Mrs. Eddy tells us that "obedience is the offspring of Love" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 117), and it is, perhaps more than any other mental quality, a distinguishing characteristic of those whom God chooses to carry out the divine purpose; it is also inseparable from the law of progress which has ever served to elevate the human race. No great achievement in any field of endeavor has been accomplished without the faithful services of some individual imbued beyond the ordinary with the spirit of obedience. Obedience often portends the call to some duty which necessitates the entire sacrifice of self, and most probably also of every preconceived idea or personal inclination upon the matter. It has been justly remarked that he who reluctantly obeys, or lingers to inquire into the why and wherefore of the orders received, in no wise manifests the true spirit of obedience, of which our Leader says that it is to be "never absent from your post, never off guard, never ill-humored, never unready to work for God" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 116).
The pages of Holy Writ, together with those of secular history, bear frequent testimony to deeds of self-immolation performed both by noble men and women in obedience to God's call or the command of those vested with righteous authority, but nowhere is there recorded an act of obedience comparable to that described by St. John in the twentieth chapter of his gospel. The opening verse informs us that on the first day of the week, and while it was yet dark, Mary Magdalene came to the garden where the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea was, the new sepulcher wherein the body of Jesus had been laid, he who had been so cruelly put to. death upon the cross by the Jews and chief priests, on the preparation of the passover, the greatest of all their feasts throughout the year. The thoughts and expectation which prompted Mary's early visit are not given, but as the heavy curtain of night rose gradually in the east, and the first glad gleams of the dawn struggled forth, she was able to make a discovery of the very highest importance—the stone which guarded the mouth of the tomb had been rolled aside and the body of her loved Lord had been taken away.
Then Mary, assuming that Peter and the other disciples ought at once to be acquainted with what had happened, though who indeed could stay the hand of treachery stretched forth against Truth's representative, hastened back to the village and summoned them. Her tidings brought the two disciples quickly to the garden, and there they found that what Mary had stated was true, the discarded grave-clothes being now the only evidence that the sepulcher had sheltered the body of their beloved Master. "Then," the narrative continues, "the disciples went away again unto their own home;" but Mary's profound love and devotion for the Master kept her there, despite all the haunting fears that must have undoubtedly oppressed her. Alone she stood by the sepulcher weeping, and stooping to look in saw two angels, who questioned her as to why she wept, for the light of the resurrection morn was beginning to shine into her consciousness. She replied, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."
