Applauding God — 1953 Association Address

by Herbert E. Rieke




Table of Contents





Applauding God

Last year at Association you will recall that we discussed two approaches to Christian Science that have been entertained by different people. In the one instance we indicated what man should do, ought to do — reflect all the qualities of God. In this approach we showed that man was doing all the work. God was inactive, a static God as it were, just waiting for someone to come along and reflect Him. Then we presented the other view of a living God, an active God, a God who was ever busy doing something, that is, reflecting Himself, and the result was man. I am sure that you all saw the difference and realized that the latter was true Christian Science as presented by our Leader.

Have you spent the past year in thinking about what you ought to do, or have you devoted your thought and energy to appreciating what God is doing? Have you found this approach helpful in arriving at the true conception as to what you really are — the reflection of God?

When we discover what God is and what He is doing, we then get acquainted with our true self for we see ourself as the very manifestation of God’s being — His image and likeness.

What do you think of yourself? This a question that we are all asking ourselves every day in one way or another, consciously or unconsciously. Some of the answers that we give are not so good. Some of you have answered that you do not think very well of yourself. Some of you might even be disgusted with yourself and what you think you have accomplished. Some of you have been tempted to think of yourselves as failures. Most of the troubles of humanity are to be found in these erroneous answers. What we really think about ourselves is a most important matter, for what we think we are, we shall soon be, at least in belief.

This question: “What do you think of yourself?” is a normal one for everyone to ask. Jesus asked it on several occasions. You will remember the time he questioned the disciples: “Whom do men say that I the son of man am?” They answered, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist, Moses, Elias or one of the prophets.” Jesus was not satisfied with their answers and asked again, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.”

What does the word “son” mean? It means offspring. The son of the living God is therefore that which springs forth from the living God. The son is the outcome or the result of the living God.

Now let us take the word “living.” What does it mean? Our God is an active, a living God. God is certainly not a static abstract, inactive principle. God is a living God. He is constantly doing something. He is expressing Himself, and the result is man — the son of the living God.

Are you that which is constantly springing forth from a very active Love? Or is Love quite inactive in you?

Are you the result of spontaneous Truth in action?

When you think of yourself, do you have a mental picture of a tremulous Soul manifesting Itself in all beauty, harmony, and perfection? Are you the perpetual offspring of vivacious Spirit? Do you always think of yourself as the divine Principle in operation? Divine Mind is always expressing Itself and the result is man. Do you always think of yourself as the perfect manifestation of this perfect intelligence?

That wonderful perfect Life is right here. Furthermore, this Life is always doing something. It is always manifesting Itself in all-harmonious activity. Do you always think of yourself as the manifestation of this perfect divine Life?

We are constantly bearing witness in regard to ourselves. What you truly think and sincerely know about yourself is what you appear to be. I hope that each and every one of you will resolve never to say mean and ugly and petty things about yourselves henceforth.

Sometimes people hesitate to say or even to think some of these fine things about themselves. They have a feeling that they are being immodest if they do. This is all a hangover from false theology which teaches that we should all think of ourselves as a bunch of wicked miserable mortals — worms of the earth, as it were. Deny that phase of false theology vigorously. Testify to the truth about man. He is the son of the living God.

You will recall that Jesus ran up against this same false theology. The Pharisees of his day wanted him to think of himself as just another mortal. Had he been willing to do so there would have been no persecution. They said that because he bore witness of himself as the son of God, his testimony was not true. Jesus replied: “If I bear witness of myself, [that is as one who is as one who is separated from the living God] my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me . . . Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony of man . . . I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself which hath sent me, hath born witness of me.” (John 5)

A little later Jesus put it in even simpler terms: “It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that hath sent me beareth witness of me.” He is not talking about one as separated from the Father as bearing witness. Here he is saying that the divine Mind and Its manifestation bears witness to the truth. They could not do otherwise because they are one.

As with our Master, so with us. We must bear witness correctly in regard to ourselves and others. We must say and think often: “I am the offspring of the living God, the emanation of divine activity.” Then we must step aside and allow the heavenly Father to bear witness as to who and what we are. We must let Him declare the substance of our being. We must let Him manifest Himself while we be the manifestation of His being.

This attitude was so evident in the life of our Leader. When she was once asked about herself, she said, “I have not the inspiration nor the aspiration to be a first or a second virgin mother, her duplicate antecedent or subsequent; what I am remains to be proved by the good I do.” She allowed God, divine Love to declare who and what she was.

Here is a very important point that I would like to emphasize: We must all let our heavenly Father, divine Love declare who and what we are. We are not self-made men and women. Who can better declare what we are than our Maker. In the manufacture of an automobile who can better point out the fine points of the car than the manufacturer himself.

Let God, divine Life, Truth and Love express Itself, and you be that expression. Let Spirit, Soul, Mind manifest Itself and you be that manifestation. Let divine Principle declare Itself and you be that declaration.

Let infinite good reveal Itself and you be that revelation. Think for a minute what it means to be the very manifestation of God. God is manifesting His infinite perfection and you are that manifestation in all of its completeness. You are the manifestation of nothing else or nothing less.

In order to let God express Himself as the true man, there has to be a lot less thinking and talking about Herbert, and Sam and Ed, and Helen, and Sophie and a lot more thinking and talking about God. It is our work to see that the mortal concept of man does not get in the way and in belief seem to prevent the divine Mind from expressing Itself on our premises. You will remember the statement of our Leader on page 46 of Unity of Good: “The scientific man and his Maker are here; and you would be none other than this man, if you would subordinate the fleshly perceptions to the spiritual sense and the source of being.”

When we indulge in thoughts of “I want this and I think that I do this,” we are getting in God’s way. When we indulge in self-will, of course, we are in belief ruling God out of the picture. When we listen to His testimony, however, we begin to find our true selfhood.

I have always loved the many passages in the 119th Psalm in which the writer speaks of God’s testimonies. May I read several of them: “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies.” We too can rejoice as we listen only to the spiritual sense testimony in regard to all things. Again: “I have kept thy testimonies.” As we keep His testimonies in our hearts we see reality and experience eternal peace. Further on we read: “Thy testimonies are my delight and my counselors.” As we let God’s testimony as to Himself and His creation present Itself in consciousness, wonderful things take place. Then we always know just what to do and how to do it. Or take this statement: “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.” As we meditate on the spiritual things of God, we are letting Him shine through and in this manner complete spiritual understanding is manifest. “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.” As we let God testify in our consciousness as to who and what we are, we certainly find that divine heritage of peace, health, supply and complete freedom.

What are God’s testimonies? They are what God is testifying in regard to Himself. Take, for instance, the familiar passage from the 46th Psalm: “Be still and know that I am God.” Here we certainly have God testifying in regard to Himself. This is not man bearing testimony about God, but God witnessing the fact that He is all. Let us meditate for a few minutes on this important passage. Be still — Let every false sense of existence be silent. And know that I am God — know that the only being there is is infinite good.

Now put one of the synonyms for God in that passage and see how it sounds. Be still and know that I am Love. The only being there is has the nature of Love. Right where you are, all that is there is divine Love making Itself manifest and you are that manifestation. As we accept this testimony of divine Love, of Its allness we find ourself as a very loving creature.

Be still and know that I am Truth. Does this mean that you are the sum total of Truth, that you are God? Certainly not, but it does mean that right where you are, all that is there is Truth expressing Itself, and that you are that expression. Error cannot express itself, does not express itself. Error has no being, no existence. Be still and know that I am Truth. Isn’t that a wonderful Christian Science treatment?

Be still and know that I am Soul. What do you get out of that idea? Soul is truly expressing Itself in all beauty and harmony and immortality and the result is man. There is no corporeal sense of things to express itself. The only sense of being there is, is spiritual. The I am is not a bodily sense of things. Be still and know that I am Soul. As we listen to this spiritual sense testimony we find ourself as the spiritual idea of God that has not a single element of error.

Be still and know that I am Spirit. Does this mean that man is Spirit? No. This is not man testifying as to himself. It is God testifying as to HIS nature. It is God that says, “I am Spirit.” The only I am is Spirit. Therefore matter, the opposite of Spirit, has no I am, no being, no existence. That is why matter cannot talk, cannot testify about anything, cannot feel, cannot be. Right where you are, Spirit is testifying as to Its allness and the result is man, the result is you, the perfect manifestation of the Spirit of God. It is something along this line that our Leader is thinking when she writes: “Become conscious for a single moment that life and intelligence are purely spiritual, neither in nor of matter, and the body will then utter no complaints.”

Be still and know that I am Life. Let us never think in terms of a mortal sense of selfhood, a dying sense of manhood. Let us rejoice that all there is is divine Life. This perfect Life is manifesting Itself and the result is man; the result is you. Be still and know that I am Life. Death has no existence, no being. It cannot manifest itself. It cannot be experienced. It cannot be, for Life is the only being, the only I am. No one and no thing ever died. All creation lives forever.

Be still and know that I am Mind. Mind is all there is. The only being there is, is mental. Our Leader says, “All is infinite Mind and Its infinite manifestation.” There is no ignorance. Right where you are supreme intelligence is expressing Itself and you are that expression. Be still and know that I am divine Mind. Mortal mind has no existence. It cannot express itself, it cannot talk. The carnal mind has no being. Wrong thinking does not exist. There is no physical being. The only I am is mental. Be still and know that Mind is God, and that there is no other consciousness or mind.

Be still and know that I am Principle. Being is never a personal sense of things. Being is divine Principle in action, in operation. The result is man, the full and perfect manifestation of divine Principle. There can never be any lack of Principle, no lack of order, no lack of neatness, cleanliness, no lack of harmony. Be still and know that Principle is always in operation in your experience and that of everyone. Principle works and you are the result.

Now in all this discussion we have not been talking about the testimony of man. We have not been dealing with the human arguments of treatment.

We have been considering what God testifies in regard to Himself. And we have been willing to be this testimony of God, this divine witnessing.

