Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/102

94 stated Mrs. Eddy's position very accurately for her when they taught that God's thoughts, which are to be considered as creations, are eternal.

The eternity of the world requires as has been said that the act also by which it was or is created be considered eternal. This idea has no doubt been suggested already to the reader, for it is implied in certain of the quotations from Mrs. Eddy and also in the one from Spinoza just given.

The striking parallel that we now make is that the Neoplatonists and Mrs. Eddy deny to the creator deliberation and purpose. They must do so, as such mental acts as these would require creation to be subject to time, which it is not. A creation subject to time is to them unreal. We are considering the real creation.

The fact that Mrs. Eddy denies purpose to God has already been established. Here we are considering the relation of the fact to creation. Mrs. Eddy cannot conceive of God as meditating over what he will do, as planning or purposing to do anything. For these acts imply the lapse of time and the divine mind is not subject to time. It is eternal. What God creates is co-existent with himself. All this is in the sentences from her already cited in the treatment of this topic. Recall also the one in which Mrs. Eddy identifies in the divine being foreordination, foreknowledge and knowledge. In her god they are one and are not to be distinguished as different mental