Class Book. Copyright N°_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. INTERNATIONAL ESOTERIC AND ILLUMINATED BIBLE LESSONS. PREPARED FOR THE~SUN&*Y SCHOOLS OF THE CHURCH OF DIVINE ILLUMINATION. The Philosophical Publishing Co., ALLENTOWN, PA. NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted/ BY DR. R. SWINBURNE CLYMER^ ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. v\ £&5Z $ &0t> ©CI.A303244 4 1 1 a 1 1 — International New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination m n m n a GOLDEN TEXT— "Out of Egypt have I called my Son." EXPLANATION OF THE LESSON. The student must understand in the beginning of his work that the Bible is a symbol of the true meaning of the Truths as Jesus taugh them. The birth of Jesus and the birth of Christ are entirely separate and distinct births. Jesus was the man of flesh IN whom the Christ was to be born. The Christ is the real idea or understanding of what God is, and where God is. The Christ is in every man and woman, every boy and girl,and the Christ WITHIN YOU is what Jesus taught. The birth of Jesus is mixed with the birth of the Christ so that taken in the Written Word the two are supposed to be one and born at the same time. Jesus was a great teacher, and Herod was a great king. Herod represents the material forces, which are ever ready to destroy all good, and Jesus is the representative of the good that cannot be destroyed. He is the Light that comes out of darkness — "Out of Egypt have I called my son." LESSON I. First Chapter of Matthew, 1st to 16th verses. Verse 1. Question — Who were the wise men? What do they represent? Answer — The awakened soul. They came from the East. Question — What is significant in the phrase? Answer — The birth of the New Born Sun of the Ancients arose in the Eastern horizon. Jesus Christ is the symbol of the New Born Sun, which he taught as the Christ, the Son of God — which is born into each Awakened Soul. Verse 2. Question — Where is he that is born King of the Jews? Who is the King of the Jews? Answer — The Christ is the King of the Jews. Question— WHERE IS HE? DO YOU KNOW? Verse 3. Question— Why was Herod, the king of Judea, troubled? Answer — The reign of the new king was at hand, and Herod represents wickedness. He was an evil king. All evil fears GOOD. All evil is troubled when the Christ is born within the Kingdom of the Heart. Verse 4. "He gathered all the Chief Priests and Scribes of the people together. He demanded of them WHERE Christ SHALL BE BORN." Question — Why did he demand the Christ? Answer — The chief Priests and Scribes of the people are the accumulation of the rulers of the flesh and the world. Were evil to KNOW WHERE Christ is born he would be destroyed. They demanded the Christ to destroy him. Verse 5. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, but the' Christ was not yet born. Verse 6. The promise of the Christ to come is given in this verse. Jesus was born, but a "Governor SHALL come that shall rule the people Israel." Verse 7. Have you ever harkened to the voice of Herod, the evil king that rules you? What does he ask? Answer — He asks what time the star appears. Question — Why did he do this? Answer — That he might know his dwelling plase. Evil does not know the Christ. It seeks only to destroy. Verse 8. This is the betrayer of every Soul. The illusions of the powers and wisdom of the flesh. Verse 9. What did the wise men do when they heard the king? Answer — They departed. This is the departure of the soul from the temptations of evil and the illusions and promises of the material desires which would destroy the birth of the new king Christ. After the awakened soul turns away from evil and illusion the Star, which is the Christ born WITHIN you — IN you, the flesh of you, the STABLE of a KING. Verse 11. Question — What do the treasures and gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh represent? Answer — All the purity and truth of the soul. When the Christ is born WITHIN us we lay all our treasures at his feet. All the THOUGHTS and DESIRES of purity, righteousness and goodness are the gold and frankincense and myrrh of the Ancient Wise men, who were the AWAKENED souls of that age. Verse 12. Question — Of whom were they warned? Answer — The God WITHIN them, which they knew and recognized, warned and protected them from turning back into darkness and illusion. Question — Did they obey? Answer — They departed to their own country, their own birthright, the home of the Christ. Do you know where that is? Verse 13. Question — Why was Joseph warned to take the child Jesus to Egypt? Answer — Egypt was the home of the Ancient Truths. All the great Saviours were taught the Truths there. Jesus was the symbol of the New Born Sun taught by the mysteries and the symbols of the Osiris, the God of the Egyptians. The evil hosts would seek him even to destroy him forever, and Egypt held the knowledge which was to give him life and power to save his people. Verse 14. Question — Why did he go by night? Answer — This is the night of the Soul, the tomb wherein it awakens to dawn or enlightenment. The Soul must start in darkness on its journey for Light. Verse 15. Question — How long did they remain in Egypt? Answer — Until the destruction of all evil vibrations. Egypt represents darkness. It is the veiled Isis. "OUT OF EGYPT HAVE 1 CALLED MY SON." Out of darkness came light, from Isis, the Christ is born within the soul, which is the mother of Christ. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. — i — ■ — r™~ — ■ — 1 — i International New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination « n m □_ ■ THE BEGINNING OF MIND OR MENTAL HEALING. Golden Text. — ''Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." John the Baptist came baptizing with water. Water is the symbol of Mind. He was, therefore, the forerunner of the Christ, because the Mind is the Builder of the Soul — the finder of the Christ. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." Mind is the builder of the Soul and prepares it for the concep- tion or reception of the Christ. John here warns them to make "the paths straight." Only straight, sincere, pure thoughts can make straight paths, and these are the only paths for the Lord, or Christ. "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness — in the wilderness of error and illusions and wrong thinking, living, and teaching. There was very little difference in the accepted teachings of those days and now. The Pharisees were great spiritualists, and produced pheno- mena to even greater extent than it is produced at this day They, built the temples and synagogues, and they worshippe where they might be seen and heard. They made all their re- ligious worship a great show and with many ceremonies. They were very orthodox, and the orthodox religion of to-day is al- most identical with the Pharisees. They believed in the pre- existence and immortality of the soul. They adhered strictly to the "traditions of the elders," and held to the literal interpre- tation of the Law of Moses, just as all orthodox do to-day. There were many sects, divided, contending, striving more for material gains and self-glory and self-righteousness than anything else. All classed as a whole were as they are to-day, those who had wandered away from the TRUE teachings of the Ancients, who did not live the Truth and knew it not. They were as much divided and antagonistic as are the many of to-day. Many of these came to John, attracted by his teachings. They knew the law of phenomena, and were of negative natures, yet they came to an acknowledgment of the power of the Mind, and accepted it. This water baptism taught by John is the Baptism of Mind. Mind or Mental Healing has accomplished wonders in this age. It has attracted all sects and all people. Yet John ad- mitted a greater teacher was to come. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes 1 am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire. With the Mind we repent. Repentance means the turning away. We do not repent of an evil deed until we FORSAKE IT— TURN AWAY FROM IT. If we commit a wicked act, and are sorry for a time, but do the same thing or something* equally as bad we have not REPENTED. We cannot attain purity, and goodness, and Truth until we do repent— TURN AWAY FROM EVIL. If we repent of an evil thought, we stop thinking it. Stop thinking it, and it will stop coming. It never lingers or locates where it is not welcome. As long as you hold an un- kind, selfish, angry, envious, evil thought, you have made it welcome. It cannot enter where it is refused. Where the DOOR IS CLOSED. The way to repent, therefore, is to refuse to think wrongly. Just as John warned the Pharisees and Sadducees: "Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance." u And THINK NOT TO SAY WITHIN YOURSELVES we have Abraham to our father." This means that they cannot repent and still follow the same old, uninterrupted, literal meaning of the law; for the teachings of Abraham had become a symbol worship in the flesh. If they repented, they must forsake it. They must forsake it if they brought forth fruit. Good deeds are fruit. Good thoughts produce good deeds , and are retained by the Soul. The Holy Ghost and Fire comes after repentance and turning OF THE MIND away from the material laws of the flesh — or the Law of Abraham. The Holy Ghost and Fire Baptism is greater than Mind o* Water, because it is of the Soul. The Soul is the LIFE of man. It is that part of man that LIVES. This baptism of the Christ or Soul gathers the wheat — which is goodness and Truth — into the garner, and burns up the chaff — evil. Jesus came to John to be baptised by him. John is doubtful here of his own teachings. Though Jesus knew all that John taught, ye he also knew that love, and harmony, and co-opera- tion of all material laws gave greater strength and power to them both. Jesus said: "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." John could not have known him had he refused to have acknowledged him. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. — -it - — r — ■ — i 1 — Internationa! New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. m n m THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. Golden Text — "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Jesus was lead, also, into the wilderness of the errors of ma- terial desires and illusions. The wilderness here is the material, the flesh, the DESIRES of the worldly things. He was tempted of the devil. The devil is the man of sin, of materiality, of deception, of greed, of lust, and of all wrong. Thus Jesus was tempted of these things. We read where he had just been baptized or developed men- tally as far as man could attain. He possessed great concen- tration, for was he not tempted to turn stones into bread? , He was hungry, the material within him was clamoring to be obeyed, but it was also SELF calling out to him to minister unto it. Here was the test. If he could turn stones into bread, how much greater power could he influence over other things? He could gain much. He could become the greatest phenomena producer the world had ever known. He RESISTED the temp- tation by declaring that man could not live in the material alone but must live by the word of God, and God does not become material desires and longings. Then again he attained greater power in mentality. He attained the pinacle of the Temple. What temple? The temple which is the body — the temple of the Christ. And his mind tempted him — the desires of the flesh again tried to weaken him. When he had absolute control of the body through all mental laws, why should he not use these laws for his own benefit, to lift himself up to the highest point among men? Thus he reasoned. But he knew the flesh was tempting the God within him. Many of us are so tempted. If God be God, and has given His angels charge concerning us, if we KNOW God as God, why not attain the heights of the world? Why should we not have the highest place? Could we fall if we know the powers of the angels of righteousness? But for whom are we arguing thus — for SELF or for self- LESS? So Jesus said: ''Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." And now we read how, as he developed more and more, the temptations were greater. He realized all that he might do. He was possessed of pow- er, mighty power, so much so that the kingdoms of all the world bow to him. He was able to control them. He could rule over them. He was powerful enough to make himself a king. All he had to do was to abuse or misuse his power. This is a temptation we all face in development. It is the crossing of the roads. It is where the spiritual leads entirely away from the flesh, or where flesh triumphs over the spiritual. Here is where many, many fall, and have fallen. It is where leadership gains the control of Mastership. The Master is one who has served, and struggled, and is will- ing to go on serving for love of good and humanity's sake. Leadership is too often swallowed up in vanity and self-glory. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve/' Jesus turned away from all the alluring, tempting, dreams of power and greatness. "Then the devil leaveth him, and behold the angels came and ministered unto him." All forces and vibrations of good gathered around him. "Then he departed into Galilee and began to preach." "And the people which sat in darkness (spiritual darkness) saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shad- ow of death light is sprung up." Those in the region and shadow of death were those soul which were nearing destruction. Death is the destruction of the soul. The developed soul cannot see death. It lives forever. And those who allow the lusts and temptations of the material- ity to overcome them were in the shadow of death. He taught them Truth, and they saw the light of life, of Truth, and de- p arted, repented of evil. We find him organizing. Note that all he called immediately followed him. The live, earnest seeking student WILL follow. There were no reckoning and guesses, no disputation. They knew the Truth, and desired it. Scoffers have pointed to them as ignorant and uneducated fishermen. They were fishermen, but remember the great souls do not seek the easy places in life. Development comes only through struggles and experience with life. The hardship and the toil of this life open our eyes to many Truths. When the soul is seeking for reincarnation or rebirth in the flesh, it seeks the souls in harmony with its own. Now we have the secret of one great law. The man who desires to know and understand men and men's hearts must be able to understand the least of the world, the humblest of this world. We do not speak against education, but education cannot develop the Soul. They were uneducated in the text books of colleges of that time in their lives, but had gathered greater knowledge through experience and perhaps in former exist- ence. But they left immediately all material gain and seeking and followed after Truth, NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. t— — | —i 1 1 International New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, __■, cl . ■_ n ■ THE TRUE HIDDEN LAWS. Golden Text — "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward' of your Father which is in heaven." When we do a good deed, or when we show a kindness to another, we like to have it appreciated, We want to be recog- nized as having done good, and so many of us watch for the opportunity to do these things where we feel they will shine for us and give our true character to the world. But the world would not long remember, and even if it did, some one else with another deed could easily outshine us or take our place. The world does not know good deeds. We only know within our own souls whether the deed we have committed be good or bad. We know our MOTIVES. We know whether we have done a thing for self or for others. We know when we truly sacrifice for others, and if we do so, as Jesus commanded, we care not whether the deed is ever recog- nized or not by the world if we have it recorded in our soul. The Soul is the Book of Life. It is the Recording Angel, and what we think, what we do, and what we say are all writ- ten in that Book of Life. We need not sound a trumpet before us when we do good. We must do it for the soul's sake and not for the sake of oth- ers' praise and approval. This is what Jesus means when he says "When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." Care not for the praise,nor the glory, nor the commendation you expect to get, but do the good because YOU WANT TO DO IT. You must want to do that which is right, or you will never accomplish anything in the Spiritual. We are taught how to pray. Prayer is desire, it is also a vibration, for desire is vibration or current of thought. Any kind of prayer is acceptable if it is sincere and earnest. We need not go into a dark room to pray. The closet is the INNER self — THE SOUL, where the desire is real, and true, and fer- vent. And as we pray we must forgive others if we forgive ourselves. We are praying to the God WITHIN, not to the clouds and sky, to an imaginary Being. We must pray WITH- IN, knowing that we have the power to be what we will to be, feeling that God or Good is all power, and that the power is our true self. Then we will know that we must forgive or we cannot be forgiven. There are a lot of people who are constantly boasting of their power and goodness. They wish to make people think they are better than anyone else, and so they fast as the hypo- crites fast, by pretending to do one thing and thinking another within the Soul. Do not pretend to be better than you are. Good will grow no matter where it is planted; and God always knows and rec- ognizes the seeds and flowers of goodness. The world may never know, but the God within the few will recognize the Pearl of Great Price, no matter how deeply it is buried in the rubbish and trash of the thoughts of the world. The God that recognizes good is the God WITHIN all of us. We know the false from the true, the good from the false, if we wish to know and seek to know. "Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Your treasure is what you love most. If you love the things of the world more than anything else, it is the secret treasure of the heart. All the things of the world die, they decay, and are taken from us, while the heavenly desires are builded up and stored away in the souk We cannot build Soul of a Christ by desires for the worldly successes and gain. For the light of the body is the eye. If the eye sees the good and loves the good, the body is full of light because the Spirit- ual eye is open. "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of dark- ness. If, therefore, the light that is IN THEE is darkness, how great is that darkness." All the evil thoughts and desires of the mind and soul are dark. The Soul is dark. It cannot see the light of Truth and goodness. It is not necessary to dwell constantly on the necessities of life. We all have sufficient unto the day thereof. We all pros- per according to our faith. You will say: "Behold the faith of the rich man, without thought of soul or heaven." The rich man prospers according to the faith he has within himself. We all prosper in our real desires. The rich man prospers of the worldly joys and pleasures because he believes within himself the power is to attain to that. The godly man should have all faith. We need not, and should not, concen- trate our faith on the accumulation of riches, for if we do we are liable to forget the soul, but we should have enough faith to provide for ourselves. "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL these things shall be added unto you." Seek God first and keep Him always first. Have faith enough within yourself to realize that you have WITHIN you the POWERS that will keep you always. The righteous man knows he will not suffer, that he has all he needs. He will prosper in righteousness, in peace, in happiness, in power, in daily needs, and the greater the power and the God WITHIN the greater you will prosper. You cannot prosper as the worldly man because his faith within himself, while strong, may not be of a lasting faith, and his treasures are liable to be swept away in a single day. But the prosperity and power of the Godlike man is never taken away. His treasures are in heaven, where thieves do not break through and steal, for there are no thieves in goodness, honesty or heaven. There are no evil thoughts to break in and tempt him away from the real. God adds all that we need. No righteous man suffers un- justly. His inheritance can never be taken away no matter what happens. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. i 1 1 - 1 1 International New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, ■ n ■ n m • THE JUDGMENT— THE GOLDEN RULE. Golden Text — "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." The prophets and all the ancient wise men taught this law. As ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them; for it will be done to YOU again whatsoever YOU do, for you shall reap whatever you sow. We all desire good things. WE MUST therefore sow good things. No man would sow wheat and expect to have a crop of oats or barley. Therefore, the thoughts we sow grow into the grain and we are bound to reap from every thought we think, every word we speak and every act we commit, The man who, in a business transaction, cheats another so that the other's family will suffer, MUST expect that in a month or a year something will turn up. Some one else will cheat him, so that HIS family will be taken. THAT IS THE LAW. "Judge not that ye be not judged." Did you ever judge anyone hastily and then regret your act? You certainly have. When you feel called upon to pass judgment upon another, analyze your own mind and thoughts toward that person. Ask yourself if you are really and truly just. Judge no man unless you KNOW. Do you know, or do you guess, surmise, or sus- pect? Have you ever given anyone the least chance to suspect you? The pure minded, pure souled person always thinks pure thoughts of all persons. He does not judge openly. "And the first without sin must be the first to cast the stone." Therefore, read self first and find out if every thought is true, if there is no weakness WITHIN yourself that might cause you to stumble. All flesh is weak. Look within your own eye, within self, and "cast out the beam within thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye," When we suspect or think wrong of another, we should stop and consider where the suspicion comes from. Does it not arise in our own mind? The mind, our own individual mind, is the creator of every thought we think. Remember this when you judge your neigh- bor, friend, or your enemy. They may be judging you. Give the best you have to give. God gave every man equal rights. What right have we to limit one and give much to an- other? Every man gives to himself anyway. We are not the giver to others. We are not the creators of other souls. Every man must create for himself, and when we trespass on anoth- er's rights we have broken the law. We have not done to him as we would like to be done by. This is the straight gate. "Enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to de- struction, and many there, be that go in thereat." There are many illusions and snares to blind us. This broad gate that leads to destruction is the SELF. It is broad and wide because it demands much and absorbs much. It is the enemy that sets itself up as goodness and Truth and blinds us so that our soul is hidden. The soul is the REAL. It is the living part of us. It is the heaven or the hell for us, for it accumulates and ab- sorbs every created image of the mind. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps cloth- ing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." How can we know them? How can we tell? "By their fruits ye shall know them." "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit/ 5 By their works you shall know them, A good, pure mind brings forth good, pure, unselfish deeds, The good man will not condemn a liar and then lie. A true prophet does not teach "thou shalt not hate" and then hate. He does not do the things he condemn in others. Some- times we have to associate with a person a long while before we know him. Even then we have no right to judge. We must investigate our own vineyard first and see if our own fruit is in good condition and fit to give to others or for others to in- spect. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." Every thought of the mind is cast into the soul It destroys the soul or saves it, for the soul is the receiver or retainer, the dwelling place of our real self. It is the home of gods or of devils. If we are good and think good, the soul is good. If we are bad and think bad, the soul is bad. The mind is the leader, the builder and the maker. "Not every one thatsays unto me Lord, Lord shall enter in- to the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH the will of my Father which is in heaven." We may not think the things we say. No matter what we say, if we do not obey the laws of the prophets, and do unto others as we would be done by, if we do not do the will of God which is righteousness, we cannot attain the Christ, the kingdom of heaven. We may be able to do wonderful works, may call ourselves leaders and prophets, but we must do the will of God within — we must examine ourselves closely and find our reflection, whether it is self or self-LESS, whether it is for worldly gain or Immortality. We must build on the Rock of Truth, for "Whosoever hear- eth these sayings of mine, and DOETH them, 1 will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock." "And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell NOT; for it was founded upon a rock." The house is the Soul. You are the builder. The rock is the Christ. Be not like the foolish man which built upon the sands and "when the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, it fell and great was the fall thereof." The sand is the flesh, the illusions and desires of the flesh and of evil and materiality, and rain and the winds and the floods are the evil temptations and the snares, and the pitfalls and illusions of the world and of evil. When we build the Soul full of these thoughts it is sure to fall, and we have not built wisely, for wisdom desires life. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. International New Church Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, __m xi a a m THE POWER OF UNDERSTANDING. Golden Text — "I am not come to call the righteous but sin- ners to repentance." "And he entered into a ship and passed over and came to his own city." "And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." "And behold, certain of the Scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth." "And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" Not knowing the Christ, they knew not that he knew their thoughts. There are many of us yet with just a taint of the Scribe within us, for we think we think as we please and pre- tend to be as we please and manifest a likeness to the Christ. But the CHRIST knows the good thought from the evil-, and he rejects the evil. And we find this a great Truth when we see and know the Christ. How many of us doubt when we profess to see? Because Jesus made greater claims than they knew or even demonstrated, they began to doubt and accuse him. The world changes very little. The worldly minded, spiritually blind scribes of to-day cannot understand the power of the Christ tc forgive sins, just as they understood in the time of Jesus. We tell them to-day that Christ lives, and has the same po w- er, and even greater power, than of old, and they mock us and deride us and say "Blasphemers." The Orthodox arise in jealousy and scorn and say "Blas- phemers, heretics and fools." But let them show their faith by their works. They cannot forgive sins. Why ? They say even now that a man who says he can forgive sins is a liar. Why? Because they know not where Christ is, where his power, and what it is. They read and understand not because they are blind to the Truth. They worship the letter and not the spirit. They unite men to the churches, but do not unite their souls to God. No man is united to God who thinks evil in his heart. No man is united to Christ who knows not where the Christ is and what it is. No man is united to God who limits and doubts the power of Christ. No man is united to Christ who calls him a liar and blas- phemer. He said: "I WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAYS EVEN UN- TO THE END OF THE WORLD." The world progresses in every other line, wh> does it deteri- orate in knowledge of Christ? Why should God grow less and all things else increase? John the Baptist said: "1 MUST decrease, but HE SHALL increase." The Christ can never die. His power can never die. He knows all thoughts, all hearts, all minds, and his power is unlimited and perfect even to-day. And he said unto them "Whether it is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to arise and walk?" The world does not object as much to claiming power of self as to claim the power of Christ Such were the Scribes. Men create great inventions, they discover wonders in the scientific world, and would mould their inventions into the ma- terial, and the world looks on, and wonders, and worships, and believes in the man himself. But when he delves into the Spiritual, which the world can not and will not see, that is blasphemy. "But that ye may know that the SON OF MAN HATH POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house." And he arose and departed to his house, "And as Jesus passed forth from them he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith unto him follow me; and he arose and followed him." "And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, be- hold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples." "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eatest your Master with publicans and sinners?" Now Matthew was a prominent man in the land. He was a collector of taxes at the custom offices, and the Pharisees ques- tioned not the character of Jesus when this man was called, but from the highest to the lowest followed and the publicans and sinners came. Then they found fault. What sort of a religion was this that would accept sinners and sit down to meat with them, thus placing them on an equal basis with all other fellows? The religion of the Pharisees was not so. They were above the publican and the sinner. The doors of the temple wherein they worshipped looked not into the soul, but into the material position. "And Jesus said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." "BUT GO YE AND LEARN WHAT THAT MEANETH. I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." ,And the sinners came, but the Pharisees and Scribes stood aside, unable to see what the sinners could see — THE CHRIST, and they came to him because they knew him, and their souls responded to the promise for mercy. They looked within and heard the Voice of the Master. The Pharisees looked without; and saw only a man with a strange voice, a strange doctrine, and a strange Soul. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. - — I — — I — — ■ 1 1 International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine illumination, ■ n m □_ ■ Matthew 9; capter 14; 26 verse. Golden Text — "If I may but touch the hem of his garment, 1 shall be' whole." EXPLANATION OF LESSON. We find Jesus very successful in his teaching in this lesson. His power is increasing. And as we study his character closely in this lesson, we learn the secret of his success, also of his power. UNDERSTANDING. Every one who came to him Jesus KNEW. When the Pharisees came clad in purple and fine linens, Jesus read beneath ALL outward covering, all PRETENSE. No evil was too thick for him not to see through it. HE READ THE SOUL. When the sinners came, he read in like manner. He knew the SICK soul, from the self-righteous soul. The sick soul stands a chance of getting well, of being healed, but the soul wise in its own conceit and self-righteousness is far worse than the common, everyday sinner, for it shuts itself out blinded by its own illusions, while the ordinary sinner is blind ed by the sins and temptations. The one (the Pharisee's soul) is greedily absorbing itself while the other is searching for the REALITY for which it is starving and suffering. And Jesus knew, Jesus LOVED. Jesus UNDERSTOOD. Verse 14— "Then came to him the disciples of John, saying: Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" Verse 15 — "And Jesus said to them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the day will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." Question — What does fasting mean? Answer — To fast is to do without, to refuse to take or eat. They fasted as a duty to their religion. They were without the bridegroom — the Soul, the CHRIST. Jesus here does not refer to the material fasting, but to the spiritual. They did not know what he meant, because they did not understand him. They were material and mental, and understood only the material and mental laws. With Jesus and the Disciples — they had the Christ — the Bridegroom, and need not fast, but the Scribes and Pharisees had him not, and fasted. Verse 16 — In this verse we understand what the whole gar- ment must be made new. The spiritual cannot fit into the ma- terial any more than the material can (it into the spiritual. This means that the BODY, as well as the SOUL, must be PURI- FIED, cleansed, MADE NEW. Verse 17 — This verse is a symbol of the body and Soul If we keep the old sinful body always full of sin it cannot hold to the spiritual soul, and the Christ soul cannot HOLD TO the sinful body. "But they put new wine (soul) into new bottles (purified bodies) and both were preserved." Verse 18 — "While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live." This man came and worshipped him, believing in him, and trusting him. Question — What vibrations were in motion? Answer— LOVE and LIFE. The father loved much. He also loved Jesus, and Jesus loved much and understood. Do you know that each time Jesus raised the dead the currents of Love were concentrated and only transferred? The father only desired life and love, and Jesus KNEW the power of Love— that it would restore Jife. It gives life and can restore. Love is a BUILDER. LOVE never destroyed a soul. Love builds, save, creates, protects. LOVE IS ALWAYS SAFE. Verse 19— Jesus never once refused when help was asked. He followed the man, and so did his disciples. Verse 20— "And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. Verse 21 — "For she said WITHIN herself, If I may but touch the hem of his garment I shall be whole." The vibration of faith and love touched this woman, and WITHIN HERSELF (her Soul) she realized if she but possess- ed even a touch of absolute PURITY and TRUTH she would be whole. Verse 23 — It was customary in those days for the people to make a great demonstration of grief over the dead. They had a place set apart, which was called the "wailing place of the Jews," and people were hired by the mourners to assist them in giving proper feeling and demonstration to their grief. "And when Jesus came unto the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise — Verse 24 — He said unto them, Qive place, for the maid is not dead but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn." Their vibrations of display which supported death were broken. Verse 25— "And when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose." And we will all arise from the dead, from the sinful soul and body, if we but allow the Christ spirit to touch us. If we will become subjected to his will he will come and take us by the hand and lift us to Truth and Life. "If 1 may but touch the hem of his garment I shall be whole." If we but come near enough to Christ and Truth, even though only the hem touches us, we shall be whole. One small desire will lift us and draw us nearer, and then we may be of good comfort for we have accepted a part of him. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. ■ I ■ I I International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. jn p _■ n ■ Matthew 9th Chapter; 27th Verse to close of chapter. Golden Text — "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labor- ers are few." Even before we come to this lesson you will have noticed that even among his disciples Jesus' fame spread more because of his works than of the Truth he taught. The reason is very simple and plain. Man believes more readily what he sees with the material eyes than that which he cannot see, because he is spiritually blind to the Truths he taught. We do not read in one instance where he was impatient with them. He knew they could not see when blind. We know why a man born blind in the flesh cannot see; and some of these are not as hopelessly blind as some who are blind spiritually. And those who were blind in the flesh were able to regain sight far quicker than were the Pharisees and Scribes. The reason why. Those born blind are surrounded by those who can see. And those who see are constantly reminding them of their loss by telling them of all the beauties and possibilities of the world they live in. Hence, the blind man knows he is missing something, and he desires to see. The majority of the world can see, in a material sense, and the blind are few. It is the reverse with the development of the spiritual. There are few who can SEE, and many are blind. There- fore, the blind cannot believe. He does not desire sight because he cannot be brought to the realization of his loss. Verse 27 — "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us." They were materially blind, but they KNEW and had faith i-n Jesus' power. Verse 28 — For "when lie was come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said unto them; Believe ye that 1 am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea Lord." When the Christ comes to the soul, or the house of Spiritual blindness, if the soul responds, COMES TO HIM and BE- LIEVES, it will receive sight. They believed and received sight. Verse 29 — "Then touched he their eyes, saying, ACCORD- ING TO THY FAITH BE IT UNTO YOU." And so it is always. WE RECEIVE ACCORDING TO OUR FAITH. Verse 30 — "And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it." Verse 31 — "But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all the country." And so ought we to do, and all those who have received spir- itual sight. It is far greater cause for rejoicing than the mater- ial blindness, for spiritual blindness is death. Verse 32 — "Behold, they brought to him a dumb man, pos- sessed with a devil." There are many spiritually dumb also. They do not speak what little they know of Truth. Some cannot, or will not, speak for Truth. There are many reasons. Pride forbids some. Fear of opposition forbids another. Fear of worldly opinions forbids others. Are these not devils also? If you have them, CAST THEM OUT and then you can speak. Verse 33 — "When the devil was cast out, the dumb spake, and the multitude marvelled, saying, it was never so in Israel." They marvelled at his power because they KNEW NOT THE SOURCE. They did not know God, that God is limit- less, and knoweth all things. They knew not where God is. And even his great power did not open their e>es. Blind and dumb were cured, yet they were not cured. Verse 34 — "But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils." How very like all the world, the self-righteous world. How like the orthodox creeds. Depart from the creed and dogmas, and you are dealing with devils. This is the reasoning of many. Besides this, the self-righteous never sees his own blindness and evil. It is always in some one else. Verse 35 — "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." It made no difference what they accused him of, how they laughed at him, or scorned him, nor haw they dispised him. NOTE THIS. He went about doing all the good he could, healing, teaching, loving, sympathizing. Verse 36 — And this is the reason: "When he saw the multi- tudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shep- herd." He understood, did he not? He knew they were suffering , worn and faint, and were drinking the poison of the world of illusions, of false beliefs which could not lift them up from their condition. Verse 37— "Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few." The reward is great. The Lord of the harvest pays far more than the evil one. The evil one does not pay. He takes all that you have and gives you death and destruction. He has nothing else to give. Do not follow in the lure and glare of his promise. It is false. God alone is Life. Work, therefore, for the laborers are few. See and UNDERSTAND. SPEAK and the DEVIL WILL FLEE. Go preach, go teach, and let not the accusations and the scorn of the world keep you dumb. Cast out the devil and you will be filled with joy. The world loves only its own. Even then its love is change- able and leads to death. The world sees only the world. The blind sees darkness. Follow the Lord of the harvest. The laborers are few. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. i i — - — m~ — : — - 1 h International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, _Ji D - IB n h Matthew, 10th chapter, l-24th verses. Golden Text — "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." This is one of the strongest lessons of the New Testament, for in it we have the direct personal injunctions of Jesus to his disciples. First he called them together and gave them power to heal, teach and preach. They had not as yet attained any great power from their own enlightenment. The power they now had was the transferred ^Eth power from the Soul of Christ. After they received Illumination they drew upon their own souls for power. After Illumination and baptism of Fire, the Christ power was poured into each soul, and they were never dependent upon another for guidance and assistance. This was the first time that he, sent them out to heal, teach and preach. Heretofore, though in his presence daily, they had not gained sufficient enlightenment to be able to bear the message: This should be carefully followed by every Truth bearer. Too many start out who are not properly equipped, who have not received power from the Master who guides them, or who knowing too much cannot be taught and go out teaching without authority. No person should attempt to teach until he has been thor- oughly trained. Tell the story of the Truth, how much it has done FOR YOU, and what it can do, but make no effort to set yourself up as a leader and a teacher until you have been thor- oughly prepared for it. The harvest truly is plenteous and the laborers are few, and many teachers are needed, and a place will be open for all who OBEY. You must learn to obey yourself before you may ex- act obedience from others. The disciples spent their time in study andtraining, and when they were ready the Master SENT THEM OUT. Verse 5— ''These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." Verse 6— "BUT GO RATHER TO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. Why did he command them thus? The Gentiles and the Samaritans were shut out. Why? Far back where Abraham taught his own people, we lost sight of the Gentiles in a sense; but in separation of the family of Noah, we will find that a number of the Gentiles were led into Egypt. In fact, all na- tions outside the Semitic race were Gentiles. The Gentiles of the Egyptians knew the Truths, so did many of the Asiatics. The Jews were the most material, flesh loving people of that day. Their religion was nothing but symbol and ceremonies. Hence, they were farthest away from Truth of any nation. They were the Negatives. They were always backsliding, being led away by divers lusts and strange people, and losing sight of the Truth. Therefore, they were the LOST SHEEP, and needed what the others al- ready possessed. Verse 7 — "And as ye go. preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Verse 8 — "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give." They were able to do all that he told them them to do before they were sent out. He gave them power. They were filled with his own thoughts, his instructions. He also tells them to not provide for themselves, for "the workman is worthy of his meat." All that we earn in the healing, cleansing and helping people we are worthy of. Many seem to think that a religious work or healing should always be free. Yet he tells them they are worthy of their meat. People should not give something for nothing, neither should they expect something for nothing. Spiritual benefits are the hardest to obtain of any, and the teach- er of the Spiritual really has' the hardest work of any. There is no work so difficult to prepare and present to the people, and no matter how perfect and beautiful it is it is always being found fault with. Verses 11-14 — He simply gives them instructions for introduc- ing the work. But he tells them, "Whomsoever shall not re- ceive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that home or city shake of the dust off your feet." He does not refer to material here, but the dust of opposition and persecution. When we shake off anything we thrust it from us, we let it go, and this he advised them to do, not to oppose and persecute in return, but to let all these evil thoughts be forgotten and forgiven. Verse 15 — "Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city." Sodom and Gomorrha perished because of their materiality and awful lusts, but not because of the rejection and persecu- tions of the Truth. They had never received the word because it had not been sent them. They had never developed to the state of receptivity, being able to understand. Verse 16 — "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye, therefore, wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Verse 17 — "But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues." Verse 18 — "And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gen- tiles." This is not against all Gentiles, but against all nations which scourge and mock them. Not all the Gentiles knew the Truth but they were of the ignorant classes, for the Ancient Men of Wisdom were Gentiles. And every Jewish leader learned from them. All the great leaders were taken into Egypt— -Moses, Joseph and Jesus, before they ever taught the people. Verse 19 — "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak." Verse 20 — "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh IN YOU." They were led and guided by the Spirit through Jesus. If they had not obeyed, think you it would have guided? If they had thought that they knew what to say, and would outline their program, they would have failed, as we of to-day so often do when we refuse to obey the Master who leads us. Verse 21— "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put to death." This must not be taken in the literal sense. The death here is not material death but of the soul. When the soul refuses to be saved, it must be delivered up to its death, for brother, nor parent, nor children can save the soul that refuses to save itself. Verse 22 — "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." The world always hates those who represent the Christ, the true conception of God. But those who endure to the end shall be saved. If we cling to the Spirit, if we obey and follow righteousness we shall save ourselves from the soul's death. Verse 23 — "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the son of man is come." And this was true. Their Illumination was given to them long before they had preached in every city, but it was after the Crucifixion that they were baptized with the Spirit or Fire, which is the Son of Man 1 — Sun of Man, for the Soul is the Sun of the body, and is indeed the Son or sun of man. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine illumination m n ■ n m Matthew, 10th chapter; 24-34th verses. Golden Text — "Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me be- fore men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." This lesson is a continuation of Jesus' instructions to the dis- ciples. In the following verses we will find many great laws which have been taken in the literal sense by many theolo- gians. Jesus speaks very plainly, however, and very simple, direct, and to the point. Notice here that he addresses the multitudes. In teaching them personally he was always very direct and simple. He illustrated his words to make his meaning clearer. And we learn in this lesson that the spiritual Truths can be imparted in the very simplest language. Many complain and say they cannot put the spiritual into language, but we see here how Jesus did do it, and how it can be done. We can tell what we see and know, and only those who are able or ready to receive it can see and know, and any language is of no effect to those who are spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. But that has noth- ing to do with the language used. The Truth can be illustrat- ed in as simple and direct a way as anything else, but the matter of understanding lies with the individual's readiness and receptiveness. Verse 24 — "The disciple is not above his master nor th£ ser- vant above his lord." When we grow above our master, or think we know enough without his assistance, we are placing ourselves above him. We are not disciples when we are not willing to obey until the mas- ter sets us free. Verse 25— 'it is enough for the disciple that HE BE AS HIS master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household ?" The disciple must be as his Master, and he will attain his Adeptship and Christhood. Is it not enough for us to be as Christ, without trying to set ourselves above him? Perhaps we all do not, but many of us do. We think we know more Truth than can be taught us. We think we can yield now and then to the flesh, and then set our- selves up as Masters. This cannot be done. We must follow the Master. Who is the Master of the house? Who is the Master of YOUR house? If the world calls this Truth you believe Beelzebub (or prom- ise of devils) what does it call you? Verse 26— In this verse we are cautioned not to fear. "Fear them not, therefore; for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known." All the Truth and mysteries shall be revealed to those who fear not and search on in the Christ, and all shall be made known, for understanding is given as we desire and develop. Verse 27 — "What 1 tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light." In understanding. "'And what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house top." This is the INNER voice, which is the knowledge given to the Soul through the Soul of the Christ. It is never spoken. It is given in the ear silently, and is the Soul or Spirit speaking. Verse 28 — "And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell/' No man can destroy the soul but the soul itself. The material death never destroys the soul The soul lives. Who is able to destroy both soul and body? Only our own Mind and Soul. Therefore, fear only to think and do that which is evil, malicious, unkind and untrue. Verse 29 — The Spirit of God is even in the sparrow, for "one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father." The same father is WITHIN you— YOUR FATHER. Verse 30 — "Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Being of more value, we have more power and the Spirit within us is developed far more. That is why we are more valuable. Verse 32 — " Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will 1 also confess before my Father which is in heaven. To confess is to accept, to accept is to believe and obey. The Christ confesses us when we confess him, for we then bear his image, his likeness, his goodness, which is of the Fath- er, for the Christ is the Soul of God, and we are before the Father when we take on the Christ. Confession is acknowl- edgement. We acknowledge Christ when we confess him. Verse 33 — "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will 1 also deny before my Father which is in heaven/' If we deny Christ, refuse to BECOME AS THE MASTER,' we have not acknowledged him; therefore, he cannot acknowl- edge us as his own, and we cannot bear the image of the Fath- er without the Christ acknowledgement. We must live, think say and do as he would do if we confess him. We either con- fess or deny him in what we think, say and do, daily. Our confessions are daily manifested in the life we live. There is nothing covered within the soul that shall not be re- vealed and nothing hid that shall not be known. Our soul is the betrayer or saviour. It gives out all that is good, all that is bad. All things are revealed unto the Christ, for we either confess or deny him before all people, and when we develop the Christ Soul all our failures, our faults, our shortcomings are revealed to us by his power, and we are able to overcome the flesh and all evil NOTE.— These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. I . — - 1 1 1 1 — " International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, _„m n ; ■_ □ _n Matthew, 10th chapter; 34th verse to close of chapter. Golden Text — "He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me." This lesson is but a continuation of the instructions to the disciples. In it we can readily see how carefully Jesus prepared them for their work, and how he advised and warned them of the temptations, and trials they were to meet with. Let us consider this lesson carefully, and gather the knowl- edge he has imparted to them and to us, for he includes all who shall obey through the word. These lessons are as strong and abiding to-day as they were then, and we will realize this more and more as we develop in righteousness and Truth. We are the Soul Builders. We want Soul Knowledge, the knowledge that will enable us to become as Christ, who was the Master Builder. We cannot design, and plan, and build io our own way when we build af- ter the designs and plans of another. Therefore, we must in- spect the pattern closely and follow it as correctly as we can. To be successful we must stick to our model. This is often very hard to do. There are so many obstacles and difficulties to overcome and become reconciled to, but "he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me." We are not worthy of life if we will not work for it. No man is worthy of bread if he is too lazy, or careless, or indiffer- ent to work for it. And no one is worthy of the crown if he will not bear the cross. It is oftentimes hard. Jesus said: Verse 36 — ''Think not 1 am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace but a sword." Peace is not of the earth, and peace will not dwell in earthly longings and desires. The sword is to rend the earth, to tear it away from the material so that the soul may attain its freedom and peace in the spiritual. Verse 34 — "For 1 am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daugh- ter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Verse 36 — "And a man's foes shall be they of his own house- hold." This would seem very strange indeed, if it were taken in the literal sense. Who are the foes of a man's own household? Who are the father and daughter and the daughter-in-law. The members of your body are the members of your house- hold. This father of the household is the member of your body that rules you and causes you to sin. The daughter is the evil that you love dearly, and it includes every member of the household unto the least, for a daughter-in-law is the least of kin, but is always one of the family. Therefore, every sin, from greatest to least, must be cast out, overcome, repented of. Repentance is TURNING AWAY FROM. Verse 37 — "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." We can now understand what this verse means in its true sense. These are the members of the household, and the house- hold is the body. "Therefore, we cannot love the body more than Christ and be worthy of him and his heritage. Verse 39— "He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." To find the Spiritual or Christ Life we must lose the desire of the sensual, material, earth life, and if we lose all love and desire for the illusions of the senses and the material for the sake of attaining the Christhood we shall find Life eternal. Verse 40 — "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." If we receive the messengers of Christ, we will receive Christ and to accept Christ is to accept God, for Christ is the Soul of God — the true conception of Life. Verse 41 — "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." If we would become prophets and desire it in Christ's name we will be rewarded. If we desire righteousness in the name of Christ, who is a righteous man, we will be rewarded. The things we desire in Christ's name, or in the Truth, we shall at- tain if we receive or become receptive to the thing we desire. We must become positive or at variance to the evil or undesir- able, but receptive to the object or thought desired. Verse 42 — "And whoso shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." One of these little ones is one who has not attained much in ithe Christ, but no matter how small the Christ in any one may be, if we as a disciple give him to drink of the Water of Life we have added to our own spirituality and likeness to the Fath- er. Thus are we rewarded. If we help others to grow the very least, we also grow and attain. "He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me." If we will not follow as Christ leads us we cannot attain. We attain what we desire, and are worthy only of the desire. We cannot serve two Masters, evil and Truth, and be worth of Truth and Christ. NOTE.— These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. 1 r~ ~a — 1 1 - — Internationa! Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine iilurr ination, ■ n ■ n ■ Matthew, 11th chapter; l-16th verses. Golden Text — "Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee." John the Baptist was the forerunner, or messenger, of the Christ, sent to prepare the way for him. John represents the Mental Teacher. John baptized with water, and water means mind. He baptized with Mind — men- tal laws, mental healing and teaching. He was followed by the Son of God, who would baptize with Fire. The Soul is Fire, and when we are baptized with the Soul of Christ we have re- ceived the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or Fire. But John seems to doubt his own teaching, for he sends two of his disciples to Jesus and said unto him: Verse 3 — "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" John saw the Spirit descend in the form of a dove whi^h sat upon Jesus, and he heard the voice of the Spirit proclaiming him "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased," and yet John, in prison, doubts. Verse 4 — "And Jesus said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see." Verse 5 — "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Verse 6 — "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be oifended in me." John, as a mentalist, demanded manifestation and works, and that is why Jesus gave them his work in healing as a wit- ness and proof of his Sonship. We may develop great mental powers and yet not develop the Christ Soul. We build soul with every thought, and Mind is the Builder, but not until we are baptized with Fire have we attained Sonship or Soul-ship. John knew not the Fire baptism. It was not given yet. Jesus alone taught it openly. Some teachers claim that Jesus taught these Truths against the law of the Initiates and Adepts, but this is not true. In every age one is prepared to teach the Truth to all nations. The world demands these currents and vibrations at certain times and seasons, or it would have been destroyed long ago. The time is NOW at hand when the vibrations of Truth must be preached throughout the world, and for the same rea- son that Jesus taught. The coarse, heavy, sensual and material vibrations must be purified or the world is destroyed. There- fore, ''blessed is he who shall not be offended in me, for it is Salvation and Life." Vene 7 — In this verse Jesus wonders at John's doubt and unbelief. He says, "What \*ent ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with tfte wind?" Mental laws are easily shaken with varying winds, as John, the greatest of teachers, proved. He was a Mentalist. Let this be a warning to you who are not so great as he. Follow but one teacher; do not run after strange gods, and be sure that you follow the things of the Soul, for then you will not be misled by mentalists who know not the things of the Soul. See that you are a disciple who leads others to the Soul Science also. Verse 8 — Yet Jesus lifts him above the material. John's plane was Mental. "What went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." The kings in kings' houses were of the material, and John was more than material. He was above all the material laws and desires. Verse 9 — Was he a prophet? "'Yea, more than a prophet. Verse 10 — "For that is he of whom it was written, Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee/' Jesus knew the laws of John. He understood also why John doubted. The imprisoned mind is swayed by doutful thoughts. John attained all that mind could attain. He expected Jesus to assist him, but Jesus understood the law, and that the Mental teachings would live, even as the Soul teachings must live even though the teacher's work was ended. Jesus knew his time was coming also, that each teacher must follow the others, as their teachings would follow each other. Verse 11 — "Verily 1 say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." We may develop great mental power, but the development of Soul is greater. Brilliancy and intellectuality are not Soul Builders unless guided into the right channels. Any mind can develop Souls of wonderful brightness, beauty and Truth. In- tellect has not much to do with it, for an ignorant man who has soul is greater than the intellectual man without soul. Verse 12 — "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Verse 13 — "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." Verse 14 — "And if ye receive it, this is Elias which was for to come." When the prophets and the law prophesied, the kingdom of heaven was of the future. No man openly preached that the "kingdom of heaven is at hand" as did John and Jesus. When they preached this Truth in such a simple, satisfactory way, and in direct opposition to the expectations of the Jews, who had looked forward to a material, earthly kingdom and a king and a God for themselves alone, then violence was manifested. God within mortal man was a shock to the Jews, as it is to the Or- thodox of to-day. Yet they consider not that God is an unexplainable, mysteri- ous thing, far beyond their solution. The mysteries of death is satisfactorily solved by many, but few know the mysterious Force that throbs through their being and creates them into life and vitality. The kingdom of heaven within John and Jesus suffered violence by force. Both came to violent, material death. This unveiled mystery of taking "the kingdom of heaven by violence" should now be under- stood by the student. "This is Elias which was for to come" — the reincarnation of the Soul of Elias, the great prophet. John was greater in this age than Elias in the Old Testament Age, for he preached the "time at hand," and he knew it was at hand. The Christ and his coming in the Old Testament was only a prophecy, a vision of Truth, and not the Truth manifested and lived. Verse 15 — "He that hath ears to hear let him here." Listen with the Soul in the name of the Soul and receive the Soul's reward. "Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee." Purify the mind. Create thoughts of love, purity and right- eousness, and this will prepare the Soul for the Christ, or king- dom of heaven. