Editorial February 20, 1915 Issue

All-protecting Love

Annie M. Knott

While most Christian people would admit that God protects and provides for all His creatures, some are shocked if they are told that Christian Scientists sometimes extend their help to animals and birds. It would seem, however, that any protest along this line has no support, as on page 550 of Science and Health we have this unequivocal statement: "God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men."

It is quite true that the animal kingdom as seen through the lens of material sense does not express the divine creation, which is never less than spiritual, but neither does humanity as thus seen reveal the man of God's creating. So far as the mortal sense of things is concerned, Paul is right in saying that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." No one can deny that many of the qualities which prove man to be quite other than a thing of clay, are reflected by the lower creatures; as, for instance, fidelity, affection, gentleness, etc. Mrs. Eddy tells us (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 36) that "the ferocious mind seen in the beast is mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with the lamb." In so far as the student of Christian Science does any work for a sick or suffering creature, it is to demonstrate to himself and others the perfection of God's creation and the universality of the spiritual law which protects and governs all that expresses the creative Mind.

Here we may remember that the safety of animals as well as of men was provided for in the ark, and we note in the fourth commandment provision is made for the cattle as well as for their owners; also from other passages in the Old Testament we learn that when the people obeyed God's law its protection extended to their flocks and herds. A Christian Scientist, knowing that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation" (Science and Health, p. 468), would not use spiritual means for his own relief and turn to materiality for the creatures under his care, knowing that the spiritual law which heals him is, like light, unlimited in its operation, and needs but to be applied with understanding to bring good results in all cases. The psalmist says, "Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast."

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