During the six years that I have been in Christian Science...

Mary L. Banks

During the six years that I have been in Christian Science I have constantly proved the truth of the statement of Mary Baker Eddy, on page 494 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." I was divinely led into Science, not by any effort or even consent of mine. I was an invalid for many years and Christian Science was offered to me many times but, prejudiced against what I thought it was, I always turned away. Of course, if I had known what it really is, "the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1), I could not have been prejudiced.

But "man's extremity is God's opportunity;" and at a time when I was suffering acute physical pain I tried to recall some of the comforting passages from the Bible, for I loved the Book and had read and studied it from childhood. The only thing that came to me was, "I will arise and go to my father." Over and over the cry of the prodigal rang in my consciousness; and I asked myself why, for there seemed little of comfort in the words. I know now that I had been feeding upon husks and God was calling me. I arose from that sick bed and went to a far country, and there Christian Science was offered to me in such a way that I began reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. From that day to this it has been my only medicine and my sovereign remedy for every form of error. Physical, mental, financial problems, fear, loss, grief, even that "last enemy," death, have been resolved into their native nothingness by its potency.

I had been reading for only a few weeks when I awoke one morning with a sense of pain and nausea that usually preceded the nervous headaches to which I was subject at that time, often lasting for days, leaving me exhausted and unfit for pleasure or duty for some time afterward. My first impulse was to swallow one of the little pellets that the family doctor had prescribed. As my fingers closed upon the box the thought came to me to try Christian Science, and I dropped the box into a pail of water. Into my thought came the words of Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 228), "Nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God." By holding to this thought I found to my great joy and surprise that I was able to eat breakfast with the family and go about my daily avocations as usual. I am now entirely free from this difficulty.

On another occasion I was suffering from an abscessed tooth. I had suffered intensely from this before, and it seemed so real to me that I thought only of a dentist; but thought was kindly directed to the truth that "with God all things are possible." With the help of a practitioner and the understanding that "all things were made by him [God]; and without him was not any thing made that was made," and that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good," I was delivered from this Philistine also. A severe attack of neuritis was overcome by the understanding of Mrs. Eddy's words, "God never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord" (Science and Health, p. 378). To sense, the night was chill and the discord intense. I seemed better able to bear the pain standing, so I stood under the light and read Science and Health. I was conscious of the spiritual healing before the pain ceased; I was perfectly sure that I was healed. A tendency to colds, sore throat, and many other diseases has been overcome.

For the life and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the work of faithful practitioners, the lectures, the activities of church and Sunday school, the literature as published in accordance with the Manual, the inestimable privilege of class instruction, I am very grateful.

(Miss) Mary L. Banks, Hollis, Long Island, N. Y.

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Testimony of Healing

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"...

May 6, 1922

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