KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.

- REVELATION.

CHAPTER XV

GENESIS

PAGE 501

And I appeared unto Abraham,, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the
name of God Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to
them.

- EXODUS.

All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men.

 - JOHN.

 

1

Spiritual interpretation

 SCIENTIFIC interpretation of the Scriptures prop-
erly starts with the beginning of the Old Testa-

3 ment, chiefly because the spiritual import of
the Word, in its earliest articulations, often
seems so smothered by the immediate context as to
6 require explication; whereas the New Testament narra-
tives are clearer and come nearer the heart. Jesus il-
lumines them, showing the poverty of mortal existence,
9 but richly recompensing human want and woe with
spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplifi-
cation of wonder and glory which angels could only
12 whisper and which God illustrated by light and har-
mony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called
mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural
15 good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the
weary ones sigh when needing something more native
to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual
18 evil.

PAGE 502

Spiritual overture

1 A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that
the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so
3 brief that it would almost seem, from the
preponderance of unreality in the entire nar-
rative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality,
6 the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over
the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator
and His creation.

Deflection of being

9 Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history
of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This
deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to
12 suggest the proper reflection of God and the
spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter
of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought
15 take on higher symbols and significations, when scien-
tifically Christian views of the universe appear, illuminat-
ing time with the glory of eternity.
18 In the following exegesis, each text is followed by its
spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Chris-
tian Science.
21 EXEGESIS
Genesis i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth.

Ideas and identities

24 The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning
is employed to signify the only, - that is, the eternal ver-
ity and unity of God and man, including
27 the universe. The creative Principle - Life,
Truth, and Love - is God. The universe reflects God.
There is but one creator and one creation. This crea-

PAGE 503

1 tion consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their
identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and
3 forever reflected. These ideas range from the infini-
tesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons
and daughters of God.
6 Genesis i. 2. And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Spiritual harmony

9 The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual har-
mony, - heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth,
matter is unknown. No supposition of error
12 enters there. Divine Science, the Word of
God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God
is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines
15 the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, - that infinite
space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in
countless spiritual forms.
18 Genesis i. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light.

Mind's idea faultless

Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:

21 first, in light; second, in reflection; third, in spiritual and
immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But
this Mind creates no element nor symbol of
24 discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought,
mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.

Genesis i. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good:

27 and God divided the light from the darkness.

God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony

PAGE 504

1 from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by
aught but the good.
3 Genesis i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the
darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morn-
ing were the first day.

Light preceding the sun

6 All questions as to the divine creation being both
spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for
though solar beams are not yet included in
9 the record of creation, still there is light. This
light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it
is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This
12 also shows that there is no place where God's light is not
seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are
ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a
15 creation?

Evenings and mornings

The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented
as taking place on so many evenings and mornings, -

18 words which indicate, in the absence of solar
time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views
which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.
21 Here we have the explanation of another passage of
Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into
24 the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas
a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and
vague conjectures emit no such effulgence.

Spirit versus darkness

27 Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?
Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter,
darkness, and darkness obscures light. Mate-
30 rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the
absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions

PAGE 505

1 form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
3 death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.

Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from

6 the waters.

Spiritual firmament

Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.

9 The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-
tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of
Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
12 nor the so-called material senses.

Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the waters

15 which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Understanding imparted

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:

18 "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
21 good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between
the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds
Mind, - Life, Truth, and Love, - and demonstrates the
24 divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in
Christian Science.

Original reflected

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result

27 of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things
brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-
mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
30 erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to

PAGE 506

1 themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-
ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-
3 like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore
matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-
tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which
6 separates Christian Science from supposition and makes
Truth final.

Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.

9 And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Exalted thought

Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted

12 thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.
Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each
successive stage of progress.
15 Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so.

Unfolding of thoughts

18 Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their
proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts,
even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose
21 in order that the purpose may appear.

Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and
the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and

24 God saw that it was good.

Spirit names and blesses

Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-
fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-

27 tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon
Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find-
ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet

PAGE 507

1 appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the dry land
illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind,
3 while water symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly
feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line
of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father-
6 hood and motherhood of God. Spirit names and blesses
all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and
subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of
9 nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind,
strangers in a tangled wilderness.

Genesis i. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth

12 grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:
and it was so.

Divine propagation

15 The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of
the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi-
tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul-
18 tiplication of the compound idea man. The
tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat-
ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind
21 which includes all. A material world implies a mortal
mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation
declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.

Ever-appearing creation

24 Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men-
tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all
expresses Science and art throughout His
27 creation, and the immortality of man and the
universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con-
tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.
30 Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate-
rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall

PAGE 508

1 to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal
man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind
3 is All and reproduces all - as Mind is the multiplier,
and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the
product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought,
6 a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the
Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov-
erns all.
9 Genesis i. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, and
herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw
12 that it was good.

Mind's pure thought

God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen-
der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is

15 the pure thought emanating from divine
Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex-
pressed in the text. Gender means simply kind or sort,
18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or
femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and
grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither
21 male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc-
tion names the female gender last in the ascending order
of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male
24 or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds
the infinitude of Love.

Genesis i. 13. And the evening and the morning were

27 the third day.

Rising to the light

The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an
important one to the human thought, letting in the light

PAGE 509

1 of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to
the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of
3 all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent
upon no material organization. Our Master
reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he
6 rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending
thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of
eternal Life.
9 Genesis i. 14. 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,
12 and years.

Rarefaction of thought

Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies,
but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.

15 This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of
thought as it ascends higher. God forms and
peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand-
18 ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi-
cate the immensity of space.

Divine nature appearing

So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances

21 are no more contingent now on time or material struc-
ture than they were when "the morning stars
sang together." Mind made the "plant of
24 the field before it was in the earth." The periods of
spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's
creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness
27 - yea, the divine nature - appear in man and the uni-
verse never to disappear.

Spiritual ideas apprehended

Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind

30 and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his
fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the

PAGE 510

1 sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit-
3 ual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects
of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit
and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.
6 Genesis i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma-
ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it
was so.
9 Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose
"light shall we see light;" and this illumination is re-
flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn
12 away from a false material sense.

