0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

FOREWORD: This volume will take the reader into the Old Testament of the Bible,  a book which is little or imperfectly understood today. The physicists’ great discovery, however, now ratifies its symbolism as intended by its authors. You will discover that prescient men and women of those long-ago times did indeed have a remarkable sense of the allness of God and nothingness of matter. Their unprecedented proofs of their sense of God as a dependable principle is on full display throughout the Scriptures. Beginning with the creation stories, both versions, in Genesis, ending with the Book of Malachi, the Bible can now be interpreted with the understanding of the “new science” discovered by the physicists. The Bible will be seen with new eyes and deeper appreciation for its timeless message depicted in mankind’s journey from illusive material beliefs to our true identity as the forever expression of God, the divine Mind behind the universe.     -- Please see publication to view complete Foreword.

The Comforter 
Physics to Metaphysics 
To my husband, Brent,with love & gratitude, for his dauntless encouragement & significant help in bringing this book to fruition. 
Copyright  2016 by Yvonne Reus All rights reserved. 
ISBN: 
ISBN-9781534841901: 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016909298 CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston, SC 
Foreword   Volume 2 
This volume will take the reader into the Old Testament of the Bible,  a book which is little or imperfectly understood today. The physicists’ great discovery, however, now ratifies its symbolism as intended by its authors. You will discover that prescient men and women of those long-ago times did indeed have a remarkable sense of the allness of God and nothingness of matter. Their unprecedented proofs of their sense of God as a dependable principle is on full display throughout the Scriptures. Beginning with the creation stories, both versions, in Genesis, ending with the Book of Malachi, the Bible can now be interpreted with the understanding of the “new science” discovered by the physicists. The Bible will be seen with new eyes and deeper appreciation for its timeless message depicted in mankind’s journey from illusive material beliefs to our true identity as the forever expression of God, the divine Mind behind the universe. 
Peter, in his second epistle in the New Testament, affirms the relationship between the 7 days of creation and the Bible’s thousand-year periods, when ...he declares that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (II Peter 3:8) According to this reckoning, four thousand BC to zero, or the story of the Bible from Adam to Jesus, is the stretch of time covered by the Old Testament. This means that precisely four of these periods span the pre- Christian ages of the history of civilization. The fifth period is launched by the New Testament, or by the coming of Christianity.The sixth and seventh periods are anticipated prophetically in the Book of Revelations. 
Today, historically, the world is passing through the opening decades of the seventh thousand-year period, began in the year 2000. The present cataclysmic upheavals of mankind point to the fact that the world is responding involuntarily to the seventh thousand- year period where the seals of the falsity of mortality are being loosed. It is the period which relates to fulfilment of the divinely creative purpose as signified by the design of God. 
Christ’s Christianity is the divinely revealed spiritual identity of the human race as a whole. 
The Bible presents this truth about mankind as unfolding from Genesis to Revelation according to the order of the seven days of creation, and finally solving the problem of mortality on a universal scale. 
Table of Contents 
Chapter  1  The Old Testament ................................................................................................ 1 The First Thousand Year Period   Mind---wisdom................................................................ 1 Chapter  2  Noah And the Flood  Genesis 6: 1-10: 32 ............................................................ 31 Chapter  3 The Abraham Saga  Genesis 11: 27-25: 10 ........................................................... 40 Chapter 4  The Jacob Saga     Genesis 25: 20-37: 1 ................................................................ 47 Chapter  5  The Joseph Saga    Genesis 37: 1-50: 26 .............................................................. 68 Chapter 6  Moses ................................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 7  Moses, continued ............................................................................................... 105 The Books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy...................................................... 105 The Book of Leviticus  Chapters 1-27 ............................................................................... 105 The Book of Numbers   Chapters 1-36 ............................................................................. 107 The Book of Deuteronomy   Chapters 1-34 ..................................................................... 115 Chapter  8  The Books of  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth ................................................................. 120 The Book of Joshua     Chapters 1-24 ............................................................................... 120 The Book of Judges   Chapters 1-21 ................................................................................. 126 The Book of Ruth   Chapters  1-4 ..................................................................................... 131 Chapter 9  The Books of  I and II Samuel    I and II Kings    I and II Chronicles ..................... 135 The First Book of Samuel ................................................................................................. 137 The Second Book of Samuel            King  David    Chapters 1-24 ...................................... 141 The First Book of Kings ..................................................................................................... 149 The Second Book of Kings The Prophets   Elijah and Elisha   Chapters 1 - 25 .................. 155 The Books of  I & II Chronicles ......................................................................................... 173 Chapter 10 The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther ........................................................ 177 The Book of Ezra    Chapters 1-10 .................................................................................... 177 The Book of Nehemiah        Chapters  1-13 ...................................................................... 179 
The Book of Esther        Chapters   1-9 ............................................................................. 184 Chapter  11   Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon ................................... 191 Job    Chapters 1-42 .......................................................................................................... 191 The Book of Psalms .......................................................................................................... 198 The Book of  Proverbs           Chapters 1-31 ..................................................................... 203 The Book of Ecclesiastes        Chapters 1-12 .................................................................... 205 The Book of The Song of Solomon Chapters 1-8 ............................................................. 206 Chapter  12    Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations .............................................................. 209 The First Book of the Prophet Isaiah    Judah’s Pre-exile Days  Chapters 1-39 ................ 209 The Second Book of the Prophet Isaiah      Judah's Exile in Babylon ............................... 230 The Third Book of Isaiah,  Post-Exile   Chapters 57-66..................................................... 235 The  Prophet  Jeremiah  Chapters 1-52 ............................................................................ 240 The Book of Lamentations   Chapters 1-5 ........................................................................ 250 Chapter 13  The Last Two Major Prophets      Ezekiel and Daniel ........................................ 251 The Book of Ezekiel   Chapters 1-48 ................................................................................. 251 The Book of Daniel  Prophesies of the Seventh Period Chapters 1-12 ............................ 259 Chapter  14  The Twelve Minor Prophets ............................................................................ 270 Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk  Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi ............................................................................................................................. 270 The Book of Hosea The Word as the Word     Chapters 1-14 .......................................... 274 The Book of Joel       Christ as the Word       Chapters 1-3................................................ 279 The Book of Amos       Christianity as the Word     Chapters 1-9 ..................................... 282 The Book of Obadiah  The Word as the Christ    Chapter 1---(there is only 1) ................ 286 The Book of Jonah      Christ as the Christ       Chapters 1-4 ............................................. 288 The Book of Micah     Christianity as the Christ      Chapters 1-7 ..................................... 291 The Book of Nahum      The Word as Christianity      Chapters 1-3 .................................. 297 The Book of Habakkuk      Christ as Christianity      Chapters 1-3 ..................................... 300 
The Book of Zephaniah      Christianity as Christianity       Chapters 1-3 .......................... 302 Haggai       The Word as Science        Chapters 1-2 ........................................................... 305 The Book of Zechariah      The Christ as  Science     Chapters 1-14 .................................. 308 The Book of Malachi       Christianity  as  Science      Chapters 1-4 .................................. 336 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 346 
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Chapter  1  The Old Testament 
The First Thousand Year Period   Mind---wisdom 
(Genesis 2:6-5: 24) The Womanhood/Motherhood of God As Revealed in the “First Day” of the Scriptures The True and False Accounts of Creation    Genesis 1: 1-2: 5 and 2: 6-4: 26 
The True Account of Creation  (Genesis 1: 1-2: 5) 
Since our system for understanding the Scriptures is based on history divided into thousand-year periods, it is important for you to know that the Hebrews believed absolutely that in seven thousand years all materiality would be destroyed and salvation would come from Jehovah;  he believed in the seven-fold aspect of Jehovah, and that each aspect would take about a thousand years to develop.  And so you have the record in the Bible accordingly.  Here is a synopsis of the seven thousand-year periods: 
The first thousand year period gives us two accounts of creation---the true one where Mind is known to be the Creator reflecting Itself in its creation and calling everything “good.”  The second account relates the false story of a creation which occurs in direct disobedience to God.  It is the Adam and Eve story.  In the second thousand years of the Bible, Spirit, you have the story of Noah, the story illustrating the separation on the second day of creation between the waters above and the waters beneath, and how the ark, (spiritual understanding) saved the situation.  In the third thousand year period, Soul, the ‘dry land’ of the third day appeared, and everything began to be definite---Abram was re-named Abraham, Jacob re-named Israel, and God re-named I AM THAT I AM.  The fourth thousand year period, Principle, symbolized in the fourth day of creation by the sun, moon, and stars, which were to be ‘for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years,’ in other words---a system;  the prophets began to give a sense of the divine system, and they gave it through the seven days of creation.  The story [in Genesis] of the seven days of creation was written in that fourth period. 
Then, in the fifth period, Life,  Jesus came, “that ye might have life,” and he said, in effect, I have not come to destroy your system, but to fulfill it.  You talk about four months. 
You’ve had four thousand years of developing spiritual thought---but the harvest is here. (See John 4: 35, 36)  Jesus saw the Science of the system as operating here and now.  He was dwelling in the realm of eternity, not in the realm of time.  So the fifth thousand years, Life, like the fifth day of creation [Life], brought an abundant sense of life and its multiplication.  It was the beginning of the Christian era which witnessed the coming of the Christ, Truth, to human consciousness through Mary Baker Eddy in the sixth thousand years , Truth, from Adam.  In that period, man began to see something of the truth of man as a divine Science of man as presented in the sixth day of creation.”   (Doorly, John, Talks on the Science of the Bible, Vol. 1, The Foundational Book Company, Limited,1947)  The 
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seventh thousand-year period , Love, was and is marked today, through divine Science, by the translation of man and the universe back into Spirit and Love as love reigns. 
God as Love, the highest sense of God, called by Mrs. Eddy the Motherhood or Womanhood of God, can be traced from beginning to end in the Scriptures, just as God's nature as Father is traced.  But the Mother aspect has remained "veiled" until Mrs. Eddy revealed it in the Comforter, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  To know that God, the Principle of the universe with all its laws, is not a cold, distant Principle that is unfeeling, like the principles of math, but is a warm, loving, tender Presence, like a mother, is indeed the Comforter to mankind. 
Most people think of Adam and Eve when Genesis is mentioned.  Mrs. Eddy speaks to this:  “…the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures [the first chapter of Genesis] is so brief that it would almost seem, from the preponderance of unreality in the entire narrative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality, the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator and His creations.”  (S&H 502: 2-8) The first record of creation in Genesis is the true scientific record which begins with God, perfect good, or one great Source, basis, or Principle of the universe with no beginning and no end, including God's eternal manifestation or reflection, man and the universe.  This record flows naturally from Mind to Love:  Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. 
It begins with Gen.1:1 and goes through Gen.2: 4- 5.  Genesis 2: 6-4: 24 unfolds the Adam and Eve myth in the Garden of Eden.  Gen. 4: 25-5: 24 continues with Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden, the birth of Adam and Eve’s three sons, to the final translation of Enoch, which illustrates the actual working out, through the “3 degrees,” of the mortal problem. 
Through seven generations from Adam to Enoch, the problem of sinful, fallen humanity is solved.  Enoch, in the first thousand year period, symbolizes translation (rose above the physical, material concept of himself without dying).  Jesus, in the fifth period, demonstrated it and referred to himself as the light of the world.  It was the light of the true story of creation's " first day" which chases away the deep hypnotic darkness of the Adam dream of mortality. 
Let us examine the true account of creation given at the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1: 1-2: 3.  Its interpretation is taken from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  The quotes coming after Mrs. Eddy’s quotes are from Gordon Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, pp. 40-42)  The uncapitalized word next to the synonym for God given in each “ Day” is its “Third Degree” meaning as given on p. 116 of S&H.  The “Third Degree,” “Understanding,” is the last step for mankind upward and out of the flesh. 
Genesis 1: 1-5  “First Day” of creation: “Mind,” wisdom Genesis 1:1  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”   “The infinite has no beginning.”  [The original word, “beginning,” has more of the meaning of “principle” or “basis.”]  It means “the only,” that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe. [Cause must have effect, thus the “two” are really only “one.”] 
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The creative Principle---Life, Truth, and Love---is God.  The universe reflects God.  There is but one creator and one creation.  This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected.  These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God.”  (S&H 502: 25-5 n.p)  “All is Mind and Mind’s ideas;  Mind is its own source and origin, its own infinite cause and effect.”  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 40) 
Genesis 1: 2   “And the earth was without form, and void;  and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” “The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual harmony,---heaven and eternity.  In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown.  No supposition of error enters there.  Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, ‘God is All-in-all,’ and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe.  Hence the eternal wonder,---that infinite space is peopled with God’s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.”(S&H 502: 24-5 n.p.)   “Mind is Spirit, not matter;  there is only one kind of mind.  ( Brown, Ibid.) Genesis 1: 3   “And God said, Let there be light:  and there was light.” “Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:  first in light;  second, in reflection: third, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness.  But this Mind creates no element nor symbol of discord and decay.  God created neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.” (S&H 503: 20-25)  “Creation is the fully defined content of one all-knowing parent Mind.”  (Brown, Ibid.) Genesis 1: 4 “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”  “God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by aught but the good.” (S&H 503: 28-2 n.p.) “Mind is Spirit, not matter;  there is only one kind of Mind.”  (Brown, Ibid.) We, each of us, can know ourselves as the good of God. 
Genesis 1: 5   “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. 
And the evening and the morning were the first day.”   “…though solar beams are not yet included in the record of creation, still there is light…it is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas…The successive appearing of God’s ideas is represented as taking place on so many evenings and mornings,---words which indicate, in the absence of solar time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.  Here we have the explanation of another passage of Scripture, that ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.’ The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and vague conjectures emit no such effulgence…Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter, darkness...”  (S&H 504: 8-9, 10-11, 16-26, 28-29)  “creation is the fully defined content of one all-knowing parent Mind.”  (Brown, Ibid.) Genesis 1: 6-8 is the “Second Day” of creation:  “Spirit,” purity Genesis 1: 6  “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.” “Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.  The divine Mind, not matter, creates all identities, and they are 
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forms of Mind, the ideas of Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter nor the so-called material senses.”  (S&H 505: 4-12)  “Understanding our spiritual origin separates us from the belief that flesh is our origin.”  (Brown, Ibid.) Genesis 1: 7  “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:  and it was so.”   “…Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good.  Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and the unreal…This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments;  it is the reality of all things brought to light.  God’s ideas reflect the immortal, unerring, and infinite.  The mortal, erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguishing between the false and the true…matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real entity. 
Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which separates Christian Science from supposition and makes Truth final.”  (S&H 505: 16-504: 7)     You are not “flesh” now and have never been.  You are a spiritual expression of God, good, now, and that is all you can ever be.  Spiritual substance cannot change, deteriorate, or die.  It is the eternal God in individualized reflection. 
Genesis 1: 8  “And God called the firmament Heaven.  And the evening and the morning were the second day.”   “Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.” (S&H 506: 8-14) 
Genesis 1: 9-13 is the “Third Day” of creation:  “Soul,”  spiritual understanding Genesis 1: 9  “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear:  and it was so.”   “Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.”  (S&H 506: 15-21)  “Identity is of divine origin…it unfolds from within itself;  subject and object are one, not two.”  (Brown, Ibid.) Genesis 1: 10   “And God called the dry land Earth;  and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas:  and God saw that it was good.”   “…Upon Adam devolved the pleasurable task of finding names for all material things, but Adam has not yet appeared in the narrative.  In metaphor, the dry land illustrates the *absolute formations instituted by Mind, while water symbolizes the *elements of Mind.  Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God.  Spirit names and blesses all…”  (S&H 506: 22-7 n.p.)   “Within identity lie capacities and resources for endless self-reproduction.”  (Brown, Ibid.) (*elements: Webster. “simple, pure, primal;  irreducible simplicity;  an infinitesimal part of any magnitude of the same nature as the entire magnitude;  an essential and formative character, stressing its separate identity, in a compound.”  (*absolute:  “free from imperfection; perfect; free from mixture; pure; positive; certain; authoritative; free from limit, restriction, qualification; not dependent on anything outside itself; ultimate.”) 
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“Identity is sameness with itself.  It unfolds from within itself;  subject and object are one, not two.” (Ibid.) Genesis 1: 11   “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:  and it was so.”   “The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multitudinous forms of Mind and governs the multiplication of the compound idea man.  The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagating power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind which includes all…Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity.  This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His creation, and the immortality of man and the universe.  Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.  Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas material.  Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man.  But the seed is in itself, only as divine Mind is All and reproduces all---as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind’s infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product.  The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it.  Mind is the Soul of all.  Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which governs all.” (S&H 507: 11-8 n.p.)  “Within identity lie capacities and resources for endless self- reproduction.” (Brown, Ibid.) “Genesis 1: 12   “The earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind, and God saw that it was good.”   “God determines the gender of His own ideas.  Gender is mental, not material.  The seed within itself is the pure thought emanating from divine Mind.  The feminine gender is not yet expressed in the text.  Gender means simply kind or sort, and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or femininity.  The word is not confined to sexuality, and grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither male nor female.  The Mind or intelligence of production names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation.  The intelligent individual idea, be it male or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.”  (S&H 508: 9-25)  “The symbol of identity is ‘seed within itself.’  Free from external appetites , spiritual identity, expresses satisfaction and joy.”  (Brown, 40) “Genesis 1: 13   “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”   “The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an important one to the human thought, letting in the light of spiritual understanding.  This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization. Our Master reappeared to His students, ---to their apprehension he rose from the grave,---on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life.”  (S&H 508: 26-8 n.p.)   “Identity is sinless, deathless.  It resurrects us humanly from the grave of mortal body.”   (Brown, 40) Genesis 1: 14-19 is the “Fourth Day” of creation:  “Principle,”  spiritual power Genesis 1: 14  “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night;  and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, 
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and years.”  “Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies, but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth…God forms and peoples the universe… So- called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances are no more contingent now on time or material structure than they were when ‘the morning stars sang together.’  Mind made the ‘plant of the field before it was in the earth.’  The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness---yea, the divine nature---appear in man and the universe never to disappear…” (S&H 509: 9-28) “The universe is a system of celestial bodies.  Its rotating, revolving relationships originate in the Principle of infinite harmony of ideas.”(Brown., 40-41) Genesis 1: 15  “And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”    “Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’  and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.”  (S&H  510: 9-12)   “In this universe, heaven governs earth;  divinity and humanity are inseparable.  Principle is defined through the practice of Principle, in which human and divine are one in identity.”   (Brown, 41)  Mrs. 
Eddy calls this the “human and divine coincidence.” Genesis 1: 16   “And God made two great lights;  the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:  He made the stars also.”  “…There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has been already divided into evening and morning;…Light is a symbol of Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing the universe, including man, in perfect harmony.  This Mind forms ideas, its own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light, intelligence, and so explains the Scriptural phrase, ‘whose seed is in itself.’ Thus God’s ideas ‘multiply and replenish the earth.’ The divine Mind supports the sublimity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.” (S&H 510: 13-6 n.p.) “The universe is one and all-harmonious.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 17, 18   “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:  and God saw that it was good.”   (S&H 511: 7-10)   “In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has the impress of heaven, God is revealed as infinite light.  In the eternal Mind, no night is there.”  (Ibid., 11-14) Genesis 1: 19   “And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”   “The changing glow and full effulgence of God’s infinite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.”  (S&H 511: 14-18)  “The universe is the endless living progression of Principle’s systems of ideas.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 20-23 is the “Fifth Day” of creation:  “Life,” love   Genesis 1: 20. “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”  (S&H 511: 19-22)   “To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and aeriform.  Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas.  Animals and mortals metaphorically present the gradation of mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender.  The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above 
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corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal and divine Principle, Love.”  (Ibid.,1: 19-3 n.p.)  “The universe of Life is the origin and ultimate of all individuality, or life.” (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 21   “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind:  and God saw that it was good.”  (S&H 512: 4-7)   “Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. 
These angels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of Mind, and consequently reproduce their own characteristics.  Their individual forms we know not, but we do know that their natures are allied to God’s nature;  and spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.” (S&H 512: 8-16)  “… reflections of the one Life constitute Life’s individualities.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 22   “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas;  and let fowl multiply in the earth.”     (S&H 512: 17-19)   “ Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and perfect ideas.  From the infinite elements of the one Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and quantity, and these are mental, both primarily and secondarily.  Their spiritual nature is discerned only through the spiritual senses.  Mortal Mind inverts the true likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its own misconceptions.  Ignorant of the origin and operations of mortal mind,- --that is, ignorant of itself,---this so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims God as their author;  albeit God is ignorant of the existence of both this mortal mentality, so- called, and its claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is an attempted infringement on infinity.”  (S&H  512: 20-3 n.p.)    “Reflecting each other’s identity, the individualities of the body of Life forever reproduce this Life.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 23   “And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”   (S&H 513: 4-5)   “Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings.  To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant, gray in the somber hues of twilight;  but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.  In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions, and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.”  (S&H 513: 6-13)   “Life is one and indivisible.  Life is not divided into a number of personally possessed, personally operated lives.”   (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 24-31 is the “Sixth Day” of creation, “Truth,”  health     Genesis 1: 24.  “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:  and it was so.”   (S&H  513: 14-16)    “Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them;  but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.”  (S&H  513: 17-21) “This undivided wholeness of the infinite is Truth, the source and origin of man.”   (Brown, 41)) Genesis 1: 25   “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind:  and God 
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saw that it was good.”   (S&H  513: 22-25)   “God creates all forms of reality.  His thoughts are spiritual realities.  So-called mortal mind---being non-existent and consequently not within the range of immortal existence---could not by simulating deific power invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate persons or things upon its own plane, since nothing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive infinity, in which and of which God is the sole creator.  Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind.  Mind’s infinite ideas run and disport themselves.  In humility they climb the heights of holiness…Moral courage is ‘the lion of the tribe of Judah, the king of the mental realm...Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit.  The individuality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the millennial estate pictured by Isaiah:  ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;  And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling [“ calf, lamb, or kid. Webster] together.  And a little child shall lead them.’ …All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible…Love’s ideas are subject to the Mind which forms them,---the power which changeth the serpent into a staff.”  (S&H  513: 22-515: 10)  “The lesser ideas (animals) that constitute the compound idea (man) are man’s spiritual and moral qualities unfolding his health, or wholeness. (Brown, Ibid.)   “Spirit is the only creator, and man, including the universe, is His spiritual concept.”  (Unity 32: 6-7) Genesis 1: 26  “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (S&H  515: 11-15)    “The eternal Elohim includes the forever universe…It relates to the oneness, the tri-unity of Life, Truth, and Love.  ‘Let them have dominion.’  Man is the family name for all ideas,---the sons and daughters of God.  All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power…The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;  and when we subordinate the false testimony of the material senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.  God fashions all things, after His own likeness.  Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence.  Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light…Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God’s dominion over all the earth.  Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.”  (S&H  515: 11-516: 23)   “Man is God’s consciousness of Himself. 
This is man’s identity, having, (by reflection) dominion over itself.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 27   “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him;  male and female created He them.”   “To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that God made man in His own image, to reflect the divine Spirit.  It follows that man is a generic term.  Masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are human concepts.  In one of the ancient languages the word for man is used also as the synonym of mind.  This definition has been weakened by anthropomorphism, or a humanization of Deity…the life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter.  The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth.  The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love.  In 
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divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity.  The world believes in many persons;  but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God.  His personality can only be reflected, not transmitted.  God has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage.  The only proper symbol of God as person is Mind’s infinite ideal…Even eternity can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit to infinitude or its reflections.”  (S&H 516: 24-517: 24)   “Man’s oneness with God (Principle) is expressed in the wholeness of manhood and womanhood---one-in-all and all-in-one.”   (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 28   “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it;  and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”   “Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply,---to manifest His power.  Man is not made to till the soil.  His birthright is dominion, not subjection.  He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven, [harmony and its harmonious reflection, man and the universe], himself subordinate alone to his Maker. This is the Science of being.”   (S&H 517: 25-518: 4)  “His manhood and womanhood being undivided, man’s individuality multiplies.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 29, 30   “And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;  to you it shall be for meat.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:  and it was so.”   “God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the greater, and in return, the higher always protects the lower.  The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father;  and blessed is that man who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another’s good.  Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud.  All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality---infinite Life, Truth, and Love.” (S&H  518 13-23)    “The form of Truth’s wholeness is the spiritually structured brotherhood of all Truth’s ideas.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis 1: 31   “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.  And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”   “The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and expresses all, and all must therefore be as perfect as the divine Principle is perfect.  Nothing is new to Spirit.  Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.  Deity was satisfied with His work.   How could He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-containment and immortal wisdom?”   (S&H 518: 24- 6 n.p.)   “This is ‘woman’---universal (generic) man.”  (Brown, 41) Genesis  2: 1-5 is the “seventh day” of creation, “Love,” holiness   Genesis  2: 1 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”    “Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete and forever expressed, for Science reveals 
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infinity and the fatherhood and motherhood of Love.  Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God’s creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin.  Mortals can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old man and reach the spiritual image and likeness.  What can fathom infinity!  How shall we declare Him, till, in the language of the apostle,  ‘we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ?”   (S&H  519: 7-21) “Man, the Son of God, rests in his Father-Mother, Love.  Everything everywhere is Love’s design.  Creation is the outcome of one parent Mind, the light which is never cut off from Light.”   (Brown, 42) 
Genesis  2: 2, 3   “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.  And God blessed  the seventh day, and sanctified it:  because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”   “God rests in action.  Imparting has not impoverished, and can never impoverish, the divine Mind.  No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science.  The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.  Unfathomable Mind is expressed.  The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space.  That is enough!  Human language can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what exists.  The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor comprehended by mortals, than is his infinite Principle, Love.  Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and eternal.  The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus.”   (S&H 519: 22- 15 n.p.)   “Everything everywhere is the  [active wholeness and fullness] of Love’s design.  The unfoldment… of creation is the outcome of one parent Mind, the light which is never cut off from Light.”  (Brown, 42)  The seven days of creation unfold in human experience until the day of rest--- no more death. 
The full seven-day span, seen as seven thousand years, represents the problem of Adam solved universally.  This span is given in Gen. 2: 6-Rev. 22: 21.  Mrs. Eddy told her students this seventh period would take centuries for the whole earth to be transformed by the understanding of man and the universe as being Spirit, not matter, but at the end mankind will have re-gained the heaven or paradise he had supposedly lost, material beliefs destroyed, and Mind as Love governing all.  “Centuries will intervene before the statement of the inexhaustible topics of that book [S&H] become sufficiently understood to be absolutely demonstrated.”  (Misc. Writings, 92)  Naturally, during this period, man will gradually, individual by individual, gain the true sense of Science and demonstrate it for others who are also seeking Truth and learning how to apply it to their needs.  The following is a short summation of each of the “days” of creation following on from their spiritual standpoints in the first record of creation which ended at Genesis 2: 3 as seen above. 
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Gen. 2: 4-5 is the bridge between the accounts of the seven days of spiritual creation and the story of Adam and Eve, "the fall of man," in the rest of the Book of Genesis. Genesis 2: 4, 5  “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created,  in the day that the Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:  for the Lord God [Jehovah] had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”   Mrs. Eddy writes about this statement:  “Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all through Mind, not through matter,---that the plant grows, not because of seed or soil, but because growth is the eternal mandate of Mind.  Mortal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creating thought is from above, not from beneath.  Because Mind makes all, there is nothing left to be made by a lower power.  Spirit acts through the Science of Mind, never causing man to till the ground, but making him superior to the soil.   Knowledge of this lifts man above the sod, above the earth and its environments, to conscious spiritual harmony and eternal being. 
Here "the inspired record closes its narrative of being that is without beginning or end.  All that is made is the work of God, and all is good.”  (S&H 520: 23-521: 6)  Man did not need to “till the ground,” for it had been prepared by Mind, God, to bring forth plants and did not depend on man’s labor nor even rain in order to grow! Christian Science introduces to mankind the new-found reality of our home, the universe of Mind.  We are charting a new course for ourselves, steering our tempest-tossed barque into the river which is flowing out of the metaphorical Garden of Eden, where material beliefs got their start.  Let us now examine that highly misunderstood myth which cannot be taken literally but is purposeful symbolism, meant for our enlightenment, by which, when understood, all of us will gladly escape down the “rivers” leading out of the garden. 
Although this version of the “fall of man” is mythological symbolism, it is believed that at some point eons ago, the people of that age came up with a plan to perform hypnosis on a man and a woman in order to put sensation into their bodies. 
THE SECOND ACCOUNT OF CREATION 
THE ADAM AND EVE MYTH      Gen. 2: 4-5: 24 God’s Motherhood 
God as Love, the highest sense of God, called by Mrs. Eddy the Motherhood or Womanhood of God, can be traced from beginning to end in the Scriptures, just as God’s nature as Father is traced.  But the “Mother” aspect has remained “veiled” until Mrs. Eddy revealed the Comforter, Science and Health With Key To The Scriptures.  To know that God, the Principle of the universe with all its laws, is not a cold, distant Principle that is unfeeling, like the principles of math, but is warm, loving, tender, like a mother, is indeed the Comforter to mankind. As the first account of Genesis explains, God is perfect good, the one great Source, basis, or Principle of all that is, with no beginning or end, and includes God’s eternal 
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manifestation or reflection, man and the universe.  It starts with the seven spiritual days of creation, the “Third Degree, Spiritual,” and continues through Genesis 2: 4-5, the “Moral,” “Second Degree.”  (S&H 115-116)  Humanity is at work spiritually, and evil beliefs are disappearing.  Genesis 2: 6-4: 24 corresponds to the workings of the First Degree, “Depravity” (Adam and Eve story). Genesis 4: 25-5: 24, the birth of Adam’s third son, Seth, to the final translation of Enoch, illustrates the actual working out of the mortal problem.  Through seven generations from Adam to Enoch, the problem of  sinful, fallen humanity is solved.  Enoch, in the first thousand-year period, symbolized translation (rose above the physical, material concept of himself without dying.)  Jesus, in the fifth period, demonstrated it.  Jesus referred to himself as the “light of the world.”  It was the light of the true story of creation’s “first day” which chases away the deep hypnotic darkness of the Adam dream of mortality.  This is correlated with the seven “days” (thousand year periods) of creation unfolding in human experience until the day of rest---no more death.  The full seven-day span, seen as seven thousand years, represents the problem of Adam solved universally.  This span is given in I Genesis 2: 6- Revelation 22: 21) Genesis 2: 4, 5   “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:  for the Lord God [Jehovah] had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.” On page 543: 31-544: 1-7 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy addresses the "bridge" text, explaining why it forms a “bridge” between the two accounts of creation:  "The text, 'In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens,' introduces the record of a material creation which, at some point,  followed the spiritual,---a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit had no participation in it.  In God's creation, ideas became productive, obedient to Mind."  Life was self-sustaining and did not depend upon what a man planted or ate. Humanity does not need to support itself as a physically needy being.  The toil is the constant condemnation of the erroneous viewpoint that man is mortal, subject to his body and the body of the universe seemingly objective to him. It is the curse pronounced on Adam by his own mortal beliefs when he discovered that being hypnotized by the serpent (a material sense of creation) to believe things could be better if mind, sensation, was "put into" his body was not at all what it was cracked up to be!  It thrust him, mentally, out of his "garden of paradise," the joy and harmony of  being spiritually-minded.  Paul writes:  "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ [the Truth lived and loved] shall all be made alive."  (I Cor.15: 22)  God, as the sinless, eternal Mind or intelligence and Principle of the universe never knew Adam and Eve!  The story of Adam and Eve is a myth.  Webster's defines "myth:"  "A story, the origin of which is forgotten, ostensibly historical, but usually such as to explain some practice, belief, institution, or material phenomenon."   The workings of the third degree (spiritual) are reflected in the workings of the second (moral).  Therefore, in the solving of the human problem, moral and spiritual are one. 
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The "bridge" statement reverses the order of creation and the name “God” to “Lord God:” "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth (seven days and seven generations) when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens...."  "Lord God" instead of "God" changes the previous order from "heavens ..."earth" (harmony expressing itself as reflection ) to "earth"..."heavens." The emphasis is now on the uprising of the human (earth) to the divine (heavens).  This is possible only because thought has first come from the divine--- Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind. All good is ours divinely before it is realized humanly.  "...the Lord God made...every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:  for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground."  Just as plants exist in Mind before they appear on earth, so what we are as man is already, by reflection, the subjective state of our own true being, before this becomes our human experience. The immediate object of understanding is, in truth, a subjective image in our God- Mind.  Our "garden of paradise" is our entire universe, God's body of compound ideas, a scientifically structured reflection of an infinite intelligence, Mind, which we can know only by His/Her creation.  This incredible Mind is the forever Source of all beauty, outline, form, color, design--- timeless, ageless being in countless varieties, where all activity, movement, and functioning operates as one seamless whole, all blessing one and one blessing all. It is perfection on an infinite scale!   One physicist, Michael Turner, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and Fermilab, describing the precision needed in the creation of our universe and its being so perfectly created to support life, said, “The precision is as if one could throw a dart across the entire universe and hit a bull’s eye one millimeter in diameter on the other side.”  Now that is perfection! Genesis 2: 6    “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”  “The Science and truth of the divine creation have been presented in the verses already considered, and now the opposite error, a material view of creation, is to be set forth.”  (S&H 521: 23-26) 
“The creations of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from mystification, and not from the firmament, or understanding, which God erects between the true and the false. 
In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.  All is material myth, instead of the reflection of Spirit.”  (S&H 523: 7-13)  Mrs. Eddy gives this exegesis of Gen. 2: 6:  "...The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God's perfection and power.  The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal,---as having broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own.  Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible."   (S&H 523-26: 7-11) She writes:  “It may be worthwhile here to remark that, according to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two distinct documents in the early part of the book of Genesis.  One is called the Elohistic, because the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. 
The other document is called Jehovistic, because Deity therein is always called Jehovah,---or Lord God, as our common version translates it…[The Israelites] called the Supreme Being 
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by the national name Jehovah.  In that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God seems almost lost.  God becomes ‘a man of war,’ a tribal God to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine Principle to be lived and loved.”  (S&H 523: 14-21;  524: 8-12) “Mist” according to Webster:  “Anything which obscures, blurs, or intercepts vision, physical or mental.”  Water and dust make mud!  Spiritual vision was wholly obscured due to the hypnotic sleep by which the myth of mind and matter adulterates all human thought. “…the whole face of the ground:”  The entire record of mortal history is grounded in the myth of mind in matter.”  (Brown, 42) 
“This second record unmistakably gives the history of error in its externalized forms, called life and intelligence in matter…  Spirit is represented as entering matter in order to create man…[Yet] the Scriptures just preceding declare God’s work to be finished. 
Does Life, Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred?  Does the Creator condemn His own creation?  Does the unerring Principle of divine law change or repent?”  (S&H 522:  12- 14; 20-21; 29-32)    The basis of the universe is "The great I AM, the only substance and intelligence, which is forever being the perfect Reflector or Subject looking into its own substance, Spirit, and seeing its own reflection of Itself existing as countless identities (Soul). These identities with countless forms and purposes operate under its dominion as the one and only infinite government (Principle), living harmoniously (Life) as its ideal (Truth), forever complete and cared for as its glorious full and perfect image (Love).  This means that under the law of reflection, what is reflected must be simultaneously "returned" to its Source.  Then can the reflection of health return or reflect back to its Source an image of disease, death, or inharmony of any kind?  Impossible!  Can your reflection in the mirror over-ride you, its source, and return or show to you a completely different image than your own?  Impossible!   If you are smiling as you look at yourself in the mirror, can your reflection suddenly stick out its tongue at you?  Laughable, but the same point is made. Because of its false impossible basis, the mythical, erroneous tale of creation was destined to be found out, its lies uncovered, its hypnotic dream dispersed.   Immersed in lie upon lie, each one becoming  ever more removed from the Truth, it finally declared that God knows error and that error can improve His creation!  God cursed the ground or erroneous foundation of the lie.  (Of course, divine Principle does not "curse" anything for it knows only its own sinless, perfect Self.  Error is self-destroyed.)  "In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed, not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations.  Man reflects God;  mankind represents the Adamic race, and is a human, not a divine, creation."   (S&H 525: 3-6, emphasis in the original)  The Bible tells us the story of mankind's journey from hypnotic belief in the impossible to the re-discovery of his true Scientific being as divine, God's perfect image. It is interesting that in her explanation of Genesis, Mrs. Eddy gives us some of the equivalents of the term man in different languages.  "In Saxon, mankind, a woman, any one; in Welsh, that which rises up,---the primary sense being image, form;  in the Hebrew, image, similitude;  in the Icelandic, mind. The following translation is from the Icelandic: --- "And God said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness;  and God shaped man after His mind;  after God's mind 
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shaped He him;  and He shaped them male and female."   (S&H 525: 8-16, emphasis not in original)  God, in His seven-fold nature, the "us," has forever held "man" as an image in His Mind, expressing His attributes, male and female [in qualities alone], exactly as He forever is. However, the creation story now makes a complete change. In this next version of creation, God does not form man from His mind, but from the dust of the ground!  In Science and Health we read: “The word Adam is from the Hebrew adamah, signifying the red color of the ground [clay], dust, nothingness.” (338: 12, emphasis in original) Apparently the mist saturated the dust, turning it into clay from which God fashioned mortal man!  “The word mortal is from the root mors, meaning death…Male and female gods, forces of good and evil, the mortal birth-death cycle, are the visible outcome---the consolidation---of an elemental mist, or myth.  Adam is defined in part in Science and Health as “the first god of mythology” (580: 2) From earliest times, the dominant figure in mythology has been the mother goddess, the personification of adamah, typical of mother earth...In Arabic, the ‘red mud’ out of which Adam is made means ‘Egypt;’ while ‘Eden,’ the garden into which he is put, is the same as ‘Edin,’ meaning ‘Babylon.’  Birth into matter at one end of the mortal scale leads to death out of matter at the other.  The Bible’s central theme is the story of the children of Israel.  In the experience of Israel, the womb and the tomb are represented by her two captivities---her hard labor in Egypt early in her history, [out of which Moses delivered her], and her later deportation to Babylon, when her temple (body) is laid waste.  From the latter situation, however, comes resurrection, and the rebuilding of the body.  Science and Health declares:  ‘When the mist of mortal mind evaporates, the curse will be removed which says to woman, ‘In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.’  Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born [never born in servitude to Egypt] and never dying [never in servitude to Babylon], but as coexistent with his creator [in the Promised Land].’”  (S&H 557: 16)  (Brown, 48, 49) Genesis 2: 7    “And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;  and man became a living soul.”    In the first account, “With a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female.”  Mrs. Eddy defines “Adam” in the Glossary of Science and Health [in part]:  “error; a falsity;  the belief in ‘original sin,’ sickness and death; evil; the opposite of good,---of God and His creation;  a curse;  a belief in intelligent matter, finiteness, and mortality;…a so- called finite mind, producing other minds, thus making ‘gods many and lords many’ (I Corinthians viii. 5);…Life’s counterfeit, which ultimates in death;…that of which wisdom saith, ‘Thou shalt surely die.’  The name Adam represents the false supposition that Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end;  that the infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into non-intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense…that the one God and creator entered what He created, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.”  (S&H 579: 15-27) 
Genesis 2: 8   “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden;  and there He put the man whom he had formed.”     “Adam is put into the garden:  Mind is supposedly absorbed in matter as its own subjective condition.”  (Brown, 42)  The “Lord 
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God” is not divine Mind.  It is a false sense of God, having a mortal-like mind, capable of knowing both good and evil, a total departure from the first chapter of Genesis which signifies the all-good of God, where all is the reflection of Mind that is Love. Genesis 2: 9   “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food;  the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”    The first mention of evil is in the second chapter of Genesis, (2: 9).  A tree grows in the midst of Eden, (meaning paradise, pleasure, delight according to Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary, p.7  and Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, p. 159)  Two trees occupy exactly the same ground, the "tree of life" and "the tree of knowledge of good and evil."   This “ground” is mortal consciousness which claims knowledge of good and evil.  From the perspective of Science, only the "tree of life" is real.  "Knowledge of good and evil” is death.  The garden is not a place, but the symbol for body, looked at from the perspective of matter, it is supposed to bring pleasure and delight.  However, this bodily delight is accompanied by death, evil.  From the perspective of Science, life is not at the disposal of body.  It is the forever expression of Life, God, and is immortal. At this point in the now second chapter mythological tale, man has lost his innocence and must die.  How then can man regain his innocence and spiritual sense of everything?  The Christian churches teach living a life dedicated to doing good for others and expressing a pure heart. This is, of course, necessary.  The author of Genesis gives the solution in a metaphorical way in Genesis 2: 10-14.  It needed the “Key to the Scriptures” provided by Science and Health, to be understood in the “day” (seventh thousand-year period) which would be ready to understand it.  That “seventh day” state of consciousness has come, so let us examine it. Genesis 2: 10-12:  “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;  and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;  And the gold of that land is good:  there is bdellium and the onyx stone.  (10) , And the name of the second river is Gihon:  the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel:  that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is Euphrates.” The rivers type the way out of bondage to materiality, bringing mankind into the freedom of spirituality.  They have been given their spiritual symbolic definitions in the Glossary of Science and Health.  The first river is Pison:  “PISON (river).  The love of the good and beautiful and their immortality.”  (593)  It is a type or symbol for the first stage of thought that must be held generally by individuals and eventually by mankind as we begin to make progress on our journey out of the belief of good and evil.  Note that Mrs. Eddy equates “God” with “good” in her textbook.  God’s infinite manifestation is the manifestation of good only, no evil.  Only good can be eternal.  Evil destroys itself.  If we love God above all else, we must love good above all else, not just certain people, religions, governments, things, but good wherever it is being expressed, for man, including the universe, is the good of God. 
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One should often ask one’s self, “Am I expressing the qualities of good?  Am I claiming those qualities as being present in spite of the knowledge of the senses?  If so, we are on the way to dominion, for, as the physicists have now learned, what we hold in mind, we see outwardly in our experience.  They have discovered that we each determine our health and happiness by the thoughts we constantly entertain about ourselves and others. 
The brain or other body parts do not govern us.   We know God in proportion to the good being expressed in our lives.  Good does not in any way depend upon matter. It is entirely spiritual, the outcome of the divine Principle’s government of the universe.  Good can never be separated from man, for man is the reflection of it, one with it.  Our own choices seem to separate us from God, good. We read that the river “compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.” Gold, as a metal, is the one which is the most malleable of all metals, especially under fire. 
Thus, it is a great symbol for the meaning of  “the gold of human character.”  This is true wealth.  “In other words our own worthy aims and endeavors, and our dedicated and consecrated activity encircle all being and return to us multiplied.  ‘With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ (Matt. 7: 2)  We must find the gold within our own consciousness before we shall see it manifested in our experience, and when we find it there, it is real and good…The gold of human character, tried in the fire, emerges purified---bright and shining.  This pure gold is formed and shaped by the hand of God and is indestructible. 
It is more than a precious metal.  The precious metal is but a symbol.  This pure gold manifests more than the symbol, even the meaning of the ancient Celtic word for gold---light and splendor.  Start with the Golden Rule.  Follow the River Pison.  Enter into Havilah where there is gold.  Purify this gold of human character, and find the Golden Age or the Golden Shore of Love.  Havilah is only the first step.  But because it is first, it is primary.” (Grekel, C.S., Principle and Practice, 338-343) The second river flowing out of the garden is named Gihon.   It is the next necessary step upwards in mankind’s salvation from mortal mind’s binding beliefs.  The Glossary gives this definition:  “GIHON  (river).  The rights of women acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially.”  (587)   We do not have a whole, complete conception of God if we believe He is like a man, either war-like or benevolent.  Our holy books use the masculine pronoun for God and have been a major reason for the misunderstanding.  These rivers were destined to be understood in the “latter days,” that which would be revealed by the Comforter (Science and Health).  They could not be comprehended by the people in Bible times, nor are they apprehended by many of the world’s populations today. Women have been treated as lesser citizens for thousands of years.  However, many enlightened women (and men!) are hailing today as “the age of woman.”  Women are engaged on many fronts, standing up for their God-given rights, as seen in news articles, on TV, in governments, businesses, etc.  There is much upheaval going on all over the world as the carnal mind fights this enlightened thinking.  The highest concept of God was given to us by Jesus’ beloved disciple, John, when he wrote:  “He that loveth not knoweth not God;  for God is love.” ( I John 3: 8)  Love is a “womanhood” quality.   (An important thing to understand about women’s rights is that they do not include the “right” to be immoral. 
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Immorality is not of God. It certainly is not love!)  We have begun casting our nets into this important river, and a great abundance of good we are sure to find that will bless us all. The third river is named Hiddekel.  Its precious meaning is being partially realized today, and this will be helped onward as scientists, theologians, and the medical profession, as well as individuals, begin to explore it and use it.  The Glossary meaning is: “HIDDEKEL (river).  Divine Science understood and acknowledged.”  This third step is a huge one for mankind.  It is truly the “paradigm leap” looked for by the physicists.  It will lift us right up to the throne of God, divine Principle, government by divine Science.  We must realize that it won’t be acknowledged until it is at least partially understood through demonstration.  When science unwinds its snarls of material thinking and sees where it is taking us, we will throw away our erroneous textbooks as less than useless and begin to “eat up” the “little book,” Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  We have begun the digestion of its message, and a new age, the age of metaphysics, the era of divine Mind, will launch mankind on the final leg of its journey. The writer of Genesis, believed to be Ezekiel, knew that over a long seven-thousand year journey mankind would tame the obstructions in their river journeys and finally discover and follow the fourth, last, river, the great river “EUPHRATES (river).  Divine Science encompassing the universe and man;  the true idea of God;  a type of the glory which is to come;  metaphysics taking the place of physics;   the reign of righteousness.  The atmosphere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or death;  a state of mortal thought the only error of which is limitation;  finity; the opposite of infinity.”  Mankind will find itself spiritualized to the point of sinlessness.  (After this, we cannot know.  It takes us into the spiritual universe, completely free of mortal bounds.)  We can rejoice that, as a result of the coming of the Christ to human consciousness, we are on our way on our rivers of thought.  Ahead of us, we are destined for the “Golden Shore of Love and the peaceful Sea of Harmony.”  (S&H 575: 22-575: 2)  The myth of mortality will be dissolved. With those uplifting views in mind, let us continue our spiritual synopsis of the false creation story.  We will find it to be the direct opposite of the first, true, account. Genesis 2: 15-17     “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  And the Lord God [Jehovah] commanded the man, saying, Of  every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:  for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”   "Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting man, but the Apostle James says:  'God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.' "...is it true that God, good, made 'the tree of life' to be the tree of death to His own creation?  Evil is unreal because it is a lie,---false in every statement."  (S&H  527: 11-14 and 17-20) Genesis 2: 18-22     “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone;  I will make him an help meet for him.  And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;  and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the 
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fowl of the air, but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.  And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:  and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;  And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” Divine Science interprets:  “Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but doing so materially, not spiritually, and asking a prospective sinner to help Him…Was it requisite for the formation of man that dust should become sentient, when all being is the reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares that God has already created man, both male and female?  That Adam gave the name and nature of animals is solely mythological and material.  It cannot be true that man was ordered to create man anew in partnership with God;  this supposition was a dream, a myth."  (S&H 527:  21-14) 
“Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a surgical operation on him and thereby create woman.  This is the first record of magnetism [hypnotism].  Beginning creation with darkness instead of light, --- materially instead of spiritually, error now simulates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declaring what great things error has done.”  A "mist" in the first part of the second record of creation becomes "a deep sleep."  We learn of the hypnotic control of the lie of life in matter as it pulls the believer further and further under its mesmeric influence.  Forbidden by God to eat of the fruit of the tree of mortality, Adam nevertheless craves for something to come and satisfy him outside of himself.  Thus, he "falls" for the sexual division of his mortal body into two bodies. ...Later in human history, when the forbidden fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there came a suggestion of change in the modus operandi,---that man should be born of woman, not woman again taken from man...Another change will come as to the nature and origin of man, and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence, reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact of creation, that both man and woman proceed from God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser parent."   (S&H 528: 12 n.p.) Under hypnosis, Adam dreams that woman is taken out of man, causing him to lose his womanhood.  The subjective state of his being appears in his dream as objective and separate.  Hence his instinctive urge to make the two one again.  In Science, man finds his womanhood through identification with God's nature as Love.  It is the divine answer to the deep collective unconscious. 
Genesis 3: 1-3   “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had made.  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”   “Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love?  The serpent enters into the metaphor only as evil…evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and has neither origin nor support in Truth and good.”  (S&H 529: 20-27) 
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With the creation of Eve, a serpent, symbol for generic evil, is introduced into the story.  (This serpent becomes a dragon, swollen with evil, in the later chapters of the Bible.) It is the belief that pleasure, in whatever form, is outside of yourself and that you have the ability to choose it to make yourself happy.  However, "choosing" indicates another reality, a worse or wrong choice, which can bring evil to you.  In reflection, there is no choice.  You always have and are that which is good, since God, omniscient good, is that which is the infinite Reflector. According to Rev. 13, the dragon operates through two agents, a beast from the sea and a beast from the earth.  The serpent's two agents were Adam and Eve.  The beast from the sea stands for unconscious mortal mind;  the beast from the earth, conscious mortal mind.  Jung, the psycho-analyst, in his book, Introduction to a Science of Mythology, says that in mythology, "the sea is the favorite symbol for the unconscious, the mother of all that lives."  (134)  Eve is named by Adam "the mother of all living."  (Gen. 3: 20)  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 52) Christian Science restores to man his apparently lost womanhood by setting its right foot on the sea and its left foot on the earth.  It exercises absolute power over both unconscious and conscious mortal mind.  The real "mother of us all" is, as Paul refers to in Galatians 4: 26, the bridal city [the "Jerusalem which is above"], the consciousness of harmony, Love] of Rev. 21, which appears when there is "no more sea."  In the Science and Health chapter on "The Apocalypse", p.559, Mrs. Eddy addresses this symbolic "event:" 
This angel had in his hand "a little book," open for all to read and understand.  Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science, the "right foot" or dominant power of which was upon the sea,---upon elementary, latent error, the source of all error's visible forms? 
The angel's left foot was upon the earth;  that is, a secondary power was exercised upon visible error and audible sin."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, pp.52-53) Genesis 3: 4-6    “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened;  and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her;  and he did eat.” Mrs. Eddy says this about the serpent's temptation:  "This myth represents error as always asserting its superiority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science, and saying through the material senses:  'I can open your eyes.  I can do what God has not done for you. 
Bow down to me and have another god.  Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be desired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be mine.'  Thus Spirit and flesh war. 
“The history of error is a dream narrative.  The dream has no reality, no intelligence, no mind.  Therefore, the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real.  This allegory has been maintained down through the ages in all of its forms of belief.  If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non-intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body by the creator, why is not this divine order still maintained by God in perpetuating the 
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species?   The preacher of Ecclesiastes writes:  "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright;  but they have sought out many inventions."  (Eccl. 7: 29)  Those who espouse no belief in a supreme creator but do believe that creation came from unintelligent "dust" have never witnessed such a thing in nature and haven't a leg to stand on.  Either intelligence has always been or there is none!  All human knowledge and material sense must be gained from the five corporeal senses.  Is this knowledge safe when eating its first fruits brought death?  "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  (Gen.2: 17) 
Genesis 3:  7-10   “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;  and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 
And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day:  And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the  trees of the garden.  And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” “Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame…Had [man] lost [his] rich inheritance and God’s behest, dominion over all the earth?   No!  This had never been bestowed on Adam.” (Remember, he was fashioned from the mud of the ground!)  (S&H 532: 17-18; 533: 1-4)   Error now demanded that mind should feel and see through matter, the five senses.  The allegory exposes the supposition that something springs from nothing, that matter precedes mind...that mind enters matter, and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent...The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being."  (S&H 530: 29-1; 5-6; 10-13) Gen.3: 11-12    “And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?  Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?   And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”     “Here is an attempt to trace all human errors directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the creator of evil.  The allegory shows that the snake-talker [generic evil] utters the first voluble lie, which beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man.  Adam, alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own dereliction, saying, [in so many words], ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me, is responsible.”  According to this belief, the rib taken from Adam’s side has grown into an evil mind, named woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than he can alone.  Is this an help meet for man? 
"Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from Adam to form Eve.  The belief in material life and intelligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof."  (S&H 533:5-25, emphasis in original) “Truth, cross-questioning man as to his knowledge of error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She says: ‘The serpent beguiled me and I did eat; ‘as much as to say in meek penitence, ‘Neither man nor God shall father my fault.’Mrs. Eddy realized, through revelation, a major point of the entire Bible:  "She has already learned that corporeal sense 
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is the serpent.  Hence she is first to abandon belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold at the sepulchre the risen Savior, who was soon to manifest the deathless man of God's creating.  This enabled woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man."  (S&H 533: 26-534: 1-7)  Mrs. Eddy is, of course, speaking in the last sentence about herself as revelator to mankind concerning the Comforter, the second coming of the Christ. Adam, selfishly, blames God and Eve for his downfall.  Eve, unselfishly, blames neither God nor Adam, but herself.  She accepts the responsibility as hers alone.  She is not deceived by the serpent to the same extent as Adam, and therefore the spell cast by animal mesmerism (the serpent) is finally broken in Revelation, which prophesies what happens in these last days.  The idea of the womanhood and motherhood of God impels in Eve, in the opening moments of mankind's journey, a movement of thought that leads in the end to the total surrender of the mortal sense of life and its replacement by immortality.  In other words, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with which Eve is associated, will yield at last to the tree of life.  Only the matrix of immortality is really in the midst of man's garden [body].   (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, p. 53)  "Matrix" means womb or enveloping element within which something originates or develops.  It is a symbol for man's spiritual origin which includes the society of generic man.  Man and the universe combine as one, a fact of Being, expressing the oneness and wholeness of Being. Eve discovered that the serpent is mankind's corporeal sense of self.  Evil is not something to be attacked "out there."  It must be handled within our own thinking, subjectively, at the point of individual understanding.  Because of this, woman will in the end wholly overcome the serpent.  However, in spite of her "meek penitence," Eve made the mistake of attaching evil to herself personally.  The true woman sense, yielding a personal sense of ego to the one divine Ego, understands that there is no "self" but God.  Womanhood deprives error of all selfhood.  That which finally destroys the serpent is woman's total impersonalization of self.  Our "woman" sense, which we all have but which needs to be awakened, is "the belief that the human race originated materially instead of spiritually." (S&H 585: 25)  "Eve" is a moral sense of good and evil at war with each other;  "woman" is the spiritual sense of the absolute supremacy of good.  Womanhood can no more be divided from manhood than Mind can be deprived of its own subjective state as Spirit. 
Gen. 3: 14-15   “And the Lord God [Jehovah] said unto the serpent, [material sense]…I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;   it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  There will be enmity between corporeal sense, which is wholly hypnotic mental suggestion, and the pure spiritual sense of the divine idea of man.  Mrs. Eddy gives her explanation for this sentence handed down by God to the serpent:  "This prophecy has been fulfilled.  The Son of the Virgin- mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error;  and the Apostle Paul explains this warfare between the ideas of divine power, which Jesus presented, and mythological material intelligence called energy and opposed to Spirit...There will be greater mental opposition to the spiritual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has ever been since the Christian 
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era began.  The serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of the woman,---will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea of Love;  and the woman, this idea, will bruise [crush] the head of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding a foothold in Christian Science.  The seed of Truth and the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, yea, the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, are the wheat and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned, and the other to be garnered into heavenly places."  (S&H 534:12-535:1-5) Genesis 3; 16-19    “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception:  in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” “Divine Science deals its chief blow at the material foundations of life and intelligence.  It dooms idolatry.  A belief in other gods, other creators, and other creations must go down before Christian Science.  It unveils the results of sin as shown in sickness and death.  When will man pass through the open gate of Christian Sconce into the heaven of Soul, into the heritage of the first-born among men?  Truth is indeed “the way.”  The Truth has come to burn the tares, tear off the mask, and reveal who we all are as glorious beings, the Sons and Daughters of God!  "  (S&H 535: 6-18 ) Genesis 3: 17-19   “And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:  cursed is the ground for thy sake;  in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life:  thorns  also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;  and thou shalt eat the herb of the field:  in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken:  for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”  (S&H 535: 19-28) Manhood and womanhood are corrupted by a material, fleshly sense.  Believing that man and woman are the means by which life gets into matter brings forth sorrow.  Separated from his womanhood, Adam, filled with self-righteousness and self-justification, blames the woman whom he believes got him kicked out of his garden of pleasure.  Eve, though blaming only herself for the offense, personalizes the sin as hers and so allows herself to come under Adam's rule.  "Passions and appetites must end in pain.  They are ‘of few days and full of trouble.’  Their supposed joys are cheats.  Their narrow limits belittle their gratifications, and hedge about their achievements with thorns...Through toil, struggle, and sorrow, what do mortals attain?  They give up their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached."  (S&H 536: 20-29) Gen. 3: 22-24   “And the Lord God [Jehovah] said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:  and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever;  therefore the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man:  and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every which way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”  This describes the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden.  A flaming sword is then placed at the east of the garden to keep the way of the tree of life.  (S&H 536: 30-8 n.p.) 
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"No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this allegory---this second account in Genesis---is to depict the falsity of error and the effects of error...Inspired writers interpret the Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets it literally.  Literally taken, the text is made to appear contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is represented as changeable.  The literal meaning would imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to reform, lest man should improve it and become better;  but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always,---Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who 'seeketh not her own.'  Truth, the flaming sword, always guards the gateway to harmony. (S&H 537: 15-538: 1-2) The Scriptures tell us that God condemned the serpent, the symbol for a lie about man's origin and character, to grovel on his belly beneath the beasts of the field.  It is a lie to assert that good and evil commingle.  Jesus disputed this point with the Pharisees:  "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"  (Matt. 7: 16)  St. Paul asked:  "What communion hath light with darkness?  And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"  (II Cor. 6: 15) [Dummelow's one Vol. Bible Commentary says that Belial was used as a synonym for the devil, but the meaning is doubtful.  There is no trace of a god under this name.  The Old Testament used it as meaning "wicked men."  (p. 935)  "Error excludes itself from harmony. 
Sin is its own punishment.  Error tills its own barren soil and buries itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for nothingness."  (S&H 537: 16-18) Genesis 4: 1-5   “And Adam knew Eve his wife;  and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord [Jehovah].  And she again bare his brother Abel.  And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”  (S&H 4: 1-5) Sin begets sin, and now, in Gen. 4: 1-16, we come to the consequences of the multiplication of it.    Eve's declaration "supposes God to be the author of sin and sin's progeny.  This false sense of existence is fratricidal.  In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is 'a murderer from the beginning.'...It is false to say that Truth and evil commingle in creation...Christ [the true man of God's creating] is the offspring of Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates neither a wicked man nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sickness, and death..."  Cain represents, in symbol, a mortal, material man, "conceived in sin and 'shapen in iniquity;'  he is not the type of Truth and Love. "  (S&H 538: 23-25, 30-539: 1-3, 19-20, 540: 1-4, 28-30) 
“Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain’s fruit?  No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the ground could be.”  (Ibid., 541: 9-13) Genesis 4: 6-8   “And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?  And why is thy countenance fallen?  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?  And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.  And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt 
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rule over him.  And Cain talked with Abel his brother:  and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”   (S&H 4: 6-8)   “The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelligence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood of man at the very outset.”   (S&H 541: 16-18) Genesis 4: 9   “And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?  And he said, I know not:  Am I my brother’s keeper?”   Here the serpentine lie invents new forms.  At first it usurps divine power.  It is supposed to say in the first instance, ‘Ye shall be as gods.’  Now it repudiated even the human duty of man towards his brother.”  (S&H 541: 19-26)   "Cain means 'acquisition.'  It suggests a perverted individualism which exploits its brother man for its own personal gain.  This state of thought breeds violence and corruption and must be expunged from the earth."  (Brown, 54-55) 
Isn't this what we are seeing all over the world today?  Eve's conception of Cain included the first degree, depravity [as expressed in S&H, p. 115].  Partaking of the fruit of pleasure (and, of necessity, its opposite, pain) in the body, she experienced the depraved sense of existence and brought forth her children in sorrow.  This is continuing today.  Did the deep sleep which overcame Adam bring enlightenment to the race?  It is obvious that the Adam-belief goes on.  "When the mist of mortal mind evaporates, the curse will be removed which says to woman, 'In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.'  Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator."  (S&H 557: 16-21)  "The way of error is awful to contemplate.  The illusion of sin is without hope or God...Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material conception of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the immortal side."  (S&H 536: 10-11, 24-26) Genesis 4: 10-12   “And He [Jehovah] said,…The voice of thy brother crieth unto me from the ground.  And now art thou cursed from the earth…When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength;   a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” The physical has murdered the moral, and the tree of good and evil begins to be reaped.  “In divine Science, the material man is shut out from the presence of God.  The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit.  They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dream-land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare of extermination.”  (S&H 543: 8-15) 
“Nevertheless, we see here the "seed of the woman" demonstrated  by Abel with his offering of a higher sense of sacrifice, expressing a higher sense of Love, God.  This higher sense of Love was offered later by Jesus, the ‘Lamb of God’ in his own self- sacrifice for mankind.  However, Jesus could not be destroyed by the Cain-thought for he knew that his humanity could no more be destroyed than his divinity, for the two are one.”  (Brown, 54) Jesus was killed so that the perpetrators might be rid of troublesome Truth.  "Though error hides behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be concealed.  Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils error.  Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon error the mark of 
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the beast.  Even the disposition to excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished.  The avoidance and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin, invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine mercy."  (S&H 542: 5-13) Genesis 4: 15-16  “And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.  And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.  And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.”   The "mark of the beast" in Gen. 4: 15 is ignorance, the opposite of understanding.  The "murderer from the beginning" is a myth.  The infinite, changeless universe has no beginning.  It has ever been its Self---God, good, reflected as the creation.  To fight Cain on his own terms is to make something out of nothing, a procedure impossible in Science.  A seven-fold vengeance thus threatens any attempt to dispose of Cain by merely physical means. "  (Brown, 54)   "Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's own way, and let human justice pattern the divine. 
Sin will receive its full penalty, both for what it is and for what it does."  (S&H 542: 19-22) "To envy's own hell, justice consigns the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's commandments."  (S&H 542: 24-26)  Finally, in Gen. 4: 16 "Cain went out from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod."  "In divine Science, the material man is shut out from the presence of God.  The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit.  They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare of extermination...The belief that matter supports life would make Life, or God, mortal...In God's creation ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.  There was no rain and 'not a man to till the ground.'  Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was self- sustained."   (S&H 543: 8-15, 28-29,544: 3-7) From "mist" and then" deep sleep," we come into the "land of Nod."  Cain is banished from "the presence of the Lord," harmony and peace.  Murderous physicality is a state of self-destruction, or spiritual oblivion.  The word "Nod" means "wandering exile." 
Cain symbolizes depravity, that which must pass into oblivion in Adam's thought as an individual, and later, on a world scale, in the coming of Noah and the flood in the second thousand year period---Spirit, purity.  As the Bible records, the line of Cain develops through seven generations and then ends.  He and his progeny perish in the flood. The problem with Cain has forced Adam and Eve to a higher spiritual standpoint. 
Eve bears a third son and names him Seth.  Seth means "substituted," for he will act as a substitute for Abel who was slain.  Cain represented the first degree of mortal man, depravity.  Abel represented the second degree, morality.  Now Seth is the type of a totally new point of view---the third degree, humanity on a spiritual basis rather than a physical.  In Gen. 5: 1, Adam is no longer referred to as made from dust (as in Gen. 2: 7) but as man made in the likeness of God.  This means that there are never two types of man, one mortal, the other spiritual and immortal.  The difference is in the standpoint taken by the individual. "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appeared to mortals [the erroneous material standpoint]. In this perfect man the Savior saw 
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God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy…To the five corporeal senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but Christian Science reveals man as the idea of God, and declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions."(S&H 476:32-477:4-5, 9-13) 
As previously pointed out, there were seven generations from Adam and Eve to Enoch, through Adam's third son, Seth (from depravity to spiritual understanding).  "And Enoch walked with God:  and he was not; for God took him."  (Gen. 5:  1-24)  Paul interprets:  "By faith [understanding], Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him:  for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."  (Heb. 11: 5)  Enoch means "teacher, instructor."  Enoch walked with God according to the 'seven days of creation'---the order of the third degree--- understanding.  The myth of material origin yielded to the understanding of his identity as being an image in immortal Mind, and he could not die!  Mrs. Eddy speaks to this:  "If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence before his material senses, he could never have 'walked with God,' nor been guided into the demonstration of life eternal."  (S&H 214: 5)  Isaiah commanded:  "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?"  (Is. 2: 22) 
The first thousand year period of man's journey from matter to Mind, symbolized by Adam and Eve and their progeny through Enoch, begins with light, called "Day" and the darkness is called "Night."  It proves that the light of divine Mind, the understanding of the actual Science of the universe underlying all, disproves matter and exposes it as being darkness, nothing.  This increasing apprehension of the fact that all is Mind instead of matter, is the light which lights us on our journey from "Adam" to "Enoch," given to us from an individualized perspective.  Jesus, in the fifth Day (Life), the fifth thousand year period, demonstrates this wonderful realization individually for all mankind.  " I am  come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."   (John 10: 10)  The only way he could do that, and the only way we can do it, is to know that it is already true!  We have life in abundance because we are the reflection of abundant life (God, Life). In summing up this introduction by the author(s) of the Book of Genesis to man's journey out of the darkness of a "deep sleep" into the light of spiritual understanding, we learned the first major point on our journey:  Evil, the lie of a corporeal sense of self, of life and intelligence in matter, is not "out there," objective to us and out of our control, dominating us, but can be handled subjectively, with our Mind.  This revelation came to the "Eve"  aspect of man.  The "Adam" aspect saw evil as objective to himself and unable, thus, to handle it.  Mrs. Eddy, embodying " the woman clothed with the sun" in Revelation, the womanhood/motherhood aspect of God, revealed for the first time in human history this uplifting, world-changing insight to the world of darkness for the redemption of us all. 
The "Eve"  and "Seth" aspect of man is Mind as Love, seeing its own reflection in lovingkindness, unselfishness, loveliness, gentleness, tenderness, purity.  That which does not make evil real, is the highest sense of God.  This is the human and divine coincidence. 
This higher understanding of God is called later on and then throughout the Scriptures "the 
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seed of the woman."  It becomes much more developed in the third thousand year peroid, the Patriarchal period.   If it is lacking, man is animalistic.  (It is important here to remind you that we are not talking about maleness and femaleness. The word "man" is generic.  A female can certainly lack the woman/motherhood sense of Love in its highest meaning as well as a male can.  Gender has nothing to do with it!)  Each of us has, in reality, the full nature of God in both the Father and Mother aspects.  This is the great revelation that the Comforter has brought to us, for it negates the entire Adam and Eve myth of separation from God, our own true, whole, forever Being. Having begun the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, perhaps you now have a clearer idea of my purpose in writing an exposition on each Book of the Bible.  What the physicists have discovered and are now studying through “new eyes,” the nothingness of matter, is a science so life-altering, so diametrically opposed to all that has been taken for granted by nearly all human beings for thousands of years, that it seems inexplicable, impossible to put into practice.  The professions that will be called upon to learn and then to teach it for the betterment, even survival, of our civilization, are not, at this point, interested in looking very deeply into it because they know very little or nothing about it.  Certainly the teachers and writers of textbooks of today are practically clueless about the ramifications of the findings concerning “matter” and continue to teach its falsehoods.  This is indeed troubling for we will continue to experience disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, divisions, war, hopelessness, and death---until Mind is seen and understood to be the supreme, absolute, and final answer to our intolerable choices. We must face the fact that anything that depends, even in the slightest, upon material solutions will disappoint and finally fail.  Material wisdom can never be the answer.  Then where can we look? “…the sooner error is reduced to its native nothingness, the sooner man’s great reality will appear and his genuine being will be understood.  The destruction of error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but is the acknowledgement of them.”  (S&H 91: 10-15)  Suddenly, there is only one Truth, and it is the denial of matter!  “The denial of material selfhood aids the discernment of man’s spiritual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed the material senses.” (Ibid., 91: 17-21)  Is there a book known throughout the ages as the book of truth?  Of course, that would be the Bible! “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 32)  “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8: 2) Many will agree that the Bible holds the answer to mankind’s problems.  What many don’t know is that the answer has come in a wonderful two-fold way---as the Bible- promised Comforter, in a book that holds the key to the Bible which today can be understood and is, wonder of wonders, now upheld by the actual unfolding of theTruth in the findings of physicists, who once thought they were studying matter but have come to realize in the past century and into this one that there is no matter!  We have finally come to the necessary conclusion that there is only one Science!  No longer need religion and science be at odds!  Both can work together, in this seventh thousand year period, as one Mind, to 
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advance our precious planet and its citizens into the restoration of humanity to its original unfallen estate---the home, or heaven, of the Principle which is Love. This coming together of an exploration of the Truth for the sake of mankind has propelled my purpose in writing about the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation through the lens of Science.  This study illustrates how the Principle behind the universe has revealed its nature to mankind through the ages as mankind has been able to comprehend it.  Its non- material nature as infinite Mind, today seen by physicists as Consciousness, all-power, all- presence, all-knowing, all-acting, has come to our apprehension through symbols from the Bible which change as our spirituality grows. This is still true today.  We have been learning, over thousands of years, about our relationship to this Principle, finally realizing in the past three thousand years, that the government of the universe is based solely on a Principle that is not only intelligent but is Love. 
It is obvious that the deep study of spiritual Science as opposed to material science is the solution to our human quandary.  It is the universal Truth versus the unscientific irrelevance of erroneous nonsense that we must begin to counter with provable instruction. 
Scientists, theologians, and medical personnel, are you ready to take up the challenge of designing your instructional programs for the seventh thousand-year period in which we now live?  The paradigm shift requires it if we are to survive. Look around at our world today.  Is it not pitiful in view of what we know of the actual wonder and spiritual perfection of the universe?  How can we stand to see the results of our useless, tyrannical, matter-based thinking any longer?  It is a type of depravity, and the ones that can alter it for the survival of mankind need to come forward with one Mind and get busy exposing its terrible deceit.  You are the looked-up-to scientists of our day.  You have an obligation to help mankind make the paradigm leap.  Who of you will take up the challenge?  Mrs. Eddy wrote: “…by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God.  This difference wholly separates my system from all others.”  (Unity of Good, 9-2 n.p.)  Since this earth- shattering discovery, don’t all scientists not now know this?  No matter means nothing material to sin, get sick, and die!  Your knowing the truth concerning man and the universe obligates you to share this life-saving truth with the world.  Some doctors have come forth with their own experiences, proving to themselves the Truth of the nothingness of matter and the allness of God, good.  Here is one such testimony:  Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, writes that during a near-fatal bout with meningitis, the neurons in his cerebral cortex were stunned to complete inactivity for seven days.  He said, “I had always believed there were good scientific explanations for the heavenly out-of-body journeys described by those who narrowly escaped death.  It exists, and what I saw and learned there has placed me quite literally in a new world:  a world where we are much more than our brains and bodies, and where death is not the end of consciousness but rather a chapter in a vast and incalculably positive journey.” (Proof of Heaven, Simon & Schuster) It is Love that is the basis of the Law underpinning the universe.  “Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color.  It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night 
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with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.”  (S&H 247: 21-26)  Law without Love is cold, lifeless, merciless.  Love lifts the universe and its laws into that which we call “heaven.”  The two are inseparable, invariable, and knowing that creation is based on them, we have healing, and peace.” 
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Chapter  2  Noah And the Flood  Genesis 6: 1-10: 32 
The Second Thousand Year Period     Spirit---Purity 
The womanhood/Motherhood of God as Revealed in the “Second Day” of the Scriptures 
The second thousand year period, with the accent on Spirit (purity), begins with the story of Noah and the flood.  It is considered mythological, whether or not there might have been an actual great flood or not.  The two opening periods of the Bible foreshadow the missions of Christ Jesus and Christian Science, brought by Mary Baker Eddy, that appear in the fifth, sixth, and seventh periods. The accent of this next period moves from individual man to collective and universal man.  It begins with the description of the times in which Noah lived.  The name "Noah" means "comfort."  Lamech's father said of Noah, "The same shall comfort us..." (Gen. 5: 29)  Noah is indeed a foreshadowing symbol of the Holy Comforter, Christianity in its Science.  He appears in the lineage of Seth, and, like him, carries the "seed of the woman."  The progeny of Cain and the progeny of Seth had peopled the land and grown very numerous.  They had intermarried, resulting in an impure mixture of good and evil, polluting the "seed of the woman" as promised through Eve and then Seth. 
The Glossary gives us the spiritual definition of "Noah.  A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the nothingness of material things and of the immortality of all that is spiritual."  (p.592)  The definition "corporeal mortal" is given by Mrs. Eddy only to those men in the Glossary who protect and preserve the spiritual "seed of the woman."  This higher sense of God's, and thus man's, womanhood had been dormant for many hundreds of years due to the impurity of the thoughts of the people. The spirituality in Noah's thought enabled him to see the degradation of mankind that had flooded the earth, and impelled a need to rise above it.  This spiritual intuition came to him loud and clear as the voice of God, his real Mind, which also enabled him to apprehend its violent destruction by flood.   "Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired,---yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind."  (S&H 84: 14-18)   "...events of great moment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets.  Our Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said:  'O ye hypocrites!  ye can discern the face of the sky;  but can ye not discern the signs of the times?' " (S&H 85: 18-22)  The divine Mind to which Noah was always attuned gave him detailed instructions to build an ark which could rise above the flood and save himself and his family.  The Glossary gives the symbolic meaning of the ark:  "ARK. Safety;  the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle;  the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter.  God and man coexistent and eternal;  Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever.  The ark indicates temptation overcome and followed by exaltation."   (S&H 581: 8-14)  Let us look at this story from a symbolic standpoint: 
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God, Noah's divine Mind, instructs him in the building of the ark.  The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high.  The symbols of 3 and 5 are used again and again.  They hint the tones of the third and fifth synonyms for God.  They suggest identity (Soul, third "day") and individuality (Life, fifth "day").  This includes the animals as well as his family.  " God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men."  (S&H 550: 5-7) The boat was to be made of gopherwood, thought to be cedar, a remarkably durable wood used in boats.  It was to have one window. “Window” is from "wind" and "eye."  "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."  (Jesus—Matt. 6: 22)  This is true individually and universally. There must be one door.  The ark is the sanctuary of Spirit.  It is closed to error and open to Truth.  Within the quiet sanctuary of his world-embracing ark, Noah must "deny sin and plead God's allness."  (S&H 15: 3-18) The ark needs to be pitched both within and without with pitch.  The word "pitch" means "atonement."  We spiritually understand our world through at-one-ment with God, subject and object eliminating belief in fleshly separation. The rooms in Noah's (our) ark must be room enough for all mankind.  Nothing can be left out except a violent, self-destroying, untrue sense of man. 
The ark symbolizes divine Science reduced to an ordered system of ideas in absolute Christian Science, becoming the healing, rebirthing savior of the human race;  it is the activity of the three degrees of translation from the First Degree---depravity, the PHYSICAL (Unreality), to the Second Degree---Evil beliefs disappearing---the MORAL (Transitional qualities),  to the Third Degree—Understanding, the SPIRITUAL  (Reality) Therefore, there are to be three stories in the ark, the lower story (typing the Physical, the second story (typing the Moral) and third story (typing the Spiritual). 
In our "ark" of spiritual understanding, the consciousness of Love, we are secure, safe, and protected, for metaphysics is above physics which bases its expectations and conclusions on matter.  Just as the ark separated Noah from the waters of the flood, Spirit acts to separate us from the false concept of "twoness."  There are not two kinds of worlds. 
There is not heaven "up there" and evil or hell "down here" (or "down there!").  The purity of Spirit cleanses the human race of its belief that both good and evil are equally real.  A moral chemicalization takes place (just as it is taking place today), a mental fermentation, in which "all errors of belief yield to understanding."  (S&H 96: 21) Noah is given seven days (seven thousand years) in which to build his ark, and gather his family and all the animals inside.  Obviously, this is a mental process Noah must go through, working with the seven synonyms of God and seeing man as the perfect reflection of them.  It symbolizes what mankind does over the seven thousand year period culminating in our time. When this is done, the windows of heaven are opened (the Scientific Translation of Immortal Mind and the three degrees of Mortal Mind are finally understood and demonstrated and man in his spiritual understanding is saved from the "flood" of depravity;  reality is reached.) 
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The ark prefigures the universal Church of Christ, not another religion, but the "body of Christ," the spiritual reality of the human race, defined as the "structure of Truth and Love.” (S&H 588: 7) The Noah story is a graphic lesson about the world's baptism of Spirit, so that all flesh dies. This means fleshly beliefs, not people and animals. It means that spiritual understanding demonstrates the nothingness of mortality so that our sense of our spiritual identity and individuality may be reborn. After 150 days of rain, the "wind of God" caused the waters to assuage. "Wind" in the Glossary means "That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government encompassing all things...The Greek word for wind (pneuma) is used also for spirit..." (S&H 597-8) The wind, or breath of God is God as Spirit moving on the face of the waters. The Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, is breathed upon all mankind. (John 20: 22) Soon Noah's newly conceived world will emerge from its ark of spiritual understanding and be seen as mankind's real identity. "We cannot build safely on old foundations. Truth makes ( a new creature), in whom (old things are passed away) and 'all things are become new.' Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good." (II Corinthinans 5:17, S&H 201: 7-12) When the ark comes to rest on top of Mt. Ararat, Noah waits for the water to go down so all can emerge from the ark.  Staying in symbol, we take in the glorious view from the top of the mount, our highest ever spiritual sense of things.  We have included the whole world in our ark, our consciousness of infinite Love; we have looked out with our mountaintop vision. We ask, "Am I sure that the waters of mortal mind have receded?  Can I truly look out upon my world with my real heart, the great heart of Love?  Do I have a new sense of "the only I or Us?"  "There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence; man and woman unchanged forever in their individual characters, even as numbers which never blend with each other, though they are governed by one Principle.  All the objects of God's creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.  (S&H 588: 11-19) Noah sends forth a raven which goes to and fro.  The consciousness of duality must rid itself of its dark, restless thinking before emerging.  Is spirituality evident?  The raven is black, and the dove is white.  Noah sends forth a dove.  This types Divine Science, the Holy Ghost, which makes all men one as reflections of the same Mind.  Is there no more "here and there," "inside and "outside?"  The dove comes back three times.  Belief in a dual sense of self is not yet properly resolved.  Noah waits seven days---more prayerful work is done for "seven days," reasoning with all seven synonyms for God to purify his still somewhat dualistic sense of everything.  After this spiritually mental work, he is clear about the oneness of God and man. The dove goes forth and then comes back with an olive branch of peace.  Two are being made one. The traits of Manhood and Womanhood are seen as peacefully existing in one Consciousness, reflected by all. 
More prayerful work is done for seven days.  The waters are beginning to abate. 
The dove is sent out again and this time, does not come back to the ark.  The self, the I, has gone fully into Spirit, and the waters of mortal mind, separation from the satisfaction of 
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wholeness, have completely receded---the ground is dry---there is no more sea, no more latent error.  Subject and object are one in spiritual identity.  Noah, his family, and the animals, all that was good in world consciousness, emerge from the ark of safety from depravity (God and man seen as coexistent and eternal---definition of ark) and a new world is born.   Christian Scientists find safety, protection, healing, and peace in the metaphysical work they do each day, prayer that is above the beliefs of physics ( the reality of intelligent and non-intelligent matter). A seven-fold rainbow of promise spans the heavenly firmament.  Noah is gratefully reassured by this promise of God, his own completely spiritualized consciousness, that he has seen a sign of God's loving care of His creation in which no flood of evil can exist. 
Seeing God present as self-perpetuating Love is the "seed of the woman."  This absolute Truth which he has glimpsed is seen as a "covenant" which is forever established between God and His reflection, man and the universe.  " And God said, This is the token of the covenant [a promise or solemn compact between two parties] which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth...and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."  (Gen. 9:12-13, 15)  This rainbow of promise makes another appearance in the book of Revelation in St. John's visionary revelation from Christ Jesus.  Jesus is prophesying the second coming of the Christ which appeared in the sixth thousand year period with the coming of the" little book." 
"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven [consciousness of harmony], 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."  St. John, in Rev. 10, is telling us of this angel which today brings divine Science to the human consciousness.  "This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud [is not then understood], prefigures divine Science.  To mortal sense Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and dark;  but a bright promise crowns its brow.  When understood, it is Truth's prism [sevenfold nature of God explained] and praise.  When you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means, and it has for you a light above the sun, for God 'is the light thereof.'  Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy Ghost... This angel had in his hand 'a little book,' open for all to read and understand.  Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science, the 'right foot' or dominant power of which was upon the sea,---upon elementary, latent error, the source of all error's visible forms?  This angel's left foot was upon the earth;  that is, a secondary power was exercised upon visible error and audible sin.  The 'still, small voice' of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.  The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, 'as when a lion roareth.'  It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear."  (S&H 558: 1-559: 12) Through a spectrum of seven synonymous terms for God, given to man in the "little book," it is possible for humanity to understand and magnify his own divinity as the very reflection of the Divine One .This comprehension of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures enables the earth, in Revelation 12, to swallow up the dragon's flood.  The 
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spiritual comprehension becoming understood today, is in fulfilment of Noah's covenant, with the coming of the Comforter, divine Science. Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japhet.  Their names are given definitions in the Glossary by Mrs. Eddy so that we can comprehend their spiritual meanings.  Once again, we see the three degrees of the Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind.  "Ham" means "Corporeal belief; sensuality; slavery; tyranny."  (p.587)  By now you know it means the First Degree, the Physical,  Depravity.  When mankind finally realizes the terrible ramifications of his belief that life and intelligence are in "matter" and that this "matter" has dominion over him and the earth, he will agree that it truly was a depraved belief.  Webster's definitions of deprave, depraved, depravity:  "Deprave:  "de+pravus  crooked, perverse, wicked, to make  bad;  vitiate;  corrupt.    Depraved: characterized by corruption;  esp. perverted;  evil.   Depravity:  a state of being depraved."   Doesn't this describe perfectly a state of sin, sickness, disease, and death?   This is the very opposite of reality---and mankind is dying to get out of it!---either through false theology or sin, sickness, or disease.  How perverted is that?! The Glossary definition of Shem is "A corporeal mortal;  kindly affection;  love rebuking error; reproof of sensualism."  (p.594)  Here we see the Second Degree, Evil Beliefs Disappearing, the Moral.  Like Seth and Noah, Shem is the corporeal mortal that will carry forth the "seed of the woman." Japheth stands for the Third Degree, Understanding, Spiritual.  In the Glossary it is defined as:  "A type of spiritual peace, flowing from the understanding that God is the divine Principle of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child of His care."  It tells us in Gen. 9:19 that of these three sons "was the whole earth overspread." 
Ham means "hot, black," and supposedly peopled the dark races of Africa, including Egypt. 
Shem's progeny peopled the Semitic nations of the middle East, including the children of Israel.  Japheth is identified mainly with the nations of Europe and the West, the Aryan races, or the Indo-Europeans.   "...Ham is the father of Canaan."  Biblically, Christ Jesus comes through the Hebrew descendants of Shem, and Christian Science [brought by Mary Baker Eddy] comes through the Gentile descendants of Japheth." (Brown, p.63) 
Canaan is the "promised land" of the children of Israel later on.  "Canaan represents the nations of Palestine subdued by Israel.  The justification of the conquest lay in the impure character of their worship, which was foreshadowed in the immodest conduct of their ancestor, [Ham]...Shem was the ancestor of Israel, and Noah's words, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Shem' asserts Israel's unique position and calling, as the chosen people of the true God."  (Dummelow, One Vol. Bible Commentary, p.16)   Canaan is given a spiritual definition in the Glossary:  "A sensuous belief;  the testimony of what is termed material sense;  the error which would make man mortal and would make mortal mind a slave to the body."  All negative!  How could this land, derived from the physical Ham, be God's promise to His children?  Here is where the symbols come in!  We, all of us, are Israel in our journey from Egypt (mortality) to Canaan, through the three degrees, translating the sense of self and body from mortality to immortality.  We translate the land of Canaan into what the land truly is---the coincidence of heaven and earth.  We free ourselves from the sensuous 
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concept of body for the land of spiritual identity.  The second thousand year period is nearing the third millennia where man starts to practice universal translation as taught in the first two periods. In Gen. 9: 20-27, we read that Noah "began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:  And he drank of the wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent."  The One Volume Bible Commentary by Dummelow says that "Noah is represented as the first cultivator of the vine.  Noah's intoxication was not due to deliberate excess, but was his practical discovery of the properties of wine.   The story therefore contains nothing inconsistent with the character already ascribed to him."  (p. 16) Ham goes into his father's tent and sees him uncovered and eagerly tells his brothers.  However, Shem and Japheth will not allow themselves to be witnesses to their father's error.  They get a cloak, and, walking backwards towards their father, cover him with the cloak.  "The moral and spiritual do not acknowledge animality as real while physicality openly affirms it.  Therefore, when Noah awoke and realized what had happened, he cursed Ham and his land:  "Cursed be Canaan;  a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren."   And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;  and Canaan shall be his servant.  God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;  and Canaan shall be his servant.'  Physicality is made the servant of spirituality."  (Brown, p.63) "Understanding [third degree] makes the body harmonious;  it makes the nerves, bones, brain, etc., servants instead of masters."  (S&H 216: 14)  Israel's mastery of the body becomes the dominant factor in her journey from sense to Soul."   (Ibid, p.63) The Noah story closes with the story of the tower of Babel.  Babel means "confusion" for the confusion of tongues associated with it.  It is identical with Babylon, also known as Ur of the Chaldees.  Abram must separate himself from Ur at the opening of the third millennium.  Babel is defined in the Glossary as:  "Self-destroying error;  a kingdom divided against itself, which cannot stand;  material knowledge.  The higher false knowledge builds on the evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall of its structure."  (p.581)  (In the fourth period, as we shall see, Israel endures subjugation in Babylon because she becomes a kingdom divided against itself.) Nimrod, a descendant of Ham, was the builder of the tower of Babel.  It symbolizes the human propensity for working from matter up to heaven, an impossible task.  In those primeval days, there was only one language, and it included only material beliefs.  (There is no telling how long mankind had been led astray by the people of Eden who decided to sexually divide themselves through hypnosis in order to put sensation and the other senses into their bodies.)   The language of Spirit, the Truth about the universe, including man, had been covered up and forgotten.  The serpent (mortal mind) was at work still trying to trick mankind into obtaining harmony (heaven) through material means.  Forced alliances through collective organizations, internationalism, a material sense of peace, etc., typing today, falls into a cacophony of babel.  This way of working had already been condemned by God, and once again it could not stand and will not stand as being tried today. The only way peace will be found is through the "seed of the woman," defining ourselves and our "neighbors" as 
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the reflections of Love, the highest sense of God, which made heaven and earth, harmony and its manifestation. There is no dualism, no multiculturalism, no ambivalences, in the language which is based on spiritual Truth. This universe is based on steadfast laws which, acting together, can be seen as a divine Principle.  Man must finally be seen as the functioning, the operation, the activity of this Principle.  As this comes about, through education based on metaphysics instead of physics, mankind will begin to speak this spiritual language more and more, until it is universally used and understood.   It is the world's original mother tongue and is not completely extinguished because it is innate.  This state of understanding will include a diversity of identity (identity is used in its singular form because God, being one, is identity, Soul, in multifarious forms which we tend to pluralize as identities.)  God identifies Himself as man, singular, meaning all men, because there is and can be only one infinite Being, one infinite reflection in one infinite Mind---the universe in all its manifest glory.  Today the world is a stew of antagonisms which attend a false individualistic sense of life seen in fragmentation and warring relationships, operating individually, collectively, and universally. False individualism has multiplied itself through its technologies to the point where it seems that nearly everyone is fascinated by, and feels a need to be constantly in touch with, as many personalities as possible, "knowing" them  only by their Facebook images and texts or their online habits, etc.  This artificial, surface "knowing," and interconnection is becoming more and more the norm.  We constantly desire what is "out there," separate from us, or, we conjure up hatred or ambivalence for "the bad" that we believe is "out there."  Of course, each of us knows that many people we associate with or "friend" online don't really know us as we truly are.  How important it is in "these days" to deal with the serpent of dualism which has become the "dragon" of the Apocalypse.   We each have a right to be known as God knows us.  "For now we see through a glass, darkly;  but then face to face [reflection]:  now I know in part;  but then shall I know even as also I am known."   (I Cor. 13: 12)  I shall know myself and all as "good" even as God knows me and all. Only when we know as God knows will we be able to truly know as we are known. 
Loving our neighbor by impersonalizing man and seeing qualities of God as ever-present, embracing "man" as the infinite embodiment of God-like qualities brings those qualities into our experience in "forms" we can see and understand and know that we've been blessed.  The Comforter has brought to this age the "seed of the woman," God's infinite nature as Love which is reflected in love.  It is the great healer of every problem known to the human race. The inborn sense that God is good and loves us is the Word of God to us, the underlying language of Spirit.  We must take control of the habits that rob us of the quiet time we need to reflect on this healing Truth, to daily examine what we have taken in and how we have thought about it, and how we can improve ourselves, rather than "others."  We already know that we see our thoughts.  We gain dominion over our lives by gaining dominion over the suppositions that continually come to us for attention and ratification.  A great deal of study and practice is required of us---not to mention the meekness that realizes we need it!  The "little book" is our starting point, along with the Bible. 
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Many thousands of Christian Scientists the world over study these books daily and treasure their quiet times learning more and more about the beautiful nature of God.  At the same time, they apply this inspiring Truth to man as the outward expression of God. They then apply it to the events in their own lives and around the world.  Starting with God as the only Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love of the universe, perfect and unchanging, they "look out from God" upon the universe.  This perspective changes everything.  It purifies, casts out suppositions of evil as being  "out there," uncontrollable, yet in control.  This active prayer is humbling, rewarding, joyous, healing.  It brings solutions that often seem miraculous to material sense.  It is not a "hoping that God hears us" prayer.  It is a prayer of affirmation that we already are blessed with exactly what we need as the expression of, and witness to, Love's largesse.   How do we know?  Because we have learned that we are the reflection of it.  It is the operation of Mind which the physicists, at long last, have discovered to be the modus operandi of the universe. Every day each Christian Scientist affirms  in some way the Truth of these words:  " 
I [there is only one" I" or "us"] am fundamentally, now and forever, a spiritual creation in the Mind which conceived me;  I am not material;  there is no imperfection in God's conception of me, and nothing can be imposed on the concept that an infinitely intelligent and loving Mind has of me."  Can we change the mathematical fact that 2x2=4, which exists in that same all-knowing Mind, to 2x2=6?  Of courses not!  It exists in and is established by the Principle (Mind) of the universe and is forever unchanging!  It is interwoven into the "fabric" of the universe as a necessary part of it, just as we are!  It is an idea in Mind, the object of its knowing, and subject only to it.  Imagine the world with everyone thinking like this and applying it to every individual, every situation!  It would be the "heaven" of the human and divine coincidence! As this Truth gathers momentum due to non-sectarian education world-wide, it will increasingly determine world tendencies towards co-operation and unification.  Mankind's technologies and specialized tongues, reminiscent of the tower of Babel, will be translated out of their materialistic confines.  They will take their places within the one Science of all sciences, the one religion of all religions, and the one healer of all healing methods. The Bible, man's journey from material sense to spiritual sense, told in myth and saga, opens with a vast overture symbolized by  "seven days" of creation, the fundamental values of life in an ordered range from light (Mind) to rest and fulfilment (Love).  The power of these universal values exposes the vapid fallibility of "Eden's" values.  God's nature as Love is the highest sense of life we can possibly attain.  It is what we are looking for on our journey---the  "mother "/" woman" sense of man---selfless, tender, meek, meeting the human need in the very best possible way, looking on the heart instead of the outward appearance, always promoting the highest human sense of good, seeing  things from a universal, unselfish perspective, calm and balance, a love of harmony and beauty, purity and holiness, that which preserves and blesses.   Loving our true selves is indissolubly linked to loving our neighbor, because we are expressions of one undivided Consciousness.   "Love is the fulfilling of the law."   (Mis. 11: 3)  When I was a young girl at home engaged in 
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complaining or arguing about something with my mother, she would disarm me by saying, "Now I know that's not my dear sweet daughter talking!"  Love impersonalizes the error. 
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Chapter  3 The Abraham Saga  Genesis 11: 27-25: 10 
The Third Thousand-year period   Soul   Spiritual Understanding The Womanhood/Motherhood of God revealed in the Third Thousand-year Period 
The “Third Day,” or third millennium, in the Bible represents the tone of Soul, spiritual understanding, by which human thought begins to inherit the land of spiritual identity as the children of Israel.  This period ranges from Gen. 11: 26, the birth of Abraham, through the Book of Ruth.  “Soul” gives us the true idea of body and identity.  The waters of the human consciousness are gathered together, and there is an ordered moving and sorting out of all the currents of human thought, and the “dry land,” that which you can depend upon, appears.  Spiritual understanding is beginning to be a firm and definite factor.  The third day of the creation story brings forth grass, herb, and fruit tree.  Spiritual understanding bears fruit.  Mrs. Eddy writes: “Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.  Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man, which is individualized, but not in matter.”  (S&H 20-24) The “seed of the woman” in the first two thousand-year periods is sown in the soil of the third period of human consciousness first by Abraham, where it will eventually be seen as the whole of man in its manhood and womanhood.  The Glossary gives us this spiritual definition of Abraham:  “Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being.  This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding.”  (S&H 579)   Abraham, through whom the womanhood of God will appear in its early history, will “begin formulating a national concept to protect this [spiritual] “seed” of the woman.  Israel, through example and moral courage, would accomplish what mortal mind unsuccessfully attempted with the tower of Babel.”  (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy, p.30) Abraham, Paul tells us in the Book of Hebrews, looks for "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."  (Heb. 11: 8-10)  He is seeking the "city foursquare" in Revelation, the true identity of himself and his world.  This world-city or society will eventually be founded on the Truth about the Science of the universe and will operate out from the Word of God, as individuals expressing the Truth, or Christ, universally as Christianity, and scientifically as Science---the four sides of the "city" of purified human consciousness. Abraham introduces us to the "Word" side of the city, his son Isaac to the "Christ" side, Jacob, with   his twelve sons, to the "Christianity" side, and Joseph, lord of the land of Egypt and nourisher of all mankind, introduces us to the "Science" side.  This idea of a holy universal “city,” or the human and divine consciousness in union grows in human consciousness until we finally see the coincidence of heaven and earth as one.  The word "city" has the same root as "citizen" and signifies government or social order.  Mrs. Eddy wrote that the twelve tribes of Israel stand in type for "the whole human race."  ("Christian Science Journal," Apr. 1895) 
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Abram (later Abraham) starts out on his journey with his father and family, including his wife, Sarai, from Ur of the Chaldees in Babylonia, where astrology and horoscopy are practiced, to Haran (also known as Padan-aram).  Haran means "exalted, elevated," so, figuratively, he is beginning an ascending journey of enlightenment.  It becomes Abraham's country for his family, the beginning of the pure Hebraic strain.  His sons, Isaac and Jacob, find wives in Haran.  All of Jacob's sons were born in Haran except Benjamin, who was born in Canaan, the promised land. The problem of humanity can be solved only through Christian Science, which must first descend mentally from Divine Science.   After his father died, God tells Abram, "Get thee out of thy country  [Haran] and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee."  So Abram, his wife and nephew, Lot, travel to Canaan.  On the way there, they find that there is strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen.  Lot means "dark, concealed, veiled."  Light and darkness cannot dwell together.  Abram awoke to the drag that Lot had on his progress spiritward, and called for their separation.  He did so kindly and generously, however, expressing a high sense of spiritual morality that hints at his later readiness for the  blessings God pronounces upon him:  "And Abram said unto Lot, 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen;  for we be brethren.  Is not the whole land before thee?  separate thyself, I pray thee, from me:  if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right;  or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left."  Lot chose to stay near Sodom, a very sinful city. 
Abram stays in Mamre, meaning "fully assimilated, abundantly supplied."   We have to learn to deal with drags on our spiritual progress until they no longer intrude. As soon as Abram is parted from Lot, God gives him this promise:  "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward, and eastward and westward:  for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." 
Abram realizes that the goal he seeks is actually his present being;  his inherent Christ selfhood.  It indicates the eternal flow of spiritual revelation.  Then Abram took his tent into the plain of Mamre, near Hebron, and built an altar unto the Lord. In Mamre, Abram met Melchizedek, "King of Salem (meaning peace), "the chief town of the Jebusites, known to us as Jerusalem, and "the priest of the most high God." (According to St. Paul, he was "King of peace;"  without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life;  but made like unto the Son of God."  (Heb. 7: 2)  He is referred to twice more in the Bible (Ps. 110 and Heb. 5-7) and each time as a type of the priesthood of Christ.  This is the very "city" or consciousness of God which Abram had been seeking.   Melchizedek gave Abram bread and wine just as Jesus gave his disciples, symbolizing pure at-one-ment with God. Mrs. Eddy gives this spiritual definition for "wine" in the S&H Glossary: "Inspiration;  understanding."  Abram is changed by the inspiring ministrations which deepen his understanding of God, and is promised an heir by God.   "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:  and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." He also told him:   "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates [Divine Science encompassing the universe and 
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man---S&H Glossary definition, 585]." (Gen. 14: 18-15: 5)  This means that his seed will inherit the land from Egypt to Babylon.  Spiritually, it means that Abraham's heirs, the multitudes of the whole earth, shall inherit the glory of Divine Science.  As already presented in Genesis, the Glossary gives this definition of Euphrates (river):  "Divine Science encompassing the universe and man;  the true idea of God;  a type of the glory which is to come;  metaphysics taking the place of physics;  the reign of righteousness.  The atmosphere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or death;  a state of mortal thought, the only error of which is limitation;  finity; the opposite of infinity."  (p. 585) Abram, knowing that Sarai is barren, suggests his faithful steward, Eliezer, born in his house, as his heir.  But, symbolically, as we have been looking at this story all along, we cannot call that idea a revelation which comes from outside of ourselves, however helpful it may be.  It must be born to us from within ourselves, from our own increasing inspiration. 
God does repeat to him, however, the promise of a son from his own loins to be his heir. 
When Abram shares God's promise of an heir with Sarai, they both laugh.  Abram was ninety-nine and Sarai, ninety years of age.  Abram must see, as his spirituality increases, that God is the Father of man.  When a spiritual intuition comes to us which seems "too good to be true," we should  "mother" it, give it room to grow in our consciousness, affirm that great good does come to us,  even when it seems impossible, for man is the "very good" of God. 
We certainly should not laugh at it! Life's experiences teach us life's lessons.   So, Abram and Sarai get an experience! 
Mrs. Eddy tells us that we learn through "suffering or Science."  "Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self."  (S&H 296: 6-9) Sometimes the suffering is a "suffer it to be so now" experience when the human understanding hasn't yet grown to the next higher step needed to be taken.  In her chapter in Science and Health on "Marriage" (p.56),  Mrs. Eddy speaks of Jesus' concession to the times.  Jesus told this to John the Baptist when demanding him to baptize him in the river Jordan:  "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."  Mrs. 
Eddy again quotes Jesus concerning marriage in the same chapter when discussing the time when the spiritual creation is discerned intact and "they neither marry nor are given in marriage."  She also said it of material church organization:  "It is not indispensable to organize materially Christ's church.  It is not absolutely necessary to ordain pastors or to dedicate churches;  but if this be done, let it be in concession to the period, and not as a perpetual or indispensable ceremonial of the church.  If our church is organized, it is to meet the demand, 'Suffer it to be so now.'  The real Christian compact is love for one another. 
This bond is wholly spiritual and inviolate."  (Mis. 91: 4-12) Abram and Sarai, not yet ready to understand that God alone creates man, decide to allow Abram to wed Sarai's bondmaid, Hagar, in a "suffer it to be so now" situation in order to try to bring forth a son. They feel they must concede to certain "material methods...for the advancement of spiritual good." (S&H 56: 5)  A son is born of the "compromise" union. He is named Ishmael by Sarai for his "wild" nature, so this does not seem to be the solution to having an heir that will inherit the earth.  "There are lessons to be learned before one can "go 
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up higher."  A spiritual idea cannot be circumscribed within a material organization, or it appears as the "son of a bondwoman."   Therefore, the "marriage" of such thinking must, at some point, dissolve.  (For this reason, Mrs. Eddy’s Manual was written so that the Mother Church would dissolve to a branch church. Then branch church members could easily leave church organization when they were ready.) Abram and Sarai continue to gain a more spiritualized sense of God and begin to apprehend God as Mother as well as Father, using the term "El-Shaddai," ("God Almighty") instead of Jehovah..  Shaddai comes from the root word "Shad" in Hebrew, meaning a woman's breast and also mountain, a masculine concept of strength.   Also, "El" is masculine and "ai" is feminine.  The whole word "Shaddai" means "Nourisher, Strength-giver, Breasted."  (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy, 31, and Brown, From Genesis to Revelation., 72) God was, at last, known in His whole nature as Father-Mother!  No wonder they could now have a "child of promise," a son of God!  How wonderful that man's journey could start out on such an auspicious footing!  As so often happens in the Biblical narratives, a higher step in one's spiritual progress is attended by a name change.  "Spirit names and blesses all." (S&H 507: 6)  Thus, because Sarai was equal in all respects to Abram, both of their names were changed to symbolize their equally great life-missions:  Abram, "Exalted Father," becomes Abraham, "Father of a multitude."  Sarai, "Dominative, contentious," becomes Sarah, "Noble Woman," or "Mother of a multitude of nations." However, Abraham and Sarah must learn a further Truth before an heir presents itself.  One day, in the heat of the day, as Abraham is sitting in the doorway of his tent, three angels, in the forms of men, come to him.  He addresses all three as "My Lord," a trinity in unity."   "Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person called God,---that is, the triply divine Principle, Love.  They represent a trinity in unity, three in one, the same in essence, though multiform in office;  God, the Father-Mother;  Christ, the spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science, the Holy Comforter.  These three express in divine Science the threefold, essential nature of the infinite.  They also indicate the divine Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of God to man and the universe."  (S&H 331: 26-332: 1-3) Symbolically, with the sun shining directly overhead, (the heat of the day), Abraham is waiting at the door of his consciousness for inspiration, and the three angels coming to him indicate that he is to receive a very important three-fold message or revelation from God.  It will be one which will enable him to bring forth an heir.  "Sun" in the Glossary means "The symbol of Soul [spiritual understanding concerning identity] governing man.--- of Truth, Life, and Love."  (S&H 595)  Abraham must understand that God is not only Father and Mother, but also Son.  Each individual identity reflects, in qualities, God as Father (Life), Son(Truth), and Mother (Love).  These angel messages enable Abraham to understand better that Spirit does not operate through matter to propagate its ideas. 
