Article May 3, 1913 Issue

That the founders of the American republic reached the...

George Shaw Cook

Lakeview (Ill.) Times and News

That the founders of the American republic reached the point of divine inspiration in some of the statements contained in the Declaration of Independence there can be little doubt. Few finer expressions of the divine will to man may be found in literature than the sublime assertion, "Man is endowed by his Maker with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Especially when examined in the light of Christian Science do there words reveal a deep spiritual meaning which probably was not fully discerned by those who first spoke them. This immortal declaration of our forefathers is particularly dear to Christian Scientists, and perhaps a brief analysis of its peculiar significance to them may be of benefit to others.

Man is endowed by his Maker with life. If this be so, then the teaching of Christian Science is seen at once to be true, namely, that it is legitimate and right for men to live, and therefore everything which has the tendency to abridge, circumscribe, interrupt, or terminate the existence of man, is contrary to the law of God, who is man's Maker. On this basis rests the further teaching that sin, disease, and death are illegitimate and destructible because they are not God-ordained. According to this teaching, therefore, man is lawfully entitled to repudiate the claim of that which through disease, accident, or any other cause would seek to end his existence. Christ Jesus, who was the greatest exponent of divine law, said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." He confirmed his words by his works, healing the sick and raising the dead. Christian Scientists therefore feel that they have good authority for their contention that man has an indefeasible endowment of abundant life.

Man is endowed by his Maker with liberty. He is therefore divinely entitled not only to life, but to liberty. He accordingly has the God-bestowed right to liberty of life or freedom of life, unhampered and unhindered by adverse circumstances or conditions. Paul, the great apostle of man's freedom, said, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." So also Christian Science teaches that man who is created in the likeness of God, Spirit, the real man, or the reality of man, is free from the law of sin, disease, and death. It teaches that a recognition of this freedom and insistence upon its rightness, brings into human experience here, today, a greater sense of exemption from the ills of the flesh than can be realized in any other way. It teaches that it is possible now scientifically to demonstrate man's rights to bodily, mental, and spiritual freedom.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

That the founders of the American republic reached the...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access