; the time will come when Lebanon will be a fruitful field, and fruitful fields will be transformed to groves.

¹⁶And on that day the deaf will hear the words of God; the blind will read the Book of God’s Remembrance.

¹⁷And suffering ones will be re­lieved, and they will have abundant joy; and every one that needs will be supplied; and it will come to pass that all the foolish will be wise.

¹⁸The people will return and sanctify the Holy One, and in their heart of hearts, lo, they will rever­ence him.

¹⁹When Jesus had thus read he put aside the book and said, You masters of the law, will you make plain for us the prophet’s words?

²⁰Now, Hillel sat among the masters of the law, and he stood forth and said, Perhaps our young rabboni who has read the word will be interpreter.

²¹And Jesus said, The Ariel of the prophet is our own Jerusalem.

²²By selfishness and cruelty this people has become a stench unto the Elohim.

²³The prophet saw these days from far, and of these times he wrote.

²⁴Our doctors, lawyers, priests and scribes oppress the poor, while they themselves in luxury live.

²⁵The sacrifices and the offer­ings of Israel are but abomination unto God. The only sacrifice that God requires is self.

²⁶Because of this injustice and this cruelty of man to man, the Holy One has spoken of this common­wealth:

²⁷Lo, I will overturn, yes, I will overturn, it shall be overturned, and it shall be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it unto him.

²⁸In all the world there is one law of right, and he who breaks that law will suffer grief; for God is just.

²⁹And Israel has gone far astray; has not regarded justice, nor the rights of man, and God de­mands that Israel shall reform, and turn again to ways of holiness.

³⁰And if our people will not hear the voice of God, lo, nations from afar will come and sack Jeru­salem, and tear our temple down, and take our people captive into foreign lands.

³¹But this will not forever be; though they be scattered far and wide, and wander here and there among the nations of the earth, like sheep that have no shepherd guide,

³²The time will come when God will bring again the captive hosts; for Israel shall return and dwell in peace.

³³And after many years our temple shall be built again, and one whom God will honor, one in whom the pure in heart delights will come and glorify the house of God, and reign in righteousness.

³⁴When Jesus had thus said, he stepped aside, and all the people were amazed and said, This surely is the Christ.

CHAPTER 20.

After the feast. The homeward jour­ney. The missing Jesus. The search for him. His parents find him in the temple. He goes with them to Nazareth. Symbolic mean­ing of carpenter’s tools.

The great feast of the [9]pasch was ended and the Nazarenes were journeying toward their homes.

²And they were in Samaria, and Mary said, Where is my son? No one had seen the boy.

³And Joseph sought among their kindred who were on their way to Galilee; but they had seen him not.

⁴Then Joseph, Mary, and a son of Zebedee, returned and sought through all Jerusalem, but they could find him not.

⁵And then they went up to the temple courts and asked the guards, Have you seen Jesus, a fair-haired boy, with deep blue eyes, twelve years of age, about these courts?

⁶The guards replied, Yes, he is in the temple now disputing with the doctors of the law.

⁷And they went in, and found him as the guards had said.

⁸And Mary said, Why Jesus, why do you treat your parents thus? Lo, we have sought two days for you. We feared that some great harm had overtaken you.

⁹And Jesus said, Do you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?

¹⁰But he went round and [10]pressed the hand of every doctor of the law and said, I trust that we may meet again.

¹¹And then he went forth with his parents on their way to Naza­reth; and when they reached their home he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.

¹²One day as he was bringing forth the tools for work he said,

¹³These tools remind me of the ones we handle in the workshop of the mind where things are made of thought and where we build up character.

¹⁴We use the square to meas­ure all our lines, to straighten out the crooked places of the way, and make the corners of our conduct square.

¹⁵We use the compass to draw circles round our passions and de­sires to keep them in the [11]bounds of righteousness.

¹⁶We use the ax to cut away the knotty, useless and ungainly parts and make the character sym­metrical.

¹⁷We use the hammer to drive home the truth, and pound it in until it is a part of every part.

¹⁸We use the plane to smooth the rough, uneven surfaces of joint, and block, and board that go to build the temple for the truth.

¹⁹The chisel, line, the plummet and the saw all have their uses in the workshop of the mind.

²⁰And then this ladder with its trinity of steps, faith, hope and love; on it we climb up to the dome of purity in life.

²¹And on the twelve-step lad­der we ascend until we reach the pinnacle of that which life is spent to build—the Temple of Perfected Man.

SECTION VI.

VAU.

Life and Works of Jesus in India.

CHAPTER 21.

Ravanna sees Jesus in the temple and is captivated. Hillel tells him about the boy. Ravanna finds Jesus in Nazareth and gives a feast in his honor. Ravanna becomes patron of Jesus, and takes him to India to study the Brahmic religion.

A royal prince of India, Ra­vanna of Orissa in the south, was at the Jewish feast.

²Ravanna was a man of wealth; and he was just, and with a band of Brahmic priests sought wisdom in the West.

³When Jesus stood among the Jewish priests and read and spoke, Ravanna heard and was amazed.

⁴And when he asked who Jesus was, from whence he came and what he was, chief Hillel said,

⁵We call this child the Day Star from on high, for he has come to bring to men a light, the light of life; to lighten up the way of men and to redeem his people, Israel.

⁶And Hillel told Ravanna all about the child; about the prophe­cies concerning him; about the won­ders of the night when he was born; about the visit of the magian priests;

⁷About the way in which he was protected from the wrath of evil men; about his flight to Egypt-­land, and how he then was serving with his father as a carpenter in Naz­areth.

⁸Ravanna was entranced, and asked to know the way to Nazareth, that he might go and honor such a one as son of God.

⁹And with his gorgeous train he journeyed on the way and came to Nazareth of Galilee.

¹⁰He found the object of his search engaged in building dwellings for the sons of men.

¹¹And when he first saw Jesus he was climbing up a twelve-step ladder, and he carried in his hands a compass, square and ax.

¹²Ravanna said, All hail, most favored son of heaven!

¹³And at the inn Ravanna made a feast for all the people of the town; and Jesus and his parents were the honored guests.

¹⁴For certain days Ravanna was a guest in Joseph’s home on Marmion Way; he sought to learn the secret of the wisdom of the son; but it was all too great for him.

¹⁵And then he asked that he might be the patron of the child; might take him to the East where he could learn the wisdom of the Brahms.

¹⁶And Jesus longed to go that he might learn: and after many days his parents gave consent.

¹⁷Then, with proud heart, Ravanna with his train, began the journey toward the rising sun; and after many days they crossed the Sind, and reached the province of Orissa, and the palace of the prince.

¹⁸The Brahmic priests were glad to welcome home the prince; with favor they received the Jewish boy.

¹⁹And Jesus was accepted as a pupil in the temple Jagannath; and here he learned the Vedas and the Manic laws.

²⁰The Brahmic masters won­dered at the clear conceptions of the child, and often were amazed when he explained to them the meaning of the laws.

CHAPTER 22.

The friendship of Jesus and Lamaas. Jesus explains to Lamaas the meaning of truth, man, power, understanding, wisdom, salvation and faith.

Among the priests of Jagannath was one who loved the Jewish boy. Lamaas Bramas was the name by which the priest was known.

²One day as Jesus and Lamaas walked alone in plaza Jagannath, Lamaas said, My Jewish master, what is truth?

³And Jesus said, Truth is the only thing that changes not.

⁴In all the world there are two things; the one is truth; the other falsehood is; and truth is that which is, and falsehood that which seems to be.

⁵Now truth is [12]aught, and has no cause, and yet it is the cause of everything.

⁶Falsehood is naught, and yet it is the manifest of aught.

⁷Whatever has been made will be unmade; that which begins must end.

⁸All things that can be seen by human eyes are manifests of aught, are naught, and so must pass away.

⁹The things we see are but re­flexes just appearing, while the ethers vibrate so and so, and when conditions change they disappear.

¹⁰The Holy Breath is truth; is that which was, and is, and ever­more shall be; it cannot change nor pass away.