Abraham and Sarah welcome the three visitors into their tent (consciousness).  They invite them to stay for a meal---they are ready for the full revelation coming to them.  Sarah prepares three measures of meal.  She is typing "the woman" in Jesus' parable, which he told to a multitude that had gathered to hear him. He was describing the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 13: 33)  Mrs. Eddy explains this parable in Science and Health:  "Jesus bade his 
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disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which he defined as human doctrines.  His parable of the "leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the inference that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ and its spiritual interpretation,---an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration. 
"Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world?  (emphasis not in original) "Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work.  It must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally glorified in man's spiritual freedom. 
"In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spiritual laws emanating from the invisible and infinite power and grace.  The parable may import that these spiritual laws, perverted by a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically presented as three measures of meal,---that is, three modes of mortal thought.  In all mortal forms of thought, dust is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and modes of material motion are honored with the name of laws.  This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal."  (S&H 117: 29-118:25)  (emphasis in original) Jesus was, of course, alluding in his parable to the woman of the sixth thousand year period, Mary Baker Eddy, who would "hide" the leaven of divine Science in the three "measures" of human thought--- science, theology, and medicine.  Her world-transforming work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, is the means by which she "hid" it.  In fact, the sixth chapter of her book is entitled "Science, Theology, and Medicine."  And it is indeed, today, transforming these three modes of mortal thought. Conceiving God as "the only author of man,"  (S&H 29:16) Abraham and Sarah are then able to see the conception of their son.  He will be known as a "child of promise" since Abraham and Sarah were considered to be beyond child-bearing years. He will be the first of several sons throughout the Bible to be considered a "child of promise."  The understanding of God as Life, Truth, and Love was and is leavening  the whole of human consciousness. When her son was born, Sarah named him Isaac, which means "laughter."  Certainly great joy comes to us when a spiritual idea is born to us.  However, Sarah's joy is tempered by the fact that Hagar and Ishmael hold Isaac and Sarah in mocking derision.  Sarah cannot let the "child of promise" be heir with Ishmael and causes Hagar to leave with Ishmael.  Yet, Ishmael is destined to become a" great nation" which will provide the needs of a dualistic- minded humanity for a long period of time called "the dark ages."  He and his mother are divinely sustained when a well of water appears to them.  The well belongs to Abraham, but the Philistines claim them.  Philistine morality claims to sustain organic life, but only spirituality (Abraham) can actually do so. Paul explains the Isaac-Ishmael attitude of Sarah:  "Which things are an allegory... 
Jerusalem which now is, ...is in bondage with her children.  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all...Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the 
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Spirit, even so it is now.  Nevertheless what saith Scripture?  Cast out the bondwoman and her son:  for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.  So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free."  (Gal. 4: 24, 26, 28-31) Paul reiterates the great fact learned by Abraham and Sarah---that man is born of his Father-Mother God and not of the flesh.  The "Jerusalem above" is the "city foursquare," the purified human consciousness of Life, Truth, and Love.  It frees us from organic servitude. 
If we are faithful to what we are learning about God, culturing the spiritual ideas that come to us, we will be fruitful, and our happiness, health, and dominion will multiply. The next part of this story involves Abraham and his sacrifice of the organic sense of fatherhood.  Like Melchizedek, the king of (the heavenly ) Jerusalem, Isaac must be found to be "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God."   On the mountaintop site of the future city of Jerusalem, God calls Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, to give him back to his real Maker.  This is a prefiguring symbol of the sacrifice of God of His beloved Son in the Gospel story.  However, it turned out to be only an apparent sacrifice, for Jesus showed that he had never died, that no sacrifice ever really needed to be made.  Isaac typifies the Lamb of God, which Jesus was called, but there need be no sacrifice in this case either.  Abraham's fidelity to the idea that God is the only Father of man does not falter.  As he draws his knife to slay his son, an angel appears and shows him a ram caught by his horns in a thicket which he can sacrifice instead.  "Abraham sacrifices the belief that a ram is father of the Lamb, or that man is the creator of man.  The two-horned dilemma which says that either a man creates independently of God, or else that God creates man through man, [both the same as the Adam and Eve mistakes] is sacrificed for the real relationship of God and man. 
Abraham gives Isaac back to God through understanding that his son was never, in the first place, taken away from God."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, p.76)  His fidelity to the enlightenment he'd had that God is the only Father, or Source of man's life was tested, and not found wanting. When it is time for a bride to be found for Isaac (typing the "lamb of God" next to be seen as Jesus), the faithful servant  Eliezer is sent to Haran to Abraham's kindred to find one.  He meets Rebekah, Abraham's brother's daughter, and discerns her spirituality through a  "test."  The woman who came to the well near the city of Haran would answer when he asked for a drink, "Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also."  The pure ideal would not only refresh or inspire the high sense of manhood as symbolized by the servant, but also, mother-like, tend to the ten camels, the smaller details.  (The number ten is used in the Bible as a symbol for the application of spiritual fact in human experience.  It apparently originated with ten fingers which touch and handle things.  Thus it came to mean the present tangibility of spiritual fact to every level of thought.  (Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book 1, 35-36)  Rebekah agrees to become Isaac's wife, his God-chosen bride, but before she leaves her family, she is blessed by them:  "...be thou the mother of thousands of millions, let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."  Thus the seed of the woman is to eventually control the stronghold (gate) of the carnal mind and subdue the serpent [a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error; animal magnetism; the first lie of limitation; the first claim 
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that sin, sickness, and death are the realities of life…” (S&H, 594)  Rebekah returns to Canaan with Eliezer. Isaac loves her, and she helps to comfort him since his mother had died. (Gen. 24:1-67) Here, in this Isaac saga, is the germ of the idea, finally presented in the Book of Revelation 21: 9, that in the course of spiritual development, the concept of mother is replaced with "bride."  The corresponding symbols in the Church of Christ, Scientist are those of Mother and Branch.  The Mother Church no longer needs to tend to the branch of her planting, but the branch church, (with its "heel"  intact, as pictured on the older Christian Science Sentinels), puts down its own individual roots and thus is self-tended, or governed. 
The "bride" is all humanity, which the Christ (Truth) draws to itself and to which it is "wedded.” Truth is indissolubly united to its reflection. 
After Rebekah's death, Abraham marries Keturah and has six more sons, yet he leaves all that he has to Isaac, his "child of promise."  "This typifies the universality of the pure Christ idea as the Father's only begotten Son...Isaac's uniqueness amongst all Abraham's sons is the uniqueness of one infinite Christ Science in contrast to doctrines and sects (and, I might add, in contrast to “physical science.”  There can be only one Truth or Science.)   (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 78) 
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Chapter 4  The Jacob Saga     Genesis 25: 20-37: 1 
The Womanhood/Motherhood of God as Revealed in the Third Period of the Scriptures 
After many years, in response to Isaac's prayers, Rebekah, who had been barren, has two sons, twins.  God tells her:  "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people...and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." Thus, the entire theme of this saga is the way in which Jacob deals with his relationship with his brother.  The belief in dualism, "twoness," must again be grappled with. 
Esau is born moments before his twin, Jacob, who is grasping Esau's heel when he is born. 
This portends the fact that Jacob must learn to handle the material lie that people, things, and events lie outside of ourselves and must be contended with objectively.  Our sense of spiritual good may start out as just a "babe," but the determination to grapple with a material concept of life inevitably strengthens the "babe" until its dominion is natural and no longer a struggle.  The "babe" grows spiritually into a "man” (used in the generic sense.)  True men and women are spiritually-minded. Here is Mrs. Eddy's negative and then positive definitions for Jacob in the Glossary: "A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, repentance, sensualism.  Inspiration;  the revelation of Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love."  Jacob's story is our story.  We seem to embody a nature that is both good and bad.  This is the story of each of us individually as well as collectively and universally, journeying from the belief that evil is real to the understanding that evil is unreal and therefore, nothing.  All is good, God. We must all be redeemed from duplicity (Webster: dealing falsely with “others,” double-mindedness), and sensualism  (Webster: "stress on the gratification of the senses and the view that it is the highest good"). 
The saga advances from Jacob's birth to his duplicitous act towards his brother, to his change of nature which earns him the name "Israel" ("Prince of God"), to the births of his twelve sons which later become the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  Mrs. Eddy said of them: "They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens of the age which show the workings of the spiritual idea."  (S&H 562: 17, 18)  The "Twelve Tribes of Israel"  include all of mankind. 
Their Biblical significance throws light on how the comprehension of the spiritual idea of God (man as the expression and operation of God in the fullness of His nature) is unfolded in human experience.  Each son expresses, in lesser or greater degree, positive, natural qualities of God, good, and negative, unnatural claims of animal magnetism, (the influence of one body of thought over another, either as a person's or a doctrine's or a belief system's influence over another or others.) Mrs. Eddy explains the coincidence between nature and natural in these three quotes from Science and Health:  "God is natural good, and is represented only by the idea of goodness;  while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature of Spirit, God."  (S&H 119: 21-24)  "Man" is the "idea of goodness;"  it is inherent in our nature to be good.  Jacob's nature was changed from that which is unnatural to that which is natural.  "If thought is startled by the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or 
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Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent?  Truth should not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth."  (Ibid.,130:26-131:2) "Truth is not contaminated by error.  Harmony in man is as beautiful as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal...A discontented, discordant mortal is no more a man than discord is music."  (Ibid., 304:20-21 and 305:2-4)  Man is the spiritual idea, showing forth the spiritual workings of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love.  To humans, the false claims of discord or even pleasure on a material basis (all of it animal magnetism) are progressively destroyed through the gaining of spiritual sense.  These footsteps upward ("ascent" towards " heaven," harmony) include lessons we learn through either suffering or Science (revelation as well as reason).  These lessons, learned, silence the suppositions of animal magnetism, and our "descent" is seen in demonstration, the fruit of our efforts expressed "on earth," as healing, harmony, joy, abundance, etc. Esau means "red, hairy" and Jacob means "supplanter" or "striver with God."  Jacob must strive for the good (God) in his nature in order to supplant his material outlook with a spiritual one.  Isaac favors Esau, who is his first born, even if only by moments, but Rebekah, remembering God's favorable words about the second born, Jacob, favors him. 
She is involved, then, in preserving the spiritual seed of the woman, the seed of the spiritual idea of man's inherent divinity. Jacob turns out to be ambitious and zealous for the things of God.  He must have been told by his mother that he was to be his father's heir, so the ends justify the means, he thinks, and, with his mother's help, he unscrupulously "buys" his brother's birthright and even secures the paternal blessing.  Esau was faint and near death from working in the field and came to Jacob for food.  However, Jacob would not feed him until Esau sold him his birthright for a mess of pottage (lentils and bread and drink), which Esau did, thinking that he was going to die anyway.  Much later, when Isaac was near death, he called for Esau that he might bless him as his firstborn.  However, he first asked Esau to go hunting and bring him some savory venison.  Their conversation was overheard and told to Rebekah.  She then helped Jacob deceive his now blind father while Esau was out getting the venison.  She dressed Jacob in Esau's clothing, put goat fur on his hands and neck so that he would smell and feel like Esau.  He was successful in deceiving his father and received Esau's blessing before he died.  When Esau returned and learned about his brother's deception, he pledged to kill Jacob as soon as the mourning for his father was done.  (When he learned that his father told Jacob not to take a wife of the daughters of Caanan, but to go to Haran where Rebekah's brother, Laban, lived and find a wife there, Esau, to be contrary, went unto Ishmael, whose descendants were the Arabs, and married one of his daughters.) A Hebrew married an Arab! 
Would this not bode well for an eventual basis for peace between Israel and the Muslim nations?  In actuality, we all must remember that God is no respecter of persons. The “new” science will bring peace to the world. 
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When Rebekah heard this, she told Jacob to flee from Esau's wrath and go to their ancestral home in Haran and there find a wife.   We might want to put at least partial blame on Rebekah for the huge deception, but we must remember that she was the one who did not forget God's promise for Jacob.  Isaac did forget.  We know that women in that period, though they had the privilege of naming their children, had no say in the blessings of the father upon their firstborn, which were sacrosanct and could not be changed.  Even when Esau pleaded with his father to at least let him share in the blessing, his father would not change it.  So Rebekah was forced to engage in subterfuge in order to preserve God's word concerning the "seed of the woman."  Abraham prepared the way for Isaac, and Jacob must prepare the way for Joseph, his son. The seed which is sown in human consciousness with the four patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, is the spiritual embryo of the eventual full fruition of the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science in humanity's journey from material bondage to spiritual freedom.  Humanity coming together in the fulness of time, which now is this seventh thousand year period, is the unified consciousness of this spiritual freedom and is called the "city foursquare" in Revelation 21: 16. Therefore, the promise came to each patriarch in turn:  "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."   Rebekah's alert motherhood sense, which values the spiritual over the material and apprehends its wonderful possibilities, knows that she must at all costs promote it.  Sometimes we may not know enough to do it graciously, without repercussions, from those who do not understand, and thus have to deal with the uncomfortable consequences.  But if our desire is sincere, then ultimately the good that is done takes care of itself and we receive our blessing.   (See Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book I, p. 41) This part of the story holds a powerful symbolic lesson for us.  That which claims to be "the elder" in our make-up because it has been with us from the beginning of our birth is the material sense of existence.  The "Cains" and the "Esaus" claim to have the dominion as "firstborn," and it may seem to be the permanent state of affairs.  However, we are grateful that the Bible record shows us that this doesn't have to be the case.  Our new-born spiritual sense may seem tentative and less familiar;  but as we exercise our right to it, eventually it takes its rightful place in our life and we express our dominion over the material.  This transition often comes with struggle, and so it did with Jacob.  (Ibid., p. 40) Jacob, wanting to be free from limitation, flees, with all of his herds and herdsmen's families, to his father's ancestral home.  However, he must deal with his own guilt in his duplicity in stealing Esau's birthright.  His fear of Esau is palpable, and he must come to terms with all that is going on in his consciousness.   Early in his journey, when the sun is set, in a place called "Luz," (meaning separation) he uses some stones from about the place for pillows and settles down to sleep.  Could we not symbolize this by saying that the setting sun means no fresh inspiration is coming in?  He and his herdsmen are tired and fearful.  In similar cases, it is wise to 'take the stones of the place where we are,'  the spiritual facts we do feel are tangible to us, and "rest" on them.  We will soon feel the power of God lifting us up with fresh revelation, showing us the right footsteps to take humanly.  This revelation comes to Jacob as he sleeps. 
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He has a dream in which he sees a ladder let down from heaven and set up on earth. 
There are angels ascending and descending upon it.  This is a lovely teaching symbol, not only for Jacob, but for all of us.  His sense of duality, of persons and circumstances going on outside of himself over which he has no control, must be changed.  He must understand that earth and heaven is one and is in his consciousness, Mind, God, heaven.  Earth is "...a type [symbol] of eternity and immortality..."  (S&H 585: 5)  His ladder symbolizes the link between God and man, heaven and earth.  The angels are "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect;  the inspiration of purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality."  (S&H  581: 4) These "angels,"( pure and true ideas that come from "heaven," our highest spiritual seven-fold nature, divine Principle, Love), were on earth as well as in heaven, but they weren't in two places at once, for earth is the reflection of heaven!  The earth, including the whole universe, is the visible manifestation of the order, harmony, beauty, etc. that is "returned to" heaven by reflection. 
This entire Jacob's ladder story was the clearest yet in representing the "Scientific Translation of Immortal Mind" and the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind." (These translations are found on pp. 115-116 of Science and Health and discussed in Volume 1 of The Comforter) Above the ladder, ("in heaven") stood the Lord, (the fixed Principle of the universe) and said:  "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:  the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth [uncountable], and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."   Whatever is "in heaven" must be manifested "on earth." These are not “places” are they, but Spirit reflected in spiritual understanding. Jacob sees that he and all mankind can never be separated from God, that the human and the divine are always one.  We must come to understand that we are never really imprisoned in a material, separated-from-good, sense of things.  Mrs. Eddy speaks to this: "Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical.  It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body.  It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought.  In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal."  (S&H 114; 23-29) When Jacob awakens from his dream, he says," Surely God was in this place, and I knew it not."  His revelation will bless countless generations in the millennia to come.  And since the place seems the very "gate of heaven," he renames it "Beth-el," meaning "house of God."   Jacob felt so blessed and joyous over his wonderful revelation that he took the stones he had put for his pillows and made them into a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it.  He said that it "shall be God's house...and of all that thou [God] shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."  (Gen. 28: 10-22)  S&H Glossary: "OIL.  Consecration;  charity; gentleness; prayer;  heavenly inspiration."  (S&H 592)  (Beth-el became the religious center of the northern tribes of Israel.  The ark of the covenant was kept there.) 
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The "house of God" which Jacob will "build" will take the form of a family of twelve sons.  It will be a working symbol for mankind, transforming itself over a four thousand year period into the "church" or "body" of Christ.  This "body" is not a symbol for Jesus' corporeal body of course, any more than it is a symbol for a corporeal church building or organization.  Mrs. Eddy used this symbol for body in the founding of her three churches and redeemed them all to their symbol before she passed on.  Her three ascending symbols stood for the three degrees of translation that take place in human consciousness from the mortal to the immortal. 
Jacob will begin his work at Bethel, with a material pillar of stones symbolizing his dawning recognition of the presence of God with him and the promise that in him and in his seed would all the families of the earth be blessed.  He will also end it at Bethel, with a recognition that God has indeed been with him and transformed his nature so that he is able not only to sense the presence of God, but to see "the face of God" in his brother.  In the relation of the human to the divine, the human reflects the divine.  Jacob individually began a process of translation, which today has begun on a universal scale.  "Jacob" redeemed, now stands for "the revelation of Science, in which the so-called senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love."   Jacob was the first person in mortal history to see the male (Life) and female (Love) of God's creating, typed by the ascending and descending angels (Glossary, S&H, p.589)  The "City Foursquare," at the end of the Bible, symbolizes all of humanity's translation at last complete, with each one expressing the "male and female" of God's creating. Jacob arrives in Haran, at the well of his mother's brother, Laban.  He meets Rachel, Laban's daughter, there.  Her name means "ewe," the mother of a lamb.  Jacob recognizes in her his spiritual ideal and seeks to make her his wife.  However, Rachel has an older sister, Leah, (meaning "weary") and, according to the law of the land, he must marry her first.  He must also marry Leah's handmaid, Zilpah.  Laban makes him work for Leah seven years. 
After the seven years are up, Laban goes back on his word and makes Jacob work seven more years for Rachel, his only true love. 
There is no escape from fulfillment of lawful obligations before Love can be realized.  Mrs. Eddy's Manual showed the same thing.  Love will not be demonstrated throughout the world until that Manual (Law) is obeyed! Jacob must also marry Rachel's handmaid, Bilhah.  The symbolization behind this part of the Jacob saga is this:  Leah stands for the human aspect of identity (weary), and so Zilpah serves the human, typing human law.  Bilhah serves Rachel, the divine aspect.  These four wives bear Jacob's twelve sons.  The whole remainder of the Scripture's message is about these sons, their development into tribes, maturity into the nation of Israel, and the culmination of their identity into generic man (the human and divine coincidence). The order of their birth symbolizes the order in which humanity surrenders a dualistic sense of life and thus wins and wears the twelvefold crown, recognition of Mind, the only Cause, as Love.  7 + 5 = 12.  Our first seven footsteps ascend from earth, (Reuben, first son), up to heaven-Love (Gad, seventh son) and then our demonstration or proving the revelation in daily life, requires five more steps, now descending, starting with Asher, eighth 
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son, in our descent to earth with Benjamin, twelfth son, joining Reuben, earth, at last as heaven and earth seen as one.  The problem of being is solved when we see the fruit of our wonderful revelation that Mind, the only Cause, is also Love.  That which creates and governs the universe is, in its highest sense or nature, Love.  This great revelation to mankind is "the seed of the woman."  The highest natures which express Love the most in its tender, pure, holiness down through the ages help to protect and carry the "seed of the woman."  When we see ourselves as the very operation of that pure, unadulterated Love, we will war no more.  Neither will we sin, get sick, or die.  We will be "as the angels in heaven."   "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."  (Matt. 22: 30) This resurrection Jesus speaks of is not the ascension of our physical body after we die, but the resurrection of our thought from wholly material to wholly spiritual.  A consciousness filled with Love is how Mrs. Eddy ended her revelatory book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  She gives us David's Psalm, the twenty-third, substituting "Divine Love or Love for "The Lord."  The first line reads:  "Divine Love is my shepherd;  I shall not want."  The last line reads:  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;  and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [Love] forever."  Is this not the Comforter? The comprehension that the earth (the human) is in truth heaven (the divine), comes progressively, as the belief that humanity is basically animal and mortality disappears. Thus, Jacob's sons express the whole gamut of qualities from the material to the spiritual, just as we all do.  They are twelve unfolding types of consciousness which we see as "out there" in our surrounding world and must be worked out in our own consciousness in order to solve the problem of being.  So, too, they are the stages of growth in Jacob's own spiritual stature. 
The "Esau" in Jacob's experience has yet to be resolved in demonstration.  His material sense of his brother must be replaced by "the face of God."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, pp. 80-81)  It is obvious that the author of this whole Jacob saga presents the ordered unfoldment of spiritual idealism in human experience. Rachel is barren, like Abraham's Sarah, but the other wives are not. Trying to become divine cannot happen until moral obligations are met.  "Be ye therefore perfect" [Rachel], is scientific, but the human footsteps leading to perfection [Leah] are indispensable...God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought [Leah] and the victory won...This is the cross. Take it up and bear it [Leah], for through it you win and wear the crown [Rachel]."  (S&H 253: 32-254: 31)  The Old Testament's moral law must be obeyed before it can be fulfilled in the New Testament's gospel of love.  (Brown, From Genesis..., p. 80) Jacob's consciousness must apprehend "Life" (the individual in expression) and "Love" (the universal in expression).  Jacob's revelation at Bethel enabled him to apprehend the wonderful fact that there is only one fundamental reality, the divine.  Now he must make the heavenly inspiration practical "on earth," in his human demonstration of it. This we all must do. The birth of Jacob's sons offer us a teaching symbol of the demonstration of the "Three Degrees of Translation."  As seen in the Adam/Eve and Noah stories, the names 
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given them by their mothers signify their natures.  Being human, not yet translated out of mortality, they express positive and negative characteristics.  The first seven sons correspond to the seven days of creation, revelation, and to the ascending rungs of Jacob's ladder.  The remaining five are the descending rungs, demonstration of what has been gained through revelation.  Benjamin, the last son, links the unfoldment with Reuben, the first son, and thus completes a twelvefold circle. What "goes up to heaven" (ascent---progressive understanding) must first have come "down from heaven" (descent---reflection or manifestation).  It is not possible for us to come out from under the "law" (the belief that matter is a creator and has dominion over us) unless, humanly, we start out from above the law, divinely.   Moses begins this ascent on a collective scale in the next thousand year period with the Ten Commandments. Then, like Jesus who comes from the Father (the one divine Mind of us all), and returns to the Father (reflects Him in the demonstration of His full nature).  We redeem the belief of ever having been "made of a woman, made under the law." ("Under the law" means under the material sense of creation.)  (Galatians 3:  19-4: 4). All that Mind, or God, is, can only be apprehended and made practical through its reflection--- Mind-wisdom, Spirit-purity, Soul-spiritual understanding, Principle-spiritual power, Life-love,Truth-health, and Love-holiness. (S&H 116)  These seven attributes are man, or manifestation, in countless forms, designs, colors, activities, and purposes throughout the universe. "Man" includes the universe!   Let's bring this Biblical language into today:  Because it has been shown, and proven, in this day and age, that because there is no matter---no material mind (intelligence), there can be no material Principle (laws).  This conundrum can only be solved by resolving the error of believing that matter is intelligent and thus makes the laws we must abide by, into the truth that all that makes up the universe and governs it is, instead, Mind.  The one and only Mind, the conscious intelligence of all that is real, enforces itself as the one and only Principle, divine government.  There is not now and never has been matter or material laws. Gaining "heaven," harmony, must be an ordered step-by-step process.  Jacob, whom Mrs. Eddy defined as "the revelation of Science," needs to reveal twelve steps out of materiality to spirituality based on his twelve sons.  It is interesting that "twelve" has been a symbol for the twelve basic truths of being since very ancient history.  The Egyptians had twelve gods based on the Zodiac in recorded history which were, most likely, based on the Asiatics’ twelve signs of the Zodiac.  These "signs," and gods, counterfeit the Truth of basic being.  "Evil in the beginning claimed the power, wisdom, and utility of good;  and every creation or idea of Spirit has its counterfeit in some matter belief.  Every material belief hints the existence of spirituality;  and if mortals are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that material belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be found the type and representative of verities priceless, eternal, and just at hand."  (Mis. 60: 23-61:3) (Alice Orgain, As It Is, p. 111-112)  Jacob's sons present to mankind, as  representations of Jacob's sometimes halting, sometimes bounding, footsteps on his spiritual journey, an instructive example for us all.  It also presents the unfoldment of the "womanhood" aspect of man as it 
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enlightens and completes our apprehension of God's nature and thus our own as God's expression. 
First son, Reuben, by Leah: Leah, ("weary"), typing our weary human footsteps towards divinity, bears the first four sons.  Human goodness, a sense of morality without the spiritual understanding behind it, claims to be more fruitful than nebulous-seeming spirituality.  Leah names her first-born Reuben, "Behold a son," saying hopefully at his birth:  "Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction;  now therefore my husband will love me."  Because of the deceitful way in which Laban, her father, had married her off to Jacob when Jacob believed he was marrying Rachel, she believes that Jacob hates her.  So it is as if Leah is pleading: " Look, I can bring forth fruit for you." Jacob blessed, or in some cases, cursed, each of his sons before he died, typing each one's positive and/or negative qualities . (Gen. 49: 1-28)  He said this concerning Reuben in its positive aspect:  "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: " and then this as Reuben's negative aspect: " unstable as water (meaning "unrestrained in passion" according to Dummelow's, p.44), thou shalt not excel;  because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst it..."  Reuben had such a privileged, egotistical sense of himself that he defiled his father's bed with his father's concubine, Bilhah.  This is what the human claims to do, to be the "father" of all our experiences until we awake to the spiritual fact that all origin is in a divine Cause. 
In its positive, spiritual meaning, the first part of the blessing types the vision (Mind, light, first day of creation) at the foot of Jacob's "ladder," the path to divine reality.  Have you realized yet that we all have to make our way up this ladder---and down?  We must start with the first day of creation, "Let there be light."  The first seven Tribes correlate with the “seven days of creation" and so, of course, correlate with Mrs. Eddy's founding mission.  In its "first day," or period ("Reuben"), the First Edition of Science and Health epitomized this light in 1875. She poured out her revelation of the allness of God and the absolute nothingness of matter.  It was written in manly terms of presentation and had no "Key to the Scriptures."  It was the Word which is "sweet at its first taste, when it heals you."  (S&H 559:22)  And thousands were healed just by reading it! The first seven Tribes also correlate with the "seven stars" in Jesus' hand in Rev. 1: 20.  The "son of man," appeared to St. John and is described by him as having seven stars in his right hand.  He told John that they were the "angels of the seven churches" and then gave John a message for each church. (Recall that "angels" are messages from God.)   The messages' overcoming of the faults which Jesus pointed out to each church opens the seven seals and this redeems each church to symbol.  This then can typify the City foursquare, the church that Mrs. Eddy revealed and left us as the next step after "Mother." Reuben can be compared to the first church, Ephesus  (Desirable).   Jesus said to them:  "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."  What must be overcome?  The false claim of life in matter.  This tree 
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of life "bears twelve manner of fruits."  (Rev. 22: 2)  The overcoming of the claim to material life and influence opens the "first seal of error" as typed by the white horse and crowned rider in Rev. 6: 2. The beast that calls out when the seal is broken is a lion ("Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Juda' the king of the mental realm." S&H 514).  It was a false sense of courage when displayed in matter by Reuben which was his sin. When the first seal of error is opened, we see the true light of the first day of consciousness."  (Orgain, As It Is, pp.121,122) 
There is also the negative aspect of "Reuben", in which heaven seems theoretical, abstract, unrelated to a material sense of the earth, something perhaps to be dealt with later. 
This makes him unstable.  Mrs. Eddy says this of him in the Glossary:  "(Jacob's son). 
Corporeality;  sensuality;  delusion;  mortality;  error."  (P. 593)  ("Only two of the Tribes are not named 'Jacob's son' in the Glossary. These two, Judah and Joseph, had extremely important missions given to them by God."  Through the Tribe of Judah Jesus traced his lineage.  "It was Joseph who was to retain the spiritual "seed of the woman," God's nature as Love, and pass it on to its fulfillment."  (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 35, 37)  However, Reuben, later on, plays a part in an episode which enables the unfoldment of the twelve tribes to be completed.  Thus, he is redeemed in Moses' Song about the Tribes:  "Let Reuben live, and not die;  and let not his men be few."  (Deut. 33: 6) 
Second son, Simeon,  by Leah Simeon, "hearing," is Leah's second son.  "Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated," she says at his birth.  Ears are defined as "spiritual understanding" in the Glossary, p.585.  This is the same as the firmament of Spirit in the second day of creation as it is defined on p.586 in the Glossary:  "FIRMAMENT.  Spiritual understanding;   the scientific line of demarcation between Truth and error, between Spirit and so-called matter.  (p. 586: 15).  Simeon, symbolically, begins to bridge the gulf between abstract heaven and material earth.  In the positive aspect of his nature, he begins to understand that heaven and earth are one, like Simon (Simon and Simeon are the same),  who is renamed Peter, (petros, rock, Truth) by Jesus.  Simon had "heard" God through his spiritual sense of hearing which includes spiritual understanding.  When Jesus asked, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" he answered, "Thou art the Christ (Truth), the son of the living God." (Matt. 16: 17) The true mission of Jesus was not to found a church, but to show mankind what the true church is.  The true church was demonstrated by Jesus every day, stone upon stone, truth upon diversified truth. How did Mrs. Eddy define church?  "The structure of Truth and Love;  whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle."  (S&H 583: 12")   Jesus healed sin, sickness, and death, supplied human needs without toiling for the supplies, defied gravity and many other so-called material laws, and finally showed us his human body absolved from death and the grave. Then he took that same body as the expression of his ascending thought out of the sight of his disciples who could no longer apprehend his final complete and absolute demonstration over the belief of matter.  Jesus’ life and deeds were a practical demonstration of what "the temple of the living God is" as the true concept of body.  The body which we 
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each see as our own is, in fact, the individualized expression of body, which is God.  Since God is good, each of us expresses this body in only good ways---good intelligence ( Mind), good substance (Spirit), good spiritual sense including seeing and hearing (Soul), adherence to the laws of Principle which are only good, good life (Life), good health (Truth), an abundance of good shown forth in fulfillment, completeness, and absolute freedom from fear shown forth in rest and peace (Love). Negatively, just being a hearer doesn't take us very far.  St. James warned us that we need to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only."  (James 1: 22)  Being just a hearer so often brings us under a more dominant power, and this is what happened to Simeon.  He is always associated with Levi, Leah's next-born son, and their great sin includes them both. 
Jesus redeemed Simon's sin when he called Peter to be his disciple.  (This sin will be discussed under Levi.)  The second church in Rev. 2: 8 is Smyrna (myrrh, bitterness). 
Third son, Levi, by Leah Levi, "joined," is Leah's third son.  She said at his birth, "Now this time will my husband be joined unto me."  Jesus said, "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."  (Matt. 19: 6)  Man, including all of creation, is forever joined to God through reflection.  (Matt. 19:6)  Soul is the third day of creation, when body is seen as the spiritual idea or reflection of God.  It was the third day that Jesus rose, showing to his disciples that body is spiritual, so three is also associated with resurrection. Your body is God's concept of body which has unique identity and is always "very good."   "Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love."  (S&H 477: 20)  Jesus used the word temple as a symbol for body.  "Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' " John explained two passages later:  "But he spake of the temple of his body."  (St. John 2: 19 and 21)   Paul also used temple as a symbol for the body: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"  (I Cor. 3: 16) 
Positively, Levi is earth in communion with (joined to) heaven.  Negatively, he is the human belief that a human can be a sectarian channel for the divine.  Jacob speaks of Levi and Simeon as one when he gathered them together before he died to tell them what would happen to them "in the last days:"  "Simeon and Levi are brethren."  and "Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations."  (Gen. 49: 5)  Mrs. Eddy says of Levi in the Glossary: "(Jacob's son).  A corporeal and sensual belief;  mortal man;  denial of the fulness of God's creation;  ecclesiastical despotism."  (590)  Doesn't priesthood claim to join men to God and thus, perhaps unknowingly, deceive many "hearers?"  Jesus said that "the kingdom of God is within you," and therefore each of us is irresistibly joined to God directly, not needing any intermediary. A great sin is committed by Simeon and Levi, the reason for their father's dire words upon them, and the definition just quoted by Mrs. Eddy.  It concerns a daughter, Dinah, that was born to Leah, her seventh and last child.  (Only Jacob's sons typed humanity's footsteps out of materiality, for women in those days were very rarely named in the lineage of families.)  After Jacob settled in Shechem, in the land of Canaan, with his large family, 
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which at that time, included eleven of his sons except the last one, Benjamin, Dinah went out to see "the daughters of the land."  (According to Josephus, there was a festival among the Canaanites at Shechem.)  She was seen by Shechem, the prince of the country,  who "saw her, and took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.  However, the next verses tell us that "his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.  And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife." Jacob and his sons found out about the defilement of Dinah and were very angry. 
Hamor then went to them and "communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter:  I pray you give her him to wife..and ye shall dwell with us:  and the land shall be before you;  dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 
And Shechem said unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give."  The sons of Jacob then deceitfully made a deal with Hamor and Shechem.  All of the males of Shechem must be circumcised as it would be "a reproachment" to them if they did not since all of Jacob's men were.  If they did not accept, Jacob's family would leave.  The deal was accepted because Shechem  wanted to marry Dinah.  So all the males in Shechem were circumcised, and while they were still sore, Levi and Simeon went into the city, slew them all with the sword, and took Dinah out of the city. 
They then defiled the whole city, took all of their herds, all of their wealth, even taking their women and children captive.  When Jacob heard of it, he said to them, "Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land...they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me;  and I shall be destroyed, I and my house."  This forced Jacob to leave the area and relocate to Bethel. "Levi thought" must see immortality for mortal man; otherwise resurrection would be impossible.  As long as man is thought to be inseparable from his sin, then no reparation can be made for him and he has no hope.  Sechem, Dinah's defiler, was willing to make every reparation, and did, but he was rejected, and the entire city destroyed. 
Fourth son, Judah, of Leah Judah means “praise."  "Now will I praise the Lord," says Leah.  This is the first time Leah mentions God.  She is beginning to rise above a desire for man's love or praise. 
After this she leaves off child bearing.  Judah types the fourth day of creation, government by divine Principle.   He begins Israel's tribal governance which is instituted by kings.  It is the tribe from whence Jesus," the lion of the tribe of Judah" comes.  Praise means magnification, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, exclaims at the revelation of his birth, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."  The positive symbolic aspect of Judah is a magnification of the divine to such an extent that  the reality of humanity is seen as divinity itself.  Jacob blessed this son with these words:  "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." ( According to Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, "Shiloh" is used in this way only one time in the Bible, and is considered a very difficult passage. The meaning considered most correct is in reference to the Messianic hope.  This rendering is from the Septuagint:  "until that which is 
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his shall come."  Another rendering from ancient versions which is accepted by many of the Christian Fathers is:  "Till he come whose it is."  (p.620)  Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary says that the Jewish Targums paraphrase it thus;  'Until the time when the King Messiah comes to whom it belongeth.'  On the rendering given above, the whole verse foretells that Judah would retain authority until the advent of the rightful ruler, the Messiah, to whom all peoples would gather. Note the worldwide rule implied. 
In Christian Science, Shiloh means the coming of the Comforter.  The gathering of all the people is the gathering of all the people of the earth under the spiritual rule of divine Science.  Jesus was a wayshower, not a gatherer into church;  he did not found or build one. 
The founding of church was left for the second coming of the Christ, Christian Science, which Mrs. Eddy did because the times demanded it.  She wisely founded them as symbols, however, that were meant to do their teaching and then dissolve.  Mrs. Eddy gives us this definition of Judah:  "A corporeal material belief progressing and disappearing;  the spiritual understanding of God and man appearing."  (S&H 589: 23-25) The tribe of Judah  took a leading part in the conquest of Canaan and was the first to secure their territory.  They reigned for one hundred and fifty years, after all of the other tribes had been taken into captivity and lost their tribal identity. They held the headship of Israel in the time of David.  Judah was the only tribe still holding to its tribal apportionment when Jesus came;  Judea was the territory of Judah.  The highest point for Judah was when Joseph of that tribe became the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. "Elijah and Elisha, the two great prophets, were prophets of Israel and not Judah. 
Mrs. Eddy speaks of Elias (the Greek name for Elijah) 'as the basis of immortality,' so immortality was placed in the ten tribes that went away and not in the Leah or lawful unfoldment.  Samaria, the capital of Israel (the ten tribes that went away), was Joseph's portion."  (Orgain, As It Is, 128-129)  In I Chron. 5: 2 we read, "For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler, but the birthright was Joseph's." The negative aspect of Judah is magnifying and worshipping the human symbol instead of the idea that is symbolized by it. He materializes this spiritual government by believing that the temple itself, to which he is attached, is the medium for God's government and thus loses it through its destruction.  Judah was the one who sold his brother, Joseph, into bondage to the Ishmaelites, who took him down into Egypt. Here is a summary of the first four sons in their symbolism for us today:  These four portray our initial search for God.  We believe we humans are the creators of ourselves, and then we believe that "others" (things or people) have a hand in governing us (Reuben).  We listen to many theories that we think may help us (Simeon), and then we join ourselves to one or more of them, hoping to find harmony in some way (Levi).  This can go on over and over again until spiritual sense, which is inherently within us, begins to assert itself (Judah). 
We open our thought to the possibility that we can, as an individual, know and start to understand the Truth.  Jesus' declaration rings true:  "...ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  (John 8: 32) 
Fifth son, Dan, by Bilhah 
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The fifth son of Jacob comes to him through Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, for Rachel cannot yet bear in her own right.  (When properly used, human organization can serve the divine idea, which Rachel symbolizes.)  Bilhah, ("confusion; troubled") bears a son whom Rachel names Dan, "judgment."  Rachel has been envying Leah's fertility and is still immersed in the illusion that man, rather than God, is responsible for life.  She has not yet laid down a personal, material sense of life.  The fifth day of creation accentuates Life and must be seen as flowing from divine Principle.  Dan, in the negative aspect, is governed by animal magnetism and cooperates with the belief of life as organic and personal and refuses to lay it down. Mrs. Eddy's definition of Dan is in the Glossary, p.583:  "Animal magnetism [universal false belief];  so-called mortal mind controlling mortal mind;  working out the designs of error;  one belief preying upon another."  His name is used in the Bible to symbolize the activities of the carnal mind.  Jacob, at the end of his life when he gathered his sons together to tell them what would befall them "in the last days,"  pronounced this on Dan:  "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path..."   That old serpent, carnal mind, has to be dealt with before our spiritual idealism can be demonstrated.  Jesus called the serpent a "liar."  The insistent human suggestion that man is material and under the law of the demands of the body  must be overcome with a love of purity being the greater demand upon us.  Then we can be freed from the carnal impositions on our true selfhood. 
This may take some mighty wrestlings.  The positive aspect of the symbolism of Dan passes judgment on (unmasks) animal magnetism.  This operates to liberate humanity from its illusion of life in matter and thus enables us to exercise spiritual self-government. 
Sixth son, Naphtali, by Bilhah Bilhah bears Rachel another son whom Rachel names Naphtali, which means "wrestling."  She says at his birth:  "With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed." Once our wrestlings begin to prove that the spiritual alone is real, we make substantial spiritual progress.  Her servitude to an organic sense of life is beginning to be met through her growing understanding of the Truth that the human is only a symbol for the divine.  Woman, Love, must rise above human mortal law. This is the positive spiritual aspect of Naphtali and illustrates the sixth day of creation, Truth.  In Moses' song for the tribes, Naphtali must "possess... the west and the south."  The south  (Christianity), in the City Foursquare is human suffering, "with its Southern cross in the skies,"  but the west is the "Golden shore of love and the peaceful sea of harmony."  (S&H 575: 32-2)  In other words, Naphtali types rising from wrestling to Love. Jacob, in his last utterances concerning his sons, says about Naphtali that he is " a hind let loose:  he giveth goodly words."   Taken positively, it means "I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed---released [let loose]--- my son.  This wrestling out from under law to the light of Love opens a door that can never be shut (Love 'goes no more out,' Rev. 3: 7-13)... "  (Orgain, As It Is, 132)  Dummelow's says that a more probable reading of this verse is:  "Naphtali is a spreading terebinth [sumac tree] producing beautiful branches."  (45) Certainly "beautiful spreading branches"  would type mankind finding out the Truth about 
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himself and thus branching out into his true selfhood as the expression of Love.  Negatively, Mrs. Eddy says that "thought, loosened from a material basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild with freedom and so be self-contradictory."  (S&H 552:19) Naphtali may abuse the liberty which the true Dan gives him. 
Seventh son, Gad, by Zilpah Gad is borne by Zilpah, Leah's handmaid.  Zilpah means "to trickle, as myrrh: fragrant dropping;"  or, "bitterness"  in its negative aspect.  The first part of the name suggests a higher type of thought.  Gad's name means "troop, fortune."   "Behold a troop cometh," says Leah.   A universal idea of man is dawning in consciousness.  Moses said of Gad:  "Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad..."  (Deut.33: 20)  Gad types universal man. This signifies the seventh day of creation, Love, and the seventh rung on Jacob's ladder whereby he "reaches heaven," the understanding of being in its Science.  The human (Leah)  serves the divine (Rachel) when efforts are made to understand the Science of being.  Gad is defined in the Glossary as "Science;  spiritual being understood;  haste towards harmony [heaven]."  (S&H 586:21)  Jacob's blessing on Gad is interesting:  "A troop shall overcome him:  but he shall overcome at last."  Might this prefigure the overcoming of church organization, Spirit over form?   The negative side of "Gad" is that having tasted heaven, one may not want to "return to earth" to demonstrate it and that can result in a fall into escapism. The three sons, Dan, Naphtali, and Gad symbolize man overcoming and progressing.  This is the summary of their symbolism for us:  The birth of "Judah" in our consciousness has begun to form an ideal of what we want to accomplish in our lives that have become "quickened" by our new spirituality.  But that old serpent, the carnal mind, "Dan," which we have for so long believed, argues for itself, sometimes vehemently, and we have to wrestle with it, "Naphtali."  This proving that the serpent is "a liar," as Jesus called it, enables us to gain some dominion over it, and our spiritual idealism begins to bear fruit. 
Then "Gad" in us is like a "troop," an abundance of healings, even if so-called "small" ones, that bring us reassurance and protect our new-found understanding.   At this point, "Asher" is born into our experience. 
Eighth son, Asher, by Zilpah Leah names her son Asher, meaning "happy."  Leah, rejoicing, says," Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed."  Leah's glimpse of universal man in Gad enables her to rise to the true sense of womanhood in Asher (universal man in completeness—"sons" and "daughters" equal, their combined qualities appearing in each individual).  In the third edition of Science and Health, Vol.II,120, Mrs. Eddy says, "...and this earth and heaven are now and forever the male and female of Spirit, alias the Elohim, or sons and daughters of God."  This is the Edition where Mrs. Eddy calls God "Mother" all the way through." (Orgain, As It Is,140) At this point of  "Asher," where there are no more ascending days of creation, Mrs. 
Eddy dissolved all church activity into "universal and voluntary assemblies" of Christians." 
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In Rev. 1: 20, where "the son of man," Jesus, appeared to St. John, he is described as having seven stars in his hand.  He told John that they were the angels of the seven churches.  He gave John a  message for each of the churches.  The eighth step on the ladder types a descending or demonstrating thought, and for the church thought it means freedom to study and progress at your own rate, for knowing the Truth must be individual.  Divine Science is the Science of knowing, for you cannot know what you have not demonstrated. You can only believe.  It is the same in any science. When ascending (growing) understanding, reaches the point (eighth step) where it can be demonstrated (descent), one then gets the proof of all his spiritual work and there is true happiness.  "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love.  [Truth can symbolize "son" of God, and Love is God's nature as woman/mother/daughter.]  It is unselfish;  therefore, it cannot exist alone but requires all mankind to share it."  (S&H 57:18-21)  Of course, when you do experience a demonstration over some problem you do feel like sharing it with everyone!  This individual happiness bears witness to the collective and universal thought and proves the wholeness of being. The Glossary says of Asher:  "(Jacob's son).  Hope and faith;  spiritual compensation;  the ills of the flesh rebuked." (581)  Jacob gives him this blessing:  "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties."   Moses gives Asher  this blessing:  (King James Version) "Let Asher be blessed with children;  let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil."  In the Glossary, "oil" is defined as "Consecration;  charity;  gentleness;  prayer;  heavenly inspiration."  (592)  Dummelow's says that the first phrase about children should probably read, "Blessed above sons be Asher."  (139)  Spiritual understanding always yields great fruitfulness in health, substance, and dominion.  It is interesting that Zilpah brought forth the last two sons before Rachel . 
Her negative aspect, "bitterness," can be interpreted as a hopeful lesson to us.  So often, bitter experiences force us to gain a more spiritual viewpoint, with attendant spiritual progress, and  fruitage is the result.  We do have to be alert and awake when we demonstrate abundance that we give God the glory and know we have not brought it about by our own efforts or creativity.  Jesus always insisted:  "...the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."   (John 14: 10)  The negative aspect of Asher is creativity on a mortal basis. 
Ninth son, Issachar, by Leah Leah wants to be fertile again, so her first-born son, Reuben, goes into the field at wheat harvest time and finds mandrakes for her.  These  mandrakes are called "love-plants" in Hebrew.  They grow low to the ground like lettuce with large wavy dark green leaves and bear a fruit resembling a small tomato with an agreeable odor and taste.  It is called "devil's apples" by the Arabs for its perceived power to promote conception.  (Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, 383)  (Does not this type sensual and mortal beliefs?) However, Leah gives them to Rachel in order to earn Jacob's love.  Rachel takes them, and Jacob does love Leah for her unselfish act.  This unselfishness enables Leah to bear again, and she has a son, Jacob's ninth, whom she names Issachar, meaning "hire" or "reward."  "God hath given me my hire," she says at his birth.  Leah received her hire (reward) when she yielded her human sense of a 
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desire to bear more sons to the divine (Rachel).  Rachel, typing Love, says, "Give me thy son's mandrakes"---  In symbolism, give Me, Love, thy son." He is the second descending rung on Jacob's "ladder" of consciousness.  The human has earned its reward by giving up organic creativity for the divine. " Issachar's tribe was agricultural, and Zebulun's tribe traded with foreign nations for they had an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea.  They both offered sacrificial feasts of righteousness in certain mountain sanctuaries for their neighbors.  Although this types Leah's individual sacrifice to righteousness, Rachel, and on a collective scale for Issachar's neighbors, it was done for commercial advantage.  Therefore, Jacob's remarks about Issachar were actually more of a curse than a blessing:  "Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:  And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute."   Negatively, Issachar wants to enjoy the fruits of two worlds, the two burdens, the human and the divine.  We must be very alert at this stage, for it may seem easier to labor for human rewards, "tribute,"  than for the spiritual rewards that take more effort and sacrifice.  The conviction that there is only one world, and it is spiritual, not material, disposes of that dualism. 
Tenth son, Zebulun, by Leah Leah now bears Jacob's tenth son, Zebulun, "dwelling."  At his birth she says, "Now will my husband dwell with me.  Symbolically, divinity dwells with humanity, and there is no more belief in two polarized worlds.  Heaven and earth are demonstrably one, Immanuel, God with us.  "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them." (Rev. 21: 3)  This fact must now be understood in its universality.  Jacob's remarks about Zebulun during the blessing of his sons was that he would be a "haven for ships."  Moses unites and redeems Zebulun with Issachar by including them together in his blessing for them:  "Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out;  and, Issachar, in thy tents..."  Zebulun, in his positive aspect,  types the tenth commandment  "Thou shalt not covet," which silences human desires and their aspirations. Here is a summary of Asher, Issachar, and Zebulun in a positive light.  When we see that all that is good, all that bears fruit and blesses us, comes from God, and not from us or "others," we are enabled to bear any burden, for we know it is God's responsibility to care for us (Issachar).  Jesus said,  "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."  We are able to help others to see that great fact and so become "a haven" (Zebulun) to all who seek that same "rest."  Jesus could help others for he knew, "...my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  (Matt. 11: 28, 30) 
Eleventh son, Joseph, by Rachel Rachel is no longer barren.  Jacob's true love, his ideal, brings forth her first-born son, Jacob's eleventh.  She calls his name "Joseph," meaning  "adding, extension,"  and said, "The Lord shall add to me another son."  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;  and all these things shall be added unto you."  (Jesus,  Matt. 6: 33)  Step by step, Jacob has been seeking the kingdom of heaven, and this has come to him symbolically 
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as his son, Joseph.  The blessing on Joseph which Jacob bestows is lovely and teems with a sense of true womanhood and motherhood:  Joseph is a "fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall...the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;  (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)  Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee;  and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:  The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills;  they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." Joseph became a crowned head of another country, Egypt.  (Gen. 49: 24-26)  Moses also, in his song, pours out the richness of this thought.  In I Chron.5: 1, Joseph receives the birthright for all the tribes. Symbolically, this shows the superiority of Love over law.  Joseph will represent absolute divine Science to Jacob, his family, and the whole world.  The twelvefold circle is nearly complete that will become the twelve tribes of Israel which today stands for everyone on earth.  Mrs. Eddy gives this definition  for Joseph in the Glossary:  "A corporeal mortal; a higher sense of Truth rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immortality and supremacy of Truth;  pure affection blessing its enemies."  (589) Jacob now has some left-over business to attend to.  He must prove the "Joseph" or Science that has been changing his consciousness over many years since his ladder dream at Bethel.  Before Benjamin, his twelfth and last son can be born, Jacob must resolve his relationship with his brother, Esau.  He decides that it is time for him and his family to leave Uncle Laban in Haran and return to Canaan.  Laban, in his positive aspect, means "white" as in pure and noble.  Esau means "red."  However, Laban has not been very noble in his treatment of Jacob.  He has deceived Jacob in their agreement  to let Jacob serve him for seven years for Rachel.  At the wedding for what Jacob thought was going to be to Rachel, Laban substituted Leah and made Jacob work for him seven more years for Rachel.  Because of this deception, Leah feels that Jacob hates her.  Jacob also feels that he has cared for and greatly multiplied Laban's herds  but without just recompense, for Laban changed his wages ten times.  Leah and Rachel also agree that their father has been unjust to them, for he has devoured the inheritances of Leah and Rachel which consisted of a share of the profits garnered  through Jacob's labors. Before Jacob leaves for Canaan with his family, he strikes a bargain with Laban for a portion of the herds for himself for his twenty years’ service to his uncle.  He asks for Laban's cattle which are striped, spotted, speckled and brown, all with some white in them. 
This suggests a combining of what Laban stands for and what Esau stands for, so that, instead of seeing a mixing of matter and Spirit, there is the absolute sense that, no matter what the physical senses think is there, there is no matter to be afraid of or accounted for. 
This solves the problem of matter. At this time, Jacob has a dream where the cattle and rams become exactly what Jacob bargained for, and an angel of God speaks to him telling him that God caused it to happen for Jacob's sake and that now he must return to the land of his kindred.   Jacob leaves with his much- multiplied herds and all of his family.  Laban, dwelling in exalted Haran, 
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metaphysically stands for absolute Science. That which takes no evil, no matter, into account at all, if misconstrued, can seem like transcendental absolutism, where what one does materially does not affect one's spirituality, thus dismissing the moral mandates.  Jacob, however, wants to return to Canaan where the absolute is demonstrable, where the mortal problem is solved. Understanding  the real man, the ideal man, is the Christ man or Truth being manifested, is looking at the problem from the absolute standpoint, but it heals the so- called mortal man. Laban is angered by Jacob's appropriation of the best of his herds and pursues him to Mizpah, "watchtower."  There they establish their true relationship and set up a stone witness to God that they will not interfere with the office or function of each other in the future.  This agreement pledged them both to regard Mt. Gilead as a boundary which neither could cross with hostile motives.  (It is seen as the original border between Israel and Syria.) Jacob must use the idealism of Laban to solve the problem of Esau.  Laban is not involved in nor concerned with Jacob's problem with Esau.  In working out a problem in Science, applying the absolute Truth to the problem of the relative does not touch the absolute.  Spirit does not mix with matter when solving the problem of matter.  What seems to the material senses to be matter is proved by Spirit to be Spirit's reflection. As Jacob moves toward Canaan, he divides up his herds to be sent to Esau as a gift in order to appease him.  But his herdsmen come back with the news that Esau, with four hundred men, is simultaneously moving toward Jacob.  He is suddenly very afraid and sends his family on ahead.  He realizes that he still lacks the spiritual nerve to face Esau.  When he arrives at Peniel, which he later names "face of God," he is alone.  He wrestles with the great fear that his twin brother is coming from "out there" and means to take retribution on him for stealing his birthright.  But Jacob has made a great deal of spiritual progress in the intervening years, and as he wrestles with his belief that his brother is his adversary, he suddenly is able to see the true identity of his brother.  He arrives at the revelation of the true identity of man as one with God;  subject and object is one. Mrs. Eddy writes about this experience:  "Jacob was alone, wrestling with error,--- struggling with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter with its false pleasures and pains,---when an angel, a message from Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew, or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality;  and Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual strength in this Peniel of divine Science.  Then said the spiritual evangel:  "Let me go, for the day breaketh;"  that is, the light of Truth and Love dawns upon thee.  But the patriarch, perceiving his error and his need of help, did not loosen his hold upon this glorious light until his nature was transformed.  When Jacob was asked, "What is thy name?" he straightway answered;  and then his name was changed to Israel, for "as a prince" had he prevailed and had "power with God and with men."   Then Jacob questioned his deliverer, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name;"  but this appellation was withheld, for the messenger was not a corporeal being, but a nameless, incorporeal impartation of divine Love to man, which, to use the word of the Psalmist, restored his Soul,---gave him the spiritual sense of being and rebuked his material sense. 
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"The result of Jacob's struggle thus appeared.  He had conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit and spiritual power.  This changed the man.  He was no longer called Jacob, "striver with God," but Israel,---a prince of God, or a soldier of God, or "he that prevaileth with God." who had fought a good fight.  He was to become the father of those, who through earnest striving followed his demonstration of the power of Spirit over the material senses;  and the children of earth who followed his example were to be called the children of Israel, until the Messiah should rename them.  If these children should go astray, and forget that Life is God, good, and that good is not in elements which are not spiritual, thus losing the divine power which heals the sick and sinning, they were to be brought back through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian Science and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter, even as the gospel teaches."   (S&H 308: 16-309: 23) Animal magnetism was Jacob's belief that the presence of Esau was something other than the presence of God.  Spirit's reflection, man, does not wrestle against Spirit.  There is, therefore, no animal magnetism.  Jacob understands that he has simply been resisting his own, and Esau's, spiritual reality as the reflections of Soul (spiritual sense).  Filled with divine strength and conviction, yet humbled by his struggle's wonderful revelation, he says: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Gen. 32: 30)  Evil is neither here nor there, but the presence of Soul is both here and there.  The Israel-idea came first to Jacob, but it has come now to the rest of the world through Christian Science, for Israel embodies the identity of Esau as well. This revelation came first to the Western world in the sixth thousand year period as Christian Science, so the true identity of the world-embracing West embodies the reality of the "red" East as well. As a result of Jacob's transformed nature and attitude, he and his twin brother meet in peace, in Science.  Esau, when he sees Jacob's generous gift of the many herds, immediately expresses his true being as seen by Jacob and lovingly says to him:  "I have enough, my brother;  keep that thou hast unto thyself."In joyous, liberated response, Jacob tells him:  " I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God." Imagine how joyous and freeing our relationships with our brother man would be today if we could see each other in the same way!  Through the coming of the Comforter to individual and universal thought, we can and will!  Because Jacob saw this great Truth, that good lies behind every phenomena, instead of fear and harm, we will all eventually realize it, and the conflict between the human and the divine will be resolved.  Infinity is not divided.   The fact that early in man’s history the “Hebrew” included the “Arab” means that we will, at some point, when spiritual understanding (Spirit) is seen as the truth of mankind, be reunited in love.  Man is not many, but one divine reflection of the one divine Mind. Jacob, having lived almost all of the ordered footsteps of his "ladder," journeys on to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan.  He buys land there, builds a house, and erects an altar calling it "the God of Israel," Jacob's new name.  At this point, Dinah goes out "to see the daughters of the land."  This event has been discussed in the section about Simeon and Levi.  Their great sin caused Jacob to have to leave Shechem.  And God spoke to him and told him to go to Bethel and make an altar at the place where he had his dream when he was fleeing "from the face of Esau," his brother.   Jacob obeyed, causing all of his family and 
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household to purify themselves by putting away their strange gods and changing into clean garments.   He then built an altar to "God of the House of God (Bethel).  God appeared to Jacob again and said to him:  "... Israel shall be thy name: ...I am God almighty:  be fruitful and multiply;  a nation  and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;  And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land."  (Gen. 35:  1-12) 
Twelfth son, Benjamin, by Rachel As they all then journey on and get just a little ways from Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel, who is pregnant, begins having hard labor.  She passes on immediately after the birth and naming of her son.  She calls him Ben-oni, " Son of my sorrow."  He is Jacob's twelfth son and symbolizes Jacob's completely regenerated identity.  His "so-called material senses" had yielded "to the spiritual sense of Life and Love."  (This is the second part of Jacob's definition in the Glossary, the regenerated sense.  S&H 589: 6-7) Jacob renames him Benjamin, "Son of my right hand," a better omen.  Now the "right hand of God" fills the picture.  Christ sits "on the right hand of God."  (Col. 3: 1)  The Christ-man is of God's creating, which Jesus manifested for us so perfectly  "May not Rachel's death symbolize that at this stage, man fully realizes that the mothering and tending of his own true selfhood, or any activity, belongs to God alone?  The divine Cause is the only power and will ultimately be recognized as such." (Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book 1, 49) Divine universal individuality no longer needs personal mothering or fathering. This is the positive meaning of Benjamin in the Glossary:  "...Renewal of affections;  self- offering;  an improved state of mortal mind;  the introduction of a more spiritual origin;  a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Principle;  a spiritual type;  that which comforts, consoles, and supports."  (S&H  582)  These qualities bring motherhood to mind.  An entirely new concept of God has dawned in Jacob's thought. 
Jacob initiates the seed of the Science of Christianity which is chemicalizing world thought today.  This was symbolized by Mrs. Eddy at the end of the first decade of the twentieth century.  When her "revelation of Science" was complete with her 88th Edition of Science and Health, she provided for the passing of her Mother Church organization.  She had led us to understand that generic man, the spiritual idea of God, was the real "mother" of Christian Science.  A stage had been reached where individuality could realize its truly universal nature;  where it could be spiritually self-governed, spiritually self-led, spiritually independent of external mothering.  It could give birth from within itself to its own absolute being.  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 88-89) Benjamin was born after Jacob's regeneration at Peniel, the only son who was, and thus typed the regeneration of earth, for Jacob saw earth as the reflection of heaven when he saw God "face to face."  Moses gives this blessing to Benjamin: "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him;  and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders."  (Deut. 33: 12)  Moses recognized the regenerated man, supported by spiritualized consciousness, which was typed by the twelfth Tribe. 
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Nothing much is recorded of Benjamin's personal history other than the record of his birth (said to have been ten years after the birth of Joseph), and his being taken into Egypt at the demand of his brother, Joseph, when he became a ruler over Egypt many years later. 
Benjamin as a tribe was true to Jacob's warning about it:  "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: he shall divide the spoil."  In its negative aspect, the tribe was warring and animalistic.  It endeavored to express manhood in matter instead of its very opposite---motherhood in Spirit.  As a result of its ignominious acts, it was punished by the other tribes and practically destroyed.  It became absorbed into the tribe of Judah and completely lost its own identity when the tribes divided.  (Judges, Chapters 19-21) It should be noted that Jerusalem was located in the land of Benjamin's tribe.  The "New Jerusalem," divine Science, that comes down from God out of heaven is the true idea of this capitol, for it types the vision of Jacob at Peniel.  Benjamin fulfills that dream, for he types the union of heaven and earth, Love and its expression, for Jacob's sons typed individually the ascent of humanity from the bottom rung of the ladder, Mind, earth, upwards to Love, heaven, and then descended from the highest sense of God as Love to earth, uniting with Mind, finally apprehending and accepting earth as a gift and not a labor. "Adam" and "Eve," symbols of degenerate humanity, are regenerated, redeemed, and seen as the sons and daughters of God dwelling harmoniously and spiritually in the paradise of heaven on earth, God's infinite reflection. It is the home mankind never really left except in belief. The abstract meanings of the Tribes, as given by Mrs. Eddy in the Glossary, as well as the whole definitions from four of the Tribes---Judah, Dan, Asher, and Joseph, were given to the world in 1927 in the Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary.  It was printed by permission from Allison V. Stewart, Mrs. Eddy's publisher, in 1910. (However, the 1928 edition of the Dictionary excluded the Tribes, or contracted to exclude them .)  Mrs. Eddy never retracted anything she had given to the world.  The demand of our Church is to "complete its history."  (Orgain, As It Is, 161)  "As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's motherhood.  The moon is under her feet.  This idea reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit, from which the universe borrows its reflected light, substance, life, and intelligence."  (S&H 562: 3-10) Womanhood completes the history of the Truth about the body of man and the universe as being the reflection of God, the divine Principle, Love.  What could be more wonderful for the human race than to realize that the Principle which originates and governs the infinitude of creation is not only all-powerful, like a father, but is also as tender and gentle as a mother?  Love embraces Life. 
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Chapter  5  The Joseph Saga    Genesis 37: 1-50: 26 
The Womanhood/Motherhood of God as Revealed in the third Period of the Scriptures 
Mrs. Eddy declared that generic man would be her successor in leading on the Christian Science movement.  She had opened the door for Christian Science to be understood in its universal, non-sectarian Science, as the heaven-born identity of mankind---just as the story of Jacob led inevitably to that of Joseph.  The Joseph saga, succeeding the Jacob saga, corresponds to today's development of Christian Science as coming out from "under Mother," ("Mother Church"). It finds itself to be the nonsectarian Science of Christian Science, each Christian Scientist, individually, being self-governed and self-led, the privileged and greatly blessed "generic man" founding the Science of the universe in our individual consciousness, reflecting the divine. 
As "a fruitful bough, extending over a wall," Joseph symbolizes the infinite resources with which mankind is blessed as a spiritual idea, removed from material confines.  He represents Jacob's revelation of one God, one man.  Jacob loves him more than all of his other sons.  He gives him a coat of many colors, signifying the complete spectrum of the seven-fold nature of God and thus of the real man.  "The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent."  (S&H 242: 25-26) 
Joseph's brothers are jealous of him because of his father's special love and attention toward him.  He has two dreams that symbolize his superiority over them.  One of them is of eleven sheaves of corn that bow down to his one sheaf.  The other is of the sun, moon, and stars making obeisance to one star that is Joseph.  He tells them his dreams which infuriates them further.  They want to kill him, but Reuben does not want to shed his blood and talks the rest of them into throwing him into a pit, thinking that he will return later and save his youngest brother.  So they remove his beautiful coat and throw him into a pit.  Reuben leaves them, but when he returns, he finds that his brothers, primarily Judah, have sold Joseph to a band of Ishmaelites and Midianites on their way to Egypt for twenty pieces of silver.   (It is Judas, of the Tribe of Judah, one of Jesus' disciples, that betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Matt. 26: 14-16 Reuben is devastated.  How will he tell his father?   They come up with a plan to smear Joseph's coat with animal blood and tell their father that he lost his life to a wild animal.  Jacob, terribly grieved, desperately seeks to protect Benjamin, his only other son of his beloved Rachel.  (Gen. 37: 1-36) 
We know, of course, that the blessing pronounced for Joseph, that he will be a fruitful bough with branches extending over the wall, and that he will be abundantly blessed, must come to pass. What is the symbolism of this first part of the Joseph saga?  In the Scriptures, clothes are often described because they portray a state of thought.  Jesus' robe was "without seam or rent," sewn together from one whole piece of cloth.  It illustrated Jesus' thought which was always looking at the world around him from a sense of its wholeness, undivided from Truth and Love.  In the Apocalypse, the woman was "clothed with the sun."  The Glossary tells us its meaning:  "SUN.  The symbol of Soul [spiritual understanding] governing man,---of Truth, Life, and Love."  (S&H 595: 1)  In Rev. 17, the harlot is arrayed in purple and scarlet signifying the carnal mind.  Joseph's garment is many- hued, symbolizing God's perfect seven-fold nature, just as Noah's  seven- colored rainbow emphasized the protecting power of God's perfect nature.   This portends a coming understanding by Joseph of God's perfect, complete nature, especially God's motherhood, which Joseph will exhibit while in Egypt. 
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This whole story is concerned with how to deal with Egypt, typing a material sense of existence which seems to surround us.  Joseph, expressing the wise tenderness and caring of motherhood qualities, rises above every single material challenge which threatens his existence with great dominion, blessing all within the range of his consciousness.  It is a story of the way in which we can all overcome adverse circumstances through ordered spiritual translation of error into harmony.  It can be done in no other way but with selfless love. Joseph's captors sell him to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard.  "And the Lord was with Joseph...and the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand...the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake;  and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field...And Joseph was a goodly person, and well-favoured."   (Gen. 39: 1-4)  Joseph has the absolute trust of the master of the house, whom he serves.  This trust was put to the test by Potiphar's wife, who tried to get Joseph to lie with her.  He maintained his position of trust, however, and refused her several times, insisting that it would be a great wickedness and sin against God.  In her anger, Potiphar's wife grabbed his coat one day and told her husband that Joseph had left it after lying with her.  This caused Joseph to be put into prison.  But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed his mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners...and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper."  (Gen. 39:  7-23) Joseph demonstrates self-government, honesty, purity, and poise, the qualities of spiritual sense,      that stand him in good stead under what could have been dire circumstances.  His Christ-like character could not strip him of the Principle of good by which he lived, and so could not truly imprison him.  Joseph was still free to accomplish all good.  The spiritual dominates the lesser realm of the physical. While at the prison, the king cast in two of his officers, the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers.  Each one had a dream one night which saddened them, and when Joseph looked in on them in the morning, they told their dreams to him hoping for their interpretations.  He was able to interpret them correctly, as what he said did shortly come to pass.  The butler was released from prison and given his job back, and the baker was hanged, all within three days.  (Gen. 40: 1-23) It was because of the butler that Joseph was finally let out of prison.  Pharaoh had a dream which he wanted interpreted but could find no-one to do it.  The butler remembered Joseph and recommended him to the king.  Thus, Joseph was released from prison and brought before Pharaoh who told him his dream.  It was of seven fat-fleshed kine ( cows) and seven lean-fleshed kine that came out of the same river.  The seven lean kine ate up the seven fat kine.  Then seven thin, withered ears of corn ate up seven fat ears of corn.  Joseph foretold that there would be seven years of plenty in Egypt and then seven years of famine in which all of the plenty would be eaten up.  He then advised the Pharaoh to appoint a "discreet and wise" man to gather up much of the plentiful food and gather and store it for use during the years of famine.  Joseph ended his interpretation with these words:  "God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do."  (The Bible tells us that Joseph was thirty years old 
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when he stood before Pharaoh.  He was seventeen when he was taken down into Egypt, so he had been there only thirteen years before being made ruler over all Egypt.) (Gen. 41: 46) Pharaoh, astonished and grateful, appointed none other than Joseph.  He said: "There is none so discreet and wise as thou art.  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled:  only in the throne will I be greater than thou.See I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.  And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;  And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had;  and they cried before him, Bow the knee: ..." (Gen. 41: 43)   Joseph also receives a new Egyptian name, Zaphnathpaaneah, which means, variously, "Savior of the world,"  "Revealer of secrets," "God speaks and lives," all exalted meanings. Is there a spiritual lesson in this story for us today?  I see a most wonderful scientific fact portrayed.  It seems to material sense that we are looking out upon a world that is poverty-stricken both physically and morally. But because this is antithetical to God, good, which fills all space, each of us is, in fact, already made "ruler over Egypt."  We must carefully tend to our thoughts, culturing an understanding of the way in which Principle, Love, handles the counterfeit lies that constantly present themselves to us.  Holding to what we understand is the true Science underlying all things and events, we can detect erroneous claims to actuality and obliterate them.  Material versions of things do not have to have any effect on us.  If we bow down to them as realities capable of harming us in some way, we suffer the consequences.  We throw ourselves into prison!  Joseph did not allow himself to be mentally imprisoned by material circumstances over which he had no control.  He continued to express the freeing qualities that he knew God gave him by reflection. The Christ man is ageless, ever-present, right where we are, just as Jesus embodied and proved.  Paul tells us that we are not battling with or against personal minds.  "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”'   (Eph. 6: 12) The "darkness" is belief and conviction that there is an evil power "out there"--- one which we call "chance", or " accident," or "sickness," or "disease," or  "hate," or any of a seeming unlimited army of lurking terrors that can exercise dominion over us at any time. 
We are always dealing with mental beliefs which the human mind can never totally deal with because it is a part of the problem.  Using the Science that underlies the universe is putting on the "mind of Christ" instead of the ignorance calling itself  "mind."  This intelligent spiritual reasoning is the only way in which, ultimately, the famine in world or individual thought can be alleviated and the abundance of good (God) be recognized. Divine Love, forever aligned with Principle, the Science of the universe, proved itself superior to the carnal mind in Potiphar's house (the physical).  In prison, it proved superior over the human sense of criminality (the moral), and finally in interpreting the dream of Pharaoh using spiritual understanding (the spiritual), Joseph expressed the three degrees of the Scientific translation of immortal Mind.  From this high standpoint, Joseph is able to bless not only the whole of Egypt, but other countries and his own family as well. 
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As soon as Joseph became ruler over Egypt, the Bible tells us, the earth began bringing forth "by handfuls"  for seven plenteous years.  The corn was harvested in such abundance that he "left numbering, for it was without number."  (Gen. 41: 47-49)  If we are alert enough and love the inspiration and higher standpoints we are gaining, we will have enough sustenance when met with trials.  It is interesting that "seven" is used here, as it so often is in the Bible, symbolizing completeness, fullness.  The "seventh day" is the apprehension of the greatest aspect of God, His nature as Love.  It is the dearest quality, signifying His/Her Motherhood.   Joseph, carrying forward the "seed of the woman," shows that man's divine reality governs the human concept.  "Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual." (S&H 427: 23) 
Joseph's family in the land of Canaan feels the effects of the severe drought and, hearing that there is plenty of corn in Egypt, Jacob sends his sons to obtain some.  He will not let Benjamin go, however, for he believes he is personally responsible for Benjamin's purity and safety.  If only he knew that the fearsome outside world was where his beloved Joseph (typing a higher sense of Truth which blesses its enemies with pure affection) was waiting for Benjamin, his much younger brother, (typing comfort, consolation, and renewal of affections.)  Joseph symbolizes the truth of Jacob, his father, and all of his brothers in their scientific and spiritual reality. When the ten brothers appear before Joseph to ask for food, they do not recognize him, but he knows them and misses Benjamin.  He asks them about their family, if their father is still living, and if they have any other family members at home.  They tell him that they are twelve brothers, that one is still at home with their father and the other one "is not."  The symbol of the "ten" is the humanly moral thought, the "Thou shalt not" of the Ten Commandments.  It is the negative moral standpoint which must eventually be elevated to the positive "Blessed are ye" of the Beatitudes given us by Jesus. 
Jesus came to show and prove the blessings which accrue to us when we see ourselves as already blessed because we have always been one with God. Joseph, with a plan to unite his whole family, accuses his brothers of being spies.  A spy appears to be what he is not.  This is true of the religious thought which abides by the merely outward show of moral dictates that conform to a religious creed.  Jesus called the Pharisees "whited sepulchres," appearing to be paragons of virtue but filthy within.  It exposed their hypocrisy.  With the dual basis that man is made in the image and likeness of God and yet is a miserable sinner, thought has no chance but to be dual in character.  The only pure and intelligent standpoint is to acknowledge one perfect God manifested by one perfect creation.  Anything other than that is a lie which must be disproved.  It is illegitimate and has no place in the divine plan of infinite good. In order to prove that they are not spies, the brothers must leave behind one who will be guarded until they return with Benjamin.  Simeon  (typing the binding religiosity of an authoritarian way of life) is the one who must be bound and kept imprisoned.  The brothers depart with bags of corn and their money which Joseph secretly returned to them.  As they are returning they speak together about their guilt in putting Joseph into the pit and then selling him to be taken into Egypt.  They believe that they are now being punished for their 
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sinful deed.  (They still have not recognized Joseph.)  On their return, they open one of the bags to feed the animals and find the returned money they had brought to pay for the corn. 
Now they believe they will be accused of stealing back their money.  They are truly afraid and spill the whole story to Jacob when they arrive home. Looked at from a scientifically symbolic point of view, Joseph's action in returning their money can be seen as the expression of a pure sense of Truth and Love which takes nothing from us, but enriches us in every way.   Old theological thought believes that to gain spiritually, we must give up something that we still value and can use.  It emphasizes sacrifice.  St. Paul gives us another, higher, way:  "...not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, and that mortality might be swallowed up of life."  (II Cor. 5: 4)  What we are bidden to sacrifice is a trust in and love for the material, finite sense of life.  This is done naturally as we cherish the spiritual and work to practice its qualities in our daily life. Jacob is devastated when he hears what occurred in Egypt.  He cries, "Me have ye bereaved of my children:  Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." (42: 36)  He is sorely afraid that mischief could befall Benjamin.  It would send Jacob to his grave.  He will not relent to Joseph's demand. 
However, as time goes on, the famine remains severe and the family needs food.  Jacob relents to let Benjamin go when Judah reminds him of what "the man" promised them:  "Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." (43: 3)  When enlightened religious thought (Jacob) is willing to let go of a human sense of personal responsibility and false motherhood regarding someone else's spiritual progress, it makes room for wider spiritual conceptions and tremendous blessings and fruitage follow. When the brothers arrive and Joseph sees Benjamin, he hides himself and weeps for joy.  This is the evidence of his family's sincerity.  (The brothers still do not recognize him.) He then institutes one more test of their ability to yield up a mortal sense of things and to recognize the necessity for spiritually identifying  themselves with God, good.  He invites them to his home to dine with him.  They are afraid it is a set-up to punish them for the supposed stealing of their money back during their last trip, so they offer to Joseph's steward double the money for the corn.  The steward, however, answers them:  "Peace be to you, fear not:  your God and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks:  I had your money.  And he brought Simeon out unto them." (43: 23)  When  the brothers are brought into Joseph's house, their feet are washed and provender is provided for their animals.  When Joseph arrives at noon, he inquires about the welfare of their father, looks at Benjamin and asks if he is the brother that was left at home.  He then says to him:  God be gracious unto thee, my son."  Joseph is again overcome at the sight of Benjamin and has to excuse himself for a short time to go and weep in secret.  They then are seated to dine, in the order of their birth, and the brothers marvel at the correctness of the seating.  Benjamin is given five times more food than his brothers, and "they drank and were merry with him." The stewards had been commanded to fill the sacks once again with corn, and their money is again restored.  But this time, according to Joseph's final test, his silver cup is hidden in Benjamin's sack. The next morning, after the brothers have started home and are a short distance from the city, Joseph's stewards ride out and overtake them, angrily accusing 
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them of stealing Joseph's drinking cup.  The brothers are greatly taken aback and deny the charge.  They are certain of their innocence and offer to allow the one whose sack contains the cup to be killed and the rest to be bondmen.  The steward counters with a more merciful sentence, per Joseph's instructions, telling them the one in whose sack the cup is found shall be Joseph's servant and the rest shall be blameless.  The brothers hastily throw their sacks open and there is the cup in Benjamin's sack.  His brothers rent their clothes in grief and return to the city.  They are bidden to Joseph's house and fall on the ground before Joseph. 
He asks them about the deed they have done, and they are so stricken they can barely give a coherent answer.  Joseph then tells them that Benjamin will become his servant and the rest of them can leave for home blameless. Here is Joseph's test.  It is an unbearable situation.  Jacob will die of grief if Benjamin does not return.  The need is for living proof of the brothers' willingness to yield up a merely moral, yet still mortal, sense of existence.  "When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great teacher said:  "Not my will, but thine be done!"---that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit be represented in me.  This is the new understanding of spiritual Love.  It gives all for Christ, or Truth."  "The cup shows forth his [Jesus'] bitter experience,---the cup which he prayed might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submission to the divine decree."  (S&H 33: 18-23 and 32: 10-14) Finally, Judah demonstrates his spiritual mettle, offering up himself for Benjamin. "I pray thee, he says to Joseph, "let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord." 
Much later, Jesus, of the tribe of Judah, offers himself up  "once for all."  (Heb. 10: 10) "The willingness to offer up a personal sense of self is the sacrifice demanded of humanity in exchange for the Science of its own true being.  Through this act of true individuality, manhood becomes aware of its womanhood."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, pp. 93- 94)  A vital "womanhood" quality is selfless love, which embraces wisdom, "manhood." Benjamin, "son of my right hand,"  whom Jacob named, symbolizes that state of thought which unites a merely religious sense (the ten brothers) to a truly scientific, spiritual sense (Joseph) which is willing to give up a limited, organized, personality-oriented sense of religion.  It is willing to bow to the fixed, invariable, all-powerful, divine Principle which is universal and infinite.  "Benjamin" has united them. When Judah explains that without Benjamin, their father will die, Joseph can no longer keep up the charade.  He has done what he had planned with the hoped-for results. 
He sends all of his stewards out and makes himself known to his brothers.  He says to them: "...be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither:  for God did send me before you to preserve life...God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."  (Gen. 44-45: 8) After a joyful reunion, Joseph tells his brothers to go and fetch his father along with all the rest of the family and bring them to Egypt.  He promises to settle them in the land of Goshen.  Does this not symbolize the fact that religious thought has to move forward into a more enlightened scientific spirituality ("Joseph")? Israel, upon learning that the Lord of all Egypt is his own dear son, agrees to go to see him before he dies.  With his whole family, some seventy strong, he leaves the promised 
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land of Canaan and moves to the land of Egypt.  On the way, after sacrificing unto the God of his father Isaac, God speaks to Jacob:  "...fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation:  I will go down with thee into Egypt;  and I will surely bring thee up again."  (Gen. 45: 1-46: 7)  Symbolically, Israel the nation, coming from the land of spiritual freedom, will inevitably return, proving immunity from servitude to a mortal body. 
We are all Israel, now in the midst of proving our freedom.  "The whole of consciousness (not part of it) will be found in the end to be Israel's promised land;  the whole human race (not a particular section of it) will prove itself God's chosen people."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, p. 94) The meeting of Israel and Joseph was tearful and overflowing with gratitude.  The Pharaoh was also pleased for Joseph's sake that he had his family with him, and, in spite of the general lowly attitude of Egyptians towards shepherds (that they were an abomination), offered them the best land in Egypt for their herds.  Israel and Pharaoh bless each other. 
With the complete renewal of affections, the twelve-fold circle is complete.  Science, seen in its true form as divine and universal, blessing all, is embodied in a nonsectarian world. 
Under the rulership of Joseph, Israel is taken in and loved by Egypt. Joseph asks his family to give up their home in Caanan and come to live in his home of Egypt.  They have to come into unity with Joseph.  Does this not symbolize the fact that religious thought has to move forward into a more enlightened scientific spirituality ("Joseph")?   Joseph gives them corn "without money and without price." The Egyptians, on the other hand, are much more materially-minded, and Joseph first has to get them to give up their money for the corn, then their cattle, and finally their land and themselves as servants to Pharaoh.  Symbolically, step by step, they have to exchange a physical sense of existence for eternal spiritual values.  Jacob represents the more illumined Caananite thought, and Pharaoh represents the more enlightened Egyptian thought because he saw and treasured the spirituality in Joseph.  The Egyptians have to give up everything to Pharaoh to survive.   As man gives up materialistic thinking, he subordinates himself to the highest and most enlightened state of consciousness.   A human, mortal way of reasoning must completely subordinate itself to a vastly different but profoundly more satisfying and enriching sense of existence in order for it to survive.  Then it is sustained.   (See Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book 1, pp. 58-60) The first appearing of the Christ idea, represented by Jesus, brought to mankind Christianity and a higher sense of God's nature as Life, our Father.  He came to humanity through the lineage of Judah.  The second appearing of the Christ idea, represented by Mary Baker Eddy, brought to mankind divine Science and the highest sense of God as Love, our Mother.  This Motherhood/Womanhood sense came to humanity through the highest thoughts of those individuals, (male or female since "woman" is a divine idea represented by qualities, not a human female) down through the ages in the Scriptures who best exemplified those qualities.  The Patriarchs we've just studied, Jacob and Joseph, provide the lineage for carrying forward in human thought the idea of womanhood. 
Joseph marries an Egyptian whose father is an Egyptian priest (or prince--- Peloubet's Bible Dictionary. p. 51) They have two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.  Through 
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Ephraim, the spiritual "seed of the woman" will eventually establish the real Israel, the "New Jerusalem," throughout the earth.  Jacob dwelled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, for seventeen years before he died at the age of one hundred forty seven years.  Before he dies, he calls all of his sons together to bless them, but prior to that calls Joseph and his two grandsons to him first. He tells Joseph what God had told him at Luz in Canaan:  "...I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will give this land to thy seed for an everlasting possession."  He then calls for his two grandsons  to come near so that he can bless them. 
He stretches out his hand and lays it on Ephraim's head, the younger son, to bless him first. 
Joseph tries to get him to put his hand on his firstborn, Manasseh, but Jacob knows what he is doing and refuses.  He says, "I know it, my son, I know it:  he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great:  but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a  multitude of nations. " For both of the boys he says, “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;  and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. " ( In Jeremiah 31: 9, God proclaims, "Ephraim is my firstborn.")  "Ephraim is thus to become the 'blest' nation, while his brother Manasseh, a great yet lesser nation, is to take part in this blessing. The tribe of Joseph is thus given a double portion among the tribes because both of his sons are counted as tribes.  Ephraim is to have the headship of Israel and Manasseh will replace Dan in the City Foursquare as described in the book of Revelation.  This prophecy is for a future time. 
At this point in history we are now discussing, Israel numbers but a few hundred, but is prophesied to number many millions in the latter days...Jacob named his name on them so they are to carry forth the spiritual idea and its human coincidence.  This is the marvelous "Birthright promise" given by Jacob to Joseph to be carried through his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh."    (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 38) The "Birthright promise" which will be revealed to mankind "in the last days," which is the age in which we are now living, symbolizes the spiritual birthright which Christian Science reveals to all of us the world over.  Man is born of God, Spirit, not matter. 
It will finally be realized, admitted, and understood that matter is nothing but an erroneous belief with no properties, activity, function, power, history, cause, effect, presence, or reality.  Physicists now know this.  They must begin to get the word out;  the tremendous ramifications of this knowledge will change the world and enable all of us to wake up from the "Adam  dream" and claim our true inheritance of freedom from fear, sin, sickness, disease, accident, penury, and death.  Will they step out of their ivory towers to engage us in the most important education ever to be offered to the world's civilizations?  Our Birthright promise is waiting for us to accept it.  With it will come prosperity, joy, peace, and freedom such as the world has not experienced since before the "Adam dream."  The illusionary deception, animal magnetism, wrought on mankind, that the body has dominion over its mind is the carnal belief that all is created materially, and with that falsity came the belief that good has an evil side that is equally real and powerful. Judah was given another promise called the "Sceptre Promise."  The sceptre was a baton or staff carried by a sovereign, such as a king, as a symbol of authority.  Jacob, in his 
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blessing on Judah, said that "Judah is a lion's whelp:...The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be..."  (Gen. 49: 8-12)  So Joseph and Judah received the greatest blessings of all the sons from Jacob.  Joseph will be fruitful and greatly blessed  although also hated, but he will be made strong by the mighty God of Jacob.  Shiloh is the Second Coming of the Christ.  It is very important to remember these blessings as we proceed into the next chapter.  The spiritual nature of God's Motherhood is revealed through "the woman" and coincides with Israel's restoration at the coming of Shiloh.  These "last days" bring the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.  Joseph's two sons will be seen symbolically as two great nations, Great Britain and the United states of America (discussed in Volume 3) The next chapters will continue, in abbreviated form, the story of the ways in which the "seed of the woman" was carried on through the rest of the Fourth and then the Fifth thousand year periods of Bible history.  The Bible, of course, closes with the story of Jesus and then of his apostles towards the end of the fifth period.  All of these periods show the "workings of the spiritual idea."  The "spiritual idea" is a term used throughout Science and Health.  It has different facets but all are integrated in the absolute and cannot be separated. 
Here are several of them (emphasis not in the original): 
"MAN:  God's spiritual idea, individual, perfect, eternal.  (Divine Image)"  (p.115) "Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, the reflection of God, has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth.  Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love.  The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.  Jesus referred to this unity of his identity thus:  'Before Abraham was, I am;  'I and my Father are one;'  'My Father is greater than I.'  The one Spirit includes all identities."  (S&H 333: 19-31) "The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that matter seems to be, but is not. 
Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas."  (Ibid., 123: 11-15) "God creates and governs the universe, including man.  The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind that makes them."  (p. 295: 5-8) 
These passages show the explanations of the Comforter that unlock the Scriptures for our understanding.  Were it not for the revelatory "seed of the woman" that first perceived the falsity of matter-based suppositions ("Eve"), later brought forth in the revelation of God's (Mind's instead of matter's) Fatherhood (the Virgin Mary), and then completed our understanding of God as Mother, Love, and taught and proved it for our sakes (Mary Baker Eddy), we would still be hapless creatures mystified by life, trapped in a nightmare with no future to look forward to but deterioration and death.  This "seed" was apprehended in varying degrees by men and women from Eve to Mary Baker Eddy.  That manhood is united to womanhood, that Fatherhood cannot be separated from Motherhood, 
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and that Love embraces Life is the eternal Truth of the ages.  We owe these conscientious, spiritual thinkers endless homage. 
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Chapter 6  Moses 
The Book of Exodus   (1: 6-40: 38)    Exodus from Egypt     The Ten commandments The Womanhood/Motherhood of God as revealed in the Third Thousand Year Period, cont.’d 
Right out of the gate, Moses was saved by the Motherhood thought.  About two hundred years after Joseph died and all his generation, a new Pharaoh became king over Egypt "which knew not Joseph."  By that time, the children of Israel had greatly multiplied, believed to be about six hundred thousand, so that they outnumbered the Egyptians and were mightier than they.  The new Pharaoh, afraid that they would turn against him, began to inflict the Israelites with burdens and set taskmasters over them.  They became slaves, made to build the Pharaoh's treasure cities.  Still, the Hebrews, in spite of all their afflictions, continued to multiply and grow mightier.  Finally the Pharaoh commanded that every male Hebrew be drowned at birth  in the Nile River. When Moses was born, his mother endeavored to save him from this fate. She made an ark of bulrushes and hid him among the papyrus reeds on the Nile river, stationing her daughter, Miriam, to hide close by and watch to see what happened.  (The word “ark” has the same root meaning as the ark which protected Noah from the flood.)  The daughter of the Pharaoh came to bathe, and found him, recognizing him as a Hebrew child. She had compassion on him and saved him, planning to keep him as her son.  Miriam, watching from her hiding place, came out and told the princess that she would find a wet nurse for him until he could be adopted.  This was arranged and Moses, after he was weaned, went with the Egyptian princess to live in the Pharaoh’s palace.  She was the one who named him Moses because she “drew him out of the water.” (Ex. 1-2: 10)  Moses was saved by three women, through their love, compassion, watchfulness, and faith that good need not submit to evil, the “Motherhood” qualities.  Because of their reflection of God, Love, a plan was initiated that would enable the Israelites to come out from under the burden of “Pharaoh,” material theories. In the third day of creation, the earth brings "forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth..."  (S&H 507: 11) In the third day of creation, Soul, the earth brings forth freely and joyously from within her own being.  Soul is spiritual sense, the individualized reflection of good, joy, purity, the visible manifestation of man governed by God, Love. Spiritually, the earth ("a type of eternity and immortality," S&H 585) is bringing forth its own true identity as the children of Israel---("The representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense," S&H 583)  Soul, identity, is self-producing, self-perpetuating.  In the course of the thousand-year periods, Israel is brought to birth, propagates, and multiplies from within herself.  However, many of the Israelites themselves are coming under the influence of Egypt's gods and indulging in "the fleshpots of Egypt."  Those in bondage to materiality have forgotten their birthright and make no effort to escape. The hard labor can be symbolized as birth pangs, for Israel is in travail and pained to be delivered of her real spiritual identity. 
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Moses’ mission relative to Israel can be compared to Mrs. Eddy relative to her mission to twentieth century mankind.  She writes:  "I saw before me the sick, wearing out years of servitude to an unreal master in the belief that the body governed them, rather than Mind...I saw before me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilderness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of man are fully known and acknowledged.  ...Slavery is not the legitimate state of man.  God made man free...Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free!"  (S&H 226: 22-227: 25) There is always a way out. Spiritual sense, Soul, which knows that one can never be enslaved in or by matter, is the Truth which is the Savior in every situation.  It may lie hidden for a time, but it is never absent. Although raised as an Egyptian in the wealth and privilege of Pharaoh's household, Moses is zealous about his own people.   He and his Hebrew family are from the priestly Tribe of Levi.  One day he slays an Egyptian for striving with a Hebrew and hides the body. 
When he is found out, he flees into the land of Midian.  (Gen. 2: 11-15)  Joseph brought  all of his family down into Egypt.  Moses must lead them out.  It will be a gargantuan task which will require great moral courage and a spiritual vision which can overcome and destroy the mesmerism that has seemed to veil his people's true being. He is about to begin his education in the land of Midian.  Mrs. Eddy gives us the definition of Moses in the Glossary:  "A corporeal mortal;  moral courage;  a type of moral law and the demonstration thereof;  the proof that, without the gospel, the union of justice and affection, there is something spiritually lacking, since justice demands penalties under the law."(S&H 592: 11) We now know that the words "A corporeal mortal" given in the definitions of Bible characters in the Glossary are those who carry on the "seed of the woman."  The union of justice and affection, Principle and Love,  are necessary in order to achieve the "Third Degree" where "mortal mind disappears and man as God's image appears."  Moses expressed a sense of justice when he intervened between the Egyptian and the Hebrew, but then he was unmerciful when he killed the Egyptian instead of arresting him, thus obstructing justice and a chance at reformation.  He must also realize that God is Love, for he will have to lead God's people through dangerous experiences where divine Love's wonderful protection and care will need to be seen as ever-present and all-powerful.  His leadership abilities cannot be miraculous, but must be manifested through understanding that God is the leader.  There will be no room for a personal sense of  "I," a personal human ego. "Midian" means "contention, strife."  (It was named after the son of Keturah whom Abraham married after the passing of Rebekah.)   Moses must continue to deal with bitterness and strife as long as he sees himself as a personal arbiter and moral organizer. 
Moses believes that he must drive the Israelites out of Egypt.  He marries the daughter of the priest of Midian and has a son named Gershom which means "to drive out."  One day, as he is sheparding his father-in-law's sheep, he comes upon a bush which appears to be burning but is not consumed.  As he stares with fascination upon it, God speaks to him out of the bush.  He tells Moses that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God then orders Moses to take off his shoes for the place where he is standing is holy ground.  Moses knows 
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that a great fact is being revealed to him.  He is being shown that God is Spirit, the substance of all things, that Spirit is : "...the everlasting I AM, the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase."  (S&H 290: 2) Truly, Moses realizes that he has been shown the holy foundation, the divine Principle, upon which all of creation rests.  Spiritual identity is not in matter.  Regardless of how the material senses are testifying, the body of a bush or the body of a person , or the collective body of a nation, though seeming to pass through the fires of affliction, are, in fact, a developing spiritual idea that can never be consumed.  There is always the substance, the spiritual identity, the remnant, that is always alive.  It cannot be impaired by the heat and fury of mortal experiences, no matter what its varied manifestations. After demonstrating an attitude of humility by removing his shoes, God tells Moses that he is to bring His people out of Egypt, that he is to go to the elders of Israel and to Pharaoh and tell them that the Children of Israel are to be let go.  God promises him that He will be with him, and that when it is done, Moses will serve Him upon that very mountain. 
When Moses asks whom he shall say has sent him to them, God tells him "I AM THAT I AM: ...Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Ex. 3: 13-15)  The Hebrew meaning of God's name is:  "I shall forever continue to be that which I am now being."  Moses has been striving to reach "the Horeb height where God is revealed." (S&H 241; 25)  He begins to understand that Principle, Israel's real Father, is, therefore, her only lawgiver. The individuality of God, and, by reflection, man, (Israel) is what it is, so how can it be consumed?  In the burning light of this revelation all sense of a personal "I" ego is annihilated.  Moses can now take on the responsibility for leading his people out of Egypt, knowing that the only "I," the one Mind and Life of all being, is in charge.  Hot- headedness and impatience must be tempered with the womanhood qualities of calm and patience, the watching-over, guiding, supplying-for and tending-to, qualities he has already had to use while shepherding the sheep.  He will also need to culture a dependence on spiritual insight.   (Ex. 3: 1-10) Moses asks God about two misgivings which concern him about his colossal task. 
The first is a request for a sign by which he can assure the people that he has been "sent of God."  He is given three signs, mastery over sin, mastery over disease, and mastery over death.  (It is interesting that Jesus gave the same three signs of his divine authority to lead them, which he did constantly and put his authority beyond doubt.)   God directs Moses to throw his rod (staff) that is in his hand to the ground.  When he does, it immediately assumes the form of a serpent and he flees from it, but when told to catch it by the tail, it becomes a rod again.  There is no such thing as a serpent and a rod at the same time.  The serpent is the suppositional reversal of the rod, just as the rod is the reverse of the serpent.  The rod signifies obedience to the law of God;  the serpent typifies disobedience.  All there is to the serpent is divine Principle supposedly discarded---its rules thrown to the ground. Mrs. Eddy used this example when she compiled a Manual (from "manus," meaning "hand") with rules and by-laws for The Mother Church.  It is the equivalent to Moses' rod.  It was divinely revealed to Mrs. Eddy to show her students the way out of "Egypt."  When the Manual is obeyed, it is "wisdom's rod," (Mis. 387:20) for it liberates Christian Science and 
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its adherents from personal and ecclesiastical confines.   When disobeyed, or its rules thrown to the ground, it takes the form of a serpent, for it holds Christian Science in bondage to a mesmeric sense of organic life.  The issue is always whether to serve Pharaoh or God.  In order to obey the Manual, the last By-law has to be obeyed first.  It says that not a single By- law shall be amended or annulled," without the founder's written consent."  (Manual, 105) There are some thirty-nine clauses throughout the Manual that forbid the appointment of vital church officers without Mrs. Eddy's written approval and consent.  Without it, The Mother Church could not function without her inspired supervision.  The Branch churches, however, would be liberated to individual evolution and self-government.  To abide by her Manual provisions through divine understanding is to foil the serpent of hierarchical control and to set "Israel" (the world) free from "Egypt" (mesmeric material beliefs). Moses was given two other signs beside mastery over sin, signs that would meet the people's disbelief of his divine authority to lead them.  The second sign given to Moses was mastery over disease.    Moses learned that God, divine Principle, has mastery over disease when told to put his hand into his bosom.  When he did, it became as leprous as snow. 
When told to do the same thing again, his hand was clean as before.  It was a convincing sign that disease has no entity of itself, but is an illusion, just as mesmeric as the serpent, totally unreal. The third sign given Moses dealt with death.  He was to take some of the river's water and pour it on the land where it became blood.  Nothing grows on land that has become saturated with blood.  The Egyptians believed the waters of the Nile represented a great creative source.  Moses uncovered the fact that gross materialism only means eventual death.  Jesus knew that Spirit is the only source of Life and said, "The water I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."  (John 4: 14) He brought others and himself back from death, proving that even death is an illusion. Moses' second request of God concerned his perceived lack of eloquence.  He wanted a mouthpiece, someone else to speak for him.  God was angry at this request, saying to Moses. "Who hath made man's mouth?"  But He told Moses that He would appoint Aaron, Moses' brother, to speak for him.  (Gen. 4: 1-17)  Aaron is quite prominent at the beginning of Moses' mission, but passes out of the picture as Moses gains a firmer conviction that God speaks through him as the leader of the exodus.  The children of Israel, also, gain more confidence as they travel through the wilderness and become more ready to listen to and obey the voice of God through Moses, seeing the marvelous ways in which God is caring for them.  The letter passes away and the spirit takes form in individual inspiration. (See Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book I, 64-67) Mrs. Eddy established a church with the same reluctance, a "suffer it to be so now" step for the earliest years of her mission.  She said, "The church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science, its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus;  its rules are health, holiness, and immortality, [freedom from disease, sin, and death]---equal rights and privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation in office."  The Mother Church   (the only one of her three churches) had a book of rules, as you remember from Chapter 12, the Manual given to Mrs. Eddy through revelation,  that also would "pass out of the picture" as Israel 
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gained a firmer understanding and conviction of God's all-power and presence on its way through the wilderness of mortal beliefs.  Moses passed on at the entrance to the Promised Land but did not enter it with the Israelites.  His mission was only meant to lead them to it. 
Mrs. Eddy, too, led us to the Promised Land of freedom from servitude to the mesmeric lie of life in and of matter. Why could not Moses and Mrs. Eddy lead into the "promised land?"  It cannot be done collectively, but must come to each of us individually through heartfelt desire for purity and a readiness to lay off the "carnal mind" which "is enmity against God."  (Romans 8: 7 )  Moses gave the Israelites  (symbolizing the whole world) the Ten Commandments, laws to live by while in the wilderness of the first and second degrees of Scientific Translation (depravity and a human sense of morality).  These laws were written in a book for us all to ponder and demonstrate in daily life, the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.  It met the needs of that day when there was very little understanding of God and man, just as it does today. Mortal mind is wholly dishonest and must have laws to discipline and control it that come from outside itself.   Later, when mortal thought  was, in some degree, loosening its hold on human consciousness, Jesus could give a message to us that would help to raise us a little higher in the scale of spiritual understanding.  He reduced the Commandments to two which summarized them all. They began from a higher, more positive, standpoint--- "Thou shalt…" instead of "Thou shalt not…"   "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind...And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."  (Matt. 22: 35-40)  They were written in a New Testament and included in the Bible with the Old, for they were complementary.   About  two thousand years later, Mrs. Eddy gave the world a book which was complementary with the entire Bible.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures completes the Bible message with the highest sense of God and man that has ever come to mankind.  It is the understanding that will enable us to enter, individually and finally universally, the "Promised Land," life in and of Spirit, knowing no sin, sickness, nor death.  Mankind's journey will have reached its safe harbor. The story of Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt, from the plagues on Egypt to crossing the Red Sea, to the giving of the Ten Commandments, to the entrance to the Promised Land forty years later, could fill another book with its symbolism, so I will only touch on a few of the main ones.  (It is certainly a story worthy of re-reading if you have not read it for a while.) Moses has now undergone his preparation time for his calling, for certainly he has been "sent of God."  He has learned the necessity for true motherhood and womanhood qualities.  The "union of justice and affection," a part of his Glossary definition, will see his status as a "corporeal mortal" become more and more divinely human.  The mantle of Fatherhood and Motherhood is laid upon his shoulders, for he is carrying the "seed of the woman."   When we see ourselves as complete, wanting nothing, we cannot be mesmerized by all of the suppositions of evil.  Nothing can destroy our fundamental identity which is the embodiment of the great “I AM.”  This whole story symbolizes the handling of evil, no 
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matter how it appears to us, by knowing and putting into action the tremendous power of the great spiritual fact that man is the  very being and operation of God. Moses, with Aaron as his mouthpiece, confronts Pharaoh with the demand to let the Hebrew people go.  Pharaoh stoutly refuses and even adds to the burdens of the people.  A second visit also brings a refusal, and Aaron throws down his rod which becomes a serpent. 
