Many members of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, are today practicing Christian Science in the business world. Not infrequently the question may recur to some of them, Am I entirely obedient to the teaching of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and especially to her By-Law in the Church Manual, Article XXX, Section 7, which reads in part: "I recommend that each member of this Church shall strive to demonstrate by his or her practice, that Christian Science heals the sick quickly and wholly, thus proving this Science to be all that we claim for it"?
This By-Law has puzzled and sometimes troubled those members of The Mother Church who are taking an active part in the world of business. If they are expected to demonstrate by their practice "that Christian Science heals the sick quickly and wholly," where do their duties really lie—in a practitioner's office, where they would be ready and immediately available to heal anyone who applied to them for physical, or any other kind of healing, or in the business world?
Many alert and faithful members of The Mother Church and of its branches, which today encircle the globe, know the time has not yet come for them to quit working side by side with their fellow man in some one of the essential branches of business, banking, farming, building, clothing, et cetera, and that to do so without due deliberation and spiritual guidance, for the purpose of acquiring an office especially designed for the healing of the sick, would be to have failed to understand that every forward step in Christian Science must be the outcome of spiritual direction.
