How quieting and strengthening...

David Brooks Chapin

How quieting and strengthening it is to realize that nothing is incurable, that no matter what trouble may arise, its remedy is right at hand in the Science which gives us the truth of all things! I think that this assurance is the greatest of all the blessings that have come to me in my study of Christian Science.

I have had many healings in the study and practice of this Science—physical, moral, mental, financial, social, and business. One that may be of special help to others was the healing of the smoking habit. I had picked this up during a long period of aimless drifting, which began when I let go of Science during adolescent years.

The habit became so deeply entrenched that it seemed impossible to break it when I resumed my study some years later and wanted to join a branch church. Each attempt to free myself from its enslavement ended in discouraging failure.

During the time when hope seemed dim I gathered fresh impetus from our Leader's ringing proclamation of man's freedom found on pages 224-228 of Science and Health. Especially helpful was the passage on page 227 where Mrs. Eddy says: "Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free."

As I continued to study and to use Christian Science in my everyday affairs, there came a steady increase in spiritual strength and understanding. This brought with it needed boldness to throw off the dreary habit.

I had been praying for a better understanding of control when a Christian Science lecture was given in a town several miles away. I made a special effort to be there, and I shall never forget it. The lecturer said in effect that Christian Scientists need not be afraid of exercising moral strength in ridding themselves of a bad habit if they acknowledge that this motivation is not human will power but the power of the divine will operating in human consciousness. Suddenly the whole problem began to look small.

A few days later in discussing the matter with me, a practitioner said, "You know, you can go out of here tonight and never smoke another cigarette again." And that was indeed the case.

I had a decided effort to make, but it was a joyful and an exalting effort, knowing as I now did that the power of the divine will was working through and in me. Within a short time I lost all desire for tobacco, and it has never returned.

I should also like to tell of a physical healing which was a wonderful proof to me of the quickness, thoroughness, and permanence of cure in Christian Science.

I had for a long period been troubled with sinus attacks which were often extremely painful. Not being a serious student of Science at the time, I had made no special effort to handle the condition spiritually. However, one day a severe attack came on shortly before a professional appointment; and fearful that I would not be able to perform my work properly, I called on a practitioner for help. The trouble vanished quickly, the appointment was happily kept, and there has never been a recurrence of the condition. This was over twenty years ago.

I feel a very deep debt of gratitude for Mrs. Eddy, whose great love and uncompromising purity enabled her to discover and share the liberating truths of Christian Science.—David Brooks Chapin, Wollaston, Massachusetts.

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