In her book "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 158), "We live in an age of Love's divine adventure to be All-in-all." These words were written when the stark resistance of materiality was haunting the steps of the growing Christian Science movement, when the world was not many years distant from the brink of the First World War, when the rapidity of material invention and skill was breaking down time-honored barriers, when humanity was fast overthrowing the old and reaching out for a new social order, when the undercurrent of human thinking was one of unrest and dissatisfaction. Yet with clear vision this God-inspired prophet of the present era could proclaim the omnipotence of Love.
At this season when our country is preparing to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day inaugurated by the Pilgrim Fathers, when the crops are being reaped and the harvest is plenteous, it is well to ponder "Love's divine adventure to be All-in-all."
The allness of God is the allness of Love, and the allness of Love is the universality of Love. Love is confined to no boundaries, limited to no nation; its holy oneness knows no race, creed, or physical restriction. Love, the divine Principle of being, radiant in its own adventure to be All-in-all, tenderly, bountifully, impartially embraces all identity in the universality of its warmth. Within its own measurelessness Love reflects itself. Long centuries ago the Psalmist sang (Ps. 139:7–10): "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from the presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
What an interesting word is "adventure"! It takes one back to childhood's eager expectancy in realms of unexplored possibility. Love's adventure! No frailty of human effort, no inadequacy of human ability, no stringency of want or virulence of hate thwarts or hinders the fulfillment of Love's superb adventure.
Because Love is Truth, Love's ever-present divine adventure to be All-in-all is the revelation of Truth, known in this age as Christian Science. This divine Science is indeed the promised Comforter that, the Master said, should abide with us forever (John 14:16). Mrs. Eddy, its Discoverer and Founder, claims no glory for herself. She refers to herself as one under divine orders, transcribing in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" the message which was given her from on high. She knew better than did others that Love's adventure brought forth the revelation. Thus she was able to declare its invulnerability (Science and Health 110:17–24) and to write of it in strong and certain terms in an article entitled "The Christian Science Textbook," beginning on page 109 of Miscellany. With the Master she virtually said (Matt. 24:35), "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," for they were not of herself but of God.
From within the revelation itself, through the same omniaction of Love, under the divine guidance of Principle, sprang the Christian Science movement, which today is felt and is pulsating in all parts of the globe. Only from the basis of Principle can the movement be fully comprehended. To understand our movement as the human appearing of the divine idea in this age, to see in it the fullfillment of Love's divine adventure to express itself and be All-in-all, is to lay hold of its meaning and to understand its substance. The divine idea is not in competition with any human system. It stands unique, divinely ordained, divinely directed, divinely sustained. To spiritually understand the movement is to understand the spiritual significance of her who stood as the dauntless Leader of an indomitable Cause.
The Mother Church with its branches is sign and symbol of the ever-operative presence of the divine idea, one with its Principle. It can be understood in the tenderness of its motherhood only as we lift our thought above the symbol to the idea. From the standpoint of idea its origin is divine; its foundation is Truth; its substance is Spirit; its power is Love; its wisdom is Mind; its government that of Principle; its permanence that of Life itself; its beauty the beauty of Soul; its being in and of God; its destiny infinite. Its growing membership is the advancing demonstration of the spiritual idea, whose propulsion is Mind. Thus may we say, as did she who foresaw more than all others the spiritual significance of the movement which she so courageously founded and led (Miscellany, p. 127), "We thank the Giver of all good for the marvellous speed of the chariot-wheels of Truth and for the steadfast, calm coherence in the ranks of Christian Science."
Let him who feels himself under the pressure and burden of human activity ponder for a moment ''the marvellous speed of the chariot-wheels of Truth," and Love's divine adventure will lift his sense of burden and make manifest in his experience the limitless possibilities and capabilities of Love. Because Love is Life, "Love's divine adventure to be All-in-all" appears to human sense as the ministry of Love in the spiritual healing of sickness and the abundant restoration of life. Because Love is Soul, Love's adventure is reflected in the beauties of earth and sky and flower, in gaiety and color, in form and variety. And because Love is Spirit, its divine adventure to be All-in-all is enduring substance, which cannot be reversed, impaired, or obscured. As humanity faces its uncertain sense of the future, there comes the hope: We are living in the dawn of a new era. The earthbound viewpoint perceives the dawn; the sun itself glories in the effulgence of endless day. As, through the tender ministration of Christian Science, thought opens to the spiritual facts of being. Love's full-orbed divine adventure transforms the bleak aspects of human experience, banishing the fears of mankind, filling its needs, and demonstrating the fact that Love is All-in-all.
In an article entitled "Harvest" (ibid., p. 269) Mrs. Eddy writes: "God hath thrust in the sickle, and He is separating the tares from the wheat. This hour is molten in the furnace of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known, world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the beams of right have healing in their light. The windows of heaven are sending forth their rays of reality—even Christian Science, pouring out blessing for cursing, and rehearsing: 'I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.' 'Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.'"
