I send my greeting unto you.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God, the Father of All.
I have many things to write unto you.
Since I came home to my people, I often pray for the time that I may meet you once more before I begin my work here.
The lands of Egypt and Persia are dear unto me, for there I pass many happy hours in communion with thee and our Father, the Egyptian.
Dear Father, when I look around on our people and see how far they have sunk beneath the nation, which I have visited in sin and iniquity, I weary for the time when my labour shall begin, but before that time, I shall visit thee again when we shall travel into the east.
I send this with a caravan, which is about to start for your country.
Salute all the brethren that are with you.
Grace be with you.
Amen
A few years rolled on during which Hafed had become acquainted with many wonderful things done by the Prince—even the Prince of Heaven and of Earth—through means of the communications received from spiritual beings.
Amongst these were his old friend, the Egyptian priest, who frequently appeared to him in such a tangible shape that but for the effulgence of light, which beamed from his face, he might have forgotten that he was not in the body.
In a letter, which Hafed had received from Jesus, he expressed a wish that Hafed should travel with him to the east, and having received his promise to do so, Jesus once more arrived in Persia.
He would be about eighteen years of age at this time, a tall, fine-looking young man.
He was complete in education.
He could speak and teach in a number of languages, and was conversant with many subjects and branches of subjects of which very few knew anything except the priests and other learned men.
They were the witnesses of many a lovely vision that night—it seemed a very paradise.
In the midst of the heavenly vision, they saw their friend, the old Egyptian priest, clothed in robes of celestial brightness.
The form of Hafed’s beloved wife also came before them in angelic beauty, and they likewise beheld Hafed’s spirit guide, and many others besides.
Two days afterwards they set off on their journey to the east.
When in Egypt, was Jesus, like other boys of his age, fond of amusement, attentive to his lessons, and so on?
Oh—that is a subject I can readily speak on.
Jesus, though characterised by an acquisitive and studious disposition, which led him to sift and dive deep into hidden things was at the same time but a boy.
When at play, he was as frolicsome as others, but when at his lessons, it was study—with him then there was no lack of attention—
He studied for himself, and often for me too, although I was more than double his age.
The venerable Issha would give each of us our tasks, telling us to have them ready for him at a certain time.
Jesus had always his done first and I was always behind, but so soon as he mastered his own he assisted me.
Well—now, let me picture it to you.
Here is a table supported on three legs.
On this side is laid a sheet of lead and a similar sheet on the other.
Our aged instructor, with a sharp-pointed instrument in his hand, would trace a number of hieroglyphics over each of our lesson sheets, and say—
There is your subject—
Find out the meaning of these, my sons, and read them off to me when I return.
At that time these ancient characters were not taught to the priests, but being brought up by Issha, I got lessons from him in that and other branches of education.
By the destruction of the ancient books years before, much of the knowledge and wisdom of the olden times was lost to the people in my day.
I know it was a hard task for me, and I can never forget the perplexity it caused me, for even when I got the key, I never could make sure of the keyhole.
I well remember one day when we were thus engaged, the youthful Jesus on one side of the table and I on the other, with our hieroglyphic lesson before us.
He seemed but to cast his eyes over for a short time the line of characters, when he cried out—
I have found it.
Coming round and looking at my lesson, over which, as usual, I was helplessly poring, he said—
Do you not see it is the same subject—mine reads backward while yours reads forward!
Our old tutor had done this to puzzle us, but the boy found it out.
Our great Captain—Jesus the Nazarene
I should like to have an account from you of the personal appearance of Jesus at that time.
Well—I knew him when he was a little boy in Egypt.
But when I met with him in Judea, I was startled, for as I looked on him, he appeared to me more than man—
There was something in his face and in the glance of his eyes that told me plainly I was in the presence of no mere mortal.
His countenance beamed with a light not natural.
When he spoke, his voice went into the very depths of my soul.
In bodily appearance, he was rather tall—slender, but yet proportionate.
There was somewhat of the woman in his cast of countenance.
His hair was of a fairish auburn, parted in the middle of his head and hanging over his shoulders.
His eyes were black, sharp and piercing, with a depth of expression not mortal.