Genesis i. 16. And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the

15 night: He made the stars also.

Geology a failure

The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul out-
side the body, giving existence and intelligence to the

18 universe. Love alone can impart the limit-
less idea of infinite Mind. Geology has never
explained the earth's formations; it cannot explain them.
21 There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has
been already divided into evening and morning; and the
allusion to fluids (Genesis i. 2) indicates a supposed for-
24 mation of matter by the resolving of fluids into solids,
analogous to the suppositional resolving of thoughts into
material things.

Spiritual subdivision

27 Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love,
and not a vitalizing property of matter. Sci-
ence reveals only one Mind, and this one shin-
30 ing by its own light and governing the universe, including

PAGE 511

1 man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its
own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light,
3 intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose
seed is in itself." Thus God's ideas "multiply and re-
plenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub-
6 limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.

Genesis i. 17, 18. And God set them in the firmament of
the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over

9 the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.

Darkness scattered

In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has

12 the impress of heaven, God is revealed as in-
finite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is
there.
15 Genesis i. 19. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day.

The changing glow and full effulgence of God's infi-

18 nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.

Genesis i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl

21 that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of
heaven.

Soaring aspirations

To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and a‰ri-

24 form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand
for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mor-
tals metaphorically present the gradation of
27 mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking
form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The
fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament

PAGE 512

1 of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and
above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal
3 and divine Principle, Love.

Genesis i. 21. And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth

6 abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after
his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Seraphic symbols

Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power,

9 and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These an-
gels of His presence, which have the holiest
charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of
12 Mind, and consequently reproduce their own character-
istics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do
know that their natures are allied to God's nature; and
15 spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet
subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.

Genesis i. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit-

18 ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let
fowl multiply in the earth.

Multiplication of pure ideas

Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and

21 perfect ideas. From the infinite elements of the one
Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and
quantity, and these are mental, both primarily
24 and secondarily. Their spiritual nature is discerned only
through the spiritual senses. Mortal mind inverts the true
likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its
27 own misconceptions. Ignorant of the origin and opera-
tions of mortal mind, - that is, ignorant of itself, - this
so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims
30 God as their author; albeit God is ignorant of the ex-

PAGE 513

1 istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its
claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is
3 an attempted infringement on infinity.

Genesis i. 23. And the evening and the morning were
the fifth day.

Spiritual spheres

6 Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of
Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To
material sense, this divine universe is dim and
9 distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight;
but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.
In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions,
12 and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be
apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.

Genesis i. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth

15 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Continuity of thoughts

Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all

18 thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind
conceiving them; but the intelligence, exist-
ence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God,
21 who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.

Genesis i. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after
his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that

24 creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that
it was good.

God's thoughts are spiritual realities

God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are

27 spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind - being non-
existent and consequently not within the range of im-

PAGE 514

1 mortal existence - could not by simulating deific power
invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per-
3 sons or things upon its own plane, since noth-
ing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive
infinity, in which and of which God is the
6 sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the
realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis-
port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of
9 holiness.

Qualities of thought

Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the
king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in

12 the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open
field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside
the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the
15 divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and
perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand
hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and
18 keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa-
nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ-
uality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the
21 millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: -

     The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
     And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

24      And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together;
     And a little child shall lead them.

Creatures of God useful

Understanding the control which Love held over all,

27 Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the
viper to be harmless. All of God's creatures
moving in the harmony of Science, are harm-
30 less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand
verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.

PAGE 515

1 It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor
to emulate the example of Jesus. "And God saw that
3 it was good."

The serpent harmless

Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping
over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-

6 pent of God's creating is neither subtle nor
poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its
adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which
9 forms them, - the power which changeth the serpent
into a staff.

Genesis i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our

12 image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
15 thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Elohistic plurality

The eternal Elohim includes the forever universe.
The name Elohim is in the plural, but this plurality of

18 Spirit does not imply more than one God, nor
does it imply three persons in one. It relates
to the oneness, the triunity of Life, Truth, and Love.
21 "Let them have dominion." Man is the family name
for all ideas, - the sons and daughters of God. All that
God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting good-
24 ness and power.

Reflected likeness Your mirrored reflection is your own image or like-
ness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also.

27 If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in
accord with yours. Now compare man before
the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror
30 divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note

PAGE 516

1 how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection
to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in
3 the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of
God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love,
which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;
6 and when we subordinate the false testimony of the
corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see
this true likeness and reflection everywhere.

Love imparts beauty

9 God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life
is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in
goodness, which impart their own peace and
12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfish-
ness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath
our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the
15 earth." The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to
heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The
sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the
18 prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the
flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man,
made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's domin-
21 ion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent
and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality,
the infinite Father-Mother God.
24 Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them.

Ideal man and woman

27 To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated
that God made man in His own image, to reflect the
divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic
30 term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen-
ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan-

PAGE 517

1 guages the word for man is used also as the synonym of
mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropo-
3 morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word an-
thropomorphic
, in such a phrase as "an anthropomorphic
God," is derived from two Greek words, signifying man
6 and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental at-
tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving
quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man
9 corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth.
The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In
divine Science, we have not as much authority for con-
12 sidering God masculine, as we have for considering
Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of
Deity.

Divine personality

15 The world believes in many persons; but if God is per-
sonal, there is but one person, because there is but one
God. His personality can only be reflected,
18 not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and
they all have one Principle and parentage. The only
proper symbol of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal.
21 What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal
is God's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity
can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit
24 to infinitude or to its reflections.

Genesis i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,

27 and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.

Birthright of man

30 Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to
multiply, - to manifest His power. Man is not made

PAGE 518

1 to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not sub-
jection. He is lord of the belief in earth
3 and heaven, - himself subordinate alone to
his Maker. This is the Science of being.

Genesis i. 29, 30. And God said, Behold, I have given

6 you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every
9 beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it
12 was so.

Assistance in brotherhood

God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the
greater, and in return, the higher always protects the

15 lower. The rich in spirit help the poor in
one grand brotherhood, all leaving the same
Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth
18 his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in
another's good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea
might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through
21 all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality -
infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
24 Genesis i. 31. And God saw everything that He had
made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day.

