save that which was lost. Be ye perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect." Thus there is no guilty or rebellious spirit who does not submit, in the eternity before him, to the immutable law of progress, perfectibility, suffering, and expiation, nor any such spirit who will not be overcome with remorse and repentance, in the exercise of his free-will, and under the action of his conscience. Every such spirit will be brought back to the fold like a wandering sheep, by the aid of moral sufferings in the errant state, appropriate to his faults, and afterwards by trials and expiations, with time and reincarnation. He will thus be led back to his Father's house like the Prodigal Son, repentant and submissive, and will become purified, and will one day be received by the Great Father, the God of love and of infinite mercy.

(Matth. xii. 33.)-By these words, Jesus taught his disciples to judge of men. Assuredly, if a man's instincts are evil, he will be guilty of evil actions, but if on the other hand you see him attempting to act rightly, and endeavouring to fulfil the duties which are imposed on him by humanity, you may say, "The tree is good," and you may then be sure that, once cultivated, it will become better.

(Matth. xii. 34, 35.)-By the term "offspring of vipers," an expression suited to the time and the men, Jesus designated that race of proud and inferior spirits who believed that they could succeed without aid, and did not wish to receive any light. Every word flows from the heart when it openly expresses the mode of thought. If it is veiled or smoothly expressed when aggressive, it is a lie, an hypocrisy, or a crime. Thus Jesus said to the Pharisees, "How can ye speak good words when you yourselves are evil?" The words proceed from the treasure of the heart; if the treasure is bad, the words and actions are bad, whether they are the open expression of the thought, or whether they serve to disguise lying, hypocrisy, or malice.

(Matth. xii. 36, 37.)-" Every idle word," in this passage, should be interpreted "every impious word." If translators have rendered the passage "every idle word," it was due to an extension given to the text to make it apply to all men,

and not to blasphemers only. This deviation from the text has resulted in bridling careless language. By speaking of "idle words," it condemned all language which exceeded what was just and necessary, and discouraged those frivolous conversations which might turn the mind away from the high end set before it. It was necessary to speak strongly to attain this end, and the word was changed to give it a wider extension. The day of judgment when men shall render their account is that when the guilty spirit is thrown back upon himself after death, and beholds the crimes or faults of his past life, and, under the influence of remorse and repentance, suffers the expiation which is always and inevitably followed by reincarnation.

MATTHEW, CHAP. XII.-VERSES 38-42. LUKE, CHAP. XI.-VERSES 29-32.

Sign demanded by the Pharisees.

Matth. xii. (38) Then answered him certain of the Scribes and Pharisees, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from thee. (39) And he answered and said unto them, A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah, (40) For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, even so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (41) The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold a greater than Jonah is here. (42) The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the opposite sides of the world to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here.

Luke xi. (29) And he began to say of the assembled crowds, This is a wicked generation; it seeketh a sign, and no sign shall be given unto it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. (30) For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. (31) The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them, for she came from the opposite sides of the world to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. (32) The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold a greater than Jonah is here.

§ 161. That generation which resisted every effort to lead it into the right way, was wicked and adulterous; for it

abandoned its faith in God to put its trust in purely external observances.

We need not now explain to you how Jesus appeared to human eyes to pass from material life to death, and his return to the spiritual life. Was not his resurrection after three days and nights of apparent death, which the vulgar took for real, a "miracle" similar to that attributed to Jonah ?

