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