Chapter XV - Genesis
New earth and no more sea
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of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is
of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is
written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away; and there was no more sea." In St.
John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spir-
itual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed
human concepts advancing and receding, is represented
as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns,
is all and there is no other consciousness.
The fall of error
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The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-
The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-
sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual
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
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
God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The
blind leading the blind, both would fall.
True attainment
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Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are
Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are
"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.
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-
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.
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Genesis iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Genesis iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
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and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
the Lord God [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
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
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A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
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-
tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
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
nothingness.
Inspired interpretation
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No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory – this second account in Genesis – is to depict
the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
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
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
imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, –