Introduction

The Christian Mystery

The perspective of our time gives us an advantage concerning the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and none can overlook the power and authority with which both his words and deeds have resounded throughout nearly twenty centuries. He has changed countless lives and the governments of nations. He is not responsible for the rash things humanity has done to satisfy its own desires, using his name as an excuse in many things because they had not been taught the whole truth. But where his teachings have been really followed, miracles have ensued.

He taught us, during his brief sojourn, all the laws and principles our present humanity could ever need to use for its upliftment in personal life to Science and through his acts performed the greatest of all alchemy which transformed the earth itself. He is the High Priest of our Order, though never identified with any sectarian priesthood.

As the Son of God, the Christed One, he opened the way through himself and his atonement for mankind to reach unto the Grace of God Himself, and to reclaim the divine gifts which the Father had bestowed upon man in the infancy of His creation, when God created man as the only permissible Image of Himself.

"Mystery" is a fascinating word, which immediately conjures visions of a veil to be pulled aside, or a package which must be opened in order to find out the delightful secret inside, which is there all the time but merely hidden from our view.

The Christian teachings are actually so simple, that the only covering lies in man himself. He has coated himself with layer upon layer of error and deceit and confusion, that must be peeled off to uncover the true and glorious Self within Him. But a mystery does exist, for until he does uncover the layers of error and deceit and confusion, he will never truly understand the simplicity of Jesus, the Christed One. For each new vista of understanding that unfolds, it will only unfold as one lives and experiences the preceding step to the way of which Jesus declared that he was the way.

The way that Jesus was talking about is following the same path, the vibration of his own being, going through the same realization, entertaining the consciousness of the Father through him that the one seeking the way might conceive of a Creator or Father God as he did through him. Accepting the way is to accept Jesus fully and to make a full attempt of taking on the consciousness of the Christos, of the Christ that you might communicate with him and thus sense the reality of God. It would take you to another realm of consciousness, to another world to which some day you will pass. For in so doing, you will certainly find a higher realm of consciousness and be able to physically discern the fact that you are on the path through reaching this higher purification and grace. For even at this level, the way is not visible to the physical eyes, understanding and vision but spiritually perceived with spiritual sight.

When Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples, they asked him, "Why do you speak to the multitude in parables?" And he answered them, "Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance . . ." The only reason they "had" anything was because they earned it as they went along. You cannot force this. And so it is with the Mysteries. The Mysteries are only revealed to those who join their lives with Christ and they only may understand them. For as the individual receives the light of the Christos, it then becomes a mystery which others cannot see what is so plainly before them.

The Christ not only was but still is. His words still are true. They are the words from the Father which he passed to us and are true and they are also living in this day.

Never is ALL revealed at once, for with each step a little more is given. Thus it is a never-ending Quest, yet the most fulfilling and greatest of all Adventures, which never grows dull or old.

Paul said, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His Will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth."

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 10, says that "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants, the prophets."

The highest Mystery of all is our Creator, the first aspect of the Supreme Being which "thinks out" or imagines the Solar system in which we live and have our being, before the beginning of active manifestation of man, the great Creator and the creative Hierarchy which inhabits the heaven worlds of existence. This is considered as the field of our evolution. But it is that place which Jesus spoke of when he said; "I go to prepare a place for you, for in my Father's house there are many mansions."

The forces of nature and God which are God -- these forces also dissolve everything that has started to crystallize beyond the possibility of further growth and at last when the end of active manifestation has come, this force will absorb all matter where growth has ceased due to crystallization.

This action was exactly what Jesus set into action by the spilling of his blood on Calvary for all living substance as beings, regardless of form or state of growth. These will go on in the eternal life in existence until they have become Masters of the Work of creation. Here they will attain their eternal freedom.

The second aspect of the Supreme Being is that which manifests in matter as the forces of attraction and repulsion, adhesion and cohesion, thus giving it the capability of combining into Forms of various kinds. This is the creative Fiat manifest, which "The Word" has created as a means of molding the primordial Cosmic Root substance in a manner similar to the formation of figures by musical vibrations or sound, the same tone always producing the same figure. So this great primordial WORD brought, or spoke into being the Fiat in finest matter, all the different Worlds with all their myriads of Forms, which have since been copied and worked out in detail by the innumerable creative Hierarchies.

The Word could not have done this, however, until the third aspect of the Supreme Being had first prepared the Cosmic Root substance; (God) had awakened it from its normal state of inertia and set the countless inseparate atoms spinning upon their axes, placing those axes at various angles with respect to each other, giving to each kind a certain measure of vibration.

These varying angles of inclination of the axes and the measures of vibration made the Cosmic Root-substance (God) capable of forming different combinations, which are the basis of the seven great Cosmic Planes of consciousness. There is, in each of these Planes, a different inclination of the axes of motion, and also a different Measure of vibration, consequently the condition and combinations in each one are different from those in any of the others, due to the activity of "The Only Begotten."

We believe that these descriptions which we are using regarding the creation are the best way of describing what took

place. For here we have again great minds speaking of things, not wishing to really give unto God the reality and acceptance of His supremacy. One young seminarian presented me with a book called The Mystery Man of the Bible. It was a little book, well prepared. The English was very good in it. The logic was perfect in it, but here again is the great principle which is the stumbling block to many men who wish to serve God and man.

The writer was a very learned man who wrote it from a literary standpoint but he did not know or understand creation. He did not know or understand the great Jesus, the great teacher and worker of the works.

Any church, any order, or any Christian who knows that Jesus Christ lived -- that the Christos is a reality in this Solar System and that there is a Great Intelligence which is at the foundation of it which is in reality the Cosmic Root-substance. Give this God whatever name you may, this matters not and changes nothing in the creation.

If a power is in action and a force is working so that the work may be accomplished, we know that life is existent there. This is one of the stumbling blocks of many of our brilliant people today who are our Historians, so to speak -- fine professors of English, history, logistics, and so forth. They forget one thing and that is that the power of God does not need a system to work from outside of the original system and creative way in which the Father created it. That infinite power and base of which everything is made may heal, may bring into existence, anything at any time when it is needed.

They seem to forget or disregard the fact that there is a host of teachers that exist here, now come into the earth life - even come into the dense form of the earth when needed, that lived before and that have seen many of the things that happened during the time Our Master was here, that love him and still serve him and still have a fair memory of other times and of other places.

Christ would have the power to build and function in a vehicle similar to that of the Archangels. He could not descend any further into matter.

The Kabbala says that the coming of the Messiah from a sacred cubical stone of the Temple, a white light will be rising for forty days. This light will expand until it encloses the whole world. The king, the Messiah, will come through the gate of the Garden of Eden.

Hermes states in his Apocrypha, "In the middle of the plain he showed me a great white rock which had risen out of the middle of the plain; the rock was higher than the mountains and was able to hold the whole world. The rock was also red, having a gate hewn out of it, but the hewing seemed to be recent."

The rock is the ancient wisdom which belongs to the ages and has been given to man through many revelations varied to suit his growing development from the time he first received the link of mind in the Lemurian society.

All religions have been inspired by the Cosmic Christ, the great Being which carries the unifying Word Principle of God as the precept of His personality. This accounts for the similarity of the work and writing of all the great world teachers. The love power of the Cosmic Christ has united them even as pearls are strung on a golden thread into a single chain. This is the Pearl of Great Price of the great world teachers.

Every race religion and race teacher has been preparing the way for the coming of the Christ to the earth. This does not mean that the other great religions should now be dispensed with. They still have important work to do for the peoples to whom they were given. Nor does it mean that the Christian religion will ever be universally adopted as it is now understood and practiced; it is as yet but a suggestion of what it will be before the present epoch shall have passed over, during which time the Christian religion will steadily grow in beauty, influence and power.

Christ is the supreme World Savior. All other teachers, great and noble as they have been have belonged to our human evolution. This is true also of the high and holy Jesus. But the Christ came from the archangelic Hosts, not to any particular race or people.

He came as the Savior of the world, bringing the light of the Great Mysteries (the recent gate hewn in the rock) that all might become Christed and, rising above the limitations of race, country and creed, enter into one great loving Brotherhood that would reign with Him in the New Day of which the Holy Order of MANSs is His tool.

"At the name of Christ Jesus every knee shall bow and every voice proclaim Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The nucleus of the New race will be drawn from no particular nation or clime, but will be formed of peoples of every land who have learned to manifest the Christ within. The Christ power is the unifying principle that lifts above all differences of creed, caste or color.

"If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another."

Alchemical Furnace

The primordial role of the Christ is to draw to Himself all that, before Him, moved at random. God chose the love of His Incarnate Son as the prime mover of the restored universe.

To show how Christ effected this restoration, some writers use exact analogies between the activities of Jesus and those of Adam. Here we see an existential approach to Christ's redemptive action, for it includes not only the Incarnation and the cross, but every action of his human life.

There was no aspect of human life that was not experienced somehow by Jesus: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, a lifetime of human experiences sanctified by obedience.

By his total obedience, Jesus undoes the disobedience of Adam. Both were virgin-born -- Adam was born of the virgin earth, not of human parents; Christ Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary by the Spirit of God.

Adam sinned through the disobedience of a woman created out of himself; Christ Jesus recapitulates the Fall through the obedience of a woman who gave him birth, the Virgin Mary. Jesus' temptations in the desert and in his passion are paralleled by those of Adam, but Christ always prevails, thus overcoming Adam's disobedience.

However, Jesus' actions are not mere mechanical reversals of the actions of Adam. Through perfect obedience to his heavenly Father, in contrast with Adam's disobedience, he did break the dominion of Satan over mankind and the cosmos, but this alone does not assure the fulfillment of God's plan. His activities, through those commissioned to teach his work and administer his sacraments, are still being prolonged in the universe.

It is through the work of these that man encounters Christ, the fulfiller; and that Christ restores to man the Divine Life lost through sin and error. Through this Divine Life by which man re-creates the world around him in accordance with God's original plan of creation, the whole world enters into the "new creation" of St. Paul.

Race-religions are of the Holy Spirit, and are insufficient because based on law, which makes for sin and brings death, pain and sorrow.

Race-spirits know this, and realize that their religions are merely steps to something better. This is shown by the fact that all such religions point to One Who is to come.

The religion of the Persians pointed to Mithras; the Chaldeans to Tammuz. The Norse gods foresaw the approach of "The Twilight of the Gods," when Surt, the bright Sun-spirit, shall supersede them, and a new and fairer order be established on the regenerated earth.

The Egyptians waited for Horus, the new-born Sun. Mithras and Tammuz were also symbolized as Solar orbs and all the principal Temples were built facing the East, that the rays of the rising Sun might shine directly through the open doors; even St. Peter's at Rome is so placed.

Thus it was generally known that the One Who was to come was a Sun-spirit, and was to save humanity from the separative influences necessarily contained in all race religions.

