CHAPTER XVIII (18) - FRUITAGE
Christian Science Healings
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Wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them.- JESUS.
That ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. - PAUL.
Let us get up early to the
vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape
appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. - SOLOMON'S
SONG.
THOUSANDS of letters could be
presented in testimony of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and
particularly concerning the vast number of people who have been reformed
and healed through the perusal or study of this book.
For the assurance and
encouragement of the reader, a few of these letters are here republished
from THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL and CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL. The
originals are in the possession of the Editor, who can authenticate the
testimonials which follow.
RHEUMATISM HEALED
I was a great sufferer from a
serious form of rheumatic trouble, my hands being affected to such an
extent that it was impossible for me even to dress without assistance.
The trouble finally reached the knees, and I became very lame and had to
be assisted in and out of bed. I went to the different health resorts
for the benefit I hoped to derive from the baths and waters that were
prescribed by
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physicians, but found no
permanent relief. I was placed under an X-ray examination, and was told
that the joints were becoming ossified. I then consulted a celebrated
specialist, who after a thorough examination said my condition would
continue to grow worse and that I would become completely helpless.
At that time a copy of "Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was loaned me. I
read it more from curiosity than with the thought of any physical
benefit. As the truth was unfolded to me, I realized that the mental
condition was what needed correcting, and that the Spirit of truth which
inspired this book was my physician. My healing is complete, and the
liberation in thought is manifest in a life of active usefulness rather
than the bondage of helpless invalidism and suffering. I owe to our
beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gratitude which words cannot express. Her
revelation of the practical rather than the merely theoretical
application of Jesus' words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free," proved to be my redeemer. I did not even have to
apply to a practitioner, but am most grateful for the helpful words of
loving friends. - E. B. B., Pasadena, Cal.
ASTIGMATISM AND HERNIA HEALED
It is nearly five years since I
bought my first copy of Science and Health, the reading of which cured
me of chronic constipation, nervous headache, astigmatism, and hernia,
in less than four months.
Where would I be now, had not
this blessed truth been brought to me by much persuasion of a very dear
friend?
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I certainly should have been
deep in the slough of despond, if not in the grave. Am I truly thankful
for all the good that has come to me and mine? I try to let my works
testify of that; but to those whom I do not meet in person, I can truly
say, Yes; I am indeed more thankful than words can express for the
glorious healing that has come to me, both physical, mental, and moral,
and I also convey herein, my song of gratitude to the dear Leader who
has through her fidelity to Truth enabled me to touch at least the hem
of Christ's garment. - B. S. J., Sioux City, Iowa.
SUBSTANCE OF LUNGS RESTORED
It was about fifteen years ago
that Christian Science first came to my notice. At that time I had been
a chronic invalid for a good many years. I had acute bowel trouble,
bronchitis, and a number of other troubles. One physician had told me
that my lungs were like wet paper, ready to tear at any time, and I was
filled with fear, as my mother, two brothers, and a sister had been
victims of consumption. I tried many physicians and every material
remedy that promised help, but no help came until I found a copy of Mrs.
Eddy's book, Science and Health. The book was placed in my hands by one
who did not then appreciate it, and I was told that it would be hard for
me to understand it. I commenced reading it with this thought, but I
caught beautiful glimpses of Truth, which took away my fear and healed
me of all those diseases, and they have never returned.
I would also like to tell how I
was healed of a sprained
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ankle. The accident occurred in
the morning, and all that day and during the night I gave myself
Christian Science treatment, as best I could. The next morning it seemed
to be no better, being very sore, badly swollen, and much discolored.
Feeling that I had done all I could, I decided to stop thinking about
it. I took my copy of Science and Health and began reading. Very soon I
became so absorbed in the book that I forgot all about my ankle; it went
entirely out of my thought, for I had a glimpse of all God's creation as
spiritual, and for the time being lost sight of my material selfhood.
After two hours I laid the book down and walked into another room. When
next I thought of my ankle, I found it was not hurting me. The swelling
had gone down, the black and blue appearance had nearly vanished, and it
was perfectly well. It was healed while I was "absent from the body" and
"present with the Lord." This experience was worth a great deal to me,
for it showed me how the healing is done. - C. H., Portland, Ore.
FIBROID TUMOR HEALED IN A FEW
DAYS
My gratitude for Christian
Science is boundless. I was afflicted with a fibroid tumor which weighed
not less than fifty pounds, attended by a continuous hemorrhage for
eleven years. The tumor was a growth of eighteen years.
I lived in Fort Worth, Tex., and
I had never heard of Christian Science before leaving there for Chicago
in the year 1887. I had tried to live near to God, and I feel sure He
guided me in all my steps to this healing and saving truth. After being
there several weeks
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I received letters from a Texas
lady who had herself been healed, and who wrote urging me to try
Christian Science. Changing my boarding-place, I met a lady who owned a
copy of Science and Health, and in speaking to her of having seen the
book, she informed me she had one, and she got it and told me I could
read it. The revelation was marvelous and brought a great spiritual
awakening. This awakened sense never left me, and one day when walking
alone it came to me very suddenly that I was healed, and I walked the
faster declaring every step that I was healed. When I reached my
boarding-place, I found my hostess and told her I was healed. She looked
the picture of amazement. The tumor began to disappear at once, the
hemorrhage ceased, and perfect strength was manifest.
There was no joy ever greater
than mine for this Christ-cure, for I was very weary and heavy laden. I
thought very little of either sleeping or eating, and my heart was
filled with gratitude, since I knew I had touched the hem of his
garment.
I must add that the reading of
Science and Health, and that alone, healed me, and it was the second
copy I ever saw. - S. L., Fort Worth, Tex.
INSANITY AND EPILEPSY HEALED
While an inmate of the State
asylum for the insane at Middletown, Conn., an epileptic, and at times
confined to my bed with bilious attacks, pronounced incurable by the
doctors (at least six in number), the book, Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures, by Mrs. Eddy was
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placed in my hands. After
reading a few pages, I became very much impressed with the truth therein
stated, and although I was surrounded with opposition, I knew that
"underneath are the everlasting arms." Since that time - past the middle
of the year 1899 - I have kept pressing on, until I have been healed by
reading Science and Health. At times I was beset by what seemed
unconquerable opposition, until the first week in October, 1904, when,
upon going to my home in Darien for a visit, I was given my liberty, and
I am now earning my living in this city. After having been subject to
epileptic attacks since 1892, and at one time pronounced dying by the
doctor in charge, I am now well. I have had no fit, or symptoms of any,
since the first week in May, 1904.
I trust that this testimony to
the healing power of Truth, realized by reading Science and Health (for
I had no treatment), may reach the eye of some to whom the battle seems
long, and inspire them with fresh courage and a realization of the worth
of the victory. I am filled with inexpressible gratitude and love to
God, and to Mrs. Eddy. - Mrs. B. B. C., Stamford, Conn.
A CASE OF MENTAL SURGERY
I have felt for some time I
should give my experience in mental surgery. In May, 1902, going home
for lunch, on a bicycle, and while riding down a hill at a rapid gait, I
was thrown from the wheel, and falling on my left side with my arm under
my head, the bone was broken about half-way between the shoulder and
elbow. While the pain was intense, I lay still in the dust,
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declaring the truth and denying
that there could be a break or accident in the realm of divine Love,
until a gentleman came to assist me, saying, he thought I had been
stunned. I was only two and a half blocks from home, so I mounted my
wheel again and managed to reach it. On arriving there I lay down and
asked my little boy to bring me our textbook. He immediately brought
Science and Health, which I read for about ten minutes, when all pain
left.
I said nothing to my family of
the accident, but attended to some duties and was about half an hour
late in returning to the office, this being my only loss of time from
work. My friends claimed that the arm had not been broken, as it would
have been impossible for me to continue my work without having it set,
and carrying it in a sling until the bone knit together. Their
insistence almost persuaded me that I might have been mistaken, until
one of my friends invited me to visit a physician's office where they
were experimenting with an X-ray machine. The physician was asked to
examine my left arm to see if it differed from the ordinary. On looking
through it, he said, "Yes, it has been broken, but whoever set it made a
perfect job of it, and you will never have any further trouble from that
break." My friend then asked the doctor to show how he could tell where
the break had been. The doctor pointed out the place as being slightly
thicker at that part, like a piece of steel that had been welded. This
was the first of several cases of mental surgery that have come under my
notice, and it made a deep impression on me.
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For the benefit of others who
may have something similar to meet, I will say that I have overcome
almost constant attacks of sick headaches, extending back to my earliest
recollection. - L. C. S., Salt Lake City, Utah.
CATARACT QUICKLY CURED
I wish to add my testimony to
those of others, and hope that it may be the means of bringing some poor
sufferer to health, to happiness, and to God. I was healed through
simply reading this wonderful book, Science and Health. I had been
troubled periodically for many years with sore eyes, and had been to
many doctors, who called the disease iritis and cataract. They told me
that my eyes would always give me trouble, and that I would eventually
lose my sight if I remained in an office, and advised me to go under an
operation. Later on I had to wear glasses at my work, also out of doors
as I could not bear the winds, and my eyes were gradually becoming
worse. I could not read for longer than a few minutes at a time,
otherwise they would smart severely. I had to rest my eyes each evening
to enable me to use them the next day; in fact gas-light was getting
unbearable because of the pain, and I made home miserable. A dear
brother told me about Christian Science, and said that if I would read
Science and Health it would help me. He procured for me the loan of the
book. The first night I read it, it so interested me I quite forgot all
about my eyes until my wife remarked that it was eleven o'clock. I found
that I had been reading this book for nearly four hours, and I remarked
immediately after, "I believe my eyes are cured," which was really
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the case. The next day, on
looking at my eyes, my wife noticed that the cataract had disappeared. I
put away my outdoor glasses, which I have not required since, and
through the understanding gained by studying Christian Science I have
been able to do away with my indoor glasses also, and have had no return
of pain in my eyes since. This is now a year and a half ago. - G. F. S.,
Liverpool, England.
VALVULAR HEART DISEASE HEALED
Fourteen years ago my heart
awoke to gratitude to God and the dear Leader at the same time. After a
patient and persistent effort of three months' duration, to procure a
copy of Science and Health (during which time I had visited every
bookstore, and many of the second-hand bookstores in the city of St.
Paul), and had failed to find it, I at last remembered that the stranger
who told me I might be healed, had mentioned a name, and McVicker's
Theatre Building in Chicago as being in some way connected with the
work. I sent there for information regarding a book called Health and
Science, and the return mail brought me the book, Science and Health,
and in it I at once found sure promise of deliverance from valvular
heart disease, with all the accompaniments, such as extreme nervousness,
weakness, dyspepsia, and insomnia. I had suffered from these all my
life, finding no permanent relief, even, in material remedies, and no
hope of cure at any time. Only those who have been healed in such
bondage and have been liberated by the same means, can know the eager
joy of the first perusal of that wonderful book.
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Half a day's reading convinced
me that I had found the way to holiness and health. I read on, thinking
only of the spiritual enlightenment, content to wait until I should be
led to some person who would heal me; but old things had passed away,
and all things had become new. I was completely healed before I had met
a Scientist, or one who knew anything about Christian Science, and
before I had read a line of any other Christian Science literature
except one leaf of a tract; so it is absolutely certain that the healing
was entirely impersonal, as was also the teaching, which enabled me to
begin at once demonstrating the power of Truth to destroy all forms of
error. - E. J. W., North Yakima, Wash.
THE TRUE PHYSICIAN FOUND
It is with a deep sense of
gratitude that I send the particulars of my healing through Christian
Science. While visiting friends in the southwestern part of Ontario,
about three years ago, my attention was called to Christian Science and
the wonderful healing it was doing. I had lived in New York for
twenty-five years, but had never heard of Christian Science before, to
my recollection.
Up to that time, for seventeen
years, I had suffered with indigestion and gastritis in the worst form,
often being overcome from a seeming pressure against the heart. I had
asthma for four years, also had worn glasses for four years. It seemed
to me that I had swallowed every known medicine to relieve my
indigestion, but they only gave me temporary benefit. I purchased a copy
of Science and Health, and simply from the reading of that
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grand book I was completely
healed of all my physical ailments in two weeks' time. I have used no
medicine from that day to this, and with God's help, and the wonderful
light revealed to me through the reading of Mrs. Eddy's book, I never
expect to again. I used to smoke eight or ten cigars a day, and also
took an occasional drink, but the desire for these has gone, - I feel
forever. I travel on the road, and am constantly being invited to
indulge, but it is no effort to abstain, and in many instances I find
that my refusal helps others.
While I fully appreciate the
release from my physical troubles, this pales into insignificance in
comparison with the spiritual uplifting Christian Science has brought
me. I had not been inside a church for more than ten years, to attend
regular services, until I entered a Christian Science church. What I saw
and realized there, seemed so genuine that I loved Christian Science
from the very start. I have never taken a treatment, - every inch of the
way has been through study and practical demonstration, and I know that
all can do the same thing if they will try.
Since I have been in Science I
have overcome a case of ulcerated tooth in one night through the reading
of Science and Health; also a severe attack of grip in thirty-six hours
by obeying the Scripture saying, "Physician, heal thyself." - B. H. N.,
New York, N. Y.
CANCER AND CONSUMPTION HEALED
I was a great sufferer for many
years from internal cancer and consumption. I was treated by the best of
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physicians in New York,
Minneapolis, and Duluth, and was finally given up as incurable, when I
heard of Christian Science. A neighbor who had been healed of
consumption, kindly loaned me Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, which I
read and became interested in. In three months' time, I was healed, the
truth conveyed to me by this book being the healer, and not only of
these diseases, but I was made whole mentally as well. I have not been
in bed one day since, or rather in eleven years. I have had many good
demonstrations during this time, have passed through many a "fiery
trial," but this blessed truth has caused me to stand, at times
seemingly alone, and God was with me.
I will mention a demonstration
of painless childbirth which I have had since coming to Idaho. Perhaps
it may help some sister who is looking through the Journal for
a demonstration of this kind, as I was before my baby came. Good help
being scarce here, I did my housework up to the time I was confined, and
was in perfect health. I awoke my husband one morning at five o'clock,
and at half past five baby was born, no one being present but my husband
and myself. It was quite a surprise to the rest of the family to see me
sitting by the fire with a new baby on my lap. My son got the breakfast,
of which I ate heartily; at noon I joined the family in the dining-room.
I was out on the porch the second day, around the yard the third day,
and have been perfectly well ever since, which has been now over three
years. To one who had previously passed through agony untold, with a
physician in attendance, this seemed wonderful. I hope this will
interest some one who is seeking the truth, and I wish to express my
sincere love for our beloved
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Leader, who has given us the "
Key to the Scriptures." - E. C. C., Lewiston, Idaho.
A REMARKABLE CASE
Nine years ago my only child was
hovering between life and death. Some of the best physicians in Boston
had pronounced his case incurable, saying that if he lived he would
always be an invalid and a cripple. One of the diseases was gastric
catarrh. He was allowed to eat but very few things, and even after
taking every precaution, he suffered to the extent that he would lie in
spasms for half a day. He also had rickets; physicians saying that there
was not a natural bone in his body.
