of tortures? And what would have resulted from the earthly mission of Jesus?

Had the body of Jesus been of the same nature as yours, it must either have remained in the hands of the Roman soldiers and the chief priests, or have been conveyed away. But the supposition of the body having been carried away contradicts all the events related or implied in the Gospels concerning the presence of the body in the tomb when the stone was sealed; its subsequent disappearance; and the so-called Resurrection.

The body could not have been taken away. It is absurd to suppose that the disciples could have removed it, and why should the chief priests, Pharisees, and elders have done so ?

If the disciples, or any others had removed the body, they could only have done so either after Joseph of Arimathea laid it in the tomb, and before the stone was sealed; or afterwards. We have already shown that the body could not have been removed after it was laid in the tomb, and before the sealing of the stone. Again, it would have been impossible to have carried off the body in defiance of the soldiers who were appointed to guard the tomb, and of the sentinel who was always on the watch; and the idea of its having been removed while all the soldiers were asleep, is not only impossible, but absurd.

Could it have been removed by connivance with the soldiers? But their military duty, honour, and responsibility would have set an insuperable obstacle in the way of such a grievous dereliction from their duty on the part of the Roman soldiers. And how could the disciples, who were poor fishermen, without refuge or necessaries for themselves, bribe the Roman soldiers, and calculate on their discretion and participation when, if they could have been corrupted, they might have obtained a very large reward from the chief priests, elders, and Pharisees, if they could have proved that the body of Jesus was carried off by human hands?

Would not the disciples who looked for a corporeal resurrection, have made themselves the authors or accomplices of an imposture if they had falsely asserted the reality

of the Resurrection, and of all the circumstantial details connected with it? Would they have maintained their faith to the last gasp, and in the midst of tortures, when it was based upon a lie, if they had themselves carried off the corpse and buried it secretly?

At whatever time, and in whatever manner, you suppose the disciples to have removed the body, the idea of their doing so refutes itself by its very absurdity.

Again, would the disciples have run the serious risk of attempting to corrupt the soldiers with money, when they had no motive or interest in doing so? Had the soldiers been capable of corruption, they would have taken the money, and then obtained another and larger reward by asserting that the body of Jesus had been removed by human hands, and even by following, watching, and delivering over the authors of the theft to the chief priests, Pharisees, and elders?

Had the body been removed by the chief priests and Pharisees, they would have done so, not to destroy it, but to confound the pretentions of the disciples and their Master; for it would have been more to their interest to preserve it as a convincing piece of evidence. They might have removed the body to prevent the disciples from taking it away; but only with the object of showing it to the people afterwards; for all men regarded the body of Jesus as an earthly body like yours. They would have shown it, if the disciples had sought to spread the report of the resurrection, to unmask the imposture, and as a sure weapon against the enemies of their faith. Did they pursue the disciples as the propagators of error among the people, and convict them of a lie? No; they bribed the soldiers to throw the blame of the disappearance of the body upon them; but did they even persecute the disciples on the charge of having violated the tomb? They did not; but it was certainly neither indulgence nor magnanimity which stayed the hands of the judges in Israel, but terror; for they were fully convinced that the body could not have been removed; and yet it had disappeared!

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would confirm all that they had heard, in the most startling manner. Their doubts were to be dispelled, and they were about to receive the faith which already animated the Apostles.

Jesus drew near, and addressed all the disciples, saying, "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth.” These words, spiritually interpreted, allude to his position as the protector and ruler of your planet, who is entrusted with all power over incarnate and errant spirits.

(Matth. xxviii. 19-20.)—Baptism in the name of the Father is an invocation addressed to the Supreme Being, who governs all the universes in infinity and eternity. Baptism in the name of the Son calls attention to him who watches over the fate of your planet; the Son of God by his perfect purity, and your Master by his power. In the name of the Holy spirit it appeals to the secret intelligence proceeding from the Creator, and manifested towards you by the good spirits, who teach you justice, love and charity, which include all virtues and all duties. They inspire you to practise them, and thus bring you light and truth by medianimic inspiration and communication.

