Article September 23, 1916 Issue

Tithes and Taxes

BEATRICE VROOMAN

THE Christian Scientist who works constructively with the thought of church building, turns to page 583 of Science and Health, and there finds that its author, Mrs. Eddy, has defined "church" as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." As the whole of this passage is studied one gains an enlarged concept of church. It is realized that church growth, or church building, is coincident with spiritual unfoldment, which must be manifested in greater mental, moral, and physical harmony,—each demonstration of divine Principle, of Truth, no matter how seemingly insignificant, being a stone purchased, polished, and delivered at the building site. One cannot build without substance, and in Science and Health (p. 468) it is recorded that "Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance." Hence the clearer our understanding and appreciation of the qualities of Mind, Soul, or God, the richer will be our sense of substance.

During the summer months of 1915 it was the privilege of the Christian Science churches in San Francisco to hear at their Wednesday evening meetings testimonies from churches in widely separated parts of the world. The greater the geographical distance from which the testimony came, the more forceful it was in conveying a sense of the extent and at the same time of the unity of the true church,—a sense of the inexhaustible richness of the quarry from which the building stones are being brought. As the greater is compounded of the lesser, the individual must realize that general church growth will be in keeping with individual growth, and that his own contribution toward this building will be in proportion to the estimate entertained of his own supply. While making such a survey recently, the writer's attention was called to what seemed confiscatory taxes on a certain piece of property in her holding.

Here it may be asked, What are taxes? That Jesus recognized their legitimacy may be deduced from his reply recorded in Mark's gospel, when he was questioned as to the payment of the tribute money. He said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." As custom has established that taxes shall be paid on property or inheritance, may we not take, as correlative to the passage quoted above and as our standard definition of inheritance, "the Christian Science which Jesus preached and practised and left to us as his rich legacy" (Science and Health, p. 344). Then our real taxes or tithes are our acknowledgment of benefits derived from Christian Science, and we would be the losers if we failed to make the proper return for the benefits received by us from the truth.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"Paths of righteousness"