THE SPIRIT FATHER M R s. M AR Y Mann ^ .^,#^ PRINCETON, N. J. *** % Presented by \ X~(S^3\c:^<2,VA-V \ ^"Wov^ BS 475 .M34 1901 Mann, Mary The Spirit Father MKS. MAUY MANN'. THE SPIRIT FATHER BY MRS. MARY MANN t CHICAGO: M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 407-429 Dearbobh St. Copyright May 3lst, 1901, BY MRS, MARY MANN THIS IS DEDICATED TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. AND TO THE GLORY OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND ELDER BROTHER. PREFACE. No merit is claimed by the Author for the writing of this book, for I believe that God has simplj'' used me as his instrument. As the whole light as here revealed was given by one night's revelation, and forty night's spiritual interpretation. So, after much thought and prayer over the revelation, I do not believe God gave it to be kept a secret in my own heart, but that it is God's will and time to send this light to others, therefore I send forth this book with many prayers, hoping it will be a blessing to many. Mrs. Mary Mann. The first betrotten of tlic Father, Jesus, our Elder Brother. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGS I. The Bible a Casket or Jewels 9 II. God the Spirit Father 11 III. Adam and Eve in the Garden 16 IV. The Father in the Garden 23 V. God Sending Adam out of the Garden. . 28 VI. The Beginning of God's Work with the Fallen Man 35 VII. Wickedness of Man 46 VIII. Abram and Sarai 54 IX. Isaac and Rebekah 63 X. Joseph 79 XI. Moses 89 XII. Moses and Aaron 98 XIII. In the Wilderness 108 XIV. God Tells Moses to Build A Tabernacle . 112 XV. Moses' Burden 118 XVI. Joshua 123 XVII. Gideon 129 XVIII. Samson 138 XIX. Samuel 145 XX. The Ark 157 XXI. Saul 164 XXII. David 174 KXIII. Solomon 185 \:XIV. Job 191 XXV. Jonah 200 XXVI. The Father's Promises to His Obedient Children 206 XXVII. The Father Speaking to His Disobedient Children 221 7 CONTENl S— Continued. CHAPTER PAGE XXVIII. God the F.\ther's First Promise to Man. 229 XXIX. John the Baptist 244 XXX. Jesus 261- XXXI. Jesus at the Jordan 272 XXXII. Jesus in the Wilderness 282 XXXIII. Jesus Begins His Work . . . 290 XXXIV. Jfisus' Sermon on the Mount 307 XXXV. Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount . . 327 XXXVI. Jesus Reproveth the Scribes, Pharisees and Hypocrites 342 XXXVII. F.\.THER AND SON 348 XXXVIII. The Miracles 357 XXXIX. Lazarus 365 XL. The Parables 371 XLI. Love of Father and Son 384 XLII. Jesus Prepares for the Passover. . . . 390 XLIII. The Resurrection 403 XLFV. Called, Chosen and Sent 413 XLV. Once for All 421 XLVI. Notes from the Author 424 CHAPTER I. THE BIBLE A CA8KET OF JEWELS. All jewels are generally locked up in caskets for their safe keeping, and the casket put in a vault and that locked also. Do you think that the key of the casket that holds the Crown Jewels of Great Britain would be put into the hands of an}^ but trusted and tried servants? Oh, no. Here are a few of the jewels in the casket we are going to speak of. The Crown of Spiritual Under- standing, that is one of the grandest that can be bestowed upon us on earth, to have our understanding opened by God through Christ. The Crown of Wisdom — for the understanding is of little value if we do not have the wisdom to use it right. The Crown of Knowl- edge, — for if Ave do not have a clear perception of what we understand, we will make many mistakes. But when these three are put together they are ready for use. The crown of love, — love God. The Crown of Honor, — honor God. The Crown of Glory, — glorify God. And the Crown of Everlasting Spiritual Life. Do you think that so many precious jewels would be left in a casket without a key? No casket of jewels in the world was ever safer locked up; and the key will never be given to any unless it be God's time to open it, and the key will never be trusted to 9 10 The Spirit Father any but the tried and true child of God, and the faithful to Christ. There will be many trusted servants to take care of such a casket, but God will choose his own servants. He will try their faithfulness in many ways before trusting them with the portion they are to take care of, for every one will just get the portion to take care of that they are fitted for. I was speaking of the servants that were to take care of the jewels. All the jewels belong to the Spirit Father, and he has them to give to every one of his children, if they wish for them. But we have to find the key to get into the vault first, and through the vault to find the jewels. And see on what conditions our Father has made his will. First: — The Old Testament, — darkness and death. Then added the New Testament, — light and ever- lasting life. But the spirit must give us the key and show us how to use it, either by revelation or spiritual interpretation. All ought to understand that much of the inspired word and teaching of the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments is given in Parables. So many just take the literal words and never look for any meaning. They see nothing but the words they read, for they have not the spirit light. And there are just enough of God's laws, commands, cove- nants and promises and his dealings with his people through all generations kept on record to suit God's own purposes. CHAPTER II. GOD THE SPIRIT FATHER. Before God created the world as we know it, he had his home and spirit family from all ages. And when he sends them out of his own home he clothes them in garments of some kind and shape. But after they went from the father there would grow amongst them good and bad just as they are now. Disobedience and fightings! There has always been war between God and Satan, for good and evil since Satan was cast out of heaven ages ago; and before the earth was created as we know it now. God has always put garments of flesh on his spirit children just as it suited him and his purposes, for the place, time and age it has been in. Just as any human father has a right to clothe the flesh of the child that is born to him. He has a perfect right to clothe that child in any kind or shape of garment that suits him. In different countries and nations there are needed dif- ferent kinds and shapes of garments. So the spirit father has changed the shape and kind of garments he has clothed his spirit children in, according to the age, time and places he has put them in to live until it came to the time when he said : "Let us make them after our own image, a perfect man. And we will create a new world for them to live in, and if they are 11 12 The Spirit Father good and obedient they will get all they need, and be happy, for we will make a beautiful place for them, and put everything in it they need." So God began to get a part of his domains ready for human children, for all the world belonged to God as it was then, void and dark, just as it belongs to him now in all its beauty. So God came and began his work, the creating of the heaven and earth. In the creating of the world to put our first human parents in, God merely changed the place from what it was, a place without form, a perfect chaos, a mass of disorder and confusion, everything in an unorganized condition — but it was perfectly suited for the benighted creatures that in- habited it at that time. They were creatures in moral darkness and without intellectual light, but still they were all God's creatures and God's word went forth over all that confusion, and all has been changed into a beautiful garden, for that is what the world is, — a beautiful garden to those that have eyes to see the beauty and grandeur of the glorious handiwork of God. The day is coming when the mighty power of God the father will transform the world again (but in a different way) for his redeemed children to live in. When God finished his work he looked upon all he had made, it all pleased him for he said it was all good. Still the father kept on beautifying, for he planted a garden in the Eastward, and there he made to grow every tree that was pleasant to look at, and all that was good for food. How many good human fathers are doing the same for their children to-day? God the Spirit Father 13 They are turning acres and acres of uncultivated land into beautiful homes and gardens for their children. And alas! how many of their sons and daughters are unthankful, willful and disobedient until the father has to cast them out of his home although it brings sorrow and grief to that father's heart? Could we only understand the grief and sorrow our disobedience has brought to our spirit father's heart.. What different children many of us would be. But God said, let us make man in our own image and after our own likeness, and let them have domain over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and over all things on earth. But he did not say he would give them any power over anything in heaven. Then God the Father begins his work in the creating of man after his own image and in his own likeness. Male and female, created he them. There then was God's own image. Male and female, tree and branch but one (strength and purity). He then formed man. But if he had not done any more than form the man, that was merely making the garment. If God had just left it lay on the ground as he had made it, it would only have been a useless piece of work. But God finished his work by breathing into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul. This was the first spirit child of God's, put into the first created in his own image and likeness, that was to inhabit and look after the father's rights. That was the first in his mage as far as Bible history takes us for our enlight- ment and beyond that we cannot go, unless it be God's will and purpose to reveal it to us. Still, Adam was 14 The Spirit Father not quite finished for the work he was created for. There was Adam, the root and body of the tree, but the root or body does not bear the fruit, it is the branch that bears the fruit. Then God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and took one of his ribs and made woman, and brought her unto the man. And God called their name Adam. God called them both by one name (Adam). The sleep that was caused to fall on Adam symbolizes a tree when it is first planted and the time it takes before the branches will grow out of the side of the tree to bear fruit; then again, it symbolizes a child when it is born into the world, the time it takes the natural child to grow before it can bring forth spiritual fruit. And again, it symbolizes the spiritual seed planted in the bosom of nature and the time it lies dormant before it quickens. And when Adam saw her, he said: "This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, but he did not say spirit of spirit. But said, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. And they shall be one flesh. There stood our first human parents, from the hand of their God and Father, — in all their virgin purity and power, — in his own image. Now let us ask ourselves wherein consists Adam's image to God? If he was, as we believe, the first human parent of the human race, we ought to try and know something about him, for it is just in under- standing the lesson we have recorded in the Bible on Adam, that opens up to all future generations the God the Spirit Father 15 true light on the working out of God's plan for the redemption of the human race. Adam's image to God was not because he had two feet to walk on, or two hands to feed or dress himself with, as many in the world think — if they ever take time to think of anything but the care and desires of their own flesh. Adam's image to God was in his being capable of receiving human and divine wisdom, divine under- standing, and divine knowledge, and capable of becom- ing a spiritualized being in his human form, if he had obeyed the command of his father. How long he kept his purity and power we are not told, but he was capa- ble of knowing good from evil, he chose the evil, and became a fallen natural or animal man again. Now we have only to follow the history of Adam to the fifth chapter of Genesis and the third verse to find the key that opens the whole Bible teachings. If you can read that with your spiritual understand- ing opened, or from spiritual interpretation then you must trace God's plan and work with the natural man through all the dark ages, until we come to the fulfill- ment of the new covenant in the sending of Christ the first fruits of the resurrection of the spiritual man. And from that age to this God deals with the spiritual man. Christ stands between the natural man and God, but the holy spirit between the spiritual man and God. CHAPTER III. ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN. The man was then put into the garden to dress and keep it. He was to care for and look after what his father was going to put under his care. His father told him he might eat of every tree in the garden with the exception of one tree. The father had reserved that for himself and his own use. The tree of knowledge, of good and evil (tne man tree) that should he eat of it he would surely die. But the evil one got in there, the old Satan, in all his subtility. Many wonder how Satan got there. Satan and all his creatures were there before God prepared the earth for his human creatures. Wherever there is purity there you will find Satan, ever read}' for his work. So that was the very tree he was determined to have them eat of because God had commanded them not to. So Satan goes to the woman in all his beguiling and fascinating vileness and begins to talk to her in his sly, cunning way. The same old Satan then is the same old Satan of to-day. We can see him coming to the woman asking about the trees, and talking about one tree and another till he comes to the one he went there to talk about. Then he says, "Did God say you were not to eat of every 16 Adam and Eve in the Garden 17 tree in the garden?" The woman said, "Yea, we can eat of every tree but one, and that one we are not to eat of nor touch." But Satan says, "Why, that is the very best tree there is, and if you only take a taste of it once God might never know, and it will make you both wise, your eyes will be opened." What a pleasant and beautiful tree it is too look at and much to be desired. Oh, Satan knew how to speak to the woman then, and he is speaking the same words to them now. Is there anything in the world that a woman likes to look upon more than a beautiful, well formed, well developed, good man, and even if he is a bad man we cannot help admiring the man, although we cannot admire his life. But in the man tree alone can we find all the attri- butes that was in the tree of knowledge, — good and evil, — and that was the tree Satan was determined to get out of the hands of God and into his own power again. For if the man and the woman did not know what use God was going to make of them Satan knew it well. They were to subdue and conquer all evil and be fruitful and multiply; and replenish the earth with good. That was God their Father's command to them when he left them there in their purity. But Satan never leaves his work unfinished if it is in his power to finish it. She listened to his persuading voice and evil power until she went to the tree took of the fruit, and her husband ate with her. Their eyes were opened and they knew they had 18 The Spirit Father sinned and their purity gone. They were afraid and tried to hide from God, but they soon found they could not hide from the presence of God. No hiding of evil from God then, nor no hiding of evil from God now. Adam's father had been good to him. He had made him a perfect man, pure and good, and gave him a helpmate, and had provided everything for him that he needed. A beautiful place to live in, and had given him power over everything on earth, even over Satan had he power, if he had wished to hold it. Nothing was withheld from him but the one tree that God reserved and required for his own use. What was the use God was going to make of this tree? God, himself, the tree of life, and man, the human tree, are inseparable, the one requires the other. God, the spirit father, was going to people the earth with his spirit family in human form, and he required the fruit of the tree, and the fruit grows on the branch, that was the woman. And from the fruit of the womb the garment to cover the spiritual child was to be taken. For the flesh on us is only the garment God requires to hold the spirit. But the fruit of the womb was to grow by the power of the word of God, not by any co-operation of man. It was the Devil instituted that act (not God) and that one act brought man down from the image of God, his spirit father and maker, to the level of the beast. That was where Christ found man when he begun Adam and Eve in the Garden 19 his work for the uplifting of the fallen human race, and to lead them back to the purity that God made them in. Now, if we believe God created Adam the first of the human race without the seed of man. And that Christ was conceived in the virgin womb by the power of God's word, as all Christians are supposed to believe, could he not by the word of his power have brought forth all the human garments he would require for the clothing of his spirit family under the human race, without the man he had created falling again to the brutish, bestial, savage state that he was Ufting them from. We say he could have brought forth all the garments he would require. The man or woman who says that God ever created human man for the use he put himself to is a blasphemer against God, for he is attributing to God what is con- trary to God's holy nature. When God reserved the human tree and the seed of the tree for his own use and purpose when he created man, he reserved it for his own use for all generations, as long as the world lasts. He requires it to-day for the same use and purpose he did then — to clothe the spirit child. God cannot send one of his children into this world until he first prepares the garment. Man or woman may destroy the seed but only the word of God can make it grow. And where will we find the devil and his followers 20 The Spirit Father busier at any work in the world in this age than in the destruction of the human seed. I do not believe that any man or woman, if they really understood what they were doing, would ever lift a hand to destroy one human seed, either before it was planted or after it had taken root and tens of thousands even after it had received the spirit life. This is sin, crime, and murder. Onan destroyed one seed only and God slew him, because Onan knew what he was doing, he had human sense. That was to be a warning to all generations. Let us look back thirty or forty years ago, and the man or woman, let him be a physician or any one else, if the crime was known they were accounted worthy of penal punishment. The sin and crime was punishable by death from the hand of God in Onan's generation, and up till less than thirty years ago was accounted worthy of severe punishment by the laws of our country. What has changed the sin, crime and murder in these days or this age, that the wholesale slaughter of the human seed and fruit goes on as it does. Do people think because the laws of the country have relaxed or because God does not strike each one on the spot as he did Onan, that the sin or crime will go unpunished? Oh, no, God's hand is only withheld now for his own purpose but when his time comes the punishment will be sure. All else in the world that is good for man or woman God has freely given us, and whatsoever is our own we may give aiwa}'' or destroy as we please, but not what God has reserved for himself and his own use. Adam and Eve in the Garden 21 But that is the one tree the devil is determined to destroy, for since he first got possession of the flesh of Adam and Eve, our first parents, he has held posses- sion and sway over all flesh and will, till the end of the age, except those that have been, and will be redeemed through obedience and faith in God. God is the father of the spirit child, but not of the human flesh unless they are redeemed, then, we belong to God our Father, — spirit, soul, and body. We do not know how long Adam lived in the pure state that God left him in, but we can imagine the grief and sorrow of that loving father's heart when he saw the shameful downfall of his first son, created in his own image and purity, and pure he was to remain. God did not need him to fall from his purity to help him in his work. God made and created all things by the word of his power, and he needed no co-opera- tion or help from Adam to make the fruit grow on the branch of the human tree that was in the virgin womb of Eve. The fruit was to grow there by the power of God's word. Just as the flesh of Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the power of God's w^ord so was all the human fruit to grow if man had not fallen. How" many garments he would have produced at once no one can know. But it is quite a common thing to hear of two (twins) or three, and we have heard of five and six. And when that happens people say: "What a wonder, and how ever could such a thing happen?" God only does those things once in a while, to let 22 The Spirit Father people see the wonderful power of God, if they could only understand it and because he needed all those garments at once. Even although he only left his spirit child in this world a few hours or a few moments after its human birth, it had answered the spirit father's purpose to send his child into this world and take it back to him- self before its purity was soiled with even one hour in this world. And has the spirit father not as good a right to call his child home at any hour or at any age if he wishes it as our human father has? If a human father has a son or daughter away from home in any part of the world and wishes them to come home, he surely has a perfect right to send them word to come, and he has a right to expect them to do so. Then the spirit father has the same right over his children, and when the spirit child is called home by its father, what good is your child to you? Only the empty garment, useless, and has to be buried out of your sight, for in a few days it would be only a piece of corruption. But it will spring up again by the power of the word of God, at the resurrection day; for the seed is in the body. CHAPTER IV. THE FATHER IN THE GARDEN. Adam and Eve sewed leaves together and made aprons and put them on thinking to hide their sin and nakedness, for they saw themselves as they were, stripped of their innocence and purity. 0, how many are wearing aprons and calling them the emblem of innocence, when they are the emblem of fallen man trying to hide his sin. May all men's eyes be opened as Adam's were. Then God asked Adam who told him he was naked. Have you eaten of the tree? I commanded thee not. Adam had his excuse ready, he said: "The woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." Like thousands of other men all the wrong they do has to be laid on the poor woman. But that did not help Adam, nor will it help any other one. God will hold every one responsible for their own sin and wrong doing. And when God asked the woman what she had done, she said the serpent (Satan) beguiled her and she did eat, and gave her husband to eat with her. And that is Satan's work from that day to this, deceiving people and telling them lies to get them to do wrong and disobey God. But all three came under the wrath of God, and each had their punishment, as God saw fit to punish them. The punishment God 23 24 The Spirit Father put upon them has never been lifted off the human race. God cursed the serpent and said he should go on his belly all the days of his life. So he must not have crawled on his belly till God put that curse on him as a punishment. Although God cursed Satan, he did not curse the man or woman, but he laid their punishment upon them, and it rests on man and woman up through all ages until the present day. God will never lift the punishment off the human race, for his word had come forth and it will never be recalled. But he has opened up a way and put it into the power of every man and woman to lift the punishment off themselves. What was the woman's punishment? Unto woman he said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be towards thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." And those words have held true through all genera- tions, and will be until man and woman are redeemed from the sin that brought the punishment. But that time will come, and has come to many now, for God, through Christ, has opened a way to lead men back to the purity that God made man in. What was Adam's punishment? He was to have sorrow all his life, and there is no man in the world, no matter in what position of life he is placed, but has sorrow of some kind. And God said Adam should return unto the ground for out of it he was taken. Now that could not have been what the father intended to be the lot of his The Father in the Garden 25 children for ihat was a punishment put on them for disobedience. Let us ask a q\iestion, for we have been asked the same question many a time. When God the Father made Adam and Eve and left them in the garden in their puritj^ and inno^ience if he had wanted them to remain in that state could he not have kept them in the condition he made them in (pure)? We answer yes, and no: first, j^es, if God had wished to keep his children in bondage; second, no, for God's children are all free. When their father placed them in the garden, he gave Adam his command and told him what he had a right to do, and what he v/anted him to do. And that is all a father expects to have to do to an obedient child. All that our Heavenly Father has ever asked from any of his children is love and obedience, and these have to be gi^v^en of our own free w^ill, for God will accept nothing from his children that is not given as a free-will offering. For all God's children are left to the freedom of their own will. Is there any human father that would like to have to force his children to love and obey him. He might compel them to obey either by punishment or by prom- ises, but no one can compel a child to love them, for love is a free-will gift from the heart. And there is nothing in the world more beautiful to look at than a good father's love and care for his children, and his children's love and obedience to him. 26 The Spirit Father But what has won the love of his children to him but the father's love and goodness to them. And we feel perfectly sure if thousands and tens of thousands of God's children that are living without love in their heart to their spirit father, and careless and disobedient to his laws and commands, we believe if they really understood what God the spirit father was to them and they to him, and what the life of the spirit child within them is, there are few men and women in the world that believe in an everlasting life that would not turn to that God and Father with their whole heart. They would never rest until they knew they were reconciled to their spirit father, and belonged to him, spirit, soul and body, for that is what we must be before we can be one of the redeemed. Our flesh, that is the human man, must be com- pletely taken out of the hands of Satan and >sin, and every one has to do that for themselves and uf their own free will. No father can save his son, he may teach him and show him the way to find salvation, but he cannot save him. God our Father promised on the very spot where he was putting the punishment on our first parents that from the seed of the woman he would open up a way for our redemption, and God has kept his promise. But it all rests with every individual self to accept the way or reject it. Your minister may teach you the way, our parents may teach us the way, our sisters and brothers may teach us the way, and all may pray for us and many The Father in the Garden 27 tears and sorrows may they have over us, but none of them can save us. And, alas, too many leave their salvation to the prayers of their ministers and their parents. But none can save them. Man sinned of his own free will and he must repent and return to the Father of his own free will. CHAPTER V. GOD SEXDIXG ADAM OUT OF THE GARDEN, Now, in the lessons recorded in the Bible for all generations on the sending forth of Adam from the presence of the Father and what God placed between himself and fallen man at that time, still stands between the natural man and God. The Cherubim is the Holy Spirit, and the flaming sword is the word of God. And the man going forth with the woman to live as man and wife, but the man was driven forth from the presence of God as the animal or natural man for he had lost his spiritual life, and therefore went forth to live under the animal or natural law. Satan had frustrated God's plan for the human and spiritual race (at that time). So man and w^onian begun life together, still the animal man in human form, and under the displeasure and punish- ment of God, but under God's permission to propogate and bring forth the human fruit under the natural or animal law. For God required the fruit of the womb to work out his plan and purpose for the human race. God promised for the use he was going to make of woman even in her fallen state that she would be saved through child bearing, })ut even under the natural law God is the giver of life. And the Father promised 28 God Sending Adam Out of the Garden 29 on the spot where he put the punishment on man and woman, that he would open a way to redeem them again out of the power of Satan and bring them back to their spiritual state. They were still spirit and flesh but had lost their spiritual life and power. But man retained his human wisdom and understanding and was capable of knowing good and evil, and all work that required human knowledge, for there were many great and wonderful things achieved by the human man through the old Bible ages. All the great buildings and glory of Solomon were all achieved by the animal man in human form. The record of his life in the Bible shows us that with all his glory, wisdom and understanding he was still the animal man with all his wives and concubines, but that life was^permitted by God under the natural law, and through all the dispensation of the law of Moses, as long as they were true and obe- dient to the God of heaven, but when they turned from the God of heaven to serve the gods of earth, then God punished them. But no spiritual covenant was made with man from the fall of man until Jesus arose from the water of Jordan and became the first fruits of the resurrection of the spiritual man under God's promise, made when Adam fell. And under the new covenant or spiritual covenant to be made with man, and under spiritual command. Now, let us understand that our God and Father never begun a work but he is able to accom- plish it to the uttermost. 30 The Spirit Father It takes a long time in some cases to bring the natural man to see his need of seeking after spiritual life. But God is patient and long suffering with his children, and a thousand years in God's sight is as a moment in ours, but God's plan will be worked out in all its fullness. For no promise of God's has ever been broken. Every day and every year is bringing some of God's promises to their fulfillment and so it will go on until the last one is fulfilled, and man stands at the judgment seat for the fulfillment of the final promise, there to receive the final and just sentence. But, oh, what will that sentence mean to many that are living in willful disobedience to the spiritual law? Let us ask what is the most powerful weapon Satan holds in the world to-day, to keep man in rebel- lion to God and in his spiritually blinded condition? The Bible. In the hands of multitudes of spiritually blinded people, it is one of the Devil's powerful instruments. The book that has been reserved by God from genera- tion to generation for the instructing and teaching of the human race as to their past, present and future; with the laws, commands and promises of the father to both the natural and spiritual man. Now let us see how the Bible has become Satan's power. The book has and is being torn to fragments. Every sect takes a piece of it out to suit them, then preach and teach it, and live it. One finds there is no God, another believes in materialism, that man is nothing but material organ- ism. Another finds evolutionism, another universalism, God Sending Adam Out of the Garden 31 another no eternal punishment, another finds a purga- tory, a place of cleansing after death. Another believes there is a supreme being, another that God could do all he wanted to do without Christ. Another in one way of baptizing, some one another way. Another Spiritualism, another Christian Science, another polyganism. Christian Science and Spiritual- ism are twin sisters, and arise from the powers of Satan over the animal mind, that is, people that no spiritual light has entered the natural mind. The spiritual seed has never been quickened, it is lying sleeping or dormant in their nature. Therefore they are susceptible to the influence of the e\il powers, and Satan uses them as mediums. But only those ihui are still living for the natural side of their life can be drawn under the power. And polygamy is the direct influence of the power of the Devil in the hell-born lust of the animal in man, and should be crushed out of every civilized nation. There are many other beliefs; and all say they have scripture for what they believe. Is it any wonder the book is Satan's power? Before the Bible can be understood it must be taken in all its comprehensiveness from the beginning to the end, but it must be read from both the natural and spiritual side of life. The Bible can never be read by the natural man to be understood, because the teachings of the Bible is foolishness to the natural man. Then again we must understand the difference in the people God was dealing with through the old Bible 32 The Spirit Father teachings and the people in the New Testament teach- ings, and the difference in the natural law and com- mands given through i\Iose.s to a people that were not capable of understanding anything but the natural or animal side of their life. But the law, commands and promises given by Christ were for the spiritual side of our life, and for the bringing of man to a spiritual- ized life. When the Bible can be read with our spiritual understanding opened or from revelation, it is the easiest understood book that can be read by man, but it is a sealed book to the natural man. The mysteries of God or his plan will never be revealed to the natural man, Man must seek unto God and take on his spiritual nature before he can understand God's plan for the redemption of the human race. But God is making as much use of the natural man in the working out of his plan, as he is of the spiritual man in some wa3^s. For in the recorded history of the lives of the men in the old Bible teachings we see what man is capable of doing with his human wisdom and understanding, although he has not a spark of spiritual life awakened in him. He can be a grand financier, we have that proven in the Bible, he can be a great inventor, he can be a great builder, he can be a great organizer, and many other great things we are told of man doing in the old Bible times. And God is making grand use in this age of the inventive powers of man in the working out of his plan. And in nothing is he making grander use of human wisdom than in the bringing into use the great God Sending Adam Out of the Garden 33 power of electricity. For we believe the day will come when the chariot that will bring down from heaven our royal earthly king and all the royal hosts, will be brought by the power of electricity. Oh, what wonderful things one can see and under- stand that has got even a glimpse of revelation. Light on the wonderful working out of the plan of God the Father in the preparation he is making for his redeemed children on earth. The very fruits and cereal foods that are the proper food for human man, are being prepared by the process of electricity, into the most palatable foods that can be desired by the most refined taste. The day is coming when no redeemed child of God's will eat of the flesh of any animal that has blood in their flesh. No animal life should ever be taken by the hand of man to provide for the human race, under the spiritual law. I do not understand about the fish, when they are taken from their watery home they die without the use of knife or hatchet and Christ used the fish in feeding the multitudes. All our domestic animals have their use, the horse, the companion of man in his daily labor, the dog, the house guard, and companion of child and man. The cow to give us milk, butter, and cheese. The hen to provide the purest and most nourishing of all food, the egg. And the beautiful lambkin to provide the wool for the clothing of both bed and body. Even our cat has its use, to destroy the creatures 34 The Spirit Father of Satan, the dispoilers of our granaries and homes, the rat and mouse. And our little feathered songsters and many other of the feathered tribe are domestic creatures, and have to be provided for by the hand of man if we keep them under our supervision. But if we send them out to nature they will find nature's food for themselves, for God has provided for all his creatures, food for every kind. The human race are the only creatures of God that have been left to provide and prepare their own food to suit their own palate. And that has made more sickness and disease amongst the human race than anything else in the world. For they eat and drink what was never intended for human man, and revel in their lusts until they bring themselves into a state worse than the brute. The last of all God's creatures to be brought into subjection to the laws of God is the human man. The majority of people think all those changes will take place after the judgment, but, no, all the animal desires and the power of the animal seed has to be killed and cleansed out of the human flesh before man can be redeemed out of the power of Satan, and the glory and power of God made manifest in man. What Christ was, man must become, — the perfect spiritual- ized man in human flesh. CHAPTER VI. THE BEGINNING OF GOd's WORK WITH THE FALLEN MAN. We will follow Adam and Eve a little way in their new life. They went forth from the Father to begin their married life on their own responsibility. And in place of being the caretaker of his father's flock as the father intended him to be, he had to commence and till the ground to prepare food for himself and his own flock. Eve conceived and brought forth her first son and called him Cain, and brought forth a second son and his name was Abel. Now, I believe this is a great typical lesson, and I will interpret it here as it has been, I believe, divinely interpreted to me, for it is part of the key that opens the Bible. First, Cain represents the natural man, and Abel represents the spiritual man. And the death of Abel by the hand of Cain symbolizes the death of the spiritual man for that dispensation. And is also typical of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We also have represented in this lesson the hatred of the evil for the good, and how Cain, the first son's birthright, became Abel's. Cain, as the first born, should have been the heir, the keeper of the sheep instead of the tiller of the ground. But the punishment put on Adam was put on all the human race. Abel, represented as the keeper of the .35 36 The Spirit Father sheep, is a typical lesson of the first and second Adam. An emblem, also, of the words in the new covenant, 'The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." First, the natural man, then the spiritual man. Then we have the lesson on the two offerings, and what they symbolize for all ages past and present. First, Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, a dead offering, a perishable offering, and it was not acceptable to God; for God could see into the heart of the giver of the offering, and he knew it was unclean. What does this lesson symbolize to us, but the work going on in the world at the present age, and through all the Christian era. There are thousands of Chris- tians (for every one that believes on Jesus Christ is a Christian in name) that are giving some of their time, talent, and money to God, as they believe, or in some way for God's work, but they can give all these, and their hearts have never been offered to God. For their daily lives are filled with all the pleasures and sin of the world. And their time, talent, and money are all of the perishable things of earth, and sj'mbolizc the offering of Cain, the offering of the natural man. God has no respect for such offerings, for he can see into the heart of the giver, as he saw into Cain's heart Cain was angry when he saw God had no respect for what he had offered him, and God saw his anger and told him he need not bo angry for if he did right he would be accepted, but if he did wrong he would have to suffer for his sin. But Cain was still angry and went and killed his brother, that means, b}' his disobedience to God, he killed his spiritual brother, The Beginning of God's Work with Fallen Man 37 the spiritual life within himself, for the natural and spiritual life in man represents (twins) the two seeds in one body, the seed of man and the seed of God, — seed of the flesh, seed of the spirit, in one body. The natural seed, mortal, perishable, the spiritual seed, immortal, unperishable, through all the everlasting ages. Oh, that man would seek unto God and know himself and know God. Now let us take Abel's offering and see what it represents. He offered to God the firstling of his flock and the best of them. This was a living offering, an unperishable offering and was acceptable to God, and represents the spiritual man. This is a lesson for all generations to show them what gifts or offerings are acceptable to God. For sacrifices, — God wants none — except the sacrifice of a true, pure, willing, and obedient heart. The last sacrifice required of the shed- ding of blood was freely and \villingly given by Christ to seal the father's promises and testimony of Jesus as the messenger of the new covenant. And that blood stands between every sinner and the fulfillment of God's promise of forgiveness to man of all his past sins. The moment he sees himself a sinner, and seeks forgiveness in Jesus' name, and for Jesus' sake, that is for all past sins. Then 3^our present and future rests in your own hands, as to how you obey God and the life you live. The sacrifice Christ made is represented in the offering Abel brought to God, the living lamb. Then we must learn from this that the first offering or gift we bring to God must be a living offering. We must freely and willingly surrender or restore to 38 The Spirit Father God that which is his own, our spirit, and the creation of his hands, our souls and body. That is the first gift that will be acceptable to God, a living offering. Then as much of your time, talent, and money as he wishes to use in the Master's work, God will be pleased with it if you do or give for the love of Christ and the advance- ment of his kingdom. We may give our hundreds or thousands in charities that is the work of one human creature helping another and for our own gratification, and many times it is given to please some friend, or for what the world may say about the giver. All that may be done without them ever having a thought of God or Christ in their heart, but God is the searcher of all hearts, and he judges by the heart not by the acts. When God told Cain what his punishment was to be, Cain tried to plead with God, but God told him before he put his punishment on him, to go and do right, but Cain disobeyed, for he went and killed his brother (his spiritual life). Then when his punishment was put on him, he cried, "0, Lord, it is more than I can bear!" for thou are driving me from the face of the earth, and from thy face will I be hid. Oh, Lord, Oh, Lord, I cannot bear it!" But all the same Cain had to go. He was banished from the face of God, and cast out from amongst the children of God. God put a mark on him, the mark of the beast (original sin). The one sin that cannot be forgiven, all other sin God can forgive in a moment if we repent and ask forgiveness. Original sin must be purged out of the flesh of man, by the indwelling power of The Beginning of God's Work with Fallen Man SO the Holy Spirit. The seed of the spirit must kill the animal seed before the flesh (the body) can be released from the power of Satan. That is the one sin that holds Satan's power over the body of man. And that is what Christ died for, to redeem the body out of the hands of Satan. And glory be to God there are many in the world to-day that feel the cleansing power of the spirit sweeping through their body. Christ died to open up the way for man to be saved to the uttermost, for man must stand on the earth the spiritualized man in his human life before God's glory is fulfilled in man, and Satan's power broken. God has a way unknown to man, that every spirit that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, if they truly believe in their heart, and live up to every light they have, and search for more light, if it was the last hour you live on earth and you turn to God believing truly in Christ, your spirit will be saved. And God will reclothe the spirit. And it will work its own salvation (on earth). God prepared earth for the habitation of man. On earth man fell and went into the power of Satan and on earth while it is in its present state man must remain until all that belong to Christ are cleansed from the last sin. However, many times God may reclothe them on earth only God himself knows. Satan's power must ye killed while we are here. God has appointed times for all things and when his appointed time is up for to call the judgment, how many will there be like Cain that have not taken God's warning to go and do right? Then they will be like 40 The Spirit Father Cain; they will cry, "Oh, Lord, my punishment is more than I can bear!" While I write this I think I hear their cry. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, be warned. Turn to your God and Father, take Christ into your heart, get into the fold. The great chain of darkness and evil is broken Our Saviour has severed the chain. But Hnk from each link from the chain must be broken, Before nian stands forth in his freedom again. The severing of the chain must Ije done here on earth, Before man can stand forth in his frce-bom birth And regain the lost Glories of heaven and earth. When Cain went into his banishment, he found a mfe and she brought forth a son. There are many people that ask where did Cain get his wife? This lesson teaches us that where Cain was banisb.ed to. the abode of Satan, he would find i)lenty of A\'ives suitable for him there. But it is Cain's son that we are to have the lesson on (Enoch). Enoch's human father is represented as the murderer. But we are sho^^ n here that it does not matter with God what your father, mother, sister or brother may be. They may all be good and amongst the saved, but you might be amongst the lost, and they might all be amongst the lost, and you one of the saved. For God -will hold every individual soul responsible for their own doings and the life the)'^ live, for God does not deal with children. God's dealings are with man and woman. Parents will be held responsible for the care and bringing up of their children to a certain age. But sometimes The Beginning of God's Work with Fallen Man 41 the most carefully trained and brought up children in good Christian homes, after they have reached their maturity have turned out to be the very sons of Satan. And others have been brought up in the very hot- beds of sin, in their infancy, have, in their matured years, turned out to be some of the noblest sons of God, and the most earnest workers for the master. Can we not see how the world is flooded with skepti- cism? Our sons and daughters are brought up in many homes with a holy reverence for God, and a love and desire in their hearts for Christ, and never knew the day they did not bend in prayer. They have been away from home for a few years and intermingled with many people of cUfferent religions, and people of no religion, then come home in a few years flourishing the emblem of some secret order, and in place of talking of the God and Christ of their earlier years, they begin telling us of a supreme being, or a ruler of the universe, and of Christ as an exemplary man, and so on, and so on, until they come to the place where they think it is a farce to bend their knee in prayer to the God of heaven. Oh! Satan's power, Satan's power, from the dark ages. How many good mothers and wives are crying to God to-day to break the power of darkness that is holding their husbands and children in the bondage of Satan and under the power of the natural law. We are told that Enoch walked with God, and that he never tasted death. The death spoken of there represents the spiritual death. 42 The Spirit Father The man that walks with God and obeys his com- mands will never taste of the spiritual death. Christ never tasted the spiritual death, but he tasted of the natural death all flesh must taste of the natural death. But the spiritual man has no need to fear the natural death, for Christ conquered the power of the natural death (for all flesh) both saved and unsaved; whether you be clothed in a spiritual body, or a natural body, a celestial or a terrestrial body, at the judgment day it will be your final body. Whether you be one of Christ's or one of Satan's, it may not be a moment of matter to God. Although it is God's Avish and he has opened the way for all men and women to save their own souls, that means a continuance of our human life. No matter what body we are clothed in we will all be God's creatures, just as all are his creatures now, so will we be then, for he is the father of the spirits of all flesh, both good and bad. But, dear reader, it Mill make a vast difference to you or I what kind of a body we are clothed in at that day, or whether we belong to Christ or Satan, or whether we are sentenced to everlasting spiritual life with Christ as our king, or everlasting spiritual death with Satan as our king. For each will be king of their own kingdom. God, himself, will not be the king of either earth or hell, God will ever be the king of heaven, but each of his sons will have their own kingdom, and their own subjects. And each will be finally separated from the other. No more intermingling. There will be a perfect and everlasting separation. At the time appointed, the day God has set to do The Beginning of God's Work with Fallen Man 43 this work, it will be done. But no creature but God himself knows the day or hour that will take place. Not the very angels in heaven know. He works out all his own plans, without consulting man about them. And at that day God has decreed that every creature shall put on their everlasting garments and receive their final doom. Every creature then will receive the doom they have brought upon themselves, either by their obedience or their disobedience to God. Not what God has decreed for you but what you have decreed for yourself, for it was God's will that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of God, and regain their lost glory. But all were left to the freedom of their own will, and to choose for themselves. If they choose Christ then to Christ they will belong, and if they have chosen Satan and his service, then to Satan they will belong. The earth will be brought into the state that the garden of Eden represents to us, before the curse was put on the ground for man's fall and the devourer permitted to destroy more than half of its production. But the earth in its restored state will bring forth food in all its abundance, for all the human race, and without the great toil and labor man has now. It will be the home of peace and plenty, for all the redeemed children of God, and Christ will be the universal king. I wonder how many fully understand what the curse that was put upon the earth has meant to man. Those that have been in the habit of studying nature may, but not many, I believe. All the vermin and insects, and the great storms and frosts that come and destroy 44 The Spirit Father our fields, our orchards, and our beautiful gardens, are all a part of the curse put upon the ground. When that is removed, for it vdW be in God's time, then the ground will bring forth its full increase, and man's labors will be light, for the ground will be purified and there will be neither vermin, insects, weeds nor thistles. About Satan's kingdom and his subjects we will refer our readers to the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. Read it with care and prayer. Oh, sisters, oh, brothers, if you could only understand what it will be for you to reject Christ and God's mercy, you would seek God's face to-day. We must go back to Adam and his next son. It says Adam begot a son in his own likeness and in his own image. Now we will look and see what was the dif- ference between the image Adam was created in and the likeness his son was begotten in. Adam was created in the image of his spirit father and capable of becoming a spiritualized man in his human form. Capable of receiving divine wisdom, divine knowledge and divine understanding, and remaining in a pure and holy state if he had obeyed God; that was Adam's image to his father. Now let us see whose image Seth bare. He was begot in the image of Adam, his natural father, the fallen man, and in his natural state he was incapable of receiving divine v.'isdom, knowledge or understand- ing for he was begot from the animal seed, therefore, just the animal man in human form. And this is the kind of man we have to deal with through all the ages. The Beginning of God's Work luith Fallen Man 45 For man is no more than that unless the spiritual life has been quickened. He understands nothing but the things of nature. And as there v/as no spiritual covenant, or covenant of an everlasting life for the flesh made with man through all the old Bible teachings they only lived under the natural or Mosaic law. But God made a promise to the obedient and faithful that a covenant would be made, and those that were obedient and faithful received the promise that God would hold them in remembrance when the time came. We can read of David's confidence in God, where he says, "God would not let his soul be lost." He believed the promise would be his, and he was looking forward to its fulfillment. CHAPTER VII. WICKEDNESS OF MAN. We must now begin and follow God's work with man, and his specially prepared instruments or servants through all the old Bible teachings till we come to the fulfillment of the new covenant in the birth of Christ, then to the River Jordan, from that through all Christ's work to his ascension, from that to the present age, before the Bible can be understood, and only slightly understood then, unless we can read like Paul, with the scales taken off of our eyes, then the spiritual eyes can see, and the heart can understand. We read of many strange things in the old Bible teachings that seem foolishness to us, unless we can understand the object lessons they are meant to reveal, for there is an object lesson in the life of every one that is recorded in Bible history. God saw man as they began to multiply, and the more they multiplied the more wicked they became. Daughters were born unto them. If we pay attention when we read the Bible, God never had any dealings with the daughters of men. All his dealings and covenants, promises and commands through all the old Testament were with men, only when he put the punishment on Eve. All his commands were given to the man, the tree, 46 Wickedness of Man 47 not to the branch. Woman was told then that man would rule over her, and that rule has been from generation to generation, and is to-day. Wherever you find a man that has not the love of God and the teachings of Christ in his heart and life, that man is a tyrant. He may hide his real self under many kind and good acts, and do many things that makes him look before the world a perfect man. But come down with him to his own private life, and we will find that self and self-will, is his ruling power. Let us see in what condition God found man in when Adam had lived nine hundred and thirty years. God found man so degenerated that he said, the wickedness of man was so great that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil ; and it is the same to-day, wherever we find an evil man or woman we will find an unclean heart. But God said his spirit would not always strive with man, for that man was flesh as well as spirit. God was sorry that he had ever made man, or put him on the earth in his human form, and his heart was grieved about it. He said he would destroy man that he had created from off the face of the earth, both man and beast. The beasts had to be destroyed, for the men had turned into beasts, in their degenerated state. Let us look at the three types of men we have in the world in this age, and we will have some idea of what God was dealing with in that age. We have the brutalized man, the humanized man, and the spiritualized man. First we will look at the brutalized man. His companions and manner of life 48 The Spirit Father are of the lowest and most degraded of the human race. His surroundings and life are more fitted for the animal than the human man. Then let us look at the human- ized man, he may be a good husband, a good father, and a man that lives a good, pure, refined life and likes his surroundings to be of the best and finest that money can buy. Honest and upright in all his dealings with his fellow-men. Some with large incomes, some with small incomes, and all they live for is the desires and comforts of the human life, and the money they can make for the pleasures and amusements they can get out of it, without a thought of whether their life is pleasing to God and without a thought of their soul's safety, or spiritual life. They are counted good people as the world sees them. Then we have the spiritualized man. He lives his daily life amongst all his business or daily labors from the spiritual side of his life. His desire is to please God, and the first love of his heart is for Christ, and a longing desire to win his fellow-men to a knowl- edge of God and Christ and the need of seeking after their soul's salvation. These are the types of men God has to deal with at the present age. When God looked on the earth out of his pure eyes, he saw the whole earth was corrupt, and all the flesh had corrupted its way. God is speaking of the flesh not the spirit. God said, "I will make an end of all flesh." Noah had been a just and perfect man in his genera- tion, and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Wickedness of Man 49 Now we must stop and look and see what we are reading. Noah was a just and perfect man — according to what was required of him by his God and Father in the times in which he lived. But what was a perfect man for that generation would not make a perfect man in this, our generation. But we can find only too many in the world now, who want to live the life of that degraded generation, and yet expect God to give them all the blessings he has promised to those who live a perfect life. But they forget to look or to find out what that perfect life requires us to do. We ought to bear in mind it is not to follow Adam and go and serve the devil at the alluring smiles of the first Eve we fall in with. For that did not do, even in Adam's time. He got his punishment. But the Lord said to Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them and I will destroy them with the earth." Just think a moment what God created when he made the world — Heaven and earth and sea. There were many strange things put in the deep, perhaps before ever God made the earth. The devil was cast down into the bottomless pit, and there are lots of devils in the deep now. And the sea has to give up its dead and its living at the judgment day as well as the earth. We are told in the first part of the Book that God's spirit moved upon the face of the waters. There must have been water then, but not held in the bounds as they are now. CO The Spirit Father And when God told Noah he would destroy the earth, and everything that was in it, except Noah and his family, God did not speak of destroying either the sea or the heavens, only the earth. God told Noah to get ready an ark and to get into it with his family, and of all the living things, male and female, to keep seed, for God was not going to create again. They were to multiply and be fruitful and fill the earth. They were under permission as Adam was after he fell, to propagate from the animal seed and under the natural law. Noah and his family went into the ark. God shut him in and he had to stay until God let him out. Now the shutting of Noah by God into the ark is an emblem of the power given to Christ. He shall open for us the way into heaven, and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. And again, he shall cast Satan into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and seal him in for a time. When Noah saw that the waters had gone down he sent a raven out of the ark, and the raven did not return but went off, to and fro, up and down. What kind of bird is a raven? He is a devouring, greedy bird, who goes about plundering by violence and was the first evil one let loose again on the earth. An emblem of Satan. When God asked him where he came from, he said, "from going to and fro on the earth." Then Noah sent a dove, but she found no rest. She had to return to the shelter of the ark, an emblem Wickedness of Man 51 of God's children returning to the bosom of their father. God told Noah and his sons that he would establish a covenant with them and to everything on the earth that he would never again send a flood that would destroy all flesh, nor would he destroy all the earth again by water. But that does not say it will not be cleansed in some other way. That covenant was to be perpetual from generation to generation, and the token of the covenant was to be a bow set in the heavens. God's promise has been kept from that generation to this, for we have the bow of the covenant with us now. So you see God's word never fails. That was the first covenant made with man, and there was no promise there of an everlasting life. But we will follow the covenants, promises and commands. The first thing Noah began to do when he got out of the ark was to offer burnt offerings to God, and when the Lord smelled it, he said, "Every imagination of man was evil." And he would just try what could be done with them. But the next thing Noah does is to get drunk and disgrace himself. He died at nine hundred and fifty years. No promise there of everlasting life. Noah obeyed God and did what God told him when he built the ark, but did what the old serpent told him when he got drunk, and brought on himself disgrace. That is the second generation, and the third genera- tion began. God said he would go down and see what they were doing, and he found a very ambitious people. 52 The Spirit Father They started to make brick and mortar and were going to build them a city, and a tower that they thought to reach heaven by. You see, even in those days, the people would have liked to have reached up to heaven, and seen in. And they thought they would make themselves a great name just as many think to do in this time. They think if the}' do some great deed they will make for themselves a great name. But what is a name if it is a perishable one? At that time all the people spoke in one language, and the Lord said, "Let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech." That is an emblem of to-day's life in the world, for we have nations and nations that do not understand each other's language. And the people of darkness (e\'il) do not understand the language or the speech of the true people of God. He scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth. We can take the literal meaning out of all we read in the Bible, but the most of it is typical, and in parable, and can only be read in the spirit's light when God opens the understanding and interprets it. And God has done that to all his chosen servants before he sends them to do his work. He makes them to understand what they are to do, and he expects to be obeyed, for that is the first command and desire of every good father, that his children shall obey. And as there is in every large family some that are more capable and trustworthy than others, and more obedient, their father will choose them for any respon- sible work he has to do. Well, it is just the same with Wickedness of Man 53 our spirit father. He knows his children, and knows whom he can trust with his work. No earthly father would send his son on his business anywhere without giving him his orders, and telling him what he wanted done, and how to do it. So it is with our spirit father. When he sends any of his family to do his business, he tells them how to do it, and he will hold them responsible for what they do. There are a great many in the world who have taken upon themselves to do our heavenly father's business. If they could understand what God will hold them accountable for, they would leave it alone until God called them, and made them ready. For no man can make himself read for God's work. A desire in our heart to be God's child, or a desire to go out and preach and teach to others does not fit us to be God's special servants. That is what has put God's work in the tumult it is in, so many want to be preachers. Why is there so many people, both men and women, that aie so anxious to go out to preach? There must be some reason for it. They cannot all be called to the work of God, for if they were there would be none of this trouble and controversy that is among so many of the self-called "servants of God." They do not imderstand the difference between the call of Christ as the master, to go and work in the vineyard, and God calling one of his true sons, and enduing him for some world-wide mission in the work of carrying forward God's plan for the redemption of the human race. CHAPTER VIII. ABRAM AND SARAI, God told Abram to go out of the country he was living in, and away from all his kindred and to go into a land that he would show him, and that he would bless him, and make his name great; and in him would all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram just obeyed — did as God commanded him. He was then seventy-five years old. He took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all things that belonged to them, and they started to go into the land of Canaan. Now Abram's life, as far as it is set forth in the Bible, is to typify Christ's life. Abram's first act was obedience. He simply obeyed the command of God. That was not faith, that was obedience. Our life must simply be obedience to the laws and commands of God, and then faith to believe what God has promised he can and will fulfill. Faith without obedience will bring no blessing to any one. Abram obeyed, and went right into the land of Canaan, God told him to lift up his eyes and look to the north, to the south, to the east and west, and 54 Ahram and Sarai 55 said all the land that he saw would be given to him and his seed forever. Look at Lot as he came on his journey with Abram. Abram was rich and had great flocks and herds, so also, had Lot, There was strife came between the herdsmen of Abram's flocks, and the herdsmen of Lot's flocks. We can look around the world now and see the same strife going on between the herdsmen, or Pastors, as they are called, who are supposed to be tending the flocks of God. It is just strife, strife. But Abram said, "let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, or between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen for we are brethren." How were they brothers. Lot was Abram's nephew? He called him brother in the same sense that he called Sarai, his wife, sister. When asked why he tried to pass his wife off as his sister, he said, "yes, indeed, she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother." He meant the spirit father was the father of them both, but their flesh did not grow in the same mother's womb. There was a battle with some of the kings, and Lot and all he had was captured and taken away. Word was brought to Abram that his brother Lot was taken captive. So Abram armed his own trained servants, born in his own house. Those are the kind of servants God must have, servants born in his own house, they must be born again. They must have the spiritual birth before they can be servants fitted for God's 56 The Spirit Father work. They must be trained and tried before God will trust them to handle the sword of the spirit. Abram took his trained servants and followed after Lot, and took him and all his possessions from the hands of the kings, and brought him back safely. God blessed him for what he had done. Melchizedek, the king, brought forth the bread and wine (an emblem of the bread and wine used by Christ; for the bringing back of Lot and all his goods by Abram is a symbol of Christ bringing back the children of God out of the hands of Satan.) And when the king wanted Abram to take a portion of the goods that he had captured, he said, "I have made a vow unto the most high God the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take even a thread, nor a shoe latchet or anything that is thine, lest thou would say, 'I have made Abram rich.' " (Another emblem of Christ). He wanted nothing from earth, only to save and heal, and cleanse the people, and get them out of the hands of Satan and sin, and safely back to the father. Abram knew that all his posses- sions were waiting for him in the land he was going to. So after God had seen Abram 's faithfulness he came to him in a vision, and said, "Fear not Abram, I am thy shield, and thy great reward." And what God was to Abram then, he is now to ever}' one that will be his, and -will love and obey him. He will be our shield, and he will give us our reward. But Abram said, "Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing that lam childless." He thought as he had no heir what would be the use of anything to him. Ahram and Sarai 57" It would all have to go to a stranger, for he kneAv he could not take it with him to the grave. But God said he would give him an heir, and told him to look up at the stars, that his seed would be as many as the stars of heaven, that is, all who are saved through Christ will be called Abram's seed. And he believed in the Lord, and God counted it to him for righteousness. You will see that God has been having quite a few dealings with Abram before this, but it was all telling him what to do, and he obeyed. When God made a promise to him, he believed, and that was counted faith, the obedience was first and faith after, but most people now want the faith to save them without the obedience. We cannot have salvation that way. God again appeared to Abram, when he was ninety years old, to renew the covenant. He said, "I am the Almighty God, walk thou before me a perfect life, and your name shall be changed to Abraham." If we pay attention when we read the Bible, God has given the names to all the promised children himself, and has changed the mane of many of his Kservants as he did Abraham's. The Lord said, "I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt keep it, and thy seed after thee in their generation." Mind, that is not for this generation, that was for that generation, and for that time. The covenant was that every man child was to be circumcised in his foreskin. But for this, our generation, we are to have our hearts circumcised. That was a covenant made with their flesh, and had nothing to do with their spirit. 58 The Spirit Father The first circumcision represents the circumcision of of the animal man and under the animal or natural law. The second circumcision represents the circumcision of the spiritual man and under the spiritual law. Then God changed Sarai's name to Sarah, because he was going to bless her and give her a son. But when Abraham heard it he fell on his face and laughed. He doubted. You see he was not very steadfast in his faith, for he thought it would not be possible, that he being a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, that she could bear a son. God said, "she shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him, and his seed after him." God kept one seed of every generation through the old covenant before the world as typical of Christ, until he brought forth the true seed from the virgin womb. The opening of Sarah's barren womb has an object lesson in it, to let us see that the word of God can bring fruit from any womb if he wants it for his own use. No fruit ever grew, or will grow in any womb, unless by God's will. Man may sow the seed as God permitted when he cursed the ground for Eve's sin, and Adam's fall, but man cannot make the fruit grow. It takes God to do that. For it says in the same place that God closed up the wombs of the house of Ahimeleck, and that Abraham prayed and God opened their wombs, and they bare children, that was in answer to the prayer of Abraham. Ahram and Sarai 59 So God answers prayer. We again find Abraham pleading with God, when he is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the wickedness of the people. He is pleading with God not to punish the righteous with the wicked. God said if he fovmd fifty righteous, he would spare all the place for their sake. But there were not fifty to be found. And Abraham cried out, "Oh, what am I that I should speak to the Lord, I, that am only dust and ashes. Do not be angry with me, Lord, but will you spare the place if there are twenty good people in it?" And God said, "I will not destroy it if I find ten." Ah! the merciful and loving father is always willing to save, if we are willing to obey. We often hear people say, when speaking of the wickedness of some city or nation, that it is a wonder God does not destroy them off the face of the earth. But God's mercy is as great to-day as it was when Abraham pled with God to spare the cities for the few righteous. God said if he found ten he would spare them. Christ is pleading with God to spare the cities and nations, not for the sake of the few righteous, but for the sake of the many sinners, till he try to save them. And God is doing that now, for the sake of the many that are ignorant of their own condition. But God has his own appointed time to destroy, and not all the pleading of Christ can avert the destruction of the people and nations that will not obey God, when the time comes. Every hour is bringing that day nearer. There could not be found ten good people in the place. So God said it would be destroyed. 