Our Leader, speaking of Jesus' disciples says, "When they were fit to be blest, they received the blessing" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 212). This has been fully proved in my experience, and I therefore give it, hoping it may help others to find the truth as revealed to us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.
It is about fifteen years since this book was first brought to my notice by a friend who told me of the healing of a relative through its reading. I knew the circumstances, knew that the woman had been bed-ridden for years with a so-called incurable disease, and I fully believed what my friend told me of her healing, but I was a healthy woman and thought I had no need of Christian Science, so after reading a few pages I laid it aside.
It was perhaps three or four years later that I heard of Science and Health again and was advised to read it. This time I was told of the healing, in one treatment, of a case of rheumatism which had baffled medical skill for twenty-five years. Now, I believed all my friend told me, but I was too much engrossed in worldly pleasures to spend time in reading a book that taught one how to heal the sick. I was not sick. The third time Science and Health was placed in my hands, it was recommended as a remedy for mental and moral ills, and I was told that it healed sorrow, and destroyed fear, worry, and anxiety. I was more nearly ready to listen now, for "coming events" were casting their "shadows before" and the darker side of human existence was appearing. Some pages in the book were read, but most of it was incomprehensible, because pride of opinion and preconceived notions were not ready to be given up; and it was not until some three years later, when overshadowed by clouds of sorrow, despair, and doubt, all of which would have been averted by an understanding of Truth, that I was willing to turn to Christian Science for help. Then I bought a copy of Science and Health and earnestly sought for light, and in this wonderful book, which for years I had considered useless to me, I found far more than I had ever been told was there.
