While in exile on the Isle of Patmos, the spiritually-minded John received a vision of great significance. In the tenth chapter of the book of Revelation, which records the things John beheld in the realm of spiritual reality, it is stated that an angel appeared to him, holding "a little book open" in his hand and crying "with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." Immediately "seven thunders uttered their voices." And the record states that as John was about to write, there came the angelic command, "Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not."
In her comment on the circumstances surrounding the appearing of the "little book," symbolizing divine Science, Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 559): "The 'still, small voice' of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, 'as when a lion roareth.' It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the 'seven thunders' of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated,—made manifest in the destruction of error."
The angel's command to "seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not" stood out to one student and caused her to realize for the first time the utter unreality, the nothingness, of all error. Applying the command individually to the error that had seemed to come into her experience, she saw that as a progressive student of Christian Science she must "seal up"—banish from her consciousness—all discords, whether seeming to be past or present, and recognize that good alone is real, having all power. She must "write them not;" in other words, she must refuse to accept or to retain in thought any erroneous suggestions. This spiritual enlightenment aided her in overcoming regret and self-condemnation, as well as a tendency to recall unhappy incidents, and she has since enjoyed more peace of mind and freedom than she had ever before known.
