Article September 12, 1908 Issue

THE CHRISTIAN'S BANK

S. J. HARE.

Suppose a man were to go to a bank and demand one hundred dollars, and the paying teller found he had no account with the bank, what would and what should the teller do? Refuse the demand. And why? Because the man was demanding something for nothing. It might be argued that this man was not a criminal at heart; that he was possibly ignorant of the fact that he had nothing on deposit; perhaps some one had told him that his great-grandfather had deposited money to his credit in that bank, and he had believed it, and only demanded what he thought he was entitled to.

Many of us have labored under just such a delusion for years. We have believed that Jesus made a deposit for us, and that all we had to do was to demand what we supposed was our salvation from all that was unlike success, health, and happiness. Christian Science opens our eyes to the fact that first of all we must acknowledge and obey divine Principle; that if we wish to draw on the infinite good, we must have something to our credit before we begin to draw. For thirty years I was a church member, and as we met together, week by week, in our prayers we begged God to be good to us, thereby implying that He had been or might be otherwise; we also told Him just how and in what way we wanted Him to display that goodness. Christian Science has taught me that God is good, and that as we deposit in His bank of our faith in Him, and return thanks to Him for His past goodness, in proportion as we think right and do right, we are entitled to draw for ourselves success, health, and happiness.

The Hebrew word "blood" is symbolically used in the Scripture for "life." In Christian Science we learn it is Jesus' life, not his death, that ransoms all mankind, and that by living as he did we can draw on the infinite power just as he did; but we must have to our credit a life like his, if we would give to mankind as he did. In his epistle to the Philippians Paul tells us just how to start our bank account. He says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ... and the God of peace shall be with you." This is the deposit that we must first place to our credit if we wish to draw on the infinite source of supply for success, health, and happiness; for these point to Principle, and rightness is our standing or rating at the bank of the infinite. Thousands have learned, and thousands are learning, that in order to have their demand honored at the Christian's bank, they must first establish their credit, that the paying teller's books must show that they have an account with the bank. Paul also tells us of some things that are not legal tender at the Christian's bank, such as unrighteousness, impurity, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, deceit, backbiting, etc., and he says it is "the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death;" in other words, their account is closed.

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