Undoubtedly the questioner means the Christian Bible that is spread out before us, and undoubtedly he bears in mind the fact that every nation, having a religious history, has also a bible or bibles, and that the Christian history occupied a little less than two thousand years of the whole history of the world.  Whether the whole history of the world is six thousand years, as some compute it according to the Christian Jewish standard, not from the Christian but from the Hebraic bible, or whether the history of the world is computed by the sacred writings of the Chinese, is more than twenty two thousand years old, or whether it is computed by the history of geology, antedating all possible record of time, millions of years old, still the question is quite as pertinent. 

We do not consider that bibles are so much factors in civilization as they are the registers of civilization, the highest expression and epitome of all religious thought in every age.  Undoubtedly the compilers of the Christian Bible, both at Nice and Trent, had in mind the gathering together from the vast numbers of manuscripts and sacred writings that which should best express the epitomization of the religion of Christ. 

As a religion, the religion of Christ is recorded in the first four Gospels of the New Testament, and no where, in religious history, is there that which surpasses it, and no where that which presents the simple truths of moral ethics so distinctly, so plainly, so easily understood as the epitome of the civilization of the Jews, (i.e. Christians) and as the result of that civilization the first portion of the bible,  which has been attached to the Christian bible, is certainly a most wonderful record, for it not only bears, in some degree, a prophecy of what was to follow but it bears that which contains much in its ethical teaching in direct opposition to the teaching of Christianity. But both together are a full and distinct record of the marvelous manner in which the Hebraic nation and in which the Church of Israel interpreted literally the spiritual works in their midst.  The Jewish Bible is an account of the various dealings of the God Jehovah, with his people. That mysterious Lord under whose different names the Children of Israel, both during and after their captivity and bondage in Egypt, gave evidence of their worship of a spiritual or unknown God. The portion of the Hebraic Bible that especially bears upon the Christian Bible is that of the record of the line of prophets which it said to lead to the culmination in the life of Christ.  Now it is not our province to analyze this Hebraic bible as a history. 

The history of the Jews as recorded in the Old Testament is authenticated by the Rabbis of the Jewish Church,  by the sacred men of their people, and by such other writings as there are in the Hebraic religion known as the works of the Kaballa, and this Kaballa and the writings of the Kaballa contain the secret and symbolical meanings of the sacred record of Jews.   Wherever one has access to the Kaballistic meanings, the record of the Old Testament becomes clear and plain.  They are a symbolical history, either of material or spiritual things, or which were given as indications, as recorded, of spiritual things.   The history of the Jews, as here recorded, is not claimed by the Jewish Church  as bearing any reference to Christianity, and certainly that civilization in which the Jews have taken a part, is neither brilliant in the line of intellect nor has it served any other especial purpose excepting to indicate the  power of Mammon. 

When the Jewish people, whether before their bondage in Egypt or after, adopted many of the symbols of Egyptian worship and learning in which they deviated from the worship of God as a spirit, and instead worshiped the gods of the Egyptians, in the Jewish symbols, there was evidence of ancient power among them, and also of another more ancient power, handed down from the time of Abraham, which in itself was a living link of spiritual existence, and which, notwithstanding the intenseness of the materialism of the Jews, their worship of everything carnal, the despotism which materialism had over them, the power it has to day over all the nations of the earth, in what is known as the monetary power, the love of gold among the Jews, still that portion which is translated from their sacred books, which from the Talmud and Pentateuch and in the Hebraic language the foundation of their sacred writings, is nevertheless wonderful.  If when in the midst of so much material power, in the midst of their bondage in Egypt and after their departure from bondage, the spiritual nature and items of God could be preserved in the midst of so much materialism, so much love of temporal power, preserved all the while among prophets and seers, both in the prophecies and in the stinging rebukes that were heaped upon the material kings of Israel, it proves such spiritual power of inspiration as could only come from the Source whence it claims to come, notwithstanding it was veiled in so much material degradation and bondage.