It was while he was in what
seemed to be his greatest agony, and when I was in the darkest despair,
that I first heard of Christian Science. The bearer of the joyful
tidings could only tell me to come and hear of the wonderful things that
Christian Science was doing. I accepted the invitation, for I was
willing to try anything to save my child, and the following Friday
evening I attended my first meeting, which was in The Mother Church of
Christ, Scientist. Long before the service began every seat was filled,
which was amazing to me, being an ordinary weekly meeting, and that
night I realized from the testimonies given that Christian Science was
the religion for which I had been searching for years. The next day I
went to find a practitioner, but was unable to get the one who had been
recommended, he being too busy. On my way home I thought of some of the
testimonies which I had heard the night before, - of people being
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healed by simply reading Science
and Health. I resolved at once to borrow a copy, and not dreaming of the
sacrifice that my friend would make by conferring such a favor, I went
and asked her for a loan of Science and Health. I never saw any one part
so reluctantly with a book as my friend did with her copy of the
textbook.
I read it silently and audibly,
day and night, in my home, and although I could not seem to understand
it, yet the healing commenced to take place at once. The little mouth
which had been twisted by spasms grew natural and the child was soon
able to be up, playing and romping about the house as any child should.
About this time we decided to move to the far West.
I was young in Science at the
time, and my husband greatly feared that the journey would cause a
relapse for the child, but instead, he continued to improve. I
constantly read the Bible, Science and Health, and Miscellaneous
Writings, the two weeks we traveled, and we were the only ones in our
car who, throughout the journey, did not get train sick. The child's
limbs grew perfectly straight, he ate anything he wanted, and for years
he has been a natural, healthy child in every way. He has passed through
some of the worst forms of contagion untouched and unharmed.
I had been reading Science and
Health several months, before I gave any thought to myself and my
numerous complaints. I had never been very strong, and some of my
ailments were supposed to be hereditary and chronic, hence I dragged
through many tedious years with a belief in medical laws and hereditary
laws resting upon me.
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Just before I commenced reading
Science and Health I spent a half day in having my eyes examined by one
of the leading oculists in Boston. His verdict was that my eyes were in
a dreadful condition, and that I would always need to wear glasses. In
the meantime I commenced to read Science and Health, and when I thought
of my eyes, I had no need for glasses. The years that I have been in
Science I have used my eyes incessantly, night as well as day, doing all
kinds of trying work and without requiring the aid of glasses. I was
healed of all my complaints whilst seeking the truth for my child, and
many of them have never returned. Those that appeared simply came to the
surface to be destroyed. Teeth have been restored and facial blemishes
removed, unconsciously, simply by reading Science and Health. All of
this is, however, nothing to compare with the spiritual uplifting which
I have received, and I have everything to be thankful for. - M. T. W.,
Los Angeles, Cal.
INTENSE SUFFERING OVERCOME
For about five years I was
afflicted with sciatic rheumatism, in such a severe form that my body
was drawn out of shape. When able to be around, I walked with the
assistance of a cane. The attacks were periodical, recurring every few
months; any exposure to rain or dampness would bring one. At one time I
was in bed eleven weeks, suffering intensely all the time except when
relieved by hypodermic injections. When I had these attacks, my regular
physician was always in attendance. My daughter consulted another
physician, who said there
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would have to be an operation
which would include the exposing and scraping of the sciatic nerve.
There was also another physician who, knowing of the case, examined my
heart and claimed that it was weak and that I was liable to pass on at
any time from heart trouble.
After suffering three years I
heard of Christian Science, but did not avail myself of it for two
years, when I decided to give up all other means and rely wholly upon
it. It was not convenient to call a practitioner, so I took Science and
Health and applied its teachings as best I could. In three days the
trouble completely left me and there has never been the slightest
return. My health has been good ever since, and I am at present in
perfect physical health. I have been benefited in every way by Christian
Science, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and would not be without
my understanding of it for anything. - Mrs. E. A. K., Billings, Mont.
HEALED OF RHEUMATISM AND
BRIGHT'S DISEASE
I am very thankful to God for
what He has done for me. I was suddenly left alone, with many troubles
and trials, and I took up the study of the Bible. I was trying to
understand it, prior to joining some church, as it seemed to me this
would be expected. I had attended all sorts of churches from my
childhood up, but never could find any that met my need. As time passed
on, my condition became very alarming. Sciatic rheumatism, that had
troubled me for some years, became so severe I could scarcely do
anything.
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Then there appeared some
complications, so distressing that I was unable to walk far, and had to
sit down frequently by the way. I thought I had Bright's disease, - such
excruciating pains, no tongue could tell my sufferings. With all these
things upon me, death seemed very near. I had never joined any church,
and I thought it now too late, as I would have to wait six months on
probation, and I would be dead before that.
About this time I made some
inquiries of my sister in reference to Christian Science, as she had
already turned to that faith, and I soon found that it was just what I
had been looking for. I saw at once that it declared the truth and
nothing but the truth. I commenced reading Science and Health, also the
New Testament. I wanted to find out what Jesus said, as I did not expect
then to live long. I did not go to the meetings, nor did I read Science
and Health to be cured, - not thinking of that, - but to be saved from
an everlasting hell hereafter. My sister urged me to have a
practitioner, but I kept on reading, and praying to God in silence, and
what happened? Where had the diseases gone? I persisted in reading
Science and Health, together with the Bible, with the knowledge that God
as revealed by Christ Jesus can do everything, that He made everything
that was made, that He can and does heal the afflicted. He has healed
me, thanks to His most holy name. - G. J. H., Charleston, Ill.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
In the year 1901, Christian
Science found me a hopeless invalid. I had suffered for seven years
previous with a very painful back, the result of an operation. I could
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get no rest or sleep at night,
as I could not lie down, but had to sit propped in a chair with pillows
around me. Only those who have suffered as I did can know the full
misery of it. I had come to the end of material means and never hoped to
get well. One day, however, while out walking, it was my good fortune to
come to a Christian Scientist's house, and there the teaching was
explained to me. I was advised to buy Science and Health, which I did,
and the study of this book has healed my back entirely. Christian
Science has also cured me of long-standing catarrh of the throat, and
neuralgia with which I had been afflicted from childhood. Before coming
into Science I had doctored with three of the best physicians in
Seattle, but none could give me relief.
I am no longer a sufferer, but
rejoice exceedingly in Christian Science. God's promise has been
fulfilled to me, " But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings." - E. O., Georgetown,
Wash.
FREED FROM NEURASTHENIC AND
OTHER TROUBLES
Christian Science found in me a
minister's son who had failed to profit by continuous teaching in the
old thought. Some years ago I was pronounced by a professor of materia
medica, whose works are in general use, a neurasthenic. I had been
in this condition more or less for eight years, and up to two years ago,
when Christian Science was first brought to my attention (thanks to
Almighty God) through a kind friend, I was almost constantly taking
medicine and had in all eleven physicians who undoubtedly did their
best, but without avail, not-
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withstanding almost all known
drugs were prescribed, and further I had tried very many patent
medicines. I was also put through forms of hygienic treatment and other
things that offered inducements. At the time of coming into Science I
was taking three times daily forty minims of cod-liver oil and three of
creosote, also three drops of Fowler's solution of arsenic, and on the
month or so previous had bought eighteen dollars' worth of patent
medicine. I was restricted to the simplest means of diet, - all stews,
fries, sweets, berries, and tomatoes I had not touched for two years.
I started to read Science and
Health, and before I had half finished the book once I was eating
everything that any one does. I read the book eleven times straight
ahead and many times skipping about. The book has done the work and I am
a well man. - C. E. M., Philadelphia, Pa.
MANY ILLS OVERCOME
I have received much help,
spiritually and physically, through Christian Science. I had what the
doctors diagnosed as muscular rheumatism, dropsy, and constipation of
thirty years' standing. A dear friend whom I had known as an invalid had
been healed by Christian Science and advised me to read Science and
Health. I did so, having a desire to know the truth. One of my troubles
was that I could not sleep. I began reading the Bible and the Christian
Science textbook, and troubles of every kind disappeared before I had
read Science and Health through. The thought came, What about the old
remedies? but truth prevailed, and I took all the
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material remedies I had and
threw them away. That was seven years ago, and I have not had any use
for them since. My husband was healed of the tobacco habit of fifty
years' standing, also of kidney trouble, by reading Science and Health.
I have not words to express the gratitude I feel to-day for the many
blessings that have come to our home. - Mrs. M. K. O., Seattle, Wash.
A HELPFUL HEALING
I became interested in Christian
Science about eleven years ago, and was healed of neuralgia of the
stomach, from which I had suffered from a child. As I grew older, the
spells became more frequent and more severe; the only relief physicians
could give me was by hypodermic injections of morphine. Finally, after
each spell, I would be prostrated for a day or two with the after-effect
of the morphine. I was entirely healed of this trouble through the study
of Science and Health. I think I never realized what fear meant until I
began to try and put into practice my understanding of Christian Science
for my children. I have proved, however, many times, that fear can
neither help nor hinder in our demonstration of truth. The first time I
realized this was in the overcoming of a severe case of croup for my
little boy. I was awakened one night by the sound that seems to bring
terror to every mother's heart, and found the little fellow sitting up
in bed, gasping for breath. I got up, took him in my arms, and went into
the next room. My first thought was, "O if only there was another
Christian Scientist in town!" But there was not, and the work must be
done and done quickly. I tried
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to treat him, but was so
frightened I could not think; so I picked up Science and Health, which
lay on the table beside me, and began reading aloud. I had read but a
few lines when these words came to me as though a voice spoke, "The word
of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword."
Almost immediately after, the little one said, "Mamma, sing 'Shepherd,'
" - our Leader's hymn, that both the big and the little children love. I
began singing, and commencing with the second line, the little voice
joined me. I shall never forget the feeling of joy and peace that came
over me, when I realized how quickly God's word, through Science and
Health and the beautiful hymn, had accomplished the healing work. This
is only one of many instances in which the power of God's word to heal
has been demonstrated in our home. - A. J. G., Riverside, Cal.
RELIEF FROM MANY ILLS
Paul said, "Be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind." In my own case deafness has been overcome by
an enlarged understanding of God's word, as explained by Mrs. Eddy in
Science and Health. Many times I have been enabled to turn to God, to
know it was His will to help in trouble, and obtained the needed
benefit. Catarrh has disappeared; tonsilitis, which very frequently laid
me aside from duties in the schoolroom and home, is no longer manifest.
When temptation comes (for Christian Science is both preventive and
curative), I turn to that wonderful book, Science and Health, and my
precious Bible, grown dearer since read in the new light
PAGE 621
of spiritual understanding,
until I know that my mind is renewed, because the action is changed and
the inflammation has abated.
Thus in my experience in
Christian Science, I have seen the transformation begun, and Truth is
able to perfect that which is begun in me so gloriously. - Mrs. C.A.
McL., Brooklyn, Nova Scotia.
HEALTH AND PEACE ATTAINED
For fifteen years I was a great
sufferer physically and mentally. Eminent physicians treated me for
hereditary consumption, torpid liver, and many other diseases. I sought
relief at famous springs, the ozone of Florida, and the pure air of
Colorado, but in vain. My life was one ceaseless torture.
During all this time, however, I
was an earnest seeker after Truth. I examined every religious teaching
with a calm and unprejudiced attention. From an orthodox Protestant I
became a skeptic, and a follower of Voltaire, Tom Paine, and Ingersoll;
yet all the while I retained faith in a supreme intelligent Being who
made all. Sick, weary, doubting, and despairing, I accidentally went
into a Christian Science church in New York City, on a Wednesday
evening, not knowing what kind of a place it was. Seeing a large number
of people going into the building, I followed, supposing that a marriage
ceremony had attracted the crowd. Being informed it was their regular
Wednesday evening service, I inquired as to the denomination. I
concluded that it was another new fad, but after investigation I
procured a copy of Science and Health, promising I would read it
carefully. I began
PAGE 622
reading the book on Tuesday and
finished on Friday of the same week. I was still in the dark. I laid the
book down, involuntarily closed my eyes, and silently prayed to God.
I remained in that attitude a
few moments, when I felt like the mariner who had been tossed for days
upon a boisterous sea, the clouds bending low, the billows rolling high,
all nature wrapped in darkness; in his despair he kneels and commits his
soul to God, when he suddenly beholds the North Star breaking through
the clouds, enabling him to guide his ship to the shores of safety. Many
things were made plain to me. I saw that there is one Fatherhood of God
and one brotherhood of man; that though "once I was blind, now I see;"
that there was no more pain, nor aches, no fear, nor indigestion. I
slept that night like a babe and awoke next morning refreshed. There are
now no traces whatever of my former complaint and I feel like a new
being. - L. P., New York, N. Y.
HEALTH AND PEACE GAINED
About nine years ago I was drawn
to Christian Science by a relative whose many afflictions had given
place to health and harmony, and whose loving gratitude was reflected in
every word and deed. The thought came to me, God indeed healeth all our
diseases.
My first reading of Science and
Health was without understanding. I was full of darkness and gloom, and
it was laid aside for a time. The good seed had been sown, however, and
erelong the reading was resumed,
PAGE 623
and with such interest that my
afflictions disappeared "like mist before the morning sun." Asthma
(thought to be hereditary), neuralgia in an aggravated form, and besides
these, the tobacco and liquor habit of many years' standing left me.
Bless the Lord, "He sent his word" and healed me, - for the reading of
Science and Health brought to my consciousness the truth that makes
free. - S., Shellman, Ga.
CONSUMPTION QUICKLY CURED
I became interested in Christian
Science nearly five years ago through the healing of my wife of what the
doctors called consumption in its last stages. I had tried everything
that I could get in the way of materia
medica, and every doctor would tell me nearly the same story about
the case. At last they recommended for her only a higher, drier climate,
and when she would be at her worst to give her something to quiet her.
I tried different climates, but
she was no better, indeed worse. At last she struggled along until the
first of March, 1899. She had taken to her bed again. For two days and
nights she suffered, and I called a physician. He came and diagnosed the
case, and said that he could do nothing for her but give her some
morphine tablets to make her rest. I gave her two of them according to
direction, and just before the time to give her the third, she called me
to her bedside, and said, " Don't give me any more of that stuff, for it
does me more harm than good," so I turned and placed them in the fire,
though I did not then know anything about Christian Science. We had
heard of it, but
PAGE 624
that was all. I gave her the
last tablet at eight o'clock that night, and about nine o'clock the next
day a lady who had been healed in Christian Science visited her, and
introduced her to this great truth. She accepted it and thought she
would try it. The lady loaned her Science and Health. She got the book
about ten o'clock that day and read it until dinner was called. She ate
a hearty dinner, the first in about three days, and that same evening
she dressed herself, walked into the dining-room, ate a hearty supper
and enjoyed it. She slept well that night. She borrowed this lady's copy
of Science and Health two hours each day for eight days, and was healed.
The first day that she read Science and Health she weighed about
ninety-five pounds. Three months later she weighed one hundred and
thirty-five pounds. - A. J. D., Houston, Tex.
A PROFITABLE STUDY
It may help others to know that
some one was really healed of severe illness through Christian Science.
It is over nine years since we first became interested in the Science,
and it would be hard to find a healthier person than I am now. I can go
all day, from morning till night, upheld by the thought that "they that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." I can truly say that I
scarcely know what physical weariness is any more. Before I came into
Science the physicians said that one lung was gone, and that the other
was affected with tuberculosis; so, from their standpoint, there was
little left for me to hope for. We had tried every remedy that they had
suggested. I had
PAGE 625
gone to the mountains, but could
not stay there on account of the altitude; and when they did not know
what else to do, they said we would better go to England - that the
ocean air would be beneficial. So we spent three months in the British
Isles, and when I came back I seemed much better, but this only lasted a
short time. In little more than a month I was worse than ever, and my
mother was told that I had but a few weeks, or at most months, to live.