In Isaiah we read: “Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord.” I used to think that this meant that we should bear witness unto God, that we should testify as to His power, His presence and His glory. Now I see that that is not what is meant at all. It means that God bears witness unto Himself, as to His presence, power and glory and we are that witness, that testimony. We are the evidence of God’s power and presence. We are the proof of His existence.

It is always Mind rather than man that bears witness. But man is the witness and evidence.

I hope from this discussion you are getting a better sense of our Leader’s statement on page 411 of the textbook: “If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the Truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific way, and the healing is instantaneous.” Just previous to this passage Mrs. Eddy is talking about man being the witness to truth through mental arguments because he needs these for reminders. But she indicates that some time we must all graduate from such an approach to the realization that Truth bears witness to Itself and that we are the result; the perfect harmonious man is the result. We must start with God rather than with man. We must start with Truth rather than arguments.

Let us always maintain the concept of a very active God, a divine force that is doing something, a God who is bearing witness to His own infinite perfection, and therefore to the perfection of all creation. When we have man arguing, doing all the testifying, we hide the truth of a very active God who is doing all. Stay awake on this point. Never have an inactive Mind, a slovenly Soul, a lazy Life, an apathetic Spirit, a lukewarm Love, a limpid Truth, or a dead Principle. Some scientists are losing their power to heal because they think it is their arguments that do the healing work. It is God only that heals. It is God only that reveals the perfection of man and the universe. It is divine Mind expressing Itself that brings about all the inspiration there is. Through this divine inspiration comes all health. Examine your thought often on this subject to make sure that you are not leaving a very active sense of God out of your treatments. It must be God that is doing the work.

Now by these absolute statements of Truth we do not mean to give the impression that man is absorbed in God. By no means. To absorb means “to suck in.” Man is never sucked into God. He is the son, the offspring, the outcome of a very living God. He is that which comes forth from God, not that which enters God. Another definition of absorb means “to swallow up.” Man is never swallowed up by deity. As far as the divine Mind is concerned, every thought is outward, upward, and heavenward. Divine Mind never turns inward. This divine Mind is manifesting Itself and this outward manifestation is man.

The word absorb also means “to cause to disappear or lose identity.” When the mortal sense of things is silenced and you just let God, Life, Truth and Love express Itself, you do not lose your identity. You do not disappear, but instead your true selfhood as God’s infinite expression appears more vividly. When you stop thinking in terms of “me, me, me, me,” and rather meditate on the nature of the supreme being, you do not in this manner lose your identity or individuality, but rather you find your true identity as the child, the offspring of God.

One could not be absorbed in the true deity even if he wanted to be, for God sucks nothing in, swallows nothing up, but continually expresses all. It is only a mortal material sense of things that would claim to absorb. You will remember our Leader’s statement: “Absorbed in material selfhood we reflect but faintly the eternal and divine.”

Refuse to be absorbed in a material sense of selfhood. Treat yourself daily on this subject. Refuse to be absorbed in material things such as your house, your television, your money, your car, what you wear, what you eat. Refuse to be absorbed in your business. Don’t let it swallow you up. Be reflection; maintain your identity. Don’t let politics suck you in. Don’t even let church work absorb you and take all your time.

Take your stand. Definitely be a law unto yourself that you are never absorbed in anything. You are always reflection. When one is absorbed in something, the reflection of God would seem to disappear. Don’t be absorbed in making money, or you will lose your identity. Don’t be absorbed in rearing a family. Don’t let your children or your grandchildren absorb all your time. God is expressing Himself freely all the time and you are that expression.

If you will think about it you will see that all sickness is absorption in a physical sense of things, thinking about matter as substance, allowing a material sense of things to dominate thought. Fear is absorption in the false concept that there is an evil force that can hurt or harm. It is the contemplation of some phase of evil as powerful. Refuse to be absorbed in evil. Let Love express Itself as man instead. Lack and limitation is absorption in the false concept that good is limited and that man should try to get all of it that he can for his security. Don’t be absorbed in trying to get things. Be reflection — give, give, give. Birth is the belief that somewhere along the line man got absorbed into matter. Refuse to be born. Death is absorption in the material sense of life as having beginning and end. You never have to be swallowed up by death. In fact, there is no death to swallow you up. Sin is absorption in evil as real and pleasant. Self-consciousness and timidity is absorption in a false limited sense of man. Communism and all totalitarian concepts of government would attempt to absorb man into the state.

Declare vigorously daily that you are never absorbed in anything. Right where you are, and everywhere, God is expressing Himself and you are that boundless expression, emanation and offspring of this living and active God.

You will find these ideas very helpful when giving a Christian Science treatment. Don’t be a man or a woman giving a treatment. Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that right where you are, the patient is, and everywhere, all that is there is Truth expressing Itself. Love is making Itself manifest. Mind is unfolding Its perfect ideas. All that is going on is that the Word of God, the Christ, is expressing Itself. That Word is quick and powerful. Don’t think of your metaphysical work as your treatment. Think of the treatment as God bearing witness to His own perfection. This Word of God never fails to accomplish Its mission. This Word of God never returns without fruitage. Truth always prospers in the good that It intends to do.

When you regard your metaphysical work as your treatment, you hedge it about with all sorts of limitations; but when you think of it as the very Word of God, your work then takes on the infinite divine nature in both power and presence. A true Christian Science treatment has nothing to do with a limited mortal sense of either patient or practitioner. In fact a treatment is a law of extinction to any limited false sense of things.

Look over your treatments. Can you truthfully say that all that is going on is that Truth is bearing witness to Itself in regard to the situation? If you can honestly say, “Yes,” then it is a good treatment and endowed with infinite power. You have to have the allness of God in there doing all the work. The Bible puts it this way: “Unless the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.” It is never you — it is the Word of God of which you are conscious that does the good works.

What we really need to do is to get on the side lines and applaud God for the wonderful work he is doing right where we are and where the patient is. As we do this we have that wonderful impersonal sense of things and we have a marvelous active sense of God. That is what is going on in the 19th chapter of Revelation — Revelation 19:1-7. You can see how these many people were applauding God from the side line for the wonderful work He was doing. I love that line — “Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

When you are applauding God for the wonderful work He is doing on your mental premises and the mental premises of the patient, you are in the process of giving a good Christian Science treatment. On the other hand, when you indulge in a lot of self-condemnation and criticism, when you allow self-pity, or pity for others to be present in your thought, you are giving the opposite of a Christian Science treatment. For you are virtually saying that something besides God is working or you are saying that God is not doing a very good job. When you complain, you might think that you are criticizing yourself or another but you are really finding fault with God. You are literally expressing the thought that the heavenly Father is not doing a very good Job.

On the other hand, when you stand on the sidelines and applaud God for the wonderful work He is doing right where you are and where another is, you are truly worshipping God, you are praying a wonderful prayer, you are doing what is expected of you in metaphysical work. I hope that all of you will get your “Halleluiahs” out of the closet, dust them off and use them a lot in your practice of Christian Science. You know what the word “Halleluiah” means of course — “God be praised.” Literally clap your hands for the marvelous things God is doing. God is right where you are and everywhere. He is expressing Himself and you are that expression.

All of you have attended an athletic contest of some sort — football, basketball or baseball. You know the sort of attitude you have when your team seems to be losing. You look all unhappy. You ask what is with the team down there. You wonder what has gotten into them. You are critical of the way they are playing the game. Maybe you even think that you would like to get down there and show them a few things. You are crabbed, disappointed and discouraged. You are worried that they are going to lose the game. You may even be resentful and you are hurt because the referee decided something against your team. You are upset and disgusted. You may even wish that you had not wasted the time to come and see this game. Something is wrong and you know it. You certainly are not applauding them. And of course this negative thinking does not help them in the least.

Now that is not the mental attitude to have when you are giving yourself or another a Christian Science treatment. And yet how often people say miserable things about themselves and others and then wonder why things do not work out well. They are really saying these miserable things about their Maker. Many individuals with problems allow themselves to become unhappy. They sandbag themselves as it were. They wonder what is wrong with them. They condemn themselves and others. They allow themselves to become crabbed, disappointed and unhappy. They are really resentful because God does not do more for them or do it in a better way. They say a lot of erroneous things about what is going on right where they are. They almost blaspheme God for the poor job He is doing. Then they wonder why more harmony and perfection does not show up, why more supply and health does not make itself manifest in their experience. How can all these good things show up when they are not praying, when they are really mentally malpracticing on God. They are virtually saying, “Right where I am, error is expressing itself. Right where I am mortal mind is having a field day and I am the result. Right where I am, death is knocking at the door, and I am in the midst of it all. Right where I am hatred and resentment are expressing themselves and I am that expression. Right here material sense holds sway and I am the swaying thereof. Right here chaos and inharmony are expressing themselves and I am that expression. Right here matter appears to be supreme and is dominating my life it is expressing itself discordantly and I am the result.” There is certainly no health or healing in such negative thinking.

There is no reverence for the heavenly Father. There is no applauding Him from the sidelines. There is no halleluiah.

