"Out of the old, into the New"

James J. Rome has a special place in the hearts of those who love the Christian Science Hymnal, for he composed the words of the hymn -

Give me O Lord an Understanding Heart (423)

That he is immortalised (so to speak) in Mrs. Eddy’s The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is so appropriate (pp 61, 62). The words are also set in hymn 69. The Hymnal Notes tell us that the words appeared in the Christian Science Sentinel, January 11, 1913.

I have read that James Rome was the Superintendent of The Mother Church’s Sunday school. He was a Reverend. You can read more about him in the 1987 series They Answered the Call, printed in The Christian Science Journal (April 1987) and later re-printed as a booklet which you might find in your local Reading Room. Of course you can also find it at jsh-online.com - http://journal.christianscience.com/issues/1987/4/105-4/they-answered-the-call

Here’s just a snippet to whet your appetite:

His quest for spiritual understanding led him from a career as an ordained Baptist minister to one as a Christian Science practitioner and teacher.

"Out of the Old, into the New" is the way the Reverend Mr. Rome described his entrance into an understanding and practice of Christian Science.² Part of "the old" he left behind was generally poor health. His first contact with Science in 1888 brought healing relief—as well as initial resistance to the teachings of Science because of his orthodox theories. After nearly three years of trying to leave Christian Science alone ("if," he wrote, "it would leave me alone"), he finally consented unequivocally to the fact that he was being led into the truth through Christian Science. There was no turning back from such an admission.

² Journal, Vol. 10, May 1892, pp. 68-72.↑  

The introduction to this series also has this delightful snippet –

            In March 1944 Laura Conant told of how her husband, Albert Conant, the compiler of the Concordances to Mrs. Eddy's writings, obeyed divine impulsion, cut short what he was doing, and returned home in time to save the just completed draft of the Concordance to Science and Health from a fire.

Laura Conant’s article is on JSH-Online.com. It is very inspiring and is titled The Compiling of the Concordances. You can find it in the March 1944 Christian Science Journal. It records what was possibly the first “cut and paste” exercise, when for each entry and to save the many hours of necessary proof-reading, Mr. Conant cut the line of type for the entry and pasted it next to the page number and line.

 Joyce Voysey