A Young attorney found himself pondering an aspect of courtroom procedure in connection with his study of Christian Science. He noted that after the presentation of evidence in behalf of a client, the attorney customarily states that he rests his case. A verdict is then awaited.
As the Scientist compared the giving of a Christian Science treatment to this procedure, he perceived an interesting lesson although he soon recognized a vast difference between the two approaches. First, he realized that even after expert presentation of facts in a legal case, there often remain certain doubts concerning the result. Regardless of the falsity of the accusations brought against the client, the resting of the attorney's case is often accompanied by trepidation and uncertainty regarding the ground covered and the verdict that will be given. He knows that human opinion, human emotions, and limited human standards of justice are involved in his case.
Christian Science prayer, however, is always positive. The Scientist knows that when his prayer is based on the spiritual understanding of God and His law the result evidenced must be in accord with His purpose. The Scientist has learned certain absolute truths of God and man, and he finds authority for these truths in the Bible. He maintains the truth that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that man is God's image and likeness. He affirms that this image and likeness can express and evidence only the qualities of his Maker, such as harmony, wholeness, abundance, and joy.
Relying on his spiritual discernment to bear witness to these truths, he accepts no testimony from the carnal mind, with its fraudulent claims. Having presented spiritual evidence, he knows that he can rest his case. He is confident of the result.
Christ Jesus, mankind's great Exemplar, handled every case of healing as one having authority. He had complete confidence in God's omnipotence and ever-presence. Because of his clear conviction of Truth, he was able to see through the illusory testimony of mortal mind, and there he rested every case. He never lost a case that came to him. He healed the sick, raised the dead, comforted the sorrowing, and redeemed the sinner.
Jesus did not depend on the judgments of mortality—indeed, the verdict of mortal mind would always have been negative— but he dealt with higher law, the very allness of God, divine Love, and this spiritual law invariably and inevitably affirmed man's innocence. It is through this holy consciousness of the law of divine Love, ever present with man, that the understanding of man's true identity is gained and the great fact of man's forever innocence is evidenced.
It is important that the Scientist realize that false evidence presented for his acceptance by mortal mind, no matter how apparently expert its presentation, is not supported by true witnesses or reliable testimony. Its only claim to existence is in its acceptance in human thought as real or powerful, just as the only power of dishonest and false testimony in a court of human law is its possible acceptance as fact by those concerned. Of no importance is the presentation of material evidence in the guise of medical authority or custom or human opinion; if testimony is based on the premise that matter is substance, it cannot stand in the court of Spirit.
The claim of matter, or mortal mind, that it alone has power to supply health, joy, prosperity, wisdom, may intimidate or impress one; but this claim can be met fearlessly and proved untrue in its very essence. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy makes this unequivocal statement of fact (p. 554): "There is no such thing as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings, because being is immortal, like Deity,—or, rather, being and Deity are inseparable."
The Bible relates the events which led to the committing of Daniel to the lions' den. Here, indeed, was the picture of innocence falsely accused. The carnal mind— jealousy, envy, hatred of spiritual integrity —attempted to have its false testimony accepted and, for a time, apparently succeeded. Daniel, however, turned from this false witnessing and placed his whole reliance on God. This spiritual reliance on the divine presence enveloped him in the protecting care of divine Love, which supplied the verdict of deliverance and preservation. He demonstrated that the rejection of false mortal testimony and confident reliance on God's law must result in answered prayer.
He announced his victory to the king in the following words, which also illustrate the spiritual requirement of guiltlessness (Dan. 6:21, 22): "O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt."
Through Christian Science one learns that his true security is based on radical reliance on God. He learns that God, divine Love, is the source of all good, supplying every human need through spiritual ideas. What divine Love supplies is always good and is never lost, for the substance of Love is eternal. With this assurance, the Christian Scientist is able to stand on the basis of his sacred, prayerful realization of the power of God.
Then he begins to feel the immediate presence of this infinite, all-pervading power. He acknowledges God's presence, and this acknowledgment eliminates the belief in a power apart from God. It brings to his receptive consciousness the conviction that man is here and now held in the loving care of his Father, God.
The real man, made in God's image and likeness, is always innocent. The human belief, however, is exonerated through reformation and restitution. While the sinning mortal thought must either awaken from its self-imposed mesmerism or continue to accept the verdict of suffering, the individual who knows he has been falsely accused by mortal mind has the right and the duty to defend himself.
Certainly Mrs. Eddy saw the necessity of vigorous action in this regard. She describes the procedure of spiritual defense and its result in these words in Science and Health (pp. 390, 391): "Rise in the conscious strength of the spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit. Blot out the images of mortal thought and its beliefs in sickness and sin. Then, when thou art delivered to the judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, 'Thou art whole!' "
