Article February 10, 1917 Issue

Testimony Giving

COL. FREDERICK H. MATURIN

All over the world Wednesday evening meetings are held by Christian Science churches and societies for the purpose of hearing and giving testimonies to the healing and regenerating power of Christian Science. In Section 24 of Article VIII of the Manual we read: "Testimony in regard to the healing of the sick is highly important. More than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it scales the pinnacle of praise and illustrates the demonstration of Christ, 'who healeth all thy diseases.' " Such are Mrs. Eddy's far-sighted reasons for establishing these meetings, and her citation of Paul's command to "glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's," is a further injunction to her followers which is all too insufficiently heeded.

We attend these meetings with the desire and expectation of hearing testimonies, but do we sufficiently realize that we cannot hear them unless we are ourselves contributing? We are all willing to bear testimony to the power of Truth, yet often we sit silent. Why? There are various reasons, perhaps the two most prevalent being diffidence and nervousness, although we know these conditions should not exist in Christian Science. Another reason, especially in a small church, is that existing in the thought of one who is ever ready to give testimony, but who says, "What is the use of my getting up and saying the same thing over and over again?" Yet this very one will be the first to admit such a reason to be quite invalid. Another reason often adduced is an inherent dislike to speak about one's self,—a sense of self-depreciation which out of Science is very praiseworthy, and in Science equally blameworthy. Let us never forget that the relation of an actual personal experience is far more helpful to those listening to a testimony than the recounting of cases in one's own practice or of what one has seen or heard. As in law hearsay evidence is of no value, so it is of no importance and has no place at our meetings.

We find so often, however, that after the reader has declared the meeting open for the giving of testimony, there is a long and, viewing the object of the meeting, somewhat painful silence. This should not be. Surely here is a case where anything is better than nothing, if that anything is to be the voicing of the truth. If we cannot speak of any remarkable physical healing, then let us, even if beginners, say a few words on some phase of Christian Science which interests or has been helpful to us. There is no day in our journey from sense to Soul in which opportunity does not arise to put to the proof our understanding of Christian Science, some occasion, however slight it may seem in itself, in which the power of Truth is demonstrated. Then there can never be a lack of testimonies at these meetings if we are willing to give God the glory in the overcoming of the lesser as well as the greater errors.

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