The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu- sion of sin is without hope or G.o.d. 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 G.o.d, mortal man would be governed by himself. The blind leading the blind, both would fall.
True attainment
Pa.s.sions and appet.i.tes 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 G.o.d [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 G.o.d [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 G.o.d withheld from man the opportunity to reform, lest man should improve it and become better; but this is not the nature of G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, good. Sin, sickness, and death have 538:18 no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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? G.o.d could never impart an element of evil, and man possesses 539:12 nothing which he has not derived from G.o.d. 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d"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 G.o.d the things that are G.o.d"s." It saith to the human sense of sin, sickness, and death, "G.o.d never made you, and you are a 540:21 false sense which hath no knowledge of G.o.d." The pur- pose of the Hebrew allegory, representing error as a.s.sum- 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ds."
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 G.o.d"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 G.o.d. To envy"s own h.e.l.l, justice con- signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks G.o.d"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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d. 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.