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(Verses 33-46.)-These words are also figurative, and appropriate to the intelligence of those whom Jesus desired to impress and awaken. The just, on the right hand, are the spirits who have profited by the regeneration upon your earth, or those who have come from other worlds, sufficiently purified and advanced, who will be allowed to dwell on your regenerated planet under conditions needful to progress there, and to share in its ascending course. They will be "the blessed of the Father," because they will have worked actively at their personal and mutual progress. God blesses those who labour at their own perfection, and at that of their brethren; and blessings descend on those whose works draw them down. The place reserved for the chosen and the worthy means the lofty regions where every spirit is called, from his origin, to receive his share of the inheritance when he shall have attained his spiritual majority. The just shall enter into age-long life; they will walk in the path of progress which will give them spiritual life in eternity, exempt from any incarnation, when they shall have become pure spirits.

The accursed, on the left of the King, are the guilty spirits who will depart to regions where they will suffer constantly, either in the errant state in space, or in the incarnate state. These are regions of expiation, but also of trials and progress, perpetually renewed by slow and progressive purifications and transformations on the inferior worlds, which are prepared for the guilty spirits in the sense that they serve for their dwelling, and are both hell and purgatory to those who are figuratively called, the "devil and his angels," according to their degree of perversity; for they are places of punishment, and also of expiation, reparation, and progress. Such is the spirit of the parable; the letter, which veils the spirit, was purposely given by Jesus under a material form, in regard to the barbarous ages through which it would pass, that it might govern them by inspiring them with terror.

The humane doctrine of eternal punishment had also an object. It was the result of the reign of the letter, which

was necessary for a time, until man had advanced sufficiently in the path of moral and intellectual progress. you not been told that the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life? These were prophetic words addressed to the future, which were intended to be understood and applied at the predicted time, when the spirit should illumine the letter by revealing its true sense. The threats of eternal fire and everlasting torments as the meaning of eternal punishment to the guilty spirit are fictitious, and never entered the thoughts of Jesus. Those who are banished. will be cast into the regions of darkness. They will be sent to worlds of expiation where the spirit of evil rules with sovereign power, and will be condemned to live for ages longer in sorrow and suffering. It is there that there will be tears and groans, and it is there that the fire which is not quenched consumes the spirit whose perversity causes him to be rejected, and cast down upon those unhappy worlds where he will preserve the memory of what he has lost, and will believe that it is lost to him for ever. These are the flames which consume him and the demons which torture him. They are moral sufferings as regards the sensations of the spirit, but are nevertheless material in some measure, through the material sufferings inherent in incarnation; and a retrograded spirit will feel them much more keenly, especially if he has been rejected, when he might have progressed, and been received into the peace of the Lord. But the paternal hand of the Lord is extended over these poor exiles, as over all others; and in the course of ages, peace will finally return to them with remorse for their obduracy, and the desire of reparation. This will be effected by the omnipotence of God, through the immutable law of progress and perfectibility which he has established from all eternity, and which operates under the auspices of his infinite justice, goodness, and mercy.

But the banished spirit will only remember his past in the errant state. When he is free from the trammels of the flesh, he will understand his position, and perceive his faults. He may delude himself for a time, but afterwards, without

his regarding anything as really or apparently arbitrary on the part of the Lord, his whole past will be displayed before his eyes; and just as he can judge of the justice of his own condemnation, so will he also be able to appreciate the justice of the reward granted to the good labourers. Even in the state of incarnation, the retrograded spirit experiences an uneasiness which he cannot define, but which causes suffering to the man, and makes him feel superior to others around him, on account of the relative degradation of his own position.

(Verses 34 and 40.)-Jesus excludes the divinity falsely attributed to him by human interpretations, by declaring himself to be the brother of all men, the least of whom are all sons, like himself, of his Father, for he also is a created spirit, sprung from the same source and essence as themselves; and at the same time, he gives himself the title of King, and thus indicates, under a veil which was to be raised by the present spiritual revelation, his position as the protector and ruler of your planet.

