In no way has Christian Science proven of more value to us than in showing the true meaning of the word dominion, as found in the first chapter of Genesis, and how to achieve it. All down the ages history shows mankind reaching out for power, trying to achieve, as though some inward voice were continually prompting mortals with an assurance that man's birthright is dominion; and all down the ages also human efforts have often seemed weak and helpless failures. Even in moments of apparent success we see the object of a man's efforts torn from his feeble grasp, so that, according to mortal sense, "man becomes the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in the universe" (Science and Health, p. 123). This seems all the more strange when found among Christian nations with their belief in the Bible, where the very first mention of man announces his creation in the likeness of God, and then the first word of characterization is, "Let them have dominion."
With the senses we see mortal man continuing to be the victim of his own helplessness, — a draft of air may be the means of stopping every good inclination he has. He may have lived too long or may not have lived long enough, or any of the elements or some beast of the field may be the cause of stopping even his hymns of praise to God. Mrs. Eddy with saddened heart beheld the helplessness of mankind, saw the good apparently overcome by evil and the wicked triumphing in it, but she realized that the bush which burned but was not consumed had a voice for her even as for Moses, calling her to a better standard than materiality, and with the vision of a seer she reached out beyond the false appearance to the everlasting truth that if God made man and gave him dominion, he must have it now.
Science and Health has done more to teach mankind what dominion means and how to achieve it than any other book ever written. Christ Jesus was the way, and he proved every step for us by practical example; but until Science and Health came, man's dominion over the world, the flesh, and all evil, was greatly misunderstood, even by his professed followers. Even his most inspiring teachings and his marvelous example were misconstrued and misrepresented by material sense, and the very statements which in the light of Christian Science give us such power, only proved a stumbling block to mortal mind.
