and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other.”
Science reveals nothing in Spirit, out of which matter can be created. To Spirit there is no matter, even as to Truth no error, and to Good no evil. As we approach Spirit, we lose all consciousness of matter.
What then is the material personality which we call I? It is the embodiment of sin, sickness, and death. It is the unreal claim to true manhood or man as the image of his Maker, even as the angle of incidence is the reverse of the angles in the objects reflected. It is the false supposition that the opposite of Spirit is matter. But Spirit is God, and God is all, hence He hath no opposite. If man is both mind and matter, the loss of a limb would take away a portion of manhood, for matter and man would be one.
Are Mind, immortality, and consciousness resident in matter? Is God the source of matter, or does He dwell within the opposite of Himself? But He giveth not sin, pain, or death. Can matter recognize Mind? Can Deity be known by the bodily senses, — taste, touch, sight, smell, hearing? Can these senses, which afford no direct evidence of God, give correct testimony as to Life, Truth, or Love? Could God create such false representations of Himself as sin, sickness, and death? The answer must be in the negative.
They are error, and error is the opposite of Truth. If one is real, the other must be unreal. Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. Neither partnership nor fellowship can exist between opposites. One can no more create the other than Truth can create error, or vice versa. As Mrs. Hemans says: —