60 The Spirit Father The two men who were sent to tell Lot to go out of the city before it was destroyed went to Lot's house, the people of the city saw them go in, so they came from all Cjuarters of the city, and surrounded the house, to take and destroy the men. Lot went out to them and asked them not to do evil, but they were angry with Lot and said they would deal worse with him than with the men if he interfered. So the men in the house pulled Lot in and shut the door, then smote the men at the door, with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door. (Another emblem of Christ). When he has taken all into the father's house that belong to it, he will shut the door, and those that are without may weary themselves trying to find the door. But they will not be able to find it, for it will be closed to them torever. How many to-day, both small and great, are groping their way in blindness, and wearying themselves to find the door and cannot. For straight is the way, and narrow is the path that leadeth into the Father's house. But broad and tempting are the many ways that leadeth away from the Father's home. The men told Lot to take his wife and family and flee for their lives from that city of wickedness, and not to look once behind them, but to go straight on for fear evil would befall them. Lot's wife disobeyed, and she was destroyed. A warning to all generations to turn their face heaven- ward, and never look back, go straight on. Another emblem of what the end of tlie wicked will be, for as Abram and Sarai 61 God cast the wicked from him at the beginning, so will he deal with them at the end. God kept his promise to Abraham in giving him his son Isaac. Then God tried Abraham's faith and obedience and found him faithful, even to the slaying of his only- son, if it had been required. But when God saw that he was faithful, and willing to give up his son, God sent an angel to tell Abraham not to harm Isaac, that he was only trying his faith. And told Abraham, because he had found him faith- ful, he would bless him and multiply the blessings, that his seed should possess the gate of his enemies. All those blessings that God was giving to Abraham and his seed, was because Abraham had obeyed his voice, and had done all things as God had commanded him. So we see that was all for obedience. But the faith and obedience went together. Let us look a moment at God's words, when speaking to Abraham, he says, "thine only son." How was he the only son when we read a few verses before where Abraham sent Hagar and his son away from his care. Why did God say, "thine only son?" Because the son of the bond-woman was born from the lust of the flesh, and Isaac was the son by promise from God. Then came Sarah's death and burial. There are very few burials spoken of in the Old Testa- ment. How persistent and firm Abraham was about pos- sessing and paying for a burial place for himself and family. Abraham died in a good old age and was buried 62 The Spirit Father beside Sarah. God had blessed Abraham with plenty of all this world's goods, for he was a rich man, and had great possessions, and he had all the worldly blessing a good father could give to a son. But there was no promise in all he had of an everlasting life, but that God would count his obedience and faith for righteousness, and would hold him in everlasting remembrance. That meant that Abraham could not be promised sah-ation under the natural law. But God would remember him under the new covenant or spiritual law that was to be made with man. Abraham gave all he had to Isaac but to his other sons he gave only gifts and sent them away. Another type of God's dealings with his children — Christ was the child of promise, the lawful heir, the first begotten of the new covenant, and the first fruits of the resurrection of the spiritual man. (The rest of the human race represents the children of the bond- woman — all begotten from the seed of man in the lust of the flesh). So all the kingdoms belong to Christ as the lawful heir, and by his victory over the flesh and the world, he conquered Satan. But all the rest of God's children will get their gifts, and their portion shall be whatever the father finds them worthy of. CHAPTER IX. ISAAC AND REBEKAH. Abraham wanted a wife for his son, Isaac, and he called the oldest servant of his house, one that had been ruler over all that he had. This is another emblem of God's care when he has work to do. He takes his trusted servants to do it for him. So Abra- ham told his servant that he wished him to go back into the land that God had commanded him to leave. He would not go back himself, nor let his son go, but he wanted a wife from there for his son. Although he had lived many years among the people and in the country he was in, he would not have a wife chosen from among them for his son Isaac. He did not trouble himself about from where any of his other sons took a wife as far as we know. But the servant asked Abraham if the woman was not willing to follow him without seeing his son, would he take his son back into that country to let her see him, then she might be willing to follow him. But Abraham said, "Beware that you do not take my son back there again, for the Lord God of Heaven which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, said that unto me and my seed he would give this land. The Lord will send an angel before thee, and thou wilt bring from there a wife 63 64 The Spirit Father for my son; but swear unto me that thou wilt not take my son back to that land again. If the woman wilt not come with thee, thou shalt be freed from thine oath," Oh, God, how many might be willing to follow Christ if some one would only bring him back, and let us see him with our human eyes. But when Christ comes to this earth again, it will not be to let us see him. Oh, no ! Those who have not followed him by obedience and faith, without seeing him in the flesh, will have no chance to follow him when he comes as the Royal King. The servant went on his master's business and prayed God to bless him in the message he was going on. God heard his prayer and answered him. He got into the City of Nahor about the time that the woman went out to draw water from the well. And while he stood, Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's brother, came to the well, and Abraham's servant saw she was very fair and beautiful to look upon, and a virgin. The servant went to meet her, and said, "Will you let me drink a little water from thy pitcher?" And she said, "I will," and handed him her pitcher. Then she drew water for all his camels. That must have been the woman's work in that age, to draw and water the flocks, as it is woman's work now to care and tend the young flock that God sends them to take care of for him. If every mother would only know and feel that every child that God sends to her is only part of the heritage of God — a part of his flock — that she is to take care of for him, in place Abraham's servant niiM'tiug Rebekah at the well. Isaac and Rebekah 65 of the thousands that are doing their best to destroy the seed of the flocks of God, they would do all in their power, with loving hearts and hands to care and tend the little lambs that God sends to their care. For Rebekah 's kindness, when she had given the camels all they wanted to drink, the man gave her golden earrings, and beautiful golden bracelets of great weight. They must have been beautiful, but that is nothing to what our spirit father can, and will dress us in, if we will willingly go back to the bosom of the father from whence we came. But only Christ can lead us there. That is why he says, "Follow me, and I will guide you home." The man asked Rebekah whose daughter she was, and if there was room in her father's house for them. She said, "we have all you need, come in." Just as Christ is saying to-day, there is plenty for all and to spare, in our heavenly father's home, "come in." Abraham's servant had asked God to lead him in the right way, and to the right place. Neither Abraham nor his servant knew who the woman was that was to be Isaac's wife, so far as we are told, only that he must take him a wife for his promised son out of the seed of his own kindred for the seed had to be kept pure. And when the servant told Rebekah 's people what he came for, they told him there was Rebekah, "Take her." And when all was ready her people did not want to let her go for a few days, they wanted to keep her just ten days more. But the servant said, "I cannot 66 The Spirit Father tarry ; I must go back to my master. " Then her people said, "We will ask Rebekah if she will go with the man." And she said, "I will go," and arose and went. Oh, how human! An emblem of our daily life, when the spirit is calling any of our loved ones to follow Jesus, although we know they are ready to go we would like to keep them if we are not following him ourselves. But when the father's messenger says, "I cannot wait; I must get back to my master," we will look on our loved ones and say, "are you willing to go and leave us?" They will look up in our face lovingly and say, "I am willing to go with Jesus and I cannot come back, but you can follow Jesus too, and be with me." Isaac saw them coming and went to meet them, and when he saw Rebekah he loved her and made her his wdfe. An emblem here of Christ and the new covenant. Abraham's servant met a pure and good virgin maiden at the well — one fitted to be the wife of one of the royal seed. And he found her at the well, going to draw water. Then we find Christ, in the new covenant, wearied with his journey he sat down to rest beside the well, and there came a woman to draw water and Jesus asked her, as Abraham's servant had asked Rebekah — for a drink. But the difference between the two women. The first was a pure virgin, undefiled, and ready to be taken into the royal household. The other was a sinner, and unclean, but Jesus told her if she would Isaac and Rehekah 67 take of the water that he would give her she would be made as pure and clean, and fit for the royal house- hold as the maiden that had never lost her purity. How is it that all the great events that we read about in the Bible has water in connection with them in Bome way? Because nothing that is unclean can be purified without water, — the water and the blood. This lesson brings before us the three conditions of God's spirit family in their human garments. First, Adam and Eve in their virginal purity in their first created state, direct from the hand of God. Then the fallen man and woman, the sinner in their impure condition, then the sinner meeting Jesus and being restored to virginal purity by drinking of the living water from Christ (the word of God). Nearly all the lessons in the Bible embraces the three dispensations — the past, present, and future. And unless you join the three subjects together you cannot fathom the Bible truths. "But find the truth, and the truth shall make you free," the truth can only be found in Christ. All the hidden truths are hid in Him. So, dear reader, seek to know Christ, for he is ever willing to be known of you, and to give you the light into the hidden truth of the plan of God's redemption for man. And you own a part of the work in that plan. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, and he found she was barren. And he prayed to the Lord to open her womb and the Lord answered his prayer, for she conceived. (Another answer to prayer.) It has been 68 The Spirit Father from the barren or virgin womb that God has. brought his chosen seed. And when Rebekah found she had conceived, and did not feel right, she went to inquire of the Lord what was the matter. She did not go to the doctor as so many go now, but went to the Lord, and he told her there was nothing the matter, only that she was with twins, and that two different manner of people would come from her womb. Let us see what this lesson typifies. The first born, Esau, was clothed with hairy garments, and Jacob vnih a smooth garment. God said they would be two different nations and two different people, and that the one people would be stronger than the other. We have a great light from the word twins ! Every woman that conceives and bears a child has brought forth twins, — and of two nations — the spirit child of the heaven — heavenly, and the natural child of the earth — earthly. Twins, but in one body, two natures. And the one will be stronger than the other. An emblem of Adam and Christ — Adam in his human weakness; Christ in his spiritual strength. If we feed and train the spiritual nature (child), that will be the stronger, or if we feed and train the human nature that will be the strongest; — two different powers striving in the one body. — The boys grew up to manhood, and Esau was a great hunter, — a man of the field. Esau represents the animal man hunting the hu- man flesh, and we have plenty of Esau's brothers in the world at the present age, hunters after the human flesh. Jacob, as the plain man, living in a tent, represents the Isaac and Rebekah 69 spirit indwelling in the body, the spirit child of God, Jacob had made pottage one day, when Esau came in from the field hungry he asked Jacob to feed him with some of the pottage, but Jacob said, "sell me your birthright." And Esaw sold his birthright for what he could get to eat and drink. Typical of Adam selling his spiritual brithright by eating the forbidden fruit. As tens of thousands are selling their spiritual birthright in this generation by eating the forbidden fruits, selling their birthright to salvation and eternal life. I wonder how many really understand what the selling of their spiritual birthright, or the losing of their soul's salvation means. I doubt it, or they would not rest so easy in their lost condition. There came a great famine in the land and the Lord told Isaac to go to the land that he told him of, and he would have plenty, but not to go to Egypt again, and he would bless him, and bless his seed, and would fulfill to him all the promises made to Abraham, his father. God said he was giving all those blessings to Isaac and his seed because Abraham had obeyed his voice, and kept his charges, and his commandments, his stat- utes and his laws. Isaac did as the Lord commanded him and sowed in that land and received in that year an hundred-fold. And the Lord blessed him, and he waxed great, and had great possessions, — of flocks and herds, and a great many servants. Then his neighbors began to envy him, they filled up the wells, and told him to go, 70 The Spirit Father for he was so much mightier than they, they did not want him amongst them. The Lord appeared to Isaac again, and told him to fear not, for he would be with him. What have we to fear if we have God with us? Nothing. Isaac was getting old, and his eyesight was'dimmed, he knew he was soon going to die. But the animal man in him wanted another feed of venison before he died. (There was no thought of spiritual things with the people in that dispensation.) But they knew^more than the majority of the people in this dispensation. They knew they were in that condition by God's decree, for man's sin. They were in darkness, and under the shadow of the spiritual death. Their spirits were in prison, that means the spirit within them was in bondage to the natural or animal life. Their spirits were held in a slumbering and sleep- ing condition. This is symbolical of the spirits in hell that Christ liberated when he rose from the grave. All the spirits that had been clothed in the human garments under the natural law, would be released and clothed in the human garment again under the spiritual law, with the way opened to them to work out their own salvation, by faith and obedience to the Father's commands as taught by Christ. Not as they were taught by Moses, that was laws for the natural man. Christ taught from and for the spiritual side of life, the commands and laws of God to the spiritual man. Isaac wished to bless Esau before he died, but Rebekah loved her youngest son best, and wanted him to get the blessing promised Esau. She sent Isaac and Rebekah 71 Jacob for two kids, and got them ready, and wanted Jacob to take it in to his father. But he said he could not, for his father would feel him and know he was not Esau. His father would know he was deceiving him and he would bring upon himself a curse instead of a blessing. But his mother told him to obey her. Rebekah may have known that Jacob was the chosen of God. So she prepared the meat, then put skins of the goats on him, so that his father might think it was his son Esau. He brought the meat to his father, his father felt of him and thought it was Esau. He kissed him and blessed him. But Jacob had hardly passed out from his father's presence when Esau came with his venison, and said, "Eat, father, that thy soul may bless me." When Isaac knew what had been done to him, he trembled and said, "Thy brother hath deceived me." How many earthly fathers are trembling to-day when they find they have been deceived by their children only God knows. When Esau was told his brother had taken his blessing he lifted up his eyes and wept, and cried, "Father, have you only one blessing?" His father looked upon him in his sorrow, and loved him, and gave him another blessing. Oh, the multitudes that think God, their spirit father, has blessings only for a chosen number. And they think it is no use trying to change their way of living, or seek a blessing for it cannot be for them. If Esau had turned away when he was told his brother had come before him and got the blessing, he would never have been blest. 72 ' The Spirit Father But he cried at once to the father and received his blessing. This lesson represents God blessing the spiritual child first, then the natural child. That is all any of God's children have to do, for we are all the children of God, no matter how sinful we are. But we cannot go back to that father unless we repent, — lift up our eyes to God, and weep over our sins and lost life, and ask our father for his blessing for Christ's sake. And v,e will get the blessing sure for he does not say a few will get it, but who-so-ever will, all, all that mil come. And Isaac called Jacob and charged him that he should not take a wife from the daughters of Cannan, but to go back to his mother's kindred and take a wife from among her people, and the Lord would give him Abraham's blessing. We see another seed for the royal house had to be found. But Esau took wives from the daughters of Cannan. When Jacob was on his way he stopped at a certain place and rested over night, and while he slept God spoke to him, and renewed the promise he had made to Abraham and his seed. He said they would be spread all over the earth, and that he would be with him wherever he went. Jacob made a vow that if God would give him plenty of bread to eat and raiment to wear, and bring him back again to his father's house in peace, the Lord Wi>uld be his God — and of all that God would give him he would give him back the tenth. Isaac and Rehekah 73 "How many to-day would be willing to take God for their God if he will only give them all they want. But they would not be willing to give back to God what he wants. It is not the tenth of the temporal things we possess, that God requires from his children. In the spiritual dispensation he first requires that we do not rob him of what is his own (our spirit) for if we let Satan get it, then we are robbing God of what is his own. And the only way we can restore the spirit to God is by believing in Christ and confessing he is the son of God, come in the flesh, for every spirit that confesses Christ has come in the flesh is of God. So the first acceptable gift we can offer to God is the restoration of our spirit, then our soul the human life, then the last to be restored out of Satan's hands is the human body. All that can ever be restored to its original or primitive state is heaven, earth and man. Only that which is God's and the things created by his own hands will ever be restored to their normal condition. No work or anything created or invented by the hand or mind of man will ever be restored to its original state. Every step that man takes forward with his inventive powers is only a step in God's work. The bringing to light, — the great power and use of electricity, it is one of the greatest powers ever invented by man under God, and it is only in its infancy as yet. And another great power that will be made great use of by man under God, is the generating of our small water-courses into great bodies to be used 74 The Spirit Father as power. These are steps in the forwarding of God's plan, in the preparing of the world for God's own use, when Satan and all his powers will be removed from earth. And many of the great men that God is using in this work at the present age may not be permitted to dwell on earth in the coming age, for only God's redeemed children, with Christ as their king, will inhabit the earth. All this labor and toil that is being done by man now to bring these things into existence, will not have to be endured by God's children when he sends them to earth again. They will not have to labor and toil in the way they do now, for God is preparing all things for their com- fort for he is a good and loving father, and those that go back to him on his own condition will have their reward. The heart of man can never conceive what God has in store for them that love and obey him. And Jacob went on his journey till he came into the land he was going to, and he came to a well, there he saw Rachel coming with her father's sheep. (Another well and water.) See, all the covenants have water with them. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and then wept, he was so overjoyed to be among his own kindred. When he saw Rachel he loved her and told her father he would serve seven years for her, for a wife. And the seven years seemed only a few days to him, for the prize he was serving for was one that his soul desired. It would be just the same with us if we could only Isaac and Rebekah 75 realize the great prize God has set before us, in offering us salvation for our souls. No weeks or months or years would seem long or hard for us to serve God for the prize he has offered, — everlasting life. Let us only think of it. A few years here in this world, no matter how long our life may be, is only as a day when we compare it with the life everlasting. Rachel's father deceived Jacob when the seven years were up, and gave him Leah, Rachel's sister, for his wife, but Jacob loved Rachel and served seven years more for her. After she was given to Jacob to wife and Leah saw that Jacob loved Rachel and hated her, she was in sorrow for she was forced upon Jacob by her father. God pitied her as he ever does every one of his children in their sorrow. If we could only realize the mercy and love of our spirit father, a love that passeth all understanding. But how man in these times say because God is so loving and merciful, that they think they can hide their sinful lives behind the very compassion and love of God, when it is his very love and justice to us that makes him punish us, and his punishment is just as sure as his love. God pitied Leah, and opened her womb and she conceived and bore children to Jacob. And she said, "Now my husband will love me." If the women of this generation could only feel and see as Leah, their husbands would love them more and respect them, as every good man is bound to 76 The Spirit Father respect a good woman. But what man, either good or bad, could long love or respect any woman guilty of destroying the issue of his loins, or the fruit of her own womb? Even our doctors and professional men, who make that a part of their practice for the money it brings them, — in their hearts — if they have any, despise the very women they help to commit the sin. Rachel was barren also, and she envied her sister, and went and said to her husband, "Jacob, give me children or else I will die." He was angry with her, and said, "Am I God? He it is who hath withheld the fruit of thy womb." If men and women could only understand that they can lift their hands at any time to destroy the fruit, but cannot make it grow. The hands that are engaged in such work are red with sin and murder. But the Lord opened Rachel's womb when he required the fruit, for she conceived, and bore Joseph, another one that was to play a prominent part in that generation of the Bible history. And God sent an angel to tell Jacob to take his wives and all his possessions and return to the land of his kindred. And Jacob got all ready and returned, and on his way ^the angels of God met him, and when he saw them, he said, "This is God's host." Jacob had been afraid of his brother Esau, for Esau had been angry with him and vowed to kill him. But God had taken all the evil desire out of Esau's heart against his brother and he went out to meet him. When he saw Jacob and all his family and flocks, he wondered, for God had blessed him so Isaac and Rebekah 77 abundantly that he asked, "Who are all those that art with thee?" And Jacob said, "The children which God has given to me." And Jocob offered his brother large presents, but he would not take them, for God had made him rich also in worldly goods. And Jacob settled once more in Bethel and dwelt there. And he told all his household to put away every strange god that was amongst them, and to change their garments. That is what we all have to do when we give up serving the God of earth and turn to the God of heaven. Wash and cleanse our garments — our flesh — and let us go, as Jacob was going with all his people, to worship God who had answered him in the days of his distress, and led him out of the hands of the enemy. The reconciliation between Esau and Jacob represents the reconciling again, under God, of the natural and spiritual life in man, or the reconciling of the two natures in one body, and brought into subjection to God. God appeared unto Jacob there, and said unto him, "Your name shall be no more called Jacob, but shall be called Isreal." We see that God had tried him and found him obedient as he did Abraham, his father. In reading the Bible we will see that all God's dealing this far with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has only been telling them to do what he wanted, and they had done it and God blessed them with all he promised — riches, and families, cattle and flocks, — all temporal blessings. 78 The Spirit Father Esau and Jacob were so rich in their possessions that they could not dwell in the same land together. The people of that land could not bear them because of all their cattle. Isaac died, and was gathered home to his people. CHAPTER X. JOSEPH. We find in Joseph's history another emblem of Christ. Joseph was about seventeen years old, and he helped to take care of his father's flocks. His father loved him more than any of his other children, for he was the son of his old age. If we look back to our spirit father's life and all the hundreds of years — if only from Adam's time, that he bore with his rebellious children — Christ must have been the beloved son of his old age. For although the spirit never dies it grows older with years. The very spiritual wisdom and under- standing that grows with God's people, as they grow to old age, would show us that if nothing else. Joseph was the beloved son of his father, and he made him a coat of many colors ; and when his brothers saw that their father loved him, they hated him. Another emblem of Christ's life. Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren, and they hated him still more, and said, how dare he ever think his father and mother and brethren would bow down themselves to him. They grew to hate him so that they conspired to kill him. Just what Christ's brethren did to him. But one of Joseph's brothers said, **Let us not kill 79 80 The Spirit Father him, but sell him." So they sold him for twenty pieces of silver — ten less than Christ was sold for. And they brought word to the father that Joseph was lost, his father thought he was dead, and grieved sorely for him. But God had Joseph carried safely into Egypt and blessed him. Joseph did everything that was right before God, and God prospered him in all that he did. He became a great interpreter. He interpreted all Pharaoh's dreams for him. And Pharaoh said, "This man has the spirit of God in him and I set him over all my house, and over all my people." Pharaoh put his own ring on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of finest linen, and put chains of gold upon his neck; gave him the second chariot to ride in; had the people bow their knee to him, and made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said, "Thou shalt be niler over all, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled, and only on the throne shall I be greater than thee." (Pharaoh reserved the right of the throne to himself.) Look for a moment at father and son in the new covenant, God gave all power to his son Christ, but has reserved the right to answer all our petitions and prayers from the throne himself, but we can only get answers by asking in Jesus' name, and for Jesus' sake. For as Joseph stood with all power at that time between Pharaoh and the people, so Christ stands at this age between man and God. Pharaoh said, "Without thy command no man shall lift hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Joseph 81 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh to receive his final instructions to go out through the land of Egypt to gather in the harvest. He gathered in the corn until he had so much that he could not number it, for it was as much as the sands of the sea. And he went to all the cities and left food in them, food to feed the flesh. But Christ went through all the cities leaving food for the spirit. And Pharaoh changed Joseph's name to Zaphnath- paaneah (another emblem of Christ). We read how God has changed the name of nearly all those he has chosen for any great work. In those times, before Pharaoh made him ruler over all his possessions, he had found him faithful in all he had done. Joseph had won his high position by his own faithfulness. See what he was made ruler over. His rule was to be over all things earthly, that waa the highest position Pharaoh could give him, for Pharaoh was of the earthy himself. In this history of Joseph we have one of the grandest typical lessons to be found in all the Bible. Christ was thirty years old when he came and stood before God at the river Jordan. For the spirit of God was at the river just as real as if he stood there in the flesh and blood body. God's chosen prophet was there doing the work that God had chosen him to do. And wherever God's own servants are, and his work going on, there the spirit of God will be also. While Joseph was gathering in the rich harvest in the land of Egypt there was a famine in the land of 82 The Spirit Father Canaan, and Joseph's brethren went down to Egypt to buy corn, not knowing their brother Joseph was there, and when they saw him they did not know him. Another emblem of Christ. For when his brethren saw him, when he had taken on his new life, they did not know him ; an emblem of many others in the world to-day. Our own people do not know us when we have given up the life of the world and sin, and put on the new life in Christ. They think we are the same, yet not the same, they do not know what to make of us, for they do not understand the new life in us. Joseph knew his brethren, and although they had conspired against him and wanted to kill him, when he saw them his heart went out to them in love. As Joseph was the governor over the land and it was his place to sell to all the people, his brethren came and bowed down before him. Then he remembered his dreams, and what they had said, so he thought he would try them. He said to them, "Ye are spies come to see what you can see in the land." But they said, "Nay, nay, Lord, we are true men, and all one man's sons, come to buy food, and we are twelve brethren, our father and the youngest son is in the land of Canaan, and one is dead." But Joseph said, "I think you are spies, and I will prove you, you shall not go from here except your youngest brother come here. Send one of you and let him bring your brother. Ye shall be kept in prison until we find that you are true men." And Joseph 83 he put them all into prison for three days. He said to them on the third day, "Your families may be in want, and 1 am a man that fears God, so leave one of your brethren here in prison, and go carry corn to your house; but bring your youngest brother to me, that your words may be verified — and ye shall not die." They said to one another, "Oh, we are guilty, for what we have done to our brother Joseph, for when we saw the anguish of his soul and he besought us, we would not hear him, and that is the reason this trouble is come upon us. They did not know that Joseph understood them for he had spoken to them through an interpreter; when he heard them speaking of him- self, he turned away and wept. He took from them one of the brothers and bound him before their eyes. Then gave them all the corn they could carry and sent them back to their father. They told their father all that had happened to them. He said, "Ye have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and you want to take Benjamin away!" "All these things are against me. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved indeed." Oh! if we could only hear the cry of our spirit father, in the cry of Jacob. Our spirit father sent out his spirit children pure from himself, clothed in the garments of flesh, and they are taken and bound in the chains of the world by Satan and sin through the flesh, until they are unclean and unfit to return to the home of their father. Can we not hear the cry of that heavenly 84 The Spirit Father father, — "If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved indeed." Oh! I think as I write this I can hear that cry, and see the loving arms outstretched to gather the returning prodigal son into his bosom. But Joseph's brethren had to go back to Egypt again, for their corn was gone, and Jacob had to let them take Benjamin down \nth them. For Joseph said they should not see his face again, unless they brought their youngest brother with them. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them he told his ser\'ant to bring them right into his home, and to make all ready for the men to dine with him. They were afraid and began to tell' him they had brought back all the money that they found in the sacks, and more to buy with. But he said, "Peace be to you, fear not, your God and the God of your father's hath given you treasures in your sacks." Then he brought Simeon, their brother, out to them, and gave them of the best of all he had, and plenty to take back again to Canaan. Still he had not told them who he was, not until they were going away from him again. Then he could not restrain himself any longer. He told his servants to go out and leave him with his brethren, and when he looked on Benjamin he wept aloud, and said, "I am Joseph, thy brother, doth my father still live?" But his brethren could not answer him they were so much astonished. Joseph said to them, "Be not grieved or angry with yourselves that }'ou sold me Joseph's lll('r>till^^ witli his fiitlicr, Jacol) Joseph 85 hither, for it was God that sent me here, to preserve life, and preserve you a posterity on the earth." God's way of preserving the promised seed. So you see it was not you that sent me hither, but God. "Make you haste and bring my father, tell him that his son Joseph lives, and God has made him lord over all Egypt, and for him to come and dwell with me. "Bring all your families, and flocks, and I will nourish you until the famine is over." When they went to their father and told him Joseph, his son, was yet alive, Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not, but when he believed his spirit revived, and he said, "This is God's work, that my son, Joseph, is alive. I will go and see him before I die." So Jacob came with his family to Egypt, and Joseph went out to meet his father, and when they met, he fell on his father's neck and wept. Jacob said, "Now, since I have seen thee alive, I am ready to die." (The words that Simeon spoke when he saw Jesus.) "Promise me you will take me back to the land of Canaan, and bury me with my kindred. Bring me thy two sons till I bless them," and Jacob blessed them and embraced them, and said, "I had not thought to see thy face again, and God hath shown me thy seed." When Jacob was blessing Joseph's sons he was putting his right hand on the head of the youngest son, and Joseph said, "Not so, my father, that is not my first-born," but his father said, "I know my son, 86 The Spirit Father his brother shall have a blessing, too, but the younger shall be greater and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." That was the promise again fulfilled that God made to Abraham. Now Jacob calls his sons to give them his last blessing and commands. We will see what he has to say to Reuben, his first-born, he says, "Thou art unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." To Simeon and Levi, he said, "They were instruments of cruelty." And to Judah, "The scepter shall not depart from thee, nor a lawgiver till Shiloh comes, and \mto him shall the gathering of the people be." And to Joseph he says "Thou shalt be a fruitful bough, but thou shalt be hated, but the strength of thy arms and hands shall be made strong by the hands of God." From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and blessings of the deep that lieth under the breasts and of the womb, for the blessings of the father hath prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. That is the first reference we have to Christ, his rule and power. And Jacob said, "I am to be gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers," and when he had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet and died. Do we ever think when we are reading about all Joseph ^ 87 those people and how they died, that they all knew when they are going, and were not in any way troubled about it. They buried Jacob and Joseph is left with his brethren, they were afraid Joseph would hate them for the evil they had done him. (Oh! dear reader, when we do evil the fear it leaves in our hearts.) So they sent a messenger to Joseph, and asked him to forgive them their trespasses and sin against him. And Joseph wept when he heard what they said unto him, but he said, "Fear not me, for I am not in the place of God." That is who we are to fear, God, not man. There are tens and tens of thousands praying to man and woman, and forgetting God — Jesus tells us to pray to God, but to ask in his name. Joseph lived to see the third generation. He said to his brethren, "I die, and God will surely visit you and bring you back to the land he swore to give Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and ye shall carry my bones with you." Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation. We see generation after generation died but no promise or covenant of ever- lasting life for the flesh has been spoken of as yet. All God's deaUngs with them had been telling them what he wanted done, and they did it, and lived peaceable lives. They had gotten all the earthly blessings God had promised to the children of obedience and that was all they expected. With a promise that God would remember them for their obedience and faith in, and to him. 88 The Spirit Father When God called Moses to bring his people out of Egypt and gave to them his laws and commands through Moses, then began the trouble with his children. CHAPTER XI. MOSES. In the history of Moses and Pharaoh we have another grand typical lesson. It says, "There arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And his name was Pharaoh, and he was wicked." We have just been reading that this same Pharaoh was the king that Joseph had lived with and had served so faithfully and been loved by him. Why is it that he does not remember Joseph? Because he had changed his life, he had been good and kind in Joseph's time. He had a man with him that had the spirit of God. But the good influence of that good spirit is gone. He has people around him to do his work now, that are tyrants and taskmasters, so he became cruel and hard himself, as does every one who is removed from the spiritual influence of God. God will not let evil long hold its sway, for God will take care of his people. The Hebrew children of Israel were God's chosen people in that generation. .\nd in this generation all the people of the world, of every nation and every generation are God's chosen if we will come to him on his own conditions. But the question is, are we willing 89 90 The Spirit Father to be of the chosen? — that part lies with ourselves, not with God. Pharaoh saw that God was increasing the children of the Hebrews to such an extent that he became alarmed, lest they should break out and that they would turn and help their enemies and fight against Pharaoh. (This lesson is typical of Satan.) So Pharaoh put taskmasters over them and put burdens of work on them, and made their hves a bitter bondage. He thought to kill them off with hard work, but God was with them and multiplied them the more. So Pharaoh thought he would try some other way. He sent for the mid wives and told them whenever they were called to be with a Hebrew woman to fill the place of midwife if she brought forth a son, to kill him, but if a daughter, let her live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king told them, but saved all the children. When Pharaoh saw he would not succeed in that way, he called all his people, and said, "Every son that is born, you shall cast into the river." And one woman, a Lcvite, had a son, she saw he was a goodly, beautiful child, she thought she would try to save him, and God helped her; for he needed him for his own purpose. The mother hid her son three months, and when she could not hide him any longer she made a little ark and put her son in it and hid it down by the side of the river, and sent his sister to watch it at a distance. Pharaoh's daughter came to the river and saw the little ark, and told her maid to bring it to her, and when she opened Moses 91 it a beautiful child looked up in her face and wept, that won for him the love and compassion of her heart. Oh! how many beautiful typical lessons we have in that Book of all Books, if we could only understand them. Is there one wayward or sinful child of God's in the world to-day that would look up into the heavenly father's face and weep for their sin, that would not get forgiveness, love and compassion such as no human love could ever know. Oh! the love of God to his sinful child passeth all understanding. No human heart could comprehend the grief and sorrow of our spirit father over the loss of his sinful children. For no sinful child can ever return to the bosom of that father, unless they repent, and find forgiveness, and live a new life. For that is the decreed will of God, nothing can change it, neither man nor mortal. And Pharaoh's daughter said to the woman, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Oh, that every woman in the world to-day that God gives children to, to nurse and bring up for him, could hear his voice saying, "Nurse and bring up this child for me, and I will give thee thy wages." For that is just what he is saying, we get our wages according to the care we take of their spiritual life. When they brought him to Pharaoh's daughter he became her son, and she called his name Moses, because she had taken him out of the water. That is where we have all to be taken out of, before God will make much real use of us. Let us get into the water and wash our sin-stained garments, for if we have worn them twenty, thirty. 92 The Spirit Father forty, or perhaps fifty years, we are in need of a good washing and you have to get the whole garment into the water, right down into the water, and if you do it with the right lieart, and for the true purpose of what is symbolized, then you will come out clean and ready to begin your new life. But Moses grew up to his manhood, and he saw the burdens and bondage that was put upon his brethren. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand, and when the waves came up they would wash it into the sea. (That is where lots of devils are kept until God calls them out.) When Moses went out again the next day he saw two Hebrews quarreling, and he asked them not to have strife with each other. They asked him who made him a prince and a judge over them, and if he wanted to kill them as he did the Egyptian. Pharaoh heard of it and was going to kill Moses, but Moses fled into the land of Midian, and he came to a well. The priest of Midian had seven daughters, they came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered the flock. When their father asked them how they had gotten home so soon, they said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds." What a light there is in those two verses. The shepherds driving the flock away from the water, and Moses 93 the Egyptian delivering the flock out of their hands and leading them to the water and giving them enough. Oh, God, how many shepherds are driving your flocks away from the water in this age? Send us another Moses or some one to fill Moses' place, — to help your flocks — and lead them to the water. God heard the cry of the children of Israel and their groan- ings, under their bondage. Hear, O Lord, the groanings of countless children that are groaning under the burdens of the world and sin, their eyes are so darkened by their own desires, the false shepherds, and blind teachers. The blind are leading the blind, and where to? 0, God, send them spiritual light, deliver your children, shepherds and all from the bondage of spiritual darkness. God remembered his covenant with Abraham. He looked upon the children of Israel and pitied them. That is one thing that we may all be sure of, that God will never forget his promises to us. For whatever God has promised either to the good or the bad he will fulfill. Moses took for a wife one of the maidens that he helped out of the hands of the shepherds. Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law, when he came to the mountain of God, and the angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush, the fire burned, but the bush was not consumed. Moses thought that was very strange, and turned aside to see what it could be, and when God saw him turn to look, he called, "Moses, Moses." And Moses 94 The Spirit Father said, "Here I am." Then God said, "I am thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." I have heard the cry of my people that are in Egypt. I am going to send you to bring them out of the hands of their oppressors, for I know how badly they are used, and I know their sorrow. "If they will be obedient and follow j^ou, I will lead them into a beautiful land, full of plenty, and every- thing they need in it." So he said, "Come now, I will send you unto Pharaoh to tell |him I want my people set free, they have been long enough in bondage." But Moses said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and say 'let me take away all the children of Israel,' he will not let me do it." God said, "You need not have any fear for I am going with you." Ah, that is it, if God chooses his servants and sends them, they need not fear, for God, himself, is with them, and does his work through them. But Moses wanted to know what he would say to the children of Israel when they asked him who sent him to bring them out. "Say, the God of their fathers and their God and Father if they obey. He will take them into the land of Canaan. Now, go and tell them to get ready, and take everything they can get with them, for I do not want them to go away empty. Take away all the gold and silver and jewels you can get, and put them on your sons and daughters, — for God loves to give his children riches." Moses is still fearful, and afraid they will not believe God sent him. But God said, "I will give you the Moses 95 signs to show them that they may believe God hath sent thee." God told Moses to put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out his hand was leprous. (Now that is an emblem of God's first sending his children out of his bosom in human flesh, and they all became leprous with sin and death.) Then God told Moses to p\it his hand into his bosom again, and then told him to take it out, and it had turned as his other flesh. That is the emblem of the new covenant. Christ began the new covenant at the River Jordan. Let us get into the water as God has commanded, begin our new life as Christ has shown us to begin it. Get the leprosy washed from our flesh, it is in the flesh that we sin, not in the spirit. We read in some papers, "Man, know thyself." Oh, God, if men and women could only know them- selves, what different men and women there would be in the world. If they only understood why they are in the world, and what for, there would be thousands and tens of thousands that would be exceedingly afraid to look into the face of God Almighty to- night, and that would be longing for His coming, if they only knew and understood, and believed what their spirit father has in store for them who will return to his bosom, led back to him through the ransom paid for us all by the Elder Brother, Christ. He paid the ransom for us with his own life to redeem our body and soul, that is, our human life, out of the hand of Satan and sin, and show us a way to get 96 The Spirit Father back into the house of our father by following him. What God says about the signs. He says if they will not believe the first sign, they will believe the voice of the second sign. We see God says the voice of the sign. If they will not believe either of these twcJ signs then "thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water shall become blood." That is the emblem of the new covenant, the water and the blood, but we see the water always comes first. But Moses said, "O, Lord God, do not send me, for I am not eloquent and I am very slow bi speech, and of a slow tongue." Poor Moses! He thought he would get out of doing God's work some way. But Moses was just the servant God wanted, and all his deficiencies was not going to get him off, for God said, "Tell me who made man's mouth, or who made the dumb, or the deaf, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord, made them all? "Now go, and do as I have told thee, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" Still Moses was afraid, and God grew angry with him. He said, "I will send Aaron, thy brother, with thee, I know he can speak well, he is coming to meet thee, and when he secth thee, he will Vjc glad in his heart." And thou shalt speak unto him, and tell unto him the words I shall speak unto you. He shall be your spokesman unto the people, and shall be to thee, instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God." Look at God's dealings with Moses, he chose Moses to be his servant to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses 97 although God had given Aaron as his spokesman, all God's commands were to be given to Moses, and Aaron was to do as Moses told him. Another emblem of Christ. God gave his commands to Christ, and Christ gave them to the Apostles, and the Apostles to the people. Still, we see they had to be all chosen by God himself, or by his commands. God has always reserved the right to choose his own servants. And that is what is the trouble v/ith God's work in the world now, and why it is in such a disordered condition, because God has not chosen the servants that have taken it upon themselves to lead his people out of darkness and bondage of the world and sin. There may be some chosen men among the many, but there are few or we would see God's work done in God's way, not in man's way. There are too many of the self-appointed servants of God living for the world and the flesh themselves, to be able to lead people out of the world's sins, or lead them back to their father. For they do not know the way themselves. May God show them what they are doing, so that they may not be cast out as unprofitable servants. CHAPTER XII. MOSES AND AARON. The Lord told Aaron to go out into the wilderness and meet Moses. He went as God commanded and met Moses on the Mount of God. There Moses told him all God wished them to do, and why he had sent Aaron to be with him. And that they were simply to go and do the things as God commanded them, without fear. For they were only to be the instruments God was going to use to do his work with. He would do the work himself, through them. So Moses and Aaron gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. "Let us notice it was all the elder people they gathered together to speak to, not the young people or children that would have no sense or understanding of what they were told." God expects children to be brought up to revere God, and to love Jesus and obey him as far as the child or youth can understand. But God is too good a father to wish or require that the weightier matters of spiritual things should be laid on their young minds. Until the mind as well as the body of the natural child has had time to mature, and has been carefully trained and educated, both mentally and physically, and the 98 Moses and Aaron 99 natural life developed into maturity; the mind then becomes able to understand the teachings on spiritual things. That is the reason we have so many careless Christians, they do not understand the difference in the natural and spiritual side of their lives. They have, from their earliest years, gone to the day school, the Sabbath school and the church, until everything is jumbled up together that when they come to the years that they should be deciding for their spiritual life, they think they are real good Christians, and that is all the length they get, that is the reason there are so many Christians in spiritual darkness. So Moses gathered the older people, that would have wisdom and knowledge of what Moses was telling them. That is one of the greatest troubles in the world now, with the supposed work that people imagine they are doing for God. In the majority of our churches at the present time, the greater part of the church work is in the hands of boys and girls, and youths that are only fitted to be taught by their elders, and told to obey, and to go and play like good children. Their minds and thoughts or intellectual powers has not come into its proper development, they cannot take in or grasp the meaning of spiritual things as elder people can. But children should have perfect care bestowed upon them, both in the teachings of God, in the church, and in the home. Some take up Samuel and Timothy and show them to the children as being called young into the service of God. They do not understand that Samuel was 100 The Spirit Father brought up and educated under the priest, Eh, and was grown to full years of his natural maturity before he knew God, or the word of God. And Timothy! Paul, speaking of him, calls Timothy "his son in the faith," so he must have been well taught before Paul tells him to "Make right use of the law of God," for no one can make right use of it if they do not understand it. As soon as Moses had all the elders of the people gathered together Aaron told them all the Lord had said to Moses, and showed them the signs as God had told them. The people believed that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and looked upon their affliction, and they bowed their heads and worshiped God. Then Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh that God had sent them to take the children of Israel home to their own coun- try. But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let them go. He put heavier burdens on them and would not give them the straw they needed for their work, but expected them to do just as much work and go all over the land and gather the straw for it. The people found it was impossible for them to do it, and they were beaten when they could not fulfil their task. Oh, that takes us back to within the age of our own life, when the cry of the slave in bondage in the south, went up to the Spirit Father, and he heard their cry, and sent his instruments to free them out of the hand of their hard taskmasters. God will always hear the cry of his children. When the officers of the children Moses and Aaron 101 of Israel went to Pharaoh, to see if he would not be more just to them, he told them they had too much time on their hands, or they would not want to go and offer sacrifices to their God. And there would not be any of their tasks lifted from them. When they came to Moses and Aaron they told them that their coming had only got them into more trouble. (That is the way with every one that tries to help get anyone out of the hands of Satan and sin.) If Satan sees us after them, he will give them some kind of trouble to make them think we are bringing them trouble in place of getting them out of it. Oh, Satan has been subtle through all ages, and there never was an age when he was more so than the present age. Moses tells them that God has promised to take them out of Egypt and he would do it. But he was letting Pharaoh's heart remain hard to keep them there till God would let all the Egyptians see the wonderful glory and power of the God of Israel and to show them the judgments that God can send on the children of disobedience. God sent plagues of frogs, lice, and fleas, plagues on the beasts, plagues of darkness and many other kinds but still Pharaoh would not let them go, and told Moses to go out of his sight and not come to trouble him any more. That is what many are saying now to the spirit of God that is wath them "Get away, and do not trouble me any more, for I will not harken to you." But just let us see how Moses answered him. Pharaoh told him not to come to him again. Moses said, "Thou 102 The Spirit Father hast spoken well, I will come to thee no more." O, dear reader, that is what we do to the spirit of God when He comes to plead with us, we will not harken. He comes, and comes again, still we will not hearken, till He goes away for the last time, and He says, "You will not hearken, so go your own way, I will come to you no more, but we \vi\\ meet again one day at the judgment seat, and unless you seek me before that time, and be sorry, and repent of what you have done to me, then we will part there to meet no more!" O! Just think of it! never more to be anything to God, but completely in the power of the devil and his people, and his kingdom. For the devil will have a kingdom and a people, that is what he is fighting for in the world today and from all ages, to gather in a people for his kingdom. The devil knows well — if we do not, that his time and his people's time to be ming- ling among the children of God will end. For God will surely at the Judgment Day separate his own redeemed children from the children of Satan. Satan's own will go with him, they were ^^^lling to serve and live for him here, when they had the oppor- tunity to leave him if the}'' wished; but they will have no opportunity to leave him then, even if they were willing. Two words will always stand between them and that lost opportunity. — Too late, too late, — small words but O, what mighty words when they are used in ref- erence to a lost soul. The Lord again told Moses to get all the children of Israel ready, and for them to get all the silver, and gold and jewels they could get out of the Egyptians, to take Moses and Aaron 103 with them. That is how it will be at the last, all God's people will get all the silver, and gold, and jewels that will be in the world. When God's day comes to divide his people, he will take all that belongs to him then, as well as his people. And he says, the silver and gold is mine, and all the precious jewels are mine, all the earth is mine, and all the heavens are mine. So when God takes his people, and all else that be- longs to him, there will not be anything for the devil to take but his people. And he will have to get off the earth with them, for God will not let him stay there, and we know he can't go into heaven, so he must go into the place God has prepared for him and all his people. When Satan gets his people there with himself and all his angels, (for he has angels) his people will find out when he gets them into his own kingdom, and he knows they have no chance of getting out of his grasp they will not find him giving them such a good, com- fortable time as he let them have when they were mixed up among God's people, for then he was afraid they might know him as he was— and leave him to turn to their Spirit Father. But he won't be afraid of that, once he gets them into his kingdom, for no one that ever goes in there with him, will ever be able to leave it again; for God says that is your everlasting home. So if you do not decide to stay out of it before you get in, you cannot come out after. Whoever you may be, that reads this, may God help you to decide before it is too late. 104 The Spirit Father Whenever God has commanded the children of Israel to move from one place to another, he has told them to bring all the 'jewels of silver and jewels of gold that they could bring from the people they were leaving. — Their God put fear into Pharoah's heart by slaying "All the first-born in the land of Egypt." This lesson is typical of Christ and Satan. — Pharaoh represents Satan and Moses, Christ. The fear that was put in Pharaoh's heart when he was told that all the first-born in the land of Egypt were slain. That symbolizes the slaying of the natural life, by the spiritual life, or the slaying of the natural or animal seed in man, by the power of the spiritual seed. And that fear is in Satan's heart today. For every child born into the world from its natural birth belongs to Satan, — first birth, nature, — second birth, spiritual. When Satan sees the first-born slain he knows he has lost one from his kingdom ; so there is fear in his heart. There was not one house in all Egypt that there was not one slain. So God had one out of every house if he had no more. But I pray God will have many more than one out of every house in the world now. We are told he has his solitary in every home. Now if we would only slay every sin as it comes into our hearts, with God's help, we would put such fear in the devil's heart, that he would soon let us out of his grasp, for we would not be of any use to him then in his work. He is a hard taskmaster if once he gets one into his service, and he will so blind them to what he Moses and Aaron 105 is making them do, that they will think themselves the most perfect men to be found in the country they live in. If he can only get them to be a preacher or teacher, — to teach others as he has taught them that they can do a little work for God, and have a little of his work mixed up with it, then he feels he has got a great prize, for he is quite sure of them, and he knows they can bring thousands into his clutches. He knows they cannot serve two masters and belong to the re- deemed children of God. So Satan knows he will have them sure and fast for his own, when God comes to separate his children from the children of Satan. The devil knows what he is about although we may not think so, and he knows he will have tens and tens of thousands that think they are the children of God, unless they leave his service entirely, and seek their God. They are all right so far as thinking they are the children of God, but they are not the redeemed children of God and it is only the redeemed that will go back to the Father as his own. The Lord sent the last pun- ishment on Pharaoh that he was going to send before Pharaoh would send his children out of Egypt. Word was brought to Pharaoh at midnight that the God of Israel had slain all the first-born in the land of Egypt, and a great cry went up from the people, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Pharoah then called for Moses and Aaron, and told them to take all the children of Israel, and all their flocks and herds, and begone, for he was afraid to keep them any longer. He found that the hand of God was 106 The Spirit Father strong and mighty and that his commands must be obeyed. Again God spoke unto Moses and Aaron and told them, that before they moved on their journey, to in- stitute a Passover and they were to keep it when they got into the land God was taking them to. They were to keep it for an ordinance to them and their children forever. (That was typical of Christ's death, and was kept by Christ himself.) Moses took the bones of Joseph, as he had sworn to do, to carry them back to Canaan, and started on the journey, to take the children of Israel through the wilderness into Canaan. May God lead us safely through this world into the land of Canaan, for this lesson is only an emblem of our earthly life, — as pilgrims on our journey back to our Father's home. God went before them all the way to lead them safely. — Another emblem of Christ. He went before us, through all his earthly human life, and all the trouble and trials that we are ever called to bear, he bore, and will lead us right into the home of our Father in heaven. So the children of Israel were to follow God in the pillar of fire. He would take them all safely, for al- though it took them forty years, they would come in to Canaan all safe, if they would only follow on and obey. So with, us, if we have to live in this world forty or sixty years after we begin to follow Christ, if we keep on following him, and obeying the Father, we will get Moses and Aaron 107 home all right at the end of forty years as safely as at the end of one. But we may be like the children of Israel, we may want to turn back. 0, how many take a few steps and then turn back. We will see how God led them on, and how they be- haved. CHAPTER XIII. IN THE WILDERNESS. God told Moses to have the children of Israel to en- camp over against the sea, for he knew that Pharaoh would follow after them. He said " I will show Pharaoh and all the hosts of Egypt that I am the Lord God of Israel. Pharaoh got out all of his army and all of his horses and chariots, and pursued the children of Israel, and overtook them by the sea. When they saw Pharaoh and all his army they were afraid, and cried unto the Lord. They were angry with Moses and asked him why he had brought them out to die in the wilder- ness. But Moses told them to fear not, to stand still and see how the Lord would deliver them, if they would only obey, for the Egyptians they saw today they would see no more foi-ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace; and let us go forward as God has com- manded us. The Lord divided the sea and made a road for the children of Israel to go through so they all got safely over. The Egyptians followed after them, but when they were right in the midst of the sea the Lord lifted his hand off the waters, and the sea closed up and 108 In the Wilderness 109 destroyed them. — Pharaoh, all his hosts, all his horses, and all his chariots swept off in a moment. Oh! when God lifts his hand to destroy his enemies he does it surely and quickly. This lesson symbolizes God sweeping Satan and all his hosts into the bottomless pit, — the sea, (or hell). And when the morning came, and Moses saw the glorious deliverance that God had given to the children of Israel, he sang a song of praise unto the Lord. He sang "The Lord is my strength, and he has become my salvation, he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation in my heart, he is my father's God, and I will exalt him." You see Moses had not taken God for his savior until he saw the mighty work he had done. So Moses brought them three days journey into the Vvdlderness; and when they found water it was so bit- ter that they could not drink it. They murmured against Moses, he cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, told him to cast it into the water, and the water would be made sweet. God made a statu Lc r.nd ordinance with them there to prove them. (That is what God does with all his children, proves them.) They moved on a little farther and found wells with plenty of water. But they had no sooner gotten water when they began to murmur about something else. Still their spirit father was good and kind to them. But they went on murmuring against Moses and Aaron because they had brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they had plenty to eat, and although 110 The Spirit Father they had been in bondage and oppressed with bur- dens, they were willing to go back into the bondage to get enough to satisfy the flesh, rather than go on and trust God that they would get all they needed. What a grand typical lesson we have here on our temporal life! Tens of thousands in the world are murmuring and fretting in their hearts at the bondage they are living in. They fear, if they leave the place and people that are keeping them in bondage to their sinful life, that they would not get enough to feed the flesh and dress it. They believe in a God, but they are afraid to trust in his promises. "To seek first the kingdom of heaven" and everything you need will be given you. — If people would only prove God, for he challenges his children to prove his promises and love to them. Those that trust their spirit father and prove him, will never find him to fail them in their need. Moses told them that God commanded them to gather enough bread on the sixth day to do them over the seventh, that no one was to gather on the Sabbath, but to rest. But some of them did not obey, and God was displeased with them, and he sent word to Moses saying, "How long will they refuse to keep my com- mands and my laws?" (And these ar&the very words God is saying to this generation; how long will ye, in thousands refuse to keep my commandments and obey my laws; that is God's cry to his children still, for he knows he can never get his children back unless In the Wilderness 111 they obey; for that is his decreed will, sworn by him- self and it will never be changed.) We must obey our Father for he will never change his will to suit his children. The children must come unto him. Still they kept on murmuring against Moses. He led them on through the wilderness till they came to Sinai, and camped before the Mount of God. God called to Moses out of the mountain and said "speak thou to the house of Jacob, and the children of Israel, and ask them if they have not seen what God has done for them, in bringing them out of the hands of the Egyptians; he is taking them home to the land of Canaan and to himself. You are not to fear for God is proving you that his fear may be forever before you, that ye sin not. And you shall build him an altar, but not of stone, it shall be the altar of your heart, and you shall offer the sacrifice of a pure heart to your God, you shall be his children, and he will be your father. And if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, be circum- spect and serve no other gods, then God will bless you and keep you out of the hand of Satan. Glorious promise. And that is God's promise to every creature in the world for all generations. CHAPTER XIV. . "god tells MOSES TO BUILD A TABERNACLE." Moses bviilded the Tabernacle. Aaron and his sons are chosen by God to fill the priests' office. Let us see when God choses his servants how he pre- pares them for his work. Aaron obeyed God's commands and did all he wa3 told to do, under Moses. God tried him and found him faithful. And God said, "He shall wear a holy garment" (that ir>, he shall be pure and clean,) and again ho said, "He shall be filled with a wise heart, and with the spirit of wisdom. Consecrated, that he may minister unto me in the office of a priest." We will not go through all the building of the Tab- ernacle; but will look at one place. They were told to make a laver of bra.ss, (a laver is a bath or large basin). It was to be put into the Taber- nacle, between the congregation and the altar, and water put in it to wash in, and they were told to wash therein that they should not die. That was to be a law to them and to their seed throughout their generation. Now if we will only think a little on that command given to the building of the first Tabernacle, we will find that it is a type of the baptismal fount to be found 112 God Tells Moses to Build a Tabernacle 113 in some of our churches today — but it shoukl be in all, not in a few only. For the water must go with the spirit. However Aaron and his sons could not fill the office they were called to unless they washed themselves, and put on holy garments. And as we read they were to have holy garments it was their flesh garments that were to be washed and made pure and holy, for the flesh is the garment of the spirit. We see how God's ministers or priests have to be made ready for his work, before he will put them into his service. If God required pure and holy men then, he requires pure and holy men now, filled with spiritual power. And in no age did God need more of such men than in the present one. God said, "Thou shaft anoint Aaron and his sons that they may be fitted for my service. When Moses was upon the Mount getting the com- mands from God, God said, the children of Israel were to keep the Sabbath for a day of rest, holy to God, throughout all generations, for a perpetual Covenant. He there gave Moses two tables of testimony on stone, written by the finger of God. While Moses was on the Mount, the people thought he was away so long that he had left them in the Wilderness. They went to Aaron and said: "We do not know what has become of that man Moses. Get up and make us a god to go before us and let us get out of this place." 