Law a Power ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         Few people would be willing to deny the power of law, however understood, but there would doubtless be great diversity of opinion as to how this power could be proved. On the material plane the punishment of a criminal proves nothing more than a feeble attempt to assert the dignity of a law which has been broken by the wrongdoer. Some obey law because it is a necessary provision for human safety, even though they regard it as restrictive. This is, however, a long way behind the attitude of those who have come to realize that all just laws spring from the demands of divine Principle and that the recognition of law, rightly understood, is no less an integral part of human consciousness than is reason. All such can joyfully exclaim with the psalmist, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”          The student of Christian Science gains new views of law as he studies its textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” and Mrs. Eddy’s other writings, especially the article “Spirit and Law” in “Miscellaneous Writings” (pp. 256-259), where she says: “The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is.” It soon becomes apparent that in spite of popular opinion disease has no law to support it, nor has sin, since both are the product not of intelligence but of ignorance. To prove this it is necessary to relate law to divine Mind, Spirit, God; then we have a concept of law as intelligent, powerful, and good. The understanding of law gained in Christian Science explains the so-called miracles of Jesus, and heals the sick today even as in the Master’s time, but this law must be declared in order to annul the operation of the asserted law of disease or sin.          Now the Christian Scientist not only believes that divine law is power, but he applies his understanding of this truth to the varied experiences of daily living. Christian Science is constantly proving that fevers and diseases of all kinds are lawless, hence their powerlessness is shown when spiritual law is declared, as in the case of Peter’s “wife’s mother,” who was healed by Christ Jesus. It is not, however, so generally known that the moral law, when spiritually understood and declared, rights wrongs of every name and nature. The writer knows of a number of instances in which stolen property was restored to the owner when no suspicious or condemnatory thought was directed toward anyone, but where the first and the eighth commandments were declared daily by the one whose articles had been taken, until these were restored to the rightful owner.          One such case was especially interesting. A young lad belonging to a respectable family stole something from people who did not know him, and told a plausible story to cover the theft. This was at first believed by his parents, but as the truth was declared by the one who had been robbed, this declaration of law as a power unerringly found its way to the right place, and after the boy’s father had for some time vainly essayed to solve a seeming mystery, he was led in a wonderful way to the owner of the property. The lad then confessed to his temptation and fall, and was started on the way to true repentance. It was also found that when the work in Science had been neglected, the activity of truth temporarily ceased in the home where the stolen article was. In another case two adjoining homes were entered one night and a number of articles taken from each. In one of these homes there were two students of Christian Science, and they quietly declared the power of divine law daily, with the result that in a week every article taken from the home was restored as silently as it had disappeared. The people in the other home never recovered their goods, although they employed all the ordinary methods for reaching and punishing the offenders.          To realize to the full extent the protection of divine law, the only real law, we must know its power, love it, and obey it gladly. Then we shall dwell in safety, secure from sin and disease, realizing all the while that “love is the fulfilling of the law.”   "Law a Power" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, November 13, 1915

 

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