Article May 24, 1913 Issue

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN RELATION TO BUSINESS

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE is sometimes spoken of by its students in such a manner as to give the impression, to those who do not understand its method, that it is capable of being used to further one's business or financial interests. Although nothing is of greater value or imparts more practical good to the man in business than does his understanding of Christian Science, it is evident upon its very face that it cannot be practised for any selfish or mercenary purpose. Christian Science is helpful to the student in working out his problems, whether expressed in lack of means, of health, or of goodness, but it is a misapprehension of the nature and operation of Christian Science to suppose that it can be made a medium to sell stocks, real estate, or merchandise, any more than it can enable the lawyer to win his case or the politician his election without respect to the righteousness of the cause he represents.

The relation of Christian Science to business problems is not different from its relation to physical or moral problems. It heals the belief of a discordant business on the same basis and by the same rule that it heals the belief of a sick body. The function of Christian Science is to right the wrongs of humanity; and the wrongs that oppress a business, or rather the thoughts of those conducting it, are as amenable to correction by right thinking as are wrongs appearing in other ways. Envy, greed, jealousy, selfishness, if allowed to rule, will sooner or later cause a business to suffer as certainly as they cause a person to suffer who indulges them; but the remedy in either case is not an increased sense of material things, but a knowledge of man's real relation to God. The disturbing source of business depression or failure is spoken of as economic, but in fact it is mental and moral; and the obstructive and destructive false view of things must be replaced by the true to restore normal conditions on any permanent basis. Regarding the man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord," the Scriptures teach that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper;" and this indicates the only foundation or source of business prosperity that is in line with Christian Science.

It is true, of course, that one may transact business and sell merchandise according to the rule of Christian Science, but that is very different from using Christian Science, or attempting to use it, expressly with the object of attracting business or increasing sales. The object of all legitimate business is primarily to benefit mankind, rather than to accumulate a surplus of wealth for one's self; hence, whatever is not calculated to bless all parties concerned, is not a good business, and to that extent does not merit God's favor. It is logically evident that the truth of the all-power of good cannot be utilized to aid a bad business, and that the all-sufficiency of divine Love cannot be relied upon to forward any selfish transaction. One who thinks to sell goods or to negotiate a deal solely for the sake of the profits to himself, irrespective of the soundness of the proposition or of the welfare of the other side, is not moved by the spirit of Christian Science, and cannot from that standpoint honestly or successfully look to it for help. The practise of Christian Science rests upon love for God and man, upon the Master's precepts to seek first "the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," and to love one's neighbor as one's self, and this is the only spirit in which this Science can be understood and demonstrated.

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