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
5      its effects. God is All, and by virtue of this nature and
         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
10    governs it.

         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
15    His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own
         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
20    chasteneth.” His rod brings to view His love, and inter-
         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-

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1      ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and
         remedies.

         Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga-
         tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to punish
5      sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets,
         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
10    human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own
         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.

15    Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv-
         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
20    sense. False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no
         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
25    concealed and that life and happiness should still attend
         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
30    and false charity say, “ ‘Not so, Lord;’ it is wise to
         cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have
         peace.” Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of

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1      error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its
         disguises, and — behold the result: evil, uncovered, is
         self-destroyed.

         Christian Science never healed a patient without prov-
5      ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found
         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,
10    “They shall take up serpents;” and, “Be ye therefore
         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
15    are harmless. He who has faith in woman’s special adapt-
         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,
20    membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves
         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
25    shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and
         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
30    the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out.
         Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer
         from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not

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1      lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform
         them.

         Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not
         cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor-
5      tals to handle serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision
         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
10    the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla-
         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
15    unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his
         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
20    on your pearls of thought, and turn on you and rend you?
         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
25    lost.

         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
30    all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer, — “Thy
         kingdom come.” Shall we repeat our Lord’s Prayer
         when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and

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1      to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy
         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
5      obtained.

         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
10    them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas-
         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
15    line of divine Science cost them — what? A speedy re-
         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
20    their channels. The law of Love saith, “Not my will,
         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
25    wrong direction, who will step forward and open his
         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.

30    Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting
         form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis-
         ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of

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1      him; they could not behold his immortal being in the
         form of Godlikeness.

         All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good,
         flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my
5      faith in the right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the
         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-
10    per.” No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni-
         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
15    waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined
         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
20    gives a fearless wing and firm foundation. These are
         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
25    my hand.” He is but “an hireling” who fleeth when he
         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
30    be done on earth as in heaven.