Is it necessary to believe in Christian Science, in order to receive help from it? Let me briefly relate my experience and the query will thus be answered. About the year 1890 I had an attack of that then comparatively new disease, the grip, which resulted in the beginning of a physical decline from a previous condition of unusually vigorous health. In December, 1892, an attack of pleuro-pneumonia resulted in my being ordered, a few months later, to the dry desert country of Arizona, to overcome the ravages of consumption,—both lungs being seriously affected, so my physician afterward told me, and three months being fixed as my span of life. Despite this verdict I lived, or continued to exist, my condition for years hardly being entitled to the name living. I had been trained to respect all religious belief, and taught that an all-wise God ruled over our destinies and visited punishment upon mankind for sins committed; but my endeavor had been to lead a decent life, and I could not understand why I should be thus punished, nor could I understand why even greater punishment—loss of the family bread-winner—was to be visited upon my wife and children, who were wholly innocent of any responsibility for conscious or unconscious transgressions of mine. These questionings, and continued discordant health conditions, led me into a fiercely rebellious state of mind, which lasted for many years, wherein I utterly repudiated the Bible, its teaching and advocates. Acting under the advice of my physicians, I resorted to whisky to stimulate my flagging energies, and thus became addicted to its use. About 1898, I seemingly got the better of the consumptive condition, but struggled under a multiplicity of resultant complaints of the heart, liver, stomach, and kidneys, which, by reason of their diseased action, added to my misery. Impaired eyesight made it necessary for me to wear specially ground glasses all the time. I also acquired the habit of smoking and became an habitual user of tobacco. Gradually a nervous condition developed, until I was all but a complete physical and mental wreck, beyond the skill of my physician, and finally in a state of mind where I was in despair, bereft of hope and practically convinced that my family would be obliged to take up life's battle deprived of further guardianship of mine.
In this condition, about June, 1902, I was prevailed upon to try Christian Science. I had no faith in it. I had no religious belief. I had no use for the Bible or its exponents. A vague, misty, intangible belief in some governing force somewhere, was my only anchor.
My first experience in Christian Science treatment resulted in a glorious relief from pain, and so impressed me with the positive evidence of a power hitherto unknown to me, that I felt it my duty to investigate thoroughly this unseen force and determine, if possible, whether its earnest advocates were right or wrong in their contention that it was the operation of God's law. Here was an indisputable and tangible result. A seemingly hopeless physical and mental condition was changed for the better without pills or plasters, prescriptions or mysterious incantations. I began my investigation determined that no obstacle should prevent my reaching a solution of the problem before me. Many of the larger questions frequently presented were laid aside with this thought,—I'll wait until I've mastered the simple things before I attempt the greater ones. I strove to become as a little child; to content myself with that beautiful thought, "One step enough for me," "lead Thou me on," and the wonders of the glorious vista which opened up before me, filled me with a reverence, an awed humility hitherto entirely unknown.