¹¹Lamaas said, You answer well; now, what is man?

¹²And Jesus said, Man is the truth and falsehood strangely mixed.

¹³Man is the Breath made flesh; so truth and falsehood are conjoined in him; and then they strive, and naught goes down and man as truth abides.

¹⁴Again Lamaas asked, What do you say of power?

¹⁵And Jesus said, It is a man­ifest; is the result of force; it is but naught; it is illusion, nothing more. Force changes not, but power changes as the ethers change.

¹⁶Force is the will of God and is omnipotent, and power is that will in manifest, directed by the Breath.

¹⁷There is a power in the winds, a power in the waves, a power in the lightning’s stroke, a power in the human arm, a power in the eye.

¹⁸The ethers cause these pow­ers to be, and thought of Elohim, of angel, man, or other thinking thing, directs the force; when it has done its work the power is no more.

¹⁹Again Lamaas asked, Of un­derstanding what have you to say?

²⁰And Jesus said, It is the rock on which man builds himself; it is the gnosis of the aught and of the naught, of falsehood and of truth.

²¹It is the knowledge of the lower self; the sensing of the powers of man himself.

²²Again Lamaas asked, Of wis­dom what have you to say?

²³And Jesus said, It is the con­sciousness that man is aught; that God and man are one;

²⁴That naught is naught; that power is but illusion; that heaven and earth and hell are not above, around, below, but in; which in the light of aught becomes the naught, and God is all.

²⁵Lamaas asked, Pray, what is faith?

²⁶And Jesus said, Faith is the surety of the omnipotence of God and man; the certainty that man will reach deific life.

²⁷Salvation is a ladder reach­ing from the heart of man to heart of God.

²⁸It has three steps; Belief is first, and this is what man thinks, perhaps, is truth.

²⁹And faith is next, and this is what man knows is truth.

³⁰Fruition is the last, and this is man himself, the truth.

³¹Belief is lost in faith; and in fruition faith is lost; and man is saved when he has reached deific life; when he and God are one.

CHAPTER 23.

Jesus and Lamaas among the su­dras and visyas. In Benares. Jesus becomes a pupil of Udraka. The lessons of Udraka.

Now, Jesus with his friend La­maas went through all the re­gions of Orissa, and the valley of the Ganges, seeking wisdom from the sudras and the visyas and the masters.

²Benares of the Ganges was a city rich in culture and in learning; here the two rabbonis tarried many days.

³And Jesus sought to learn the Hindu art of healing, and became the pupil of Udraka, greatest of the Hindu healers.

⁴Udraka taught the uses of the waters, plants and earths; of heat and cold; sunshine and shade; of light and dark.

⁵He said, The laws of nature are the laws of health, and he who lives according to these laws is never sick.

⁶Transgression of these laws is sin, and he who sins is sick.

⁷He who obeys the laws, main­tains an [13]equilibrium in all his parts, and thus insures true harmony; and harmony is health, while discord is disease.

⁸That which produces har­mony in all the parts of man is med­icine, insuring health.

⁹The body is a harpsichord, and when its strings are too relaxed, or are too tense, the instrument is out of tune, the man is sick.

¹⁰Now, everything in nature has been made to meet the wants of man; so everything is found in medical [14]arcanes.

¹¹And when the harpsichord of man is out of tune the vast ex­panse of nature may be searched for remedy; there is a cure for every ailment of the flesh.

¹²Of course the will of man is remedy supreme; and by the vigor­ous exercise of will, man may make tense a chord that is relaxed, or may relax one that is too tense, and thus may heal himself.

¹³When man has reached the place where he has faith in God, in nature and himself, he knows the Word of power; his word is balm for every wound, is cure for all the ills of life.

¹⁴The healer is the man who can inspire faith. The tongue may speak to human ears, but souls are reached by souls that speak to souls.

¹⁵He is the forceful man whose soul is large, and who can enter into souls, inspiring hope in those who have no hope, and faith in those who have no faith in God, in nature, nor in man.

¹⁶There is no universal balm for those who tread the common walks of life.

¹⁷A thousand things produce inharmony and make men sick; a thousand things may tune the harp­sichord, and make men well.

¹⁸That which is medicine for one is poison for another one; so one is healed by what would kill another one.

¹⁹An herb may heal the one; a drink of water may restore another one; a mountain breeze may bring to life one seeming past all help;

²⁰A coal of fire, or bit of earth, may cure another one; and one may wash in certain streams, or pools, and be made whole.

²¹The virtue from the hand or breath may heal a thousand more; but love is queen. Thought, rein­forced by love, is God’s great sov­ereign balm.

²²But many of the broken chords in life, and discords that so vex the soul, are caused by evil spirits of the air that men see not; that lead men on through ignorance to break the laws of nature and of God.

²³These powers act like ­demons, and they speak; they rend the man; they drive him to despair.

²⁴But he who is a healer, true, is master of the soul, and can, by force of will, control these evil ones.

²⁵Some spirits of the air are master spirits and are strong, too strong for human power alone; but man has helpers in the higher realms that may be importuned, and they will help to drive the de­mons out.

²⁶Of what this great physician said, this is the sum. And Jesus bowed his head in recognition of the wisdom of this master soul, and went his way.

CHAPTER 24.

The Brahmic doctrine of castes. Jesus repudiates it and teaches hu­man equality. The priests are offended and drive him from the temple. He abides with the sudras and teaches them.

Four years the Jewish boy abode in temple Jagannath.

²One day he sat among the priests and said to them, Pray, tell me all about your views of castes; why do you say that all men are not equal in the sight of God?

³A master of their laws stood forth and said, The Holy One whom we call Brahm, made men to suit himself, and men should not com­plain.

⁴In the beginning days of hu­man life Brahm spoke, and four men stood before his face.

⁵Now, from the mouth of Par­abrahm the [15]first man came; and he was white, was like the Brahm him­self; a brahman he was called.

⁶And he was high and lifted up; above all want he stood; he had no need of toil.

⁷And he was called the priest of Brahm, the holy one to act for Brahm in all affairs of earth.

⁸The second man was red, and from the hand of Parabrahm he came; and he was called shatriya.

⁹And he was made to be the king, the ruler and the warrior, whose highest ordained duty was, protection of the priest.

¹⁰And from the inner parts of Parabrahm the third man came; and he was called a visya.

¹¹He was a yellow man, and his it was to till the soil, and keep the flocks and herds.

¹²And from the feet of Par­abrahm the fourth man came; and he was black; and he was called the sudras, one of low estate.

¹³The sudras is the servant of the race of men; he has no rights that others need respect; he may not hear the Vedas read, and it means death to him to look into the face of priest, or king, and naught but death can free him from his state of servitude.

¹⁴And Jesus said, Then Par­abrahm is not a God of justice and of right; for with his own strong hand he has exalted one and brought another low.

¹⁵And Jesus said no more to them, but looking up to heaven he said,

¹⁶My Father-God, who was, and is, and ever more shall be; who holds within thy hands the scales of justice and of right;

¹⁷Who in the boundlessness of love has made all men to equal be. The white, the black, the yellow and the red can look up in thy face and say, Our Father-God.

¹⁸Thou Father of the human race, I praise thy name.

¹⁹And all the priests were an­gered by the words which Jesus spoke; they rushed upon him, seized him, and would have done him harm.

²⁰But then Lamaas raised his hand and said, You priests of Brahm, beware! you know not what you do; wait till you know the God this youth adores.

²¹I have beheld this boy at prayer when light above the light of sun surrounded him, Beware! his God may be more powerful than Brahm.

²²If Jesus speaks the truth, if he is right, you cannot force him to desist; if he is wrong and you are right, his words will come to naught, for right is might, and in the end it will prevail.

²³And then the priests re­frained from doing Jesus harm; but one spoke out and said,

²⁴Within this holy place has not this reckless youth done violence to Parabrahm? The law is plain; it says, He who reviles the name of Brahm shall die.

