Editorial July 11, 1914 Issue

Things Contrary

Annie M. Knott

There are few if any outside of the teachings of Christian Science who are awake to the fact that the flesh and Spirit "are contrary the one to the other," as St. Paul tells us in his epistle to the Galatians. Many professed Christians would admit that there is a difference between the flesh and Spirit, and that the temptation to sin comes from the fleshly nature; but there is generally a very indefinite sense as to the availability and power of Spirit to overcome all the evil tendencies of mortals. Besides this, there is practically no effort made by mankind in general to turn to spiritual law for aid when bodily suffering assails them, yet Christian Science comes to assure us that the real man is, both primarily and ultimately, a spiritual being; hence he is not dominated by matter or the flesh.

Apart from the teachings of Christian Science, there is a widely prevailing opinion that spiritual things are vague and uncertain, so far as this world is concerned. Most men assume that matter, or the flesh, represents the realm of law, and that the wonderful works of Christ Jesus, for instance, were outside of this realm; hence it would not be even desirable to encourage their repetition. Students of Christian Science, however, learn by actual experience that the carnal mind is lawless and destructive (Paul says it is "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be"), and they agree fully with Mrs. Eddy when she declares that "outside the material sense of things, all is harmony" (Science and Health, p. 489).

As students begin to understand spiritual things, they see the oppositeness of flesh and Spirit, but they also learn the allness of Spirit and the consequent nothingness of the flesh and all materiality. In other words, they find themselves in the realm of reality, where things are substantial and eternal. This being realized, those who have through Christian Science gained a large measure of freedom from the flesh, begin to be conscious of the ceaseless operation of spiritual law and order, expressed in health and harmony. The outsider who knows such persons is forced to admit the great change, but usually proceeds to account for it materially, failing to see how anything but material means could bring it about. The writer recalls one such case, where a sincere Christian woman who had suffered for over twenty years from ill health, turned to Christian Science in doubt and fear, and was entirely healed within a week.

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