It is said that each one comes to Christian Science in his...

Gilbert J. Fowler

It is said that each one comes to Christian Science in his own way. In my case it was not because of any material need, nor indeed was I at first conscious of any great spiritual lack. Scientific and professional success, foreign travel and other means of culture, hosts of friends, and not least, a happy home life,—all were mine. In addition I held a position of growing responsibility in a religious body to whose traditions I was attached by every tie of family and habit of mind. But through all this, deep down, was the longing for the truth, truth which should satisfy, which should be effective. I looked for something which should save men, regenerate them without the whip of fear or the stimulant of an unreflective emotion.

I knew many earnest social workers, some well known among all who care for the welfare of others, and I knew also many kind and gentle-minded people who in less prominent ways were devotedly striving to help their fellow men. Yet the core of the problem seemed to elude them all. Like my good friends in the medical profession, they appeared to be dealing with symptoms, not causes. My own religious conclusions were useful enough as a fair-weather philosophy, but I had had painful evidence of their ineffectiveness in times of trial. One could talk about the truth and hear much talk about it, but the truth itself seemed far off.

When my wife began to read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and her health and spirits visibly improved, I wondered if it could be possible that this religion from America would prove to be what I was seeking. Just then I chanced to have a painful abscess on the jaw. After talking the matter over with my dentist, I went to see a Christian Science practitioner about it, with the same state of mind in which I would approach any problem in my professional work. Besides giving me treatment, the practitioner talked to me, and I saw at once that some of my preconceived ideas about Christian Science were wide of the mark. The abscess disappeared, and other things with it, particularly feelings of contempt and resentment in regard to certain individuals.

Thus I began to see Principle at work. The healing of the abscess was a little thing, but so was the fall of an apple. Might it not be that the power which healed the abscess was the power which could heal the nations? So I went on reading and studying, a fiercely critical intellect fighting every step of the way. With the growing understanding which was coming to me, however, deep-seated faults of character began to come to the surface and reveal themselves as noxious weeds to be uprooted and cast out; and I knew that only the truth could have done this.

It all seemed to me so wonderful, if it was true, that I feared lest the will to believe should becloud my critical judgment. I therefore read everything I could lay my hands on that endeavored to show the falsity and absurdity of Christian Science. I discussed it with those who said they had looked into it and knew all about it. The only result was that I became convinced that here at last was the truth I sought, while the attacks seemed to be distinguished by a quite surprising lack of intelligence. They never touched the question at all, for the simple reason that not one of the critics evidently had the faintest notion what he was trying to attack.

Since those days I have seen proof upon proof of the healing power of Truth. Ordinary family ailments and accidents, such as colds, sore throats, swollen glands, cuts, and burns, have been readily and quickly destroyed. A serious trouble with my younger boy, which was diagnosed by our doctor as a septic infection of the lung and for which he recommended (as he carefully said it was his duty to do) a specialist and a curative remedy, was successfully met through the unwearied work of a practitioner. I shall not forget how the deadly fear was first cast out of my own consciousness, and how under all the trouble and human anxiety there was a note of joy. Truly, as Mrs. Eddy says, "the effects of Christian Science are not so much seen as felt" (Science and Health, p. 323).

Besides physical healing, there is scarcely an occurrence in life, from little matters of daily happening to large affairs of wide import, to which I have not seen Christian Science successfully applied. In fact, Christianity is here evidenced, not by this or that result of a confused and in some cases crudely materialistic historical criticism, nor by the ipse dixit of a church or of this or that gifted individual, but by daily demonstration, the way to which is open to every honest heart. Here, then, or nowhere, seems to me to be the hope of the world. One can conceive of no more splendid opportunity than to be the means, even in a small degree, of aiding in the spread of this new truth, which is indeed but a better understanding of the old truth which the Wayshower said should make us free.

Gilbert J. Fowler, D.Sc., Manchester, England.

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