JACKSONVILLE, FLA

Before a large and deeply interested audience at the Duval theater, Virgil O. Stricklerdelivered a lecture on the fundamentals and tenets of Christian Science. Mr. Strickler was introduced by Frank E. Jennings, a prominent attorney of Jacksonville, who said in part,—

The Christian Science church, not only in Jacksonville but elsewhere, has existed for so long and so honorably, the grade of intelligence of its members is so high, and the purity of the life and activities of its members, as a rule, is such, that certainly no one, at least in any representative audience, would need to apologize for being a Christian Scientist, but at the same time I feel that the churches of Jacksonville are working so much in unity, so much in harmony at the present time, that no one need apologize for not being a Christian Scientist. However, I am one of those who believe there is something radically wrong with the individual who does not care to hear the truth, in whatever form it may be presented; and there is something wrong with that individual who does not care to hear what other intelligent, strong-minded individuals believe to be the truth, and who will not take upon himself the task of determining whether or not it is the truth.

I believe every individual should be open to conviction. I have heard the story of an old man who said he was always open to conviction, but that he wanted to see the color of the man's hair who could convince him. We should not be that way. It is with pleasure that I am here this afternoon, and I expect to profit by it. Churches and religions would suffer materially if they actually believed what it is many times stated they stand for and believe, and if they were as represented by many of those outside of that denomination. In other words, it is very difficult indeed to judge of a church or denomination by what is said on the outside; and each religious faith very often suffers because the unintelligent members misrepresent their own faith; and much more so do they misrepresent the faith of other denominations.

The faith, the church that is perhaps the least understood, and that is more often misrepresented through ignorance, is the Christian Science church. It is, therefore, I think, of great benefit that we should have these public lectures. I consider the people of Jacksonville very fortunate to have, at certain times, gifted, broad-minded members of that church here to try to give us a message of what the real teachings of Christian Science are.

Jacksonville Times-Union.

MADISON, MINN.

Prof. Hermann S. Hering, at his lecture on Christian Science, was introduced as follows by the Rev. Mr. Wheeler, pastor of the Congregational church:—

I have been highly honored this evening in having been requested by representatives of the Christian Science church of this city to act as chairman and to introduce the distinguished speaker of the evening. It is highly significant that the days in which we are living, while stenuous and characterized by mighty events, some of them severely tragic, are making for individual and collective happiness and advancement along so many lines of achievement. Fortunately, we are living in a progressive age, in which the relationships of life are so rapidly becoming less strained that it does not shock one, as it once did, to behold a pastor of an orthodox church of this city acting in the capacity of chairman of a Christian Science assemblage, met for the specific purpose of listening to an authoritative explanation of its distinctive and characteristic tenets.

How many times we are reminded, in the actions and deeds of men, that this age is grossly materialistic. It is an age that is continually looking for practical results. It is therefore refreshing and invigorating to the thinker in the problems of life to reflect that the greatest forces of this world are not the material or even the ethical. These forces are spiritual, and thinking people abreast of the times are far more interested in the elucidation of the spiritual in its practical relation to life and conduct, than to learned and exhaustive treatises and expositions in which the materialistic is chiefly or wholly concerned. We remember that Jesus Christ taught men distinctively along spiritual lines. He directed men's thought to that which is spiritual. He said, in his teaching of the spiritual and eternal, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." He came to give freedom to the individual as well as to the race, and in his life we are rapidly recovering that freedom which the world is today eagerly seeking.—Correspondence.

MEDFORD, ORE.

Frank H. Leonard addressed a crowded house on Christian Science at the Medford theater. He was introduced by B.R. McCabe, who spoke as follows:—

One bearing the message that is now being conveyed to mankind through Christian Science hardly needs an apology in this age and country, for man is looking higher than ever before. Doubtless, in the eyes of Providence, to whom, as we are told, a thousand years are as one day, all periods of human history are alike,—of equal weight or equal nothingness; but to man, who has fallen into the habit of being controlled by the events in which he lives, all periods of history are not alike. Each age has its distinct character, is adverse or propitious to him, pushes on or retards his civilization, his refinement, his progress in knowledge and art, and his practical conquest in the realms of space and mind. For this reason history is divided into epochs or eras, of which we speak as good or bad, as ages of light or of darkness,—as ages when our race seems to have been kept back in its course or is impelled onward and upward.

When the great clock of time ticks off the present era, and its record shall be exposed to posterity, they will call it an age of great moment and significance; they will call it a destructive and yet a prolific period,—a time in which so many things have gone out and so many other things come in, so many horrible errors and prejudices have been destroyed, and so many new and beautiful truths born, that mankind, we believe, to the end of their days will rejoice in this period. They will turn to it in after ages as we now turn to the apostolic age, to the age of Shakespeare, to the Reformation, etc., as to a great fructifying season of the race, when humanity was more than ordinarily genial and shot up into new growths and burst into a more luxuriant bloom. It will mark the beginning of the period when mankind in general for the first time came to the realization of dominion over all things; and especially the demand for the constant exercise of that dominion by man himself.

