to Peter he said, “Thou art an offence.” He came teaching and showing how to destroy sin, sickness, and death. He said of the fruitless tree, “Cut it down.”
Waking to Christ's demand, mortals experience suffering. This causes them, even as a drowning man, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and, through Christ, these efforts are a success.
“Work out your own salvation,” is the demand of Life and Love; for to this end God worketh with you. “Occupy till I come!” Wait for your reward, “and be not weary in well-doing.” If your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race. When the smoke of battle clears away, you will discern the good you have done, and receive as you have fought. Love is not hasty to deliver us from temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified.
Divine Science teaches faith in the right, and disbelief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly in times of persecution, because then our labor is more needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we may never receive it in this world.
Final deliverance from error — whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense — is neither reached through paths of flowers, nor by pinning one's faith to vicarious effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous, or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, cannot understand God.
Justice requires restitution by the sinner. Mercy cancels only when justice approves, and revenge is inadmissible. Wrath, which is only appeased, is not destroyed, but indulged. Wisdom and Love may require
