The Psalmist says, "Thou [God] hast given commandment to save me;" and again, "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."
Man is immortal by divine decree. Man is eternally perfect by divine decree. Man is eternally at-one with God by divine decree. Man is the heir of all good by divine decree. How comes it, then, that to the human sense of things the evidences of imperfection, sin, disease, and death are so universally and painfully apparent? Christian Science gives the explanation.
God's decree is from everlasting to everlasting, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it. In human experience, however, if a decree is to be operative, the decree must be declared. To illustrate: suppose someone is under sentence of death for a crime of which he is entirely innocent. Suppose a friend finds the evidence which proves his innocence, lays it before the proper official, and secures from him a reprieve and order of acquittal; if that order remains unattended to in the official's office, the one accused will be executed, despite the fact that his innocence has been proved, and that an order for his acquittal was written and signed. For the order to be operative, it must be taken to the place where the accused person is; it must be declared to the governor of the prison, to the jailers, to the prisoner himself—to all, indeed, whom it may concern. Otherwise, there will be a miscarriage of justice, and one who is innocent will be put to death.
