Testimony of Healing September 19, 1908 Issue

I desire to make acknowledgment through the Sentinel...

Caroline M. Hutchison

I desire to make acknowledgment through the Sentinel of the many blessings and benefits that have come to me through the teachings of Christian Science. I became interested in this Science not for my own healing, although I was far from being physically well, but to encourage my husband to take treatment for diseases which had been pronounced by physicians as beyond the reach of medical skill. The most distressing symptoms of these diseases were partial blindness and utter helplessness, and these conditions were becoming more manifest daily, so that reading or walking was almost impossible. In addition to the physical affliction there was an increasing desire for stimulants, which, together with an accumulation of debts, etc., caused an intolerable gloom to settle like a pall over our home.

As for myself, I was a constant sufferer from chronic bladder and bowel trouble, for which I had had medical treatment at intervals for over fifteen years without receiving any benefit. These troubles increased to such an extent that I was unable to perform my household duties without great suffering and fatigue. At times I suffered from neuralgic trouble in my head and eyes, which was never relieved by materia medica. I had never supposed that my ills were incurable, but expected to continue to consult physicians and take medicine as I had always done. The physical suffering which I endured, however, was nothing in comparison to the mental, when I thought of God as causing and permitting what I experienced and witnessed in my husband and others. This thought caused many tears of self-pity and robbed me of many nights of peaceful sleep. I found no consolation in my religion, though I had been an earnest worker in the church for years; I was made only the more unhappy and miserable by the repetition of prayers which were never answered. In our text-book we are told of the "all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each want of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied" (Science and Health, p. 7); and I feel that divine Love led me into the path of Christian Science. I had been told that it would heal incurable diseases, so I determined to investigate the subject, as my husband persistently declined to have treatment. A friend of mine loaned me her copy of Science and Health for two days, but its meaning seemed so obscure that I returned the book with a feeling of discouragement. I then decided that I would devote myself to reading the Bible, which I had never before systematically done. I read the New Testament very diligently for several months, but could find no rule that I could apply to physical healing. I perceived that Jesus and his disciples practised physical healing daily, and I felt convinced that there was a rule or Jesus would not have commanded his disciples to "heal the sick." I learned, however, that he took his disciples apart and taught them, and what he taught them I yearned to know.

One afternoon I went to the Christian Science Reading Room and inquired if they had a book containing references from the Bible sustaining the doctrine of Christian Science, and I was handed a pamphlet, over which I pored with a new hope and joy. I learned that the teaching of Christian Science is founded on the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I caught a glimpse of the perfect creation and what Jesus meant when he said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." This and other beautiful verses had a new meaning for me, yet I was in the same position so far as gaining a knowledge of healing was concerned. I resolved upon fasting and praying, as that appeared to be the advice Jesus gave his disciples when they failed to cure a young man; but I abandoned that notion, as I felt it would be a useless performance. I then decided that I would again attempt the reading of Science and Health; so I obtained a copy from the public library, and I shall never forget the beautiful truth that was revealed to me upon this second reading and how tenderly and persuasively my bruised heart was soothed by its loving, compassionate appeal. It taught me that God does not afflict, but is ever-present Love,—"our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious" (Science and Health, p. 16),—and I read and thought of nothing else for days.

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