Having tested Christian Science, and experienced many proofs of its efficacy in meeting needs common to all mankind, it would indeed seem ungrateful to withhold my testimony in regard to what Christian Science has done for me. It is in a most sincere spirit of humility that I reflect upon neglected opportunities in this "passage from sense to Soul" (Science and Health, p. 566), nevertheless it is with the deepest gratitude that I count the blessings made manifest through this truth. My first desire to study and live Christian Science came after a summer's acquaintance with a Christian Scientist whom I met in a little Canadian town. It was the beauty of character, the strength of purpose, and the perfect consistency of ideals and every-day life that made me concede something worth while to the influence of Christian Science, and it was the constant anticipation of good, dispelling fear, that led me to desire this truth for myself.
It was still with this desire that I returned to Chicago to resume school duties of a most uncongenial nature. For some time I had looked forward to the harmonious adjustment of the necessity for earning a living and the kind of work in which I could best express myself. I had just spent a year of considerable effort and some sacrifice in preparing for special work as music instructor, but lack of preparation and of practical experience seemed to be limitations in the way of securing such a position. I began to study Science and Health. I read it constantly, and like a friend it kept me out of the "Slough of Despond." The joy of having found this gloriously uplifting truth, this beautiful philosophy of love shown to be an ever-operative law with practical results, was most exalting. In but a few weeks I received a letter containing an offer of a position as music director in a normal school. My heart's desire had been granted, and every circumstance showed how "Love is reflected in love" (Science and Health p 17).
Christian Science alone has enabled me to overcome fear and the rest of mortal mind's deceptions. I have grown to understand myself, my relation to my fellowmen, and above all my relation to God, as never before when religion, metaphysics, psychology, and philosophy meant merely different phases of speculative thought. At first I was interested only in the beautiful philosophy as applied to my mental life, and the healing work of Christian Science did not appeal to me, but I soon discovered the relation between the mental life and the so-called physical manifestation of it, and was impressed with the inconsistency of material remedies for discords of mortal thought. Since then I have had many proofs of the healing power of Truth; some instantaneous, others that required the patience of a loving practitioner.
