PERIODICALS FRUITAGE MEETING

Held in the Extension of The Mother Church on Tuesday, June 3, 1952, at 10 a.m.

Chairman, Paul R. Carmack

Editorial Cartoonist, The Christian Science Monitor

The meeting opened with the singing of Hymn No. 3 in the Christian Science Hymnal, "A grateful heart a garden is." After the singing of the hymn Miss Olive Dean Hormel, Book Page Editor, The Christian Science Monitor, read a letter of greeting from The Christian Science Board of Directors and the keynote message from the Board of Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society.

Letter of Greeting from The Christian Science Board of Directors

Dear Fellow Workers:

This is a season of rejoicing when Christian Scientists meet together to bear testimony to progress and achievement in the various avenues provided by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for promulgating the good tidings of Christian Science throughout the world. We welcome you on this occasion when the fruitage of the Christian Science periodicals will be discussed.

Mrs. Eddy says: "This hour is molten in the furnace of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known, world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the beams of right have healing in their light" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 269).

The Christian Science periodicals constitute a great force for good in the world today. They are blessing mankind with their messages of joy, encouragement, and revitalization. With gentle persuasiveness they touch the receptive heart and prepare the soil therein for the seed of Truth contained in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and the other writings of our Leader.

It was love, Mrs. Eddy's unselfed love, which established our periodicals. Love, reflected by her followers, is today continuing her great work of sending out these potent missionaries of our movement.

Cordially yours,

The Christian Science Board of Directors

Keynote Message from the Board of Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society

Our very dear Friends:

The sweet savor of gratitude permeates all that we would say to you today in a greeting that is heartfelt, in remembrance of your consecrated efforts in the support of our movement.

Without a doubt, our faithful Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, included in her work a perfect plan for the dissemination of the spiritual truths revealed to her, a plan whereby the newcomer, as well as the more enlightened student, can find the pathway to a better mode of living and being. Your presence here today indicates not only that you are advancing along the pathway of Truth and Life, but that you are offering a goodly portion of that love, joy, peace, and health which is always expressed by God's representatives.

Within the spiritual perception and discernment of the real purpose of this meeting may we not see a heavenly part of Mrs. Eddy's provision for her followers? From Jesus' words (John 17:1), "Father,... glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee," and also his conclusion (verse 22). "That they may be one, even as we are one," may we not glean the fact that the glorifying of God with the consciousness of what the truth of being really includes means the doing of the works as well?

To work God's work is the aim of everyone present. While the written word or indited message of Truth will always bear within itself its own power of inspiration, propagation, and continuity, yet there is required an example through daily deeds of that divine order as established by our great Master, Christ Jesus, and by our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy.

In the third chapter of the book of Malachi there is offered a beautiful message of tribute to the people of God. In it appear these words (Mal. 3:16): "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name."

Malachi's comforting words to the people that they would not be forgotten in their good works brings to mind the abundant benefits from the book of remembrance which the Christian Science activities open up to us today. As loyal followers of our Leader we all realize that we have a divine commission, a commission that calls upon us to prove that the goodness of our Father-Mother God, as revealed through Christ Jesus and Christian Science, is right here at hand to protect, comfort, and heal.

Love has its perfect garment, the undivided design and pattern of Truth. And the impersonal representation of the Christ-idea through the reports of our various activities, when rightly received and unfolded, will he found to include the proper vestments for our work during the coming year.

Today's book of remembrance reveals the value of our religious periodicals as they point the way to a clearer, higher, more spiritual standard of living and to the true way of salvation from sin, disease, and death. Mrs. Eddy understood perfectly the spiritual meaning of her discovery, and she has given to us in this age the pure, unadulterated revelation of the Science of the Christ which our Master taught and demonstrated. Let us, too, have our own book of remembrance as a record of gratitude for the blessings which the study and practice of Christian Science bestow.

In this precious book of remembrance the offerings which you have brought through your year's service to the Cause of Christian Science are cherished. May you take away from this meeting a full measure of the good will which is your spiritual heritage, and which is implied in our Leader's words (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 187), "May the grace and love of God be and abide with you all."

Faithfully yours,

Board of Trustees The Christian Science Publishing Society

After a period of silent prayer, followed by the repetition of the Lord's Prayer, the following addresses were given.

