Testimony of Healing October 4, 1913 Issue

In the gospel of Luke the Master speaks of the debtor the...

B. Palmer Lewis

In the gospel of Luke the Master speaks of the debtor the whom a certain creditor forgave most, and reading this beautiful lesson, I feel that my debt to divine Love is indeed great. In June, 1909, I came through New York city on my way from Baltimore, Md. I had left Boston a few days previously, going to Baltimore for the financial aid that had been promised me to save a corporation of which I was at that time the head, and circumstances were such that it seemed as if, without this help, nothing could save us. All I had in the world was tied up in this company. The aid had been refused me and I was in a desperate state. I stopped at a hotel bar in this city and, after drinking a great deal of whisky, the thought came to me to call my wife on the telephone and ask her to see me. My wife was at that time living in New York city, as we had separated several years before on account of my utter unreliability and love for drink. I had taken the so-called "cures," but to no purpose.

She consented to see me, and was kind to me when I called. I saw that in the few years since I had seen her a great physical and mental change for the better had been wrought in her. She had formerly been an invalid for about ten years. She told me that Christian Science had healed her, and seeing my awful physical and mental condition, as well as knowing my seemingly hopeless financial troubles, she asked why I did not try Christian Science. I told her that I was ready to try anything, but that no power on earth could help me. At this time I was in the advanced stages of an awful disease, and materia medica had failed me, as had the so-called healing waters of some noted springs; but "man's extremity is God's opportunity." I took the midnight train to Boston, after promising to meet my wife the following Wednesday and go with her to The Mother Church to hear the testimonies.

I reached Boston saturated with whisky, and stayed so until that Wednesday evening, when I met my wife at the South station and we went to church together for the first time in our lives. I was still under the influence of drink; but one testimony greatly impressed me, and I thank God for that testimony to this day. It was given by a minister who had been healed in Science, and who told how from his pulpit he had often attacked what he thought to be Christian Science, and then stated that if Science could change him, there was hope for any man. After service my wife called a practitioner on the telephone. He came to the hotel and had a talk with her,—I did not see him. He agreed to take my case, making an appointment for the following morning at ten o'clock. I went to him, still under the influence of drink, but he was kind and loving. I told him I was down and out in every way, and also spoke about my physical condition, which was serious. The liquor condition was evident, and needed no telling. I acknowledged that I knew nothing of Christian Science, but that if it could cure me, the days of miracles were not past. I had drunk to excess for years, and whisky had seemed to be the curse of my grandfather and uncles as well as of my brothers.

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