The Fourth Spirit
Martin Cecil May 30, 1965
How vital is purity of heart! The fourth spirit before the Throne of God has been designated as the Spirit of Purification. We have given special consideration to the Spirit of Love, first; then we have moved on to the Spirit of the Womb, right atmosphere, keeping sacred things sacred. Recently the Spirit of Life has received special emphasis, which is the fifth spirit. And now, today, the Spirit of Purification, at the fourth level.
The fourth plane of being connects the Inner Trinity with the Outer Trinity. Everything must come through the fourth plane if it is to appear in the outer manifestation, and this relates very particularly to the heart. When we consider the three outer planes of being, or the three aspects of our own individual being, we usually speak of body, mind and spiritual expression. Sometimes that is shortened to “spirit.” We really need a different word to designate this particular level in ourselves. We can describe it accurately when we speak of the body as the physical capacity. And then we have the mental capacity. And finally the spiritual capacity—but the spiritual capacity is not the same thing as the Spirit. It is the means by which we may give expression to spirit. Sometimes the word “soul” is used to indicate this level of being, but that word is a little confusing to many, so I don't think it is the right one for us. But we need, in our own consciousness at least, to have the awareness that these three outer levels are simply the means by which something can manifest according to the triune pattern of God. There is the Inner Trinity and the Outer Trinity, and that which is of the Inner Trinity reaches the Outer Trinity through the realm which needs purifying in our own experience: the heart. How much experience have we had of Spirit, spelled with a capital S?
It is important that we should be able to move easily and naturally to higher levels of understanding than have yet been experienced. I have found, in seeking to move to those higher levels, a tendency for a drag to appear; we might question as to why. Presumably because the capacities which are necessary to function at those levels have not been adequately developed, so that we begin to feel uncertain and perhaps out of our depth; there begins to be something of a resistance to the experience. If there is some realm in which you have had no experience there seems to be an inherent tendency in human beings to resist moving into that realm of experience. It is looked upon as being unnecessary. A person is getting along quite well where he is, when the suggestion is offered that there should be movement into another realm. When the suggestion to move is put forward the individual says, “No, I like it here,” and maybe you have noticed this in your own experience.
If we are to move into a realm of understanding which transcends anything that has been known in the fallen human state, we must permit the development of the capacity to experience it. It seems so often that people expect something to occur as by magic. If as children we expected to walk as by magic we would still be crawling. We had to rise up, clinging for support perhaps for the time being; but eventually we were able to venture upon our own two feet. And so it is in the unfoldment at any level of being. I think this is one of the reasons why our Master stressed the importance of becoming as a little child, because a child is ready to venture. But when we become of supposedly adult years there is increasing hesitancy in this regard, and yet if we don't venture we never move very far. So to experience what is needful we need to have the spirit of adventure alive in us, so that we can step forward, rise up. If there is resistance it tends to cause us to sink into a pattern of lethargy, and I have noticed that at times, in service, so that we found it quite difficult to move.
Purity of heart alone permits the experience of the Spirit of God in action—the outpouring of the spirit. Now we can't get the spirit as individuals. So often a person will try to do this, as though he could experience some sort of an outpouring of the spirit without regard to his fellows. And there are those who, imagining that they are making spiritual strides, have tended to isolate themselves from others, as though that was an evidence of spiritual progress. It isn't, because the spirit moves through the whole. We recognize that there is a Divine Design. There is a body, a living organism, already a reality, which needs to take form at the level where we are. The spirit is moving through this living organism already. To the extent that we come into position to experience the movement of that spirit through ourselves individually, we will find ourselves a part of that whole, of the living organism, the body of the Son of God. We cannot experience the genuine movement of the spirit of God on a solitary basis.
Human beings have been functioning in a solitary way. They have found no city to dwell in; they have found no pattern of relationship with their fellows, no dwelling place in association with others. Each individual has been in his isolated little cell, and it is a pretty lonely place, and in that state of loneliness various efforts have been made to disguise it, various escapes have been developed, but the escapes increase the sense of lack. Human beings have this sense of lack, of void, of emptiness, because there has been a lack of awareness of what it was that was present in reality. There has been a veil in between, and there has been a sense of being only partly present. Human beings have this sense of emptiness, this sense of void within themselves. Although many people may not have specifically defined it for themselves, they function in an awareness—subconscious awareness perhaps—influencing what they do on the basis of the fact of this void, this lack. The heart has been impure; the veil has been in place. That which was of the Inner Trinity has been obscured; it hasn't been able to get through into the manifestation of the outer expression. The result is that the outer expression has experienced the lack of it and, we recognize, has attempted by various means to fill the need from external sources, which cannot really be done.
There is this sense of void. Now perhaps this is one of the reasons why there has been such a great increase in the attitudes of human beings denying the existence of God. There has been no real admission on the part of the vast majority of people that there was anything lacking. People are inclined to try to cover it up and to pretend that there isn't any void there. They're getting along fine, thank you! But they know inside that they're not, that there is something wrong, that there is something distorted, that there is something of a chaotic state inside, and consequently there is a state of dishonesty present, because people will not acknowledge it. They sense it but won't acknowledge it, and until it is acknowledged nothing can be done about it. If a person refuses to acknowledge that there is anything lacking in himself, then he will take the attitude that there doesn't need to be any God, because he is deluding himself into imagining that he is adequate with respect to his own expression of life. That is a thoroughly dishonest attitude when we come to look at it, because this lack is there. The void is there. There must be the acknowledgment of it if there is to be the beginning experience of that which is required to dissipate the void, and this acknowledgment has been called repentance.
