Editorial May 16, 1936 Issue

"Wherever law is, Mind is"

George Shaw Cook

Writing on the subject "Spirit and Law," Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 256, 257): "The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which either excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every mode and form of evil." From the foregoing, it will readily be seen that the desolation and destruction, all too frequently apparent to human sense, are not manifestations of the law of divine Mind, and consequently are not attributable to a divine cause.

The frequently recurring disasters in the world—floods, fires, tornadoes, and so forth—are due to so-called natural laws or forces, which many without a knowledge of Christian Science regard as inexorable and irresistible. Therefore they believe these disasters to be unavoidable and inescapable. It has been said, "That which can be set aside in its operation in a single instance is not law, but coincidence," and there are many instances recorded in the Bible in which the operation of so-called material law was set aside. For example, the operation of the law of gravitation was superseded when Elisha made the ax head which had fallen into the water rise to the surface. And Jesus, in his ministry, set aside the operation of so-called material laws when he fed the multitude, walked on the water, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, and raised the dead. Thereby these material laws were proved—as they are being proved today in the demonstration of Christian Science—not to be real law; for real law—spiritual law, divine law—is immutable, inviolable, irresistible, and invariably beneficent.

There may be those who believe that destruction of material property and human life is attributable to God. There may even be those who believe that such conditions are an expression of the will of God. But these believers would have difficulty in reconciling such beliefs with the declaration of Elijah that the Lord was not in the earthquake, wind, or fire, but in the "still small voice." And believers in the divine origin of human disaster will do well to recall the unqualified statement in the first epistle of John that "God is love"; for it is illogical to believe that God, who is Love, and Love always, could ordain the disasters which result in untold suffering and loss for mankind!

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Items of Interest