114 The Spirit Father Aaron made them a golden calf, and built an altar before it, and made offerings unto it. When God saw them he told Moses to go down to his people, for they had corrupted themselves, they have turned from me to sacrifice to another god, my wrath is hot against them, and I will destroy them. But Moses pled for them and said. Remember Abra- ham, Isaac, and Israel thy servants, and thy promises to them. And God said he would spare the people. Dear kind and loving Father, always willing to forgive, if we will only plead and obey. But we cannot plead with anyone we do not believe in, and if we believe and plead, we must have faith or what is the sense of plead- ing if we do not think we will get what we are pleading for. When Moses came down from the Mount with the two tables, and saw the calf of gold they had made for a god; he cast the tablets of stone from him, and broke them beneath the mountain. Then he took the golden calf and ground it to powder and threw it into the water, and made the people drink of it. (I think that is where they have got the gold cure from, that is used now to cure people from the whiskey habit.) Moses saw that the people were hated for their sins. It had brought them to shame among their enemies, and there was slain about three thousand of them. Moses went again to ask God to forgive them, and said if God would not forgive them to blot him out of his book. So we see God kept a book for the good and bad then, as he does now. God Tells Moses to Build a Tabernacle 115 God said, "Not you will I blot out of my book but whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." (Everyone shall bear their own sins.) God remembered the two tablets of stone and the covenant with Israel. Moses went up on the mountain and God wrote the tables again. Moses was with the Lord on the Mount forty days and forty nights; neither ate bread nor drank water. — (Another type of Christ.) God was feeding him with the spiritual food, and when he came down his face was shining with such a light that they were afraid to look upon him. That is the way with every one that lives near to God, their hearts are right, and their faces shine. Moses said "This is the thing that the Lord com- manded to be done." He took Aaron and his sons, and washed them in water, because they had sinned; they had to be cleansed before they put on their robes. The Lord spoke unto Aaron and told him that neither he nor his sons were to drink wine or strong drink when they went into the Tabernacle lest they die and it shall be a statute forever that ye may know the difference between what is holy, and what is unholy. (Where do our Roman Priests get their command to drink wine at the altar? Not from the book of God.) Aaron was a little envious of Moses for God loved Moses for his obedience to him, but Aaron had done wrong. He was speaking against Moses behind his back, and God knew this if Moses did not. Aaron had married an Ethiopian woman, not one 116 The Spirit Father of his own kind, for wc are told that a mixed multitude went up with them out of Egypt. The woman was tr3^ng to make Aaron believe that God had spoken to them as well as to Moses, and that they were just as able to give God's commands to the people without Moses as with him. — Another emblem of our present time. We have thousands trying to do God's work, without God's permission. If they see a man that God has not only given the permission to, but his commands. In place of trying to find out by his life and the work God is doing through him, if he be the chosen servant of God for the part of the work God has chosen and prepared him for, they cither ignore the work, or speak of it, as in his own power, not of God's. But God will not put any man into any part of his work unless he knows he has every qualification to fit him for the work God calls him to do. Human men may make great mistakes in chosing their servants, but God never. He knows whom he can trust. No man or woman can be a servant of God that is willing to serve him only a part of the time, and serve another master the rest of the time. That is an un- profitable servant. Even an earthly master would not want a servant that wanted only to serve him when it suited himself. Oh! no, God will have no such servants, he says, cast them out ; they are unprofitable, they are teaching my children to follow in their footsteps — away with them. God's own servants are always known by their works. God Tells Moses to Build a Tabernacle 117 Aaron and the woman did not have a long time to talk about Moses, for God suddenly called Moses, and told him to bring Aaron and Miriam unto the Taber- nacle and he would come down and speak to them. God came in a cloud and spake to them, saying, "Were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses, him I spake with as mouth to mouth, but my anger is kindled against you." And the cloud departed off the Tabernacle where they stood. And when Aaron looked upon Miriam she had become leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, "Alas my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead." Then Moses cried unto God to heal her and God heard Moses' cry and healed her, but shut her out of camp for seven days. We have two lessons there. God will not let people speak evil of his servants and not punish them. — And God will hear the prayers of his servants for those that repent and ask forgiveness and he will heal them. God has been the healer of his people through all gen- erations, when they will fulfill his conditions. CHAPTER XV. MOSES' BURDEN. Moses is still leading the children through the wilder- ness, but feels the burden more than he can bear. He goes and tells it to the Lord, he says, I heard the people weeping all through the camp, and every man in his tent and God was very angry. Moses also was disappointed, and said unto the Lord, "Why hast thou afflicted thy servant so? What have I done th'at I have not found favor in thy sight; that thou lay est the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all the people or have I begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me 'Carry them in thy bosom, as a father beareth his child into the land that thou swearest to give unto their fathers.' I am not able to bear all this people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me." Moses did not seem to understand that God was honoring him by choosing him for such a responsible position. But the same burden was taken up by Christ, he bore it alone and never faltered. Just as Moses was called to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness back to the land God had promised them, so Christ was called to lead the sinful children of God through this world and out of it, back again to the home of their father. But he had to pay a ransom before he could do it. 118 Moses' Burden 119 He paid the ransom of his own Ufe, and bore the bur- den alone, won the victory, and went back to his Father's home. Moses only got a look at the promised land for he was living under the natural law, but Moses was quite satisfied to view it at that time, for he knew no one could no any more than look forward to the promised land under the natural law. But he knew the time was coming when he would be reclothed under the spiritual law, and would then enter into the glorious land of promise with all the rest of the faithful. All the pa- triarchs knew they had to be reclothed under the spiritual covenant before they could receive their ever- lasting life. They had to work out their own salva- tion, as all have to do. But Moses wanted help and God said he should have it. He told him to gather seventy men of the elders of Israel, and bring them into the Tabernacle, and he would come down and speak to them. "I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them. They shall help thee to bear thy burden." God did not say he would put his spirit on them, but he would take some of the spirit that was on Moses to put on those men that were going to help Moses in the work of God. Moses had to gather together the men that he felt sure were suited for the work, but God had to come and put the spirit upon them. They were not ready for God's service until the spirit was put upon them. Then what happened when the spirit rested upon them? 120 The Spirit Father It came to pass when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. There were two men remained in the camp, they did not go into the Tabernacle but the spirit rested on them also. They prophesied in the camp, and one of the men ran out to Moses to tell him and asked Moses to forbid the men prophesying. Moses said, " Dost thou envy them for my sake? Do not: for I wish all the Lord's people were prophets and that God would put his spirit upon them all."' I can say with Moses: I wish with all my heart that God could find all his children ready to receive his blessing. Still the people murmured, saying, "Let us make a captain to take us back, let us return to Egypt." God heard them and his anger was kindled against them. He said, "I will smite them and disinherit them." That is just what our spirit father is saying to us. He will disinherit us for our disobedience. Moses pleads for them again saying, "Oh, Lord, as thou hast forgiven them so many times since thou brought them out of Egypt, wilt thou forgive them once more?" The Lord said: "I will pardon again as thou hast asked; but as truly as I live, I will be obeyed, and the whole world shall be filled with my glory. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and all the mir- acles which I have done before them, have not obeyed but have tempted me. Ten times they would not barken unto my voice. Therefore they shall not see the land which I promised to their fathers. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit, and hath Moses viewing the Promised Land, Moses' Burden 121 obeyed me fully, him will I bring into the land, and his seed shall possess it. But as surely as I live all that have murmured against me, their carcases shall fall in this wilderness. Every one from twenty years upward. But all these little ones, that they said had been brought into the wilderness to die, I will bring them out of the wilderness in safety; and they shall see the land which their fathers have despised. They shall know that I am the God of Israel. "We see here God in speaking of the destroying of his people in the wilderness was only going to destroy their flesh and it was going to be left lying in the wilderness till it wasted away. There would be no burying for them. Death for the flesh, but no resurrection promised. For the fowls of the air were invited to come and eat the flesh of the kings, and the flesh of the captains and of all the mighty men. So that was to be the end of that flesh. But God took his spirit children. The Lord told Aaron that his work was done, and told Moses to take him up to Mount Hor, and strip him of his garments and put them upon his son. That Aaron would die there and be gathered unto his people. So Moses did as God commanded him and Aaron died on the top of the mountain. Moses numbered again the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, by Jordan. There was not one man among them that was over twenty when they were numbered in the wilderness by Sinai. For God said they shall surely die in the wilderness. Only Caleb, because he obeyed and believed God. 122 The Spirit^ Father We can see how God keeps his word to punish as well as to save. The Lord also called Moses and told him his work was done, that he would be called to his people as his brother Aaron. For he had rebelled against God's com- mand. In what had Aaron and Moses disobeyed? God told them to speak to the rock and the water would come out, but in place of speaking to the rock Moses struck the rock and the water came. Many of us think it does not matter just what way we do God's work, as we think we can get the same re- sults from it by doing it our own way, as by doing it God's way. Let us take a warning from Moses. The water came just the same when Moses struck the rock, as if he had spoken. But his way displeased God for he did not do as God had commanded him. CHAPTER XVI. JOSHUA, When the Lord told Moses his work was done and he had to die; he pleaded with the Lord for a successor to be put in his place, that the children of Israel might not be left as sheep without a shepherd. Moses' heart was with the people even after all the trouble they had given him. He could not bear to leave them without someone to lead them out of the wilderness and bring them into the land that God had promised them. The Lord told Moses to take Joshua because he had been faithful, and had an obedient spirit in him. Another servant God was going to use, but he had to be made ready for the work. The Lord told Moses to put his hands on Joshua, and some of his honors upon him, that all the children of Israel might obey him, and be led by him as they had by Moses. And Moses did all that the Lord com- manded. Joshua was then ready to take up the work that Moses was called away from. — So has it been through all ages to the present day. God, our spirit father, has chosen his own servants from among his own faithful children. But they have all had to be made ready in God's own way, for the work he has needed them for. 123 124 The Spirit Father Joshua did not go to the Mount as Moses did, to get the commands from God, for he was to follow out all the laws and commands that Moses had given. God spake to Joshua and told him what he was to do. He was to gather all the children of Israel and take them over Jordan, and God would be with him as he had been with Moses. And if he would be of good courage and obey, there would be no man able to stand before him all his life; for God would never leave him nor forsake him. But he must not turn to the right hand or to the left, but go straight forward and he would prosper, nor must he let the laws and commands depart out of his life, but meditate on them day and night, and do all that is written therein. Then would he have good success. Oh, good and loving Father. All his promises of good are made on condition of our obedience to him. As Moses led the children through the Red Sea, so Joshua led them through the Jordan, and the waters were divided. We hear many lessons on Moses passing through the Red Sea and the dividing of the waters; but we seldom hear a lesson on the dividing of the Jordan. Joshua told the priests to lift the ark and bear it into the wat- ers. As soon as the priests' feet were dipped into the waters, the water from one side stood up in a heap, and the waters on the other side were cut off. And the priests stood on dry ground until all the people had passed over. Then Joshua called twelve men that he had prepared; one out of every tribe was to take up a stone out of the Joshua 125 midst of the Jordan and bear them over before the ark, that when their children asked their fathers (in time to come) what was the meaning of those stones? they would be told "They are a memorial to the children of Israel forever." Every tribe was to have one stone. Where do we find the symbol of the stone? In the new covenant. — Christ the chief corner stone. When the priest came out of the waters the waters rolled together again and overflowed the banks. Joshua had brought them all over into the land of Canaan, How glad they must have been to eat the corn and fruit of the land, after living on manna forty years. Now when Joshua had gotten the people all safely into Canaan, the next thing the Lord gave him to do, was to lead the people to battle. And as long as they did what was right, and obeyed God; they conquered their enemies. But one of them by the name of Achan had a covetous eye, and took of the spoils of the enemy, gold and silver and hid them, which he had been forbidden to do. He had sinned before God, although he had hidden his sin from all the rest. So when they went out to the next battle God was not with them, because of the sin of Achan, so they lost the first battle with Ai. God told Joshua to find out who had committed the sin. When Joshua found out it was Achan they took Achan and put him to death. Then the Lord's anger was turned away from them, and he went before them ftgain in their next battle. 126 The Spirit Father But we have a lesson here — we see before God would give them any more help or victory over their enemies, Joshua had to take those that had sinned and put them to death. But when they had cleared out Achan and all that belonged to him from the camp then the Lord was pleased with them and told Joshua to get ready again and go forward to battle. And have no fear, for God would be with them and no man would be able to stand before them. God did not take a sword in his hand and go in front of the enemy, but there were more killed by the great shower of hailstones that God cast down from heaven on them than were slain by the children of Israel with the sword. When God does his work hiniself, he does it from heaven and in a mysterious way, for God's works are mysterious to us. When he uses human instruments to do his work, though they can understand many things they do not understand all; for there is always a mystery of some kind in the spirit work, that the men and women that God chooses and makes ready cannot understand how the work is done or what the results will be. They simply do what they are led to do by the spirit and leave the rest with God. For God gives both hght and wisdom, and opens the understand- ing of all his chosen servants before he gives them the work and then leads them on. God kept his promise to be with them and they conquered and won all their battles. Joshua was old and the Lord said to him "He was Joshua 127 getting up in years, and there was much unsubdued land yet to be taken." But Joshua was too old to go into battle again, so he was told to divide the land in lots to the children of Israel, and every tribe would have to fight, and drive the enemy from their own possessions — with the help of God. The same work that was done in that generation, God is carrying on in this — in the subduing of nations that are enemies to God and his work. And God will carry on his work with human instruments until every enemy of Christ is subdued, and put under his feet. But in this generation the greatest of God's work will not be done with rapid firing guns, or torpedo boats; but will be done by the sword of the spirit — the word of God. The Gospel as taught by Christ will be driven into the heart of man and woman until Satan, sin and the world are conquered. And nations will be born in a day to God, and the rebel children that will be saved — brought back to their spirit father. So Joshua before he died called all the children of Israel around him and told them that God had given them land which they had not labored for, and cities which they had not built. That if they served the Lord in sincerity and in truth all would be well with them. But they were to choose that day whom they would serve, and they said: "We will serve the Lord our God." And Joshua said, "Then you are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him?" And they said, "We are witnesses." (That is what every one in this generation is, that have confessed Christ, they are witnesses against 128 The Spirit Father themselves that they have accepted Christ, and God looks for them to obey him.) Joshua bid "good-bye" to all his people — for his work was done. He died, being a hundred and ten years old. CHAPTER XVII. GIDEON. After the death of Joshua the children of Israel fell into idolatry. They turned away from the Lord, and did evil in the sight of God by turning away from him, and serving Baal. God's anger was turned against them and he let them fall into the hands of the enemy. And wherever they went they were overcome, until they could no longer stand before their enemy. They were in great distress and cried unto the Lord, until he pitied them. And sent help by giving them judges, that delivered them out of the hands of their oppressors. They then obeyed and served God as long as the judges lived. But at soon as the judges died and they were left again to follow their own will, they turned to serve Baal, and broke the laws and commands of God; till God's anger was turned against them again, and he said he would drive out no more of the nations that Joshua had not conquered when he died. But would leave them to prove the children of Israel. To see whether they would serve God or Baal. (This lesson typifies the world since the death of Christ. When Christ finished his work on earth, the nations were a mixture of good and bad. Some had turned to God through Christ and gladly received his 129 130 The Spirit Father teachings; and others still remained in their heathen darkness, served and worshiped Baal. But instead of God destro}ang all those that would not receive his promise and commands through Christ and turn and serve the God of Heaven. He left them mixed to- gether to prove those that would be faithful and to gather in others that would believe and turn to God. That is the condition we find the world in, in this age. But God will only permit the world to remain in that condition until his appointed time. Then the people and nations that will not worship and serve the God of heaven will be banished from the face of the earth. No more mixing up of the good and the bad, the earth will be cleansed of all but the true children of God. An angel of the Lord came and told them that they would be left among their enemies, that they would be as thorns in their sides. And their gods would be snares to them. And when the children of Israel heard it they lifted up their voices and wept. But that did not help them any, because though they wept they did not repent and turn from their sins. Just as tens of thousands do in this generation. If they are caught in their sin and crimes and are pun- ished for them, they are ready enough to weep and ask forgiveness; but as soon as they think the punish- ment is over, they are just as ready to begin the same life over again until they are found out, then more weeping, more punishments, and more promises to do better, but no true repentance, and that is the one Gideon 131 thing that God, our father, will have. True repentance. Give up all sin and begin a new life. But God pun- ished them again by delivering them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years, and they had to live in dens and caves in the mountains. The Midianites came up and destroyed all they had and left them nothing to live on. They cried again to their God and Father and God in his love and mercy came to their aid again. — Oh loving Father! no child mil ever cry to thee for help and not receive it, if they will only obey and do as thou hast commanded them. The Lord sent Gideon to de- liver them out of the hands of the Midianites. But Gideon was afraid and cried, "Oh, Lord, what can I do? I am only a poor man, and my family is poor." The Lord answered, "Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." We see those five words changed the whole matter, when God said "I will be Avith thee." Gideon was only the human instrument that God was going to use. But God himself was going to do the work. Still Gideon was afraid and asked God to give him a sign, to let him know that he would be with him. We see when God chooses his own servants, if they are humble and poor, they can hardly believe they are the one chosen to do such great deeds, or such glorious work as many of them are chosen for. Gideon was only a poor man threshing wheat when the Lord called him, and when the angel brought the message to him with the words, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour!" Still Gideon could not believe, for he 132 The Spirit Father cried, "Oh, my Lord, if thou be with us, why then is all this befallen us, and where are all the miracles which our fathers told us of? Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt and he has forsaken us, for we have fallen into the hands of the Midianites." The Lord looked on him and said, "Go as I have told thee, and thou shalt save Israel from the iMidianitcs, and fear not, have I not sent thee?" What a grand lesson we find here to many of the self-constituted servants in God's work to-day. They never ask if they are chosen of God, or if God ^\^ll be with them. It is many a parent's wish for their sons to become ministers. And they bring them up to look forward to the time that they must go to college and university to get ready for their chosen profession. And if they finish their course with honor, they come out thinking they are ready and fully equipped to go out in God's service, without perhaps, ever thinking for a moment, or asking themselves "I wonder if God wants my services or if he is at the present moment needing a servant." Our spirit father is always needing good, obedient, loving and willing children. Willing always to do all the services that any good and obedient child could do for a loving father. But God, is not perhaps requiring servants at any moment or time that we may feel disposed to go into his service or to take hold of his v.-ork and do it in a way that suits us, or may be best for our own advancement. That is what is the trouble with God's work in the present age. Thousand arc appointing themselves God's servants Gideon 133 and doing the work, — every one in their own way, and according to their own light. All the time forgetting that no man can do God's work unless he has been hired by the master and received the seal, — the Holy Spirit. Then their understanding will be opened, they will read the teaching from the Bible with the spirit's light. They would be able to do God's work in God's way, if God calls them. But no man no matter how good he may think or feel himself to be, or however anxious to be in God's service, is fit for the work, if he can only read the Gospels with the human eyes. We must have the spirit's light before we can do the work as God wants it done. But it takes those who have first read ^vdth the human eyes, perhaps for years before they re- ceived the spirit's light, to know and understand the difference between the two lights. That is why the work of God is in the tumult it is at the present age. Things seem to be turned upside down until multitudes of people, even those who call themselves Christians do not know which way to turn or where to look for light. For the blind shepherds are leading their blind flocks. But God hears the cry of his children to-day, as surely as he heard the cry of the children of Israel when he sent Gideon to deliver them out of the hands of the Midianites. God has sent his chosen servants out in every age, for a world-v/ide work, in every forward step he has taken, in his plan, for the bringing back of his children, and is sending chosen servants now to deliver his children out of the hands of the blind and false, teachers that are mis- 134 The Spirit Father leading them, by either holding back a part of the Gospels' teachings or falsifying them to suit their own light. Many good men may be doing this through ignorance, but many know themselves that they are not true servants of God. And multitudes of God's people are awakening to their true condition, and cry- ing to their father for help. And he is sending it to them by giving the spirit's light to thousands of his people individually. Gideon gathered together an army of thirty-two thousand to go with him to deliver the children of Israel. But God sent word to Gideon, that he had too many, for God knew they were not all true men. Gideon was told to tell all those who were fearful or afraid, to return to their homes, and twenty-two thousand turned back, leaving ten thousand with Gideon. But God told him he still had too many and that he was to bring them down to the water, and God would test them there; and show him the men who were fitted for his service, and those that were not. Gideon brought down the ten thousand that were with him to the water to drink. Nine thousand seven hundred bowed down upon their knees to drink, and three hundred Ufted the water up in their hands and lapped it up with their tongue. Gideon was told to take only the three hundred that lifted the water and lapped it, and to send all the others back to their place. Oh, how quick is the eye of God, to see and detect things that man might never pay any attention to. - What do we see in the different attitudes of the men drinking the water? Gideon 135 A soldier on duty is expected to be always on the watch for the enemy. So the eye of God was quick to see that the men that went down on their knees to drink, were looking at the water, and could not see the enemy coming on them unawares. God knew they were not fit for his service, so sent them back. (How many in this age are looking at their drink that do not see the enemy coming on them unawares.) But the three hundred that stood up could be on the watch and ready for the enemy at the same time. God knew he could do more with three hundred men that were true and could be trusted than with all the thirty-two thousand mixed up of all kinds. And what God could do in Gideon's time with three hundred true men, he can do at any other time. God is raising up and sending out many tried and true men as his servants. His servants have been too long of a mixed kind. But God is bringing them down to the waters and trying them and he has begun to separate the faithful shepherds from the unfaithful. And there is no doubt he will keep on doing so, for that is his promise, that he will give shepherds according to his own heart. And no promise God has made to his children will ever be broken; and thousands of his children are crying to him now to fulfill the promise. So Gideon took his three hundred men and divided them into three companies and got them ready for battle. In place of giving them swords, he gave every man a trumpet, a pitcher, and a lamp, very strange weapons 136 The Spirit Father to go out with against a mighty army. But God does his work with strange weapons. Let me here interpret what those three strange weapons symbolize. The trumpet, the human mouth; the pitcher, the body, that holds the living water, the word of God; the lamp, the Holy Spirit— I he three most powerful weapons in the world, when they are used by the chosen instruments of God. When Gideon had three hundred such instruments he had a royal equipped army. All that Gideon's three hundred men had to do was each to blow the trumpet, and break the pitchers they had in their hands and cry, "The sword of the Lord." And the Lord put such fear into the hearts of the enemy, and there were multitudes, that the whole host fled before Gideon and his few men. The people were so pleased with Gideon, because they thought he had delivered them, they wanted to make Gideon and his sons rulers over them. But Gideon said, "No, I will not rule over you neither will my sons, but the Lord shall rule over you." For Gideon knew that he had not delivered them and he dare not take to himself glory that belonged to the Lord. So God in his love and mercy had delivered the children of Israel again. But they did not obey their Father. 0, no, even Gideon did wrong in taking gold from the enemy 1 He melted it and made it into a Ephod, and it became a snare unto himself and all his house- hold. Gideon 137 So Gideon's work was finished for God. Whenever God's servants turn to look after earthly things for their own pleasure and forget God's commands, God has no use for them. It does not tell Gideon's age, but says, "He died of a good old age." After his death the children of Israel fell into the hands of their enemies for disobeying God, and turning again to Baal. CHAPTER XVIII. SAMSON. The children of Israel for their disobedience were delivered into the hands of the Philistines. God needed an instrument to deliver them from their ene- mies. But it seems there was no human instrument that was suited for the Avork. So he had to prepare one. How does he begin? By sending an angel with the message. (God is taking his servant from the tribe of the Danites.) There was a man and his \vife by the name of Manoah lived in the city of Zarah. The angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said, "Behold thou art barren, but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. But beware that thou drink no wine, nor any strong drink, nor eat anything unclean." And the woman told her husband what the man of God said unto her. But Manoah wanted to see the man himself, and hear what he had to say. Manoah prayed God to send the man to them again to teach them what they should do, and the Lord heard him and sent his messenger. When Manoah saw him he asked, "Art thou the man that spoke unto my wife," and he said, "I am." So Manoah wanted to know what they were to do for the child. The answer was, "Let the woman be- ware of all I have said unto her, she shall not eat any 138 Samson 139 unclean thing, nor drink wine, or strong drink, and see that she does all that I have commanded her." (Here we see God was going to get ready a garment for his spiritual child. And he wanted the garment to be clean and pure, therefore the woman was to eat nothing unclean nor drink any strong drink. The time was fulfilled, and the son was born and his name was called Samson. The child grew and the Lord blessed him and the spirit of the Lord began to move him. We are not told anything of Samson's childhood. The next we hear of him he is telling his father that he has seen a woman that pleased him well and wanted her for a wife. But when his father heard she was a daughter of the Philistines, he was displeased and wanted him to take a wife of his own kindred. But Samson said, "Get her for me for she pleaseth me." The father and mother did not know that it was the Lord that was leading him amongst the Philistines for the work he had for him to do. Samson had to do some strange things to stir up the anger of the Philistines against him before he could do the work he was brought into the world for. On his way to Tinmath with his father and mother to see the woman, he met on the road a young lion. There Samson had his first trial of strength, but it was not his own strength for the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he caught the lion and rent it as easily as if it had been a kid. The lion was there to play a part in Sampson's history, for when he was coming back on the same road, he went to look at the 140 The Spirit Father carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in it. And he took the honey and ate it. When Samson went for his wife they made a feast for seven days, as was the custom at that time. Sam- son told a riddle to the thirty friends that were with him, and said if they could tell it to him in the seven days, he would give them thirty sheets and thirty garments, and if they could not tell it to him in that time they had to give him thirty sheets and thirty garments. The riddle was "Out of the eater came meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." But none of the men could expound it to him. So it came to the seventh day, and his wife had tried to get him to tell her all through the seven days, until she troubled him so much that he told her; and she told it on the seventh day to her people. The men came to Samson and said, "We know the riddle. What is sweeter than honey or stronger than a lion?" Samson knew that his wife had betrayed him, so his anger was kindled against her and her people. So to be revenged on them he caught three hundred foxes and tied firebrands to their tails, set them on fire and let them into the cornfields, and vineyards of the Philistines. When they found out who had burned their fields and could not find Samson, they took his father-in-law and his wife and burnt them. But Samson came upon the Philistines and slaughtered them. Another trial of his strength; for he did all single- handed, he had no army to help him. God was using Samson 141 him in strange ways, for the Philistines at that time had dominion over Israel. Three thousand men went up to bind Samson, and when they had bound him with two new cords, they brought him to the Philistines. When they were going to lay hands on him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and the cords that bound him became loose and fell from his hands. He saw the jaw-bone of an ass and took it in his hands and slew a thousand men with it. Samson had to do the work of a whole army by himself. God was using him to show what one man can do, if God is with him. God commenced his work against the Philistines with a man of great strength and strange weapons. Then Samson went to Gaza. And when the people of Gaza heard that Samson had come into their city they said they would surround him and lock him in the city till morning, then they were going to kill him. But Samson knew what they were going to do, and he lay quiet until midnight, then he got up and took up the doors, gates and posts and carried them on his shoulders to the top of a hill. When the people saw what he had done they were all amazed and wondered wherein lay his great strength. (Samson I have no doubt was just like the other men, for his strength did not come from having a large body.) Samson fell in love with another woman by the name 142 The Spirit Father of Delilah, and the Lords of the Philistines came to her and said if she would find out for them wherein lay Samson's strength, they would each give her eleven hundred pieces of silver, so she tried to entice him to tell her. (Like many another man that puts himself into the power of a woman that he has no business with, she is ready to betray him at any moment for a sum of money.) Delilah tried to get him to tell her where lay his strength and how it could be taken away. But Samson knew why she asked him and he told her if they bound him with seven green withes, they would take away his strength. So they bound him with the withes, but he broke them as a thread of twine. Then he told her if they bound him with new ropes, so they tried that, and he broke them off like a thread. She tried him again and he told her if she would weave seven locks of his hair into her web. She did as he told her while he was asleep, and when she had it all done, she cried, "Samson the PhiUstines are upon thee." He awoke and went off carrying the beam and web all with him. But Delilah was determined to find out what she wanted to know. And she gave him no peace day by day and worried his life out, till he told her all that was in his heart. He said he had been a Nazarite unto God from his mother's womb, and that his hair had never been cut since he was born, but if he was shaven, then all his strength would go from him, Samson 143 So she called the Philistines when he was asleep and told them. They cut off his locks, and all his strength left him. When he awoke and arose to go out he found his strength was gone, and the Lord had departed from him. So the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and bound him in fetters and put him in prison. (This lesson on Delilah and Samson symbolizes a man that God had given wonderful strength, power and light to. And through the woman he marries he was led to give up all the strength, power and light that he had gotten from God, and fell into the hands of the enemy — the putting out of the eyes represents him falling into darkness — another symbol of Adam and Eve.) The people all gathered together to offer sacrifices unto Dagon, their god, for they believed it was Dagon that had delivered Samson into their hands, but little did they think what would befall them before their merry making was over. Samson's hair had begun to grow again and he was crying to the Lord to help him. They thought it would be fun to have Samson brought out of prison to make sport for them, as his eyes were out and he could not see. So they brought him and set him between the two pillars. The house was full of men and women besides three thousand on the roof. Samson called to God to help him once more, and give him strength, that he might be avenged on the Philistines for his eyes. God gave him the strength, for he took hold of the two pillars and lifted the house 144 The Spirit Father and it fell on all the people and killed them. He met his own death, but he slew more at his death than he had during his life. (0, let us cry to God in our dark- ness and we will soon have light, or in our weakness, and we will soon have strength. Samson had done the work of a whole army and the best part he had done at his death. (How many have done more good at their death than in their lives!) But what light do we get from the history of Samson? First: That God's word or command must go forth before the human fruit can grow. And the woman that wants to bring forth a strong, clean, healthy child must refrain from all things unclean. The first com- mand given her, was, she must not eat anything that Cometh of the vine (man the vine) nor eat unclean food or drink wine, or strong drinks. Now the command that was given to the wife of Manoah to keep herself clean and pure in that time, is given to all women through all generations. But how few ever think that they are called upon at any time to refrain from anything except as their own inclinations may lead them. If women would only try and find out what are the laws and commands of God toward them, for themselves, and enforce the laws and commands in their lives, how much sorrow and pain woman would save herself. For it is not our Father who has given the pain and sorrow so many have to bear, but we bring it on our- selves through our disobedience. CHAPTER XIX. SAMUEL, There was a man lived in Ramah, his name was Elkanah. He had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had sons and daughters to her husband, but Hannah was barren. The time came for Elkanah to give portions to his family, to Peninnah and her sons and daughters he gave portions of his wordly goods. But to Hannah he gave the most worthy portion of all — he loved her. T.hat made Peninnah jealous and she said and did things to provoke Hannah and made her grieve. The Lord had closed Hannah's womb and she was barren. So when Elkanah took his family up to offer to the Lord, Hannah was so grieved that she could only weep, she went into the temple and poured out her sorrows before God in prayer. There she vowed a vow sa5dng, "0, Lord, if thou wilt look on my affliction and give me a male child, then will I give him unto thee all the days of his hfe." And the Lord heard and answered her prayer, for before she left the temple a message came to her saying, "Go in peace, for the Lord God of Israel hast granted thee thy petition." Her heart was cheered and she was no more sad, 145 146 The Spirit Father They all rose up early in the morning and went to the Temple to worship before God, then returned to their home. And Hannah conceived and bore a son according to God's promise. She said she would call his name Samuel, because she had asked him of the Lord. Elkanah and all the rest of his house went up again to offer their yearly sacrifices to the Lord, with the exception of Hannah. She said she would not go up until the child was old enough to be presented and left there in the Lord's service. Hannah was going to keep her vow and give him to the Lord not knowing whether she would be blessed with any more children or not. So she brought the child up and took him to the house of the Lord when he was quite young and gave him into the care of the priest Eli, telling him that she was the woman that prayed beside him for this child. And that as the prayers had been answered, so had she come back to keep her vow. That she was lending her part of him to the Lord as long as he should live. She left him there and Samuel began to minister to the Lord from his childhood. When she gave her child back to the Lord willingly, he did not leave her childless. The Lord blessed her and she bare three sons and two daughters. O, that we had more Hannahs in these days that would think they were blessed by being chosen of God to bear children, and that they were honored in having the care and bringing up of God's child. But the majority of the human race in this generation think it is a curse in place of a blessing. Samuel 147 Samuel began his work under the care of Eli the priest, to minister before the Lord when he was quite young. But the Lord had not called Samuel. His mother had taken and left him with the priest to be educated and trained in the house of God. And he grew up to manhood and did right and was in favor with both God and man. The time came when God called him, for one night as he slept he heard a voice calling, "Samuel," and he thought it was Eli the priest calling him. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here am I, thou callest me." But Eli said " I did not call thee." Samuel laid him down again. But again he heard the voice call "Samuel," and he arose and went again to Eli, and said, "Here am I, for thou didst call me." But Eli said, "I called thee not, my son, go and lie down again." Now Samuel at that time had not known the Lord, nor had the word of God been revealed to him. All that Samuel knew up to that time was how to perform the ceremonies and ordinances of the church. How many of this present age are like Samuel, they have been put into the church by the mothers and fathers and they are in the church from their youth to their old age. And all they know is the ceremonies and ordinances of the church. But they do not know the Lord nor has his word ever been revealed to them, and I doubt if it ever will be to many, for they have not lived lives as Samuel and found favor ^vith God. Samuel's childhood pleased God and he called him 148 The Spirit Father into his service when he was old enough to understand, and the Lord had need of him, Samuel laid him down the third time, and again he heard the voice call "Samuel." He arose and went to Eh and said: "Here am I, for thou didst call me." Eli knew that then the Lord had called Samuel and he said, "Lie down again, and if thou hearest the call again, say, "Speak, Lord, for th}' servant heareth." He heard the call again and answered as Eli told him. Then God spoke to him and told him all he had to do. Now the first message Samuel had to deliver from God was against Eli the priest. For God had let Eli know of the wicked and vile lives of his two sons. And the Lord's anger was kindled against Eli because he only reproved his sons and let them go on in their evil way. The Lord told Samuel what he was to say to Eli. God said he would do a thing in Israel that would make the ears of every one tingle that heard of it. That the inicjuity of EU's house should not again l)e purged with sacrifices nor offering, but he would destroy them all. We see although the priest knew how to perform the ceremonies and ordinances of the church, his life and the life of his family did not please God. What a lesson there is in Eli the priest's life to many calling themselves God's servants. They may be per- fect in all their church work, Init their own life and their own household may not be right in the eyes of God, although it may look all right in the eyes of the world. But God will destroy all such servants in his own time just as surely as he did Eli. Samuel 149 Israel again went to battle with the Philistines. Now what was God going to do in this battle to make the ears of every one tingle that heard of it. There are just three arks spoken of in the Bible. We will look at these arks. The first ark made was called Noah's ark. God told Noah to make that for a refuge for himself and his family and such other creatures as God wished saved Avhen he destroyed the world. And Noah was told simply to make it of gopher wood, and pitch it within and without to make it watertight. He was to make it the size and after the fashion that God told him. The next ark we are told about is Moses' ark. When his mother could no longer hide him from the wicked Pharaoh she made an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with pitch, and put Moses in it, and laid it down by the river. And Pharaoh's daughter found him there and he was saved. But we come now to the third ark, this is the one we have to speak of. The Ark of God. We see the other arks were made of the simplest things that could be used for the purpose. But let us see what the Ark of God was to be made of, and what was to be its use. God told Moses to build the ark of Shittim wood, and to overlay it with pure gold without and within, and everything that was made for the ark was to be made from the pure gold. No mixed metals to be used in God's ark: everything must be of the genuine stuff; no adulteration. (Every- thing that belongs to God must be pure.) We must be pure in spirit, pure in soul, pure in body 150 The Spirit Father before we can be one of the redeemed children of our spirit father and fit to be taken back to the house- hold. What was God preparing his ark for? To hold one of the most precious things that God ever committed to the care of man. The covenant and testimony of God made to man for everlasting ages. The ark was to hold the testimony of God. We know when our human fathers make their wills or testimonials they generally put them in a safe place for safe keeping, so did God mir spirit father have a safe place made to keep his last testimony for that was his will for all ages, and will never be changed. When our spirit father made the new covenant he did not alter his commandments or his promises to the obedient and disobedient. That stands through all old and new covenants the same. In the new covenant God only did away with the natural or animal law, and brought into force again the spiritual law, the law under which our first parents were placed in the garden of Eden before they fell. When the Ark of God was finished, God said, "Put into the ark the testimonies I have given thee and shut it up." Now the Ark and testimony were very precious to the children of Israel, for they knew God would never break his word. Samuel sent word to the Israelites to get ready for battle against the Philistines. When they were all ready the Philistines came up against them and slew four thousand of them. The Israelites were smitten Samuel 151 with fear, and returned to their camp, and said to the elders, "Why hath the Lord smitten us this day before all the Philistines. Let us go and bring the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh and keep it with us that it may save us out of the hand of our enemies." They sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark and cov- enant, thinking that could save them. And when the ark v/as brought into the camp, all the people shouted with gladness till they made the earth ring. And when the Philistines heard the voice they wanted to know what was the meaning of it. They were told that the Ark of the God of Israel was brought into their camp. Great fear came upon them for they thought God had come to take care of the Israelites. And the Philistines held a meeting and said, "What are we to do, for God has come, and such a thing has never been known before as God coming into the camp. Woe unto us." They thought God was going out with the Israelites to fight against them. They said, "Who is to deliver us out of the hands of their mighty God, for this is the God that smote all the Egyptians in the wilderness. They took counsel together and said, "Let us be strong and quit ourselves like men, that we may not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to us. Let us be brave and fight like men." So the Philistines came up against the Israelites again, and they slew in that day thirty thousand and the rest fled; and the Ark of the Lord was taken from them. The two sons of Eli the priest were slain. There 152 The Spirit Father ran a man out of the army and came to Eli as he sat by the wayside watching. His heart trembled for he was in fear for the ark. When the man came and told him that Hophni and Phinehas his two sons were dead, he felt sorrowful. But when he was told that the Ark of God was taken he fell off his seat and died. When Phinehas's wife heard that her husband and father-in-law were dead and that the Ark of God was taken, she bowed herself in grief and brought on the birth of her child. She died and the woman that was wth her named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken." Many of our churches should be called by the name of Ichabod, for if they ever had any glory in them it has surely departed. What do we see in the act of God letting the ark fall into the hands of the Philistines? First: The words God had spoken to Samuel of the destruction of Eli and his house, had been fulfilled. Second: When God said he would do a thing in Israel that would make the ears of every one tingle that heard of it, for such a thing had never been done before, nor should it ever be done again. But God did it to show the people of Israel their folly in trusting in anything but God himself to deliver them from their enemies. For although the Philistines might tliink or believe the ark was a God, the children of Israel knew better. In place of them crying to God to be with them and deliver them in their next battle, they brought the Samuel 153 ark out of Shiloh where God had left it in safety and trusted to the ark because it held God's promises. But they soon found out their folly, as all do that try to put a substitute in God's place. What was to make all ears of the people tingle when they heard that the ark of the Lord had fallen into the hands of the Philistines? It made their ears tingle, and their heart tremble with fear. For the ark had never been out of the care of God's children before, and should never be again but God took it out of their hands to teach them a lesson. What did the Philistines do with the ark? They took it to the house of Dagon their god, and set it by him thinking they had got another god. But in the morning when they went into Dagon's house he had fallen on his face before the ark. The Lord was making even their god bow before his covenant. They took Dagon and set him in his place again. The next morning when they went into Dagon's house, he was on his face, his head and hands were cut off, and only the stump was left of Dagon. They felt that the hand of the God of Israel was against them, so they gathered together the lords of the Philistines and asked them what they were to do with the ark, for they would not have it with them. They did not know what to do with it and carried it about from city to city, and God sent destruction and smote the city wherever the ark was. But when they took it to Ekrom the Ekromites cried out "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people." 154 The Spirit Father They cried to the lords of the Philistines to send the ark back to its own place for the hand of God was heavy on them and their cry went up to heaven, and the Lord showed them a way to send back the ark. They called the priests to ask them how they were to send it. ^The priests told them to send trespass offerings with it, and the Lord would forgive them, — for they were smitten with emerods. They got ready their offerings of gold to go with the ark. The Philistines were anxious to know if it was God that smote them, or if the great evils and troubles that had come upon them was just a chance. They were going to take a way to send the ark back to satisfy themselves if it was God's hand or not that had punished them. They laid the ark on a new cart and tied to the cart two milk kine, and let the kine go by themselves to see where they would go. For they said, "If they go straight back to the Israelites then we will know it was their God that was against us." Five of the lords of the Philistines followed after the kine to see where they would go. The kine went straight along the highwa}^ lowing as they went, never turning from one side to the other till they were over the border. And they went Into Beth Shemesh into a harvest field where the men were reaping, and the kine stood there. When the men saw the ark their hearts went up in rejoicing. They were glad to get the ark again. The Levites took the ark and the offering of gold Samuel 155 that were sent with it, and burnt sacrifices before the Lord. But that was not the proper place for the ark, for some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark. And the Lord's anger was kindled against them, and he smote over fifty thousand men, and fear fell upon those that were left. Those that looked into the ark were prying into secrets and mysteries of God, and God will let no man do that without punishment. How many of the present age are getting punished for trying to pry into God's mysteries. There are many to-day losing their soul's salvation, because they cannot find out what they want to know of the mys- teries of God. They think they must see it with their eyes, or understand it with their intellect, when what they need is to understand it with their hearts. The ark was taken to the house of Abinadah and was there twenty years. His son Eleazar was sanc- tified to keep the ark. Who was Abinadah and Eleazar that they were thought worthy of being intrusted with the ark for twenty years? They were of the sons of Aaron, part of God's chosen people; God knew they were to be trusted. Again the children of Israel turn from following the Lord, and fall into the hands of the PhiUstines. What did they do this time? They run to Samuel and cry, "Pray pray, cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of their hands, and we will serve and obey him." Samuel prayed and God heard him and saved them that day. 156 The Spirit Father God sent great thunder and smote the Philistines, they fell before Israel and were subdued, and came no more into the coast of Israel while Samuel was their judge. But why did God save them in this battle and sub- due their enemies? Because they went right away to gei God's help; they turned their hearts to God and asked Samuel to pray for them ; and promised to obey their spirit father's commands. If Samuel had prayed without their asking him, he would not have gotten the help they needed. We can pray that God may turn the hearts of our people to him that they may be saved. But our prayers cannot save them. They must pray and turn to our Father with their own hearts before they can be saved. How many are trusting to the prayers of their priests, ministers and parents, thinking they are all right if any one prays for them. Lord open their eyes CHAPTER XX. THE ARK. After the Ark of God had been twenty years in the house of Abinadah, David gathered all Israel together and said, "Let us go and bring the Ark of God to Zion," that was the city of David. So they took the ark out of the house of Abinadah and put it on a new cart. David and all Israel played and sang with all their niight before the Lord as they were bringing the ark. They were so overjoyed at getting it. As they came into Chidon one of the oxen stumbled and Uzza put forth his hand, and took hold of the ark, and God was angry with him ; for no hand was allowed to touch the ark. There were staves put through rings in the sides of the ark when it was made, to carry it by; and the ark was to be touched in no other way. Uzza may have put out his hand in a hurry for fear the ark would fall, but he displeased God by doing so, and God smote him there on the spot and he died. David was displeased with God for smiting Uzza; but when David remembered that he had no right to be angry at what God had done, he was afraid to take the ark in to Zion, and he carried it into the house of Obed-edom and it was kept there three months, 157 158 The Spirit Father until David felt that it would not displease God for him to bring it up to the city of David. He then brought it and set it up in the Tabernacle he had built for it, and offered peace offerings before the Lord. And the people were so glad to have the ark that they sang and played ; even David danced before the ark; and he distributed to all the multitude, every one a cake, a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine; and sent them all to their own houses rejoicing. The ark was kept in Zion, in the city of David, until Solomon built the temple, it was then brought up and placed in the temple, and there it was to remain. We will find, the last time the ark is mentioned is in the eleventh chapter of Revelations. "When the tem- ple of God was opened in heaven, there was seen in heaven the ark of his testament." So God has it in his own care, and when the time comes when it will be read on the judgment day, we will find God has been and will be faithful to his covenants and testimony through all time, and will be to everlasting ages to those that have been faithful in love and obedience to their spirit father. So will he be faithful in his promise to his children. Why were the children of Israel so careful and so desirous of having the Ark of God with them? It was not for the value of the ark; although it was very valuable being made of the most precious metal. But it was what they knew was in the ark that was valuable to them. It contained all they had in writing of the covenant and testimony that God their Father had The Ark 159 made with their human fathers and to all their genera- tions. No wonder it was precious, for if they had lost the ark and the covenant, what would they have had to hold God to his promise to them. They had the word of Moses, but Moses was dead. But they believed it was true or they would not have turned to God so many times, when he punished them for their disobedience. They knew all that; but that is not having it in writing. We all feel if we have any important matters to settle with any one, even our fathers, if we are going away from them for an indefinite time, we will make a will, and deposit it in some safe place and when we know that is done, we would be very careful of the box that held it, if it was put into our possession and we knew it held our inheritance from our birthright. That is just what the ark and what it contained was to the children of Israel in their generation. Now what is that covenant and testimony to God's people in this generation, for the covenant was made to Abraham and to his seed forever. All God's saved people are Abraham's seed through Christ. But where is our ark that holds the precious covenant, testimony and promises of our spirit father to us. They are ours only on conditions, the same as they were to our forefathers. But where is our ark? Dear brothers and sisters, every one that has a Bible has the ark for this genera- 160 The Spirit Father tion, and that holds our spirit father's testament in all its fulhiess, for it liolds both the old and new covenant The old covenant was only made with the cliildren of Israel. But in the new covenant God is offering pardon and mercy to the whole human race. Jew and Gentile alike, that shows us the fullness of our Father's love. But what a price that new covenant cost! Can anyone realize the anguish of that Father's heart when he looked on that beloved son, and saw him sacrificed on the cross to pay the ransom, for carrying the message that was to reconcile the Father to his rebel children? Oh, beloved Jesus, our elder brother; Is it anj' wonder thou art the beloved of our Father? We suppose all those calling themselves Christians, are God's children, in these days have their Bible, or, if not, they should have. For it is our ark, and we ought to know what it holds for us, or what our Father has promised us as our inheritance, and on what conditions. For all children that have a father that has anything to give them, whether it be much or little, like to know what they are going to get. And if it is on conditions, they will want to know all about it, so that they will know just what they are expected to do. Then, if they are told to go into the room and take up one of their father's books and search it through till they find all the promises and conditions they can have it upon, what would they do if they wanted to know? They would have to search till they found all they wanted, and they would want to do all the searching for them- selves, for fear anyone else would not do it right, and they might make a great mistake by trusting to what The Ark 161 another niiglit tell them about it. For, when the time came that they expected their inheritance, and went to their father to get it, the father might say: "O, my son, you can't haye it, you have not fulfilled the condi- tions." Then they might say : "I did all I knew, and in the best way I knew." But your father would say: "No, you have not. I told you to search that book and you w'ould find out all I had promised to do for 3^ou, and on what conditions I would do it." But your mind was either taken up with other things, or you were indifferent about it at the time. And perhaps thought you would read over the book, and see what it said some time when you felt like it. But in place of doing that for yourself, you go first to one place and then to another to hear what this one says about it, and what another has to say about it, until you do not know what to believe, then you end by losing your inheritance and your birthright. Not be- cause your father did not want you to have it, but be- cause you did not do as your father told you, for if you had, you could have brought out your ark and shown it to your father, his promises and testament in his own words. And if you have filled his conditions, then you could hold your father to his promise. That is how the chil- dren of Israel felt in having the ark; knowing what was in it, they knew^ if they obeyed God would fulfill. But, how many there are carrying around their arks (Bibles) and do not know or understand two promises in the whole book ! They are like the children of Israel when they had 162 The Spirit Father the ark beside them, and the covenant promises shut up in it. They thought they were quite safe and able to overcome their enemies, but they found out their mistake when their enemies overcame them. That is what tens of thousands calling themselves Christians are doing now. They have their Bibles and they be- lieve the promises are all right, but there might as well be no promises for them, for all the good they get from them. They do not know how to make use of God's prom- ises to them, for we are to fulfill the conditions, and then hold the promise before the Father and ask their fulfillment to us. Just as you would do with a human father we would say, "Father, I have done what you told me, now give me what you promised." "Ask, and ye shall receive." How many calling themselves God's people to-day are like the Israelites ! When the Israelites had the ark in the camp beside them, they thought they were all right, but when they went out and lost the battle with their enemies, they saw their folly and what they had done when it was too late. Instead of trusting to having the ark beside them, they should have turned their hearts to God and prayed him to help them, and deliver them from their enemies. And he would have heard, it would have been God fighting the battle then, not them. That is why so many Christians lose their battles for God. They have their Bibles beside them, and they think they are all right, although they hardly know what a chapter of that Bible means. And when they go out to battle with the world they forget to ask God The Ark 163 to help them, so they either fall before the enemy, or are captured and held prisoners perhaps for years, and some for life, thousands die in the enemy's prison. There are hundreds of infidels who know more of the Scriptures — for the use they put them to — (fighting the battle of the devil) than do thousands of professing Christians. They are worse off than the Israelites, for the Israel ties knew, when they had the ark, what was in it, but the majority of Christians have their ark but do not know what it holds for them. The lesson represented here on the two arks, the Bi- ble and the ark of the children of Israel, shows the dif- ference in the two dispensations. The children of Israel were in the bondage of spiritual darkness for their disobedience and sin, and in that con- dition they were to remain until it came God's time to release them and give them light. Those that tried to look into the ark were trying to get light that it was God's will to withhold. When God made the new cov- enant with man, a covenant of light and everlasting life, all that will not look into the ark (Bible) under the new covenant, and do not care, or try to know what it contains, will be destroyed. CHAPTER XXI. SAUL. The children of Israel desire a king. Samuel was old and he had made his sons judges over Israel. But they did not walk in the ways of God, and the elders of Israel went to Samuel and told him they would not have his sons as judges over them, for they were not honest. They were taking bribes and perverting judgment. So they asked to have a king put over them, as all other nations had. Up to that time no king had ever been asked for by the children of Israel. God had been God, Father, King and Ruler over his people, with his servants and prophets under him to carry out his instructions. But now they wanted a king over them, as other na- tions had. A human man to judge and rule over them. Their asking for a king displeased Samuel, so he went to God about it. And the Lord said: "Hearken unto all they have to say unto thee, Samuel, and do not feel hurt about it, for it is not you they are rejecting to rule over them, for you have not been their ruler. It is 'I' they are re- jecting, for it is 'I' have been reigning over them, and since they are rejecting me I will give them a king. Go and tell them so. Yet protest solemnly with them, show them, if they get a king, what kind of a king he 164 Saul 165 will be, that shall reign over them." Samuel went and talked to them, but it was not any use — they wanted a king. Then Samuel said: "Well, I will tell you what kind of a king he will be, and what he will do. He will take your sons from you, and use them for his horsemen, and his chariotmen, and he will set them to till his ground, and to reap his harvest and to make in- struments for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be his confectionaries and cocks and bak- ers. He will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive yards, all the best of them, and he will take the tenth of all you have, to give to his officers and serv- ants. And he will take the best of all your young men, and put them to his own work. He will take the tenth of your sheep and you shall be his servants. "That is the kind of king you shall have. And you shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppression of the king that you have chosen ; but the Lord will not hear you in that day. So you had better be without a king!" But they refused to obey Samuel and said: "We will have a king over us that we may be like all other nations, that our king may go before us, and fight our battles." So the Lord told Samuel to let them have a king. God told Samuel he would choose the man that should reign over his people, and they had been told what kind of a king he would be. Saul was the first man that God's people had made a king, to reign over them. They had been in bond- age to other kings, but had never acknowledged the 166 The Spirit Father right of any king over them but God. But God al- lowed them to have a king, and they have been making men kings, and putting them to rule over themselves, from that generation to this. And if we will look around the universe to-day we ■wiW find that the majority of the kings are men after the pattern of Saul; for they are still taking our sons for their horsemen and chariotmen, and our daughters for cooks. And all the other things that Saul did, the kings of all nations are doing in this age. There are many different kings spoken of through the Bible history. But we will speak in this chapter only of the first human king that reigned over God's people, and the last one that ever will reign over them. God himself has chosen the last king that will reign over his people, and it will be an everlasting reign. He told them also what kind of a king this last one would be. That he would be chosen from amongst his breth- ren, and he would sit upon the throne of his kingdom, and would have a copy of the laws of God in his book, and would read them all the days of his life. And would love and fear the Lord his God, and keep all his laws and statutes. And his heart would not be lifted up above his brethren, nor would he try to gain for him- self gold or silver, nor will he turn to the riglit or the left, but will go straight forward, keeping all the com- mands of God; and his kingdom should be an everlast- ing kingdom in the midst of Israel. What a difference between the two men chosen ! Why is it so many in this world believe in a God or a Su- preme Being that rules the universe, but they do not Saul 167 want to believe in Jesus Christ. They cannot see what is the use of having him, they are willing enough to trust God. For they believe and trust in God's love and mercy, but they do not need Jesus. They say he is only a man, and they do not need him. That is sim- ply because they have no conception of what God is, therefore they have no conception of what they are themselves, or why it was necessary that Jesus should be sent by the Father to us. The children of Israel, God's chosen people, our fore- fathers, asked God to give them a king; they were de- termined to have a human king over them. So God allowed them to have what they wanted, and said they would never again be without a man to reign over them, God never broke his word, and never will. (Jesus was the man chosen to be made the everlasting king to reign over God's people. And all the true children of God thank him for giving us such a king. He is reign- ing king to-day over the hearts of millions of loyal subjects.) There was a man by the name of Kish lived in Ben- jamin, a mighty man of power. He had a son whose name was Saul, and he was one of the choice young men of the city. So God told Samuel that was the man he had chosen to be made their king. Samuel wanted to know where he would find him. And God said: 'T will send him to you." Saul's father had sent him out with some of his servants to look for some asses that had gone astray. They had looked for them for days, but had not found them; they had used up all their 168 The Spirit Father bread and water, and began to fear Saul's father would be getting uneasy about them, and thought they had better go home. But one of the servants said: "Let us go first to the seer; he may be able to tell us about them." At that time they called the prophets seers, or the men of God. So they went up to the city, found some maidens going to draw water, iiud asked the maidens if they could tell them where to find the seer. They said: "He has just come into the city to-day. There is a sacrifice in the high place, if you make haste, and go now you will find him before he goes up to eat, the people will not eat till he comes, for he blesses the food." But the Lord had told vSamuel the day before that on the morrow he would send a man from the land of Ben- jamin, and he was to anoint him captain of his people Israel. God had heard their cry unto him. and liis pity was for them, so he gave them a captain that he might save them out of the hands of the Philistines. When Saul met Samuel he did not know him, so he asked if he could tell him where to find the seer. And Samuel answered: "I am the seer, go up before me unto the high place, for ye shall eat with me to-day and to-morrow I will let thee go." Samuel knew Saul was the man God had told him about. So he asked Saul to eat and stay with him un- til the next day. Samuel lirought Saul and his serv- ants to his house, and there were about thirty guests there. Saul and his servants were seated in the chief places among them. "You came to inquire of me Saul 169 about the asses you are in search of, but do not trouble your heart about them; they are safe. Let me tell thee that the desire of all Israel is turned towards thee." Saul said: "How can that be, for I am a Ben- jamite of the smallest of all the tribes of Israel, and my father, the least of the families of the tribes." "Well, that may be, but the people are going to make of thee a great man." Saul remained over the night with Samuel. In the morning Samuel called him and told Saul to send his servants on before them. "But stand thee still awhile with me, that I may reveal unto thee the word of God." Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on the head of Saul, kissed him, and said: "The Lord hath anointed thee captain over his inheritance." Dear brother or sister, whoever you may be, you may be one of the many that are (as I was) reading your Bible with but little understanding. The major- ity of Christian people think that God made Saul king over his people. Now, the Lord told Samuel to anoint Saul captain, but a captain is not a king. God permitted his peo- ple to make Saul their king. For our spirit father would never make any man king, that would be hand- ing over to a human man what belongs to God himself. For he has said: "My glory will I never give to an- other." God himself had chosen the man that he per- mitted them to make their king, but permitting and appointing them are two different things. God did not even make Christ our king. Jesus' hu- man birth and God's foreordained purpose in providing 170 The Spirit Father the last man for his children, that he would ever per- mit them to have over them as their king! God had borne with his rebel children from genera- tion to generation, till the time was fulfilled that they were to have their own way. Now, when God brought Jesus before the world, God did not say: "This is your king, I am pleased with him." God said; "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Jesus had lived his human life for thirty years in a way that was pleasing to God, his Father. When he brought him before the world to begin his ministry God proclaimed him his beloved Son, and anointed him before the world for the work that his Father was giv- ing him to do. But God left it to his people to make him their king. Even Jesus did not ask to be made king, for when he thought the people would take him by force and make him king he got away from them. Pilate was the first to proclaim Jesus king. He said to the Jews: "Behold your king!" When Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king, Jesus' answer to Pilate was: "Thou sayest I am a king; to this end was I born." He was the Christ, the promised Messiah and King. But they were looking for a king such as Saul, that would lead their armies out to battle. Samuel brought Saul before the people and said "See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen?" And all the people shouted: "God save the king!" So Saul began to reign over Israel from that day. But some of the children of Belial did not want him over them, and said: "How shall this man save us?" Saul 171 They despised him, and brought him no presents. The day came when Saul called them all to array themselves for battle. He then divided them into three companies and led them into the midst of the host in the morning, and they fought till the middle of the day, and slew the Ammonites right and left, until the few that were left were scattered so that two of them were not together. When the Israelites saw what a victory they had won under the leadership of their new king, they cried : "Where are the men that said we will not have this man to reign over us, bring them out till we put them to death." But Saul said: "There shall not a man be put to death this day, for the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel." So we see by Saul's words he would not let the people give him the glory. He knew it was God had given them the victory. If Saul had only kept like that through all his reign, what a different ending it would have had ! When he had reigned two years, he selected a band of three thousand choice men for himself, and was go- ing up against the Philistines. But the Philistines heard of it, and gathered them- selves together in multitudes, pitched their tents to the eastward; and when the Israelites saw where the Philistines were, and their great numbers, great fear came on them, and they hid themselves in caves and thickets, and some of them went down into pits. Saul was still in Gilgal, and when he saw the fear of the people, and that they were leaving him, he took a 172 The Spirit Father peace offering and offered it. But he had no sooner of- fered it than Samuel came to him and asked why he had been so foohsh. "Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. If thou hadst obeyed and kept thy Father's commands, the Lord would have established thy kingdom over Israel for- ever; but now thy kingdom shall be taken from thee, and God ^;\ill choose another captain over his children. And he v.ill be a man after his own heart." Yet Saul was sent out to another battle to see if he would obey God's commands. Saul was sent to ut- terly destroy the Ammonites, and fight against them until they were consumed. Saul destroyed the people, but he saved Agag, their king, and he took the chief of all their sheep and oxen, and the best of all they had, when God had commanded him to destroy everything that belonged to them. When Samuel came again, to ask why Saul had not obeyed God's commands, Saul said he had brought their oxen and sheep to offer in sacrifice. But Samuel asked if God delighted more in his people offering burnt offerings than in their obeying his commands. Obe- dience is what God wants and will have from his people, *'and as thou hast rejected God's words, God hast re- jected thee from being king over Israel." Saul cried, "I have sinned, and transgressed the commands of God, because I feared the people and obeyed their voices." Oh, God, how many of those calling themselves thy servants are like Saul! They are disobeying thy com- mands, because they fear the people, and fear they Saul 173 might lose their place. When Saul asked Samuel to go with him before the Lord, that he might ask pardon, Samuel would not go, for he knew God would not let Saul reign longer over his people. And as Samuel turned to leave Saul, he took hold of his mantle and it rent in his hand, then Samuel told him that the king- dom of Israel was taken from him that day and given to another. That ended the reign of Saul as the first king over Israel, but when he turned back to go from Samuel God gave him another heart, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he was a new man, and had a new name. How few that are Bible readers think of the glorious Paul being the first king that reigned over Israel. Do we wonder, when he was brought to see himself and what his wickedness and disobedience had made him lose, that he was one of the bravest and boldest of all the apostles, and was willing to suffer death a thousand times rather than disobey or dishonor his Lord again? His eyes were opened. Oh, Lord, that our eyes were opened! CHAPTER XXII. DAVID. The Lord said to Samuel: "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul? I have told thee I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. But fill thine horn again with oil, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king from among his sons." So Samuel went to Bethel, and called Jesse and his sons, and sanctified them, and called them all to the sacrifice. And when Samuel saw Eliab, he thought, surely this is the one the Lord wants me to anoint. He must have been fine-looking and tall, and a man of a fine counte- nance; for the I;ord spoke to Samuel and said: "Look not on his fine countenance, or on the height of his stat- ure, because I have refused him." The Lord does not look as a man looketh — on the out- ward appearance of a man. God looketh to the heart of the man he is going to choose. So Jesse brought all his sons one by one and made them pass before Samuel. But, as they passed by, Samuel knew that God had not chosen one of them. When seven of Jesse's sons had passed, Samuel said: "Arc here all thy children?" And he said: "All but the youngest and he is away keeping the sheep." Sam- uel said: "Send and bring him, for we will not sit down 174 David 175 without him." His father sent and brought him in. When Samuel looked on him he saw a young lad, ruddy, and with a beautiful countenance and goodly to look on. And the Lord said to Samuel: "Arise, and anoint him, for this is he." Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the spirit of the Lord came on David from that day for- ward. Now, God had chosen his man, and had him anointed and ready to be made king when the right time came for the people to do so. David had to do some great work, and some valiant deeds to bring him before the people, before they would choose him for their king. But God had pre- pared the way far all that. There was another great battle between the Philistines and the Israelites, and each army was camped on a mountain side with a val- ley between them. The Philistines had a champion with them named Goliath, a man of great height and weight, and covered with a coat of mail, helmet, and everything that could protect him from the enemy. The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of it weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him, so he felt he was perfectly safe. He came out in all his glory, as he thought, to frighten the Israelites. He stood before the army and cried: "Why are you come out to try and fight against us? Am I not a Phil- istine? And you are only the servants of Saul." Ah, that is where the trouble was; they had become the 176 The Spirit Father servants of Saul, instead of the obedient children of God their Father, still God was willing to help them. Goliath came before them forty days, mornings and evenings, defying them, and telling them to choose a man from among Israel and send him out to him. "And if he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I kill him then you shall be our servants and serve us." The Philistine said: "I defy the armies of Israel this day, give me a man, that we may fight!" Oh! little did he know what he was asking for or do- ing, in defying the God of Israel, for God had his in- strument ready. David was sent by his father to carry provisions to the camp, for his brothers, three of them, were in the army. While David was speaking with his brothers, up came the champion defying the Israelites to fight him. All the men fled before him. But David asked what would be done to the man that would kill the uncircum- cised Philistine and take away the reproach of Israel. "For what is he, that he should defy the armies of the living God? Tell me what shall be done to the man that kills him!" They told David the man that killed him would re- ceive great riches from the king. David said: "Let not your hearts fail you, for I will go and fight the champion." So they went and told the king. But when the king saw David he said: "Thou art but a youth, and cannot be able to fight against him, for he is a great man of war." But David said: "I have killed both a lion and a bear that came to take the David 177 lambs out of my flock, and as God did deliver me out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." The king said: "Go, then, and God be with thee." Saul dressed David in a coat of mail and put his hel- met on him, and girded him on his sword and armor and told him to go. But David said: "I cannot go with these things, for I have not proved them." So David took them off and chose his own weapons, and they were of the most simple kind. He took his shepherd's staff in his hand, and gathered five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his bag, and with his sling in his hand went off to fight the Philistine. When the Philistine came up to him, he looked on David with disdain, for he was but a youth, and he said: "Come to me, and I wall give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field." But David said: "Thou comest to me with a spear and a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,'the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast de- fied this day. The Lord will deliver thee into my hands, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcass of the Philistine unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all may know there is a God in Israel ; and all this as- sembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword or spear. For this battle is the Lord's, and he will give it into our hands." And as David and the Philistine met for battle, David took a stone from his bag and slung it and slew Goliath. He fell to the ground, and David ran and stood on him, and took Goliath's sword 178 The Spirit Father and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw their champion dead, they all fled. And David carried the head of Goliath into Jerusalem. (This lesson is a symbol of Christ and Satan.) This was the first use God had made of his chosen instrument. A mere youth to put a whole host of an army to flight, and to kill the great Goliath that had put fear into the whole army of Israel! When God has chosen us for his work, it does not matter how small, or weak, or little we may be in our- selves. God can do the work with us. David was not chosen king for many years, after that he went through many strange adventures that we cannot write here, but you can read them all in the Bible. David went by God's command to dwell in the City of Hebron; and the men of Judah came there and made David their king. We see that David was only made king over one tribe at first. He was seven years and si?? months king over Judah before he was made king over all Israel; for the house of Saul would not have him for their king. There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David's house gained in strength, for God was with them. Saul's house grew weaker and weaker until all the elders of Israel came to Hebron to David, and he made a league with them before the Lord, and they anointed him king over all Israel. David was then about thirty years old — about the age of Jesus when he was brought before the world. God has let his sons be at a matured age, before he in- trusts to them any great work. David 179 David reigned over Israel thirty-three years. David began his reign over Israel by taking the stronghold of Zion, and going to dwell in the fort, and called it the City of David. He made a proclamation that whoever would go up and smite the Jebusites, he would make chief and captain; for he hated them with his very soul. And David began to build round about, and went on growing great, for God was with him, David fought two great battles and defeated the Philistines, but David gave the glory to God, and burned up all their images. Then Hiram, king of Tyre sent messengers to David, with cedar trees, carpenters and masons to build David a house. For all the blessings God had given David he did not live up to the commands of God, for David com- mitted adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. She was very beautiful and he wished her for his wife. So he ordered Joab to put Uriah in the front of the battle, that he might be killed in that way. When he heard that Uriah was dead, he had Bathsheba brought to his house and made her his wife. But what he had done greatly displeased God, and God sent Nathan to reprove him by giving to him a parable. He said, "There were two men in a city, the one rich the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds, more than he could number; but the poor man had but one little ewe lamb that lay in his bosom. And when the rich man saw the lamb he coveted it, and sent and took it to himself. 180 The Spirit Father And when David heard what Nathan told him his anger was kindled against the man; and he said, "As the Lord liveth that man shall die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he had no pity." Then Nathan said, "Thou art the man." David was condemned, and confessed his sin before God, and was forgiven. If we are willing to confess and repent God is always ready and willing to forgive through all generations. It became one of David's desires to build a house for God, but the Lord sent Nathan to tell him that he must not do so, for he dwelt in no house built with hands. God said, "I took thee from the sheepcot from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel; and have made thy name great, but ye cannot build me a house. But David's desire and wish to do so pleased God; and God made him a promise that he would appoint a place for his own people and that they would dwell in a place of their own and move no more. And the children of wickedness would not be allowed to afflict them as they had done in former times. "And I will set up thy seed after thee, and establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son ; but if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. I will not take my mercy from him but will establish thine house and kingdom and throne through him forever. God's promises to David have been, and will be, David 181 fulfilled. Let us look over this promise. God says he will appoint a place for his own people, where they will dwell in safety, and none of the children of wicked- ness will be allowed to hurt them or do them evil any more. That time is near at hand ; for God is preparing the way now for that promise to be fulfilled, by clear- ing away the rubbish and filth that has been built on the foundation of the church of the first born, the church of the living God. He is clearing away the rubbish and will build again with the pure, clean, and polished stones; that is with his regenerated and redeemed children. They will have no more going here and there looking for a church or home where they can find God, for he will dwell in the midst of them, and lead them by the power of the Spirit. And again where he says: "I will set up thy seed, and I w^ll be his father and he shall be my son, but if he does not obey, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and wdth the stripes of the children of men," we see that chastening was to be allowed by the hands of men and in men's ways, not by the hand or way of God. For our Father's way is love and mercy, if we will only love and obey him. David was a great king and had fought and won many mighty battles, but he did some things that greatly displeased God. David always repented and confessed his sin to God and was forgiven. David was a man that shed much blood, and God would not allow him to build the temple for his hands 182 The Spirit Father were bloody. But God promised that Solomon, his son, would be a man of rest, that he would be king over Israel, and the land and the people would have rest from war during his reign. David had sinned and brought God's anger on himself many times while he reigned over Israel, but had always confessed and sought forgiveness. But again, in the end of his reign, Satan tempted him to number the people of Israel, and he greatly displeased God by doing .«o. I wonder why Satan wanted David to count the people? I believe the devil wanted to know just how- many people belonged to God, and he took that way to find out. For when he knew how many were on the Lord's side, he would know all the rest belonged to him ; just as they are now — all that are not on the Lord's side are on the devil's side. God sent word to David that he would punish him. He allowed David to choose his punishment from three things: He was offered three years' famine; or three months to flee before his enemies and be over- taken by their sword; or three days' pestilence. When David heard what the Lord had said, he cried: "Let me fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are very great, but let me not fall into the hands of man." And David lifted up liis eyes, and saw an angel of the Lord's standing between the earth and heaven with a drawn sword in his hand stretched over Jerusalem. And David cried unto God to stay the plague and not destroy any more of the people. "For it is I, O, Lord, that has committed the sin and done the evil. But those sheep what have thoy done? Only what David 183 I told them. Let the punishment be on me, 0, Lord, but not on my people." And the Lord heard his cry of repentance and stayed the hand of the angel and Jerusalem was saved. David had fought his last battle as king and ap- points Solomon as his successor. What lesson do we find in this small part of David's history. We are told David was a man according to God's own heart, still David committed sin and angered God, but God knew that the desire of David's heart and spirit was to do right and he wanted to be just and upright to every one. And when he was brought to see wherein he had sinned, he was always sorry and ready to cry to God for forgiveness and wanted no one else to be blamed or punished for his sin! He wished the punishment to be laid on himself. So God knew it was not his spirit child nor the heart of David that wished to do wrong but the flesh, the human child that was so easily led to sin. We have only to read over some of the beautiful "Psalms of David," to see both sides of the man's life, the outpouring of the spirit man in one psalm and the outpouring of the human man in another. In the sixty-third psalm, where David's soul is thirsting for God, he cries, "Thou art my God; early will I seek thee ; my soul thirseth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is ; to see thy power and thy glory as I have seen thee in the sanc- tuary. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee \vhile 184 The Spirit Father I live; I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when I re- member thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." That was the cry from David's spirit. But when we read again, in some of his other psalms, his cry to God to punish and destroy his enemies, there we see the human man. God our spirit father knoweth all sides of our nature, and pities our failings with a love past our understanding. CHAPTER XXIII. SOLOMON. After David chose Solomon his successor he ap- pointed Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet to anoint Solomon before the people. And when it was done they blew a trumpet, and all the people cried, "God save King Solomon." They had declared him their king. We will just take up a few of his acts, as he is the fitst king of the royal seed of David and the only one we will talk about until we come to the last and ever- lasting King, Christ. When God told Solomon to ask for what he wanted Solomon said, "O, Lord, thou hast made thy servant king, and I am but a little child, I know not what I should do, for I am now in the midst of thy people, and they are a very great multitude. Give me therefore an understanding heart that I may be able to judge thy people rightly ; and discern between good and bad ; or how can I judge so great a nation." Solomon's request pleased God and he said, " Be- cause thou hast asked for wisdom and understanding to make thee able to judge my people righteously, thou shalt be the wisest king that has ever reigned, and I will also give thee all thou hast not asked for, riches and honor will I give thee, that there shall not be any 185 186 The Spirit Father amongst all the kings like unto thee. And if thou wilt walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments, I will lengthen thy days." Such a glorious promise, if he would be an obedient son! Let us first seek the kingdom of heaven; that is >viKdom and understanding to know how to love and obey our spirit father with a true, pure and perfect heart. That is the first gift of God to his children that seek it in sincerity as Solomon did, but all God's promises to him were temporal things. No spiritual promises or blessings were given to any one under the old covenant or natural law. They had all to receive the spiritual blessings and promises under the new covenant and spiritual law. Every spirit that was clothed in a human garment under the natural law, would be reclothed again under the new covenant and spiritual law. Let us look at Solomon's first act in judging his people. Two women came before the king to have a dispute settled. They lived in the same house, and each had a little son of the same age, and one of the women laid over on her son and it died, and while the other woman slept she took the living child from her bosom and put the dead child in its place. So when she arose in the morning to nurse her child she found it dead; but when she looked upon it, she knew it was not her child, but the other woman said, "It is surely thy child, for the living one is mine." So they went to the king to haA'C the matter judged. And when they told Solomon what the trouble was about, the king said, "Bring mc a sword," and they Solomon 187 brought him one, and he said, "Divide the living child in two, and give one half to the one, and one half to the other." The woman who owned the child cried, "O, no, my king, do not harm my child, rather give her the child, but do not slay it." But the other said, "Let it be neither hers nor mine, but divide it." But the king said, give the child to the woman that pleads for its life, for she is its mother. And the people saw in the king's judgment the wisdom of God. What lesson do we see in this first act of Solomon? First, we see in the woman that took the living child from the bosom of its mother, the work of the devil. She first stole the child, then lied about it; then she was willing that the child should be divided. That is just what the devil is doing all the time, stealing the living children of God, and putting dead ones in their place. And he is quite willing that they be divided, for as long as he can keep them divided he is on the safe side. For he knows God will have no divided child, he will have the whole spirit, soul and body, or none. In the woman that cried, "Do not divide the child, nor slay it, but let her have it." We have an emblem of our spirit father. He will not have a divided child nor will he have it slain, but he will give it to Satan just as it is, if it be- longs to him. Where do we find Christ comparing his love to the love of the mother? Christ could not bear to see the children divided, and away from their father's home. He says to his 188 The Spirit Father brethren, "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but ye would not." What other lesson do we get from Solomon's first act of judgment? Just what is going on at the present day: that while we sleep, our enemy, the devil, comes along and takes out of our bosom the living child of God's and places a dead one in its stead; by deadening our hearts to the light and purity, obedience and love, that belongs to the living child of God, and filling our hearts with the dead pleasures and filth of the world, til at belong to Satan. And the sword that was brought before Solomon is an emblem of the sword that must be brought before us— the sword of the spirit, the word of God as taught in the Gospels, that will decide all disputes between the dead and the living at the judgment day, between the children of God the redeemed in Christ, and the unredeemed children, the inheritance of Satan and his kingdom. Solomon began to build the temple. David had gathered much of the costly stones, the gold and silver for the building, but Solomon was to be the builder. This is another emblem of God and Christ. God, the Father, will prepare the costly stones, but Christ will build the Temple, Christ himself the chief corner stone. The king commanded and they brought great and costly stones, and hewed stones to lay the foundation of the house of God. How many costly stones have been laid in the foundation of the temple,— the church Solomon 189 of the living God, since the first Great Stone, Christ, was laid there. How many martyrs and saints have been laid on top of the Great Stone. But, O God, how much rubbish has been built on it also, that must be torn off to the last particle and built up again with the costly and hewed stones, before the coming of the Great ICing. The stones for the building were made ready before they were brought in, so there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building. Another emblem of God building his temple in the human heart. He needs no hammer, but the work goes on silent and sure, till the work is complete, if we will only let the worker in. Solomon kept at work and built after the pattern the Lord commanded till it was finished, then he dedi- cated it to God — just what has to be done with the human temple. But we are told of the building of the second temple that is to outshine the first in all its glory. Christ is the builder of the second temple, and each of us, if we like, can be one of the stones. Solomon grew very great and his fame was spread through all lands. He built himself a great house to dwell in. The Queen of Sheba heard of the great king, but she would not believe all that she heard of him; so she paid him a visit to see with her own eyes. And when she saw him in all his greatness and wisdom, she said, "The half was never told." 190 The Spirit Father How many of the unbelievers to-day would like to do as the Queen of Sheba did. They would like to go and see Christ the Great King with their own eyes, to see if what has been told them is true ; and if their wish were gratified they would have to say as the queen said, "The half was never told." But blessed are they that have not seen, and believe, we know the half has never been told, and never can be told. With all Solomon's greatness and goodness (and all God's goodness to him) did not keep him true and obedient to God. Solomon let his heart be drawn away from God by many strange women, whom God had forbidden him to know. And he turned and followed after their gods, and forgot the God of Israel and his father's commands, and the Lord was angry with him and told him that for his disobedience and idolatry he would take from him his kingdom. So Solomon lost his kingdom through his idolatry and love of women. God, to keep his promise to David gave Solomon's son one tribe to rule over that he might keep one of David's seed as he had promised. Solomon reigned forty years. Let us look at Solomon's first request from God. He asked for understanding and wisdom. But the wisdom and understanding Solomon asked for was only human understanding and wisdom, for God was not dealing with men from the spiritual side of their Ufe in that age. All of Solomon's work was to be in earthly things, all his works and greatness was of the earth, earthly, and all perished. CHAPTER XXIV. JOB. Job was one of the greatest and richest men in the east; and a good and upright man before God in that generation. That is the kind of man that Satan Ukes to get hold of if he can. Job had a large family of seven sons and three daughters; great stocks of camels, sheep and oxen, and a great many servants. God had blessed him with every earthly thing that his heart could desire. But Job had his troubles, for he knew his family were not living lives that were pleasing to God. They were always having feastings, or good times as we would call them. Job would get up early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all his family and this he did continually in behalf of his children. But there came a time when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came among them. We can see the presumption of Satan in coming among the sons of God, for he had been cast out of heaven, away from the presence of his Father, for his rebellion, and cursed by him for lying to Eve. But wherever Satan knows he can get at his evil work, he is presumptive enough to go there. 191 192 The Spirit Father When God asked him where he came from he said, "From going to and fro, and walking up and down on the earth." He might also have said, and doing all the evil I can in it! The Lord knew well what Satan was there for, and he asked him, if he had ever thought what a good and upright man Job was. But Satan tried to make God doubt Job's sincerity. He said, "Do you think Job fears God for nought; have you not blessed him with every earthly thing he can wish for? But just try him by taking away from him all the earthly things he has, and he will curse thee to thy face." We see here the malignant character of the evil one. We suppose he knew that Join's wife and all his family belonged to him, so he w^anted to get Job also. For that is the devil now as then; if he knows there is one in the family that loves and serves God, he will not rest till he get that one along with the others. There may be a dozen in the family as there were in Job's, and eleven of them may belong to Satan, he will not rest till he get the twelfth if it is in his power to do so. He thought he had found a way to get Job into his hands also. But God knew Job better, and gave Satan permission to take away and destroy all earthly things that be- longed to Job, but Job himself, he was not to touch. So Satan began his evil work by destroying his oxen, his asses, his cattle, his servants, his sons and daughters, — all earthly things he had were taken from him, except his wife. Although Job thought it was God that was Job 193 taking all from him, he was still faithful to God, and said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Satan was not satisfied, for although he had taken everything from Job and destroyed all he had, Job had not cursed God and turned from him to serve Satan. But Satan was determined to try again. Just as he does now, for he will let no one off with one trial; but he keeps on trying. And he came again among the sons of God and presented himself. And the Lord asked him if he had considered Job, "How he holds fast in his integrity to me, although thou moved me against him, to destroy all he had without a cause." Satain said, "Yes but all a man hath will he give for his life. Put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and flesh and he will curse thee to thy face." God told Satan he could do as he pleased to the flesh, but he must not injure Job's life. Satan smote Job with boils from his feet to the crown of his head. And when his wife saw his condition, she asked him if he still retained his integrity in his God. "You had better curse him and die." But Job told her she spoke like one of the foolish women, that did not understand what they were speaking about. Job thought all his troubles and afflictions were coming on him from the hand of God. And many think when reading the book it was God's hand that put all Job's afflictions on him, when Satan did all the evil work. The devil is glad and happy; that is, if he is ever happy, it must be when he manages to get God's people to believe that God is doing the devil's work. 194 The Spirit Father That is what Job believed in his ignorance, and as the devil blinded Job, so he is blinding millions to-day. Job had some very good friends, and when they heard of all the troubles and afflictions that had come on liim, three of them made an appointment to come together to mourn with him and try to comfort him. But when they saw him they did not know him, for in place of seeing Job as they knew him — in all his riches and grandeur, surrounded with all his heart could desire, and servants at his command; they found him sitting in dust and ashes covered with a most filthy disease, scraping himself with a potsherd. Was it any wonder they did not know him ; but they sat down and wept with him. But Job's friends were like many of our friends at the present day — they were not much comfort to him. His trouble was beyond human help; but they sat down with him and bowed their heads toward heaven, that was where they looked for help, they had not Christ to lean on, neither his human nor divine friendship, as we have. Strange that Job had only three friends come to him altogether out of all he had. We will look at the characters of the three friends: Ehphaz means one to whom God is strength; Bildad means son of contention and Zophar means chatter. They all sat beside him seven days and seven nights and none spoke a word to him for they saw he was in great grief. But Eliphaz was the first to speak to him, he said, "Job, I would like to speak to thee a little if thou wilt Job 195 not be angry; I cannot withhold myself from speaking. Job, I know thou hast instructed many and strengthened the weak, and thy words have upheld many that were falling; but now when trouble has come upon thee, thou faintest. "What hast thou to fear, remember the innocent never perish, nor is the righteous cut off. There was a thing brought to me in a vision in the night and a fear came upon me till I trembled, for I saw a spirit pass before my face, and it stood still before me; but I could not discern the form, an image was before mine eyes and I heard a voice saying, 'Shall mortal be more just than God? or purer than his maker?' " That as Eliphaz' reproof to Job. We see neither Job nor his friend ever thought it was Satan that was doing all the evil to Job, they all thought it was God that was punishing him. They were all trying to make Job see that his punish- ment was just; that he must have disobeyed God in some way. But Job maintained his innocence, and wished to plead his cause face to face with God. Then Bildad said, " Let me speak to thee now for the words of thy mouth are like wind. Do you think God perverts judgment? or do you think the Almighty per- verts justice? 0, no, if thy children have sinned against him and he has cast them away for their trans- gression; why do you not go to him and make thy supplications if thou wert pure and upright; surely he would make the habitation of thy righteousness pros- perous and though thy beginning be small, yet thy latter end will greatly increase. For God is ever good 196 The Spirit Father to the righteous, but the hypocrite shall perish." Then Zophar speaks, he says: "Job, you think your doctrine is pure and thou art clean in thine own eyes; but O, that God would open his lips and show thee ^\^sdom, and thou would see that God exacteth less from thee than thine iniquity deserveth." We see all of Job's friends wanted him to believe that God was punishing him for his sins. But Job answered his friends and said," No doubt you are the people and all wisdom shall die with you, but I have understanding as well as you, neither am I inferior to you who think you know so much. I am as one mocked of his neighbors, a just and upright man laughed to scorn; what ye know I know also. Surely I \vill speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. But ye are all forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. "O, that ye would altogether hold your peace and it should be your wisdom." 80 Job turned from his human friends and appealed to God. But another friend comes along named Elihu, and he said, "I am young and you are very old; wherefore I was afraid to show my opinion, for I thought your age would teach you wisdom ; but great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment, but there is a spirit in man, and if he seeketh God, the inspiration of the Almighty will give him understanding." Ehhu offered himself to reason with Job in behalf of God; so he goes on to tell Job that God giveth account of his ways or doings to no man ; and that he called all men to repentance, by visions or afflictions and by Job 197 ministry, until Job's attention was drawn to him, then he said, "God cannot be unjust." Then he showed how he was just in all he did, and the greatness of God's works and wisdom, until Job saw himself as he was before God, and he cried, "I have sinned, behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee, I can speak no further." Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, "Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer me if thou canst: Where wert thou, Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth, or who laid the measures, or stretched the line upon it? or where are the foundations fastened? or who laid the corner stone when the morning stars sang and the sons of God shouted for joy? or who shut up the sea, when I made the cloud a garment to cover the heavens, and made a place for the sea, set bars and doors in it and said, hitherto shalt thou come and no further; here shall thy proud waves be stayed." We might go on writing many chapters on the questions God put to Job, but we would rather our readers, whoever they may be, would take the Bible and search it all out for themselves. God was just convincing Job of his ignorance and imbecility. And that is just what we need to be con- vinced of, our ignorance; for we are so ignorant about ourselves, that we are ignorant of what God our father is to us, and what we really are to him; and what Christ is, and has done for us. It is ignorance that is making the trouble with God's people in the world; not ignorant for want of human knowledge or education, for we have great and learned 198 The Spirit Father men and women; but the majority are ignorant in divine learning, divine wisdom, and divine understanding. The majority of the human race to-day are in ignorance of God as their spirit father. When Job was brought to see the glory and power of God, he humbled himself before God; but he would not humble himself before his friends and fellowmen, for he felt he was as good as they. But when it came to humbling himself before God it was different. (There is one chapter in the book of Job that I would Uke to draw the attention of the reader to: — the forty-first chapter; read it carefully and prayerfully, and ask your- self if you know or can understand who God is. God draws Job's attention to the Leviathan, the great sea monster; we believe he is showing him where the great evil spirit of the devil is sealed up, and we believe that is where many of the evil spirits are chained and shut up in the great sea monster, for they are the devils of the deep; and we believe in many parts of the deep are the bottomless pits where they are sealed till the judgment day. But may all who read this, read the forty-first chapter of Job and study over it.) Then Job cried, "Lord, I have heard of thee by my ear but now I have seen thee with mine eyes, and I abhor myself and repent." God accepted his repentance and blessed Job, and gave him back abundantly more than Satan had taken away. Oxen, sheep, camels and asses, seven more sons, and three daughters, and in all the land no women were found so fair as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren. Job Uved to be a hundred and forty Job 199 years old, and saw his son's sons, four generations, and died in a good old age. Do we not see many Jobs in the world? O, yes, covered with the filthy garments of sin, disease, and shame; we find a Job, as his friends found him. And when we can show that man the way to God by true repentance, if he repent, we often find him again, blessed with God's mercy (perhaps years after) a happy, pros- perous man, with his family returned to him, living in contentment, joy, and peace; loving and obeying God. And they are fair and beautiful to look at in their holy and happy life. CHAPTER XXV. JONAH. Jonah is spoken of in "Kings" as the servant of God, and in "Matthew" as the prophet Jonas. But why was he cast into the sea? Nineveh was a great and wicked city, and God's anger was turned against it. So word came from the Lord to Jonah, to go and tell the people that God was going to destroy their city. But instead of doing what the Lord commanded him, he fled to Joppa, there he found a ship ready to sail to another country, took passage in it to a place called Tarshish. He thought if he could get away from the presence of the Lord, he would not have to obey his father's command. But when the ship got out into the sea, there arose such a tempest that the mariners feared the ship would be broken in pieces, they were all afraid, and every man cried unto his god to save them. They cast part of their freight into the sea to lighten the vessel, but it did no good. When the shipmaster found Jonah asleep, he was angry and said, "What do you mean by sleeping when we are in such danger; arise and call upon your God that he may help us, that we do not perish." But the storm did not cease. 200 Jonah 201 They said there must be some evil one amongst them, and they cast lots to see who it was, and the lot fell on Jonah. They asked him what evil he had done and where he came from, what his occupation was, and what country and people he belonged to. He told them he was a Hebrew and feared the Lord God of heaven. When the men heard that, they were all afraid, for they knew he had fled from the presence of the Lord. They asked him what they were to do with him, that the sea might be calmed before they all perished. He told them to cast him into the sea; and they did so, and the sea became calm. Although Jonah thought he had gotten out of the Lord's presence by fleeing to another country, God's eyes and hand were still on him. God had prepared for Jonah's being cast into the sea, and had a great fish there ready to swallow him up, and he was kept three days and three nights shut up inside the fish. (It is one thing, you know, to be eaten up, and another thing to be shut up.) Jonah was only shut up so that he knew where he was. And when he remembered what he was shut up for, he prayed and cried to God. He repented, and God heard him and spoke to the fish and it brought Jonah upon dry land and vomited him up. Jonah must have promised to obey God, for when word was sent to him the second time to go and preach in the city of Nineveh, Jonah went and cried through the city that God would overthrow the city in forty days. The people were all 202 The Spirit Father afraid, for they believed that God would do it, and they brought word to the king and he sent out a decree that neither man nor beast were to eat or drink, but that all were to be covered in sack cloth. And "every one turn from their ways; and who can tell but God will yet forgive, and turn away his fierce anger from us that we may not perish.'' God saw all they were doing and that they had turned from their evil ways and did what they thought was required of them, that is, as far as their light and understanding led them. God had mercy and spared them at that time. Jonah made himself a booth outside the city and sat in it, to watch and see what would become of the city, as he expected it to be destroyed. Jonah may have waited there a good while for God did not destroy it at that time. Whether Jonah sat there long enough to be real hungry or not we do not know, but he was dis- pleased and angry with God for not destroying the city and the people. God took pity on Jonah and prepared him a gourd. (A gourd is a plant with fruit on it.) So Jonah could both sit in the shadow of the gourd and be sheltered from the sun and eat the fruit to keep him from being faint. Jonah was very glad to have the gourd, but a worm smote the gourd and the next morning it withered away, and the sun beat on Jonah's head till he was faint. And he was angry that the gourd had withered, and sorry about it being destroyed. Then the Lord spake to him, "Well, Jonah, thou art sorry and hast pity on the gourd, which never cost thee any labor, neither didst thou make it grow, it came up in a night and perished in a night, so it was not of Jonah 203 much account, still you would wish it spared, and should I not wish to spare Nineveh, that great city, where there are more than sixscore thousand persons that do not know their right hand from their left?" O, good and loving father! How he can pity and spare his poor ignorant children! but in this age and generation there need be few ignorant unless they are willfully so. What lesson or light do we find in the short history of Jonah? First: that Jonah, for his disobedience, was cast into hell; and that is just where we believe he was. Remember he was shut up in the fish and he knew he was there, and he said, he was in the belly of hell. We believe that the bottomless pit is in the depths of the sea, and that the mysteries of God are locked up in the bottom of the seas, just as sure as they are in the heavens above. Many strange voices and cries are heard from the depths of the ocean. Many are trying to penetrate into the mysteries of the deep, as well as into the mysteries of heaven. But no one will ever find out the mysteries of God until God reveals them himself. But to those who search the Book with prayer, and true earnest desire to know God's will and earnestly seeking the spirit's light and wisdom, God will lead them to see and understand many of his mysteries, if he finds them faithful. We next see that Jonah was sent out as God's messen- ger to tell the people what God was going to do to them. They believed and turned from their sins. How many are told in this age that God will punish and cast them into hell, if they do not repent, and turn from 204 The Spirit Father their evil and careless lives; but they \\n\\ not believe or pay any heed to the warning until it is too late, for our spirit Father's love and mercy has its limit. But we believe there are more of his children disobey- ing him through the careless lives they live, than those that are actually living evil, vicious lives. And what is the cause? It is largely due to the state and teach- ings of the churches and church people in the careless and social lives they live. Their example is leading millions away from their God and father, and into the hands of Satan and hell. O, sister and brother, will you not take time to think and consider what you are, and what your life is, and what a responsibility lays upon all who profess to be teachers or preachers of God's word, as well as on all those calling themselves Christians. But the time will come, as God has promised, that his people must be gathered together in unity and power through faith and obedience, into one great, glorious, powerful church of the living God. What does Jonah's act concerning the gourd teach us? Human man, in all his selfishness, and God in all his mercies. God will always be merciful to his children who disobey in ignorance, when he sees them willing to receive his warning and turn from their evil ways, and doing all they can with the light they have, just as he did to the Ninevites, after Jonah told them God would destroy them for their wickedness. God did not send word with Jonah if they would repent he would forgive them and give them ever- Jonah 205 lasting life. The time had not come for that message. It was reserved for Jesus to bring to God's children. But God saw the Ninevites in their ignorant condition, doing all they could, and God's love and pity went to them. We cannot now find many of the human race that do not know the right hand from the left. Where we find ignorance in this age it is willful ignorance, with few exceptions. There never was a time in the world's history that the human race had the intelligence they have at the present age. But men are so blinded that they do not see God's work and ways in these things. They think it is human man that is advancing all things by his science. Poor blind mortals we are, when we cannot see God's hand in every change on the human race, and on every advancement in the world. Man may invent, but God himself is the inventor. This lesson on Jonah's being shut up in the fish is a symbol of the spirit being shut up in darkness in the old covenant for disobedience, and Hberated under the new covenant through repentance. Note. — Whether many of the lessons we have in the Old Testament are figurative or not they are all inspired writings to give instruction, teaching, and light to all generations. And those that receive the divine teach- ings from them will be wise. CHAPTER XXVI. THE father's promises TO HIS OBEDIENT CHILDREN. God's promises are made to all his children, good and bad. And when all God's children are taken in, it means every human creature in the world, rich and poor, high and low, black and white, from every nation and every creed. But God has two kinds of children in his family. He has his good, obedient and faithful children, and he has disobedient, rebellious children. So his promises are made to both, according to the children he is talking to. We could not write all God's promises in this volume, nor in many volumes, so we will only bring before the readers a few, hoping the readers will take the Bible and search the promises for themselves; for, O, how precious are the promises of God to his children if we would only find out and understand them. How many heavy burdens would be lifted from the weary human heart, and how many of the sinful would be turned from their wicked ways; and how many of the rich in this world's goods would share with their poorer brothers and sisters, in place of spending all on self. The sick and suffering would have many comforts that are withheld from them now. But I believe the time is here, or near at hand, when man and woman will 206 The Father's Promises 207 have the Spirit's light poured in on them, and they will know themselves and know their father. One of God's promises, I believe, is being fulfilled at the present time. He said he would send a famine throughout the land, but it would not be a famine for bread or water, but a hungering to hear and know the word of God. I do not think there ever was a time in the world's history when the people, individually, have hungered and thirsted for the word of God as they do now. The cry is heard from all nations, "O, God, give us light, and let us know the Gospel in its fullness." For God's children, even those that are earnest to know and understand the teachings and promises of their father, have been blinded by the teachings and preachings of the blind shepherds. But the father hears the cry of his little ones, and is leading them out into the green pastures, where they will have both light and food for all that are ready and wiUing to accept, on the father's conditions, and the shepherds may go with the sheep if they are willing. This promise was made under the old covenant, and will be fulfilled under the new covenant, that his children that were not capable of understanding the teachings and work of God, under the old covenant, would hear it from the Book (the Bible). And by their hearing and understanding they would be brought out of their darkness, and that the people and nations that would not turn and obey God, after they had heard the Word, should perish. God also promises to do a marvelous work amongst the people, and perform a great wonder. He says 208 The Spirit Father the wisdom of the wnse men shall perish and their great understanding shall be brought to nothing, and the unlearned that crieth in spirit shall come to under- standing, and they that know nothing shall learn doctrine, and the Spirit shall be poured on them from on high; and the work of righteousness shall be peace, the effects of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever. And God's people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwelUngs, and in quiet resting places. And the Lord will be exalted, and he shall gather his people from among all the nations of the earth. And again, the glorious promises of the restoration of Jerusalem. Thus saith the Lord, "I was jealous fo*" Zion, the city of David, and I will return and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And it shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, and there shall yet be old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem and the men shall have their staffs in their hand for very age; and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing therein. And I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and it shall come to pass that the people shall come from many cities, and the inhabit- ants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek to know God.'" And the Jew shall come, saying, "We will go with thee for we have heard that God is with you. " So rejoice, O, children of God, for the King cometh! So turn to the The Father's Promises 209 stronghold ye prisoners of hope, and the Lord shall save you, he shall defend you, and you shall subdue your enemy (Satan). And the Lord shall count you as one of his flock, and you shall be as one of the stones in the crown of Christ that will be lifted up as an ensign upon the whole earth. Now who were the prisoners? and what stronghold were they to turn to in the hope of being liberated? Let me here interpret: The prisoners spoken of were the spirits imprisoned in the flesh, and held in bondage to Satan, because they were held in a slumbering or sleeping condition from the fall of man, for their dis- obedience to God, and had no power to claim their spiritual birthright; so had to live under the bondage of the flesh till God's appointed time. And the strong- hold God was telling them to turn to was Christ, for in Christ is the hope of every sinner's salvation. This also symbolizes the words in the new covenant, that Christ at his death liberated the spirits in hell that were disobedient from the time of Noe. Then another promise of God's to the children of Israel was that he would cleanse their blood. Now this is the greatest promise God has made to man, and when this promise is fulfilled in man, his soul will be completely delivered from the power of Satan, and not until then. Now let me interpret what the meaning of this is. We will have to go back a little way in the work. When God called Moses to take the children of Israel into the wilderness, he provided for them the kind of food they were to eat. And the animal flesh was a 210 The Spirit Father forbidden food to them. God was then going to cleanse their blood. Their blood was a mixture of the animal and human. They were not contented with the food God provided for them, they murmured against God and Moses, and wanted flesh and were willing to go back into their bond- age to get the flesh their nature craved for. So God sent them flesh, and they were slain while the very flesh was in their mouths. That means that the spiritual life in them was killed for all the Mosaic dispensations until God opened the way for the cleansing of their blood again under the new cove- nant. Now let us see what this blood cleansing means; for all flesh that will be redeemed out of Satan's power must come under the blood cleansing process. This is not the cleansing blood of Christ I am speaking of, but the cleansing of the human blood. The blood of the animal brute (after its species) is purer than the blood of the human race, for the brute animal does not eat of the animal flesh as a food, but the human race, with few exceptions, feed largely on animal flesh and the seed (the life) is in the blood and no matter how well the blood may be drawn from the animal when it is killed, the flesh still contains a large amount of the blood. And the food we eat goes to strengthen and nourish our blood. From the blood the body receives its nourishment and strength. So that man's blood is largely nourished from the animal blood, that is what keeps man under the power of animal lust, and under the power of Satan. Now before God's work can be accomplished in man, The Father's Promises 211 and man redeemed out of Satan's power, and God's glory made manifest and the power of Satan subdued, that promise must be fulfilled. There must be a com- plete cleansing out of the animal blood from the human blood, and death to the animal seed in man. Then, how is this to be accomplished? When the spiritual side of our nature begins to overrule the natural side of our being, the desire for animal food and everything unclean begins to die out of the heart, and they have no desire for such food. There are multitudes of God's children who under- stand that God never intended the human race to eat of animal flesh as a food, and they totally abstain from it. Then the next step in the cleansing of man and the working out of God's plan for man's redemption, will be the total abstaining of God's children from the animal lust. They will be brought into that condition that no desire of lust will be in their heart. And if the desire is not in the heart no one would commit the act. Then God's child will not propagate and bring forth children from the animal seed in man. Man, after the fall, was only under permission to do so for God's purpose, and until God's time came to withdraw that permission. And that permission is withdrawn from every creature as soon as God has them prepared and gives them the light and understanding. All the human flesh brought into the world from the seed of man, is filling Satan's hands with power, for all flesh belongs to Satan until it is redeemed through Christ. 212 The Spirit Father God, the father of the spirit — Man, the begetter of the flesh, by the seed of the animal (Devil). For every creature that is converted and fully redeemed out of Satan's power, look how many are born into the world to fill his hands with power, God's redeemed children must be brought into such a condition that there will be no propagation from them before Satan's power can be subdued, and not till then will Satan's power be broken on earth. But God's children must not stop bringing in their offsprings by destroying their own seed, for that is not permis- sible by God, for that only gives Satan double power; it gives him power over the parents as well as over the children, for it is sin in the sight of God, and he will surely punish the destroyers of their own seed. The power to abstain must come from the conquering power of the spiritual seed over the power of the animal seed, the one must kill the other. Many of God's children arc brought into that pure state now, and many more are being prepared. Woe to woman that is found with child when God's day comes, she will bear the mark of the beast, and woe to the woman that gives suck on that day, she will bear the mark of the beast, and blessed is the womb that never bare, and the pap that never gave suck. They have brought the flesh into the world to fill the hands of Satan with power. But woe unto those that have destroyed their own seed, to keep them from child bearing, for God will punish them. Has there ever been a time in history, in the midst of civilized people, that Satan's power, through the brute The Father's Promises 213 lust in man, has been more powerful than in the present age? Not a day but we can read from the pubHc press of the rapist, from the youth in his teens, to the old gray-headed brute; a woman is not safe in the very privacy of her own home. Our daughters, from the child of a few years old, to the maiden in the bloom of her virgin purity, are hardly safe out of their parent's sight from the hands of the rapist, or the power of the tempter, for a man that tempts a child or a woman into sin is as bad in a sense as the rapist, for he is a deliler. 0, God of heaven! that blind human mortals should ever have been brought by the power of Satan to believe that the pure and holy being we call our Father in heaven, ever planted in the human nature the lust of the brute, for the working out of his own purpose. Well may Satan laugh at his power over the human race through all the ages since the fall of man, but he knows his time of power is drawing to an end. And God's plan will be worked out, and all the powers of Satan and hell cannot turn God's plan one step aside. Nor can all Satan's power avert the punishment that will fall on him and all who live in disobedience and carelessness to the spiritual law of God. Dear reader, if there was no "after" we might all live this life as best pleased ourselves, but the awful "after." The man that believes and follows the teachings of Christ, need never fear the "after," for Christ conquered the power of Satan and severed the first link that bound man to Satan, and man can, with God's help, break 214 The Spirit Father every other link himself and stand forth a free-born son of God. When Christ cried on the cross, "It is finished," that meant Satan's power was finished over man, if they would obey God — every one that truly believed that Christ was the son of God, conceived by the word of his power, born without the seed of man; every spirit that confesses Christ, (mind; not every one that con- fesses Christ with their mouth) for the Devil has lots of people that confess Christ with their mouths, and he owns them spirit, soul, and body. The confession must be from the heart, then that spirit will belong to God. And if that spirit leaves an unredeemed body God will reincarnate that spirit again and again, until it leaves a perfectly redeemed body, then that spirit will go right home to its Father, and go out no more until it is reclothed at the judgment to come with Christ. You will find in Revelation, where we are told they will go out no more, they have worked out their own salvation, and claimed their spiritual birthright, the right to return to their spirit father's home (as Christ did). The Roman Catholic Church is the one church that seems to have a dim light upon the cleansing required before the spirit can enter heaven, but they have only a shadow of the light. For their church is too impure a condition to receive of spiritual light, and it doee seem to be the same with all other denominations, the veil that Moses put upon his face when he spoke the words of God to the children of Israel in their sinful The Father's Promises 215 condition, that veil still hangs between the sinner and God, when they hear or read the word of God they do not understand, they have no spiritual light. But there is no veil drawn between the sinner and Christ, but Christ represents the veil between the sinner and God. And those that truly repent and go to Christ for teaching will have the veil lifted when they are brought to a condition to be able to receive the light, but they must be fed on the milk, before they can be able to receive the meat (light). The Roman Catholic Church preaches a purgatory for the cleansing of the soul after death. But there can be no cleansing of the soul apart from the spirit. God prepared this earth for the dwelling place of his human creatures in their triune form, spirit, soul, and body in one. And they were capable of remaining in the spiritual state God created them in. But man fell from his spiritual state on this earth by his dis- obedience to God, and on this earth God will keep him until he is brought back to the condition God created him in. Man must be cleansed from the power of original sin, the one sin that holds man in Satan's power. But that cannot be done with the body in the grave, the soul in Purgatory, and the spirit some- where else. No, dear reader, every spirit, soul and body of the human race must work out its own salvation, amidst the trials, worries, and temptations of the world, and here they have to overcome all the powers of Satan as Christ did before man's soul will be redeemed. Now what does the redemption of man's soul mean to man, it means everlasting continuance of man in 216 The Spirit Father his human state after the judgment, the spiritualized man in human form, and he will never more taste of death, that will be all that will be redeemed through Christ. And all those that will not accept their redemp- tion through Christ and work out their own salvation, but are willing to remain in the power and service of Satan will, at the judgment, return to the original state they were in before God created man in his own image. They will be clothed again in their original garments, and be sent to begin their everlasting life in the place God has prepared for them in their unclean state, and ^\^th Satan their ruler and king. Their torment \vill be that they will have a perfect conscious- ness of their own condition, and what they have lost by refusing the offered grace of God. When they were in their original state they had no consciousness of being in any other state, so they were content and happy. But they will never know one hour's happiness when they arc returned to that state again, for they will see and know their own condition, and they will know they will never have a change. They have slighted God's mercy and love to them, till their day of mercy is past, and two words will be forever ringing in their ears — too late. Oh, how simple the little words, but how mighty when it is the cry of a lost soul. For between the clean and the unclean there will be a perfect and complete separation. That is the gulf spoken of in the new covenant — between the rich man and Lazarus, and the weeping and gnashing of teeth we read of will be the consciousness of man that he brought liimself to that condition by his own The Father's Promises 217 free will. Not by God's wish, for God is love and justice, and opened a way for every creature on earth that had ever been clothed in human garments, to save their own soul if they would seek the way and when they find the way follow on. But how many know the way, and they just stand still, and do not walk in it. When God's appointed day comes, and that day is drawing nearer every hour, then every one will know the justice of God, when their past Hfe, is laid out before them, with no forgiveness marked beside their past, for they never sought it in true repentance when they could have gotten it, and at that day, no matter how they may seek it, they will be like Esau, they will have sold their birthright. And, although they seek it in sorrow and tears, they will find no place for repent- ance, their repentance has come too late. God's day of mercy will be past. They will not be standing at the judgment seat to receive forgiveness, but to hear their sentence, and they will know their sentence is irrevocable. Many may be like Cain, when God told him what his punishment would be, he cried, O, God, it is more than I can bear, but that did not save Cain, for he disobeyed after God told him what to do. And it will be the same with all unsaved at the judgment. For there will be no one there, but will have heard God's command, given through Christ, to repent and obey. God has ways and means that not one human creature will be left in ignorance of God's offer of reconciliation to his cast off children if they repent, seek forgiveness, and obey. So, dear reader, embrace the opportunity to-day, 218 The Spirit Father to-morrow it may be too late. You may only be one of the careless ones putting off for another day what you should do to-day. How many think, because they read those promises in the Old Testament, that they have all been fulfilled in another age, or were all done away with when Christ came. But that is where we have been blinded, for they had all to be fulfilled between the time God made the new covenant in Christ, and Christ's coming again, to take up his reign as King and Ruler of the universe, under God. The city of David has to be rebuilt, Jerusalem restored, and evil subdued, and the world, the great garden of Go5 to be cleansed. All the rubbish and filth has to be gathered out and burned up by the fire of the spirit, — the word of God. Let us get the filth and rubbish cleaned out of the churches that are scattered through the garden, for it is withering up the trees and the young blossoms, and turning them into dried roots, but God will send out gardeners to clean up, and water again with the living word; and, as it is done, bit by bit, the young blossoms will spring up in all their freshness, and the old roots will take on new life. For God promises to raise up teachers and pastors according to his own heart, that will feed his people with knowledge and understanding, and he will restore health to his people, and heal them of all their diseases. All these promises come to the human race, in fulfillment of the first promise God made to man after he fell: that he would, from the seed of woman, bring the instrument that would subdue the power of Satan. And every promise God has made to man, has been through Christ, and The Father's Promises Sid when God sent him to the earth it was to fulfill the promises made under the old covenant, and to make new promises and give new covenants, and give new commands under the new covenant. No human man that has dwelt on the earth since Christ's time had any permission or power to make any promises or commands except those that were given to Christ. All men's work on earth for the helping forward of God's plan in the winning of souls out of Satan's power must be done under the commands of the Master (Christ). God may choose and prepare many special instruments, at special times, in the advancing of his plan, but all the work must be done under Christ and from Christ's teachings. But not since the apostles time has the fullness of Christ's teachings been taught. But God will prepare and send apostles again, for they must come before Christ's work can be fully accomplished on earth. We must have men with their understanding opened, that can teach like the great Apostle Paul, that men that have wives should be as if they had no wives, and to keep the marriage bed undefiled. And they must understand Christ's teaching, that in the resurrection there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage. But that after the marriage ceremony is gone through, according to the law of the nation they live in, they must live as pure as the angels in heaven, all this has to take place between the first and second resurrection. And the first resurrection is a symbolic death and resurrection, and takes place when man goes under the baptismal waters. That symboUzes the death of the natural man, also the death of the natural 220 The Spirit Father law, and the death of the animal life (in man). A complete death to the old covenant. And when man arises from the water, it symbolizes the resurrection of the spiritual man, the spiritual law, and the spiritual life. It symbolizes both the baptism of John, and the baptism of Christ, in one the going out of the old covenant, and in the other, the coming in of the new. All that came into the new covenant from the old, was the ten commandments, and God gave the eleventh through Christ, that overshadowed all the other com- mandments; "Love one another, as I have loved you." Christ meant that the natural and spiritual man was to dwell in the one body in love and unity, they were to love each other beyond the love of woman. CHAPTER XXVII. THE FATHER SPEAKING TO HIS DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN. "My children, I have nourished you and brought you up, and you rebelled against me : What is the good of your burnt offering unto rae? Bring no more vain oblations, your incense is an abomination unto me; and the calling of your assembUes I cannot bear; away with them and your appointed feasts, I am weary of them. "When you spread forth your hands I will hide my eyes from you, and although you make many prayers, I will not hear you; for your hands are not clean. But if you will wash and be clean and turn away from doing evil and learn to do good, and follow after that which is right; although your sins be many, I will forgive them and make you clean and pure. If you are willing and obedient children you shall have all the good things I have promised you; but if you refuse to obey I will cast you off.' O, dear reader, let us think for a moment what it would be to us, if v/e had a good, kind, human father living here with us, and that father had brought us up from our infancy and childhood to manhood and womanhood, and had given us all the love and care that a good father could bestow on his children, he having a large family, and as they grew up their father let them 221 222 The Spirit Father go out into the world, one by one, but still expecting them to be obedient to their father's commands and wishes; but instead of doing that, many of them turned away after the desires of their own heart and fell into evil ways and sin, and forgot the commands and wishes of their father. Many even forget they had a father living. But the father never forgets he has sons some- where in the world, and when he hears of their evil lives his heart is nearly broken, and if he cannot go himself to bring them back, he will send them a letter asking them to give up their evil lives and come back to him; and he will forgive them and take them back into his home again; and if they do not come he will send some one if he can to plead with them, and try to persuade them to come back, then if they do not come, how that loving father's heart will be grieved. But a father's love is hard to kill, he sends again and again until he knows it is no use, and he has to cast them off. No matter how much it may grieve him, or break his heart, they will not harken to him, or give up their evil ways. They go on in their careless life, many forget they have a father until some day something will happen that will bring their father to their remem- brance, and they say, ''I will go back to my father and ask his forgiveness; but when they reach home it is only to find that they are too late. Their father has been taken away from his earthly home, and the cry of their heart all the rest of their days will be: "I was too late to get my father's forgiveness, too late, too late." Only two words, but they have such a depth of The Fathei^ Speaking 223 meaning! Dear reader, that is just what we find through all the Bible teachings, we first find God, our spirit father, letting his children out into the world, giving them his commands, and telling them what he wishes them to do. He pleaded with them, and sent messengers to try and persuade them to do his will but they would not. Then he sent Moses to lead them back to him. You can read throughout all the Old Testament, from the time God sent Moses, that he kept on pleading with them, and sent messenger after messenger to them. Prophets and priest pleaded, threatened and punished them, till we read in "Malachi" the last book in the Old Testament, that the shepherds, prophets and priests were found by our father to be unfaithful servants; and he said, he would cleanse them out of the land and smite the unfaithful shepherd and let his sheep be scattered. And he would gather them in again by sending a true shepherd after them. That was Christ, our promised Savior! Our father cast off his disobedient children for nearly four hundred years, without a letter or messenger to them, as far as we know. Four hundred years seem a long time to us, but a thousand years in God's sight are as the twinkling of an eye. But how that loving father's heart must have filled with sorrow to see the children he loved, living lives of corruption. All God's time has to be filled! God has his time for the fulfillment of all his prophecies and promises, and the time must be fulfilled before he will begin his w^ork. 224 The Spirit Father The day came when he said he would send the prom- ised blessing to those that woukl accept it; but he said he would first send his messenger to prepare the way; and warn his children to repent and be ready to follow their Savior when he came to them. Now let us look at the last promises God made under the old covenant, for they throw light on past, present, and future. I \nll interpret them as they have been interpreted to me. I take now from the third chapter of Malachi this, we believe, was God's message through the last prophet in the old covenant. He said God would send his messenger to prepare the way. That was John the Baptist. He was only to prepare for the coming of the covenant messenger. That was Christ! Who among them would be able to stand the refining fire he would put them through? He was coming to purge them and purify them and bring them out as pure as gold. Now let us understand that forgiving a sin, and purging a sin, is very different. There is one sin that God cannot forgive, the hereditary sin (Original sin). It is in the flesh and has to be purged out of man by the power of the spirit seed. All other sins God can forgive in a moment as soon as the sinner repents and asks forgiveness. Then he says because he is God and never changes, he has kept his covenants with them, or they would have been condemned long ago. At this time nearly all God's people, (with the excep- tion of the remnant God has kept out of Satan's power) had turned away from him, and were all in the power The Father Speaking 225 and service of Satan. God sent them word if they would return unto him he would return to them, that was he would take them back. He asked them why they robbed God; he said the whole nation had robbed him; and the people asked what they had robbed him of, if it was in their tithes and offerings? they knew they had not robbed him in their temporal offerings or tithes, for they brought plenty of them, we have only to read their life to know that. But God said, the whole nation was lying under a curse for robbing him. They had robbed God of their spirit, soul, and body. For, with few exceptions, the whole nation belonged to Satan. Then he tells them to bring all their tithes into the storehouse, that there might be meat in the Lord's house. He tells them that if they do this he will pour blessings on them, more than they would have room to receive, and that the power of Satan would be broken over all their possessions. Now, what is it God wants us to give him for all those blessings he is promising? All he asks is that they may bring in tithes into his storehouse that there might be plenty of meat. Now we must find out what kind of meat he wants, and where his storehouse is. The meat he wants is the human flesh, it has all been taken away from God and given into the hands of Satan; and God asks them to return it to him, and he will cleanse it, and purge it, and make the human man the delight of all nations. Then, when he has all the flesh all cleansed and purified, he says they will be his at the day when he is gathering in his jewels and he 226 The Spirit Father will spare them as his own children. Then they will be able to discern between good and bad. Now we must find what the storehouse is, and where to find it, that we may bring all the meat, — the human flesh, — into it. And then we ought to know who is the keeper of this storehouse. Well, the keeper is Christ, the shepherd, and the storehouse is the fold. The sheep is the meat, and it has to be kept in the storehouse, the fold, until it is cleansed and dressed and gotten ready for the father's home. None of these lessons are on temporal things, they are too serious a matter to be given in reference to temporal things. Then the last promise is, that if they wiW do all these things, the sun of righteousness will arise on them and they will be healed and cleansed of every impurity. Then he says, when they are all brought to that condition they wall grow up as calves of the stall, that means they will be of pure blood. The animal blood and seed will be completely cleansed from their blood. He says, when they are brought to that condition, they will be able to put down the wicked. And again he says, they were to remember the law, commands and statutes that God gave to Moses for them in Horeb, and also the judgments. This is not in reference to the law of Moses, but in reference to the law of God and the ten commandments, given from God in Horeb, to be delivered to the children of Israel. You will find them in their fullness in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, the first ten verses. The Father Speaking 227 Then the old covenant finishes with the promise that EHjah the prophet, would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. "In all the years gone by I always looked forward to 'that day' as the judgment day. But from the revelation I have had for the writing of this book, I believe the great and dreadful day is past. I believe the most dreadful day that has ever been on earth, or ever will be, was the day Christ was crucified, when the earth was covered with darkness, and the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and the dead arose. The most dreadful of all that happened on that day, — he sealed the doom of every human creature on earth at that time, and every one that has come on earth from that day till God calls the judgment. For the promises of God and the doom that awaits man were sealed in that hour, with the blood of Christ. That was the great and dreadful day. The judgment day can be nothing to that day; for at the judgment man will only receive the sentence of the doom that was pro- nounced on him that day. Everlasting spiritual life, or everlasting spiritual death, was the doom of all the human race from that hour. And the man or woman that lives, day by day, in an unsaved state, is living under that sentence just as sure as if they heard it pronounced at the judgment seat. 0, dear reader, are you living under your sentence as one of the saved or unsaved? Ask your own heart. 