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination _ji n ■_ _xl ■__ Matthew, 11th chapter; 16th verse to close of chapter. Golden Text — "Take my yoke , upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your soul." Jesus understood the thoughts of all hearts, and the change- able, fault-finding" people, who would criticise every good thing and place a stain upon the name. Verse 18 — "For John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil." Verse 19 — "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a winebibbler, a friend of publicans and sinners." Thus every teacher must bear the criticism of the mutlitudes of darkened minds. "But wisdom is justified of her children." These are but tests to the souls who are chosen to represent the great Truths and Mysteries. A weak, cowardly soldier never won his way to generalship. No man would follow such a one. When we go out to fight an enemy, and we have our captain to lead us, we want the one who is brave, staunch and true, who will not weaken and waver and turn about and run when the enemy appears. And there are many battles of the Soul against the flesh that we must encounter. We will win if we follow him who went the way before us and proved to us that the battle can be won. Verse 20 — "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not." He accomplished works that never have been equalled by any man or woman before or since. Yet, notwithstanding all his power, all his efforts, all his love, they repented not. They continued in their evil ways. Therefore, we should not become impatient and discouraged when we fail to succeed in our work. Jesus met with the most heartrending failure and discourage- ment and persecution, but he went on demonstrating and giving example how to live and do under such circumstances. And what did he do? He continued in his work. He spent greater efforts and dem- onstrated greater love and power. Verse 23 — "And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day." Hell is the suffering and destruction of the soul that will not awaken to the Truth. These souls continue breaking laws, and suffer for having done so, even while exalting oneself above sinners. The blind law breakers must suffer no matter how good he pretends to be or thinks he is. Verse 24 — Sodom was not blessed as Capernaum. They had not the Truths demonstrated in their midst. Sodom was ma- terial in a material age. Capernaum was material in a spiritual age. Yet Capernaum set itself up unto heaven. It pretended to be above the evil, but was self-righteous and self-exalted. A sin- ner is easier to bring to repentance and Truth than the intellec- tual self-righteous man. Verse 25 — "Jesus said, 1 thank thee, O Father, Lord of heav- en and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hath revealed them unto babes." Babes are teachable and can be led, but those wise in their own conceit will not learn. Therefore, the mysteries of the laws of heaven and earth are hid from those who have abused the right to know them or who think that they "know it all." To become as a little child is to become willing to accept the teachings, and obey the laws. If we obey we are pure, clean, wholesome and childlike and near to the Father. Verse 26 — "Even so, Father, for it seemeth good in thy sight." Verse 27 — "All things are delivered unto the Christ, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." When Christ is DEVELOPED WITHIN us we are a Son of God, and the Son knows the Father, and the Father knows the Son, and we cannot know God unless the Christ reveals him to us. Verse 28 — "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Verse 29 — "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your souls." To those who are laden with the desires of the flesh and its illusions, the Christ will relieve you of those burdens and the soul will rest. Learn of him. Learn to be meek and lowly in heart. Do not exalt thyself above learning of him. He is not in the high places of the word, but he is in the low places. He is WITHIN the humble heart that does not worship self, and self-glory, and the praise and glare of the world. Verse 30 — The yoke of Christ is easy. He does not pile on burdens, but thrusts aside the burdens that evil lays upon us. No man suffers for doing right in the end. Man suffers only for wrong doing, and his burdens all come from the wrong he has committed or the right not committed. NOTE. — All those who are legalized to teach the great Truths, of which this lesson is but a part, are such as have gone the way before you, and they are therefore able to teach you. NOTE.— These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. — "I 1 M 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ □ h n m Matthew, 12th chapter; l-10th verses. Golden Text — "The Sun of Man is Lord over the Sabbath day." The Pharisees were watching every word and action of Jesus that they might find fault with him. They did not find fault with his work as much with his teachings. He taught something they could not understand, and they were prone to criticise everything different from them- selves and their teachings. The Jewish people were in the beginning selfish, narrow, clannish and material. They were always looking out for the easy places. They did not like to work or struggle. This char- acteristic is still dominant within them in very many cases. They are, as a race, watching for bargains and to get the better of others in a deal. Verse 1 — To pluck the corn, or rub it from the ear, on the Sabbath was forbidden by the precepts of the Elders, and was considered equivalent to threshing. And as Jesus and his dis- ciples walked through the corn they "hungered and began to pluck the ears of the corn and to eat." Verse 2 — The Pharisees said: "Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day." We will learn in development, and in doing good, that every deed that we commit is subject to criticism by those who differ with us in our views. But we must understand and expect this so that we may know that ihe good invariably meets with op- position and criticism from evil. Verse 3 — "But Jesus said, Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungered and they that were with him?" Verse 4 — u How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shrew bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nei- ther for them which was with him — but only for the priests." They overlooked the short comings of their own leaders and teachers, but they were ready to detect the flaws in other lead- ers. We find this always true. Verse 5— "Or, have ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless. Verse 6 — "but 1 say unto you that in this place is ONE greater than the temple." He here refers to the God WITHIN him, to the developed Soul, or Christ, which is the Son of God. It is our duty to obey the Law according to the dictates of our Conscience. The Conscience is the Voice of the Soul and so long as we truly obey it we are not sinning. Of course, this has reference only to the Voice of the Developed Soul, for in many people the Voice is dead. Verse 7 — "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." If they had known that the Spiritual WITHIN man was pure and guiltless of wrong, they would not condemn the material. They broke a material law, not a Divine Law. Verse 8 — "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day." Christ cannot sin. Christ cannot break a law. The man who is clean, wholesome and true may make mis- takes in the material sense, but he does not break a Divine Law when developed into the understanding of the Christ and the Law of Christ. He will do that which is right under the Divine Law. None other rules him. No matter what the world may think nor how it may condemn him, he knows he is Lord even of the Sabbath day, and that the deed if in harmony with Divini- ty cannot be sinful nor harmful. The motive, the desire and consequences of the deed is to be questioned. A necessary, harmless act does not condemn any man when it is committed. All this does not mean that the developed Soul can commit an act which would be wrong to the undeveloped. The law concerning the plucking an ear of corn on the Sab- bath was not a Divine Law. It was a man-made law, and nat- urally to those who believed it to be sinful to do so it was a sin but the Developed Soul knew that it was not a Divine Law and therefore it was not a sin to him. Many Laws supposed to be Divine are not such. The Ini- tiate knows how to judge each law and he can no more break a Divine Law without suffering than can the most ignorant human. NOTE. — These Lessons are Copyrighted by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. All Rights of Title and Matter Reserved. — 1 1 ■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine illumination __■ □ ■ □ m Matthew, chapter 12th; 10-21 verses. Golden Text — "And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." How many of us are, also, afflicted in like manner, in a spir- itual sense? The hands were made to use to work with, but some of do not use them much to accomplish Spiritual work. We must learn to put Spirituality in all our work, or we may find ourselves possessed of a WITHERED MIND, the helpless, useless hand. Verse 10 — "Behold there was a man who had his hand with- ered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? that they might accuse him." The> would willingly suffer another to continue in affliction and suffering rather than to see him made whole by one whose teachings did not conform to their own laws and beliefs. We meet with the same antagonism and selfishness at the present time. Verse 11 — "And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?" Verse 12 — "How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore is it lawful to do well on the Sabbath day?" NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIOMT5 OF TRANSLATION. A material matter which was a loss to them in a material sense they could understand. This thus illustrates the unrea- sonableness of many of the material laws held by the vast ma- jority of people. Verse 13 — "Then said he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other." This man obey the Divine command. If he had not stretch- ed rorth his hand, think you he would have regained use of it? Stretch forth thine hand also — the withered spiritual hand, and see to it that you do not draw it back until it is made whole, and you will no longer judge the acts of others, for you WILL KNOW that you have but to look after thyself and thine own soul. Verse 14 — "Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. What do the Pharisees represent? Selfishness, prejudice, egotism, and self-righteousness. These EVER SEEK TO DESTROY THE CHRIST. Watch them WITHIN YOU. Verse 15 — "When Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence; and great multitudes followed him and he HEALED THEM ALL. We must do the same when the Pharisees of selfishness and self-righteousness, egotism and prejudice begins to assail the Christ. We must WITHDRAW FROM THEM. Verse 16 — "And he charged them that they should not make him knovn." Verse 17 — "That it might be fulfilled that was spoken by Esaias, the prophet:" Verse 18 — "Behold my servant who 1 have chosen; my be- loved, in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles." These are the words of God, spoken by the prophet. Blessed are we when the Soul of God is well pleased with us. And we learn here that he was not a God of the Jews only but to the Gentiles as well. Verse 19 — "He shall not strive or cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets." The voice of Christ is WITHIN. It is SILENT to the mate- rial ear. It is heard by the Soul, and the mind is made to un- derstand. Verse 20 — "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flame shall he not quench, till he sends forth judgment unto victory." The bruised reed is the bruised Soul, or neglected Soul. The smoking flame represents the Soul almost burned out by the fires of evil desires and deeds. But when the Christ comes to judge, the evil is broken away from the Soul. The smoldering desires are put out by the fires of the Soul as it stands before the judgment, and then puts on Christ, which is victory. Verse 21 — "And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." The Christ is for the world, ALL nations, and all nations have trusted and always will trust in the name of Goodness, or Christ. They will recognize the power of God no matter how evil they may become. 1 — — I ■ 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ n ■ □ m Matthew, 12th chapter; 22-31st verses. Golden Text — "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." In this lesson we have the much preached about unforgivable sin, for you have no doubt heard much about the sin that men commit and never forgiven for. Here is where Orthodoxy comes against a stone wall. The Scriptures cannot be understood in the literal sense. The Spirit and the Word, instead of the Word alone. We must have the Word also, but we must understand the meaning which it intends to veil, or where it shall be accepted, in the literal sense. All the Bible is written in symbols, and only those who are given understanding can understand. But we can never under- stand without the development of the Spirit, for the u food for the children must not be given to the dogs." Verse 22 — "Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, deaf, and dumb; and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw." Verse 23 — "This work caused all to believe in him; and they NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. said, Is not this the Son of David?'' Verse 24 — "And the Pharisees were afraid that the people would believe, and they assailed and accused him of being pos- sessed with devils also." The Pharisees were capable of producing spiritualistic phen- omena, and Spiritualists are controlled by disembodied spirits. They, therefore, believed Jesus was a medium after the order of other Spiritists, and the accusation is based on that belief. "When the Pharisees saw it they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." Verse 25— "And Jesus KNEW THEIR THOUGHTS, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." Verse 26 — "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is then divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?" When we begin to throw evil thoughts and desires from us they do not stand. We know evil cannot destroy evil. It will not cast itself out. If it does, it cannot stand; it is divided, scattered. Verse 27 — "And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges." If none but the evil had power to cast out devils, then those of the Pharisees who had cured obsessions, and the prophets, whom they worshipped, healed diseases, then they themselves were controlled by the same evil. SELF JUDGES SELF. Verse 28 — "But if 1 cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come unto you." Verse 29 — "Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. Evil is strong and holds fast to his kingdom within the Soul. No man can enter and destroy him until he binds him, and ev 1 will not destroy evil nor spoil the house of evil Greater pow- er is the only power that can overcome the lesser power. Verse 30 — "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." If evil were with him it would not flee from him. If it were with him it would cling and not scatter. This lesson also teaches us that we can follow but one teach- er, one leader. We cannot run after strange gods and still cling to the truth. It is also a lesson to us that when we have found a truth it is our duty to try and help others to it. Verse 31 — "Wherefore, I say unto you, ALL manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." What is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost? Blasphemy is rejection and accusing the Christ of evil. Christ we must remember is the Soul of God, and every vibration of hate, envy and malice toward the Soul is blasphemy. This it not forgiven unless men cast it from them. If they continue in rejection and hatred of good, Christ will never come to them. The Holy Ghost is the awakening of the Soul powers into the Christ. IF MAN NEVER AWAKENS HE IS LOST AND UN- FORGIVEN. This is one of the sins that is unforgivable, because it is nev- er forgiven. NOTE. — Those who desire to know more of the "casting out devils" and obsession, should read "The Gods." — *— 1 ■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ d m n ■ Matthew, chapter 12th; 33-43 verses. Golden Text — "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.'' We know that u he that controlleth his tongue is greater than he that taketh a city." The tongue is the representative of the heart. If the heart of man is wicked, he betrays himself by the words he speaks. The tongue is the betrayer and the deceiver. Man speaks fair words and deceive many, while in his heart he may hate and plan to wound and destroy. "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." We understand that we are the creators and savior of our own selves. We reject and hate the thing we speak against, and if we stand against the Holy Ghost we cannot be forgiven, for we forgive our own evil deeds and sins. We cannot for- give ourselves unless we are in Unity, Oneness and Understand- ing with the Christ. Verse 33 — "Either make the tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is NOT E-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. known by his fruit. " Cast out hypocrisy. Our fruit betrays us anyway. All the world knows us by what we are to-day — by our deeds and our words. Verse 34 — "O, generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Evil is able to deceive and speak fair and beautiful words, but it cannot speak good things. The heart rules the tongue, and in the unguarded moments is when we betray what the heart is. Verse 35 — "A good man out of the good treasures of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasures bringeth forth evil things." We all have known some person whom we believed good and true. Why did we believe in them? And we have all known persons we believed were evil. Why did we believe they were evil? Verse 36 — "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment." The day that Christ is awakened within us, and as we begin to judge ourselve and see ourselves as we are, every wasted day, every idle word, every evil deed and unkind act rise up before us as witnesses against us, and the Christ as the judge knows the false from the true, the good from the evil. Verse 37 — "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Words are strong. They are thoughts spoken. The heart produces every word we speak. Verse 38 — In this verse they ask him for a sign. These were the Scribes and Pharisees. "Master, we would see a sign from thee." Verse 39 — "And he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas/' Verse 40 — "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The burial of the flesh and the resurrection of the Christ. When Jonah was swallowed by the whale of disobedience, he was awakened to the demands of the Divine WITHIN him- self. He would not obey. His disobedience grew until all the real good was swallowed up by disobedience and fear. When fear and disobedience left him, he was awakened to the Truth and the power of God and the suffering that follows broken laws. Verse 41 — When Jonah accepted the God and obeyed he brought many men to Truth; but the world has grown so wick- ed and material that the Christ could not arouse but a few. Verse 42 — "The Queen of the South shall rise up in judg- ment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." The Queen of the South was an earthly, material queen, bui the desire for Wisdom and Truth brought her out from the most material conditions, and the wisdom of Solomon was not the perfected and Everlasting Truth and Wisdom of the Christ. Solomon and the prophets attained wisdom and knowledge, but none gave to the world the Christ in flesh. sr~^ International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, ■ n ■ D ■ Matthew, 13th chapter, 43rd verse to close. Golden Text — "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and moth- er." The description of the persistency of the unclean spirit is true and plain in this lesson. We may have but one deplorable sin, and when we succeed in casting it out it will make every effort to return. When it fails in gaining its former place, it will draw all spirits (or thoughts) in harmony with it, and will come with added strength and zeal to gain entrance within the Mind and Soul. It is seductive and subtle, and the man who makes an effort to attaini perfecton must be always on guard against the subtle temptations of the divers spirits. Verse 43 — When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. The evil spirit is the restless lonely spirit. Good spirits bring peace and rest, even though the world is troubled and we have many troubles and cares of the world. I NOTE -These: Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER | ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGMT5 OF TRANSLATION. Do not mistake the word spirit here. We do not mean the dis- embodied spirits, but mean the spirit of thought which dwells every day within us. Verse 44 — "Then he saith, 1 will return into my house from whence I came out; and whence he is come he findeth it empty, swept and garnished." The house is clean, is purified, but he has gained his former hold by being able to effect an entrance into the thoughts of the mind. This is the mind drifting back into the channels of old sen- sual, greedy and wicked desires even for an instant of time. Verse 45 — "And he goeth out and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last end of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto the wicked generation." This is a warning against the subtility of the spirits we allow to creep into our minds and souls. For instance, a man has been unclean to a certain extent and he makes up his mind to turn away from his condition, we all know by experience how the thoughts and desires to do the wrong thing we have done will come back to us time and again, and always with a diffent excuse. If we allow this de- sire or thought to dwell within us for a time it has gained an entrance, then it accumulates others perhaps not quite the same but in harmony with it, and we are weakened, then it brings its partners with it and the last state is worse than the first. It may be the love of drink and the turning away from it, with the result that another and worse habit is formed. Do not, when turning from evil, allow another and seemingly lesser evil to tempt you. It is the same old spirit of DESIRE ap- pearing in a different guise to deceive you. There is but one way if you desire to free yourself from any bad habit. First seek something good that you desire, some work that you desire to accomplish, then turn the thoughts and desires from the evil and use them for the accomplishment of the good. Verse 46 — u While he talked to the people, behold his mother and brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. ,, Verse 47 — "Then one said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak unto thee." Verse 48 — "But he. answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother and who are my brethren?" Verse 48 — "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother." It has been claimed that Jesus disowned his mother and brethren on this occasion, but this is not the Truth. Far from it. In speaking to the multitudes, and in teaching the disciples, Jesus does not refer to himself as the flesh but as the Christ WITHIN him. His mother believed in him and knew the Christ, for she CONCEIVED the Christ and gave him birth. She remem- bered his words and "pondered them in her heart." She was not only the mother of Jesus, but also of the Christ. Christ is always born of a Virgin (pure mind) Soul, and whosoever shall do the will of the Father in heaven may become the mother of a Christ, or the brother, or the sister; but the moth- er is the nearer, for she is the Soul of the Most High and gives birth to His seed. Those who desire him ac they came desiring to even speak to him, may become as near to him as they desire. And the Christ will acknowledge you in the way as he acknowledged all those who did the will of the Father then. He will stretch forth his hand say "Behold my mother and brethren." — I 1 H 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ n m D ■ Matthew, 13th chapter; l-23rd verses. Golden Text— "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." "Great multitudes gathered to Jesus, so that he went into a ship and the multitude stood on the shore." No lesson was ever given which was clearer than this lesson. In examining ourselves we too often select our virtues and overlook the vices, or we have not developed the Christ in the place of self to the extent of being able to see our shortcomings our evil or vices. Self is the serpent that must be lifted up into the Christ. It must be purified or it will never be lifted up, and we cannot know him until we lift up the gross elements, desires, wishes, secret desires and longings, and TRANSMUTE them into purity and goodness and Truth. Then, again, when Self judges self, it selects the deeds we have done which the world approves of, because Self is of the world, and the world knows its own and does not judge its own with harsh judgment. When the Christ judges Self and the world, all the Self, self- fjll s^OTE -These: Lessons are Copyrighted MS BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER IALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIOMT5 OF TRANSLATION. ishness, self- righteousness and self-love is thrown out — cast away, and it is lifted up to a purer, better, higher state. The Disciples asked Jesus in this lesson the question: "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" Verse 11 — "He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heav- en, but to them it is not given." Verse 12— "For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundant; but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that he hath." This does not refer at all to the accumulation of the material things of this world. All of" Jesus' lessons are devoted entirely to the Spiritual perceptions and accumulation of the spiritual. "Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Whoever has the slightest understanding of the spiritual ac- quires greater understanding, and the least sight of the spiritual is developed into greater sight. Material ears are dulled to the spiritual Truths and material eyes to its preception. Verse 15 — "For this people's hearts are waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes THEY have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and 1 should heal them." There are many such today, who hearing the Truth flee from it, preferring to stay under the old laws of the letter and not of the spirit, and many love sin so well they will not come to the Truth because they must forsake it. Verse 16 — But the eyes and ears of the true, earnest, sincere seeking disciple are indeed blessed. Verse 17 — "For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them." What was it they had seen and heard which the "prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear and did not?" It was the voice of the Christ, and the works of the Christ, and the perfected Christ upon the earth, in the flesh, among men. The Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world come to Life, demonstrating and giving Life, and was manifest- ed to the world that destroyed it in the beginning. Truth is Life. It cannot be totally destroyed. And this was what they desired to see and hear but did not. Verse 19 — Now he explains the parable of ths sower. The seeds that fell by the wayside and the "fowls came and devour- ed them up" are the words of the kingdom which are taught and are not understood. When the Word is not understood it cannot be accepted, and, therefore, cannot bear any fruit. And those seeds fall away and the evil thoughts devour them so that the soul cannot receive them. And "some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deep- ness of earth." "And when the sun was up they were scorched; because they had no root they withered away." The stony places are those who have no root in themselves, but endureth for a while, for when tribulations or persecutions ariseth because of the Word by and by he is offended. He is offended because he looks for personal gains through development of the Spiritual. This is meant for those who would seek development of a teacher, and when some enemy says but a few words against the teacher condemn him and for- sake him. These are false to themselves and to their teacher. There is no depth in them — it is stony ground. Students want worldly success, and come to the Truth as did Simon, the sorcerer, who BELIEVED and was baptized with the water of Mental baptism; and when he saw that the Apos- tles had greater power he offered them money because he thought to make money by the same power. The power of God is not given for money, because the soul must be AWAKENED by its own power and not for any ma- terial gains. And he desired to profit Self by it. Verse 23 — Then "the seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them." These are the people who will not cast out greed and the de- sires for gain and glory. Verse 23 — "But he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." These are the true seekers and students. Those who want the Truth for the good they can do with it. These are the seekers who follow their Master and obey him, who do not run after strange gods, and who do not mix their instructions as does the drunkard with his drinks. These are those of whom Jesus thought when he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and ALL things will be added unto vou." 1— — I — ■ — I 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination m □ m d ■ Matthew, 13th chapter; 23-46th verses. Golden Text— "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father." Jusus always spoke to the multitudes in parables, "and with- out a parable spoke he not unto them." The Truth has always been written and spoken in symbols and parables by the Ancients and Great Teachers. They did this because the ears that were not dulled to spiritual sense would hear and understand, while the profane could not un- derstand, and, therefore, could not misuse or destroy it. The parable of the sower of the good seed he explains to his disciples in simple and plain language. Verse 28 — "The field is the world; the good seeds are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." The children of the kingdom are those who are willing to accept the Christ, who turn from the evil and the laws of the flesh. The children of the tares are those who cling to evil and will not accept the Christ. NOT EJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER _ ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED] ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 39 — The enemy that sowed them (the tares) is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. The devil is the thoughts and desires of evil and wickeness that dwell WITHIN us; that we accumulate and hold. We accumulate all that we love best, and hold it within the soul, and when the Christ comes WITHIN the soul, then is the har- vest — the end of the world. Verse 40 — "As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world." Verse 41 — "The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity." Now, we know that when the Truth is manifested to us, and we know and accept Christ, we do accept and give entrance to all his angels, which are purity and goodness and Truth, and we gather out of his kingdom (our souls) all things that offend and them that do iniquity. Verse 42 — "And shall cast them out into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The furnace of fire is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the Fire of God. When we tear the evil tares from within our soul, we tear out the things we have loved and sown, and this gives great pain; and, again, there is pain and suffering, for we see our wickedness and evil. Verse 43 — "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear." When we have cast all the evil and wickedness from us then that which is righteous within us shines forth, and we know it is righteous, and all those who know righteousness will see. Verse 44 — "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field; that which when a man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field." When we discover the kingdom of heaven, and know what it is, we joyfully give up all the evil desires that we have loved and possessed, and we give all the best within us to the Christ soul. We think as he bids us think, and as we know good from evil we think the good, and shine forth as the sun in good- ness. Verse 45 — The Christ Soul is the pearl of great price. These little pearls that shine and glitter in the illusions of the senses are not worth the great value of the Christ pearl. It is hard for us at first to realize the cost and value of the kingdom of heaven, but when we do realize it we know that it is worth all that we pay, all that we give up to attain it. We may have an ambition that is seemingly of great value to us, but when compared to the value of the kingdom of heaven it loses its greatness, for we oftentimes allow ambition to overcome the better part of us, and in seeking for it become oblivious to the good and kindness we may be able to do for others. Pearls of ambition shine at us in their dazzling brightness, but if they cost us the price of our soul, or of any soul, they lead us to death. It is better to have the one pearl of Truth and Righteous- ness, a clean, upright soul, which lives eternally, than all the pearls the world can give; "For what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'' — I 1 "■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine illumination m □ . ■ d ■ Matthew, 13th chapter, 47th verse to close. Golden Text — * 4 A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own home." Jesus was treated with greater respect among all people than he was among his own people. He came from the ranks of the humble and towered above all the great ones in wisdom and understanding, and this arous- ed their criticism, anger, envy and jealousy. They were envious and jealous because they realized that he had attained something far beyond them. We are not jealous of anyone, unless we feel that they have something that we have not. Jealousy is born of fear. As long as we feel assured that we are superior to those around us we have no jealousy, but when doubt of ourselves creeps in then we fear that what we have may be taken from us. In this lesson we can realize the cause and source of jealousy and envy. It is born of ignorance and undevelopment. When we realize that the God within us gives us as much as he gives others, then jealousy and fear will vanish. It is but a night- mare, an illusion, that torments us. A strong person is not NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. jealous; it belongs to the weak. We can see why in this lesson. If they had known God they would have rejoiced to see His works manifested by