Divine personality
517:15 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,
517:18 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.
517:21 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
517:24 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,
517:27 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
517:30 Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to
multiply, - to manifest His power. Man is not made
518:1 to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not sub-
jection. He is lord of the belief in earth
518:3 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
518:6 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
518:9 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
518:12 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
518:15 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
518:18 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
518:21 all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality -
infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
518:24 /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
518:27 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.
519:1 Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all
things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.
519:3 Deity was satisfied with His work. How could
He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation
was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-
519:6 containment and immortal wisdom?
/Genesis/ ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.
Infinity measureless
519:9 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-
519:12 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
519:15 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,
519:18 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-
519:21 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
519:24 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
519:27 exhaustion follows the action of this Mind,
according to the apprehension of divine Science. The
520:1 highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint,
is in holy work.
Love and man coexistent
520:3 Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth,
height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all
space. That is enough! Human language
520:6 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,
520:9 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.
520:12 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
520:15 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
520:18 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]
520:21 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
520:24 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-
520:27 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
520:30 lower power. Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,
never causing man to till the ground, but making him
521:1 superior to the soil. Knowledge of this lifts man above
the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious
521:3 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
521:6 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
521:9 God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, -
joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy,
omnipotence, and omnipresence.
521:12 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
521:15 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.
521:18 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.
521:21 /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
521:24 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-
521:27 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
521:30 or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence
522:1 of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction
to the true.
The two records
522:3 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
522:6 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-
522:9 ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit
of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science
explains as impossible.
522:12 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
522:15 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
522:18 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-
522:21 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
522:24 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
522:27 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,
522:30 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-
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
523:3 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
523:6 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
523:9 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.
523:12 All is material myth, instead of the reflection of
Spirit.
Distinct documents
It may be worth while here to remark that, according
523:15 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
523:18 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
523:21 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
523:24 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
523:27 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-
523:30 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.
Gods of the heathen
524:1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is
seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish
524:3 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
524:6 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
524:9 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
524:12 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
524:15 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
524:21 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
524:24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-
real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and
God?
524:27 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
524:30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature
525:1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-
come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of
525:3 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
525:6 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
525:9 /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/.
525:12 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
525:15 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
525:18 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
525:21 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,
525:24 "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
525:27 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.
525:30 /Genesis/ ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God
[Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
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
526:3 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
526:6 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
526:9 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,
526:12 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
526:15 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
526:18 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
526:21 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-
526:24 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
526:27 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/,
526:30 /delight./ In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-
527:1 rial body. God could not put Mind into matter nor in-
finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and
527:3 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.
527:6 /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
527:9 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
527:12 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
527:15 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,
527:18 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.
527:21 /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
527:24 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
527:27 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
527:30 dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man
528:1 that dust should become sentient, when all being is the
reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares
528:3 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-
528:6 not be true that man was ordered to create man anew
in partnership with God; this supposition was a dream,
a myth.
528:9 /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
528:12 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
528:15 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
528:18 woman. This is the first record of magnet-
ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light,
- materially rather than spiritually, - error now simu-
528:21 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
528:24 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
528:27 /mankind/, - that is, a kind of man.
Mental midwifery
But according to this narrative, surgery was first per-
formed mentally and without instruments;
528:30 and this may be a useful hint to the medical
faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden
529:1 fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there
came a suggestion of change in the /modus operandi/, -
529:3 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
529:6 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,
529:9 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
529:12 parent.
/Genesis/ iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
529:15 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
529:18 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
529:21 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
529:24 animal kingdom which represents the species
described, - a talking serpent, - and should rejoice that
evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and
529:27 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
529:30 Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of
material mind. He begins his reign over man some-
530:1 what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days
become shorter. In this development, the im-
530:3 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
530:6 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,
530:9 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
530:12 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
530:15 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-
530:18 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
530:21 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-
530:24 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
530:27 has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the
dreamer and dream are one, for neither is
true nor real. /First/, this narrative supposes
530:30 that something springs from nothing, that matter pre-
cedes mind. /Second/, it supposes that mind enters matter,
531:1 and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.
The order of this allegory - the belief that everything
531:3 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-
531:6 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
531:9 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-
531:12 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
531:15 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
531:18 still maintained by God in perpetuating the
species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and
animals have a propagating property of their own?
531:21 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
531:24 Maker?
Which institutes Life, - matter or Mind? Does Life
begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by
531:27 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-
531:30 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
532:1 God at first create one man unaided, - that is, Adam, -
but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order
532:3 to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes
and governs all.
Progeny cursed
All human knowledge and material sense must be
532:6 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
532:9 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-
532:12 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
532:15 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
532:18 sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.
Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed
from the divine voice calling out to the cor-
532:21 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
532:24 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-
532:27 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
532:30 demands that /mind/ shall see and feel through matter, the
five senses. The first impression material man had of
533:1 himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost
man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over
533:3 all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on
Adam.
