540:24 a lie.
_Genesis_ iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also 540:27 brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.
Spiritual and material
Cain is the type of mortal and material man, conceived in sin and “shapen in iniquity;” he is not the 540:30 type of Truth and Love. Material in origin and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel 541:1 takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re- 541:3 sembles a mind-offering than does Cain’s fruit. Jealous of his brother’s gift, Cain seeks Abel’s life, instead of mak- ing his own gift a higher tribute to the Most High.
541:6 _Genesis_ iv. 4, 5. And the Lord [Jehovah] had respect unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his offering, He had not respect.
541:9 Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain’s fruit? No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of 541:12 even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the ground could be.
_Genesis_ iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and 541:15 slew him.
The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli- gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood 541:18 of man at the very outset.
_Genesis_ iv. 9. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am 541:21 I my brother’s keeper?
Brotherhood repudiated
Here the serpentine lie invents new forms. At first it usurps divine power. It is supposed to say 541:24 in the first instance, “Ye shall be as gods.” Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards his brother.
541:27 _Genesis_ iv. 10, 11. And He [Jehovah] said, . . . The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth.
Murder brings its curse
542:1 The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in- curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it 542:3 might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when- ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides 542:6 behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils error. Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon 542:9 error the mark of the beast. Even the disposition to excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin, 542:12 invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine mercy.
_Genesis_ iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him 542:15 Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
Retribution and remorse
542:18 “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the 542:21 divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the 542:24 waymarks of God. To envy’s own hell, justice con- signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God’s commandments.
542:27 _Genesis_ iv. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.
Climax of suffering
The sinful misconception of Life as something less 543:1 than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering, 543:3 yields to Truth and returns to dust; but it is only mortal man and not the real man, who dies. The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it 543:6 is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more beautifully apparent at error’s demise.
Dwelling in dreamland
In divine Science, the material man is shut out from 543:9 the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dream- 543:12 land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that ma- terial life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illu- sion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare 543:15 of extermination. The great verities of existence are never excluded by falsity.
Man springs from Mind
All error proceeds from the evidence before the mate- 543:18 rial senses. If man is material and originates in an egg, who shall say that he is not primarily dust? May not Darwin be right in think- 543:21 ing that apehood preceded mortal manhood? Minerals and vegetables are found, according to divine Science, to be the creations of erroneous thought, not of matter. 543:24 Did man, whom God created with a word, originate in an egg? When Spirit made all, did it leave aught for matter to create? Ideas of Truth alone are reflected 543:27 in the myriad manifestations of Life, and thus it is seen that man springs solely from Mind. The belief that matter supports life would make Life, or God, 543:30 mortal.
Material inception
The text, “In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah God] made the earth and the heavens,” introduces the 544:1 record of a material creation which followed the spiritual, – a creation so wholly apart from God’s, that Spirit 544:3 had no participation in it. In God’s creation ideas became productive, obedient to Mind. There was no rain and “not a man to till the ground.” 544:6 Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in 544:9 the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the 544:12 infinite Mind.
First evil suggestion
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might 544:15 or right or wisdom to create or to destroy. All is under the control of the one Mind, even God. The first statement about evil, – the first 544:18 suggestion of more than the one Mind, – is in the fable of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously re- corded, include nothing of the kind.
Material personality
544:21 The serpent is supposed to say, “Ye shall be as gods,” but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual 544:24 being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man, in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and 544:27 likeness of the one God.
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called 544:30 mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man’s nostrils so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with corporeality as the producer instead of divine Prin- 545:1 ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con- ceptions.
545:3 “Behold, the man is become as one of us.” This could not be the utterance of Truth or Science, for according to the record, material man was fast degenerating and 545:6 never had been divinely conceived.
Mental tillage
The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means this, – that mortals should so improve material belief 545:9 by thought tending spiritually upward as to destroy materiality. Man, created by God, was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion 545:12 of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions, 545:15 and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a false view, destructive to existence and happiness. Out- 545:18 side of Christian Science all is vague and hypothetical, the opposite of Truth; yet this opposite, in its false view of God and man, impudently demands a blessing.
Erroneous standpoint
545:21 The translators of this record of scientific creation entertained a false sense of being. They believed in the existence of matter, its propagation and 545:24 power. From that standpoint of error, they could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit. Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which 545:27 is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has but one reply to all error, – to sin, sickness, and death: “Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness] 545:30 shalt thou return.”
Mortality mythical
“As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth] shall all be made alive.” The mortality of man is a 546:1 myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman- 546:3 cipated from it, – this belief alone is mortal. Spirit, God, never germinates, but is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” If Mind, God, cre- 546:6 ates error, that error must exist in the divine Mind, and this assumption of error would dethrone the perfection of Deity.