These religions were steps which it was necessary for mankind to take to prepare for the advent of Christ. Man must first cultivate a "self" before he can become unselfish, and understand the higher phase of Universal Brotherhood -- unity of purpose and interest -- for which Christ laid the foundation at his first coming, and which he will make living realities when he returns. The Christian religion alone is looking not for One to come, but One to come AGAIN. As the fundamental principle of a Race-religion is separation, self-seeking at the expense of others, if this is carried to its ultimate, it must become destructive and frustrating to evolution, unless succeeded by a more constructive religion.

Therefore, the separative religions of the Holy Spirit must give place to the unifying religion of the Son, which is the true Christian religion.

Law must give place to Love, and separate Races and Nations be united in one Universal Brotherhood, with Christ as the Eldest Brother.

This has not yet been fully accomplished. The intellect can see some of the beauties, and readily admits that we should love our enemies, but the passions of the desire body are still strong. The intellect sees, in the abstract, the beauty but sometimes allies itself with the vengeful feelings of the desire body, in retribution or self-protection (as an excuse).

The second Coming depends on the time when Church can free itself from State and stop secreting the full teachings of Jesus and the ancients.

Jesus Christ was a composite individual; Jesus was the mortal, human part, while Christ was the divine, immortal Spirit.

The rise, the reality of the New Age and the revitalization of the Christ and the symbol of the Son is a world rebirth, the same as taking off the dark glasses of a man who has never seen the natural light and color of the world around him.

And make no mistake, that although this great Being exists, and for thousands of years has been known to exist, Jesus Christ is a reality which I assure you, and is giving birth to a new world in which the dying old man of dogma must be buried, and the unification with the Body of Christ and the reality it brings, bringing hope, Life, and joy into the consciousness of those who have given up, and death to the money changers in the temple.

Since the establishment of the reality of Jesus Christ, when Jesus took upon himself the image of the Christ which made him present and at hand, communication has been established between the souls that before his coming knew the feeling of being isolated, unassociated to one another.

At last, crossing the fallen barrier of the body, we are meeting and making contact with what everyone has talked about, the unity of Jesus Christ, the unity of Christ by means of the sacramental Communion which he communicates through his instruction, and this consummates the union of the faithful within himself.

Through an individual and integral contact of soul with soul, flesh with flesh, he is instilled into the matter of their being, their personal consciousness, the consciousness of the need to adhere to his Mystical Body which nurtures the seed of his resurrection, under the reflection and shadow of the Holy Family. In giving him the essential collaboration by exerting a specific effort and activity, we become assimilated into the active pattern.

By lovingly submitting our own anatomy to his, the cohesive factor of our personalities with him lies in loving kindness and humility, by feeling the needs of the community especially in tempering our lives with charity, which makes us see and cherish Christ in every man and gives us the impetus to go forward with immediate urgency even of a single act, because of the unification of all in the One, the kingdom of God, whose realization we have to work for.

For as long as we are not conscious of the reality of God the Father, his messenger Jesus cannot exist to us, for it is the reality of Jesus the Christed One which is the bond which holds together the fruitful efforts which we enact. If we walk with him in our consciousness, then we can compassionately love him who is also becoming a reality.

What more do I need to feel the reassurance of the peace and hope, which peace is what you might call a "soul peace," for it satisfies even in this apparently almost impossible world, where the reflection of cosmic reality exists.

God has made our spiritual growth possible through GOODWILL. The pure heart is the organ of higher life toward which all souls hope to direct conscious effort.

For the fundamental principle of the building of the body of Christ is making use of one of the most ancient of all arts, that of pure alchemy, the symbol of his pure body making us conscious of the moral value of human activity. In the dominion of spiritual morality the divine and the terrestrial meet and are fused.

Let us go back and recapitulate, as we have called this "the Alchemical Furnace" in the life of Jesus. Let us show what we mean in this matter. For the ancient alchemist was a very real person, for his body, his actions, his feelings were part of his tools.

The principle piece of alchemical apparatus was always purported to be the furnace, and it was called an athanor. We as a group, we as a body possess the alchemical instruments, the Great, the Only, which answers the athanor, which answers for the separation of the subtle and the gross, which determines the fixed from the volatile.

This instrument, complete as the world -- this instrument, as precise as mathematics, was symbolized by the five-pointed star.

It is the completion, the perfect, the proceeded of God. It is clearly and definitely the human organism.

In the Chaldean the word athanor means "Essence of Fire," so to speak, and our bodies form the base of the art in which the whole form in the operation of alchemy is performed.

The student is the metal to be transmuted in one way, one route, one use, and the metal must be cleansed in the mind and body of trial and error and purification before the inner secrets are revealed to him.

In their natural state, they cannot receive or handle high tension currents of nature's fire which would destroy the human organism of the average person.

It is absolutely a must that one become a part of that stone which Jesus spoke of before he can hope to make it externally. For unless he really has it, there is no book of instruction that could tell him how -- how to transmute this authority of mastery to someone else.

There is a "power of projection" which links teacher and student and is in fact a substance through which projection, he can communication the wisdom to the student and aid him in his development. This is a force by which the student may be transmuted from the base metal to gold, a liberated personality, the enlightened being. The illuminated one.

You will notice that all of these things took place in the Master's life -- the teaching, the healing, the removal of the entities, the transmutation of his body and the resurrection.

"Dissolution is the whole mystery of the art accomplished, not as some have thought, by means of fire, but in a wholly abstruse manner, by the help of Mercury." This work enables us to control those functions of our bodies which dissolve or break down into their constituent elements, the forms of material taken from our environment. Mercury, which sharpens and quickens the mind, is the true form of that substance which gives the true function of the mental powers.

The secret vessels of the alchemist are the organs of his own body, together with their etheric counterparts. The operation is really a chemical one, under the direction of man's self-conscious intelligence, which begins in man's mind, but is realized by means of changes effected in his physical body.

These changes to the individual as he becomes a new creature is what the Master spoke of when he said you shall be reborn. In consequence of these changes, he becomes a new creature, able to exercise powers which are unknown to the average being.

The Arabic base root of the word alchemy and chemistry meant "pouring" or "infusion." "Alchemy" has been termed by the dictionary as being a "medieval chemical science, whose great object was the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and the discovery of the universal cure for diseases and means of indefinitely prolonging life."

The basis of alchemy, like the basis of yoga, is the idea that man is a direct consequence of the perfectly free, unmodified Spirit, whence all things proceed. This is the true essence of his being. The Great Work is the direction of energy derived from that essence according to the perceptions of an awakened intelligence.

The preliminary in alchemy is the same as the preliminary step in yoga -- that is, to eradicate from the heart all impurities, transmuting the body into a holy temple of God, purged from all uncleanness. The objective is not wealth, but health. Health is the sense of wholeness or completeness.

The initial step of this is certainly "heavenly intention" -- that is, a reaching inward to heaven.

The fire of alchemy is said to be a secret fire, often compared to a serpent or dragon -- a fiery force which yogas say is coiled in the Saturn center at the base of the spine. It is the use of sex forces for good.

Yoga practice raises this "serpent" power, stage by stage, through the seven chakras which alchemy identifies with metals.

Paracelsus, like other sages, declares the Great Work to be performed by the aid of Mercury, and that the only other agencies of the art are the powers of the sun and moon. Likewise does yoga recognize the importance of the power personified by Mercury, as the Upanishad tells us the object of yoga is something which is to be grasped by the mind alone. They also recognize the two other agencies, one hot and fiery called Prana or Surya (surya meaning "sun"); the other agency cold and moist named Rayi, the lunar current.

Alchemy says the whole operation is a work of the sun and moon, aided by Mercury.

In both systems, yoga and alchemy, preparation for the work is establishment of physical purity and ethical freedom from lust, avarice, and other negative tendencies. Success enables adepts to exercise extraordinary powers, to heal disease, to control forces of nature, and to exert a determining influence on circumstances.

The intelligence which aids this work is the self-consciousness of man, which though not the highest level of life-expression, has this power: it can perceive the true order of nature by discerning the principles behind the veil of surface appearances.

The mind of man, his Mercury, is able to discover principles, and to control by suggestion the forces of the subconscious life. It is able to invent and execute new applications, not provided by nature, thus bringing about a finer adjustment and organization of both environment and organism.

The result is the new kind of being, able to receive the influx of energies which would harm an ordinary human body fraught with impurities.

When he becomes illumined, he perceives directly the Truth that he is living the eternal life of the One Power which brings all things into manifestation, and sustains and governs everything in the universe.

At the completion of this Work, his transmuted personality expresses nothing but the inwardly perceived impulses of the One Power. He knows, not merely believes, that all his thoughts, acts, and words are direct expressions of God, the One Will.

He is often discreet in this work, not often revealing his Adeptship. An Adept knows the true significance of even the tiniest details of his daily life and in all things acts as administrator of the eternal laws of Being for the furtherance of the work of God, and the One Plan.

This is the High Goal of the Aspiration of the ages. This is the "confection" of the soul. One of the greats of both mysticism and alchemy.

"The old Adamical flesh of death cometh not to the heavenly flesh: No, it belongeth to the earth, to death; but the eternal flesh is hidden in the old earthly man, and it is in the old man, as the fire in iron, or as the gold in the dark stone. This is the noble stone (Lapis Philosophorum), the Philosopher's Stone, which the Magi find, which tinctureth nature, and generateth a new son in the old. He who findeth that, esteemeth more highly of it than of this outward world.

"He who hath it, and knoweth it, if he seeketh, he may find all things whatsoever are in heaven and in earth. It is the Stone which is rejected of the builders, and is the chief corner stone; upon whatsoever it falleth, it grindeth to power, and kindleth a fire therein. All universities seek it, but find it not by their seeking; sometimes it is found by one that seeketh it rightly. But others (that seek it in self, and for their own gain) despise it and cast it away and so it remaineth hidden still."

"In this Stone there lieth hidden, whatsoever God and the eternity, also heaven, the stars, and elements contain, and are able to do: There never was from eternity anything better or more precious than this, and it is offered by God, and bestowed upon man; every one may have it that doth desire it; it is in a simple form and hath the power of the whole Deity in it."

The Stone represents the union of the central Ego in man, Qabalistically termed Ben, the Son, with the cosmic-Life Power seated in Ab, the Father.

If we find this Stone, Boehme teaches the alchemical Truth that the find is also making, or confecting.

In one sense, the true Stone already exists within each of us, but only in its elements. These must be discovered, and then brought into the perfect union suggested by the presence of the two words, Ab and Ben, in the Hebrew Ehben, meaning Stone.

Jesus in his life, as we have shown in this chapter which we have called "The Alchemical Furnace," set a pattern which all people pass through to some degree according to the level at which they are functioning. There is the birth of the Master so ordained by the Hierarchy and his previous training, the preparation for the new creation, the rebirth by John the Baptist, the ministry, the crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension.

These are all things which one must go through or any substance must go through in the hands of the true alchemist.

This parallel of Jesus' life and the alchemist's furnace is a true reality and it shows the glory and the meticulousness of how the Father works out His plans without disrupting the process of evolution through the initiation of ancient times. We may have, but we know not what, some new processes of life in this coming age, which I would not attempt to predict.

