There is an impression among some outside the fold of Christian Science that Christian Scientists are a money-making people. This impression arises from the fact that Christian Scientists present the appearance of being prosperous. They are, as a class, fairly well dressed and have about them an air of sprightliness which usually pertains to people who are free from financial stress.

The conclusion is, therefore, that they make money because they are Scientists, and that they make it out of their Science work. This will bear examination.

In the first place many who come into Science are of the well-to-do class. They are not, as a rule, among the very wealthy. They, of course, are not less well off because they have become Christian Scientists. Many, nevertheless, become more liberal contributors to good purposes than formerly because, through Science, they have become awakened to a keener sense of the necessity and blessing of so doing. They lose the desire to hoard for the sake of hoarding. With the change from sense to Science there comes a change of view as to the office of money. There is a greater desire to appropriate surplus means toward helping their fellow-beings. Naturally the Cause nearest their hearts, and which they believe to be the best Cause, comes first. The fact that there is a more liberal giving than of old creates the impression that, somehow, through Science, they make more than before, and the inference is that they make it out of Science or through Science work.

The fact is, that many of those who contribute most liberally to the building of churches and various other purposes in connection with the movement realize not one dollar from Christian Science work, not being practitioners. Nevertheless it is often true—no doubt it is the rule—that the net income of the Scientist is greater than before he became such, because his tastes and habits have become simpler. He has dropped many practices, mayhap, which were a source of no small outlay. Often there is much saved to him in the way of drugs and physicians' bills. This, in not a few instances within our knowledge, has made a vast difference in the net income. But beyond all this there comes with the understanding of Science a new sense of trust in the omnipotent care, a lessening of anxiety in reference to the future, an enlarged point of view, and a new-born zeal, which bring with them, as we have said, an increased desire to render aid where aid is truly needed.

This accounts for the generous contributions to the erection of Christian Science church edifices which so astonish our non-Scientist friends.

As to the classes coming into Science whose earthly means are small, sometimes indeed nil, the rule above indicated obtains in relative degree. Many of this class have been held in the bonds of poverty and adversity through sickness, sorrow, and despair. With this class the release from the incubus of drugs and doctors' bills, has been truly a freedom which brought with it a complete change of circumstances for the better. Hundreds and thousands who, because of their invalided condition, were unable to obtain a livelihood, have, through their healing in Science, suddenly become able to earn a fair competence. Naturally they are more prosperous than before; and naturally, too, they show the happy change in improved personal appearance and that peculiar sprightliness which is the legitimate result of such a change. It is an invariable rule also that, as the result of renewed hope and a higher conception of life and its meaning, the convert to Christian Science becomes more careful of his personal appearance than during the days of despondency and hopelessness. Although his wearing apparel may be inexpensive, it is clean and bright, and he looks the well-dressed person.

We may here parenthetically remark that there is not a more cleanly class of people on earth than Christian Scientists, notwithstanding the silly attempts of some critics to make the contrary appear because Mrs. Eddy, in Science and Health, mildly remonstrates against bowing down before bath-tubs, flesh-brushes, etc., and making gods of them as health-giving and health-restoring agencies. For purposes of cleanliness she does not disparage, but advocates, their use, as every fair-minded reader knows. No person will look upon an assemblage of Christian Scientists and sincerely say that they are strangers to the lavatory and bath-tub

In our own experience we know of persons who have come to Scientists for physical help, so hopeless and careless that they were shabby in dress and uncleanly in person. As the result of a single talk and treatment they became so changed in thought and purpose that upon their second appearance they were scarcely recognizable. Not only in countenance, but in dress and demeanor, they had undergone a wondrous transformation. We have repeatedly seen this, and testimonies to like effect are numerous. We have published not a few.

As to the Christian Science practitioners, it is doubtless true that, as the result of their healing labors, some have improved their material conditions. Yet the charge for their services, or rather for the time devoted to the service—as this is what they charge for—as compared with other professional charges, are modest in the extreme. So much so, indeed, that persons who have been accustomed to paying the bills of the higher-priced physicians, are amazed at the difference.

The habits of the Christian Science practitioner are, of course, simple and inexpensive, and they often present an appearance of prosperity—and in a sense are prosperous—where under old conditions, on a much larger gross income, they might have presented—and correctly too—the opposite appearance.

While it is true that some practitioners and workers in Science realize, perhaps, a larger net income than before they became such, it is also true that many who left their former avocations to devote their lives to Science work, have thereby greatly reduced their financial receipts. They love the work more than they love money. Nay, they are moved to engage in the work by an impulsion above and beyond themselves, an impulsion born of deep religious conviction—a divine impulsion.