|
30
|
perilous passage out of bondage into the El Dorado
of faith
and hope.
To-day's lesson
The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, or Revela-
PAGE 560
|
1
|
tion of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connec-
tion with the nineteenth century. In the opening
of the |
|
3
|
sixth seal, typical of six thousand years since
Adam, the distinctive feature has reference
to the present age. |
|
6
|
Revelation xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder
in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
|
|
9
|
stars.
True estimate of God's messenger
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science
inter-
prets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great
|
|
12
|
miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and
the grand necessity of existence is to gain the
true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of |
|
15
|
heaven in man. This goal is never reached while
we
hate our neighbor or entertain a false estimate
of any-
one whom God has appointed to voice His Word. Again,
|
|
18
|
without a correct sense of its highest visible
idea, we can
never understand the divine Principle. The botanist
must
know the genus and species of a plant in order to
classify |
|
21
|
it correctly. As it is with things, so is it
with persons.
Persecution harmful
Abuse of the motives and religion of St. Paul
hid from
view the apostle's character, which made him equal
to |
|
24
|
his great mission. Persecution of all who have
spoken something new and better of God has
not only obscured the light of the ages, but has
been fatal |
|
27
|
to the persecutors. Why? Because it has hid from
them the true idea which has been presented. To
mis-
understand Paul, was to be ignorant of the divine
idea he |
|
30
|
taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays
at once a
greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the
idea - igno-
PAGE 561
|
1
|
rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth
and Love, the Principle which works out the ends
of eternal |
|
3
|
good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice
of
evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.
Espousals supernal
Agassiz, through his microscope, saw the sun
in an |
|
6
|
egg at a point of so-called embryonic life. Because
of
his more spiritual vision, St. John saw an
"angel standing in the sun." The Revelator
|
|
9
|
beheld the spiritual idea from the mount of vision.
Purity was the symbol of Life and Love. The Revelator
saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed
in light, a |
|
12
|
bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the
Lamb
of Love. To John, "the bride" and "the
Lamb" repre-
sented the correlation of divine Principle and spiritual
idea, |
|
15
|
God and His Christ, bringing harmony to earth.
Divinity and humanity
John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown
in
the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in
Life |
|
18
|
and its demonstration, - reducing to human
perception and understanding the Life which
is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal
self- |
|
21
|
hood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood.
Spiritual sunlight
The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic
man,
the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence
|
|
24
|
of God and man as the divine Principle and
divine idea. The Revelator symbolizes Spirit
by the sun. The spiritual idea is clad with the
radiance |
|
27
|
of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her
feet. The
light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar,
but spirit-
ual Life, which is "the light of men."
In the first chapter |
|
30
|
of the Fourth Gospel it is written, "There
was a man sent
from God . . . to bear witness of that Light."
Spiritual idea revealed
John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the
im-
PAGE 562
|
1
|
maculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual
idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy
|
|
3
|
Ghost,- divine Science. As Elias presented
the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus
afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed
this |
|
6
|
figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea
of God's
motherhood. The moon is under her feet. This idea
reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to
Spirit, |
|
9
|
from which the universe borrows its reflected light,
sub-
stance, life, and intelligence.
Spiritual idea crowned
The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars.
The |
|
12
|
twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, - separated
by
belief from man's divine origin and the true
idea, - will through much tribulation yield to |
|
15
|
the activities of the divine Principle of man
in the har-
mony of Science. These are the stars in the crown
of
rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens
|
|
18
|
of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual
idea
by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting
the light which shines "unto the perfect day"
as the night |
|
21
|
of materialism wanes.
Revelation xii. 2. And she being with child cried, travail-
ing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Travail and joy |
|
24
|
Also the spiritual idea is typified by a
woman in tra-
vail, waiting to be delivered of her sweet promise,
but re-
membering no more her sorrow for joy that |
|
27
|
the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and
the
travail portentous.
Revelation xii. 3. And there appeared another wonder in
|
|
30
|
heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having
seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
PAGE 563
The dragon as a type |
|
1
|
Human sense may well marvel at discord, while,
to a
diviner sense., harmony is the real and discord the
unreal. |
|
3
|
We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, and
death. We may well be perplexed at human
fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts
|
|
6
|
its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions
of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?
The great red dragon symbolizes a lie, - the belief
|
|
9
|
that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.
This dragon stands for the sum total of human error.
The ten horns of the dragon typify the belief that
mat- |
|
12
|
ter has power of its own, and that by means of
an
evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be
broken.
