CONCERNING THE LECTURES.

[We are glad to publish the following article, which was prepared by a member of the Board of Lectureship. The lecture work is of importance and it is necessary that it should be carried on with the greatest possible economy of the lecturers' time. We commend to the consideration of the branch churches these suggestions in the interest of orderly methods, which will increase the efficiency of this important branch of our denominational work.—Editor.]

Christian Science makes progress in a community first by the demonstration of healing. Those who have been healed usually assemble for regular services, and after increasing in numbers may form a society, and have notice of their services in the Journal. When continued proof of healing is given by the members of the society, their influence in the community increases, and so new members are added and additional workers trained. After a good proportion of the members in a society have become members of The Mother Church, and when there is ample membership to provide for rotation in office and sufficient liberality developed to sustain the additional duties, then the society may become organized as a branch church.

Under the By-laws of the Manual, each branch church must provide for the welfare of the community in two ways: first, by having a Reading Room (Article XXXVIII., Section 1); and second, by arranging for one or more annual public lectures (Article XXXV., Section 4). A lecturer is permitted to lecture for a society, if called upon; but only the churches are required to make provision for regular public lectures.

A lecture invariably arouses interest in Christian Science, and as a result a number of people, cherishing a new hope of deliverance, are found inquiring for healing. These seekers after God should find proof of His love, and if a company of Christian Scientists is lacking in vitality, so that healing is not done, it is evident that they have not reached the stage where a lecture can be given profitably. Furthermore, inquirers should be able to find the instruction given by the Lesson-Sermon read on Sunday, and the encouragement given by the testimonies of the Wednesday evening meeting, and in addition have the welcome of a public Reading Room, where the writings of Mrs. Eddy and other authorized literature may be studied without initial expense. By these means the interest awakened by the lecture is maintained, questions are answered, and the lives of men are blessed. It must be evident that Christian Science societies should await growth, and avoid the disadvantages of prematurely assuming the duties of a branch church.

The lecturers have endeavored to assist the churches in this work of providing public lectures by issuing at their own expense a circular to answer the questions usually asked; but the instruction given by the circular is not always utilized by the clerk and officers to whom it is sent, and correspondence is sometimes addressed at random to those who have no means of answering the queries. Therefore it seems desirable that the general membership of the churches, whence committees are sometimes drawn to arrange for lectures, should understand how this work may be accomplished.

Correspondence regarding a lecture should in all cases be addressed, by the clerk representing the church, to that member of the Board of Lectureship whose services are desired,—not to the Clerk of The Mother Church, nor to the editorial department or the business management of The Christian Science Publishing Society, nor to the Board of Lectureship.

Only churches or societies which are advertised in the Journal, and thus publicly known to be branches of The Mother Church, are eligible to call for a lecture; so Christian Scientists may discontinue any efforts to arrange for lectures on the program of other assemblies, or in connection with organizations not authorized by the Manual.

It is sometimes a matter of consideration for churches to avoid incurring undue expense involved in calling a lecturer from a great distance. There is no reason why a number of neighboring churches in good fellowship with one another, should not correspond and confer together, and agree to call the same lecturer, so that expenses may be apportioned and shared.

Individual clerks have written at the same time to ten or a dozen of the lecturers asking for a date, and then when an actual engagement has been consummated, the other lecturers have not been notified that they need not keep open the date they offered. The members of the Board of Lectureship make request in their circular that they be notified by wire in such cases, as it requires thought and caerful study of time-tables to arrange these offers of dates, and it is advantageous to the work in general that they should know promptly when a proposed date is either accepted or considered unavailable. In some churches it has become a custom to avoid unnecessary correspondence with the lecturers by allowing the members of the church at a business meeting to express their choice in regard to the lecturer through an informal ballot, so that the clerk is authorized to send a direct invitation to the lecturer for whom there is the largest vote; and failing to secure his services, may write to the next on the list. This mode of reaching a decision is here presented as one way of working, but it must not be considered as in any sense mandatory, since every church is entirely free in regard to its rules and modes of doing business.

MOBILE, ALA.

On Sunday afternoon, April 21, a good-sized audience was present in German Relief Hall to hear Frank H. Leonard of Brooklyn, N. Y., speak on the subject of Christian Science. The stillness of the house and the marked attention of the listeners during the hour and a half that Mr. Leonard spoke showed extraordinary interest. The lecturer was introduced by the Hon. N. R. Clarke, who spoke in part as follows:—

Among you are many who, from personal experience and actual connection, with full knowledge of its historical advent and sequence, are fully cognizant, while all of you have heard of the wonderful growth and progress of a branch of the great Christian religion which has for the past forty years taught its faithful members the great truths of the Bible, and scattered in its triumphant passage down the years of its existence sunshine and hope to the weary and heavy laden, health to the sick, making lighter the burdens of the afflicted—at all times pointing upward.

