Article January 4, 1908 Issue

TESTIMONIES

FRANK B. HOMANS

Not long since I had occasion to purchase a furnace to heat my house. The salesman showed me a suitable heater and at once commenced to tell just how much heat it would give me, just how it would meet my requirements. He assured me that he knew, because he had one and had tried it, and thus had tested its good qualities. He told me what it had done for him in the way of giving satisfaction, and then cited cases of neighbors, friends, and customers who had used it, and by these practical proofs and statements convinced me that it was just what I needed and wanted. Had he spent the same length of time in telling me what a desirable thing heat is, he would have failed to interest me and would not have secured me as a customer, as I should have considered that I did not need his praise of heat to convince me of its merits. It is fair to assume that, having gone to a stove store for a furnace, I knew more or less about the value of heat, how it was produced, what produced it, etc. What I wanted to know was, how much this heater would do for me and my house, and the salesman gave me the desired information.

Is it not a fact that the average inquirers who come Wednesday evening to our testimonial meetings (and these are the people to whom speakers may very properly address their remarks), have heard more or less about God and God's love and goodness, but they come to our meetings to hear what Christian Science has done for us, and thereby they may become convinced that it will benefit them. Hence one good plain testimony of how all the more or less severe ailments of mortals have been healed is worth more to the inquirer than a lot of time taken up in some splendid burst of oratory which does not really tell anything except, perhaps, the general line of benefits derived from pure living. If we strip the testimonies of all technical terms, such as "claim," "belief," etc., which are unfamiliar to many of the listeners, and tell that Christian Science without the aid of doctors or drugs healed us. in an hour, week, or month, as the case may be, we shall give the most helpful and convincing testimony possible. One who has been healed of drinking, smoking, swearing, jealousy, hatred, revenge, malice, love of money, selfishness, bad disposition, and kindred evils should let others know of it. He should tell how much happier his home is, how much pleasanter life seems, how much more easily obstacles are overcome in home and business. Let the business man tell how much more easily he can manage his employes and the school-teacher her scholars; let the employe and scholar tell how much lighter work seems, and so on through the whole line of life's activities. To say that Christian Science has done everything for one means a great deal to that one and to those directly concerned, but very little to other listeners as compared with one clear, concise statement of some difficulty overcome.

It is sometimes said, "I have told my demonstration and do not want to keep repeating it." Is Divine wisdom and intelligence so limited that we have but one demonstration to offer? There is not a week, a day, or an hour but that to the true, earnest seeker some new revelation of Divine wisdom is unfolded to thought, if he but watches for it and seizes it, and this fresh benefit may be shaped into words and related to the advantage of some receptive thought which is waiting to hear just what he has to tell. The telling will do him good, do the listener good, do the world good; this is the work which God requires of each of us. If we do not give, we cannot receive.

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