Universal salvation will not be won without due recognition by each individual of his God-given freedom to work out his own salvation. There are, of course, many who deny that any such freedom exists, who believe that the fate of mankind is predetermined either by an inscrutable deity or by human environment with its variety of determining forces and laws.
Such views were obviously not shared by Mrs. Eddy, for she writes in "Unity of Good" (p. 60), "Mortals are free moral agents, to choose whom they would serve." Not only are we free to make choices but we are making them consciously or unconsciously all the time. Furthermore, what we call the sum total of our experience is, to a much larger extent than we may realize, merely the sum total of our own decisions. Are we sad or happy, victim or victor, under pressure or expressing effortless activity? Whichever we are, the reason is to be found, more often than not, within the area of our own decisions, not outside it.
Personal sense often argues strongly that under certain circumstances we have no choice; whereas we have in fact already made a choice and are suffering from its effects rather than from any external cause.