Pharaoh's sorcerers, schooled in the ways of hypnotism, (as it is believed Moses was also, having been brought up as an Egyptian prince) do the same with their rods.  What happens now?  Aaron's serpent rod swallows up all the others.  Mental systems may claim to use human will to mesmerize the human mind, but the power and Truth of the divine Mind, understood, is always superior.  The seven plagues that follow Pharaoh's refusals only amplify this spiritual fact.  Magic and sorcery, coming from the human mind, has no real Principle behind it and so cannot equal the absolute Science that undergirds  the universe. The seven plagues counterfeit the seven aspects of God's nature.  (The Book of Exodus records ten, but Bible commentaries explain that different records have been combined causing the editors to repeat three plagues.)  They are the materialistic national beliefs of the Egyptians, symbolized as various plagues on the people and their land.  Egypt has symbolized the carnal mind for thousands of years.  Like the Pharaoh, error seems to be adamant, impenetrably hard and unyielding.  Mrs. Eddy has this to say about it:  "Self-love is more opaque than a solid body... let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love, the adamant of error,---self-will, self-justification, and self-love,---which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death."  (S&H 242: 15-20)  This was true of Pharaoh and it is usually true of us---when tribulation overtakes us, the hard heart of self-will, or any self-centered error, yields or softens, and we make an effort to "get out of Egypt."  Then, after there is a healing or clearing up of the problem, we forget the lesson, mortal egotism rears up and sooner or later we are confronted with another problem.  The adamant "Pharaohs" of our thinking must, finally, either through suffering or Science, be let go in order to experience true health and wholeness. Pharaoh remains unrepentant and refuses to let Israel go until the last terrible plague comes upon his kingdom.  The error which primarily enslaves Israel has to be exposed and annulled.  The ax has to be laid at the root of the tree of good and evil, or the tree of death. 
This is the slaying of all of Egypt's first-born sons.  Pharaoh ordered the slaying of all of the Hebrew sons when Moses was born.  This is always how evil works.  If you believe that you can carry out evil in order to have your way in something or to solve a problem, then you have opened yourself up to the same mesmeric belief that you can be the target of evil.  In this case, it is the belief that man is born because of "the flesh," matter, rather than of Spirit, God, which must be "slain" in the consciousness of Israel. This same belief will not be "slain" in the consciousness of "Egypt" until "the latter days." Because of the slaying of Egypt's first-born, Moses institutes the feast of the Passover.  This is symbolic of Israel (symbol of man born of the Spirit instead of the flesh) as passing over the "first death” or belief of birth into matter.  For seven days she must eat, with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, the body of a slain lamb.  (Seven, symbolizing the wholeness and entireness of God, Spirit only, is once again used.)  This is in anticipation of 
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the lifework of Jesus, "the Lamb (innocence) slain from the foundation of the world" (belief of life into matter and death out of matter). (Rev. 13: 8)  The "first death" is belief in material birth.  The Israelites, in symbol, assimilate the true sense of Life in order to show that man is the begotten of God.  Thought that is uncircumcised, ("Egypt"),  which believes that it is circumscribed within a mortal, material body, is unable to pass over death. (Gen.11: 1-12: "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."  (Rev. 2: 11)  This is a promise to all mankind that we shall overcome the belief of life in matter and never again have to fear death out of it.  We shall rule over our bodies as forms of thought, dependent upon Mind alone. This will take immense spiritual growth.  Moses, seeing the need for this growth, was the first educator to the people as a whole who first saw this fact. Everything he did was a teaching symbol that would be interpreted in higher and higher degree as the Israelites grew more spiritually astute in the years to come.  For thousands of years this "seed of the woman," this eternal, overarching Truth, that everything is metaphysical instead of physical, good instead of evil, mind and body one, and, Love, the consciousness of all, has been preserved and enlarged upon by the highest spiritual thought in each age. 
Revelation took this ultimate teaching into the future, predicting the age of "the woman" when mankind at last understands and demonstrates his complete spiritual identity as the image and likeness of Love, never born and never dying. Belief and conviction are mental propensities.  The body, seen as matter in belief is changeable and destructible.  Spiritual conviction that the body is spiritual substance, or image in Mind, the body is indestructible.  Death is not a fact of Life!  "Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite.  This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life, not death, into your experience."  (S&H 407: 24-26) The Bible tells us that Enoch and Elijah and others passed over death.  Jesus could have passed over death, but allowed himself to be killed for our sakes, in order to resurrect his body and thus show us the powerlessness of death to affect our Life, which is God. 
When he ascended he showed to his disciples his own body passing over death.  The Bible, in spite of belief to the contrary, does not deal in miracles as a necessity for faith.  The Bible is written in the same symbols used throughout as a necessity for understanding.  The beliefs in those days saw miracles because they could not conceive of the Principle, or Science, being shown them.  Only a very few in each period could grasp the wonderful fact that the laws that uphold the universe (Principle) are ever-present, all-powerful, and as available to man to use as the air he breathes.  Their use of the laws was perceived as miracles.  We all know that this is as true today as it was then.  Mrs. Eddy knew that " spiritual teaching must always be by symbols."  (S&H 575: 13-14) This, of course, is true no matter what is being taught.  Letters, numerals, musical notes, pictures, actions, etc. are all symbols for ideas. 
That which is seen is an indicator of the thought which is behind it. Without any thought, there could be nothing seen! The houses (bodies) of the children of Israel are identified with the blood of the lamb.  Therefore, Israel's first-born are passed over.  Pharaoh at last lets the people go.  The 
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educated, uplifted, human sense passes from death to life and therefore passes out of Egypt. (Gen.11: 1-12: 41) To believe that Moses asked God to send an angel of death to kill the innocent little new-borns of the Egyptians is a gross misapprehension of the event.  God is Life itself that knows no death, Love that knows only purity and lovingkindness, Spirit that cannot be killed.  All of these plagues were the result of "Egypt's" erroneous beliefs coming out in manifestation.  They needed to be seen as mesmerism only and so vanquished.  Israel was protected by Moses' thought and also by those Israelites who had some understanding handed down to them by their families that Israel was "beloved of God," and carried the Truth about man's birthright that would be revealed in the "last days." "Their [Israel's] first Passover was Israel's protection without bloodshed and they rejoiced in unleavened bread.  The second Passover of the Israelites was a more palatable bread, a living Truth, the way of life through Christ Jesus.  When Jesus ate the Passover, his last supper with his disciples, he was getting ready to give up all concessions to matter.  It would be a final Passover from matter to Spirit. The third Passover of the Israelites will come as they realize the bread of life has been brought forth through the leavening process that "the woman" instituted.  And this shall be the last Passover, the passover from physics to metaphysics, from matter to Spirit."  (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy, 41) Through Moses' spiritual apprehension, Israel is liberated after "a mighty struggle." "Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters---passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge---is conquered only by a mighty struggle."  (S&H 407: 6-8)  Pharaoh, however, is not yet willing to learn a lesson from his nation's mighty struggle and changes his mind.  Just as the Israelites reach the shores of the Red Sea, they see his army hotly pursuing them. 
Moses comforts them:  "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today:  for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever."  Moses is directed by God to lift up his rod over the sea and the sea divides with a wall of water on either side of dry ground.  Then God directs Moses:  "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." Advancing Israel must be shown that Egypt is self-destroying.  With a wall of water on either side, the Israelites go through to the other side on dry land.  The Egyptian soldiers, chasing the Israelites, are engulfed in the walls of water that come crashing down upon them and drowned.  Using Mind, Moses was able to overcome the illusion of matter-substance, which is not a solidity, causing it to obey his mental  commands.  He knew that matter beliefs were illusionary as first presented by the burning bush that was not consumed. When the people witnessed this mighty saving act, they  "believed the Lord, and his servant Moses."  (Ex. 14, all)  Divine Love is the liberator. Man is the operation of divine Love, as Love’s reflection.  Moses and Miriam, Aaron's and Moses' sister, sing songs of praise and gratitude for the Lord's deliverance.   (Gen.14: 5-15: 21) The children of Israel now face their wilderness journey.  "Wilderness is defined symbolically in the Glossary:  "Loneliness;  doubt;  darkness.  Spontaneity of thought and idea;  the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence."  (S&H 597:16) 
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Jesus only took forty days instead of forty years for his wilderness experience which consisted of the positive part of the definition.  The Israelites took forty years, much of it in the negative part of the definition.  They were a mixed multitude that went up out of Egypt; many wanted to return when the going got tough and complained about every setback.   But Moses persevered, mothering them, chastising them, and showing them marvelous demonstrations of God's care for them.  After entering the wilderness, they went three days without finding water, and when they did it was bitter.  Moses took a tree and cast it into the water, and it became sweet.  In the Bible, a tree symbolizes the tree, or Principle, of Life which was in the midst of the garden and appears again in Revelation, still "in the midst, bearing fruit, and the leaves were for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22: 2)  Moses was well acquainted with the history and myth of his people and used symbols from them to teach spiritual lessons. Every morning the people were fed with food that fell as dew and were as wafers made with honey.  They didn't know what it was and so called it "manna."  They gathered it new each morning for six days, and on the seventh day they rested from gathering.  Enough manna fell on the sixth day to last through the seventh.  It had to be collected fresh and used that day for it could not be hoarded or it would go bad.  Everyone had to gather it for himself, and it was always found to be exactly what was needed.   Every evening quails came in and covered the camp, offering meat for their evening meal. What wonderful symbols there are in this manifestation of Love's supply!  The spiritual refreshment which we gather each day as we quietly set time aside to pray with gratitude, humility, and guidance must be fresh inspiration, and it must be done individually so that it meets our individual need.  When evening light seems obscure in our journey, the "earth" can provide inspiration for us, perhaps a refrain from a song, or seeing something on TV with a symbolic message for us, playing with children, or a visit with a neighbor can make us laugh, or something happens that makes us count our blessings, or makes our "problem" seem much less daunting, for in truth, the earth is the reflection of heaven. Then we are ready for that inspiration which comes from "heaven," the Christ-message that speaks to our earnest longings, enabling us to see the good that is already present especially for us. At another time, when there seemed to be no water anywhere, Moses struck a rock and water poured forth to refresh the multitude.  Good (God) cannot ever be circumscribed in a material situation.  Love's resources are infinite.  For forty years the children of Israel were led through the wilderness.  The Bible tells us that their shoes and clothing did not wear out in all that time, and they ate manna and quail until they came to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.  From the time they began their exodus, they were learning spiritual facts through experiencing the operation of those facts in practical ways.  They were perceiving the wide range of God's seven-fold nature.  Now, after a proper preparation of the heart, they were ready for systematic spiritual teaching.  Moses will be the intermediary between God and the children of Israel;  he will translate the Truth coming from Mind, his only Ego, to the Israelites in a way their infant understanding can apprehend it.  Moses has gained a great understanding of the oneness of Being. 
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In the third month after leaving Egypt, the people came to Mt. Sinai and pitched their tents.  Moses will make seven trips up the mountain to commune with God.  The trips will follow the order of the seven days of "creation" or spiritual development.  He has two overriding purposes.  He must reduce to Israel's understanding the code of laws that are to make her self-governing. He must instruct her, through symbolism, that body is spiritual and not material, that it is a transitional body which is law-abiding, not rebellious. This he does with the symbol of a portable tabernacle. (Gen. 16: 1-35; 17: 1-6;  19:1-2) 
In Moses' first trip up into the mountain, where the aspect of Mind (wisdom) is accented, God said to him:  "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself.  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."  Moses told the people what the Lord said unto them, and they answered they would do all that the Lord had spoken. The people must understand that there must be absolute obedience to the divine commands, for intelligence comes from a source outside themselves, which they can trust to direct them, for God cares for them. On the second ascent (Spirit, purity),  Moses learns that the people must purify themselves in order to make obedience possible.  This is symbolized by having them wash their clothes two days and connubial relations were not permitted so that they could be ready for the third day.  Once we become aware of a power outside of ourselves that we sense is our salvation, we must purify our mentality by being  willing to entertain spiritual thoughts day in and day out, thus getting rid of soiled material beliefs. Then we will be ready for the "third day." The third ascent (Soul, spiritual understanding) is accompanied by "fire from heaven," and the mountain burns and quakes.  The people hear a loud trumpet blow and the voice of God explains through Moses that identification with Him must be only through Moses and Aaron.  At this early stage in Israel's education, they must accept the provision of a mediator.  What is the symbolism for us here?  When one is new to Christian Science, it may seem necessary to call a Christian Science practitioner for help who can work prayerfully for you and voice Truth to you, or you may want to join a group of other Christian Scientists from whose experiences and studies you can gain encouragement or help.  But it is important that we do not allow ourselves to depend wholly on mediators which stunts our own spiritual growth that comes from relying on God, our true Mind, for the exact inspiration we need to make our own demonstrations. What do the fires and quakes symbolize?   As we go forward spiritually, all that we are learning may stir up accepted human beliefs, as an acid and an alkali meet and chemicalize.  We may begin to question what is happening to us and doubts raise their ugly heads.  It may cause a stir throughout our system, for the human belief system does not especially want to give up its familiar ways of thinking—it's so much easier to just go along in our old ways without giving up familiar habits and errors we've become attached to.  But if we refuse to give those feelings any power to deter or check our spiritual progress, we will 
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feel a new and peaceful state come about and greater inspiration and healing will follow. (Gen.19: 3-19) By Moses fourth ascent, (Principle, spiritual power), God has affirmed Moses as His mediator and so now dictates to him His Ten Commandments for the people.  In other words, the Commandments came to an awakened state of thought, (Moses) which was calling upon Truth to understand more fully the actuality of one All-power. "Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three verses of the second,---in what we understand to be the spiritually scientific account of creation,---it is Elohim (God) who creates.  From the fourth verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called Jehovah, or the Lord.  The different accounts become more and more intertwined to the end of chapter twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely traceable.  In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the Hebrew people, who is referred to. The idolatry which followed this material mythology is seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites, in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphrodite, and in a thousand other so-called deities. 
"It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly went after "strange gods." 
They called the Supreme Being by the national name of Jehovah, in which  the true idea of God seems almost lost.  God becomes "a man of war," a tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine Principle to be lived and loved."  (pp. 523: 22-524: 12) "The First Commandment is my favorite text.  It demonstrates Christian Science.  It inculcates the tri-unity of God, Spirit, Mind;  it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind.  The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal.  One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations;  constitutes the brotherhood of man;  ends wars;  fulfills the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,---whatever is wrong in civil, criminal, political, and religious codes;  equalizes the sexes;  annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed."  (S&H. 340: 16-29) The Commandments divide naturally into two groups of four and six.  The first four deal with man's relationship to God.  The last six deal with man's relationship to his fellow man. 
First Commandment:  "And God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  'Thou shalt have no other Gods before me’."  (Ex. 20: 1-3) All of the Commandments are based on this first Commandment, the divine Principle of them all.  It deals with one Presence.  The law of absolute Principle is reduced to the moral law.  'Me' in Hebrew, 'panim,'  means 'my face' or 'my presence.'  Thou shalt have no other Gods before my presence.  Mrs. Eddy writes of this first commandment:  "The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal."  (S&H 340: 20)  Man can only demonstrate that which he is. 
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We are going to examine these Ten Commandments from the highest positive spiritual standpoint.  The "Thou shalt not," negative perspective can now be seen in their Scientific meaning which Moses could not give to the children of Israel at that time. 
Mankind has been given, in this age, through the Comforter, highly accurate answers to the three natural questions which arise from the Commandments:   Exactly to what does the "me" refer?"   What is the character of this "me?"   How, in the light of the Christ-teaching, may conformity to the Commandments be experienced? Mrs. Eddy addresses this question:  "The First Commandment, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me,' suggests the inquiry, What meaneth this Me,---Spirit or matter?  It certainly does not signify a graven idol, and must mean Spirit.  Then the Commandment means, Thou shalt recognize no intelligence nor life in matter;  and find neither pleasure nor pain therein.  The Master's practical knowledge of this grand verity, together with his divine Love, healed the sick and raised the dead.  He literally annulled the claims of physique and of physical law, by the superiority of the higher law;  hence his declaration, " 'These signs shall follow them that believe;...if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;  they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.' "  (Miscellaneous Writings 28: 20-29: 2) "Mortal man believes in, but does not understand, life in Christ.  He believes there is another power or intelligence that rules over a kingdom of its own, that is both good and evil;  yea, that is divided against itself, and therefore cannot stand.  This belief breaks the First Commandment of God.  "Let man abjure a theory that is in opposition to God, recognize God as omnipotent, having all-power;  and placing his trust in this grand Truth, and working from no other Principle, he can neither be sick nor forever a sinner.  When wholly governed by the one perfect Mind, man has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire to sin. "To arrive at this point of unity of Spirit, God, one must commence by turning away from material gods;  denying material so-called laws and material sensation,---or mind in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain.  This must be done with the understanding that matter has no sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words of Jesus:  'When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own [lie].' "  (John 8: 44) (Prose Works, Mis. 197: 23-198: 12) "St. Paul beautifully enunciates this fundamental fact of Deity as the 'Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all.' This scientific statement of the origin, nature, and government of all things coincides with the First Commandment of the Decalogue, and leaves no opportunity for idolatry or aught besides God, good.  It gives evil no origin, no reality.  Here note the words of our Master corroborating this as self-evident. 
Jesus said the opposite of God---good---named devil---evil---'is a liar, and the father of it'--- that is, its origin is a myth, a lie.' "  (Prose works, Message '00, 4: 29-5: 9) 
"The First Commandment is the core of spiritual teaching.  What does it mean in relation to the "me," as the seven aspects of God?  Thou shalt have no other Mind before me. 
Thou shalt have no other Spirit before me.  Thou shalt have no other Soul before me.  Thou shalt have no other Principle before me.  Thou shalt have no other Life before me.  Thou shalt have no other Truth before me.  Thou shalt have no other Love before me.   Isn't it an 
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amazing commandment when you expand it like that?  This is why it is the basis for the Science of being!  There is only one "me!"  Conformity to the first commandment constitutes conformity to all. ` The Hebrew word for Deity here is the same one used in the first chapter of Genesis, "Elohim."  It is in the plural and expresses the fullness and all-inclusiveness of the one primal entity ("IAM," or, as Mrs. Eddy writes, "The only I or Us "  S&H 591: 16 ) for it includes all the sons and daughters of God.   It means:  "The eternal Strong One committed to Self-perpetuity."   (Stewart, The Ten Commandments, 5)   Moses ' revelation at the burning bush that the "I" or Ego is God, the one and only Being, caused his material sense of himself to stand abashed.  He hid his face, his personal sense of corporeality.  It can be likened to the experience of Adam, when ashamed and naked, hid himself in the garden. 
Mrs. Eddy gives us a clear picture of this first instance of mortal mind seeing its dire mistake in believing it was a separate being with a mind of its own:  "Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.  Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed from the divine calling out to the corporeal senses. "Where art thou, man?  Is Mind in matter?  Is Mind capable of error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of good, when God is All and He is Mind and there is but one God, hence one Mind?"  (S&H 532: 17-25) This spiritual perception changed Moses' nature and continued to expand his thought about God.  He understood God to be the only Presence, in whose presence no man could continue to regard himself as mortal and separate.  His sense of corporeality, a personal ego, diminished to the point where he could speak as God, for he was realizing that his being , his Mind, was God being manifested as man or manifestation.   He was thus equipped to furnish the Israelites with rules that came directly from divine Mind, the mighty Principle and Source of the universe, including man.  This revelation must come to each of us.  Our little petty ego of ourselves as having a mind and body of our own, that we can do whatever we like, will, at some point, be faced with a “burning bush” or burning, quaking mountain that will tear off the veil of false pride, and show us the absolute nothingness of having a being separate from God, our only true Mind and being. 
We should strive to apprehend, even in some degree, that the universe in which we "live and move and have our being" is the Selfhood of one infinite, eternal, incorporeal, supreme, omni-present, omnipotent, omni-active, omniscient Consciousness we call "God." 
We will finally understand that all we can ever know or come into contact with is the existence and activity of good, God's reflection.  Only then will we be able to obey Jesus' 
First Commandment to love the "I AM" with "all the heart and all the Soul, and all the mind."  (Matt. 22: 37)  As we do that, Jesus' second Great Commandment is effortlessly fulfilled.  We will be the very presence and action of the Divine Mind, Love, to all that is in our consciousness, which, of course, includes our "neighbors."  The only way in which we can love God is to love that which reflects God.  Before the one Presence in which no theory of lesser entities can be admitted, there is only one Self to love.  (Remember, you are your closest "neighbor," so you are commanded to love your Self, for it is God being manifested!) (Gen.20: 1-4) 
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Second Commandment:  "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them:  for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."   (Ex. 20: 4-6) This Commandment is about true reflection---no object "out there. "Since there is only one Ego which can know nothing but Itself, it cannot be the victim of other separate entities, private minds, or dual personalities.  No symbolism is required for that which is always acknowledging its own infinite Being.  It is all-inclusive as the one and only Consciousness and cannot be engraved upon.  There can be nothing outside of Itself to be another reflector (god).  A reflection of a reflection is an impossibility since a reflection is not an entity in or of itself.  Reflection of God means the operation of God, Principle;  the awareness of Mind;  the living of Life;  the loving of Love, etc.   Consciousness is not subservient to that of which it is conscious. 
Idolatry and ritualism are erroneous beliefs of the mortal mind which thinks there are objects outside itself, separate from itself, which it fears or caters to.  Love as Mind embraces its own image within its own infinitude.  Nothing is ever separate from it. It tenderly cherishes and is ever mindful of its own perfect expression which is shown forth in innumerable forms, colors, activities, and purposes. The word "jealous"  in the Hebrew text is "qanno," meaning  "zealous."  The law of perfection is subjective and automatically is zealous in admitting evidence of its own Truth. 
Humanly, its egoistic law may appear to operate as an overturning of error until its perfect nature is finally seen and acknowledged.   The one infinite Mind that is Love could have nothing to do with punishing generations of children.  It knows only its infinite Self in which there is no evil.  The belief in evil punishes itself for as long as the evil is believed.  "The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth."  (173: 26-174: 8, 17-21) 
“…so-called material sense creates its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and then worships or fears them.  With pagan blindness, it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability beyond itself.  The beliefs of the human mind rob and enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive personification, named Satan.” (S&H 187: 6- 12) 
Third Commandment:   Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;  for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”  (Ex. 20: 7) Although this is often thought of as cursing using God’s name, which is its human, material meaning, it is actually about right identification.  The more spiritually Scientific meaning is translating the word “name” into “nature.”  If you regard yourself as a mortal, material, human individual, and you believe it is how God made and knows you, you are 
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taking the name, or nature, of God in vain.  A sense of self based on a divided, material, vibrating origin is the vanity of the human species.  Right identification places one’s sense of  “self” beyond the human concept of personal creators, locality, and time.  However taking the name---character or nature of God---unto yourself is never in vain.  This is your right identity, the full and perfect reflection of the sevenfold nature of God.  We must surrender a personal, material sense of self, with all its limitations, sorrows, and inheritances.  Identifying ourselves as the very activity and operation of joy, health, loveliness, wisdom, abundance, etc. is the divine Truth about ourselves and brings us deep peace. Here is dominion, power, and glory for then we are satisfying our true and faithful image and likeness of reality, God. In Science and Health we read:  "If we are not secretly yearning and openly striving for the accomplishment of all we ask, our prayers are vain repetitions, such as the heathen use.  If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask;  and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward us openly...If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infinite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible." (Ibid.,13: 6-12, 20-24) "Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done, or left undone, implies the vain supposition that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence."  (p. 6: 7-10) "As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Science need to be welcomed in. 
The strong cords of scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet dwelling-places for the Most High."  (Ibid., 142: 18-24) "Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea...'Blessed are the pure in heart:  for they shall see God...'   The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life.  It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter,---certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God." (Ibid., 323: 32-324: 1-2, 5-6, 13-18) 
Fourth Commandment :  "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:  but the sabbath day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:  in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."   (Ex. 20: 8-11) This Commandment is often misconstrued and taken in a time sense of a week of seven days.  God, being infinite, omnipresent, does not know about time and could not, therefore, give us a commandment about it.  Of course, this certainly can be used by us in a literal basis, for we need spiritual nourishment, and it is a blessing to have a full day set aside to devote to it. 
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The Israelites were being taught moral law;  therefore, this commandment would have been taken by them in its lower meaning, literally.  Symbolically, it is related to the "days" in the first chapter of Genesis and the unfolding awareness described as the experience of forsaking dimness and misapprehension for clarity and light---passing from evening into morning.  These six days are states of increasing liberation.  The seventh day has no evening experience for it is the full apprehension of divine completeness, indivisible, complete, satisfied.  Mrs. Eddy gives us this wise take on the Sabbath Day:  "To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee Jesus said, 'The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.'  Jesus' history made a new calendar, which we call the Christian era;  but he established no ritualistic worship.  He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet be sensual and sinful... 
"Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies:  The Truth is the centre of all religion.  It commands sure entrance into the realm of Love.  St. Paul wrote,' 
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race which is set before us, '  that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing. 
"If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and conversation, you can finally say, 'I have fought a good fight...I have kept the faith,' because you are a better man.  This is having our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.  Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph, they shall reach his harmony and reward. 
"If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in.  He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit.  If honest, he will gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy."   (S&H 20: 6-13, 24-32;  21: 1-14)  The joy comes from realizing that the Sabbath Day has been your own innate completeness all along.  When you "keep" the Sabbath Day, when you no longer bow down to dualistic theories, then you are a law unto yourself for keeping it holy.  "Ye shall be holy:  for I the Lord your God am holy."   (Lev. 19: 2) 
Fifth Commandment:  "Honour thy father and thy mother:  that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."   (Ex. 20: 12) Life eternal is honoring the divine origin of all existence.  We are learning that God is our only true Father/Mother.  Naturally, we should love and honor our parents, for they express humanly the dear Father/Mother's tender, protective care.  But if we are believing in material origin, we are not honoring God.  Material testimony is always arguing for a beginning and an ending.  We have discussed the qualities of fatherhood and motherhood. 
We honor God, our one parent, indivisible, by honoring the full seven-fold nature of God reflected by ourselves and our fellow-man.  There must be a willingness to loose all pre- conceived beliefs about inheritances and prejudices for or against either gender, race, or nationality.  To recognize the spiritual nature of all is honoring the divine origin, and therefore God, as well as oneself.   If we did this, wars would cease!  Inherited diseases and 
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disabilities would end!  And the days of mankind truly would be long upon the land which God has given us! Mrs. Eddy speaks to the literal and to the spiritual intent behind this commandment: "To the child complaining of his parents we have said, 'Love and honor thy parents, and yield obedience to them in all that is right;  but you have the rights of conscience, as we all have, and must follow God in all your ways."  (Mis. 236: 10-14)  "Honor thy Father and Mother, God.  Continue in His love.  Bring forth fruit---'signs following'---that your prayers be not hindered.  Pray without ceasing.  Watch diligently;  never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination.  Strive for self-abnegation, justice, meekness, mercy, purity, love.  Let your light reflect Light.  Have no ambition, affection, nor aim apart from holiness.  Forget not for a moment, that God is All-in-all---therefore, that in reality there is but one cause and effect."   (Mis. 154:23-155:2)  These injunctions instill a very high commitment to our honoring of God, but keep in mind that by honoring God, we are at the very same time honoring God's expression of Himself, us! 
Sixth Commandment:  "Thou shalt not kill."  (Ex. 20: 13) Here is the positive perspective of this Commandment.  It concerns self- perpetuation:  There is nothing in the divine universe which needs to be excluded.  We do not understand the spiritual nature of existence if we believe in death or extermination.  Life, God, is forever perpetuating itself.  There is no such thing as separate lives being lived by humans or nature.  There is only one eternal Life being reflected everywhere.  Since there is only one Ego, we are never really dealing with evil that is real and has entity but with the supposition that it does.   Whatever claims to be wrong has no history and so can have no effect provided it has not been admitted as one's selfhood, either as one's own experience, or the experience which appears as another.  Nowhere in the universe is there a power attempting to be destructive or detrimental.  If this seems to be going on, either on an individual basis or a collective basis, such as a nation or collection of nations, these truths noted here should be held to constantly.  Evil can be annulled through understanding the all- inclusiveness of ever-present Life and Love. Here are some of Mrs. Eddy's remarks about this subject:  "Thou shalt not kill;"  that is, thou shalt not strike at the eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt know that by doing thus thine own sense of life shall be forfeited."   (Mis. 67: 10-13) This next quote by Mrs. Eddy seems especially apropos today: "The victim of mad ambition that saith, 'This is the heir:  come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours,' goes on to learn that he must at last kill this evil in 'self' in order to gain the kingdom of God."  (Luke 20: 14)  (Ibid., 254: 13-17)  "When the material body has gone to ruin [either through suicidal self-destruction or destruction by another], when evil has overtaxed the belief of life in matter and destroyed it, then mortals believe that the deathless Principle, or Soul, escapes from matter and lives on; but this is not true.  Death is not a stepping-stone to Life, immortality, and bliss.  [It also is not the stepping stone to nihilism or oblivion.  Life cannot be killed.  It is eternal.  God is divine Science, and it is changeless, immortal.]  The so-called sinner is a suicide. "Sin kills the sinner and will continue to kill him so long as he 
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sins. The foam and fury of illegitimate living and of fearful and doleful dying should disappear on the shore of time;  then the waves of sin, sorrow, and death beat in vain." (S&H 203: 20-30) 
"We have no enemies.  Whatever envy, hatred, revenge,---the most remorseless motives that govern mortal mind---whatever these try to do, shall "work together for good to them that love God.  Why?  Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped them, and furnished them defenses impregnable...Even in belief you have but one [enemy] (that, not in reality), and this one enemy is yourself---your erroneous belief that you have enemies; that evil is real;  that ought but good results in Science.  Soon or late, your enemy will wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent;  to find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold. 
"Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy.  If one's life were attacked, and one could save it only in accordance with common law, by taking another's, would one sooner give up his own?  We must love our enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby we love our friends;..."To mete out human justice to those who persecute and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribution to God and returning blessing for cursing." (Mis. 10: 4-10,29-11:1-4,14-19,21-23)  We should also take comfort in these words from I Corinthians 10:13. “…God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that yea are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that yea may be able to bear it.” Got does not in any way tempt us for Divine Love does not, and cannot, know evil, but we can trust that great love to, in some way provide a blessing that covers all concerned. 
Seventh Commandment:  "Thou shalt not commit adultery."  (Ex. 20: 14) This applies to the marriage covenant but has a much broader application.  Its emphasis is purity.  Mrs. Eddy defines this Commandment:  "...thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love,---mentally, morally, or physically."  (Mis. 67: 5-7)  Purity is the essence of Being.  Adulteration is the belief that opposites can be mixed.   Webster:  "To corrupt, debase, or make impure..."  Truth is absolute.  Spirit cannot mix with matter.  Spirit is reality, and matter is a misconception of reality, existing merely as shadow, without actuality.  Human relationships should reflect the nature of God, good.  Mortal mind likes to think that everything is relative, thereby causing much mischief.  Spiritual reality knows no relative necessities, no desire for substitution, compromise, or concessions. That there are multiple personalities, many minds, numerous entities, all competing for our attention, some good, some bad, is mass hypnotism.  The all-inclusive One never divides itself between purity and impurity and therefore does not profane itself. Mrs. Eddy's chapter on "Marriage" in Science and Health should be read by every couple considering marriage.  It is the best guidance I've ever seen.  Here are some relevant passages from that chapter:  "Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge of all races, 'the pestilence that walketh in darkness,...the destruction that wasteth at noonday.' 
The commandment, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,'  is no less imperative than the one, 'Thou shalt not kill.' "  How many hopes, dreams, and marriages have been "killed" by adultery?   (S&H 56: 15-20) 
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"Union of the masculine and feminine qualities constitutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a higher tone through certain elements of the feminine, while the feminine mind gains courage and strength through masculine qualities.  These different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. 
Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong." (Ibid., 57:  4-11) "Marriage should improve the human species, becoming a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to man, and a centre for the affections.  This, however, in a majority of cases, is not its present tendency, and why?  Because the education of the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations,---passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment, display, and pride,---occupy thought."  (Ibid., 60: 16-23)  Are those with morals not appalled at the grosser elements that occupy a greater and greater place in our news stories, movies, TV, music, entertainment venues, books, advertisements, clothing, even toys and children's games?  Why should we saddle our naturally sweet and pure-minded little ones with the prurient tastes of the brutish instinct?  "We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood."  (Ibid., 68: 6-8) "The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will never be won.  The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambition."  (Ibid., 61) "Divorce and war should be exterminated according to the Principle of law and gospel,---the maintenance of individual rights, the justice of civil codes, and the power of Truth uplifting the motives of men.  Two commandments of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" and "Thou shalt not kill," obeyed, will eliminate divorce and war."  (My. 268: 11-17) 
Eighth Commandment:  "Thou shalt not steal."  (Ex. 20:  15) This is all about completeness.  Starting from the highest Scientific sense of this Commandment we know that Spirit, our substance, is infinite, limitless, indivisible, ever- present good.  It is, therefore, not subject to getting or losing.  There is nothing external, "out there," for us to steal or have stolen from us.  That which we value should be translated from "things" to "thoughts."  It is their qualities we value, and they belong to us by reflection.  To believe they can be stolen from us, or we need to steal to have them, is a perverted human sense of possession.  Only if you believe that divine verities are personal and material can you feel their loss. Mrs. Eddy states in her textbook:  "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."  Doesn't this mean that there never is any need?  "...to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good."  (S&H 494: 10-11 and 13-14) If we have a great need, we can use our Christ-mind, the same mind Jesus used to provide for all the needs of those coming to him with trust and expectation, to affirm that we cannot lack any needful thing.  We can trust God with our desires, and they will take the exact form needed.  "Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind.  Desire is prayer;  and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."  (S&H 1: 10-14)  We are spiritual 
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reflections, not material entities dependent on getting things from "out there."  A reflection of ever-present Love, cannot feel a need! 
Ninth Commandment:  "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."   (Ex. 20: 16) 
Naturally we realize that telling or believing a lie about our "neighbor" is breaking this Commandment.  Like all the other Commandments, however, we must understand it in its much broader Scientific meaning.  It deals with divine evaluation.  Mrs. Eddy gives a more comprehensive view: " 'Thou shalt not bear false witness;  'that is, thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor cause it to be thought."  (Mis. 67: 13-15)   Human beings constantly judge or classify others according to the physical sense testimonies, what we see and what we hear.  True witnessing, though, is spiritual evaluation.  It is not deluded by the senses, but keeps to the essential One.  The human tendency is to believe that what we see and hear is going on in the world outside of us.  We believe it is outside of our consciousness or private mind.  We are not aware that we are participating in a misapprehension or aberration.  We are not aware that we are believing in other beings, other minds, outside of the one divine Being, the one divine Mind, thereby breaking the first Commandment! When we are bearing false witness, or finding fault with our neighbor, we should remember Christ Jesus' second Commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."  It is possible to do this only when we understand that our neighbor actually is our “self,  the only Self we all have---our God-self.  In all the vast  infinitude of Mind, there has never been a misapprehension about anything. There is no accuser and no accused. It is a false sense that finds fault, and false sense is non-sense!  All that is going on is God, good, in manifestation.  The entire universe and all that is in it, in all its infinitude, is not "out there" anywhere, but right here, in our consciousness, in what we term, "God."  When we finally apprehend what that means,  we will love everything we see and hear with the tenderest love, glorifying with immeasurable gratitude the fullness of our true Being.  We will see the precious divinity of our "neighbor" as "the face of God." "Whoever demonstrates the highest humanity,---long-suffering, self-surrender, and spiritual endeavor to bless others,---ought to be aided, not hindered, in his holy mission...The demonstration of Christianity blesses all mankind.  It love's one's neighbor as one's self;  it loves its enemies---and this love benefits its enemies (though they believe it not), and rewards its possessor;  for, 'If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?' "  (Pan. 9: 16-25) 
"Whatever obstructs the way,---causing to stumble, fall, or faint, those mortals who are striving to enter the path,---divine Love will remove;  and uplift the fallen and strengthen the weak...Then, loving God supremely and thy neighbor as thyself, thou wilt safely bear thy cross up to the throne of everlasting glory."  (Mis. 328: 23-32) "Having one God, one Mind, one consciousness,---which includes only his own nature,---and loving your neighbor as yourself, constitutes Christian Science, which must demonstrate the nothingness of any other state or stage of being."  (No and Yes 38: 19-23) 
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Tenth Commandment:  "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."   (Ex. 20: 17) We arrive at that consciousness which is completely satisfied and cannot covet. "Satisfaction knows no privation, no seeking, no longing, wishing, wanting, striving, and no acquiring.  The greed for gain is an external, incomplete sense of existence..."  (Stewart, The Ten Commandments, p. 43)  Since you have learned that what appears to you as "thy neighbor," is included in your own Selfhood, and is not external to you, you are grateful for the symbols of all-inclusive sufficiency expressed by your neighbor.  Your Life and your neighbor's Life is God, satisfaction itself.  We should expect to see the abundance of good everywhere, for we exist at the standpoint of reflection, or manifestation of good.  With joy we look out upon our universe of perfect, beautiful, ever-present ideas which have been made for us to enjoy and use.  In this state of consciousness, we are willing "to surrender unreservedly all human, material, personal anticipations. It casts out fear, and is humanly evidenced as unity, brotherhood, abundance."  (Ibid., p. 44)  Love is forever evidencing Itself as the only substance, the only health, the only action, where every need is known and by Whom it is eternally supplied. St. Paul writes:  "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."  (Heb. 12: 14)  David, the Hebrew Psalmist, sang:  "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:  I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." (Ps. 17: 15)  Satisfaction is seeing the likeness of God everywhere.  Mrs. Eddy speaks about true satisfaction:  "Soul [spiritual understanding, spiritual sense] has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and be more secure in our keeping if sought in Soul.  Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man.  We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment."  (S&H, p. 60: 29-61: 3) "As God is substance and man is the divine image and likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only the substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter.  The belief that man has any other substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind."  (S&H, p. 301: 17-23) 
Thus ends our thesis on the Ten Commandments, given to mankind in the remote past, to a people  so buried in materialism that for thousands of years after Moses many still have not gone beyond worshipping a God they think of as  a man-like God that takes sides, can be offended, and punishes or tortures to appease His anger.  "Is there a religion under the sun that hath demonstrated one God and the four first rules pertaining thereto, namely, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me;'  'Love thy neighbor as thyself;'  'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;'  'Whosoever liveth and believeth in me [the Christ]shall never die.' "  (Pan. 9: 8-13)  (John 11: 26) 
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"Christian Science begins with the First Commandment of the Hebrew Decalogue,'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' It goes on in perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John, who, while in the flesh, like ourselves, beheld 'a new heaven and a new earth,' the spiritual universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony." (Mis.21:1-4) Moses was given the Ten Commandments during his fourth ascent of Mt. Sinai which taught the forever operation of divine Principle [the fourth synonym for God given in S&H on p. 465: 10] in the lives of the Israelites and in our lives today.  The people were also given rules and ordinances for their daily living (the Judgments).  God tells the people that He will "send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."  God also says to them: "And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." (Ex. 23: 20, 25)  The way to have no sickness---obey the Ten Commandments! Thought is now ready for Moses fifth ascent--- the accent of Life (love), the fifth synonym for God.  Moses takes with him Aaron, Aaron's two oldest sons, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel and builds an altar with twelve pillars of stone for the twelve tribes of Israel.  He sends for young men who bring peace offerings of oxen to be sacrificed on the altar unto the Lord, and Moses sprinkles the altar and the people with the blood.  "The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice."  (S&H 25: 3)  Moses tells the people: "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words."  The people must put into individual expression the laws of God which they have just received.  "The people answered:  "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." (Ex. 24: 1-7) In the New Testament, during Jesus' last supper with his disciples, he "took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;  For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."  (Matt. 26: 27, 28)      ` 
Moses and the men who came up with him then "saw the God of Israel:  and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness...and did eat and drink."  (Ex. 24: 9-10) When translated symbolically, the men beheld  the world and the universe through the clarity brought about by a deeper understanding of God as the Life behind all things.  This uplifted them into a new sense of life as being one with it all.  The whole "body of heaven" was seen as the reflection of God in the clarity of the stone.  They were still in the world;  they still ate and drank, but they were not of it. Jesus exemplified this same spiritual sense in the fifth thousand year period of Bible history:  "I pray not that thou shouldest take them [his disciples] out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."  (John 17: 15, 16) Jesus had a strongly developed sense of his conscious unity with the Life of the universe, even calling Him, "my Father." The sixth ascent is a long one which symbolizes the sixth synonym for God, Truth, true health, the structure of man.  God tells Moses to come up into the mount, that He has three tables of stone upon which He has written the Ten Commandments.  "And Moses went 
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up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.  And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days:  and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud...and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights." (Ex.24: 12-18)  In Deuteronomy 9: 9, it says that during this time Moses neither ate nor drank.   We are reminded of Jesus' forty days and nights in the wilderness during which he neither ate nor drank (but was provided nourishment by an angel).  They were both in a wilderness, but were able to see the true structure of man, the structure of Truth and Love. Mrs. Eddy defines church as "the structure of Truth and Love. "  Church is a symbol for body, and Moses was given instructions for making a symbol for man's true body, a tabernacle (church) for the children of Israel.  Jesus no longer needed to build a tabernacle for the Israelites of his day, but showed them through healing, a much higher symbol, that their body was the manifestation of God.  Because of the fifth ascent, Moses and the men with him had gained a clearer sense of God as the Life of all and were ready for the next step in their spiritual education, the pattern of the new man, the structure of Truth and Love. While on the mount, Moses was given detailed instructions for building a portable tabernacle which the Twelve Tribes could carry with them on their journey to the Promised Land.  (Ex. 25-32) " Two artificers, one from the tribe of Judah, the other from the tribe of Dan, are appointed to construct the tabernacle within six days.  The exquisitely detailed instructions seem to make it an impossible task to be finished in only six days, but, just as in the building of the Mother Church when Mrs. Eddy gave the workmen a seemingly impossible time limit, it was completed according to the timetable of divine Principle which knows no time .  Judah, from whom comes Jesus, emphasizes the Christly activity of the first degree translation. God says of him:  "I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge."  Dan, who judges and overcomes animal magnetism, stands for the activity of the second translation.  It was to be the dwelling place for Jehovah in the midst of His people where He would meet them and receive their worship. 
The harmony and exact proportions of its parts are a reflection of the divine nature.  It was a movable nomadic tent with three compartments.  The step-by-step building instructions can be translated today out of a material structure into the spiritual facts that constitute man. St. 
Paul speaks directly to this:  "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  (II Cor. 5: 1) In the very center, the heart, of the tabernacle is the "holy of holies," which houses the ark of the covenant. The ark, with its "mercy seat," symbolizes the actual point of the coincidence of the human and the divine.  A veil separates this compartment from the next one,  the "holy place."  Once a year, on the day of Atonement,  Aaron, Israel's high priest, passes through the veil into the "holy of holies, " on behalf of all Israel;  he is the only one ever allowed into this compartment.  He wears a signet upon his forehead that says, "Holiness to the Lord" that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the people have given for gifts to the Lord.  These gifts represent "qualities requisite for spiritual building; With a willing heart Israel brings forth from within herself the qualities that provide a dwelling place for God..."And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every 
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one whom his spirit made willing...both men and women...offered an offering of gold unto the Lord." This veil between the two compartments is the veil of the temple which was "rent in twain from the top to the bottom" at Jesus' crucifixion.  (Mark 15: 38)  This tearing away of the veil signified the Christ, Truth, man as the real "high priest" unto God, the all-inclusive Son of God.  There is no separation between  Mind and its image. The second compartment, the "holy place," contains three articles.  These are a seven-branched golden candlestick, an incense altar, and a table for shewbread.  Shewbread was unleavened bread.  Every Sabbath twelve newly-baked loaves for the twelve tribes was set upon the table and were eaten by the priests.  The loaves could not be removed from the holy place.  During Jesus' last supper he broke bread and gave it to his disciples, saying: "This is my body which is given for you:  this do in remembrance of me."  (Luke 22: 19) Eating the bread symbolizes man's at-one-ment with God.  One of the definitions in the Glossary for "Children of Israel" is:  "Christ's offspring."  (S&H 583)  Eating the bread, the priests were taking into themselves the holiness of God.  In the New Testament it was seen that all of us have been made kings and priests unto God.  "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness...Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father..."  (Rev. 1: 5, 6)  Jesus showed us the nothingness of organic life, a "veil," between our Mind and our body.  Each of us is the divine coincidence of Principle and idea, God and man.  This coincidence is the "Christ" or "the coincidence or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His image."  (S&H 332: 32-33: 2)  This "Christ" of our true identity can never be removed from the" holy place," the divine Science of all being. 
The altar for incense was placed nearest the veil and was to be burned every morning and evening perpetually through the generations.  Unselfed love bears outward the odor of sweetness and sanctity of one who is near to God.  "Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power."  (S&H 192: 30) The pure gold seven-branched candlestick was a teaching tool for the seven days of creation, which in turn teaches the seven aspects of God's nature.  The shaft in the middle had three branches extending outwards on each side.  According to Christian Science, if you were standing in front of the candlestick, you would begin on the left side, with the branch furthest away from the central shaft.  In the order of the "Word Order" for the synonyms for God you would designate the first three candles Mind, Spirit, Soul.  The shaft in the middle would be for Principle, and next to it going to the right would be Life, then Truth, and, last, Love.  Moses was reminded:  "And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount." As we have seen, Moses was well aware of the seven orderly steps needed to learn about God's nature.  He knew the stories of the Patriarchs and the ways in which God's nature was illustrated to them in a seven-step, orderly way through their life experiences--- Noah remained in the ark "yet other seven days and saw a seven-hued rainbow of promise; in Joseph's tenure there were seven years of plenty and seven years of want;  Moses visited 
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seven plagues upon the Egyptians.  Moses will make seven ascents on Mt. Sinai.  But it wasn't until the second coming of the Christ that "the seven" was thoroughly explained. The "holy place" is surrounded by the outer court which is open to the sky, and it is here the people could come.  Again, there are three separate objects:  an altar for burnt offerings, a laver for washing, and the door through which the priests could enter the sanctuary.  As a whole, the structure stands for the three degrees of translation.  The ark and mercy seat in the" holy of holies" represents the divine Principle itself, the oneness of being which is God and man, One.  The altar, the table, and the candlestick in the "holy place" suggest the means by which we can understand our oneness through Life (the Father- Mother), Truth (the Son), and Love (the Holy Ghost or divine Science).  The altar of sacrifice, the laver for washing of hands and feet, and the entrance gate into the holy place from the outer court pertain to the workings of Soul (one sinless identity), Spirit (purity, one substance), and Mind (one Cause, one Intelligence), the solution to the problem of dualism. In addition to the tabernacle, great emphasis is placed on Aaron, the high priest's, garments.  They are considered holy and are full of symbolism.  Among the symbols:  "Over his heart hangs a twelvefold breastplate of judgment.  A yoke on his shoulders bears the names of Israel's twelve tribes.  On his head a mitre is inscribed 'holiness to the Lord.'  Love (the heart) alone has strength (the shoulders) to judge and dissolve Israel's iniquity, and to replace the mark of ignorance with the holiness of the Father's name."  (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 112) 
Moses was on the Mount for so long that the children of Israel grew impatient and the lowlier elements of their thoughts distracted and mesmerized them.  They made a golden calf and began to worship it.  Like people today when frustrated trying to reach an ideal, they turn to material aids for help and comfort.  When Moses came down and saw their profligacy, he threw down and broke the stone tablets on which the Commandments had been written.  He was angry, but could have also realized that the spiritually immature thought cannot take in Truth in such a big gulp.  It must be broken up into smaller bits--- "precept must be upon precept,...line upon line,...here a little, and there a little."  (Isa. 28: 10) After destroying the golden calf, Moses went up the mount one more time, his seventh ascent.  This emphasizes God's nature as Love, holiness, Motherhood, fulfilment. 
And, it is the day of rest.  As we labor to turn away from the material and grasp more of the spiritual, to live what we understand and maintain a consciousness based on Principle, we can at last rest in Love's assurance.  Then the labor becomes power and grace.  Moses, this time, has to hew out the stone tablets himself for God to write upon.  As he does this, his face shines, and he must cover his face with a veil when he speaks to the people.  The message he received was of  "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."  And God said, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."  (Ex. 33: 14, 34: 6) During this ascent, the tabernacle is actually built.  Everyone is asked to bring offerings out of a willing heart for the tabernacle;  in fact, it is stressed fourteen times. "...the fiery baptism will burn up the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love, melting and purifying even the gold of human character."  (S&H 565: 20-22)  Moses asks 
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God to go among them as they continue their journey to the Promised Land.  God tells him: "Behold, I make a covenant:  before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord;..."  (Ex.  34: 10) 
"So we see that the last stage in this spiritual development is really the beginning. 
If we love the spiritual, then little by little our steps will be divinely mothered until the 'building of God,' 'the house not made with hands,' is established.  And in this house of spiritual consciousness we shall always find home and heaven."  (Brook, The Bible as our Life, Book 1, 98)  In reality, the transitory tabernacle is Israel's new character, which has been caused to pattern the divine reality shown to Moses on the mount. " So Moses finished the work...and he reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets...and he reared up the court round about the tabernacle...And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle...the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys."  (Ex. 40: 18-38) The house of Israel, having given of her heart's rich overflow, is now ready to have the divine Principle dwell within the midst of her.  "...the letter of Christianity and the spirit of Christianity, dwelling forever in the divine Mind or Principle of man's being" are "revealed through the human character."  (Miscellany, 24:15 )  She must learn through symbol that the I AM THAT I AM which was revealed to Moses is her only I, collectively and individually. She is in possession of the Mind of Christ and is herself the Christ body. What is the Christ which she will be destined to understand in the centuries to come?  Mrs. Eddy tells us: "Jesus mapped out the path for others.  He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love." (S & H 38:25) "Jesus mapped out the path for others.  He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love."What is an idea?  According to Webster's it is "a visible representation of a conception;  a realized ideal;  any object of mind existing in thought;  a plan or purpose of action."  What is an ideal?  Webster's again:  "existing as a pattern of perfection;  a standard of perfection, beauty, excellence." "Christ presents the indestructible man whom Spirit creates, constitutes, and governs.   Christ illustrates that blending with God, his divine Principle, which gives man dominion over all the earth."  316: 20-23) "Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit, is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and man eternal."  (p. 29: 30-32) "Man delivered from sin, disease, and death presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal."  (p. 67: 28-29) The nation of Israel must now be a nation.  They must act together as one.  Of all the people on earth, they carry the seed of understanding that God and man are one, one body reflecting the same one Mind.  They don't, at this point, understand it, but they have seen "the Lord" in cloud and fire and have been given His commandments.  They have been told that they are a special nation, that God has delivered them from enslavement in Egypt, that they are holy to the one God of the whole earth, and He dwells with them. 
They must now go forward and possess the land which the Lord their God has given them. 
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It is, in symbol, the promised land of spiritual consciousness, the apprehension of God as Science reflected as creation. 
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Chapter 7  Moses, continued 
The Books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy The Book of Leviticus  Chapters 1-27 
"The holy seed of the manhood and womanhood of God, implanted in human consciousness at the time of the patriarchs, is the idea of the wholeness and infinitude of God.  But God Himself and the idea of God are one and indivisible.  At the close of Exodus, this indwelling idea of God's wholeness is the presence with us of the whole of God.  The purpose of Leviticus, in consequence, is to answer the question as to how we shall conduct our lives in the light of this knowledge of God's everpresence. The answer is that this very presence impels us to lay on its alter our earthly all, in order that it may be to us the whole of our being."  (Brown, From Genesis...,114) This book is related to the Levites, the priestly tribe of Levi.  Moses brother, Aaron, as high priest, is the central figure of the book.  St. Paul's Book of Hebrews in the New Testament correlates with Leviticus.  It is about Christ Jesus,"called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (Heb. 5:10) Hebrews teaches that "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures [symbols] of the true; but into heaven itself [the real holy of holies], to appear in the presence of God for us."  (Heb. 9: 24) Leviticus is in three parts.  The first part deals with animal sacrifices that Israel must make to her God in the tabernacle.  She must sacrifice an animalistic sense of life, the "First Degree" of the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind---"Depravity," the "Physical."  (S&H 115: 19-24)   Spiritually, it is about Israel's true body.  She must offer her body a "living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."  (Rom. 12: 1)  This band of people, rescued by God, through Moses, from slavery in Egypt, from Pharaoh's army, from drowning in the Red Sea, from hunger and thirst in the desert, has revealed to them the greatest fact that mankind can ever learn, that there is only one God, one Creator, one Power,  one Presence, one I or Us.   Here is the Glossary definition illustrating this great fact:  "I, or EGO.  Divine Principle; Spirit; Soul;  incorporeal, unerring, immortal, and eternal Mind. There is but one I or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence:  man and woman unchanged forever in their individual characters, even as numbers which never blend with each other, though they are governed by one Principle.  All the objects of God's creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material."  (S&H 588: 9-19) Aaron and the priests that serve him must get across to the spiritually primitive Israelites that God as Principle is involved in every detail of their lives.  Eventually they will come to realize that God is their Life.   Now, they must be aware of that which is sinful in their daily living according to the Ten Commandments.  They must begin to make progress in the "Second Degree" of translation, "Evil beliefs disappearing," the "Moral."   Mrs. Eddy sums it up well:  "We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; 
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but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it."  (S&H,  11: 22- 25) 
Aaron enters into the holiness of God's presence in the tabernacle and makes atonement for all Israel's sins.  Thus, symbolically, he is delivering them from the body of sin and death.  Jesus literally "bore our sins in his body."  (S&H 53: 25)  The atonement for sin is also symbolized for the people by the use of a "scapegoat" on the Day of Atonement. 
Aaron lays his hands on the head of a live goat and confesses over him "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:  and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness."  (Lev. 16: 21, 22)  "The blemishless Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, because, in proving individually the allness and perfection of God, he necessarily proves, at the same time, the nothingness of world sin. This means, humanly, that he assumes the appearance of a scapegoat.  He causes sin to escape to a land not inhabited, or, to return to its original nothingness."  'Dust (nothingness) thou art, and unto dust (nothingness) thou shalt return,'  he says to the sum total of mankind's iniquities." (S&H 545: 29)   (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 116, emphases in original) 
There are several important laws of mercy and righteousness in the second part of Leviticus that should be pointed out.  The Ten Commandments are given in greater detail. 
In the nineteenth chapter a practice is enjoined upon them that will bear fruit as described in the Book of Ruth which leads to a direct link with Jesus:  The people are told that when they reap their harvest, they are not to wholly reap the corners of the field and shall not gather the gleanings, but to leave it for the poor and stranger.  They are told, in fact, that "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."   (Lev. 19: 9-10, 18)  Israel's love for God and for herself is to be proved by not defiling herself with idols from the old land of Egypt or the new land of Canaan.  There is great stress on keeping marital and family relationships pure.  She is told: "Ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy."   (Lev. 21: 8)  Jesus speaks to this also: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."  (Matt. 5: 48) A special message is given to the priests concerning the necessity for their absolute purity and separateness.  This is the only way in which God can commune with man, the true priest unto God, through a pure, transparent state of consciousness. The third and last part of Leviticus deals with Israel's establishment in the "Promised Land."  It is through her obedience to the decrees given her in the desert that she can finally come into her inheritance.  Once there she shall celebrate seven feasts (seven for fulfillment!).  The feasts shall be "perpetual and everlasting" celebrations.  The lamps shall burn continuously before the Lord.  The promised land is permanent, eternal, not transitory. 
It will be seen in later centuries that the land is not a place, but a state of consciousness, completely spiritual, when mankind comes into his true inheritance and dwells in the consciousness of Love.  This final destination for mankind is symbolized by a tone of Love. 
It is the establishment of a Sabbath year of rest for the land.  During this time only that which can be grown without labor shall be eaten. (Eventually, at some point during the seventh thousand-year period, mankind will be able to eat without tilling the ground, but 
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simply with his mind manifest his food.)   There shall be a year of jubilee in which all slaves shall be liberated, since God, not man, is the master of the land.  No one can be a slave when all are dwelling in the consciousness of Love. 
The Book of Numbers   Chapters 1-36 
"In the Science of being there is only one number, and that is one.  Infinity is the eternal, capitalized One.  This one is reflected (individualized) in infinite uncapitalized ones...Israel must represent the truth that "in Science all being is individual;  for individuality is endless in the calculus of forms and numbers."  (Mis. 104: 9)  (Brown, From Genesis..., 120-121) Israel is now ready to prepare for her journey to Canaan, the promised land.  The first part of Numbers describes how the people are to travel.  Moses must assemble the nation into one coherent body.   He realizes that spiritually she must begin in a form that she is ultimately setting out to find.  This is true of all of us.  The land we must conquer, inhabit, and make our own is the sense of our body and mind as being one and not two.  This is the actual Science of our very existence, our very being.  It is not a "religious" thing.  It is the only thing.  It is the way the universe is---its form and structure. In Science, there is only one number, the number one.  The individuality of the One is reduced to human comprehension through the sevenfold nature of God as revealed in Christian Science.  Just as those capitalized terms for God constitute the individuality of God, the uncapitalized terms constitute the individuality of man. 
Mrs. Eddy tells us:  "Each of Christ's little ones reflects the infinite One."  (Pul. 4: 14)  The one Infinite is reflected or individualized in an infinite variety of uncapitalized ones which are innumerable.  If the capitalized nature of the infinite One is revealed as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, then this one identity is reflected in a diversity of identity.  Its innumerable "little ones" make up its identity.  Each one reflects the uncapitalized terms of wisdom (Mind), purity (Spirit), spiritual understanding (Soul), spiritual power (Principle), love (Life), health (Truth), and holiness (Love) in an infinite variety of ways.  One infinite Mind---one infinite body---one infinite identity.  This is the great lesson Israel is setting out to comprehend.  Israel is, in these last days, us.  So let us see ourselves mirrored in the experiences of Israel which teach us all grand lessons if seen in their symbolic meanings. This chapter called "Numbers" is lifted right out of a material sense of finite people moving through a finite place.  "The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears. 
They will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H, 520: 10-15)  Webster:  "Calculus:"  A method of computation;  any process of reasoning by the use of symbols;"   As God commands, Moses numbers the people.  The census count is 603,550.  Symbolically, Israel typifies generic man.  The six, three, and five are noteworthy.  Man, the subject of the sixth 
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day of creation, is made up of identity, (third synonym, Soul), which has individuality (fifth synonym, Life).  In Science, Soul and Life express the individuality of man and is thought of as "Science as the Word."  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  (John 1: 1)  Man is God's Word spoken.  It is comprehended and lived individually, collectively, and universally. After numbering the individuals, Moses must now structure them into the stature of the Son of God, the form of the living God.  He is using the divine infinite calculus, symbolic form and structure.  The individuals, by tribes, are arranged in four groups of three tribes each on the north, south, east, and west of the tabernacle which is in the center.  The tabernacle typifies divine Principle.  Moses has formed them into a symbol of the holy foursquare city which is later spoken of in Revelation as the city foursquare with its twelve gates..  (Rev. 21: 10-27)  As already mentioned, it symbolizes the whole of mankind coming into his priceless inheritance of the consciousness of Love as the only consciousness.  It is the promised land of Israel's, our, deathless spiritual reality. This formation of the twelve tribes is also given importance in Revelation as the twelve stars on the crown of the woman.  As Israel is generic man in the "last days,"  the "star-crowned  woman"  symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God in its wholeness; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea." (S&H 560: 6-9, 561: 22-250)  The divine idea expresses qualities of manhood and womanhood.  This divine infinite calculus of structure and form is in the tones of Spirit and Truth.  This combination of synonyms is called "Science as the Christ."  The Christ is the "Spirit of truth,"  as spoken of by John in chapters 14-16.  Jesus tells his disciples, "...when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:..."  (John 15: 26)  Jesus is speaking of the last days when Science is revealed to the world. The text of Numbers now concerns the central tabernacle around which the twelve tribes revolve.  This tabernacle symbolizes the body of man which has its origin in the Mind which is Love.  Mind and Love signify the "Science of Christianity."  Man is to love his neighbor as himself.  The priestly tribe of Levi, given special charge of the tabernacle, represents the whole of Israel as Jehovah's first-born son.  God tells Moses:  ' And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel.  The Levites shall be mine."  (Num. 3: 12) Mankind is now and always has been the "firstborn" of God.  We have not been born of Adam first and then of God.  We are not commanded to love the Adam man.  We are commanded to see man as "priests and kings unto God" and to love that man. Levi, at the center, is also divided into four distinct groups, just as the twelve tribes are around the circumference.  One Levitical group faces north, one east, one south, and one west.  "This creates altogether one sixteen fold symbol---the fourfold center and the twelvefold circumference of the circle of infinite being.  As we are aware, the matrix calculus, or the spiritual reasoning based on symbols which opens man's consciousness to the Truth of being, man as the structure of divine Science, is a sixteen fold structure.  The sixteen fold structure is seen throughout the Old and New Testaments.  The four modes by 
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which God operates are, as you probably know by now, "The Word, The Christ, Christianity, and Science.”  Since man and the universe reflect God,  these modes reflect each other’s elements and functions.  The Word taken purely as the Word, then as the Word as the Christ, the Word as Christianity, and then the Word as Science.  The Christ is expressed as itself, the Christ, as the Word, as Christianity, and as Science.  Christianity and Science are reflected in themselves and in the other three as well.  Four times four is sixteen. 
These sixteen fold matrices are seen in the Patriarchs matrix, the Deuteronomy matrix, the Promised Land matrix, the Prophets matrix, the Gospels matrix, the Epistles matrix, and the Science and Health and "Apocalypse" matrices. These matrices have unfolded to spiritual consciousness in the twentieth century. 
Books written about them are referenced in this book and listed in the Bibliography for those interested in further study.  This discovery has brought to mankind's attention the awesome structure of the Scriptures and the Comforter as the textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures which is correlated with the Scriptures.  They all fall naturally into this sixteen fold structure which is the "Knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'  (Eph. 4: 13) Here, at the foot of the holy mount of Sinai, this sixteen fold pattern represents the consciousness to which the Israelites must conform in order to journey to the Promised Land, to the divinely covenanted reality of their being.  Man reflects the same infinite God but with a wonderful diversity--- individually, collectively, and universally. After encamping at the foot of Mt. Sinai for nearly a year, the signal is given to break camp and begin the journey to Canaan.  "And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle...and at even there was as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning...And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed:  and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents...as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. During this trip, many of the Israelites begin to lust for the flesh-pots of Egypt.  God has provided everything for them on their journey, and still they are not satisfied. They complain of the manna God has provided for them and ask for flesh to eat.  Moses is fed up with their ingratitude and asks God for help.  God tells him to appoint seventy elders from the camp to help him.  God sends His spirit upon them, and they begin to prophesy (praise God and declare His will and goodness). Two men in the camp not chosen by Moses also feel God's spirit upon them and begin to prophesy. When a young man runs to complain about them, Joshua wants Moses to forbid them, but Moses answers:  "...would God that all the people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!"   Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary interprets this to mean that "the spirit of God is not limited to certain places or individuals, and that He is no respecter of persons."  (106)  God has the Elders sanctify the people, for He is going to send them flesh to eat.  He sends quail that have blown in, and the people catch them and prepare them to eat.  However, as they gorge themselves upon the meat, a plague breaks out and kills many of them.  "While the heart is 
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far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives." (S&H 3: 31-4:2) 
After this event, Miriam and Joshua begin to complain about Moses leadership. "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only to Moses?  Hath he not spoken also by us?"  (Num. 12: 1-16)  Moses is the only one "faithful in all mine house," and the only one who can speak to God "mouth to mouth."  Could they be jealous of the superior position of their younger brother?  Miriam seems to be leading Joshua into this rebellion, for she is the one punished. 
Miriam is smitten with leprosy and is cast outside the camp.  Only when she repents of her rebelliousness for seven days does the leprosy leave her and she is reinstated.  Purity is restored, and the Israelites can move on. The "seven" appears again as the spiritually mental steps Miriam must go through in order to see the wholeness and completeness of God as manifested in Moses.  A process of "seven days" does not have to be in thousands of years, but is a step-by-step apprehension of the fulness of God as Love, in which every human need is cared for and demonstrated.   This can take place on an individual, collective, or universal basis, and depends on the amount of mental work that needs to be done, as well as the degree of spirituality one begins with.  It could take a day or less in a time sense, or a month, years, millenniums. Now it has been only eleven days since leaving Mt. Sinai.  The Israelites have traveled to Kadesh-Barnea, there finding their first opportunity to enter the Promised Land. 
God tells Moses to send a ruler from each of the tribes, a scouting party of twelve men, to spy out the land.  Among them is Joshua from the house of Joseph (womanhood) and Caleb, from the house of Judah (manhood).  If Israel is meek enough to "inherit the earth," she can at once go in and possess it.  Joshua means "Savior," and Caleb means "fearless." The land symbolizes the womanhood and manhood of God wedded in one identity. 
The spies reconnoitered for forty days and came back with the report that the land flows with milk and honey.  However, except for Joshua and Caleb, the rest of the men are afraid to enter the land, having seen "giants,"  very great walled cities, and strong people.  The children of Israel then begin to murmur against Moses and Aaron saying they wished they had died in the wilderness!  Caleb and Joshua want to go in at once to possess the land and try to convince the people that God will deliver them, and they did not need to fear the people.  God had promised them He would "give it them."  "...we are well able to overcome it...rebel not ye against the Lord."  But the people were not convinced and wanted to stone them!  (Num. 14: 1-10)  Then, panicking at her huge predicament, the people frantically try to take the land by storm, disobeying Moses, who tells them God is not with them.  They are defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites and their own self-will.  Israel is not equal to her great gift of a land flowing with milk and honey!  The Psalmist says:  "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."  (Ps. 127: 1) Spiritual work cannot be done merely from a sense of duty.  That is hypocrisy.  Our spiritual tasks must come from the heart and a sense of devotion.   They must be alive in us, fresh, vital, out of conviction and love of God.  Otherwise, they are doomed to failure in some form.  These are the conditions of spiritual inheritance.  Our eternal strength and 
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comfort comes from knowing that "...it is God that worketh in [us] both to will and to do of his good pleasure."   (Philippians 2: 13) She is compelled to return to the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.  She has chosen suffering instead of Science!  She will endure forty years of punishment wanderings.  During this time, the rebellious generation dies in the desert, and a new generation is born. This new one will go in and possess the land, along with Joshua and Caleb.  What is the lesson to be learned for us in these days of their failure to claim what has been promised them?  The land, the consciousness of spiritual dominion, is constantly presenting itself.  Its promise is already present because it is always present.  Just as we have seen in the individual lives of the previous Patriarchs, we must discover and claim the grace of God for us, His gift of fundamental good which we possess by reflection.   At this stage of our human experience, we must claim it, which usually includes the willingness to fight personal battles to gain dominion over the armies of aggressive mortal beliefs that assail us daily.  Mrs. Eddy says this when facing health problems:  “Exercise this God-given authority.  Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.  Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good.  God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”  (S&H 393: 10-15) The universe operates by means of its Principle and its reflection as the universe, including man.  Being in possession of this knowledge and demonstrating it, even if only in part, we experience our present  inheritance as the Sons of God.  Paul explains it in his book to the Hebrews:  "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more...Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."  (Heb. 10: 16, 17, 19, 20)  (The "Holiest of Holies" in the tabernacle had to be entered by going through a veil.) Jesus' example for us through his many healings and finally rising above the fleshly beliefs, enabled us to understand as never before the illusion of matter.  The Israelites must now, individually and collectively, begin to seriously make the effort needed to embody what they have been learning about God and His demands upon them.  It is the only way they can find the "boldness to enter."   This improved spiritual outlook gives us the courage of our convictions and helps us to rely completely on the spiritual facts we have learned. 
Even though we may have to endure the slower method of suffering a wilderness journey in human experience, the Promised Land is eventually reached if we persist in our spiritual endeavors. The people of Israel just can't seem to stop complaining.  This time, rebels in the camp start a general insurrection against Moses' leadership.  They allow themselves to be handled by personal power and prestige.  They see Moses as a princely dictator personally controlling them.  They believe they are just as "holy" as he is, and that he should share his power.  They seem oblivious of the fact that they have proven over and over again that they are singularly unfit for self-government.  They are utterly dependent upon outside control and spiritual sense.  She has yet to make subjective the laws governing her.  Moses and 
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Aaron suddenly sense the destruction of the group of complainers and separate themselves from them just as the earth opens up and swallows them.  Rebellious thought reaps the destruction it sows.  Government by divine Principle must be reflected on earth as it is in heaven. In order to settle the question of leadership, Moses is told by God to have each tribe's leader hand in his rod, his symbol of authority, and to inscribe the leader's name on the rod.  They are brought into the outer court of the tabernacle.   God tells Moses, and thus the tribal leaders, that the rod which buds and blossoms will signify the one who is to be the leader of all the tribes.  The next day, only the rod of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, not only buds and blossoms, but also bears almonds!  This is conclusive proof to all the congregation that Aaron is recognized by God as the only leader besides Moses. In this same tone of Principle, Mrs. Eddy knew that her system of church government was not a personal dictatorship but that the laws of divine Principle were leading her followers step by step to the recognition of their own self-government. Israel learns many symbolic lessons on her journey through the wilderness.  In her forty years of wandering, her shoes and clothing remained like new.  When venomous snakes came among them and began biting them, Moses made a brass snake and attached it to a pole.  When someone was bitten, he would lift up the pole and the one bitten would look upon it and be healed.  Miriam died at Kadesh. The first generation of Israelites which came up out of the land of Egypt has died out (except for their little children who had no knowledge of good and evil---they are allowed to go into the Promised Land to possess it. (Deut. 1: 39)  The second generation is wilderness-born.  They do not yearn for the flesh- pots of Egypt and thus are more tractable than their previous generation. Moses, however, still believes they are a burden;  he doubts their spiritual growth and sees them as rebels like their fathers.  In John 3:14, we read:  "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up."  Moses is not advancing with what God is showing him, and refuses to see them as Sons of God and so, is not "lifting them up."  This attitude is apparent when the people are thirsty and complain that Moses has led them into a place where there is no water for them or for their cattle.  During the first trek with the first generation, when there was no water, Moses struck a rock with his rod and water gushed forth.  This time, God tells he and Aaron to gather all the assembly together and speak to the rock and it would give forth water.  Personal compulsion is no longer necessary.  However, Moses disobeys God and strikes the rock, not once, but twice, calling them "Ye rebels!"  Water pours forth abundantly for all their needs, but God is not pleased with Moses’ and Aaron's disobedience.  "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron,  "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me [show forth God's holiness, sacredness, and inviolability] in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." (Num. 20: 3-12)  Because of his disobedience, Moses has missed a wonderful God-given opportunity to show the people God's tender "Motherhood" side of His nature. This was a grievous error, because it continued to limit Israel's apprehension of God's wholeness. 
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Spiritual dominion is not just a sense of divine law;  the spirit of the Christ is needed.  The Moses thought, spiritual instruction, is necessary, as is the "Thou shalt not" when restrictions must be obeyed at the beginning of a spiritual journey.  But this negative sense of the spiritual must yield to the positive sense when we are ready to be the living spirit of the Christ which yearns to save and bless mankind.  Jesus said to the Jews:  "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven;  but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." (John 6: 32, 33)  The Christ delivers humanity through natural spiritual translation, and so gives life and never restriction and death.  Again, the Christ nature of Jesus caused him to state his divine purpose: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." and "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  (Matt. 5: 17 and John 10: 10) The Israelites traveled from Kadesh to Mt. Hor where God told Moses to bring Aaron and Aaron's son, Eleazar, up to the top of the mountain.  There, "he shall be gathered unto his people."  ("This may suggest the continuance of life after death along with those who have gone before him."  (Dummelow, The One Vol. Bible Commentary, 111) (Jesus proved several times that there is life after death by raising the dead as well as himself.) Before Aaron died, he passed on his sacred robes of the office of the high priest to his son, Eleazar.  Aaron was the second greatest figure among the Israelites, and when he passed on, they mourned him for one month. The armies from each tribe conquered the people on the east side of the River Jordan, the Amorites, which included the "giants" they had been afraid of during their first opportunity.  This second generation of Israelites had gained enough spiritual sense to overcome the gigantic obstructions to her spiritual growth.  They have also conquered Sihon which had previously conquered Moab.  They now occupy the territory of the Moabites. 
This means that they have essentially gained their inheritance which lies outside the land of Canaan.  Soon Israel will cross over the Jordan River into the land inside the boundaries of her promised land.  This, too, must be conquered.  God, Spirit, must be seen as the center and circumference of her being.  What applies to Israel applies to us.  We too, must apprehend the wondrous knowledge that the universe is predicated on the grand fact that God is All-in-all, Subject and Object, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, in reflection. The Israelites are within sight of their land of promise, encamped at the northern end of the Red Sea, near the mouth of the Jordan.  Up till now, they have conquered every obstacle.   The last one is the land of Moab which still has its king, Balak, who is very distressed with the Israelites being in the land.  He hires a commercially-minded prophet, Balaam, to come and curse the Israelites.  Balaam sets out on his donkey to go to King Balak when an angel appeared to him (which only the humble donkey saw!) and tells him that he must speak to Balak only the words that he is given by the angel of the Lord.  Balaam is obedient, and no matter how hard Balak tries to get him to lay a curse on the Israelites, he refuses and instead ends up blessing them.  Looking down upon the encampment from a high point, he prophesies:  "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O 
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Israel! ... come, therefore, [he says to Balak and his people] and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days...his kingdom shall be exalted.  God hath brought him up out of Egypt;...there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel...Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,..."  (Num. 25: 5, 8-19) "This is interpreted as a brilliant ruler (a star) and may refer to David who smote Moab, but the Jewish commentators have interpreted the prophecy as Messianic.  Christians see the prophecy as pointing to Christ Jesus, the true Messiah."  (Dummelow, The One Vol. Bible Commentary, pp. 115, 116) Another important event, which is in the tone of womanhood, is the Law of the inheritance of daughters.  Before entering Canaan, the land must be apportioned to each tribe.  This includes the numbering of the people.  Lots were cast to determine the locality of each tribe's inheritance, but the size was regulated by the number of the names, and the relative fertility of each locality.  The twelve lots, tablets of wood or stone, were each inscribed with a name of a tribe, probably put in an urn, and then drawn out by the high priest or representative of a tribe.  The tribe whose name was drawn inherited that territory. 
The precise boundaries would be adjusted afterwards, according to the population of the census. This land was to be given to the males as an inheritance in each tribe.  However, Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh, had died, leaving no sons.  His daughters, fearing that they would have no inheritance,  go before Moses and Eleazar to request that they and their sons should succeed to the inheritance of their father, and thus perpetuate his name.  Their claim is declared to be just, and it is thus enacted that daughters should inherit when there are no sons, and, failing daughters, the nearest relatives of the father.  "Members of a tribe are forbidden to marry outside their own tribe, otherwise the descendants of the tribe will lose their inheritance. Science depends for its validity on preserving the individual integrity of the ideas that make up the wholeness of its structure.  This is a great step for the nation of Israel. "...and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. 27: 1-11)  Individuality enjoys inalienable rights.  "Inalienable" means incapable of being transferred from one to another.  "God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims.  These claims are not made through code or creed, but in demonstration of "on earth peace, good-will toward men." "Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression."  (S&H 226: 14-17; 227: 14-15) 
Soon after this, Moses is told by God to go to the top of Mt. Abarim to see the land which He has given unto the children of Israel.  Then, God tells him, he will be "gathered unto his people,"  just as Aaron had been.  Moses asks God to first set a man over the congregation so that the people would not be as sheep without a shepherd.  God tells him to select Joshua, to put his hand upon him before all the congregation and the high priest Eleazar and give him charge over all the people. 
What type of thought is now being charged with leading the Israelites into their Promised Land?  Joshua and Jesus mean "Savior."  Moses, meaning "to draw out,"  drew the 
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children of Israel out of Egypt and spiritually educated them.  Now they have all reached a turning point.  The Jordan River is seen as a turning point in spiritual development in other Bible stories.  Jordan means "descender," epitomizing in these stories the higher spiritual understanding "descending" into the valley of human hopes to work out the human picture in a divine way.  Jesus, however, came with the dynamic demand, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5; 48)  This viewpoint works out from God with perfect God, perfect man as the basis of all true spiritual reckoning.  Joshua will now lead the nation from a higher perspective which was evident at Kadesh when he and Caleb were the only ones ready to go in and claim the land in total reliance upon the divine promise.  "...behold, now is the accepted time;  behold, now is the day of salvation." (II Cor. 6: 2) Moses’ last task was to send the tribal armies into Midian to conquer the Midianites, which they did, and then to assign the tribes their portions of the land which is now to be inherited.  The tribes of Reuben and Gad ask for the very fertile land just outside the border for their cattle.  They upheld their promise to help conquer the Midianites before settling in the land.  For the tribe of Manasseh, half of their land is outside the border and half is inside. 
Thus, the house of Joseph (Manasseh, his son) forms a connecting link, or bridge, between the subjective and objective aspects of the one whole consciousness of man.  The gates of the Holy City, identified in Revelation with the twelve tribes of Israel, (the whole earth in the latter days), open within and without the city.  Otherwise, consciousness is not whole, for it requires the objective and subjective to be one.  The Levites have no inheritance, so Israel must care for them.  They bestow on them forty-eight of the cities both inside and outside the land, symbolizing the universal brotherhood of man, founded on Truth and Love. 
The Book of Deuteronomy   Chapters 1-34 
Israel is ready to go in and settle in her promised heritage given her by her heavenly Father.  Before Moses dies, he gives to his people a farewell oration, filled with tenderness. "Deuteronomy" means "repetition of the law" and does not cover more than forty days. 
Remember that the people Moses is now addressing had not been present for the exodus from Egypt nor the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Moses thus reviews the events and experiences of the past forty years and the Ten Commandments with an earnest appeal to the Israelites to keep the commandments of the Lord and remain faithful to His covenant.  He emphasizes, this time, the need for voluntary acceptance of the law instead of disciplinary enforcement.  The higher standpoint of gracious, joyous, loving acceptance of Israel's gift of the commandments and the land is the tone of this Book.  In that same tone, Mrs. Eddy exhorts us:  "Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense- testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals, and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.  Let the 'male' and 'female'  [Judah and Israel] of God's creating appear.  Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life [the promised land] recognizing no mortal nor material 
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power as able to destroy.  Let us rejoice that we are subject to the 'divine powers that be.' 
Such is the true Science of being."  (S&H 249: 1-10) Moses again gives to the people his fundamental teaching:  "Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."   True human-hood lies in keeping the divine law. 
Understanding the nature of the God that made us all and loving that nature enables us then to love our neighbor as the reflection of God's nature. Keeping this commandment through the hundreds of years of the Old Testament, this second commandment could then be given to us by Christ Jesus. 
Moses gives this final warning to the people:  "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it."  It sounds very much like the warning Mrs. Eddy put in her Mother Church Manual:  "No new Tenet or By-Law shall be adopted, nor any Tenet or By-Law amended or annulled, without the written consent of Mary Baker Eddy."  (Man. p. 105)  Moses performed his office as the mediatorial Christ, revealing to Israel the unbreakable law of divine Principle.  Mrs. Eddy did the same thing for "Israel" in the "latter days."   She could have said," In order to inherit the Promised Land do not amend or annul a single rule of the revealed law of God." The very heart of Deuteronomy's message is the Palestinian Covenant.  This concerns the promise of Israel's regathering within the unity and harmony of the Promised Land.  However, Moses is speaking of the latter days, for he speaks of the Israelites as being in all the nations:  "These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab...Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;  But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: ... "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse [the terrible things that will have to be endured as long as there is worship of "other gods"], which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee.  And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;  "That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee."  (Deut. 29: 1, 14, 15; 30: 1-3) This regathering is now going on, in these last days.  Science is turning our captivity from enslavement to erroneous beliefs that sicken and kill us to the awakened sense that God's law or Word has never been broken and that disintegration and death is not a law. 
Christian Science has brought to mankind the law of the oneness and indivisibility of being. "The system of spiritual healing denominated Christian Science is the law of annulment to the supposed dispersal of the body of Christ into a race of mortal bodies.  The curse of apparent scattering is translated in Science into the blessing of differentiation and individualization.  This is the way in which 'lost Israel'  (fallen man) is restored to her true heritage."  (Brown, From Genesis..,143) 
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Understanding God from the standpoint of His sevenfold (complete) nature means that each of us is infinitely one and yet infinitely diverse at the same time.  It is the law of diversity in unity.  Synonymous terms differ from each other in their many shades of meaning but allude to the same thing.  In this way, we can love God supremely and our neighbor as our self.  We awaken to the wonderful fact that has always been, that God is All- in-all.  This Truth in the centuries to come means the annihilation of the belief of the existence and power of evil and all of its concomitants. Before Moses goes to the top of the mountain to be taken up by God, he sings for the congregation the "Song of the Rock," The rock is used as a symbol throughout the Scriptures for the Truth of man's real being, incapable of fragmentation.  He is rejoicing in Israel's true subjective being which must now take precedence over his objective leading. 
The people must not only hear the Word of God, they must embody it to be blessed by it. The divine Science of man is inherited only as maternal religious organization is outgrown.  Moses stood for the moral law, which "demands penalties under the law;"  but “without the gospel,---the union of justice [manhood], and affection [womanhood] given by Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, "there is something spiritually lacking…"  (S&H 592: 14, the Glossary definition of Moses)  Christian Science is derived from the foundation laid by Mary Baker Eddy (revelation of God's Motherhood/Womanhood);  the mission of Joshua ("Savior") is based on the law laid down by Moses, but extends outward for Israel's infinite development. The nonsectarian Science of Christian Science today is based on the foundation laid down by Mary Baker Eddy and extends outward for universal Israel's infinite development. 
Grace fulfills the law.  "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."  (John 1: 17)  Jesus had to come because of the falling away of the people from obedience to the Ten Commandments, which became just outward show.  Higher understanding was needed.  He had to teach them the spirit behind the Ten Commandments, through healing all manner of sickness and injustice, and giving them his second great commandment which summed up the others, a commandment in which love plays the greatest part. Mrs. Eddy then came to bring the incorporeal Christ to a world which also had fallen away in large part from the teachings of Moses and Jesus.  Just as the prophets perceived the necessity for further teaching and demonstration of the Truth about God and man and prophesied the coming of Jesus, they also saw the necessity for a further enlightenment which would come in the "latter days," another "teacher" which Jesus himself prophesied would come:  "...the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."  (John 14: 26)   Material church organization is still objective leadership, necessary only in the very beginning of spiritual teaching, but it must be laid off early on, before it becomes entrenched and its freeing spiritual message is entombed in its organizational edicts. "I will publish the name of the Lord," sings Moses, "ascribe ye greatness unto our God.  He is the Rock, his work is perfect...a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right 
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is he." (Deut. 32: 3, 4)  Moses then blesses the twelve tribes with wholly positive blessings as opposed to Jacob's blessings on each son which often concerned the handling of the claims of evil he saw that would need to be faced.  "Surely Moses is bearing witness to Israel's ultimate status as the crown of twelve stars on the head of the woman in Revelation...Moses links Joseph with Benjamin.  These two, as we have seen, typify the Science and system of absolute Christian Science and the way in which this brings about, individually, the regeneration of us all."(Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, p.144) Moses parting words to Israel express great joy and comfort:  "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms...Happy art thou, O Israel:  who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord.."   Moses then goes to the top of Mt. Nebo to view the Promised Land spread out before him.  Symbolically, what he is seeing is the foursquare spiritual inheritance which Israel will begin to make her own, but will not complete her possession of it until the "latter days."  This foursquare inheritance is the way the sevenfold Principle operates in practice, its rhythmic, cyclic, interrelated, harmonious structure, movement, and flow, operating infinitely as the "city of our God," our consciousness, filled with the omni-active Truth of being.  The operating, functioning, moving flow of Life is us, reflecting the fourfold operation of “ the seven." The four ways in which Principle operates are through the Word (using it as the law of our very being, for it is God declaring His own self-existent, complete nature as the universe and man--- it is self-existent;  the Christ (the revelation of God constantly coming to man individually so that we can understand it;  it is self-expressed),  Christianity (the application of what we understand of God which enables us to serve God by serving our fellow-man;  it is self-reflected),  and Science (the oneness of Principle and its infinite idea which enables us to demonstrate absolute divine Science;  it is self-complete). "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died:  his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." (Deut. 33: 27; 34: 7) (According to Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary, 139, Josephus says that he was accompanied to the top of the hill by the "'senate, and Eleazar, and Joshua.' " After viewing the land, Moses dismissed the senate, and " 'as he was about to embrace Eleazar and Joshua was still discoursing with them,  a cloud stood over him on a sudden and he disappeared in a certain valley.”   No sepulchre for him has ever been known. The little epistle of Jude in the New Testament tells of a Judaic tradition, a significant legend, connected with Moses’ passing.  It is placed purposefully in the Bible right before Revelation.  It tells of a dispute between the archangel Michael and Satan for the custody of Moses' body.  Michael wants to bury it,  but Satan wants to carry it away.  This is a teaching moment, a warning, coming just ahead of the revelation of the coming Comforter. 
If Michael, the angel who fights the holy wars, buries it, (the body as a representative of strictly moral law), there can be no return to religious positions outgrown, and spiritual progress can ensue.  If Satan is in charge of it, then there will be continual warfare, for ecclesiasticism will assume control of Israel's life.  Under the leadership of Joshua, "Savior," 
Israel has an opportunity to advance toward and embody her deepening understanding of God as the incorporeal Principle of her being. 
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As we know, the Israel nation of the Bible continued to relapse into the worship of "other gods" and thereby finally lost her inheritance.  Extending this lesson to the teachings of Jesus, which Jude is remonstrating, his followers must not be allowed to be carried away by Satan, animal magnetism, so that they lose the underlying import of Jesus'  message which he had to demonstrate through his works:  "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.  But if I do, though ye believe me not, believe the works:  that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.  Therefore, they sought again to take him:  but he escaped out of their hand."  (John 10: 37-39) "The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained their materialistic beliefs about God.  Jesus' system of healing received no aid nor approval from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines of physics or of divinity;  and it has not yet been generally accepted. Today, as of yore, unconscious of the reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sinning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal theory.  Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the true idea of God,---this salvation from all error, physical and mental,---Jesus asked, 'When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?' "   (Luke 18: 8)  (S&H 132: 14-27) 
People are just as anxious today to persecute the Christ message brought to earth by Mary Baker Eddy.  This is the gist of one of the main points of the message:  "There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth proceeds from the divine Mind.  Therefore, truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver.  Science is an emanation of divine Mind and is alone able to interpret God aright.  It has a spiritual, and not a material origin."  (S&H 127: 23-28)  This was the basic teaching of Jesus.  Satan, (animal magnetism, mortal beliefs), tries its best to hide the life-saving message:  "I [the Truth] am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  (John 10: 10)   When will those who are in professions that know the truth about matter begin to come forward to study this God-sent, provable, already vastly tested Science that is standing at the door of our consciousness and knocking?   It is man's highest calling. We must begin to educate this poor, suffering, hungry world about its wonderful benefits. Science, Theology, and Medicine have finally been united!  It is time for this union to bear fruit. That consciousness which knows what it purports to understand cannot return to positions outgrown, for it has demonstrations of its spiritual wisdom to support it. "  Here is what the Comforter says about holding on to outgrown material theories:  "Our proportionate admission of the claims of good or of evil determines the harmony of our existence,---our health, our longevity, and our Christianity.  We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Science with the material senses...To have one God and avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you must love God supremely."  (S&H 167: 7-12, 18-19)  "Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for spiritual understanding.  We cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time, ..."   (S&H 346: 29-31) Deuteronomy is certainly one of the most significant Books of the Old Testament. 
Its message prepares Israel for the crossing of the Jordan River into her God-given inheritance and also the rest of us, much later, for ours. 
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Chapter  8  The Books of  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth 
The Book of Joshua     Chapters 1-24 
Israel is about to take an irrevocable step in crossing the Jordan.  Mrs. Eddy calls it, " the Rubicon of spirituality."  (S&H 172: 10)  (Webster's:  "Rubicon.  A small river between Italy and Gaul.  By leading an army across this river, contrary to government orders, Caesar precipitated the civil war which made him supreme;  hence, to pass, or cross, the Rubicon is to take the irrevocable decisive step.")  This crucial step is the moving from an objective view of God as coming to them from Moses, outside of themselves, to the subjective viewpoint of seeing herself as being within God.  There is no turning back to positions outgrown without severe penalties.  The "land" with which she must identify is her own pure, sinless, selfhood.  This “land,” spiritual consciousness, today is Christian Science. God tells Joshua:  "Have not I commanded thee?  Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:  for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."  The people tell Joshua:  "All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go."  Obviously, this new generation is much more ready to go in and inherit the land. Just as in their past attempt to enter the land, a party is sent in to spy out the land. 
The first city the Israelites are to conquer is Jericho.  Rahab, meaning “wide,” a harlot who lives high on the encircling wall of Jericho sees the spies and takes them in and protects them.  She tells the spies that the city is in great fear of the Israelites because they have heard of the utter destruction of the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan. 
Before the king of Jericho comes searching, she hides them well among the flax stalks on the roof.  Then when danger is past, she lets them down outside her window by a "scarlet thread."  Spiritually reversed, and translated, the harlot city Jericho is the bridal city New Jerusalem, for in Science there are not two kinds of city, or consciousness. 
The harlotry of mortals fades into nothingness when they open their arms wide to the descending divine reality of their being.  “The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness…shuts the door on death, and opens it wide towards immortality.”  (S&H 90: 24)  Rahab is "the great-great-grandmother of David, and so she is the human ancestress of our Savior... Rahab had followed the career of Israel with fascinated interest.  She is represented as knowing and using the covenant name of  'Jehovah' and as recognizing His universal sovereignty."  She says to the spies,"...the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."  (Joshua 2: 11)  "Her whole attitude is in striking contrast to that of her fellow countrymen...we may well believe that  the faith which an apostle could praise was accompanied by a true conversion."  (Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary, p.143 and Matt. 1: 1-5 (apparently Rahab is here spelled Rachab), Hebrews 11: 31, James 2: 25)  Joshua rewards Rahab for hiding them by allowing her and her parents and siblings to live after Israel takes Jericho. Symbolically, we take stock of our present state of consciousness.  Are we willing to do what it takes to cast out whatever may prevent us from possessing a higher spirituality? 
If so, God guides the course of events that enables us to do so.  All of us on our spiritual 
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journey will find ourselves inevitably crossing over to a new standpoint where we are looking out from God as our Mind and seeing ourselves and our world from new fundamental facts of being.  It is no longer a far-off goal.  This does not mean that there will be no more challenges along the way;  there are victories to be gained before we can finally rest in our Land of unfettered being.  This certainly holds true for the Israelites.  God has promised them a land of their own where they can protect and nurture the seed of monotheism without being constantly molested.  Israel is the one nation that has gained a true, clearer, concept of God as the one and only Source of the universe, an infinite Intelligence whose laws guide, guard, and govern all. Their Patriarchs have discerned a mighty fact that blesses them as long as they adhere to it.  It is a precious Truth, the pearl of great price, for which one sells all that he has to possess it.  It is salvation for the human race. The land of promise, Caanan, is full of cities where polytheism and heathenism rule. 
They must be destroyed if the monotheistic revelation of God is to survive and go on to bless the ages.  Many readers of the Bible are turned off by the constant savagery and killing which fill its pages.  It seems to delineate upon the thought an image of God as manlike, a stern and vindictive warrior who is constantly calling for killing and vicious acts of violence. 
This viewpoint  was the result of an inadequate understanding of God's nature as Love, by the Israelite leaders and the scribes who wrote the Scriptures.  Their monotheistic concept was right, but it had not risen beyond that of a super-human who would work miracles for His chosen people.  It was more a tribal God fashioned in the image of man.  Today, enough distance has been journeyed between then and now that we can see the symbolism behind the events, and learn just from the symbols. Mercy did not figure much in the first three thousand years of Bible history.  Moses brought to the Israelites an almost blinding spotlight on spiritually-based ethics never before presented to mankind.  A  majority of them could barely apprehend their necessity, much less their underlying Principle.  Only the "miracles" that Moses was able to perform for them which sustained them on their wilderness journey gave them glimmers of a God they could believe in, minus the understanding.  Israel, nevertheless, was willing to fight for their concept of the Lord, Jehovah, as a God of righteousness and justice who favored them above all people.  (The righteousness and justice did not often pertain to non-Israelites!)  Joshua led according to his highest concept of God in carving out a land free of paganism for his people.  In that he succeeded.  It was a necessity if Israel was to be the nation which in the latter days would finally gather all the nations into its God-given inheritance as the Sons of God. Israel crosses Jordan in much the same way she crossed the Red Sea escaping from the Egyptians, but with planned calm instead of mass fear.  This time it is done with the assurance of divine Principle.  As soon as the feet of the Levite priests bearing the ark (typing the divine Presence) touch the water of the Jordan, the waters rise up in a heap exposing dry ground.  The whole body of Israel passes over as one. Joshua then commands that a representative from each tribe take a stone from the place where the priest's feet stand and carry it on his shoulder to the other side.  They were 
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then carried to their camp site.  This typed individual self-government, the way by which they gain dominion over their land of enlarged spiritual consciousness.  This is done, Joshua explains to the people, " that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever."  (Josh. 4: 6,7)  Joshua then took twelve stones, for the twelve tribes, into the river and placed them where the priest's feet stood, making a cairn or heap of stones as a memorial in the very spot of the passing.  When all was finished that the Lord commanded, the priests came up out of the water, and as soon as they stepped up onto dry ground, the waters returned and flowed over the banks.  About forty thousand, prepared for war, passed over onto the plains of Jericho.  "On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him (held him in reverential awe), as they feared Moses, all the days of his life." (Josh. 4: 14) The Israelites camp at Gilgal, meaning "circle," on the east border of Jericho.  There they make a cairn with the twelve stones brought from the Jordan River.  Israel's true identity will be symbolized in the "last days," as the circle, or crown, of twelve stars upon the head of the woman in Revelation.  This woman types generic man, the spiritual idea of God.  "The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars.  The twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals,---separated by belief from man's divine origin and the true idea,---will through much tribulation yield to the activities of the divine Principle of man in the harmony of Science.  These are the stars in the crown of rejoicing.  They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting the light which shines 'unto the perfect day' as the night of materialism wanes."  (S&H  562: 11-21) While at Gilgal, the new generation is circumcised, and God says to Joshua, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you."  This symbolizes spiritual circumcision, where man is not dependent upon material organization.  Egypt is a symbol of organic birth, mortal origin.  God, not man, is our Father-Mother.  On our life's journey, we must at some point find our thought overshadowed by the Holy Ghost (the divine Science of our being).  "The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed the pure sense of the Virgin- mother with the full recognition that being is Spirit."  (S&H 29 24-26) After the circumcision, the Israelites kept the Passover, eating old corn and unleavened bread, "and the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten the old corn of the land...but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan. All those years they had existed on manna!  And look at what we are told is the "balanced diet" we must eat today in order to be healthy!  Health is an inherent fact in God's reflection, man.  The Israelites demonstrated it for forty years!  We are supplied with everything we need to sustain us, even when it seems we are in a "wilderness," because, as Jesus said, we are “made whole.” (John 5: 14) Shortly before the battle of Jericho, Joshua is visited by a strange man with his sword drawn.  Joshua asks him if he is for them or one of Israel's adversaries.  He answers that he is the "captain of the host of the Lord!"  "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot;  for the 
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place whereon thou standest is holy."  (Josh. 5: 15)  We have to loose our material sense- based outlook in order to stand on a spiritual foundation.  We have a right to know that whatever battle we have to meet, divine power is behind us.  This heavenly  host "is spiritually circumcised manhood, which alone has power to subdue the land.  In her divinely subjective reality, Israel herself is the Lord's host, and Joshua ("Savior") is her captain." (Brown, From Genesis..., p. 152)  Moses had to teach Israel about her oneness with God from an objective standpoint.  Joshua has to teach her the same thing so that she sees it subjectively.  She has to realize that all the good she feels she has to fight for is already within her as the fundamental fact of her own being. Jericho is completely closed up as the result of the thousands of Israelites.  (The mortally mental thought closes right up at the approach of a spiritual idea.)  Joshua, however, is not thinking of storming the walls.  He has been told by God that He has given Jericho into his hand.  God gives him spiritual directions which have all the power.  They symbolize the ordered way in which the Israelites (and us) are to conquer the "Jericho" of a mortal basis of looking at life and its problems.  For six days the people are to silently compass the city once each day and return to camp. (For "six days" we thoughtfully cherish the nature of God and man, using the  synonyms for God.)  For the walk around the city, the people are divided into four companies.  First, the men of war (we wield the sword of Truth, actively stand up to the error or "Jericho" in our thought);  then seven priests with trumpets (we joyously declare the allness of the trumpet word of Truth); the ark of the covenant brings the all-encompassing peace and sense of God with us );  then the people bring up the rear (everything in us must follow up and support our highest motives---our whole self must be in the scale.) (Brook, The Bible...Book 1,  125,126) After compassing the city in absolute quiet for six days, on the seventh day, they are to compass the city seven times, and the priests are to blow their trumpets.  "And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout;  and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him."   On the seventh day, after compassing the city seven times, the priests blow the trumpets, and Joshua says to the people, "Shout;  for the Lord hath given you the city."  "...and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat,...[the "seventh day" state of consciousness is conviction that God, good, is all, and evil is nothing] so the Lord was with Joshua;  and his fame was noised throughout all the country."  If we follow the divinely ordered pattern of conquest, we do not have to submit to a long battle.  The battle for the Israelites was a "walk over"---they did not even have to fight!  Joshua told his men to save Rahab and all her family, and they did, and she lived with Israel all her days.  Whatever has any upward tendency is always preserved. (Josh. 6: 1-5, 10-17, 20)  (Brook, The Bible..., p. 12) 
"...they had all to shout together in order that the walls [of Jericho] might fall,' said Mary Baker Eddy to a class of students in 1889, the year she dissolved her first centralized church organization.  (Mis.  279: 24, emphasis in original)  Israel had to "dissolve" Jericho, which was "straitly shut up because of the children of Israel:  none went out, and none came 
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in."  It is usually true that the circumscribing walls of fear and/or egotism, that mental condition which refuses to look into new ideas, will not open up unless there is a united "shout," from the reformers.  The shout for reform may be given in many ways, but if the people are unselfed enough to remain united as one voice, the walls finally will fall down flat.  Anything that is not based on divine Principle will collapse under the pressure of universal Love. Joshua and the Israelite nation had to conquer the whole land.  The city after Jericho was the town of Ai, which they defeated by placing troops before and behind the town.  The troops before drew them out and the troops behind ambushed them from behind.  At this point, Joshua paused and built an altar of whole stones, ones "over which no man had lift up any iron."  The stones had to be natural ones, which had not been chiseled with any tools. 
As we make spiritual progress, it is always good to pause often and re-establish the spiritual facts we have been using, make sure our inspiration is fresh, straight from God for our individual purpose, and not becoming formulaic, chiseled by someone else. The third enemy is the Gibeonites, who are associated with five kings.  They symbolize the five personal senses. There is nothing so beguiling and deceitful as the senses. 
The Gibeonite kings have heard of the mighty Israelites and decide to perpetrate a fraud among them.  Gibeon means " that which is lifted up, or the elevation of iniquity."  The Gibeonite cities were considered very important both geographically and politically. They have heard of the conquests of the Israelites and decide to send several of their inhabitants to perpetrate a fraud upon Israel.  They deceive Joshua by dressing up in old garments and shoes and ride into the Israelite camp with bags of moldy food.  They pretend to have come from a far land because they have heard of the Lord God of the Israelites and all that He had done for them.  They tell a tale about how their elders and inhabitants of their land want to make a league with Israel.  Joshua and the princes accept them at face value and swear a league with them.  A few days later Joshua finds out about their charade.  The Gibeonites confess their fear as the reason for the charade and commend themselves into the hand of Joshua.  However, although the congregation murmurs against the princes for allowing themselves to be deceived, they refuse to go against the alliance which they have sworn before the Lord.  Instead, they say:  "Let them live;  but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation." Sympathetic or benevolent evil, clothed as human morals but not inherently spiritual, may seem to deceive us into thinking that they are just as worthy as spiritual values.  We must look at the situation wisely and decide whether or not it can be redeemed. 
If there are enough moral values present, we can recognize them as needful servants, and allow our higher spiritual values to be an example for them and lift them to our higher, more spiritual level.  In fact, the Gibeonites do feel aligned with Israel, and when they learn that the five kings of the five smaller cities surrounding their city are planning to make war upon them, they appeal to Joshua to come to their aid. This appeal was a blessing, for it enabled Joshua to react faster than if he had not learned of the kings' plan to attack the Gibeonite cities.  Joshua is duty-bound to help them, but attacking their cities is something he would have to do anyway. 
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He immediately gathers his warriors together and attacks them suddenly, discomfiting them and destroying them.  When he learns that the five kings have hidden themselves in a cave during the battle, he goes to the cave and rolls a great rock upon the mouth of the cave.  Later, he went to the cave, took the kings and hanged them. The next foes to be attacked were seven enemy kings, the supposititious opposites of the seven aspects of God's nature. They were handily destroyed. Then, all the rest of the kings, all their hosts with them…. “with horses and chariots very many."  (Josh. 11: 3)  The Bible indicates that they were taken by surprise and defeated. "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses;  and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.  And the land rested from war."  (Josh. 11: 7, 8, 23) 
Joshua has defeated the three phases of evil in the ways in which it tries to work--- the open, the hidden, and the falsely benevolent.  They take the forms of qualities which are exact opposites of good, God.  The carnal mind seems to come at us as a "multitude" at times.  But we can remember, though Jesus' dealt with multitudes of devilish problems daily, he could say:  "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled;  neither let it be afraid." (John14: 27) After distributing the land to the tribes for their individual inheritances and before he dies, Joshua recapitulates for the people the history of the Israelites since Abraham, ending with the recent conquest of the land which God has provided.  He tells them God's words:  "I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them;  of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not do ye eat.  Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt...And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods."  Israel learned obedience to God under Moses and the grace of God under Joshua. A stone has often symbolized Israel herself as the promise and activity of the Christ, the body of Truth which she has fought for and now accepts.  Joshua made a covenant and set them a statue that day and wrote the words in the book of the law of God. He then took a great stone and set it up by the sanctuary of the Lord and "said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us;  for it hath heard the words of the Lord which he spake unto us;  it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God."  (Josh. 24: 26, 27) This stone stands for the foundational law of Moses which Israel must build upon in the Promised Land. After these things, Joshua died, at the age of one hundred and ten years old.  "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel." (Joshua 24: 31) 
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The Book of Judges   Chapters 1-21 
This third thousand year period has emphasized Soul, spiritual understanding on an individual scale.  There is one God, one Soul, expressed as countless identities in the teeming atmosphere of Mind.  Moses and Joshua so identified themselves with their divine Mind, God, that they were in constant communion with the wisdom that flows from Mind. 