Perfection of creation

27 The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and ex-
presses all, and all must therefore be as perfect is the
divine Principle is perfect. Nothing is new to Spirit.

PAGE 519

1 Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all
things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.
3 Deity was satisfied with His work. How could
He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation
was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-
6 containment and immortal wisdom?

Genesis ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.

Infinity measureless

9 Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete
and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and
the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Hu-
12 man capacity is slow to discern and to grasp
God's creation and the divine power and presence which
go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals
15 can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old
man and reach the spiritual image and likeness. What
can fathom infinity! How shall we declare Him, till,
18 in the language of the apostle, "we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful-
21 ness of Christ"?

Genesis ii. 2. And on the seventh day God ended His
work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh

24 day from all His work which He had made.

Resting in holy work

God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished,
can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No

27 exhaustion follows the action of this Mind,
according to the apprehension of divine Science. The

PAGE 520

1 highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint,
is in holy work.

Love and man coexistent

3 Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth,
height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all
space. That is enough! Human language
6 can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what
exists. The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor
comprehended by mortals, than is His infinite Principle,
9 Love. Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and
eternal. The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can
never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.
12 These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they
will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of
error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine
15 infinite calculus.

Genesis ii. 4, 5. These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the

18 Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and
every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every
herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah]
21 had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not
a man to till the ground.

Growth is from Mind

Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all

24 through Mind, not through matter, - that the plant
grows, not because of seed or soil, but because
growth is the eternal mandate of Mind. Mor-
27 tal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creat-
ing thought is from above, not from beneath. Because
Mind makes all, there is nothing left to be made by a
30 lower power. Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,
never causing man to till the ground, but making him

PAGE 521

1 superior to the soil. Knowledge of this lifts man above
the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious
3 spiritual harmony and eternal being.

Spiritual narrative

Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being
that is without beginning or end. All that is made is

6 the work of God, and all is good. We leave
this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation
(as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of
9 God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, -
joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy,
omnipotence, and omnipresence.
12 The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We
should look away from the opposite supposition that man
is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual
15 record of creation, to that which should be engraved on
the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond"
and the pen of an angel.
18 The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more
about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is,
but the continued account is mortal and material.
21 Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth,
and watered the whole face of the ground.

The story of error

The Science and truth of the divine creation have been

24 presented in the verses already considered, and now the
opposite error, a material view of creation, is
to be set forth. The second chapter of Gene-
27 sis contains a statement of this material view of God and
the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of
scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error
30 or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence

PAGE 522

1 of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction
to the true.

The two records

3 The Science of the first record proves the falsity of
the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are
antagonistic. The first record assigns all
6 might and government to God, and endows
man out of God's perfection and power. The second
record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, - as hav-
9 ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit
of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science
explains as impossible.
12 This second record unmistakably gives the history of
error in its externalized forms, called life and intelli-
gence in matter. It records pantheism, opposed to the
15 supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is
declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, -
dust returning to dust.

Erroneous representation

18 In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit.
Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the
earth. Spirit is represented as entering mat-
21 ter in order to create man. God's glowing
denunciations of man when not found in His
image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide
24 with revelation in declaring this material creation false.

Hypothetical reversal

This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which
portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in

27 constructing the universe, is based on some
hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just pre-
ceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life,
30 Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does
the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un-
erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-

PAGE 523

1 not be so. Yet one might so judge from an unintelligent
perusal of the Scriptural account now under comment.

Mist, or false claim

3 Because of its false basis, the mist of obscurity evolved
by error deepens the false claim, and finally declares that
God knows error and that error can improve
6 His creation. Although presenting the exact
opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The crea-
tions of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from
9 mystification, and not from the firmament, or under-
standing, which God erects between the true and false.
In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.
12 All is material myth, instead of the reflection of
Spirit.

Distinct documents

It may be worth while here to remark that, according

15 to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two dis-
tinct documents in the early part of the book of
Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because
18 the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other
document is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is
always called Jehovah, - or Lord God, as our common
21 version translates it.

Jehovah or Elohim

Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three
verses of the second, - in what we understand to be the

24 spiritually scientific account of creation, - it is
Elohim (God) who creates. From the fourth
verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called
27 Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become
more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter
twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace-
30 able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is
usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the
Hebrew people, who is referred to.

PAGE 524

Gods of the heathen

1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is
seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish
3 god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites,
in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro-
dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.

Jehovah a tribal deity

6 It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly
went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme
Being by the national name of Jehovah. In
9 that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God
seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a
tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine
12 Principle to be lived and loved.

Genesis ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils

15 the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Creation reversed

Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite
deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With
l8 a single command, Mind had made man,
both male and female. How then could a
material organization become the basis of man? How

21 could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind,
and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not
the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His
24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-
real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and
God?
27 It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground.
Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter
ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into
30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature

PAGE 525

1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-
come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of
3 God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed,
not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re-
flects God; mankind represents the Adamic race, and is
6 a human, not a divine, creation.

Definitions of man

 The following are some of the equivalents of the term
man in different languages. In the Saxon, mankind, a

9 woman, any one; in the Welsh, that which rises
up
, - the primary sense being image, form; in
the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind.
12 The following translation is from the Icelandic: -

And God said, Let us make man after our mind and
our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after

15 God's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and
female.

No baneful creation

In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were

18 made through the Word of God, "and without Him [the
logos, or word] was not anything made that
was made." Everything good or worthy, God
21 made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not
make, - hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis
we read that He saw everything which He had made,
24 "and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses
declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the
history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural
27 record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the
material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed
as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.
30 Genesis ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God
[Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,

PAGE 526

1 and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Contradicting first creation

3 The previous and more scientific record of creation
declares that God made "every plant of the field be-
fore it was in the earth." This opposite
6 declaration, this statement that life issues
from matter, contradicts the teaching of the first chap-
ter, - namely, that all Life is God. Belief is less than
9 understanding. Belief involves theories of material hear-
ing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses.
The appetites and passions, sin, sickness, and death,
12 follow in the train of this error of a belief in intelligent
matter.

