In these days of so-called "big business," when we talk of billions of money as lightly as we used to talk of thousands, it is well for Christian Scientists not to be swept off their feet by the mesmerism of enthusiasm and large figures. We have not far to seek to find the reason and occasion for Christian Scientists to be moderate in their views, our revered Leader with her marvelous foresight having clearly set forth "God's requirement" in this direction in Section 5 of Article XXIV of the Church Manual. This By-law reads: "God requires wisdom, economy, and brotherly love to characterize all the proceedings of the members of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist."
All this is plainly pertinent to the question of church building. While it is true that Christian Science churches and societies should, when possible, own the edifices in which they hold their services, they should not run heavily in debt in acquiring them. At one time it was an unwritten law that these edifices should be paid for in full upon completion; later it was believed that all the proprieties would be complied with if they were not dedicated until paid for, and later still it became, with some at least, a sort of permissible condition to incur a large debt, even though entirely out of proportion to the value of the land and buildings.
This increasingly lax view was, of course, merely an outgrowth of the ease with which debts usually could be contracted, and as a consequence there are churches today whose resources are largely consumed in paying a high rate of interest on money borrowed to erect an edifice entirely beyond the means of the congregation, both as to size and elaborateness of detail. Because these churches are in such a financial strait they are unable to bear their proper share of the work of advancing the cause of Christian Science, and the circulation of our literature is more or less neglected, as are also other means by which the truths of Christian Science should be brought to public attention.
