Testimony of Healing June 1, 1918 Issue

The study of Christian Science has revealed a glimpse of...

James Barr Wiles

The study of Christian Science has revealed a glimpse of man's at-one-ment with God. I did not take it up for physical healing, but because I was a daily witness of what this truth was doing in the lives of others. As a child I had always found it difficult to subscribe to the faith of my fathers, and although I was accepted as a member of an orthodox church, I never felt any interest in its teachings. On growing to manhood I drifted far away from any religious body, and considered all religious observances and those who practiced them, as objects of ridicule. With the exception of the hours devoted to the pursuing of my vocation, all my spare time was used in the vain search for wordly comforts and indulgences. All the so-called pleasures of material existence were sampled, with the result that while some were found to be devoid of any attraction, others seemed to be more alluring and formed themselves into bad habits.

After marriage my wife, a student of Christian Science, exerted a quiet influence which, even when I mentally resisted it, made me feel rather ashamed of many of the things I was doing and thinking. This led me to read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" in order to find out more about her religion. Our first child passed on about this time, however, and reaction of feeling set in that expressed itself in the determination to have nothing further to do with Christian Science, so for several years I went on in my old way of living. Two other children were born and reared under Christian Science teachings, my wife never having wavered in her trust in God's love. The elder child is seven and the younger five years of age at the present time, and neither has ever taken a drop of medicine or had the services of a physician, with the exception of the compulsory school medical law examination requirements, which include vaccination.

About five years ago a circumstance arose which called for immediate action on my part, as it seemed to involve loss and disaster to those near to me; also I seemed to be the only one to whom they could turn in this time of stress. After a careful consideration of the facts involved, I found that all human aid, as expressed through philosophy and theory, of which I had been a great student, was unable to help in this time of trial, so I turned once again to God, wondering the while whether there was any use asking His help after the life I had been leading. This time, instead of a half-hearted reading of Science and Health, the careful study of the Bible with the aid of the Quarterly and the text-book was taken up, and needless to say, the seeming problem was solved in a satisfactory manner. Since then Christian Science has been my all-in-all.

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