Progress in Reading, Mass.

A brief report of one of our recent Wednesday evening meetings may be of interest to the Field as an indication that we are finding the Truth a very present help in time of trouble.

Following the leader's opening remarks, a lady arose and said:—

"I did not come into Christian Science because of physical healing, but because after I had attended two Sunday services in the church here in Reading, and in the mean time read Science and Health, I was assured it was the Truth which Jesus taught, and which he referred to when he said, "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." In those two Sunday services and the first reading of Science and Health, I learned more about the Bible, about who and what God is and man's true relation to Him, than I had learned in all my life before. During the two years I have been interested, I have had many, many proofs of the physical healing in myself, my family, and my friends. A demonstration which occurred recently I would like to give.

Early last Friday morning a trouble asserted itself, and although I worked hard denying the error, it rapidly grew worse, and at ten o'clock I was obliged to go to bed. At noon it was so much worse I could hardly move or speak, but I thought, God will help me, and after that an error, or wrong thought, was uncovered to me and instantly the trouble left me. I was able to get up immediately, eat heartily, and do a large afternoon's work, and I never should have known that such a difficulty had manifested itself. Now was not God a very present help in time of need? And is it any wonder that people say over and over again that words will never express the gratitude they feel for all that this Truth has done for them?"

A business man cited references from the Bible and our text-book showing that Jesus taught his followers to cast out devils and heal the sick, and they obeyed. "These are present possibilities," said he, "which can be proven by every one, because we do not have to demonstrate a problem in its entirety before we begin to see satisfying proofs. In the degree that we become conscious of and subservient to God's laws, in that measure can we reflect these laws which bring only love, health, and freedom." He also gave one proof that God's laws are manifest by those who have but a partial knowledge of His power and presence.

A telephone message was received telling him that a friend was suddenly attacked with a very severe and painful trouble which entirely incapacitated him for business. He treated him, and very soon afterward learned that his friend had been entirely liberated from the suffering, and that not a trace of the discomfort remained.

Another gentleman stated that he wished to be a witness to the efficacy of Christian Science. He was mentally and physically wrecked and confined in an asylum. While there a student of Christian Science came to him and in nine weeks he was entirely healed. With the freedom from bodily ills came also a greater blessing, freedom from bad appetites and passions.

A gentleman who had been treated by a Scientist in Reading said, "It is out of a heart filled with gratitude that I come out here to-night to tell you all of the great benefit I have received from Christian Science treatment. I can hardly call myself a Scientist, so recently have I come among you. Six years ago I was stricken suddenly ill with what my family physician called nervous exhaustion. Sleep practically deserted me and I was very much depressed. For five years I doctored and traveled, spending winters in Florida and summers at the seashore and in the country. Insomnia was my greatest trouble, sometimes getting as little as half an hour and rarely more than three hours sleep for a night's rest. I employed the best doctors in my own state (Maine) then three in New Hampshire. I came to Massachusetts with like results, also was four months in one of the best sanitariums in the state. Two years ago I came to Somerville and built a house, my friends thinking this might tend to take my mind from myself. I was so poorly that I never saw my house but twice during its construction. I was convinced that I should never live in it, and took but little interest. About one year ago my attention was called to Christian Science by a kind neighbor, just as I had about decided to try mesmeric treatment as last resort. My wife, having a leaning towards Christian Science induced me to try that first. My case yielded slowly and I was many times discouraged, but aided by the loving patience and sympathetic help of my healer, I was led on and up, and in about eight months was able to discontinue treatment. I now consider myself well, physically, having gained over twenty pounds in flesh. Harmony has been brought out in my daily life, bate has been taken from the heart, and the appetite for tobacco has been destroyed. My wife in the mean time has been healed of a severe chronic trouble. These are some, but not all, the physical helps that I have received. From my earliest childhood I had been associated with the church in various ways, studying the Bible and trying to understand it. There were many passages that were never explained satisfactorily; now the Bible is to me a new book. Through Science 'the crooked is made straight,' the rough places smooth, and my spiritual perception and understanding have been illumined."—E. D. Hall.

New Reading Room in Brooklyn, N. Y.

A progressive step in the growth of the cause of Christian Science in Brooklyn was the opening of the new Reading Room of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in the Temple Bar Building, on the corner of Court and Jorolemon Streets. This building, just completed, is the largest and finest architectural structure among the office buildings in the business section, and because of its central location and freshness proved a desirable place for a larger reading room. Before the completion of the building, ample floor space was secured on the third floor, opposite the elevators, and this was suitably partitioned into nine rooms, consisting of the reading, literature, and reception rooms, and rooms for the First and Second Readers and practitioners. The rooms are tastefully carpeted and decorated, richly furnished in mahogany and golden oak, and appropriately embellished with pictures, mottoes, palms, and flowers. A handsomely framed life-size picture of our Leader, a gift of love, has a prominent place in the reading room, just opposite the large centre table upon which the literature is displayed.

At an early hour on the morning of April 18 the Scientists gathered, and with reading from the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy, followed by prayer and brief remarks by the First and Second Readers, the rooms were consecrated to the cause of Truth, with the fervent desire that tired humanity might find in them, through the study of the writings of our Leader, the satisfying, restful, spiritual light and life contained therein.—Norman E. John.

Reading Room at Toronto, Can.

The reading room of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Toronto, has, up to the present, been in the church building, at corner Simcoe and Caer Howell Streets; but in order to meet the requirements of the greater activity which is becoming more clearly manifested in the Christian Science movement, and realizing that a reading room located in the business centre of the city will confer greater opportunities for the promulgation of Christian Science, in January last a search was commenced for suitable quarters, and now a large and beautiful room has been opened in the Confederation Life Building (one of the most commodious business structures in Toronto), corner Yonge and Richmond Streets, where visiting friends will be heartily welcome. Hours 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.

W. Spaulding.