Chapter 18: 'Science and Health with Key to The Scriptures' by Mary Baker Eddy

Chapter XVIII - Fruitage

660:1
While in great fear, and dreading the operation, a kind

neighbor called, and after telling me of Christian Science

gave me a copy of Science and Health. She said I must

put aside all medicine, and by reading faithfully she knew

I could be healed. The book became my constant com-

panion, and in a short time I was healed. Besides the

relief from an operation, I was completely healed of severe

headaches and stomach trouble. Physicians could give

me no help for either of these ailments. For ten years I

have not used medicine of any kind, and have not missed

a Christian Science service on account of sickness during

this period. I am perfectly well. To say that I am grate-

ful to God for all this does not express my feelings. The

physical healing was wonderful, but the understanding

given me of God, and the ability to help others out-

weigh all else. I also love our dear Leader. – Mrs.

V. I. B., Concord, N. H.

660:18
KIDNEY DISEASE AND EYE TROUBLE HEALED

660:19
Early in 1904 I was teaching in a private boarding‑

school. I was a very unhappy, discontented woman; I

had kidney disease, besides sore eyes, and my general

health was very bad. The doctor said that the climate

did not suit me, and that I certainly should have a change.

The best thing, he said, was to go back to France (my

own country); but I did not like to leave the school, so I

struggled on until July, when we went travelling for a

month, but I came home worse than ever. I had a lot

of worry, one disappointment after another, and I often

thought that life was not worth living. In September,

1904, we heard for the first time of Christian Science

661:1
through a girl who was attending our boarding-school,

and who was healed through Christian Science treatment.

We bought the textbook, "Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and what a revelation

it was and is to us; it is indeed the fountain of Truth. I

had read Science and Health but a very short time when

I took off my glasses, began to sleep well, and soon found

myself well in mind and body. Besides this, it has brought

harmony into our school, where there had been discord,

and everything is changed for the better. I cannot de-

scribe the happiness that has come to me through Chris-

tian Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist: "Bless

the Lord, O my soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.

661:14
My one aim now is to live Christian Science, not in words

only, but in deeds; loving God more and my neighbor as

myself, and following meekly and obediently all our

Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my gratitude

to Mrs. Eddy for Christian Science. – S. A. K., Van-

couver, B. C.

661:20
DISEASE OF BOWELS HEALED

661:21
When I first heard of Christian Science I had been

afflicted for nine years with a very painful disease of the

bowels, which four physicians failed even to diagnose,

all giving different causes for the dreadful sufferings I

endured. The last physician advised me to take no more

medicine for these attacks, as drugs would not reach the

cause, or do any good. About this time I heard of

Christian Science, and had the opportunity of reading

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs.

Eddy, a few minutes every day for about a week, and I

662:1
was thereby healed. In looking back I found I had not

suffered in the least from the time I began reading this

book. It has been nearly seventeen years since this won-

derful healing, and I have had no return of the disease.

My gratitude is endless and can be best expressed by

striving mightily to walk in the path our Leader has so

lovingly shown us in Science and Health. – Mrs.

J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.

662:9
HEALED BY READING THE TEXTBOOK

662:10
After doctoring about a year, I was obliged to give

up school and was under medical care for two years;

but grew worse instead of better. I was then taken to

specialists, who pronounced my case incurable, saying

I was in the last stages of kidney disease and could

live only a short time. Shortly afterward my uncle

gave me a copy of "Science and Health with Key to

the Scriptures," and asked me to study it. After study-

ing a short time I was able to walk a distance of several

miles, which I had not been able to do for three years.

I also laid aside glasses which I had worn seven years,

having been told I would become blind if my eyes did

not receive proper care. It is over a year since I re-

ceived God's blessing, and I am now enjoying perfect

health and happiness. I have never had my glasses on

since I first began reading Science and Health, and I have

not used any medicine. – L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.

662:27
A TESTIMONY FROM SCOTLAND

662:28
I came to Christian Science purely for physical healing.

I was very ill and unhappy; very cynical and disbeliev-

ing in regard to what I heard of God and religion.

