Article May 7, 1921 Issue

Giving a Lecture

WILFRED TEARE LEWIS

NOT the least of the activities of a Church of Christ, Scientist, is the giving of a lecture. It is an activity provided for by the wisdom of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, and may be said to incorporate some of the missionary work of Christian Science churches. The giving of a lecture proves to be a way by which one may prove the truth contained in the statement made in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 79), "Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us." It also fulfills the Scriptures, for this free gift to humanity is being offered throughout the world. It is the open door which no mortal can close, for we have this assurance from the prophecy of Isaiah, when only the truth about God and man is expressed at a Christian Science lecture: "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." A lecture is to tell of God, good, hence good will result to both giver and receiver.

The writer recently accepted a duty as usher at a lecture, and his first direct activity with a view to the lecture was to realize that it expressed Life, Truth, and Love, for this quotation from John's gospel, referring to the Christ, came into his thought: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." All activity which followed seemed to center round these words, and a passage from Science and Health (p. 102) brought light upon the lifting up of the Christ, and the "draw" of the divine Principle, Love: "There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind." Truth never goes unchallenged by seeming evil; but Truth alone is true, for it is forever a part of that tri-unity, Life, Truth, and Love, and is omnipotent. In the chapter on the Apocalypse in Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says (p. 564): "The serpent is perpetually close upon the heel of harmony. From the beginning to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual idea." Then again on page 234 she says, "If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind, the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out." The fact that the true lecture is the divine idea and therefore holy, having emanated from divine intelligence, God, must be understood.

Having contended at every step with the evil suggestion, it was seen that the true occasion is planned by divine Love; that the gift of love is expressed; that all true advertising is a silent welcome, and indicates the compelling influence of the Christ, the only real attraction. As the Scripture says, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Then the gift within a gift, the distribution of our literature, the Journal, Sentinel, and Monitor at the close of the lecture can be interpreted as the cup of cold water given in Christ's name. In this connection it was seen that our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, had had part in the giving of our lecture, through the establishment of the Board of Lectureship.

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