Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-23


loving and helpful thing that is possi-
HE for MS to do.- And we have made
verv little progress in the spiritual life
until we have good viii for every one,
and strive to think nothing, say noth-
ing and do nothing which Is unjust,
unxind or hurtful to any one. Hignest
and best of all, we fnd that. II is our
duty and privilege, ana realiy our
greatest blessing and Joy' 20 pelrienu,
fo bIess and to love even those who
Inisunderstand, misjudge and hate us.
Indeed, as one learns to love his enc
mics he is obeying the highest teach
ings of conscience as well as OF Christ
Jesus. He is obeying the highest de-
mand OF his own nature and being as
we'll as of Gods.
The desire and goal Of that love which
is the greatest necessity Of man, as
well as the highest commandment OF
Cod. seems. as Prof. George b. Foster
has so admirably phrased 1t, to be that
"personal fellowship in which each has
Joy in all, for which each would gladly
sacrifice everything else. To originate
and deepen such fellowship is the un-
changeable and eternal will of Love. T"
Again to quote Professor Foster: TO
love ones enemy, therefore, is not an
exceptional accomplishment, which one
may admire but not understand; GER
is repellent, but a vivid example of the
will that Wills nothing but personal
fellowship. If enmity could set limits
to love, love would be limited from
without and unfree. On reflection, one
sees that 1t thus belongs to the very
essence of love to love ones enemies"
For Life, Not for Death
It also belongs to our true higher ma
t44Tn Io1 IN re SQianHA.
have sympathy, kindness, good will and
love for the whole creation. All growth
heavenward is a growth in the univer-
salty as we'll as in the purity and
intensity of our love. The best men
love the animals, the trees, the flowers
the whole order of nature, even bet
ter than a low order of men loves GOD
and their fellowmen;. and as our love
becomes universal, pure and VITAL as
we long to impart good and only good
to everything as well as to verybody'
as we seek to help everything and IN
jure nothing, we ourselves are blessed
by the fearlessness, certainty and Sc
curity of love, as well as by its peace,
joy and harmony. 1t is a beautiful and
necessary law of our being that we fear
nothing which we really love and bless,
but fear everything that we hate and
injure; hence it Is that perfect love
casteth out fear,'' and that "he that
feareth is not made perfect in love-"
While perfect love for God, man and
the whole creation includes and fulf1lS
every demand, of conscience, reason and
revelation, our own nature, as well as
Gods, requires of us the sincerity,
truthfulness, faithfulness, insight, ac-
tivities and harmonies of Love and of
Loves essential qualities. We always
have a good conscience when we are
true and truthful; but let the least note
of falsehood or deception find express
sion in our words OF deeds, and we feel
condemned by everything we prize most
and love best.
Man is made for. life and not for
death; for harmonious action and not
for discord and inertia; for unfoldment
and not for retrogression. AS there Is
such a desire for immortality and
clinging to life, such joy and inner ap-
proval and harmony when we live
most perfectly and abundantly, such
infinite and eternal ends to live for,
our own nature confirms the almost
universal hope in, as well as desire
for, eternal life. And closely asso-
ciated with our desire and need for
Life, and to live ever more perfectly
and abundantly, is our dissatisfaction
with all the discords and inharmonies,
and our Joy in all the concords and
ought to be even more readily recon-
ciled to discords and inharmonies in
mathematics and music than in life.
To be happy and to be in harmony
with our environment we have to do
our work and do 1t well. All neces-
sary work can be and must be lifted
above the sense OF drudgery- and
WEAKNESS and become fine art, a rec
reation, joy; and there is within US
the feeling that we should not only do
everything so well that 1t becomes an
act of worship, but that we should be
doing the things that are most worth
while. We are most at one with our
real selves. as we'll as with God and
His creation, when we are doing the
highest and best things in the best
and most perfect way.
Seek Higher Ideals
Faith or confidence in God, or in the
divine power by which we live, is an
other fundamental necessity of our be-
ing. Without faith 1t is impossible to
please God. Faith in God," faith in
man. faith in the integrity and relia-
bility Of Gods universe, faith that all
is well with US and will become better
as. we do the best we can, faith In the
ultimate and universal victory of good
this is the very substance Of that we
most need and hope for. Then, too, as
previously indicated, there is within
humanity the desire. necessity and
capacity to know God and the things
of God. We long to know the truth.
and feel that we can know 1t, and will
finally know 1t perfectly. We also long
to be lifted above all deception. In
our best moments, at least, we feel the
desire as well as the necessity to be
known by the whole universe at our
best, and to know even as we are
known. Then we long to have no con-
sciousness which is not loving. heal
ing and helpful. And this perfect con-
sciousness, in the light of Christianity,
Of Christian Science, is the Christ
mind, the spiritual and perfect idea of
being. 1t Is Gods point of view be-
coming ours also. tAnd God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it
was very good" God forever sees
everything that He has made. and be-
hold 1t is very good.
All the highest moral and spiritual
teachings of the race are written in the
constitution, aspirations and hopes OF
men,. The Law was written upon the
heart before 1t was written upon the
tablets of stone. The Sermon on the
ton Of the moral and spiritual laws
which conscience and reason and Love
are always pleading with us to obey.
and to obey for our own highest good
as we'll as for the highest good of all.
The visions of Isaiah and of St John.
and the prayers of Jesus and OF his
friends In all the ages, are expressions
OF desires and needs that God has im-
planted within the hearts and minds
of all His children. Thus. too, Mrs:
Eddy must have felt the power OF
Truth before she could give It to the
world in Science and Health.
Because of mans divine origin MOTH