Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/202

 image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

"And God blessed them; and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. . ..

"And God saw everything that He had made; and behold it was very good."

When truth in the understanding becomes firmly wedded to love in the will, or in other words, when the great law of unselfish love (which is the properly human life) comes to reign throughout the soul, having complete dominion over all the feelings, inclinations and thoughts of the natural mind, then the true man is created—the properly human understanding and will. "Male and female created He them, and called their name Adam," that is, man. And when this is the case—when all the instincts, feelings, thoughts and propensities of the natural man are brought under perfect subjection to the great law of love, then everything is seen to be "very good." The inclinations of the natural man are evil only when they are allowed to rule. In a state of proper subordination and subserviency to the celestial principle—the truly human—they all are very good.

But this exalted and heavenly state, when the soul is so filled and pervaded by the Divine spirit that it may truly be said to be created "in the image of God,"