Editorial December 14, 1907 Issue

LAW

Annie M. Knott

During the last forty years thinkers have been coming to see and to admit that a regular sequence of events is not necessarily a proof of law at work, and in this respect they approach the teaching of Christian Science, that law in the true sense is that only which expresses an all wise and all loving God. To illustrate: it was long believed that a certain order in the progress of a disease indicated the action of law, but many physicians would now hesitate to admit this, and a Christian Scientist would never do so, since he stands ever for the one supreme Lawgiver and His law, which is always expressed in good, never in evil. He learns from the text-book of Christian Science that the divine law is never inoperative, though mortals may be ignorant of its operation, and that none can wholly miss the blessings of its perfect and ceaseless activity. He further learns in this way how great is the gain of those who come to understand law as the expression of divine intelligence and power, and who are therefore emancipated from the bondage inseparable from the belief in evil laws or laws of evil,—of sin, disease, or death.

One of the most cheering statements in our text-book is the reference to "man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one God" (Science and Health, p. 205), as it seems to tell of the infinite and unceasing attraction of divine Truth and Love, the attraction which lifts mankind out of the depths of sin and disease in the degree that they recognize and respond to it. The important consideration for the student of Christian Science is to know the difference between that which expresses God and that which is merely a mortal belief, though the latter may seem to be supported by material evidence.

At the present time there is a tendency in certain directions to admit that mental healing is necessity in an age which is rapidly throwing off the belief that a lifeless drug can give life or health to one who suffers, but there seems to be a strong determination to deny the purely spiritual teaching of Christian Science as to the supremacy of good and the nothingness of evil, a determination to make evil a power and to look for its manifestations in sin, disease, and destruction. The only hopeful thing about this tendency is the fact that evil is admitted to be self-destructive, so that it has no chance for self-perpetuation. All this shows an awakening, and we cannot be too much aroused concerning what Paul terms the "exceeding" sinfulness of sin; but we should not stop there, for he says again, to the one who is awake, "Arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

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