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thing. We ought, without ceasing our interest in life, to do good among men."

After this, Jesus happened to be in Jerusalem, where was a bath, beside which lay a sick man, doing nothing but waiting a miracle to cure him. Jesus came, and said to him: "Do not expect a cure by a miracle, but live your life according to your strength, and do not be deluded as to the purpose of life." The invalid obeyed Jesus, got up, and went away.

The orthodox, seeing this, began to reproach Jesus for what he said, and because he had, on the Sabbath, raised an invalid. Jesus said to them: "I did nothing new. I have only the power to act of our common Father, the Spirit. He lives, and gives life to men, and I have done likewise. And to do this is every man's business. Every one is free, and can live, or not live. To live, is to fulfil the will of the Father, which is to do good to others. Not to live, is to fulfil one's own will, not to do good to others. It is in every one's power to do this, or that; to gain life, or to destroy it.

"The true life of man is like this. A master apportioned to his slaves some valuable property, and told each one to work upon what was given to him. Some worked; some did not work, but put out of sight what was given to them. The master demanded an account: and to those who worked, he gave yet more than they had; but from those who did not work, he took away everything."

The portion of valuable property of the master is the Spirit of life in man, who is the son of the Father-Spirit. He who in his life works for the sake of the spirit-life, receives infinite life; he who does not work, is deprived of what was given to him.

The true life is the common life of humanity, and not the life of the individual. Each one must work for

the life of others.

After this, Jesus went to a desert place, and many people followed him. At evening, the disciples came, and said: "How shall we feed all these people?" Among the gathering were some who had nothing, and

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Be towly for persecution, privation, suffering. The why kyve the hie of the body will hate you, huawoe and murder you; but do not fear. If you fulfi the will of the Pather, then you possess the Efe of the Spint, of which no one can deprive you."

The disciples went away, and when they returned, de lared that everywhere the teachings of evil were Eonquered by them.

Then the orthodox told Jesus that his teaching, even if it conquered evil, was in itself an evil, because the who carry it out must of necessity suffer. this, Jesus answered: "Evil cannot conquer evil. evil is conquered, it can only be by good. Goodness

is the will of the Father-Spirit common to all men. Every man has a knowledge of what benefits himself. If he does similar benefits to others, if he does that which is the will of the Father, then he will do good. Therefore the carrying out of the will of the FatherSpirit results well, even though it be followed with sufferings and deaths of those who fulfil that will."

CHAPTER VI

THE FALSE LIFE

Therefore, in order to receive the true life, man must on earth resign the false life of the flesh, and live by the Spirit

("On earth as in heaven ")

To the spiritual life there can be no difference between members of one family and strangers. Jesus said that his mother and his brethren, as such, had no superior claims upon him; only those were near to him who fulfilled the will of the common Father. A man's life and welfare depend, not on family relations, but on the life of the Spirit.

Jesus said: "Blessed are those who retain their understanding of the Father. The man who lives by the Spirit has no home, for, being by the Spirit, he cannot own any special house." And he said that he himself had no fixed abode; that not being needed to enable a man to carry out the will of the Father, which can be done at all times, in all places.

The death of the body cannot be dreadful to a man who gives himself up to the will of the Father, because the life of the Spirit goes on despite the death of the body. Jesus said that he who believes in the life of the Spirit has nothing to fear.

No cares make it impossible for a man to live in his Spirit. When a man said that he would obey the teaching of Christ presently, but that he must first bury his father, Jesus answered: "Only the dead trouble about

burial of the dead; but the living ive always in fuifilling the will of the Father." Cares about relations and family affairs must not hinder the life of the Spirt. Ea who troubles about the results to his bodily ite from the fulfilment of the Fathers will, does as the plowman does, who plows, looking not in front, but behind.

Cares for the pleasures of the bodily life, which seem so important to men, are delusions. The univ, the real business of life, is the maxing plain of the Father's will attention to it, and fulfilment of it To Martha's reproach, that she alone troubled about the supper, and that her sister Mary did not help, but listened to his teaching, Jesus said: "You blame her unjustly. Tike some trouble, yourself, if you need what comes of it, but let those who do not need pleasures for the body attend to the one essential business of life."

And Jesus said: "He who desires the true life, which comes of fulfilling the Father's will, must first of all give up his own personal desires." He must not only cease to plan out his life to his own wishes, but he must be ready at any moment to bear any privations and sufferings. One who seeks to arrange his bodily life to his own desires, will wreck the true life of fulfilment of the Father's will.

Most ruinous to the life of the Spirit is the love of gain, of getting rich. Men forget that, however much they acquire riches and goods, they may die at any moment, and their property is not an essential of life. Death broods over every one of us. Sickness, killing by men, fatal accidents, may at any minute end life. Bodily death is the unescapable condition of every second of life. While one lives, one must regard every hour of life as a delay granted by the kindness of some power. This we must remember, and not say that we do not know it. We know and foresee in regard to all events of earth and sky, but death, which we know waits on us every moment, we forget. But unless we forget death, we cannot yield ourselves to the life of the body, we cannot build upon it. To follow the teaching of Christ, one has to count up the advantages

of serving the bodily life, of serving one's own will, and the advantages of fulfilling the Father's will. Only one who clearly takes account of this can be a disciple of Christ. And he who makes the calculation, will not prefer a visionary benefit and a visionary life to the true good and the true life. The true life has been given to men, and men know it, they hear its summons, but, always swept on by the cares of the moment, they are withheld from it. The true life is as though a rich man gave a feast, and summoned the guests. His call to them is the voice of the Spirit of the Father inviting all men to Himself. But of those invited some are busy in commerce, some in the household, some in family affairs, none come to the feast. Only the poor, such as have no cares of the body, come to the feast, and gain happiness. So men, distracting themselves with cares for the bodily life, are losing the true life. He who cannot, and that altogether, decline the cares and gains of the bodily life, cannot fulfil the Father's will, because one cannot serve oneself a little, and the Father a little.

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A man must calculate, whether it is better to serve the body, whether it is possible to arrange his life according to his own will. He must do as one does who would build a house, or who contemplates war. Such an one will reckon whether he has means to finish building, whether he has means to conquer. And upon seeing that he has not, he will not spend for nothing either labor or armies. Otherwise, he fruitlessly wastes, and will be a laughingstock to men. If one could arrange the bodily life to one's own will, then it might be well to serve the body; but as that is impossible, then better sacrifice the body, and serve the Spirit. Otherwise, one will gain neither one thing nor another; the bodily life will not be gained, and the spiritual life will be lost. So that, to fulfil the Father's will, the bodily life must be quite resigned.

The bodily life is involved in the world's false riches, which we are commissioned to manage in such a way as to gain the true and perfect riches.

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