Speaker: Today we're going to hear from a man who had doubts as to whether prayer could heal sickness until he himself was healed. This man is Dr. Frederick G. Roberts of Chicago, Illinois, and he's here in person to tell us his own story. Dr. Roberts, won't you begin now?

Dr. Roberts: Well, I was a physician on the north side in Chicago for about ten years, with a very active practice. I was qualified in medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology and also in surgery. Then suddenly I became ill with a nervous breakdown and general physical collapse. For several weeks I suffered greatly and kept getting worse; there was even question whether I would recover at all. Four well-informed physicians were in consultation on the case, and each rendered a different diagnosis and recommended a different procedure of treatment. Finally my wife asked me to have Christian Science treatment; she was slightly interested at that time.

I'm afraid I rebelled. I knew very little about Christian Science, and most of that was misinformation. Also my pride was too great to accept it. But Mrs. Roberts was persistent, and I felt a sense of hopelessness about my condition; so finally to please her I agreed to dismiss the physicians and consented to Christian Science help. But I remember saying that I didn't want any Christian Science practitioner coming to the house. So my wife telephoned a practitioner and asked her to begin treatment through prayer. In a week's time I was up and about with no period of recuperation at all! The mental anguish and the physical disability were both completely over.

Frankly, I just took the healing for granted and thought, "Oh, well, I would have gotten better anyway." I went back to my medical practice, but I was bothered by certain questions. I thought, "How in the world did a woman a considerable distance away heal me without material means when I can't do that in my own practice?" Over and over I wondered, "How did this thing take place?" Finally I decided to go and have a talk with a Christian Science practitioner. I made an appointment with a practitioner at night so no one would see me going in. We sat and talked for some time, and he answered a number of pointed questions about Christian Science. Then an interesting thing occurred. While we were talking, I squirmed in discomfort from a severe abdominal rupture for which I'd worn a specially prepared support for years. The practitioner asked me what the trouble was, and I told him the history of the condition, which dated back to an operation I'd had in my boyhood. He pointed out that with God's help I could be healed of this too. He asked me if I would be willing to leave off the support.

I was a little dubious, but I wanted to co-operate, and he agreed to treat me. The next morning I left it off, and I've never worn it since. The spot was healed, and I've never had another bit of difficulty. I was so impressed with this second healing and the talk I'd had with this man that I began the earnest study of Christian Science. In rapid succession after that I had many proofs of God's nearness and goodness. I was healed of the need to wear glasses, and I've had healings of pneumonia and broken bones. And I'm especially grateful that many faults of character were corrected. Well, after the healing of rupture, I returned to my office to take up my medical duties. But I felt this was no longer the right place for me. From what I'd seen in my own experience, I knew I wanted to rely entirely on spiritual means for healing and eventually help others to do so, too. So I turned prayerfully to God for guidance, and an opportunity opened for me to enter another field; and later I went into the public practice of Christian Science healing. All in all, the transition has been a very wonderful experience, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Speaker: This has been a tremendously interesting account you've given us, Dr. Roberts. I know you've thought a great deal about the question of sickness and health. It's interesting that you were able to confirm to your own satisfaction, by actual proofs, the fact that the prayer of spiritual understanding does heal.

Now let's take a few moments to discuss the question of why and how such prayer heals. First, let's go back to the generally accepted view that disease comes from certain physical conditions which may arise in the body: functional conditions, chemical, and so on. But if we go a step beyond this, we come to the more basic question of why these discordant conditions arise; in other words, where do they come from?

We find much light on this subject in the words and works of Christ Jesus, whose record of healing stands unparalleled in ancient and modern times. Now how could Jesus and the early Christians heal physical difficulties entirely through prayer? The answer, which is made clear in Christian Science and made practical, is that the origin of all disease is entirely mental. It is found in such negative qualities of thought as fear, jealousy, hate, and also in the belief that man's life is material and mortal, that man is at the mercy of material conditions and consequently subject to disease.

Explaining this in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 411): "The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed. Disease is an image of thought externalized."

This statement is in line with the words of Paul, where he says in Romans, "To be carnally minded is death." And the remedy is indicated in this same verse where Paul continues, "But to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

From this it is evident that the cure for disease lies in the correction of thought, in other words, in spiritualization of thought. It lies in the understanding that God is Life, that man's life is in God, not in a material body. Man's God-given life is not subject to material conditions, not at the mercy of germs, deterioration, chemical reactions. Man is the image and likeness of God, as the Bible says; and therefore the real man is spiritual, indestructible, perfect.

Christian Science also shows that God is divine Mind, the only Mind, and this Mind includes no evil and no disease. The divine Mind is actually the source of man's intelligence and consciousness. As this truth dawns upon us, we naturally express more of the qualities of God, divine Mind, such as goodness, purity, justice, truth, love.

The healing effects of this prayerful reasoning are described in Science and Health in these words (p. 162): "Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. It changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, rstores carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind."

The musical selection on this program was Hymn No. 64 from the Christian Science Hymnal (From sense to Soul my pathway lies before me).