Read Ebook: Kurgast: Aufzeichnungen von einer Badener Kur by Hesse Hermann

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In the house of one of the chief Pharisees.--Parable of the Great Supper.--Counting the cost.--Salvation even for publicans and sinners.--Parable of the Lost Sheep repeated.--Of the Lost Coin.--Of the Prodigal Son.--Of the Unrighteous Steward.--Of the Rich Man and Lazarus.--Of the Unprofitable Servants.--Ten lepers healed.--Parable of the Pharisee and Publican.--On marriage and divorce.--Jesus and the little ones.--The rich young ruler.--First may be last and last first.--Parable of the Laborers

THE LAST WINTER.

At the Feast of Dedication.--Sheep know the Shepherd's Voice.--The Lord's retirement in Perea.--Lazarus raised from the dead.--Jewish hierarchy agitated over the miracle.--Prophecy by Caiaphas, the high priest.--Jesus in retirement at Ephraim

ON TO JERUSALEM.

Jesus again foretells His death and resurrection.--Aspiring request of James and John.--Sight restored near Jericho.--Zaccheus the chief publican.--Parable of the Pounds.--The supper in the house of Simon the leper.--Mary's tribute in anointing Jesus.--Iscariot's protest.-- Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.--Certain Greeks seek interview with Jesus.--The Voice from heaven

JESUS RETURNS TO THE TEMPLE DAILY.

A leafy but fruitless fig tree cursed.--Second clearing of the temple.--Children shout Hosanna.--Christ's authority challenged by the rulers.--Parable of the two sons. Of the Wicked Husbandmen.--The rejected Stone to be head of the corner.--Parable of the Royal Marriage Feast.--The wedding garment lacking

THE CLOSE OF OUR LORD'S PUBLIC MINISTRY.

Pharisees and Herodians in conspiracy.--Caesar to have his due.--The image on the coin.--Sadducees and the resurrection.--Levirate marriages.--The great commandment.--Jesus turns questioner.--Scathing denunciation of scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!--Lamentation over Jerusalem.--The widow's mites.--Christ's final withdrawal from temple.--Destruction of temple predicted

FURTHER INSTRUCTION TO THE APOSTLES.

Prophecies relating to destruction of Jerusalem and the Lord's future advent.--Watch!--Parable of Ten Virgins.--Of the Entrusted Talents.--The inevitable judgment.--Another and specific prediction of the Lord's impending death

THE LAST SUPPER AND THE BETRAYAL.

Judas Iscariot in conspiracy with the Jews.--Preparations for the Lord's last Passover.--The last supper of Jesus with the Twelve.--The traitor designated.--Ordinance of washing of feet.--Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.--The betrayer goes out into the night.--Discourse following the supper.--The High-Priestly Prayer.--The Lord's agony in Gethsemane.--The betrayal and the arrest

THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION.

The Jewish trial.--Christ before Annas and Caiaphas.--The illegal night court.--The morning session.--False witnesses and unrighteous conviction.--Peter's denial of his Lord.--Christ's first arraignment before Pilate.--Before Herod.--Second appearance before Pilate.--Pilate's surrender to Jewish clamor.--The sentence of crucifixion.--Suicide of Judas Iscariot

DEATH AND BURIAL.

On the way to Calvary.--The Lord's address to the daughters of Jerusalem.--The crucifixion.--Occurrences between the Lord's death and burial.--The burial.--The sepulchre guarded

IN THE REALM OF DISEMBODIED SPIRITS.

Actuality of the Lord's death.--Condition of spirits between death and resurrection.--The Savior among the dead.--The gospel preached to the spirits in prison

THE RESURRECTION AND THE ASCENSION.

Christ is risen.--The women at the sepulchre.--Angelic communications.--The risen Lord seen by Mary Magdalene.--And by other women.--A priestly conspiracy of falsehood.--The Lord and two disciples on the Emmaus road.--He appears to disciples in Jerusalem and eats in their presence.--Doubting Thomas.--The Lord appears to the apostles at the sea of Tiberias.--Other manifestations in Galilee.--Final commission to the apostles.--The ascension

THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY.

Matthias ordained to the apostleship.--Bestowal of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.--The apostles' preaching.--Imprisoned and delivered.-- Gamaliel's advice to the council.--Stephen the martyr.--Saul of Tarsus, his conversion.--Becomes Paul the apostle.--The record by John the Revelator.--Close of the apostolic ministry

MINISTRY OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.

The Lord's death signalized by great calamities on western continent.--The Voice of the Lord Jesus Christ heard.--His visitations to the Nephites.--The Nephite Twelve.--Baptism among Nephites.--The Mosaic law fulfilled.--Address to Nephites compared with Sermon on the Mount.--Sacrament of bread and wine instituted among Nephites.--Name of Christ's Church.--The Three Nephites.--Growth of the Church.--Final apostasy of Nephite nation

THE LONG NIGHT OF APOSTASY.

