De Imitatione Jesu.


   Jesus' religion was a religion of the spirit. He saw God as being holy, just, great, true, beautiful, and good, and these attributes of divinity, he saw as being the will of God for him. (2087) Thus his life was lived in a spiritual mode, meaning in dedication to ideals having spiritual value in contrast to things, events and occasions the value for which is confined to the material, finite world. The quotations that follow are illustrative of Jesus' way of living.

   Jesus came not to minister to temporal needs only; he came to reveal his Father in heaven to his children on earth, while he sought to lead his earth children to join him in a sincere effort so to live as to do the will of the Father in heaven. In this decision Jesus portrayed to an onlooking universe the folly and sin of prostituting divine talents and God-given abilities for
personal aggrandizement or for purely selfish gain and glorification. That was the sin of Lucifer and Caligastia (1519)

   Selfish satisfaction and sensuous gratification, alone and of themselves, are not able to confer happiness upon evolving human beings. There are higher values in mortal existence--intellectual mastery and spiritual achievement--which far transcend the necessary gratification of man's purely physical appetites and urges. Man's natural endowment of talent and ability should be chiefly devoted to the development and ennoblement of his higher powers of mind and spirit. (1519)

   Jesus thus revealed to the creatures of his universe the technique of the new and better way, the higher moral values of living and the deeper spiritual satisfactions of evolutionary human existence on the worlds of space. (1519)

   Jesus refused to compromise with evil, much less to consort with sin. The Master triumphantly put loyalty to his Father's will above every other earthly and temporal consideration. (1521)

   When asked what we can do to make friends, Jesus said: "Become interested in your fellows; learn how to love them and watch for the opportunity to do something for them which you are sure they want done"--and then he quoted the olden Jewish proverb, "A man who would have friends must show himself friendly." (1438)

   This was his method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error. (1455)

   Jesus forbade his disciples to become embroiled in political difficulties. He ignored the civic, social, and economic realms. He was concerned exclusively with the principles of man's inner and personal spiritual life. He was interested only in the individual, not the mass. But he did labor to break down all forms of selfish isolation. He taught pure sympathy and compassion. Compassion was his very nature. (1580)

  The family occupied the very center of Jesus' philosophy of life--here and hereafter. He based his teachings about God on the family, exalting family life as the highest human duty. But he made it plain that family relationships must not interfere with religious obligations. (1581)

   Jesus would not take sides in political, social, or economic disputes. He would remain grandly aloof while teaching you to perfect your inner and spiritual life so as to render you more competent to attack your purely human problems. He insisted that it is eternally essential that spiritual values come first. (1581)

   The heart of Jesus' religion consisted in the acquirement of a compassionate character coupled with a personality motivated to do the will of the Father in heaven. Jesus wanted his children on earth to live as though they were already citizens of the completed heavenly kingdom. (1582)

   Jesus knew men were different, and he so taught his apostles. He constantly exhorted them to refrain from trying to mold believers according to some set pattern. He sought to allow each soul to develop in its own way, a perfecting and separate individual before God. (1582)

   What Jesus aimed at was true humility toward God. He placed great value upon sincerity--a pure heart. Fidelity was a cardinal virtue in his estimate of character, while courage was the very heart of his teachings. "Fear not" was his watchword, and patient endurance his ideal of strength of character. The teachings of Jesus constitute a religion of valor, courage, and heroism. (1582)

   Jesus had little to say about the social vices of his day; seldom did he make reference to moral delinquency. He was a teacher of positive virtue. He studiously avoided the negative method of imparting instruction; he refused to advertise evil. His few denunciations were

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