I was reared in an orthodox faith in which I believed...

Mary Gertrude Berghell

I was reared in an orthodox faith in which I believed implicitly, and dearly loved the church even after I found that some of the clergy were not infallible and sometimes fell into grievous errors. When I discovered that they could make mistakes, I began to think for myself, and this I did most thoroughly, beginning with an effort to prove logically the existence of God, and from this came all which followed in my experience.

I suffered dreadfully during the struggle, and used to look with earnest longing on those who simply believed, and wished I might do the same. In the mean time I gave up a Sunday school class which I had been teaching and rarely attended the church. I could no longer teach what I did not know, and I did not wish to take an active part as a member of an institution in which I did not wholly believe. I decided to search the Scriptures, for in them rested my only hope, and at last I found a verse in John's gospel which I determined to work out in my experience "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." I would earnestly endeavor to obey all the good I knew, and I trusted that then I should know more of good. Through obedience would come revelation. Thus I found rest in becoming "poor in spirit," and I was led to the kingdom.

After this I observed a family who I had been told were Christian Scientists, and whose daily home life was so harmonious that I asked for the loan of the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. I read it at a time when I had had three operations on my eyes and was threatened with a fourth. For a yer I had been able to use my eyes very little, and at that time could not read at all at night and only for a few minutes at a time during the day, although I was wearing glasses constantly. I took the book one evening at about seven o'clock, and read until midnight; the next evening I did the same, and feeling that it was incongruous to wear glasses, I took them off. Later, I wore them a little, and then a Scientist told me I had better destroy them. I did so, and never had any temptation to wear them, nor have I had any further trouble with my eyes.

After this time counterfeits of Christian Science were presented to me in various forms, and I visited churches of different shades of belief in my continued searchings for truth, until I came to the Christian Science church and felt there was more good there than anywhere else. The first time I attended a Christian Science service I felt as if I were in heaven. At first I did not accept all the teachings of Science and Health, although I felt it was the most exalted work I had ever read, with the exception of the Bible. I would take for a month or so one little phrase or sentence, and try to make it part of my life, until at last I knew that the whole teaching was the truth. By putting into practice what I read, I was able to demonstrate the truth of the statements. It is scarcely necessary to say that in answer to my earnest search I found positive proof of the ever-presence and all-power of God, good.

I did not have a practitioner. My family not being Scientists, I seemed compelled to do my own Science work or else have a physician. The urgency of the case was the cause of my awakening to Truth's demands, and the work was done. I am thankful I was thus forced to learn how to do my own work. I was healed of catarrh in a very bad form during an unusually inclement winter in a city to which because of its nearness to the sea I had feared to go, and in which I had suffered particularly. I was healed of intestinal and stomach trouble, also of extreme nervousness and resultant maladies, which combined had resulted in a semiinvalidism considered hopeless by the physicians.

After my healing in Christian Science my good health was so strongly established that when my baby boy came the birth was normal, and the third morning I was at my desk before six. On the fifth day, my servant and nurse leaving unexpectedly, I did much of the work for a family of five. My teeth had been very poor, but after I became interested in Christian Science I did not have a cavity for five years, which the dentist thought very remarkable. Once, after I had had rather severe work done, the dentist said he was much pleased because I had borne it so well. I had felt scarcely any pain, and told him that Christian Science had helped me. He said he had other Christian Science patients and that he wished all his patients were like them. My children are unusually robust and have had no diseases. My little girl of three, if she has some childish trouble, will call quickly for help in the truth, and her little brother, not much older, eagerly asks for the same help. I find however that the greatest part of Christian Science is the healing of sin. I rejoice more over the uncovering and destruction of some sinful trait of my own character than in the greatest physical healing.

It seems to me that Christian Science is the call to all weary wanderers to come home. We rejoice, now that we are finding our home in infinite Mind. When a girl, I had been oppressed by the terrible suffering of humanity, for whom I had an intense love and a great yearning to relieve. I felt there must be a solution to the problem, and my most earnest, constant desire was to find this solution and I felt confident I should. I now know that the solution is Christian Science, and in this teaching my prayer has been answered beyond my highest anticipation.

My gratitude and reverence for Mrs. Eddy grow daily, as my blessings are discovered. I think I am most grateful for her wonderful courage, her self-immolation and never ending perseverance, which enabled her so to inspire us that we might see the nothingness of the sin in which we had believed and by which we had been blinded.

Mary Gertrude Berghell, Hillsboro Inlet, Fla.

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