Chapter XVI - The Apocalypse
Spiritual wedlock
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"Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness
"Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness
into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb's
wife, – Love wedded to its own spiritual idea." Then
cometh the marriage feast, for this revelation will de-
stroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material
sense.
The city foursquare
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This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16)
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16)
as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down from
God, out of heaven," represents the light and
glory of divine Science. The builder and
maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in the
book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which hath founda-
tions." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teach-
ing must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate
the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodi-
gal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of
the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The
four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity,
and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall not be shut
at all by day: for there shall be no night there." This
city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.
The royally divine gates
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As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the
As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of
the north, the city of the great King." It is
indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and
square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star,
the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward,
to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who fol-
lowed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the
genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the skies,
– the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society
into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization
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of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of
of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of
Harmony.
Revelation's pure zenith
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This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-
This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-
ness, – this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which to
us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, –
reached St. John's vision while yet he taber-
nacled with mortals.
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In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city,
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city,
the beloved Disciple writes: –
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And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
The shrine celestial
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There was no temple, – that is, no material structure
There was no temple, – that is, no material structure
in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped
in spirit and in love. The word temple also
means body. The Revelator was familiar
with Jesus' use of this word, as when Jesus spoke of his
material body as the temple to be temporarily rebuilt
(John ii. 21). What further indication need we of the
real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw
heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"?
This kingdom of God "is within you," – is within
reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual
idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this
recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his
understanding of God.
Divine sense of Deity
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The term Lord, as used in our version of the Old
The term Lord, as used in our version of the Old
Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah, and ex-
presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated
to deific apprehension through spiritual trans-
figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches a higher
meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the divine