One of the vital names for God which our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has revealed to us, is divine Principle. The word "principle," from a Latin word which means "beginning," is defined as "a source or origin." All that is real, all that is good, has its origin in God. Mrs. Eddy has told us that the Bible was the basis for her revelation of Christian Science, and we find Scriptural authority for 'her definition of God as Principle in the opening words of the book of Genesis, "In the beginning God . . ." and in John's assertion: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
One seldom thinks of principle without thinking also of law. The dictionary defines the two words in terms of each other. Christian Science teaches that law is the spiritual and moral force of Principle, evidenced in its rules and commandments. The law which is based on divine Principle is changeless, dependable, and unerring. The laws which mortals make to govern themselves and their fellows, while in many instances constructive and worthy of obedience, are simply rules of human conduct and are not infallible. For instance, the traffic law, being a rule of human conduct and not a statement of unchangeable fact, can under proper conditions be modified or even suspended.
The law of divine Principle, however, cannot be set aside or ignored, for it is not just a system of man made rules; rather is it the essential governing power of that which really is. An example of this may be seen in the science of mathematics. Three times three equals nine is the statement of a changeless, unerring fact. A poor student of arithmetic may say that three times three is six, and using this in computing a problem, obtain the wrong answer. But he would not have changed the mathematical law that three times three is nine. That law remains unaffected, having no relation to his mistaken concept of it. So it is with the law of divine Principle, which governs man, God's perfect image and likeness. Though mortals may fail to grasp it and bring its beneficent results into their experience, it remains unchanged, constantly and unfailingly ordering man and the universe aright.
