STANDING near the edifice of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, a gentleman, not a Christian Scientist, was heard to declare: "I always speak of Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer and Founder of the scientific application of the teachings of Jesus Christ. The members of her church certainly know how to be loving and kind, and how to smile. I hope some day to have time to take up the study of her teachings."
How to smile, how to be kind, how to be loving! Surely these are practical exemplification of the "scientific application of the teachings of Jesus Christ." But Christian Science does not stop with teaching its adherents how to smile and to be kind and loving. It teaches them emphatically that they should be the most practical of people under all circumstances, and in every detail of the daily round of human affairs.
What an example has their beloved Leader set for them in this respect! To Mrs. Eddy, God was a God at hand, ever available; and she discovered that His spiritual laws of good are ever present and ever operative; and to express this discovery, she introduced the term "divine Principle" as a synonym for God. Surely no better term can be found than this with which to express the practical and ever available nature of God, divine Love, and His infinite spiritual laws. Principle is absolute and invariable. Yet, like the accountant who recognizes the reliability of mathematical law, Christian Scientists need to realize that the absoluteness and perfection of divine Principle are demonstrated by degrees.
