Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

1897.] THE STATUTF.S OF LIFE. 557
command to do this, or to abstain from that, save that it is a
cha.rg" hom God : and it is, thereforP, evident that the people
who received th••se commandR belonged to an 11ge in which development
waR not beyond that of chiltlhood.-the period when
the parent 1lemands unquestioning and unreasoning obedi.ence,
het•ause of lack of capacity to untlerRtand rea~nR, if given.
Bttt when uur LurJ came, we find an effort to give the people
t·ea.sons; to ~:~how th:lt cornma.ntls given wet·e not in any .;ense
luhitrt~.ry. but that they were the expt·es!lion, in the simplest
laugnage, of the laws which affect man's life, or of the methods
by which 1mch lawM are obeyed anti their benefits received, that
tlms knnwledge m:\.v be gained for fut.ure application. For
inlltance. when the Mallter taug-ht that, •• if ye forgive- not men
tl1t•ir tt·eRJlM"eK, neithet• will yonr Father forgive yourtre~tpass,"
he .-nunciate•l a hw uf man's nature a11 absolute in its operati•tn
R!l tht> law uf gt·avit~·· This effort manifested throughout
the New Tellt:~ment to t>xpreR.- the law relating to the subject
in h:uul, a11 a law, ill very like a te:whet· giving the Rchulat· the
net~P.sRary ntle in arithmetit~. that expet·imentally he may work
unt 1 he taKk for himself.
Rut uot uuly ha11 the time of chiltlbood. with its unquestioning
ohetlience to aJIIparentl,v ll.l'bitrary anthorit.y, passed away,
hut. fm· the E."otet·ic student, the ~:~clwol.time of theoretical
npJ,lica.tiun has also pa.'IRed: we begin to stantl as men and
women. knuwiug and applying htwR and methuds fm· the attain.
mt-nt of w.~ll tlefine1l results; a1ul, like the ynun~ mind after
it has left sehoul, we must adtl tu onr 11tore of knowledge by
oh!lervation antl experit>tll'e. We will thus gain acquaintance
with fnt~t after f;u~t. and law after htw; "fur," a.'! the prophet
says, " p•·e1•ept must b~:-~ upon p1·ecept, p•·eeept upon precept;
line upun line, line upon line; here a little and there a little,"
until in time to come knowledge will be perfect, and understanding
complete.
The law>~ given through Moses to the Hebrews were the
!litnplest expre!lsion of the laws goveming man's life,-laws
with which he i11 brought in daily contact: and when, in stating
these Ia ws, Moses said, "God 11aitl, Y e shall do thus," or "Y e
Rhllll not do thiR," it matters little whether a mighty lntelli·
genee deRcentled from the unknown and communicated this
knowledge to him by wort! of month, wltether he inspired it by
applying the law of imtpiratil"'n, whether he gained it by bitter
Digitized by Coogle