The mother had the same opinion, so did not care to interrupt him. Walter continued looking from one to the other not knowing what to make of their silence and the knowing look which passed between them, as he did not know that they thought him inspired. At length the father, said, "Walter, do you know what is meant by the word 'tree' in that verse?" "I think I do, father; to me it stands for the word, 'thought,' for this seems to bring out the spiritual meaning of the verse; for instance, if we would read the verse this way, 'Every thought that is pleasant to the sight, i. e., understanding, and good for food, the thought of life also in the midst of the garden and the thought or belief in good and evil'; this may not be correct, but it at least makes it plain to me. And when we remember that Adam and Eve were allowed to eat of all the trees excepting this tree of knowledge of good and evil, it seems to me that they were forbidden to believe that both good and evil were real, in other words, to believe that both spirit and matter existed; for as soon as they would eat or believed in materiality the penalty would be death, as they were believing in something that did not in reality exist. This false belief must in the end inevitably result in death or annihilation, as it is this false belief of life as existent in matter, or material body, that dies and is annihilated, for the real or spiritual man cannot die." "What do you mean by spiritual man?" "The Bible says: 'God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent.' Let us define this word omniscient. In a common sense way, 'omni' means all, and 'scientia' means science, then it would be proper to say, 'God is all science, and science is perfect intelligence,' for the scientific reality concerning anything, is the perfect intelligence pertaining thereto. We can now say, 'God is all intelligence,' the word 'all' includes our intelligence, then God is the intelligence, the thinking ability, or mind, of man." "Walter, do you wish to intimate that the brain is God?" "No, father, the brain cannot think." "Walter, this is nonsense, of course the brain thinks, we certainly do not think with our hands or feet." "Just a moment, father, and we will see if the brain has the ability to think. Supposing we take it out and lay it on a platter, does it think?" "Certainly not, it is not in its proper place," said his father. "It seems to me, that if the brain had the ability in itself to think, it could do so no matter what place it occupied." "No, Walter, that would not be a fair illustration." "All right father, we will now take another example. Say a man should drop dead on the street from apoplexy; there lies his material body, his brain occupies its accustomed place, not having been disturbed at all, yet you would not say that his brain had the ability to think?" "But the man was dead, life had flown," said Mr. Williams.