228 The Spirit Father Now, before I close on the old Bible teachings, I will say, 1 do not think many understand what people were God's reserved people, and how God, amidst all the old covenant life, was able to keep any of his people pure and in their virgin state. We are told that God had a hundred and forty and four thousand who had never defiled themselves with women. Those, I believe, were the eunuchs. God said they were not to be called dry trees, for if they did the things that pleased God, they would have a better place in God's house than even his sons and daughters, and they would have an everlasting name. Then we read in Revelation that it was those that followed Christ wherever he went and were the first redeemed among men. We see by God clothing his spirit children in the garments of the eunuch, he put it out of Satan's power to bring them to bend their knee to Baal in the act of the original sin. God can find plenty ways and means of keeping his children out of Satan's power if they are willing to obey and trust him. There are three kinds of unuchs spoken of. First. The eunuchs made eu- enuchs of God, then the eunuchs that keep their virginity for their love of God and Christ. These are the most pleasing to God. Then the eunuchs that are made so by the hand of man, these are an abomination in the sight of God. They have defiled their own flesh through the power of the lust, until they be come into a condition that their fruitful members have been destroyed, either by their own hands in the use of medicaments, or by the knife in the hands of the doctor. They are the one abomination in the sight of God. CHAPTER XXVIII. GOD THE father's FIRST PROMISE TO MAN. The time came for the fulfillment of our father's first promise to Adam. When God sent him from his presence for disobedi- ence, he promised he would use the seed of woman, and by the word of his power, he would prepare the human garment for another son, that would be obedi- ent, and through that obedience he would conquer Satan, sin, disease and death. But that obedience had to be given voluntarily. No compulsion from the father was laid on Jesus, the begotten son, more than was laid on Adam, the created son. Each knew the father's commands and will, and that the father expected a free-will obedience. The lesson on Adam's life is a symbolic lesson to all ages. God creating Adam, and the sleep falling on him, represents Adam's childhood. Then when he came to the age capable of needing a companion and help- mate, his father provided him one. Then in place of him beginning his life with his companion and helpmate from the spiritual side of his life, as the father created him to do, he began his life from the natural or animal side of his life, in disobedience to his God and father. And by doing so brought disease, destruction and death on himself and all the human race that followed his example. 229 230 The Spirit Father Then the lesson on the life of the begotten son Jesus, is a symbolic lesson to all ages. It shows us Jesus living in his childhood, in the home of his parents, amidst temptations and trials of daily life, in obedience to his parents until he grew to his maturity. Then he goes to the river Jordan, and symbolizes the death of his natural life. And rises up to live for tke spiritual side of life, in obedience to God, and by so doing he conquered all the power of Satan, sin, disease and death. And from Adam's time, through all ages, God will not accept anything from his children that is not a voluntary free-will offering, neither in spiritual nor temporal things. Thousand of people, by their social standing or by their wealth, may feel called upon to give large amounts, and it may be very acceptable to the people, the work, or institutions they give it to (even if they know the party has given to keep their standing with some set or party). But all we give or do in that way is not a free-will offering to God, and mil count for nothing before liim, whatever it may count before the world. The time came for the father to prepare for the fulfillment of his promise. How did he begin the preparation? By first finding the instrument he was going to use. The first two were Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, they were both righteous before God, keeping all the commandments and ordinances of their father, and living blameless lives before him. They were both old and had no children, for Elizabeth was barren. God the Father's First Promise 231 But God needed a human garment, and he was going to use the barren soil to grow the fruit. He sent a messenger to tell Zacharias that Elizabeth would bear a son and he was to be called John. And that many would rejoice at his birth, for he would be great in the sight of the Lord. He was to prepare and get ready all things for the coming of the new covenant messenger, Christ. Christ was coming to begin the restoration of all things back to the father, all that the father wished restored to him. They may look very little things to us from our limited knowledge of God, and his thousands of years of patience and work to redeem the human race from Satan's power, before the appointed time for the final settlement between Christ's work and Satan's. Al- though we poor mortals do not know or understand these things both Christ and Satan know. God has set a day and hour for giving them both their inheritance. Satan was not satisfied with his own dominion, crept into the garden of Eden, and stole what belonged to God — his first son, created in his own image — and from that day he kept on taking possession of what belonged to God until he had usurped all the rights of God on earth. And God let him have full sway for four hundred years, until the whole creation was groaning in darkness, corruption and sin, and sitting under the shadow of death That was the condition the world and people were in after Satan had been left to rule four hundred years. Then, God in his mercy to his creatures, began preparing 232 The Spirit Father the way for their hberation, and the restoring of all again back to his own possession. Now what did Christ come to restore? Not silver or gold; dollars or cents. But the spirit, soul, and body of man. Heaven, earth, and man must be restored to their original state. (I do not speak of woman, for whenever man is restored, woman will be also). Man must be the first to be restored, before heaven or earth can be restored. But the time was coming when the battle was to begin for the restoring of all God's possessions, and that was to be all done through and under his beloved son, Jesus. After the messenger had told Zacharias what was to happen, he was doubtful and asked how he was to know what he had heard was true, for he was an old man and his wife was old also. The messenger said that he was sent from the presence of God to speak these words to him, and because he had not believed what he had told him, he would be dumb until the fulfillment of these things. Zacharias was a priest, and at the time the angel appeared he was in the temple performing his duties; and the people who were waiting for him wondered why he stayed so long in the temple. But when he came out he could not speak, and they knew he had seen a vision, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. The people of that generation understood those things it was nothing strange for them to know that God had spoken to his true servants, prophets and priests, by God the Father's First Promise 233 sending angel messengers, visions, or dreams. God has talked to his chosen servants in that way through all ages and is doing so now. (There are many of God's chosen servants at the present hour know that what I write is true. That God holds communion with them by dreams and visions, and gives them wisdom and understanding to do his work, and if it is done as he wishes, his seal is put upon them, they are endued with the spirit's power, and God's blessing is shown upon their work.) When Zacharias finished his ministrations he went back to his own home. Elizabeth conceived, and when her full time came she was delivered of a son. So what Zacharias thought was impossible, had been fulfilled. God had brought forth the human garment from the barren soil. Now, although God was preparing his instruments for the fulfilling of his promise in the new covenant, he was doing the preparing under the old covenant laws. So when the child was eight days old they came to circumcise him and called him Zacharias; but his mother said, "No, he must be called John." They asked the father what he would have him called, as none of their kindred were named John. His father wrote, "His name is John." And Zacharias' mouth was opened immediately, and he gave praise to God. He was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, "That the child would be called the prophet of the Highest and would go before the Lord to prepare his way ; and to give knowledge of the ways of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins. And 234 The Spirit Father to show the hght to them that were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; and to guide them into the way of peace; and to turn the hearts of the dis- obedient children to see wisdom and justice in what God was going to require of them, before he could begin the work of restoration, through Christ. The people had to be brought to understand why they had to obey John and come to the river Jordan, and what was to take place there; what that ceremony was to symbolize to them and all other future genera- tions. And all who came and willingly received their baptism, received a full and free forgiveness of all their past sins, and had to begin a new life from that day. Our father, I believe, is looking down on this world to-day, and his heart is in grief and sorrow over the condition of his children, for the majority of them are now sitting in the darkness and under the shadow of death, and they do not seem to know it. May their eyes be opened. John grew up strong in spirit, and was sent away into the deserts until God would require him for the work he was preparing him for. This was the first instrument made ready when God was ready to use it. But the chief instrument had to be prepared. Six months after the messenger to Zacharias, the same messenger was sent again with another message. This time to a virgin named IMary, who was espoused to a man named Joseph. Theywcrc both descendants of the royal house of David. The angel went to Mary and said unto her, "Hail, thou art highly favored, the God the Father's First Promise 235 Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." And when she heard him she was troubled, and wondered what he could mean, but he said, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God." That is a lesson for all. She had found favor with God by her obedient, pure and holy life, and he was going to use her in his service. That is what we have all to find, favor with God, before he will use any one in a special work, they have to be a dutiful child. The messenger said, "Thou hast found favor, Mary, and thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest. Mary thought that very strange, and said, "How can this be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel answered her. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow; therefore, also, that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God, for nothing is impossible with God." We hear many remarks made on the miraculous conception of Jesus, and many remarks not creditable to write here. But just look at the two messages that were sent from God, and see if there is anything more miraculous in the one than the other. One was to an old man and a barren woman, that was, by her age, long past the age of child bearing. Is it not as marvel- ous to read of the old aged woman and the barren womb bringing forth fruit at the command of God, as it is to read of the virgin woman and the virgin womb bringing forth fruit? It seems to be something wonderful and 236 The Spirit Father past our human understanding when we can only read and see with human eyes. But the moment our under- standing is opened by the spirit's power, we read and see with spiritual light, then we do not only read, but we see and understand the divine teaching, for we are taught then of God, not of man. God had his own purposes in taking two such dif- ferent instruments to accomplish his work. The old one, past use; the other young and had never been in use. The typical lesson we get from this is to show us that nothing is impossible for God to do; and that by the word of his power, he can make all old things new; and to show to all generations, by the bringing forth of Jesus from the virgin womb, the first son of the new covenant, by the word of his power, what was God's will and way of bringing forth all human fruit from the creation of man, if man had not fallen. The birth of Jesus, by the power of the word of God, shows that God needed no help from man to prepare his human garments. And our spirit father will take all that power to himself again, when the proper time comes, for the father will lift his redeemed children, both sons and daughters, from the degrading level of the beast. The reader may think that will only be when we leave this earthly life, and get to heaven, but not so. Earth is the abode of man in his human state, and on earth man has to remain, through all the everlasting ages. All that goes back to heaven is the spirits of the God the Father's First Promise 237 redeemed, to dwell there until the judgment, when their bodies \n\\\ be called forth to clothe the spirit, and come to take up their everlasting abode on earth with Christ. All God's power and glory \^dll be shown on earth; and at the fulfillment of each period, some part of the prophecies will be fulfilled, until all are finished. Many are being fulfilled now, many of God's people see them but there are many cannot see, for they do not under- stand. "They have eyes, but they do not see, and ears, but they do not hear," for the devil has made them both blind and deaf. When Joseph, Mary's husband, came to know of her condition, he thought he would put her away privately so that the public would not know. But he soon found out that God does not do things that have to be hid, the hidden things are left for the devil to do. While Joseph was thinking how he could best put her away God sent an angel to speak to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus." Joseph did as the angel told him, and took his wife, and knew her not until she had brought forth her first born son, Jesus. We see that whatever Joseph thought before God's messenger came to him, he knew everything was right that the father told him to do ; for Joseph knew all the laws and commands of God and kept them, or God would not have chosen him to be the protector and caretaker of his son. 238 The Spirit Father Just what Joseph was to do for Jesus, so was Adam and all mankind to do for all the human fruit and off- spring of God, protect and care for them, and bring up for God, pure and good children till they came to maturity. They were to be the shepherds over the young flocks of God. Is it any wonder that when we look around the world our hearts cry out, "O, man, thy shameful downfall, O, woman, thy lost estate"? When we read some of the literature sent out by some women of the present day, referring to God's promise that he would use "the seed of the woman, to bruise the head of Satan," meant that woman would be the ruling power over man by the ordination of God. They do not understand that the first use God made of that promise was to use the seed of the virgin to bring man into the world again as the ruling power forever. And wherever woman tries to be the ruling power, whether in her private home or in public life, she steps out of her place, and loses her womanly dignity. Christ, by calling woman his sister, raised her to be the equal of man in all things spiritual, pure and holy. And wherever you find a true, pure. Chris- tian woman, be she wife or maid, you will never see her want to rule over man. She has her place and she knows it, and she will fill it with dignity, whether she be in the home of a peasant or the home of a prince. The time came when Joseph had to take Mary with him up to the city of David to be taxed. While there, Mary's time came to be delivered, and she brought forth her son. As there was no room for them in the inn, they had to take shelter in a stable among the cattle. God the Father's First Promise 239 So Jesus' human birth took place among the animals, and his first bed was in the manger. (Symbohc of the first state of man.) In this we see God's foreordained purpose that the birth of Jesus should take place there, to show all generations, that as far as human birth is concerned, a prince may be born in a stable, as well as in a palace; for the human flesh is only the animal part of man, and it is only man's spiritual birthright that raises him above the beast. But it did not matter where he was born into the world, for God knew the moment of his birth and sent multitudes of the heavenly hosts to sing praises to his new born son, until his birth was known throughout the land. When the shepherds heard it they left their flocks, and went to Bethlehem to see the babe, and carry presents to him, for there was to be no hiding the birth of Jesus. His birth was to cause rejoicing throughout the world. All this took place under the laws of Moses, so when the child was eight days old, he was circumcised, and given the name the angel had told Mary before he was conceived. And when they had performed all things according to the law, they returned to their own city, Nazareth. "The child grew and waxed strong in spirit; filled with wisdom; and the glory of God was upon him." We are not told any more of the childhood of Jesus, except once when he was twelve years old, his parents took him up to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of the Passover, and when they had fulfilled their duties, 240 The Spirit Father they started on their homeward journey. There were a great many of their kinfolks and acquaintances with them. They all started home together. Although Jesus* parents did not see him when they left Jerusalem, they thought he was among the company. They travel- ed on the whole day, but when they did not see him they became alarmed, and went through all the com- pany looking for him, but could not find him. They turned back to Jerusalem to search for him, and after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors; hearing them and asking them questions. All that saw and heard him were astonished at the answers he gave, and wondered at him understanding their discussions and doctrine. Was it any wonder they were astonished when we think of a boy only twelve years old going into the temple, and sitting down among the learned Rabbis and answering their questions with spiritual light. When his mother found him there, she was amazed, and asked him why he had not gone on with them, that they had gone a day's journey before they had missed him; and had sought him for three days with sorrowful hearts, thinking some evil had befallen him. He answered, "Do you not know I must be about my father's business?" Now Jesus was speaking about his spirit father. But the time had not yet come for him to be about his father's work. He was a child and not come to years to know properly what that father's business required. So he returned with his mother and Joseph, God the Father's First Promise 241 and was subject unto them until he grew to the years of his full maturity. He increased in wisdom and was in favor with both God and man. This is the only mentioning we have of all Jesus' young life. We next hear of him when he is about thirty years old. What is the lesson we get from this story of Jesus' childhood? When his mother found him, he went home with them and was subject to them, and remained under their authority until he reached his full manhood. Until his thirtieth year when he was able to decide for himself what life he would choose. The time had come when God, his father, would test him, before he would intrust to him the work he had brought him into the world for. Christ had that test in the wilderness when Satan showed him all the world, and offered it to him if he would bow down and worship him. O, blinded mortals that we are, that do not see how this lesson applies to our own life. This lesson also shows plainly to all fathers and mothers that they have a perfect right to keep all their children under their authority until they grow up to years of manhood and womanhood and to show chil- dren that they ought to wiUingly be subject and obe- dient to their parents in all things that are right; until they come to the years of maturity and understand- ing. Then they are supposed to be able to decide for themselves. How many sons think they are able to decide for themselves when they are no older than 242 The Spirit Father twelve years, and think they are able to do as they please. The bringing of Jesus before us at that age is for a typical lesson to all generations. God has now both of his instruments ready for the beginning of his work under the new covenant. John was in the deserts gro\ving strong in spirit, and being made ready for the great work he was soon to be called for. Jesus was living quietly in his home at Nazareth, working as a carpenter, it is supposed; helping Joseph and his mother, like a good dutiful son, growing strong in spirit and power, being prepared for the great work he was to fulfill; by living a life of perfect obedience to his human parents, he was being prepared for a life of perfect obedience to his spirit father, when the time came. But John's work had to be done first before Jesus could begin. All of God's plan is being worked out in perfect order. And every specially called son or servant of God has to do the portion he is prepared for. If he is faithful he will finish the work God has pre- pared him for, before God will send another special servant. But if he is not faithful God will soon supersede that work by another. We have that represented through all the ages. Whenever we see any spiritual work of God's come to the place where the monetary and social side of the God the Father's First Promise 243 work supervises the spiritual work, that work will lose the spiritual power. The work will not die or be removed from the world ; it will still have its place, and may go on and do much good; but its spiritual power is broken. And God will have to prepare and raise up another to carry forward his plan. CHAPTER XXIX. John the Baptist. How many of us, in reading or speaking of John the Baptist, just begin with him at the River Jordan! But John had done a great deal of work before he brought the people to the Jordan to obey God. John's first work was to promulgate the gospels; that is, he was sent to give notice, or to make known by open declaration throughout all Judea and up and down through all the country round about Jordan; to warn the people that God's time was at hand, that he would send the promised Redeemer, the Christ, and for all to get ready for his coming. God's lost children were in a terrible condition at that time, living in darkness and under the shadow of death; God sent John to speak comforting words to them, and tell them if they would repent and return to God their Father, he would forgive them all their sins. He was told to go and cry it throughout the land. John asked : "What shall I cry?" and the voice answered: "Cry, 'All flesh is like grass, the grass withereth and fadeth away ; but the word of your God and Father shall stand true forever.' Cry up and down. Get thee up into the high mountain, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of the world : 244 John the Baptist 245 'Repent and behold your God, for he shall come with a strong hand, and shall rule with strength, and his re- ward shall be with him ; and he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and shall gather the lambs in his bosom; and shall gently lead the young.'" Oh, what a glorious message from our God and Father to his disobedient children! And that same message that John the Baptist was sent with to the disobedient and lost children in that age, nearly nineteen hundred years ago, to the children of Israel, is good to all God's children throughout the whole universal world. As long as this world lasts in its present condition, is that message extended to every sinful creature that has broken one of God's commands, whether he be a king on his throne or the poorest or lowest man that walks on God's earth; or whether it be the princess in her palace, or the harlot on the street, the message is ex- tended to all. God's word will never be broken, and every promise he has made to his children will be ful- filled. So John's first work was simply to go around and tell all the people what God had promised to do for them, if they would obey and do as he commanded. How long John was preaching up and down through all the country we do not know; it may have taken him a time to get the people all ready to come to the Jordan to be baptized of him. But, however long it may have taken him, he had done the first part of his work well, for he brought many to the Jordan. We can see from this what John had preached and told them, had brought them to see their need of re- 246 The Spirit Father pentance and confession before God would forgive them and take them again into his favor. There is a great deal of controversy among our learned theologians about the baptism of John, and the bap- tism of Jesus. Now, if our learned theologians would leave off dig- ging up old mythologies, and turn right back from where they are, and get to the river Jordan, or any other river, and do what the people gathered there with John the Baptist did then, and not till then, will their contro- versies cease. They will then be able to turn to the pure, divine teachings of Jesus Christ. "The teachings of God through Christ are so simple that a little child can understand; if they turn to God to be taught of him, in place of going into all the teach- ings of men, looking for divine teaching from old books in place of asking it from God. The more they dig into their mythologies the deeper they go into darkness. Now, let us understand what John the Baptist brought those people to the Jordan for. It was God's command to bring them to the waters to test them. (Just as he gave like command to Gideon to bring all the people to the waters centuries before.) Why does God use water in all his covenants? The water and the blood. The water is the seal of the cove- nant between man and God, and the blood is the seal of the covenant between God and man. John brought the people to the Jordan to see how many were willing to seal the Covenant with God, and to confess they had broken their covenant with God John the Baptist 247 by turning away from the God of heaven, to worship Baal. Although they lived under the natural law and were permitted to live beastly lives under that law, they were not permitted to worship any God, but the God of heaven. So they were brought to the Jordan, to con- fess their sins, and to receive God's full and free for- giveness for all their past evil life, and to make a new covenant with God. Under the new covenant and spiritual law God was going to make with man for all future ages. Now John was baptizing them under the old law. Then going into the water was to symbolize their acknowledgment of the death of the old law. The water is also the sym- bol of cleansing from all their past sin. That was God's promise to them if they would return to him; and begin a new life under the new covenant, and that promise holds from that age to all future ages. For all the human race are born into the world under the curse of Original Sin and every man and woman that comes to the years of maturity are called upon to repent and acknowledge their sins and begin to live for their spiritual life. The people now are like the people then. Many came to the river all the call of John and many did not. And many in this age are sealing their covenant with God by going into the baptismal waters, and many are not. But only those that are willing to seal their covenant with God and in God's way, has any right to ask for, or expect the covenant blessing that God has promised to the chil- dren of obedience under the new spiritual covenant. 248 The Spirit Father That is why so many Christians have no spiritual life, they have not made and sealed their covenant. You know it always takes two parties, or more, to make a covenant but no one can make a covenant by them- selves. So God makes the covenant with man, and man makes the covenant with God. Man seals his covenant with water, God seals his covenant with the blood of Christ. Now what seems to confuse many in talking on this Baptism matter is that they can not understand why Jesus came to be baptized among the sinners, if he was the one perfect and spotless human man. Now let us see what Jesus 's own baptism symbolizes: Death to the old covenant; death to the natural law, and death to the animal life in man. Christ's baptism also represents the resurrection of the spiritual law, the spiritual man, and spiritual life, to be lived under the new covenant. That was what the two baptisms at the Jordan represents, and both took place under the old cove- nant. Then we come to the baptism that Christ commanded under the new covenant, the christian baptism, or what is called beUevers' baptism. It should take place when man or woman is come to the years to understand what that baptism means, and what is required by God of those who offer themselves for that baptism. The}'^ must believe that Christ is the son of God, annointed with the Father's power, and commissioned to do the work he did, to deliver the John the Baptist 249 Father's commands and promises, and to make the everlasting covenant between God and man. Then they should understand what the commands of God requires of them, and what the promises are to them. If they are willing to obey the commands, and accept the promises on God's conditions they ought to seal the covenant between themselves and God. And if they fulfill their part, they can hold God to fulfill his part. The Heavenly Father is more willing to fufill his part than his children are to fulfill theirs. When John saw all the people gathered at the Jordan he looked around and saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees amongst them. And what did he say? " O, ye generation of vipers, who hath warned ye to flee from the wrath to come?" John was without fear when he called them such names, for the Pharisees and Sadducees of that age were counted the great men of the nation. The celebrated ones, the separated ones, they called themselves the holy people ; but John knew what they were and was not afraid to tell them. When God sends his chosen servants out to do his work they are without fear and not afraid to speak the truth, whether it be to the great or the small. John still preached to them, telling them they had to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, that is, they were to show by their works, their deeds, and their lives that they had repented truly, or the baptism they were going to receive would be of no use to them, and that the "ax was now going to be laid to the root of the 250 The Spirit Father trees, and every tree that did not bring forth good fruit would be hewn down, and cast into the fire." Let us look at the trees John is speaking of here. Many people in reading the Bible never think that when they read of trees in many parts of the Bible, that it is people that are spoken of by the name of trees. Man is spoken of as a tree from the second chapter of Genesis through all the Bible. So John in telling them that the " 'ax is now to be laid to the root of the trees; and all that bringeth forth not good fruit will be hewn down, and cast into the fire, for I can only baptize you with water unto your repentance, but He that is coming after me is mightier than I.' "If you will be true to your vow of repentance, and begin your new life, from your water baptism, he can baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; but he will have his fan in his hand that he can thoroughly cleanse the wheat from the chaff; and he will gather the wheat into his garner, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire." In speaking of wheat and chaff John means the peo- ple; he preaches to them many times in parables; he is warning them well and showing them just what this water baptism means; and what they have to do is repent, before they can receive the baptism for the remission of their sins. Even if they had repented and made their vows before they received their baptism, if they did not keep the vows they had made, to live lives in obedience to the laws and commands of God, their baptism would be of no effect. John the Baptist 251 Just as thousands are baptized in this age, that do not keep their vows (if they ever make any,) they just go on in their old careless disobedient life without a thought that they ever needed to change; they merely partake of the baptism because it is an ordinance in the church to which they belong, and they think that is all that is necessary. So many of those calling themselves the servants of God in these days, when we speak to them on the sub- ject of baptism by immersion, tell us that baptism is not necessary, and bring before us to uphold their views, the baptism of John, saying, "It was a heathen baptism and not necessary for Christians. Well, that is all right as far as they take us on the subject. John's baptism was certainly a heathen baptism, for John's work was to prepare the heathen to become Christians. Every man and woman in the universal world that has come to the years of manhood or womanhood, and have not become Christians by repentance, are heathen, for we must either be a Christan or a heathen, just as we say, he is either a good man or a bad man, so can we say, he is either a Christian or a heathen ; for the one is typical of the other. The man that knows the true God and Father and believes in Christ is a Christian or else he believes him- self one. But, alas, there are many men and women who believe themselves Christians, that have never yet become real Christians; they believe they are all right and are quite satisfied with themselves. They have been born of Christian parents, and brought up in a 252 The Spirit Father Christian home, sent to Sunday School, and out into church, so they have been brought up Christians. If any one speaks to them of their souls' salvation, and ask them how long since they became a Christian, they will look at you in surprise, and say: "I do not know when I was not a Christian and I have been a member of the church for years." Now I say God help those good blind people! I was one of them once. But thank God my Spirit Father opened my eyes, and showed me that there could be no "brought up Chris- tians," that every human creature has to become a Christian and that must be when they come to the years to know what it means to be a Christian and they must know their need of becoming a Christian before they will seek the new birth. They must be born again before they can receive the seal of Christian fellowship Avith Christ, before they can have their name enrolled in the book of heaven, there is a book kept there for the enrollment of the names of every child of God that receives the new birth. We may have our names in many church books on earth, for in moving from place to place we have to find another church, and some get dissatisfied ^vith one church and unite with another. So our names may be on many earthly church books but unless our name is enrolled in God's book, in the church of the living God, we cannot be received into the Christian fellow- ship of the redeemed children of God. How are we to receive this new birth, and when? We cannot receive it or seek it until we know our need of it; that is, when we come to the years of understanding. Some may be John the Baptist 253 brought at an earlier age than others to understand their need of this new birth. But all must be born again before they can be brought back to their Father as one of his redeemed children. Then how are we to receive this new birth? We will answer that question in the words of Jesus from the third chapter of John, the third verse. One of the Pharisees named Nicodemus came to Jesus to be taught, and the first thing Jesus told him was: that he must be born again, before he could see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus must have been an old man, for he was one of the rulers of the Jews and he asked Jesus, "How can a man be born when he is old, can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus must have said not in that way can a man be born to enter into heaven : (for that would be a human birth). "But except ye be born of water, and of the spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." How many there are who believe that this water and spirit birth means the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. So many believe they can receive the Holy Spirit bap- tism without the water baptism, and that is all they need. But that is because they do not understand that the spirit spoken of in connection with the water is neither the Holy Spirit nor the Holy Ghost, it is the obedient spirit that is meant there. That was John the Baptist's first work; to teach, preach and convince the disobedient spirit children of God to return in obedience at their father's command, and to get ready to follow Jesus when he came to lead 254 The Spirit Father them home. But they had to go wilUngly and in per- fect obedience to the river Jordan to be baptized. Before they could be ready to follow Jesus they had to go into the waters, and be buried under them, and raised up again to begin their new life of love and obe- dience to their Father. That is the new birth Jesus was spealdng about to Nicodemus, the obedient spirit child within us obeying the command of our Father. All God's redeemed children will not be endued with the Holy Spirit's power, or annointed with the Holy Ghost as Jesus was endued with the spirit power of God. But every child that has received their new birth from God, — born of the spirit; the spirit child within them will become a holy spirit, a pure, holy, and obedient spirit and the more obedient they live to the commands and will of God and feed their spirit life, the more powerful will become the holy spirit within them, until the spiritual life within will fill up, and flow out of them to all around. It will be a well of living water within them, that will [have to find vent or it will over- flow. And that spirit life will be fed from God, just as a little child is fed from its human parent, little by little and grows stronger day by day, until it is able to eat the meat, as well as the milk; so God feeds the spirit life. But that is not the Holy Spirit's power of God put upon us, that is the spirit child within us quickened or made alive to its need. Then we know our spiritual needs and seek after them, instead of after the need of the flesh and the world as we did before. Every new born child of God will be filled with a holy obedient John the Baptist 255 spirit power and will obey God in defiance of all human power. Out from among the obedient children our father chooses his sons, those he is willing to entrust with his work, and only after he has found them faithful and obedient will he anoint them with the Holy Ghost, and indue them with the holy spirit's power. Every one will be given power according to the work he has for them to do. If many of the self-constituted servants of God in these days could see themselves as God must see them, they would soon seek other occupations. " For he that sitteth in the heavens laugheth at them, and holdeth them in derision." For the work of many of them have not the stamp of God's seal upon them, so they cannot be of God. 'John had now gotten all the people gathered to the river Jordan, he then began to finish his work in the baptizing of the people. Jesus came to the Jordan also to be baptized of him. So John's work was finished and he ended his earthly Ufe in a prison. He had rebuked Iving Herod for taking his brother's wife, and told him it was not lawful for him to have her. John had offended Herod by showing him his sinful Hfe, and he ordered that he should be cast into prison, and after a short time he had John beheaded. Thus ended John's great work on earth as far as John the Baptist in the human flesh was con- cerned, but the spirit of John the Baptist had to be reincarnated, to work out its own salvation under the new covenant. Christ's words in speaking of John, was in reference to that when he said ''John was the 256 The Spirit Father greatest born of woman, but the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he. John had to be born of the spirit under the new cov- enant, for John was beheaded before the new covenant was in force. All Christ's ministry was done before the new cove- nant was sealed. Christ was only preparing the testimony that was to be sealed between God and man. And when Christ had finished the work, God permitted it to be sealed with the blood of Christ, and that testimony will never be changed or broken. That was the last covenant God would make with man, and came in force when Christ rose from the grave, and gave his commands to the Apostles, to go and make disciples of all nations. It was then the believers' baptism was instituted, and from that age to the present and through all the future ages, until God's appointed day comes to call all to the Judgment; the command Christ gave to his apostles must go on under Christ, but by human instruments. There must always be some one on earth doing the work of John the Baptist, preparing the way for Christ; for every sinner's heart must be prepared before Christ can enter and do his work. From that age to the present, God has chosen special servants, and annointed them with power for world-wide work at certain periods as he has seen the need. And the work has been done by each one just as God wanted it at that time, the awakening of the sinners to see their own need, and to tell them of Christ, and God's promise to them and the love and mercy of God John the Baptist 257 to the repentant sinner. Every step God has taken in the work he has brought a fuller light, and will do so until man is brought under perfect subjection to the spiritual law of God. But there must be a fuller light on Christ's teachings, brought before the world yet, than has ever been preached by human man. Allow us to review or men- tion the work of a few of God's chosen servants. We will take John Knox, he is dead, but his work still Uves, he turned tens of thousands of hearts to Christ. Lu- ther, too, tens of thousands throughout the world bless God for Luther. Then the great John Wesley, look at his glori- ous world-wide work, look at the multitudes of hearts he turned to Christ. His work lives. Then we have the glorious world-wide work of General Booth. There is hardly a place in the universe where the Salva- tion Army has not carried the offer of salvation in the name of Jesus, and they have gathered in multitudes of sinners that have been lifted out of lives of sin and gathered into the fold of Christ. D. L. Moody, although dead, his work still lives. He did a glorious work for God. These were all specially called instruments of God. And the glorious triumphs of their work will meet them at the judgment. Each one did his work according to the light and power God gave him. Then we come to a later and specially prepared in- strument of God for a world-wide work in another for- ward step in God's plan. There are tens of thousands throughout the world 258 The Spirit Father who bless God for the work being done through John Alexander Dowie. Many object to his teachings, but there can be no doubt but he is the instrument of God. Let us fairly and honestly review his work — remember, I am only speaking of the spiritual side of the work. I know nothing about the temporal or financial side. But I believe he is God's instrument, and if God has shown him these things have to be done through him, then he will be answerable to God if he does not fulfill the work he is called to do. I will speak only from what I see and understand. Thespiritual work he is doing embraces a greater fullness in the teachings and commands of Christ, from the Bible teachings, than any given through man since the Apos- tles' time. And why so? Not that all the other special instruments were not just as faithful to God and Christ in their work as he, but every step God is taking forward in his plan is to bring out more and a fuller light as God has his people prepared to receive it. God cannot give meat to babes that are only able to drink milk. All the power of the work Christ did when on earth must be brought forth again in all its fullness. As the time draws near for the fulfillment of God's work for the redemption of man, one of Christ's works is being revived at the present. The reviving of divine healing as a universal teaching. Divine healing has only been left sleeping for God's own purpose. It has never been lost sight of, there has always been some who under- stood from the Bible that it was God's will to heal his John the Baptist 259 children if they sought it on God's conditions and had faith in Jesus as the Healer. Now, let us ask why this glorious blessing was al- lowed to sleep, while the human race has been groan- ing under sickness, disease and death, in the hands of doctors and medicine, until their lives have become a burden to them. Well, as all the working out of God's plan is to manifest his own glory, and to show forth the power and truthfulness of Christ's work from age to age. If divine healing had been kept before the world side by side with salvation, God's children would never have known the difference between the healing power of man and the heaUng power of God. He has left man to ponder into all sorts of science, looking for power to heal and cleanse the human flesh, and to help their fel- low-men in their human suffering, until the very men that have spent their lifetime in the researches after remedies for the alleviating of human miseries, have become the murderers and destroyers of tens of thou- sands of their fellow-creatures. So God's time has come to stretch forth his hand and make manifest his own glory, and bring the human flesh of his people under the healing power of his own hand. I believe that is part of the work John Alexander Dowie is called of God to do, to revive through his teachings the power of God as the Healer of his people throughout the world. And we see another part of God's work through Doctor Dowie, the bringing before the world the dan- 260 The Spirit Father gerous doctrine in the rituals of the secret societies. Tens of thousands of our men, both old and 3'oung, that were believers in the God of heaven as Father, and in Christ as the Son of God, the reconciler between God and his children, and the Saviour of the human race. That was the belief of many, they were true to God as far as their light led them, and truly worshiped God. As soon as they enter into fellowship with these secret societies, and come under the influence of the heathen ritual, they do not know what to believe. These rit- uals are all taken from old Bible teachings; and that teaching is more suited to multitudes of human crea- tures than the pure and holy teachings of Christ. In their spiritual blindness they do not understand the difference between the two covenants; therefore, in a few years, thousands of men that were true wor- shipers of God do not know whether they have a God and Father in heaven, or a Supreme Being, or a Ruler of the Universe. 0, how many wives and mothers' hearts are crying to God for the return of their husbands and sons to the worship of the true God! I believe God has heard that cry and is sending light to multitudes that have been innocently led away from their God and Father. They arc paying their money and time for the secrets that are binding their souls to Satan, and shutting up their hearts in heathen darkness. CHAPTER XXX. JESUS. In the three narratives on the life of Jesus — his in- fancy, his boyhood and manhood, each has a lesson in them to God's children for teaching and instructions. First: The lowly human birth of Jesus and his early surroundings teach us that we can be born in poverty, and be brought up to honest daily toil, and be the faithful sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. We need not be born in a palace or surrounded with the wealth of the world to become the true, obedient and faithful sons of God; it is the inner life's desire that draws us to the father. The majority of God's faith- ful children are found amongst the lowly and poor of the world; and the poorest home on earth is turned into a palace if it be the dwelling place of Jesus, that is, if it be the home of God's faithful children, and the love of Christ fills their hearts, then it is the home of love, joy and peace. I believe that was the kind of a home that Jesus was brought up in with Joseph and Mary his mother, and he was taught to know and obey his heavenly father just as many young boys are taught now. In the sec- ond place: Jesus is brought before us when he was twelve years old — it shows us a young lad just about 261 262 The Spirit Father the age that boys are apt to be wandering away, or running away from home. How many we see doing that around us at all times, for just at that age they are out of their childhood, and they become restless and cannot bear the restraint that generally has to be put upon them ; they feel they want more freedom and mix-up with older boys, and often think they are quite men. We see, in bringing Jesus before us at that age, a per- fect lesson and example to both parents and children. It should be brought before every child and taught to them as one of the Bible stories as soon as they are able to understand and be taught of Jesus. Let us tell the story as we see it. Jesus, at the age of twelve, left the care of his par- ents, and they did not miss him for a whole day; but, as night came on, they missed their boy, and felt he should have been under their care. So the first thing they did was to go out among their friends and look for the child. But he was not with any of them, so they became uneasy, and started out to look for him, thinking some evil or danger had be- fallen him. That may have been the first time Jesus had ever spent a night or a day away from the care of his parents, so they were troubled about him. They sought him up and down, asking every one they met if they had seen their boy; their hearts were full of sorrow and fear, until someone told them where they had seen him; they went to the place and found him among men, perhaps some of them bad, and some of Jesus 263 them good; but, however that may have been, they found him in company much older than himself, and company his mother thought he should not have been with; for she chided him for leaving them, and being there ; and the answer he gave shows that he must have thought himself old enough to do as he wished. But what his parents said to him showed him other- wise; for he left the temple and went back with them to Nazareth, and remained under their care and con- trol until the years of his maturity. This act in the life of Jesus and his parents is repeat- ing itself in our daily lives. What is the first thing a father or mother will do if, when it comes night and time to close up their home, they find one of their chil- dren missing? The first question will be. Where did you see him? Surely he must be with some of your friends; let us go to their homes and see if |we find him. So they search from home to home among their friends, but the boy is not to be found. The days go by and they keep on searching and looking for their lost child; for the parents' hearts cannot rest till they know what has become of their child. Even if they learn he is dead, they must know what has be- come of him before they will be satisfied. It may be days, weeks or even months before they hear of him, if he has taken it into his head to run away, but as soon as they hear of him they find him, and bring him back ; for if he is an obedient son he will return to his parents' home. In bringing the life of Jesus before us in this way, we are shown that his life was a perfectly human life, just 264 The Spirit Father like any other boy, and that when God gave him into the care of Joseph to bring up, he was to be under their care and obedient to them until he grew into the years of manhood, and able to decide what was right for him to do with his own life. We can see from this lesson also that parents have a perfect right to expect a perfect obedience, and to hold control over their children, but only for a limited num- ber of years. When the years of maturity are reached men and women both feel they must have the ruling and directing of their own lives, and cannot be happy otherwise, or they would feel they were in bondage. But as long as a good son or daughter lives and has an aged father or mother living, their love and care will be bestowed on them and the obedience they give them will be through the love and respect they have for them. Jesus shows us this lesson through the love and care he shows for his mother after he left her care and protec- tion, and could not be with her to care for her himself, he gave her to the care of his beloved disciple. Then we take the third narrative of Jesus' life; we see him grown into the full years of a perfect manhood, full of purity and power. I do not know how others may look at Jesus or what kind of a picture they may have of him in their minds, but the picture I see of him : — He was the most stately beautiful young man that has ever stepped on earth. I think of Samuel's words when he was describing David. He said: "He was rudd}'^ and of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look at." It is the love and compassion that I sec looking out of the face of Jesus "265 Jesus, my elder brother, that draws my heart to him and makes him my ideal. I think I have only met with one human face in all the years that have passed since I had drawn for myself the pictured face of Jesus as my elder brother in his young manhood, before he took upon himself the burden and sorrows of his diso- bedient brothers and sisters. Let me tell you where I saw the face that had the resemblance of what Jesus looked like to me. It must have been fifteen years ago. I lived in the city of Toronto, and went to Knox Church one evening to a farewell gathering that was being held in behalf of a Mr. Goforth. I do not remember if he was an or- dained minister, or only a student. He was from the Toronto University, and was going away to work in foreign fields. One minister got up and told of his worth, then another got up to tell more about him, but I did not know amongst all that were on the platform which was Mr. Goforth. But there was a young man sitting among them that drew my attention by the calm, noble look on his face, and the brilliant look in his eyes. When he got up to speak my friend told me: "That was Mr. Goforth." He spoke of his great desire to go and carry the gospel teachings, and the offer of full and free salvation to the brothers and sisters living in hea- then darkness. He was going to a very unhealthy cU- mate. I may not repeat the words just as he said them, but I think he said: if he knew he would only live one year, and could save but one soul, he was ready and willing to go. The calm, holy look of love and 266 The Spirit Father compassion that shone out of his beautiful face, and the fire that shone out of his eyes, showed the obedient and holy spirit within, that brought out the resemblance to my picture of Jesus. I do not know if Mr. Goforth is still living, but the impression he made on me still lives. Let us stand for a moment with Jesus in his home at Nazareth. There he stands in the full years of his young manhood, working and taking care of his mother, helping her to bring up the younger brothers and sis- ters, for Joseph their father was dead (another lesson for our sons.) But what does Jesus hear one evening, or perhaps morning? He hears that John the Baptist was crying up and down through all the country, that God the Fa- ther had sent him to tell every one to repent and con- fess their sins to God, and go to the river Jordan, and be baptized for the remission of their sins. He may have heard John's cry but once, but it would be all that was necessary for him to obey. Then we can see him leaving his home, his mother, his brothers and sisters, never to return to them and take up his old life as he had done before. He was only a boy then, and his parents had power to take him home ; but this time, if he wishes to give himself to his Father's work, no earthly power can restrain him, for he is of years to decide what use he will make of his own life, he has reached the years of wisdom and under- standing. So, when he hears the command to go to Jordan, he Jesus 267 starts on his journey perhaps with many others, and his mother, brothers and sisters may all have gone with him. For John's message was to every child of God then, as it is now. Some may say that it was only to sinners, and so it was, for God's Word says that every creature in the world has sinned, and if we say we have not, we lie. Jesus was living his human life, like any other hu- man man, and he must have felt the call was to him as well as to others. He went to the Jordan to fulfill the laws and com- mands of God like an obedient son. Whatever he may have felt about his need of re- ceiving that symbol of purification, we have nothing to do with; it was his obedience to the command that we have to follow. I do not believe Jesus knew anything of what God brought him into the world for, or of the life that was awaiting him, more than does any man know of what awaits him. Until the time came when his Father required him, I believe he just lived his happy boyhood, and young manhood like any other good, pure man. And when he stood at the river Jordan among the rest to be bap- tized he went into the waters the simple Jesus; and as soon as he had fulfilled the command of God by receiv- ing that water baptism at the hands of man, for that baptism was simply to symbolize death and resurrec- tion — and that is the emblem of every child of God's first resurrection — the Father's time had come that 268 The Spirit Father he was ready to use his son for the work he had for him to do. And the command of God through John: for every creature to gather at the Jordan, was given to him as well as to others. And if he had not gone to the Jordan at the call of John I do not believe he would have received the Father's blessing and be where he is to-day. That command was sent to every human creature, whether he was the son of a king, or the son of a beggar. And that same command extends to every human creature in the world, from that day through all ages until God's work is finished in man: and none dare disobey, unless through ignorance, and who in this age can plead ignorance unless willful ignorance, for the same Book that has carried forth through all the Chris- tian era the offer of salvation has carried forth the command to be baptized. Salvation is offered with- out money or without price, but not without condi- tions, and baptism is a part of the conditions. Salvation is offered free, as far as a price paid in mon- ey, gold or silver, or the equivalent of it, in any kind of merchandise, for it is not purchased at any money value. Our beloved Father knew what he was about when he was opening and preparing a way for his children lo go back to him. If salvation had been offered at a money price it would have been at a high one, then what would have become of his children that are poor in this world's wealth, how they would have cried: "Oh, cruel Father! how are we ever to get money Jesus 269 enough to buy salvation that we may have eternal life? Where can we ever get the money, Father, when we can only get enough to buy bread for ourselves and family?" That would have been the cry of the poor, and the rich would be buying up their salvation wholesale. There are, we believe, thousands possessed of the world's wealth that would lay their millions down at the feet of God if they could purchase their sal- vation with it, and still be allowed to go on living their careless, sinful life. But, blessed be our God and Father! every human creature, whether they be black or white, high or low, rich or poor, must seek and find their salvation in the same way; for, although it is offered without money it is not offered without conditions, and the same condi- tions are demanded from all. John the Baptist was sent by God to proclaim to his children the conditions their Father was willing to forgive upon, and take them back to himself. The first of those conditions was repentance and baptism for the remission of their sins. God's only begotten Son, the beloved of the Fa- ther, began his return to his heavenly Father's home by obedience to the conditions that God has required from every one of his children. God has required obe- dience from his children since the hour he created Adam, and will to everlasting agess. Now, if Jesus knew himself at that time to be the di- vinely begotten Son of the Father, the Prince of Heav- en, and destined to be the future king and ruler of the world — we say, if he knew himself to be that, then it shows us that he felt his need of that water baptism, 270 The Spirit Father because he was wearing a human garment, and he brought himself down to the level of all the human race. But I do not beheve he knew any more about him- self, or what his Father had for him to do on earth, or what was in store for him, more than does any other obedient child of God, know to-day what he has in store for him. No human creature knows what an hour may bring forth. The obedient spirit in Jesus brought him to the Jor- dan to be baptized of John, and his Father looked down from heaven and saw the act and it pleased him. Now, before we follow Jesus into the Jordan and on in his life work, I will bring before the reader what I truly believe in my own heart concerning Jesus. I believe the spirit of David was reincarnated in the infant flesh of Jesus. The spirit of David had to be reclothed to work out its own salvation under the new covenant law. David was the one man, according to God's own heart. I believe David had a pure and obedient spirit in him. It was in the flesh that David sinned, for under the old covenant no one could live a spiritual life. God had deprived them of that power. God does not deal with man according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. I believe if we carefully read the sixty-ninth Psalm, and note the twenty-first verse, then take Jer- emiah, thirtieth chapter and ninth verse, then Ezekiel, thirty-fifth chapter, twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses, then the fourth chapter of Hosea and fifth verse, that you m\\ find some light on what I here say. I believe the coming royal, universal King will rule under the name of King David, and it throws light Jesus 271 on many words in the New Testament where the name of Jesus and David are coupled together. In Revela- tions it says the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals. I believe the word root means the spirit of David, and in the last chapter Jesus says he is the root and offspring of David. The root of every human being is the spirit — the strength and power of every tree comes from the root. CHAPTER XXXI. JESUS AT THE JORDAN. We will stand a few minutes on the bank of the Jor- dan, gazing at the crowd gathered there to be baptized of John, and we see stepping out from among them a fine, princely-looking young man. He steps into the water and as we look at him, we see it is Jesus of Naza- reth, the supposed son of Joseph. As he steps into the water John looks up, and when he sees Jesus he for- bids him to come unto him to be baptized, saying: "I have more need to be baptized of thee," and we hear Jesus answering: "Suffer it to be so, John, for it be- cometh us to fulfill all righteousness," and John bap- tized him. Now, many believe that the reason John forbade Jesus to come to him to be baptized was because he knew Jesus was Christ the Messiah, the Son of God; but that could not have been John's reason for not want- ing Jesus to be baptized of him: for John declares to the Pharisees that were sent to ask him if he was the Christ himself, he said: "I am not, but there standeth one among you whom ye know not; this is he of whom I said. One cometh after me whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, but I knew him not; but He that sent me to baptize with water said unto me, Upon whom I should see the spirit descending and remaining 272 Joliu baptizing Jesus in the Jordan. Jesus at the Jordan 273 upon, that is he which will baptize with the Holy Ghost; and I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode on him." And the next day, w^hen John saw Jesus coming unto him, John said to those around him: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world!" But when John declares he did not know Jesus to be the chosen Son of God, as the one that was to be anointed Christ the Messiah; Let us remember John is not say- ing he did not know Jesus of Nazareth as his own friend and kinsman. For the mother of John and the mother of Jesus were cousins, and we believe Jesus and John knew each other well; and that it was from that very acquaintanceship arose John's reason for not wanting Jesus to come to him for baptism. I think John knew Jesus and knew him to be a pure, holy and good man, and from what he knew of him and his life he had looked up to Jesus as his superior and did not feel that Jesus required baptism from him. But John knew that someone from among those he was to baptize was to be anointed with the Holy Ghost; for he was told so when he was sent out to his work at the Jordan. We believe they knew each other well as kinsmen and friends, but what was to be transacted at the Jor- dan neither of them knew anything about; for God never tells any one what he is going to do until he does it. He will prepare them and get them ready and the moment he is ready he will use them; but not a mo- ment before. 