Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1898).djvu/532

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
510
SCIENCE AND HEALTH.

Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated — that God made man in His own image, to reflect the Gender. divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are human concepts. In one of the ancient languages the word for man is used also as the synonym of mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropomorphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word anthropomorphic, in such a phrase as “an anthropomorphic god,” is derived from two Greek words, signifying man and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental attempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The Life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man corresponds to creation, to Intelligence, and Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and Love. We have not as much authority, in Divine Science, for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the highest idea of Deity.

The world believes in many persons; but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but Emblematic personality. one God. His personality can only be reflected, not transmitted. God has countless ideas, as sons and daughters; and they all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol of God, as person, is Mind's infinite idea. What is this idea? Who shall behold it? This idea is God's own image, spiritual, infinite. Even eternity can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit to Mind or its reflections.