At that time, a lady, a stranger
to us, suggested that we try Christian Science. There was no prejudice
against it, as we did not even know what it was. We knew of no
Scientists in the Western town where we were living, and when we were
told that we could send to Kansas City for absent treatment, we thought
it was absurd. We were then told that many people had been healed
through the reading of the Christian Science textbook, Science and
Health, and to us this seemed a little worse than the absent treatment,
but as we had tried everything we had heard of up to that time, my
mother sent for the book.
It came in the middle of October
and we began to read it together. It seemed to me from the first that it
was something I had always believed, but did not know how to express -
it seemed such a natural thing. My improvement was very gradual, but I
felt I was recovering. After the Christmas holidays I started in at
school and went the whole term without missing a day, - something I had
never done before. I finished my school course without missing a day -
in fact, I have not spent a day in bed since that time. I feel
absolutely certain that I have two sound, healthy lungs now. The hollows
PAGE 626
in my chest have filled out, and
I breathe perfectly on both sides; rarely have a cold to meet, and have
not a sign of a cough.
People sometimes say, "Oh, well,
maybe you never had consumption." Well, I had all the symptoms, and they
are every one gone through the reading of Science and Health. - E. L.
B., Chicago, Ill.
HEALED OF INFIDELITY AND MANY
PHYSICAL ILLS
I feel compelled to write my
testimony and hope that I may be accepted as one more witness to the
Truth as contained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
In the year 1883 I first heard
of Christian Science. I was sitting in a saloon in Leadville, Col.,
reading a daily paper of that place. My eyes lighted upon an article
which spoke of some peculiar people in Boston who claimed to have
discovered how to heal as Jesus healed. I do not remember much of the
article, but those words stayed with me.
I had drifted out to Colorado
from New York City (my home), where I had been under the treatment of
many leading physicians. The last one, who was too honest to take my
money knowing that he could not cure me, advised me to keep away from
doctors and quit taking medicine, as nothing but death could cure me. My
trouble was pronounced by some to be Bright's disease, by others gravel
on the kidneys with very acute inflammation of the bladder and prostate
gland.
In the spring of 1888 my wife
and myself were spending the evening at the house of a gentleman whose
wife had been healed in the East by Christian Science. The
PAGE 627
gentleman took a book from its
bookcase saying, "Here is a work on Christian Science." It proved to be
Science and Health. I knew as soon as I had read the title-page that
this was the very book we wanted. We immediately sent for the book, and
when it arrived we obeyed the angel and feasted on it. I was very much
prejudiced against the Bible, and my first demonstration over self was
to consent to read the four Gospels. My wife bought me a New Testament
and I began to read it. What a change came over me! All my prejudice was
gone in an instant! When I read the Master's words, I caught his meaning
and the lesson he tried to convey. It was not difficult for me to accept
the whole Bible, for I could not help myself, I was just captured. The
disease with which I had been troubled for years tormented me worse than
ever for about six months, as if trying to turn me aside; but I lost all
fear of it.
I kept up my study of Science
and Health and the disease disappeared. I can honestly say that Science
and Health was my only healer, and it has been my only teacher. - R. A.
C., Los Angeles, Cal.
DISEASED EYES CURED
Christian Science came to me
when I was a wreck, my body being completely covered with sores. My eyes
were very bad, so that I sat in a darkened room for weeks together, most
of the time in bed under opiates. The home doctor and a specialist said
the disease of the eyes could not be cured, though they might help me
for a while. I had one operation, and the doctor said if I took cold I
would become totally blind. My suffering was beyond telling.
PAGE 628
A clergyman called almost every
day, and sat by my bed and wept, and my good, kind doctor shed tears
many times. Finally, after a year of this terrible suffering, I was sent
to Indiana, to a sister who had been healed of lung trouble by Christian
Science. The first day I was there she read to me from the Bible and
from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and I
was healed. I knew that God was no respecter of persons, and when I saw
what had been done for my sister, who was changed from being a mere
frame to a strong, robust, healthy, rosy-cheeked woman, the cough all
gone, I said, "God has as much for me, if I will accept it." I was
healed instantaneously by Christian Science, and am thankful to God for
giving us this understanding through Mrs. Eddy, our beloved Leader. I am
now in perfect health. - Mrs. F. S., Laurel, Miss.
THE TEXTBOOK HEALED ME
For twelve years previous to the
fall of 1897 I had been under the care of a physician much of the time.
Different opinions were given by them, as to the nature of the trouble,
some diagnosing it as an abnormal growth, etc. I was healed through
reading" Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. It
was a clear case of transformation of the body by the renewal of the
mind. I am perfectly well at the present time. - J. M. H., Omaha, Neb.
OBSTINATE STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED
There is no doubt that by far
the greater number come to Christian Science by the way of physical
healing, but
PAGE 629
there are those to whom this
does not particularly appeal. In the hope that it may be of benefit to
some such, and in gratitude for help received, I submit my own
experience. Three years ago I knew nothing of Christian Science, aside
from the knowledge gathered from the daily papers and current
literature. When I thought of the subject at all, it was to class
Christian Science with various human theories with which I could not be
in sympathy, for they seemed to rely upon both good and evil. I had
never known of a case of healing, had never read the textbook or heard
of the Journal or Sentinel, but
I would sometimes see people going into the Christian Science church. I
was tired of trying to find anything satisfactory in religious belief,
for it seemed as if God either could not or would not bring into harmony
the terrible conditions existing in human society. I had quit using any
form of prayer except the Lord's Prayer, and even then omitted the words
"lead us not into temptation." How I longed to know just a little of the
"why?" and "wherefore?" of it all.
Here is where Christian Science
found me. I was thrown in contact with a dear friend of whom I had seen
very little for a year or more, a thoroughly educated woman and a
thinker. She told me she had taken some treatments in Christian Science
for a physical trouble, and had become very much interested in the study
of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. She
asked me if I would like to look at the book, and I said I would be glad
to do so. The first chapter, "Prayer," appealed to me from the first,
and when I came to Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer
(Science and Health, p. 17), my interest was fully aroused. I knew that
in a dim way I was learning what it means to "pray
PAGE 630
without ceasing." Very soon I
bought a book of my own, and with the help of our Lesson-Sermons, as
given in the Quarterly, I
began in earnest the study of Science and Health, in connection with the
Bible.
I stood very much in need of
physical healing at this time, having suffered for several years from an
obstinate form of stomach trouble. So far as I know, I gave no thought
to the benefits I might derive physically from the study, but I did
believe this Science held the truth of things, and I was so absorbed in
getting an understanding of the Principle that I thought very little of
myself. After about three or four months' study I realized that the
stomach trouble was gone, and with it went other physical troubles,
which have never returned. This healing was brought about by the
earnest, conscientious seeking for the truth, as contained in the Bible
and interpreted by our Leader in our textbook, Science and Health. I
have since learned more of the Science of healing and have been able in
a small way to help others in need. I have also learned that in living
and loving is healing realized, and in reflecting divine Love I have the
"signs following."
When we think of the pure,
loving, unselfish life Mrs. Eddy must have lived in order to become
conscious of this truth and give it to us, words are a poor medium
through which to express the gratitude which her followers feel for her.
It is best expressed by obediently following her, even as she is
following Christ. - H. T., Omaha, Neb.
DYSPEPSIA QUICKLY HEALED
It has occurred to me that I
have had ample time to meditate on the many blessings which I have
received
PAGE 631
through Christian Science, as it
is now more than six years since I was entirely healed of dyspepsia as
well as constipation in its worst form by the reading of Science and
Health. So aggravated were the conditions that for three years or more I
was unable to drink a glass of cold water. Everything that I drank had
to be hot, and my only means of relief from the bowel trouble was hot
water injections, for a period of more than three years.
I can truthfully say that I was
permanently, and I might say instantly, healed of those two ailments by
reading Science and Health as before stated, and in fact I do not think
I had read more than thirty pages of this book when I ignored entirely
the most rigid kind of diet. I ate and drank everything I wished without
a single harmful effect from that time to this date, and there has not
been a drop of medicine in our home for more than six years, in a family
of five.
I have also seen the power of
Truth manifested in our home by having our youngest child relieved of
the most excruciating pain, and changed to his most playful mood,
immediately upon notifying one of the faithful practitioners of this
city. For all this I am endeavoring to be thankful to God and to our
faithful Leader, Mrs. Eddy, whose pure and undefiled life enabled her to
discover this precious truth for the benefit of all mankind. - M. C.
McK., Denver, Col.
AFTER TWENTY YEARS' SUFFERING
From early girlhood I was
considered an invalid, having been injured by a hard fall while playing.
The pain was intense for some time and for several hours I was un-
PAGE 632
able to walk or stand alone.
Later, a growing weakness of the back accompanied with sharp pains
alarmed my parents, who called a physician, and he pronounced it spinal
trouble. Then followed nearly twenty years of increased suffering, at
times very severe. As years went by and I became a wife and mother, my
suffering increased. Everything that medical skill could do was done,
but finding no lasting benefit from anything, I lost hope of recovery.
When Christian Science found me
I was under the doctor's sentence that if I lived the week through I
would become entirely helpless, not able to move hand or foot. My
husband was a travelling man, and being urgently called home, he met an
old friend on the train who asked why we did not try Christian Science.
The reply, We know nothing of it, was followed by a brief explanation of
its healing power and the benefit his family had received. This inspired
my husband with new hope, and on his arrival at home he called on a
practitioner, who recommended our getting Science and Health, which we
did, but ignorance and the prejudice of old education produced such fear
that I hid the book under the covers of the bed whenever the children
came into the room, fearing that it was not of God and would injure
them. God's dear love was, however, more potent than these foolish
fears, and the first day I read from its sacred pages I was convinced
its teachings were the same truths as Jesus Christ had taught centuries
ago. When I had read a few pages, I reached out and threw my medicine
from the open window at the head of my bed. I then turned back to the
book and began reading again, when, lo, the Christ-idea dawned upon me,
and I was healed instantaneously.
PAGE 633
I first noticed the spot in my
back cooling, and soon I got out of bed. I continued to read eagerly; I
felt as if I wanted to devour the healing truth, and drank it in as a
thirsty plant does the gentle rain. When dinner was prepared, I walked
out and ate a hearty meal with the family, to the amazement of all. We
shall never forget what a joyful meal this was. How we did thank God for
Christian Science!
As year after year has gone by,
till twenty years have passed and the healing has remained perfect, I
have grown to thank God with deeper sincerity that one brave woman was
found pure enough to bring forth this Christ-healing again, to remain
forever among men and to save suffering humanity from all disease and
sin. - Mrs. P. L. H., Fairmont, Minn.
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE AND JOY
I have often had a desire to
make public what Christian Science has done for me, but I never could
tell of all my blessings, they are so many. From childhood I was always
sick, never knew one hour of rest, and was under the doctor's care most
of the time. I was living in the East at that time, and was advised to
try change of climate, which I did. I came West with my family in the
spring of the year, but instead of growing better I grew steadily worse,
until at last I was obliged to keep my bed for nearly three years, - a
great sufferer. My ailments were, it seemed, all that flesh is heir to,
and were called incurable by the doctors; viz., Bright's disease, and
many others, - in the last stages. My case was known among physicians,
many of whom were prominent
PAGE 634
specialists, as a most extreme
one. Many, upon looking at me, would turn away with a wise shake of the
head and say, "What keeps her alive?" My physicians, who were
exceedingly kind and did all that lay within their power for me, gave me
up and the death sentence was pronounced on me by all who attended me.
It was then I realized that
"man's extremity is God's opportunity." The "little book" was handed me
at this hour of great need. I read it, not thinking it would heal me,
but, like a drowning man, I grasped at it. I read it, read it again, and
soon found myself growing stronger; then I kept on reading and was
perfectly healed of all the supposedly incurable diseases. - L. B.,
Austin, Minn.
TRUTH MAKES FREE
As the son of a physician, a
graduate in pharmacy, and an ex-druggist, I had a perfect contempt for
what I thought Christian Science to be. About six and a half years ago,
however, having exhausted all material means at my command, - materia
medica, electricity, gymnastics, cycling, and so on, - and being in
a hopeless state, the study of Christian Science was taken up. I had
been a sufferer from catarrh and sore throat for over thirty years, and
in the last five were added several others, including dyspepsia, and
bronchitis, and a loss in flesh of sixty pounds. I was completely
healed, and regained health, strength, and flesh through the spiritual
understanding of Christian Science, the result of about six weeks'
study. This good and perfect gift came to me through the careful and
prayerful study of Christian Science, as revealed to the world to-day
through Science
PAGE 635
and Health. The promise of
Christ Jesus, "the truth shall make you free," was fulfilled, and the
past six years of health and harmony have been spent in striving to
"hold fast that which is good."
While most grateful for the
physical healing, my gratitude for the mental and spiritual regeneration
is beyond expression. When I learned that Jesus' mission of healing
sickness as well as sin did not end with his short stay upon earth, but
is practical in all ages, my joy was unbounded. Having spent thousands
in the old way, it seemed wonderful to be healed at such small cost as
the price of the "little book" and a few weeks' study. Every thought of
prejudice immediately vanished before the proofs that Christian Science
is indeed the elucidation and practical application of Jesus' teachings,
which are demonstrable truth, "The same yesterday, and to-day, and
forever." - C. N. C., Memphis, Tenn.
DEAF EARS UNSTOPPED
As a mother of a family my heart
goes out in love and gratitude to that good woman we are privileged to
call our Leader, for all she has done through her book for me and mine.
Ten years ago I was healed of
hereditary deafness and catarrh of the head, simply through reading the
book, Science and Health. For years previous I had consulted and taken
treatment from some of the best specialists for the ear and throat, both
in England and America, but grew worse all the time. I was then urged by
a lady who had been healed through Christian Science to buy this book
and study it. I did so very reluctantly, but
PAGE 636
had not read fifty pages before
I felt I had indeed found the truth which makes free, and can truly say,
from that time I have never had a return of the ailment.
That for which I am, however,
most grateful, is the daily help it is to me in my household of young
children. I am sure if mothers only knew what Christian Science truly
means they would give all they possess to know it. We have seen croup,
measles, fever, and various other children's complaints, so-called,
disappear like dew before the morning sun, through the application of
Christian Science, - the understanding of God as ever-present and
omnipotent. It has been proven to me without a doubt that God is a very
present help in trouble, and what a blessed help this wonderful truth is
in the training of our children, and how quickly the child grasps it.
Some time ago my little girl,
then three years old, dislocated her shoulder. I was alone in the house
at the time. The pain was so intense that she became faint. I treated
her the best I knew how, but kept holding the thought that just as soon
as some one came I would run for help. She seemed to grow worse and
cried very much. I undressed her and tried to twist the arm into place,
but it caused such suffering that I began to get afraid. Then like a
flash came the thought, What would you do if you were out of the reach
of a practitioner? Now is your time to prove God's power and presence.
With these thoughts came such a sense of calm and trustfulness that I
lost all fear. I then asked the child if I should read to her; she said
"Yes, mamma, read the truth-book." I began reading aloud to her from
Science and Health. In about half an hour I noticed
PAGE 637
she tried to lift the arm but
screamed and became very pale. I continued to read aloud and again she
made an effort to put some candy into her mouth. This time I noticed
with joy that she almost reached her mouth before she felt the pain. I
kept reading aloud to her until my sister and two boys came in, when she
jumped off her bed, so delighted to see her brothers that she forgot her
arm. She then began to tell her aunt that she had broken her arm and
mamma treated it with the truth-book. When this happened, it was about
10.30 A. M. and by 3 P. M. she was playing out doors as though nothing
had ever happened. - Mrs. M. G., Winnipeg, Man.
