Testimony of Healing December 17, 1910 Issue

It is with great pleasure that I add my testimony to the...

William A. Bonshor

It is with great pleasure that I add my testimony to the many which appear in our priceless periodicals. My experience in coming to Christian Science was very similar to that of many others. The first thing that appealed to me was the healing, as recorded in the Sentinel and Journal. The first time Science and Health was placed in my hands, I read for a few moments and then threw it out of the room, and forbade my wife to bring it there again. She replied that she had been looking all her life for that which the book contained.

I shortly afterward found it was the same truth which I wanted, and I then read it without prejudice, with a desire to know if it was the truth. I found it necessary to read with it the Bible, and I commenced with St. Luke's Gospel and read it from beginning to end, and part of another Gospel, before retiring to bed at about three in the morning. I rose at the usual time and went to work; but I forgot my pipe and tobacco, which had been my companions for thirteen years, and have never required them since. About two weeks later my desire for ale and porter was also destroyed. I had previously tried to give up both, but had failed every time, and seemed after each attempt to be worse than before. This time I quickly knew the appetite had been destroyed never to return, and I noticed that it disappeared without any effort on my part. The fear I had of yielding, if my old friends asked me, also disappeared, and no one asked me for two years. A change of occupation caused me to visit every hotel in the city, but not once was there any desire on my part to drink or smoke.

Twenty-two years ago I had left school at the age of twelve, and at that time vowed never to read again, and I almost kept my word. At the age of eighteen I had joined the English army, and spent most of my spare time in smoking, drinking, and gambling. My parents had told me at the age of twenty-one that I had caused them more trouble and anxiety than all their other children put together, and they could never induce me to read the Bible. My mother said she had prayed that I might be a preacher, yet I had turned out to be the worst of her children. I came to Canada five years ago, gambled day and night coming over, and landed with about two dollars on hand. My wife came on later in the same year, and was desperately ill in November; but she recovered, and in the following February we heard of Christian Science. We had at that time almost no furniture in our home, and were in debt to the doctor, the chemist, and the nurses. I considered ale and tobacco essential to my health, as well as medicine. Twelve months after becoming interested in Christian Science our flat was comfortably furnished and my position changed to one much more to my liking.

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