Christian Science first came into...

John W. E. Gilhespy

Christian Science first came into my life in 1907. For two years I was a shipmate of a Christian Scientist, and during that period I watched the good effects of his religion on his living. When I married and my wife and I had a daughter, our friend consented to be the godfather, and he presented the child with a copy of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. My wife and I began to read it. Very shortly thereafter, through earnest study of the Bible and the textbook, I was healed of a chronic complaint which for some years had troubled me and which the doctors had failed to cure or relieve. Shortly after this experience, through the faithful help of a Christian Science practitioner, I was healed of a broken nose.

Later I was sent to the East to organize and take charge of a naval base. The mental and physical stresses of that experience were great, but they were met through my own study of the Bible and Science and Health, and I realized more and more the importance and value of the daily study of the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly.

Whilst I was serving in India in 1923, my wife and I became dangerously ill. We were rescued from our serious plight, however, by the loving-kindness of Christian Science friends, and with their help and the absent treatment of a practitioner in England we were healed. I made such a rapid and complete recovery that within a few weeks I was able to take part in a quadrangular cricket test, which is one of the great annual sporting events of that country.

I spent the first ten years of my life in a hot and difficult climate. Towards the end of that time I suffered a severe illness, which caused me to be labeled delicate. Though my health greatly improved during my education in England, I suffered a relapse under the strain of service afloat, until the condition was healed in Christian Science, as described in the opening paragraph of this testimony. In 1929 a naval report on my capacity began with the words "perfect physique," and my gratitude to God for Christian Science can readily be understood. I rejoiced in this healing, for it was proof of the statement made on page 350 of our textbook, "Divine Truth must be known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind, before the Science of being can be demonstrated."

But whilst I am naturally thankful for physical healing, it is for the moral and spiritual progress brought about by the study of Christian Science that I am most deeply grateful. Through trying experiences I have never been without encouraging evidence of the capacity of Christian Science to heal, redeem, inspire, and lead the way.

Since my retirement from the Royal Navy in 1946, I have devoted all my time to Christian Science practice and church work. I have gained deeper insight into the completeness of The Mother Church organization, and I cannot adequately express my gratitude for the consecrated and devoted labors of our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, through whom it came into being.

I cannot close without a tribute of gratitude to the friends and practitioners whose loving-kindness and help have encouraged me in the hours of trial and struggle. Nor can I omit a full measure of thankfulness for the Bible and our Leader's writings, in which one has a library of inexhaustible spiritual riches; and also for our periodicals, especially for The Christian Science Monitor, which is an inestimable boon to the traveler.—(Captain) John W. E. Gilhespy, London, England.

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Testimony of Healing

Christian Science first came to...

June 9, 1951

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