No truth from a material basis
546:9 Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to declare Mind, while matter is governed by un- 546:12 erring intelligence? “There went up a mist from the earth.” This represents error as starting from an idea of good on a material basis. It 546:15 supposes God and man to be manifested only through the corporeal senses, although the material senses can take no cognizance of Spirit or the spiritual idea. 546:18 Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To 546:21 the author, they are transparent, for they contain the deep divinity of the Bible.
Dawning of spiritual facts
Christian Science is dawning upon a material age. 546:24 The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine in the darkness, though the darkness, com- prehending them not, may deny their reality. 546:27 The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris- tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom- plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle 546:30 which all may understand.
Proof given in healing
If mathematics should present a thousand different examples of one rule, the proving of one example would 547:1 authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris- tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the 547:3 proof of all here said of Christian Science. If one of the statements in this book is true, every one must be true, for not one departs from the stated sys- 547:6 tem and rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader, the Science of healing, and so ascertain if the author has given you the correct interpretation of Scripture.
Embryonic evolution
547:9 The late Louis Agassiz, by his microscopic examination of a vulture’s ovum, strengthens the thinker’s conclusions as to the scientific theory of creation. Agassiz 547:12 was able to see in the egg the earth’s atmos- phere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, while the germinating speck of so-called embryonic life seemed a 547:15 small sun. In its history of mortality, Darwin’s theory of evolution from a material basis is more consistent than most theories. Briefly, this is Darwin’s theory, – that 547:18 Mind produces its opposite, matter, and endues matter with power to recreate the universe, including man. Ma- terial evolution implies that the great First Cause must 547:21 become material, and afterwards must either return to Mind or go down into dust and nothingness.
True theory of the universe
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to 547:24 have them understood spiritually, for only by this under- standing can truth be gained. The true the- ory of the universe, including man, is not in 547:27 material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and 547:30 immortal.
Scriptural perception
It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith. 548:1 “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso- ever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Christian 548:3 Science separates error from truth, and breathes through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis- 548:6 cover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal harmony.
The clouds dissolving
548:9 How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds cover the sun’s face! So Christian Science can be seen only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away. 548:12 Earth has little light or joy for mortals before Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension 548:15 of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.
Prediction of a naturalist
548:18 Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist says: “It is very possible that many general statements now current, about birth and generation, will 548:21 be changed with the progress of information.” Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained the diviner side in Christian Science, – so far apart from 548:24 his material sense of animal growth and organization, – he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.
Methods of reproduction
Natural history is richly endowed by the labors and 548:27 genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought to light important facts in regard to so-called embryonic life. Agassiz declares (“Methods 548:30 of Study in Natural History,”) “Certain ani- mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self- 549:1 division.” This discovery is corroborative of the Science of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication 549:3 of certain animals takes place apart from sexual condi- tions. The supposition that life germinates in eggs and must decay after it has grown to maturity, if not before, 549:6 is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, – a blunder which will finally give place to higher theories and demonstrations.
The three processes
549:9 Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc- tion and to multiply their species sometimes 549:12 through eggs, sometimes through buds, and sometimes through self-division. According to recent lore, successive generations do not begin with the _birth_ of 549:15 new individuals, or personalities, but with the formation of the nucleus, or egg, from which one or more individu- alities subsequently emerge; and we must therefore look 549:18 upon the simple ovum as the germ, the starting-point, of the most complicated corporeal structures, including those which we call human. Here these material researches 549:21 culminate in such vague hypotheses as must necessarily attend false systems, which rely upon physics and are de- void of metaphysics.
Deference to material law
549:24 In one instance a celebrated naturalist, Agassiz, dis- covers the pathway leading to divine Science, and beards the lion of materialism in its den. At that 549:27 point, however, even this great observer mis- takes nature, forsakes Spirit as the divine origin of creative Truth, and allows matter and material law to 549:30 usurp the prerogatives of omnipotence. He absolutely drops from his summit, coming down to a belief in the material origin of man, for he virtually affirms that 550:1 the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non- intelligent egg.
Deep-reaching interrogations
550:3 If this be so, whence cometh Life, or Mind, to the human race? Matter surely does not possess Mind. God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms 550:6 and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men. God cannot become finite, and be limited within material bounds. 550:9 Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it be- 550:12 gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it will hereafter.
Stages of existence
550:15 Error of thought is reflected in error of action. The continual contemplation of existence as material and cor- poreal – as beginning and ending, and with 550:18 birth, decay, and dissolution as its component stages – hides the true and spiritual Life, and causes our standard to trail in the dust. If Life has any starting- 550:21 point whatsoever, then the great I AM is a myth. If Life is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embry- onic, it is infinite. An egg is an impossible enclosure for 550:24 Deity.
Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro- ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor 550:27 does a lion bring forth a lamb. Amalgamation is deemed monstrous and is seldom fruitful, but it is not so hideous and absurd as the supposition that Spirit – the pure and 550:30 holy, the immutable and immortal – can originate the impure and mortal and dwell in it. As Christian Science repudiates self-evident impossibilities, the material senses 551:1 must father these absurdities, for both the material senses and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.
