Article April 8, 1922 Issue

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

BENJAMIN EVERETT LEWIS

In striving to obey the commandments, one is often perplexed as to how to fulfill the desired obedience. The Christian Scientist knows that for every question that can be put, there is already an answer in divine Mind; and turning to Mind, he gathers the ideas of Truth necessary to apply to the problem in hand. No commandment requires more careful and delicate consideration than the one which Jesus said was like unto the first and great commandment. It brings into play at once the Golden Rule and requires the laying down of self-love and self-righteousness. It forces us to look away from the false, mortal self to the divine idea of God, which Jesus exemplified. To love one's neighbor as one's self certainly means that we must think about him as lovingly as we desire to think about ourselves, according him the same heritage of spiritual qualities, the same motives, and the same methods of acting as belong to us as sons of God. Our blessed Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote these words in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 62): "Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individuality, health, and morals."

An occasion for loving one's neighbor as one's self occurred not long ago. Electricians were doing some wiring in a home. The owner indicated the various lengths of wire to be used for drop lights, furnished the wire, and left the workmen to carry out the work. After some time he was interrupted by one of the workmen, who came with an elaborately prepared plan of how he could save quite a bit of wire by shortening the cords to several lamps, remarking that it was of course of no advantage to himself. The owner agreed that the changes could be made, and left the matter in the hands of the workmen. After some time the workmen came to announce that the work was finished, made a pretense of separating their possessions, and quickly left, declaring that a roll of wire in the hand of one of them was their own. Being busy, the owner paid little attention; and, seeing bits of wire lying about, concluded that the promised economy in wiring had not been very great. A sudden intuition prompted him to measure the bits of wire left, as well as the amount used in wiring; and a little figuring showed that upwards of two and a half yards of wire could not be found. Suspicion forced the conclusion that the wire had been carried off knowingly. The feeling of having been tricked, of having had his love and confidence in a fellow-being abused, came over the owner. It was certainly man's right to trust his neighbor, since God, Principle, had made them both; and surely, one must not believe that God's man could steal. But there was the evident loss, the evident falsehood, the evident theft. How could one still love his neighbor as himself, when holding a wrong concept of man, he felt himself honest and his neighbor dishonest?

Divine Mind must show. An earnest appeal to Mind brought the answer. Impersonal evil was the liar before mortal man lied; physical sense was the thief before mortal man stole; and God being all, neither liar nor thief was real. This being true, in reality there had been no theft, however impossible this absolute truth might appear. But this true sense proved to be the spiritual sense, that sense which "restoreth my soul," as the psalmist says. Another swift angel, one of God's thoughts coming to man, showed that restitution was part of God's law; and revealed faith in this thought as "the evidence of things not seen." Days passed, and none of the workmen could be found; but at the end of a week they reappeared, under pretext of interest in other work being done by a comrade, and in the hand of one was a roll of wire, which he handed over with the shamefaced admission that it was not his. Falsity, theft, fear, suspicion, had disappeared; and with the restitution of the missing wire came the fulfilling of the law of God, and the spiritual recompense of obeying the commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access