663:1
I tried to live my life in my own way and put religion

aside. I was a great believer in fate and in will-power,

and thought to put them in the place of God, with

the consequence that I was led to do many rash and

foolish things. I am now thankful to say that my out-

look on life is entirely changed; I have proved God's

wisdom and goodness so often that I am willing and

thankful to know my future is in His hands and that

all things must work out for the best. I have found a

God whom I can love and worship with my whole

heart, and I now read my Bible with interest and

understanding.

663:13
I was healed of very bad rheumatism simply by read-

ing Science and Health. I had tried many medicines,

also massage, with no result, and the doctors told me

that I would always suffer from this disease, as it

was inherited, and also because I had rheumatic fever

when a child. I suffered day and night, and nothing

relieved me until Science proved to me the falseness

of this belief by removing it. I gave up all the medi-

cines I was taking and have never touched any since,

and that is more than two years ago. Before this I

had often tried to do without a medicine that I had

taken every day for ten years, but was always ill and had

to return to it, until I found out that one Mind is the only

medicine, and then I was freed from the suffering.

663:27
I had also suffered constantly from bilious attacks,

colds, and a weak chest, and had been warned not to

be out in wet weather, etc., but now, I am glad to say,

I am quite free from all those material laws and go

out in all sorts of weather. – R. D. F., Edinburgh,

Scotland.

664:1
CURING BETTER THAN ENDURING

664:2
For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak

lungs and after being treated by ten different physi-

cians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colo-

rado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery

from what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was

hereditary, my father having been afflicted with it. I

was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about.

My general condition was aggravated by what the doc-

tors said was paralysis of the bowels. Three physi-

cians so diagnosed it at different times, and assured

my husband that I could never get more than tem-

porary relief. This indeed I found difficult to obtain,

in spite of my almost frantic efforts. At times I was

nearly insane from suffering, and after eight years of

doctoring I found myself steadily growing worse. For

four years I did not have a normal action of the bowels,

and it was only by extreme effort and by resort to pow-

erful drugs or mechanical means, with resultant suffering,

that any action whatever could be brought about.

664:21
I had heard nothing of the curative power of Chris-

tian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went one

night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week

testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much

impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once

to investigate this strange religion, in the hope that it

might have something good for me. I bought the text-

book, Science and Health, and from the first I found

myself growing stronger and better, both physically and

mentally, as I acquired a better understanding and en-

deavored toput into practice what I learned. In one week

665:1
I was able to get along better without drugs than I had for

years with them, and before three months had passed I

was better than I had been any time in my life, for I

had always suffered more or less from bowel trouble.

Since that time I have taken no medicine whatever, and

rely wholly upon Christian Science. My lungs are now

sound, my bowels normally active, my general health

excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue

tasks that before would have prostrated me. The

study of our textbook was the sole means of my healing.

– L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.

665:12
SEVERE ECZEMA DESTROYED

665:13
It is only two years since I came from darkness into

the light of Christian Science, and to me the spiritual

uplifting has been wonderful, to say nothing of the

physical healing. Words cannot express my gratitude

for benefits I have received in that time. For five

years I suffered with that dreaded disease, eczema, all

over my body. Five doctors said there was no help

for me. The suffering seemed as terrible as the hell

fire that I had been taught to believe in. When Christian

Science came to me two years ago through a dear friend,

she gave me a copy of Science and Health and asked

me to read it. I told her that I would, for I was like a

drowning man grasping at a straw. I had been a Bible

student for twenty-eight years, but when I commenced

reading Science and Health with the Bible I was healed

in less than a week. I never had a treatment. A case

of measles was also destroyed in twenty-four hours after

it appeared. – Mrs. M. B. G., Vermilion, Ohio.

666:1
SCIENCE AND HEALTH A PRICELESS BOON

666:2
I am a willing witness to the healing power of Chris-

tian Science, having had a lifetime's battle with dis-

ease and medical experiments. Various doctors finally

admitted that they had exhausted their resources, and

could only offer me palliatives, saying that a cure was

impossible. I had paralysis of the bowels, frequent

sick headaches with unutterable agony, and my mortal

career was nearly brought to an end by a malignant

type of yellow fever. Many were the attending evils of

this physical inharmony, but God confounds the wis-

dom of men, for while studying Science and Health

two years ago, the veil of ignorance was lifted and

perfect health was shown to me to be my real con-

dition, and to such there is no relapse. The constant

use of glasses, which were apparently a necessity to

me for years, was proven needless, and they were laid

aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading a never‑

failing well of comfort to me. By her interpretation

"the way of the Lord" is made straight to me and

mine. It aids us in our daily overcoming of the tyr-

anny of the flesh and its rebellion against the blessed

leading of Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible

and our textbook is bringing more and more into our con-

sciousness the power of God unto salvation. – J. C.,

Manatee, Fla.