The real producer
551:3 Either Mind produces, or it is produced. If Mind is first, it cannot produce its opposite in quality and quantity, called matter. If matter is first, it cannot pro- 551:6 duce Mind. Like produces like. In natural history, the bird is not the product of a beast. In spiritual history, matter is not the progenitor of Mind.
The ascent of species
551:9 One distinguished naturalist argues that mortals spring from eggs and in races. Mr. Darwin admits this, but he adds that mankind has ascended through all 551:12 the lower grades of existence. Evolution de- scribes the gradations of human belief, but it does not acknowledge the method of divine Mind, nor see that ma- 551:15 terial methods are impossible in divine Science and that all Science is of God, not of man.
Transmitted peculiarities
Naturalists ask: “What can there be, of a material 551:18 nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, – themselves composed of the simplest material elements, – by which all peculiarities of an- 551:21 cestry, belonging to either sex, are brought down from generation to generation?” The question of the natu- ralist amounts to this: How can matter originate or trans- 551:24 mit mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases creation on materiality. From a material standpoint, “Canst thou 551:27 by searching find out God?” All must be Mind, or else all must be matter. Neither can produce the other. Mind is immortal; but error declares that the material 551:30 seed must decay in order to propagate its species, and the resulting germ is doomed to the same routine.
Causation not in matter
The ancient and hypothetical question, Which is first, 552:1 the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question 552:3 follows: Who or what produces the parent of the egg? That the earth was hatched from the “egg of night” was once an accepted theory. Heathen 552:6 philosophy, modern geology, and all other material hy- potheses deal with causation as contingent on matter and as necessarily apparent to the corporeal senses, even 552:9 where the proof requisite to sustain this assumption is un- discovered. Mortal theories make friends of sin, sickness, and death; whereas the spiritual scientific facts of exist- 552:12 ence include no member of this dolorous and fatal triad.
Emergence of mortals
Human experience in mortal life, which starts from an egg, corresponds with that of Job, when he says, “Man 552:15 that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Mortals must emerge from this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck 552:18 open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward and upward. But thought, loosened from a material basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild 552:21 with freedom and so be self-contradictory.
Persistence of species
From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow, sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills 552:24 they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. The blending tints of leaf and flower show the order of matter to be the order of mortal mind. The 552:27 intermixture of different species, urged to its utmost limits, results in a return to the original species. Thus it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal 552:30 mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.
Better basis than embryology
Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material 553:1 existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac- company their descriptions with important observations, 553:3 which should awaken thought to a higher and purer contemplation of man’s origin. This clearer consciousness must precede an under- 553:6 standing of the harmony of being. Mortal thought must obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or health will never be universal, and harmony will never 553:9 become the standard of man.
One of our ablest naturalists has said: “We have no right to assume that individuals have grown or been 553:12 formed under circumstances which made material con- ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction, or important to their origin and first introduction.” 553:15 Why, then, is the naturalist’s basis so materialistic, and why are his deductions generally material?
All nativity in thought
Adam was created before Eve. In this instance, it is 553:18 seen that the maternal egg never brought forth Adam. Eve was formed from Adam’s rib, not from a foetal ovum. Whatever theory may be adopted 553:21 by general mortal thought to account for human origin, that theory is sure to become the signal for the appear- ance of its method in finite forms and operations. If con- 553:24 sentaneous human belief agrees upon an ovum as the point of emergence for the human race, this potent belief will immediately supersede the more ancient supersti- 553:27 tion about the creation from dust or from the rib of our primeval father.
Being is immortal
You may say that mortals are formed before they 553:30 think or know aught of their origin, and you may also ask how belief can affect a result which precedes the development of that belief. It can 554:1 only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what “eye hath not seen,” – even the cause of all that exists, – for 554:3 the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who is its divine immortal Principle. There is no such thing as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings, 554:6 because being is immortal, like Deity, – or, rather, being and Deity are inseparable.
Our conscious development
Error is always error. It is _no thing_. Any statement 554:9 of life, following from a misconception of life, is errone- ous, because it is destitute of any knowledge of the so-called selfhood of life, destitute of 554:12 any knowledge of its origin or existence. The mortal is unconscious of his foetal and infantile existence; but as he grows up into another false claim, that of self-con- 554:15 scious matter, he learns to say, “I am somebody; but who made me?” Error replies, “God made you.” The first effort of error has been and is to impute to God the 554:18 creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.
Mendacity of error
Jesus defined this opposite of God and His creation 554:21 better than we can, when he said, “He is a liar, and the father of it.” Jesus also said, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 554:24 This he said of Judas, one of Adam’s race. Jesus never intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, “Ye are of your father, the devil.” All these sayings were to 554:27 show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is simply a falsity and illusion.
