THE words "law" and "order" are often used together, and rightly so, for in true law there is necessarily order. The very essence of law is order. Disorder, manifest as insubordination, disease, severe storms, and so forth, is lawless. God neither causes nor supports that which is contrary to His nature, and this fact must be established in the consciousness of those who would see order maintained in their experience.
The Bible assures us (Isa. 33:22), "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us." Salvation from disorders of every kind— ills of the flesh, death or the fear of death, sinful activities, catastrophes—is being worked out today by students of Christian Science through their understanding of the irrevocable divine order.
In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy-states (p. 190), "Jesus gave his disciples (students) power over all manner of diseases; and the Bible was written in order that all peoples, in all ages, should have the same opportunity to become students of the Christ, Truth, and thus become Godendued with power (knowledge of divine law) and with 'signs following.'" That all should have the same opportunity is in accordance with divine justice. Chance, favoritism, and special dispensations are contrary to law, therefore untenable.
There are no obstacles of time or space to the angels of God's presence. They constantly impart Truth to the receptive thought. The heart that is ready, always receives. Human needs are met, whether the need be for water in the desert, food and direction in the wilderness, or safety from a tempest at sea. The supplying of these needs is not miraculous, but is the manifestation of divine order, the evidence that there is no lack in God, who is All-in-all. Omniscience includes perfect law, which supports all right activity and nullifies that which is unlike good.
Many references to law in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, pertain to Mosaic law. In New Testament times the priestly class of Jews made ordinances and statutes for the administration and explanation of the law. In the twenty-second chapter of Matthew (verses 36-39) when Jesus was asked by a lawyer which was the great commandment in the law, it is significant that he answered that love for God is the first and great commandment, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is the second.
In the light of this answer it is evident that no statute based on fear, greed, lust for power, or the like, can be of God. Nor do we obtain redress from unjust human laws through hate, resentment, or malice. Our weapons are spiritual, even though needed human footsteps may take us into legislative chambers or courtrooms. Silent affirmations of God's equitable government of His entire creation have been shown to be more than equal to coping with error's most formidable array of resistance.
In human affairs certain laws and regulations are necessary to ensure justice for all. Good citizens support them. In this respect the Christian Scientist is law-abiding. But he is alert in refusing to bow down to spurious laws inscribed on the tablets of men's thinking by false beliefs, ignorance, and custom. One such so-called law is heredity, and its fetters are being broken by the realization that God is man's only real parent, his Father-Mother, Love, who knows no disease and therefore could make no laws to govern it.
Christ Jesus' clear warning against the belief that a human being could be a creator is a rebuke to beliefs of heredity. He said (Matt. 23:9), "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." The Master was not deceived by contradictory theories regarding matter; he knew that no disease could be inherent in the creation which his Father had pronounced very good, for the spiritually real is not subject to discord or decay.
Other so-called laws picture life as an extremely hazardous experience. From infancy to old age, according to this theory, there are varying stages to be undergone, each fraught with its own special disorders. Certain disabilities are considered inevitable. Some are even deemed desirable at particular periods—for instance, certain diseases—on the theory that these maladies might be more severe if experienced later in life.
This reasoning says in effect that abnormality is normal and that evil is sometimes good. If this were true, it would mean that God intermittently looses the reins of His government, or that the reins are wrested from Him by another power. From the standpoint of Christian Science this is neither possible nor logical, and the impossible and the illogical never occur in God's kingdom. Spirit does not produce its opposite, matter. Good has no traffic with evil. The real never merges with the unreal. The eternal can have neither beginning nor end.
To measure life by the human belief of time is to limit it in every direction. Man never comes to an untimely end, for man is the continuous witness to the orderly unfoldment of being. Your true identity and mine coexist with God. There is no death in the divine order of God's universe.
Who that has seen the beauty of a star-bright sky has not marveled at the order of the material universe? In "Retrospection and Introspection" our Leader writes (p. 87), "The poet's line, 'Order is heaven's first law,' is so eternally true, so axiomatic, that it has become a truism; and its wisdom is as obvious in religion and scholarship as in astronomy or mathematics." That this order is not so evident in men's government of themselves and their bodies stems from the maze of false knowledge which masquerades as law. Judged by the fruits of false law, which includes sickness, sin, and death, what is to be the verdict regarding false knowledge?
When we see so-called material law for what it is—a counterfeit—we cannot fear it. A counterfeit one-thousand-dollar bill has no more value or power than a counterfeit one-dollar bill, once the falsity is detected. Wisdom demands that we unmask all error, but more than exposure is needed to bring out in our lives the peace, harmony, and innate truth of all things. We need to see evil's unreality in the light of God's allness.
Down through the ages those whose thoughts and acts were regulated by their desire to serve God have glimpsed the purity of the divine order and have been enabled to heal themselves and others through their spiritual knowing. Today we have the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in which Mrs. Eddy was divinely inspired to reveal the laws governing all true healing. Such healing does not contravene divine law, but is a manifestation of this law in action, bringing into human focus that which is normal and natural.
The application of the truth, stirring up error, sometimes seems irritating. Mortal mind struggles against the exposure of its pretensions. This mental state, when a disordered belief is being corrected by Truth, Mrs. Eddy refers to as chemicalization, a state which is welcomed when understood. During this process of purification any seeming disorder must be seen as unreal, and the good needs to be seen as the only real. Nothing is too good to be true. Divine Truth naturally produces harmony. An ever-unfolding sense of the perfection of all things in Mind is man's heritage. In "Miscellaneous Writings" our Leader tells us (p. 104), "In obedience to the divine nature, man's individuality reflects the divine law and order of being."
Obeying the divine nature, we can rejoice with Paul (Rom. 8:2), "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The shackles of false law are powerless to bind those who know the eternal, infinite power that supports "heaven's first law."
