About two years ago, in answer to inquiries sent to a magazine which had published several articles on Christian Science, I received from the Christian Science reading room several pamphlets and a copy of Le Héraut de Christian Science. At that time I was steeped in a wholly material education and was trying to understand the cause or origin and effects of matter, without, however, finding any logical conclusion to the so-called scientific hypotheses advanced. My health, although still tolerably good, was on the decline; I suffered from heart trouble which did not permit me to run or to do any hard work, also from nervous headache which became worse during the hot season. In addition to this I felt the first symptoms of a so-called incurable nervous disease which I was supposed to have inherited. The worst of my miseries was a chronic inflammatory condition of the nose, the left passage being almost completely stopped by a growth of bone. The inflammation finally spread to my throat, after which I became subject to tonsillitis. I had consulted several physicians in an effort to be healed, but without result. Finally they proposed a series of three operations for the purpose of removing the growth, but after the first one I felt that I could not submit to another, and decided to suffer rather than again go through such an experience.
The first reading of the Christian Science literature I received did not impress me, and yet some of the cases of healing mentioned therein seemed very clear and logical and the fundamentals of this Science appeared to be practical and explained many of the anomalies admitted by material science. I had to admit that there must be some truth in what I read, but there was still much doubt in my thought on many points. The result of this reading was remarkable. I was unaware at the time that many of my ills had disappeared; it was only later that I remembered them. Heart trouble, the nervous disease, sick headache, tonsillitis, and nasal inflammation seemed just like a bad dream, already remote, from which I had awakened. As for the growth, it did not disappear until later on, but one day I noticed that I was breathing freely through the nose and that I had done so for several weeks but had not been conscious of it. Sick headache, from which I used to suffer so frequently, has only manifested itself once since then, at which time, although I was in violent pain, the suffering ceased in less than two minutes after I had read from one of the pamphlets sent to me from the reading room.
Freed from sickness through the omnipotence of God as explained by Christian Science, which proved to me the unreality of disease, I have also found myself relieved of a great deal of prejudice and fear, and of the necessity of obeying laws of hygiene, or anything which constituted mental bondage. Since sickness has its origin in these material so-called laws, it becomes clear that sickness is not real and that material laws established to prevent or cure it have no reason for existence or for being obeyed. Among other things, the question of food has also ceased to be a matter of concern, whereas before I constantly feared that I might contract a stomach trouble by not obeying man-made rules on the subject. During several winters I had suffered great pain and discomfort from chilblains on my feet, which condition has been healed, and there has been no return of it. Now I enjoy activity, and the more active I am in good the more I express God and His idea. I cannot express in words my thankfulness, my gratitude, and the joy which is mine as the result of the knowledge of God gained through Christian Science.— Paris, France.
