IT is not surprising that "the disciple whom Jesus loved," he who had perhaps been the Master's closest friend and confidant in the three years since, leaving all else behind, he had entered upon his vocation as a fisher of men, should have given us in his gospel and epistles something more of that infinite love and tenderness he had experienced and witnessed than it was possible for the other apostolic writers to transcribe. He who was privileged to lean on the Master's breast at that last supper, he who declared that "God is Love," he who knew how deep and wide was that all-embracing love wherewith the Master's followers had been blessed,—"as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you,"—he it was who set down for our guidance that new commandment which was the Master's parting word to his followers ere he went forth to the supreme demonstration of his love: "As I have loved you, that ye also love one another;" and John was but following divine precedent when again and again in his epistles he bade the followers of him who loved us to the end, "Little children, love one another," as if this were the prime essential, the very foundation stone of obedience to the Master's commands.
The practical significance of this new commandment to Christian Scientists is clearly set forth by Mrs. Eddy in one of her messages, wherein she presents a standard for her followers we shall do well to keep ever before us as a spur to more earnest endeavor to attain to its requirements. She says: "The new commandment of Christ Jesus shows what true spirituality is, and its harmonious effects on the sick and the sinner. No person can heal or reform mankind unless he is actuated by love and good will toward men. The coincidence between the law and the gospel, between the old and the new commandment, confirms the fact that God and Love are one. The spiritually minded are inspired with tenderness, Truth, and Love. The life of Christ Jesus, his words and his deeds, demonstrate Love. We have no evidence of being Christian Scientists except we possess this inspiration, and its power to heal and to save" (Messages to The Mother Church, p. 82).
Here, then, we have the goal for which we are to strive: we are to love one another with the love of the Master, with that patient, gentle, forgiving love which knows no evil except to destroy it; with the winning tenderness that brought repentance and reformation to the sinner, the while it rebuked the sin; and we are to give proof that we have this Christlike love within our hearts by daily, hourly practice of the precepts he taught and exemplified. Nor can we hope to manifest this love by the healing of the sick unless our inner thinking is conformed to the truth we profess. We need not bring our gift to the altar in the expectation that our offering will be accepted, so long as we are conscious that there is aught between us and a brother,—that one or the other is cherishing a feeling of resentment, suspicion, or envy. Everything that is unlike good must be cast out before we are deserving of God's blessing on the work we are trying to do, however praiseworthy our effort in itself may be.
