Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Now all of these were dead, therefore they did not mean to confound the man Jesus with them. But they believed the spirits of these men came back and entered the living, and talked to the people. Jesus knew that this was their belief, and they knew it. When Jesus asked His disciples the question, He never intended to convey the idea that He wanted to know who He, Jesus, was, but who this power was. They thought it must be the spirit of some person who had been on earth, and when Peter said it was the Christ or God: Truth or Science, this was a new idea, and Jesus answered, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed this explanation to you,” and upon this explanation He, Jesus, would build His Christ or Church, or Truth, and the gates of error could not prevail against it. He, that is, Jesus, would give Peter the keys or explanation so that he could understand and practise it for the benefit of mankind. This knowledge would give him power to loose those who were bound in heaven or in the mind, and loose those bound in the earthly body. The idea that the man Jesus was anything but a man, was never thought of. Jesus never had the least idea of such an explanation.
The prophets had foretold a Messiah that should come, and when the child Jesus was born, the people believed that David's spirit had come and taken possession of his body, so they called Jesus the son of David. But they meant to be understood that it was David's spirit speaking through Him, Jesus, and some called Him the Son of Man.
Now, every one admitted the power that Jesus had, but there was a difference of opinion in regard to it. All men have a power, but to have a power superior to the natural man, has been a question ever since the world began. Upon this question the people split. To believe it is to believe in a power the natural man cannot explain. If Jesus had a power, we must admit a knowledge superior to it, that governs and directs it, and if we do admit it where does it come from? All will answer, from God. All will admit that there is another power that affects man for evil. There must then be a sort of bad knowledge, or false Christ that governs it. How are we to know the good from the bad? Only by the fruits or direction. If we must take an opinion we have no standard; for every one has a right to his own opinion, and
