Article July 18, 1925 Issue

True Riches

FRED B. KERRICK

At no time during the life of our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, could it be truthfully said of her that she worked to gain material wealth. She cared not for riches, fame, or human honors; but, even as King Solomon of old petitioned God for an understanding heart to judge His people, she prayed for wisdom and knowledge, that she might reveal to a hungry world the rich heritage of God's love, which she knew rightfully belonged to each, impartially and universally.

Mrs. Eddy's inspired discovery, so fully set forth in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and her other writings, has created within the thoughts of many thousands of people a desire for righteousness and purity. As a result, many who had spent years struggling for material wealth and after obtaining it had found that their desires were still unsatisfied, have turned with eager longing to find the quest for real wealth—that of spiritual understanding—gratified by the study and practice of Christian Science. It is true that material plenty may prevent the need of excessive toil; but it can never relieve one of right responsibility, as each individual is called upon sooner or later to work out his own problems. Solomon, in speaking of wisdom, the fundamental of true riches, said: "The merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her." In Science and Health (p. 57) Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the statement of Solomon by saying, "Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, goodness, and virtue." It is therefore revealed, according to the statements of Solomon and Mrs. Eddy, that true wealth consists in obtaining wisdom, or a correct knowledge of God, the same unerring wisdom and divine understanding which were made manifest in both the preaching and the practice of Christ Jesus.

To gain this understanding often requires much seeming sacrifice; for the many subtle claims of self—such as self-love, self-will, self-condemnation, self-justification, or selfrighteousness—must be conquered. One may be called upon to lay aside cherished hopes of former days, to overcome old-established habits which are not in keeping with Christian Science, or perhaps to give up so-called friends and to take up activities in a new field of labor, thus leaving behind the old home with its early memories, and to begin life anew, to journey on through ways hitherto unknown. The way may seem barren at first. It may be obscured by shadows of dark forebodings on all sides; yet, is it not the uncertainty of all these conditions which prompts us at such times to reach out in our helplessness for God's protecting care? During this turmoil of seemingly endless change, one generally becomes willing, humbly and obediently, to wait patiently for his God-given dominion.

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