SAVED FROM INSANITY AND SUICIDE
A few years ago, while under a
sense of darkness and despair caused by ill health and an unhappy home,
Science and Health was loaned me with a request that I should read it.
At that time my daughter was
given up by materia medica to
die of lingering consumption, supposed to have been inherited. My own
condition seemed even more alarming, as insanity was being manifested,
and rather than go to an insane asylum, it seemed to me the only thing
to do was to commit suicide. Heart trouble, kidney complaint, and
continual headaches caused from female trouble were some of the many
ailments I had to contend with. My doctor tried to persuade me to
undergo an operation as a means of relief, but I had submitted to a
severe operation ten years previous, and found only additional suffering
as a result, so I would not consent.
PAGE 638
When I began with Science and
Health, I read the chapter on "Prayer" first, and at that time did not
suppose it possible for me to remember anything I read, but felt a sweet
sense of God's protection and power, and a hope that I should at last
find Him to be what I so much needed, - a present help in time of
trouble. Before that chapter on "Prayer" was finished, my daughter was
downstairs eating three meals a day, and daily growing stronger. Before
I had finished reading the textbook she was well, but never having heard
that the reading of Science and Health healed any one, it was several
months before I gave God the glory.
One by one my many ailments left
me, all but the headaches; they were less frequent, until at the end of
three years the fear of them was entirely overcome.
Neither myself nor my daughter
have ever received treatments, but the study of the Bible and Science
and Health, the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy, has healed us
and keeps us well.
While Christian Science was very
new to me, I attended an experience meeting in First Church of Christ,
Scientist, Chicago. A gentleman told of an unhappy woman who was about
to separate from her husband. This gentleman had asked her if she did
not love her husband. She replied, "No; when I married him I did, but
not now." He told her God made man in His image and likeness, and that
He is perfect. He said to her, "Go home and see only God's perfect man;
you don't need to love a sinful mortal such as you have been looking
upon." The lady followed his advice, as he told her there is no
separation in divine Mind. In a short time peace and harmony were in her
home, and
PAGE 639
both husband and wife became
members of a Christian Science church.
This testimony was like a
message from heaven to me. I had received many benefits from the study
of Science and Health, but it had never dawned upon my darkened
consciousness till then how wonderful our God is. I knew what had taken
place in that home could take place in my unhappy home where there was
neither rest nor peace.
I hopefully took up my cross,
and step by step my burden grew lighter, as I journeyed along, realizing
the presence of the Christ, Truth, that indeed makes us free. Not all at
once did any outward change appear, but at the end of three years all
was peace, all the members of the family attending church together and
realizing that there is but one Mind. - E. J. B., Superior, Wis.
STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED
I was healed of stomach trouble
of many years' standing by reading Science and Health. My condition had
reached the stage in which I had periodical attacks, that came on with
greater frequency. I was a travelling salesman, and it was a common
occurrence for me to have to call a physician to my hotel to administer
morphine for an acute form of this disease. This became a regular thing
at certain places, and these attacks always left me worse than before.
As a result of the last one I lost a great deal in weight. I had tried
many physicians and most of the usual remedies during these years of
suffering, without any good result. Finally, as a last resort, I
PAGE 640
decided to try Christian
Science, and I was healed by reading "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.
My health has been of the best
since I was healed, now six years ago. In the family we have depended
entirely on Christian Science for our healing, and have ever found it
efficacious. We consider the physical healing, however, only incidental
to the understanding of God and His goodness. This, together with our
increased love for the Bible, is proving most valuable to us. We are
humbly trying to live the lives that will prove our gratitude to God,
and to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy. - Charles E. Peck, St. Johnsbury,
Vt.
FREED FROM MANY YEARS OF
SUFFERING
In the spring of 1880 I was
taken down with a severe attack of stomach trouble, was bedfast for
three months, and not able to drive out for nearly six months. During
this time I had three good doctors treating me. I gained a little in
strength, but had very little relief from the stomach trouble. I was
recommended to try mineral springs and did so, but with the same
disappointment. I went to a sanitarium, but yet the stomach trouble
prevailed. I had some friends who recommended patent medicines, but no
healing came.
I worried along in this way for
several years. Finally I read medicine nearly two years with a good
doctor friend, especially for my own benefit, and during this time I had
a severe attack of bladder trouble, and for fifteen years I suffered so
severely at times that I thought life was not really worth living. In
connection with these
PAGE 641
troubles I suffered every winter
with rheumatism and the grip. I also had a growth coming on both eyes
called cataract, which caused my eyes to be inflamed nearly all the
time, and this growth had made such progress that it was causing my
vision to be very dim when reading. Corns were not forgotten, as I was
reminded of them very frequently, and for all these troubles I had tried
every remedy I heard of that I was able to get, specialists included,
without relief.
Thanks to a friend who took me
in this hopeless, discouraged condition and led me to the light that
never knows darkness, I got a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy
and was healed in a short time by reading this work. - D. W. L.,
Anderson, Ind.
RELIEF FROM INTENSE SUFFERING
I became interested in Christian
Science in 1901. For four or five years I had suffered with severe
attacks which nothing but an opiate seemed to relieve. After one which I
think was the worst I ever had, I consulted our family physician, who
diagnosed my case as a dangerous kidney disease and said that no
medicine could help me but that I must undergo a surgical operation. I
continued to grow worse and went to see the physician again, and he
advised me to consult a doctor who was connected with the city hospital
of Augusta. This doctor made an examination and diagnosed the difficulty
as something different but quite as serious. Meanwhile a friend offered
me a copy of Science and Health. I said I did not care to read the book,
but she was so urgent that I finally promised to do so. I received the
book on Satur-
PAGE 642
day, and on Sunday morning I sat
down to read it. When I reached the place where Mrs. Eddy says she found
this truth in the Bible, I began comparing the two books. I read
passages which looked very reasonable to me, and said to myself, This is
nearer to the truth than anything I have ever seen. I continued to read
all day, stopping only long enough to eat my dinner. As I read on,
everything became clearer to me, and I felt that I was healed. During
the evening a neighbor came in, and I said, "I am healed, and that book
has healed me." I read on and was certainly healed. Eight days after my
healing I did my own washing. This occurred in February, 1901. About six
weeks after, I was called to care for my mother, who was under the care
of my former physician. I again let him examine my side, as he wished to
see if the trouble was still there. He said, "It is certainly gone." I
said to him, "Doctor, you told me I would never be a well woman unless I
was operated upon; what has healed me?" He replied, "God has healed
you." - S. H. L., North Pittston, Me.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
It is with sincere gratitude for
the many blessings Christian Science has brought me, that I give this
testimony. I first heard of Christian Science about fifteen years ago. A
friend of mine was taking treatment for physical troubles, and was
reading the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures. The title of the book appealed to me very strongly. I
said to my friend, "If that is a Key to the Scriptures, I must have it."
PAGE 643
I had long been a member of a
Bible class in an orthodox Sabbath school, but I never felt satisfied
with that which was taught; there was something lacking, I did not
understand then what it was. I purchased a copy of Science and Health
and began to study it. I wish I could express in words what that book
brought me. It illumined the Bible with a glorious light and I began to
understand some of the Master's sayings, and tried to apply them.
I had had a longing to live a
better Christian life for many years, and often wondered why I failed so
utterly to understand the Bible. Now I knew; it was lack of spiritual
apprehension.
I did not know at first that
people were healed of disease and sin by simply reading Science and
Health, but found after a while that such was the case. At that time I
had many physical troubles, and one after another of these ills simply
disappeared and I found that I had no disease, - I was perfectly free.
The spiritual uplifting was glorious, too, and as I go on in the study
of this blessed Science, I find I am gaining surely an understanding
that helps me to overcome both sin and disease in myself and in others.
My faith in good is increased and I know I am losing my belief in evil
as a power equal to good. The pathway is not wearisome, because each
victory over self gives stronger faith and a more earnest desire to
press on. - E. J. R., Toledo, Ohio.
GRATEFUL FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL
AWAKENING
About four years ago, after I
had tried different ways and means to be relieved from bodily suffering,
a faith-
PAGE 644
ful friend called my attention
to the teaching of Christian Science. After some opposition, I decided
to investigate it, with the thought that if this teaching would be
helpful, it was meant for me as well as for others; if it did not afford
any help, I could put it aside again, but that I would find out and be
convinced.
After I had read Mrs. Eddy's
work, Science and Health, a few days, I found that my ailments had
disappeared, and a rest had come to me which I had never before known. I
had smoked almost incessantly, although I had often determined to use my
will power and never smoke again, but had always failed. This desire as
well as the desire for drink simply disappeared, and I wish to say here,
that I received all these benefits before I had gained much
understanding of what I was reading. Like a prisoner, who had been in
chains for years, I was suddenly set free. I did not then know how the
chain had been removed, but I had to acknowledge that it came through
the reading of this book. I then felt an ardent desire to read more, and
to know what this power was that had freed me in a few days of that
which I had been trying for years to shake off and had failed. It then
became clear to me that this was the truth which Jesus Christ taught and
preached to free humanity almost two thousand years ago. It did not,
however, occur to me to apply it in my business affairs; on the
contrary, I first thought that if I continued in my study I would have
to retire from business.
This did not happen, however,
for I gradually found that the little understanding of this wonderful
teaching which I had acquired became a great help to me in my business.
I became more friendly, more honest,
PAGE 645
more loving to my fellow-men;
and I also acquired better judgment and was able to do the right thing
at the right time. As a natural result my business improved. Before I
knew anything of Christian Science my business had often been a burden
to me, fear and worry deprived me of my rest. How different it is now!
Through the study of the Bible, which now possesses unmeasurable
treasures for me, and for our textbook, Science and Health, and the
other works of our Leader, I receive peace and confidence in God and
that insight into character which is necessary for the correct
management of any business. - W. H. H., Bloomfield, Neb.
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE LUNGS
CURED
For a long time I have been
impelled to contribute a testimony of the healing power of Truth. As I
read other testimonies and rejoice in them, some one may rejoice in
mine. I was healed by reading Science and Health. By applying it, I
found it to be the truth that Jesus taught, - the truth that sets free.
From childhood I had never known
a well day. I was healed of lung trouble of long standing. Consumption
was hereditary in our family, my mother and three brothers having passed
on with it. The law of materia
medica said that in a
short time I must follow them. I also had severe stomach trouble of over
eight years' standing, during which time I always retired without
supper, as the fear of suffering from my food was so great that I denied
myself food when hungry. For over twenty years I had ovarian trouble,
which was almost unbearable at times. It dated from
PAGE 646
the birth of my first child, and
at one time necessitated an operation. I suffered with about all the
ills that flesh is heir to: I had trouble with my eyes from a child;
wore glasses for fourteen years, several oculists saying I would go
blind, one declaring I would be blind in less than a year if I did not
submit to an operation, which I refused to do.
But thanks be to God whose Truth
reached me through the study of our textbook. Words fail to express what
Christian Science has done for me in various ways, for my children, my
home, my all. The physical healing is but a small part; the spiritual
unfolding and uplifting is the "pearl of great price," the half that has
never been told. - Mrs. J. P. M., Kansas City, Mo.
TEXTBOOK APPRECIATED
It has been my privilege to have
interviews with representatives of more than sixty per cent of the
nations of this earth, under their own vine and fig-tree. I had never
heard a principle understandingly advanced that would enable mankind to
obey the apostolic command, "prove all things," until Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures was placed in my hands. I believe that the
honest study of this book in connection with the Bible will enable one
to "prove all things."
I make this unqualified
statement because of what my eyes have seen and my ears heard from my
fellow-men of unquestioned integrity, and the positive proofs I have
gained by the study of these books. Many supposed material laws that had
been rooted and
PAGE 647
grounded in my mentality from
youth have been overcome. It required some time for me to wake up to our
Leader's words in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206: "The advancing stages
of Christian Science are gained through growth, not accretion." I had
many disappointments and falls before I was willing to do the scientific
work required to prove this statement; yet notwithstanding the cost to
ourselves, I am convinced that we cannot do much credit to the cause we
profess to love until we place ourselves in a position to prove God as
He really is to us individually, and our relation to Him, by scientific
work.
I wish to express loving
gratitude to our Leader for the new edition of Science and Health. In
studying this new edition one cannot help seeing the wisdom, love, and
careful and prayerful thought expressed in the revision. Often the
changing of a single word in a sentence makes the scientific thought not
only more lucid to him who is familiar with the book, but also to those
just coming into the blessed light. All honor to that God-loving,
God-fearing woman, Mary Baker G. Eddy, whose only work is the work of
love in the helping of mankind to help themselves; who has placed before
her fellow-men understandingly, what man's divine rights are, and what
God really is. - H. W. B., Hartford, Conn.
RUPTURE AND OTHER SERIOUS ILLS
HEALED
When I took up the study of
Christian Science nearly three years ago, I was suffering from a very
bad rupture of thirty-two years' standing. Sometimes the pain was so
severe that it seemed as if I could not endure it. These spells would
last four or five hours,
PAGE 648
and while everything was done
for me that could be done, no permanent relief came to me until I
commenced reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. After I
had once looked into it I wanted to read all the time. I was so absorbed
in the study of the "little book" that I hardly realized when the
healing came, but I was healed, not only of the rupture, but also of
other troubles, - inflammatory rheumatism, catarrh, corns, and bunions.
I would never part with the book
if I could not get another. I am seventy-seven years old, and am
enjoying very good health. - Mrs. M. E. P., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER HEALED
When Christian Science came to
me, I had been taking medicine every day for twenty years, on account of
constipation. I had been treated by doctors and specialists; had taken
magnetic treatments and osteopathy; had tried change of climate; had an
operation in a hospital, and when I came out was worse than before. I
was so discouraged, after I had tried everything I ever heard of, and
was no better but rather grew worse, that it seemed as though I must
give up trying to get well, when a friend suggested that I try Christian
Science. I had heard that Christian Scientists healed by prayer, and I
thought this must be the way Jesus had healed. I felt that this was all
there was left for me to try. I sent for the book, Science and Health,
and commenced to read it out of curiosity, not thinking or knowing that
I could be helped by the reading, but thinking I must still take
medicine and that I must also have treatment by a Scientist. I,
PAGE 649
however, dropped my medicine and
read for three days; then a light began to shine in the darkness. I was
healed of the trouble and have never had to take medicine since. I have
studied Science and Health faithfully ever since, and other ailments
have disappeared. My little daughter has also been healed and has
learned to use this knowledge in her school work. - Mrs. O. R.,
Leadville, Col.
LIVER COMPLAINT HEALED
As my thoughts go back to the
time when I believed I had nothing to live for, and when each morning's
awaking from sleep brought a sense of disappointment to find myself
still among the living (for I had hoped each night that I closed my eyes
in sleep that it would be the last time), my heart overflows with love
and gratitude to God for our dear Leader who discovered this blessed
truth and to the dear ones who have helped me so lovingly and patiently
over many rough places.
Twelve years ago, I consulted a
physician because I had noticed some odd-looking spots on one of my
arms. He said they were liver spots, but that it was not worth while
prescribing for those few, that I should wait until I was covered with
them. About three months later, with the exception of my face and hands,
I was covered with them. Then I became alarmed and called on another
physician who prescribed for me, but be finally said he could do no more
for me. Other physicians were consulted with no better results. Six
years ago, friends advised me to see their family physician, and when I
called on him he said he was positive he could cure me, so I asked him
to prescribe for me. At the
PAGE 650
end of two years, after
prescribing steadily, he said I was so full of medicine that he was
afraid to have me take any more, and advised a rest. After having paid
out a small fortune, I was no better, and very much discouraged.
