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38 the evil and false. The tree of life was the way to eternal life; the tree of knowledge was the path to spiritual death.

We observed in the former discourse that trees symbolize perceptions of the mind. The different kinds of trees are symbolic of the different phases of perception. The tree of life, therefore, to use a more definite phrase, was love perceived as the very life of the soul. It embodied the idea of a keen perception, on the part of the Eden dwellers, of the fact that the Lord constantly flows into them with his love, as the sun flows to earth with its warmth; that thence the tree of life sprung up in their inmost hearts as the governing principle of their existence; and that, therefore, they lived and loved, and were wise and intelligent, and thought and spoke, really from the Lord. The tree of life was then love as a conscious perception of the Lord in their own lives. Under this perception there could be but one result. Spiritual truth would be as clear to them as the sun in its shining. As it is sufficient to say that honesty is right and truthfulness to be commended, for one to see intuitively that it is so, with them any truth of a spiritual nature, such as the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, his goodness, his mercy, his eternal providence, the life of absolute trust in Him, the belief that all his ways are right—these and all other true