On page 225 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Love is the liberator." Love, God, is the only power. Man, made in the image and likeness of God, reflects this infinite power of good.

To know God as the one and only Mind and man as the expression of His infinite perfection is the only true way to love. That man has a mind of his own from which may proceed evil thoughts and aims is seen to be entirely an illusion when one understands that the Mind which is God is infinite and there can be nothing outside of infinity. There is, therefore, no place for any other mind and no source of evil thoughts. Man, as God's reflection, is the embodiment of His thoughts. The recognition of this true idea of man is true loving.

To acknowledge that man is the complete expression of the one perfect Mind brings the liberating power of divine Love into human experience and frees humanity from the bondage of false personal sense. To see our brother in his true being as the spiritual reflection of all that is perfect, forever at one with his Father-Mother God, is truly to love him, and this is the love that heals.

Love is not conscious of material personalities, for Love is Spirit, and its expression is spiritual. Human love is often a poor counterfeit of true loving. It is in many cases merely possessiveness, which binds and restricts those upon whom it fastens by attaching to them all the limitations of a mortal concept of man. But when human love patterns the divine, it begins to let go its possessive hold by seeing its loved ones as belonging to God's universal family of spiritual ideas and as reflecting all the qualities of good and nothing else. It is beginning to see God alone as responsible for the happiness and well-being of all His children. "Above all these things" —mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness—wrote Paul (Col. 3:14, Rev. Ver.), "put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."

When we separate our sense of man from the mortal concept and recognize only the spiritual perfection of true identity as God's likeness, we are seeing man as dwelling "in the secret place of the most High." We are expressing that perfect Love which "casteth out fear," which knows no evil, because it knows only its own allness, ever-presence, and omnipotence. This impersonal love frees us from false responsibility and from the limitation and bondage of personal possession. Our beloved Leader beautifully describes it on page 76 of "Retrospection and Introspection," where she says: "This affection, so far from being personal worship, fulfils the law of Love which Paul enjoined upon the Galatians. This is the Mind 'which was also in Christ Jesus,' and knows no material limitations. It is the unity of good and bond of perfectness."

True loving indeed knows no material limitations, because it sees the ever-presence and infinity of God reflected by man in unlimited good. In this perfect unity of the qualities of good is "the bond of perfectness," in which we are all one. There is nothing outside of Love's allness, and there is no division within it. The world is seeking this true sense of unity, which frees mankind from the devastating conflict of mortal opinions and from all that would claim to separate individuals and nations. Through Mrs. Eddy's revelation of Christian Science we are able to arrive at this understanding of true unity, and this is our secret weapon, against which no enemy can prevail.

The Scriptures abound with illustrations of the irresistible power of Love truly understood and lived. One such example is the story of Jacob, who had aroused his brother's anger because he had deprived him of his birthright and their father's blessing. Although repentant, Jacob was filled with fear when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men, and in true humility he sought God's protection. Then there followed a struggle between the mortal concept of man and the spiritual reality which was unfolding in his consciousness. However, persistence and fidelity won the day, and Jacob arose strong in the consciousness of God's power and some understanding of man's true being as God's likeness. He said (Gen. 32:30), "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

Seeing Jacob, "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Gen. 33:4). When Esau refused to take presents from his brother, protesting that he already possessed a sufficiency of this world's goods, Jacob replied, "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me."

When we have seen our brother's face as it were the face of God, we need never fear any harm, for we have excluded from our consciousness everything unlike God and acknowledged only divine Love's control over man. Love, God, is indeed the liberator and the power which unites all in "the bond of perfectness."