“Thy Will Be Done”
This is the law of Truth to error, “Thou shalt surely
die.” This law is a divine energy. Mortals cannot
prevent the fulfilment of this law; it covers all sin and
its effects. God is All, and by virtue of this nature and [5]
allness He is cognizant only of good. Like a legislative
bill that governs millions of mortals whom the legislators
know not, the universal law of God has no knowledge
of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and
governs it. [10]
Mortals have only to submit to the law of God, come
into sympathy with it, and to let His will be done. This
unbroken motion of the law of divine Love gives, to the
weary and heavy-laden, rest. But who is willing to do
His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own [15]
wills, and so disobey the divine order.
All states and stages of human error are met and
mastered by divine Truth's negativing error in the way
of God's appointing. Those “whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth.” His rod brings to view His love, and inter- [20]
prets to mortals the gospel of healing. David said, “Be-
fore I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I
kept Thy word.” He who knows the end from the be-
ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and [1]
remedies.
Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga-
tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to punish
sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets, [5]
and cry, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace,”—yea,
that healest the wounds of my people slightly?
The Principle of divine Science being Love, the divine
rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that
human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own [10]
physics. Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of
cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics
admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more
dangerous pleasures.
Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv- [15]
ion nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose
Life is God, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps. The
loss of gustatory enjoyment and the ills of indigestion
tend to rebuke appetite and destroy the peace of a false
sense. False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no [20]
right to be at peace. To suffer for having “other gods
before me,” is divinely wise. Evil passions die in their
own flames, but are punished before extinguished. Peace
has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be
concealed and that life and happiness should still attend [25]
it. Joy is self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are
one: suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master of
evil.
To this scientific logic and the logic of events, egotism
and false charity say, “ ‘Not so, Lord;’ it is wise to [30]
cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have
peace.” Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of
error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its [1]
disguises, and—behold the result: evil, uncovered, is
self-destroyed.
Christian Science never healed a patient without prov-
ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found [5]
out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third
kills itself. Do men whine over a nest of serpents, and
post around it placards warning people not to stir up
these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said,
“They shall take up serpents;” and, “Be ye therefore [10]
wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” The wisdom
of a serpent is to hide itself. The wisdom of God, as
revealed in Christian Science, brings the serpent out of
its hole, handles it, and takes away its sting. Good deeds
are harmless. He who has faith in woman's special adapt- [15]
ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked
when she puts her foot on the head of the serpent, as it
biteth at the heel.
Intemperance begets a belief of disordered brains,
membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves [20]
to uncover and kill this lurking serpent, intemperance,
that hides itself under the false pretense of human need,
innocent enjoyment, and a medical prescription. The
belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the
shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and [25]
thus may save him from his destroyer.
Charity has the courage of conviction; it may suffer
long, but has neither the cowardice nor the foolhardiness
to cover iniquity. Charity is Love; and Love opens
the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out. [30]
Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer
from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not
lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform [1]
them.
Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not
cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor-
tals to handle serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision [5]
must be clear to open the eyes of others, else the blind
will lead the blind and both shall fall. The sickly charity
that supplies criminals with bouquets has been dealt
with summarily by the good judgment of people in
the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla- [10]
tion, and Salem witchcraft, are not indigenous to her
soil.
“Out of the depths have I delivered thee.” The
drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave is
unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his [15]
peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because
you wish to save him from death. Then, if a criminal
is at peace, is he not to be pitied and brought back to
life? Or, are you afraid to do this lest he suffer, trample
on your pearls of thought, and turn on you and rend you? [20]
Cowardice is selfishness. When one protects himself at
his neighbor's cost, let him remember, “Whosoever will
save his life shall lose it.” He risks nothing who obeys
the law of God, and shall find the Life that cannot be
lost. [25]
Our Master said, “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.”
Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with
God. He drank this cup giving thanks, and he said to
his followers, “Drink ye all of it,”—drink it all, and let
all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer,—“Thy [30]
kingdom come.” Shall we repeat our Lord's Prayer
when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and
to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy [1]
is a fool that saith in his heart, “No God”—a caressing
Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This god-
less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is
obtained. [5]
Jesus did his work, and left his glorious career for our
example. On the shore of Gennesaret he tersely re-
minded his students of their worldly policy. They had
suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused
them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas- [10]
ter and cast their nets on the right side. When they
were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The
ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means
ought to silence ours. One step away from the direct
line of divine Science cost them—what? A speedy re- [15]
turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre-
quited toil.
The currents of human nature rush in against the right
course; health, happiness, and life flow not into one of
their channels. The law of Love saith, “Not my will, [20]
but Thine, be done,” and Christian Science proves that
human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white
Christ, is the remunerator.
If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a
wrong direction, who will step forward and open his [25]
eyes to see this error? He who is a Christian Scientist,
who has cast the beam out of his own eye, speaks plainly
to the offender and tries to show his errors to him before
letting another know it.
Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting [30]
form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis-
ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of
him; they could not behold his immortal being in the [1]
form of Godlikeness.
All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good,
flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my
faith in the right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the [5]
proportion that their instructions are assimilated, will
point the way, shorten the process, and consummate the
joys of acquiescence in the methods of divine Love. The
Scripture saith, “He that covereth his sins shall not pros-
per.” No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni- [10]
ties which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm
our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can
be destroyed.
May my friends and my enemies so profit by these
waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined [15]
another's way may perfect their own lives by gentle
benedictions. In every age, the pioneer reformer must
pass through a baptism of fire. But the faithful adher-
ents of Truth have gone on rejoicing. Christian Science
gives a fearless wing and firm foundation. These are [20]
its inspiring tones from the lips of our Master, “My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
my hand.” He is but “an hireling” who fleeth when he [25]
seeth the wolf coming.
Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer: the night
is far spent, the day dawns; God's universal kingdom
will appear, Love will reign in every heart, and His will
be done on earth as in heaven. [30]