The herald., 1921-03-17
A LECTURE
ON
Christian Science
Entitled
Christian Science;
The True Standard of Right
By
Bliss Knapp, c. S. B.
Member of the Board of Lectureship
of The Mother Church, The First
Church OF Christ, Scientist,
in Boston, Massachusetts.

An ex-mayor of New York declared
not long ago, that "a person who wants
to be honest nowadays must be a
crank on honesty" That is just
forcible way of describing the present
conflict between good and evil, and the
extent to which one must go to main
tain his standard of right. Nations
and individuals have been aroused as
never before to combat a movement
commonly known as BOlshevism; and
while armed forces have gathered to
oppose its military Entertainments, its
mental forces of decentralization in
business and society operate apparently
unhindered. But there is a remedy
for such hidden evils in the promised
Comforter which Jesus described, not
as a person, but as the Spirit of
truth" which will guide you into all
truth" When Christian Science
brought a return of primitive Chris
tan healing, it raised that standard
of Truth which makes us free in mind
and in body.
remember when child, with what
amazement l first discovered that some
people do not always speak the truth ;
and | remember my perplexity as
begged to be told how to detect false
hood in ordinary conversation. My
difficulty gradually disappeared as
began to learn in Christian Science
that a right sense of honesty, based
upon Principle, is keen detective OF
dishonest motives. We sometimes
speak of that natural discernment as
intuition; for intuition is the ex
pressed intelligence of spiritual quail
tiles. This may explain why so many
spiritually minded women often go di
rectly and unerringly to the very heart
of problem which seems to battle the
reasoning process of others. That
very directness is sometimes called "a
woman's reason"
Questionable Standards.
i
absolute standard of right, generally
have a flexible standard which is
sometimes called the law of neces
sity." This phrase, the law of neces
sity," applies to those who are honest
in appearance, but who are quite ready
to act dishonesty whenever the re
ward seems to shift about. Such &
variable standard must be policy oil
deception, and not Principle. In the
book of Job, in the Bible, you may re
member how Satan once challenged
the purity of Jobs goodness, possibl.
because the Deceiver is always thu
most deceived. So he insisted tina
Jobs goodness was nothing but sub
terfuge to gain some reward in heaven
that is to say, form of selfishness
Those who make selfishness instead o
Principle the standard of their actions
must agree with Satan in upholdin.
the law of necessity" But the fran
ers of the American Declaration o
independence recognized an eterna
Truth when they wrote that mel
ARE endowed by their Creator will
certain unalienable rights; that amonl
these are life, liberty, and the pursui
of happiness" The God of Christen
dom, therefore, is the divine Principl
or Creator of those life-giving and lii
Grating fruits of the Spirit, which ar
expressed unselfishly in right-minde
men and women everywhere.
An intelligent pagan of education
and refinement may be found obeyin
the ordinary canons of honesty, bt
cause he has learned that honesty vii
serve his best interests, therefore h
will be found acting as honestly as h
can. But his standard of honesty
not the Christian God, or the divin
Principle of honesty; for he worship
god fashioned by the hand of mar
So long as he has no Principle, he ca
have no real qualities derived froI
Principle, and therefore no real sens
of honesty. Thus mans standard G
right depends entirely upon the natur
of the God he worships.
According to the Century Dictionar.
There are no two words in the En-.
lish language used so confusedly on
for the other as the words rule an
D. inciple. =. :. :. You can make ra;,
you cannot make principle; you ca
lay down rule; you cannot, properl
speaking, lay down principle. -.
You can only declare it. II is
principle that the Sabbath was mad
fer man." The fact that the fourt
Commandment is an emanation frol
Principle was the lesson Moses learne
from his experiences in the wilderne:
with the mama. Always thel
was enough for their daily supply an
nothing more; but on the sixth day,
supply of bread for two days could /
gathered. The same God who supple
the Children of Israel with food
eat for forty years, also set apart Ii
seventh day for a sabbath rest frol
toll. This same God or Principle su
| too IL