Article October 26, 1912 Issue

THE LECTURES

with contributions from A. W. Stephens, Henry Deutsch, George Halverson, Robert Coates, J. L. Mothershead, Thos. F. Hoyt

Frank H. Leonard delivered a lecture on Christian Science for the Oconomowoc Christian Science society in the Autitorium to an attentive audience. The speaker was introduced by the Rev. A. W. Stephens, pastor of the First Baptist church, who said in part,—

A member of this society asked me to preside and introduce the lecturer of the evening. Somehow it became known to the public, and a friend who met me on the street wanted to know how it was that I was to introduce a Christian Science lecturer. I replied, "First, because I believe that they are Christians; second, because I do not believe that any sect has a monopoly of divine truth; and third, because they are trying to do as the great Teacher taught us all to do and was concerned about, and that was to think, to love, to live. Jesus knew what many a professor of religion never seems to learn, namely, that a degree of clear thinking is absolutely essential to loving and living, and Jesus' method was the method which stimulates thought."

Now, right thinking implies concentration, or in other words attention. To make children think, is to educate them; not to think for pupils, but to make pupils think for themselves,—that is education. To teach is not to pile facts into the mind, like bales of cotton, though this may be a part of education, but to help the child think. We are to learn where things are and what they are, in order to make knowledge available. And I believe Jesus intended to make us avail ourselves of our supplies. Again, thought life implies contemplation; in other words, silence, self-communion, thoughtfulness, apartness. One fairly feels the quiet in the Scripture's brief description, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide." Christian Science teaches the necessity of this quiet communion, and urges all of its followers to heed the apostle's injunction, "Think on these things;" for the Scripture tells us that as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he."

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