Opening Remarks

By Paul R. Carmack, Chairman

One of our much-loved hymns in the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 182) wisely and lovingly counsels us,

Our Christian Science periodicals, we realize, are outstanding examples of certain of those channels which our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in obedience to God, has provided for us and for all mankind. How well divine Love has been filling these channels during the past year is what we are to hear this morning. But let us briefly consider why it is important that such reports be made to you and to the Field.

We well know how helpful and necessary it is for us to acknowledge and be grateful for every blessing which comes to us individually in Christian Science. Is it not also important and necessary that we be equally grateful for the good that comes to us through our periodicals as a result of the collective demonstration of the members of The Mother Church? The reports we are to hear will help us to realize the extent of our debt of praise and gratitude to divine Love.

While Mrs. Eddy permanently established the Christian Science periodicals as healing avenues for "the streams of Love," it is our rich privilege and duty to see that these great activities for good are kept open, that the periodicals are free from the debris of apathetic support, indifference, and lack of spiritual inspiration on the part of contributors and readers. Gratitude, we realize, is an irresistible and indispensable aid to this end.

Let us not, however, be content merely to keep the avenues open and free from the would-be hindrances of mortal mind. Let us, rather, add to our praise and gratitude a ceaseless desire and effort to gain a larger and clearer recognition of the mission and the meaning of our periodicals. As we do so our healing channels will be progressively widened and deepened, for "Love has overflowing streams to fill them every one." Thus mankind's increasing hunger and thirst for Truth will be ever more fully satisfied.

The Mission of the Advertising Activity

By Charles W. E. Morris, New England

Advertising Manager, The Christian Science Monitor

On page 353 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, gives the names of the various periodicals and indicates their missions. That was in 1908, the year The Christian Science Monitor was first published.

Twenty-five years earlier, as recorded in "Miscellaneous Writings," she had stated (p. 4), "At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity." Why, one may ask, did Mrs. Eddy feel that a newspaper was a necessity? The obvious answer is that a daily newspaper capable of presenting national and international news in a truthful, unbiased manner would raise the standards of journalism and lay a foundation for enlightened world understanding. Moreover, a daily newspaper carrying advertisements would reach the business world, thereby bringing thousands of people into contact with the healing and purifying message of Christian Science.

The precedent of carrying paid advertisements had been established in The Christian Science Journal. It was therefore natural that advertising would be an integral part of the Monitor from its very first issue. Today advertising revenue is by far the major sustaining factor in keeping the Monitor in the black. If it were not for advertising revenue the cost of an individual subscription would probably be more than double the price charged today, or the deficit would have to be underwritten by The Christian Science Publishing Society.

Important as the revenue is, there is a still more important aspect of the advertising activity, because this activity brings the Monitor into the broad channels of commerce and industry. Many men and women receive their first acquaintance with Christian Science when perusing the Monitor which has reached them through Advertising Department activities. In this important segment of intelligent, serious-minded business people there has developed a widespread acceptance and appreciation of the high journalistic and advertising standards of the Monitor. An increasing number of them, who at first contact merely gave the paper a cursory scrutiny, have become stanch Monitor fans.

In our contacts someone frequently will refer to a news item or an article which he has read with great interest. Some even admit that they occasionally read the religious article as well. Quite obviously the leavening influence of the Monitor under these circumstances should not be underestimated.

In the kaleidoscopic pageant of human events and the reporting of them there is detectable a powerful underlying current of optimism and a resurgence of spiritual values. Today businessmen and world leaders unashamedly acknowledge that the only sure way to overcome the seeming problems which confront the world is by increasing reliance on spiritual, not material, power.

On page 232 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy says, "This age is reaching out towards the perfect Principle of things; is pushing towards perfection in art, invention, and manufacture." And she continues farther on, "Spirit is omnipotent; hence a more spiritual Christianity will be one having more power, having perfected in Science that most important of all arts,— healing."

The Mission of Our General Publications

By Miss Viola S. May, General Publications Manager

The Christian Science Publishing Society

Mary Baker Eddy in writing the first religious tenet of Christian Science has forever established the Bible as our most important general publication.

