Chapter XV - Genesis
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from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by
from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by
aught but the good.
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Genesis i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the
Genesis i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the
darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morn-
ing were the first day.
Light preceding the sun
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All questions as to the divine creation being both
All questions as to the divine creation being both
spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for
though solar beams are not yet included in
the record of creation, still there is light. This
light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it
is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This
also shows that there is no place where God's light is not
seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are
ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a
creation?
Evenings and mornings
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The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented
The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented
as taking place on so many evenings and mornings, –
words which indicate, in the absence of solar
time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views
which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.
Here we have the explanation of another passage of
Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into
the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas
a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and
vague conjectures emit no such effulgence.
Spirit versus darkness
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Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?
Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?
Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter,
darkness, and darkness obscures light. Mate-
rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the
absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions
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form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.
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Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters.
Spiritual firmament
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Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.
The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-
tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of
Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
nor the so-called material senses.
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Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Understanding imparted
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Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:
"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between
the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds
Mind, – Life, Truth, and Love, – and demonstrates the
divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in
Christian Science.
Original reflected
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This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things
brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-
mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to