Editorial April 10, 1937 Issue

"The scientific statement of being"

Duncan Sinclair

"The scientific statement of being" by Mary Baker Eddy is to be found on page 468 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." A sentence in it reads, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all;" another, "Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error;" and yet another, "Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness." It is thus a declaration of the truth of the allness of God—Mind, Spirit—of the nothingness of matter, and of the fact that man, the image and likeness of God, is spiritual. Affirming as it does the absolute truth about God and man, "the scientific statement of being" is fundamental.

That Christ Jesus had an understanding of absolute spiritual truth is plain from his recorded words in the Gospels of the New Testament. John gives two statements by the Master, as follows: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6); and, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63). In the first of these Jesus draws a clear line of demarcation between the flesh, or matter, and Spirit. In the second, he states that the flesh is valueless—nothing; that it is the Spirit that gives life. Thus, as "the scientific statement of being" contains fundamental spiritual truth, so do the sayings of Jesus to which reference has just been made.

"The scientific statement of being" is of paramount importance to humanity, since the truth about God and man is stated therein, concisely and comprehensively. Definitions are valuable because as a rule they serve to crystallize or formulate thought—precisely what this statement does. One can return to it repeatedly and by contemplation of its truths have one's understanding refreshed on the nature of God and man, and his conviction strengthened regarding the allness of Spirit and the unreality of matter. It is like a well in an oasis in the desert, whence flows perpetually a stream of refreshing water.

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"Pure Mind"
April 10, 1937
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