“It hath been my privilege to send a few laborers into the vineyard, and furnish them with the means of support. In my visits to these lands I have seen somewhat of the fruits of their labors, and letters lately received give me hope of their growing success.”
“Behold there is a diversity of gifts and members in the new kingdom!” said Luke; “and I perceive that thou, O Marcius! hast done a great work that hath not been chronicled by the churches or known to the saints at Jerusalem. The world is a great field, and there are divers ways of scattering the good seed of the Word.”
“While thou art with us, O brother Saulus! I would that thou interpret more fully the life and doctrine of the great Prophet of Nazareth!” said Marcius. “The disciples with whom I have had converse appear to think differently, in some degree, concerning the best way of salvation and the true ideal of the New Faith.”
“Wherein lieth the difference?”
“Some seem to teach that the new life is likeness in mind and spirit to Jesus, or an incarnation of the inner Christly quality, while others hold that it is a purchase which was made by his sufferings and death. They say that his blood, though greater than other Jewish sacrifices, in the same manner cleanseth from transgression and bestoweth pardon.”
“I have observed that some such differences are beginning to appear among believers, but am fully persuaded that the Spirit will not be swallowed up by the letter. A knowledge of Jesus, the Christ, after the flesh, profiteth nothing. If I have known him after the flesh, I would know him no more.”
“What is the significance of the shedding of blood?”
“Blood signifieth the inner quality or life, and not the suffering and death. Behold the literal blood availeth naught! Jesus was only the outward manifestation of the Christ, because the Saviour of men is not flesh, but spirit.”
“What doth belief in the name of Christ signify?”
“It is that Christ, or the mind of Christ, liveth in us as it lived in Jesus, though not so fully manifested. Faith in Christ is not mere belief in the death and resurrection of the Prophet of Nazareth, but it is the sub[pg 447]stance of spiritual life in man. Jesus belonged to a particular time and place, while the Christ is the divine son in all men, even though not yet born into activity. It is God in the soul of man!”