Testimony by  Roland H. Allen

I originally heard this testimony at the end of an Audio Recording of the article, God’s Law of Adjustment by Adam H. Dickey.    It was always a favorite.  With the new resource of the Christian Science Publishing Society, called:  Journal, Sentinel, Herald Online or JSHOnline you can find this testimony and thousands and thousands more.  With an affordable subscription you can access all articles, poems, and testimonies published in the Christian Science Journal, Sentinel, or Herold.  What a incredible resource.

On December 12, 1943, the first...

By Roland H. Allen

From the June 2, 1945 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

"On December 12, 1943, the first really cold day of the winter, I was working at my wartime job as a shipfitter at New England's largest shipyard. For several days I had been installing "swash lids" on the fuel tanks of a large combat vessel. The fuel tanks of warships are scattered along the bottom of the hull, occupying space not utilized for other purposes, and separated from one another by bulkheads which are watertight and fireproof.

The most difficult and tiring part of my work resulted from this method of placement, as it necessitated much crawling through cramped areas and numberless small openings known as "escape holes." I had to pull an electric welding line over one hundred feet long to the many compartments where lids were required, to carry a welder's shield, an extension electric light cord, and a tool bag.

On this particular day I thought I was going to finish the assignment by installing the last of thirty-nine lids, only to find when checking my work list that somewhere I had missed one tank. This was very discouraging, for, numb with cold from lying on the frigid steel, I was anxious to get through and do some other work that would allow me to stand up and move about.

I was tempted to leave the one lid undone and let someone else do it when it was found incomplete. However, it was my habit to complete my assignments before asking for another job. So I explored the whole ship's bottom and found that the tank I had missed was the one I should have done first, situated way up forward near the bow of the vessel.

I started installing the lid, which necessitated my getting inside the tank through the "escape hole," an opening of fifteen by twenty-three inches, because the "swash lids" open downward into the tanks.

I had to weld the hinge on which the lid swung to the interior of the tank and to the lid. In order to locate the hinge correctly and to allow the lid to swing freely when opening and closing I had been instructed always to bolt the lid in place with the thirty-six bolts required to hold it and then weld on the hinge.

I tried to put the first bolt in place while holding the lid on top of my head with one hand, but I was so numb with cold, and so tired from crawling so far with my equipment, that I could not accomplish this simple act until the eighth attempt. Finally, the threads of the first bolt caught and I soon had enough bolts to hold the lid in place. Then when I looked for my wrench to tighten the bolts, I discovered that somewhere along the way I had dropped it. I was faced with the choice of taking the lid down and crawling back through the inner-bottom of the ship until I found my wrench or going ahead with the work by tightening the bolts as much as I could with my fingers and welding the hinge on. I decided on the latter course.

When the welding was finished and I was ready to leave, satisfied the work was properly done, I found that the bolts I had put on with my fingers would not come out. The welding had caused a distortion of the steel which had added a strain somewhere and I was a prisoner by my own hand.

Instantly sensing the seriousness of my position, I realized I had to demonstrate for myself the truths I had so often professed. Many aggressive mental suggestions came to my consciousness. I met each one with its counterfact. The first scientific thought that came to me was the subject of the Lesson-Sermon to be read in all Christian Science churches the next day, "God the Preserver of Man."

I never let go of that one fact and I worked as I had been taught. When Satan whispered, "You're alone and no help will come," I knew that God was infinite, ever present, and that therefore I was not alone. Again the whisper came: "It's four degrees above zero and it's now Saturday noon. If you don't get out by three o'clock you will be here until seven o'clock Monday morning. Do you think you'll survive?" Then the truth came to my consciousness: "God is your Life; you cannot die."

A fierce mental battle was fought in my consciousness, inside that cold tank. It was not ended easily or very rapidly. Aggressive mental suggestions sought to gain control over me by fear. But, thank God, I knew the counterfacts of every lie.

All the while I was striving to twist the bolts out with my fingers, working at one then another to find one I could move. Picking up my electric light to examine the bolts I saw threads of flesh clinging to the heads of the bolts. Looking at my fingers, I saw the torn flesh. I had felt no pain. My fear of imprisonment was greater than my sense of pain and overshadowed it.

The devil prompted me to scream, to pound on the steel, to seek another opening, to use my welding rod to burn the bolts off. But I knew that no one could hear. Rivet guns were roaring down aft somewhere on the hull. I started to crawl into the other compartment of the tank, but my fear of leaving the comfort of my electric light, and the knowledge that there was no other escape hole, put an end to that temptation. Wisdom told me: "You have never tried burning a bolt away. It has been done, but you don't know how. If you fail to burn it through and add weld to the bolt you'll be welded in."

I was still striving to twist the bolts out. It finally came to me that I must stop my human efforts and trust wholly in God. It required an actual physical effort to take my hands away from the bolts. But I finally put them down in my lap, and then I spoke to God. I said, "God, I'm listening." The change was wonderful. A message from an article written by Adam H. Dickey entitled, "God's Law of Adjustment," came to me. The statement was, "If a man were drowning in mid-ocean with apparently no human help at hand, there is a law of God which, when rightly appealed to, would bring about his rescue."

With this thought came absolute calmness, a sense of peace, a certainty of God's nearness, a positive assurance of deliverance. I waited and heard the direction, "Take out the pin in the hinge." Even as I moved to obey, the dark angel said: "What good will that do? The bolts hold the lid, not the hinge." But there was no contest. I knew the voice that I would follow.

I removed the pin from the hinge, dropped my hands into my lap, and waited. Again the voice came: "Take out the bolt at the left." My fingers grasped the bolt at the left and strained to twist it. It moved. I took a new hold, putting my whole effort into keeping it turning until it came free. I continued removing one bolt after another until only one remained that I could not move.

Again I dropped my hands to my lap and waited. The words of a much loved hymn can best describe the amazement I felt as I say my deliverance working out step by step,

"I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on."

The angel voice said, "Pull down on the lid." The lid bent as I pulled with all my strength so the hole was partly open. The impulse came to try to wedge my way through. But the right thought came in time: "Don't try that; you will get caught part way and be unable to go ahead or back. Pull down again." This time there was more than the strength of muscles. The threads were stripped from the bolt and the lid crashed into my lap. I was free! Looking out into the dark inner bottom of the ship, I saw my welding line and extension electric light cord winding back the way I must go to get to the "escape trunk" and then up to the deck of the ship. I had felt the need to see that the way was unobstructed.

Then I sat back in the tank and silently praised God, rejoicing that Christian Science had given such power to men. I reviewed my many blessings and counted not least among them the class instruction I had received. My gratitude to Mrs. Eddy was profound and beyond words.

I installed the lid properly on the hinge and left the ship. When I arrived home my wife met me and said, "I have been working all day for you to come home safely." She had felt my need, and supplied it by right knowing and persistent declarations of the truth about man. I was so overcome with gratitude that it was hours before I could speak of what had occurred.

No other experience has given me the sense of nearness to God that I gained from this one. I felt His presence and followed His angels' voices. I believe I have learned to recognize divine guidance.—Roland H. Allen, West Newton, Massachusetts."