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7V
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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
appeared sufficiently manured soil where the seed might multiply thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold with ease; and, secondly, because of his early associations and of the facilities afforded by his intimate knowledge of the Jewish language, customs, traditions, and, above all, by his familiarity with their scriptures. Jesus was not ignorant of the weakness of human nature, and knew that his doctrines were such as could not be easily accepted by the Jews, all leaven of truth in the writings of the prophets notwithstanding. Just realize how difficult is the task of preaching the Godhood and immortality of the soul even to-day when the world-wide idea of religious toleration permits us to express our ideas with perfect freedom and without fear. Two thousand years ago there was no such thing as toleration known among the generality of men, and the punishment for blasphemy' was nothing short of death.
Jesus knew the difficulties which beset his path, and although he had ample guarantee of immortality in his own increasing powers, still, the risk was too great to be incurred unnecessarily. He knew full well that the moment he preached man's immortality openly, everybody would offer to test the truth of the doctrine on the person of its propounder, for, as his own teaching shows, he knew' men would not believe, even though one rose from the dead.' He pondered over the situation, and concluded that immortality only meant the conquest of death, not the rising up of the dead, on some future occasion, by the favour of another. He rejected the idea of dying to be brought to life again, and understood that the conquest
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