The conclusion that effect follows cause; that, as there can be no effect without a cause, there can be no cause without an effect, is universally accepted. The terms antecedent and consequent, noumenon and phenomenon, are but other phrases expressing the same sequential relationship. The problem of cause and effect has occupied the attention of philosophers for ages, but it remained for Mary Baker Eddy to reveal what true cause and effect are, and to contrast this true and primal cause with a false sense of cause and its seeming effect, to which humanity is so generally committed.
Christian Science emphasizes the fundamental fact that there is in reality but one cause, and that cause God, or divine Principle. The effect, consequent, or phenomenon of this one cause is the spiritual universe, including man. And, moreover, since this cause, God, is Spirit, there can be in the effect, the spiritual universe,nothing unlike Spirit; that is to say, the universe is spiritual, and since this cause, God, is infinite and the universe the full expression of infinite cause, there is no reality, no existence, no effect apart from this cause and this universe. Thus the false, material sense of a physical universe and a material cause is untenable. It is not founded in Truth; it has no relation to true cause and effect. It is but an erroneous belief without foundation in absolute spiritual fact.
Immediately, material sense rises to dispute this assertion. Why? Because its very existence is being denied. Not only is this false sense disclaimed through an understanding of true causation, but its universe, its own subjective state, is completely negatived, wiped out as reality by this line of reasoning. The seeming controversy, however, must be resolved in order to enable mortals to gain a clear concept of reality; of what is permanent, reliable, true, in contradistinction to that which is temporal, unstable, and false. It is just this apparent conflict that Christian Science composes, completely and scientifically; and this settlement enables those who grasp its teachings to reach right conclusions regarding cause and effect, antecedent and consequent, noumenon and phenomenon.
