For some years I have wanted to submit...

For some years I have wanted to submit a testimony to our periodicals, but I have indulged in postponement because of the feeling that unless I had something fairly dramatic to relate, my contribution might be of little interest to others. Recently, however, it has become clearer to me that since the eternal revelation of the facts of Spirit is continuous, natural, and normal, an account of orderly progress, of a life made year by year more harmonious, more useful, and more satisfying through the teachings of Christian Science, would not be without value. Such has been my experience; and, to me, at least, the contrast between my present happy outlook and my situation a relatively few years ago is dramatic enough.

I attended a Christian Science Sunday School sporadically in my teens. Here I must have had a glimpse of some fundamentals; but it was years before my appreciation of this religion advanced beyond the point of flying to the books or telephoning a friendly practitioner on isolated occasions when things were not going as I wanted them to go. My desire to be a genuine student of Christian Science dates from a crisis in my business affairs when literally everything was awry and the conclusion was inescapable that I simply was not clever enough to manage without God. Turning at last wholeheartedly to Christian Science, seeking first the kingdom of God, proved to be the turning point of my life in all ways, not merely in connection with business. My subsequent progress in business, while very gratifying, has not been without painful adjustments; but with improvement of character and purpose have come quiet assurance and activity, which are more constructive and more fruitful than ever before.

I should like to describe a healing of about thirty years ago which taught me a lesson of permanent importance. I was a heavy smoker; and though I did not at the time regard this as a religious issue, I wanted to stop because indigestion invariably followed excessive smoking. Moreover, I resented my apparent inability to control the habit. I had tried hard on many occasions to give up smoking by means of willpower; but I had always failed because of a subtle change which would take place in my thinking. A few days of abstinence would convince me that the prospect of freedom from smoking offered me no advantage which could even begin to compensate for the misery of the struggle. Yet the victory was eventually won for me in a simple and beautiful way.

One evening I was visiting my mother, who was a Reader in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, at the time. Nothing was said about smoking or about Christian Science. In fact, the particular conversation had to do with some reflections of hers upon another problem, one which I would have said was of no concern to me. But my attention was arrested when my mother spoke of the need to "do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). In that moment, like a ray of heavenly light, it came to me that the aspiration to be free from an enslaving addiction was not a question of advantage or disadvantage to me personally, but was a matter of obedience and gratitude to God, the Giver of all good. I knew immediately that I was healed; and from that instant on, there was not the slightest desire to smoke. My gratitude for my freedom at the time was great; but greater has been my gratitude for the lesson, frequently useful over the years, that purification of motive is an essential aspect of healing.

What glorious privileges are presented to mankind by Christian Science in this twentieth century! In the Manual, Mrs. Eddy tells us (Art. VIII, Sect. 15), "God requires our whole heart, and He supplies within the wide channels of The Mother Church dutiful and sufficient occupation for all its members." I have found in Christian Science the way of Life, joyful and satisfying in proportion to my endeavor to be worthy of it. For this, for class instruction, and for opportunities to serve The Mother Church and its branches in various small ways, I am deeply grateful. Surely a Christian Scientist, when he surveys the restlessness and anxiety of world-thought at this period, can in firm conviction and in humble assurance sing these words from Hymn No. 148 in the Christian Science Hymnal:

—Bertram M. Tate, Westmount, Quebec, Canada.