Now going back to the athletic contest. Think for a minute of your attitude when your team is winning. Remember how you smile all over. See how you jump up and down with glee. Recall how you shout halleluiah. Observe how you clap your hands in sincere applause. You shout, you admire, you praise, you express gratitude. I can hear you say: “Oh what a team. They are wonderful. Look at that power. There is nothing that can stop them. They are clever, they have their wits about them. Such coordination.” You girls might even be saying that you could hug every man on the team. You are not a bit worried that your team is going to lose. You are confident of victory. Every man down there is perfect in your sight. You do not feel sorry for yourself or the team. You are thrilled with everything. You do not feel like cursing at all. You just feel like praising God and thanking Him for the marvelous victory. You are certainly not apathetic. You are alive, thrilled and wide awake. You really feel like shouting “Halleluiah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

Now that is our mental attitude when giving a Christian Science treatment. We are on the sidelines watching the most wonderful thing in the universe take place. We are watching God demonstrate His omnipotence. We cannot help but shout in the words of the 98th Psalm: “Oh sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.” God is always winning. He is always manifesting His omnipotence. Truth is always the victor as our Leader says. We are smiling all over because we know that perfection is being manifested. We can surely shout Halleluiah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth for we know that right where we are and where the patient is, right there, God is expressing Himself. We know what is going on. We are certainly applauding God for the wonderful work He is doing. We know that He does not need our applause, but we cannot help ourselves we are go happy about everything. Did you ever meet a more wonderful God? Such coordination! Such love! Such intelligence! Such power! We certainly love our God which is doing such wonderful things for us and for all. We cannot help but embrace Him with all our heart and soul and mind. With such a God there is certainly nothing to be afraid of. There is no force that can be compared to His power. There no presence that can displace Him. You feel good all over because you know that Truth is victorious. You do not feel sorry for yourself, your patient, or anyone, for there certainly isn’t anything to feel sorry about since God, infinite good is right here and is manifesting Itself. And just to think that you are that manifestation. Don’t you feel like blessing God all over. You are thrilled to have such a wonderful God that cares for you and for all. There is nothing to be compared to Him. He is all-Love and manifests Himself in every loving word and deed. He is all-Truth and manifests Himself in everything that is right, just and good. He is all-Mind and expresses Himself in wonderful ideas, thoughts and concepts. is all-Life and reveals Himself in glorious activity, growth and unfoldments. He is all-Spirit and is constantly evidencing a most wonderful attitude toward all things — even this wonderful attitude of real prayer of applauding Him. He is all-Soul and exhibits Himself in beauty, loveliness, inspiration, joy, freedom, and perfection. He is all-Principle representing Himself in harmony, order, peace, comfort, and boundless bliss.

This is our God. He is constantly getting Himself the victory. Isn’t He wonderful. Isn’t He glorious. Isn’t it marvelous the way He is constantly revealing Himself in all harmonious being right where we are. Is not His being, His power, His glory, something to be applauded with all our heart and soul and mind — with all that is in us?




Mrs. Eddy’s Revelation

In considering John’s Revelation, I know that you see clearly that there are two elements to be found therein. First the false claims of evil to be handled, and secondly the absolute truth with which to handle them. John was working out the problem of good and evil, seeing the nothingness of evil and the allness of good. If he had just presented absolute truth, such as is found in the last two chapters of his Apocalypse, his would not have been a great document. Every great moral treatise deals with the working out of the problem of evil. The whole Bible is full of the claims of error to handle and the absolute truth with which to handle them. In the Ten Commandments for instance, we find claims as to how some people would seem to get away from perfection. In the two commandments of our Master we have the remedy — the absolute truth as it were.

Mr. M., let us take a Bible passage. You tell me whether this is absolute truth or a claim to handle. “Ye are of your father the devil, the lusts of your father ye will do.” What is that? Of course, that is not the absolute truth. That is a false claim that everyone needs to handle — the claim that man is devilish, or that we all have a little devil in us. You have all had to handle that in some form or other in your experience. But Jesus certainly did not expect us to take that as absolute truth. Yet that is what some orthodox Christians have done. They have said that every word in the Bible is absolute truth, and so if Jesus called us the sons of the devil, we must be just that. This was the farthest from his intent. He wanted us to handle properly the claim that man is the son of evil, the offspring of the devil, by knowing that he is the son of God.

Let us take another statement of the Master. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places.”

Mrs. K., is that the absolute truth? Of course not. Jesus did not intend that anyone should take that as the absolute truth. He was bringing out that this was a false claim in regard to the universe, and he was telling us to handle it — to reverse it by knowing the Truth. How? By lifting our thought and by not being troubled. Specifically, he said, “See that ye be not troubled.” And then, “Lift up your heads.” We are to lift up our thought to the absolute truth that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the kingdom of God is within us.

The false claims of a turbulent world have to be handled, and Jesus is showing us how to do this until every belief in evil is eliminated from the experience of men.

For you to take every statement of the Bible as absolute truth is to get yourself into a great deal of trouble. Mrs. Eddy did not read the Bible this way. She was always seeking to get the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture. She showed us for instance, that the first chapter of Genesis was the absolute truth, and that the second and third chapters contained the lie, the false claim, that we needed to handle in order to find, use, and experience the absolute truth. When the second account of creation is read in this way we can get a great deal of inspiration out of it. In my first Association I showed you that there were thirty-nine false claims in this second account of Genesis to be handled.

Now the fact is that every great document includes not only the claims to be handled, but the absolute truth with which to handle them. I have been interested in listening carefully to political speeches with this in mind. Last Spring President Eisenhower gave a speech over the radio on the subject of our national budget. He did not mince matters as to the needs of our government during the next year. He took them right out in the open for us to look at them. Here were the claims on the government to handle. But then he also talked about our rich heritage of spiritual gifts. He talked about our opportunity to help the world find lasting peace. He spoke about the importance of maintaining our spiritual sense of values. Now if he had just talked all the way through his speech about our monetary needs, it would not have been a good speech, and would have brought to the listener only a sense of discouragement. On the other hand, if he had just talked in terms of the absolute — about how divine Love would meet all our needs etc., that would not have been a good speech, and would have failed to make the absolute truth available in our prayers.

Take one of history’s most famous speeches — Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Here we find the same two important elements. First, Lincoln gave the truth “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Then he takes up the claim “Now we are engaged in a great Civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” In this second part he is taking up the claim that such idealism as was to be found in our Bill of Rights could not last. As you read the rest of the address, you will note the same two elements.

Now as it is with all great documents, so it is with the writings of our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. On every page there are to be found two things. First, the claims of error that need to be handled, and secondly the absolute truth with which to handle them. If the textbook had been just made up of absolute abstract statements of the allness of God, it would be of little practical value to humanity, because it would fail to show how to apply this absolute truth to the solution of human problems. On the other hand, if the textbook were just made up of the claims of evil that needed to be handled, without the absolute truth with which to handle them, the document would be worthless, because it would leave such an impression of the presence and power and reality of the claims of evil, that one would be discouraged and uninspired. Many old orthodox sermons included this mistake. The minister was so busy talking about the claims of sin, that there was little true expounding of the positive truth about God and the universe and man. Now we must read our Leader’s writings intelligently, the way she expected us to read them. We must see that her writings, like the Bible, include absolute truth and the claims we need to handle.

Sometimes it has been said that our textbook and the Bible contain the absolute truth, and relative truth. There was an article in the periodicals recently that brought out this point. I used to put it this way myself. In fact, in my first and second class I read a paper on the subject of The Absolute and the Relative, but I do not like that approach any more. During this year’s study I have seen clearly that there is no such thing as relative truth. Truth is either absolute, or it is not Truth. There is no relative truth in the science of numbers. There is no relative truth in the science of Life. Something is either true or it is not. The statement of our Master quoted before “Ye are of your father the devil,” is either the absolute truth or it is not. It cannot be relatively true for then it would be relatively of God, of eternal Truth. But when you say that such a statement as we have just quoted is a claim, you will never be confused or misunderstood. I hope that every one of you will from today on adopt the term “Absolute Truth and the claim of error to handle.”

One teacher in our cause has said a lot about our textbook as having many relative statements of truth in it. This has been misunderstood and there have been some who thought that he was criticizing the textbook. But if you say that the textbook presents absolute truth and the claims to handle, you will never get into trouble. You will also see from this approach that there are no contradictions in our textbook. We are going to take up a number of passages from the textbook today and analyze them, and see what is the truth and what is the claim to handle.

Mrs. W., our Leader says on page 411 of the textbook that “the procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance or sin.” Two pages farther on, on page 415 she says “Immortal Mind is the only cause; therefore disease is neither a cause nor an effect.” Then two pages farther she says that “Neither disease itself, sin, nor fear has the power to cause disease or a relapse.” Now in the first passage quoted it is brought out that disease is the effect of something — fear, ignorance or sin. In the second and third passages it brings out that disease cannot be the effect of anything. It would look, on the surface, as though there were a contradiction in the textbook. What do you think about it?

That is right. The first of course is the claim. It is self-evident that not only Christian Scientists but many doctors and almost everyone claims that fear can and does cause a great deal of sickness. This has to be handled. Mrs. Eddy says that, we should always begin our treatment by allaying the fear of the patient. We must handle this claim with the absolute truth of the second statement that I quoted that immortal Mind is the only cause, and therefore disease is neither a cause nor an effect. Can you now see that there are no contradictions in these statements when you see that the one presents the claim and the other the absolute truth? It is the same with the claim that sin causes disease. The world has thought this for a long time. It is also self-evident that the people have thought about ignorance as causing disease. That is, in not maintaining the proper sanitary conditions and so forth. These claims must be counteracted with the absolute truth that, since God is All, in reality there can be no fear, ignorance or sin, and therefore there can be no disease.

Now don’t be unhappy because Mrs. Eddy included these false claims in the textbook showing us how to handle them. Be grateful that she stated the claims and told us what to do about them.

Now let us take another passage as found on page 57 of the textbook. Here we read “Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even though it meet no return.” Mrs. J., will you comment upon that statement? Is that an absolute truth, or a claim? With careful thought you will see that it includes both. The first is absolute in that it says that affection is not poured forth vainly. The second phrase “even though it meet no return” is certainly not the absolute truth, but the claim. For if Love is not poured forth vainly it has a return by that very statement. But every one of you has had to meet this claim at one time or another, in which you love others but they do not seem to reciprocate. Now you cannot ignore this claim nor run away from it. You have to face it and apply the Truth of the first phrase that Love is not poured forth vainly. Love truly is reflected in Love.

Mrs. M., now about the next sentence, “Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it.” Sure, that is the absolute truth, even the kind that denies every lie of dislike.

Mr. D., how about the next line of this paragraph — “The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affection, and scatter them to the winds.” Is that absolute truth, or a claim to be handled? Of course, you see there is no truth in that statement. It is a very prevalent lie however, that husbands and wives can be separated by death or divorce, that parents and children can be separated by the belief of war, that friends can be separated by the wintry blasts of earth, called misunderstanding and ignorance. Every practitioner is confronted with these claims or arguments every day in almost every case.

