there Law reigns supreme, and therefore taking Christ as our
basis and starting-point, we start with the Law already
fulfilled, whether in those things which are familiar to us or in
those realms which are beyond our thought, and so we need have nc
fear of evil. Our starting-point is that of a divinely ordained
security from which we may quietly grow into that higher
evolution which is the fulfilment of the law of our own being.



THE STORY OF EDEN.

The whole Bible and the whole history of the world, past, present
and future, are contained in embryo in the story of Eden, for
they are nothing else than the continuous unfolding of certain
great principles which are there allegorically stated. That this
is by no means a new notion is shown by the following quotation
from Origen:--"Who is there so foolish and without common-sense
as to believe that God planted trees in the Garden of Eden like a
husbandman; and planted therein the tree of life perceptible to
the eyes and to the senses, which gave life to the eater; and
another tree which gave to the eater a knowledge of good and
evil? I believe that everybody must regard these as figures under
which a recondite sense is concealed." Let us, then, follow up
the suggestion of this early Father of the Church, and enquire
what may be the "recondite sense" concealed under this figure of
the two trees. On the face of the story there are two roots, one
of Life and the other of Death, two fundamental principles
bringing about diametrically opposite results. The distinctive
mark of the latter is that it is the knowledge of good and evil,