Original closing of How It Works

You can find a transcription of the original manuscript here or here. You can see a copy of some of the original pages here.

How It Works originally offered people the choice of completely ignoring the steps and the Big Book. This was obviously not a good idea for an ambitious, fledgling alcoholic cult. But it does show that a certain free spiritedness and enlightened secularism were present in early AA. How It Works originally ended with these words:

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after, have been designed to sell you three pertinent ideas:

(a) That you are alcoholic and cannot manage your own life.
(b) That probably no human power can relieve your alcoholism.
(c) That God can and will.

If you are not convinced on these vital issues, you ought to re-read the book to this point or else throw it away! [Emphasis added.]

Well said, Mr William Griffith Wilson!