NOTHING is more frequently misunderstood regarding Christian Science than its attitude towards the phenomena of what is called material creation. The bald statement of the unreality of matter might cause a state of consternation in the thought of some people who are inquiring into Christian Science, though the premise from which this conclusion is logically drawn; viz., that God, Spirit, is infinite, is generally accepted by them. Not having thought out the logic of this deduction, they jump to wild conclusions which have no relation to Christian Science teaching at all. Admitting the premise with which Christian Science starts, they could well afford to thoughtfully analyze what may logically be deduced therefrom. The conclusion of Christian Science being properly drawn, the fault, if fault there is, must be with the premise, ‹ a premise, be it remembered, that is not peculiar to Christian Science, but which is commonly accepted by other Christian denominations, and before their time by the Jewish nation.

To assume because, scientifically speaking, there is no matter, that therefore man has no body, or that there are no trees, flowers, stars, sea, or sky, or any of the other things that make up the phenomena of the universe, is to assume regarding Christian Science teaching what is altogether foreign to it, and what no Christian Scientist believes. When Christian Science declares the nonentity of matter it does not figuratively take a sponge and wipe the slate of the universe clean, leaving only a blank where before had been the lovely forms of nature, and the difficulty in perceiving this point pertains to one's mental education or process of reasoning. To the thought that conceives of nothing as substantial except as it is material, the suggestion that there is no matter at all seems to take away the very foundations of the universe and plunge creation into chaos, while in fact the teaching of Christian Science reveals the harmony, consistency, and permanence of real being, the knowledge of which has ever eluded the search of the materialist.

The statement that matter is unreal because God is Spirit and constitutes the all of being, is a correlative of the statement that darkness is unreal because God is light. And yet darkness is generally accepted as intrinsically unreal, as representing a lack of something rather than its presence, as a shadowy appearance, without solidity or tangibility, which interferes more or less with the normal perception of things, according to its density. To the material sense of sight darkness is just as real as are other manifestations of matter to the material sense of touch, hence if these senses are equally reliable and trustworthy the conditions cognized by them are equally true or untrue.

Material darkness, the accepted prototype of mental unenlightenment, is practically a state of material ignorance through which the facts and relations of things are but faintly perceived. In like manner may not matter itself be called a state of ignorance concerning reality, a mental shadow through which the actual objects of creation are but dimly discerned or apprehended? In other words, does not matter represent the ignorance of mortals regarding the existence of Spirit as the infinite creator, and of His works or ideas as spiritually manifested, and hence spiritually substantial and discernible?

This is clearly seen in the case of mortal man himself. As with light and darkness the degree in which one is present is in keeping with the degree to which the other is absent, so in the human consciousness the presence and the control of the material or the spiritual concept of being is according to the absence of the other. The results of these opposite states of thought are described in Scripture as the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of Spirit, conditions which cannot be present simultaneously in the same individual.

God is the cause of one only of these states of consciousness, and hence the other can have only a speculative existence.

Darkness has no effect upon light, its seeming obscuration of which, to human sense, results from the departure and not from the banishment of light. Light on the contrary destroys darkness, rendering it absolutely non-existent in its presence. Likewise the belief in materiality and evil has only a negative relation to the real being of man, and occupies the vacuity in human thought which we may correctly designate as ignorance of spirituality and goodness. The material concept, then, with all its varied phenomena, represents only what appears to mortals to exist in the absence of the spiritual or divine concept. Otherwise stated it represents the lack of being, ‹ that is, nothing.

It is certain that if mortals perfectly understood that Spirit, God, is infinite, and is the only creator, origin, substance, and Life of man, they would not conceive of themselves, as they do, as made up of so much flesh, blood, bones, nerves, and brain-stuff, and as filling up their measure of existence with a mixture of pain and sorrow, care, anxiety, anger, strife, vice, passion, and sensuous, unsatisfying pleasures. Instead they would conceive of man as spiritually formed and sustained, existent in Mind only, and as made up of those divine qualities of love, joy, peace, purity, righteousness, honesty, goodness, and so on, qualities which are never discordant, which never lead men into sin, which never suffer, sicken, or die, and hence which constitute the real immortal man. Experience shows that when men learn to know even a little of divine Mind, they cease to depend on material evidence to the same extent as formerly for their knowledge of what man is, and the betterment of their conditions which this brings is continuous evidence that they are gaining the true knowledge of man.

Is it not apparent that if men knew all they might know or ought to know about man as God's "image and likeness," they would rise in that very knowledge above the flesh and evil as their Master did? Jesus' experience proved such knowledge and progress to be possible, and his teachings point out their necessity in order to fulfil the purpose of Christianity. This possibility is proved in part every time a man overcomes any evil with good, every time he conquers or rises above his animal propensities through his growth in purity and spirituality. These partial demonstrations prove that the whole is possible, and that therefore the continued existence of mortals in sin and suffering is accounted for by the fact that they do not yet know all that pertains to the perfect man. The belief in matter represents man as what he ought not to be, and is therefore a temporary condition enduring only so long as the individual's ignorance of Truth shall endure.

