"Prove that two and two does not always equal four." This problem, which appeared on a college mathematics test, may puzzle many adults, for today in new mathematics courses students are learning, even in elementary schools, that the once invariable fact of 2+2=4 is not always true.

Instead, the number system, or basis, being used must be stated. Today's mathematics courses are not limited to one system of ten digits but are aimed at teaching students the unlimited and practical usage of other number systems, one of which is utilized by modern computers. So in a three-digit system, 2+2=11 and in a four-digit system, the answer is 10. These answers might seem unreasonable if we did not first define their basis, but when we do, we know that the answer can't be 4, because there is no digit 4 in either system.

In Christian Science we learn a basis for thinking and acting which may also seem unusual to those unfamiliar with it. Mrs. Eddy states it this way in our textbook, Science and Health (p. 259): "The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,—perfect God and perfect man,—as the basis of thought and demonstration."

"Perfect God and perfect man." From the first day a pupil enrolls in a Christian Science Sunday School, he learns this basic truth. From that moment on, he can and should use it. Even the youngest pupils in our Sunday Schools are taught this basis, and many use it to heal themselves and others. There is nothing obscure or difficult about it. But perhaps students of Christian Science—new or advanced—hear it so often they forget its indispensable importance or limit its potential application.

The greatness of Christ Jesus was that he neither forgot this basis nor neglected to use it. He recognized his oneness with God as His perfect likeness, He used this understanding to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils" (Matt. 10: 8) and expected his followers to emulate his example. He said (Matt. 5:48), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Christian Science is the same Science, the same law, which Jesus applied and demonstrated. And since it is, our use of it can be just as effective and immediate as his. But we need to trust this Science as he did and accept its basis without reservation. Then we can apply it in every situation.

One young Christian Scientist had to relearn this basis only a few years after she left Sunday School. One day she spilled a large pan of boiling grease on her legs. She realized she could not depend upon medical aids. But pain had always seemed very real to her. Praying earnestly, she remembered a statement she had read on page 547 of Science and Health as part of the current Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly: "If one of the statements in this book is true, every one must be true, for not one departs from the stated system and rule."

She knew that a basic truth in Christian Science is that there is only one God, Spirit, and He is perfect and that man is created in His image and likeness, spiritual and perfect. Therefore, there can be no sensation in matter, because there is no matter. Once she defined this truth as her basis, she saw she had been tricked by mortal mind into believing that truth was less applicable to one problem than to another. She realized that all problems, no matter how categorized by mankind, can be healed on one basis, the basis of perfection. Soon all the pain was gone, and even evidence that boiling grease had been on her skin disappeared.

Just as a mathematician defines his number base and does not switch bases in the middle of a problem, so the Christian Scientist states his basis, that is, Truth, and does not try to depend on two bases.

Often, as Christian Scientists, we are asked, "Why don't you use medicine?" But we do! We have the best, the most effective, medicine available and can say so. Divine Mind is the only real medicine.

Sometimes new students are so eager to share Christian Science that they make statements which to their listeners must seem preposterous. "Man is not material"; "there is no sickness"; "there is no pain"—these are true and demonstrable statements, but they can't be understood unless their basis is explained and understood.

New students of Christian Science often ask, "Why doesn't everyone see that this Science can heal and then use it?" But aren't others conditioned to living and thinking from the basis that mankind is imperfect? Perhaps they can't see any need to change. The binary numerical base, employed by computers, has proved to be exceedingly useful; yet very few people know about it, and even fewer have learned to utilize it.

Mrs. Eddy says of Christian Science on page 162 of the textbook, "The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind." Isn't it up to each Christian Scientist to use this Science so others will see its remedial action and recognize its practicality? When they do, they will abandon fallible material medicine and the basis of imperfect mortal man and accept the basis of perfect man created by one perfect God.

The need today is better healing work. It is never too early or too late for Christian Scientists to state their basis for healing and to begin to heal.

In righteousness shall thou be established:
thou shalt be jar from oppression: for
thou shall not fear: and from terror: for it
shall not come near thee.—Isaiah 54: 14.