Testimony of Healing March 19, 1921 Issue

I am very grateful for all that Christian Science means...

John Henry Alexander

I am very grateful for all that Christian Science means to me, and I feel particularly grateful for the knowledge that Love can and does overcome hatred, envy, malice, revenge, sin, and all the et ceteras of mortal mind. About five years ago I had a very clear proof of this. A friend had a horse which was considered to be very vicious. It would kick and bite so that four or five men were unable to control it when harnessing it to a vehicle. In fact the only way they could overcome it was by using an instrument of torture, known as a "twitch." This seemed to have the effect of attracting the horse's attention to the pain to such an extent that it would not kick and fight for the time being. I have seen it stand and defy four or five men on more than one occasion. I several times asked the owner if he would let me harness the horse, but each time he refused, saying that the horse would kill me if I attempted such a thing.

Things seemed to go from bad to worse, however, and several of the men threatened to leave if the horse was kept any longer. They had tried all the physical force they could, but without success. It was at this stage that the owner asked me to give the horse Christian Science treatment, if I thought it would do it any good. Although I had several months before only been a scholar in a Christian Science Sunday school, still I was ready to help when called upon.

A few days after commencing treatment, so convinced was I that the horse expressed nothing but love that I decided to prove that it was healed. I went into the stall where it was and stood beside its head, a thing I had been warned by the owner never to do. With the constant realization of the omnipresence of Love, and that every activity and movement of that horse's being was governed and controlled by divine Love only, I remained quite still for a few minutes. The horse drew back its ears, showed a certain sign which I had been told always meant danger, and practically touching me with its nose sniffed at me from my feet up. When it reached my face, fear seemed too great, and I withdrew a pace or two. A few seconds later I stepped forward again, but was obliged to withdraw. Then the thought came to me, "I have trusted God with my life before and I can trust Him again." I went forward as before, but this time did not move from my place. After a few minutes the horse put its nose into my hand and putting out its tongue licked it. I then held out the other hand and it licked that, and so on alternately. When it was driven shortly afterwards it was quiet as the other horses, and this time there were no complaints.

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