Ailments of animals
It is the general belief that the lower animals are less 554:30 sickly than those possessing higher organiza- tions, especially those of the human form. This would indicate that there is less disease in propor- 555:1 tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi- tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind. 555:3 A fair conclusion from this might be, that it is the human belief, and not the divine arbitrament, which brings the physical organism under the yoke of disease.
Ignorance the sign of error
555:6 An inquirer once said to the discoverer of Christian Science: “I like your explanations of truth, but I do not comprehend what you say about error.” 555:9 This is the nature of error. The mark of igno- rance is on its forehead, for it neither understands nor can be understood. Error would have itself received as 555:12 mind, as if it were as real and God-created as truth; but Christian Science attributes to error neither entity nor power, because error is neither mind nor the outcome of 555:15 Mind.
The origin of divinity
Searching for the origin of man, who is the reflection of God, is like inquiring into the origin of God, the self- 555:18 existent and eternal. Only impotent error would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this 555:21 sham unity _man_, as if man were the offspring of both Mind and matter, of both Deity and humanity. Crea- tion rests on a spiritual basis. We lose our standard of 555:24 perfection and set aside the proper conception of Deity, when we admit that the perfect is the author of aught that can become imperfect, that God bestows the power 555:27 to sin, or that Truth confers the ability to err. Our great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in 555:30 death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus was able to present himself unchanged after the cruci- fixion. Truth fosters the idea of Truth, and not the be- 556:1 lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained by Spirit.
Genera classified
556:3 Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor- tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to possess life and mind. These false beliefs 556:6 will disappear, when the radiation of Spirit destroys forever all belief in intelligent matter. Then will the new heaven and new earth appear, for the for- 556:9 mer things will have passed away.
The Christian’s privilege
Mortal belief infolds the conditions of sin. Mortal belief dies to live again in renewed forms, only to go out 556:12 at last forever; for life everlasting is not to be gained by dying. Christian Science may ab- sorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but 556:15 the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known most fully to him who understands best the divine Life. Did the origin and the enlightenment of the race come 556:18 from the deep sleep which fell upon Adam? Sleep is darkness, but God’s creative mandate was, “Let there be light.” In sleep, cause and effect are mere illusions. 556:21 They seem to be something, but are not. Oblivion and dreams, not realities, come with sleep. Even so goes on the Adam-belief, of which mortal and material life is the 556:24 dream.
Ontology _versus_ physiology
Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why? Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual 556:27 life before it cares to solve the problem of being, hence the author’s experience; but when that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand- 556:30 point.
It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and 557:1 repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with- 557:3 out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this and learn how to develop their children properly on dry land.
The curse removed
557:6 Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege- tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no 557:9 pain in multiplying; but human propagation has its suffering because it is a false belief. Christian Sci- ence reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the 557:12 line of creation rises towards spiritual man, – towards enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin, 557:15 disease, and mortality, the better for him, – the less pain and sorrow are his. When the mist of mortal mind evap- orates, the curse will be removed which says to woman, 557:18 “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as 557:21 never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.
Popular theology takes up the history of man as if he began materially right, but immediately fell into mental 557:24 sin; whereas revealed religion proclaims the Science of Mind and its formations as being in accordance with the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind, 557:27 spake and it was done.
CHAPTER XVI – THE APOCALYPSE
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. – REVELATION.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. – PSALMS.
558:1 ST. JOHN writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of Revelation: –
558:3 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of 558:6 fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.
The new Evangel
558:9 This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. To mortal sense Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and 558:12 dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow. When understood, it is Truth’s prism and praise. When you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means, 558:15 and it has for you a light above the sun, for God “is the light thereof.” Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy 558:18 Ghost, whose flames of Truth were prophetically de- scribed by John the Baptist as consuming error.
Truth’s volume
559:1 This angel had in his hand “a little book,” open for all to read and understand. Did this same book contain 559:3 the revelation of divine Science, the “right foot” or dominant power of which was upon the sea, – upon elementary, latent error, the source of 559:6 all error’s visible forms? The angel’s left foot was upon the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon visible error and audible sin. The “still, small voice” 559:9 of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, “as when a lion roareth.” 559:12 It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the “seven thunders” of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is 559:15 the power of Truth demonstrated, – made manifest in the destruction of error. Then will a voice from harmony cry: “Go and take the little book. . . . Take it, and eat 559:18 it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.” Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from 559:21 beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter. When you 559:24 approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle, when you eat the divine body of this Principle, – thus partak- ing of the nature, or primal elements, of Truth and Love, 559:27 – do not be surprised nor discontented because you must share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs; for the Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus prefigured this 559:30 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- 560:1 tion of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connec- tion with the nineteenth century. In the opening of the 560:3 sixth seal, typical of six thousand years since Adam, the distinctive feature has reference to the present age.
560:6 _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 560:9 stars.
