Protective Value of the Commandments

CLARA B. STRICKLAND

If we regard the Ten Commandments as a chart and guide in our course heavenward, their protective value is plainly seen. The chart of a mariner is utilized as a protective measure upon the ocean; and as its directions are obediently followed the ship is brought into the desired port. To consider the Commandments as restrictive and limiting is to misunderstand their real value; and to disregard or disobey their directions results in divergence from the right course, and sometimes in disaster.

On page 340 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes: "The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science." And a few lines farther on she adds, "The divine Principle of the First Commandment based the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal." This Commandment may be regarded as the embodiment of all the other Commandments. If it be properly understood as a guide and protection, and obeyed as such, all the other Commandments will also be obeyed; but intelligent obedience to the First Commandment requires an understanding of the nature of God. This understanding has been fully revealed through Christian Science.

The human heart instinctively worships some concept of God; but until thought is educated on the true nature of God this concept may be merely that of a magnified mortal. As human thought has advanced through education and spiritual growth, God as the Supreme Being has become better understood. Christian Science has given to the world the concept of God as divine Mind, perfect, and therefore wholly worthy of worship. When thought is ready to be lifted above false beliefs about God and to exchange the material for the spiritual concept, the mortal for the immortal, the physical for the metaphysical, then the understanding of God which Christian Science gives reveals Him as unlimited good, infinite Life, Truth, and Love. As this true understanding unfolds in human consciousness the desire to worship false material gods disappears.

As one meditates upon the meaning of the First Commandment, and considers the significance of word "before," it is seen that any false belief about God placed before one's thought will obscure the true spiritual viewpoint. So long as an unreliable and distorted sense of God is accepted, there can be no spiritual progress. In proportion as the true sense of God as omnipresent and omnipotent good is gained, the false sense disappears. Then it is understood that the Commandments are not only prohibitive, but also protective. And rejoicing in this fact, one learns to love, to obey, and adoringly to worship the true God. This understanding is a precious possession, a veritable treasure laid up in heaven. It must be sought through spiritual sense, for so-called material sense can tell us nothing true about God. How eager we should be to gain this understanding!

In answer to the question on page 495 of Science and Health, "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" our Leader says, in part: "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love." To have one adorable God, wholly dependable in every human need, to know Him as the healer of all discord and disease, as our ever present guide, our friend, our companion, is the privilege of everyone who will lovingly accept the letter and imbibe the spirit of Christian Science. To accept merely the letter, however, is not enough; the spirit of its teachings must be imbibed, if one would "adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science," and abide "steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love." Since divine Principle is God, adherence thereto properly obeys the First Commandment, unfolds the understanding of all the other Commandments, and proves their protective value in practical demonstration.

Many battles with false beliefs need to be waged; many false gods may be uncovered in consciousness, including subtle beliefs that we were unaware of before we knew of Christian Science; but the victory will always be on the side of loving, loyal obedience to God, good. Truly, as our dear Leader says on page 107 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "The lack of seeing one's deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep, never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain morbid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists."

We need to uncover and reject every subtle claim of evil that may be latent in thought. If we are tempted to believe that discord and disease are real, we can know that God, infinite good, is All, and never made evil in any form. If we are fearful and depressed, the realization that infinite Love, the one God, never causes or permits suffering will dispel the clouds of material sense evidence. When suggestions of "the last enemy that shall be destroyed" are presented to us, we can know that God, infinite Life, is ever present, and that God's idea, man, is the eternal reflection of Life. This keeping of the First Commandment, this holding to the absolute truth of the allness of God, is protective, and in actual experience it is proved to be a powerful and effective healing remedy.

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