The Comments of Section 5
Lections 41 Thru 50

LECTION 41. 11-13. -Very applicable to the present age also.

LECTION 44. 4. -In the Syrian Paschito, accepted by all Christians, in the Aramaic, the very language spoken by the Lord while on earth, the passage reads thus -"Thou art Kepha (rock), and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Sheol shall not prevail against her." In the Aramaic original there is but one word for rock or stone, not two petros and petra, as in the Greek -on which anti-Catholic controversialists found their views. Rather do these words, "petros" and "petra," being simply the masculine and feminine forms, denote a duality, viz. Intuition and Intellects conjoined in the one human Individual; or in philosophy, the inductive and the deductive methods, the one of Plato, the other of Aristotle.

LECTION 45. 7. -The word '" Blasphemy " is derived from the Greek , "blapto" to hinder, retard, obstruct (progress) and "pheme" to speak, thus signifying what is usually known as that conservatism which injures progress and obstructs it. Such a mind is held in bonds by too great deference to authority, or customs, or fashions, or traditions, and closes itself against fresh truths, or the restatement or development of old truths, and thus resists the light which may come through a divine messenger, and commits the "sin against the Holy Spirit" by closing eyes and ears against the higher teaching of God's truth. Such cannot be forgiven i.e. obtain release in this age (incarnation} or the succeeding. For the effects of persistent resistance are age enduring, like a prison house of the mind, and it cannot break the strong walls of prejudice and come forth, being fast bound, and needing, it may be ages, for its emancipation from error long cherished.

LECTION 45. 10. -Without slighting any believer's love to the B.V.M., these words clearly shew how Iesus regarded Righteousness as relating all true believers to him more than any blood relationship could possibly do.

LECTION 46. 2-7. -The appearance of Moses, to hand over, as it were, the Law and the Dispensation to Iesus, throws a light on the reason of the Transfiguration, which is lost in the accepted version. Elias also appears, so as to make, with Moses, the "two witnesses" required by the law. They recognize Iesus, and witness to him as the great Prophet whom God should raise to succeed and take the place of Moses as the Legislator of the New Dispensation.
    The "six glories" may have reference to the six precepts In each table of the law as now given, or more probably to the six attributes of each of the two aspects of the Christ, six feminine and six masculine, as inherent in the Two in One -the "Father-Mother of the age to come." They are referred to in one of the most ancient gospels.

LECTION 46. 10-12 -Compare this with the Law as given by Moses in the "Book of the Going Forth of Israel," p. 35, all chiefly negative precepts. In the law given by Christ there are six negative and six positive. The negative is the external Way, in which certain actions are forbidden. The positive the interior way, in which certain duties are enjoined. As the prohibitions are summed up in the negative form of the Golden Rule, so the commands are summed up in the positive form. There is a very curious recurrence of certain numbers. The words of the two tables being summed up, appear to indicate the feminine, or even number 124, for the lst Table; and the masculine, or odd number 123, for the 2nd Table; and the numbers 12 and 13 prevail throughout. The words of Moses (see "Book of the Going Forth of Israel ") were 70, denoting an approximate, but a lesser perfection. Had this law been faithfully observed by all Christians, there would have been no divisions or war as now, and this earth would have been a paradise for all. The allegations brought against Christianity and Christ as the cause of strife and bloodshed, are therefore baseless. It is the spirit of selfishness, of perversity, in direct opposition to the Law of Christ, which has been the root of all the evils laid to the charge of Christianity, as he said, "Behold I come to bring peace upon earth, but what if a sword cometh?" Besides the loss of life by wars and intemperance of all kinds, the amount of material wealth wasted yearly in Christian countries, is not only needless, but injurious things, forbidden by the Laws of Christ, is simply appalling. This amount would rebuild the cities of the world, and its ancient Architectural Monuments now In decay, turning them into cities of health and beauty. 
    Take England alone, the amount of money wasted in flesh meats, etc. (which cannot be had except by cruelty and suffering) alcohol and tobacco (which transform the users into worse than beasts) is on the most moderate calculation (of Mulhall and other eminent staticians) 260 millions. And this increases year by year. (Remember, this was written in 1892 -Ed.) This sum would give employment and food to all who are now without it, and in a little time turn our hideous towns into cities of health, beauty, and convenience, and our waste places into fruitful gardens, and our want and misery into increasing wealth and gladness, It would provide retiring pensions after 50 years of work, for all disabled by age, sickness or accident.
    Canon Farrar has shewn that at a low computation, there are 30 millions of destitute now in England. This sum would give a pension of £80 a year to each of such. This sum would also clear the interest on the National Debt (Disgrace) and our Public Expenditure, leaving a surplus of 100 millions.
    In this sum is not reckoned the needless, wanton expense of wars (220 millions in two years wasted in S. Africa in pillage and destruction and in plundering a nation of industrious farmers; and now again, in Thibet, the butchery styled by the English "a Peaceful Mission." Nor does It include the money lost in betting and gambling (during the last century 3,000 millions, i.e. an average of 30 millions per year). All these sums are estimated by Mulhall and other eminent staticians whose veracity cannot be doubted, and make a total of at least 300 millions recklessly wasted by this nation alone, all of which would be avoided by simple adherence to the twelve precepts given by Iesus Christ on the Mount.
v. 12. -"Slaughtered" is the truer rendering which has in former editions been wrongly translated "living."