True estimate of God’s messenger
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science inter- prets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great 560:12 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 560:15 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, 560:18 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 560:21 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 560:24 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 560:27 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 560:30 taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea – igno- 561:1 rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal 561:3 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 561:6 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 561:9 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 561:12 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, 561:15 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 561:18 and its demonstration, – reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal self- 561:21 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 561:24 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 561:27 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 561:30 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- 562:1 maculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy 562:3 Ghost,- divine Science. As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this 562:6 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, 562:9 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 562:12 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 562:15 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 562:18 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 562:21 of materialism wanes.
_Revelation_ xii. 2. And she being with child cried, travail- ing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Travail and joy
562:24 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 562:27 the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and the travail portentous.
_Revelation_ xii. 3. And there appeared another wonder in 562:30 heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
The dragon as a type
563:1 Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense., harmony is the real and discord the unreal. 563:3 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 563:6 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 563:9 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- 563:12 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
563:15 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 563:18 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 563:21 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 563:24 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
563:27 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 563:30 to “spiritual wickedness in high places.” It is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel 564:1 them to devour each other and cast out devils through Beelzebub.
564:3 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 564:6 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 564:9 without a star.
Malicious barbarity
The author is convinced that the accusations against Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were instigated 564:12 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 564:15 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 564:18 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 564:21 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
564:24 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 564:27 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 564:30 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 565:1 field.” In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen 565:3 with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe for destruction. It is full of lust and hate, loathing the brightness of divine glory.
565:6 _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
565:9 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 565:12 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 565:15 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- 565:18 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 565:21 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- 565:24 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 565:27 to be caught up unto God, – to be found in its divine Principle.
_Revelation_ xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilder- 565:30 ness, where she hath a place prepared of God.
Spiritual guidance
566:1 As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides 566:3 of human fear, – as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised 566:6 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 566:9 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.
566:12 If we remember the beautiful description which Sir Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the Jewess in the story of Ivanhoe, –
566:15 When Israel, of the Lord beloved, Out of the land of bondage came,
Her fathers’ God before her moved, 566:18 An awful guide, in smoke and flame, –
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same hymn, –
566:21 And oh, when stoops on Judah’s path In shade and storm the frequent night, Be Thou, longsuffering, slow to wrath, 566:24 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 566:27 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 566:30 messages, different offices. Michael’s charac- teristic is spiritual strength. He leads the hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan, and 567:1 fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering 567:3 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 567:6 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. 567:9 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 567:12 them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and Spirit.
_Revelation_ xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, 567:15 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
567:18 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 567:21 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 567:24 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- 567:27 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 567:30 Lamb of Love.
Warfare with error
Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the wolf. 568:1 Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error. Ever since the foundation of the world, ever since error would 568:3 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 568:6 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. 568:9 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 568:12 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 568:15 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 568:18 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 568:21 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
568:24 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 568:27 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 568:30 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 569:1 interprets God as divine Principle, – as Life, represented by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, 569:3 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
569:6 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 569:9 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 569:12 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 569:15 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- 569:18 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- 569:21 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 569:24 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 569:27 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 569:30 was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Apathy to occultism
570:1 The march of mind and of honest investigation will bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of 570:3 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 570:6 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 570:9 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 570:12 swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Receptive hearts
Millions of unprejudiced minds – simple seekers for 570:15 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, 570:18 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 570:21 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 570:24 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 570:27 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. 570:30 Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are 571:1 not so willing to point out the evil in human thought, and expose evil’s hidden mental ways of accomplishing 571:3 iniquity.
Christly warning
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like 571:6 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 571:9 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 571:12 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
571:15 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 571:18 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 571:21 divinity.
Pure religion enthroned
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes the 571:24 mirror in which mortals may see their own image. In significant figures he depicts the thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he 571:27 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 571:30 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 572:1 high only those who have washed their robes white in obedience and suffering.
Native nothingness of sin
572:3 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 572:6 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- 572:9 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
572:12 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 572:15 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 572:18 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 572:21 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 572:24 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 572:27 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- 573:1 rial or spiritual? They could not be the former, for the human sense of space is unable to grasp such a view. 573:3 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 573:6 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 573:9 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- 573:12 sciousness.
Nearness of Deity
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was an- other revelation, even the declaration from heaven, su- 573:15 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- 573:18 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 573:21 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- 573:24 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, 573:27 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 573:30 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 574:1 God is within you.” This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.
574:3 The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to console the weary pilgrim, journeying ” uphill all the way.”
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: –
574:6 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, 574:9 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- 574:12 came conscious of the spiritual facts of being and the “New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven,” – the spiritual outpour- 574:15 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 574:18 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 574:21 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 574:24 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- 574:27 winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel 574:30 entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers: 575:1 “Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb’s 575:3 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 575:6 sense.
The city foursquare
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16) as one that “lieth foursquare” and cometh “down from 575:9 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 575:12 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 575:15 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 575:18 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 575:21 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 575:24 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, 575:27 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 575:30 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 576:1 of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of Harmony.
