The Apostle John was banished to the bleak island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea because of his ardent fidelity to the teachings and practice of Christ Jesus. But the authorities could not banish or retard John's inspiration and spiritual thinking. The account in Revelation of the Apostle's clear vision and instinctive listening to the voice of God reveals that he saw a "mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud" (10: 1), and this angel "had in his hand a little book open." When asked by John to give him the little book, the angel replied, "Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey." The Revelator "took the little book . . . and ate it up; and it was in [his] mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as [he] had eaten it, [his] belly was bitter."
Mrs. Eddy writes of this incident in the textbook, Science and Health (p. 558), "This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud, prefigures divine Science." On page 559 we are told, "This angel had in his hand 'a little book,' open for all to read and understand." Later in the same paragraph we read: "Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter."
The sincere spiritualized thinking of the author of Science and Health, coupled with careful study and analysis of the Bible, enabled her to grasp God's infinity, the spiritual fact of God as the only reality, the truth that frees from all human discord.