The Christian religion, coming into the midst of the Jewish Church, at a time when all prophecy had been forgotten, when the prophets had given place to the temporal kings, and when, under the reign of these kings, Israel was a mere temporal power, the spiritual worship had given place to the letter, when in the temple at Jerusalem, among the High Priests of the temple, among all the Jewish people there was only one thought, the looking for a material king who should surpass in splendor the splendor of Solomon, whose power should be greater than of that Saul ere he rebelled against the Most High; whose prophets should equal any of the prophets of Israel, who should in fact be the temporal, material deliverer of the people from all kinds of bondage, the fact that in the midst of this the inner Church of Israel kept alive the spirit of a Divine Presence that was to come, that the mothers in Israel believed in some greater prophet even the Messiah who was to appear, and that in Persia the wise men kept in remembrance a prophecy long known to their people, that when the five pointed star, or pentagram, should appear, the light of the New Life should come upon the earth, and they sought this light and life among the people of Israel, in that country where the Nazerites dwelt, (those being the most obscure,) those who were outcast, those who by their severe asceticism of life had kept free from the feastings of the Jews, were chosen as the representatives unto whom this new light should come. 

The fact that in the midst of all the disbeliefs of the Jewish people, there could have been any one by the name of Jesus, who should bear a message the record of which should be preserved unto this hour, of a God of Love and not of hatred, a spiritual power and not a material kingdom, something that overcame death and material life and not something that brought the power of material life, the fact we say that this could be enunciated, in the midst of so material a worship as that of the Jews, where the tributes were young lambs and doves, and where the public mart was no more given to commerce than the sacred temples, that in  the midst of this a voice could be heard, who is recorded and is translated as bearing the Message of Light in the darkness, the sound of loving kindness amidst the errors of the theology of the Hebrew Church, proves an inspiration beyond all things to contradict.  It matters little to us whether, technically, scholars find flaws in the record as a history, or whether technically, they object to the union between the Old and the New Testaments.  The fact is that there is a double line of history: one is garbled and very imperfect account of the material record of the doings of the Jews; undoubtedly in the book of Genesis can be found the evidences of four distinct lines of history, running in from Egypt, from Persia, from China and from the Buddhistic country, in Buddha Gautama had first breathed, out of this concentrated history, at last in the Hebraic nation, appears a light that offers to the people the words as understood by their prophets, the Word as interpreted by their external historians. 

While it is true that contemporaneous history is not found to mention, except in a very doubtful way, the birth and life of Christ, there is sufficient evidence to show that from the fact that it is not mentioned, and the fact that it is suppressed at all, and appears in the one record  which would oppose its mention, that of the bible itself, forms in our opinion of the greatest evidences of its authenticity. 

The simple line of life recorded of this man in the four gospels, at the beginning of the New Testament, gives evidence of the truthfulness of the record, whether taken from tradition or local accounts verbally, or whether recorded by the scholarship of Paul, who in his version has suppressed much  that was thought and believed by some of the actual apostles of Christ, you have in this record the Pauline version, that version undoubtedly colored by him, because Paul was a Jew in education, and in many ways tried to reconcile Christian doctrine with Jewish law, at the same time he was not able to quench the fires of the spirit that burned in him, or wholly able to blot out the lives of the simple apostles who lived more than they wrote, and exemplified  more than they taught, who not being able to discuss in the able manner  Paul did, were nevertheless, able to do the things that Christ did, and reveal things that Christ taught.   The fact, that it is recorded historically, of Paul's visit to Rome and that there is historical mention of the conversion and the writings of Paul, prove that there was some one whom he thus followed, or there could have been no early Christians nor any Christian Church in Rome, and there could have been nothing for Paul to write of in his various epistles to his people.  So we will not for the time being attempt to analyze whether, historically, the record is correct, nor yet try to create order from the various denominational versions and interpretations that have been given to the Bible. 

We must at the same time have you bear in mind that under the name of the Bible much of the cruelty, a large portion of the warfare, not only many individual but national acts, have been perpetrated that would do violence and shame to any record whatsoever.    That, under the name of Christianity, after the first one or two hundred years, there was established a regime of violence which was even greater than under the Caesars who did not claim to be Christians, and which was carried forward with the first Papal authority; and that regime of violence we are are sorry to say, is not ended in Christendom.   You must bear in mind that the history of Christianity instead of being that of the "Prince of Peace," has been that of the " prince of violence,"  the " Anti-Christ "  whom Jesus himself predicted, and if we were to find out the Anti-Christ of Christendom, we would say it was to be found when under the first Christian Kings and popes men and women were put to death for opinions sake,  were cruelly tortured to discover if they had  "Gifts of the spirit," and then were canonized when they were found to bear their suffering in meekness and with the spirit of Christ or hundreds of years after.

