In "Christian Healing," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 18), "People are willing to put new wine into old bottles; but if this be done, the bottle will break and the wine be spilled." In endeavoring to be freed from discord, the writer has acknowledged the healing power of Christian Science, but at times her work has seemed ineffectual. In such instances she has asked herself whether she is trying to pour the new wine of Christian Science into the old bottles of matter, with its supposed laws and conditions. It is essential to realize that the material can never contain the spiritual, nor can the understanding of the truth of being be used as a means of gaining more matter or better matter.
Christ Jesus encountered the same unwillingness to discard the material basis of existence that Christian Science meets today. Early in his experience, the suggestion came to him that spiritual power could be used to turn stones into bread, preserve his human sense of life from harm, and give him limitless material power. He rejected every temptation to use spiritual understanding for the improving of material conditions, even to satisfy a legitimate need for food; then, following his affirmations of loyalty to Spirit, God, "angels came and ministered unto him" (Matt. 4:11).
The new wine is available to all who are ready to receive it, for Christian Science is universal. However, new bottles are needed if we are to accept and hold fast the truth that Science has brought to light. After stating that we cannot demonstrate what we do not understand, Mrs. Eddy writes, "But the human self must be evangelized" (Science and Health, p. 254). This is accomplished through self-abnegation, prayer, purified desire, and renewed consecration. It comes about as we cease to identify man with the material body, whether healthy or discordant, and with the human mind, which is full of doubts, fears, and limitations.
