IT is safe to say that Mrs. Eddy's discovery of Christian Science made its first appeal to people through the basic teaching that Mind is all and does all. In the earlier days of the movement those who had been healed and who were consequently interested in it, did not always discriminate closely between the divine Mind and the mortal counterfeit, named by St. Paul "the carnal mind," or "the mind of the flesh" (Rev. Ver.); but as time went on this was largely remedied by a better acquaintance with Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings. In some cases, however, the beginner is puzzled when he attempts to reach at a bound the understanding of spiritual reality as presented in the Bible and in Science and Health. A good many are disposed to overlook the fact that the universal belief in matter and that life is dependent upon it, also the belief in the validity of sense-evidence, is not easily dislodged. It is nevertheless cheering to know, as we are assured on page 502 of our textbook, that "the crude forms of human thought take on higher symbols and significations, when scientifically Christian views of the universe appear."
It is well for us to remember at any stage of our progress that spiritual reality can never be discerned by material sense, for as we read in the first epistle to the Corinthians, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." What we see with the human eye, or cognize through human reasoning, is but a mortal, material concept, a human thought expressed, and it is often very helpful for us to know that we are actually dealing with thoughts, not things, all the time. As we advance spiritually we are able to perceive God's thoughts or ideas, which can only be "spiritually discerned," as St. Paul tells us. He also reminds us that "now we see through a glass, darkly," that we at present know only "in part;" but he cheers us with the promise that we shall see "face to face," that we shall know our Father even as we are known of Him; and this does not mean beyond the grave, but when we have sufficient spiritual understanding.
Even now God's kingdom is the one reality, man is His likeness, and matter is nothing although to mortal sense it seems to be everything. This last statement is greatly simplified when we read carefully Mrs. Eddy's words on page 573 of Science and Health: "What the human mind terms matter and spirit indicates states and stages of consciousness." To illustrate: When called to the death-darkened household of Jairus, Christ Jesus held to the idea of God as the only Life, and because of his purely spiritual consciousness he was able to prove the nothingness of matter, disease, and death. Very different, however, was the mental state of those who laughed him to scorn and that of the sorrowing parents. It is also evident that his own disciples had not then reached the stage of consciousness where their Master stood; but he was preparing their thought for it, and did he not say, "Every one that is perfect shall be as his master"?
