Let My Beloved Come Into His Garden
Martin Cecil August 7, 1977 am
“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” Here is a portrayal of what should rightly be your attitude and experience this morning. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south.” Here is an acknowledgment of the working of the Law—positive action, negative reaction—with which you must be directly associated if your presence here this morning is to have any real meaning. So there is an acknowledgment of the Law. “Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” Only as your living is a revelation of the working of the Law do you know the reality of your garden. Are you aware of the sacred place in which you dwell and which you would never violate? By reason of your living in harmony with the Law the winds of the spirit blow upon your garden and the spices thereof flow forth. Here is the evidence of the generation of spiritual substance. It is only possible as you have a garden in which you dwell because your life gives evidence of the working of the Law.
The first great commandment brings to point something with respect to the working of the Law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all… And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Most people spend their lives condemning their neighbors, evidencing little love, understanding, enfoldment, little blessing, which of course gives abundant evidence of a failure to keep the first great commandment. Living the Law, the garden is known. It seems that most live in rather barren and desolate places—no garden, no association with the Law, no living, merely dying—but here these words portray the attitude and the experience of those whose lives are of such quality that spiritual substance is constantly being generated and flowing forth. It is only as this is so that a genuine invitation may be offered: “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” There are many people who in fancy invite the Lord to be with them, but for the most part there is little real substance available for this fulfilment to be known. Response, the generation of substance, is essential if the reality of the positive radiation phase of the One Law is to be experienced. The positive radiation phase of the One Law is the coming of the Lord. Those who have called themselves Christians look hopefully for the day when this will happen, failing to recognize that it is their responsibility if it is to happen. Without response and the substance of response the fact of radiation cannot be known. There may be some fancy in the consciousness of people, some imagination, but the fact remains unknown.
There always has been radiation. There would be no universe if it were not for the fact of eternal radiation, to which there is response or the universe wouldn't exist—an easy, natural response which allows all things of creation to move according to the design inherent in the radiation. But insofar as human beings are concerned they have the ability to contend with the Lord. That contention of course has put in an appearance on the basis of the endeavor by human beings to determine what shall happen here on earth, and that endeavor is brought to point on the basis of the human intellect, that so wise creature which assumes that it is in position to be as God. That assumption has brought some terrible things into the experience not only of mankind on the surface of this planet but of all living things that are present here also.
Only to the extent that there is genuine response with a consequent quality of living which permits the generation of spiritual substance can the reality of the radiation be known, the radiation which is the source and the sustaining power of all things in the dimensional world, of which human beings are aware and of which they are not aware. Incidentally there is far more of which they are not aware than of which they are aware. In spite of delving so extensively in the bottomless pit of knowledge, what human beings know or think they know is almost entirely make-believe. Nowadays such things have the confirming tag of science placed upon the knowing. This is supposed to make it valid, but the truth which is inherent in this radiation of the One Law can only be known as there is response in living, so that the quality of life experienced permits the generation of spiritual substance.
The extent of spiritual substance that you have brought this morning into the Chapel will determine exactly the extent of radiation that you will experience. There is no limit, there is no restriction to the radiation, but it only has meaning to human beings to the extent that there is spiritual substance to give it meaning, and the spiritual substance is the responsibility of the individual to generate. That generation comes on the basis of a quality of living, so it isn't just a momentary thing in the Chapel now. You brought something in with you. I wonder how much. It is possible that there may be a further generation while you are here, but what happens when you leave?
In this particular verse which I read to you there is, as I say, a portrayal of what is properly and naturally true of you in this particular setting at this particular time. The next verse, which is at the beginning of another chapter, is an indication of what is properly true of me: “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”
Where there is the substance, the spiritual substance of response, there is the abundant experience of what is available by reason of radiation. You this morning in this setting are responsible for the response aspect of the unit which we together form, and I am responsible for the radiation aspect. You cannot have one without the other in experience. You cannot know the radiation without the response, and it isn't just a matter of mental agreement; it is a matter of living; it is a matter of fact. What is the actual fact in your own experience moment by moment, day by day? What is the quality of your living? If that quality gives evidence of true spiritual expression, of the fulfilment of the One Law in you, then there is the generation of spiritual substance and there is the experience of whatever arises by reason of the radiation in the moment. Yesterday evening Grace spoke to those who were present here in the Chapel. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/05/melchizedek-increase-grace-van-duzen.html] Her words and the spirit of them were indeed most exquisitely beautiful, and I am sure that those who were present with any substance of response were touched by her spirit. Something flowed forth from you to her. According to that flowing forth, so was her expression, so was the radiation which she offered. Consequently there was a certain intensification in the experience of all concerned.
Subsequently, as seems to be customary in Emissary circles, snacks were served in the dining room and most of those who had been at the service were present there no doubt, but at least to start with we were not. When we arrived we came into the room and were met with a roar of sound—people talking. This is supposed to be quite natural for people; they do it all the time. The very level of noise that was present was an indication of the fact of what had occurred in the Chapel. There had been an intensification but then it was channeled back into the usual and customary human structures of expression and it came out loud and raucous. Lillian said something about it and it calmed down a bit. I draw attention to this not in condemnation of anyone but merely to indicate what tends to happen. If there begins to be something of experienced radiation in a service there is an intensification insofar as all present are concerned which, unless the quality of living is right and has become habitual, will subsequently be mistranslated in the factual experience of those concerned and the substance that was present, that had been generated, will thereby be dissipated, and the radiation will tend to vanish. Where did it go? What happened? The individual finds himself right back where he was before.
