Article September 14, 1907 Issue

READING SCIENCE AND HEALTH

A. GERTRUDE MAYNARD.

Five years ago the most remarkable book of the age, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, came to my notice. I had heard of it in a vague way for years, felt a slight curiosity concerning it, smiled at the credulousness of those devoted to its teachings, and now for the first time I opened its pages. I thank God that I was not in a mood to sneer at or condemn what it offered. I had a great, insistent human need; I had already applied for Christian Science treatment, and had been under the care of a faithful practitioner; so I read the book with comparative humility. Eagerly I scanned the first few pages, and felt that they contained the truth. Hope rose in my heart, and it grew more steadfast as I proceeded, until at last it rested on the solid rock—Truth!

My first reading of Science and Health was similar to that of many. The truth was in my mouth "sweet as honey." Spiritually, it fed and sustained me in my first feeble footsteps in Science; intellectually, it gave me a keen pleasure, answering lifelong questions, starting a train of new ones, and spurring thought into healthful activity by bold assertions which reversed the testimony of the senses. Never shall I forget my first reading of the chapter "Genesis," and the explanations on the divinity of Christ in "Science of Being." This unique book, however, is not only to be read, but it is to be lived,—demonstrated,—and therein was to be my test. For a while I was satisfied to read it as I would any other book; but when I began to use it as a practical help in sickness as well as in health, I had many lessons to learn.

"I have failed in my first effort to demonstrate the truth," I tearfully announced to my practitioner, after relating a painful experience. "Did you read in order to help yourself?" was one of her questions. "Oh, yes," I answered; "but not in Science and Health—in another book," mentioning a book which voiced some of the ideas of Christian Science, but which also presented material opinions. This was a severe lesson for me, but through loving rebuke and explanation I ultimately learned that absolute Science, "unadulterated by human hypotheses," is what we all need.

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