CHRISTIAN SCIENCE teaches the absolute truth about God, divine Principle, and can therefore be depended upon. Its Discoverer and Founder, Mrs. Eddy, writes thus of it on page 329 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "There is no hypocrisy in Science. Principle is imperative. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a divine demand, not a human. Always right, its divine Principle never repents, but maintains the claim of Truth by quenching error." Revealing the truth about God, as it does, showing Him to be infinite good, infinite Life, Truth, Love,—divine Principle,—Christian Science has no taint of error about it. We can therefore carry its message to mankind with the full conviction that sooner or later it must be accepted in its entirety.
"Principle is imperative"! There is much food for reflection in the words. Think of what they imply! They mean, as Christian Science interprets them, that God is the supreme power of the universe, that He is the only real power, and that because He is infinitely good all the seeming forces of evil must give way to His reign, and that not partially but wholly. The Christian Scientist is assured of this. He can contemplate the final destruction of all evil as readily as did the beloved John, who saw in his vision "death and hell ... cast into the lake of fire." And the Christian Scientist can do so because through his understanding of God's—good's—allness, he has discerned the unreality of evil.
Now the world to-day is apparently the scene of an incessant struggle. The forces of good are ever opposing the seeming forces of evil. Vice with its hidden head is ever, in belief, seeking to bewilder men and lure them to destruction, while the agents of good shout words of warning, point out the danger, and seek to lead the unwary back to the paths of righteousness. What a debt the world owes to its reformers! Who can ever estimate the suffering, the sorrow, the woe, they have prevented? And there is not a single one of them who could have done anything to bring about repentance and reform had not Principle been imperative, had not good been the supreme power. Whether they know it or not, all who seek the good of their fellow-men are virtually acknowledging the supremacy of God and admitting the unreality of evil. For are they not trustful—yea, oftentimes full of trust—that good will destroy evil? And how could good destroy evil if evil were real?
The struggle between good and evil seems to go on. But "Principle is imperative," ever urging on the sons of men to do battle with all that appears to be unlike good. What a stirring up is taking place! How great is the turmoil in the world today! Moreover, since more of Principle is understood by men to-day than ever before, the stirring up, the turmoil, has never been greater. But if one would clean the muddy bed of a stream, he must stir up the water from its depths in order that the mud may be carried away by the current. So when Principle is brought to bear on wrong or immoral conditions in human life, it stirs up the unrighteous thought in order to bring about purification; and in the process there often ensues much suffering, because usually there is much opposition to Principle.
It is marvelous how God has revealed Himself to men; and it is wonderful how men employ Principle in their affairs! Think how Principle is evidenced in the administration of justice in civilized countries! It may be that sometimes injustice is done, but the aim of all civil law is to hold the balance level, to uphold and defend the rights of men. Can we not see that this has its origin in the fact that Principle makes itself felt as an imperative demand upon all men? And as in the administration of civil law, so it is in the making of civil laws, justice as between men is the aim. Well for the state, the nation, that its legislators be men of highest integrity, men, that is, who understand something of Principle and are obedient to its demands. Are those who appoint others to the highest offices of the state, or even to subsidiary offices, always as careful as they should be in selecting the fittest for these offices? Or do they allow themselves to be used as the tools of evil, instead of as the agents of Principle?
The imperative nature of Principle is much in evidence to-day in international affairs. Can we not for example discern, almost on every hand, the call of Principle to end war? What is the meaning of the attempts which are being made in all civilized lands to further the cause of arbitration but the activity of Principle working for the overthrow of all evil, war included? War, usually the result of blind passion, gross materialism, avarice, pride, hate, anger, revenge, lust for place, power, and privilege,—truly a hideous group, —must be exterminated, not only because it is a tragic blot on civilization, but because it is an offense against Principle. Nations may still require to retain their police forces, for the evildoer still remains; but surely the time has come when the firm resolve of all civilized nations should be to have resort to reason based on Principle, not to material force, in the settlement of their differences with each other.
This we can be certain of: the nation that trusts good, loves good, practices good, need fear nothing; it will certainly be protected by Principle. Jeremiah's words come to us (and they apply to nations as to men): "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." It behooves all men, therefore, to gain an understanding of God, as Principle, so that their faith may be firmly established in good, and evil may be seen by them to be an utter unreality. And it is not necessary, surely, to wait until all men acclaim the supremacy of good before nations take the step of making war impossible; those among them with the vision have the power now to enter into treaties which shall bind their peoples to the sweet reasonableness of arbitration in the settlement not of some, but of all their differences.
How easy it is to picture nation at perpetual peace with nation when each shall have come under the rule of Principle, divine Love! How wonderful it will be when sympathy, begotten of the understanding of Love, shall look out from the eyes of all men upon their fellow-men everywhere! "Principle is imperative;" and Principle demands that sympathy because Principle is Love. How terribly men are deluded when they think harshly and act harshly as individuals or nations towards each other! For then they are the poor victims of evil, that false mentality which the understanding of Principle is surely sweeping away, with a persistence and a certainty that will not be stayed.
Christians must face these great issues; it is their duty to do so. Did not Christ Jesus himself recognize the imperative nature of Principle when he gave as the two great commandments which all men should obey—that they love God more than all else, and their neighbor as themselves?
