Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 71

KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.

- REVELATION.

CHAPTER XV - GENESIS

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of G.o.d Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them. - EXODUS.

All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. - JOHN.

Spiritual interpretation

501:1 SCIENTIFIC interpretation of the Scriptures prop- erly starts with the beginning of the Old Testa- 501:3 ment, chiefly because the spiritual import of the Word, in its earliest articulations, often seems so smothered by the immediate context as to 501:6 require explication; whereas the New Testament narra- tives are clearer and come nearer the heart. Jesus il- lumines them, showing the poverty of mortal existence, 501:9 but richly recompensing human want and woe with spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplifi- cation of wonder and glory which angels could only 501:12 whisper and which G.o.d ill.u.s.trated by light and har- mony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural 501:15 good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the weary ones sigh when needing something more native to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual 501:18 evil.

Spiritual overture

502:1 A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so 502:3 brief that it would almost seem, from the preponderance of unreality in the entire nar- rative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality, 502:6 the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator and His creation.

Deflection of being

502:9 Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image of G.o.d, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to 502:12 suggest the proper reflection of G.o.d and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought 502:15 take on higher symbols and significations, when scien- tifically Christian views of the universe appear, illuminat- ing time with the glory of eternity.

502:18 In the following exegesis, each text is followed by its spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Chris- tian Science.

502:21 EXEGESIS

_Genesis_ i. 1. In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth.

Ideas and ident.i.ties

502:24 The infinite has no beginning. This word _beginning_ is employed to signify _the only_, - that is, the eternal ver- ity and unity of G.o.d and man, including 502:27 the universe. The creative Principle - Life, Truth, and Love - is G.o.d. The universe reflects G.o.d.

There is but one creator and one creation. This crea- 503:1 tion consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their ident.i.ties, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and 503:3 forever reflected. These ideas range from the infini- tesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of G.o.d.

503:6 _Genesis_ i. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of G.o.d moved upon the face of the waters.

Spiritual harmony

503:9 The divine Principle and idea const.i.tute spiritual har- mony, - heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown. No supposition of error 503:12 enters there. Divine Science, the Word of G.o.d, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "G.o.d is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines 503:15 the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, - that infinite s.p.a.ce is peopled with G.o.d's ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.

503:18 _Genesis_ i. 3. And G.o.d said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Mind's idea faultless

Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of G.o.d: 503:21 _first_, in light; _second_, in reflection; _third_, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But this Mind creates no element nor symbol of 503:24 discord and decay. G.o.d creates neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.

_Genesis_ i. 4. And G.o.d saw the light, that it was good: 503:27 and G.o.d divided the light from the darkness.

G.o.d, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony 504:1 from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by aught but the good.

504:3 _Genesis_ i. 5. And G.o.d 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

504:6 All questions as to the divine creation being both spiritual and material are answered in this pa.s.sage, for though solar beams are not yet included in 504:9 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 504:12 also shows that there is no place where G.o.d's light is not seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a 504:15 creation?

Evenings and mornings

The successive appearing of G.o.d's ideas is represented as taking place on so many _evenings_ and _mornings_, - 504:18 words which indicate, in the absence of solar time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.

504:21 Here we have the explanation of another pa.s.sage of Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into 504:24 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

504:27 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- 504:30 rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions 505:1 form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and 505:3 death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.

_Genesis_ i. 6. And G.o.d said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from 505:6 the waters.

Spiritual firmament

Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.

505:9 The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden- t.i.ties, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter 505:12 nor the so-called material senses.

_Genesis_ i. 7. And G.o.d made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters 505:15 which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Understanding imparted

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con- sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith: 505:18 "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 505:21 good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, - Life, Truth, and Love, - and demonstrates the 505:24 divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

Original reflected

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result 505:27 of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light. G.o.d's ideas reflect the im- mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal, 505:30 erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to 506:1 themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish- ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un- 506:3 like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en- t.i.ty. Understanding is a quality of G.o.d, a quality which 506:6 separates Christian Science from supposition and makes Truth final.

_Genesis_ i. 8. And G.o.d called the firmament Heaven.

506:9 And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Exalted thought

Through divine Science, Spirit, G.o.d, unites under- standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted 506:12 thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.

Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.

506:15 _Genesis_ i. 9. And G.o.d said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Unfolding of thoughts

506:18 Spirit, G.o.d, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose 506:21 in order that the purpose may appear.

_Genesis_ i. 10. And G.o.d called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and 506:24 G.o.d saw that it was good.