Revelation’s pure zenith
576:3 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, – 576:6 reached St. John’s vision while yet he taber- nacled with mortals.
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city, 576:9 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
576:12 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 576:15 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 576:18 (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”? 576:21 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 576:24 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 576:27 Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah, and ex- presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated to deific apprehension through spiritual trans- 576:30 figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches a higher meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the divine 577:1 sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite 577:3 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 577:6 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. 577:9 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
577:12 This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second, 577:15 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, 577:18 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 577:21 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 577:24 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 577:27 maketh a lie.”
The writer’s present feeble sense of Christian Science closes with St. John’s Revelation as recorded by the 577:30 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, 578:1 the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal 578:3 or spiritual sense of Deity: –
PSALM XXIII
[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
578:6 [LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures: [LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] lead- 578:9 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] 578:12 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 578:15 runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] 578:18 of [LOVE] for ever.
CHAPTER XVII – GLOSSARY
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. – REVELATION.
579:1 In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of the spiritual for the material definition of a Scrip- 579:3 tural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired writer. On this account this chapter is added. It con- tains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, 579:6 giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original meaning.
ABEL. Watchfulness; self-offering; surrendering to 579:9 the creator the early fruits of experience.
ABRAHAM. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being.
579:12 This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding.
579:15 ADAM. Error; a falsity; the belief in “original sin,” sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, – of God and His creation; a curse; a belief in intelligent matter, 580:1 finiteness, and mortality; “dust to dust;” red sand- stone; nothingness; the first god of mythology; not 580:3 God’s man, who represents the one God and is His own image and likeness; the opposite of Spirit and His crea- tions; that which is not the image and likeness of good, 580:6 but a material belief, opposed to the one Mind, or Spirit; a so-called finite mind, producing other minds, thus mak- ing “gods many and lords many” (I Corinthians viii. 5); 580:9 a product of nothing as the mimicry of something; an unreality as opposed to the great reality of spiritual ex- istence and creation; a so-called man, whose origin, 580:12 substance, and mind are found to be the antipode of God, or Spirit; an inverted image of Spirit; the image and likeness of what God has not created, namely, mat- 580:15 ter, sin, sickness, and death; the opposer of Truth, termed error; Life’s counterfeit, which ultimates in death; the opposite of Love, called hate; the usurper 580:18 of Spirit’s creation, called self-creative matter; immor- tality’s opposite, mortality; that of which wisdom saith, “Thou shalt surely die.”
580:21 The name Adam represents the false supposition that Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end; that the infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into non- 580:24 intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense; that immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal mind; that the one God and creator entered what He cre- 580:27 ated, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.
ADVERSARY. An adversary is one who opposes, denies, disputes, not one who constructs and sustains reality and 580:30 Truth. Jesus said of the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning, . . . he is a liar and the father of it.” 581:1 This view of Satan is confirmed by the name often con- ferred upon him in Scripture, the “adversary.”
581:3 ALMIGHTY. All-power; infinity; omnipotence.
ANGELS. God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, 581:6 purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.
ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved 581:9 to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter.
God and man coexistent and eternal; Science show- 581:12 ing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation overcome and followed by exaltation.
581:15 ASHER (Jacob’s son). Hope and faith; spiritual com- pensation; the ills of the flesh rebuked.
BABEL. Self-destroying error; a kingdom divided 581:18 against itself, which cannot stand; material knowledge.
The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evi- dence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more 581:21 confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall of its structure.
BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in 581:24 Spirit.
We are “willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians v. 8.)
582:1 BELIEVING. Firmness and constancy; not a faltering nor a blind faith, but the perception of spiritual Truth. 582:3 Mortal thoughts, illusion.
BENJAMIN (Jacob’s son). A physical belief as to life, substance, and mind; human knowledge, or so-called 582:6 mortal mind, devoted to matter; pride; envy; fame; illusion; a false belief; error masquerading as the pos- sessor of life, strength, animation, and power to act.
582:9 Renewal of affections; self-offering; an improved state of mortal mind; the introduction of a more spiritual origin; a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Prin- 582:12 ciple; a spiritual type; that which comforts, consoles, and supports.
BRIDE. Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the 582:15 idea of God; a sense of Soul, which has spiritual bliss and enjoys but cannot suffer.
BRIDEGROOM. Spiritual understanding; the pure con- 582:18 sciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only crea- tive power.
582:21 BURIAL. Corporeality and physical sense put out of sight and hearing; annihilation. Submergence in Spirit; immortality brought to light.
582:24 CANAAN (the son of Ham). A sensuous belief; the testimony of what is termed material sense; the error which would make man mortal and would make mortal 582:27 mind a slave to the body.
CHILDREN. The spiritual thoughts and representa- tives of Life, Truth, and Love.
