All thinkers have seen that there is a wide difference between a thing itself and the ordinary concept of it, and this is even more true in respect to the divine idea and the human concept of that idea. With wonderful insight Mrs. Eddy chose out of human language the words which best express essential truth, and used them in giving to the world the divine Science discovered by her. Thus we find in Science and Health the terms Life, Truth, Love used to express God, and for this there is abundant Scriptural authority. It should, however, be noted that these words, and the others used in Science and Health to express Deity, represent infinite being unmixed with any element of evil or even a knowledge of it, whereas the human concept of life, truth, and love includes such an admixture of evil that sometimes the sense of good, as thus conceived, is almost overshadowed by the sense of evil.
This is very apparent when we consider human life in its ordinary significance. In general thought it stands for a hopeless blending of good and evil, the possible good finally disappearing in the dark dream of death. Here the student of Christian Science would say that according to our textbook good and evil never blend, and this vital truth is the basis of the healing work done in Christian Science. In starting with God as the Principle of being, we begin to grasp a concept of Life and Love as absolutely changeless and perfect, and this becomes the standard to which we strive to attain at any cost. A moment's consideration will show us how faulty also is the ordinary concept of love, when most people outside of Christian Science would protest if they were told that Love means God, and yet this is what St. John declared and what Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated at all times. The unchanging nature of Love as spiritually understood to be God and His reflection, is made very clear in these words of the Master: "If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." To this he adds, "But love ye your enemies, and do good, . . . hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil;" in other words, God is unchanging Love.
To reach this divine concept of Love, with all it implies, we need to understand these words of our revered Leader: "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine" (Science and Health, p.14). The mortal belief in man as material, and governed by material law from his conception to his death, gave rise to the grossly sensual pagan concepts of Deity which undermined the very foundations of their existence for the greatest nations of the past. While it is true that we find in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, a purely spiritual concept of Deity, Christendom as a whole has failed to see that this demands of all men a spiritual concept of life and love, for otherwise man would be separated from God and wholly unlike Him.
Christian Science is daily proving that only the pure spirituality taught and lived by Christ Jesus and inculcated anew in Christian Science can save the world from the deluge which sensualism inevitably brings,—from the sin, disease, and death which result from false concepts of life and love. If God is Love, then lust, however disguised, is hate, and St. James tells us that lust "bringeth forth death." The apostle Peter epitomizes this subject in a wonderful way when he says in his first epistle, "Seeing ye have purified your souls [sense] in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
At this period, as never before in human experience, good and evil are coming to the surface; the mortal concepts of life and love are assuming new forms, and "strange fire" is being offered upon the altars. The old is undoubtedly passing, but until we lay hold upon that which is spiritual and eternal no forward steps will really be taken. We may rejoice, however, that purer ideals are being welcomed everywhere, and mankind are coming to see that purity and happiness are inseparably linked together. Thus we find Mrs. Browning saying,—
Oh you,
Earth's tender and impassioned few,
Take courage to entrust your love
To Him so named who guards above
Its ends and shall fulfil.
Even the best earth-love, that of a mother for her child, needs purification, for it hurts where it should protect, because of its many fears; but we are assured in Holy Writ that when the perfect concept of love comes, it will cast out all fear. Our Leader, who has taught us the healing power of divine Love, tells us that she stands in awe before this word (see Miscellaneous Writings, p.249), and shall we dare to take this name of our God "in vain" by lowering or limiting in any wise its meaning, or by closing our ears to the Christ appeal: "Love one another; as I have loved you"?
