Article November 30, 1907 Issue

THE UNDERSTANDING OF PRINCIPLE

HENRY COLBORN SMITH.

When as a boy I entered upon a clerkship in a store in western New York. the proprietor took me into the office and showed me a safe with a combination lock, and informed me he wanted me to know how to unlock and open the safe. He stated that there was a "principle" which I should first understand, and that if I would thoroughly master it. I could always unlock and open the door; but if I varied in working the combination, that I would have to go back and commence all over again. In my boyish enthusiasm I tried and tried to open the door, but could not. I found I had not realized the great importance of thoroughly knowing the "principle:" but when I came to know and rightly understand it. how easily the door opened! A little later I went to Washington. D. C., and a friend took me to United States Treasurer Spinner, and he sent his secretary to show me the wonders of the Treasury of the United States. First of all we came to a tremendous iron door at the vaults. but he knew the combination. the door opened, and I was in the great storehouse of the wealth of this country.

The real need to-day in working out the great problem of life, is to have an understanding of Principle that shall open to us the door, that shall give us the true basis upon which to work, that shall solve life's problems. But some may ask. Is there such a Principle, and how is it to be found? Thanks be to God, Christian Science reveals divine Principle: it opens to us the door, Christ Jesus, and brings us into the great storehouse of God which contains the true wealth. There we find our Father's table all set. waiting for us to partake. We do not have to plead for the Father to give us of His bounty: oh, no, we have only to come and eat of the bread whereof if we eat we shall never hunger any more, and drink of the water of which Jesus spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria. He also said, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." The understanding of Principle enables us to open the door of Truth. Nothing but utter failure comes to us in trying to open that door without knowing the divine Principle, and Christian Science shows us how this knowledge is to be gained. Christian Science shows us the unreality of sin and disease. When we understand God through Science, Sin flees away. as darkness before the light.

Through the understanding of Principle as revealed by Christian Science, the unreality of matter is also seen, that it came from nothing, is nothing, and will return to its original nothingness; then sickness and sin will surely flee before the great reality. Truth. The recognition of Principle shows the unreality of death, that man's real self is eternal, immortal, "never born and never dying" (Science and Health, p. 258).

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