Some years ago a light passenger steamer made frequent excursion trips from its home port on the north shore of Lake Ontario down the River St. Lawrence to the scenic Thousand Islands, In the operation of this ship the duties of the crew usually were routine, but at times a most unusual duty became imperative. Whenever too many passengers on the upper deck moved to one side or the other, the ship's list would be excessive, if uncorrected. But two of the crew rolled some barrels of wet sand across the main deck. A long pendulum suspended in the center of the ship indicated when balance was restored for the time being. Evidently in this ship's design and construction its equilibrium for all possible loadings had not been fully considered.

The inherent instability of this ship was adjusted as occasion required on the sole basis of effect, a procedure that could not correct the underlying error in design. Somewhat similarly, unbalanced human relations, whether personal, national, or international, cannot be improved permanently without considering underlying cause, since the thoughts that produce the imbalances must be superseded by a higher level of moral integrity and spiritual understanding.

Christian Science teaches that perfect stability continuously exists in Mind, God, and is reflected in all its innumerable ideas and in the interrelationship of these ideas. On the human scene all desires and motives supported by spiritual understanding express, to some extent, Mind's inherent stability. This results from the action of divine law. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes this arresting statement: "There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause."¹

The law of stability is basic; it underlies the fact that divine Principle, God, maintains and governs His illimitable universe of spiritual ideas. Not the slightest departure can occur from this law's jurisdiction and operation. Each individual idea of infinite Mind, from man, the highest idea, to the least infinitesimal idea, continuously expresses this divine law of stability. The more fully understood by anyone, the more it is manifested in his human experience in less materialism, purer morality, and more spirituality.

All mankind need the stabilizing power and action of Principle in religion, national and world affairs, moral codes, economics, and family life. Specifically, mental confusion and uncertainty, fear, discouragement, loneliness, inharmony, and the like are annulled through the realization that man is conscious of, receptive to, and obediently expresses only the qualities derived from the Father-Mother God. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Sin, sickness, and death must disappear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal man. Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood."²

The understanding of the eternal action of divine Principle, Love, brings about such solutions of problems as are nearest right in the human situations. Harmony between individuals, and even nations, becomes adjusted according to the law of Principle instead of being limited or perverted by human desires and plans. Stability is attained to the degree that one understands that man includes only the spiritual qualities derived from God, his only Father and Mother. Christ Jesus both emphasized the importance of the selflessness that stabilizes human relationships and recognized the government of God.

Uncorrected self-love often results in one's becoming aloof from others or in being indifferent to their welfare. It is a large factor in the uneasiness and violent upheavals occurring today in the world. But genuine interest in one's fellowmen is impelled by divine Love. When such thinking is accompanied by morally and spiritually based action, it ensures better relationships. Conditions of human behavior and living, formerly believed to be due to physical causes only, are now recognized as resulting from mental disturbances, such as frustration, unhappiness, disrespect, being unwanted, and the like. Here Christian Science presents to all mankind the moral and spiritual truths that, when understood and applied, bring into their lives a foretaste of the stability founded upon divine Principle.

The Bible records the moral and spiritual poise expressed by several prominent characters in difficult human circumstances. Whether confronted by doubts that he was the promised Messiah or opposition to his teachings or utter disdain toward his healing works, Jesus expressed the poise derived from infinite Principle, Love. So he could say, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."³ He taught and demonstrated that the divine Mind is the sole source of man's reflected intelligence and wisdom. The human mind still needs the stabilizing impulsion and guidance of divine Principle, for thereby it can avoid paths of human knowledge that tend away from Spirit to matter.

Stability in the highest sense is an absolute quality; it is inherent in divine Principle, Love. Despite some material sense testimony to the contrary, the Christ, Truth, is irresistibly impelling and sustaining mankind's rising levels of morality and spirituality in accordance with Principle's stability. A New Testament prophecy is being increasingly fulfilled: "They shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest."⁴