When in the year 1866 that great and good woman, Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, made her discovery of metaphysical healing, and founded a system of "moral and religious instruction," thereafter to be known as Christian Science, she gave to the world a blessing that fully entitles her to one of the brightest places in the galaxy of saints. I have not the privilege of calling myself a member of this great institution, but from the standpoint of a layman viewing its object and its works, I can bear witness to the influence it has exerted upon the world for its good, in the uplifting of mankind, in bringing men closer to that perfect state which they must reach before qualified for the life eternal.

I can most truly bear witness to many blessings as the result of faith in its doctrines. I have seen the sunshine of happiness enter a home where prior to the belief in this religion there was darkness and gloom. I have seen the burdens lifted from the abode of poverty and perfect contentment thereafter reign therein. I have seen sickness and disease bid farewell to the body tabernacles where they were wont to dwell so tenaciously, hope take the place of despair, the death-chamber made glorious by a perfect faith in the goodness of the creator and in His promise of a more glorious reunion.

Many believe this religion to be an occult science, working its miracles in a mysterious way, and when one of its Board of Lectureship appears upon a platform, audiences generally flock there with the expectation of having these mysteries unfolded. My understanding is that the foundation of this religion is love and faith in the creator.

Mobile Register.

TOLEDO, O.

To as large an audience as could be accommodated in First Church of Christ, Scientist, in this city yesterday afternoon [April 14] Judge Septimus J. Hanna, of Colorado Springs, Col., delivered an address on the Bible as interpreted by Christian Science. Mr. H. C. Adams, a prominent lawyer of this city, and at one time principal of the Toledo High School, introduced the lecturer, and said in part,—

All advancement in learning, every new height attained in thought, has been fraught with labor, sacrifice, and suffering. To battle against prejudice and bigotry requires courage and sacrifice of the noblest sort, and in this particular the Christian Scientists appear to me as among the foremost of effective workers in God's vineyard. Happily mankind is showing signs of doing away with persecution for conscience' sake, but it has not altogether overcome the spirit of intolerance. The growth of liberalism is steady and irresistible, if not as rapid as we would have it according to our poor way of thinking; and we now see the dawning of the day when the intelligence of the world will be tolerant of all honest search for truth. Luther and Cromwell, Pilgrim Rock and the Declaration of Independence, and we may also add Unitarianism and Christian Science, are the results of a mighty but invisible power, whose silent throbbings, like some great tidal force in nature, are slowly undermining falsehood and heaving the whole mass of humanity upwards.

I am not a Christian Scientist, perhaps for the reason that my nature has not yet become attuned to the finer chords of sentiment and truth; but I am happy to say that I rejoice that Christian Science exists for the good it is doing in helping to elevate mankind to a higher plane, and in overcoming the error of their baser nature by touching the sweeter chords of perfect harmony by which they are attuned to the infinite. One cannot come into the presence of an intelligent Christian Scientist without feeling that he has been made better for it. He is not met with anger nor with any other form of error; but on the contrary he is made to feel the uplifting influence of truth, by which he is made free to enjoy the true, the beautiful, and the good.

When you come in contact with those who have pursued the thought of Christian Science and lived it, you cannot help feeling an inspiration to look only for what is good among men. Through such instrumentalities we are getting glimpses of the perfect day of "on earth peace, good will toward men," which proclaims that the golden era of true freedom is about to be ushered in.

Toledo Press.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.

An audience that filled to its utmost capacity the beautiful auditorium of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Sunday afternoon, May 19, gathered to hear the lecture on Christian Science by Miss Mary Brookins of Minneapolis, Minn. The lecture was repeated the following evening at the same place. Mr. Percival B. Garvey, First Reader, introduced the lecturer the first evening, and said in part,—

Christian Science offers everything which fully and consistently satisfies the need of humanity right here and right now. It does not create or establish a truth, it simply proclaims it, and projects into human consciousness that which saves and heals, that which always was true and always will be true. Christian Science, instead of rearranging or altering your Bible for you, helps you to study and read it understandingly, and thus the imperishable truths it inculcates become clearer, nearer, and dearer.

On the second occasion the introduction by Luman A. Fields was in part as follows:—

To you who are faint and weary with the heavy burdens of life—to you we bring the glad assurance that through Christian Science is fulfilled the Scripture, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." In this wonderful religious epoch at whose threshold we now stand, the prophecies of the ages are finding fulfilment, not only in a general way, but also in the minutest details. In this time, says Isaiah, "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

The universal presence of this spiritual understanding is ushering in the reign of individual and world-wide peace and blessedness. This happy condition the prophet thus describes: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." "And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve." "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders;" but, "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

That Christian healing must constitute a leading feature of this new era is plainly indicated by such prophecies as the following: "In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick:" for "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

John, the beloved disciple, speaking of the second coming of Truth's idea, definitely states that "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." In harmony with this prophecy, the teachings of Christian Science are making possible the realization of the growing and insistent demand from religious, social, and business life that the fundamental qualities of purity, honesty, and goodness find sincere and noble expression in all the varied activities of daily living. The fulfilment of these and many other similar prophecies is made possible only through the spiritual understanding imparted by Christian Science.

Correspondence.