Article September 14, 1957 Issue

TRUE CHARITY

HERBERT L. FRANK

True charity reflects everlasting Love, God, in all respects. It is therefore always loving, orderly, pure, intelligent, and active in purpose and application. Charity which embodies these characteristics is powerful to do good, to heal, restore, and transform human experience; like all that proceeds from God, it cannot harm, degrade, or corrupt. This was the kind of charity which Christ Jesus taught and practiced and which brought to humanity the most perfect comfort it had ever known.

Christian Science, through its revelation of God and man, makes it possible for all to learn and practice true charity. Science maintains that God, divine Principle, Truth, Life, is immaculate, that is, perfect; and that no imperfection is known to God, is created or tolerated by Him or by the man whom He created. Charity which is based on this premise not only supplies the human need, but also corrects error with truth, while false charity excuses and overlooks unwholesome motives or acts. True charity expresses unselfed love, while the false sense of charity fosters indulgence in self-love, self-will, and self-justification, which Truth denounces.

Charity is needed to dispose of beliefs of injustice, malice, or enmity which may be expressed toward one. Were one to try to meet error with error, hate with hate, injustice with injustice, he would have little part in advancing the kingdom of heaven in his own life or in that of others. The divine demand in every case is to understand and reflect divine Love, God, so as to know that all good must eventually triumph in human relationships and that no phase of evil belief has the power which it claims for itself.

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