What are we going to do about it? Say, “Yes that’s right, because Mrs. Eddy says so on page 57 of the textbook?” Of course not. She did not mean for us to believe that the wintry blasts of earth could really uproot, the flowers of affection, but she meant for us to handle this lie vigorously, knowing that God never made any wintry blasts of earth to separate or harm man, and God made all that was made.

I know of a case where a woman took that passage as absolute truth, rather than as a claim to handle. Her husband became ill. Instead of denying that there was a force that could separate them, she accepted the thought that probably this experience was coming to her so that her thought would be more closely united with God. The husband passed on. It was at this time that I knew about the case, and I saw what the woman had done with that passage.

Mrs. W., how about the next phrase: “but this severance of fleshy ties serves to unite thought more closely to God?” Sure, if you’re going to think about your ties as fleshly, they will be severed, because there’s nothing eternal about flesh or fleshly ties. But if you think about your ties as ties of Love and Spirit, and mutual holy interests — ties of Truth — then there is nothing to be severed. Then your thought is already united with God, and does not have to be severed from something in order to unite it more closely with the heavenly Father.

Mr. A., let’s take the next phrase, “for Love supports the struggling heart.” Is that absolute or is it a claim? Of course, the struggling heart concept is the claim. “Love supports” — that is the absolute truth. Love supports man and thus reveals that there is no such thing as a struggling heart. That of course is the remedy for heart disease. In your practice every one of you will be called upon to handle the argument “there is a struggling heart” somewhere. You handle it of course by knowing that Love supports all of its ideas.

The next phrase says “until it (the struggling heart) ceases to sigh over the world.” Mrs. P., is that absolute truth? Of course, there is nothing to sigh over. But that is a claim to handle. Many people are sighing over the world, and your work as a practitioner is to help them to stop sighing and start rejoicing. The paragraph closes with the statement that is close to absolute truth, “and begins to unfold its wings for heaven.”

Now you see that paragraph included many claims to handle and much absolute truth with which to handle them. So it is with every page of our textbook, and when you carefully analyze these many statements, as many of you have done as indicated by your papers, you really get down to the meat of Christian Science.

Some of you have asked how you can tell absolute truth and its differentiation from claims. Well that is very easy. The whole of Christian Science is built on the statement from Isaiah: “The Lord he is God, and there is none else beside Him.” The absolute truth is that there is one God and He is infinite. He is all; there is none else. If any statement brings out that good is all — that is absolute truth. If any statement indicates the existence of something besides God, infinite good, it is a claim to be denied and to be replaced with the absolute facts of existence.

Here I’d like to take up another passage from the textbook which has troubled some of you, found on page 61 where Mrs. Eddy speaks about “Propensities inherited” She says, “If some fortuitous circumstance places promising children in the arms of gross parents often these beautiful children early droop and die, like tropical flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance they live to become parents in their turn, they may reproduce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loathsome wreck?”

Mrs. L., is that the absolute truth? Of course not. It is in complete disagreement with the statement on page 412 of the textbook where we read: “The Scientist knows that there can be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man.” But there is no contradiction at all when you see that the latter statement is the absolute truth and the former is the claim to handle. Now that there is a claim of heredity to handle in almost every case is self-evident. Almost every disease or sin has an element which would indicate that there has been something inherited besides that which is good. We cannot ignore this claim. We must handle it with the absolute truth that there is one Father-Mother God, and that we all inherit infinite good from this divine Mind. Of course you can all see very clearly that there is much less of the belief of a bad inheritance to handle if parents are heavenly minded, for then the true Father-Mother God shines through the experience vividly.

On page 64 our Leader says, “Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Christianity.” Mrs. W., is that the absolute truth or is that the claim to handle? Of course, that is the false claim in regard to marriage. What we need to know for ourself and for our patients is that primitive Christianity rules out pride, envy and jealousy. The repetition of the statement that “Pride, envy, or jealousy is the master of ceremonies ruling out primitive Christianity” would never heal a single marriage relationship. But the reversal of this claim will bring healing in every case. Here let us turn to an interesting and popular statement, from the Preface of the textbook xi, beginning line 9. Our Leader states: “The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation.”

Mr. H., is that an absolute statement or is it a claim? You can see that here the human consciousness is presented as a sort of neutral ground containing sin and sickness, and then divine Principle comes along and behold evil vanishes! The false claim is that the human consciousness — that is, the consciousness of man — contains good and evil; but through Christian Science it can be made good.

Here our Leader goes on to say: “Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or ‘God with us,’ — a divine influence ever present in human consciousness.

. .” Mr. H., if the divine influence is ever present in human consciousness, how much sin and disease is even temporarily there? You can see that here is the absolute truth that clears up the whole subject. It is with this absolute truth that healings take place.

On page 3 of the textbook I received much inspiration from a very familiar passage. Mrs. Eddy asks, “Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work?” I used to think that the answer was “No,” that it was up to us to apply the Principle. But a more careful reading shows you that you do not ask God to do something because He has already done it. If someone had just made a beautiful chocolate cake with fudge frosting on it an inch thick, would you come and ask him to make a chocolate cake for you when it is already sitting right there on the table? Our Leader says here “His work is done.” What we need to do is to rejoice about the wonderful work that God has completed. That is the way to apply the rule and receive the blessing. We must not allow ourselves to accept the impression from this passage that we have an inactive Principle off on the shelf some place or hidden in some book that we have to use. We do not really use Principle. We allow the Principle of all goodness to use us.

The first chapter on “Prayer” shows us what true communion with God is and how it is accomplished. Also in this chapter we find many false beliefs and claims about prayer that we need to handle effectively and to remove from our experience.

In the second chapter, “Atonement and Eucharist,” the revelation shows us what communion is not. But Mrs. Eddy does not throw out all religious beliefs and customs, but seeks to arrive at the spiritual idea that can be accepted by scientific Christians, and that can be helpful. In this chapter there are many false claims to be denied and replaced with the absolute truth. Take this passage for instance: “Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal belief.” Taken literally one would assume that this meant that Jesus knew all evil and therefore was unlike God. For we know that God is aware only of good, and man is His likeness. What Mrs. Eddy is really saying is that Jesus knew the error of mortal belief to be nothing, for in the next line we read that by his rejection of error, that is, seeing it as nothing, we are healed.

Let us here examine a series of false claims to be found on page 22 of the textbook. Our Leader says, “Wait for your reward.” This is one of the most important claims to handle — the claim that the rewards of God, or His blessings, are not ever present. Deny this vigorously. We never have to wait for God’s love. It is always present with us. The next claim she brings out is this one, “be not weary in well doing.” Deny vigorously that you or anyone else can be weary in any cause at all. Next comes the claim that there might be “fearful odds.” She says “If your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race.” There are no such things as “fearful odds.” There is never any bad luck. Reward is always as present as divine opportunity is present. Handle the claim that either you or others can go back to error or become a sluggard in the race. You must never just read a passage such as the one we are discussing; you must do something about it. You must deny vigorously the lies that are implied and plead God’s allness.

On page 28 we read “Error repeats itself.” Mrs. H., how about that statement? Is that the Truth, or a false claim? Of course, error never expressed itself in the first place, and so it cannot repeat itself. You all know, however, how much people talk about history repeating itself, and how the prophets and disciples of today are encountering the same kind of resistance as those of centuries ago. Don’t you accept it — we do not have to be persecuted.

There is one divine Mind that causes all its ideas to think in terms of appreciation and gratitude. This is the absolute truth. Refuse to be a martyr. Mrs. Eddy in Miscellaneous Writings says that the role of a martyr is but selfishness.

In this second chapter there is much about the birth, life, crucifixion and ascension of Christ Jesus. It is stated that Jesus was born into the flesh by a virgin birth, that he lived some thirty years in the flesh, that he was crucified and overcame death, and then ascended. Is this the absolute truth about Christ Jesus, Mrs. S.? Mr. B., do you believe in the virgin birth?

How many of you believe in the virgin birth? Here I would like to review a little of the material which we presented in the Association year before last.

Mr. F., what year did you move into the state of Russia? How long have you been a citizen of Russia? How long have you been governed by its laws, rules and regulations? When are you going to take a train or airplane out of Russia? Why are you not going to move out?

Mrs. C., what year were you born into a state of mortality? How long have you been in a material state of things? How long have you been governed by material laws, rules and regulations? When do you expect to die out of a state of mortality? When do you expect to ascend? Of course, you can never move out because you never moved in.

I have asked you all to go over these simple facts every day because if you believe in mortal birth, then you have to believe in a material state of things, out of which you will have to die or ascend sometime. You are then subject to all the laws, rules and regulations of mortality. To demonstrate immortality, we must stand in praiseful, prayerful awe of our immortality which means no beginning and no end, no birth and no death. There is no other way to show forth our immortality. Now let us apply these simple facts to the experience of the master Christian.

Mr. H., what year did our Master move into a state of mortality? Did he move into this state of mortality as the result of sexual intercourse, or by the action of the Holy Spirit? How long was he in a mortal, material state of things? How long was he governed by material laws, rules and regulations? When did he die out of a state of mortality? When did he ascend out of the state of mortality? Why could he neither die nor ascend out of the state of mortality?

Jesus once said “No man hath ascended up into heaven except he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Our Leader wrote in regard to these passages in No and Yes, page 36: “Jesus’ true and conscious being never left heaven for earth. It abode forever above, even while mortals believed it was here. He once spoke of himself (John iii. 13) as ‘the Son of man which is in heaven’ — remarkable words, as wholly opposed to the popular view of Jesus’ nature.”

The popular view even among Christian Scientists is that Jesus descended from the Father and was born into the flesh through the virgin Mary, and he lived in a state of mortality some thirty-three years, and then he finally ascended out of a state of mortality forty days after the crucifixion. But this is not the absolute truth. The fact is that his true and conscious being never left heaven for earth. Mr. R., when you moved into the state of Russia how did you do it — by airplane, submarine, or did you crawl under the fence? Did you enter of your own volition, or did someone push you in? Of course, you insist that you never moved in by any means whatsoever.

