Article May 4, 1912 Issue

UNTO CÆSAR

MARIETTA HOOVER DUNN.

Many persons who do not understand Christian Science are bitter in their denunciation of a price set on Christian Science healing. "Jesus Christ," they say, "sent his disciples out with the injunction to carry neither purse nor scrip; and if the healing is a divine force, what right has a practitioner to charge for the administration of a power free to all?"

There never seems to come to any of these people the remembrance that Jesus most explicitly stipulated that men should render unto Cæsar "the things that are Cæsar's." Now, as then, Cæsar stands for government and the social law and order. Jesus, throughout his life, showed sympathy with the human needs and social conventions of the people. His earliest recorded miracle was that of turning water into wine at the wedding feast; his last was his healing of the servant of the high priest. The servant was doing only his duty, according to the law, as interpreted by his superiors, in arresting Jesus.

If the Saviour were on earth today, would he any the less adjure men to render unto Cæsar his due? in other words, to be anything short of good citizens and helpful, uplifting parts of the body politic? Civilization today demands self-supporting citizens and condemns parasites. Under the present law of order, convention, and good government, the traveling doctor and the itinerant preacher are no longer regarded with favor. The world throws the rolling-stone proverb at the vagrant and turns its back on his hurt. The Christian minister is paid for efforts supposed to be purely, spiritual, and no one demurs. The poorest devout church-member does not cavil at his quota toward the support of his minister. He would not wish the dignity of the man or the honor of his position abased by making him a dependent on the impulsive and uncertain bounty of his people. The minister must live and must have leisure to devote to the duties of his charge. He has no time in which to go out to earn money otherwise for his support; therefore the means of living must be provided for him by the people he serves. Cæsar demands of the minister the same deference to the social conventions and laws of order that is demanded of the lay member. Even the railroads have ceased to interfere with the exactions of Cæsar's dues in regard to ministers of the gospel. The poor parishioner likewise pays his doctor's bills, and never questions the justice of them, especially if the physician has saved the life, as he believes, of some member of his family.

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