Article June 8, 1907 Issue

THE QUESTION OF COMPENSATION

ANNIE M. PAYNE.

What seems a stumbling-block to many when brought face to face with Christian Science is the fact that its adherents accept remuneration for their services. The revulsion of feeling which this produces in some who incline to the teaching, and even in beginners themselves, is curiously disproportionate to the occasion, when we consider how long it has been the custom to pay both the clergyman and the doctor; and that in the ministrations of Christian Science the offices of both these servants of humanity are combined. Still so it is, and therefore we have here a manifestation of mortal sense, which must be met by statements of Truth's requirement.

We would first call attention to the fact that throughout the entire range of our Leader's work there has been the tendency to gather into it all the hardly-won. Christ-sanctioned assets of social life. In the Manual this tendency is shown by frequent references to the laws of the State; and it is equally clear in regard to the subject before us. Among these things of good report is the healthy sense of independence. Availing himself of this characteristic, as in itself helpful to soundness of body and mind, the practitioner accepts a return, and lets the patient experience the pleasant sense of giving something for something, and realizing the better that this work is worth paying for. Gratitude is a second bulwark of our dealings with one another; and it is quite indispensable if one would reap the full benefit of Christian Science work. Some have been healed seemingly in advance of this consciousness; but none can proceed further while nourishing ingratitude; and the way in which payment is made affords a good test of the condition of a patient's thought on this subject. Again—we have Jesus' word for it—"the laborer is worthy of his hire," and these words illustrate the sense of common justice which plays so large a part in the harmonious relations of human life. A fourth and growing sense is that permanent ill-health should be discountenanced. Though seemingly hard to the invalid, it is often a wholesome check upon sickness that we must pay to get well. Hence it is not the aim of Christian Scientists to underbid the doctors, nor to attract people through the thought of cheapness. Let us look more closely at the healing work itself and those engaged in it. To abrogate compensation would be to put an artificial restriction upon this work, since many, otherwise ready, would be unable to relinquish for the non-paying labor that which had hitherto supplied their daily needs. When we consider how many a hard-working man or woman with a family has come earnestly into Christian Science, and is ready to begin the healing of the sick in Jesus' way, we see that non-payment would put a veto on certain good work, possibly for years. Poverty is a wrong state of human thought, and cannot be allowed to override the work of Science. It is most important to recognize that the demonstration of Life as made known in Science is possible to all who are ready to put the truth first. There is no barrier. No occupation, not wrong in itself, is a hindrance to making a start, and it is desirable to give as much freedom as possible to the worker. Here compensation helps by enabling him, in proportion to success, to tend towards the giving up of that occupation considered essential hitherto as a channel of support.

Be it conceded, then, that the poorer student should take remuneration. But why, asks a critic, render the matter so obtrusive by compelling the wealthy to adopt a practice often at first most repellent to them. A little consideration will show how truly God-guided was our Leader's thought here. If the rich student might forego a return, how many ungrateful, or at least unthinking persons, would select the practitioner who charged nothing. What an abyss of error opens before the analytic thought in this case! Supposing out of several students the most spiritually-minded were at first the poorest in this world's goods. The public, knowing nothing of the great need there is for spirituality in the practitioner, would then be patronizing the less receptive thought. What a loss to the whole world's apprehension of Christian Science! Nor would the effect on the workers themselves be less unfortunate. The old order of pride with riches and envy with poverty might secure a footing, and the only right standard of preeminence be greatly obscured. Again, though in the end the poorer student overcame his early handicap through special success in healing, yet what difficulties would linger over the money question. Whether he sought to retain, to lessen, or to relinquish his compensation, what a stream of false, hard thoughts he would bring down upon himself. Truly we cannot be too thankful that the decision is taken altogether out of the student's hands, that in this question of payment as in many another our Leader has stood by the demands of Principle, even though it has subjected her to the shafts of misrepresentation. It is narrated that a wealthy student, neglecting this requirement, found presently that her path was beset by inharmonious conditions. Applying at last to her teacher as to the cause of failure, he asked her whether she accepted a return from those who were able to pay. She confessed that she had not felt inclined to do so. "Go, then," said he, "and learn humility and obedience, and you will succeed." And the result showed that he was right.

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