The following experience of the instantaneous availability of Christian Science has given me much encouragement, and I relate it in the hope that it will help some one else. Although I have made a daily study of Christian Science for eleven years, I have time and again allowed myself to abstain from attempting a demonstration of its healing power in cases of physical ailments, although I often received help from practitioners for both myself and family. I now understand that this timidity was the result of an erroneous identification of myself with that which was impure and material, thinking that this mortal self must first become regenerated before any demonstration of Christian Science could be successfully undertaken by me. It was therefore with a sense of joy, mingled with astonishment, that I found myself able instantaneously to prove the power of Truth in an emergency.
A large hornet had been noticed in my office one day during the forenoon; in the evening, while still at work, I felt something crawling on my neck and instinctively passed my hand over the spot. Immediately an exceedingly sharp stinging sensation was experienced. I had been stung by the hornet. My first thought was one of exasperation. I was to undertake a business trip on the morrow, and the thought of the swelling which would result from the sting vexed me greatly. Almost instantly thereupon came the scientific argument from our textbook: "There is but one primal cause" (Science and Health, p. 207). There is one influence, even God, omnipotent good; hence this evidence of a poisonous influence could have no effect. The pain was intense, however, and there was a vivid sensation of the poison spreading. Then came the temptation to squeeze the poison out, and I lifted my hand in obedience to error's bidding, but in the same moment the thought came, "Don't try to steady the ark. God is not in need of assistance." The lifted hand was resolutely withdrawn. Instantly the sensation of fiery poison which had been aggressively spreading vanished and was replaced by a sweet sense of comfort, and I resumed my work. No inconvenience or swelling resulted. The wound, however, remained sore for a few days thereafter. Herein I proved the truth of Jesus' words, "According to your faith be it unto you." Had I understood enough to deny not only the effect, but also the actual occurrence, the demonstration would undoubtedly have been instantaneous and complete with not even a trace left. I had realized only the first clause of the truth quoted, from our textbook; the subsequent clause, "Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause," would have covered the ground completely.
In years gone by, when reading the familiar passage about Moses, how, at the command of God, he stretched his rod out over the Red Sea and the waters parted to allow the Israelites to cross in safety, I often wished that I, too, might be privileged thus to act under divine authority, dimly recognizing that it was for all men, but not understanding and consequently not daring to believe that it could be possible for us to-day. This Science now breaks like a dawning light, for those who are watching, through the discovery of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy. My earnest desire is to prove my gratitude by faithfully following her, as she has followed Christ, with dauntless courage and endurance, gaining anew the charmed rod of understanding by which the Red Sea shall again be parted for the children of Israel of to-day to pass into the promised land.— Ebbes Bruk, Husgvarna, Sweden.