They were so attune to it that the Bible speaks of this communication as actually hearing God's voice and responding to it.  Now that they are gone, the children of Israel are truly as children.  They were led step by step as a parent leads them, by the hand.  Now they must identify themselves with their true Mind, their actual ever-present source of wisdom.  Each one, individually, must depend upon divine Principle for guidance.  Each must discern that he has the same "I," the same Mind, same wisdom, as Moses and Joshua had.  With this maturation comes self-government. However, they live in a land not conducive to spiritual growth.  They are surrounded by "neighbors"  who indulge in all of the egregious habits of the carnal mind--- paganism, violence, promiscuity, and greed, with no sense of Principle or moral self-government. The Israelites will have to conduct themselves with the highest propriety.  They must keep themselves separate---refrain from mixing with the "neighbors" and cleave fiercely to their newly-learned Commandments and to the truth of their own pure and good identities as children of the one God.  Surrounded by moral derelicts, this nation which holds the precious seed of the Truth of man's being is faced with a huge challenge.  However, for a generation after Joshua, the people did indeed serve the Lord.  "There was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."  (Judges 17: 6)  "Each tribe kept to itself, but together they formed one nation in much the same manner as the United States with its sovereign member states.  During this period the Birthright Promise through Joseph and the Sceptre Promise through Judah remained with one nation."  (Smillie, Mary Baker Eddy. p. 4) The next generation, though, did not know Joshua or the elders that served with him and led the people after he was gone.  They mixed with their immoral neighbors and "did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim." (Judges 2: 11) This was their undoing, for they lost the protection of God and became bound as servants to other nations.  This happened time and time again.  Each time, they suffered great distress and called out to God for help.  "The Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them...then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge." (Judges 2: 16)  The judges were not selected from an organized hierarchy or a priestly dynasty.  God raised up the judge each time. The Book of Judges records seven apostasies, seven servitudes in other nations, and seven deliverances.  This illustrates the lapses of all spiritual seekers, even when on the threshold of dominion.  Its "seven" means that the apostasies cover the entire range of the negative of God's sevenfold nature.   The deliveries cover the seven positive ways in which man is delivered from evil by the workings of the Christ, the Truth about man and God. 
Scofield describes this section of the text as "a striking illustration of all apostasy." 
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(Scofield's Reference Bible, p.308)  (Webster:  "apostasy.  a defection;  Abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed;  total desertion of principles or faith.") Let us look at what it is that judges.  Jesus said:  "...the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgments unto the Son...and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."  (John 5:  22, 27)  It is the office of the Christ to judge, for the Christ declares the true facts of God and at the same time these facts expose the carnal mind's lies.  The Father, divine Principle, knows no judgment, even as the principle of arithmetic knows only the correct computations.  The student, however, has to work out the problem, and his ability to "judge" whether the answer is right or wrong is his intelligent understanding of the changeless arithmetical principle.  We each, individually, must work out life's problems by practicing righteous judgment.  It helps us to know that our true selfhood is the Christ (Truth), which always arises to deliver us when sought humbly and in earnest.  Man is divine, not mortal. We will examine a few of the apostasies and the ways in which they were handled by the judges at the time.  Their symbolic lessons apply to any age.  The Israelites were sold into the hand of Jabin, king of the Canaanites, during this apostasy and served him twenty years with mighty oppression.  Deborah, a prophetess, was "raised up" by God and was the first woman judge to serve the Israelite nation.  Her name means "bee."  (The bees in a colony that do all the work are the female bees.  They inherently lay eggs, only male eggs, without male association. This types the fact that womanhood includes manhood.  The queen bee does no work and lays male and female eggs.  Once again, this types womanhood as the highest type of man, which is generic man---both male and female, in qualities, in one. ) Deborah lived in Mt. Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.   The captain of the Canaanite king's army was Sisera, who had nine hundred chariots of iron. He was a bully of a man, completely self-absorbed, full of ego, who dressed in impressive attire and was boastful and aggressive--- a type of false manhood, that which often claims to influence men and  nations. Keep in mind that these enemies of Israel are types of qualities of mortal mind that have been accepted by the Israelites as real.  That which you accept as real has a claim upon you, and until you defeat it by establishing in your thought its opposite spiritual reality, it will continue to cause you suffering.  Mrs. Eddy writes about this: "Mortals move onward toward good or evil as time glides on.  If mortals are not progressive, past failures will be repeated until all wrong work is effaced or rectified.  If at present satisfied with wrong- doing, we must learn to loathe it.  If at present content with idleness, we must become dissatisfied with it.  Remember that mankind must sooner or later, either by suffering or by Science, be convinced of the error that is to be overcome."  (S&H 240: 18-26) Man, enslaved by egotism, self-glorification and pride, frees himself by turning to the true womanhood qualities of selflessness, meekness, universality, and love.  Deborah does not try to handle this alone, however, but calls on Barak ("lightning"), another judge, out of Kedesh-Naphtali to make war on Sisera.  He tells her that he will go against Sisera only if she accompanies him.  She tells him that God has instructed him to quickly organize ten thousand men from the children of Naphtali and Zebulun and gather on the hillsides to 
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charge down onto the plains where Sisera's chariots would be.  Deborah will draw Sisera out and lead him to the river.  She tells Barak that God has delivered Sisera into his hand. 
Handling aggressive tendencies of the carnal mind needs a balance of womanhood and manhood qualities.  Alert action and intelligence must accompany patience and love. 
Deborah tells Barak: " "I will surely go with thee:  notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour;  for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." 
Certainly Deborah is a prophetess!    (Judges 4: 1-9) Sisera, in spite of his many chariots, is defeated by this complete sense of the true man, for mortal mind cannot war with Truth and Love.  The defeat includes another woman, Jael, a Kenite of the father-in-law of Moses who camps with the Israelites.  Witnessing the complete defeat of his army by Barak,  Sisersa flees away by foot to the tent of Jael.  She welcomes him in and gives him milk to drink.  He asks her to stand guard at the door of her tent and to say to anyone inquiring after him that she did not know of his whereabouts.   He then falls fast asleep from weariness.  As he sleeps, Jael takes a nail and drives it through his temple and kills him.  As Barak passes by her tent in pursuit of Sisera, Jael shows him the dead Sisera.   Although this is a very crude example, and true womanhood never resorts to murder, symbolically, womanhood qualities divest the carnal mind of its bombastic, self- serving, egotistical nature. Israel again relapses and worships Baal.  A judge arises who is not appointed of God.  Abimelech forces himself into the position of judge by killing all of his brothers except his youngest, who hides himself.  The Israelites then make him king.  This has never been done before;  it is an attempt to create a dictatorship.  All of the cities and nations around Israel have kings, and Israel's perversion blinds her to a mortal mind form of government which will take away her liberty.  The nation of Israel was governed as a theocracy, under God's will, and not a kingdom ruled by personal kings, hereditary rule, and an organized sense. When Jotham, Abimalech's youngest son who has survived his slaughter, hears of his brother being made king, he bravely goes up to Mt. Gerizim, the "mount of blessing," and tells the Israelites a lovely and significant "fable of the trees."  "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them;  and they said unto the olive trees, Reign thou over us.  But the olive trees said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?" The same request was made of the fig tree and to the vine, and they replied in like manner.  But finally, when all the trees invited the bramble to reign over them, it said, "If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow:  and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."  Jotham is comparing Abimelech to the bramble.  The bramble falsely exalted itself---a bramble runs wild, growing everywhere it isn't wanted and is never high or thick enough to provide shade.  Yet, shade was what it was promising.  It is symbolic of unstable, ambitious thought which runs wild over everyone and everything, and cannot fulfill its promises.  It invariably destroys itself, and others who trust in it.  Is this not what eventually happens with all evil dictatorships? 
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This is a wonderful lesson.  It is an illustration of how every idea in creation is distinctly individual.  It brings forth fruit that is natural to it.  If an idea (identity) of God (Soul) tries to take on individual qualities that do not belong to it, it loses its own fruit.  This is true not only on an individual basis, but also on a collective and universal basis.  In government, whether of families, communities, businesses, or nations, it is essential to remember that they run more harmoniously when natural expressions of individuality are respected.  There is no true unity in any type of government until each of us appreciates the value of each individual expression within the whole.   According to a dictionary definition of "harmony," "completeness and perfection result from diversity in unity."  St. Paul stresses this:  Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord....there should be no schism in the body;  but that the members should have the same care one for another."  (I Cor.  12: 4, 5, 25) Christian Science treasures the individual, knowing that each one has a purpose in God's universe.  It is unique and entirely good.  It has nothing to do with fatalism because it is spiritual.  Any government that squelches individualism is not in the best interests of its people and should be cast down.   Abimelech comes to his demise being slain by a millstone thrown down upon him by a woman in a tower of a city he had come to conquer. Samson is the last judge of Israel.  His strength and beguilement by Delilah are legendary.  Samson is born "a child of promise."  Like Israel, his real being is spiritual, not material.  An angel appears to his mother, who has been barren, and tells her she will conceive a child, and he will be a Nazarite.  It meant that, among other things, he must never shave off his hair.  His seven locks of hair symbolize man rooted in God and thus in possession of infinite power and strength.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power;  and this is Christian Science."  (My. 160: 5-8) 
The Israelites are in the hands of the Philistines at the time of his birth.  Philistinism is the opposition to progressive spirituality.  It is the worship of physicality and mystical religion.  Samson is called to deliver Israel from the Philistines.  His spiritual strength, symbolized by his unprecedented physical strength, is destined to bring about the fall of the Philistines.  "Samson is from the tribe of Dan.  The name means "little sun."  The meaning of Dan is "judge."  In Christian Science, Dan is defined in part as "animal magnetism." (S&H 583: 26)  The purpose of the real Dan is to translate a sense of power in animal magnetism, which keeps his nation in an apostate condition, into the spiritual sense of God as their divine Principle, from which they can never be cut off. Samson seems, through various escapades, to want to find a point of contact with the Philistines.  He is catching a glimmer that the Truth of God is everywhere and therefore must be the Truth about the Philistines.   He must learn, however, the necessity for first tackling the carnal mind's entrenched material belief (the animal magnetism) of the animal nature of that belief.  He loves a Philistine woman, Delilah, and falls under the spell of the carnal mind.  Delilah is urged by the lords of the Philistines to entice Samson and find out where his strength lay.  They have already seen evidences of his great super-human strength. 
On one occasion, when they had tried to kill him, he had carried away the gates of the city 
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on his shoulders to the top of the hill at Hebron.  Hebron means "alliance, society, friendship."  This act again shows that Samson seems to want to lift human thought to see the oneness of spiritual Truth that lies behind everything that is manifested. Delilah asks Samson on four occasions  to reveal the secret of where his strength lay.  Three times he fooled her by telling her of things he could be bound with from outside himself,  but the fourth time he falls for her wiles.  He tells her that if she cuts off his seven locks of hair his strength will be gone.  Instead of being spiritually alert, he falls asleep on her knee, and Delilah calls a man to come and shave off his locks.  When he awakes, he becomes weak  "like any other man."  (Judges 16: 15-19) Symbolically, we cannot be robbed of our spiritual strength by something extraneous to our being, but allowing ourselves to be robbed of that which inherently belongs to us through animal magnetism, being pulled away by the carnal mind, we find ourselves temporarily shorn of our spiritual strength and dominion.  If he hadn't "fallen asleep," he would not have been robbed. 
Samson is taken by the Philistines who put out his eyes, take him  to the prison house, bind him with brass, and make him grind.  Samson had the strength of manhood, but he lacked true womanhood to temper it.  Man's crowning glory is his womanhood, not the false womanhood of a Delilah, but the qualities of spiritual instinct, prescience or foresight, purity, astuteness, orderliness, meekness.  Samson, "little sun," is like light cut off from its source.  The woman in the Apocalypse is clothed in light. The great lesson of the "Promised Land" is that man is whole only when he is in possession of his womanhood as well as his manhood.  Adam allowed his womanhood to be taken away from him. The journey back to a state of completeness is mankind's journey.  In the coming fourth thousand year period, Judah and Israel, manhood and womanhood, the united kingdom, do not stay together, but are split apart, like Adam and Eve, and expelled from the Promised Land.  The land is, in actuality, the eternal spiritual wedlock of the manhood and womanhood of God. God, of course, can never be severed;  the belief in such a thing is animal magnetism and does not exist in Science.  So it is that Samson's hair grows back, and his strength returns.  When the Philistines call for him to be brought to them to make sport of him he is placed between the pillars that hold up the roof of the building.  The Bible tells us there were about three thousand people on the roof who had come to make sport of him plus all the lords under the roof.  He prays for strength, grabs the pillars, and brings down the whole building, killing all the people and himself as well. The third thousand year period ends, finally, after years and years of discord and war, Baal worshipping, and tribal disputes, with a coming together in harmony.  The last war was a civil war against the tribe of Benjamin.  This tribe, in its perverted sense, commits so many perversions that the rest of the tribes set out to exterminate the evil, sodomy, and practically eradicate the entire tribe ---there are only six hundred men left, and they are spared because they hid in a rock.  (Remember that Benjamin has two distinct meanings in the Glossary:  "... human knowledge, or so-called mortal mind, devoted to matter...a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Principle;  a spiritual type;  that which comforts, consoles, and supports."  (S&H 582: 4-13)  The tribe is so decimated that the rest of the tribes then 
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recognize that they are no longer a whole nation.  They allow the remaining Benjamites to restore their tribe by wedding Ephraimite virgins from Shiloh, where the ark of the covenant with God is resting.  The nation is once again whole.  "And the children of Benjamin...returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.  And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe, and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance."   (Judges 21: 16-24)  The real Benjamin must be seen maintaining the body of Israel in a state of harmony and unity. The healing of the breach is accomplished.  Israel is once again the harmonious twelve-fold symbol of the spiritual idea of God. 
The Book of Ruth   Chapters  1-4 
We will end the Third Thousand year period with its last story, told in the little Book of Ruth.  It is a sweet but vital story, completely the opposite of the apostasies of the Israelite nation which led inevitably to evil--- warring, killing, and tribal disunity. The good judges brought periods of peace which served to at least hold the nation together.  Yet, a further idea must be introduced.  The Book was written at a much later date, but took place in "the days when the judges ruled."  (Ruth 1: 1) The purpose is to bring out the fact that the nation of Israel must realize her relationship with the Gentiles beyond her borders.  She will eventually be inseparable from the rest of mankind.  She will find herself, in the "latter days" to be not only the center of her promised land, but also the circumference. Ruth ("beauty, friendship") is a daughter of Moab, whose king, in Numbers, hired Balaam to curse Israel.  Ruth, on the other hand, will bless Israel.  The Moabites were descendants of Lot from the incest with his own daughters.  They stand for the material sense of existence, propagating itself through its limited concepts of love and life.  But the Christ ideal, the true man, is forever at work in human consciousness bringing out man's relationship with the divine. The other main figure in the story is Boaz ("in it is strength"), who lives in Bethlehem-Judah, the birthplace of Benjamin and later of Jesus.  He is a mighty man of wealth.  Boaz is next of kin to Naomi, whose husband and two sons have died. They had journeyed to Moab ten years before, when there was a famine in the land and resided there. 
Naomi's husband died while there and then both of her sons.  Each son had married a Moabitish woman.  One wife returned to her own people and her own gods after her husband died.  The other wife, Ruth, however, wanted to stay with her mother-in-law and return with her to Bethlehem-Judah.   Her answer to Naomi when Naomi entreated her to return to her own people is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible:  "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:  for whither thou goest, I will go;  and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:  thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: " (Ruth 1:16) Ruth is receptive to the spiritual teaching of one God and to the Christ message which comes to her through Naomi's wisdom after their arrival in Bethlehem.  To follow wholeheartedly a spiritual ideal, loving it no matter the cost, is a womanhood quality, whether expressed by male or female. It sees that only the spiritual has the answer. Naomi, the widow, following 
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her Christ-thought home to her God, will find abundance, life uplifted and sustained, and ultimately great joy in the wedding of Ruth and Boaz. They arrive in Bethlehem at the season of barley, corn, and wheat harvesting.  As is the custom of the Israelites since Moses' time, according to the law set forth in Deuteronomy, the owners of the fields doing the harvesting purposefully leave grain and corn behind as they reap so that the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, and needy can come behind them and glean what has been left for them.  Naomi thus gives Ruth permission to glean in the fields.  When Boaz sees her gleaning in his field, he asks his servant set over the reapers about her and is told the story Ruth has told the reaper earlier in the day.  Boaz takes special care of her, telling her to follow the other maidens gleaning for they stayed in Boaz's fields.  He tells the reapers not to reproach her and to leave more among the sheaves than usual for her, dropping them "on purpose." What a lovely symbol this is of the way the Christ message speaks to the human consciousness.  It meets the need of the "gleaners," the seekers, in handfuls that can easily be digested and understood.   Giving a new spiritual thinker large "bundles" may be too much too soon and indigestible.  He also tells them to let her drink the water they have drawn, and to allow her to eat with them at mealtimes.  The Mother Love sustains her children by taking care of the "little details." Then he speaks to Ruth, telling her that he knows her story and welcoming her to Israel:  "It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in- law since the death of thine husband:  and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.  The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."  The supreme power that flows from a recognition of spiritual good translates every human condition to express that which blesses the human need.  Boaz's compassionate, tender, universal  attitude toward Ruth, the Moabitist, is a type of the comforting Christ idea.  Naomi lays herself on the ground before Boaz and replies: "Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord;  for that thou has comforted me, and for that thou has spoken friendly  (literally, "Thou hast spoken to the heart") unto thy handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thy handmaidens."  The handmaids  were the women servants who went over the ground after the reapers and gleaned any large amounts that were left.  As a foreigner, Ruth's status was lower than theirs.  (Dummelow's One Vol. Bible Commentary, p.175) When Ruth arrives home, she shows Naomi all of the grain she has been allowed to glean, after being beaten out, about a bushel, and she also gives her the leftovers from her parched corn lunch.  She tells her about Boaz and how kind he has been to her.  Naomi is glad to hear that it was Boaz in whose fields she had gleaned since he was a near relative. 
Boaz tells Ruth to stay in his fields until the harvesting of all his crops is finished, and so she gleans right on through all of the crops' seasons. In the third chapter of this little four chapter book, the motherhood of Naomi's uplifted thought says to Ruth:  "My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be 
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well with thee?  This, symbolically, is the satisfaction, the rest, that comes from realizing the relationship between the human and the divine. 
According to Jewish law, Naomi's next of kin should marry the widowed wife of her dead son. She sees Boaz as that person.  (Marriages are always arranged by the parents in Eastern lands.  Naomi must intervene this time for Ruth's sake.)  She also sees the possibility of honoring her dead husband by a near kinsman having the right to buy back the land that has been parted with and again be called by her husband's name.  (If an Israelite was compelled by poverty to dispose of his property, such a kinsman could compel the purchaser to sell it back, the object being to enable each family to remain in possession of its land.)  Naomi felt this would be expressing loving-kindness to her daughter-in-law as well. Naomi tells Ruth of a plan that will allow Ruth to let Boaz know that she is willing to become his wife if he is willing to take that position according to Hebrew law.  After the harvesting, Boaz can be found in the threshing floor winnowing barley, separating the grain from the stalks.  At night, he sleeps on the ground next to the grain as is customary, to guard it from thieves.  Naomi tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself  and put on the "simlah," a long outer robe of ceremony, for this is to be a formal and important visit.  After Boaz has had his evening meal and is sleeping, Ruth is to go to him and lie down at his feet.  Naomi has entire confidence in the honour of her kinsman.  Ruth says to Naomi's plan:  "All that thou sayest unto me I will do." Ruth epitomizes the world as it really is, lying at the feet of the universal Christ- idea, desiring to be its bride, or body.  At midnight, Boaz is awakened and, startled, calls out, "Who art thou?"  "And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid:  spread therefore thy skirt [or, thy wing] over thine handmaid;  for thou art a near kinsman.  [In other words, become my guardian and protector by marrying me according to the duty of a near kinsman.]   And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter:  for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followed not young men, whether poor or rich.  And now, my daughter, fear not;  I will do to thee all that thou requirest:  for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. "  (Ruth 3: 1-11)  (Dummelow's, pp. 175, 176) Although Boaz is willing to do his part, he tells Ruth that there is a nearer kinsman than he, and he must be consulted first and given the opportunity to do his part.  Boaz talks with the man, telling him that he must buy the parcel of land that had belonged to Naomi's husband and take on Ruth, the Moabitiss, as well.  The kinsman turns down this right, "lest I mar mine own inheritance."  Dummelow's One Volume Bible Commentary says about this: "The kinsman Boaz spoke with had the opportunity to buy back the land for Naomi.  He would also have to buy Ruth as his wife.  Ruth has nothing to do with the sale.  The money given by the bridegroom to the bride's family was compensation for the loss of her valuable services...The kinsman draws back.  The Rabbinic commentator thought that he was afraid of dying by God's judgment for marrying a Moabite...But his motive seems to have been an unwillingness to encroach on his own property for the sake of a son by Ruth, who would be heir of the newly acquired land and would not be accounted his child."  (p. 176) 
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This man, never given a name, seems to type a religious sense that is afraid of the human contaminating its exalted standard, thereby marring its heavenly inheritance.  Only the divine Science of the Christ can wed itself rightly to the human through scientific spiritual translation.  The human and the divine must be seen as a whole proposition.  It is the letter and the spirit;  understanding and demonstration;  manhood and womanhood;  the relative and the absolute;  the human and the divine---for it is a Science of being, not merely intellectual or transcendental thinking. So Boaz and Ruth marry, and out of that union comes a son, Obed ("server").  Obed becomes the father of Jesse who was the father of David, thus forming a direct link to Jesus. 
At his birth, the women say to Naomi that her daughter-in-law, Ruth, "is better to thee than seven sons."  True womanhood that loves with a sense of the deepest purity is better than a merely intellectual sense of God's nature, instead understanding it as the consciousness of completeness and universality that embraces all of creation in one undivided plan.  Such is the overriding message of the little Book of Ruth---no separateness, no division, but one universe moving in accord with one divine Principle that fulfills one blessed plan.  It is the perfect ending to the Bible's third thousand year period of Bible history, illustrating our journey from material sense to Soul, spiritual sense, which is the understanding of individual identity or body. 
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Chapter 9  The Books of  I and II Samuel    I and II Kings    I and II Chronicles 
The Fourth Thousand Year Period     Principle    Spiritual Power 
Principle, the fourth day of creation in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, unfolds the system of lights in the firmament of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars.  It symbolizes the activity of the divine nature of Principle, where all in the universe moves and revolves in harmonious relationship under the government  of its laws and rules.  Principle is also the fourth synonym for God as revealed to Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health.  Mirroring this government, Israel now moves into the golden age of its kings and prophets.  Its story ranges from I Samuel to Malachi, which is the rest of the Old Testament.  The groundwork is now laid for Israel's epic journey out of bondage to materialism into her inheritance in the "Promised Land" of spiritual understanding.  It was the beginning of the same journey mankind is beginning to see the end of today.  I will touch only upon its main highlights. Volumes have already been written on the spiritual details of this magnificent time. 
As related before, the object of my dissertation on the Books of the Bible is to show their relationship to Christian Science, which includes the “new” physics, and to the way in which the symbol of womanhood/motherhood is woven throughout the Scriptures.  One of the main reasons for the Comforter coming in this age is to bring us into the recognition of God as Mother as well as Father, thus to complete, for mankind's final phase of our journey, the seven-fold nature of God, which we each reflect. The children of Israel, now residing in the Promised Land, must work out the question of how best to govern themselves.  The judges who governed them towards the end of the third period worked well as long as they "judged righteous judgment. "  However, being surrounded by other king-ruled nations, the Israelites decided they wanted a king to rule over them. This wasn't ideal, for they must at some point learn to be self- governed using the Ten Commandments they were given by God through Moses. This would allow them to overcome subjection to all forms of personal domination. Israel was unique among all nations for to her was revealed the Truth, that there is only one God, one infinite Source of all creation, that loves, guards, guides, and governs its creation.  They were the ones who took the first footsteps on man's journey out of the illusion of matter and into the ever-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-acting domain of divine Mind.  Of course, it was their great leaders down through the centuries who were willing to humbly separate themselves from the multitudinous claims of material sense testimony.  They were hungry for the Truth of existence and thus were led by a higher sense of God and man as His manifestation or reflection.  It began with the faithfulness of Abraham and Sarah, the joyful acceptance of Isaac, Jacob's willingness to continue with struggles in spite of set-backs and his steadfastness in seeking increasing understanding  as seen in his twelve sons.  He came to see divine identity everywhere and learned to turn every experience into a blessing. The human journey needs the manhood of moral courage and absolute devotion and obedience to spiritual direction.  Moses illustrated these qualities and showed forth man's true Christ-selfhood.  It enabled him to  understand and give the laws and rules of spiritual 
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reality to the Hebrew people in a way they could understand.  Joshua, "Savior," was the last great character of the third period.  He expressed the  manhood and womanhood of God's nature in the wonderful love that sees how to save everything  that can be saved, even as Jesus, the great Savior, did. The Books of Judges at the end of the period show how time and again spiritual sense, if obeyed, acts in definite, dominant ways to overcome and deliver from danger. The Book of Ruth tops off the third period of Soul, "dry land" of spiritual understanding that comprehends the union of Soul and body as one infinite spiritual entity, with the wedding of an Israelite and a Moabitess. This symbolizes  the coincidence of the divine and the human. 
The "dry land" of consciousness is the recognition that earth is the reflection of heaven, that the visible is the reflection of the invisible, that man's fundamental identity is undivided from the infinite One.  As is God, Mind, so is man in reflection. The light of the first day is revelation, "Let there be light."  In the fourth day, "light" is plural, implying classifications of light,---a greater and a lesser light and stars also. Israel, ideally, in the Promised Land of spiritual understanding, now looks out from heaven instead of up to it. This celestial identity of the  children of Israel is symbolized in Science and Health by the crown of twelve stars worn by the "woman" in the Apocalypse.  (560)  As mankind, in the latter days, progresses in his understanding that he does not owe his intelligence, health, and life to his brain [or any other body part], but to the divine Mind that governs his body as its reflection of right ideas, he will come to govern himself harmoniously, eventually achieving dominion over sin, sickness, disease, and death. "What we must understand---what the Christianly scientific prophet does understand---is that infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul is the positive fact of which mortal mind, matter, and mortal body is the negative fable.  Here we touch the underlying Principle of the universe, which demonstrates itself to be Life, Truth, and Love. Spirit, not matter, is the subjective state of the Mind of man.  Man's body, therefore, is not a mind absorbed in matter, but is Mind's reflection of Itself as Spirit [pure, good ideas].  This identity of Mind and Spirit is signified by the term Soul.  Soul is Mind self-identified as Spirit, not matter.  It is in Soul, therefore, that identity, or body, is found.  The universe's own self-knowledge is the real identity of man."  "Man's individual being is not ‘born of a woman’ in the mortal sense, but born of ‘the woman’ depicted in Revelation, with her crown of twelve stars.  Like Jesus, man is Universe born, in contrast to being Mary born." (Brown, From Genesis...172- 3) Doesn’t this mean that man has reflected dominion over the universe? In the fourth period, Israel's prophets look out upon the universe from the high vantage point of God as Principle.  Only one of Israel's kings, David, is able to catch a glimpse of it.  "The word of the Lord" comes spontaneously to the pure consciousness of the prophets;  Principle is their God, and that which does not abide by Principle is animal magnetism, not personal sins, and is scathingly rebuked.  It is this unmasking of evil, illusion, animal magnetism, which the prophets perform for Israel and the human race that allows the birth of the Christ-idea to come forth in the fifth period, when Jesus, expressing the Christ, Truth, as the ideal man, is born of God. 
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Mrs. Eddy speaks of these great men in her textbook:  "The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction,---predicting the future from a groundwork of corporeality and human belief.  When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the Truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.  It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future. 
Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired,---yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind."   (S&H 84: 3) 
The First Book of Samuel 
Samuel, Priest of the Tabernacle,  Anoints Saul King and Later,  David   Chapters 1-31 
Samuel is the first of the fourth period prophets.  By this time, a corrupt sense of priesthood has overtaken Israel as seen in Eli the priest's two evil sons.  They were in charge of the "house of the Lord" where the ark of the covenant was kept.  They lay with the women that gathered at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and did not obey the priest's duties concerning burnt offerings.  "Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord:  for men abhorred the offering of the Lord."  (I Sam. 1: 16-17 and 22) "And the word of the Lord was precious in those days;  there was no open vision."  Old, dark religious confines were about to have the freeing light of prophecy break in upon them. Hannah, a wife of a Hebrew, had no sons and wept bitterly when she and her husband went yearly to worship and sacrifice in Shiloh.  Her husband's other wife had children and made life miserable for Hannah.  Finally, in bitterness of soul, Hannah prayed to the Lord that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord all the days of his life.  When Eli heard of her prayer, he told her to go in peace and asked that the God of Israel grant her petition.  Hannah then felt at peace.  In a short time, she conceived and bare a son whom she called Samuel," saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord."  (I Samuel 1: 1-20)  Here is another case where a righteous woman conceives a child as a result of faith in God and God, (Mind which is Love) fulfilling the request.  The child will be "sent" of God for a spiritual purpose. She weaned Samuel and then, fulfilling her promise, took him to Eli, telling him that she had promised to give him to the Lord for the rest of his life.  Then Samuel, beginning as a young child, ministered unto Eli.  Every year his mother brought him a new coat when they came to offer the yearly sacrifice before the Lord. "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men."  (I Sam. 2: 19 and 26)  One night, after the child Samuel and Eli went to bed, Samuel heard a voice calling him, "Samuel."  He ran to Eli, and answered  "Here am I;  for thou calledst me."  Eli told him to go back to bed for he had not called him.  It happened a second time.  Eli again told him to go back and lie down.  (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, 
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nor was the word of the Lord revealed to him.)  When the Lord called Samuel the third time, and he went in to Eli, the priest perceived that it was the Lord who was calling him.  He said to Samuel:  "Go lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth."  The next time God called him, Samuel responded as he had been told.  God then gave Samuel a message for Eli telling him that Eli had not restrained the evil of his sons and therefore the house of Eli would be purged. The next morning, after opening the doors of the house of the Lord, Samuel told Eli the message, and Eli bowed to the Lord's will.  The fresh air of receptivity to God's will has cleared out the stagnant air of corrupt, darkened vision.  "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of His words fall to the ground.  And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."  (I Sam. 3: 19-20) Before the time of Samuel, the offices of ruler and prophet had been combined in one person, as with Moses and Joshua, but after Samuel, prophecy emerged as a separate function, and took the very highest position as it should have done.  Prophecy is not the outcome of organization, but a prophet speaks according as he is moved by the Spirit of God. Now in Chapter four, Israel went to battle with the Philistines.  When Israel suffered her first defeat, the elders decided to carry the ark of the covenant into battle hoping it would save them.  However, the Philistines captured the ark, killed Eli's two sons, and won the battle.  Doesn't this imply the lesson that once "open vision" begins to grow in the thought of Israel because of Samuel, that the Israelites should no longer continue to look to the ark as simply a talisman for safety in a war?  Blind obedience to it was useless.  What they should have depended upon was their own individual, active inspiration from God. This points to something very important for all of us.  We should not feel safe just because we are an adherent of a particular religion, or because we partake of certain rituals or ceremonies, or because we wear or carry a religious object with us.  When something happens that makes us believe that these rituals or objects have let us down, we can be desolated.  Eli, in learning that the ark had not protected the Israelite army, and that, in fact, both of his sons had been killed, fell over and died.  Nothing can rob you of your peace and spiritual vision when it is based on faith and reliance on God instead of a symbol.  Holding to the Truth of your oneness with God and understanding that it is an indivisible oneness, means that you are never afraid that it can be stolen or lost from you.   While the ark is with the Philistines, they have a plague of "emerods" (infection carried by vermin) and send the ark back to the Israelites. When Samuel became old, he set his sons as judges over Israel, but they did not follow the Lord as did Samuel, for they accepted bribes and loved money.  So the elders of Israel went to Samuel and asked that he give them a king to judge the nation "that we also may be like all the nations."   Israel wanted to be ruled by person instead of Principle. 
Samuel was displeased with the request, for he knew a king could not be a permanent solution.  Individual government by divine Principle needs no organization to support it.  We bear in mind this legendary saying by Jesus:  "This world is a bridge.  Ye shall pass over it. 
But ye shall build no houses upon it."  The answer came to let them have their way.  They 
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showed by such a request that they had rejected God.  They would suffer the far-reaching consequences, for personal sense would rob Israel of her freedom and self-government.  The only true government is government by God, on an individual, collective, and universal basis.  Today, the world is engaged in working out questions of government.  We have become one world, dependent upon each other.  The need for spiritual seeing is greater than ever before.  The fact that there is a universal Science available for all to learn to understand, unfettered by denominational adherences, differences, or organizations is what will eventually save us.  It is the Truth of our dominion over matter, and the realization that every one of us is the reflection of the Mind that is God.  This knowing will make every man free. Samuel then anointed Saul, meaning "desired," a Benjamite, as the nation's first king.  He was very handsome, full of vanity, self-importance,  jealousy, sensitiveness, and aggression.  His mercurial nature affected the way he governed, sometimes willing to do God's will, but more often willful and hasty in making decisions, making excuses when things didn't work out well.  His son, Jonathan, was of opposite character, meek and principled. His nature was more aligned with David's, and they grew to have a great affection for each other when David came to be the harpist for Saul and for Israel. When the Israelites went into battle with the Amalekites, Saul did not obey the divine command and spared the life of their king.  But when the Amalekite king came to Samuel, Samuel slew him.  Evil could not be allowed to insinuate itself into the nation of Israel.  After observing Saul' s poor judgment which led to egregious mistakes, Samuel prayed, and God told him to anoint a different king. Samuel, then, under divine orders, while Saul was still king, began to seek for another king, one who would be obedient to God, humble, and  just.  God led him to Jesse, of Bethlehem, and, after surveying all of his sons without perceiving God's selection, asked if there was another.  He was told David, the youngest, was out shepherding the sheep. 
When David was called in, God told Samuel that he was the one to be anointed.  Samuel poured oil on his head, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.  His name means "well- beloved," and  Jesus will come from his line as prophesied by a later prophet.  Samuel made David Saul's armour-bearer. When the Philistines gathered for war against Israel, they strutted out their most fearsome warrior, a giant of a man named Goliath, meaning "Exile," clothed in heavy armour, to bargain with the Israelites.  He would fight anyone of their choosing.  If Goliath won, the Israelites would be their servants.  If the Israelite won, the Philistines would serve them.  David was chosen to fight him.  Metaphysically, David is called upon to slay the gigantic egotism in the thought of Israel, represented by Saul, which has overtaken the divine Principle in Israel's thought.  When David was chided because of his youth, he told how he had slain a lion and a bear while watching his father's sheep.  He said, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."  (I Sam. 17: 37)  He was so confident in God's protection, he refused armour and a sword offered him by Saul and instead relied on a sling and five stones. 
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The stone was a metaphysical symbol and is used throughout the Bible for impregnable, indestructible Truth.  It was later given great prominence by Jesus when he told Peter he was founding his church upon that stone of Truth.  The Book of Revelation speaks of a "white stone" which is given to "him that overcometh."  And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."  (Rev. 2: 17)  When we begin to reason from the Truth about everything, our nature is changed, and we receive a "new name," for we find ourselves fundamentally changed, gaining a certainty that nothing can shake.  Goliath was slain with one stone which David slung into the middle of his forehead.  The rock-like fact of spiritual reality slays the claim of human knowledge in the forehead, the seat of intelligence.  The Israelites were saved.  The mighty stone of Truth is all that is needed to destroy the illusion of matter. Today, human knowledge, like Goliath, announces itself morning, noon, and night, with bravado, challenging and defying the spiritual "soldiers" who hear it.  This human knowledge is arrayed in the imposing armor of materially scientific facts which challenge metaphysics and every conviction of spiritual power.  Yet, those who are enlightened soldiers, wielding the "sword of Truth," are not afraid.  They are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the spiritual is the only power. Mrs. Eddy alludes metaphorically to this story in Science and Health:  "Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect. 
Materialistic hypotheses challenge metaphysics to meet in final combat.  In this revolutionary period, like the shepherd-boy with his sling, woman goes forth to battle with Goliath." (268: 11-13)  Christian Science brought to mankind in the sixth thousand year period  the complete understanding of God as Father–Mother and thus raised the standard of generic man as having the reflected qualities of womanhood as well as manhood.  Mrs. Eddy typed (symbolized) this completeness. The quote continues:  "In this final struggle for supremacy, semi-metaphysical systems afford no substantial aid to scientific metaphysics, for their arguments are based on the false testimony of the material senses as well as on the facts of Mind… Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions.  The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the divine Mind.  Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul [spiritual understanding]."  (S&H 268: 6-13, 269: 11-16) In the interpretation of the final combat in which the world is now engaged, Mrs. 
Eddy symbolizes Goliath as "physics,"  Saul as "semi-metaphysics," and David as "metaphysics."  Semi-metaphysics is completely ineffectual in combating physics.  With its belief in the reality of evil as well as of good, it can never combat the belief that man is exiled from God.  Only divine metaphysics, which is not exiled, can do it.  David had the womanhood quality of the conviction of man's unity with God, good.  This is the quality needed in Israel.  It is the same quality needed today. What was the "Goliath" physics Mrs. Eddy was battling?  "The theories I combat are these:  (1) that all is matter;  (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as real as Mind, 
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possessing intelligence and life.  The first theory, that matter is everything, is quite as reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter coexist and cooperate.  One only of the following statements can be true:  (1) that everything is matter;  (2) that everything is Mind. 
Which one is it? "Matter and Mind are opposites.  One is contrary to the other in its very nature and essence;  hence both cannot be real.  If one is real, the other must be unreal.  Only by understanding that there is but one power,---not two powers, matter and Mind,---are scientific and logical conclusions reached.  Few deny the hypothesis that intelligence, apart from man and matter, governs the universe;  and it is generally admitted that this intelligence is the eternal Mind or divine Principle, Love."  (S&H 269: 29-270: 13) 
The Second Book of Samuel            King  David    Chapters 1-24 
David was crowned king of Israel by Samuel while still a shepherd boy.  God proclaimed His covenant with Israel, "Thy throne shall be established forever."  (II Samuel 7: 13)  David was Israel's greatest king, and his dynasty will extend to the spiritual kingdom of the Christ, Christ Jesus in the fifth thousand year period.   Although he made some bad, even immoral choices in his life, he always realized the extent of his sin and made no attempt to resist the lessons he was called upon to learn.  David always loved his enemies. Saul loved David's harp playing but grew jealous of Jonathan's admiration and deep affection for David.  This jealousy grew into an unreasoning hatred for David, and he began making attempts on David's life.  Twice Saul attempted to slay him with a javelin while he played on the harp, but David escaped.  This extreme situation caused David, with Jonathan's help, to flee from the palace.  They fled into the wilderness and suffered hunger and exhaustion from constant pursuit by Saul and his men.  The Bible tells us about this period:  "And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds." (I Samuel 23: 29)  David's true strong hold was his implicit trust in God.  As difficult as it was, this experience provided David a period in which to work out the proving of his divine qualities which he will need when coming in to his kingship. A wilderness experience is a familiar pattern in the Bible.  Moses took the Children of Israel into the wilderness before they became rulers in their own land.  Elijah, which we will soon study, was sustained in the wilderness before his conclusive demonstration of God's power over the gods of Baal.  Jesus was strengthened in his forty days and nights in the wilderness which enabled him to go forth and prove his spiritual kingship with healing works.  When tempted to depend on matter, he found that only by identifying himself with the divine could he fulfill his mission.  A wilderness experience can seem barren of any good, but usually proves that what seems barren brings forth the "bud and blossom." David learned to rely on his spiritual sense when, famished with hunger, he fled to the priest of Nob and demanded to be given the shewbread for himself and his men.  Only the priests were allowed, by rule, to eat the hallowed bread, but David persuaded him and he allowed them to eat.  Jesus referred to this incident when his disciples were rebuked for plucking and eating corn on the Sabbath day.  He said:  "The Sabbath was made for man and 
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not man for the Sabbath."  Man has a right to be sustained here and now, for he is forever God's perfect image and likeness.  (I Sam. 21: 1-6) Fear does not bring peace to one in the wilderness;  it needs to be overcome with complete trust in God's protection.  David found refuge in the cave of Adullam, meaning "retreat, refuge, resting-place."  When all of  "his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.  And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him;  and he became a captain over them:  and there were with him about four hundred men."  (I Sam. 21: 22) When David was a boy he watched over the sheep in the wilderness.  Now he is a man and is a captain of men in the wilderness.  He proved true that if you are "faithful over a few things, " you will be made "ruler over many things."  (Matt. 25: 21) David went to the King of Moab and asked him to care for his parents, which he did. 
David then inquired of God what he should do.  He had learned that the Philistines had invaded the city of Keilah, and God told him to go there and save the city. He and his men obeyed, defeated the Philistines, and stayed in the city. When Saul found out he was there, he declared triumphantly that because the city had gates and bars, David would be enclosed inside and could be easily destroyed with the rest of the city. However,God told him to leave the city in spite of its seeming safety, and David, obeying his spiritual sense, preserved his life along with the six hundred men who were with him. Keilah means "enclosed." If we limit or enclose life or  intelligence in matter, they are subject to destruction. That which is unconfined cannot be killed. All good values are incorporeal, infinite, and, established on this divine basis, are preserved.  (I Sam. 23: 1-13) David went into the woods to hide from Saul, and while there Jonathan went to him and strengthened and comforted him, telling him:  "Fear not:  for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee;  and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee...And they two made a covenant before the Lord:  and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house."  (I Sam. 23: 15-18)  We all have had an experience while in a struggle of some kind, that someone comes along who expresses kindly affection or compassion, and it encourages and comforts us.  Moral qualities are very close to spiritual qualities and are necessary before one can express spiritual ones. Twice, while in the wilderness,  David had an opportunity to destroy Saul when he had the perfect chance even though Saul was seeking to destroy him.  Once, when Saul was in pursuit of David, he happened to go into the same cave in which David was hiding and went to sleep.  When urged by his men to kill him, David answered: "The Lord forbid that I should...stretch forth mine hand against ..the anointed of the Lord."  All he did was cut off the skirt of Saul as he slept and then showed it to him when he awoke, demonstrating his restraint and mercy in refusing to kill him. Saul was repentant, and told David that by his act of mercy, he would surely be king.  David's Christly nature allowed him to see "the Lord's anointed," instead of a hateful, emotional profligate. A second time, when Saul had changed his heart toward David and again sought to kill him, David went to look for Saul, and when he found him asleep, was again urged to let one of his men kill him.  But David refused to raise his hand against the Lord's anointed, and 
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instead took away his spear and cruse of water.  The spear was known as a symbol of authority and the cruse as a symbol of life.  The Christ consciousness sees through what the five senses portray and realizes there is no power in what seems to be powerful and frightening on the outside.  David, obedient to spiritual sense, took away the authority and life of any power opposed to God.  (I Sam. 26: 3-25) Now we come to the lovely story of David and Abigail, who became his wife. 
While David and his men were in the wilderness, they were often among the shepherds who were caring for the sheep which belonged to Nabal, a very wealthy man.  David and his men helped to guard and care for the three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.  It was the custom among the shepherds and the Bedouins in the wilderness at harvest time to give perquisites to those who helped them.  However, Nabal, a churlish man who accounted David of no consequence, refused to pay them in return for their protection.  This angered David and his men who wanted to kill Nabal for withholding what was rightfully theirs. Abigail, Nabal's wife, heard from one of Nabal's young men about how good David and his men had been to the shepherds and that Nabal had railed on them and refused to do what was expected of him when David and his men had gone to salute him.   She immediately loaded two donkeys, unbeknownst to Nabal, with abundant provisions for David and his men and went to them and won mercy from them for Nabal.  Abigail knew who David was and that God had appointed him to rule over Israel.  She said to him:  "...for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house;  because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.  Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul:  but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God;  and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.  And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;  That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord,..." 
"So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house;  see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person."   When Abigail returned home, her husband held a feast, got drunk on wine, and then the next morning Abigail told him what had transpired.  Ten days later Nabal died, and David ended up marrying Abigail.  David knew that Abigail had been courageous and that her womanhood sense had in a most graceful way prevented him from doing violence.  She let him know that his royal destiny would irresistibly deal with his enemies, and that he must not take justice into his own hands.  David listened to her and showed mercy. The world today needs to listen to its womanhood sense.  Violence is not the way to settle injustices, actual or imagined.  We all must be open to the motherhood qualities of mercy, compassion, bigness, steadfast trust in good, impersonality, and spiritual intuition. 
True power rests in the consciousness of one who knows that divine Principle is always the highest sense of government, and that divine Principle is inseparable from Love. David's wilderness period helped him to prove himself so that he could deal wisely and successfully with the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah and to hold them together throughout his reign.  His great love of God, good, and complete trust in his spiritual sense 
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of things rather than depending on material sense, kept them united, for Judah (manhood) and Israel (womanhood) were one in David's consciousness. When finding out that Saul and David's beloved friend, Jonathan, had both been slain in battle with the Philistines, David mourned them both equally.  He cried out in his lament,  "The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places: how are the mighty fallen...Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided..."  (II Sam. 1: 19, 23)  Mrs. Eddy writes: "  'Love thine enemies' is identical with 'Thou hast no enemies.' "  (Mis. 9: 9)  Despite what appeared to be a sinning mortal man, David strove to behold  "in Science the perfect man."  (S&H 476: 32)   David himself showed forth the character of the Christ in his allegiance to Principle;  therefore, the Gospels call Jesus "the son of David."  Jerusalem, (city of peace) became the capital city of the united kingdoms of Judah and Israel under David.  They remained united throughout his reign.  This city of David, Zion, the city of the great king, foreshadows the New Jerusalem, the universal mother-city as understood in Christian Science. After his mourning, David asked God if he should go to Judah and received the answer that he should go to Hebron in Judah.  So he and all of his household and his men and their households "dwelt in the cities of Hebron."   (Remember that Sarah, Abraham's wife, died at Hebron, and the cave selected by Abraham for the family burial place is also there.)  And the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the house of Judah. However, David's attainment of the throne did not end his difficulties.  Soon afterwards, Abner, the captain of Saul's host, made Saul's son, Ishbosheth, the king over all the eleven tribes of Israel.  But  Ishbosheth falsely accused him of going in to one who had been Saul's concubine.  "According to Eastern ideas, this was equivalent to laying claim to the throne."  (Dummelow, p.197)   Abner was furious and decided to turn the rival kingdom of Israel over to David.  He told David his plan, to which David consented, and made a feast for Abner and sent him away in peace. Abner gathered all of Israel and Judah into one united kingdom for David.  It is interesting that the Scriptural writers use the very word "translation" when telling of this story.  "...as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;  To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba."  (II Sam. 3: 6-10)  David trusted Abner to make it a peaceful translation.  In scientific translation, Abner typed the second degree, the moral, and chose to leave behind his loyalty to Saul, typing the physical, for David, typing the spiritual.  Thus Abner was translating himself from the physical, to the moral, to the spiritual, and David, realizing this, knew it would be a peaceful translation. Joab,  the captain of David's host, did not trust Abner to do it and, trusting in human will, called Abner in on a treacherous pretext and killed him.  David was extremely grieved over the treachery, and he and all the people wept for Abner.   “...all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner."  (II Sam. 3: 21- 37)  "So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron;  and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord:  and they anointed David king over Israel."  (II Sam. 5: 3)  Joab later paid for his violence.  David's way was to let error destroy itself and to 
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translate the kingdom naturally without rancor or bloodshed.  It is the way of true womanhood.  Spiritual intuition is always better than mortal mind based on material assumptions.  It solves problems based on the greatest blessings for the greatest number; this way of thinking is the outcome of dropping the mortal mind "blame game" and humbly accepting the Truth that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation."(S&H 468:10-11) David wanted to show kindness to the house of Saul for Jonathan's sake.  Jonathan had a lame son, Mephibosheth, who was kind, selfless, and humble, and David gave orders that he was to be allowed to always eat bread at the king's table.  He had been five years old when the news of Saul's and Jonathan's deaths came and his nurse fled with him so fast that he fell, and the injury made him lame in both feet.  The upward-tending moral sense (Mephibosheth) begins to recognize the spiritual as its home and is fed and sustained by the power of the spiritual. Right on the heels of David being anointed king of Israel, the Philistines made war on the united nation.  David listened for God's instructions every step of the way and defeated them handily.  Finally, with some peaceful breathing room,  David had an opportunity to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, the capital city of the nation.  The ark was a symbol of spiritual teaching, and David felt the commandments should have a permanent resting place in the kingdom.  If we want to gain a sense of God's kingdom being "within" us, we must provide a place for God's kingdom in our consciousness. God had given instructions for carrying the ark, and David forgot this and tried to bring it into the city in an ox cart, a human expedient.  The ark was set upon a new ox cart, but the oxen caused the ark to shake too much.  When Uzzah tried to reach out to steady it, he was struck dead.  David learned that God's appointed way does not in the least include human will.  Scofield writes: "God had given explicit directions how the ark should be borne and David adopted a Philistine expedient." This expedient is human knowledge.  "We know that the kingdom of God cannot be realized permanently in our experience and be proof against all the enemies that assail it, unless it is based on scientific understanding of spiritual rules and laws.  If we try to acquire these, though, through a mere intellectual learning of spiritual fundamentals, impelled by human will or because we believe we should acquaint ourselves with them, they can be shaken, even as the oxen shook the ark. When they are shaken, then we often try to steady the situation humanly, but that method is of no avail. Finally, David had the ark brought in the right way, carried reverently by a priestly family, not driven, per Moses'  instructions.  Reverently carried within us by spiritual sense, not driven by human will, our ark will be established with much rejoicing. David next desired to build a house for the Lord.  Isn't that what we often want to do when we are filled with happiness and gratitude for God's saving Truth and how it has helped and healed us?  We think it must be a physical structure or some organization that we believe will glorify the God of our gratitude.  However, God told David through His prophet, Nathan, he did not want a house to be built for him, that He would build a house for David!  "And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to 
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dwell in?  Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle...And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies.  Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house."  (II Sam. 7: 4,5,6, 11) 
Hasn't God already "built" us a "house?"  In today's Scientific language, we know that house or temple, typed by Solomon, stands for the body or reflection of God, Mind's infinite idea.  He also told David that he would have an heir (Solomon) who would build the house of the Lord, and he promised David: "And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee:  thy throne shall be established forever."  David's "throne" would be established by Jesus who will come through David's line in the fifth thousand year period teaching and demonstrating the divine government of Principle.  We are learning that our body or identity dwells in Mind, not mind in body. David is known for his tryst with Bathsheba, where he departs from Principle and allows himself to be governed by the carnal mind.  Bathsheba is the wife of  Urriah, David's faithful servant, but David coveted her and sent for her to lie with him.  Afterwards she found that she was going to have his child.  David then tried in many subtle ways to make it appear that Urriah was the father.  When those plans did not work, he cunningly had Urriah killed in battle.  So David broke the commandments---he covets, steals, adulterates, and kills.  David then married Bathsheba, and the baby was born to them.  It was a son who soon became very sick and died.  David deeply repented for his sins and comforted Bathsheba. 
He did love her, stood by her, and was faithful to her to the end of his days.  A second son was born to them, and this was Solomon, meaning "peace." David's next great difficulty was the attempted usurpation of his throne by his own son, Absalom.  Once again David fled into the wilderness.  He did not want to fight his son. 
He has learned to lean on God's disposal of events.  He knew that error eventually uncovers itself and is self-destroyed.  So David and his household "tarried in a place that was far off." Sometimes we have to take steps in a situation which take us away from the personal will, pride, or dictatorial methods of the situation.  It is simply not propitious at that time to fight it.  In those testing times, we just trust that divine Life, Truth, and Love is governing the whole situation, and we stand "far off."  We take the scientific position that there is one Mind that is Principle and Love.  We refuse any suggestion of power or influence from a lower source.  We take our stand "in the secret place," knowing that mortal mind cannot see or know us, for we are entirely spiritual, dwelling in that consciousness that knows no evil. "... as man rises to become truly conscious of his spiritual estate, the prophetic vision will be realized that ‘When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.’(Isaiah59:19)  and "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks."  (Isaiah 2: 4)  "The real consciousness of spiritual fact, is an impregnable defense, as it was with Jesus, but man must have risen to the standpoint of spiritually understanding the law of turning the other cheek in order to take the Wayshower's apparently non-resistant attitude towards his attackers.  Jesus had no mere moral acceptance of this law, but an intelligent spiritual understanding of it, and 
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so operated in its essentially preserving and protecting nature."   (Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book II, I Samuel-Esther, 51) David made the priest Zadok and the Levites return to Jerusalem as soon as he saw them fleeing with him and his household.  This was significant, for it meant that David knew that God's protection was with them whether or not the symbol for that protection accompanied them as a physical presence.  The second significant thing was that by insisting Zadok stay in Jerusalem, he demonstrated his realization that spiritual sense cannot be withdrawn from any situation, no matter how serious.  Jesus knew that right in the midst of his appearance before Pilate God was in command.  The ark containing the divine commandments was to remain in the central place in the city even though the city was in enemy hands. When we trust implicitly in God to lead us in the right direction, God does, in ways we might not have imagined.  When word came that Absalom plotted to kill David, David's friend, Hushai, told him to go over the Jordan River where he could not be followed or destroyed.  The Jordan was the boundary which divided the kingdom of Israel from her neighbors on the east.  To "cross the Jordan" means, symbolically, to get a wider, bigger sense of God's omnipresence and omnipotence.   In this uplifted view, we gain a sense of our unity with God, and solutions present themselves to our waiting thought.  Hushai, as a result of this "letting go and letting God," came up with a plan which used Absalom's vanity.  He would persuade Absalom to go into battle himself against David instead of letting his counselor secretly kill him.  This would give David time to gather his forces against the attack. David crossed into Mahanaim, and the people of the country brought him all kinds of provisions and comforted him and his men.  When we are taking a broader, more uplifting view of a situation, we are enabled to become aware of unexpected factors which sustain and support us.  Provisioned and sustained, David's forces were ready for the battle with Absalom and his revolutionaries.  Even at that point, David commanded that Absalom not be killed. In the course of the battle, Absalom was riding a mule under a tree and his great head of hair, of which he was so proud, got caught in the low branches and Absalom was suspended there.  When Joab heard of Absalom's predicament, he went out to find him and killed him.  "Ambitious mentalities often ride forward on mules of unintelligent stubbornness.  Eventually they  become caught up by pride and self-glorification, and they are left suspended with nothing to support them---a prey to revenge and destruction." (Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book II, I Samuel-Esther, 54) David mourned for his son, for it had not worked out the way his heart so deeply desired.  Jesus mourned in the same way over Jerusalem:  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"  (Matt. 23: 37) Here is the motherhood that longs "to seek and to save that which is lost."  (Luke 19: 10) 
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David could not continue to give in to mourning, but had to rouse himself for the sake of the nation he was to lead.  The people turned to David after the death of Absalom and restored him to the throne of a united Israel, and he went forward with trust in God's government.  The spiritual now sat on the throne in its right relationship to the whole.  David forgave those that cursed him, blessed those that helped him, and gave opportunity to those that wanted to serve him.  He expressed his true spiritual sense which embraces all ideas at every state and stage of development.  That great expression of infinite Love, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote:  "I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space, and that divine Love so permeated my own consciousness that I loved with Christ-like compassion everything I saw.  This realization of divine Love called into expression the beauty of holiness, the perfection of being which healed and regenerated and saved all who turned to me for help."  (S&H 253: 2) The Book of Second Samuel ends with David buying a threshingfloor from the Jebusite, Araunah, on which to build an altar.  The site became the ground for the temple of Solomon.  A threshing floor is where the grain is brought in and beaten out from the stalks, and the real substance of the harvest is extracted.  This is a wonderful way in which to close the story of David, for it epitomizes the process whereby he faithfully extracted from his human experiences the fundamental spiritual lessons or substance of what he needed to learn in every situation.  Our true body or temple can only be built on a "threshing floor." 
David's great love for God is expressed in his many beloved Psalms.  In fact, Mrs. Eddy's last chapter in Science and Health ends with David's twenty-third Psalm.  It is a beautiful, profound expression of David's spiritual understanding of Love. Like Moses in Deuteronomy, David sings his "song of the rock."  It is a psalm of thanksgiving for being delivered out of the hand of Saul and all his enemies.  "The Lord is my rock;  in him will I trust:  he is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my saviour;  thou savest me from violence.  I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised:  so shall I be saved from mine enemies...He sent from above, he took me;  he drew me out of many waters...He brought me forth also into a large place:  he delivered me because he delighted in me....For by thee I have run through a troop:  by my God have I leaped over a wall.  As for God, his way is perfect;  the word of the Lord is tried:  he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.   For who is God, save the Lord?  and who is a rock, save our God?  God is my strength and power:  and he maketh my way perfect...Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:  and thy gentleness hath made me great....Thou hast enlarged my steps under me:  so that my feet did not slip....The Lord liveth;  and blessed be my rock;  and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation."  (II Sam. 22: 1, 2-4, 30-33, 36, 37 47, 51) 
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The First Book of Kings 
King  Solomon    Elijah the Prophet       Chapters  1-22   Principle  Spiritual Power 
For the rest of the Old Testament I will condense the stories down to the most important events in each Book and also those that enable me to show you the Biblical line of Motherhood/ Womanhood being woven throughout the Scriptures, often subtly but sometimes so overtly it cannot be missed. After David passed on, his son, Solomon, (meaning “peace”) became king of Israel and Judah. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said:  "Ask what I shall give thee."  Solomon replied:  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad:  for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"  God answers:  "Behold, I have done according to thy words,  I have given thee an understanding heart...and I have also given that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour."  (I Kings 3: 7-12)   Because Solomon asked for that which is spiritual, he was rewarded with an abundance of riches and honour.  Jesus said:  "...seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."  (Matt. 6: 33) That which is spiritually good multiplies itself, because it is based on Principle.  You do not make 2x2=4.  The Principle behind that fact is the forever cause of its correct multiplication. 
The metaphysics of all ideas works the same way. Abundance is a metaphysical fact, for Mind governs it, not the things being multiplied. We live in a world of ideas, not things. 
This is precisely the physicists’ teaching today.  Theology and medicine are far behind and must progress in their views if civilization is to progress. Solomon is not only king but also judge of the people.  His wisdom is put to the test when two harlots come before him.  The son of one of the harlots has died.  The son of the other harlot lives.  The mother of the dead child exchanges the dead child for the live one. 
When the mother of the living child accuses the other harlot of taking her live child, Solomon wisely ferrets out the answer by ruling that the live child be cut in half so that each mother can have half.  The mother of the dead child was agreeable, but the mother of the living child pleads with Solomon to give him whole to the other woman.  Solomon has found out the true mother and restores her child to her whole.  By this judgment, Israel knew that the wisdom of God was in him.  "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt...and his fame was in all nations round about."  (I Kings 3: 16-28) In the coming story of Israel, however, Israel will allow her body to be cut in two, and through two captivities, each part will "die."  This dismemberment will not be redeemed until the fifth, sixth, and seventh thousand year periods.  During these three thousand years, Christ Jesus and Christian Science come to restore, individually, collectively, and universally, to the motherhood of God, the undivided body of man, and all mankind is raised from "the dead." Before David died, the Lord promised him:  "Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name." (I Kings 5: 5)  God directed that the trees be cedar trees out of Lebanon.  So Solomon, living in peace on every side, began 
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the building.  (It is interesting to note that this building began four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt.)  Great, costly, hewed stones were the foundation of the house, typing the rock of Truth upon which Jesus said he would build his church.  It was completed in seven years, typing the seven aspects of God, and standing for completeness or fulfillment.  When finished, it was a magnificent temple, with luxurious furnishings and gold adornments, a symbol of unlimited riches and prosperity. 
The ark of the covenant was installed inside, which contained the two tablets of stone (Truth) upon which were written the Ten Commandments, given by the Lord to Moses as a covenant with the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. "And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud:  for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord."  ( I Kings 8: 9-11) The temple is a symbol for Israel's body, the temple of the Holy Ghost (divine Science) which is in her, which she has of God, and she is not her own.  As you now know, “temple” is used as a symbol for body through the Bible, which Jesus knew when he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up...But he spoke of the temple of his body."  (John 2: 19-21) Solomon gave a prayer of thanksgiving when the temple was finished.  He "stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:  And he said:  ...But will God indeed dwell on the earth?  behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;  how much less this house that I have builded?  A symbol cannot contain within it the idea it represents.  The symbol is for teaching humanity an idea.  After fulfilling its purpose, the symbol must disappear.  The danger happens when the symbol is allowed to take precedence over the idea.  Then the worshippers want to be self-perpetuating instead of self-dissolving.  It then is no longer symbol but counterfeit. The Queen of Sheba has heard of the glorious building and comes to visit it.  The riches impress her beyond words.  Solomon must hew strictly to God and the commandments housed in the ark, for all of the success, popularity, and prosperity can just as quickly degenerate into material glory which can be taken away.  (I Kings 10: 1-13) Sadly, that is what happened.  Rather than the riches reminding Solomon of God's riches, he began to personalize them as his, surrounding himself with foreign wives and concubines, starting with a daughter of Egypt, the queen of Sheba.  He allowed the luxuries to become the most important thing, rather than the worship of the one God.  The multitude of wives and concubines typifies the negative concept of woman, generic man, the church (temple) as the body, or bride, of Christ--- all that Israel really stands for.  Solomon began turning away from God and went after false gods.  Thus the symbol deteriorates as Israel follows Solomon's lead.  Enemies began to assail the nation from within and without.  No longer could Solomon say that all about his kingdom is peace.  Edom and Syria bore down on Israel from without, and Jeroboam whom he put in charge of the house of Joseph in the northern part of the country rebelled against him from within.  Ten tribes formed the 
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northern kingdom of Israel, the house of Joseph, (womanhood) under Jeroboam, and two tribes formed the southern kingdom of Judah (manhood) under Rehoboam, Solomon's son. Israel was then a country divided against itself, and could then be referred to as just the northern kingdom of ten tribes, or generically as the whole nation.  Judah and Benjamin constituted the tribes of the southern kingdom.  The womanhood and the manhood of God is basically what the Bible and the civilization of mankind is about.  The manhood and the womanhood of God appear in their living reality in the coming three centuries after this fourth one.  As Judah becomes increasingly dictatorial, Benjamin, (spiritually inspired individuality) becomes absorbed in Judah and loses its independent identity.  Thus, the southern kingdom is described as "the house of Judah" only.  Material worship leads to abject slavery to that concept.  After Solomon dies, his son, Rehoboam takes the throne and everything becomes worse.  He threatens to chastise Israel with "scorpions." This threat made the ten tribes of Israel to rebel against the house of David. 
Jeroboam is crowned king of the new independent Israel and sets up two golden calves for Israel to worship so they won't go back to Judah to worship in the temple.  The people hasten to worship them, and this act of Jeroboam's made Israel to sin and to be banished from the land.  The sin of Israel is said to be greater than the sin of Judah.  This is the beginning of a long history of friction between the two halves of what should be one kingdom.  They both also fight outside oppressors.  King Ahab of Israel weds the princess Jezebel, thus opening the door to Baal-Ashtaroth worship.  Solely because of the faithful David, the two idolatrous nations are spared utter destruction. In I Kings 21:17, Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, now comes into the picture as the prophet of the ten tribes of Israel.  He is defined in the Glossary of Science and Health:  " 
Prophecy;  spiritual evidence opposed to material sense; Christian Science with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold;  the basis of immortality."  Jesus' words are also included in the definition:  "Elias [Elijah] truly shall first come and restore all things."  (S&H 585)  (Matt. 17: 11)  Elijah comes to restore the two kingdoms to their original unity.  He discerned the necessity of the unity of the two kingdoms in order for the manhood (Judah) and womanhood (Israel) of God to be revealed in the latter days.  This can be seen now, in the critical long view of history with which we have been blessed.  The womanhood of God is the final revelation which Mary Baker Eddy brought to the earth.  If we do not see ourselves as divinely having, by reflection, the qualities of womanhood, there will never be peace on earth.  Jesus brought the true sense of manhood but hinted at his sense of man's womanhood which he could not overtly teach in his day. We will discuss this more thoroughly when we reach the New Testament. As a result of the drying up of productive spiritual activity, due to the worship of the fertility gods, Baal and Ashtaroth, Elijah saw drought all over the country.  God (his divine Mind) told him to dwell near a brook where he could have water, and ravens would bring him food every morning and evening.  Our infinite Mind has dominion over the birds of the air!  Are they not also expressions of Mind dwelling in the realm of Mind?  (I Kings 17: 1-6) When the brook dried up, God sent him to a widow woman whom he had commanded to sustain him.  Upon his arrival at the gate to the city, he saw her gathering 
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sticks and called to her to bring him some water and some bread.   She told him she had no bread, only a handful of meal and a little oil.  She explained that she was gathering sticks so that she could make a little cake for herself and her son that they may eat and then die. 
Elijah told her not to fear, but to make him a little cake first and then prepare one for her son and herself.  "For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah:  and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days."  She was obedient, leaning not unto her own understanding, but unto God, and was rewarded.  Did not Jesus multiply the loaves of bread and the fish on two occasions and feed his disciples on the shore of the lake after his resurrection?  Multiplying with the Mind is possible when we realize that Mind as Principle is the multiplier.  (I Kings 17: 8-16) Next, after this wonderful demonstration of supply which lasted many days, we are told that the woman's son became very ill and died.  He took the child up into a loft and laid him upon his own bed and “stretched himself upon the child three times,” and prayed for the life of the child.  Stretching himself upon the child symbolized reflection---man is the reflection of God, Life.  The child revived and Elijah took him to his mother.  She said: "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth."  (I Kings 17: 17-24)  It is the works that count in proving our faith in God to others as well as to ourselves.  It is why Jesus put such emphasis on them.  It is why they must be restored by all that teach and practice the Word of God.  For only by this will we all know that our word is Truth. In the third year of the drought, Elijah went to Ahab, the king of Israel who married Jezebel and worshipped Baal, and Ahab asked him if he was the cause of the drought.  "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"  Elijah answered:  "I have not troubled Israel;  but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim."  (I Kings 18: 17) In order to make the two kingdoms fruitful again, Elijah must demonstrate to them the futility of their worship of matter.  He asks for all of Israel to gather at Mt. Carmel and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal to gather there also.  He then put forth this trenchant question to the children of Israel:  "How long halt ye between two opinions?  If the Lord be God, follow him:  but if Baal, then follow him.  And the people answered him not a word."  Elijah then put forth a test that would prove which should be worshipped as the true God, the God of their fathers or Baal.  He demanded that an altar of sacrifice be built of wood and that a bullock for the Baal worshippers be cut up and put on the altar first, and that a bullock be cut up and placed on Elijah's altar as a follower of the one God.  There was to be no fire put under the wood.  The prophets of Baal were to call upon their gods, and Elijah would call upon the name of the Lord.  The God that answered by fire would be declared the God of the people.  Everyone agreed that it would be the definitive answer. Elijah let the prophets of Baal try first. They called on their god, Baal, all morning, with no answer.  Elijah mocked them, calling out that perhaps Baal was on a journey and could not hear them, or perhaps he was asleep and needed to be awakened. The prophets tried all the harder. They prophesied until the evening, but again, nothing.  Then it was 
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Elijah's turn.  He repaired the altar that was broken down by the prophets leaping upon it. 
Then he took twelve stones, for each of the tribes of Israel, and built an altar in the name of the Lord.  He built a great trench around the altar and put the wood in it and the bullock pieces.  Then, to make it seem even harder to the people, four times he poured four barrels of water on the sacrifice and on the wood till all was thoroughly drenched, and even the trench filled with water.  (Remember, they are in a terrible drought!) Elijah then prayed to the God of Israel.  "...let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.  Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again." "Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces;  and they said, 'The Lord, he is God;  the Lord he is God." 
Yes, it was a conclusive  answer;  Baal’s followers were seen to be impotent, completely defeated.  And it was seen multiplied immediately after that by the ending of the drought, when "there was a great rain."  Israel had received a wonderful revelation filled with fresh inspiration.  (I Kings 18: 17-45) If we believe that Elijah was praying to a God separate from himself somewhere "up there,"  and that God looked down and found favor with Elijah and granted his desire, then we have not learned the lesson that the physicists have now learned.  Elijah was communing with his Mind, the one and only Mind of us all.  Our Mind being  all-knowing, it speaks to us as our thoughts, and knows exactly what is needed and how to supply it.  It is not governed by outside circumstances or the brain.  That man is the good of God is a stupendous thing!  It means that good is all there is to us, our circumstances, our life, our supply, our intelligence;  and it is infinite, not bounded by so-called matter in any way. 
Elijah knew that he controlled everything, since Mind, expressed as man, has dominion over the earth.  He was never in doubt as to the outcome of his test or of its ramifications for the drought.  This sense of dominion does not come without a mighty giving up of our own mortal will. Elijah knew that the infinitude of good supplies every human need and did not doubt it!  He looked at it as a law of being, of existence.  He listened more to the messages which were coming to him from his immortal Mind, rather than depending on the evidence of the five senses. When Jezebel found out about Elijah's demonstration and that he had killed her prophets, she sent a message to Elijah that she was going to take his life, and Elijah arose and ran for safety.  He went a day's journey into the wilderness and prayed that he might die. 
He then fell asleep.  "And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.  And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head,  And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again."  The same thing happened a second time.  Then Elijah arose and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights.  The “forty days and forty nights” in the wilderness happened to the Israelites (except it was years), and Jesus.  It symbolizes a period 
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in which man learns to rely on spiritual reckoning alone.  It is a fast from material sustenance and utter reliance on God as your Mind, your Life, and the Love that meets every human need.  (I Kings 19: 1-12)  This was the third time that Elijah had been sustained by divine Providence. "Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their individualism  may be...My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes.  With white fingers, [pure instruction]  they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.  Angels are God's representatives."  (S&H 298: 28-30 and n.p. 7-13)  Our spiritual journey is self-sustaining according to our stage of spirituality:  first by belief in the spiritual, then by faith in the spiritual, and finally by real spiritual understanding.  The wilderness experience for Elijah was to impel him to go forward, not give up.  Nothing can keep a man from his spiritual mission if he loves the spiritual idea as being the image of God above all else. Elijah went to Mt. Horeb where Moses received the Ten Commandments.  Moses founded the Truth of one God in Israel's consciousness and Elijah restored it.  His mission was to take Moses' teaching to a higher level, that of illustrating the fact that there is only one power, and it works outside of all human agencies and personalities.  But Elijah went into a cave.  When God asked him, "What doest here, Elijah?", Elijah answered that he was the only prophet left in Israel and that they were seeking to take his life.  He was feeling a false sense of personal responsibility for his mission which always brings fear and limitation.  Being in a cave symbolized his restrictive sense.  He was told to "Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord."  Then, “the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind passed by and rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord;  but the Lord was not in the wind:  and after the wind an earthquake;  but the Lord was not in the earthquake;  And after the earthquake a fire;  but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."  (I Kings 19: 9-12) Best answers come in the quiet seeking of the inward life, a finding that mercy is truly present instead of judgment and grace overcomes mortal mind laws.  It is the kingdom of God coming to the hungry, waiting and working for light.  On a universal scale, it is the idea which forms the leaven which eventually causes human consciousness to change and advance. God was telling Elijah that there is no power in evil, that God is the only power and cannot be feared.  If one thinks he is personally responsible for demonstrating spiritual Truth against the forces of evil, then he is believing in two powers, both equally real.  Then the task becomes daunting.  But understanding  the "still small voice," the absolutely certain sense of the omnipotence of good, defeats all fear and hands you the victory.  The Truth of the omnipotence of Mind is the deep peace and quiet (the still, small voice) of the consciousness of Love, God's grace, which is ours forever. The import of this lesson caused Elijah to go forth renewed in spirit.  He realized that he did not have to be responsible for translating an entire nation single-handedly.  God is speaking to individuals everywhere with a still, small voice of Truth.  There are many who 
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are ready for the Truth, and God will show each one individually how to act on it. Salvation is always between each individual and his divine Cause, the one Father-Mother of all. Elijah's cry, "I, even I only, am left" is answered by the only I AM, in its nature as the tender Mother Love of God who opens Elijah's eyes to the fact that there were still seven thousand in Israel who had not "bowed unto Baal." Elijah still had a personal sense of his mission, and this brings fear and limitation.  But that great Mother Love takes care of every detail when guiding a mission.  Elijah was told to anoint Elisha as his successor so that he could have a helper prophet whom he could train to take his place when he was gone.  Elijah means "Jehovah is God," and Elisha means "God is salvation," a higher thought. (Joshua, Moses’ successor, meant “Jehovah is salvation.”  He led the Israelites into the promised land.”)  He found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.  Elisha is identified with the tribe of Benjamin, who stands for the regenerate individuality of us all.  When Elijah put his mantle upon him, Elisha ran after Elijah and asked to be allowed to kiss his father and mother good-bye.  (Benjamin's mother, as you may remember, died at his birth.)  Elisha's bidding farewell to his parents signifies leaving the organic sense of parenthood that he may follow God along with Elijah. Elisha's haste to follow Elijah shows a spiritual comprehension that salvation for the human does not necessarily mean a tiresome "tilling the soil," but can be had through a pure, ordered, spiritual understanding of God.  (I Kings 19: 15-21 
The Second Book of Kings The Prophets   Elijah and Elisha   Chapters 1 - 25 
Elijah is ready to be translated, expressing the fact that identity is one with God, deathless and eternal.  Elijah, in his heavenly ascension, will demonstrate the truth of spiritual origin.  Elisha stands for the body of Israel based on what Elijah has proven to be true.  Thus the need for Judah and Israel to be identified with Elijah and Elisha, not with Syria, Assyria, and Babylon.  Elijah restored all things to God.  It is for Judah and Israel, under Elisha, to understand what Elisha has done.  Elisha refuses to be parted from Elijah and follows him from Gilgal (meaning circle, no beginning and no end, a symbol for eternity, the fetterless, unlimited nature of spiritual understanding) to Bethel, to Jericho, and on to Jordan.  The Jordan formed the eastern boundary of the Promised Land and beyond Jordan was the "outside world."  At each stop, Elijah, in testing his earnest disciple, urged Elisha to stay there and not follow him any longer. Each time Elisha replied that he would not leave Elijah. It appears that Elijah was showing Elisha that the spiritual facts of being are not remote from the material (Bethel, "house of God" but perverted by the ruler of Israel who had instituted idol worship) or from the human (Jericho, which was the storehouse for Jerusalem). While at Bethel and at Jericho, the sons of the prophets there asked Elisha if he knew that God was going to take Elijah away from him that day.  He said that he knew it and also knew within his heart that it was the reason he had to be there.  (II Kings 2: 1-6) 
Spiritual facts become proof of demonstration as one understands oneself as the reflection of God, good, through pure spiritual education (Jordan, the "river of God" or "the 
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river of judgment" which stands for a process of spiritual education).  This education enables one to stand on the firm ground of fundamental fact and so go "beyond Jordan" by seeing the universal facts of being actively at work everywhere.  Elisha was never tempted to leave Elijah, for he realized that Elijah epitomized the spiritual understanding he needed in order to bring about the fruits of Spirit.  There is no salvation in reckoning the human as an amalgamation of Spirit and matter.  Spirit translates man out of the material way of thinking, and brings to the human way of thinking the divine Truth which is salvation here and now, but never mingles with them.  "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."  (I John 3: 2) “What we must understand---what the Christianly scientific prophet does understand---is that infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul is the positive fact of which mortal mind, matter, mortal body is the negative fable.  Here we touch the underlying Principle of the universe, which demonstrates itself to be Life, Truth, and Love… Spirit, not matter, is the subjective state of the Mind of man.  Man’s body, therefore, is not a mind absorbed in matter, but is Mind’s reflection of itself as Spirit.  This identity of Mind and Spirit is signified by the term Soul.  Soul is Mind self-identified as Spirit, not matter.  It is in Soul, therefore, that identity (or body) is found.  The universe’s own self-knowledge is the real identity of man…If the subjective state of mortal mind is really unconscious, mindless matter, this eliminates the possibility of an unconscious mental source of conscious material existence.  Self-evidently, mindless mind is no mind.  Hence the fact in Science of the allness of Mind (capital M) and the nothingness of mortal mind, or matter.”  (Brown, Genesis…173,  emphasis in original) At the Jordan River, Elijah smote the waters with his mantle and the two crossed the river on dry ground.  Moses had done the same thing at the Red Sea when the Israelites were leaving Egypt, and Joshua had parted the Jordan for the crossing of the Ark and the Israelites to enter the Promised Land.  (Ibid., 2: 8) Let us now take a little detour from the narrative to look more closely at the symbols of " water" and "dry land."  Mrs. Eddy has a very enlightening statement pertaining to these words as used in the Scriptures:  "In metaphor, the dry land illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind, while water symbolizes the elements of Mind."  (S&H, 507: 1-3  emphasis in the original) Webster's helps us to dig deeper under the surface of this statement in order to understand its purifying symbolism:  "absolute.  free from imperfection;  perfect;  free from mixture;  pure;  positive;  certain;  authoritative;  free from limit, restriction, qualification; not dependent on anything outside itself;  ultimate."    "element. simple, pure, primal; irreducible simplicity;  an infinitesimal part of any magnitude of the same nature of the same formations that are the nature of the entire magnitude;  an essential and formative character, stressing its separate identity, in a compound." What kinds of formations are instituted by Mind?  Absolute formations that are "free from imperfection, mixture, limit, restriction, qualification, and are perfect, pure, positive, certain, authoritative, independent of anything outside itself, and ultimate!  Man, including the universe, are the formations of Mind.  Do you think of yourself and the universe this way?  This is the Science of your being. 
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What are the elements of these formations?  They are "the primal (or original), irreducible, pure,  infinitesimal parts of the same nature of the entire magnitude (of the universe), separated into (countless forms of)  identity, in a compound."  Your identity and the infinite identities of the universe are made of these infinitesimals, pure (without stain or taint;  complete, absolute, free from what vitiates, weakens, or pollutes, innocent, guiltless) and found "in a compound."  A compound, according to Webster's, means “elements or parts combined to form a whole.” Try studying this amazing meaning for a while;  it will change your whole concept of man and the universe!  Are we not made of the infinitesimals of the universe?  They obviously are not here by accident!  There is no such thing as accidental order! Mrs. Eddy answers the question in Science and Health, "What is man?," in part, this way:  "Man is idea, the image, of Love;  he is not physique.  He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas;  the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness;  the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;  that which has no separate mind from God;  that which has not a single quality underived from Deity;  that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker."  (475) You are an essential absolute form of Mind, God, independent of anything outside of yourself, authoritative, unrestricted, free from limitations, pure, certain, positive.  You are a compound of ideas (not "things"), every idea sharing the same nature as the whole.  You cannot be weakened, polluted, or separated from the whole, which is the infinite God, good. 
You are, in fact, holy, the immortal, ever-active idea, or reflection, of Love.  Just think what a world this would be if this stupendous fact was taught to our children, in our churches, and practiced in our homes and businesses and governments.  We would find that "heaven" is within us!  The millennium would be achieved! 
After crossing over Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha:   "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee."  Elisha answered:  "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me."  Elijah answered that it was a hard thing to ask, "nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee."  (Ibid., 2: 10)  Doesn't a "double portion" of Elijah's spirit mean not only the understanding but the proof of that understanding?  A balance of understanding and the proof of that understanding has always seemed to be a "hard thing" in religious experience.  Either thought has been up-in-the- clouds  mystical, ignoring the human problem, or bogged down in mere morality which accepts the reality of evil and tries to overcome it through material means.  Jesus was an outstanding example of the human and divine coincidence.  He manifested a double portion of Spirit with its demonstrations in spiritual healing.  I like what Peggy Brook says about this:  "What is the criterion for possessing this 'double portion'?  Here it was if Elisha could see Elijah after he was taken up from him.  Remembering that Elijah stands for the Word of God, the pure letter, this surely means that when spiritual vision rises to see beyond the letter, beyond the symbol, to its pure spiritual essence, then that living value proves itself in 
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a man's experience---he has not only understanding, but demonstration as well."  (Brook, The Bible as Our Life, Book 2 84-85) As Elijah and Elisha walked on, talking to each other, "there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder;  and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha bore witness to his ascension, took up the mantle that fell from him, and received the double portion of understanding and demonstration he desired.  (Ibid., 11-13) The wind of the whirlwind is a symbol of the spiritual power of Spirit (from spirare, to breathe, and aspiration means to draw out by suction, which is what a whirlwind does.)  Mrs. 
Eddy writes: “Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.”  (S&H 16: 20) Elisha's first scientific action which proved that he truly received a double portion of Elijah's spiritually Scientific understanding was proved as he stood on the bank of the Jordan.  He smote the waters with Elijah's mantle, parted the waters, and walked back over to the other side.  Truly this first Scientific action (for we know there are no miracles!) was proof that he was ready for his own life's mission.  To him, his mind was not a limited mortal brain, but God, the only source of all action and intelligence.  He knew that he reflected that dominion over "things" because they were ideas only, and expressed his Mind. 
When the sons of the prophets saw Elisha with Elijah's mantle, they bowed to the ground to him, but before declaring him Elijah's successor, wanted to go look for Elijah to be sure. 
After searching for him for three days without finding him, they returned to Elisha. These men were the theological students of their day and represented a confined, ritualistic sense. 
This theological sense judged everything by matter;  there was no sense of a Principle or idea being behind the symbols they used.  (Today many are still fettered by creeds and dogma and finite symbols.)  They affirmed Elijah's succession by asking Elisha to do something about the lack of water and barren ground around Jericho. Elisha's second scientific work, which also dealt with water, was to bring to human consciousness a higher sense of supply as being spiritual.  He told the men to find a new cruse and put salt into it, and when they brought it to him, he went to the spring of the waters and cast it in.  Then he told them,  "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters;  there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land."  Sometimes we seem to reach a point when spiritual inspiration does not flow;  it seems to "go dead" on us.  Then it is time for a "new cruse" of deep spiritual study and prayer, a fresh sense of life which affirms that God is our Life, never "barren" or "dead."   We take deep draughts from this pure, refreshing higher standpoint and find a new sense of life as abundant with blessings.  That increases our depth of understanding, then the old, tired lip-service-only of uninspired living evaporates. Elisha's third demonstration of the ever-operative Science of spiritual understanding  proved that divine Love can meet human needs without even a symbol of supply.  The Israelites were on a three-day journey to fight with the Moabites who had rebelled against them.   On the journey they ran out of water for themselves and their cattle.  They went for help from Elisha, who was ready to provide them with an inspired lesson.  They were not to go out to battle, but to dig ditches all around the valley where they were.  He said:  "...thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain;  yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your 
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beasts."  They were also told that the Moabites would be defeated.  It came about exactly as Elisha had foretold. The lesson for all of us:  When we feel beleaguered by an enemy of evil or disease, and we lack inspiration to handle it, we can know that right there where we are, is divine Love, providing for us exactly what we need.  We do not have to know exactly how our need will be met.  It may even seem impossible to human thinking, but if we put down the fear by keeping our thoughts on the reality and power of the omni-presence and omni-action of God, Love, we will experience a blessing. (II Kings 3: 1-26)  A similar event occurred when a farmer who kept Mrs. Eddy’s household supplied with milk told her cook that his well was dry from lack of rain for the past month.  He was very concerned since his cows were going dry.  The cook went to Mrs. Eddy about it.  She replied, “Oh, if only he knew that Love fills that well! The next day, he returned, overjoyed, and told the cook that he had just found his well full of water that morning, even though it had not rained at all during the night.  (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Healer, Amplified Edition by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck, The Christian Science Publishing Society, 2009, 177) 
Immediately after Elisha’s demonstration, there is a story with the same lesson.  All the good you need is right where you are, because man is the manifestation of the good of God.   A wife of one of the sons of the prophets went to Elisha in fear and poverty, for her husband was dead, and the creditor was coming to take away her two sons to be bondmen. 
Elisha asked her, "What hast thou in the house?  She had nothing but a pot of oil. She saw destitution.  Elisha saw abundance.  Oil!  What a wonderful thing to have "in the house!" "House" can be used here as a symbol for consciousness.  Oil was valuable and precious to the Hebrews, for they used it daily in many ways, including in their religious rituals.  Mrs. 
Eddy takes it out of matter as a thing and defines it as an idea.  In Science and Health,  Oil is symbolized as "Consecration; charity;  gentleness;  prayer;  heavenly inspiration."  (592: 25- 26)   Scientifically-minded Elisha saw infinite ideas, not things, which are finite.  He told her to borrow empty vessels from all her neighbors and then to pour out the oil she had into them.  She obeyed, letting the oil of inspiration flow into her thought,  and found she had enough oil to fill them all and more to spare. Empty beliefs are transformed by the qualities of "oil" into sources of sustenance and support.  Elisha told her:  "Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest."  Our spiritual inheritance is unlimited and always available.  We read in Science and Health:  "Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping if sought in Soul."  Soul is spiritual sense or understanding.  It is apprehension that is not based on what the material senses seem to be telling you, but relying on the Truth that is always present in your consciousness and as your consciousness.   Man as the reflection of God, is one with God. What God holds in His hands, we hold in our hands.  (II Kings 4: 1-7) The very next story presented to us for our Scientific education is in contrast to the previous story.  It concerns a woman of Shunem who had a husband, was not poor, and was considered a "great" woman, but did not have a child.  When Elisha passed that way, she invited him in to eat with them.  She told her husband that she perceived that he was a holy man of God.  She had spiritual sense.  She suggested that she and her husband make a chamber for Elisha with a bed, table, stool, and candlestick so that he could abide with them 
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when he came their way.  One day, while staying with them, he asked her what he could do for her in gratitude for her extraordinary hospitality.  She did not ask for anything, but was satisfied.  This attitude always opens the door for more.  But later, Elisha asked his servant what he thought could be done for her.  His servant observed that the couple had no child and that her husband was old.  So Elisha called her to his chamber and told her:  "About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.  And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life."  (II Kings 4: 8-18)  When we nurture our spiritual sense, care for it and let it "abide" with us, we open our experience to new blessings, ones we never would have believed could happen. 
When we say,  "With God all things are possible," do we really mean it?  The Shunammite woman must have nurtured her relationship with Elisha, her highest sense of spiritual thought, for the next part of the story occurred when the son was older.  (II Kings 4: 8-17) He went out to the reapers in his father's field and suddenly said to his father, “My head, my head.”  This probably signified sunstroke.  His father had him carried in to his mother, where he sat on her knees until noon and then died. "And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out."  She knew immediately to go to Elisha.  When her husband asked why she was going to him, she just answered, "It shall be well."  When Elisha saw her coming to him from a distance, he asked his servant, Gehazi, to run and ask her if all was well.  She answered, "All is well."  When she reached him, she fell at his feet and Elisha realized her purpose.  He told his servant to go and lay Elisha's staff upon the face of the child.  But his mother told Elisha she would not leave him.  She would be satisfied with no one except Elijah, the highest spiritual thought. 
So he arose and followed her.  Gehazi did go on before them and laid the staff on the lad, but there was no response. Elisha went in and saw that the child was dead.  He shut the door upon them both and prayed.  Then he laid upon the child and "put his mouth to his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands."  Twice he stretched himself upon the lad, and then, the lad sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.  Elisha told the woman to come in and take up her son.  (Remember that Elijah had done the same thing for the widow woman who needed oil and meal, when her child had died.)  Elisha, too, had symbolized by his actions with the lad the human and divine coincidence, reflection.  The symbol seven appeared again, for Elisha had identified so completely the human concept of the life of the lad with divine Life that its deathless reality could not help but be evident.   Life is incorporeal, never reliant on matter.  Man is the exact, perfect reflection of the seven-fold nature of God, and can never be without it.  Mind and its reflection of itself is One.  (II Kings 4: 18-36) “The issue is Israel’s origin.  Is this human or divine?  Abraham, the father of Israel, migrated from Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon) to Padan-Aram (Syria), and thence to the promised land of Canaan, at the beginning of the third thousand year period.  In the course of this journey, Haran in Syria became Israel’s ancestral home.  In Deuteronomy, Moses refers to Israel’s ‘father’ as a ‘Syrian.’  The material sense of Syria must be translated spiritually.  Israel’s immortal identity is, in the words of Jesus, ‘the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father.’ (John 15: 26)  (Should not we all, in this harrowing seventh-
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thousand year period of time in which we now seem to live, give back to the whole middle east and all war-torn or threatened  countries, their true spiritual meaning which abides in God, Love, as the beloved reflection of the one infinite Mind?  This knowing is the highest kind of prayer we can engage in, for it is scientific and always produces harmony.  Divine Mind’s ideas do not war with each other, but abide by the only Science of the universe, the absolute Truth of Mind and Mind’s reflection as One.  This is a powerful Truth!) Israel’s need is to come forth from her divinely parental source and be cleansed of belief in mortal parentage.  Her refusal to accede to this demand constituted her war with Syria, and invites moral and physical death at the hands of Assyria and Babylon.  Elijah, demonstrating heavenly ascension, has proved the truth of spiritual origin.  Elisha stands for the body of Israel based on what Elijah has proved to be true.  Hence the need for Judah and Israel to be identified with Elijah and Elisha, not with Syria, Assyria, and Babylon.  Elijah restored all things to God.  It is for Judah and Israel, under Elisha, to understand what Elijah has done, and practice this accordingly.  If they cannot yet abide by that lesson, more teaching experiences will follow until they finally come around to the lesson learned. 
This next illustration of a Science lesson from Elisha took place during a meal with the "sons of the prophets."  Elijah asked his servant to set up a "great pot" to make a stew for them.  There were about a hundred men, and there had been a famine in the land, so finding food was difficult.  One of the men went out and gathered herbs and other ingredients for the stew.  He had found a wild vine that was strange, and though he did not recognize it, gathered a "lap full" of gourds from it and shred them into the stew.  As they were eating, they cried out to Elisha that there was "death in the pot," and they could not eat it.  Elijah asked that meal be brought and cast into the pot, and they ate, and there was no harm in the pot.  To Elisha’s Scientific thought, there was no poison “out there.”  Let’s look at this as a teaching symbol. When there appears to be a famine of spiritual sense, the human mind may begin to clutch at any theory which looks like it may hold an answer.  In so doing, one may be fooled into adopting “wild,” strange beliefs which have no true substance in them and, if relied upon, become “poisonous” to one’s progress.  Elisha told them to bring some meal to throw in the pot, and there was no more harm.  Meal was their most common food, basic to their diet.  It represented spiritual truths normal to man, blessing and sustaining them.  There is nothing strange, extraordinary, or harmful about the facts of Truth.  Spiritual ideas are intelligent, natural, balanced, wholesome, and easy to assimilate.  These will always supplant impure beliefs, render them harmless, and richly sustain us. There then came a man with twenty loaves of barley bread of the "firstfruits, and full ears of corn, for Elisha to share with everyone.  By law, this bread from the first and best of the harvest was for the priests only.  However, Elisha's servant,  judging the circumstances with his material senses and, perhaps, a limited, rigid, theological sense, said, "What, should I set this before an hundred men?"  Elisha told him, “for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof."  So his servant set the food before them, they ate, and then left, "according to the word of the Lord."  (II Kings 4: 38-44)  Elijah did not listen to error's false beliefs, but always based his actions on what he knew of the Truth.  Christ Jesus multiplied 
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food the same way.  Principle is always the multiplier, and Truth is impartial in its blessings. 
Matter is not multiplied, but ideas presented in ways that appear to be what ignorant material thought calls “matter” are tangible Spirit. The entirety of God's creation is completely good, held so by divine Principle. 
Using our right Mind, we cannot be afraid of the food we eat.  It can have no ill effect upon us but what we allow through wrong belief.  "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink..."  (Matt. 6: 25)  Food is not the source of our health. We are in great need of understanding this today.  Millions of people the world over are absolutely governed by their diets.  They are afraid of ingesting certain types of food and certain amounts of food.  It makes them ill or healthy according to the beliefs they hold of it.  Man is the reflection or activity of Life, independent of any food we eat. When we are in need of a healing, and we decide to go to God for it, we must make our decision with deep humility, for we will be called upon to let go of some unGod-like thinking in order to translate our problem mentally out of a material sense of inharmony into a spiritual sense of harmony.  Harmony is always present, but sin or fear of some kind has hidden it from us.  We should always be grateful for the opportunity to uncover that which is preventing us from fully expressing our God-likeness as the image of God. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  (Matt. 5: 5)  The "earth" is the reflection of "heaven," harmony. The following healings by Elisha come from II Kings 4: 38-5: 27.  The captain of the host of the king of Syria, Naaman, (meaning "agreeable, pleasantness") was a great and honorable man with his master.  (Throughout the Old Testament, Syria is a symbol for the human level of thought which is agreeable and pleasant, but subject to the changing testimony of material sense.)   Naaman, however, had leprosy, the dreaded disease which was regarded as unclean and necessitated his being kept separate from his fellow men.  His wife had a "little maid," who had been taken captive out of Israel, and told her mistress about Elisha. She felt he could heal Naaman.  There is always a "little maid," in the house or consciousness, that pure spiritual sense of true womanhood that leads us to salvation if we heed it. When the suggestion came to Naaman, he did heed it, but he had a lesson to learn. He loaded his chariot with gold and silver and fine raiment in payment for a healing, and went to Elisha. When he arrived at his door, Elisha did not come out to pay homage to such an important person, but sent him a message to "Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."  This prideful sense of a breach of civility angered Naaman, and he went away in a rage.  He thought Elisha would come out to him, call on the name of the Lord, and lay his hands on him and heal him. "Besides," he said to those with him, "are not...rivers of Damascus, better than all the rivers of Israel?"  But Naaman's servants persuaded him to obey the instructions.  "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?  How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?" Jordan means  "the river of God," or "descender." It types spiritual education, a process of translation whereby, looking out from God, heaven, harmony, the depraved mortal sense of things gives way to a higher moral sense.  Continuing to hold to the spiritual 
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facts of being, the moral gives place to the spiritual sense.  You end where you, in Truth, began, as the perfect reflection of the perfect universal God.  Elijah ascended;  Elisha's thought must descend from God, heaven , harmony.  It must look out from the standpoint of the allness of harmony as a spiritual fact of being.  It doesn't matter what the material senses are bearing witness to.  All the way through these stories of Elisha proving the allness of Mind, we are seeing how thinking must be purified.  When real humility melts the hard core of self, spiritual blessings flow abundantly.  Naaman was being asked to do two things: become as a little child and be active in his own salvation.  When we look back at all of Elisha's healing work, he required the ones he was helping to do something for themselves. 
We must first be "faithful over a few things," that we may be “ruler over many things." (Matt. 25: 21) Here is the symbol "seven" again, used by the Scriptural writers to indicate the completeness of any concept.  To "wash in Jordan seven times" means to submerge one's thought in the understanding of the great universal fundamentals of being, the seven-fold nature of God as our true nature. The human mind believes that there are other rivers of thought that can purify just as well, but there is only one Truth, only one universal Science which is provable with the healing of all that is unlike God, good.  This does not suggest any exclusivity, but just as the numerals of mathematics are universal, no matter what method one is using with them, or who is using them, they are fundamentally universal.  True humility closes the door of consciousness to pride, prejudice, finite channels for salvation, and theological rigidity.  It opens wide to the concept that there can be only one universal Truth which expresses itself through one channel of common spiritual values, no matter how they are individually expressed. Naaman was finally persuaded and washed in Jordan seven times.  "...his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."  Personal sense and pride were washed away, and along with childlike fleshly purity, he gained a higher sense of the oneness and onliness of Spirit, Truth, for he said, "Now I know there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.”  There is nothing like experiencing such a healing to convince yourself of the power and love of God.  It is a wonderful spiritual cleansing.  Why do the churches and the medical profession not take heed of such practice? Naaman was completely changed by his healing.  He asked for some earth from Israel so that when he returned to Syria he could kneel on that earth to worship the God of Israel.  (He still had a limited sense of God, for he believed that God and His power literally dwelled only on Israel’s soil.)  He also begged for God to forgive him when he returned home and accompanied his master, the king, when he went in to worship his gods.  (II Kings 5: 1-13) 
Often, when we have had an experience that changes us profoundly, awakening us to a new standpoint from which to look out upon our world, we cannot always take radical steps in accordance with our vision, for it would not be wise to try to press our standpoint upon others, nor would it be necessarily God-impelled.  We can know that the "earth of Israel," will forever be with us, for the fundamentals of the Truth we have found are universally being expressed.  There are many earnest thinkers in various churches and 
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societies on whom the universal nature of Truth has dawned.  This living consciousness will irresistibly leaven the thought right where they are.  As Paul said, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;  One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all...Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4:4-6,13) The sons of the prophets who had been living with Elisha decided to go and make themselves homes near the Jordan River.  They told Elisha:  "...the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us."  These theological students were letting go of much of the rigid creed and dogma they had believed in before coming to Elisha.  They were ready to try and make use of the universal Truth that was dawning on their thought.  To dwell near Jordan, "spiritual education," their thought had to expand out of its confining beliefs.  They asked Elisha if he would like to go with them, and he consented.  As they were felling trees to make themselves dwellings, one of the men lost his ax head which fell off into the river.  He cried out to Elisha,"Alas, Master!  for it was borrowed."  Elisha cut down a stick and threw it in where the ax head had fallen, "and the iron did swim."  The man reached in and took it out. Unenlightened science says iron can't float;  it is too heavy, we think.  What do physicists today say? This is the first illustration in the Bible of an object having no weight.  Was this a miracle?  No, there is no such thing as mysterious events happening outside of Science. 
Every "thing" is an idea in Mind, the one divine Consciousness.  Ideas are no more than the sum of their qualities.  They have no mass nor weight.  It is only illusion that makes it seem so.  Our Mind can see beyond the limits of space and time;  our infinite Mind can alter matter, can teleport matter, can translocate matter.  Jesus, and Mrs. Eddy, proved all of this. 
We will learn to do the same. The spiritual lesson of the ax head:  If one begins to spiritually educate oneself, it must be heartfelt desire, a living impulsion.  It cannot be "borrowed."  It cannot be just a popular urge, the latest thing to try.  Otherwise, it will not have a firm basis.  If it does not come from spiritual conviction, one is liable to lose it.  However, as shown in this story, if one's desire to find a more spiritual meaning in life is sincere, a "stick" from the tree of Life will bring the specific message we need to the surface so that we can grasp it for ourselves and never lose it. Soon after this incident, Syria again made war on Israel.  The king of Syria took counsel with his servants, telling them where he was going to set up camp.  Elisha, through his highly developed prophetic insight, however, was able to warn the king of Israel each time where the Syrian army moved to so that they could avoid that place.  The Syrian king thought he had someone in his army who was secretly for Israel and was the one informing them each time they changed camp. Then one of his servants came to him and told him it must be the prophet Elisha in Israel who heard "the word that thou speakest in thy bedchamber."  He was then told that Elisha was in Dothan. 
Therefore, the king and a great host of men on horseback and in chariots went by night to Dothan and surrounded the city.  When Elisha's servant arose early the next 
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morning, he saw the army and was terribly afraid.  But when Elisha saw it, he told his servant, "Fear not:  for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."  Elisha prayed that the servant's eyes would be opened so that he could see the truth of Elisha's words.  And his eyes were opened, and he saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."  Then the king's army began going down toward Elisha, and he prayed that they be struck temporarily with blindness.  When they got to him, he told them they were in the wrong city and volunteered to lead them to the right place.  They followed him blindly until they reached Samaria where the king of Israel was.  He asked Elisha if he should kill them, but he told the king to feed them and give them water, then let them go. What is the scientific lesson here?   Elisha was able to "see" the changing campsites of the Syrian king and each time warn the king of Israel to stay away from them.  The physicists are saying that our mind can affect matter, and that distant matter and minds can have an effect on us, and our mind can likewise have an effect on them.   Our mind can see into other minds.  Non-locality and will are both part of what mind is all about.  Mrs. Eddy gives the scientific meaning of "eyes" in Science and Health, p. 586:  "Spiritual discernment,---not material but mental." There can be no such thing as distance if all is within Mind. The Scientific metaphysical lesson:  Alert spiritual vision has the divine insight to detect exactly where danger lies, so that all that represents the spiritual idea is preserved. 
