CHAPTER VII

THE TESTIMONY OF THE

CHRISTIAN

"We know we have passed from death unto life."

I. CONSCIOUSNESS THE ORIGIN AND THE FOUNDATION OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

Here is the grist the philosopher grinds. From this material he makes his meal, which same he offers to you as his philosophy. Here is the stuff that the scientist analyzes, and about which he offers to you his theories. The testimony of consciousness is absolutely trustworthy. To deny this is to undermine knowledge. This is simply saying that if ten men see a tree fall, we must accept their statement. say that they might have supposed that they saw a tree fall but that that is no reason why anyone should believe a tree did fall, is to undermine the basis of knowledge. This is admitted by all. The common man admits it; the philosopher admits it; the scientist admits it. The common man believes what he sees for himself. He believes what he hears for himself. But so

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too does the scientist. This is exactly what he does do. And this is why he asks us to believe him. But the philosopher does precisely the same thing. He points out to us that consciousness always affirms the exact truth. Upon this foundation he builds his system, and because of this he makes his appeal that we accept him.

Turning to the Scriptures we find the same thing to be true. The Apostles ask us to accept their statements because they were eyewitnesses of what they record.

II. CONSCIOUSNESS BRINGS ALL KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE

Consciousness brings to us all kinds of knowledge, and of all kinds of things, about which we know anything. But consciousness itself is one power. Just as the eye is one, whether we look upon the velvet carpet of the green fields, or upon the many-shaded colorings of the flowers, or upon the gorgeous splendors of the sunset, or upon the hundreds of tiny creatures that live and move in a single drop of water, or upon the countless hosts of the starry heavens, or upon the beasts of the field, or upon the birds of the air, or upon the fish of the sea the objects may be varied and numberless, but the power of visual perception is one.

Just as the

sense of taste is one whether we taste apples, or pumpkins, or potatoes, or pies, or pine-apples, or castor-oil-the objects may be many, the sense of taste is one.

So is the power we call consciousness one and indivisible. All that we know through sight, or through hearing, or through smelling or through touching, are different aspects of the material world. The differences lie in them, not in the power through which they are known. In order to know new properties of matter we need only a way of presenting them to the mind, such as the telescope or the microscope, not a new mental endowment. For consciousness is the capacity of knowing things in themselves. And this capacity is directed toward, and fixed upon, anything and everything that is presented to it. The objects of attention may change, but that which knows them is one and the same.

III. WE ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF MYSTERY, DEEP AND IMPENETRABLE

May we pause to say that we are here in the presence of mystery, deep and impenetrable, but no more so than many another mystery that surrounds us. "Gravitation is the power by which every particle of matter attracts every other particle, however far separated these may

be; a power of tremendous force, holding worlds such as ours in their orbits, as they move round the sun, millions of miles distant, and controlling the movements of the unnumbered worlds of space; worlds greater far than ours, and separated from one another by distances of which the mind can form no thought. Who can tell what this power is, or explain the how, or can think it possible beyond the knowledge of the fact? This is as deep a mystery as is consciousness. The same truth appears in regard to all other things. Who can understand cohesion, the force which binds together the atoms of matter, giving tensile strength; that of a rod, or bar of steel, almost passes belief. Or the expansive force of steam? knows what electricity is, or magnetism? What possible conception can anyone have of how seeds and plants grow? The most advanced scientist is as ignorant as an untaught child. He may state the successive steps in the life process, but to him the how is utterly unknown. No one can explain the vital union between soul and body in man. Such facts as these we know as facts, but that is all—they arise from within the mystery from which they refuse to come forth. And so with consciousness. It is that inexplicable, mysterious power of the soul by which we know the things which are present to us."

Who

IV. CONSCIOUSNESS THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT ITS NAME

And you at

May we pause to say this also. The consciousness is the same no matter what name you call it by. You may give it any name you wish. It does not alter the knowledge. Christian Science says that all is mind. It says that a razor, for example, is simply an idea that it is not a piece of matter at all. tempt to shave the superfluous hair off your face, or pare a corn from your toe; and your hand slips; and you cut a gash in your flesh. What is it? It is an experience in the realm of the ideal. You have an ideal razor, cutting an ideal gash in your ideal face or foot, and raising an ideal flow of blood, from an ideal wound, and causing an ideal pain, and necessitating the application of an ideal piece of absorbent cotton, or some ideal alcohol, or other ideal cauterizing agency, which produces an ideal stoppage of the ideal flow of ideal blood, and the ideal cessation of the ideal pain, and you are afforded ideal relief, and have ideal satisfaction and ideal peace of mind. But all this does not in the least alter the testimony of consciousness. The facts presented to it are the same, call them by whatever names you will. They are facts of consciousness. They lie in the realm of experience. It is as idle