Innocence is a lot more than simply being not guilty of a crime. In its highest sense, it is spiritual, an irrevocable law of God, an active force. When seen as such, it can destroy whatever attaches itself unlawfully to our concept of man. God-given innocence is righteous power, and it means freedom from sin and sickness.
In this sense, then, active innocence heals mental retardation. It does this by-bringing the spiritual concept of purity— the perfection of God and His idea, man, as revealed in Christian Science—to victims of mental retardation.
Many of Christ Jesus' healings demonstrate this law of innocence at work. We find a healing of this sort in Mark. It involved a young man afflicted with a dumb spirit. To those who knew the boy, the evidence must have seemed conclusive and long-entrenched. To all appearances this lad's true individuality had been completely swallowed up by this disturbance.