²⁵Lamaas plead for Jesus’ life; and then the priests just seized a scourge of cords and drove him from the place.

²⁶And Jesus went his way and found a shelter with the black and yellow men, the servants and the tillers of the soil.

²⁷To them he first made known the gospel of equality; he told them of the Brotherhood of Man, the Fatherhood of God.

²⁸The common people heard him with delight, and learned to pray, Our Father-God who art in heaven.

CHAPTER 25.

Jesus teaches the sudras and farmers. Relates a parable of a nobleman and his unjust sons. Makes known the possibilities of all men.

When Jesus saw the sudras and the farmers in such multi­tudes draw near to hear his words, he spoke a parable to them; he said:

²A nobleman possessed a great estate; he had four sons, and he would have them all grow strong by standing forth and making use of all the talents they possessed.

³And so he gave to each a share of his great wealth, and bade them go their way.

⁴The eldest son was full of self; he was ambitious, shrewd and quick of thought.

⁵He said within himself, I am the oldest son, and these, my broth­ers, must be servants at my feet,

⁶And then he called his broth­ers forth; and one he made a puppet king; gave him a sword and charged him to defend the whole estate.

⁷To one he gave the use of lands and flowing wells, and flocks and herds, and bade him till the soil, and tend the flocks and herds and bring to him the choicest of his gains.

⁸And to the other one he said, You are the youngest son; the broad estate has been assigned; you have no part nor lot in anything that is.

⁹And then he took a chain and bound his brother to a naked rock upon a desert plain, and said to him,

¹⁰You have been born a slave; you have no rights, and you must be contented with your lot, for there is no release for you until you die and go from hence.

¹¹Now, after certain years the day of reckoning came; the noble­man called up his sons to render their accounts.

¹²And when he knew that one, his eldest son, had seized the whole estate and made his brothers slaves,

¹³He seized him, tore his priestly robes away and put him in a prison cell, where he was forced to stay until he had atoned for all the wrongs that he had done.

¹⁴And then, as though they were but toys, he threw in air the throne and armor of the puppet king; he broke his sword, and put him in a prison cell.

¹⁵And then he called his farmer son and asked him why he had not rescued from his galling chains his brother on the desert sands.

¹⁶And when the son made an­swer not, the father took unto him­self the flocks and herds, the fields and flowing wells,

¹⁷And sent his farmer son to live out on the desert sands, until he had atoned for all the wrongs that he had done.

¹⁸And then the father went and found his youngest son in cruel chains; with his own hands he broke the chains and bade his son to go in peace.

¹⁹Now, when the sons had all paid up their debts they came again and stood before the bar of right.

²⁰They all had learned their lessons, learned them well; and then the father once again divided the estate.

²¹He gave to each an equal share, and bade them recognize the law of equity and right, and live in peace.

²²And one, a sudras, spoke and said, May we who are but slaves, who are cut down like beasts to sat­isfy the whims of priests—may we have hope that one will come to break our chains and set us free?

²³And Jesus said, The Holy One has said, that all his children shall be free; and every soul is child of God

²⁴The sudras shall be free as priest; the farmer shall walk hand in hand with king; for all the world will own the brotherhood of man.

²⁵O men, arise! be conscious of your powers, for he who wills need not remain a slave.

²⁶Just live as you would have your brother live; unfold each day as does the flower; for earth is yours, and heaven is yours, and God will bring you to your own.

²⁷And all the people cried, Show us the way that like the flower we may unfold and come unto our own.

CHAPTER 26.

Jesus at Katak. The car of Jagan­nath. Jesus reveals to the people the emptiness of Brahmic rites, and how to see God in man. Teaches them the divine law of sac­rifice.

In all the cities of Orissa Jesus taught. At Katak, by the river side, he taught, and thousands of the people followed him.

²One day a car of Jagannath was hauled along by scores of fren­zied men, and Jesus said,

³Behold, a form without a spirit passes by; a body with no soul; a temple with no altar fires.

⁴This car of Krishna is an empty thing, for Krishna is not there.

⁵This car is but an idol of a people drunk on wine of carnal things.

⁶God lives not in the noise of tongues; there is no way to him from any idol shrine.

⁷God’s meeting place with man is in the heart, and in a still small voice he speaks; and he who hears is still.

⁸And all the people said, Teach us to know the Holy One who speaks within the heart, God of the still small voice.

⁹And Jesus said, The Holy Breath cannot be seen with mortal eyes; nor can men see the Spirits of the Holy One;

¹⁰But in their image man was made, and he who looks into the face of man, looks at the image of the God who speaks within.

¹¹And when man honors man he honors God, and what man does for man, he does for God.

¹²And you must bear in mind that when man harms in thought, or word or deed another man, he does a wrong to God.

¹³If you would serve the God who speaks within the heart, just serve your near of kin, and those that are no kin, the stranger at your gates, the foe who seeks to do you harm;

¹⁴Assist the poor, and help the weak; do harm to none, and covet not what is not yours;

¹⁵Then, with your tongue the Holy One will speak; and he will smile behind your tears, will light your countenance with joy, and fill your hearts with peace.

¹⁶And then the people asked, To whom shall we bring gifts? Where shall we offer sacrifice?

¹⁷And Jesus said, Our Father-­God asks not for needless waste of plant, of grain, of dove, of lamb.

¹⁸That which you burn on any shrine you throw away. No bless­ings can attend the one who takes the food from hungry mouths to be destroyed by fire.

¹⁹When you would offer sacri­fice unto our God, just take your gift of grain, or meat and lay it on the table of the poor.

²⁰From it an incense will arise to heaven, which will return to you with blessedness.

²¹Tear down your idols; they can hear you not; turn all your sac­rificial altars into fuel for the flames.

²²Make human hearts your al­tars, and burn your sacrifices with the fire of love.

²³And all the people were en­tranced, and would have wor­shipped Jesus as a God; but Jesus said,

²⁴I am your brother man just come to show the way to God; you shall not worship man; praise God, the Holy One.

CHAPTER 27.

Jesus attends a feast in Behar. Preaches a revolutionary sermon on human equality. Relates the para­ble of the broken blades.

The fame of Jesus as a teacher spread through all the land, and people came from near and far to hear his words of truth.

²At Behar, on the sacred river of the Brahms, he taught for many days.

³And Ach, a wealthy man of Behar, made a feast in honor of his guest, and he invited every-one to come.

⁴And many came; among them thieves, extortioners, and [16]courte­sans. And Jesus sat with them and taught; but they who followed him were much aggrieved because he sat with thieves and courtesans.

⁵And they upbraided him; they said, Rabboni, master of the wise, this day will be an evil day for you.

⁶The news will spread that you consort with courtesans and thieves, and men will shun you as they shun an asp.

⁷And Jesus answered them and said, A master never screens himself for sake of reputation or of fame.

⁸These are but worthless [17]bau­bles of the day; they rise and sink, like empty bottles on a stream; they are illusions and will pass away;

⁹They are the indices to what the thoughtless think; they are the noise that people make; and shal­low men judge merit by the noise.

¹⁰God and all master men judge men by what they are and not by what they seem to be; not by their reputation and their fame.

¹¹These courtesans and thieves are children of my Father-God; their souls are just as precious in his sight as yours, or of the Brahmic priests.

¹²And they are working out the same life sums that you, who pride yourselves on your respect­ability and moral worth, are work­ing out.

¹³And some of them have solved much harder sums than you have solved, you men who look at them with scorn.

¹⁴Yes, they are sinners, and confess their guilt, while you are guilty, but are shrewd enough to have a polished coat to cover up your guilt.

¹⁵Suppose you men who scorn these courtesans, these drunkards and these thieves, who know that you are pure in heart and life, that you are better far than they, stand forth that men may know just who you are.

¹⁶The sin lies in the wish, in the desire, not in the act.

¹⁷You covet other people’s wealth; you look at charming forms, and deep within your hearts you lust for them.

¹⁸Deceit you practice every day, and wish for gold, for honor and for fame, just for your selfish selves.

