Jesus recognized no religion outside of conduct; and truly there is none. Pure Goodness is Religion, and outside it there is no religion. There are innumerable doctrines, and there is much strife and heated controversy, but a man is only truly religious when he succeeds in rising above these and this, and reaches that loving place in his heart where all hateful distinctions are burnt away by the pure flames of compassion and love. And in this divine place Jesus stood, and he calls other men thither to receive rest and peace.
That Jesus was meek, and lowly, and loving, and compassionate, and pure, is very beautiful, but it is not sufficient; it is necessary, reader, that you also should be meek, and lowly, and loving and compassionate and pure. That Jesus subordinated his own will to the will of the Father, it is inspiring to know, but it is not sufficient; it is necessary that you, too, should likewise subordinate your will to that of the overruling Good. The grace and beauty and goodness that were in Jesus can be of no value to you, cannot be understood by you, unless they are also in you, and they can never be in you until you practice them, for, apart from doing, the qualities which constitute Goodness do not, as far as you are concerned, exist. To adore Jesus for his divine qualities is a long step towards Truth, but to practice those qualities is Truth itself; and he who truly adores the perfection of another will not rest content in his own imperfection, but will fashion his soul after the likeness of that other. To us and to all there is no sufficiency, no blessedness, no peace to be derived from the goodness of another, not even the goodness of God; not until the goodness is done by us, not until it is by constant effort, incorporated into our being, can we know and possess its blessedness and peace. Therefore, thou who adorest Jesus for his divine qualities, practice those qualities thyself, and thou too shalt be divine.
The teaching of Jesus brings men back to the simple truth that righteousness, or rightdoing, is entirely a matter of individual conduct, and not a mystical something apart from a man’s thoughts and actions, and that each must be righteous for himself; each must be a doer of the word, and it is a man’s own doing that brings him peace and gladness of heart, not the doings of another.
Millions of people worship Jesus and call him Lord, but Jesus does not leave us in any difficulty or doubt as to who are his disciples, as to who have entered into Life! His words are directness and simplicity itself, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." And again, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" And they are the doers of the Father’s will who shape their conduct to the divine precepts.
The doer of the word demonstrates and proves its truth in his own mind and life. He thus knows the Eternal Rock as a substantial reality within himself, and he builds thereon the Temple of Righteousness which no rains of grief, no winds of temptation and no floods of sin can destroy or undermine. It is only the doer of forgiveness who tastes the sweets of forgiveness; it is only he who practices love and mercy and righteousness who receives into his heart the overflowing measure of their blessedness; and none but he who dwells in peace toward all can know the boundless and immeasurable peace. Thus is the doer of the word the disciple indeed, and continuing in that word, becoming one with it in heart and mind, he knows the Truth which frees the soul from the bondage of sin.
5
The Vine And The Branches
I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.
Jesus Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus
The Christ is the Spirit of Love, which is the abiding and indwelling Reality in man. Yet though its perfected Temple is the human form, and it can only visibly and consciously manifest itself in and through the human personality, it is impersonal in its nature, is a universal and eternal Principle, and is at once the source and the substance of Life.
In this Principle of Love, all Knowledge, Intelligence, and Wisdom are contained, and until a man realizes it as the one vital Reality of his being, he does not fully comprehend the Christ. Such glorious realization is the crown of evolution, the supreme aim of existence. Its attainment is complete salvation, emancipation from all error, ignorance, and sin.
This principle is in all men, but is not manifested by all; and it is not known and manifested by men because they continue to cling to those personal elements which obscure its presence and power. Every personal element in human nature is changeable and perishable, and to cling to them is to embrace negations, shadows, death. In the material world, an object cannot be perceived until all intervening obstacles are removed; and in the spiritual region an abiding Principle cannot be apprehended until every impermanent element is relinquished. Before a man can know Love as the abiding Reality within him, he must utterly abandon all those human tendencies which frustrate its perfect manifestation. By so doing he becomes one with Love — becomes Love itself; he then discovers that he is, and always has been, divine and one with God.
Jesus, by his complete victory over the personality, realized and manifested his oneness with the Supreme Spirit; and, subordinating his entire nature and life to impersonal Love, he became literally an embodiment of the Christ. He is therefore truly called the Christ.
"When Jesus said, "Without Me ye can do nothing," he spoke not of his perishable form, but of the Universal Spirit of Love of which his conduct was a perfect manifestation; and this utterance of his is the statement of a simple truth; for the works of man are vain and worthless when they are done for personal ends, and he himself remains a perishable being, immersed in darkness and fearing death, so long as he lives in his personal gratifications. The animal in man can never respond to and know the divine; only the divine can respond to the divine. The spirit of hatred in man can never vibrate in unison with the Spirit of Love; Love only can comprehend Love, and become linked with it. Man is divine; man is of the substance of Love; this he may realize if he will relinquish the impure, personal elements which he has hitherto been blindly following, and will fly to the impersonal Realities of the Christ Spirit; and these Realities are Purity, Humility, Compassion, Wisdom, Love.
Every precept of Jesus demands the unconditional sacrifice of some selfish, personal element before it can be carried out. Man cannot know the Real whilst he clings to the unreal; he cannot do the work of Truth whilst he clings to error. Whilst a man cherishes lust, hatred, pride, vanity, self-indulgence, covetousness, he can do nothing, for the works of all these sinful elements are unreal and perishable.
Only when he takes refuge in the Spirit of Love within, and becomes patient, gentle, pure, pitiful, and forgiving, does he work the works of Righteousness, and bear the fruits of Life. The vine is not a vine without its branches, and even then it is not complete until those branches bear fruit. Love is not complete until it is lived by man; until it is fully understood by him and manifested in his conduct. A man can only consciously ally himself to the Vine of Love by deserting all strife, and hatred, and condemnation, and impurity, and pride, and self-seeking and by thinking only loving thoughts and doing loving deeds. By so doing, he awakens within him the divine nature which he has heretofore been crucifying and denying.
Every time a man gives way to anger, impatience, greed, pride, vanity, or any form of personal selfishness, he denies the Christ, he shuts himself out from Love. And thus only is Christ denied, and not by refusing to adopt a formulated creed. Christ is only known to him who by constant striving has converted himself from a sinful to a pure being, who by
noble, moral effort has succeeded in relinquishing that perishable self which is the source of all suffering and sorrow and unrest, and has become rational, gentle, peaceful, loving, and pure.
Man’s only refuge from sin is sinless Love, flying to and dwelling in which, and abandoning all else as evanescent, unreal, and worthless, daily practicing love towards all in heart and mind and deed, harboring no injurious or impure thoughts, he discovers the imperishable Principles of his being, enters fully into the knowledge