Article July 3, 1926 Issue

The Divine Will and the Human

CLIFFORD M. SIMON

Practically all of us have heard, and many of us at one time believed, the argument that human will power is desirable, a thing to be developed as one of the assets of our personality. How often have we heard failure attributed to lack of sufficient will to give power to the purpose; and equally as often has the human will been credited for many of the so-called successes which one has achieved!

The student of Christian Science early learns that human will is false belief, the use of which finally, if not immediately, results in discord and destruction. On page 597 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy, referring to will as a human quality, defines it thus: "The motive-power of error; mortal belief; animal power." She also states, "Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities." It is evident that what is erroneous in foundation can yield only erroneous results. But when speaking of will as "one of God's qualities," Mrs. Eddy defines it as "the might and wisdom of God."

Now it is the divine will, the will of God, that every earnest student of Christian Science strives to use in his every action. He endeavors to eliminate from every thought the belief in a will apart from God, and to know that since there is but the one infinite Mind there can in reality be nothing expressed which is not a quality of this Mind. There being but one Mind, God, it logically follows that in reality there can be but one will, and that one the divine will.

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