Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1919-11-17
The Human Will
(Written for the Christian Sciene
Monitor)

Monitor)
The human will is regarded as that
faculty whereby men freely choose or
reject thing. 1t apparently enables
a man to choose the good or the evil
course, as he may elect, and many be-
lieve that almost anything toward
which a man directs his ambition can
be accomplished through the exercise
of the human will. When, however,
events, disasters, and desolations ap-
pear. which the mortal will has been
powerless to avert the human mind
looks about for a cause or will outside
of It's own. and, with sublime incon-
sistency, attributes the inexplicable
evils, which are its own subjective
state, to the workings of the win of
God
There are few persons who would
not Immediately concede that God is
good. They are not so ready to assert
that Gods will is seen only in the
operation of good, for, although men
have been taught that they must sub
init to the inscrutable wisdom of God,
when they consider the reversals. the
sicknesses, and sorrows, through which
they have been bereaved, it seems to
them very much as IL an evil is
wrought in their lives, even if it is,
as they suppose, wrought by the will
Of God. This human confusion, this
false supposition that, in some mys-
terious way, the will of God works
through evil that good may come, is
duo OF the corporal conception of
God and man. The human will is
capable of evil as well as of human
sense of good, for it is the motive
power of that mind which is supposed
TO exist in matter apart from God
The divine will is capable only of
good, because it is the power and wis
dom of unchanging principle which in
cludes no element of evil. Human
will-power constantly runs into error
because it opposes the will of God, be-
because it opposes the will of God, be-
cause it is phase of the belief of
material existence which wholly coun-
terfeits the spiritual man in the like
ness of God. On page 597 of Science
and Health with Key to the Script
lures" Mrs. Eddy clearly discriminates
between the so-called human will
power and the will OF God as under
stood in Christian Science. She
writes: "Will. The motive-power OF
error; mortal belief; animal power
The might and wisdom of God" And
a little lower in the same message she
further explains, will, as a quality
of so-called mortal mind. is wrong
doer; hence it should not be con-
founded with the term as applied to
mind or to one of Gods qualities"
Jesus the Christ declared his mis-
sion to be that of revealing and
demonstrating the will Of God, and he
explained what the effect of accepting
his teachings would be for those who
understood. II came down from
heaven" he said, mot to do mine owr
will, but the will of Him that sent me-
"And this is the will of Him that sem
me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on Him, may have
everlasting life" 1t is the nature Of
will to act freely, for, obviously, the
will cannot be compelled. The spon-
taneous volition of good, which Jesus
the Christ revealed and demonstrated
can therefore be understood and real
lied only as the spurious human viii
gives place to the divine, for the hu-
man will has not the power to become
like God To will a thing in the merely
human way is simply to manifest 6
carnal or animal propensity; but t
will only as God wills is to have tn,
false sense Of Will nea1ed through thu
mind of the Christ and to gain tn,
power of the Christ over sin, disease
and death, and to be governed by tn,
law of infinite harmony. 1t is. in short
as Paul wrote to the Romans, to b,
transformed by the renewing of you
mind" in order to prove what is tina
good, and acceptable and perfect
will Of God"
The effect upon mankind of mis-
taken endeavor to submit to the will
of God, when that will is believed +
be unaffected in sickness and death
is mainly to increase the fear of wha
is only an experience of the human
mind and to create q sense of hope
lessness before an adverse omnip
otence. When mortals change thei
belief that sorrows are permitted b
the will of God and see instead tina
they are but manifestations of tn
human mind, they will begin to los
their fear Of evil and seek rather t
exchange the motive power of .morts
mind for the might and wisdom q