You may say that mortals are formed before they think, or know aught of their origin; and you may also Preconception. ask how belief can affect a result which precedes the development of that belief. It can only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what “eye hath not seen,” — that the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who is its immortal Principle. There is no such thing as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings; because Being is immortal, like Deity, — or, rather. Being and Deity are one and inseparable.
Error is always error. It is no thing. Any statement of life, following from a misconception thereof, Our conscious development. is erroneous, because it is destitute of any knowledge of its so-called selfhood, of its origin or existence. The mortal is unconscious of his fœtal and infantile existence; but as he grows up into another false claim, of self-conscious matter, he learns to say: “I am somebody; but who made me?” Error replies, “God made you.” The first effort of error is, and always has been, to impute to God the creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.
Jesus defines this opposite of God and His creation better than we can, when he says, “He is a liar, and the Mendacity. father of it.” Jesus also said, “I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil.” This he said of Judas, one of Adam's race. Jesus never intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, “Ye are of your father, the Devil.” All these sayings were to show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is simply a falsity and illusion.