Mrs. S., when you moved into this state of mortality, did you come in as the result of sexual intercourse, or was yours a virgin birth? Of course, you too are insisting that you never moved into a state of mortality.

Mrs. K., how did you get into the state of Russia? Mr. S., how did you get into the state of mortality?

I hope that you can all see that both of the phrases, natural birth and virgin birth, are really solecisms in language because science teaches that there is no birth at all. There is no beginning or ending for man, the spiritual idea of God. He dwells forever in the bosom of the Father.

Mrs. S., do Christian Scientists believe in the immaculate conception of Jesus? We certainly do, for the immaculate conception means that Jesus had an immaculate concept of himself. Mary also had an immaculate concept of him. We know what the word immaculate means — spotless, flawless, without blemish. This is the way that Mary thought about Jesus. This is the way that Jesus thought about himself. He never spoke of his birth as either material or virgin, because he knew that “Before Abraham was, I Am.” He knew that he was never born into the flesh. That is why he could demonstrate the complete dominion over all things. On page 31 of the textbook our Leader says, “Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh.” Why? Because he knew that there were no such ties. He lived forever an idea in the Mind of God.

Mr. M., what kind of a concept of yourself do you have? Do you have an immaculate concept? Do you think of yourself as faultless, flawless, perfect, even the very image and likeness of God? Do you see man as without spot or blemish, pure, holy, whole and free?

The immaculate conception has nothing to do with the false claim as to how they say we got into the non-existent state of mortality that we’re not in. The immaculate conception has only to do with the sort of concept of man that we are entertaining of ourself and of others.

You will remember that during class we discussed very carefully the passage on page 478 and 479 of the textbook where our Leader says, “Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for man is not mortal, ‘neither indeed can be’; man is immortal.” That means that man was never born and can never die. Then our Leader goes on to say “If a child is the offspring of physical sense and not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spiritual origin.”

Mrs. E., do you have a material or spiritual origin?

Mrs. C., do your children have a material or spiritual origin? We must see man as having spiritual origin if we are to practice Christian Science. We must entertain the immaculate concept of everyone. Our Leader goes on to say in the same passage, “On the contrary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and material; it must be immortal and spiritual.”

Did Jesus proceed from the Father? He did. Divine Mind was certainly his source. Then he must be spiritual and immortal.

Mr. F., are you the offspring of God? Then you too must be immortal and spiritual — without birth and without any claim of mortality.

No one else is going decide what your origin is. You alone decide that. You can accept the simple truth that you too come forth from the Father, and in so doing you can find peace and heaven.

Now I know that none of you will be so foolish as to go forth and argue that Christian Scientists do not believe in the Virgin-birth. You will be misunderstood by 999 out of a thousand, and you will literally have your head chopped off, and you’re liable to have my head chopped off too. What we do not believe in is birth — period. For the only true and real man there is no birth, maturity, decay or death, and we are that real man. We know that the living and eternal God is forever expressing Himself, and therefore the result is man — pure, holy, immaculate and free. We know that what is true about our Master is true about us, for he is our elder brother. We have the same origin as Christ Jesus, for God is the origin of all. He is the source and condition of our being, just as He was the source and condition of the Being of our Master. It is important to be clear about these matters, because in many cases there is a belief that man was born into matter under more or less unfavorable conditions. Once you see clearly that man — that is, all men — have a pure, immaculate, spiritual origin, then you can see clearly and there cannot be any effects but those which are good and harmonious.

Now before we get off the subject I want to make sure that there is no misapprehension of this matter. I do not question the Virgin-birth any more than I question the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as events of human history. Of course, this happened according to the human sense of things. But in absolute reality there was never any departure from nor return to harmony. You will remember our Leader’s statement on page 470 of the textbook: “The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.” According to the eternal history, neither Christ Jesus, you, nor I ever left heaven for earth. We were never born into the flesh, neither are we in it, nor are we subject to its laws, rules or regulations. Furthermore, we cannot move out of the flesh and back into God either through death or ascension, because as spiritual ideas we have never been in the flesh.

Here I would like to say a few words about a passage on page 66 of the textbook. There was a time when I avoided this passage, because I did not think it was in harmony with the Science of Being as taught by our Leader, but then one day I dug deeper and found, as usual, that the passage was alright — I had just not read it correctly. It is the statement that “Trials are proofs of God’s care.” This seemed to be a complete contradiction of the passage of our Leader: “There should be painless progress, attended by life and peace instead of discord and death.” Then one day I saw that the whole paragraph was contingent on the first sentence where our Leader said, “Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff.” If we lean on a material staff we shall have trials. But the first line of the textbook says that “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings.” In other words, if we are really depending upon God we have no trials. If we depend upon something besides God, we have trials. Our Leader goes on to say that this material staff is “a broken reed, which pierces the heart.” I am sure we have all experienced that in seeing that materiality does not give true satisfaction.

Then she says, “We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity.” That is, when we are thinking of our joy and prosperity as material. She says, “Sorrow is salutary.” That is, if we have been leaning on a material staff, we shall find sorrow, and it will be good for us to find sorrow. Next, she says, “Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom.” That is, if we have been leaning on a material staff, we shall have trials and tribulations, for we have to see the unreality of matter, the material staff, before we can really find the joys of Spirit. Then comes the line, “Trials are proofs of God’s care.” That is, if we have been depending on money, medicine and materiality, it is right for us to awaken and lean on God. There is no heaven to be found in the material sense of support. It is right that we should all discover that the way of materiality is a dead-end street. God ordains it that way and we must find our real happiness and joy in Spirit, in Love and in Truth. Now I love that passage, but I am very careful never to say that I am grateful for trials, because what I would virtually be saying then is, “Look at me folks, I am one who leans on a material staff.” Let us all lean upon the sustaining infinite, and then we shall find blessings, and never be tempted to be grateful for trials.

Mr. F., on page 96 of the textbook our Leader writes, “This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces.” Is this an absolute statement or a claim to be hand-led? Of course, this is the claim. I am sure that you will all admit with me that this claim is one that needs to be handled today. It needs to be handled vigorously. But are we going to go on throughout eternity saying, “This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces”? Of course not. The truth which we declare will change all this, and the conflict will be seen as nothing.

On page 63 of the textbook our Leader says, “Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the rights of the two sexes.” But things have changed. This is no longer a claim. Women in America at least, are just as free as men. Just so as we do our proper work in Science, the claim of world conflict will be handled and silenced.

Here I would like to say a word about animal magnetism, mental malpractice and false theology. This is certainly a false claim that needs to be handled. In her early edition of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy had much to say about this claim, even calling the chapter in her early editions “Demonology.” When she brought out the revised edition in about 1895, many Christian Science students were eager to buy a new copy, thinking that she would have a lot more to say about mental malpractice and what we should do about it. But instead of giving them a lot more, she cut the chapter down from 145 pages to 7 pages; but she never indicated that it was not a claim to handle. Some Scientists make too much of it, but some are not handling this claim daily as they should. I have asked you all to be obedient, to our Leader’s admonition and protect yourself daily from mental aggressive suggestions, by realizing first that they have no power, then no presence and no reality. Science teaches that you should realize daily that no one can think of you except as the one divine Mind gives him to think. Every day we must realize that whenever anyone thinks of us, of our family, of our church, there arises in consciousness a host of angels protecting both our thought and theirs. Those of you who have been doing this work religiously and regularly have found things running smoothly. Some of you, through carelessness have been neglecting such intelligent daily mental work, and you have found some troubles. Some of you have wanted to take a Pollyanna attitude, that there is no need for the correct daily protective work. I cannot admonish you too sincerely to be obedient to the Manual of The Mother Church on this point, if you desire to receive all the blessings that are available.

Some of you have even given the impression to outsiders that I have not insisted that you do proper mental work along this line daily. This is unfair to me, to the Association, and to Christian Science. I know that you will all go away from this Association with the resolve to realize daily that mental malpractice, and aggressive mental suggestion have no power, no presence and no reality. As you do this I am sure you will all be greatly blessed.

Here I would like to say a word about false theology. I wish that every one of you would see the motion picture that has just been released on the Life of Martin Luther. Mrs. Rieke and I saw a preview of it recently. As you see this picture you will have a great sense of gratitude for the work and sacrifices of religious reformers of the sixteenth century, such as Martin Luther who brought in the reformation and the religious freedoms we have today. If it were not for the noble stand of these people we might have a situation such as appears in Spain and Italy. In these countries you cannot even put a sign outside of a Protestant church, indicating that it is a church. There of course can be no advertising for lectures, church services or anything of that nature. In America the proponents of a false theology argue for tolerance and freedom of religious worship. In countries where false theology has a majority they will tolerate no tolerance. In the United States the Catholic population is about 25%. If the time should ever come that the Catholic population was in the majority in the United States, false theology would exhibit the sameintolerance that is manifested in Spain and Italy.

I am sure that this will not happen, but it will only be because you and other Christian Scientists will really handle the claim of false theology. You will rejoice daily that only the truth about God is attractive. You will demonstrate the effectiveness of scientific Christianity in your own experience, and in helping others. You will rejoice that scientific Christianity is loved and accepted of men. I do not believe that any of us have arrived at the place individually where we do not need to handle false theology daily, and to see its nothingness, and I am sure we have not arrived at the place collectively where we can put down the guard, and not be alert especially in political and educational matters. Just because we have taught you not to be afraid of false theology because it has no power, no presence or reality, please do not give the impression that you have not been taught to handle false theology. The fact is that you were taught to handle it in every case, for it is ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord; and a right understanding of Him restores harmony. All false theology is ignorance of God and man’s relationship to Him.

I also pleaded with each of you not to get in arguments with other Christian Scientists on the subject of false theology and how to handle it. If you do, you will bring to yourself and to this Association harm. Why don’t we all just mind our own business and let students of other Associations mind their own business? Let’s all work out our own salvation on this subject the way Mind gives it to us. If you give the impression that you are not daily handling false theology, before long people will say that you are not rightly taught, and then you will have trouble.

I think we have now covered enough of the false claims to be handled, and I am sure that as you read in your textbook you will find much joy in detecting the false claims and applying the absolute truth to them.

