One's standard is his model for action and determines the quality of his performance. We should give heed to what we are accepting as our standard and learn what the true standard of being is.

The dictionary gives two significant meanings of "standard" which when analyzed are found to coincide: "1. A figure adopted as an emblem by a people;... loosely, a banner. 2. That which is set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality."

The tenth chapter of Numbers recounts that in their wanderings through the wilderness the children of Israel rested until the cloud was lifted from off the tabernacle of God. When the cloud lifted, they gathered themselves under four standards to resume their journey: three tribes under the standard of Judah, three under the standard of Reuben, three under the standard of Ephraim (the heir of Joseph), and three under the standard of Dan. With the exception of Ephraim the metaphysical significance of each of these names may be found in the Glossary in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. A thoughtful analysis may lead the student to the self-searching questions: Which standard am I following? What are my motives, aims, pursuits? On page 247 of the textbook, lines 12 and 13, Mrs. Eddy defines the standards of mortals, a reference which finds corroboration on page 68, lines 2-4. With a depth of meaning she writes on page 553, "Mortal thought must obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or health will never be universal, and harmony will never become the standard of man."

The important questions are: What is the real standard of man? Is it merely a human conception, fallible and mortal? Is there nothing higher to guide and defend us in our life experience? Isaiah perceived the true standard, for he wrote (Isa. 59:19), "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Again, in the Song of Solomon occurs the beautiful promise (2:4), "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love."

On page 470 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy graphically describes the scientific standard. Under the caption "The divine standard of perfection" she writes: "The standard of perfection was originally God and man. Has God taken down His own standard, and has man fallen?" And in answer to the query she continues, "God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect." How strong and undeviating is the standard of holy revelation which causes all error to sink into oblivion!

Christian Science defines God in seven glorious synonyms, which may be found on page 465 of the textbook; it reveals God as All and man as the perfect expression of God, reflecting His attributes and manifesting His qualities. Man has no entity or being separate from God, no mind apart from the one Mind, no ego but the forever expression of the one Ego.

Christian Science reveals and demonstrates the meaning of "All" and "nothing." Its standard allows of no deviation, no compromise. Human opinions and interpretations weigh not one jot in the scale of Science. Science cannot be suppressed; neither ignorance, prejudice, nor pride can lower its standard, stay its power, or hinder the revelation. Says its inspired Discoverer and Founder in her book "No and Yes" (p. 10):"The life of Christ is the predicate and postulate of all that I teach, and there is but one standard statement, one rule, and one Principle for all scientific truth." Mind maintains its own standard of intelligence; Life its standard of flawless being; Love its standard of universality; Soul its standard of beauty, and Truth its standard of perfection and invariability. Nothing can thwart or stop or hinder the celestial expression of the divine standard.

Man in God's likeness measures up to God's standard. He is a perfectionist. He can no more lapse or fall from the standard of perfection than can God. He does not decline through age or accident; his Life is not impaired by disease or death; his faculties express the keenness of Soul; his purity exemplifies undeviating Principle; his substance reflects the everlastingness of Spirit. He has no existence, power, ability, or consciousness underived from God. The fact that there is but one creator and one creation precludes the discords of sense.

No standard of perfection impossible of fulfillment does Christian Science hold before its followers, for in Science the power that raises the standard is the power that fulfills it. To human sense this divine power of Love heals, regenerates, restores; divinely and scientifically it maintains the perfection of being in perpetual, uninterrupted harmony. Here, indeed, is "the banqueting hall" where the poverty and desolation of sense cease, and where His banner over all is Love.

Graphically does Isaiah describe the regenerating ministry of divine Science when he writes (Isa. 62: 10-12), "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. ...Say ye to the daughter of Zion. Behold, thy salvation cometh;... and thou shalt be called. Sought out, A city not forsaken."

For every heart and nation Christian Science raises the standard of perfection and proclaims the gospel of peace. No longer does the frustration of mortal mind hold sway, for Love, divine Principle, by reason of its impartiality, satisfies every right desire and hallows human experience with the tender benediction, "Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."

L. Ivimy Gwalter