Part 80 (1/2)

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 antic.i.p.ating the promised 566:6 joy, - so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their pa.s.sage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for 566:9 them who love G.o.d. 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' G.o.d 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 a.s.signs to the angels, G.o.d'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 G.o.d. 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 l.u.s.t 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 G.o.d, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d.

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 G.o.d 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.