583:1 Sensual and mortal beliefs; counterfeits of creation, whose better originals are God’s thoughts, not in em- 583:3 bryo, but in maturity; material suppositions of life, sub- stance, and intelligence, opposed to the Science of being.
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. The representatives of Soul, not 583:6 corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting 583:9 out error and healing the sick; Christ’s offspring.
CHRIST. The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error. 583:12 CHURCH. The structure of Truth and Love; what- ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of 583:15 its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the ap- prehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of 583:18 divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.
CREATOR. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating 583:21 divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal; the opposite of matter and evil, which have no Prin- 583:24 ciple; God, who made all that was made and could not create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself.
DAN (Jacob’s son). Animal magnetism; so-called mor- 583:27 tal mind controlling mortal mind; error, working out the designs of error; one belief preying upon another.
584:1 DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love.
584:3 “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind 584:6 measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God’s day, and “there shall be no night there.”
584:9 DEATH. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the un- real and untrue; the opposite of Life.
Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. Mind 584:12 is immortal. The flesh, warring against Spirit; that which frets itself free from one belief only to be fettered by another, until every belief of life where Life is not 584:15 yields to eternal Life. Any material evidence of death is false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being.
DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor 584:18 mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness, and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of the flesh, which saith: ” I am life and intelligence in 584:21 matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, – a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to 584:24 reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image.”
DOVE. A symbol of divine Science; purity and peace; 584:27 hope and faith.
DUST. Nothingness; the absence of substance, life, or intelligence.
585:1 EARS. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding.
585:3 Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, “Having ears, hear ye not?” (Mark viii. 18.)
EARTH. A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality, 585:6 which are likewise without beginning or end.
To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense, it is a compound idea.
585:9 ELIAS. Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to mate- rial sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold; 585:12 the basis of immortality.
“Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.” (Matthew xvii. 11.)
585:15 ERROR. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 472.
EUPHRATES (river). Divine Science encompassing the universe and man; the true idea of God; a type 585:18 of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the place of physics; the reign of righteousness. The atmos- phere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or 585:21 death; a state of mortal thought, the only error of which is limitation; finity; the opposite of infinity.
EVE. A beginning; mortality; that which does not 585:24 last forever; a finite belief concerning life, substance, and intelligence in matter; error; the belief that the hu- man race originated materially instead of spiritually, – 585:27 that man started first from dust, second from a rib, and third from an egg.
586:1 EVENING. Mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest.
586:3 EYES. Spiritual discernment, – not material but mental. Jesus said, thinking of the outward vision, “Having 586:6 eyes, see ye not?” (Mark viii. 18.)
FAN. Separator of fable from fact; that which gives action to thought.
586:9 FATHER. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine Principle, commonly called God.
FEAR. Heat; inflammation; anxiety; ignorance; error; 586:12 desire; caution.
FIRE. Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; afflic- tion purifying and elevating man.
586:15 FIRMAMENT. Spiritual understanding; the scientific line of demarcation between Truth and error, between Spirit and so-called matter.
586:18 FLESH. An error of physical belief; a supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter; an illusion; a belief that matter has sensation.
586:21 GAD (Jacob’s son). Science; spiritual being under- stood; haste towards harmony.
GETHSEMANE. Patient woe; the human yielding to 586:24 the divine; love meeting no response, but still remaining love.
587:1 GHOST. An illusion; a belief that mind is outlined and limited; a supposition that spirit is finite.
587:3 GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially.
GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, 587:6 all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.
587:9 GODS. Mythology; a belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material; a supposition of sentient physicality; the belief that infinite Mind is in 587:12 finite forms; the various theories that hold mind to be a material sense, existing in brain, nerve, matter; supposi- titious minds, or souls, going in and out of matter, erring 587:15 and mortal; the serpents of error, which say, “Ye shall be as gods.”
God is one God, infinite and perfect, and cannot be- 587:18 come finite and imperfect.
GOOD. God; Spirit; omnipotence; omniscience; om- nipresence; omni-action.
587:21 HAM (Noah’s son). Corporeal belief; sensuality; slavery; tyranny.
HEART. Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and 587:24 sorrows.
HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere 587:27 of Soul.
588:1 HELL. Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred; revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-de- 588:3 struction, self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which “worketh abomination or maketh a lie.”
HIDDEKEL (river). Divine Science understood and 588:6 acknowledged.
HOLY GHOST. Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love.
588:9 I, or EGO. Divine Principle; Spirit; Soul; incor- poreal, unerring, immortal, and eternal Mind.
There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or 588:12 Mind, governing all existence; man and woman un- changed forever in their individual characters, even as numbers which never blend with each other, though they 588:15 are governed by one Principle. All the objects of God’s creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that 588:18 life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.
I AM. God; incorporeal and eternal Mind; divine 588:21 Principle; the only Ego.
IN. A term obsolete in Science if used with reference to Spirit, or Deity.