There are these two aspects, both of which are essential: the positive and the negative aspects, the response aspect and the radiation aspect. Now these must be brought to point in experience, human experience, on earth if they are to have any meaning to human beings. They may be operative, and are—the Law is operative everywhere in the universe but not presently in the experience of human beings. They do not consciously know what is happening, what they are doing, why they are here, or anything else. They try to make meaning for themselves in various ways because of this yawning chasm in their experience, this emptiness, this lack; and people rush hither and yon trying to fill it. This happens in the physical world, doesn't it, with respect to the disposition of the garbage: Find a chasm somewhere and fill it up with garbage and it will make a good building site. The way this is handled is very much the same as the way human beings handle the holes in themselves. They fill them up with garbage and then neatly cover the garbage over with a little surface appearance of something worthwhile. Negative response is the essential element that has been lacking insofar as human beings are concerned, that they might experience the truth inherent in the radiation of which I have been speaking. Positive and negative aspects—sometimes this is thought of in terms of male and female.
In the field which we have just been examining there is a tendency on the part of people, in their attitude and approach to the Lord, to try to play hard to get. “Well if you really want me, Lord, come after me.” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/my-lord-i-love-you.html] This has been the general approach for a long time in human experience; but they have never tempted the Lord to the point where He came after them. You either offer the response or you go away empty. The Law works. It's absolute. It is the quality and nature of God; and human beings, no matter how hard they try, can't change it. There has been a lot of weeping and wailing on the part of human beings about their sad, miserable lot. What a cruel God to have things this way: Please, God, change things around to suit me so that I'm happy! And while that was endeavoring to tempt God, God was never tempted; He never fell for it. If human beings want their misery they can have it as long as they last. It is entirely a matter of human choice. The alternative has always been present, the radiation has always been there, but virtually no response, and human beings have been trying to get God to come after them. It doesn't work that way.
We see the same sort of thing in this matter of the male-female relationship too, don't we? I am speaking of it in a general sense; perhaps it's not true of you individually; but the idea is that the woman goes after her man, maybe quite subtly, but she plays hard to get. This has cast the male of the species in the role of the hunter. He has to chase her; otherwise he's not going to get her. But when he gets her he finds she's got him! And the male of the species has fallen for this. In fact it's become so habitual that very often manhood is equated in these terms, when it is exactly the opposite of manhood. Insofar as the male is concerned the first great commandment applies: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all.” It doesn't say, “Thou shalt love a female with all; worship her; set her up on a pedestal; try to please her.” Not at all. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” That's the truth, because only so can there be generated the substance which will permit the experience of what real manhood is. If there is no spiritual substance there's no manhood; there can't be; just a pretense, just a counterfeit. Manhood is not experienced by the male of the species because of the female; it is experienced because of God. And when there is a man around maybe that will inspire a woman somewhere to stop playing these childish games. Nowadays it seems that because men have not been men women are trying to be men—a woman can only be a woman and a man can only be a man, but neither one has known what this would mean for a long, long time.
“I am come into my garden.” To what extent is this true this morning? Of course first of all there must be a garden here to come into. There must be the substance which makes it possible. We can fool ourselves; we can jump around with evangelical fervor and generate a good deal of emotion, but it means absolutely nothing. It probably dissipates any substance there might have been to start with. I am come into my garden to the extent that you are willing to let me. “Let my beloved come into his garden.” The only way you can let me is because the spices of the garden are flowing out, are flowing to me. Then we are connected up; then there is substance in which the beautiful expression of the spirit of the living God may be known by all of us. This has been called the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but there have been some very limited concepts in this regard. It is a real experience, not a fanciful one. Human beings have for so long been content with their imagination, excluding the reality. But we have parts to play; there is a design. Things work the way they work and they don't work any other way. Human beings have been trying to make them work all kinds of ways for millennia, but they won't. They only work the way they work, and the way they work includes an aspect of creation that is called man—at least insofar as this planet is concerned—but man has been absent for a long time, absent without leave. He's been on the run. That's right, isn't it?
Long ago something happened, and the story is portrayed in the Book of Genesis. There was a moment when the Lord God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day and there was no one around, no one there. So the question was asked, “Where art thou?” And the answer came which indicated that those who should have been man were experiencing something that was not the evidence of real manhood and womanhood. They were ashamed and afraid—shame and fear are two very prominent experiences insofar as human beings are concerned, yourselves included. This is not the experience of man. This is not the experience in the garden. This is the experience in the state which has become habitual to human beings, but it's not the true state. At the point when the question was asked, “Where art thou?”—here is an analogy, but there was an actual happening—when that question was asked there was the opportunity for those who were present to say, “Here am I.” Obviously that opportunity wasn't taken. They were all wrapped up in their shames and their fears, as though they had somehow been imposed upon them, and that is the attitude most people take, isn't it? “I didn't ask to be born. All my miseries and troubles have been imposed on me and I can tell you specifically who some of the people are that have imposed these things on me.” Amongst them of course are our forebears; “original sin” they call it. Poppycock! There may be something there to which human beings have insisted upon being subject but that's their own choice, the choice that is made by each individual for him- or herself. There is no necessity. We can respond and allow our quality of life to generate some spiritual substance, which would cause us to be aware increasingly of the truth of ourselves instead of this shameful, fearful creature which a lot of people have the temerity to call man.
