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The age of law as the focus of worship had come to an end. For laws and rituals are an outward form, a rehearsal, a mere "shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things" . They were a rehearsal given to the children of men by a loving Father. Of a child we simply require that the child go through the motions, but of a man we demand more. It was time for the law to acquire spirit (146:4) Christ had come not to perpetuate the ancient Hebrew law, but to fulfill it. The burnt offerings made year by year were for the purpose of bringing to remembrance the sins of men. Christ fulfilled the purpose of these sacrifices. Through His sacrifice upon the altar of God, Christ called mankind to perfection. They were to remember their sins, but not to dwell unduly on them and the vain effort to expiate them; rather, they were to become perfect through their vision and experience of Christ, and their endeavor to live their lives after the Pattern of His life. They were urged to become perfect in thought and deed by the guidance of the Spirit, and no longer by the mere explicit adherence to the letter of the Law. They were not to renounce the Law, but come to the realization of its inner purpose, to come to a genuine appreciation of the beauty, harmony, and dignity which reign upon earth when the Law is obeyed with a heartfelt acceptance and understanding (146:5) The Spirit quickens the letter of the Law, but the letter by itself kills the meaning of the revealed Word, leaving only a shell and husk, a shadow and semblance of the truth it professes to define. We do not and never can define the Life of Christ and His Words; rather, His Life and Words, and those of all of the Manifestations of God create and expand the categories of thought and understanding by means of which we comprehend ourselves and the universe around us. We should approach the Great Teachers of Mankind with humility, and not with a list of tests, prescriptions, and requirements they must fulfill to satisfy what so often turn out to be only our vain thoughts and idle imaginings (146:6) We should pay attention, therefore, to the inner meaning and intent of Christ's words, and not to the outer semblance of their language which so obsesses and deceives us when we are preoccupied by our own presumptions and expectations. When we look to the inner meaning, we will be illumined by the spirit and love that informs all of Christ's sayings. We will see that Christ's precious words ceaselessly drew attention to the quality of life, the quality of love, the quality of worship that was to become synonymous with His glorious Name. This new standard which He raised was not just a superior, but a perfect standard:
(146:7)
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