Article May 5, 1906 Issue

The Lectures

with contributions from George H. Libby, C. H. Trimble, R. E. Lee Reynolds, Harry Westbrook Reed

A large and deeply interested audience listened to an impressive address Sunday afternoon [April 8] in Mechanics Hall by Prof. Hermann S. Hering of Concord, N. H. Mr. George H. Libby, master of the high school, presided, and introduced Professor Hering with the following preliminary words:—

Ladies and Gentlemen:— The last century was a century of progress. To the superficial judgment its most conspicuous characteristic was the display of inventive power. But there was achievement and advancement of deeper meaning. The great struggle for human freedom, which for us begins with the dawn of history, advanced in that century by leaps and bounds. The influence of the American and French revolutions banished tyranny even from the thrones of monarchs, and in the civilization of to-day the rights of the individual are paramount. Freedom of thought and speech and political equality were never so generally and fully granted to men as to-day; but the greatest change has come about in the religious thought of men, in their ideas of God and man and man's relation to God. A century ago many of the attributes of an earthly tyrant were commonly ascribed to God; He was represented as a cruel being and to be feared. Indeed, in all times men have been prone humanly to conceive of God as patterned after an earthly ruler, evincing human traits. Now we begin to realize the true nature of God, that, as the Scriptures declare, He is Love, that He is omnipotent and more willing to give good gifts to His children than an earthly parent. Infinitely better than labor-saving inventions, infinitely better than political freedom and equality, is the discovery and demonstration or proof that we may trust God at all times and in all ways. This is the great emancipation which frees from sin, suffering, superstition, and fear. This will do, and is doing, more for humanity than all else, and it is the theme of human progress.

Man is not a creator. True progress has been effected by casting aside human misconceptions and by a better understanding of basic laws that have forever existed; for God is the great unchanging, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

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