Now because repentance has been used in wrong ways many have rebelled against the idea of repentance. Fundamentally repentance is an indication of the beginning of honesty on the part of a person—true repentance—an acknowledgment of the fact that there is something wrong, that there is something lacking, that there is a void in one's own being; the external capacities are not adequate of themselves. As there is an admission of this fact there begins to be a basis for considering how it can be changed. If a person won't admit it, well nothing can be done. So here we have a necessary step then. But there needs to be a recognition that in the movement of the spirit there begins to be an awareness of relatedness in the whole. It is impossible to experience the genuine movement of the spirit of God through oneself and not at the same time begin to experience relatedness to a greater whole. It is never something that is merely an individual experience, without regard to anyone or anything else.
The spirit which moves through us is the spirit which is moving through the whole. Therefore if we experience that spirit, we begin to experience the reality of the whole. Consequently our attitude, our function, will always be related to the whole. Where there is little experience of that spirit the individual will constantly be trying to pick himself out of the whole. To the extent that we begin to experience it in form in our own group here, he will be taking himself out of that into an individual pattern, all on his own. It seems like a contradiction to many people, but the experience of the reality of individuality is impossible except in the whole. People think they have to break out of the whole in order to be individual. Well this perhaps is true from the standpoint of the distorted pattern of the whole as it relates to man's fallen state. We certainly have to come out of the fallen state; but coming out of the fallen state doesn't mean that we become isolated individuals expressing some special form of individuality all on our own without regard to anyone else. We begin to move into the experience of the real whole, the Divine Organism, which at the present time has very little form on earth; but we begin to experience something from the standpoint of spirit, and consequently our concern is with this which is taking form from the standpoint of the whole. Every move we make is related in our consciousness to its effect upon the greater manifestation of the whole of the Divine Organism. We can never do anything which denies the whole. How often I have noted that things are done which actually do deny the whole, because the individual had lifted himself out of it—by becoming self-centered—and there is a tendency to try to lift others out of it too.
It has seemed always such a very difficult thing for responding ones to accept the necessity of coordination. It is felt, apparently, that one cannot be an individual without acting without regard to anyone else. This is supposed, in the human consciousness, to reveal one's own special individuality. “To hell with everyone else! I'm going to be myself.” Well that isn't a true self, because the true self is a part of the whole. We are not concerned with the attitude which says “To hell with everyone else.” We are concerned with the attitude which says “To heaven with everybody else!”; in other words “Into the whole with everybody else.” “To hell with everybody else” is the scattering pattern, moving out in disintegration. “To heaven with everybody else” is the integrating pattern, where the whole begins to take form in manifestation. But the spirit always comes before the form, doesn't it? So there must first be this awareness from the standpoint of spirit, from the standpoint of the movement of the spirit in our own experience, and that movement is a very real thing when it is known.
There is the story of the day of Pentecost way back, when there was what was called the outpouring of the holy spirit, and it came because they were with one accord in one place. In other words there was a consciousness of the whole, an awareness of the reality of the whole in spirit; not trying to fit people together in the external sense—you get into trouble that way, because people simply don't fit on that basis. The coordination comes in spirit first, and this relates to the consciousness, the awareness, which we may have of the reality of the Divine Organism, the Living Whole.
Perception! "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," they shall see the reality of the living whole, and they will no longer be fooled into supposing that individually they are separate from the whole. I am sure that many of you have had a sensing on occasion—it probably came as by chance—of the fact that you are a part of the living whole in the external sense. Sometimes this experience comes when you are alone insofar as other human beings are concerned, but maybe in the midst of what is called nature. Possibly looking up into the night sky there comes a feeling, an awareness in that way, of being a part of everything, and that everything is a part of you. Now sometimes there is a touching of this for a moment in human beings, and that is wonderful, but it certainly isn't sufficient. We need to emerge into a consistent awareness of the truth in this regard: that we are a part of the living whole. That awareness is an awareness of God, and it comes by reason of purity of heart. A momentary draining out of impurities may permit a momentary experience of the reality, but we are interested in a permanently pure heart, so that there may be a permanent experience of the reality of the whole.
One of the aspects of this, as I mentioned before, is that we are concerned to permit integration of ourselves and of others in the whole, and we will do whatever is necessary to allow this to be so. The attitude has so often been, with responding ones, that they are going to buck this; they're going to rebel against it; they don't wish to contribute their own individual expression into the whole; they want to hold it to themselves. Now it may be, to start with, there is little real understanding of what the experience of coordination and integration in the whole would ultimately be; but we have to start with such understanding as we may have. It may be a very elementary understanding. In this regard we want to make very sure that what we are doing is rightly coordinated with what others are doing, so we are not reluctant to provide information on this point, in relationship to what we are doing, or what we are going to do, or what we propose to do, or what we think might be the right thing to do, in order to discover whether it fits in the whole. So many people seem to imagine that when this is done, “Well I'm going to be stunted; I'm not going to be able to do anything!” But we have to start where we are. What the ultimate experience will be we don't yet know, but we have to be concerned with what we are capable of doing now to permit it to begin to appear, to be experienced, to appear, and obviously it is going to be a very limited thing to start with, because we are very few in number for one thing.
