by E. Mary Ramsay
This book is a concise record of the life and work of Mary Baker Eddy, the New England woman who discovered and founded The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Author E. Mary Ramsay, who was an experienced spiritual healer and a teacher of Christian Science, wrote the manuscript some years after meeting Mrs. Eddy in Boston. She was then serving as Christian Science Committee on Publication for the eastern half of Scotland. The book was originally published in Cambridge, England, in 1923, and was first published by The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1935.
This volume is especially recommended for those who are not acquainted with Christian Science and feel the need to read a shorter biography.
For inclusion in this Twentieth-Century Biographers Series, the text has been carefully reviewed to insure its historical accuracy.
In 1895, E. Mary Ramsay witnessed a spiritual healing. Her stepmother, the wife of Scottish historian Sir James Ramsay, read a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's definitive work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. With just this reading, she was healed of chronic insomnia.
Mary and her sister, C. Lilias Ramsay, soon took up the reading and study of Mrs. Eddy's book, a study which took them to the United States. Here, they experienced their first healings through prayer alone. On August 21, 1899, the sisters met Mrs. Eddy for a private interview. They then continued their work as active early workers and healers in Christian Science.
The Ramsays returned to Scotland within the year, and when First Church of Christ, Scientist, Edinburgh, was organized soon afterwards, the sisters were among the charter members.
In 1900 both sisters learned the Science of spiritual healing by taking Primary class instruction in Christian Science. A year later Mrs. Eddy arranged for them to attend the Normal class taught by Edward A. Kimball in Boston, and thus become teachers of this Science. From 1901 until 1949, E. Mary Ramsay advertised in The Christian Science Journal as a Christian Science teacher and practitioner. She also wrote articles and poetry that were published both in the Journal and in the Christian Science Sentinel.