Testimony of Healing September 17, 1904 Issue

Many years ago, when I first heard of Christian Science,...

Ada C. Merrill

Many years ago, when I first heard of Christian Science, my attitude toward what I thought it to be, was one of strong antagonism. I understood that it was only a method of healing disease, and that without material means. As time went on, I learned that several people whom I knew, and who were acknowledged to be intelligent and sensible, believed in it and claimed to have been healed by it, and though I had to admit that they were healed and by something that did not belong to medicine, yet I felt some disgust and a great deal of pity for any one who could be so deluded. But the time came when I too was in great need of something to help me. Although I had adhered faithfully to medicine for several years and had even resorted to surgery, I did not receive the health and strength so much desired, and was practically a nervous wreck with no hope of ever being well again. It was at this time that a dear friend who had been healed by Christian Science, urged me to try it.

I purchased a copy of Science and Health and began to read, hoping that as it had helped her it might help me, but I could not understand it in the least. Sometimes after reading, the book would be put aside with the thought that there was no use in trying to understand it. A copy of "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mrs. Eddy was loaned to me. That seemed a little clearer and I kept on reading, and finally decided to consult a practitioner. I applied to one of Mrs. Eddy's students and arranged to take Christian Science treatments. From the very beginning I began to realize that instead of being merely a physical remedy, it was a most beautiful new, yet old, religion, so full of hope and comfort that all things became new. It was indeed a revelation. Here surely was the "pearl of great price" I had been longing for all my life. I began to improve right away and in about five months was healed. Within a year, with the little understanding I then had, I was able to lay aside my glasses, which I had worn for over five years, and although that was five years ago I have not needed them since. This is only a very small part of the physical help received, for all of which I feel very grateful indeed, but, as every Christian Scientist knows, the physical help is only one of the many blessings this beautiful understanding of the Bible brings to us. Words are indeed inadequate to express my gratitude for a religion that is so practical that through the understanding it gives us of God and our relation to Him, we are enabled to overcome the difficulties of every kind that enter into our daily experiences. We learn how to live instead of how to die; that Life, not death, is the real, and that the teaching and example of Jesus are just as practical to-day as they ever were. He said, "the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them," "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," and Science and Health tells us that "Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man immortal" (p. 485).

Ada C. Merrill, Toledo, O.

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