Article November 2, 1907 Issue

"I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY."

WILLIAM LLOYD.

When I have heard that a neighbor is sick or distressed, I have sometimes hesitated before going to tell him what Christian Science has done for me, lest the family should deem it an intrusion. I have also left some of our Wednesday evening meetings dissatisfied because of a sense of their incompleteness; there had been no specific testimony of healing, and I feared that the stranger within our gates had gone away hungry. We should bear in mind that the Wednesday evening meetings are the time in which we can declare to our neighbor the wonderful power and goodness of God to us, and that without diffidence or fear of intrusion. To stand up and say we are very grateful for Christian Science is the right thing to do, though it is often a great effort for those who have not overcome timidity, but it does not carry the conviction to a stranger that a specific statement will, delivered,—if this be necessary,—after due preparation. Should we not therefore try to tell why we are grateful?

All of humanity's troubles, whether mental, physical, or financial, can be met by the earnest and persistent study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures". I am sure of this because I have proved it time and time again during the last nineteen years. I was familiar with the Bible before I heard of Christian Science. To me it was a very interesting book, with remarkable stories which might or might not be true, but which carried no conviction to my mind. How different when I took up Science and Health! for I found it to be indeed "the Key" to the Scriptures, and with the "Key" I opened an entirely new book. Its message from cover to cover is man's utter and entire dependence upon God. Its remarkable stories are narratives of experiences by men and women like ourselves, who through the apprehension of God's all-power and ever-presence found themselves in such accord with the divine Mind as to be able to disregard asserted material laws.

Let us take the wonderful account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as given in the book of Daniel. One winter day, some four years ago, I went into the office, and as I entered one of the rooms accidentally knocked off a knob on the top of a gas heater which was going full force. The odor of burning rose from the carpet. On the impulse of the moment I stooped, picked up the knob, and set it carefully in its socket. I felt acute pain, and as I opened my fingers I saw the whitened skin. A gentleman who had witnessed the affair said, "You are burned!" It was the needed stimulus. All my being seemed to rise in rebellion at the thought, and my reply was, "I am not:" then I turned and left the room and went to work to overcome the error. I held steadfastly to the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p.468), knowing that I dwelt in Mind and not in matter. Within ten minutes the pain was gone, and in my work I soon forgot what had happened. That afternoon the superintendent came to the office, and the first remark he addressed to me was, "You were burned this morning." In answer I held out my hand. There was not the least mark on it !

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