us spiritual
struggle that the earth has ever witnessed, Jesus deliberately bent
His shoulders that the weight be placed upon His back. From that
moment the earth-souls received a blessing far beyond the
comprehension of the mind of the ordinary man. Into the Karma-bound
circle came this mighty soul, animated by Pure Spirit, for the purpose
of lifting a great portion of the burden, and of joining in the work
of the actual unfoldment and redemption of the race.

For be it remembered that, being a free soul animated by Pure Spirit,
Jesus was A GOD--not a man, although inhabiting the fleshly garments
of humanity. His power was superior to that of many of the high
intelligences scattered throughout the universe, and playing important
parts in the cosmic processes. Jesus was Pure Spirit incarnate in
human form, with all the powers of a God. Although of course
_subordinate in expression_ to the Absolute--the Great Spirit of
Spirit--He was in His essential nature the same in substance. Verily,
as He Himself said, "I and the Father are One."

His youthful mind was not able to grasp the truth of His real nature,
but as that human instrument became perfected by age and training, He
realized the Truth and perceived His own Divinity.

But even a God, such as he, could not raise up the world from its
burden of Karma, by acting _from the outside_. Under the Cosmic Laws,
established by the Absolute, such work could be performed only _from
within_ the circle of earth-life. And so Jesus saw that to raise up
Man, He must become a Man. That is, to help lift the earth's Karma, He
must enter into it, and place Himself within its Circle of Influence.
_And this He did_.

We wonder if our readers can realize, even faintly, just what this
sacrifice meant? Think of a Pure Spirit--a Free Soul--so filled with
the love for the race of men as to renounce deliberately, for aeons of
time, total immunity from all mortal existence, and willingly to place
itself under the burden of pain, woe, misery and sin which formed the
earth-people's Karma. It was a thousand-fold greater sacrifice than
would be that of a Man of the Highest spiritual and mental
development--an Emerson, for example--who, in order to raise up the
race of earth-worms, would deliberately place himself within the being
and nature of the Group-Soul animating the race of earthworms, and
then stay within its influence, striving ever upward and onward until
finally, after aeons and aeons