The Millennium by Martha Wilcox - Mary Baker Eddy Institute

The Millennium ~ Martha Wilcox 250110

“The Greater Works”

The Millennium ~ Complete Article MP3 PDF Martha Wilcox ~ Index

1. “The Greater Works” The fulfillment of prophecy always seems remote, just as it did in the days of the coming of Jesus. But if we had eyes to see, we would perceive that the fulfillment of prophecy is but the appearing in consciousness of that which is in existence. The Millennium is appearing now, and will appear in its full significance at the time that prophecy has fixed for its appearing. The Millennium will appear, just as Christ Jesus appeared at the time prophesied, & as the revelation of Christian Science appeared at the time of prophecy. The Coming of the Millennium We do not think that as the hour strikes at midnight in the year 1999 that we shall awaken in the Millennium or in an entirely different state of consciousness; but Christian Scientists and great thinkers believe that the Millennium is appearing now, and that in the closing years of this century will have appeared in great significance. What Is the Millennium? According to the dictionary, the Millennium is a period of a thousand years during which time holiness is to be triumphant throughout the world.

2. It is a period of great happiness, good government, and freedom from wickedness. Some believe that during this period, Christ will reign on earth in person. But all Christian Scientists understand the Christ is not a person, but is the impersonal Truth about everyone and everything that we now know humanly and materially. The Millennium is that period in which the impersonal Christ or the Son of God is appearing on earth, or in human consciousness as the Son of man. It is a period of consciousness in which men and women are coming into their true humanhood. In Christian Science we learn that Christ, the Son of God, is the divine actuality of all existing persons and things. And, according to prophecy, this divine actuality of all persons and things is now appearing in concrete phenomena as the Son of man in power and great glory, which means that divine actualities with their power and glory are appearing in the highest forms appreciable to human consciousness. To a Christian Scientist, the Millennium will be the state of his own consciousness. It will be his freedom to think without constraint from

3. so-called mortal mind, for as our thought is constrained, just that long is divine power lacking. When we are free to think divinely, without the constraint of mortal mind, then we are free to act divinely; without constraint; then we can walk over the waves, calm the storm, and feed the multitude if need be. The infinite God-Mind seems to be hidden because we seem to have a mind of our own, but as thought attains something of its right origin, the divine Mind, the power, the omnipotence of Good, is available to us and we shall naturally do the “greater works” that the Master said we would do. (See John 14:12) “If Mind takes care of the situation we can do something more practical than answer the question. As the terror that seems so intense in other nations disappears, the evil itself will disappear. When we see it as God sees it, its terrors begin to disappear. If God were demonstrated this instant, the error would have no terror because we would recognize what is actually going on.

4. “As Christian Scientists, we should not make evil either real or personal, but we should not ignore it. Christian Scientists have a responsibility in this matter as Truth has been revealed to them.” The Christian Scientist realizes that his consciousness, which is his world, with its people, and its religions, and its governments, and politics are within himself, and that it depends largely upon himself whether his is the Kingdom of Heaven or a misconception of the Kingdom of Heaven. Every Christian Scientist should know the nothingness of Fascism and Communism, for both would bind us so that we could not think, and human beings must be free to think. Anything that threatens free thought is dangerous and we should demonstrate its nothingness. The Passing Away of Matter or Mortal Mind According to prophecy and actual experience, this is the day when much of mortal mind and materiality is passing away, and it is passing away with much noise and disturbance. And all this is taking place within the individual’s own consciousness, or he couldn't be aware of it, although it seems to be taking place external.

5. The discerning Peter foretold this day; he said, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (II Peter 3:10) The World Must Be Spiritualized Our world to a great extent is mentalized; that is, people in general believe that everything of which they are conscious is mental. But in the Millennium a GREATER WORK than mentalization will be consummated. Then the world and everything of which the world consists, will be spiritualized. And, it is the duty of every Christian Scientist to see that this GREATER WORK is active in his individual consciousness. As students of Christian Science, we are learning that we do not change our world simply by transposing it from a material world to a mental or thought world; we are learning that in order to see our world as spiritual instead of material, we must set aside that which is causing the material sense of our world.

