Article December 26, 1908 Issue

THE LECTURES

with contributions from George S. Haddock, E. N. Richardson, Samuel Bosworth Smith, O. S. Davis, J. J. McConnell

A large and representative audience assembled at Fauntleroy Hall, Roxbury, Thursday evening [Oct. 29], to listen to the semiannual lecture on Christian Science. Frank H. Leonard of Brooklyn, N. Y., who delivered the lecture, was introduced by the First Reader of the church, George S. Haddock, who said in part,—

The question is sometimes asked, Why do Christian Scientists express so much gratitude to Mrs. Eddy? Let us imagine one lost in a dense wood, so thick and overhung that the sunlight scarcely enters, while everywhere the underbrush opposes a tangled barrier to progress. Weary with fruitless tramping, uncertain, discouraged, about to give up in despair, he discerns with joy a path blazed through the forest, marked out by a traveler who, having been over the ground, had found the way to freedom, and with loving forethought, marvelous patience, and untiring effort had made the way plain for him to follow. Would there not come a deep sense of gratitude, as with renewed strength and joyous steps he moved quickly to light and liberty? Would it be thought out of keeping if at the first opportunity he gave audible expression to this feeling of gratitude? Or let us suppose one lost on the mountain, in a blinding storm, night fast closing in, the path beset by many pitfalls—trembling, fearful, bewildered, he knows not where to go. If suddenly a light should shine in the gloom and a cheery voice should say, "This is the way! Have no fear!" would not the heart overflow with gratitude to the one who, breasting the storm with thought only for others, leads the way to warmth and safety and peace?

These illustrations but feebly intimate the feeling in the heart of the thousands who have been lost in the forest of false teaching and old superstition, or were astray on the mountain of sin and disease, and who have found harmony and health and rest through the message Mrs. Eddy has given to the world. Their sincere and heartfelt expression of gratitude is no less legitimate than spontaneous. They are deeply grateful to her for expressing so much of good, for living so close to God, for overcoming so much of self and the world as to be chosen to guide them out of the maze of ignorance and false beliefs. Christian Scientists know, for it is the teaching of Christian Science, that all is of God, and that to Him an through Him are all things. This, however, does not prevent them from expressing gratitude to those who most clearly reflect His light. The greater the radiance, the more of gratitude.

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MRS. EDDY TAKES NO PATIENTS