Christ Jesus said (Luke 8: 16, 17): "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." These words may imply that when Truth brings enlightenment, error is uncovered.

Simon Peter was quick to recognize the purity and power of the Christ, and this uncovered his own earthliness. After Christ Jesus had proposed that Peter and those in his boat let down their nets following a night of unsuccessful fishing and they had brought them up full, Peter said (Luke 5:8), "I am a sinful man, O Lord." This enlightening experience caused Peter to forsake his way of life and follow the Master, to become a fisher of men.

Once one learns that his real self conforms to the Christ-image and that the mortal self is an illusion, an imposition of evil, one becomes more aware of the errors which so-called mortal mind claims to attach to him. He rejects these errors with more finality when he realizes that they are lies about him, projected by a mind which is not real, and that they are no part of his true being.

But the Christ, Truth, appearing in this age as Christian Science, does more than uncover personal faults of character. It exposes the fact that all matter is an unreal, mental picture impressed on the corporeal senses and not the substantial stuff it was once supposed to be. On page 479 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy says: "Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit. An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is all that the eye beholds."

Christ Jesus said (John 8:32), "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Free from what? Free not only from sin, sickness, and death, but free from matter. Even at its best and least harmful, matter is a limitation. Spirit, God, removes this limitation, as Jesus showed by his many so-called miracles. But not until recent years have the extremely destructive potentialities of matter been discovered by the natural scientist. Now one realizes that only the power of God, demonstrated by a purer and more spiritualized humanity, can prevent the uncovered, destructive forces of matter from wreaking havoc upon the race.

Enlightened natural scientists are utilizing their new knowledge of the components of matter to break down many of the limitations imposed upon humanity by matter. But godless mentalities would use the same knowledge to threaten or even destroy peaceful humanity. For nearly a century the Christian Scientist has been working from the metaphysical standpoint that matter must first be seen as a stratum of mortal mind and then be made impotent through his understanding of God's will as the only-motive power of being.

In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy comments on Paul's declaration that he took pleasure in infirmities. She notes the opportunity which suffering affords one to prove the omnipotence of good, and she says (p. 201), "The Science of Paul's declaration resolves the element misnamed matter into its original sin, or human will; that will which would oppose bringing the qualities of Spirit into subjection to Spirit."

Matter has no actual power to trouble or to obstruct the lives of those who obey the divine will consistently. They destroy their willful convictions concerning the existence of mortal mind and its material concepts, and they find their bodies and their environments plainly influenced by Truth. The change is gradual but sure in the measure that they adhere to their conviction of matter's unreality.

Invisible force resembles mortal mind more certainly than does matter seen as inert mass. But according to the revelation of Christian Science, this is a hopeful sign, however paradoxical it may seem. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 97), "In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the more impotent error becomes as a belief." In the same paragraph she says further, "The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears."

Christian Scientists will do well to deal with matter more and more accurately by recognizing that the energy which comprises it is human will. They understand now why Christ Jesus spoke of his mission as the doing of the Father's will. The Master's dominion over material conditions and limitations went hand in hand with his realization that God's will is the only will, His conceptions the only conceptions, His law the only law, His substance the only substance.

The uncovering by Truth of matter's essentially unreal nature marks a tremendous advance in the impact which the discovery of divine Science is having upon human progress out of bondage to matter. The prophetical utterances of our great Leader are coming nearer to being generally understood.

Helen Wood Bauman