If young students or beginners in the study of Christian Science would commence at once to apply its teaching, they would realize the fulfilment of the wonderful words from Isaiah, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee."
An aunt wrote me of her seemingly wonderful healing through Christian Science treatment. I was profoundly ignorant of Christian Science, but having great confidence in my supposed knowledge of the subject, and knowing this aunt to be a woman of superior mental ability, I was greatly surprised that she could be so deceived, wrote her to this effect, and waited for her awakening. Months went by, and she continued to write glowing letters of this wonderful truth which had made all things new to her. At that time I had been a semi-invalid for seven years. Many physicians had been employed, but none were able to give me more than temporary relief from terrible suffering. One physician told me, with evident mental distress, that his wife was then suffering from a similar condition, and he was helpless to aid her. The last physician employed was a well-known specialist, who said the only chance he could see for me was through a very delicate and serious operation, which I was not then in physical condition to endure. As time went on, the attacks of suffering came oftener and lasted longer. This dear aunt was not to be silenced, and after reading one of her letters, curiosity prompted me to get a copy of Science and Health. As I did not find anything that seemed to me very wonderful in the first few pages, I read here and there as the book opened, until I came across something which was directly contrary to what the physical senses told me to be true. The book Was not opened again for days, and was kept out of sight that my friends might not see it. Finally, however, I turned to it again; at first with but slight interest, and I know now that I read with very little understanding; but my interest grew, my physical strength increased, and I read more and more as the weeks went by. One morning very early I was startled by symptoms which I knew full well, and the fear and dread of what was to follow low was very great. I remembered some business to which I should attend, and realizing that if I did not attend to it that morning, it would probably be many weeks before fore I would be able to, I determined to go as early as possible. While dressing, passages from Science and Health kept coming to me. As I went out into the street, no car was in sight. At first this annoyed me, as I was in greater pain when standing, but great truths from the text-book and the Bible came to me, and I began repeating them, over and over. The first car was crowded, so I walked along, recalling these passages and studying their meaning, and became so absorbed with the thought of applying what I had read to the present condition and need, that I continued to walk, wholly unconscious of my surrounding, and I do not remember that I noticed anything until I found myself within a few rods of my destination.
After the business was transacted, I discovered that I was without pain. I went home, hardly daring to believe that I was really healed through the persistent and determined application of a few simple truths which I had learned from what I had considered a rather cursory study of Science and Health, and that I did not need to have weeks of suffering. This was true, however, though it was not quite the end, for error is not always wholly destroyed in the first struggle. About two weeks after this I had another attack, but it was overcome in a few hours. Other slight attacks followed, but they grew less severe, and soon disappeared entirely, as I learned more of man's God-given dominion and fear was overcome. This wonderful proof of the applicability of the Principle taught in Science and Health and the Bible, interested me beyond measure. I then began to study with more earnestness, and various ailments gradually disappeared. At this time I had never heard of any one being healed by reading Science and Health, and did not fully realize or appreciate it as I now do, in my great thankfulness for perfect health.
