Chapter XVI - The Apocalypse
Nearness of Deity
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God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is
God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is
therefore a present possibility.
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The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to
The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to
console the weary pilgrim, journeying "uphill all the way."
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He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: –
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: –
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And there came unto me one of the seven angels which
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
the Lamb's wife.
Vials of wrath and consolation
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This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love,
This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love,
carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till he be-
came conscious of the spiritual facts of being
and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from
God, out of heaven," – the spiritual outpour-
ing of bliss and glory, which he describes as the city
which "lieth foursquare." The beauty of this text is,
that the sum total of human misery, represented by
the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues, has full
compensation in the law of Love. Note this, – that the
very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured
forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience
which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the
four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and
heaven-bestowing.
Spiritual wedlock
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Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-
Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-
cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-
winged dove descending upon you. The very
circumstance, which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel
entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers:
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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