Editorial January 23, 1904 Issue

The Infinite Name

That wonderful Scripture, the 91st Psalm, is held in regard by Christian Scientists, not only on account of their Leader's special references to it, but also because of the help and comfort they receive from its inspired declarations. Like many other Psalms, it is antiphonal. In it thought passes from God to man, and the response is awakened, "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in him will I trust." In the fourteenth verse the divine assurance which crowns all the promises, expresses the reason for deliverance and uplifting, "Because he hath set his love on me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." It is surely clear that the Divine name as thus understood, inspires with perfect confidence and leads the worshiper to say, "In him will I trust."

In Christian Science we come to know God through those spiritual qualities which forever express good, and which are wholly separate from materiality and evil. As we gain this new understanding of God, our former beliefs,—the outgrowth of materiality,—are reversed one by one, and finally disappear. Through false education we had believed God to be conscious of evil, at the same time that we declared Him to be infinitely good,—a condition of thought which is at once illogical and self-contradictory. since infinite good would of necessity exclude all evil. To those tossed about on the waves of conflicting human opinions, the idea of God as infinite divine Principle comes with a blessed sense of security which anchors faith firmly upon the Rock of ages.

In the old thought the idea of Principle was the best that we would grasp, even though we did not analyze our reason for it. We recognized the fact that quite apart from their personal interests, their likes or dislikes, certain persons were honest and truthful, and we said, they are men of principle. This recognition was right so far as it went, but it did not go very far, and, because of human ignorance of what Principle really means, it did not satisfy the needs of the heart or mind. We had heard vague hints of a "life principle," but never until we felt the healing touch of Life divine did we know that its presence and power were demonstrable truth. Then divine Principle became an awe-inspiring word, and as day followed day our reverence for it was deepened. Here at last was the Life known to Christ Jesus,—Life unmarred by sickness, sin, or death, and as we have advanced in the understanding of Christian Science it has become clearer and clearer that no amount of sense-testimony can ever make Life less than infinite Principle,—the cause and sustainer of all that really exists.

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