¹⁹The man who covets is a thief, and she who lusts is courtesan. You who are none of these speak out.

²⁰Nobody spoke; the accusers held their peace.

²¹And Jesus said, The proof this day is all against those who have accused.

²²The pure in heart do not ac­cuse. The vile in heart who want to cover up their guilt with holy smoke of piety are ever loathing drunkard, thief and courtesan.

²³This loathing and this scorn is mockery, for if the tinseled coat of reputation could be torn away, the loud professor would be found to revel in his lust, deceit, and many forms of secret sin.

²⁴The man who spends his time in pulling other people’s weeds can have no time to pull his own, and all the choicest flowers of life will soon be choked and die, and nothing will remain but darnel, thistles, burs.

²⁵And Jesus spoke a parable: he said, Behold, a farmer had great fields of ripened grain, and when he looked he saw that blades of many stalks of wheat were bent and brok­en down.

²⁶And when he sent his reap­ers forth he said, We will not save the stalks of wheat that have the broken blades.

²⁷Go forth and cut and burn the stalks with broken blades.

²⁸And after many days he went to measure up his grain, but not a kernel could he find.

²⁹And then he called the har­vesters and said to them, Where is my grain?

³⁰They answered him and said, We did according to your word; we gathered up and burned the stalks with broken blades, and not a stalk was left to carry to the barn.

³¹And Jesus said, If God saves only those who have no broken blades, who have been perfect in his sight, who will be saved?

³²And the accusers hung their heads in shame; and Jesus went his way.

CHAPTER 28.

Udraka gives a feast in Jesus’ honor. Jesus speaks on the unity of God and the brotherhood of life. Criti­cises the priesthood. Becomes the guest of a farmer.

Benares is the sacred city of the Brahms, and in Benares Jesus taught; Udraka was his host.

²Udraka made a feast in honor of his guest, and many high born Hindu priests and scribes were there.

³And Jesus said to them, With much delight I speak to you con­cerning life—the brotherhood of life.

⁴The universal God is one, yet he is more than one; all things are God; all things are one.

⁵By the sweet breaths of God all life is bound in one; so if you touch a fiber of a living thing you send a thrill from center to the outer bounds of life.

⁶And when you crush beneath your foot the meanest worm, you shake the throne of God, and cause the sword of right to tremble in its sheath.

⁷The bird sings out its song for men, and men vibrate in unison to help it sing.

⁸The ant constructs her home, the bee its sheltering comb, the spider weaves her web, and flowers breathe to them a spirit in their sweet perfumes that gives them strength to toil.

⁹Now, men and birds and beasts and creeping things are dei­ties, made flesh; and how dare men kill anything?

¹⁰’Tis cruelty that makes the world awry. When men have learned that when they harm a liv­ing thing they harm themselves, they surely will not kill, nor cause a thing that God has made to suffer pain.

¹¹A lawyer said, I pray you, Jesus, tell who is this God you speak about; where are his priests, his temples and his shrines?

¹²And Jesus said, The God I speak about is every where; he can­not be compassed with walls, nor hedged about with bounds of any kind.

¹³All people worship God, the One; but all the people see him not alike.

¹⁴This universal God is wis­dom, will and love.

¹⁵All men see not the Triune God. One sees him as the God of might; another as the God of thought; another as the God of love.

¹⁶A man’s ideal is his God, and so, as man unfolds, his God unfolds. Man’s God today, tomorrow is not God.

¹⁷The nations of the earth see God from different points of view, and so he does not seem the same to every one.

¹⁸Man names the part of God he sees, and this to him is all of God; and every nation sees a part of God, and every nation has a name for God.

¹⁹You Brahmans call him Par­abrahm; in Egypt he is Thoth; and Zeus is his name in Greece; Jehovah is his Hebrew name; but every­where he is the causeless Cause, the rootless Root from which all things have grown.

²⁰When men become afraid of God, and take him for a foe, they dress up other men in fancy garbs and call them priests,

²¹And charge them to restrain the wrath of God by prayers; and when they fail to win his favor by their prayers, to buy him off with sacrifice of animal, or bird,

²²When man sees God as one with him, as Father-God, he needs no middle man, no priest to inter­cede;

²³He goes straight up to him and says, My Father-God! and then he lays his hand in God’s own hand, and all is well.

²⁴And this is God. You are, each one, a priest, just for yourself; and sacrifice of blood God does not want.

²⁵Just give your life in sacri­ficial service to the all of life, and God is pleased.

²⁶When Jesus had thus said he stood aside; the people were amazed, but strove among them­selves.

²⁷Some said, He is inspired by Holy Brahm; and others said, He is insane; and others said, He is ob­sessed; he speaks as devils speak.

²⁸But Jesus tarried not. Among the guests was one, a tiller of the soil, a generous soul, a seeker after truth, who loved the words that Jesus spoke; and Jesus went with him, and in his home abode.

CHAPTER 29.

Ajainin, a priest from Lahore, comes to Benares to see Jesus, and abides in the temple. Jesus refuses an in­vitation to visit the temple. Ajainin visits him at night in the farmer’s home, and accepts his philosophy.

Among Benares’ temple priests was one, a guest, Ajainin, from Lahore.

²By merchantmen Ajainin heard about the Jewish boy, about his words of wisdom, and he girt himself and journeyed from Lahore that he might see the boy, and hear him speak.

³The Brahmic priests did not accept the truth that Jesus brought, and they were angered much by what he said at the Udraka feast.

⁴But they had never seen the boy, and they desired much to hear him speak, and they invited him to be a temple guest.

⁵But Jesus said to them, The light is most abundant, and it shines for all; if you would see the light come to the light.

⁶If you would hear the mes­sage that the Holy One has given me to give to men, come unto me.

⁷Now, when the priests were told what Jesus said they were en­raged.

⁸Ajainin did not share their wrath, and he sent forth another messenger with costly gifts to Jesus at the farmer’s home; he sent this message with the gifts:

⁹I pray you, master, listen to my words; The Brahmic law forbids that any priest shall go into the home of any one of low estate; but you can come to us;

¹⁰And I am sure these priests will gladly hear you speak. I pray that you will come and dine with us this day.

¹¹And Jesus said, The Holy One regards all men alike; the dwelling of my host is good enough for any council of the sons of men.

¹²If pride of caste keeps you away, you are not worthy of the light. My Father-God does not re­gard the laws of man.

¹³Your presents I return; you cannot buy the knowledge of the Lord with gold, or precious gifts.

¹⁴These words of Jesus an­gered more and more the priests, and they began to plot and plan how they might drive him from the land.

¹⁵Ajainin did not join with them in plot and plan; he left the temple in the night, and sought the home where Jesus dwelt.

¹⁶And Jesus said, There is no night where shines the sun; I have no secret messages to give; in light all secrets are revealed.

¹⁷Ajainin said, I came from far-away Lahore, that I might learn about this ancient wisdom, and this kingdom of the Holy One of which you speak.

¹⁸Where is the kingdom? where the king? Who are the sub­jects? what its laws?

¹⁹And Jesus said, This king­dom is not far away, but man with mortal eyes can see it not; it is with­in the heart.

²⁰You need not seek the king in earth, or sea, or sky; he is not there, and yet is everywhere. He is the Christ of God; is universal love.

²¹The gate of this dominion is not high, and he who enters it must fall down on his knees. It is not wide, and none can carry carnal bundles through.

²²The lower self must be trans­muted into spirit-self; the body must be washed in living streams of purity.

²³Ajainin asked, Can I be­come a subject of this king?

²⁴And Jesus said, You are yourself a king, and you may enter through the gate and be a subject of the King of kings.

²⁵But you must lay aside your priestly robes; must cease to serve the Holy One for gold; must give your life, and all you have, in willing service to the sons of men.

²⁶And Jesus said no more; Ajainin went his way; and while he could not comprehend the truth that Jesus spoke, he saw what he had never seen before.

²⁷The realm of faith he never had explored; but in his heart the seeds of faith and universal brother­hood had found good soil.