The great falling away as predicted.--Individual apostasy from the Church.--Apostasy of the Church.--Constantine makes Christianity the religion of state.--Papal claims to secular authority.--Churchly tyranny.--The Dark Ages.--The inevitable revolt.--The Reformation.--Rise of Church of England.--Catholicism and Protestantism.--The apostasy affirmed.--Mission of Columbus and the Pilgrim Fathers predicted in ancient scripture.--Fulfilment of the prophecies.--Establishment of American nation provided for

PERSONAL MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER AND OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST IN MODERN TIMES.

A new dispensation.--Joseph Smith's perplexity over sectarian strife.--The Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ appear to and personally instruct Joseph Smith.--Visitation of Moroni.--The Book of Mormon.--Aaronic Priesthood restored by John the Baptist.--Melchizedek Priesthood restored by Peter, James, and John.--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.--Divine manifestations in Kirtland Temple.--The Lord Jesus Christ appears.--Specific authority of olden dispensations conferred by Moses, Elias, and Elijah.--The Holy Priesthood now operative on earth

JESUS THE CHRIST TO RETURN.

Ancient predictions of the Lord's second advent.--Modern revelation affirms the same.--Today and tomorrow.--The great and dreadful day near at hand.--Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven.--The Millennium.--The celestial consummation

Index

INTRODUCTION.

It is a matter of history that, at or near the beginning of what has since come to be known as the Christian era, the Man Jesus, surnamed the Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. The principal data as to His birth, life, and death are so well attested as to be reasonably indisputable; they are facts of record, and are accepted as essentially authentic by the civilized world at large. True, there are diversities of deduction based on alleged discrepancies in the records of the past as to circumstantial details; but such differences are of strictly minor importance, for none of them nor all taken together cast a shadow of rational doubt upon the historicity of the earthly existence of the Man known in literature as Jesus of Nazareth.

As to who and what He was there are dissensions of grave moment dividing the opinions of men; and this divergence of conception and belief is most pronounced upon those matters to which the greatest importance attaches. The solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in proclaiming Him as divine, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior of the human race, the Eternal Judge of the souls of men, the Chosen and Anointed of the Father--in short, the Christ. Others there are who deny His Godhood while extolling the transcendent qualities of His unparalleled and unapproachable Manhood.

To the student of history this Man among men stands first, foremost, and alone, as a directing personality in the world's progression. Mankind has never produced a leader to rank with Him. Regarded solely as a historic personage He is unique. Judged by the standard of human estimation, Jesus of Nazareth is supreme among men by reason of the excellence of His personal character, the simplicity, beauty, and genuine worth of His precepts, and the influence of His example and doctrines in the advancement of the race. To these distinguishing characteristics of surpassing greatness the devout Christian soul adds an attribute that far exceeds the sum of all the others--the divinity of Christ's origin and the eternal reality of His status as Lord and God.

Christian and unbeliever alike acknowledge His supremacy as a Man, and respect the epoch-making significance of His birth. Christ was born in the meridian of time; and His life on earth marked at once the culmination of the past and the inauguration of an era distinctive in human hope, endeavor, and achievement. His advent determined a new order in the reckoning of the years; and by common consent the centuries antedating His birth have been counted backward from the pivotal event and are designated accordingly. The rise and fall of dynasties, the birth and dissolution of nations, all the cycles of history as to war and peace, as to prosperity and adversity, as to health and pestilence, seasons of plenty and of famine, the awful happenings of earthquake and storm, the triumphs of invention and discovery, the epochs of man's development in godliness and the long periods of his dwindling in unbelief--all the occurrences that make history--are chronicled throughout Christendom by reference to the year before or after the birth of Jesus Christ.

His earthly life covered a period of thirty-three years; and of these but three were spent by Him as an acknowledged Teacher openly engaged in the activities of public ministry. He was brought to a violent death before He had attained what we now regard as the age of manhood's prime. As an individual He was personally known to but few; and His fame as a world character became general only after His death.

Brief account of some of His words and works has been preserved to us; and this record, fragmentary and incomplete though it be, is rightly esteemed as the world's greatest treasure. The earliest and most extended history of His mortal existence is embodied within the compilation of scriptures known as the New Testament; indeed but little is said of Him by secular historians of His time. Few and short as are the allusions to Him made by non-scriptural writers in the period immediately following that of His ministry, enough is found to corroborate the sacred record as to the actuality and period of Christ's earthly existence.

