I have expressed my gratitude many times at our Wednesday meetings, and there is scarcely a day passes that I do not tell some stranger of the great benefits I have received from Christian Science, having been healed through the reading of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

It was fourteen years ago last February that the good news came to us of several persons who had been healed by Christian Science. For about seven years I had been deformed from a dislocated hip and curvature of the spine. The physicians said I could never be any better, and that they thought a great deal had been done for me in preventing an abscess from forming, telling me what a terrible thing it was. Walking much would cause a soreness in the joint, and some days I could not walk at all. In addition to this, I had what the doctor called ulceration of the eyelids, with which I had been troubled since having the measles when three years of age, and almost every spring for two or three weeks I could not open my eyes, the suffering being so severe. After hearing of the work Christian Science was doing I wasted no time in going to see the Scientist who had started the work in our city, Grand Rapids.

My interview with him was not satisfactory, as he would not promise a cure, but tried to explain to me; but I could not, or would not, understand. I confounded Christian Science with faith cure, and thought that not to be willing to promise showed a weak faith, and I would not take treatment.

My mother was with me, an invalid for several years, and did not feel as I did about it and was treated. She was relieved after the first treatment and bought Science and Health. I knew she got the book, thinking I would read it. As days went past and she saw I would not, she tried to read it to me, but I would not listen. Finally I thought I had better read the book and find out what it was I was antagonizing. So I started to read Science and Health, as a critic, but I am thankful to say that I never criticised one word. I read the book for several days, then told my family that I was a firm believer in Christian Science, and if I were not cured, and never saw any one cured, it would not change my thought, for I knew that the fault would be with persons and not with God, the Principle.

I felt it was a revelation, and I loved the author. I could not believe that God saw all the suffering in this world and had power to prevent it, but for some good reason did not. We were told we must love this God, and believe He was good, we must also believe that He was all powerful, and that it was His will that every one should be saved, that He governed the world, and yet the sinful seemed to flourish in all ways, and to drag a great many down with them, while the good were prevented from doing God's work on account of illness. How different from the teachings of Jesus.

Can it be wondered that I accepted Science and Health as a revelation, when it took me out of such darkness? I did not think about myself when reading, whether I should be healed or not, until one day about two weeks after I HAD begun reading Science and Health I had a severe pain in my hip joint. It was so severe for a few seconds that I could not move. I had never had anything like it before, and when I got up from my chair I knew that the joint had slipped in place. The demonstration was complete. Since this time I have had no trouble with it whatever. It seems needless to try to tell how grateful I am to our beloved Mother for the light she has given us and the work she has done and is doing, for deeds, not words, prove gratitude and love. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The word try which mortal mind has rested upon for so long, Jesus never used. The only way to prove gratitude and love is through true obedience though there is an obedience through fear of punishment which perhaps is better than not to obey at all. Of course we begin our journey by trying, but we must not be satisfied with the thought that we are trying. We must do the best we can, we must prove our love for God, for Christ Jesus, for our Leader, and for mankind, through our obedience and works.

Ada H. Hammond. Baltimore. Md.