588:24 INTELLIGENCE. Substance; self-existent and eternal Mind; that which is never unconscious nor limited.
See chapter on Recapitulation, page 469.
589:1 ISSACHAR (Jacob’s son). A corporeal belief; the offspring of error; envy; hatred; selfishness; self-will; 589:3 lust.
JACOB. A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, re- pentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of 589:6 Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love.
JAPHET (Noah’s son). A type of spiritual peace, flow- 589:9 ing from the understanding that God is the divine Prin- ciple of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child of His care.
589:12 JERUSALEM. Mortal belief and knowledge obtained from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyr- 589:15 anny. Home, heaven.
JESUS. The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing 589:18 to light man’s immortality.
JOSEPH. A corporeal mortal; a higher sense of Truth rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immor- 589:21 tality and supremacy of Truth; pure affection blessing its enemies.
JUDAH. A corporeal material belief progressing and 589:24 disappearing; the spiritual understanding of God and man appearing.
590:1 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The rein of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent 590:3 Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.
KNOWLEDGE. Evidence obtained from the five cor- poreal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human 590:6 theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the oppo- site of spiritual Truth and understanding.
590:9 LAMB OF GOD. The spiritual idea of Love; self-im- molation; innocence and purity; sacrifice.
LEVI (Jacob’s son). A corporeal and sensual belief; 590:12 mortal man; denial of the fulness of God’s creation; ecclesiastical despotism.
LIFE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.
590:15 LORD. In the Hebrew, this term is sometimes em- ployed as a title, which has the inferior sense of master, or ruler. In the Greek, the word _kurios_ almost always 590:18 has this lower sense, unless specially coupled with the name God. Its higher signification is Supreme Ruler.
LORD GOD. Jehovah.
590:21 This double term is not used in the first chapter of Genesis, the record of spiritual creation. It is intro- duced in the second and following chapters, when the 590:24 spiritual sense of God and of infinity is disappearing from the recorder’s thought, – when the true scientific statements of the Scriptures become clouded through a 591:1 physical sense of God as finite and corporeal. From this follow idolatry and mythology, – belief in many gods, or 591:3 material intelligences, as the opposite of the one Spirit, or intelligence, named Elohim, or God.
MAN. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spirit- 591:6 ual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind.
MATTER. Mythology; mortality; another name for 591:9 mortal mind; illusion; intelligence, substance, and life in non-intelligence and mortality; life resulting in death, and death in life; sensation in the sensationless; mind 591:12 originating in matter; the opposite of Truth; the oppo- site of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees, 591:15 feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief.
MIND. The only I, or Us; the only Spirit, Soul, divine Principle, substance, Life, Truth, Love; the one God; 591:18 not that which is _in_ man, but the divine Principle, or God, of whom man is the full and perfect expression; Deity, which outlines but is not outlined.
591:21 MIRACLE. That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.
MORNING. Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and 591:24 progress.
MORTAL MIND. Nothing claiming to be something, for Mind is immortal; mythology; error creating other 591:27 errors; a suppositional material sense, _alias_ the belief 592:1 that sensation is in matter, which is sensationless; a be- lief that life, substance, and intelligence are in and of 592:3 matter; the opposite of Spirit, and therefore the opposite of God, or good; the belief that life has a beginning and therefore an end; the belief that man is the off- 592:6 spring of mortals; the belief that there can be more than one creator; idolatry; the subjective states of error; material senses; that which neither exists in Science nor 592:9 can be recognized by the spiritual sense; sin; sickness; death.
MOSES. A corporeal mortal; moral courage; a type 592:12 of moral law and the demonstration thereof; the proof that, without the gospel, – the union of justice and affec- tion, – there is something spiritually lacking, since justice 592:15 demands penalties under the law.
MOTHER. God; divine and eternal Principle; Life, Truth, and Love.
592:18 NEW JERUSALEM. Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony.
592:21 NIGHT. Darkness; doubt; fear.
NOAH. A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the noth- ingness of material things and of the immortality of all 592:24 that is spiritual.
OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heav- enly inspiration.
592:27 PHARISEE. Corporeal and sensuous belief; self-right- eousness; vanity; hypocrisy.
593:1 PISON (river). The love of the good and beautiful, and their immortality.
593:3 PRINCIPLE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 465.
PROPHET. A spiritual seer; disappearance of mate- rial sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth.
593:6 PURSE. Laying up treasures in matter; error.
RED DRAGON. Error; fear; inflammation; sensuality; subtlety; animal magnetism; envy; revenge.
593:9 RESURRECTION. Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence; material belief yielding to spiritual understanding.
593:12 REUBEN (Jacob’s son). Corporeality; sensuality; de- lusion; mortality; error.
RIVER. Channel of thought.
593:15 When smooth and unobstructed, it typifies the course of Truth; but muddy, foaming, and dashing, it is a type of error.
593:18 ROCK. Spiritual foundation; Truth. Coldness and stubbornness.