Sophia Matilda, an Eight-Year-Old Blind for Nearly a Year, Has Her Sight Restored After Administration at Berrien, Montgomeryshire (1849)

“My daughter Sophia Matilda, aged eight years, was, in the mont of May, 1848, afflicted in her eyes, she soon lost the sight of her left eye, and on applying to medical aid, in of the sight being restored she immediately lost the other, the surgeon stating that the pupils were closed, and feared she could never be restored to her sight. I was advised to try an eminent surgeon in Shrewsbury, in the county of Salop, where in June, 1848, I sent her and her mother, as she was now quite blind, and the poor little creature’s sufferings were indescribable, though the Lord enabled her to be patient in her afflictions ; she remained in Shrewsbury a fortnight but found no benefit, and, as the last resource to human aid, I was ad- vised to send her to an eminent occulist in Liverpool (Dr. Neile) under whose treat- ment she was relieved, and a gradual improvement took place, to our great joy, until the Autumn of the same year. I corresponded with Dr. Neile, who desired me to continue the treatment he had prescribed, but it was all to no purpose, for she relapsed into the same state as before and was in total darkness the whole of the winter suffering acutely, and by February of the present year, 1849, she had wasted to a mere skeleton, when my brother-in-law paid me a visit previous to his embarks tion to California, and told me that if I would have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and call for the elders of the Church, he believed she would be healed. I also soon was enabled to believe, and obeyed the command of St. James. The Church put up their prayers for us, and I found thanks to the giver of all good some improvement ere the ordinance was performed. On the following Sabbath, elders Dudley and Richards, from Pool Quay, came to my house, performed the ordinance upon my child, the pain soon left her, and she was soon, by the power of God, and the prayers of the faithful, restored to sight and health, and thanks be to Almighty God, she is still in the enjoyment of these great blessings; trusting you will rejoice in the Lord with me for his great mercies manifested to me.”

— Millennial Star 11:12