That love and duty, though often seemingly opposed to each other, are and should be one and the same, is clearly set forth in "the great commandment of the law" as pointed out by the Master, namely, to love God supremely and one's neighbor as one's self. Thus indissolubly linked together by the Supreme Lawgiver, man's chief duty may be summed up as the constant, habitual exercise of love,—love for the creator and giver of all that is good, and love for one's fellows,—children of "our Father which art in heaven."
If, then, each and all, we were to make obedience to the great commandment that which it is, our chief duty, it is easy to see wherein, so far as an occasion for their observance was concerned, the remaining commandments might be blotted out from the Decalogue; in other words, implicit obedience to the first commandment would render impossible a breach of the others. Paul had discovered this profound truth when he wrote, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
There is, therefore, sound and unquestionable logic in Mrs. Eddy's enjoinder upon her followers in the faith: "Keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them" (Pamphlet, What our Leader Says). The consciousness that is occupied, dominated, by Truth and Love, has put up an impregnable defense against the assaults of error of any kind; it is a citadel whose sentries are ever on duty, and against which the hosts of evil hurl themselves in vain. It is clear, then, that such a consciousness could work no ill to his neighbor; it could express only love, and in this fulfilment of the law render that obedience which God requires.
