Testimony of Healing October 29, 1904 Issue

I have long wished to tell what Christian Science has done...

H. E. Hotchkiss with contributions from Julia C. Muenter

I have long wished to tell what Christian Science has done for us. In the summer of 1888 I first heard of this wonderful healing through Mind. I had been a great sufferer for six years, although I had the best of care that materia medica and a loving husband could give me; but with it all I had been told that I could never get well, and had only a short time to live. The physicians dared not try an operation, knowing that I could not live through it, and nothing else could save me, as they had exhausted every known means for my recovery. My husband heard of a Christian Science practitioner who was coming to the village three times a week to treat a neighbor. He wished me to let her come to treat me. We had never even heard of the Science before, and inquired earnestly about it. We were told that it was the same manner in which Jesus healed the sick when he was on earth; so after a little we sent for the lady. I will say here, that my doctor had told me that I was taking strychnine enough, each day, to kill a well man, and that I must not fail to take it; to do so would be sure death. The practitioner told me not to fear giving it up, Truth would take care of me.

I began to improve immediately in some ways, enough to convince me that there was more power in Mind than in drugs. After one month's treatment I went through a class. I was not thoroughly healed at that time, but was very eager to learn all about it. Others were so surprised at my recovery that they brought their friends to me to be healed, even before I had finished my class lessons. My teacher encouraged me, and I took up the work with fear and trembling, and such marvelous demonstrations of healing were the result of my earnest searching and work, that I could never doubt for a moment that it really was the work which Jesus had promised we could do if we would follow his teachings. My own father was healed at that time through absent treatments, after the doctors had given him up, from what they called his third attack of sun stroke. I well remember how earnestly I went to work for him after receiving word that I must be prepared for a telegram at any moment telling of his death. I did not even wait for a letter to reach him. The telegram never came; instead, after four weeks he wrote me a beautiful letter which I have to-day, telling of his recovery, through my help, and giving God all the glory. He at that time called it a miracle. He is a well man to-day. I could tell of many other cases, but this is sufficient to show how strong must have been my faith in the God-given power that had so suddenly been revealed to me. I had always read my Bible, but never had I grasped the meaning of Jesus' words until Science and Health came into our home. I formerly read the Bible because I thought I ought to do so, now I read it because I love to do so. Christian Science has been the only doctor in our home for fifteen years, and it has brought us through deep waters.

My own ailments at the time this glorious truth was presented to me were many, and chief among them was nervous prostration in its last stages. My husband had been subject to sick headaches from early childhood, and believed them to be inherited. He often had them twice a week, and they lasted twenty-four hours or more. He gave up all material remedies and they disappeared through reading and self-treatment. Our daughter suffered from the same trouble upon any unusual excitement. Christian Science has destroyed nearly every old ailment and every new one as fast as it appears. We feel that the healing of physical troubles alone is cause for great rejoicing, but words can never tell what the spiritual uplifting has been to us. About eight years ago we came to Brooklyn to live, and it was then my privilege to go through class with one of Mrs. Eddy's students. That class has meant much to my hungering heart. Each day as we go on we find some new cause for rejoicing that we have been led out of darkness into light.

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