Chapter IV - Creation
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the stepping stone to other mortal conditions of belief;
the stepping stone to other mortal conditions of belief;
it never procured Life, for this is God, and God must
become our practical Life, before man is found im-
mortal. We see in the vegetable kingdom that the
seed must rot to propagate anew, and the poor germ
is doomed to this same experience also; it must rot
again, according to material law. The answer to the
ancient question, which is first, the egg, or the parent
that takes care of the egg? is given when you admit
the parent is developed from an egg, for that is first
which produced the parent; but an egg never propa-
gated man.
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"We have no right to assume that individuals have
"We have no right to assume that individuals have
grown, or been formed under circumstances that made
matter conditions essential to their maintenance and
reproduction, or important to their origin and first in-
troduction, unless we dismiss reason and revelation ut-
terly. That earth was hatched from the egg of night
was anciently argued, and this absurdity is less than to
conclude Spirit produces matter, or that it is in matter.
Pursuing the varied hypotheses of man, we think as a
child, but putting away childish things and asking more
earnestly after God, we shall be answered from Soul,
and not sense, and Spirit, instead of matter, will guide
our conclusions. Heathen philosophy, modern geology,
zoology, physiology, anatomy, etc., deal with other or
different phenomena from those proceeding from the
Supreme Being. The first proceed from belief only,
but the latter are reflections of Spirit; these are the
ideas of God coming to the understanding, but the for-
mer are beliefs of matter. The proof requisite to sus-
tain assumptions diametrically opposed to personal sense,
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is just what Jesus taught, namely, the fruit they bear,
is just what Jesus taught, namely, the fruit they bear,
otherwise the demonstration they bring; if you contra-
dict sense with science and abide by the rules of the
latter, you will demonstrate harmony, and prove your
position the right one. Our experience of what is called
Life germinating from an egg, corresponds with that of
Job, that it is of "few days and full of trouble." From
this material source flow all sorrow, sin, and death, and
the power is not in its origin to "deliver us from the
body of this death," consequently our next appeal is to
something higher than to matter, drugs, 'ologies, or 'isms.
We may call on God to heal our sicknesses, and though
we pray seven times a day, and our clergyman and
physician pray for us, we may not gain the blessing; not
faith, but understanding, brings the blessing. To know
that God is not the author of sin or suffering, and that
"his hand is not shortened, or ear heavy," but that
error produces error, is to learn what error is, and how
destroyed; then shall we find our remedy for sickness
and sin, is to "work out our own salvation." On this
point mankind need much enlightenment, for the science
of being alone solves the problem of man harmoniously.
God giveth not a stone for bread; when we ask earn-
estly and strive for health to be useful, able to do good
to ourself and others, why does he withhold it? These
are unanswerable questions, irreconcilable with Wis-
dom until we learn God is not person, but Principle, and
that we must understand this Principle, to direct our
being in harmony with it; and then shall we be able to
govern the physical and mental. All depends on mind;
matter holds no power over man to create or to destroy
him. Sickness and death are errors of belief arising