Testimony of Healing September 12, 1903 Issue

If I were to tell you all that has come to me through...

JOHN F. SPRING

If I were to tell you all that has come to me through Christian Science it would take many pages, but I would like to relate one experience which shows conclusively the working of Truth and Love in an impersonal way. A hold-up occurred on one of our electric cars, in which the robbers secured money, watches, and other valuables. One of the passengers was a friend of mine and the watch taken from him was a very valuable one, which had been given him by some Eastern people to whom he had shown kindness in time of trouble. Upon meeting this friend the following morning, he related his experience, expressing much regret at the loss of his watch. I declared the truth that nothing could be lost in the divine Mind, and after leaving him, realized this statement to the best of my understanding. In a few days two men were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the robbery, and at the preliminary hearing were assigned counsel. This attorney was also a friend of mine, but neither he nor the gentleman who lost the watch were Scientists.

I had a talk with the attorney and requested that he would do all he could consistently toward locating the watch of my friend. Some days later the thought came that I had been asking a favor without giving anything, and I determined to send some token of Love, and stepping into the reading room secured two Sentinels without noticing what they contained; and not remembering even the names of the prisoners, I asked the attorney to hand one to each of the men. The wife of the gentleman who lost he watch is a Scientist, and one morning during the trial she called my attention to the morning paper which stated that one of the prisoners had confessed, and that the District Attorney had pressed him quite hard to know why a man capable of committing such a crime should now confess and seek to shield his companion. After hesitating for a moment, he replied, "It was Principle." I then called on the counsel and asked him to look over the Sentinel sent to the prisoner, and see if there were an article in it on Principle. He did so, and later told me there was, and also that the prisoner said he had read the paper from cover to cover. He had also revealed the place where the watch was hidden, going with his counsel and digging it up, wishing to have it returned to its rightful owner. The other prisoner was convicted, and both were sent to prison for life. I have since received letters from the one who acknowledged his crime, and he has expressed gratitude for the interest taken in him and hopes he may yet be of some use to his fellow-mortals. He says that in reviewing his past life he finds it has not been a grand success, and that he cannot recall a single instance where he was derived any real pleasure from wrong doing. This comfirms to him the teaching that "The way of transgressors is hard." He writes that he is much interested in Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health, which is found in the prison library, and says he feels sure he shall never regret heeding my advice. He then relates how the desire came to him to reveal where the watch lay hidden: "My counsel and fellow-prisoner urged me to do so, but I was not ready to give up, and sent my counsel to the wrong place. I looked over the Sentinel you sent, carelessly at first, when my eye fell on a line which said, 'And I put the watch to my ear and it ticked.' At once I began to wonder if Mr. G.'s watch ticked, or if the works had rusted. After this I read the article on 'Principle' and fully decided on what course to take, and the next time I saw my counsel I volunteered to go with him and dig up the watch." The watch and chain were restored to my friend in as good shape as when they left him on that night of the robbery. May Principle guide us all into the right path!

JOHN F. SPRING, Los Angeles, Cal.

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