LECTION 46. 24..-The law as given through Moses "by the ministry of angels," and as the Church of Israel (the typical nation) received it through their Interpreters and Scribes, had no precept forbidding cruelty, oppression, flesh eating, drunkenness, the worship of mammon, impure marriages for money or position, and other vices and crimes which are the cause of nearly all the misery which now afflicts men and women "called to be happy sons and daughters of God Almighty, and which are visited by the holy Law on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that despise it, shewing mercy to all who love it." Nor yet did it include that mutual consideration for each other (positively and negatively) which is summed up in the one commandment of Christ "Love ye one another," not excluding therefrom the creatures which God hath given to be our earth mates and companions.

But now by the same Spirit is given through the ministry of angels, a more perfect Law -the Law of Christ- which they knew not, who sacrificed innocent animals (which thing "God commanded not," as said Jeremiah, the prophet, vii., 22), in place of the animal passions and lusts within their carnal minds. And to this end is this Law now given anew after a more perfect way that the multitudes in the Outer Court of the carnal mind may have it written in their hearts, and enter through the Middle Courts of the Soul into the inmost of the divine Spirit where no tables of the Law are seen, for there the Law is WITHIN.

The moral obligations of Mankind have been revealed in two ways; the first and earliest is the negative and external way in which certain actions are forbidden; the second and later is the positive and interior way in which certain duties are commanded. As the prohibitions are summed up in the negative form of the Golden Rule, so the commands are summed up in the positive form of the Golden Rule, and both in the one command of Christ; "Love ye one another." When these words were committed to writing the monition was given, " Number the words of this Law, for they are the numbers of the Holy City, and of the Solar and the Lunar Year." And so it was found by adding the numbers, and then the figures composing the sums, in four different ways after the manner of the Jewish Kabbalists, shewing that the same mode of reckoning in their English Version was retained by the translators for the purpose of (as far as possible) preserving the very words of the Law in their purity and integrity.

LECTION 47. 2-7.-There is hardly a law that has been given by man or by God, but has been abused and turned into an instrument of oppression by the perversity of man, evading the spirit and insisting on the letter alone.

vv. 10-16.-This parable of Dives and Lazarus is pregnant with deepest teaching, utterly setting aside the narrow dogmas of the sects which have been founded on the traditional interpretation of it in the A. V.

LECTION 48. l-3. -The feeding of one thouand with five melons is another instance of the love of Iesus to the hungry and thirsty thousand who came to his ministry. He first feeds the body, then instructs the soul. Too often it is the reverse of this among his followers. Hence, "The lack of love causeth many to wax cold."

LECTION 49. 7. -Iesus here disclaims the sacrifices of bleeding victims as being by part of true religion, but rather contrary thereto, adding to the guilt of the offerers. How often religion, so called, is put before morality, and dogma before loving-kindness and mercy.

v. 8. -This is fulfilled in the Catholic Church of East and West, in the arrangement of the Sanctuary and Choir, in which, however, the standing altar of incense has been replaced by swinging censers -the one should not exclude the other. Each has its place and use.

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