0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

21	SPIRIT AND LAW 

  	    We are accustomed to think and to speak of gravita-
  	tion as a law of matter; while every quality of matter,
24	in and of itself, is inert, inanimate, and non-intelligent. 
  	The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is
  	anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion
 
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 1	that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which either
  	excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every
 3	mode and form of evil. Pantheism presupposes that
  	God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and
  	wakes in a wicked man. 
 6	    The distinction between that which is and that which
  	is not law, must be made by Mind and as Mind. Law is
  	either a moral or an immoral force. The law of God is
 9	the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of immor-
  	tal and divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an
  	immoral force of erring mortal mind, alias the minds of
12	mortals. This so-called force, or law, at work in nature
  	as a power, prohibition, or license, is cruel and merciless. 
  	It punishes the innocent, and repays our best deeds
15	with sacrifice and suffering. It is a code whose modes
  	trifle with joy, and lead to immediate or ultimate death. 
  	It fosters suspicion where confidence is due, fear where
18	courage is requisite, reliance where there should be
  	avoidance, a belief in safety where t...here is most
  	danger. Our Master called it "a murderer from the
21	beginning." 
  	    Electricity, governed by this so-called law, sparkles
  	on the cloud, and strikes down the hoary saint. Floods
24	swallow up homes and households; and childhood, age,
  	and manhood go down in the death-dealing wave. Earth-
  	quakes engulf cities, churches, schools, and mortals. 
27	Cyclones kill and destroy, desolating the green earth. 
  	This pitiless power smites with disease the good Samari-
  	tan ministering to his neighbor's need. Even the chamber
30	where the good man surrenders to death is not exempt
  	from this law. Smoothing the pillow of pain may infect
  	you with smallpox, according to this lawless law which
 
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 1	dooms man to die for loving his neighbor as himself, — 
  	when Christ has said that love is the fulfilling of the
 3	law. 
  	    Our great Ensample, Jesus of Nazareth, met and abol-
  	ished this unrelenting false claim of matter with the
 6	righteous scorn and power of Spirit. When, through
  	Mind, he restored sight to the blind, he figuratively and
  	literally spat upon matter; and, anointing the wounded
 9	spirit with the great truth that God is All, he demon-
  	strated the healing power and supremacy of the law of
  	Life and Love. 
12	    In the spiritual Genesis of creation, all law was vested
  	in the Lawgiver, who was a law to Himself. In divine
  	Science, God is One and All; and, governing Himself,
15	He governs the universe. This is the law of creation:
  	"My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in
  	heart." And that infinite Mind governs all things. On
18	this infinite Principle of freedom, God named Him-
  	self, I AM. Error, or Adam, might give names to itself,
  	and call Mind by the name of matter, but error could
21	neither name nor demonstrate Spirit. The name, I
  	AM, indicated no personality that could be paralleled
  	with it; but it did declare a mighty individuality,
24	even the everlasting Father, as infinite consciousness,
  	ever-presence, omnipotence; as all law, Life, Truth, and
  	Love. 
27	    God's interpretation of Himself furnishes man with
  	the only suitable or true idea of Him; and the divine
  	definition of Deity differs essentially from the human. 
30	It interprets the law of Spirit, not of matter. It explains
  	the eternal dynamics of being, and shows that nature
  	and man are as harmonious to-day as in the beginning,
 
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 1	when "all things were made by Him; and without Him
  	was not any thing made." 
 3	    Whatever appears to be law, but partakes not of the
  	nature of God, is not law, but is what Jesus declared
  	it, "a liar, and the father of it." God is the law of Life,
 6	not of death; of health, not of sickness; of good, not
  	of evil. It is this infinitude and oneness of good that
  	silences the supposition that evil is a claimant or a claim. 
 9	The consciousness of good has no consciousness or knowl-
  	edge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or
  	eliminated by good:  while iniquity, too evil to conceive
12	of good as being unlike itself, declares that God knows
  	iniquity! 
  	    When the Lawgiver was the only law of creation, free-
15	dom reigned, and was the heritage of man; but this
  	freedom was the moral power of good, not of evil:  it
  	was divine Science, in which God is supreme, and the
18	only law of being. In this eternal harmony of Science,
  	man is not fallen:  he is governed in the same rhythm
  	that the Scripture describes, when "the morning stars
21	sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
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