Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/75

under the control of the spiritual, but it is bad when it sets up for itself. In the order of creation as related in the allegory of Genesis, Adam was given dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. The earth symbolized the mind; the fish of the sea, the knowledges of things gathered in the memory; the fowls of the air, the thoughts that sweep like winged creatures across the mental firmament; the cattle or beasts, affections of various kinds; the creeping things, the lowest forms or principles of the mind, including the serpent, its sensual principle. Everything was good while man had dominion over it. Even the sensual element of his being led him to interest himself in his natural wants, provide for himself food, clothing and habitation, and study the things of earth as representatives of heavenly things, and proofs of the Lord's mercy, love and care. But when the sensual principle, instead of being under the dominion of the higher and properly human, assumed dominion over it, then it was a very bad thing. The serpent trailed its way through the Eden state of the most ancient Church, until it became wiser than woman, wiser than man, wiser than God; and then Eden became a desolation, and man lost the impress of his Maker.