From my early childhood, playing and singing traditional hymns was a favorite pastime in our home. That they could have deep, healing significance never occurred to me until I attended my first Christian Science church service many years later.

In the preface to the Christian Science Hymnal are these words: "The love and truth expressed through the hymns in the Christian Science Hymnal have helped and comforted many, and will continue to do so in increased measure. Woven throughout the structure of this Hymnal, with its songs of praise and gratitude to God, is the thought contained in the 'Daily Prayer' of Christian Scientists, 'May Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!' (Church Manual by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 41)."

After an agonizing period of illness that left me dependent on drugs, I was persuaded to attend a Wednesday evening testimony meeting at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. It was different from any service I'd known. I felt a bit ill at ease—until the first hymn was announced. As the organist played it through, I recognized an old friend. But the words were different. Much more meaningful!

The meeting challenged my awakening thought. Tensions began to ease, and fear dropped away as I raptly took in the readings from the desk and the testimonies of healing so gratefully and sincerely given by many in the congregation. The healing message was clinched by the closing hymn. "I drop my burden at His feet, /And bear a song away" ^{Hymnal, No. 402;} were the final words. Right then I knew I was on the upward path. Oh, how I sang that hymn—all the way home! The healing of the drug dependence followed.

With the purchase of my own Hymnal came closer study and appreciation of the skill exercised in adapting to the old tunes verses that are uplifting, healing, never dreary or woeful. Throughout the texts one finds God, the all-loving, never-punishing Father-Mother, never separated from us, His beloved children; one finds the eternal Christ, always present to comfort and bless. Here are resurrection messages of hope and salvation for today, for every day, not limited to one time or place, revealing God as Life, as Love, Truth, Soul, Spirit, Principle, Mind—God as All and man as His true reflection, whole, pure, free. Here are uplifting messages for every aching heart! And these hymns are not restricted to church use alone. The alert ear may hear them hummed or sung wherever there is need of reassurance, guidance, healing.

Mrs. Eddy appreciated good music. "Music is the rhythm of head and heart," she says in Science and Health. She adds, "Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine." ^{Science and Health, p. 213;} The healing cadences of warmth and compassion pulsate through her poems. Seven of these tender prayers in verse have been included in the Hymnal.

The hymns sung in Christian Science Sunday services throughout the world are chosen by the First Reader of each church to harmonize in their healing content with the message of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly. The Reader also selects the hymns sung at the Wednesday testimony meetings. Often hymn-related healings are gratefully acknowledged at these meetings and in the Christian Science periodicals. The first testimony of healing I ever gave was the following, impelled by gratitude for our hymns.

One evening early in my study of Science, I seemed propelled to the piano with an urgency of no apparent origin. Opening my Hymnal, I began to play at random old favorites and new. I found I was not just singing the words, I was praying them. The first touch of peacefulness came with the opening words of Hymn No. 30, one of the settings for Mrs. Eddy's poem "Love." I then played our Leader's hymns in all their settings over and over, concluding with "Mother's Evening Prayer." With the words "His arm encircles me, and mine, and all" ^{Hymnal, No. 207;} the most complete, reassuring sense of our unity with God enveloped me. I felt "His arm"—the tender but so strong embrace of the healing Christ.

I began to sense the nowness of Christ Jesus' promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." ^{Matt. 28:20;} Whatever had alarmed my thought disappeared as I glimpsed something of the all-presence and all-power of infinite Love, which left no place for suggestions of threat or danger or inharmony of any kind—not on my premises, those of my loved ones, those of my fellowman. I recognized the Christ to be here always and in all ways, effectively meeting every human need, unlimited by finite concepts of time or distance.

It became clear to me that the Christ, the true idea of God, is eternal, not beginning with Jesus' birth nor ceasing with the end of his ministry, but living to bless and heal today and forever. It was like a floodlight, so illuminating my thought that there were no dark shadows left. Fear, sin, sickness—all error—are really only dark corners of mortal belief. When the light of Science is beamed into these corners, we find no darkness at all—no error! I arose from the piano totally at peace.

A few minutes later the phone rang. It was our college-age daughter in another city. She was so distraught that we decided to go to her immediately. The hour's drive seemed endless. I didn't know much about Science at that time, but I sensed the significance of my hymn experience, and I clung to the promise, "His arm encircles me, and mine, and all."

When we arrived, the police were piecing together what had happened—the tale of an armed intruder, that missed being played to its violent conclusion only because the girl "happened" to take the phone with her while she showered and changed. Had the phone been left in its usual place in the living room of her tiny apartment, there would have been no means of summoning help.

The testimony I gave the following Wednesday expressed but a fraction of my profound and eternal gratitude for the protective, healing power of our hymns. They serve as songs of praise, declarations of devotion, fervent prayers, and uplifting and effective scientific treatment. Indeed, they can play a significant part in helping to bring into our lives the fulfillment of the "Daily Prayer" by Mrs. Eddy, which is quoted in part in the extract from the Hymnal at the beginning of this article. The prayer reads in full: " 'Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" ^{Manual of The Mother Church, Art. VIII, Sect. 4.}