Christ was the example set before you—
The Absolute Ideal—
Try to model your personality on His.
—Spirit Claude
Why do we have nothing from the pen of Jesus?
How is it that when we have letters and narratives left us by several of the followers of Jesus, we have nothing extant from his own pen?
Oh—I think the reason is very simple.
During the three years of his public career as a teacher, he was always attended by a few followers and he did not require these to write, they never being far from him—never scattered abroad, as they afterwards were—all that was necessary for them to know was given by the words, which fell from his lips.
Was Jesus what we would call a ready writer—did he write much?
No—but some of those letters I refer to were truly beautiful, clothed as they were in the most poetic language, and having for their subjects the grandest, the most sublime truths in Nature.
His was no surface work—He went to the root of things.
In his treatment of the subject of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, he would show how life was, as it were, brought out of death—how the apparently rotten, dead seed contained within it all the elements of a glorious and beautiful life.
Be witnesses for me of all you have seen and heard, and preach to them the great doctrine—Love—to do to others that which they would have others do to them.
O, how I pity them, and the land of Judea, for they are sunk in vice and sin—and when I compare the nations, which I have visited with thee, they are not to be compared with my brethren—they sit at the gate of Hades while the surrounding nations hath reached the confines of Heaven. But the time has come now, Father, when I must go forth to proclaim those grand truths unto men and make the earth resound—and may my voice penetrate the gates of Hades, exclaiming peace on earth, goodwill towards men! My hours of suffering may be drawing nigh but before then my work will be done—I shall have fulfilled my mission and sealed it with my blood, and my Father’s will be done.
Dear Hasiz, give my greeting to all my brethren in Persia. I often weep with joy when I think of the blessed hours we spent in the sacred groves where we held communion with the Most High and when the Flame that burnt upon the Altar out of which came the Spirit of the Flame and held communion with us mortals.
O, when shall the time come when men shall turn from their evil ways and bend their knee before the eternal God.
Dear Father, I have gathered a few spirits from the lower castes of society—they are fishers—I shall make them fishers of men.
I have sent an epistle to Egypt to your young friend Hermes, speaking words of sympathy and wisdom that he may still bear against the loss of his aged Father and friend—so that we may prepare him for his outgoings, he being one of the gifted amongst men, for he must become a valiant soldier of the truths we teach.
I must return and speak to you of my countrymen.
The Flame upon the Altar in the Sacred Temple at Jerusalem—
We must rend the veil that hides from the gaze of the multitude, the face of the Most High, for now, the days of symbols are passed away, for men must worship the great Spirit, not by symbols—but in the spirit.
We must clear away the dust of ages that has blinded man’s spiritual vision so that he see with his spiritual eye things that are spiritual.
I have often PRAYED to the Father for this day, and now it has come and the Kingdom of God is with man.
But, dear Father Hasiz, my mother and brethren are all well—
My cousin John has been cast into prison by Herod and I know that he shall soon reach that Kingdom, which he has so often spoken of to the people, and I am a wanderer and an outcast amongst my brethren, yet I have a few that cling close to me, while others cry—Away with him! but they are the wealthy—the masters of Israel.
Now I must come to a close as there is a CARAVAN of merchants about to leave for Persia. I do not forget to pray for PACORUS and COFDRAES.
I am yours forever―
Tell them I love them—
I love you—
I love all.
And you when you come to your last hour on earth, do not be afraid.
Death is a kind and generous angel to mankind.
You have but to live as Jesus lived, and when you are called away from earthlife, summoned to leave the body, ten thousand holy ones, once pilgrims on the earth, will carry you in triumph into the presence of our Prince and King, once the humble Jesus of Nazareth. Amen
With all their idolatrous practices in worship, we found many of the priests of Hindostan to be men of profound learning. It was a strange medley. Here a number of learned priests, and there a splendid temple—
The object of worship—an elephant!
Well, for size and strength, the elephant is unequalled, but what a miserable object to choose as an emblem of Him by whose wisdom and power all things were made, and whose loving hand ever guides and sustains all!
Strange that men should become blind with all their learning to the manifestations of their Maker, which meet the eye at every turn.
