REV. W. JOHN
MURRAY
Fragments of biography
Daniel M. Murphy
Excerpt from:
The Gleaner
Vol. 17, No. 2
Divine Science Publishing Assoc.,
New York, November 1925.
[Published shortly after Rev. Murray's
passing in 1925.]
It is
especially significant to me that William
John Murray should have been born in a
city celebrated for its excellent
cutlery. This event occurred in
Sheffield, England, July 28, 1865. It
would have been difficult to find a
sharper or keener mind than his - one
more pointed in illustration, or more apt
and flexible in establishing a point of
Truth.
If he had been an ancient Greek or
Roman, Plutarch would have descried in
him a wonderful subject for a biography
because of his capacity for service, and
his faculty for intellectual leadership,
irrespective of personal sacrifice. Now
that he is "too early done with the
earth," some attempt, inadequate as it
must be, should be made to record certain
phases of the character and attainment of
one who left such a profound and
ennobling impression upon the lives of
those who were so fortunate as to come
within his beneficent influence.
His mother was related to Lord
Fitzgerald's family in Ireland, and,
because of oppression and injustice
there, she emigrated to England. Through
another ancestral branch he was a cousin
of Michael Davitt, the Irish leader. As a
boy, W. John was a precocious student and
when only fourteen was teaching
Latin.
When eighteen years old he removed to
New York. During his young manhood he was
deeply interested in sports and physical
development, and was well known for his
athletic attainments and records. From
this field of activity he drew the rich
fund of illustrations and figures which
colored and vivified so many of his talks
and writings.
After a few years he went to Southern
California to live. In 1896 he was
married to Ms. Sara Van Alen Pollard and
entered business with his brother in
Santa Barbara.
Within a short time Mrs. Murray became
seriously ill and her case was pronounced
hopeless by the best physicians
available, different climates and methods
of cure having failed, as well as
orthodox prayers. She was then restored
to health by Christian Science. This
healing so impressed the Murrays that
they decided to make a study of this new
means of cure and to devote their lives
to activities along that line.
They became practitioners and located
in San Francisco where, after the early
struggles, their work was eminently
successful. They established the first
sanitarium on the Pacific Coast devoted
to Spiritual healing.
In order to give some significant
sidelights upon the life of my beloved
friend it will be necessary for me to
relate a few personal details of my early
association with him. It pleases me to
recall that "The Confessions of St.
Augustine" began our acquaintance, and
under such auspices, I find it easier to
estimate the extraordinary influence for
good that he exerted upon me, enriching
my life and giving a meaning and a
constructive purpose to one who was
before spiritually unawakened.
Fully twenty-five years ago in San
Francisco, a slender, sprightly,
immaculately dressed man entered a book
store and asked for a copy of St.
Augustine. It was my privilege to serve
him and, in his pleasure in finding the
beloved book, he glanced through its
pages and read aloud an occasional
passage, making a few illuminating
comments. He stated that some time he
hoped to possess one for himself as this
one was for a patient of his. At once I
mentally classed him as a new and
desirable kind of doctor. Later I
realized how characteristic of his
generous spirit his intention was. His
reading of the texts was clearly a
forecast of what was to be the great
method of instruction which he brought to
such potency in his noon meetings while
expounding "The Inheritance
Incorruptible."
In order to enlarge their scope of
ministering to the needy the Murrays
removed to New York in 1902. As they had
lost children of their own, they
meanwhile adopted several. They also
assumed charge of, and healed scores of
children, absolutely sacrificing their
time and substance for this purpose.
I will cite only such cases of which I
have personal knowledge. They learned of
an abandoned baby on Randall's Island who
was declared hopeless by the city
authorities. According to medical
diagnosis, it was blind, scrofulous, and
had curvature of the spine. Nurses
refused to touch it. The Murrays brought
this child to their home. It was healed
and made every whit whole and
perfect.
Fortunately for me, I met W. John
Murray in New York soon after his arrival
and we both recalled the first occasion.
During the ensuing years the radiance of
his loving influence upon me steadily
increased becoming at last like a search
light in its illuminating effect.
W. John Murray was not a subservient
spirit. He had been having experiences
which called forth undaunted courage.
While, at different times, within the two
most powerful religious organizations, he
was confronted by crippling influences.
With the Immortals of history he did
exactly what his alleged superiors -
those in authority - forbade him to do.
He demonstrated anew that the slavishly
obedient in life are always destined to
be forgotten. He realized that conscience
is not merely "a secretion of the brain,"
but a vital, dearly-bought mentor and
hard task master. This has always been
the realization of the Wayshowers of the
World.
In 1903 he resigned from the Christian
Science Church in order to insure himself
greater freedom of thought and action in
executing the "Father's business."
Beginning in 1905, during my residence
at the University Settlement in the
Ghetto, Mr. Murray frequently came there
to talk to my groups of boys and girls,
kindling them to a greater realization of
their own mental and spiritual resources.
He also often gave his services to our
neighbor - the Bowery Mission - and spoke
to the derelicts drawn there by the bait
of warmth, coffee and sandwiches. I
recall one Winter night that I noticed
him shivering with cold and he
reluctantly admitted that he had given
his heavy new overcoat to a man whose
need was greater than his own. At this
time he was living in East Orange and had
to commute daily, arriving home late at
night.
Despite the imposition of many, and
the discouragements incident to the
practice of Christianity, he was
undaunted by ingratitude and privation.
