8/1/99 Love: I Cor 23/Drummond


References and Notes from Sunday School-August 1, 1999

Subject: Love (Henry Drummond’s Article and Mrs. Eddy’s View)

In the following Bible verses from I Cor 13, the word "charity" is used synonymously with the word "love":

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I Give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Professor Henry Drummond, (1851-1897), preacher, geologist, teacher, President of the YMCA, and author of many books including Natural Law and the Spiritual World and The Greatest Thing in the World is widely known and respected among Christian Scientists for his article on I Cor 23. It is even reputed, although not verified, that Mrs. Eddy said she didn’t need to write a book on the subject of Love because Prof. Drummond had already covered the subject completely. I am not sure I would agree with that statement as you will soon see.

Quoting now from Drummond and refering to Paul’s writing’s in Corinthians, he writes:

"…Paul in three verses very short, gives us an amazing analysis of what this supreme thing is. … It is like light. As you have seen a man of science take a beam of light and pass it through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out the other side of the prism broken up into its component colours-red, and blue, and yellow, and violet, and orange, and all the colors of the rainbow-so Paul passes this thing, Love, through the magnificent prism, of his inspired intellect, and it comes out the other side into its elements….The Spectrum of Love has nine ingredients:-Patience: ‘love suffereth long’; Kindness: ‘And is kind’; Generosity: ‘Love envieth not’; Humility: ‘Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up’; Courtesy: ‘Doth not behave itself unseemly’; Unselfishness: ‘Seeketh not her own’; Good Temper: ‘Is not easily provoked’; Guilelessness: ‘Thinketh no evil’; Sincerity: ‘Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth’.

Aren’t these the qualities you want in the person you fall in love with? Among your friends and family members? Drummond gives us a great sermon on the qualities that make us better people teaching us how to act and, yes, how to love. However, (and this is where I take issue with the idea that there is nothing else to be said about the subject), that is a sermon that could be preached by any minister of any faith. The question I pose to you is, How does Christian Science approach this subject? Does it add anything? What unique qualities do we bring to loving that takes the whole subject up to another level?

Remember the story of the man who bought a painting. He thought is might be a masterpiece that was repainted over with fresh coat of oil to hide the original. After much work he managed to rub off the newer paint and reveal in one tiny corner the signature of Rembrandt! Although he did not uncover the whole masterpiece he did revel enough to convince him of the painting value. He never looked at the painting in the same way again. In spite of what was painted over the masterpiece he could only see the masterpiece. That’s how love works in Christian Science. No matter what material picture you see, when you love someone as Christian Science teaches you will never see them the same way again. You will only see their original perfection. That is why you will be generous, even tempered, kind, etc. You will be seeing God’s perfect man and treating him accordingly. That’s loving and that perception of Truth brings about a change in the false material condition whether it be anger, hate, or sickness. It heals. That’s what Drummond is missing and which is completely explained in Christian Science. We are not just a feel good, act good religion. We bring about change, …healing. Now read what our Leader says about the subject of Love. Notice the depth she takes you to in feeling the real power of Love.

Mis 249:27-29 np LOVE
What a a word! I am in awe before it. Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the underived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the alone God, is Love.

By what strange perversity is the best become the most abused,--either as a quality or as an entity? Mortals misrepresent and miscall affection; they make it what it is not, and doubt what it is. The so-called affection pursuing its victim is a butcher fattening the lamb to slay it. What the lower propensities express, should be repressed by the sentiments. No word is more misconstrued; no sentiment less understood. The divine significance of Love is distorted into human qualities, which in their human abandon become jealousy and hate.

Love is not something put upon a shelf, to be taken down on rare occasions with sugar-tongs and laid on a rose-leaf. I make strong demands on love, call for active witnesses to prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand achievements as its results. Unless these appear, I cast aside the word as a sham and counterfeit, having no ring of the true metal. Love cannot be a mere abstraction, or goodness without activity and power. As a human quality, the glorious significance of affection is more than words: it is the tender, unselfish deed done in secret; the silent, ceaseless prayer; the self-forgetful heart that overflows; the veiled form stealing on an errand of mercy, out of a side door; the little feet tripping along the sidewalk; the gentle hand opening the door that turns toward want and woe, sickness and sorrow, and thus lighting the dark places of earth.

"The healing will grow more easy and be more immediate as you realize that God, good, is all, and good is Love. You must gain Love, and lose the false sense called love. You must feel the Love that never faileth,-that perfect sense of divine power that makes healing no longer power but grace. Then you will have the Love that casts out fear and when fear is gone doubt is gone and your work is done. Why? because it never was undone." -WKMBE, SECOND SERIES, PAGE 25.

"I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space, and that divine Love so permeate my own consciousness that I loved with Christlike compassion everything I saw. This realization of divine Love called into expression "the beauty of holiness, the perfection of being" (Science and Health, p 253), which healed, regenerated, and saved all who turned to me for help." The way Mrs. Eddy said the word "Love" made me feel that she must have loved even the blade of grass under her feet. -WKMBE, FIRST SERIES, PAGE 74, 75

After she had talked about the great need of love in everything we do, a pupil asked, "Do you mean love of person?" Mrs. Eddy replied in substance, No, I mean love of good. Then she was asked, "How shall we know if our love is personal or impersonal?" Her reply, in substance, was, When your love requires an object to call it forth, you will know it is personal; when it flows out freely to all, you will know it is impersonal. –WKMBE, FIRST SERIES, PAGE 84

Then she asked us questions. One was, "What is the best way to do instantaneous healing?" Many arose. Some said, "Realize the ever-presence of good;" others, "Deny the claims of evil." There were many answers, but when they had finished, she said, as I remember: "I will tell you the way to do it. It is to love! Just live love-be it-love, love, love Do not know anything but Love. Be all love. There is nothing else. That will do the work. It will heal everything; it will raise the dead. Be nothing but love." -WKMBE, SECOND SERIES, PAGE 49, 50)

I will also post these notes in our Class Notes section of our web page: www.grandnoble.vmsite.com (good & deeds: username and password). Remember to ask your parents how your family came into Christian Science.

See you next Sunday.


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