When a friend first told me of...

Friedrich Müller-Vollrath

When a friend first told me of Christian Science and of a textbook called "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, I asked him —probably out of curiosity more than anything else—to lend me the book. I took it with me on my vacation. At first I only glanced through it; then I could not put it down. Every day I returned to it and read various parts of it. The thoughts expressed in the book seemed to speak to me, and something in me responded. After a few days of desultory reading—which was perhaps not entirely aimless — I started at the Preface, and after that I could not stop reading. The very title of each chapter aroused my interest. I went on reading day after day, using every free moment, until I reached the end. As I read, a deep sense of expectancy came over me. It is true much of what I read seemed unintelligible; but I felt somehow that underlying every word was the truth. I had at last found a clear concept of God, about whom I had often thought.

On returning from my vacation I learned from my friend that there was a Christian Science church in our city. Although I had not attended any church for a number of years, I asked my friend to take me with him. I was deeply touched by the simplicity of the service. The impersonal nature of the Lesson-Sermon from the Christian Science Quarterly, consisting of passages from the Bible and their correlative passages from the textbook, made a deep impression on me, and with a certain excitement I awaited the Wednesday evening testimony meeting. For the first time in my life I heard testimonies of healing. "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, —neither in nor of matter, —and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well" (Science and Health, p. 14). As I was on my way home from a testimony meeting one Wednesday evening, those words kept ringing in my ears, and when I arrived home I wondered if they might be applied to my ailment.

As a result of exposure during World War I, my hands and feet were frostbitten. The doctors said I was suffering from a rheumatic condition which was chronic and which was influenced by the weather. This ailment was again troubling me. I sat before the many medicines from which for seven years I had expected relief and healing in vain, and I made up my mind to put the words I had heard that evening to the test, asking God to give me understanding. I decided to rely on Him alone.

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