The Lectures

with contributions from Cora McDonald, Florence Hood Johnson, J. Benton Miller

Introductions to Lectures

Ardmore, Oklahoma (First Church).

Lecturer: Paul Stark Seeley; introduced by Mrs. Cora McDonald, who said:—

Christ Jesus said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, are these words (p. 390): "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony."

In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 151) Mrs. Eddy asks this question: "Brother, sister, beloved in the Lord, knowest thou thyself, and art thou acquainted with God?" Then she adds, "If not, I pray thee as a Christian Scientist, delay not to make Him thy first acquaintance."

The perfect God and true spiritual healing as demonstrated by our Master, Christ Jesus, are to be found in Christian Science.

This Science has healed me of severe attacks of headache, said to have been inherited, pneumonia and typhoid fever, sorrow and many other inharmonies—in fact, I am being healed every day.

Our lecturer will acquaint us with the true God and the healing Christ.

Tacoma, Washington (Second Church).

Lecturer: Judge Frederick C. Hill; introduced by Mrs. Florence Hood Johnson, who said:—

When I was a little girl of ten my mother's dearest friend, given up by the best physicians in San Francisco, lay dying of a cancer. Then, in order to silence some persistent friends who were Christian Scientists, her husband engaged a Christian Science practitioner for one week's treatment. That week she slept without opiates. Her husband continued the treatment week by week as she continued improving. I do not know how long she was under treatment, but at the end of ten months the cancer had disappeared and she was a well woman.

Two years later I visited in her home and had an extraordinary experience. I saw her little son fall against the sharp corner of a table and drop screaming to the floor. As she took him up in her arms I noticed that he had a large purple welt on his forehead, where he had struck the table. She carried him into an adjoining room and closed the door. Almost immediately his crying ceased. In perhaps ten or twenty minutes she brought him back smiling and happy, and to my utter bewilderment the purple welt had gone from his forehead.

I asked her how she had healed him. Her reply was still more perplexing. She said she had known the truth for him. I inquired what that meant. She then showed me a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. She said this book taught people to heal the way Jesus had healed. Although I was only twelve years old, I recognized that to learn to heal the way Jesus had, was the most wonderful thing in the world that could happen to anybody. I bought myself a copy of Science and Health. I could speak for hours on the beauty that has come into my life in proportion as I have understood and applied the teachings of that book correctly.

Mrs. Eddy realized that her revelation of how to heal as Jesus healed was the most wonderful message that could be given to this world. That she might further give it to the world in its necessary purity she instituted among other activities The Christian Science Board of Lectureship.

Forest Hills, Long Island, New York (First Church).

Lecturer: John Ellis Sedman; introduced by J. Benton Miller, who said:—

Christian Science has been my religion all my life, and has met my every need, physical, moral, and financial. During my boyhood I experienced healings of blood poisoning, a broken collar bone, appendicitis, and many minor ills, all brought about solely through spiritual means, and without the use of medicine or any other material remedy.

Following my discharge from the aviation section of the navy after the World War, I was faced with the problem of finding employment. With the abundant proof of God's availability already experienced, it was but natural that I should turn to Christian Science to help me in this problem. The result seemed almost miraculous. I was led to go to a city some three hundred miles distant, and a few days after my arrival, while I was standing on a corner waiting for a streetcar, a man drove by and invited me to ride downtown with him. During that short drive he learned that I was seeking employment, and I learned that he was looking for a man with my qualifications, and I secured the position. When we discussed the salary question, he gave me more than I asked. This pleasant relationship lasted for about four years, when a better opportunity opened for me.

This was my first application of divine Principle to a business problem. Since then I have had many business demonstrations. My experiences in this religion have not been greatly unlike those of thousands upon thousands in all quarters of the globe, who have found in Christian Science the answer to their search for a practical, usable, everyday religion. This is why the growth of this Science has been so rapid and sure. This is why more and more people are daily studying the Bible and the works of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy.

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