Article January 14, 1911 Issue

THE "SUBSTANCE" OF THE COMMANDMENTS

CLARA LOUISE DOANE.

When Jesus was assailed with the question, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" he, knowing that one is not greater than another, and that to break one is to break all, answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Then he added, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." He thus emphasized the fact that the first four commandments reveal man's relationship to God, while the other six show his relationship to his brother man. Through the spiritual interpretation of Scripture gained in Christian Science the characteristics of the first four commandments may be defined as follows: Thou shalt have one God, one image, one name, one remembrance, one honor. We may say, therefore, that the "one God" is Mind, and man has no other; the "one image" is perfect man—idea or reflection; the "one name," or character, is the "I am," not reflected in "I am sick," for evil has no name; the "one remembrance" is the Sabbath-day consciousness of good—evil cannot be remembered. Herein we shall love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength.

When it is seen that man is not material, idea is perfect, and its outline cannot suggest flesh, blood, and bones, for it is a manifestation of spiritual consciousness. Herein we love our neighbor as ourselves. Having gained a concept of the perfection of Principle and its idea, having shown honor to whom honor is due, man's relationship to his brother man is perfected, and the joyful "shalt nots" follow: Thou shalt not kill, nor adulterate, nor steal, nor falsify, nor covet. Not to kill is to refuse to believe in death, since to spiritual consciousness all is Life; not to adulterate is not to add anything unto God's spiritual creation, which is good,—yea, "very good;" not to steal is not to take anything away from the perfect concept, God's idea; not to falsify is always to affirm the truth about God and His universe, including man; not to covet is to know that the real man already has all that belongs to God, good, and that we need "not want," but are to "lie down in green pastures," and be led by "still waters," wherein spiritual being—Mind and Mind's idea—is forever reflected.

In the keeping of the ten commandments is fulfilled, through Christian Science, the "law" and "prophecy" of the "new covenant" which saith, "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."

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