Editorial February 21, 1901 Issue

Obey the Law

Mary Baker G. Eddy

This article was later republished in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany: My. 219:29-220:11

The following from the pen of Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy appeared in The Boston Herald on the 17th inst.

To the Editor of The Herald.

On the subject of reporting contagion I have this to say: I have always believed that Christian Scientists should be law abiding; and, actuated by this conviction, I authorized the following statement, which appeared in The Boston Herald about one year ago:—

"Rather than quarrel over vaccination, I recommend that if the law demand an individual to submit to this process, he obey the law; and then appeal to the gospel to save him from any bad results. Whatever changes belong to this century, or any epoch, we may safely submit to the providence of God, to common justice, individual rights and governmental usages."

This statement should be so interpreted as to apply, on the basis of Christian Science, to the reporting of contagion to the proper authorities when the law so requires. When Jesus was questioned about obeying the human law, he declared: "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," even while you "render unto God the things that are God's."

Mary Baker G. Eddy.
Concord, N. H., February 17, 1901.

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