So the Lord God came walking in the garden, and that opportunity was rejected. So the way things worked out, the garden vanished from the experience of human beings. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-garden-called-to-remembrance.html] There is nothing to say that the garden was dissolved; in fact a cherubim with a flaming sword was put there to keep the way of the tree of life which was in the midst of the garden, so it's still around; but if there was a rejection of that nature at that point there must be in the returning cycle an acknowledgment of the truth when that point is reached. The truth. There have been those down through the ages who brought to specific focus a point of representation in this regard at the level where human beings are. One of them was mentioned yesterday evening in the person of Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness, Prince of Peace, a positive expression of radiation which Abraham recognized. Apparently very few others did. He was the Priest of the Most High God, a point of radiation not understood, not understood even to this day. Why? Because there wasn't adequate spiritual substance to make it understandable. It's not a matter of wanting to understand: “Oh I wish I could understand. O God let me understand.” He will let you understand if your quality of living will generate the required substance which makes understanding possible. He's not holding out. How many people have blamed God for the condition in which they find themselves: “It's His fault!” No, it's one's own fault, in concert with about four billion other people.
The only way by which the truth can be brought to human beings is through human beings. We have taken note of one in the person of Melchizedek. Another obvious one I suppose is Moses, and more recently the one called Jesus. He wasn't understood—He isn't understood because to all intents and purposes there has been no spiritual substance which would make that understanding possible. There has been a lot of imagination. There have been a lot of concepts developed, a lot of beliefs, a lot of ideas; but the truth, what's that? There is no way of knowing it, certainly not on the basis of belief; that's not the truth. Belief is always in a human concept about something. What of the truth of the something about which there is a concept? That truth can never be found by conceptualizing it. It only becomes known by living it, and one will live it to the extent that there is a generation of the essential substance which connects one with the truth. Then you know it; otherwise you don't; and no amount of human effort will produce anything except more confusion.
Let us extend the invitation to the Lord, which He will not hesitate to accept. Let's make Him an offer that He cannot refuse, that He will not refuse, because it is the offer He has been waiting for, the offer of the essential spiritual substance generated by our living. “Let my beloved come into his garden,” because I have made that coming possible. Now in this particular setting together here we have the opportunity of exemplifying something, because all these requirements remain theoretical until they are accepted into the situation here and now. As long as we keep them out there somewhere—Jesus is coming one day—it's all nonsense. He will never come one day on that basis, because He will have no means of coming. There are the essential clouds of heaven in which He comes, but human beings are responsible for the clouds of heaven, to provide the facility for His coming. He came as an individual certainly, exemplified something as an individual, and there were those who were willing to make that coming possible. He was born into the world just as all the rest of us are.
Now we have this situation, together here this morning, where you are extending some sort of an invitation to me, or you wouldn't be sitting there. I must have some sort of a place in your hearts. “Let my beloved come into his garden.” Is that what you are saying? Well make sure that your garden isn't a counterfeit, make sure that it's the real thing, because if what I offer is the real thing I can't come into a counterfeit, only the real thing; and I can come in to the extent that that real thing is there. Then I may say, “I am come into my garden,” and I have something to offer, and we all become aware of what that is because we have substance which allows understanding. If we don't have the substance we don't have the understanding. Simple. In effect I say, “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved, my sister, my spouse.” That's the way it is in this particular situation.
The truth, the reality, can only come through human beings. That's the only way it comes. People may hopefully gaze into the sky, looking for the coming of something or other. If they gaze long enough they may see signs, but no coming. We only experience the truth, the reality, to the extent that we are in position to do it; and that isn't by fancy; it's by participating in the actual design. I am come into my garden to whatever extent there is a garden here this morning, and to that extent I have offered something to eat and to drink, that there might be the increased experience of the real nature and quality of life, that that nature and quality of life might be carried with us. Then when we leave the Chapel we do not revert immediately into the old state again, the old conventions, because if we do that we are saying in effect to the Lord, “Come get me. Come get me, next Sunday maybe”—playing hard to get.
The Lord always provides what He does in radiation. It's always there, but a person only knows it to the extent that he maintains and sustains and generates the connecting substance in his momentary living; but he won't sink back into the same old state again. That same old state usually involves a lot of running off at the mouth in momentary living, idle words which fall to the ground, idle words which if they are expressed by someone in the descending aspect of the cycle carry the individual down with them. Down he goes, down, down, down. Every word proceeding out of the mouth of God, which should be the word falling from the lips of man made in the image and likeness of God, lifts up, up, up. Ascension. There are two ways to go: up or down; and each person makes the choice for him- or herself. Nobody else can or does do it for you. You can never blame somebody else.
