THERE are many who, according to material sense, have been robbed of their dearest earthly treasures, as though by some unseen monster against which they struggled in vain, while the clouds thickened and enveloped them in the darkness of despair. These know something of the claim of life in matter which leaves one without hope and in utter helplessness, while a sense of loneliness and of cruel separation would drag him down to the very depths of mortal misery. In such a mental state one cannot see God's sunshine, for all that is dear seems gone forever from him into the great unknown. Happiness without the old companionship seems impossible, and the aching heart but a void, out of which comes no response to the call of kind friends who would have us look up and see the beautiful promise everywhere. But in Christian Science we learn that Life has not changed! Truth has not changed! Love has not changed! "I am the Lord, I change not," says the infinite Father, and all the while, round about and tenderly supporting us, are "the everlasting arms," for, as an old hymn says,—
The love of God is broader
Than is seen by human mind,
And the heart of the eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
Divine Love is waiting,—yes, waiting for us to turn to it; patiently waiting until the poor, tired, human sense is ready for the blessing. Then is the curtain of material sense gradually lifted, as we are able to bear the light,—the light of Truth, whose coming dissipates the darkness, and we begin to see that what seems so inscrutable is only so from our lack of understanding. Some day we shall rise above the limitations of matter, but so long as we are controlled by material sense we can never know what Love is, for, as Mrs. Eddy says, "the underived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the alone God, is Love" (Miscellaneous Writings, p.250). Neither can we know Love through the so-called carnal mind, which thinketh itself something and believes in a power apart from God, good, but we can and we do know Love through the spiritual consciousness of good, which is God-given and the way, for does not the Bible say, "Every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God." It is through the human consciousness, reaching out for and absorbing good, that Love reaches us, and we learn that Love is a vitalizing Principle, not in or of matter; that our God, Spirit, is Love, a dear Father who is "not far from every one of us." It is in Love that we live, and move, and have our being. How, then, can there really be any separation? How can there be any loneliness, helplessness, or void in our hearts?
