ONE of the darkest shadows cast by the ignorance of mortal mind comes from the belief that the laws of God are punitive, causing pain and suffering. This false concept of God as a God of wrath, capable at times of injustice and cruelty, punishing or rewarding according to the will of an ''inscrutable Providence," has filled the minds of men with great fear of God and His laws. As a result, obedience to Him has been granted through fear of punishment, or through the hireling's hope of a reward. In the midst of this mental darkness, however, occasional shafts of light have broken through. We hear the Psalmist saying, "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." We find the prophet Isaiah saying, "God... is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." Such moments of light and song show that these thinkers had more than glimpses of the true God, now fully revealed to the world by Christ Jesus, and by Mary Baker Eddy through the teachings of Christian Science.
To see God truly in the light of Science, or scientifically, is to see Him as perfect, demonstrable Principle, unswerving and unalterable, operating through immutable and altogether beneficent laws. Christ Jesus through his words and works proved this Principle to be Love. Mrs. Eddy has declared the truth of the same Principle to this age in exact Science, thus opening the door of demonstration to any honest and faithful student. Christian Science teaches that it is impossible for Principle in its infinitude of goodness to cognize anything unlike itself. It cannot for one instant be conscious of aught that is evil or deserving of punishment. Habakkuk glimpsed this truth when he said of God, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."
In the teachings of Moses and of Jesus we see clearly the difference between the human concept of God as knowing good and evil, rewarding the former and punishing the latter, and the true spiritual concept of Him as Principle, "of purer eyes than to behold evil." The beloved apostle, John, expressed this difference most succinctly when he said: "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." An illustration of these differing concepts may be found in the story, as given in the eighth chapter of John's Gospel, of the woman whom the scribes and Pharisees would have stoned, according to the law of Moses, but the grace of Christ was present to heal her. The light of the beauty and tenderness of this story shines undimmed throughout the ages, a perfect example of true forgiveness. In the light of infinite divine Love, the unreality of sin was so clear to Jesus that all desire to sin was destroyed in the mind of the sinner, and she was set free.