The whole which looks to be like a great complicated system of a life cycle is actually a very elementary system and extremely simple, carrying the same forms in all matter, be it human or mineral.

The Land Of Jesus' Birth

In ancient times this area was called the land of the Amorites after its original inhabitants, but later it was called Canaan for a grandson of Noah. It is now commonly called Palestine, after the Philistines, as this people at a very early date settled the narrow coastal strip along the Mediterranean and thence dominated, for a time, a good part of the entire region. The giant, Goliath, whom David slew with a slingshot, was a Philistine.

The most famous occupants of this land, the Hebrews, did not give their name to the country until the independent state of Israel was established.

Christians refer to Palestine as the Holy Land because it was the scene of Jesus' life. It is also holy to the Hebrews, and in a lesser sense to the Arabs.

Having selected the descendants of Abraham to be His chosen nation, and to serve as purveyors of His revelation to all peoples of the world, God settled them in what the prophet Ezekiel calls "the middle of the world." The country afforded great natural protective barriers, while from this central place their influence could spread far.

Palestine forms part of the Fertile Crescent, so called, which runs along the Mediterranean from Egypt, the whole area being bounded by desert, sea, and mountain, so that places of entry into Palestine were limited. It could be entered from the south by a highroad from Egypt, from the east at a point later called Damascus, and from the northwest only through Phoenicia.

The Hebrews under Moses, who had such a hard time for forty years finding it, entered from the east at a place north of the Dead Sea.

Ancient Palestine lay in both the geographic and cultural center of the known world, surrounded by such great ancient civilizations as the Hittite, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and the Mediterranean civilizations to the west. This brought much trade, intercourse and communication between the great powers passing through Palestine, where contact between all these was established. Divine wisdom seems indeed proven in the selection of this land.

Palestine lies at about the same latitude or distance from the equator as our state of Georgia, and is in its entirety about the size of New Hampshire, comprising around 12,000 square miles. The entire area is said at one time to have lain beneath the Mediterranean sea, and great geological forces pushed up the crust of the earth to produce the great depression which is the Jordan Valley, and which runs south to the Dead Sea, the lowest depression on the earth.

While the entire seacoast area was very fertile, it offered no harbors, due to the abruptness of the coast. The only venture to alleviate this situation was made by Herod, who built the seaport of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast just before the time Jesus was born.

Samaria and lower Galilee were the garden spots of Palestine, whereas Judea was mainly suitable for grazing with the exception of the area around Bethlehem and Hebron where farming could be successful. Jerusalem was situated in Judea, which was near the south of Palestine, Bethlehem being located about six miles south of Jerusalem.

The climate varied in different parts of the country, but did not usually overtax the residents. Ancient Israel was not dependent on imported goods. At the same time the people always had vividly before them the truth that they were absolutely dependent on the Author of the laws of nature, for if rain failed at the proper time, or if an untimely dust-laden wind blew in from the desert, they would face a crop failure.

Historical Sketch of the Hebrews

The history of Jesus' people falls into three periods, called the patriarchal, the monarchal, and the postexilic. The patriarchal period extends from Abraham to Saul who was the first king of Israel; the monarchal period shows the ascent of the Hebrews to the heights of power and influence, to take their place among the great people of antiquity.

Seeds of disintegration were sowed by power and prosperity, and the years of decline brought the nation almost to extinction. The last-mentioned period begins with the Hebrews in exile in Babylon, whence they emerged to re-establish the Jewish commonwealth. It was during the last period the roots of Judaism are to be found which led to the birth of Jesus.

Patriarchal Age

Abraham was called by God from Ur, in Mesopotamia, to become the founder of the Hebrew nation, and the father of his people in the land of Canaan. His descendants eventually increased in great number through his grandson Jacob, who had twelve sons, the families of whom formed the twelve tribes of Israel. The sons were named Reuben, Simeon, and Levi (who became the forebear of the Levitical priesthood), Judah (from whose descendants should come the Messiah), Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin.

Then at certain difficult times these people went to Egypt, until the Egyptian government became very harsh with them, using them for cruel and enforced labor. Their national solidarity was established by shared hardships, and when Moses of the Levites came to lead them out of Egypt to a promised land, under God's direction, they followed him across the Red Sea to the River Jordan, and took possession of the land beyond. Through Moses was revealed to them the books of their Law, their ritual, and rules whereby to live. The Jews faced enemies for centuries after, both in the physical and religious sense, in taking over Palestine.

Monarchal Period

Once established as masters of Palestine, the Hebrews clamored for a king like those who ruled over the neighboring nations. The patriarchal form of government was thus discarded, and Saul became the first Hebrew king, anointed into office by the prophet Samuel. Saul's son-in-law, David and David's son, Solomon, brought the Hebrew nation to its greatest worldly heights, for David conquered all of Palestine, and Solomon brought the nation to the status of a world power. Solomon's reign was a peaceful one following the conquests of David, so he was allowed to build the great Temple under divine direction.

Solomon's contradictory policies, however, sowed seeds of dissension, so after his death the empire was split asunder, and ten of the tribes seceded to the north of Palestine, where they established the kingdom of the north, or the kingdom of Israel. The two tribes that remained loyal continued what was known as the kingdom of the south, or the kingdom of Juda, later called Judea.

Both kingdoms were destroyed eventually, Israel in 721 B.C. by the assyrians, and Juda in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. The period of the divided kingdoms brought times of material prosperity for growing numbers of the aristocracy, but of increased poverty for the less fortunate, and of spiritual decay and degeneracy as deplored by their prophets.

Postexilic Period

This third period of Hebrew history is important in that it saw the end of exile, when Persia came into power and Cyrus sent the Jews home to re-establish their commonwealth. From then on, the Jews passed successively under Persian, Greek and Roman domination, except for a short period of independence under the Macabees.

The Jews in exile, away from their Temple and without a functioning priesthood had to modify many of their laws and practices, giving rise to the synagogue and to oral interpretations.

When Cyrus sent them home, they rebuilt the Temple at Jerusalem which had been destroyed. It was here that enmity sprang up between the Jews and Samaritans. All were inhabitants of Palestine, the land of Samaria sandwiched between Judea and Galilee.

When the Samaritans offered to help the Jews rebuild their Temple, they were spurned. The Jews came more and more to regard the Samaritans as a hybrid and heretic people, so this hatred increased, until some of the Jewish priests who were involved in mixed marriages (frowned upon by the Jews) later deserted to the Samaritans and built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim.

The Hellenistic Period

In 333 B.C. Alexander the Great conquered Syria and Palestine, and with this event began the Hellenistic period. Alexander wanted to spread Greek civilization over the world, and he brought everywhere the Greek language and culture, endeavoring to assimilate the best of local culture as well. This is the reason the New Testament came to be written in Greek.

After Alexander's death, his empire split in two parts, and the rulers, the Ptolemies of Egypt, and the Seleucids of Syria, battled for possession of Palestine, so that in twenty-five years, Jerusalem changed hands seven times. From that time on, there were intermittent periods of quiet and warfare until 198 B.C. when the Ptolemies gave up the struggle and left Palestine to the cruelties of the Syrian Seleucids.

One indication of the horror of these years is the fact that the population dwindled to 100,000, while many people fled to Egypt or to Greek cities. Economics were so bad that the people had to be exempted from tax for three years, because there was no money in Palestine.

During all these years the high priest was supreme over the religious lives of the people, advised by the council of the Elders, the forerunner of the Sanhedrin. But the Greek rulers were bent on paganizing the Jews, and began to forbid circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, and the reading of the Scriptures. One king erected an altar to Jupiter in the Hebrew Temple and offered sacrifices of swine. He pursued the same policy toward the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim.

At first the Jews submitted to martyrdom, but resistance soon broke out into open rebellion, and the Maccabean War ensued, led by a priest of the family of Hasmon, who used guerrilla tactics from the wilderness. He, followed by his brilliant son Judas Maccabaeus, was successful, and the Syrians were eventually routed. Then the Temple service was restored amid great festivity. This event is commemorated annually for eight days in the Feast of the Dedication, also known as the Feast of Lights, or Hanukkah, because of the many torches used in the celebration.

Complete Jewish independence was won, and the office of king was refused by their ruler in favor of that of high priest, and three brothers ruled in turn. On their deaths, the son of one of them inherited the office, one John Hyrcanus (134 to 104 B.C.) who added considerable territory and engaged in extensive building, but ruled in a materialistic way, outraging the religious Jews, and especially the Pharisees.

Here began the party strife between the Pharisees and the aristocratic Sadducees which would eventually lose the hard-won independence. The feud between the two factions continued with many years of squabble and intrigue until Pompey, who was petitioned for help to restore the priesthood, simply annexed Palestine. Then began a struggle between Pompey and Rome, until Caesar finally defeated Pompey and took over Judea. During this time, the Jewish ruler was left in office in name only.

Julius Caesar had a policy of allowing complete religious freedom throughout his empire, but he was assassinated four years after his victory over Pompey. There followed years of turbulence, during which Jerusalem was left somewhat unguarded while the Roman Antony was consolidating his power.

Herod took advantage of this. Having earlier fled to Rome, he got himself appointed king by the Romans, but it took him three years to occupy the throne. He had to conquer back most of the territory and take Jerusalem to rule it.

Herod spent several years consolidating his power, amid bloodshed and much cruelty. After this, he began to devote himself to great building projects for his own glorification. Then he became haunted by constant suspicions which led to even greater acts of cruelty and inhumanity.

Herod governed well enough in some ways, but he always sided with Rome rather than with the Jews. When Antony was defeated, Herod quickly shifted allegiance to Augustus. He began in 19 B.C. to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. Herod died in 4 B.C. (before Christ). By this we know the time of Jesus' birth was off by about six years, for Jesus was at least two years old when Herod died, bringing the birth of Jesus to around 6 or 7 B.C., at least.

It was into this political situation that our Lord was born. His people were groaning under the oppression of the foreign rule, and equally under their own king, who was not really Jewish at all, but Idumean and Arabic by birth, Roman by sympathy, and Greek by name.

Reason For Coming

The one thing which most writers forget is that the Master Jesus came to this Earth with a pre-determined pattern of Life and that certain attributes had been assembled to fulfill this mission, which was also the Will of the Father.

In the crystallized condition of the earth and social status of the world two thousand years ago, there existed such a decayed condition that it was impossible for the mass of the people to be taught the reality of the power of the Christos, and the family of Light, Life and Love which is the Triangle of Creation.

Thus it was that Jesus Christ, being a highly evolved Master, came to earth and accepted the image of the Christos and allowed his body to be used as a point of mediation and symbol for that omnipotent power to express its triune reality -- Light, Life and Love. So that those people which accepted him would also be accepting the Christ, which in turn, when they accepted this through his symbol, made it possible for the symbol of God and the power of the Father to come directly to them as they had established a consciousness through the symbolic reality, which they could hold and then would become an active agent in their life. And this is what he meant when he said: "Only through me shall you see the face of the Father."

