Article November 17, 1923 Issue

The First Commandment

DELLA M. WHITNEY

On page 340 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' (Exodus XX. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science." The last sentence, "It demonstrates Christian Science," is of great significance to the student of Christian Science; for is not this what he is striving to do? And is not the First Commandment the great basic rule of life? To demonstrate Christian Science is to prove at all times and under all circumstances the allness of God and the nothingness of anything else; and this can always be proved by the one who is willing to lay down material views and desires and leave all to God,—in other words, to have "no other gods before me."

We, as Christian Scientists, would quickly reject and condemn as erroneous the very thought of worshiping an idol of stone or of some either precious or base metal. But are we always as prompt in our refusal to bow down to false beliefs, which are as wholly idolatrous? Some of the ways in which evil has been presented to us by the adversary may have been so subtle as to have avoided detection.

There is one very common form of idolatry—human personality—that is apt to deceive, because it often presents itself as good. As soon as it has thus outlined itself, it may assume power to govern and control the one whom it claims to love, thereby, possibly, not only placing him in bondage and robbing him of the rightful privilege of working out his own salvation, but claiming to usurp the place of divine wisdom, denying the forever fact that God, and God alone, possesses the intelligence to govern the universe, including man. If this train of false thinking be indulged, it will terminate in discord. We then discover that our happiness claims to be dependent to a great extent on what this one is doing or is failing to do. As a result, we begin to be very much disturbed. And we have every reason to be disturbed; for have we not been making and bowing down to a "graven image"? And are we not, consequently, experiencing the results of our disobedience?

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