Article June 12, 1909 Issue

THE RELIGION OF LOVE

ISABEL LEE

In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." The writer desires to express her deep gratitude for certain articles which have appeared in the Sentinel and Journal, calling attention to the need of greater kindness and consideration for dumb creatures. It may be that those who penned these articles have not realized the great sense of appreciation which some readers have experienced while perusing over and over again, their words inspired by compassionate, divine Love.

The sufferings in the writer's early childhood, which continued down through the years until she was healed in Christian Science, resulted in a quickened sense not only of the needs and sufferings of humanity, but also of the animal creation; and the tragedy which seemed to exist in the lives of the fowls of the air and of the beasts of the field and of every living thing that "creepeth upon the earth," brought about by the blindness and selfishness of mortal mind, at times almost overwhelmed her with anguish. The piteous appeal too often encountered in the eyes of the dumb creatures, sank deep into consciousness, and even in childhood a sense of that divine, compassionate Love which is not willing that one of its manifestations should perish, filled her heart with a great yearning to help them. There was a longing, too, for utterances from the pulpits that should instruct the children and their parents to show love and tenderness to every living thing. But those utterances were not to be heard from the pulpits, nor was the subject taken up in the Bible classes for children or adults, and the childish heart starved for the coming of a religion of Love which should include all.

That religion of Love was even then revealed to the world, though she knew it not; a light was shining into the darkness of cruelty in all its forms, and it was to bring into manifestation those who should be incapable of indifference or neglect of any of God's creatures. The light of this religion is shining brighter and brighter; it is the light of Christian Science. The revelator of divine Love to this age says, in Science and Health (p. 514), "Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit." Thus it is that the Christian Scientist feels and manifests this tenderness, if he desire indeed to know the "might imparted by Spirit" in its fulness, and the healing power of divine Love. Our text-book (p. 332) speaks of God's "tender relationship to His spiritual creation;" not to man alone, but to all creation; and how can we hope to understand Truth and do God's will if we are blind, indifferent, or wilfully negligent as to the needs of anything that He has made? In the broader, deeper meanings of Scripture that dawn upon thought as we journey toward the land of Christian Science, comes a light on this subject which, when seen and followed by Christian Scientists, will lift the curse not from a part but from all creation.

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