The sting of the serpent |
|
15
|
The Revelator lifts the veil from this embodiment
of
all evil, and beholds its awful character; but he
also
sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of
|
|
18
|
God. The Revelator sees that old serpent,
whose name is devil or evil, holding untiring watch,
that
he may bite the heel of truth and seemingly impede
the |
|
21
|
offspring of the spiritual idea, which is prolific
in health,
holiness, and immortality.
Revelation xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of
the |
|
24
|
stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:
and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to
be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it
was born.
Animal tendency |
|
27
|
The serpentine form stands for subtlety,
winding its
way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name
of good.
Its sting is spoken of by Paul, when he refers
|
|
30
|
to "spiritual wickedness in high places."
It
is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel
PAGE 564
|
1
|
them to devour each other and cast out devils through
Beelzebub. |
|
3
|
As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error's
own nature and methods. This malicious animal in-
stinct, of which the dragon is the type, incites
mortals to |
|
6
|
kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals,
and
worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime.
This
last infirmity of sin will sink its perpetrator into
a night |
|
9
|
without a star.
Malicious barbarity
The author is convinced that the accusations
against
Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were
instigated |
|
12
|
by the criminal instinct here described. The
Revelator speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God
and of the dragon as warring against innocence.
Since Jesus |
|
15
|
must have been tempted in all points, he, the
immaculate,
met and conquered sin in every form. The brutal
bar-
barity of his foes could emanate from no source
except the |
|
18
|
highest degree of human depravity. Jesus "opened
not
his mouth." Until the majesty of
Truth should be demon-
strated in divine Science, the spiritual idea was
arraigned |
|
21
|
before the tribunal of so-called mortal mind,
which was
unloosed in order that the false claim of mind in
matter
might uncover its own crime of defying immortal
Mind.
Doom of the dragon |
|
24
|
From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness,
and
death, envy, hatred, and revenge, - all evil, -
are typi-
fied by a serpent, or animal subtlety. Jesus |
|
27
|
said, quoting a line from the Psalms, "They
hated me without a cause." The serpent is perpetually
close upon the heel of harmony. From the beginning
|
|
30
|
to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the
spiritual
idea. In Genesis, this allegorical, talking serpent
typi-
fies mortal mind, "more subtle than any beast
of the
PAGE 565
|
1
|
field." In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this
evil increases and becomes the great red dragon,
swollen |
|
3
|
with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality,
and ripe
for destruction. It is full of lust and hate, loathing
the
brightness of divine glory. |
|
6
|
Revelation xii. 5. And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and
her
child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
The conflict with purity |
|
9
|
Led on by the grossest element of mortal mind,
Herod
decreed the death of every male child in order that
the
man Jesus, the masculine representative of the
|
|
12
|
spiritual idea might never hold sway and de-
prive Herod of his crown. The impersonation of
the
spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly
life of our |
|
15
|
Master; but "of his kingdom there shall
be no end,"
for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all
nations
and peoples - imperatively, absolutely, finally
- with di- |
|
18
|
vine Science. This immaculate idea, represented
first
by man and, according to the Revelator, last by
woman,
will baptize with fire; and the fiery baptism will
burn up |
|
21
|
the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth
and Love,
melting and purifying even the gold of human character.
After the stars sang together and all was primeval
har- |
|
24
|
mony, the material lie made war upon the spiritual
idea;
but this only impelled the idea to rise to the zenith
of
demonstration, destroying sin, sickness, and death,
and |
|
27
|
to be caught up unto God, - to be found in its
divine
Principle.
Revelation xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilder-
|
|
30
|
ness, where she hath a place prepared of God.
PAGE 566
Spiritual guidance |
|
1
|
As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly
through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing
tides |
|
3
|
of human fear, - as they were led through the
wilderness, walking wearily through the great
desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised
|
|
6
|
joy, - so shall the spiritual idea guide all right
desires
in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material
sense
of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared
for |
|
9
|
them who love God. Stately Science pauses not,
but
moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and
of fire
by night, leading to divine heights. |
|
12
|
If we remember the beautiful description which Sir
Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the
Jewess
in the story of Ivanhoe, - |
|
15
|
When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out of the land of bondage came,
Her fathers' God before her moved,
|
|
18
|
An awful guide, in smoke and flame, -
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same
hymn, - |
|
21
|
And oh, when stoops on Judah's path
In shade and storm the frequent night,
Be Thou, longsuffering, slow to wrath, |
|
24
|
A burning and a shining light!
