Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/111

Rh says: “Things have been brought into being by God in the highest perfection, inasmuch as they have necessarily followed from a most perfect nature&emsp;*&emsp;*&emsp;*&emsp;for if things had been brought into being in any other way, we should have to assign to God a nature different from that which we are bound to attribute to him from the consideration of an absolutely perfect being.” So he identifies perfection and reality. It should be noted that the Neoplatonists, like Mrs. Eddy, argue the perfection of the world from the perfection of its creator.

Related to the perfection of the world is the theory of the harmony of the universe. Mrs. Eddy and the Neoplatonists teach that when nature is considered as a whole there is no discord. The reader can readily see how this theory serves well Mrs. Eddy's contention about disease. It is disorder, and as all disorder, derangement or inharmony is unreal or the absence of reality, disease must be a non-entity.

Mrs. Eddy says: “This Mind (divine mind) creates no element nor symbol of discord and decay;” “The divine Principle and idea (which for Mrs. Eddy constitute the real universe) constitute spiritual harmony,—heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth matter is unknown. No