After visiting many celebrated temples in various cities and towns, and studying the manners and customs of the people as they went, Hafed and the young Jesus journeyed on towards the mountainous part of India. At length, they reached a village at a very high elevation. Here they found one of the finest temples, and connected with the sacred house, a little band of true worshippers. They learned that the community had been established as a retreat from persecution. They had endeavoured to bring their countrymen to a belief in the truth they held themselves, but they were driven back from the more populous districts to these mountains.
This holy brotherhood was the most enlightened set of priests they had encountered, and had many ancient writings, concerning the theology of their country in bygone ages. Here Jesus attentively studied the Indian theology and acquired a knowledge of the language.
The brethren assembled at night for their evening devotions, and Hafed and Jesus frequently met with them. One night, they had all assembled in sitting posture around the base of the column. As usual, the officiating priest went over the service to the Mighty Creator of All Things, and each one present at the close uttered the words, Abba—Amen! when just as the last sound died away in the spacious hall, a voice was heard, gentle and sweet, yet quite distinctly. The words uttered were—
Ye men of India who have worshipped me in truth and sincerity, there is one in your midst even now who will yet set your poor darkened and deceived brethren at liberty.
Hafed and his young companion were the only strangers present, and the assembled brotherhood naturally turned to Hafed being the eldest of the two. Seeing this, Hafed rose and made known to them all that he knew concerning his beloved Prince. They would have fallen down and worshipped him there and then, but Jesus at once checked them in their intended homage and told them they must wait patiently some time longer—
He was but a young man, acquiring knowledge to fit him for the great work before him, but the time would soon come when the work would begin, which was destined by the Great Father to give liberty to every captive held in the chains of ignorance and sin in every nation under heaven.
In their day, the name of the place was Zenda. While there, Hafed and Jesus attended, from day to day, the services of the temple, and had thus opportunities of hearing many of the priests on points of doctrine, and also, of imparting their own views of truth. At times, they were visited by those who came on pilgrimage to the sources of the Ganges, the holy river of India.
They always expressed the greatest love for Hafed’s young companion, and appeared to regard Jesus as one of the great prophets.
When Hafed, Prince of Persia, began his spirit communications, he intended to give us the letters of his young Egyptian friend, who succeeded his aged master in the office of Chief Priest. Instead of doing so, Hafed resolved to allow him to speak through the medium. Hermes, the Egyptian, was a bold preacher of the truth, first as imparted to him by Issha, the old Egyptian priest, and afterwards by Jesus whom he followed as a disciple.
Hermes was brought up under a system of priestcraft, that did not shrink from robbing the miserable and ignorant poor of the land, aided in this by their practice of necromancy.
Against this system the young reformer and his co-workers had struck a vigorous blow, dealing out to the people the true spiritual bread and seeking to educate them in a knowledge of their rights as men. In his communications, he gives us some account of that which he saw and heard as a disciple of Jesus. Hermes’ communications form a fitting conclusion to that which Hafed has already given us of the life of Jesus, the Great Prince.
Hafed gives us a translation of a portion of Hermes’ letter addressed to him after Issha’s death.
Hermes finds his aged father a corpse, and ready for the process, which according to the customs of Egypt was adopted for the preservations of the body, so that even after the lapse of many years, the spirit might be able to take up its abode in the old tenement. But such notions had long passed away from Hermes’ mind—the light of Heaven had banished all the old ideas, concerning the destiny of the old body.
The following is a copy of the translation referred to given in five pieces at various sittings in direct writing—
Dear Father—I write this epistle to you from my lonely cell with no one to speak to now. He, which was more to me than father, has gone to his home in the heavens where he has often wished to be. The divine image has gone and left the mortal with me. He called me to him just before he left. He said—
My son, I am going to leave you. See that you walk as I have taught you. I shall always be with you. See that you teach the people the way they ought to serve the true God.
He told me he would let you know that he was gone—and when he was done speaking he fell back, and the spirit was gone. Having seen little of the thing they call death, I did not know the spirit had fled, so I spoke thus—
Father, May I never disgrace the priesthood! I cried, I shall teach the people the true God, and Great Jehovah will help me, and the Holy Spirit, and thou, most holy father, will help me.
