Article February 12, 1910 Issue

THE STATUTES OF TRUTH

HENRIETTA A. FIELD.

With each new by-law that our wise Leader gives to the Field, there must well up in the heart of every loyal student a great sense of love and gratitude, as he joyfully exclaims with the psalmist, "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes: ... the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: ... Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them is great reward."

David realized that right rules for living—statutes of Truth—were a most necessary and valuable possession for the man who was seeking to know God and follow in His ways. Neither did he leave one in doubt as to wherein lay their value when applied to daily life, but pointed out their effectiveness in "enlightening the eyes," "making wise the simple," and serving as a warning against hidden danger. And surely in close accord with this thought is our Leader's statement in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 148), regarding the origin of the rules and by-laws of The Mother Church, that "they were impelled by a power not one's own;" "they sprang from necessity, the logic of events,—from the immendiate demand for them as a help that must be supplied to maintain the dignity and defense of our Cause."

The basic laws and rules governing the expression of the truth have been given to the world in Science and Health, but the specific application must come by degrees; and so day by day our eyes are opened to some special phase of the truth which at this particular stage of growth must be emphasized and applied to human thought to make wise the simple and warn the unwary. In a degree, at least, every by-law for the members is such an application of the truth. It is a divine Magna Charta of individual liberty and true self-government, a boon of priceless worth, assuring protection in the right and defense against the wrong and involving also the most solemn obligations as to its careful observance.

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