Testimony of Healing September 10, 1910 Issue

In 1900 I was driven from my home and occupation by...

Arthur D. Barker

In 1900 I was driven from my home and occupation by the accumulated beliefs in poor health during my own and two or three previous lifetimes. By the end of 1905 I was not only alone in a strange city and a strange state, but my efforts to find and retain good health had left me barely able to do the easiest work, and hopelessly discouraged. I had lately been obliged to stop eating ordinary food, and had just failed in the last of several attempts to get well on "health foods." At about this time I began a second experience with Christian Science. Fortunately I was led to see that material objects might really be less absolute than they seem to be. I was told that Christian Science would enable me both to eat and work,—that it would make me well. That was my one great and imperative necessity. As I had tried practically every other known means without lasting success, I could do no less than to try Christian Science; which I proceeded to do, although I was timid and more than half ashamed. When I was asked to go to church, that was quite a poser, for church-going had been neglected for a long time; but then Christian Science promised results that simply had to be secured; and besides, as soon as I could see it at all, I perceived that it was associated with some beautiful ideals, so I asked what I should do to receive the promised benefits to the fullest possible extent.

I am very thankful for those students who were wise enough and kind enough to lead me gently through those trying times. I shall never forget the first evening I went to my room with a borrowed copy of Science and Health, ready to read. It was the last day of the old year. I had been having serious trouble with my eyes for several months and had been able to read only a few minutes at a time, but I read that book almost continuously from seven o'clock until about midnight. As several great whistles sounded the passing of the old year and the coming of the new, I felt absolutely certain that the old troubles were going out of my experience, and that something good and true was coming in. I had never felt so glad and thankful in my life. That settled it. I would have bought a copy of Science and Health the next morning if one had been for sale on New Year day. The following day I did buy one, and began to search its pages "as for hid treasure." Having been advised to employ a practitioner, I did so for a couple of weeks, and the following are some of the benefits received.

The great gladness and thankfulness which came with the first glimpse of the glorious view that Christian Science opens before us, has already been referred to. As this view unfolded in my experience, such physical ills as severe stomach trouble and chronic hereditary bowel disorder very promptly disappeared. My greatest apparent need has been supplied; viz., I am able to work, and that continuously, no matter whether the work involves physical hardship or mental strain or both. Many other things that formerly were a source of disturbance or trouble have been largely overcome, so that the general conditions of life and thought have come into a state of quietness and harmony, as well as prosperity, such as we never knew before. I had left off all church observances and had acquired, during many years, a somewhat free use of rough language. When I learned that the power of infinite good, that is, of God, was really available in every-day affairs; that it really helps us, now, to study the Bible as it is explained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, the bad language habit became so distasteful that I had to stop it.

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