²⁸And as he journeyed to his home he seemed to sleep, to pass through darkest night, and when he woke the Sun of Righteousness had arisen; he had found the king.

²⁹Now, in Benares Jesus tar­ried many days and taught.

CHAPTER 30.

Jesus receives news of the death of his father. He writes a letter to his mother. The letter. He sends it on its way by a merchant.

One day as Jesus stood beside the Ganges busy with his work, a caravan, returning from the West, drew near.

²And one, approaching Jesus, said, We come to you just from your native land and bring unwel­come news.

³Your father is no more on earth; your mother grieves; and none can comfort her. She won­ders whether you are still alive or not; she longs to see you once again.

⁴And Jesus bowed his head in silent thought; and then he wrote. Of what he wrote this is the sum:

⁵My mother, noblest of woman kind; A man just from my native land has brought me word that father is no more in flesh, and that you grieve, and are disconsolate.

⁶My mother, all is well; is well for father and is well for you.

⁷His work in this earth-round is done, and it is nobly done.

⁸In all the walks of life men cannot charge him with deceit, dishonesty, nor wrong intent.

⁹Here in this round he finished many heavy tasks, and he has gone from hence prepared to solve the problems of the round of soul.

¹⁰Our Father-God is with him there, as he was with him here; and there his angel guards his footsteps lest he goes astray.

¹¹Why should you weep? Tears cannot conquer grief. There is no power in grief to mend a broken heart.

¹²The plane of grief is idleness; the busy soul can never grieve; it has no time for grief.

¹³When grief comes trooping through the heart, just lose your­self; plunge deep into the ministry of love, and grief is not.

¹⁴Yours is a ministry of love, and all the world is calling out for love.

¹⁵Then let the past go with the past; rise from the cares of carnal things and give your life for those who live.

¹⁶And if you lose your life in serving life you will be sure to find in it the morning sun, the evening dews, in song of bird, in flowers, and in the stars of night.

¹⁷In just a little while your problems of this earth-round will be solved; and when your sums are all worked out it will be pleasure unal­loyed for you to enter wider fields of usefulness, to solve the greater problems of the soul.

¹⁸Strive, then, to be content, and I will come to you some day and bring you richer gifts than gold or precious stones.

¹⁹I’m sure that John will care for you, supplying all your needs; and I am with you all the way, Je­hoshua.

²⁰And by the hand of one, a merchant, going to Jerusalem, he sent this letter on its way.

CHAPTER 31.

Brahmic priests are enraged because of Jesus’ teaching and resolve to drive him from India. Lamaas pleads for him. Priests employ a murderer to kill him. Lamaas warns him and he flees to Nepel.

The words and works of Jesus caused unrest through all the land.

²The common people were his friends, believed in him, and fol­lowed him in throngs.

³The priests and rulers were afraid of him; his very name sent terror to their hearts.

⁴He preached the brotherhood of life, the righteousness of equal rights, and taught the uselessness of priests, and sacrificial rites.

⁵He shook the very sand on which the Brahmic system stood; he made the Brahmic idols seem so small, and sacrifice so fraught with sin, that shrines and wheels of prayer were all forgot.

⁶The priests declared that if this Hebrew boy should tarry longer in the land a revolution would oc­cur; the common people would arise and kill the priests, and tear the temples down.

⁷And so they sent a call abroad, and priests from every province came. Benares was on fire with Brahmic zeal.

⁸Lamaas from the temple Ja­gannath, who knew the inner life of Jesus well, was in their midst, and heard the rantings of the priests,

⁹And he stood forth and said, My brother priests, take heed, be careful what you do; this is a record-­making day.

¹⁰The world is looking on; the very life of Brahmic thought is now on trial.

¹¹If we are reason-blind; if prejudice be king today; if we re­sort to beastly force, and dye our hands in blood that may, in sight of Brahm, be innocent and pure,

¹²His vengeance may fall down on us; the very rock on which we stand may burst beneath our feet; and our beloved priesthood, and our laws and shrines will go into decay.

¹³But they would let him speak no more. The wrathful priests rushed up and beat him, spit upon him, called him traitor, threw him, bleeding, to the street.

¹⁴And then confusion reigned; the priests became a mob; the sight of human blood led on to fiendish acts, and called for more.

¹⁵The rulers, fearing war, sought Jesus, and they found him calmly teaching in the market-place.

¹⁶They urged him to depart, that he might save his life; but he refused to go.

¹⁷And then the priests sought cause for his arrest; but he had done no crime.

¹⁸And then false charges were preferred; but when the soldiers went to bring him to the judgment hall they were afraid, because the people stood in his defense.

¹⁹The priests were baffled, and they resolved to take his life by stealth.

²⁰They found a man who was a murderer by trade, and sent him out by night to slay the object of their wrath.

²¹Lamaas heard about their plotting and their plans, and sent a messenger to warn his friend; and Jesus hastened to depart.

²²By night he left Benares, and with haste he journeyed to the north; and everywhere, the farmers, merchants and the sudras helped him on his way.

²³And after many days he reached the mighty Himalayas, and in the city Kapivastu he abode.

²⁴The priests of Buddha opened wide their temple doors for him.

CHAPTER 32.

Jesus and Barata. Together they read the sacred books. Jesus takes exception to the Buddhist doctrine of evolution and reveals the true origin of man. Meets Vidyapati, who becomes his co-laborer.

Among the Buddhist priests was one who saw a lofty wisdom in the words that Jesus spoke. It was Barata Arabo.

²Together Jesus and Barata read the Jewish Psalms and Proph­ets; read the Vedas, the Avesta and the wisdom of [18]Guatama.

³And as they read and talked about the possibilities of man, Bar­ata said,

⁴Man is the marvel of the uni­verse. He is a part of everything, for he has been a living thing on every plane of life.

⁵Time was when man was not; and then he was a bit of formless substance in the molds of time; and then a protoplast.

⁶By universal law all things tend upward to a state of perfect­ness. The protoplast evolved, be­coming worm, then reptile, bird and beast, and then at last it reached the form of man.

⁷Now, man himself is mind, and mind is here to gain perfection by experience; and mind is often manifest in fleshy form, and in the form best suited to its growth. So mind may manifest as worm, or bird, or beast, or man.

⁸The time will come when ev­erything of life will be evolved unto the state of perfect man.

⁹And after man is man in per­fectness, he will evolve to higher forms of life.

¹⁰And Jesus said, Barata Ara­bo, who taught you this, that mind, which is the man, may manifest in flesh of beast, or bird, or creeping thing?

¹¹Barata said, From times which man remembers not our priests have told us so, and so we know.

¹²And Jesus said, Enlightened Arabo, are you a master mind and do not know that man knows naught by being told?

¹³Man may believe what oth­ers say; but thus he never knows. If man would know, he must him­self be what he knows.

¹⁴Do you remember, Arabo, when you were ape, or bird, or worm?

¹⁵Now, if you have no better proving of your plea than that the priests have told you so, you do not know; you simply guess.

¹⁶Regard not, then, what any man has said; let us forget the flesh, and go with mind into the land of fleshless things; mind never does forget.

¹⁷And backward through the ages master minds can trace them­selves; and thus they know.

¹⁸Time never was when man was not.

¹⁹That which begins will have an [19]end. If man was not, the time will come when he will not exist.

²⁰From God’s own Record Book we read: The Triune God breathed forth, and seven Spirits stood before his face. (The He­brews call these seven Spirits, Elo­him.)

²¹And these are they who, in their boundless power, created ev­erything that is, or was.

²²These Spirits of the Triune God moved on the face of boundless space and seven ethers were, and every ether had its form of life.

²³These forms of life were but the thoughts of God, clothed in the substance of their ether planes.

²⁴(Men call these ether planes the planes of protoplast, of earth, of plant, of beast, of man, of angel and of cherubim.)

²⁵These planes with all their teeming thoughts of God, are never seen by eyes of man in flesh; they are composed of substance far too fine for fleshly eyes to see, and still they constitute the soul of things;

²⁶And with the eyes of soul all creatures see these ether planes, and all the forms of life.

