79 ingly new to many. That which you have hitherto learned you cannot lose; and when you have gained this new understanding which I shall show you, you can then judge for yourself and hold fast to that which is good. There is a passage in the scripture which has been, and is explained in various ways by ministers and others who are interested in the Word; but I have never heard an explanation that could not be contradicted, and truth admits of no contradiction. I will give you my explanation of it, and you can judge for yourself whether it be correct or not; if it can be disputed it is not true. "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." One explains this one way, and another, another way; but the most common explanation is to the effect that if we receive one who professes to be a follower of Christ, as such, we shall receive the reward of a christian; but suppose we receive one as such and he be a hypocrite, where, in that case, would our reward be? How are we to be sure that he is a follower of Christ? By his words? No; Jesus laid no stress upon words. By his kind acts to the poor and oppressed? Those are better, but as a rule, those whom the world call infidels, are very generous to the poor, and humane toward those who are oppressed or in trouble; they not infrequently care for the widowed and fatherless; therefore, we cannot judge by that. How then can we judge, you say. John said, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Suppose you wish to judge a mathematician: you know you must not take his word entirely, neither can you depend upon some problems he may select and work for you, but you must understand mathematics yourself, and then you can put him to the test; otherwise he might deceive you. If you wish to judge a musician, you must understand music; so if you wish to judge a prophet, you must understand God, and man's, relation to God. He that receives a good man as a good man, must be one who understands goodness, (a bad man could not receive a good man as such, because, not understanding goodness, he would suspect him of hypocrisy) and his goodness is his reward, already received: so to receive a prophet as such, you must understand God and man in order to know a prophet; and your understanding of God is your reward already received. Therefore, “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward” means he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet must understand immortal Truth, and that understanding is the reward already received. The scriptures bid us not to believe all the spirits but to try them; and how are we to try them unless we have the understanding that is required for the test? He that does not understand God (spirit) has no means of testing a prophet; therefore he cannot receive him as such, nor receive the reward. This explanation will bear all the criticism you can bring against it; for it is not an opinion but a truth. Suppose, without regard to prophecy, there should be a boy born in a country town who should grow up among humble people with only a common-school education, and on arriving at manhood should heal the sick as Jesus did, what would the learned people of this world say to-day regarding him and his works? They would say, "Who is he?" "Whence does he come? "In what college did he obtain his knowledge?" "Has he a diploma?" knows him?" "Who "Who recommends him?" "We are more learned than he, and we cannot do such work; therefore he must be an impostor, a humbug or a lunatic, else he has a devil. He does not talk sense, but foolishness, and we cannot understand him.” They would probably forget that their wis dom - the wisdom of this world - is foolish ness with God. To-day we can expound but a little of that which Jesus gave to the world, but even that little is more mighty than all the wisdom of the world. If it were possible for Jesus to come on earth to-day, who would know him? who would follow him? How could they tell that it was the Christ? By his countenance or his garments? Who would believe on him? I answer, they could not recognize him by his appearance, and very, very few would believe on him. Suppose he should go about as of old, healing all the sick, what would the college faculties say? Take the three professions, divinity, medicine and law; one professes to save the soul, another the body, and the third takes care of that which the soul and body leave behind-the money. Jesus would cleanse the soul, that would heal the body and enable the people to take care of their own property, and these three, being thus thrown out of employment, would |