The only way to arrive at a true definition of the essentials in religion is by gaining first of all the true idea of God as infinite Love. We can realize what is nonessential only by knowing the truth about God, for this knowledge includes the power to reject as nonessential all that is unlike Spirit, God. Since God is All-in-all and the spiritual universe alone is real, it follows that whatever is material, or even mentally savors of materiality, classifies itself under the nonessentials of religion. As mankind sees more clearly the absolutely spiritual nature of truth, it will determine correctly for itself what are the nonessential elements in religion; in a word, it will accept the statement of Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.275), "The startingpoint of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind,—that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle."
Throughout the ages true religion has been lost sight of by the failure of mortals to discriminate between that which is merely incidental and that which is essential, or in the words of Jesus the Christ, between "the flesh" and "the Spirit," described by Paul as "the carnal" and "the spiritual." In Christian Science the student never loses sight of the difference between the material and the spiritual. The Master lived and taught, endured the suffering of death and rose from the tomb in order to make this distinction perfectly clear to all seekers for Truth. Paul, that great metaphysical teacher, especially of the Gentiles, saw this difference quite distinctly and made it equally clear to others, both in his addresses found in Acts, and in his epistles. In these latter days Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has in unmistakable terms called the attention of the world to this vital distinction. In the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p.468) she says: "Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal."
The chief, indeed the sole object of all spiritual teaching throughout the Scriptures and in the writings of our Leader is to assist mortals to that understanding of God which enables them to realize that the spiritual creation is the only creation; that therefore the essential element in religion is the spiritual, and that there is none other. This is the starting point in the search for truth. If a man wishes to reach a certain destination on the physical plane, it is first of all essential that he should start in the right direction. It is thus with all material studies, the first requisite being that the student should start from the fundamental truth of the subject. Similarly, in order to attain spiritual understanding humanity must first of all grasp the essential fact that since God is Spirit, spiritual being is the only existence.