Two years ago, having failed in
business, I applied to one of my patrons for a furnished room where I
could meet the few I still had left. This lady, who is a Christian
Scientist, loaned me Science and Health, and because she asked me so
often how I was getting on with the book, I began reading it. I also
attended the Wednesday evening meetings which I found very interesting.
After hearing the testimonies at the meetings, I decided to speak to
some practitioner about these spots, but not until I had at least a
hundred dollars on hand, because I thought I would require that amount
for treatments, as I had been accustomed to paying high prices. I had
not inquired about prices, and in fact did not speak to any one about my
intentions, because I felt sensitive on this subject. When I had read
about half of Science and Health, I missed the spots, and upon searching
could find no trace of them. They had entirely disappeared without
treatment. In a few weeks the reading of that book had accomplished what materia
medica had failed to
accomplish in ten years. It is impossible to express the feeling of
relief and happiness which came over me then. - C. K., Astoria, N. Y.
A CONVINCING INVESTIGATION
While I have testified to those
around me and in many localities, of my healing in Christian Science, I
feel that
PAGE 651
it is high time I put the candle
in the candlestick where all who will may see. My earliest recollection
was a day of suffering, - a physical inheritance from my mother, which
gave simple interest for a time until years advanced and compound
interest was added. My father was a physician, and material remedies
were used for my mother without avail, consequently his confidence in
them for me was shaken, - in fact he often told me it was better to
suffer without medicine than become a chronic doser, without pain.
I began teaching in early life
and continued for more than twenty years, and during that time not a day
passed without pain, or fear of pain, and only for my innate love of
life it would have become an intolerable burden. For five years oatmeal
was my chief food and I became almost as attached to it as Kaspar Hauser
to his crust. I was early taught to have faith in God, and many times
was relieved of pain only to have it appear again in an aggravated form.
At last my heart cried out for
the living God, and the answer came by one of His messengers, who told
me of Christian Science. I replied that I believed God could heal, but
that I had no faith in the healing of Christian Science, but would like
to investigate its theology, as it might aid in giving me some clue to
the meaning of life. For three years I had searched the works of the
most scientific writers to find the origin of life; many times I would
think I had traced it to the beginning, but it would elude my grasp
every time. One day in talking with my friend, she said she would like
to loan me the textbook, Science and Health, which I very willingly
accepted. Not long afterward I felt a severe
PAGE 652
attack of suffering. I opened
the book for the first time and found a paragraph near the middle which
attracted my attention. I read the same paragraph over and over for
nearly two hours. When the tea bell rang I closed the book and I shall
never forget my perception of the new heaven and the new earth, -
everything in nature that I could see seemed to have been washed and
made clean. The flowers that I have always loved so much, and that from
childhood had told me such sweet stories, now spoke to me of the
All-in-all, the hearts of my friends seemed kinder, - I had touched the
hem of the garment of healing.
I ate my supper that evening
forgetful of the preparations I had made for suffering, and when the
next day began I was more zealous of good work than ever before. Since
closing Science and Health at my first reading I have never been able to
find the paragraph which I had read so many times over, the words seemed
to have slipped away from me, but my joy knew no bounds at having found
the pearl of great price. By the continued reading of the book I was
entirely healed, and for fourteen years I have not seen a day of
physical suffering. - Miss L. M., Rome, N. Y.
DEAFNESS AND DROPSY HEALED
I had been deaf from childhood.
I suffered intensely after eating, and dropsy was another of my
complaints. This, with consumption, caused one doctor to say, " It
puzzles me; I have never seen such a case before as yours."
I met a friend who had been
cured in Christian
PAGE 653
Science, and she said, "Try
Christian Science." I got a copy of Science and Health and in three
weeks I was entirely cured. I felt uplifted. It seemed as if God's arms
were around and about me. I felt as if heaven had come down to earth for
me. After five years of suffering can any one wonder at my unspeakable
gratitude? - A. B., Pittsburg, Pa.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
In 1894 I began the study of
Christian Science. At that time I was greatly in need of its healing
truth. For a number of years previous I had been a semi-invalid with no
hope of ever being well and strong again. Several years before this time
I had undergone an operation which resulted in peritonitis. For three
years previous to my study of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I was
scarcely ever free from headache caused by the weakened and diseased
condition of the internal organs. At the time I began the study of
Christian Science I was taking five kinds of medicine.
I began to read Science and
Health, and did not take treatment, for I thought, "If this is truth, I
shall be healed; if it is not, I shall be able to detect it, and will
have nothing to do with it." I became a devoted student and gradually my
bodily diseases left me, - I was free, and since that time, nearly ten
years ago, neither my two children nor myself have taken any medicine;
and our understanding of truth has been able to meet and overcome any
suggestion of illness.
I was a devoted member of an
orthodox church,
PAGE 654
but as I grew older I began to
question my beliefs, and to my questions I could find no satisfactory
answer. I became dissatisfied and finally ceased attending church. I
could not accept the idea of God taught there, and at last my friends
looked sadly upon me as an atheist. There I stood until I learned to
know God as revealed in Science and Health, and then all my questionings
were answered. In my girlhood I had always prayed to the God I held in
mind, and when the shadows of sickness pain, and death came to my
family, I prayed as only those can who know that if He helps not, there
is none; but my prayers were unanswered. Then I closed my Bible, saying,
"There is a mistake somewhere, perhaps some time I may know."
Only those who know the attitude
of mind that I was in can understand the joy that came to me as I began
to learn of God in Christian Science, and of my relation to Him.
Many proofs of the healing power
of Truth and of His protecting care throng my thoughts. Seven years ago,
when we were in a far distant country, where Christian Science was then
unknown, my little daughter came in one morning from her school, saying,
"Mother, I have measles; twenty of the girls are sick in bed and I am
afraid they will put me there also." Her face, hands, and chest were
covered with a deep red rash, throat sore, and eyes inflamed. We began
immediately to do our work in Science and at night, when I left her at
the door of the college, her face was clear, her eyes bright, and all
fear destroyed. That was the end of the disease. - F. M. P., Boston,
Mass.
PAGE 655
A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE
In love and gratitude to God,
and to Mrs. Eddy, the interpreter of Jesus' beautiful teachings, I wish
to tell of some of the benefits which I have received from Christian
Science. It is a little over a year since Science found me in a
deplorable condition, physically as well as mentally. I had ailments of
many years' standing, - chronic stomach trouble, severe eye trouble,
made almost unbearable from the constant fear of losing any sight (a
fate which had befallen my mother), also a painful rupture of
twenty-five years' standing. These ailments, combined with unhappy
conditions in my home, made me very despondent. I had entirely lost my
belief in an all-merciful God, and I did not know where to turn for
help. At that time Christian Science was brought to my notice, and I
shall never forget the sublime moment when I perceived that an
all-loving Father is always with me. Forgotten was all sorrow and worry,
and after four weeks' reading in Science and Health all my ailments had
disappeared. I am today a healthy, contented woman.
All this has come to pass in one
short year, and my earnest desire is to be more and more worthy to be
called a child of God. This is in loving gratitude for an understanding
of this glorious truth. - Mrs. R. J., Chicago, Ill.
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP
It is a year since I began to
read Science and Health, and I will now try to outline what a knowledge
of its teachings has done for me.
PAGE 656
My condition was then very
trying; my eyes, which had caused me much trouble since childhood, were
very painful. For these I had been treated by some of the best
specialists in my native land, and after coming to the United States I
had been doctored much and had worn glasses for four years. I also had
catarrh, for which I had taken much medicine without being relieved. In
addition to this I was an excessive smoker, using tobacco in some form
almost constantly. I had contracted a smoker's heart, and used liquors
freely.
The one who brought to me that
which I now prize so highly, was a book agent. I told him that I should
be forced to leave my trade on account of my eyes. He then told me of
having been healed of a cancer, through Christian Science treatment. He
showed me a copy of Science and Health, which had the signs of much use,
and after being assured that if I did my part I would be healed of all
my diseases, I sent for a copy of the book.
My recovery was very rapid, for
after reading the book only three weeks I was completely healed of the
tobacco habit. I will say, in regard to this healing, that it did not
require even as much as a resolution on my part. I was smoking a cigar,
while reading Science and Health, when all the desire to continue
smoking left me, and I have never had a desire to use tobacco in any
form since then. My eyes were the next to manifest the influence of the
new knowledge gained, and had soon so far recovered that I could go
about my work with ease, and I have had no more use for glasses. To-day
my heart is normal, the catarrh
PAGE 657
has totally disappeared, and I
am not addicted to the use of liquor.
Christian Science has proved to
be an ever-present help, not only in overcoming physical ailments, but
in business and daily life. It has also overcome a great sense of fear.
The Bible, which I regarded with suspicion, has become my guide, and
Christianity has become a sweet reality, because the Christian Science
textbook has indeed been a "Key to the Scriptures" and has breathed
through the Gospel pages a sweet sense of harmony. - A. F., Sioux City,
Iowa.
SEVERE EYE TROUBLE OVERCOME
After hearing Christian Science
lightly spoken of, from a Christian pulpit, I decided to go to one of
the services and hear for myself. From infancy I had been devoted to my
church, and as soon as I was old enough I was ever active in the work.
Feeling it to be my duty to attend every service held in my own church,
I took advantage of the Wednesday evening meetings. My first visit was
not my last, I am thankful to say, for I saw immediately that these
people not only preached Christianity, but practised and lived it. At
that time I was wearing glasses and had worn them for sixteen years. At
times I suffered the most intense pain, and for this phase of the
trouble, one specialist after another had been consulted. All gave me
very much the same advice; each one urged extreme carefulness and gave
me glasses that seemed to relieve for a time. None of them held out any
hope that my sight would ever be restored, saying that the
PAGE 658
defect had existed since
infancy, and that in time I should be blind.
The thought of blindness was
very distressing to me, but I tried to bear it with Christian
resignation, since I thought that God had seen fit to afflict me; but
since I have learned that He is a loving Father, who gives only good, I
regret that I ever charged Him with my affliction. I had no treatment,
but I read Science and Health, and my eyes were healed and glasses laid
aside. I can never find words to express my thanks to our dear Leader,
through whose teachings my sight has been regained. I can truthfully say
that "whereas I was blind, now I see" - through an understanding of
Truth I have found my sight perfect as God gave it. - Miss B. S.,
Wilmington, N. C.
A TESTIMONY FROM IRELAND
It is with a heart full of love
and gratitude to God, and to our dear Leader, that I send this testimony
to the Field. I had never been a strong girl; had always been subject to
colds and chills, and suffered all my life from a delicate throat. Seven
years ago I had a very severe attack of rheumatic fever and subsequently
two less severe ones. These left all sorts of evils behind them, -
debility, chronic constipation, and several others, so that with these
ills my life was often a burden to me and I used to think I never should
receive relief or health. I had also lost all love for God and faith in
Him. I could not accept a God who, as I then believed, visited sickness
and sorrow upon His children as a means for drawing them to Him.
PAGE 659
I was in this state of mind and
body when Christian Science found me. A dear friend, seeing my
suffering, presented the truth to me, and though at first I did not
believe that there could be healing for me, the Christian Scientists'
God seemed to be the one I had been looking for all my life. I began to
read Science and Health, and shall never forget my joy at finding that I
could love and trust God. I took to studying the Bible, and read nothing
but Science and Health and other Christian Science literature for a
year. After studying the "little book" for about six weeks, I one day
realized that I was a well woman, that I had taken no medicine for three
weeks, and that my body was perfectly harmonious. The reading of Science
and Health had healed me. The wonderful joy and spiritual uplifting
which came to me then no words of mine can describe. I had also suffered
from astigmatism and had for several years been obliged to use special
glasses when reading or working, and could never use my eyes for more
than half an hour; but from the first reading of Science and Health I
found that I could read in any light and for any length of time without
the slightest discomfort. I am not only grateful for the physical
healing but for the mental regeneration. I rejoice that I am now able to
help others who are sick and sorrowing. - E. E. L., Curragh Camp, County
Kildare, Ireland.
THE TEXTBOOK MAKES OPERATION
UNNECESSARY
In the early part of the year
1895 my physician said I must undergo a surgical operation in order ever
to be well.
PAGE 660
While in great fear, and
dreading the operation, a kind neighbor called, and after telling me of
Christian Science gave me a copy of Science and Health. She said I must
put aside all medicine, and by reading faithfully she knew I could be
healed. The book became my constant companion, and in a short time I was
healed. Besides the relief from an operation, I was completely healed of
severe headaches and stomach trouble. Physicians could give me no help
for either of these ailments. For ten years I have not used medicine of
any kind, and have not missed a Christian Science service on account of
sickness during this period. I am perfectly well. To say that I am
grateful to God for all this does not express my feelings. The physical
healing was wonderful, but the understanding given me of God, and the
ability to help others outweigh all else. I also love our dear Leader. -
Mrs. V. I. B., Concord, N. H.
KIDNEY DISEASE AND EYE TROUBLE
HEALED
Early in 1904 I was teaching in
a private boarding-school. I was a very unhappy, discontented woman; I
had kidney disease, besides sore eyes, and my general health was very
bad. The doctor said that the climate did not suit me, and that I
certainly should have a change. The best thing, he said, was to go back
to France (my own country); but I did not like to leave the school, so I
struggled on until July, when we went travelling for a month, but I came
home worse than ever. I had a lot of worry, one disappointment after
another, and I often thought that life was not worth living. In
September, 1904, we heard for the first time of Christian Science
PAGE 661
through a girl who was attending
our boarding-school, and who was healed through Christian Science
treatment. We bought the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and what a revelation it was and is to us; it
is indeed the fountain of Truth. I had read Science and Health but a
very short time when I took off my glasses, began to sleep well, and
soon found myself well in mind and body. Besides this, it has brought
harmony into our school, where there had been discord, and everything is
changed for the better. I cannot describe the happiness that has come to
me through Christian Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.
My one aim now is to live
Christian Science, not in words only, but in deeds; loving God more and
my neighbor as myself, and following meekly and obediently all our
Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for
Christian Science. - S. A. K., Vancouver, B. C.
DISEASE OF BOWELS HEALED
When I first heard of Christian
Science I had been afflicted for nine years with a very painful disease
of the bowels, which four physicians failed even to diagnose, all giving
different causes for the dreadful sufferings I endured. The last
physician advised me to take no more medicine for these attacks, as
drugs would not reach the cause, or do any good. About this time I heard
of Christian Science, and had the opportunity of reading "Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, a few minutes every day
for about a week, and I
PAGE 662
was thereby healed. In looking
back I found I had not suffered in the least from the time I began
reading this book. It has been nearly seventeen years since this
wonderful healing, and I have had no return of the disease. My gratitude
is endless and can be best expressed by striving mightily to walk in the
path our Leader has so lovingly shown us in Science and Health. - Mrs.
J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.
HEALED BY READING THE TEXTBOOK
After doctoring about a year, I
was obliged to give up school and was under medical care for two years;
but grew worse instead of better. I was then taken to specialists, who
pronounced my case incurable, saying I was in the last stages of kidney
disease and could live only a short time. Shortly afterward my uncle
gave me a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and
asked me to study it. After studying a short time I was able to walk a
distance of several miles, which I had not been able to do for three
years. I also laid aside glasses which I had worn seven years, having
been told I would become blind if my eyes did not receive proper care.
