In the year 1868, as the writing on the flyleaf shows I was presented with a Bible. For forty years the book remained not only unread, but' lost to memory and view alike. Now, it is read by me daily and is a prized possession. How my book escaped the accidents of a varied and active life is hard to tell. Calculating by the law of averages, it should have been lost many times over, but there it lies, not much the worse for long neglect.
In what manner this has come to pass, may, I am told, interest some reader of the Journal. Two years ago I met with Christian Science. I think I saw at once that here was life, and here was hope. It was not a casual meeting, such as I had once before experienced and gained nothing from. It was full and face to face, and could not be evaded. It was either acceptance or rejection. One very clear to me was healed. There was a fact—stubborn, as all facts are and not to be explained away. If anything in religion, I was an agnostic, having a doubtful belief in an unknowable God. The past and future of mankind were to me questions so obscure and so unfathomable that they were better left alone, since no solution that ever presented itself seemed in any way to give me reasonable satisfaction. I had some reverence for the church of my ancestors, in the past as a civilizing medium and an estate of the realm, and in the present a beneficent institution. But I did not go to services unless to please other people, and all that I had been taught, or had gathered, of creeds and doctrines, repelled me. I had always a deeply-rooted aversion to the mere forms and ceremonies of religion, acquired I do not know how, and my dislike to churches was in fair proportion to their amount of—what shall I term it— sacerdotalism.
If an indifferent mind is the most difficult attitude on which to make an impression, Christian Science had a real hard task in me. I think I realized at once that this healing was the work of a God who is Love, and it did not take me very long to grasp the idea that the same God could know nothing of sin, disease, and death. The unreality of matter did not present to me the difficulty it seems to present to some minds, and the standard of life and conduct required, though very high, does not seem altogether unattainable. The first services I attended satisfied me that here at least was a congregation all intent on good. I know now exactly what my past was, what my present is, and my future is now clear to me; so I devote myself to gaining more understanding of the truth, and to preparing for the work required of us all. My favorite text is verses 38 and 39 of the 8th chapter of Romans. I rejoice in the knowledge I have of God. and revere the pure spirit of her who reflects the light and illumines our path.