Now very often there is a certain amount of interest taken in one another's business, in realms where maybe it would be better if we didn't. I am talking about the actual function, daily function, in the spheres of our activity; not prying into things that are none of our business. There's been a good deal of that, too, and that doesn't help. We are concerned to see that what we do fits in with what is moving in relationship to the whole. And how are we going to find out? By going blindly ahead and trying to force what we're doing on everybody else, and only when we find it doesn't work are we convinced that it can't fit? Well if we do that, then we're messing things up and certainly not learning how to move in the current of the spirit. Gradually, as we are interested in making sure that our action is coordinated in the whole, and we are encouraging and inspiring others to do likewise, we will increase in sensitivity, in the perception of what it is that is moving, and we may find that in season—it isn't quite here yet, I don't think—that we will be able to function in a coordinated manner without necessarily talking about everything. Sometimes a couple, for instance, who have lived a long time together, all their lives, they're getting on in years, know pretty well what the other is doing or thinking, what is moving in that particular pattern, so that there is a coordination without talking about it particularly. Well at a certain level that perhaps is an illustration of the way it works, but we have to start on the basis of considering the thing at the level of our conscious understanding, to see how it may fit, and instead of rebelling against this necessity we then have the attitude of cooperating fully to make very sure that everything fits together. We may find occasionally that there is a slip here or there inadvertently, but when our interest is in this, then we begin to become sensitive in that direction, in the direction of the current of the spirit which is moving to provide a coordinated and integrated manifestation of the whole.
This spirit begins to move through us and we begin to know what it is, but only because we take an interest in it. This is part of the process of the purifying of the heart. We don't know right off the bat. We don't have some magic sensitivity right away. We've been functioning a long time in the fallen state. We've been sensitive to all the wrong things for a long time. But once our interest begins to be in the right direction, then the sensitivity can grow in that direction and we can begin to experience this awareness of the importance of the whole. In one sense we could say that we become aware of Self-importance, because we are important in the whole, not outside of it. We have no importance outside of it, and this is something that is sensed by people; that is why they have to keep thrusting the human ego forward to try to make themselves feel important, feel that there isn't this void, this blank inside.
When we come into the whole we don't need the human ego anymore, because we are important there and we know it. We don't have to convince ourselves; we don't have to try to get others to convince us; we don't have to maneuver around to try to get others to tell us what wonderful fellows we are. And if someone does say we're wonderful, well we take it, shall we say, with a grain of salt. We know pretty well the way it really is. Oh, it is nice to have a little boost now and again, but don't let's let it inflate the human ego, because we'll have to be cut down to size later and that sometimes is a painful business. So it is best to stay pretty small until the movement of the spirit through us causes us to expand, not because we try to get bigger. And then, becoming more keenly aware of the importance and the reality of the Divine Organism, the living whole, we see God. That is God: the living whole; not a person. The divine reality!
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God,” and here we are concerned to do that which is necessary to allow the purification of the heart. As we began to see this morning, the direction of our attention is a vital factor. There is a living whole. Let's pay attention to it. Let us seek it out. Let us be concerned to recognize it. I think it can be said that we all have some awareness of it already. That awareness is not based simply on the extent to which it has taken form. If you try to make your awareness be founded upon this, you will be in a state of turmoil much of the time, because the external manifestation is very inadequate and conflicting at times; but when it is based in the awareness of the spirit, then that is there regardless of the external form. Our concern is that we should play our part in assisting the form to appear. We can't assist the form to appear unless we have a recognition of what it is that is to appear, unless we have an awareness of the spirit, and the awareness of the spirit in this regard is absolutely dependent upon our interest in the manifestation of wholeness, of integrated, coordinated wholeness. Remember that a gauge of the extent to which the spirit of God is actually moving through your capacities will be the extent of your awareness of the reality of the living whole. So you needn't fool yourself anymore with respect to the supposed movement of the spirit, if whatever you have been experiencing hasn't permitted you to have a real awareness of the living whole. It is through the heart, the pure heart, that the divine reality appears.
The spirit of purification comes to focus within the scope of our consciousness, as to its nature. The spirit of purification at the present time relates to the necessities of the purifying of the heart. The heart being impure, it needs to be purified, and we have been considering some of the ways and means by which this can transpire more than it has. But even in the divine state obviously there is still the spirit of purification, and this doesn't relate to the necessities of purifying the hearts of divine men and women—they are pure—but of so functioning that everything for which one is responsible is kept sacred. You may remember how Job sanctified his sons and his daughters every day lest they had “cursed God in their hearts”; in other words man is responsible for keeping all the creation out here on earth under its proper dominion, in its proper place, functioning as it should function, in the manifestation of the divine design—something that is beautiful and sacred. And in the processes of this function there is constantly that which is ascending, something that is moving up.
The descending, outpouring radiation of the spirit of God keeps everything holy, keeps everything under control, allows for the right coordination, the right function, in the field of the creation, so that that which is being brought forth by reason of this right function may ascend, may move upward. There is the movement out of the outer realms into the inner realms, just as there is the movement out of the inner realms into the outer realms. There is a complete cycle: that which is coming down and that which is moving up—the angels ascending and descending on the ladder. And that which is ascending, moving upward, is purified in the sense that it is transformed as it moves from level to level: this is the process of ascension. That which is capable of function at one level must experience some sort of a transformation before it is capable of function at the next higher level, and this transformation is the purification that takes place in the divine state. Of course something of that is going on even now, but dominantly the need for purification relates to the impure hearts of human beings, which in the divine state would not be impure.
