The Bible is full of wonderful passages setting forth the power of divine Love to overcome all discord. In the twenty-third psalm, so dear to all, which is full of consolation and promise to those who are weary and heavy laden, we read, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Just there, in the very place where we may seem to be surrounded by malice and hatred, where mortal belief may be trying to hold us in the grasp of sickness, fear, and discouragement, where it may seem as thought every one's hand is against us,—there, in the very midst of all the turmoil, in the very presence of so-called enemies, our false sense of man,—is the table prepared for us by divine Love. We have only to turn away from the husks of material beliefs to find our help and refreshment ever ready.

Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has given us a sentence on page 571 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" which may be correlated in our thought with the knowledge of the table which divine Love has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, a sentence which will enable us to understand how complete is the protection of Love, however fiercely the storm of error may seem to be raging within and without. "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you," she writes. We sometimes think a great deal about the difficulties we have to encounter, and the impossibility of working under certain discordant conditions; then, we are turning our faces away from Love's feast, and looking into the wilderness of error, failing to hear the loving invitation. If, instead, we could only see this discord as a temptation to believe in the claim of power and reality in evil, we would be fed with the knowledge that nothing can prevent us from doing God's work, wherever and whatever it may be. If we would only keep our thoughts "rooted and grounded in love" of the knowledge of God's presence and power, no evil would come near us or hinder our work in any right direction.

Often when the writer has been tempted to think the way of demonstration in Christian Science hard and difficult, and good work has seemed almost impossible, the thought of the scene in the garden of Gethsemane and of what immediately followed has come with its loving rebuke and its message of help and encouragement. Our Master seemed at that time to be surrounded by the worst forms of human hatred and malice; his friends had failed him when he most needed their fidelity and help. One, who had been his daily companion, and who had shared some of the most sacred experiences of his ministry, betrayed him. The design of his enemies was to destroy his life and make his work and teaching useless; and yet, in the face of such seemingly overwhelming discord, the Master's recognition of the power and presence of infinite Love was so clear and complete that he was able instantaneously to heal the mutilated ear of the Roman soldier. This healing would not have been possible had Jesus for one moment given power to evil or malice, or had he believed that material conditions could prevent him from doing the work intrusted to him by his heavenly Father; he knew, as we can also know, that God, good, alone has power; and, so, he believed not at all in malice or unfaithfulness.

What a beautiful, tender lesson this is for all who are striving to follow in the Master's footsteps. Mortals are so quick to resent personal wrongs and injustice, and to hit back with false human weapons, instead of trusting to the protection and vindication of divine Love. We think so often that we must uncover and expose an error in another, forgetting that Love alone can do this work rightly, and we need have no fear that where Truth is error can hide. Error will always betray itself and destroy itself when met with the knowledge of the allness of Love.

It would sometimes seem as though we are afraid of being too kind—almost as if we feared that kindness might be looked upon as a sign of weakness; and, yet, how foolish this is, because compassion, tenderness, patience, and love were the very essence of our dear Master's wonderful earthly career. Too often we offer the dry, unsatisfying husks of coldness and condemnation to those who are held in bondage by materiality and sin, and even to those fellow-students who are struggling to demonstrate the great truths of Christian Science, but who appear to be falling short of our own idea of goodness. No sinner was too vile for Jesus to help and heal; no footstep too feeble for him to guide and sustain. He knew the great feast of Love was there, prepared for all; that the table of infinite, limitless Love was spread full of good things for those who needed them. This realization of the presence and sustaining power of divine Love does enable us to overcome fear, both of the present and of the future. It enables us to go on bravely and happily, even though to human sense the clouds may look dark and threatening and the way long and lonely, because we know that Love does dispel the blackness and gloom, and that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

The feast is always spread and waiting for us; and we have only to turn to infinite Love with our whole heart, and our weary burdens will be lifted and our needs met, for "he hath filled the hungry with good things." As we experience the power of Love to protect and guide, the desire to help our fellow-man and to lead him with us to this wonderful feast of Truth and Love is born in our hearts; and we begin to understand, faintly, the meaning of infinite, tender, selfless Love, the Love which would seek, save, and protect the lost sheep and lead it with joy and thankfulness back to the safety and peace of the fold.

The feast is prepared now. Let us gratefully and humbly accept the invitation and enter into our rightful heritage, the kingdom of heaven—the kingdom of peace, love, and harmony; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."