Testimony of Healing July 2, 1921 Issue

The definition of "testimony" is given in Nuttall's dictionary...

D. Benningfield

The definition of "testimony" is given in Nuttall's dictionary as "a solemn declaration made for the purpose of proving some fact." It is in all sincerity and earnestness that I testify to the ability to prove in a degree that a knowledge of the truth does make for freedom, a fact stated by Jesus some nineteen hundred years ago. This statement I studied for many years without having the faintest conception of the nature of Truth, and now Christian Science has proved to me that the truth has been discovered and that this discovery has made freedom available for all who long to know God. Until the outbreak of the war in 1914 I found the teaching of the Church of England quite satisfactory, and then suddenly, when it was put to the test, I became conscious that my whole faith in that teaching and, in fact, in Deity itself depended on the proving of the fact that God does answer prayer. My two brothers joined the army within a few hours after the declaration of war and went almost at one to Belgium. Day and night I prayed that they might come back safely, but early in 1915 both were killed in action. One of the boys had been my constant companion, and when my prayers all proved fruitless it was as if the light of day had been blotted out and not only had I lost my best friend but I had also lost sight of God, for the conception I had depended on for so long had vanished, and I was left hopeless and drifting in a maze of doubts.

For two years I searched for God. I hunted for definite proof of His existence in the teachings and creeds of many denominations and sects, and among these was Christian Science. During those two years I suffered intensely from depression which was partly hereditary, though greatly aggravated by my trouble, and which eventually developed into a form of melancholia that would descend upon me like a cloud of helpless hopelessness and envelop me in darkness for weeks at a time. No doctor could help me. Life was a burden or a misery. I felt that there was only one means of relief from this agony of doubt and that was to know with certainty what my aim in life should be. I would go to clergymen and teachers and ask them definite questions: "What is God, and what am I, and what is my relation to God? What am I suppoed to be aiming at and doing in this existence called life, and why am I here at all?" No one could ever give me a reply that satisfied, and I had to grope on in spiritual blindness.

Just four years ago a friend suggested that I go and see a Christian Science practitioner. I did so, and that very day the suffering from depression became less acute for a short time. The practitioner gave me what she called "treatment" and talked to me about God, and, because she asked me to do so, I read the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy and attended services at a Christian Science church. I went often to see the practitioner, but for many weeks I had no idea what she was talking about. Each treatment brought in its wake, however, a longer period of relief from depression, and that to me was sufficient proof that there was indeed "something in Christian Science."

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