You can make a right choice exactly the way things are. Let's not fool ourselves. Let's not deceive ourselves anymore. How much self-deception there has been in the world. It's obvious everywhere. Everyone is blaming everybody else. Nobody has the manhood or the womanhood to stand up and say, “It's me! It's my responsibility, nobody else's responsibility. I'm not going to try to palm it off on somebody else.” What wishy-washy people there are in the world. Let's grow up. Let's experience the reality of maturity in the current of the spirit of the living God as we move in harmony with the working of the Law and as the expression of our living exemplifies the beauty of the angelic character which is the truth for each one.
© emissaries of divine light
Melchizedek
The Increase
Grace Van Duzen August 6, 1977
As you may or may not know, before the Bible was translated, in its original form (the Hebrew language) there were only consonants; there were no vowels, and in translation the vowels had to be put in. Actually I think the translators did a masterful job. But this is interesting to me. There are the consonants, framework you might say—a skeleton—and the vowels supply the spirit, you might say the spirit substance, and this makes a vital difference to how the word comes out—what kind of substance. So I thought I would use an illustration—M L K (CH). Now those have no vowels in them and there are several ways that we can put vowels in and get different words. One of them, M E L CH izedek. The first part of the word really is the name there—Melchi. Zedek is an ancient form from which has come Zadok, which means "priest", so you really have Priest of the Most High God, this (Melchi) meaning "Most High God." Notice Zedek and Zadok—again you have vowels to make it different, haven't you? Or another great one, but rather obscure perhaps: M A L A CH I, the last prophet in the Old Testament, looking toward the New Testament—Malachi, a very definite connecting link. He prophesied with regard to Elijah, and so on.
Or you could have something else: A M A L E K. Everyone here who has been to a Bible class knows all about Amalek. You could spell it satan or the devil, or one of those things. Amalek. In the Bible it says that God would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Well, as so often in the Bible, it is completely backwards. "God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden"—He didn't, of course. Adam and Eve drove themselves out of the garden, and it is Amalek that has war with God from generation to generation. God doesn't fight back but Amalek fights anyway. M O L E CH—just to keep Amalek company!—was a pagan god used in human sacrifice, with a fire inside, etc. So we have exactly the same skeleton here but different substance. We could say this (Amalek and Molech) is substance, but it isn't really, because it destroys itself; it is self‑destructive.
Here is the substance (M E L CH izedek); but they have the same consonants, you could say perhaps the bones. Ezekiel wrote something about bones, dry bones. And there was a valley full of them, the great valley of the world, and it was full of the dry bones; many, many, many—the great numbers are emphasized, that there were many dry bones. They were very painful because bones rattling against each other are not comfortable, and this is the state of the world, and the substance very shortly disintegrates and disappears, dissolves. So we have the disintegration, the self-destruction, and ultimately the death, of the dry bones in the valley. And do you remember that there was a question asked? Man did not ask the Lord but the Lord asked man, and He said, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And man said, "Well, for heaven's sake, you know the answer; why are you asking me?" I paraphrased that a little bit. He said, "Lord, thou knowest." And the Lord asked him again: "Can these bones live?" Then Ezekiel got the vision. And in Ezekiel: "And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above...and the breath came into them, and they lived." The breath didn't come into them until there was substance; the flesh came up upon them. The substance. And as we so well know, man has tried to put the substance into the bones, cover them up and make them nice; but the increase, according to the function on this one level, very limited, is on this level. So what happens? Well, we have lots of dry bones in the valley—population explosion, it's called. And the Law always works and takes care of these things, but is there anything left afterward? When there is too much substance on one plane the Law works to take care of it and equalize and even things out, so it is self-destruction.
There is a reference in the wonderful Book of Job, where it says that his, Job's, substance was increased in the land. The very nature of this substance is that it increases. If that increase is on that very limited level which man thinks he is, a physical being, what is the increase? Well he's got to have more land or more houses or more machinery or more people, or something; or in the physical sense maybe the flesh doesn't know when to stop, and of course taken far enough that is self-destruction. So if this is the increase there is no answer. The increase on each level is the answer, the wonderful substance in the land, in this land, in the body on earth; the promised land, we say, individually or collectively the body of God on earth, on this planet. And it is increased in the land. It is not increased rightly after we leave this sphere of things—then we meet our Maker and all sorts of things—but in the land is where the increase needs to be and on each plane of being. Remember Job had seven sons and three daughters, the negative triune world. They ate and drank with each other. Here was the substance on every level and the nature of that substance is to increase; but it is an ascending process, isn't it? It's not constantly increasing the physical substance. Rightly it is an ascending process where substance from one level begins to blend and move with that of the upper level—heaven to heaven. You've got seven heavens so you have this constant movement, not up and then down but constantly ascending and descending—a beautiful picture of the substance of the Lord.
Amalek presents a different picture. As I mentioned already, here is the self-active function, the increase on this level, and it is always a getting process: "Now I will get more and more and more"; and it is self-destructive. Of course the fighting against God is the getting process. There are so many wonderful texts in the Bible which apply, apply to just about anything, but I am reminded of the words of Samuel, who let none of his words fall to the ground. If something is falling to the ground it is not in an ascending cycle, it seems to me, and I wonder how many words would be categorized as falling to the ground. We think of idle words, yes, but that is rather an easy description of gossip, isn't it?—kind of a nice word, idle words, but they are not nice—or deliberately malicious, spiteful, critical; these all fall to the ground. The substance is utterly wasted, there is nothing there, and we all know that once those words are spoken and fall to the ground there is nothing really to be done about it. We all know how we would like to take back that word more than anything—you can't do it.
