It is a well-known fact that many unnecessary and profitless discussions take place because people do not define the terms they are using. Often people think they disagree, where there is no real disagreement, solely because they are using the same terms in different ways without being aware of the fact. In any important discussion, it is desirable that terms should be clearly defined, and accurately used and understood. Never is this more important than when the subject of conversation is God.

Frequently the question is asked, Is God personal? Now no helpful or intelligent answer can be given to this question without carefully considering what is meant by the word "personal." Does the question mean, Is God anthropomorphic? That is, Is God like a human being, subject to anger, jealousy, changeableness; does He have a physique like a mortal; is He finite and limited? If such be the meaning of the question, then the answer is, No!

But, on the other hand, if the question means, Is God the ever present, ever conscious Supreme Being, who loves and understands all, and who may be loved and understood by all? then surely the answer is, Yes! For God is the self-existent, self-sustaining, eternal, all-wise, infinite One, who knows all that is knowable, and who produces and sustains, loves and governs, all that has actual existence. Christian Science makes plain the fact that not only is God personal in the higher meaning of the term, but that indeed God is the infinite Person. On page 116 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: "As the words person and personal are commonly and ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality, as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is infinite Person,—in the sense of infinite personality, but not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form is an absolute impossibility."

The individual who would understand God aright must never lose sight of the fact that God is the ever conscious, ever active Supreme Being. Not only does God know, and love, and understand; but true thinking and true affection are made possible to men solely because God, the one infinite cause, is the all-knowing, all-loving divine Mind, which is reflected by man and the universe. All true thoughts emanate from God, and remain forever under His government and care. In her book, "Unity of Good," Mrs. Eddy makes this statement (p. 48) : "To me God is All. He is best understood as Supreme Being, as infinite and conscious Life, as the affectionate Father and Mother of all He creates; but this divine Parent no more enters into His creation than the human father enters into his child. His creation is not the Ego, but the reflection of the Ego. The Ego is God Himself, the infinite Soul."

The fact that God is the Supreme Being makes possible and necessary the existence of His real identities, with their individualities. The materialistic view that we exist as conscious thinking beings, but that we have been evolved by and from nonintelligent matter, is a theory which Christian Science shows to be entirely illogical and therefore impossible. Like produces like. Only God, the ever conscious Supreme Being, can produce His conscious creatures. Thus the individualities of men exist because God is the infinite Person, and as such creates countless spiritual individualities to express His nature. All these spiritual individualities exist in God, and are governed by Him. God knows, understands, and loves them, every one.

Just as the existence of real identities is made possible by the existence of the one Supreme Being, so the existence of real law is made possible solely because God is the infinite, all-knowing divine Mind. Real law is always produced and sustained by real intelligence. Much of the cruelty of the human race is traceable to humanity's false belief in a cruel God. In a similar way, much of the coldness and heartlessness of mortals results from the fallacy that there exists a law which emanates from nonintelligent matter. Both these phases of error vanish when a true understanding of law is gained. Then the comforting fact is realized that the only real law is divine law, which emanates from God, the infinite and perfect One, and forever governs the expression of His infallible wisdom and boundless love.

Sometimes a Christian Science teacher or practitioner may come in contact with a student of Christian Science who is making the mistake of using the word "Principle" almost exclusively for God, while neglecting to make use of other synonymous terms, such as Mind, Love, Life, Truth, Spirit, Soul. A few questions may then bring out the fact that this student is thinking of God as some sort of vague abstraction, and is thereby losing sight of the fact that God is the ever present, ever conscious Supreme Being. Prior to the discovery of Christian Science, the more enlightened portion of the human race became accustomed to think of the word "principle" as relating to that which is obedient to law or sustains law, and which is unchangeable, stable, reliable. But the word "principle" was not understood by them to be inseparably connected with divine consciousness or intelligence. Mrs. Eddy was the first to define and to use this grand word in its highest and most exalted sense. She perceived the fact that there is in reality but one Principle, and that Principle must be divine, infinite, and conscious. She saw that God, divine Love, is the one and only Principle, as surely as He is the one and only Mind. She saw also that, just as the beauty of the sky and the flowers points to the beauty that resides in the divine Mind and must be expressed, so the reliability and stability found in the law of mathematics points to the unchangeableness of the one eternal cause, God. On page 226 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy says: "What are termed in common speech the principle of harmonious vibration, the principle of conservation of number in geometry, the principle of the inclined plane in mechanics, etc., are but an effect of one universal cause,—an emanation of the one divine intelligent Principle that holds the earth in its orbit by evolved spiritual power, that commands the waves and the winds, that marks the sparrow's fall, and that governs all from the infinitesimal to the infinite,—namely God."

Any one who desires to love God and his fellow-men in the full and perfect way required of Christians, and of Christian Scientists, must gain a correct understanding of God as the infinite Person. The more clearly one perceives that God is the Supreme Being, who knows and understands all His creatures, who tenderly loves and cares for them all, the more easily and naturally he loves God and mankind. John recognized that the great love which he found welling up in his own heart and in the hearts of his fellow Christians was due to the fact that Christ Jesus, through his teachings and his life, had made plain how deep, and broad, and all-embracing is the love which the Father in heaven feels for all His children. Hence John's declaration, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Throughout the Scriptures, in the Old Testament as well as in the New, God is presented as the self-existent, self-sustaining Supreme Being. All the Old Testament workers whose words and works inspire and bless us to-day, looked upon God as the divine Being, whom they could love and reverence for His great kindness to His chosen people. Abraham was called God's friend because he had become acquainted to a certain extent, with God, and had learned that God is man's friend. Moses came to know God as the great I AM. When he went back to Egypt to lead his people out of bondage and into the promised land, he knew that he was carrying out no mere human purpose, but the beneficent purpose of the all-wise I AM. So clear and definite was Moses' sense of intimacy with God that the Scripture records that "the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." The generous heart of David constantly overflowed with gratitude to God, the Giver of all good, because he became well aware of the wonderful bountifulness of God's love. With overflowing joy David proclaimed, "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare."

Because none of the Old Testament writers understood God fully, they sometimes made the mistake of attributing to Him mere human qualities. Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, never made that mistake. He understood God perfectly, and revealed God's nature just as it is, as it always has been, and as it ever will be. Now Jesus, our Exemplar, constantly talked about God and to God in the most intimate and tender manner. He communed with his Father, and followed His guidance every step of the way. He carried out the blessed purpose of his Father to make known to all mankind the true nature of God and His Christ. Can it be doubted that the Master understood God to be infinite Person?

To-day, thanks to the life and the work of Mary Baker Eddy, God's chosen messenger to this age, the Scriptures—so long misunderstood—have been unlocked, and the Science of Christ's Christianity has been fully revealed and set forth in fulfillment of Jesus' own promise, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth." Gradually this Comforter, Christian Science, is awakening people to perceive the intimate friendship which exists between God—as infinite Person—and His sons and daughters. Its beneficent ministrations will continue until all men know God aright.

Then will all rejoice in a full realization of John's grand declaration, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Copyright, 1926, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917. authorized on July 11, 1918.