tomb, escorted by the soldiers whom Pilate had assigned. them as a guard, and they satisfied themselves that the body was still there. Having verified the fact, they sealed the stone, and posted the guards. It was because they had verified the presence of the body, and seen it themselves, that when some of the guards related what had passed (Matth. xxvii. 11-13), they bribed the soldiers to say that the disciples came by night, and removed the body while the guard slept, and thus spread the report that it was removed after the tomb had been sealed, and the guard posted. Consequently the body was really in the tomb when they visited it.

Let those prejudiced critics who say that the precautions taken by the Jews were insufficient, and that the disciples had had time to remove the body of Jesus previously, reflect on what they say. Do they really believe that the chief priests and the hostile mob who were present during the last moments of Jesus were so simple as to have taken no precaution to watch, until the feast of the Sabbath was past, and they could relieve the authorities of the care of guarding the tomb, and could protect their own interests? Do they really believe that those who had so great an interest in preventing fraud, would not have ascertained if the body was still in the tomb, before they finally closed and sealed it? This would have been very simple and confiding of these priests, who knew all human trickeries by profession, these proud Pharisees, these learned Scribes !

If they had not followed Joseph of Arimathæa secretly (not in person, but by their spies), to know where and how the body had been disposed of, their request to Pilate would have been another blunder. If the Jews, whose bitter hostility to Jesus pursued him even after death, had neglected to do this, and to keep watch on the tomb, and ascertain that no one had entered since the body was laid there, would it not have been sheer folly for them to ask next day that the tomb should be guarded lest the disciples should steal the body; and to seal the stone, and post the guards, without first satisfying themselves that the body was still there?

at the same time both in your humanity, and in divinity. He was a man clothed with a material human body, the Son of God, the brother of his disciples, and the King of the Jews, who had received all power in heaven and on earth.

Matthew and Mark were left to themselves, because it was necessary to permit men to attribute a relative human principle to Jesus. Men have long regarded this phrase as an irrefutable proof that Jesus suffered materially, and was overcome by his sufferings, which might excuse human weakness in the hour of trial. The false interpretation reproduced by Matthew and Luke was also a means of counterbalancing the belief in the divinity of Christ, in the controversies which arose on this subject, and which were needful to prepare the minds of men to receive the present revelation, which teaches you who is the Son. Luke wrote within the limits which were medianimically assigned to him, but was left to his own judgment; and having adopted the opinion of Paul, who regarded Christ as the Mediator between God and man, he gave this version of the words of Jesus: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." John also wrote within his own limits, and his narrative was designed to furnish human interpreters, according to the letter, with the elements of belief in the divinity of Christ; but it also contained expressions designed to counteract this belief at the time of the advent of the Spirit, and to serve as the basis of the New Revelation which should make known the nature and origin of the Son, and the position which he occupies towards God. John, influenced by his own judgment, and according to what he had been able to retain, adopted this version of the words which were spoken, “It is finished."* The versions adopted by Luke and John expressed the same idea as the words literally pronounced by Jesus, which serve as an example both of love and submission. Jesus presented himself before the Lord, and committed himself into his hands, after having accomplished everything.

* John xix. 28, 30.

You are told that Jesus yielded up his spirit, or expired. These expressions convey the same idea; the return of the spirit to spirit-life, where it regains its freedom. But there is no comparison between the return of Jesus, and yours. In your case, material human incarnation is an exile for trials and expiations. Life is taken away from you, and when you have left it you cannot resume it again. You can only have a new existence by means of reincarnation, and whatever efforts you may have made during your earthly life, your humanity always leads you into some weakness or failings, even if not into actual faults. When you return to spirit-life, you are always under the burden of judgment, and of a more or less painful repentance, according to your degree of culpability.