That reminds me of another thing here with regard to Amalek. A Class member in this most recent Class, toward the end of our time together, shared something with me regarding Amalek. He had a Jewish background and in his pattern at least—I don't know how universal it is—there was a kind of ritual, I presume, with regard to Amalek, this ancient thing in their history of Amalek, the hated Amalek who tried to destroy them over and over and over. And his pronunciation of the word was "A mol ech" and they would pronounce the word, his own people—"Amalek!"—and then, in gesture, erase it. This was the whole purpose, erasing Amalek, or they would write it down and scrub it out. How futile! This is what the world has been doing generation after generation—keep Amalek alive but rub him out. Why not forget Amalek? We could look to the real substance! But I thought that was very interesting and he saw the analogy, he really found something in this, this young man. But when the word ceases to be uttered, the idle word that falls to the ground, let it fall; and we don't have to erase it, we cannot erase it. Once it is there, that's it, and then something else must begin. But just simply to let Amalek go; it is the only way. Just let him go.
It seems like this is what has been done and continues to be done in the consciousness of man in the earthly hereditary pattern, isn't it? Do the wrong thing and then change it, over and over and over. It seems like all the time is taken up with this; we don't have confessionals here but maybe a sort of an equivalent. But to constantly utter "Amalek" and then do away with it—why don't we quit having to do away with it? Why don't we stop having to change what we do, to right the wrong? And if something happens which may be the result of some wrong function it is a wonderful thing to see right away, "I know the factors that made that happen." And there is a whole different feeling. If it is an accident there is not the reaction to it—"How did this happen? Why me?"—but to really be able to see, instantly I mean, not sit down and think about it; that might help but I am talking about an instant revelation where you say, "I know why that happened!" And not just with respect to the physical thing of leaning on the towel bar and going down with it! but the instant recognition of something much deeper. That is good and there is a clean feeling of a new beginning, of something gone; but that is a different thing from keeping the word Amalek in consciousness and then erasing it, because this has been the function ever since man fell. It stays in consciousness; we must always utter "Amalek" and then get rid of it—utterly impossible, because if this is the Word: Melchizedek, that one cannot be there. They cannot occupy the same space.
Melchizedek. The Priest of the Most High God. In the Psalms it speaks of each one as being a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek. This is the same word as the Master's when He said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." It was the same as in His marvelous Prayer of Intercession: "I in them, and thou in me" and they are one, all together in agreement—because this substance is what we have been hearing about: first obedience, then agreement, then spiritual expression. And it is really a thrill to see here in this holy place, true agreement; many, many experiencing this as never before. I think there is a feeling in the self-active thinking pattern of the world that to agree with somebody, to really let down the bars and maybe find something in what somebody else is saying, this is weak. Oh no, it is very strong! This is strength because then there is a body functioning and not just individuals. Substance—and that real genuine substance of agreement is followed by the next step, spiritual expression, the substance which ascends, the increase. This is the increase of the substance and without it there is nothing but bones.
Our Master uttered some very wonderful words which to me apply also in this analogy here, and that was "Go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain." And in Proverbs: "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." If the firstfruits are given to the Lord it remains; you don't have a second, third, fourth, or whatever. The firstfruit remains and that is the fruit. Here (Melchizedek) this fruit remains. The substance is increased. That is its nature. It doesn't increase to a certain point and then—now we've got it; we can put it in a bank and we get interest or whatever. Well that's all fine on this level but it is a constant, it is a characteristic, of the substance. It increases and that is life, isn't it? That is eternal life, everlasting life, whatever we want to call it—not ascending after death and then maybe the descending cycle again in incarnation somewhere. I am not knocking that; it has probably had to be. However, the increase of the substance is life, the constant ascending and descending substance, not up and down and up and down—one thing.
The sun shines on the just and the unjust but it seems to me there is a difference with respect to what the just and the unjust do about it. The result isn't the same. The radiation is constant, that which comes down from God out of heaven, we say. But there is nothing on earth without that which blends with that which is coming down, and this is the increase, the substance, of one level, and the increase, the refined substance in another level; and all the levels have their own increase, their function. "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase," that it may remain.
There is another beautiful passage in the Bible and that is in the Song of Solomon. We don't use many passages from this beautiful Book and this is not the one that we usually use, although if you have been to my Class you know I always mention it, and this is from the Fourth Chapter. To me it is a beautiful portrayal, first a picture of man the way he has made himself to be on earth, his state of consciousness which is separate from the Creator, from God, from the Lord, however we want to put it. It is pictured as a female, rightly, the negative aspect, the means whereby God could be on this planet. It is a picture of this negative body individually or collectively which has removed itself from the Creator, inasmuch as His effectual function through this creation is concerned.