So we are here to let this purification transpire in us that we may be in position to share with God the responsibilities of His creative work by which ascension takes place, by which the transformation of all things is caused to appear. The first necessity relates to our own hearts however. What interest do we have in this matter? Are we still in some respects trying to escape from the frustration consequent upon the fact of the impure heart? Human beings become so desperate because of this that they do all sorts of terrible things. Refusing to admit the lack within themselves they are goaded into desperate action of one sort or another, and we see how this desperate action is appearing in so many ways in the world today. Human beings have lost so much of any awareness that they may have had before of the reality of God. Because of unwise, unbalanced intellectual development they deny God, they deny the existence of God, and they consequently deny their own lacks, their own emptiness, and this brings a sense of desperation. There is wonderful relief in admitting the fact, in repenting; and then the heart may begin to be purified, because we take an interest in those things which are of the spirit of God, the qualities and characteristics of God. And one of these relates to the awareness of the whole, the living whole. In this awareness the spirit of God moves increasingly; there is an increased depth to the movement of that spirit within ourselves—something that is known as being real and wonderful, something which begins to transcend, in our sense of values, all of the things that seemed so important before from the standpoint of the external pattern. We begin to know the truth, the reality, and we're made free by it: the movement of the spirit of the living God within our hearts.
So tonight in our meditations we have touched into this field; but to what extent have we the capacities developed to really experience what is available? Isn't it important that our capacities should increase in this regard? Are they going to increase all on their own? No, we have to do something. While there is a natural growth and unfoldment, a natural rhythm to it—we can't hurry that—nevertheless we must align ourselves with that rhythm to experience it, and once more we begin to see that interest is a vital key. We need to be interested in letting the heart be purified, so that we are not using the escape mechanisms to prevent it; because every time we use an escape mechanism we go more into the darkness, away from the experience which God offers. Let us concern ourselves with the development of our awareness and our experience of the living whole because we become a part of it. This is our primary concern. We don't keep ducking out into our own little foxholes, escape patterns, but move easily and naturally into the experience of the whole, where the blessing is, where the fulfilment is, where the spirit of the living God is.
Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life. Wide is the gate and broad is the way which leads to destruction. We recall these words, O Lord, and we have sufficient experience to know the truth of them. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” We have sufficient experience in this regard to know the truth of it. We would not hold back. We would not let ourselves be distracted from the glorious fulfilment of purpose that is offered to us, but learning to appreciate the whole, to become aware of its reality increasingly, we would offer ourselves into it that we may know the reality, the movement, the outpouring, of the spirit and experience life. O Lord, I thank Thee for each one who is dedicated and yielded to this fulfilment, in the Christ. Aum-en.
© emissaries of Divine Light
The Fourth Day Of Creation
Uranda May 31, 1950 100 Mile House, B.C.
God is so good to us and He gives us so many rich blessings. One of the greatest blessings is this: that He does not release His blessings too rapidly to us and through us. It is His desire that there should be an increase in the speed with which we allow His blessings to appear, but if He were to release the larger power through us and there should be a break in polarity, what devastation would result! If it were too great a break or took too long to correct, all those who were involved in the break would probably be eliminated. I say this to impress upon you again the great importance of holding true in polarity according to the Law of the Kingdom.
I am forced to consider as to how much I can trust you. I pointed out long ago that I trust no human being as such. Insofar as human beings are concerned, I am perhaps the most skeptical person on earth. I have no faith in human beings who are trying to do anything in their own strength, according to their own wisdom. I trust only those who are learning to trust God. No human being is worthy of trust beyond the degree of his polarity in the Christ Spirit according to the Law of the Kingdom.
God, recognizing this, releases the increase of power and blessing only as human beings prove their ability to abide in true polarity, only as human beings prove that they trust God enough so that they can be trusted. Many, many times the members of this Body have longed or prayed for an increase of blessing, not selfishly but in the conviction that a greater service could be rendered, that needs could be filled, empty vessels caused to overflow. Actually each should remember, “Before they call, I will answer.” God has been fulfilling His promise in this regard all along the way. Before you have ever called He has already answered, to the degree of your ability to receive in a manner that could be trusted.
Even so, sometimes human beings have allowed a change to appear in themselves and proved untrustworthy with respect to the blessings that have been granted to them. Always the devil is seeking to divert the power of God from its constructive purpose to the maintenance of his own kingdom. It is the only source from which he can receive any power whatsoever, for the kingdom of the devil must be maintained by the power of the Kingdom of God. The devil has no other power with which to maintain his kingdom, so he is always seeking to find those who will prove untrustworthy with respect to the blessings that God has granted them, so that he can divert those blessings from their constructive purposes to the purpose of maintaining the kingdom of the prince of darkness.
Every time you break the line, every time you fail to hold true to your polarity, you are serving the devil by releasing the power of God into those channels which maintain the kingdom of darkness. If it is just for a moment at this high a level, the devil dances with glee, because there is so much power given to him with which to seek to destroy those who turn their hearts to God.
It is a solemn thought; it is a terrible truth. Only in polarity, being obedient to the Law of the Kingdom, can we be free of the responsibility of channeling God's power into the purposes of the prince of darkness. Each one is trustworthy only as he or she abides under the Law of the Kingdom in an attitude of true trust toward God.
One of God's greatest blessings is that He refrains from releasing His blessings more rapidly than His children are able to bear them. The responsibility that comes with blessings from God is one which cannot be taken lightly. If the blessings of God are taken selfishly, or human beings attempt to use them for some self-centered purpose, destruction results. The lower the level of the human being the longer it will take for the result of destruction to appear. The higher the level of the human being the more quickly will that destruction be made manifest. Those who are living close to the level of the animal kingdom can abuse their privileges and their blessings, using them destructively, for a considerable period of time before the results appear. Not so with those who have come to the higher planes of being.
