"In the way of righteousness is Life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Such were the words, spoken with realization, that fell upon my listening ear six years ago, dispelling with their cadence, the discords of sickness, sin, and death which flooded my whole mind and made my whole heart sick.

Lying close to the death valley, with the cold sweat of agony on my brow, silent and weak, with every hope gone, the unutterable minor chord of life's mournful diapason piercing my senses with indescribable bitterness, I lay a wreck, mentally and physically, with just one cry left: To die, oh, to die! to find relief from conditions of physical and mental suffering that had shut out even the smallest joy of earthly existence. I had spent four years and a half in abject torture of mind and body, seeking relief by the aid of skilled physicians in my own town and with three physicians of American note, in Chicago, Battle Creek, and Wheeling, W. Va.

Physicians generally agreed in the diagnosis of my sickness as extreme nervous symptoms, resuiting from a severe complication of womb and spinal trouble, which appeared in an alarming form after the birth of my second child. With these conditions came a diseased condition of my blood so that my body and its action, was in a most unnatural condition. Losing the use of my limbs, which would not bear my weight, I was confined while at the hospitals to a wheeled chair when not in bed, and under the care of a nurse day and night. During this period of time I submitted to three operations, which made severe tests upon me, and I grew weaker and more despondent in every way at each attempt at restoration. Every material appliance and care were used,—electricity in every form, baths of all kinds and descriptions, massage, diet, and all sorts of mechanical contrivances to stimulate the normal action of the body, together with very frequent injections of nitro-glycerine. Finally, when my body could no longer endure physical treatment, I was started on a three months' rest cure; namely, extremely low diet, and not a movement of my body. At the end of two months, my stomach collapsed, and would not retain any food. All means for the restoration of this organ were resorted to, without profit.

Sinking fast from this severe test of abstinence from food, and all resources of materia medica being exhausted, I turned, as many times before, for spiritual aid, and called for the bishop of the church. He did not come, but sent his assistant, who came to my bedside. I implored him, if it were within his power, to pray and restore me to health, telling him of my great need, my home and family, and my desire still to live and be of use in the world. I assured him that I did not believe that God could heal me, and that I had prayed hard to be delivered from the condition that threatened me as result of my trouble and sickness, quoting to him the words of James, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him." He looked troubled, and said in a solemn way, "My child, miracles cannot be performed at the present time; God wishes you to die, and you must be at peace, therefore prepare to die, and I will bless you."

I was in a private sanitarium at the time, and the physician in charge declared that three days at the most was the limit of my earthly career. Relatives were summoned to my deathbed; and despite the entreaties of those in charge, who assured them of the impossibility of my ever reaching home alive, I was conveyed to the train on a stretcher, and thence to my distant home. I remember nothing of the journey.

For days I lay in a comatose condition. At intervals after that I became conscious for short periods. A physician was in attendance who told the members of the household that it was only a question of a short time until my heart would cease to beat. The door-bell was muffled, the ceremonies of the church for the dying were administered, and the guest was awaited with sadness and awe. And behold, the guest ushered into that chamber of death was none other than a Christian Scientist. My eyes rested upon a sweet-faced woman, a neighbor whom the family, through the earnest solicitation of a friend, had called, and without a spoken word, the allness of God, good, and the omnipotence of divine Life, Love, as ever-present, dawned upon my consciousness and fulfilled the words of our loved Leader's poem (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 396):—

Presently the practitioner smiled, and asked me something concerning returning health, which was somewhat indistinct, as one speaking from a far room whose voice is heard, the voice, not the words, conveying the meaning.

I answered feebly, "Yes, but you know I must die. Everything has been done, and now I must die." Then in the sweetest words ever given mortals to hear, she said, "But there is no death, my child," and in that moment, "in my flesh did I see God." As though the gates of heaven opened wide, I beheld for the first time, Life; for death was overcome by the wonderful demonstration of Christian Science. Lifting myself up from my bed unaided, those standing near were affrighted, and called to me to lie still and not move. I arose to a sitting posture and said these words, "Oh tell me, tell me, if there is no death, what is Life?"

She handed me a little book, and said I would find my answer there. And this book, "Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy, has not been beyond reach of my hand since that hour.

I lay back on my pillow and remained in that perfect state of ecstasy for two days, resting in that wonderful thought of Life, so peaceful, the sweetest joy stealing over me at times and unfolding the divinest hope. The practitioner was called the third day, and when told that I had partaken of no solid food for two months and a half (all food being injected), she began openly to declare that food could not hurt me; and my fear having been destroyed in the meanwhile by her absent treatments, food was brought and I partook freely, after which I arose from my bed, and sat for an hour listening to the words from the pages of Science and Health. And oh, how I thrived upon that word of God! My healing took place in January. The following April I received class instruction and my experience in Christian Science has been one constant unfolding of infinite Love, in the way our Master taught, and as our Leader in Israel has lived and demonstrated.

I may say that Truth not only brought peace but a sword into my experience, for I have endured the severest tests in the loss of things material, and though my healing was so marvelous as to be overwhelmingly convincing, error has been very active. But as the ear, attuned to harmony, and holding to it outgrows the painful sense of discord, and ceases to hear it and believe it to be anything, so in my life I have demonstrated somewhat through life's demands the allness of Love, with signs following.

My gratitude for Christian Science and what it has done for me can best be expressed in meekness and love to the Saviour who walked life's thorny pathway and enjoined us, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and to our Leader, Mary Baker G. Eddy, by working, watching, and praying unceasingly, to live the life she has exemplified.

Agnes Gannon Robertson, Fort Dodge, Ia.