"The right understanding of Him"

"NOTHING has retarded the advancement of learning more than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify that which they cannot understand." Since Samuel Johnson uttered these words, Truth has been patiently unfolding to the degree where this "disposition of vulgar minds," or, it may be as well to say, ignorance, is becoming less noticeable. Especially now has mortal mind good cause to hold its breath since the staggering shock from the first days' convening of the momentous Conference on the Limitation of Armament, in Washington.

When the United States of America was founded upon a concept of Principle, how much of the divine Principle the founders glimpsed no one knows, but it is evident that it was the Rock upon which they builded. It was the very truth that gave them the light to discern the liberty of the sons of God. Much has been written by Mary Baker Eddy on the subject of this sacred and glorious inception. She not only appreciated the significance of its birth but also with the foresight of the prophet she was to declare, in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 129): "I reluctantly foresee great danger threatening our nation,—imperialism, monopoly, and a lax system of religion. But the spirit of humanity, ethics, and Christianity sown broadcast—all concomitants of Christian Science—is taking strong hold of the public thought throughout our beloved country and in foreign lands, and is tending to counteract the trend of mad ambition."

Little need be said as to her correct vision, viewing it in the light of the world's events following this prophecy. When this modern prophet, in her clear and scientific manner, presented to the world the word "Principle" as a synonym for God, explaining Principle to be Love, she gave in this word the true nature of the immutable and unchanging First Cause. She defined God in such a way that all nations, races, and peoples could understand Him as well as worship intelligently. Her teaching of God as Principle also carried an answer to the great statesmen and idealists, for it answered the international problem of misunderstanding between nations and races. How often it has been remarked by great thinkers that the world suffers merely from misunderstandings, but no one ever offered the solution to the problem until the Founder of Christian Science spoke into the dull ears of a dark and ignorant world her clear, practical, and simple proclamation. "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle," she declares on page 390 of Science and Health, "which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony."

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Watchfulness
January 7, 1922
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