Article April 16, 1904 Issue

The Lectures

with contributions from President Felmley, W. R. Rathvon, B. R. Vineyard

The Grand Opera House yesterday afternoon [February 28] was well filled with people who gathered to hear Mr. Carol Norton in his lecture on Christian Science. Mr. Norton was introduced by President Felmley of Illinois State Normal University, who spoke as follows:—

Herbert Spencer has pointed out that in its progress toward the truth in any field of inquiry human opinion passes through three stages: the unanimity of the ignorant, the disagreement of the inquiring, and the unanimity of the wise; and, furthermore, that the second of these stages is the parent of the third.

If we were in complete possession of the truth, further inquiry would undoubtedly be harmful, but so long as a portion of the truth is still to be found, no better method for finding it can be devised than a multitude of independent seekers pursuing their researches in every possible field; for when each hits upon a new thought based in some degree upon fact and reality, he is eager to study its relations to other truth, he is fertile in expedients to test its correctness, he is tireless in his efforts to establish it, and merciless in his criticism of theories or assumptions inconsistent with his new discovery. Thus by a sort of composition of forces we move forward to the larger view. By the aggregation of truths and the elimination of error we gradually build up a body of reliable and established doctrine.

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MRS. EDDY TAKES NO PATIENTS