Editorial August 22, 1925 Issue

Man's Dominion

Albert F. Gilmore

The student of the first chapter of Genesis is left in no doubt as to the place assigned to man in the order of creation. "And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,.... and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," runs the record. There is no uncertainty manifest in this statement, no equivocation or indirection. It definitely states that God endowed man with dominion over all the lesser objects of creation; and the authority thus conferred is neither lessened nor annulled when creation is conceived to be spiritual, as entirely apart from material conditions, without limitations of time or place.

The place thus accorded to man by the creative power, according to the gospel narrative, was that of authority and dominion, always, however, under the direction and governance of divine will. Mrs. Eddy restates this fact in language equally direct on page 518 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where, in speaking of the "birthright of man," she says, "His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven,—himself sub-ordinate alone to his Maker." Thus does our Leader characterize man's position in the divine order of creation, a situation the understanding of which is absolutely necessary to the working out of one's salvation.

What is this dominion which God has bestowed upon man? It is twofold. Primarily it is the authority of divine Love which enfolds all its perfect ideas in ineffable and unchanging love. Mankind, it seems, sometimes mistakenly arrogates to itself authority over the creatures of earth in a manner having no divine sanction. This quasi authority which men assume over the lower animals goes to the length not only of subjecting them to this control for their use and comfort, but sometimes even to the extent of assuming to abuse and wrongfully treat them; and this is done under the erroneous notion that we rightfully possess such authority. How far is such conclusion from the law of Love!

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