For several years prior to the time I began the study of Christian Science. I believed that it was not only misleading in many ways, but that it was even a dangerous method of treating the sick. I had spent ten years in the study and practice of medicine, and believed that I knew exactly the process by which the cures (which I admitted) were brought about. Although at the time I took up the study of Christian Science I had been out of active practice for about seven years, I was still much interested in materia medica. I was professor of medical jurisprudence in one of our medical colleges, and was trying, with some success, to make a specialty of medico-legal cases. Aside from this I was interested financially in two drug concerns, so that the medical thought was connected with my every act in life.

To make my case more hopeless, as it seemed, I felt that it was inhuman to treat children under Christian Science, also that the inability of its practitioners to diagnose contagious diseases, and thus to prevent their spread, was a matter which ought to condemn it with all thinking people. These were only a few of the seeming barriers to my acceptance of Christian Science. How many more there were, I do not claim to know. Only the faithful practitioners and friends who so lovingly aided me in that stormy "passage from sense to Soul" (Science and Health, p. 566) can tell. With all this seeming opposition, and with the feeling that my supply depended entirely upon continuing in the medical thought, together with the fact that I believed myself well physically, it is marvelous to human sense that I should have been led to see the truth.

My wife had suffered for several years from diseases which would not yield to medicine, and although she was treated by the most skilful members of my profession, under their care she received only temporary relief. In her great distress she was anxious to try Christian Science, but though gradually growing worse, she lovingly yielded to my judgment. This state of affairs could not, in the nature of things, last. The very extremity which my erroneous judgment brought about, at last led me to see the injustice of my position, and I finally consented to have her treated under Christian Science. Her healing was beautiful and complete, but the effect upon my attitude was to increase rather than to diminish my opposition. The reason for this was that I attributed the result to the effect upon the human mind which is produced by hypnotism or mental suggestion, as is recognized by my profession.

"Why couldn't she accept the same through materia medica, and leave out the Christian element?" was a mooted point which brought many hours of sorrow to me. My greatest desire, at that time, was for my wife to see the subject as I saw it, for I was fully awake to the fact that the question of religious teaching for our little girl would soon come up for final decision, and that while my wife's adherence to Christian Science would cause her to want that method, I could not, I felt, consent to it. Here, however, came in the argument that settled the whole matter. I had no religion to offer the child, while my wife had; and upon this rock my opposition was destroyed. I realized that it would be unfair to deprive her of something which my wife regarded as beneficial, so about two years ago I concluded to study Christian Science, in order to find some plan by which I could be fair to my wife and little girl and still do my duty by keeping them from going blindly into something I considered dangerous. The history of my projected "undoing of Science" would be interesting if I could tell it as it really occurred. A short time after I began to study, our little girl went to bed one night with a severe cough. My wife wanted to call a practitioner, to which I consented, though with some reluctance. The result was that the child's cough ceased in about fifteen minutes, and she went to sleep. "A coincidence," I said to myself. The next night the same thing occurred. "Another coincidence," was the verdict of my materia medica, but it was not so strong. On the third night the same thing occurred, and by that time I felt more like studying, with a view to finding the law by which the healing was accomplished.

When I began the study of this great religion in real earnest, it was not long before I saw that there was much truth in it. For instance, the statement, "There is no sensation in matter" (Science and Health, p. 237), which seems so hard for many beginners to understand, was plain to me from the start. I think all physicians will admit its truth if they will consider it from an unprejudiced standpoint. This important point being passed, I was soon led to see that there was an underlying wisdom in the whole teaching that could come from no source but that of scientific knowledge. Therefore, having found one great truth, I followed it up, along with many others, until the entire system became one grand combination of truth, so interwoven that the proof of one part would be proof of it all.

Notwithstanding the fact that I at first saw much truth, I could not keep down the thought that there were what I called "extreme cases" which Christian Science would not reach, and these seemed ever to stand out as complete barriers to prevent me from seeing the basic law which I sincerely hoped to discover. These "extreme cases" included, among others, diphtheria, pneumonia, and consumption. For instance, I believed that diphtheria could be cured only by the use of antitoxin. I had used this remedy in my own practice, and felt that the refusal of its use by Christian Scientists was criminal negligence, even in the face of the fact that very many medical men do not now and never have used it. In regard to pneumonia. I did not argue in my own mind that it could be cured under medical treatment, but I did think that at certain stages of the disease the patients needed stimulants; therefore, the fact that Christian Scientists did not use stimulants made them guilty of neglect. I considered that consumption would be harmed rather than benefited in Christian Science, for the reason that its victims would be so wrapped up in religious blindness that they would refuse to take care of themselves, and refuse also to change to a climate where they could be helped. Not many months, however, after I began to read Science and Health, it was my privilege to observe a case of this disease which was being treated by a Christian Science practitioner. It was a well developed case, but it was healed in the course of about three weeks, and in this climate too. Thus, I passed one of the mile-posts, and I must say I did it gladly.

In the first few months these "extreme cases" seemed to come under my observation with astonishing rapidity. While I was away from home for a few days, my little girl became sick and was placed under the care of a practitioner. She was nearly well when within twenty-four hours I got home. I immediately recognized the condition as a case of serious throat trouble, but the next morning she was able to eat heartily and was entirely nealed in about thirty-six hours. No antitoxin had been used, and thus another of the props was taken from under my materia medica knowledge. After this she was completely healed of a severe nervous trouble in one treatment. To me this was the most wonderful demonstration of the power of God as explained and taught in Christian Science that I have ever seen. Is it any wonder that I became a firm believer in this healing religion? But to make the "extreme cases" complete, and to destroy utterly and finally every argument I had ever used, I had the great privilege of examining a man who was suffering from pneumonia in its worst form. To make this case even more difficult of treatment, the patient had a valvular heart lesion. There is no doubt in my mind of the hopelessness of recovery had medicine been relied upon, but the patient was entirely healed in one treatment and was on the street the next day. The very foundations of all that I had claimed about the dangers of Christian Science were fairly taken from under me, and I was left with only God upon whom to depend.

In my own case, without special treatment, I was healed of wearing glasses. I was also healed of sleeplessness, of a stomach trouble which was periodic in character, and of many other complaints of less importance; but the greatest demonstration was relief from the intense opposition. It seemed as if every point that I had ever contended for came up in one form or another, and when they did they always met defeat. I have mentioned only a few of the many cases that have come under my personal observation. I have seen high fevers leave in a few minutes on several occasions, I have seen intense pain fade away, I have seen sorrow replaced by joy and gladness,—all by reason of acquaintance with and reliance upon the power of Truth, divine Mind, as taught in Christian Science.

If the healing of disease were the only thing for which I have reason to be grateful for Christian Science, it would be sufficient, but this is only a very small part of the many blessings that have been showered upon me. To know that there is a God; to have been associated with people about whom it can be said, as our Leader has written about others, that "their religion was the great fact concerning them" (Messages to The Mother Church, p. 69); to feel the inspiration of Love, and to know that for every seeming trouble of mankind there is an infallible remedy,—these are among the blessings that have come to me since I began the honest investigation of this healing and regenerating truth. I write this testimony with a feeling of deepest gratitude to God, and to our beloved Leader for her inspiring and helpful message to mankind. I wish also to thank all those who have so kindly and unselfishly assisted me in the acquisition of this knowledge of God.—Lewis B. Sawyer, M.D., Kansas City, Mo.