CHAPTER 50.
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Levi
Jesus passes the third brotherhood test, and receives the third degree, FAITH.
The Logos waited seven days, and then was taken to the Hall of Fame, a chamber rich in furnishings, and lighted up with gold and silver lamps.
2 The colors of its ceilings, decorations, furnishings and walls were blue and gold.
3 Its shelves were filled with books of master minds; the paintings and the statues were the works of highest art.
4 And Jesus was entranced with all this elegance and these manifests of thought. He read the sacred books, and sought the meanings of the symbols and the hieroglyphs.
5 And when he was absorbed in deepest thought, a priest approached and said,
6 Behold the glory of this place! my brother you are highly blest. Few men of earth, so young, have reached such heights of fame.
7 Now, if you do not waste your life in search for hidden things that men can never comprehend, you may be founder of a school of thought that will insure you endless fame;
8 For your philosophy is deeper far than that of Plato, and your teachings please the common people more than those of Socrates.
9 Why seek for mystic light within these antiquated dens? Go forth and walk with men, and think with men, and they will honor you.
10 And, after all, these weird initiations may be myths, and your Messiah hopes but base illusions of the hour.
11 I would advise you to renounce uncertain things and choose the course that leads to certain fame.
12 And thus the priest, a demon in disguise, sung syren songs of unbelief; and Jesus meditated long and well on what he said.
13 The conflict was a bitter one, for king Ambition is a sturdy foe to fight.
14 For forty days the higher wrestled with the lower self, and then the fight was won.
15 Faith rose triumphant; unbelief was not. Ambition covered up his face and fled away, and Jesus said,
16 The wealth, the honor, and the fame of earth are but the baubles of an hour.
17 When this short span of earthly life has all been measured out, man’s bursting baubles will be buried with his bones.
18 Yea, what a man does for his selfish self will make no markings on the credit side of life.
19 The good that men for other men shall do becomes a ladder strong on which the soul may climb to wealth, and power and fame of God’s own kind, that cannot pass away,
20 Give me the poverty of men, the consciousness of duty done in love, the approbation of my God, and I will be content.
21 And then he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
22 My Father-God, I thank thee for this hour. I ask not for the glory of thyself; I fain would be a keeper of thy temple gates, and serve my brother man.
23 Again was Jesus called to stand before the hierophant; again no word was said, but in his hands the master placed a scroll on which was written FAITH.
24 And Jesus bowed his head in humble thanks; then went his way.