The condition of Earth at that period was that of an orb which had started by crystallize so badly that the many new starts by some new people here had failed, so it was necessary that some Cosmic Alchemy be performed in order to bring life and progression back into the planet.

Jesus returned here knowing that the Crucifixion, the Death, the Resurrection and the Ascension, were to take place so the last three great initiations would manifest on Earth.

But in order that this be carried out, it was necessary for him to feel and experience this, the same as one going through this for the first time.

It was necessary for him to feel the loneliness of the Garden, the same as when a person feels this and is not conscious of the initiation in everyday life. Then there is the time that all people turn against you and you are left not only alone, but turned against by all your friends and relations; thus it follows through all initiations. Then the illumination and rebirth -- and then comes the resurrection.

Jesus wished to assume and did assume it; he assumed a flesh body and form to be used in his life. This was necessary so that he might sanctify human flesh by putting that form into use. He made the physical form ready for the Resurrection in the Light Body.

In the Christian Cosmic concept, the world of matter retains its place in the Cosmic role of evolving substance, but still holds its primordial place, still essential in the union with the Body in Christ. Parts of this matter in its finer state will pass into and through the Transmutation, into the forming of the Bodies of Man and the denser world in producing the New Heaven and New Earth.

Likewise, if you are concerned with the progress and place in this time, what is going to happen in these days of change to Churches and Orders that have been in existence a long time -- such Orders will be approached, and are given as their final end the fulfillment of Christ; they will be transformed into a great and virtuous body as a carrier of Light. The world will be the widest form of Love of God in Service.

Jesus, who had assumed the personality of the Christos and became the living image on the Earth plane of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Messenger, the One that literally gave up all even to taking the last three great initiations on the material, seeable level.

Jesus assumed the Reality of the Christos so completely that he increased in size proportionately to his consciousness and of the Christos, so that now he actually encompasses the Earth, and we live with the encompassing Being of the CHRIST JESUS.

The man in whom the Illumination has been attained, may receive and enjoy the Cosmic Vision of the Master, now Lord of Earth, even more real than other realities in the world, the power and presence of which is constantly growing.

Christ brought about the final determination of the Cosmic Triune principle in reality of this Universe, so that man may truly be said to live in a state where confusion cannot live or penetrate him, but here the universal need of Man is fulfilled and is most actively pursued.

Christ Jesus, then, in coming to Earth in the person of Jesus the Master, clothed his person in the most sensible body and with a personality most intimate, and a human charm as an individual which could only be motivated by the three great principles of Light, Life and Love of the Christos incarnate; a first offspring of the Father Creator. He adorned that humanity with the most entrancing and Masterful splendor of this universe.

He came among us as the Living Law of the New Age, surpassing all hope of perfection in such a crystal clear manner that man of all states of development could not help but see and feel his presence, either to hate or to love him.

At the time of his appearance and ever since, a thrill passes through the seething mass of Mankind that has, and still does make it tremble in every fiber, so it vibrates as a whole.

The multitude of the Elect was already starting to gather and isolating itself in the midst of the Multitude. This is still going on, in spite of everything -- the principle of unity which saves our world because of his redemptive love wherein all is in a process of returning to him -- NOT TO DUST BUT TO CHRIST JESUS -- for through the force of his magnetism and the Light of his being, the unitive power of his being, Jesus establishes again at the very heart of this earth, the harmony of all endeavors united and the convergence of them all, from all that turn to him which consists of the heart of the earth, the Golden Atom.

Let us read boldly from the Gospel without dogma and we shall see that no idea can better convey to our minds the reality of his redemptive function of the Word he gave; that of the unification of all flesh to one spiritual level and the same spirit of the great Christos, taking on the Divine magnetism.

Christ's prime role is to draw to himself, on his level of function, all that of the earth before him, so that it is functioning in harmony. Thus he will have an influence powerful enough to guide their wayward paths into a uniform direction. The intellectuals were the ones who hesitated and parted company.

The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus manifesting the Supreme Initiation was so that the Universe could subsist even in its natural evolution. It was necessary above all, that the dynamic soul of ONE and the same vigorous impetus should again be installed into man God loved, through God's choice of His incarnate Son as the prime mover of the restored Universe.

Christ Jesus then clothed his person in the most simple and most intimate charm of human individuality. He adorned that humanity with the most magnificent and most masterful splendors of the Universe. He then came amongst us as the synthesis surpassing all hope of all perfection, such that every man was necessarily obliged to see and feel his presence.

For on that day ignorance was conquered by his incarnation, and again was quickened within man the eagerness for the development that they saw in this Christ being and the desire to save the world that was withering, even in its natural roots, as he took his place at the head of creation on the earth.

Moreover, the road of our Savior was followed and man was called on to follow with him, on that very road that beings had always taken in order to leave the non-beings far behind.

The reflective, heavenly task to which Christ summoned and drew us, uniting us in one common urge, a sort of unconscious part, a continuous hunger, a terrestrial work of the former ages. That under the outward appearances of a kindly and humble and moral teacher, the law of purity and Christian Charity hides the operation which is pure fire, in which the original many facets of being are recast and fused into its unity and is consummated.

And in order to give us a true active work which would involve the organic form of the universe; thus making it Divine as in Jesus Christ in his own personal, mystical and Cosmic Body, who through the magnetism of his love and the effectiveness of the power of the Father coming through him, which was the love of the Father brought through our Lord and the effective power which he has given the Eucharist and its daily use, gradually gathers into himself the energy scattered throughout this orb and his creation. This is the active fiat in the Eucharist.

As Christ becomes more and more incarnated in this globe and in the universe, and expels the guilt which is great of the world, so step by step the other evil effects of the multitude and suffering, retreat and decrease. In its external and sensible form, no doubt, pain has not yet ceased to threaten us and disorganize us. The earth is still a place of blood and tears, but already the blood flows less freely and the tears are not as bitter above the tormented flesh and the agonized hearts.

For into the deeper zones of reality in which the soul is molded for eternal life, peace has entered; a peace such as the evil of the world has no knowledge and cannot give. The peace that is the awareness of the unity of Jesus Christ. The first really realized reality of his presence to those who have not known.

"So peace will come again on earth, but a peace unlike aught known before. Then will the will-to-good flower forth as under- standing, and understanding blossom as goodwill in men."

Government Of Palestine

Matthew 4:16 - " . . . across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

The birthplace of our Lord was a place of deep darkness, not only the darkness of a cave apart from the crowded wayfarer's inn, not only a humble spot far from the splendor of the royal palaces of temporal rulers, but he appeared set aside even from the central symbols of the Jewish religion, their great Temple at Jerusalem, and the priesthood.

This temple and its high priest as the man who stood closest to God, were the nucleus and the most important influences in both the Jewish religion and nation, which were essentially the same. But in these times, they had become shrouded in hypocrisy, with evil intrigue and spiritual darkness, and in addition to this they were suffering the tortured politics of a nation under foreign control.

The first temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon had been ransacked and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., and rebuilt by the Jews about seventy years later when they were released from Babylonian captivity and returned home. This building was then used until the reign of Herod the Great who was still in office at the time of Jesus' birth. He managed to keep the Temple in continual use, while demolishing and completely rebuilding one room at a time.

Herod began this building in the year 19 B.C. He had accumulated vast quantities of materials, hired 10,000 laborers to work on the outside, and trained 1,000 in the art of masonry to build the inner section, because lay people, according to the

Hebrew law, were not permitted to enter there. The construction of this inner temple, the true sanctuary, took one and one-half years, the outer part with courts and cloisters another eight years. It is little wonder that the people marveled when Jesus said that he would tear down and rebuild this temple in three days.

It had been newly-dedicated only about five years before his birth, though some of the actual work of construction went on for many years longer, being fully finished only about six years before its total and final destruction in 70 A.D. along with the city of Jerusalem, in a war with Rome. In 135 A.D. after continuing war, Rome barred the city of Jerusalem against the Jews, and they have been wanderers ever since, only now returning to Palestine, in fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.

The scene in the manger lends itself to sentimentality and by its tenderness has brought much beauty to the Christmas celebration, but the obscurity of his birth was of practical value and probably well-planned to assure needed protection, in order that his very life might be saved from jealous rulers and that he might survive to grow "in wisdom and grace" and to perform his mission in the fullness of time.

For the governing powers of that day were vicious and merciless. Seldom could one find such a contrast between the semblance of riches and that which has true and lasting value. For the courts were magnificent in lush extravagance of monetary wealth, beauty and pleasures of the flesh, but in gross poverty of spirit or character.

While Jesus was not outwardly homeless and unrecognized, he carried with him the lasting gold of spiritual riches and the permanent throne they could never hope to approach in their clouded existence.

A Scythian monk in the sixth century, called Dionysius the Little, mistakenly set the date of Jesus' birth in the year of Rome 754, and from this year is calculated the beginning of the Christian era. But while no historical record can be found of the date or year of Jesus' birth, there is amply recorded documentation of the reign of Herod, and the fact that this death occurred in 4 B.C. as the calendar now stands. This would mean he died four years before Jesus was born, which is obviously untrue.

He was still alive and in Jerusalem when the Magi came through seeking the child. After this time it was known he moved to Jericho for his health. So Jesus could not have been born later than 5 "B.C.," and more probably about 6 B.C., or six years "before Christ" as our calendar is reckoned. It has also been established that Jesus' public ministry began somewhere between 27 and 29 A.D.

Palestine, his geographical birthplace, which was named for the Philistines, covers an area slightly larger than our state of Vermont. It is bounded by the Mediterranean on the west coast, the Syrian-Arabian desert on the east, the Lebanon mountains on the north, and in the south by Idumea, and desert regions near the Dead Sea. It is divided lengthwise by the two hundred mile long River Jordan which is singularly interesting, in that the riverbed where it enters the Dead Sea is at 2592 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, the deepest "continental depression" known in the land area of the world. It has a sub-tropical climate with two seasons, rainy in winter and dry in summer.

Jesus was a GALILEAN (Mark 1: 9, 14; 6: 6). This fact was of far-reaching significance for his whole career. For Galilee was the "Circle of the Gentiles," galil hagoyim (Matthew 4:15; Isaiah 9: 1), either because it was surrounded by foreign nations or because (in later times) the Jews were surrounded by foreigners.

This region, lying between Samaria in central Palestine and the mountains of Lebanon on the north border, and between the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the Jordan on the east, was fertile and populous in the first century. But it had not always been Jewish territory.

In the days of Jesus, there were many non-Jews, especially Syrians, Phoenicians, Arameans, Greeks and Romans living there.

Herod

Politically, his land of birth was seething with unrest. Herod the Great was a treacherous and ambitious king, not really a Jew, but part Arab and part Idumean, a nation formerly subjected by the Jews and forced to turn to Judaism. Herod was loyal to Rome because it was the strongest power of the day and his throne depended on the favor of the Roman Emperor. Though Rome had conquered Palestine, they allowed Herod to continue on his throne. Therefore, he carefully backed whichever faction could give him the most in return.

