Of the three quotations from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" selected by its author, Mary Baker Eddy, as suitable to be inscribed on the walls of Christian Science churches, probably the one first listed by her is most frequently used. It is found on page 494 of the textbook and reads, "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."

Mrs. Eddy had abundant Scriptural authority for the voicing of that immense statement and its encouraging promise. She was a deep student of the Bible, and as she read its pages with God-inspired spiritual understanding, she was impressed by the fact that what are commonly regarded as miracles are but signs or evidences of the operation of God's law of harmony and health, of protection and providence. Basic to Mrs. Eddy's spiritual understanding was God's revelation to her of the deific Being as immaculately pure and perfect. The prophet Habakkuk states, in referring to God (1:13), "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."

Thus Christian Science leads us to consider as proofs of divine Love's power, protection, and providence many of the experiences related in the Bible. We read of the sustenance of the Israelites during their forty years' journey from Egyptian bondage to the promised land; of Elijah the prophet, who was brought bread and flesh morning and evening by the ravens and who was fed later at Zarephath by a widow who had believed that her scant supply of meal and oil was nearly exhausted. The Bible relates that when the widow accepted Elijah's assurance of abundance "the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail" (I Kings 17:16).

Also very impressive was the proof of divine Love's unfailing and unlimited providence experienced by an impoverished and fearful widow. When she appealed to the prophet Elisha, she was instructed to pour her apparently scanty supply of oil into all the vessels obtainable, with the result that she was able to pay her creditor and had sufficient left to supply her needs and those of her children.

The greatest and most successful exponent and demonstrator of divine Love's unfailing and universal availability to meet every human need was Christ Jesus. Through his intimate acquaintance and close walk with God, whom he affectionately called his Father and our Father, the Master healed all manner of disease; the lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dead were restored, the storm was stilled. And on more than one occasion thousands, who had been attracted by his words and works, were fed materially—as well as spiritually—although only a small amount of bread and fish was at hand.

Christ Jesus accepted no sense of limitation because he consistently based his every thought and action upon the fetterless freedom and the unlabored activity of divine Mind and infinite Love, constituting and governing all that is true of man, God's image or reflection. After healing a man who had been helpless for thirty-eight years, Jesus said to the onlookers (John 5:19), "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." The Master proved in his healing works that what the Father knows and does is good, harmonious, perfect, and immortal.

Elisha's experience with the widow, whose sons were to be taken as bondmen by her creditor, illustrates how the meeting of the human need by divine Love may rightly be regarded as Love's infinite supply finding expression. In response to Elisha's question as to what she had in her house, the widow replied that she had but a pot of oil. The prophet then instructed her to borrow all the empty vessels obtainable. She was then told to shut the door upon herself and her sons and to pour the oil into all the empty vessels.

The record reads that when oil still remained "she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest." The shutting of the door upon her and her sons may be taken to signify that she was to shut out worldly beliefs in fear and frustration, in limitation and lack, in remorse and resentment. Then she was to pour out, or use, and then share what she had, even though it had seemed to her meager and inadequate. In this connection it is helpful to remember the spiritual interpretation of "oil" given by Mrs. Eddy on page 592 of Science and Health: "Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." Evidently Elisha did not regard the situation as it appeared humanly. Instead of seeing an impoverished and frightened widow with a cruel creditor, Elisha must have viewed the problem from the standpoint of God's allness and of Love's infinite, unfailing supply of good to man. The widow was asked to accept and utilize this supply by employing what she had in her house.

The lessons for us are plain. Every human being has some good in his house or consciousness, even though it may seem to be nothing more than a desire for betterment and true freedom, a desire for health and harmony, for peace and perfection. Such desire is stabilized and strengthened as it is rightly regarded as the evidence of omnipotent Truth and Love appearing to one who feels the need of the healing touch of the Christ. Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, indicates this when she states in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 37), "Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is made manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw mankind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual facts of being."

We, like the widow, must gratefully utilize, give expression to and share with others, the good which we consciously possess. We must shut the door of our thought upon every suggestion of fear, limitation, resentment, discord, and disease. We must classify all such evil suggestions as false, as did our Exemplar, who designated all evil as from Satan, the liar and father of lies. Obedience to God's law enables us to realize that divine Love's infinite supply of good, health, and peace finds expression through us to others, and thus blesses all concerned.

Since divine Love meets our every human need it is evident that in essence everyone's real need is for divine Love. We can realize and prove the presence, power, and beneficence of divine Love by expressing Love's qualities to all whom we meet—qualities such as gratitude, gentleness, unselfishness, and tenderness. Divine Love's infinite supply of goodness, gentleness, and gratitude is being ceaselessly and impartially manifested to meet human needs. Divine Mind's infinite supply of perfect wisdom and intelligence is being continually expressed to all and is for all, thereby meeting the human need for these very qualities. Mrs. Eddy points to the practical application of these truths by showing that from God, Mind, we receive spiritual ideas, which in turn meet our daily needs.

So when we are faced with some human need we shall do well not to center our thought upon the need as it appears, but rather to obey the Scriptural injunction (Isa. 45:22), "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." Thus we shall find that the infinite supply of true spiritual ideas, finding expression through us, meets our every human need.