When I think of the debt I owe to Mary Baker Eddy for the purity of thought which enabled her to conceive of and to present to us the truth, which had for centuries been a hidden mystery, I find myself at a disadvantage to know how to express gratitude. I am, however, daily striving to deserve the "well done" which comes when one has passed through the three stages of growth mentioned by Mrs. Eddy in her article "The Way," "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 355). The possibilities of what a medical course offered me had lured me to a large city. With bright expectations of being an agent of scientific healing, I entered a medical college, only to have my bubble pricked by discovering, in due course of time, that in the whole pharmacopoeia there is not one specific remedy. After a term of intensive study I was forced to abandon my plans on account of overtaxed eyes. I had met many in this metropolis who were interested in Christian Science. In self-defense I read the textbook "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, in search of reasons why I should not accept this religion. The ethics of Christian Science seemed sane enough, but to combine religion and healing seemed preposterous, if not sacrilegious.
After reading this book a short time, along with an occasional copy of one of the periodicals published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, I was forced to admit reluctantly that Christian Science contained much more wisdom than I had supposed. Erelong the healing and regenerating efficacy of Truth replaced sufficient error so that I was enabled to see that a healing religion was not only remotely possible, but that healing and religion are absolutely inseparable.
It has been my very great privilege time and again to witness the power of Truth to nullify the pretended claims of the suppositional opposite of good. The acute and chronic claims of materiality have given place one by one; selfishness, false pride, spiritual penury, conceit, stubbornness and the usual array of mortal mind characteristics, besides many minor, and a few more serious, physical claims. In fact, through applying what I have learned through systematic study of Christian metaphysics, my whole experience has been lifted from the slough of materiality to a life of usefulness undreamed of in the old thought.— San Francisco, California.
