"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things;" and how grateful are we who have been the recipients of this "gospel of peace" and are reaping, each day, so great a harvest of good things through its knowledge and demonstration.

Through a lecture delivered in this city in January of this year, there came to my hungry heart the first glimpse of the "beauty of holiness." I had been wandering in a maze of outgrown beliefs and unsatisfied longings, seeking I knew not what, but now I know that it was the hungering and thirsting after righteousness spoken of by the Master in that grandest sermon that ever fell on human ears, designated by our beloved Leader as the essence of Christian Science,—the Sermon on the Mount. (Science and Health, p. 271.)

One by one, the material joys which had promised me happiness turned to ashes in my grasp. I was tossed on a tempestuous sea of doubt, sickness, discontent, fear; and life stretched out before me one weary monotone of endurance. To my cry of hopelessness came back from the theology of my fathers only the doleful word, "resignation." To my inquiry: "Is there no balm in Gilead?" there seemed to come only the hollowness of mockery.

I was raised in an orthodox church, and had early been versed in the letter of the Scriptures. Both father and mother were consecrated adherents to the light they had, my father having been a minister for more than forty years, but the "perfect love" that "casteth out fear" was unknown to me. So when womanhood, wifehood, motherhood came, bringing their attendent cares and trials; when sickness came and held me for many long months and even years a victim, then I looked in vain for the God who is a "very present help in trouble." Materia medica, the best that could be secured, exhausted its skill in trying to heal me, but without avail, and finally all my faith in its efficiency was gone. However, I knew naught of a better way, and was inwardly rebellious against the conditions and circumstances. It seemed there was no justice, and that if there were a God of mercy, His mercy was not for me. For in all the years of my accountability, my standard had been the right, my one constant effort to know and do the right. Why, then, when I asked bread, was I given a stone?

Curiosity, or the wish to pass the time away, took me to the lecture on Christian Science. That it as it seemed, but in reality, Truth was leading me to the message of peace,—God's voice was calling to me out of the darkness.

The speaker handled his subject in the quiet, dignified, sincere way of a man who is heart and soul in his work, and great was my surprise at hearing Christian Science explained in a way so different from what it had always been represented. He took the dear old truth that had seemed to fail me in my material sense of it,—presented it in its spiritual dress, until it gleamed and glowed with life. He brought to us the thought of God to whom I had seemed to cry in vain, and showed Him to be All-in-all,—ever-present Love, and His law the power that governs the universe. He showed the utter nothingness of human sickness, want, or woe, and, withal, brought to my waiting heart such a message of peace as the angels carried to the vigilant shepherds on Judæa's hills.

Though by no means then grasping the truth, there began to stir throughout my being the promise of a resurrected hope, and I welcomed its faint glimmering of light, as does the pilgrim stumbling in the dark over unknown paths, where shines for him the first star in heaven's distant dome.

The speaker then announced that he would read the tenets of the Christian Science Church, and like a benediction they fell on the ear,—they were so simple and so true.

That lecture roused an echo throughout my being that would not be stilled, and there kept singing over and over in my heart the sweetness of the message. Like the starving man to whom only one taste of food has been given, and who is more hungry than before, I longed to know more of this good news.

So two days after having listened to the lecture, I made inquiry and learned of one of the leading practitioners of this city. Though an utter stranger to him, he received me with much kindness, and it encouraged me to talk free to him. To my many questions his answers were all clear and conclusive. They appealed to both heart and reason, and his face was full of spiritual light. He broke for me the bread, and held to my lips the cup of cold water, and taught me for the first time the full meaning of these beautiful words of the Master, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

On my departure, he told me of the free reading room, maintained by First Church of Christ, Scientist, of this city, and that I would find there a librarian who would show me the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy. He also invited me to attend the Wednesday evening meeting the following evening. I was very cordially received at the reading room, and felt at home immediately. After some conversation with the librarian, she loaned me the text-book above referred to. I took it home and began to read. Its introductory sentence in the preface seemed to open up to me a mine of riches, and even yet, though I have read it many times since, those beautiful words thrill me through and through: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings" (Science and Health, Preface, p. vii). What sentence could be more all-embracing or more full? It promises rest to the weary; it takes away the load of human responsibility that has weighed on us like a pall, and lights again for us the long extinguished torch of hope.

Day and night I pored over that little volume, going through it three without cessation,—the first time almost devouring it, the second a little more seriously, and the third with great care. It filled me with joy unspeakable, uplifting the mind, healing the body, and furnishing the solution to all my unrest. From the opening to the close, there was not one doubt in my mind to dim the clear understanding that was taking the place of the old-time blind belief. The, to me, wonderful Truth of being, told over and over again as our Leader has told it in Science and Health, in language of inspiration, resounded through my soul, waking all its sleeping echoes, rousing all its dormant energies, and dispelling with its sunshine of Life and Truth and Love, all its clouds and mists.

And, as I read the dear old Bible, lessons came thronging into my memory, so beautiful in their true significance that I was almost dazzled. It seemed as if a great and illuminating light had been turned on them, and then came the full realization of why Science and Health is so truly called the "Key to the Scriptures."

It is with the greatest joy that I take this opportunity of confessing the Christ before men, of adding my testimony to the thousands of others; for my heart is full of gratitude to God, to our Leader Mrs. Eddy, and to the kind teacher and many friends here who have helped me in so many ways.

I know that I have found the pearl of greatest price, and am now striving to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Physical ailments, both chronice and acute, have all vanished like the ghosts that they are, nothing they are, and to nothing they return.

Neither my little daughter nor I have had one dose of medicine since I attended the lecture, and we formerly took it almost constantly. Our health is better than it has ever been, and every adverse condition of our lives is silenced by the gentle, "Peace, be still!" of the Master. For the Christ is come,—He reigns supreme!

O. J. M., Houston, Tex.