Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-03
STUMBLING BLOCK TO
TRUTH IS OBvIATED
Lawyer in Letter to Young Friend Clearly JuStifies
Christian Science Denial of Matter Mortal
Senses Deceptive Phenomena
of Appearances
BY JUDGE /. II. JONES.

your school and that your teacher can
not tell you what it is, although ne
says it is very strange that any one
should believe in such nonsense. There
is so much ignorance, if not unfair
ness, displayed by persons who under
take to explain the teaching of Chris
tian Science from, it may be, not
very friendly standpoint, that it is nc
wonder many good people are preJu-
diced against it.
You say when you look at horse
you certainly see a horse, and I grant
that being a Kentucky lad as you are,
you can probably see a horse despite
great difficulties. Your last statement
Indicates that you have met, at the
outset, with the difficulty which is a
stumbling block to so many who might
otherwise become interested investiga-
tors of this most wonderful truth, viz,
the doctrine of Christian Science
that there is no matter, "All is infinite
Mind and it's infinite manifestation"
(Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures, by Mary Baker G. Eddy, p.
46S). We will take up the statement,
then, There is no matter.
Before we undertake to explain
Christian Science, it is but fair, and
may be greatly to our advantage, to
consider what physical science or
philosophy teaches us along lines some
what parallel. If we are to criticise
Christian Science, or the teachings of
any science for that matter. we must
first assume a scientific attitude our
selves.
One of the first lessons to be learned
in any scientific pursuit of truth is
that the testimony of our material
senses is not to be trusted; that in our
common, everyday experiences, in
stead of dealing directly with reality,
we are dealing almost wholly with
phenomena, with appearances. You see
an object, for you it has color. you
detect an odor which it gives off, you
taste 1t, you feel it, your hear sound
which it emits, you lift it and discover
that it is, to your senses at least, pom
derous and impenetrable, and you say
it is made of matter-this you call
matter. The process is simple enough
to you. There is no difficulty about
seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing
the external world so far as your COM
nonsense experience goes. But what
does science say about all this?
Matter Not Proved
I suppose If there is one thing more
than another that common-sense, so
called, is sure of, it is that the world
is full of things which exist in ma
terial, lumpish form, called matter.
What is matter? In spite of the direct,
obvious testimony of your eyes, of
your everyday experience, let me say
to you that nobody in this world knows
what matter is, or that there is any
such thing as matter. AS mortals we
seem to have a material sense, ma
terial consciousness, but nobody can
say that we have matter.
Grant Allen the Wpll-knOWn author.
In the course of an article on the late
Professor Tyndall, thus speaks of mat
ter 1.-THE charge of materialism could |
only be brought against such man by |
those abject materialists who have |
never had a glimpse of the profounder |
fact that the universe as known to us |
consists wholly of Mind, and that mat
ter is a doubtful and uncertain infer
ance of the human intelligence"
Professor Wilhelm Oswald of the
of Leipsic, Germany, writes
.hus of matter: Matter is thing
If thought which we have constructed
'or ourselves rather imperfectly to
what is permanent in the
change of phenomenon"
Mr.. Huxley writes: after all. what
10 we know of this terrible matter ex-
,ept as the name of the unknown hypo-
.hetical cause of states of our own
Suppose you let your thought dwell
'or moment on the conclusions of
hese distinguished professors, con-
,lusions reached by them after years
If profound thought and scientific in
The matter" these learned
nen are referring to is the identical
stuff which you are so sure you see,
EEL, touch, handle every day, and
which you are sure is a ponderous,
umpish. impenetrable substance. And
ret, Mr.. Huxley tells you its existence
9 hypothetical; and Professor Oswald
ellis you it is a thing of thought mere
y, constructed by the human mind.
Christ and the Materialists
When Christ Jesus made his appear
lnce in the world he found it immersed
n sensualism. The people then be-
ieved, as many people now believe,
hat life was a thing to be realized
llong material lines only, that it con-
listed in gratifying the material senses,
n exercising dominion over ones fell
owman, in the possession of prop
rty, in eating, drinking, etc. To such
people then, as now, life was wholly !
sensual or physical affair, and as
he body is the apparent seat of physi-
al sensations, and as the only con-
ciousness or realization of life such
,eople nave comes through physical s
II material sensation, they naturally {
anne to regard the body as being also t
he seat of life. Hence the misappre- I
tension which obtains so largely even &
n these days. that life, mind, or spirit, c
esides in the body and can only be re- '
eased from its material immurement i
" death. k
Driven deep into this materialistic Q
lew of life moreover is the anchor Of t
early all the philosophy of paganism, c
9th ancient and modern, and ii is both y
lteresting and pathetic to witness the o
truggle of the human intellect to free
self from this worse than Egyptian k
andage. Here, then, with human con- c
ciousness for its arena, began the S
attle between the spiritual and the
laterial or sensual, between Mind and c
natter, between good and evil. between !
lat which lifts up, dignifies and honors |
ur manhood, and that which drags us '
own, degrades and debases us. For c
IhateVer may be taking place in the S
'orld about you, there is but one arena r
which all your real battles must be s
,ught, and in this arena there appear
ut two contending forces on the one a
and, Mind, or that which is spiritual. a
n the other hand, matter or that n
hich is material. The spiritual and t
le material have nothing IN common a
18th each other. They are and always y
ave been, irreconcilable. They cannot t
we'll together in human consciousness. l.
This material sense of life which We s
LII our bodies and which we regard C
material stuff is the seat of all our b
I'll propensities. From whatever direc-
on evil, temptation, may approach us, il
)u may rest assured it found its sug- O
estion in one or more of our five ma y