Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1898).djvu/495

Rh physical sense, and not of Soul, it must have a material, not a spiritual origin. With what truth, then, could the Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother, “I have gotten a man from the Lord”? On the contrary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and material; it must be immortal and spiritual.

Matter is neither self-existent, nor a product of Spirit. An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is

all the eye beholds. Matter cannot, of itself, see, feel, hear, taste, or smell. It is not self-cognizant, — cannot feel itself, see itself, or understand itself. Take away mortal mind, which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and it can take no cognizance of Spirit, or God. Does ever that which we call dead see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical senses?

“In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and

darkness was upon the face of the deep.” (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the Science and Truth of Being, the only facts are Spirit and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding, and eternal harmony, and are the elements of nothingness, or matter, — alias mortal mind.

We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects no light. So evil should be denied identity or

power, because it has none of the divine hues. Paul says: “For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made.” (Romans i. 20.) When the Substance of Spirit appears in Christian Science, the nothingness of matter