It is over a year since I received God's blessing, and I am now enjoying
perfect health and happiness. I have never had my glasses on since I
first began reading Science and Health, and I have not used any
medicine. - L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.
A TESTIMONY FROM SCOTLAND
I came to Christian Science
purely for physical healing. I was very ill and unhappy; very cynical
and disbelieving in regard to what I heard of God and religion.
PAGE 663
I tried to live my life in my
own way and put religion aside. I was a great believer in fate and in
will-power, and thought to put them in the place of God, with the
consequence that I was led to do many rash and foolish things. I am now
thankful to say that my outlook on life is entirely changed; I have
proved God's wisdom and goodness so often that I am willing and thankful
to know my future is in His hands and that all things must work out for
the best. I have found a God whom I can love and worship with my whole
heart, and I now read my Bible with interest and understanding.
I was healed of very bad
rheumatism simply by reading Science and Health. I had tried many
medicines, also massage, with no result, and the doctors told me that I
would always suffer from this disease, as it was inherited, and also
because I had rheumatic fever when a child. I suffered day and night,
and nothing relieved me until Science proved to me the falseness of this
belief by removing it. I gave up all the medicines I was taking and have
never touched any since, and that is more than two years ago. Before
this I had often tried to do without a medicine that I had taken every
day for ten years, but was always ill and had to return to it, until I
found out that one Mind is the only medicine, and then I was freed from
the suffering.
I had also suffered constantly
from bilious attacks, colds, and a weak chest, and had been warned not
to be out in wet weather, etc., but now, I am glad to say, I am quite
free from all those material laws and go out in all sorts of weather. -
R. D. F., Edinburgh, Scotland.
PAGE 664
CURING BETTER THAN ENDURING
For eight years I was a great
sufferer from weak lungs and after being treated by ten different
physicians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colorado, I was
told there was no hope of my recovery from what they pronounced
tuberculosis, which was hereditary, my father having been afflicted with
it. I was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about. My general
condition was aggravated by what the doctors said was paralysis of the
bowels. Three physicians so diagnosed it at different times, and assured
my husband that I could never get more than temporary relief. This
indeed I found difficult to obtain, in spite of my almost frantic
efforts. At times I was nearly insane from suffering, and after eight
years of doctoring I found myself steadily growing worse. For four years
I did not have a normal action of the bowels, and it was only by extreme
effort and by resort to powerful drugs or mechanical means, with
resultant suffering, that any action whatever could be brought about.
I had heard nothing of the
curative power of Christian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went
one night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week testimonial
meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much impressed by what I heard
there, and determined at once to investigate this strange religion, in
the hope that it might have something good for me. I bought the
textbook, Science and Health, and from the first I found myself growing
stronger and better, both physically and mentally, as I acquired a
better understanding and endeavored to put into practice what I learned.
In one week
PAGE 665
I was able to get along better
without drugs than I had for years with them, and before three months
had passed I was better than I had been any time in my life, for I had
always suffered more or less from bowel trouble. Since that time I have
taken no medicine whatever, and rely wholly upon Christian Science. My
lungs are now sound, my bowels normally active, my general health
excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue tasks that before
would have prostrated me. The study of our textbook was the sole means
of my healing. - L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.
SEVERE ECZEMA DESTROYED
It is only two years since I
came from darkness into the light of Christian Science, and to me the
spiritual uplifting has been wonderful, to say nothing of the physical
healing. Words cannot express my gratitude for benefits I have received
in that time. For five years I suffered with that dreaded disease,
eczema, all over my body. Five doctors said there was no help for me.
The suffering seemed as terrible as the hell fire that I had been taught
to believe in. When Christian Science came to me two years ago through a
dear friend, she gave me a copy of Science and Health and asked me to
read it. I told her that I would, for I was like a drowning man grasping
at a straw. I had been a Bible student for twenty-eight years, but when
I commenced reading Science and Health with the Bible I was healed in
less than a week. I never had a treatment. A case of measles was also
destroyed in twenty-four hours after it appeared. - Mrs. M. B. G.,
Vermilion, Ohio.
PAGE 666
SCIENCE AND HEALTH A PRICELESS
BOON
I am a willing witness to the
healing power of Christian Science, having had a lifetime's battle with
disease and medical experiments. Various doctors finally admitted that
they had exhausted their resources, and could only offer me palliatives,
saying that a cure was impossible. I had paralysis of the bowels,
frequent sick headaches with unutterable agony, and my mortal career was
nearly brought to an end by a malignant type of yellow fever. Many were
the attending evils of this physical inharmony, but God confounds the
wisdom of men, for while studying Science and Health two years ago, the
veil of ignorance was lifted and perfect health was shown to me to be my
real condition, and to such there is no relapse. The constant use of
glasses, which were apparently a necessity to me for years, was proven
needless, and they were laid aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading
a never-failing well of comfort to me. By her interpretation "the way of
the Lord" is made straight to me and mine. It aids us in our daily
overcoming of the tyranny of the flesh and its rebellion against the
blessed leading of Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible and our
textbook is bringing more and more into our consciousness the power of
God unto salvation. - J. C., Manatee, Fla.
A CRITIC CONVINCED
With gratitude to God I
acknowledge my lifelong debt to Christian Science. In 1895 I attended my
first
PAGE 667
Christian Science meeting, and
was deeply impressed with the earnestness of the people and the love
reflected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical body, I did
not believe such a thing to be possible. I bought Science and Health and
studied it to be able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly
deluded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the study carefully
and thoroughly, and I have had abundant reason since to be glad that I
did, for through this study, and the resultant understanding of my
relation to God, I was healed of a disease with which I had been
afflicted since childhood and for which there was no known remedy.
Surely my experience has been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture:
"He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their
destructions." I believe that Science and Health reveals the Word
referred to by David. - C. A. B. B., Kansas City, Mo.
BORN AGAIN
It was in April, 1904, that I
first heard the "still, small voice" of the Christ and received healing
through Christian Science; and the blessings have been so many since,
that it would take too much space to name them. Reared from childhood in
an intellectual atmosphere, my paternal grandfather having been an
orthodox minister of the old school for forty years, and my father a
deep student, ever seeking for the truth of all things, I began early to
ponder and to study into the meaning of life, and came to the conclusion
before I was twenty that though God probably
PAGE 668
existed in some remote place,
still it was impossible to connect Him with my present living. My
highest creed, therefore, became, "Do right because it is
right and not for fear of being punished." Then began the suffering.
Sorrow after sorrow followed each other in rapid succession; for ten
long years there was no rest, the road was indeed long and hard and had
no turning, until finally the one thing that had stood by me all through
the trials, namely, my health, gave way, and with that went my last
hope. But the last hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at
hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my piano one day,
saying that I would gain much good by reading it.
Glad to get away from my own
poor thoughts, I opened the "little book" and began to read. I had read
only a short time when such a wonderful transformation took place! I was
renewed; born again. Mere words cannot tell the story of the mighty
up-lifting that carried me to the very gates of heaven. When I began to
read the book, life was a burden, but before I had finished reading it
the first time, I was doing all my housework and doing it easily; and
since that glorious day I have been a well woman. My health is splendid,
and I am striving to let my light so shine that others may be led to the
truth. There have been some mighty struggles with error, and I have
learned that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or easily drift
inside the gate, but that the "asking" and the "seeking" and the
"knocking" must be earnest and persistent.
For a long time I was always
looking back to see if
PAGE 669
the error had gone, until one
day when I realized that to catch a glimpse of what spiritual sense
means I must put corporeal sense behind me. I then set to work in
earnest to find the true way. I opened Science and Health and these
words were before me, "If God were understood, instead of being merely
believed, this understanding would establish health" (p. 203). I saw
that I must get the right understanding of God! I closed the book and
with head bowed in prayer I waited with longing intensity for some
answer. How long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a wonderful
burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly this thought, "Be still,
and know that I am God." I held my breath - deep into my hungering
thought sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self-conceit,
egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes the mortal "I," sank
abashed out of sight. I trod, as it were, on holy ground. Words are
inadequate to convey the fullness of that spiritual uplifting, but
others who have had similar experiences will understand.
From that hour I have had an
intelligent consciousness of the ever-presence of an infinite God who is
only good. - C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.
A RESTLESS SENSE OF EXISTENCE
DESTROYED
Through reading Science and
Health and the illumination which followed, I was healed of ulceration
of the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of existence,
agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured with the stomach trouble I will
not attempt to describe. The attending physician declared that I could
live but a short
PAGE 670
time, and I felt there would be
a limit to my endurance of the torture, but the disease was dissipated
into nothingness through Christian Science, which brought me peace.
Like many others I had been
seemingly lost in the sea of error, without a compass, yet earnestly and
honestly seeking a haven. I had investigated all kinds of religions and
philosophies that came under my notice, with the exception of Christian
Science, which was not then deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held
the very truth I was searching for - the light which "shineth in the
darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Three years of stubborn
resistance to Truth, with increasing suffering, followed - then the
light came, and with it a new experience. Now, after nine years of
Christian Science experience, under severe tests, it can be truthfully
said that it has not failed me in any hour of need. - J. F. J.,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY HEALED
I did not accept Christian
Science on account of any healing of my own, but after seeing my mother,
who was fast drifting toward helplessness with rheumatism, restored to
perfect health with only a few treatments in Christian Science, I
thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus taught and practised it,
and if so it was what I had been longing for.
This was about ten years ago and
was the first I had ever heard of Christian Science. We soon got a copy
of Science and Health and I began in the right way to
PAGE 671
see if Christian Science were
the truth. I had no thought of studying it for bodily healing; in fact,
I did not think I needed it for that, but my soul cried out for
something I had not yet found. This book was indeed a key to the
Scriptures.
It was not long after I began
reading before I discovered that my eyes were good and strong, I could
read as much as I wished, and at any time, which was something I could
not do before, as my eyes had always been weak. The doctors said they
never would be very strong, and that if I did not wear glasses, I might
lose my sight altogether. I never gave up to wearing glasses, and now,
thanks to Christian Science, I do not need them, my work for the past
two years as a railway mail clerk being a good test. At the same time my
eyes were healed, I also noticed that I was entirely healed of another
ailment which had been with me all my life, and which was believed to be
inherited. Since that time my growth has seemed to me slow, yet when I
look back and view myself as I was before Christian Science found me,
and compare it with my life as it now is, I can only close my eyes to
the picture and rejoice that I have been "born again" and that I have
daily been putting off "the old man with his deeds," and putting on "the
new man."
Some of the many things that
have been overcome through the study of Science and Health, and through
realizing and practising the truth it teaches, are profanity, the use of
tobacco, a very quick temper, which made both myself and those around me
at times very miserable, and such thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. - O.
L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.
PAGE 672
HEALTH AND UNDERSTANDING GAINED
Most of my boyhood days were
spent in the hands of physicians. From birth I was considered a very
weakly child, but my mother was brave, and being much devoted to me did
everything within her knowledge and power for my comfort. Sickness and
medicine were continually before me, and by the time I reached my teens
I thought I knew a material remedy for every ill. I continued in my
delusion, because I was never told the real cause of my trouble. Besides
being under a leading specialist for two years, I was also an outdoor
patient at a noted hospital, but I was not healed. It is wonderful how
the "little ones" are cared for in the face of all these seeming
difficulties. I always used the prayers that I had been taught, and as I
grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by little I gained a desire
for freedom, and my prayers finally led me to the truth. The first week
that I heard of Christian Science, I visited the home of dear Christian
Science friends, and was at once refreshed by their purity of thought
and example. I bought a copy of Science and Health, and, after studying
it a little while with the Bible, I saw that if the Bible was true,
Science and Health must also be true. I began to demonstrate over my
physical and mental condition, and as soon as the fear and pain began to
leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was healed, and stopped
complaining. I kept on studying our textbook, and when I got an
understanding in a small degree of the Science of Mind, my first thought
was to help others. I was guided where I could pro-
PAGE 673
gress in Science, and was no
longer "carried about with every wind of doctrine," but held to
Principle as closely as possible. From the time the healing came into my
consciousness, the desire for material remedies left me, because
Christian Science at once pointed out the way to get at the cause of
discord and disease. All that I had to give up were the false beliefs of
mortal mind. Christian Science then taught me to love the church, and to
appreciate what it had already done for mankind. I often thought of the
old adage, "Charity begins at home," and after three years' preparation
I felt able to take Christian Science to my home, where it found, in due
time, ready acceptance and willing disciples. This gave me even greater
joy than my own healing. The more good I saw accomplished, the more love
I had for the truth. Christian Science changed my course from the first,
and gave me a nobler aim and purpose in life. I was not so easily
influenced by other people's shortcomings, when I learned that evil has
neither personality nor place. I was not so ready to take offence, when
I found out the way to work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause.
- A. E. J., Toledo, Ohio.
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP FOUND
On the 23rd of March, 1900, I
received from one of my daughters a copy of Science and Health on my
seventy-first birthday. Although a constant reader of all kinds of
papers and books, I had never heard anything of Christian Science,
except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco newspaper, from an
orthodox clergyman, referring to the Christian Science people in not
very complimentary style.
PAGE 674
In Mrs. Eddy's book I came
across a great deal of thought that was not readily understood at the
first reading, but by continued and careful study, and a good deal of
help from my knowledge of chemistry and natural philosophy, I soon shook
off the belief of sensation in matter, - the so-called elementary
substance. One afternoon I put the belt on my circular saw to cut blocks
of firewood and also to split a small stick of frame timber. In doing
this the stick closed and pinched the saw. I picked up a small wooden
wedge and tried to drive it into the saw kerf, but a bit of ice let the
stick on to the back of the saw and instantly it flew, with heavy force,
into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek fell about twenty feet off
on the snow. The blood spattered on the snow next the saw table, and on
feeling with my hand there were two wounds, one on the lock of the jaw
and another forward, as big as a dollar, on the cheek bone. "Now," I
thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery for you," and without
further ceremony, I began to treat the case to the best of my knowledge,
with the result that the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and so did a
thumping pain, which had commenced. I paid no more attention to the
matter, but finished my work, and then went to supper. When I washed my
face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where the block of wood struck,
but after my usual reading I went to bed and slept all night until near
daylight, when a pain on the right side awoke me. On feeling with my
hand there was another big lump on the right side, but I treated it and
went to sleep again. I never lost an hour from the hurt, although I
found out that my jaw was broken. There is no scar, only a little red
spot on
PAGE 675
the cheek, and the lumps on the
bone have long since disappeared.
In summing up the benefits I
have received from the reading of Science and Health, I can but refer to
a condition of sickness dating back to the war (1862), when chronic and
malignant diarrhea came near making an end of my material existence. My
hearing, also, was seriously impaired from the effect of cannon firing
at Shiloh, but it has come back to me, and where I formerly dared not
eat an orange, or grapes, I can now eat anything without being hurt. My
peace of mind is giving me a rest which I never experienced before
during my life, and I have ceased to look away off for the divine
presence that was always near, though I did not know it. - L. B., Baldy,
N. M.
MANY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
TROUBLES OVERCOME
Less than a year ago, when
nothing but trouble seemed to encompass me, I was led to Christian
Science. My mother's copy of Science and Health was always lying on the
table, but I scarcely ever read it. One day, however, the mental
conflict was so great I commenced reading in the hope of obtaining
peace. Every day since then my companions have been the Bible and
Science and Health. At that time I had a very serious eruption on my
face, which had been there two years. We had consulted several
physicians, and used every remedy suggested to eradicate it, but they
proved useless. I had given up all hopes of its ever being healed, as
the physician we last consulted pronounced it tuberculosis of the skin
and incurable. A few weeks after I com-
PAGE 676
menced reading, I was amazed to
see it almost healed over, and to-day my cheek is perfectly smooth,
while the scar is disappearing.
