Article June 4, 1949 Issue

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WHAT IS SUBSTANCE?

DORIS M. SMITH

If the question, "What is substance?" were asked of a group of people, their answers would be many and varied. Those who by reason of their education have been taught to regard material things as substance would doubtless reply, "Land, houses, riches; horses, sheep, cattle; the earth and the peoples upon it."

Mary Baker Eddy answers this pertinent question on page 468 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," as follows: "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay."

For centuries mankind has been taught to regard matter as substance. Education has been largely along the lines of knowledge gained from the evidence of the five material senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. So mankind has accumulated material things in the belief that they constitute substance. According to the same false teaching, the material earth and material man have also been regarded as substantial, material laws have been framed, and material means of healing have been used.

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