Record of error

The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural

15 text in the second chapter of Genesis. God pronounced
good all that He created, and the Scriptures
declare that He created all. The "tree of
18 life" stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which
guards it is the type of divine Science. The "tree of
knowledge" stands for the erroneous doctrine that the
21 knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as
the knowledge of good. Was evil instituted through God,
Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra-
24 diction of the first creation? This second biblical account
is a picture of error throughout.

Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took the

27 man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and
to keep it.

Garden of Eden

The name Eden, according to Cruden, means pleasure,

30 delight. In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-

PAGE 527

1 rial body. God could not put Mind into matter nor in-
finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and
3 keep it, - to make it beautiful or to cause it
to live and grow. Man is God's reflection, needing no
cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.
6 Genesis ii. 16, 17. And the Lord God [Jehovah] com-
manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good
9 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

No temptation from God

Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting

12 man, but the Apostle James says: "God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any
man." It is true that a knowledge of evil would
15 make man mortal. It is plain also that mate-
rial perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, consti-
tutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that God,
18 good, made "the tree of life" to be the tree of death to His
own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is un-
real because it is a lie, - false in every statement.
21 Genesis ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord God
[Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl
of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he
24 would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof.

Creation's counterfeit

Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but

27 doing so materially, not spiritually, and ask-
ing a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the
Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his
30 dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man

PAGE 528

1 that dust should become sentient, when all being is the
reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares
3 that God has already created man, both male and
female? That Adam gave the name and nature of
animals, is solely mythological and material. It can-
6 not be true that man was ordered to create man anew
in partnership with God; this supposition was a dream,
a myth.
9 Genesis ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah]
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and
He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
12 thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto
the man.

Hypnotic surgery

15 Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing
a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a
surgical operation on him and thereby create
18 woman. This is the first record of magnet-
ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light,
- materially rather than spiritually, - error now simu-
21 lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar-
ing what great things error has done. Beholding the
creations of his own dream and calling them real and
24 God-given, Adam - alias error - gives them names.
Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the
creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them
27 mankind, - that is, a kind of man.

Mental midwifery

But according to this narrative, surgery was first per-
formed mentally and without instruments;

30 and this may be a useful hint to the medical
faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden

PAGE 529

1 fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there
came a suggestion of change in the modus operandi, -
3 that man should be born of woman, not woman again
taken from man. It came about, also, that instruments
were needed to assist the birth of mortals. The first
6 system of suggestive obstetrics has changed. Another
change will come as to the nature and origin of man,
and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence,
9 reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact
of creation, that both man and woman proceed from
God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser
12 parent.

Genesis iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had

15 made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the
woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of
18 the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Mythical serpent

21 Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the
children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the
metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the
24 animal kingdom which represents the species
described, - a talking serpent, - and should rejoice that
evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and
27 has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing
this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, be-
cause we know that they are worthless and unreal.

Error or Adam

30 Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of
material mind. He begins his reign over man some-

PAGE 530

1 what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days
become shorter. In this development, the im-
3 mortal, spiritual law of Truth is made manifest
as forever opposed to mortal, material sense.

Divine providence

 In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine

6 Principle of being. The earth, at God's command, brings
forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus
once said, "Take no thought for your life,
9 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," - presuming
not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God,
the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe
12 man as He doth the lilies.

Genesis iii. 4, 5. And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day

15 ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Error's assumption

This myth represents error as always asserting its su-

18 periority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science and
saying, through the material senses: "I can
open your eyes. I can do what God has not
21 done for you. Bow down to me and have another god.
Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more
pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be de-
24 sired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be
mine." Thus Spirit and flesh war.

Scriptural allegory

The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream

27 has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the
dreamer and dream are one, for neither is
true nor real. First, this narrative supposes
30 that something springs from nothing, that matter pre-
cedes mind. Second, it supposes that mind enters matter,

PAGE 531

1 and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.
The order of this allegory - the belief that everything
3 springs from dust instead of from Deity - has been main-
tained in all the subsequent forms of belief. This is the
error, - that mortal man starts materially, that non-
6 intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are
both right and wrong.

Higher hope

 It is well that the upper portions of the brain represent

9 the higher moral sentiments, as if hope were ever prophe-
sying thus: The human mind will sometime
rise above all material and physical sense, ex-
12 changing it for spiritual perception, and exchanging hu-
man concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man
will recognize his God-given dominion and being.

Biological inventions

15 If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non-
intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body
by the creator, why is not this divine order
18 still maintained by God in perpetuating the
species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and
animals have a propagating property of their own?
21 Who dares to say either that God is in matter or that
matter exists without God? Has man sought out other
creative inventions, and so changed the method of his
24 Maker?

Which institutes Life, - matter or Mind? Does Life
begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by

27 matter or by Spirit? Certainly not by both, since flesh
wars against Spirit and the corporeal senses can take no
cognizance of Spirit. The mythologic theory of mate-
30 rial life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian
record of man as created by Mind in the image and like-
ness of God and having dominion over all the earth. Did

PAGE 532

1 God at first create one man unaided, - that is, Adam, -
but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order
3 to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes
and governs all.

Progeny cursed

All human knowledge and material sense must be

6 gained from the five corporeal senses. Is this knowledge
safe, when eating its first fruits brought death?
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
9 surely die," was the prediction in the story under consid-
eration. Adam and his progeny were cursed, not blessed;
and this indicates that the divine Spirit, or Father, con-
12 demns material man and remands him to dust.

Genesis iii. 9, 10. And the Lord God [Jehovah] called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he

15 said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Shame the effect of sin

Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material

18 sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.
Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed
from the divine voice calling out to the cor-
21 poreal senses. Its summons may be thus paraphrased:
"Where art thou, man? Is Mind in matter? Is Mind
capable of error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of
24 good, when God is All and He is Mind and there is but
one God, hence one Mind?"

Fear comes of error

Fear was the first manifestation of the error of mate-

27 rial sense. Thus error began and will end the dream of
matter, In the allegory the body had been
naked, and Adam knew it not; but now error
30 demands that mind shall see and feel through matter, the
five senses. The first impression material man had of

PAGE 533

1 himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost
man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over
3 all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on
Adam.