In our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 406), "The Bible contains the recipe for all healing." Our Leader also clearly states in the Manual of The Mother Church, as a qualification for church membership (Art. IV, Sect. 1), "The Bible, together with Science and Health and other works by Mrs. Eddy, shall be his only textbooks for self-instruction in Christian Science, and for teaching and practising metaphysical healing." Again, our Leader ordained the Bible and Science and Health as Pastor over The Mother Church (see Manual, Art. XIV, Sect. 1). Thus the Bible stands as our guide, as one of our textbooks, and together with Science and Health is our Pastor.

Since Mrs. Eddy's discovery of Christian Science and the publication of Science and Health the sale of the Bible has constantly increased, and the format of Science and Health has to a large extent revolutionized the size and style of Bibles now being published.

The publication of the Christian Science Hymnal, containing two hundred and ninety-six poems, including seven by our beloved Leader, is a healing mission. The singing of hymns in all our church services is a provision of the Manual, and Christian Scientists have many times experienced release from fear, sorrow, and pain through the messages contained in our hymns. One of the hymns reads (No. 310), "Sing, ye joyous children, sing," and the fervor and understanding with which our hymns are sung unite and strengthen us.

In order that Christian Scientists in all branch churches throughout the world may enjoy our Hymnal, the complete book with music and words in English and in translation has now been made available in the French and Dutch languages and is being translated into Swedish, German, and Danish. Words to selected hymns have been published in Norwegian and Spanish and are being prepared in Portuguese. Martin Luther once wrote, "Music is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God, to which Satan is a bitter enemy; for it removes from the heart the weight of sorrow, and the fascination of evil thoughts."

Many years ago our Leader wrote: "All the people need, in order to love and adopt Christian Science, is the true sense of its Founder. In proportion as they have it, will our Cause advance" (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, First Series, p. 40). The publishing of authentic historical and biographical books about Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, is truly a healing mission. These books, circulated widely throughout the world, are giving a true sense of the Founder of Christian Science and are thus helping to advance our Cause.

Reprints of religious articles from our periodicals are being printed in convenient leaflet and pamphlet form for additional circulation, and some are being translated into an ever-increasing number of languages, thus bringing Christian Science to the peoples of the world.

We who are privileged to have a part in this great work of publishing and circulating authorized Christian Science literature can testify gladly to our Leader's words in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 135), "Sending forth currents of Truth, God's methods and means of healing, and so spreading the gospel of Love, is in itself an eternity of joy that outweighs an hour."

The Mission of the Circulation Activity

By H. Phelps Gates, Circulation Manager

The Christian Science Publishing Society

Are you helping the stranger by the wayside? With healing works and simple words, are you finding him where he is? Are you helping him to understand the blessed truth, to use it in daily living? Then you are active in circulation. You are a practical worker in the circulation activity. You are having your part in the encircling good of Christian Science.

Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 141), "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, our prayer in stone, will be the prophecy fulfilled, the monument upreared, of Christian Science." As our Church is prophecy fulfilled, so our periodicals have a part in that fulfillment. They are instant in season, instant in healing benefits for all mankind. They are the means by which we circulate day-by-day proofs in this present day of the healing power of Christian Science.

One after another, in divinely natural order, our dear Leader founded the periodicals. She founded each one on a spiritual basis and for a specific spiritual purpose. First Mrs. Eddy founded a journal of entry, a daybook, a continuing record of her unfolding discovery, an official journal. She named her first periodical the Journal of Christian Science, which she later changed to The Christian Science Journal. The words "Official Organ" still appear on its cover.

Then our Leader saw need for a periodical to watch over and guard her revelation of Truth. Again she chose a precise name: Christian Science Sentinel. On its cover, Jesus' words (Mark 13:37), "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch," permanently set forth its mission as watchman or sentinel.

Mrs. Eddy's next periodical proclaimed the universal activity of Truth and heralded it abroad. Aptly she chose the name The Herald of Christian Science. Finally she established The Christian Science Monitor. It filled the last great need. It was to be a daily newspaper to monitor the dynamic story of the world at work under the spiritual impact of Christian Science.

