It is now many years since I became a student of Christian Science, and many are the blessings and healings I have experienced. I cannot conceive what life would be to me without the knowledge of the truth that Christian Science reveals. That it can and does make free, I gladly bear witness. That it does reveal the true God "who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases," I am able to assert from happy experience.
When I first learned something of what Christian Science teaches, I felt like one who had come out of a dark room into the sunlight. Since then I have experienced some ups and downs. I have been in the valley as well as on the mountain top; but never for one moment can I doubt that Christian Science is indeed the truth which Christ Jesus taught two thousand years ago.
I have experienced many healings of body and mind. Eczema, psoriasis, rheumatism, hay fever, blood poisoning, influenza, neuritis, and many other diseases have been destroyed by the power of Truth. But I should especially like to tell how the habit of smoking has been lately gotten rid of. I had always been a great smoker, and continued to indulge the habit to a greater or less extent even after becoming a student of Christian Science, seeing no reason why I should not do so in moderation. A Christian Science practitioner once told me that as I advanced in the knowledge of Christian Science I would probably lose all desire to smoke, and cease to have any enjoyment in smoking. This I rather doubted, as I enjoyed the habit, which I regarded as harmless. It was lately brought to my notice that indulging in the habit of tobacco, like that of intoxicating liquor, is not consistent with the teaching of Christian Science. This caused me to consider seriously my position as a professed student of Christian Science. Was I willing to try to be consistent, or was I to continue a slave to a habit which I could now see was undesirable, in so far as it was wasteful, untidy, foolish, debasing, and expensive? It suddenly came to me that there could be no real pleasure in puffing smoke, but that it was merely a foolish habit from which I should really be glad to be free. From that moment I ceased to smoke; and I have never had any desire to return to the use of tobacco. I know that I am free, and I am more grateful than words can express. For many years I had tried, without success, to give up that which I thought gave me pleasure; but the moment I saw that there can be "no real pleasure in false appetites" (Science and Health, p. 404) all desire to smoke vanished.
