Article February 1, 2014

Immortal law

Originally published in the December 15, 1890 issue of the Christian Science Series (Vol. 2, No. 16)

The law of God is not a law of mandate or of prohibition; “shall” and “shall not” come not within its scope. The one for whom it exists is not constrained by it, yet it is as unyielding as adamant. Obedience to it is ideal freedom; its slightest infringement is death. It curtails not a wish of him for whom it is made, yet even a wrong thought is instantly followed by the direst penalty. It speaks not of punishment for the breach of a single clause, yet on every side is it hedged in by destruction to him who living under it makes one false step. What is this law which permits all, that orders nothing to be done, prohibits nothing, and yet is so terrible when the slightest deviation from its precept occurs?

It is the law of real existence, of harmony, which is the essence of all divine forces, in combination making the true and only Life. It is the secret of immortality, the vital of man, the Principle in which he exists, the basis of eternal being, and last, the resultant joint and several of all those spiritual powers which Science says God is.

Perfect being only can have perfect life, and perfect life can only be through perfect harmony. In mortal, so-called life we know that friction is one with the invincible law of destruction; it is one of the essentialities of supposed material existence. Without it mortal man could not seem to live. The vital necessity of friction in this life of error, be it that of so-called thought or matter, is the very antipode of the essential of Life, or Spirit. Without friction perpetual motion would be possible, but only by friction can any motion be made effective. This is one of the thousand examples of so-called mortal law; the necessity that is the cause, is the destruction of the result; the best and vital being but error, like all error, kills itself.

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