him. This is an
invariable occult principle, and in the recital of this story of Peter
on the water is to be found a whole volume of occult instruction--to
those who are able to read it.

Arriving safely on the shores of the lake, Jesus resumed His work
while the ever-present gathering of people went on in its accustomed
way. But on the opposite shore of the lake the crowd who had been fed
on the loaves and fishes were in an angry mood. They cried out that
they had been deserted by their leader, and that the expected loaves
and fishes--the free meals that they had expected would continue--had
been denied them. They also complained bitterly that the reign of
miracles had not continued. And they began to revile the Master that
they had acclaimed the night before. And so Jesus experienced the
ingratitude and the unreasonable words of the public just as all great
teachers have done. The seekers after the loaves and the fishes,
demanding to be fed and clothed without their own work--the seekers
after miracles, demanding fresh wonder-workings--have ever been the
bane of the great Teachers of the Truth. It is a hard and bitter
truth, but all teachers and true lovers of the Truth must learn to
meet and understand it. The mob which reveres a spiritual Master today
is equally ready to rend him to pieces tomorrow.

And still more trouble arose from this mistaken kindness which led
Jesus to feed the crowd by His occult powers, which, by the way, He
knew to be in opposition to the well-established custom of the Occult
Brotherhoods. The formalists, Pharisees and Scribes, having heard of
the occurrence, gathered about the Master and accused Him of violating
one of the forms and ceremonies prescribed by the ecclesiastical
authorities--the rite which required the faithful to wash their hands
before beginning a meal. They accused Him of heresy and false
teaching, which tended to lead the people away from their accustomed
ceremonies and observances. Jesus waxed indignant and, turning on His
critics, hurled burning replies upon them. "Ye hypocrites!" He cried,
"You cling to the commandments of men and neglect the commandments of
God! You cleanse your hands but not your souls! You are the blind
leaders of the blind, and both yourselves and your followers fall in
the mire and ditches! Away with you and your hypocrisy!" But the
adverse comment aroused by His actions would not down, and,
discouraged and disheartened by the evidences of the