Editorial April 21, 1934 Issue

The Moral Law and the Spiritual

W. Stuart Booth

For centuries the Ten Commandments have furnished the basis for many of the laws adopted by civilized nations and peoples. After promulgating the Commandments, Moses repeatedly exhorted the Hebrews to obey them and stated that those who observed them would be protected form adversity and sickness, and would be blessed with prosperity and peace. Christ Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, stated that he was not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. When the Master was questioned by a rich young man as to what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus instructed him to keep the Commandments, and briefly mentioned several of the ten to him. Discerning that the young man's sense of obedience to the Decalogue did not extend much beyond the letter of the law, the Master then counseled abandonment of the material concept of riches for the spiritual. Jesus thus pointed the fact that the spiritual law harmonizes with and is complementary to the moral.

In her presentation of the Science of Christianity in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and her other writings, Mrs. Eddy stresses the importance of the Ten Commandments, which exemplify the moral law; and in compliance with her provision in The Mother Church Manual (Art. XX, Sect. 3) they are taught among the first lessons in Christian Science Sunday Schools. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 303) our Leader makes this significant statement: "If ever I wear out from serving students, it shall be in the effort to help them to obey the Ten Commandments and imbibe the spirit of Christ's Beautitudes." And she writes in Science and Health (p. 340): "The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science." And then she makes it clear that obedience to the First Commandment in effect involves obedience to them all.

Christian Science insists upon a wide application and strict observance of the moral law. It teaches that those who look to God's spiritual law to heal them of their ills are aided in coming into conformity with that law by obeying the Commandments; whereas disobedience to them acts as a deterrent to healing. For example, many students of Christian Science have realized freedom from what had been pronounced fatal diseases as they obeyed the commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." They learned that to regard their neighbor as aught other than a child of God, expressing the qualities of divine Love, is bearing false witness, and this is corrected by acknowledging the truth about man as the expression of God's being and perfection.

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There Is No Fear
April 21, 1934
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