When we open to spiritual sense, material sense is "blinded."  Syria, in the Bible, stands for human thinking with its merely human desires, aims, and ambitions.  These are based on material evidence and work against spiritual thoughts.  Material thinking may try to overcome what it believes is wrong, but it cannot overwhelm the allness of Spirit.  Human belief seems to surround us with an impressive outward appearance, but it operates in darkness, an unenlightened sense of everything.  When we seem to be hedged in on every side by fearful, finite suggestions of various human beliefs, we need to "open our eyes" to the spiritual government that is really governing the situation.  The reality of good is already present because God is always present.  Human belief is blind and powerless, no matter what the situation.  It is completely at the mercy of the spiritual, which can give it the only true vision it can ever have.  Thus the human's proper place is in subordination to the divine. It seems that the Syrians simply cannot learn their lesson not to mess with the Israelites!  Once again, they attacked the capital of Israel, Samaria.  They laid siege to the city for so long that there was a terrible famine in the land.  Little bits of food were so expensive that few could buy it, and there was widespread starvation. The king blamed it on Elisha and wanted to kill him. But "Elisha sat in his house, and his elders sat with him."  A sense of spiritual allness cannot be panicked.  When the Israelite king sent a man to behead Elisha, he knew that the king was having second thoughts about it and was running after the servant to stop him from his deed.  Elisha had discerned what was being planned and told the elders to shut the door and hold it fast.  From inside, Elisha prophesied that by "tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria."  (The open space at the gate of a city served as the market place in cities of the East.)  The king arrived in time to hear the 
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prophecy and made fun of it.  Because of his unbelief in the Lord God,  Elisha told him that he would see the fulfillment of the prophecy with his own eyes but would not eat of it. Four leprous men who sat outside the city at the gate decided it was best to throw themselves on the mercy of the Syrians rather than surely starve to death in Samaria.  If the Syrians killed them it would be a quick death rather than starving.   So they left at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians, but when they arrived at the place, it was deserted.  The Bible tells us:  "For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host:  and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.  Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life." The lepers went into some of the tents, ate and drank, and then took what they wanted and hid it, gold, silver, and raiment.  They then went back to the city and told what they had found.  The king was afraid it was a trap, that if they went down, they would be caught and slain.  Instead, two chariots were sent to spy out the camp.  All along the way they found garments and vessels which the Syrians had cast away in their haste.  So the king was told that the camp truly was deserted, the word got out, and the people raided the tents of all they could find.  That day it was as Elisha had predicted.  Flour and barley was sold for a shekel at the market by the gate of Samaria.  The king, leaning on the arm of a man at the gate to see what was occurring, was trampled down and killed by the hordes of starved people running to get food.  Both of Elisha's prophesies had come true.  Cannot God furnish a table in the wilderness? A science lesson:   Again we have a demonstration of vision through Mind that can discern thought in others, that can know actions being taken, and that can see into the so- called future.  We also see here the fact that the Mind can have an effect on other's actions, and can cause illusions as illustrated by the sounds of an army coming for the Syrians.  We already know that the "adepts" in hypnotism, especially in India and other Eastern nations, can cause tremendous illusionary effects.  We do not yet understand the nature of consciousness and until we do, it can cause great harm if we cannot mentally defend ourselves against it.  One of the greatest things that we learn from reading Science and Health is how to defend ourselves against  aggressive or malicious animal magnetism. 
Elisha did it to save the Israelites. When the Bible says "the Lord,"  it always means divine Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, and it is always good.  Any evil that is done is evil or sin destroying itself. The metaphysical Science lessons that can be gained from this story:  Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by events that are besieging us on all sides.  There is a famine of spiritual sense, and we wonder if we'll be able to find a way out of it.  The Israelites were at this point, but Elisha "sat in his house" of spiritual conviction.  He kept his consciousness filled with what he knew to be the Truth concerning God's nature as ever present good.  He was the "pure observer" (as it is known in physics) looking out from God, Mind, Principle, Truth, and that perfect observation gave him dominion over the entire situation.  He could not be held hostage to material beliefs, for he was not impressed by them or afraid of them.  The 
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king did not credit the prophecy.  Limited matter-based thought can never accept spiritual prophecy.  Nevertheless it turned out to be true, and all limited belief was trodden underfoot. 
Divine Love has no limits.  It is All. This story is said to be out of chronological order, but it seems to belong here as a final work of Elisha, the Restorer.  Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, and told her to go and reside in another land since there was going to be a seven-year famine in her land.  She did as Elisha said, and she and her household stayed in the land of the Philistines throughout the famine.  When she returned to her home, she had to go to the king to regain her home and land.  The king was talking to Elisha's servant, Gehazi, about all the great things Elisha had done.   As they were talking, the woman arrived before the king in order to regain what was hers.  "And Gehazi said, My Lord, O King, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.  And when the king asked the woman, she told him.  So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now." The science lesson illustrated here:  Elisha again used his natural prescient foresight to predict a seven-year famine coming to the land.  If Mind is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, there is no past or future, only the present, which can always be known at any time. Metaphysically, the Science of using our Mind-power unlimits us when we culture our spiritual sense.  This ability was not just a mystical Biblical talent.  As time goes on, it will become more and more common  to use our Mind to affect what goes on in our lives. "It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future."  (S&H 84: 11-13)   Science sees in this story the "seven" symbol once again.  A living understanding of the seven fundamentals (seven aspects of God's nature) of being or existence sustains man, preserves and protects him, enabling him to prove his completeness as the perfect manifestation of his perfect divine Cause.  That which is seen as restoration, from the human viewpoint, is actually the understanding of our true estate as one of constant wholeness, which we really never leave. 
II Kings 8: 7-13: 20 Elisha has given abundant proof of the fact that God, divine Mind, is reliable under any circumstance, no matter how lost seems the cause.  He demonstrated time after time that the use of Mind as the all-governing, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-active, ever-present Principle is the one and only solution to every problem that could confront man.  It is an awesome power, that, once unleashed, one would never go back to limited, unsure, matter- based solutions.  He presented an irresistible, irreversible, unlimited fundamental reality to mankind.  Why do we still rely on matter when Mind is so much greater? Before Elisha left the scene, he gave two substantive prophecies, both concerning Israel.  The first prophecy was in response to Benhadad, the king of Syria, who was sick, and hearing that Elisha was coming to Damascus, told his servant to take Elisha a gift and to ask him this question:  "Shall I recover of this disease?"  Elisha's answer seemed extraordinary: "Go say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover:  howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he 
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shall surely die...and the man of God wept.  Hazael, the king's servant, was puzzled, and asked why he wept.  Elisha answered, "Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel..."  Elisha had foreseen Hazael taking the throne of Syria and inflicting terrible suffering on Israel.  Soon after speaking with Elisha, Hazael murdered Benhadad and became king. When the human picture is sick in some way, in health, supply, happiness, etc., one may turn to the spiritual for salvation.  It is certainly possible for the human to be redeemed and blessed if he is willing to take the steps out of his human resistance and begin the work of transforming his life. The way of salvation does not have to include suffering.  Only if it is resisted will that have to happen.  The surrounding  circumstances don't matter as much as the individual's standpoint.  So much suffering can be avoided when we are willing to see ourselves as we truly are, the reflection  of God, Mind, inseparable from it, completely beholden to it.  The belief that we have our own little personal ego that needs to be taken into account causes all the suffering there is.  The Ten Commandments are not suggestions! 
The Golden Rule is not voluntary. Between Elisha's prophecy to Hazael and his final prophecy at his death to the Israelite king, Joash, we do not hear of him again until he commanded one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu king of Israel.  Jehu's reign was a bloodbath from beginning to end. 
During his reign he destroyed the king of Israel, the king of Judah, Jezebel, the seventy sons and descendants of Ahab, who was the former king of Israel, the forty-two princes of Judah, and all the Baal priests and worshippers.  It was a work of extermination unparalleled in the Jewish monarchy.  So why would Elisha have him anointed as king?  This mighty destruction was certainly an annihilation of all the qualities of thought that opposed the development of the spiritual idea.  Elisha knew that if we do not learn through spiritual observance of the commandments of God, we must learn through suffering.  The children of Israel seemed to have to experience the last drop of human will and ambition by being taken into captivity by Babylon before they were humble enough to bow to the Lord God of their Fathers and begin to keep the covenant entrusted to them by Moses. Elisha's final prophecy concerns the outcome of a battle between Israel and Syria. 
Elisha told Joash, the king of Israel, to take a bow and arrows and to put his hand upon the bow.  Elisha then put his hands upon the king's hands and told Joash to shoot out of the open window toward the east.  Joash shot while Elisha declared:  "The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them."  Then the prophet commanded the king to take the arrows and smite on the ground with them.  Joash smote them on the ground three times. 
Elisha was angry, saying he should have smitten the ground five or six times.  The half- hearted smites told him that Syria would be smitten only three times, and not destroyed.  The prophecy came true. The metaphysical symbolism behind this story illustrates for us the need to take the spiritual fundamentals of being, the seven synonyms for God, into our hands like a weapon, then open our thought to the ever-present Christ Truth ("the east" always signifies, 
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symbolically, the Christ).  The shooting means we should always be willing to deal conclusively with whatever problem threatens to besiege us. In these very young days of the seventh thousand year period, we should be on high alert to deal with every human argument that comes to our consciousness for acceptance.  It seem at times to be a constant warfare with the spiritual, just as warfare with Syria must have seemed to the Israelites.  Asking the king to smite the arrows on the ground and counting the number of smites is once again the use of the symbolism of the seven days of creation, the "numerals of infinity," very often used in Hebrew symbolism.  Elisha was not happy with just three smites. The "three"  symbolizes the third day of creation, when the dry land appears.  This goes with the third synonym for God, Soul. Soul is the spiritual identity of man, the body of Spirit, pure substance, which has individuality, form, outline, and color, but is sinless.  It is the reality behind what we seem to be now, which is only illusion.  It is that to which our spiritual sense testifies.  Elisha wanted to see five or six smites.  The "fifth day" concerns our sense of Life which is the active living expression of Life or spiritual being, and our sense of the "sixth day," Truth, or Christ, gives us dominion over the whole earth.  We cannot win the battle conclusively with just some spiritual sense of ourselves as Soul,  but must go on in our acceptance of our real selfhood as the actual living representation of Life, the fifth synonym.  The sixth synonym which we reflect is Truth.  This synonym refers to the "day" in which man was created as God's image and likeness. Jesus portrayed, better than anyone else ever has, this ideal man as his very nature. 
He expressed the Christ, or Truth,  recognizing it, not only as his own legitimate nature as perfect reflection, but saw everything around him the same way.   Each of us is in reality a manifestation of the Christ man, the true man.  God is infinite, and is one with His infinite reflection, man and the universe.  Elisha wanted evidence from  the young king that he would let the spiritual rule his actions to the point that he had dominion over "Syria," the merely human.   His life had to attest to what he was believing about God's power.  His living of the Truth would be his " rock," which cannot fail to be an impregnable foundation from which to act.  "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  (John 8: 32)  Jesus lived the Life that is divine;  to him, it was all the Truth there is.  The Truth concerning the testimony of matter defeated every single argument that appeared before him testifying to Life as matter and governed by material laws. This defeat was total, even to the point of resurrection and ascension. Elisha passed from the scene, having fulfilled his mission just as Elijah had. They proved, by their works, to the people that witnessed them, that there is only one thing ever going on:  Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, being reflected in man, including the universe. At the beginning of the fourth thousand-year period of Bible history, Judah and Israel formed one kingdom under the rule of David and remained united under his reign.  As we have seen, Judah and Israel symbolized the manhood and womanhood of God, not in a gender sense at all, but in qualities seen in actions.  Manhood represents the letter of the law; womanhood represents the spirit of the law.  Manhood represents the understanding of the 
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law;  womanhood represents the proof of the understanding.  There are two aspects of the one way to live in our expression of Life that are inseparable from each other.  The living letter cannot help but embrace the spirit, or else it is dead.  The spirit cannot help but embrace the living letter, or it becomes static and perhaps harsh.  Real understanding proves itself,  but to have unfailing proof needs a basic understanding.  Our human experience teaches us the necessity for these united qualities.  Likewise, if a man does not express such basic qualities of womanhood as affection, spiritual sense, humility, gentleness, and love,  he is deficient in manhood and not a whole man.  If a woman does not embrace such qualities as intelligence, wisdom, stalwartness, initiative, and courage, she is merely a female and not a whole woman. Jesus said that the two great commandments are, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."  In other words, he could have said, "Give your heart and your soul and your mind to the spiritual, and then let that spiritual consciousness flow out in human experience to embrace your universe."  The heart is love, the soul is spiritual sense, and the mind is true intelligence.  What is the absolute necessity in these two commandments?    Is it not Love?  The union of manhood and womanhood is made inseparable through spiritual Love.  These two commandments are entirely dependent upon each other.  Jesus made Love the highest quality of all.  It should be seen as the center of your Godlike selfhood.  "God is at once the centre and circumference of being."  (S&H 203: 32-1, n.p.) Is a higher sense of Love not a crying need in the world today?  The true sense of womanhood is mutilated into a degenerate material sense of femaleness, a sexual object, having no human rights in much of the world, seen as practically worthless, unintelligent, a slave to the male, robbed of her sense of self-worth , her inherent kindness, tenderness, love, intelligence, and desire to learn ground under the heel of coarse, crude, unfeeling selfishness, ego, greed, and depravity.  Until this is remedied, the world will continually be at war, half its population unable to assert its natural peaceable qualities.  This is a human tragedy, both individually and universally.  Its heartless criminality should be at the top of every nation's priority list.  When male qualities rule without the softening, kind, unselfish, loving qualities of womanhood, the world loses.  Of course, manhood without his womanhood is also a big loser, involved in relentless warfare, unable to enjoy a loving home life, often a slave to carnal pursuits that are never really satisfying, and deficient in spiritual sense, that which is truly satisfying. David never ceased to love or forgive his enemies.  In Love there can be no divorce, for Love unites.  So the kingdom remained undivided.  Solomon began his reign of the united kingdom with a balance of  wisdom and love of good, but that love became impure, he disobeyed the commandments, worshipped the foreign gods imported by his many wives, lost his standard of purity, became enamored with material values, money, merely physical well-being, and pleasures of personal sense.  Thus, inevitably, he lost his united kingdom, and Israel and Judah became divided.  Israel's sin was such that Assyrian captivity alone is capable of teaching her the needed lesson. 
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As different Assyrian kings came to conquer the land, Israel's policy was to bribe and appease them.  Finally, Shalmanaser sacked Samaria and carried the people away captive.  These ten tribes were never seen again, and became scattered among the nations of the world.  "...the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt...they served idols...they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God... there was none left but the tribe of Judah only."  (II Kings 17: 7, 12, 14, 18) Israel became known as the "ten lost tribes."  She apparently goes into oblivion until the advent of Christian Science at the end of the sixth thousand-year period.  The coming of Christian Science is her spiritual resurrection, because Christian Science returns to Israel her sinless, deathless reality forever untouched by Assyria.  Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science Manual of the Mother Church:  "At a meeting of the Christian Scientist Association, April 19, 1879, on motion of Mrs. Eddy, it was voted,---To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.  Mrs. Eddy was appointed on the committee to draft the Tenets of the Mother Church---the chief corner-stone whereof is, that Christian Science, as taught and demonstrated by our Master, casts out error, heals the sick, and restores the lost Israel:  for "the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner."  (17-18) 
"Israel, womanhood, divided from Judah, manhood, is overcome by the tyrannical male militarism of Assyria.  But he was unable to subjugate Judah as he did Israel.  When he attempted it, divine intervention caused him to return to his own land and destroy himself. 
He was the victim of lunacy.  "Sin was the Assyrian moon-god," says Mrs. Eddy in her chapter  "Animal Magnetism Unmasked."  (S&H 103: 5)   Following Israel's captivity, Assyria re-peopled Samaria with Hittites and Babylonians.  They intermarried with the Israelites that remained and became the troublesome Samaritans of the post-exile period in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.  This division continued for several hundred years. 
Through this time, there were nineteen kings and one queen of Judah, and nineteen kings of Israel. The remainder of the Book of Kings does not cover each king in detail but makes a pronouncement upon each one which says it all.  The writers were mainly concerned with which ones were obedient to God and which ones were not.  The pronouncement for each one was either  "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord" or "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord."  Israel had virtually no kings who "did that which was right!"  Her record is completely negative.  Judah, however, had eight kings who obeyed God.  They did not all contribute equally , but the line of the light of understanding seems to have shone more brightly through the kingdom of Judah whose kings were involved in reforming the people and turning them from idol worship. They expressed the manhood of spiritual understanding for which Judah stood.  Yet, for all their right doing, they still did not take away the "high places," high elevations and conspicuous spots where altars were erected to either the Lord God or, to idols.  King David established the city of 
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Jerusalem wherein to worship God, and Solomon built the temple there to centralize worship.  With the dividing of the kingdoms, however, the "high places," multiplied. We can speak of  "high places" even today as a symbol for the fragmented worship of God into many gods around the world, all worshipped in their various "high places."  In individual ways, too, worship is often fragmentary, at times focused and inspirational, at other times unable to lift the thought to that high level, but satisfied instead by saying something by rote, or merely wearing some religious item, hoping that will work.  This type of thought is not much better than idol worship.  The only true "high place" is your viewpoint from which you are looking out from the divine Principle of the universe, a viewpoint now gaining importance in physics circles.  God is a universal Principle, constant, unchanging, ever-present law, governing absolutely everything there is.   It is impartial, ever merciful, full of grace.  It neither sees nor knows evil.  Only that which is wholly good is powerful, for it is perfect.  Thus it is, that Love is the all-powerful One. One of the few kings who "did right" was Hezekiah.  He had all of the "high places," where the idols were worshipped, removed, and "the Lord was with him;  and he prospered whithersoever he went forth."  The Principle behind his action was powerful enough to defeat the Assyrian army when it came up to destroy Jerusalem.  Assyria had already conquered all of Judah's "defenced cities" round about and Jerusalem would be the last to fall.  The Assyrians came with dire threats and a long siege, yet Hezekiah sought the prophet Isaiah's spiritual counsel, stood firm, and resisted the Assyrians.  Isaiah told him that God would save them for the inhabitants of Jerusalem were the remnant of His people since the others had been killed in the "defenced cities." He would cause King Sennacherib to return to his own country.  While there, he killed himself.    However, Hezekiah foolishly displayed all of the treasures he had in his house to the approaching king of Babylon.  For this he was severely rebuked by the prophet Isaiah who told him that all that was in his house would be carried into Babylon.  In glorying in the physical, Hezekiah in his ignorance admits his body is physical and therefore subject to death. After two more kings who "did evil,"  Josiah came to the throne in 621 B.C.  He reigned thirty- one years in Jerusalem and" did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." 
During his reign, as the house of the Lord was being restored, the high priest found the third of the four Old Testament Books, the Deuteronomic document of the Law which contained the Ten Commandments and Moses' farewell address to the children of Israel. It was not the original written by Moses since it gave an account of his death, but was a copy of that which was written in the Book of Deuteronomy (as explained in Dummelow's, p. 24)   When it was delivered to Josiah, he rent his clothes in repentance and began a belated revival.  He gathered all the people together and read to them the words of the covenant.  This reminder of their covenant with God caused a reformation in the nation of Judah .  All of the idolatrous altars were destroyed, and the people kept the Passover for the first time since the days when the judges judged Israel. Nevertheless, Josiah was slain in a battle with the Egyptians and Assyrians, and his son, Jehoahaz, was made king.  He didn't learn from his father and "did evil," as did his son after him.  What happened after Josiah cleansed Judah?  Apparently, even though there was 
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a re-establishment of the letter of the Law, manhood, there was not enough true spiritual transformation arising from an inward sense of the living Word, womanhood, and without this true spirit of the Law, peace cannot become permanent.  The comforting truth though, is that the true nature of the one and only Cause is that of both Father and Mother.  As a result, man has within himself the natural ability to be complete and to express manhood and womanhood with all that it stands for spiritually.  Judah soon lapsed into a state of idolatry and was  eventually taken into captivity just as Israel was.  According to Scofield, Assyria symbolizes ecclesiasticism, while Babylon symbolizes politics.  (SRB, 952)   Israel underwent a "moral" death at the hands of Assyria, because of her disobedience to the spiritual values given her in her covenant with the Lord God.  She does not appear again as a physical entity.  Judah underwent a "physical" death at the hands of Babylon, but seventy years later returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the city.  This was an imperative development since the pure Davidic line must continue until the life of Jesus. 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, sacked Jerusalem in 597 B.C. and took the people into captivity.  There were actually two deportations.  In the first one, only the best in the land were taken.  About nine years later, many more were taken and Nebuchadnezzar burned the whole of Jerusalem, including the house of the Lord.  Those who were left behind decided to go back into Egypt.  The prophet Jeremiah will tell us about this when we come to his prophecy.  The symbolism in these captivities is the false concept of the death and destruction of the mortal body.  The truth behind them is man secure in his divine Principle, God, in accordance with the teaching of the true Science.  Turning our back on our God-being, the Christ or Truth which we reflect, means our acceptance of mortality. Historically, we have reached the fifth century B.C., the age of the writing prophets. 
There are sixteen of these and nearly all write from Judah in captivity.  There is always a remnant, a few who refuse to turn their backs on the Truth about themselves and the Principle of the universe.  We have encountered them all the way through the Scriptures up to this point.  In every age there are some who are led to speak out, attacking the gross inadequacies and destructive tendencies, the dehumanizing and disastrous effects of believing in the "idols" of matter worship.  For instance, today, the voices of women are being heard in every nation, calling the world to judgment for its blindness and seeming paralysis in its refusal to make this just cause a priority in its governments, businesses, education, health care, religion, and even their homes.  Women's rights must come to the fore at every level.  Isn't it amazing how many wars were fought in Bible times?  In the thousands of years it covers, there was hardly ever continued peace.  Manhood without womanhood is war without peace. 
The Books of  I & II Chronicles 
Chapters 1-29   &   Chapters  1-36 We will now look at the next two Books of the Bible, I and II Chronicles.  Although the Chronicler of these books covers essentially the same ground as the four Books of the Kings, his point of view is the priestly view and is concerned with King David's royal Judaic 
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line.  This is in anticipation of the coming of Jesus, a vital aspect of Old Testament revelation.  The first nine chapters of I Chronicles are filled with meticulous genealogical lists.  The evident intention is to put the Judaic dynasty into its proper world perspective. 
This work is centered almost entirely on the southern kingdom of Judah and was written during the exile of Judah in Babylon.  The first nine chapters are dedicated to a meticulous genealogical list tracing the lineage of David from Adam through and beyond the twelve sons of Jacob.  Chapter 10 on Saul is practically a dismissal of him, and in chapter 11 the author reaches the heart of his story, the crowning of David as king.  He accentuates this as of tremendous significance for the future of Israel.  The divine purpose is always revealed through an unbroken line of development. It maintains the consciousness of the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant between God and David promising that David's kingdom would be established forever. The fulfilment of this divine promise will come through the two Messianic missions of Christ Jesus and the "spirit of truth" which he promised would come-- - Christian Science, when the Principle of harmonious, universal being will reign supreme over the affairs of mankind. The Chronicler's focus is the city of Jerusalem and its temple.  "Temple" in the Old Testament  and "church" in the New Testament are the symbol for "body."  Jesus said, "Destroy this temple (body) , and in three days I (Spirit) will raise it up."  (S&H 27: 12)  At the end of II Chronicles, Babylon invaded Jerusalem and ravaged the temple, or body, of Judah and carried it into captivity.  Later on, the priests and Romans endeavored to destroy the body of Jesus.  But just as Jesus rose from the tomb with a temporarily rebuilt body, so Judah was resurrected from Babylonian captivity and rebuilt her temple, or body. 
Eventually, because of her divine understanding concerning the true Principle of the universe, the entire world body will be resurrected and rebuilt. The Chronicler talks about the temple in the center of Jerusalem surrounded by the city's walls.  This is a key to his metaphysical meaning which we will discuss.  Both were destroyed in the invasion.  The next Book of the Bible, Ezra, depicts the restoration of the temple.  Nehemiah in the following Book restored the walls. This is a symbol of the way mankind will go through a two-fold restoration.  It will be demonstrated by Jesus individually when he appears in the fifth thousand-year period and collectively and universally by Christian Science in the sixth and seventh thousand-year periods.  The temple accentuates the idea of center, individuality, manhood.  The walls that surround the city with the temple at its center symbolize the idea of circumference, universality, womanhood. According to the Bible, Judah endured Babylonian captivity seventy years.  "...And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon...until the reign of the kingdom of Persia...to fulfil three score and ten years." A “score” of years is twenty years. 
Thus, this period of seventy years suggests the lifetime of a mortal or the time of man's supposed exile from God.  Thus, Babylon symbolizes the complete birth-death cycle of seventy years.  The figure "7000" stands for this time-span on the universal scale, seven thousand- year periods. During the Babylonian exile, something took place that was so spiritually powerful it probably was the reason for the liberation of Judah by the Persians.  This was the 
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compilation of the Priestly document, the fourth and last of the Old Testament documents.  It is believed to have been done under the leadership of Ezekiel, the prophet.  This document included the revelation of the seven days of creation, the fundamental order of universal Science.  This order, introduced in Genesis and used throughout the Scriptures, is now understood today as explained and used in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  It is what Mrs. Eddy calls the "numerals of infinity."  "The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the record of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H 520: 10-15) The divine infinite" seven" of the names or synonyms for God seem to have to come to the human understanding through this step-by-step order:  First Mind (intelligence), then Spirit (purity), Soul (spiritual understanding), Principle (spiritual power), Life (love), Truth (health), and finally Love (holiness). The words in parentheses are the words used to express the reflection (man) of that synonym or aspect of God's nature.  When we finally prove the nothingness of matter through these seven ascending steps, and realize (on an individual basis) the infinite nature of our own being as the activity of God, embodying all of the qualities inherent in each of these seven aspects, we will be liberated from "Babylon," symbol for the mortal life-death dream. This order (found on pp. 115-116 of  S&H and explained in this book)  Jesus understood and lived and so was able to resurrect himself from the sepulchre and vanquished the last enemy, death. After seventy years in Babylon, the powerful empire of the Medes and Persians overwhelmed Babylon and a new king reigned.  The Persian king, Cyrus, became the heaven-sent deliverer of Judah, for the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet Jeremiah stirred his heart.  In his first year he made this proclamation throughout the kingdom:  "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,  All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me;  and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Who is there among you of all his people?  The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up." Cyrus is a Gentile.  His name means "sun" or "the rays of the sun."  "Isaiah refers to him in terms so exalted that they are used of no other figure in the Bible except Jesus himself!  Isaiah records how God saith of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure...Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden..."  (Isa. 44: 28)  "Cyrus, upon whom is bestowed 'all the kingdoms of the earth,' typifies the Christ-idea as the savior of the human race...Cyrus is like the woman standing in the sun in Revelation, who symbolizes generic man.  He is all the sun's rays shining forth at once, inseparable from their source, the sun."   (Brown, From Genesis..., 198) Mrs. Eddy defines "sun" as the "symbol of Soul governing man, of Truth, Life, and Love."  (S&H 595: 1-2).  She also writes:  "[the] ideal man corresponds to...Truth,"  and "[the] ideal woman ...to Life and to Love."  (S&H 517: 8)  Truth, Life, and Love is Soul, expressed as one identity or embodiment.  Soul, represented by the sun, is outside the body, not in it.  It cannot be imprisoned in a body, but is reflected by the body.  (S&H 467: 18) Representing this fact, Cyrus comes from outside of the captive Judah.  Judah, then, 
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reflecting the Christ-idea as savior, is freed to return to Jerusalem to re-build her temple, body of right ideas.  The "right ideas" are love, health, and holiness, the reflection of God. The re-building of the temple at Jerusalem is indicative of the re-building of the mortal human concept of body.  The stones that were cast down that needed re-building symbolize those false, so-called foundational concepts that seem so solid and necessary to the structure of a "body" or a "thing; they seem to be material "facts."  These unscientific beliefs need to be seen as foundational "ideas," reflecting the forms, outlines, colors, structures, actions, and movements of the one Mind or Principle of the universe.  This teaching symbol is in use today.  Because of Christian Science, the Comforter, we, mankind, are learning the Truth about ourselves as reflections of a divine Principle, a reflection that can never "fall out of grace."  This wonderful symbol came from the Bible and is enlarged upon in the Book of Revelation.  In Chapter 21, St. John saw "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."   This new "city" of the Lamb and the bride, innocence and purity, is in spiritual wedlock.  It is the resurrection body of us all, one universal matrix city, in contrast to "Babylon," the "harlot" city in Revelation. Mrs. Eddy tells us:  "When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, he will be perfect.  He can neither sin, suffer, be subject to matter, nor disobey the law of God. 
Therefore he will be as the angels in heaven."  (S&H 372: 14)  Jesus tells us:  "...they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage:  Neither can they die any more:  for they are equal unto the angels;  and are the children of God, being the children of the  resurrection."  (Luke 19: 35- 36)  We also read in S&H, 254: 16,  "...absolute Christian Science may not be achieved prior to the change called death."  "She does not say it will not be achieved, but that it may not be. 
In fact, under the heading of "man's present possibilities," she refers to our awareness here and now of a "new heaven and a new earth [a new-built sense of identity], "without our having passed through the experience called death.  This, she says, constitutes "a foretaste of absolute Christian Science."  (S&H 572: 20-573:28)."   (Brown, From Genesis..., 199) Remember Elijah who ascended---no death. 
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Chapter 10 The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther 
The Book of Ezra    Chapters 1-10 
In about 444 B.C., the command came down from King Cyrus to allow Judah to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple.  They had defiled the purpose of the temple by drifting from the pure Spirit that it symbolized.  All of the previous structures that typed spiritual consciousness were associated with a particular person---Noah's ark, Moses' tabernacle, Solomon's temple---now, the new temple will be known as "the temple of the return."  It will be every man's return to their living identity in God.  It was to be the work of "all them whose spirit God had raised," as Ezra phrased it.  Ezra is a priest and a scribe who is armed with the book of the law of God.  The Christ self-hood had been awakened, the kingdom of heaven within.  It cannot be done well if it is done in obedience to a creed, dogma, formula, or even an inspired person's words.  These things may compel us through duty, remorse, fear, upbringing, or training, but will not see us through our regeneration. 
Actually, if we are willing to look inside ourselves instead of what others demand of us or think of us, we will become aware of an irresistible urge to purify our aims and motives. 
This is the one great divine Principle at work in us, always expressing itself through the thought that is reaching out for a higher sense of selfhood.  The impulsion to re-build our spiritual sense of things is a universal one.  Every individual has a place in this rebuilding. When the order came to rebuild the city, the Bible tells us that Ezra "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statues and judgments."   One would expect a scribe to prepare his mind, but rebuilding cannot be done without the whole heart, without love.  Seeking, practicing, and teaching cannot be done half-heartedly.  The Psalmist said:  "The law of his God is in his heart:  none of his steps shall slide."  (Ps. 37: 31) 
Ezra lists the various groups of Israelites who went up to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  The true idea of Benjamin, regenerate individuality, necessarily comes back into the picture.  "Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem...Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods...All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem."  (Ezra 1: 1-3, 5, 7-8) Sheshbazzar is another name for Zerubbabel who is in charge of the work.  The name Sheshbazzar means "sun-god protect the son."  Zerubbabel means "Born of Babylon." 
The spiritual interpretation  is the sun-god (Cyrus) is protecting the son, Judah, from the belief that Judah was ever born of Babylon. The order in which the temple is rebuilt is of significance.  Before the foundations were even laid, they built the altar to God and sacrificed burnt offerings upon it.  It was followed by a united shout of joy and thanksgiving.  This symbolized their pure desire to put the spiritual first, to give their all to it.  Certainly their joy was heartfelt, but the older people who remembered the glory of Solomon's temple wept.  All they could see before them were 
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a few unadorned stones of the new temple.  Yet Haggai prophesied of the new temple:  "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former..."  (Hagg. 2: 9) There is a healthy re-appraisal going on today in many religious denominations. 
There is a willingness to look more deeply at the outward signs of faith and how it could be accomplishing more or  what might be holding back greater progress.  Members may be saddened as the outside trappings of a religious organization that has been revered begins to disintegrate, and the numbers of its adherents grow fewer.  Perhaps it could be seen as a blessing in disguise.  It could be a sign that there is a necessity to seek for the real signs of progress. Grandeur, outward glory, and numbers don't mean that real, solid individual understanding is going on.  Are the adherents showing outward signs of inward spiritual growth by manifesting more faith in God than in man?  Is more emphasis being put on each individual's sincere study and prayer, building a living spiritual consciousness,  rather than financing a larger material structure?  Let us take special care that we are not worshipping the symbols of our faith.  Concentrating on the kingdom of heaven within us is by far a greater occasion for gladness and gratitude.  "...the Lord seeth not as man seeth;  for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  (I Sam. 16: 7) When rebuilding our lives, our consciousness, with the intention of devoting everything to the Truth of scientific being, dispensing with whatever pulls us away from it, we have done the essential thing and substantial progress and heartfelt joy follow.  (Ezra 3: 11) "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (II Cor. 5: 17) As the work began, adversaries arrived to stop the work.  They were the Samaritans, the ex-Babylonians who occupied Samaria after the Assyrians had deported Israel. 
Symbolically, there can be no substitute for true womanhood (Israel) in the consciousness of Judah (manhood).  The Samaritans feigned interest in the building and wanting to assist, but the builders were awake to their deceit.  "Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God:  but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as Cyrus, the king of Persia hath commanded us."  (Ezra 4: 3)   What comes to us deceitfully as material beliefs or motives, comes from outside of us and Truth exposes it. The Samaritans hired counsellors to frustrate Judah's purpose.  They claimed that the king did not authorize the work, for that would mean that  " [they] will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings."  If a man is in the process of spiritually rebuilding his consciousness (and thus his body), then truly he should no longer "pay tribute to" the material senses. This went on through the days of Cyrus until the second year of the reign of Darius, the new king of Persia.  By that time the work had been halted. Two prophets arose whose work enabled the work to resume.  They appealed to King Darius to confirm the original work order.  Cyrus' authorization was found, and king Darius, with as much solicitude as Cyrus, commanded it to continue without further hindrance.  The date was around 444 B.C. when Ezra the scribe took the book of the law to Jerusalem to provide spiritual sustenance for the builders.  However, when he arrived, he 
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found that the Israelites had begun indulging in mixed marriages.  It was symbolic of mixing Spirit and matter. This had happened many times before with disastrous results.  It was a necessity to keep pure the teachings of God in the Ten Commandments and the book of the law.  Ezra immediately set about cleansing them of this. The "sons of God" must not be guilty of wedding themselves to the "daughters of men."   He implores them:  "Give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons...that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever."  It is in the Book of Nehemiah that we actually hear of Ezra reading the Book to the people. 
Some scholars believe that he also took the Priestly Document with him.  Artaxerxes became king after Darius and was as reverent about the work as his two predecessors.  At last, it was finished and dedicated with great joy.  (Ezra 6: 1-22) In Ezra we have found the people of Judah centered in their Mind as Principle and so can now look out upon the circumference of their being.  Nehemiah will tell us of the re- building of the wall which circles Jerusalem.  This symbolizes the "immediate object of understanding," an image in mind.  It is the infinite creation of Mind, not matter, revealed by the Priestly Document in its creation story employing the "seven days" symbolism.  (S&H 115) 
The Book of Nehemiah        Chapters  1-13 
Nehemiah plays a great part in this story of the broken-down walls and burned gates. 
Prophets intuit spiritual symbols in what the eyes see.  Isaiah thus gives us the spiritual meaning of walls and gates:  "Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise." (Isa. 60: 18)  The people sing a great many praises during this work.  Spiritual praise magnifies God to such an extent that nothing else remains in consciousness.  (I believe that is what happened in my testimony about the apparently dead hummingbird.  I sang heartfelt praises to God for at least 20 minutes, not thinking of the hummingbird at all.  When I looked at him, he flipped over and flew off.) We could say that it is not so much a wall that is being built but a paean of praise that is being offered to God, Mind, for its creation, for understanding the Truth about creation is the means of universal salvation.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "It only needs the prism of this Science to divide the rays of Truth, and bring out the entire hues of Deity, which scholastic theology has hidden.  The lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight;  we then see the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter."  (Mis. 194: 13) The "prism" of Science is the seven-fold nature of God, learned through the seven synonyms.   (In physical science, a prism breaks down light into its seven separate colors.) Salvation comes to us through praising what we know is the image of God in its completeness, both as the center and circumference of individual and world consciousness. The Book of Nehemiah unfolds in the order of these seven terms.  Let us see here for the first time how, whether we are aware of it or not, ideas come to us and are brought to fruition through this order.  The tone of Mind, the “first day” of creation, light, universal knowledge, is the source of all good ideas and purposeful action.  Nehemiah, cup-bearer to 
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Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, hears that the walls of Jerusalem have been broken down and the gates burned.  He is inspired to seek permission to go and repair the walls and the gates. 
The urge to do so comes from that image which is in the infinite parent Mind and is his image by reflection, the image of an undamaged idea. The tone of Spirit, the “second day” of creation, is the mental phenomenon that is true substance, purity, soundness, indestructibility, and orderliness.  When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, the first thing he did was to make a complete survey of all the damage.  He spiritually encompassed the task by taking an orderly preview of all to which he needed to be committed.  This idea of the salvation of the human through magnification of the divine aroused Samaritan opposition.  Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, took steps to halt the work. The tone of Soul, “third day” of creation, spiritual sense or understanding, frees from all limitation through the recognition of inexhaustible good, the conscious acceptance of divine identity which cleanses from all sense of mortality.  When Nehemiah told the people his reason for being there and how the hand of God was upon him, as well as having permission from the king, they replied, "Let us rise up and build."  The walls were built according to Nehemiah's plan.  He listed the names of those who built each specific section. 
This expresses spiritual identity which is Soul.  The Bible commentaries say that every group of workers built the gate or part of the wall that was nearest to their homes.   For example, the priests built the sheep gate since it was adjacent to the temple.  In its spiritual import, this says to all who are building a city of spiritual consciousness, take care of that which is closest to your heart.  Examine your own beliefs and experiences.  Stick with what you are conscious of, with what you are feeling "at home" with and correct it if needed with humility and prayer. When the three naysayers, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, came and said it was against the king, Nehemiah answered them, “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build:  but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem."  When arguments appear in our thought against our spiritual work, we have the same right to be just as adamant regarding our work.  Error is nothing;  it has no share of us, no lawful authority, nor anything to memorialize about itself.  Jerusalem is the symbol for "home; heaven." (S&H 589)  Heaven is "harmony; ...government by divine Principle;" (S&H 587)  Animal magnetism, seen in this story as the three naysayers, cannot argue with us, for it is "nothing," error, claiming to be "something." This enemy tried its utmost to disrupt the work.  Nehemiah and the workmen did not ignore the three men, for we do not ignore error.  Mrs. Eddy insisted that her workers in her home and all Christian Scientists must be alert to the arguments of error and "watch."  Jesus, too, uttered this wise counsel, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (Mark 13: 37) Nehemiah reports how everyone watched against the adversary.  "We made our prayer unto God, and set a watch against them day and night...And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease."  (Neh. 4: 7-11) 
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How do we look at this today?  Much of what comes to our thought seems natural to the times we live in---media ads warning us about a myriad of diseases, more all the time; accidents, crimes, aging problems, world upsets, terrible weather events, etc.  If we do not know how to watch our thoughts to make sure we are not taking it in as real and liable to affect us, we are not doing our duty for our fellow human beings.  Understanding that all the bad that happens is a result of mortal mind beliefs being reflected in daily life, we owe our "neighbors" the Scientific Truth concerning the beliefs.  How else can we love our neighbor as our self?  This does not mean pushing our beliefs on our neighbors.  We are to know, a mental act, the Truth concerning the world’s problems and leave the outward solutions to God, infinite Mind that is Love.  We rejoice that what we know with our Mind is reflected outwardly. This may very well happen in ways we do not personally apprehend or experience, but we can be assured that God’s Word cannot return void. The wall around the city had twelve gates which were far apart. This was the method they used:  "Everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon...And I said unto the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.  In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us:  Our God shall fight for us."  (Neh. 4: 17-20)  Every builder assisted every other one in one whole working body.  Each one must love the Science of man more than he loves himself.  How else can the body be rebuilt?  How else can it be one and indestructible?   Each one of us is the individualized expression of the one "man," or manifestation of God.  Therefore, the work that blesses our fellowman also at the same time blesses us, and vice versa. In spite of adversity upon adversity, Nehemiah and his workmen restored, gate by gate, the circuit of Jerusalem's walls.  The foundations for the wall did not need rebuilding, for they had been impossible for Babylon to destroy!   The work was done divinely;  Soul was made manifest as the identity of the Israelites, and not by the Israelites personally. “And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God."   (Neh. 6: 16) The tone of Principle, “fourth day” of creation, the supreme governing power of the universe, controls its infinite expression, all the facts and functions of which are inter-related and operate harmoniously in obedience to it.  In Christian Science, it includes all of the other synonyms. With the restoration of the temple and the walls and gates, the new Jerusalem, all rebuilt, the people dedicated the finished project with gladness, thanksgiving, and singing. 
The prophet Isaiah, speaking in symbol as the prophets did, calls the gates "praise."  (Is. 60: 18) It is not just primarily gratitude for the physical restoration of a city which have been rebuilt under Ezra's and Nehemiah's direction and inspiration, but a great hymn of joy and praise is being offered up for the renewed understanding of what creation truly is---this understanding is the means of universal salvation.  The divine Principle of orderly, harmonious government demonstrated individually and collectively was a protection to all 
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involved.  Evil intentions cannot succeed against one who knows the presence and power of divine Principle operating on his behalf. The great feature in this dedication was that the Israelites formed themselves into two bands and made a procession around the walls, half of the princes and priests going to the right and half going to the left.  Ezra went with those going to the right, and Nehemiah went with those to the left. Symbolically, the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah encircle the whole project, the center and circumference.  In spiritual building, there are always these two factors to be considered---the subjective standpoint, where one is conscious of infinite good (God, temple, the center of every man's being) and is looking out upon creation (the circumference, that which is all around you) with that sense of it being the image or reflection of good.  In order for the circumference to image forth the center, however, spiritual education has to take place.  The world is in need of this education in order to recognize intelligently and consistently its forever birthright of oneness with God, just as the two bands which encircled the wall met as one. 
Nehemiah continued to abide by Principle, as he undertook the re-population of the city. His brother was appointed charge over Jerusalem, for he "feared God above many." 
The city was large, but the people were few and houses had not yet been built.  He said that God (his one and only Mind) had put in his heart a plan whereby to gather the people.  He would do it according to the genealogy of the families which had been carried away into Babylon with a registry which he had found.  It was exactly the same list of names that appears in Ezra.  Chapter seven is largely given to this list of names which one is likely to skip over.  However, symbolically, surely it means that each name, as a person, has a significance, a definiteness and a purpose.  In the one divine Mind, each and every idea is loved, meant to be here, and is a part of the grand scheme of things.  No one is peripheral. 
Every single one of us is the expression of Soul, the spiritual sense and understanding that we are individualized reflections of God, divine Mind.  It is our spiritual journey, either here or hereafter, that will, through our experiences, enable us to drop our ingrained, false assumptions and find our true being as the beloved of God. So the people of Judah came and settled in their land.  "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate;  and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.  And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding...And he read therein ...from the morning until midday...and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law...And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.  And all the people answered , Amen...and the Levites caused the people to understand the law..."   Ezra carried out his purpose to furnish the Israelites with the truth about themselves.  The original, spiritual meaning of the Scriptures is the original and spiritual meaning of man.  When the people first heard the words of the law, they shed tears of repentance, but they were told that "this day is holy unto our Lord:  neither be ye sorry;  for the joy of the Lord is your strength...Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God.  And they kept the feast seven days; ..."   (Neh. 8: 1-3; 6-7, 9-10, 18) 
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During a further seven days, after the people heard in the book of the law that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, went out and made themselves booths to dwell in.  ( A "booth" is a transitory tent made from tree branches.)  This symbolizes the human body of man which is temporarily rebuilt after resurrection, as Jesus demonstrated. We may see and/or experience this resurrected body here or after we "pass on."  If we have made sufficient spiritual progress here before we "pass on," we will awaken to see our body essentially the same, our identity unchanged, but we will see and experience a newer- looking, healthier, more harmonious, lovelier body.  It will be less tied to the material beliefs of mass and weight.  Such was the body Mrs. Eddy exhibited for her faithful workers, in the last months of her earthly sojourn, mentally teleporting herself around her home and its grounds, walking over the water to a boat coming to get her, hovering near the ceiling when one of her workers came into her room, and showing herself to her faithful workers after she had passed on---youthful and lovely, able to appear to them right where they were, by her bedside.  She pointed to the form on the bed, smiled at them to show that life never was in that form, walked right through the wall of the bedroom to a place they could not see.) The disciples, because of their advanced views of creation as spiritual, not material, due to Jesus' teachings and examples, experienced a change in their bodies while still here, not having to "die" first.  They could carry their bodies about over distances by thought alone.  Philip did this during his encounter with the eunuch as already discussed.  After getting to the point where we can heal our own bodies of sickness, disease, and other inharmonies, we will finally ascend without dying.  That state of existence is what Jesus called being  "as the angels in heaven." The basis of the Priestly Document is the seven days of creation, symbolic for the step-by-step way in which humanity learns and then, when learned, lives all of the qualities of the nature of God which they have by reflection.  These "seven," whether in order or in integrated wholeness, is the basis of the "New Jerusalem," the human consciousness regenerated, free of the error of belief in matter and all that goes with it---sin, sickness, disease, and death. After the feast of the seven days, on the eighth day, there was a "solemn assembly." 
The children of Israel clothed themselves in sackcloth with "earth upon them."  "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers."  (Neh. 8: 18; 9: 1-2)  Then they told the people of Israel's life-history, from Abraham unto the present rebuilding.  This telling of the story of the life of the Israelites by individuals  "separated from all strangers," represented the entire symbolism of Israel as the Christ-idea coming from the true idea of Life, which first dawned on Abraham, and is continuing on now as the infinite idea of Life.  All that is ever going on is the eternally circulating, deathless life.  The true life-story of each of us individually has no real beginning or ending. In this part of the story, there is great joy in Jerusalem.  "...for God had made them rejoice with great joy:  the wives also and the children rejoiced:  so that the joy of Jerusalem 
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was heard even afar off."  (Neh. 12: 43, 45)  Porters and singers were appointed to watch and to praise.  How we do praise the wonderful revelation that God is both the center and the circumference, subject and object, of being!  Two companies of those that sing and give thanks make music together in the temple and on the walls at the same time.  The people had heard their wonderful story as the nation chosen of God to bring God's message of the oneness of God to the earth. They had repented of their sins and cleansed themselves of their sins. They had completed the rebuilding of their city of God, and now were full of joy and thanksgiving.  They experienced a sense of the meaning of Truth which conferred harmony and wholeness.  Mrs. Eddy gives us a sense of this joy: "A louder song, sweeter than has ever before reached high heaven, now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ; for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting strain." (S&H 568:26)   This is the tone of the Seventh Day consciousness, Love (holiness, the fulfilling of the law, no condemnation Godlikeness, complete sovereignty, selflessness, grace, the infinite all of good, motherhood, perfect satisfaction, completeness, constancy, fulfillment). Nehemiah read to his people about the Ammonites and the Moabites from the book of Moses and reminded them never to take in such foreign thinking which is against God. 
He warned them not to take into their thinking that which defiles and makes a lie.  He then followed it with a long discourse on the sacredness of the Sabbath when all labor is to cease and all are to rest. 
Nehemiah, like Ezra, closes his teaching by warning the people about the dangers of mixed marriages.  Spiritually interpreted, this means that man must watch that he weds himself only to pure ideals.  In all progress in any worth-while field, it is true that those who adhere purely to one overriding purpose grow strong in that field.  Mixing matter and Spirit, Truth and error, keeps us from demonstrating the Truth that makes us free.  It prolongs the period of time when everything is just theoretical to us, for we cannot prove it.  "Typified by the holy city, New Jerusalem itself, Israel (typified by all of us in the "last days") comes down from God out of heaven in accordance with the order of the first translation (S&H, 115);  she does not fall from God out of heaven, to join forces with a material way of life." (Brown, From Genesis..., 208, emphasis in original) 
The Book of Esther        Chapters   1-9 
The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are linked in purpose, and one Book follows the next in perfect order.  This is not surprising since the entire Bible is put together in this way.  I and II Chronicles sums up the four Books of Kings, but with an entirely different viewpoint which is necessary to the coming of the Messiah, and then Ezra and Nehemiah take that narrative forward into broader spiritual realms, into the future teachings of the Messiah and what they symbolize for every man.  Ezra, who restores the temple at the center of Jerusalem, brings out the spiritual message of the temple's symbolism, that of the concept of "body."  Israel's "body" has broken down, mainly as a result of Israel's sins.  It is restored as she repents, is purified, and then glorifies the Lord God once more.  Nehemiah restores the walls and gates to the city, typing the one infinite all-encircling parent Mind. 
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The whole creation, the whole body of Mind, God, is image, idea, in the all-encircling Mind. 
Nothing can be outside of the infinite Mind.  All is embraced within it. Therefore, all is Mind and its image or "immediate object of understanding," inseparable, forever One. 
Center and circumference is One. "Individual unity with God, constituting the center, must be reflected and practiced throughout the whole of consciousness.  This constitutes the "circumference,"  which is infinite.  Esther, meaning "star," is where center and circumference are found to be one in each spiritual identity.  In other words, the conjoined messages of Ezra and Nehemiah are individualized.  There we look out from the stars upon the universe---each of us an individual star in an infinite firmament of stars."  (Brown, From Genesis..., 204)  Esther's Hebrew name, "Hadassah," means "bride," which has a great significance in this story also. 
The story of Esther, a "fair and beautiful" Jewish maiden who became the queen of Persia, is a gem of a Bible story.  Yet it is the only Book in the Bible which does not use the word "God."   Perhaps the actual word, "God,"  is not needed because the entire story is an account of the living of God.   Whereas Ezra and Nehemiah are concerned with Jerusalem, this story of Esther takes place away from Jerusalem, in the court of the king of Persia, Ahasuerus.  Not all of the Israelites returned to Jerusalem when it was rebuilt, but chose, instead, to remain in Persia.  The story tells how this remnant of the Jewish people was saved by Esther and Mordecai, her guardian, when in peril of their lives.  Spiritually, this story shows how the development of the spiritual idea is saved from being overwhelmed by worldly beliefs and forces.  This is done through the active living of spiritual Truth as true manhood and womanhood. 
Mordecai, who served in the palace, was Esther's cousin, much older than Esther, and had become her watchful  guardian after Esther's parents died in the sacking of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar.  His name means "little man," which types every one of us individually expressing and constituting the body of God.  His name also means  "taught of God."  Mordecai retained his spiritual individuality by reflecting all that he was taught of God and applied it to every aspect of his life.  Thus, he became a great man, with such a prestigious position that he was on a par with the king.  By reflecting the "most high God," we become "most high." Ahasuerus' glorious kingdom reached from India to Ethiopia, the most universal of anything studied so far.  He was as kindly as King Cyrus toward the Jews.  He decided to hold a feast for all of his subjects, and participation was voluntary, so none were compelled to attend.  However, he commanded his Persian queen, Vashti, to appear wearing the royal crown.  She refused to obey her husband the king, typing rebellious humanity, a body at variance with its governing head.  Disobedience to Principle implies the belief of more than one mind.  If the queen disobeys the king, this means that at the center of being the body is in revolt against its own unity. Vashti decided to rid himself of this disobedient queen and find one who was loyal and obedient.  A search was begun, and Mordecai brought Esther to the attention of Hege, the king's chamberlain.  It was his job to prepare the young women to go in to the king for him to choose a bride.  Mordecai had practically raised Esther and was certainly as a father 
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to her, and this was not something he would do without deep thought and prayer.  He must have known through a spiritual sense that this was Esther's destiny.  When Hege saw her, he was immediately impressed and gave her the best place in the house of the women. 
The women had to undergo a twelve-month period of purification before going before the king.  Mordecai kept a very watchful eye on Esther, as he always had, during this time.  In the development of spiritual consciousness, it is wise to allow our manhood to watch over our womanhood.  Mrs. Eddy speaks of this wise counsel, explaining how she thought about it for herself:  "My manhood takes care of my womanhood, defends, protects, and supports her.  My joy is defended and protected by my courage.  My love is protected and defended by my understanding, by the strength of my scientific understanding, which is omnipotence. 
I am never undefended." During this time, Mordecai charged Esther not to reveal her Jewish background.  In fact, she was charged to keep it secret until after becoming queen if that occurred.  Esther had to prove herself by what she was, not by labels affixed to her.  When it was time for Esther to go in before the king, it is said she did not require the extra beautifying that was available to the women.  She went in simply as she was, and the king loved her immediately and made her his queen.  Spiritual sense is the birthright of every man, and the realization of this breaks down barriers so that heart speaks to heart in a completely natural way.  The things of the Spirit do speak to those willing to listen, because spiritual being is native to everyone. When Ahasuerus wed Esther, he gave a great feast, but also celebrated by giving gifts and setting prisoners free.  There is always a release from imprisoning conditions and an ability to share blessings and give out good when manhood weds womanhood in an individual.  This wedding sense comes about when all that speaks of initiative, intelligence, and uncompromising Truth is united with a truly natural meekness and  purity.  Infinite sustenance and protection is found to be the natural state of man and brings with it true satisfaction and peace.  It is the union of true manhood and womanhood that is destined to foil and offset all the carnal mind's greed and murderous intentions soon to unfold in the story. As it so happened,  Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate one day (which was how he was in the king's service, guarding his beloved Esther and also the king), when two of the king's chamberlains who kept the king's door spoke of their anger with the king and their plan to "lay hand on the king..."  Mordecai overheard them and told queen Esther.  Esther then told the king in Mordecai's name.  When the king inquired about the matter, it was found out, and the chamberlains were hanged.  A wise, alert Mordecai and Esther had helped to foil a plan to harm the king. Mrs. Eddy writes about the precious individuality of  "Christ's little ones:"  "Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and therefore whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle, God?  You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this.  Then you will find that one is as important as duo decillions in being and doing right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle.  A dewdrop reflects the sun.  Each of Christ's little ones 
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reflects the infinite One, and therefore is the seer's declaration true, that one on God's side is a majority...Who lives in good, lives also in God,---lives in all life, through all space.  His is an individual kingdom, his diadem a crown of crowns.  His existence is deathless, forever unfolding its eternal Principle."  (Pulpit, 4: 7-17; 20-23) After these things, a man, Haman, a descendant of Esau and an Amalakite, enemy of all Israel, was promoted by King Ahasuerus who "set his seat above all the princes that were with him." (Est. 3: 1) The meaning of "Amalakite" is "a people who takes away all." He types the carnal mind, full of selfishness, vanity, and egotism.  Mordecai, whose spirituality was not taken in by this detestable man, refused to bow down to the fleshly beliefs and their insidious ways when Haman came and went through the gate to the king.  This indifference to Haman's high ranking caused Haman to be so filled with wrath that he plotted to kill all the Jews throughout the kingdom.  He made up a decree and took it to the king to sign.  He influenced him to sign it by saying that all the Jewish people were different from the people of Persia, did not keep the king's laws, and it was in his best interest not to put up with them in the land.  Ahasuerus was fooled into signing it, and it was then published in every province.  All Jews were to be killed. This is the way the carnal mind argues to mortal man.  It declares that the spiritual idea of being is too different from all the other accepted beliefs and practices.  It does not adhere to the commonly held doctrines of religious faith, so it should not, therefore, be adopted as being in man's best interests.   If this  pronouncement is blindly held to, man will eventually find that he is working against his own best interests, his happiness, well-being, and spiritual growth.  The science which causes and upholds the universe and everything in it is not an optional science.  It is the only science--- of Mind, not matter.  Physicists have already found that subject and object are one.  Mind has absolute dominion over matter, and matter is in complete submission to Mind.  This great fact of the universe must be taught in symbol.  We are too materially minded to learn it in any other way.   The infinitesimals of "matter" move at the behest of Mind.  It does not matter if we believe they are not alive. (One example given earlier is the ax head that floated to the surface at Elisha's demand.) Life is not in the object, but is a fact of being and is found in its Principle, the one and only subject or Source of all.  This earth is on a collision course with the error of belief in intelligent matter, the mind in submission to its body of non-intelligence.  If it were not for the great fact that the universe's Mind is not also Love, we would all be swept away by it. 
Our saving grace is that there is no real evil.  It may take centuries of learning and/or suffering, but we will all eventually be saved.   Ultimately, only the awareness of eternal spiritual identity can satisfy a man and bring him peace. The Psalmist said: " I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness."    (Ps. 17: 15) When the murderous decree was set in motion, the people in Shushan, the palace, were perplexed. 
Human thought is always being leavened by Truth, whether consciously or not.  It does not automatically accept such extreme positions without questioning them.  Mordecai perceived the entire plan and rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the city and cried bitterly.  All who are taught of God are sensitive to any attempt to destroy the 
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spiritual idea. They cannot afford to be apathetic.  In fact, the Jews in the whole province were doing the same.  When the queen's maids told her what was happening, she grieved exceedingly and sent clothes to Mordecai to replace the sackcloth, but he refused them. It is often a characteristic of womanhood to try to bring comfort in a trying situation, but merely human comfort is often insufficient.  Then Esther sent one of the king's chamberlains to find out what was happening with Mordecai.  Mordecai told him all that he knew of Haman and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.  "Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people."   (Est. 4: 8)  Esther then sent word back to Mordecai that she had not been called to go in before the king for thirty days, and anyone who went into the inner court of the king would be put to death unless the king held out his golden sceptre to that person. Mordecai sent word again to Esther that she should not see herself as safe, but was just as vulnerable as all of the Jews and that her father's house would be destroyed for she had no heirs.  He added this trenchant note:  "and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for a time such as this?"  Spiritual thought is touched and aroused to play its God- given part in the preserving of spiritual consciousness. Esther answered him:  "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day:  I also and my maidens will fast likewise;  and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law:  and if I perish, I perish."  (Est. 4: 13-16) Throughout this whole scenario, Esther has had to "put on her manhood." Although she was probably terrified by what Mordecai was asking of her, the time had come to exercise true moral courage and take a stand for what is spiritually right.  Mordecai, who loved Esther as a father, also had to gather up his manhood to the fullest extent  to ask Esther to do this thing.  But wisdom bade him take a stand, for nothing would be gained by not doing so.  He was spiritually alert enough to understand that every individual must fulfil his God-appointed mission in order for the divine plan to manifest itself more quickly and easily and with less suffering for mankind. Esther finally found some measure of this same moral and spiritual courage of true manhood and decided to go forward with the plan.  However, consecrated thought, prayer, and purity were needed first, symbolized by the fasting.  One must "fast" from material beliefs accompanying the action to be undertaken,  and the true substance and allness of the spiritual facts pertaining to the action must be gratefully acknowledged and understood to be the only action going on. With the preparation of the heart and unselfed love, Esther went into the inner court of the king.  Immediately he held out the golden sceptre to her and asked for her request of him.  He told her he would give her half his kingdom should she desire it.  Esther did not immediately plead for her Jewish kinsmen.  Instead, she followed the God-given idea which came to her while she was fasting from material sense.  She told the king that she wanted him and Haman to come to a banquet that she was preparing for them. 
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It seems that she planned to have the manhood and authority of Mordecai acknowledged by the king and the wickedness of Haman uncovered before she pleaded for her people.  The insight of womanhood often includes the perception that one cannot force men to relinquish material concepts that they have made their bosom companions (symbolized by Ahasuerus and Haman).  The fallacy and evil of these concepts must be uncovered to them before they can see the practicality and value of their true manhood in terms of the worthiness of good, protection, and blessedness. At the banquet the king asked her for her petition, but she asked instead for another banquet to which her husband and Haman were to be invited, and at that banquet she would reveal her petition.  During the interval between the two banquets, Haman's evil hatred of Mordecai reached its peak.  At his wife's suggestion, Haman had gallows built for Mordecai. 
When prayer and fasting are practiced before any action is undertaken, the divine Principle will always find some channel through which to express and establish itself in human experience. So the story goes that on the night after the first banquet, Ahasuerus could not sleep and asked for the book of daily deeds be read to him.  He heard for the first time how Mordecai had foiled a plan to kill him.  Upon learning that Mordecai had never been honoured for this deed, he asked Haman what should be done to honor one whom the king wanted to honor.  Haman, with his huge ego, believed it must be him the king was intending to honor.  He advised the king that one should be given royal apparel, the king's horse to ride upon and the royal crown set upon his head.  He would thus be paraded through the city. 
However, when the king said all this was to be done for Mordecai, it was a bitter blow to him and he knew his end was in sight.  Haman was commanded to be the one to lead Mordecai through the city... a bitter pill indeed! While at Esther's second banquet, the king once more asked her for her petition. 
This time, Esther, in full command of her manhood, boldly pleaded for the life of herself and her people, saying that they were about to be destroyed.  Then the king asked her who would dare to propose such a  thing.  Esther replied:  "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman."  The king was so angry that he left the banquet and walked out into the garden. 
Haman then fell onto the bed whereon Esther lay and began to plead for his life.  When the king returned, he thought that Haman was forcing himself on the queen and declared against it.  Immediately the king's men covered Haman's face.  One of the chamberlains told the king about the gallows Haman had made for Mordecai, and the king said, "Hang him thereon." (Est. 7: 9) The carnal mind is a stumbling block against itself, its self-love, self-will, and self- justification, for these evil traits finally lead to self-destruction.  The wisdom and intelligence of Truth, and the patience and care of Love , manhood and womanhood, always lead to victory over the false boldness of trust in material ways and means to gain happiness. 
In chapter eight, we read that the king gave the house of Haman to Esther.  By this time, Esther had told her husband the truth about herself and her relationship to Mordecai, but it did not change the king's love for Esther.  When Mordecai went before the king, he was given Haman's ring of authority, and Esther set Mordecai over Haman's house.  Thus, the 
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"little man" was " great in the king's house,' and was held in high esteem by all the rulers and officials of Persia.  Esther learned that inspiration must be balanced by divine reasoning and scientific understanding.  Mere emotionalism is false womanhood. The law of the Medes and Persians to kill all the Jews could not be reversed, but another law could be written that would make the previous law null and void.  Mordecai used this method to stop the king's edict put forth by Haman against the Jews.  He wrote an edict and sealed it with the king's ring that gave the Jews the right to defend themselves. 
This they did, with huge relief, and celebrated with "light, and gladness, and joy, and honour."  With the king's permission, the Jews slew all of their enemies roundabout., and they took no spoils of war.  Dealing with material beliefs should not be undertaken for what man can get out of it, but rather to prove the supremacy of Spirit.  Then followed the feast of gladness.  Mordecai wrote that the Jews should memorialize that day and remember it every year at the same time.  It is kept to this day and is known as the feast of Purim.  Every generation, family, province, and city is commanded to remember forever their victory over their enemy, Haman, who had cast "pur," that is, the lot, to consume them.  It involves reminding oneself that the spiritual idea can never be destroyed, nor even temporarily overwhelmed when divine Truth, Life, and Love are acknowledged, understood, and loved. As far as the Scriptures are concerned, the next recorded happening following the triumph of Mordecai and Esther is the birth of Christ Jesus, which opens the New Testament.  However, the Wisdom books and the Prophets must first be considered.  These Books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, reiterate the monotheism which refutes the arguments of dualistic philosophies which make up the general thought of mankind.  It should be noted that the celebrated Greek philosophers belong to this same fourth period of the human story as Israel's sages and prophets.  The meaning of life, man, God, and the universe were being explored by thinkers in many different societies during this period. A central Principle for everything being intuited as the Truth was urging upon us its demand to be understood.  All through our long searching history, there have been a few in each era who seemed to be especially attuned to the underlying spiritual basis of all things. 
They felt impelled to relay as best they could through writing and preaching and wondrous works the falsity of reliance on matter and to raise up their people's understanding of God as the only Creator and Source of all good.  Mrs. Eddy captures their message which they had great difficulty transmitting in their day:  "Christian Science refutes everything that is not a postulate of the divine Principle, God.  It is the soul of divine philosophy, and there is no other philosophy.  It is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom:  it is God's right hand grasping the universe, all time, space, immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; constituting  and governing all identity, individuality, law, and power.  It stands on this Scriptural platform:  that He made all that was made, and it is good, reflects the divine Mind, is governed by it;  and that nothing apart from this Mind, one God, is self-created or evolves the universe.    (Mis. 364: 10) 
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Chapter  11   Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon Job    Chapters 1-42 
There is no other Book in the Bible like this one. It is considered by critics one of the most brilliant Books of the Old Testament and placed highly among the world's supreme literary achievements.  It is one of the oldest Scriptural writings, but was placed in the fourth thousand-year period because its message is one that concerns the fourth day, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, the symbol for one governing Principle.  Man is subject to Principle (God) alone and looks out from the Science of its divine laws upon the universe. 
The initial scene in heaven which presents God and Satan discussing the righteousness or otherwise of Job, ends with God permitting Satan to bring calamities upon Job and seems to be presented in a rather naïve and anthropomorphic way to indicate that Job did not personally deserve to be punished.  His sufferings were not the result of his personal sins.  It is the one liar that man always has to deal with, the ‘carnal mind,’ which is ‘enmity against God.’  (St. Paul: “…the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”  (Romans 8: 7)  (Scofield Bible) In this story, Job finds that the Truth of existence is not the belief that man has to wearily plod his way up to God as a sinning mortal.  Even a righteous man, such as Job was, needs to realize that the righteousness is not his, but God's. Then it is safe. Mrs. Eddy says of the true man:  "Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life and intelligence are in matter, and that this matter is man.  God is the Principle of man, and man is the idea of God. 
Hence man is not mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only and eternal verities of man.  Mortals are not fallen children of God.  They never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently be regained.  They were, from the beginning of mortal history, 'conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.' (S&H, 476: 7-17) 
Job, whose name means "he that weeps or cries; or that speaks out of a hollow place," has always tried his best to be a perfect and upright man.  He lived in the land of Uz, meaning "fastened, or fixed." This land was associated with the Edomites;  Edom was another name for Esau. This types that thought which considers itself upright, but is still firmly fixed to the mortal sense of existence.  Job had seven sons and three daughters.  He continually sacrificed for and sanctified his sons. The various commentaries state that the seven and three are symbolic.  The seven stands for spiritual perfection and the three stands for the three levels of consciousness---the physical, the moral, and the spiritual.  We saw this symbol in the three stories of the ark, for instance, and in the three sons of Noah, Ham (physical), Shem (moral), and Japhet (spiritual).  It is these three levels of consciousness that an understanding of Truth is continually leavening.(Brook,Job 8) Job is very worthy and prosperous in the beginning and possesses sheep (representative of meekness), camels (endurance), oxen (service), and asses (which was a symbol of peace back then).  We have a tendency to believe we have earned, through our own efforts (the continual sacrificing) and our own conscientiousness, a special relationship with God due to all this outward show, but we must at some point realize "not that we are 
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sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves;  but our sufficiency is of God." (II Cor. 3: 5)  Man expresses good not because he has made himself good, but because God has made him good.  Job personalized his goodness, so when a series of calamities befell him, he wondered why he had to, or was made to, suffer.  This question has been with us through the ages. Job was at first patient in tribulation, even as his animals were stolen or burned, and his sons and daughters and possessions were destroyed by a wind from the wilderness.  In spite of it all, Job did not turn from faith in God, believing that the hand of God was somehow behind the calamities.  Here is the old belief that God sends evil on His children for inscrutable reasons.  Then a final calamity came, and Job was forced, through reversing that error and translating it to his situation, to find the basic reality of being, that God is good only, and His universe expresses innate spiritual harmony with man as an integral reflection of it.  He became afflicted with "sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" and was reduced to sitting on an ash heap and scraping himself with a potsherd.  His wife, who had so far remained faithful, finally cried out to him:  "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? 
Curse God, and die."  Yet, Job still continued to believe that God's hand was in it, and he would find out why he had to suffer. (Ibid, 10) At length, three of Job's friends "made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him."  ( 2: 11 )  When they arrived, they at first did not recognize him, and were so stunned they kept silent for seven days and seven nights and grieved and wept with him.  Obviously the "seven" is symbolic.  For "seven days" the friends were silent and gave no comfort to Job by declaring the perfection of God and His mercy and great kindness and ability to heal Job and restore to him his losses.  Their orthodox thought firmly believed in the reality of the calamitous situation.  Nor did they deny that there could possibly be any other type of creation than one which doled out evil as real as good ("seven nights"). (2: 7-13) At last, Job, uncomforted, broke the silence by cursing the day he was born.  The Century Bible points to the astrological belief in ancient days that the day one is born determines his destiny.  Horoscopes are still used today and accepted almost as a law by its believers.  Jesus never acknowledged his birth, but instead insisted that his mother and brethren were those that did the will of God.  He stated unequivocally, "Before Abraham was, I am.  He clearly repudiated human birth, but tenderly cared for his human mother with a universal sense of mother love.  Revealed Science shows God to be Life, the life of all, never born and never dying.  Man must learn that he is pre-existent as an immortal and release himself from laws of heredity, pre-natal mesmerism, and cosmic influence.  None of us had our beginning at mortal birth, and this wonderful Truth lifts us to understand that we come under harmonious spiritual law alone. Job's anguished cry that "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me," and denouncing his birth can signal the beginning of an end to his misery, for he is ready to be amenable to some truly comforting thoughts that give him hope for an end to his suffering. 
Yet, he must endure some long drawn-out and unavailing arguments from his friends before welcome surcease comes.  It is well to realize that these "friends" which he has made his 
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bosom buddies symbolize his own accepted creeds and dogma from the ritualistic practices of his day. The first three thoughts which come to his consciousness are "old men," old theology of long accepted beliefs that have some truth to them but are, in the main, hard and cruel.  The two main questions posed to Job by Eliphaz, the first friend to speak, ask: "Whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off?"  These imply Job's guilt and the reason he is sent suffering is for chastening and correction.  After he has been chastened enough, God will finally deliver him.  (This reminds me of a minister who came to my mother's bedside before she was healed of her back problems and told her she was perhaps suffering because of some sin, and God was chastening her.  I could not believe that God sent suffering to His children who asked for comfort and help!)  Job answered: "Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, ...For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea:  therefore my words are swallowed up.  For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison thereof drinketh up my spirit:  the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me."  Job is obviously not comforted, but he is finding strength to speak up for himself:  "How forcible are right words!  but what doth your arguing reprove?...Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend...Is there iniquity in my tongue? 
Cannot my taste discern perverse things?"  In other words, I would certainly know my own sins that deserved chastening!   (4: 1,7; 5: 17; 6: 1-4) (Ibid, 15) Job is beginning to perceive that God must love His creation and has created him for a purpose:  "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?...What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?  and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?"   (7: 1, 17) Now comes Bildad, the second friend who speaks.  The Scofield Bible says that he is "a religious dogmatist of the superficial kind, whose dogmatism rests upon tradition and upon proverbial wisdom and approved pious phrases."   He presents the "dead letter" sense of God's Word:   "...inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:  (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) ...Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers..." These platitudes leave no impression on Job.  He is beginning to reason from what he knows about God:  "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength...Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.  Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.  Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.  Which doeth great things past finding out;  yea, and wonders without number.  Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands..?  Thou knowest that I am not wicked;..."  (8: 8, 9, 20, 9: 4, 7-10, 10: 3, 7) 
At this point, Zophar, his third friend, entered the discussion.  According to the Scofield Bible, he is "a religious dogmatist who assumes to know all about God;  what God will do in any given case, why he will do it, and all his thoughts about it."  He represents priest craft in its claim to mediate between God and man, a false sense of the Christ- consciousness.  The truth is that every man has direct access to God through his innate 
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Christ selfhood, and needs no one to stand in God's stead for him.  No mortal man can at any time be God to us. Zophar believed he could stand in judgment of Job, for he said to him:  "Should not the multitude of words be answered?  and should a man full of talk be justified?  Should thy lies make men hold their peace?  and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? 
For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.  But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;   Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. Canst thou by searching find out God?"  (11: 1-7) Job continued to reason with the Truth that was impelling him to understand it.  He answered Zophar:  "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.  But I have understanding as well as you;  I am not inferior to you:  yea, who knoweth not such things as these?...Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 
But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.  O that ye would altogether hold your peace!...Hear now my reasoning...Will ye speak wickedly for God?...He shall be my salvation:  for an hypocrite shall not come before him...Behold now, I have ordered my cause;  I know that I shall be justified..."  The truth of man's dignity and wholeness is breaking through.  He is beginning to express his rock-like Christ-consciousness.  "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down.  He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.   And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into judgment with thee?  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?  not one."  (12: 1-3, 13: 3-7, 16, 18, 14: 1-4, 7) (Brook, Job 14-16) Surely man must have more meaning than a life full of trouble!  Job points out that even a tree that is cut down sprouts new life, yet man supposedly dies and wastes away.  He asks:  "If a man die, shall he live again?  Job is catching gleams of life that cannot be separated from God.  "When we are tempted to think of man as a limited mortal, his wonderful capacities and possibilities squashed up into a finite body for threescore years and ten, and then snuffed out, this very thought is incompatible with the vastness and infinitude of man's vision and achievements.  What freedom and "moving space" for thought and action there is when we listen to the promptings of Life eternal and realize that our true Godlike self has always lived and will always live as an essential part of the eternal plan of being."   (Brook, Job, 17) Eliphaz, the first "comforter,"  enters into the arguments again, and this time with a harsh tone of condemnation for Job:  "...thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty...Hast thou heard the secret of God?  and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?  What knowest thou, that we know not?...With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father.  Why doth thine heart carry thee away?  and what do thine eyes wink at?...For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate,.." 
Eliphaz cannot believe the effrontery of Job in declaring that he knows more than his wise and hoary "comforters," even to the point of knowing that he shall be justified! Job, exasperated with their holier-than-thou attitude, exclaims:  "Miserable comforters are ye all."  He now seems to turn completely away from persons and commits himself completely to God:  "My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high...O that one 
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might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!"  His sense of a universe full of people, made by God, yet still able to be righteous and unrighteous, is being lifted up to see that God is more like an unchanging Principle, established in true honesty, balance, fairness, and impersonality.  This would mean that our salvation is never at the hands of unreliable people but always in the hands of the harmonious government of the divine Principle which made everything good.  ( 15: 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 34; 16: 1, 19, 21) (Brook, Ibid, 17) Nevertheless, the scorching words against Job that paint a destructive end of him go on and on: The attempts to find a cause for error, to condemn Job with the arguments that his woes are justified because of his sins, or that his suffering is only in his own thinking---there is no real healing in philosophical, psychological, sectarian attitudes.  "Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.  His strength shall be hunger bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side...brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation...His remembrance shall perish from the earth...He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world...Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God."  Yet it is the very light of God that Job is beginning to know. First he pours out a litany of his miseries, and  then, instinctively turning from such a dark picture, he turns to the light of his true identity:  "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me...For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth...yet in my flesh shall I see God." Often when the material senses seem to bear witness to terrible suffering or circumstances, its very odiousness causes us to turn from the terrible picture and to reach out for that which, deep down, seems more in line with what God must be like, an all-embracing Love that saves and blesses.  We believe there must be an answer, and we demand that answer.  (This is what happened to me when I knew it was not right that my mother should suffer.  I had always loved the twenty-third Psalm, and it did not fit with the picture of a sinful woman suffering because God willed it.  I demanded to know if there was a God, and God showed me there is, a God that is Love.  This is often the turning point in a serious difficulty.  It was with me, and it was with Job.   ( 18: 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 21; 19: 21, 25, 26) Job reasons his way to a much higher standpoint than that with which he began, but now the opportunity comes to go even higher.  He is buffeted by the very same anti-God arguments we hear today:  What is the point of trying to be so good, believing that God will reward you?  There are many people who have no religion, yet they are prosperous, happy, and have as satisfying a life as religious people do.  In fact, many people are downright evil and seem to live a grand life.  They don't ever seem to pay a penalty.  These point up the basic questions that need to be asked.  What is good?  What is reality?  What rewards the good?  What determines true happiness?  The religious may judge the life of others by their own sometimes rigid religious or moral codes based solely on custom and education as what is accounted good and what is not.  One may call a man wicked because he professes no belief in God.  Yet, he may be living the true idea of God in his daily life.  Do we judge another by outward signs of substance, such as riches, or by inward substance such as 
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unselfishness, kindness, compassion?  We know that what outwardly look like ideal circumstances may be the opposite.  Those who have the Christ consciousness "judge not that [they] be not judged."  That which is spiritual is the only good.  It is reflected in human lives by good, such as joy, peacefulness, abundance, satisfaction, and good health. Eliphaz then enters the debate for the last time.  It contains the familiar and lovely passage of Scripture:  "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:  thereby good shall come unto thee."  However, Eliphaz speaks this with a sense of man as fallen and needs to climb back up again:  "Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?...Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;...."  Job, who has led a good life, "perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil," is fighting the assertion that he is wicked and deserves what he gets.  When one is searching for a clearer sense of God, it is because he feels there is a clearer sense to be had.  Mind is impelling him to find it.  He answers Eliphaz: "Oh that I knew where I might find him!...  I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me...he knoweth the way that I take...he is in one mind, and who can turn him?"  Bildad gloomily assures him that "the son of man...is a worm."  Back Job comes with his answer to his desire for wisdom. 
He refuses to bow to their reproaches, saying, "God forbid that I should justify you:  till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go:  my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live."  True wisdom starts reasoning from Cause.  The divine intelligence and wisdom which maketh everything perfect does not make His highest creation able to become "a worm."  Otherwise, there would be no perfection to attain to.  Job is, though vaguely at this point, beginning to realize that the Perfect One cannot make or know anything imperfect.  ( 22: 5,10,21; 23: 3,5,10,13, 25: 6, 27: 5,6) (Brook, 20) His answering poem, which the Book calls a "parable," is a long one, occupying six chapters.  It is a beautiful poem on wisdom and understanding.  Job showed that everything material has a definite and humanly perceptible origin.  He gave examples of how man makes discoveries and applies them with inventions:  "... iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone."  He continues with the priceless fact of wisdom:  "Man knoweth not the price thereof;  neither is it found in the land of the living...It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof...No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls:  for the price of wisdom is above rubies...God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof...And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;  and to depart from evil is understanding."  He might have said, more in today's language:  "Love the spiritual with your whole heart, and entertain spiritual ideas, for they will operate in your life to overcome evil."  We must not underestimate, however, the fact that this is a demanding process and cannot be done with the human intellect.  We must learn what God is in relation to us, apply what we learn, and be fitted to receive more.  (28: 2,13,15,18,23,28) Finally, the three dogmatists who could not, through their unyielding religious standpoints, comfort Job, were quiet.  Now, another comforter comes forward.  He is the much younger Elihu.  He had not yet put forth an argument because he bowed in deference 
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to the wisdom of the older men.  The Scofield Bible says that Elihu has "a far juster and more spiritual conception of the problem than Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar because he has an infinitely higher conception of God.  The God of Eliphaz and the others, great though they perceive Him to be in His works, becomes in their thought petty and exacting in His relations with mankind.   It is the fatal misconception of all religious externalists and moralizers.  Their God is always a small God.  Elihu's account of God is noble and true, and it is noteworthy that at the last Jehovah does not class him with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar (Job 42: 7); but he is still a dogmatist, and his eloquent discourse is marred by self- assertiveness...the discourse of Jehovah is wholly free from accusations of Job with which even Elihu's lofty discourse abounds." Elihu began his discourse with great promise:  "...there is a spirit in man:  and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.  Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment."  He then asks to be heard for he shall "utter knowledge clearly."  He certainly seems to have a  clearer sense:  "The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life...Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee."  It is "the Almighty" that gives us inspiration, and "God is no respecter of persons."  This is a universal fact, and it must be understood, not just paid lip-service.  Elihu claims to be standing for Job, "in God's stead," right after asserting that it is God that gives inspiration and understanding and that "God is greater than man!"  ""Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead."  He must not claim that which is God's purview, and must refrain from feeling slightly superior for his knowledge of the Truth.  The Principle is greater than the idea which expresses it.   At length, however, Elihu's fundamental understanding which is much higher than the three older men will serve to purify his attitude.  Here are some of his other sayings that help Job to look beyond his physical condition at the wonder and glory of God and to finally hear God speak to him "out of the whirlwind."  ( 32: 8, 33: 3,4,6) (Brook, Job, 23-25) "If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit:  I have found a ransom."  (Job 33: 23, 24)  This is the apprehension of the forever Christ that always gets its saving message to those who are listening for it. "Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom."  (36: 5) "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out;  he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice:  he will not afflict."  (37: 23)  Here Elihu is at a loss as to how to understand God's nature, for he has not yet realized that man's understanding is the reflected understanding of the divine.  But he does know that the divinity of God precludes him from afflicting His children.  Elihu's enlightened message is ahead of his deeds, but it is enough to enable Job to grasp in some measure the infinite power, grandeur, and grace of God.  It liberated Job's thought from the encrusted theological beliefs of the elder three "comforters" and to accept his status as one with God, indivisible from the infinite Principle of the universe. 
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Job can now perceive God communicating directly with him, as written in picturesque symbolism.  Scofield writes of this dramatic encounter:  "Hitherto the discussions have been about God, but He has been conceived of as absent.  Now Job and the Lord are face to face."  The absolute unity of God and man is tangibly felt.  After an outpouring of His majesty and might in the creation of the universe, Job perceives God as saying to him:  "Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency;  and array thyself with glory and beauty...Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee."  The true man has a wonderful status as God's highest expression of Himself, and man has the God-given right to accept his Christ selfhood as the only fundamental and eternal truth of his being.  Job, never condemned by his Creator in any way, says with rejoicing:  "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear:  but now mine eye seeth thee."  We hear about God, learn of His goodness, but suddenly there comes a time when we realize our relationship  with Him as one of perfect reflection---face-to-face.  We see that as His reflection, we are as vital and necessary to God as He is to us. At the end of the story, God speaks to the three elder "comforters," telling them they must sacrifice seven bullocks and seven rams for representing rigid, unloving, unprogressive theological beliefs to Job.  They must, by their sacrifices, show that they are willing to give up a limited concept of God so that they can be blessed by the clear, pure, impartial, spiritually scientific understanding of the seven-fold divine nature that came to Job.  Job was told to pray for his friends, for God had accepted him.  Job had changed to such an extent that he was able to see the same grace and love of God for his friends that he had accepted for himself.   Elihu, however, did not have to sacrifice, for he had already demonstrated a more progressive, impartial sense of God to Job which helped him hear God's voice speaking to him telling him of his worthiness in God's eyes.  "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends:  also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.  Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house...He also had seven sons and three daughters...And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job:  and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.  After this lived Job an hundred and forty years,  and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations."   (42: 5,10,11,13,16) Job finally did what each one of us must do:  turn forever away from mortal egotism and mere human goodness to union with the divine Principle, Love.  Each must work to understand God for himself.  No one else can do it for you.  Job’s body is, in truth, the temple of the Holy Ghost and belongs to God through reflection.  Our only need is to reason through that wonderful fact from the standpoint of perfection which created and sustains our universe. (Brook, Ibid, 25-28) 
The Book of Psalms 
This is certainly one of the most beloved books of the Bible, full of comfort, praise, and wisdom. Bible commentators tell us that there are five books of Psalms.  These five Davidic Books of the Psalms, they say, correspond to the five Books of the law of Moses, 
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known as the Pentateuch.   (Dummelow, The One Volume Bible Commentary, 324) This confirms the words of Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health:  "...the law of Sinai, [thought of by the Israelites at the time as a “God up there and man down here,”] lifted thought into the song of David,"  God and man united as one. (200: 3-4) Thus the keynote of the Psalms is Christ as the holy Comforter, Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.”  (S&H 583: 10) Christ, the Savior, will in due course be represented by Jesus and Christian Science.  Since this is the keynote of the Psalms, only a representative number of Psalms are discussed, particularly the ones that foretell the coming of Christ and the coming of the Comforter. The Pentateuch ranges from Genesis to Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy closes the wilderness phase of Israel's journey (its objective sense of everything as being "out there," disconnected from them), and opens it to its subjective sense of things, the Promised Land, the good that has been ours all along.  Scholars say that the Five books of Psalms foreshadow the two Messianic advents.  In order for this to be true, the law of Sinai in the third period would have to be lifted into the Song of David in the fourth.  The law of Moses punishes the children of Israel for their sins.  David's song is the sinless union of Judah and Israel. Although the unity of Israel and Judah did not last for very long after David's reign, it was destined to come again into fruition in the fifth, sixth, and seventh periods as the world- saving missions of Christ Jesus and Christian Science, the manhood and womanhood of God, or Fatherhood and Motherhood which is just as correct due to reflection. We cannot be sure of the authorship of all of the psalms, but it is probable that David authored many of them. "Considerable weight too, is due to tradition, which is too strong and too persistent to be lightly set aside.  The very fact that so many psalms were handed down to the compilers of the Psalter under David's name, is a very strong argument in favour of his authorship of a considerable number."  (Dummelow, The One Volume...323- 324)  What is true, is that "the guidance of the Divine Spirit lies behind the final collection of these hundred and fifty sacred lyrics into one Psalter, for the use of Israel and the spiritual benefit of the world."  (Ibid., 324)  These psalms are ageless, timeless, boundless in the human conditions they cover, for they are evidence of eternal Truth, and thus are universal. There are a number of psalms that seem to bear a distinct allusion to the New Testament coming of Christ Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection.  They are styled the" 
Messianic  Psalms."  Dummelow's makes a distinction between two meanings of the word "Messianic:"  It "may be used either in the narrower sense of prophecies that contain a distinct reference to a personal Deliverer called the Messiah, or in a wider sense of predictions of great and glorious blessings to be enjoyed by the nation in a better and brighter age to come.  Often without any reference to a personal Messiah, prophets and psalmists are found confidently anticipating a Day of God, when He shall appear in righteous judgment and shall manifest His glory among men.  A little group of Psalms, of which 96-98 form the nucleus, may be described as Messianic, because they anticipate a theophany, a manifestation of God in the earth.  They contemplate a period when in some sense God shall 'come and not keep silence,' when  'He cometh to judge the world with 
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righteousness and the people with equity.'   The mode with which this is to be carried out is left indefinite, but the hope is invincible and inextinguishable."  (Ibid., 327) 
Psalm  96, partially quoted:  “O sing unto the Lord a new song:  sing unto the Lord all the earth…declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people…for he cometh to judge the earth:  he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” 
Psalm  22, partially quoted:  “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?...They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture…[These words were spoken by Jesus while on the cross.  The soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ garment for it was woven without seams and was very valuable.]…“he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;  neither hath he hid his face from him;  but when he cried unto him he heard…All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:  and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.  For the kingdom is the Lord’s:  and he is the governor among the nations…They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, [probably referring to the “latter days.”] that he hath done this.”  Dummelow's, ( p.327), says David speaks of  “a righteous earthly ruler of the house and dynasty of David [who] is celebrated.  Of course we know that Jesus did come from the house or lineage, of David.  Dummelow's says of Psalm 22:  "...[it is] clearly descriptive of the sufferings of the persecuted but faithful servant of God, and its language is frequently quoted in the New Testament in reference to Christ.  But it contains no reference to the personal triumph of the sufferer, while the latter part of the Psalm points unquestionably to a great victory over unrighteousness, which is to be gained after and by means of his patient fidelity.  (327-8) At the end of this psalm, David seems to speak of a later time:  "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him;  all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;  and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.  For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;  neither hath he hid his face from him;  but when he cried unto him, he heard...All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:  and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.  For the kingdom is the Lord's:  and he is the governor among the nations."  (22: 1,23,24,27,28) This certainly seems to refer to the return of the Christ. In Psalm 2, David speaks of the Lord and "his anointed" which seems to allude to Christ Jesus:  "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us...Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  I will declare the decree:  the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;  this day have I begotten thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;  thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings:  be instructed, ye judges of the earth..."  (2: 1-3,5-10) 
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"Dummelow's interprets it: "The poet views the nations plotting against Jehovah and His representative, the Messianic King, but remembering the power and majesty of God, he sees a speedy end to their devices."  The holy hill of Zion is David's city, Jerusalem.  It is symbolic of the "city foursquare" of the latter days of Christian Science when Mrs. Eddy explained it as the renewed consciousness of mankind with its infinite, equal sides being The Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science.  Then the King is introduced relating Jehovah's decree and promise of sovereignty over all nations..." The Messianic King now speaks, quoting the promise given to David, the father of his dynasty, through Nathan the prophet. " (II Sam. 7: 4,11,12-14,16-17, 26)  "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son...According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David..." 
Psalm 45  seems to speak directly about Christ Jesus and his promised kingdom being established on the earth.  "My heart is indicting a good matter:  I speak of the things which I have made touching the king:  my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.  Thou art fairer than the children of men:  grace is poured into thy lips:  therefore God has blessed thee for ever...in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness;... Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies;  whereby the people fall under thee.  Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:  the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.  Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness:  therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.  All thy garments smell of myrrh (brought by the Three kings to Jesus at his birth;  it is also used in the Bible for Jesus' burial), and aloes, and cassia,...Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women...The king's daughter is all glorious within...I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations:  therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."  (45: 1,2,4- 8,9,10,13,17)  Dummelow's, p. 347, says that this psalm celebrates the marriage of a king, "yet the language used of the king is of such a transcendental character that it could only be strictly true of the Messiah, or ideal King, and we find verses 6 and 7 quoted with a Messianic meaning in Hebrews 1: 8, 9.   In this chapter, St. Paul is speaking entirely of Christ Jesus. 
In Psalm 110, the advent of a Priest-King "after the order of Melchizedek" is heralded, and the author of the Psalm looks to him to rule in Zion, not as his son, but as his Lord.  (Dummelow's, The One Volume...p.327)  "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.  The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion:  rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.  Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power... Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.  The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings...He shall judge among the heathen...he shall wound the heads over many countries..."  (110: 1-3,4,5,6)  Dummelow's, p.370, says that this speaks of the triumphs of Christ in the world."  Melchizedek, king of righteousness, if you remember, visited Abraham in his tent in the "Valley of the Kings," bringing him and Sarah bread (Truth) and wine (inspiration) and then disappearing as suddenly as he came. 
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Jewish tradition pronounces Melchizedek to be a survivor of the deluge, the patriarch Shem, the son of Noah whom Mrs. Eddy defined as a type of "love rebuking error;..."  (S&H, 594)  Melchizedek is spoken of at length by St. Paul in Hebrews in the New Testament, Chapters 5-7, as a symbol for Christ:  (Chapter 5: 5,6)  "...Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest;  but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, [quoted above from Ps. 110, spelling of name is different from Old Testament spelling].  (Ch. 6: 20)  "Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."  (Ch. 7: 1-3,15-17,21,25-26) 
Psalm 96  is similar, speaking of the Lord coming to judge the people of the earth. "O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord all the earth...declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people...For all the gods of the nations are idols:  but the Lord made the heavens...O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:  fear before him all the earth...Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;  let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.  Let the fields be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord:  for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."  (Psalm 96: 1,3,5,9,11,12,13) 
It is to be noted here that in Luke 24: 44 Jesus was quoted as saying:  "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."  Also, St. Peter, in Acts 2, speaks of David being aware that from his lineage, a Savior would come and wrote about it in his psalms.  At the Day of Pentecost, when men of every tongue were filled with the Holy Ghost and understood each other's speech  and were amazed that they could, questioned Peter about it.  Part of his answer included reminding them of the psalms of David which specifically related to this latter time when Jesus would come.  Here are the references from Acts 2: 17,18,25-28,29-32,34-36,41:  "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:  and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit;  and they shall prophesy:  For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad;  moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:  Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.  Thou hast made known to me the way of life;  thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.  For David is not ascended unto the heavens:  but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, 
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until I make thy foes thy footstool.  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?...Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:  and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." The keynote of Psalms is Christ, the holy Comforter.  His vision is lifted to the millennium:  “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:  and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.  For the kingdom is the Lord’s:  and he is the governor among the nations.”  Christ, the savior, will, in due time, be represented by Jesus and Christian Science. Psalm 23, as discussed earlier in the book, brings Science and Health to a close on p. 578.  It sums up the entire teaching of the Comforter. 
Here is a short summary of the Books of the Bible discussed so far.  They follow precisely the order of the seven days of creation which is the same order of the synonyms for God given in S&H:  "...the Book of Genesis relates with the infinite as Mind because it involves the idea of origin and creation;  ...Exodus relates with the infinite as Spirit because here Israel separates herself from Egypt (Spirit is purity---God, good, and His creation is forever separate from evil or error);  Leviticus relates to the infinite as Soul because Leviticus concerns the happenings within the tabernacle (Soul is the holy body of God which we all reflect as pure Spirit, not matter);  Numbers relates with the infinite as Principle because Israel advances through the wilderness only in the measure that she demonstrates the power of Principle;  Deuteronomy relates to the infinite as Life because Deuteronomy resurrects Israel's thought sufficiently to enable her to inherit the promised land. If this order pertains to the Mosaic standpoint of the Pentateuch it must apply equally to the Davidic standpoint of the five books of Psalms.  Indeed the five Books of the Psalms of the fourth period lift the Pentateuch of the first three periods to the point of Principle itself--- the first Book of Psalms expresses Principle as Mind,  the second, principle as Spirit, the third, Principle as Soul, the fourth, Principle as Principle, the fifth, Principle as Life, where it merges into the song of David.  Thus with the five books of the Psalms as with all five of the Wisdom books, we find our thought moving within the five fundamental tones of the fourth day of creation in preparation for the fifth, sixth, and seventh days of Life, Truth, and Love. 
The Book of  Proverbs           Chapters 1-31 
Proverbs are wise sayings couched in the terms of a man on the street, many of them commonly known.  These proverbs come from Solomon, the son of David.  They are said to instruct his son in "wisdom and understanding."   They are morally and religiously based and are to be used as rules for everyday conduct.  "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother."  (Prov. 1: 1,2,8)  They illustrate "the spiritualization 
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of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce of material existence."  (S&H, 272: 19) Many proverbs are structured in either one of two different ways, one expresses a maxim in two synonymous ways joined by the conjunction and.  For example:  "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;  and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."  (Prov. 16: 32)   The second kind are two opposing statements joined by the conjunction but.  For example:  "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin:  but he that refraineth his lips is wise."  (Prov. 10: 19) The father is clearly encouraging his son to adhere to the Third Degree standpoint of wisdom and understanding.  In chapter 9: 1, we read:  "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:"  Here is the "seven" again, meaning fulfillment or completeness.  The "seven pillars" and seven fundamental qualities of the "Third Degree" surely mean the same thing.  In Proverbs, we touch the human with its transitory human qualities evidenced in day-to-day life.  How wonderful that spirituality appears to humanity in a form that is living and real, and which therefore heals and translates.  We have only to first desire a more spiritual sense of things, and then put that desire into action, declining the baser matter-focused attributes, and we will begin to rise into our natural selfhood of joy, satisfaction, health, and loving-kindness toward others. No matter which "Degrees" we are working with, we can find many wise maxims throughout Proverbs that strike a chord with us.  Many are well-known, but some may not know that they come from Proverbs in the Bible!  Here are some excellent ones you may recognize: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;  and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths."  (3: 5,6) "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid:  yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.  Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.  For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken."  (6: 24-26) (Some of the proverbs speak of man’s pre-existence:  "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.  I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.  When there were no depths, I was brought forth;  when there were no fountains abounding with water.  Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:  While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.  When he prepared the heavens, I was there:...Then I was by him, as one brought up with him:  and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;  Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.  Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children:  for blessed are they that keep my ways...For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord."  (8: 22-27, 30-32,35)   Man, reflection, has always been God’s reflection;  therefore, we have always been one with God, having no beginning. 
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"In the fear [reverential awe---Webster] of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.  The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the fears of death."  (14: 26,27) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:  and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (9: 10) "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.  So he that handleth a matter wisely shall find good:  and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."  (16: 18-20) 
"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord...When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.  A man's heart deviseth his way:  but the Lord directeth his steps."  (16: 1,7, 9) "In the way of righteousness is life;  and in the pathway thereof there is no death." (12: 28) 
"Who can find a virtuous woman?  for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, ...She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 
Strength and honour are her clothing;...She openeth her mouth with wisdom;  and in her tongue is the law of kindness.  She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.  Her children arise up, and call her blessed;  her husband also, and he praiseth her.  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain:  but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands;  and let her own works praise her in the gates."  (31: 10-12, 25-31) We end here with the highest sense of God, Love, represented by womanhood/motherhood, found in both men and women.  We will find these qualities valued far above all earthly riches. 
The Book of Ecclesiastes        Chapters 1-12 
This Book contains the teachings of "the preacher."  According to Dummelow's, 390-391, he is not believed to be the "son of David, king in Jerusalem," as is stated in the first verse of the book;  the style of writing is later than Solomon's time, and Solomon would not have written this way.  The author may have been a part of a group or assembly of persons who thought and discoursed on the subjects in the book, or one who convenes an assembly and is an orator at the assembly.  The purpose of the book, according to Gordon Brown, in his book From Genesis to Revelation, p. 222, is to show the utter nothingness and vanity of a material way of life. Proverbs advocates turning away from the "first degree" to the "third degree." 
Ecclesiastes wipes out the first degree altogether.  There is really no choice, the preacher tells us.  Only the spirituality of the third degree is truth.  Science and Health confirms this when it defines the first degree as "unreality," and the third degree as "reality."  (115-116) "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities;  all is vanity.  What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? ...All things are full of labour;  man 
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cannot utter it:  the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing...So I was great, and increased more than all that was before me in Jerusalem:  also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy;  for my heart rejoiced in all my labour:  and this was my portion of all my labour.  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do:  and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."  He seems to imply that "the sum total of mortality is vapidity, emptiness, nothingness;  reality is constituted of immortality alone."  (Brown, From Genesis...222)  Building on the belief that materialism is substantial is like building on the sand in the words of the New Testament thought.  We cannot really build a substantial life out of surrounding ourselves with hordes of matter or through material means. At last, the Preacher gets to the point of his message:  It is the positive answer based on a life built on that which is substantial, spirituality instead of materiality: "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever:  nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." (3: 14)  He closes his oratory with another well-known verse: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." ( 12: 13)  Mrs. Eddy explains this verse further with its Scientific meaning: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man in His image and likeness. Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love." (S&H 340:9 )  We are drawing nearer to the teachings of the prophets. 
The Book of The Song of Solomon Chapters 1-8 
This book is, superficially, a love poem about a shepherd and his sweetheart.   It is not believed to have been authored by Solomon.  Dummelow's gives some background: "The Jews admitted it into the Canon on the supposition that it depicts the relations between Jehovah and His people...The Christian Church followed the same general line, explaining the Song as an allegory of the love between Christ and the Church or Christ and the soul.  In this sense St. Bernard wrote no fewer than eighty-six sermons on the first two chapters.  The headings of chapters and pages in the English Bible express the same idea.  The book falls into seven cantos (chief divisions of a long poem).  Here is the "seven" again, symbol for completeness and fulfillment. Christian Science sees this book at a much deeper level, as a metaphysical symbol of the wedding of the Lamb of God and his bride.  "...he is altogether lovely," says the bride of her groom.  "This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."  (5: 16) Mrs. Eddy wrote about this same immortal bridegroom.  In her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection, in the chapter "Emergence into Light," she illustrates in her own experience how she emerged from the darkness of Ecclesiastes into the Song of Solomon. 
Her early experiences were filled with sorrow and pain.  She was living the cry of Ecclesiastes that " all is vanity under the sun."  It seemed as if the darkness would never lift, but she maintained her steadfast faith in God.  Of "the illusion that this so-called life could 
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be real and abiding rest," she writes:  'As these pungent lessons became clearer, they grew sterner.  Previously the cloud of mortal mind seemed to have a silver lining;  but now it was not even fringed with light.  Matter was no longer spanned with its rainbow of promise.  The world was dark...'  "  (Mis. Writings, Retrospection...23) Ecclesiastes speaks of a world completely devoid of reality.  It was placed where it is in the Bible order of Books because unless we face this truth fairly and squarely at this point of the Old Testament, the era of the human and divine coincidence, signified by the four Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament, cannot logically appear as the reality of our own lives.  The fifth period of Life is the living demonstration of the Principle unfolded in the fourth period. The reference from Mrs. Eddy continues:  This moment of her realization of the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter was her revelation which resurrected her from the darkness and vanity of Ecclesiastes into the light of the Song of Solomon.  "When the door opened, I was waiting and watching;  and, lo, the bridegroom came!  The character of the Christ was illuminated by the midnight torches of Spirit.  My heart knew its Redeemer. 
He whom my affections had diligently sought was as the One 'altogether lovely, ' as 'the chiefest,' the only, 'among ten thousand.'  Soulless famine had fled.  Agnosticism, pantheism, and theosophy were void.  Being was beautiful, its substance, cause, and currents were God and His idea.  I had touched the hem of Christian Science."  (Ret. 23: 1-24) In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives us the metaphysical meanings for "bride" and "bridegroom." "BRIDE.  Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the idea of God;  a sense of Soul, which has spiritual bliss and enjoys but cannot suffer." "BRIDEGROOM.  Spiritual understanding;  the pure consciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only creative power." (582) 
Individual spiritual identity embodies within itself both "bride" and "bridegroom." 
When, as "bridegroom," we look out upon our universe from the central position of unity with God, the "I, “or ego, has been lifted from person to Principle.  In this way, we are looking out upon our "bride,"  the infinite circumference of our own being!  In this "divinely united spiritual consciousness,"  bridegroom and bride, manhood and womanhood, subject and object, are one in eternal wedlock.  (S&H 577: 9)  She explains further on p. 561 of S&H:  "The Revelator saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb of Love.  To John, "the bride" and "the Lamb" represented the correlation of divine Principle and divine idea, God and His Christ bringing harmony to earth. "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration, reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God.  In divine revelation, material and corporeal selfhood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood." Israel's wisdom literature has now led us to the sixteen prophets of Israel's prophetic age in the next sixteen chapters.  The prophets' thoughts are full of the coming fifth thousand 
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year period, pregnant with "the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love."  They also see much further into the future, into the sixth and seventh thousand year periods, the periods of the Comforter promised by Christ Jesus, the age in which we now live.  Mrs. 
