Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

M >> Mary Baker Eddy >> Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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I was in this state of mind and body when Christian Science found me. A
dear friend, seeing my suffering, presented the truth to me, and though
at first I did not believe that there could be healing for me, the
Christian Scientists' God seemed to be the one I had been looking for
all my life. I began to read Science and Health, and shall never forget
my joy at finding that I could love and trust God. I took to studying
the Bible, and read nothing but Science and Health and other Christian
Science literature for a year. After studying the "little book" for
about six weeks, I one day realized that I was a well woman, that I had
taken no medicine for three weeks, and that my body was perfectly
harmonious. The reading of Science and Health had healed me. The
wonderful joy and spiritual uplifting which came to me then no words of
mine can describe. I had also suffered from astigmatism and had for
several years been obliged to use special glasses when reading or
working, and could never use my eyes for more than half an hour; but
from the first reading of Science and Health I found that I could read
in any light and for any length of time without the slightest
discomfort. I am not only grateful for the physical healing but for the
mental regeneration. I rejoice that I am now able to help others who are
sick and sorrowing. - E. E. L., Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland.

THE TEXTBOOK MAKES OPERATION UNNECESSARY

In the early part of the year 1895 my physician said I must undergo a
surgical operation in order ever to be well.

While in great fear, and dreading the operation, a kind neighbor called,
and after telling me of Christian Science gave me a copy of Science and
Health. She said I must put aside all medicine, and by reading
faithfully she knew I could be healed. The book became my constant
companion, and in a short time I was healed. Besides the relief from an
operation, I was completely healed of severe headaches and stomach
trouble. Physicians could give me no help for either of these ailments.
For ten years I have not used medicine of any kind, and have not missed
a Christian Science service on account of sickness during this period. I
am perfectly well. To say that I am grateful to God for all this does
not express my feelings. The physical healing was wonderful, but the
understanding given me of God, and the ability to help others outweigh
all else. I also love our dear Leader. - Mrs. V. I. B., Concord, N. H.

KIDNEY DISEASE AND EYE TROUBLE HEALED

Early in 1904 I was teaching in a private boarding-school. I was a very
unhappy, discontented woman; I had kidney disease, besides sore eyes,
and my general health was very bad. The doctor said that the climate did
not suit me, and that I certainly should have a change. The best thing,
he said, was to go back to France (my own country); but I did not like
to leave the school, so I struggled on until July, when we went
travelling for a month, but I came home worse than ever. I had a lot of
worry, one disappointment after another, and I often thought that life
was not worth living. In September, 1904, we heard for the first time of
Christian Science through a girl who was attending our boarding-school,
and who was healed through Christian Science treatment. We bought the
textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy,
and what a revelation it was and is to us; it is indeed the fountain of
Truth. I had read Science and Health but a very short time when I took
off my glasses, began to sleep well, and soon found myself well in mind
and body. Besides this, it has brought harmony into our school, where
there had been discord, and everything is changed for the better. I
cannot describe the happiness that has come to me through Christian
Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my
soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.

My one aim now is to live Christian Science, not in words only, but in
deeds; loving God more and my neighbor as myself, and following meekly
and obediently all our Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my
gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for Christian Science. - S. A. K., Vancouver, B.
C.

DISEASE OF BOWELS HEALED

When I first heard of Christian Science I had been afflicted for nine
years with a very painful disease of the bowels, which four physicians
failed even to diagnose, all giving different causes for the dreadful
sufferings I endured. The last physician advised me to take no more
medicine for these attacks, as drugs would not reach the cause, or do
any good. About this time I heard of Christian Science, and had the
opportunity of reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"
by Mrs. Eddy, a few minutes every day for about a week, and I
was thereby healed. In looking back I found I had not suffered in the
least from the time I began reading this book. It has been nearly
seventeen years since this wonderful healing, and I have had no return
of the disease. My gratitude is endless and can be best expressed by
striving mightily to walk in the path our Leader has so lovingly shown
us in Science and Health. - Mrs. J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.

HEALED BY READING THE TEXTBOOK

After doctoring about a year, I was obliged to give up school and was
under medical care for two years; but grew worse instead of better. I
was then taken to specialists, who pronounced my case incurable, saying
I was in the last stages of kidney disease and could live only a short
time. Shortly afterward my uncle gave me a copy of "Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures," and asked me to study it. After studying a
short time I was able to walk a distance of several miles, which I had
not been able to do for three years. I also laid aside glasses which I
had worn seven years, having been told I would become blind if my eyes
did not receive proper care. It is over a year since I received God's
blessing, and I am now enjoying perfect health and happiness. I have
never had my glasses on since I first began reading Science and Health,
and I have not used any medicine. - L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.

A TESTIMONY FROM SCOTLAND

I came to Christian Science purely for physical healing. I was very ill
and unhappy; very cynical and disbelieving in regard to what I heard of
God and religion.

