Arizona republican., 1920-09-13
God Is Love
Written for the Christian Science
 NTouftorA

(Written for the Christian Science
 Monitor)
 Though Christians, the world over have always reiterated the statement of John that God is Love" there has often seemed very little comprehension of what Love really means and small confidence in it's availability or power to protect and supply. Disease, poverty and sorrow are either ascribed blindly to God, or Mind, or regarded as mis- fortunes that Love is helpless or un- willing to avert; socalled terrible calamities are termed the dispensations of an 'inscrutable Providence;" while divine tenderness Is generally consid- cred no practical protection against ac- eident or sudden disaster. Perhaps 1t is scarcely to be wondered at that some individuals have -scoffed at such an in- depreciation of Love and some have denied the very existence of God. or Principle.
 In the face of thes rnisunderstand- ing of infinite Principle. Mary Baker Eddy discoverer of Christian Science, published her book, Science and Health. with Key to the Scriptures .' and boldly asserted that Love is never cruel or needless of mans need, and that God, good. is never the cause of evil On every page of this and all her subsequent books, she affirmed. directly or indirectly. the strength, gentleness, and kindness Of the divine Mind and Gods desire. forever full filled, that man should be always happy and well, with an abundant supply of all that is holy and good. Divine Love, :" she wrote. always has met and always will meet every human need" Science and Health, D. 494) Many times did she prove the literal truth of her con fident assertion. as have also number less men and women who have studied and applied her teachings. Divine Love, Principle. never sends trouble, sickness, or calamity; indeed. these and all other misfortunes of human experience are directly traceable to the rnisunderStanding of Mind and to lack of faith in Gods tenderness and power. Infinite Mind always bestows happi- ness and good. Anyone who will turn to it unreservedly and accept God and His blessings may enjoy health and plenty, peace and jol. Nothing is too great to ask of Love: nothing is too difficult for the infinite All; no prob lem is too complicated for Principle to solve.
 But while it is and always has been a cardinal fact of the universe that Principle supplies all good. it is equally true that it must be accepted in order to be proved or enjoyed. hungry guest cannot stand before a feast pro vided by a generous host and expect to be satisfied if lie refuses to touch it So long as the individual regards God as a person. fashioned humanly, the creator and ruler of the material world of so-called good and evil, he is refus ing to accept reality and it's bounteous blessing For God, who is Love, is not a person, as that word is ordinarily understood. but Spirit, Mind, Principle good. He is not the creator of the ma terial world nor of evil in any of it's myriad forms: the world of His making is the spiritual world, the universe, or divine idea, wherein all is perfect and harmonious. To accept divine intelli- gence as Love is to accept Loves beau tiful and joyous creation. It is to shut out from knowledge the transi- tory, false, imitation world of matter and of evil and of physical sense. and to know the actual and perfect world of Spirit. It is to substitute for the inharmouious thoughts of so-called mortal or human mind which is nOth- ing but unawareness of God. the har- monious and happy thoughts of divine mind. In proportion as Mind and the spiritual universe of good are thus ac cepted does Love meet every human need'' by eliminating any belief that there is such need, because the belief that there is such need, because the belief of a mortal man with an unsat- isfied need is pure myth. For the di- vine consciousness with it's perfect idea offers no room for evil and imperfec- tion; accordingly the sickness, misfor- tune or inharmony (which is only i'm . perfect. mortal thought eXternalized) disappear. to be replaced in individual experience by good fortune. harmony and perfection. The unlimited. spirit ual man of Mind has infinite need for good a need which1is completely met