When you come into the Kingdom you have come to a point where you are supposed to be trusting God enough so that you can be trusted with increased blessings, and as you abide in the Kingdom, allowing the cleansing power of the spirit to make all things new, your trust in God increases, that you may be trusted with increased blessings. All of those empty vessels which remain within the sphere of our service can be, and will be, shall be, filled according to the progress of the members of the Body in proving that they trust God enough so that they can be trusted with such fulfilment.
All of this relates to something which I would like to consider with you. If I can trust you to trust God so that you truly let the cycles and seasons of His choosing bring forth the patterns of fulfilment, so that you do not let your minds become involved in a manner that interferes with the development of the patterns of truth, and so that you do not let your hearts become involved in a manner that prevents the increasing current of God's power on earth but, truly trusting, abide in the spirit of the Living Christ, letting all things work out so that you neither lag behind nor draw back, nor run ahead of the Lord, nor seek to improve on God's way, I would like, while I am yet here with you in person [at 100 Mile House, B.C.], to complete the outline with respect to the pattern as it is working at the present time in relationship to the days of creation. If I go beyond the point where we have already gone in this it is because I trust you to trust God and let it work out as it should.
These things have particular meaning in relationship to the Fourth Cycle of Restoration as indicated by the Fourth Day of Creation. I would read to you verses 14 to 19 inclusive, of the 1st chapter of Genesis: “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, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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. 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. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
As you have let the creative power of God work in and through you, you have allowed the dividing of the waters from the waters in you to have a real beginning, so that in you as a Unit, as one phase of the One Body, there is beginning to appear the reality of the firmament which God called heaven. Also you have begun to truly let the waters that are under the heaven be gathered into one place, that the dry land may appear, that the sure foundation of being may be evident in and through you. As this sure foundation of being has begun to find expression through your lives the fruit of the earth, the fruit of that sure foundation—which is to say the fruit of the Kingdom, for heaven and earth are becoming one in you—is beginning to manifest: “the grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,” symbolizing the natural expressions of being, the true fruitage which appears through those who let themselves abide in the Kingdom on earth. This is that which the Master was speaking of when He said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” He pointed out that you could not bear fruit except you abide in Him. So the fruit of the vine, the fruit of the earth that is one with heaven, is beginning—a first, faint beginning, but nevertheless a true beginning—to manifest in you.
As the atmosphere clears, as the heavy clouds roll away, as the fog is dispersed, you begin to see that which is above and beyond the surface of the earth. There is a recognition of the sun and the moon and the stars. But we are particularly interested in the meaning of these words in relationship to this Fourth Cycle of the Restoration, that we may let the recreative processes of God be carried forward as rapidly as we prove, as a Body on earth, that we can be trusted.
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven”—the firmament of heaven. The Master said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven.” This creative Word is being fulfilled in and through you as you become lights in heaven on earth, “to divide the day from the night,” to disperse the gray fog and the darkness from the human minds of those who are responding, that the day may be seen for what it is and the night for what it is. When you have looked to the sky on a clear night, have you ever wondered how many stars you can see up there? You would not like to be under the necessity of counting them. The stars of the sky are symbols of those who have come, and are coming, into the Kingdom on earth, that they may let themselves become lights that shine.
“And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” As the members of the One Body trust God enough so that they can be trusted with the greater outpouring of the Christ Spirit that brings the resurrection and the life, that Body of which you are members becomes a sign on earth, a sign of the truth of the Master's word, “The kingdom is at hand.” You, as that Body, become a sign on earth, a sign that God is fulfilling His promise of a restoration, and as this Body remains true it becomes a sign on earth, a sign that the enemy shall be cast out forever. “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so”—and it is so.
“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.” In this sense day and night represent the positive and negative aspects of being as made manifest on earth, and the two lights which He made were created, and are created, to rule the positive and negative aspects of being on earth. “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.” As it was an act of God then, it is an act of God now; for God has 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 rule over the positive and negative aspects of being on earth, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And God sees now that, to the extent that it is done, it is good. And the evening and the morning are the Fourth Creative Cycle of the Restoration.
When the atmosphere in the firmament of your own being clears, the darkness is dispelled, and the fog lifts and is dispersed, then you see that which God has set in the firmament and you know the greatness of God's rich blessing, that it is so.
These things that God has done are not to be taken for granted. As in the physical earth there would be no life without the sun and without the moon, so there would be no life in that Body wherein heaven and earth are made one if it were not for the lights which God hath set in the firmament to rule over the day and over the night. If God sees that it is good, blessed likewise are they who see that it is good. Those who fail to see that it is good set themselves up as judges over God Almighty, and with the judgment with which they judge they shall be judged; for as God sees that it is good, so must the children of men see that it is good, or prove that they are of that darkness which is being and shall be divided from the light.
The Fourth Creative Cycle of the Restoration reveals the Foundation of Being which God has established, whereby all the children of men who let go may know the secrets of salvation and enjoy the wonders of paradise restored. The Word of God sounds, and is sounding, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, and let them be for signs,” proving the fulfilment of the Divine Decree.
Martin Cecil — O Lord God, we thank Thee for Thy trust in us, that we may prove now and always our trust in Thee, letting that which Thou hast established be made manifest as a sign upon the earth according to Thy seasons. Holy Father, we thank Thee for the wonder of Thy love, which releases Thy blessings to and through us as we are prepared to receive them, letting Thy power bring to fulfilment the purposes of Thy will; for we know that Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever, in the Christ. Aum-en.