6. Why Our World Seems to Be Material The people, things, and conditions of our world seem to be material because so-called mortal mind’s concept of itself and all that it is, is always matter. Mortal mind sees & feels itself as matter; its objectifications are matter. The seeming material world is mortal mind as it is to itself. What Is Matter? Matter is the primal concept of mortal mind; matter is the mortal perishable sense of the imperishable; matter is a misstatement; it is delusion; an illusion; a deception. But in the Millennium we shall see the people and all things of our world in a truer depict and realize that they are God-being, and are spiritual. We who are students of Christian Science understand and demonstrate the GREATER WORKS. We are proving that all things of which our world consists, are God’s creation, and have always been the actualities of Spirit. They only appear material or mortally mental as we still see them through the lens of false material sense. Dematerialization Let it be understood that we don't spiritualize matter, because matter is not something or a

7. condition to be dealt with, to be fulfilled, or to be destroyed. Matter is a deception; it is a false appearance of the actuality at hand. And the actuality does not need to be spiritualized, and matter is not something which can be spiritualized. Rather do we dematerialize Spirit, or dematerialize these actualities by removing from them the false appearance or “material accompaniments,” the false sense of density, weight, finiteness, and impermanency. We as Christian Scientists have done much dematerialization up to the present time. We Have Come a Long Way on the Journey Yes, we have come a long way on our journey from sense to Soul. It is difficult to conceive just how far we have come since we began our “six days of labor,” and to what extent we are equipped to do THE GREATER WORKS. Personal Improvement Let us consider just how much of the demand “TO DO ALL THY WORK” has been fulfilled, and see if we are not more fully qualified to do the Greater Works than the false sense of humility is permitting us to admit.

8. When we first took up the study of Christian Science, it was for personal improvement, either to gain health, harmony, or supply and that was perfectly legitimate at that stage of our growth; but it is a far greater work to do what we are now doing, demonstrating our oneness with God; our oneness with GOOD; demonstrating that man as idea or reflection already has health, harmony, and supply and could not be without them. Thought Has Educated to Apprehend Realities The thought of Christian Scientists has been vastly improved in the understanding of the Science of Mind & in its application to our human needs. Our thought has been gradually educated to the apprehension of things as they are. The Coincidence of the Human and the Divine At the time of coming into Christian Science, about the only thing we were sure of was that we were alive, & that we existed as human beings. At that time we believed that human beings were mortals, & that somehow through Christian Science, mortals would become immortals; we believed that mortal mind was an entity, and that somehow it was to be transformed into a divine Mind; we also believed that God’s “good and very good” had lapsed into evil, and that there must be regeneration and restoration.

9. But now we understand and prove that what appears to be ourselves as a human being is not a mortal, but is our divine Self appearing, and because our divine Self, the only Self here, is imperfectly known because seen through the lens of material sense, it appears to our sight and sense as a human being. It is clearly seen that we have some discernment of the divine fact of ourselves at hand, or we would not be conscious of ourselves as even a human being. As the mist of ignorance about God and man thins, our divine self appears in truer depict or as a better sense of man. This is our “true humanhood” appearing as the Millennium or true consciousness, in which man is as sinless as his Maker. Our “true humanhood” is from above, never of mortal mind. Our true humanhood is not a mortal man at any stage of its appearing. We should never consider ourselves a mortal. We are never other than the divine man appearing in fuller degree. The true humanhood or divine Self will never disappear, but will appear from glory to glory until its completeness and perfection is made manifest.

