Although I was born and...

Everett Walton Goodhue with contributions from Mary Taylor Goodhue

Although I was born and brought up in New England, on the doorstep, as it were, of Christian Science, I knew nothing about it until well along in my professional career. One of my earliest recollections is of the horror and dislike my good mother had for what she erroneously believed to be Christian Science.

During a part of the year 1927 I was on sabbatical leave from my duties as professor of economics at one of the well-known New England colleges. My wife and I were traveling in Europe, and in Switzerland we met an American woman who talked of Christian Science to my wife. This first exposure made little impression on us; but since my wife's health was not good, when we got back to Paris we went to the Monitor office seeking information. We were advised to visit a practitioner, and thus it was that Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy came into our possession.

From time to time, out of curiosity, I would read a little in it. The more I read, the more interested I became in its statements of truth. For more than a quarter of a century, I had been an inveterate smoker. Reading the textbook convinced me that smoking was slavery, a very bad personal habit. Within a short time, through my study of Science and Health, I was completely free of this habit and also of that of social drinking. The desire for tobacco and liquor entirely disappeared from consciousness.

However, a more difficult problem faced me. I had to be healed of prejudice against Mrs. Eddy. In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy says of humility (p. 356), "It is the genius of Christian Science." I had to learn this lesson of humility. In my thought was much intellectual arrogance, pride, superiority, and resistance. I was often in an argumentative state of mind. I was told there was no basis for argument; that there were no buts nor ifs. However, for a good many years I could not quite believe it. It took a deal of prayerful work and much thought searching to come down from my intellectual pedestal and humbly acknowledge to myself the greatness, goodness, and accuracy of Mrs. Eddy's revelation and to give her a rightful place in my thinking as Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and Leader of its movement. It was a long and, at times, painful struggle, involving much self-discipline.

I am now grateful for the struggle because it taught me many wholesome lessons. I am grateful to God for Mrs. Eddy and all her courage, devotion, vision, and faith in the pioneering days. She was indeed out on a new frontier. I am grateful for The Mother Church and its many activities, including the publication of our periodicals; the articles in these are a tower of strength in time of need. I am grateful for class instruction, for branch Church work, and for the forward thrust of Christian Science amidst all the current confusion and discord of the human mind. —Everett Walton Goodhue,
Hanover, New Hampshire.

I am the wife referred to in this testimony, and I was an eyewitness to the healings described by my husband.

In Paris, after studying the textbook for a few weeks and with the help of the practitioner, I was healed of constipation.

Then one day at lunch I said to myself, "Since what I am studying is true, I can eat anything that appeals to me," and thereupon I was healed of the fear of eating many foods which had been like poison to me since my early childhood. I have eaten anything I have wished during the last thirty-six years. My general health was improved while I was in Paris. —(Mrs.) Mary Taylor Goodhue.

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Testimony of Healing

In all the years I have been a...

April 11, 1964

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