It has occurred to me several times to write my experience in Christian Science for our periodicals, of which I have been a constant reader for more than a year; but I have hesitated hitherto, feeling that the space might perhaps be more profitably employed.
All my life I have been a searcher after truth, and not finding it in the orthodox church of which I was a member, I drifted away from its moorings, longing for the spiritual food which creed, dogma, and ritual failed to furnish, and sought amid the seemingly plausible statements of several current cults and isms to satisfy the craving of my soul. Theosophy, Swedenborgianism, alchemy,astrology, etc.,— all were duly weighed and found wanting. I felt that somewhere the answer to Pilate's momentous question "What is truth?" could he obtained, but I then knew not where to look for it. While I frequently read in the Bible, I did it in a perfunctory way, and sometimes critically, deeming it a scaled book to one of my capacity, and I much doubted the sincerity of my orthodox friends who claimed it as their rule and guide of faith and practice. I was keen enough to note that while in word they affirmed the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of God. they denied it in their mode of life, and I grew skeptical accordingly.
But my desire for truth was not destined to be Without fruition, for in April of 1907 it was my good fortune to listen to a lecture on Christian Science which in its masterful logic clearly showed that here was a scientific, verifiable religion, applicable in loving and unstinted measure to the needs of daily life, and that a knowledge of its beautiful spiritual import could be obtained from a reading of the Bible with the aid of that truly inspired book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. I consulted, later, a Christian Science practitioner, who further enlightened me upon the subject and gave me some literature, a copy of the Journal and a tract or two, which I eagerly read; and upon talking the subject over with my wife, we concluded to send our children to a Christian Science Sunday School. We then, together, read Science and Health through carefully, and found therein the spiritual food for which we had so long been hungering.
