IT would scarcely be possible to lay down the law of spiritual causation in plainer or more unmistakable terms than in the following Scripture words from the second chapter of Genesis: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." Thought precedes action. Cause produces effect. There can be no effect without adequate cause, "and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew," were in thought before they were manifested, and that thought was the primal thought or God's thought—the creator. But, as though to give mankind the most unequivocal proof of the fact that God's thought constitutes the law of spiritual causation, it is declared by the word of the prophet: "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:... For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"
God's thought, then, is all causation, "for who shall disannul it?" "Without him was not any thing made that was made." "Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?" This is not only conclusive, but forestalls any other possible causation than God's thought, God's purpose. What then of the problem of evil? This,—the whole syllogism,—because of its very simplicity has been a stumbling-block to mankind in all ages. Our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has set forth this whole problem, the so-called problem of evil,—notably on pages 68 and 80 of "Unity of Good" and at greater length in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."—with a lucidity that no modern writer may hope to equal. Her exposition of the falsity of the claims of evil as an entity is set forth in the clear terms of an exalted spiritual insight into the Science of being. Her spiritual discovery that "man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468), in fact disposes of the whole "problem."
God's thought being all causation, it follows logically, incontrovertibly, that nothing outside of or inharmonious with that thought was created, possesses entity, or could have the slightest warrant for being, since a house divided against itself cannot stand; furthermore, as the Scripture declares, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil." "Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand." "Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Here is clearly established a number of basic spiritual truths, or rather the all-inclusive basic truth, which is always spiritual and which is also always applicable to life and its problems, viz., that sin, inharmony, death, are outside of God's thought, outside of the law of spiritual causation, because inharmonious with His purpose; therefore they never were created, they have no entity, have no warrant for being, and possess "no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance" (Ibid., p. 468).
