Testimony of Healing March 27, 1909 Issue

In November, 1907, while pursuing my work in New York...

Clyde R. Faris

In November, 1907, while pursuing my work in New York city, I suffered a complete nervous breakdown. I was in two different hospitals in the city, and later transferred to a private sanitarium for nervous diseases at Stamford, Conn. The head physician at this latter place, a medical expert and a famed authority on such disorders, said there was little he could do for me, but advised me to refrain from work and from all responsibility connected with it, and to remain away from New York city for an indefinite period, as the strain of living within a great metropolis was too much for any one who was in such a state as was I at that time. He gave me a prescription, which I had filled, and used faithfully according to directions for nearly two months. He also said that while my condition was serious, it could be overcome under favorable conditions, though, if relief were not soon obtained, insanity—and that of a hopeless nature—was likely to be the result.

I then came to Missouri, having relatives in this section of the country, and decided to remain with them for a time and see what rest would do toward establishing a return to health. For about a month I seemed to improve, then all the old symptoms returned with added intensity. Before me constantly was the thought of what the physician had said. Was such to be my fate? Sleeping or waking, the thought was ever present. I grew more and more depressed, but try as I would, I could not emerge from this state of feeling for more than a day or two at a time. Sometimes I would walk for miles in a vain attempt to dissipate the gloom which was all around me. One day I happened to meet an old friend, and he told me how his wife had been healed by Christian Science after having been given up by several of the best medical practitioners in the city. I was then at the stage where I was ready to grasp at anything which promised relief. While I never had been bitterly opposed to Christian Science, my knowledge—or rather, lack of knowledge—of it had been mostly gleaned from remarks which I heard in a sermon by a celebrated clergyman. I, however, felt that Christian Science could at least do me no harm, and I determined to give it a trial.

Looking up a practitioner, I stated my case, and after having taken three treatments I was completely healed and have so remained. I have no words with which to convey the meaning of the full measure of my gratitude for what I have received in Christian Science. Only those who have been in such a "valley of gloom" as that from which I was raised, can have even a faint idea of it. I realize more and more each day what it means to come from darkness into light; but greater by far than the joy of relief from physical suffering is the perfect sense of peace and security which comes from the spiritual understanding of God and of man's relation to Him. As Christ Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Christian Science does not limit or bind me in any respect, but opens to me a richer, deeper, and better life in all ways; in fact, Christian Science is all I have ever found which gives me a true sense of freedom, and I use the word "freedom" in its largest and noblest meaning. The Bible is a new book to me, and new truths unfold themselves each day as I study its pages with the help received from that incomparable work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.

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