Genesis iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that

6 thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man
said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave
9 me of the tree, and I did eat.

The beguiling first lie

Here there is an attempt to trace all human errors
directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the

12 creator of evil. The allegory shows that the
snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which
beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,
15 alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own
dereliction, saying, "The woman, whom Thou gavest
me, is responsible." According to this belief, the rib taken
18 from Adam's side has grown into an evil mind, named
woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than
he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?
21 Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the
rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from
Adam to form Eve. The belief in material life and in-
24 telligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its
suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof.

False womanhood

Truth, cross-questioning man as to His knowledge of

27 error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She
says, " The serpent beguiled me, and I did
eat;" as much as to say in meek penitence,
30 "Neither man nor God shall father my fault." She has
already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence

PAGE 534

1 she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of
man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter
3 enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold
at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to mani-
fest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled
6 woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true
sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man.

Genesis iii. 14, 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said

9 unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Spirit and flesh

12 This prophecy has been fulfilled. The Son of the Virgin-
mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error; and the
Apostle Paul explains this warfare between the
15 idea of divine power, which Jesus presented,
and mythological material intelligence called energy and
opposed to Spirit.
18 Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: "The carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that
21 are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell
in you."

Bruising sin's head

24 There will be greater mental opposition to the spirit-
ual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has
ever been since the Christian era began. The
27 serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of
the woman, - will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea
of Love; and the woman, this idea, will bruise the head
30 of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding

PAGE 535

1 a foothold in Christian Science. The seed of Truth and
the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, - yea,
3 the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, - are the wheat
and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned,
the other to be garnered into heavenly places.
6 Genesis iii. 16. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
9 husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Judgment on error

Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed ma-
terial foundations of life and intelligence. It dooms idol-

12 atry. A belief in other gods, other creators,
and other creations must go down before Chris-
tian Science. It unveils the results of sin as shown in
15 sickness and death. When will man pass through the
open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul,
into the heritage of the first born among men? Truth is
18 indeed " the way."

Genesis iii. 17-19. And unto Adam He said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast

21 eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou
shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns
24 also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
27 wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.

New earth and no more sea

In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "And God

30 called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together

PAGE 536

1 of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is
written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
3 the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away; and there was no more sea." In St.
John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spir-
6 itual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed
human concepts advancing and receding, is represented
as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns,
9 is all and there is no other consciousness.

The fall of error

The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-
sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual

12 gravitation and attraction to one Father, in
whom we " live, and move, and have our be-
ing," should be lost, and if man should be governed by
15 corporeality instead of divine Principle, by body instead
of by Soul, man would be annihilated. Created by flesh
instead of by Spirit, starting from matter instead of from
18 God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The
blind leading the blind, both would fall.

True attainment

Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are

21 "of few days, and full of trouble." Their supposed joys
are cheats. Their narrow limits belittle their gratifica-
tions, and hedge about their achievements with thorns.
24 Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material concep-
tion of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the
immortal side. Through toil, struggle, and sor-
27 row, what do mortals attain? They give up
their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal
and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.
30 Genesis iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good

PAGE 537

1 and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
3 the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east
6 of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
life.

Justice and recompense

9 A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
ity or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil
has no local habitation nor name. Crea-
12 tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
15 is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway
to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries
itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for
18 nothingness.

Inspired interpretation

No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory - this second account in Genesis - is to depict

21 the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
24 first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the
Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets
it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear
27 contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which
blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is
represented as changeable. The literal meaning would
30 imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, -

PAGE 538

1 Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
not her own."

Spiritual gateway

3 Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.
Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.
Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate
6 of understanding to note the proper guests.
Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth
gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between
9 Truth and error, between the material and spiritual, -
the unreal and the real.

Contrasted testimony

The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure

12 of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the
universe. The "tree of life" is significant of
eternal reality or being. The "tree of knowl-
15 edge" typifies unreality. The testimony of the serpent is
significant of the illusion of error, of the false claims that
misrepresent God, good. Sin, sickness, and death have
18 no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which
God creates the heavens, earth, and man. Until that
which contradicts the truth of being enters into the arena,
21 evil has no history, and evil is brought into view only as
the unreal in contradistinction to the real and eternal.

Genesis iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she

24 conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord [Jehovah].

Erroneous conception

This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-

27 tal man, and of sin which is temporal. As both mortal
man and sin have a beginning, they must
consequently have an end, while the sinless,
30 real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten
a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author

PAGE 539

1 of sin and sin's progeny. This false sense of existence
is fratricidal. In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is
3 "a murderer from the beginning." Error begins by
reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the
foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality
6 were something which matter can both give and take
away.

Only one standard

What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life,

9 or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil,
matter, error, and death? God could never
impart an element of evil, and man possesses
12 nothing which he has not derived from God. How then
has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he
obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit
15 resigned to matter the government of the universe?

A type of falsehood

The Scriptures declare that God condemned this lie as
to man's origin and character by condemning its symbol,

18 the serpent, to grovel beneath all the beasts
of the field. It is false to say that Truth and
error commingle in creation. In parable and argument,
21 this falsity is exposed by our Master as self-evidently
wrong. Disputing these points with the Pharisees and
arguing for the Science of creation, Jesus said: "Do men
24 gather grapes of thorns?" Paul asked: "What com-
munion hath light with darkness? And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?"

Scientific offspring

27 The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human
power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate
the one Mind which makes and governs man
30 and the universe. The Science of creation,
so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus inspired his wisest
and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his

PAGE 540

1 marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of
Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates
3 neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sick-
ness, and death.

Cleansing upheaval

In Isaiah we read: "I make peace, and create evil. I

6 the Lord do all these things;" but the prophet referred to
divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its
utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re-
9 ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The
muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the
stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms
12 of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our igno-
rance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought
to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its
15 effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil
and all power to sin.

Allegiance to Spirit

Science renders "unto Caesar the things which are

18 Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." It
saith to the human sense of sin, sickness, and
death, "God never made you, and you are a
21 false sense which hath no knowledge of God." The pur-
pose of the Hebrew allegory, representing error as assum-
ing a divine character, is to teach mortals never to believe
24 a lie.