274 The Spirit Father We look again, and we see John has baptized Jesus and he is coming up out of the water with his head bowed in prayer when he heard a voice and looked up, and "behold the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending hke a dove and lighting on him, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased — hear ye him." Jesus went down into the water the simple Jesus of Nazareth, son of man by his human birth, and he came up out of the water, Christ, the anointed Messiah, and beloved Son of God, by his new spiritual birth and his anointing with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God descended on him in all its fullness. Jesus was not given the Holy Spirit by measure; but God made his beloved Son his own equal in divine power; there was the Father and the Son, two distinct persons in one. Jesus was still the same Jesus, and had still his own spirit -wathin him — the spirit child of his Father. He was to go forth as God's Son to the work that the Fa- ther had for him to do; the Father had vested him with all his own power. The Father is a spirit invisi- ble, but not unfelt, for, although none of Jesus' people saw any outward change in his appearance, Jesus him- self felt the inward change, of the power \\nthin him, and he was going forth in the strength of that unseen power to one of the greatest conflicts that had ever taken place in the world. He was going to meet the great adversary of God and man. He was going to the final contest. The Father's time Jesus at the Jordan 275 had come for the fulfillment of his promise that he would break the power of Satan over the human flesh. The spirit father had tried his children in every way, to lift them out of the hands of Satan, and out of their bondage. But Satan had gotten such a complete hold on them that even the most faithful were drawn into hk power through the lust of the flesh. So Christ was going forth in the human flesh, but in the power of the Spirit, and if Christ in his human flesh would conquer Satan Satan's power was to be broken over all the hu- man race from that day to everlasting ages. For ev- ery child of God who will turn to their Father in true re- pentance, and obey his commands, if it is the true de- sire of their heart to get free from the power and bond- age of Satan, then God will know they are in earnest, and he will give the spirit that dwells within, quick- ened life; and from that quickening it will rise up in spiritual power and conquer Satan. The spirit within will become pure, holy and obedient and will subdue all the lusts of the flesh. Your flesh will have to live in subjection to the spirit, where before the spirit was living in obedience to the flesh. We are not speaking of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit and power of God being put upon him, but the spirit child of God that dwells within every man and woman. When we are told to let the spirit that was found in Christ be also found in us, that does not mean the spirit and power of the Father; it means we are to have a pure, holy and obedient spirit, such as was in Jesus. When the spirit power of God is put upon any of his 276 The Spirit Father children it is not for their own use they are endued with it is for their Father's worit. Oh, how many there are who think they have been anointed with the Holy Spirit, and that they are pre- pared and called of God to do his work! They feel within themselves the desire to belong to God, and be good, so have turned to God in prayer for help; and God has quickened their spirit as far as they have obeyed him; but they think from the change they feel that they are able and willing to go out and preach and teach others. This is the first desire of every one that has turned to God, and is trjing to live a Christian life. Many good men prepare themselves for going out to teach and preach the gospel when they have not even fulfilled the first act of obedience, repentance and baptism. But whatever mistakes man may make in thinking himself fitted for his Father's work — and he may prepare ,himself in every possible way, but if God does not think him fitted he will never bestow on him the power of the Holy Ghost. God will never choose the wrong man or instrument, for he does not look at the outside man or his accomplishments, but to the inner man and his desires toward God. We have so many men in our churches, good men, and good preachers, but they have no spiritual power, they may be very sensational preachers, and able to fill large churches, but they have no power to deeply touch the sinner's heart and win the lost; and that is the work God requires of all his chosen servants, and when he chooses them, he anoints them with convincing power Jesus at the Jordan 277 to wm and bring back his lost children into the fold, and leaves them under the care of Christ. But only those that live pure and holy lives before God, and in perfect obedience to his laws and com- mands will God use, and anoint for his service. God has thousands of self-appointed servants, but only a few chosen ones. But let us stand a few moments again on the banks of the Jordan and look on Jesus as he stands there, after he has come out of the water and has received his anointing. We do not see that he has grown any larger or stronger, nor does he look more fierce than he did be- fore he went into the water. He just looks the same gentle, loving Jesus, so where is the great strength and power he needs for the great battle he has before him? We will look a few moments at the adversary he was going to meet, that we may have some conception of the struggle that was before him. We all know that great men have great names. So Satan was, and is, a great man, and had, and has, great power in this world, and has a great many titles to his name, but his proper name is the Devil. He is known also by the names of Satan, Abaddon, Apollyon, Beelzebub, and Belial. He was, and is, the prince and god of this world and prince of the powers of the air; and prince of the dev- ils; so he was, and is, a mighty power. Many ask us who is the Devil, and where did he come from, and why did God make the devil to lead people into evil? All such questions have been asked 278 The Spirit Father of the writer many times, not by children, but by grown men and women; so we will try and tell here, as far as our light takes us. He was one of the sons of God and lived in the Fa- ther's home in heaven with the rest of the Father's fam- ily, and he may have been the eldest and most beloved of the Father at one time; but he was disobedient he rebelled and opposed his Father's authority and tried to usurp the Father's rights; and when God would not allow him to do so, he went among the rest of the fam- ily trying to get some of them to side with him, and no doubt offered them large bribes if they would help him usurp his Father's possessions; just as he tried to tempt Jesus thousands of years afterward. Many of the household must have sided with him, for he raised a rebellion and war in heaven, and tried to upset all the laws and government of the Father, till the Father had to cast him out, and all those with him that would not obey. He was cast out of heaven and down into hell. I be- lieve this earth, as it was then, was the hell he was cast into; and there he set up his kingdom and his rule over all who were foolish enough to place themselves in his power. I believe the great evil spirit of Satan lived and ruied on earth through all the old Bible times. Although God had his own people among them, God permitted his rule over them for their disobedience. But he still sent them messages and promises that lie would again reclaim them. And when Christ was tempted with Satan, I believe Satan v/as on earth in personality and Jesus at the Jordan 279 his angels other great evil spirits in human garments. And that after Christ's crucifixion, the great evil spirit of Satan was chained up in the bottomless pit, in the depths of the ocean, but it is chained up in a body of flesh, that is one of the great beasts we read of in Rev- elation, and the other beasts we read of are also other great evil spirits chained up until God's appointed time. Now, dear reader, just take your Bible and find the forty-first chapter of Job, read it carefully and you will understand; God is showing Job where the great evil spirit of Satan is chained up in the flesh of the great Leviathan, one of the greatest monsters of the deep. I believe that is the place where God has chained up all the evil spirits that have willfully rejected God's offer of mercy through Christ. Remember: — I mean those that have had the offer of salvation through Christ, and had the wisdom and sense to understand what they were offered, and wilfully rejected. There they will re- main until God calls the judgment. But he has plenty of busy workers on earth doing his work for him just as well as if he was here in per- son, just as Christ, who is in heaven, has his people here working for him. Let us see what kind of character Satan has. He was a sinner, he told lies to Eve, he was cursed by God, he is presumptuous, proud, power- ful, wicked, malignant, subtle, deceitful, fierce and cruel; opposes God's work, tries to hinder the gospel teaching, perverts the Scriptures, by trying to turn peo- ple from believing the truth, till he blinds them and gets possession of their hearts, by appearing to them as an angel of light ; but once he does get possession of 280 The Spirit Father them, he deceives and ensnares them. He will never rest until he has drawn all he can get hold of under the wrath and punishment of God. And he works lying wonders to try and deceive those that are really trying to live for God, by draw- ing their hearts to love the pleasures of the world more than God. That is the character of the Adversary, Jesus was going to meet. He is no better to-day, but a great deal worse and more powerful, for he will leave no means untried to get possession and power over the Father's possessions, for he knows he has lost the Father's love, and he has lost his heirship, so cannot in- herit any of his Father's domains by legal right. He is holding illegal sway over all the Father's earthly do- mains through all his followers, and servants he is gathering in, in large forces, for he will never willingly give up his rule. He knows there will be one final bat- tle when he must lose all power forever, over the human flesh that has been redeemed. And all the unredeemed will be put into the place prepared for them with the devil as their king, and ruler. Then will begin the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, when thoy will look at each other and look at their king, and see what they have brought themselves to, by neglecting God's offer of mercy when it was in their power to re- ceive it. Some were too careless to trouble themselves about whether they had a soul to save or not ; others wanted the world and all it could give them, and were per- fectly satisfied with that life never troubling to think, of their future; others brought there by their uicked Jesus at the Jordan 281 desires and evil lives in following the evil ways of Satan. Just as you will find, in going through a crowded prison, some are there for one offense, and some for another, but all have broken the laws of God and their country or they would not be there; they are all there of their own free will ; and as every one entering the prison is clothed in garments according to his offense, so will those that go to dwell in hell be clothed in garments suited for the place, and according to the lives they have lived here. Heinous, indeed, will be their gar- ments if the royal apparel that their king is to be clothed in is the garment of a serpent. What, then, will be the garments of his subjects? None will bear the image of Christ our Lord and King but the redeemed of the Father; so whose image are the unredeemed to bear? The mark of the beast! Dear reader, whoever you may be, think about it, you may be one of the careless ones ; but it is a serious matter to neglect our soul's welfare; to-day is the time, to-morrow may be too late. CHAPTER XXXII. JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS. We left Jesus, in the last chapter, standing on the banks of the Jordan, while we looked at the character of the Adversary he was going to meet. While he is still there we will look at his own character before fol- lowing him into the wilderness. Jesus in his human character was obedient to his parents; good, true, faithful, guileless, sinless, holy, innocent, just, meek, lowly in heart, merciful, benevolent, loving, self-deny- ing, forgiving, long-suffering, compassionate and obe- dient to God the Father. What a comparison of the two natures ! Dear reader, which of the two would you like for your friend? for we must have eitber the one or the other. But how is our gentle, loving brother Jesus to stand and overcome the outcast, for he will meet him in all his rage and fury, for he knew if Jesus overcame all his wiles and temptations he would be the heir of all the Father's possessions; so we can understand it was to be a struggle. But whoever is on the side of God and right will be on the winning side; evil may hold sway for a time, but it has to fall. So we can see Jesus bid- ding farewell to his friends at the Jordan before being "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness" to meet the temptations of the devil, also to hold communion \nth the Father through his angel messengers. 282 Jesus in the Wilderness 283 In the wilderness Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights. Do we wonder what Jesus was doing those forty days and nights? Just what Moses was doing the forty days upon the mount; holding communion with God. When Christ was endued with the Father's spirit power, he was endued also with the Father's confi- dence, and the Father was trusting all he cared for in the world into the hands of his beloved son. The devil, his wicked son, had taken possession of all the earth, and all that was in it, and was holding sway and rule over all earthly things, as he is doing still, for there is no place on all God's earth to-day that the devil is not trying to be king and ruler. We are sorry that he succeeds only too well, but his rule must end at God's appointed time. What must have been the love of that beloved Son for his Father, when the Father took him into his con- fidence and showed him the condition of his lost chil- dren; and told him how they had all been led away by that wicked son and brother! We think we can hear the Father's cry, that he did not care for anything in the world but his children, that if he could only get his children back the evil one could have all that be- longed to earth for the present. All earthly things were his children's inheritance, and all the heritage the Father had on earth was his children. Satan had not only taken the heritage of the children, but he had taken the heritage of the Father by bribing the children with what belonged to themselves. W^hen the Father created the world and all that is in 284 The Spirit Father it, all belonged to him, but he did not create and pre- pare it for himself to live in; but for the home and in- heritance of his family ; but the devil usurped the right of all the family, although he divides up pretty well with lots of his brothers and sisters, those that are will- ing to help him and work in his service by living away from God, and helping others to do so. For as long as he can get any of his brothers and sis- ters to help him, he will find some way of helping them to make them believe they are getting along finely in the world, better than those who are living for God. Oh, he is a wily fellow, for if he could not do that he would soon lose all his followers. But may God open the eyes of all the deceived ones and may they get out of the hands of the devil before the day of his doom! Every day that passes over our heads is bringing the day nearer when God will take possession of his own, and hurl the devil and all who belong to him out of his kingdom. God will cleanse and prepare the earth again for the inheritance of his redeemed children and they will all live here again with Jesus as their elder brother and king, every brother and sister will love and look up to him; for he will be king and ruler of every redeemed child's heart, and we are only looking forward and long- ing for the day when he will be our earthly king. Ev- ery child of the father will have their own portion, and none will want to usurp the rights of their elder brother. We can see Jesus sitting in the wilderness listening to the voice of the father speaking to him, and showing him what he had to do, and just what was before him Jesus in the Wilderness 285 if he undertakes the commission the father wishes to send him upon; but the father put no compulsion upon him. He was left to make his own choice. After the father had shown him the condition of his brothers and sisters, and shown him the only way they could be redeemed. Jesus had to decide for himself whether he was willing to undertake the commission. Do we see any hesita- tion on liis part? No; the love of that beloved .son for his father and the lost condition of his brothers and sisters kept him from taking one moment's thought of his own suffering. Can we wonder for a moment why he is the beloved of the father and the beloved of every one who knows and understands what he has done for them? We see him again after his forty days of fasting and prayer — it was earthly bread he had fasted from — he had been eating of the heavenly bread, the Word of God. But he again required his human nutriment, for Je- sus was going forth from that hour through all his earthly mission just as human as ever he was, and just as human as any man on earth to-day; only, he was sinless. The devil knew Jesus had been holding communion with the Father, and he was watching for him, think- ing it was his opportunity, when human nature would call again for earthly bread; for the first thing the tempter said to him was: "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." But Jesus answered him: "Man cannot live by bread 286 The Spirit Father alone, but by every word that cometh from the mouth of God." Now, when Jesus gave that answer to Satan, that "man cannot hve by bread alone," Jesus did not mean that the human man could not live on bread without the Word of God, for there are multitudes who live en food for the body, that never taste of the spiritual food. Jesus was speaking of our spiritual nature and spirit- ual food. Then the devil tries again, by taking him up into the holy city, to the very highest pinnacle of the temple, and wanted Jesus to prove he was the Son of God by throwing himself down to the ground, saying: "If thou be the Son of God, it is written the angels have charge over thee, and thou wilt not be hurt." He thought, by tempting Jesus to show his power, he would get Jesus to obey him; if he had gone to Jesus and told him to curse or swear, he knew well he could not get him to do it. But the devil is like every other wicked ruler, he likes to show his power, and he thought Jesus might like to show his power, he thought he could entrap him into obeying him in that wa3^ That was all the devil wanted; he knew if Jesus obeyed him in one small act he would lose his power over the flesh, and Satan would have power over him just as he had over Adam. Satan used the words of Scripture, but only quoted a part — he kept saying: "It is written." Jesus soon let Satan know that he knew the Scrip- tures also, but Jesus knew it in all its fullness, Jesus Jesus in the Wilderness 287 said: ''It is also written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." But the devil again tries him by showing him all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them, and said: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Think of Satan's presumption in his blind confi- dence. He had been able to entrap so many he felt he had the power to allure Jesus also. Now, the devil was not offering anything he could not give; for Satan had the rule of all earthly kingdoms then as now. And wherever there is a king or queen — if they are not ruling the nation under the laws and commands of God, then they must be the followers of Satan, and ruling their kingdom under his power. For all who live on this earth must be either under the rule of God or of Satan. When Satan tried to tempt Jesus with the offer of the earthly kingdoms, and all the glory of the world, he knew if Jesus accepted them he would only lose them by so doing; for if Jesus had faltered one step he would have lost both his heavenly and earthly reign. But the father had not let Jesus go out on his com- mission without showing him what he had to meet and contend with. So Jesus was prepared, and when he was offered the glory of the world, can we not see the scorn in his eyes as he commands Satan to go hence; and answering him again in the words of the Scrip- ture: "For it is also written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 288 The Spirit Father When Satan found he could not tempt him in any way, he left him, and angels came and ministered unto Jesus, What lesson is there for us in this record of Jesus' life? Simply showing all of God's children what they have to do, and how they have to do it. They must begin and live their new life from the moment they have repented and received baptism for the remission of their sins, if it was done in the sincere desire for a new life, then they will rise up in a new life, and Satan will know he has lost his power over them. If we are faithful, God will give us the needed power and strength to keep us from falling into Satan's hands; but we have to be on the watch for him every moment. For, just as he tried to tempt Jesus, by showing him all the glory and pleasure of this world, so he is trying to tempt every child that has left his power and turned to seek their father's forgiveness. If one has never thought of Satan or his temptations before, they will soon know and feel them ; but every one has to do as Jesus did, and say: "Get thee hence, Satan, I will have no more to do with thee." And when he finds out, as he did with Jesus, that we cannot be tempted by him, he will leave us, perhaps, for a little while, till we think we are safely out of his power ; but that is the time he is most active, and we must be on the watch for him at all times. Do not let us think for a moment that when Jesus overcame him in the wilderness, and commanded him to go hence, that Satan thought he could nevermore tempt Jesus. Do you think he left Jesus to go on Jesus in the Wilderness 289 quietly with his earthly life? Oh, no; he was the per- secutor of Jesus from that hour by working through the cruel hearts he had possession of, till he entered into the heart of Judas his betrayer, and never rested, but followed his steps like a bloodhound, till he saw him crucified and hanging on the cross. That is Sa- tan. If he knows he cannot have his own way he will persecute us through some of his followers. God our father will never leave us without comfort and help in the midst of every trial. If we are faithful, he will send his ministering angels to us, as he did to Jesus. CHAPTER XXXIII. JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK. What part of his work had Jesus accomplished in the wilderness? He had accomplished the first part of his work, and to such perfection that it fitted him for all the rest that was to follow. What had he done? He had redeemed his own flesh out of the hands of Satan. The first human flesh ever redeemed was Christ's, and he redeemed it himself by his obedience to the Father's will. He got the power by his obedi- ence to overcome all the temptations and allurements of the world. That was a glorious triumph. He had taken his first step on his return journey back to the Father's home. And he had also taken his first step into the hands of Satan as his persecutor, for from the hour Satan knew that Jesus had gained the victory over him, he became the relentless foe of Jesus. But we will follow patiently and see where the battle ends. Jesus heard that John had been cast into prison, so he knew the time had come for him to begin his work, and he was going forth on his mission with the full power and authority of his father vested in him. When Satan departed from Jesus in the wilderness, he went back into Galilee and taught in the synagogues with such power that his fame was spread through all the region around. 290 Jesus Begins His Work 291 He then went back to Nazareth, and went into the synagogue to read on the Sabbath day, as was his cus- tom. Some one handed him the book of the prophet Esaias, opening it he found a passage referring to him- self before he was born. You will find the words in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, and again in the fourth chapter of Luke. He said the spirit of the Lord was upon him, because God had anointed him to preach the Gospel to the poor: "he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that were bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord;" then he closed the book. Now, Jesus declares that was God the Father's com- mission to him; that was the work he had to do for the Father. There are so many who do not seem to understand, or do not have the true meaning of what Christ's work was; so let us look closely into what Je- sus has declared he was sent to do, then we will be better able to follow him through all his work on earth, from the Jordan to the cross. He says he was sent to preach the Gospel to the jDoor; that is, he was to tell them all the Father's message, without money and without price; the poor were to have the message as well as the rich; there was to be no respect of persons, all were to hear the message that Jesus was sent with from the Father. Then he was to heal their broken hearts, for God's children at that time were held in bondage to Satan, and under the Roman power. He was to preach de- liverance to the captives. Notice those two words, 292 The Spirit Father preach deliverance^ He did not say he was sent to deliver them or to give them deliverance; but he was to preach deliverance. That is, he was sent to tell them and show them how they could be delivered out of Satan's power and out of their captivity. He would show them the way, but each one had to deliver them- selves. And those that Satan had blinded would receive light and sight from the teachings of Christ, and those that were bound would be set at liberty. He was to tell them that the acceptable year of the Father had come. Do we understand what he meant by that? It was simply that God their father's time had come; that he was willing to be reconciled to his children. That was the good news that was to heal their broken hearts. How many sons and daughters in our human families have incurred their father's displeasure, by lives of disobedience, until their father has had to send them away from his loving care and home, perhaps for many years, and many of them are living with broken hearts longing for forgiveness, but too wayward to ask for it? But a day comes when the father thinks they have been punished enough, he has loved and mourned for his wayward children all the years they have been away; now he is willing to forgive them if they will come back repentant and ask his forgiveness. He sends a messenger to tell them, and some believed and turned back to their father ^^^th true repentance, and were accepted again to their father's love and home. But there are many that will not believe, even when Jesus Begins His Work 293 their father sends a messenger after them; they think it is impossible that their father could forgive them, for they know they have been wicked, so will not believe the message; or they are determined to go on in their own way. Now, that is just what God our father sent Jesus to do; to tell all his children, rich and poor, that the time had come when he was willing to be reconciled to them ; but on his own conditions. And that same message was to be carried to every human creature throughout the world, from that day to the end of the ages. Jesus was sent to show the whole human race the way to find deliverance from their bondage of sin, disease and death. Satan's first power over man is to get him to diso- bey God by committing sin of some kind; he knows well what kind of instruments he is using, some are fitted for the most heinous crimes ; others are more re- fined; some of the most powerful instruments Satan has are thousands of preachers, men calling themselves the servants of God, and many of them truly believe they are in the Lord's service; when they are simply the blinded and powerful servants of Satan, for that is one of the devil's powers — to blind God's servants and get them to pervert the Scriptures by holding back a part of the teachings and works of Christ, and by doing so hide the glory of God, and the all-conquer- ing power of Jesus. They are blinded themselves to what Christ's mes- sage and mission was, and there are thousands of them 294 The Spirit Father going headlong into hell and drawing thousands of their followers with them ; for they are the most power- ful allies Satan has in the world. All the drinking houses, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution, put together, are not doing so much towards the hindrance of the cause of Christ and his glorious mission to the lost children of God, as are many of our Christians and church life. The reader may think that is a hard thing to say: I only say it because it is true, for if all who call themselves Christians, and profess to believe in Christ, were true to him, there would not be a saloon, nor a prostitute home in any civilized city in the world. God has shown it to me, and lias commanded me to write it, or this book would never be before the public; for I have no controversy with my brethren. Satan has his instruments in all stations of life, just as God has. Sin, disease, and death are all the works of the devil, and Jesus came with the Father's power to destroy every work of Satan, by showing men the way to break the power of the devil over themselves; for, as soon as they believe in Christ, they will believe his teach- ings and turn to God in repentance; then God will give them the power to resist all the temptings of Satan. Then they are helping to destroy his work and power on earth, and delivering themselves from the bondage of sin, disease and death. We may fall sick with any ailment the human flesh is heir to, but we will not be held in bondage to it; for God has promised deliver- ance from all diseases if we go to him in faith and on Jesus Begins His Work 295 his conditions, and the nearer we hve to God the less disease we will have. When Jesus had finished reading and sat down, the eyes of all in the synagogue were on him and he be- gan to say unto them: "This day is this Scripture ful- filled in your ears." Do we wonder that all eyes were fastened on him, they only knew him as the son of Joseph the carpenter, who had sat in the synagogue with them since a child ; he had been brought up among them. For him to stand up and tell the Jews that the Lord had anointed him with power to do all he had said, and to tell them that they had heard the fulfilling of the Scripture! Jesus meant just what he said, their deliv- erance from captivity was the fulfilling of the whole Scripture; was it any wonder that the poor Jews fast- ened their eyes upon him? They were looking for a great king coming to give them deliverance by fighting great battles for them, and getting back all their rightful possessions by vic- tories over their enemies. The Jews were bewildered and could not believe; it was past their comprehen- sion, just as it is past the comprehension of many now, to believe in the simple words of Jesus, God's way was not the Jews' way of doing things. They looked on Jesus as presumptuous and hated him with- out a cause, and they have never gotten over that hatred; but that was the devil's work, he had Winded their eyes. But some of them got light and followed Jesus. Some looked on him with disdain and said: "Is not this Joseph's son?" 296 The Spirit Father No doubt, if he had been the son of one of the rich rabbis, they would have been quite willing to accept him. Jesus knew their thoughts, and said: "If they could not believe on him he could not do for them what he had done for the people in Capernaum ; for it was their faith that had brought them their blessings." After they had heard the things he said in the syna- gogue, they were filled with wrath, and they rose and thrust him out of the city. When he left Nazareth he came again to Jordan to the Gentiles ; his own people had cast him out. He brought the same message from God to the Gen- tiles, and they received his teachings and great light sprang up within their hearts, arid from that time Je- sus began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What did Jesus mean by telling them the kingdom of heaven was at hand? Now, let us get the spiritual interpretation of this, for it is a wonderful lesson, and one that all ought to understand. When Jesus said this, he was referring to the new cove- nant that was going to be enforced and scaled between God and man. A little further on in his teachings he tells them that the kingdom of God is within them ; let us get the interpretation of this also, and it will help us to understand many more of his parables, in his saying the kingdom of God is within man, he was there referring to the spiritual seed — the seed of God within the human body. But it is one thing for the human race to have the kingdom of God within them and another thing for them to be in the kingdom of God. The Seal of ttie Covfiiaiit. Jesus Begins His Work 297 Then, what was to be the fulfillment of Christ's whole mission from the time he came out of the Jordan until he died on the cross? Christ was sent as the extraordinary ambassador of God. God had sent other ambassadors before to make covenants and treaties with his people. But Jesus was a special ambassador, sent to prepare and make ready for the last covenant and treaty that God was ever going to make wth the human race until he called the judgment. Now, before a covenant or treaty can be made between two people, each should know the full con- tents of the agreement they are going to enter upon. Well, that was Christ's work. From the time he came out of the wilderness where he had overcome Satan and received the Father's commission, he went about tell- ing them upon what conditions the Father's covenant was to be made with them. Then he told them what they had to do, showed them what God was willing to do for them. First: He told them to repent and ask forgiveness of God. Then he began showing them what God could do for them. He healed the sick of all kinds of dis- eases, he opened the eyes of the blind, he opened the ears of the deaf, he cast the evil spirits out of many, he raised the dead, he fed the multitudes when no one could see where the food was to come from. All these things, and many more, he did to prove to the people of that age and all ages, that the Father was both able and willing to do all he promised if they were willing to sign the covenant and live up to their agree- 298 The Spirit Father ment ; he would deliver them and all their inheritance out of the hands of Satan. The earth and all it con- tains is the inheritance of the children of God, and it will all go back into the hands of God's redeemed chil- dren at God's appointed time. During all Christ's earthly mission he was working under the old cove- nant; he was only preparing the papers for the signing of the treaty, but the treaty had to be solemnly rati- fied, and witnessed to, then it was ready for the seal. And when sealed the last covenant was made between God and man until the judgment. But Christ had to die before the seal was put upon the covenant, for the covenant was sealed with the blood of Jesus. But after it was sealed the Father has allowed certain time to elapse, until all his children have had the oppor- tunity to hear and understand the conditions of the new covenant, and all that have not signed the cove- nant with God before that time has expired will be held as rebels, and will receive the punishment God has told them would be theirs at that day ! Christ was preparing the testimony that was to be left to all gener- ations, but every testimony has to have witnesses before it can be legalized. Let us see how God prepared all things that would be required to make his covenant perfect and binding to all. He first prepared John, and sent him to witness that Jesus was the Christ, the messenger of the New Cove- nant — that was before Jesus began his work. When John was asked if he, himself, was the Christ Jesus Begins His Work 299 John said: "I am not, but I am come to bear witness that Jesus is the Christ; he is come to bring the true Hght, and to rectify and make right all the mistakes and errors that God's children have been living under in their benighted state through all the old covenant dispensation. He will bring them the true light under the reviving of the spiritual law." Before Jesus began giving the Father's message he went and chose twelve men that he thought would be honest and faithful, and could be trusted to give true statements of all they heard him speak, and saw him do. They were to be his witnesses after he had finished his work; those were his twelve apostles. And it is from them we have the record of all Jesus said or did through all his earthly mission — nearly three years and six months. So we see God had witnesses prepared to give testi- mony for Christ, both under the old and the new cove- nants. He did not leave a loophole where one of his children would be able to have any excuse for not seal- ing the covenant with God for their salvation. Now, if we believe we are God's children, we ought to find out what our Father expects from us, and what we are to expect from him. We ought to make no delay about it, for how many, by delaying one day, or one hour, have lost their eternal salvation ! We may defer many things for a day or even for months, and there may be no risk in the delay, for it might be a matter of little importance to us whether we ever attend to it or not; but it is a matter of great importance to every human creature that they attend to and look after their soul's salvation. 300 The Spirit Father We may send some one in our place to attend to any other matter for us, but we cannot send any one to attend to the salvation of our soul, and our entering into eternal life. Every individual child of God's that comes back to that Father's home, must seek for themselves, and find their way back. Set your face toward that heav- enly home and follow Jesus step by step, and he will lead you right through the gate of heaven. "The door is ever open wide To every tnie repentant child; No one shall e'er be turned away That comes repentant, to obey. O, follow Christ, O, follow on He will safely lead thee home. Lead thee safe through fields of sin Home to Father, God, and King." You do not need to wait till death takes you from this earth to be in heaven. You can live on earth in your human body, in what- ever station of life you are placed — do your duty under all circumstances, live your human life in obedience to God's laws and commands, but your spiritual life is lived in heaven. Your treasures are there; your beloved Father and Elder Brother; and other loved ones that have gone from us, to the Father's home. Our Father and Elder Brother are our heart treasures, and we live with them in heaven, every hour of our life on earth. Friends around us may not see any out- ward change or know of our communion with the loved ones in heaven; but we know it ourselves and this is Jesus Begins His Work 301 our assurance that we are the redeemed children of God. Now, dear reader, let us just talk together for a few minutes; let us ask each other where we are to go to hear all the things that Jesus told the people when he was on earth. How are we to know them? Naturally you will say we will go to church. But I have gone to church forty years, my reader, and I never heard any one stand up in the church and say to the people what Jesus said. Why, you say, that is strange! Are not the ministers there to tell us what Jesus said, and what we should do? I say I do not know, I am sure; they either do not know themselves, and cannot tell us, or else they do not want to tell us ; for I never heard any of them saying or doing what Jesus said or did, if what we read in the Bible be true, and the ministers say we are to believe every word, for it is all true. But, if they believe it is true, why do they not tell it to us. We do not have the time to read like they have, and we pay them for reading it, and telling us about it. Ah, my friend, that is just where they have you; you do not have time to read the Bible for yourself, and that is just what the ministers know. And some of them do not have much time, either, when, like you, they attend to all the worldly things that come into their lives. Well, you say, what are we to do? The Bible says: "How are we to hear without a preacher?" That is just what Jesus says: "We cannot hear without a preacher," but the words mean more than that. The 302 The Spirit Father meaning of the words are, that we are never to be with- out the preacher. Whether we are inside a church built by man, or on the top of a mountain, if we have our Bibles wdth us we have the preacher. Jesus is the preacher still. How can that be? Let me tell you. Open your Bibles and find where Jesus is preaching and teaching, and when you have read the words, hear the voice of Jesus speaking to you, as he spoke when he was on earth in his human flesh, for he is still with us in spirit. And when you have heard him speaking to you, through what you have read, and believe it is the message of God to you, then you will understand what the words mean— that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We do not hear the voice of Jesus with the human ear, but with the spiritual heart. We can sit in our churches and hear our minister with the human ear. How much of what Jesus told the people do our minis- ters tell to us on a Sabbath, even if we attend all three services? Dear reader, if you go to church, how many ministers have you seen stand up in their pulpits, and, looking over their congregation, say: "Every sinner in this congregation go and repent of your sins before God; go and get forgiveness, get baptized, and ready to live a new life, so you can live for God, instead of hving for the devil." That is what we can hear Jesus telling us when we hear the teachings from the Book. When we go to church many of us do not take our Bible with us; the Jesus Begins His Work 303 minister gives out the text, to be found in a certain book and chapter. And, as we have not our Bible, we do not know whether it is the words of Jesus or not. We just have to listen ; the minister mentions the verse, perhaps takes the first or second clause, or whatever suits him to give his sermon from, then he goes on talk- ing on theology and science, and gives many illustra- tions on man's work, and brings in the words of the text many times, and perhaps many other scriptural words, but they are all so mixed up that you have not received one distinct lesson that you can understand from the teachings. So when we come out of church we have less light on the matter than when we went in; for what little light we might have had on the few words of the text was lost by the way it was mixed up. There are thousands and tens of thousands go to church, who are earnestly seeking, and eager for light, they are hungering for the bread of life; the word of God; and they think they go to the right place to get it. But alas! alas! they come out hungrier than when they went in. Remember: I am not writing this as fault- finding with our ministers. For I know many good, noble Christian men amongst them; but I beheve this is God's way and time in sending this book out into the world, to show thousands of his children where they err in not reading and searching the Scriptures for themselves, and have been leaving to their ministers to do what they should do for themselves, and to give them enough light to encourage and help them to read the Bible and search for more. Now, dear reader, remember I do not mean by what 304 The Spirit Father I have said here that we do not need to go to church, for church is the place for all God's children to assemble, and when we meet there it should be to present ourselves to God, and offer up our prayers and praises to our Father, and to hear the Scripture read and taught in all its fullness and simplicity, and to give testimony for God's glory. We ought to try and gather in all those that have not yet sought to give themselves to God, no matter how low or how sinful we may find them; that is, or should be, the work of God's saved children, to find their unsaved brothers and sisters and try to win them back to the Father. Jesus went about telling them all plainly just what he had come to do ; but he wanted a few true friends with him, and to learn of him how to be faithful to the Father's commission, amongst all the perils and dangers that were to surround them, they would be prepared to take up his work when the time came for him to give up his earthly life. So he goes out to look for the friends he needed. While walking along by the sea of Galilee, he sees two fishermen casting nets into the sea. They were Peter and Andrew, his brother. We do not know that he had ever seen them before, but when he looks on them through his spiritual eyes, he sees they are honest men and worthy to be his chosen friends. He simply says unto them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." I do not believe they knew what Jesus meant by Jesus Begins His Work 305 making them fishers of men, but they were willing to obey him, and left their work to follow him. Only two words, "Follow me." The first command Jesus gave in his new life. 0, what mighty words, when they are carried out; that command, simple as it is, has rung on through the world over nineteen hundred years and is still ringing out to-day, with the same power as when Jesus spoke it to Peter and Andrew, Jesus walked on a little farther and saw James and John, and they immediately left the ship and followed him. Then he called Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon and Judas. And Judas was a traitor. Why did Jesus choose his twelve disciples? He chose them to be his witnesses, his pupils, they were to be learners of Jesus, but they were also to be his friends and companions through all his earthly life, and they were to prepare, under his teachings, to take up his work when he had finished. When Jesus had called all his disciples to him he took them with him through all Galilee, teaching and preaching the Gospel, and healing every kind of sickness, and every kind of disease among the people. And his fame^went^throughout all Syria. The things Jesus was doing were told through all the country, and they brought to him all the sick, and those that had a complication of diseases. O, Lord, if the people only had enough light to 306 The Spirit Father know thee as their healer now, how many bruised and broken hearts would be soothed and healed. He healed all they brought to him, he did not send one away. Those people simply believed he would do all that the Father sent him to do, they came to him expecting to be healed and he did heal them. There came and followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, from Judea and beyond Jordan. When Jesus looked around at them he thought now was the time to preach his great sermon. He saw the grand opportunity when he had so many different peo- ple around him; for when there are large crowds, there are many different characters and nationalities among them. Then Jesus went up into a mountain and took his disciples with him, and there he preached his great ser- mon to all the world, and to all generations. CHAPTER XXXIV. JESUS' SERMON ON THE MOUNT. We will stand among the crowd around the mount and look on the face of Jesus as he preaches his great sermon. No doubt he has preached many other ser- mons, for he has been preaching, teaching, healing and casting out devils throughout all the country until he has gathered around him this great multitude. This is the first and only sermon of Christ's recorded in all his earthly mission; but it is a sermon if once understood will never be forgotten. For Christ's whole mission as the Great Teacher, and his dealing with all kinds of characters, his showing forth the Father's will, his love and care for his children is all clear before us. We often hear the remark passed from one to another after hearing some great speaker: "What did you think of him?" Maybe the answer will be: "Well, he handled his subject in a masterly manner." That is just what Jesus did with his Ser- mon on the Mount, he handled it in a masterly man- ner ; for he understood what he was talking about, and the people he was talking to. We need not take up all the sermon, for anyone can read it in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Mat- thew; but we will review a few verses and give the light on them that God has shown us, it may help you 307 308 The Spirit Father to find out more for yourself ; for that is the prayer of the author, that every one will search the Scriptures, and find the way to eternal life. We do not want any one to lose the eternal inheri- tance of their soul's salvation, for Christ paid the ran- som, with his life, on the cross, to show the way of sal- vation to every human creature for their spirit, soul and body. All must be redeemed out of the power of Satan, and how can we do that if we do not know the way, and how can we know it if we do not find it? We will try to help you by giving the light we have on a few verses of Christ's sermon: but do not trust to what I say, or any one else says, without searching for your- self. Jesus opened his sermon \vith the words: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He did not say poor in pocket, or poor in body, but "poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." God our father ^vill have nothing to do ^^^th the proud, haughty, arrogant spirit. The child of God must be submissive and humble to the father's will. He says: "Blessed arc they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." He does not say hunger and thirst after bread, nor after drink, nor after the pleasures of the world; but they that hunger after righteousness shall be filled. That is the reason so many go hungry; they do not hunger after the right thing; and "Blessed are those that are merciful to their fellow-creatures, God ■will be merciful to them." Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 309 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." All sinners can see Christ, but only the pure in heart can see God, and the pure in heart can hold communion from earth with their God and father just as well as they can with their earthly father. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God," And blessed are God's children when evil men revile them and persecute them and say all manner of evil against them falsely for doing the work of Christ. And he told them that all the works they were to do must be done for the glory of God, that he had not come to destroy the law of God, but to fulfill it, not one point of the law would be passed over; heaven and earth would pass away before one word of God's law would be done away with ; for every law of God must be fulfilled. This teaching of Jesus on the fulfilling of God's law I do not think is clearly understood by many. Jesus did not mean that he had come to fulfill the old Bible law, for that was the law of Moses. The law that Christ was to fulfill was the spiritual law, the law of God that was broken when Adam fell. The spiritual law and spiritual covenant both were laid aside, and were not in force through all the time of the Mosaic law. But when the new covenant was made the spiritual law, the law of God, came in force. And that was the law Christ came to fulfill. There was nothing brought over from the old cove- nant law but the ten commandments of God, and Christ covered the whole ten by giving the eleventh 310 The Spirit Father commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." He was referring to the natural and spiritual man in one body — the two brothers, they were to love one another, and the one was to die for the other. He laid down his human life for his spiritual life and he wishes us to do the same. Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery;' but I say unto you, that who- soever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Remember, Jesus is speaking to the whole human race, married and single; he is not giving one com- mand for the married, and another for the single; all men are brought under the same class. Under the law of Moses the crime had to be committed before it was counted sin. But under the new covenant law the desire of the heart is counted sin before God just as much as if the act was committed and will be punished by God although it is not punishable by the laws of our country. Jesus said: "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee," for it would be better to have no eye than that the whole body should be cast into hell. What lesson do we get from this part of his sermon? That it is by the members of our human body that Satan uses us in his service, he may only use one member at a time, but that will be the means of drawing our whole body into his service. He may take our eyes and make us look on things that are impure, then our hearts hanker after the impure things we Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 311 have looked upon, or it may be our ears he will use,— to hear the impure things, or our hands to steal; or our feet to lead us into bad company, or to places where we ought not to go. This is the way Satan uses his power over us. He does his work so cunningly, with such skill and artfulness, to blind men and women, so he can keep his hold over them. He takes one member of our body at a time, and draws us in by degrees until he has the whole body under his control, then he can use them for some of his most fiendish crimes. So Jesus was simply telling them that it would be better for them to pluck out an eye and cast it away; and cut off hands, feet and ears rather than let the devil have them for his own use. God our father will take us back without hands feet, ears, or eyes, if we only ask his forgiveness, and live for him until it is time to take us home, because it is not our human body that goes to the father's home, but our spiritual body, to live there with all the redeemed in Christ, until the father's time is fulfilled, and he sends Christ back to earth, and all his children with him, then the spirits will be clothed again in their human garments so that our hands and feet will be perfect and our bodies immortal ; we will never again taste of death, for God said when Jesus conquered Satan, he conquered death. And every one now who conquers Satan and goes back to God in true repentance, obeying his command- ments, and beginning with the first command Jesus gave: Repent, and follow on as Jesus did in perfect obedience to the father, though that obedience cost 312 The Spirit Father you your life, you have to put on your immortal body here, they may bury your human body in the grave, but they cannot destroy the immortal seed in that body. The seed is buried with the body, and will lie in the ground until, by the power of God, that body will spring up, when the grave and the sea will deliver up their dead. Dear reader, do you understand what the word of the power of God means? Find it out, whoever you may be, search his word till you find his power, then you will know that the body will come forth at his command. If your body is buried a redeemed body it comes forth a redeemed body, and Christ will be there to claim it, it will be a celestial body, and will bear the image and all the perfection of the heavenly child of God, the image of Christ, pure, holy, and heavenly. We will dwell on earth, but will be forever children of God. Satan's power can never touch that body more. We are the children of God, under the reign of Christ our King. But what if your body should be buried an unredeemed body and the seed an unredeemed seed; then you will rise up at God's command, an unredeemed body, and who will be there to claim it? Not Christ, for he will claim nothing but what belongs to him by redemption. Let us understand right here what this word redemp- tion means to man. Why is Christ called our Redeem- er? When Satan took possession of the human body of Adam, God said he would destroy Satan's power over the human flesh, and when the battle took place Christ conquered Satan, he won the battle, so it was put Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 313 into the power of every human creature from that hour to free themselves from the power of Satan, by obedience to God. Jesus' work from that hour was simply to show man the way to redeem himself, and by so doing his life ended on the cross. After we are redeemed in what way were we to belong to Jesus, what power would he hold over us? No power whatever except the power of love, we are to be brothers and sisters, heirs with him to the father's kingdom. All the power Jesus wanted over any one was to get their love and obedience to his father, our father. And to love hiir as our brother who had freely given his human life in the bloom of his young manhood, that he might bring a reconciliation between the father and his children. All he asks of us is that we believe on him, and love him for what he has done for us. O, Jesus, how little you ask, and how unwilling we are to give it to you. And tens of thousands, for whom you died to save, never think of you; and many that are crying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," have not a spark of love for you in their hearts; for they are worshipers of Baal instead of the true God; and they do not know thee, thou beloved of the father. We said, dear reader, if your body arose on the judgment day, an unredeemed body, (that is, if you have died unsaved, if you have never gone to God in true repentance, and received your father's forgiveness and your new birth, for you must be born again before you are one of the redeemed,) Christ cannot claim 314 The Spirit Father it although he would like to; for it belongs to Satan. Jesus will be there to claim his own. The unredeemed body will be a terrestrial body; that is, of the earth, earthy. Let us see just what the difference is between the celestial and terrestrial body. The spiritual child that lives in the celestial body rules the body, and they both live together here a spiritual life, they live for heavenly things instead of the things of the world; they are in the world, but not of the world. In the terrestrial the body rules the spirit, or rather the spirit is asleep; for there is no spiritual life in the body to keep it awake ; for all the terrestrial cares for is the world, all things earthly is their life. Then we find some who want a little of the things of heaven and a good many of the things of earth ; but that doesn't do for God's children. It may do for the children of Satan, for he is a thief and likes his people to steal all they can from God. But that is not God's way, he is just and honest and his children must be honest. Let us look for a moment at God's just dealings with his children, even with the very worst, and that is Satan. Let us imagine that you and I stand before God's throne at the last great day with the multitudes that will stand there, for without a doubt we will be gathered together, and each will have to answer to his name when the books are opened and the roll called. Not one \\nX\ be missing, all will be there, those who have lain in the grave for centuries; those who have been buried in the depths of the sea; all from the bottomless Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 315 pit; Satan himself. And our beloved Jesus, with all the angels and hosts of heaven. As we stand there we see the redeemed and the unredeemed, and beside the father are two of his sons, one on the right and the other on the left. As we look at them closely we are startled, for the one on the right is Jesus, and the one on the left is Satan. We wonder what they are doing there; espe- cially Satan. We cannot understand what business he can have there beside the father. Well, let me tell you what right he has there; he is there to receive his inheritance, and that is the last time he will be allowed by the father to mix with the children of God. The father had prepared a place for him and his followers ages ago, for our father cannot bear to have any of his creatures without a place to dwell in, no matter how bad or wicked they may be. So he prepared the place that was to be Satan's inheritance — its name hell — and Satan has to dwell there, unless he repents before the judgment. You know Satan is the son of a king, therefore a prince in his own right; so he will have both his kingdom and his scepter. Hell will be his kingdom and there he will rule as king, but he will have his subjects, and all his belongings with him. He has been called to his father's side to claim his own, and the father is too just to keep anything from him that is his by right. As we look we see the two books are opened, one holds the names of the redeemed, the other the names of the unredeemed; and as the names are called from 316 The Spirit Father the book of the redeemed, Jesus steps forward and claims them one by one as his own. Then, as we listen, we hear the names of the un- redeemed called, and Satan steps forward and claims them, they are passed to him until the last one is handed over. Then he is ready to march off to his kingdom, but we hear the father say, wait a minute, until they get their garments changed, for they are not in the proper garments for Satan's kingdom, none ever go there bearing the image of the Christ, the spiritual man, in all his human perfection. So God steps forward, and by the word of his power, in the twinkling of an eye every garment is changed; but not all garments alike, some one kind and some another. 0, what garments, too heinous for human tongue to tell, or pen to write; (for all will be revealed in God's own time,) but every one bearing the mark of the beast. Now let us look at those Christ has claimed ; they are, every one, in their own garments, made pure and holy, all bearing the image of Christ in their human garments — the perfect man. And of God the father in their spiritual purity. And every one knowing each other as they do now. Many say God is cruel to send his children to hell with the devil, we say no, he was just, they belonged to the devil and he had a perfect right to what belonged to him. He had worked long and hard to get them, and they had all the ofifer to leave Satan and come back to the father and they would not. So God was only giving to Satan what he had promised Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 317 him, and the father never breaks his word, what he says once is said for all time. Do we wonder that the heart of the father is so sorrowful, seeing so many of his children going of? with Satan? If we understood the mysteries of human life, from the spiritual life, we would understand many of the mysteries of God that are not revealed to sight, but the time is coming when God's mysteries will be mysteries no more, for God's word says so. And we believe the time is here when some of God's mysteries will be revealed to those whom God finds worthy, but only for God's own use and purposes and to help them in the work God calls them to do. Man will never have the secrets of God revealed to him for his own use. Dear reader, you may be one who believes God is too good and just to send any of his children into everlasting punishment, but it is his goodness and justice, and the love he has for his children, that makes him send Satan and all that belongs to him away to the place prepared for him and them. Let me have a little talk with you before we go any farther. You ask me, when God our father has such power could he not save all his children from Satan? Of course, if they had obeyed him, every one who obeys him will be saved, but he cannot save those who will not obey him. So it is not God's fault; he is not to blame if we go to hell. Hell was only prepared for the disobedient, and every one of us will be saved 318 The Spirit Father and taken out of the devil's hands if we will only obey. That was what God sent Jesus to tell us, that every child of God's, good or bad, he did not send Jesus to choose one here and one there, but to every human creature, the message was to every one alike and to whomsoever was willing to hear and obey. Now, dear reader, that message is for you, have you obeyed it? If you have then you are safe, your father is able to keep all that go to him, but if you are one who has never heard it, or if you have heard it, you thought perhaps it was not meant for you. But you have heard it now for I will tell it to you, and if you have not obeyed God and gone back to him, go now; do not delay another day or hour; whatever excuse you may have had before, that you have not heard or understood the message of Christ, you can never take that excuse to God from this hour. But if you are still unwilling to be obedient, and are content to live for and with Satan, you will surely find no fault with your father when the day comes, that he must divide the good from the bad, and he has set an appointed day to do it, but no man knows when that day will come, not even Christ or Satan, but they both know that day will come. What a glorious day that will be for the redeemed, they will never more have to mix up with those who defile and despoil this fair earth. There will be no more mingling with men and women, cursing, stealing, lying, cheating, living lives of defilement, hidden from the world, much of it, but all open before God. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 319 No more clubrooms and lodgerooms, where men and women go to shut up their acts from the world, they cannot hide them from the all-seeing God. All things that are right, pure, good and holy, need no hiding. The lives of God's children must be open, and shine as a light in the world. Dear reader, what will be the difference in living for the devil now, and living for him after the judgment? If we are wiling to serve him to the best of our ability here, why should we not be quite willing to go with him to his own kingdom and serve him there? Satan knows he has got to go when the day comes, and he knows well what that kingdom will be, and why should he not expect all those he has helped to have a good time in this world, for he is helping his own to the best of his ability, and he has great power to help in all worldly things. But what will be the difference when he has to give up his rule in this world and get into his own domain? 