creations of Wisdom are not dependent on laws of matter, but on
Intelligence alone." She admits here that the Universe is the "idea of
Creative Wisdom," which is getting dangerously near the very old idea
that matter is but a manifestation of spirit. Call the universe
"matter," and Mrs. Eddy flies into a rage; call it "an idea of God," and
she is serenely complaisant. There was certainly never any one so put
about and tricked by mere words; on the whole, it may be said that the
English language has avenged itself on Mrs. Eddy.

Arriving at the creation of the beasts of the field, Mrs. Eddy says that
"The beast and reptile made by Love and Wisdom were neither carnivorous
nor poisonous." Ferocious tendencies in animals are entirely the product
of man's imagination. Daniel understood this, we are told, and that is
why the lions did not hurt him.

When she comes to the creation of man, Mrs. Eddy accepts the first
account given in Genesis, but the second, which states that God formed
man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, she rejects as untrustworthy. The first account, she says, "was
science; the second was metaphorical and mythical, even the supposed
utterances of matter; the scripture not being understood by its
translators, was misinterpreted."

_The Story of Adam_

"The history of Adam is allegorical throughout, a description of error
and its results," etc. Man was created in God's likeness, free from sin,
sickness, and death; but this Adam, who crept in, Mrs. Eddy does not
explain how, was the origin of our belief that there is life in matter
and was to obstruct our growth in spirituality. Mrs. Eddy says, "Divide
the name Adam into two syllables, and it reads, _a dam_, or
obstruction." This original method of word-analysis she seems to regard
as final evidence concerning Adam. About the creation of Eve, Mrs. Eddy
changes her mind. In the later editions of her book she says it is
absurd to believe that God ever put Adam into a hypnotic sleep and
performed "a surgical operation" upon him. In the first edition she says
it is a mere chance that the human race is not still propagated by the
removal of man's ribs. "The belief regarding the origin of mortal man
has changed since Adam produced Eve, and the only reason a rib is not
the present mode of evolution is because of this change," etc.

Not to be warned by the footprints of time, Mrs. Eddy pauses in her
revision of Genesi