Introduction to a
Lecture
RUTH B. EWING,
CSD
I am
glad of this opportunity for a foreword to the lecture to be
delivered this evening, that I may speak of Christian
Science, the cause and subject nearest my heart, having been
myself a student of it and witness to its propagation,
growth, and success for more than a quarter of a century. I
love to recall my earliest experiences as an investigator of
its merits. By its means my husband was raised from what
physicians pronounced immediately impending death. When,
after having been restored to health and activity, he
manifested a tendency to relapse, I went to see the
practitioner in Chicago, a young student from under Mrs.
Eddy's personal tuition, to whom my husband had been
referred by the one in the East who had so wonderfully
helped him. Betraying my anxiety as I told my story of hope
uplifted and then again depressed, she said to me with great
earnestness, "Why don't you study Christian Science and
learn how to take care of your own family?" I was astonished
and said to her, "Can anybody take it up?" Her answer was,
"It is for every man, woman, and child; it is simple
Christianity." This set me to thinking and awakened keen
interest, since I had already had convincing proof of the
beneficence and power of this new-old apostolic healing; and
a little later on, under the tutelage of that same Christian
Science practitioner and teacher I learned how to care for
myself and my family and to help others with Christian
Science.
It
was my privilege to sit under the instructions of Mrs. Eddy,
the author of "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," the textbook of Christian Science, and the last
question put to me in class by her was, "Do you know that
Christian Science is the truth?" I hesitated and could not
answer. It seemed to me at that moment that it involved an
experience of all eternity. I said, "I believe" and then
faltered, and Mrs. Eddy asked, "Why do you not say, 'Lord, I
believe; help thou mine unbelief'?" I answered, "I do say
that most earnestly and from my heart of hearts." She said
"I know that Christian Science is the
truth."
Dear
friends, I have been knowing it ever since, and what I have
wished to say to you by way of introduction of the speaker
of the evening is embodied in the words which I have
repeated, given to me more than thirty years ago from the
lips of two sainted women who led me to "know that
Christian Science is the truth," and that "it is for every
man, woman, and child; it is simple
Christianity."
Excerpt from "The
Lectures"
Christian Science Sentinel, July 26,
1919
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