Article April 3, 1902 Issue

The Lectures

with contributions from W. D. Simonds, A. H. Turner, Mamie Maxwell, H. M. F

On Sunday, March 2, a large and appreciative audience of nearly three thousand people greeted Judge William G. Ewing at the Grand Opera House. In the balcony and on the main floor all the standing-room was occupied. Several hundred were turned away for lack of room. The lecturer was introduced to the audience by the Rev. W. D. Simonds, pastor of the flourishing Unitarian Church, as follows :—

My Friends:— More than thirty-five years ago a New England lady, who had endured her full share of human suffering, first published to the world what is now known as Christian Science. Gathering about her a few pupils, she founded a school of that faith. This new faith met first with ridicule. It became the object of every nimble paragrapher's sarcasm. As it grew in numbers it became the object of opposition and, in not a few instances, of persecution. It would be a gratuitous insult, and perfectly futile, to suggest that the Christian Science denomination has not its full share of intelligent and thoughtful men and women.

Whether you accept this philosophy or whether you reject it whether you believe it true in part or erroneous in part, you will all, to the last man of you, and woman too, agree with me in this,—that Christian Science has earned its right to be heard; it has earned its right to the candid and earnest attention of all sincere men. It is not possible for a rational man to dismiss this philosophy with a scornful wave of the hand, with a toss of the head, or a curl of the lip; for a faith that in a little more than a quarter of a century has won thousands of adherents in this materialistic age,—and among those, men of eminence and women of of attainments, —I say, deserves the candid attention of every sincere man.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

For Students of the Bible Lessons