IN my fifteen years' acquaintance with our text-book three events stand out like stars; namely, the reading of the first copy put into my hands; the searching through the revised edition of 1891; and, above all, the joy of this latest revision.
Christian Science found me after all other means employed to heal had failed. Even blind faith in prayer had disappointed. A mind cure magazine purporting to be identical with the teachings of Christian Science, had been sent to me monthly for a year; but its doctrines were distasteful and its accounts of healing sounded like fables. I shrank from its appeals and invitations. However, the Rescuer was already in the world, though I knew it not. Not long after this magazine ceased coming to me, I heard some one read, in a daily newspaper, of a case of healing, in Minneapolis, by a Christian Scientist. This came, as "a still, small voice," carrying conviction of its divinity. But error came also. In the same paper appeared accounts of two other cures wrought by practitioners professing to be Christian, or mental, Scientists. Some of my friends thought these also might be genuine. I consented to write to the three, and judge them by their own words. I stated my condition to each, and asked the question, "What is the difference between Christian Science and mental Science?" Two of these persons wrote long, glowing letters, setting forth the claim that Christian Science, mental Science, and Jesus' teachings were all based on the same Principle; the third sent a rather brief reply, kindly and business-like. His only answer to my question was in these words at the closing of his letter, "The difference between Christian Science and mental Science is just the difference between the Truth and error." When I read this last letter I said without hesitation, "This is the genuine Christian Scientist." And so it proved.
Twelve years of bed-ridden invalidism had left me practically blind, and at first parts of Science and Health were read to me. But as soon as I could see, I read for myself; and, true to an established habit, opened its covers to commence with the preface. Never shall I forget the impression of that first sentence; "To those leaning on the sustaining Infinite, to-day is big with blessings." The volume dropped forgotten, to my pillow. A great mental space, a wider opportunity than any man could measure, opened to my consciousness "the sustaining Infinite," and 'leaning" on this Infinite. The thought, the fact, came up like an ocean under me, bearing a bubble upon its infinitude of strength. I felt filled with joy and certainty, and a recognition of the glad truth of this statement which was so self-evident that it seemed a marvel that I had never bethought me, I might lean on the sustaining Infinite, and that this dependence would be met with a full supply of blessings.