(Verses 35-45.)--Jesus came to your world to deliver you from errors, superstitions, and vices by bringing you light, and establishing the bases and foundations of human regeneration, and tracing out and opening up the paths and means of progress. When he was about to depart, after having warned men of the separation between the darnel and the good corn; the good and the bad; he told them plainly why men were to be separated as sheep and kids. It was not because they professed such and such a faith, or adopted such and such a doctrine, or practised such and such a form of external worship; but some were placed on the right because they practised material, moral, and intellectual love and charity towards their brethren, while others were placed on the left for having neglected to do so.

Jesus does not speak of those who were not content with having done no good, but who had done positive evil. Their position was still more serious, and, as it is implied, there was no occasion to allude to it. Thus the clear and definite result of all the teachings of the Master is that you

should always endeavour to be charitable, and to make yourselves useful to your brethren in every possible manner. Everyone, whatever his material poverty, can always do some good amid the conditions in which he is placed, at least morally by his example, and by the teachings which may be found in the words of the Saviour, when rightly understood. It is this, "There is no salvation but in love and charity;" that is, there is no progress or advancement without. Whatever your opinions, doctrines, or outward religious rites and ceremonies, so long as you do not practise love and charity, you are necessarily in the bonds of pride and selfishness, and of the vices and passions which spring from them, and which degrade your humanity; and you still remain liable to expiation and expiatory incarnations on the inferior worlds.

The words of Jesus relate primarily to charity of spirit, and secondarily to the body, as the instrument of the incarnate spirit, and the agent of his trials, reparation, and progress. It is thus from the point of view of the necessities both of the body and of the spirit that you should practise love and charity towards your brethren.

MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVI.-VERSES 1-13. MARK, CHAP. XIV.-VERSES 1-9.

Perfume Poured on the Head of Fesus.

Matth. xxvi. (1) And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, (2) You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. (3) Then the chief priests and scribes and the elders of the people assembled together in the court of the chief priest, who was called Caiaphas. (4) And they consulted together that they might seize Jesus by treachery, and put him to death. (5) But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be a tumult among the people. (6) And while Jesus was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, (7) A woman came to him having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he was reclining. (8) And when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, To what end is this waste? (9) For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. (10) But Jesus perceiving it, said to them, Why trouble ye the woman? For she has wrought a good work in me. (11) For you have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. (12) For she, having poured this ointment on my body, did it for my burial.

(13) Verily I say unto you that wherever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this which she has done shall also be spoken of in memory of her.

Mark xiv. (1) And after two days was the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and scribes sought to seize him by treachery, and put him to death. (2) But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there should be a tumult among the people. (3) And while he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious; and she broke the box, and poured the ointment on his head. (4) And some were indignant in themselves, and said, (5) Why was this waste of the ointment, for it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor. And they grumbled at her. (6) And Jesus said, Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a good work on me. (7) For you have the poor always with you, and whenever you will you can do them good; but me you have not always. (8) She hath done what she could; she came beforehand to anoint my body for the burial. (9) Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this also which she hath done shall be spoken of in memory of her.

§ 280. Jesus again predicted his apparent death to his disciples, and in a more precise manner, by crucifixion. The act to which the woman was impelled by spirit-influence was designed to exhibit the fore-knowledge which Jesus possessed of his crucifixion and death, that when the event happened everyone might remember both this action and the words which he pronounced with reference to the future. The woman's action was as homage rendered to the Lord; but the disciples were still blinded by matter, and could only perceive the outward circumstances. When Jesus reproved their murmurs, he taught them that material sacrifices are not always sufficient, and that the spiritual side should also be regarded. Perfume was selected for this lesson on account of its ethereal nature, which made it more intelligible that sacrifices made from a spiritual point of view ought not to be regarded only from the material side; This action (on the part of the woman) arose from love and disinterestedness, and was a sign of the triumph of spirit

over matter.

Jesus added, "You have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always ;" and these words have not been understood in spirit and in truth. He alluded to his appearance on your earth in accordance with the necessities

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