Article April 22, 1911 Issue

"HE THAT HATH NO MONEY."

LEON GREENBAUM.

How many of earth's multitudes, weary and heavy laden, are crying out for deliverance,—those who are bowed down with the belief of poverty, the belief of inability to pay for the help so greatly needed! Poverty is a disease whose phases are legion. It is the stone before the sepulcher in which many are buried, and which can only be rolled away by that disciple who robes himself in the shining garments of self-immolation and absolute consecration to divine Science. Every belief of inability to meet the demands of Principle, if analyzed, can be traced to personality as its source. The practitioner in Christian Science knows that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" and not from below, and with this thought he can heal the patient's belief of personal giving or receiving and the disease that has linked itself to this error, and demonstrate the divine source of supply. The belief of poverty is a misconception generated by a finite and limited view of everything.

In the estimation of the patient who is bound by poverty thoughts, everything must be weighed, measured, and paid for, including the sacred offices of a disciple of Christ, with the same material sense of value that envelops a transaction in dry goods or groceries. The practitioner destroys this mistaken belief by explaining to the patient that the Father's house is not "an house of merchandise;" that "doves" (spiritual ideas) cannot be bought or sold of the Father for money, but rather with a contrite heart; and the spirit of the practitioner is born of the understanding that the same power which heals the claim of poverty in the patient, elevates him above the sordid thought of monetary reward, so that in his consciousness the service of his Lord is indeed "without money and without price;" and he ascends higher in being and healing by demonstrating, if needs be, the command, "Freely ye have received, freely give."

The claim of poverty grows out of a mistaken sense of what constitutes riches. The belief in human need is due to the blindness of mortals to the reality of spiritual things. Mrs. Eddy says, "Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal are insubstantial" (Science and Health, p. 335). When things spiritual are discerned by human consciousness, they take on an outward manifestation, and this is what is often called a demonstration of supply. Understanding this, Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

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