IF our concept of love does not embrace something of the divine, if it is not pure, unselfish, uplifting, and compassionate, it is not love but its counterfeit. Mrs. Eddy says, "Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it" (Science and Health, p. 57). Love is also synonymous with helpfulness, and to help, according to the dictionaries, is "to assist." Another meaning of to love, though not so universally accepted, is "to prevent," from which it would seem that in order to be helpful, it is as essential to assist in preventing the expression of error as it is to assist in the manifestation of Truth. How much easier we have often found it to point out the way to our brother than to call his attention to the error which holds him in bondage! How often the fear of another's displeasure deters us from saying the cautioning word, until too late we realize that a mistake could have been avoided had we been more faithful to the opportunity, and remembered that the occasion, the word, and its fruition, belong alone to God!
Do we not excuse ourselves for a duty undone or an opportunity lost, whereby we might have benefited our brother, by the worn-out aphorism, "He is not ready"? Does not the desire to promote the mental ease of our dear ones by silently acquiescing with error, or to contribute to their material happiness through self-effacement on our part, often breed the very essence of selfishness and mental idleness on theirs? If Love finds it necessary, in order to promote our spiritual growth, to administer a wholesome chastisement to the children of men, and if personal effort, individual responsibility, and non-resistance to correction are essential to assist therein, should we not be willing to speak or listen to the word that brings the awakening to Christ's demands whenever divine wisdom points the way? Divine Love does not spare us one earthly experience required to purify the human consciousness from its belief in a material existence, no matter how much or how often personal sense is disturbed during the process.
We have a lesson illustrating this point in the tenth chapter of Mark, where it is related that a certain man came running, and kneeling at the feet of the Master, said, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Beholding him, Jesus loved him, and the expression of that love found utterance in these words: "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow me." The Master did not hesitate to uncover to the rich young man the dominant error in his consciousness, the love of possession, of temporal riches, that would shut him out of the kingdom, although Jesus knew that in so doing he must of necessity bring sorrow to material sense.
