Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.djvu/234

222 Handle this serpent in a scientifically Christian way, and it is nothing but a staff, like the rods of the Egyptian magicians in Pharaoh's court.

From ordinary medical practice, to Christian Science, the distance is full many a league in the line of light; but to go from the use of inanimate drugs in healing, to the criminal misuse of mortal mind, is to drop from the platform of common manhood into the very mire of iniquity. To work against the free course of honesty and humility, is to push foolishly against the current that runs heavenward.

Like the Commonwealth, Christian Science has its Bill of Rights: God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, conscience.

Man is self-governed only when guided by no other mind than his Maker's, and loving his neighbor as himself. The Divine Principle, the loving Father which formed him, keeps him in perfect peace, and this harmony is not to be tampered with.

Man's rights are invaded when this divine order is interfered with. The human trespasser necessarily incurs the divine penalty, due to this human error. The heavenly law is broken by this trespass upon man's individual right of self-government. We have no more moral right to secretly attempt to influence the thoughts of another, — unless the privilege is personally granted us, for the sake of the aid we may give in return, — than a man has to strike a fatal blow, except in self-defence.

The erring opinions of mortals, their conflicting selfish motives, and ignorant attempts to do good, often render them incapable of knowing or judging accurately the