Testimony of Healing June 15, 1907 Issue

Frequently I am asked if I consider it right to give...

Bessie Leonard Young

Frequently I am asked if I consider it right to give Christian Science treatment to a child too young to choose for himself, the thought being that it may be right, if I so believe, to rely for myself entirely upon Christian Science, but that it is wrong to risk the health of a little child by not giving him medical attendance. This question shows a mother who is a student of Christian Science how entirely those unfamiliar with it misunderstand her point of view. A few facts from my experience may help to make this point of view clearer. I received my early religious instruction in an orthodox church and Sunday School, and at home was taught to believe in the use of homeopathic remedies for sickness; but at the age of fifteen, feeling the need of a more practical knowledge of God, I had outgrown the creed, and at twenty had outgrown also my trust in the power of drugs to heal sickness. At this time my health failed, and still believing in surgery, I struggled on for five years, submitting to three surgical operations, rest cure, massage, and so on, under kind physicians, in a vain effort to be again well. Then it was that I was really cured by reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and that my hunger and thirst to know more of God began to be satisfied. During the following six years, through varied experiences, my reliance on Christian Science was complete. Often the help received was immediate; often, too, it came through a more or less prolonged struggle, and sometimes treatment from a practitioner was needed; but whether the healing was manifested quickly or slowly, the effect was always beneficial, both physically and spiritually. Is it, therefore, any wonder that when my little girl was born I truly felt Christian Science to be her highest inheritance? I could not reasonably deprive her of what I had proved to be the surest and safest help in the world, to relieve all forms of trouble

I am glad to testify to the good results of Christian Science in the experience of this little child. It has protected her from most of the diseases which children usually undergo, and in the few instances when she has needed help, it has come quickly and effectually. One occasion when she needed such help occurred last winter, after I had returned from a particularly uplifting and helpful Wednesday evening testimony meeting. She awakened crying, and I found that she had a well-defined case of throat trouble. It seemed severe, and I telephoned a practitioner for help. Then sitting down quietly with her in my arms, I simply repeated alound to her the scientific statement of being (Science and Health, p. 468), which she knows and loves. Gradually she became quiet, and in about fifteen minutes she was sleeping sweetly. I put her in her bed, and in fifteen minutes more her breathing was perfectly quiet and natural. Once during the night she awoke, breathing with difficulty, and as I went to her I realized that I needed only to stand upon the truth already proved. So we both went peacefully to sleep, and in the morning she did not even remember her dream of the night.

In contrast to this experience, is one through which I saw another child pass many years before. I remember the long night of suffering for the child, the anxious efforts of the parents as they applied all kinds of remedies, and the terror felt by us all. Now which was the more desirable and effectual means of healing, the drugs in this case or the scientific prayer in the other? Is it any wonder that we feel that scientific prayer—declaring the Word of God to be true—is the greatest of all remedies? When we utter the words of Scripture with the spiritual interpretation as understood from the teachings of our text-book, this prayer heals because it is the Word of God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We who believe that this Word is Truth, demonstrating the power of divine Mind to heal the human mind and body, also believe and begin to understand the statement in Science and Health, page 483, "Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately supersede all other means in healing."

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