This refers to the then existing conditions. He had given them all the proofs that they were capable of appreciating of the truth of his doctrines. In the next sentence he refers to the time to come, when still more evidence would be given to the world.
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth."[41]
This clearly refers to the time, which was yet to come, when mankind should seek the truth and demand to know it. The "Spirit of truth" is a personification of that spirit in man which seeks to learn the truth for its own sake, by the only process known to this world,—inductive reasoning. That day has come. The Spirit of truth is abroad throughout all the civilized world, and it demands reasons for the faith that is in the Christian Church.
Again Christ said:—
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
"And ye shall also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning."[42]
The first verse above quoted has the same meaning as this last quotation. The second refers to the events of his life of which they were witnesses. He foresaw that the record of those events would be read by future generations, and compared with later experiments. He had left the power to heal as a heritage to all who should come after him, possessing the requisite faith; and he knew that the testimony of his disciples concerning the works that he had performed would be compared with later exhibitions of the same power. He foresaw that the "Spirit of truth" would eventually discover the laws pertaining to his doctrines and his works, and that a comparison of the testimony of his followers with the discoveries of science would demonstrate to the world the essential truth of his history and of his spiritual philosophy.
I shall now briefly point out a few of the more salient features of the history of Jesus which bear upon the subject under consideration, and shall undertake to show, first, how the discoveries of modern science confirm the accounts of his physical manifestations; and secondly, how they confirm the essential features of his spiritual philosophy.
The prominent feature of his physical manifestations consisted in healing the sick; and in the discussion of the first division of the subject I shall confine myself to the consideration of that part of his career.
The first proposition bearing upon the subject is, that Jesus Christ was the first who correctly formulated the exact conditions necessary and indispensable to the exercise of the power to heal the sick by psychic methods.