In Paul's first epistle to the church at Corinth we find this arresting statement (15:45): "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit."
Mary Baker Eddy gives an enlightening explanation of this verse on page 186 of her "Miscellaneous Writings," where she states: "In the creation of Adam from dust,—in which Soul is supposed to enter the embryo-man after his birth,—we see the material self-constituted belief of the Jews as referred to by St. Paul. Their material belief has fallen far below man's original standard, the spiritual man made in the image and likeness of God; for this erring belief even separates its conception of man from, God, and ultimates in the opposite of immortal man, namely, in a sick and sinning mortal." Farther on she continues (pp. 186, 187), "As the apostle proceeds in this line of thought, he undoubtedly refers to the last Adam represented by the Messias, whose demonstration of God restored to mortals the lost sense of man's perfection, even the sense of the real man in God's likeness, who restored this sense by the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body,—casting out evils, healing the sick, and raising the dead."
We note here that the first Adam does not refer to material man as a reality, but as a "material self-constituted belief," the exact opposite of the last Adam, the man of God's creating, made in His own image and likeness. What is this first Adam, or material man, whom we see about us on all sides, who claims that he thinks, that he is made of flesh and bones and other material substances, that he does good and evil as he chooses, that he is sick or well, lives or dies? All we know about him is what the material senses tell us. How unreliable is the testimony of the material senses: car tracks seem to come together in the distance, earth and sky to meet on the horizon, and the sun to rise and set. If sense testimony deceives us in such instances as these, is it not apparent that it deceives us in every instance?
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy makes plain the unreality of matter in "the scientific statement of being," where she says (p. 468): "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." If there is no life in matter, then matter cannot move, breathe, or act. If there is no truth in matter, then mortal mind's claim to existence is a denial of Truth; hence a lie. Since matter has no intelligence, it cannot know anything, tell us anything, or be cognizant of anything. Matter has no sensation; thus it feels neither pain nor pleasure. And since there is no substance in matter, matter is without entity.
In sleep we seemingly pass through varied and often harried experiences. People, places, and objects appear as real in our dreams as when we are awake. Once awake, however, we recognize that the people and objects of our dreams have no existence, no substance, no life, no intelligence. What is the difference between our sleeping dreams and our waking experiences? We see the same colors in both mental states, the same friends, the same objects. We enjoy or suffer to much the same degree in both. Is it not evident that one phase of existence is just as unreal as the other?
An excellent illustration of the unreal nature of the waking dream is the desert mirage. In passing through a desert it is not uncommon for one to see in the distance large plots of green grass, trees, or pools of water. These objects are often seen not only by one member of a party, but by all. Drawing near to the spot, however, one finds nothing but dry sand. The color, form, and substance have never been more than a waking dream. We have no difficulty in accepting the mirage as an optical phenomenon. Thus when we recognize that material man, the first Adam, has no more reality than a mirage, the door of our consciousness opens to admit the truth of being.
Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 188, 189) that "at the moment of her discovery, she knew that the last Adam, namely, the true likeness of God, was the first, the only man. This knowledge did become to her 'a quickening spirit;' for she beheld the meaning of those words of our Master, 'The last shall be first, and the first last.'"
In the spiritual record of creation in the Bible we read that man is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27). To understand correctly the nature of man, we must first clearly comprehend the nature of God. Man expresses only that which is Godlike. God being incorporeal, man, His image, is incorporeal. God being Spirit, man, His expression, is spiritual. God being Mind, man, His idea, reflects divine intelligence. Therefore man lacks no good thing. He is the immutable witness to God's presence, power, and perfection.
This is the truth about the last Adam, the truth which Mrs. Eddy tells us became to her "a quickening spirit." It is the same healing power which Jesus demonstrated, and which Christian Science is today repeating. This fact was proved several years ago in the writer's experience.
She had suffered for two weeks from blood poisoning in one finger, and despite constant and consecrated work the condition did not yield. A friend invited her to drive into the country for the week end, and in order to cut off several miles they took a little-used back road. Turning a sharp curve, they saw a car coming toward them on the wrong side of the road. Instantly both the writer and her friend declared aloud the truth of God's presence and allness and the fact that in perfect Mind there are no accidents. In what seemed an almost miraculous manner, the driver of the oncoming car was able to swerve sufficiently to avoid a collision, but in so doing lost control of his car, which overturned by the side of the road, pinning its passengers under it.
Stopping their car, the writer and her friend started back to help in whatever way possible, repeating aloud "the scientific statement of being." At that moment a truck with three men in it came along, and as it approached the overturned car one of the men noticed the smoke and called to the driver to get to the nearest farmhouse and call the fire department.
The writer realized that she must place radical reliance upon the power and presence of God. She mentally turned her back on the false picture. She firmly refused to accept material sense testimony. She denied that inharmony has presence, power, or substance. She also denied the existence of a mind that believes in the reality of error. A great sense of assurance flooded her consciousness as she realized clearly the allness of God. His eternal presence, and the unfailing power of His ever-present, ever-operative law of harmony. She saw that man as incorporeal idea reflects the substance of Spirit; that he is held securely in God, Mind, beyond the reach of any material condition or circumstance.
As she dwelt on the truth of being, she heard a child's voice saying, "I am all right." She turned and saw the driver standing in the road with the child in his arms and his wife beside him. They were smiling and quite unharmed except for a tiny scratch on the man's face. The truck had come back. Another car had arrived. The men had lifted the overturned car to an upright position and thus freed the occupants.
When the two Christian Scientists returned to their car, one said, "I know now what it is to stand on holy ground." Their thought was filled with gratitude to God for Christian Science. Looking down at her finger, which she had entirely forgotten, the writer saw that it had opened and was draining as if it had been lanced by a surgeon's knife. This experience contained a valuable lesson: it proved the infinite power of the "quickening spirit"—the truth about God and man realized and demonstrated.
In Numbers (33:52) we read: "Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places." May not the land be spiritually interpreted as our thinking? It is from the realm of consciousness that we must drive out all false concepts; here destroy mortal mind's material pictures of sin, sickness, and discord of whatever nature and "pluck down all their high places"—denounce as unreal false material laws.
In clearing out of our thought the rubbish of materiality, we are laying off the first Adam with his sin, sickness, and sorrow and laying hold of our real selfhood, the man of God's creating, spiritual and perfect. Hatred and malice must be wiped out with love; revenge with forgiveness; lust with chastity; evil with good, until every erroneous belief of mortal mind has been conquered through establishing in consciousness the allness of God, good. Thus we lay hold of the last Adam, the reflection of God, eternally perfect and undying. Then we shall comprehend, as did our beloved Leader, the meaning of our Master's words, "The last shall be first, and the first last."
