When Christian Science found me I was dwelling in the darkness of unbelief. For many years I felt forced to take the agnostic position through honest conviction, the problem of evil seeming impossible of solution when associated with the belief in a beneficent creator. In this frame of mind I became interested in the teachings of Christian Science through a desire to help a friend who was turning to it for release.
Soon after I had begun to read Science and Health, my eyes were opened to see that I was in a condition of egotism and pride of intellect which debarred me from any realization of spiritual truth. I had worshiped the reasoning of the human (or carnal) mind as the highest God I knew, and this mind, St. Paul says, is "enmity against God." Very unwillingly I gradually came to see that what I most needed (and least desired) was humility, and that until I could lay down a sense of superior mental judgment, I could hope for no understanding of the things of Spirit. The purification which followed this uncovering, helped me greatly; gradually the light came, and I turned to the long neglected Bible and read with overflowing heart, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."
Many have been the blessings I have realized since then; the whole course of my life has been changed. Consciousness of ever-present good is taking the place of that of evil; fear is being overcome; motives are being purified; health, happiness, and peace have come in abundant measure. Mental awakening was gradually followed by physical release. Headaches, rheumatism, and a general lack of endurance have all disappeared. Sleeplessness of many years' standing has been completely overcome, and this was perhaps the greatest physical release. I had tried all the usual material remedies, including medicines, diet, rest-cure, and climate,—the South and then the North,—at one time spending four months in our northern Muskoka lakes in the depth of winter, and afterward building a room supposed to be sound-proof in our house.
