Some years have come and gone since Christian Science flooded my life with its radiance, and redeemed me from the thought of self-destruction; grief and discouragement had made existence unbearable. The change which came to my consciousness through the study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was so remarkable that I was convinced its pages contained something far above and beyond human opinion. I had had no religious training, having been brought up on Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and writers of similar trend, and knew nothing above materiality; but here was a book which not only stated that materiality was an illusion, but proved it by the healing effect of one touch of reality—the spiritual. Mrs. Eddy has said in Science and Health (p. 110), "No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, Science and Health;" and I felt this to be true,—that it was a revelation; further, that the Bible is the message, from time to time, of men who saw something better than matter, and that something just at hand. With this conclusion came the assurance that all healing is spiritual, and if spiritual, universal. And with this conviction of the illusory nature of matter and evil, the despair and hopelessness vanished; for I saw that the creator has made everything "very good," and that spiritual enlightenment is all that is needed to overcome discord of every kind.
I had felt I was not interested in the aspect of physical healing in Christian Science, as I had thought if I could find mental peace the physical discomfort could be endured,— the mental suffering had been past endurance. But after a talk with a Christian Science practitioner one afternoon, I was overjoyed to find myself free from a chronic intestinal ailment. I then began treatment for severe headaches and eczema, both of which were of long standing and had defied medical treatment. The healing was very slow; and many times after I thought it complete there would be a recurrence. The vivid mental picture and extreme fear required persistent work. Further, I had to learn to lift thought above the element of time. As time is unknown to God, man must rise above that limitation, and work on until the mesmerism breaks, regardless of the passing of weeks, months, or even years. In the so-called natural sciences men labor to reach their goal, oblivious of passing time; how much more, then, in the Science of Being, the greatest of all sciences. "Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible."
I have learned that our heritage as children of God is good only; and that His plan is ever unfolding. It is interesting and comforting in the deluge of books which warn us of the approach of the fall of civilization, to note that Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 406) of the approach of "the scientific period" in which all that is unlike the true likeness disappears.
