"WHAT a word! I am in awe before it" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 249). Thus spake our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, of Love; and thus do all thoughtful students of Christian Science echo the words as they glimpse something of that with which her far vision inspired her. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." To dwell in God is to think as God thinks, to see as God sees, to feel as God feels; in short, to reflect only divine qualities, to abide in the consciousness of good. From this it follows that we truly love only as we gain God's view-point; and we gain this view-point only as we understand God, and become "of purer eyes than to behold evil." To love is to gain spiritual understanding. Paul said, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
If one believes that in himself he has the gift of prophecy, this very sense of self brings him that vision of both good and evil which so often inspires fear. The deeper one delves into the mysteries of false sense, believing that he has in himself the power to penetrate these so-called depths, the farther he journeys from what Paul names the "mystery of godliness," divine Love! And if he claims all knowledge, ignorant that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," a wisdom that includes the belief in both good and evil, and claims it as a proud possession of a mind separate from God, this very claim is worse than nothing; for he must retrace his steps, until he finds again the childhood of humility, the wisdom of self-surrender.
If one has a false sense of his own mentality as all-powerful, a seemingly absolute faith in the power of thought, but unallied with love, the outward manifestation of this sense of faith may be expressed in a betterment of physical conditions. If, however, these seeming works of faith be but in self-exaltation, and not to bless mankind and glorify God, they too are nothing; for, as the apostle points out, though one give all his possessions to feed the poor, and his body to be burned, if he is lacking in that charity which is love, all this is of no avail. If one should give all that he has materially, to those he deems poor, and give it ostentatiously, believing that by so doing he is impoverishing himself, it indeed profits him nothing. His false sense has robbed him of the realization that there is but one source of supply, namely, Love, that is "impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals" (Science and Health, p. 13).