Genesis iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also

27 brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.

Spiritual and material

Cain is the type of mortal and material man, conceived
in sin and "shapen in iniquity;" he is not the

30 type of Truth and Love. Material in origin
and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel

PAGE 541

1 takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb
is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re-
3 sembles a mind-offering than does Cain's fruit. Jealous
of his brother's gift, Cain seeks Abel's life, instead of mak-
ing his own gift a higher tribute to the Most High.
6 Genesis iv. 4, 5. And the Lord [Jehovah] had respect
unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his
offering, He had not respect.
9 Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through
a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain's
fruit? No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of
12 even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the
ground could be.

Genesis iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and

15 slew him.

The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli-
gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood

18 of man at the very outset.

Genesis iv. 9. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am

21 I my brother's keeper?

Brotherhood repudiated

Here the serpentine lie invents new forms. At first it
usurps divine power. It is supposed to say

24 in the first instance, "Ye shall be as gods."
Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards
his brother.
27 Genesis iv. 10, 11. And He [Jehovah] said, . . . The
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth.

PAGE 542

Murder brings its curse

1 The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in-
curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it
3 might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material
beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when-
ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides
6 behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be
concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils
error. Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon
9 error the mark of the beast. Even the disposition to
excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance
of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin,
12 invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine
mercy.

Genesis iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him

15 Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken
on him sevenfold. And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark
upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Retribution and remorse

18 "They that take the sword shall perish with the
sword." Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's
own way, and let human justice pattern the
21 divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both
for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks
the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the
24 waymarks of God. To envy's own hell, justice con-
signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's
commandments.
27 Genesis iv. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of
the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.

Climax of suffering

The sinful misconception of Life as something less

PAGE 543

1 than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon
itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering,
3 yields to Truth and returns to dust; but it
is only mortal man and not the real man,
who dies. The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it
6 is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more
beautifully apparent at error's demise.

Dwelling in dreamland

In divine Science, the material man is shut out from

9 the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot
take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come
into His presence, and must dwell in dream-
12 land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that ma-
terial life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illu-
sion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare
15 of extermination. The great verities of existence are
never excluded by falsity.

Man springs from Mind

All error proceeds from the evidence before the mate-

18 rial senses. If man is material and originates in an
egg, who shall say that he is not primarily
dust? May not Darwin be right in think-
21 ing that apehood preceded mortal manhood? Minerals
and vegetables are found, according to divine Science,
to be the creations of erroneous thought, not of matter.
24 Did man, whom God created with a word, originate
in an egg? When Spirit made all, did it leave aught
for matter to create? Ideas of Truth alone are reflected
27 in the myriad manifestations of Life, and thus it is
seen that man springs solely from Mind. The belief
that matter supports life would make Life, or God,
30 mortal.

Material inception

The text, "In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah
God] made the earth and the heavens," introduces the

PAGE 544

1 record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,
- a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit
3 had no participation in it. In God's creation
ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.
There was no rain and "not a man to till the ground."
6 Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was
self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the
material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in
9 the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man
eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that
man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the
12 infinite Mind.

First evil suggestion

In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does
matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might

15 or right or wisdom to create or to destroy.
All is under the control of the one Mind,
even God. The first statement about evil, - the first
18 suggestion of more than the one Mind, - is in the fable
of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously re-
corded, include nothing of the kind.

Material personality

21 The serpent is supposed to say, "Ye shall be as gods,"
but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be
the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual
24 being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a
material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man,
in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and
27 likeness of the one God.

Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and
truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called

30 mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man's nostrils
so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with
corporeality as the producer instead of divine Prin-

PAGE 545

1 ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con-
ceptions.
3 "Behold, the man is become as one of us." This could
not be the utterance of Truth or Science, for according
to the record, material man was fast degenerating and
6 never had been divinely conceived.

Mental tillage

The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means
this, - that mortals should so improve material belief

9 by thought tending spiritually upward as to
destroy materiality. Man, created by God,
was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion
12 of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory
of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors
send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions,
15 and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the
whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a
false view, destructive to existence and happiness. Out-
18 side of Christian Science all is vague and hypothetical, the
opposite of Truth; yet this opposite, in its false view of
God and man, impudently demands a blessing.

Erroneous standpoint

21 The translators of this record of scientific creation
entertained a false sense of being. They believed in
the existence of matter, its propagation and
24 power. From that standpoint of error, they
could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit.
Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which
27 is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has
but one reply to all error, - to sin, sickness, and death:
"Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness]
30 shalt thou return."

Mortality mythical

"As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth]
shall all be made alive." The mortality of man is a

PAGE 546

1 myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is
now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman-
3 cipated from it, - this belief alone is mortal.
Spirit, God, never germinates, but is "the same
yesterday, and to-day, and forever." If Mind, God, cre-
6 ates error, that error must exist in the divine Mind, and
this assumption of error would dethrone the perfection
of Deity.

No truth from a material basis

9 Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine
Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to
declare Mind, while matter is governed by un-
12 erring intelligence? "There went up a mist
from the earth." This represents error as
starting from an idea of good on a material basis. It
15 supposes God and man to be manifested only through
the corporeal senses, although the material senses can
take no cognizance of Spirit or the spiritual idea.
18 Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than
other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot
possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To
21 the author, they are transparent, for they contain the deep
divinity of the Bible.

Dawning of spiritual facts

Christian Science is dawning upon a material age.

24 The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine
in the darkness, though the darkness, com-
prehending them not, may deny their reality.
27 The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris-
tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom-
plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle
30 which all may understand.

Proof given in healing

If mathematics should present a thousand different
examples of one rule, the proving of one example would

PAGE 547

1 authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris-
tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the
3 proof of all here said of Christian Science. If
one of the statements in this book is true, every
one must be true, for not one departs from the stated sys-
6 tem and rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader,
the Science of healing, and so ascertain if the author has
given you the correct interpretation of Scripture.