In April my baby was born with
only the practitioner and a woman friend present. I suffered little
pain, and the third day I went down-stairs. I am able to nurse him, - a
privilege of which I was deprived with my first child. He is a picture
of health, having never been sick a day since he was born. - K. E. W.
L., Mt. Dora, Fla.
A NEW LIFE GAINED
leaving home when a young man, I
carried with me a protection against the temptation of a great city, - a
mother's prayers and a small Bible. For a time I read the Bible and
prayed, but without understanding. This did not suffice, and evil seemed
to gain the victory. I soon omitted to read my Bible; forgot to go to
God in prayer for guidance and help, and looked to the world for that
which it never has and never can give, - health, peace, and joy.
Thus, years later, when
Christian Science came into my home, it found me prayerless, churchless,
godless; a home discordant, and with no thought or knowledge of
spiritual things. Up to this time, my wife had for years been seeking
health through the physicians, but without success, and as a last resort
had been sent to Christian Science. The help received was so wonderful
that I commenced the study of Science and Health. The first effect which
I realized from the reading of our textbook, was a great love for the
Bible and a desire to read it, something which I had not done
PAGE 677
for years. I went in silent
prayer to God, that I might see the light and truth which would enable
me to be-come a better man. "Ye must be born again." Thus again, and as
a child, was I taught to pray "the effectual fervent prayer" which
"availeth much." In a few weeks' study of Science and Health together
with the Bible, and without other help, I was healed of a desire for
liquor, of years' standing, and of the use of tobacco. Ten years have
passed and these appetites have never returned. I have never used either
liquor or tobacco in any form from that time to the present. Surely this
Scripture is fulfilled in our home: "Old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new." How can we estimate the value of a book, the
study of which brings such transformation and regeneration? Only as we
endeavor to live, and strive to practise what it teaches, can we begin
to pay our debt to God, and to her whom He has sent to make plain to
human understanding the life and teaching of Christ Jesus. - W. H. P.,
Boston, Mass.
A VOICE FROM ENGLAND
For a number of years I was a
weary woman, not ill enough in health to, be called an invalid, but
suffering more than could be told with fatigue and weakness. Feeling
that this was God's will, I did not ask to be healed, although I was
constantly doctoring. I suffered with dyspepsia, congestion of the
liver, and many other things, including weak eyesight. With all the
medicine, and with different changes for rest, I never regained health,
and thought I never should, so I prayed for grace to bear my cross
patiently for others' sake. One day, while
PAGE 678
lying on my couch exhausted,
which had become a frequent experience, the words came to me,
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." I
rose, knelt down and said, O God, make me well. I was telling a friend
this and she kindly gave me a Sentinel. Imagine
my joy when I saw the testimonies of healing! I believed them,
remembering our Lord's words, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed." I obtained a copy of Science and Health and before a
week had passed I realized that if God was my all I needed no glasses.
My eyes were healed in a few days, and since then I have never thought
of glasses. I was also cured of dyspepsia, and nothing that I have eaten
has hurt me since then. The belief in health laws was next destroyed, by
knowing that our heavenly Father did not make them, and from this has
come the beautiful experience of the overcoming of fatigue.
For this alone I can never be
thankful enough. True indeed are the words, "They shall run, and not be
weary." This was more than a year ago, and I can say that not once have
I felt inclined to lie on the couch, nor have I had a headache, although
I am doing more work than ever before. Fear has also been overcome in
many ways. - A. L., Chelmsford, England.
DEPRAVED APPETITES OVERCOME
When Christian Science first
came to me, or rather, when I first came to Christian Science, I did not
have a very bad opinion of myself. I thought I was a pretty good fellow.
I had no religious views. I seemed to be getting along as well as, if
not better than, some who
PAGE 679
professed Christianity. So I
drifted along until I was led to investigate Christian Science.
As I progressed in the
understanding as gained from the study of both Science and Health and
the Bible, and commenced to know myself, I found that a great change had
been wrought in me. For fifteen years I had used tobacco, both chewing
and smoking; for ten years I had been a victim of the drink habit,
sometimes to excess; I was also addicted to profanity. Christian Science
removed these appetites. A stomach trouble and other lesser ills, such
as headache, a bad temper, an inordinate love of money, etc.,
disappeared under the same benign influence. Those things that seemed to
be pleasure do not give me pleasure now. They were not real pleasure. I
have lost nothing, I have sacrificed nothing; but I have gained
everything, and not yet the whole, for I can see plenty yet to be done.
The condition of mind before
investigating and after is as different as black and white. As Mrs. Eddy
says, "Not matter, but Mind, satisfieth. - G. B. P., Henry, S. D.
CATARRH OF THE STOMACH HEALED
I should like to express my
gratitude for the many benefits I have received through Christian
Science, and to mention the great joy brought to me in the thought that
man is not the helpless victim of sin, disease, and death. Through its
teachings I have been able to overcome many errors.
When Christian Science found me,
one year ago last April, in Chicago, I was suffering from catarrh
PAGE 680
of the stomach, which had been
very persistent, and I had been a slave to the cigarette habit for
eighteen years. Pain and weakness had robbed me of all that one holds
dear. The first symptoms of the disease appeared about five years ago in
the form of severe cramps of the stomach, which finally developed into
other symptoms of that painful disease. I doctored continually, my diet
daily becoming more rigid, until three slices of toast became my daily
allowance of food.
In this condition I left the
East for my home in Chicago, hoping that a change of climate might
benefit me. After spending six weeks there and finding no relief, I
concluded to return East. The Sunday morning before leaving I picked up
a Sunday paper, and glancing through the religious items my eyes fell on
the notices of Christian Science church services. Curiosity led me to a
service and I shall never forget that morning or the surprise and joy it
gave me to find that beautiful church, and to know that so great a
number actually believed that God does heal the sick to-day. This
brought a first ray of hope. The evening service found me there again.
Among the notices read was that of a reading room, giving the location
and time of opening. Monday morning found me there promptly, and the
first book I picked up was Science and Health which opened a new world
to me.
I had dieted so long and
suffered so much that I had a morbid fear of food. When I had reached
and read of "neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of mortal
mind, can make one suffer" (Science and Health, p. 221), I left the
reading room for something to eat. I found a bakery near by, and bought
a bag of cakes
PAGE 681
which I ate, and shortly after I
had a hearty dinner without the least complaint from my stomach.
From that time until now I have
eaten anything that I wished, and the craving for cigarettes, which I
had for many years, has entirely vanished. The understanding of Truth,
which entirely relieved the diseased stomach, healed also the morbid
appetite for smoking. After coming back East, I bought a copy of Science
and Health, which I have read daily, and find it a continual help in all
the affairs of life.
In my home and at work I find
this Science a comfort and source of strength. I have had many
difficulties in the way, but it has helped me out of them all. - W. E.
B., New Britain, Conn.
SPINAL DISEASE HEALED
When I first heard of Christian
Science, seven years ago, I supposed that it was some old fad under a
new name. In the little Texas town where we then lived there were two or
three Christian Scientists who met at the home of one of their number to
read the Lesson-Sermon. Meeting one of them one day, I asked if
unbelievers could come to their meetings. She said that they could if
they wanted to. I went, expecting them to do something that I could
laugh at when telling my friends about it. How surprised I was to find
out that they didn't do anything but read the Bible and another book
which they called Science and Health. I still thought it all
foolishness, but resolved to go to their meetings until I found out all
they believed. I continued to go until I began to understand a little of
what they knew,
PAGE 682
not what they believed; and
instead of spending my time telling others what a silly thing Christian
Science is, I am now trying to find words to tell what a great and
wonderful thing it is. I have been healed of so-called incurable spinal
disease of ten years' standing by studying the Bible and Science and
Health. Science and Health has been my only teacher, and I wish to send
my thanks to our dear Leader.
There are no other Scientists
near where we now live, but I have the Quarterly and
study the lessons by myself. I have five small children, and Christian
Science is invaluable to me in controlling them, and in overcoming their
common ills. They often help themselves and each other to destroy their
little hurts and fears. - Mrs. M. H., Oleta, Okla.
MANY TROUBLES OVERCOME
In the second chapter of First
Peter, ninth verse, I read "that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The
periodicals so wisely established by our Leader give us one means of
showing forth the praises of Truth.
From the darkness of physical
pain and weariness into the light of wholeness and joyousness in work
and living, - from the darkness of a clouded sight into the light of
clearer vision, - from the darkness of doubt and discord into the
marvellous light of the reality of good, - this is what a reading of the
Christian Science textbook has done for me.
At the time the book was lent to
me, I was teach-
PAGE 683
ing in the public schools of
Chicago, and absences from my work on account of illness were of
frequent occurrence. For five weeks I had been under the care of a
specialist for an organic trouble, and he said I would have to come as
many more months before a cure could be effected. At this time, Science
and Health was brought to my notice. I never thought of such a thing as
being healed by the reading of the book, but my thought was so changed
that I was healed, not only of the organic trouble, but of blurred
eyesight, fatigue, and a train of other discordant manifestations. I did
not go back to the physician until four months later to pay my bill
(which, by the way, was more than five times the price of the Science
and Health I had purchased). From the time I read the book I taught
steadily without losing time from my work. I was helped, too, with my
work in many other ways.
Through reading the textbook I
learned that God has given us strength to do all we have to do, and that
it is the things we do not have to do (the envying, strife, emulating,
vainglorying, and so on) that leave in their wake fatigue and discord.
Gratitude to our beloved Leader,
Mrs. Eddy, and to her faithful students, with whom I afterwards became
associated, can be expressed only by daily efforts to put into practice
what has been taught. - T. H. A., Madison, Wis.
PREJUDICE OVERCOME
I became interested in Christian
Science somewhat over three years ago when in much need of help. I had
never been strong, and as I grew older I grew
PAGE 684
weaker and at last became so ill
that life was a burden to me. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy was sent
to me, in answer to prayer, as I thought. I was a little afraid of all
these new fads, as I thought them, but I had not read far before I felt
that I had found the truth which makes us free. I was healed of stomach
trouble, inward weakness, and bilious attacks.
One physician said I might have
to undergo an operation before I could get well, but, thanks to this
Truth, I have found that the only operation needed was the regeneration
of this so-called human mind by learning to know God. In many cases I
have been able to help myself and others.
Words cannot express my thanks
to Mrs. Eddy, and to all who are bringing these great truths to the help
of the whole world. - E. E. M., Huntington, W. Va.
A CONVINCING TESTIMONY
I became interested in Christian
Science some five years ago, the practical nature of its statements
appealing to me, and I must say, at the outset, that with my little
experience I have found it all and more than I ever dreamt of realizing
on this plane of existence. I am satisfied that I have found Truth. God
is indeed to me an ever-present help.
My little girl, some ten months
old, was afflicted with constipation. It was so severe I dreaded to go
out anywhere with her, as I knew not when she would be taken with a
convulsion. I had tried all the usual remedies in such cases, but it
seemed to grow more obstinate. There was a Christian Scientist living in
PAGE 685
the same house with us, a
Scientist who let her light shine, and while she said little, I felt the
reflection of Love. I had no knowledge of the teachings of Christian
Science, save that God was the physician at all times. In my own way I
believed He was all-powerful, and I said to my husband one day, "I am
through with medicine for baby. I am just going to leave her in God's
care and see what He will do. I have done all I can." I did as I said,
laid my burden at God's feet, and did not pick it up again. In two days
the child was perfectly natural, and has since been free from the
trouble. She is now six years of age. Some months later a second test
came. She woke up at nine o'clock at night crying and holding her ear.
There was to sense a gathering. I was alone. I took up my Science and
Health and Bible, but the more I worked the louder she screamed. Error
kept suggesting material remedies, but I said firmly: "No; I shall not
go back to error. God will help me." Just then I thought of my own fear,
how excessive it was, and a conversation I had with the Scientist who
first voiced the truth to me, came to mind. She said she always found it
helpful to treat herself and cast out her own fear before treating a
patient. I put baby down and again took up my Science and Health, and
these were the words I read: -
"Every trial of our faith in God
makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be
overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our
love. The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love
casteth out fear' " (Science and Health, p. 410). I looked up, the
crying
PAGE 686
had ceased, the child was
smiling, and in a few minutes asked to be put to bed. There has been no
further trouble of that kind.
I have since seen the power of
Truth overcome error of many forms, including croup, whooping-cough,
tonsilitis, etc. I am thankful for all these proofs, but far more
grateful am I for the spiritual teaching to love, to forgive, to curb my
tongue, and cease my criticism. - M. A. H., Brockton, Mass.
HEALED PHYSICALLY AND
SPIRITUALLY
I had been taking medicine
continually for many years. Finally I was taken suddenly ill and could
not leave my room for about two months, then I went away for three
months, thinking that I should come back and be able to continue my
work. I improved very much, but the fear of quick consumption was with
my doctor and my family and friends, and I was warned about the coming
winter. Only too soon the fear manifested itself. I had worked just
three weeks when all the pains and aches returned, and I had to go to
bed as soon as I got home, so there was no pleasure in living. My
employer advised me to see my physician, and said perhaps I should not
work that winter. I then and there turned to Christian Science. I could
not afford to give up work and live away from home, neither did I want
to depend on doctors and medicine any longer. I took the book and read
it on my way to work, and at noon I lay down on a couch instead of going
out for luncheon and fell asleep. When I awoke I was a different person,
all pains and aches had gone, and I was free. I was so
PAGE 687
happy I could hardly contain
myself;
to material sense it was wonderful. As I walked I kept saying,
"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," and tried to understand "the
scientific statement of being" by repeating portions at a time, then
pondering over them. I read the book four times in succession, and every
time I found more and more to aid in the understanding.
This healing was in October,
l901, with no other help than Science and Health, and soon I was
relieved of other chronic ailments. In February I was able to put away
eyeglasses, which I had worn ten years and a half for astigmatism.
Oculists told me I would always have to wear them. A month later my
father asked me to help him, as he was suffering so much from
constipation, dyspepsia, and neuralgia. He had been subsisting on bran,
nearly starving himself until be was most miserable, and his limbs
seemed so cold that they were kept wrapped in blankets. I felt very
humble as he asked me, and told him I would have a practitioner help
him, as I had never treated any one; but he would not consent to have
any one but myself, and I finally told him I would try, but that he must
not hold Science responsible if he were not benefited, for my lack of
understanding, and not Science, would be at fault. At my request he read
Science and Health, ate whatever he wanted, and used no medicine in any
form. After two treatments I received word from him that he was healed
of that bondage of thirty years' standing. In view of all these signs
which followed my acceptance of Christian Science, I knew it must be
true. - R. L. A., Chicago, Ill.
PAGE 688
A VOICE FROM THE SOUTH
I was delicate from childhood,
and my parents did not think it was possible for me to live more than a
few years. I lived, however, although there was not much improvement in
my health. Travel and change of climate brought only temporary relief,
and the physicians gave me no hope that I would ever be well.
As a last resort I began the
study of Science and Health, and before I had finished reading the book
I realized that its author was divinely commissioned to bring this
spiritual message to a waiting world. Through this reading my health was
restored, and I was healed of one disease that has been called incurable
by all physicians.
For this, together with the
greater and higher blessing of having the spiritual fact of being
unfolded to me, I am most grateful.
What shall be rendered for such
benefits received and made possible by the consecrated life of our
revered Leader? Only by following the teachings of our textbook, and by
loving obedience to her gentle and timely admonitions can we show our
true sense of gratitude. - F. H. D., De Funiak Springs, Fla.
