Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/97

Rh and of their existence.” Mrs. Eddy, since she identifies mind with God, regards it as constituting the essence of God. Intellectus with Spinoza corresponds to nous with the Neoplatonists and these two words of the Latin and Greek correspond to Mrs. Eddy's divine Mind.

Mrs. Eddy teaches that creation is eternal. In this conception two doctrines intimately related are involved, namely, that what God creates is eternal, that is, it is without beginning and without end, and that the act of creation also is eternal, that is, it is timeless. It will be seen, therefore, that what Mrs. Eddy means by creation is something wholly unlike what is commonly meant by the term. The word naturally suggests the bringing into existence of something that did not exist before, and accordingly both the created thing and the creating act are marked with temporal limitations. Mrs. Eddy's unnatural use of this word, as of others that we have noted and will yet notice, is the result of her bondage to the Neoplatonists who treat the subject of creation as she does. First, as to the eternity of the world.

Mrs. Eddy says: “God created all through Mind and made all perfect and eternal;” “All creations of spirit are eternal;” “God's thoughts are perfect and eternal.” Do not forget that Mrs. Eddy considers God's thoughts to be