Article December 26, 1908 Issue

"AND THE RAIN DESCENDED."

CASSIUS M. LOOMIS.

To the careful, scientific observer there is an intensely practical side to Christian Science. Even though it is sometimes hard to amplify metaphysical truths by the use of ordinary English, yet do not business men and women find ways to apply the gospel of Truth to current affairs, even amid the noise and turmoil of commercialism?

In the great cities of our land where the adherents of Christian Science are many, there is a current saying that you may know a Christian Scientist the moment you set eyes on him, be he stranger or friend; that his air of confidence, cheery looks, and settled convictions give to his every movement the flavor of accomplishement and fixedness. This may be a little overdrawn, but it is nominally true to him or her who keeps an eye open to the study of humankind. A Christian Scientist who truly lives the life his text-book teaches, needs no other capital. As he builds, his house endureth, for the superstructure thereof is not to be shaken. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, ... and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."

Because of his happy faculty of adaptation, the man of business finds prosperity a logical sequence, as incidental to human affairs as is the rain to the nourishment of the rose. "Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, ... There is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out" (Science and Health, p. 462). Oh, that the vital meaning of this quotation might be so absorbed as to become a revelation to all mankind! Would not prosperity, linked with neighborly love, prove its legitimacy? Would not the rules of fair dealing, just recompense, and a living profit yield their fruits daily, hourly? The Christian Scientist with settled convictions works right-handed. Worry is conquered by a mind so filled with something better that when the day's work is begun sufficient capital has been generated over night to win the day's victories without the chafing sense of doubt or distrust. Such an one attends church as if impelled by a cherished desire rather than duty. I have observed that business men and women, more than any other class, look eagerly forward to the Wednesday evening service, for the reason that here one's neighbors relate their experiences in language so simple that conviction among their hearers is frequently only a matter of a few weeks or days.

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