Through Science and Health I was shown how to overcome great fear in having six jaw teeth extracted. Error said the demonstration could not be made, as I had very little understanding, not having had the advantage of class instruction.
But I was unwilling to call upon any one for help, as I have been trying to do my own work for several months. My fear of the operation was very unpleasant to me, as I had always been considered very plucky in the old way With the determination to find the remedy the thought came, If God will destroy this sense of pain for me through another Scientist, I am positive he will do so for me if I rely on I Him alone; and my glance fell upon these lines, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs. 3:5). Why should I want to lean on any other, when I had the understanding which comes from Him?
But I knew that fear must be removed to make the demonstration. So I picked up Science and Health, feeling sure of finding the remedy, and I was not disappointed. When I came to page 489, I read, beginning "Divine Truth takes away this physical sense of error," etc. Before I had finished, the fear was destroyed, and after reading the 91st Psalm started for the dentist's office.
The first verse, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," and the eleventh, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways," were constantly in my thought during the operation. There was not a particle of pain. One of the teeth broke off under the gum, and the forceps were placed on the root and it was drawn. A piece of bone extended below the gum and the dentist also broke that off. He knew I was a Scientist and said, "You don't seem to mind tooth-pulling." I told him there was no pain, and that was what Christian Science had done for me. He said, "Well, those teeth were hard to pull; there must be a great deal in Christian Science."
When I was almost ready to leave the office I was taken with a very severe pain in my jaw, which shot up into the very top of my head, and error said, you did not think of the after effect. Love was with me still and met the claim with, Error, you are nothing and nowhere; "There is but one primal Cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause" (Science and Health, p. 103). The pain disappeared.
The dentist remarked, "You had better get something to apply to heal your gums, they are considerably torn." And I answered him, "Do you think I would apply anything but Truth after all it did for me in that chair?" I came home and did not experience the least discomfort.
Chicago, III.
