Spirit and matter neither concur in man, nor in the universe,throughout the infinite cycles of eternal existence.—Science and Health, p. 319.
The history of the Church contains many a chapter whose reading leads one to wonder how such earnest and intelligent Christians could have been governed by beliefs that were so directly opposed to the unquestioned teaching of Christ Jesus. Surely one of the most striking aspects of religious profession in all ages has been its inconsistency, and we are sensibly reminded of this to-day as we note the unyielding tenacity with which exponents of the divine idealism of Jesus adhere to the doctrine of the reality of matter; that there is a real substance and power which is neither Spirit nor spiritual.
The rule of material belief has always brought men suffering and sorrow; it has fettered their nobler capacities, blighted their higher aspirations, and filled all the world with the moan of a ceaseless unrest. Jesus recognized it as the subtlest antagonist of the spiritual life, and with line upon line he urged upon his followers its resistance and overthrow; and yet, in this twentieth century, Christian teachers and ministers declare for the reality of the material, its legitimacy and necessity, as though it were an essential part of the kingdom of Spirit!