²⁷Because all forms of life on every plane are thoughts of God, all creatures think, and every crea­ture is possessed of will, and, in its measure, has the power to choose,

²⁸And in their native planes all creatures are supplied with nour­ishment from the ethers of their planes.

²⁹And so it was with every liv­ing thing until the will became a sluggish will, and then the ethers of the protoplast, the earth, the plant, the beast, the man, began to vibrate very slow.

³⁰The ethers all became more dense, and all the creatures of these planes were clothed with coarser garbs, the garbs of flesh, which men can see; and thus this coarser mani­fest, which men call physical, ap­peared.

³¹And this is what is called the fall of man; but man fell not alone for protoplast, and earth, and plant and beast were all included in the fall.

³²The angels and the cherubim fell not; their wills were ever strong, and so they held the ethers of their planes in harmony with God.

³³Now, when the ethers reached the rate of atmosphere, and all the creatures of these planes must get their food from atmosphere, the con­flict came; and then that which the finite man has called, survival of the best, became a law,

³⁴The stronger ate the bodies of the weaker manifests; and here is where the carnal law of evolution had its rise.

³⁵And now man, in his utter shamelessness, strikes down and eats the beasts, the beast consumes the plant, the plant thrives on the earth, the earth absorbs the proto­plast.

³⁶In yonder kingdom of the soul this carnal evolution is not known, and the great work of mas­ter minds is to restore the heritage of man, to bring him back to his es­tate that he has lost, when he again will live upon the ethers of his na­tive plane.

³⁷The thoughts of God change not; the manifests of life on every plane unfold into perfection of their kind; and as the thoughts of God can never die, there is no death to any being of the seven ethers of the seven Spirits of the Triune God.

³⁸And so an earth is never plant; a beast, or bird, or creeping thing is never man, and man is not, and cannot be, a beast, or bird, or creeping thing.

³⁹The time will come when all these seven manifests will be ab­sorbed, and man, and beast, and plant, and earth and protoplast will be redeemed.

⁴⁰Barata was amazed; the wisdom of the Jewish sage was rev­elation unto him.

⁴¹Now, Vidyapati, wisest of the Indian sages, chief of temple Kapavistu, heard Barata speak to Jesus of the origin of man, and heard the answer of the Hebrew prophet, and he said,

⁴²You priests of Kapavistu, hear me speak: We stand today upon a crest of time. Six times ago a master soul was born who gave a glory light to man, and now a mas­ter sage stands here in temple Kap­avistu.

⁴³This Hebrew prophet is the rising star of wisdom, deified. He brings to us a knowledge of the se­cret things of God; and all the world will hear his words, will heed his words, and glorify his name.

⁴⁴You priests of temple Kap­avistu, stay! be still and listen when he speaks; he is the Living Oracle of God.

⁴⁵And all the priests gave thanks, and praised the Buddha of enlightenment.

CHAPTER 33.

Jesus teaches the common people at a spring. Tells them how to attain unto happiness. Relates the para­ble of the rocky field and the hidden treasure.

In silent meditation Jesus sat beside a flowing spring. It was a holy day, and many people of the servant caste were near the place.

²And Jesus saw the hard drawn lines of toil on every brow, in every hand. There was no look of joy in any face. Not one of all the group could think of anything but toil.

³And Jesus spoke to one and said, Why are you all so sad? Have you no happiness in life?

⁴The man replied, We scarcely know the meaning of that word. We toil to live, and hope for nothing else but toil, and bless the day when we can cease our toil and lay us down to rest in Buddha’s city of the dead.

⁵And Jesus’ heart was stirred with pity and with love for these poor toilers, and he said,

⁶Toil should not make a per­son sad; men should be happiest when they toil. When hope and love are back of toil, then all of life is filled with joy and peace, and this is heaven. Do you not know that such a heaven is for you?

⁷The man replied, Of heaven we have heard; but then it is so far away, and we must live so many lives before we reach that place!

⁸And Jesus said, My brother, man, your thoughts are wrong; your heaven is not far away; and it is not a place of metes and bounds, is not a country to be reached; it is a state of mind.

⁹God never made a heaven for man; he never made a hell; we are creators and we make our own.

¹⁰Now, cease to seek for heav­en in the sky; just open up the windows of your hearts, and, like a flood of light, a heaven will come and bring a boundless joy; then toil will be no cruel task.

¹¹The people were amazed, and gathered close to hear this strange young master speak,

¹²Imploring him to tell them more about the Father-God; about the heaven that men can make on earth; about the boundless joy.

¹³And Jesus spoke a parable; he said, A certain man possessed a field; the soil was hard and poor.

¹⁴By constant toil he scarcely could provide enough of food to keep his family from want.

¹⁵One day a miner who could see beneath the soil, in passing on his way, saw this poor man and his unfruitful field.

¹⁶He called the weary toiler and he said, My brother, know you not that just below the surface of your barren field rich treasures lie concealed?

¹⁷You plow and sow and reap in scanty way, and day by day you tread upon a mine of gold and pre­cious stones.

¹⁸This wealth lies not upon the surface of the ground; but if you will but dig away the rocky soil, and delve down deep into the earth, you need no longer till the soil for naught.

¹⁹The man believed. The miner surely knows; he said, and I will find the treasures hidden in my field.

²⁰And then he dug away the rocky soil, and deep down in the earth he found a mine of gold.

²¹And Jesus said, The sons of men are toiling hard on desert plains, and burning sands and rocky soils; are doing what their fathers did, not dreaming they can do aught else.

²²Behold, a master comes, and tells them of a hidden wealth; that underneath the rocky soil of carnal things are treasures that no man can count;

²³That in the heart the richest gems abound; that he who wills may open up the door and find them all.

²⁴And then the people said, Make known to us the way that we may find the wealth that lies within the heart.

²⁵And Jesus opened up the way; the toilers saw another side of life, and toil became a joy.

CHAPTER 34.

The Jubilee in Kapavistu. Jesus teaches in the plaza and the people are astonished. He relates the par­able of the unkept vineyard and the vine dresser. The priests are an­gered by his words.

It was a gala day in sacred Kapa­vistu; a throng of Buddhist worshippers had met to celebrate a Jubilee.

²And priests and masters from all parts of India were there; they taught; but they embellished little truth with many words.

³And Jesus went into an an­cient plaza and he taught; he spoke of Father-Mother-God; he told about the brotherhood of life.

⁴The priests and all the people were astounded at his words and said, Is this not Buddha come again in flesh? No other one could speak with such simplicity and power.

⁵And Jesus spoke a parable; he said, There was a vineyard all unkept; the vines were high, the growth of leaves and branches great.

⁶The leaves were broad and shut the sunlight from the vines; the grapes were sour, and few, and small.

⁷The pruner came; with his sharp knife he cut off every branch, and not a leaf remained; just root and stalk, and nothing more.

⁸The busy neighbors came with one accord and were amazed, and said to him who pruned, You fool­ish man! the vineyard is despoiled.

⁹Such desolation! There is no beauty left, and when the har­vest time shall come the gatherers will find no fruit.

¹⁰The pruner said, Content yourselves with what you think, and come again at harvest time and see.

¹¹And when the harvest time came on the busy neighbors came again; they were surprised.

¹²The naked stalks had put forth branch and leaf, and heavy clusters of delicious grapes weighed every branch to earth.

¹³The gatherers rejoiced as, day by day, they carried the rich fruitage to the press.

¹⁴Behold, the vineyard of the Lord! the earth is spread with hu­man vines.

¹⁵The gorgeous forms and rites of men are branches, and their words are leaves; and these have grown so great that [20]sunlight can no longer reach the heart; there is no fruit.

¹⁶Behold, the pruner comes, and with a two-edged knife he cuts away the branches and the leaves of words,

¹⁷And naught is left but un­clothed stalks of human life.

¹⁸The priests and they of pompous show, rebuke the pruner, and would stay him in his work.

¹⁹They see no beauty in the stalks of human life; no promises of fruit.

