Before I became a student of Christian Science I had become downcast and despondent, a veritable picture of dejection. For a period of four years everything I undertook failed, so that finally I could see nothing but disaster ahead, and knew not which way to turn to avoid it. I shall relate how this discordant condition was healed as soon as I was willing to accept Christian Science at its true worth—"as the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony," as Mrs. Eddy defines it on page 1 of "Rudimental Divine Science."
I had been brought up in the Episcopal church, but gradually drifted away till the only vestige of religion I accepted was a very hazy belief in a Supreme Being. I had abandoned the concept of God which I had been given in my youth, and had found nothing to replace it; I believed I had proved to my entire satisfaction that I did not need a religion of any kind. Least of all did I admit that I needed Christian Science, although I was not actually opposed to it except in so far as I myself was concerned. I frequently told of the good my wife and my brother-in-law derived from it, and my young son attended a Christian Science Sunday School; but I obstinately refused to admit that any religion could have a real foundation. Nevertheless, about ten years ago I began to attend regularly the Sunday morning services in a Christian Science church, not because I had become interested in Science, but because I liked to accompany my wife and I knew it would please her.
Sunday after Sunday, as I sat, paying little or no attention to the service, I read and reread Mrs. Eddy's inspired message written on the wall opposite me, "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494), but for many weeks it meant nothing to me. The darkness deepened, and there appeared to be no way out. Then, one Sunday morning, a gleam of light broke through the gloom with which I had encircled myself: I began to wonder if Mrs. Eddy's message could be true and might be applicable to me. And having made this seemingly slight concession to Truth, I quickly discovered that divine Love had already prepared the way. The message began to stand out like a beacon in the darkness. I remembered the love so clearly and constantly expressed in that church and the happy, radiant faces of those I met there, and it dawned upon me that if Christian Science produced those results I certainly did need it. And so, in my hour of need, I turned to Christian Science.
