Article July 20, 1918 Issue

Hymns and Healing

VANESSA PERRY LOBDELL

About twelve years ago when I was first learning of Christian Science and how to apply it in overcoming all discordant conditions, physical and mental, I heard another student of this truth say that whenever error presented itself to her so strongly that a clear comprehension of the Lesson-Sermon or consecutive reading from the Bible or Science and Health seemed impossible, the singing of familiar hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal was resorted to, and peace was always realized. This counsel remained with me, and many were the times when fear and the sense of pain were dispelled by the truth found in the hymns. How many times the Bible urges us to sing and be glad; to "make a joyful noise" unto the Lord. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 234), "Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love—be it song, sermon, or Science—blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty."

There came a time in the writer's experience when these "crumbs of comfort" and "living waters" were sorely needed, and the songs of the Hymnal were often the source whence came new inspiration. Her little boy, then a child in arms, was stricken suddenly with a strange malady which not only reduced him to a state of semiconsciousness but, to the mortal sense of things, very much disfigured his face and mouth. As he lay moaning, the family were extremely fearful, and it seemed at times that but little comprehension of the written word could be gained. At such times the mother walked with the child in her arms, comforting him and dispelling her own fears by singing the hymn on page 180 of the Hymnal:—

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