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I AM HERE. St. Luke, (Writer of the Third Gospel That Was.)
I was with you to-night at the meeting of the Spiritualists, and heard the statement of the speaker as to the probabilities of what became of the body of Jesus after the crucifixion.
I was not present at the crucifixion, and, of course, do not personally know what became of the body of Jesus, but I have been told by those who were present that the Bible description of his burial in the tomb of Joseph was true. The body was buried in the tomb of Joseph and was left there by those who placed it in the tomb, which was sealed and a guard set over it to prevent anyone from approaching and interfering with the body, because Jesus had predicted that in three days he would rise again.
After the tomb was sealed Jesus arose, and without his body of flesh passed from the tomb and descended into the lower spheres where the dark spirits lived in their ignorance and sufferings, and preached to them the rebestowa1 of the gift of immortality.
The body of flesh by the power which Jesus possessed, became so spiritualized or etherialized that its component parts became disseminated by Jesus in the surrounding atmosphere and he retained only the spiritual body in which he afterwards appeared to the disciples and others.
When he appeared at the meeting of the apostles, where Thomas, the doubter, was present, he recalled to his form, as you will better understand by my using such expression, elements of the material, so that in appearance the body was as much like flesh and blood as when it was placed in the tomb, and before he disseminated these elements, as I have said.
The flesh and blood which encloses the spirit form of man, as you may have heard, is continually changing in obedience to the ordinary laws of nature as understood by man. And when Jesus who understood and had power to call into operation other laws of nature, caused such other laws to operate, that the dissemination of the elements of flesh and blood took place, and he was left only with the spirit form.
This, I know, has been a great mystery to mankind since the time of the discovery of its absence by the watchmen at his tomb, and because of being such mystery, and as an only explanation of such disappearance, men have believed and taught that his body of mesh and blood actually arose from the dead, and, therefore, the real body of flesh and blood of mortals will also arise in what they call the great resurrection day.
But no body of flesh and blood arose, and the spirit form of Jesus did not remain in the tomb after the dissemination of the material body, for no tomb or other place could confine the spirit. You will remember that on the third day Jesus appeared to Mary, who was most intimate and familiar with the appearance of Jesus, and yet she did not recognize him, but thought he was the gardner; and so with the disciples who were travelling with him to Emmaus. Now, if he had retained his body of mesh and blood, do you not suppose that they would have recognized him?
If he had the power to resume that material body into which Thomas thrust his hand and found it to be a body in appearance of flesh and blood, do you think it strange or wonderful that he would have had the power to cast off his earthly body while in the tomb and cause it to disappear into thin air?
This I am informed is the true explanation of the disappearance of the material body of Jesus; and to me and to others who understand the laws of nature--I mean that nature that is beyond the ken of men--it is not surprising or worthy to be deemed a mystery.
I am glad that I went with you to the meeting to-night, as I became impressed with the desirability of making this great mystery a mystery no longer.
With all my love, I am,
Your brother in Christ,
ST. LUKE.Vol. I, p. 326
