THE search after knowledge, the endeavor to distinguish between the true and false, constitute a large part of mortal existence. A child's primary instinct, by observation and investigation, is to appraise the world about him. The more knowledge along specific or general lines he can accumulate, the more useful he is expected to become. The intelligent individual early discovers that what may be facts to one are not necessarily so to another; that what are called facts today, may tomorrow, as the result of research, be utterly discredited. Thus Sir James Jeans, the distinguished British scientist, in an address before fellow scientists, made the following statement: "In the old physics, the perceiving mind was the spectator. Now in the new physics it is the actor. The objective and materialist universe of the Victorian natural scientist is proved to consist of little more than constructs of our own mind."
Many years before this discovery, Mary Baker Eddy had perceived that the objective, materialist universe was made up solely of mortal belief, of premises and conclusions, temporary and erroneous. But she went farther. She revealed the spiritual and real in its place. She brought to light a universe tangible, spiritually comprehensible, actually ever present, the possession of which is eternal, risking no later repudiation.
At a time when as yet there appeared no likelihood that the role of the human mind would be questioned as spectator rather than an actor, she saw that such would be the case. And this phenomenon was to result in the first instance not because of human learning, but because the Science of Christianity had been revealed. Thus reason and logic, the acknowledgment of rules and the exercise of law, were no longer confined to material knowledge. They became concerned with that which is immeasurably more vital to humanity than all else—its relationship to God. Faith and reverence by these means were not to be replaced, or even partially set aside, but strengthened and clarified by understanding, supported and justified by Principle.
