Article June 8, 1929 Issue

The Second Commandment

MILDRED H. DOYLE

Before examining its meaning in the light of Christian Science, a student of the Bible might say that the second commandment, as given by Moses, could have no special application to the civilized world of to-day.

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 174), "Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?" In other words, is it any more idolatrous for pagan nations to believe that images graven of wood and stone are imbued with some supernatural power, than it is for Christian people to hold to the belief that matter, so called, in any form can do for them more than can the one and only God?

Mrs. Eddy refers to God as the one Ego, the only I or Us, which is Mind, Soul, Spirit (see Science and Health, p. 588). Man, as the idea of God, is the reflection of the divine Ego, from whom he can never be separated, and whom he must continually express. A dictionary defines the verb "to grave," in part, as "to impress deeply (on the mind)." Therefore, whatever phase of materiality might try to present itself to human consciousness, to the exclusion of the true concept of God as the one Ego, would be a form of idolatry.

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