But the return of Jesus to spirit-life was wholly different. He has told you so, when alluding to his return, and to the events and circumstances of his earthly mission, both before and after his "death."* He laid down his life to take it up again, and no one did, or could, take it from him; but he laid it down of himself. He had power to lay it down, and he had power to take it up again. Thus he did not undergo material human incarnation like yours, and his absence from his country was not an exile; for very frequently, when his spirit was watching over the affairs of your globe, he was believed to have retired into solitude to pray. He soared above your universe, wisely directing the course of all things, and dispensing the orders of the Sovereign Master. No one took his life from him, but he laid it down of himself, when his spirit resumed its liberty, and left his tangible perispritic body on the Cross. He took it up again, "according to the commandment that he had received from his Father" for his reappearance, which is called his "resurrection," and for the completion of his earthly mission. He laid it down finally of himself, after the completion of his mission, at the period called the Ascension, by abandoning his tangible perispritic

* John x. 47, 48.

body, and by restoring the elements of which it was composed to the sources whence they were derived. He was pure from any fault, and suffered no regret or expiation; he, the Just One, returned to his own country as the judge, and not as the accused.

The darkness which covered the earth, and the darkening of the sun, was a powerful physical effect produced by spiritual agency, and was designed to impress the masses strongly, and to produce a great effect on future generations also.

MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVII.—VERSES 51-56. MARK, CHAP. XV.-VERSES 38-41. LUKE, CHAP. XXIII. VERSES 45, 47-49.

Earthquake and Prodigies.

Matth. xxvii. (51) And behold the veil of the Temple was rent in two from top to bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were rent. (52) And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the holy men at rest were raised. (53) And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, came into the holy city, and appeared to many. (54) And the centurion and those who were with him, guarding Jesus, seeing the earthquake and the things which happened, feared exceedingly, and said, Truly this was the Son of God. (55) And many women were there, looking on from a distance. They were those who followed Jesus from Galilee, and ministered to him. (56) Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Mark xv. (38) And the veil of the Temple was rent in two from above to below. (39) And the centurion, who was standing over against him, seeing how he cried out and expired, said, Truly this man was a Son of God. (40) And there were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were also Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the Little, and of Joses and Salome. (41) Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many others who went up with him to Jerusalem.

Luke xxiii. (45) And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in the middle. (47) And the centurion, seeing what took place, glorified God, saying, Of a truth this was a just man. (48) And all the multitudes who assembled to this spectacle, seeing what was done, beat their breasts, and returned. (49) And all who knew him, and the women who followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

§ 301. You will not open the eyes of those who persist in closing them; and you cannot persuade those who deny

all ultra-mundane influence to admit spiritual facts. The phenomena which attended the apparent death of Jesus were produced by the spirits around him, who were incalculably numerous.

It was necessary to strike the gross and ignorant masses with consternation, and to appeal to the material senses of those who only recognized matter; and the partial earthquake produced by the combination of fluids, and the vapour which obscured the light of day for a short time, were more effective than the miracles of mercy and charity which Jesus had been working for three years.

The darkening of the sun and the darkness which covered the earth were produced by opaque fluids collected and combined by the action of spirits. The earthquake was a partial phenomenon, affecting that part of the country where the Jews, who had pursued Jesus with hatred and insult were assembled. It extended to the Temple, where the priests and elders had returned after the execution. It was a purely spiritual phenomenon, which was effected by a simple combination of the requisite fluids. Ordinary earthquakes are a planetary crisis in the work of the progressive transformation of your world, and are produced by volcanic shocks, which are more or less violent in proportion to the distance and depth of the agency. But this earthquake was due to other causes, and did not differ, except in power, from those which disturb a room or furniture, and move objects before your eyes. The action was stronger, but the agency was the same. The rending of the rocks was also a physical phenomenon, produced by the same direct, but occult action of the spirits of the Lord, and took place at the same time as the shock which affected the Temple.

Let it not be objected that the spirits used means unworthy of their character and elevation, and had recourse to jugglery. We reply beforehand to such criticisms that the Lord has placed in the hands of his servants the means required for the direction of the worlds, and the conversion of men ; and these means are employed according to the circumstances and necessities of the period.