When a young man, I was a moderate user of tobacco, but soon after I was through school I became a heavy smoker. I was engaged in a business where my time was my own, and there was no restraint on how much I smoked. Several times I attempted with no success to reduce or control smoking through willpower. I did not know then that what I needed was an uncovering of its false attraction and an understanding of God.
Soon after I was married, a friend lent my wife a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. We knew that this friend had been healed of a physical difficulty in Science. We had great respect for its true and practical value. In fact, I was a member of an orthodox church but had been attending another church that had a famous choir led by a noted director. It was while singing in this choir that I was induced to join a men's Bible class of the same church, composed of business and professional men.
A question arose at one of our meetings which brought a complete change in my life. The question was, Why are we not doing the healing work that was done in the days of Jesus and the disciples? The minister's reply left me perplexed. I recalled a statement from the Bible (Ex. 15: 26), "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Then I reflected: here we have spent an hour talking about the wonderful healing work accomplished by Jesus and others in his time, and now no one seems to know how the healing work was done. I had heard of several healings that were brought about through the application of Christian Science, one in my own family, a long time ago, although we were not Christian Scientists.