Embryonic evolution

9 The late Louis Agassiz, by his microscopic examination
of a vulture's ovum, strengthens the thinker's conclusions
as to the scientific theory of creation. Agassiz
12 was able to see in the egg the earth's atmos-
phere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, while the
germinating speck of so-called embryonic life seemed a
15 small sun. In its history of mortality, Darwin's theory
of evolution from a material basis is more consistent than
most theories. Briefly, this is Darwin's theory, - that
18 Mind produces its opposite, matter, and endues matter
with power to recreate the universe, including man. Ma-
terial evolution implies that the great First Cause must
21 become material, and afterwards must either return to
Mind or go down into dust and nothingness.

True theory of the universe

The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to

24 have them understood spiritually, for only by this under-
standing can truth be gained. The true the-
ory of the universe, including man, is not in
27 material history but in spiritual development.
Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and
mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and
30 immortal.

Scriptural perception

It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts
humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.

PAGE 548

1 "The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." Christian
3 Science separates error from truth, and breathes
through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of
life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis-
6 cover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that
man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal
harmony.

The clouds dissolving

9 How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds
cover the sun's face! So Christian Science can be seen
only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away.
12 Earth has little light or joy for mortals before
Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error
helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension
15 of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on
hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true
ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.

Prediction of a naturalist

18 Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist
says: "It is very possible that many general statements
now current, about birth and generation, will
21 be changed with the progress of information."
Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained
the diviner side in Christian Science, - so far apart from
24 his material sense of animal growth and organization, -
he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.

Methods of reproduction

Natural history is richly endowed by the labors and

27 genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought
to light important facts in regard to so-called
embryonic life. Agassiz declares ("Methods
30 of Study in Natural History," page
275): "Certain ani-
mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also
increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self-

PAGE 549

1 division." This discovery is corroborative of the Science
of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication
3 of certain animals takes place apart from sexual condi-
tions. The supposition that life germinates in eggs and
must decay after it has grown to maturity, if not before,
6 is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, - a
blunder which will finally give place to higher theories
and demonstrations.

The three processes

9 Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed
to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc-
tion and to multiply their species sometimes
12 through eggs, sometimes through buds, and
sometimes through self-division. According to recent
lore, successive generations do not begin with the birth of
15 new individuals, or personalities, but with the formation
of the nucleus, or egg, from which one or more individu-
alities subsequently emerge; and we must therefore look
18 upon the simple ovum as the germ, the starting-point, of
the most complicated corporeal structures, including those
which we call human. Here these material researches
21 culminate in such vague hypotheses as must necessarily
attend false systems, which rely upon physics and are de-
void of metaphysics.

Deference to material law

24 In one instance a celebrated naturalist, Agassiz, dis-
covers the pathway leading to divine Science, and beards
the lion of materialism in its den. At that
27 point, however, even this great observer mis-
takes nature, forsakes Spirit as the divine origin of
creative Truth, and allows matter and material law to
30 usurp the prerogatives of omnipotence. He absolutely
drops from his summit, coming down to a belief in the
material origin of man, for he virtually affirms that

PAGE 550

1 the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non-
intelligent egg.

Deep-reaching interrogations

3 If this be so, whence cometh Life, or Mind, to the
human race? Matter surely does not possess Mind.
God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms
6 and preserves the individuality and identity
of animals as well as of men. God cannot
become finite, and be limited within material bounds.
9 Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed
through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate
what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it be-
12 gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being
and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it
will hereafter.

Stages of existence

15 Error of thought is reflected in error of action. The
continual contemplation of existence as material and cor-
poreal - as beginning and ending, and with
18 birth, decay, and dissolution as its component
stages - hides the true and spiritual Life, and causes
our standard to trail in the dust. If Life has any starting-
21 point whatsoever, then the great I AM is a myth. If Life
is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embry-
onic, it is infinite. An egg is an impossible enclosure for
24 Deity.

Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro-
ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor

27 does a lion bring forth a lamb. Amalgamation is deemed
monstrous and is seldom fruitful, but it is not so hideous
and absurd as the supposition that Spirit - the pure and
30 holy, the immutable and immortal - can originate the
impure and mortal and dwell in it. As Christian Science
repudiates self-evident impossibilities, the material senses

PAGE 551

1 must father these absurdities, for both the material senses
and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.

The real producer

3 Either Mind produces, or it is produced. If Mind is
first, it cannot produce its opposite in quality and quantity,
called matter. If matter is first, it cannot pro-
6 duce Mind. Like produces like. In natural
history, the bird is not the product of a beast. In spiritual
history, matter is not the progenitor of Mind.

The ascent of species

9 One distinguished naturalist argues that mortals spring
from eggs and in races. Mr. Darwin admits this, but he
adds that mankind has ascended through all
12 the lower grades of existence. Evolution de-
scribes the gradations of human belief, but it does not
acknowledge the method of divine Mind, nor see that ma-
15 terial methods are impossible in divine Science and that
all Science is of God, not of man.

Transmitted peculiarities

Naturalists ask: "What can there be, of a material

18 nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, -
themselves composed of the simplest material
elements, - by which all peculiarities of an-
21 cestry, belonging to either sex, are brought down from
generation to generation?" The question of the natu-
ralist amounts to this: How can matter originate or trans-
24 mit mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and
doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases creation on
materiality. From a material standpoint, "Canst thou
27 by searching find out God?" All must be Mind, or
else all must be matter. Neither can produce the other.
Mind is immortal; but error declares that the material
30 seed must decay in order to propagate its species, and
the resulting germ is doomed to the same routine.

Causation not in matter

The ancient and hypothetical question, Which is first,

PAGE 552

1 the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the
parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question
3 follows: Who or what produces the parent of
the egg? That the earth was hatched from the
"egg of night" was once an accepted theory. Heathen
6 philosophy, modern geology, and all other material hy-
potheses deal with causation as contingent on matter
and as necessarily apparent to the corporeal senses, even
9 where the proof requisite to sustain this assumption is un-
discovered. Mortal theories make friends of sin, sickness,
and death; whereas the spiritual scientific facts of exist-
12 ence include no member of this dolorous and fatal triad.

