Sec. III. It may be recollected that the purified human consciousness of Stephen "being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, . . . And said, Behold I see the heavens opened" (Acts 7, ver. 55, 56). Page Line See Jude 9 Possibly many, of whom we have no record, dematerialised. How was it that "the Lord . . . buried him [Moses]. . . . but no man knoweth of his sepulchre," and yet "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut. 34, ver. 5-7). Why did that wonderful philosopher, Lao-Tze, leave his home where he was venerated, and go up to the mountain, and then (about 500 B.C.) entirely disappear? Why is it said that the same thing happened to Buddha after he gave up his kingdom? Why is nothing known of the death of John, the beloved disciple, whose writings show such a knowledge of the fact that there is no death? It is recorded that he was immersed in boiling oil by the Emperor Domitian without being killed. Jesus, the third time that he appeared to his disciples, after his so-called death, speaking to Peter of the "loved" disciple, said: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die" (John 21, ver. 22, 23). All these men knew the truth. They knew what Jesus, the Messiah, endeavoured to teach to the world, but they did not sacrifice themselves to the same extent. None of them was pure enough to be the Saviour of mankind. To Jesus, the Christ, was reserved this honour. Him must we 534 love and reverence. I have had far more love and reverence for the Master since the right understanding of his life and mission came to me, than I ever had when I tried to look upon his material self as the only Son of God. 9 In these last days the age seems too material and too much under the control of false laws to allow of an individual ascension above material limitations until the tide of false mental activity rises and works in an opposite direction. To change the hearts of mankind to this essential, right mental activity, and so stem the 218 14 great tide of mortality that has SO far appeared to 238 240 106 239 39 43 17 devastate the kingdom of heaven that is within the reach of 343 23 all, is the noblest, because the God-appointed task of the scientist of to-day. Jesus, foretelling the events attending the "end of the evil world of matter," said: "Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."* And the Bible record of those times adds, in simple but strangely significant sequence, these words: When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence" (Matt. 13, ver. 52, 53). Alas! that even to this hour, nearly 1,900 years after the departure of the Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, then we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come" (Is. 41, ver. 22). Sec. III. great Prophet, the symbolism of even the latter-day scribes has not been properly understood, and because this is so, the same gospel of Matthew records the prophecy of these "scribes'" reception by those who do not understand (see Dan. 12, ver. 10): “Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye 5 shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you [at the end of the world] may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple 1 and the altar" (Matt. 23. ver. 34, 35). Throughout the world's history, the greatest evil is found in the highest spiritual centres. which, of all other places, should be the surest haven of refuge for mankind. The record continues: "Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, 1 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate " (ver. 36-38). The immense importance of the prophecy of Jesus concerning the latter-day scribes, about to be fulfilled, can be fully appreciated now that the scientific fact has been established that the whole world has to be reached and the thought changed. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matt. 28, ver. 19). Our life in the midst of the world," St. Francis of Assisi said, ought to be such that, on hearing and seeing us, everyone shall feel constrained to praise our Heavenly Father." Yet his latter days were darkened. At the end he rose above the mist, and it was with a glad heart and outstretched arms that instead of overcoming, he welcomed " Sister Death." Life is the test of love, and love, of life; The only sin is not to try, the only good, Is love, and going is the goal" (Albert D. Watson). Since the above was written the world's greatest latter-day prophetess has passed from our sight. A messenger of the Spirit of Truth, a scribe of God's appointing to this last age, of her writings Daniel's prophetic utterance may well be re-echoed: "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12, ver. 10). but this great messenger's written 3 statement of Truth, which is demonstrable by all, will continue to be poured into the ears of the waiting world in "translated messages" by those who do "understand" in response to her irresistible appeal to mankind for the manifestation of the Love that is its God, its Life, the Life of the world. "I long and live to see this love demonstrated. I am seeking and praying for it to : inhabit my own heart and to be made manifest in my life. Who will unite with me in this pure purpose and faithfully struggle till it be accomplished? Let this be our Christian Endeavour Society, which Christ organises and blesses " ("Pulpit and Press," p. 21. Mary Baker Eddy). The night that Mrs. Eddy passed on, and on the following night, I was discussing with a fellow-student what the trouble could be which was foreshown. both in the Bible and Great Pyramid, as taking place in 1910 A.D., in the religious centres of the latter days. It was clear that none of the troubles that had taken place was of sufficient importance, and it was hoped that as so little time was left, some mistake had been made. On the next day the sad news of her death, on the 3rd of December. 