666:27
A CRITIC CONVINCED

666:28
With gratitude to God I acknowledge my lifelong

debt to Christian Science. In 1895 I attended my first

667:1
Christian Science meeting, and was deeply impressed

with the earnestness of the people and the love re-

flected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical

body, I did not believe such a thing to be possible.

I bought Science and Health and studied it to be

able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly de-

luded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the

study carefully and thoroughly, and I have had abun-

dant reason since to be glad that I did, for through this

study, and the resultant understanding of my rela-

tion to God, I was healed of a disease with which I

had been afflicted since childhood and for which there

was no known remedy. Surely my experience has

been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture:

"He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from

their destructions." I believe that Science and Health

reveals the Word referred to by David. – C. A. B. B.,

Kansas City, Mo.

667:19
BORN AGAIN

667:20
It was in April, 1904, that I first heard the "still,

small voice" of the Christ and received healing through

Christian Science; and the blessings have been so

many since, that it would take too much space to

name them. Reared from childhood in an intellectual

atmosphere, my paternal grandfather having been an

orthodox minister of the old school for forty years,

and my father a deep student, ever seeking for the

truth of all things, I began early to ponder and to

study into the meaning of life, and came to the con-

clusion before I was twenty that though God probably

668:1
existed in some remote place, still it was impossible to

connect Him with my present living. My highest

creed, therefore, became, "Do right because it is right

and not for fear of being punished." Then began the

suffering. Sorrow after sorrow followed each other

in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no

rest, the road was indeed long and hard and had no

turning, until finally the one thing that had stood by

me all through the trials, namely, my health, gave

way, and with that went my last hope. But the last

hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at

hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my

piano one day, saying that I would gain much good by

reading it.

668:15
Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I

opened the "little book" and began to read. I had

read only a short time when such a wonderful trans-

formation took place! I was renewed; born again.

Mere words cannot tell the story of the mighty up-

lifting that carried me to the very gates of heaven.

When I began to read the book, life was a burden, but

before I had finished reading it the first time, I was doing

all my housework and doing it easily; and since that

glorious day I have been a well woman. My health

is splendid, and I am striving to let my light so shine

that others may be led to the truth. There have been

some mighty struggles with error, and I have learned

that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or

easily drift inside the gate, but that the "asking" and

the "seeking" and the "knocking" must be earnest and

persistent.

668:32
For a long time I was always looking back to see if

669:1
the error had gone, until one day when I realized

that to catch a glimpse of what spiritual sense means

I must put corporeal sense behind me. I then set to

work in earnest to find the true way. I opened

Science and Health and these words were before me,

"If God were understood, instead of being merely be-

lieved, this understanding would establish health" (p. 203).

I saw that I must get the right understanding of God!

I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I

waited with longing intensity for some answer. How

long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a won-

derful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly

this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I

held my breath – deep into my hungering thought

sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self‑

conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes

the mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight. I trod, as

it were, on holy ground. Words are inadequate to con-

vey the fullness of that spiritual uplifting, but others

who have had similar experiences will understand.

669:21
From that hour I have had an intelligent consciousness

of the ever-presence of an infinite God who is only good.

– C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.

669:24
A RESTLESS SENSE OF EXISTENCE DESTROYED

669:25
Through reading Science and Health and the illu-

mination which followed, I was healed of ulceration of

the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of

existence, agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured with

the stomach trouble I will not attempt to describe. The

attending physician declared that I could live but a short

670:1
time, and I felt there would be a limit to my endur-

ance of the torture, but the disease was dissipated into

nothingness through Christian Science, which brought

me peace.

670:5
Like many others I had been seemingly lost in the

sea of error, without a compass, yet earnestly and hon-

estly seeking a haven. I had investigated all kinds of

religions and philosophies that came under my notice,

with the exception of Christian Science, which was

not then deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held

the very truth I was searching for – the light which

"shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comp-

rehended it not." Three years of stubborn resist-

ance to Truth, with increasing suffering, followed –

then the light came, and with it a new experience.