Eddy gives us the definition of prophet in the Glossary:  "PROPHET.  A spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth."  (S&H 593) She also has this to say about prophets and their prophesies:  The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction, predicting the future from a groundwork of corporeality and human belief.  When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men [and women] become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.  It is the prerogative of the ever present, divine Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future. "Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired, yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind. "To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind science by which we discern man's nature and existence."  (S&H  84: 3 23) 
"To evaluate rightly the momentous stage in spiritual advancement which we reach with the sixteen prophets, it is more imperative than ever to look beyond historical, geographical, and national boundaries regarding Israel, ourselves, and our world, and to look instead into the universe of Principle and its infinite idea. "Gathering and focusing in one consummate outpouring all that the Bible has taught us so far, the sixteen latter prophets bring the Old Testament to a close.  This marvel of inspiration and revelation reiterates the demands which Principle makes on us before our absolute Christ-selfhood, exemplified by Jesus, can be born at the beginning of the New Testament.  And so although the prophetic message brings down the curtain on the Old Testament, this but marks the end of a long period of preparation which raises it again on the New. "As confirmed by Malachi, the last of them all, the prophets open wide the windows of heaven, through which Principle pours forth its universal blessing such that there is not room enough in the human experience to receive it.  At this point of the fourth period, Israel's womb-like consciousness, as portrayed by her prophets, is wholly subject to the divine Principle, Love.  Therefore, in the fifth period, its gates are open---the heavenly firmament is open---and its waters bring forth the abundant life recorded in the four Gospels. 
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Chapter  12    Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations 
The Three Books of the Isaiah Prophets 
The First Book of the Prophet Isaiah    Judah’s Pre-exile Days  Chapters 1-39 
Isaiah was written with a marvelous outpouring of prophecy that dealt with the current times and times to come "in that day," meaning the "latter days" of the fifth, sixth, and seventh thousand-year periods.  It ranges over sixty-six chapters in three distinct parts by three different authors.  The first Isaiah was written in the pre-exilic days, before Judah was taken captive into Babylon.  II Isaiah (also known as Deutero-Isaiah) was written at the time of the exile.  III Isaiah (or Trito-Isaiah) was written after the return.  What a vast spiritual territory it covers! 
The first Isaiah is believed to have been of royal blood and had influence in the king's court in Jerusalem.  He became a prophet during the last year of King Uzziah's reign in 740 B.C. and was active during the reigns of King Jotham and King Ahaz.  He was an ardent religious and social reformer during a fairly long period of prosperity and peace.  The relations of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were mainly harmonious and free from aggression from other nations.  Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem and reorganized the army.  The resources of the country were developed and commerce was encouraged.  The port of Elath on the Red Sea was rebuilt.  (Dummelow's  One  Vol..., 410- 411) 
However, Judah, being outwardly prosperous, was inwardly corrupt.  National wealth brought with it social evils and a corresponding decay in religious life.  Idol worship was rampant;  the people were given over to superstition, magic, necromancy.  Indifference and skepticism regarding their  religious observances was at a low point.  In this time period, Isaiah began telling his visions which were coming to him from the Holy One of Israel. 
These practices cannot go unpunished, but there will not be a wholesale destruction of the nation.  A remnant will be left through which Israel will be able to go on, and in "that day" attain her glorious destiny. 
Prophets were speakers of righteousness who spoke in the name of Jehovah.  The predictions for their times usually came quickly and were just as they had said.  They were constantly rebuking the idol worship and oppression that were rife in their day.  Yet the characteristic by which they are most known was their ability to foresee and foretell events of the future.  Their predictions which were most remarkable were for times far ahead of their own time.  The delivery of God's people from its foes, inside and out, was to be a king of David's line whose reign was to introduce a golden age for the whole world and would bring universal peace. 
Isaiah sees this "king" as an individual Messianic king who was to have the spirit of Jehovah resting upon him in all of its fulness.  There is such breadth to this sixty-six chapter Book that only a representative part of it can be discussed.  The first Book of Isaiah goes through the thirty-ninth chapter, the pre-exilic days of the nation. It begins with the vision of Isaiah concerning Judah:  "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth:  for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against 
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me...Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." (I Isaiah 1: 2,9) He then tells them of the mercy of the Lord if they will turn from their wicked ways:  "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:  though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow;...If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land."     (I Is.1: 18,19) The revelation of Christian Science is a science of reason based on the actual science of the universe.  It is not a religion of mystery and miracle.  Only by being educated in the actual science of everything as being subjective to Mind can we truly "eat the good of the land."  In Science and Health we are given a number of references to "reason:"  "The dream that matter and error are something must yield to reason and revelation.  Then mortals will behold the nothingness of sickness and sin, and sin and sickness will disappear from consciousness.  The harmonious will appear real, and the inharmonious unreal.  These critics will then see that error is indeed nothingness, which they chide us for naming nothing and which we desire neither to honor nor to fear."  (347: 26-2 n.p.)  "Human reason and religion come slowly to the recognition of spiritual facts, and so continue to call upon matter to remove the error which the human mind alone has created."  (173: 26-29) Being willing and obedient servants of divine Principle, adhering to the Ten Commandments, Jesus' second commandment, and the Sermon on the Mount, we will be reflecting the governing Principle of the universe and so be self-governed and self-demonstrating. 
The next vision Isaiah recorded is well-known and concerns the "last days."  "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;  and all nations shall flow unto it.  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;  and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people:  and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks:  nation shall not raise up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."  (2: 2-4) "Zion" is given this definition in the Glossary of S&H:  "Spiritual foundation and superstructure;  spiritual strength...."  (599)  "Jerusalem" is defined in this passage in its positive meaning:  "Home, heaven."  (589)  "...for out of [spiritual strength] shall go forth the law, and the word of the law from [heaven].  "Heaven" is defined as: "Harmony;  the reign of Spirit;  government by divine Principle;  spirituality; bliss;  the atmosphere of Soul." (587)  The highest sense of intelligence and wisdom is the spiritual sense of it. The highest spiritual sense is the "top of the mountain," where the "house of the Lord" is.  In the twenty- third Psalm, David says "I [the only I or us, God and His reflection] shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  Mrs. Eddy gives the highest spiritual sense of that Psalm, and for that line she says:  "...and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] forever." (578) "God is Love"  we learn in John 4: 8.  When the world learns that our highest sense of God is Love, and we are the living of that holy Love, we will have found "harmony, home, heaven" right here on earth!  Earth is the reflection of heaven. 
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The prophecy continues:  "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day (our day!)...Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils:  for wherein is he to be accounted of?"  (2: 11,22)  The belief that man is a creator, that all of creation is matter, which we bow down to for our intelligence, our happiness, our health, our very life, that matter is the “be all and end all” of existence, leaving God out of everything, is about as haughty as we can get!  Is it peculiar, then, that God's prophet tells us to cease from believing that our nostrils give us breath?  If our life does not depend upon the right functioning of our material body, how do we maintain our life?  Obviously, we must cease from believing that we are material!  God did not make man dependent upon his body for life.  God is our life!  God gives us life continually due to His nature as infinite Life which He is eternally reflecting.  How can man be accounted matter if God does not know it?  That man believes that everything is meant to die is an abomination to the Truth that God, eternal Life, is meant to live. 
Right off the bat, Isaiah gets to the heart of man's universal error.  No wonder the world is so messed up!  We haven't yet discovered the magnificence of who we are!  We are still living in the dark ages of belief in unintelligent matter!  Isaiah begins one of the most rousing, trenchant, supreme, transcendent, messages of the entire Bible.  His keynote is that the end of all being (Love) exists from the beginning (Mind);  therefore that the universe consists of the infinitude of God.  Mrs. Eddy writes concerning this message:  "We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially.  Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Christianity.  Worshipping through the medium of matter is paganism.  Judaic and other rituals are but types and shadows of true worship.  (S&H 140: 16-20)  "We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater.  Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material body more than they do a spiritual God.  All material knowledge, like the original 'tree of knowledge,' multiplies their pains, for mortal illusions would rob God, slay man, and meanwhile would spread their table with cannibal tidbits and give thanks."  (Ibid., 214: 18-25)  Man is a coherent, complete, thinking idea in divine Mind. Therefore, in proportion as you are thinking divinely, you are man. 
In Chapter 3, Isaiah takes up false womanhood in very strong terms.  He calls those women who  have a false, frivolous, sensual belief about themselves the "daughters of Zion."   The use of the word "Zion" is given two meanings in the S&H Glossary, p. 99.  The first meaning is positive;  the second meaning is its negative:  "ZION...Emptiness; unfaithfulness;  desolation." Their substance is the love of materiality.  He tells them:  "Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.  And her gates shall lament and mourn;  and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground."  (Is., 3: 25,26)  He was describing the very opposite of purity, Spirit.  St. Paul writes:  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, faith."  (Gal. 5: 22)  These are "womanhood" qualities.  Not only is Life not worth living without them, but Life is not life without them.  Mrs. Eddy raises our apprehension of this great Truth which is a foreseeing of the future centuries in this seventh thousand-year period:  "Then shall Soul rejoice in its own, in which passion has no part.  Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wisdom and feminine 
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love, spiritual understanding and perpetual peace...Spirit will ultimately claim its own,---all that really is,---and the voices of physical sense will be forever hushed."  (S&H 64: 21-215; 30-32) 
In chapter 4: 1-4, Isaiah discusses perfect womanhood, which Paul wrote about to the Galatians.  Isaiah is still talking about what the world will be like "in that day"  (the day of Christian Science) when God is known as He is in the fullness of His nature and how man will be when he realizes that he is the manifestation of that nature.  "And in that day seven women [perfect womanhood] shall take hold of one man [the only man, the manhood of God's creating, manhood and womanhood in "one man"], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel [we shall seek the bread of Truth ourselves and not be dependent upon a man to declare it to us in his own interpretation, and we shall clothe ourselves with it]:  only let us be called by thy name, [man, as the image and likeness of God] to take away our reproach [the belief that woman was the cause of the fall of man]."  The highest sense of “man” does include man and woman as seen in Christian Science, for the sex or gender of a person is seen as diverse yet equal qualities in each one of us.  Matter is out---ideas as qualities are in!   As the physicists now know, all that is seen as matter, will one day be understood as qualities in form and function.  Mankind will come to understand the ramifications of this world-changing fact, and it will, at long last, bring peace everlasting. 
In Chapter 7: 14, Isaiah prophesies the coming of Jesus:  "...the Lord himself shall give you a sign;  Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. "  He gives further details about this holy event in chapter  9: 2,6,7.  "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:  they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon  them hath the light shined....For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." When the Virgin Mary realized her individual being as the union of masculine wisdom (the creative faculty) and feminine love (the conceptive faculty), "seven women" perfect womanhood, took hold of the idea of manhood and her soul (Spirit, individualized, with spiritual sense) did "magnify the Lord."  Her magnificent revelation caused her to esteem "the Lord" as never before, for she had perceived the absolute oneness of God as both Father and Mother.  This conception was presented to the world as "the ideal man," the Son, perfect in every way, empowered by the Science which brought him forth and which was the basis of everything he did.  He was the manifestation of the Truth about man, the Christ.  Matter has no creative or conceptive power.  It cannot create or bring forth the form of an idea.  The form of an idea always remains in the Mind which conceives it.  It cannot ever get outside of its Father-Mother Mind.  It has no power or mind or life of its own to change itself since it is completely dependent upon Mind for its existence. Understanding this fact, that which we once called matter is now more clearly represented by the term "Spirit," since it is the substance of Mind, unchanging and unchangeable.  It is, therefore, absolutely pure, indestructible, never living under "the shadow of death." The prophecy continues:  "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it 
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with judgment and with justice from henceforth and even forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform  this."  (9: 6,7) We must keep in mind that Israel, as a whole nation, is type and symbol of the spiritual identity of the whole human race.  This is how the prophets in the fourth period (Principle) characterize Israel.  They realize that she must bring forth the concept of the motherhood of God so that humanity can be conceived of spiritually.  Then in the next three periods, humanity as God knows it can give birth to its own divinity as the indivisible expression of God.  "The finite mortal senses misinterpret this stupendous happening.  They view it, first, as the personal Mary and the personal Jesus;  secondly, as the personal discovering and founding of Christian Science.  Christ Jesus and Christian Science ( as they are divinely) must therefore reverse the testimony of the mortal senses and interpret the two advents spiritually, ---that is, impersonally, universally, scientifically. World government will be upon the shoulders of man, God's Son, or reflection, which manifests government by divine Principle, both individually, collectively, and universally. "The virgin and her son are temporal organic symbols of the matrix calculus of infinity.  [Webster: "Matrix;" the womb;  a place or enveloping element within which something originates, takes form, or originates."   "Calculus;"  any process of reasoning by the use of symbols."  This means they are the symbols of universal being which is self- revealing to each of us as we grow spiritually.]  "What the senses conceive of historically as the miracle of Mary and Jesus is the divine Principle of the universe expressing itself now as indivisible, indestructible Life.  Hence the demonstration on the part of Christ Jesus of what individuality is.  In Christian Science, this same Principle declares itself to be Truth and Love---that is to say, demonstration becomes compound and universal.   But there is no Life without Truth, without Love.  Principle expresses itself simultaneously as Life, Truth, and Love, without any time lag. "Returning to the fourth period, the prophets, like the Virgin-mother, are in self- conscious communion with God.  The Holy Ghost, 'Divine Science;  the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love,' (S&H 588), the spiritual reality of the fifth, sixth, and seventh periods, overshadows their pure, impersonal sense of being, and the idea of the manhood and womanhood of God, manifest in due course as Christ Jesus and Christian Science, forms in the womb of universal consciousness prior to its birth into the world---preparatory, that is, to becoming palpable to humanity."  (Brown, From Genesis...226) Jesus' twelve disciples, like Jacob's twelve sons in the Old Testament, represent a spiritually regenerated human race.  In fact, while pointing to a multitude and to his disciples and to his mother, Jesus proclaimed, "Behold, my mother and my brethren!"  Jesus understood that he was universe-born, instead of just human Mary-born.  Because of this, he could solve on an individual basis the universal problem of mortality. The amazing prophets of this fourth period of Principle, heading into the fifth period representing Life, realize that they must assail the erroneous belief of material law and its order of generation.  Otherwise, the birth of the Christ-idea, "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God"...made, not after the law of a carnal commandment,  but after the power of an 
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endless life," could not be made manifest.  Unless the mortal sense of generation falls away, the Christ-idea cannot be born.  The education of the human race is so critical that the prophets carry on the most unremitting, tremendous, fiery denunciation of the workings of animal magnetism  (hypnotism in its most pervasive form) that the world has ever heard. 
But along with it is the most tender, merciful, loving, moving outpouring of comfort, for it is all impersonal. Because we can only see that which is already in mind, the prophets sowed their revelations into human thought so that when the time for their fulfillment came, the ones living at that time would be able to actually see it manifested for they would have been looking for it. Isaiah continues with his magnificent vision:  "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.  And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:  when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning."  (4: 1-4)  He is talking about the separation of the tares and the wheat. Material beliefs are the tares which are destroyed, as the wheat, spiritual understanding, is gathered into "barns," consciousness of Truth. In the next two verses, Isaiah comes right down from the highest sense of God to the human sense which has not yet achieved that understanding but is making an effort to do so . "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night:  for upon all the glory shall be a defence.  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain."  (4: 5-6) The "smoke by day" is a protection from that which we are not yet able to meet with Science.  The "flaming fire by night" is our guide when we seem to be in the darkness of mortal belief.  We have the right to know that divine Love gives each of us exactly what is necessary for our growing spiritual development.   Mrs. Eddy gives us this hopeful message: "Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is fed and clothed spiritually." (S&H 442: 22-25)  In that same vein she also says:  "We all must find shelter from the storm and tempest in the tabernacle of Spirit."  (Mis. 362: 25-26)  When, with the assurance that we are, moment by moment, the reflection of Mind and therefore we are Spirit, not matter, we find safety and peace as the pure idea of Mind, uncontaminated by human hypotheses, erroneous beliefs. 
Mrs. Eddy declares:  "The calm and exalted thought is at peace."  (S&H 506: 11-12) Chapter eleven has a special significance for Christian Science.  While still speaking about "that day,"  Isaiah prophesies:   "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:  And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord; ...and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, 
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and with equity for the meek of the earth:  and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."  (11: 1-5) One must come to understand that the human concept of things is exceedingly imperfect, and that,  therefore, there is an absolute need for the Truth.  This attitude must become active in individual thought through meekness, where one is willing to subdue the corporeal sense of self, one's physique, one's good or bad personality, one's hereditary beliefs, material desires, etc., and exchange them for a less egotistical, more God-seeking view of one's self.  This passage in Isaiah deals with the Word of Jesus and the later Word of Christian Science (Christianity, and later Science when the world was better prepared to receive it), and acts as "the rod" of the Word which smites the materiality of earthly thought and slays the wicked (the manifestations of that material, carnal thought). Writing about man, Mrs. Eddy says that he is "the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is  eternal."  (S&H  475: 16-18) 
Chapter eleven contains the beautiful millennial picture of the carnivorous animals dwelling peacefully with what had previously been their prey:  "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;  and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;  and a little child shall lead them...They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:  for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."   (11: 6) God's ideas reflect the pure and perfect nature of God, and this will be seen when we translate our mistaken view of creation from the objective to the subjective, from "out there" to all embraced within the one infinite Mind that is Love.  Metaphysically, in "that day's" glorious emergence, our ravenous instincts will disappear as they are replaced with the innocence and tenderness of a lamb.  The evil tendencies of the animal nature will be destroyed, and the birth of the Christ-idea will lead the way.  "The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things.  The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth."  (S&H 207: 27-29)  "Hence the eternal wonder---that infinite space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms."  (Ibid., 503: 15-17) Isaiah is full of millennial visions, and continues with the next one:  "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt,...and from the islands of the sea.”   (Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon were used by the prophets to symbolize captivity by the material senses.)   “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth, [including the “isles of the sea,” where many of the Israelites ended up after the dispersion.  This will be discussed in later chapters] “...And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria;  like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.  And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee...and thou comfortedst me...Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.  And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his 
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name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.  Sing unto the Lord;  for he hath done excellent things:  this is known in all the earth.  Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion:  for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."  (12: 1-6)  "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you;'  that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal."  (S&H 476: 28-32)  Man will finally understand the universality of Love. The "ensign" which Isaiah prophesies will come to the nations is the Christ-idea, exemplified by Christ Jesus.  This Christ will comfort the people who will be gathered from the four corners of the earth, including the "islands of the sea."  The "highway" out of the lands of captivity for the Israelites, for the remnant, is, metaphysically, the handling of the claims of evil through analysis, uncovering, and annihilation of the claims as taught in Christian Science, through the understanding of the" days of creation."  The understanding of what God is, His seven-fold nature, destroys the opposite claims of matter.  The handling of the plagues, and the coming out of the land of Egypt were unquestionably done through some understanding of the "root-notions " of reality, which were later symbolized by the days of creation.  When the errors of false education and beliefs are "handled," destroyed, man will be known as the manifestation of God.  "Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as himself,---when he shall recognize God's omnipotence and the healing of the divine Love in what it has done and is doing for mankind.  The promises will be fulfilled."  (S&H 55: 15- 22) 
Now Isaiah's theme changes.  He begins to see and prophesy about "that day," the day of the Science of Christianity, from the other side of the equation, from the destruction of mortal mind and its multifarious images of matter-based beliefs.  Isaiah uses seven nations as symbols for seven aspects of the material viewpoint which must be overcome.  He calls them the seven "burdens," meaning "utterances" or "oracles."  He uses the pagan cities round about, like Babylon, Assyria, Medes, etc. as symbols for the degradation of materialism.  Although, historically, Babylon at the time of Isaiah was in subjection to Assyria, it fit the bill for Isaiah's purposes.  He was exposing the fallibility of mortal mind's concepts.  Babylon was the site of the "tower of Babel," meaning  "confusion."  Mrs. 
Eddy defines Babel as the symbol for: "Self-destroying error; a kingdom divided against itself, which cannot stand;  material knowledge.  The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall of its structure."  (S&H 581: 17-22)  Since the time of Babylon's tower of Babel,  the more confusion about the substance of creation has ensued. 
Material knowledge has built up one lie upon another to the point that mankind cannot see its basic falsity. Jesus knew it would happen and prophesied a Comforter that would come and lead us out of our darkness into light.  This Comforter has come with the needed light which will indeed lead us out of darkness.  But it will not be a sudden salvation as thought;  mankind 
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needs to be educated out of their illusions.  Matter must disappear under the microscope of Spirit. "The determination to hold Spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love."  (S&H 28: 6-8)  Isaiah foresaw the battle which would be fought by those invested in matter's beliefs.  So did Mrs. Eddy:  "The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let Truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems;  but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on.  There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth's standard."  (S&H 225: 8-13) The fury of "the Lord" does not mean that God knows each nation's or each individual's sins and furiously punishes them, for God is a divine Principle, not a human-like Deity.  Divine Mind destroys mortal mind (a belief in an intelligent brain);  Spirit destroys matter;  Principle destroys government by matter;  Life destroys death;  Truth destroys error; Love destroys hatred and the belief of separation from good.  It is the self-destruction of the false view of creation as material, brought about by the inevitable and irrepressible translation of matter back into Spirit as the centuries of this millennium progress.  "The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, 'The anger of the Lord.'  In reality they show the self-destruction of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the strength and permanency of Spirit.  Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil."  (S&H 293: 24-31)  We will not take up each nation's "burden"  but give just the general point of Isaiah's prophesy. "Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them...that they may go into the gates of the nobles."   The Babylonians considered themselves noble, above all other men, and this was to be their destruction.  This is a symbol for what Mrs. Eddy called "the powers of this world."  They believe they know it all and array themselves against anything that doesn't support their views.  Isaiah continues:  "The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people;  a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together:  the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye;  for the day of the Lord is at hand;  it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty."   (13: 2,4-6) Isaiah is elucidating the fact that the day of the light of Mind is at hand.  It is going to come from a "far country," somewhere unknown to them, from whence the Lord will come.  (Today we know that “far country” as America!)  The light will break upon them because of the coming of the Comforter, Christian Science, exposing the fallibility of mortal mind's concepts, symbolized as the pride of Babylon, material knowledge.  Mrs. Eddy explains further what is going on today, which to the prophets was the far future expressed as "that day."  "There is no hypocrisy in Science.  Principle is imperative.  You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a divine demand, not a human.  Always right, its divine Principle never repents, but maintains the claim of Truth by quenching error.  The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error."  (S&H 329: 21-26) 
The entire fourth period is the activity of Principle in the human consciousness, translating it out of its false belief of matter as governing the universe.  What we are reading 
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in the Bible is not something one person wrote at one time.  The writings were thought out, prayed over, written and re-written to show the  exact operation of monotheism, the truth about one God being all.  Nowhere in the civilized world was this being taught.  The prophets knew that they were practically alone in their higher understanding of God and man.  Each one in his era was the clear window pane through which the light could shine. 
Each one felt compelled to find ways to get his message out to the benighted Israelites who carried the promise of the covenant.  They used what the Israelites were familiar with as symbols for their teachings.  They are the ones who came up with the story of Genesis to most clearly elucidate the nature of God and His creation.  It was the key to understanding the Bible, for the symbols were used throughout. It was Mrs. Eddy's love for God and man, her deep spirituality, and her three-year study of the Bible which enabled her to decipher the story of Genesis, its symbols, and its profound message for mankind in the sixth period.  It was the key to the Scriptures that she found.  The people of those periods of human history simply could not conceive of a God as pure, incorporeal Mind or Spirit.  They believed God was a warrior-like figure up in the sky who was always looking down on them and awarding them or punishing them accordingly, thus the allusions to God as if He were a mighty person.  But every period has had its deep spiritual thinkers who were able to grasp, in some degree, the truth behind the universe.  It is amazing and wonderful that as we read the Scriptures today we find that they follow that same Genesis order from Mind to Love, correlating perfectly with each of the seven thousand-year periods. Isaiah continues, using the fourth day (Principle) symbols from Genesis, the sun, moon, and stars:  "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate:  and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light:  the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;  and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.  I will make a man more precious than fine gold;..."  (13: 9-12) There shall be no order, no inspiration, no light.  It postulates the weakness and disorder of human systems.  They are going to fail. All our material-based systems are counterfeits of the one divine system which is symbolized in the fourth day of creation by the two great lights to rule over the day and night, and by the stars.  The two great lights are Principle and its idea and the stars the individual operation of these, in other words, each individual person!   Today, the hopelessness of matter-based systems are finally being recognized!  Mrs. Eddy's correlating remark:  "Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge,---a law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his strength.  When this human belief lacks organization to support it, its foundations are gone.  Having neither moral might, spiritual basis, nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter, thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.  In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material reasoning. 
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This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which immortal Spirit silences forever. "  (S&H 124: 3-13) 
Then, after all of this laying low of the terrible haughtiness of mortal beliefs, a refined sense of man will appear, "a man more precious than fine gold."  (13: 12)  The essential substance of man will become apparent, the precious aspects of man as the reflection of the One "altogether lovely."  (Song of Solomon 5: 16)  Mrs. Eddy speaks of this spiritual sense of gold:  "The impersonation of the spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our Master;  but 'of his kingdom there shall be no end,' for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples---imperatively, absolutely, finally---with divine Science.  This immaculate idea, represented first by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman, will baptize with fire;  and the fiery baptism will burn up the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love, melting and purifying even the gold of human character."  (S&H 13-22) Isaiah, after holding before our gaze the image of man in his true estate as pure and as precious as fine gold, speaks of how this refining process will take place: "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." (13: 13)  Speaking of this process, Mrs. Eddy defines "Christ" as the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error."  (S&H 583: 11)  She also writes:  "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul."  (S&H 390: 7-11, emphasis not in original)  This worldwide exchanging is what Isaiah is symbolizing by the shaking of the earth and heavens of erroneous material concepts for the spiritual.  Again, Mrs. Eddy addresses this:  "Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul."  (S&H 269: 14-16) This process has begun, and the wider its spiritual influence is spread, the more shaken will become the highest misconceptions (negative of  "the heavens") and the baser misconceptions ( negative of "the earth").  The Christ operates through our understanding of the seven-fold nature of God and its activity in our lives as the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science. 
Isaiah contrasts the spiritual concept of gold with the Medes, Chaldeans, and Persians who "shall not regard silver;  and as for gold, they shall not delight in it"---no joy of Soul, spiritual sense.  (13: 17)  He then shows a perfect illustration  of how Principle as Soul translates mortal sense out of itself.  Man governed by changeless Principle is man realizing himself as Soul, spiritual sense instead of senseless matter.  Soul is not in matter. 
Conversely, matter is not in Soul.  There is nothing spiritual inhabiting a material body. 
Here is how Isaiah puts it:  "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.  It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation:  neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there."  (13: 19,20-21) Everything that seems to be part of a material body will be seen as nothing---nothing inhabiting nothing!  If one continues to hold on to the material sense of body instead of 
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welcoming the spiritual sense of it, it will be as if "wild beasts of the desert" govern one, and "their houses shall be full of doleful creatures..."  a sense of desolation, waste, destruction, no restraints, sorrow.  Isn't that what it often seems like when we give ourselves over to material thinking?  It brings no joy, no satisfaction, no peace.  The spiritual understanding that we are, in reality, the manifestation of wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, spiritual power, love, health, and holiness destroys mortal mind through the process of exchanging "the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul."  No matter what the physical senses think is there, there is no matter to be afraid of or accounted for.  This absolute knowing solves the problem of matter.  What is behind every phenomena?  The “face of God!” As we analyze what we are holding as true in our thought, we uncover it, and then, exchange it for what we know to be true.  All that is not identified with Principle begins to disappear, and our sense of our self, our true identity, is seen as aligned with Truth, that we are ideas in the Mind that is God, Love.   At the same time, we see our self less and less as an object of material sense, which must be obeyed and feared.  A  huge weight drops off our shoulders, and we will find ourselves as described in Isaiah: 14: 3.  "And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve...The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers [enslavement to materialism]...The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:  they break forth into singing. [Earth is now seen as the reflection of heaven.] 
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:  I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [the city of the great King, Mt. Zion]:  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;  I will be like the most High."  (14: 12-14) Isaiah was using Babylon again to bring home the lesson about the pride of life.  Babylon had been at the pinnacle of material greatness and pride of life and was a terrible oppressor. 
Understanding that Principle is Life, that life cannot be separated from the law of good that governs it, is that which keeps us from the false "pride of life."  It is the true individuality that knows that it is never separated from Life that is God, and it is humbled.  The reflection cannot rise higher than its Source, Mind.  The name Lucifer means "light-bringer, day-star." Isaiah is disposing of the myth of mortality at the point of its supposed origin.  He is handling the belief that the "daystar of divine Science" (S&H vii: 11) ever asserted a will of its own contrary to the will of Principle, and thereby fell from Spirit to matter.  Spirit is the infinite direct opposite of any supposed substance called matter.  It exists and is active right where matter seems to be.  It is the belief of matter that must fall.  Christian Science has come to humble the "pride of life" as material. The destruction of the "King of Babylon" is enlarged upon, for the prophet is "cutting down to the ground"  the animal magnetism suggested by "Lucifer."  "...thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the sides of the pit;  as a carcass trodden under feet. 
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Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people:  the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned."  (14: 18-20) Animal magnetism, the illusion that matter has characteristics of its own which give it its properties of mass, weight, structure, form, life, intelligence, and power will be utterly destroyed, for it truly never had any life, intelligence, nor power  in it.  It has never had power to fundamentally change that which has always been---infinite, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omni-present, omni-active Mind and its manifestation, the universe.  Science has never been and can never be, physical.  Isaiah then declares the answer from the "Lord," the Truth:  "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass;  and as I have purposed so shall it stand:  That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot:  then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.  This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth:  and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.  For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?  and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"  (14: 24-27)  The "Assyrian" means cruelty, material power, despotism, and domination.  This is what the beliefs of material power have brought us.  It is the education on earth about the fact of infinite Principle, Love, and all that it means for mankind that will break the yoke of slavery to matter from off our shoulders.  An infinite Principle cannot be annulled any more than the principle of mathematics can be annulled! Isaiah then asks the question:  "What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?"  What is the climax of the situation, what is the ultimate purpose of everything? "That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people [the seekers] shall trust in it."(14: 31,32)  The definition of "Zion" is, in part:  "Spiritual foundation and superstructure; inspiration;  spiritual strength."  (S&H  599: 6,7)  "Blessed are the poor in spirit:  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  (Matt. 5: 7) Isaiah gives forth the glorious freedom of "that day:"  "At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.  And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images."   (17: 7,8)  Mankind will know that it is God, Mind, alone that creates and prospers. In "that day," when the people of the nations begin to take a hard look at the material theories in which they have been putting all of their trust, seeing its emptiness and vulnerability to the Truth, human consciousness will ferment.  There will be a huge leavening process, a chemicalization brought on by the universal impact of the Truth.  Isaiah pictures it this way:  "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.  And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;  as with the servant, so with his master;  as with the maid, so with her mistress;  as with the buyer, so with the seller;  as with the lender, so with the borrower;  as with the taker of usury;  so with the giver of usury to him."  (24: 1-3)  There will be a levelling out of class-barriers and hierarchical authority.  The nothingness of error will begin to dissolve in human consciousness.  "Truth has but one reply to all error,---to sin, sickness, and death:  'Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness] shalt thou 
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return.' "  (S&H 545: 27-30)  One thing we must remember as we read this rather alarming foretelling of error's demise is that it only goes out as the Christ, Truth comes in, as divine Love takes the place of all of the false ego of matter. This universal prophecy does not let up: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;  because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate...Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth...The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again."(Is. 24: 5-6,17,19) 
The "earth" is used here as the negative to the Truth of earth as being " the reflection of heaven."  The inhabitants will realize that they have been victims of the "curse" that came upon them with Adam & Eve, through animal magnetism, when they put life, intelligence, sensation, and creation in and of the body, rather than the acceptance of it as reflection of God, Mind.  Mrs. Eddy says the same thing as Isaiah in a different way:  "Mortals will disappear, and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only and eternal verities of man.  Mortals are not fallen children of God.  They never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently be regained.  They were, from the beginning of mortal history, 'conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.'  Mortality is finally swallowed up in immortality.  Sin, sickness, and death must disappear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal man."  (S&H 476: 11-20) If we can really understand what Isaiah is telling us in this age, we will rejoice that we can be here to begin to see this day!  He is reporting to us what God, as his Mind, is showing his elevated spiritual sense.  It is the dissolving of materialism's grip on mankind, the end of sin, sickness, disease, fear of accidents, chance, poverty, sorrow, and death.  The discoveries about matter as being not at all what we thought, and the discoveries about Mind being so much more than what we thought, are destined to turn the earth on its ear!  It will shake the earth "to and fro."  He was prophesying the advent of the Comforter to this age as well as the advent of the Christ, Truth, individually seen as Jesus, in his age. The Comforter promised by Jesus has come to this age to resurrect us from what has truly been a type of death.  To learn about our infinite individuality as perfect reflections of God, good, with no evil of any kind mixed in;  to begin to practice the freedoms of being Spirit instead of matter, to be rid of a material sense of body, instead, taking our bodies where we want to go with our Mind, overcoming age, the fear of losing our mind, fear of death and disease, joy and peace unending all around the world, really living Life to the fullest as reflections of the seven-fold nature of God----this is the promise being poured out on us by the inspired Scriptures (buttressed by inspired physicists and other scientists, theologians, and the medical profession) . "O Lord, thou art my God;  I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;  for thou hast done wonderful things;  thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow 
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from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall...And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.  He will swallow up death in victory;  and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces;  and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth:  for the Lord hath spoken it.  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us:  this is the Lord;  we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."   (I Is. 25: 1,4,7-9) What is the veil or covering cast over all the people?  You probably can guess by now!  Yes, it is the veil of belief in intelligent matter.  Mrs. Eddy writes of it several times in Science and Health:  "The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us;  and this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and triumphs of the righteous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions.  Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being."  (40: 31-7 n.p.)   "Shekinah" means "that which dwells."  It is not a term used in the Bible, but "was used by the later Jews, and borrowed by Christians from them to express the visible majesty of the divine Presence."  (Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, 613-614) "Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings.  To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight;  but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light. In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions, and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter."  (S&H 513: 6-13) 
"The Revelator [Jesus through St. John] lifts the veil from this embodiment of all evil, [the dragon of the Book of Revelation] and beholds its awful character;  but he also sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of God."  ( Ibid. 563: 15-18)  Isaiah continues to pour forth  praise for the ramifications of the world's turning from trust in matter to trust in God, Mind:  "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah;  We have a strong city [the city or consciousness of Love---the "foursquare city," its four metaphysical sides being the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science.  It is the "city of our God." ];  salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in."  (Is. 26: 1-3) In Chapter 27, Isaiah speaks of "that day" when "the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword [the "sword of Truth"] shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent;  and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."  (Is. 27: 1) Here he means the dragon spoken of in the Book of Revelation which was destroyed by the sword which proceeded out of the mouth of him who sat on the white horse, the Christ, coming again as the Comforter.  (Rev. 19) Mrs. Eddy, in her chapter on "The   Apocalypse," in Science and Health describes this dragon in several passages:  "The great red dragon symbolizes a lie,---the belief that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.  This dragon stands for the sum total of human error." "The serpentine form stands for all subtlety, winding its way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good...It is the animal instinct 
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in mortals,...( S&H 563: 8-10,31)  "From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and death, envy, hate, revenge, ---and all evil---are typified by a serpent, or animal subtlety...In Genesis, this allegorical, talking serpent typifies mortal mind, 'more subtle than any beast of the field.'  In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe for destruction.  It is full of lust and hate, loathing the brightness of divine glory."  (Ibid., 564: 24-26,28-5 n.p.) In the same chapter, Isaiah, still prophesying about "that day," declares that the children of Israel will be gathered from the river Euphrates to the stream of Egypt, the Nile. (That distance meant the whole world to the Hebrews!)  Mrs. Eddy defines "Euphrates" in the Glossary:"  "...Divine Science encompassing the universe and man;  the true idea of God; a type of glory which is to come;  metaphysics taking the place of physics;  the reign of righteousness..."  (S&H  585: 16-19)  Isn't it magnificent that through the Comforter, the "little book," we in this day can now understand the profound message of Isaiah concerning the children of Israel's passage from faith in matter into faith in and comprehension of divine Science? The following passages will complete our coverage of Isaiah and his prophesies of the last days.  There are very many others, and they bear serious study, for they pertain to the citizens of the world in these "last days."  In 2075, the Comforter will have been in the world for two hundred years since Mrs. Eddy published her wonderful revelation in 1875.  It seems a tall order to get to the point where a majority of us can heal and do the works that Jesus and his disciples and apostles did, and even greater works than those,  but it will be done by the time the next eight hundred years are up!  And it will be a world-wide accomplishment. 
Mrs. Eddy tells us:  "The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man's real existence as a child of God comes to light."  (S&H 288: 31-1 n. p.) "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount of Jerusalem."  (27: 13)  Assyria and Egypt, symbolizing materialism, where mankind has mentally resided for so long to the point of perishing, will be mentally destroyed, as symbols, as the Truth, becomes known. 
The "great trumpet" heralds the establishment in human consciousness of the Science of divine Principle. Isaiah asks:  "Whom shall he teach knowledge?  and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?"  (28: 9)  The book which has brought the Comforter must be studied, deeply and humbly.  "We worship spiritually only as we cease to worship materially. 
Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Christianity."  (S&H 140: 16-18)  The "doctrine" of Christian Science is not creed and dogma, but the Truth of the Science which governs all.  It is demonstrable, provable Truth;  therefore, it is Science. Isaiah gives the "how" of the question above in the answer in the next verse:  "For precept must be upon precept;  line upon line, line upon line;  here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people."   (28:10,11) Thinking in the terms of Christian Science as  "another tongue," will not be done overnight. 
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Just like any other subject, one must learn the principle behind what is being learned. 
Learning to play a musical instrument is a good example.  It is done step by step, little by little, always practicing and following the rules of the first step before being able to go to the next higher step.  Mrs. Eddy had to figure out how to put spiritual precepts into a matter- based language.  She writes:  "As mind is immortal, the phrase mortal mind implies something untrue and therefore unreal;  and as the phrase is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence.  Indeed, if a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would be used;  but in expressing the new tongue we must sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new wine of Spirit has to be poured into the old bottle of the letter."  (S&H 114: 13-22) "God's essential language is spoken of in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spiritual meaning of which is attained through 'signs following.' "  (Ibid. 117: 10-13) "The night of materiality is far spent, and with the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and to speak the new tongue."  (Ibid. 354: 23-25) Has mankind made lies his refuge, the lies concerning matter as having dominion over mind?  Isaiah poses that question to the people of his day:  "Because we have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we with agreement; ...we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:"  Certainly we live through a type of hell everyday---worrying about all kinds of ways that matter in some inharmonious way will cause us a problem.  Our covenant with death is absolute, for we believe that matter is real; therefore, our body seems to have all the properties of matter and unstable as water.  Then Isaiah promises:  "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation:  he that believeth shalt not make haste...And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; "  (I Is.28: 16, 18) What is this "precious stone?"  Jesus said he would build his church on the stone (petros, Peter) which Simon Peter discerned as the Truth behind Jesus' healing power.  Mrs. 
Eddy wrote:  "[Simon's] reply set forth a great fact:  'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!'  The Messiah is what thou hast declared,---Christ, the spirit of  God, of Truth, Life, and Love, which heals mentally."  (S&H 137: 8-21)  It is the calculus of reality. In Chapter 29, Isaiah speaks of a book, which we now call the “Bible,” that will come to them in later times but will not be understood:  "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book, that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee:  and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed:  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee:  and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder:  for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.  (I Is. 29: 11-14)  Isaiah prophesies that a very important book, later known as the Scriptures, will 
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come forth that will need to be understood but because of the materiality of mankind, it will not be. 
"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?  or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?...And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.  The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off...they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.  They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."   (Ibid., 16-19,24) 
The creator of all is a divine Principle, its infinite workings being what he calls "doctrine."  Mrs. Eddy says it this way:  "Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we are helped onward in the march towards righteousness, peace, and purity, which are the landmarks of Science.  Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause,---wait on God.  Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory."  (S&H 323: 6-12) When the deep meaning of the Scriptures is interpreted by Science, its symbolism will be learned, and this understanding will unseal its vast message for the human race.  It will uncover the nothingness of matter, and in its place will be seen the allness of Spirit. We will no longer turn things upside down, giving to matter dominion over mind.  In the Book of Revelation, we learn how man will finally overcome his illusory darkness concerning the substance of the universe which will bless everyone;  he will comprehend the meaning of God and thus, his own identity.  Isaiah promises:  "...thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left...Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."  (I Is. 30: 21, 26) Symbolically, the reflection (the moon) shall be like the original (the sun) in its full sevenfold nature as expressed in the story of the seven days of creation in Genesis.  These are symbols, of course, for Mind and body. Mrs. Eddy writes concerning this: "What are termed in common speech the principle of harmonious vibration, the principle of conservation of number in geometry, the principle of the inclined plane in mechanics, etc., are but an effect of one universal cause,---an emanation of the one divine intelligent Principle that holds the earth in its orbit by evolved spiritual power, that commands the waves and the winds, that marks the sparrow's fall [not by seeing the harmful fall of the sparrow, but will naturally be there to prevent “the fall”], and that governs all from the infinitesimal to the infinite,---namely, God.  Withdraw God, divine Principle, from man and the universe, and man and the universe would no longer exist.  But annihilate matter, and man and the universe would remain the forever fact, the spiritual 'substance of things hoped for;' and the evidence of the immortality of man and the cosmos is sustained by the intelligent divine Principle, Love."  (My. 226:  6-20) 
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Isaiah is so filled with the wonder and beauty and hopefulness of his great vision of restoration for mankind that he pours out continued prophesy. " And the work of righteousness shall be peace:  and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.  For my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;...and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation:...(I Is.32: 17,18; 33: 6) This prediction will be more and more evident as the centuries go on. "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities:  thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down;  not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken."  (I Is. 33: 20)  When man knows that he has a spiritual foundation (Zion), not material, he will realize that his "superstructure,"  or body, is one of spiritual strength.  Man can never be less than perfect man.  Man does not dwell in matter, shut up in a confining "box;"  he dwells in the fourth dimension of Spirit where life is timeless and tied down to no specific place.  His Mind is infinite and indestructible.  His spiritual foundation cannot ever come undone from its Principle in which it dwells. We think man lives in matter;  Jesus knew that man is spiritual, and because he was free of a limited idea of man, he "healed" the offending  illusion.   Our “city” or “tabernacle” or “body” is “quiet,” at peace, free of cumbersome matter beliefs, seething emotions, fretful energy, semi-conscious fears, doubts, and ignorance.  Mrs. Eddy tells us:  "Sooner or later the whole human race will learn that, in proportion as the spotless selfhood of God is understood, human nature will be renovated, and man will receive a higher selfhood, derived from God, and the redemption of mortals from sin, sickness, and death be established on everlasting foundations."  (Un. 6: 40-9) Isaiah continues:  "But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams:  wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. 
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king;  he will save us...And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick:  the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity."  (I Is. 33: 21,22,24)  The galley ships were rowed by slaves whom it was considered to suffer the worst kind of labor, so this passage gives us the sense of freedom from slavery to matter, symbolizing the Love of the "seventh day" state of thought. 
All sense of labor is gone, and we have instead a sense of completeness and fulfillment. 
Love cancels all debts.  Love means ascension, glory, beauty, holiness.  Mrs. Eddy brings this state of being closer to home when she says:  "It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good. The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love."  (S&H 494: 11-15) Isaiah constantly warns the people not to "go down into Egypt," even in the midst of his soaring words that lift the heart to see salvation.   "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help..."  (I Is. 31: 1)  Continuing to trust in matter, depend on matter, love matter, will keep us from ascending above material slavery, and will only lengthen the time spent in sin, sickness, and death.  The sooner we give up our illusions, the sooner we will experience our 
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"desert" of limited thinking beginning to "blossom as the rose."  The desert today is a consciousness of deluded hopes.  Because the Comforter has come, we can at long last truly hope for peace, stability, decency, abundance , liberty, justice, and freedom.  What we need at this hour  is the highest sense of Jesus' words, "...love one another."  (John 15: 12)   Mrs. 
Eddy says this about it:  "When the doctrinal barriers between churches are broken, and the bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love, there will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of Christ will prevail.  Then shall Zion have put on her most beautiful garments, and her waste places budded and blossomed as the rose."  (Pul. 22: 16- 21) 
Isaiah exhorts us:  "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not:  behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a  recompense;  he will come and save you.  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.  Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:  for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.  And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness;...No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there;  but the redeemed shall walk there:  And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."  (I Is. 35: 1,3- 6,8-10) 
The whole tone of these uplifting passages is one of Love.  It illustrates the holiness, fullness, purity, and joy of Love.  There is no sense of the negative.  It identifies everything as showing forth the qualities of Love and is Love as Soul (spiritual understanding which gives us a sense of man’s true identity). This power of the allness of Love redeems man and is Love as Principle (spiritual power which governs all). When we understand that Love is the Principle behind the universe, that it is one and infinite, then we can demonstrate it.  The "feeble knees" will be strengthened, and the "fearful heart" will lose its fear.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,---the law of divine Love."  (S&H 19: 6-11) We know that Love is power because we see its effects in demonstration. The above verses from Isaiah also express Love as Life when they speak of blind eyes opening and deaf ears hearing, the lame man leaping, the dumb singing, and water and streams breaking out in the desert and wilderness. Remember that in the fifth day of creation the waters brought forth abundantly.  Life is seen as active and harmonious.  Jesus came in the fifth thousand year period with this statement about his purpose:  “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  (John 10: 10) The tone of Love as Truth is perceived when Isaiah speaks of the highway of holiness, for this is the way of true manhood (including womanhood).  Man is the highest creation or idea of Love and is the pinnacle of holiness.  Every idea in the teeming universe of Love shows forth the absolute truth of the nature of Love. No ravenous beast can be found in Love's truth about herself.  In the sixth day of creation, man was given dominion 
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over the beasts.  Because of this wonderful fact of the gentle lovingkindness of Truth, the man of the false sense of creation as being material is redeemed.  Christ, or Truth, always brings redemption.   God is forever conscious of the manifestation of Himself as holy.  He said of Jesus, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased."  This is always the truth about God's manifestation, which forever includes the entire image of Himself, the one image of perfection in multifarious forms.  Mrs. Eddy says:  "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way."  (S&H 454: 17-19) When we are willing, Love takes our hand and leads us up the highway of Truth. In the last verse of Chapter 35, Isaiah gives us a sense of Love as Love.  Taking the way of holiness, man returns to that which he has always been.  The deadly mortal concept is obliterated.  The Christ comes to show us that incarnate error, life in the flesh, is not real. 
Christianity shows us how to use that Christ-ideal by gathering everyone and everything back into that ideal as ideas of God, good. Chapters 36-39 are an insertion by I Isaiah from II Kings. It is practically verbatim. 
The Bible commentators don't seem to understand why these four chapters are here. 
However, Christian Science explains it because it brings to humanity an expanded understanding of the Bible and its illumination of the seven days of creation as the sevenfold nature of God, the symbols of which are used throughout the Bible.  If we think of the prophets as the recorders of history, the events as recorded don't often make any sense.  The truth is that the prophets didn't always care that much about the logical sequence of the events they were recording.  Their overriding object was to symbolize spiritual things that are forever unchanging and are impacting our daily lives either negatively or positively. 
Unless it was symbolized, it could not be understood by the people of their day, and even in our day only symbols can help clarify their messages.  As Mrs. Eddy says, "Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols."  (S&H 575: 13-14) In Christian Science, it is perfectly reasonable to see this story here.  It is a real-life illustration of all the things Isaiah has been teaching the Israelites about themselves and the events that have and will impact their lives and in later days to come.  It is showing them how the spiritual meanings behind the days of creation are the very facts behind each of them as ideas of God.  He uses an event with which the people are all familiar.  It is the story of how Sennacherib, King of Assyria, is seeking to assault the kingdom of Judah.  He has already conquered the kingdom of Israel.  Indeed, at the time I Isaiah makes his prophesy, the conquest of Judah is imminent.  This means that I Isaiah proclaims his message prior to the Babylonian exile.   He prophesies that the Assyrian king and army, with God's help, will not be able to harm Judah at all. In the assault on Judah, Sennacherib fails to overcome Judah in the same way he overcame Israel. Instead, he returns to Assyria and destroys himself.  It is Babylon that is destined to overcome Judah. Having illustrated how each of the synonyms for God reflects each of the other synonyms (which I showed you for the first time in the passages of Isaiah, chapter 35), the prophet Isaiah used the recent history of Judah being threatened by Assyria in just the same way to show Judah how it was saved through the understanding of the seven-fold spiritual understanding of God's nature.  He wanted to show that what he was teaching them could be 
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proved and had been proven in human experience, that the message he was trying to give them from God was powerful  and could be trusted to bring complete salvation as it did when saving Jerusalem from conquest by Assyria. We are now ready for the prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah, which pertain to the period of Judah's exile in Babylon.  This Isaiahic writer was active more than a century after the death of  I Isaiah.  Jerusalem is no longer viable and is, in fact, deserted and in ruins.  The Babylonian Empire which had overcome Assyria was, at that point, tottering to its fall, for the Persians, led by King Cyrus, were gaining dominion in the region. The invasion of the Kingdom of Israel took place in 722 B.C. when they fell to Assyria and never regained their status as a nation.  One hundred thirty-six years later, in 586 B.C., Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, and that was the end of the Kingdom of Judah until 538 B.C.  At that time, Cyrus, King of Persia, captured Babylon and allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem. 
The Second Book of the Prophet Isaiah      Judah's Exile in Babylon 
Chapters 49-56 
This author presents some of the most beautiful and inspiring passages in the Bible. 
Whereas the previous author emphasized the Word, the Christ, and Christianity, this author takes the standpoint of Science.  Its very first words allude to the coming of divine Science: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:  for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."  (II Is. 40: 1-2)  Only as we understand the Comforter, Science and Health, will we be able to claim that our warfare with materialism is accomplished, and our sinning, or "missing the mark," is pardoned. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."  (II Is. 40:3) The prophet is stressing that state of spiritual preparedness that is characteristic of John the Baptist. John the Baptist prepared the way for the first manifestation of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who showed the workings of Science but could not make it understood to the people of his time.  Now, in an earlier time, this author is preparing the way for the Christ by what he denominates as the coming of God's "servant," meaning Jesus.  "Behold my servant, whom I uphold;  mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;  I have put my spirit upon him:  he shall bring judgment to the Gentiles...He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth:  and the isles shall wait for his law...I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,...I am the Lord:  that is my name:  and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images...Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things do I declare:...And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not of;  I will lead them in paths that they have not known:  I will make darkness light before them..."  (II Is. 42: 1,4,6-
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9, 16)  “The isles” are where the nation of Israel migrated and will be discussed in chapter 38. 
II Isaiah is preparing the people for the coming of Christ Jesus;  though it seems far in the future, it will take time to work its way into their hearts so that they are actually waiting for him. In the immediate context of the captivity, Israel herself must be God's servant.  The author exhorts the Israelites to recognize their apostasy and turn to the Lord. "Who is blind but my servant?...But this is a people robbed and spoiled;  they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses:...Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?...(II Is. 42: 19, 22, 23) It seems the same old story with the Israelites.  They simply cannot seem to govern themselves in the way that the Ten Commandments require.  Yet, they, above all peoples, carry the seed of Science which will become apparent in the "latter days," and must continually be called to task for their transgressions.  The prophets' spiritual vision is filled with what will later become known about God and man under God' s, Mind's, dominion. 
They "hear" the joyful Truth pouring into their consciousness and cannot help but declare it. 
Enjoy these beautiful passages heard with the prophets' "inner ears" concerning the true man: "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not:  I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name;  thou art mine. 
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;  and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:  when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;  neither shall the flame kindle upon thee...Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee...Fear not:  for I am with thee:  I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;  I will say to the north , Give up;  and to the south , Keep not back:  bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;  Even every one that is called by my name:  for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him;  yea, I have made him."  (Is. 43: 1,2,4-7) The prophet discerned that God is the only Creator and is wholly good, a God of love, forming each one to glorify His wonderful nature (reflection).  No harm can ever come to a reflection.  Man is the externalized thought or idea of God.  Therefore, our very existence is a glorification of that which God is.  There is such a sense of motherhood here, the Comforter, Love, including all of Her sons and daughters, keeping them safe, reminding them that they belong to the Father-Mother of the universe.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light...Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's dominion over all the earth.  Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God."  (S&H 516: 12-13,19-23)    "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears."  Those of us who think we are seeing reality with our eyes and hearing reality with our ears are really not, for the material senses cannot tell us anything that is true.  They can only report beliefs, not facts.  "Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled;...Ye are my witnesses [reflection], saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen:  that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he:  before me there 
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was no God formed, neither shall there be after me...Behold, I will do a new thing;  now it shall spring forth;  shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." (Is.43:8-10,  19,21) The prophet is now prophesying concerning the latter days when, with the Comforter's book, Science and Health, explaining the real Science of the universe, all of the earth's people will find His way through the desert of human fears.  It is not told how that will come about, only that it most certainly is promised.  Even the great fact of divine Science that man, as the forever image and likeness of God, in the Mind that is God, is pure, sinless, and eternal, is prophesied:  "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."  It is for the sake of Truth, for Truth is pure, therefore sinless, and its reflection is also.  The Truth cannot self-destruct.  It is eternally absolute.  Also, man is the manifestation of Soul, which is sinless.  As you understand what God is in relation to you, you cease making unto yourself any "graven images."  We read in S&H:  "We cannot build safely on false foundations [materialism]. 
Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and 'all things are become new.' "  (201: 7-9)  There is the sense of translation. Time after time in this soaring discourse, the people are reminded that the entire creation is the work of God, and that whatever denies this glorious truth will be utterly wiped out of consciousness.  "Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things;  that stretched forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;...that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish."  (Is. 44: 24-25)  The backward and foolish knowledge is the belief that matter is the creator.  The "womb" that forms the true "servant of God" is Mind, universal Love.  Again Isaiah says:  "Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:...I have made, and I will bear;  even I will carry, and will deliver you."  (Is. 46: 4) "Sing, O heavens;  and be joyful , O earth; ...for the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.  But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?  yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;..."  (Is. 49: 13-16) Love is always mindful of its precious idea, man, and translates itself universally.  If you love someone, you want to make yourself understood to them.  That is what infinite Love is always doing, forever translating itself to us in an infinitude of ways through the Christ, that office of God, Truth, which sends the divine message into human consciousness. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people:  and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."  ((Is. 49: 22)  The Gentiles were anathema to the Hebrews, so this shows how universal Love is---it excludes no one.  When the Christ comes as Jesus, and as Christian Science in the latter days, again, everyone is included, for all are the reflections of God.  "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals.  It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' "  (S&H 13: 2-
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3)  "With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren;  and with one Mind and that God, the whole family of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science."  (S&H 469: 30-5 n.p.) Israel must be ready to give birth to the Christ-man that is within her. If only she can catch a glimpse of that Truth, the Christ-man, God's ideal, can be manifested on earth in the fifth period according to the "key" that had been put at the beginning of the Scriptures, the days of creation. The fifth day brings forth life.  The prophets were successful, for in that fifth period a woman was able to bring forth the Christ-man:  "The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to silence material law and its order of generation, and brought forth her child by the revelation of Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of men."  (S&H 29: 20-24) Isaiah's thought is filled with the thought of comfort for the people.  A way out of mankind's vast array of problems is on the horizon, and he is discerning its light.  "...the Lord shall comfort Zion:  he will comfort all her waste places;  and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;  joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.  Hearken unto me, my people;  and give ear unto me, O my nation:  for a law shall proceed from me (God's nature as the divine Principle) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people...Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;  and everlasting joy shall be upon their head:  they shall obtain gladness and joy;  and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."  (Is. 51: 3,4,11) "And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, ...Therefore my people shall know my name:  therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak:  behold, it is I."  (Is. 51: 16; 52: 6)  In this day it can truly be said that man knows God's "name," for His name is His sevenfold nature, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.  And it not only can be known, but understood as the only I or us. Now we come to the foretelling of the coming of Christ Jesus:  "Who hath believed our report?  and to whom is the arm [the power] of the Lord revealed?"  He is despised and rejected of men;  a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid as it were our faces from him;  he was despised, and we esteemed him not [refused to esteem him as the promised Messiah]...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him;  and with his stripes we are healed. 
All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have turned everyone to his own way;  and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he openeth not his mouth:  he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter...he was cut off out of the land of the living:...he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."  (Is. 53: 1,3-7,9) 
Jesus expressed the Christ-man, the ideal of God, more than anyone else before him.  He had the holy, incomparable joy of overcoming sin, sickness, disease, and death.  He did it metaphysically and scientifically for others before proving it with his own body.  Jesus willingly undertook the proof that man is spiritual and not material.  He proved beyond a 
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shadow of a doubt that man is God's reflection and can never die. There is nothing miraculous in Science.  His demonstration was a natural, ordered, scientific demonstration of reality. Because it is science, it can happen again and again.  It is a law of divine Principle that good cannot be annihilated.  Mrs. Eddy often wrote about God, good.  She uses the two words together to help us understand that man is the "good" of God.  We must love and revere what Jesus did for our sakes.  But we must not dwell on the horrors of the crucifixion more than on his demonstration of eternal life seen in his resurrection, with the evidence of his body being the same one that was supposedly killed.  Otherwise we are missing the whole purpose of his sacrifice. We read in Science and Health:  "Jesus bore our infirmities;  he knew the error of mortal belief, and 'with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are healed.' "  (20: 14-16) When Jesus was brought to the slaughter, he did not open his mouth.  He did not give reality to mortality by opening his mouth in protest, but allowed mortality to destroy itself.  Proof of eternal, indestructible life is furnished by a lamb-like sacrifice of the mortal sense of life. 
This sacrifice should go on daily, watching every thought that comes to us, telling us that something has come about in our experience as a result of matter.  When we accept the cost of this watching, we will find ourselves rising above error's false suggestions, until we ourselves can demonstrate the freedom from sin, sickness, and death just as Jesus did. 
However, make no mistake, Christianity teaches that there is a cross to be taken up.  Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."  The denial of the mortal in its every detail is the cross we have to take up.  Floating off mentally into vague mystical realms, and thinking that by so doing you can eliminate the problem of mortality, is just dreaming.  It is not using a definite, scientific understanding to work through your problems.  To cultivate that kind of understanding "demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire."  (S&H 3: 15-16) The very next chapter begins with the foretelling of the bringer of the second manifestation of the Christ, Mary Baker Eddy:  "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bare; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child:  for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations:  spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.  For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;  and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.  Fear not;  for thou shalt not be ashamed:  neither be thou confounded;  for thou shalt not be put to shame:  for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.  For thy Maker is thine husband;  the Lord of hosts is his name;  and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel;  The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
"For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee...O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with 
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sapphires...And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;  and great shall be the peace of thy children.  In righteousness shalt thou be established:  thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear:  and from terror;  for it shall not come near thee. "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me:  whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fail for thy sake...No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;  and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." (Is. 54: 1-7,10-11,13-15,17) Mrs. Eddy had a great deal of sorrow in her life, but she loved God and wanted to serve Him, which she did throughout her life in many ways, including unprecedented healing in the way that Jesus did.  After her revelation, and in founding it in human consciousness over a period of forty-four years, she was faced with one trial after another, some initiated by the public, other churches, and even her own students.  It might have seemed at times as if God had forsaken her, but she knew she had been called to bring the Comforter to mankind as promised by Christ Jesus, and she was fortified by that charge. 
Isaiah even mentions the waters of Noah in verse 9, the likes of which seemed to swamp Mrs. Eddy's second edition of Science and Health due to the problems she faced in producing and publishing it.  She even put a picture of Noah's ark on the cover to illustrate the flood of mortal mind's antagonism to the Comforter which she had to combat.  Her life is a study in obedience to God, no matter the personal cost, just as was Jesus' life. 
As Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Christ's Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing in all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with the Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of God."  (S&H 271: 1-5)  "Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea,---the reflection of God,--- has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. 
Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptised these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love."  (S&H 333: 19- 26) 
In Chapter 55, Isaiah sings God's praises concerning His everlasting kindness:  "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money;  come ye, buy, and eat;  yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."  (Is. 55: 1)  You don't need money for spiritual ideas;  you only need spiritual thinking.  Buy "wine," inspiration, and "milk," the "sincere milk of the Word, "(I Peter 2:2). When we have filled ourselves with inspiration and the simplicity of God's Word, we can then be ready for the message of Trito-Isaiah, which begins with Chapter 57 and goes to the end of Isaiah. 
The Third Book of Isaiah,  Post-Exile   Chapters 57-66 
The author of Third Isaiah teaches and writes during the post-exile era. 
Metaphysically, it illustrates Israel's resurrection body.  The vision is of a new heaven and a 
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new earth.  "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;  I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,...For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth...I have seen his ways, and will heal him:  I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him...Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord;  and I will heal him...Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house [the seekers]...Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily:  and thy righteousness shall go before thee...Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer...and he shall say Here I am... And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones:  and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not...And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places:  thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;  and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."  ((Ibid. 57: 15,18-19; 58: 8,11,12) 
The Israelites have not yet returned to their city, Jerusalem, but it is happening soon. 
Isaiah is reminding them of God's goodness and His place in leading them and restoring their peace to them.  Israel is to rebuild her body on purely spiritual foundations.  If the people have been hearkening to the prophet's words, they are to tell others of their inspiration (bread), to let others who may be seeking to enter their state of uplifted thought. 
The people seem ready to listen to and obey the divine precepts. Isaiah reiterates the covenant the Israelites have with God:  "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord;  My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of my mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever."  (Ibid. 59: 12,21)  God's covenant (solemn compact between members of a religious group to maintain its faith) with Israel is His unchanging presence and power (as the divine Principle of man and the universe) which will extend to all who follow His "words," spiritual precepts including not only the Ten Commandments but also the higher sense of them as given by Christ Jesus in the Beatitudes and Golden Rule and later the highest understanding of God as Principle as given in Christian Science. In recognition of this great promise, there comes a prophecy for the latter days: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth [the belief in materialism], and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.  Lift up thine eyes round about, and see:  all they gather themselves together, they come to thee:  thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side...And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,[salvation] and their kings shall minister unto thee: ...Therefore thy gates shall be open continually [gates are praise];...that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought...The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee;  and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the 
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soles of thy feet;  and they shall call thee, the city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel... "  (Ibid. 60: 1-4,10-11,14) 
"Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders;  but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise.  The sun shall be no more thy light by day;  neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee:  for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.  Thy people also shall be all righteous:  they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation:  I the Lord will hasten it in his time."  (Ibid. 18-22)   Rejoice dear people of earth!  We have reached the “latter days!”  The tumult we have been witness to over the past century and into this one is material thinking in the process of self-destruction. In this powerful, far-sighted illumination of the prophet's spiritual sense, he sees the whole world in its millennial glory.  The Truth that came to one individual (Abraham) became the Truth of a tiny individual nation and as the Truth is learned by individuals down through the ages, helped along by individuals such as the prophets and Christ Jesus and later by Mary Baker Eddy, it will cover the earth, become universal, and we shall inherit the land, the earth as the reflection of heaven, forever. Christian Scientists esteem and value the importance of the individual.  Mrs. Eddy has many passages about it in her writings:  "I believe in the individual man, for I understand that man is as definite and as eternal as God, and that man is coexistent with God, as being the eternally divine idea."  (Unity of Good, 49: 1-4)   "The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is infinite individuality, which supplies all form and comeliness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual spiritual man and things."  (S&H 281: 14-17)   "The spiritual man's consciousness and individuality are reflections of God.  They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love."  (S&H 336: 14-16)  "God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men."  (S&H 550: 5-7)   "The loss of man's identity through the understanding which Science confers is impossible;  and the notion of such a possibility is more absurd than to conclude that individual musical tones are lost in the origin of harmony."  (S&H 217: 1-5) 
"In Science, form and individuality are never lost;  thoughts are outlined, individualized ideas, which dwell forever in the divine Mind as tangible, true substance, because eternally conscious...In Science all being is individual;  for individuality is endless in the calculus of forms and numbers."  (Mis. 104: 9-10)  'In Him we live, and move, and have our being;'  consequently it is impossible for the true man---who is a spiritual and individual being, created in the eternal Science of being---to be conscious of ought but good. 
God's image and likeness can never be less than a good man;...Man is the climax of creation; and God is not without an ever-present witness, testifying of Himself."  (No and Yes, 17: 7- 14) 
"Man has an immortal Soul, a divine Principle, and an eternal being.  Man has perpetual individuality;  and God's laws, and their intelligent and harmonious action, constitute his individuality in the Science of Soul."  (Ibid., 11: 3-7)   "Man's individual being must reflect the supreme individual Being, to be His image and likeness;  and this 
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individuality never originated in molecule, corpuscle, materiality, or mortality.  God made man in the eternal bonds of Science,---in the immutable harmony of divine law.  Man is a celestial;  and in the spiritual universe he is forever individual and forever harmonious." (Ibid., 26: 19-25)   "Christian Science translates Mind, God, to mortals.  It is the infinite calculus defining the line, plane, space, and fourth dimension of Spirit.  It absolutely refutes the amalgamation [act or process of combining or merging into a uniform whole, as of races or societies], transmigration [the passing of the soul at death into another body or successive bodily forms, either human or animal], absorption, or annihilation of individuality."  (Mis. 22: 11-14)  You, as a fixed fact in the universe of Soul, individualized and being made of the substance of Spirit, are an eternal being. In the above passage from Isaiah, he mentions "the branch of (God's) planting" as he begins to speak of the importance of the individuality of man.  When Mrs. Eddy founded her church, she founded the concept of the "branch church" which was to be completely individual unto itself, not having to answer to or be governed by a hierarchical church above it.  It symbolized individual man answerable only to God. Immediately after his rousing revelation of the coming of salvation to the Hebrew nation as well as the whole earth, III Isaiah enters straight into a discourse about the coming of the Christ expressed by Jesus.  "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;  because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives [of mortal sense], and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Is. 61: 1) These were the words from the Book of Isaiah which Jesus read to the people in the synagogue concerning himself as he began his ministry.  (See Luke 4: 17-19) Isaiah continues to proclaim the blessings of God concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem which symbolizes Israel's resurrection body:  "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."  This will literally happen soon in their time, but then Isaiah goes further into the "latter days:"  "...ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord [all men are to be "kings and priests unto God" (Rev. 1:5,6)].  "...so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations...And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory:  and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name."  (Ibid., 61: 4,6; 62: 2) Mrs. Eddy gives us that new name:  "The star of Bethlehem is the light of the ages; is the light of Love, to-day christening religion undefiled, divine Science;  giving to it a new name..."   (Mis., 320: 27-29)  Christian Science is Israel as she really is.  "Go through, go through the gates;  prepare ye the way of the people;  cast up, cast up the highway;  gather out the stones;  lift up a standard for the people.  Prepare ye the way of the people;"--- This is what the Word, as learned from the Bible, does---it prepares the way for mankind's understanding of reality--- "cast up, cast up the highway;"---  this is what the Christ, Truth, is, the only highway.  "I am the way, the Truth, and the life," said Christ Jesus.  "gather out the stones;" ---this is what Christianity does---it gathers out the stones or stumbling blocks, the mortal, matter-based concepts--- "lift up a standard for the people;"--- that standard is 
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Science.  When this is done, and understanding reigns in the individual consciousness, then Isaiah gives the saving reward:  "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh...And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord:  And thou shalt be called , Sought out, A city not forsaken."  (Ibid.,  62: 10-12)  The world will come to its true self.  Through the work of the Science of Christianity, mankind will recognize its genuine spiritual being.  "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."  (Ibid, 64: 4) 
St. John tells us in Revelation, "And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there." (21:25) The gates symbolize the way "into" the City Foursquare, the consciousness of the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science.  Each one reflects the others, thereby being twelve "gates."  (The Word as the Word, as the Christ, as Christianity, and as Science, etc. The study of Christian Science includes the understanding of the meaning of these "gates" or different ways of demonstrating Science in our lives.) Our five physical senses cannot tell us anything about reality. They tell us that man is born into mortality, doomed to die by way of disease, accident, etc. and cannot cheat this fate. 
Through the system of divine Science we can prove this entire scenario false and see what Isaiah saw for us in today's era of that saving Science. Isaiah prophesies the final understanding of mankind that Mind has dominion over so-called matter, that we will lose all sense of the universe and man as being  material and will come into our inheritance as reflections (Sons) of God.  "But now, O Lord, thou art our father;  we are the clay, and thou our potter;  and we all are the work of thy hand."  (Ibid,. 64: 8)  "For, behold, I create new Heavens and a new earth:  and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind..."  The new heaven and earth is actually a new standpoint whereby we see that which has always been there.  We were always on a round earth even when men thought it was flat. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days:...And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer;  and while they are yet speaking , I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock:  and dust shall be the serpent's meat. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."  (Ibid., 65: 17, 20, 24-25) 
The belief that time is somehow toxic, that man ages and has only a certain number of years allotted to him will be reversed, and we will realize that we live in eternity as eternal spiritual beings.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive."  (S&H 463: 10-13)  There is no Truth in the belief that physical senses are needed to communicate.  All communication is mental.  Neither the belief of space nor time can interfere with our understanding through sight or hearing. This glorious habitation is now possible to those who spiritually understand divine Science.  The seventh thousand year period will see it throughout the period as more and more let go of mortal illusions and are educated in the Truth of being.  Divine Love has 
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brought us to this point.  Israel as the whole earth, is giving birth to her real selfhood.  Isaiah comforts us:  "Before she travailed, she brought forth;  before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child...Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God."  This epitomizes universal motherhood.  It assures us of Her tender care and purpose for our lives.  It has brought us this far. It will take us all the way.  This is the seventh day---Love.  The right idea of manhood is the "man child."  There are so many who are ready for the higher idea of God and man, ready to give up their useless beliefs in matter and its wearying and hopeless nothingness.  The Christ-idea is appearing to us, causing us to "bring forth."  It comes with this loving blessing:  "For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream:  then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 
As one whom his mother comforteth , so will I comfort you;   and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem [home, heaven].  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb:..."   (Ibid., 66: 7,9,12-14)  The Comforter, the ever-presence of the Motherhood of God, Love, has come to you. 
The  Prophet  Jeremiah  Chapters 1-52 
Jeremiah is considered one of the greatest of the prophets.  He received his calling when quite young, about  586 B.C.  This was at the same time that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem, which ended the kingdom of Judah.  Thus, Jeremiah, thought to mean "appointed by God," has been called the prophet of the decline and fall of the Jewish monarchy.  His ministry was one filled with the fervent warnings of disaster for his faithless people who would not listen and cared not to reform.  However, early on, King Josiah, one of the few faithful "good" kings, made a vigorous campaign against idol-worship.  He centralized worship of God in Jerusalem which helped to limit sacrifice to other gods in the" high places."  But, as Jeremiah clearly saw, the abuses were too deeply rooted for the reforms to penetrate much below the surface.  Jeremiah railed against the dishonesty, licentiousness, murder, idolatry, and hostility to reform, which abounded.    (See Dummelow's One Vol. Bible Commentary, 455-456) The end of the nation of Judah was fast approaching. Dummelow's Bible Commentary tells us that Jeremiah was given a strong impetus when the "Book of the Law “came to light in the temple (II Kings 22: 8) which contained a considerable portion of the Book of Deuteronomy. Its graphic pictures of punishment for unfaithfulness to Jehovah nerved him afresh to confront not only the immoral and idol-worshippers, but those who believed that to satisfy God they had only to bring more costly sacrifices and increase the splendor of the Temple ritual. To them, the Temple itself was a charm which could render Jerusalem and its inhabitants secure.  (Ibid)  Do not people today say,  "Well, I went to church today.  That should carry me through the week!"  Jeremiah tells the people how disastrous it will be to try to hold on to Jerusalem with their false sense of pride and attachment.  They believe that if Jerusalem is taken away from them they will be faced with a vacuum.  Mrs. Eddy speaks of losing a personal sense of something which has left "a 
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blank" in your life:  "...this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love.  When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth...Thus He teaches mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.  This is done through self-abnegation.  Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science."  Mrs. Eddy said that she had "experienced the foregoing prophecy and its blessings."   (S&H 266: 6-19) The colossal character of Jeremiah showed forth unshakeable firmness, fortitude, integrity, and unyielding resistance to error on every side.  He is faced with teaching the recalcitrant Israelites how to make nothing of evil.  This was done by Jesus later on in his own life when he followed the policy of non-resistance and non-violence  towards his captors and the crucifixion.  He "opened not his mouth."  He made nothing of his enemies or his death.  Jesus did not surrender to mortality;  he surrendered mortality!   He made nothing of evil, walked up to and through what is believed to be death, and out the other side.  He offered total resistance to the lie that he had to die.  This is his profound lesson for every one of us.  Matter has no life to surrender.  Everything that Jesus did was for the enlightenment of the human race. Isaiah assures us that Babylon is in fact nothing.  Jeremiah shows us the way to prove that, indeed, Babylon is nothing.  Ezekiel, then, stands for the proof itself, and Daniel applies it to the whole human race.  Isaiah himself is not involved with Babylon.  Jeremiah is involved but does not have to go to Babylon.  Ezekiel is taken into Babylon but seems oblivious to it.  Daniel actually takes part in the Babylonian experience and is unscathed by it.  The reality of Christ and its Science, which includes the wonderful fact that man's substance is Spirit, not matter, and therefore is indestructible, must enter the consciousness of Israel in the fourth period, and thus be seen by Jesus' mother, his disciples and others in the fifth period. Just how do we make nothing of evil?  It is the question of the ages.  Jesus reduced everything to either symbol or the Truth behind it.  He knew that he was eternally the expression of  the Truth.  He did not identify himself with organic life and therefore did not feel that he had to fight for it.  While Jesus' body lay in the sepulchre, Jesus was in the full consciousness of Life.  He could have been finished with his mission to mankind, but he had the ultimate demonstration to make on our behalf.  He, and we all, have to see through the illusion that mortality claims to lay waste to the organized temple, or body.  We awake after "death"  to find that we didn't die.  There are books we can read today, even movies  of true experiences we can see, that tell of ones who have "passed on" only to find that they are still alive with bodies unseen by those who had buried the body or had recovered from an event by which it was thought they had died. Jesus had to prove to us that the body is indestructible, that our identity is forever one with Life and so is always living.  Without this final proof, his disciples could not have carried out the healing, reformatory work that they were able to do.  Jesus said: "He that findeth his life [in the organized temple] shall lose it: and he that loseth his life [goes forward into Babylon] for my sake shall find it."  (Matt. 10: 39) 
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Jeremiah must have realized that there is, in reality, neither birth nor death, for he was called to serve God with these words:  "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."  (Jer. 1: 4-5)  That which has no beginning has no end.  Jeremiah is then given his mission:  "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."  (Jer. 1: 10)  The destruction of mortal beliefs must first take place before immortal Truth can take hold.  Jeremiah is shown the coming of Babylon to Judah to overthrow it.  The Lord continues:  "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?  but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit...For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water...Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?" (Jer. 2:11, 12, 21) 
Over chapters and chapters, Jeremiah is engaged in spiritual translation---the analyzing, uncovering, and annihilating of the nation's perversions.  "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.  How long shall thine vain thoughts lodge within thee?"  (Jer. 4: 14)  "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let them that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord that exerciseth lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."  (Jer. 9: 23-24)  "For the customs of the people are vain:  for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.  They deck it with silver and with gold;  they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.  They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not:  they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.  Be not afraid of them;  for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."  (Jer. 10: 3-5)  Jeremiah is full of fury against the audacity of the mortal mind that puts faith in matter which is obviously inert and mindless. We might laugh at their idols made with their own hands, but that is exactly what we do to this day.  We worship inert matter, the human body, thinking it can act without the permission of Mind.  It tells us it is hurt, sick, tired, diseased, etc. and we accept it as the gospel truth, then try with other inert substances we call medicine to remedy it.  Someday, we will look back on this incredible ignorance and laugh that we could ever have believed it! 
At that point, we will have the understanding of  "the Lord," and will be able to exercise judgment (Principled thinking) in all we do.  "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;  save me and I shall be saved:  for thou art my praise."  (Jer. 17: 14)  In chapter 33, Jeremiah tells us of a loving God who does just that.  It will take place at a time when the whole earth will be blessed:  "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me;...And it shall be to me a name of 
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joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them:..."  (Jer. 33: 6-9) In fiery passages, Jeremiah assaults the ears of Judah's King, Jehoiakim, with his sins and the coming punishment, the overthrow of Judah by Babylon.  But the king paid him no attention.  Almost immediately after these searing remonstrations,  Jeremiah takes an entirely different turn and fills the ears of his people and the people yet to come, with beautiful prophecies of a coming "King."   "...I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds;  and they shall be fruitful and increase.  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them:  and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. 
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.  In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely;  and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;  But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them;  and they shall dwell in their own land."  (Jer. 23: 3-8) This predicts the coming of a "righteous Branch" an ideal descendant of David who will reign in righteousness over the people.   This is a prophecy of the return of the Christ, the ideal man, (each of us in our true identity) which will bring the seed (the whole world) of the Israelites to a land of their own.  This land is the land prepared of God whereby the Comforter could come---the United States of America.  (We will discuss this later in the book.)  It is the consciousness of Love, our true consciousness or Mind.  We find that "our righteousness" is the righteousness of the Lord, forever present and operational as "man." 
Jesus said:  "I am the vine, ye are the branches:  He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."  (John 15: 6) Finally, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to tell the people that the Lord was going to let them be overthrown by Babylon.  Israel's sins have brought her to this point of mortal extremity, but in Science, this extremity is God's opportunity. They were told:  "...the nations that bring their neck under the yolk of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it and dwell therein." (Jer. 27: 11) "Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand." (Jer. 42:1 11)  So, finally, many of the people did repent and followed the instructions of the Lord and allowed themselves to be taken into Babylon.   The king and queen and their court, the priests and prophets, plus the most useful among the citizens, such as the carpenters and the smiths were taken first.  Jeremiah did not go with them, but stayed behind with the least important, the "dregs."   The Christ-spirit never abandons mortal man, no matter how far he falls, for to the Christ, there is no fall. The word of the Lord came again to Jeremiah saying:  "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives...: Build ye houses, and dwell in 
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them;  and plant gardens, and eat the fruit therein;  take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters;  and take wives for your sons...that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it:  for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.  For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years [a man's lifetime] be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, in causing you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
Then shall ye call upon me, and find me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you, saith the Lord:  and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord;  and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."  (Jer. 29: 4-7,11- 14) 
Jeremiah has promised the Israelites that whoever goes into Babylon without resistance will be cared for by God.  They find that they can live as well as they ever lived in their nation, as if nothing has happened.  Being willing to take your punishment without resistance makes you stronger, and enables you to learn your lesson with the least amount of suffering.  It is like the small child who has been willful and disobedient and is given the punishment of going to time-out in his room for an hour and not allowed to play with any of his toys while there. He is told to think about what he did wrong and can come out to apologize whenever he's ready or stay in his room until he does.  He can sit in his room quietly and think over his actions and come out to apologize for what he did, or he can throw a tantrum, resist going into his room, mess up his room while he's in there and thus get a more severe penalty.  We can advance spiritually either by suffering or by Science.  Nearly all of us seem to have to advance by both! After the Israelites go meekly into Babylon, Jeremiah devotes pages to his prophesies of a coming age of freedom from fear, captivity, and sorrow:  "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.  For, Lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord:  and I will cause them to return to the land (the consciousness of Love) that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it... "  (Jer. 30: 1-3)  Learning through suffering enables mankind to come into an age of freedom from captivity to material beliefs. You will recall that these were the words that Mrs. Eddy read when she wondered what to do with her wonderful revelation.  Her book, written for the "latter days" will explain Jeremiah's prophesies.  This prophecy includes a surcease from the bonds of material beliefs, but it does not preclude further lessons:    "For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds,...Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord;  neither be dismayed, O Israel:  for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity;  and Jacob ["the revelation of Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love."  S&H, 589] shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none 
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shall make him afraid.  For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee:  though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee:  but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee unpunished.  For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.  There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up:  thou hadst no healing medicines.  All thy lovers have forgotten thee;  they seek thee not;  for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity;  because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou for thine affliction?  Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity;  because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. 
Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured;  and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity...For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord;...(Jer. 30: 8,10,11-17) Such comforting words!  But then, a warning comes:  "Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continual whirlwind:  it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.  The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart:  in the latter days ye shall consider it."   Then Jeremiah continues:  "At the same time, [as the whirlwinds] saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people."   (Jer. 30: 23-24; 31: 1) That which goes on "at the same time" is the "Scientific Translation of Immortal Mind (God and His sevenfold nature imaged forth as man, God's spiritual idea, individual, perfect, eternal).  This "translation" is simultaneous and involves only one Mind and its eternal, infinite activity.  From the human standpoint, it is the Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind through three degrees: Depravity, Evil beliefs disappearing, and Understanding.  "In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as God's image appears.  Science so reverses the evidence before the corporeal senses, as to make this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts, 'The last shall be first, and the first last,' so that God and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and must of necessity be,---all-inclusive." (S&H 115: 12-116: 10) 
The "whirlwind" is the activity of the three degrees of translation going on from "depravity" to "understanding" during the "latter days."  "At the same time," the first translation is always going on: God (Mind) is always the God of man, (meaning the whole family of mankind,"Israel" in the latter days, for they are His image, idea. Mankind's lessons needed in order to be translated out of depravity and the   disappearance of evil will, no doubt, be like a furious whirlwind to the wicked. Mrs. Eddy tells us that the enlightened ones will have to maintain a prayerful "watch" during this period.  "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces.  On one side there will be discord and dismay;  on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears.  These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.  Mortal error will vanish in a moral 
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chemicalization.  This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding.  Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.  As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science will endure to the end.  As material knowledge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally instead of materially.  During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil;  but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. 
They will aid in the ejection of error.  They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection."  (S&H 96: 12-4 n.p.) Have you noticed that throughout all of the captivities of the Israelites down through the years there seem to be two story lines going on simultaneously?  One of the scenarios is taking place in "real time" with the actual Israelite nation being in a battle, being overthrown, and being led away captive by the victorious nation.  In the next paragraph the prophet is suddenly talking about nations in the plural instead of just the nation of Israel or Judah, using words such as "the whole earth" or some other universal-sounding language. 
The authors of the Old Testament were teachers;  their potent language was for mankind, because they knew that the "days of creation" which they put at the beginning of the Bible was the key to God's Word which was the Truth for everyone.  The story of the Israelites is the story of us.  We are idol-worshippers just as they were,  but in more highly developed ways.  We still believe in the finite.  We have not yet grasped the inescapable fact that Life and all that makes it worth living is infinite, eternal, incorporeal, and ever-present.  And we are still just as intractable!   We are still prone to make progress only if suffering comes first. The spiritual sense of the prophets was so highly developed that they intuited that it would take about seven thousand years before the world in general had overcome the lie or illusion that had taken away our harmony, the conviction that the universe was objective to us instead of subjective.  The prophets made it sound as if God is a terrible human-like God who sends evil on His children when they sin.  The people of that ancient time could only grasp the idea of God as if He were a super-human type warrior who had great physical powers that needed to be respected since His might could be fearful.  They knew nothing about God as Principle, as Love.  They had to be spoken to as willful children who kept breaking the rules.  The prophets had to be stern, with fearful consequences as punishment. 
They lived among other nations who all indulged in idol-worship, and it seemed normal to the people of those times. In view of all that was working against the prophets, it seems nearly miraculous that they were able to maintain their own clear views of God (their own right Mind) to the point where they could "hear" what needed to be said and done in each changing situation and communicate it by symbol to the people. To the Mind that "spoke" to the Prophets, there is no time, no "these people" and "latter day" people. The Truth is always the Truth. The prophets put the events they were involved with in the "real time" of their day and in the "latter days" as well, for they realized it was all the same; the same symbols were used. What will seem to be true in the "latter days" was true in their day also but on a more primitive level. Spiritual translation seems to take time, but progress can be made only if the Truth is the forever fact of existence. The times to come in the far future are always the days 
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of salvation from materialism and the peace and joy of spiritual understanding for the whole earth. If it had not been for the brave, often lonely, and disrespected prophets who would not give up on their mission to keep the light of the great Truth of One God (One Mind) burning in the consciousness of the Hebrews, our world would still be in the depths of depravity.  Morality not based on spirituality cannot bring peace to the world.  Only through knowing and understanding that we all share One Mind, one Consciousness, as one image in that Mind, expressing the qualities of that Mind unfolding as the seven-fold nature of the universe, can we finally attain peace as brothers and sisters of the same Father-Mother. 
Only in this way can we apprehend God as Love, the divine Principle of the universe. The "dregs" who were left behind after the best of the inhabitants were taken by Babylon were afraid of Babylon coming back and killing them and burning the city.  They howled to go back to Egypt.  Jeremiah, who has elected to stay with them, tells them God's message to them:  "So shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt...O ye remnant of Judah;  Go ye not into Egypt."   (Jer. 42: 19)  Yet, they disobeyed the voice of the Lord and entered into Egypt.  It is never good to return to positions outgrown.  When they enter into Egypt, Jeremiah is bidden to "Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house...Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid...And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death."    (Jer. 42: 18; 43: 9,10)  Finally, Jeremiah enumerates the different incarnate errors which must be eliminated from Israel's consciousness so that she may realize her spiritual origin.  These take the form of nine enemy nations which range from Egypt to Babylon.  They are:  Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Syria, Kedar, Elam, and Babylon, the harlot city as it is called in the Bible. 
It is the opposite of the holy foursquare city which is the divine origin of us all (man's consciousness reflecting the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science). It came about as Jeremiah foretold.  The remnant of Judah was destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Egypt.  The Israelites refused to cease worshipping their idols. 
Thus, organic death occupies the throne of organic birth (where the Israelites who were led out of Egypt were born).  Immediately upon the judgment of Babylon, Jeremiah switches his prophesies from "real time" to future time, "In those days."  "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping they shall go, and seek the Lord their God.  They shall ask the way to Zion [S&H: Inspiration; spiritual strength] with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten...In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none;  and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found:  for I will pardon them whom I reserve."  (Jer. 50: 4-5,20) This prophecy, meant for the sixth and seventh thousand year periods, is now in the process of being fulfilled.  All of the idols of civilization are beginning to be thrown down as a new "city" or universal reality begins to overtake the consciousness of mankind.  The 
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nothingness of  “Babylon,”  human submission to matter, which has replaced harmony with fear for so long, will be seen as filled instead with Life, Truth, and Love.  We will finally have become spiritually-minded enough to let the mortal go. Until then, we should take a new look at the Bible, its historical yet symbolic stories all rehearsing  our times as well as those of long ago.  The Scriptures will come alive.  We will be looking in the mirror.  The divine Mind which smites mortal mind with a vengeance because it is the all-powerful Principle and Truth of all that is leaves nothing but its Self standing.  Man is the "form" and the operation of the Self.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "We cannot build safely on false foundations.  Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and 'all things are become new.'  Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good."  (S&H 7-12) This "new creature" that Truth will bring forth is the new covenant spoken of by Jeremiah:  "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: ...After those days, saith the lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;  and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:  for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord:  for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."  (Jer. 31: 31,33,34)  This will be a living covenant, not one that comes as laws from the "outside" of us, but as a divine Principle that we understand and embody in our everyday lives.  It will be the operation of Love that flows from the very heart of our being. 
Man will be the sevenfold nature of God, good, and will practice it naturally, having been taught it through the "little book," the Comforter, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  Jeremiah foresaw the millennium times. There are two more prophecies of Jeremiah which he touches on lightly but are of great importance in light of Christian Science.  The first one is one sentence with no explanation!  He says:  "...for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth,  A woman shall compass a man."  (Jer. 31: 22)  Jeremiah seems to have caught just a glimpse of this, for he did not enlarge upon it.  He left it to further spiritualization of thought which came in the sixth thousand year period with the Comforter, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  This marvelous and precious Comforter is indeed the comfort our harsh world needs.  It gathers us all into its arms of Love, the "Womanhood/ Motherhood" of God.  It is the final revelation which will renovate our consciousness as to who we are as individual ideas in an infinite universe.  It destroys forever the "serpent" lie which has grown terrible in strength, as depicted in the Book of Revelation—the lie that manhood is separated from its womanhood.  Just look around the world today and see how that is being played out---in terrible acts against women, even young girls, in our own country as well as in others around the world.  The hideousness of it is coming to the surface to be annihilated. In Science and Health we read about our true nature as reflecting "Life represented by the Father;  as Truth, represented by the Son;  as Love, represented by the Mother."  (569: 1-3)  "Love alone can impart the limitless idea of infinite Mind."  (510: 18-19)  It is Love 
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that defines our true Mind.  "Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it." (57: 23-24)  Love is the purifying, elevating agent of our true Mind. This last passage supports indisputably the above passage, which illustrates the power of Love as a necessity in man's nature:  "The physician who lacks sympathy for his fellow-being is deficient in human affection, and we have the apostolic warrant for asking:  'He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?'  Not having this spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which alone confers the healing power." (366: 12-19, emphasis not in original)  We can substitute the word "physician" for man, meaning each of us.  Without expressing the indispensable divine nature of Love we cannot heal our world.  Each of us is the "physician."   Jesus quoted the proverb, "Physician, heal thyself."  (Luke 4:23)  In Christian Science we learn that this is always the case.  Subject and object are one.  We cannot externalize or objectify that which is not already in our mind.  We cannot see lovingkindness, purity, health, wholeness, peace unless it is already within us. The highest sense of God we can possibly have is that which John, the beloved disciple, speaks of:  "God is love;  and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."  (I John 4: 16) The second prophecy put forth by Jeremiah is just a few verses down the page from the other one discussed above:  "In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.  But every one shall die for his own iniquity:  but every one that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." (Jer. 31:29) This proclamation can be viewed from two standpoints:  It can be seen as the refutation of the belief in physical inheritance, that children can suffer from the physical defects or diseases or mental propensities they have inherited from their parents or ancestors.  This is a terrible belief that has been healed many times in Christian Science.  Matter is not the father of itself.  Mortal man is not a creator.  Mind, Divine Love, is the creative Mind and gives only good to Her children.  The "body" we show forth is the Christ body, the Truth reflecting Itself as the divine ideal.  Truth, the Son, is one with Life (Father) and Love (Mother). Therefore, we cannot "inherit" anything but the "promised land" of all-harmonious good. The second way this prophecy can be viewed is that we are each responsible for our own sins.  An entire race or nation or group or family of people does not determine each individual's guilt or innocence or salvation.  The life journey each of us is on is rough or smooth in varying degrees according to the choices we make and the actions we take.  We have no authority for blaming others, and since there are no material inheritances, we certainly cannot blame it on the propensities we've inherited!   Mrs. Eddy writes concerning this:  "The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncrasies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact of being were learned,---namely, that nothing inharmonious can enter being, for life is God.  Heredity is a prolific topic for mortal mind to pin theories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear."  (S&H 228: 3-10) 
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The Book of Lamentations   Chapters 1-5 
This next Book in the Bible consists of five dirges written by Jeremiah concerning Israel's captivity in Babylon.  He laments their miseries, bewails their calamities, and prays for their deliverance.  He reminds them not to lament the removal of their organic sense of life but to instead lay off that sense and embrace the spiritual sense of life.  He reminds them:  "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning:  great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;  therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."  (Lam. 3: 22-26) If Israel can prayerfully reverse the lamentable sense testimony of her captivity by returning to God and dwelling on all of the goodness He has shown their nation, she will find that heaven is within her subjectively and spontaneously, and she can cease striving vainly for it from outside herself.  "We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief.  We must reverse our feeble flutterings- --our efforts to find life and truth in matter---and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God.  These clearer, higher views inspire the God-like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being."  (S&H 262: 9-16)  "God is at once the centre and circumference of being."  (S&H 203; 32-1 n.p.)  Your "I" or ego is the center of your being, and it is expressed outwardly as your being, which is infinite. 
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Chapter 13  The Last Two Major Prophets      Ezekiel and Daniel 
The Book of Ezekiel   Chapters 1-48 
Ezekiel was a prophet in Judah during their first captivity in Babylon in 597 B.C., but he alludes to the last half-century of the existence of the Jewish kingdom.  His name means "God strengthens" or "God is strong."  He was the son of a priest who was carried away to Babylon in the first captivity, and while living in Babylon, his focus and reality was Jerusalem, actually the "New Jerusalem."  He and Jeremiah were contemporary, but Jeremiah was much older. Ezekiel prophesied to the whole of Israel rather than to just one of the nations.  He was called to be a prophet in the fifth year of his captivity when he had a remarkable vision.  This is the vision which opens his Book.  (See Dummelow's One Vol. 
Bible Commentary, 488-489)  Ezekiel is believed to have been the main author of the Old Testament's Priestly Document, based on the "seven days" of creation, also called the "numerals of infinity."  Mrs. Eddy wrote:  "The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H 520: 10-15, emphasis in original)   It is not surprising that the Book of Ezekiel in its Science unfolds in the order of the seven days of creation:  Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. Just as Jeremiah was concentrating on the identity of Israel as a nation and as each individual which makes up the nation, so was Ezekiel.  He calls himself the "Son of man," meaning generic man.  Never once does he make a condemnatory remark about Babylon, refusing to make something of nothing.  His first vision is in the tone of Mind, the intelligence and source of all creation, which is always individual.  It is full of symbols and illustrates the "individuality theme" of his ministry.  "And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it,...out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures.  And this was their appearance;  they had the likeness of a man.  And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings:... and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.  And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides;  and they four had their faces and their wings."...And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." (Ez. 1: 4-6,8,14)  Man is the foursquare reflection of "the four,” the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science.  Each aspect of the four reflects every other aspect.  The face stands for individualized identity or Soul.  The wings stand for Life.  The quickness of the running and returning symbolizes reflection which is simultaneous, instantaneous, and spontaneous.   (See Brown, From Genesis…, 245) The living creatures move as one and have the semblance of a wheel within a wheel. 
It is the symbol for spiritual evolution which takes place as the progressive "days of creation."  As more and more individuals reach an understanding of God and man as His 
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reflection, "these clearer, higher views inspire the God-like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being."  (S&H 262: 14-16)  Centre and circumference are immediately one in operation.  "...for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels." (Ez. 1: 20  emphasis in original)  "Mind is perpetual motion.  Its symbol is the sphere.  The rotations and revolutions of the universe of Mind go on eternally."  (S&H 240: 14)  Like the light of the first day of creation, the idea presented is the omni-action, the revolving movements, of the body of infinite Mind. In the second chapter, the symbol changes to "a roll of a book."  The word "roll" is Latin for "wheel."  Ezekiel sees a roll, written within and without, being handed to him with the instructions to eat it.  He says it was sweet as honey in his mouth.  He was given instructions to go to the house of Israel and speak the words unto them.  We are reminded of the Book of Revelation where St. John is commanded to "eat the little book." It was to the mouth sweet as honey. (Rev. 10)  Ezekiel is still concerned with spiritual evolution. The words in the book which Ezekiel must speak to his day are full of lamentations and woe.  Mrs. Eddy says:  " '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.'...Take divine Science. 
Read this book from beginning to end.  Study it, ponder it.  It will be indeed sweet at its first taste, when it heals you;  but murmur not over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter.  When you approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle, when you eat the divine body of this Principle,---thus partaking of the nature, or primal elements of Truth and Love,---do not be surprised nor discontented because you must first share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs;  for the Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus prefigured this perilous passage out of bondage into the El Dorado of faith and hope."  (S&H 559: 17-31)   Science and Health is sweet when it first heals you but its digestion is bitter, for it entails giving up much ---the illusions we have come to think of as a normal part of life.   (Ez. 2: 8-10) The next vision of Ezekiel symbolizes the second day of Spirit.  It is the firmament which separates the real from the unreal.  The hand of the Lord comes upon him, and he is called to become a watchman.  "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel:  therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me."  (Ez. 3: 17) The watchman at the gate of consciousness is the "nay, nay—yea,yea" to thoughts which come to you.  They are either from divine Mind and are good, or they are from mortal mind, illusion of life in matter.  The understanding of Mind allows you to separate the Truth from the untruth, the good from the evil, the spiritual from the material.  "If thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned;  also, thou hast delivered thy soul."  (Ez. 3: 21)  "Be watchful, sober, and vigilant. 
The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. 
It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter,---certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God."  (S&H 324: 13-18) 
The third vision is symbolic of the day of Soul, the substance of God (Spirit) which is His sevenfold nature, is given form, outline, and color as countless individualities.  Each individual identity expresses the fullness of God.  When the whole nation of Israel is not 
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expressing the fullness of God, it is because they are like sheep gone astray, mindless, unthinking, unreasoning, doing what everyone else is doing---worshipping idols.  The same thing is going on today.  Only the idols have changed.  They (and we) are supposed to have the laws of being, the Ten Commandments, as guidance.  But those are hard to abide by!  It takes self-abnegation, as Mrs. Eddy admonishes.  Calf-sacrifice is so much easier than self- sacrifice! The vision given Ezekiel was to lay siege to the sins of Jerusalem.  He was told to shut himself up in his house (his consciousness of God, good), for he was to understand that sin was not something going on "out there."  The third day of Soul is also the symbol for resurrection.  Jesus rose on the third day.  If sin is not going on "out there,"  death is not going on "out there," either!  Ezekiel is assured that he can do as commanded, because from his "youth up" he had "not eaten of that which dieth of itself."  Immortality causes mortality (sin) to be self-destroying---to die of itself.  Jesus did not try to get out of dying; he never identified himself with materiality, mortality, and its sin.  His assurance that life is immortal caused the lie of mortality to die of itself.  He rose above it. Ezekiel was to enact a symbolic siege against the supposed forces of sin in order for it to be self-seen and therefore self-destroyed.  While shut up, he is to take a tile and portray upon it the city of Jerusalem.  He is then to build a fort against it, set up a camp against it, and set up battering rams around it.  He then is to put an iron pan against it and set his face against it.  The "siege" is to last the number of days equivalent to the years of Israel's iniquity, three hundred and ninety days and after that forty days for Judah's iniquity.  He is to gather enough food to last the siege which is to last about a year and two months!  Ezekiel surrounds the city completely, allows no way for escape.  He must make sin to surrender unconditionally.  To Ezekiel and the other prophets attuned to God, it was vitally important that the precious seed planted by God in the consciousness of Abraham and which later multiplied into the Israelite nation, not be allowed to die.  They realized how critical the spiritual understanding of the "Promised Land" was, not only to the Hebrew nation, but to the whole earth.  The Promised Land revelation that came through Moses from God, that there is only one God, infinite good, not made with men's hands, but is Spirit which makes all spiritual and subject only to Him, is the great universal Truth that must not be allowed to die because of Israel's callous disobedience to the Commandments. The prophets would have done anything, borne any burden, and did, to keep that Truth alive in their nation's consciousness.  Many of them gave up their lives.  Jeremiah was stoned to death by Jews who resented his constant reproofs.  In the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament we read:  "...[the prophets] were tortured, not accepting deliverance;  that they might obtain a better resurrection:  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: ...being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:)  they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."  (Hebrews 11: 35-38) Mrs. Eddy wrote:  "Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with God."  (Mis. 211: 27)  Also:  "Spirituality lays open siege to materialism.  The understanding that the Ego 
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is Mind, and that there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to destroy the errors of mortal sense and to supply the truth of immortal sense.  This understanding makes the body harmonious; it makes the nerves, bones, brain, etc., servants instead of masters.  If man is governed by the law of divine Mind, his body is in submission to everlasting Life and Truth and Love.  The great mistake of mortals is to suppose that man, God's image and likeness, is both matter and Spirit, both good and evil."  (S&H 216: 9-21) As a part of his siege, Ezekiel carries out another symbolic act which storms Israel's citadels.  He shaves his head, then takes the shaved hair and divides it into three parts.  One part he burns with fire, another he smites with a sword, and the third he scatters in the wind. 
Sin is the general belief that man in his individual identity can be cut off from his divine roots.  Ezekiel bears witness within himself that this belief, which is the illusion of sin, disease, and death, is actually nothing.   (Ez. 5: 1-5) The next vision is the personification of evil.  It symbolizes the negative of the fourth day of creation, Principle.  It is mental despotism, animal magnetism, the epitome of the hidden, unconscious workings of primitive mortal mind.  Ezekiel is brought "in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate...where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.  Here he is shown what "the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery---."  Ezekiel must understand the nothingness of animal magnetism.  This vision brings on the longest of his prophesies which range over twenty-five chapters. Mrs. Eddy writes:  "The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappearing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front.  The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour weaving webs more complicated and subtle.  So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires.  Mankind must learn that evil is not power.  Its so-called despotism is but a phase of nothingness.   Christian Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore in the community.  The Apostle Paul refers to the personification of evil as "the god of this world,' and further defines it as dishonesty and craftiness."   (S&H 102: 16- 23; 30-5 n.p.) Elsewhere, she speaks of envy as "the great red dragon of this hour."  (Mis. 254: 18)  Are we not now beginning to see, more than ever, rampant envy being displayed by people around the world who believe they are owed a portion of the fruit of others' labor? 
