Article April 30, 1932 Issue

Application of Christian Science

JEAN M. SNYDER

"SCIENCE is knowledge reduced to law and embodied in system," as a dictionary defines it. In computing the movements of the stars, the astronomer applies the science of mathematics correctly in his endeavor to get correct results.

There is the Science of Christianity which can be applied to every phase of human experience, with direct bearing on health and harmony. Mary Baker Eddy, its Discoverer and Founder, named it "Christian Science," and defined it in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 1) as "the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony."

Confronted by discord of any nature, the Christian Scientist turns to the rules of Christian Science, applying them to the problem. Take, for example, the suggestion of discouragement. There is a right, scientific way to dispose of it. The root of the word "courage" is the Latin cor, meaning heart." The prefix dis, means "apart" or "absence of." Discouragement truly defines that state of thought which lacks heartening or fearlessness, and depicts a fertile mental soil in which evil suggestions may take root. A spiritless or a disheartened person will forget that which is God-given and believe the very opposite of what is true. He will believe that he is shut out from good, and, if he be a Christian Scientist, he may for the moment forget the truth that he has known, the good that has been done, his own healings and the healings of others. Discouragement may mesmerize him into forgetting the glorious way he has been sustained in the past, and it may prevent him from expressing gratitude for it. The thought of the discouraged one is dark because good is forgotten.

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