Now let us turn to some of the absolute truths, for certainly our textbook is full of glorious inspiration along this line. One of the most beautiful revelations that I received during my study of the past year, was found on page 368 of the textbook where our Leader says, “When we come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error . . . then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error.” When I came to this statement I stopped and asked, What is the truth of being? When you are dealing with the truth or facts about anything, you state it. For instance, the earth is round, or two plus two is four. You state your subject and then you tell what it is. So I started out with the word “being.” Being is — well, what is being? What is the truth about being? Being deals with existence. Existence is what?

Mrs. H., how would you finish that sentence? Being is — what? That’s right — being is God. Existence is fundamentally and absolutely good. That is the truth of being. The error of being, or the mistake about being, is that being is bad, existence is not good. Now when we come to have more faith in the truth of being — that being is absolutely good — than we have in the error of being — that existence is not altogether good — then all problems are solved.

At this point I searched the secret chambers of sense on this subject, with the penetration of Soul. What was I thinking about being as absolutely good? I discovered that there was a great opportunity for polish on this subject. Every time I came to the expression in Science and Health, “the truth of being,” I reminded myself that this meant that being was God, good. I also observed other expressions as the “Science of being,” “the facts of being,” and the “reality of being.” This all meant the same — that being was good. I started to go over some of the facts of being in regard to my daily experience. Being a man is good. Being an American is good. Being a Christian Scientist is good. Being a practitioner and teacher is good. Riding downtown on a streetcar, I realized that “being on a streetcar” is good. Being on the street is good. Being in my office is good. Being married is good. Being a husband is good.

About this time a lady came into my office for help who had been working in one of Eisenhower’s campaign headquarters, and now that the campaign was all over she had to go home and do her housework. She did not think that “being a housewife” was good. Well I helped her to see that the truth of being, is that being is always good.

One morning a woman called for help, and said that she was back in bed. I replied, “Wonderful, being in bed is good.” She replied, “I do not see anything good about being in bed.” I replied, “If you want to get out of bed in a hurry, you better realize that existence right there between those two sheets is good. If you think that being in bed is bad, you are not knowing the truth of being, that being is good everywhere, all the time.” She saw the point and began to know that being is good, even being in bed is good. It was not long before she was up and about her Father’s business.

As I loved this idea, and allowed it to develop in my thought, I soon saw that this is the fundamental fact of Christian Science. All of Truth really boils down to these three words, “Being is good.” This truly is the revelation of our Leader.

Then I found great joy in substituting the synonyms for God when considering “being” — saying for instance, Being is Love; to be is to love. The only thing that has existence, or being, is Love, and the qualities of Love. Hatred has no existence, no being. Right where I am, right where you are, right where everyone is, — all that’s there is Love, making itself manifest.

This is the truth of being.

Being is Spirit. All that exists is Spirit and its idea. Matter, the opposite of Spirit, has no existence, no being. Now I could see more clearly what Paul meant when he said that “we live, and move, and have our being” in God — in Spirit. That is the only place we can have any being, for being is Spirit. We cannot exist in matter, in material bodies. We cannot exist in a material world or universe. The only place we can find being or existence is in Spirit, and its innumerable revelations.

Being is Soul. Soul exists. Soul is real. Soul has being — yea, Soul is being. The supposititious opposite of Soul, called material sense, has no being, no existence. Therefore, false material sensations have no existence, no being. There can be no aches, pains, inharmonious emotions. Being is Soul, and therefore beautiful, harmonious, inspiring, perfect and immortal. There is no sensuality, no sensuous material body. We are certainly not absorbed in a material body, trying to figure out how to keep Soul and body together. We see that all being is Soul. That is the truth of being.

Being is Principle. Therefore, all existence is orderly and harmonious. No discord can enter being, for being is Principle itself. Chaos has no being, no existence, for Principle is all being. Everything is in its right place. All things work together for good, because being is Principle, law, order. We have no existence separate or apart from this divine, Principle, God. Hamlet said “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Well, Principle decides to be. Principle decides to be the reality of your existence, of my existence, of all existence. Your being is Principle. Without Principle, there is no being.

Being is Truth. Truth exists. Error has no being. It does not exist — even as an illusion. Your being is truthful, full of Truth. You therefore have no error to get rid of. You are full of Truth, because Truth is all that has any being or existence. You can never get outside of this divine Truth. The truth of being is that being is Truth. Therefore, there is never any falsity in being. There is never any false being — no hypocrisy, no deception, no hidden error, no subtle error, to creep or walk or talk, or be.

Being is Mind. Therefore, intelligent ideas exist. Ignorance has no existence. Your being is not half mental and half physical. Your being is all mental. For being is Mind. That is the truth of being. Since being is divine Mind, it follows that mortal mind has no being and no existence. Right where you are, all that is there is the infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation. Right where everyone is, all that is there is the perfect Mind expressing itself. Wrong thoughts have no existence or being. You are never identified with wrong thinking, because being is Mind — the sum total of right thinking. Oh how good it is to know that there is no matter — all is Mind. It is in this fact of being that we find our dominion. We see we never have to change material conditions — all we have to do is to see that the only Mind there is is the divine Mind. Then we find the beautiful images of thought, perfect outlines of being.

Being is Life. Life exists. Life is real. Life is present and powerful. Life has being yea, Life is being. To live is to be, and to be is to live. It therefore follows that death has no existence. Death never comes to anyone, because there is no death. We are never afraid of death because we know it does not exist — it has no being. We can never lose Life because we can never lose being. We shall exist forever. And this means that we shall live forever. This is eternal life — the recognition that being is Life. Death is just a false belief that there can be a time when we shall cease to be, cease to exist. We might as well dispel such a notion because this is impossible. We could not possibly think the thought “I do not exist.” For just to think anything is “to be.” There will never be a time when you do not have conscious existence. You might as well prepare for eternity now, because you have it already. Our Leader says, “Being is holiness, harmony, and immortality.” Being is Life eternal. In such ideas as these we have the facts of being, the truth of being, the Science of being, with which to dispel all claims of error. This is certainly the basis of the revelation of our beloved Leader.

I would like to have one more thing to say about claims. I have told you to look at them and handle them on the basis of their nothingness. We must see them as nothing. Now here is the final claim to handle in individual cases, and in the full salvation of Christian Science. Unless you handle this claim, you have not really finished with the case. Neither have you found your true and eternal freedom. This final claim is the claim that there are claims of error that have to be handled. But don’t handle this first and then neglect the other claims that need to be handled. Let the handling of this claim be the Amen to your treatment to your complete salvation. In her little book No and Yes, our Leader gives this absolute truth: “It is Truth’s knowledge of its own infinitude which forbids the genuine existence of even a claim to error.” There is no mortal mind to even claim that error has existence. Being is Truth. Therefore, every claim of error has no existence, no reality, no being.

In Unity of Good, our Leader also says, “To say that there is a false claim called sickness is to admit all there is to sickness, for it is nothing but a false claim.” To be healed, however, one must lose sight of the false claim. In other words, one must see that there is not even a false claim. In order to be whole, we must be insensible to every claim of error, our Leader says. To be insensible to something is for that something not to exist in our experience.

May we here review for a minute St. John’s Revelation, and see how similar it is to Christian Science. In his first six visions, he took out the claims of error and gave us a good look at them. He showed the falsity of each claim. Then finally he saw all this evil as cast into a sea of fire — even the claim as to an evil force or power. After Satan had been cast into the fire, Death and Hell followed him. And in the finale, everything that was not written in the book of Life was cast into this lake of fire. Certainly, the thought of false claims is not to be found in the book of Life. And so, they too are to be seen as nothing. It is then that we are able to see the new heaven and the new earth, for even the lake has passed away, for we recognize God as All.

I hope that those of you who have not finished reading Science and Health carefully will finish it, looking up words that you do not understand. I hope you too will read with keener discernment, and see the difference between the claims of error and the absolute truth. I hope also that you will cast the claims of error into the sea of fire, and see them as nothing. Thus you will find the new heaven and the new earth.

I hope that the discussions of today will bring further revelations to you as you read in the textbook.




Revelation Of St. John

In approaching a discussion of the book of Revelation, I know that you realize that we cannot do justice to such a wonderful book in the short period we have allowed. I hope, however, that we may be able to touch on some of the important points that the book may no longer be a mystery to you.

The background of the book is simple. According to many authorities it was written in about 77 A. D. About seven years before Jerusalem had been leveled to the ground and John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, had moved from Jerusalem to Ephesus where he had been very busy in preaching the gospel and healing the sick. Paul had been beheaded about nine years before. The persecution of the Roman Empire had become very great, and the Christians did their work in those days under great difficulties. It was at this time that John was exiled to a little island of volcanic origin in the Aegean Sea, about fifteen miles from Ephesus. He was troubled because the Christian churches were not growing the way they should. It was at this time that the seven visions came to him and he wrote them down and sent them to the churches that it might arouse those early Christians. But he had to be careful because he was in enough trouble already. Anything he might write which fell in the Romans’ hands could bring further persecution. It was for this reason that he presented what he had to say in the form of an Apocalypse. In this form of literature everything is said in signs, symbols and allusions, so that ordinary people will not understand, but so those who have the code or key might comprehend. Most of his signs and were taken from the Old Testament and would be comprehended by the Jews and early Christians, but would not be understood by the Roman authorities.

I have recently studied carefully a book given me by one of the members of this Association entitled Studies in The Apocalypse of John of Patmos, by Edyth Armstrong Hoyt, which has been most helpful and interesting in explaining these symbols. If any of you want to go thoroughly into the study of the style and the intricate meaning of The Revelation you might be interested in looking at this book. I have also found Reverend Irving Tomlinson’s book The Revelation of St. John An Open Book very interesting and helpful. I am not going into details of Revelation this morning, but I am going to cover it in a general way.

