Some time ago at a church service in English we sang Hymn No. 412 in the Christian Science Hymnal, an old Irish melody. It vividly called to my mind an occasion in 1936, and I realized the great difference between the two times. On that occasion I lay seriously ill, physically and mentally, in a small attic room in a house in the Veluwe woods and someone started to play this melody on the organ in the room under mine. I was then not only sensitive to all noise, but could not stand the tempo of the hymn, and I firmly tried to shut out the sound. When I had first heard the English words, as given in the Hymnal, they had been incomprehensible to me, but now as I sang them with the others in the church I knew that the promises in this hymn had been fulfilled in my case. I was well and was serving as an usher at the service.
The one who had played the hymn in the room below me presented Christian Science to me at a time when I could see no way out. I could take in only a little at a time of what she said, for if she talked to me longer than I could bear, the physical results were most distressing. She was, however, very patient, and at last the moment came when we could read the Lesson-Sermon together. I can still recall with what satisfaction I looked from my bed at the little pile of books on my table, for it had been years since I had been able to read anything. They were the Bible, the Christian Science Quarterly, the Lesson-Sermon in Dutch, the Hymnal, and "Retrospection and Introspection" by Mrs. Eddy. I am now in possession of all Mrs. Eddy's works, and I am trying to make my own the substance of all her writings.
Thus began a complete reversal in my thinking, a process which gradually loosened the fetters of error and opened the doors of the prison. The first error to disappear was my fear of life. At that time the world about me was at peace, but I myself was consumed with despair, often overwhelmed with desperation. As I write this the world is shaken and afflicted, but in the depth of my being peace and poise prevail.