We should say beginning with Constantine the record is one of violence.  From before the time he became converted to Christianity until you approach the threshold of this very hour and day of this latter portion of the nineteen century, there has been wrought under the name of Christianity, violence, bloodshed and such warfare as would make even the denizens of the cannibal islands blush; such, had they been wrought by the Turks, the Africans, the Persians, the Chinese,  or any of the so called  "heathen or pagan " nations, would have been pronounced atrocious.   You read history, undoubtedly you are  familiar with the history of the Roman Catholic Church.   You say it is in keeping with the doctrines of that Church and its very faith, that there should be a long line of Popes and kings who have wrought violence in its name, who have put the early martyrs and saints to death, who have persecuted them with the guillotine, and terrors worse than the Car of Juggernaut, nor did the persecutions cease with the advent of the Protestant faith, that kindled with the fire of the Reformation, lighted by Luther, Melanchthon, Knox, Calvin and that wonderful king Henry  the VIII., whose life was a perpetual debauchery; you are reminded that the Protestant Church has also put hundreds of victims to death, has slain at the altar of faith many thousands of innocent people.  Then you can only say, "that under the name of the Church, there have been wrought deeds not in consonance with the love of Christ."  We are willing to say it for you if you cannot say it for yourselves, that we no more believe that the Christianity of Christ is responsible for the deeds wrought in its name than that freedom is responsible for the atrocities perpetrated in its name. 

The ignorance of man, the blood thirstiness and ambition of so called Christian kings would cause them to wear the garb of Heaven to serve Satan in and then proclaim it as the work of Heaven; so when the name of Christ has been usurped by kings and rulers, when Church and State have, alike, competed to make the history of the Christian Religion most detestable, we say it is not the life of Christ that is responsible for all this, but the love of authority and power.   In the Church and State, at Rome and in England, and the world over, it is the love of power that has made men do these things under the name of Christ.   When you review the line of Christian history, if all there was of it is that which you read, you might well turn to Mohammedan countries, you might well turn to any religion beneath the sun and learn a lesson of forbearance, for, while Mohammedanism desolates all countries that it visits, with the Koran in one hand and the sword in the other, it makes all the inhabitants converts or makes them dead, still it teaches many lessons of humanity.  In the region of the Orient under the mild dominion of Buddha, where, not only human life is sacred, but where not even an insect is slain lest some precious life should be destroyed therein, is a lesson that might well be transposed to Christian lands.  We have hoped that, amid all  missionaries sent the world over, the Buddhists might send some to Christian kings and to Christian people and teach them the lesson of the  "Prince of Peace" as taught by Buddha in Asia long before Jesus taught it upon Olivet.  The Buddhists have more uniformly conformed to the doctrines of Buddha than Christians have to the doctrines of Christ.  From out the mild light that even now beams over Asia, is the same glory of that wonderful life, transfused and transformed, which brought forth from the ancient Brahmanical faith the splendor of the light of Buddha Gautama.

But Christendom is filled with the evidences of a newer, fresher civilization; a civilization that despite the cruelties, notwithstanding the fact that even now, not only your own country has prospered upon cruelty and the downfall of another race, but that England with all her Empire has not thought proper to spare the life of any nation into which she wished to extend her domain, Great Britain with State and Church combined has "God and my right," as the motto of the Royal Family, with the royal power intertwined with the Church of England, has not thought proper to take the armament from her ships of war and send them upon errands of peace, to disarm her soldiers, but sends out, year after year, into Afghanistan, Africa, Burma, India, any land beneath the sun where she wishes Empire, her hosts of Christian warriors to slay the people whom God has made, whether they worship at any shrine, whether they are Christians or not, the fact that the world is peopled with them proves that they are God's children.  Christian  England has not disbanded her armies, and Christian Germany prays for the power of Empire.  When King William, Emperor of Germany, was victorious over a sister Christian nation, (France) he praised God, and Christ the exemplar of peace, for his success in battle.  It may be the result of Christian teaching, but if we read the Sermon on the Mount aright, and the Golden Rule, no Christian nation has any right to a standing army, there should be no army or navy in all the Christian world.  We may fail to understand them aright, but we consider every act of violence wrought in the name of Christian civilization a blot upon that record which you claim to follow, upon that Sermon of the Mount, which no doubt was breathed forth because it is possible to be fulfilled, and that Golden Rule that you all intend to follow.  Yet, as said  before, and we will say it for those who claim to be Christians, that religion is no more responsible for the deeds wrought in its name than freedom is responsible for the slavery and violence which has been perpetrated in its name, or than perfect and Divine Love is responsible for human hatred and human passions that have borrowed its name. 

