Testimony of Healing November 14, 1914 Issue

I desire to tell something of what Christian Science has...

Charles N. Brearley

I desire to tell something of what Christian Science has done for me. For about two years I suffered greatly from female trouble and neuralgia. I was examined by a physician, and he said I would never be well until I had an operation. I would not consent to this, so I turned to Christian Science and was healed very quickly. For several months I was perfectly well, and although I was passing through a period that is usually very trying to women, I suffered from none of its customary ills.

As the time approached for my baby to be born, I desired to engage some one to be with me at the birth, and I asked a nurse who lives in Lewiston and is a Scientist; but she said she could not promise to come, as she was then engaged, and her engagement might continue beyond that time. I did not want a physician, but a nurse, and I knew of one who was not opposed to Christian Science; so I wrote her, stating I did not intend to have a doctor. She replied that she would like to come, but as she knew nothing of Christian Science, she would not take the case unless a physician was present when the birth took place, though she would take the responsibility after that. I thought perhaps to have a physician present at the time might be more satisfactory to my husband, who was not a Christian Scientist, so I consented. My husband met the physician upon whom we had agreed, and told him of the case, with the intention of engaging him when needed. He came up in a few days, and my husband ex plained to him that I was a Scientist, and he said, "All the better." He pronounced me in perfect condition, but in a few days he began to intimate that there was something wrong on account of the delay. This tended to unnerve me for the time being, but the feeling would soon pass away, as the truth was declared and realized.

One day the doctor said he saw signs of grave danger, and later in the day he called the nurse over the telephone and said his greatest fears were realized, for it was the worst case of uremic poisoning he had ever examined; that if there was not a change in the morning he would have to call for a consultation, and the patient would have to be rushed to the hospital for a Cæsarean operation. He instructed the nurse to begin preparations at once for removing me to the hospital. She told him, however, that I was a Christian Scientist and she could not do what he asked without my consent and that of my husband. He answered that we would have to get Christian Science right out of the case, and said he would see my husband. This he did that evening, and told him the same thing. The nurse, my husband, and myself talked the matter over for some time that night. I was asked if I would go to the hospital, and I said no, most emphatically. We then decided that so long as I would not follow the doctor's advice, the only way was to dismiss him from the case entirely. To this the nurse consented. My husband agreed to do this, but for some reason he did not do so that night. The next morning, however, he called the doctor up and told him that he felt Christian Science and materia medica were in conflict, and so long as I wanted Science, we would relieve him from any further responsibility and that I would have Christian Science treatment. The doctor replied that he was very sorry my husband did not realize the seriousness of the situation, but if that was the case, nothing more could be done.

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