10. Herein is the coincidence of the human and divine as exemplified in Christ Jesus. Is it not a far greater work to understand our divinity to be at hand, than to believe that man is a mortal who can sin, suffer, and die, and must be healed and saved? so-called mortal mind expressed as mortal man is a myth, a state of deception, and is not an entity to be healed or saved. And the so-called human being is already the divine Self, and it surely does not need healing and saving. All good, actualities, have never lapsed into evil and they need no restoration. Divinity Expressed as Humanity All there is to what constitutes me humanly is now the Divine, imperfectly known. All is now Reality. All are now actualities. All is now Deity. All is “I AM,” Himself, being all formations as divine ideas. She made it clear that matter is a mis-statement, a mis-conception, a false appearance only of the actuality at hand. She made it clear that as misconception is dissolved, the actuality, though imperfectly seen and known, is the only presence.

11. Mrs. Eddy and Mr. Kimball, and others who taught in the College classes to instruct those who were to be sent out into the field to teach, taught that anything that exists is never to be destroyed but fulfilled. The impersonal Truth unfolded into another period of fuller revelation, and certain teachers announced that organs and functions of our present body are spiritual, are divine ideas consciously unfolding. How mortal mind did resist this unfoldment of Truth, and everyone who made these statements was accused of spiritualizing matter. Mortal mind said they were trying to make material organs into Realities, or divine ideas. It was and is amazing to see how mortal mind clung and still clings tenaciously to itself as matter. To mortal thought matter was something, and to admit that it was only an illusion, a mis-statement, or a deception was to be its own undoing. But at this present stage of illumination or understanding in human consciousness,

12. the students of Christian Science do not hesitate to say that what appears to be matter is Spirit; that the so-called organs of our present body are Ideas, actualities, are Spirit, Itself, being spiritual formations. We understand and prove that our present body and all that constitutes our present body, even though regarded as matter, is demonstrated to be spiritual or Spirit expressed. Today we understand that what appears to be matter is Spirit in expression. Spirit and matter are not two but one. Mrs. Eddy says, “Good and evil are not two, but one, for evil is naught, and good only is reality.” (See Un. 21:7) When we see evil we are seeing Good in reversion, and when death appears to our sense, we are seeing Life in reversion. The Greater Works Do we not see how Truth and true thinking have been expanding and ascending naturally, until it has resulted in the GREATER WORKS? This ascendancy of thought has not been personal thinking, but has been the unfoldment of the Christ as individual man.

13. Someone may think, how can there be greater works than the work of Jesus? Can there be anything greater than the healing of the sick instantly; making the blind to see; the deaf to hear; the lame to walk; the dead to live; and all instantly? Can there be greater works than these? Jesus himself said so, and that we should do them. Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12) This “I” that went unto the Father did not mean a personal “I,” the Ego of anyone is always TRUTH. This I or TRUTH of Jesus turned to God absolutely. This I or Truth of Jesus did not turn to any person or to a personal self, but went unto his Father, Truth. So, in order that we do the Greater Works, the “I” of us must go to our Father, Truth, absolutely.

14. Healing Works Revived In speaking of the healing works, Mrs. Eddy says, “This absolute demonstration of Science must be revived. A healing that is not guess work — but instantaneous cure.” (Mis. 355:6) At this time, according to prophecy, the Christ, the Reality of all men and women and all things, the Son of God, is appearing in human consciousness, in such irresistible activity and power, with such illumination of understanding, that ignorance of God and man and the universe is being swept away and the “New Heaven and New Earth are being revealed.” The Greater Works Are Equivalent to No Works These greater works are equivalent to no work to be done. If we start our thinking from the standpoint of having something to do, we shall never get it done. Mind declares Itself and Its manifestation, man, is finished and complete as Mind, Itself.

15. Man, as idea or reflection, has nothing to do but unfold in accord with his Maker. The Seventh Day is the Millennium Let us read again from the prophecy from Exodus: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day (the Millennium) is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” The statement, “thou shalt not do any work on the Sabbath day,” is not a command to us to cease work, but it is a revealment that in the Millennium or the Sabbath day of the Lord, it will not be necessary to labor. The Seventh Day or the Millennium is the climax of ascending thought, wherein we realize the finished Kingdom within us. [Plainfieldcs.com]