Article March 12, 1921 Issue

Testimony Meetings

JAMES B. MERRITT

Great is the blessing of the verbal testimony that is given every Wednesday evening and on Thanksgiving Day in hundreds of Christian Science churches all over the world. Probably no agency devised by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, aside from our daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, has done so much to spread the gospel of the new salvation, or the new understanding of salvation, as have the weekly testimony meetings. But if the salvation of the world depended wholly on the audible prayers of Christians and the audible testimonies of Christian Scientists the millennium might be placed beyond the very farthest limit of eternity. "The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, 'as when a lion roareth,'" (Science and Health, p. 559). This is the voice that is heard in the dark corners and hidden recesses of mortal mind where lurk the most venomous reptiles of fear, hatred, ignorance, superstition, prejudice; and one of the most insidious is prejudice. The still, small voice of Truth is to the beast louder than the thunders of Jove and all the mighty rumblings of the sea rolled into one, and it alone will seal the victory over the dragon and expose its nothingness.

I always go away from a Wednesday evening service full of gratitude for the audible testimonies that have brought out new thoughts and helped me to get a little better hold on good, but the influence that is to reach to earth's farthest bounds and do its fullest share in the healing of the world is the great flood of thanksgiving and praise that goes up from the hearts of the hundreds who have been silent and intelligent listeners to every good thought brought out in the reading of the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and in the audible testimonies. One of the most beautiful things about the silent testimony is that it is carried on simultaneously with the audible testimony, so that the entire service is truly healing for the waiting, needy human thought.

The office of the testimony meeting as designed by its Founder is best performed; and only fulfilled, when during the full half hour allotted for testimonies and experiences both the audible and mental expressions of Truth go on unceasingly, for the effectiveness of each is dependent on the faithfulness of the other. The spoken testimony should flow freely and spontaneously, each speaker following the advice given in that section of the by-laws of the Manual of The Mother Church relating to testimonies, and especially remembering that another section of these by-laws provides for a Board of Lectureship. Frequently what should be a simple, brief recital of blessings received and gratitude expressed is extended into a lengthy discourse, possibly tinctured with personality, and consuming time that rightfully belongs to some other, desirous of casting in just a mite for Truth.

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