Prior to my acceptance of Christian Science, I was never satisfied, and drifted from one "ism" to another, and was driven from pillar to post in all the "ologies" and theories of the present day. I had studied closely many of the physical sciences and sciences allied. I was sceptical in everything appertaining to religion, and did not hesitate to express my opinion that all religions were based on ignorance, superstition, and dogma. However, I avoided religious discussions.
I was at the time engaged in the practice of medicine, and had been continuously for fifteen years, and was generally considered by friends and by the medical profession successful as a practitioner. Though the moral precepts of my parents were good, I wandered therefrom and acquired habits and appetites that were neither becoming nor profitable.
I first opened "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" on the night of June 14, 1899. I did not merely read it; I studied it. I read a few pages daily, devoting three or four hours to each reading, very thoughtfully considering every sentence, and I soon saw I was grasping its meaning. For many years, in all my studies, I had carefully marked all sentences of special merit, and subsequently referred to them and studied them thoroughly. I began this in reading Science and Health, but quickly found that each sentence deserved a mark.
Before this I seemed to delight in abusing Christian Science and its advocates, but I at once recognized that the morals taught therein were of the highest type. After reading the preface the first night, I began to think of God—a Something remote from my thoughts before. By the third day, my ideas and habits were so radically changed that I announced to my wife that "Christian Science will be our only family medicine henceforth." I further announced to her that I proposed to discontinue the practice of medicine.
At this juncture, the desire to read Science and Health was rapidly and constantly increasing with me, and I neglected a large part of my work on the fifth day to read it seven hours.
It became clear to me that it was man's imperative duty to live the golden rule here and now, and I saw that man must love his neighbor as himself. I was being taught to behold the beautiful, the pure, the good in my fellow-man, instead of seeing the defects or errors, as I was so prone to do before reading this wonderful book. In a word, many were departing, and leaving me in a very positive and progressive fashion. I count all my losses, gains, and the changes were painless and unceremonious.
During the first few weeks I was ashamed to speak of my convictions to others than my family. I kept my book hidden so that friends and patients visiting me might not learn of the investigations I was making. However, in a short time, solid conviction overwhelmed me. Following this, I kept Christian Science literature on my desk in plain view, and I began to talk to friends wherever I met them. I now needed a Bible, and bought one, and also began its study in this new light. I was about one month in reading Science and Health through, and gained in that month, wisdom leading to more satisfaction and comfort than I had derived from all previous studies.
I was professor of bacteriology and histology in a medical college, also professor of chemistry and director of the chemical laboratory in another school. In addition to telling my physician friends of my reformation, I resigned these chairs, disposed of my library, microscope, surgical instruments, and drugs; in fact, I got rid of everything I had that looked as if it belonged to a doctor's outfit.
No sooner had I made my acceptance of Christian Science known, than I was kindly invited to attend a Wednesday evening meeting, and all I heard at that meeting appealed to my reason as common sense. I was perfectly at home, and was made to feel so by those I met.
Two questions are often propounded to me in and out of the medical profession and by former patrons: First, Is there any money in it? Second, Can you heal disease? To the first question I usually reply, God supplies all our needs. Christian Science is not a money-making proposition; it is a work of love. The average mortal looks with mystic awe upon the man animated with a purpose beyond the acquisition of money. To the second question I reply. Christian Science complied with, as set forth in the Bible "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy, will heal disease of every phase. I try to show those interested that a knowledge of Christian Science and its healing influence can best be obtained through a conscientious study of Science and Health in connection with the Bible.
In conclusion, I desire to state that, in my short experience in Christian Science, I have witnessed the healing of many cases of disease, usually considered hopeless from the standpoint of materia medica. Neither pen nor tongue can ever express my gratitude for having been led into this Science, and I never could have accepted it had I not seen it was demonstrable and pre-eminently scientific. Though I resolved to give Science and Health a fair and just reading, I wanted it to be untrue, and my primary object in reading it was to write a paper denouncing Christian Science, which I proposed to read before a medical society. However, the paper has never been written, and in lieu thereof, I herewith ender this abridged statement of my experience. Kansas City, Kan.
