Article November 29, 1919 Issue

Man

CHARLES A. COLVIN

Man is the complete expression of God, or, as Mrs. Eddy so profoundly states on page 591 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" in her definition of man, "the compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind." Down through the ages mortals have been taught that the real man is a human product and that man is subject to all the ills of the flesh: subject to sickness and death. It is appalling to think of the centuries of such erroneous thinking about man,—thinking of him only as a physical product with its attending ills and limitations,—and declare that such product is the image and likeness of God. We should blush with shame that we ever entertained such views and so dishonored God, or rather dishonored ourselves by such thinking.

The world can never fully repay the debt it owes to Mrs. Eddy for again bringing to light the truth that "man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p.468). In that wonderful and all-inclusive summary of the "scientific statement of being" as given on the page above mentioned, Mrs. Eddy has laid the axe at the root of all discord and human woe. By the understanding obtained through this most inspiring revelation, the world is shown what a lie the human concept is, and the light thus gained proves the fallacy of believing that man is subject to sickness, sin, and suffering. In place of such erroneous views there gradually dawns the conviction that all discord which, seemingly, has held mankind in bondage throughout the ages is only the result of wrong teaching and thinking; it is but the operation of so-called mortal mind, which claims that intelligence is resident in matter. Such erroneous thinking is in direct contravention of the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

If we closely examine the subject we will quickly discover that all sickness or discord of any nature is a false claim of power; it is a claim that inharmony and failure are just as real harmony and success; that sin is just as real as holiness, thereby setting up the claim that there is a power, or powers, besides the one power,—God, good. And not only that, but the claims of mortal mind have gone farther, much farther, by declaring that cause of these ills is greater in influence than God; therefore that God cannot heal them. This results in mortals appealing to a material agency, to human physicians and drugs, to relieve mankind of its suffering. And there are those who to-day, in this enlightened age, insist that God cannot do these mighty works, and they must, perforce, appeal to materia medica, expecting it to do that work which mortal mind claims God cannot do. Really, it is absurd that we ever were guilty of such reasoning. Surely such worldly thinking and teaching is setting up gods and recognizing a god of evil above and contrary to the one and only true God, the one only power.

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