Nothing could be more beautiful from a spiritual point of view, or more of a rebuke to personal condemnation, than the attitude of Jesus toward the adulterous woman who was presented to him for judgment by the scribes and Pharisees. After her accusers had left, self-convicted, Jesus said, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?" She replied, "No man, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." According to Mosaic law she was guilty. The Master uttered no word of condemnation, but only a warning to the woman, "Go, and sin no more."
In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in the chapter entitled "Christian Science Practice," Mary Baker Eddy presents an allegorical trial, in which "Mortal Man" is shown to be accused by "Personal Sense," found guilty in the "Court of Error," and sentenced to death. The case is then appealed to the "Supreme Court of Spirit." There, as it is written (ibid., p. 442), "The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience-chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty."
What a glorious outcome! Accused and convicted by mortal mind and then judged "Not guilty" by divine law! How vital it is, in the healing of disease, for the student to know that man is "innocent of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such laws" (ibid., p. 442); that error is but a figment of mortal mind, not a creation of God, no part of God's man, and that by identifying his true self as spiritual one is freed from bondage to error. It is only the lying testimony of material sense which accuses one of sickness and would demand the penalty of death. Learning that he is not guilty of an offense against material law, which does not really exist, one is saved from unfair punishment. Spirit sees only that which is spiritual, and Spirit's creation is innocent of transgressing unreal laws. While Mrs. Eddy points out that sin brings punishment, she shows that from all sickness and sin there is a way of escape.
