Article July 20, 1907 Issue

PRINCIPLE UNVARYING

GEORGE M. CLOUGH

To the one who is just becoming interested in Christian Science the new idea of God therein presented is very interesting. Some people get a much clearer understanding of Him by using the synonyms,—Principle, Mind, Life, Truth, and Love. At first the word Principle seemed to convey to me a broader and deeper meaning. A little experience which I had soon after leaving school has helped me many times. I had been giving considerable attention to the subject of engineering, and as a neighboring farmer who lived on a hill had experienced much trouble in securing water for his stock, I suggested to him that a well be dug on a hill near by, and the water conveyed to his stable through a pipe. At first he did not look upon the project with much favor, believing from his sense testimony that the hill beyond was no higher than the one upon which his house stood. I ran a line of levels and showed him that a well could be dug a certain number of feet deep and the water could be brought to his stable without difficulty. After considerable discussion of the matter he decided to carry out the plan; but when the work was well under way, his good friends and neighbors would assemble daily and discuss the wisdom of what seemed to them so large an expenditure of money. They were staunch, kind-hearted, and intelligent men, whose opinions were of the best regarding a wood-lot, a field of grain, or a pair of horses; but they depended upon the testimony of their physical senses instead of relying on the principle or law of mathematics, and were very positive that I had made a mistake, for they said that any one who had half an eye could see that the hill upon which his stable stood was as high or higher than the one in which the well was being dug. Their arguments were so strong and plausible that they nearly convinced the farmer that he had better discontinue the work and not waste any more money.

I was young and inexperienced, and was influenced somewhat by the opinions of these older men, but I went over the ground again and checked up my work, and found that my figures and calculations were correct. I had some difficulty in convincing my friend that he was perfectly safe in proceeding with the undertaking, but finally succeeded. In due time the work was completed, the water was turned on, and everything was a perfect success. The lesson to me was, that all the human opinions of all the good people in the neigborhood or the world put together could not for a moment outweigh or destroy the principle of mathematics involved in this demonstration.

Our Leader says that in Christian Science "all must have one Principle and the same rule; and all who follow the Principle and rule have but one opinion of it" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 265). To me one of the great lessons from Mrs. Eddy's life is that she has always persistently clung to Principle, God, no matter how fierce the storm might be or what human opinion might say. Her platform has been the divine Principle, Love; her rule the Sermon on the Mount; her desire that all might know the Father aright; her cross the sorrow that her life-work is not better understood. To be right she has been willing to stand alone with God. To human sense this requires much sacrifice, but though the road be filled with thorns and ingratitude, victory crowns the effort. As I examine her work and life with care, these lines from her "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 389) come to me most forcibly:—

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