St. John, the divine, records as one of the messages he received from Christ Jesus for the church in Philadelphia, "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." With this, as with all the messages, there is an individual meaning and application. For example, what is our divine heritage that we are bidden to hold fast? What is our "crown"?
God created man in His own image, in His likeness, and crowned him with eternal life, love, intelligence. It is to these verities we need to hold fast, as well as to those qualities which express the all-pervading Spirit, or Soul, the ever-acting, ever-present Principle, all-encompassing Truth. Divine qualities and spiritual ideas constitute our true being, and no man-made laws can rob us of our God-given heritage. Since God's creation ever remains perfect, man never ceases to possess and reflect the qualities of God; never ceases to possess and wear the "crown of life"; never ceases to express the glory and power of infinite Love. These are the divine facts to which we must "hold fast"; we must be so constantly conscious of our true spiritual selfhood that the false mesmeric suggestions, pictures, and arguments of mortal mind cannot make any impress upon, or find any response in, our consciousness.
If man was not eternally well, active, and harmonious, completely conscious of good, he would not express the characteristics of divinity, of eternality, and therefore would not reflect or represent God.
