It was doubtless a surprise to some orthodox Christians when Mrs. Eddy associated the word "Science" with Christianity, and gave the name of Christian Science to her "discovery of the adaptation of Truth to the treatment of disease as well as of sin" (Science and Health, Pref. p. vii.). It may be equally astonishing for some thinkers on religious topics to find the word "Art" connected by her with the practical application of Christianity. Mrs. Eddy uses this word not infrequently in her various writings and always with a meaning which sheds a flood of light upon the question of how to be a good, true, and practical Christian.
In general conversation the word "art" is sometimes used to signify a specific art, such as painting, sculpture, music, poetry, etc. It is also used generically and stands for all of these arts combined. Such use of the word, however, is a derived one rather than the original. In the great English dictionary, founded mainly on the materials collected by The Philological Society of England, and edited by James A. H. Murray, art is defined first of all as "skill." But it is evident that there must be some use of skill, some demonstration in order that skill may be recognized as such, and so art is also defined as "a practical application of any science." Under this head Murray's Dictionary cites "the healing art." The word science means knowledge or understanding, systematized or classified, and thus in speaking of the art of Christian Science we mean the practical application of the knowledge or understanding of Christianity. The difference between science and art may be suggested in the statement that science is "the what" and art "the how" of any branch of knowledge.
That Christian Science is a science, i.e., is precise and undeviating, because governed by unvarying rules, has been proved by the vast number of cases in which exact results have been obtained when these rules have been correctly applied. Christian Science, from this point of view, may be likened to the multiplication table, which never changes and is subject to no conditions, but is absolute and final. The statement that five plus five equals ten is an axiom, not affected by time or space. It cannot be disputed, is not open to argument, nor can it become a debatable question among people of scientific apprehension.