As was said to Goldsmith, he was a poor
accumulator, but a good distributor. This
is especially true of his spiritual
largess; he gave his highest and most
loving thought unstintingly. He did not
consider life as merely passing but as
continually increasing in richness and
opportunity. He was able to convey almost
as much by what he withheld as by what he
said. His sense of humor was unfailing
and eased many a difficult situation.
In August 1907, with seven friends,
Mr. and Mrs. Murray organized the
"Society for the Study of Divine
Metaphysics." The object of the group was
to understand and to apply the Truth as
taught and practiced by Jesus in the
overcoming of sin and the healing of
disease. In other words, it was an effort
to re-establish what might be called
Apostolic Christianity.
The Society almost at once outgrew its
initial meeting place in a dining room
adjacent to the elevated railroad where,
every few minutes, the talk had to be
suspended while the train passed. Our
successive assembly places - nine in
number until we achieved an attendance
which justified our entry into the Hotel
Astor - included a dancing academy and a
theater. These involved a continual
expansion and the necessity of meeting an
ever increasing rental. This heavy
responsibility fell upon Mrs. Murray when
other means of assessment failed.
About this time our Society was
incorporated as a church under the New
York laws, of the denomination of Divine
Science. The name of the organization
itself was adopted, at the suggestion of
Mrs. Murray, as the Church of the Healing
Christ.
Mr. Murray was then voted a salary as
our pastor, though we were unable to pay
him till some time later. Prior to that
he had gladly served without payment.
In December 1915, W. John Murray was
arrested for practicing medicine without
a license. This action by the District
Attorney evoked much discussion and wide
editorial comment and also public
protests from prominent persons. The
outcome of the case was the vindication
of the individual's right to seek healing
through prayer by those qualified to give
such aid. Judge Breen eventually
acquitted Mr. Murray of the charge and
established the right of a member of a
church, with spiritual healing as one of
its tenets, to practice healing according
to that method.
Those who had the privilege of hearing
our pastor's first talk after he was
bailed out of the Tombs, where he had
been confined for several hours for this
alleged crime, know he never in after
years surpassed the spiritual heights
which he reached on that occasion of our
Wednesday evening meeting in the Hotel
Majestic. His face was glorified by
courage and faith and love as he exhorted
us at all times to "fear not, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord."
Soon after this excellent
advertisement the seating capacity of the
Astor was inadequate and the church moved
to the grand ball room of the Waldorf
Astoria, where it is still located.
While resorting to none of the tricks
of orators, and indulging in no
eccentricities, W. John Murray was an
extraordinarily accomplished speaker. His
hearers were at once overwhelmingly
convinced of his deep love and sincerity.
His choice of the right word was unerring
and his illustrations were apt and
illuminating. The universality of his
message was such that he spoke to each
according to his individual need.
One of the great enthusiasms of his
recent years was his love for Italy. He
and Mrs. Murray had a home there where
they both spent considerable time. During
the War he was of great service in
Italy's cause. He served one summer in
the trenches under the auspices of the
Y.M.C.A., and in New York was
instrumental in raising several thousand
dollars for the Ambulance service. Later
he was prominent in the Milk Fund work.
In recognition of these generous
activities the King of Italy conferred
upon him the Order of the Cavalieri, a
badge of high merit. He was also
President of the Dante League of
America.
As the Church of the Healing Christ
was the first to occupy a hotel for a
meeting place, so also, was W. John
Murray the first to inaugurate daily
healing meetings in New York. When this
feature of his work was projected it was
deemed impracticable; it was considered
unlikely and paradoxical that people
would come together on one of the busiest
corners in the city in a fashionable
hotel, in a noon healing meeting.
But the far-seeing vision of our
pastor was more than justified, for as
soon as the opportunity became known, the
attendance was assured and ranged from
two hundred up to more than four hundred
at times. Many remarkable self-healings
have taken place there and great numbers
have learned how to heal themselves and
others. Through his group of Silent
Helpers the restorative and rectifying
work has been felt all over the
continent.
A cardinal feature of W. John Murray's
teaching was what might be termed its
liberating impulse. He had learned from
drastic experiences forced upon him in
his efforts to free himself from
theological limitations, the terrible
effect of spiritual restrictions laid
upon an up-reaching mind. He realized
that these have upon the sensitive soul a
crippling and dwarfing effect as tangible
and unmistakable as if they were steel
instruments calculated to distort the
individual into ugly malformations.
Throughout his years of service, his
paramount desire was to free his fellows
from the terrible sequels to such beliefs
and doctrines, and to re-enthrone the
normal mind.
Many have marveled at the great
capacity for work which he manifested -
daily talks, lectures here and abroad,
classes, writing sermons and articles,
church activities, personal interviews,
and no small amount of current reading.
He became completely absorbed in each
task and realized himself merely the
channel through which the Father's work
was to be accomplished.
Now that he is hidden from our ken and
has passed into that vibrant and potent
Silence, the practice of one phase of
which healing realization he so urgently
advocated, he still lives here in the
richest and fullest sense in the myriads
whom he has awakened to "the newer
thought about man, and the larger thought
about God."
A fitting crown for him is that which
was said of the Great Master: "He went
about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed."
In the "mansion" of "the Father's
House," where he now is, he will surely
follow his dominating desire and work for
the liberation of those who are suffering
from their false beliefs. So loving and
serviceable a spirit would assuredly wish
to continue that for which he was so
eminently fitted. There, as here, it will
be true of him: "There was a man sent
from God whose name was John... He was
not the Light, but he was sent to give
testimony of that Light."
How convincingly, how eloquently, and
how lovingly was that Testimony
given!
(Formerly at
Northwoods Divine Science Resource
Center)