one whom they had always known. On the contrary, they were offended. Verse 47 — "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind." Remember that the soul GATHERS all that is sent to it by the mind, both good and bad. It is like a net cast into a sea of thought, and gathers all vibrations flowing into that sea. Verse 48 — "Which when it was full they drew to shore, and gathered the good into the vessels but cast the bad away." Verse 49 — "So shall it be at the end of the world. The an- gels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from the just." Verse 50 — "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; then shall there be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The angels of goodness and purity come with the AWAK- ENED Christ — when we begin to judge ourselves of our deeds and works; when we sever ourselves from the hold of all evil thoughts, words, deeds and actions, and cast them into the Fire of the Soul — God, or Good, is a consuming fire, and all the evil within us is TRANSMUTED when the end of the evil or the world shall come. Verse 51— "Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They said unto him, Yea, Lord." Verse 52 — "Then said he unto them, Therefore every Scribe which is instructed into the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth out of his treasure things new and old." We bring out the new within us and cast out the old — the old man of flesh and evil. Verse 54 — "And when he was come unto his own country, he taught them in their synagogues, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?" They all came out to hear him and to criticise, and not for Truth's sake. Like many of today, they come to see the teach- er out of curiosity and to find fault and criticise. Then, when they saw that he had that which they had not, they were as- tonished and were jealous and began to accuse and condemn him, to sneer and make light of him. Had he been like them they would have admired him, but they could not admire that which they could not see. Neither do we. There is a lot of good where we cannot see it, simply because WE are blind and not because it is not there. Verse 55 — u Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his moth- er called Mary, and his brethren James, and John, and Simon, and Judas?" Verse 56 — "And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?" Why was he above them, he who had been one of them? THEY did not know and could not understand. They were blind to the great Soul WITHIN him. Verse 57 — "And he did not many mighty works there be- cause of their unbelief." And thus it is everywhere even at this day, and even among those who are seekers after Truth. They are willing to accept anything along the material lines where they may gain some- thing to give them power to acquire more or to gain success, without having to give up too much to attain it. Give us suc- cess and power but not religion is the cry. And it is because they are blind to the fact that the greater we attain in religion, the more will be added unto us. We are worthy of all material blessings if we prove sincere and true. International illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ n ■ □ ■ Matthew, chapter 14; l-21st verses. Golden Text — "They need not depart; give ye them to eat." In the beginning of this lesson we have the history of the violent death of John the Baptist. This is nothing but the death of mental laws of healing. It is not Divine, and, therefore, when in the hands of the wicked it is destroyed. Herod, the king, was a wicked man. He was a worldly, material man, and a ruler over many as wicked as himself. When the mental falls into the hands of such it is sooner or later destroyed by their violent use of it. This is the symbol of the fatal fall of mental healing and teach- ing, because it is an instrument which the evil can use, and it must be replaced by the things of the Soul, or Soul Healing, which cannot be used by the wicked. In the teachnigs of Christ it was different. He was not de- stroyed. He rose from the dead and taught them afterwards. He was with them forty days, manifesting the Divine power he gave to the world that accepted him. Christ's teaching and healing will not yield to the demands and laws of evil as will mental or mind teachings. NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. The ^Eth, or Soul Healing, can only be attained through purification of evil. We see about us today the gradual falling of the mental teachers. No man can abuse the Divine Laws. It is out of the reach of the evil. It is never attained by the evil. The law of obedience is the only law that mortal man can break. He is not divine, and he has never come into con- tact with Divine Laws until after he obeys. Then let him take care how he builds. We make rhe laws for ourselves. We build and break the laws we create, and we obey that which is best in our sight. There are three laws— Divine, Mental and Material. Each state we attain brings us under each of these laws. Man is not under Divine law until he attains a part of Divinity. Verse 13 — "And when Jesus heard of it he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart; and when the people heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities." When Jesus heard, he departed from the vibrations of vio- lence and evil laws. All good departs from evil surroundings. Evil cannot make use of good, and thus destroy it. Verse 14 — "And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick-," We seek that which we love most. If we love Truth, we seek it, and it will have compassiod on us and heal us. We will not make any effort to attain that which we do not want. If we desire the Christ we seek him. Then we attain all things. And we attain only according to the faith and love we have for the thing we seek. If we love success we seek the things that we think will bring us success. If we love money we seek the things that bring money, not realizing that in the attainment of the Christ we GAIN ALL THAT WE HAVE NEED OF. Jesus had no lack of anything. The Disciples had money to supply their needs, for we read that "Judas had the bag and bare what was put therein.'' Again, when the Master told them th^t one shall betray him, and he gave the sup to Judas. "They thought that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor." They could not buy unless they had the money, and they \* ould not have had the bag unless they had money. But Judas "bare what was put therein." Verse 15 — "And when it was evening his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals." The disciples were yet looking after the material needs and desires. Verse 16 — "But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat." Jesus knew what they had need of. This multitude were seeking life and health and strength, and that is why he healed them. They sought him, and he gave them the reward of the search. Verse 17 — "And they said unto him, We have but five loaves and two fishes." They had but little to give so vast a crowd, but it had not occurred to them THAT WHAT THEY HAD would be of any service. They did not know that the multitude were not hun- gry for material things but for the things of the Spirit,and that one Master has enough of the Spiritual food to feed vast mul- titudes and to satisfy millions of true seekers. Verse 18 — "He said, Bring them hither to me." Do we realize the importance of this sentence? BRING WHAT YOU HAVE TO THE CHRIST AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FEED THOUSANDS. Verse. 19 — "And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.'' The fishes, being of the waters, represent the Mind or Spirit; while the loaves of bread, being of the material, teach us that material needs or success must go, in part, with the Spiritual. We must teach mankind both the material and the spiritual. Verse 25— "And they did EAT and WERE filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." He that takes up the Knowledge that is is taught and EATS (follows) he is filled (he becomes successful) ; and of this same Knowledge that is taught, there still remains as much, or even more; for two can follow just as well as oae, and it does not diminish. International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ n ■ □ ■ Matthew, 14th chapter; 22nd verse to the close. Golden Text — "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" We cannot find one instance where Jesus sent any one away. We read that he healed ALL. We read where he encourages us to bring the least that we have and make use of it. And we find him always giving others blessings, hope, peace and health. On no occasion did he ever complain. We do not find one morbid, negative taint within him. He gave LIGHT and LIFE and HOPE. There was no darkness in him at all. How many of us in tilling the multitudes emulate him and Light? Do we do all our work cheerfully? Do we send the least in the kingdom away hungry? Do we allow the minds to become boisterous and wild when the Christ can still them? —THE CHRIST WITHIN US. Verse 22 — "And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitude away." Verse 23 — "And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, he was there alone." NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 24 — u But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary." We are often sent out on the storm-tossed seas just to try our strength. When we bring our gifts to f the Christ, and are ac- cepted, and are able to feed multitudes, we are sometimes cast into greater channels to try our faith and strength. In fair weather, accepted and blessed, we need not fear, for we are always strong when we do not fear; but in the midst of the troubled seas, with the wind against us and the waves bear- ing down upon us, THEN is our strength tried. Then we find how strong or how weak we are. But once accepted, and we give all we have, even though but small loaves and two fishes, the Christ will not leave us ever alone, for — Verse 25 — "In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went un- to them, walking on the sea." No sea can be so rough and troubled that the Son of God cannot walk upon it, and without sinking. Verse 26 — "And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear." How many times have we seen him on troubled seas and felt he was but a phantom of hope and still feared. Verse 27 — And yet how many times have we heard and real- ized that there is no need of fear, that all things are possible to them that LOVE HIM AND TRUST HIM WHO DWELLS WITHIN. Verse 28 — And Peter, who would ever demand proof, and who was always sure of himself, said: "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Peter seemed very brave as long as he felt sure of support. Verse 29 — And Jesus said, "Come, and when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the sea to go to Jesus." Verse 30 — "But when he saw the wind boisterous, HE WAS AFRAID; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." Verse 31— u And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand caught him, and said unto him, O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH WHEREOF DIDST THOU DOUBTS We need not fear. No sea can overcome us if we depend on the Master — if we understand the power which may be ours. We are weak and faith forsakes us when all is turmoil and strife. Verse 32 — "And when they came to the ship the wind ceas- ed." When we depend on him, when we take his hand, which is the power of Truth and Right, the winds will cease. The true faith will always prevail over the strifes, and cares, and fears. Verse 34 — "And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret." Verse 35 — "And when the men of that place had KNOWL- EDGE of him, they sent out unto all the country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased." Herein is faith. They knew that the Christ was in their midst; that he had come to them, for they had knowledge of him. Verse 36 — "And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." True knowledge, though at first small, even "the hem of his garment" will heal all evil, all diseases, all pain, and grief and sorrow. Even though we cannot attain Christhood until we overcome all evil, yet the touch or the acceptance of his Truth will make us whole. Diseases and sin will leave us, for we know how we are cleansed. International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for ihe Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination ■ n ■ n ■ Matthew, 15th chapter; l-21st verses. Golden Text — "Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Again the Scribes and Pharisees followed after Jesus with the desire to find fault with every act he and his disciples commit. If we watch ourselves carefully in our development of the Christ, we will find the same old Scribes and Pharisees still per- suing and finding fault. We all see what we can see, and those who see always the faults in other people cannot see only what he sees. If we look through faulty glasses, everything looks wrong, and a great many people's eyes are faulty. The sight of the eyes comes from the heart. We see what the heart sees. If the heart sees good it will see good everywhere. It does not matter how high or how low, the bad heart will always see bad no matter how much good there may be. And the evil heart always sees evil in good. When Christ enters within man, then evil sees him all wrong. He may sacrifice, he may ac- complish great good, but evil always persecutes and finds room somewhere to find fault. Now, this time they found fault with the disciples because they did not wash their hands when they ate bread. NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. You will find that they were never able to find fault with the works, but with the material. And this is because they could see only the material. They picked at the failures or short- comings of the material duties. The Scribes and Pharisees ob- served the material laws, but left out the Spiritual. And you usually find it so among many who are so scrupul- ously precise about the material, are lax about the spiritual. It is not necessary to neglect the material for the spiritual, howev- er, for man should be well balanced in both. Verse 8— "These people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their eyes, but their heart is far from me." This is pose and not poise. How many come honoring with words when the heart is far from the right, far from Truth? Verse 9 — "But in vain do they worship me; teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." A man who knows not where Christ is, nor what he is, is a false teacher. The commandments of men are those laws which are not from Divine Illumination WITHIN man. Illumination makes plain the law which must be followed, and we cannot err from the Divine path after being Illumi- nated. ' It is the Light that never fails. Verse 11 — "And he said unto them, Not that which goeth in- to the mouth defileth man, but that which cometh out of the mouth; this defileth." The mouth is the deceiver of the real man. Fair words it can speak when the heart is evil. These come from the heart OUT of the mouth. Verse 12 — "Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?" Jesus pointed out to them where they erred in the keeping of the Divine Law — "Honor thy father and mother," and they knew that he judged them aright. Vere 13 — "And he answered them and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Do you know what these plants are? Have you any planted WITHIN you which God has not planted? It shall be rooted up if you have. Verse 14 — "Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch." The blind cannot see. Those who are blind to Divine Law cannot follow it, and those who follow them will stumble and fall with them. All material desires of the flesh LEAD THE BLIND. Even the disciples were yet unable to understand this parable for Peter said, "Declare unto us the parable." Verse 16 — "And Jesus said, "Are- ye also yet without under- standing?" Verse 17 — "Do not ye yet understand; that what entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?" Verse 18 — "But those things who proceed out of the mouth come from the heart; and they defile the man." Verse 19— "For out of the heart proceed EVIL THOUGHTS — murderers, adultries, fornications, thefts, false witness, bias* phemies." Verse 20 — "These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." Every thought the Mind plants grows; and as a man thinketh in his heart SO IS HE, and those thoughts grow. If they are evil they defile, but the material laws cannot de- file the heart. — I 1 B 1 —J — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 15th chapter; 21st verse to close. Golden Text — " Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." At the close of this chapter we have the feeding of the mul- titudes with the seven loaves and a few little fish. When the multitude clung to Jesus he did not send any away hungry nor faint. He had compassion on all who seeked the Truth, who are anhungered for the Bread of Life, and those who "continue with him" without anything to eat need not fear. Christ always feeds. Christ is always compassionate and willing to help those who need help. Christ sees and knows. Christ knows the false and untrue who come tempting and finding fault from those who come in sincerity and Truth seek- ing. Verse 21 — "Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon." Verse 22 — 4, And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIOMT5 OF TRANSLATION. Canaan, we must remember, was a Gentile province, and this woman was a Canaanite, or Gentile. Verse 23 — "And he answered her not a word, and his disci- ples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us." The disciples did not yet know the Master nor that the Christ was the Life within man which awakens and responds to the cry of those troubled and distressed. They did not recognize the cry, and the hunger, and the long- ing of the woman's soul, nor that she did not ask for herself* but for another. When we are awakened we hear and recog- nize the cry of the soul in all others. Verse 24 — "But he answered and said, I am not sent but un- to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Israel represents the disobedient, blind sinful children of the whole world. The Jews were the most material and disobedi- ent of that day. They were repeatedly failing, losing and go- ing into materialism and flesh serving, and that is why Jesus came to teach them — because they were the lost. They were not the chosen, but were the lost. The Gentiles were the teachers of the Truth, and taught Jesus when he was taken to Egypt. Egypt was the Gentile region, and all the Wisdom of the Ancients was known to the Egyp- tian Masters. There was no personal preference of the Jew or Gentile, as the Jews would have us believe. The Egyptian Masters accepted all men as students, no matter what their col- or, creed, or nationality. A Jew was accepted on equal basis with their own people. God is within all life and being in all and preferring only His own. How could one be preferred above the other only except in development of God? Verse 26 — "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." Jesus was not refusing her the food here as some believe. This was only a test to try her faith. Verse 27 — "And she said, Truth, Lord, >et the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." She recognized the Master. This woman knew the Christ. She knew the lowest and the humblest could eat and be made whole. Verse 28 — "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O wo- man, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." We all reap the reward of our faith. WE may all attain all that we ASK FOR if we have the right understanding and the right faith. We can pick up the crumbs from the Masters and become whole, and if we are willing to eat of the crumbs then are we worthy to be filled and attain the greatest wish of our hearts. We must not ask amiss. God does not answer an imperfect prayer. We must ask of the Christ, and in Christ believing. Verse 30 — "Then the multitudes came to him. There were those that were lame, blind, maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them." These people CONTINUED with him, glorifying God, and he had compassion on them. They were with him three days and had nothing to eat, but they did not ask him for material blessings. They asked only to be healed. But God bestows all that man needs. Faith and love in the Master's work never goes unblessed, for their necessary material hunger was also satisfied, and they ate and had all they wanted. And on every occasion the multitudes were sent away with double blessings. It pays to seek the Christ. We are not only healed but we are blessed in all ways. We never need. "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all things shall be added unto you." ¥ 1 ■ 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 16th Chaper; l-13th Verses. Golden Text — "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." "The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven." The Pharisees were used to producing phenomena and be- lieved it. They were much given to the study of spirits and spiritism. They believed that Jesus' demonstrations of power was from the spirit world. That is why they believed that he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. There is a vast difference in the power of Jesus and the power of many professing mediumship. Jesus produced no phenomena through the agency or assist- ance of spirits. All his works were of Divine Law. He used no other, and was assisted by no disembodied spirits of the as- tral world. He baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire, and these were the only agencies he employed. This is not spiritism. It is development of Divinity, of Sonship and Unity with the Spirit of God. NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER |& ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIOHT5 OF TRANSLATION. Verse 2 — "He answered and said unto them, When it is even- ing, ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red." Verse 3 — "And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can dis- cern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the time?" Material signs, which the material eyes could see, they could see, but the Christ nor the sign of the Christ they knew not. They knew not his works and manifestations, and could not distinguish between Divine Law and spiritualistic phenomena. Verse 4 — "A wicked and adulterous generation, seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonas." Wickedness always desires a test. It wants something it can see without development of the Soul. They wanted a great manifestation brought to their vision without going to the trouble of giving up any wickedness and evil to see it or do it. Verse 5 — "And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread." Verse 6 — "Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees." Materiality, the ordinary bread which the physical eye could see, was all they could understand yet, although Jesus had giv-. en them power to heal. They had forgotten the previous lesson on giving and receiv- ing, and that the power within, though small, was capable of giving more than was necessary. They also forgot how often they had drawn upon him for strength and necessary assistance and he gave them far more than they had need of. Such is human faith and weakness. We see the power, and we know it is within us feeding us, protecting us, giving and sustaining us, and yet we doubt and do not obey from fear and weakness. Verse 11 — "How is it that ye do not understand that I speak it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees?" Verse 12 — "Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrines of the Pharisees and Saducees." He knew how unbalanced they were in the spiritual sense, and by association with the opposition they were not yet able to understand the difference between Divine Law and Power and the phenomena-producing Pharisees, and the antagonism and infidelity of the scientific Saducees. Just here is where many students are led wrong today. They ido not know the leaven of the Pharisees and Saducees from the Divine Law of Truth. They want something they can SEE, not understanding that the physical eye cannot see the true spiritual. The Divine in man must be developed before he can see the Divine or use the Divine Law and demonstrate it. True, pure, honest, sincere seeking for the Real Power, the Christ will enable you to see and use Divinity. All other pow- er is of evil and an illusion. No Divine man needs the power of spirits or of scientists to develop him to Divine sight and hearing. This comes with the development of the Soul — the awaken- ed Soul of the Christ. — 1~- — r H 1 — i International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. — m ■ m ■ wm Matthew, 16th chapter; 13 to 21st Verses. Golden Text — u Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God." We have here the famous confession of Peter. This confession has been the cause of much contention and argument between the Sectarian denominations, and especially between the Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics claiming that absolute authority and power were given over to Peter; that he held the key to the kingdom of heaven. Now we know there is but One Rock, ONE foundation on which to build the Church of Christ, and that Reck or found- ation is Christ, the Christ which is the true Conception of the one God, the God WITHIN man. The keys of heaven were given to Peter but they are also given to ALL who confess the Christ. The "key of the kingdom" were not given at that time. Jesus said U I WILL give them the keys." Later he told Peter "WHEN Thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." Peter was weak and a coward at the moment of trial, and he received no more power or authority than any other disciple, for they were all baptized at the time with Fire, or the Holy Ghost, for "cloven tongues as of fire sat upon EACH of them," NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. and they ALL spake in other tongues and all were told to "go and preach." Peter was not as strong as Paul, He did not establish as many Churches and did not lead as many as Paul did. We read where Peter's cowardice and bigotry overcame him again, and he was rebuked by Paul for his instability, pre- judice, and failure to live up to the law. Verse. 13 — '"When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that 1 the Son of man am?" Verse. 14 — "And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets." In the question asked by Jesus of his disciples we have the key to the knowledge held by the men and masters of that time. If Jesus did not believe in Reincarnation, WHY DID HE ask this question? In the answer made by the disciples, we also have the < proof that the people, both the -learned and unlettered, believed in Reincarnation for all the prophets mentioned were dead, and IN ORDER THAT JESUS COULD BE ONE OF THEM HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO BE REINCARNATED AS SUCH. This cannot possibly be contradicted, and if you will only give this the thought that it deserves it will help you much to make your future as God intended that it should be. Verse. 15 — "He saith unto them, But whom say YE that I am/" Do YOU KNOW who he was? Flesh and blood cannot reveal the Christ to you or any other man. The Father WITHIN, the Life, the Soul ONLY can acknowledge, accept and KNOW the Son of God The Soul is the Church we are ALL building. That is, if we are to live in the Beyond. It is the one that will be "bound in heaven or loosed in heaven." If it is founded on the Rock of Truth, the Christ of God, it will stand forever and such must of necessity be the Church of Soul, or the Church of Divine Illumination, for when man finds the Soul he has reached the Soul and found it, and that can only be accom- plished though and by illumination. He has, therefore, found the Temple, for God said, "Ye are the Temples of the living God." There can, therefore, be but one Church, the Church of Soul or Divine Illumination. If any church is founded on the knowledge and laws of flesh and blood it must eventually fall, for flesh and blood are not of the kingdom of heaven. The law of the flesh would prevail against the soul and destroy it. It leads away from Christ and NOT to HIM. Thus Peter, as a man of flesh, did not receive "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The Father WITHIN him, which is the Christ, or God WITHIN EVERY man, held the keys of the kingom. We cannot unlock the doors ■ of heaven unless the Christ unlock them for us. When we attain the perfected Christ, or rather, to make it plainer, the perfected Soul, we have attained the seventh Heaven. This is the highest the Soul can know. It is WITHOUT be- ginning and without end. It is to be God-like-ness-God's Image perfect. Verse 17 — "Jesus said to him on his confession: "Blessed art thou Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." As God said, "Ye are the Temples of the LIVING God "or heaven, it was the Illuminated Soul of Peter which revealed Christ to him. He,through long suffering and long training had reached Illumination, and, therefore, SAW and KNEW the, Christ. The Christ can be known only by the Spiritually Illu- minated. All men can simply believe in Christ, but only the Developed Soul can KNOW him. Verse 18 — "Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This Church is The Illuminated Soul. The Rock is the Christ which we MUST find WITHIN. It is not an outward Temple, but the Temple of the Living God. It is the Temple build by Solomon without sound of hammer. Each man and woman must build this Church or Temple, and the foundation must be Spiritual Illumination and the Priest is the Developed Soul. Nothing in heaven or earth can prevail against this Church, and the Soul thus Illuminated will not again need to return to earth except by its own desire in order to become a Savior of mankind. Verse 19 — "And I will give unto thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." If we bind or live evil it is bound within the Soul. If we loose evil it is loosed within the Soul. If we bind good it is bound within the Soul. The Soul is the thing that lives. It is the life of man. It is heaven or hell; it is whatever we MAKE it. Heaven it NOT the Soul world as many seem to think. One may be in the Soul world and yet be bound in hell. Soul world and heaven are thought to be the same by ignorant and mis- guided people. There is a vast difference between them. The Soul world is simply the trial chamber, the sifting ground, in the Beyond. There the Soul will find whether it can go onward or whether it must return to earth to suffer just punish- ment for the wrong committed. — 1 f— ■ 1 1 International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 16th chapter; 21st verse to the close. Golden Text — u What is a man profitted if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Verse 21 — "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." Jesus knew all that would come upon him, and he told the disciples on one occasion that they also would suffer much because of him — not of him as Jesus, but of the Christ. The development of the Christ brings us many persecutions, and we suffer many things in many ways. It is the way of the Cross. We seem crossed on every hand. We are laughed at, mocked, jeered and spit upon by the contempt of others, but all these persecutions are but tests. We must be strong if we would be a Christ. Christ is not the symbol of weakness and change. He is the God of the living, the hopeful, the cheerful, and is not the God of the dead. All these bitter struggles lead us to the Illumination of the Soul. We are "raised again" if we demonstrate life and not death. NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. m Verse 22— "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be." Peter saw no higher than the grave. He was not yet lllumi" nated, and did not know that the man of flesh must first die and be "raised spiritual." Verse 23 — "But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee be- hind me, Satin; thou art an offense to me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Peter in his unenlightened condition would have held him from his resurrection. He understood only as a man and not with spiritual understanding and perception. To save the man of flesh would have destroyed the Christ, then as today. The flesh must die, must be crucified, so that Illumination may take place within the house of Christ. Verse 24 — "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." We have to deny SELF many times over and again. It is the Cross that takes us to the Christ and to eternal life; but it is the wilderness of strife; it is water of bitterness, the Marah Springs; but it leads to the land of Promise, to the home of the Soul. Verse 25 — "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it." To think of the material life, and of ambitions and desires of the flesh are losses. Self cannot give life. To