Subject. Now tell me what has been our subject to-day? GEORGE K. Faith working in the body. ELLEN. The evil arising from bad passions. CHARLES. The humility of Jesus. MR. ALCOTT. The subjection of Jesus to God. But take the subject out of Jesus. CHARLES. The subjection of the will of the Body to that of the Spirit. MR. ALCOTT. What is the word that means the will in the body? ANDREW. The will of the spirit is to do right; the will of the body is to do wrong. That is MR. ALCOTT. Our subject has been the resurrection of Spirit from the lusts of the Body; the lifting up of the spiritual will out of the material will. the great subject on which Jesus was talking. It was introduced by his curing the impotence of the man at the pool of Bethesda. CONVERSATION XLVII. UNITY OF SPIRIT. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. Review. Conversation of Jesus with the Jews after the Cure of the Impotent Man, from the Sacred Text. Spiritual Insight. -- Spiritual Blindness. Spiritual Evidence. Witness of Spirit. - Immutability of Conscience.Voice of Conscience.-- Ubiquity of Conscience. Practical Holiness. Grounds of Faith. Evidence of Consciousness. bility of Spirit. Duality of Spirit. --- Subject. Review. Record of Spirit. Invisi MR. ALCOTT. What was our subject last time? SUSAN. Jesus was sought to be killed by the Jews, because they thought he made himself equal with God. ELLEN. And because he healed a man on the Sabbath day. GEORGE K. The rising of the Spirit out of the appetites and passions. Mr. Alcott here read the lesson. CONTINUATION OF THE CONVERSATION ON HEALING THE Vulgar Æra, 27. IMPOTENT MAN. Julian Period, Spiritual 4740. Jerusalem. * Ch. viii. 14. Matt. iii. 17. + Ch. i. 7. VOL. II. JOHN V. 31-47. 31* If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. 33 Ye sent unto John, ‡ and he bare witness unto the truth. 20 Vulgar Era, 27. Julian Period, 4740. Jerusalem. * Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5. † Deut. iv. 12. Ch. xii. 43. Gen. iii. 15. Deut. xviii. 15. Spiritual 34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, 1 that ye might be saved. 35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. 39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honor from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? CHARLES. I like the forty-second verse, of God? GEORGE B. Faith in God. MARTHA. I think Jesus knew that the Jews did not keep God's commandments. MR. ALCOTT. Which commandment? GEORGE K. They did not keep the commandment of loving God, or they would not have found fault with Jesus. MR. ALCOTT. them so well? How do you suppose Jesus knew GEORGE K. By their actions. MR. ALCOTT. Do you think that he knew in any different way from what you find out? LEMUEL. I think Jesus knew because he made the men, for Jesus was God. CHARLES. I think Jesus knew so much about Human Nature, that he could tell what people thought, by the least expression of their faces, when they did not know they were betraying themselves. GEORGE K. I think God told Jesus in his Spirit - he sent an angel down. MR. ALCOTT. What difference do you think there was in his and your communication with God? CHARLES. I think he was much more holy, and that that made him not know different kinds of things, but know the same things better. He thought more, he felt more, and his interviews were much more holy. Spiritual ANDREW. I like the forty-third verse "" I am come," &c. I think his coming in his Father's name means that he came to tell them there was a God, and to teach about God; and they would not receive him because they did not care about such things; but those who come in their own names are kings and people, who only think of themselves and only talk about themselves. CHARLES. They did not like Jesus because he was so plain, and did not pretend to any thing, and talked about spiritual subjects, instead of about battles, and conquest, and worldly honors, and such things, GEORGE K. The reason they did not like Jesus was, that he was so simple and meek. He was not an outward, but an inward man, who talked about God. CHARLES. They would have been glad of a man who would feast them; they did not understand what he meant, so they thought it was very dull and dry. MR. ALCOTT. Why did they not understand? CHARLES. temptation. Because their minds were darkened by MR. ALCOTT. How is it when Charles's mind is darkened by temptation? CHARLES. Then I am as stupid and dull MR. ALCOTT. What unfits us for receiving spiritual truth? LEMUEL. Intemperance - Self-indulgence. Spiritual verse. CHARLES. We are blinded. I do not understand what is meant by the thirty-first I should think it meant that one should not rely on one's own views of one's self, and that others should not. Jesus could rely on himself, but he wanted to teach the people generally to get impartial witnesses, like John and others. GEORGE K. I think he did not choose to bear witness of himself, because that would seem like boasting; but that John's witness would not seem so. MR. ALCOTT. Why did they think John's witness was true? ELLEN. Because he was a prophet, and they believed in him. MR. ALCOTT. Suppose a man should come and say with great earnestness, that he was Jesus Christ, and so that you knew he believed it himself; what would be in your mind? CHARLES. Witness of That he was insane. MR. ALCOTT. Is there no internal evidence of the truth or falsehood of any thing? CHARLES. Yes; Reason. |