Q. E. D. or Proof Positive

[Written Especially for Young People]

GRACE E. PINNEY

When first we learned that two and two is four, the intricacies of mathematics were by no means comprehended; neither can the depths of Christian Science be revealed when first we learn "the scientific statement of being," given by Mrs. Eddy on page 468 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." As we advanced in the study of mathematics we saw that we could accept many statements as true long before we had sufficient understanding to prove them for ourselves. Just so, in Christian Science we acknowledge the truth of all it teaches, but the only part that as yet is really ours is that which we have proved or demonstrated. Mrs. Eddy has said on page 323 of Science and Health, "We must recollect that Truth is demonstrable when understood, and that good is not understood until demonstrated."

How natural it is when given a new textbook to glance through it to see what we have to learn. In it we see rules and statements that may seem to us almost impossible to accept. But as each problem is worked out in its proper order, how simple the apparently impossible ones become when reached! On page 52 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says, "What progress would a student of science make, if, when tired of mathematics or failing to demonstrate one rule readily, he should attempt to work out a rule farther on and more difficult—and this, because the first rule was not easily demonstrated?" Should we not, in dealing with our problems in Christian Science, demonstrate the rules which apply to the problems that come to us each day before trying to understand those which seem to us more difficult?

If we have worked at a problem in mathematics for some time, and seem unable to solve it alone, we seek the help of someone who has a more advanced understanding. So, as students of Christian Science, we sometimes take our problem to a practitioner, expecting him to help us to see our way out of the difficulty, in order that we may find the solution more easily.

In Christian Science we have our textbooks, the Bible and Science and Health, and it is as we study and prove the statements of spiritual truth therein that we can expect to work out daily problems whether at home or in the classroom. In our textbooks we find the rules to guide us. First there are the Ten Commandments. In these we find rules to fit the moral problems that may confront us; and we cannot study them too much. Then Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount gives us wonderful help. Mrs. Eddy has provided us with guides, such as "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468) and the spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer (pp. 16, 17). And where can we find a better rule for daily guidance than Mrs. Eddy gives in the "Rule for Motives and Acts" in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 1)?

Through the study of a textbook and the application of its teaching we learn to solve problems. We cannot expect to be able to understand and prove anything by merely reading or repeating a rule; we have to prove the rule. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

In mathematics, do we ever have the least doubt about the correctness of its rules? Then, as students of Christian Science, we can know with a greater sense of assurance that divine Principle governs. How wonderful it would be if we had no more doubt of our ability to reflect at all times the all-knowing Mind in the classroom than we have of the fact that two and two is four! Yet the power to reflect Mind is as true, and it can be proved as conclusively. After a problem is once solved we never have a doubt about the rule governing it. It is only the rule we have not proved that we doubt.

When a theorem is stated, it may seem very evident; but do we really know it is true until we have reasoned it out, step by step, and proved each point until the whole is proved and we write "Q. E. D."—"which was to be demonstrated"?

Our daily problems are solved by our persistent study and application of Christian Science, and each one proved makes the solution of the next one simpler.

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