This, in short, is the peculiar message of Christian Science, enabling men to see more clearly than ever that which only the prophet and sage saw before. Had the progress of this age taken place in the material world alone, it would already be a doubtful question whether the fact should be regarded as a cause of rejoicing or of sorrow. But the message of Christian Science comes and carries man into a consciousness unknown to him before,—a consciousness whose richness and vastness is yet unexplored,—and places him upon a pinnacle, not to view his material world with its manifold inventions, but to know its very source and supply. Christian Science, like other Christian churches, is laboring in the same great vineyard for the uplifting of humanity. More is required today than ever before of such laborers. The inquiring mind of today, as it looks out over the field of mortal man's endeavor and sees everything that he touches or hopes for an ignominious failure, says to itself that the great Galilean Teacher never lived, or if he did live, he never did the things recorded of him. If he did do those things, they were done in accordance with a natural law, and if so, they could be repeated.

Christian Science claims to have discovered that very law, and comes offering it to humanity,—not in preaching, but in the demonstration of its truth. And the object of these lectures is, not to seek proselytes, but to correct or remove erroneous ideas honestly obtained by those who have made no special investigation of the subject. I therefore ask of you the same consideration for the speaker that we are always willing to accord other workers in the Master's vineyard.—Correspondence.

SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH.

Clarence C. Eaton addressed a large audience on Christian Science at the Soo opera house. In his introductory remarks, Judge Holden spoke in part as follows:—

I have at all times been keenly conscious of the great uplifting work being done by the various churches. I have no knowledge of any church which is not doing society and its members both moral and spiritual good. But somehow most of them are so hemmed in with creeds and dogmas that they keep me from their membership. They force me to keep in the middle of the road, so to speak; yet I fully realize the great good they are each doing for suffering souls,—for humanity,—and I have thought that they might do more good if they would cast off the shackles of creed and dogma and be as free therefrom as is the love of God itself. The Christian Scientist has come among us and seems to me to say: "To do good is my religion." I like that. I am not aware that Christ Jesus, whom they profess to follow, had any other creed.—Evening News.

JANESVILLE, WIS.

A large and very attentive audience listened to the lecture of Judge Clifford P. Smith, on Christian Science, at the Myers opera house. Judge Grimm introduced the speaker of the evening as follows:—

You have heard it said that as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." You will learn some day that this is true, that what a man thinketh in his heart, that is he. It ought to be patent to us all that the spiritual, mental, alone is capable of continuous existence, since evidently all else perishes. The spiritual, mental, is evidenced by thought, by conscious knowing; and the expression of conscious thought and knowledge is man. If that knowledge be knowledge of truth, it is as immortal as truth; wherefore Jesus defined knowledge of God and His Christ as eternal life, which knowledge he came to teach in order that mankind, as he said, might have eternal life and have it more abundantly.

How readily it follows that mortal man should be reluctant to relinquish his former thoughts, beliefs so long accepted as true, and adopt others which declare his former to have been "foolishness before God," since it involves the transformation of his very being, involves coming as a little child, involves being born again. We call such reluctance prejudice; in reality it is a mortal's instinct of self-defense. This so-called prejudice has barred the door of progress since the dawn of ages, and men have been powerless to remove the barrier. Here and there, however, the light is breaking through. Unbearable human afflictions, or the steadfast longing for the good and the true, are making openings through which the light streams in ever increasing volume, and glimpses of the limitless possibilities in the line of man's growth are presented to the startled gaze.

Five years ago there was none more prejudiced against the new and yet old teaching known to the world as Christian Science than was I. A good mother had taught me in my early youth to search ever for the good and the true and make them living forces in my life; but it was not until I had reached a crisis from which I saw no escape, that I was willing to let go my preconceived notions sufficiently to attempt to learn a little of the wonderful Science which is leavening human thought and lifting man to a recognition of his kinship to his Maker. Within six weeks after I began the study of Science and Health I awoke to the realization that I had been paralyzing my efforts to do right and blunting my better instincts. At the same time physical ailments from which I had been suffering disappeared, and I knew in my innermost consciousness that I was learning the truth which the Master said would make men free.

The eminent gentleman whom I am about to introduce to you may be able in the short period of time allowed him to arouse your interest in his subject, but he can no more present to you the sum total of all which this Science comprehends than he can measure infinity. Nor is this his purpose. The purpose of these lectures is to correct erroneous notions about what Christian Science is, in order that you may not judge amiss; it is not to teach Christian Science. But if, through God's grace, it will cause breaks in the armor of your prejudice and give you more light to "work out your own salvation," you will bless this coming hour.

Janesville Recorder.

LAWTON, OKLA.

Bliss Knapp, at his lecture on Christian Science in this city, was introduced by Attorney Charles Mitschrich, who said in part,—

In the opening statement of the introduction to the text-book of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings;" and after forty years of application and demonstration, countless thousands of men and women in every walk of life are living monuments to the truth of this statement. Jesus of Nazareth taught its truth two thousand years ago on the shores of the Galilean sea. During his brief but eventful ministry, he stated his purpose to be the salvation of mankind, and in disclosing the divine plan of salvation he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In demonstration of the power of Truth to make free, Jesus fed the multitude, healed the sick, comforted the sorrowing, raised the dead, and caused the wind and the waves to obey his will. That these things were done pursuant to a divinely natural law, and that every one can, in the exact proportion as he comprehends and realizes this divine law, produce the same results by its proper application, is evidenced by his statement, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."

The mission of Christian Science is the salvation of mankind here and now. By the realization of the truth which it teaches, sin, sickness, suffering, poverty, and despair are forever banished, and in their stead purity, health, happiness, peace, and prosperity are triumphantly enthroned as the rightful heritage of man. To those who understand its truth and earnestly strive to live according to its teachings, the harpstrings of the heart and mind are filled with the divine melody of eternal harmony.—Correspondence.