Because I have received immeasurable good from the testimonies...

Nellie Victoria Freshman

Because I have received immeasurable good from the testimonies of others, and because I appreciate our Christian Science literature more than anything else in the world, I offer my tribute of thanksgiving. It may be that some one will gather from it a desire for higher and better living and be led into the realm of the real, where the sins of sense and the fears of false foes are being destroyed, and the everlasting joys of Soul are becoming veritable facts in this present day. In 1893, when all other helpers failed to bring relief, I turned to Christian Science, and found physical health and spiritual enlightenment with a joy and satisfaction I had never known before.

All my life I had been subject to rheumatic troubles. These culminated in a serious attack of sciatica, accompanied by paralysis for some days. The good physician attending me said he could do nothing for me except to deaden the pain with an opiate; but I objected to this and began to think of a higher power than drugs. Though I had ridiculed Christian Science for five years, I insisted at this time upon sending a telegram to a Christian Science practitioner in a near-by city (I was at that time in a boarding-school in the state of New York). In less than two hours from the time the telegram left my bedside, I arose from my bed perfectly free from pain and stiffness; in fact, entirely well, and from that day to this, almost nineteen years, I have had no recurrence of rheumatism in any form. Other diseases, including asthma, hay-fever, indigestion, also a violent temper, left me gradually as I continued to study the Christian Science text-book.

Because of my religious training and experiences at home,—my father having been a preacher, also my brother, and a brother-in-law,—I knew there must be a correct interpretation of the Scriptures. I had sought everywhere, and even went so far as to read lectures on infidelity and atheism; but in vain, for I was left stranded upon the sad shores of wonderment, "having no hope, and without God in the world." I yearned for a solution of this life-problem, for I could not reconcile the injustice of mental, physical, and financial suffering in the world with the justice of an infinite, loving God; and no one ever seemed capable of explaining to me the whys and the wherefores that troubled me.

It was in this state of mental worry and physical distress, and on a Sunday morning when church bells were ringing and the whole atmosphere seemed laden with sacred sounds, that I turned to the eighth chapter of Romans. I had always loved the Bible as good literature, and I also believed that it contained the truth about God and man if we could only find it. The second verse of this chapter impressed me greatly: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." I felt after reading this that if there was no God,—I had almost reached the conclusion that there was no God,—He would be able to heal me, and I should be made free; and if I were healed that same day, I would devote my whole life to God and Christian Science.

Thus it was that the telegram was sent. The practitioner gave me absent treatment, and I was healed as I have stated. Though my physical healing was marvelous to me at that time, the healing of my unbelief, or disbelief, was of more value than all else, for through this healing I have found God a present help. With my healing in Christian Science joy and peace filled my thought, and they have remained with me. Through all these years, when tempted to believe that evil had any power at all, I have been comforted, sustained, protected, and so clearly shown the true way, even in the midst of perplexity and dense clouds of doubt and fear, that I have heard the "'still, small voice' of Truth" (Science and Health, p. 323) uttering itself in the words of our blessed Master, "Peace, be still."

My gratitude goes out in fullest measure to our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, whose noble life-work has given to us this priceless pearl. I now realize that in proportion as I lay low all selfishness, pride, and worldly ambition, I may learn how to express this gratitude, and join with the ever increasing throng arising daily to call her blessed.

Nellie Victoria Freshman, Hamilton, Ohio.

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