WHEN Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science and stated as one of its teachings, "In Christian Science there is no matter" (Unity of Good, p. 41), this was greeted in general with scorn and derision. During the half century that has intervened there has been a great change in the thinking of the world. In one of the chemistry textbooks which is used in the eleventh and twelfth grades of certain public schools in the United States, and which may be considered as stating the generally accepted thought on the subject, we find this statement: "In fact there is no such thing as matter: there is only electricity, that is, electrons and protons arranged in different ways" (A First Book in Chemistry, by Robert A. Bradbury, p. 659, Revised Edition).
While this view of matter is helpful in loosening thought from a hampering and limiting concept, Christian Scientists, especially students in schools or colleges, may find themselves confronted with questions such as these: If matter is conceded to be as insubstantial as natural science states, is it any longer necessary for us to study carefully what is taught in the authorized Christian Science literature about matter? Can it be called merely an unnecessary discussion of an outgrown and unimportant belief? Can the trenchant statements in "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468), "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter," "matter is mortal error," "matter is the unreal and temporal," "man is not material," be considered as no longer of interest or importance to an educated person? These questions are seriously presenting themselves to the young people growing up in our schools and colleges, and leaving behind the outgrown concept of matter, but who have not as yet clearly grasped the distinction between Christian Science and all other systems.
It is important not to let the shifting of terms confuse our thought in the application of Christian Science. If we should accept the modern use by many people of the word "matter," as merely a term applying to an outgrown theory, as we might use the word "phlogiston," which relates to a theory similarly abandoned, we should lose our grasp of Mrs. Eddy's careful consideration of so-called matter in her writings, and would fail to see the force and effectiveness of such statements as "the scientific statement of being."
We find that the clear vision of our Leader was so broad and accurate that our present-day need is provided for by a careful study of what she has written. A writer on ordinary scientific subjects, in order to avoid confusion as to his use of certain words, will frequently give a specific definition of certain terms which he uses. Just so Mrs. Eddy, in writing on this profound ultimate Science, and setting forth the eternal laws of God, is accurate in her use of words, and frequently indicates the exact scope and application with which she uses certain terms. So, if we are to understand her discussions of matter, we must use the term "matter" as she uses it.
We find that in Christian Science the term "matter" is used to cover all the false claims to substance and power that were formerly attributed to matter by popular thought, but are now, in the so-called scientific world, largely imputed to electricity as ultimate material substance. A study of our Leader's writings also shows that she includes electricity in her analysis of matter, as in her reference to "electricity or any other form of matter" (Science and Health, p. 73). And on page 25 of "Unity of Good" she writes: "Spirit is the only substance. Spirit is God, and God is good; hence good is the only substance, the only Mind." So, in Christian Science the word "matter" is used as referring to supposed substance apart from God. Any claim, therefore, that there is substance which is not good, and so not of God, or which is not spiritual but finite and limited, as well as any sense of power apart from God that is supposed to be based upon this erroneous sense of substance, whether called the operation of physical qualities, electrical power, or chemical action, either organic or inorganic, would be included in Mrs. Eddy's exposure of matter as unreal. Today, with the word "matter" robbed of its former meaning, which is abandoned by physicists, we as Christian Scientists need to recognize clearly how the word is used in Christian Science, and so retain the full healing benefit of its statements in regard to matter.
We are grateful that many have been awakened to see the necessity of abandoning the term "matter" as referring to anything actual or real; but when physicists announce that there is no matter and then ascribe its claimed substance and power to forms of electricity, or when physicist-philosophers state that there is no matter but that all is thought, at the same time giving to this mortal thought the substance and power that formerly were associated with matter, we need to be alert to see that although there may be some loosening of their confidence in formerly accepted mortal concepts, they are not accepting Christian Science —they are merely shifting material terms.
In order to avoid accepting this shifting mortal thought which evades the issue, we need to stand firmly with Mrs. Eddy's use of the word "matter," instead of the popular usage of the moment. We need to hold to the clear, definite sense of this term in all the fullness of meaning with which our Leader uses it, and to see how fully it covers the false claim that substance can be both good and bad, as opposed to the eternally good substance of Spirit. We need to see how it includes the claim that this spurious substance has power that is evil, or is both evil and good, or that it can either injure or bless. "Electricity is not a vital fluid, but the least material form of illusive consciousness,—the material mindlessness, which forms no link between matter and Mind, and which destroys itself. Matter and mortal mind are but different strata of human belief" (Science and Health, p. 293).
God is the only power and substance, and a more perfect application of God's power as Mind, intelligence, results in fuller control over the so-called laws of matter or electricity, and thus brings greater freedom. New inventions and appliances and their results seem wonderful to us, because they symbolize greater freedom from ignorance and false theories; but they are daily being surpassed in the experience of Christian Scientists in the realization of health and happiness, harmony and abundance, which come to us as we turn from matter to Spirit as substance and discern its substantial expression of divine power.
As we see more and more that Love is substance, as we consecrate our lives to the bringing out of more substantial expressions of Love, in intelligent, loving, right activity, we see exemplified in our experience the irresistible power with which the perfect substance of Spirit supplants imperfect and limited matter, so bringing healing and an abundance of good. Truly the Psalmist had a sound recognition of substance when he sang: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. . . . Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." And with his masterly insight into the nature of true substance Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