Only when we yearn more for the treasures of the heart than for material things will we be truly satisfied. Mrs. Eddy says this about jealousy:  "At present, mortals progress slowly for fear of being thought ridiculous.  They are slaves to fashion, pride, and sense...We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood.  Jealousy is the grave of affection."  (S&H 68: 2-4,6-8) Ezekiel is brought in his vision "to the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north;  and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz."  Tammuz is the Semitic equivalent of the Greek god Adonis.  (Ez. 8: 14)  The women are weeping for the death of this god which symbolized the destruction of the spring vegetation by the heat of summer 
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coming on.  It was celebrated by seven days of mourning by the women every year at this time (June-July).  (Dummelow's One Vol. Bible Commentary, pp.497-498) Here were Israelite women sorrowing over the so-called death of a god, in the very gate of the temple!  Is this not a telling picture of how far the Israelites had strayed from their One God?  The prophets truly had their work cut out for themselves!   As Ezekiel was carried on in his vision to the inner court of the temple, he saw about twenty-five men with their backs to the altar, worshipping the sun. The voice of God in the vision warns:  "Hast thou seen this, O son of man?  Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here?.."  (Ez. 8: 17)   He is incensed over Israel's lewd harlotry and the nations who aided her defilement---Egypt, Babylon, Edom, and Phoenicia. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it:  and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him."  This is thought to mean the future ideal king, Christ Jesus.  (Ezk. 21: 27)  In Christian Science, it could also mean the ideal man, generic man, which Jesus manifested.  This "man," as individuals, are, in the "last days," to be made "unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."  (Rev. 5: 9-10)  That which overturns error is divine Principle, and it does it absolutely and unsparingly, for it gives that which is unprincipled no place within its allness. Ezekiel had another vision in the fourth day, Principle, state of thought.  The Lord came to him and told him to put on a pot of water, fill it with meat and bones and let it seethe (boil) in order to allow the scum to rise to the top of the pot. This is symbolic of the filthiness of the house of Israel who has turned her city and temple (body)into scum which must be consumed.  The entire pot is allowed to burn down to the point of emptiness so that it is utterly melted .  He is still attacking animal magnetism.  "She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her:  her scum shall be in the fire...In thy filthiness is lewdness...Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke:  yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep,...make no mourning for the dead." Ezekiel is speaking to the carnal mind  which holds Israel captive in the belief of mortal body.  Unconscious scum must be brought to the surface so that it may pass away. (Ez. 24: 1-17)  Israel has played the harlot, divorcing herself from God's laws, the Ten Commandments.  Again, Science and Health gives guidance in this area:  "Experience should be the school of virtue, and human happiness should proceed from man's highest nature...If the foundations of human affection are consistent with progress, they will be strong and enduring.  Divorces should warn the age of some fundamental error in the marriage state.  The union of the sexes faces fearful discord.  To gain Christian Science and its harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.  The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous today show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era...There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left among the lees.  An unsettled, transitional stage is never desirable on its own account...The mental chemicalization, which has brought conjugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum is gone."  (S&H 65: 1- 3,7-16,20-23,24-25,29-32) 
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Ezekiel 's prophecies have now reached the fifth day of spiritual consciousness, Life. 
Beginning with chapter thirty-four, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel:  "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy..."Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?....The diseased have ye not strengthened,  neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye sought that which was lost;  but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd:  and they became meat to all the beasts of the field ...yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them... "Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out...And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country...I will feed them in a good pasture...there shall they lie in a good fold,...and I will cause them to lie down...I will seek that which was lost...bind up that which was broken...strengthen that which was sick..:  but I will destroy the fat and the strong;  I will feed them with judgment...Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey...And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David;... And I will make with them a covenant of peace...And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing;  there shall be showers of blessing...Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them...even the house of Israel, are my people,..." (Ez. 34) The evil "shepherds" were the former kings of Israel who sought after their own selfish ends and were careless about what became of their people, the "sheep."  The wild beasts were the heathen nations that preyed upon them.  God promises to unite the flock under an ideal king of David's line, Christ Jesus, who will come in the fifth thousand year period, the day of Life.  Israel's leaders and people have lusted after an organic sense of life, which is a deadened sense.  They have paid lifeless lip-service to God which is devoid of a true love of God.  "...their heart goeth after their covetousness."  (Ibid. 33: 31) Ezekiel prophesies the great goodness and mercy of God who will gather them and bring them into their own land, even though they have not earned it.  He gives them these words from God:  "... I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the heathen, whither they went...I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, ...I will sanctify my great name,...A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:....And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them...And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen...I will  also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes will be builded.  And the desolate land shall be tilled...And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; ...I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it." (Ibid. 36: 21-22,26-28,30,33-36)   Because of the faithfulness of Ezekiel in rebuking Israel, The Lord will restore Israel to her own land. 
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The next major vision which has a metaphysical lesson comes to Ezekiel as a sixth day lesson in the tone of Truth, the sixth synonym for God.  "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about:  and, behold, there were very many in the open valley;  and, lo, they were very dry.  And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?  And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.  And he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. "Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones;  Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live;  and ye shall know that I am the Lord."  As Ezekiel prophesied, "there was a great noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.  And while Ezekiel watched, "the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above:  but there was no breath in them."  Then God asked Ezekiel to prophesy to the four winds to blow upon them who were slain so that they could live.  As soon as he obeyed the command, "they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."  God told Ezekiel that they were "the whole house of Israel."  But they spoke and  said, "Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost:  we are cut off for our parts." God told Ezekiel to tell them that He would open their graves and cause them to come out, and he would bring them into the land of Israel.  He was also told to take two sticks and write upon one, "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions."  On the other one he was to write, "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions."  He was then told to join the sticks together in his hand so that they would become one.  And he was to say to them, “Thus saith the Lord God;...I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;  and one king shall be king to them all:  and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all...I will make a covenant of peace with them;  it shall be an everlasting covenant."  (Ibid. 37) What is the whole house of Israel?  Humanly, she is the undivided houses of Judah and Israel.  Metaphysically, she is the whole human race as the demonstrably whole symbol of divine Science in manifestation.  The letter of Science is dead;  it has no life as dismembered passages spoken by rote and believed in as if they were a mystical creed with power coming from the words alone with no understanding.  A fragmentary array of truths are never living truths until seen in their integrity as constituting one whole Truth.  Only in their living wholeness as a divine system of the seven synonyms in action as the four modes of operation,  the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science, can they actually form a living structure of Truth.  We must live the qualities of God as the very Truth of our being, and we must use them as if they truly are facts to us, just as we use the facts of mathematics to solve problems.  There is only one man, the man of Science, entirely spiritual, provable here and now.  The other false belief of man as material is a dead belief, never true. 
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The breath of Spirit is divine inspiration which will resurrect Israel, and eventually all of mankind, from the grave of "Babylon," the beliefs of life, intelligence, health, happiness, etc., dependent upon matter.  This inspiration must come from the Christ, Truth, which has come in this period as the Comforter, the “little book, open for all to read and understand.” (S&H 559: 1) This understanding will restore to our body a new sense of life, a body which includes the qualities of both manhood and womanhood, Judah and Israel in their metaphysical meaning.  We saw that, in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the rebuilding of the temple at the center of the city and the walls, or circumference, of the city (the great heart of Love at the center of our true consciousness) typify the simultaneous resurrection of both these aspects of man. Ezekiel now comes to the "seventh day" vision, the day of Love, the seventh synonym for God.  After the "scum"  is caused to come to the surface of the consciousness of Israel due to the operation of the fourth "day" of Principle, the fifth day of Life exposes its opposite, the lifeless lip service paid to God by Israel's shepherds who leave their flocks at the mercy of the evil beasts (heathen enemy nations).  A new shepherd is promised to Israel who will come and restore them.  The next "sixth day" vision shows how her body will be rebuilt through a new sense of the Truth about herself as divine inspiration is breathed into her.  She will receive a new structured consciousness which will resurrect her from the grave of matter-based thinking. Ezekiel is now prophesying the beauty and perfection of that structure, the structure of man as the glorious reflection of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. 
Through the vision of a temple, symbol for consciousness, we arrive at the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," the seventh day consciousness.  (Ephesians 4: 13)  Mrs. 
Eddy also speaks to this: "...the ideas of God in universal being are complete and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and the fatherhood and motherhood of Love [the seventh day revelation].  Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God's  creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin...How shall we declare Him, till, in the language of the apostle, 'we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ?' "  (S&H 519: 9-14,17-21) Ezekiel's vision beholds the foursquare body of Israel, universal man, as the only body Israel has ever had.  This is the Truth which will resurrect mankind from the grave of "Babylon," the temporal, human  concept of life.  Ezekiel is taken to the top of a high mountain which frames a city.  In Jeremiah the "Queen of heaven"  is organic motherhood which the Christ-idea must translate.  We are now introduced to a new rendering of that organic sense, for Ezekiel now sees a "frame of heaven."  Is not this the foursquare matrix (womb) of immortality from which man comes as reflection?  (Ez. 40-48) The measurements are so precise.  Are they not epitomizing the absolute nature of spiritually dimensional consciousness?  The word "measure" is from the same root as "dimension."  A man with a measuring reed stands in the gate measuring the beauty and perfection of Israel's temple, or body.  In Revelation, this structure in the shape of a holy city is likewise measured by an angel who is a man.  He is in final calculation as the measure of 
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himself.  Israel must measure herself against "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  This is what we must be doing today.  We must understand our identity in terms of the line, plane, space, and fourth dimension of scientific consciousness. Mrs. Eddy gives the definition of "church," or temple in the Glossary, first as a metaphysical symbol and then as an institution.  The first one says:  "Church.  The structure of Truth and Love;  whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle."  (S&H 583: 12-13)  Because our consciousness, Mind, is holy and whole, united with its reflection, man, we, as that reflection, are also holy and whole.  Israel, generic man, will understand that in this seventh period.  Love holds all in one. After describing his vision, Ezekiel is told to show "the house to the house of Israel...and let them measure the pattern...that they may keep the whole form."  Israel is to understand that this beautiful, impregnable temple is the type of her own original spiritual selfhood, forever unravaged by Babylon.  "...and the name of the city from that day shall be, the Lord is there."   (Ez. 43: 10-11; 487: 35 )  “There” is here, the divine consciousness of “the Lord”---Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love---reflected as man and the universe. 
The Book of Daniel  Prophesies of the Seventh Period Chapters 1-12 
Although Daniel was a Jewish exile who was carried away to Babylon, he lived at the court of King Nebuchadnezzar and survived till the days of Cyrus, the Persian conqueror of Babylon.  His message is vast, in the words of The Scofield Reference Bible, it "sweeps the whole course of Gentile world-rule to its end in catastrophe, and to the setting up of the Messianic kingdom."  (898)  Daniel, whose name means "God is judge," foresees the resurrection of the whole human race from "Babylonian" servitude.  This is followed by the ultimate reign of the kingdom of heaven on earth.  Daniel's prophesies thus signify the seventh period which brings in the seventh day of creation, coinciding with the seventh synonym for God, Love. The recognition of divine Love as the Father-Mother of all will certainly bring forth the kingdom of heaven, harmony, on earth.  It will be the final understanding of divine Science in all of its ramifications. Along with three of his young countrymen, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he was chosen to be trained for three years to be in service to the king.  The king had requested "certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;  Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace."  (Dan. 1: 3-4)   They were to be nourished three years with the king's meat and wine in order to be given such a favored position.  The necessity for Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, who were also uncommonly spiritually minded, is to remain pure, unaffected by their captivity and true to their Lord God's ordinances and commandments.  They refused the king's meat and drink, and requested to be allowed to live only on vegetables and water for ten days and then be judged by their countenances.  This was agreed to, and at the end of 
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ten days," their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat." The king spoke with them, and found none among them as wise in all matters of understanding, and even "ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm."  (Ibid., 1:3-20) They were not dependent on matter for their health.  Spirit keeps our bodies healthy, for we are made whole, which is our natural state of being. The New Testament is full of that phrase in connection with Jesus' healings.  I just heard on the news the other night of an Indian "holy man" who had not eaten for seventy years and was pronounced in good health when tested by doctors.  Mind governs the body in all of its aspects.  In centuries to come, it will be the use of Mind Science which keeps us healthy. "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."  (S&H 494: 10-11) In chapter two, we see how wise Daniel actually is, for he is able to interpret the king's dreams from the standpoint of a highly-developed spiritual wisdom.  He interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dreams just as Joseph in Egypt was able to interpret the Pharaoh's dreams. 
The Adam-dream of life in matter is that dream from which Israel, and the world today, needs to be awakened.  The king is greatly troubled by his dreams, and he calls in his astrologers, sorcerers, and magicians to interpret them for him.  Of course, they cannot, for they are as immersed in the dreams of mortal mind as the king.  When the king tried them and they failed, he ordered them to be slain. So, in fear for their lives, they sought out Daniel who went in before the king and asked for time to unravel the interpretation. When the secret of the dream was revealed to him in a night vision, he "blessed the God of heaven."   He acknowledged that it was God that gave wisdom and understanding and revealed the deep and secret things.  He then was able to go before the king and, first of all, asked the king not to destroy the hapless sorcerers and other "wise men" who had tried and failed.  He assured the king that he could give him the true interpretation of his dream for "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."  (Dan.)  Until the Principle of the universe interprets the universe in Science, there is no true understanding of what the universe is and is not. Mrs. Eddy explains Daniel's ability:  "The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction,---predicting the future from a groundwork of corporeality and human belief.  When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.  It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future...Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired,---yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind...If this Science has been thoroughly learned and properly digested, we can know the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read the stars or calculate an eclipse.  This Mind-reading is the opposite of clairvoyance.  It is the illumination of the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the capacity of Soul, not of 
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material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the divine Mind."  (S&H 84: 3-18; 28-7 n.p.) The king can remember only the last half of his dream, and Daniel tells him its interpretation:  "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold, a great image [in mortal mind]...and the form thereof was terrible.  This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces...and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." The different metals stand for different world empires, all subservient to Babylon which was the golden head of them all. They are kingdoms that shall arise after Babylon, each inferior to the one before it. The stone, like the one used by David to slay Goliath, symbolizes the calculus of Science.  "Calculus" comes from the word "stone" and means symbolic logic, as in mathematics.  Mrs. Eddy uses it this way:  "The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they  will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H 520: 10-15)  "Material substances or mundane formations, astronomical calculations, and all the paraphernalia of speculative theories, based on the hypothesis of material law or life and intelligence resident in matter, will ultimately vanish, swallowed up in the infinite calculus of Spirit."  (S&H 209: 25-30) The stone, or reasoning through divine Science (meaning reasoning from God, which is omnipotent), smites matter in its belief of duality [the feet or foundation of the image] and causes it to "brake...to pieces," or disintegrate.  The stone, unfragmented oneness, grows until it fills the whole of consciousness. Israel has been, ever since her inception, the symbol of the stone, divine Science itself, coming from God, the One all-good Mind of the universe.  She is the answer and solution to dualistic Babylon.  When she, meaning all of mankind today, understands the Science of oneness---one Mind, one substance of Spirit, one Soul or body, one Principle, one Life, one Truth, one Love, “Babylon” will be forever overthrown. Nebuchadnezzar realizes that the dream foretells Babylon's downfall, so he sets up an image made entirely of gold, the assertion that Babylon will then constitute the whole world.  He then made a decree that everyone in the kingdom must go and worship the golden idol.  Anyone who refused to worship the idol would be cast into a "burning fiery furnace." 
Of course, we know who refuses to so worship!  Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will not bow down to an image of matter. Their God is not an image held in mortal mind;  their God is Spirit, the subjective state of immortal Mind.  Knowing that they are made of the substance of Spirit instead of matter, they are unafraid of the threat to their lives. They tell the king:  "...our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."  (Dan. 3: 1-18) 
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The furious king had the furnace heated seven times hotter, and the three men bound and cast into the furnace.  But the heat seven times hotter could have no effect on the seven- fold nature of the divine Science which was present with, and as, the three young men. Their God, divine Science, was not only present with them, it was them, their very nature, their very body, their very life.  We read about this kind of protection in Science and Health: "You say, 'I have burned my finger.'  This is an exact statement, more exact than you suppose;  for mortal mind, and not matter, burns it.  Holy inspiration has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace;  while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion."  (161: 3-10) When the astonished king looked into the furnace he exclaimed:  "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt;  and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."  The king arose and told the men to come forth out of the fire, and they came forth.  The incredulous king and his court gathered round the men and saw that the fire had done no harm to their bodies nor to their clothes, nor had a hair of their head been singed, and, in fact, "not the smell of fire had passed on them." The king then spoke:  "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve any god, except their own God.  Therefore, I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill:  because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort."  Then the king promoted the three men in the province of Babylon.  (Dan. 3: 1-30) When we realize that our bodies are not flammable matter, but indestructible Spirit, the one and only substance of the universe, this understanding can duplicate this demonstrable Truth if necessary.  I have read testimonies in the Christian Science periodicals through the years of minor and severe burns being instantaneously healed to the point of not even a scar remaining.  When Jesus arose, he did not leave his body behind.  It ascended with and as him until it was beyond the disciples' understanding.  Clearly his sense of his body was entirely different from ours'.  Yet it was recognizable to others who knew him. This is a profound lesson which is lost on most of us because we still believe in solid matter bodies. We will never be able to reconcile this viewpoint with Spirit which we believe is mystical and/or only exists in heaven "up there." Don't the physicists tell us that our bodies are all empty space?  Mrs. Eddy tells us that all space is filled with God:  "There can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other, sin [and the destruction which always accompanies it] would be unknown.  We can have but one Mind, if that one is infinite.  We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in that infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with God.  We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and has all-power, we still believe there is another power, named evil.  This belief that there is more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology as are ancient 
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mythology and pagan idolatry."  (S&H 469: 17-30 emphasis in original)  Nebuchadnezzar's whole viewpoint was changed by the demonstration of the Hebrews' faith.   Mrs. Eddy writes:  "...this so-called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth.  It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but it is powerless.  The immortal divine Mind takes away all its sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself."  (151: 32-5 n.p.) After this uplifting experience, Nebuchadnezzar remembered the second part of his dream and recounted it to Daniel.  He dreamed of a tree that had grown until it "reached unto heaven" and the sight of it was "to the end of all the earth."  It was very fair and bore much fruit;  the beasts of the field found shade under it, and birds dwelt in its boughs.  But then, a heaven-sent "watcher" and a "holy one" ordered the felling of the live tree so that the beasts of the field and the fowls could no longer use it. Nebuchadnezzar's portion was to be with the beasts of the field. He would be "wet with the dew of heaven" until "seven times shall pass over him."   Daniel interpreted for him:  "My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies."  Daniel told him that the tree was the king himself, symbolizing his might throughout the land.  His enemies were going to drive him from men so that he would eat with the beasts of the field.  He would be wet with the dew of heaven until" seven times pass over him," until he knew that the most High rules [governs] in the kingdom of men..."  The "seven times" signifies his complete salvation from mortal arrogance.  This came true, and at the end of the "seven days" of the dew (inspiration) of heaven, while dwelling with the beasts of the field, he was regenerated. Nebuchadnezzar was ready for the regeneration, for he had accepted the demonstration of the Hebrews' protection in the fiery furnace so completely.  When the dream came true as Daniel had interpreted, Nebuchadnezzar yielded to its lessons and then was restored to his kingdom. He went before his people and spoke to them of his dream about the tree and its meaning.  His words prove how complete was his reformation to the honor of the one God. 
He addressed his account to "all that dwell in all the earth:  "Peace be multiplied unto you.  I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 
How great are his signs!  and how mighty are his wonders!  his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."  (Dan. 4: 1-3)  Dear followers of God everywhere, the world will not change for the better until we obey Jesus' command, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." (Matt. 10: 8)  Only our works will heal us, physically, morally, and spiritually. Nebuchadnezzar ended his account of his experiences with these words:  "And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, [we all had that understanding in our pre-existence---more on that later in the book] and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing [mortal man]: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doeth thou?  At the same time my reason returned unto me;  and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me;  and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me;  and I was established in my 
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kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment:  and those that walk in pride he is able to abase."  (Ibid. 4: 4-37)  His people had witnessed the Christly transformation of Nebuchadnezzar from animality to spirituality. Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar, became his successor to the throne of Babylon. 
Sadly, he did not walk in his father's reformed footsteps.  During a feast which had deteriorated into a drunken orgy, the guests began drinking from the sacred vessels looted from the temple in Jerusalem, thus desecrating them.  During the orgy, near where the golden candlestick was standing, a hand was seen writing four words on the wall:  "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."  The king, in terror, called for his soothsayers, astrologers, etc., to read the writing and tell him its interpretation.   When they could not, the king, upon the queen's recommendation, called upon Daniel to try.  After reminding the king of his father's experience in the wild that humbled his heart so that he glorified God, Daniel rebuked Belshazzar for returning to idol worship.  He told him that the hand which wrote on the wall next to the golden candlestick was from God, then explained the message contained in the four words:  "This is the interpretation of the thing:  Mene;  God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.  Tekel;  Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 
Peres;  Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."  That very night Belshazzar was slain and the kingdom was taken by Darius, the Mede.  (Ibid. 5: 1-31) King Darius set a hundred and twenty princes over the whole kingdom, preferring Daniel over them all because "an excellent spirit was in him."  The other princes became jealous of Daniel, and began to try to find fault in him but could not.  They decided that the only fault they could use was Daniel's reverence for the laws of his God.  They went to the king with a new decree:  Whoever asked a petition of any man or God, except the king, for thirty days should be cast into the den of lions.  With the Medes, when a king signed a decree, it could not be changed nor altered;  Darius apparently was not very astute, for he signed the decree. Daniel, however, could not be kept from worshipping his God three times a day, on his knees, facing Jerusalem, "and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."  Because his windows were open to the room where he worshipped, the princes could see him and told the king.  They reminded him of the harsh decree, saying Daniel had disobeyed and thus should be punished as the decree indicated.  The king answered that the decree could not be broken but was "sore displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him..." 
The day of Daniel's punishment came without an answer, though, and he told Daniel:  "Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee."  Then they cast him into the den. A stone was brought to cover the mouth of the den, with the seals of the king and princes upon it so that the purpose could not be changed.  The unhappy king spent the night in his palace fasting, and he could not sleep.  He arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions.  There he cried out in a lamentable voice:   "O Daniel, servant of the living God, ...is thy God able to deliver  thee from the lions?"  He heard Daniel's immediate answer:  "...My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me:  forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me;  and also before 
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thee,  O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den...and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."   Just like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius was a changed man after seeing what to him were the physical effects of trust in the one God. 
Witnessing a demonstration like that is a step upward which simple faith without works cannot usually achieve.  Are you beginning to realize that the entire Bible is about the necessity for works? Darius commanded that the men who had accused Daniel be cast into the den, and they were attacked and broken up before they reached the bottom of the den.  "Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;  Peace be multiplied unto you.  I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.  He delivereth and rescueth, and he worked signs and wonders in heaven and earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."  So faithful Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.   (Ibid. 6: 1-27) Only Principle "altereth not."  Daniel refused to bow to dictatorial decrees.  The spiritual stands we take are a natural protection.  This protection is a law to our being under every circumstance when we understand and trust it. Man does not have to bow to the dictatorial decree that he is encased in a mortal body which makes laws for him that are rigid and inflexible.   Nor were the lions encased in material bodies that were governed by carnivorous urges.   It is Science that is absolute, not matter.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Juda, 'the king of the mental realm.  Free and fearless it roams in the forest...Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit.  The individuality created by God is not carnivorous... Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless.  All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible." (S&H  514: 10-12,18-20,26-30) 
In the next section of the Book of Daniel, beginning with chapter seven, Daniel's own visions are told and interpreted.  They foreshadow the uncovering, in the latter days, of the supposititious workings of involuntary, unseen evil.  These are the beliefs and convictions of general mortal mind which we usually are not aware of consciously but are right below the surface.  It is called the collective unconscious.  They rise up in our consciousness to be handled by the Truth, which is self-revealing, when we are alert and are working a problem out from the basis of the one Mind, one Principle.  It is the basic error of mankind---the acceptance of evil and good as equally real.  Mrs. Eddy wrote of these days: "In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one.  What the prophets of Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the work of wisdom.  Science only can explain the incredible good and evil elements now coming to the surface.  Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter days."  (S&H 82: 31-9 n.p.) 
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In chapter seven, we return to the reign of Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, when Daniel tells of his own first vision:  "...the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea."  In mythology, the sea is the symbol of the psychic unconscious.  It is interpreted by mythologists as the "mother of all that lives."  The "four winds of the heaven" symbolize the "holy city" of divine consciousness, (the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science), the true "mother of us all."  Daniel beholds four beasts rise up out of the sea.        "The first was like a lion... And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear,...After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard...After this...behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly... and it had ten horns.  I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up another little horn...in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."  (Dan. 7: 1-8) It is most interesting that the Book of Revelation, chapter thirteen, has a beast rising up out of the sea which has all of the main characteristics of the four beasts just described by Daniel. St. John sees in a vision "a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy...And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies."  (Rev. 13: 1-2) (Webster: “ blasphemy.  Irreverence toward anything regarded as sacred;  act of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity”)  This beast seems in the last days to have become the conglomerate of the four evil beasts in the Book of Daniel, for it is no longer seen just as four nations, but as all of the world's nations.  Its seven heads  and ten horns are the same as the great red dragon in Rev. 12: 3.  The seven "crowns" on the seven heads are now explained as blasphemies, the attributes and prerogatives of God, his seven-fold nature, claimed to be the result, condition, and operation of matter.  The ten horns are now crowned, meaning they have gained general dominion over the Ten Commandments in world thought. Mrs. Eddy writes of it:  "Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord is the unreal.  We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, and death.  We may well be perplexed at human fear;  and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions of evil.  But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?  The great red dragon symbolizes a lie,---the belief that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.  This dragon stands for the sum total of human error.  The ten horns of the dragon typify the belief that matter has power of its own, and that by means of an evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be broken. 
The Revelator lifts the veil from this embodiment of all evil, and beholds its awful character; but he also sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of God."  (S&H 562: 29-18 n.p.) When the "new heaven and the new earth" appear, as spoken of in the Book of Revelation, as the result of the mission of the God-crowned woman and her child (generic man, symbolized by Mary Baker Eddy, her "child" being Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the second coming of the Christ), there is no more "sea," no unconscious source of human experience. The four beasts that rise up out of the sea are the opposites of the four-sided city which is spiritual consciousness. They type matter in its unconscious or subconscious phases of mortal mind. The fourth beast is "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly."  It has 
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ten horns, symbol of aggression and strength.  As Daniel considered the beasts and horns, he "beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days (God) did sit,...his throne was like the fiery flame...thousand thousands ministered unto him...the judgment was set...I beheld even till the beast was slain...As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away...one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations , and languages, should serve him:  his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."  This is the foretelling of the Messianic kingdom of Christ, the ideal man, whom Jesus embodied in order to demonstrate for us mankind's true selfhood.  He came "to destroy the works of the devil."  (I John 3: 8) Historically, the four beasts  are thought to type four kings which shall arise out of the earth.  "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever."   (Dan. 7: 18)   Among the ten horns arises a "little horn." 
Daniel first wanted to know the truth of the fourth beast.  He was told it shall be the "fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces."  The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that arise, and another shall arise after them;  he will be diverse and subdue the other three kings.  "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:  and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."  Certainly, in today's world, to which Daniel's symbols are prophetically related, if not historically, physical science has demonstrated its devastating power over dualistic religion.  However, Daniel is told that " the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion...and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." (Dan. 7: 1-28) The "little horn" mentioned above appears again in Daniel's second vision in which there is a fight to the death between a he-goat and a ram.  The he-goat has one horn, and the ram has two.  While Daniel was trying to make sense of the vision, the appearance of a man suddenly stood before him and called to the archangel Gabriel to help Daniel understand the vision.  The angel Gabriel interpreted:  He was told that the two-horned ram stood in type for the Medes and Persians while the one-horned goat typed the conquering Grecian empire of Alexander the Great.  The Greek civilization was the cradle of the single-minded influence of materialism.  The horned goat and ram fought, and the one-horned goat easily defeated the two-horned ram.  The Grecian nation destroyed the Persian/Mede nation. Gabriel continued the interpretation:  When the goat became very powerful, its great horn was broken and its place was taken by four other horns.  From one of them came a "little horn" which "waxes exceeding great."  This is prophetic of the break-up of Alexander the Great's empire after his death among his four generals.  One of these included Syria, the "little horn," representing the Syrian tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated Israel's temple in 175 B.C.  by sacrificing a sow upon the altar.  Because Israel's holy sanctuary, the 
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symbol of her true body, was entered into and defiled, Daniel specifically identifies this act as "the abomination that maketh desolate."  It  infuriated the Jews, and thus began their Maccabean revolt.  This is the time when the Book of Daniel is reckoned to have been written.  (See Dummelow's One Vol. Bible Commentary, 538-540) The "little horn" which represents physical strength is the opposite of the angel Michael whose characteristic is spiritual strength.  He represents the manhood aspect of God's nature.  In the Book of Revelation, Michael leads the hosts of heaven against the great red dragon because he is fortified by Gabriel, womanhood.   Michael and Gabriel work together in Daniel's visions just as they do in Revelation. Daniel is a man of great humility, a womanhood quality, as well as great strength of character, a manhood quality, expressing a wonderful balance of qualities.  Gabriel speaks to him:  "O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright...I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days...fear not:  peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong...there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince."  (Ibid. 10: 11,14)  Israel is delivered from Babylon by that which stands upright with manly strength, spiritual understanding, and defeats the "little horn." Daniel's visions pertain to "the time of the end," to "the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth."  (S&H 96: 19)  The last chapter, chapter twelve, says: "At that time, shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth with the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book...And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (12:1,3) 
Is your name “written in the book?”  Your true name is already written in God's "book," meaning Mind.  The book sent by God and promised by Christ Jesus tells us our true name.  Man, used collectively, meaning every one of us, is the image of God. God's image is always His ideal which is perfect in every way, for God is perfect.  Jesus personified or embodied for mankind the true image of God as far as we could understand it.  The "Christ" is that ideal, the image or reflection of God's own nature.  Jesus' name was "Jesus the Christ."  Since you reflect that same nature (intelligence/Mind, purity/Spirit, spiritual understanding/Soul, spiritual power/Principle, love/Life, health/truth, holiness/Love Your name, or nature, is spiritual and is signified by the Christ also.  Your real selfhood is forever the reflection or expression of the real Science of the universe; not material, but spiritual. 
We are all destined to understand this.  If we rebel against it because of our false beliefs, we will continue to sin, be sick, and die until life's lessons are learned and we turn to the arms of divine Love for surcease. In Revelation we read:  "And there was a war in heaven:  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,  And prevailed not;  neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:  he was cast out into 
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the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:  for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."  (Rev. 12: 7-10) "The words 'cast unto the earth' show the dragon to be nothingness, dust to dust; and therefore, in his pretence of being a talker, he must be a lie from the beginning.  His angels, or messages, are cast out with their author.  The beast and the false prophets  are lust and hypocrisy.  These wolves in sheep's clothing are detected and killed by innocence, the Lamb of Love."  (S&H 567: 23-30) The book that was explained in Revelation as its seals were unloosed is the Bible, which today has a "Key to the Scriptures" sent to us by Christ Jesus as the "Comforter."  Daniel's deep spirituality enabled him to catch glimpses of the Truth through visions, but he could not really comprehend them until the "time of the end," the seventh thousand year period.  The angel told him: "But thou O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book [his visions], even to the time of the end;  many shall run to and fro [having no stability or Principle], and knowledge material, not spiritual] shall be increased...But go thou thy way till the end be:  for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."  (Dan. 12: 1,9,13)  All of us are now standing in our "lot," our perception of the Truth, be it meager or full. "The creative ‘I’ of the divine Principle, Love, stands in the midst of its own eternal universe.  This surely is the idea which the major prophets, in their harmony and unity, utter most powerfully of all.  By contrast, the abomination of desolation, standing in Israel's holy temple, is the basic illusion of the Adam-dream. Cosmic consciousness is a state of divine self-revelation.  We are being led to the birth of our own Christ-selfhood at the beginning of the New Testament.  That which reveals Itself to itself, and in so doing forms in consciousness the image which is man, is He whom Jesus calls 'Father.' "   (Brown, From Genesis to Revelation, 258) 
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Chapter  14  The Twelve Minor Prophets 
Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk  Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi 
The twelve minor prophets form the circumference of the circle whose center is the four major prophets whom we've just studied.  They perform the function of closing the door on the Old Testament and simultaneously opening it on the New Testament. The four major and twelve minor prophets, sixteen in all, prepare the way for the entrance into the fifth period, Life. They portray the waters of the "open firmament" which bring forth abundantly man's eternal life.  Jesus is born at the beginning of the fifth period, "that [we] might have life, and that [we] might have it more abundantly."   (Jesus, John 10: 10) Because of the coming of the Comforter, which brings to mankind the "Key to the Scriptures,"  we now can perceive a much higher perspective of the vast range of mankind's history.  From the standpoint of "the Word," with the enlightenment in Genesis of "Eve," in symbol of the recognition of the falsehood of materiality, subject-separated-from-object, we have been in the process of gaining, over more than six thousand years, the recognition of mankind's on-going revelation that there has never really been matter and separation from God, our spiritual origin.  We have now the magnificent Truth that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation."  (S&H 468: 11)  "At the point of the Patriarchs, Israel, typing generic man, the spiritual idea of all humanity, is in embryo in the womb of world consciousness.  At the point of the prophets, she is fully formed and ready to flood the world with the truth of the world's own being---that is, with the missions of Christ Jesus and Christian Science, her own ultimate identity."  (Brown, From Genesis..., 375) All the way through, the development of this Truth has been guided by the way- showing "Christ," the manifestation of God which is forever revealing Itself to its beloved Son (image and likeness).  In Deuteronomy, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt (typing materialism) to their inheritance, the Promised Land (typing the understanding of God, Spirit, as the one and only creator of all).  Jesus, later in the Gospels, led not only the Hebrews but, ideally, universal humanity to a higher understanding of God as Love, the Father of all, as demonstrated in His healing, supplying, and saving grace to mankind.  This is an even higher concept of the Promised Land as the consciousness of Love, where we love our neighbor as our self. 
In Joshua and Judges, the children of Israel learn the absolute importance of obeying the laws of God as set forth in the Ten Commandments.  They were the highest idea of God yet known to man and needed constant vigilance on the part of the Israelites in order to keep them.  They were so materialistic that symbols were used to teach them the ideas behind the laws. They could keep their divinely covenanted homeland only in proportion to their obedience to the one God. The Epistles highlight obedience to the high standards given by Christ Jesus as followers of the one God in relation to others, which is "Christianity."  The Golden Rule, the Beatitudes, the parables, teachings, healings, and finally the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus laid out in graphic form the example of self-abnegation necessary for the higher standards required by Christians for proving their faith. 
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Israel's Kingdom period dealt with government, God as an infinite Principle, the source of divine laws which humanity uses to maintain its harmony.  The activity of Principle is actually inherent in every idea or child of God and needs to be nurtured and lived in order to reap the benefits of self-government--- freedom from sin, sickness, disease, and death.  The Israelites were learning, by very severe lessons at times, to be self-governed rather than to look outside themselves, to kings governing them, in order to keep their homeland undivided and free of external exploitation.  The four books of Kings describe the rewards and punishments involved in obedience to Principle and disobedience to Principle. Today's "children of Israel," universally the “children of God," have been given a standard by which to gauge their obedience to God in proportion as they are self-governed. 
This is the entire theme of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  It has taken a very long time, but finally in the seven-thousandth year period, "Science" has come to show us that truly, there is no king or God "out there" that we must obey in order to please so that we escape punishment.  Jesus taught us that "the kingdom of heaven is within you, not outside of you.  We, each of us, is the" city of our God," the consciousness of Life, Truth, and  Love. "Science and Health,... brings to our understanding the one Kingdom of us all, the Holy City which is us all;  for it elucidates the Word from which we all must stem in order to be the Christ, Christianity, and Science...Jehovah's redemptive purpose regarding the children of Israel...resolves naturally into the second, where the subject is God's purpose of salvation for the whole human race. The original patriarchal 'seed'  thus blesses 'all the families of the earth.'  It does this because, from the beginning, it holds within it in embryo the spiritual identity of mankind, brought to fruition at last in the foursquare civilization of man, which is Christian Science.   (Ibid. 376) Each one of us holds within us the office of  "the four," the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science, for we are the operation, the activity of all four.  These are the four spiritual dimensions of "the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven." (Rev. 21: 2)  Jesus "ascended" in consciousness "up to" heaven or the realization of his all- harmonious being.  Christian Science "descended" from God, or that realization, "down" to man in order to come once again to us as the Comforter, the Christ message which interprets Itself to an age ready to receive and understand it. These are the four ways Being always interprets Itself to itself, its infinite reflection. In the deep divinity of the Old Testament, we learn about the nothingness of sin, sickness, disease, and death.  Only through understanding this can we go through a "new birth," for the dream of mortality, from fleshly womb to earthly tomb, must be overcome. 
The minor prophets typify the twelve "gates" of the circumference of the foursquare idea. 
These gates, three per side, were symbolized in the building of the stone wall around the city of Jerusalem, later to be realized as the symbol for the "New Jerusalem" of divine consciousness.  The four major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, were symbolized in the city of Jerusalem by the temple in the center, a God-centered city typifying the divine consciousness all of us really have instead of a matter-based mind known as the brain. Principle is forever at the center of universal Being. The twelve minor prophets close the door on the Old Testament as they open it on the New Testament.  They 
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are in the order by which this idea of a divine universe in which we all live and reflect is opened to us. Hosea opens the first gate into the understanding of what man is in relation to God, the way to our salvation, by presenting his message as the Word (divine Mind or intelligent Source of the universe) communicating with Himself, the Word, as man, His reflection or activity. This is called "The Word as the Word."  The next eleven prophets take us from beginning to understand the need for salvation to the understanding that we are already saved.  The order of instruction using the four aspects of God's activity as man are:  Christ as the Word (Joel);  Christianity as the Word (Amos);  The Word as the Christ (Obadiah); Christ as the Christ (Jonah);  Christianity as the Christ (Micah);  The Word as Christianity (Nahum);  Christ as Christianity (Habakkuk);  Christianity as Christianity (Zephaniah);  The Word as Science (Haggai);  Christ as Science (Zechariah);  Christianity as Science (Malachi) These show the order by which the idea of God is born to world consciousness.  They serve to bring about the redemption and translation of mankind. "By the time the Old Testament closes, this idea constitutes the universe;  it fills the womb which conceived and formed it throughout the first four periods.  Ideally, we have reached the centre and circumference of individuality, or the self.  It remains, in the last three periods [of a thousand years each], for us to experience the unending birth of this self---to be conscious of Principle showing itself forth as us, its own idea."  (Brown, From Genesis..., 258-259) 
Science and Health tells us of the "gates" that open our thought to the truth about God and man. The “city” or consciousness of God’s nature and our reflection of it, are given us by the minor prophets.    "Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, whole, and free,..."  (S&H 171: 4-9)  This discernment will come gradually to mankind as we learn "precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little."  (Isaiah 28: 10)  Mrs. Eddy gives us a sense of the universality of the "city" which will certainly come in this age: "This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse 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 foundations.’” (S&H 575:7-13)  [You have been introduced to this city, or divine consciousness, which includes the Word [of God], the Christ [Truth], Christianity [the Truth practiced], and Science [the infinite, eternal, divine Principle of all that is].  “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed;  and he went out, not knowing whither he went...For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Heb.11: 10)] “The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols.  Did not Jesus illustrate the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodigal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of the city as foursquare has a profound meaning.  The four sides of the city are the Word, Christ, Christianity, and divine Science;  'and the gates of it 
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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. "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 followed 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 in solemn union;  westward, to the grand realization of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of Harmony." (S&H  575: 7-2 n.p.)  In other words, the “city of the Spirit” encompasses the whole earth! 
We all are embraced in one divine Consciousness and are today learning the wonder of just exactly what that means. So now we come to the study of the twelve Minor Prophets. (In spite of their characterization, we will find them to be quite major!)  They are placed in their original order of the books of the prophets in the Bible, the order which has now been explained by Christian Science, according to their messages which express the four aspects of our holy consciousness as the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science, reflecting each other.  It never ceases to amaze Christian Scientists as they study the Bible, to see that this order is maintained throughout the Scriptures, as well as the order of "the seven," the seven synonyms for God.  The decisions by vote of church councils, and the men who selected the books which would be included in the Bible and the order in which they were finalized were abiding by their highest inspiration, in spite of much discussion and dissention.  This canonical order is not the original order in which the books were written.  Yet, they were given to the world in their divinely determined order without a break from Genesis to Revelation. The same is true with Mrs. Eddy's writings. She worked over a period of years to get them into their correct spiritually scientific order according to the "days of creation" and the four aspects of scientific consciousness before she was satisfied with their unfragmented wholeness and finalized the last edition of her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the 88th edition, which was not copyrighted. Under divine Mind's direction, the Holy Scriptures, God's Book, emerged whole, in its right order, so that it could be correlated exactly with its companion book promised in the Book of Revelation, the book which opens the seven seals of the Bible because of its inspired message from the Comforter which includes the "Key to the Scriptures." In studying the prophets, one realizes that they have gathered all of the Old Testament teachings into one transcendent teaching.  They bring into focus the whole mighty process of world salvation.  The seed of the world's true identity is sown in the consciousness of those who are open to it, as much as could be expected in those ancient times.  It began with woman, symbolized by "Eve," the story of creation in the beginning of the Bible, its true and false stories thought to be written by Ezekiel. The Truth of spiritual creation as opposed to material creation is threaded from beginning to end.  Mrs. Eddy indicated that in her deep and long study of the Scriptures she found the Books of the Bible to be Scientifically ordered enough so that "they could neither wholly obscure the divine 
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Science of the Scriptures seen from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of Jesus, nor annul the healing of the prophets, who foresaw that 'the stone which the builders rejected' would become the 'head of the corner.' " (S&H 139:  22-27)  The “stone” is, of course, the true science, as opposed to the false belief of matter as being intelligent or powerful. The Books of the Minor Prophets will show the viewpoint that each one is presenting in its aspects as "the four," in an orderly  process from the Word through Science. 
We start with the Word as it is reflected as itself in the way which God's nature operates. 
The Word means the fundamental nature of Being and its ideas forever expressed through revelation.  Each of the first three prophets will address this subject.  The next three prophets will emphasize The Christ, the divine process of translation, the divine nature speaking as the inner voice of Truth to every man and at the same time translating man out of a mortal concept into his native Godlikeness.  The next three will show the workings of Christianity, the divine process whereby the coincidence of God and man, divine Principle and idea, is maintained through constant reflection, thus assuring the continuous operation of this fact; the relationship of Creator and creation, culminating in true manhood, which is the basic factor in Christianity, is the overall plan in which these divine processes eternally interpret themselves;  finally, the last three emphasize the scientific facts of  Science. 
Understanding and using these methods of operation for entering in through the “gates” of the “city” of divine consciousness is our necessity.  By doing so, we overcome sin, sickness, disease, and death and gain the heaven in which we have always believed. 
The Book of Hosea The Word as the Word     Chapters 1-14 
Hosea's name means "salvation,"  the same as Joshua and Jesus.  This seems very natural since his Book corresponds with the first of the twelve open gates in the "circumference" of mankind's consciousness as it opens to receive the Truth of its infinite being.  This Truth in Hosea's day is its salvation from the depths of the evil influences of other nations and their idols, which they have made their own.   He lived and prophesied in the last period of the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, around 782 B.C. He may have witnessed and even experienced the captivity.   Under his rule the nation was prosperous and stable, but  immoral.  After Jeroboam died, the successor kings were weak rulers who taxed heavily, and the nation degenerated into anarchy and terror which ended in the Assyrian captivity of 722 B.C.  The kingdom of Israel seemed to have two political parties, one favoring alliance with Assyria and the other favoring alliance with Egypt.  God was no longer in the picture!  The prophets were continually calling them out for their unfaithfulness to God.  They were not supposed to entangle themselves with foreign governments but to remain pure in heart for their one God and follow His commandments as their only government. The religious condition of the kingdom was also extremely corrupt.  The Israelites borrowed elements of the Canaanite nature gods and their religious festivals in celebration of 
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the agricultural seasons.  Thus, the moral state of the people was far from the ideal laid down by Moses as teaching symbols for the one God.  The sanctuaries of the temple were scenes of idolatry, adultery, "whoredom," and all kinds of depravity.  The priests did not do their duty in teaching the people about the one God and were themselves men of no principle. 
They let the people sin so that they could extract sin-offerings from them and become rich. 
Degradation and decay had spread throughout the nation with rampant sensuality and secular heathen worship. I am dwelling on the immorality of the Israelites because it has a bearing on the study of Hosea.  His Book is of exceptional interest since his home life was a mirror image of the general amoral character of the times.  He could speak to the people from his own experience and so his words bore a living force.  He was a prophet only for the northern kingdom of Israel, without obvious interest in the southern kingdom of Judah.  The prophet Amos was his older contemporary.  Hosea's Book is also the first one which was not wholly oral and later written down, but most of his discourses were written down soon afterwards and put into a collected form with incidents from his life which had a direct bearing on his teaching.  With Elijah and Elisha, it was their acts rather than their words which were recorded as their teachings.  (Information from the first four paragraphs came from Dummelow's One Vol. Comm., 544-546) Hosea's domestic  life was a teaching symbol in itself.  He married a woman who became unfaithful, and he made many attempts to reclaim her, none satisfactory.  His nobility and tenderness is very apparent as he tried to keep his marriage together.  He even goes so far as to buy her back as a slave.  "And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days;  thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man:  so will I also be for thee."  (Hos. 3: 3)   In his own marital situation he sees Israel's relationship with God and its "whoredoms" as an act of conjugal infidelity.  God, speaking of Israel, says: "And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband)...And I will betroth thee unto me for ever;  yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.  I will even betroth thee in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord."  (Hos. 2: 19,20)  Hosea conceives of God as being wedded to His people, and that symbol of God's eternal union with man is his main theme throughout and is continued through the Bible to the end of Revelation. This beautiful concept of God as "Husband" is sweetly and tenderly brought to human thought by Hosea.  Certainly the "minor" prophets do not bring minor or inferior teachings to mankind, but some of the grandest in the Scriptures as their perception of God grows keener the closer they are to the fifth period of unfolding revelation that came with Christ Jesus. This divine perception of a "wedded" state of spiritual bliss is fully explained and fulfilled in Christian Science:  "Bridegroom.  Spiritual understanding:  the pure consciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only creative power."  "Bride.  Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the idea of God;  a sense of Soul [spiritual sense], which has spiritual bliss and enjoys but cannot suffer."  (S&H  582: 14-20)  "...thought gently whispers:  'Come hither!  Arise from your 
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false consciousness into the true sense of love, and behold the Lamb's wife,---Love wedded to its own spiritual idea.'  Then cometh the wedding feast, for this revelation will destroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material sense."   There can be no physical plagues when it is learned that God and man are one, Divine Love loving man, His/Her own reflection, and man reflecting that pure love outwards to all mankind. The prophets try every way they can to get Israel to protect the inconceivably precious "seed" that she carries within herself, the seed of the ultimate purity and oneness of God and man. This is the reason Israel can call herself  "God's chosen people."  The revelation, exclusive to Israel, of one infinitely inclusive God, justifies her to endeavor to rid the world of polytheism.  At least she had great spiritual "giants," who took that calling seriously, and the world is forever in their debt. Because of the spiritual "seed" planted in the consciousness of Israel, the prophets in the fourth period stand for the virgin motherhood of all Israel.  This motherhood characterizes the human race as a whole when humanity is conceived of spiritually. In the manhood and womanhood, the head and body of the one whole Son of God, lies individuality.  Science, the "city," must come to each one individually; it is not a mass salvation.  As it comes to mankind as a whole, throughout this seventh thousand-year period, it becomes our Science which we can use for the betterment of mankind on a universal basis. 
Science restores all things, all as conscious good, so that we see the source from which good emanates and realize that, actually, it is the city of our God, our one universal Mind. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh periods, as a result of the prophets doing their job acquainting Israel with her womanhood and manhood, we will begin to give birth to our own divinity as the indivisible expression of God.   The four major prophets symbolize the Christ-idea at the center of being, the manhood and womanhood of God, the whole Son of God.  It is a fourfold symbol because the nature of the Son of God is present as the mandate of God, His Word. The Son is the Christ, the Truth that God is constantly expressing.  The Son is Christianity, the Truth in action.  The Son is Science, the form of the substance of Spirit, perfect, eternal, holy.   The Christ-idea at the center is divinely compelled to radiate out to its own universal circumference until the one true God is, in the words of Science and Health, 'at once the centre and circumference of being.' "  (S&H 203: 32) Although Hosea vigorously upbraids Israel for her backsliding, her refusal to return to the Lord, even her ignorance of the Lord, his book is full of the unalterable love of God. 
His sense of the motherhood of God is highly developed.  "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely."  (Hos. 14: 4)  Hosea saw God's love as far above the human which is tempted to cause suffering for sin:  "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim:  for I am God, and not a man;  the Holy One in the midst of thee:  I will not enter into the city." When Hosea's wife bears three children, Hosea names them according to the immoral nature of his wife.  The first son is called Jezreel, "God sows," meaning the negative of God's sowing--- that God will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel because of all the trouble she has caused Him.  The second child is a daughter he names Lo- ru-hamah, "not pitied" because the Lord said, "I will no more have mercy upon the house of 
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Israel."  The third child, a son, is named "Lo-ammi, "not my people."  The impure mind brings forth impure, discordant creations, none of which can be called God's creation.   (1: 2- 9) 
Then Hosea presents the positive side of the situation.  First he brings out the faithfulness of God as a parent Mind that brings forth a perfect, harmonious creation.  "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered;  and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.  Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land."  (1: 10 ) Next he redeems his "mortal" children to immortality.  The Truth of the situation is: God sows only good---"for great shall be the day of Jezreel."  God's creations are always worthy of mercy and never need to be pitied, thus the daughter is renamed Ru-hamah.  The third son is renamed Ammi," My people," for God's creation is always His perfect reflection. (1: 11-2: 1) When God sows His Word among mankind, the fruit is salvation. The next lesson is taken from Gomer's belief that she must be a harlot in order to obtain her food and clothing, "for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."  Israel needs to understand that it is God that provides her with their substance.  Trusting in matter only causes uncertainty and a restricted sense of life and substance.  "And she [symbolizing Israel] shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them;  and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband;  for then was it better with me than now."   She does not know that her first "husband" is and always has been God.  "For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal."  (2: 5-8) Because it is always God, Spirit, that provides for us, Hosea prophesies what will happen when we finally realize our oneness with God:  "...I will give her vineyards...and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.  And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my Husband);...And in that day... I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.  And I will betroth thee unto me forever;  yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.  I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:  and thou shalt know the Lord." (2: 15,16,1-20) In Isaiah and Jeremiah we saw other references to God as "Husband:"  "For thy Maker is thine husband;  the Lord of hosts is his name..."  (Is. 54: 5)  "...my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:...")  (Jer. 31: 32) Chapter eight sounds especially like present day national governments, including America:  "Set the trumpet to the mouth.  He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.  Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good:  the enemy shall pursue him.  They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not:  of their silver and their gold have they made them idols...how long will it 
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be ere they attain to innocency?...For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind;...I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing...For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, ..."  (Hos. 8: 1-5 ,7,12,14)  Hosea reminds the Hebrews:  O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;  but in me is thine help."  (Ibid. 13: 9) Truth does not destroy itself, its reflection, man.  It is a constant.  Therefore, only that which is not true is doomed to destruction.  When the Truth is known, all is well---"but in me is thine help." When Principle has been forsaken by a people that once had been led to transact a tremendous thing for mankind by establishing laws never before known, laws that lift mankind out of slavery and darkness, those people lose their inheritance when they doubt and ignore and try to change the laws for their own convenience.  The disobedience, disregard, and disrespect for the divine Principle that has shown a nation how to govern itself in righteousness is doomed to fall.  Is the nation we call the United States of America following in the footsteps of the ancient nation of Israel?  However, God is always God, good, and when we turn back to God with our whole heart, we will find that God is changeless good.  "...I am God, and not man;  the Holy One in the midst of thee:  ...They shall walk after the Lord:  he shall roar like a lion:  when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west."  (Ibid., 11: 9,10) 
"O Israel [all of mankind by the beginning of the seventh period], return unto the Lord thy God;  for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity...say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:...neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods... I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: ...I will be as the dew unto Israel:  he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.  His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree...Ephraim [Joseph, Israel] shall say, What have I any more to do with idols?  I have heard him and observed him:  I am like a green fir tree.  From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?...for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them..."  (Hos. 14: 1,2,4)  The seed of the spiritual idea of God must germinate to take the place of an organic sense of life.   God, the Sower, the divine Principle, will cause it to inevitably bear fruit and fulfil its divine purpose.  "Whoredom" disappears as the true sense of human identity takes possession of consciousness.  Then the first gate on the north opens. "By the time the Old Testament closes, this idea constitutes the universe;  it fills the womb which has conceived and formed it throughout the first four periods.  Ideally, we have reached the centre and circumference of individuality, or the self.  It remains, in the last three periods, for us to experience the unending birth of this self---to be conscious of Principle showing itself forth as us, its own idea. "What is foreshadowed is the crown of twelve stars which adorns the head of the woman (generic man) in Revelation, as she brings forth her man child.  At the same time, what is put to silence is the birth-death cycle...and the order of material generation...Mary Baker Eddy writes of Christ Jesus that 'his nativity was a spiritual and immortal sense of the ideal world.' "  (Brown, From Genesis..., 259)  (Mis. 74: 14) 
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The Book of Joel       Christ as the Word       Chapters 1-3 
Joel means "Yahweh [Jehovah] is God."  When in Hosea God sows, then in Joel consciousness is ready for the new idea (the Christ-idea) and conception takes place.  "The prevailing view among scholars now is that the book of Joel belongs to the post-exilic period [of the Chaldean conquest of Judah], and was written around 500 B.C., though possibly considerably later."  (Pelubet's Bible Dict., 557) From the opening chapter, the subject is spiritual fruitage or spiritual fertility.  The locusts come and eat up everything in sight, and "the harvest is perished" in the land.  Joel relays it as God's "great army which I sent among you."  (Joel 2: 25)  This is not because God in His anger destroys the Israelites' crops as if He knows good and evil, but because evil causes distress which causes man to turn to God.  Israel believes she must personally sow in order to obtain food.  This sense of personal responsibility is at the mercy of chance, weather, insects, other animals, etc.  This is a world-wide belief that needs to change. 
Creation is sown and harvested by Mind.  Did not Jesus prove this when he produced bread for the four and the five thousand who came to hear him teach, and he multiplied the few loaves and fishes by means of mind?  Jesus demonstrated the activity of the Christ, the true man, Mind's reflection.  The Christ is always at work in consciousness to turn us away from a false sense of substance.  There is great "mourning," " lamenting," "howling," and "groaning," by the people at the loss of their substance.  But the Christ comes and says: "Blessed are they that mourn:  for they shall be comforted."  (Matt. 5: 4) "Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:... for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness..."  (Joel 2: 12,13) Matter is not reliable, for it relies on chance.  When it is known that God is the divine Cause (Word) behind everything in the universe, there will be no chance happenings that can deprive him of good.  The people must turn back to God, divine Science, as the source of their fruitage.  When that happens, "...the Lord will answer and say unto the people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith...And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine.  And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten...And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord thy God and none else..."  (Joel  1: 1-2: 19,24,25,27) "God is at once the centre and circumference of being."  (S&H 203: 32-1 n.p.) Symbolically, the locusts that ravage the land stand for Israel's own forces of destruction-covetousness, lust, deceit, revenge, etc.   We see what we cherish in thought, be it good or evil, because matter beliefs are dual, and we see our thoughts.  Joel symbolizes mortal mind as the locusts and divine Mind as the "army of the Lord."  Mrs. Eddy has this to say about it:  "A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.  Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked motives which produce them.  If the evil is over in the repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime...Christian Science commands man to master the propensities,---to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, 
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revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty.  Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success...; 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap...' The good man finally can overcome his fear of sin.  This is sin's necessity,---to destroy itself.  Immortal man demonstrates the government of God, good, in which is no power to sin."  (S&H 404: 9-15; 405: 5-11,17-21) 
What Joel foreshadows next is the reason for Scofield's statement that "Joel...gives the fullest view of the consummation of all written prophecy."  (SRB, 930)  "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;  and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth...the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,...And it shall come to pass that whomsoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered:  for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."  (Joel 2: 28-32) Joel foretells the amazing and wonderful event which happens in the New Testament while the disciples and others are gathered together after Jesus' ascension on the day of Pentecost.  "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place...And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven...the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.  And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?...we do hear them speak in our tongues [over twelve different languages] the wonderful works of God...Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: ...this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;..."  (Acts 2: 1,4-8,14,16)  Peter then recounted Joel's prophecy. This event foreshadows what will happen when human consciousness is filled with the Holy Ghost,  divine Spirit, communicating directly to the enlightened human consciousness.  Mrs. Eddy has several passages in Science and Health about the Holy Ghost: "Jesus was 'the way;'  that is, he marked out the way for all men.  In his final demonstration, called the ascension, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more.  His students then received the Holy Ghost.  By this is meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Science, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them a faint conception of the Life which is God.  They no longer measured man by material sense. 
After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master, they became better healers, leaning no 
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longer on matter, but on the divine Principle of their work.  The influx of light was sudden. 
It was sometimes an overwhelming power as on the Day of Pentecost."  (46: 25-9 n.p.) "The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappearance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled the disciples to understand what Jesus had said.  Heretofore they had only believed;  now they understood.  The advent of this understanding is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost,---that influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecostal Day and is now repeating its ancient history."  (43: 3-10)    "The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overwhelmed the Virgin-mother with the full recognition that being is Spirit." (29: 24-26)   "Jesus demonstrated Christ;  he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God--- the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all Truth."  (332: 19-21)  "Holy Ghost.  Divine Science;  the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love."  (588: 7-8) As time moves on, in this seventh period, a common mother-tongue, a means of spiritual communication, using Science and Health as its example and Teacher, will develop among mankind, revealing itself to the more spiritualized human consciousness until it becomes the universal expression as the only means of communication. Joel continues his far-sighted prophesy:  "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land...Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat:  for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about...Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe:  come, get you down;  for the press is full, the fats overflow; ...Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:  for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision..."  (Joel 3: 1,2,11,13,14)    Jehoshaphat means "Yahweh is judge." All nations will be judged as to their understanding of their citizens as being the whole nature of God, the expression of the Christ.  The "heathen nations" are they which have a debased sense of manhood, an incomplete sense of the nature of God, which forever includes womanhood as equal to manhood. This erroneous sense always punishes itself. The Christ, Truth, annihilates error by its very being when understood.  "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion ["The inaudible  voice of Truth is, to the human mind, as when a lion roareth." (S&H 559: 10-11)], and utter his voice from Jerusalem...then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more...And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, [inspiration] the hills shall flow with milk...Egypt [symbol for materialism] shall be a desolation...But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation."  (Ibid. 3: 16-20) These judgments will not come about in a certain place at a certain time with all the nations gathered together.  It will be according to the enlightenment coming individually to each of us.  Where freedom of the individual is respected and encouraged by the governments of the nations in which they reside, the enlightenment will come the soonest, and they will be greatly blessed with highly spiritualized citizens able to use their Mind for good for themselves and for all.  The true "Zion" is spiritualized consciousness and is holy, 
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and can never again be invaded by erroneous misconceptions about God and man, subject and object, head and body, Spirit and matter.  "Egypt" beliefs will be desolated.  The Christ, through the Word or revelation of God's nature, translates the beliefs of mortal mind into the comprehension of God as the one and only One, thus no longer being mortal mind, but divine Mind, the one Mind of all.  Joel, anticipating this "day" in human history when God and man as one will finally be understood, has enabled the conception of man as entirely spiritual to begin to grow in the womb of human consciousness.  Thus, the second gate on the north opens. 
The Book of Amos       Christianity as the Word     Chapters 1-9 
Amos was a shepherd during the reigns of Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Judah, 775-750 B.C.   His name means "Burden."   He had but a few sycamore trees from which he gathered fruit and a small flock of sheep, known for their excellent wool, which he pastured in the wilderness of Judah.  He tells us, "...the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel."  (Amos 7: 15)  Amos knew of the deplorable state of affairs in the northern kingdom of Israel.  Jeroboam's  victories had brought wealth and power to the ruling classes, but also intemperance, selfishness, pride of material things, and a class mentality whereby the poor were continually burdened and terribly oppressed.  He describes the pitiful state of affairs, knowing that it will bring opprobrium upon God's people. The lower classes groaned under grievous exactions, were treated as chattels, not as men, and immorality was rampant in the land.  Amos prophesies:  "Thus saith the Lord;  For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away punishment thereof;  because they sold the righteous for silver [the unrighteous judges condemn the innocent for the sake of a bribe], and the poor for a pair of shoes [the shoes were a symbol of property and were equivalent to title-deeds today, so a pair of shoes was very valuable to the poor, but the priests had no mercy and were interested only in acquiring more for themselves]; They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor [they begrudge the very dust of the ground that a poor man puts on his head as a sign of mourning], and turn aside the way of the meek [they hinder the man who is in a lowly position from attaining his modest purpose]:  and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name [the heathen nations sanctioned unchastity as a part of their god-worship].  (Amos 2: 6-8)   (Dummelow's One Vol. Comm., 562-563)   Amos' sense of burden would be lifted if only "the rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father."  (S&H 518: 15) 
Because of the oppression of the poor by the rich, the glorious consciousness of God's justice as seen in lovingkindness, a higher conception of God, cannot be born to the Israelites.  This spiritual idea travails in birth and pained to be delivered.  It seems to be at the very gate of the womb, pushing against the sin of Israel, its complete immersion in materialism.  Amos knows this, and is lead to attack this heinous animal magnetism that has 
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such a hold on Hebrew consciousness.  Mrs. Eddy speaks about this:  "In mortal and material man, goodness seems in embryo.  By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out of the mortal and material sense of man, thought is developed into an infant Christianity;...With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless, spiritual existence dawns on human thought,--- through the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing pleasure and accumulating pains of sense,---by which one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of Spirit and spiritual man."  (Mis. 15: 26-29;17: 27-32) Amos traveled to Bethel, the famous sanctuary and religious center in Israel, to give God's message to the king, but received no aid from the chief priest there, Amaziah, for he was corrupted.  He saw the shepherd prophet as uncourtly and intervened in his message, sending instead a message to the king accusing Amos of treason, intending to frighten him away.  Jeroboam seems not to have noticed or cared, however, and Amos was not to be frightened.  Instead, he turned upon the worldly priest threatening divine retribution, and delivered his message:  "...and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line [Webster:  "A line or cord having at one end a weight used to determine verticality."] with a plumb line in his hand...Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel:  I will not again pass by them any more:  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate [the mountain tops where idol worship occurred], and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." (Amos 7: 7-9) The testing of the wall with a plumb line is a symbol of the searching investigation into the people's conduct which would be followed by a just recompense.  Israel will be measured according to her spirituality, God's standard of measurement which includes inner motives, thoughts of the heart, equity and justice, love of truth seen in actions.  The spiritual idea is represented by the poor [humble] in spirit, used by Jesus to begin his sermon known as the "Sermon on the mount":  "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  (Matt. 5: 3) "The Beatitude asks, 'Do we deeply want to know reality or is there some arrogance of mortal intellect which thinks it knows the answers?'  So the open gate here is, Let us be beggars:  let us admit that we can't know anything real from a material or personal basis, yet we want to know, for then Mind can start to tell us.  George M. Lamsa renders the translation from the Aramaic [the language Jesus used] as 'Blessed are the poor in pride'---the pride of knowledge gained from material sense...One thing in which we can rejoice as we become sincere students of Christian Science is that the more we know, the more we bow in humility before the marvel of the subject and the magnitude of what we don't know.  A true scientist in any field is remarkably humble before the vastness of his subject." (John L. Morgan, The Sermon on the Mount, 32-33) We must be receptive and teachable in order to receive the blessing of "the kingdom of heaven."  In the Glossary of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy defines "Kingdom of Heaven: the reign of harmony in divine Science;  the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind;  the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme."  ...If we are poor in spirit and actively seeking, that attitude of itself removes the one block to our communion with the one Mind, and we find ourselves at once in the realm of unerring and omnipotent Mind where 
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inspiration flows."  The "kingdom of heaven" gives us a sense of heaven as an awareness of law and power where everything is subject to one central divine authority.  We are, in actuality, citizens of that kingdom, where we are a 'humble servant of the restful Mind.' (S&H 119: 32) 
Upon his return to Judah he wrote down the speeches he had delivered at Bethel, providing copious notes for future ages.  Each writing contains the weight of its message, beginning with "Oracle of Jehovah."  His book is most likely the earliest of the prophetic writings.  Not only does he write of the sins of Israel but of the surrounding nations as well. 
His over-riding theme is of the oneness of God;  there is no room for another.  He is all- powerful.  He directs all that happens, therefore there is no room for chance.  He has dominion over nature.  He is not just a mere cold power, but a distinctly personal Being. The Hebrews had a very proprietary and humanistic view of God, believing that if they kept the religious observances, He had an obligation to protect them.  Amos, on the contrary, believed the tie was a moral one, over-riding the ceremonial worship which had no intrinsic value in itself.  He believed that "the Lord seeth not as man seeth;  for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  (I Samuel 16: 7)  Therefore, God's protection could not be taken for granted according to outward show but depended upon true service to God consisting of justice and righteousness. As a righteous God, he shrinks from immorality, self-righteousness, and oppression. "I hate, I despise your feast days...Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them...Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs...But let judgment [good, holy thoughts and actions] run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."  (Amos 5: 21-24) It is our acts that demonstrate our love for God, good.  Christianity is love for good in action;  it has very little to do with outward appearance--- going to church, lighting candles, observing rituals, etc.  In Science and Health we read:  "The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father;  and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good.  Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud."  (518: 15-21) In chapter eight Amos begins prophesying about the conditions of the people in that day, our day.  He compares materiality to a basket of summer fruit. Not very abundant and providing only temporary pleasure, it is soon gone.  Amos condemns those who are so reliant on the wealth and false pleasures of matter that they become debased in their greed to the point that they "swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail [take the land without just compensation], making the ephah small [cheat on the amount of wheat by making it a smaller amount for the same price], ...and falsifying the balances by deceit.  The sense of  God's justice is so darkened in that day, that Amos likens it to the earth, sun, and moon, symbols of divine government, as completely darkened.  He speaks of a great mourning because of the destruction of all that is unlike Truth.  We, now living in “that day,” do we not witness that very thing going on in governments and businesses here and abroad?  Deceit is rampant in nearly every public area of life. 
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Mrs. Eddy says:  "Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils error.  Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon error the mark of the beast [belief in matter]."  (S&H 42: 7 9) "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day...And I will turn thy feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation;  and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins...and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst...even they shall fall, and never rise up again."  (Amos 8: 1,2,4,5,9-14)  As the truth concerning matter becomes more wide-spread, pulling the rug out from under all the pleasures of matter, a huge outcry will be heard as it suffers its death throes. Chapter nine tells of the utter destruction of material beliefs as they are forever vanquished.  Evil will find no place to hide, for it shall be "drowned, as by the flood of Egypt...Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth;  saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in the sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth...In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof;  and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:  that they may possess the remnant of Edom [Esau], and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this...And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;...And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God."  (Ibid. 9: 1-5,8,9,11,12,14,15) 
Although one may think of the violence inflicted upon the people of the earth when reading this chapter of Amos (and also the other prophets) as the punishment inflicted by God out of anger, it is not violence that comes from God, divine Love, who "is of purer eyes than to behold evil." (Habakkuk 1: 13) It is the chastisement that comes either from ignorance of or willful disobedience to the Principle of the universe.  Because of its purity, (Spirit), it is not mixed with material beliefs and thus seems to "punish" unprincipled actions.  The same is true when one is using the principles of math or music. They must be followed before equations can be solved or harmony can be demonstrated.  Otherwise, the one using the incorrect laws is "punished " until he learns to use the correct principles in order to achieve the desired results.  God is the divine Principle, Love, and this chapter read from that perspective expresses that universal Love. Amos brings out the all-encompassing nature of God, when he disabuses the Israelites of the false belief that what they believe is their national God also brought the Philistines and Syrians out of their bondages:  "Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"  (Amos 9: 7) 
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Lastly, Amos prophesies what will happen to Israel in the latter days: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”  (9: 9)  As they become sifted (disseminated) throughout all the nations, yet not one "grain" will be lost!  (When the nation of Israel went into captivity, they were never heard from again.  This will be discussed in chapter 38.)   Not even one tiny part of what God has created ("one grain") could ever be lost!  The whole earth will be saved through learning the greatest thing the world could ever know, that the creator of the universe is Love.  Mrs. Eddy tells us that "...Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples---imperatively, absolutely, finally---with divine Science."  (S&H 565: 16-18)  The remnant of Edom (Esau) and all of the heathen is included in the possession of "the tabernacle of David," spiritualized in the latter days as the "city foursquare," divine consciousness. This chapter ends with a beautiful promise that will come when we realize that Mind is all, all action, the only Cause, the only intelligence, the only substance, Spirit, not matter, the only Principle, the only Life, the only Truth, the only nature of God and man, Love, inseparable and eternal:  "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed;  and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt."  (Ibid., 9: 13)  In other words, "in that day" man will no longer need to "till the soil." The destitution which is imposed by the belief that matter is substance will be conquered.  No longer will humanity labor for every bit of fruitage, but Judah and Israel (man and woman) will be found in their Christ-identity, coming forth from God, the one and only Mind and Being of the universe.  We will find that all things have already been supplied to us through Mind---our intelligence (Mind) is self- revealing, our substance (Spirit) is self-purifying, our identity (Soul)is self-sustaining, our entire being (Principle)is self-regulating, our existence (Life)is self-perpetuating, our health (Truth)is self-harmonizing, and the pure good that is Love, is self-fulfilling. Life does not have to be appeased by idols of today--- exercise, food, vitamins, medicine, or any of the other myriad things we believe we must have in order to live. "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."  (S&H 494: 10-11) Through Amos' courageous work, the third gate on the north opens. 
The Book of Obadiah  The Word as the Christ    Chapter 1---(there is only 1) 
Obadiah is an unknown prophet.  The name means "Servant of Jehovah."  It is a tiny Book with one theme:  the denunciation of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob who had hold of his heel as he emerged from the womb.  Esau, as you remember, was red and hairy and stood for animality.  In the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis, Jacob translated the false sense of Esau into the "face [or expression] of God."  (Gen. 33)  His descendants lived in the land of Esau which they called Edom.  It was rocky and full of caves where they made their homes, and they were quite confident that they could not be dislodged from their largely inaccessible rock-dwellings.  The Edomites were heathens, and their worldly wisdom was 
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proverbial among the Hebrews.  The Bible commentaries seem puzzled by Obadiah's allusions to the future, because it does not seem to fit together with the circumstances in the writing.  (Dummelow's, 571-574) When the Book is seen in its spiritual sequence in the canonical order of the Books of the Bible, it is perfectly placed according to the Scientific order of the "gates"  of consciousness as interpreted in Christian Science.  In Hosea, it is brought out that God sows the seed of the womanhood and manhood of God into the womb of human consciousness so that mortality will cease.  In Joel, spiritual conception takes place.  In Amos, there is spiritual travail.  Now, in Obadiah, we learn that there is no animality entwined with our real selfhood in the womb of consciousness.  Man does not have a dual nature.  Man is the pure reflection of God, good, and there is nothing else.  Man is entirely spiritual, birthless, deathless, eternal---because God is.  It is imperative that mortal generation cease in order for death to cease.  Humankind must come to understand that God is both Father and Mother of man---man is not father and mother.  The prophets were "sent of God" to show Israel, and thereby mankind, the truth about identity as the reflection  (manifestation, expression, Son, child, ideal man, or Christ)  of the living God---one God, one man, in endless variation. Obadiah speaks in symbol when referring to the Edomites---a symbol for the belief in the dual nature of man, born of matter, part good and part evil.  He is sent as an ambassador of the Lord to rise up in battle with the heathen, symbolized by the Edomites, those who believe in matter being intelligent and able to bring forth effects.  He refutes their puffed-up egos, thinking they are something when they are nothing:  "Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen:  thou art greatly despised.  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high;  that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?  Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.  The massive ego that believes that it is a high and mighty creator shall be brought down...Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?”  We think we understand the basics of creation when we understand nothing that is actually true.  Shame shall cover Esau for thinking that a birthright can be stolen by mortal man as if mortal man ever had a birthright. That false thinking shall be "cut off forever."  (Oba. 1: 1-10) Edom continued to be against the Israelites (symbolizing the Truth about the children of God) for many generations, and Obadiah says "For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen:  as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee:  thy reward shall return upon thine own head."  Error destroys itself.  "But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness;  and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions."   (Ibid., 1: 15,17)  The house of Jacob cannot ever be dispossessed of its birthright, for Jacob, in the Glossary, stands for  "the revelation of Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life [Fatherhood] and Love [Motherhood]."  (S&H 589: 5-7) The mention of Mount Zion symbolizes the  "sacred city,...that 'lieth foursquare' and 'cometh down from God, out of heaven,' [which] 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;..." 
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(S&H 575 7-11)  Our consciousness will become new, a sacred realization of divine Science which reflects the oneness and onliness of God as being our only Mind, the only Source of man and the universe. "And the house of Jacob [kingdom of Judah] shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph [kingdom of Israel] a flame, and the house of Esau (animality) for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devour them;  and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it...and the kingdom shall be the Lord's."  (Obad. 1: 18,21)  Verses nineteen and twenty describe all the other nations that fall and the glory of Israel (in that day) as a result.  "The inharmonious and self-destructive never touch the harmonious and self-existent.  These opposite qualities are the tares and wheat, which never really mingle, though (to mortal sight) they grow side by side until the harvest;  then, Science separates the wheat from the tares, through the realization of God as ever present and of man as reflecting the divine likeness."  (S&H 300: 15-22) "The seed of Truth and the seed of error, of belief and of understanding,---yea, the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter,---are the wheat and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned, and the other to be garnered into heavenly places."  (S&H 535: 1-5) "Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed material foundations of life and intelligence.  It dooms idolatry.  A belief in other gods, other creators, and other creations must go down before Christian Science.  It unveils the results of sin as shown in sickness and death.  When will man pass through the open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul [our true sinless identity], into the heritage of the first born among men?  Truth is indeed 'the way.'" (S&H 535: 10-18) 
The Book of Jonah      Christ as the Christ       Chapters 1-4 
The next minor prophet is Jonah whose message expresses the Christ so beautifully. 
It opens the second gate on the east.  Jonah means "dove."  Scofield says that Jonah "typifies Christ as the sent One, raised from the dead, and carrying salvation to the Gentiles."  (SRB, 943) This message of salvation to Gentiles was exceedingly rare if even done in those times. 
This signals the Christ opening in the consciousness of mankind God's all-embracing nature which sees all men as the reflection of God, not just one people.  Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam II, the king of Israel.  He was a contemporary of Amos.  It is believed that he was not the author of the story.  Nearly all scholars believe it to be a parable, an instructive story conveying pictorially a great spiritual truth.  (See Dummelow's, 575) God commissioned Jonah to travel to the  great city of Nineveh in Assyria and "cry against it" for its wickedness.  However, he feared the mission and fled "from the presence of the Lord," boarding a ship going to Tarshish, in the opposite direction from Nineveh. 
While aboard, a terrible storm arose, and the ship was in danger of being broken apart.  The mariners were afraid and prayed to their gods, but Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship and was asleep.  Truly, he was "asleep" to God's directions!  The shipmaster went down into the ship and awakened Jonah and asked him to pray to his God to save them all.  The 
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sailors cast lots to see who perchance may be the cause of an angry god who had sent evil upon them.  When the lot fell upon Jonah, he found the courage to say that he was a Hebrew and worshipped the God of heaven which made the sea and the dry land. He believed that God was punishing him for his disobedient action and told the sailors to throw him overboard so that the seas would become calm.  (Jonah 1: 1-12) It is notable that the heathen sailors did not want to throw Jonah into the sea, in spite of their belief that it might save them, and rowed hard to bring the ship to land. But the sea was tempestuous and they could not get near the land, so reluctantly they cast Jonah into the churning waves.  Immediately “the sea ceased from her raging.  Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows."  (1: 15,16) Dummelow's brings out this point about the sailors' shrinking from the violent act of throwing a man overboard during a raging storm and their subsequent acknowledgement of the power of "the Lord:"  "In opposition to the teaching of later Judaism, with its bitter contempt and hatred of the heathen world, and its belief that God regarded it in the same way, the author is eager to show how kindness of heart and readiness to repent of sin may be found everywhere among men, and are always acceptable to God."  (p.576 ) The story tells us that "the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."  This is prophetic of Jesus' three days and nights in the tomb after his crucifixion.  "He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate... he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense."  (S&H 44: 9,10,29-31)  Jesus  knew that God, divine Love, was ever-present and would bring him successfully through the mission whereto he was sent, a mission which included salvation for all of mankind. Jonah,  contrary wise, continually "kicked against the pricks," as Jesus, in the New Testament, accused Saul of doing while he was blinded by the light of the Christ before his conversion.  In Obadiah, the message is that only one kind of identity, man's real selfhood as the reflection of God, can be born to mankind.  Jonah's holy mission was to know that the Assyrians, typing non-Jews, were included in the one identity and would be saved if they repented of their sins.  He was to realize that God's inclusive love was meant for all mankind.  But he felt personally responsible for the results himself.  This was the cause of his doubts, disobedience, and experience in the "belly of hell."  "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me;  out of the  belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice...Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight;  yet I will look again toward thy holy temple...yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God...I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of Thanksgiving;  I will pay that that I have vowed.  Salvation is of the Lord.  And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."  (Jonah 2: 1-10) After his humbling experience, Jonah is again given the charge by God to go into Nineveh  "and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."  As Jonah entered the city he began to preach and to tell the Assyrians, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."  (Ibid., 3: 1 10)   We are told:  "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 
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Even the king arose and laid aside his robe and put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.  He proclaimed that all should put on sackcloth and fast, even the animals, "and cry mightily unto God:  yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands...And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;  and God repented of the evil, that he had said he would do unto them;  and he did it not."  (Ibid., 3: 1- 10) 
Of course, today we know that God does not know evil since He is the one universal Principle of all and knows only His own perfect creation.  For many thousands of years, God has been thought of as man- like, doling out rewards and punishments as He sees fit.  Even the prophets had this view more or less.  Jonah certainly did, and was dissatisfied with Nineveh’s salvation.  He had preached the overthrow of Nineveh, believing that it was, in fact, imminent since the people were so wicked.  He needed to learn another lesson.  He went out of the city and made himself a "booth," or tent, and sat under it as he watched to see what would become of the city.   "And the Lord prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.  And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind;  and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, ...And God said to Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?  And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.  Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow;  which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand;  and also much cattle?"  (Ibid., 4: 1-11)  The Book ends with this question.  In the fifth period, Christ Jesus answers it with the greatest sense of impersonal love the world had ever known. Jonah had personalized evil, believing it had power and life and identity.  Morality wants to see evil punished.  Human morality does not heal.   Only looking at mortality from the Christ perspective can bring true salvation.  The Christ replaces the mortal appearance with the immortal image of God.  It is true that under the impact of the Christ, evil as a false concept destroys itself, and this appears as if Christ is destroying evil.  But the Christ only translates.  The idea that is born to the world in the fifth period with the advent of the Christ demonstrated by Jesus, is a result of the sixteen prophets in the fourth period who were charged with this very translation.  Evil is never a part of man, God's reflection, and that viewpoint must be exchanged for the Truth, man pure and whole as the manifestation of the pure, infinite Mind. Jonah's commission is our commission today.  Are we accepting evil as the reality of much of mankind?  Do we want it to be punished?  Nations have been destroyed in the distant and recent past, but that has not destroyed the evil from the earth.  It repeats and repeats and repeats and will continue to repeat  until enough of mankind learns how to translate the evil out of human belief as taught in Christian Science. 
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The Book of Micah     Christianity as the Christ      Chapters 1-7 
An attitude of impersonal evil and love for all mankind that was demanded of Jonah, the Christ standpoint, opened the second gate on the east.  When this happens, the idea of universal spiritual identity can be safely born.  What Principle has predetermined is the Christly mission in action.  The action of Christ is Christianity.  Christianizing world thought must be faithfully and impersonally accomplished.  Micah saw this redemptive work beginning to take place.  His marvelous prophesies open the third gate on the east. He was a younger contemporary of Isaiah and may have lived through the reign of Hezekiah (726-  through 697 B.C.)  His name means "Who is like the Lord?"  This could mean that there is no God like the Lord or Is there a likeness to the Lord? Judah had begun trade relations with its surrounding neighbors, and the enterprising citizens in the surrounding countryside began to find advancement opportunities in Jerusalem.  Increased trade began to open up a division between the poor and the rich as power became centralized in the governing capitol of each nation.  (We see evidence of this today in centralized governments around the world.) The country and city districts lost touch with each other.  Hezekiah demanded more and more money to sustain the fortresses and army in order to maintain the nation's precarious independence from Assyria. These charges fell hardest on the peasantry out in the country.  Micah belonged to the peasantry.  Isaiah was of the ruling class in the capital. 
Micah spoke from a different standpoint from Isaiah.  He spoke against the avarice and oppression of the poor just as Isaiah did, but he was especially severe with the religious leaders.  Isaiah preached the security of Jerusalem, that God would intervene to deliver his city from Assyria.  Micah found men misunderstanding that promise, believing that God would not destroy the temple or the city.  He preached that only the people's own morality and purer faith would protect the city and temple.  His message is for both Israel and Judah, especially their capital cities, Samaria and Jerusalem. 
Micah proclaimed that the word of the Lord came to him, and he immediately began his prophesy with denunciations against the "high places,"  the hills outside of the cities where idol worship took place, and the very center of their cities where the priests were supposed to be teaching and keeping God's laws. "For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth...For the transgressions of Jacob...and for the sins of the house of Israel.  In the Glossary of Science and Health, Jacob is defined in the first definition as "A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, repentance, sensualism."  (  89: 4,5) "What is the transgression of Jacob?  Is it not Samaria?  And what are the high places of Judah?  Are they not Jerusalem?  In other words, are the high places which have become idolatrous not centered in the very midst of your cities, your temples?  "Therefore I will make Samaria an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard [stone heaps over which vines were trained]:  and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley...And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces...For her wound [the blasphemies]is incurable;  it is come unto Judah...unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem."  The 
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"gate" was where the old men sat and dispensed justice, and Jerusalem was called the gate of the people, the center of wisdom and justice.  (Micah 1: 1-7) (See Dummelow's, 580) Pay close attention to the prophecy, for we are told in the fourth verse of the second chapter that it is for the people "in that day."  It is for us!  “In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, we be utterly spoiled…”  Keep in mind that the first definition of Jerusalem in the Glossary says:  "Mortal belief and knowledge obtained from the five corporeal senses;  the pride of power and the power of pride;  sensuality;  envy;  oppression;  tyranny."  (S&H 589: 12,13)  Therefore, this is the "veil" that is thrown over all the people and what the prophets railed against, not only for their day, but for ours. They discerned that it would take five to seven thousand years before many of their prophesies came into effect.  In the fifth thousand year period, it would come into effect as the Christhood of Jesus and be mainly for the Hebrews. The apostles would then begin to disseminate the "good news," the Truth, to the Gentiles in their areas of the world.  In our day, the sixth and seventh periods, the true conception of God and His creation, first sown into the consciousness of the Hebrews, will be born to the whole of mankind, and this birth will cause great travail among the nations before the consciousness of humanity can be seen in all its glory. In verse fifteen of the first chapter, Micah vaguely alludes, over seven hundred years before it happens, to the coming of  "an heir...he shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel."  David, the glory of Israel, had found shelter there and arose refreshed;  Jesus was an heir of the line of David and will arise with new vigor as David did.  (See Dummelow's, 580) 
These are the sins of Israel and Judah (now us, all of humanity):  "Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds!  When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.  And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away:  so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. "  (Mi. 2: 1,2)  Micah inveighs against the leaders of the people, the judges, priests, etc., who work to enrich and glorify themselves.  They are destitute of the love of God which would empower them to help their people.  "Therefore thus saith the Lord;  Behold, against this family [the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt] do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks;  neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil." (Ibid., 2: 3) In Micah 4: 3-7: 20 is prophesied the coinciding of events foretold throughout the Scriptures:  the latter-day Israel and the Daughter of Zion will be seen in human experience. "...in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills;  and people shall flow unto it... And many nations shall come, and say…let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for the law shall go forth of Zion… And he shall judge among many people,..and rebuke strong nations afar off;  and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore...And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast afar off a strong nation: and the 
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Lord shall reign from henceforth, even forever...And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion;  the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem...Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion:  and thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. "...thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth that is to be ruler in Israel;  whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting...Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth:  then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel...And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass...He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;  and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”  The Association of the brotherhood of man, bringing into human experience conciliation and peace...That which blesses and reconciles all the families of the earth is surely the original "heir" of God which today is being born to the world as the universal Science of Christianity."  (Brown, From Genesis To Revelation, pp. 264-265) In this Book of Micah, the two Christ comings (world saviors) are foretold:  the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and the travail of Mary Baker Eddy, typing the "Daughter of Zion," in bringing forth the "man child," the book foretold in Revelation by Jesus to John, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  Micah is presenting the advent of world unity and peace as the kingly head of the universal body of man passes through the open gate of Christian Science in the process of spiritual birth.  The prophecies of the Old Testament prophets are confirmed by the New Testament writers.  They are the spiritual events, in symbol, of that which has not yet been expressed on the human scene.  They were seen as present facts by the prophets whose spiritual senses were ready for the unfoldment, but cannot be seen by us until we are ready to perceive the human and divine coincidence. 
According to the "seven days" of creation which begins the Bible, we of the seventh day are now ready to understand the implications of the entire Bible message, for it has been explained by the second coming of the Christ, the "little book," which has come to mankind, the Comforter. 
"In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled:  he hath changed the portion of my people:  how hath he removed it from me!"...The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses;  from their children have ye taken away my glory forever.  Arise ye, and depart;  for this is not your rest:  because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction."  (Micah 2: 1  -10)   Do not the governing bodies, political and theological, of many countries of the earth today practice only for themselves, their own power and greed? 
Do they not deprive the citizens of their countries the very precious right to self- government?  Are they not debarred from the basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?   Are not women deprived of pleasant homes and marriages (and by extension their husbands) and their children deprived of instruction in God's laws due to 
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government and social enactments which work to take the place of the individuals who are forming a moral family unit according to their own closely held beliefs? After these dire prophesies, Micah proclaims a wonderful vision which has come to him.  He perceives that after the terrible judgement has fallen on them and it has done its work, God will provide a  restoration:   "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee;  I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;  they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.  The breaker is come up before them:  they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it:  and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them."  (Ibid., 12,13)  A "breaker" is a deliverer, as one who is sent to deliver those who have done their time in prison for their crimes.  Micah promises that one will come to deliver mankind from its imprisoning material beliefs.  "It is as if the Christ idea, the kingly head of the universal body of man, is passing 'through the open gate of Christian Science,' in the process of spiritual birth...The idea which Micah presents in the tone of Christianity as the Christ is the advent of world unity and peace in what scholars call the kingdom age. 
Christianity (body) [is] under the control of Christ (head)..."   (Brown, From Genesis..., 264- 5)  (S&H 535: 15) 
Micah addresses this spiritual birth with a prophecy for "the last days."  It has to do with the second coming of the Christ:  "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail:  for now shalt thou go forth out of the city...thou shalt go even to Babylon:  there shalt thou be delivered;  there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.  Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.  But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel:  for he shall gather them as the sheaves to the floor.  Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion:  for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass [for threshing]:  and thou shalt beat in pieces many people:  and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth."  (Mi. 4: 10)  As you remember, in Mrs. Eddy's chapter in Science and Health on "The Apocalypse," she says that the woman, which she typed, "symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God;  she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea."  (561: 22-25)  Mrs. Eddy had to take her revelation, the Christ-promised Comforter, to "Babylon," to the material-based thought which pervades mortal mind, the false science that imprisons us.  It was not understood at first, and she was "defiled" in the pulpits and by the general public, hung in effigy, spat upon, laughed at with derision, and all other manner of unchristian behavior.  This forty-year " birth" was her "travail" as explained in the foregoing pages about her life. The "remnant" of Israel is all of the multitude that was taken into captivity and never heard from again.  They were dispersed among the peoples of the earth.  In the last days, this multitude will be gathered by the second coming of the Christ, the Comforter;  their shackles will be shattered, and they will find themselves free of the disabling, imprisoning material theories.  "Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will open with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not 
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needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is."  (S&H  171: 4-12) Freedom! Micah brings forth prophesies that prove his nearness to God, his right Mind, for they are utterly accurate even though they are to occur in the very distant future.  (In divine Mind, there is no time.)  They include the first Messianic coming of Christ Jesus and the second Messianic coming of the Comforter promised by Christ Jesus.  In Chapter four, he speaks of the Messianic second-coming with lovely images of thought:  "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains...and people shall flow unto it.  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off;  and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks;  nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid:  for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."  (Mi. 4: 1-4) Consciousness will be raised so high (symbolized by a mountain) that the house, or body, of man, individually and universally, will be perceived as spiritual.  This understanding will be established as the eternal Truth of God and man.  Human thought will flow with its precepts, which will be manifested in love, good health, good will, and peace. 
Jerusalem will be known by its new name, the second definition in the Glossary:  "Home, heaven." (S&H 589: 15)  Zion will be known as its first definition in the Glossary: "Spiritual foundation and superstructure;  inspiration;  spiritual strength."  (S&H 599: 6,7) Micah's second prophecy is of the first coming of the Christ, Jesus---his birth-place and mission, and then, again, the Comforter:  "...thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;  whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.  Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth:  then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;  and they shall abide:  for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth."  (Mi. 5: 3,4) Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in fulfillment of this prophecy;  although the prophecy said he would be ruler in Israel, the rulership did not mean he would become the king of Israel.  It meant symbolically that the Truth he represented would rule in the consciousness of mankind.  God has never been and could never be, aware of his reflection, man, as being separated for a time from Himself.  Man has always been "from everlasting," for God has never had more than one "Son," one reflection, although His "Son" or "child" is expressed in innumerable beloved identities.  Jesus had to "give up" or wait until mankind was better able to apprehend his teachings and works.  It had to be given to his disciples and the vastly ignorant people of his day by parables.  His works, which proved his words, were misapprehended as miracles.  The later appointed time was to be the time of the Comforter 
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which Mary Baker Eddy apprehended and gave to the world.  It, too, would depend upon the healings it produced, but also upon the science which at that time would be advanced enough to uphold it and to understand the science behind the healings.  Scientists and "seekers" could then begin to comprehend the language which would need to be used by Mrs. Eddy in "the little book" and help along its acceptance by the general population. The coming of divine Science would bring again the "remnant" of Israel, the" brethren" of Jesus, and they would "abide," for the Christ-man would be "great unto the ends of the earth."  Micah declared that "this man shall be the peace, when the "Assyrian" ( typing at this time mortal mind's fight against the Science) shall come into our land (our own thought, opposing our advancement in Science;  known as "animal magnetism,")... then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.  And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword,..."  The "seven shepherds" symbolize the seven synonyms for God, and the "eight principal men" symbolize the four modes of divine Principle's activity as the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science in their absolute and relative aspects. 
These are the Christian Scientist's weapon, the "sword of Truth," which "waste," annihilate, matter beliefs. 
"And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.  And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest:...who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver."  To those who receive the Comforter gladly, it shall be like refreshing dew;  for those who oppose it, it shall be like a ravening beast."  (Ibid., 5: 7,8) 
Micah continually prophesied about the coming of the Comforter, telling us of its ramifications:  "Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries (mortal mind beliefs), and all thine enemies shall be cut off.  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots...And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand;  and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:  Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee;  and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands...And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard."  The weapons of war will be used no more.  Animal magnetism in all its forms, the bowing down to matter as if it were real, intelligent, substantial, and causative, will be cut off.   (Ibid.,5: 9,10,12,13,15)  Isn’t it wonderful that we live in the age of this discovery? The coming of the Comforter will set off a fury of human antagonism;  all that has been assumed as real and substantial will have to be overthrown, even the old theological beliefs.  Mysticism will have to go down in ashes.  Science does not contain it.  "Miracles are impossible in Science, and here takes issue with popular religions.  The scientific manifestation of power is from the divine nature and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication [a detailed description;  full account;  explanation] of nature.  The belief that the universe, including man, is governed in general by material laws, but that occasionally Spirit 
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sets aside these laws, this belief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit."  (S&H 83: 12-20) Once again, Micah sees the need of the rod, God's way of keeping His people conscious of their obligations to His laws:  "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name:  hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it."  (Ibid., 6: 9) Mrs. Eddy had to use a "rod," her Mother Church manual, in order to keep her "flock" in line with the spiritual rules it symbolized and to stop those rules when they were no longer necessary.  She alone knew, at that time, the ramifications of her actions in permitting her students to form a church.  She told them it would be a "suffer it to be so now"  formation and then wisely put estoppels into her church rules, the manual, that would enforce its obedience.  She told her students that God had written the manual as well as Science and Health.  The church ignored the estoppels in the manual that would turn the Mother Church into a branch church and thus suffers the consequences which Mrs. Eddy predicted.  She warned that it would go “straight down.”  Although that did happen, it is a blessing that many branch churches have closed so that their members could leave organization for quiet study on their own.  We humans have much to learn and work through in exchanging material beliefs for the Truth concerning our universe, our daily lives, and our salvation from error of every sort.  The most important is spiritualizing our thought so that we can heal without leaning on Christian science practitioners for every little problem.  They will be available, for they are called to do their healing work until Science is better understood and practiced around the world, but doing one’s own metaphysical healing must be everyone’s aim and desire. Finally, Micah ends his prophecy with God's ancient promise given to the Israelites from the very beginning:  "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old."  ((Mi. 7: 20)  To each of the two patriarchs God had sworn:  "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."   (Ibid. 7: 20)  That which blesses  "all the families of the earth"  in these last days is the original, universal  "heir" of God, the true man, the Christ man, which is revealed to us by the Comforter to this age, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. 
The Book of Nahum      The Word as Christianity      Chapters 1-3 
Nahum means "Consolation" or "Comforter."  It is believed, but not certain by Biblical researchers, that he was a resident of Judea and gave his prophecy between 6o6 and 664 B.C.  Micah brought to humanity the Truth that man is loving and merciful (Christian) because he manifests the Christ, God's ideal man or manifestation.  Because of the work of the minor prophets so far, man has begun his entrance (ideally) into his possession of  "the mind of Christ."  "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him?  But we have the mind of Christ."  (I Corinthians 2: 16)   The first three prophets elucidated the "Word of God” gates:  Hosea ( the Word as the Word), Joel (Christ as the Word), Amos (Christianity as the Word).   He has continued on through the three "Christ" gates as well: 
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Obadiah (The Word as the Christ),  Jonah (Christ as the Christ), and Micah (Christianity as the Christ). Now  Nahum opens the first gate on the south, which begins the three "Christianity" gates.  The Word as Christianity opens due to his metaphysical work.  He teaches that the spiritual idea, revealed by Micah, must now dissolve the reverse of itself, typified by Nineveh.  This handling of the lies about the real man, the spiritual idea of God, need not bring harm or leave a vacuum.  Thus the "consolation" of Nahum's day is the "Comforter" of our day, for the same Truth applies at all times.  "The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble...What do ye imagine against the Lord?  he will make an utter end:  affliction shall not rise up the second time."  (Na. 1: 7,9) Once the Word, or revelation, of God's nature comes to us, we are so joyous that we are happy just to see the little bit that has come to us, perhaps bringing a healing.  Then we see the importance of daily  holding ourselves as the activity of that wonderful nature, the Christ.  We cannot see it only for ourselves, however, and so the lovely Christian acts flow out to our "neighbors."   Eventually, though, we realize that there is so much error in our thought (the "Nineveh" beliefs) that still tries to hang on to us that we must work harder to reverse those beliefs.   Working out our own salvation includes relationship problems, dealing with "others" in every area of life, and it is a humbling experience!  We find character defects, ingrained attitudes, prejudices, etc., which are often harder to correct because we have accepted them as an actual part of our "make up."  We find that we have to reverse the errors we have been holding in thought as true in order to translate them and rise higher in our demonstration of God, good.  It may take a mighty struggle, but when finally conquered, that "affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nahum says it like this:  "There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor."  (Ibid., 1: 11)  That which seems to come to us from out of our own thought is the first liar, the "serpent" of the Garden of Eden who enticed Eve with the fruit which she knew God had told them not to eat of it lest they die.  He told her, in direct contradiction of God's command, imagining "evil against the Lord," that "Ye shall not surely die."  Instead, he told her that she would be like the gods, knowing good and evil. Nahum continues:  "Thus saith the Lord;  Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.  For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder."  (Ibid., 1: 12)  The lies may be so "quiet" that we do not recognize them as lies for we have accepted them as the truth for so long, and there are many such unobtrusive lies.  The tree was good for food, and the fruit was pleasant to the eyes, and it was desired for it made one wise.  How good it all seems!  The material senses govern our decisions . 
We don't even realize that we are depending on lies to guide our lives. But when we learn how to deal with them as lies, they shall be "cut down, when he, [the liar, mortal mind], shall pass through" our thoughts. Mrs. Eddy speaks of this "one," "a wicked counsellor," in her spiritual interpretation of the "Lord's Prayer:"  "In the phrase, 'Deliver us from evil,' the original properly reads, 'Deliver us from the evil one.'  This reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the 
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petition, for Christian Science teaches us that 'the evil one' or one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars."  (S&H 16: 15-19)  The lie?  We now know it as “matter,” that has intelligence. Nahum perceives that "the evil one" or "one evil" will be "cut down," and he perceives the reason for the evil one's demise:  "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!"  (Ibid., 1: 15)  "...my people shall know my name:  therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak:  behold, it is I. 
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace;  that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation;  that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"  (Is. 502: 6,7)  In Luke's gospel, the angel of the Lord came upon the shepherds announcing Jesus' birth with the same words, as if to emphasize its fulfillment of prophecy:  "And the angel said unto them, Fear not:  for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."  (Luke  2: 10,11) The coming of the Christ, the Truth about "the one evil"  which Jesus brought and demonstrated with his works and life, "cut down" the lies which have plagued mankind for thousands of years.  In chapter 14 of I Isaiah, Lucifer, the "evil one," is prophesied as being "cut down" to the ground.  Jesus' work for us "broke [the lie's] yoke from off [us] and "burst [our] bonds in sunder." Nahum declares:  "The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved."  (Na. 2: 6 )  The rivers in the Bible that stand as symbols for the waters of consciousness that are translated in the "last days" are given in the Glossary of  S&H.  I will give them here:  "EUPHRATES (river).  Divine Science encompassing the universe and man;  the true idea of God;  a type of the glory which is to come;  metaphysics taking the place of physics;  the reign of righteousness; ..."  "GIHON (river).  The rights of woman acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially."   "PISON (river).  The love of the good and beautiful, and their immortality." The gates to human understanding are opened so that the world's consciousness is at last flooded with the divine Science that encompasses it and destroys forever the lie of mortality.  "Nineveh is of old like a pool of water:  yet they shall flee away.  Stand, stand shall they cry;  but none shall look back."  (Na. 2: 7)  Mortal mind may still cry to be looked into, but it will be ignored as more and more of the world's citizenry turn their backs on the lie and look into divine Mind for their answers.  The palace as a symbol of hierarchical government will be dissolved as we all learn of our real sevenfold nature and begin to use it to govern ourselves.  "As human thought changes from one stage to another of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, from fear to hope and from faith to understanding, the visible manifestation will at last be man governed by Soul [spiritual sense], not by material sense.  Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed."  (S&H 125: 12-17) 
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The Book of Habakkuk      Christ as Christianity      Chapters 1-3 
Habakkuk's name means "embrace."  The tone is now that of Christ reflecting Christianity.  Nahum has (ideally) dissolved the organic sense of life, and so the Christ (divinity) embraces Christianity (humanity).  Mrs. Eddy, in writing about St. John and his vision in Revelation, writes, "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration, reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God."  (S&H 561: 16-20)  This greatly longed for step on man's journey from sense to Soul opens our second gate on the south. 
