in this sense it may be said that the Father alone knows the Son, and the Son alone knows the Father.

Bow before your devoted Saviour with reverence, gratitude and love. Even since your globe arose from the fluids which are diffused through space, and his divine will, as the messenger of God, combined these substances to form a world, according to the immutable law of progress, he has always watched over you anxiously through the various phases which your spirit has passed through from its origin to the present time, and his powerful sympathy has always extended the protection of the Omnipotent over your planet and its humanity.

Love Jesus with all the energy of your souls, for it is he who took upon himself an apparently human body to lay the foundations of the work of regeneration. Love him with all your strength, for he accepted incarnation, though he needed not to suffer any incarnation as an expiation, not even in these exalted worlds where spirits who have remained pure till they have reached a very high elevation, and have then failed, how slightly soever, exile themselves to redeem their faults. Nothing can stand before the Lord but spotless perfection, and even so slight a failing that your faculties would be incapable of noticing it would immediately become an offence which the progressing spirit would perceive at once, and would expiate by a more or less material or more or less fluidic incarnation, according to his degree of elevation, and the extent and gravity of the fault. Every penalty is proportioned to the fault, and there are some faults in the eyes of the Omnipotent Lord which are so subtle that they would escape you, but they do not escape the spirit who is sufficiently elevated to perceive his fault even before it has germinated, so to speak; and he voluntarily exiles himself to expiate his fault by depriving himself for a time of the infinite joys of a free and pure spirit. Love Jesus with all the strength of your souls, for he is coming now to continue his work of regeneration, and to lead you by the New Revelation and by the Spirit of Truth, in the continuous path of moral and intellectual progress,

and to lead you step by step to the one eternal God, the King of heaven and earth, to whom you owe the homage and tribute of your adorations, for he alone is entitled to them, and to him alone you should offer them.

The kingdom of God has come to him who has discovered the path which leads most directly and speedily to the goal.

The kingdom of God had come to the hardened Jews, who had distorted the law of Moses as much, and more, than Catholicism has distorted the law of Christ. This kingdom came to those who had prepared a long and painful expiation for themselves, to open before them a door of hope, and the means of arriving at well-being by the shortest path.

The kingdom of God has also come to you, who instead of simply following the law of Jesus (which would have been sufficient for you) have allowed yourselves to be led astray by pride and selfishness, and have perverted this pure law in such a manner as to bend it to your impurities. Some have made it an elastic garment to bend to all the caprices of their greatest irregularities (we speak here of those who make religion only a means, by practising it outwardly, and trying to bend it to their needs), whereas it is a Gehenna to others, constraining their movements in a painful manner (we speak here of those who seriously accept religion, but who are wanting in intelligence, and strain themselves to support the whole weight of the yoke which is imposed on them, however heavy they may find it).

The kingdom of God has also come to you, for after we, the apostles and disciples of Jesus, had laboured in the path which he opened up and marked out, we now clear it of the thorns and thistles which have choked it, by the New Revelation, and with the aid of our brethren, the other spirits of the Lord. We are removing the sharp stones one by one, and hold out our hands to encourage you to advance, removing the bandage from the eyes of those whose sight is still weak, and letting the light shine upon the eyes of those who are able to bear it. The kingdom of God is drawing nearer and nearer, and we will show you more and

more of its glory; but you must wait till your sight is sufficiently strong to sustain its rays.

The accusation which the Scribes and Pharisees brought against Jesus of being the agent of Beelzeboul is repeated several times in different places, and under different circumstances. What Mark reports did not take place at the time or under the circumstances related by Matthew, but immediately after Jesus had selected the twelve Apostles, and had given them power to heal the sick, and to drive away the evil spirits or demons.

(Mark iii. 21.)-You know that during his earthly mission Jesus appeared to men to be a man like themselves, and the member of a human family. The revelation made to Joseph and Mary was kept secret till after the accomplishment of his mission, when its promulgation led men to regard the Master as a portion of God himself, since it contained the veiled announcement of the spiritual origin of Jesus, which was designed to be expounded by the New Revelation. As the Hebrews always married in their own tribe, they were nearly always relations, or regarded themselves as such; and consequently Jesus appeared to men to be surrounded by those who were more or less distantly related to him. The relations of Jesus thought that he had lost his wits, when they saw him choose his Apostles and confer such powers upon them; for the conditions of their humanity did not allow them to suppose that he could rise to such an elevation. Consequently they came to seize upon him, saying that he had been taken with madness.

