Article March 1, 1919 Issue

True Law versus the False

THEODORE BURKHART

Education as generally understood tends to lead us early in life to believe that there are certain laws which govern us and the world in which we live, and to hope that these supposed laws will ultimately be found to be reliable, unerring, and understandable. Failing to discover material laws of that character, however, we are apt to conclude that if law exists at all it is remorseless and beyond human comprehension, or that we are the helpless victims of lawless chance and change. Thinking men and women throughout all time have sought some rational explanation of things and conditions as they appear to be, and have tried to explain away the changeableness and inconsistency of human beliefs, ever seeking, but in vain, to find harmony-producing law in that which we call material.

That humanity suffers because of ignorance and its acceptance of false law, was taught and demonstrated by Jesus, our Way-shower, who revealed to hungering hearts that the only law which man should recognize and obey is the law of Spirit, God, the one and only Principle, whose law governs all being. In giving to the world her priceless work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our beloved Leader has exposed the utter futility of searching for laws of harmony and perfection in that which, by its very nature, is discordant, imperfect, and temporal. With the unfoldment which comes to every earnest student of Christian Science, the uncertainties and inconsistencies of so-called material laws and their manifestations as discord and disease gradually give place to an understanding of divine Principle as constituting all law and all causation, the invariable effects of which are health and harmony. When this understanding once dawns upon the student's consciousness, can there remain any doubt as to whether true law is material or spiritual? And if true law is the law of Spirit, why longer consent to be governed by any other? Because of his understanding of real law Christ Jesus healed the sick and the sinful, and even raised the dead. In rebuking the scribes and Pharisees for their misinterpretation of divine law, Jesus said, "Ye ... have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

The marked contrast in the nature and operation of so-called law and real law, and the opposite effects of submission to them, was revealed to the writer through a business experience, at a time when Christian Science was new to him. He was a creditor of an unsettled estate, and the time was approaching when it was thought the claim would be outlawed, that is, automatically become void and uncollectable by lapse of time and operation of law, unless some action were taken to prevent it. Believing that he and his advisers understood the law relative to the matter, he became fully persuaded that his rights were in serious jeopardy. He was anxious to avoid resorting to litigation, having a dread of the publicity, also fearing disastrous complications if the matter were taken into court. The more he pondered over the situation and speculated as to the effects of such a procedure, the more necessary did legal action seem to be and the more did he fear the possible consequences.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

True Law versus the False

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access