The Bible commentaries tell us that nothing whatever is known about Habakkuk except from what can be discerned from his book.  He prophesied around the year six hundred B.C. when Assyria 
was defeated by Babylon and Judah became their vassal.  At that point, Zephaniah and Nahum had prophesied, and Jeremiah was in the middle of his great career.  In 621 B.C., king Josiah had inaugurated a reformation based on the newly discovered book of Deuteronomy.  It was looked forward to by faithful men as a great and much needed influence on the Hebrews, but had but a brief influence according to Jeremiah.  After king Josiah, his son, Jehoiakim, reigned, but he was a man of extravagant tastes and contemptible character and failed miserably in guiding Judah through the perils of the time. Dummelow's does tell us that Habakkuk "was a great prophet who has left us one of the noblest and most penetrating words in the history of religion."  One of them is "...but the just shall live by his faith."  "It is the righteous that live, those who regard right and God.  However much they suffer, and even when they seem to die, they live;  they live by their faithfulness, i.e. by leaning firmly upon the God who lives forever, and whose life is a guarantee of theirs."   (Dummelow's, 589-590) 
Habakkuk wrote of the Chaldeans (Babylonians), "that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs." (Hab. 1: 6) He prophesied that God  "will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."  (Hab. 1: 5,6)  Habakkuk tells the people:  "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?  we shall not die.  O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment;  and, O mighty God, thou has established them for correction.  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:..."  (Hab. 1: 12,13) Habakkuk brings to world consciousness that which has not yet been realized about God, the living Truth of the Christ, embracing all in good alone.  Up to this point, it has been believed that God knows both good, and the belief that He sends evil as punishment when He deems it necessary.  Now, Habakkuk catches a gleam of the way in which translation changes that which seems evil to that which is, in Truth, good, the real nature of God.  The evil itself is not real because God does not know it, and that wonderful Truth is the judgment that establishes correction.  Therefore, “we shall not die."  Christ brings translation which overcomes death.  Mrs. Eddy also caught this wonderful Truth and wrote:  "Perhaps no doctrine of Christian Science rouses so much natural doubt and questioning as this, that God 
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knows no such thing as sin...[this] statement in Christian Science may justly be characterized as wonderful."  (Unity of Good, 1: 1-3,9,10, emphasis in original) Mrs. Eddy's article includes many important points concerning this advanced fact about God.  Here are some of them:  "The sinner has no refuge from sin, except in God, who is his salvation.  We must, however, realize God's presence, power, and love, in order to be saved from sin.  This realization takes away man's fondness for sin and his pleasure in it; and, lastly, it removes the pain which accrues to him for it.  Then follows this, as the finale in Science:  The sinner loses his sense of sin, and gains a higher sense of God, in whom there is no sin...In the same manner the sick lose their sense of sickness, and gain that spiritual harmony which contains neither discord nor disease."  (Un. 2: 6-13;  17-19, emphasis in original)  "God is All in all.  Hence He is in Himself only, in His own nature and character, and is perfect being, or consciousness.  He is all the Life and Mind there is or can be.  Within Himself is every embodiment of Life and Mind."  (Un., 3: 20-26) "...the attainment of the understanding of His presence, through the Science of God, destroys our sense of imperfection, or of His absence, through a diviner sense that God is all true consciousness;  and this convinces us that, as we get still nearer Him, we must forever lose our own consciousness of error.  But how could we lose all consciousness of error if God be conscious of it? God has not forbidden man to know him;  on the contrary, the Father bids man have the same mind 'which is also in Christ Jesus,'---  which was certainly the divine Mind;  but God does forbid man's acquaintance with evil.  Why?  Because evil is no part of the divine knowledge.  John's Gospel  declares (17:3) that 'life eternal' consists in the knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.  Surely from such an understanding of Science, such knowing, the vision of sin is wholly excluded."  (Un. 4: 9-27)  "Sooner or later the whole human race will learn that, in proportion as the spotless selfhood of God is understood, human nature will be renovated, and man will receive a higher selfhood, derived from God, and the redemption of mortals from sin, sickness, and death be established on everlasting foundations."  (Un. 6: 4-9) In chapter two, Habakkuk says:  " I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will watch to see what he will say unto me,...And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:  though it tarry, wait for it;  because it will surely come, it will not tarry."  (Hab., 2: 1-3)  The tower is not a literal tower, of course, but a higher viewpoint, an inner revelation, which he does receive and is told to write it down for it has permanent value. The main message is a wonderful one, worth writing down for the ages to come: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."  (Ibid., 2: 14)  The "appointed time" is this seventh period, for the Comforter's coming, the knowledge of the glory of the Science of God and man, is being published throughout the earth.  God's nature is becoming clear, and man, as the reflection of His nature, is finding his salvation is at hand.  Science is divine and is made humanly comprehensible as Christian Science.  Science, then, is absolute and applied, just as in other sciences.   Scofield makes this same point about Habakkuk's ministry:  "[Habakkuk] alone of 
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the prophets was more concerned that the holiness of Jehovah should be vindicated than that Israel should escape chastisement."  (SRB , 955)  He was more concerned with absolute Truth than in solving problems of dualism. Habakkuk ends his Book with joy:  "...I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet as hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."  (Ibid., 3: 19)  God gives us strength, is a sure foundation, and enables us to maintain a high comforting sense of His presence and power, our "high place," where all who trust in God love to abide. 
The Book of Zephaniah      Christianity as Christianity       Chapters 1-3 
After the great Isaiah prophecies, there was more than half a century before the coming of another prophet.  During that time, the Baal cults, star worship, and other heathen institutions were tolerated without rebuke in Jerusalem and Judah.  At last, however, the Assyrian empire began to disintegrate. The few remaining faithful to Jehovah devoted themselves to working with the Book of Deuteronomy, a prophetic  reformulation of the laws of Moses.  In 621 B.C., King Josiah used their work to reform the back-sliding spirituality of the Hebrews.  Before Josiah could bring about any effective reform, though, the support of Judah's rulers had to be gained.  The boy king, Josiah, who ascended to the throne at the age of eight, came under the influence of the prophetic party.  There are strong indications that Zephaniah was the one who was most responsible for Josiah's tutelage.  The superscription affixed to his prophecy traces his ancestry back four generations to Hezekiah, the king when Isaiah prophesied.  This means that Zephaniah himself most likely belonged to the royal line.  Certainly the boldness and assurance with which he attacked the members of the royal family points to that conclusion. His name means  "Jehovah has hidden; protected of Jehovah."  Like Jeremiah, he was a young man when he first began his preaching and prophecies. He began his prophecy by prophesying about a time far in the future, in "that day," a "day" of utter desolation:  "The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah...I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord...Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God:  for the day of the Lord is at hand...And it shall come to pass in that day...the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness...a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.  And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk as blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord:...Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath;..."  (Zeph. 1: 1,2,7,10,14-18) 
After this blistering prophecy, Zephaniah tells how the people can escape the desolation:  "Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;  Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you,...Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment;  seek righteousness, seek meekness:  it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the 
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Lord's anger. True to his name, Zephaniah realizes that those who seek the Lord are protected and cared for by God, "hid" with God."  Paul uses this same phrasing in his epistle to the Colossians:  "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead [to material cares], and your life is hid with Christ in God."  (Colossians 3: 2, 3) Mrs. Eddy refers to Paul's words in Science and Health:  "When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God's image.  The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this:  Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, 'hid with Christ in God,'  with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man."  (325: 13-19) Zephaniah's emphasis on meekness is supported by Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, the third Beatitude:  "Blessed are the meek:  for they shall inherit the earth."  (Matt. 5: 5)  One shall find that he is already the reflection of harmony.  (Earth is the reflection of heaven, harmony.)    Meekness does not mean being a doormat, but has a much more noble meaning.  It is a subjugation of a sense of oneself as a physical, corporeal selfhood with its ego, wants, desires, idiosyncrasies, and human personality.  It takes meekness to put all of that aside and identify oneself with the higher, true sense of being.  It is wanting to be dissociated from corporeality, neither proud of it, ashamed of it, nor prisoner to it.  It is paying more attention to the qualities we are expressing, for only in that way can we begin to translate the old untrue concept of our self with its mortal nature, physique, hereditary beliefs, and fears.  The beliefs that come with a belief of a physical body are changed into a grander view of what our body actually is as a reflection of all that God is.  It is the apprehension of our intrinsic nature which manifests beauty, health, intelligence, spiritual power, and love.  Who would not want to see these qualities as belonging to them forever? 
One who manifests these qualities is forever hid with Christ, Truth, in divine Love. The sharp reproval of God will come to "her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!  She obeyed not the voice;  she received not correction;  she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God...Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord...for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger:..."  (Zeph. 3: 1,2,8)  Mrs. Eddy speaks in S&H about such a time coming on the earth:  "Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God."  (95: 11)  "Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.  Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence;  but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth.  Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding;  unwillingness to learn all things rightly binds Christendom with chains. "Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine.  Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms) will continue unto the end, until the final spiritualization of all things.  'The darkest hour precedes the dawn.' "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces.  On one side there will be discord and dismay;  on the other side there will be Science and peace. The 
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breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears.  These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth. "As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science will endure to the end.  As material knowledge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally instead of materially. 
During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil;  but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check.  They will aid in the ejection of error.  They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection. 
"In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the more impotent error becomes as a belief.  According to human belief, the lightning is fierce and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science the flight of one and the blow of the other will become harmless.  The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears..."It requires courage to utter truth;  for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion. " 'He uttered His voice, the earth melted.'  This Scripture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit."  (95: 28-97: 13,22-28) Zephaniah envisions this upheaval and then comes forth with a supreme, saving prophecy:  "...then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."  (Zeph. 3: 9)   The turmoil of these last days will find a solution in Christian Science and its textbook, Science and Health.  It is a "pure"  language because it came straight from God.  It reveals the seven-fold nature of God, man as its expression, and the four ways in which it operates in the universe.  It is the language everyone can learn for himself and apply it in daily experience using the four means given in the textbook---as the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science. When mankind understands the one Principle which covers all law and governs all that is, we will be able to speak the same language using that Principle as its basis. 
Understanding a common Principle, men will understand each other.  The language is a language of absolute ideas, unchanging, stable, adaptable, universally spiritual values.  The symbols of the language are found on pp. 115-116 of the textbook and are the capitalized and uncapitalized synonymous terms for God, man's Mind, and the body of that Mind in all its harmony and eternality. When the pure language of divine Science is universally understood, "The remnant of Israel [all of us] shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies [error];  neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth:  for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.  Sing, O daughter of Zion;  shout, O Israel;  be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.  The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy [mortal mind]:  the king of Israel, even the Lord, [divine Principle] is in the midst of 
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thee:  thou shalt not see evil any more...The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty;  he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy;  he will rest in his love, [the seventh day, the consciousness of Love--- fulfillment, rest, peace], he will joy over thee with singing [harmony reigns]... At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name ["Christ Science," Mis. 167: 15] and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord."  (Zeph. 3: 13-15; 17,20)  Such a language is inherent in us, for it is us, operating as ideas of God, good.  It is the Truth about the universe being brought to birth by the prophets in the fourth period which will bless all the families of the earth in the three succeeding periods. 
Haggai       The Word as Science        Chapters 1-2 
With the "pure language" of Zephaniah coming (ideally) to mankind and the consequent exile of mankind from God, his true Mind, being over, a period of rebuilding can begin.  Thus we come to the last  three gates, those which usher us into the very heart of all that we have been learning about ourselves and the universe we live in, the Science of it all. 
The last three prophets lead us into the post-exile era, where the idea of body is absolved of mortality and is temporarily rebuilt, just as Jesus showed us with his body after his crucifixion. He arose with a temporarily rebuilt body which he employed until his ascension so that he could continue teaching his disciples who at that point had a greater understanding of their Master's words and works on account of Jesus' resurrection.  This extra time spent with their Master, with a new deeper understanding of all that they had witnessed of his works, served to make them much more effective teachers and healers after Jesus' ascension. All of us will go through this transition at some point.  We will have a temporarily rebuilt body, sinless, always healthy, able to command it to go wherever we want without effort, not limited in any respect.  If we are truly incorporeal, this should not seem surprising!  Mrs. Eddy, in her chapter on "The Apocalypse," speaks of St. John as seeing "no temple [body] within the New Jerusalem (spiritual consciousness):  "There was no temple--- that is, no material structure in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped in spirit and in love. As you know, 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." (S&H  576: 12-25, emphasis in original) Haggai was a contemporary and colleague of Zechariah.  He prophesied in a four month period during the reign of Darius, in 520 B.C.  Nineteen years before, Cyrus had proclaimed the freedom of the Jewish exiles to return to their houses in Palestine.  Haggai's aim was to awaken an enthusiasm for rebuilding the temple.  For sixteen years, their work 
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had been limited by the Samaritans' opposition to it.  With a beneficent ruler, Darius allowing them to rebuild, Haggai saw a need to urge the people on to finish the temple, which would be of supreme spiritual significance to them. Naturally, like all of the other prophets, Haggai was a spiritual seer who caught gleams of important happenings in the far off days to come and prophesied about them.  He realized that the temple was only a symbol for the true man whose body was the image and likeness of God, incorporeal, spiritual.  His work included the building of the universal "house of the Lord."  This "house" was the spiritually structured universal consciousness. "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be rebuilt."  Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?"  (Hag. 1: 2-4)  Dummelow's tells us that the cieled houses were "paneled with costly cedar planks.  They could seem to afford luxuries for themselves, but were indifferent to the ruined state of the Temple."  (Dumm., 596)  Haggai continued his vigorous message to his neglectful people:  "Thus saith the Lord of hosts;  Consider your ways.  Go up to the mountain [raise your spiritual sense], and bring wood, and build the house;  and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the the Lord."  (Ibid., 1: 8) Man, using his one eternal Mind, manifests his body (temple) according to the ideas he uses which come to him from his spiritually alert Mind.  Glorifying the nature of God in our thoughts and actions maintains our individual sense of body or identity, and it does not degenerate into ruin (sickness, pain, disease, discrepancy, etc.)  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true.  Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, "whose builder and maker is God.' " (S&H 428: 8-14 and Hebrews 11: 10)  But when we trust in matter rather than in the Science that maintains the universe, and find that we have trusted in vain, we should ask ourselves:   "Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little;...Why? saith the Lord of hosts.  Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own [sense of] house...  Ye have sown much, and bring in little;  ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink;  ye clothe you, but there is none warm;  and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."  (Hag. 1: 9,6) What is the result of the people's dismissal of God in their affairs?  Reliance totally upon matter is a dicey state of affairs, for it is based on that which is not reliable, based, according to belief, on chance.  Because the people were not interested in rebuilding their temple, in the laws of God which the temple symbolized for them, they were at the mercy of that darkened sense.  "Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit."  They experienced the very results of their own drought stricken consciousness.  Mrs. Eddy has much to say about mortal mind and body in her textbook. 
Here is another enlightening passage:  "Mortal mind and body are one.  Neither exists without the other, and both must be destroyed by immortal Mind.  Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mortal mind.  This so- called mind builds its own superstructure, of which the material body is the grosser portion;  but from first to last, the body is a sensuous, human 
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concept."  (S&H 177:  8-14)  The love of God, good, is fruitful;  selfish interests that rely on material provision finally bring a drought of good because only good that is of Mind, Principle, is self-sustaining. The drought was effective, as suffering usually is for serving as a blessing in disguise, for it turned Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and the people, back to God. "...and the people did fear before the Lord.  And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel...and the spirit of all the remnant of the people;  and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God."  (Ibid. 1: 10,12,14) In the seventh month, symbolically the "day" of rest, fulfillment,  "came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel...and to the residue of the people saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?  and how do ye see it now?  is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? ...be strong, all ye the people of the land, saith the Lord, and work;  for I am with you , saith the Lord of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not."  ( Ibid., 2: 15) God is changeless good, so His reflection is changeless good.  Understanding that scientific fact, we need never fear.  Look at a body that has been taken care of through reliance on divine Mind alone.  How does a body taken care of through material means compare to it?  You hear people speak of their physical problems:  "if it's not one thing, it's another."   Material medicine, exercise, vitamins, diet, etc., is almost universally believed to heal and maintain the body.  Going to God in prayer is not the first reliance, but only if other remedies are not proving effective. Yet, there are many people around the world who do go straight to God for healing and find it a most  gentle, effective, quick remedy with healthy, harmonious bodies to show for it.   When God's "Word" is understood as not a "religious" thing, different according to the many various religions the world over, but as the one universal Science which governs its "body," man and the universe, then we will all be looking to the same solution for all our needs.  We do not exist in isolation, each individual "doing his own thing" according to his own beliefs, though it seems so at this stage of our progress as a civilization. One Mind has one reflection which is completely reliant upon it for intelligence, substance, identity, government, life, health, action, and happiness.  It is changeless, infinite, eternal Principle, all presence, power, knowledge and action.  It is the one and only source, origin and sustainer of the universe.  We are not the author and sustainer of ourselves.  The word "individual" means "indivisible."  Spiritual and scientific individuality is part of a structured universal consciousness, symbolized by Haggai as the "house of the Lord."  The reflection of this one “house," or body, constitutes individuality in Science.  Our manifest individualities all express the same wonderful qualities in an infinite number and variety of ways.  "The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is infinite individuality, which supplies all form and comeliness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual spiritual man and things."  (S&H 281: 14-17) We shall understand in this seventh period Haggai's prophecy:  "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come:  and I will fill this house with glory, saith 
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the Lord of hosts... the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts:  and in this place will I give peace..."  (Hag. 2: 7,9)   The former material body, which seems to have so much more to offer the material senses is, in the end, subject to deterioration and death.  The "latter house," which will be acknowledged and demonstrated in the "latter days," the spiritual body, will offer much less to the senses but will continue on into eternal life and peace. 
The Book of Zechariah      The Christ as  Science     Chapters 1-14 
Haggai brought to mankind (ideally) the universal sense of body as a universally structured divine consciousness which is reflected in countless ways as "man."  It is the universal saving grace to us to realize that we each do not own a personal body, conceived without our permission, subject to our mortal parents' "genes" that are supposed to determine in large part our health, longevity, characteristics, even happiness, and finally, being deprived of our body at death.  Although this is universally believed at this time, it is destined to undergo a huge "sea-change" in the centuries to come as we learn more about the actual science that governs the universe and man.  Mind will be acknowledged as the Father and Mother of all.  Since spiritualized consciousness must be gained on an individual basis, individuality must be cherished and upheld by mankind as an absolute right.  The right of conscience to follow one's highest sense of right must never be abdicated nor abridged by rules, laws, or government of any kind.  Zechariah promotes this holy right in his Book, which opens the second gate on the west.  The Christ man, or true ideal of Mind, is Christ as Science. The Jews had been carried captive to Babylon in 597 and 586 B.C. but were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple by Cyrus who was considerate of their religion. 
Zechariah was of priestly descent and was among the returning exiles, those who were considered of the best Jewish families.  His name means "Yahweh is renowned" or "remembered of Yahweh."  He was a young man when he returned, around  520 B.C., but already had a very cultured spiritual understanding which was expressed in his prophecies. Ezekiel and Isaiah had been instrumental in stirring up the patriotic and religious spirit of the people.  Their temple was a blackened ruin and they could not see how it could be restored.  As years went by, they became indifferent to it and became engaged with other endeavors.  Haggai and Zechariah were called by God to inspire the Jews to rebuild their temple, "the house of the Lord."  Metaphysically, this has to do with the spiritual meaning of temple as body.   In fact, the prophecy cannot be understood unless looked at in that light. 
Zerubbabel, the high priest and governor of Judah, the grandson of Jehoiachim, the captive king of Judah, and the lineal descendant of David, was the prime mover of the work and the first to respond to the prophets.  Joshua, better known under the later form of Jeshua, was a son of a member of the priestly order and was prominently associated with Zerubbabel in the erection of the second temple.  He appears in one of Zechariah's visions.  Within a month the foundation was laid.   (Dumm., 598-599) 
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At the end of Haggai, the last verse, it is prophesied by him that "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant...and will make thee as a signet [the sign of authority]:  for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts."  (Hag. 2: 23) We shall see what that means in this Book.  Zechariah's prophesies are full of apocalyptic symbolism like that found in Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation.  Zechariah foreshadows the underlying system of the pure Science of Christian Science.  This system is the use of the seven synonyms for God and the four ways in which they are put to use.  The use of the "seven" and "four" is always done by reasoning with them to solve problems thrown up by erroneous beliefs or to gain higher understanding.  The greatest thing we can ever do for ourselves is to learn what God is, and then we can understand what we are by reflection. Zechariah had seven visions.  They were received in the order of the seven synonyms for God, the "Word" order, starting with Mind and going through to Love.  The Christ "office" of God  deals with man, translating the erroneous sense of man into the true sense.  This is what Jesus did as he taught and healed.  He personified "the Christ," illustrating for us our true manhood as perfect, sinless, deathless, unlimited by time or space or material so-called laws. The visions were "by night," "darkness" as defined in the Glossary, p.592., when the material senses are darkened.   Angels were a major part of his messages.  Mrs. Eddy calls angels "God's thoughts passing to man."  (S&H 581: 4) In his first vision, Mind is emphasized.  The light of Mind breaks up the Adam dream as it establishes its omnipresence and omnipotence, its reign over the universe, including man.  Man as the idea of Mind thus reflects Mind's control over the earth.  This is represented by a man riding on a red horse.  Behind him, standing among some trees, were other red horses as well as speckled ones and white ones.  He asked the angel what that meant and was answered: "I will shew thee what these be."  A man that stood among the trees answered:  "These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth...and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest."  (Zech. 1: 8-11)  Then the Lord said, "Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts;  My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad;  and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." (Zech. 1: 8-17)  When the city of Zion, universal consciousness of Love, comes, there will be comfort for the people for this tremendous concept of Mind as Love governing all is the Comforter. What Zechariah sees in his visions is the spiritual concept or idea of man.  It is a vision of man as being freed of a mortal sense of time and space.  It is man as being master of the body, able to take it anywhere thought can go, not reliant upon corporeal brain, bones, muscles, etc., just as Jesus showed us could be done.  After seven visions, the full idea of man is apprehended.  This idea of man is the ideal man, or Christ man, the real man that we all really are.  The Son of God is the Son, or expression, of Truth.  Truth controls error.  The man riding on or accompanied by the red, speckled and white horses, is man, the idea of God, Truth, learning through control of his thinking and actions in his human activities to control (ride on) the three degrees of the Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind.  First degree:  Depravity (red)  Physical;  Second Degree:  Evil Beliefs Disappearing (speckled) Moral;  Third Degree:  Understanding (white)  Spiritual  (S&H 115-116). 
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The real man, having accepted and put into practice the enlightenment that has come to him from Mind, is in complete control of himself, utterly silencing the first degree, the Adam, or false sense, of man.  In the third degree, he is completely unrestricted and can travel freely throughout the whole earth, using his divine consciousness. The earth through his eyes is at rest.  He has broken "earth's stupid rest" which Mrs. Eddy calls the apathy of materialism in her hymn, "Shepherd Show Me How to Go."  (Mis. 398: 8) The man who has reached the status of perfect being in the third degree is the man who has "inherited the earth."  His consciousness is the consciousness of Love, and in his eyes the earth is at rest, all material sense overcome, for earth is truly the reflection of heaven. The second vision illustrates man as the idea of Spirit.  Spirit overcomes matter as the basic substance of the universe.  It is the substance of Mind, the eternal, incorporeal substance of all of Mind's ideas.  Material laws do not apply to a spiritual creation, which creation is.  The vision was of four horns and four carpenters.  When Zechariah asked the angel what they meant, he was told that the horns stood for the Gentiles who had scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem "so that no man did lift up his head [could not see himself as the reflection of God]."  The "Gentiles" were the heathens, and in the vision symbolized reasoning with matter beliefs which scattered the spiritual reasoning typed by Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.  (Of course, the spiritual precepts were not practiced with any regularity for the most part by the Israelites, so the scattering was the result of their own disobedience!) The four "carpenters," who came to cast out the "horns," symbolized the four means of or calculating (reasoning) with spiritual facts.  These four of the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science correct the erroneous material reasoning, and the rebuilding of the unscientifically apprehended body can begin. First, the renovating of our false concepts of body, (which includes just about everything we now believe) must be done on an individual basis.  The textbook tells us: "Knowing the claim of animal magnetism, that all evil combines in the belief of life, substance, and intelligence in matter, electricity, animal nature, and organic life, who will deny that these are the errors which Truth must and will annihilate?  Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the material world and be separate.  They must announce aggression, oppression, and the pride of power.  Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow, must be their queen of life.”  (S&H 450: 29-7 n.p.)  The corporeal sense of body must, and will, yield to the spiritual sense.   At some point, this consciousness of wellness, unlimited joy, freedom from evil and limitation of every sort, will be established as the normal, natural environment and condition of man. Mrs. Eddy speaks of this warfare with the flesh:  "In divine Science, the material man is shut out from the presence of God.  The five material senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit.  They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare of extermination.  The great verities of existence are never excluded by falsity."  (543: 8-16) "Self-abnegation, by which we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in Christian Science.  This rule clearly interprets God as divine 
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Principle, as Life, represented by the Father;  as Truth, represented by the Son;  as Love, represented by the Mother.  Every mortal at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God. "The Scripture, 'Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many,'  is literally fulfilled, when we are conscious of the supremacy of Truth, by which the nothingness of error is seen;  and we know that the nothingness of error is in proportion to its wickedness.  He that touches the hem of Christ's robe and master's his mortal beliefs, animality and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love."  (568: 30: 30-14, n.p.) "Unless the harmony and immortality of man are becoming more apparent, we are not gaining the true idea of God;  and the body will reflect what governs it, whether it be Truth or error, understanding or belief, Spirit or matter.  Therefore, 'acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace.'  Be watchful, sober, and vigilant.  The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life.  It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God."   (324: 7-18) "If God makes sin, if good produces evil, if truth results in error, then Science and Christianity are helpless;  but there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or material, creating and governing man through perpetual warfare.  God is not the author of mortal discords.  Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine Truth and Love destroy."  (231: 12-19) "Superstition and understanding can never combine.  When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth.  As St. Paul says: 'There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God' (of Spirit)." (S&H 288: 9-20, words in parentheses in  original) Zechariah's third vision, expressing Soul, sinless identity, is a man with a measuring line in his hand, going forth to measure Jerusalem, to find its breadth and length.  Then, an angel ran to him to speak to him saying, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:  For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.  (Zech. 2: 1-5)  The antithesis of the real man is the mortal man who wants to measure everything according to material values. Jerusalem, typifying the second definition in the Glossary, "Home, heaven," cannot be measured for it is not a place, but the infinite consciousness of man and is all harmonious. 
Heaven is actually the home in which we dwell now.  "...in Him we live, and move, and have our being."  (Acts 17: 28)  Zechariah typifies  this idea in verse 8 by using a phrase we still use today:  "For thus saith the Lord of hosts;...he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye."  A Bible commentary enlightens us:  The "apple" of the eye is the pupil of your eye 
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in which is reflected the person looking back at you.  It means "the little man in the eye." 
What a perfect way of characterizing the idea of man being God's reflection or creation being reflected back at Him. That is why we can be healed, why we can progress, why we can rely on God; we are already "heirs of God;"  we have all good by reflection.  This has been the forever fact. That which is infinite has no walls.  That which surrounds us in our "home," divine consciousness, is Love.  And that which dwells in the midst of us is Love.  "God is at once the centre and circumference of being."  (S&H 203: 32-1 n.p.)  "The infinite has no beginning.  This word "beginning" is employed to signify the only, that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.  The creative Principle---Life, Truth, and Love-- is God.  The universe reflects God.  There is but one creator and one creation.  This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected.  These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God."  (S&H 502: 24-5 n.p.) Man is as infinite as God.  That is why Jerusalem must be "without walls;" the multitude "within" is infinite. The third vision continues:  "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion:  for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.  And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, ..."  (Zech. 2: 10,11)  We learn here that this vision is for a far future time, the sixth and seventh periods of human history.  That which will come is the Comforter, the Truth concerning the spiritual workings of the universe.  We will learn at that time that God, in His seven-fold nature, does indeed dwell in the midst of us.  Today, we live as testimony to that promise!  Mrs. Eddy, in a message to her first church in 1896, (not the Extension built later), refers to the "daughter of Zion:"  "God hath indeed smiled on my church, this daughter of Zion:  she sitteth in high places; ..."  (Mis. 126: 27, 28)  Mrs. 
Eddy's revelation includes the fact that God includes womanhood.  The "church" built to honor Him includes daughter, as well as and equal to, son. Zechariah's fourth vision, following the Word order of the synonyms for God, emphasizes Principle.  Man is the reflection of Principle and, therefore, he is forever governed by that which is absolutely right and just.  This pure goodness acts to nullify the accusations of personal sense.  "The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates.  Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power.  As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something,..."  (S&H 330: 25-29)  He sees "Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan..."  (Zech. 3: 1,2)  Material sense accuses us before our right Mind day and night. 
We have the right to know that it has already been rebuked forever and has no claim to us. 
Mrs. Eddy writes of it:  "That false claim, that ancient belief, that old serpent whose name is devil )(evil), claiming that there is intelligence in matter either to benefit or to injure men is pure delusion, the red dragon;  and it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual idea, and so proved to be powerless."  (S&H  567: 18-23) 
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In Zechariah's vision, "Joshua  was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him.  And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.  And I said, let them set a fair mitre [turban worn by a bishop showing authority over the church] upon his head... " (Zech., 3: 1-5)  Divine Principle maintains the integrity of man, causing that which claims that man is debased or fallen from grace to be corrected.  The Lord then spoke to Joshua and told him:  "If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by."  (Ibid., 3: 7)  Man as the reflection of Principle reigns in the kingdom of God, Mind. Still in the fourth vision, the Lord continues to address Joshua:  "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee:  for they are men wondered at:  for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.   For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua;  upon one stone shall be seven eyes:..."  (Ibid., 3: 8)   God is analyzed and understood through the "seven eyes" of God, His seven-fold eternal nature. 
Throughout the Old Testament the symbol of a rock or stone has appeared, symbolizing the divine infinite calculus---the way in which Principle operates in practice.  It is the symbol of the universe's rhythmic nature and structure, cyclic movements, harmonious interrelatedness and flow. It is also the symbol for the "city foursquare" of the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science.  It works with the seven synonyms for God as a system for enlightenment as to the very nature and workings of the universe, including man.  What God is and how God operates (man) are one and indivisible. It is with great interest that the word BRANCH is written in all capital letters.  In writing it so, it must be worthy of further study, and thus enlightenment.  In the New Testament, the symbol of the branch was used by Christ Jesus when discussing the need of his disciples to bear much fruit.  Jesus was not the BRANCH prophesied by Zechariah. 
Jesus called himself the vine from which the branches grew.  "I am the vine, ye are the branches:  He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:  for without me ye can do nothing.  (John 15: 5)  His disciples were the branches.  "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love...This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."  (John 15: 10,12)  The branches were to grow out of the Christ, the Truth, in order to bring forth much fruit.  They were to be dependent upon the Truth alone.  Each disciple was responsible for the fruit he brought forth.  He was responsible for following the commandment to love as he knew the Christ loved.  Only that kind of selfless love can serve God and bring forth fruit, demonstrations of healing. Without it, "ye can do nothing." 
Mrs. Eddy used the word BRANCH as used in Zechariah's prophecy and as Jesus used it in the above passage, his last major conversation with his disciples before his crucifixion.  In 1897, Mrs. Eddy gave a gift to her followers, a branch church which would symbolize individual man.  Her instructions were illustrated in her actions which detached the branch from the vine (the Mother Church) upon her decease, as outlined in her Mother 
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Church manual.  Everything Mrs. Eddy did in her founding activities symbolized spiritual ideas meant to further the Cause of divine Science. The branch church was instituted so that students of Christian Science could advance with the help of others until, as individuals, they were ready to let organized activities go. They could use other's inspiration as long as it was not holding back their own. 
It is most important that we learn to be self-governed by reasoning out from God in all of our endeavors, dependent alone on the inspiration which comes from our own Mind, the same Mind that inspired Mrs. Eddy's books for our own individual uses. Mrs. Eddy was trying to show us that the "structure of Truth and Love," which she knew her students embodied, would lead them onward without outside governance.  The Christ, Truth, works in conjunction with Love, as Jesus pointed out to his disciples. 
Christian Science is bringing to the world a great Truth, that we all have the same omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omni-active Mind.  To truly understand that Mind is Love is to be translated out of materiality, and found to be in possession of the Mind, or consciousness, of Love.   Mrs. Eddy closed her seminal work, the Christian Science textbook, with the closing words of the 23rd Psalm, scientifically understood, that sum up the entire message of Christian Science in a few short words:  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;  and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [Love] for ever."  (S&H  78: 16-18) 
In Chapter 4, Zechariah prophesies about another symbol that has a very special meaning in Christian Science.   It is a vision that emphasizes the fifth synonym, Life.  "And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep." (4: 1)  "Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours."  (S&H 95: 29) The angel asked Zechariah,  "What seeth thou? 
And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof:"  (Zech. 4: 2,3) This marvelous "candlestick" is an excellent teaching symbol, its construction being given by Moses which was shown to him by God "on the mount," the mount of revelation. 
The symbolic unfoldment regarding the seven lamps and pipes and the olive trees on either side of the candlestick has come to this age via the Comforter, the revelation of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  When asked about the" two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves," the angel answered:  "These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth."  (Zech. 4: 11-14)  In Revelation, where the Bible's significant symbols are explained, we are told that power is given to "my two witnesses...These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the whole earth."  (Rev. 11: 3, 4) In Christian Science we learn that these two witnesses are symbolized as the manhood and womanhood of God, or, more fully, as Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, typing the Fatherhood of God revealed by Christ Jesus and the Motherhood of God revealed by Mary Baker Eddy.  These symbols are not different things but different aspects of the 
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same thing, the balance necessary to the divine Science which makes up one complete Whole, that which creates and that which is created.  They, in their human and divine depictions, are the two olive branches that pour the oil out of themselves to light the seven lamps. 
In the Glossary, Mrs. Eddy gives us the definition of "oil" as used in the Bible and her writings to elucidate the spiritual meaning.  "OIL. Consecration;  charity;  gentleness; prayer;  heavenly inspiration."  (S&H 592)  Both witnesses poured out their messages of salvation to God's children, messages of health, strength, supply, joy, hope, salvation, and love.  Without their love for mankind and God and their willingness to lay down their own lives (in different ways) for mankind's salvation from sin, sickness, disease, and death, we would still be mired in the false science that has kept us down for thousands of years.  Our hearts are filled with love and gratitude for these "two  anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." In the same vision, Zechariah sees a great mountain, a seeming mountain of error. 
He is told that before  Zerubbabel "it shall become a plain:  and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it...The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house;  his hands shall also finish it;  and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth."  (Zech. 4: 7-10) Mrs. Eddy tells us of the headstone:  "Truth is the rock of ages, the headstone of the corner..."  (S&H 380: 5-6)  It is by God's wondrous grace that there is a Christ or translating aspect to His nature that enables us to recognize and understand Him and that which is spiritual.  The God or Principle of all creation speaks to His creation through symbols that enable us to translate material-seeming things into Spirit.  One of the ways we can do this is by the synonyms for His name (nature) which came to Mrs. Eddy through revelation.  She makes an enlightening comment about them in an article on "Capitalization:"  "A correct use of capital letters in composition caps the climax of the old 'new tongue.'  Christian Science is not understood by the writer or the reader who does not comprehend where capital letters should be used in writing about Christian Science.  In divine Science all belongs to God, for God is All;  hence the propriety of giving unto His holy name due deference,---the capitalization which distinguishes it from all other names, thus obeying the leading of our Lord's Prayer."  ["Hallowed  be Thy Name"]  (My. 225: 6-16) That which Zerubbabel is holding, the plummet, has seven eyes, the names for God which are recognized as such because they are capitalized.  Along with these capitalized names, man can be measured (the plummet) or spiritually understood as the reflection of God, for man's reflected nature is presented in uncapitalized names that are given along with the capitalized names on pp. 115-116 of Science and Health.  The "small things" are the "numerals of infinity," the seven names for God," the fundamentals of being, reflected throughout infinity in countless identities.  "The numerals of infinity, called 'seven days,' can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of life, in which all sense of error forever 
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disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H 520: 10-15)  Scientific capitalization is both the beginning and the end, the foundation stone and the capstone, of the language spoken in the "house of the Lord." The next vision emphasizes the sixth aspect of God's nature, Truth.  Zechariah sees a "flying roll," a rolled up parchment on which writing was inscribed.  It seemed to be of enormous size, twenty cubits or  over thirty feet, and acted as the two-edged sword of Truth, cutting off on one side those that steal, and on the other side those that lie. He was told by the angel that it was "the curse that goeth forth over the whole face of the earth...it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: it shall remain in the midst of the house and shall consume it..."  (Zech. 5: 1-4)   A "roll" in ancient times was our book of today.  The book that covers the whole earth which is a "curse" to the liar and the thief [mortal man who looks at matter and claims that it is of God] is the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  Its message is the Christ, the sword of Truth, which cuts down and utterly destroys, in the consciousness [house] of man the lie that steals from man the truth about his nature as a spiritual idea of God instead of a corporeal mortal conceived and born of matter.  The true Science of man's being is a "curse" to the lie of false science based on the reality of matter. The vision goes on, and Zechariah sees an ephah [a dry measure equal to a little more than a bushel]  containing, the angel said, the wickedness of the whole earth.  A woman sat in the midst of the ephah, and the angel cast a weight of lead on the mouth of the ephah.  This woman symbolized the false sense of womanhood in mortal consciousness, everything that signified lust, impurity, false ego, love of material things, coarseness, wickedness. When he did so, two women with wings came out of the ephah and lifted it up and bore it to the land of Shinar (Babylon) where it would be established on her own base. 
Mrs. Eddy writes:  "To envy's own hell, justice consigns the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's commandments."  (S&H 542: 24-26) 
The two women with wings typed the  womanhood and manhood of immortal man that metaphorically carry the false sense of man to its destruction.  (Ibid., 5: 1-11)  Truth consigns dust to dust.   True womanhood, the highest sense of God's man, will destroy false womanhood.  Because the emphasis here is on womanhood, two women were seen as taking the false sense of woman to her destruction. 
The woman sitting in the ephah of wickedness and taken to Babylon is the same woman who, in the Book of Revelation becomes the harlot of Babylon, called at that time "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."  She is in symbol "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."  (Rev. 17)  The "great city," typed  by Babylon, is the consciousness of corporeal sense.  It will be destroyed by the "roll," the book brought by the angel, and those who did "eat it up" as directed by the angel who brought the "little book," in Rev. 10: 9.  All who read and study Science and Health, imbued with the Truth, will help to raise the consciousness of mankind to the point of defeating the abominations that are committed by a world-wide belief in intelligence, substance, identity, principle, life, truth, and love in matter. 
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In the seventh vision, the emphasis is on Love.  Zechariah lifted up his eyes and beheld four chariots which, he was told, were the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.  They were told to take those of the captivity in Babylon to get silver and gold to make crowns  and set them on the head of Joshua, the high priest. Then they were to speak to him:  "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH;  and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord [the consciousness of universal divine Science]:  ...and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne;  and he shall be a priest upon his throne:  and the counsel of the peace shall be between them both...And they that are far off shall come and build the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.  And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God."  (Zech. 6: 1,5,10-13,15, emphasis not in original) "The four" of the Word, the Christ, Christianity, and Science is the true universal spiritual man, that which gathers the whole realm of Love unto itself.  All who were in "captivity" in "Babylon," and have come out, gather the gold and silver of their precious freedom from mortality and crown the high priest, Joshua, typing Jesus the Christ, as that which types themselves.  They have learned from the book they have eaten up, (for they were consumed with hunger for the Truth), a most wonderful fact:  "For this Principle [of healing] there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly.  Its only crowned head is immortal sovereignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man.  The Bible declares that all believers are made 'kings and priests unto God.' " (S&H 141: 17-21) We are again dealing with "the man whose name is The BRANCH."  The crowned man is the one who will "build the temple of the Lord."  The crowns were made for only one man, the universal reflection of the one God, but this reflection is individualized as infinite identities, each "little one," undiminished from the whole,  having a crown of self- government, a principled consciousness which "builds the temple of the Lord (which manifests the body of Truth)."  Joshua signifies that state of consciousness that led the children of Israel into the Promised Land in the third thousand year period, and then in the fourth thousand year period that same symbol is used for that state of consciousness governed by divine Principle. In "the last days," the sixth period, Mrs. Eddy used the symbol of the self-governing man, The BRANCH, when founding a temporary Mother Church which would, as established in her Mother Church manual, automatically become a self-governing  branch church symbolizing "generic man," dependent upon no material organization."  (S&H 509: 3)  Thus, this branch symbolizes Israel's (mankind's ) resurrection body.  The world is awaiting this manual-provided step to be taken by those who are "far off" from Zechariah's time and place.  It will "come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God."  (Zech. 6: 15)  It is time for this symbol to be recognized for what it represents, the resurrection of the sense of a corporeal, mortal, made-of-matter, deteriorating body to an eternal, made-of-spirit, ever healthy and whole spiritual body, dependent alone upon its Source, Mind.  Natural science and divine Science are coinciding;  the world is awaking out 
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of its long sleep.  The natural man must come into his own, his divine status as the reflection of the universe's one and only Science, divine Principle. Zechariah's seven visions have ended.  The Christ Science came to him as the Word of God.  It now comes to him as the Christ and he begins his prophesies.  Chapter 7 illustrates the way in which the Christ comes to the human understanding and translates that which is not of God into the purity of spiritual manhood.  It works in a different order of the synonyms for God.  The "Word order" which begins  with Mind, enlightenment, and continues with the synonyms given in symbol in the days of creation, ends with Love, the full effulgence of the light, signifying fulfillment.   The "Christ order" of the synonyms begins with Principle. Science and Health instructs us:  "The divine Principle of the universe must interpret the universe."  (S&H 272: 28-29)  Jesus as the Christ came to interpret for mankind what God is by his words and works, which together illustrated a Principle he was abiding by and demonstrating.  He was exemplifying God's nature in a specific way that could be used by others.  If a teacher begins with an absolute principle that can be demonstrated time after time once its system is learned, he can be assured of success with his students.   So the "Christ order" of the synonyms begins with Principle.  Jesus not only deeply understood the Principle he taught, but he embodied it.  He was the operation of the Principle.  He asserted that he was "the way, the truth, and the life."  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."  (John 14: 6) The "way" we discern order instead of chaos is through a principle.  Neither math nor music could be learned or demonstrated until its principles are understood.  So Principle begins the "Christ order" of the synonyms.  It then advances to the next synonym, Life, and then to Truth, just as Jesus did in his quote above.  Continuing with that order as shown to Moses "on the mount of revelation and revealed in Christian Science, the next candlestick representing God's nature is the last one on the right, Love.  In Science and Health, the Glossary definition for MOTHER is:  "God;  divine and eternal Principle;  Life, Truth, Love."  (592)  The "Christ order" begins with the Principle behind the universe which interprets itself as Life (the Father), Truth (the Son), and Love (the Mother).  It then takes this warm and beautiful sense of man's oneness with God and through Soul, next to Principle on the other side of the candlestick, multiplies itself as countless spiritual identities, for Soul is a spiritual sense of identity;  then through Spirit, next to Soul going to the left, it keeps this idea of man absolutely pure, uncontaminated by human hypotheses, its expression safe, embraced in the Mind which conceives it, (last candlestick on the left),  and forever images it forth as a unique and beloved reflection of its wonderful seven-fold nature, the reflection we call "man." The Christ is a Savior because, like a loving human parent, its office or job is to bring to manifestation the ideal man of God's creating.  This can happen through Science or suffering.  If a child is learning how to become a good, responsible, and virtuous  member of society, its caring parents must teach it how.  If the child obeys its parents' rules and precepts that were ordained to bring out the qualities needed for such behavior, it will be a happy and progressive child.  If, on the other hand, the child refuses to obey the precepts laid down by 
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the parents, symbolizing Principle, they, through deep love for the child, must take action to enforce the rules for the benefit of the child.  The child, of course, has brought upon himself the enforcement that may include some kind of punishment/suffering.  And so each of us learns, either through Science, the good, or suffering, the saving Christ, how to become that which in truth we really are, the ideal of God. Hard lessons become blessings that turn us around to behold our true selfhood as the reflection of God, infinite good.  We learn that this reflection is everywhere and cannot exist in isolation.  "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love.  It is unselfish;  therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it."  (S&H 57: 18-21, emphasis not in original)  To come to this apprehension is our saving grace which holds an abundance of blessings.  The "hard lesson" often ends up topping our gratitude list! 
How are we pardoned for our sins?  In the first verse, certain men were sent to the priests and prophets to ascertain whether or not they should perform their rituals in the house of God, fasting and mourning in the fifth and seventh months.  They were in doubt and wanted to know what was the highest sense of right. They turned to the ones who could interpret Principle. In answer to their questions, the Lord spoke to Zephaniah:  "When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?  And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?"  (Zech. 7: 1-6)  Zechariah reminded them of what the former prophets had implored them to do, and he reiterated it to them. Ritualistic practices done out of a sense of obligation or for show are good for nothing.  God (Principle) always had given them the indication of true worship:  "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:  And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor;  and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart."  Is this not Fatherhood speaking?   Zechariah quoted God's continuing message to them, "But they refused to hearken...stopped their ears, that they should not hear.  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law...Therefore it is come to pass, that as they cried, and they would not hear;  so they cried, and I would not hear...But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not.  Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man returned..."  (Ibid. 7: 7-14)  Mrs. Eddy has this to say about such behavior:  "Self-love is more opaque than a solid body.  In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,- --self-will, self-justification, and self-love,---which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death."  (S&H 242: 15-20) The belief that we can operate separate from divine Principle "punishes" us, for it cuts us off from the true sense of Life which is always good.  The divine Principle has an ideal, the Christ man, and it cannot be separated from it.  When it is not being manifested, life seems desolate, blessings cannot be multiplied, abundance dries up, there is a  poverty sense. Fatherhood qualities are necessary among mankind, for they bring good judgment, abundance, equality, temperance, steadfastness, wisdom, and joy in work well done.  The nation of Israel turned its back on divine Principle for so long that it did indeed cut itself off 
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from its source of multiplication, abundance, Fatherly care, and, in fact, its whole inheritance in the Promised Land and was scattered among the  nations "whom they knew not of."  However, today, in this seventh period, it is promised that they shall be regathered, as a part of those nations to which they were scattered, and will be restored as the "New Jerusalem," " the city set on a hill," and a universal consciousness of good shall reign, and life will be experienced on a much higher plane of consciousness.  At that point, suffering will have had its day, and Science will reign supreme, for Life is stronger than anything that can oppose it. Chapter 8 expresses a tone of Truth, true sonship.  Mrs. Eddy quotes St. John from his gospel:  "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."  Then she elaborates:  " 'As many as received him;'  that is, as many as perceive man's actual existence in and of his divine Principle, receive the truth of existence, and find their adoption with the Father;  to wit, the redemption of the body.  Through divine Science man gains the power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect and eternal estate."  (Mis. 182: 5-13) 
The word of the Lord again came to Zechariah:  "Thus saith the Lord;  I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem:  and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth;  and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain."  This "mountain" symbol in the Bible in its positive sense usually stands for the divine infinite calculus, or reasoning from the spiritual.  "...There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem... And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.  Thus saith the Lord of hosts;  if it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts...I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;  And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness." (Zech. 8: 3-8) Truth will be that from which man reasons, the " holy mountain," and the "city of truth" will be inhabited by generic man, the infinite range of God's ideas, true sonship. We have seen the Christ expressed in its nature as Father and as Son.  Now the tenor of the messages from God takes on the expression of a Mother sense of the Christ, that which blesses, satisfies, and fulfills.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching.  Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way."  (S&H 454: 17-19) 
"...now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.  For the seed shall be prosperous;  the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew;  and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things...so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing:...These are the things that ye shall do;  Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor;  execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:"   (Zech. 8: 11-16) A great sense of love will overtake the "remnant “of the people, and they will be full of the Truth about man, speak that Truth, demonstrate that Truth, and there shall be peace. 
A sense of love for God and man, a sense of living and flowing within a universal plan 
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within which all are included, no one is left out, all nations, classes, individuals, working joyously together as one Mind, the consciousness of Love.  "Thus saith the Lord of hosts;  It shall come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:  And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts:  I will go also.  Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord of hosts;  In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you:  for we have heard that God is with you."   (Ibid., 8: 19-23)  Zechariah was able to see the time when the Christ ideal would be in universal operation and each individual expression of that ideal would experience the consciousness of Love in which life is filled with satisfaction, peace, unity, and demonstrations of infinite good.  True manhood and womanhood will be established as the full image and likeness of God. In Chapter 9, Zechariah sees the tone of Soul in his Christ message. The spiritual identity each of us has is absolutely safe from that which seems to have power to harm or contaminate it.  "...when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord," no matter what aggressive power seems to surround her, they will be smitten and cut off by the Truth of Soul's immutable and perfect being.  "And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth:  and no oppressor shall pass through them any more:  for now have I seen with mine eyes."  (9: 1)  In reflection, what God sees with His eyes, man sees with his eyes. 
God's "house" is His infinite body of right ideas about which He "encamps" or surrounds. 
Because of this great fact of Truth, they cannot be oppressed. Now comes a most wonderful prophecy, fulfilled in the New Testament, prophesying the coming of Jesus Christ, the "King."  "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:  behold, thy King cometh unto thee:  he is just, and having salvation;  lowly, and riding on an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."  (Zech. 9: 9)  In Matt. 21:2, we read Jesus' words to his disciples as he gives them directions on finding an animal to ride upon when he makes his triumphal appearance in the streets of Jerusalem: "Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her:  loose them, and bring them unto me.  And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them;  and straightway he will send them.  All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.  And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon." Zechariah continues:  "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off:  and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:  and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth."  (Ibid., (9: 10)  The purity of Spirit knows no warfare.  Spirit separates all supposed material causes and effects from the one Cause with its simultaneous harmonious effects. 
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The Christ came as the man Jesus in the beginning of the fifth period, and his influence spread only to a small portion of the world during his time, but his Gospel of salvation was spread by his disciples and apostles, and others through the long centuries after them.  Today, the second coming of the Christ as the Comforter is now enabling it to be spread "even to the ends of the earth."  The Christ always comes in meekness.  It is the true humility which can say, "Thy will be done."  There is power in humility, for then there is no sense of any other identity but the divine identity one has with God.  It is the only way that Spirit can work, with man's sense of himself as being completely separated from matter and material circumstances.  Jesus never played to the puffed up material senses of the Jewish leaders of his day, but spoke peace to the "ordinary" people for they were more lowly and meek in heart, craving the truth he spoke and demonstrated. This was not only true for Jesus, but is true in all aspects of life in all ages, from the small child to the most mature and sophisticated.  One must be teachable, not believing he already knows all he needs to know. Now Zechariah alludes to Jesus as a spiritual Shepherd:  "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people:"  The New Testament carries on that symbol of "shepherd:"  "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep...and I lay down my life for the sheep... And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:  them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;  and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd...” (John 10:  14-18)  Jesus laid down his life for all of us, and that laying down also included his ability to "take it again," to resurrect himself so that we could understand better the nothingness of matter and the allness of Spirit.  Jesus' immediate "flock" was a tiny group of men and women who suffered tremendously for their adherence to his command to "feed my sheep."  Their sense of "feeding" wasn't with words only, but was accompanied by the wonderful healing works which Jesus did and told them to do.  Then Zechariah alludes to the crown they gained, in the next life, as a result of their faithfulness and as their pure example for the rest of those who would follow their example in the centuries to come :  "for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.  For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!"  (Zech. 9: 16,17) Mrs. Eddy addresses Jesus' flock of today, no longer "tiny" but grown worldwide: "The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, separated by belief from man's divine origin and the true idea, will through much tribulation yield to the activities of the divine Principle of man in the harmony of Science.  These are the stars in the crown of rejoicing.  They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting the light which shines 'unto the perfect day' as the night of materialism wanes." (S&H 562: 11-21)  Conversely, Mrs. Eddy also says:  "A correct view of Christian Science and of its adaptation to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen.  Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched.  They never crown the power of Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, nor insist upon the fact that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind."  (S&H 116:  11-19) 
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Nothing can save us but the understanding that each of us is the expression of "the spiritual idea," the "ideal," or, "image and likeness" of God.  This understanding, illustrated by Christ Jesus each time he healed someone and with which he raised himself from "the dead,"  which proved it, is our Messiah, or Savior. 
In Chapters 10-14, Zechariah begins to symbolize Christianity where the spiritual nature of the idea is depicted.   You may ask how Zechariah knew about Christianity in order to symbolize it.  God's nature has always included the Christ, Truth.  He had already grasped the fact that mankind was going to need to witness the Truth in a way he could understand, a "shepherd" who would lead the way. Obviously the Old Testament prophets were far beyond the spiritual awareness of most of the Israelites of their day.  They cloaked their messages in symbols the people could understand.  The major prophets demonstrated their advanced apprehension with acts we can't even repeat today!  They may not have known the details of the life of Jesus, but they certainly predicted the major events with amazing perception.  Their elevated spiritual sense caught the tones of God's seven-fold nature, and they knew it would be demonstrated at some future time when we were advanced enough to receive it.  They also knew it would not come until man stopped believing in and idolizing matter as if it had intelligence and power. 
Science and Health tells us:  "The prophets of old looked for something higher than the systems of their times;  hence their foresight of the new dispensation of Truth.  But they knew not what would be the precise nature of the teaching and demonstration of God, divine Mind, in His more infinite meanings,---the demonstration which was to destroy sin, sickness, and death, establish the definition of omnipotence, and maintain the Science of Spirit."  (270: 14-21) We will look at the highlights of Chapter 10 which bring out the necessity of starting with Principle, the divine law which governs everything in the universe.  If we ignore this Principle, we cannot do the works of Christ Jesus which, as Christians, we are commanded to do.  "The Scientist's demonstration rests on one Principle, and there must and can be no opposite rule."  (S&H 457: 28-30)  Right away, in verse 1, Zechariah states the result of beginning with Principle:  "Ask ye the Lord [divine Principle] rain in the time of the latter rain;  so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field."  Mrs. Eddy makes this very pertinent statement using the symbol of rain: "Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the substance of an idea is very far from being the supposed substance of non-intelligent matter.  Hence the Father Mind is not the father of matter. 
“The material senses  and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic God, instead of infinite Principle,--- , in other words, divine Love,---is the father of the rain, 'who hath begotten the drops of dew, who bringeth 'forth Mazzaroth in his season,' and guideth 'Arcturus with his sons' ."  (S&H 257: 12-21)  The Father Mind is divine Principle that does everything that is necessary for His universe.  Zechariah then goes on and speaks of dependence on matter instead of Principle:  "For the idols  have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams;  they comfort in vain:  therefore they went their way as a flock, they were 
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troubled, because there was no shepherd."  (Ibid., 10: 2)   "Principle is not to be found in fragmentary ideas."  (S&H 302: 1-2)  To demonstrate a full blessing, the wholeness of the Giver, Principle, must be affirmed. In the rest of the Chapter, Zechariah dwells on the tone of Mind, giving a beautiful sense of Mind's empowerment, as it guides, guards, and governs its idea in every undertaking:  "And I will strengthen the house of Judah ["the spiritual understanding of God appearing"], and I will save the house of Joseph [the true womanhood in us which demonstrates the divine idea],...for I have mercy upon them:  and they shall be as though I had not cast them off:  for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.  And they of Ephraim [the kingdom of Israel] shall be like a mighty man...their heart shall rejoice in the Lord...for I have redeemed them:...And I will sow them among the people:  and they shall remember me in far countries;  and they shall live with their children, and turn again.  I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria [symbols of idol worship]... And I will strengthen them in the Lord;  and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord."  (Zech. 10: 6-7, 9-10, 12) These two statements from Mrs. Eddy bring out divine Mind's tender ministrations as the parent Mind of us all:  "The 'divine ear' is not an auditory nerve.  It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied."  (S&H 7: 23-26) "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings."  (Ibid., vii: 1-2)  Zechariah is catching a glimpse of the last days when Israel is in far countries where they have been "sowed" by the Lord.  After having to come again out of idol-worship, (matter in general, not just the idols they worshipped of wood, stone, and gold),  they will turn again to their Lord, divine Mind. Chapter 11 is rather obscure unless looked at through the lens of Soul.  Soul obliterates false identity with sin in all its guises and preserves the identity of the spiritual idea.  Mrs. Eddy gives us a much needed explanation of this fact:  "Soul is immortal because it is Spirit, which has no element of self-destruction.  Is man lost spiritually?  No, he can only lose a sense material.  All sin is of the flesh.  It cannot be spiritual.  Sin exists here or hereafter only so long as the illusion of mind in matter remains.  It is a sense of sin, and not a sinful soul, which is lost.  Evil is destroyed by the sense of good...So long as we believe that soul can sin or that immortal soul is in mortal body, we can never understand the Science of being.  When humanity does understand this Science, it will become the law of life to man,-- -even the higher law of Soul, which prevails over material sense through harmony and immortality."  (S&H  311: 7-13, 19-25) Soul is the unadulterated nature of spiritual identity, and its opposite sense is portrayed as the belief that one's soul or identity belongs to himself as his own personal possession with which he can work evil if he so desires.  Zechariah uses an event yet to come, the betrayal of Christ Jesus by Judas Iscariot, to portray this false sense of identity which is completely dependent upon matter and matter's desires. There is no sense of Principle governing one who can cavalierly cast aside God's or civil society's moral code to suit one's own selfish ends.  It is often seen as the "holier than thou" attitude, which Paul calls "spiritual wickedness in high places.” "...we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but 
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against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."(Eph. 6: 12) The chapter begins with the howling of burning trees, the cedars of Lebanon, which are on top of a mountain, and the howling of shepherds, symbolizing the spiritual leaders who should have been leading their "flock," but were not.  Inspiration should have come from those who were supposed to be the examples of holiness to their people.  "There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds;  for their glory is spoiled:…"   Thus saith the Lord my God;  Feed the flock of the slaughter [the sheep set aside for slaughter];  Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty:  and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord;  for I am rich:  and their own shepherds pity them not." (Zech. 11: 15) God will feed the flock.  Spiritual identity will be preserved.  "The pride of priesthood is the prince of this world.  It has nothing in Christ.  Meekness and charity have divine authority."  (S&H 270: 22-24) 
"And I took unto me two staves [staffs];  the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands;  and I fed the flock." (Zech. 11: 7)   Dummelow's says the word "Favour" is better than "Beauty."  It signifies God's protecting care.  (p. 609)  Soul always gives a sense of safety.  "Bands" means "unity" or "union." (Ibid.)   These two staffs are symbols of true identity.  They indicate the absolute safety of the unalterable nature of spiritual identity in which man is bound to God in perfect union.  They can also stand for the union of manhood and womanhood irrevocably linked in one identity.  These complementary qualities are gender-neutral and prevent the "holier than thou" ego that ignores and "pities not" the flock. 
However, the "shepherds" were indicted, for their "flock," the Jews who depended on them for spiritual guidance and looked to them as examples of God's laws, were intent upon making themselves rich and they had no pity for those they betrayed.  "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month;  and my soul loathed them, and their soul abhorred me."  Then said I, I will not feed you:  that that dieth, let it die:  and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another."  (Zech 8-9) 
Spiritual pride, an egregious sense of false identity, breaks the precious sense of being "favoured of" or protected by God.  Therefore, God's covenant of protection and favor for the Israelites is broken.  "And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all people.  And it was broken in that day: " (Ibid., 10, 11)  "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price;  and if not, forbear.  So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.  And the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter [the treasury in the temple]:  a goodly price that I was prised at of them.  And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.  Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel."  (Ibid., 12 14)   If Jesus had been accepted by his people instead of being rejected and crucified, Israel, symbolized by Jesus of the lineage of David, and the elders and priests of the temple coming from Judah, would have been united, and the world would have spiritually advanced without suffering for thousands more years. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instrument of a foolish shepherd. 
For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, 
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neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!  the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye:  his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened."  (Ibid., 11: 15-17)  To the state of thought that has only his own interests in mind, who cares not about the consequences of his selfishness, who embraces duplicity which comes from a sense of being evil as well as good, who loves only his own mortal self, he will suffer the loss of spiritual power and become "utterly darkened." 
One sees Zechariah using an example that sounds in many ways like the betrayal of Christ Jesus by Judas Iscariot. The Lord told Zechariah to use a foolish shepherd as an example.  Judas was a "foolish shepherd," to put it mildly.  It was certainly an event that would be at a future time.  Judas had been plotting to betray Jesus.  He was a disciple of Jesus, and Jesus was depending upon his disciples to carry on his work when he was gone. 
They were to be shepherds to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  (Matt. 10: 1-6)   "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you:  as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."  (John 20: 21)  In verse 8, who were the "three shepherds" that were cut off, that the Lord (Soul) loathed?  Could they have been the priests, elders, and Judas Iscariot who covenanted with them to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver?  "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?  And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. After Jesus had been betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas saw him the next morning being led away to Pontius Pilate and "repented of himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,  Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.  And they said, What is that to us?...And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.  And the chief priests took the thirty pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.  And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury the strangers in. 
Could not Judas have been the "idol shepherd" that left the flock?   Was not his punishment total loss of spiritual power and utterly darkened spiritual sense?  Zechariah said this about the shepherds God loathed:  "I will not feed you:  that that dieth, let it die;  and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off;...and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another." (verse 9)  Spiritual wickedness in high places cuts itself off from spiritual inspiration.  The self-absorbed pride of the "idol shepherd" keeps him from being able to work out his problems through Science which requires self-abnegation.  Thus, he must endure suffering until it is cleansed of every high thought that vaunteth itself against the Lord, against divine Principle.  This suffering will go on into the next life or lives if necessary.  Divine Science will not be mocked.  "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16: 18) Mrs. Eddy speaks of this aberration of mortal mind:  "We may well be astonished at sin...and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions of evil...The ten horns of the dragon [in the Book of Revelation] typify the 
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belief that by means of an evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be broken...Its sting is spoken of by St. Paul, when he refers to "spiritual wickedness in high places."  It is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel them to devour each other...As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error's own nature and methods.  This malicious animal instinct, of which the dragon is the type, incites mortals to kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals, and worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime.  This last infirmity of sin will sink its perpetrator into a night without a star."   (S&H 563: 3-7,10- 14,29-9 n.p.) In Soul we lay off a sense of false identity (being inside a material body from which we derive our intelligence and our identity).  In Chapter 12, we gain a sense of order and purity which Spirit gives to our spiritual identity.  We are not born into matter, finding ourselves forever at the mercy of chance.  Our spiritual identity is our natural birthright, and it develops according to the operation of Spirit in a natural, orderly way.  There is much said about Judah, "the spiritual understanding of God and man appearing" as defined in the Glossary.  (589)  It is also set in the time-frame of in that day.  We are now living in that day, the seven thousandth year time-frame of which Zechariah was speaking.  Take heed! The chapter begins with a broad sense of the power of "the Lord" as Creator of the universe including man:  "The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him."  (Zech. 12: 1)  Spirit is the only Creator.  "The scientific fact that man and the universe are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.  Mortals can never understand God's creation while believing that man is a creator.  God's children already created will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being.  Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion as the false and material disappears."  (S&H 69: 2-10)  Judah is Zechariah's symbol for the natural appearing of the ideal man through the order and development of Spirit. In verses 2 and 3, the Lord says:  "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:  all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."  Zechariah is foretelling the tremendous opposition which will ensue as the "divine infinite calculus," the "stone" is brought before mortal mind. This "stone" or  "rock" has symbolized throughout the Scriptures the way in which mankind will finally be delivered from the "devil" or "Satan," or lie, which has veiled mankind's dominion over matter and made us the most weak, pitiful, and hopeless of creatures. What is this "stone" again?  It is divine Science expressed as the scientific reality of man and the universe.  It will take us out of the birth-to-death cycle and lift us into conscious spiritual harmony and eternal being.  We will find ourselves to be in possession of the Mind of Christ, Truth, with "matter" under our feet.  "These days [seven days of creation signifying the nature of God] will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts 
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the divine infinite calculus."  (S&H 520: 12-15)  This will eventually happen on this earth, not in another realm we cannot see.   The healings of Jesus and others in the Bible took place where men could see it .  They were not miraculous.  We will all learn to do it, and it will be natural and normal until no longer needed.  At that point will come the ascension for each of us. What God is and how God operates are one and indivisible.  God is revealed in Science and Health, the Comforter, as seven synonymous terms:  Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love.  God operates as the Word (spiritual unfoldment), the Christ (that unfoldment to individual consciousness), Christianity (unfoldment to universal consciousness) and Science (Science is Truth, and Truth is the self-knowledge of God.  It is what the infinite Mind knows itself to be, which is reflected in its universe of ideas.) Jerusalem is defined in the Glossary as:  "Mortal belief and knowledge obtained from the five corporeal senses;  the pride of power and the power of pride;  sensuality;  envy; oppression;  tyranny.  Home, heaven."  (589)  We know as we've studied the Scriptures that the pure symbol that was Jerusalem in the very beginning lost its purity as it became a material temple, a place, in the minds of the Hebrews  in which the Lord resided.  Rituals and feasts and sacrifices were made to Him as if He were a man-like Deity, more like their surrounding neighbors worshipped their gods.  The true spiritual concept that man is God- like was inverted.  At that point, Jerusalem became more like the first part of its definition, very materialistic.  It is what the prophets railed against for centuries.  The temple itself took on more importance than what it symbolized.  The authoritative heads at the temple were looked up to for guidance.  Following their lead began to seem more important than the Lord they served. So it is the age-old mistake of centralizing the worship of God in a place that needs constant material upkeep, that requires authorities and members to be there for all of the "upkeep" items, programs, counting money, committee work, maintenance, etc.   The "new Jerusalem" is its original symbol as given at the end of its definition.  It is the realization that we are always "at home," in "heaven, harmony" with God, that God is our very Life and Mind, the Principle of our very existence, our Father-Mother that supplies us with all we need every moment.  There is no oppression or tyranny, sensuality or envy, pride of power or mortal belief.  The only need is on the adherent's part, to constantly identify oneself with God's nature, to keep oneself morally pure, to obey God's Commandments and the Golden Rule, and to strive to go ever higher in the understanding of God through prayer, study, and healing.  All of these are done on an individual basis, but certainly do not exclude happy fellowship with others.   If we turn to a material place, or acknowledge any material power, including other mortal minds, for spiritual direction, the first part of the definition of Jerusalem comes into play.  It becomes a "burdensome stone."  It will tend to desecrate, or "cut to pieces," our individual spiritual growth, for material organization is a burden on everyone.   A material temple is the symbol for a material body which must be put off as we spiritually advance.  This step will likely take more than this lifetime, but we certainly don't want to truncate our progress! 
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"And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God."  (Ibid. 12: 5)  All of the inhabitants of Israel will turn to God alone for strength.  " In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;  and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right and on the left;  and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem."  (Ibid. 12: 6)  The "spiritual understanding of God and man appearing " (Judah) will purify and destroy all that is unlike the spiritual idea of God, the false sense of man, and man will inhabit, in his purified spiritual consciousness, the true sense of Jerusalem, "home, heaven." "The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah."  (Ibid. 12: 6,7)  First, Judah, "the spiritual understanding of God and man" will be established.  Then, the house of David, the symbol of the unity of true manhood and womanhood, will appear, and finally Jerusalem, "home, heaven" will be gained.        "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;  and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David;  and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them."  (Ibid. 12: 8)  Inhabiting the consciousness of harmony (Jerusalem) will mean that thought will be no more feeble, but pure, innocent, strong---just as David was when he went forth to slay Goliath and needed only one of the five smooth stones which he chose from the brook.  He refused the sword and armour and relied on the stone of Spirit.  True strength and purity, manhood and womanhood, the full nature of God, will be established in the individual consciousness one by one until mankind in general will understand the Truth and demonstrate it.          "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."   And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:  and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."  (Ibid., 12: 9-10)  This verse about mourners mourning for "him whom they have pierced...as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" can be looked at in two distinctly different ways, both positive:  The first way is more literal, but is certainly a necessity in Christian Science. 
Mankind must come to understand the real reason for Jesus' death on the cross, his three days in the tomb, and his resurrection where he presented his body whole to his disciples. 
I will never forget the first time I read about it in Science and Health, Chapter 2, "Atonement and Eucharist."  I was sitting in bed late one night in the rented house we were in at the time, my sister asleep beside me. I had been raised in a Christian church and knew the details of the crucifixion and resurrection stories well.  I had been grateful that Jesus, as I had been taught, had died for my sins.  So instead of going to hell, if I but believed on him, I would go to heaven when I died.  But the Comforter introduced me to another view.  I learned that what Jesus willingly died for had much greater ramifications for all mankind, for his death on the cross and resurrection of his body which he showed to others after his death, was proof that death is not necessary for anyone to "get into heaven."   His 
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magnificent sacrifice and the appalling circumstances under which it played out, the awful burden of that hour, more terrible than anything I could have imagined, brought heavy tears of repentance and mourning for what he endured for myself and all of mankind.  It was as if I could see the whole spectacle before me.  I  was affected by that late night revelation for many days and it brought tears to my eyes every time I thought about it.  He gave his own body to show us a scientific fact that will, in the centuries to come, forever eliminate the sorrows and horrors of death from the existence of mankind. I learned:  "Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious effort.  Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God... That God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural.  Such a theory is man-made.  The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scientific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love."  (S&H 22: 23-29;  23: 5-11 I believe that many a reader of Science and Health has felt the same deep repentance and gratitude I felt as I read about Jesus' sacrifice for us, and I'm sure many other readers of the "little book" will, in the centuries to come, shed the same tears.   When we realize how much we have to overcome to separate ourselves from the material, how much we have to subjugate the love of the material, that, too, can be a mournful struggle.  However our yearning for our true spiritual nature will replace the sadness with joy of a higher kind and "Blessed are they that mourn:  for they shall be comforted."   (Matt. 5: 4)  Spiritual grace and "supplications," the ability to prayerfully work out individually the suggestions that come to the spiritualized consciousness of separation from good, understanding that there is "only one I or Us,"  is the "sword of the Spirit" which protects and keeps pure the "inhabitants of Jerusalem." A second way to look at the general tone of verses 10-14 is that the mourners who are "in bitterness for [their] firstborn"  will be those who are yearning to understand their true spiritual nature.  (When the Bible uses the term "firstborn," it means one's true spiritual nature.)  We may long to demonstrate Christian Science, but find it difficult to part with our most cherished material beliefs, (that's most of us!)  We find that we have to individually study, ponder, pray, and reflect on the Truth we are learning in Christian Science. 
As "the house of David,"  the fullness of God's nature as womanhood and manhood, is poured out upon us, we will want to individually read and study and prayerfully reason with the facts we are learning about our new-found life in Mind.  "Every family apart, and their wives apart,"  (Zech. 12: 10-14) each one individually taking a quiet time to embrace in thought the healing, supporting, uplifting ideas that come to us from God, our pure and present Mind.  At the same time, we examine the problems we are facing from the standpoint of divine Principle, and pray with the Truth to see their nothingness, without cause, life, effect, intelligence, history, substance, sensation, form, or power.  This individual "alone time" is much cherished by Christian Scientists every day, usually before the day gets 
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started.  It sets the tone for our business of the day, enabling us to joyfully realize that Love is ever-present to meet every human need. These days, many people around the world seem to be technologically connected to "others" all during the day and into the evening.  There will come a time when, more than anything else, we will cherish our alone time with our Father-Mother God. Chapter 13 is still set in that day, with tones of Life, Truth, and Love.  Christianity always includes the inseparable relationship of Father, Son, and Mother and is that which brings salvation to man.  Salvation is defined in the Glossary as "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all;  sin, sickness, and death destroyed." (S&H 593: 20-22)  Due to the coming of the Comforter, this is the period when this definition will be realized.  The universal realization that Father (Mind), Son (Truth), and Mother (Love) is that which each one of us reflects as the image and likeness of God.  We must insist that it be manifested here, right here where we live and move and have our being every day.  Salvation of mind includes salvation of body.  Mrs. Eddy states:  "The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon.  Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate.  Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness. 
Does not God's pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy and involve the final destruction of all sin?"  (S&H 339: 1-6) 
Zechariah begins with a wonderful symbol:  "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."   (13: 1)  In Revelation we read:  "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."  (21: 6)  Psalm 36: 9 says:  "For with thee is the fountain of life:  in thy light shall we see light."  In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes:  "In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as 'a very present help in trouble.'  Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals.  It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' "  (12: 31-4 n.p.) Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria that "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;  but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."  (John 4: 14)  The fountain of life is the fresh outpouring of inspiration which comes to mankind as he finds himself in the heaven of Soul, sinless identity.  This inspiration comes from the Christ as the Comforter to this age.  In verse 2, Zechariah prophesies:  "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered:  and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land."  Mrs. Eddy writes about this period:  "Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed material foundations of life and intelligence.  It dooms idolatry.  A belief in other gods, other creators, and other creations must go down before Christian Science.  It unveils the results of sin as shown in sickness and death.  When will man pass through the open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul, into the heritage of the first born among men?  Truth is indeed "the way." (S&H 535: 10-18) 
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In verses 3 and 4 Zechariah talks about false prophecy.  He isn't talking about the kind of prophets  we've been studying in the Old Testament.  They were spiritually advanced and voiced God's Word to a recalcitrant people.  "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath prophesied; ..."  The prophecy which goes on today comes from mortal mind and testifies to mortal mind's erroneous beliefs. This kind of prophecy is very active today.  We speak of sickness and disease, that certain conditions are sure to develop or worsen.  We prophesy that unfortunate or bad events are bound to happen because conditions seem ripe for them.  When we see certain actions on the part of people, governments, nations, etc., we foretell their futures as being good or bad.  This seems perfectly natural, but in Christian Science we learn to correct in our thought a prophecy that foretells evil in some respect.  We cannot predict evil when we have been holding in thought the allness of good, God. We try to "father" and "mother"  the thoughts that come to us, finding the good to know about them.  If the evil seems to originate with our thought (our "son"), we can instantly destroy it with the Truth.  We can say in Zechariah's language:  "...thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord."  ( Zech. 13: 3-4) True consciousness uncovers the errors of belief.  The uncovering is their destruction.  This is not naiveté, but divine Science, the mind which was in Christ Jesus which we are to accept as our mind.  "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."  (Phil. 2: 5)  When this is done on a broad basis, it will be the end of false prophesies, for we will know better than to give credence to evil, and those that do will be "ashamed" of themselves. Mrs. Eddy makes a statement in her Mother Church Manual which corresponds with this:  It is under the heading, "A Rule for Motives and Acts." (Article viii.  Sect. 1)  "The members of this church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing, or being influenced erroneously."   True brotherly love which comes with Christianity is careful about voicing negative thoughts and usually finds it best to correct the negativity in our thought with the positive rather than voicing anything at all. Of course, there are times when evil must be told for safety's sake or to obey a law.  When we are "prophesying" correctly, from Principle, we are conscious of the Truth of spiritual facts.  We can only prophesy erroneously when we are letting material sense govern us. Zechariah's next two verses indicate some foreknowledge of Jesus' crucifixion since Jesus quoted part of it as pertaining to himself:   "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?  Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."  He is alluding to Christ Jesus' wounds, the nail prints in his palms. 
Jesus was nailed on the cross by those who should have been his friends.  He had fulfilled from birth what had been predicted about him by the prophets.  He had healed and fed thousands, yet he was betrayed by his own disciple and put to death in exchange for a real criminal at his own people's assent.   In the next verse Zechariah prophesied what would happen and which did happen after the crucifixion:  "...smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered:  and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones."  (Zech. 13: 6,7)  Jesus told 
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his disciples the same prophecy:  "Then said Jesus unto them,  all ye shall be offended because of me this night:  for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad."  (Matt. 26: 31) The last verses in Chapter 13 deal with the three stages of translation, the physical, the moral, and the spiritual:  "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die;  but the third shall be left therein.  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:  and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:  I will say, It is my people:  and they shall say, The Lord is my God."  (Ibid., 13: 8,9)  As time goes on and man becomes more and more spiritual on a universal basis, false beliefs will die, first the physical for it will be ridiculous to continue to uphold them, then the merely moral will disappear as the spiritual impetus behind the moral is understood and the "third part," the spiritual, is all that is left of human character.  Mrs. Eddy writes about this period:  "The impersonation of the spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our Master;  but 'of his kingdom there shall be no end,' for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples--- imperatively, absolutely, and finally---with divine Science.  This immaculate idea, represented first by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman, will baptize with fire;  and the fiery baptism will burn up the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love, melting and purifying even the gold of human character."  (S&H 565: 13-22) Chapter 14 is headed in the Bible as "The coming of the day of the Lord."  This is the coming of the day of Science.  Zechariah is continuing his prophecy about that period (which is now this period):  "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;  and the city shall be taken,...and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,...  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley;  and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.  And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains;...and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." (Zech. 14: 1-5) Zechariah's spiritualized sense realizes that there will be a general "chemicalization" of human thought.  This uproar will be a mental one;  Jerusalem, symbolizing at this point the "New Jerusalem," spiritualized consciousness, will  gradually gather strength throughout the earth as the only Science governing the universe, and will begin to destroy the fables of material existence.  However, the mental disturbance will be increasingly unsettling as it purges erroneous beliefs from human thought and the world's forces battle for their material views. This final "battle,"  as Zechariah describes it, is described by Mrs. Eddy:  "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces.  On one side there will be discord and dismay;  on the other side there will be Science and peace.  The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and 
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death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears."  (S&H 9: 12-18)  "The Lord" is this Principle, and its valid claim to Science will "take into captivity" all the evil claims to validity and power imagined by mortal mind ("all nations").   We will learn that all there is to creation are ideas. Ideas are indestructible, unalterable, and immortal.  Zechariah sees that a "residue," or remnant of the people will be protected by their advanced spiritual understanding from the "chemicalization" or disturbances which will ensue from the breakup of material beliefs.  It is imperative that we understand our inseverability from Science. The four directions, north, south, east, west, are often used in the Bible to symbolize the four-fold calculus of being:  the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science, the ways in which God works in human experience. This universal way of thinking is the foursquare "city of our God," the "New Jerusalem."  (You should be fairly familiar with the meaning of “the foursquare city.”)  Zechariah uses the term "mount of Olives" for uplifted consciousness.  Jesus on the Mount of Olives fought a huge mental battle with mortal mind's hatred of Truth and was imbued with uplifted consciousness which enabled him to face his experience with Love and a "peace that passeth all understanding."  (Phil. 4: 7)  This mount cleaves from the east to the west and from the north to the south, forming a valley in the midst.  To this "valley" all shall flee, and God with all the saints shall come with us.  This valley is the "straight and narrow way" which all who love divine Science will tread.  "Enter ye in at the strait gate:  for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."  (Matt. 7: 13)  We will all eventually find the Truth about ourselves and the universe, but according to how long we cling to the errors we have taken to our heart, in just that time will we be faced with trials and tribulations that will at last force us to reach out for the Truth. The "way" of salvation is through learning what God is, His seven-fold nature, and how God operates, the four-fold calculus of the Word (the fundamental nature of Being and its ideas forever expressed through revelation);  Christ (the divine process of translation;  the divine nature speaking as the inner voice of Truth to every man and at the same time translating man out of a mortal concept into his native Godlikeness);  Christianity (the divine process whereby the divine coincidence of God and man, divine Principle and idea, is maintained through constant reflection, thus assuring the continuous operation of this fact; the relationship of Creator and creation, culminating in true manhood, which is the basic factor in Christianity);  Science (the overall plan in which these divine processes eternally interpret themselves;  the scientific facts of Christian Science) Walking in this straight and narrow way is really not limiting, confining, joyless, nor discouraging, but just the opposite.  It widens our view of life, enabling us to see its ever-present abundance, joy, limitless possibilities, and gives us a fearless, deep peace.  As mankind advances spiritually, life will become more and more to us a constancy of good, God, unrestricted horizons, unfolding  light, an exalted sense of being.  Thus, Zechariah next gives us a beautiful sense of the timelessness of Life, its unrestricted, unlimited operation. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:  But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night:  but it shall come to pass, 
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that at evening time it shall be light.  And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;..."  (Zech. 14: 6,7) Here, we glimpse "day" as limitless, not a part or period of time, but as the fact in Science that enlightenment and understanding are really with us at all times. In writing about the days of creation, Mrs. Eddy says:  "The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness---yea, the divine nature---appear in man and the universe never to disappear." (S&H 509: 24-28)  The infinite influx of light is continually with us, for we reflect the infinite Mind.  The S&H Glossary gives us the true definition for "day:"  "The irradiance of Life;  light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love...The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded.  This unfolding is God's day, and 'there shall be no night there.' "  (S&H 584: 1-8) 
We read in Science and Health:  "Mind's infinite ideas run and disport themselves. 
In humility they climb the heights of holiness."  (514: 7-9)  In Rev. 7: 11-17, John writes about the living waters.  He was told that those who were arrayed in white robes in his vision had come out of great tribulation and served God in His temple day and night.  They knew they were the body or reflection of God and thus continually served Him.  "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;  neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 
For the Lamb [the Christ, Truth] which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:  and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." In verses 9-15, Zechariah tells about the Christ as Science.  "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth:  in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. "  There is only one true consciousness.  "All the land shall be turned as a plain...and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corn gate, and from the tower...unto the king's winepresses.  And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction;  but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited."  (Zech. 14: 9-11) 
The Christ translation will level all that is material.  The Bible commentaries say that the four places mentioned indicate the extreme boundaries of the wall around Jerusalem. 
This means that Jerusalem will dominate everything.  Understanding that our consciousness is filled only with harmony, (the last definition  for Jerusalem is "home, harmony"), we will have dominion over everything.  There will come the end of all destruction.  Man will see the light, and we will safely inhabit our "home." Zechariah speaks of a "plague" that will smite all the people that have fought against "Jerusalem."  He uncovers mortal mind that wants to hold on to its material beliefs.  "...their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."  (Zech. 14: 12) He is not referring to human bodies, but symbolizing mortal mind and its beliefs.  Matter has no substance, no material vision, no voice to express anything.  So it all passes away. 
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Verses 13-19  tell about the passing away of mortal mind's beliefs that prey upon one another and the wealth of "the heathen," the animals symbolizing mortal beliefs, and the "heathen," symbolized by Egypt.  It is a picture of the destruction of all that is unlike spiritual consciousness.  This destruction is individual and  universal and is called by Mrs. 
Eddy "chemicalization."  "By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal mind and body undergo in the change of a belief from a material to a spiritual basis."  (S&H 168: 32-2 n.p.)  "What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal belief.  Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case with a fermenting fluid."  (Ibid., 401: 16-20)  "Mental chemicalization follows the explanation of Truth, and a higher basis is thus won;.."  (Ibid., 453: 8-10) "In Isaiah we read:  'I make peace, and create evil.  I the Lord do all these things;' but the prophet referred to divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its utmost, when bringing it to the surface and reducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the stream.  In moral chemicalization, when symptoms of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil;  but we ought to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin."  (S&H 540: 5-16)   "Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization."  (S&H 96: 21) After the chemicalization has done its job, Zechariah gives us the sense of the omni- action of divine Principle:  "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD;  and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts...and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts."  (Zech. 14: 20-21)  Science means holiness, wholeness, the reign of oneness---one Ego, one Mind, one Being.  Horses were used for battle and so bells indicate no more battles---nothing to fight about!  The "pots" were small, and the bowls were very large, so we are shown an enlarged, encompassing, universal sense of goodness.  Mrs. Eddy defines Canaan as:  "A sensuous belief;  the testimony of what is termed material sense;  the error which would make man mortal and would make mortal mind a slave to the body."  (S&H 582: 24-27) Science is "incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite." (S&H 465: 9)  Jerusalem and Judah, united, in wholeness and holiness---all matter, material beliefs, destroyed and the oneness of Principle as Life, Truth, and Love within and throughout everything is how Zechariah ends his book. 
The Book of Malachi       Christianity  as  Science      Chapters 1-4 
Malachi completes the twelve-fold circle drawn by the minor prophets.  His name means "my messenger."  His appearance at the end of the prophets is not last in time sequence, but in scientific message.  Amazingly, the prophets were put in the order of the twelve-fold circle of spiritual instruction needed before the New Testament opened with the fifth thousand year period which is correlated with the fifth "day" of creation, Life.  "I am 
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come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  (Jesus, John 10: 10)   It is believed that he prophesied shortly before or shortly after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah's return from captivity in Babylon  (458-432 B.C.).  (Dumm. 612-613)  "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, God says to him, and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."  (Mal. 3: 1) Malachi epitomizes in one short message the entire prophetic purpose.  The purpose of the sixteen prophets, and the Old Testament itself, is to prepare the way for the revelation of the Son of God, the two-fold savior, Christ Jesus and Christian Science.   "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.  The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual,---yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death."  (S&H  332: 9-15)  The prophetic purpose has been the teaching of the unity of God and man, so that at last man can be regathered to God.  "Have we not all one father?  Hath not one God created us?"  (Mal. 2: 10) 
True Christianity cannot be based on a certain religious denomination, mandated ceremonials, rituals, observances, or widely differing beliefs.  It must be accredited and demonstrable by all people, understandable, definite, and universal.  It cannot be separate from the life we all live.  Therefore, it must be a Science. All throughout the ages, beginning especially with the Hebrew people, a sense of an Intelligence governing man and the universe has been developing.  It expresses Itself as principled Being, the only Being, inseparable from its creation.  It incorporates laws or "commandments" that it insists must be obeyed.  These commandments include only the operation of good in the behavior of man. 
They are absolute and brook no evil.  They exclude all forms of idolatry, anything that would portray itself as above the intelligence and power of the one Science, divine Being. 
These commandments must be utterly obeyed from the heart and understood in their spiritual meaning.  When this is done, there is nothing false or partial in their obedience, and man can finally reap the reward of purified, powerful, perpetual being, the principled expression of Life, Truth, and Love.  Because it would take time for unenlightened humanity to understand the commandments in their deeper spiritual meaning, the Hebrews were given symbols to use in order to demonstrate their obedience.  The symbols included a candlestick with seven branches, a foursquare temple with an outer wall, sacrifices, rituals which expressed purity, etc.  Over time, however, the symbols themselves were infused with a life, importance, and power of their own and what they symbolized was forgotten or ignored. 
This neglect  meant that their reverence and faithfulness to the God behind the symbols found no expression in their lives.  The prophets were the ones who understood what was happening and tried their best to change the behavior from laxity to a spirit of sincerity and gratitude for the Lord's graciousness, protection, and abundant supply for their needs. 
Malachi is seeking to address the disappointment that the Godly in Jerusalem were experiencing after the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah proved abortive.  They were hoping for Jehovah to come to vindicate the righteousness of His people by delivering them from all 
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of their enemies, but it had not happened.  Malachi seems to be speaking to the two types of the professedly religious people, those who are sincerely religious but have lost heart and have begun to question Jehovah's goodness and promise, and, contrariwise, those who are worldly and religious in name only.  Malachi's purpose is to bring out the great importance of sincerity and true love of God when accomplishing their rituals and observances.  His message is the epitome of all the messages of the prophets---there must be purity of heart, shown in actions, when approaching God in all of their religious duties.  Their practices must be in line with God's commandments, not partially, but wholly, staying away from their heathen neighbors and understanding the reason why.  His main objective is to rouse the deeper meaning of their outward actions---to realize that the love for God, expressed by outward observances, must come from within their heart.  The spirit of what they do must accompany the action.  This is abiding by divine Principle, for Principle is inseparable from its divine idea. We must all eventually come to understand that there is truly nothing "out there," separate from our Mind.  All the good that there is abides "within us," within our Mind, our eternal consciousness.  Just as love does not abide inside our material heart, intelligence does not abide in our brain.  We are the very activity of love and intelligence.  Once we see that we could not exist without a governing Principle causing us to be, we cease to worry, to fear, to doubt our worth, because we abide in a timeless, perfect system of divine government which expresses itself as ever-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-acting Life, Truth, and Love.  It is a perfect Science---not only perfect in its inexhaustible ability to create unutterable beauty, goodness, and perfection, but also able to love what it creates!   In spite of human imperfections which seem so real to unenlightened mortal mind, this universe is at this moment existing at the point of pure, perfect, infinite, eternal unfoldment. 
It knows nothing of something called a mortal mind or matter.  It knows of no misapprehension of itself, for it apprehends all as the reflection of itself.  Our apprehension of this wonderful Truth and the unimaginable blessings which will attend that realization come as we drop the false, unproductive beliefs we have held for so long. A wonderful Christian Scientist, John Doorly, wrote about this using a very clear example:  "... in learning mathematics you may make hundreds of mistakes, but when you begin to grasp the truth and the science of mathematics, then all those mistakes count for naught.  They are not piled up against you, waiting for judgment to be pronounced on you for them.  They remain until you have grasped the truth, but directly you turn to the correct answer, those mistakes just melt away...Human failures, human mistakes, human fears--- whatever they are---count for naught once you lay hold on the facts of Science.  That's why Science is so comforting, so ineffably tender and gracious and kind.  Science counts all error as nothing---it has no punishment for past sins once the true fact is seen, and no future punishment for sin.  Exact, spiritual Science is here and now, absolute, eternally loving, eternally harmonious, eternally blessing man, and having nothing unlike good."  (John Doorly, Talks on the Science of the Bible, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-10, Malachi) Malachi gives his "burden [oracle, or "that which is lifted up"] of the word of the Lord to Israel" by questions and answers.  "I have loved you, saith the Lord.  Yet ye say, 
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Wherein hast thou loved us?  Was not Esau Jacob's brother?  saith the Lord:  yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons [jackals] of the wilderness.   Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places:  thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down..."   (Mal. 1:1-4)  This reminds us of the passage in I John:  "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us."  (4: 10)  This love is not earned, but is a scientific fact. 
However, our false material sense of ourselves hides this fact from us so that it seems not to be operating.  Thus we suffer until it is corrected by Science. Esau was red when he was born and stood in type for "the red color of the ground, dust, nothingness."  (S&H  589: 5-7)  Esau is the Adam-man and symbolizes material sense. 
Edom is another form of the name Adam and the Edomites were Esau's descendants.  Jacob, however, is defined in the Glossary as "Inspiration;  the revelation of Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love."  (S&H 589: 5-7) Each of us may seem to be a mixture of material sense and spiritual sense, Esau and Jacob, but all that is true is that we are the reflection of Spirit.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Divine Science shows it to be impossible that a material body, though interwoven with matter's highest strata, misnamed mind, should be man,---the genuine and perfect man, the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal."  (S&H  477:  13-17) Clearly, Malachi is showing that the true man, the man of God's creating, is naturally loved.  The "Esau" man has never had any real being or heritage but has always dwelt in illusion and thus is forever "desolate" and " impoverished."  This false sense is always destined to be "thrown down" by the acknowledgement of the Truth, divine Science. 
Material sense is erroneous because the illusion of "out there" is believed to be real, separate from us, and thus we are cut off from the reality of being which is  good only.  Principle, the only power, is also grace, for it always saves us.  This is the  wonderful  news of Christianity, that "by grace are ye saved through faith;  and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God.  Not of works, lest any man should boast."  (Eph. 2: 8-9) Because the reality of our being is based on Principle, its goodness and spirituality can be demonstrated when we understand even a little of it.  Malachi 1: 5 says:  "And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel." 
Principle will be acknowledged universally.  True facts based on Science will always be protected and perpetuated.  It does not promise a future salvation, for it involves no recrimination for past mistakes. Perfect Science, that which we have been calling “God,” is operating here and now.  When we learn the Science and use it, the self-induced “punishments,” disappear. 
Through the rest of chapter 1, Malachi denounces the people and upbraids them for their polluted offerings.  The sacrifices are done with no real sorrow for sins, and no respect for the reasons behind the rituals.  He then introduces the sense of the fatherhood of God: "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master:  if then I be a father, where is mine honour?  and if I be a master, where is my fear?  saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name.  And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?...I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." 
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(1: 6, 10)  A half-hearted attempt to gain a sense of Science will bring disillusionment because there can be no progress. In verse 11, Malachi brings in the universality of God.  "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles;  and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering:  for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts."   The fatherhood of God includes the whole earth.  The prophet had to remind the Israelites that they are not God's chosen people for any personal reason.  They are the symbol for the development of the spiritual idea.  This idea has to give place to Science.  It was incumbent upon them to remain pure in their worship of the Lord, ever mindful of His constant care and provision for them.  Many wonders had been done for them down through the centuries, wonders which pointed to a divine Science, wonders which saved them many times from captivity.  The Science behind the "wonders" works universally for anyone who gains an understanding of it, not just the Israelites.  It is an impersonal Science.  Yet they said:  "...Behold what a weariness is it! 
And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts;  and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick;...should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord...I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen."  (Ibid., 13,14) The Israelites offered only that which was no good;  they only came to Him to get rid of those things that troubled them.  They weren't willing to lay on the altar their all, to sacrifice their most cherished material beliefs.  In chapter 2, the Lord of hosts says of this desultory, perfunctory worship:   "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings...Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces..." (Ibid., 2: 1-3)  This, of course, is not God talking, but expresses the reprehensible acts of the unrepentant Israelites in Malachi’s language. The fifth commandment that was given them says:  "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;..."  This commandment means much more than cursing using the name of God.  When we name the name of God, go to church, take communion, etc., then fail to live our lives faithful to God's Word, we are worshipping God in vain.  The outward worship is a dead rite to us. There are no blessings coming to us from holding God dear in our hearts, every day grateful for His blessings.  Malachi wanted the priests to know that they had no authority to bless the people because the blessings were void.  The corruption of their seed meant there would be no multiplication.  The spreading of dung upon their faces meant that because they had been unfaithful to God their identities would become besmeared.  If we do not identify ourselves with God, endeavoring to live our lives in ways that honor Him, we have lost sight of our true identity as the "child" or expression of God. 
We turn away from God and suffer the consequences.  God does not turn away from us. Mrs. Eddy illustrates this for us:  "A Christian Scientist and an opponent are like two artists.  One says:  'I have spiritual ideals, indestructible and glorious.  When others see them as I do, in their true light and loveliness,---and know that these ideals are real and eternal because drawn from Truth,---they will find that nothing is lost, and all is won, by a right estimate of what is real. "The other artist replies:  'You wrong my experience.  I have no 
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mind-ideals except those which are both mental and material.  It is true that materiality renders these ideals imperfect and destructible;  yet I would not exchange mine for thine, for mine give me such personal pleasure, and they are not so shockingly transcendental.  They require less self-abnegation, and keep Soul (spiritual understanding individualized) well out of sight.  Moreover, I have no notion of losing my old doctrines or human opinions. "Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you,---the material or the spiritual?  Both you cannot have.  You are bringing out your own ideal.  This ideal is either temporal or eternal.  Either Spirit or matter is your model.  If you try to have two models, then you practically have none.  Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal." (S&H 359:  29-21 n.p.) Malachi continues his teaching that God is our Father:  "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?  Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?"  (Ibid., 10)  If we have one Father, then we have one sense of Life, one that is expressed by every one of us.  If we are holding on to a sense of many material fathers and don't want to consider the fact that all are worthy of the one Father's love, we are not willing to see true sonship and brotherhood as the actuality of all men.  Sooner or later, we must sacrifice our old outworn false views of life coming from matter and welcome the consciousness that is teaching us of the infinitude of the one Cause-- -Life impels us toward the one truth that God is Life and man is the living of it. Is divine Fatherhood not "married" to divine Motherhood?  Malachi tackles this subject by showing the Israelites that they have profaned this covenant of oneness with the Father by marrying "strange wives:..."  This message can be understood on two levels:  The first one relative to that particular time was the fact that it was a sin to marry a heathen woman.  "Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem;  for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god..."  (Ibid., 2: 11)  On a second level, a universal metaphysical level, Judah represents "the spiritual understanding of God and man appearing" (Glossary, 589), as well as the manhood aspect of God's nature, and Israel symbolizes womanhood.  Malachi is saying that as "the spiritual understanding of God and man" appears to each of us, we must be very careful and watch that we do not wed our thoughts to the "daughter of a strange god."  Otherwise we are working against our own salvation from error. Our "home" is, in truth, "heaven."  Our consciousness is, in truth, the purity of spiritual sense, and we profane it by welcoming in those "strange" beliefs not in line with our native selfhood.  Mortal mind says man is material, and that, as the Psalmist said, "I was shapen in iniquity."  (Ps. 51: 5)  But this view is not really true of any of us.  Materiality and all the beliefs that go with it are foreign to our true selfhood.  This fact is right in line with the fact that there is no matter, intelligent or otherwise!   Our spiritual sense is scientifically a part of us, natural and normal. In verses 15-16, Malachi explains why taking foreign wives into one's home is "treacherous."  "...the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, 
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against whom thou hast dealt treacherously:  yet is she thy companion, and the wife of the covenant.  And did not he make one [a covenant]?  Yet had he the residue of the spirit.  And wherefore one?  That he might seek a godly seed.  Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.  For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away [divorcing one's wife for another]."  On the first level, the "wife of thy youth" was the young woman from an Israelite family who was promised to him.  If the man divorced her to marry a heathen woman or took a heathen woman as a second wife, the covenant of keeping the seed pure was broken.  On the second metaphysical, universal level, the "wife of thy youth" is our true ideal, the divine manhood and womanhood which makes us whole, not a particular person.  This ideal, maintained and loved by us, enables us to dwell in the consciousness of Truth from which we can never be "divorced."  The Fatherhood and Motherhood of God always includes the Son, the Christ, the Truth about you and me, which Jesus so beautifully reflected in all his words and works. Chapters  3 and 4 , given in the tone of Love, offer a prophecy concerning the coming of John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ Jesus:  "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:  and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?  for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. 
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver:  and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."  (Mal. 3: 1-3)  "Behold, I will send you Elijah [called Elias in the New Testament] the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers,..."  (Ibid., 4: 5-6) Mrs. Eddy gives the definition of Elias in the Glossary:  "Prophecy;  spiritual evidence opposed to material sense;  Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold;  the basis of immortality.  'Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.' "  (S&H  585: 9-13)  Elijah, as you may remember, was the prophet who demonstrated individually the translation of the body, mortality, into immortality when he was taken by a whirlwind into heaven and vanished out of Elisha's sight, his mantle falling on Elisha's shoulders to carry on the prophetic work.  (See II Kings 2: 6-15) 
Here are the Bible verses from the New Testament which support the interpretation of Malachi's prophecy:  Jesus had just given directions to his twelve disciples and began to teach in the cities.  When John the Baptist asked from prison if Jesus was truly the one promised who should come, Jesus answered the multitude:  "...what went ye out for to see? 
A prophet?  yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.  For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:...For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  And 
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if ye will receive it, this is Elias [Elijah], which was for to come."  (Matt. 11: 1-3,9-11,13- 14) 
Jesus disciples were questioning Jesus:  "Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.  But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.  Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. 
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."  (Matt. 17: 10- 13) 
"...the angel said unto him [Zacharias], Fear not, Zacharias:  for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  And thou shalt have joy and gladness;  and many shall rejoice at his birth.  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink;  and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."  (Luke 1: 13-17)  (See Dummelow's, 615) It is certainly true that Malachi upbraided the priests and teachers of his day for their lack of spiritual evidence of a heart willing to honor and obey the "Lord of hosts."  Their material-centered actions spoke more loudly than words their barrenness of a love for the spiritual.  When we refuse to live up to our highest sense of right, a chastening process takes place.  Rather than blessing and happiness, we experience trying circumstances and dismay, for doing evil can only punish us;  it never ends with self-fulfillment and peace.  This may seem like God is sending a "refiner's fire," but it is that which happens when we try to live without God, good, in our lives.  This refining fire and "fuller's soap," symbol for the purifying process which we undergo when experiencing separation from evil, is a blessing in disguise.  Mrs. Eddy speaks of this in the light of Christian Science:  "When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth."  (S&H 266: 10-12) "The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good, 'rejoicing the heart.'  Such is the sword of Science, with which Truth decapitates error, materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and destiny."  (S&H 265: 31-5 n.p.)  As long as we cling to self-will, to some personal problem that keeps eating at us, or to some feeling, activity or thing we don't want to give up, we will seem to suffer.  But as soon as we put ourselves in the scales with Love, the "chastening" turns to blessing.  The "anger" of the Lord is the "sword of Science."  It is Truth annihilating error. Malachi, after expressions of the refining and purifying processes which mankind must undergo, then gives us a sense of God's dear love:  "...I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed...Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts...Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to 
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receive it.  And I will rebuke the devourer [mortal mind] for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;  neither shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." God, in His infinite seven-fold nature, is unalterable.  The "sons of Jacob," the "good" of God, is also unalterable.  To God, there is nothing to consume.  God has nothing to express but the fullness of good as seen in His infinite reflection--- creation including His highest idea, man.  Malachi gives the sense of reflection when he speaks of man turning to God and God turning to man. When man turns to God, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, he finds God already turned to him as the very Cause of his being. 
When we "bring all the tithes into the storehouse," we bring in that which Mrs. Eddy defines in the Glossary:  "Contribution;  tenth part;  homage;  gratitude."  When we bring it all in, we are bringing everything to God.  Naturally, this does not mean material things.  It must allude to the higher meaning, our sense of intelligence, substance, health, power, identity, all of our material beliefs that give power to something besides God, divine Love. 
When we do that, there is poured out upon us such a blessing that our entire life is changed. 
The "storehouse" is our consciousness.  Let us remember that we see and experience our thoughts.  If we are conscious of God, of all that we are learning that He is, we will experience blessings far above our expectations.  That which comes to us from God as Father-Mother cannot be destroyed, cannot be untimely.  As this kind of spiritual thinking takes over in our lives, institutions, and governments, we will experience this blessing:  " 
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground...And all nations shall call you blessed:  for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts."  (Mal. 3: 12)  We shall see earth as the reflection of heaven. The last short chapter sees the day when all that is "proud," all that is "wicked" shall be "burned up" from root to branch, utterly consumed.  "But unto you that fear [respect and honor] my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; ["sun" in S&H Glossary:  “The symbol of Soul governing man,---of Truth, Life, and Love"]... And ye shall tread down the wicked;  for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet [dust to dust]...Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments [the law of divine Mind]."   (Ibid., 4: 1-4) Malachi foresaw the day when mankind will consciously follow God's Word, accept the Christ, Truth, and practice it as Christianity.  As "the messenger of Jehovah" he prepared the way for the coming of the New Testament, the coming of the Son of man who will illustrate with his own life the ideal man of God, Christ Jesus.  Thus his message and prophecy of the fourth thousand year period, Principle, opened the last gate, the third gate on the west, and human consciousness is ideally prepared for the fifth thousand year period, Life.  "Let the waters bring forth abundant life," says the fifth day of creation correspondingly. 
Our life should show forth Principle spontaneously.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, is seen to individualize this universal prophetic consciousness.  Jesus, in consequence, is individuality which is universe born.  As sent forth to prove its Principle, Jesus' necessity is to show that he is universe born, not Mary and Joseph born.  Truth and Science are one. 
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Jesus' life unfolds in the order of the seven days of creation spiritually understood.   It reveals "eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus [Principle operating in practice]."  (S&H  520: 13-15) 
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