A special characteristic of Mary Baker Eddy was the universality of her love. To her, love was not a finite, personal thing, to be showered upon some and withheld from others. Our Leader saw Love as the governing Principle of the universe, expressing itself in rhythmic order and unbroken harmony from the tiniest blade of grass to the farthest reaches of the stars. And she demonstrated this Love in her own life. It is out of the amplitude of her love that she writes: "The simplest problem in Christian Science is healing the sick, and the least understanding and demonstration thereof prove all its possibilities. The ability to demonstrate to the extent that Jesus did, will come when the student possesses as much of the divine Spirit as he shared, and utilizes its power to overcome sin." And she adds, "Opposite to good, is the universal claim of evil that seeks the proportions of good." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 55;
How chastening is the thought that the ability to demonstrate as Christ Jesus did will come when we possess "as much of the divine Spirit" as he did, and utilize "its power to overcome sin"!
The sin that must be overcome is the belief that something exists besides God and His idea, that life is in matter and that there is a power which can oppose the supremacy of Spirit. This is the universal claim of evil from which Christian Science is saving the world. Healing the sick is the clarion call; the destruction of sin is the goal. Like our Leader's, our love must be universal. It must rise to heights of heaven, while reaching into the very depths of human woe. Christian Science has come not to bring ease in matter but to destroy material sense. The Master said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword."Matt. 10:34; Yet he also said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."John 10:10;
How is material sense destroyed? Through "the universal solvent of Love." Love is the only thing that can do it. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures, "In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,—self-will, self-justification, and self-love,—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death." Science and Health, p. 242;
Divine revelation reduces all error to false belief, to a misstatement of truth. It is mesmerism which makes mankind believe that matter governs man, that it has life, truth, intelligence, and substance; and the verity of being exposes the falsity of this belief. Here it may be noted that Webster's first definition of "adamant" is, "an imaginary stone of impenetrable hardness." This hints the fact that error is but a mirage of mortal mind, devoid of reality, hardness, or power to resist. Thus the truth of Christian Science, as stated in Science and Health, is a stupendous pronouncement of universal Love, freeing humanity from the thralldom of matter and fulfilling the Scripture, "Now are we the sons of God." I John 3:2;
We may well be encouraged by the tenderness of this injunction, "In patient obedience to a patient God." Our Leader knew the obduracy of evil's false claim. She knew the trials and hardships that beset the path of him who challenges it; and so she tenderly counsels her followers to patience, not discouragement—to patient obedience. She knew that earth's problems are not all solved in a day—her own life experience proved this—and she knew they did not have to be. Divine Love is infinitely patient, and always available. She knew, too, that Christian Science is a call to action; that apathy, idleness, procrastination, are animal magnetism, the term for all evil. She calls upon us to labor, to be vigorous and prompt in action, knowing that in the measure of our obedience God will do the rest.
The universal solvent is Love. What else could it be? The solvent of Love dissolves whatever needs dissolving, leaving no harshness, no friction, no rigid resistance. Before Love the adamant of error melts into nothingness. And we do not have to infuse the power into the solvent! The power is Love itself. All we have to do is to reflect this Love.
Is it not obvious that self-will, self-justification, and self-love are the adamant of error? Are not these at the root of every family feud, every dishonest act, every crime, every church dissension, and every war among the nations? Is not the mighty Science which the Master taught and demonstrated the only thing that can solve the problem?
How are sickness and disease to be eradicated from the human mind and hence from human experience but by the revelation and demonstration that man is wholly spiritual? How is poverty to be conquered but by seeing that in truth man is the heir of God and that the bestowals of divine Love are impartial and universal? How is the antagonism between races to be overcome except by the understanding that Love has but one race? How can crime be exterminated, politics purified, and nations dwell together except by the spirit of the Christ? And what but the Science of the Christ can impart this spirit?
Effort based on the belief that life is material never touches the core of the problem. As Christian Scientists we long to do something about it, and we must do something about it. But what? The demand is for spiritual growth, and what mortal mind most resists is spirituality. We must help the world's need. Our Leader expected it of us; the world demands it. But the solution requires more than human doing.
We must be Scientists of the Christian sort; we must grow in spiritual understanding. We must dedicate ourselves to the metaphysical task before us. To this end we should set aside each day time for quiet, consecrated study of the Bible and the precious writings of our Leader, that our thoughts, words, and actions may be brought into conformity to divine Principle. Thus we shall defend ourselves against the aggressive suggestion that evil is real and that it can control us, and we shall not be influenced to neglect this sacred work. Thus Christian Scientists will be a real factor in solving the world's problems.
Let us reverse every claim of evil to reality — in the headlines, on the radio, in television, and in our own experience. Let us replace it with the realization of God's allness. Then we shall prove in increasing measure the adequacy of Christian Science to meet the world's needs, and we shall be guided as a church and as individuals to take the wise and necessary human footsteps which we so long to take.
Broadly our Leader's ministry divides itself into three phases: (1) the discovery, when her outstanding healing work was the clarion call; (2) the publication of her book, Science and Health, which was to disseminate the revelation from humblest homes to seats of government, penetrating into schools of learning, theories of medicine, doctrines of theology; and (3) the founding of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, with its branches. To the branch churches and to the individual members, The Mother Church gives nourishment; through it the Pastor Emeritus feeds and unites the flock. To the world at large, The Mother Church, through its wide channels, disseminates the healing currents of Love; it also dispenses charity, being prompt to minister in areas of disaster and ready to help at wisdom's bidding in ways which human thought can comprehend. This is the purpose and promise of the Christian Science Center presently under construction.
The field for such Christian service is indeed the world. As Christian Science becomes more generally accepted, and as the world turns in dismay from its distorted ideals and barbaric practices, The Mother Church must be ready to answer the call. It must be spiritually sound through the integrity and spirituality of its members; it must be adequately housed and soundly organized that it may function at its best. Mrs. Eddy conceived her Church spiritually, she inaugurated its original building program, and the spirit of her writings implies that she left to its members the duty and privilege to keep it ahead of the times, that it may be ever ready to carry on its mission and communicate its worldwide message.
Never has the clarion call of spiritual healing been more needed, and never has the world been more ready to receive it. In the first volume of We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, one of the students gives in Mrs. Eddy's own words, as nearly as she could recall them, her description of her healing work: "I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space, and that divine Love so permeated my own consciousness that I loved with Christlike compassion everything I saw. This realization of divine Love called into expression 'the beauty of holiness, the perfection of being' (Science and Health, p. 253), which healed, and regenerated, and saved all who turned to me for help."We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, First Series, p. 74.
At this period of The Mother Church's expansion, its members the world over are called upon to rededicate themselves. Then let us pledge ourselves to work and watch and pray "in patient obedience to a patient God" for divine Love to inhabit our hearts and purify our lives. Then the world will feel "the universal solvent of Love" flowing in Christly compassion through its wilderness and causing the desert to burst into bloom.
Then Christian Scientists will be paying their debt of gratitude to the loved Leader, and her Church, the Church which she watched over and nurtured, will burgeon with new life. It will fulfill her hopes, bring the Comforter to humanity and reflect in ever-increasing measure the Church Universal and Triumphant.
