JESUS OF NAZARETH TO-DAY

　"Yesterday the Nazarene was crucified, only because the priests hated him, because the power of the spirit was made manifest through him, because he was of God, because it meant the shattering of their vested interest. To-day there is still the same opposition. They have tried to crucify Truth, but they cannot. Truth survives all the opposition, all the hostility, because it is Truth. While outside the Churches the power of the spirit is being made manifest, these empty desolate mausoleums have no light of the spirit to relieve their gloomy darkness."

　"Do you think we should be better off if the Church were to die to-morrow?” asked a sitter.

　"I have no interest in churches, bricks and mortar, altars and steeples," replied the guide. “They make no appeal to me. I am not interested in buildings. I am interested in souls, and I strive to drive away all the barriers between the Great Spirit and His children. Unfortunately, the Churches stand in the way. What a condemnation that is! The Great Spirit is not restricted to a church. The Great Spirit is not captured in a building. His power is to be seen when human life reveals itself in all its radiant divinity, in the desire to give selfless service, and reveals itself by devotion to suffer-ing, helpless humanity. That is where we find the Great Spirit.

　"Here and there, it is true, there are individuals in the Churches who strive to do their best. It is the system that I condemn, because it stands in the way and must be swept on one side. Religion has naught to do with ritual and ceremony, with beautiful singing and chanting, with jewels and gorgeous raiments and vestments. Religion is service, serving the Great Spirit by serving His children. How often have I said that! Your churches have divided mankind, separated nations and classes, caused war and bitterness, rancour, bloodshed, torture, inquisition. They have opposed the march of knowledge, invention, science, discovery. They have sought to protect a vested interest, fearful and afraid lest the new knowledge should engulf them. The truth is here to stay. It cannot be stemmed any longer."

　A sitter remarked that the Nazarene must feel very strongly about those things.

　"Misrepresented, worshipped, deifiedーwhere do you think the Nazarene is?" asked Silver Birch. "He is not in Canter-bury Cathedral, not in St. Paul's, not in Westminster. They have driven him out. They have made him inaccessible and beyond the reach of mankind. They have crowned him with Godhood. They have confused the simple minds with doctrines based on fables and myths, and have placed the Nazarene far beyond their reach.

　"He is working to serve humanity still. It is all so simple, but they have made it so difficult, so complicated. And they have said that we who teach these truths are the powers of evil masquerading as angels, that this is the voice of Satan, the Prince of Darkness, who teaches you to serve one another and to fight the vested interests of selfishness! But their day is done. They have failed you and have nothing to offer a weary, desolate world."

　It seems that the Nazarene presides over the conferences of spirit guides that are held twice a year in the spirit world, at Easter and at Christmas. Silver Birch always suspends his sittings for a few weeks at these times, so that he can attend the conferences, and he has sometimes tried to explain to us what happens at them. At one sitting, the last before a break, he said:

　"This is the greatest pleasure of all, to which I look forward with eager anticipation, when I can become my real self just for a short while and enjoy what is my rightful heritage, to mix with those I have known so well, so long, and to taste life as it is understood only in those spheres where reality is known by those who have a spiritual discernment from years of progress and evolution. I do not speak egotistically. You who live in the world of matter, you who are restricted to five crude senses, you whose spirits are imprisoned in a physical body, you who are limited, you who know not the boundless joys of a freed spirit, you who know only life through its five prison bars, you do not yet realize what life means. You do not know how the spirit, when it finds itself, has the freedom to enjoy all the beauties of the Great Spirit that belong to the higher self and the deeper consciousness.

　"I go back to my own, to those with whom I have been for many centuries, to taste the life that I knew for so long, that I have willingly abandoned to serve you all. I would not be truthful if I did not say that on this occasion I look forward with joy to all that is in store. As you know, this is our greatest festival of all, when a mighty concourse of all beings, of all races, of all nationalities, all the servers and labourers in the many fields and in many lands, meet to compare their pro-gress.  I cannot describe it because there is no language. All the beauties that you have imagined in your greatest moments of inspiration pale into unimportant insignificance beside the reality that is ours on these occasions.

　"The greatest joy of all is to make contact once again with the Nazarene—not the Nazarene of the Churches, not the being who has been misrepresented and exalted and deified into an inaccessible and remote position, but the great human spirit who only seeks to inspire service, who wishes to share his greatness with all who desire to serve his Father and our Father.”

　Silver Birch always takes the opportunity, at these last séances before his absence for a few weeks, to speak of the work that has been done through the circle and to give quite unnecessary thanks to the circle members for their loyalty.

　I want you all to know," he said, "that, as the years pass and the bonds of intimate love between us become closer, I pay tribute to the Great Spirit, Who gave me the privilege of serving you and enabled me to win the affection of the loving hearts of those who know me not as I am but who hear me speak to them just once every week and who respect me because they believe and trust me. I am proud of your love and your confidence, and I strive always to say nothing and to do nothing that in any way shall mar the great affection that I know wells up in your hearts towards me.

　"I rejoice that our labours have borne so much fruit. I rejoice that so many have found the light of truth because of the little work that we have done. I rejoice because ignorance has been vanquished and superstition compelled to withdraw.  I rejoice because truth marches on and we are in the vanguard. I rejoice that you have had stout hearts in the great fight that we have constantly waged and that you have not failed. You have played your part with loyalty and have not betrayed the great trust that has been reposed in you. I rejoice in your service because I see in a humble way the success of my own mission reflected in your labours."

　There followed a personal message to each member of the circle, as is Silver Birch's custom on these occasions. When these were finished, he went on:

　"Now, with a heart that is a little heavy but with a mind that is joyous in anticipation, I will leave you. I will go and seek refreshment from the fount of all spiritual energy, I will go to seek new inspiration from on high, so that, filled with vitalizing power, I may return to be of greater service to you and to manifest, I hope, more of the rich bounty of the infinite Great Spirit. I will take with me all the love of your hearts, all your good wishes, I know, and I will come back to you and I will look forward to meeting you all again. Be full of hope and courage; the snows of winter bring despair, but spring comes in all her fresh garb, arrayed in smiling laughter. Be full of hope and courage; even the darkest night gives way to the glory of the dawn which heralds the rising sun.

　"And now, farewell. The Great Spirit bless you and cause the benediction of His infinite love to be showered on you in all its bounty, His spirit radiate through all your spirits and shine triumphantly in the lives that you live. The Great Spirit bless you all. I leave the darkness of your world and greet the light of higher realms. And my last words are the words that I always use when I come. 'The Great Spirit bless you all.'"

　After attending one of these spirit-world conferences, Silver Birch told us about it in these words:

　"There I have recaptured some of the glories which once belonged to me. I have been permitted once again to share in the deliberations of those who strive to work for the better-ment of your world, to aid progress and whose ambition is to accelerate all the reforms that are so necessary for the well-being of your world. The work that has been done by many of us has been reviewed in all its details and we have been shown how far we have succeeded, and where we have failed. Plans have been made, a programme has been compiled for the work that lies ahead of us, the work that is to be achieved to advance these truths so necessary in the present stage of your world's evolution.

　"I have met many whose desire it is to serve you, whom death has not prevented from the labours that lie close to their hearts. And if I may be forgiven a little personal noteーa thing of rarity—I am proud to say that I have received some little commendation for the small work I have been able to achieve during the past few months. I feel that I do not deserve it, for I am only the mouthpiece. I have but repeated the message of those who sent me and you have broadcast it.

　"These truths which we enunciate have brought know-ledge, comfort and cheer to many who knew not where to turn, whose hearts were heavy, filled with grief, in whose eyes there were tears of sorrow."