It is obviously necessary to approach this subject from...
Onlooker
It is obviously necessary to approach this subject from the point of view of one who has observed and experienced physical healing by spiritual means, and who stands before the question. "What next?" He sees that Christian Science cannot remain simply a means of ridding oneself of discomfort and pain. On page 150 of Science and Health it is stated: "The mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, is not primarily one of physical healing."
What is called "religion in business" is generally viewed with suspicion, and yet among those who make little or no profession of religious belief one meets with an amount of manly honesty, generosity, and kindliness which contradicts the lamentations about the special wickedness of latter-day business life. Why this suspicion of the profession of religion while engaged in the conduct of business? Partly, of course, because it has so often served as a cloak; but chiefly, I think, on account of the supposed impossibility of applying the Sermon on the Mount to practical business. Many professing Christians tacitly, if not audibly, admit this, and draw a distinct line between their business and their religious life. Henrik Ibsen has caricatured this exclusion of one's religion from being an active influence upon the conduct of business in his study of human character represented by Peer Gynt. Peer had been carrying on a lucrative trade in idol-images to China, and tried to balance his account with God by sending out missionaries to checkmate the images. It is the old story of making religion a belief in a future-world salvation typified by the question of the Pharisees: "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?" They did not see that the healing of all manner of discord, sickness, poverty (witness the feeding of the multitude), and death was not only the inevitable result, but also the requisite proof of the truth of the religion preached by Jesus of Nazareth, and which he promised should make men free. The Pharisees had reduced religion to a set of doctrines without vitalizing power.
The Bible promises, to those who believe, that they shall receive power to overcome discord in the way Jesus did. Christian Scientists interpret the word "believe" to mean "understand." Failing to find in the orthodox churches a religion which would meet the demands of a logical reading of the Gospels and the demands of their sense of justice, many business men prefer what is called "a religion of their own" to a halting acceptance of the teachings of the Bible. Now it cannot be gainsaid that Christian Science, with all its seeming paradoxes, has given to many men of affairs, often acknowledged agnostics, a religion that satisfies their need. They have found that it sheds a new light on the Bible, revealing it as being the history of the gradual dawning upon the human mind of a knowledge of that ever available law of the universe which not only heals the sick, but will solve any and every human problem. While striving to gain a knowledge of this law, they find that the appellation, "Science," is not only justified, but is, in fact, the only word that is adequate. They find that Christian Science removes the antagonism between natural science and the Bible, and that it does, in fact, give them a far more intelligent understanding of the phenomena of the material universe than they had previously possessed.
Having seen disease healed as being merely a phenomenon of erroneous thinking, a false conclusion from false premises, the business man quickly perceives that the same remedy must be capable of similar results when applied to all those discords of the world of business which spring from the same source. His business becomes his patient; he realizes that it is the index to his state of mind, not the other way about. In "Major Barbara," the rich manufacturer, Andrew Undershaft, is made to say that the power which drives him and his business is "a will of which I am a part." Such doctrines make man the creature of circumstances and far removed from that man to whom was given dominion over the whole earth. They make God responsible for laws which are blind in their action, cruel in results, and would make man "more just than God." Christian Scientists have found that it is not inexorable circumstances which defile mankind with poverty, failure, worry, disease, and like afflictions, and make them the victims of dishonesty, avarice, and hatred; they have found that Jesus spoke the literal truth when he said: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."
The remedy must be applied within to one's state of mind, and circumstances will change with it. How often have we not said that honesty is the best policy, but until Christian Science revealed it we have not recognized that honesty, justice, mercy, ceasing to consider another man's gain a loss to oneself—in fact, all unselfishness—are a powerful defense against dishonesty, injustice, greed, and kindred evil. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he:" that is, the thoughts, fears, and motives which he harbors, he will see manifested in those surroundings which go to make up his life. The Norwegian proverb. "As you shout in the forest, so will you be answered," expresses the same thought.
It is a common misconception that Christian Science promises to make rich; nothing could be farther from the truth. Christian Scientists agree with Andrew Undershaft that there is no virtue in poverty, and that it is a disease: but they do not forget the warning about the uselessness of hoarding up treasures upon earth. All that they claim is, that it is unnatural and wrong to lack those things which are needful to enable us to fill our own niche in life: and they claim that only erroneous thinking and fear can be the cause of such lack. This reconciles such seemingly contradictory statements in the Bible as these: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you;" and, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink."
In his first faltering attempts to apply the Principle of Christian Science to his every-day affairs, the business man is often surprised by suddenly discovering that some long-standing cause of petty worries has disappeared. On reflection he finds that something in himself has changed; the fear of being worried by that particular thing has gone, with the inevitable result of the disappearance of the trouble. This spurs him on to further effort, because he cannot avoid seeing that that which is true in part must be true also in regard to all the varied manifestations of material existence.