There is this which is true, notwithstanding the record of bloodshed, of violence and shame, notwithstanding sacerdotal power and rites, notwithstanding the Vatican at Rome, Westminster and St. Paul's in London, notwithstanding Ecclesiastical bodies and all Denominational differences, that your Puritan Fathers were obliged to flee from the despotism alike of Church and State, notwithstanding your Puritan Fathers were persecutors of those who differed in opinion, and perhaps even now in your own small village there are those who make war upon one another Socially, or verbally for opinions sake;  notwithstanding the spirit of persecution, oppression and crucifixion is not yet at an end, for we have heard a Christian minister say, within the last quarter of a century, he would like to put to death all Unitarians, Universalists, Liberalists, Infidels of whatever denomination and Spiritualists who did not conform to the letter and belief of John Calvin; still we do not blame Christ for this, we only blame the hatred and the narrowness of the human vision that makes it possible for a man to read the Sermon on the Mount and then have hatred toward any human being.

When we consider the other line of Christian history, that for the first time in  the history of the world since the days of Egypt, woman has been placed in a better social position, the home has been sacred and sanctified, when under the various perversions of the Oriental religions there has been a degradation greater than that which is encouraged by the Mormon faith, the degradation of the people together with the violation of the sanctity of the home, of everything that humanity holds sacred, when we remember that Christendom has offered to the world the ideal of that which is highest and best, and that many thousands of lives have striven to attain this ideal, when we remember that inside the Roman Catholic Church, despite the arbitrary power of priests and popes, are hundreds of lives devoting themselves to deeds of Charity, those who go about with mild visages, with sweet countenance, who never turn aside those who are not of their belief, but minister to them in kindness; we say under whatever denomination, or by whom this is performed, it is the work of the Christ Spirit, it is the work which He intended. 

When we remember that it was neither the pioneer, nor the trapper who first extended his researches into the wilderness but the Roman Catholic priest, who many times was a father to the people; he did not make war upon the Indians, but taught them to plant seeds and build houses, we forget in the light of these examples all deeds of violence wrought by ambitious men, and only remember that all along the western frontier, down in Mexico, out to the Pacific coast, all the way up to northern Minnesota, all over the world these good men have planted the seed of the Church, that there some little portion of the life of Christ has been realized.  No matter if these priests have had human failings, no one could expect them to be perfect; they did not gain the confidence of the natives and raise the assassins knife against them; having power they did better than Christians have done under the authority of Christian governments they proved that there are some lives that illustrate the teachings of Christ.  The fact that all over the Northwest Father DeSmidt, an Episcopal  clergyman, won the confidence of the Indians and kept them away from the settlements, on their reservations, and only after the government of the United States had violated its plighted faith one dozen times were the Sioux let loose in war, then father De Smidt came all the way to Washington to explain to the people that it was not the Red man who had violated their word but a Christian government and Christian people, whose whole dealings with the Indians, had been to offer them the Word of God, the Golden Rule and Truth which scorns to lie, and then tell them lies every day.

When we read of individuals devoted to their kind, who in hospitals, on fields of battle, in various places of trust and peril have given their devotion to their fellow beings,  when we read of Wilberforce, who, statesman as he was, still had no harsh word for the criminal, but said he in looking upon an unfortunate, that it might have been himself, when you read of John Bunyan, who in his Pilgrim's Progress presents the ideal of man overcoming temptation, and winning the Heavenly estate by the power of Truth and Goodness, when you read that he said on seeing a criminal sentenced to be hung, "but for the grace of God there goes John Bunyan," you forget the bitterness, hatred and striving which oftentimes concentrates in your little Christian communities and makes you hunt a man until he is dead, because he is accused of some violation of the law.  When Jesus, said: he who has a thought of sin has committed it, or has been. angry with his brother has already committed murder in his heart, what will you do with a whole Christian community, who claim to believe and follow His teachings, Who turn out en masse to hunt a poor murderer, who perhaps for the moment has lost his reason, and the whole community has gone murder mad to take his life?   Giteau, sent into the other world, as mad a man as ever lived, and a Christian people professing that this is in conformity with the laws of Christian Civilization!  Take the word Christian away from your civilization and it presents a line of violence, add it to your civilization and it makes a monstrosity, excepting in individual lives and certain classes of people like the Quakers, Shakers and nonresistants. 

