The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-28

1 rant.
 It was a wise old philosopher, Epicte- tus the Stoic, who said that Every thing has two handles-one by which it may be borne, another by which it cannot" Christian Science has two handles-one the handle of it's religion, the other of it's philosophy. I shall take hold of 1t by the religious and not the philosophical handle.
 And yet I would not pass to the con- sideration of the religious aspect of Christian Science without kindly word of criticism as to what seems to me a. serious limitation on the side of its philosophy We must ever keep clear in our minds the distinction be- tween fact and the various theories by which men would explain that fact. As I hope to show, Christian Science has possessed itself of certain vital re- ligious facts. The theory by which these facts are explained is one that I believe the leaders of the Christian Sci ence movement will themselves greatly modify in the future. Let me see if it be possible to make my meaning dear.
 A great deal of coarse ridicule has been heaped upon Christian Scientists because of their teaching of the non- existence of matter. Lord Byron's fa- nous bon mot on Bishop Berkeley's philosophy has been turned against them ad nauseam: If Mrs. Eddy says there is no matter, then it is no matter what she says" These critics have as wholly missed the point as did Lord Byron. The fact seems to be that Mrs. Eddy came startlingly close to the pro- foundest of all philosophical truths. The ablest thinkers in the world have resolved matter into manifestation of the Divine mind. In no other way can a man escape a materialism that is the defiant negation of all religious beliefs and aspirations. Matter is not the raw, substantial thing that it seems. Platos Republic" is built upon this idealistic theory. Though Bishop Berke- ley did not deny the existence of mat ter, he did deny that there was any actual substance beneath those phe- nomena which our five senses know as matter. This Bible which l hold in my hand has the qualities of resistance, of cohesiveness, of extension, color, etc. Set your mind at work upon it; divest it of these qualities, and what do you have left? The idealist answers that you have nothing left except spirit Lord Kelvin tells us that matter does not exist as matter, but as a manifest alton of energy. If science resolves matter into energy, why may we not hope that it will yet resolve energy into spirit? The whole trend of scientific thought at the present time is in the direction of spiritualizing the universe Whatever the future may hold, both materialist and idealist agree in this whether there is a certain unknown substance beneath these qualities or forms of matter, as they appear to our senses, or whether there is living spir- it. the forms of this that we call mat ter do make uniform impression upon us. A blow on the head is quite as real whatever be ones theory of mat ter. Just here is where Christian Sci- ence has lost it's hold upon great truth and fallen into most apparent absurdity In this world we are not concerned with the underlying reality but with its forms or manifestations So long as we live in the flesh We are in bondage to these forms, these ma terial manifestations, these natural laws, as we call them. Though they float upon some boundless sea of deeper reality, they are themselves real; and to say they are not Is to make mock of any plain mans intelligence. If 1t comes to a sharp choice, one should al- i ways trust his common sense rather than some philosophical abstraction
 From this denial of the reality of matter springs inevitably the denial of the reality of disease. I do not believe that either denial Is necessary part of the Christian Science faith. As is I well known. every religion is strong in it's afflrmations and weak in it's denials In so far as Unitarianism affirmed the divinity of man, it was magniticently strong; in so far as 1t denied the divin- itv of the Lord, it was deplorably weak. The strength of Christian Science to- dav is in the affirmation of certain great truths of religious value which l shall point out; It's weakness is in its denials alone-its denial of the reality of matter, the reality of disease, the reality of sin. Before it ever appeals to the men who are doing the worlds real thinking it must escape from these denials.
 At this point I would call your at tention to the fact that the New Thought movement has evaded this snare of a philosophical abstration, The New Thought people are idealsts of the extreme type They resolves all existing things into an underlying spiritual essence. Nevertheless, the hold that the forms or manifestations of that underlying spirit, which is | God, are real to us. Therefore they do not deny the existence of matter. the