Uranda — Aum-en. The peace of my LORD and KING be upon thee as thou dost abide in the Kingdom, obedient to the Law. Peace be unto thee, in the Christ. Aum-en.
Martin Cecil — The blessing of the LORD has been made richly available this evening, and we can recognize that this blessing with which we have been trusted was something that was obviously already available. It was not something which by some magic means was invented on the spur of the moment. So there is evidence of the truth that the LORD makes His blessings available as human beings prove their trustworthiness by reason of their trust in the LORD.
The stars set in the firmament of heaven, and the reality of their position there, is made evident in the Fourth Recreative Cycle, but actually the stars were already in heaven whether they had been recognized there or not. In the Fourth Cycle, insofar as we are concerned, the stars in heaven are able to penetrate through the fog, or the fog has been cleared away sufficiently for them to shine on earth. From the outer viewpoint it seems that they are being set in heaven, but the stars were there already. We are letting that which was there already find manifestation in heaven on earth, so that there again the blessing of the LORD in this regard was already present. It is allowed to appear and be received on earth and made available as the firmament has become clear enough so that the reality is received and recognized and allowed to have meaning on earth, radiating the light to all who will receive.
Uranda — How I thank God that it is so. As we are in agreement concerning these things they are established on earth and made manifest for all who will receive through the Power of the Father, according to the Patterns of Everlasting Truth; for in Him is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. The blessing of my LORD and KING be upon you all, and peace be unto you in His Name.
Mystery Of God Uranda April 11, 1953
First Three-And-One-Half Of Seven Steps Of Restoration Uranda April 12, 1953 am
The Accuser Cast Down Uranda April 12, 1953 pm
Revelation Uranda April 13, 1953
Basis Of Magic—Revelation Uranda June 4, 1953
Functional Factors In Heavenly Magic Uranda June 9, 1953 a.m.
Seven Spirits—Mind Uranda June 10, 1953 a.m.
Cosmic Mind Uranda June 11, 1853 a.m.
My Mind Inner—And Outer Phases Uranda October 18, 1947
What Has Never Been Done Since Man Fell Uranda July 31, 1953
Seven-Sealed Book—Liberation Uranda June 11, 1953
I Love You, LORD Martin Cecil April 22, 1973
Four Beasts—Four-and-Twenty Elders Uranda June 9, 1953
© emissaries of divine light
Your First Love
Martin Cecil November 27, 1977
The first message to the seven churches contained in the Book of Revelation, the blueprint of the Third Sacred School, was to the church of Ephesus, and it reads as follows:
“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
“And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
"But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Here is a rebuke being offered to a certain aspect of consciousness present in human beings. We see this particularly as it relates to those who are allowing the form of the Archangel to manifest on earth. Here is the first area of rebuke within the scope of the consciousness of mankind. The rebuke is offered into the consciousness of those who have the responsibility of giving form to the body of the Archangel. And this is the first rebuke, the first requirement, if anything else of value is to follow subsequently.
“These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”
Here is pictured the Archangel who has the control of all levels of consciousness in His manifest Body. There only is a manifest Body to the extent that this fact of control is made evident. That control is extended through the seven stars, specifically relating to the angels who compose His Body on earth, and through those angels all levels of consciousness are encompassed. So here is a message extended into the developing consciousness of the Body of the Spirit of Truth, the Body of the Archangel, and it is the first one. Unless heed is paid to this message the other messages are of little consequence.
We have noted the fact that the Archangel is keenly aware of what those who compose His Body, His developing Body, are up to. I think sometimes the Spirit of Truth is thought of as being apart somehow, maybe carrying a watching brief, but not actually on hand. The statement was made that he is with you and shall be in you. This "shall be in you" aspect of the matter is what allows the control of the Archangel to operate through the consciousness of His Body on earth. If there is a recognition that the angel who you are is already present and walking in the midst of your consciousness, offering control, exactly the same thing is true with respect to the Archangel and His collective Body.
We may sometimes think to hide from the presence of the Lord. This is what Adam and Eve did in the beginning. They hid themselves from the Lord, but all they actually did was to hide the Lord from themselves—they had not really hidden themselves from the Lord. The same is true with respect to all of us. We're not hidden at all. We hear of the ostrich who is supposed to bury his head in the sand thereby imagining that he is out of sight. Well he is out of his own sight but plainly visible to everybody else; and this is indeed a good portrayal of the human state, supposedly hidden from the Lord but in plain view in actual fact. It's wise to remember this. You are exposed, so don't fool yourself. Recognize the fact. Acknowledge it. If you have not known the Lord it is not because He has not known you.
So your wonderful works have been in plain view. The Lord knows all about that. He is not neglectful of your willingness to serve at certain levels of consciousness. He sees how dedicated you have been, how determined in your own several ways to do what you thought was the right thing and to see clearly enough the sinners around you. All this is acknowledged as being so. The Lord is not neglecting your good works. But in spite of all that has been done, in spite of your labor, there has been something missing, something which had not been completely remembered: “Thou hast left thy first love.”
Obviously, in dealing with the various levels of consciousness that are included in these messages to the churches we find differences in individual people. Some may require more rebuke in certain aspects of consciousness. Some of the churches here mentioned indicate where the rebuke is required, but we are dealing with this first one. It is true that the rebuke is necessary in this first one to varying degrees insofar as individuals are concerned. Those are the ones you need to see and to hear. So if we are considering a certain level of consciousness, here designated as the church of Ephesus, there will be a variation with respect to all of you in this connection.