DENY self, and LOSE the DESIRES and ambitions for the glories of the material, and desire for Truth in Christ brings life eternal. Verse 27 — "For what is a man profitted if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" And what does it profit? What is a man without a soul? He is nothing. He is as one dead. He has no heritage of LIFE. Why should a man consider it worth while to live the life that leads to death? If he should gain every kingdom on earth what will it profit him when he dies and leaves it all behind? He knows nothing only what he sees, and all he sees are will- o-the-wisps, that vanish when death comes. Man gives illusion and vanity in exchange for his soul. Verse 27 — 'Tor the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Our works count for or against us. It is all accumulated and stored up within the soul. It is pure, and clean, and whole- some, or moth-eaten and rotten. It is life or death. Verte 28 — "Verily 1 say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." The coming of the Christ brings death to all that is mortal; all that is worldly and corrupted. K3**5r w i 1 ■ 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 1 7th chapter; 1st to 14th verses. Golden Text — "And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid." Verse 1 — "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart." Verse 2 — "And was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." He could not have been transfigured before the other disci- ples, nor any other place, for he took them "apart" where there were no antagonistic or destructive vibrations. These three disciples were developed beyond the others, and there was harmony and love between them. There would have been a great^ demonstration and persecution had this taken pla:e before many, but all the greatest works of Jesus were accom- plished in the Silence, in secrecy and before a few, not before the multitude, for he did not seek glory and praise. His power was WITHIN, and only those who were Illumi- nated within could see him Illuminated or transfigured. Verse 3 — "And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Jesus." NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHT5 OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. This was not a materialization seance. They were not brought to earth. The spiritual vision of Peter, James and John was illuminated to the extent of seeing into the Soul Realm of the Spiritual. In the fourth verse we again find Peter swerving from the Soul sense into the material obligations. He would accept the old prophets and build to them material monuments. He wanted to produce something the material eye could see. Verse 5 — " While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud over- shadowed them; and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son in whom 1 am well pleased; hear ye him. ,, A cloud overshadowed THEM and they heard a voice. This was the voice of the Spirit. Peter desired a material building, but the voice commanded them that Christ is the Son, and should be followed and not the prophets of the material age. ''Christ is the Son; hear ye him." Verse 6 — "And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid." This is the "Dweller of the Threshold" — the fear of the Spirit. Verse 7 — "And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid." We need have no fear when we hear the voice. It is the voice of the Christ WITHIN the Soul which is "the voice out of the cloud." Verse 9 — "And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." Note the word "again" in this phrase, "risen again from the dead." Is there more than one resurrection? Yes. The first death is the resurrection or illumination of the Christ within the Soul of man. The second death is the final triumph over the flesh, the world and all evil. It is the supreme man of God, the illuminated, perfect Soul, which isSonship. Verse 10 — "And his disciples asked him again, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?" Verse 11 — "And Jesus said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things." Verse 12 — "But 1 say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them." John the Baptist was the restorer of the lost Mental Laws. Manifestations and phenomena were as high as they had attain- ed in that age. They were seeking enlightenment among the disembodied souls, not realizing that it was impossible to com- municate with souls above them. We can only communicate with souls on OUR OWN plane — those who are in harmony with our own souls. The self-righteous, bigoted Pharisees and Scribes could not attain to any great heights; hence the letter of the law was authority, for the Spiritual law was lost to them. John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elias. He prepar- ed the way for the Christ by preparing the Mind, turning the minds away from the evil to bring forth fruits meet for repent- ance. , Verse 13 — "The disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." ON OF MAN HRISTIG A BOOK HE MILLIONS International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 17th chapter; 14th verse to close. Golden Text — "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place, and it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible unto you/' The disciples were not entirely successful in their Healing, and Jesus tells them WHY. They, of course, had not yet at- tained Sonship or Mastership. They were not poised and illu- minated. Jesus explains to them that only through prayer and fasting is power UNLIMITED gained. He does not mean for them to stop eating, as some believe is the only mode of fasting, nor in prayer as we often pray with- out poise or concentration. Fasting here represents the giving up all earthly longings, desires and temptations. The prayer is Desire. Absolute power is given only through concentrated Desire and right THINKING and LIVING. Verse 22 — "And while they abode in Gallilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.' , NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 23 — 'They shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. " "And they were exceedingly sorry.' ' They were sorry because they did not understand. He says the Son of Man, the man Jesus, for the Christ is not crucified except by evil. When we destroy the Christ within us we have crucified him in shame and evil, but when we cru- cify the man of flesh the Christ is alive— HE IS RAISED. They were sorry because they did not know beyond the flesh and even yet they did not understand him. Verse 24 — " and when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Doth your Master pay tribute ?" Many do not quite understand the meaning of this part of the Scripture, and why paying tribute was necessary. Jesus chose Capernaum as his home after his ejection and ill treatment of Nazareth. Capernaum was a Roman city. The Jews were but a small ( colony and very poor, but they were obliged to pay the temple taxes where ever they lived. Jesus' greatest works were accomplished at Capernaum and most of his greatest sermons preached there. Verse 25 — Peter came to Jesus for the money, and Jesus said: "What thinkest thou, Simon, of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute, of their own children or of strangers? Verse 26 — "And Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free." The tribute money was for the support of the temple of the Jews. Jesus was a Jew after the flesh, and, therefore, was no stran- ger, but they considered him as one because he differed from them in their faith. Although he was one and yet different he obeyed the law of order and of the civil authorities who ruled. He was not violent, and did not stir up violence and strife. Here we have another instance where he willingly submitted to injustice to keep the Great Law of Silence supreme and un- disturbed. Many today would refuse, and would arouse con- tention and animosity over a few coins. But the Christ understood the law of the just and the unjust; and to preserve the law of piece and goodness and silence, he would willingly lose — the material good — give it up without complaint for the greater good. We all have often faced this problem, and I wonder how many of us have been willing to be used unjustly concerning money matters to keep the Great Law of Peace and Silence undisturbed? Sometimes we are treated so for a test. We do that which we love best. If we love money more than peace we will contend for it. If we love peace more we will submit to injustice and let it go as Jesus did. The unjust will pay the price for the injus- tice. International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 15th chapter; 1st to 10th verse. Golden Text — "Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." These words of Jesus were made in answer to the question of the disciples as to whom is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They thought then, as now, that the Soul World was the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is on the earth in a very, very few souls and in a very few souls in the Soul World, for the Soul World is but a continuation of this life here, but in a SPIRIT- UAL STATE. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS A PURIFIED STATE OF THE SOUL. Verse 2 — Jesus called a little child unto him, and sat him in the midst of them, and said: ''Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The child is pure, innocent, and trusting, and the worldly lusts and desires are unknown to it. It is small in a material NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. way, and does not seek material gains and material desires. And whosoever shall become AS THE CHILD is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, because his Soul is purified of greed and lusts and gains. Verse 5 — "And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." This means those who shall purify the soul receives within the soul the Purity and Truth, and purified desires and trust of the child receives Christ, for Christ is pure, holy and sacred. Verse 6 — "But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea." To offend is to wrong and harm purity, innocence and truth, and it is better for one to be drowned in the sea than to destroy Purity and Truth IN HIS OWN SOUL, or to wrong, or to at- tempt to wrong or harm, another who is pure and trusting/ Be careful that you bring harm to none and your soul is not harmed by its own deeds. Verse 7 — "Woe unto the world because of oifence, for it must needs be that offences come; but WOE TO THAT MAN BY WHOM THE OFFENCE COMETH." Therefore, the wronged suffer not as the wrong doer must suffer. And we understand from this what a frail, foolish thing the revenge and hate of man is; for greater woe comes to the evil doer than he is able to give another. We bring suffer- ing and death upon our own soul through it. Verse 8 — Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into LIFE halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." If the hands will do evil deeds and the feet will walk in evil ways, it is better to be without them, and keep the soul pure, than to keep them and destroy the soul by their evil propensi- ties. These are the material desires that must be cast out. It is better, you see, to do without the material NECESSITIES even and be pure and holy than to have all that is necessary for comfort and be impure and evil. Verse 9 — "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, rather than having both eyes to be cast into hell fire." If the eye sees sensual and the gross, and loves to look upon the gross and the vile, cast the lustful eye out. It is better to see but little good than to see a lot of evil. The lustful eye harms and destroys, while the purified eye brings LIFE. International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 18th chapter; 10th to 21st verse. Golden Text — "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there 1 am in the midst of them." Jesus says if we gather together in HIS NAME. His name is Righteousness, Truth and Sincerity, and we must be righteous if we gather together in his name. Many people have thougth that the gathering together is enough. They come with unclean minds and selfishness, self- praise and self- absorption, and self- glory in their hearts seeking something for self, something they may be able to turn into material gains. This is NOT in HIS NAME. "Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but that he that doeth the WILL of my Father which is in heaven." Neither can you reap of the heavenly things until you do the will of heaven. Verse 10 — "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." Ignorant orthodoxy of some sects preach hell and death to NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED, , ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. u babes and children. The angels of heaven are the pure souls of gods, and a child is pure physically, mentally and morally. Therefore, the gods of childhood are purity, which the material, the child spiritually beholds. We hold that which we are. The child holds Purity, because its mind is pure and fresh from the Soul world. If we despise purity in any form we are alien to it. There are a few men and women (and we thank God they are few) who despise children. Why do they? The answer is easy. If they love the fresh and pure and in- nocent they would admire the symbols, for the child is a sym- bol of purity. Verse 11 — "The Son of Man is come to save that which is lost." Jesus came to save the lost ones, the soul that had fallen. Verse 12 — "How think ye, if a man had an hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray?" Verse 13 — "And if so he find it, verily I say unto you, he re- joiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine that went not astray." We may be almost whole, and have but one sin that lead us away from the Father, and when we find that evil within us that keeps us out from Sonship and home, we rejoice more than we rejoice over all the good within us, for we have over- come the sin that kept us astray. We have seen such men and women who were big, true, generous and kind-hearted, but whose one weakness or material blindness kept them away from Truth. Verse 14 — "Even so it is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish." The good would be all good and not one soul perish. Perhaps a misunderstanding between you and a brother keeps bitterness between you. Do your part in Truth and as a child of God so that YOU do not perish. Become reconciled to him in thought and well wishes if he will not become a friend. Verse 18 — "For whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." If you bind good on earth you have bound good in heaven and purified YOUR soul, and if you loose good to the earth, (become negative and material,) you will be loosed or cast out of heaven. Here is that great mystery which is attributed to Peter, and upon which the Church is founded. ONLY TO YOURSELF DOES THIS LAW APPLY AND NOT TO OTHERS. Verse 18 — "If two of you agree on earth as touching any- thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Fath- er which is in heaven.*' But take care what you ask. The Father in heaven does not comply with an evil request. Jesus delivered the whole lesson to his disciples and not to those who were NOT his disciples, and not to the hypocrites did he promise anything. He says to us to gather in HIS NAME, in Truth and Right- eousness, and what ye shall ask in HIS NAME shall be given. International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 18th chapter; 21st verse to the close. Golden Rule — u So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." In this lesson we learn the value of the great gift of forgive- ness. Perhaps it is the hardest lesson of all to learn. We want to be forgiven for our evil deeds ahd blindness but we do not have compassion and patience for those who do wrong and wrong us — who owe us debts of gratitude and kindness. Peter asked him how many times he should forgive a brother who had sinned against him. He thought "seven times" enough. He seemed to think there was a limit to patience and that "for- bearance ceases to be a virtue" when the sin is committed again and again. But Jesus said, "I say not unto thee until seven times, but, until seventy times seven." One hundred and forty times does require great patience and no wonder they prayed "Lord increase our faith," for it is hard NOT EJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. to have faith in one who continues to abuse and hate us. Then Jesus illustrated why forgiveness is necessary. Verse 23 — "The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which would TAKE ACCOUNT OF HIS SERVANTS." Verse 24 — "And when he had began to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents." Quite a number of sins, isn't it? Do we owe the Father so much? Verse 25 — But the man could not pay. There was not much good in him. He was very far from owning much goodness. Verse 26 — "The servant, therefore, fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay." Verse 27 — "Then the Lord of the servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him and forgave him his debt." How many beg for mercy in the same way? We will prom- ise and think we will be good, but we do like the man did. Verse 28 — "The same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants which owed him an hundred pence, and laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest." This man owed him a small debt compared to what he owed his Lord, yet he would not "loose him nnd let him go," but kept on hurting him. He kept sending him evil thoughts un- til he should leave him alone. Verse 32 — "Then his Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave all that debt because thou desireth me." Verse 33 — "Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?" Had he a right to ask for that which he would not give? Verse 34 — "And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentor till he should pay all that was due unto him." Verse 35 — "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, IF YE FRON YOUR HEART FORGIVE NOT every one his brother their trespasses/' Because is we cannot, or will not, forgive and purify our own souls we still owe that much to the Father, and we are tormented by the desires of our OWN Soul for peace until we do forgive. It is the hardest lesson for some to learn, and it is perhaps their biggest debt they owe themselves, for when we cannot forgive we are full of bitterness and hate, and to hate is a great debt for it is most poisonous. SOUL^CIENCE AND SUCCESS I ■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 19th chapter; 16th verse to the close. Golden Text — "If thou wilt enter into Life keep thou the Commandments/' The preceeding part of this chapter cannot be explained sat- isfactorily without the sex law and mysteries being explained, and as that is forbidden and dare not be given out promiscously we will have to forego any attempt at explanations; however, the student in the higher JEth can attain the understanding through his Drills. Jesus tells the rich young man, who has come to ask him what good thing he must do to inherit eternal Life, that if he would enter into Life he must keep the Commandments — HE MUST OBEY. This young man was a moral man. He had kept the law and the prophets from "his youth up," yet he knew he lacked one good thing, and he desired to know. He had not committed murder, nor adultry, nor stolen any- thing, and had not lied, nor cheated anybody in all his life, and had honored his father and mother and his neighbor. A great many good qualities for one man to possess, yet he NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURME CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. was out of the kingdom — and why? Ah! here was the stumbling: block. He loved money; he loved his material comforts and luxuries, and Jesus said to him: "Sell that thou has and give to the poor and thou shall have treasures in heaven, and come and follow me." But the young man "went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." He could not separate himself from his treasures and give all his soul to the poor, starved Christ WITHIN him. Verse 23 — "Then Jesus said to his disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is hard for them to see beyond selfish desires and comforts. They loved ease and the power that money gives more than they love the power that the Soul can give. Verse 25 — His disciples said, "Then who can be saved?" Verse 26 — "But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." The man of the world, and he who has given himself over to the love and worship of the temporal powers and material gains, CANNOT see the power of the Soul of a Christ; but when God is developed within man, the God in him sees the power and glory of God, and with the God in him AWAK- ENED "all things are possible." He can SAVE HIMSELF. Verse 27 — Peter, who found it such a great struggle to attain poise, and who lacked understanding, asks: "Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee; what shall we have therefor?" Verse 28 — "And Jesus said unto them, Verily 1 say unto you that ye which have followed me in the REGENERATION, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." The Regeneration is the cleansing of the Soul from the sin- fulness and evil, and Sun of Man — the SOUL OF MAN is* the SUN OF HIS BODY— sits in the throne of glory— THE SOUL. There are, according to Astrological teachers, twelve, parts of man that correspond to the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The name Israel means DISOBEDIENCE, for the Israelites were ignorant and disobedient. These twelve points of man are the twelve tribes that are disobedient. In Regeneration, when the Christ sits on the throne, we are able to judge these twelve tribes. Verse 29 — "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." This does not mean to fail or refuse to support our families, as some believe. It only means that the ties of the flesh must not be so strong that it keeps us from our duty and obedience to the Master's commands. ASPIRATION PERFECT! International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 20th chapter; 1st to 17th verses. Golden Text— "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many shall be called but few chosen." There are many who have gone before us who have not at- tained as supreme a state of Sonship as some who come to a realization of the duty and obedience to the Christ late in life. Those who come late and work may attain just as much as he who comes early. The first may not have so much to give up, but the last may love the most and work even harder and be more sincere and earnest. Verse 1 — 'Tor the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard." Verse 2— "And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day he sent them into his vineyard." These were they who come at the first break of the dawn of Truth in their hearts. Others sometimes wait, for — Verse 3 — "He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market place." These are those who do nothing for Truth; they are idle, but NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. when the Christ comes, and they know him, they obey and go to work. Verse 5 — And the householder, who is always seeking the lost, the idler, those who are unsaved and blind, — "Went out about the sixth hour and ninth hour and did like- wise." Verse 6— 'About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and he saith to them, Why stand ye here idle all the day?" Verse 7 — "They said, Because no man hath hired us." No man had gone to them with the message of Truth and Salvation. u He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and what- . ever is right that shall ye receive." The way is always open from youth to old age, from the dawn of morn till the eleventh hour, even until the sun sets. Verse 8 — "So when even was come, the Lord of the vine- yard said to the stewart, Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the first to the last." There are many who come last who attain as much as the first. We of the Western World are given just as much en- lightenment or illumination as the Eastern Adepts, or even the Ancient Wise Men of old who have come first, IF WE work and do the Will of the Master. The great curse of this day is that seekers want to run after many Masters and there are so many who, when they see a suc- cessful work accomplished, will deliberately steal the clothing (name) of such work and use it to clothe their own falsified teachings. Verse 9 — Thus, when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour they received every man a penny. Verse 10 — But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. Verse 11 — " And when they received it they murmured against the good man of the house/' Did they not manifest some likeness to selfishness? They expected more then other should have, because they had "borne the burden and heat of the day." Seldom do the ones who come first received as much as they who come last for the one who FIRST teaches Truth is seldom honored but nearly always persecuted and stoned while they who come after him receive his reward and honor. Verse 13— "And he answered and said, Friend I do thee no wiong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny?" Verse 14 — "Take that thine is and go thy way. 1 will give unto them even as unto thee." We all work for the same glory, the same Christhood and Mastership, and shall we complain because they who come after us attain as much? Perhaps it takes more work and trials and burdens for us to earn Mastership. We often lose sight of this, that the fault is not in the Master but WITHIN OURSELVES, thus it often happens that "the last shall be first and the first last." — i 1 a 1 ■ International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 20th Chapter. 17th Verse to close. Golden Text — "Whosoever will be great among you let him be the minister." The disciples were at times very ambitious and wanted to rule. Very few of them really understood the Divine Law, and were judging the greatness of Christ by their ideas of material greatness. They wanted to have the best place and the highest, and he whom Jesus seems to have loved best, he who under- stood the teachings and loved his Master best, and who Leaned on Jesus, was always nearest to his Soul, he wanted to bet given exceptional favor. These two brothers, James and John, who Jesus loved, desired to sit one on his left hand and one on his right. This is a custom yet in vogue among certain classes. The guest of honor are given the places next to the host or hostess. Verse 22 — "But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Were they able to drink of the Life of Christ? Were they able to be baptized with the Soul of Christ — with the Fire? NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. They said "We are able." Verse 23— " And he saith unto them, ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, BUT IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO THEM for whom it is prepared of my Father." They were able to drink of the cup of the Cross and of Christ and were able to be baptized with Soul, but the height of their sonship depended on the development of the Father within them. It cannot be given in any other way. He who attains most will inherit the most important place. It cannot be given by the Master in the flesh, wen though he loves much. He must give to the faithful through the Father. If they de- velop, they are rewarded according to their worth. If they are faithful, much is given. If they are faithless, even that which they have may be taken. If they use the Christ power right- eously more power and glory is given. They themselves earn it, and are worth it. The Master cannot give it of himself. Jesus gave them power of himself, but THEIR Illumination came after the Cross, then their power and glory came accord- ingly as each deserved. And we must recall that the beloved disciple inherited the glory of Love Divine, even in excess of the others. He was called one of the "Seven Sons of Thunder," which proves to those who know the Mystery that he sits on the right hand of Christ. He earned it, and proved his worth through Love. Verse 24 — This caused much indignation among the^rest of the disciples, because they wanted a high place also. Verse 25— "But Jesus called them to him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles (all the nations) exercise do- minion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them." Verse 26 — "But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you let him be the minister." Verse 27 — "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant/' Verse 28 — "Even as the Son of Man came not to be minis- tered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many." To become Christs we must not receive nor expect to receive for self power and glory, but we must GIVE, and give the best we have — give the Christ Spirit to the high and the low. Then are we able to sit near him and be blessed. International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 21st chapter; 1st to 12th verses. Golden Text — "Behold, thy king cometh unto thee meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt the foal of an ass." The ass was held as the symbol of peace and of rest by the Hebrews. It was introduced into Palistine by Abraham. The Hebrews were ignorant of the meaning of the symbols of the Egyptians, who held the horse above the ass and as a symbol of the sun. The horse represents might and power. The Osiris of the Eyptians was a god of might and power, and was the same God that Jesus taught, but the Hebrews did not understand the meaning of might and the power of the sun. They did not know that the Sun of the Egyptians was a symbol of the great Light — the Light that had the power of Life, and thus controlled the world in its course. Therefore, they accepted the gift of Father Abraham, a man of flesh, as they reckoned him. We must not forget that the Hebrews believed him the Giver of their Laws and the leader of the people. NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. They worshipped the law and the man, and as they were material and could not see beyond the flesh, thev saw not the God that Abraham himself worshipped. The ass to them was a gift of Abraham, and was their sym- bol of love, and peace, and rest. They had to have something they could see, something material and of the flesh for a sym- bol. Verse 2 — "Jesus sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye will find an ass and a colt with her; loose them and bring them unto me." Verse 6 — "And the disciples went and did as Jesus command- ed them/' Verse 7 — "And they brought the ass and the colt and put on them their clohes and they sat him thereon." Verse 8— "And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, others cut branches from the trees and strewed them in the way." Verse 9 — "And the multitude that went before and that fol- lowed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the high- est." Do you know why the multitude followed him and praised him? It was because they had all witnessed his power, and they believed that he would make himself king. They adored the physical and material, and accepted him in his popularity and power when it looked as if he might rule over them; but as a Christ or the Spiritual King they could not see, and KNEW not and had not, they would not accept him or pay homeage. They were like many at this day. When we are popular with the world and with the multitude we are great, and they will honor us all the more, not for what we are, but for what others think of us and for the power we manifest. They saw the exterior, the man, the physical Jesus and the v God like unto curruptible man" was the God and King they wanted and worshipped. "All the city was moved, and said, Who is this?" They did not say this is the Christ, the Son of God, but they said: "This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Gallilee." They worshipped only what they could see, and not "the King that came in peace, and rest, and promise of life eternal." — I 1 — ■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 21st chapter; 12th to 22nd verses. Golden Text — "Whatsoever ye ask in prayer believing ye shall receive." If you desire a thing, and concentrate on that desire, you draw it to you. This is asking in prayer believing. Many of us say we BELIEVE, without really thinking whether we be- lieve with absolute desire or not. The wish that comes to us is the one sought for ardently and in earnestness without a single doubt of its being realized. Jesus' power to do good, and his power of healing, all came from the intense desire to do good and heal all. He desired it so strong that he accomplished it; and we will accomplish what we DESIRE. It is not what we say we desire, but what we DESIRE in the Soul, and concentrate our mind upon. Verse 12 — "Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money chargers and the seats of them that sold doves.' ' Do you realize that the Dove is