I wish to express my deep gratitude for an experience which opened up to me a clear understanding of our Leader's statements respecting the influence of mortal mind upon the body, and I give it with the hope that it may be of help to many who read it. Some time ago my son, a lad of seventeen years, developed what is known to materia medica as a "carbuncle," on his neck. Not being at that time enough in sympathy with Christian Science to desire treatment, he had a doctor attend him, who told him that it was a severe case. The carbuncle was opened, and for six weeks had to be constantly attended to. During this time I had heard from the boy of the different physical laws laid down by the doctor, and the dangers supposed to attend this particular manifestation, but I always met these by telling him that disease of any kind is mental, and that the surgeon's knife could never remove the thoughts which produced the disease. I also silently declared that divine Truth only could really heal, but I had to meet a sense of fear, because in years past a dear friend had passed away from the same disease.
Some weeks after this I had to meet a very disagreeable situation in which I became, so to speak, the center of a storm, in which I had no concern except that I had been the means of bringing the parties together. Although I tried not to do so, I found that I was quite a little partial, and minding the business of others rather than my own. About this time my neck began to swell, and in three days a well-developed carbuncle appeared, which spread rapidly. I thus found myself called upon to make good my declaration. I knew the cause of this disturbance to be mental, and realized that I had allowed the mental picture to impress itself upon me, but I also knew that there was a deeper reason for this appearance. In talking it over with a dear friend it was soon seen that I had allowed myself to be partial in my altitude toward the parties concerned in the affair spoken of, and I had thus mentally become the storm-center of the discordant condition. As this was seen, I at once set to work to clear away these errors, and when this was done the spreading of the disease stopped. I then set about to find out if any other hidden serpents of mortal belief were lurking in my consciousness, and in a most remarkable manner they were uncovered.
For many years I have been separated from my relatives, who live in England, but to whom I was most devoted. My habits had been wild and prodigal, and while smarting under a rebuke, just though it was, I was led to turn away from home and friends and make for America. For many years I had suffered from a sense of hurt and of resentment, in view of what appeared to me the neglect of my sisters, their seeming indifference as to correspondence with me. About the time of which I write, one of my brothers-in-law came over here, and he one day received a letter from one of these sisters, which uncovered to me a sense of hidden resentment and bitterness which it was hard to believe I could entertain after seven years' patient study of Christian Science. On perceiving this error, in quick succession other hidden thoughts were seen, among them a deep-seated resentment that my dear mother, to whom I had been a source of grief and trial, would not or could not rejoice with me in grateful acknowledgment of what Christian Science has done in destroying the errors to which I had been in such bondage. I naturally desired her to share in my joy, but she had appeared indifferent, and I allowed great bitterness to possess me, though it hid behind the excuse of a sense of pity for her.
