Subject — Matter

2.     While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

5.     Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

6.     Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

7.     Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:

8.     The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:

9.     The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

10.     The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.

1.     Isaiah 51: 15 (I), 16

15     …I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.

16     And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

2.     Isaiah 31: 1, 3

1     Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!

3     Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

3.     Habakkuk 2: 18-20

18     What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

19     Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

20     But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

4.     Isaiah 17: 7, 8

7     At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

8     And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

5.     Matthew 12: 1 (Jesus) (to ;), 22-29

1     …Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn;

22     Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

23     And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?

24     But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25     And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26     And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27     And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

28     But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

29     Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

6.     Mark 4: 1, 2 (to 1st ,), 35-41

1     And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

2     And he taught them many things by parables,

35     And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

36     And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37     And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

38     And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

39     And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40     And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

41     And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

7.     Galatians 5: 16-18

16     This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17     For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18     But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

8.     Romans 8: 1-4, 6-9 (to 1st .), 13, 14

1     There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3     For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4     That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

6     For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7     Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8     So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9     But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

13     For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

1.     256: 5-8

All things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.

2.     257: 12-24

Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the substance of an idea is very far from being the supposed substance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind is not the father of matter. The material senses and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic God, instead of infinite Principle, — in other words, divine Love, — is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his season," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."

Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the antipode of Mind.

3.     479: 8 only, 10-15

Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.

Matter cannot see, feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-cognizant, — cannot feel itself, see itself, nor understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind, which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter can take no cognizance of matter.

4.     293: 6-12

Matter and mortal mind are but different strata of human belief. The grosser substratum is named matter or body; the more ethereal is called mind. This so-called mind and body is the illusion called a mortal, a mind in matter. In reality and in Science, both strata, mortal mind and mortal body, are false representatives of man.

5.     399: 11-8

So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its body, but this so-called mind is both the service and message of this telegraphy. Nerves are unable to talk, and matter can return no answer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it, and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continuation of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.

Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion. This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is only a false sense of matter, since matter is not sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opinions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.

Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?" In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When disease is once destroyed in this so- called mind, the fear of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thoroughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, — namely, of sin and disease.

6.     356: 4-16

So-called material existence affords no evidence of spiritual existence and immortality. Sin, sickness, and death do not prove man's entity or immortality. Discord can never establish the facts of harmony. Matter is not the vestibule of Spirit.

Jesus reasoned on this subject practically, and controlled sickness, sin, and death on the basis of his spirituality. Understanding the nothingness of material things, he spoke of flesh and Spirit as the two opposites, — as error and Truth, not contributing in any way to each other's happiness and existence. Jesus knew, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing."

7.     273: 21-28

God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the wisdom of the creator. Jesus walked on the waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims of material sense or law.

8.     124: 20-24, 26 (We)-31

Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.

9.     264: 20-27

Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and death were overcome by Jesus, who proved them to be forms of error. Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all- absorbing spiritual love.

10.     205: 7-13, 32-3

When will the error of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be unmasked? When will it be understood that matter has neither intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering? God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and eternal.

When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.