But all was darkness, dark as midnight hour, the pestilence silently invaded some sleeping city. Death on expanded wings hovered round the walls, breathing poisonous vapours—Death, with hellish eyes and countenance terrible, spread far and wide his baneful influence. This was a night of torments and of groans, of heart-rending sighs and gushing sorrow, wringing my hands. Like a bride bewails the partner of her soul—or like the distracted mother who is deprived of her little fondlings curses the day of her birth and theirs.
From the clouds that enveloped the tops of the mighty pyramids, thus the red bolt of the heavens, falling on mountains of sulphur, the ready materials and the subterranean thunders roared through the caverns of my soul.
O, Gods of our Fathers, wake him from that sleep of death.
When I had done speaking, I looked, and that which was the man I had known was now like a statue of marble. The light had left the eye, the lips were sealed, no sound came from them. I stood like one struck dumb for a time. At last, I got vent to my overflowing soul and burst forth, pouring out my blessings and curses in one breath.
I began thus—Father, you have taught me to look to a future. That grave and awful countenance is expressive of the modest virtue, which consists not in words, but practice—
While conscious that he was known to God though sensible that he should be disregarded by man. So stupefied was he by sorrow that Hermes forgot all he had received from his departed father’s lips. He did not think that even then he was the possessor of a more glorious body and an inhabitant of the land of bliss. Hermes cast his eyes on the cold, outstretched form, on the still, placid, marble-like countenance of his beloved teacher, his more than father, and in anguish, asked—
Where, O, where art thou, my friend, my guide? Why hast thou left me thus in darkness and in doubt?
And he gave vent to his sorrow in bitter lamentation. He fell prostrate on the pavement. Where was the godlike man he could have worshipped?—so noble-hearted, so holy in all his ways!
And now, as he looked on those well-known features, the eye that once shone so bright was dim, the lips whence issued words of wisdom and love were cold and silent—no smiles to welcome him now—all still and immovable as the solid rock.
It was then in his deep anguish he cursed his own existence, even the parents that had given him birth, tearing his hair in his madness.
Blaspheming, he swore by all the fiends of Hell, there was no God, no future existence—nothing!
If there be a God why am I thus bereft of all I hold dear? He raved madly against the God of Heaven. Suddenly, he was amazed, and as he looked up—there, within a lambent flame, stood one in human form. O God! I cried—he has come back to me. I knelt down on the marble slabs and awe-struck bent my head to the floor. Then heard I the gentle accents of that voice I knew so well. I looked up. ‘Twas indeed my beloved father and guide.
I could have touched him—but the form was so gloriously bright I was afraid.
He was clothed in robes transparent as crystal while his locks were far more beautiful than those of the poor body lying beside me. My eyes were dazzled by the bright, the glorious vision, and I could not continue to look on him. At length he spoke—
O man, know thyself. Thou art destined to live from age to age even as He liveth in whose image thou art created. Why hast thou called me back from my blest abode? Why these outbursts of rebellious complaint?
Did I not counsel thee while I was yet with thee in body that I would though taken away be ever near thee in spirit? Did I not give thee sufficient evidence to banish thy doubts, to convince thee that there is no death?
Put away then from thee thy dismal and dark forebodings and rouse thee to present duty.
Have I not told thee that thou wouldst yet be fitted to stand up in this land of Egypt for the true light, and rid her of her idols, casting aside those foolish mummeries by which the people are blinded—and that the poor of the land would receive bread from thee? His words came back to my mind. I did not know, neither did I care whether I saw him by the mental or the bodily eye—
I knew he lived, and that I listened once more to his gracious voice, and that through life he would still guide me into truth and guard me from evil even until I should join him in the mansions of bliss.
Why, too, should I have forgotten that which he had so often told me, that thousands of angels are ever watching over and guiding the frail sons of men!
He appeared to my astonished eyes so glorious and godlike that in the wonder and awe that took possession of me, I would have worshipped him.
But divining my thoughts, he said—See thou do it not. Though my body there is going to dust, and though now clothed in my heavenly body, I am still the same. Hast thou so soon forgotten the lessons I taught thee? Turn to the old writings that have often been the subject of our meditation, and study and consider what they teach, that though man’s body goes to the dust whence it comes, the spirit rises into the great world of spirits—goeth back to God its Creator.