I tried to live my life in my own way and put religion aside. I was a
great believer in fate and in will-power, and thought to put them in the
place of God, with the consequence that I was led to do many rash and
foolish things. I am now thankful to say that my outlook on life is
entirely changed; I have proved God's wisdom and goodness so often that
I am willing and thankful to know my future is in His hands and that all
things must work out for the best. I have found a God whom I can love
and worship with my whole heart, and I now read my Bible with interest
and understanding.

I was healed of very bad rheumatism simply by reading Science and
Health. I had tried many medicines, also massage, with no result, and
the doctors told me that I would always suffer from this disease, as it
was inherited, and also because I had rheumatic fever when a child. I
suffered day and night, and nothing relieved me until Science proved to
me the falseness of this belief by removing it. I gave up all the
medicines I was taking and have never touched any since, and that is
more than two years ago. Before this I had often tried to do without a
medicine that I had taken every day for ten years, but was always ill
and had to return to it, until I found out that one Mind is the only
medicine, and then I was freed from the suffering.

I had also suffered constantly from bilious attacks, colds, and a weak
chest, and had been warned not to be out in wet weather, etc., but now,
I am glad to say, I am quite free from all those material laws and go
out in all sorts of weather. - R. D. F., Edinburgh, Scotland.

CURING BETTER THAN ENDURING

For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak lungs and after being
treated by ten different physicians, in the States of Illinois,
Missouri, and Colorado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery from
what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was hereditary, my father
having been afflicted with it. I was greatly emaciated and hardly able
to be about. My general condition was aggravated by what the doctors
said was paralysis of the bowels. Three physicians so diagnosed it at
different times, and assured my husband that I could never get more than
temporary relief. This indeed I found difficult to obtain, in spite of
my almost frantic efforts. At times I was nearly insane from suffering,
and after eight years of doctoring I found myself steadily growing
worse. For four years I did not have a normal action of the bowels, and
it was only by extreme effort and by resort to powerful drugs or
mechanical means, with resultant suffering, that any action whatever
could be brought about.

I had heard nothing of the curative power of Christian Science, and only
to oblige a friend I went one night, about three years ago, to one of
their mid-week testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much
impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once to investigate
this strange religion, in the hope that it might have something good for
me. I bought the textbook, Science and Health, and from the first I
found myself growing stronger and better, both physically and mentally,
as I acquired a better understanding and endeavored to put into practice
what I learned. In one week I was able to get along better without drugs
than I had for years with them, and before three months had passed I was
better than I had been any time in my life, for I had always suffered
more or less from bowel trouble. Since that time I have taken no
medicine whatever, and rely wholly upon Christian Science. My lungs are
now sound, my bowels normally active, my general health excellent, and I
am able to endure without fatigue tasks that before would have
prostrated me. The study of our textbook was the sole means of my
healing. - L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.

SEVERE ECZEMA DESTROYED

It is only two years since I came from darkness into the light of
Christian Science, and to me the spiritual uplifting has been wonderful,
to say nothing of the physical healing. Words cannot express my
gratitude for benefits I have received in that time. For five years I
suffered with that dreaded disease, eczema, all over my body. Five
doctors said there was no help for me. The suffering seemed as terrible
as the hell fire that I had been taught to believe in. When Christian
Science came to me two years ago through a dear friend, she gave me a
copy of Science and Health and asked me to read it. I told her that I
would, for I was like a drowning man grasping at a straw. I had been a
Bible student for twenty-eight years, but when I commenced reading
Science and Health with the Bible I was healed in less than a week. I
never had a treatment. A case of measles was also destroyed in
twenty-four hours after it appeared. - Mrs. M. B. G., Vermilion, Ohio.

SCIENCE AND HEALTH A PRICELESS BOON

I am a willing witness to the healing power of Christian Science, having
had a lifetime's battle with disease and medical experiments. Various
doctors finally admitted that they had exhausted their resources, and
could only offer me palliatives, saying that a cure was impossible. I
had paralysis of the bowels, frequent sick headaches with unutterable
agony, and my mortal career was nearly brought to an end by a malignant
type of yellow fever. Many were the attending evils of this physical
inharmony, but God confounds the wisdom of men, for while studying
Science and Health two years ago, the veil of ignorance was lifted and
perfect health was shown to me to be my real condition, and to such
there is no relapse. The constant use of glasses, which were apparently
a necessity to me for years, was proven needless, and they were laid
aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading a never-failing well of
comfort to me. By her interpretation "the way of the Lord" is made
straight to me and mine. It aids us in our daily overcoming of the
tyranny of the flesh and its rebellion against the blessed leading of
Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible and our textbook is bringing
more and more into our consciousness the power of God unto salvation. -
J. C., Manatee, Fla.

