Testimony of Healing December 7, 1918 Issue

It is due to Christian Science that I should give public...

John Keane

It is due to Christian Science that I should give public testimony to the many benefits which I have derived from its teachings, and I gladly and gratefully do so. Before I went out to the South African war and after my return, I was employed for many years in the Traveling Post Office, where the work is very hard and intricate. In 1905 I collapsed one night in the mail train coming up to London. Doctors called it a nervous breakdown. I had a long sick leave, seaside holidays, and on one occasion was confined to a room for a month and not allowed to read, write, or speak to anyone. I also took quanities of medicine, but these things benefited me only temporarily, for my condition was as bad as ever when I went back to work.

I was like that for six years, ill and well, full of trouble and with very little hope in the world. I went to my old church and prayed for relief as men in trouble only pray, but no relief came. My concept of God at the time was that of a powerful monarch living in some far-away heaven who could grant or refuse my petitions. I have since gained from Science and Health a better understanding of God and learned a demonstrable method of prayer, and can honestly say that I am more thankful for these than for the healing which followed. I could do but little work and that little in a most unsatisfactory manner, and although they were very kind to me at the office, my sick absences were so many and long that early in 1911 I was sent to the doctor to be put on pension. He was very considerate but told me distinctly that the next time I went off ill I would have to stay away. This verdict nearly broke my heart, as my children were young and the pension would be inadequate to supply our needs.

It was at this crisis that a copy of The Christian Science Journal came into my hands in the course of my work. I opened it and read a couple of the articles, which gave me the first ray of hope that had entered my consciousness for six years. Wisdom guided me to the index of the churches. I took the address of the one nearest my home, went there the following Sunday, and have been going there ever since. Although I was a stranger I was treated with the greatest kindness and courtesy, and from that day to this I have never looked back. In a very short time I was freed from my troubles and I had no difficulty with my work afterwards. To-day I can do my work as well as ever I did, because I do it scientifically, thanks to Christian Science. In the past seven years I have been absent from duty through illness for only two periods of four days each, owing to severe colds.

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