Page:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.djvu/244

216 affairs, is plainly set forth in the Scriptures. 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 law and the gospel, — Christian, civil, and educational means, — manufacture, agriculture, tariff, and revenue subsist on demand and supply, regulated by a government currency, by which each is provided for and maintained. What, then, can a man do with truth and without a cent to sustain it? Either his life must be a miracle that frightens people, or his truth not worth a cent.

My Beloved Children: — Tenderly thanking you for your sweet industry and love on behalf of the room of the Pastor Emeritus in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, I say: The purpose of God to youward indicates another field of work which I present to your thought, work by which you can do much good and which is adapted to your present unfolding capacity. I request that from this date you disband as a society, drop the insignia of “Busy Bees,” work in your own several localities, and no longer contribute to The Mother Church flower fund.

As you grow older, advance in the knowledge of self-support, and see the need of self-culture, it is to be expected you will feel more than at present that charity begins at home, and that you will want money for your own uses. Contemplating these important wants, I see that you should begin now to earn for a purpose even higher, the