Editorial January 25, 1908 Issue

WRITTEN LAW

Annie M. Knott

Among the many definitions of law, as given in the dictionaries, we find the following: "That which is fixed or set;" "A rule of action prescribed by authority;" "A proposition which expresses the constant or regular order of certain phenomena." Herbert Spencer says that "the belief in an unchanging order— -the belief in law, now spreading among the' more cultivated throughout the civilized world—is a belief of which the primitive man is absolutely incapable. It is now generally admitted, however, that "the belief in an unchanging order" calls for enlightenment on the part of the "cultivated" no less than among the primitive peoples. No one now denies that the phenomena of existence have been misinterpreted, and the most profound thinkers hesitate about attaching the dignity and authority of law to an order which merely repeats itself without having a vital relation to the highest interest of the race.

From the Christian Science standpoint, law presupposes Mind, intelligence, as its source and support, with recognition and reflection as the basis of its activity. Law is therefore held to be inseparable from the lawgiver, and the rightful realm of law is not material but mental. In that wonderful article. "Spirit and Law," Mrs. Eddy says, "The assertion that matter is law, or a lawgiver, is anomalous. Wherever Law is, Mind is; and the notion that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which either excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every mode and form of evil" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 256).

Christ Jesus not only revealed but demonstrated the truth and actuality of spiritual law in his wonderful works of healing and regeneration, and he did this by annulling or overcoming the almost universal belief in material law. In witness of this Paul says, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Throughout mortal history we find men believing law to be mainly material, for while there has always been some recognition of moral law it has been interpreted materially in its relation to external acts. It has also been erroneously believed that law is external to consciousness, operating from without and meeting with resistance from that which is within mortal thought, the mortal sense being in its very nature a lawbreaker.

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