the twelve thousand of each of the twelve tribes of Israel were sealed. These were brought to view again in the fourteenth chapter where they were purified and were in process of unification, and in the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters the glorification of that body is fully brought to light. Herein then is brought into existence upon the earth the ultimation of the declared purpose of Elohim: "Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness." When this body of one hundred and forty-four thousand, more or less, have come into this ultimate perfection and have received the dominion, having become the embodiment of the perfect Spirit, they then have taken on, not only the image, the general form, having been organized together as one body, but they have also become like the Elohim, being the incarnation of that one Spirit, the mind organ of the infinite, the all-pervading Spirit,-God. And, being the mind organ of that God, the only God, therefore they stand as the representative and the incarnation of, not only the spirit of the Infinite, but the expression of Elohim and also the expression of the Spirit that was in the man Jesus, whom the apostle, by the Spirit, so grandly announced in Heb. x. 7-27. (Please read these verses also as an essential part of this article.)

This body, then, according to the declaration in Gen. 1. 26, and also according to the statement made to John in the Revelation (v. 10.) where he was told that they were to be kings and priests unto God and reign on the earth, will be the king incarnate, ruling the planet earth.

When God called the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage into the wilderness, and entered into covenant relation with them by giving them what have been called the ten commandments, which God called a covenant (See "Everlasting Covenant''), it was none other than Yahveh Elohim that entered into covenant relation with the children of Israel as scas.

Now those of us who take that covenant, accept it as made with ourselves, by following day by day the instructions given

by the Christ in his great sermon on the mount, then will God's law be written in our hearts. (See Jer. xxxi. 31-34.) Then the realization will be vivid within our soul that our covenant is not with angels, is not with our departed friends, not even with the Masters that have gone on before us, for the Lord Christ said, "I am the door," and he being the door, said in another place (Matthew x. 32) that he would introduce us to the Father. Then we have no right to look to angels or departed souls for guidance, instruction, or for anything that we need, for in all the revelation throughout the Scriptures no angel visitant sent from God would allow those to whom they came to fall down and worship them. On the contrary, they invariably reproved them and said, "Worship God." Not that God, Elohim, will not send to us ministering spirits to minister to us those things that we need, and if we are faithful in the centralization of our mind upon God and God only, accepting all those ministering spirits as merely messengers, then will be fulfilled to us the words of Isaiah the prophet: "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." But remember this, as soon as you turn your eyes away from God, Elohim, and begin to call upon the teachers for this, that, and the other, so soon will your teachers withdraw, and unless you cease to persist, wicked spirits will come, personifying those teachers and will lead you into darkness and destruction. Therefore remember the words, "Yahveh thy God is one," and Elohim is the expression of him and is therefore our God, and we must make that covenant with him. To those, however, who feel the inner consciousness drawn exclusively to the Lord, Jesus Christ, I would say, if you feel like making that covenant with him, and the spirit in your own soul sanctions it, it is well, for as he said,

"All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he (the Holy Ghost) shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you;" so, if to your mind making the covenant with the Lord Jesus is making it with Yahveh, the God of the universe, it is well. When we have entered into covenant with him, then, we must remember that we are no longer of the world, but belong to that heavenly body, and we must ever keep in mind our alliance to that body, and that our loves, our sympathies, our desires, our aspirations, our consciousness of association, in short, all our amusement or pastime must be found in God and in his holy angels that he will see fit to send for our association; of these things we must make up our lives here and hereafter. This must be the center and circumference around which all the teachings of the Christ and all there is of the Christian religion revolves. Would you be a Christian? Think over these things and unite yourself with Christ, that he may introduce you to the Father, that you may enter into life and go no more out forever. Peace be with you.

(To Be Continued.)

Every man's progress is through a succession of teachers, each of whom seems at the time to have a superlative influence, but it at last gives place to a new. Frankly let him accept it all. Take thankfully and heartily all they can give. Exhaust them, wrestle with them, let them not go until their blessing be won, and after a short season the dismay will be overpast, the excess of influence withdrawn, and they will be no longer an alarming meteor, but one more bright star shining serenely in your heaven and blending its light with all your day.

Emerson.

A JAPANESE SERMON.

"In a certain place there was once an extraordinary dunce by the name of Chokichi," begins the preacher. "Now, there are very many dunces in this world, but this particular fellow was a most accomplished dunce. In the matter of forgetting things he was a perfect genius.

"One day his mistress said to him:

""Chokichi, this is the anniversary of the death of our principal ancestor, and his reverence the priest will be here before long. Therefore we must have the customary offerings ready to set before the household gods. So hurry to the market and buy me some carrots, dock, wild potatoes, mushrooms, and lotus root, these five things.'

"With this she gave him five farthings, and Chokichi with an exclamation of assent, girded up his loins and started off. "As he was hurrying along to market on a dog-trot he met his neighbor, Chomatsu.

66

Hello, Chokichi!' said the latter; 'you are in a great hurry. What are you after and where are you going, anyhow?' "To market to buy some things,' answered Chokichi, as he hurried on.

“Well, what are you going to buy?'

"What am I going to buy? I don't know, I'm sure,' was the reply.

"So the story goes. This forgetting the important business that his mistress had sent him on, and only racing in the streetit was a great piece of folly, was it not?

"And yet this Chokichi is not to be heedlessly laughed at. For while it may not be true of this audience, yet in certain distant parts of the country there are many people who forget the

essential thing, just as Chokichi did; whereas, so far as other matters are concerned, they know everything about them. If you don't believe it, ask anybody.

"Here, Hachibei! (The preacher addresses an imaginary character.) They tell us that everything born into this world has a commission from heaven. For example, take the cow and the horse-what were they born for. And Hachibei will answer, Why, anybody knows that! They were born to carry heavy loads and to save folks labor.' But the cock, what was he born for? Ask him that and he will tell you, 'He was born to tell

for? He is to guard She is to catch rats.'

the hours.' The dog, what was he born the gate.' But the cat, what is she for? Ask anything you please, so far as general matters are concerned, and he knows all about them. Well, then, Hachibei, you, yourself, what were you born into this world for? But Hachibei will scratch his head; and finally answer, 'What was I born for? I don't know. Most likely I came just to eat rice and find fault.' For us to think that man alone came into this world to wander purposeless-that is for us to belong to the foolish fellowship of Chokichi. It is man alone that has not come into the world just to eat rice and to grow old. Man is called the lord of the universe; of all things he is chief.

He is not like the dog

or the cat. It is not for him to wander aimlessly.

"But let us go on with our story. Chokichi reached the market-place at last, but he had quite forgotten what he came to buy. And so, as he was loafing around the place with the money in his hand he caught sight of some cakes in a shop window. Forthwith he bought and ate about a dozen of them. Then he loitered here and loitered there; he drank a little wine and loafed in the grog-shop. He spent every one of his five farthings buying things in the street and eating them on the spot. And then he went home grumbling to himself:

"It wasn't enough! Mistress didn't give me coppers enough! And so I can't get any fried eels or duck-hash!'