Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.djvu/275

Rh The fourth erroneous postulate is that matter is intelligent, and that man has a material body, which is part of himself.

The fifth erroneous postulate is that matter holds in itself the issues of life and death; that it is not only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also of imparting these sensations to mind. From the illusion implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of mortal bodies in what is termed Death.

The so-called pains of matter are productive of less error than are its pleasures; although both are unreal, because they are impossible. To break this earthly spell mortals must get the true idea and Divine Principle of all that really is, and governs the universe and man harmoniously. This idea is apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attainment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as triumphs.

At no distant date this material world will be the arena of conflicting forces. On one side will be discord and dismay; on the other, Science and peace. In the latter days earth will be convulsed with error, famine, and pestilence. Sickness will assume more acute phases, and death become more sudden. These disturbances will continue until the end, when all material discord is swallowed up in spiritual harmony.

He who hath shaped his course scientifically before that period, will then find harmony at the very doors of his life. As material knowledge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, every sensible object will be mentally evolved and understood, instead of materially. Those who discern Christian Science will then hold crime in check. They will aid this dismissal of old