These, together with the Christian Science Quarterly as a blueprint for daily living, the second periodical which was established by Mrs. Eddy, are our working tools of circulation. With these our Leader finished her mighty task of recording, protecting, heralding, and monitoring the results of her discovery.

With what spiritual depth and specific purpose our Leader selected these names! Each periodical develops and grows as we appreciate and use it for the purpose for which it was founded. Each periodical prospers as we put it to practical use in our daily experience.

Circulation, like salvation, is individual. To bless men and nations and all mankind the periodicals must first reach the individual. Each subscriber who is a member of The Mother Church has a specific part in the broad concept of circulation —of encircling the world with the benefits of our religion.

Circulation of the truth is in itself a mission, your mission. It is going on daily and hourly in your experience. It is your sending forth to all mankind the day-by-day proofs of Christian Science and its healing power as set forth in the periodicals.

To be active in circulation you do not have to be a librarian, a circulation representative, or a committee worker. You are active in circulation when you are daily living and so proving Christian Science that others may see your good works and be led to seek the truth for themselves. You are active in circulation as you find the stranger where he is in terms of his own needs and can present the Christ in ways and words he can understand.

At this point was sung Hymn No. 254. "O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind," the words of which were written by Mrs. Eddy.

The Mission of Our Daily Newspaper

By Miss Jessie Ash Arndt, Woman's Page Editor

The Christian Science Monitor

As Christian Scientists, we understand that when our God-inspired Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, gave to mankind the great gift of The Christian Science Monitor, she took this step—as every other in connection with the establishment of this vast movement—under God's direction. Therefore this newspaper is one of God's gifts to us.

As its missionary purpose is fulfilled, God's purpose is served, His purpose to bring to human consciousness that day when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

Not long ago a church member who has traveled widely in this country and Canada said to me: "You know, the thing I often run into when discussing the Monitor with other Christian Scientists is the thought that it is not one of the periodicals of The Mother Church. They refer to 'our periodicals and also the Monitor.'"

On page 353 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" is an extract from our Leader's editorial in the first issue of her newspaper—and ours—November 25, 1908, under the heading "Something in a Name." I shall quote this, not because it is unfamiliar, but because it gives a foundation for our support of the Monitor as one of the Christian Science periodicals.

Let us see how Mrs. Eddy considered the Monitor. She writes, "I have given the name to all the Christian Science periodicals." Note that she says "to all the Christian Science periodicals." Then she writes, "The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent." And she adds, "The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind."

Our Leader's statements leave no doubt as to the place of The Christian Science Monitor among the periodicals of her Church, nor as to her newspaper's function. And only a false concept would try to remove it from that place in the thought of Christian Scientists, would try to divide or separate from its God-inspired purpose one of our periodicals which is destined "to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent."

Among dictionary definitions for the verb spread are several that serve to enlarge our sense of the Monitor's mission. "To reach out" is one of them. The Monitor reaches out to bless mankind. It reaches out to our readers and those written about, to our advertisers and those benefited from what they find in the advertisements. It reaches men and women whom none of the other periodicals might ever reach with the first message of Christian Science.

The Monitor reaches the ready thought and arrests attention through its higher newspaper standards, expressing the purpose, both in advertising and in editorial content, "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind." It reaches out through what we often refer to as its "second circulation." Now, among other definitions of "spread"—and remember, it is "to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent" that the Monitor was founded—are these: "to stretch forth, to propagate, to set and furnish, as with provisions, to overrun; to visit or occupy all parts of." And synonyms are: "Broaden, increase; unfold; diffuse, disperse, distribute, circulate, dispense." Let us apply these to the Monitor's spreading of "the Science that operates unspent," that is, without being exhausted of its effective quality, without having lost energy or motive force.

And one thing more from the dictionary, a larger sense of the word undivided. "Undivided" means "unbroken, continuous, whole, showing, or affected by, no division of opinion or dissension."

Thus the mission of The Christian Science Monitor is to spread the spirit of this Science unaffected by divided human opinions. Truth presented leavens the whole lump; the "leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Matt. 13: 33). The Monitor therefore presents a practical illustration of Truth's leaven operating in human affairs.

You will recall the grave situation in Korea in December, 1950. I have permission from our Editor, Erwin D. Canham, to read to you the memo he addressed to the Monitor staff on December 6 of that year.

