Life? And, sighing deeply, He passed from the house, and
returned to His camp.

THE FIFTH LESSON.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORK.

There is but an imperfect record in the Gospels of the first year of
Jesus' ministry among the Jews. Theologians have spoken of it as the
"Year of Obscurity," but the Occult traditions speak of it as a most
important year of His ministry, for in it He laid firm foundations for
His future work.

He travelled all over the country, establishing little circles of
disciples and centres of interest. In cities, towns, villages and
hamlets, He left behind Him little bands of faithful students who kept
alive the flame of Truth, which steadily kindled the lamps of others
who were attracted by the light. Always among the humblest He labored,
seemingly impressed with the idea that the work must be begun on the
lowest rounds of society's ladder. But after a while a few of the more
pretentious people began to attend the meetings, often brought there
by curiosity. They came to smile and be amused, but many were
impressed and remained to pray. The leaven had been well mixed in the
loaf of Jewish society and it was beginning to work.

Once more the season of the Feast of the Passover arrived and found
Jesus with His followers in Jerusalem and in the Temple. What memories
the scene awakened in His mind. He could see the same scenes in which
He had participated seventeen years before. Once more He saw the
pitiful slaughter of the innocent lambs, and witnessed the flow of the
sacrificed blood over the altars and the stones of the floor of the
courts. Once more He saw the senseless mummery of the priestly
ceremonies, which seemed more pitiful than ever to His developed mind.
He knew that His vision had shown that He was to be slaughtered even
as the sacrificial lambs, and there arose in His mind that comparison
which stayed with Him ever after--that picture of Himself as the Lamb
sacrificed on the Altar of Humanity. As pure as was this figure in His
mind, it seems pitiful that in the centuries to come His followers
would fall into the error (as equally cruel as that of the Hebrews) of
imagining that His death was a sacrifice demanded by a cruel Deity to
satisfy the Divine Wrath which had been kindled by the sight of Man's
shortcomings and sins. The barbarous conception of a wrathful God
whose anger against His people could be appeased only by the bloody
slaughter of innocent creatures, is fully equ