Testimony of Healing July 25, 1908 Issue

In giving my testimony I must be numbered among...

Lora Young Olney

In giving my testimony I must be numbered among those who did not come to Christian Science for physical healing, but who through earnest and unprejudiced investigation have found Christian Science to be the truth. Having been reared by parents who had outgrown creeds and dogmas, I was never allowed to join any church, although I had been taught to read the Bible, and consequently was free mentally to roam at will. Being of a serious turn of mind, my daily argument, almost from childhood, "was, "Surely there must be a fact, a truth, regarding myself, this world, the universe, and my fellowbeings! Can all these things exist without a supreme governing power, and is it possible that this power or intelligence can be aught but good?" The next query was always, "Where and how can I find this power?" During many weary years of mental research my one grain of comfort was found in a few words from an old hymn, a mere remnant of childhood's recollections—"I have a Father, a kind heavenly Father."

For ten years I studied so-called mental science, occultism, mysticism, Vedantic philosophy, etc., anything and everything that presented itself to my attention, except spiritualism, which my parents spent much time and money investigating, with not very satisfying results. The multitude of isms and philosophies which I tried to digest simply made me more and more confused, restless, impatient, and naturally resulted in irritability and nervousness. I thought that truth, in order to be truth, must necessarily include everything, and that in some inconceivable manner I must master all these different things, and thereby attain spiritual illumination. I did not realize that only two and two are four, that two and three, or two and five, etc., can never be four. I did not see that truth must be one, not a multitude of ideas; that there is only one Principle and idea, although expressed in multitudinous forms of harmony.

When the first ray of pure, unadulterated truth touched my consciousness, I was in the home of a friend. I took up a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and opened it with this thought, "I am going to throw aside all prejudice, and if the truth I so crave and need is in this little book, I will accept it, love it, and obey." I opened the book, and read the words, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Science and Health, p. 600). Ah, this, then, was to be my beacon-light. The heavenly Father did really exist and answered earnest prayers. A day or two later some one told me that in order to understand Christian Science I must first burn every scrap of false literature in my home. This was unexpected information and I was unprepared and felt rebellious. In a few days I went to Minneapolis, and there met an old acquaintance who had become a Christian Science practitioner. When I questioned her regarding this statement, she said, "Oh, no; do not destroy these old things you care for, but read Science and Health." These were wise words, and as I followed her advice a wonderful lesson was learned. In a remarkably short time Science and Health had come to mean much to me, and my interest in the other literature had dwindled into nothingness. I understood what a Christian Scientist means when he advises an inquirer, "You need not give up old habits and beliefs; they will drop away from you like leaves from trees in autumn." What a time ensued, later, of burning basketfuls of magazines, papers, and finally books, but then I could do it without a shadow of regret. No one else witnessed this destruction of outgrown beliefs, for to me it was a solemn ceremony!

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