Without the fuller meaning which Christian Science gives to the Scriptural injunction to "honour thy father and thy mother," it was difficult for the writer to see how the accompanying promise, "that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," would be fulfilled as a natural consequence of observing this law. Deep gratitude is felt, therefore, to Mrs. Eddy for "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," through the reading of which this law of God as stated in the fifth commandment has been so beautifully unfolded. Christian Science shows us that in the truest sense our only Father-Mother is God, infinite Life, Truth, and Love. It is therefore God whom we must honor, if we take this commandment in its scientific meaning. As we realize the attributes of our Father-Mother God, we shall see how the honoring of Him will extend eternally our consciousness of life.
We see, first of all, that since God is our Father and Mother, He is the source or origin of man's existence, and God, who is Life itself, not only is the origin but the eternal sus-tainer of man's being. The human parent fears that the so-called life of his child may end; that it is at the mercy of material conditions, and that he cannot save it. Our heavenly Father expresses His own being, through His spiritual ideas, His sons and daughters. God is changeless, therefore His expression or reflection must be changeless; that is, it forever expresses Life, and this reflection is the Son of God. No fear of death can enter the consciousness of the Son of God; no belief that life depends upon matter, or is mortal. Everlasting life is his perpetual consciousness. Christ Jesus demonstrated this truth and desired others to demonstrate it, for he said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
God is self-existent. His attributes are due to no other than Himself. God is absolute good, without a single element of error. It follows from these facts that, as the Son of God, all that man possesses he inherits from God. He has no ancestors antecedent to God, therefore he can inherit from none other than his Father-Mother God; and from this absolute perfection man inherits all good and only good, namely, health, strength, intelligence, spiritual perception, love, perfect harmony. Thus the true law of heredity becomes the most life-giving, joy-giving, and harmonious law conceivable. As a child develops, how often we hear the remark, "Isn't he like his mother!" or, "He has his father's ways." Sometimes this remark is no great compliment to the child, nor perhaps to the parent, but if applied to one as the child of God, what depth of meaning it would convey! God's man is the exact image of his divine Parent, and his activities and characteristics are a perfect reflection of the activity of his Father-Mother God.
