Editorial October 20, 1934 Issue

Stop Thief!

W. Stuart Booth

When a fleeing suspect is pursued and the cry of "Stop thief!" is raised, many may join in the endeavor to thwart a criminal act. The eighth of the Ten Commandments is explicit: "Thou shalt not steal;" and the Hebrew statutes provided for both restitution and punishment, should that law be disobeyed. Moral men may regard this commandment as unnecessary for them, but the teachings of Christ Jesus, as seen in the revealing light of Christian Science, indicate an application more far-reaching than merely to human actions. On page 234 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested." And she adds, "Jesus declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was to break a moral precept."

This leads us to see that the call "Stop thief!" may be needed most in connection with our individual thinking. Christian Science teaches that whatever would rob us of peace or purity, happiness or health, supply or safety, liberty or life, is a lawbreaker which is without divine support or sanction, and which, in fact, is condemned by God's law. Evidently our Exemplar, Christ Jesus, reasoned thus, for in doing the will of the Father he rebuked sin and reversed its claims; he declared that sickness is from the devil, and he healed "all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people;" he said that those who know the truth shall thereby be made free, and he brought liberation to all who accepted his teachings; he knew that God is Life, and so he stopped the thieving hand of death for others and proved it to be powerless with himself.

The inspired teachings of Science and Health reveal the truth about God and His creation, including individual man, and furnish simple and appealing rules whereby these truths may be applied to all human problems according to the promise of the Master. Science declares that God, the divine Principle or creator of all that is true and eternal, is Mind, Spirit, Truth, and Love. From this infinite premise the conclusion is reached that man, including all that concerns him, is spiritual, harmonious, active, pure, and perfect, and expresses God's goodness, justice, intelligence, and power. These spiritual facts are inviolable, irreversible, omnipresent, and eternal. Furthermore, they are practical and provable, for by means of the power they embody we can estop the thieving depredations of the carnal mind.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Items of Interest