John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, proclaimed, "God is love." What, then, is true loveliness? Does not the universe, including man in God's image and likeness, express "the loveliness of Love"? The answer must be in the affirmative, for, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, God pronounced His creation "very good."
Someone may ask, If this is true, why is there so much lack of health, prosperity, peace, joy, and love in the world today? Lack is no part of God's creation. All the evil that seems to be exists only as belief. It arises from the belief that God is the creator of both good and evil; that He is a changeable God, hence capable of both loving and hating; that man is mortal, having a mind apart from God; and that evil is equal in power with good. These beliefs are only the mists which have risen from the earth—nothingness— to obscure one's vision of the true creation of God, which expresses "the loveliness of Love." These warring, fleeting, unreal beliefs are destroyed through the relinquishing of one's wrong concepts of God, man, and the universe. One must apprehend God as Love, the only cause, who creates or knows nothing unlike Himself, for cause produces its likeness in effect. His creation is neither physical nor material, but spiritually mental, and is spiritually discerned. One must know that man's individuality and consciousness reflect God, and that no evil, whatever form it may seem to take, has any power to harm or touch him.
In studying the life of Christ Jesus, through the light thrown upon it by Christian Science, the student sees that Jesus' mission on earth was to meet humanity's one great need, to show men the way to think and act in accord with God's law of love. The master Christian was fully aware that the people were serving many false gods—the gods of creed, dogma, self, fear, hatred, and similar evils. Therefore, in his wisdom and compassion, he stressed these two commandments, which will stand throughout eternity: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus knew that humanity's salvation lies in strict obedience to these commandments. But because of their dense ignorance and material-mindedness his hearers were able to grasp only in a small measure the lesson of how to love truly. It remained for Christian Science to illuminate his teaching. This Science, which was discovered and founded by Mary Baker Eddy, is the very essence of Christianity. Its words are aglow with the same "loveliness of Love" found in the teachings of Jesus. The following statement by Mrs. Eddy, when understood and heeded, will firmly fix in consciousness an unbroken faith in Love as the divine Principle of genuine Christianity: "With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would . Consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science" (Science and Health, pp. 469, 470).
