Article July 19, 1919 Issue

"Making wise the simple"

HUGH STUART CAMPBELL

When Solomon prayerfully asked for wisdom instead of riches, he gained not only what he desired but such an abundance of material wealth that for centuries he was considered one of the world's richest men. His clear discernment of substance as intelligence or Mind,—a spiritual apprehension of the eternity of good,—and his disregard of matter, is expressed in his admonition, "With all thy getting get understanding." Paul saw the folly of material accumulation when he admonished us to be rich in good works and to trust, not "in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy," and Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 307), "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies."

Christian Science, when correctly applied to business problems, furnishes the only reliable and permanent adjustment of situations resultant from discordant beliefs about business. Entirely mental in its operation it corrects what "eye hath not seen." It goes to the bottom of all trouble and removes effects by beginning with cause, and hereby proves that there is but one cause, the one creator, God. The business world is a cradle of unrest because of false beliefs, false education and custom, false ideals. The tendency to cling to old methods is so fixed in human belief that when truth is presented as a corrective, error would if possible say as of old, "Let us alone."

A business man, beset by fear and worry, was discussing his seeming difficulties with a friend, and was advised to consult a Christian Science practitioner. He exclaimed: "What does a practitioner know about my business? He has never learned this business, and I have been at it all my life. Is he wiser than I?" He did, however, consult a practitioner, and in the conversation which followed soon learned that his business methods were far from ideal. He learned that there is in reality but one business, the business of doing good,—the same business which Jesus recognized as his life mission at the early age of twelve. He was told that for all business methods there is an ideal from God; therefore, it is good, because God is good; that our work may be an expression of Mind and therefore perfect; that business is wholly mental; and that obedience to God's law is necessary to express the perfect ideal of business. He learned for the first time that a limited and material sense of business is not real or true business, for God's ideas cannot be limited. Furthermore, that the business he had been conducting to the best of his ability, with its worries, fear, limitations, strifes, was in reality not business at all, for that which God ordains and governs can possess no quality unlike good; that to build upon truth he must unlearn what time had taught, shatter cherished theories that were wholly wrong, and become as a little child, waiting for wisdom. He then began to realize that business is mental, not physical but metaphysical, not bad but good, and that now and always he could demonstrate activity, harmony, and prosperity, although through false education he had entirely overlooked the one thing which could correct a discordant situation, namely, the understanding of God.

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