Editorial July 20, 1912 Issue

UNIVERSAL APPLICATION

Archibald McLellan

Frequently at the Wednesday evening meetings we hear testimonies given in which the speaker includes a statement of his gratitude for the greater prosperity which he is enjoying in his business affairs, and to a stranger who is attending a Christian Science service for the first time, this statement may prove somewhat puzzling. This inquirer has heard, and may be willing to believe, that Christian Science heals disease, reforms the sinful, and brings comfort to the weary and heavy-laden, but that it is a panacea for business ills as well, seems almost too much for him to accept. The reason for this unbelief may be one of several things. He may have been educated to believe that the only measure of success in business is the accumulation of great wealth, and that in order to attain to this desirable condition it is permissible to and in fact he must employ a different code of ethics from that of which he makes use in his other relations with his fellows. Another belief which may influence him is that by which so many men are affected, namely, that business is a species of warfare in which he who would win can pay little regard to the rights or to the sufferings of others,—where might is right and the battle is always to the strong.

To one who holds these and kindred beliefs, it might and probably would appear, unless the right explanation as to how the success was brought about were given, that only through will-power or hypnotism could such results be attained, and he would very likely go away from the meeting either with an utter repudiation of the verity of the testimonies given, or confirmed in another prevalent but mistaken belief, namely, that Christian Science is but a variant of suggestion, and that its results are obtained through the domination of one mortal mind over another. Christian Scientists know to the contrary; they know it is through adherence to divine Principle, through yielding themselves to the guidance of the Mind which is supreme intelligence and wisdom, that success has come to them, and they know that true success can be won in no other way, but they sometimes fail to state this with sufficient clearness.

When we hear testimonies to business success given at these meetings, we often wish that they might be as lucid in this particular as is the testimony given on pages 643 to 645 of Science and Health. The writer of this testimony makes clear the reasons for his prosperity in business in these words: "I became more friendly, more honest, more loving to my fellow men; and I also acquired better judgment and was able to do the right thing at the right time." This statement is in line with Mrs. Eddy's words on page 192 of Science and Health: "The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power;" and these words should be sufficient to stimulate to the utmost exercise of those qualities of thought which have their basis in immortal Mind and which cast their influence for righteousness in the working out of every human problem. There is another saying of our Leader of similar import, namely, "If mental practise is abused or is used in any way except to promote right thinking and doing, the power to heal mentally will diminish, until the practitioner's healing ability is wholly lost" (Science and Health, p. 410). It will readily be seen that in its application this statement of truth, like every other, is universal, and that only as mental practise is used "to promote right thinking and doing" is it of value either in the conduct of business affairs or in the correction of any other discordant condition of thought.

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