Article January 24, 1953 Issue

LET US GO TO THE BOOKS

CLIFFORD ORLANDO SHANDY

Oftentimes friends have said to the writer upon learning of his profession that they wished that they too had taken up the practice of law. Has it not occurred to every student of Christian Science that the practice of this Science is the practice of divine law? In reply to the question, "How would you define Christian Science?" Mary Baker Eddy says in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 1). "As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony."

An interesting parallel may he drawn between the legal profession as it is commonly understood and the practice of divine law. To be successful in the legal profession it is necessary that one study the law; and the law is found in the books. The ordinary lawyer's library generally includes the statutes, digests which interpret the statutes and are keyed to them, and manuals and treatises on various subjects of the law. The lawyer also receives monthly, weekly, and in some cases daily bulletins and decisions which report current applications of law. And he has a law library.

In Mrs. Eddy's allegory referred to as a mental court case in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" the following statement appears (pp. 437,438): "The attorney, Christian Science, then read from the supreme statute-book, the Bible, certain extracts on the Rights of Man, remarking that the Bible was better authority than Blackstone." On page 224 of her book "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mrs. Eddy says, "My books state Christian Science correctly." Thus, our statutes are the Scriptures; our digest is Science and Health; our Manual is the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy; and our treatises on the law are her Prose Works and Poems. Our legal periodicals are The Christian Science Journal, the Christian Science Sentinel, The Herald of Christian Science in its various editions, the Christian Science Quarterly, and The Christian Science Monitor. This Christian Science law library contains the law of the universe: and this law can never become outdated or in need of revision, since it is the final revelation of the Christ, Truth.

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