0, there will be a vast difference and the first is, they will have to change their garments; then, they will not be as they are now, mingling with God's children, they will have no neighbors or friends to speak to, among the good people, like many of the devil's people have now. If we should take a town or city and fill it with nothing but wicked people and leave them there, their lives would soon become unbearable and they would soon get out of it. That will be all the company they will have who go to Satan's kingdom; they will not need to take any 320 The Spirit Father of their money with them, that will be left on earth for it belongs by right to the children of God. The Devil and many of his people are making use of it now. God will take full possession of it all when he takes possession of all on earth. There \vill be no change for them, always the same, every one will have to make the best of their condition for they can never make any change. God will provide food for them, even in hell he will not let any of his creatures suffer for the necessaries of life; but their food will be the food of the prodigal son, the husks, though they will not have the privilege of the prodigal son to return to the father when_they are tired of the husks. For those who are sent to hell at the judgment day will have to spend their everlasting life there. They would not accept a change when they had the opportunity — for none will be sent there but those who have had the opportunity of their salvation and refused it. That will be a part of their torment, those who have been used to the most dainty food will revolt over eating the husks, but the woi-st of all will be the fiendish laugh of Satan when they go to him to com- plain about their food, and the way they are treated. He will laugh in their faces and say, "My dear brothers and sisters, I gave you all the pleasure and good things of the world as long as it was in my power. I gave you plenty of money, plenty of good food, the best the world provides, plenty of wine and champagne, plenty of whiskey, tobacco and cigars of the finest, balls, parties, theaters, and debauchery of every kind Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 321 to your heart's content. As long as I had the power I gave everything to you, when thousands of God's good children, hard working, poor people, had scarcely enough to eat, but they would rather belong to God and trust him, they knew the time would come when they would be better off. So that time has come when God the father has taken everything from me, and shut me up here along with you, I cannot give you what I have not got, go and eat your husks, and do not trouble me; or if that does not suit you, get out of here if you can; and every word he speaks is garnished with an oath and one of his fiendish laughs. But they have come there of their own free will, and there they -have to abide forever — their doom is sealed." Dear reader, ask yourself, are you one of the re- deemed? Just let me say a few words to you here to give you a thought that may be of use to you. When we hear people speaking of the love and mercy of God, and that he could never be so cruel as -the Bible says, for no father could have the heart to do it. It is not the spirit child of God that suffers, it is the human child of man, it is in our flesh and con- science we will suffer, not in our spirit. The spirit will have no suffering, it will be through the conscience, — the self-knowledge we have of the condition we are in, and that we have no one to blame but ourselves. They will see many around them that -they will try to blame for helping to bring them there. Men will see men who have sold them drink until they have lost all their manhood and become brutes in their habits of life. Women will see their seducers 322 The Spirit Father and evil companions in the sinful life they lived. Others will see those who have told them lies, and led them blindly away from God, and all sorts who have led sinful lives, but they will be beyond remedy they will have no redress for their wrongs, unless they fight among themselves. O, God! how many will be there for the murder of their own offspring, and whatever they may have thought of their crime while on this earth, they will know then that they are condemned for their own child's murder. Murder will be the cry of their con- science, and many will see the very doctors that helped them to commit their crimes. O, God, give light and understanding to the people that do not seem to understand what they are doing. They are sowing but they do not know what they are going to reap. No one who commits the crime, or any doctor who helps to destroy the human seed or offspring, but tries to hide it from the world, and if it needs hiding they know it is sin, therefore, no one can plead any excuse before God of being ignorant. Jesus now speaks to them of alms-giving. He told them if they would give alms, that is giving to the poor or any good work, if it was done merely for the sake of the gift, to have their names before the public, and their charities sounded abroad, they would have no reward from God. All we give must be given for the love of God and for the love of those we are helping. Some people give thousands to build churches, homes and colleges, for the love of making people Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 323 sound their praises. Jesus compares such people to the hypocrites loving the praises of men more than the praises of God. O, how Jesus despised the hypocrites! The poor sinners he loved and pitied ; but the hypocrites he could not tolerate. Pretenders, professing before the world what they were not living before God. There is nothing in all his teachings that he warns us so against as the life of a hypocrite; for a hypocrite is more displeasing and sinful in the eyes of God than an open offender. Then he told them not to pray as the hypocrites, for they love to stand up in the churches making long prayers before men; but it is only the men who hear them, God pays no attention to their prayers, that is the reason they are never answered. God never answers the prayer of a hypocrite, but he soon answers the prayer of a true sinner, if they have a true desire to repent and obey. Then he tells them they are not to go around with long faces and fast before the people for the sake of keeping fast days and ceremonies. Going without food for days, — for people to think that is what is meant by fasting in the Bible, or that such things are pleasing to God, is more than I can understand. There are times when every child of God fasts as Jesus did, when their hearts are too full of sorrow to eat even the necessaries of life. But the fasting God wants us to do is to fast from evil and wicked pleasures of the world, and from unclean meats. He tells them if their righteousness does 324 The Spirit Father not exceed the righteousness of the hypocrite they cannot get into heaven. No shams can get in there, they may get into our churches, but they cannot get into heaven. He tells the hypocrite to pull the mote out of his own eye, and he would see better to take the mote out of his brother's. He was to change his own life, then he would know better how to help his brother change his. We have to be true to ourselves before we can teach others. He then tells them they have to ask for what they want from God their father, and if they will obey and believe, their father will give them all they need for spirit, soul, and body, for God's children must have their spirit fed as well as their body. He tells them to beware of which road they take, there are only two roads, one leads to heaven, and the other to hell, but Jesus faithfully warns them, and shows the difference between the two roads. One, he says, is straight and narrow, and we have to seek around till we find it, then go straight along till we come to the gate; we may have many a struggle before we reach it, but if we keep straight, and knock at the gate, the glorious vision that will meet our sight when the gate is opened ^\^ll repay us for all our trials and struggles here. The first sight we see will be Christ standing at the gate to welcome us home. He says of the other way, "Broad is the road, and wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction." There is plenty of room on that road without crowd- Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 325 ing any one, but when they reach the gate and knock they will see strange sights behind that gate, but we will leave it to the reader's imagination. He also plainly says, we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve both God and Satan, we must either belong to the one or the other. Then he shows his father's care for all his creatures by telling them how he provides food and water for the fowls of the air; and why should his children be afraid to trust him, are not his children more to him than the birds? He compares man to a tree and says no tree can bring forth good and evil, he means no one can be both good and bad, we must be either the one or the other. He tells them to look at the very lilies of the field, man does not even sow the seed, yet they grow in all their splendor and he sends the rain, and sun, and dew from heaven to make them grow, and clothe the field in royal splendor; for he says, "Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." And when God can so clothe the fields shall not he much more clothe his children. He closed his sermon by saying, "0, ye of little faith, seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all else shall be added unto you." And not every one that cries, "Lord, Lord," or prays "Lord, Lord," will get into heaven, only those that obey and do the will of the father. Many will go about teaching and preaching, pro- fessing they are doing the works of God, and will cry unto Jesus to let them into heaven, but he will say unto them that he does not know them, and tell them 326 The Spirit Father to depart from him for they were workers of iniquity, hypocrites going about preaching one thing and living another. He says, "he that heareth what has been said, and doeth it, is a wise man; but he who doeth not these things is a foolish man." When he had ended his sermon the people were astonished at all the 'things he had taught them, and he had done it as one having authority. (5HAPTER XXXV. JESUS COMETH DOWN FROM THE MOUNT. When Jesus had finished his sermon he came down from the mountain; great multitudes followed him, and he began his work again among the sick, diseased and dying. That was a part of his commission from the father. God our Father was the healer of his peo- ple from all ages, and when he anointed Jesus with his own power he gave him the power to heal all that would go to him. We are not told of a great many of Christ's miracles, of his work or teachings, but enough for God's purpose; for we are told if all Christ said and did were written, no books could be found to contain it. (Christ is speaking and writing every day through some of his people.) The first that came to him was a leper worshiping him, and saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." What do we see in the act of the leper coming to Jesus? The leper had heard Jesus preaching, and telling what his father had sent him to do for them, and he was there to do it if they would only do as he told them: "Repent and believe that God had sent him," He would do everything for them he had promise 327 328 The Spirit Father in the father's name if they would fulfill the father's conditions. What are those conditions? Repent and obey, believe and have faith, and every promise of God the Father will be fulfilled. The leper shows by coming that he belie\'ed Jesus could make him clean and whole, for he said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, and Jesus did not hesitate a moment; he knew the man had fulfilled the conditions of the promise; and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be thou clean." And immediately he was cleaned. The next to come to him is a centurion asking him to come and see his servant who was at home sick. Jesus said, "I will come and heal him." The centurion knew whom he was speaking to for the answer he made to Jesus shows us that he understood Jesus' power. He said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Do we understand what the centurion meant when he told Jesus if he would speak the word his servant would be healed? The centurion believed Jesus was there with the power and authority of God on him, and that if he would only speak the word, the work of healing could be done just as well without his presence as with it. Now this is just what all God's children and all those that are seeking cleansing and healing for spirit, soul, and body, have to be brought to clearly under- stand and believe as the centurion did. That it does not need Jesus to be with us in his bodily presence, Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 329 either to receive salvation or healing. Although he is in heaven his word and power is just as sufficient for every need of the human race as when he walked on earth in his human body. For it was not the human body of Jesus that was doing the works, or speaking the words; it was the spirit power of God upon him, and he still holds that power and authority, and will hold it until the father's time is fulfilled. And just as God delegated the power and authority to Jesus as his son and instrument in the human flesh, so has Jesus the power and authority to delegate power to any other faithful son of God. Whenever God requires a human instrument for any spiceal world-wide work, then that man will be able to do the portion of the work he has been prepared for and sent to do. He will do it with spiritual power and his work will show it is the work of God. But all must be done under and according to the teachings of Christ. Then another will be called and prepared for another portion, according to the father's will. One special instrument will follow another, until the fullness of God's work is accomplished, but it is far from its fullness as yet. We must have the apostles and their power made manifest on earth before the fullness of the Gospel can be taught. Christ said greater things than he had done would yet be done by God through man. Many may be called to give up their life as Christ did, but none for the same purpose; Christ's death brought reconciliation between the father and his children, and brought liberation to the disobedient 330 The Spirit Father spirits that were held in bondage from the time of Noe. And opened the way of salvation to all the human race. Christ did that once for all, when he finished his mission as the messenger of the new cove- nant and gave up his life on the cross, he sealed the testament with his own blood. No one else can ever take Christ's place in the father's work, all Christ's work was done under the old covenant law, for the new covenant law did not come in force until after Christ rose from the grave. Then all the commands and teachings given to his apostles in the forty days he was with them was given under the new covenant law, the spiritual law. When he opened their understanding before he left them, they then understood the difference between the natural and spiritual law. They had been born and brought up under the old covenant, under the natural law, and under permission to live their animal life. When we read the teachings of Paul, we soon know he fully understood the change that had to take place in their way of living. Paul knew that under the spiritual law, those that had wives must hve as if they had no wives; they must keep the marriage bed undefiled. And he fully understood Jesus' teaching that after the resurrection of their spiritual life, they must live as the angels in heaven. We must have men that understand how to live that life, before we can ever have the apostles' power revived, but that will come. Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 331 God is preparing his instruments somewhere in the world, for the work that has to be done. Many refer to Peter as having a wife and he was an apostle, but those people do not seem to understand that Peter and all the other apostles lived, and married if they had any wives, under the old covenant law. And they might have had more than one wife, but there is no mention of any of the apostles having wives with them through any of their work. Under their apostleship they may have had their wives or helpmates, but I believe from the time Christ opened their understanding, under the new covenant, they lived the life of celibacy. I believe God created man and woman for each other, the man to be the provider and caretaker of the woman, and the woman to be the helpmate and caretaker of his home, and his companion through life. And if man had obeyed God, God would have sent them whatever of his flock he had for them to take care of, in his own way, but that way was not by the defilement of their bodies. Under the laws of civilization they must go through a public marriage ceremony. God's true children must be brought to that state before the power of Satan will be broken on earth. Some may say the world would soon be depleted. Oh, no, although not one redeemed child of God's on earth brought into the world one human garment, God would find plenty of garments from among the children of Satan to work out his plan on earth, and the sooner the children of God are brought to see their 332 The Spirit Father need of a true consecration of their spirit, soul, and body to God, the better it will be for God's work, for the flesh that is truly consecrated to God should never more go under the power of defilement. Many may not understand the full teachings under the new cove- nant, but if they live up to what they understand, and keep asking God to give them spiritual light and wisdom; and search the Bible with earnest prayer; God will give them spiritual light, and he will open their spiritual understanding, then they will be brought to fully understand what kind of a life man was to live under the new covenant law. But that covenant had to be signed by man as well as by God. The man or woman that was born under the old covenant law, and was living on earth when John went out with God's command — for all to gather at the River Jordan, — when John had them all gathered there, all those that were willing to enter into the new covenant God was going to make with man were to go into the river to be baptized by John. They were, by so doing, symbolizing their willingness to the death of the old law, and the resurrection again of the spiritual law over them. The water stood as the seal of their covenant with God, but all did not sign the covenant with God at that time, or there would have been none to crucify Christ. It was those that would not sign the spiritual covenant with God, that were the cruci- fiers of Jesus. They wanted to remain in the service of Baal, — and there their offspring are to this day; for we read in the seventh chapter of Luke, thirtieth and thirty-first verses, that the Pharisees and lawyers Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 333 rejected the counsel of God, and would not be baptized of John, And the Lord said, where unto shall I 'liken the men of this generation, and what are they to be compared to? Then he says, they are like a pack of foolish children that do not know what they are refusing. The people of this generation are just as foolish and blind that do not sign their covenant with God in baptism, for all that do not sign the baptism covenant with God have no right to ask for or expect the blessings promised. To those that seal their covenant, the first bless- ing promised under the new covenant seal is the quickening of the sleeping or slumbering spirit, the beginning of the new birth. There are tens of thousands of good Christian people in the world that have never had their spirit touched by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, therefore they are only good people humanly speaking; they have no spiritual life or spiritual power. That is the reason there is so little spiritual power in so many churches, they have not entered into the spiritual covenant with God, in God's way. Man may think any way will do, but in this matter no way will do but God's way. And there is no one left in darkness as to God's way, for the same Book that tells the sinner of salvation, tells him how that salvation is to be found. And the only thing that is keeping all the children of God from obeying Christ's commands is the con- troversies between Theologians, and their difference on the modes of baptism and the ordinances and 334 The Spirit Father ceremonies in the different denominations. May God soon send spiritual light into their darkened hearts. Then Jesus and his disciples went into a ship to go across to another part of the country, and Jesus lay down and slept. A great tempest arose, and the waves swept over the ship, so they were afraid and awakened Jesus. He arose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and in a moment all was calm. Then he turned to them that were with him and said, "Why are you fearful, ye of little faith?" He meant could they not trust God to take care of them. They wondered what kind of a man he could be, when even the wind and the sea obeyed him. His disciples did not understand from whence came the power of Jesus, they did not realize what the power of God, vested on man, meant at that time. But they knew after they had been vested with the spiritual power for their apostleship work, for their spiritual understanding had been opened. That happened after Christ rose from the grave and the new covenant law was then in force. Now here we have another lesson: The majority of people believe that God sends all the storms on sea and land, and creates all the disasters that we see and read about, when it is Satan that is doing it all. Let us look at what Jesus had done: When Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, and that great tempest was calmed, can we believe that if God had sent that storm that was about to engulf the ship, Jesus would have stood up and rebuked the command of God? Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 335 He was not sent to destroy the work of God, but the works of Satan. And the devil is the prince of the power of the air and sea, and the prince and king of all things earthly in his present regency, but he holds his regency by usurpation, and will hold it until the father's time is fulfilled, then will come our rightful prince and king and take power of all his rightful possessions. When he had come to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two men possessed with devils. They were very fierce, and determined that no man should pass that way. That is what Satan is doing, with all the devils under his control, using them to keep men from passing into the right way, that is their work, and those two men are spoken of as an illustration showing how quickly Jesus can clear the way, and send the devils where they belong. When they saw Jesus coming, they cried, "Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Here is another great lesson. Although the scribes and Pharisees did not know Jesus to be the Son of God, sent to do the father's work, the devils knew him. Old Satan may blind thousands as he did the Jews, but he cannot blind the devils, for the spirits within them knew they had disobeyed their God and Father, and that their punishment awaited them ; but they did not know at what hour it would come. They thought Jesus had come to torment them. They had taken up their abode in the men as Satan's instru- ments, and they knew Jesus had come to destroy all 336 The Spirit Father the works of Satan. So the devils asked Jesus, if he was going to cast them out, to let them go into the herd of swine that was feeding near by; and Jesus granted their request and commanded them to go, and as soon as they were in the swine the whole herd ran into the sea. The swine perished, but the devils went right down to the bottomless pit, that is where the swine carried them, into hell, the bottom of the sea. And when the storms arise, it is the devils below that are doing the work. When the people saw what Jesus had done they fled into the city, telling every one what they had seen; and the whole city came out to meet Jesus and ask him to depart from their coast. The swine herders thought they had had enough of him, and Satan thought he had let him alone long enough. He had let Jesus go on with his work quietly for a time, waiting till Jesus would do something to anger the people. So when Jesus destroyed the swine, that was Satan's chance to begin his persecution of Jesus. He did not go to meet Jesus face to face as his persecutor. For Jesus had conquered him in the face to face battle, and he knew he would have to do his work in some other way. Satan never does his work openly, he does it indirectly through all those whom he has in his evil power. He had the scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites all ready for his work; he was determined to destroy Jesus and his work if it was in his power to do so. When Jesus told the sick after he had healed them, Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 337 to go and sin no more, and to be of good cheer, all their past sins were forgiven, the Scribes began to say among themselves that Jesus was a blasphemer. But Jesus knew what they were thinking, and told them not to think evil of him in their hearts, for he had come with the power to forgive them their sins, if they were willing to be forgiven on the father's conditions. No fear but Jesus kept the father's con- ditions in front of all he did, for the conditions had to be fulfilled then just the same as now. We do our part and God the Father will do his. Jesus and his disciples went into a house— we think it must have been an inn, or what we would call a hotel, for they were traveling all over the country, and they had to eat, like other travelers, wherever they could find a place to supply their wants, unless they had friends in the place ; for we are told that Jesus sometimes took his meals at the home of a friend. This time Jesus must have gone to an inn, for when he sat down to eat, many pubhcans and sinners came and sat down to eat with him and his disciples. We all know that at a hotel any one can come in and sit down wherever they please. I believe that was just the kind of house Jesus was in that day, and that he went there purposely to do a part of his work, he knew all kinds of people met there at meal time, and he would have a good opportunity to deliver his message to all kinds of people at once. When the Pharisees saw Jesus among the people, they came to his disciples and said, "Why eateth yoiu" master with the publicans and sinners?" 338 The Spirit Father They thought, as Jesus was a good man and a preacher, he should do as they did, roll the mantle of self-righteousness around him, and keep as far away from such people as possible. O, how many, many good Pharisees have we in these days, who gather their skirts around them for fear they will come in contact with a fallen brother or sister. But Jesus heard them and answered, "They that are whole need no physician, only they that are sick." He knew they did not understand him although they called themselves the learned people of the land. He told them to go and learn what he meant, and he would have mercy on them, as they did not know, but he expected them to learn. Jesus told them he had not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, but he meant thej' should learn that they were sinners. I wish that multitudes of our good learned scribes and Pharisees of these days would learn they are sinners, and repent before they do more harm to themselves and others who believe in them, and are following their example. Jesus then spoke to them of putting new cloth into an old garment, he said, "No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for the new piece would only take away from the old garment, and the rent be made worse." Then he said, "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and the \Aine runs out." Dear reader, perhaps you may be as I was in the Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 339 years gone by. I would think that a strange thing to be in the Bible. I could not understand what it could mean, for I have put many a good piece of cloth into my old garments, and mended them up very nicely, and had gotten good wear out of them after- wards. I had often used old bottles to put my wine in, and the bottles stood all right. So I did not know what to make out of that part of the teaching. But when I came to understand that Jesus was simply referring to our human bodys as the garments and bottles, then I could fully understand the meaning. We cannot have a part of our old life, and a part of the new, the new life will rend the old life to pieces; and the new wine is the spiritual life quickened in us, and it bursts our old dead life all to pieces. And while he was talking, a ruler came and wor- shiped him. All those who came to make any request of him acknowledged him to be the Christ by worshipping him before they asked for what they wanted. The ruler came to tell Jesus that his daughter was dead and he said: If Jesus would but lay his hand upon her she would live again. Was not that faith? O, fathers, have faith for your children, for what Jesus could then do he can do now. (This lesson is typical of spiritual death and spiritual life). While on his way to the ruler's house a woman saw him, who had been diseased for twelve years, and she 340 The Spirit Father felt if she could only touch his garments she would be made whole; so she got up close behind him, and only touched the hem, but Jesus knew some one had touched him in faith for he felt the healing virtue flow from him, and turning round he saw her and said, "Daugh- ter be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole." You see Jesus did not say that he had made her whole, but that her faith had made her whole. Then two blind men followed him crying, "Thou son of David have mercy on us." And Jesus asked them if they believed he was able to restore their sight and they said. Yea, Lord! Then he touched their eyes and said according to your faith be it unto you, and their eyes were opened. We see plainly from Jesus words to all he healed that it was not according to the power that Christ had to heal, but according to the faith they had to receive the healing. As it was then, so it is now Jesus is the same and his work is the same. According to our faith so will it be unto us. We must have obedience and faith for our salvation as well as for our healing but I believe God grants many bodily healings on the prayers and faith of others, and especially where people are not fully enlightened in the teachings, but are believing as far as they know. I believe God's time is coming when the Gospel in all its fullness must be preached and taught to every nation in the universe. Every child of God good or bad must have the mes- sage carried to them, that Jesus is the same to-day in power, as when he preached the message from his own Jesus Cometh Down from the Mount 341 lips. The same Savior, the same Healer, the same Cleanser, the same Keeper, the same Helper, the same Friend, the same Son of God our Father, the same Elder Brother, the same yesterday, to-day and forever. CHAPTER XXXVI. JESUS REPROVETH THE SCRIBES, PHARISEES AND HYPOCRITES. We often hear the remark, "the gentle meek Jesus, let us learn to be like him." Jesus was meek in spirit before his father; and gentle, loving and kind with every sinner, when they knew they were sinners and were willing to be taught. But when he had dealings with those who called themselves the righteous and the great before the world, — but in God's sight var- nished sinners, — he did not use any gentle words when he spoke to them. One Sabbath Jesus and his disciples were passing through a field of corn, they were hungry and plucked some of the corn and ate it; and some of the Pharisees saw them and found fault with Jesus, for letting his disciples do what they thought was not lawful on the Sabbath. Jesus must have shown them the difference between the old and new covenants: In the old covenant they were called to keep one day in the seven as the Sabbath of the Lord; in the new covenant we are to keep seven Sabbaths in the week; a true child of God cannot love or obey God any better on the seventh, than they can in all the other six. They were so enraged with him for reproving them that they held a council among themselves to devise 342 Jesus Reproveth the Scribes 343 ways and means to destroy him. But Jesus knew what they were about, and denounced them saying, "Woe unto the Scribes, Pharisees and Hypocrites ; they do all their works to please men." Woe unto them for they shut up the kingdom of heaven against men by leading them away from God; they can not go in themselves and they do not wish onyone else to get in. Woe unto them for they make long prayers for a pretense; therefore, for their hypoc- risy they shall receive the greater danmation; and they would compass sea and land to make one convert, and when he is converted they make him more a child of hell than a child of God — that is the meaning of what Jesus said to the scribes and hypocrites. He tells them they dress and clean up the outside while the inside is full of evil and intemperance, and tells them to clean up the inside first then the outside will be easily cleaned. He said they were like whited sepulchers, they appeared beautiful outwardly, but within they were unclean and full of iniquity, and he finished up by calling them serpents and a generation of vipers and asked them how they expected to escape the damnation of hell. That does not look like he was the meek gentle Jesus so many tell people to take a pattern by. But after he had denounced them in the strongest language at his command, he looked at them in love and compassion saying, "How often would I have gathered thee together and taken thee back to the father's love and care, as a hen gathers her chick- ens under her wings; but ye would not have me, nor barken unto me." 344 The Spirit Father Then when he found them in the temple selling merchandise, he made a scourge of cords, and drove them out, overturning their tables, and told them to take their things out and not make his Fathers' house, a house of merchandise. His Father's house should be the house of prayer. As the disciples saw him clearing out the temple they remembered that it was written: "The zeal of the House had eaten itself up." Now that is just where thousands of our churches stand in the present age, they are eating themselves up by their zeal to make money to keep them open, they have turned their houses of worship — the houses they have built and dedicated to God — into houses of merchandise. They hold bazaars, socials, and all sorts of enter- tainments in the house of God, and it does not matter who goes to them, whether the children of God or the children of Satan, if they only bring their money and buy the goods, they are welcome there. That is the right place to get the children of Satan as well as the children of God if you get them there to teach or preach the way of salvation; but not to gather them there for the sake of their money. When the house of God is put to that use then the glory and blessing of God have departed from that church. They may keep the church open but God's blessing is not upon it and it had better be closed. I wish Jesus could come down to earth now and put on his human garment long enough to make a good scourge of cords; but I do not want him to come as Jesus Reproveth the Scribes 345 the gentle Jesus they are always talking about. I would like him to come in his war uniform and his scourge with him, and go through every unclean temple in the universe and clean them out: so that the glory and saving power could fill every one of them, for the saving of the lost in every land. O, why has the devil to get the children of God, my brothers and sisters, that our beloved Elder Brother shed his blood to save! Something must be terribly wrong in the way God's work is done in the world, or so many of God's children would not be hving in the lost condition they are in. Every true child of God should be at war with sin in whatever shape, form, place, or person they find it. Jesus said he was not sent to do the father's work by making peace, he came to make war; he told them they were not to think he came to bring peace on earth for he had brought a sword. (The sword he speaks of is the Word of God). He came to set man against man, and woman against woman; fathers against their children, and children against their fathers; and that our enemies would be those of our own household. Jesus was speaking of spiritual warfare: We can go into thousands of homes throughout the land and find that warfare going on. We find in some homes large families of grown up children, and in others, only the husband and wife, but in either we can find the warfare that Jesus is speaking of. In one family we might find one a member of the Presbyterian Church, and another a member of the English Church, 346 The Spirit Father the mother a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and perhaps the father a member of no church, that is a house of spiritual warfare, no unity, but a continual strife. God's blessing cannot rest on such homes. We will find more unity and peace in the homes of many, where there is no religion professed by any of the family; they live what they call an honest life and they never trouble to think whether there is an after life or not, just let them get enough for their needs and they are happy, in a way, for there is no spiritual strife amongst them. But they should be brought into the battle, for our spirit father is the God and father of war, he holds perpetual war, he has been at war with Satan and sin as far back as Bible history goes, since the hour Adam fell into Satan's power. God is at war with Satan and all his powers and will be until God's work is accomplished. Every true child of God and every servant of his must be in the battle, until the father's work is finished. What are the works of Satan? Sin of every kind: no matter where we find it, whether it be in our father, mother, sister or brothers; friends or foes; in the palace, or the hut; in the church or in the home; wherever we know there is sin or wrong doing we must be at war with them for their own sake if we would help to save them. You ask how can we know what lives people arc living, we have no right to judge other people. Jesus said, "By their fruit ye shall know them." No man can be both good and bad; wc must be Jesus Reproveth the Scribes 347 either the one or the other, we cannot serve two mas- ters, we must be Hving either for God or Satan. But through all Jesus' work, even when he was denouncing them he was full of love and compassion. He was showing them what they were and pleading with them to love him and beheve on him: for he had not come to do the works he was doing, and say the things he was saying, for his own sake. That he was sent by the Father, and if they could not believe on him for his own sake, to believe on him for the works they had seen him do. They could not do that, for Satan had them in his power; and they were both blind and deaf to spiritual teachings, and the more they saw of his work among the sinful and sick; and saw the great multitudes that followed him; and how kind and good he was to the poor and lost, they hated him the more, and were determined to destroy him and put an end to his work. For they thought if they could only put him out of the way that would finish his work. When the disciples came and told Jesus that the Pharisees were offended at his sayings, he said, "Let them alone, they are the blind leading the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch together." — That is just what is the matter with so many of our teachers, they are spiritually blind, and those they are teaching are getting no light, so both will fall into the ditch. CHAPTER XXXVII. FATHEK AND SON. Jesus said: "Father I thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from the wise, and revealed them unto the babes; for it seemed good in thy sight to do so." Do we wonder why Jesus was glad that the father had hidden his spiritual teachings from the learned and wise, and revealed it to the unlearned. Jesus knew it would be easier to teach the unlearned, than those that call themselves the great and learned people of the ages; for the learned people have much to unlearn, before they can be taught of God. Jesus was calling himself one of the unlearned, for when he was teaching in the synagogue, the Jews wondered how he knew all things he taught, — being unlearned, — but we have all to be babes and realize we know nothing before we can be taught of God. We must all be fed on the spiritual milk before we can have spiritual bread. Again Jesus says: All things were delivered unto him from the Father. He did not need learning to hear the Father speaking to him. His Father told him all he had to do, gave him his message while he was in the wilderness, and he came right from the Father's teacliing, after overcoming Satan, and began 348 Father and Son 349 doing just what the Father told him and kept on doing it in defiance of all his foes. As it was with Jesus, so must it be with all, we do not need great learning to hear what Jesus is saying to us when we hear it from his own lips; if we believe the words in the Bible are Jesus' own teaching, and were really spoken by him when he was on earth ; then when we read them it is just as if they were spoken to us from the lips of Jesus; and we ought to do just as he did — begin and do as he has taught us, and keep on doing in defiance of everything on earth. That is what we have to do if we want to return to the Father's home. Jesus would never have gone back to where he is now, at the right hand of his Father, if he had faltered of turned to the right or the left. We went straight on and conquered, Jesus says "No man knoweth the Father except the son, and those to whom the son will reveal him." Those few words I would like to draw the reader's attention to : You will find them in Matthew, eleventh chapter and twenty-seventh verse. Jesus says, "No man knoweth theFather but the son." Jesus is speaking of himself as the son; but he says also that he will reveal the Father to others. Those words teach us that he will lead men and women into the very presence of their God and Father, and those words apply to both present and future. I believe there are men and women in the world at the present time, that Jesus has led into the very presence of God. Those to whom Jesus has revealed the Father know and are as sure they have a spirit 350 The Spirit Father father in the heavens, as that they have a human father on earth, and they can speak as well to him in heaven, as they can speak to their human father on earth. Jesus tells us, no man or woman can go to him except the father give them to him. When Jesus said these words many of his disciples and followers left him, and went back to their old ways: When Jesus saw this he turned to the twelve disciples, and asked them, if they also would leave him. And Peter answered: "To whom shall we go, thou alone hast eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the son of the living God." Jesus said, "I have chosen twelve of you to be my friends; but one of you is a devil." Jesus knew their hearts, Judas, perhaps looked as clean and well as any of the other disciples outside, but the inside (the heart) belonged to Satan, and would be of use to him when the right time came. Now what lesson do we get from Jesus saying, No man can go to him except the father giveth him, and those the father giveth to him, no man can pluck out of his hands. That is where multitudes are living in blindness; they think they have just to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, love him and serve him as they think right or as it suits them. Jesus was simply telling them, no man could belong to him unless they repented and went to God and found forgiveness, and were will- ing to obey God and live new lives. After Jesus told them, those that were not willing to obey turned back because they were not willing to give up their old lives. They thought they could follow Jesus and get Father and Son 351 the blessings he told of if they made an outward pretense. But Jesus knew them and when he laid the matter plainly before them they had either to do as he told them, or give up following him. Jesus knew they were not his unless they obeyed God, and he did not want a lot of followers that the devil could come along and pluck out of his hands. The father must first be satisfied that we have come in true repentance and received His forgiveness, and that we are willing to obey, by beginning where Christ begun. The father must be assured of that before He will give one of his children to Christ as one of his flock. And when we are given over to Jesus, he is able and willing to keep us, he will love, teach, and comfort us if we obey him. Many think it is their love and faith in Jesus that is to save them. O, dear reader, neither faith nor love will save any one's spirit, soul or body, and the one cannot be saved without the other, all must go to- gether. But those who pass from the father to the son Jesus can keep in perfect safety, and Satan cannot pluck one out of his hand. The Father will not give any one to Jesus until they have sealed their covenant with him; but many do not understand Jesus' teach- ings, but he says plainly no one can go to him except the father giveth them to him. Every creature has to make everything right with the father before they can belong to Jesus, everything has to be done in the father's way, not in man's way. When we have been given over to Christ, Satan's 352 The Spirit Father power is broken over the spirit, but not over the flesh, that has to be done while we are in the fold, and under the teachings and care of Jesus. We may stumble and make human mistakes, but we will know it in a moment and will soon make it all right again with God, the father knows the human child is weak, but he knows his spirit child will not sin willingly, once it has received its new birth. Jesus is able to keep every spirit child of God that is committed to his care until the fulfillment of the father's time; when Jesus will deliver them all over to the father for the final settlement. Then we might ask, why so many calling themselves Christians are backsliders. Because they are like those disciples and followers of Jesus when he was on earth, they are willing to follow him and love him in their own way, but they have not found the way back to the father in true repentance, and received forgive- ness for their past sins, and been baptized for the re- mission of their sins. So they have never passed from the hands of the father to the son, they are simply trying to follow after Jesus, but they do not belong to him. That is the reason so many professed Christians are in the church one night, and in the theater the next, then to a card party, or ball; then a night or two in the lodge room and then back to church. Can we believe those people are the true children of God? No, they are merely outward followers of Jesus, because they think they will get something from him. Father and Son 353 They expect to get their salvation through him, but they are merely following him as a dog follows a man on the street, the dog does not belong to him, but the man looks down at the poor animal and pities him, he does not take it home, because it does not belong to him. That is just what Jesus does, he looks at all such followers as I have described, in love and pity, but he cannot take them home; for they do not belong to him. Not that he does not want them, for he wants every human creature in the world to be saved, and those who are not it is not his fault, for he died to save them all. We may ask why the father had to give his redeemed children over to the son. That was the father's promise that all who came back to the father through him, that is, all who received the message and obeyed it, would be given to him to care for. Although they have received their forgiveness they are not cleansed and purified, and the spirit has to remain under the care of Christ until it leaves a body that has been cleansed of the power of Original Sin. God will reclothe and reclothe the spirit that has gone to him in true repentance and confessed Christ. He will reclothe it until it dwells in a perfectly re- deemed body. When it leaves that body it will go home to God, and remain with the father until Christ comes to take up his earthly reign, when all the redeemed will come with him, and receive their earthly inherit- ance. That is why Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. He says, the sheep know his voice and follow him, 354 The Spirit Father and there are other sheep that had to be brought into the fold, and there would be one fold, and one shepherd. That is why his father so loved him, because he laid down his life to bring back the father's sheep (his lost children). He says no man took his life from him; he laid down it of his own free will, and he had power to take it up again. Now Jesus was speaking there of laying down his human life, and because he was willing to sacrifice, or lay down, the human side of his life for the spiritual, he had power after death to take up his human life again. And that is what every human creature has to do, lay down their human (animal) life and live for the spiritual side of their nature, and after their resurrec- tion they will be able to again take up their spiritual life in human form. That power is promised from the father. There was a division among the Jews when they heard Jesus saying those things. Some of them said he was a devil, and others that he was mad; still others said, "Those are not the words of a devil, could a devil open the eyes of the blind, and do all we have seen this man do?" Jesus said, "I and my father are one, Jesus simply meant the father and he were one in power, for he had been vested with the father's full power; for the mis- sion the father chose him for on earth. The Jews thought he blasphemed, they said, he is only a man, but he is making us believe he is God. And they took up stones to stone him, but Jesus told them he had shown them many good works from Father and Son 355 his father, and he did not do the works alone, his father did them through him. He was only the father's instrmnent. Let us go back and take up two lessons from the old covenant that are typical of what is written in this chapter. First, let us take Hagar and Ishmael. You will find the lesson in the twenty- first chapter of Genesis, where Hagar cast her child down to die, and sat her down to see its death. God heard her weeping, and called to her, "What aileth thee Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the cry of the lad." And when her eyes were opened she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle and gave the lad to drink. And he grew up and became great. This lesson is symbolical of the two covenants — Hagar watching her dying lad, represents the sleeping con- dition of the spirit in the old covenant, — and God hearing the cry of the lad, represents the spirit child crying to God. The water that Hagar saw and filled the bottle with, and gave to the lad to drink and he lived, symbolizes the word of God — the living water, also the baptism of water, for the sealing of the cove- nant. We must also understand, the sealing of the covenant is not between the human child and God, but between the spirit child and its father (God). Now look at the second typical lesson: Where David forgives Absalom his son, but still Absalom did not see his father's face for over two years. This is typical of God forgiving his children, but they cannot see the father's face until he sees that their repentance is true, and they are brought into a condition for the 356 The Spirit Father father's home. This typifies the children of God being kept in the fold under the care of Christ until they are made perfect for the going back to the father. Read the story from the fourteenth chapter of second Samuel. GHAPTER XXXVIII. THE MIRACLES. We have wonderful teachings from the miracles per- formed by Jesus, through the power of God. And we have wonderful teachings and light in the present age, showing that Jesus still holds the same power to work and perform his miracles as when he was here in his human flesh; for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. And as God worked through Christ the human man by vesting him with spiritual power, so does Christ now work through man in accordance with the father's will. He is doing the same work and the same mira- cles through the power of the spirit as he did when here in the flesh, and he is using human instruments to make manifest that power. But Satan has his power and instruments also, and uses them to such an extent that the most earnest children of God may be deceived; but those who can read and understand the teachings and prophecies of the Book understand that the teachings and work Christ did while on earth, and handed down to the apostles, was to be handed down from generation to generation. But I believe for God's own purpose much of the apostles' power has been withheld, until it has come God's time to revive some of the power again through 357 358 The Spirit Father man, and to make preparations for a greater and fuller power and work than has ever been made manifest on earth; and for the working out of the fullness of God's plan for the perfect redemption of the spirit, soul and body of man in these latter days, from the power of Satan, and to make a fuller manifestation of the glory of God, and his wonderful power over the human flesh. One of the greatest miracles of Christ's work on earth was his enduing his twelve disciples with power against unclean spirits and power to heal all manner of sickness and disease wherever they went. But he gave that power only to his chosen; and all who receive that power now must be chosen by God. Why do many of our brethren calling themselves the servants of God try to hinder the work that is going on all over the world through John Alexander Dowie, one of God's servants at the present age? He is giving all the glory to God, and is helping thou- sands of the lost to see their need of turning to their God and Father in true repentance, and live clean and pure lives; showing them how to be cleansed from their diseases by giving themselves to God and believing in his promise that he is still the healer of his people if they will have faith in Jesus and fulfill the father's conditions. Why any calling themselves Christians or servants of God do not rejoice at the good work that is being done for God, for our brothers and sisters throughout the world, is something beyond my comprehension. No matter what we might think of the man, no one The Miracles 359 can doubt, who has any knowledge of God's teachings, but that the spiritual work is of God. God can pity and forgive any one interfering, hinder- ing, or abusing the man and his work from ignorance ; but when such things are done from malice or envy, then may God open their understanding. There was a marriage in Cana, and Jesus and his disciples were invited, also Jesus' mother. The wine was nearly gone, and Jesus' mother came to him and told him they had no wine. Jesus answering her said : "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" We would think that a very strange way for Jesus to speak to his mother; but Jesus was not speaking to her through any dis- respect but because he could be under no human power or authority while he was doing the works of 'his father; and from the time he held communion with his father in the wilderness, he embraced all the human race as his kindred. We have from his own lips: when his disciples told him that his mother and brothers wished to speak to him — he asked who were his mother, brothers or sis- ters. Then he looked around at all those that were with him, waving his hand, and said, "My mother, brothers, and sisters are all those that do the Will of my father." He did not say all those that did his will, but those that did the will of his father. But Jesus did not let them want for wine to finish their feast. He told the servants to fill six waterpots with water, and then told them to draw it, and serve it. And when the ruler of the feast tasted the wine, he called the bridegroom to ask why he had kept the best 360 The Spirit Father wine till the last. We have an object lesson in this miracle of Jesus. We have heard of people making as their excuse for taking wine, that Jesus expected people to drink wine or he would not have made it, he would have let them drink the water just as it was. Well, I think that is just what he did — let them drink the water, no adulteration, or fermentation, no rotten fruits did he use. The purity was there, that was to show man to drink nothing that was impure or defiling. That was what made it good, the best — in the purity of it was its quality. Just as it is with ever3^thing on earth, in the purity of things is found their quality. Man can live without any kind of drink that was ever manufactured by the hand of man, but neither man nor beast could live without the pure, sparkling water that has been prepared for them by the hand of God — that was Christ's object lesson. Another of Jesus' object lessons was the feeding the five thousand people from five loaves and two small fishes. Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks — he was thanking God for the little he had, that made them all-sufficient; God's blessing was upon them. The lesson is, if Ave ask God's blessing upon what we have, and give thanks to him for having it, no matter how small it may be, if we are content with it, we will always have plentj"^ and to spare, just as Jesus had after feeding the five thousand. The disciples gathered up what was left, and they had baskets full of the fragments. And when the people saw what Jesus had done, they said, "Of a truth this Jhsus fet'diuK tlic liiin^'ry witli tlic natural food. The Miracles 361 is the prophet that was to come into the world." And they would have taken him by force to make him a king. But when Jesus knew what they were going to do, he departed from them and went away alone, for his time to be made an earthly king had not come. When Jesus reached Capernaum, many of the people who had been fed by him on the other side followed him. Jesus knew why they followed him, and he told them they had not followed him because they believed in him, but because they had eaten of the loaves and were filled. How many are follow- ing Jesus now for the loaves? Then he told them, "Not to labor for the bread that perisheth, but for the bread that endureth unto everlasting life, that cometh down from heaven." They said unto Jesus, "Our fathers did eat of the manna, the bread that came down from heaven, and they are dead." Yes, they are dead, their manna was the bread of death, the bread to feed the flesh. This lesson of Jesus, on the manna that Moses fed the children of Israel with, and the bread that Jesus was offering them, shows the difference in the food required under the two different covenants. The food Moses gave them was food for the natural man, the food Jesus was offering them was food for the spiritual man. Jesus answered them: "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my father giveth the true bread from heaven." They said: "Lord, give us that bread." Jesus said, "I am the bread of life, if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever." 362 The Spirit Father "And the bread that I give you is my flesh; except ye eat my flesh, and drink my blood, ye have no life in you. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Even the disciples wondered at these sayings, and said, "Who can understand him?" Now there are tens of thousands like the Jews, they cannot understand how they can eat the flesh of Jesus or drink his blood, because they, like the Jews, have not their understanding opened. When they read the words or hear them spoken, they only see or hear the literal words they do not see the spiritual meaning. And many belie^'e, when they eat the bread and drink the wine at the sacrament table in their church services, they have symbolized the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood spoken of in this lesson. Jesus in all his teachings speaks of the father and himself as one; and in speaking of his flesh and blood, he is not speaking in the literal sense of the words. He is simply comparing his flesh and blood to the word of God; the word of God came down from heaven, and that word produced the flesh and blood of Christ from the virgin womb — the word made flesh. All reference that Jesus made of himself coming down from heaven, and being the bread of life, and giving the living waters; all these things Jesus is comparing to the word of God. And when he says, his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, and that except we eat his flesh and drink his blood. The Miracles 363 we have no life in us, the meaning is very simple when we have the spiritual light. We are to eat and drink the word of God and feed our spiritual life on it. When Jesus was in the synagogue teaching he saw a woman who had a spirit of infirmity, and was bowed together and could not straighten herself; and he called her to him and laying his hands on her head said, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." And immediately she was made straight and glorified God. All Jesus did was for God's glory. Satan had bound the woman for eighteen years, and Jesus loosed her in a moment, and what Jesus did then he can do now, for all was done by the power of God. Another miracle occurred at the pool of Bethesda. The people believed that at a certain season of the year an angel came down, and troubled the waters, and if any one who had disease stepped into the waters just after the angel had been there they would be healed. Many who were sick lay around the porches watching for the troubling of the waters, for only the one who got in first would receive the healing. And one man had had an infirmity thirty-eight years. Jesus was passing by, and saw the man lying there, and knew he had been there a long time; and his love and compassion went out to him, and he looked on him and said, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man answered, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and before I can get down another steps in before me." Jesus 364 The Spirit Father told him to "arise, and take up his bed and walk," and immediately he was made whole. Was it not strange that every good work and all the miracles that Jesus did only enraged the Jews the more against him? The more good he did, the more angry they became, and the more they tried to kill him. But it was not the poor Jews, it was the devil in their hearts. Satan had Winded them, and was using them as his instruments. And he is using thousands to-day in the same work, but they are not Jews by birth; but they hate the works of Christ, just as the Jev»'s hated Christ himself and all he did. But God's work has to be done whether the people hate it or not. God does not care about that. When the time comes to do it, it will be done in defiance of all the powers of Satan. God's work must go on, and if Satan destroys one instrument, God can soon provide another. CHAPTER XXXIX. LAZARUS. Lazarus was one whom Jesus loved, and when he was taken sick, his sisters sent word to Jesus that their brother was sick. But Jesus must have known all about it, and what was going to happen, for when he was told, he said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby." Jesus did not give up his work to go to Lazarus for some days after receiving word of his illness; then he said to his disciples, "We will go into Judea again." His disciples did not want him to go, as the Jews had tried to stone him while he was there. Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe; nevertheless, although he is dead, let us go to him." Jesus wanted his disciples to see with their own eyes, that they might be living eye-witnesses to the miracle, and they would be able to give a true testi- mony of all they had heard him teach and preach and all the work he had done. They were with him through all his mission. He chose them when he began his work, and they were his companions and friends till he finished. 365 366 The Spirit Father There were many things that they heard him preach and teach that they did not understand, but they obeyed him, and that is all they were required to do, till the proper time came when Jesus opened their understanding, then, all he had said was revealed to them in all its spiritual light, and they were fully prepared to take up the work Jesus was leaving them to do when he went home to the father. They were to take up the work just as Jesus left it to them, to carry the father's message in all its fullness, and do the works as he had showed them while on earth. He was going to show them by calling forth Lazarus from the grave, the truth of the resurrection of the human body. We have only this one instance on record of the calling forth of the dead from the grave, where Jesus says distinctly he was dead. When he raised Jairus' daughter he said plainly to all those in the house that the maid was not dead^ only sleeping, and he took her by the hand and she arose. Then, again, when he raised the widow's son, he met them carrying to the grave a dead man, the mother was weeping and he had compassion on her, then touched the bier and they that carried him stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to thee, arise.' And he that was dead sat up and began to speak' and Jesus delivered him to his mother. Jesus did not say whether the young man was dead or asleep; but Jesus said Lazarus was dead. Martha, Lazarus' sister, saw Jesus coming and Lazarus 367 went to meet him, saying, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jesus said, "Thy brother shall rise again." Martha said, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus answered, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Jesus asked Martha if she believed, and she said, "Yea, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the son of God, who should come into the world." Now there is great light in this lesson on Lazarus, but we must look into it very closely. Jesus says, "He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." And Jesus was going to prove it to them by bringing forth Lazarus from the grave. Jesus is speaking of both the human and spirit life, and that the body will be brought forth from the grave to the judgment or resurrection day, and that the spirit child will be reclothed with the human body; but the body will be raised, prepared by the word of God, not by human man. Jesus came to the grave and told them to take away the stone. Martha said, "Lord, he stinketh by this time, for he has been four days dead." Jesus said, "I told thee if thou wouldst believe thou should see the glory of God." God's glory is revealed to us in his power to raise the human child from the grave — the power of God over death — the power of God over Satan. When they took away the stone from the place 368 The Spirit Father where the dead lay; not where Lazarus lay, but where the human garment (body) lay, for the spirit of Lazarus was not dead, and the body was called forth to reclothe the spirit child of God — when they moved away the stone, Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hearest me always, and I know thou hearest me always, but because of the people that stand by I said it, that they might believe that thou hast sent me." O, how anxious Jesus always was to get the people to believe that the father sent him, and that the power was from the father. Then he cried, with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." (The loud voice symbol- izes the trumpet call at the judgment day.) And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. Jesus said unto them, "Loose him and let him go." That miracle was simply to show his disciples that the body would be brought forth again by the word of God, and reclothe the spirit and be let loose again to live on earth as Lazarus was. Many of the Jews who saw these things believed on him. Yes, like many, many others, they will only believe what they can see with the human eye. Now the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and the widow's son, symbolizes a different lesson altogether than the bringing forth of Lazarus from the grave. Jesus said that the maid was not dead, that she only slept, this lesson represents the sleeping spirit in a young girl before it has been touched with the Lazarus 369 quickening power of the Holy Spirit; but when Jesus touched the maid, the spirit hfe was quickened and she arose up in her new life. The raising of the widow's son is a symbol of tne same lesson. He found the young man laying spiritu- ally dead, and he touched the place where he lay, and said, "Young man, arise." And he arose up in his spiritual life, and the widow that had been weeping over her lost son had him restored to her through the power and word of Jesus. But Lazarus being called forth from the grave by the power of the word of God, through Christ, was what Jesus wanted his disciples to see with their own eyes; the bringing of Lazarus' dead body forth from the grave, not by the touch of his hand, but by the word of command to show them the true mean- ing of the resurrection and the difference between the touch of his hand on those who had not been laid in the grave, and the calling forth of the body after it had been long enough in the grave to become corrupt. But as Jesus was teaching his disciples both of the present and future, he was making them eye-witnesses of all they were to teach and preach and do. Just as Christ taught and showed all things to his disciples while he was here on earth, so he is preaching and teaching the same things to his disciples at the present time; for Jesus must have his disciples now just as he had them then. All Jesus' followers are his disciples and learners. Christ had thousands of disciples while here on earth, but from among 370 The Spirit Father them he had his chosen, and he has his chosen now. And as he showed his chosen then the mysteries and teachings of the spiritual Ufe, so does he now. But it is the eye of faith that has to look upon the work and teachings. Even the disciples that were with him in the flesh only saw with the human eye and understood with the human heart until Jesus opened their eyes and their understanding. Then they understood the human and spiritual life in all its fullness, as far as it is God's will to reveal it to human man. Christ himself arose from the grave, but what is the difference in the lesson taught us, from the resur- rection of Christ and the calling forth of Lazarus. Christ's obedience to God gave him power over Satan, sin, disease, and death; and by his power over death he conquered the power of the grave, and arose him- self out of the tomb by the power of his obedience. He says no man took his life from him, he laid it down of his own will, and he had the power to take it up again. Thousands think when they read the Bible that Christ had to die whether he was willing or not, but that is not the teaching of Jesus. He died on the cross through his obedience to God his father, but he gave that obedience willingly — of his own free will. He obeyed his father and carried his message, and did his work to the poor and rich; high and low; to all his lost brothers and sisters. He carried the message in love and obedience till it cost him his life on the cross. CHAPTER XL. THE PARABLES. Before we begin this lesson on the Parables we will look at the difference between the miracles and the parables. The miracles took place while Jesus was on earth in the flesh, but the parables Jesus spoke of were refer- ring to something that would take place, something that would transpire, in the real life of the generations to come, and for lessons to draw moral instruction from to future generations. Jesus was sitting by the sea, and great multitudes gathered around him. He went into a ship and spake to them in parables. He com- pared his teaching and preaching to a man sowing seed in a field. The world is the field, and the hearts of the people the ground. His disciples ask him why he spoke in parables. Jesus answered them: "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the king- dom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because seeing, they see not, and hearing they hear not; neither do they under- stand." For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see what Jesus is doing, and hear what Jesus is saying, and understand and be con- verted. Now, Jesus is speaking to all the people in 371 372 The Spirit Father the world to-day, as he spoke M'hen on earth, for God's message has not changed; it is just the same to-day as when Jesus first received it from his father; neither are the people changed. There were thousands in those days who did not want to hear Jesus' message to them, for they did not want to obey. Jesus knew if they had the true desire to hear or see they would soon understand and be converted; but they did not want to give up their sinful lives; and it is so now; tens of thousands do not want to hear the true message of their God and Father. They do not want it taught and preached to them as Jesus taught it, nor do they want to see the works done as Jesus did them, and as he left them to be done. They only want to hear the message as it suits them, and to obey just so far as it suits their worldly lives. Jesus knew if their understanding was opened they would receive both him and his message with joy. And millions in the world to-day, who are rejecting the full gospel message and works of Christ would gladly receive the message in all its fullness, if their understanding were only opened. God help them! — they will never get their understanding opened until they turn to God with a true desire to be obedient; for only the obedient will be taught of God. Thousands of God's children are praying to God for this, that, and the other, crying, Lord, Lord! O Father, Father! and they expect the Lord and Father to obey them and give them what they are asking. But they never seem to think they have to obey the Lord and father before the father will hear or answer them. The Parables 373 When any one heareth the word of God and under- standeth it not, it takes no root in their hearts, so it does them no good. Then some hear the word preached or taught, and receive the words with joy and make up their minds to live different lives; but in a few weeks it is all forgotten and they are just as far away from God as before they made their good resolutions. Then, again, many hear the word and do not take time to think anything about what they hear or read, for the cares of this world and the de- ceitfulness of the world's riches take away their thought from the dangerous condition they are living in. In another parable he speaks of a man sowing good seed in his field, and his enemy came and sowed tares among the good seed. Jesus is speaking of the word and works of God being pure and good, and God is sow- ing it into the hearts of his children, and the devil comes along and sows some evil words and shows the way to some evil works through the lust of the flesh and the world; for the hearts of the people is the ground that all the seed is sown in, whether it is the wheat or tares. Both the wheat and the tares will be allowed to grow up in the world together until the father's time comes that he shall gather up all the tares and cast them aside as no use to him. Then they will be cast into the place prepared for them. But even after our father knows that the evil tares are planted in the hearts of his children, he does not cut them out of the field (the world) at once; but leaves the good and bad to grow up together, to give the tares an op- portunity to grow into good wheat if they wish ; for he 374 The Spirit Father says if he would allow all the tares to be pulled up at once they might pull up some of the good wheat, for in every human heart there are good and bad mixed up together, and the good may overcome the bad if they are left together. That is a lesson to all — of God's mercy to his wicked and sinful children. By leaving them among his good children some might be brought to repent, and obey their father and be saved. God's love and mercy is beyond all human under- standing. No disobedient child of God can say at the judgment day, if you had given us time we would have repented; for God tells them to repent to-day, for to- morrow may be too late, so no one will have that ex- cuse. Jesus gives another parable; he likens the kingdom of heaven (the word of God) to a woman tak- ing yeast to make up the sponge for her bread. She takes a little and hides it in a basin full of flour, and the little piece works its way through all the flour until it leaves the whole basin full. That is what the word of God, the teachings of Christ does for those who hear it and retain it. It is first hidden in the heart and then it works itself out until it absorbs the whole body. In another parable Jesus tells of the merchant who saw the beautiful pearl, and sold all he had to buy it. Jesus means, if we have not the word of God, or, I might say, the Bible, to read the word of God from, we would better to sell all that we have and buy the Book and learn from its teachings what God would have us do, and do it; for to know the word of God and obey it is better than all else in the world. The Parables 375 Then we have the parable of the ten virgins, five of them were wise and five were foolish. The five wise ones lived for their spiritual life, and they had plenty of oil in their vessels; their bodies were the vessels, and were full of spiritual oil that kept their lamps burning; they were all ready when Jesus came to take them to the father's home. But the five foolish vir- gins had lived for the flesh and the world; and they had their lamps — that is, their spirit — but they had no oil in their vessels, they had no spiritual life in their bodies, and their lamps would not burn; they had lived for the world, its pleasures and pain, and when their father sent Jesus to bring them home they were not ready, for they had never sought the spiritual oil, and when they would have liked to buy some it was too late, for the door was shut, and they could not go in, although they cried: "Lord, Lord, open to us." There was no door opened to them, but the answer came, "I know you not." Dear reader, we cannot go into the father's home unless we are known by Christ, for he is the doorkeeper. What will it be to you and me if we find the door shut on us, and Jesus says: "You cannot come in here, I know you not"? Do not delay if your vessel is not filled with oil, for the bridgegroom may come at any moment and you not be ready. In the parable of the prodigal son we are shown the spirit son of God, and the human son of man. The return of the younger son, and the father's love and compassion to him, and his joy over his return, 376 The Spirit Father and dressing him in the beautiful robe illustrates the spirit child returning to its father. Then we see the human man under the power of Satan in the angry retorts of the elder son to his father when he hears of his brother's return and his father's joy. For in place of the elder brother rejoicing over the return of his brother, we see in his words anger, maUce, and envy. That is what Satan feels for every one he sees returning to God their father. Then we have the rich man and the beggar. The rich man wore grand clothes, and fine Hnen, and Hved in a magnificent manner every day, and there was a poor beggar sat at his gate asking for the crumbs that were ,left from his table, and in a short time the beggar died and was carried by angels back into his spirit father's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried and when he awoke he found himself in the torments of hell, and was shown a sight afar off — Lazarus, the beggar, in the bosom of the father's home — and he cried, "Father, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am in torment in this place." But the father said, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and did not make good use of them, or thou wouldst have helped poor Lazarus, and done many good things with, all your riches, but you used them all for your own gratification; but now Lazarus is home and has every comfort, and thou art in thy home and art tormented. " Lazarus cannot go to take you water, for there Tim i)0(ir man pleading for help at the door of liis rich brotluT. The Parables 377 is a great gulf fixed between us and thee, so no one can pass from where we are to you, neither can any one pass from you to us, for the gulf is fixed so that none can pass over." Then the rich man pleaded that they would send some one to his father's house to warn his brethren; for he had five, and he wanted to send them word to repent before it was too late, for fear they would be cast into the place of torment also. But he was told his brothers had the teachings of Jesus, let your brothers hear and obey them. He was not sure his brothers would be willing to hear them any more than he had been, for he knew if he had been willing to hear and obey, he would not have been where he was; and he was so anxious that his brothers should not come there that he said, he was sure if one went back to them from the dead, they would repent. But he was told if they would not hear the teachings of Jesus and repent, neither would they be persuaded although one arose from the dead and told them. Dear reader, what illustrations we have from all the parables if we can read them from the spiritual side, for all Christ's teachings and works are from the spiritual side of life; that is why the teaching of the Bible is a sealed book to so many, there is a veil between them and the true meaning of the words they read; for as every word we speak has a meaning, so has every word we read of the teachings of Jesus, and if we do not get the right meaning from what we read we must have the wrong one, and that is what is leading millions of God's people astray. 