/Genesis/ iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that
533:6 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
533:9 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
533:12 creator of evil. The allegory shows that the
snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which
beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,
533:15 /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
533:18 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?
533:21 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-
533:24 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
533:27 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,
533:30 "Neither man nor God shall father my fault." She has
already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence
534:1 she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of
man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter
534:3 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
534:6 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
534:9 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
534:12 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
534:15 idea of divine power, which Jesus presented,
and mythological material intelligence called /energy/ and
opposed to Spirit.
534:18 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
534:21 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
534:24 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
534:27 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
534:30 of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding
535:1 a foothold in Christian Science. The seed of Truth and
the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, - yea,
535:3 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.
535:6 /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
535:9 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-
535:12 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
535:15 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
535:18 indeed " the way."
/Genesis/ iii. 17-19. And unto Adam He said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
535:21 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
535:24 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
535:27 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
535:30 called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together
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
536:3 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-
536:6 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,
536:9 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
536:12 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
536:15 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
536:18 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
536:21 "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.
536:24 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-
536:27 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.
536:30 /Genesis/ iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
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
537:3 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
537:6 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
537:9 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-
537:12 tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
537:15 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
537:18 nothingness.
Inspired interpretation
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory - this second account in Genesis - is to depict
537:21 the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
537:24 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
537:27 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
537:30 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, -
538:1 Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
not her own."
Spiritual gateway
538:3 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
538:6 of understanding to note the proper guests.
Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth
gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between
538:9 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
538:12 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-
538:15 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
538:18 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,
538:21 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
538:24 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-
538:27 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,
538:30 real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten
a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author
539:1 of sin and sin's progeny. This false sense of existence
is fratricidal. In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is
539:3 "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
539:6 were something which matter can both give and take
away.
Only one standard
What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life,
539:9 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
539:12 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
539:15 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,
539:18 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,
539:21 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
539:24 gather grapes of thorns?" Paul asked: "What com-
munion hath light with darkness? And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?"
Scientific offspring
539:27 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
539:30 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
540:1 marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of
Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates
540:3 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
540:6 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-
540:9 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
540:12 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
540:15 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
540:18 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
540:21 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
540:24 a lie.
/Genesis/ iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also
540:27 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
540:30 type of Truth and Love. Material in origin
and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel
541:1 takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb
is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re-
541:3 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.
541:6 /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.
541:9 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
541:12 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
541:15 slew him.
The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli-
gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood
541:18 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
541:21 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
541:24 in the first instance, "Ye shall be as gods."
Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards
his brother.
541:27 /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.
Murder brings its curse
542:1 The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in-
curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it
542:3 might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material
beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when-
ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides
542:6 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
542:9 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,
542:12 invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine
mercy.
/Genesis/ iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him
542:15 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
542:18 "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
542:21 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
542:24 waymarks of God. To envy's own hell, justice con-
signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's
commandments.
542:27 /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
543:1 than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon
itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering,
543:3 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
543:6 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
543:9 the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot
take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come
into His presence, and must dwell in dream-
543:12 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
543:15 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-
543:18 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-
543:21 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.
543:24 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
543:27 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,
543:30 mortal.
Material inception
The text, "In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah
God] made the earth and the heavens," introduces the
544:1 record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,
- a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit
544:3 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."
544:6 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
544:9 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
544:12 infinite Mind.
First evil suggestion
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does
matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might
544:15 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
544:18 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
544:21 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
544:24 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
544:27 likeness of the one God.
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and
truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called
544:30 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-
545:1 ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con-
ceptions.
545:3 "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
545:6 never had been divinely conceived.
Mental tillage
The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means
this, - that mortals should so improve material belief
545:9 by thought tending spiritually upward as to
destroy materiality. Man, created by God,
was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion
545:12 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,
545:15 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-
545:18 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
545:21 The translators of this record of scientific creation
entertained a false sense of being. They believed in
the existence of matter, its propagation and
545:24 power. From that standpoint of error, they
could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit.
Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which
545:27 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]
545:30 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
546:1 myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is
now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman-
546:3 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-
546:6 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
546:9 Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine
Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to
declare Mind, while matter is governed by un-
546:12 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
546:15 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.
546:18 Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than
other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot
possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To
546:21 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.
546:24 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.
546:27 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
546:30 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
547:1 authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris-
tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the
547:3 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-
547:6 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
547:9 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
547:12 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
547:15 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
547:18 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
547:21 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
547:24 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
547:27 material history but in spiritual development.
Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and
mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and
547:30 immortal.
Scriptural perception
It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts
humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.
548:1 "The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." Christian
548:3 Science separates error from truth, and breathes
through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of
life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis-
548:6 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
548:9 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.
548:12 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
548:15 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