“In different ages the divine idea assumes different forms, according to humanity’s needs. In this age it assumes, more intelligently than ever before, the form of Christian healing. This is the babe we are to cherish. This is the babe that twines its loving arms about the neck of omnipotence, and calls forth infinite care from His loving heart.”

Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds

Pursue thy way,

Thy light was born where storm enshrouds

Nor dawn nor day!

Dear Christ, forever here and near,

No cradle song,

No natal hour and mother’s tear,

To thee belong.

Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned,

The Bethlehem babe—

Beloved, replete, by flesh embound—

Was but thy shade!

Thou gentle beam of living Love,

And deathless Life!

Truth infinite,—so far above

All mortal strife,

Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint:

Fill us today

With all thou art—be thou our saint,

Our stay, alway.

Gen. 1:27, 28, 31 (KJV)

God created man in his own image . . . ; male and female created he them. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Gen. 2:6, 7 (KJV)

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

Gen. 2:16-17 (NLT)

The lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Gen. 3:4-7 (NLT)

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” . . . So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.

Hab. 1:12, 13 (KJV)

O my Lord God . . . Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.

Is. 2:22 (KJV)

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Matt. 1:18-23 (NLT)

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man . . . . [A]n angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [A]nd they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.'”

Rev. 1:1 (NLT)

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, . . . to his servant John.

Rev. 12:1-11, 15-16 (NLT)

I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth.

Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. . . . He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born.

She gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne.

Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.

Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water that flowed from his mouth. But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon.

Rev. 13:12, 4, 13-14 (NLT)

Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. They worshipped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?” With all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world.

Ezek. 29:3 (KJV)

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

Ex. 6:2, 6 (NLT)

God said to Moses, . . . I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.

Ex. 7:10-12 (NLT)

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent! Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Rev. 20:1-2, 10 (NLT)

I saw an angel coming down from heaven . . . He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet.

Rev. 21:1-6 (NLT and KJV)

(NLT) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

(KJV) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

(NLT) He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.”

Rev. 22:1-2 (KJV)

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, . . . and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

SH 564:24-26, 29

From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and death, envy, hatred, and revenge, — all evil, — are typified by a serpent, or animal subtlety. From the beginning to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual idea. 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.

SH 563:27

The serpentine form stands for subtlety, winding its way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good. Its sting is spoken of by 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 and cast out devils through Beelzebub.

SH 564:10-14

The author is convinced that the accusations against Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were instigated by the criminal instinct here described. The Revelator speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God and of the dragon as warring against innocence.

SH 563:7-22

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. The Revelator sees that old serpent, whose name is devil or evil, holding untiring watch, that he may bite the heel of truth and seemingly impede the offspring of the spiritual idea, which is prolific in health, holiness, and immortality.

SH 561:8-9, 16-20, 22-27, 32-3

The Revelator beheld the spiritual idea from the mount of vision. 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.

The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea. The Revelator symbolizes Spirit by the sun. The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet.

John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the immaculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy Ghost, — divine Science.

SH 558:1-3, 6 (only), 9-10, 13-16

St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of Revelation: — And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, . . . and he had in his hand a little book open . . . . This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. 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.”

SH 559:8-17, 19-21

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. It arouses the “seven thunders” of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated, — made manifest in the destruction of error. Then will a voice from harmony cry: “Go and take the little book. . . .” Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it.

SH 330:2

Until the author of this book learned the vastness of Christian Science, the fixedness of mortal illusions, and the human hatred of Truth, she cherished sanguine hopes that Christian Science would meet with immediate and universal acceptance.

SH 110:17

No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, Science and Health; and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it. This book may be distorted by shallow criticism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be discerned and demonstrated.

SH 565:13-18

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.

SH 568:1-7

Ever since the foundation of the world, ever since error would establish material belief, evil has tried to slay the Lamb; but Science is able to destroy this lie, called evil. The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse typifies the divine method of warfare in Science, and the glorious results of this warfare.

SH 566:25, 30-3

Revelation xii. 7, 8. And there was 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.

Michael’s characteristic is spiritual strength. He leads the hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan, and fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering Love. These angels deliver us from the depths.

SH 567:10, 18-23, 26-27

Truth and Love prevail against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and Spirit. 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. His angels, or messages, are cast out with their author.

SH 570:18-23

What if the old dragon should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood.

SH 536:1

In the Apocalypse it is written: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” In St. John’s vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness.

SH 573:13-18, 23-27, 31

Accompanying this scientific consciousness was another revelation, even the declaration from heaven, supreme harmony, that God, the divine Principle of harmony, is ever with men, and they are His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a miserable sinner, but as the blessed child of God.

This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. When you read this, remember Jesus’ words, “The kingdom of God is within you.” This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.

Go forth and stand upon the mount,

For Truth is at thy side;

The very rocks may seem to break,

And earth to open wide;

Yet error’s tempest and its fire

Before that still small voice retire.

Round each habitation hovering,

See the cloud and fire appear

For a glory and a covering,

Showing that the Lord is near.

Thus deriving from their banner,

Light by night, and shade by day,

Safe they feed upon the manna,

Which He gives them when they pray.

See, the streams of living waters,

Springing from eternal Love,

Well supply thy sons and daughters,

And all fear of want remove.

Who can faint, while such a river

Ever shall their thirst assuage,—

Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,

Never fails from age to age?