Sermons of Charles Fillmore

In his great play, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, after the death of Caesar and on the eve of the battle between the contending Roman leaders, Anthony on one side and Brutus and Cassius on the other, puts into the mouth of Brutus these words: "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries." Our lesson today is an allegory of that great tide in the affairs of the race in which we come out of a lower to a higher condition, or a race consciousness. We call these dispensations.

In Christian theology, there is the Mosaic dispensation and the Jesus Christ dispensation. These, of course, we understand to refer to the movement of the whole race from one state of consciousness to another. We interpret it as states of consciousness, but when we understand the power of the mind, that everything is primarially in ideas, that we live in an ideal world, and everything is the result of ideas, I say, when we understand that, we study the race as a great man, a man who is growing, is being educated, and the great college in which that education is taking place is what we call the world.

Now there are various steps, metaphysically speaking, when one begins to understand the Truth of Being. Those steps are first from the race or worldly thought; next one deals with his sense appetites and the animal nature, and next he deals with the personal ego.

Now, Jesus in his dispensation affirmed: "I have overcome the world, the flesh and the devil." Now the world is the overcoming that we have in our lesson today. It is the coming out of the sense consciousness as established by the world. We understand that there is universal sensitive plate called the soul, upon which every thought is that impressed, and that that thought, or race consciousness, enfolds us as, we will say, an enveloping thought atmosphere, and we are constantly adding to that consciousness as the race develops. It becomes part of the psychological impulse which carries us forward, or sometimes backward. It is not always progressive. As a whole though, I think there is no doubt that we are progressing, but sometimes we seem to lapse. Instead of progression, there is retrogression; we seem to go back for a period. But taking the race as a whole, we are understanding a little more every year, and as we count the years of the human family, we find that they are but just a moment in the great onward movement of the whole human family. But we as individuals study ourselves, and study the race in conjunction with ourselves, end we can judge by these allegories just where we are in our progress.

Now, we in the first perception of ourselves see that there is an overruling power, that there is a mind that is expressing iteself intelligently, and that we are a unit in that great universal expression; and consequently this scripture has special reference to every individual. It is not only universal in its application to the race, but it has specific reference to you and me, consequently as we study it with this understanding we get lessons from it.

Now we have this lesson of the great tide that is taking place in the world today. We no doubt can see from the signs of the times that the tide is at its highest point. As the same time, the old condition is disintegrating. We see evidences thereof, and we need, as in this allegory, a Moses, or one who understands the higher law to carry us out of the great race thought with all of its limitations, all of its materialism, represented by the bondage of the Egyptians. We know that we have higher ideals, we know that we have an understanding of the truth, and those represent the children of Israel. But we are in bondage to what the world thinks, what we call civilization; we are in bondage to that in so many ways that we have to lump it altogether and say; "That is the race thought."

Now, how shall we get out of the race thought? How shall we get free from the power of our own thoughts? Because we are the people, we are living over and over in this great race atmosphere. How shall we free ourselves from that sense of bondage?

Now there is a higher law, and this is all worked out in the scriptures, evidently written by someone who understood what we call the spiritual side of man's being. There is no proof that Moses wrote these five books called the Pentateuch. The whole text is in the third person. It is like a reporter would give it: "Jehovah said to Moses, you do so and so, and Moses said to the children of Israel, etc." There is no clue that Moses really wrote these books. Our church leaders, and especially those who are seeking for the authenticity of the scriptures have hoped that somewhere at some time, down in Egypt, they would find in those tombs proof of the fact that the children of Israel once really lived in Egypt, and that there was a man named Moses, but they haven't found it yet. We are told that Lord Carnarvon, when he opened the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen hoped he would find in that tomb some proof of this scripture, but it hasn't been produced yet. And in this connection we are being asked by the public at large if there is any foundation in what we understand as Truth for the thought that Lord Carnarvon suffered the result of a curse imposed by Tut-Ankh-Amen on any one who should disturb his tomb. The newspapers are giving a great deal of attention to this, and they are telling us that the death of Lord Carnarvon was caused by a mosquito bite and that worked out in pneumonia and all that sort of thing, and all this idea that there was a curse pronounced is a superstition.

