Article July 12, 1919 Issue

Extracts from Letters

"The latest Sentinel you sent me gave me much to ponder. I wondered for days and weeks why there came no more recent copy from headquarters, since many of my friends got their copies rather regularly. At last, after waiting in vain also for my first Journal in 1919, while perusing again my last Sentinel mentioned above, my attention was led to the 'Extracts from Letters' column. There I read as follows: 'I feel my heart so swell with gratitude for the great blessing of Christian Science in general, and at this moment in particular for the wonderful way in which its literature has been made accessible to ...' Here I stopped, for I felt constrained to reprove a very ungrateful ego. I saw I had a debt to pay, a weighty one, and of long standing. I wish I could do so by telephone, better still by wireless, and also possibly in cash. For the moment, allow me to express my gratitude in letters by which heart and soul are speaking.

"I came to Christian Science in 1903. Then sixty-five years old, it was prophesied my glasses would prove a useless burden. And so I experienced within a short time. But it was not so much for any bodily ailment that this gospel of healing had captivated my thoughts and affections. Since my youth an earnest and active member of our Dutch Reformed church, with mildly orthodox tendencies, I at once saw in Christian Science a welcome opportunity to review and correct my crude and incoherent notions about Christ and Christianity. Yet how much has an octogenarian, a teacher of young people and adults, in active and joyous service and study up to this date, to learn and unlearn before feeling indeed 'a little child.' This proves my daily task in Christian Science, and for this I owe my best thanks to our Father-Mother God, to this divine Science taught by Christ Jesus, and to Mrs. Eddy, the mouthpiece of his gospel to this age.... The Christian Science War Relief committee gave me twice a welcome assistance, two or three years ago, under circumstances so threatening that the need was deemed urgent, for which succor I offered the committee my heartfelt thanks, and here again express my humble acknowledgment. So many lines I judged necessary for the explanation of my grateful feelings, and of my grief in missing my most welcome literature."

"As a stranger I take the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude for the generous help you sent monthly to my wife in Steffisburg."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Extracts from Letters

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access