I can hardly find words to express my gratitude for the benefit derived from Christian Science. It was in 1910 that I first came in direct touch with the truth, and then through the continued illness of my wife I was led to purchase a copy of Science and Health. I gave the book a passing glance and told myself that it was just what I had been looking for, but that personally I did not need healing as I was never sick. After that I seldom thought of Christian Science unless I came in contact with a Scientist, and then I was very enthusiastic about it and tried to acknowledge the help it was to me in my business, though with no work or thought in reference to the rules which Mrs. Eddy has so thoughtfully laid down in Science and Health for our guidance. In fact I continued to use tobacco and indulge in profanity, and to consider myself a moderate drinker, until it dawned on me that about as much of my time was spent in drinking and in being a good fellow as in trying to get business.
It was not until 1915 that I discovered I was indulging in the most subtle of sins, namely, carnal thinking, but that it could all be overcome through the study of Science and Health and other Christian Science literature. Here the desire to rid myself of these habits came, and I started to read Science and Health anew. I read to page 11, where Mrs. Eddy tells us, "Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth." I at once took the dictionary and looked up the definitions of "fervent" and "habitual," although I thought that I knew what they were, and then proceeded to prove this wonderful statement. I was kept so busy eliminating the carnal thinking from my consciousness, and demonstrating this statement, that profanity, drinking, and smoking left me almost instantly, and with seemingly no effort on my part. I had tried repeatedly to quit smoking, but would go back to it in one form or another each time.
I early had the privilege of reading "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" by Mrs. Eddy, and her counsel on page 210, "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and deathcannot enter them," together with the statement in Science and Health already referred to, and the song of the psalmist: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," are three of the many jewels to be found in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, and were the first treasures with which I started to adorn my new mental home.— Indianola, Iowa.