Now what is a superstition? The word superstition is derived from two latin words, one of which means "over" and the other "stand". It means that there is something that stands over one. We believe in signs and omens; we believe that there is an over power, something that stands over us, that we do hot understand really. That is what superstition is. It is believing in a force, a power that you don't really know anything about, but you are afraid of and you use in sort of a blind way. That is what superstition is. Well then, all people who don't understand God are superstitious. It is like Paul said to the Athenians: "I see that you are a superstitious people," but a better translation is that Paul said to them, "Why, I see that you are a very religious people. You have erected an altar to the unknown God, and I am going to tell you about this unknown God," said Paul. And that is exactly what we are doing today. We are claiming to know something about God and the real character of God, the God that Jesus Christ taught, the God of Spirit; and connected with that spiritual God are forces and powers that we are in our ignorance superstitious about. Do you know the power of your word? Why the newspapers say it is all foolishness to think that Tut-Ankh-Amen could carry out such a curse, but Tut-Ankh-Amen did have a certain understanding of the power of the word. Now, if you read the Egyptian history, you will find that these people, -- I would not say that they were an occult people, but their understanding of fundamentals was not always exact. They didn't understand the power back of the word, but they had word formulae and incantations, and the priesthood taught the people to repeat over certain words to bring about results in anything that they wished to have power over. It was through the power of the word.

Now, we, as metaphysicians, have discovered that there is a tremendous power in the word, that the word backed by thought is the creative energy of the mind, and that Jesus Christ, when he claimed such mighty staying quality to his words, such creative power, why he was right, he said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away." He said that anybody who believed in him and in his word should never see death. Those are great claims for the power of the word; but he also said, "Every man shall be held accountable for his lightest word." Why, your word is bringing you to judgment right now. Jesus Christ said: "You shall be brought to judgment through the power of your word." Now every word that we utter is producing and effect in the universal ether, and the more intensity, and the more of what we call soul and spiritual power you put into your word, the more enduring it becomes. Your words take hold of the ether.

We are told by physical scientists that in a single tear drop is compressed enough energy to, if it were released all at once, to destroy the Woolworth Building. Just think, every tear drop has within it power enough, if released all at once to destroy that building! Now, back of that tear is a spiritual energy, an energy that we know but very little about, and it is possible for an occultist, one who has, like those old Egyptian priests, constantly meditated upon the word, until he could compress, through his concentrated mind, all of his energy in that word -- it would be possible, I say, for this old King, who was educated in the power of the word, to compress his word and put it into some of the elemental forces like the scarab or his mummy; he could put that word there and affirm that feat whoever came in touch with that word should be destroyed. That is possible, and it may be that Lord Carnarvon , in his intensity, he may have released that energy through the power of his thought, and he got the effect. It may be now that Lord Carnarvon is old Tut-Ankh-Amen himself reincarnated, and he released his own word, because our words come back to us. That is the law. You send out word, and it travels in circles and comes back every time. It is like the chickens that come home to roost. So be careful what kind of words you send out.

But our subject for today is: "How shell we cross the Red Sea?" We have found that there is a great world of sense which binds us. We call it fashion. It may be the bondage of family; it may be the bondage of commercial standing; it may be the bondege of religion. All this put together, it may be what is called the world, and if we are to go forward and come out of our limited consciousness into the consciousness of the Son of God, we must overcome the world; we must, in other words, escape from Egypt, and here is the lesson.

How shall we escape from the Egyptian bondage of the world? We will come to the flesh after we get over the Red Sea. Now, we say that is history, but right in that one instance where the children of Israel had to cross the Red Sea and had to come into the wilderness of sin. That reads like Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It is an allegory, and we do find that we through this law brought out by Moses get away from worldly standards, and are no longer in bondage to what the world thinks, but we come to an inner consciousness of our own sins, not what has been impressed upon us by the world, and that is the wilderness of sin. We are not all like Jesus Christ the moment we let go of the worldly standards, but we have progressive steps. We are evoluting. That is the law of unfoldment.

Now the word, "Moses" means one who draws men out, the law of deliverance, that is what it really means, that is what Moses stands for, but above Moses was Jehovah. Jehovah was the spiritual man; Jehovah was the Christ mind, your higher self that always stands supreme, but we have personal consciousness. Now Moses represents personal consciousness, and the very fact that when the daughter of pharaoh took Moses out of the water she called him "Mosheh"," because,"she said; "I have drawn him out of the water," and that according to the authorities is a Hebrew word. It isn't supposed that that Egyptian princess spoke the Hebrew language. You see at once it is an allegory in which the Hebrew is the moving factor. The Hebrews were the chosen people, that is the ones who had selected themselves to go forward, and when they decided to take this mighty step under the leadership of Moses, the law, it was necessary that they put forth certain efforts that were supreme, that were transcending those of the natural man, and when they came to that understanding, that it was necessary to do something powerful to cross that Red Sea of thought.

What did they do? Well, they cried first to Moses. Moses represents the law. Jehovah says, "Why criest thou unto me, why not speak to the children of Israel" -- go forward? That is the step, we must progress, we must go forward, but most people stand on the brink of that great worldly sea of thought end tremble. They are afraid, but you needn't be afraid if you know that you are working with Spirit, that you have back of you a supreme power.