I have been giving emphasis to your first love. What is it? The Word. This is your first love. I am sure that many of you can recall the delight when you first had opportunity to begin to consider the literature of this ministry. If there was a real openness of response in you, you couldn't have enough of it. I recall from my own experience, shortly after I came on Uranda's mailing list in 1939, that early in 1940 he sent me considerable stacks of mailings. They were like this (indicated how thick), a number of bundles. And I devoured that material, hardly stopping for meals or for sleep. It so happened at the time that I had opportunity to do so. In this way I became aware of my love for the Word, and I am sure that many of you have had a similar experience. You may not have been snowed under with such a massive initial dose, but it has been consistently coming. By and large this has been received with joy. Here is the first love—love for the Word.
You will note that the word Word has only one letter different to the word Lord. You will also note that the Word was spoken of as being in the beginning with God. One might say in one sense that the words Word and Lord are interchangeable: “In the beginning was the Lord, and the Lord was with God, and the Lord was God,” or “In the beginning was the Word.” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love the Word thy God with all thy heart.” Here is something very definite and very specific.
Of course we can't love on command. It is not a matter of trying to love—that is futile. It is simply a matter of awakening to the love which is already known in angelic consciousness. We don't have to generate love or make it appear, do anything to cause it to happen; it is already there waiting to be experienced. Lots of human beings make claims about love, loving God perhaps or loving some other person, but the truth of love is an already-existing reality. Human beings may awaken to it, and when they do they begin to experience it and then they know it. So if there is a commandment to love the Lord thy God, or the Word, it is not such an unreasonable instruction as it has tended to seem to many people. You cannot love on command. The suggestion is then probably made: “Well you have to think of all the wonderful things that God does, and then you'll discover how really lovable He is.” But in spite of all this most people have been afraid of God, and fear and love don't go very well together. In fact it is said that perfect love casts out fear, so they don't inhabit the same place.
There is indication that it is wise to fear God, according to various statements made in the Old Testament, but the word fear did not indicate that one should be terrified of God; it merely indicated that one should have natural respect and awe toward God. All this is naturally so when it is experienced because we awaken to it. And you do not awaken to it by saying, “Well I know I should keep that first great commandment; I'll see what I can do about it”; because there is the devil speaking, who in fact has no interest whatsoever in loving God. Why not? Because he is totally preoccupied with loving himself. That is the human ego.
If you instruct the human ego to love God he may put on a nice face but he will never do it. There may be a pretense, there may be claims of the lips, there may be what is called belief; but the reality of love is never known by the human ego. Love is known by the angel. Sometimes a little of that angelic consciousness filters through into the experience of earthly consciousness and the individual touches love. But on this basis human beings don't know what the truth of it is, and it wreaks havoc in human lives. It becomes in human experience hellfire. Though there are wonderful anticipations they remain largely mirages.
So we have a point of orientation here—our first love, the love of the Word. Without this first what else is there? We can never know the Spirit of Truth without the Word, and if we do not love the Word we could never experience oneness with the Spirit of Truth. All too many within our ministry have tended to become neglectful of the Word. There are many who have not, also. But sometimes those who carry the real responsibility have tended to be neglectful of the Word, and so a message comes from the Archangel to rebuke that neglect, to repent and remember from whence thou art fallen.
This brings into focus again the vital nature of the Word. It is a key to what we call the restoration, because it is the key to the incarnation of the Archangel on earth in physical form—and only as the Spirit of Truth has come in this way is it possible for reproof to be extended to the world. The words that are expressed in the current of the Spirit of Truth are priceless beyond the imaginings of men, not merely for the words themselves but for the Word which is thereby made available.
Each angel is charged with the responsibility on earth for speaking the Word; and, using the term speaking, this is more inclusive than what a person may say vocally. It includes the whole of life, everything that emerges because you as a person are on earth. The base of that should be the Word, so that all expression is harmonious to the Word, is an extension of the Word, uncolored, undistorted, unchanged, but taking unique form through each one, and having taken that form, blending naturally and easily with what has taken form through everyone else. In that blending together the light shines. We know that in the Word is life, and the way we know the Word is through living, by reason of the fact that the available Word which we love above all else finds complete expression in our momentary living.
In order that this may occur many words have been spoken. There's a book full of them here—the Bible. There are many words spoken since the inception of this ministry carrying the tone of the Word. It is impossible to reach that tone of the Word except by reason of the words. You cannot skip over the words and find the tone, all on your isolated own. Human beings have been trying to do this ever since the fall, and never has anyone at any time succeeded. Why indulge further in such futility when the provision is so accurately and so specifically and so generously made?
We may see here something portrayed by the way in which one reads a service—trying to interpret mentally speaking, as though here was another spiritual course of some kind which one can study and become wiser. It isn't that, it never has been that, although quite a few people have tried to make it that. The words as they are spoken, and as they are recorded and made available, give opportunity for a person to learn to move with the same current of the spirit in which the words were spoken; and he will certainly not discover what that is if he is studying the words, trying to figure out what the words mean—trying to interpret them, in other words. He must move with the current of the spirit, the spirit which made possible the expression of those words in the first place. That is the important thing. The words are the connecting link with that spirit; therefore one must flow with what it is that is available through the words, not stopping every now and again and saying, “Well now what does that mean? I had better get this clear in my consciousness before I go on.” Here is a human ego trying to inflate itself. The words are not food for the human ego, and if the human ego tries to eat them as food it will likely get sore indigestion. It is a matter of letting those words move freely through one's consciousness so that there may be a flow of the spirit. When there is a flow of the spirit in this fashion one becomes aware of the flow of the spirit and, while the words certainly have their importance, it is the flow of the spirit that is vital, for here is the Spirit of Truth with which one is beginning to align oneself. So there is a need to read the words intelligently, not seeking to make them fit into one's own structures of consciousness, because they don't, but yielding one's structures of consciousness in favor of an easy movement with the flowing water of truth.
