the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

II. Chronicles 2:6. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifices before him?

II. Chronicles 6:18. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

Job 11:7, 8, 9. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

Psalm 139:7-12. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness [my sense of matter] shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness [matter, untruth] and the light [spirit, truth] are both alike to thee. [If both are alike, one cannot exist. Toward which do you prefer to exercise your faith?]

Habakkuk 2:14. For the earth shall be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

James 1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. [How about evil?]

Job 26:7, 10, 14. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? But the thunder of his power who can understand?

Psalm 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

Psalm 90: 1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Psalm 91:1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Romans 11:36. For of him, and through him and to him are all things.

[In him we live and move and have our being.]

CHAPTER III.

CONTRADICTIONS.

I have

PERHAPS one of the consequences of trying to reason about the Infinite, i. e., what is regarded as the un-understandable, with the human reason, is, that we must meet with contradictions. met with them in every system of philosophy I have ever read. For instance, the Occultists say that God is both infinite evil and infinite good (for saying that He has within Himself both good and evil is equivalent to that), and it appears to me that for both Infinite Good and infinite evil to exist is impossible. Again, many good Protestant beliefs credit an infinite God who is infinitely Good with first creating a perfect man and then permitting him to sin, after God Himself had created him in His own image and likeness. It seems impossible to me that evil, or the temptation of evil, negativeness, could have come out of that which was all good, or that such a sequence of events could have proceeded from that which was altogether good; or that that which was all spirit could ever have produced matter, or that infinite goodness could have ever sacrificed His

son to appease His anger. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit" (Bible). Many good people believe these things but without criticism. I say I cannot.

So, too, there are things in Mrs. Eddy's book which seem to me (reasonably speaking) to be illogical. For instance, as I have elsewhere hinted, she says, "Evil does not exist." I agree; then I ask, "What is it that perceives illusions of evil?" and she answers, "mortal mind." And I say, "Well, if mortal mind perceives illusions of evil, it must itself be evil." And she answers, "Yes, it is." And I say, "Well, if mortal mind be evil, something must exist beside God, if God be altogether Good." "No," she says, "mortal mind does not exist." And I say, "Well, if mortal mind does not exist, how can it have perceptions?" And I don't get any answer except that mortal mind is a dream state, which calls itself a dreamer but really is non-existent, which doesn't utterly satisfy me because even if it be true, it seems to me that there must be an existent even though negative and inert mind back of a dream.

I have found one man who attempts to answer the argument that there can be no perception without a perceiver, by saying that this idea comes from a confused state of thought, incident upon thinking of mind as something contained within the individual. This does not satisfy me because in the first place I do not think of mind in the way described and in the second place looking upon

mind as an uncontained concept, I still cannot see how that mind even though uncontained could have perceptions, even though they be perceptions within mind, unless it had existence. I can well believe however that the state of consciousness I am now in, may, in point of time, when compared with the whole of my existence, be very short. When I go to sleep at night I dream, and my dreams are just as logical and connected to me as my daily "life." The "matter" I know in dreams is just as real to me as the "matter” I know in the daytime. I find nothing impossible in believing that the whole of a "lifetime" as known to you and me is but a "dream" of a consciousness which is dreaming inert and negative (i. e., diffused mortal mind) for a time which in comparison with the whole of its existence is no longer than our night time dreams are when compared with the whole of our presently known life, be it fifty or a hundred years long. I can plainly see that this mortal existence may be a dream, just as Mrs. Eddy says it is-but I cannot reasonably explain to myself how that dream can be, unless there is a real existent dreamer (even though uncontained and inactive) back of the dream. None the less, if asserting reality for that dreamer denies the idea of God, which seems a necessity to me, I am ready to deny, even though for the time being I can only see through a glass darkly and not fully understand.

Again, Mrs. Eddy says real man is perfect,