The process whereby mortals put aside their fleshly concept, or in the words of Paul "put off the old man," and reach a purer and holier state, is entirely a mental process, although the effects are seen in the physical conditions or environment. If angry or hateful thinking can disturb digestion and induce physical disease, as physicians generally allege, is it not evident that material man, so called, is only a mental concept, or outline, materially tangible in mortal thought but always susceptible to that thought's fluctuations, whether good or bad? Is it not clear that in his every habit and custom man is more than a piece of matter, however symmetrically it may be formed, more than an aggregation of material elements that are constantly changing? Is it not clear that even the human consciousness is larger, more extensive than the human figure, and that the human intelligence is not less than a handful of brain matter, but immeasurably more? Admitting these things, as we must, is it not clear also that material forms and things are but thought figures which the human mind holds within and not without itself? Mortal man is not within his stomach, but his stomach is in the mental picture of himself which he holds within his thought, hence his thought-action rests upon it and produces good or bad effects according to its kind.

It is claimed that man is materially conscious and intelligent because the sensations of pain and pleasure seem dependent upon material conditions, but the fact is overlooked that the human mind and not matter has first planned the sensation, has planned the causes leading thereto, and then must admit the results before they can be recognized. We can have no concept of anything except as it enters into our thought, and all that is included in thought is mental. We talk about matter, about its properties, elements, qualities, forms, etc., yet all this is only what we think about an unknown quantity or condition. Matter has not named itself matter. This is a name which human thought has attached to its belief in an existence and creation apart from Mind, God. If this thought were fully enlightened regarding the infinitude of Mind, it would have no concept of matter left. It would pass away as does a shadow before the light. Admitting that such enlightenment is possible, we must admit that what is called matter is a condition dependent upon ignorance of Mind for its apparent existence and continuity.

The material concept and spiritual man are opposite. They cannot mingle or fraternize, and are not co-existent but mutually antagonistic. Nothing evil can be scientifically conceived of as belonging to or emanating from spiritual man, ‹that is, the man whom God created in His own likeness. All that can be conceived of as evil relates to what is called material man, or to the material concept of being, and to nothing else. How, then, can matter be the substance with which God fashioned His own likeness, and with which He made the universe? How can matter be substance and Spirit shadow, when the former includes all that is known as evil and the latter is the origin of all that we know or can know of good?

Matter cannot be God's medium for the manifestation of beauty, for it has not the permanence needed to sustain it. The decaying flower is not the perfect idea, however beautiful it temporarily is, for beauty is the expression of the perfect and cannot therefore lapse into ugliness. When the material flower dies and decays, material sense says that its beauty has gone, but this decay indicates that the human concept, though partially true and beautiful, was incomplete, and that it was incomplete through ignorance of what the perfect idea is. The flower that decayed and lapsed into dust was not the real, else it would have remained permanently in its place, to be "a joy forever." It is the same with all that is called the material universe; matter is everywhere doomed by its own law to decay and is unable to present any idea of perfection. It is represented in Scripture as that which must pass away entirely before the new heaven and new earth appear. Is it not, then, a state of human ignorance regarding the real earth and heaven and man, and is it not this ignorance and not material substance which must pass away upon the recognition of Truth, the true God and His eternal works?

Materialism is utter darkness as far as spirituality is concerned. It contains no truth essential to salvation and hence has no relation to Christianity. Apart from it there could be no cognizance of mortality or of any of the vicissitudes of human existence. Apart from it there is no concept or manifestation of disease or decay, either in man, tree, or flower. All the sadness and pain and misery of earthly sense come to mortals from the material side and have no recognition apart from it. What, then, is the inevitable conclusion but that materiality has no relation to God, Spirit, has no participation in His image and likeness, and does not express immortal beauty and perfection. In all the ages of belief in matter, it has never imparted to them one iota of permanent joy nor one righteous motive, it has not given them one throb of compassion, nor one heart-beat of love, nor one purifying influence. What place, then, can it occupy in the thought or the knowledge of God, in whose presence is "fulness of joy," whose truth is a "shield and buckler" from all evil, and who sent His Son to redeem mortals from the very conditions which their belief in materiality necessarily includes? How better can we designate its presence in human consciousness than as a lack of apprehension respecting truth, ‹ the spiritual reality of being; that is, the being in which there is no knowledge or experience of sin, mortality, or discord?

The extent to which Christianity is successful is the extent to which it spiritualizes thought. Hence to get away from materiality is not to get away from truth but from error. St. John tells us that "all that is in the world [material], the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life [material], is not of the Father." This summing up of the material concept of life as not of divine origin, and as eventually passing away, denotes its unsubstantiality as well as its false and evil character.

Matter does not reveal the Godlike perfection of man, nor the beauty and permanence of creation, but hides them. It does not bring out the good qualities of men, but conceals them with bad ones. It makes men selfish instead of loving, hateful instead of kind, enemies instead of brothers, sick instead of well, mortal instead of immortal. One might know all there is to be known concerning matter, he might know all that all the scientists of all the ages have ever discovered concerning it, and yet be in complete ignorance of the first fact concerning Spirit, God. Is not, then, the truth of Christian Science teaching clearly evident, that matter and Spirit are not two realities occupying infinity, and both entering into the nature of man but that the condition represented by matter is a condition of mental ignorance or lack of knowledge concerning the things of Spirit? And does it not necessarily follow that the more spiritual our thoughts become, or the more we understand of Spirit, the more spiritual and less material will all creation appear to us?