Notwithstanding this the general tenor of the moral thought of Christendom is more exalted, is more in keeping with that which is ideal than any civilization that the world has witnessed, it is certainly higher than that of the Jews, it is certainly less barbarous than that of ancient Rome, which while having perfect laws was nevertheless barbarous in putting them in force. It is more wonderful than that of ancient Greece where, under the influence alike of the Stoics and Spartans, there was great physical perfection, and where the highest culture in letters and art ever known up to that time was attained.  Still if we put the Spartan mothers, who consented to the murder of their imperfect off springs because they could not be warriors, beside the Christian mothers who love the deformed and the blind ones more tenderly even than those who are perfect in form, we say it is the spirit of that Christianity that has been perverted that nevertheless has been wrought in the hearts and lives of the people, and will not allow your civilization to slay the blind, the deformed or maimed.  Though you may turn to classical history and find examples of fortitude, physical courage and fidelity to the true principles of liberty, we would rather have the asylums that are scattered all over the length and breadth of your land which are the result of your Christian civilization and benevolence, than all the wonders of Greece and Rome combined.  One of the heroes of modern life is he who turning unto the blind, or the imperfect in any direction, can be eyes for the blind, can furnish hearing to the deaf, and can give to the lame the help that is required.   Although  this is the spirit of humanity everywhere, although Buddha, Zoroaster, Krishna, Confucius and all the great minds of every age have taught it, it still is a fact that here in this record of your New Testament, in the midst of all that has put it to shame is the Golden Rule, and in the Old Testament " Love thy neighbor as thy self, "  and  " Love those that hate you,"  these are constituted the Oracles in the midst of all the violence that has been done to humanity. 

If Christian kings, popes and priests, and Christian society have failed to exemplify these truths, it is nevertheless true that in all Christian lands the people at last follow where light of tenderness is seen; Christian charity is more prevalent than at any other age of the world, the flowering out of all civilization is here, but it is not in the violence, nor in that which is pertinent to the record, nor in the letter of the Bible itself.  If there were no Spirit over-shadowing that letter, no man if called upon to "speak the word of God," would have influence to overcome the errors of the past.  But for interpreters outside of the Church, where would have been the Protestant faith and the New Testament?  The Roman Catholic Church would have wielded authority over you, and would have taken that authority from the Bible.  But your Protestant Fathers,  chose to interpret the Word of God according to their spiritual  understanding.  The living oracles of all ages have maintained not the letter but the spirit of God's word;  whether revealed upon Olivet, or Sinai, or beneath the Bodhi tree, where Buddha Gautama heard the inspiration and knew of the revelation of the conquest over pain and death. 

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At the western side of the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, stands a large and historic Pipal Tree
 ficus religiosa,  known throughout history as the Bodhi Tree, under which Shakyamuni Buddha, 
then known as Gautama, attained Enlightenment some 2500 years ago.  Click For More Info