the emblem of purity? These people sold doves (purity). NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGMT5 OF TRANSLATION. The temple of God, where is it? Do you buy and sell in the temple of God, and do you sell doves? This verse is very clear, but if we think a few moments it becomes more clear. Verse 13 — "And he said unto them, It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves." Our bodies should be a house of prayer, but many of us make it a den of thieves. We allow evil to come in and steal every bit of good within us. There is the thief of drink, of lies, of adultry, fornication, sensuality and lust after the mater- ial things of the world. But Jesus the Christ can overthrow them and cast them all out that buy and sell in God's temple. Verse 14 — "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. Verse 15 — "And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying IN THE TEMPLE, saying, hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased." Evil is always sore displeased when the children of the tem- ple realize the Christ and proclaim him king. Verse 16 — "And they said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea, have ye never read, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfect praise?" Those who acknowledge the Christ are the babes of Christ. Verse 18 — "Now, in the morning as he returned into the city he hungered." Verse 19 — "And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And presently the tig tree withered away." This fig tree is but the symbol of the illusions of material de- sires. They are flourishing, and at a distance give the appear- ance of fruit and life, but they are not. Hence, let ALL MA- TERIAL ILLUSIONS WITHER AWAY FOREVER. This is the real meaning of the fig tree parable. Verse 20 — "And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, HOW SOON IS THE FIG TREE WITHERED AWAY." Aye, how soon it withers away when we SEE its snares, its vain promises, and its illusions. It is thus with material success. No matter how great, if there is nothing in man but this success. All success is com- mendable, provided there is also a Soul growth with it, but if success is only of the material and of the mind, then today it lives in all its glory, as the tree in all its splendor, but tomor- row it is gone — withered. Verse 21 — "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not ye shall not only do this which is done the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto the mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done." If we have faith in the Christ and doubt not we can cast away mountains of materiality, and we can cast it from us far into the seas of past Karmas, and "All things we desire in the Christ believing in the good, believing in the fruits of life and not the illusions of material desires, we shall receive abundantly which includes all things. DIVINE MYSTERY International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 21st chapter; 23rd to 33rd verses. Golden Text — "By what authority doest thou these things; and who gave thee this authority ?" The Pharisees and Scribes were not yet able to see or realize that Jesus' power was above the material laws, or laws of su- perstition. They wondered at the physical demonstrations, but as they had no souls they did not understand the power of the Soul — that it was far above the physical and mental laws. And they began to get curious and to wonder. Perhaps they also began to realize that he DID possess power above them. Verse 24 — "And Jesus answered them, I will also ask you one thing, which f ye tell me, I in likewise will tell you by what authority 1 do these things." No matter how closely they questioned him, Jesus never lost poise. He kept the great Law of Silence intact. They en- deavored many times to catch him off guard, or force him to commit himself, but he READ their tiny, miserable, deceptive souls, and knew they were hypocrites who only wished to argue and entangle him. NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED^ ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 25 — "And he asked them, "The baptism of John whence was it; from heaven or men? And they reasoned with, themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say unto us, why did ye not then believe him?" Verse 26 — "But if we say of men, we fear the people, for all hold John as a prophet." Verse 27 — "And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said to them, Neither tell 1 you by what authority I do these things." If they did not know the power of Mind, how could they know the power of Soul? The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or of men? John was a Mental teacher. He baptized with Mind. Is Mind baptism of heaven or of men? Mind will die. It is, therefore, not immortal. But the seeds (thoughts) of purity and goodness it sows live and are of heaven. The baptism that John taught was of heaven, for he taught the laws of purity and truth and the rec- ognition of the power of Soul. All mental laws are not of heaven. Only the pure and those that recognize and confess the soul live. Verse 28 — "But what think ye; a certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard." Verse 29— "He answered and said, 1 will not, but afterwards repented and went." The mind leads and it builds. The soul desires, and with the mind we repent — turn away from, stop thinking evil. Verse 30— "And he came to the second, and said likewise, and he answered and said, 1 go, sir, and went not." Many say this mentally and pretend it, but do not build pur- ity within themselves. Verse 31 — " Which of them twain did the will of the father? They said unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go into the king- dom of God before you." Why? Because too much mind of the self-righteous and those who know so much they cannot learn from others will not build the soul, but those who are despised and shunned long within the soul for better conditions and associations; therefore the desire counts. The mental "know it all" does not go, but the ones that de- sire betterment will go. Verse 32 — "John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed not, but the publicans and harlots believed him; and ye when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards that ye might believe him." When John demonstrated the works of a pure and godlike man, they would not believe that purity and goodness were better than their own bigoted ways of material desiring and thinking. The lesser ones believed, and attained fellowship with the Christ and Unity with the Soul. It was all through the desire of the Mind. And these desires BUILD SOUL. THE NOmEDGE LiTTHtRt Be: Li| 1 — — I — 1 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 21st chapter; 33rd verse to close. Golden Text — "The stone the 'builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." Who are the builders and what is the stone? The Soul builders and the Christ. The Soul that turns away and will not accept the Christ is the builder that rejects the stone, which is "the head of the Corner." The corner stone is the most important. It is the leader. The head, and this Christ whom the wicked refuse, is the corner stone of the building of the Soul. It holds the seals of life and of purity and of liberty. Verse 33 — "There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a vine press in it, and build a tower, and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. The householder is God. The vineyard is the world. The husbandmen are those who are in it. Verse 34 — "And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the NOT E-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. fruit of it." These servants are the messengers of good will of the proph- ets and the Truth, which is sent to all husbandmen to obtain the fruit of the soul. Verse 35 — "And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another." The rejection of the true conception of God. Men who will not accept righteousness destroy the good servants of God with- in them by clinging to evil and wickedness. Verse 36 — " Again he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise." They became even more wicked and material, and refused Truth again and again. Verse 37 — "But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son." This is the Christ. Verse 38 — "But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir; come let us kill him and let us seize the inheritance." Verse 39 — "And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him." Time and again are men given an opportunity to turn away from that which destroys and to take up that which not only brings them health and success, but which bring Immortality; but time and again they reject it, until at last they are given but one chance and they even destroy that. When the desires to turn to the good, the flesh will do all in its power to destroy these desires for the good. Verse 40— "When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?" If the good is finally rejected it means destruction to that soul. Nothing can save it. On the other hand, if the Soul is awakened and God dwells within then it destroys the wickedness, and man lives. Verse 41 — "They said unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyards unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their season." When the Soul awakens it will turn to the Truth and will bear fruit and accept the Christ. Thus the stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner. Verse 43 — "Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof." Man can reject the Truth and the good until it will be utterly destroyed in him. He has then no hope, for he has thrust it from him of himself, and that which he rejected will be accept- ed by other souls that desires LIFE. Verse 44 — "And whosoever shall fall on the stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder." If the soul fails to awaken and will not accept him it thrusts itself assunder. It is broken and will die, but those who accept Christ will be ground down to the innermost recesses of their soul, and will see and know all the evil within and will cast it ALL out and LIVE. THE HIGHER — r — — i n 1 r — - International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 22nd chapter; 1st to 15th verses. Golden Text — "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattening are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage." Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a "certain king which made a marriage feast for his son." Verse 2 — "And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come." The real is always the best. The illusions and drawing pow- ers of the flesh are but dreams. Man with all his reason and foresight cannot see beyond the material, that its pleasures are but short lived. Everything that is done for the body must be done again and again. It drinks and thirsts again. It eats and hungers again. It sleeps and is drowsy again. Nothing is lasting, yet men allow the body to rule them. Their body overcomes mind and soul, and they are but slaves to the desires of the body. The good things, the real things, the life and peace of the soul they refuse, sacrifice and "will not come" to the law of Truth and Life. NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R; SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTEL RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF THAN SLATION. Again the king: sent for those bidden to come to the marriage. Again and again Truth is demonstrated, taught and manifested to the world, and the world will not accept it. Verse 3 — "But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." The world always makes light of Truth; turns away after the material (farm), their merchandise (trades). Give people the Ancient Wisdom of the Initiates and they call us fools. They mock it, sneer it, but they see only that which is pos- sible for them to see. We can see only as far as our vision is guarded. We cannot see above that which is above us. Verse 6 — "And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully/' They mocked the Truth. They persecuted it." Verse 7 — "But when the king heard thereof he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city." We do not teach a vindictive, revengeful God, as the ortho- dox do. We know that no violence belongs to God nor heav- en, and that this is a symbol of the destruction of the Souls of the wicked. THEY DESTROY THEMSELVES BY RE- JECTION OF THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE. Materiality and greed will soon destroy the victim of their illusions. But good will always destroy the evil sooner or later; therefore — Verse 8 — "He saith to his servants, The wedding is ready but they which were bidden were not worthy." Verse 9 — "Go ye, therefore, into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage." The Truth is not for one, not for one nation only, but for everybody. Verse 10 — "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was furnished with guests. The Truth is manifested to all, good and bad, and the bad may partake of all that the good have had if they wear wed- ding garments, that is, put on the Christ. Verse 11— For "when the king came in to see the guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment." He was bad, not pretending to be good. He was a hypro- crite, but the Christ awakened KNOWS. Verse 12 — "And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in thither not having a wedding garment? And he was speech- less." , Verse 13 — "Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into utter darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." All hypocrisy and pretense must be cast out. The bad may be cleansed and become pure enough to wear the wedding garments of the Christ, but the hypocrite or pre- tender cannot come. There are many who mix in with the true followers of the Christ who are not true. The people may be fooled, and are fooled, by these pretenders, but they cannot inherit the kingdom of Christ by outward pretense and inward evil. Verse 14 — "For many are called, but few are chosen." Those who are true, sincere and abide in Truth are chosen. 1 1 ■ 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 22nd chapter; 15th to 23rd verses. Golden Text — ''Render unto Caesar the things that are Ce- sar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The Pharisees seemed to feel assured that in some subtle way they could cause Jesus to blunder, but the Master read men's hearts, and did not judge them by their outward appearance and demeanor. These hypocrites came to him seemingly in the most friendly manner. They even paid him extreme courtesy, calling him Master, and used the most flattering words, think- ing they could hide their thoughts and motive of the heart. Verse 16 — "They sent out unto him their disciples with Her- odian, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men." Quite a subtle and flattering speech. One which few men could resist, and in this manner they propounded the question: Verse 17 — "Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou; Is it law- ful to give tribute unto Csesar or not?" Jesus was yet in Capernaum, and the city was under the Roman rule. It was necessary, therefore, to pay the tribute NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIOMT5 OF TRANSLATION. money for the support of civil authorities, and every citizen, Roman or Jew, was obliged to pay tribute. The penny bore Caesar's image and superscription. Verse 18 — "But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ?" Though they wore their purple and fine linens with the ply- lacteries, though they came fauning, flattering and paying hom- age, JESUS KNEW THEIR SOUL. He knew the hypocrite, no matter how he came. He also knew the soul that was weary of sin and strife with the flesh. This was the secret of his power. Jesus understood and read the souls of men. "He needed not that any should testify of man, for he new what was in man." He did not go by ap- pearance. He did not need a testimonial or a reference written by a friend or sympathizing neighbor. He saw through the veil of pretense, and was never once deceived by it. Verse 18 — "Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. " Verse 20 — "And he said unto them. Whose is the image and superscription ?" Verse 21 — "They said unto him. Caesar's. Then said he unto them. Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. Caesar was a great king, but he was wicked, evil and mater- ial. The material penny and the gain the world, therefore, belonged to Caesar. Render unto evil the things that are evil; give back to evil that which belongs to it, but give unto Goc that which belongs to God. They marvelled at these words, and went their way. These were great men of the Pharisees and Herodians. They were the smart men, the learned, and held the high places. They knew Caesar's image and superscription, but they did not know God's. God's image stood before them dealing out Truth, love, mercy and knowledgs, but they knew him not. They could but see the man Jesus, whom they had not suc- ceeded in overcoming in subtle and wary questioning and de- ceit. They were defeated at every turn. Wise in their own conceits, their foolish hearts were darken ed. Professing to be wise they became fools. They were dealing with a Master in Mind and in Soul, but they could not see what they knew not. We only see what we are after all. We judge others really by our own sight. Our eyes may be defective, and while we judge others and seek to enlighten them or criticise, we may find that the fault is our own; that we are deceived, and blinded, and led astray by the great brilliancy of our own wary mind. Had they known how small and puny their little, narrow, dwarfed souls were they would have known much more than they thought they knew. They were a perfect illustration of egotism and conceit, and we see how it blinds the heart and holds men from the truth. A harlot, a publican, or a sinner, is not half as hopeless as a bigoted, conceited mind that knows so much that even a Son of God cannot teach him. 1x1 Jul JK TRY TEACHINGS ■ ■ ." ■ ;;;,-./;■ ^ ■■ , International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matther, 22 chapter; 23 verse to close. Golden Text — "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus said "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." These are the commandments of love. When we love God with ,all the heart and Soul and mind, we purify the mind the heart and the soul, and we know we have attained all that the law and the prophets teach us. Then when we are perfect in the first commandment which is the first and the greatest we know to "love our neighbor as ourselves." This is a hard thing to do some times and mortals are not able to gain a very great part of it. As long as ue judge our neighbor by mortal sight and law and vision we will always see his defects, his failures and reason to not love him. But when we put on the Soul of a Master we know that our neighbor is indeed very much akin to us, and he is our brother whether bad or whether good and we then learn to look upon him as a brother. NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 23 — "The same day the Sadducees came to Jesus. They did not believed in a resurrection of the Soul, and said to him." Verse 24 — "Master, Moses said, If a man die, and hath no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed un- to his brother." Verse 25 — "Now, there were with us seven brethren; and the first when he married a wife, deceased, and having no issue left his wife unto his brother." Verse 26 — "Likewise the second also, and the third unto the seventh." Verse 27— "And last of all the wife died also." Verse 28— "Therefore, in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven, for all married her?" Verse 29— "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God." This part of the Scripture is a great problem to many, but understanding the Scriptures it is very simple. The Sadduucees did not know what the ressurrection was. They thought, and think yet, that there is a great day of resur- rection, when the dead shall rise up from their graves and will be set apart, the good together and the bad, and will be judged by a great personal Being they call God. The philosophy of the Ancients teach no such confusing state. The resurrection is the AWKENING of the Soul and its rebirth into the Christ, or Master. Thus, as Jesus said, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." The passing of the soul from the body into the Soul world is not resurrection, for many souls pass over which have never seen the ressurrection, and some never will. They do not marry in the Soul world, for the soul simply prepares for reincarnation. Verse 31 — "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying," Verse 32 — "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the LIVING." Who are the Living? Many are in the flesh who are dead to God. Therefore, who are the living? What were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? They were Godlike — obedient men. Therefore, the living men and women are Godlike and obe- dient; and the resurrection day is the day the Soul becomes Godlike and obedient. They were astonished at this doctrine. The Sadducees, who were the infidels of that day, had never heard any teachings like this before. The Churches from the beginning have sought and worship- ped the God of the dead. There is no God of the dead. They have no God, but darkness and destruction; and God, the Creator, is not the God of darkness nor of destruction. Verse 41 — "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them:" Verse 42 — "Saying, What think ye of the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said unto him, "The son of David." The Christ to them meant the descendant of the flesh and blood of David. It did not mean the true Conception of the One God. They could not see beyond the flesh, the material, so how could they understand a Christ beyond that? Verse 43 — "He saith unto them, How, then, doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying:" Verse 44 — "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool." The Christ said unto my Soul, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Obey, keep faith with the Master until all evil is subdued- put beneath the feet. 1— — I ■ 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 23rd chapter; 1st to 13th verses. Golden Text — "He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant." There is a vast difference in the greatness of the soul and the greatness of the material ambitions and influences. The world call an influential man great, without regard to soul or spirit. A man may attain a high plane; he may be a king or a presi- dent; he may rule and govern many, and this is the man the world calls great. He may be heartless and soulless, still the world calls him great. But he is in nowise great in the Spirit- ual. The great spiritual man is the man of great soul. The man who can live, and think, and serve, and die for others is great. The great man in the worldly sense dies. The spirit- ually great man LIVES. A servant of Christ is not necessarily one who serves and waits on the material needs and pleasures of others, but it is necessary for him to serve in the spirit in all things. If one must take the position of servant in a household, it does not lessen one in the Spirit. The servant who is great in soul is far above the master who is without soul. Verse 1 — "Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his dis- ciples," NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED! ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 2 — "Saying, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses* seat." They set themselves up as teachers of the law, and in the synagogues. Verse 3 — "All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, observe and do; but do ye not after their works, for they say and do not." They were hypocrites. They taught the law of Moses, but they did not obey that law themselves. They were wicked in their hearts, and in secret did evil. Their teachings were good, but they did not practice what they preached, and, therefore, were not true disciples of the Law and of Truth. Verse 4 — "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them upon men's shoulders, but they themselves will not remove them with one of their fingers." Did you ever know a teacher or preacher who exacted much work, much pay, much reverence, from his followers but who gave nothing in return? Who did not work, only when the multitudes were watching them, and that only in the ceremon- ious and showy part? These people are all of the same class. You have known them. They promise much, but do nothing. Verse 5— "But all their works they do to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments." Verse 6 — "And they love the uppermost rooms at the feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues." Verse 7 — "And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." Praise and self-glory, and worldly power they seek and claim. Among these are the Black Magicians, who claim much and teach many, but do not even follow the little Truth in what they teach. Verse 8 — "But be ye not called Rabbi; for one is your Mas- ter, even Christ, and all are brethren. " Call no man Master until you know he is a Christ, a Son of the living God, and teacher and doer of Truth. Verse 9 — "And call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven. " This has no reference whatever to our earthly parents, but many teachers are called spiritual fathers, who are not fatherly or heavenly in the least. These call not father. There is but one father, which is WITHIN you when your mind and soul are purified and is awakened in His likeness. Verse 10 — "Neither be ye called Master; for one is your Master even Christ." Do not follow every teacher who calls himself Master until he is illuminated and attains the Christ. When the soul is il* luminated and is pure, humble, helpful, and seeks to benefit mankind, then it is a Master in Christ. There are none Mas* ters but the Christs, and remember this, NO MASTER EVER CALLS HIMSELF A MASTER. He who is a Master does not talk; he who talks is no Master. Verse 12 — "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." No one can exalt self and become a worthy disciple. And he who seeks to exalt self destroys the real self, the Soul, for the selfish, unrighteous soul dies, and is, therefore, abased. To humble oneself is to become receptive and meek in the attainment of the true, the soul-beautiful, and the love of right- eousness. The true soul is exalted above all the carnal world and its evils and lusts. He who says "I am a Master, is a liar and knows not the Truth." THE 4^| IRRECONCILABLE r International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, chapter 23rd; 13th to 25th verses. Golden Text — "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone." The Pharisees worshipped to be seen of men, and they paid their tribute to the temple, and brought gifts of anise, mint and cinnamon; but they omitted to worship in the Spirit and Truth. It was right and just for them to bring the gifts to the tem- ple. These are the things they ought to have done, but not to leave the others undone. It would have been better for them to have given righteous judgment, faith and mercy, than \o have given material things. They gave to be seen of men, and cared not for righteous judgment, mercy and faith. Verse 13 — "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye nei- ther go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." They did not know the kingdom of heaven, where it was,nor what it was. Instead of this they taught the traditions and doc- trines of men, which shut up the heaven against men, and could not show the true way to those who sought the Truth. Verse 14 — "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites; for NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted r& BY DR. R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ^ ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. ye devour widows homes, and for a pretense make long; pray- ers; therefore ye shall receive greater condemnation." Dishonest men, teachers and pretenders, who pretend to be honest, truthful and sincere, bring to themselves greater con- demnation than they give. The law and justice they meet out to others returns back to the soul of the giver. Verse 15 — "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of hell than your- selves." A proselyte is one who turns from one religion to another. They were Gentiles, who were not born of Jewish parents, but who accepted the Jewish religion and were not circumcised. They were allowed to worship standing in the outter courts of the temple. There were some who accepted circumcision, and these were admitted into the inner court of the temple. In the Osirian philosophy these terms are symbolic, but the Jews followed them literally. Verse 16 — "Woe unto you ye blind guides, which say who- soever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor." Verse 17 — "Ye fools and blind, for whether is greater, the gold, or temple that sanctifieth the gold?" This the same teaching that man may sin with the body (the temple), and then pay with gold for sanctification and the for- giveness of sin. If the soul is pure, the temple is pure; and gold cannot purify nor cleanse from sins the evil body, but the pure body purifies all the material needs we must use. Verse 18 — "And whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing, but whosoever sweareth by the gifts that is upon it he is guilty." Verse 19 — "Ye fools and blind, for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sactifieth the gift?" An evil gift is given upon an evil altar, and a good gift upon a good altar. The altar is the Soul, and the gifts are what the Soul gives; so one is not greater than the other. Verse 20 — "Whosoever, therefore, shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and all things thereon." All are the same. If the altar is clean, all things thereon are clean. Verse 21— "And whosoever shall swear by the temple, swear- eth by it and him that DWELLETH THEREIN." If the temple is pure, the mind and soul are pure; and he has sworn purity and truth, but if evil, he has sworn himself to evil. Verse 22 — "And he that swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon." To swear to a thing is to admit it, to believe it; therefore, to admit heaven, is to admit the throne of God and him that sit- teth thereon. Heaven is a purified state of the Soul, and when the Soul swears by, or admits the throne of God WITHIN it, it admits God. Verse 24 — "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swal- low a camel." The worship of the spirit is too much for the self-righteous, self-exalted Pharisee. He criticises, rejects and scoffs at the simple truths of God, yet swallows (believes) the fairy tales and traditional errors and symbols of the Elders. There are many around us today, the so-called leaders, who scoff at the word Occultism, and will not accept the teachings of the Inner Sanctuary, the purification of the Soul in Truth, humility and sincerity, yet they believe the monster God of the Jews and the symbols, instead of the Spiritual interpretation and the philoso- phy of Jesus and the Ancients. 