IN our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 381), Mrs. Eddy writes: "Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony,—God's law. It is man's moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never inflicted by divine authority." Here, surely, is an arresting pronouncement: harmony is God's law; men may put themselves under its rule, thereby freeing themselves from disease; and, further, it is right or just that they should be free from a condition which is entirely without support from God.
The world is called upon by Christian Science to face this great issue which Mrs. Eddy raises, and to face it squarely and honestly. Far too long have men agreed to the traditions of the fathers and accepted as inevitable the sufferings incidental to mortal existence; far too long have they believed these sufferings to have resulted from a law of God, or at any rate to have occurred with His acquiescence. One of the most tragic features of the human problem is that men in their ignorance and fear have attributed to Deity what they would never dream of attributing to each other. For what is implied by the belief that God is responsible for suffering, or tolerates it? That either He is conscious of evil—of that which is not good—or He is not omnipotent. It is with these and similar fallacies of the so-called human mind that Christian Science takes issue.
How does Christian Science meet these errors of belief which, as it shows, have such seemingly disastrous effects on the lives of mortals? It reveals the truth about God and His creation, man, thus exposing the fallacies of mortal mind. And first, what is the truth which Christian Science reveals about God? This is a most important question; and it is no exaggeration to say that on the clear apprehension of the answer to it depends the hope of the salvation of the whole human race. On page 587 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy defines God in these following words, and thus answers the question. She writes: "God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence"—truly a most comprehensive definition. And what may be said to characterize it particularly? The fact that it brings out the allness and perfection of God. Christian Science, then, teaches that God is All-in-all, and that He is perfect.