Go forth, my son, to the people of Egypt, the downtrodden and benighted people, and in the strength of God and this great truth, and which by my appearance to thee is thus confirmed, proclaim it to them, that so they may be led to consider what they are—children of the Great God, Who dwelleth not in temples of stone, the work of men’s hands, but Who loveth to make His dwelling place in the hearts of the sons of men whose throne is in the highest heavens and whose sceptre stretcheth over all the worlds, which He hath made and which He sustaineth in love and wisdom.
Teach them concerning that heavenly land, only to be gained by those of holy life, and that to ensure a happy life beyond, they must live as God would have them live, fearing Him and loving one another.
Teach them that to be free from the oppression and tyranny of man, they must seek for the wisdom and knowledge of the true God, having which they will be free indeed.
I have seen my friend and brother, Hafed. Write to him, and he will show thee that all I have spoken of is truth and worthy of thy deepest consideration.
I am here in person—It is I, thy friend—My own true self that now addresseth thee.
Therefore, my son, cast aside thy sorrow and grieve no longer that thou canst not see me in my old worn-out casket—rather rejoice that I have been permitted to come unto thee in my glorious spirit body to lead thy mind back to the truth, which thou hadst almost forgotten.
Arouse thee! in justice to thyself and to thy poor fellow men, go forth to the great work—and may the day soon come when light and love and liberty shall spring up, never more to be cut down over all the earth. Go, my son, and be comforted in the great truth of man’s immortality.
So ended his address. While the words fell from his lips, the thought came to me—Am I dreaming? Is it indeed my loved friend and father that stands before me? I rubbed my eyes, and still he was there. The beautiful lips smiled on me, the eyes sparkled as before when he stood at the great altar.
How much I felt tempted to prostrate myself in worship before him!
His hands, too, as he laid them gently on my head looked as real as those once did that were even then lying cold and stiff in death, but as they touched me a thrill went over all my body to my finger ends. When morning broke, I felt myself a new creature. I went forth, strong in the resolution to expend all my strength of mind and body in behalf of the truth, and never cease my work until I was called home by the Great Spirit to mingle with the blest above.
Where did Christ spend his life between his boyhood and the time he began to teach?
He was in his mother’s home all his boyhood and early manhood, following the occupation and life outwardly of a Jewish peasant, but his soul—or his real self was in perfect union and communion with the eternal wisdom whose manifestation he was.
Then he was not educated by the Essene brothers?
He was outwardly a man of no education—all that he gave to humanity he brought directly from the Father and the sect of whom you think knew nothing of him until long after.
Paul says of Jesus—He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Does Paul here not contradict what you have often asserted, that Jesus is not the Deity?
I still assert the same, and Paul does not contradict me. Jesus stood in the place of the deity himself to speak to a rebellious world.
What medium in heaven or on earth could bring back the spirit, which had broken the link that bound him to his body?
Not all the spirits in heaven combined could restore you to the body. The chain, the silver cord, once snapped can be joined no more. Jesus my Prince, and He alone could do it, for on him was bestowed all power by the Great Spirit, and from Him only could the power proceed.
Have I not seen him in the fullness of that power order the spirit back to the body?
In the fullness of that power, He rules in heaven, earth and hell—the Great Governor over all this system of worlds. Paul does not contradict my assertion, for you will notice, he does not say, He was equal with God, but that he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, inasmuch as the divine power he wielded was the gift of Him who alone could bestow it. There was no robbery—there could be none, for to Jesus was given the spirit without measure. He was the very embodiment of the Great Spirit, yet he himself never said—I am the Great Spirit—the Source of All Being—the Creator and Father of All.
But John in the gospel ascribed to him says—All things were made by him?
Had I not had many opportunities of studying Jesus, I might have come to a different conclusion on this point. Many times I could have worshipped him, and had I been Greek instead of Persian, this would have been the case, but conversant with the prophecies about him, I was prepared to receive him as indeed He was—the Great Deliverer sent from God.
How his disciples should come to entertain any other idea, I do not know.
