Article April 17, 1937 Issue

"Subjection to Spirit"

EVELYN F. HEYWOOD

There is an occasion, in the Gospel narratives, where it is recorded that Jesus made a specific request to God. "If thou be willing, remove this cup from me," he cried in the agony of Gethsemane. And then, immediately there followed that proviso—the outcome of his spiritual understanding of where wisdom and protection are to be found: "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." How certain of fulfillment is every earnest prayer, offered in such a spirit!

The Master knew that true dominion lies not in the exercise, but in the subordination of human will to the divine; in the understanding that the meek, not the aggressive, inherit the earth; that to the poor in spirit, not to the arrogant, does the kingdom of heaven belong. However fierce the conflict with opposing forces, whether those seeming to be of one's own desires and fears, or of the world's, obedience to God's will ensures an enduring recompense.

In the second chapter of Genesis there is described a scene where, as the result of serpentine instigation, Adam and his wife asserted their own wills in opposition to the divine command, and believed that by so doing they would be benefited. Commenting on this Scriptural passage, Mrs. Eddy has written (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 165): "Evil declared that eating this fruit would open man's eyes and make him as a god. Instead of so doing, it closed the eyes of mortals to man's God-given dominion over the earth."

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