HEALED AFTER MUCH SUFFERING
A testimony given in the Journal
led me to investigate Christian Science, and I hope in return to be the
means of leading some one else to see the beauty of this saving truth,
and to learn to know God aright and man's relationship to Him. I know
from experience
PAGE 689
that it is prejudice and
misapprehension of what Christian Science is, that keeps many from
enjoying the blessings it bestows.
I had been taking patent
medicines for several years, and had been to one of the best sanitariums
in this country, but was not healed, although I received some benefit,
for which I shall always feel grateful, for I know the physicians did
all they could for me. I sometimes thought I had exhausted all remedies,
but did not give up, for I felt there must be something to heal me if I
could find it.
When in this state of mind
Christian Science came to my notice, and after reading several Journals, I
purchased a copy of Science and Health. I read for several days at odd
times. I commenced to improve, and in about a week I was healed of most
of my ills, among which were dyspepsia and nervous debility.
Although I had heard about
Christian Science before, I had never heard that the reading of the
Christian Science textbook had ever effected the healing of anybody. I
commenced reading to find out what Christian Science was, but was
surprised to find myself improving, and was soon assured that it was the
theology of Science and Health that healed me, just as it was the
theology of Jesus that healed the sick.
It has also proved to me that
there can be no Christian Science Church that does not heal the sick and
sinful, for healing follows as the natural result of the teaching of
Christian Science. The Bible has become a new revelation to me, and I
can read it much more understandingly by the light received through the
reading of Science and Health. - A. F. M., Fairmont, Minn.
PAGE 690
THROUGH GREAT TRIBULATIONS
When I attempt to make plain
what Christian Science has done for me, words fail me. For twenty years
I was a constant sufferer, my spine having been injured when I was very
young. As a little child I suffered so much that I would look up to the
stars and beg God, who I thought might be up there somewhere, to take me
away from the earth, - I was so tired. A great wall of pain seemed to
separate me from the pleasures enjoyed by others, and I could not
explain how I felt, because no one could understand. Years passed, and I
saw my earthly happiness swept away; my heart was broken and I did not
know what to do. I cried for help, day after day and night after night,
although I was not sure what God was, nor where He was. I only knew that
I suffered, and was in need of help, and that there was no earthly help
for either mind or body. I loved purity, truth, and right always, and
this made evil seem a most terrible reality. I was unable to cope with
it, and so found myself in despair. This was my condition when I
commenced reading Science and Health. I was ready for its message, and
in about ten days there came a wonderful insight into the truth which
heals the sick and binds up the broken-hearted. All pain left me, I had
a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth, and was beginning to be
fed by Love divine.
I had suffered for years with
insomnia. That night I rested like a child, and awoke the next morning
well and happy. A flood of light daily illumined the pages of the
"little book," and the revelation it holds for all
PAGE 691
came to my waiting heart. " The
peace which passeth all understanding " rested upon me, and joy too deep
for words transformed my life. My prayers were answered, for I had found
God in Christian Science.
The Bible, which I knew very
little about, became my constant study, my joy, and my guide. The copy
which I bought at the time of my healing is marked from Genesis to
Revelation. It was so constantly in my hands for three years that the
cover became worn and the leaves loose, so it has been laid away for a
new one. Two and three o'clock in the morning often found me poring over
its pages, which grew more and more sacred to me every day, and the help
I received therefrom was wonderful, for which I can find no words to
express my gratitude. - I. L., Los Angeles, Cal.
A HELPFUL TESTIMONY
Words cannot express my
gratitude to God for Christian Science. When I first read Science and
Health, I had tried every remedy I had ever heard of. I felt no change
in mind or body that I was conscious of until I read page 16 of the
chapter on " Prayer," in Science and Health. The first words of the
"spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer," telling of our Father-Mother
God, gave me a glimpse of heavenly light. I stopped and reasoned, and
remembered the teachings of Jesus. The truth of man's spiritual being
dawned on my consciousness. I realized I was not subject to mortal laws,
as I had been taught all my life. I could not explain how I knew this,
but I knew it. Through Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy had given me what
PAGE 692
I had longed for all my life, -
a Mother, a perfect "Father-Mother God." I had known there was a great
lack, and at that time I believe the orthodox world had but half of the
truth which Jesus came to establish. When I read, "Give us this day our
daily bread," and its spiritual interpretation, my tears began to flow;
all the years of bitterness, hate, and fear melted away. I knew then, as
I know now, that nothing satisfies but Love. That day began the outward
and inward conscious healing, - mental and physical. There never came a
doubt! I absolutely knew that Christian Science was and is the truth.
Money, friends, materiality, are nothing beside the conscious knowledge
of God, man, and the universe.
I did not need treatment from
any one, - Science and Health was so clear and beautiful. I could not
understand the Bible before, but I found it illumined now that I had a
little understanding of Christian Science. For ten years I have not had
to lie down in the daytime from any sickness. I am now, and have been
all these years, the picture of perfect health. When I first read
Science and Health I weighed one hundred and four pounds; I now weigh
over one hundred and sixty. This physical health is not to be compared
to my happiness, - my harmony that nothing can take away, - because it
is the gift of God. Nothing has shown me the perversity of the human
mind more than in its conclusions in regard to my healing. Even when I
felt and knew that I was healed, people constantly said, because I was
thin and delicate looking, " You are not well, any one could look at you
and know it." Now that I am fleshy, they say, "You don't look
PAGE 693
as if you ever had a pain in all
your life. You could not have had consumption."
When I think what my life was
before I had Christian Science, of the six years of colds, suffering,
and coughing, not to mention the unhappiness, I want to "work, watch,
and pray " for the Mind of Christ, that I may work rightly in God's
vineyard, and to know that in truth, what belongs to one belongs to all,
- that one God, one Life, Truth, and Love is all. - A. C. L., Kansas
City, Kans.
DESIRE FOR LIQUOR AND TOBACCO
DISAPPEARED
I first heard of Christian
Science four years ago. At that time drinking and smoking were my
comforters. I had no other companionship. I had lived almost constantly
from childhood in an evil atmosphere. Though I was far from being
satisfied with my condition, I failed to see how to better it until I
read Science and Health. I used occasionally to listen to a sermon, but
sermons did not give me any more comfort than I derived from my pipe,
hence I concluded that church-going could not satisfy me and I preferred
drinking and smoking. When I began to read Science and Health, I saw it
offered something substantial. After a few months' study all desire for
drinking and smoking disappeared. I did not give them up; I made no
sacrifices, I simply found something better. I might mention that I had
smoked ever since I can remember. I used to smoke years before I left
school, and, like most Englishmen, loved my pipe, and would almost
prefer to miss a meal rather than to go without my smoke. I used to
think it gave me comfort.
During my four years' study of
Christian Science I
PAGE 694
have not spent a cent for
doctors or medicine, neither have I lost a day from my work on account
of sickness, which compares wonderfully with the previous four years. I
take a great interest and pleasure in reading the Bible and studying the
lessons in the Quarterly. The
Bible used to be a most mysterious book to me, but Science and Health
makes it a most precious book, making its meaning clearer, plainer, and
simpler.
I take this opportunity to
express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to the friend who invited me to
attend the service held in the Auditorium years ago. I also wish to
acknowledge the benefit I have had from the Journal and
the Sentinel. They
have helped me wonderfully. If the value of Science and Health and these
publications were measured as business men value things, by the results
or benefits they bring, they certainly would be priceless to me. It
would be impossible to measure their value, as I have got something from
Science and Health that all the money in the world could not buy. - H.
P. H., Chicago, Ill.
AN EXPRESSION OF LOVING
GRATITUDE
In the spring of 1893, while
studying for the ministry, Science and Health was placed in my hands,
and the truth contained therein at once became to me the pearl of great
price. I literally devoured the book, reading it about eighteen hours a
day. Its originality was startling, upsetting my preconceived opinions
of God, man, and creation. Two sentences especially appealed to me: "The
foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin" (p. 262),
and, "For right
PAGE 695
reasoning, there should be but
one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence " (p. 492). I
had found the keynote to the Science of being as taught in this
marvellous book, and persevered until a glimpse of the new heavens and
new earth came, for the old were passing away. With this spiritual
uplifting came also physical health.
All my life had been spent in
semi-invalidism, and I seemed destined to a life of suffering. In three
weeks after beginning Science and Health, to my joyful surprise I found
myself a well man, sound physically, and uplifted spiritually. Life was
being lived from a new basis, the old things of personal sense were
passing away and all things becoming new. I learned that the infinite
good is the one Friend upon whom we can call at all times, an
all-powerful, ever-present help in every time of trouble; that His
children are really governed in peace and harmony by spiritual law, and
as the right understanding of it is gained, the other things soon
follow, bringing a peace the human concept can never know.
For the last twelve years my
whole time has been devoted to Christian Science practice, and I have
seen nearly every so-called incurable disease healed by its beneficent
influence. God bless our dear Leader! She has set before us an open
door, which no man can shut, and it is but a question of time when the
world will know her better and love her more. - E. E. N., Washington, D.
C.
HEALED OF BRIGHT'S DISEASE
August 18, 1902, I was taken
down with what three doctors pronounced Bright's disease, and they
stated
PAGE 696
that I would not live a year, or
if I did succeed in living longer, I would be mentally unbalanced. On
December 6, 1902, my wife presented me with Science and Health as a
birthday gift, and it was indeed the best present I ever received. Since
that time I have been reading it and attending the Second Church here. I
have not used any medicine since, nor has any one in our home. I am in
the finest of health and have lost all my bad habits. This truth has
brought a great spiritual uplifting to all of us, and words cannot
express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to all who have helped me to the
same. - T. V., Chicago, Ill.
FIBROID TUMOR DESTROYED
When quite young I was impressed
that the Bible was not properly interpreted by the preachers, for I
could not conceive of a God of wrath who was unjust enough to allow His
little ones to suffer pain, misery, and death. I had hope, however, that
some day the truth would be revealed to an awakening world, but little
did I dream that even then there was one of God's noble women who
reflected sufficient purity and holiness to entertain the "angel of his
presence," and commune with the true God.
I was believed to be predisposed
to scrofula, so that I was not a strong or attractive child, and my
girlhood and womanhood were scarcely ever free from dread of the laws of
matter and lack of strength. The climax was reached when a physician
informed me, after weeks of treatment, that I had a fibroid tumor, which
required an operation. The conditions were most trying and I
PAGE 697
was heartsick and discouraged
when, in January, 1893, I heard of Christian Science through a letter
from a dear sister who had been greatly benefited thereby, and I
resolved to go at once to a practitioner, for I believed it to be the
long-lost truth that would make me free. It meant a great effort and
sacrifice for me to go to Chicago at that time, but divine Love opened
the way and I reached there in March. I had been in my sister's home but
a few days, reading Science and Health almost constantly, when I asked
her if I had not better have treatment for the tumor, which had given me
so much trouble. She said to me, "You feel well, do you not?" I assured
her that I never had felt so well as I had since reaching there. "Well,"
she said with decision, "your tumor is gone, for God never made it," and
her statements were true, for it has never been heard of from that day.
Since then I have been healed of chronic sore throat, hay fever, and
other troubles, and I know that Christian Science is the truth. - B. W.
S., Coldwater, Mich.
LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS
I have received so much benefit
from the testimonies in the Sentinel and Journal that
I send mine, hoping it may cheer some struggling heart. I was reared by
kind and loving Christian parents and was a member of an orthodox church
for over twenty years, but I was never satisfied. I was filled with fear
and bound down by the false gods of this world, - sin, disease, and
poverty; consequently every way I turned, and in everything I attempted
to do, I was met with disappointment and failure; but God was leading me
into a different life.
PAGE 698
My interest was first awakened
to Christian Science about thirteen years ago, and I have been a willing
disciple ever since. Through the reading of Science and Health I was
healed of chronic catarrh and laryngitis, and it also enabled me to lay
off my glasses. Christian Science has not only helped me mentally,
morally, and physically, but the greatest blessing of all is the
spiritual uplifting which enabled me to know that God is both able and
willing to care for His children, if we are but willing to do our part
and bear the cross which, though it seems heavy at times, always brings
a sure reward. Christian Science has not only helped me, but it has
enabled me to help others.
The Bible is a new book to me. I
now see what Jesus meant when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
My heart goes out in gratitude
to Mrs. Eddy for the work she has done and is still doing for the world,
and to God I am most grateful that He has guided me into the truth, that
I may have life, and have it more abundantly. - Mrs. M. M., Chicago,
Ill.
A PRICELESS BOON
I have long desired to express
my gratitude for what Christian Science has done, through reading
Science and Health, for me and my family. I was healed of profanity, the
tobacco habit, and a bad temper, through the understanding that man is
the image and likeness of God. I was also healed of kidney disease and
rheumatism. What surprised me most, however, was this; I had had one
finger thrown out of place some fifteen years
PAGE 699
before. It was crooked, but it
became straight and useful. A bone in my foot had also been broken,
leaving a bunch, which disappeared after I studied Christian Science and
received class instruction. I am an entirely well man and for this I am
very grateful. I am also glad that I have learned enough of Truth and
love to be able to heal others. I wish to express my thankful
appreciation of our Leader, also of the Sentinel and
the Journal. -
N. R. F., Salina, Kans.
HEALED OF CONSUMPTION AND ASTHMA
It is a pleasure to acknowledge
the great benefits which have come to me through Christian Science. It
is nearly ten years since I began the investigation of the subject by
borrowing a copy of Science and Health. I had become a hopeless sufferer
from asthma, - the disease being so aggravated at times as to make
breathing almost impossible. I was also a victim of that dread disease,
consumption. It was hereditary, nearly all my family on both sides
having passed away with it. I took up Christian Science very much as a
drowning man catches at a straw. However, I was much interested as soon
as I began to understand it, and having read the book nearly all my
waking hours for a few weeks, I became so much better and so convinced
of its truth, that myself and wife destroyed all the medicines in the
home, and have never since used any remedy except Christian Science. I
continued to study and to put into practice the teaching as best I knew,
and was restored to health in a few months.
Prior to my investigation of
Christian Science I had been from boyhood an outspoken infidel, had read
that
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class of literature extensively,
and had no desire for anything of a religious nature, - the orthodox
teaching never having appealed to me as a rational exposition of an
all-wise God. I now have no more doubt of the truth of the teaching of
the great Way-shower, Jesus of Nazareth, than I doubt the correctness of
the basic law of mathematics or music. I have no doubt whatever that
Christian Science saved me from the grave, and thus proved a most
practicable and efficient help in time of greatest need. However great
my physical suffering has been, I can but feel glad that through it the
door of consciousness was opened to let in the light of Truth. Thus I
have progressed a little way in the knowledge of God, good, as revealed
in Christian Science. - C. B., Webb City, Mo.
A GRATEFUL TESTIMONY
"Thy word is a lamp unto my
feet, and a light unto my path. "
This has been proven to me in
every way. When Christian Science came to me, I was a wreck, physically,
mentally, and financially; but since the reading of Science and Health
turned my thought toward the light, I have found that, as far as I am
willing to receive the word and live it, all comforts are supplied me. I
am especially grateful for the spiritual help. I know that things which
I did and thought last year I would not do or think this year, and am
satisfied. Through the careful and prayerful study of Science and Health
I have been lifted from sickness to health, from sorrow to peace, from
lack to plenty, and, the most beautiful of all, from darkness to light.
- Mrs. H. S. C., Seattle, Wash.