Science and Health with Key to The Scriptures

KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

CHAPTER XV — GENESIS

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

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	And I appeared unto Abraham,, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them. — EXODUS.
	All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. — JOHN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

	Mind's idea faultless
	Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:
21	first, in light; second, in reflection; third, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But this Mind creates no element nor symbol of
24	discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.
	Genesis i. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good:
27	and God divided the light from the darkness.
	God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony

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

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

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

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

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1	form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
3	death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.
	Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
6	the waters.

	Spiritual firmament
	Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.
9	The divine Mind, not matter, creates all identities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
12	nor the so-called material senses.
	Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
15	which were above the firmament: and it was so.

	Understanding imparted
	Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:
18	"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
21	good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, - Life, Truth, and Love, - and demonstrates the
24	divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

	Original reflected
	This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
27	of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light. God's ideas reflect the immortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
30	erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to

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1	themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguishing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-
3	like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real entity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which
6	separates Christian Science from supposition and makes Truth final.
	Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.
9	And the evening and the morning were the second day.

	Exalted thought
	Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted
12	thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.
15	Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

	Unfolding of thoughts
18	Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose
21	in order that the purpose may appear.
	Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and
24	God saw that it was good.

	Spirit names and blesses
	Here the human concept and divine idea seem confused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-
27	tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon Adam devolved the pleasurable task of finding names for all material things, but Adam has not yet

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1	appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the dry land illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind,
3	while water symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father-
6	hood and motherhood of God. Spirit names and blesses all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of
9	nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind, strangers in a tangled wilderness.
	Genesis i. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
12	grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

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

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

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

	Mind's pure thought
	God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gender is mental, not material. The seed within itself is
15	the pure thought emanating from divine Mind. The feminine gender is not yet expressed in the text. Gender means simply kind or sort,
18	and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither
21	male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of production names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male
24	or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.
	Genesis i. 13. And the evening and the morning were
27	the third day.

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

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1	of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of
3	all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization. Our Master reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he
6	rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life.
9	Genesis i. 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
12	and years.

	Rarefaction of thought
	Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies, but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.
15	This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of thought as it ascends higher. God forms and peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand-
18	ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indicate the immensity of space.

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

	Spiritual ideas apprehended
	Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind
30	and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the

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1	sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit-
3	ual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.
6	Genesis i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
9	Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose "light shall we see light;" and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn
12	away from a false material sense.
	Genesis i. 16. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
15	night: He made the stars also.

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

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

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1	man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light,
3	intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose seed is in itself." Thus God's ideas "multiply and replenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub
6	limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.
	Genesis i. 17, 18. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over
9	the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

	Darkness scattered
	In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has
12	the impress of heaven, God is revealed as infinite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is there.
15	Genesis i. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
	The changing glow and full effulgence of God's infi-
18	nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.
	Genesis i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl
21	that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

	Soaring aspirations
	To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and aëri-
24	form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mortals metaphorically present the gradation of
27	mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament

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1	of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal
3	and divine Principle, Love.
	Genesis i. 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth
6	abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

	Seraphic symbols
	Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power,
9	and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These angels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of
12	Mind, and consequently reproduce their own characteristics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do know that their natures are allied to God's nature; and
15	spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.
	Genesis i. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit-
18	ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let fowl multiply in the earth.

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

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1	istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is
3	an attempted infringement on infinity.
	Genesis i. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

	Spiritual spheres
6	Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To material sense, this divine universe is dim and
9	distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight; but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light. In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions,
12	and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.
	Genesis i. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
15	the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

	Continuity of thoughts
	Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all
18	thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God,
21	who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.
	Genesis i. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that
24	creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

	God's thoughts are spiritual realities
	God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are
27	spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind - being non-existent and consequently not within the range of im-

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1	mortal existence - could not by simulating deific power invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per-
3	sons or things upon its own plane, since nothing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive infinity, in which and of which God is the
6	sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and disport themselves. In humility they climb the heights of
9	holiness.

	Qualities of thought
	Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in
12	the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the
15	divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and
18	keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individuality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the
21	millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: -
	The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
24	And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.