Revelation xii. 7, 8. And there was war in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
and the |
|
27
|
dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed
not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
Angelic offices
The Old Testament assigns to the angels, God's
divine |
|
30
|
messages, different offices. Michael's charac-
teristic is spiritual strength. He leads the
hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan,
and
PAGE 567
|
1
|
fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task
of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering
|
|
3
|
Love. These angels deliver us from the depths.
Truth
and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong
faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails
through |
|
6
|
the understanding of God. The Gabriel of His presence
has no contests. To infinite, ever-present Love,
all is
Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor
death. |
|
9
|
Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for
he is
killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail
against the dragon because the dragon cannot war
with |
|
12
|
them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh
and
Spirit.
Revelation xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out,
|
|
15
|
that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan,
which deceiv-
eth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his
angels were cast out with him.
Dragon cast down to earth |
|
18
|
That false claim - that ancient belief, that
old serpent
whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there
is intelli-
gence in matter either to benefit or to injure
|
|
21
|
men - is pure delusion, the red dragon; and
it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual
idea, and so proved to be powerless. The words "cast
|
|
24
|
unto the earth" show the dragon to be nothingness,
dust
to dust; and therefore, in his pretence of being
a talker,
he must be a lie from the beginning. His angels,
or mes- |
|
27
|
sages, are cast out with their author. The beast
and the
false prophets are lust and hypocrisy. These wolves
in
sheep's clothing are detected and killed by innocence,
the |
|
30
|
Lamb of Love.
Warfare with error
Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the
wolf.
PAGE 568
|
1
|
Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error. Ever
since the foundation of the world, ever since error
would |
|
3
|
establish material belief, evil has tried to slay
the Lamb; but Science is able to destroy this
lie, called evil. The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse
|
|
6
|
typifies the divine method of warfare in Science,
and the
glorious results of this warfare. The following chapters
depict the fatal effects of trying to meet error
with error. |
|
9
|
The narrative follows the order used in Genesis.
In
Genesis, first the true method of creation is set
forth and
then the false. Here, also, the Revelator first
exhibits |
|
12
|
the true warfare and then the false.
Revelation xii. 10 - 12. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength,
and the |
|
15
|
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ:
for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them
before our God day and night. And they overcame
him by |
|
18
|
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.
Woe to the |
|
21
|
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the
devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because
he
knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Paean of jubilee |
|
24
|
For victory over a single sin, we give thanks
and mag-
nify the Lord of Hosts. What shall we say of the
mighty
conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter |
|
27
|
than has ever before reached high heaven,
now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart
of Christ;
for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth
her |
|
30
|
primal and everlasting strain. Self-abnegation,
by which
we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare
against
error, is a rule in Christian Science. This rule
clearly
PAGE 569
|
1
|
interprets God as divine Principle, - as Life, represented
by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son;
as Love, |
|
3
|
represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some
period,
here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome
the
mortal belief in a power opposed to God.
The robe of Science |
|
6
|
The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful
over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many," is
literally ful-
filled, when we are conscious of the supremacy |
|
9
|
of Truth, by which the nothingness of error
is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error
is in
proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the
hem |
|
12
|
of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs,
animality,
and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, - in
a sweet
and certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those
who |
|
15
|
break faith with divine Science and fail to strangle
the
serpent of sin as well as of sickness! They are
dwellers
still in the deep darkness of belief. They are in
the surg- |
|
18
|
ing sea of error, not struggling to lift their
heads above the
drowning wave.
Expiation by suffering
What must the end be? They must eventually expi-
|
|
21
|
ate their sin through suffering. The sin, which
one has
made his bosom companion, comes back to him
at last with accelerated force, for the devil |
|
24
|
knoweth his time is short. Here the Scriptures
declare
that evil is temporal, not eternal. The dragon is
at last
stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods
|
|
27
|
of torture it may take to remove all sin, must
depend upon
sin's obduracy.
Revelation xii. 13. And when the dragon saw that he |
|
30
|
was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman
which
brought forth the man child.
PAGE 570
Apathy to occultism |
|
1
|
The march of mind and of honest investigation
will
bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters
of |
|
3
|
some sort, the growing occultism of this period.
The present apathy as to the tendency of
certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally
be |
|
6
|
shocked into another extreme mortal mood, - into
human
indignation; for one extreme follows another.
Revelation xii. 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his
|
|
9
|
mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he
might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the
earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth,
and |
|
12
|
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast
out of his
mouth.
Receptive hearts
Millions of unprejudiced minds - simple seekers
for |
|
15
|
Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert
- are wait-
ing and watching for rest and drink. Give
them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, |
|
18
|
and never fear the consequences. What if the
old dragon
should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea?