²⁰The harvest time will come and they who scorned the pruner will look on again and be amazed, for they will see the human stalks that seemed so lifeless, bending low with precious fruit.

²¹And they will hear the har­vesters rejoice, because the harvest is so great.

²²The priests were not well pleased with Jesus’ words; but they rebuked him not; they feared the multitude.

CHAPTER 35.

Jesus and Vidyapati consider the needs of the incoming age of the world.

The Indian sage and Jesus often met and talked about the needs of nations and of men; about the sacred doctrines, forms and rites best suited to the coming age.

²One day they sat together in a mountain pass, and Jesus said, The coming age will surely not re­quire priests, and shrines, and sac­rifice of life.

³There is no power in sacrifice of beast, or bird, to help a man to holy life.

⁴And Vidyapati said, All forms and rites are symbols of the things that men must do within the temple of the soul.

⁵The Holy One requires man to give his life in willing sacrifice for men, and all the so-called offerings on altars and on shrines that have been made since time began, were made to teach man how to give him­self to save his brother man; for man can never save himself except he lose his life in saving other men.

⁶The perfect age will not re­quire forms and rites and carnal sacrifice. The coming age is not the perfect age, and men will call for object lessons and symbolic rites.

⁷And in the great religion you shall introduce to men, some simple rites of washings and remembrances will be required; but cruel sacrifice of animals, and birds the gods re­quire not.

⁸And Jesus said, Our God must loathe the tinseled show of priests and priestly things.

⁹When men array themselves in showy garbs to indicate that they are servants of the gods, and strut about like gaudy birds to be ad­mired by men, because of piety or any other thing, the Holy One must surely turn away in sheer disgust.

¹⁰All people are alike the serv­ants of our Father-God, are kings and priests.

¹¹Will not the coming age de­mand complete destruction of the priestly caste, as well as every other caste and inequality among the sons of men?

¹²And Vidyapati said, The coming age is not the age of spirit life and men will pride themselves in wearing priestly robes, and chant­ing pious chants to advertise them­selves as saints.

¹³The simple rites that you will introduce will be extolled by those who follow you, until the sacred service of the age will far outshine in gorgeousness the priestly service of the Brahmic age.

¹⁴This is a problem men must solve.

¹⁵The perfect age will come when every man will be a priest and men will not array themselves in special garb to advertise their piety.

SECTION VII.

ZAIN.

Life and Works of Jesus in Tibet and Western India.

CHAPTER 36.

Jesus in Lassa. He meets Meng-ste who aids him in reading the ancient manuscripts. He goes to Ladak. Heals a child. Relates the parable of the king’s son.

In Lassa of Tibet there was a mas­ter’s temple, rich in manuscripts of ancient lore.

²The Indian sage had read these manuscripts, and he revealed to Jesus many of the secret lessons they contained; but Jesus wished to read them for himself.

³Now, Meng-ste, greatest sage of all the farther East, was in this temple of Tibet.

⁴The path across Emodus heights was difficult; but Jesus started on his way, and Vidyapati sent with him a trusted guide.

⁵And Vidyapati sent a mes­sage to Meng-ste, in which he told about the Hebrew sage, and spoke for him a welcome by the temple priests.

⁶Now, after many days, and perils great, the guide and Jesus reached the Lassa temple in Tibet.

⁷And Meng-ste opened wide the temple doors, and all the priests and masters gave a welcome to the Hebrew sage.

⁸And Jesus had access to all the sacred manuscripts, and, with the help of Meng-ste, read them all.

⁹And Meng-ste often talked with Jesus of the coming age, and of the sacred service best adapted to the people of the age.

¹⁰In Lassa Jesus did not teach. When he had finished all his studies in the temple schools he journeyed toward the West. In many villages he tarried for a time and taught.

¹¹At last he reached the pass, and in the Ladak city, Leh, he was received with favor by the monks, the merchants, and the men of low estate.

¹²And in the monastery he abode, and taught; and then he sought the common people in the marts of trade; and there he taught.

¹³Not far away a woman lived, whose infant son was sick nigh unto death. The doctors had declared, There is no hope; the child must die.

¹⁴The woman heard that Jesus was a teacher sent from God, and she believed that he had power to heal her son.

¹⁵And so she clasped the dying infant in her arms and ran with haste and asked to see the man of God.

¹⁶When Jesus saw her faith he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,

¹⁷My Father-God, let power di­vine o’ershadow me, and let the Holy Breath fill full this child that it may live.

¹⁸And in the presence of the multitude he laid his hand upon the child and said,

¹⁹Good woman you are blest; your faith has saved your son. And then the child was well.

²⁰The people were astonished and they said, This surely is the Holy One made flesh, for man alone cannot rebuke a fever thus and save a child from death.

²¹Then many of the people brought their sick, and Jesus spoke the Word, and they were healed.

²²Among the Ladaks Jesus tarried many days; he taught them how to heal; how sins are blotted out, and how to make on earth a heaven of joy.

²³The people loved him for his words and works, and when he must depart they grieved as children grieve when mother goes away.

²⁴And on the morning when he started on his way the multitudes were there to press his hand.

²⁵To them he spoke a parable; he said, A certain king so loved the people of his land that he sent forth his only son with precious gifts for all.

²⁶The son went everywhere and scattered forth the gifts with lavish hand.

²⁷But there were priests who ministered at shrines of foreign gods, who were not pleased because the king did not through them bestow the gifts.

²⁸And so they sought to cause the people all to hate the son. They said, These gifts are not of any worth; they are but counterfeits.

²⁹And so the people threw the precious gems, and gold and silver in the streets. They caught the son and beat him, spit upon him, drove him from their midst.

³⁰The son resented not their insults and their cruelties; but thus he prayed, My Father-God, forgive these creatures of thy hand; they are but slaves; they know not what they do.

³¹And while they yet were beating him he gave them food, and blest them with a boundless love.

³²In certain cities was the son received with joy, and he would gladly have remained to bless the homes; but he could tarry not, for he must carry gifts to every one in all the king’s domain.

³³And Jesus said, My Father-­God is king of all mankind, and he has sent me forth with all the boun­ties of his matchless love and boundless wealth.

³⁴To all the people of all lands, lo, I must bear these gifts—this water and this bread of life.

³⁵I go my way, but we will meet again; for in my Fatherland is room for all; I will prepare a place for you.

³⁶And Jesus raised his hand in silent benediction; then he went his way.

CHAPTER 37.

Jesus is presented with a camel. He goes to Lahore where he abides with Ajainin, whom he teaches. Lesson of the wandering musicians. Jesus resumes his journey.

A caravan of merchantmen were journeying through the Kashmar vale as Jesus passed that way, and they were going to La­hore, a city of the Hand, the five-­stream land.

²The merchantmen had heard the prophet speak, had seen his mighty works in Leh, and they were glad to see him once again.

³And when they knew that he was going to Lahore and then across the Sind, through Persia and the farther West, and that he had no beast on which to ride,

⁴They freely gave to him a no­ble bactrian beast, well saddled and equipped, and Jesus journeyed with the caravan.

⁵And when he reached Lahore, Ajainin and some other Brahmic priests, received him with delight.

⁶Ajainin was the priest who came to Jesus in the night time in Benares many months before, and heard his words of truth.

⁷And Jesus was Ajainin’s guest; he taught Ajainin many things; revealed to him the secrets of the healing art.

⁸He taught him how he could control the spirits [consciousness] of the air, the fire, the water and the earth; and he ex­plained to him the secret doctrine of forgiveness, and the blotting out of sins.

⁹One day Ajainin sat with Jesus in the temple porch; a band of wandering singers and musicians paused before the court to sing and play.

¹⁰Their music was most rich and delicate, and Jesus said, Among the high-bred people of the land we hear no sweeter music than that these uncouth children of the wil­derness bring here to us.

¹¹From whence this talent and this power? In one short life they surely could not gain such grace of voice, such knowledge of the laws of harmony and tone.

