God's law is always on the side of His creation, man. God's law never works against man. It never imposes limitations on man's natural activities or on man's full enjoyment of being what he truly is and of what God made him to be. No wonder the Psalmist said, "O how love I thy law!" ^{Ps. 119:97;} God's law is indeed a law to be loved.

If we are to take full advantage of all that God's law offers us, we need to be thoroughly familiar with it, to clearly understand how it works. The glider pilot learns something of aerodynamic laws and becomes conversant with wind and air currents before he can make these work for him and so complete his glides successfully. The seaman tacks successfully against the breeze by a similar knowledge and by making the forces of current, wind, and tide work for him instead of against him. When we understand God's moral and spiritual laws and work with them, we find all the laws of God are working with and for us.

The healing and saving works of Christ Jesus were possible because he had an unparalleled scientific understanding of God's law, because he loved it and knew what it is and does for men. Whether the need was food for a hungry multitude or safety for a storm-beaten ship or healing for a diseased body, Jesus translated the human situation into spiritual terms and brought it under the beneficent control of God's law. Jesus' miracles were not a suspension of divine law; they illustrated the action of divine law, working in him, with him, and for him.

People often think of law as being imposed on them from without, perhaps arbitrarily with no consideration for their individual needs and interests. This inclines them to resist law. But in the Bible both Old and New Testaments indicate that divine law, divine government, operates within; God's law is written in our very hearts, His kingdom is within.

Mary Baker Eddy makes this inward nature of divine law clear. She writes, "Man has perpetual individuality; and God's laws, and their intelligent and harmonious action, constitute his individuality in the Science of Soul." ^{No and Yes, p. 11;} God's laws, spiritual and moral, are at the very core of our being; they constitute our individuality. Divine law, then, is not a straitjacket; it does not force us into a mold or pattern alien to ourselves. On the contrary, it helps set us free to reach our full potential, to be all that we, as individuals, really are.

In human affairs law has many different levels. In physics it is a kind of statistical hypothesis used as a stepping-stone to further exploration. It states what has been observed to happen so far and may be expected to happen in the future until new observations require modification or abandonment of the current hypothesis. Statutory law may deal with matters of social convenience, such as traffic regulations, or it may reflect deep social and political convictions. Sometimes we designate as economic or health laws what are little more than passing superstitions, momentary fads of the media or professional theorists. All these types of law may be more or less helpful depending on the quality of the men who formulate, accept, and apply them.

Christian Science is the statement and operation of ultimate law, of divine law. Writing of it, Mrs. Eddy says: "This Science is a law of divine Mind, a persuasive animus, an unerring impetus, an ever-present help. Its presence is felt, for it acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of hope, faith, understanding." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 3.}

Because God's law is the law of infinite, all-wise Mind, it is much more than a statistical hypothesis, subject to being later proved wrong or inadequate; God's law is final, complete, and immutable. And because the Mind from which this law emanates is the Mind of man, of all true being, God's law is not an imposition from without; it gently persuades from within; it impels free obedience with its assurance of unfailing support for every individual's highest aspirations. It provides our highway code through life, always working for us, never limiting us.

And here is another point to note. To the extent we really understand God's law and work with it, we are guided to make right decisions in using, responding to, or working with intermediate forms of law. To discern which laws of natural science are most likely to contribute to progress and which are blind alleys. To discern how we can best support useful human laws or how we can work to change those that are less useful. To discern how we can most wisely and speedily free ourselves and our fellows from those empty superstitions that falsely masquerade as law.

Christ Jesus came to fulfill law. Today the Christ Science is here to fulfill law. This Christ Science shows us God's immutable law of good, working at the very core of our individuality to bless and heal us. As we respond to the demand of this Science that we work with God's law, we find ourselves ever more deeply fulfilled. And we love God's law.

Peter J. Henniker-Heaton