The rights of man are inherent in sonship, and can neither be delegated nor withheld. Men may ignore, repudiate, or disown them; they may believe that they must be suffered and fought for as something retributory and sacrificial, or longed for as something remote and undefinable; but the fact remains that the divine rights of sonship belong inalienably to man. "Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery," writes Mary Baker Eddy on page 381 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
While the rights of man are forever inseparable from him, yet it is only in the subordination of human will, in intelligent relinquishment of mortal ambition and desire, that men lay hold of and exercise the divine rights of sonship.
"Blessed are they," wrote John, "that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." In commenting on this Mrs. Eddy reminds us that "the divine might of Truth demands well-doing in order to demonstrate truth, and this not alone in accord with human desire but with spiritual power" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 3).