378 The Spirit Father The rich man lived for the world and its pleasures until he got into a place he could not get out of; but while he lived his life in the world, he had no conception of what he was doing until it was too late. Only two words, but our whole future life rests on just two words. Jesus says, "follow nic." And Satan says, "follow me." Two words, but your future depends on your decision. When the call comes for us to leave this earthly life our whole future hangs on being ready or unready ; we will either be one of the redeemed children, or one of the unredeemed children. If of the redeemed then we are ready, and like Lazarus, the spirit child will be carried back by the angel messenger to the father from whence it came. But if we are one of the unredeemed, we will find our future home where the rich man found his, in the bosom of hell. Then 'we have the parable of the great supper, There was a man made a great supper and invited a great many to it, and when all was ready he sent out his servants to tell them, that all things were ready for them to come in; but they all began to make excuses, one said he had bought a piece of ground, and he had to go and see it; another had bought some cattle, and had to go and see after them ; another had married a wife and could not leave her — that was wonderful for the majority of husbands can leave their wives at any time to go to a good supper. The servant came and told his Lord the excuses the invited guests had made, and the master of the The Parables 379 house was angry and told his servant to "Go out into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, and all he could find." The servant said, "Lord, I have obeyed thy command, and yet there is room." The master said, "Go out into the highways and by-ways, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled, for not one of those who were bidden shall taste of my supper." That is what Jesus is doing through all ages inviting all the people to come to the great supper prepared for all in our father's house; but we meet with many in our daily life who have excuses always ready when we give them the invitation, "Come, for everything is ready." In simple words the invitation is, come to your father in true repentance and obey, he is ever ready to forgive, and take us all into his home; but if we refuse his invitation it will be sent to some one else who will accept it, and we will be left out. A certain man had two sons and he went to the first and said, "Son, go and work in my vineyard to-day." And he said to his father, "I will not." but afterwards he repented and obeyed. And the father told his second son, also, to go out and work in his vineyard, and he said, "I will go," but he did not. That is an illustration of God and his children. Thousands of his disobedient children are repenting, and doing what their father told them to do; and tens of thousands promise to obey but do not keep their promise. Now the parable on the vineyard is a parable that 380 The Spirit Father should enter into the Ufe of every converted child of God. So many are earnest and willing to be workers in the vineyard for the master, for this part of the work is under the supervision of the great master, and every one that has taken Christ for their master is expected to enter into the work at once, and every one has their own spot in the vineyard to work upon, and if they begin in the wrong place, they will never do any good in the master's work. So let us find out where every one's little piece of ground is that they may begin to work in their own spot. For the master's work at the present age is in a terrible condition, all because his workers are trying to work on the spot of ground that the master has allotted to another in place of the spot allotted to themselves. Now let me tell you where the right spot is for every one to begin in. The moment any one is converted and believes in Christ, they must begin to work in their own heart, and they must keep diligently at work there until it is perfectly cleansed of every weed (sin) and culti- vated into a condition to bring forth fruit, it may not be very perfect fruit at first, but they must keep on cultivating the ground until every weed is taken out and they bring forth perfect fruit. And then, and not until then, is any one able to work in any other part of the vineyard to do any good in the master's work. In the present state of things it is every one trying to work in their neighbor's heart, and their own so full of weeds that even a potato could not find room to grow. Is it any wonder we find the master's The Parables 381 work in the condition it is in? Every one sees the weeds in his neighbor's heart, but forgets to look in at his own. Then another light 1 would like to bring in here is the difference between those that are called to work in the vineyard and those that are the called and chosen servants of God for special world-wide work. Every sinner the moment they confess Christ are called to begin work in their own heart, let them be young or old. But no one will be called of God for any special work unless they have been tried and found true and faithful, then God will prepare them and send them out with spiritual power. The men them- selves may not know how they are led into the work, but they are led on by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then we have the parable of the marriage of the king's son. The king made a great marriage for his son, and many had been bidden to the wedding. But they did not go; and when the day came the king had to furnish other guests. He sent his servant out to bring in all he could find, both good and bad. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man who had not a wedding garment: and the king said to him, "Friend, why camest thou in here, not having on a wedding garment? " And the man was speechless. The king said to his servants, "Bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him out." This lesson shows that both the good and bad have God's message sent to them, but all are expected to change their garments before they go, Some may 382 The Spirit Father think they can slip in without changing their garments, but the moment they arc seen without their garments changed they will be cast out. Then we have the parable of the draw net — another wonderful parable. It says the net was thrown into the sea, and gathered in fish of every kind, and when it was drawn in, they gathered out all the good and took them into the vessel, and all the bad were thrown away. This is a very interesting parable, for it sym- bolizes the visible church of Christ throughout the world, it embraces every church of every denomination in the world. The visible church is a mixed church of every creed and every kind — good and bad. It is called the church militant, and represents a church of warfare, a church engaged in fighting sin, and every sinner has to pass through the visible church before he can enter the Church Triumphant. In the visible church all should learn to fight in the right way, and in the right place. Every creature that enters the visible church should be trained in the church to fight Satan and sin out of self, for that must be accomplished by every individual before they can enter the Church Triumphant, that represents the heavenly church. But w^e must enter the church triumphant while we are on earth, and be a member of it here. The mem- bers of the triumphant church will be gathered out of the visible church throughout the world; out of every denomination, every creed, every color, and every nation there will be found those ready to be taken into the church triumphant, but they can only become members of that church when every desire for The Parables 383 sin has been fought and cleansed out of their own hearts, and have gotten the quiet peace and rest of heaven in their hearts amidst all the worries and bat- tles of their earthly life. After this Jesus sent the people away and went into the house with his disciples, where he explained all things to them. He told them he had spoken in para- bles to fulfill the prophecies where it is said, he will open his mouth in parable, and will utter strange things, which have been kept secret from the founda- tion of the world. There was to be no more secrecy, everything was to be made open and plain to the disciples. And to all others as soon as they are prepared to understand the teachings of Jesus from the spiritual life, CHAPTER XLI. LOVE OF FATHER AND SON. The father tells us Jesus is his beloved Son. Al- though Jesus is the first begotten and the best beloved of the father, God has plenty of love left for all his children, or he would not have sent his beloved son to meet the terrible fate that befell him. It was the father's love for the rest of his children that caused him to send Jesus with the message that brought him to give up his life on the cross. God is love, his word proclaims it; day by day we prove it; and the boundless love of Jesus is past all human knowledge. The father tells us to hear him, just as they heard him when he was on earth. Let us take a little journey with him to the places he traveled through. Go with him to Bethabara, where he called his first disciples; and to Cana, where he performed his first miracle; to Capernaum, where he did many great works, and healed many sick; and up and down through Judea and Galilee. Go with him and his disciples and hear what he is saying to the people as he goes among them, for the same message is for all generations. The only thing Jesus ever offered of his own was his love, that was his own to give, and he gave it freely. All else he offered was from the father and in the father's name; 384 Love of Father and Son 385 and all he asks from any of his brothers and sisters in return for what he has done is to obey the father. He says, "Those that know the commandments and keep them, and those that knoweth the will of my father and do it, those are they that love him." Jesus tests our love to him by our obedience to him as the father's messenger. Jesus promises that all those who love him will be loved by the father, and that he, Jesus, will love them also. There is a good noble son who has a good, kind human father, that he knows loves him and whom he loves and trusts. He has some friends he loves, and invites them to go with him for a time. He tells them he is sure his father will love them. That good son would feel he was offering to his friends one of the grandest and richest things in the world — his father's love. That is what Christ is offering to all. He knew what that love was, and he felt it the most precious thing he could offer man. But human love can never understand the spirit love. No natural lust, no jealousy, enters into the spiritual love. Jesus promised he would make himself known to all who love him, and Judas asked him how he would make himself known to his disciples and not unto the world. Jesus answered, "Those that love me. and keep the commands of my father, they will know me and know my father also." But we may ask with the disciples, how are we to know Jesus when he is not here with us? We may believe what we read about him, and we may believe there is a Jesus in heaven, but how are we to be sure we know him, and he knows us? Jesus is speaking 386 The Spirit Father of the unity of the spiritual birth. Those who are born again, and have received their spiritual nature, they will know Jesus as well as any one in their own household, and better, for we do not know what is in the hearts and lives of those we love, even our sons and daughters, many of them, have hidden things in their lives that we know nothing of. And we doubt their love for us many times but we have no doubt about the love of Jesus. The more we understand the father's love the more we know of the love of Jesus, and the closer we live to Jesus the nearer will we get to the father. We know that love is extended to every brother and sister throughout the world. No matter how sinful, or how rich or poor, the same message of love and mercy is extended to all. Only let us hear the message and obey it; believe that the father sent Jesus; repent of all our past life, whatever it may have been. It may have been a careless life more than a sinful one, but no matter how you have lived, you must repent and obey God before you can claim God's promises and blessings as his repentant child. Only those who come as repentants are entitled to the covenant promises after they have fulfilled the conditions. O such love, such boundless love, the father has bestowed on the sinful sons of men, to make them sons of God! Do human men understand the love and mercy that God is offering to the human race, when he offers to take the sons and daughters of sinful Love of Father and Son 387 man and bring them into a condition capable of being adopted into the heavenly father's household, and receiving their inheritance as the father's own children? Man cannot understand what that spirit father is willing to do for the reclaiming and keeping of his spirit children out the power and rule of Satan after the judgment. No human heart can ever understand, nor human tongue ever tell, the love of God the father for his children. And if one is lost and cast away from him, it is his own fault not the father's will. Every one will be taken back into the father's home and freely forgiven, no matter how long or how sinful their life may have been, if they will only repent, obey, and live a new life in accordance with the father's will. All the blessings God gives us he sends through Christ, but they come from the father. We must ask for them in Jesus's name; for the father has put every- thing into the care of the son, and petitions sent to the father must bear the name of the son. Just as if one of our human fathers had a large family, and he had given into the care of one son all his earthly posses- sions for a certain length of time, and that son had to transact all the father's business, so everything the father did was through the son. That is how it is with God our Father and Jesus our Elder Brother. All that the father does is transacted through Christ, for Christ stands between the sinner and God. God's love is an everlasting love. His love is ex- tended to every creature on earth, both good and 388 The Spirit Father bad, of the human race, and down to the lowest crea- ture of the brute creation, for God loveth every crea- ture he hath created. God's love and care is one thing and his promises and blessings are another. His promises and blessings are a part of the covenant made with the human race, and only those who fulfill the covenant conditions have a right to ask or expect the fulfillment of the promises or blessings. One of the scribes asked Jesus what was the first commandment of all. Jesus answers him: The first of all the commandments is "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. And the second is, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." I believe the neighbor Jesus was speaking of was their spirit brother, the spirit child of God within them. He is the nearest neighbor and brother of the human race, and we ought to love him as well as we love our human self, for every human creature has a spirit brother within him, and they are our nearest neigh- bors. And when we are told not to eat or drink to offend our brother, if we love the spirit brother within us, we will live pure lives through that love. And although we might cat and drink every day until we were in a disorderly condition, it might be no offense to our neighbor living in the next house or across the street. We might not love him any the less, nor he us, for being drunk; but if we loved our spirit brother we could not defile our bodies, for that is his abode. If man had a true conception of himself he would love Love of Father and Son 389 his spirit brother with a love that he could never bestow on human man. But we are to do all the good we can to our fellow creatures, and love them, and try to win them back to their God and faiher as Jesus tried to do. CHAPTER XLII. JESUS PREPARES FOR THE PASSOVER. Jesus sends some of his disciples to prepare for the last great supper. We have no doubt but Jesus had eaten very often with his disciples in the time they had been together; but this was to be the last supper before his betrayal and death. Satan had never ceased his persecutions of Jesus from the moment Jesus told him to be gone in the wilderness. For all Jesus' work from that hour was to destroy the works of the devil, and win the children of the father out of Satan's power. Do we think Satan would let that work go on quietly? No fear, he would move the hosts of hell to stop it if he could. Satan did not need to be there in his own personality, for he had his instruments ready. The scribes and Pharisees were all the instruments of Satan. For every good work that Jesus did they hated him, until their hatred became so groat that the chief priests and scribes sought for some way they might get hold of him and put him to death. They were afraid to take Jesus openly for fear of his followers; so they thought it best to leave him alone until after the feast and the people would then be scattered abroad. The disciples asked Jesus where they should go to 390 Jesus Prepares for the Passover 391 prepare the feast, and he told them to go into the city to a certain house, and tell the good man that the master said he would come there to eat the Passover, and he will show you the guest chamber (a large upper room) furnished and prepared, there make ready for us. Jesus had many friends that we are told little about, but we get glimpses of some of them here and there through the Book. Here we see the good man of the house had only to be told that Jesus was coming, and needed the guest chamber, and it was there ready for him. Jesus knew the time was drawing near when he would have to give up his life; for the hatred of the Jews had become so fierce the battle would soon have to end. Jesus knew it was not the Jews he was fight- ing, but Satan. He knew that Satan had entered into the heart of one of his disciples and that he would betray him. Jesus knew all, for he had the insight and wisdom of God upon him. So Jesus came in the evening with his twelve disciples, and they all sat down to eat. Can we see the love and sorrow on Jesus' face as he looked around at those chosen dis- ciples and knew one of them would betray him? They had all been with him and seen his life, and all the good works he had done among them; but the devil had taken possession of Judas, and he was ready for his work. While they were at supper Jesus said: "One of you which eateth with me shall betray me." And they were sorrowful and said unto him, one by one, "Is 392 The Spirit Father it I? " Jesus answered , "It is one of you that dippeth ^^^th me in the dish." And they looked at one another, for each knew in his own heart that he could not be the one, except Judas, and he knew his own guilt. Jesus said, "The son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed, better were it for him had he never been born. Jesus is saying the same now about every man and woman in the world: Better that they had never been born than that they reject Christ and his teachings. Do we notice when we read the Bible, Jesus says "Woe to that man by whom the son of man is be- trayed?" He is speaking of the betrayal of his flesh, the human son, not the son of God, the spirit son. Jesus suffered in the flesh, the human man was cru- cified. Jesus in his human nature was just as human as any other man in the world, except that the seed of man cUd not enter into the conception of his human body, so that his flesh was free from the lust of original sin; but in all his human sufferings his feelings were just as acute as any other man's. And oh, what he suffered from his brethren without any cause, only that he was obedient to the father and was pure and good and trying to teach others to be the same, that they might return home, and enjoy the blessings of the inheritance of the children of God, instead of the inheritance of the children of Satan! They hated him with envy, because he was good. Judas had made a bargain with the chief priests to Jesus Prepares for the Passover 393 betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Can the reader imagine how many are betraying Christ in this age for the love of the silver and gold? Jesus said he desired greatly to eat this last supper with them before he suffered. After the supper they sang a hymn and then went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus knew what was near, and he took them all to Gethsemane and told them to rest there a little, while he went to pray. He told them all that was written about him must be fulfilled. That he had to be reck- oned among the transgressors, and that the end was near. He went on a little way from his disciples and kneeled down in prayer. There we find the spirit child crying to the father for help. He cried, "O, father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done." The father sent an angel from heaven to strengthen him, he was in such agony. He arose from prayer and coming to his disciples found them sleeping. He said to Peter, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" Peter was the only one he rebuked by name, for Peter had been very boastful of what he would do for the master. Peter was like many another, before he received his spiritual power he was willing but weak. Jesus left them again, to pray, and coming back the second time, found them asleep. He looked on them, saying, "The spirit is strong but the flesh is weak." Jesus knew the human weakness as well as the spiritual strength. He prayed the third time, came again, and found them sleeping and said, "Sleep 394 The Spirit Father on now and take your rest; behold the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." Satan had accomplished his work. Judas came viith a multitude of people sent by the chief priests. Judas had given them a token by which they would know Jesus. He said, the one he would kiss they were to take and lead him away. Judas had chosen the time and place when he knew Jesus and his disciples were alone. When he saw them coming, he went straight to Jesus and said, "Hail, master," and kissed him. And immediately they laid hold of Jesus and took him away to the high priest, and with the high priest were assembled all the chief priests, the elders and scribes. All the devil's instruments were there holding council, and trying to find witnesses against Jesus. But they could not find any at that time for they were all false witnesses, so their testimonies did not agree. The high priest asked Jesus if he had anything to say for himself; but Jesus gave him no answer. Then they asked if he was the Christ, and Jesus said, "If I tell thee, ye will not believe me, neither will ye let me go." But again the high priest asked him if he was the Christ, and Jesus answered, "I am." They all cried, "What more of a witness do we need? We have heard his blasphemy." That was what they wanted Jesus to answer, so they could condemn him on his own words, and there they pronounced him guilty of death. There stood our beloved Jesus, our elder brother, in the midst of his accusers, without a friend; even his disciples had for- Jesus Prepares for the Passover 395 saken him through fear. Peter had followed after him, and while Jesus was being condemned, Peter had denied that he knew him. O Peter, how many there are like thee, walling to deny Jesus any day, through fear of what the world will think of them! They took Jesus and mocked him and spit on him; the servants struck him on the face with the palms of their hands, and bound him and led him away to Pilate. What had Jesus done to be so abused? It was Satan's hour of triumph, but he little knew that what he thought was his hour of triumph was the hour that sealed his doom. He only thought if he could get Jesus out of the world, all the work that Jesus was doing would be stopped, and all would fall back again into his hands. That was what Satan was working for. He had a multitude of his workers there, and they laid hold of Jesus and took him before Pilate and accused him of perverting the nation and leading away the people. That was the trouble. Jesus was leading the people away from their sins, sickness and disease; by giving them the father's message and teaching them to obey and believe, and every blessing and promise would be fulfilled to them. That was perverting the nation in the sight of the chief priests and scribes, and they were determined to have him out of the world at any cost. But after Pilate had heard all they had to say, he told them he found no fault in what Jesus had done. But the Jews were fierce, and Pilate told them to take him to Herod, that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction. When Herod saw Jesus he was exceeding glad, for he 396 The Spirit Father had desired to see him, he had heard so much about Jesus, and he hoped to see him do some miracles. Herod asked him many questions, but Jesus an- swered not a word; and the chief priests and scribes stood by and vehemently accused him, but he an- swered them nothing. Jesus knew, no matter how much he might talk to them, or how many questions he would answer, they would not let him go. He knew their hearts, so he would not answer them. That made their hatred more fierce. Herod and his men of war set Jesus at nought and mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. Pilate then asked the Jews what accusation they had against him that they brought him there again. "Take him away and judge him according to your own law." But the Jews would not, for they said it was not lawful for them to put any man to death, and they were determined to have Jesus' life in some way. Pilate went into the judgment hall and asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews, When Jesus answered any of their questions he never gave a direct answer. So he asked Pilate if he asked the question himself or if others told him to. Pilate said, "Am I a Jew of thine own nation, and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me, what hast thou done?" Jesus answered him, "My kingdom is not of this world or my servants would fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews." Pilate said, "Then thou art a King?" Jesus answered, "Thou eayest, I am a King, for this cause came I into the Jesus Prepares for the Passover 397 world that I should bear witness unto the truth and every one that believeth the truth heareth my voice." Pilate asked him, "What is the truth?" Dear reader, let us not ask like Pilate, what is truth, but let us ask what truth was Jesus witnessing for. Jesus was the witness that the power the father had given unto him was true, and that the father had sent him to offer forgiveness and reconciliation between the spirit father and the human race if they repent and obey. He showed them what the father would do for them. That all who came to him believing, he would heal all their sicknesses and diseases as well as forgive them their sins. Jesus did all these things to show them the truth of what he taught. How many would have believed on Jesus if he had not been able to do the things for them that he said the father sent him to do? He proved the truth of what he taught by the works he did. But he told them time and again that not he but the father did these things through him. Jesus wanted every one to understand that the glory was the father's. And that the father would do all he was telling and doing for them — the father would do the same through all the ages to come, to all those that would come to him and trust him. So he can do the same to-day. Pilate did not know what to do, for his wife had told him to have nothing to do with the good man. Pilate again said to the Jews, "I find no fault in him, and as it is your custom that I release unto you a prisoner at the Passover, will ye have me release unto 398 The Spirit Father you the King of the Jews?" But they cried, "Not that man, but Barabbas." Now Barabbas was a robber, and deserved to be where he was. But what had Jesus done to merit such shame and abuse? My heart cries, Oh, how could human men have been so malignant and inhuman in their hatred as were those Winded Jews; for none but devils could have thought of such cruelties, let alone carry them out. But it was the devil in the Jew's heart doing the work, not the poor blinded Jews, they were spiritually blind so Satan had full possession of them. I remember one night many years ago in the city of Toronto I went to hear a converted Jew preach in behalf of his Jewish brethren. He was blind in his human sight, but how he pleaded with his gentile brethren to be kind to the Jews ; for he said, "If they had been able to comprehend for a moment that Jesus was the Christ, their Messiah, no Jewish hand would have been lifted up against him. He was the son of a rabbi, and he said when he had his sight he traveled all over the places where Jesus had been, but he had no spiritual sight then. But now, he said, my human sight has given place to my spiritual sight, and instead of seeing the places where Jesus walked and suffered as human man, I can see Christ, the Messiah, sitting on the throne at the right hand of the father; and I realize all that my brethren have done. He pleaded, pray, pray, gentile brothers and sisters that all my Jewish brethren may be con- verted, for Jesus is still pleading for his Jewish brethren. Jesus Prepares for the Passover 399 "As to the City He drew nigh The Son of God dissolved in tears; E'en then; when at the point to die Stronger than death His love appears. 'Twas for his countrymen He wept, Through unbelief his bitterest foes; For them He mourned before He slept, Of them was mindful when He rose. For them He gave the parting charge When on Mount OUvet He stood; To show them and the world at large A pardon written with His blood. Disowned of heaven, by man oppressed. Outcasts from Zion's hallowed ground, Oh, why should Israel's sons once blessed Still roam the scorning world around? Lord, visit thy forsaken race Back to thy fold the wanderers bring; Teach them to seek thy slighted grace And hail in Christ their promised King. Pilate brought Jesus forth and gave him to the Jews, saying, "I tell you all again, I find no fault in him," He had scourged Jesus, that is, taken a whip and lashed him, thinking that would satisfy the people, but he could not prevail upon them to release Jesus. He took water before the Jews and washed his hands, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it. " All the people answered let his blood be on us, and on our children. Ah, God help them, little did they think what they were saying. They have been outcasts from that hour, but God's promises will be fulfilled to them also. They will return and seek forgiveness from their God, and bow 400 The Spirit Father the knee to their rejected King. They will go back in true repentance and be gathered in again ; the severed olive branch will be united to the parent again; for almost the last words Jesus spoke were, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Jesus is still pleading with the father to forgive every sinful creature in the world. When they were leading Jesus to Calvary many of the women followed, bewailing and lamenting him. Jesus turning, said unto them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children." Jesus knew the Jews were bringing the anger and wrath of God upon them and their children, and that they had more need to weep for themselves than for him. Jesus would rather see us all weeping over our sins than over his sufferings. When Pilate saw he could do nothing to save Jesus, he asked them what he was to do with him. The multitude cried, "Crucify him, crucify him. Away with him, crucify him." The soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and dressed him in a royal robe and said, "Hail, King of the Jews," mocking him, and smote him with their hands. Oh, cruel, Winded Jews, the day will come when they will be glad to bend the knee to their Christ and king; but not in mockery, and in place of crying, crucify him, they will cry, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Satan was there in all his power as they led Jesus to Golgotha and nailed him to the cross. While Jesus Prepares for the Passover 401 he was hanging there in his last agony, Satan's instru- ments, filled with all the evil power and hatred of Satan, sat there mocking and reviling him, telling him if he was the son of God to get God to deliver him. Oh, Satan thought his hour of triumph had come when he would have Jesus out of the world. But instead of it being the hour of Satan's victory, it was the hour of God's victory, Christ's victory, and victory for all the human race who believe on Jesus and are obedient to God, for Christ's death was his final victory over Satan. In his agony Jesus cried to his father, "O, why hast thou forsaken me?" The father had not for- saken him, but he had to win the victory over Satan unaided, to see if, in his sufferings, he would turn for help from God to man. Jesus cried again to the father, and he must have known God heard him for he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.'-' He bowed his head, and said, "It is finished." What was finished? Not Christ's earthly life nor his earthly work, for he arose from the grave to finish his work and give his last commands; so what was finished? Satan's power and persecutions over Christ were finished. Christ's perfect obedience and faith in God gave him his final victory over Satan. Dear reader, what will those three words mean to you and me, when the day comes that God calls us away from this earth? Will we be able to say the words as Jesus said them? All the redeemed children of the father will be able to say, as Jesus did — It is 402 The Spirit Father finished — for all Satan's power will be finished over them; but no unredeemed child will be able to say it, for Satan's power over them will never be finished. There will be no victory after you are called from this present life, no coming back to live again on earth with Christ, unless you can say, "It is finished." CHAPTER XLIII. THE RESURRECTION. There was a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who was one of Jesus' followers, and when the body of Jesus was hanging on the cross, he went and begged Pilate to give it to him. And when they gave him the body he wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his own tomb, and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher. But the chief priests and Pharisees remembered that Jesus had said he would rise again so they went to Pilate and told him that the deceiver, meaning Jesus, said he would rise again after three days, and they wanted Pilate to make the sepulchre secure for fear Jesus' disciples would steal the body away by night and say to the people he had risen from the dead, and their last error would be greater than the first. They had committed a great error when they crucified him, and many, even in their blind unbelief, may have had their doubts that he might be the Messiah, for they had seen him do such miracles and works as no other man had ever done. The people were then, no doubt, as they are now when they see the works and miracles that they know are past the power of human man, they believe it is either by the power of God, or by the power of Satan. Many who do not 403 404 The Spirit Father know God's work and power are in doubt, and when- ever there is a doubt there is error. Just as the Jews committed their first error by doubting, their doubt caused unbelief, and their unbelief caused them to reject Christ and crucify him. One of Satan's strongholds over man is to fill him with doubt. The Jews were afraid if they let the disciples steal away the body and say unto the people he had risen, many who were in doubt would believe he was the Christ, for that would be the fulfillment of the prophecies; so they went and sealed the stone at the sepulcher and set a watch over it thinking to keep the body of Jesus safe in the tomb until after the time he said he would rise. But did all their sealing and watching keep Jesus in the grave? Ah, no, when Jesus gave up his life on the cross, he opened the gate of the tomb to all human flesh, whether it is the redeemed or unredeemed, who are laid in the grave or buried in the sea. The body will come forth again at the resurrection, by the word of command from God, the word made flesh, to reclothe the spirit. Just as Jesus was the first flesh redeemed out of the power of Satan, by his obedience to his father, so was his body the first of the resurrection from the grave, and after his resurrection the grave was opened for all human flesh. This lesson on the resurrection shows to all coming generations Jesus after he had passed through his first and second resurrection. Jesus walked and lived on earth in his immortal body, Jesus left earth in his immortal body, and he will taste death no more. The Resurrection 405 His first death and resurrection was a symbolic death and resurrection at the river Jordan, and v.e are told in the Bible that those that take part in the first resurrection need have no fear of the second death. Let us here give the interpretation of this lesson : It means those who have obeyed the command of baptism, have sealed their covenant with God, and symbolized the death of their old or natural life, and has risen up to live their spiritual life, that means life a«cording to the command and law of God, taught by Christ, under the new covenant and spiritual law. Those that come out of the baptismal water and live a true spiritual life will never fear the death of the flesh or the putting of the body in the grave, for they will have the full assurance that their future is safe, and they can truly sing, "O, grave, where is thy victory, 0, death, where is thy sting?" For they have the perfect assurance within them that they will come again to earth and live with Christ as their universal king. When the priests and Pharisees had sealed the stone, and set the soldiers to watch, they thought everything was secure. Then how did it happen that Jesus got out of the tomb? What were the soldiers or the sealing of the grave when it came in conflict with the power of Almighty God? Only like a straw before a mighty wind. As soon as the soldiers under- stood what had happened, some of them went into the city and told the priests, and they held a council with the elders to see what was to be done, and when 406 The Spirit Father they had consulted together they called the soldiers and offered them large sums of money if they would say that while they slept Jesus' disciples came and stole him away; and if the Governor heard of it they would persuade him so the soldiers would not be punished. So they took the money and did as they were told. It is still thought by many of the Jews that Jesus' body was stolen by the disciples. But Jesus had risen as he said he would. He had to pre- pare his disciples to receive the final command, before he left his work in their hands, and returned to his father's home; but from that home he still holds rule and power over all his father's work. He told them all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth. Jesus did not claim that power until after he had risen from the grave, for until he was crucified he was under the father's command, doing the work himself, all under the old covenant, preparing everything for the rectifying, witnessing, and sealing of the new covenant. When he dictl on the cross that covenant was sealed, aixl when he arose from the grave he took his authorit}' and power; all his work had been done under the father's command, for he claimed no authority until after he arose. And gave his commands, saying, all things were to be asked for in his name. But the time had come when he was going to put the work into the hands of others, and leave them to do it, but under his command, b}^ the father's will. But before Jesus put the work into their hands he spent forty days teaching his disciples, for although The Resurrection 407 they had been with Jesus all through his ministry, and had obeyed him, they did not know the scriptures. He spent just as many days teaching them as he had spent in the wilderness being taught by God. He opened their understanding, and they were then prepared to receive his commission and command, which was to be carried from that hour to the end of the ages, just as it was delivered to them. He said: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." He was sending them on the same work as the Father had sent him. Now, let us see what he sent them to do. They were to preach repentance for the remission of sins to all nations; to teach and baptize all nations into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things. He did not say they were to teach a few things, and leave a few things out; he commanded them to teach all things as he had tanght them, and he would be with them always; to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and those that would believe and be bap- tized would be saved, but those that would not be- lieve would be damned. How many think that the last clause of the verse is all they need observe, they think if they only believe without obeying the baptism part they are all right; but we think if we read the last clause first and the first last we would have the true in- terpretation of the verse: "He that belie veth not shall be damned, but he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." For Jesus said at the river Jordan, when John was not willing to baptize him : "Let it be so to fulfill all 408 The Spirit Father righteousness." If it was necessary for Jesus to go into the baptismal waters at the command of the father, so it is necessary for every son and daughter of God who wish to receive the full blessings prom- ised in the New Covenant to the obedient child. If all had to be fulfilled by the pure and holy begotten son of God, how much more needful the fulfilling of all the commands by the begotten sons of sinfvJ men! The full gospel was to be preached to every creature and he told them the signs that would follow the teach- ing and works of those who believed. They would have power to cast out devils in his name, and they would speak with new tongues. Do we understand that verse? Every sinner in the world has the devil in him, and the devil uses their tongue to lie, swear and bear false witness, and speak all kinds of evil; but Jesus told his disciples if they were faithful and be- lieved they would have the power through the teacliing and preaching of the gospel to cast the devils out, and the sinners would be brought to repent and obey; they would be filled with a pure and holy spirit, and the tongues they had used in the works of Satan will be used to give praise and glory to God; that will be the new tongue. They were to have power to lay hands upon the sick in Jesus' name, and they would recover. Then he expounded all the scripture concerning himself, and told them that the words he had spoken, that were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and Psalms concerning him, had all to be fulfilled. Now Jesus had prepared his disciples in every way The Resurrection 409 he thought necessary for the great work he was leav- ing for them to do, except to give the finishing touch before he left them. He opened their understanding that they might understand the spiritual teaching of the scriptures. If Jesus had not done that they would not have been fitted for the work he was send- ing them to do. The spiritual teachings of the scrip- tures were sealed to them, as they are to every one now who has not their understanding opened by Christ. Then he told them they were his witnesses of all things ; they were to be the living witnesses of all they had seen and heard while they had been with Jesus, and all he had told them. Jesus had finished teaching them and was ready to leave, but still they were not ready for the work ; they had to be endued with power. Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and remain there until he would send them the promise of the Father, and they would be endued with power from on high. Could not Jesus endue them with the power they needed before he left? He might, but we can see the wisdom of God, in Christ returning home to the Father before they could receive the power. Just as Jesus was endued with power from on high, so must every chosen son and servant of God. H Jesus had endued his first chosen disciples with power for their work while he was with them, all their successors would have had it in their power to say if they so wished, that they could not have the same power to teach or do the works, as Jesus had not been with them to en- due them with the power; but God is too wise to make any mistakes, and he knew he would have to choose 410 The Spirit Father and endue one human instrument after another until his work was finished. And from that age to this God is choosing from among his faithful sons through Christ, and enduing them with power for the work he sends them forth to do. Every chosen and prepared servant of God's sent out on any special world-wide work are messengers of the covenant, under the covenant messenger. Christ was the covenant messenger of the Father, no one can ever take his place. But every one chosen and sent out since Christ gave his commands to the apostles and sent them out with the covenant message under him, so has every other chosen servant been a messen- ger under the covenant messenger. So will every one be that is sent out on God's special work, and there will have to be some sent yet before the fullness of Christ's mission is fulfilled. Man must be brought into a condition to be saved to the uttermost, spirit, goul, and body, consecrated to God. But God's child- ren must be taught what the consecration of their flesh to God means, it is not a consecration by word of mouth that can satisfy God. Their body can no more be used by the defiling power of Satan. When Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he led them out to Bethany and lifting up his hands he blessed them, and as he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into heaven; and as they stood and looked steadfastly after him, two men stood by them in white apparel, and said unto them: "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall come again in the same manner as ye have seen The Resurrection 411 him go." But when our beloved Jesus comes again to earth he will not come bearing the father's mes- sage of reconciliation between him and his children, or as our elder brother pleading with men to repent and seek the father's forgiveness, and get on their way back to the father's home. No; when Jesus comes again he will come to take up his royal rule over all his father's earthly domains. He will come as Lord of lords, and King of kings; as the father's heir, to hold his sovereign authority over all. But there will be many rulers under him; those that are found worthy to hold their rule under him must make themselves worthy to fill that place while they are on earth now and in his service. Ye self-appointed servants of God if ye only knew what ye were about. In place of fighting the works and power of God, and the all-conquering power of Christ over Satan, sin, disease, and death, that God is showing to the world at the present age, and the teaching of the full gospel as Jesus left it to be taught. Jesus the Saviour; Jesus the Healer; Jesus the Cleanser; Jesus our Leader; Jesus our Elder Brother and our Faith- ful Friend. The same yesterday, to-day and forever. Oh, why will you, my brothers, that call yourselves the servants of God, hold back, or hide one command, promise, or blessing of the father, sent through Christ to the sinful, sick and erring brothers and sisters that Jesus gave up his life to bring to them. Broth- ers, why will you not rather glory in the showing forth of God's glory and the power of Christ over Satan and his work? Can you not read from the teachings of the 412 The Spirit Father Bible, and the prophecies that God's work must be done in God's way, not in man's. Christ did the work as God commanded him, and every other true son and servant of God must follow Christ both in obedience and command. Why will you, through blindness or unbelief, be cast out as unprofitable servants when you might reap the reward of the faithful; for Jesus is still holding his power through his faithfulness, sitting on his throne at the right hand of God. The head that once was crowned with thorns, Is crowned with glory now; A royal diadem adorns The mighty victor's brow. Let miUions bow before his tlirone, Let humble mourners seek his face; Bring daring rebels to his feet , To seek the Father's promised gra^e. Baptise all nations, far and near, The triumph of the cross record; The name of Jesus glorify , Till every kindred call him Lord. The highest place that heaven affords Is his by sovereign right; He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords And reigns by perfect right. CHAPTER XLIV. ' CALLED, CHOSEN AND SENT. Those words seem to be a stumbling-block to many when we speak to them of their salvation. They say : "Oh, there are only a few to be chosen, and I do not think I will be one of them." Let us see what the called and chosen mean. How many were called? All. The first call of God for the fulfilling of the new covenant was sent through John, and it was a call to all the world, to every crea- ture, to repent and be baptized. Of all the multitude that went to Jordan to obey the call and be baptized how many were chosen? Only one; Jesus alone was chosen. But Jesus was not chosen because he was the only one to be saved ; Jesus was chosen of God for his special mission. But every one who obeyed the call and came in true repentance to receive baptism for the remission of their sins, and begin their new life in obedience to God, would be among the saved, if faithful, although they were not chosen for any special mission. The father wanted every one of them to obey the call and go back to him as his faithful chil- dren, and he expects them to do all for him that any good, faithful child could do for a father, to try and find any of his children that had not obeyed the call 413 414 The Spirit Father and try to win them back to obey their father's com- mands. The call is to every child of God, good and bad, to seek their salvation on the conditions the father offers it. The word chosen does not mean that any one is chosen to receive their salvation, but that they are chosen by the father for some special work or mission. Jesus heard the call and obeyed; he was the first chosen and sent by the father, anointed and endued with the father's power for the fulfillment of the fa- ther's promise made when Adam fell. Jesus was chosen to be the father's messenger of the New Cove- nant, and to be the restorer of the spiritual law, the spir- itual covenant, and spiritual life. Jesus was the only one at the Jordan fitted for that work, therefore he was the Chosen and sent of the father. Jesus began his work with the same call as John — repentance, but out of all he called, he chose twelve; but he did not choose those twelve because they were all that were to be saved; they were chosen for a special work. Jesus kept them with him through all his own earthly mission, under his teaching and training, preparing them for the work he was going to send them on. Now, if there is anything in the world that the devil likes to use in his work it is a few words of scripture if he can use them to blind people. He has made grand use of those three words. We will take the chosen; there are many who believe that there are only to be a chosen number saved, and that they cannot be among the number chosen, for they know they are Called, Chosen and Sent 415 sinful and wicked, and they tell us there are too many- good people in the world for them ever to be one of the chosen. The devil has used that word to keep many- sinful ones from turning in repentance to God. God has not chosen a few, or many of his children, to receive their salvation, for the father wants all his children to return to him. And the offer is to all, whosoever will accept the offer on the father's conditions it is offered freely, without money and without price; only fulfill the conditions, and that is within the power of every man and woman on earth. No matter how rich, no matter how poor, all must fulfill the same con- ditions. God is just, no respecter of persons. The word "call" Satan is using to blind tens of thousands of God's people through all ages. Thousands who be- lieve in the call of Jesus to follow him have their spirit quickened, and they feel a desire to live a better life, and there is a desire stirred up within them to help others to live better lives. The devil sees this and is afraid he may lose his hold on them if they understood the true meaning of the call ; so he blinds them into be- lieving it is the call of God for them to go out in his work to preach and teach the gospel. And they are only too willing, with their spiritual blindness, to leave their employment, whatever it may be, and don their black coat and think they are ready to preach the gos- pel and convert the world, when they have not obeyed the first command of the call themselves. They have had the stirred-up feeling, and desire to be saved, and their hearts may be filled with a love for Christ when they hear he died to save them ; but they have never 416 The Spirit Father obeyed the command for true repentance, and received their baptism, the symbol of their covenant with God, also the symbol of the new birth. "Ye must be born again, of water, and of the spirit." That is where man and woman are to take up their new birth, and if you keep the vows that are neces- sary to take with that baptism, then the spirit within you is quickened. It is made alive to its spiritual birthright, and the body will be kept in subjection to the spirit; the spirit has received the first gift of the father, the spiritual birth. The spirit within you will become pure and holy, and the purer you live, the more powerful the spirit-child within you will become, until you are so filled with spiritual power that it will flow out of you like living water. That is the condition the spirit father must find his sons and daughters in before they are fitted to be chosen or sent on the father's work. The natural birth, first of water and flesh, even in our natural birth the water must precede the flesh, also must the water precede the spirit in the spiritual birth. For it does not make any difference what I think about it, or what this minister or that minister thinks or says; it is what God says and commands, and the order God has arranged for his work to be done in we have to follow, not the way it suits man or woman, but the way it suits God. How many of the thousands of self-appointed servants of God at the present age can be found in a fit condition to be chosen and endued with the spirit power from God? For the pure and Called, Chosen and Sent 417 obedient spirit must be found within them before the power of the Holy Ghost will be put upon them. It is not ignorance, nor wickedness, that is making millions live in the perilous condition they are in; it is the spiritual bUndness they are in. Satan has blinded them to their own condition, and they are perfectly happy, believing they are perfectly safe. Jesus' last words to his disciples were to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. Jesus knew they were prepared, and ready to receive their apostleship then they were ready to go out and do the work just as Jesus had taught and shown them; they were to witness that Jesus was the Christ, the covenant messenger; and preach, teach and heal in the name of Jesus, and to build up the church of the living God. Jesus laid the chief corner stone (that was himself,) and from that the church was to be built up with living stones, every stone to be polished until it becomes a living stone. We have to be filled with spiritual life before we can become a stone in that building. Jesus told Peter on what foundation he would build his church, and from those few words Satan has built up one of the most powerful churches in the world, by blinding the people to the true interpretation of the words. Let us read what Jesus said to Peter and see if we understand : Jesus asked the disciples whom the people said he was, and they told him some said he was John the Baptist, others said he was one of the prophets. Then Jesus said: "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter an- 418 The Spirit Father swered: "Thou art the Christ, the son of the hving God." Jesus said Peter was blessed for knowing that, and said : "Human man had not revealed that to him, but his heavenly father had." Peter had spoken the truth when he said Christ was the son of the living God. And when Jesus said Peter was blessed because God had revealed it to him, Jesus meant Peter had received spiritual light and was blest thereby. Then Jesus said : "I say also unto thee, thou art Peter (Jesus also spoke the truth), and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." What was the rock Jesus was going to build his church upon? Not upon Peter, but upon the words Peter had spoken. Truth was the rock the church was to be built upon, the unchangeable word of God. The founda- tion of the church is built on the word of God, the rock of truth, and the gates of hell can never prevail against the word of the living God ; that was what Jesus meant when he said: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Do we understand what the keys were Jesus was go- ing to give? Remember, he did not say the keys of heaven, nor the keys of hell, but the keys of the king- dom of heaven. The kingdom of God is within us, and the keys Jesus was going to give them (his disciples as well as Peter) was the word of God, and the spirit- power. But before they would know how to use them Jesus had to open their understanding, and they had to wait until they got the power from on high before Called, Chosen and Sent 419 they went out with the keys (the word of God and the spirit-power) to open the hearts of men to receive the kingdom of heaven, the word of God. And whosoever they bound on earth by the word and the spirit would be bound in heaven. That means, whosoever heard the word of God and had the offer of salvation, and would not accept of it, would still be kept in bondage to their sins. And who- soever heard the word and received it, and obeyed, God would loosen them from their sins, through any of the apostles, or any other true servant of God, that faithfully teaches or preaches the word, and brings sin- ners to true repentance before God. The same keys that locked the gate of the garden of Eden, when God drove Adam and Eve from his presence the Cherubim and the sword (or the spirit and the word), are the same that has locked every sinful man and woman from the father's presence and home, but not out from the father's love and mercy, and those same keys must open the gate of heaven to let us into the father's pres- ence again. Now, Satan used the spiritual blindness of the peo- ple of that age to make them believe Peter was the rock that the church was to be built upon. And the Ro- man Catholic Church was built on Peter as the rock, with human man put over it as its infallible head. It was built in spiritual blindness, and Satan has kept it in spiritual blindness from that age until in the present age Satan holds sway over the most powerful church in the world. I am not speaking of the people, for Sa- tan has his spiritually blinded people in every church, 420 The Spirit Father but I am speaking of the subtility of Satan founding his church on the words Jesus spoke to Peter; it shows us how Satan can take the scriptures and use it for his own purposes. But God in his love and mercy is opening the eyes and hearts of thousands of his chil- dren, and may the work continue until every child of God's is out of the bondage of Satan. Do we understand the difference, when we read of the foundatioa and then the corner-stone? Christ spoken of as the foundation is from the spiritual side, the rock of truth, the word of God. Christ as the cor- ner-stone is in reference to his human body ; the body of Christ was the first living stone; the chief corner- stone of the church of the living God. And every stone (that is, every body, for it is the human body that is spoken of as the stones) must become a spiritual body, and belong to God, before you can be a stone of that church. We may belong to any other church in the world, and not be a living stone; but we cannot be a stone in the church of the living God unless we have received our spiritual birth. Brothers and sisters, why will you roam Away from your Spirit Father's home? He the fatal cause demands And asks the work of His own hands. Brothers and sisters, why will ye stay Away from His home another day? First repent and then obey And Christ will lead you on your way. Brothers and sisters, why will ye die? Your Spirit Father asks ye why? He the fatal cause demands And asks the work of His own hand*. CHAPTER XLV. ONCE FOR ALL. Once for all — three words, but do we understand, dear reader, what they mean to us when we read them from the word of God? When our spirit father made the new covenant and sent Jesus with his message, that was the last covenant or message he was going to send to the human race; he had then made his will, conditions, and com- mands known for all time and into eternity, and that message was never to be changed. Jesus gave the message in all its fullness and taught everything we had to do, both by word of mouth and example while he was on earth; and that message has been carried down nearly nineteen centuries and will be the same to the end of the ages. The father's decree had gone forth once for all. Jesus conquered Satan and overcame death once for all. How many are there in the world who are looking forward to death and the grave to give them a release from some worldly troubles and sorrows! They think: "Oh, well, it cannot be long now," after they have lived forty or fifty years, some in sin, some in sickness, some in sorrow, and they are all tired of life. Some are shut up in our prisons as long as their earthly life will last; others banished from their parents' home for disobe- dience and evil living; wives separated from their hus- 421 422 The Spirit Father bands and families; husbands separated from their wives and families; living their lives of wretchedness, not caring how soon death would come to release them. Death to their flesh will come, as it must to all, and their bodies will be laid in their graves, once for all ; but how long they will rest from their misery only God the father knows. But the grave cannot hold them, for Jesus opened the grave, once for all. All human flesh must come forth from the grave at the command of God, and that will be once for all. There will be no more release from sorrow or misery in the grave after that. For servants, masters, small and great Partake the same repose; And will in peace and ashes mix With those who once were foes. All leveled by the hand of death Lie sleeping in the tomb; Till God in judgment calls them forth To meet their final doom. The grave must give up its dead, no matter whether they sought release from their earthly troubles in the grave or not. That is the question dear brother or sister, whoever you may be — our final doom, what will it be? We cannot look forward for death to bring us a release. No, when we stand at the judgment seat, as we must at that day, we will receive our final doom once for all. Some may think it is only those that are redeemed or saved that will be clothed in immortal flesh at the judgment day, but all at that day, redeemed and un- redeemed, will be clothed in their immortal garments. The unredeemed will go to their everlasting home of misery and wretchedness. Once for All 423 Their doom is sealed once for all. They may weep and bewail their lot, and gnash their teeth, but that will not change their doom. What God, our father, in his love and mercy, may do to help save his children out of Satan's hands and their terrible doom, before that day, no one but the father knows; but after that day God cannot help us nor change our doom, for his own word has pronounced our doom unchangeable. Dear reader, do not neglect your soul's salvation whatever else you may neglect. Do not lose your soul. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Look after it to-day, to-morrow may be too late, your doom may be sealed. If you stand at the judg- ment seat one of the redeemed, you will be clothed in the image of your God and Savior — the image of Christ, a perfect man, and the image of your God and father in perfect purity. But if you stand there one of the unredeemed, whose image will you be clothed in? The image of Satan, you will belong to him. Search the Bible, and pray God to open your spiritual eyes and understanding, and do not rest until you have gone to your God and father in true repentance. Give yourself to him, spirit, soul and body, that you may stand at the judgment seat one of the redeemed is the prayer of your friend. Seek a perfect salvation, Oh, hear His sweet call; Come, and He will save you Once for all. CHAPTER XLVI. NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR. If I were to write the full light given me from revela- tion and spiritual interpretation for the writing of this book, I might write volumes. But when God gives a revelation he gives the wisdom, as to how much is for their own use, and how much for the work he has chosen them for. And then guides them by the spirit's teachings. I believe when God gives a revelation or message to anyone, it is to give them a perfect assurance that the work is of God, and they have no doubt about it. He has revealed enough to give them every con- fidence. All fear is taken away and they do the work as God leads them, fearless of consequences. But God will prepare many of his children to receive revelations, for one revelation will precede another until the great revelation takes place, and God's mysteries will be mysteries no more. God will pre- pare his children by giving them spiritual light and understanding, bit by bit, until they are fully prepared. God's offer of spiritual light and understanding is the father's gift to every child, but he cannot give it to those who will not receive it on his own conditions. So many think they know all they need to know, and they do not want to know more, then God cannot 424 Notes from the Author 425 teach them , God can only teach those that are search- ing for light. Many are teaching and preaching that they are daily looking for the second coming of Christ, that he may come any time. I do not think they are looking around the world seeing the spiritually blinded condition the majority of God's children are in; when I say God's children I mean the whole human race. Christ will not come back at the call of a few people, gathered here and there throughout the world, calling themselves the sanctified, believing themselves to be the holiest people on earth, and that they are ready and waiting for the coming of Christ. Why, the world is no more fit in its spiritual blind- ness to-day for Christ to take up his personal reign than it was nineteen centuries ago, when the Jews crucified him through their spiritual blindness. There are millions in the world to-day just as ready to work for Satan as were the Jews, and would be just as willing to crucifiy him. But Jesus is not coming to call people to repent or to evangelize the world. That has to be done before he comes, and his kingdom won and ready for him to take up his reign as king of the universe. But Christ will first have a spiritual reign that will precede his personal reign; and the greatest wars that have ever been fought in the world will be fought under the spiritual reign of Christ. The spiritual reign of Christ has been going on ever since he'^was taken up to heaven, but the final battles of that reign have yet to take place. 426 The Spirit Father Many think that the wars that have been going on between nations in the past few years are some of the signs of the times. The Old Testament wars are the devil's wars Nation fighting against nation for earthly possessions, things of the earth, earthy. But the New Testament wars are spiritual wars, and are to be fought with spiritual weapons. If we knew God, in his love and mercy, and would use our common sense, we would know that God never created his human creatures or any of his creatures to be hewn down by cannon balls or any other instru- ment invented by man. Nations cannot be won for God in that way. Christ's kingdom cannot be won for him on that kind of war. The kingdom's to be won for Christ are the hearts of men and women, and they must be overcome and won \vith the weapons of God, the spiritual sword (the word of God) and the spirit; but they have to be tempered with love to be powerful. And when the kindgoms are won for Christ the nations will soon be won for God. Under the old covenant, when God was at war with the enemies of his people, he told them to beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruning hooks into spears. But under the new covenant he told them to beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. For nation shall not lift up the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Do we understand what the pruning hooks spoken of here were to be used for? Notes from the Author 427 ' They werfe to be' used to prune the garden of the Lord (the world) the unfruitful branches were to be cut away and gathered up and thrown out; and the fruitful branches will be left to grow in the garden. Christ th£ vine, and the people the branches. God is not going to destroy the world again, and create a new world; he is going to cleanse the world, that is, cleanse the people. But cleansing the people and winning them to God, is not killing and mowing them down like- grass. For whether they are Boers or Spaniards, black or white, they are all God's creatures. I believe all such wars will cease, and the greatest wars that have ever been fought, will be fought with spiritual weapons. As the Roman sword that was driven into the heart of Christ, when he was upon the cross, is symbolical of the sword of God (his word) to be driven into the hearts of men and women; but God commanded that not one bone should be broken. When Simon told Mary, the mother of Jesus, that a sword would pierce through her soul, it was the word of God that was to pierce her breast, that she might receive spiritual light, and understand all things, and why her son should suffer, and it would give her strength to bear up under his sufferings, for his mother followed him to the cross. And we must remember Mary was brought up under the old covenant, and had not the Ught of the new covenant teachings. Oh, may God bring his people to seek spiritual light, wisdom, and understanding before all the wealth of the world, or all the world can give them, and seek 428 The Spirit Father it to-day, for to-morrow their eyes may be closed in spiritual darkness forever. When like a stranger on our sphere, The lowly Jesus sojourned here; Where'er He went affliction fled And sickness reared her drooping head. The eye that rolled in darksome night Beheld His face, for He was light; The opened ear, the loosened tongue, His precepts heard and praises sung. With bounding steps, the halt and lame To hail their Great Deliverer came. O'er the cold grave He bowed His head; He spoke the word and raised the dead. Demonical madness, dark and wild, In His inspiring presence smiled; The storm of horror ceased to roll And reason lightened through the 8