Divine Love is God, and God is All. Love is the source, or divine Principle, of all true being. Love is the action, the Life, of all that acts and lives. Love is the intelligence, or Mind, that forms every real thing. Love is the reason for the existence, the Spirit, of man and the universe. Love is the condition, or truth, of all that has substance in eternal being. Love is the subject and object of actual consciousness, the Soul of man.

The qualities of Love were so evident in Christ Jesus that when he approached men who were receptive to Love and called them to be his disciples, they immediately laid down the work they were doing and followed him.

There was no period of arguing or coaxing. There was no promise that their lives would be more comfortable. There was simply Jesus' bright, clear consciousness of Love as All, responded to by men who must have yearned deeply to see this Truth exemplified.

Twelve men he chose, and he taught them "and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:2). Later he sent out seventy, who, according to the reports they brought back, did wonderful healing work.

Through Christian Science we too may feel the call of the Christ to lay down the work we are doing, to change our purpose in life, to take up new duties, engage in new activities, following in the way shown by the Master. The stirring, moving power of Love's allness comes to us today through the writings of Mrs. Eddy. Whoever recognizes the world's great need for the Truth that is Love and the Love that is Life—if he has in his heart a deep enough yearning to see the world's need met—will respond without argument, without coaxing, and will identify himself thereafter as a Christian Scientist.

To know Love as All is to have the power to heal disease. To know Love as Principle is to see immediately the nothingness of any so–called cause which is not Love.

To understand Love is to understand as illusion any condition which is not formed by intelligence. It is to become aware of the powerlessness of any action which does not express the tender goodness of the Father–Mother God. It is to realize the impossibility of anything's being true that is not harmonious. It is to feel within oneself the power to reject as unreal any suggestion that identity is in matter or that one's thought of oneself can be influenced by material beliefs. It is to embody the divine power to nullify false motives—hate, fear, envy, self–will—and to establish in consciousness the reign of divine Love.

In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902, Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 8): "The life of Christ Jesus, his words and his deeds, demonstrate Love, We have no evidence of being Christian Scientists except we possess this inspiration, and its power to heal and to save. The energy that saves sinners and heals the sick is divine: and Love is the Principle thereof." Farther on in the same paragraph she says: "Spiritual love makes man conscious that God is his Father, and the consciousness of God as Love gives man power with untold furtherance. Then God becomes to him the All-presence—quenching sin; the All-power—giving life, health, holiness; the All-science—all law and gospel."

The many healings performed by Christ Jesus illustrate the fact that anyone who will honestly acknowledge the power of the Christ, Truth, can be healed through the prayer of one who truly knows Love as All. But experience shows that in order to effectively continue in the practice of truth one must have enough unselfed love in his heart to give the truth to mankind.

The purpose of Christian Science is much larger than the healing of an individual's personal discomforts. The broad purpose of this Science can be understood best if one understands that Love is actually All and that in reality nothing else exists. Christian Science is the demonstration of this truth. To experience this demonstration beyond the point of first acquaintance with it through a healing, one must acknowledge honestly and humbly that whatever is in his life that is not of Love or is not a manifestation of Love is unreal. Therefore he must in all honesty leave it and pursue that which is real. In other words, he must live a life of love. He must devote himself to taking the truth of Love's allness to others.

Forgetting self by serving Love and by reflecting the power and glory of Love, we identify ourselves with the healing Christ, and our experience as Christian Scientists reveals a constantly growing sense of man's dominion over evil.

Carl J. Welz