ALTHOUGH the Christian Science teaching, that a material sense of man and things is not real because not of God (Spirit), is largely rejected, the experience of mortals compels them to admit that from the material side they derive no unmixed or permanent good, but instead an almost endless succession of disappointments, sorrows, pains, diseases, and miseries. Their objection to the statement of matter's unreality is thus shown to be groundless, for that which metes out such evil conditions to men must stand self-condemned before God, from whom only good can come. King Solomon in his day taxed to their utmost the resources of materialism, to give pleasure and satisfaction, but at the end he declared that they were all vanity and vexation; that is, destitute of reality or substance. The daily history of mankind affords conclusive evidence that matter does not really supply a single element of human need; for with an abundance of material things around them, and in spite of all that matter claims to do, mortals in their belief continue to sicken and suffer and die. What other relation can this belief of matter have to divine Truth than that of negation, nothingness?

Since mortals turn unsatisfied from even the best that materialism offers, how can one rightly conceive of it as filling any place in the divine plan of creation? What is called material existence does not express "enduring life," but the absence of it, a state in which life is not apprehended save as a passing shadow which eludes the grasp. According to their own asserted laws, mortals are born to die, not to live. Therefore, considered in its relation to divine Life, God, this mortal sense of existence is a vacuum, a condition devoid of every quality of immortality, incapable of imparting to mankind any true knowledge of God or of Christ. Their projected belief that life and intelligence are something apart from God, returns to mortals in the disasters and ceaseless woes which make up their too common life-history. Thus materialism reveals itself as possessing nothing to compensate for the vanity of believing that life is in or of matter, a belief that is as pitifully poor and mean, and as prolific of evil to-day, as at any point in its record.

Nature involuntarily protests against a vacuum as foreign to its character and design, and seeks to replace it with the presence of normal conditions. A vacuum cannot fill its own emptiness, any more than one error can correct another or a dream embody the truth of being. The endeavor to be satisfied with what material sense provides must ever be as fruitless as the attempt to appease one's sense of hunger with dreams of a feast. It is difficult to say which is the more pitiful, the awful belief entertained by mortals that God is absent from the world, or their efforts to be satisfied without God, the effort to accept the evanescent material dream for the spiritual reality.

Although the vanity of material beliefs is plainly seen in their inability to bestow any lasting good upon men, the knowledge of what real being is must be gained before this seeming lack of reality can be removed. This knowledge Christian Science alone supplies, reiterating to-day the words of Jesus, "Come unto me [Christ, Truth] . . . and I will give you rest." Christian Science reveals to mortals the truth which they have vainly sought for ages, and which, as it is understood, enables them to leave their false material sense for the real spiritual sense of being to rise above the petty discords and worries, the follies and failures of human existence, and to gain some satisfying concept of the real nature and possibilities of man as the spiritual idea, or likeness, of God.

The utter hollowness and falsity of a merely material sense of being becomes more and more apparent as one discovers through experience that only righteousness, purity, and an abiding spiritual sense of love, can bring happiness and peace to men and satisfy their higher instincts and aspirations. Their failures to find health and satisfaction in materiality are preparing mankind for the teaching of Christian Science; namely, that God, infinite good, and His spiritual creation, are all there is of reality; and therefore that what is termed matter is but a false sense of life and man, a false sense of truth. Christian Science in practice corrects human error and exposes its falsity, declaring harmony, spirituality, and immortality to be the truths of man's nature. Because man is the offspring of God, his nature must be spiritual and good; and the demonstration of health and holiness upon this basis verifies the premise and declares the present practicability of Christianity. The progressive demonstration of Christian Science on the part of the student involves for him the correlative fact of the non-science or non-truth of whatever claims existence or power in opposition to God. One may learn of truth by reversing an erroneous belief; but when this truth has been discerned and proved, it becomes established in the understanding, and the erroneous belief, with its accompanying sense of reality in matter, disappears.

In Jesus' parable of the "great supper" we may see how a belief in material pleasure, wealth, and affection deadens spiritual desire, and how few mortals, when absorbed with these delusions, respond to the Christ-call. This parable is still typical of mankind. They are still too busy with buying and selling, with marrying and giving in marriage, to attend the feast which the spiritual sense of being provides. To-day Christian Science is lifting the Christ-ideal above all materialism, and bidding mortals partake of the good things God has therein provided; yet relatively few, save "the poor and the maimed and the blind," those whom suffering has made ready, are accepting the invitation.

We read in Science and Health (pp. 47, 48) that in Gethsemane Jesus "realized the utter error of a belief in any possible material intelligence." He had demonstrated the nothingness of all the beliefs of the flesh. He had proved that the human concept of life, substance, intelligence, and law, as being material, is an error, a mere belief, a blank so far as divine and eternal reality is concerned. He had found in materiality nothing worthy of acceptance, nothing that reflected the image of the Father, nothing but a false condition to be overcome, a void to be filled with the knowledge of Truth. He said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."

Are we, like our Master, becoming unresponsive to the temptations and seductions of a corporeal sense of being? How faithfully are we, as Christian Scientists, obeying the command to come out from the material world, out from its false pleasures and pains, its vanities and delusions? Are we accepting the call to the feast of Soul with hearts glad to leave sense and self for Christ? Are we rejoicing to learn of the nothingness, the emptiness of the seeming goodliness of material things, or are we inclined to "hug our tatters" (Science and Health, p. 201) about us a little longer? What is there in materiality that we should for a moment willingly turn our attention from the spiritual truths unfolded to us in Christian Science and devote ourselves to it? What do we expect to receive in return for the hours needlessly given to idle amusement, society, personal ambition, sensuous pleasures, or mere bodily ease?

How often must we turn empty and unsatisfied from the fountain of material joys, human affections and friendships, before we are willing to learn that all belief of intelligence in matter is illusion, that there is utterly no truth or permanency in anything pertaining to it? How often must we suffer disappointment and heartache before we are ready to admit this truth in all its bearings upon our experience? How often must we be buffeted for our mistakes, scourged for our sins and indulgences, deceived by false trusts, before we shall be glad to see that material life, so called, is but a vacuum, a dreary waste, an absolute blank of all that belongs to real living; and to find all we need in the spiritual sense of life and health and joy?

An impressive example of self-renunciation is given to us and to the world in the daily life of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy. With her precepts and example before them, Christian Scientists have no excuse if they let their thoughts and desires rest upon the things of material sense. In the midst of worldly cares, prospects, or pursuits we would do well to pause and ponder these remarkable words of our Leader, as recorded in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 136), "The eternal and Infinite, already brought to your earnest consideration, so grow upon my vision, that I cannot feel justified in turning aside for one hour, from contemplation of them . . . All our thoughts should be given to the absolute demonstration of Christian Science."

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