Article August 19, 1961 Issue

Wonders Out of God's Law

[The following Christian Science program of the above title was presented on Sunday, August 6, over the Columbia Broadcasting System "Church of the Air." The speaker was Peter J. Henniker-Heaton.]

In the Bible in the Book of Psalms you'll find this verse—it's really a prayer: "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (119:18). But can wonders come out of law? The answer to this question and its practical importance to all of us is what I'd now like to talk about.

First, let's slightly reword the Psalmist's prayer and say, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold miracles out of thy law." This takes no undue liberty with language. "Wonder" is from a Germanic root; "miracle" is from a Latin one. They are essentially words of the same meaning from different sources.

"Miracle" is, of course, often used to suggest deviation from or suspension of law. Yet when we speak, as we sometimes do, of miracles of modern chemistry, miracles of modern engineering, we don't suggest these to be contrary to law. We think of them as made possible by applications of law, law hitherto perhaps unsuspected but always present and now discovered and made available. We think of these applications as available to all, not just to the one who discovered them. And we think of them as capable of further development, but always in the line of law. In fact, the word miraculum, from which "miracle" derives, was used in late Latin to mean a scientific demonstration, something that illustrated law, not a contradiction of law.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

WORDS OF CURRENT INTEREST