Part 72 (1/2)

Spirit names and blesses

Here the human concept and divine idea seem con- fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien- 506:27 tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find- ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet 507:1 appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the _dry land_ ill.u.s.trates the absolute formations inst.i.tuted by Mind, 507:3 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- 507:6 hood and motherhood of G.o.d. Spirit names and blesses all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of 507:9 nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind, strangers in a tangled wilderness.

_Genesis_ i. 11. And G.o.d said, Let the earth bring forth 507:12 gra.s.s, 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

507:15 The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi- tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul- 507:18 tiplication of the compound idea man. The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat- ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind 507:21 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 G.o.d.

Ever-appearing creation

507:24 Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men- tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His 507:27 creation, and the immortality of man and the universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con- tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.

507:30 Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate- rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall 508:1 to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind 508:3 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, 508:6 a seed, or a flower is G.o.d, the creator of it. Mind is the Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov- erns all.

508:9 _Genesis_ i. 12. And the earth brought forth gra.s.s, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and G.o.d saw 508:12 that it was good.

Mind's pure thought

G.o.d determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen- der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is 508:15 the pure thought emanating from divine Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex- pressed in the text. _Gender_ means simply _kind_ or _sort_, 508:18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or femininity. The word is not confined to s.e.xuality, and grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither 508:21 male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc- tion names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male 508:24 or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.

_Genesis_ i. 13. And the evening and the morning were 508:27 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 509:1 of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of 509:3 all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization. Our Master reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he 509:6 rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life.

509:9 _Genesis_ i. 14. And G.o.d 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, 509:12 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.

509:15 This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of thought as it ascends higher. G.o.d forms and peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand- 509:18 ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi- cate the immensity of s.p.a.ce.

Divine nature appearing

So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances 509:21 are no more contingent now on time or material struc- ture than they were when ”the morning stars sang together.” Mind made the ”plant of 509:24 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 509:27 - yea, the divine nature - appear in man and the uni- verse never to disappear.

Spiritual ideas apprehended

Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind 509:30 and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his fellow-countrymen: ”Ye can discern the face of the 510:1 sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit- 510:3 ual ideas of G.o.d, than to dwell on the objects of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.

510:6 _Genesis_ i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma- ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

510:9 Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ”light shall we see light;” and this illumination is re- flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn 510:12 away from a false material sense.

_Genesis_ i. 16. And G.o.d made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the 510:15 night: He made the stars also.

Geology a failure