A CRITIC CONVINCED

With gratitude to God I acknowledge my lifelong debt to Christian
Science. In 1895 I attended my first Christian Science meeting, and was
deeply impressed with the earnestness of the people and the love
reflected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical body, I did
not believe such a thing to be possible. I bought Science and Health and
studied it to be able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly
deluded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the study carefully
and thoroughly, and I have had abundant reason since to be glad that I
did, for through this study, and the resultant understanding of my
relation to God, I was healed of a disease with which I had been
afflicted since childhood and for which there was no known remedy.
Surely my experience has been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture:
"He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their
destructions." I believe that Science and Health reveals the Word
referred to by David. - C. A. B. B., Kansas City, Mo.

BORN AGAIN

It was in April, 1904, that I first heard the "still, small voice" of
the Christ and received healing through Christian Science; and the
blessings have been so many since, that it would take too much space to
name them. Reared from childhood in an intellectual atmosphere, my
paternal grandfather having been an orthodox minister of the old school
for forty years, and my father a deep student, ever seeking for the
truth of all things, I began early to ponder and to study into the
meaning of life, and came to the conclusion before I was twenty that
though God probably existed in some remote place, still it was
impossible to connect Him with my present living. My highest creed,
therefore, became, "Do right because it /is/ right and not for fear of
being punished." Then began the suffering. Sorrow after sorrow followed
each other in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no rest,
the road was indeed long and hard and had no turning, until finally the
one thing that had stood by me all through the trials, namely, my
health, gave way, and with that went my last hope. But the last hour of
the night had come, the dawn of day was at hand; a dear friend left
Science and Health upon my piano one day, saying that I would gain much
good by reading it.

Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I opened the "little book"
and began to read. I had read only a short time when such a wonderful
transformation took place! I was renewed; born again. Mere words cannot
tell the story of the mighty up-lifting that carried me to the very
gates of heaven. When I began to read the book, life was a burden, but
before I had finished reading it the first time, I was doing all my
housework and doing it easily; and since that glorious day I have been a
well woman. My health is splendid, and I am striving to let my light so
shine that others may be led to the truth. There have been some mighty
struggles with error, and I have learned that we cannot reach heaven
with one long stride or easily drift inside the gate, but that the
"asking" and the "seeking" and the "knocking" must be earnest and
persistent.

For a long time I was always looking back to see if
the error had gone, until one day when I realized that to catch a
glimpse of what spiritual sense means I must put corporeal sense behind
me. I then set to work in earnest to find the true way. I opened Science
and Health and these words were before me, "If God were understood,
instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish
health" (p. 203). I saw that I must get the right understanding of God!
I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I waited with longing
intensity for some answer. How long I waited I do not know, but
suddenly, like a wonderful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly
this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I held my breath -
deep into my hungering thought sank the infinite meaning of that "I."
All self-conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes the
mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight. I trod, as it were, on holy
ground. Words are inadequate to convey the fullness of that spiritual
uplifting, but others who have had similar experiences will understand.

From that hour I have had an intelligent consciousness of the
ever-presence of an infinite God who is only good. - C. B. G., Hudson,
Mass.

A RESTLESS SENSE OF EXISTENCE DESTROYED

Through reading Science and Health and the illumination which followed,
I was healed of ulceration of the stomach and kindred troubles, a
restless sense of existence, agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured
with the stomach trouble I will not attempt to describe. The attending
physician declared that I could live but a short time, and I felt there
would be a limit to my endurance of the torture, but the disease was
dissipated into nothingness through Christian Science, which brought me
peace.

Like many others I had been seemingly lost in the sea of error, without
a compass, yet earnestly and honestly seeking a haven. I had
investigated all kinds of religions and philosophies that came under my
notice, with the exception of Christian Science, which was not then
deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held the very truth I was searching
for - the light which "shineth in the darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not." Three years of stubborn resistance to Truth, with
increasing suffering, followed - then the light came, and with it a new
experience. Now, after nine years of Christian Science experience, under
severe tests, it can be truthfully said that it has not failed me in any
hour of need. - J. F. J., Cincinnati, Ohio.

MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY HEALED

I did not accept Christian Science on account of any healing of my own,
but after seeing my mother, who was fast drifting toward helplessness
with rheumatism, restored to perfect health with only a few treatments
in Christian Science, I thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus
taught and practised it, and if so it was what I had been longing for.

This was about ten years ago and was the first I had ever heard of
Christian Science. We soon got a copy of Science and Health and I began
in the right way to see if Christian Science were the truth. I had no
thought of studying it for bodily healing; in fact, I did not think I
needed it for that, but my soul cried out for something I had not yet
found. This book was indeed a key to the Scriptures.