The Bodhi Tree as it appears today, the fourth direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree and
 oldest continually documented tree in the world.  The present Bodhi Tree still performs a very
  important role to Buddhists of all traditions,  being a reminder and an inspiration, a symbol of
   peace, of Buddhas' Enlightenment and of the ultimate potential that lies within us all. 
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There in your midst are oracles, you may vitalize this letter of the Bible with the spirit, but unless you read it understandingly it will be carried off into charnel houses, dungeon cells and battle fields to laugh at you from the gory plains of human conflict; unless you take it to the fireside and read it to your little child with the living spirit, unless you represent here the spirit of that teaching, the world is of no value.  You read there that the  "spirit giveth life but the letter killeth."  You make mottos  from what you read there and emblazon them upon your walls, but unless you also emblazon them upon your hearts what good will it do?   It is every where in England that the Golden Rule is written in many high places, and over the Royal Exchange is traced, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, " yet those in authority grind down the poor to do their bidding.    Is not Mr. Gladstone the prophet of the hour who strives to break in twain the bonds, alike of the state and prophetically also the bondage of the state church?   Is it not true that some voice of inspiration is needed every hour and day to interpret the Word of God lest man shall turn unto idols, lest the external form takes the place of the spirit and the Book take the place of the living spirit that is within?  We praise this book as the highest expression of the civilization of any religion that the world has known.  Apart from its ethical teachings we care no more for the shortcomings and corruption of the King of Israel than we do for those of the Kings of modern Europe, who cry upon the Lord to aid them to conquer their enemies who are also put to shame as the kings of Israel were. 

The voice that speaks to man from the past is the one voice that enunciates the power of the spirit!    And the time is coming when this Bible, expunged of much that is objectionable, and many of the words transformed into words more suitable to modern speech, as in the New Testament the word Hell is changed to Hades, and in the Old Testament it is changed to Sheol; whether it means much or no is not important, but if the Bible can be changed at all, everything may be taken out of it that you cannot read to your children and in no way detract from the meaning.  Of the Book of Christ, the New Testament, the first four Gospels is quite enough to declare what the teachings of Christ were, that, will be  placed uppermost beneath which will be the Tulmud interpreted by the Jews according to their understanding, then the Pentateuch interpreted by the Jews, then the Koran believed by all Mohammedans as the sacred word of Allah, and the Zendavesta of the Persians, and the Shaster of the Hindoos, and Vedas, of the Indians, and other bibles and sacred writings; some three or four hundred sacred books translated from several thousand condensed by Confucius and compiled as the sacred writings of the Celestial Empire.  These will be spread out and at the foundation will be the great parent of all civilization, religion and art, Egypt from monument and entablature, from the hieroglyphs interpreted by your scholars, will be laid the broad foundation of the pyramid of human civilization.  You will find there the primal sources of religion; you will find where they were fed from the Most High, and even there in what you would call the morning of civilization, the name of God was sacred and Divine; and God was spirit, afterward veiled in material form to satisfy the senses of man. 

From this great living structure the Bible of all ages will fashioned like the Pyramids, broad and threefold, typify the threefold divinities worshiped in the Orient, one after another the records will be piled on this glowing monument of religious history, and on and on as the ages go, the Tree of Life will yield its "twelve manner of fruits" for the healing of the nations, and new books will be piled one upon another, and the same spirit will be there; not in the books, but in those who interpret them aright.  And above and beyond all, by some shining stream, or by the Tree of Life the spirit of that truth that descended in Galilee, that was heard upon Olivet, that was beheld near the crucifixion by those who were there, that same angel who afterward visited those who were in sorrow, the ministering spirits who rolled away the stone from the sepulcher will be there.  By and by all fears, desolation and misery shall be rolled away, and the spirit of Christ, instead of the letter, will prevail over the whole world.  When you show in Christian civilization what the book has done. 

Then let us do away with the letter and have the spirit of Christ, and see what that will do.   It visits those who are in prison, and the sick and downtrodden in His name; working out in their Christian lives that which He worked by love.   If the letter is responsible for what has been wrought of violence, then let us do away with the letter, even as Cromwell sought to do when every Abbey, Cathedral and monastery of the Roman Catholic Church in all Great Britain was dismantled. They stand now, magnificent ruins of the downfall of the letter instead of the spirit. 

Do away with dogma, and external form, and let us see if the Bible cannot be read to your little child from your loving eyes, from your schools that breath no bitterness, from your civilization that does not teach a little boy to hold a gun before he has learned the Lord's Prayer.   Let us do away with bloodshed, with the worshiping of heroes like Napoleon and Caesar and even General Grant.  Let us do away with all that reminds us of violence and hatred, and turn to that spirit of peace that enfranchises the slave, that sets free the captive of every nation and pleads by the door of the desolate in every land.  For there shall be a bible that shall be the living testimony of the people!  Let us go out singing psalms of rejoicing into the world where you cannot take the letter, but where only the spirit shall prevail.  END