Testimony of Healing April 19, 1913 Issue

When Mrs. Eddy declared several years since that there...

Norman C. Vogele with contributions from Pearl Helsel Vogele

When Mrs. Eddy declared several years since that there is no matter, the wise men of our day criticized and ridiculed her for speaking the truth. What would the wise men of today say if they should discover that unnumbered thousands have learned and proved in the last few years the unreality of all material things? A Christian Scientist must understand the unreality of matter in order to heal a single case of sickness or sin. He must know to a certainty that germs, microbes, parasites, etc., have no foundation in truth; they have no starting-place; they cannot be creations of Mind, for all that God made was "good." On my journey from sense to Soul, it was almost impossible for me to believe that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation" (Science and Health, p. 468). My theory that man was mind and matter combined did not, however, make it so; therefore I had to get right, for God was right and could not be changed,—His work was done.

Early in the spring of 1910 I had reached the limit of all material help; all had failed me. I then asked help from a Christian Science practitioner, and I began to improve even before the practitioner received word from me. I did not understand this at the time, but I decided that if the teachings of Christian Science were of God, He knew my needs before I called upon Him or before I spoke, as the Scripture teaches. I laid aside all belief in materiality as a remedy, and was well, though the physical healing seems a shadow when compared with the spiritual uplift which followed. I was a new man. Then there dawned upon me the meaning of Jesus' words, "These signs shall follow them that believe." I never before dreamed I could be as strong and well as others, but this proof of God's power showed me that strength and health are not dependent upon human knowledge, are not in bone and muscle, not in senseless matter. This lesson learned brings to thought another one, namely, that in God "we live, and move, and have our being," as St. Paul declared. I now understand that the principal work of Christian Science is the healing of sin, and I rejoice in knowing this.

I feel very grateful to God, and can truly say I am thankful to His messenger to this age, Mrs. Eddy. I rejoice too that by much study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in connection with the Bible, I am enabled to prove my sonship by doing the works which Jesus said could be done by those who believed,—who understood.

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