It was not long after I began reading before I discovered that my eyes
were good and strong, I could read as much as I wished, and at any time,
which was something I could not do before, as my eyes had always been
weak. The doctors said they never would be very strong, and that if I
did not wear glasses, I might lose my sight altogether. I never gave up
to wearing glasses, and now, thanks to Christian Science, I do not need
them, my work for the past two years as a railway mail clerk being a
good test. At the same time my eyes were healed, I also noticed that I
was entirely healed of another ailment which had been with me all my
life, and which was believed to be inherited. Since that time my growth
has seemed to me slow, yet when I look back and view myself as I was
before Christian Science found me, and compare it with my life as it now
is, I can only close my eyes to the picture and rejoice that I have been
"born again" and that I have daily been putting off "the old man with
his deeds," and putting on "the new man."

Some of the many things that have been overcome through the study of
Science and Health, and through realizing and practising the truth it
teaches, are profanity, the use of tobacco, a very quick temper, which
made both myself and those around me at times very miserable, and such
thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. - O. L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.

HEALTH AND UNDERSTANDING GAINED

Most of my boyhood days were spent in the hands of physicians. From
birth I was considered a very weakly child, but my mother was brave, and
being much devoted to me did everything within her knowledge and power
for my comfort. Sickness and medicine were continually before me, and by
the time I reached my teens I thought I knew a material remedy for every
ill. I continued in my delusion, because I was never told the real cause
of my trouble. Besides being under a leading specialist for two years, I
was also an outdoor patient at a noted hospital, but I was not healed.
It is wonderful how the "little ones" are cared for in the face of all
these seeming difficulties. I always used the prayers that I had been
taught, and as I grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by little
I gained a desire for freedom, and my prayers finally led me to the
truth. The first week that I heard of Christian Science, I visited the
home of dear Christian Science friends, and was at once refreshed by
their purity of thought and example. I bought a copy of Science and
Health, and, after studying it a little while with the Bible, I saw that
if the Bible was true, Science and Health must also be true. I began to
demonstrate over my physical and mental condition, and as soon as the
fear and pain began to leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was
healed, and stopped complaining. I kept on studying our textbook, and
when I got an understanding in a small degree of the Science of Mind, my
first thought was to help others. I was guided where I could pro-
gress in Science, and was no longer "carried about with every wind of
doctrine," but held to Principle as closely as possible. From the time
the healing came into my consciousness, the desire for material remedies
left me, because Christian Science at once pointed out the way to get at
the cause of discord and disease. All that I had to give up were the
false beliefs of mortal mind. Christian Science then taught me to love
the church, and to appreciate what it had already done for mankind. I
often thought of the old adage, "Charity begins at home," and after
three years' preparation I felt able to take Christian Science to my
home, where it found, in due time, ready acceptance and willing
disciples. This gave me even greater joy than my own healing. The more
good I saw accomplished, the more love I had for the truth. Christian
Science changed my course from the first, and gave me a nobler aim and
purpose in life. I was not so easily influenced by other people's
shortcomings, when I learned that evil has neither personality nor
place. I was not so ready to take offence, when I found out the way to
work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause. - A. E. J., Toledo,
Ohio.

AN EVER-PRESENT HELP FOUND

On the 23rd of March, 1900, I received from one of my daughters a copy
of Science and Health on my seventy-first birthday. Although a constant
reader of all kinds of papers and books, I had never heard anything of
Christian Science, except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco
newspaper, from an orthodox clergyman, referring to the Christian
Science people in not very complimentary style.

In Mrs. Eddy's book I came across a great deal of thought that was not
readily understood at the first reading, but by continued and careful
study, and a good deal of help from my knowledge of chemistry and
natural philosophy, I soon shook off the belief of sensation in matter,
- the so-called elementary substance. One afternoon I put the belt on my
circular saw to cut blocks of firewood and also to split a small stick
of frame timber. In doing this the stick closed and pinched the saw. I
picked up a small wooden wedge and tried to drive it into the saw kerf,
but a bit of ice let the stick on to the back of the saw and instantly
it flew, with heavy force, into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek
fell about twenty feet off on the snow. The blood spattered on the snow
next the saw table, and on feeling with my hand there were two wounds,
one on the lock of the jaw and another forward, as big as a dollar, on
the cheek bone. "Now," I thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery
for you," and without further ceremony, I began to treat the case to the
best of my knowledge, with the result that the bleeding stopped almost
instantly, and so did a thumping pain, which had commenced. I paid no
more attention to the matter, but finished my work, and then went to
supper. When I washed my face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where
the block of wood struck, but after my usual reading I went to bed and
slept all night until near daylight, when a pain on the right side awoke
me. On feeling with my hand there was another big lump on the right
side, but I treated it and went to sleep again. I never lost an hour
from the hurt, although I found out that my jaw was broken. There is no
scar, only a little red spot on the cheek, and the lumps on the bone
have long since disappeared.