Testimony of Healing February 25, 1911 Issue

I have tried many times to express my deep sense of...

May W. Manchester

I have tried many times to express my deep sense of gratitude for the blessings I have received as the result of an earnest study of Christian Science. I was brought up to read the Bible and attend religious services. The New Testament appealed to me most, especially the Christ-teaching, but ignorance kept me from knowing how to practise it. As I grew older I became restless, and in spite of criticism I tried one church after another, going to those called the liberal, and then to the philosophies of other times and nations. Then I tried to study alone, but I had only the letter minus the spiritual interpretation.

Up to the age of nineteen I had no sickness or physical ailments, but shortly after marriage my physical ills began, and I had an attack of organic trouble which I was told would require an operation. I preferred death to this, and had come near to its realization when I was prevailed upon to try other means. I was not satisfied, however, and sought still other avenues. Finally Christian Science was presented, but unfortunately it came to me in a way which antagonized me greatly, and I was kept in ignorance of this blessed truth and in darkness for ten years. I made the grossest mistakes in all my affairs, became tangled mentally and disturbed physically, until about four years ago, when I came to a sudden stop, threatened with a nervous collapse. I had tried everything I ever heard of and felt I would rather die than go back to materia medica.

In my anguish I cried out for wisdom to know what to do, and a friend told me of a Christian Science practitioner, and with this information came the unveiling of my secret sin—prejudice. I lost no time in finding the Scientist's office, and in a very few moments I was shown the error of my thinking. My pathway back to the road was thorny, but I felt and knew it had to be trod. I worked faithfully for a year and a half, read nothing but the Bible and Science and Health, and called for help when I could not go alone. The old dogmas, creeds, and beliefs did not yield readily, and for three years I plodded along without realizing much progress, but after I had class instruction I felt the death-struggle of the error and knew I was free.

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