No adequate biography of Jesus as Boy and Man has been or can be written, for the sufficing reason that a fulness of data is lacking. Nevertheless, man never lived of whom more has been said and sung, none to whom is devoted a greater proportion of the world's literature. He is extolled by Christian, Mohammedan and Jew, by skeptic and infidel, by the world's greatest poets, philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and historian. Even the profane sinner in the foul, sacrilege of his oath acclaims the divine supremacy of Him whose name he desecrates.

Instead of beginning our study with the earthly birth of the Holy Babe of Bethlehem, we shall consider the part taken by the Firstborn Son of God in the primeval councils of heaven, at the time when He was chosen and ordained to be the Savior of the unborn race of mortals, the Redeemer of a world then in its formative stages of development. We are to study Him as the Creator of the world, as the Word of Power, through whom the purposes of the Eternal Father were realized in the preparation of the earth for the abode of His myriad spirit-children during the appointed period of their mortal probation. Jesus Christ was and is Jehovah, the God of Adam and of Noah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the God at whose instance the prophets of the ages have spoken, the God of all nations, and He who shall yet reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.

His wondrous yet natural birth, His immaculate life in the flesh, and His voluntary death as a consecrated sacrifice for the sins of mankind, shall claim our reverent attention; as shall also His redeeming service in the world of disembodied spirits; His literal resurrection from bodily death to immortality; His several appearings to men and His continued ministry as the Resurrected Lord on both continents; the reestablishment of His Church through His personal presence and that of the Eternal Father in the latter days; and His coming to His temple in the current dispensation. All these developments in the ministration of the Christ are already of the past. Our proposed course of investigation will lead yet onward, into the future concerning which the word of divine revelation is of record. We shall consider the conditions incident to the Lord's return in power and glory to inaugurate the dominion of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and to usher in the predicted Millennium of peace and righteousness. And yet beyond we shall follow Him, through the post-Millennial conflict between the powers of heaven and the forces of hell, to the completion of His victory over Satan, sin, and death, when He shall present the glorified earth and its sanctified hosts, spotless and celestialized, unto the Father.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms her possession of divine authority for the use of the sacred name, Jesus Christ, as the essential part of her distinctive designation. In view of this exalted claim, it is pertinent to inquire as to what special or particular message the Church has to give to the world concerning the Redeemer and Savior of the race, and as to what she has to say in justification of her solemn affirmation, or in vindication of her exclusive name and title. As we proceed with our study, we shall find that among the specific teachings of the Church respecting the Christ are these:

The unity and continuity of His mission in all ages--this of necessity involving the verity of His preexistence and foreordination. The fact of His antemortal Godship. The actuality of His birth in the flesh as the natural issue of divine and mortal parentage. The reality of His death and physical resurrection, as a result of which the power of death shall be eventually overcome. The literalness of the atonement wrought by Him, including the absolute requirement of individual compliance with the laws and ordinances of His gospel as the means by which salvation may be attained. The restoration of His Priesthood and the reestablishment of His Church in the current age, which is verily the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. The certainty of His return to earth in the near future, with power and great glory, to reign in Person and bodily presence as Lord and King.

FOOTNOTES:

As to the year of Christ's birth, see chapter 8.

See chapter 6.

The Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price constitute the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These will be cited alike as Scriptures in the following pages, for such they are.

We affirm, on the authority of Holy Scripture, that the Being who is known among men as Jesus of Nazareth, and by all who acknowledge His Godhood as Jesus the Christ, existed with the Father prior to birth in the flesh; and that in the preexistent state He was chosen and ordained to be the one and only Savior and Redeemer of the human race. Foreordination implies and comprizes preexistence as an essential condition; therefore scriptures bearing upon the one are germane to the other; and consequently in this presentation no segregation of evidence as applying specifically to the preexistence of Christ or to His foreordination will be attempted.

John the Revelator beheld in vision some of the scenes that had been enacted in the spirit-world before the beginning of human history. He witnessed strife and contention between loyalty and rebellion, with the hosts defending the former led by Michael the archangel, and the rebellious forces captained by Satan, who is also called the devil, the serpent, and the dragon. We read: "And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels."

In this struggle between unembodied hosts the forces were unequally divided; Satan drew to his standard only a third part of the children of God, who are symbolized as the "stars of heaven"; the majority either fought with Michael, or at least refrained from active opposition, thus accomplishing the purpose of their "first estate"; while the angels who arrayed themselves on the side of Satan "kept not their first estate", and therefore rendered themselves ineligible for the glorious possibilities of an advanced condition or "second estate". The victory was with Michael and his angels; and Satan or Lucifer, theretofore a "son of the morning", was cast out of heaven, yea "he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him". The prophet Isaiah, to whom these momentous occurrences had been revealed about eight centuries prior to the time of John's writings, laments with inspired pathos the fall of so great a one; and specifies selfish ambition as the occasion: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascent into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

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