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

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

	The serpent harmless
	Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-
6	pent of God's creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which
9	forms them, - the power which changeth the serpent into a staff.
	Genesis i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our
12	image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
15	thing that creepeth upon the earth.

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

	Reflected likeness
	Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also.
27	If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror
30	divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note

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

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

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

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

	Divine personality
15	The world believes in many persons; but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God. His personality can only be reflected,
18	not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal.
21	What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal is God's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit
24	to infinitude or to its reflections.
	Genesis i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
27	and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

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

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1	to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth
3	and heaven, - himself subordinate alone to his Maker. This is the Science of being.
	Genesis i. 29, 30. And God said, Behold, I have given
6	you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every
9	beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it
12	was so.

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

	Perfection of creation
27	The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and expresses all, and all must therefore be as perfect is the divine Principle is perfect. Nothing is new to Spirit.

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

	Infinity measureless
9	Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Hu-
12	man capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God's creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals
15	can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old man and reach the spiritual image and likeness. What can fathom infinity! How shall we declare Him, till,
18	in the language of the apostle, "we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful-
21	ness of Christ"?
	Genesis ii. 2. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh
24	day from all His work which He had made.

	Resting in holy work
	God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished, can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No
27	exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science. The

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

	Love and man coexistent
3	Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough! Human language
6	can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what exists. The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor comprehended by mortals, than is His infinite Principle,
9	Love. Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and eternal. The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.
12	These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine
15	infinite calculus.
	Genesis ii. 4, 5. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the
18	Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah]
21	had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

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

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

	Spiritual narrative
	Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being that is without beginning or end. All that is made is
6	the work of God, and all is good. We leave this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation (as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of
9	God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, - joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy, omnipotence, and omnipresence.
12	The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We should look away from the opposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual
15	record of creation, to that which should be engraved on the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond" and the pen of an angel.
18	The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.
21	Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

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

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

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

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

	Hypothetical reversal
	This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in
27	constructing the universe, is based on some hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just preceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life,
30	Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does the creator condemn His own creation? Does the unerring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-

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

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

	Distinct documents
	It may be worth while here to remark that, according
15	to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two distinct documents in the early part of the book of Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because
18	the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other document is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is always called Jehovah, - or Lord God, as our common
21	version translates it.

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

PAGE 524

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

	Jehovah a tribal deity
6	It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme Being by the national name of Jehovah. In
9	that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine
12	Principle to be lived and loved.
	Genesis ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
15	the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

	Creation reversed
	Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With
l8	a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female. How then could a material organization become the basis of man? How
21	could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind, and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His
24	creation. Is this addition to His creation real or unreal? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and God?
27	It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground. Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into
30	dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter? Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature

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

	Definitions of man
	The following are some of the equivalents of the term man in different languages. In the Saxon, mankind, a
9	woman, any one; in the Welsh, that which rises up, - the primary sense being image, form; in the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind.
12	The following translation is from the Icelandic: -
	And God said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after
15	God's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and female.

	No baneful creation
	In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were
18	made through the Word of God, "and without Him [the logos, or word] was not anything made that was made." Everything good or worthy, God
21	made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make, - hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis we read that He saw everything which He had made,
24	"and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural
27	record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.
30	Genesis ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God [Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,

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

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

	Record of error
	The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural
15	text in the second chapter of Genesis. God pronounced good all that He created, and the Scriptures declare that He created all. The "tree of
18	life" stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which guards it is the type of divine Science. The "tree of knowledge" stands for the erroneous doctrine that the
21	knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as the knowledge of good. Was evil instituted through God, Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra-
24	diction of the first creation? This second biblical account is a picture of error throughout.
	Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took the
27	man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.

	Garden of Eden
	The name Eden, according to Cruden, means pleasure,
30	delight. In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-

PAGE 527

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

	No temptation from God
	Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting
12	man, but the Apostle James says: "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He anyman." It is true that a knowledge of evil would
15	make man mortal. It is plain also that material perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, constitutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that God,
18	good, made "the tree of life" to be the tree of death to His own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is unreal because it is a lie, - false in every statement.
21	Genesis ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord God [Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he
24	would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

	Creation's counterfeit
	Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but
27	doing so materially, not spiritually, and asking a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his
30	dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man

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