He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor
again |
|
21
|
sink the world into the deep waters of chaos
and old night.
In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual
idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing
|
|
24
|
you impart will give thanks. The waters will
be paci-
fied, and Christ will command the wave.
Hidden ways of iniquity
When God heals the sick or the sinning, they
should |
|
27
|
know the great benefit which Mind has wrought.
They
should also know the great delusion of mor-
tal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful. |
|
30
|
Many are willing to open the eyes of the people
to the
power of good resident in divine Mind, but they
are
PAGE 571
|
1
|
not so willing to point out the evil in human thought,
and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing
|
|
3
|
iniquity.
Christly warning
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary
to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people
like |
|
6
|
you better when you tell them their virtues
than when you tell them their vices. It re-
quires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a
man his |
|
9
|
faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake
of doing
right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind
of the foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees
the |
|
12
|
foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil,
and
designate those as unfaithful stewards who have
seen the
danger and yet have given no warning.
The armor of divinity |
|
15
|
At all times and under all circumstances,
overcome
evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply
the wisdom and the occasion for a victory |
|
18
|
over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love,
human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a
higher humanity will unite all interests in the
one |
|
21
|
divinity.
Pure religion enthroned
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal
scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes
the |
|
24
|
mirror in which mortals may see their own
image. In significant figures he depicts the
thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he
|
|
27
|
rebukes the conceit of sin, and foreshadows
its doom.
With his spiritual strength, he has opened wide
the gates
of glory, and illumined the night of paganism with
the |
|
30
|
sublime grandeur of divine Science, outshining
sin, sorcery,
lust, and hypocrisy. He takes away mitre and sceptre.
He enthrones pure and undefiled religion, and lifts
on
PAGE 572
|
1
|
high only those who have washed their robes white in
obedience and suffering.
Native nothingness of sin |
|
3
|
Thus we see, in both the first and last books
of the
Bible, - in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, - that
sin
is to be Christianly and scientifically reduced |
|
6
|
to its native nothingness. "Love one an-
other" (I John, iii. 23), is the most simple
and profound
counsel of the inspired writer. In Science we are
chil- |
|
9
|
dren of God; but whatever is of material sense,
or mor-
tal, belongs not to His children, for materiality
is the
inverted image of spirituality.
Fulfilment of the Law |
|
12
|
Love fulfils the law of Christian Science,
and nothing
short of this divine Principle, understood and demon-
strated, can ever furnish the vision of the |
|
15
|
Apocalypse, open the seven seals of error with
Truth, or uncover the myriad illusions of sin, sickness,
and death. Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will
be seen |
|
18
|
and acknowledged that matter must disappear.
In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: -
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first |
|
21
|
heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was
no more sea.
Man's present possibilities
The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional
|
|
24
|
stage in human experience called death, but he
already
saw a new heaven and a new earth. Through
what sense came this vision to St. John? Not |
|
27
|
through the material visual organs for seeing,
for optics
are inadequate to take in so wonderful a scene.
Were this
new heaven and new earth terrestrial or celestial,
mate-
PAGE 573
|
1
|
rial or spiritual? They could not be the former, for the
human sense of space is unable to grasp such a view.
|
|
3
|
The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while
yet
beholding what the eye cannot see, - that which is
in-
visible to the uninspired thought. This testimony
of Holy |
|
6
|
Writ sustains the fact in Science, that the heavens
and
earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness
which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another,
the |
|
9
|
unillumined human mind, the vision is material.
This
shows unmistakably that what the human mind terms
matter and spirit indicates states and stages of
con- |
|
12
|
sciousness.
Nearness of Deity
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was
an-
other revelation, even the declaration from heaven,
su- |
|
15
|
preme harmony, that God, the divine Principle
of harmony, is ever with men, and they are
His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a
mis- |
|
18
|
erable sinner, but as the blessed child of God.
Why?
Because St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens
and
earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense
was |
|
21
|
the spiritual sense, the subjective state by
which he could
see the new heaven and new earth, which involve
the
spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This
is Scrip- |
|
24
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tural authority for concluding that such a recognition
of
being is, and has been, possible to men in this
present
state of existence, - that we can become conscious,
|
|
27
|
here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow,
and pain.
This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian
Science.
Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being
will |
|
30
|
surely appear sometime and in some way. There
will
be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away.
When
you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The
kingdom of
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God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is
therefore a present possibility. |
|
3
|
The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to
console the weary pilgrim, journeying " uphill
all the way."
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: - |
|
6
|
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues,
and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the
bride, |
|
9
|
the Lamb's wife.
