CHAPTER 176.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Levi
Jesus appears, fully materialized, to the eastern sages in the palace of Prince Ravanna in India. To the magian priests in Persia. The three wise men speak in praise of the personality of the Nazarene.
Ravanna, prince of India, gave a feast. His palace in Orissa was the place where men of thought from all the farther East were wont to meet.
2 Ravanna was the prince with whom child Jesus went to India many years ago.
3 The feast was made in honor of the wise men of the East.
4 Among the guests were Meng-ste, Vidyapati and Lamaas.
5 The wise men sat about the table talking of the needs of India and the world.
6 The door unto the banquet hall was in the east; a vacant chair was at the table to the east.
7 And as the wise men talked a stranger entered, unannounced, and raising up his hands in benediction said, All hail!
8 A halo rested on his head, and light, unlike the light of sun, filled all the room.
9 The wise men rose and bowed their heads and said, All hail!
10 And Jesus sat down in the vacant chair; and then the wise men knew it was the Hebrew prophet who had come.
11 And Jesus said, Behold, for I am risen from the dead. Look at my hands, my feet, my side.
12 The Roman soldiers pierced my hands and feet with nails; and then one pierced my heart.
13 They put me in a tomb, and then I wrestled with the conqueror of men. I conquered death, I stamped upon him and arose;
14 Brought immortality to light and painted on the walls of time a rainbow for the sons of men; and what I did all men shall do.
15 This gospel of the resurrection of the dead is not confined to Jew and Greek; it is the heritage of every man of every time and clime; and I am here a demonstration of the power of man.
16 Then he arose and pressed the hand of every man and of the royal host, and said,
17 Behold, I am not myth made of the fleeting winds, for I am flesh and bone and brawn; but I can cross the borderland at will.
18 And then they talked together there a long, long time. Then Jesus said,
19 I go my way, but you shall go to all the world and preach the gospel of the omnipotence of man, the power of truth, the resurrection of the dead;
20 He who believes this gospel of the son of man shall never die; the dead shall live again.
21 Then Jesus disappeared, but he had sown the seed. The words of life were spoken in Orissa, and all of India heard.
22 The magian priests were in the silence in Persepolis, and Kaspar, and the magian masters who were first to greet the child of promise in the shepherd’s home in Bethlehem, were with the priests.
23 And Jesus came and sat with them; a crown of light was on his head.
24 And when the silence ended Kaspar said, A master from the royal council of the Silent Brotherhood is here; let us give praise.
25 And all the priests and masters stood and said, All hail! What message from the royal council do you bring?
26 And Jesus said, My brothers of the Silent Brotherhood, peace, peace on earth; good will to men!
27 The problem of the ages has been solved; a son of man has risen from the dead; has shown that human flesh can be transmuted into flesh divine.
28 Before the eyes of men this flesh in which I come to you was changed with speed of light from human flesh. And so I am the message that I bring to you.
29 To you I come, the first of all the race to be transmuted to the image of the AM.
30 What I have done, all men will do; and what I am, all men will be.
31 But Jesus said no more. In one short breath he told the story of his mission to the sons of men, and then he disappeared.
32 The magi said, Some time ago we read this promise, now fulfilled, upon the dial plate of heaven.
33 And then we saw this man who has just demonstrated unto us the power of man to rise from carnal flesh and blood to flesh of God, a babe in Bethlehem.
34 And after many years he came and sat with us in these same groves;
35 He told the story of his human life, of trials, sore temptations, buffetings and woes.
36 He pressed along the thorny way of life till he had risen and o’erthrown the strongest foes of God and man; and he is now the only master of the human race whose flesh has been transmuted into flesh divine.
37 He is the God-man of today; but every one of earth shall overcome and be like him, a son of God.