Now, after nine years of Christian Science experience,

under severe tests, it can be truthfully said that it

has not failed me in any hour of need. – J. F. J.,

Cincinnati, Ohio.

670:20
MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY HEALED

670:21
I did not accept Christian Science on account of any

healing of my own, but after seeing my mother, who was

fast drifting toward helplessness with rheumatism, restored

to perfect health with only a few treatments in Christian

Science, I thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus

taught and practised it, and if so it was what I had been

longing for.

670:28
This was about ten years ago and was the first I had

ever heard of Christian Science. We soon got a copy

of Science and Health and I began in the right way to

671:1
see if Christian Science were the truth. I had no thought

of studying it for bodily healing; in fact, I did not think

I needed it for that, but my soul cried out for something

I had not yet found. This book was indeed a key to the

Scriptures.

671:6
It was not long after I began reading before I dis-

covered that my eyes were good and strong, I could

read as much as I wished, and at any time, which was

something I could not do before, as my eyes had always

been weak. The doctors said they never would be very

strong, and that if I did not wear glasses, I might lose

my sight altogether. I never gave up to wearing glasses,

and now, thanks to Christian Science, I do not need them,

my work for the past two years as a railway mail clerk

being a good test. At the same time my eyes were healed,

I also noticed that I was entirely healed of another ail-

ment which had been with me all my life, and which was

believed to be inherited. Since that time my growth

has seemed to me slow, yet when I look back and view

myself as I was before Christian Science found me, and

compare it with my life as it now is, I can only close my

eyes to the picture and rejoice that I have been "born

again" and that I have daily been putting off "the

old man with his deeds," and putting on "the new

man."

671:26
Some of the many things that have been overcome

through the study of Science and Health, and through

realizing and practising the truth it teaches, are pro-

fanity, the use of tobacco, a very quick temper, which

made both myself and those around me at times very

miserable, and such thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. –

O. L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.

672:1
HEALTH AND UNDERSTANDING GAINED

672:2
Most of my boyhood days were spent in the hands

of physicians. From birth I was considered a very

weakly child, but my mother was brave, and being

much devoted to me did everything within her knowl-

edge and power for my comfort. Sickness and medi-

cine were continually before me, and by the time I

reached my teens I thought I knew a material remedy

for every ill. I continued in my delusion, because I

was never told the real cause of my trouble. Besides

being under a leading specialist for two years, I was

also an outdoor patient at a noted hospital, but I was

not healed. It is wonderful how the "little ones" are

cared for in the face of all these seeming difficulties.

I always used the prayers that I had been taught, and

as I grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by

little I gained a desire for freedom, and my prayers

finally led me to the truth. The first week that I

heard of Christian Science, I visited the home of dear

Christian Science friends, and was at once refreshed

by their purity of thought and example. I bought

a copy of Science and Health, and, after studying it

a little while with the Bible, I saw that if the Bible

was true, Science and Health must also be true. I

began to demonstrate over my physical and mental

condition, and as soon as the fear and pain began

to leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was healed,

and stopped complaining. I kept on studying our

textbook, and when I got an understanding in a

small degree of the Science of Mind, my first thought

was to help others. I was guided where I could pro-

673:1
gress in Science, and was no longer "carried about with

every wind of doctrine," but held to Principle as closely

as possible. From the time the healing came into my

consciousness, the desire for material remedies left me,

because Christian Science at once pointed out the way to

get at the cause of discord and disease. All that I had to

give up were the false beliefs of mortal mind. Christian

Science then taught me to love the church, and to appre-

ciate what it had already done for mankind. I often

thought of the old adage, "Charity begins at home,"

and after three years' preparation I felt able to take Chris-

tian Science to my home, where it found, in due time,

ready acceptance and willing disciples. This gave me

even greater joy than my own healing. The more good

I saw accomplished, the more love I had for the truth.

Christian Science changed my course from the first, and

gave me a nobler aim and purpose in life. I was not

so easily influenced by other people's shortcomings,

when I learned that evil has neither personality nor place.

I was not so ready to take offence, when I found out the

way to work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause.

– A. E. J., Toledo, Ohio.