As you well know, John begins by writing letters to the seven churches which are in Asia. First, he wrote to his own church at Ephesus and complimented them on the good they had done. Then he made the observation that they had left their first love. He might have been writing to many Christian Science churches today and to us specifically, asking, “Where is the zeal and enthusiasm of forty or fifty years ago.” Are you and I loving Christian Science with the affection that it deserves? John says, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works.” To bring forth eternal fruitage we must all truly love this Word of God.

Next, he addressed the church at Smyrna. In today’s language, here were people who claimed to be Christian Scientists but did not talk like it, act like it or live this eternal Truth. They talked instead about their trials and tribulations and poverty, and their short-comings and their mortality. They were so busy preparing for old age and death that they were forgetting to let the living God use them as divine messengers. Here is one verse: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” We too are rich and perfect Christian Scientists, and it is our blessed privilege to talk and act, that way.

When he wrote to Pergamos, he was addressing Christian Scientists who allow a sensuous sense of things to becloud their spiritual vision. Here we have those who turn to medicine, operations and so forth for their health; who indulge in tobacco and liquor for their pleasure, and are not faithful in their home relationships. We could also include those who take an interest in sensuous literature, movies, television programs and so forth. John alludes to the time when Balaam taught Balak how to corrupt the children of Israel by bringing harlots into their midst. As they did this the children of Israel were soon corrupted from the worship of one God and their downfall thus began. In these days of television programs, newspaper and magazine articles, and Dr. Kinsey reports, we certainly all need to keep wide awake to see that this false sense of sensualism does not enter into our concept of being.

In writing to Thyatira, John mentioned the woman Jezebel. His readers all knew that he was referring to the bad queen in the Old Testament who always used domination and manipulation to accomplish her end. John was telling us that often our churches do not grow because we allow this same kind of domination and mental manipulation to govern our churches, rather than divine Love through democratic procedure. We can all do much in protecting our churches along this line, by recognizing daily that the one divine Mind lovingly governs all.

It appears that the church, at Sardis was not watchful enough. John wrote, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” Many Christian Scientists would have the most wonderful daily experiences if they did not allow themselves to be robbed by the negative suggestions of error. In our language John was telling the people that they must daily know that since there was only one Mind that no one could think of them except as this one divine Mind gave them to think. How important it is for all of us to know daily that whenever anyone thinks about us — our identity, our family, our business, or our church — there arises in consciousness a host of angels, protecting both their thought and ours. I hope that you will all take renewed recognition of this important duty of every Christian Scientist to protect himself daily from aggressive mental suggestion in the correct and positive manner as you were taught in class.

I used to think that John commended the church at Philadelphia — that they got a gold star, as it were. But he really did not. He told them that he recognized that Love was in their midst and that it was expressing itself through them, but that they were not allowing a fraction of the Love to be manifested that was possible. Sure, there is a lot of Love in our churches, but there is not a single one of us who could not allow more of this divine Love to manifest itself through us. This unlimited expression of Love and compassion for our fellow man will do wonders for our church organizations.

The Christians at Laodicea were luke warm, smug and self-satisfied. They were like the Christian Scientists today who are satisfied with the growth of our movement, or I might say, the lack of growth. Here we find those Christian Scientists who point to The Mother Church and her millions in property, who point to the prosperity of many branch churches, but who will not face the fact that the Christian Science church is not growing as rapidly as both Catholic and Protestant denominations in our country. Here is one verse in which John is admonishing them: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.”

But, John realized that this lack of growth in the churches was not something personal. It was just a result of a belief a force or power opposed to God. And he proposes to wrestle with this problem of evil until it is utterly destroyed. He proposes to take up every claim of evil and handle it on the basis of the allness of God until he sees its nothingness. The handling of these claims is the part of Revelation that some of you did not like. This is also the part in which some of you are deficient in your practice of Christian Science. You love to rejoice in the allness of God, but you are not so willing to see the nothingness of specific errors. You will often find it helpful to do as John did. Take the whole subject and lay it out on the table and look at it, and what it claims. Then apply the specific truth to the annulment of these claims. Now we’re ready to consider the first vision of St. John. In this it’s just like having class instruction again, for he begins properly with God as we are taught to begin in Christian Science. He speaks of one who sat upon a throne. But God needs to be explained or interpreted. So next we have twenty-four elders. The elders of a church are entrusted with the task of explaining religion to the people. Reverend Irving Tomlinson says that these twenty-four elders refer to the twenty-four questions and answers in the chapter on Recapitulation. I think he might have something there, because certainly that chapter interpreted God, His universe, and man to my thought when I went through class. How about you folks? Can you really think of these questions and answers as your twenty-four elders that explain God and man to you?

Next, we learn that the seven Spirits of God — that is, Life, Truth, Love, Spirit, Soul, Principle and Mind — illumine the whole subject of reality. John puts it this way “and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Next, we see a vision of four beasts — or as it is more accurately translated in the Bibles of today — four living creatures, who stand before the throne of God. These creatures symbolize Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omni-presence and Omni-action. You will remember how in the question “Is there more than one God or Principle?” Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the omnipotence, omniscience and omni-presence of God.

Having established the perfection of God we see that this spiritual realization brings forth a perfect spiritual creation. John puts it this way: “Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Next, we come to perfect man as symbolized by Christ Jesus, who is able to remove the seals and explain all reality. John says, “one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, (that is Christ Jesus) hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

The seventh and last point in the first Revelation is that through this divine knowledge of perfect God, perfect universe and perfect man, we are given dominion over all things. John puts it this way: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” John ends this vision with the statement, “And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”




Second Vision

In the second vision of St. John we see the Christ Truth removing the seals, thus uncovering error and showing Its nothingness.

First, there was a white horse and a man on it with a bow. John was alluding to a figure in Greek mythology called a centaur, which was half horse and half man, and always symbolized lust. A recognition of the allness of God reveals the nothingness of lust. In the second place we see a red horse. John says, “And power was given unto him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another.” This of course symbolizes war. John shows that before the allness of God, divine Love, war is seen as non-existent. Next, we see a black horse. The man who sat on him had a scale and was measuring everything out in a very limited manner. This certainly symbolizes lack, limitation and depression. Here is one phrase from the picture: “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Of course, you can see that by realizing the presence and the substance of God, infinite Spirit, there can be no lack or limitation. As the fourth seal is removed we find a pale horse, and John gives us his name. It is Death. He certainly means to bring out that as we recognize the allness of Life, we see clearly that there is no death.

When the fifth seal is opened we see that self-pity, self-righteous, and martyrdom are completely eliminated by the recognition of the fact that Truth is loved and accepted of men. As the sixth seal is opened we learn that self-will cannot stand in the presence of the omniscience, omni-presence, omnipotence and omni-action of God.

Before the seventh seal is opened John does a very interesting thing. He puts in an interlude in which he emphasizes that the servants of God are always protected from all these claims of error. I could not help but think about our Leader’s statement in her Message of 1901: “And rest assured you can never lack God’s outstretched arm as long as you are in his service.”

Then the seventh seal is opened. Here is the way it reads: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” That is all that is said about the seventh seal. Can you not help but feel that John wanted to emphasize the fact that error is completely silenced?




Third Vision

In the third vision John represents these seven Spirits of God: Life, Truth, Love, Spirit, Soul, Principle and Mind, as blowing trumpets. In other words, declaring or expressing themselves. As each quality expresses itself, a different phase of error must let go and disappear.

First, as Spirit expressed itself, matter had to let go and be nothing. John put it this way: “and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”

Second, as Soul expresses itself, the material, corporeal sense of things has to be acknowledged as nothing. John puts it this way, “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and the third part of the ships was destroyed.” The material sense of things had to be seen as nothing.

As Truth sounds its trumpet, or expresses itself, all false information is revealed as nothing. John says, “And there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.” Thus, the source of false information was completely destroyed.

As the fourth Spirit, Mind, declares itself, all phases of ignorance, superstition and error, built on the belief of other minds, must yield and be as nothing. Here is included such false beliefs as malpractice, astrology, hypnotism and so forth.

As Principle, the fifth Spirit, declares itself, all indecision, confusion and inharmony, has to give way to order, harmony, and cosmos.

As the sixth Spirit, Life, declares itself through the trumpet, everything pertaining to death, including the four horsemen spoken of in an earlier vision, have to give way and be nothing.

Now it is interesting that before Love sounds its trumpet there is a little interlude and a portion of Revelation is given which is very familiar to all Christian Scientists. Here we read about the little book, which is divine Science, and is expressed as our textbook, Science and Health. On page 558 and 559 of this textbook, our Leader gives us an inspiring and clear interpretation of this part of John’s revelation. Our Leader says, “St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of Revelation: ‘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 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.’” Our Leader goes on to say, “This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud, prefigures divine Science.” Again, “This angel had in his hand ‘a little book, open for all to read and understand.’” She goes on to say, “‘Go and take the little book . . . Take it, and eat 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 beginning to end.”

John also speaks about another gift beside the little book. This gift is called a reed like unto a rod. Irving Tomlinson says that this refers to the Manual of The Mother Church. I think that there is much basis for his thought, because we read that the angel told us to take the reed and “rise and measure the temple of God.” We read also that this reed shall protect the two anointed ones — the Christ and Christian Science. This is certainly what the Manual of The Mother Church does — it protects the revelation.

It looks as though John meant to indicate that before the final declaration of God’s Being, that there needed to be a further revelation known as scientific Christianity.

Now the seventh Spirit is ready to declare itself. When Love expresses itself, all hatred, anger and wrath, had to give way and be nothing. Thus ended the third vision of St. John.




Fourth Vision

The fourth part of a seven-point Apocalypse is always considered the most important. It is the keystone as it were, because the number four is in the center of the figure seven. So, this next, or fourth vision, is considered very important, and it is the one that you are all very familiar with. Our Leader explains it in detail from page 560 to 572.

