I have long wished to express my gratitude for all the good that has come to me through the teachings of Christian Science, and I trust that this testimony may be helpful to some other pilgrim on his journey.
I purchased the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, in 1908, not because I really wanted it, or thought I had any particular need of it at the time, but simply to fulfill a promise I had made to a friend who had just become interested in Christian Science and was so enthusiastic about it that she made me promise to buy the book. I was traveling about a great deal in those days, and the book lay at the bottom of my trunk for many years. Although I had read it when I first bought it, I could not understand much of it, but realized that it had caused quite a stir in my consciousness. The fact that I had paid, what seemed to me then, a pretty good price for it, however, made me guard it rather zealously.
It was not until 1920, when I had become thoroughly disillusioned in seeking happiness on a material basis, and had suffered many disappointments, that I took up the study of Christian Science seriously. I then began to learn something of real joy. Our Leader tells us in Science and Health (p. 298), "When the real is attained, which is announced by Science, joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat." I had often been governed by personal attachment, and suffered much in consequence, and I think I understand now what Mrs. Eddy means when she says, on page 9 of Science and Health: "Dost thou 'love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind'? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship."
