0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

SCIENTIFIC THEISM 

  	    In the May number of our Journal, there appeared a
 9	review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism,"
  	by Phare Pleigh. 
  	    Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than "hands
12	off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon
  	tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying
  	on of hands," as well. Whatever his nom de plume
15	means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one
  	in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a
  	big protest against injustice; but, the best may be
18	mistaken. 
  	    One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat,
  	which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end
21	of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained
  	some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty
  	or a happy hit at idealism, to illustrate the author's fol-
24	lowing point? —  
  	  "When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither
  	laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the
27	attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a
  	phenomenon without a noumenon may succeed, but not
  	before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without
30	a cat." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                               
 page 217

 1	    True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in
  	logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An
 3	effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso-
  	phy nor reason a...ttempts to find one; but all should con-
  	ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than
 6	Spirit; hence that the universe of God is spiritual, — even
  	the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle,
  	with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in
 9	quality and quantity. 
  	    The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this:  that
  	matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe-
12	nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat-
  	ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable,
  	and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things
15	is unchanged, and that nature is constituted of and by
  	Spirit. 
  	    Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that
18	nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con-
  	taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup-
  	positional unity and personality, produce matter, — a
21	third quality unlike God. Again, that matter is both
  	cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its
  	cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good, — 
24	and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither
  	Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a
  	kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought
27	to desolation. 
  	    The nature of God must change in order to become
  	matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter
30	must disappear, for Spirit to appear. To the material
  	sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human
  	thought, and our convictions change:  for spiritual sense

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                              
 page 218

  1	takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and
  	Spirit is God, and God is good. Science unfolds the fact
 3	that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never
  	produced Mind, and vice versa. 
  	    The visible universe declares the invisible only by re-
 6	version, as error declares Truth. The testimony of mate-
  	rial sense in relation to existence is false; for matter can
  	neither see, hear, nor feel, and mortal mind must change
 9	all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence,
  	before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas. 
  	It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material
12	senses whence to reason out God, when it is conceded
  	that the five personal senses can take no cognizance of
  	Spirit or of its phenomena. False realistic views sap the
15	Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal
  	and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth
  	comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and un-
18	folds the real nature of God and the universe to the spirit-
  	ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and
  	not material. 
21	    To begin with, the notion of Spirit as cause and end,
  	with matter as its effect, is more ridiculous than the "grin
  	without a cat;" for a grin expresses the nature of a cat,
24	and this nature may linger in memory:  but matter does
  	not express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven
  	grins are neither eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What
27	can illustrate Dr.  —— 's views better than Pat's echo,
  	when he said "How do you do?" and echo answered,
  	"Pretty well, I thank you!" 
30	    Dr.  ——  says: "The recognition of teleology in nature
  	is necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual person-
  	ality in God." 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                               
 page 219

  1	    According to lexicography, teleology is the science of
  	the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all
 3	Science is divine) neither reveals God in matter, cause
  	in effect, nor teaches that nature and her laws are the
  	material universe, or that the personality of infinite Spirit
 6	is finite or material. Jesus said, "Ye do err, not know-
  	ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Now, what
  	saith the Scripture? "God is a Spirit:  and they that
 9	worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
  	truth." 
Read more