¹²Men call them prodigies. There are no prodigies. All things result from natural law.

¹³These people are not young. A thousand years would not suffice to give them such divine expressive­ness, and such purity of voice and touch.

¹⁴Ten thousand years ago these people mastered harmony. In days of old they trod the busy thorough­fares of life, and caught the melody of birds, and played on harps of per­fect form.

¹⁵And they have come again to learn still other lessons from the varied notes of manifests.

¹⁶These wandering people form a part of heaven’s orchestra, and in the land of perfect things the very angels will delight to hear them play and sing.

¹⁷And Jesus taught the common people of Lahore; he healed their sick, and showed to them the way to rise to better things by help­fulness.

¹⁸He said, We are not rich by what we get and hold; the only things we keep are those we give away.

¹⁹If you would live the perfect life, give forth your life in service for your kind, and for the forms of life that men esteem the lower forms of life.

²⁰But Jesus could not tarry longer in Lahore; he bade the priests and other friends farewell; and then he took his camel and he went his way toward the Sind.

SECTION VIII.

CHETH.

Life and Works of Jesus in Persia.

CHAPTER 38.

Jesus crosses Persia. Teaches and heals in many places. Three magian priests meet him as he nears Persepolis. Kaspar, and two other Persian masters, meet him in Persepolis. The seven mas­ters sit in silence seven days.

Four-and-twenty years of age was Jesus when he entered Persia on his homeward way.

²In many a hamlet, town and neighborhood he paused a while and taught and healed.

³The priests and ruling classes did not welcome him, because he censured them for cruelty to those of low estate.

⁴The common people followed him in throngs.

⁵At times the chiefs made bold to try to hinder him, forbidding him to teach or heal the sick. But he re­garded not their angry threats; he taught, and healed the sick.

⁶In time he reached Persepolis, the city where the kings of Persia were entombed; the city of the learned magi, Hor, and Lun, and Mer, the three wise men,

⁷Who, two-and-twenty years before, had seen the star of promise rise above Jerusalem, and who had journeyed to the West to find the new-born king;

⁸And were the first to honor Jesus as the master of the age, and gave him gifts of gold, gum-thus and myrrh.

⁹These magi knew, by ways that masters always know, when Jesus neared Persepolis; and then they girt themselves, and went to meet him on the way.

¹⁰And when they met, a light much brighter than the light of day, surrounded them, and men who saw the four stand in the way de­clared they were transfigured; seem­ing more like gods than men.

¹¹Now, Hor and Lun were aged men, and Jesus placed them on his beast to ride into Persepolis; while he and Mer led on the way.

¹²And when they reached the magi’s home they all rejoiced. And Jesus told the thrilling story of his life, and Hor and Lun and Mer spoke not; they only looked to heaven, and in their hearts praised God.

¹³Three wise men from the North were in Persepolis; and they were Kaspar, Zara and Melzone; and Kaspar was the wisest master of the magian land. These three were at the home of Hor and Lun and Mer when Jesus came.

¹⁴For seven days these seven men spoke not; they sat in silence in the council hall in close commun­ion with the [21]Silent Brotherhood.

¹⁵They sought for light, for revelation and for power. The laws and precepts of the coming age required all the wisdom of the mas­ters of the world.

CHAPTER 39.

Jesus attends a feast in Persepolis. Speaks to the people, reviewing the magian philosophy. Explains the origin of evil. Spends the night in prayer.

A feast in honor of the magian God was being held, and many men were gathered in Persepolis.

²And on the great day of the feast the ruling magian master said, Within these sacred walls is liberty; whoever wills to speak may speak.

³And Jesus standing in the midst of all the people, said, My brothers, sisters, children of our Fa­ther-God:

⁴Most blest are you among the sons of men today, because you have such just conceptions of the Holy One and man.

⁵Your purity in worship and in life is pleasing unto God; and to your master, Zarathustra, praise is due.

⁶Well say you all, There is one God from whose great being there came forth the seven Spirits that created heaven and earth; and man­ifest unto the sons of men are these great Spirits in the sun, and moon, and stars.

⁷But in your sacred books we read that two among these seven are of superior strength; that one of these created all the good; the other one created all that evil is.

⁸I pray you, honored masters, tell me how that evil can be born of that which is all good?

⁹A magus rose and said, If you will answer me, your problem will be solved.

¹⁰We all do recognize the fact that evil is. Whatever is, must have a cause. If God, the One, made not this evil, then, where is the God who did?

¹¹And Jesus said, Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good,

¹²Now, all created things have colors, tones and forms their own; but certain tones, though good and pure themselves, when mixed, pro­duce inharmonies, discordant tones.

¹³And certain things, though good and pure, when mixed, pro­duce discordant things, yea, poison­ous things, that men call evil things.

¹⁴So evil is the inharmonious blending of the colors, tones, or forms of good.

¹⁵Now, man is not all-wise, and yet has will his own. He has the power, and he uses it, to mix God’s good things in a multitude of ways, and every day he makes discordant sounds, and evil things.

¹⁶And every tone and form, be it of good, or ill, becomes a living thing, a demon, sprite, or spirit of a good or vicious kind.

¹⁷Man makes his devil thus; and then becomes afraid of him and flees; his devil is emboldened, fol­lows him away and casts him into torturing fires.

¹⁸The devil and the burning fires are both the works of man, and none can put the fires out and dissipate the evil one, but man who made them both.

¹⁹Then Jesus stood aside, and not a magus answered him.

²⁰And he departed from the throng and went into a secret place to pray.

CHAPTER 40.

Jesus teaches the magians. Explains the Silence and how to enter it. Kaspar extols the wisdom of Jesus. Jesus teaches in the groves of Cyrus.

Now, in the early morning Jesus came again to teach and heal. A light not comprehended shown about, as though some mighty spirit overshadowed him.

²A magus noted this and asked him privately to tell from whence his wisdom came, and what the meaning of the light.

³And Jesus said, There is a Si­lence where the soul may meet its God, and there the fount of wisdom is, and all who enter are immersed in light, and filled with wisdom, love and power.

⁴The magus said, Tell me about this Silence and this light, that I may go and there abide.

⁵And Jesus said, The Silence is not circumscribed; is not a place closed in with wall, or rocky steeps, nor guarded by the sword of man.

⁶Men carry with them all the time the secret place where they may meet their God.

⁷It matters not where men abide, on mountain top, in deepest vale, in marts of trade, or in the quiet home; they may at once, at any time, fling wide the door, and find the Silence, find the house of God; it is within the soul.

⁸One may not be so much dis­turbed by noise of business, and the words and thoughts of men if he goes all alone into the valley or the mountain pass.

⁹And when life’s heavy load is pressing hard, it is far better to go out and seek a quiet place to pray and meditate.

¹⁰The Silence is the kingdom of the soul which is not seen by hu­man eyes.

¹¹When in the Silence, phan­tom forms may flit before the mind; but they are all subservient to the will; the master soul may speak and they are gone.

¹²If you would find this Si­lence of the soul you must yourself prepare the way. None but the pure in heart may enter here.

¹³And you must lay aside all tenseness of the mind, all business cares, all fears, all doubts and trou­bled thoughts.

¹⁴Your human will must be ab­sorbed by the divine; then you will come into a consciousness of holi­ness.

¹⁵You are within the Holy Place, and you will see upon a living shrine the candle of the Lord aflame.

¹⁶And when you see it burning there, look deep within the temple of your brain, and you will see it all aglow.

¹⁷In every part, from head to foot, are [22]candles all in place, just waiting to be lighted by the flam­ing torch of love.

¹⁸And when you see the can­dles all aflame, just look, and you will see, with eyes of soul, the wa­ters of the fount of wisdom rushing on; and you may drink, and there abide.

¹⁹And then the curtains part, and you are in the Holiest of All, where rests the Ark of God, whose covering is the Mercy Seat.

²⁰Fear not to lift the sacred board; the Tables of the Law are in the Ark concealed.

²¹Take them and read them well; for they contain all precepts and commands that men will ever need.

²²