MUCH has been written and said in recent years concerning determination with respect to civil government. Self-determination, as an inalienable right of the people in regard to methods and means of government, is being much considered as the effect of an inevitable trend toward democracy. The exercise of the right of determination, therefore, may be said to be a clear indication of an expanding sense of the rightness of individual choice in matters of government. The exercise of the right of the individual to decide for himself (under the law) as to his preferences in matters affecting his own interests and happiness is an action just as applicable to his own private affairs as to the affairs of the state. Indeed, this right of individual choice should commence with, and be well established within, one's intimate affairs (always under the law), if ever the effect of self-government is to be harmoniously maintained in the collective affairs of men.
Possibly a little consideration of the meaning of determination in this connection, as a proper prelude to success, will be helpful. For such purpose we may think of determination as meaning right and resolute decision, wisdom in judgment, firmness in action. It is not necessary to think of determination in this sense as human will-power, but as an expression of the will to think rightly and to do rightly.
While our common version of the Bible frequently gives the sense of success, it uses the word but once, and in this single instance presents success as a reward for obedience. In Joshua 1:8, the Word of God declares the demand of the Mosaic law to be for constant meditation and observation of the law, and adds, "For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." This promise is included in the teaching of Christian Science. Thousands, formerly thought to be unsuccessful, have been enabled to apply the teachings of the Bible, as illumined by this explanatory Science, and in obedience to the law have experienced the fulfillment of the promise in "good success;" and many more thousands, touched by its radiating effects, have shared in the consequent benefits.
