Testimony of Healing January 8, 1921 Issue

When the year 1911 dawned it found me in ill health...

Clifford J. Harrison

When the year 1911 dawned it found me in ill health and feeling a keen sense of disappointment that the church of which I was a member had failed to answer the questions of young manhood, and did not satisfy my longing to know the truth about God and man. Moreover, I was suffering constantly from the dull pain of an internal derangement and it was when in this unhappy condition that a friend told me of the healing and happiness which Christian Science had brought into his life, I decided to investigate the subject, with honest willingness to test it on its merits.

The first interview with a Christian Science practitioner convinced me that I had at last found the logical, practical religion of the New Testament for which I had longed, and in his explanation of God I saw the answers to my questions. Proof of the correctness of this new vision of Truth came at once in the cessation of the pain which had been wearying me for months. I commenced the study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and soon found that the truths unfolded were demonstrable. Life was completely changed for me as a new usefulness was indicated, and health rapidly returned. A stomach weakness which had troubled me since childhood and which seemed to cause frequently recurring bilious attacks was healed, and I do not recall having had a single attack since.

In the autumn of 1915, whilst drilling, I fell and severely strained myself. A large and intensely painful hernia was immediately apparent, but as I felt it afforded me the opportunity of further proving what I knew of Christian Science I decided to take up the work for myself. The pain yielded quickly but there was no appreciable change in the physical manifestation. Some three months later I was examined for military service by three doctors, who certified me as unfit for any but duties of a sedentary nature. In a further two months, when I joined the army, the examining medical board placed me in the lowest medical category but one, and the officer in charge urged me to undergo a surgical operation at once, as he assured me that I was no use to myself or any one else in that condition. I knew I was improving, and stuck to my work in Christian Science, with the result that toward the end of 1917 I was able to ask for examination by another medical board, as I felt I was then perfectly fit for full service. That examination was a very thorough one and I was passed as quite fit. On being transferred to a crack regiment in which the standard of physical fitness was very high, I was again subjected to a stiff test by an eminent doctor, with the same satisfactory result. Having my previous record before them, these doctors expressed their surprise at such a healing, but with all their testing they could find no trace of displacement or weakness. Whilst on active service in France I had frequent occasion to handle and carry ammunition and other heavy objects up to 240 pounds in weight, and I was able to accomplish successfully some intensive digging in chalk soil,—which is probably about the severest test any one could have,—without feeling the slightest strain, and I am still enjoying the same freedom and strength.

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