Testimony of Healing May 18, 1912 Issue

I am writing this in the hope that some poor sufferer may...

P. C. Pope with contributions from W. T. Soulee

I am writing this in the hope that some poor sufferer may read it, take courage, and find health and happiness. For more than thirty-five years I was a sufferer from stomach trouble with all its attendant ills, but during all these years I had the care and advice of as good doctors as our country afforded. I remember when I was only twelve or fourteen years old I had to drink mineral waters, and from that time on my condition grew worse and worse, until about seventeen years ago rheumatic gout set in. For three or four months I took the usual medicines given for such cases, but at the end of that time my stomach was in such a condition I could no longer take the strong medicines. It was then decided that I should try another remedy, and after doing so for six weeks I was able to walk without my crutches. For several years after this I would go each summer to these springs, but after a while they failed me. I also went to a sanitarium, where they gave me hot baths and bakes. At first they seemed to help me very much, but later on they too failed. All these years I was living on the strictest kind of a diet; still the attacks became more and more frequent and more and more severe, until, in July, 1907, I had a complete breakdown. Former methods were repeated, but without the desired results.

In the fall of 1907 I learned of a doctor, in a northern city, who was said to be a fine specialist on stomach troubles, gout, etc., so I went to see him. After making a very thorough examination he said that my condition was very bad, and to add to all my other troubles, he found that I had Bright's disease. When I got back home I was still suffering with nervous exhaustion, on crutches from the gout, suffering with my stomach, with the kidney trouble added. Soon after this I experimented with electricity. The treatment seemed to help me, but at the end of forty-five days the doctor said it would not do to continue this treatment; so it seemed as if there was nothing left but to wait for the end.

During the last week of May, 1908, I met with an old friend, who told me that I could be cured in Christian Science. He did not say very much, but seemed very sure about what he did say, and he gave me the address of a practitioner who lived in a city about two hundred miles from my home. I hardly know why I went—I had no faith in Christian Science; but I did go. When I reached the city where the practitioner lived, on Thursday, May 28, I at once telephoned to her and was told to come up to see her the next morning. During the night I gave the matter a good deal of thought, and the next morning I told my wife I would not go to see the practitioner; that I could not afford to do it, as I had been raised in the church where I had held important offices for more than twenty years, and that it would not do for me to take up Christian Science. She had no faith in it, so she said we would go home that day. I said no, that we were there in the city, which was my old home, and would stay a few days, as I felt that it would be my last visit there. Sunday I seemed to get very much worse, and on Monday morning I said to my wife that I was going to see the Christian Science practitioner, as there was nothing she could do that would make my condition worse. So, after having been in the city from Thursday until Monday, I did go to see the lady. She gave me treatment, and told me I could go home any time I wanted to, as she could treat me at my home. At the time I went to see the practitioner I could eat hardly anything at all and was living almost entirely on liquids; but the next morning after I received the first treatment I ate a hearty breakfast and did not suffer from it. I left the city that day and came home, having obtained a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and this I read and studied as best I could.

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