CHAPTER 44.
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Levi
Jesus visits Greece and is welcomed by the Athenians. Meets Apollo. Addresses the Grecian masters in the Amphitheater. The address.
The Greek philosophy was full of pungent truth, and Jesus longed to study with the masters in the schools of Greece.
2 And so he left his home in Nazareth and crossed the Carmel hills, and at the port took ship, and soon was in the Grecian capital.
3 Now, the Athenians had heard of him as teacher and philosopher, and they were glad to have him come to them that they might hear his words of truth.
4 Among the masters of the Greeks was one, Apollo, who was called, Defender of the Oracle, and recognized in many lands as Grecian sage.
5 Apollo opened up for Jesus all the doors of Grecian lore, and in the Areopagus he heard the wisest masters speak.
6 But Jesus brought to them a wisdom greater far than theirs; and so he taught.
7 Once in the Amphitheater he stood, and when Apollo bade him speak he said,
8 Athenian masters, hear! In ages long ago, men, wise in nature’s laws, sought out and found the place on which your city stands.
9 Full well you know that there are parts of earth where its great beating heart throws heavenward etheric waves that meet the ethers from above;
10 Where spirit-light and understanding, like the stars of night, shine forth.
11 Of all the parts of earth there is no place more sensitized, more truly spirit-blest, than that where Athens stands.
12 Yea, all of Greece is blest. No other land has been the homeland of such mighty men of thought as grace your scrolls of fame.
13 A host of sturdy giants of philosophy, of poetry, of science, and of art, were born upon the soil of Greece, and rocked to manhood in your cradle of pure thought.
14 I come not here to speak of science, of philosophy, or art; of these you are the world’s best masters now.
15 But all your high accomplishments are but stepping stones to worlds beyond the realm of sense; are but illusive shadows flitting on the walls of time.
16 But I would tell you of a life beyond, within; a real life that can not pass away.
17 In science and philosophy there is no power strong enough to fit a soul to recognize itself, or to commune with God.
18 I would not stay the flow of your great streams of thought; but I would turn them to the channels of the soul.
19 Unaided by the Spirit-breath, the work of intellection tends to solve the problems of the things we see, and nothing more.
20 The senses were ordained to bring into the mind mere pictures of the things that pass away; they do not deal with real things; they do not comprehend eternal law.
21 But man has something in his soul, a something that will tear the veil apart that he may see the world of real things.
22 We call this something, spirit consciousness; it sleeps in every soul, and cannot be awakened till the Holy Breath becomes a welcome guest.
23 This Holy Breath knocks at the door of every soul, but cannot enter in until the will of man throws wide the door.
24 There is no power in intellect to turn the key; philosophy and science both have toiled to get a glimpse behind the veil; but they have failed.
25 The secret spring that throws ajar the door of soul is touched by nothing else than purity in life, by prayer and holy thought.
26 Return, O mystic stream of Grecian thought, and mingle your clear waters with the flood of Spirit-life; and then the spirit consciousness will sleep no more, and man will know, and God will bless.
27 When Jesus had thus said he stepped aside. The Grecian masters were astonished at the wisdom of his words; they answered not.