"A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." That is a very tight picture. And "a garden inclosed" would be more rightly translated "a garden closed"—"barred" would be a right word. "A spring shut up, a fountain sealed." All the wonder of this magnificent creation is rendered ineffectual purely because man has shut himself out and in essence shut out the Lord. "A spring shut up" is quite a picture to me. A spring is that which bubbles up out of the ground, isn't it? I was wondering what happens when a spring is shut up; it must have to find devious ways in the darkness. Maybe we can think of the subconscious realm, devious and dark, but there is nothing sparkling or bright as that which comes forth from a spring. This has been shut up. Of course the spring shut up dries up altogether in season; it doesn't go on forever that way. "A fountain sealed." This struck me very particularly because of some other wonderful words which Martin spoke last Sunday again, with regard to the Book of Life.
This was from Revelation—the seven-sealed book, and here we have a fountain sealed; and no man was able to look upon that book which was sealed or to loose the seals, and here you could say we have a fountain with seven heads. I think a fountain is a beautiful description, very apt, of the Seven Spirits, and we may think of them as the physical counterpart, because there is the counterpart on every level. A fountain—something which comes forth directly—and even if we look at the physical counterparts here, or the Seven Seals, seven ductless glands, we see "ductless," a fountain; no ducts, no canals, but directly into the bloodstream. Here are seven fountains! And the marvelous Seven Spirits before the Throne of God have been sealed. Here is the secret to life, as it has been put "life everlasting," life as long as it is right to be on this planet. How very different so-called life has become through that which has been shut up and sealed.
And there was one way by which the seals could be opened in the book and that was at the hand of the Lamb. The Lamb took the book out of the hand of the Creator, and here, we have been hearing, is spiritual expression, the one way whereby life can be lived on earth the way it was created to be. We are not talking about some foreign, strange way; it is the only natural way, really, that man was ever created to be in. Everything else is completely unnatural, and yet all the other ways, the devious ways and the distorted self-destructive ways are accepted as being natural; they are the thing. Nothing is more certain than death, or all those things that lead to death. Human beings always utter "Amalek" and then try to get rid of him, never just let Amalek be gone and let the Priest of the Most High God have expression, collectively but individually, because each is a Priest of that Most High God. The Order of Melchizedek is the design—"I am the vine, ye are the branches." That is the Order; that is the design; and each is rightly a Priest forever after that Order.
There is more to this text: "Thy plants are an orchard of pleasant fruits." This of course is the word of the Lord to His creation. "Thy plants are an orchard of pleasant fruits, with all trees of frankincense" and a lot of other beautiful spices, "myrrh, with all the chief spices. "A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters." I am reminded of the word in Genesis at the time of Creation: "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 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." Here again is the recognition that all these trees are in the garden, but the garden has been closed, barred. And perhaps we think of a garden with trees, wonderful trees, all that is available, all that is necessary for man, not only his sustenance on earth but his marvelous enjoyment. But it was all meant to be for the pleasure of the Lord, and of course man has thought of his own pleasure, which means that to get this he must do things in a different way than the Lord might do them, so the garden has been closed. And here is reference to these trees, these marvelous sources for all life on earth—"A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters."
Again, in John, the Fourth Chapter, the Master said, "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." Everlasting life, a well of living waters—this is while we are living, not a dead God that you see when you are dead but a living God while we are living; here is where the living waters are. And He said this well springs up, "shall be in him a well of water"—that is where the well is, that is where the spring is, that is where the fountain is—"in him a well of water springing up" in every moment "into everlasting life." Water has been looked upon as truth but, you know, it's used everywhere really, if you look into it, as substance, first substance or whatever. "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," and that doesn't just mean water. Here was whatever substance was necessary in that creation.
I am reminded of Elijah, when fire came down from God out of heaven "and licked up the water that was in the trench"—substance. This is the process of ascension, isn't it, again? Fire from heaven, this marvelous transmuting substance which man can't touch; that one he can't touch and manipulate. It transmutes and it licks up the substance—a picture of the transmuting process, of that which refines and causes to ascend, that doesn't fall to the ground. He says there would never be any more thirsting when this well is present, this which springs up in each moment; no thirsting, no wanting. Here is the absolute provision in every moment within each one.
Now this female aspect that we have been talking about speaks in the Song of Solomon, the negative capacities, the body, mind, heart; the sister, spouse, now the bride. And in Revelation we have the Bride of the Lamb, and the Lamb is the spiritual expression and here is the negative aspect of that expression; in other words what we are, rightly. Here is this voice now: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." In a few words we see something very precise. "Awake"—that's a very positive action. We have been hearing a lot about waking up and it is positive; we even heard that it could be a shock. "North wind"—here is the positive expression as opposed to the south. Here is the north wind, very often the strong thing. The south is often warm and nice and kind. But here is the north wind, and its action, the positive action, is invited: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south." "Come, thou south"—here is the negative, absolutely essential. Here is the union, unified radiation, the blending. But there is the action of the negative aspect taken here or nothing would happen. Awake and come, and the spices thereof flow out. Those trees established in the garden which have not been allowed to be used—"Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." "His garden," and the garden has been thought of as one's own. Man has taken the garden to be his own, his own possession. The action has been of course man stealing, and he eats the fruits, and he doesn't know how to handle the fruits of that action. That should be rightly, and must be rightly, in the hands of the Lord. And so the invitation is "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits," the first fruits that remain, the result of the right action on earth.