He was hated by the Jews even though he did certain public work which included the building of a needed seaport town called Caeserea, where he kept a palace as well as the one in Jerusalem. Not only did he rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, he was simultaneously erecting pagan temples in Samaria and elsewhere. Not only did he acknowledge the Jewish faith, he also offered up a sacrifice to Jupiter to please his Roman peers, upon being awarded the throne.

The magnificence and evil corruption of his court were supported by treasures from the tomb of David, which he entered secretly at night. The building programs were financed by very heavy tax burdens on the people, corruptly administered by "tax farmers" who took the job on contract. Josephus called him "a cruel man toward all . . . . dominated by his rage." He killed, or ordered killed, countless people including several members of his own immediate family, and is considered one of the bloodiest men in history.

We will spare further details on this, to mention something else which has no bearing on this account, but it is interesting to note that the reign of Herod overlapped that of Cleopatra in Egypt. Her last seven years and his first seven on the throne coincided in time. She died in 30 B.C.

Roman Governor

Such were the times in Jesus' day, with harsh Rome as the ruling power over-running the European and Mediterranean world. Rome started out a program quite lenient on the Jews, awarding them with concessions not granted to other provinces due to their reputation of being difficult to rule.

Their religious customs received tactful respect, and they were allowed the traditional exemption from the draft. King Herod had his own band of mercenary soldiers, while the Roman procurator, a military governor sent out from Rome to oversee the provinces and to keep military order, had under separate command cohorts of non-Jewish soldiers loyal to Rome. (Not until 26 A.D. would Pontius Pilate take this office in Jerusalem.)

The procurator was in turn under the supervision of a superior officer stationed in Syria, which was the headquarters for Rome and the legions in that area of the world, for Syria was a rich and more productive area than Palestine and always a coveted prize.

It was later in the century that increasingly brutal governors were sent out, as the Jews became more rebellious, until war was finally precipitated which wiped out the Jewish nation in 70 A.D. With what poignancy must Jesus have spoken the words, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not . . .Behold your house is desolate . . . and I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

The Anointed

Jesus Christ did not drop down to mankind like a meteor from the sky nor was he just a man who turned out to be more evolved and thus superior to all the rest. He represented a marriage of heaven and earth, born of the Creator and a human being.

The Christian qualities and teachings he brought with him represent both aspects of this marriage. While the Spirit in them is of God, the roots of his human nature were planted deep in the soil of Judaism, a soil which had been in intensive cultivation for many centuries in anticipation of just this event -- the culmination of all Hebrew teachings and prophecies in the arrival of the Messiah.

The prophecies are in the Old Testament of the Bible, still used by Christians though actually they are the Scriptures of the Hebrew faith which is sometimes called Judaism. In fact, Jesus was born a Hebrew of the tribe of Judah.

Anyone approaching the Old Testament for the first time, or one who is seeking spiritual upliftment in the old scriptures, tends to feel appalled at the bloodshed, polygamy, rape, destruction and deception -- these things not merely being done in disobedience to God, but often directed by His own prophets and spokesmen.

We must remember that these scriptures also record the history of a nation, and history has always in the past been bloody, for mankind at his baser level has acted abominably. The high office of kings seldom indicated loftiness of character. On the contrary, their selfish desires only had influence over more people, and the opportunities for evil were multiplied. One must admit that while the Christian Scriptures are lofty in their teaching, the history of Christianity on earth since the day it was given by Jesus, is far from unblemished.

The Hebrew nation was actually less cruel and behaved with better conscience than did most of their neighboring non-Jewish countries. Their saving grace was a steadfast belief in One Omnipotent, Invisible God, rather than the powers ascribed to graven images that represented the many gods of their pagan neighbors -- granted they sometimes lapsed, or took on certain aspects of other religions, thus bringing down upon their heads exile and desolation.

But the cries of their inspired prophets, ruggedly selfless individuals, continually warned and turned them back to the One whom they all worshipped. And they would repent, causing God to forgive again and again, and give them another chance.

The words of the prophets are as powerful as the psalms of praise are beautiful. And on second reading, or on opening the Bible at random to the Old Testament, one finds many wondrous passages and words of inspired guidance which seems to anticipate the very spiritual experience one is passing through.

As the Book of Hebrews states in chapters 8 and 9, God had commanded Moses to make all things according to the pattern shown him on the Mount; for the Law was but a shadow of the things to come, and not the perfection of the things themselves.

It seems as if the Old Testament acted as does the shadow of coming events casting themselves before or prefiguring the actual things to come.

There is yet another phase of the Old Testament, often overlooked, which is that actual miracles were performed, some almost as wondrous as those of Jesus, bringing back to life a dead person, for example. And the visions of Ezekiel are not unlike some of those which John saw in Revelations.

The backbone of the Old Testament were the Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, followed by their Lawgiver Moses, who received the commandments from God; then there were King David and his son Solomon.

Jacob's twelve sons formed the basis for the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob's son Levi became the forebear of the tribe of Levites, who were designated by Moses to be the priests of Israel, exempt from tithing and supported by the tithes of the others. Jacob's son, Judah, became the forebear of David, and eventually of the mother of Jesus (or at least of Joseph).

The backbone of the Jewish teaching and daily life was the Law which Moses had brought them from Mount Sinai.

The blood, passion and cunning of the Old Testament, after the initial shock, mellows with the passing years to provide a rich compost for the soil of that which is to come.

In fact, when one has somewhat transcended beyond personal reaction, it takes on a warmth, something like a rich brown stew, made up of a juicy blend of men's passions, spiced with his courage and faith, and above which rises higher and higher the aroma of prayer and the yearning desire for salvation -- for the one who would save them according to the ancient promises.

Through all the Scriptures were woven the mighty prophecies of the One who would come to save all the people, who would reign from the throne of David over all Israel forever.

By the time Jesus was born, the pleas for the appearance of this longed-for King had reached a great crescendo, which must have found its ultimate fulfillment in the chorus sung by angels to the shepherds outside Bethlehem -- "On earth peace, to men of good will."

The extreme national consciousness of Jewish people places strong belief in the divinity of anointed kings, and even after the Hebrew monarchy had fallen, led them to expect a Messianic (anointed) ruler who would restore the kingship and its autocratic power.

What is Messiah? The word "Messiah" simply means "anointed," as does the word "Christ" -- Christ, or Christos being the Greek translation, while Messias is the Hebrew.

In former days, those of special assignment were anointed in token of their initiation into high office. Kings, high priests, and sometimes prophets were anointed.

Saul, David, Solomon and Joash received the royal unction; Aaron and his sons received the sacerdotal of the priesthood; and God Himself ordered Elijah to give Elisha the prophetic unction. Therefore, the term Messiah, Christ, or "Anointed" was given to kings, and also to certain patriarchs and prophets.

It has not been recorded whether Jesus Christ ever received any external unction, nor whether the apostles anointed the faithful with oil or ointment. This is unlikely, as the anointing which refers to Christ Jesus is that spiritual and internal unction of grace and the Holy Spirit, of which the outward and sensible unction which was anciently applied to kings, priests and prophets, was but the figure and symbol.

The term "Christ" as used in the New Testament represents that holy power which Christed or anointed the blessed Jesus at his time of Baptism, by virtue of which he became the most perfect of men and the highest Initiate of earth's humanity. It is true that his feet were once anointed with costly ointment, and Jesus remarked that the woman was anointing him for burial. He may have indicated that when the spiritual anointing reached all the way down to become a physical fact, it had been brought into earth for finality.

The Jews undoubtedly expected that the Messiah, the Anointed son of David, would, like David, be anointed into the kingship of Israel, to rule over his people temporally as well as spiritually. They hoped he would drive out the Romans and rescue them from the sore oppression which was upon their land. Certain false Messiahs actually did try these forceful methods, but to no avail.

In the Synoptic Gospels the discussion of the Messiahship of Jesus is handled quite otherwise than in John. Let us point out once more, to refresh the reader's recollection, that the word "Messiah" - in Hebrew, or Mashiah; in Aramaic, Meshiha; in Greek Xpiotos (Christos), which is also the past participle of the verb "to anoint" (Xpiw), phonetically transcribed into Latin as Christus, was originally a title of the kings of Israel because they were "anointed," (This is the literal meaning of the Semitic words and of their Greek equivalent), or consecrated with holy oil.

Later it became, on the basis of certain passages of the Old Testament that were regarded as prophecies, the designation of the unknown descendant of the royal family of David who, it was hoped, would one day appear to reclaim the throne of his ancestors and to restore the independence and prosperity of his country. It does not follow, however, as even some theologians honestly admit, that the expectation of the Messiah was as widespread among the people as the evangelical tradition would have one think. Possibly some hysterical patriot (such as the leaders of the Zealot movement) or some fanatical preachers had occasionally claimed to be the messengers of the future Messiah, or even the Messiah himself, without thereby having aroused any dangerous thoughts in the minds of men, as Catholic theology asserts.

After the Hebrews had finally conquered Palestine, their government continued to maintain its theocratic form. The power of the priestly caste was unshakable, and the kings themselves had to accept investiture through consecration with holy oil (olive oil perfumed with myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia).

Messianic Prophecy

Let us look at the actual prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures which pointed to a Messiah. His history was, in fact, written before he was ever born, as you will see from the following pages. Most of these you will remember having read about in the Gospels, where it was mentioned how each prophecy was fulfilled.

"And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham and said .... and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
-- Genesis 22:15-18.

A prophet, Balaam, son of Beor, said: "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel."
-- Numbers 24:15-17. (This refers to the Star of Bethlehem, Christ Jesus, King of the Jews.)

The dying Jacob said: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till he come that is to be sent; and he shall be the expectation of nations."
-- Genesis 49:10.

The sceptre spoken of -- meaning the respected center or Holy Land which all still look to for its nearness to the great scene of Calvary. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him . . . In that day shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek."
-- Isaiah 11: 1-6, 9-10.

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
-- Isaiah 7:14.

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel."
-- Micah 5: 2.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
-- Isaiah 9:6.

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
-- Isaiah 40: 1-4.

"Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Savior cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."
-- Isaiah 62:11.

"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me . . . "
-- Isaiah 61: 1.

"He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son."
-- II Samuel 7:13-14.

"The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."
-- Psalms 2: 7.

"He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth."
-- Psalms 89:26-27.

"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lord, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."
-- Isaiah 25:8-9.

"He hath found out all the ways of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men."
-- Baruch 3:36-37.

"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken . . . And I will put my words into his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."
-- Deuteronomy 18: 15-19.

"Therefore, my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"
-- Isaiah 52: 6-7.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
-- Jeremiah 31: 31-33.

"I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old."
-- Psalms 78: 2.

"I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with Judgment."
-- Ezekiel 34: 15-16.

