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The Tenth Commandment
Students of the Christian Science text-book find many proofs that Science and Health is indeed a "Key to the Scriptures." Take as an example the commandment "Thou shalt not covet." From the ordinary point of view no good reason appears why mere wishing—at worst seemingly but an idle waste of time and thought—should be classified as one of the cardinal offenses, such as idolatry, murder, theft, adultery, perjury, and the like. Makers of human systems of law, who have readily appropriated most of the other Thou-shalt-nots of the Decalogue, have discerned no reason for setting up covetousness as a crime. Scholastic theology generally ignores it.
To the Christian Scientist, however, the tenth commandment instead of being a "dead letter" is full of vital meaning. "I wish for" is seen to be the equivalent of "I have not," which is but another way of saying "God does not provide for my need," or in a degree that "God is not." Covetous wishing involves, therefore, an attitude of thought which is in effect an affirmation of lack, a denial of the all-presence and providence of God, good; hence virtually it is a form of sin. The covetous thinker is contributing to instead of reducing the sum total of mistaken human belief in the actuality of a defective creation, an incompetent creator.

July 21, 1917 issue
View Issue-
The Tenth Commandment
FRANK BELL
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Divine Mind Constructive
FLORENCE E. B. DONALDSON
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Children and Science
JOHN A. DEADRICH
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"Love thy neighbor"
ETHEL M. MC CANDLESS
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Experience
NINA SEYMOUR KEAY
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In the Courts of God's House
WILLIAM W. DAVIS
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The first mistake made by our critic is his classification of...
F. Elmo Robinson
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In a reported sermon a clergyman makes an unwarranted...
Judge Samuel W. Greene
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In a report of a sermon, given in the Citizen, it is said...
George R. Lowe
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Economic Administration
Archibald McLellan
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Drafting for Service
William D. McCrackan
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Do We Need to be Helped?
Annie M. Knott
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Joy in Giving
Editor
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The Lectures
with contributions from J. Latimer Davis, Harry B. Silver, Leo H. Atwood, Jennie S. Clifton
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When Christian Science found me I was in the depths of...
Eleanor B. Paterson
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It is with a deep some of gratitude that I acknowledge...
Arminda M. Conrad
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During the month of June, 1910, an abscess formed on...
C. H. Strother
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With a heart full of gratitude to God I gladly testify to...
Mary K. Totten
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In gratitude for blessings that have come to us through...
Thomas Emerson
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With gratitude for having been able to realize God's...
Mary B. McLeod
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In 1901, when I had been making two years; college work...
Josephine Pinkham
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Over eighteen years ago I first heard of Christian Science
William H. Hunter
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I was indeed a weary pilgrim, wandering hungry and...
Clara Owen Nelson
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It is a happy privilege to acknowledge the many blessings...
Ethel V. Perkins
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From Our Exchanges
with contributions from Henry E. Jacobs, Archbishop, Joseph Fort Newton, C. H. Brent, William Porcher Du Bose, E. Herman