Harmony

[Written Especially for Young People]

J. SAUNDERS SCOTT

On page 304 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we find the statement, "Harmony in man is as beautiful as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal."

The young musician, if he would succeed, must have regular lessons on the instrument of his choice, and must put into practice what he has been taught. The young Christian Scientist also has regular lessons in the Christian Science Sunday School, and he too puts into practice what he has been taught. Soon he experiences the joy of having become familiar with definite rules which he can apply to difficult circumstances.

Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 129), "If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can discover it by reversing the material fable." When things seem to be discordant, therefore, we must refuse to admit the false evidence and keep our thought filled with the opposite truth until the discord disappears. In this way we can rejoice with the Psalmist, who sang: "Praise the Lord with harp. ... Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise." For is not this the way to bring out the harmony of life skillfully? Does not our joy in the truth cause us to sing "a new song"?

Other helpful lessons may be drawn study of music. The musician who has mastered his instrument sufficiently may become a member of an orchestra. He will soon become aware that if he pays undue attention to the performance of other players, he will be apt to miss the beat, and play when he should be silent, thus introducing inharmony. So it is with the Christian Scientist; he must be alert, and mind his own business.

The musician also knows that he must play exactly what is written, and nothing else, if he wishes to contribute to a united and harmonious whole. In like manner the Christian Scientist will closely follow all that is written in the Christian Science textbook, where Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the necessity of keeping the Golden Rule, by including it in the Tenets of The Mother Church. If we heed this all-important instruction to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we shall entertain nothing but harmony, and disunity and discord will fail to find an entrance into our thought.

Another very important duty is for the musician at all times to have his instrument in tune; and the Christian Scientist's work and aspiration also must be attuned to a right motive. If a would-be musician is interested in and devoted to the perfect interpretation of the music, his work may soon reach point of inspiration. The Christian Scientist's work, likewise, will be inspired if he has unselfed love for his incentive.

As the young musician, after years of study and practice, may look forward to the day when he will become a member of an orchestra, and have the joy of joining with others in the interpretation of some mighty theme, so the young Scientist who has been taught in the Christian Science Sunday School, and has glimpsed the magnitude of Mrs. Eddy's ideal, will be able to unite with others as a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist, for the furtherance of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth—the New Jerusalem of Spirit, a gate of which opens "westward," as our Leader tells us (Science and Health, pp. 575, 576), "to the grand realization of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of Harmony."

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