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."
-- Isaiah 42: 1-10.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
-- Zechariah 9: 9.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord . . ."
-- Psalms 118:24-26.

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
-- Read most of Chapter 53 of Isaiah.

"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior."
-- Isaiah 45:15.

"I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien to my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me."
-- Psalms 69:8-9.

"Therefore, let us lie in wait for the righteous: because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the Law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressions of our education. He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the Son of the Lord. He was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father."
-- Wisdom 2:12-16.

"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rules take council together, against the Lord, and against his anointed . . ."
-- Psalms 2: 2.

"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
-- Psalms 41:9

"Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
-- Psalms 69:20-21.

"For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him."
-- Psalms 71:10-11. 48

"If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was priced at of them."
-- Zechariah 11:12-13.

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered."
-- Zech. 13: 7.

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth."
-- Isaiah 53: 7.

"They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."
-- Psalms 22:16-18.

"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then shall he answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
-- Zech. 13: 6.

"He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken."
-- Psalms 34:20.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed.:
-- Isaiah 53: 5.

"Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors."
-- Isaiah 53:12.

"My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
-- Psalms 16: 9-11.

"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious."
-- Isaiah 11:10.

"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for their possession."
-- Psalms 2: 8.

"Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."
-- Psalms 110: 1.

"At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands."
-- Isaiah 17: 7-8.

"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish, . . . his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats."
-- Isaiah 2:17-20.

"Listen, O isles, unto me: and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb . . . and now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, and to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth . . . Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee."
-- Isaiah 49:1, 5-6, and 18.

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
-- Daniel 7:13-14.

These extracts, which might easily be increased in number, are taken from the Bible as preserved by the Jews; the books of which this Bible was composed having been edited many centuries before Jesus, and altogether embracing a period of more than fourteen hundred years.

These fragmentary passages form so complete and detailed a picture of the Messiah, it might easily be believed that they were written by the evangelists after his advent. All the essential features are found there: his kinship with Abraham; his descent from Jacob and David. Jesus' birth from a virgin, the universal expectation directed towards him, his birth in the little town of Bethlehem.

Jesus origin from everlasting to everlasting in the Bosom of God, his Divine Sonship, his identity as Savior, his flight into Egypt, his retreat into the despised land of Nazareth, the coming of his predecessor, and his divine unction by the fullness of the Spirit.

Jesus did function as prophet, evangelist, and miracle-worker. His character personified the goodness without limit, and the infinite gentleness. Then we look at the mystery wherein his divine nature was wrapped. The persecution and hatred by which he was pursued, all the details of the death he was to undergo, his agony, his betrayal for thirty pieces of silver by one of his own disciples, the cross he was to bear, his burial, his resurrection, and, last of all, his dazzling triumph proclaimed before the face of the world over death, which is least thought of, taking into consideration all that was accomplished through him by the Father and the Host.

In the full light of history, Jesus' undermining of idolatry, by the terrible chastisement of his persecutors at the hands of the Gentile world, by the establishment of his Father's Word and reign in the midst of that world which, in attacking Jesus proved his indestructible power and his eternality.

All of the documents, the writings dispersed and scattered through the ages, are like the stones of some huge edifice, hewn and carved by unknown workmen, under the inspiration of an invisible architect whose designs were not fully disclosed to any creature.

When Jesus Christ appeared, he revealed in his person and work, in his way of teaching of the way God created the Earth and this Solar System -- and life, the mystery which had been hidden from all generations past.

One by one he accomplished all the prophecies, and realized in every detail what they had announced: this he said to all, and endeavored to persuade his nation of it.

The doctors refused to understand him; they could not grasp the spiritual meaning of the symbolical language used by their prophets, nor free themselves from their pride of race and religion.

Revolted by the elements of sorrow, humiliation, and death, which were among the essential characteristics of the true Messiah, they were unable to raise themselves to his divine nature, and to unite in a bold synthesis the double mystery of divinity and suffering humanity united in him.

The people could not recognize the imperfection of their law which was to disappear before the living law of Christ, and though their obstinate blindness before the Messiah had been announced by their prophets, they never suspected their obstinacy and blindness and dashed themselves against the cornerstone whereon was to be erected the whole building of God.

Some few, chosen from among the ignorant and simple, those whom were the most despised, were alone initiated into this Messianic truth; they learned in the school of Jesus, what the wise of their nation had been unable to see.

Their faith, illuminated by the Spirit, confessed the divine Sonship and the awful mystery of the sorrows of the Son of Man; they recognized in him the invincible Lion of Judah.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, endured to be slain. It is to these poor uneducated men that we are indebted for the knowledge of him who, being in the form of God, made himself of no reputation, while in the form of Man. Jesus was obedient to his Father, even to the death on the cross -- the punishment which was given to slaves.

What an effort was required for those men of antiquity to behold the humble Jesus and to recognize in him any greatness!

He began life quietly, a descendant of an ancient but subjugated race that had lost all political power and was captive to the hated Romans.

Unlike many false messiahs of Palestine he evinced no desire to restore its vanished greatness. His friends were in no way conspicuous for their splendid intellects or even their personal gifts.

Jesus' teachings appealed primarily to the uneducated. They left the theologians of his own country unconvinced, and even his relatives once suspected that he had gone mad. They rejected the announcement of the Eucharist, and brought him to an end as one of three condemned criminals, ridiculed and despised. Remember this crucifixion was destined to take place.

The unhappy aspect of this picture has lost some of its appeal. But if this should be the Christian way of life, then we must face the fact that a Christian is called upon to act in contradiction to the world's ideas of greatness. This is the thing that is required of Man, that he shall give up the World and "Follow Me," spake Jesus Christ.

Christ Jesus reversed all past ideas of grandeur, but this position was chosen by God (Infinite Power). For God to give the Word to Jesus Christ, the Savior, whom in turn would and did pass it on to Mankind.

Through the Word man had free choice and true freedom of choice. For he revealed God's Idea of what the Will of God was, that reveals God's Idea of what is good for Man.

In repudiating Jesus, in their determination not to understand him, the Jews lost the true sense of their Book. They preserve it, however, and read it; but do not understand it: for them it is a closed and sealed book.

The Messianic idea, the hero and his work, are its bond of unity and life; and these things escape their notice: they are without meaning except as explained by the doctrine, the person, and the work of Jesus.

Now here is an event unique in history, we commend to all who reject prophecy and the prophetic books. The whole Bible is messianic. If we seek for its spirit, its most profound and truest sense, we find that it looks to the coming of Christ - to this future deliverer it promises him, calls upon him, describes him in figures, and prepares the way for him. The greatest doctors among the Jews, who wrote the Targums of the first and second centuries, Onkelos, Jonathan and Akiba, never hesitated thus to interpret the sacred Book. The passages we have quoted had no difficulty for them; for grand words of the seers of Israel apply only to the prophet who was cast out by the Sanhedrin, to him who triumphed on the cross.

Early Christian Writings

The question is often asked whether, on the basis of information contained in the gospels, it is possible to write a completely factual life of Jesus. The diversity and sometimes disagreement -- of such attempts in the past two centuries does not encourage optimism.

The chronology of his ministry has been variously estimated, and the content of his teachings interpreted in countless ways. Today's "churchianity" has approached a condition reminiscent of that of orthodox Judaism at the time of Jesus when Doctors of Law were searching with a fine-tooth comb for multiple interpretation of every ruling or variation thereof handed down by Moses and other ancients.

The emphasis was on the literal interpretation, hewing to the letter of the Law, and overlooking the spiritual. Today we have the two extremes once again -- the literal critics, and the non- critical "babes" wide-open to experience of the inner Reality.

One reason it is so difficult to write of Jesus' personal life, is that he left no known writings. He taught both orally and by ex- ample, while his story and teachings were left for others to write.

It seems strange they waited so long, but when they did write, it was of his teachings and great works, not of him as a man. And because these were written for use in the churches, to convince mankind of the Lord's salvation, they found no reason to go into the details of his childhood and youth. The facts of his natural life were probably common knowledge among the disciples, who saw no need to go into such preliminaries, in view of the grandeur of his purpose and work.

The first instruction among the Christians was by word of mouth -- eye-witness accounts. Then others took up and repeated the sayings. In time, fragmentary accounts and epistles were written to be read before the assemblies, different churches having access to different manuscripts. Eventually the four best of these accounts were chosen to form our New Testament, in the form of the Four Gospels.

Most of Paul's letters were written before the gospels, dating from a time about twenty years after the death of Jesus, and continuing for about fifteen years or longer.

The Jews, to whom Jesus had come in fulfillment of God's promise to them, have left no valid record of his life. They did make veiled and derogatory references to a "certain one," rarely named, (though one source called him Jesus the Nozri) who was born of a woman named Mary, whose husband is sometimes called the son of Panthera, or the son of Stada.

It was said that having taken himself to Egypt, he studied magic there under a certain Joshua. (However, it has since been established that this Joshua lived in 100 B.C., and Pappos in about 230 A.D.)

The Jews said that Jesus, or this "certain person," then returned from Egypt to his own country where he was rejected by his teacher and then began to practice magic, leading the people astray. For this reason he was brought to trial and condemned to death.

The authorities waited forty days to execute sentence, they said, meanwhile sending out a herald who repeatedly invited the people to bring forth any justification, whatever, on behalf of the condemned man. Since no one did, he was stoned and then hanged from a scaffold at Lydda on the vigil of the Pasch.

The reports were composed to discredit the stories of the Christians being widely circulated in that day; but even present day Jews look upon these old reports as burlesque, and give them no credit.

Josephus, who is one of the best remaining sources of information about the Hebrew nation in the first century, was himself a Jewish priest, who seeing Jerusalem destroyed in 70 A.D. before his very eyes, went to Rome and later wrote two histories called "Wars of the Jews," in the latter part of the century in which Jesus was born.

Josephus made the briefest, though respectful, reference to Jesus, James, and John the Baptist, not fully authenticated, since the early Church fathers had a way of inserting bits of information to support their stand.

Some spurious scripture was written in this way, and later so vigorously weeded out that some things of truth may have been weeded out with them.

Certain Roman writings of that day mentioned the treatment of the "Crestiani" under Nero. They never mentioned the name Jesus, but only Crestus (Christ) whom they thought instigated riots among the Crestiani (Christians).

Another brief mention of Jesus was in a letter written in the Syriac language in the second century, mentioning along with Socrates and Pythagoras a "wise king" of the Jews who was put to death by his own nation, which because of that was punished by God with exile and the destruction of its capitol.

This is about the extent of any non-Christian references to Jesus at that time. There is no definite or clear-cut record, though normally the Romans kept notes of their trials to report to headquarters. Perhaps these were destroyed by those whose interests would not have been served by keeping them.

There were quite a few Christian writings about Jesus in the first centuries which were left out of the Bible for various reasons, either because their validity was doubtful, or they did not contribute much to the meaning, or perhaps in some cases they did not agree with what was being taught in a particular area.

