Two Trees ELLA W. HOAG, CSD            There are two trees mentioned in the second chapter of Genesis about which mankind as a whole still seems largely in ignorance. What the Scriptures say of them is definite and withal simple; but in spite of this, men still appear not to understand their significance. To know what these trees stand for will, however, unfold the way of salvation from evil, since on one's attitude towards them hangs obedience or disobedience to God.          One obstacle to this right comprehension has been that while men have believed that to obey God they must partake of the "tree of life," they have not recognized just how this is to be done. And yet the wise man said centuries ago: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. . . . She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." And what of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"? The sons of men have quite generally believed that this tree was shut up in the garden of Eden when their first parents were driven therefrom, and so they have supposed its history was ended!          Christian Science, however, shows that this evil tree claims to nourish among men today even as in the time of Adam and Eve, and that the latter were not the only unfortunate ones who have apparently eaten of it! Indeed, the human race seems to have partaken of it very freely, since the results of sin, sickness, and death, which God pronounced in the days of Adam as the inevitable consequence of such indulgence, seem still to be in evidence.          Christian Scientists are most grateful that, from the inspired revelation Mrs. Eddy has given, they may learn very definitely the nature of these trees and the way in which to eat of the one and leave the other untouched. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 526) she writes: "The 'tree of life' stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which guards it is the type of divine Science. The 'tree of knowledge' stands for the erroneous doctrine that the knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as the knowledge of good." Then she further adds, on page 538: "The 'tree of life' is significant of eternal reality or being. The 'tree of knowledge' typifies unreality."          Here the truth concerning these two trees is presented with utmost simplicity. The one is shown to stand for the allness of God, good, — the real; the other for the nothingness of evil, — the unreal; and divine Science reveals the way to prove this true. It would seem that all men would hasten to accept such clear, plain teaching; for in proportion as they learn thereby to obey God and take "of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever," and stop disobeying Him by ceasing to eat of the "tree of knowledge," they will lose their fear of His mandate, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."          It is a marvelous fact that God, good, is the infinite real, and that evil is consequently unreal! Every sin destroyed, every sickness healed, from this standpoint is a positive proof of its truth. For a Christian Scientist to attempt to master evil in any other way would be to go forward to inevitable failure. He therefore joyfully accepts this fundamental truth as an invariable premise, and always works therefrom. All of his mental arguments tend to annul the false claims of evil to reality by his insistence on the unalterable truth that God, good, alone is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient; that good is infinitely manifested in good!          The wonder of it is that in God's revelation of Christian Science He has given us the letter to use while the spirit is being imbibed! So from the very beginning of our demonstration of this Science we may declare constantly that good is all and real, and that evil is nothing, — unreal. As we declare for this law of the allness of good, it so operates that we continually gain a larger understanding of what good is and thus are able to differentiate with ever greater facility between that which is really good and the evil which even dares to claim to be good.          The veriest tyro in the practice of Christian Science knows enough of the good which is real to begin to declare for it, cling to it, love it, and live it. Thus eating of the "tree of life," he will find the understanding of the allness of God, good, so perfectly satisfying that he will no longer be tempted to believe in evil; that is, he will no longer partake of the destructive "tree of knowledge." He will more and more perfectly understand and demonstrate the truth of our Leader's statements in "No and Yes" (pp. 12, 13): "God must be found all instead of a part of being, and man the reflection of His power and goodness. This Science rebukes sin with its own nothingness, and thus destroys sin quickly and utterly. It makes disease unreal, and this heals it."   "Two Trees" by Ella W. Hoag, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, March 15, 1924

 

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