1 1 B 1 f- International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 23rd chapter; 25th verse to close. Golden Text — "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The blessings of heaven are many, and they are poured out upon all who come to be baptized of the Holy Ghost and with Fire. Fire is the Soul, and the Holy Ghost is the Sunship, or Sonship, or the Christ. Verse 25 — "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within you are full of extortion and success. " This is pretended righteousness, the pretended, clean mind and soul; but within the mind dwells the the thoughts of extor- tion and excess, of corruption and evil, and this is the inside of the Soul — the cup and platter. Verse 26 — "Thou blind Pharisees, cleanse first that which is WITHIN the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also." Purify and cleanse the mind and soul, and all you do, say and think will be pure and clean. All the outside works will manifest what the inside actually is. It always does. NOT E -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS QF TRANSLATION. Verse 27 — "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which, indeed, appear beau- tiful outward but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." There are many handsome men, and many beautiful women, who appear very beautiful outwardly, and deceive those who are NOT ABLE TO SEE AND READ AND SEE THE SOUL, but who are vile, hypocritical and unlean in thought, mind and soul. Jesus was never deceived by such. He saw the souls of men, and he read them aright. Verse 28 — "Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous un- to men, but within ye are full of hyprocrisy and iniquity." Verse 29 — "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, be- cause ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sep- ulchers of the righteous. Verse 30 — "And say, If ye had been in the days of the our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." Verse 31 — "Therefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets." They knew no father above the father of the flesh and evil. They called him Father, and followed in his footsteps in blind- ness and ignorance, admitting no higher thought, and manifest- ing the same ignorance and Unbelief. Verse 32 — "Fill ye up the measure of the father." It was the same they used for themselves — blindness, evil and ; iniquity. Verse 33 — "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" How can the ignorant of truth, the blind and material escape from the condemnation of their own laws and thoughts, which destroy the soul? Verse 34 — "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and cruci- fy, and some of them ye shall scorge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city." In their bigotry, false beliefs and blindness, they would fol- low in the footsteps of their fathers, who killed the old proph- ets. Verse 35 — "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon -the earth, from the blood of righteous Able unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." Righteousness is destoyed and cast out from the soul and the body, and it is the blood of the prophets, in symbolism as well as in the literal sense." Verse 36— "Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." And every other generetion that rejects the Truth. Verse 37 — "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Verse 38 — "Behold your house is left unto you desolate." When the Christ is killed, rejected and stoned from the Soul, the Soul is desolate and lost. Verse 39 — "For I say unto you, ye shall not see me hence- forth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Christ is not seen except by those who who are baptized with' Fire (Soul) and the Holy Ghost (Christ). SoulScience AND SUCCESS International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 24th chapter; 1st to 12th verses. Golden Text — "Take heed that no man deceive you." Verse 1 — "And Jesus went out and departed from the tem- ple; and his disciples came to him for to show him the build- ings of the temple." Like all who admire the beautiful structures of the earth, and who take pride in them, the disciples showed Jesus all the won- derful works, the carvings and furnishings of the temple. Verse 2 — "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." All the beauty and wonderful works of the material things, the temples, churches and cites, will crumble and decay, In time every stone shall be thrown down. It is the temple built with hands, and will not endure to the end. Only the Soul endureth forever. Verse 3 — "The disciples seem to have understood his mean- ing in this symbolic speech, for they came to him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of the coming, and of the end of the world?" The end of the world was predicted then, and it was not un- NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R: SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE %HD MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGMT5 OF TRANSLATION. derstood any better then than now, even by the disciples. Verse 4 — "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." Verse 5 — "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." Many what? Many men. Men who are led away* by the illusions of their own minds; men who have no proof, and can give none. Verse 6 — "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled, for all things must come to pass; but the end is not yet." We understand that no world was ever destroyed except by the vibrations from the evil souls upon it. Evil thoughts, motives and deeds are gloomy, heavy and dark, and they create a heavy atmosphere. The atmosphere produces pressure upon the earth. The evil towns and cities are under heavier pressure than the town and cities where the mental, moral, spiritual and physical atmosphere is pure and uplifting. Purity lifts up; evil presses down. Purity is light; evil is heavy. Violence and carnage, bloodshed and destruction, create a heavy atmosphere, and. these mixed with the sensual, lustful, envious, malicious, angry thoughts bring sure destruction. When wars begin the end is not yet, for the few righteous are able to control and purify the evil-charged atmosphere. Ten righteous men could have save Sodom, but ten could not be found, and the evil overcame it with the fire of destruction. Verse 7 — "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places." All these great troubles are brought about by the evil condi- tions and wickedness of the people, for all these are the begin- ning of sorrows. Verse 9 — "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake/' The Truth and the Christ are hated and destroyed, and have been from the foundation of the world. The message bearers of the Christ have been stoned and persecuted, and are to this day by evil and the Black Brothers, who have always persecut- ed righteousness and the Christ. Verse 10— "And then shall many be offended and shall be- tray one another, and shall hate one another." And this is manifested at this day and age very plainly. Teachers who claim much are offended and betray the Truth through greed, through desire for fame and self and for riches of the world and its praises and worship. Verse 11 — "Many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many." They are here with this generation. There is contention and strife between teachers, leaders and students because of their false doctrines. Truth is known by the true. The true are able to prove it, not by any outward demonstration but WITH- IN the Soul. Verse 12 — "And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold." False and ignorant teachings, produce evil, and even though the student is sincere he is often led into error by these false teachers. Finding no Truth he turns away, believing nothing* and thereby losing all that he had believed. "But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved." Go on seeking Truth. Let nothing, money, friends, foes, lovers, or home, or parents, keep you from the Truth. Try the Spirit's teachings. Prove them and prove to yourself, not through spirit control, nor by simply believing what some book teaches which does not hold definite laws, but prove by the power of your own Soul. — I — — , 1 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 24th chapter; 13th to 32nd verses. Golden Text — "But he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved." In this lesson the Master warns the disciples of the great er- ror in following false Christs and false teachers. You ask what a false Christ is? A false Christ is a false idea or conception of what God is. Jesus taught the true concep- tion of God. He taught the true Christ and manifested him. What is the true conception of God? The true conception is the Fire of the Soul. The true con- ception is the Soul of God. God's Soul is the Fire, the Holy Ghost. It can be proven. Verse 14 — u The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come." God is not a personal Being "like unto corruptible man." God is LIFE. He is the ESSENCE of Life, the Fire that pro- duces and creates. This is the Word absolute, and is the Gos- ple of the Kingdom. The chance of knowing the true God will be given to all; then will the end come. Verse 15 — "When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHT5 OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. places. (Whosoever readeth let him understand). " The abominations of desolation is called Babylon. Babylon is the symbol of wickedness, of greed, of materiality, of lust, of the flesh. The Babylonians were plunderers, murderers and thieves, and all evil is the abomination of desolation. When evil stands in the soul of men, WHICH IS the holy place, for man holds all thoughts in his soul. Verse 16 — "Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Judea represents Truth. Let them which know Truth seek safety from all evil. Verse 17 — "Let him which is on the house top not come down to take anything out of the house/' Take nothing out from the Soul that is good. Do not come down and desire anything material. Verse 18 — "Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes." The field is the harvest field of the Christ. Return not to material things. Verse 19 — "And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." This is the travail of the Soul giving birth to the Christ. It brings suffering and great agony to the material. The milk of Truth feeds the, Soul, the child. All who have attained Christ- hood know the suffering it brings. Verse 20 — "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day." Winter is the symbol of darkness and barrenness. The Sab- bath day is the Lord's day. Flee not from the Lord's day. It is the Day of Judgment. Verse 21 — "For there shall be great tribulations, such as was not seen since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be." Tribulation is the tearing of the Soul from the desires of the flesh. Verse 22 — "And except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved; but for the elects' sake those days shall be shortened." The great terrors of the breaking away from the old life and its illusions. The coming into a realization of the Christ and his judg- ment. The student must be protected by the Master at this stage of development and realization or he cannot endure. It is more than mortal flesh can stand. These trials and tests are severe, but are swift and soon passed. The student stands or fall, as he himself will to do. Note carefully: Verse 23 — "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ or there believe it not." Verse 24 — "For there shall arise false Christs and false proph- ets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Verse 25— "Behold I have told thee before." False beliefs and false teachers in the spirit world, and in this world, will strive to keep the Neophyte from advancing. Great signs and wonders are manifested at this day, but there is only one way to the Christ — one door to the sheepfold, and that is NOT through phenomena or so-called wonders, often the tricks of false teachers or disembodied ghouls and vampires. Verse 26 — "Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold he is in the desert, go not forth; behold he is in the secret cham- ber, believe it not." CHRIST IS NOT A MAN IN A DESERT PLACE NOR IN THE SECRET CHAMBERS OF A MOUNTAIN, as some claim. There are a few TRUE teachers of the Christ, but no man is Christ. Christ is the Son of God. He will not be a man, but a man may teach what the Soul of God is, if he knows. Only the Masters KNOW. Verse 27 — "For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." The Son or Sun of Man, what is it? It is his Soul. Man's Soul is his Sun. Lightning is ILLTMINATION. Illumina- tion comes from the Masters of the East and of THE MAS- TERS unto the West. The Truth first came to the Eastern lands, and is now Illuminating the Western world. The Truth is the Son or Sun. Vsrse 28 — "For wheresoever the carcass is, -there will the eagles be gathered together/* The carcass represents the Truth, as we know how the eagles eat of the carcasses. This is but symbolic of the gathering of the hungry for Truth. Verse 29 — "Immediately after the tribulation of these days shall the , sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." Mind represents heaven. All' the glories and brightness of the material mind will not give light to the awakened Soul All the desires of the mind shall be shaken even to the brightest star of its ambitions. Verse 35 — "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The mind will know and accept the Christ, then all the tribes of evil of the earthly illusions shall mourn when Christ dwells in the Mind in power and Glory. International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 24th chapter; 32nd verse to the close. Golden Text — lk Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Verse 32 — "Now, learn a parable of the fig' tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth fruit, ye know that sum- mer is nigh." Verse 33— "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things know that it is near, even at the door." The Truth is here. The Christ conception is being taught in all its po v wer and wonders. This is the "putting forth of leaves." The ripening of summer is nigh, for the world is beginning to look for the Truth, and the minds of many are shaken from the false beliefs, opinions and heresies of the unenlightened. Verse 34 — Verily, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things are fulfilled." We are at the threshold of the greatest awakening the relig- ious world has ever known since the days of Jesus. THIS GENERATION shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. This is the second coming of the Christ — the Soul baptism of Fire and Holy Ghost. Verse 35 — "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away." NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHT5 OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGMT5 OF TRANSLATION. Mind and flesh shall pass away, but the words of TRUTH LIVE. Verse 36 — "But of that day and hour knoweth no man ; no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." We know not, nor do even the gods know; but the Father within us knows when me are purified and acceptable. Verse 37 — "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." The Soul of man awakened. Verse 38 — "For as the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark." The flesh ruled and feasted and made merry; but when God RULED flesh was destroyed. Verse 39 — "And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." He will take away all that is material, and of the flesh even, when it is at its zenith. Verse 40— "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left." The good and the bad, the spiritual and the desire of the flesh shall dwell within man. This does not mean two men, especi- ally. Every man has a chance to choose, and chooses for him- self. Good shall be taken, and will accumulate with good. Evil will be left or destroyed. Verse 41 — "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left." Good will be separated from evil. One woman may choose light and Christ, the other may be left in darkness. She choos- es. Verse 42 — "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Verse 43 — "But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." Man does not know when the evil and the flesh destroys his Soul. If he did know, and knew the consequences, he would not choose evil and its illusions, but would cling to the Truth. Verse 44— "Therefore, be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." The time comes when man does know. When he passes from the threshold of this life, he recognizes wherein he has failed. The voice of Christ is then heard, when the flesh is giving way and is fast loosing its hold. The Soul comes forth- the only living thing, and passes into rts accumulated dssires. There is no pretense at the final judgment. It is, therefore, best to be always prepared and not only at certain hours. Verse 45 — "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season." If the Soul makes Christ the ruler over all its desires, it is a faithful and wise servant of the Father. Verse 46 — "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find sd doing." Verse 47 — The servant of Christ is blessed, for "Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods." Verse 48 — "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming," Verse 49 — "And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken," Eat and drink with those who live on the lusts of evil and the flesh. Verse 50 — "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of," Verse 51 — "And shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping, and gnash- ing of teeth." Evil does not rule always. It cannot escape the Judgment. The Soul at some time, at a day and an hour not known, will demand recognition, and is recognized by its own deeds. It will be white or black. SON. OF MAN OR A500K FOR THE MILLIONS r i~ ■ 1 1 international Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 25th chapter; 1st to 14th verses. Golden Text — "Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." The Christ is ready; the Truth is ready; the Soul of the Di- vine is ready; go you and meet it. Verse 1 — "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten vir- gins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bride- groom." The word of Truth comes to everybody. Every one must meet Truth, sooner or later, and either accept or reject it. Verse 2 — "And five of them were wise, and five foolish." Verse 3 — "They which were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them." All have Soul. The Soul can give Light; but if foolish and wayward and lustful after the material, it cannot light the way to the bridegroom, for there is no oil if there is no desire for the attainment of the Christ. Verse 4 — "But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." The wise know that without desire for Truth the Soul can not attain Sonship and Unity with the Father, for without the oil there can be no light. Verse 5— "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGMT5 OF TRANSLATION. We all sleep until the soul is awakened. Some have slept through many ages in different stages of incarnation, and still sleep because of no desire for the attainment of Immortal Life and knowledge of Truth. Some never awaken. It is because they are foolish and WILL not. Verse 6 — "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him," The cry comes to all. We all hear it sooner or later. We hear it when slumbering deepest in the illusions and desires of the flesh. The soul wearies of its burdens of earth, and it cries out when its night is darkest. The wise hearken to the cry. The fool does not listen, but goes on in blindness, clinging to the lusts and desires of the flesh. Verse 7— "Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed the the lam ps." We all arise and make ourselves ready to receive something for self. Even the foolish, who know not what they should or would receive, when they hear a great Truth is to come. They expect to benefit by it, although they have made no pre- paration or made themselves worthy of anything. They have no desire beyond benefit of self. They see not beyond self. They give no light because they have no desire. But they expect to inherit as much as anyone else. Just as some so-called leaders believe, that they can live on earth to suit themselves. They make gourmands of themselves, killing and eating flesh; they think all manner of evil thoughts; they drink everything they want to drink, and do everything they want to do. They break every law of health, love and right- eousness, yet when they come to die, or throw of the mortal existence, they expect to go to heaven, a place beautiful and peaceful, all prepared for them, and walk golden streets and sing hymns. They teach celibacy, and marry secretly; they teach the foolish that the soul is in the blood. This is their work. They are the foolish virgins. Verse 8 — u The foolish said unto the wise, Give us. of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." These are the words of Truth presented to them, and they cannot receive them. They cannot understand. Then they begin to seek knowledge from those who do understand. Verse 9 — "But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourself." It is not the law for the wise ones, or those who have desired knowledge and gained it, to give what they have to the foolish and ignorant — those who will not give up the material and flesh to attain it. There are those who think if they read books of some one else that they are able to know; that they have knowledge. They are not willing to go to those authorized to teach, because they do not want to come under the Laws. They ask others who have received, but are not authorized to teach, thinking that they can obtain knowledge in an illigal manner, without coming under the law. The truly wise will tell them to seek from them that are authorized, that have to sell. These foolish virgins think they know all to begin with, be- cause they know nothing. If we grasp the least grain of true development, we soon know that great desire and hard work alone brings us the Unfoldment of the Soul. No one can de- velop your soul or think for you. The Masters can show you the way and protect you from the evil along the journey, but they cannot accept the Christ for you. YOU must do that yourself. Verse 10 — "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the mar- riage, and the door was shut." Those who know and are ready to accept him; and the door is often closed to the foolishness of the ignorant and unenlight- ened It is very bad to put off the day of enlightenment and de- velopment, for when we are ready it may be too late, and we are the foolish virgins. NOW is the day; for tomorrow may never come. 0S0PHY0FL1FE — I I ■ I I International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination Matthew, 25th chapter; verses 14th to 31st. Golden Text — "For unto every one that hath shall be £iven, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath." Whatever we have we seek more of it. If we have know- ledge we seek knowledge and more is given, for our under- standing is greater every time we gain more.' If we have not, it is because we do not seek for every one that seeketh findeth,no matter what we seek. And if we have not and do not use what we have and seek none then we soon lose all that we have. If we have no knowledge and seek none we become indifferent to all knowledge. We retrograde and become less. Verse 15 — We have the story of the talents how that "one was given five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several abilities." Talents represent ability. If we have great ability and desire to do much more is required of us then of those who have less. If we have great knowledge, power and understanding we must use it and make it grow, or accumulate. Verse 16 — "He that received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them five other talents." We all know full well that study, practice, and use makes perfect. If we know very little, and use what little we have, we can improve; we can become more perfect in the little, even NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. if it is manual labor we can do it better by practice, and ALL labor is necessary. There is not one thing unnecessary for im- provement, no matter what it is. Verse 17 — "And likewise he that had received the two, he also gained other two." Verse 18 — "But he that received one, went and digged in the earth and hid his lord's money." He would have much, but he would not. He thought he was not capable, so he did nothing at all. He accumulated nothing. It is better to try, and fail, than not to try at all. Verse 19 — "After a long time the lord of those servants com- eth and reckoneth with them." The Soul sees what it has done or accumulated. Verse 20 — "And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou delivereth unto me five talents; behold I have gained more besides them five talents more." Verse 21 — "His lord said unto him, Well done thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, 1 will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of the lord." This man obeyed and watched over what good there was in him and was faithful; therefore, he was able to rule over all within his soul. Verse 22 — "He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou delivered unto me two talents, behold I have gained two other talents beside them." Verse 23 — "And his lord said unto him, Well done good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, 1 will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of the Lord." He had less good within him than the first man, but he obey- ed and watched over all he had, and he inherited a place in the kingdom equal with the first man. Verse 24 — "Then he which had received the other talent came and said, Lord, I know this that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed.'' Verse 25 — "And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; lo, there thou hast that is thine." This man betrayed his blindness. It was self and selfishness. He was afraid he would give more than he received, not realiz- ing that it was for HIMSELF the talent was given. He had a little good in him, and he was given a chance with those that had much, and he could have inherited as much but SELF swallowed up the little good he had and he blamed some one else besides self. It is thus with many students. They will not follow the lit- tle that is given them, and thus receive no more. While those who are faithful to the little will receive the all. Verse 26 — "His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wick- ed and sinful servant, thou knewest that 1 reap where 1 sowed not, and gathered where 1 had not strewn." Christ does not sow wickedness, but he reaps the good from where he has not sown nor strewed, and no matter how evil the heart may be, it can yield good if it will, for — Verse 27 — "Thou oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have re- ceived mine own with usury." Verse 28 — "Take, therefore, the talent from him and give it to him which hath ten talents." He should have allowed the little good to remain even if it it would not grow, and not have allowed his selfishness to de- stroy all; for if a little good remains in the soul it will have another chance, but if the one last remaining spark is destroyed then all is lost. Verse 30 — "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The Soul is never destroyed as long as one good thought re- mains. We see what the man did with his one good thought. He turned it to himself, as HE THOUGHT, and did as he thought best, and not as his lord told him to do. And he de- stroyed all he had. 1 1 1 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 25th chapter; 31st verse to close. Golden Text — " When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." This is the RECOGNITION and REALIZATION of the Christ within. Verse 32 — "And before him shall he gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Verse 33 — "And he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left hand." The Christ will be the judge when he comes. We face the judgment when he enters within us and takes up his abode with us. The good in our souls will be separated from the evil, as the sheep are divided from the goats. Verse 34 — "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- pared for you from the foundation of the world." Truth has been from the foundation of the world. Creeds and doctrines and theories of men are not Truths; neither are NOTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. they Scripture. The Bible means THE BOOK— the Book of Truth. It has been so grossly misrepresented by the theolo- gians and priests that it has been rejected by some, who are unable to understand it, as Philosophy. The Bible is composed of the Symbols of Ancient Wisdom, the Philosophy of the Egyptians, and has been copied from the original symbols. It is the Philosophy of Old, and is not doctrines and creeds of men, who only err in Windless and spiritual ignorance. Verse 35 — "For I was an hungered, and ye gave meat; I was athirst, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in." Verse 36 — "Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me." The Christ within the flesh hungers, thirsts, is a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison. Is this not plain enough? When we feed the Soul, give it to drink, clothe and heal it, then do we take IN the Christ, and we inherit Immortality. Verse 37 — "Then shall the righteous say, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty and gave thee drink?" Verse 39 — "Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison and came to thee?"' Is is hard to realize how the Christ was situated within us when we knew him not. What did that benefit him? Ah, just as we pity the unfortunate and help them, just so do we feed the Christ within and awaken him, for as we THINK so do we BUILD. Verse 40 — "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me." Kindness, good will and love open the door to Christ. When we love others and manifest love and good will we manifest Christ, and he knows us and accepts us. Verse 41 — "Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, unto everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." All evil is always cast out and rejected by the Christ, for Christ does not dwell in evil and does not recognize evil, self- ishness, thoughtlessness and unkindness as righteous. Verse 42— "For I was an hungered and ye gave me no meat; I was athirst and ye gave me no drink." Verse 43 — "1 was a sranger and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not." The materialist, the selfish, the sensual, the evil, cannot see or realize when or how they reject the Christ. Verse 44 — "Then shall they answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" Verse 45 — "Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me." We cannot shut our heart and refuse sympathy, kindness, generosity and patience to even the least of humanty, for we are all one brotherhood, one family, begotten of the same Force, of the same parents. We should feel toward all humanity as if toward a brother. We must recognize that we are brothers and sisters, and not strangers and foreigners to each other. Jesus recognized the tie of all humanity. He loved all; he healed all; he strengthened all; he gave and benefited one as much as the other. God is no respecter of persons. THE HIGHER DEGREES OF wonders of that self we have learned to love. Peter's salvation came through that bitter trial, and the un- derstanding of himself as he was, and not as he had idealized himself to be. Jesus knew and recognized his weakness, but he also knew that the power of the material self transmuted to the Higher self was a power for great good, although suffering opened the wound to cleanse it from its evil stain. 