Testimony of Healing April 21, 1934 Issue

About fifteen years ago, when I was asked to take an...

James Lodwick Duguid

About fifteen years ago, when I was asked to take an interest in Christian Science, I was very much opposed and said, "We don't want any of that nonsense here." I had been actively engaged in church work, had been a Sunday school teacher for nearly forty years, and was steeped in orthodoxy. Consequently, some of the teachings of Christian Science appeared to me to be nothing less than blasphemous. The services did not appeal to me, but I was much impressed with the wonderful way in which the two million dollars was subscribed for the building of The Mother Church extension, also with Mrs. Eddy's insistence on Christian Scientists' living in accordance with the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount.

I first read Science and Health critically, and very skeptically, accepting nothing which I could not prove from the Bible with the aid of a Concordance. I had always been more or less delicate, and had a great dread of being incapacitated for my vocation by rheumatism in my feet and knees. This was overcome after three months' reading through the applied understanding that I was God's idea. The healing occurred while I was on a holiday. When I returned home I discarded all the material remedies which I had used for years for this and other troubles. The belief in the efficacy of medicine was difficult to master. After one or two lapses I finally thought I had gained dominion, but about two years after I first began to study I was taken ill again. After diarrhea had continued a fortnight, I thought, "Well, it's no use, I have not sufficient understanding yet; I must have more of that medicine which the specialist prescribed for me." Previous to my being in Science one dose of this medicine was always effective, and I used to carry a bottle about with me during the hot weather. To my surprise, I now found that the whole bottleful of twelve doses had no effect whatever. I then asked for treatment from a practitioner, and in two days was going about as usual. This was thirteen years ago and was the last time that I took medicine.

Since then I have experienced many other physical healings, of polypus, fatigue, colds, insomnia, neuritis, pleurisy, debility. But that for which I am most grateful is the better understanding of God and the Bible, which has resulted in comparative freedom from anxiety and depression, and also an entirely changed outlook on life. I am also grateful for the privilege of sharing in the activities of a branch church, and for The Mother Church, which unites us all in the ranks of a grand and ever increasing army whose object is to stem the tide of depression, lack, and error throughout the world, thereby hastening the time when "they shall all know me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest of them." I am grateful for the editorials, articles, and testimonies which appear in our literature, in which I find constant help and encouragement; and also for class instruction and the annual Association meetings.

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