Article April 19, 1913 Issue

FALSE WITNESS

ROBERT L. SAWYER.

The command, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," if it were included in the daily manual of every individual, would eliminate much of the unrest of the present time, both from a social and a business standpoint. The hidden channels of this form of error are so intricate that little is seen or known of them by the average individual unless they appear in effects. The witness in court who testifies against his fellow man as being morally corrupt or abnormal, really does less to destroy the normal status of the individual than he who charges his brother with physically abnormal conditions; for he who assails character, by his very accusation bears direct testimony to the right and power of the individual to resume his normal state. In other words, the culprit is accused of doing that which he is capable of correcting.

The helplessness of the invalid is, however, intensified by the physician or friend who not only declares him to be sick, but brings to bear the added accusation, that the victim is unable to exercise any authority whatever in the recovery of his normal condition. Mortal mind, exalting the importance of its own opinion, often makes a mountain out of a mole-hill only to find itself unable to control the situation.

Understanding the perfect dominion of spiritual man, our Leader has written in the Christian Science text-book: "Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority" (p. 393). It is the trespass upon this "God-given authority" which constitutes a mental device often fatal to the one who most needs to be helped. Unfavorable publicity with reference to the sick will cease when we learn not to "bear false witness," but to seek only the good of our neighbor. Evil deserves neither encouragement nor emphasis, and the more it seems to be in evidence, the less it should be recognized. Good alone is authoritative and commendable.

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