On this program Mrs. Elizabeth E. Horsnaill of Gravesend, Kent, England, told of her own experience, as follows:

About 20 years ago, not long after my mother passed on, my father became seriously ill with an unusual condition of shingles in the head and eyes. Finally his doctor sent him to the hospital, telling us he feared for Father's sight. One day I went to see him with a heavy heart. The doctors had been very kind, and he had been given the best treatment, but nothing seemed to be effective. But suddenly I remembered that I was studying Christian Science. I wanted to help, but didn't know how; so I said, "Please, God, tell me how to think." Immediately I realized I had accepted all the material evidence about my father as being the truth. Now I began to reason that at this very moment Father was the dearly loved child of God. not the victim of grief.

I entered the hospital feeling very happy. When I reached my father's ward, a wonderful picture faced me. I learned that at the very time I asked God for help, the doctor and matron had decided to visit him and had found, to their great surprise and delight, that his sight was clear; and it remained so. The healing was permanent.

Some years later my little daughter wrote from boarding school that she was told she needed glasses. The school reported that glasses were an urgent necessity, but the child herself was putting up a strong resistance. We decided to ask the help of a Christian Science practitioner. The school took the child to a specialist who prescribed glasses, but she again resisted; so the specialist asked her to return in a week's time. The child's parting remark as she left was that "my eyes will be quite better," for she had learned how to rely on God for healing. The practitioner continued to pray. A week later the eyes were carefully tested and glasses were not needed. She was completely healed.

By this time I began to realize that Christian Science could correct my own problem of poor sight. I had worn glasses since I was eight years old—had now four pairs graded for various uses, and a verdict that after middle life I should gradually become blind, and that the condition was hereditary, since my mother had had a similar eye disease.

However, one morning as I reached for my glasses, the thought came to me, "You will not need these today." At breakfast my maid said, "You haven't your glasses."

"No," I said, "I don't need them."

After breakfast she asked, "Have you had a healing in Christian Science?"

"Oh, Mollie," I said, "I have!"

I drove a mobile canteen throughout our wartime blackout conditions with no difficulty. Then my eyes began to trouble me. As I thought about this, I saw that I had not really understood my healing. I was healed; God's work is sure. I now had to understand my healing and see that God's work cannot be changed or reversed. So I devoted time each day to the study of all Mary Baker Eddy says about eyes, sight, and vision in her writings.

As I began to glimpse the fact that sight is spiritual, the gift of God, divine Spirit, I reasoned that it must be unchanging and perfect. I saw that clear sight did not depend on heredity or material structure, but upon clear thinking. As these facts became plain to me, the eye trouble disappeared permanently.

The commentary was as follows:

You certainly have had convincing proof of God's power, Mrs. Horsnaill, and I can appreciate how grateful you must be. Just think of the freedom you and your family found! Your experience certainly shows that anyone struggling with impaired sight or the fear of blindness can find normal vision through the understanding of God's power as revealed by Christian Science.

You know, friends, when our guest first told me her experience, I was reminded, as perhaps you were, of how the Master, Christ Jesus, healed those who came to him with similar problems. They often called on him in desperation when all else had failed. But he healed them quickly, completely, and with great compassion. He could do this because he understood the healing Christ, the power of God, which is always present, always available, to meet every human need.

Now you may ask, "Where can I find the truth of God that makes possible the healing of such conditions?" It is taught in the Bible, and the practical means of applying it are set forth in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. These two books reveal the basic truth that God is the only real creator, that He is divine Spirit, infinite good, the only power.

Now do you wonder what this has to do with sight? Simply this. Christian Science teaches that God, divine Love, does not afflict His children with faulty vision or any trouble. The Bible tells us that man is made in God's own image and likeness. Therefore the man of God's creating must express all of God's perfect qualities. And so the real man has perfect vision because he is God's likeness, spiritual and perfect. In the words of the Bible, "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them."

You see, as our guest learned, sight is in reality a spiritual faculty of divine Mind, of the all-seeing, divine intelligence, which is God. It is reflected by man because God gives man the ability to express Him without limit. Starting from this standpoint, we can reason that, actually, sight is governed by God's law, and is as much a normal part of our true being as is purity, goodness, and integrity. It is indestructible, because in reality it is spiritual, not material. Because God's work is finished, sight cannot wear out, cannot fail. Nothing can invade or injure what God has created, because there is no power apart from God.

It is plain from our guest's experience that when you begin to understand and accept these truths, even in a measure, you can gain dominion over universal fears and persistent beliefs concerning sight. You stop believing sight can become diseased. You stop fearing it can become strained or worn out. You learn that in reality sight is just as untouched by age or accident as God Himself.

The fact is that in the measure of our understanding of God's law and power normal vision can be gained and maintained. We learn to turn away from the material evidence to God, and to recognize the truth concerning man's perfection, including sight. This removes the fear, impatience, irritation, self love, and other wrong thinking that would blur, distort, or obstruct clear vision.

When we see ourselves and others as God knows man, we realize that the real man is already perfect and complete. This correct view of man heals impaired vision and restores perfect sight. The experience of our guest and her family gave evidence of this fact.

The ever-present nature of true vision is brought out by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health where she writes (p. 486): "Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immortality are in Spirit and understanding, not in matter, —hence their permanence."

The musical selection on this program was Hymn No. 34 from the Christian Science Hymnal.