1910, was received. Pastor Russell. in "Thy Kingdom Come." over 600,000 copies of which have been sold, refers to the prophecy of great trouble upon the Church in 1910 A.D. Little does the world recognise its irreparable loss. See Note J. page 587.) SECTION IV. Refer to Page Line PHILOSOPHIC THEORIES. According to Plato, a philosopher is one who apprehends the 44 essence or reality of things in contradistinction to the man who 484 5 dwells in appearances and the "shows" of sense. He speaks of him as a man who grasps the eternal and irmutable and insists upon seeing things together, viewing them as a whole, setting his affections upon that which really exists. The views of philosophers have been greatly misunderstood through ignorance on the part of those referring to them. Some people have so material an outlook that they fail for a time either to take in or lay to heart even the teaching of this advancing great school of thought, which for years has been endeavouring to get at the truth, and melt frozen dogma with moonbeams. 10 30 477 17 Take Hume's philosophy, for instance. In Huxley's "Life of 491 27 Hume" he says: "It is hardly necessary to point out that the doctrine just laid down is what is commonly called materialism. But it is nevertheless true that the doctrine contains nothing inconsistent with the purest idealism." So in the present day the 327 19 highest teachings are largely misunderstood, and even when 328 partially understood are not often carried out in life practice. It is indeed this partial misunderstanding of truth that makes life practice difficult; while a clear understanding makes life natural, simple, and joyous. 2 333 29 246 32 The office of philosophy, which has been called the handmaid of religion, is the same as that of natural science, namely, to correct mistakes. Every man is a scientist, if in disguise, and every scientist a philosopher, although he may be a poor one, and the two must be combined to elicit truth. Divine philosophy is saving the world. It is, to use Plato's words, the apprehension of the reality of things; in other words, a knowledge of God, knowledge 34 34 of good, that is saving us and all mankind. "Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns (Tennyson, in "Locksley Hall"). 43 28 51 12 59 5 46 23 That eminent scholar, Dr. Westcott, who was Bishop of Durham, and who prepared the text which was the basis of the revision of the King James version of the Bible, writing of the Gospel of St. John, shows that by the use of the definite article the absolute 153 46 is distinguished from the relative. The knowledge of absolute Truth is what we require, not the relative truth that Pilate demanded in the words, "What is truth?" This absolute Truth John 18: 38 is scientific. It is the truth about God, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1, ver. 17). Chambers's Dictionary defines "truth" as agreement with reality," and relative" as "not absolute." Page Line 476 13 147 29 34 17 23 17 135 23 153 40 253 11 495 6 145 38 Sec. IV. Evil is of No Value.-If God is Mind and this Mind knows of evil, then all in that Mind cannot be good. How can Truth know a lie? Many people, seeing the logical difficulty, that if evil is real, God knows of it, and allows it, if He did not even create it, try to get out of the difficulty by saying that evil is of value and therefore 5 good, as it turns man to God. This does not make evil good, as it would be far better if man turned to God, good, infinite Mind, to destroy the evil concepts and false sense of limitation, without the incentive of trouble, whether in a lesser or in a worse form. If people would only do this in the first instance, before the wrong 10 thoughts came, they could not be affected by them. Evil cannot be the medium for good. The only outcome of evil is sin, which annihilates itself. That evil, sooner or later, compels man to turn in thought to God, is one of the many proofs of its non-reality; as this very turning in 15 thought to God leads to the destruction of the evil, and therefore its disappearance. We can only overcome evil with good, intelligent Rom. 12:21 good, God. Anything that is real must have always existed and must always continue to exist, and evil could never have always existed, because of its self-destructive nature. A false view arises out of a false concept of God as a person altogether apart from man, instead of the true God, whose manifestation is the true man. Then it is seen