Editorial November 15, 1947 Issue

CONQUERING THE "REBEL WILL"

John Randall Dunn

Who does not rejoice in even the slightest evidence of dominion over some form of discord, weakness, or limitation? Dominion is man's primal possession, according to the first chapter of Genesis; and while mortals, through the harnessing of various material forces and the utilization of amazing modern inventions, are proving themselves masters of many physical aspects of existence, have they not much to learn and to demonstrate about the God-given dominion, which is always available for every intelligent being, over sinful and sickly thinking fear, heartache, and discord?

How often does one hear of an individual who is the victim of so-called ungovernable temper, or who cannot bridle appetite! Another is afraid to eat; another complains of his inability to control licentious thinking, and so it goes. But what says the Psalmist about man, the image of his Maker? We read: "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angles, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Ps.8:5, 6). Now comes the Science of Christianity to show humanity how to utilize and put to practical use this dominion.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 231) Mary Baker Eddy writes: "To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love and the divine Science of being in man's relation to God,—to doubt His government and distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance with divine Science." Man, existing as the expression of God, divine Mind and Principle, necessarily reflects Mind's dominion over everything unlike good. Therefore the only will he can claim or know is the divine, and not a human will.

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