Emergence of mortals

Human experience in mortal life, which starts from an
egg, corresponds with that of Job, when he says, "Man

15 that is born of a woman is of few days, and
full of trouble." Mortals must emerge from
this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck
18 open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward
and upward. But thought, loosened from a material
basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild
21 with freedom and so be self-contradictory.

Persistence of species From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow,
sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills

24 they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. The
blending tints of leaf and flower show the
order of matter to be the order of mortal mind. The
27 intermixture of different species, urged to its utmost
limits, results in a return to the original species. Thus
it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal
30 mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when
the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.

Better basis than embryology

Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material

PAGE 553

1 existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac-
company their descriptions with important observations,
3 which should awaken thought to a higher and
purer contemplation of man's origin. This
clearer consciousness must precede an under-
6 standing of the harmony of being. Mortal thought must
obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or
health will never be universal, and harmony will never
9 become the standard of man.
One of our ablest naturalists has said: "We have no
right to assume that individuals have grown or been
12 formed under circumstances which made material con-
ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction,
or important to their origin and first introduction."
15 Why, then, is the naturalist's basis so materialistic,
and why are his deductions generally material?

All nativity in thought

Adam was created before Eve. In this instance, it is

18 seen that the maternal egg never brought forth Adam.
Eve was formed from Adam's rib, not from a
foetal ovum. Whatever theory may be adopted
21 by general mortal thought to account for human origin,
that theory is sure to become the signal for the appear-
ance of its method in finite forms and operations. If con-
24 sentaneous human belief agrees upon an ovum as the
point of emergence for the human race, this potent belief
will immediately supersede the more ancient supersti-
27 tion about the creation from dust or from the rib of our
primeval father.

Being is immortal

You may say that mortals are formed before they

30 think or know aught of their origin, and you
may also ask how belief can affect a result
which precedes the development of that belief. It can

PAGE 554

1 only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what "eye
hath not seen," - even the cause of all that exists, - for
3 the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who
is its divine immortal Principle. There is no such thing
as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings,
6 because being is immortal, like Deity, - or, rather, being
and Deity are inseparable.

Our conscious development

Error is always error. It is no thing. Any statement

9 of life, following from a misconception of life, is errone-
ous, because it is destitute of any knowledge
of the so-called selfhood of life, destitute of
12 any knowledge of its origin or existence. The mortal
is unconscious of his foetal and infantile existence; but
as he grows up into another false claim, that of self-con-
15 scious matter, he learns to say, "I am somebody; but
who made me?" Error replies, "God made you." The
first effort of error has been and is to impute to God the
18 creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite
Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.

Mendacity of error

 Jesus defined this opposite of God and His creation

21 better than we can, when he said, "He is a liar, and the
father of it." Jesus also said, "Have not I
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
24 This he said of Judas, one of Adam's race. Jesus never
intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, "Ye
are of your father, the devil." All these sayings were to
27 show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is
simply a falsity and illusion.

Ailments of animals

It is the general belief that the lower animals are less

30 sickly than those possessing higher organiza-
tions, especially those of the human form.
This would indicate that there is less disease in propor-

PAGE 555

1 tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi-
tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind.
3 A fair conclusion from this might be, that it is the human
belief, and not the divine arbitrament, which brings the
physical organism under the yoke of disease.

Ignorance the sign of error

6 An inquirer once said to the discoverer of Christian
Science: "I like your explanations of truth, but I do
not comprehend what you say about error."
9 This is the nature of error. The mark of igno-
rance is on its forehead, for it neither understands nor
can be understood. Error would have itself received as
12 mind, as if it were as real and God-created as truth; but
Christian Science attributes to error neither entity nor
power, because error is neither mind nor the outcome of
15 Mind.

The origin of divinity

Searching for the origin of man, who is the reflection
of God, is like inquiring into the origin of God, the self-

18 existent and eternal. Only impotent error
would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good
with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this
21 sham unity man, as if man were the offspring of both
Mind and matter, of both Deity and humanity. Crea-
tion rests on a spiritual basis. We lose our standard of
24 perfection and set aside the proper conception of Deity,
when we admit that the perfect is the author of aught
that can become imperfect, that God bestows the power
27 to sin, or that Truth confers the ability to err. Our
great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized
manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in
30 death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus
was able to present himself unchanged after the cruci-
fixion. Truth fosters the idea of Truth, and not the be-

PAGE 556

1 lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained
by Spirit.

Genera classified

3 Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor-
tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to
possess life and mind. These false beliefs
6 will disappear, when the radiation of Spirit
destroys forever all belief in intelligent matter. Then
will the new heaven and new earth appear, for the for-
9 mer things will have passed away.

The Christian's privilege

Mortal belief infolds the conditions of sin. Mortal
belief dies to live again in renewed forms, only to go out

12 at last forever; for life everlasting is not to be
gained by dying. Christian Science may ab-
sorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but
15 the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known
most fully to him who understands best the divine Life.
Did the origin and the enlightenment of the race come
18 from the deep sleep which fell upon Adam? Sleep is
darkness, but God's creative mandate was, "Let there be
light." In sleep, cause and effect are mere illusions.
21 They seem to be something, but are not. Oblivion and
dreams, not realities, come with sleep. Even so goes on
the Adam-belief, of which mortal and material life is the
24 dream.

Ontology versus physiology

Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?
Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual

27 life before it cares to solve the problem of
being, hence the author's experience; but when
that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand-
30 point.

It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only
a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and

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1 repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain
under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with-
3 out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this
and learn how to develop their children properly on dry
land.

The curse removed

6 Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of
nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege-
tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no
9 pain in multiplying; but human propagation
has its suffering because it is a false belief. Christian Sci-
ence reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the
12 line of creation rises towards spiritual man, - towards
enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line
of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin,
15 disease, and mortality, the better for him, - the less pain
and sorrow are his. When the mist of mortal mind evap-
orates, the curse will be removed which says to woman,
18 "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Divine
Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of
Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as
21 never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.

Popular theology takes up the history of man as if he
began materially right, but immediately fell into mental

24 sin; whereas revealed religion proclaims the Science of
Mind and its formations as being in accordance with
the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind,
27 spake and it was done.