Various ancient writers refer to a "Gospel according to the Hebrews," to a "Gospel of the Nazarenes," and a "Gospel of the Ebionites" which belonged to the Ebionite sect, and this gospel championed some of their ideas such as vegetarianism.

There was a "Gospel of Peter" (probably written in the second century), and a "Gospel of the Egyptians" also composed in Egypt in the second century, and used by certain heretical sects which condemned the institution of marriage. Most of these except for a few fragments, seem to have vanished from view, though not from memory.

One may still find the Protoevangelion of James, said to be written by James the Less, and recognized by the early Christian churches as an historical account of the birth and childhood of Jesus. Certain controversies arose over this gospel because of its allusions to Joseph as an older widower. This gospel was accepted as authentic until the time of Ambrose, after which the orthodox church preferred the opinion that Joseph was virginal, as was Mary.

There was another Gospel of the Birth of Mary, several versions of which were used by the early church. One was found in the works of Jerome in the fourth century, a translation of which is said to be still available.

Another gospel called the first Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, was used by the Gnostics in the second century. This was also commonly used in the Eastern countries, and is believed to be the basis of stories about Jesus in the Koran, as well as the Persian stories about his dispute with a school-master over the alphabet. Its authorship is sometimes credited to Thomas.

The Gospel of Nicodemus is thought to have been written by a zealous Christian to refute a book called the Acts of Pilate, which was called a pagan forgery. Such pious frauds were said to be common in the early centuries, where no whole Bible had yet been introduced, but each community had to use whatever gospel or epistle they had access to, translated from the various languages.

Many of these seem somewhat crude and overdrawn in content and do little other than amplify or expand the solid work of the four Gospels. It is a marvel that so exalted a book as the Bible somehow emerged from among all these. There is a fascination in exploring the Apocrypha, hoping for a more intimate glimpse into "secrets" formerly hidden, but the work has been pretty much covered before us.

Some of the early Christian writings were in the form of ecclesiastical books on constitutions, canons, etc., even as the churches write now. But we have a glimpse of a few of Jesus' sayings not mentioned in the Gospels. For example:

"It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive."

"As you shall do, so shall it be done to you; as you shall give, so shall it be given you; as you shall judge, so shall you be judged; as you shall be kind, so shall you be treated with kindness."

"In whatever (works) I shall find you at my coming, in the same will I judge you."

"He who is near to me is near to the fire; he who is far from me, is far from the kingdom."

"Do not doubt, lest you sink into the world, like Simon who doubting began to sink into the sea."

"If you do not fast from the world, you shall not find the kingdom of God; and if you do not make a sabbath of the sabbath, you shall not see the Father."

"Wherever there are two, they are not without God, and wherever there is one alone, I say that I am with him. Lift the stone, and there you shall find me; split the wood and I am there."

"No doctor is accepted in his own country, nor does a doctor work cures among those who know him."

These are not unlike other sayings spoken, and those who knew him must have remembered countless remarks which never reached the Bible. There is now in print a Gospel of Thomas, which could be valid, filled with the sayings of Jesus, but many of them are quite similar to those in the Bible.

There was much difference of opinion in the early days, as we can well understand, concerning which books should be included among the permanent Scriptures. The Eastern orthodox churches, for example, did not use the Book of Revelation or Hebrews, but included certain others such as "Barnabas," "the Shepherd," and others not now used.

It was Jerome's translation of the Bible into the Latin, the Vulgate Bible, which fairly determined what the western church would use, for he included both the Book of Revelation and Hebrews, and this Bible became the official one used by the Roman Catholic Church. St. Jerome received Holy Orders at Antioch around the year 377, and after much study and travel finally settled in Bethlehem where the translations were made. He died in 420 in Bethlehem.

The Four Gospels

The four gospels finally chosen for inclusion in the Bible, as being most worthy and factual were, of course, those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, thought to have been written in that order -- which may explain why the book of Luke is separated from Acts, though both were written by the same author, and the Book of Acts provides a direct continuation of the story begun in Luke. Not all scholars agree on the order of the writings, but it does not seem overly important.

In any case, thirty years elapsed between that of Jesus' oral teaching and the composition of the gospels. It is known that the oral teachings were more extensive than the written work, and probably preferred by those fortunate enough to hear the accounts of eye-witnesses.

But the time came when they realized that the words must be written down before they should become too diluted, or changed by those who had not actually seen.

The four gospels were written independently of each other, and in the early days one church might use one of them, another church another -- whichever they had access to in those times when writings were not common and printing had not been invented.

The churches of the first century gradually decided on four of the gospels as being most acceptable, and began somewhat to ignore the others.

The first three gospels are called "synoptics" because each presents a general synopsis of the life of Jesus, and each correlates rather closely with the other. The gospel of John stands apart, being written in a more mystical vein.

The word "evangel" or "gospel" (more literally godspell, which means "good news") was applied to the four books about Jesus, for they announced the good tidings of the new covenant brought by him. Evangelist means "messenger," one who brings good news. These good tidings said essentially that "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Let us take a look at the four Evangelists, those great messengers of good news who have since been sainted.

Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew was written, it is said, eight years after the ascension of Jesus, in the Hebrew language. The present translation into Greek (from which our English work is taken) does not contain all of the original.

Matthew was undoubtedly the apostle of Jesus who was also named Levi, a publican and son of Alpheus. It has been said he "put in order" the sayings of Jesus. A large part of the gospel of Matthew is taken up with Jesus' discourses. Matthew must have had the ability to write accurately, having had to record accounts as a tax-collector. It was probably the most-used gospel in earliest times, though there may well have existed other writings before it.

Matthew wrote in the "Hebrew dialect" or ancestral language, probably Aramaic, which was generally spoken throughout Palestine in that time. But Christians of non-Jewish origin knew only Greek, so the sayings were later taken by various readers and "each one of them interpreted them as he was able."

The church chose one of the Greek translations, finally, as easier to read than the Aramaic, and that is the translation which has come down to us. While the original gospel had been the first to be written, it is believed the later translation into Greek took place after the others had been written, and the translators may have used the others for reference.

Matthew was addressing Christians of Jewish origin. He misses no opportunity to note in which sayings Jesus fulfilled the old prophecies of the Messiah to come. And he pointed out that Jesus' ministry was directed solely to the Jews. Beneath this Jewish "crust," however, his gospel is strictly universal. Irenaeus says, "Among the Hebrews, Matthew produced also a writing of the Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the church; then after their departure, Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also delivered to us in writings the things preached by Peter ... "

The first Gospel is considered the gospel "of the church," and is the only one that used the word "church." His later life is not known, though certain traditions point toward work in Ethiopia, and others to Parthis and Persia.

The copies of this gospel written in the Syriac and Arabian languages read: "Here ends the copy of the Gospel of Matthew, which he wrote in the land of Palestine, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the Hebrew language, eight years after the ascension of Jesus the Messiah into heaven, and in the first year of the Roman Emperor, Claudius Caesar."

Mark

The second gospel is generally attributed to that John, surnamed Mark, mentioned several places in Acts and Paul's Epistles, as one whose mother was named Mary, and who had a house in Jerusalem.

This house was a meeting place for the Christians, and there Simon Peter took refuge after his miraculous release from prison in 44 A.D.

Mark was the cousin of Barnabas whom he accompanied with Paul to Antioch on the first missionary journey, but Mark left them and later returned to Jerusalem, incurring Paul's displeasure.

When Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along on their second journey, Paul refused, so Barnabas left also and went with Mark to their native Cyprus.

They apparently had a change of heart, for ten years later Mark was with Paul in Rome to comfort him as he awaited trial by Nero. A year or two later Mark was in Rome with Peter (I Peter 5:13). Later, in 66 A.D., Paul was in Asia, for Paul wrote Timothy (II Timothy 4:11) "Take Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for the ministry."

Tradition gives Mark a closer relationship with Peter, however, from whom he supposedly gained all the facts recorded in his gospel. Many authorities agree that he either wrote it for Peter or as a faithful record of Peter's eyewitness teachings, whether during the lifetime or after the departure of Peter and Paul is not known. The modesty of Peter would account for the fact that most stories concerning him are omitted.

It is said that the Greek in which this gospel is written was rather poor and elementary, but the narrative all the more vivid and direct as a result. It has been conjectured by many that as a boy Mark may have witnessed the crucifixion, and that he may even have been the young man, not mentioned by name, who fled naked when laid hold of by the men who came to take Jesus. (Mark 15:51) Tradition also credits him with founding the church in Alexandria.

Luke

Luke, whose name may have been Lucanus, was a Greek from Antioch who became Christian before the year 50, though he had seen Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the latter's second missionary journey, and was called by Paul, "the most dear physician."

Except for certain intervals he was with Paul during much of the remainder of Paul's life, even to the end, for Paul wrote (II Timothy 4:11), "only Luke is with me."

Luke wrote both the third gospel and the Book of Acts, in clear continuity, identified by the prologue in which he dedicates each of these writings to one Theophilus, of whom nothing is known, but it was a common courtesy of that day to dedicate one's writing to an outstanding person.

He was probably more learned than the writers of the two previous gospels, and while not an eyewitness, carefully gathered together all the information he could get from those who were, and whose stories he had heard over and over.

It may be that Peter and James were his informers, or it may have been some of the ladies who followed Jesus, for he mentioned many in his gospel, but most believe it was Mary herself who contributed the story of the Nativity, as much as this would have been known only to her.

For he tells of her conversation with Gabriel, and "that she pondered all these things in her heart." The first two chapters of Luke are almost wholly concerned with the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist, and have become those things most famous in both celebrations and works of art commemorating Jesus' life.

There is a tradition that Luke himself painted a portrait of Mary, though it is unlikely she would have permitted this, for

Jews were allowed no pictures or images, in their religion. It is not certainly known that he actually met her; he may have gleaned the nativity story from other current writings. At any rate, Luke has been named the patron saint of painters.

As Matthew had written for the Jews, Luke wrote for the Gentiles. This gentle physician paid special heed to the healings, and it is he who quoted Jesus as saying, "Physician, heal thyself."

John

As with the other gospels, there is no definite signature, but "the beloved disciple" can be none other than the Apostle John. This has been almost unanimously agreed, although some have attempted to disprove it.

There is an old paper that says John asked the disciples to join him in three days of fasting, after which each should tell the others what he had received, and Andrew at the end of that time said that John, with the concurrence of all, should write down everything in his own name.

Clement of Alexandria said of the gospel of John -- "seeing that in the preceding gospels there had been made manifest the corporal things, he, urged by his friends and divinely borne aloft by the Spirit, produced a spiritual gospel."

But while some think his gospel Gnostic and less factual than the three Synoptics, in actual fact there is reference to obscure geographical locations in John's gospel of such fine accuracy as would have only been known to one who was there. In fact, the consensus is in favor of John as hewing to a more accurate chronology of events, having been present at all of them, from the baptism on.