Vials of wrath and consolation
This ministry of Truth, this message from divine
Love,
carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till
he be- |
|
12
|
came conscious of the spiritual facts of being
and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from
God, out of heaven," - the spiritual outpour-
|
|
15
|
ing of bliss and glory, which he describes as
the city
which "lieth foursquare." The beauty of
this text is,
that the sum total of human misery, represented
by |
|
18
|
the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues,
has full
compensation in the law of Love. Note this, - that
the
very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured
|
|
21
|
forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience
which at last lifted the seer to behold the great
city, the
four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and
|
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24
|
heaven-bestowing.
Spiritual wedlock
Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift
the sack-
cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-
|
|
27
|
winged dove descending upon you. The very
circumstance, which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an
angel |
|
30
|
entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers:
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1
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"Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness
into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb's
|
|
3
|
wife, - Love wedded to its own spiritual idea."
Then
cometh the marriage feast, for this revelation will
de-
stroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material
|
|
6
|
sense.
The city foursquare
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse
(xxi. 16)
as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh
"down from |
|
9
|
God, out of heaven," represents the light
and
glory of divine Science. The builder and
maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in
the |
|
12
|
book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which
hath founda-
tions." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual
teach-
ing must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate
|
|
15
|
the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and
the prodi-
gal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description
of
the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The
|
|
18
|
four sides of our city are the Word, Christ,
Christianity,
and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall
not be shut
at all by day: for there shall be no night there."
This |
|
21
|
city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.
The royally divine gates
As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation,
the
joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides
of |
|
24
|
the north, the city of the great King."
It is
indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and
square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star,
|
|
27
|
the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward,
to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who
fol-
lowed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the
|
|
30
|
genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the
skies,
- the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society
into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization
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|
1
|
of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of
Harmony.
Revelation's pure zenith |
|
3
|
This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-
ness, - this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which
to
us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, - |
|
6
|
reached St. John's vision while yet he taber-
nacled with mortals.
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city, |
|
9
|
the beloved Disciple writes: -
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
The shrine celestial |
|
12
|
There was no temple, - that is, no material
structure
in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped
in spirit and in love. The word temple also
|
|
15
|
means body. The Revelator was familiar
with Jesus' use of this word, as when Jesus spoke
of his
material body as the temple to be temporarily rebuilt
|
|
18
|
(John ii. 21). What further indication need we
of the
real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw
heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"?
|
|
21
|
This kingdom of God "is within you,"
- is within
reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual
idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses
this |
|
24
|
recognition of harmony consciously in proportion
to his
understanding of God.
Divine sense of Deity
The term Lord, as used in our version of the
Old |
|
27
|
Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah,
and ex-
presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated
to deific apprehension through spiritual trans-
|
|
30
|
figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches
a higher
meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the
divine
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|
1
|
sense, even as the material sense of personality yields
to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite
|
|
3
|
Principle and infinite idea, - as one Father with
His uni-
versal family, held in the gospel of Love. The Lamb's
wife presents the unity of male and female as no
longer |
|
6
|
two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures
in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality
re-
flects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being.
|
|
9
|
In this divinely united spiritual consciousness,
there is no
impediment to eternal bliss, - to the perfectibility
of
God's creation.
The city of our God |
|
12
|
This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary
nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first,
the
Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second, |
|
15
|
the Christ, the spiritual idea of God; third,
Christianity, which is the outcome of the divine
Prin-
ciple of the Christ-idea in Christian history; fourth,
|
|
18
|
Christian Science, which to-day and forever interprets
this great example and the great Exemplar. This
city
of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for
Love |
|
21
|
is the light of it, and divine Mind is its own
interpreter.
All who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty
potentates and dynasties will lay down their honors
|
|
24
|
within the heavenly city. Its gates open towards
light
and glory both within and without, for all is good,
and
nothing can enter that city, which "defileth.
. . . or |
|
27
|
maketh a lie."
The writer's present feeble sense of Christian Science
closes with St. John's Revelation as recorded by
the |
|
30
|
great apostle, for his vision is the acme of
this Science
as the Bible reveals it.
In the following Psalm one word shows, though faintly,
PAGE 578
|
1
|
the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures
by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal
|
|
3
|
or spiritual sense of Deity: -
PSALM XXIII
[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want. |
|
6
|
[LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
[LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] lead- |
|
9
|
eth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's
sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me;
[LOVE's] |
|
12
|
rod and [LOVE'S] staff they comfort me.
[LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil;
my cup |
|
15
|
runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness]
|
|
18
|
of [LOVE] for ever. |
 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
