Chapter IV - Creation
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together with the reality it would falsely make of the
together with the reality it would falsely make of the
impossibility of Life and Intelligence in matter. This
error, or belief, shrinks from the voice of Truth calling
to man, "where, or what, art thou, Soul or personal
sense? art thou Spirit or matter?" and belief replied,
"I heard thy voice and was afraid." Fear was the
first manifestation of the belief of Life in matter, for
"the wicked flee when no man pursueth"; fear founded
sickness and death. Error was naked, but it could not
hide from the eye of Wisdom; and Truth replied, who
told thee thou art naked? and error fell back on per-
sonality, saying, "She gave me of the fruit of knowl-
edge," (a medical work, perhaps.) Woman, that was
taken from my rib, (as if man was less the origin of her
fault because she was not back again under that rib);
told me I was in my body, and that Life and sensation
are in matter. But when Truth questioned woman
regarding the "knowledge" that said matter is intelli-
gent, and personal sense is man, she replied, "The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Woman was the
first to see out of the difficulty, owning this knowledge
a serpent; as she is the first to lay down the belief
that Life originates materially. A serpent hung on the
"tree of knowledge," metaphorically, to show its sub-
tilty, and the Master bade his students be wise as the
serpent, i.e., never allow the belief of Life and sensa-
tion in matter to put to silence the opposite, science of
being. Woman was a higher idea of God than man, in-
somuch as she was the final one in the scale of being;
but because our beliefs reverse every position of Truth,
we name supreme being masculine, instead of femi-
nine. Woman first perceived reason was beguiled by
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knowledge. Truth's question to Adam, error, viz., "Is
knowledge. Truth's question to Adam, error, viz., "Is
Life and Intelligence in matter?" rebuked and exposed
this would-be material consciousness.
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"The Lord formed man of the dust, and breathed into
"The Lord formed man of the dust, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of Life, and he became a living
Soul,"
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put Truth in error! Intelligence in matter! made
put Truth in error! Intelligence in matter! made
the body mortal embrace the Principle of being that
embraces man! Did the Infinite enter matter through
man's nostrils? did God, the Truth and Life, enter the
sick, sinning, and dying body? then Deity would be
man, or man Deity, and Life mortal! this absurd belief
is atheism. "When God, who is our Life, shall appear,
then shall we be like Him." Man will be perfect, sin-
less, and eternal, when Spirit permeates man. Principle
never entered its idea, nor Spirit matter. We have no
record in Genesis that God gave Adam, error, dominion
over the earth, and yet, to belief, error holds this sway.
Adam was a product of belief, and Eve, of Adam, and
both were beliefs of Life in matter; we say beliefs
because that is not the Truth of being. Principle, and
not person, Spirit and not matter, Truth and not error,
God and not man, made male and female.
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"And the Lord said, behold, the man is become as
"And the Lord said, behold, the man is become as
one of us, to know good from evil, and now lest he put
forth his hand and take also of the tree of Life and live
forever, therefore the Lord sent him forth from the gar-
den of Eden, to till the ground whence he was taken."
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No one can doubt this scripture is allegorical, pointing
No one can doubt this scripture is allegorical, pointing
out the results of a belief of God in man, or Intelligence
in matter; we cannot accept it in a literal sense with
out impugning the Love that made man, and gave him
earth for a possession, and blessed it for his sake. A