Causation is a subject of which almost everybody needs a closer knowledge and a clearer view. This observation applies to Christian Scientists. We have studied this subject more than most people have, but we have not studied it in its full scope so much as we should. To approach causation rightly, we should regard it as including all of and more than what is commonly called creation. Then we can begin to comprehend this larger subject and get the full meaning of our Leader's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 170): "Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress."
Causation is defined as the principle of causality; the relation and agency of cause and effect; the act or process of causing; the action or working of cause. Mrs. Eddy defined this term implicitly when she said, on page 417 of Science and Health, that "all causation is Mind, acting through spiritual law." In other words, causation is the action of infinite Mind through spiritual law. Therefore, Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science when she found and proved causation as thus defined. (See "Retrospection and Introspection," page 24, line 6; "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," page 348, lines 14 to 29.)
Christian Science differs from other systems of thought by distinguishing absolutely and thoroughly between good and evil. This religion, therefore, applies this distinction to causation—to both cause and effect. Thus, it differs from certain other theologies by denying that God employs evil for any purpose. Christian Science denies that evil is related to good in any way. It accepts and emphasizes the Master's precept, "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt" (Matthew 12:33). There is no mingling of good and evil in cause or effect.
