Testimony of Healing May 27, 1916 Issue

The Preface of Science and Health opens with the words,...

John H. Pitchford

The Preface of Science and Health opens with the words, "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings" (p. vii). This great truth has been proved to me in many ways. Soon after leaving school in 1902 I was attacked with a severe stomach trouble, which was not overcome until Christian Science found me in 1911. In September of that year a friend told me about the healing accomplished in Christian Science. At that time I had been confined to my room about nine days with what the doctor called malarial fever and other complaints, and my eyes were badly affected. My friend almost insisted on my going to see a practitioner, even though I did not care to go and thought I was not able to do so.

The practitioner asked me if I believed in Christian Science enough to lay aside all material means and trust God. I said I did, but my thought was that I would try it a few days, and if it failed to help me I would return to my medicines. She then gave me a silent treatment and had me read aloud the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation as given on page 16 of Science and Health. When I asked her what I could eat, she told me I could have anything I wanted, saying the food God provided never made any one sick. That night I slept well, a very unusual thing, and the next morning arose feeling all right. I went to work, and found that I could walk without getting tired, something I had not done for a long time. It rained heavily and I stopped for a while, then went on with no harmful results. That was the end of my illness.

My eyes were so badly affected that I could not read more than twenty minutes at a time; but now my sight is perfect. Corns and bunions have disappeared, also a throat trouble which I thought was hereditary. In April, 1913, I was overcome with a painful spasmodic ailment. I worked four hours declaring the truth, but as the difficulty had not been overcome, I again called for help, and the trouble disappeared within an hour. It has been over three years since I took any medicine.

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