JESUS AND HIS TEACHINGS [PART II]

Jesus wanted to teach them a science that would make them better and happier but their superstition would not permit his explanation. They would rather believe in a power than learn a science. So they put false constructions on his acts and you cannot get Jesus' explanation of himself nor of this power called Christ. Now there must be some way to get at the meaning of this power or Christ. If we can settle down on a true explanation of that, then we have the same rock that Jesus had. He had the same trouble in his days. All the people admitted a power, even the Scribes and Pharisees, but they thought it was like the others that had appeared so they attributed it to the devil, for the belief in the power of the devil was common. Thus they classed Jesus among the sorcerers of his day, and had he been willing to be classed with them, he would not have met with the opposition that he did. But to explain what was never thought could be explained brought him in contact with all the learned men of his time. And as they were well, it was very hard to explain to them the feelings of the sick. Therefore Jesus said, "Those that are well need no physician," and as the standard of the well is applied to the sick, the sick had to be judged by the well. Thus you see the sick have no voice in correcting the evils that the well bind upon them.

Jesus could not sympathize with the well for they opposed him because he exposed their craft by which they held the sick in bondage. Now as every substance throws forth a shadow, the well throw forth one. This to the world is not frightful and does not produce any fear. Now all shadows that affect a person arise from a belief based on error and not wisdom, for true wisdom casts no shadow, neither does entire ignorance. Shadows come from error, so the fool knows no fear. And if a person was entirely wise he would know no error, for all would be light. So the light of God or Science is in the darkness or ignorance, but ignorance knows it not. Error sees the shadow of the light in the darkness of its mind and takes the shadow for the substance. Not knowing that it is a shadow, it reasons about the shadow as one man reasons with another not knowing that he is talking to himself but thinking that he is talking to some invisible being. So he is a man beside himself. All this is the effect of the natural man. In all this I embrace the religious man, the superstitious man, the infidel, the atheist and the deist. All the above are standing, reasoning about the shadow of their own belief, some denying it in total, others believing it in full, but all affected by their own belief. Here on this platform stands all classes looking for the Messiah or Wisdom to explain the mystery of their belief. Yet the world is just as ignorant of the phenomena as though they all settled down on one belief, for there is no knowledge of science in their belief.

I will make a comparison to show this. Suppose Mr. A is ignorant of shadows and by chance sees himself on the wall by a lamp that he holds in his hand. The lamp makes the shadow. The error puts the fear of his belief in the shadow, so he calls on Mr. B, the skeptic, to explain the phenomenon. As darkness or ignorance is necessary to produce a phenomenon, they enter a room or state of mind about as dark as a room that cannot produce a shadow. So while waiting for the spirits, they kindle up a fire or error like a light. So the medium holds the lamp lit up and a shadow appears on the wall. The skeptic starts, his faith is shaken in ignorance, for wisdom he never had. Mr. A says, "Do you see that?" "Yes but it is not a spirit." "Then what is it?" "Oh, your imagination." "Don't you see it?" "Yes, I see something but I cannot make out what it is, but this I know, it is not a spirit." "If it is not a spirit, what is it?" "Oh, you get nervous and imagine anything." "Well, take this lamp and go up to it yourself." Mr. B takes the lamp and approaches the shadow and it is gone, so he believes.

An infidel, that does not believe in any God or devil but is as bold as a lion and fears not God or man, goes to investigate the phenomena. The conditions being right, they all enter the room. A lamp is produced and three persons appear on the wall. The infidel starts, his knees like Belshazzar's tremble; he is asked if he sees anything, any spirits. In a quivering voice he replies, "I don't know. I cannot exactly see." The medium who has the light steps one side; one of the spirits move. The infidel pauses and says to the medium, "Ask the spirit to hold up his hand." The medium holds up his hand and the spirit does the same. A great many experiments are tried until one of the strongest minded men in the world is frightfully convinced that it must be spirits from another world. These are fair illustrations of the wisdom of the world in regard to the mysteries of life. In this, you see that three persons all agree in the phenomena. Their superstition, based on their ignorance, produced the phenomena. Their belief in spirits is as real as their existence so that want of wisdom in regard to lights and shadows keeps them in an error, and all their misery arises from their shadows or beliefs. This makes them nervous. (To be continued)