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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
believed that the doctrines of Moses and the commandments of Jehovah had, so to speak, prepared the ground in Israel for the reception of the seed of Truth, and for that reason applied himself to their uplifting. The task of preaching the philosophy of Life to those who were strangers to spiritual metaphy sics did not appeal to his mind; nor does it always appeal to the mind of any other person. We find this principle working even in our ordinary lives daily. If an ignorant, illiterate rustic and an educated person were to apply for instruction to some leading professor, say, in higher mathematics, it is obvious whom he would accept as his pupil. The former would be rejected not because the Professor cannot teach him, but because he must go elsewhere to acquire a fair grounding in elementary mathematics, by way of a preparation for the higher course, while the latter, presenting in his previous education the goodness and fertility of the soil,' would be readily instructed. Acting on this principle, Jesus refused to pay heed to the lamentations of the woman of Canaan, till her highly pertinent answer—“Truth Lord : Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table”– convinced him that she had a great capacity for faith in her heart. It requires but a comparison with the Saviour's attitude to show us the absurdity of the modern religious missionary. The former professed to save the lost sheep only, but the latter, in his blind zeal, presumes to teach even those who are more enlightened than himself. What respect can he, then, hope to command from those who have a profound knowledge of matters with which he is, at best, most
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