ing to
receive as their Messiah the Divine Martyr they slew, though their own
Scriptures testify to His identity.

"Christ came, born of a Virgin; that is, a radiant angel from God's
Sphere was in the first place sent down to Earth to wear the form of
Mary of Bethlehem, in Judea. Within that vessel of absolute purity God
placed an Emanation of His own radiance--no germ or small flame such as
is given to us in our bodies to cultivate and foster, but a complete
immortal Spirit, a portion of God Himself, wise, sinless, and strong.
This Spirit, pent up in clay, was born as a helpless babe, grew up as
man--as man taught, comforted, was slain and buried; but as pure Spirit
rose again and returned in peace to Heaven, His mission done.

"It was necessary, in order to establish what has been called an
electric communication between God's Sphere and this Earth, that an
actual immortal, untainted Spirit in the person of Christ should walk
this world, sharing with men sufferings, difficulties, danger, and
death. Why? In order that we might first completely confide in and
trust Him, afterwards realizing His spiritual strength and glory by His
resurrection. And here may be noted the main difference between the
Electric Theory of Christianity and other theories. CHRIST DID NOT DIE
BECAUSE GOD NEEDED A SACRIFICE. The idea of sacrifice is a relic of
heathen barbarism; God is too infinitely loving to desire the sacrifice
of the smallest flower. He is too patient to be ever wrathful; and
barbaric ignorance confronts us again in the notion that He should need
to be appeased. And the fancy that He should desire Himself or part of
Himself to become a sacrifice to Himself has arisen out of the absurd
and conflicting opinions of erring humanity, wherein right and wrong
are so jumbled together that it is difficult to distinguish one from
the other. Christ's death was not a sacrifice; it was simply a means of
confidence and communion with the Creator. A sinless Spirit suffered to
show us how to suffer; lived on earth to show us how to live; prayed to
show us how to pray; died to show us how to die; rose again to impress
strongly upon us that there was in truth a life beyond this one, for
which He strove to prepare our souls. Finally, by His re-ascension into
Heaven He established that much-needed electric communication between
us and the Central Sphere.

"It can be proved from the statements of the New Testament that in
Christ was an Embodied