When we take the name of Christian Scientist, we adopt for ourselves a high standard—actually the highest standard known to human experience. We acknowledge one God, one Principle, and we accord no power or reality to anything which would oppose this one infinite power. We know, too, that the real man is perfect, whole, and complete as God's likeness. While this is an admittedly high standard, it is not a laborious task to live up to it. Indeed, it is a joyous opportunity to prove the allness of God. As we spiritualize our thinking by giving up false material beliefs regarding God and man, along with the erroneous practices which result from such beliefs, we become happy participants in the continuous unfoldment of divine Mind's unceasing operation.

In an address given at the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church in 1906 the retiring President, Rev. William P. McKenzie, said, "No one can change the law of Christian metaphysics, the law of right thinking, nor in any wise alter its effects" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 41). He added in the next paragraph, "So we see that Christian Science makes no compromise with evil, sin, wrong, or imperfection, but maintains the perfect standard of truth and righteousness and joy." What a splendid combination of words—"truth and righteousness and joy"! As we strive to maintain in our lives the perfect standard of truth, we are manifesting righteousness. Righteous activity inevitably results in joy —in peace, order, and harmony. And peace, order, and harmony are all attributes of God, all present manifestations of divine Principle.

To the business man or woman there is frequently the temptation to indulge in some form of practice which is not in accord with the law of God, divine Principle. The argument seems to be persistent that unfair competition, pressure, underhanded methods, dishonesty, and so forth are a necessary part of business activity.

An English minister once said, "A man who puts aside his religion because he is going into society, is like one taking off his shoes because he is about to walk upon thorns." If we are truly Christian Scientists interested in business, rather than merely businessmen interested in Christian Science, these thorns, or temptations, are readily and cheerfully rejected.

It is important to remember that "Christian Science makes no compromise with evil, sin, wrong, or imperfection." There is no big error or little error; nothing is partly right and partly wrong. Error is error, under whatever guise. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy declares on page 452, "Right is radical." And she adds farther on, "We soil our garments with conservatism, and afterwards we must wash them clean." This conservatism to which she refers is undoubtedly the reluctance of the carnal mind to stick to the standard of but one Principle and to give up completely all concessions to worldly-mindedness. One dictionary definition of "conservatism" is "the disposition and tendency to preserve what is established; opposition to change." Christian Science calls upon us to change our ideas and ideals from those of power in matter to implicit trust in Truth, to radical reliance on Principle.

Over a period of several months a Christian Scientist connected with an advertising art studio had made many calls on an advertising agency in an attempt to secure business. One day he was told that the agency had a job for him to handle. Upon arriving, he was told that art work was required for a series of liquor advertisements. In the most gracious way possible this salesman informed the agency that his studio would not accept liquor or tobacco advertising. There were several men in the room at the time, and they were somewhat loud in their derision. The Christian Scientist left the office rather discouraged, for it appeared that the months spent in cultivating the account and all future prospects for business were lost.

The next day, this student decided to stop at the office of a Christian Science practitioner. The practitioner was out, but there was a Christian Science Hymnal in the waiting room. He opened it to Hymn No. 148, the last verse of which reads:

All the way back to his office he repeated those words. When he arrived, there was a message awaiting him from the president of the agency he had so recently visited. It turned out that this executive had had a "change of heart" and had decided that he would like to do business with a man who "stuck to his principles." A great volume of work came through, none of it concerning liquor. Since that time a lasting friendship, with mutual respect, has been formed between those concerned.

To encourage error of any sort, no matter how subtle, is to deny God. It decreases our ability to demonstrate Christian Science. To declare the truth in one instance, but indulge in error in another, is certainly not in accordance with God's law. Mrs. Eddy substantiates this when she says in Science and Health (p. 22), "Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope of forgiveness,—selfishness and sensuality causing constant retrogression,—our moral progress will be slow."

It will help us to resist error if we realize that God's man cannot be tempted. The spiritual likeness of infinite Principle, which man really is, can reflect only his Father-Mother, God. This means that he is fearless, steadfast, obedient, and truthful.

Christ Jesus was always about the Father's business. Truly, Jesus realized to a greater degree than anyone before or since what true business is. To him, it was not the mere manufacture or transfer of merchandise, not the mercenary seeking after a material livelihood, but the forever realization that man's business is the reflection of God. It was natural, then, that Jesus should refuse to accept anything unlike good. He was tempted, but he never submitted to temptation.

It is true that "one on God's side is a majority." One individual standing for Principle can be an inestimable influence for good. As he becomes aware of the allness and ever-presence of God, the multitudinous suggestions of mortal mind will be unable to sway him from his determination to be a loyal Christian Scientist.

We can also rest assured that our effort to be constantly about the Father's business will be manifested humanly in a new and enlarged concept of substance. We shall begin to note God's direction in every move we make. Our relationships will become increasingly harmonious. We shall find all sense of pressure, worry, or fear lessening in our experience. These are merely a few of the signs which must follow our endeavor to stand for Principle in business.