He was a brother of James, one of the sons of Zebedee, and all were fishermen of the town of Bethsaida, the town where the brothers Simon and Andrew also resided as fishermen. Some have argued against his having written this gospel because how, they ask, could a mere fisherman's son have gained the learning necessary to such a task? But it is also believed that Zebedee was not a poor fisherman, but owned a fishing fleet. Or it may be that John later in life gained the necessary learning, or dictated the gospel.

Called the most spiritual of the gospels, this one is written quite differently from the other three, but coming after them, he may have felt it unnecessary to repeat all that had been previously written.

He writes from the Hebrew viewpoint, but also slants his work to gain the interest of the Gnostics, a movement which was rapidly growing in the time when he wrote, and as though he were attempting to keep some of their ideas from getting out of hand by picking them up and carrying them to the Reality.

Mary is barely mentioned by John, which seems strange because she lived with him after Jesus' death, as his mother.

John and Peter became the leading apostles after Jesus' crucifixion, performing many miracles and healings, sometimes just by walking down the street.

John lived to a great age, far outliving all the other apostles. He probably left Palestine about 57 A.D., since Paul does not mention his presence on that visit, as he had on previous occasions. John was later exiled to Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation, and then returned to Ephesus, where he probably died around 104 A.D., a natural death.

It has been recounted that when Christopher Columbus was sailing on one of his voyages and was overtaken by a tempest, he would stand in the prow of his ship and recite over the storm-tossed sea the opening verses of the Gospel of John.

Some believe that Luke and John were most faithful in the chronology of their accounts -- Luke because of his interest as a historian, and John who seems to fix certain points only suggested by the others. Since these two already had the other gospels to refer to, it is probable that they may have corrected certain errors or lapses noted in the others.

For some reason the four evangelists have been accorded the emblems of the four creatures in Revelation, and in Ezekiel's vision: the Man stands for St. Matthew; the Lion for St. Mark; the Ox for St. Luke; and the Eagle for St. John.

When one becomes familiar with the personalities of the writers of the gospels, he may detect some of their natural interests in the gospels they wrote, as well as the perfect humility in leaving out any unnecessary references to themselves.

Anna and Joachim

It has been said that the Canonical gospels tell us nothing concerning Mary's family, while the Apocrypha tells too much. However that may be, many of the early Saints searched diligently the traditions and writings of early Christianity to determine the events of the life of her who was to become the second Eve, the Mother of the True Life, dear to all who hold the Messiah to be the second Adam, the Restorer and Savior of our race. What they found is faithfully recorded herewith.

The Master Jesus and the Blessed Mary were the purest and most advanced egos ever to come into incarnation. They are the perfect type pattern of the perfected man and woman.

This was why both were immaculately conceived. For according to Jewish tradition, it was affirmed long before that the stain of Adam's sin was not to touch the Messiah or His Mother.

Preparation for the advent of a great Avatar or Savior begins generations before the time appointed for his appearance. Thus in the case of Jesus, it is recorded, "the great-grandparents of Mary were noble members of the Levitical Priesthood."

Mary's father was descended in a direct line from King David. Some think the genealogy listed in the Gospel of St. Luke refers to her lineage rather than that of Joseph.

Her father's name was Joachim, but certain Jewish writers also called him Heli, while Arabic commentators on the Koran called him Imram or Amram. His wife's name was Anna, or Hanna, of the tribe of Levi. Thus in Mary were united the royal and the priestly class.

The name Anna, or Hanna, means in the Chaldean "virgin of the light," but in Hebrew, "grace" or "gracious." Great souls can be born upon the earth only through purified and holy parents.

This applies to many highly illumined souls who have come to give their lives in service for the benefit of humanity; such as illustrated in the life of John the Baptist, and also that of Abraham and Samuel, who stand out as notable examples among the teachers of the Old Dispensation.

The Old Testament period was largely concerned with the replenishment of the earth after the flood, man concentrating on material endeavors. The free expression of the personal nature bound him more closely to the material world. Polygamy flourished among the masses. The primary consideration was the rapid re-admission through rebirth of the largest possible number of egos upon the earth plane, and the immediate evolutionary purpose was the number rather than quality.

The New Testament portrays a much higher attainment. With preparation for the coming of the Christ to the earth, a new ideal was given. To the most advanced of that Age it had been taught that the act of generation might be performed without passion, as a holy sacrifice.

Only by parents whose souls are wedded in a high and holy love is the act of generation consistent with that ideal, and blessed by the Attending Angels.

Every ego thus born is immaculately conceived. All parents who thus prepare themselves for this sacrament, through prayer and holy living, will know, whether consciously or not, such an angelic intercession. And only in this way can the new race of supermen be born on earth.

Both of Mary's parents, Hanna (Anna) and Joachim, were thought to be Initiates of high degree in the Essene School of the Mysteries, fully understanding their parts in the preparation for the human incarnation of an Illumined One.

This has been the inner teaching of Christianity during the Piscean Age, as revealed under its opposite sign, Virgo, which is the sign of the Immaculate Conception, and of service through chastity.

The virgin Mary has since revealed herself to a Catholic Mystic, speaking these words, "It is a truth that I was conceived without original sin in the golden hour of my conception. My Son joined my father and mother in a marriage of such chastity that a purer union has never been seen. Sensuality was extinguished in them. Thus was my flesh formed through divine love."

They had lived together twenty years in a childless state in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Here their forebears had settled long ago. This fact that the descendants of so glorious a house as David should be in a little village far from Jerusalem, or their ancestral home of Bethlehem, is understandable. For the descendants of David had for centuries been living in obscurity apart from the stream of public events, though not forgetting the link of family and home.

The couple lived in a very plain and upright manner, devoted to the service of the Lord, and it is said that they even went so far as to divide all of their material goods into three parts, one part of which was devoted to the temple and the officers of the temple, one third distributed among strangers and charity, and only the final third was reserved for themselves and the uses of their own family.

They lived chastely, in the favor of God and the esteem of man. However, as time went on they began to feel a certain reproach of man and God for not having any children, since it was expected that every married couple would bring heirs into the world, and preferably sons.

Joachim began to feel embarrassed even when taking his offerings to the temple in Jerusalem, traveling along with others of his neighbors -- all of whom had children and wondered why he had none. On one particular occasion, the High Priest of that time berated Joachim asking why one with no children would have the presumption to come bearing gifts to God among others more worthy.

His wife Anna was also distressed for the same reason, and on this particular occasion after Joachim had gone to Jerusalem and had been reprimanded by the High Priest he did not return immediately home, but joined some shepherds in the hills, dreading the comments of his neighbors who had been present and had heard the public reproach.

Anna was praying in her garden during the afternoon when under a laurel tree, as she sat, an angel of the Lord appeared to her. He told her that he was the angel which had been offering up her prayers and alms before God and that he now had consent from God to inform her that a daughter would be born to her, sent from God, who should be called Mary, who would be blessed above all women and spoken of in all the world.

The angel then commanded her to go to Jerusalem and stand in the Golden Gate where she would meet her husband, who had caused her such concern because of his long absence.

Then one day when Joachim was alone in the pasture, an angel appeared to him also and told him not to be afraid, because he had come as an angel of the Lord to inform Joachim that his prayers had been heard. The angel said that his wife would soon conceive and bring forth a wonderful child, and as a sign he asked Joachim to go to Jerusalem and stand in the Golden Gate and there he would meet his wife Anna, who would greatly rejoice to see him.

Joachim straightway went down with the shepherds to Jerusalem, and Anna, standing by the gate, saw him coming and she ran and embraced him, saying, "Now I know that the Lord has greatly blessed me, for behold, I who was a widow am no longer a widow. And I who was barren shall conceive."

Rejoicing at each other's vision and fully satisfied in the promise of a child, they offered thanks to the Lord who exalts the humble, and returned home to live in cheerful and happy expectation of the promise of God.

In due time the child was born, and according to the angel's command the parents called her name "Mary." They had promised each other before her birth that their child would be dedicated to the service of the Lord in the temple, and that the child should spend its whole life, whether male or female, ministering to the Lord in holy things.

The child was filled with grace from the time of her birth. When she was only nine months old her mother put Mary on the ground to see if she could stand alone, and the child walked nine steps, returning again to her mother's lap. Anna caught her up then and said that the child would not walk upon the earth until she was brought into the temple of the Lord. So from that day on Mary's chamber was made into a holy place and nothing common or unclean was allowed to come near her; only certain chaste maidens were invited to play with her.

When Mary was one year old her father made a great feast, inviting the Priests and all the people around. He made an offering of the girl to the Chief Priests who then blessed her, and after the feast the child was returned to the room which had been consecrated to her use.

When she was two years old Joachim said to Anna, "Let us lead her to the Temple of the Lord, that we may perform our vow which we have vowed unto the Lord God."

But Anna replied, "Let us wait until the third year, lest she should be at a loss to know her father." And Joachim agreed, "Let us then wait." This was according to the angel's prediction before her birth that she should continue three years in her father's house and afterwards be devoted to the service of the Lord, not departing from the temple thereafter until she had arrived at the years of discretion. The angel had said that in the temple she should serve the Lord night and day in fasting and prayer, abstaining from every unclean thing.

When the child was three years old, Joachim said, "Let us invite certain maidens, each carrying a lamp which is lighted, that the child may not turn back again or set her mind against the temple of the Lord."

And it was thus that they ascended unto the temple of the Lord, where the High Priest received her and blessed her. He put her upon the third step of the altar, of which there were fifteen steps, according to the Psalm, of the degrees, which represented fifteen stairs to ascend into the sanctuary.

The child surprised them by quickly running up all fifteen of the steps to the place where priests offered the burnt offerings. The temple was built in a mountain so that it could not be reached except by the stairs.

Her parents offered up their sacrifice according to the custom of the Law and perfected their vow, then left the Virgin Mary in the apartments of the Temple, with the other virgins who were to be brought up there.

Her parents returned home, filled with wonder, and praising God because the girl did not attempt to return back with them.

Mary continued in the Temple, pure and gentle as a dove. She was educated there and some said that she even received her food from the hands of angels and that she often conversed with them.

These angels also preserved her from all sorts of evil and caused her to abound with all good things so that as she advanced in years she also increased in perfection. This fulfilled the saying of the Psalmist who had prophesied that her father and mother forsook her, but the Lord took care of her.

In another published revelation, Mary has stated:

"From infancy the Holy Spirit was perfectly with me. And as I grew, It filled me as completely as to leave no room for any sin to enter.

"Upon attaining an age to know something of my Creator, I turned to Him with unspeakable love and desired Him with my whole heart.

"I vowed in my heart to observe virginity if it was pleasing to Him, and to possess nothing in the world, but if God willed otherwise, that His will, not mine be done. I committed my will absolutely to Him.

"I loved God intensely and every hour I feared and pondered lest I should offend Him in word or deed. I loved Him for the Law He had given His people, and the many wonders He had wrought.

"I withdrew as much as possible from the conversation and presence of others for worldly things had become bitter to me. Nothing pleased me but God."