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"The Laborer and his Hire"
It is probable that few persons, if any, deny the general fact contained in Christ Jesus' statement, "The labourer is worthy of his hire." Yet the question of reasonable compensation for the services of Christian ministry rendered by Christian Science practitioners is one which has occasioned much comment within and without the Christian Science movement. In sending forth his disciples, both the twelve and the seventy, Jesus enjoined them to take "neither purse, nor scrip," that is, neither a receptacle for money nor the leathern bag in which the peasants of that day were accustomed to carry food. The reasonable conclusion is that it was his expectation that their healing works should bring them supply adequate to meet their needs. Their services to mankind were worthy; indeed, the most valuable that could be performed by one mortal for another.
Evidence that the Master duly recognized the necessity of providing for the material needs of his disciples is found in the fact that Judas was their treasurer, that is, their purse bearer. There must have been a source whence came their supply; and it seems altogether probable that it came in the form of remuneration for services rendered. Mrs. Eddy discusses this problem with her accustomed forcefulness and clarity in an article entitled "The Laborer and his Hire" in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (pp. 214-216). Her summary is conclusive: "Till Christian Scientists give all their time to spiritual things, live without eating, and obtain their money from a fish's mouth, they must earn it in order to help mankind with it. All systems of religion stand on this basis."
The proposition that the healing ministry to be genuine should be without monetary compensation can scarcely be said to be based upon either justice or right. Surely no more valuable service can be rendered one than to open his thought to the spiritual facts of existence, thereby destroying the false beliefs which may have become manifest in divers forms of error. Apart from the need of the practitioner of Christian Science to supply himself with the necessities of life is the even larger question of the beneficiary of such service rendering a just return for the good received. While gratitude for freedom is a phase of one's experience in spiritual healing which may well be expressed in words, yet a substantial evidence that one is truly grateful is found in reasonable compensation due him through whose consecrated services the healing work has been accomplished.
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August 4, 1923 issue
View Issue-
Sacrifice
MARY F. KINGSTON
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Exacting Principle
ARTHUR J. PEEL
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Learning to Love
HOWARD M. HOPKINS
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Knowledge
GWEN HARRIS KEYS
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Why Plan?
HARRIET KATE HELMAN GRAY
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"Where two or three are gathered together"
FREDERICK R. RHODES
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Christian Science stands on its merits, and stands alone
Warren O. Evans, Committee on Publication for the State of Rhode Island,
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Prayer is the subject of the first chapter in the Christian Science...
Walter H. Bedard, Committee on Publication for the State of Georgia,
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Christian Science is quietly and surely dawning on this...
Miss Kate E. Andreae, Committee on Publication for Sussexshire, England,
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The following is "the scientific statement of being" as...
W. Clyde Price, Committee on Publication for the State of Utah,
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Christian Science teaches that the real only is eternal
Harry K. Filler, Committee on Publication for the State of Ohio,
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Letters from the Field
with contributions from The Literature Distribution Committee, Vera Siepen
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Resolutions by Branch Churches
The Christian Science Board of Directors with contributions from MARY BAKER EDDY
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"The Laborer and his Hire"
Albert F. Gilmore
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"Truth is affirmative"
Duncan Sinclair
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Faith
Ella W. Hoag
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The Lectures
with contributions from John M. Tutt, Lyman E. Minar, Andrew J. Graham, W. H. M. Adams, A. Hervey-Bathurst, Alfred Bode
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When I was fifteen years of age I was thrown by a fractious...
Clara M. Van Leer
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A few years ago, when our little one was expected, the...
Joseph William Carr
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It is with sincere and heartfelt gratitude that I send...
Lina D. Sheeler
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In the year 1916, what seemed the climax of over a...
Charles C. Blanchard
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It is with deep gratitude that I give this testimony in...
Mary J. Angell with contributions from M. E. Vance
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Rejoice!
ELSIE PRESS
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Signs of the Times
with contributions from David Saville Muzzey, John Scott Haldane, R. Seeberg, Phillip Snowden, Calvin Coolidge, Rudolph Coffee