Obviously it is not just a matter of reading the words to oneself. If there is association with the spirit in which the words were first spoken then one is obviously not getting anything for oneself. Do you think that while I am speaking now I am speaking because I want to get something for myself? You know that isn't true. I am expressing something in which you may share. So if you are associated with that spirit, you are expressing something to share with others, even when you are seemingly merely reading it to yourself. In other words this is an attitude which begins to emerge as you move with the spirit in which the words were first spoken. It is something flowing out from you. If it isn't flowing out from you but is merely something you are trying to get into yourself you cannot possibly know the Spirit of Truth, because the Spirit of Truth is outflowing.
You understand, don't you? You know something of what I am talking about. As you associate yourself with these words you begin to familiarize yourself with the Spirit of Truth, with the Word, and this is the way provided by the LORD so that it might happen. It is not going to happen by human beings following out their old mental routines. So the evidence of the Spirit of Truth must be received if the Spirit of Truth is to be known, and that evidence is in the words. We might move on from reading to oneself, now having an awareness that it isn't really reading to oneself—it is reading to everybody else, whether there is anyone present with you and you are reading out loud to them or not—but there may be more than silent participation in the creative process. The words which give evidence of the Spirit of Truth in action may be read and shared with others.
Until a person has learned to let it flow he doesn't understand, although he may think he does because he has made some fancy interpretation. People fall in love with their interpretations, and by doing that they lose their first love. They fall in love with their own creations, and those creations are phony; they are the enchantments of the black magicians. So there is a need to develop such proficiency if it is lacking. But the mere ability to read proficiently is certainly not enough—proficient reading is very often quite empty. With respect to this matter of reading and proficiency certain ideas have been developed regarding technique, so that one could give the appearance of saying something really important and weighty without actually doing so! To the Egyptians, what Pharaoh's magicians do looks very much the same as what the expression of the Spirit of Truth does, but in fact there is a vast difference, and anyone with ears to hear knows the difference. The point is, however, that in our opportunities to read services out loud we have special provision by which we may learn to move even more easily in the current of the Spirit of Truth.
When you read a service those words are your spontaneous words of the moment, and it should not be possible for someone with their eyes closed to tell whether you are speaking spontaneously or reading. When this is true of you then I would acknowledge that you have the capacity to move fairly accurately in the current of the Spirit of Truth—but you had to discover how to do it. It didn't happen to you just by magic. If you have reading limitations in this regard then you have limitations in your own supposedly spontaneous expression based in the movement of the current of the Spirit of Truth. You may assume that it is an expression of the truth but it will not be. You have to pass your examination, in other words. You have to see the importance of that examination, and you will do that just to the extent that you are keeping the First Great Commandment. When you love the Word it is always a delight to participate in the expression of it. When you love the Word you just can't wait.
In days past, in the beginnings of the Unit here at 100 Mile House, everybody was very busy. There were only very few participants in that emerging Unit and we all had a lot to do. I certainly had a lot to do I know, but when the mailing arrived, I don't care what I was doing, I sat down and opened the envelope and read the mailing, because here was the Word. There was nothing more important to me, not because I was trying to get something out of it but because I was sharing something. That was my first love. They were Uranda's words in those days—now they are my words mostly. Of course I have to read through the transcripts of my services to make sure that they make sense when they are written. There is a difference between speaking and writing. So there are corrections to be made, and I have to read the transcripts for that reason. Then a little later they come again as mailings, and when they come again as mailings I read them through again! You might say, well, I should know what they say. You'd be surprised! I certainly don't memorize what I say.
When I was giving a public lecture in New York one time people kept arriving late. Long after we had started they still kept coming in and coming in, standing around the walls. About five minutes before I concluded the lecture a lady came in and listened, and when I finished and was preparing to depart she came up to me and said, “Will you please give me a brief thumbnail sketch of what it was you said.” Well if I could do that I would have given the brief thumbnail sketch for the lecture. It would have saved a lot of time! What ridiculous notions people have. They have no idea what is going on.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Thou shalt love the Word. Here is the first love, and when we begin to awaken to this love we find that indeed it is true that we are given to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God, right here where we are. That is the experience. It is all outlined rather accurately here in Revelation, although in somewhat obscure language. We know these things by experience, and if this is the first love, if this is the first essential, then other people need to know it too. If there is no evidence that we are true to our first love then why should anyone else pay any attention?
I thank God that there are those who have allowed something to occur within themselves so that when they first receive some literature it immediately awakens their awareness of their first love. And I thank God for that. But are we not charged with that responsibility ourselves, really, to be the Living Word? And how can we be the Living Word without first loving the words which make that consciousness of the Living Word known to us? So I thank God for the opportunity of speaking of these things this evening, even though we seem to have gone over our time a little, because it is such a vital area in our service and in our living. Glory to God, because we love the Word.
© emissaries of divine light
