the sermon, the pastor again came [25]
forward, and added the following:--

My friends, I wished to be excused from speaking
to-day, but will yield to circumstances. In the flesh, we
are as a partition wall between the old and the new;
between the old religion in which we have been educated, [30]
and the new, living, impersonal Christ-thought that has
been given to the world to-day.

[Page 179.]

The old churches are saying, "He is not here;" and, [1]
"Who shall roll away the stone?"

The stone has been rolled away by human suffer-
ing. The first rightful desire in the hour of loss, when
believing we have lost sight of Truth, is to know where [5]
He is laid. This appeal resolves itself into these
questions:--

Is our consciousness in matter or in God? Have we
any other consciousness than that of good? If we have,
He is saying to us to-day, "Adam, where art thou?" We [10]
are wrong if our consciousness is in sin, sickness, and
death. This is the old consciousness.

In the new religion the teaching is, "He is not here;
Truth is not in matter; he is risen; Truth has become
more to us,--more true, more spiritual." [15]

Can we say this to-day? Have we left the conscious-
ness of sickness and sin for that of health and
holiness?

What is it that seems a stone between us and the
resurrection morning? [20]

It is the belief of mind in matter. We can only come
into the spiritual resurrection by quitting the old con-
sciousness of Soul in sense.

These flowers are floral apostles. God does all this
through His followers; and He made every flower in [25]
Mind before it sprang from the earth: yet we look into
matter and the earth to give us these smiles of God!

We must lay aside material consciousness, and then
we can perceive Truth, and say with Mary, "Rabboni!"
--Master! [30]

In 1866, when God revealed to me this risen Christ,
this Life that knows no death, that saith, "Because he

[Page 180.]

lives, I live," I awoke from the dream of Spirit in the [1]
flesh so far as to take the side of Spirit, and strive to cease
my warfare.

When, through this consciousness, I was delivered from
the dark shadow and portal of death, my friends were [5]
frightened at beholding me restored to health.

A dear old lady asked me, "How is it that you are
restored to us? Has Christ come again on earth?"

"Christ never left," I replied; "Christ is Truth, and
Truth is always here,--the impersonal Saviour." [10]

The