Consequent upon the belief in a finite beginning is the belief in a finite end. That which supposedly begins goes through a period of development and progress until it reaches maturity, the height of its growth. Then begins a seeming process of decay, a steady breaking down of that which was built up. This dissolution results in an end, or death of that which was born. So mortal man's experience seems to be made up of a series of actions and reactions. Indeed there is nothing in the world of matter that is not subject to change and dissolution. Now, though the world has spent much time and effort searching for a more imperishable substance out of which to make its works, it is not considered to build so well to-day as when the Romans built their roads.
As mortal man's possessions wax old and decay, so also his resolutions for good waver and slide back into former viewpoints less desirable. He often forgets or fails to carry out his intentions, to substantiate his decisions. In other words, the thinking of the Adam-man, born of dust, shares the relapse characteristic of all mortality. Moreover, mankind has accepted the concept of relapse as normal,—for instance, the lapse of memory on lines of poetry once learned, forgotten points of history, yesterday's detail of experience, all are accepted as common lapses of activity into inactivity. At the same time mortal mind, with characteristic inconsistency, always testifies to certain experiences indelibly stamped on its memory, on which points it expects no relapse—perhaps a Mother Goose rhyme, a street scene, or certain dates and names.
On analysis, one sees that this relapse is a falling back, a return to an old condition, or an old belief. It is premised on the supposition that man and his works are made of that which is capable of decay. When one forgets, then, there would be a lapse from knowledge to ignorance. This backsliding is a species of indecision, of uncertainty. It carries with it the suggestion that the improved condition was after all itself only a belief, and that no real progress was made because of the tenacious hold of the earlier state. Of course a mortal man believing in a law of relapse makes about as much progress as Sisyphus and his rock. He takes a step forward only to sooner or later slide back to the dust of his starting point.
But there is that which does not slide back. Goodness, justice, honor, such qualities do not relapse, though a man's concept of them may. Indestructible, they neither come nor go; they are not less real because unseen. They are real because they cannot be absent, cannot be destroyed or impaired. But while the world admits the power and presence of goodness, justice, truth, it calls them abstract qualities. Though it does not make them effects of matter, it does not accord them the life, reality, and causative force with which it endows matter. That is, it does not see that goodness, unaccompanied by material force, is its own defense: that David is always a sure victor over Goliath. It does not say, "My expectation is from the Lord," but rather: My expectation is from the mortal force and sure decay of matter.
Then one is presented with this paradox. That which is capable of decay and death is called real and living substance; that which never dies, never decays, but lives forever in Mind, is deemed unreal, intangible, insubstantial. This is the exact reversal of the teaching of the Bible and of Christian Science. The Scriptures make clear that real substance is not a material element out of which to make more things than are made. They say, "So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof;" and, "For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." And heaven, Jesus revealed, is everywhere present, it is the reign of divine Science.
In the search for imperishable substance, it is interesting to study Webster's definition of the word. He says, in part, that substance is "that which underlies all outward manifestations . . . the permanent subject or cause of phenomena, whether material or spiritual . . . that which is real, in distinction from that which is apparent; real or existing essence." And he defines the word "vain" as that which is without real substance. Just what the real or existing essence is, Mrs. Eddy makes very clear. She says (Science and Health, p. 468): "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in the Hebrews: 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit."
Then here is the imperishable substance. God made of Spirit all that He made. "He commanded, and it stood fast." There can be no decay, no backsliding or relapse in spiritual reality. Spirit is Life. The goodness and justice which are present are attributes of Spirit, and manifest themselves as man's understanding of infinite goodness, God. When not scientifically understood as the reflection of divine Mind, this goodness and justice witness a higher phase of human thinking, which takes place, of course, because of the fact or "is-ness" of God's perfection. The apparent relapse of material activity into inactivity and decay is the lie about the endless action of the true universe, whose immortal substance the seeming world of matter counterfeits.
Obviously the contradiction of any fact is, point by point, the reverse of the fact. It is the opposite of the truth, the reality. Now the truth, once more, as set forth in the Bible, proved by Jesus, and demonstrated in Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, is that the only substance there is, is God, who is Spirit, Mind. This infinite substance, or Life, whose very essence is intelligence, is reflected by its idea, man. Then man's real Life is Spirit, in whom he lives and moves and has his being. Since there is no relapse in the continuity and complete perfection of the only, the unperishing substance, God, man's living and work can know no relapse from wholeness and active continuity. They are forever renewed, restored, and maintained by the pure source of their being. Under the divine command, all creation— man and the universe, the compound idea of Mind—stands forever fast, sustained by the substantial law of Principle. To this command there is no beginning and no end. As the Preacher says, "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past." Then the true man never creates anything. He simply knows and has what is. He becomes "rich" as he perceives the ever presence of all that is, of which God is the substance. God's thoughts are living substance. The substance of all that man thinks, acts, and possesses, is the reflection of what Mind knows of His own thinking, acting, and possessing. Since the idea cannot be separated from its source, there is no relapse of strength, effort, or soundness, for the only cause and effect is in the I am of the divine command, which stands fast. As Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 465), "Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe."
The never lapsing substance, Truth, knows no reaction. That is, Truth never lapses into a belief or lie. Then man, the image of Truth, God, suffers no lapse of memory, of intention, or resolve. Again quoting Mrs. Eddy (No and Yes, p.26), "All real being represents God, and is in Him. In this Science of being, man can no more relapse or collapse from perfection, than his divine Principle, or Father, can fall out of Himself into something below infinitude." This truth, being fact, all-in-all, is always supreme in power, presence, and knowledge over any seeming. No pretending Goliath of material strength and power can resist it or convert it into a lie. Then a man who goes in the strength of Spirit is equal to all encounters, no matter what the sense evidence. He can never have less than sufficient strength to be victor over any seeming obstacle, for the only substance or power of resistance to Principle is a counterfeited one, which can never exceed in contradiction the substance and power of the real.
Now the belief that man is corporeal, made in the unlikeness of divine substance, the reversal of all that is, has its seeming life in matter. This belief manifests relapse and decay in every point. It has no immortal continuity; its beginning and ending are fixed. It and its perishing works claim substantial existence, but their only life is in belief, the opposite of the truth.
The proof that Spirit, Mind, is substance, as in all scientific demonstration, requires rigid, honest adherence to the rules of the Science the proof demonstrates. For instance, suppose that a man experiences, in belief, what is called a cold. At once replacing this belief with the scientific fact of man's harmonious being as maintained by God, the man finds himself free of the so-called cold. The Christian Scientist knows that all that has taken place is that the truth of being has been understood on a point where there was a belief of seeming material power. Since the true consciousness is supreme, and proved substance, in this regard, the metaphysician knows that there can be no return of the old belief, for there is no seed of decay in fact. If there is later a suggestion of a return of the so-called cold, he stands invincible in the knowing that there can be no law of relapse from perception of Truth into false belief. He recognizes as insidious suggestion the belief that there once was a substantial cold, a chronic thing that may recur, and he rejoices in the clear understanding that Truth has been proved to him to be divine substance, therefore he can accept as consciousness no law of relapse. He knows that this counterfeit law is vain, without real substance, foundation, presence, cause, or effect.
Thus may one prove the imperishable substance of Spirit and go steadily forward, since in Truth there is no backsliding. And God, who ever speaks to man in the tongue that man best understands, still leads with "the pillar of the cloud by day," and "the pillar of fire by night." Building out of this spiritual substance we can expect only enduring results, only continued good, against which the floods beat and the winds blow in vain, for the foundation of the structure is Truth.