Jesus was the personification of the doctrine which is springing up afresh among you, and, like every great and generous thought, it has been but little understood. Thus, even among the members of his own family (humanly speaking) he met with great opposition, for they were not aware of his extra-human origin. Did he not say himself that no one is a prophet in his own country? And in your own days, do you not meet with divisions in families, and stones cast at any member who wanders from the beaten track?

VOL. II.

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Man hates everything which he is unable to comprehend, and he condemns everything which troubles or alarms him.

You, Spiritists, who accept the New Revelation, and thus quit the beaten track, are accused by your relations and others (as was Jesus in his day) of having lost your wits, or being attacked with madness. At the same time, the Scribes and Pharisees of your age accuse you of acting under diabolical influence. New disciples of Christ, who preach the doctrine of the Master, which is renewed among you to be explained and developed in spirit and in truth, by the New Revelation, unite the influence of your example to that of your precepts, and reply to these accusations by patience, mildness, indulgence, firmness, and courage. Christ watches over and protects you, and causes the spirits of the Lord to guide you in your course.

MATTHEW, CHAP. XII.-VERSES 29-37. MARK, CHAP. III.-VERSES 27-30. LUKE, CHAP. XI. VERSES 21-23; XII. 10.

The Strong Man Armed-Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit -The Tree known by its Fruit.

Matth. xii. (29) How can any one come into the house of a strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he shall first bind the strong man, and shall then plunder his house? (30) He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me disperseth. (31) Therefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be remitted unto men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be remitted unto men, (32) And if any one shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be remitted unto him, but if any one shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be remitted unto him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come. (33) Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its fruit. (34) Offspring of vipers, how can ye speak good things, being evil? for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. (35) The good man brings forth good things from the good treasure of his heart, and the wicked man brings forth evil things from the evil treasure. (36) And I say unto you that for every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give an account of it in the day of judgment. (37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Mark iii. (27) No man can enter the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he shall first bind the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. (28) For I say unto you that all manner of sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies which they have blasphemed. (29) But if any one shall blaspheme against

the Holy Spirit, he hath no forgiveness in the age, but is liable to agelong judgment. (30) Because they said, He hath an unpurified spirit.

Luke xi. (21) When the strong man is armed, and guards his courtyard, his possessions are in quiet. (22) But when one who is stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him his armour in which he trusted, and they will distribute his spoils. (23) He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathereth not with me scattereth.

Luke xii. (10) And if any one shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but to him who shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven.

§ 160. We have often told you that Jesus spoke to the men of that age in terms which were necessary for them, teaching what was needful for the present, without prejudice to the future, for which, however, he prepared the way. He used material images, which men could understand, and which appealed strongly to their imaginations; and all such images were intended to convey some lesson or warning. He said, "The spirit quickeneth, and the words which I speak unto you are spirit and life." It is for you who have been called upon to receive the New Revelation, to perceive the true sense and import of these words. You should therefore always seek to free the spirit from the letter, that you may be able to discover the thought of the Master, and the true meaning of his words.

What Jesus says (Matth. xii. 29; Mark iii. 27) about the strong man, is an emblem. It is sin which binds him, and surrounds him with snares to destroy him; and as soon as it has overcome him, it strips him of all his virtues.

(Luke xi. 21, 22.)-As long as man is strong in himself, watching over his conscience, and always on the alert to strive against his evil instincts, he is sure of overcoming them, but if he forgets himself, gives way to sloth, and lets his conscience sleep, he is assailed by vices which snare him in their baneful toils, and become his masters. They tear his weapons from him one by one, and gradually deprive him of his good resolutions, and his virtues, and beat him down by turning them against himself, for lost virtues become converted unto vices. He who does not yield to evil, must practise the good which is opposed to it; but the contrary is also true, and he who is negligent in