Evidences of a Material World
By R.
ALL is Mind, says Mrs. Eddy. “On this statement rests the Science of Being.”—“Science and Health,” page 492. Let us, then, probe a little for the authority of this statement. Suppose we make a tour of investigation, and inquire if there is any other authority for this statement beside her simple word alone. Do the great scientists say that all is mind? No, indeed; many of them are more inclined to say that all is matter, so impressed are they with the reality of material things. Ask the unprejudiced men you meet upon the street if all is mind; do you think they will answer the question in the affirmative?—Not by any means. Ask the Guide-book, the Bible, if all is mind. There is no such statement within its covers, neither any statement that in any way infers it. Ask Moses, Is mind all? He speedily answers you: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen. 2:7. Ask Paul, Is mind all? and his answer is ready: “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. . . . The first man is of the earth, earthy. . . . We have borne the image of the earthy.” “There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial.” 1 Cor. 15:44, 47, 49, 39, 40. “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; . . . so that they are without excuse.” Rom. 1:20. Ask Job, Is mind all? His answer rings with a strain of triumph in it: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and tho after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job 19:25, 26. Ask Isaiah if all is mind, and he tells us of the time when this world will have passed away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and then “it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before” the Lord. Isa. 66:22, 23. Ask the prophet Malachi if all is mind, and he will say: “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 4:1, 3. Ask Christ, Is mind all? Read His answer in His parables. He likened the things of the kingdom of heaven to grain, to leaven, to life, to the wind, to a grain of mustard seed, to a candle, to treasure. Every object in nature, He teaches, is a picture of spiritual things. He shows us that the same principles run through the natural and the spiritual kingdom. He said to Nicodemus, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” John 3:11, 12. Is there anything in these words that throws discredit on matter, or earthly things? Christ evidently never saw anything in the material creation to belie or discredit. He used nature, however, to explain and illustrate the things of heaven. Mrs. Eddy tells us that matter is “merely the objective representative of Spirit’s opposite.” But Christ used the things of the material world with the express statement that the kingdom of heaven was like them. Which shall we believe, Christ, or Mrs. Eddy? He always spoke of this earthly abode as tho it were God’s world. He used the beauty of the lily as evidence that God would care for man’s earthly wants. The way in which God provides food for the birds, was proof that He would give us material food. Christ told His followers not to worry about food or drink or clothing; that is, material food and material drink and material clothing, such as the Gentiles sought. Instead, they were to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (spiritual things), and all these material comforts (the things the Gentiles sought) would be added to them. Matt. 6:31-33. But the Christian Scientist is bound to ignore these teachings of Christ if he accepts the doctrines of Mrs. Eddy. Her doctrines are to be counted more worthy of acceptance than is the verdict of his senses, of his consciousness, of his reason; than are even the statements of the Word of God, or the teachings of Christ Himself. The new disciple of Christian Science is told to assume as the fundamental principle of the new faith, that “all is Mind.” This is to be the dominating thought from one day’s end to another; it is to be the first thought in the morning and the last thought at night. Over and over again must this formula be whispered, until it is fairly made to sink into the soul. The new student goes out into the world where suggestions of other things haunt him. He can not read a paper but he finds in it tales almost too horrifying to be told. He hears of deeds of diabolical cruelty. He knows of those who suffer, are beggared, and even ruined by the sin and crime of others. There seems to be something in these things beside myth and illusions and misconceptions. But in the face of all, he must continue to believe, All is Mind, all is Mind, all is Mind. He hopes that it is so. But he beholds a battle-field with its heaps of dead and dying, arms torn out of sockets, bodies rent asunder, heads split open; some alive and gasping, some dead and silent. It makes the heart sink. Pain and suffering seem as real as anything we have to do with in this world. But “all is Mind,” says the teacher. “Sense is a false witness, the nerves are guilty of perjury, treason, and conspiracy9against man’s rights and even his existence, and deserve to be arrested for these crimes by Almighty God.”—“Science and Health,” page 438. Such is Christian Science. R.