♦Evil Causes♦ Jesus refers to the evil Causes which led to the Cross very little, because in the “combination of Causes,” to use the Buddhist phrase, these must fall in with those which in the natural working of the Law must serve the purpose of the Law. The evil Causes were present, and penitent humanity will never cease to mourn them. ♦The essential Cause♦ ♦The Harvest♦ To make His meaning quite clear Jesus returned for illustration to the Law as it works in nature. “Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The little seed, hidden in the ground and apparently dead, reappears, not in its own individual life, but in a rich harvest. Present apparent failure; future great result. Now to all appearance, defeat, death, a Cross; some day, when realities are known, victory, life, glory. How can these things be? If the little grain of wheat could speak, would it not say, “I die that the harvest may be”? and these are the very words of the Lord Jesus. His harvest is, as we must remember, the same harvest which has been so passionately desired by all lovers of men--desired by the Buddha above them all--the harvest of the at-one-ment of humanity with the Universe, or, as He would state it, the harvest of the at-one-ment of men with the Father. In other words, this shameful death is the seed of the Kingdom of the Father, sown in this world of ours, the harvest of which is silently, gradually, surely growing, as all harvests do grow. Men and women are being at-oned with the Father simply by falling into line with the universal harvest law. This fact may be stated and illustrated in many ways, but it must never be forgotten that this is our Lord’s own way of stating it. “_I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men._” III ♦Suffering and Love♦ Is the Causal Law a cruel Law, since death to life appears to be its true meaning? Jesus, speaking with the authority of a perfect understanding of the Father-heart, speaks of the Law as in its essence pure Love. The Father, Himself Love, introduced the Law, and the Law lies very deep in Love since He Himself obeyed it. _God so loved, that He gave._