I did not come into Christian Science primarily for physical healing, though in great need of it. For several years I had been in ill health, and notwithstanding my faith in materia medica, all that could be done for me by men of high standing in the medical profession failed to cure me, and my condition gradually grew worse.
I was reared in a Christian church and early became an active worker in its various departments. My conception of what God is and of what He does was based on the generally accepted teaching, as were my beliefs about myself. During many years I was grateful for being engaged in a business which was looked upon as being philanthropic in its nature. I was a druggist and manufacturer of proprietary medicines. After my own health seemed beyond recovery and I had seen in hospitals and at various health resorts the utter helplessness of a great army of physicians and nurses to relieve suffering, faith in the benevolent aspects of my own business began to wane.
At the noonday of life, when men are wont to put forth their best efforts to attain their highest achievements, I found myself afraid. I was afraid for my health, and began to realize that a quarter of a century had been devoted to the building up of a large and lucrative business which did not cure disease or permanently benefit mankind. This and other disappointments preyed more heavily on my mind than the physical sufferings. Several years before this my home had been broken up and destroyed; now my health was gone, and my business had failed to do for me or for others that which it was established to do. The years were far spent and all to no avail, and life began to seem hopeless.
