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The Fifth Lesson: The Foundation of the Work.997
denunciations into their midst, and spared no terms that could properly
be applied to them. In a short time the congregation was beside itself with
rage, and the pretended righteous indignation of a flock of hypocrites and
formalists who had heard themselves described in disrespectful terms by
one they regarded as an upstart young man from the lower classes of their
virtuous community. They felt that they had bestowed a flattering honor
upon Him, as a mark of consideration for a young townsman upon His
return from a foreign and domestic missionary tour. And now to think that
He had thus basely betrayed their courtesy and showed in how little esteem
He really held them—surely this was beyond human endurance. And then
the storm broke upon Him.
Leaving their seats in the synagogue, the congregation rushed upon the
young preacher, and tearing Him from the platform, they pushed Him out
of the building. And then the jostling, hustling, pushing crowd carried Him
before them along the village streets and out into the suburbs. He resisted
not, deeming it unworthy to struggle with them. At last, however, He was
compelled to defend Himself. He perceived that it was the intention of the
mob to push Him over a precipice that had been formed on the side of a hill
just beyond the town limits. He waited patiently until they had urged Him
to the very brink of the decline, and until it needed but one strong push to
press Him over its edge and into the gorge below. And then He exerted His
occult forces in a proper self-defense. Not a blow struck He—not a man did
He smite with the wondrous occult power at His command, which would
have paralyzed their muscles or even have stretched them lifeless at His feet.
No, he controlled Himself with a firm hand, and merely bent upon them a
look. But such a look!
A glance in which was concentrated the mighty Will developed by mystic
knowledge and occult practice. It was the Gaze of the Occult Master, the
power of which ordinary men may not withstand. And the mob, feeling its
mighty force, experienced the sensation of abject fear and terror. Their hair
arose, their eyes started from their sockets, their knees shook under them,