There is nothing that you and I can do to prevent divine Principle from being what it already is. Divine Principle is the source of invariable, universal spiritual law. Principle, God, cannot be personally limited, personally possessed, or personally controlled. It operates free of restrictive human personality, restoring harmony to our daily affairs when we acknowledge its might and presence.

Divine Principle holds the spiritual universe and man eternally perfect. This is the truth of all being, and it is the truth of our being now. We need to establish it in our thoughts and acts, humbly giving up the material concept of God and His creation.

Divine Principle is always correct and consistent, and the more spiritually correct and consistent we are in what we think and do, the more our lives come under the government of Principle.

Mortal mind, the supposed opposite of the one divine Mind, would resist the requirements of Principle as restrictions that hamper individual freedom. Even an earnest Christian may at times shrink from the demands of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount and turn to the comparative comfort of human opinion and self-justification. But the divine Principle that underlies Christian Science Mind-healing is not at the beck and call of personal desire.

"In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless," writes Mrs. Eddy. "Proof is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers at the application of the word Science to Christianity cannot prevent that from being scientific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated according to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof." ^{Science and Health, p. 341;}

Vivid Bible stories tell of men who, impelled by Principle, adhered to a higher moral standard than those about them. Others, awakened to the need of conforming to Principle, were transformed and exalted above their fellowmen. The Psalmist certainly felt the joy of living in obedience to divine Principle when he said, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." ^{Ps. 40:8;}

Temptation to deviate from the standard set by the Science of Christ seems insistent at times. No one is exempt from the law of Principle. Love chastens us and corrects our infractions of divine law, gently leading us into the right path.

Once we realize that strict obedience to moral and spiritual law brings us the greatest happiness, we won't lower our standards to please another or abandon them under persecution. When we are in accord with Principle, we are as honest in private as we are in public.

Though the world called them miracles, Christ Jesus' healing works were manifestations of a life in accord with Principle. His teachings lifted his followers toward that higher sense of existence from which he himself never wavered. Preaching to them of one heavenly Father, he refused to acknowledge human ties. And when one man referred to him as "good Master," Jesus quickly pointed to the impersonal source of all good, saying, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." ^{Mark 10:18;}

What is it that lures us away from what we know is upright, that causes us to feel separated from God? Christian Science identifies this supposed influence as animal magnetism. In essence, it is the lie that life is in matter. It would contaminate our consciousness until we seem capable of committing wrong—and then quite willing to excuse ourselves from any blame!

"There is no hypocrisy in Science," Mrs. Eddy writes. "Principle is imperative. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a divine demand, not a human. Always right, its divine Principle never repents, but maintains the claim of Truth by quenching error." ^{Science and Health, p. 329.}

If divine Principle never repents, then the repenting must go on in human consciousness. But how grateful we can be that we don't have to make ourselves over into perfect mortals! In truth we are as perfect now as we'll ever be, because we're actually immortal spiritual ideas, expressive of God's own being. In reality there are no inferior or superior mortals, no good or evil mortals—no mortals at all. Our work is to consistently correct false concepts of ourselves and others with the truth of spiritual creation. Then we'll know God so well that we'll naturally conform to Principle. We won't doubt His care or feel outside His presence or lose our Christliness.