Christian Science came to me gradually, and through its very reasonableness. I did not seek it at first for physical healing for myself, but the physical healing of others, and particularly that of a member of my immediate family, attracted my attention to the subject. I had never been what is called a religious person or a churchgoer, though in childhood I had attended Sunday school in a spasmodic sort of way. Probably my nearest approach to religion came in 1904, when at the age of twenty seven I joined the Masonic order.
During the years 1918-1920 a few Christian Science articles in pamphlet form came into my possession. These I read with interest, and we also attended a few lectures on the subject. About this time the member of my family referred to above turned to Christian Science for healing after being given up as incurable and condemned to live but a short time—possibly a month or two—by the best medical aid we could obtain in New York City. The disease in this case was cancer, and it was considered by the doctors to be in such an advanced stage as to render treatment useless. However, healing came after several visits to a loving practitioner for Christian Science treatment, so that this person is now in better health than ever before.
Shortly after this we secured a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and I started in earnest to investigate. I read this textbook through and attended the Sunday services regularly. It was while reading the textbook that I was healed, without conscious effort on my part, of the smoking habit, to which I had been in bondage for at least twentyfive years, although I had tried frequently to stop through human willpower. The habit of depending on material remedies also left me. Though formerly I had suffered frequently from colds and grippe, constipation and indigestion, and had my favorite remedies for each of these ills, I now bear grateful testimony to freedom from all these falsities simply through the study of the truths of Christian Science. Without specific treatment for any one of them, they have just faded away into their native nothingness.
