In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 Mary Baker Eddy speaks of "the spiritual dawn of the twentieth century" as signifying "religion parting with its materiality." Here are her words (p. 5): "As silent night foretells the dawn and din of morn; as the dulness of to-day prophesies renewed energy for to-morrow,—so the pagan philosophies and tribal religions of yesterday but foreshadowed the spiritual dawn of the twentieth century—religion parting with its materiality."
Religion parts with its materiality in the measure that moral and spiritual values supplant ritual and superstition in worship. And this supplantation brings with it spiritual dominion over disease and all disorder. Christian Science makes a clean break with materiality. It explains matter not as substance, but as the subjective state of the carnal mind, and then it explains away the carnal mind on the basis of its utter impossibility, since God is Mind and All. It is material thought that first sees man and all things created as material forms, and then fears or honors its own misconceptions. Pure religion reveals the true ideas of Mind; and spiritual sense, roused to activity by Christian Science, impels one to drop material conceptions, or beliefs, for the spiritual thoughts of God. This brings about an improved human sense—good health, harmonious associations, freedom from limitation, and a higher scale of intelligence. But the primary objective of Christian Science is not human betterment; rather is it the full awakening from the mortal dream of life in matter to the consciousness of real life in Spirit. Improved beliefs are merely evidence that this all-important awakening is actually taking place.
The twentieth century has seen many changes for the better in religious worship. And it has also seen great suffering and destruction; two world wars have decimated its young manhood. But mankind has nevertheless made tremendous strides Spirit-ward. Tyranny has been resisted and defeated, and a higher sense of brotherhood has evolved. Through Christian Science spiritual healing has been established, and God's power over evil and matter has been proved in countless instances.