673:23
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP FOUND

673:24
On the 23rd of March, 1900, I received from one of my

daughters a copy of Science and Health on my seventy-first

birthday. Although a constant reader of all kinds of papers

and books, I had never heard anything of Christian Sci-

ence, except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco

newspaper, from an orthodox clergyman, referring to the

Christian Science people in not very complimentary style.

674:1
In Mrs. Eddy's book I came across a great deal of

thought that was not readily understood at the first read-

ing, but by continued and careful study, and a good deal

of help from my knowledge of chemistry and natu-

ral philosophy, I soon shook off the belief of sensation

in matter, – the so-called elementary substance. One

afternoon I put the belt on my circular saw to cut blocks

of firewood and also to split a small stick of frame tim-

ber. In doing this the stick closed and pinched the saw.

I picked up a small wooden wedge and tried to drive

it into the saw kerf, but a bit of ice let the stick on to the

back of the saw and instantly it flew, with heavy force,

into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek fell about

twenty feet off on the snow. The blood spattered on the

snow next the saw table, and on feeling with my hand

there were two wounds, one on the lock of the jaw and

another forward, as big as a dollar, on the cheek bone.

"Now," I thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery

for you," and without further ceremony, I began to

treat the case to the best of my knowledge, with the

result that the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and

so did a thumping pain, which had commenced. I

paid no more attention to the matter, but finished my

work, and then went to supper. When I washed my

face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where the block

of wood struck, but after my usual reading I went to

bed and slept all night until near daylight, when a pain

on the right side awoke me. On feeling with my hand

there was another big lump on the right side, but I

treated it and went to sleep again. I never lost an

hour from the hurt, although I found out that my jaw

was broken. There is no scar, only a little red spot on

675:1
the cheek, and the lumps on the bone have long since

disappeared.

675:3
In summing up the benefits I have received from

the reading of Science and Health, I can but refer to

a condition of sickness dating back to the war (1862),

when chronic and malignant diarrhea came near

making an end of my material existence. My hearing,

also, was seriously impaired from the effect of cannon

firing at Shiloh, but it has come back to me, and where

I formerly dared not eat an orange, or grapes, I can now

eat anything without being hurt. My peace of mind

is giving me a rest which I never experienced before

during my life, and I have ceased to look away off for

the divine presence that was always near, though I did

not know it. – L. B., Baldy, N. M.

675:16
MANY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TROUBLES OVERCOME

675:17
Less than a year ago, when nothing but trouble seemed

to encompass me, I was led to Christian Science. My

mother's copy of Science and Health was always lying

on the table, but I scarcely ever read it. One day, how-

ever, the mental conflict was so great I commenced read-

ing in the hope of obtaining peace. Every day since

then my companions have been the Bible and Science

and Health. At that time I had a very serious eruption

on my face, which had been there two years. We had

consulted several physicians, and used every remedy

suggested to eradicate it, but they proved useless. I

had given up all hopes of its ever being healed, as the

physician we last consulted pronounced it tuberculosis

of the skin and incurable. A few weeks after I com-

676:1
menced reading, I was amazed to see it almost healed

over, and to-day my cheek is perfectly smooth, while the

scar is disappearing.

676:4
In April my baby was born with only the practitioner

and a woman friend present. I suffered little pain, and

the third day I went down-stairs. I am able to nurse

him, – a privilege of which I was deprived with my first

child. He is a picture of health, having never been

sick a day since he was born. – K. E. W. L., Mt.

Dora, Fla.

676:11
A NEW LIFE GAINED

676:12
Leaving home when a young man, I carried with me

a protection against the temptation of a great city, – a

mother's prayers and a small Bible. For a time I read

the Bible and prayed, but without understanding. This

did not suffice, and evil seemed to gain the victory. I

soon omitted to read my Bible; forgot to go to God in

prayer for guidance and help, and looked to the world

for that which it never has and never can give, – health,

peace, and joy.

676:21
Thus, years later, when Christian Science came into

my home, it found me prayerless, churchless, godless;

a home discordant, and with no thought or knowledge

of spiritual things. Up to this time, my wife had for

years been seeking health through the physicians,

but without success, and as a last resort had been

sent to Christian Science. The help received was so

wonderful that I commenced the study of Science and

Health. The first effect which I realized from the

reading of our textbook, was a great love for the Bible

and a desire to read it, something which I had not done

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