“In one dictionary this definition of ‘substance’ may be found: ‘That which underlies all outward manifestation.’ In the primary sense of this term, then, the substance of anything is the meaning or essence of it” (CSJ, August 1952, “Finding Substance in Spirit” by Anetta G. Schneider).
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: “Essence” – noun [Latin essentia, esse, to be.] – “that which makes any thing to be what it is; or rather, the peculiar nature of a thing”; “That which constitutes the particular nature of a being or substance, or of a genus, and which distinguishes it from all others.”
What is the meaning of “substance”? Examples given to Sunday School students: (1) What is more important – the wood, ivory, and metal that constitute the piano, or the great music which is played on it? (2) What is substantial – the paper, ink, and leather of a Bible, or the Ten Commandments, 23rd Psalm, Sermon on the Mount, and the great truths recorded therein? (from CSS, 4/28/1945, “What Does Substance Mean to You?” by Ethel Daniels Hubbard).
Mary Baker Eddy: “We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontology – the ‘science of real being.’ We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things” (S & H, p. 129:21-24).
“Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause. . . . To show that the substance of himself was Spirit and the body no more perfect because of death and no less material until the ascension (his further spiritual exaltation), Jesus waited until the mortal or fleshly sense had relinquished the belief of substance-matter, and spiritual sense had quenched all earthly yearnings” (S & H, pp. 313:23-26 & – 313:30-314:5).