Testimony of Healing March 22, 1913 Issue

Several years ago I became interested in Christian Science

M. E. Cooper

Several years ago I became interested in Christian Science. Though I did not study it as much as I wished to, I gleaned enough of its truths to open my eyes to some things in the Bible which I had felt to be truths, but which I now saw in a new light; and this began to change my whole life. I had been a member of a church nearly all my life, and had been taught to pray to God for every want; but I prayed to a manlike God in the skies, and many times daily. Surely no person could plead with God more than I did; but this much pleading came to an end, for in time the thought presented itself, Why do I not get a hearing? Over and over again I asked, Why do I get no assurance that God hears me? As I had no assurance, I had apparently gained nothing. My temper, which I had tried to control, was the same, for if any one offended me, I gave the usual bitter retort; I loved them that loved me, and hated them that hated me. I knew all this was not Christlike, yet I had tried hard to do right. My prayers became few and far between, and I prayed only because I feared to stop. The Bible, which I had read daily for years, and with which I had become so familiar, was seldom read. My friends whispered it around that I was becoming an unbeliever, and came to see me; but I was mute on that subject.

I was and had been gradually growing into a serious condition of ill health, mentally and physically. I was weak, and could not walk over a block at the time when I became acquainted with Christian Science, and a physician had told my husband two years before this, that I had an inward growth which would cause my death unless an operation, to which I would not consent, was performed. When I heard of Christian Science (I was then in Macon, Ga.), I wrote to a Scientist in Atlanta to treat me. In a short time I felt so much better that I could walk any distance, and felt so happy that I began to read more in that remarkable book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. I began to sleep sweetly at night, and awoke in the morning feeling bright and happy. The growth disappeared, though I could not tell when; I only knew that it gave me no more trouble, and it has never returned. My worst bondage, however, was the use of an opiate since I was a young woman. It was first taken for relief from neuralgia, from which I had suffered for years, and my husband had paid out hundreds of dollars to doctors to have me cured, but to no avail. I was so humiliated by all this that I was ashamed to tell any one; but when Christian Science became known to me, I felt that more knowledge of it would free me from this drug habit which was making me so unhappy. I saw too that the golden rule, instead of being merely talked about, must be lived; that we must not only love our friends, but also our enemies. The purpose of Jesus' mission to this world was made plain to me, and I saw that the Bible meant that we must have no other gods, but the one God, good, and that what we sow, we reap.

I kept putting off the giving up of the drug, fearing I could not cope with it, when finally, in March, 1911, I determined to take my stand against it. One Wednesday morning I took the drug, threw it in the ash barrel, and then walked to the home of a practitioner, fifteen blocks away, to tell her what I had done. She put me to sewing for several hours, after which I returned home, slept well that night, and walked again to her home next morning to spend the day. With her help I was sustained; but that Thursday night I had to call for help twice, and again on morning. About ten o'clock that Friday, I felt relieved of the desire for the drug, and have not wanted it since. My health has greatly improved from that time.

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