Chapter XV: Genesis (2)

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

548:18 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
548:21 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
548:24 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
548:27 genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought
to light important facts in regard to so-called
embryonic life. Agassiz declares ("Methods
548:30 of Study in Natural History,") "Certain ani-
mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also
increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self-
549:1 division." This discovery is corroborative of the Science
of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication
549:3 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,
549:6 is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, - a
blunder which will finally give place to higher theories
and demonstrations.

The three processes

549:9 Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed
to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc-
tion and to multiply their species sometimes
549:12 through eggs, sometimes through buds, and
sometimes through self-division. According to recent
lore, successive generations do not begin with the /birth/ of
549:15 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
549:18 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
549:21 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

549:24 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
549:27 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
549:30 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
550:1 the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non-
intelligent egg.

Deep-reaching interrogations

550:3 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
550:6 and preserves the individuality and identity
of animals as well as of men. God cannot
become finite, and be limited within material bounds.
550:9 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-
550:12 gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being
and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it
will hereafter.

Stages of existence

550:15 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
550:18 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-
550:21 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
550:24 Deity.

Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro-
ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor
550:27 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
550:30 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
551:1 must father these absurdities, for both the material senses
and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.

The real producer

551:3 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-
551:6 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

551:9 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
551:12 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-
551:15 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
551:18 nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, -
themselves composed of the simplest material
elements, - by which all peculiarities of an-
551:21 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-
551:24 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
551:27 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
551:30 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,
552:1 the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the
parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question
552:3 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
552:6 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
552:9 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-
552:12 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
552:15 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
552:18 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
552:21 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
552:24 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
552:27 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
552:30 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
553:1 existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac-
company their descriptions with important observations,
553:3 which should awaken thought to a higher and
purer contemplation of man's origin. This
clearer consciousness must precede an under-
553:6 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
553:9 become the standard of man.

One of our ablest naturalists has said: "We have no
right to assume that individuals have grown or been
553:12 formed under circumstances which made material con-
ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction,
or important to their origin and first introduction."
553:15 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
553:18 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
553:21 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-
553:24 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-
553:27 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
553:30 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
554:1 only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what "eye
hath not seen," - even the cause of all that exists, - for
554:3 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,
554:6 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
554:9 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
554:12 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-
554:15 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
554:18 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
554:21 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?"
554:24 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
554:27 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
554:30 sickly than those possessing higher organiza-
tions, especially those of the human form.
This would indicate that there is less disease in propor-
555:1 tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi-
tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind.
555:3 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

555:6 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."
555:9 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
555:12 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
555:15 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-
555:18 existent and eternal. Only impotent error
would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good
with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this
555:21 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
555:24 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
555:27 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
555:30 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-
556:1 lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained
by Spirit.

Genera classified

556:3 Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor-
tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to
possess life and mind. These false beliefs
556:6 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-
556:9 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
556:12 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
556:15 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
556:18 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.
556:21 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
556:24 dream.

Ontology /versus/ physiology

Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?
Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual
556:27 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-
556:30 point.

It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only
a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and
557:1 repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain
under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with-
557:3 out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this
and learn how to develop their children properly on dry
land.

The curse removed

557:6 Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of
nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege-
tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no
557:9 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
557:12 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,
557:15 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,
557:18 "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
557:21 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
557:24 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,
557:27 spake and it was done.