Then Moses was told to take up his rod and stretch forth his hand over the sea, and the Lord would cause an east wind to blow that would cause the walls of water to stand up on each side and the children of Israel would pass through on dry land, and the text says that that was what was done.

What does that represent to you, to the individual who is coming out of the worldly thought? Why it means that you have --- now your rod or staff is something that you have been leaning upon. It represents the negative side, and the hand represents the positive side, you have that hand of power which indicates which way you are going. Why, we use that every day in our automobiles. If you want to turn, you put your hand out, and that shows you are going to direct it in a certain way.

I heard a story the other day of a man driving a car, and he saw a hand go out of the car in front of him, like that, and he thought that the men was going to turn to the right, and pretty soon he saw a hand go out on the left and he thought the man was going to turn to the left, but the car kept going right ahead. Finally he drove by the car and he saw two men talking about finances in there, and they were going like that (indicating) . That indicates that we are using our hands.

Now as I talk to you, something in my mind uses my hands, showing that I am expressing through my hands, the power, and just to the extent that you use your hand do you express this power, but back of the hand is that idea of power, don't you see, and you can say to this psychic realm, because that is one phase of this great sense consciousness, this worldly consciousness that is holding you down to its standards, you can say to that, "stand aside. I am not going to have to, in reaching the kingdom of God, I am not going to carry all of the race thought with me." That is one of the great overcomings which Jesus Christ did for man. Moses led the way out of the first step. He was the old dispensation, but in the new, Jesus Christ saves us from the race thought. He saves us from our own thought; he saves us from the personal ego. He was tempted, you remember, by personality, and driven into that wilderness of sense just as Moses drove all the children of Israel.

All of these illustrations are appropriated by one who understands the law, but you must use your own power. The law leads the way, and you must, through the power of the law, set aside every one of these seeming limitations of the race consciousness. Stretch forth your hand over this sea, and you will find from the East the wind will blow with great power. The Spirit, you know, is compared to the wind by Jesus. There is a spiritual force, and you come will find it will come right out of your within. Why, some people say that they find that a light shines before them, and they see what others cannot see. That is the pillar of fire by night and the cloud of fire by day that accompanied the children of Israel. That is all that is, and that protects you. It stood, when they were marching forward, behind them, and when they were in the wilderness it was before them, and we find that these things are all within ourselves, but you must stand fast and be fearless. You must have an absolute trust in the Power of God Almighty in you. It isn't something outside of man, but it is inside, and when you proclaim your unity with the infinite law and trust that law, you shall go forward and not be touched; you shall suffer no inharmony; you shall have none of the trials of those who try to get into the kingdom in some other way.

We find today there is a great call in the world for another Moses. The children of Israel are in bondage to worldly sense. Civilization as we see it today needs a Moses; it needs that son of Moses, the next step, which is Jesus the Christ.

Now the Jehovah which was over and above Moses is the same Christ that was over and above Jesus, and Jesus ended his dispensation nearly two thousand years ago. We came into a new dispensation. He set in action, in other words, new forces in the race, and he said, "I will come again. I will come whenever the people realize the need for me." This Jehovah mind or the Christ mind, because it is the same thing, is your higher self, it is the over-soul, and that oversoul comes into expression; it becomes a power just to the extent that we as a people recognize it. We see that this Jehovah power, this recognition of God, must come into the world before we will have a perfect civilization.

But the Egyptians will be overwhelmed by this great sea of worldly thought, and that represents all those people who are not believing in the higher power. They are not following the higher law, and there is going to be an end to that civilization. It is going to be covered with the great waters of sense, and it will pass away, pass away.

But let us stand fast in this integrity of the Spirit within, let us affirm our unity with the divine law, let us stretch forth our thought word and produce any effect that we will through the power of that word, but you must link your word with understanding. If you are merely repeating formulae and expecting results, you are like the old Egyptians. That is incantation, that is superstition. You must understand the law for yourself, you must know that your word is God's word. Jesus said that. He said, "The words that I speak unto you are not mine, but the Father who sent me." Link your word to the great universal word, and all things shall be possible unto you. Do you know that your word, spoken in and through the understanding of the Spirit back of it, is the word of God? That is the law laid down by Jesus. He said, "The word is the seed, and that seed is the word of God." Let us remember that, that every word that we speak, every real lasting word has contact with the great universal word; it is the divine shekipah expressing himself in the garment of God. We live in a good world, but we must find out the law through which to manifest that harmony, that health, that infinite goodness.