1 1— H 1 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination, Matthew, 26 chapter; verses 1st to 20th. Golden Text — "Whom will ye that I release unto you; Bar- abbas or Jesus, which is called Christ ?" Barabbas was a robber, a thief. Jesus was a giver of Life and Truth. The multitude rejected Jesus and perferred Barab- bas, and is still doing the same thing today. Verse 8— We read that, "When Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders." Judas' greed, envy and jealousy hid the Truth from him. He did not realize, until he saw there was no hope for the re- lease of Jesus, that he had brought to bondage and death the only person who could have saved him. He realized the rejec- tion of the Christ, and not as a man of power. Then, when the priests and elders mocked him, as evil always mocks when it is through with its victim, he saw that he had sold HIMSELF to a horde that despised him for his treachery and weakness. Evil is the same old betrayer. It does not stand by us after we have given ourselves in to its hands, but always reminds us "What is that to me? See thou to that!" N OTE -These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 6 — "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the tem- ple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." He was the murderer and destroyer of himself. Verse 11 — "And Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest." Verse 12 — "And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing." In this is one great power, that of being able to keep silent in the face of mockery and false accusations, of persecution and ridicule. This one thing he held most sacred. "And Pilate marvelled." He was the governor and judge of all brought to him; and this was the first to come who acted and spoke in this manner. Verse 13 — "Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?" Verse 14 — "And he answered to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly." This was Jesus' greatest and supreme test; and he bore through it with the demeanor and fortitude of the Son of God. They were eagerly watching and hoping for one flaw, one sign of weakness, but were baffled. They used all their power, all their art, to provoke and sting him into a retort, but he "reviled not again." Verse 16 — "Now at that feast the governor was wont to re- lease unto the people a prisoner whom they would." Verse 17 — "And they had then a notable prisoner called Ba- rabbas." Verse 17 — "Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you; Bar abbas or Jesus, which is called Christ ?" Verse 18 — u For he knew that for envy they had delivered him." Pilate struggled from the beginning to release Jesus, for he believed in him. He knew he was the victim of envy and spite, but Pilate, as are many today, was outweighed by the accumulated forces of evil and materialism. Verse 19 — "And when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." She had seen Jesus as he was, recognized him as the Christ, and accepted him. This was a powerful message, and it influenced Pilate to do that which his own disciples forgot to do, with the exception of John who made an effort to join him. John knew the govern- or personally, and made an appeal to him for Jesus' sake, but the flesh was to die, to be overcome, and all the intervention of man availed nothing Jesus the flesh must die, so that the Spirit would live, the Soul become a Christ, or the Soul of Christ. — ~W B ■ 1 1 International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 27th chapter; 20th to 45th verses. Golden Text — "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" How many of us have asked ourselves that question, and have answered it with the crucifixion of the flesh? Jesus was the purified flesh which held the Soul, or Christ. He was puri- fied because he yielded not his body to the demands and sinfulness of the multitudes of evil. All purified flesh is the flesh of Jesus, and when we attain this condition we attain the Christ. You will ask k Why, then, is it necessary to crucify the flesh if it were purified?" For this reason only : It was a final test between the desire for a physical life or the life Spiritual. If he had preferred to remain in the physical he could not have attained Adeptship or Christhood. Verse 24 — "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saving, I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it." We have experienced the same opposition and confusion when we try to point out to the material lustful minds the NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Truth and splendor of the Christ. Pilate made all efforts to induce the multitude to recognize the Christ, but without avail. He was not the persecutor, but the judge of the Christ, and he judged rightly within himself. Verse 25 — "Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. " And it was so and remains unchanged to this day. Material- ism which are the many subtle illusions and snares of the world and all flesh. Barabbas, the robber, is preferred, and set free to go on robbing and destroying, while the Sun of Righteous- ness is cast out. Verse 29— "And when they had platted a crown of thornes, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews." Verse 30 — "And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head." And all this, innocent and suffering, he neither murmured nor complained. Verse 31 — "And after that they had mocked him, they took the robes off from him and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to be crucified." If we should see a mortal man, even though he is guilty of a crime, suffering and scourged and jeered at, we would feel pity and sorrow for him; but we as blindly and as unfeelingly mur- der and destroy the soul within us as the multitude attempted to destroy the Christ. Verse 32 — "And when he was athirst, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall; and when he tasted thereof he would not drink." When our soul cries out to us in hunger and athirst what do we give it to drink? Are we with the multitude that gives the vinegar and gall, or the Christ who will not drink of their bit- terness? Verse 36— "Sitting down they watched him there." Verse 37 — "And set up over his his accusation written "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." This purified flesh, which is the King above all evil flesh. And while he was dying they reviled and mocked him the more. To their material sense he was a man who differed from them and the elders in the traditions of their belief. This is all they saw. They were man-made men, and worshipped and served a man-made god. They lived under man-made laws, so could not see beyond man. They conld see nothing but the material, and would naturally condemn all that differed with them. ■ ~T ■ ~1 ~ 1 International Illuminated Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine illumination, Matthew, 27th Chapter; 45th Verse to close Golden text — "And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent/' This was the cause of the accumulated vibration of hate, malice, envy and destruction. Christ never destroyed anything, neither did God become angry and tear up the earth and the temple in his wrath "like unto corruptible man." God is not violent nor destructive. God forces are all silent, serene, calm, as Jesus was through all his struggles, his trials, his persecution. Evil laws return to the senders and evil alone reeks destruction and violence. Verse 52 — "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the sanits which slept arose." Verse 55 — "And came up out of their graves AFTER his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." The Souls of these saints appeared and not the bodies of flesh, bodies of the flesh never arose, it was the body of the Soul which appeared. This must not be taken in the literal sense. NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 54 — Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God." They did not know that Jesus' Thoughts, his vibration of love, Truth, and forgiveness saved that part of the earth from total destruction. His currents of righteousness, law and love counterbalanced those of hate, crime and all evil, otherwise the pressure of the accumulated evil would have become so heavy the earth would have sunk as did Atlantis before that. Evil thoughts are heavy and where a town or city is infested with evil thoughts the atmosphere of that place becomes heavy, there is a gigantic pressure against the earth. Unless this is relieved by th£ counteracting currents of purity and goodness, that city or town destroys itself as did Sodom and Gomorrah. God has nothing to do with it. God cannot save evil — God only saves God, for it is impossible to conjoin God and evil and save both. Verse 55— And many women were there beholding afar off which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering with him." It is a noteworthy fact that the women were always more faithful to Jesus throughout his trials than the men. They were the last to leave him, the first to greet him. Woman's perfect love is without fear, but perhaps the expla- nation is this: Women were not considered a power and strength in those days among the Jews and they counted her presence as insignificant. Among the Egyptians and other Gentiles nations, woman's sphere was considerably higher than among the Jews. The Jews' laws were all man made. They served a man-made God. They were material and could not see above the material and it pleased their senses to make man and the Image of man Lord of all. God made man according to their way of thinking and few men have gotten above the crude story of creation and the beginning of men. After so much demonstration of the Unseen, but natural forces, the Jews began to fear. They began to fear that Jesus MIGHT arise from the dead. Verse 62 — Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate, Verse 63— Saying, Sir, we remember that the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again." Verse 64 — Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his discspies come by night and steal him away; and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead; so the last error shall be worse than the first. Verse 65 — Pilate said, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as can. Verse 66 — And they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone; and setting a watch." But no man has power to seal the Christ away from the Soul seeking the resurrection. Material man cannot see nor perceive the power nor the entrance of Life into the Soul of the purified flesh. International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Matthew, 28th chapter; 1st verse to close. Golden Text — "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- tizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.'' Father represents the Divine Positive Principle; the Holy Ghost, the Receptive, or Negative; and the Son is the result of the union of Father and Holy Ghost — it is the Divine Flame. The Holy Ghost is the Fire with which we are baptized; the Father is the Mind or Creator; the Son is the Christ born of Mind in the Soul. When the Mind creates in the Image of Purity, Truth or God, the Soul receives its vibrations of Puri- ty, Truth and God, and retains them. This is the Christ, the Resurrection of the Divine Image. Jesus did not teach that he alone was Divine, or was the only person who had the right to claim that inheritance. He taught DIVINITY OF ALL MEN AND WOMEN if they WILLED or desired it. Verse 1 — u In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn to- ward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the sepulchre." NOTEJThese Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. Verse 2 — "And behold there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled the stone from the door and sat upon it." Verse 3 — "His countenance was like lightning, and his rai- ment white as snow/' Verse 4 — "And for fear of him the keepers did shake and be- came as dead men." Verse 5 — "And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified." Verse 6 — "He is not here; for he is risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay." Do you know the place of the Lord — the tomb in which he demonstrated what Life IS, and that there is no death? The resurrection is for EACH one of us when we put aside the de- sires of the life of flesh, and seek the Christ, not among the dead, but in the living Truth. Verse 7 — "Go quickly, and tell the disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him; lo, I have told you." Verse 8 — "And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word." Verse 9 — "And as they, went to tell his disciples, behold, Je- sus met them, saying, All hail, and they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him." He was now the Christ, the purified, the Illuminated, the Sun of Righteousness. Before they followed blindly seeking but not knowing. Now they KNEW. Verse 10— "Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid; go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." They obeyed, also, as the women obeyed the Lord's angel, and they saw him. If they had not obeyed, think you they would have seen him? Verse 16 — "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain, where Jesus appointed them." Verse 17 — "And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. ,, They doubted because they were not fully Illuminated. Their Spiritual eyes were not yet opened, and some were not sure of Truth unto the Day of Pentecost, when they were all Illumi- nated and cleansed with his Spirit and Fire." Verse 18 — "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Verse 19 — "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." This is the Force Christ came to send on earth. It is the baptism of the Soul — the Illumination of the Soul. Verse 20 — "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." If Christ is with us always, even unto the end of the world, why should we look for another? No man will come and set up a kingdom in earth and call himself Christ. Christ is the Life of purified man. The Soul of the Living God, and the Life is always within us, and always will be as long as we re- main true to the faith. Therefore, as I have taught you, go YOU into the world and let all nations know the TRUE faith. Not a dogma, but a Living Christ. >, ,. III — I 1 ■ 1 1 — International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. Special International Lesson u By what authority doest thou these things; and who gave thee this authority." Matt. 21st chapter. 23rd Verse. After Jesus had been healing the sick and teaching the pure doctrine in the Temple, the Pharisees and Scribes demanded of him by what authority he was doing these things. In the eyes of the Pharisees and Scribes, the orthodox of that day, nothing was supposed to be done unless it had the sanction of the established Church and man-made laws. Far rather would they that these poor sufferers should die a miserable death than that they should be cured by those who had not received their authority from them. Jesus asked them the question which they could not answer because they themselves had no authority except that which man and man-made institution had given them. They knew nothing of the spirit and but very little of the Soul of man, nor did they know anything of its powers, they healed as best they could and whatever they could not heal none else had a right to heal. However, as all men know, men and women left the establi- NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R; SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. shed church in order to follow the teaching of Jesus for in their hearts they knew that the authority of Jesus must be greater than that of Pharisees and Scribes because he could do GREATER things than they with all their man given authority. And Brother, after many centuries we are in exactly the same position that the people were at the time of Jesus. Bishop Ludden, of the Chatholic Church, had instructed the Clergy to warn their people against the "Superstitions of Healing." The Bishop, according to the Syracuse Herald, issued June 24th, 1911, made this statement: 'The clergy were directed at the semi-annual conference, on Tuesday, to warn their people against these modern (healing) superstitions which are assuming frightful proportions in the community, and make it plain to them that the practice of consulting such healers constitutes a grievous sin. Many fool- ish Catholics have been in the habit of having recourse to such so-called healers, although it is forbidden to all Christians as a sin against the first — the greatest — commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." What is a grievous or mortal sin? There can be but one grievous or mortal sin, although it may take many different forms, but the only REAL sin either against God or man is that which our Conscience forbids us to do. The clergy who follow Bishop Ludden are taking EXACT- LY the same position as did the Scribes and Pharisees in the time of Jesus. By what authority do you cure these pure suf- fering people? There is but one authority which the TRUE healer must obey, and that authority comes from God, through his own Developed or Illuminated Soul. Jesus, through the instructions he had received, had become thus Illuminated, and this Illumination brought with it the power to heal and to teach. This was his authority, and though the Pharisees were in identically the same position as are the Catholic clergy of the present, and asked the same question of Jesus as now asked, the people knew who was right and fol- lowed the right, although it is true Jesus had to suffer. I believe that many true healers must suffer now for their healing as Christ did then, but now as then the people will gradually follow those who do the real work, and in the cen- turies to come the clergy will be remembered in. name only as are the Scribes and Pharisees now, and the healers, the Illumi- nated Souls, will have the following. There is no question but thousands of so-called healers are frauds, but the same thing is true of the clergy, and it is im- possible to destroy the false without destroying the true. The true healer need not fear. He need not fear persecutions or denunciations, even though made by the clergy, for God's Law in the good time coming will even things up. Does the clergy recognize the fact that not one in an even hundred will go to a healer until AFTER authorized physicians and priests have failed to help them? That is a great fact that must be borne in mind. Would the clergy rather that these millions that go to healers after authorized physicians and ministers have failed should die? No doubt but that is the way "they look at it, but they should always remember that all things are under the absolute law, and that though they may get many of the weak to stay away from healers who might cure them, it is they, the clergy and their church, that will eventually be forced to pay the pen- alty. Further. "The law is plain. No one is free in conscience to consult one who, without properly constituted authority, at- tempts to heal by prayer or by the laying on of hands." Who made this law? Did God make it? Did Jesus ever teach such a law? Has the Church, no matter what the name, the right to make such- a law? And what if, after such as have been authorized by the Church or constituted authorities, fail to cure? Shall the poor, miserable sufferer then give up and suf- fer and die in misery, or shall he go to one whom he believes might cure him? Did God ever say that because one cannot cure the sufferer he shall not go to another? No where can 1 find it so written. How can the church, any church, say who is free and who is not free in conscience to do a thing? No living man can know, or claim to know, the conscience of another. All men were given an individual conscience, and they were given the AB- SOLUTE right to follow that conscience. No man has a right to do that which will hurt another, and no man has a right to say what another shall or shall not do. Such a ruling as that made by the clergy is simply a boom- erang that will destroy the church that allows it to be made. Mankind in the present century is becoming too well read and enlightened to obey such foolish mandates as this. They are commencing to think for themselves, and to KNOW that they, one and all, have equal opportunities with all other men. Tis said: "Him whom the gods would destroy they first make mad," and truly this would seem to be true. The more than seventeen million of American people, among them many of the best and most enlightened Catholics, who now go to healers for treatment prove that no longer is unrea- sonable church authority feared. — N I H 1 1 International Esoteric Bible Lessons. Prepared for the Sunday Schools of the Church of Divine Illumination. SPECIAL LESSON. THE SAVING OF THE NATION. St. John, chapter 8th. Golden Text — "He that is without sin among you, let HIM cast the FIRST stone at HER/' Verse 3— "And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultry; and when they had brought her in the midst — Verse 4 — "They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultry, in the very act. Verse 5— "Now, Moses in the Law commanded US that such should be stoned; but what sayest THOU?" Verse 6 — "This they said, tempting him, that they might have A CAUSE to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his FINGER wrote on the ground, as though he heard THEM not." In the time of Jesus, this u as one of the most important questions. So it is today. The Scribes and Pharisees were the leading men of the day. They were the men who gave the religion to the people. They dictated to the people as to what to believe and what not to be- lieve, just as the orthodox of today, those who claim to follow the Christ, dictate. NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R: SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHT5 OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSL/VTION. These Scribes and Pharisees condemned those caught in adul- try, and they also condemned all those who were known as prostitutes, like the vast majority of the present day, they were all guilty of having to do with this class of women. It is a terrible indictment of this enlightened century that practically all men, with a few exceptions, are guilty of having to do with this class of women, and what makes this a crime is the very fact, and one that cannot be contradicted, that those men who are the loudest in their condemnation of these women are the very ones who had to do with them. We are supposed to live in a Christian century, a time when the teachings of Jesus are supposed to be followed, and none will contradict me when I say that all those who are foremost in condemning the fallen women are called Christians, and they themselves claim to be such. If they were Christians, would they have to do with this class of women? Would they be found with them, or would they be found helping them to a better lifer 1 What did Jesus do? Did he condemn the one who had committed adultry? That is the great question. Is there a living man today who has given this subject any thought that will admit that there could be a prostitute if she was not patronized? Then why is there such a thing, consid- ering that all men of our nation call themselves Christians? There can be but one answer to this, and that is: These men profess to be Christians, to obey the teachings of Jesus, but they have to do with prostitutes and then they turn, like the wolf in sheep's clothing, and rend her. The nation, all nations, are now at a place in their history when they must take a different stand concerning this question, for unless they do the nations perish. The time will come, and is not far distant, when natural marriages will be recognized by the laws of every state. That will mean that man will be JUDGED BY THE SAME STAND- ARD THAT WOMAN IS JUDGED. It will mean that when a woman is accused of wrong doing, the man guilty will be accused of the same thing, and what is more, the act will be recognized as a LEGAL AND BINDING MARRIAGE. 1 do not condemn legal marriage. I uphold it positively and absolutely, but I also recognize the natural, God-given Law that there is a natural, sacred marriage, and that this marriage takes place between man and woman the minute that they know each other. God never recognized any such thing as "illigimate," for there cannot be any such thing as an illigimate child. God smiles upon all children with the same smile, for He knows that there can be but one natural, sacred marriage, and that that marriage takes place when "man knows woman." The time is coming when the state must recognize this fact and when she will do so. Why should the man be feted and the woman condemned? Are they not, before God, equal in all things? Woman demand woman's rights, but she ignores the most sacred of God's laws, and until she demands that woman shall be equally guiltless with man she can never have equal rights, for it is only that which she demands that she will receive. The church preaches loudly against the white slave trade, forgetting that within her own ranks there is taking place the most awful of white slave trade. Its most respected members patronize the prostitute one hour and condemn her the next. Wherein is the difference, whether a man steals a young wo- man and sells her, or whether he betrays her trust in him and then leaves her to her fate? God does not see any difference between these acts, and if one is worse than the other it is for a man, a so-called Christian, to make an innocent girl believe that he loves her, only to betray and leave her to the tender mercies of the so-called Christian world. Is there a living soul who is foolish enough to believe that either prostitution or the white slave trade could exist for one week if all the so-called Christian world condemned it? IF ALL MEN WHO CALL THEMSELVER CHRISTIANS WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PROSTI- TUTES—SO-CALLED—HOW COULD THERE BE A TRADE IN WHITE SLAVES? Answer that ye Christian law makers. There should be strict laws, but why put the horse in back of the cart? So long as Christian men demand this class of women, just THAT LONG WILL THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE EXIST. What did Jesus answer the orthodox, who themselves were guilty? Verse 7 — "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you let him first cast the stone at her." Was there a stone cast? NO. And why? Because in their hearts they knew that every one was guilty, and that is just why men of the present make laws to punish *he man who se- cured the white slave and says nothing concerning him who uses her and then condemns her and makes her an outcast. There is but one way to save the women of our nation. That way is to make all motherhood sacred, for all mother- hood IS sacred. There is no hint in Nature that Motherhood is shameful or in any way disgraceful, and nowhere can it be found where the Master condemned the mother. "He that is without sin let him cast the first stone." ROSIORUCIAN BIBLE LESSONS. Rosicrucian Interpretation of the Scriptures. ■ n ■ D m. THE COMING WORLD. Scientists (practical material scientists,) claim to have dis- covered a new world forming in the sun. They are reckoning, wondering and guessing as to the out- come of the "phenomenon/' they call it, and have about con- cluded that it will bring about the destruction of this world. One of the ^th Brotherhood knew of the formation of the new world in the sun years ago, and has waited for the scient- its — wise men (?) to break the news to the world. He says that the new world forming in the sun will not de- stroy the earth. "Divine law never sent destruction upon any world by contact with another world. Each world creates itself. It sustains itself by OBEYING Divine Law. It DESTROYS itself by disobeying Divine Law." This new world will locate in a sphere of its own. It will be peopled by those in harmony with its laws and Vibrations. It will be a harmonious world — a world of enlightened Souls. It is the new Heaven and earth Jesus told us about and of which John, the beloved prophet and disciple, described in Rev- elations. This is he who gives the message — "Hear ye and obey." NOTE-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R. SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED K' ALSO RIGHTS OF TRAN5LATIO N . "Hear ye and obey/' These words are from the "Great White Throne." They are the words of Wisdom. The Philosophers of old obeyed. They knew Divine Law could not be twisted and turned to suit the demands of the material. The Soul must obey if it will attain Life. If we understand the Law of Life we would be more eager to obey. We do not realize what Life is. We struggle here with the viel of illusions, of the false knowl- edge of the senses leading us, and are handicapped by their laws. We exist for a time only. If we form and live in the real of Divine Desire, we will live again in a purer and more enlightened state. This is why there can be no one different age or stage of creation. There is always advancement from the lowest to the highest, or the Soul attains to a certain extent and then retro- grades. No Soul ever attains perfection or comes to the realiz- ation of the true Conception of God (which is the Christ) and THEN descends back into destruction. The Soul reaches the stage when it is given the opportunity to choose through a whole existence whether it prefers the dark- ness to Light, and it attains equilibrium only when it chooses the Light. It will follow Black Magic or White Magic. If it is given its chance many times and refuses, it is given blackness by its own Soul and Mind. When the Soul desires Truth it will go on upward. Flesh, the world, and the devil cannot hold it back. If it at- tains the Christ, or even the knowledge of Christ, it cannot retrograde or descend into the "bottomless pit." The Soul that has the knowledge given it and rejects it, is the Soul that turns back, and "the last state is worse than the first, " but this Soul has never attained Christ or Mastership. Judas Iscariot was taught all the laws, and he gained reputa- tion as a healer. He was prominent as treasurer of the company, but he knew not the Christ, and Jesus himself had not the power to awaken him because the power was WITHIN him- self, and God even cannot open the eyes of one who deliber- ately refuses to obey and to see. Judas saw himself not as he was, but as he thought he was. He did not realize the great error he committed until too late. We read that he "DESTROYED HIMSELF" by betraying the Christ. He DESTROYED HIMSELF. We all do, or we save ourselves. It is up to us. We can be honest and true if we want to be. We do not need to steal, or lie, or cheat, or bear faise witness, or "covet anything that is our neighbor's." We know we CAN be true if we WILL. Every man and woman knows this. Every man and woman knows that their sins are found out, and yet they go on thinking to deceive. Evil does not prevail. It never did except for a time. God ruled always, wisely and well, and will rule unto the end of the world. If it keeps its equilibrium it will stand. If it is destroyed, it is destroyed by the evil Souls of men who are upon it. By the vibrations and currents of the Black Brothers who will not see the Light. It will never be destroyed by the New World. The New World is for those who are Light, who desire Truth and Righteousness more than this world and its pleasures can give them. i 1 ■ 1 r ROSICRUCIAN BIBLE LESSONS. Rosicrucian Interpretation of the Scriptures. m _n __■ n w_ THE JETH WORLD. THE JETH BODY. The world was long in accepting the wonderful works of the Mind and of Magnetism, and it will slowly respond to the awakening of the Soul. But it will respond because it is the written as well as the un- written law. It is written in the Book of the Ages. It is sealed in the hand and in men's foreheads, for where the physical and mental law prevails, the law of the Soul and of righteousness also prevails. As the mental prevails over and controls the physical, so does the soul prevail over and control both physical and mental. The Soul is the leading Light. Few have found the Soul and know its powers, just as the power of mind was long in darkness. Jesus taught the development of the Soul. He was the first to sound the trumpet of the Spiritual Age. The seeds were planted hundreds of years ago, but they fell upon unfruitful soil. It has been taught by the Ancients for ages, but the material NOT E-These Lessons are Copyrighted BY DR.R: SWINBURNE CLYMER ALL RIGHTS OF TITLE AND MATTER RESERVED ALSO RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION. and mental were not sufficiently developed to know and accept its power. The physical has always been strong. In every age and stage of existence it has grown strong and weak. The world was always more or less physical, and these con- ditions will remain unto the end. You say, and it is true, that mentality and spirituality are on the increase, and the material will grow less. But it is a Divine law that with each new race, the physical must have its day. There are three stages of every age. In all time, through all time, from the very beginning, the Spiritual has been taught and demonstrated. It has gained in every age over the physical and mental, and then with the close of that era it was held by the few. Egypt, the birth place of the world's knowledge, once under- stood and accepted, lived, taught and demonstrated the Divine Law as it has never been demonstrated since. The Egyptians have hidden the secrets, which have remained secure and fast for ages. They were hidden because the physical and mental could not develop and continue with the Spiritual. They knew physical powers which are yet unknown. They knew the mental powers which are yet unknown except by the few— the Initiates. And they knew Truths yet unknown except to the few. All the worlds before this world were the same. This world is not the mental world. Neither is it in its first mental age. It is the mental age of this era. With the opening of the Jewish laws, the Truths were taught and demonstrated — the powers of the great unknown mani- fested. Many learned Spiritual Truths and demonstrated them. It fluctuated, it rose, it gleamed forth like a beacon Light as a tenable Truth, as the Divine Law through all ages, all time. With the advent of Jesus' teachings, it was accepted and demonstrated above all physical and mental. It was accepted MORE than now; so were the mental laws and teachings. Men drifted away, and the wise ones held fast. And it will always be so. There are three stages in every age. This world has existed through more than three stages. Lemuria and Atlantis experienced the same. Spirituality and mental laws were developed then even be- yond this continent. They were physical, mental and spiritual. They lived through many ages and stages of the physical, mental and spiritual. They were developed by Fire (Soul) as we will be destroy- ed. They were the enlightened worshippers of the Divine in the same knowledge and sense that we are attaining enlightenment. India and Egypt experienced the same changes. We are not above nor are we attaining greater Spiritual knowledge than they attained, for they attained all that were possible for man to know in the flesh. We will attain as much as they — and then will the end come. HOW? The new World forming is the JEth World, and if the pres- ent world should be destroyed the Fire, as foretold, then those who have developed the JEth Body will simply be transferred to that world. If this world is not destroyed, then it is optional with the y£th Children whether they will go there or stay upon this ma- terial world, which will be stili more material than now. NOV n 191* One copy del. to Cat. Div. DEC 5 1913