Here we see a woman clothed with the sun, who brings forth a child. Her offspring is the final revelation of Truth. Did John foresee the coming of Mary Baker Eddy? All we know is that he foresaw the final revelation as coming from a woman. He must have discerned that the woman thought was needed in order to reveal the completeness of reality. Mary Baker Eddy lived so close to God that she saw what this final revelation was - she expressed it, demonstrated it, lived it, and helped others to do the same. She did not specifically say anywhere that she was the woman spoken of in the book of Revelation. She lived her life, did her good works, and has allowed God and history to declare what she is. I am sure as time glides on that more and more people will acknowledge that she is the woman spoken of in the Apocalypse, as people everywhere today recognize Jesus as the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament.

In the second part of this vision, John shows us error as vainly fighting against Christian Science. In the interpretation of this passage, Mrs. Eddy dismisses it all with these words, “But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?” In the third picture, we are shown that Christian Science is protected by our recognition of the omni-activity of good, and therefore the inactivity of all evil. Symbolically, John puts it this way: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time.” Birds always symbolized activity, and so we see that the omni-activity of good is a law of annihilation to the activity of evil. In the fourth picture we see that mental malpractice, religious domination and intolerance cannot stop the revelation. This is the way John put it. Speaking about the beast he said, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” When evil sees that it cannot stop the Truth, it often seeks to counterfeit it. This is a phase of the experience that we have just been going through in Christian Science. Through psychosomatic medicine and psychology, the medical profession is counterfeiting Christian Science. Possibly many of them are getting closer to what Christian Science really teaches. Many of the clergymen are today preaching something that sounds a great deal like Science. Much of it is counterfeit. On the other hand, many of them are beginning to understand something about what Christian Science teaches. Certainly, however, false theology has tried vigorously to counterfeit Christian Science with its own reading rooms, daily newspaper, class instruction, and so forth.

In the sixth place we see that lust and hypocrisy fall before the truth of Christian Science. John puts it this way. “And there followed another angel saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the vine of the wrath of her fornication.’”

The seventh part of this vision brings out that there will be great fruitage as a result of applying Christian Science. This is symbolized as an angel with a sharp sickle. John puts it this way: “Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”




Fifth Vision

Now we are ready for the Fifth vision.

In this one John shows us that as Christian Science pours in Truth through the floodtides of Love, different phases of error are brought to the surface to be completely disposed of.

As the first angel pours out the vial, there comes to the surface a festering corruption to pass away as nothing.

As the second angel pours out his vial, it brings to the surface every deadening influence; everything that would cause man to decay and die. It is brought to the surface to pass away as nothing.

When the third angel pours out his vial, there is brought to the surface all false teaching and propaganda, that it may pass away as nothing.

As each of these vials is poured out, John shows the bad effect of resistance to Truth.

In the case of the fourth vial he says, “And men were scorched with great, heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” Here the revelator shows that as Truth is poured into consciousness it brings human will-power to the surface to pass away as nothing.

John shows next that as the fifth angel pours out his vial upon the seat or foundation of evil, it is caused to pass away as nothing.

As the sixth angel pours forth his vial, it brings to the surface all political intrigue and corruption; even the sort of religious and political intrigue that brings forth war. And all this intrigue was caused to pass away as nothing.

As the seventh angel pours out his vial, all materiality and carnality is brought to the surface to pass away as nothing. John does not miss any phase of error. There is social corruption, industrial corruption, marital infidelity, personal impurity and so forth. All must come to the surface to pass away as nothing.




Sixth Vision

In the sixth vision we have the final triumph of Truth over all error. Here we find that divine Truth proves every phase of carnal mindedness to be powerless, unreal, non-existent.

I love this passage from the 19th chapter of Revelation, “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, (materiality) which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.”

In this vision we find that every false sense of selfhood must give wav before the Word of God.

In this vision we see a white horse, and a man sitting on the horse whose name is The Word of God. He also has on his vesture and thigh written KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. This divine Truth is victorious over every false sense of self.

In the second part of this vision we see divine Truth as devouring or consuming all materialistic thinking and thus revealing it as non-existent.

In the third place we see that the Word of God casts all lust and carnality, the beast, and all false theology, the false prophet, into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

In the fourth place we see the Word of God taking the devil, binding him and casting him into a bottomless pit, shutting him up and putting a seal on him. But John indicates that this is not enough, because before long Satan comes forth and reigns again for a thousand years, as John says. This would indicate that it is not enough to shut up mortal mind, or the Devil, but see it as nonexistent.

In the fifth place we find that divine Truth gives man dominion over death and the grave and over every phase of death. This is the way John puts it: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

In the sixth place John now sees that it is not enough to just seal the devil, or shut him up, or even put him in a bottomless pit. The whole concept of evil must be utterly destroyed. And so the devil is cast into a lake of fire, together with the beast and the false prophet and false theology. John said, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”

Next, John even casts all death and hell into the same fire. And then he says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” In other words, in the seventh place, all materiality, everything that’s unlike God, is recognized as utterly nothing.

I loved this sixth vision, because I saw clearly that until we see the devil and the beast and the false prophets and death and hell and all evil, as cast into the lake of fire — seen as self-destroyed; — until we see the utter unreality of evil, we are not ready to see the new heaven and the new earth which is spoken of in the seventh and last vision.

I think that we can all do better and more work along this line of seeing the utter nothingness and unreality of everything that is not associated with divine Life.

If you do not review the whole of the book of Revelation, I would certainly review and study carefully chapters 19 and 20, which show the utter destruction of all evil, and chapters 21 and 22 in which we see the ever presence and the omnipotence of God, infinite good, made manifest.




Seventh Vision

In the seventh and last vision, I am sure that you can all see very clearly the new heaven and the new earth. It is not a far-off visionary place; it is right where you are. It is your city, your home, your family. There is no more sea, even that lake of fire recognized as the self-destruction of error, is gone and forgotten because evil is seen as nothing.

Your home, your environment, your universe, proceeds forth from God, eternal good. And you see yourself as eternally wedded to this right concept of the universe, entirely at one with it. You no longer feel that you have to go into some material place in order to worship God. You always feel at home with God, for you see Him as everywhere expressing Himself, and see yourself and others as that expression. Of course, in this new heaven and earth, there are no more tears because there is nothing to cry about. There is no death, because Life is recognized as all. There is no sorrow, sickness or pain in the perfect universe of God.

Divine mind reveals to you that there is no such thing as a past. John puts it this way: “For the former things are passed away.” God makes all things new for you every minute. John says, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Divine Mind, Life, Truth and Love, declare to you constantly, “I am all, there is none beside me. I am the Alpha and Omega of all creation. I am constantly pouring forth my goodness and my allness, and the result is man and the universe.”

“Because you have given up the false sense of man as separated from God; because you see that right where you are, right there, I Am making myself manifest. Therefore, you realize that I am the source of your being and you are the outcome, the result, the offspring, My son.” John says, “I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Every evil sense of things is utterly destroyed in your experience.

Divine Mind is everlastingly revealing to you this perfect universe which has the glory of God because it is the glory of God made manifest. There is never any mental stumbling in this perfect universe because the light of Truth is ever present with us all. We have all the protection found in the teachings of the Old Testament. This is symbolized by the wall of the city, and the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

We have all the inspiration of the New Testament as is symbolized by the twelve apostles.

Your city, your home, your environment, your universe, is the most beautiful thing that one could behold. John speaks of it as a city made of pure gold, and the foundations of the city as garnished with all manner of precious stones. Your city is full of Love. Soul is everywhere manifested in beauty and harmony. There is no ignorance or stupidity in your universe, because it is truly a masterpiece of Mind. Eternal Life is everywhere manifested in unlimited growth, progress, and harmonious activity. Everyone has the right Spirit or attitude, because God is the Spirit of His own universe. There is only one motivating force in your universe and that is God. All motives are pure and holy. In this, your universe, there is only Truth made manifest. There is never any error to be gotten rid of.

There is no material sense of worship in this universe of Spirit, for all materiality is gone. You feel at home with God all of the time. You are in a constant prayer of adoration.

This universe is not a material mechanism that needs the light of sun or moon. This spiritual universe is civilization in its highest and best sense. It is the glory of God and the Truth as expressed by Christ Jesus that brings about this enlightened sense of civilization. John puts it this way: “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”

This perfect universe is not just yours, nor your concept of universe. It belongs to all. It is universal. John says, “the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.” The gates of this universe are never shut. These gates are open wide for all to enter, and furthermore everyone has entered into this perfect universe. “they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.” And of course, in this perfect universe there is no evil, “neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.” This universe, this divine civilization, this new Jerusalem is heaven — your heaven, your home, your environment.

And I know you see that God is constantly expressing Himself. There is a continual flow of infinite good from the divine Mind, and the result is man — is you. This is the way John puts it: “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” God is constantly expressing himself in success, abundance, health, harmony, security, freedom and perfection, and you are the result. John says that there is fruitage every month of the year.

And of course, there is no more curse here, because God is constantly expressing Himself in divine blessings, and the whole creation of God is the result. There is never anything to curse or to be cursed. John says, “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” In Science we learn that, we not only see the face of God, but we truly are the countenance of God made manifest. His nature is written throughout our whole being, because He is our whole being.

Of course, there can be no negative condition or experience, because darkness just cannot express itself. John puts it this way: “and there shall be no night there.” The divine light of Truth is so continually expressing itself that there is never any night. No sense of the absence of the light of Truth.

In summing up his revelation, John gives us seven admonitions. First, we should practice scientific Christianity. He says, “keep my faith.” Secondly, we should worship God, divine Principle, rather than personality. John was about to fall down and worship the messenger and the admonition came to him that he should worship God instead.

Third, we should study the divine revelation carefully and explain it to others, so that it may grow in our thought, and in the thought and experience of others. John put it this way: “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” Fourth, we should obey the divine commands to accept good alone as the reality, so that we may really appreciate the perfect universe. John says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Fifth, we should testify as to the healing power of Truth, in our churches and everywhere. John puts it this way: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.” Sixth, we should imbibe the real spirit of Truth. John says, “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Seventh, we should realize that the revelation of Truth is complete. You cannot add to it or take from it. You cannot change the simple fact that good is all and that evil is nothing.

Then John ends with the benediction that this Christ Truth is even now come to all of us and that “The grace of God is with us all forever.” Amen.

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Love is the liberator.