Melchizedek means King of Righteousness, Prince of Peace—righteousness covering the face of the earth, the fruits of the garden in the hands of the Lord. And of course, as we know, man has messed around with the fruits, the results of action; he takes this as the seed for further action, and so the same thing is continued over and over—"Amalek, be gone!"
There is another word here, the word of the Lord after the bride speaks, and He says, "I am come into my garden." "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." See the perfect steps, the perfect action here. The bride is in place, and the Lord is in position to effectively function on earth, to operate again in spiritual expression. And we can see, oh so clearly, how this is true. In agreement the way is easy. In spiritual expression the substance is present and we quickly see that manipulating it is utterly futile. Nothing happens; we don't get anywhere! But, the substance present, it is like magic, because the Lord is again in operation; He's in business, and that business is marvelous, and it is not some mysterious business up in the sky. This business right here is taken care of so easily, so smoothly; to the human mind it is miraculous, simply because it said it couldn't be done; but here it is, the substance. And the word of the Lord in victory certainly comes through these beautiful words: "I am come into my garden." It has been a long time, in the sense of earthly heredity, according to that viewpoint, since "I am come into my garden."
Then the next automatic function is "O friends, eat"; then it is passed on; now we can let it cover the face of the earth. Here is the increase of the substance. "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." That is the word of the Lord, and who is the Lord? All who are letting this be an absolute reality on earth, not fictional anymore but factual. Then the invitation is extended, strong and sure: "Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved." And this is the word of the Lord spoken on earth.
Another very beautiful verse in the New Testament, words spoken by the Master: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." And this is it! "l am come into my garden, and I eat and drink of the fruit of this vine" which is the expression of the body of mankind on earth, but it is the Body of God on earth now, again. That is why He comes into His garden and that is why all the pleasant fruits and the wonder of this magnificent world, the earth, then is available to Him. And how great is our privilege to be here on earth, on this planet, right now. I have no desire for a spaceship to take me somewhere else because this one is ruined. It so quickly comes back into place when the Lord is on earth to let it happen, to make it happen because we let Him do the job. It very quickly comes back because this is what it wants to do. I suspect that Amalek is happy to get out of there! The Law works and we are here in this most marvelous position to let it be restored to that One. And we know what His joy is like—we don't have to imagine it, because we have the one who leads us here in the Way, and there is no more beautiful sight than that smile on his face when he is allowed to say, "l am come into my garden; they are doing it." There is no more joy actually, no greater joy on earth, than to share in this Law of the Lord which is righteousness, right function. It is the other way that is hard—good and evil.
So I count it all joy and a great privilege to move with each one of you in this place in the generation of that substance which never falls to the ground. Perhaps we wouldn't speak so often or so much if none of our words were to fall to the ground. I think that is entirely possible. Simply multiplying words seems to lead it in a certain direction; have you noticed? It can start off so nice. We are only saying nice things about people but there is something about saying things about people that leads into a certain area, and I know we all know what I am talking about. Idle words fall to the ground and that establishes a downward cycle. How marvelous to be able to say with Samuel: "None of my words fall to the ground." The substance is allowed to be in the ascending cycle to meet that which is coming down from the Lord, and then there is light. This is light, and the darkness flees away and everything that is identified with darkness flees away fast.
How good it is to share the words of the Lord in these days, "Behold, I come quickly," and the response is quick and eager: "Even so, come, Lord." We can only say that when we are one with that expression, "Behold, I come quickly," and let all that is not part of this flee away. Darkness flees away when the light is there. It doesn't crawl out; it's gone! You don't even see it go. The light is on and the rest is gone. Melchizedek is here and Amalek is gone. The Lord is in His Holy Place, "let all the earth keep silence before him." And we share His word, "I am come into my garden. I have drunk my wine. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." And that is our Word that goes forth to all. He called them friends, and how many friends there are waiting to eat and drink abundantly that which we are right here in position to know right now. Could there be any greater blessing or any greater mission or job to do on the face of the earth?
© emissaries of divine light
Fulfilment or Disaster
from Being the Truth
Martin Cecil November 1, 1981
We can surely see the essential requirement of the immovable rock, not as a theory: “Oh yes, we need to stand upon the rock.” I don’t think that is a clear way of conveying what is necessary. We need to be the rock. Being, that’s what we are. If we are that then nobody can push us off it. If we are not that, if we are merely trying to hold on to the rock, scrabbling at it with our fingers, there will be a wave of sufficient magnitude to tear us loose. As long as there is this state of separation between what we think of as ourselves and the rock of truth we are vulnerable, we can always be carried away. There will be that gigantic wave which finally gets the job done. Of course with most it isn’t usually such a gigantic wave. As a rule it doesn’t take very much with human beings, and I am sure that all of us can testify to this fact.
So we share the responsibility of being—in this instance we could say of being the rock of truth, so that we are immovable. No matter what storms there may be around in the emotions of human beings it matters not to the rock, because when finally the storm passes the rock will still be there; and it is this that engenders confidence. I suppose if one is in a ship, a powerless ship in a storm, there is fear of the rocks. If the ship goes aground, it looks as though that would be disaster. At the same time it might be salvation; for those who are the crew of the ship might well scramble to safety on the rocks. There is an alternative here, isn’t there?
