Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 73

_Genesis_ i. 25. And G.o.d made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that 513:24 creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and G.o.d saw that it was good.

G.o.d's thoughts are spiritual realities

G.o.d creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are 513:27 spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind - being non- existent and consequently not within the range of im- 514:1 mortal existence - could not by simulating deific power invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per- 514:3 sons or things upon its own plane, since noth- ing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive infinity, in which and of which G.o.d is the 514:6 sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis- port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of 514:9 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 514:12 the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in "green pastures, ... beside the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the 514:15 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 514:18 keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa- nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ- uality created by G.o.d is not carnivorous, as witness the 514:21 millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: -

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; 514:24 And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.

Creatures of G.o.d useful

Understanding the control which Love held over all, 514:27 Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless. All of G.o.d's creatures moving in the harmony of Science, are harm- 514:30 less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.

515:1 It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor to emulate the example of Jesus. "And G.o.d saw that 515:3 it was good."

The serpent harmless

Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser- 515:6 pent of G.o.d'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 515:9 forms them, - the power which changeth the serpent into a staff.

_Genesis_ i. 26. And G.o.d said, Let us make man in our 515:12 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 515:15 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 515:18 Spirit does not imply more than one G.o.d, nor does it imply three persons in one. It relates to the oneness, the triunity of Life, Truth, and Love.

515:21 "Let _them_ have dominion." Man is the family name for all ideas, - the sons and daughters of G.o.d. All that G.o.d imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting good- 515:24 ness and power.

Reflected likeness

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

515:27 If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, G.o.d. Call the mirror 515:30 divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note 516:1 how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in 516:3 the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of G.o.d. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which const.i.tute Deity, are reflected by His creation; 516:6 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

516:9 G.o.d fas.h.i.+ons all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, G.o.d in goodness, which impart their own peace and 516:12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfish- ness, bathes all in beauty and light. The gra.s.s beneath our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the 516:15 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 516:18 prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects G.o.d's domin- 516:21 ion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with G.o.d forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother G.o.d.

516:24 _Genesis_ i. 27. So G.o.d created man in His own image, in the image of G.o.d created He him; male and female created He them.

Ideal man and woman

516:27 To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that G.o.d made man in His own image, to reflect the divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic 516:30 term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen- ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan- 517:1 guages the word for _man_ is used also as the synonym of _mind_. This definition has been weakened by anthropo- 517:3 morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word _an- thropomorphic_, in such a phrase as "an anthropomorphic G.o.d," is derived from two Greek words, signifying _man_ 517:6 and _form_, and may be defined as a mortally mental at- tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man 517:9 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- 517:12 sidering G.o.d masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity.

Divine personality

517:15 The world believes in many persons; but if G.o.d is per- sonal, there is but one person, because there is but one G.o.d. His personality can only be reflected, 517:18 not transmitted. G.o.d has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol of G.o.d as person is Mind's infinite ideal.

517:21 What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal is G.o.d's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity can never reveal the whole of G.o.d, since there is no limit 517:24 to infinitude or to its reflections.

_Genesis_ i. 28. And G.o.d blessed them, and G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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.

a.s.sistance in brotherhood

G.o.d 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 having 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 s.h.i.+ne through 518:21 all as the blossom s.h.i.+nes through the bud. All the varied expressions of G.o.d reflect health, holiness, immortality - infinite Life, Truth, and Love.

518:24 _Genesis_ i. 31. And G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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

G.o.d 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 s.p.a.ce. 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 G.o.d [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 G.o.d [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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, - joyfully acknowledging now and forever G.o.d'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.