We say attributed to Jonah, for the Hebrew narrative of the event was enlarged, embellished, and corrupted. The historian put a wrong interpretation on it when he said that Jonah was thrown into the sea, that God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah; and that he remained in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, after which God spoke to the fish, and it cast Jonah on shore out of its mouth. Jonah was not thrown into the sea, but chained for three days and nights at the bottom of the vessel in which he was sailing, and was afterwards landed in a boat steered by a friendly sailor. He was thus saved by the devotion of a man who was the instrument of Providence, for he accomplished the will of God under spirit inspiration and influence, by releasing Jonah from his chains, and taking him ashore in the ship's boat; and credulity and the tendency to the marvellous soon spread abroad the report of a miraculous event. The fish was nothing but the ship which carried Jonah, and its mouth was only the boat which brought him ashore. Jesus spoke, as he always did, in accordance with human opinions concerning Jonah and himself. The Ninevites regarded Jonah, who was a man like themselves, as an exceptionally constituted being, who had been able to live for three days and nights in the body of a fish, and had emerged from it safe and sound. Jesus appeared to the vulgar, and even to his own disciples, to be a man like themselves; and his body was apparently composed of flesh and bone like theirs. Thus his resurrection and ascension appeared to them to be just as incomprehensible and miraculous as in the case of Jonah. You who are Spiritists understand the causes, and consequently the

effects, and see that the resurrection and ascension of Jesus were the natural consequences of his mission, and of his fluidic organization. It is explained by the New Revelation which we have given you of the spiritual origin of Jesus, and of his appearance on your earth, clothed with a fluidic body or tangible perisprit, having the appearance of a corporeal human body. But the men of that age saw only a body formed of corrupt matter, rising of itself, to take its place for ever where everything is spiritual. The miracle was much more obvious to men then, and we may say that it is this very impossibility of the union of matter with spirituality which has prepared for the era on which you are entering. It is this which has prevented reflecting minds from believing in miracles, for it was so inconceivable that they have sought for some possible explanation; and many have denied because they were unable to believe, but all will accept the simple and natural explanation of the tangible perisprit of the Redeemer. The veil is rent, and you now understand that when Jesus no longer desired tangibility, he resumed his ethereal essence while preserving his human appearance, and was able to emerge from the closed sepulchre, where any material human body must have remained. He could also show himself in different places, and resume his tangibility when necessary, and finally reassumed the plenitude of his spiritual faculties when he rose up before the eyes of his disciples, and returned to the ethereal sphere from which he exiled himself voluntarily to convince you, and to save you from yourselves.

(Matth. xii. 41, 42; Luke xi. 31, 32.)-In thus speaking, Jesus designed as usual to impress the imagination of his hearers by establishing a parallel between the Scriptures and the age in which he spoke. Respecting the Ninevites, it is clear that Jesus spoke only of those who profited by the preaching of Jonah, and returned to the ways of the Lord, and not of those who only heard, and then forgot it immediately. Respecting the Queen of the South: The Queen of Sheba came from the mountains of Libanus, which the Hebrews regarded as one of the extremities of the earth,

to visit Solomon, being attracted by his great reputation for wisdom, and, after having conversed with and listened to him, she said, "Your wisdom and works far exceed the report which I have heard; happy are those who are with you; happy are your servants who always stand in your presence, and listen to your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has blessed you, and has set you on the throne of Israel, and who made you a king to rule with equity, and to dispense justice !"

The Ninevites who profited by the preaching of Jonah by returning to the ways of the Lord, and abiding in them, and the Queen of the South, who had likewise followed the impulse which had been given her, and had recognized the greatness of God, and the wisdom of him whom God had appointed king to rule with equity and to dispense justice, illustrated the condemnation of the Jews, who resisted all the efforts which Jesus made to lead them back to the right path.

After having alluded to the Scriptures to compare them with events which were then taking place, Jesus called the attention of mankind to the superiority of his mission, which was only to be fully laid open in your own days by the New Revelation. He also set forth the guilt of those who rebelled against his teaching and example by saying, "There is one here who is greater than Jonah, and greater than Solomon." Jonah and Solomon were missionary spirits, though of an inferior order. How was it possible that Jesus could compare himself to them, he, the Christ of God, and the representative of the Father, the Master and King of your planet and its humanity?

MATTHEW, CHAP. XII.-VERSES 43-45. LUKE, CHAP. XI.-VERSES 24-28.

Evil Instincts and Passions.

Matth. xii. (43) And when the impure spirit has gone out of a man, it goes through waterless places, to seek rest, and it does not find it. (44) Then it says, I will return to my house, from which I went out, and it comes and finds it at leisure, swept and tidied. (45) Then it