There are those who think of what is happening as disaster; others might discover that it is salvation. In a general sense fear has been the dominant control—avoid the rocks at all costs! Our attitude is not that, particularly if we are the rock. The invitation is, “Come on home. It’s not disaster, or it need not be disaster.” It will likely be disaster as long as fear persists, because the situation is then translated on the basis of fear rather than on the basis of the truth. Because the rock is immovable the salvation, the opportunity of salvation, remains and is available to those who fear not. Our concern would be to bring assurance of the immovability of the rock, the eternal nature of the rock, which may be seen in terms of victory rather than disaster.
One definition of disaster might well be complete failure. Disaster is then to those who completely fail. The truth doesn’t fail; it is the immovable mass, after all. So there is no disaster possible in the truth. The failure would be the failure to experience the reality of the truth. Then, for the person who has so failed, there may seem to be disaster, but from the standpoint of the truth there is no such thing as disaster. Is it a disastrous thing that the waves break on a rock? Does it eliminate the water? No, the water is still there; the sea, the ocean is still there, and the rock is still there and is known to be so when the turmoil ceases.
There are those who are very open to accommodate the anticipation of disaster. Could that include any of us at times? I have had people indicate, at one time or another, that they felt that unless something or other happened disaster was in the offing—complete failure. It is interesting to examine that a little, because complete failure would mean that everybody failed. There was no one present who didn’t fail. Well one can put a stop to that immediately! One takes the responsibility for not failing oneself. Then it isn’t complete failure. Then it isn’t disaster. And of course there always have been those present who were capable of accommodating the truth. When the truth is accommodated in one’s own experience there is no possibility of disaster. There is no possibility of complete failure.
I think this is something that Jesus proved out in His own experience, didn’t He? Those who were associated with Him at the time thought that it was disaster. That’s the way it seemed, but the failure wasn’t complete. There was One, at least, who didn’t fail; therefore there was no disaster; therefore we have the opportunity of being here together now and of proving the truth, of being the truth. When the truth is present it is indeed known to be immovable, but it causes things to move, and we observe things on the move.
There are storms across the ocean, some of them fairly violent storms, and there is also the breaking of the waves upon the rock of the shoreline which we and others are responsible for providing, a state of immovability. Things will move around us. If we are the rock we are not afraid. If we are merely clinging to the rock, well we may have some doubts, not so much with respect to the rock but with respect to the waves which could carry us away—emotions. There is a rock: the truth is; being is quite immovable. That is what we are in heavenly heredity, as we have called it, and there is movement in earthly heredity, our own and that of others throughout the whole world, movement and change, storms arising, violence of all kinds. We see this as a sorting-out process which inevitably comes to its fulfilment when the rock is present. It can’t help but do so, because the rock is not going to be moved by anything that happens.
“The truth is true and all is well.” Do we accommodate this in ourselves, this view, this quality of experience, “The truth is true and all is well”? Or do we have at times more of an inclination to accommodate: “Disaster is at hand and all is not well at all”? Do you recall the 8th verse of the 4th chapter of Philippians? I’m sure you do. I will read it to remind you. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Accommodate these things! Is it not the human inclination to accommodate the reverse of these things: whatsoever things are unjust. Oh my, we can really go to town on that one, we can really occupy ourselves with this. What betrayal of the truth! Is the truth not just? Of course it is.
This particular verse may be taken as the opportunity to associate oneself with the truth, not with the absence of it. What is it that we delight to accommodate in our own hearts and minds? All the things that are of ill report? We may be capable of observing things which could be interpreted in the human way as things of ill report, but we know better, don’t we? We know that all things work together to perfection when the rock is present on earth, because we refuse to accept into our own hearts and minds any attitude, any quality, which is not true to the truth. The truth is characterized by beauty. The truth is characterized by beauty! We could well remember that. Is our internal state always beautiful? I’m not thinking of your judgment of others as to whether their internal state is beautiful or not, but how about one’s own? Is it always beautiful, or is there ugliness in there? It is quite possible to discern whether the truth is characteristic of one’s own experience or not.
When the disaster consciousness is there then a person will always be looking around for who is responsible: “Disaster is coming because of so-and-so. So-and-so must change therefore, if there is not to be disaster, or something else must be done.” And the individual evades his or her own responsibility, the responsibility which can be seen in terms of accommodating what is beautiful, what is right, what is holy. Let me read this verse again. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true …” Do you think that what is true can be made to be not true? It is always true. It’s what it is. People may deceive themselves with respect to it, but the truth is true. It’s never going to be anything else. It is going to be what it is, whatever it is. That’s the way it is. It is absolutely certain, isn’t it? “… whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Let one’s whole experience be unified with the truth. The truth is whole and beautiful, not fragmented and ugly. What is true of us? What is true of our own experience? Do we see disaster looming, or do we see victory looming? Victory is absolutely certain to the extent that the truth is made manifest on earth because of human beings, presumably including us. There can be no disaster. All things work together to perfection. That’s the way it is. And so we share this spirit of victory in this hour, aware that disaster is impossible if one has accepted the responsibility of being the truth on earth in one’s own experience. As there are many who do accept this responsibility then the rock increases on earth and all things are seen and known to work together to perfection, to the glory of God and in the complete fulfilment of the purposes of God.
© emissaries of divine light
