Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-10-06

THE CHALLENGE OF MATERIAL
ISM.
The boast CT materialism, that it oc
a cupies the whole field of common sense
{ had never been fairly faced until Chris
tian Science appeared to do it, and tn
moment this happened, materialism, lik
the giant Goliath, wal doomed. What d.
: we mean by materialism? Well, in die
tionary language, it is the doctrine tina
matter is the only substance, and tina
matter and its motions constitute tn,
universe.
What argument does Christian
! Science advance against the doctrine
: The argument of Christian idealism
namely, that all reality is in the ma
, ture of thought and that the universe
is a manifestation of the Mind which
is God, and that its motions as the evi
dence of a law which is spiritual, and
not material.
Starting from the premise that what
seems real and substantial to the five
senses is in fact only as real as thought
makes it, no more and no less, Christian
Science places the test of all reality in
thought and thought alone, holding that
that only is real and eternal which God
knows or creates. TO quote the Christian
Science text book ("Science and
Health, p. 1850 Goods thoughts are
perfect and eternal, are substance and
Life. Material and temporal thoughts
are human, involving error, and since
God, Spirit, is the only cause, they lack
a divine cause. The temporal and ma
terial are not then creations of Spirit.
They are but counterfeits Of the spirit
ual and eternal"
1t is therefore in the realm of thought
that we must learn to distinguish be-
tween that which is fading and mortal
and that which is perfect and eternal,
and always to choose the latter. The
great teacher of Christianity concerned
himself almost entirely with the
/ thought of men, for he well understood
that thought always proceeds action. In
his injunction to his disciples to pro-
vide themselves with "bags which wax
not old" he was clearly pointing to the
kind of ideal or thought-model that they
needed-a thought-model derived from
the eternal Mind, God, and not from
the so-called mind of the senses.
| believe that there is a great longing
in the world today for a better under
standing of spiritual things, coupled
with a belief that the remedy for many,
if not all, ills lies that way, but it
seems as If the way had been barred
either by the hopeless seeptieism of
materially or else by those who for
their W ends exploit spiritual teach
ing and thus offend honest people. The
one safeguard, however, seems to be
that strange questioning propensity
which begins in our childhood and which
is never entirely quelled either by false
teaching or adversely, and one may
adapt the old proverb SO al to read
"while there are questions, there is
hope"
If you take Job as an example of the
most complete picture of human adver-
sity and misery and see how he re-
sponded to the advice to course God
and de- He wouldn't listen to 1t;
but instead there springs up such a crop
of questions as: "What is Mani Why
labour l in vain2 Whence cometh wis
dom, and where is the place of under
standingq" There is hope in all these
questions, ana in the end we hear him
say, 81 have heard of Thee by the
Tearing of the ear; but now mine eye
Thee" He has the answers, and
is satisfied.
THE VIEW OF THE AVERAGE MAN.
But his may have been an extreme
case, so let us take the case of the
average man, whose outfit of opinions
some of them hereditary, some educat-
I'd, and some just acquired habits OF
.thought-has let him down badly in the
yery hour Of his need. Pessimism is ar
yuing with him that it is no use trying,
must fear this and fear that-that
here is no escape. He has tried to put
/ brave face ON things, but financial
and health laws seem all
,gainst him, and the outlook is uncom-
monty dismal. At this point Christian
is brought to his notice quite
Unexpectedly, perhaps through the heal
ng Of a friend. !
He has learned that his friends heal {
NC was brought about by Christian '
and at onee he is assaulted by I
considerations of doubt chiefly i
oncerned with false impressions of +
What Christian Science is, partly his {
,wn and partly what he has gained |
rom others. There also array them
before him a number of things
which he believes that he would have {
o give up if he turned to Christian G
and one may assume that for J
he first time in his life he is beginning $
o feel the nature of the letters which
ind him. They all plead for self. i
As for religion, he cannot reconcile
t with common sense His is unable to |
elieve that God could become a man
nd dwell among men, or that, If He n
ad n sen, He could subject him to ter
ible ill-treatment as a means of ex 5
Eating the sins of the world. Admit 7
eddy, he is vague on these questions, a
ut although he does perhaps believe in n
Iod, he cannot think of Him as one a
links of a human personality and SO, f
5 religion seems to demand of him o
bat he should so think, he has given
p thinking of it at all. Science, also, !
something that he has considered to G
e equally beyond his ken. And yet a
ow that he hears of Christian Science, q
he need TO get his W thoughts about I
cd more clearly defined is become +
rgent. 1t is to the average man, q
therefore,, that these explanations are v
ddresSed. d
Not Dogma, But Honesty Needed. 7
Now. Religion and Science are most
.reconeilable when they are most dog \
latic, for dogma is a veritable Pandora j.
OK of MISUNDERSTANDING, and if these Il
l.