The practice of Christian Science demonstrates that human salvation is characterized and accomplished by a change of thought and not by a change in matter. The healing of disease by Christian Science shows how a transformation is effected in what is called a physical condition by changing the sufferer's thought, when there has been no material application whatever. Mortals know only what is embraced in their thought, whether it be health or disease, purity or sin, heaven or hell. Following up the material thinking of generations, accepting their deductions from wrong premises, and their wrong deductions from right premises, all that appears to them of man and the universe is seen through these material concepts, which present everything as material instead of spiritual. Looking at man from this material viewpoint we think we see him as a corporeal personality, as a discordant and dying bit of flesh, as the victim of mischance and misfortune, and subject to all the evils that are held in human thought. Christ Jesus came to separate the human concept of man from these errors, and to present him in his original, immortal, perfect state as the child of God, Spirit. This transition from the material to the spiritual, from evil to good, from mortality to immortality, is the salvation which Jesus offered, and which he toiled and suffered with such sublime patience and self-sacrifice to bring to human recognition and acceptance. He did not come to save mortals from real things but from delusions, from their wrong knowledge, from the things which God did not make. He came to teach them the things which they did not know; that is, the knowledge of spiritual life and truth. It was said of Jesus, "Never man spake like this man," and that he taught "as one having authority." It is admitted that he knew more of the Truth and Life of man than any other before or since. He so understood the Science of being as to destroy sin, sickness, and even death, and yet he never taught his disciples that they lived in and of matter, he never taught them physiology, anatomy, or material hygiene, he never taught them that man is an animal, that he was evolved from mindless, inert matter, or that he has any other intelligence than Spirit. But why not, if these things are true and represent the true knowledge of being? Why not direct mortals to matter, if through it they must learn to know themselves and God?

Paul said that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," and hence matter can have no place there, however strongly its claims may be upheld and defended as being the substance and life of man. The low estimate which the inspired Scriptural writers placed upon materiality, as well as Jesus' own teachings, sustain Paul's statement, and should prove sufficiently that matter did not enter into God's creation, and that it stands for that which man ought not to know, since material knowledge brought woe and suffering and death. Its co-existence and co-action with evil should utterly condemn it, and least of all should Christians seek to rehabilitate this false condition as the genuine man or that genuine creation, or as that from which life springs and by which it is maintained. If man would know himself truly, it must be as God knows him; that is, as God made him, and not as material sense would picture him, in sin and disease and mortality. All the wisdom of the material world is "foolishness with God," for all that men may know materially cannot teach them the first letter of the alphabet of spiritual knowledge or Science. According to Scripture, God can only be spiritually discerned or understood, and God comprises all that man may ever know of Truth.

Jesus condemned the fruitless fig-tree and it withered, and hence the material tree did not manifest to him the true idea. The beauty of the flower shines through its material mask much as the sun shines through the cloud or the morning mist. The beauty of the true idea or reflection of the infinite is so resplendent that mortals are enraptured and amazed at even the filmy glimpse they get of it through the "veil" of materiality. Their mistake has been of confounding the real thing with the veil which well-nigh conceals it, and hence they have supposed that what they see as material men and nature, short-lived and transiently beautiful, are the real works of God. Could they but emerge from their material thought and discern things spiritually, they might gaze with sight undimmed and unobstructed at the beauty of Divine creation in all its glory and immortality.

Christian Scientists do not believe that they have no bodies, or that there are no trees or flowers or sky. On the contrary, they are working for the redemption of their human sense of body, and they find that as they study and practise this Science of spiritual being they have better bodies than they had before, and that they see more beauty and reality in all the objects of nature, including man. They realize that this improvement has come to them in proportion as their mental belief in matter as substance or power has diminished and their knowledge of spiritual truth has increased.

The statements about the unreality of matter are easily made, and if Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, had left the question there, she had not benefited the world more than others; but Christian Science, as elucidated in its text-book, Science and Health, offers the rules by which these statements may be understood and demonstrated. The wonderful healing of disease of all kinds, as well as of poverty, sin, and sorrow, and the deliverance from all phases of misfortune and misery, which Christian Science has accomplished, has been in demonstration of these statements as to the unreality of matter and the allness of God, Spirit. This is the sum and substance of Christian Science, the Science of being, and bases all the student's practice. It is evident that if a knowledge of God is essential to our salvation from evil, ‹ and Scripture teaches that it is, ‹then there must come a time in the individual's experience when he begins to turn away from materiality to learn life spiritually. When mortals know nothing but God, Spirit, they will know nothing materially, they will have reached the ultimate of human knowledge as contained in the truth of the allness of God, and will be no longer mortal but immortal. Then will be demonstrated the absolute truth of what is taught in Christian Science; namely, that God, Spirit, is all; then there will be no belief in matter. ‹‹‹‹‹

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