Spirit And Law
We are accustomed to think and to speak of gravitation
as a law of matter; while every quality of matter,
in and of itself, is inert, inanimate, and non-intelligent.
The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is [25]
anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion
that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which either [1]
excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every
mode and form of evil. Pantheism presupposes that
God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and
wakes in a wicked man. [5]
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
the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of immor-
tal and divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an [10]
immoral force of erring mortal mind, alias the minds of
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
with sacrifice and suffering. It is a code whose modes [15]
trifle with joy, and lead to immediate or ultimate death.
It fosters suspicion where confidence is due, fear where
courage is requisite, reliance where there should be
avoidance, a belief in safety where there is most
danger. Our Master called it “a murderer from the [20]
beginning.”
Electricity, governed by this so-called law, sparkles
on the cloud, and strikes down the hoary saint. Floods
swallow up homes and households; and childhood, age,
and manhood go down in the death-dealing wave. Earth- [25]
quakes engulf cities, churches, schools, and mortals.
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
where the good man surrenders to death is not exempt [30]
from this law. Smoothing the pillow of pain may infect
you with smallpox, according to this lawless law which
dooms man to die for loving his neighbor as himself,— [1]
when Christ has said that love is the fulfilling of the
law.
Our great Ensample, Jesus of Nazareth, met and abol-
ished this unrelenting false claim of matter with the [5]
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
spirit with the great truth that God is All, he demon-
strated the healing power and supremacy of the law of [10]
Life and Love.
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,
He governs the universe. This is the law of creation: [15]
“My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in
heart.” And that infinite Mind governs all things. On
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 [20]
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,
even the everlasting Father, as infinite consciousness,
ever-presence, omnipotence; as all law, Life, Truth, and [25]
Love.
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.
It interprets the law of Spirit, not of matter. It explains [30]
the eternal dynamics of being, and shows that nature
and man are as harmonious to-day as in the beginning,
when “all things were made by Him; and without Him [1]
was not any thing made.”
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, [5]
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.
The consciousness of good has no consciousness or knowl-
edge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or [10]
eliminated by good: while iniquity, too evil to conceive
of good as being unlike itself, declares that God knows
iniquity!
When the Lawgiver was the only law of creation, free-
dom reigned, and was the heritage of man; but this [15]
freedom was the moral power of good, not of evil: it
was divine Science, in which God is supreme, and the
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 [20]
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”