Article December 18, 1902 Issue

Suffering—in Christian Science and Out

EDWARD EVERETT NORWOOD

RECENTLY, when talking to a patient who had been brought out of a severe trouble and the keen suffering attendant upon it, and who had formerly been through the same experience without the aid of Christian Science, the thought came, what a difference there is in human experience without a knowledge of Christian Science and with it.

The first state is either silent endurance or rebellious resentment, both often attended with resort to narcotics to quiet the nerves or stupefy the senses, and thus make one oblivious of his environment. The trouble, or infirmity being held in thought as a reality, it seems natural to charge it to some cause; and too often the Father of all mercies is held responsible for it. Or it may be, even if the cause be recognized as in sinful sense, an inefficient appeal is made to God to cure it, and failing, He is no less falsely accused.

All know more or less, the sorrows and sicknesses, the disappointments and heartaches of human experience, and so often, in the graphic words of Jeremiah, "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble." The error seemed so real and present, and Good so far away and inefficient, that we were often well-nigh hopeless.

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Suffering—in Christian Science and Out

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