We have just mentioned the good spirits. By the Holy Spirit you must understand good spirits of every class, and of every degree of elevation in the spiritual hierarchy. Evil inspirations or communications cannot proceed from any good spirit.

When the good spirits are not sufficiently elevated to give you the amount of light and knowledge which you ought to receive, they are aided by spirits more elevated than themselves; and these again are aided by spirits superior to themselves in the spiritual hierarchy. The inspiration which flows from God through the pure spirits, who receive it directly, is thus transmitted to you in the descending scale; or else the good spirits make way for those who are more elevated than themselves, and sufficiently so for the necessities of the case. Good spirits, whatever their rank in the spiritual hierarchy, are always the organs of truth relative to the

APPEARANCE OF JESUS TO THE TWO DISCIPLES. 435

spoken! (26) Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? (27) And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them the things concerning himself in all the writings. (28) And they drew near to the village where they were going, and he made as though he were going further. (29) And they constrained him, saying, Remain with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is declining; and he went in to stay with them. (30) And it came to pass that as he was reclining with them, he took the loaf, and blessed it, and having broken it, gave it to them. (31) And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he became invisible to them. (32) And they said to each other, Did not our heart burn in us as he spoke to us on the way, and expounded to us the writings? (33) And they arose that very hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven assembled, and those with them, saying, (34) The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. (35) And they related what had happened on the way, and how he was known to them by the breaking of bread.

§ 305. The appearance of Jesus to the two disciples, who were seeing and hearing mediums, was simply visible, tangible, and audible. You are told that their eyes were holden, that they should not recognize him. This means that Jesus appeared to them with other lineaments than those under which they had known him. It was only while he was at table with him that their eyes were opened, and they knew him; for the figure of the Master appeared to them, and Christ showed himself as they had seen and known him.

We have already explained the audible voice (p. 423), in speaking of the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene and the other women. Was it not easy for Jesus to cause the disciples to hear the discourse which he addressed to them, without his having recourse to spoken words, and yet causing them to bear it so distinctly that they supposed they received it through their outward senses? Such phenomena are well known. You feel that you have been touched, and yet no material hand has been laid upon you. You often hear a noise, which has not been produced by any material object near you.

The two disciples were not only seeing but hearing mediums, and being ignorant of their medianimic faculties, received the impression of the words of Jesus, and thought that they had heard them spoken, just as you think you hear in your sleep. It would have been useless to employ

spoken words, when the other method, which was better adapted to the disposition of the disciples, was sufficient.

Jesus conversed with them before making himself known, in the matter-of-fact manner which preceded his recognition, and then at the moment that they recognized him, he took bread, and blessed it, and instantly disappeared from their eyes without saying anything more. He acted thus to make a stronger impression on them, and to fix his words more deeply in their memory.

There are only two points in this interview to which it is necessary to direct your attention specially: Jesus said that it was necessary for Christ to suffer all these things, and then to enter into his glory. These words relate to the humanity which was attributed to him. The two disciples, like the Apostles and the people at that time, looked upon Jesus as a man like themselves, “a prophet mighty in word and deed before God and man." Men were afterwards to attribute divinity to him; and this belief was to last until the spiritual nature and origin of Jesus, which was veiled by the letter, should be revealed by the New Revelation. Jesus was unknown by men till the day of his resurrection, but he then made them feel his power and protection; and it was only after this event that his name, and especially the blessings which he conferred on men, became known throughout the world. If Jesus had entered immediately, and without waiting to be asked, he would equally have impressed the imagination of the disciples by what was to follow; but by attempting to proceed, he tested their charity towards a stranger who was liable to be overtaken by night, and thus gave men a lesson and an example. In order to make himself known when he broke the bread, Jesus gave his fluidic body the human characteristics which the disciples knew, and restored its tangibility under this new form. In disappearing from their eyes, he again ceased his tangibility, and his body became fluidic and invisible to them, and returned to space, until the time of his next appearance. The whole transaction took place instantaneously while the Master was at table with the disciples.