that God and man are not two, but eternally co-existent as Principle and its idea. 20 So long as a lie is kept quiet, or safeguarded by public opinion, 25 it has a chance of being believed, but directly it is brought out into the open, the daylight of Truth is brought to bear upon it, when it is seen to be a lie, and loses its power because no one believes it; known to be a lie, it fades away into its native nothingness. Evil in the form of sin destroys itself, because it is continually bring- 30 ing such punishment upon man, in the form of disease, etc., that ultimately he cannot stand it and gives it up, when the punishment ceases. If knowing how to pray scientifically, he sets to work at once to free himself, freedom is easily gained. Similarly, with sickness, a man will try all sorts of methods of getting well before 35 he turns to God. Ultimately, when every other help fails, he turns to Principle as a last resort, thinking it cannot do much harm and may possibly do a little good. Then he finds out the truth of being, and is amazed to see how blind he has been, and how illogical his previous ideas were; "how great man is, and how good God is." Jesus hardly ever mentions sin, except in connection with repentance and forgiveness. As Dr. Inge says: "Our Lord's teaching is very severe and exacting, but fundamentally happy and joyous. No war is declared against the ordinary sources of human happiness." The less we think of ourselves the happier we are. To overcome pride and its twin sister, self-consciousness, we have to deny their existence, and to realise that in heaven man never thinks of himself, but thinks only of God and God's ideas. The spiritual man is never self-conscious. God only is self-conscious. To make an end of selfishness is happiness. This is the greatest happiness, to subdue the selfish thought of 'I'" (Buddha). The Paddock Lectures," for 1906, p. 167. 40 Sec. IV. Page Line We have to gain every bit of good, every bit of happiness out of 494 45 life that we can, and if we have sufficient knowledge of Truth, continual joy will come to us without harming others or ourselves. 246 32 This is our birthright. We are entitled to be happy, and if we are 5 not continually happy then something is wrong; we cannot be 246 praying properly or sufficiently. Process of Self-Destruction." For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." (II. Cor. 4, ver. 17, 18). 20 19 8 59 17 Evil, although it does no good, appears to do good, for it is 171 caused to destroy itself; as when we see something that is wrong, it 214 reminds us to turn to God and reverse the thought, when the evil, 251 30 10 whatever it is, instantly disappears. So any seeming evil can always be reversed, and in this way turned to good account by 139 those who know the necessity for right thinking, and how to pray scientifically. If there were no suffering or trouble in the world, 29 43 people would not take any trouble to learn how to pray rightly. They 15 would go on dreaming out their lives, and enjoying what they called 249 16 good, continuing apparently to die, and be born. They would never 274 43 work mentally in order to steadily improve upon the so-called good; that is, to get rid of limitations, and to obtain a higher sense of unlimited spiritual perfection. We have to do this before we can find ourselves in heaven, with nothing left but absolute good, 251 God. Evil crieth out: "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee . . . art thou come to destroy us?" (Mark 1, ver. 24). We must not therefore fear when we see troubles gathering round us 102 cinematographic pictures posing as dangerous realities. It is only a sign that the end is near, and an incentive to work and 314 rejoice at the approaching end of the sin and ignorance that are the only cause of these false troubles. A Present Devil and a Future God! cil”* (Annie Besant). Ignorance is the only real According to old, indeed, many present theories, the devil, if not more powerful, is at least on a par with God. The first sends us good to do us harm; the second sends us evil to do us good. The inconsistency of these ideas is illustrated by the remark of the child as it killed the fly, "Go to God, little fly." 40 77 39 All sin and subsequent suffering are the result of ignorance, which Shakespeare speaks of as "the curse of God." All evils are 151 destroyed by a knowledge of truth. "Know the truth,t and the 217 7 5 truth shall make you free" (John 8, ver. 32). "Truth.. liveth and 135 conquereth for evermore .. she is the strength, kingdom, power, and majesty, of all ages. Blessed be the God of truth" (I. Esdras 4, ver. 38, 40). "When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth, And starting fresh, as from a second birth, Man, in the sunshine of the world's new spring, What is Truth?" Truth is a mighty instrument, whatsoever hand way wield it" (Rev. J. Caird). 29 239 17 * Interview with Mrs. Besant in "Hearth and Home." August 29th, 1912. + The Greek words are he aletheia, meaning "the absolute truth," as opposed to aletheia, used elsewhere and meaning merely "a relative sense of truth," 171 namely, what is correct in the material world. Lalla Rookh" 19 |