Editorial December 1, 1917 Issue

"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

William D. McCrackan

Saul's career as a persecutor of the Christians was suddenly stopped by a voice saying unto him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" The pride of the Pharisee then had its fall, the cruelty of the odium theologicum was wiped out, Saul became Paul, the little one, and he who but a while before was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter" had to be led by the hand, helpless and abashed, into Damascus. Thus startling is sometimes the transformation of the individual when he hears the call of Truth. Writing of this experience Mrs. Eddy has said on page 324 of Science and Health: "When the truth first appeared to him in Science, Paul was made blind, and his blindness was felt; but spiritual light soon enabled him to follow the example and teachings of Jesus, healing the sick and preaching Christianity throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and even in imperial Rome."

Paul's victory came through obedience to God. His meek question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" parallels Isaiah's utterance, "Here am I, send me." Every advancing Christian must be ready without previous notice to declare this same readiness. The spiritual ear which hears is the spiritual understanding which knows. Heaven and earth are God's creation; he who obeys the divine voice and keeps the heavenly covenant, enters into his spiritual inheritance of power and dominion. Obedience to God enlists Principle upon our side in the warfare with the adversary, relieves us of the burnt offerings and sacrifices of materialism, and clothes us with the impenetrable mantle of God's protection. The chastening of Love becomes joyous through obedience. All the accumulated débris of the world's false thinking cannot obstruct the triumphant progress of him who listens, and listening hears, and hearing obeys. Foes within and without are thrown aside by this victorious advance. Hampering traditions lose their hold; false standards, a limited outlook, the demands of matter, current beliefs, and other figments of the world's imagination make way for the obedient who are panoplied in God's armor. Jesus brushed aside all the cherished points of view of self-righteous humanity in his day. Mrs. Eddy was obliged to master the incrusted conventions which would have prevented a woman from leading and commanding. She tells of her experience when as a child in her seventh year she repeatedly heard a voice calling her. The reader is referred to pages 8 and 9 of "Retrospection and Introspection" for a description of these spiritually significant incidents. At length she replied to the voice at her mother's request, using the words of little Samuel, "Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth."

Christian Scientists should be ready with their daily question: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? At the first peep of day the exultant sense of obedience should open their eyes and make them spring forward with joy. Behold, another day of possible achievement under divine guidance, another period of illumination which shall transform human consciousness. The material world drops and fades, and with it the myriad falsities of time and belief. The world's laws are seen to be mistakes, mortals are beheld as struggling against each other instead of against mortal mind, their common foe. Spiritually understood Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled: "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." Physicality is resolved into carnal mentality. Gloom and chaos reign below.

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