I quote the memo:

"In these moments of grave crisis, it is more necessary than ever that every line of The Christian Science Monitor convey as fully as possible the unique message of Christian Science.

"We have the mission of helping to awaken the world from the mesmeric threat of war. All material which relates in any way to the war problem should be presented so as to help thinkers in their duty of working for world healing. Mere expert journalism is not enough.

"In a meeting held last week the Board of Trustees expressed their deep awareness of the challenge," stated the memo. "They reminded us of the vast spiritual armament which Christian Science possesses and must place vigorously at the service of world civilization. The role of the Monitor Editorial Department is crucial in this task of spiritual mobilization, and we can all do our part together in helping save mankind."

This gives evidence of the alertness of those with responsibility for directing the Monitor to its sacred mission. It sets forth this same demand on the staff.

As Christian Scientists, we pray daily that we not be made to forget nor to neglect our duty to God, to our Leader, or to mankind, in obedience to Article VIII, Section 6, of The Mother Church Manual by Mrs. Eddy. Obedience to this By-Law includes love for and support of The Christian Science Monitor. It also includes our duty to God, because God inspired Mrs. Eddy to establish the Monitor; to our Leader, because our newspaper was part of her demonstration; to mankind, because its mission is "to bless all mankind." All three points are embraced in our support of the Monitor.

But it is not merely by talking about our wonderful newspaper that we aid its mission. On November 6, 1908, shortly before its first issue, our Leader wrote (Miscellany, pp. 352, 353), "My desire is that every Christian Scientist, and as many others as possible, subscribe for and read our daily newspaper."

This emphasizes for us the provision in Article VIII, Section 14, of the Manual entitled "Church Periodicals": "It shall be the privilege and duty of every member, who can afford it, to subscribe for the periodicals which are the organs of this Church."

In each instance Mrs. Eddy says "every member." How quickly our Monitor circulation would reach a new high if we were all obedient to this provision. For then Monitor circulation would keep pace with the growth of our membership. Where there are several Mother Church members in a household, the additional subscriptions can be sent to others outside the family circle whom it will bless.

As an authorized periodical of The Mother Church, The Christian Science Monitor is forwarding the fulfillment of the mission of this Church which Mrs. Eddy foresaw when she wrote in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 20): "From first to last The Mother Church seemed type and shadow of the warfare between the flesh and Spirit, even that shadow whose substance is the divine Spirit, imperatively propelling the greatest moral, physical, civil, and religious reform ever known on earth. In the words of the prophet: 'The shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'"

The Mission of Our Periodicals

By Mrs. Helen Wood Bauman, Associate Editor

The Christian Science Journal, Sentinel, and Heralds

First, may I tell you of the deep affection the Editors have for the readers of our periodicals, of the way we carry you in our hearts and try to discern your varied needs? And may I tell you of the devotion with which we work to keep the periodicals in conformity with our Leader's method of presenting Christian Science? Not only did Mary Baker Eddy record the pure Word of God as it was revealed to her, but she provided a healing system based upon absolute Truth and designed to regenerate mankind and awaken them to man's noble status as God's son. I can assure you that we are watchful that nothing is said in the periodicals that contradicts her revelation or her method of applying Science to human problems.

We need the co-operation of the contributors in seeing that the periodicals fulfill the mission for which they were founded. Probably very few of our contributors are professional writers, but they do have something important to say! The Editors endeavor to save for publication every lively and helpful idea presented and to see that these ideas are placed in a proper setting of basic truths of Science so that they may be understood by the newcomer as well as appreciated by the mature student. Often this requires revision, and many articles are returned to their authors for rewriting. A point to keep in mind is that the purpose of the periodicals is not to interpret Mrs. Eddy's writings, but to show how her revelation may be applied and demonstrated in practical ways, especially in ways you have proved yourselves. The mission of the periodicals is to heal, and this should be uppermost in the contributor's thought.

Every article received is given careful analytical attention by several persons, and no article is returned without being seen by at least one of the Editors. If your contribution should come back to you with a request for revision, please do not neglect to rewrite it. The comments you receive often represent considerable time and effort on our part, and they should not be lost or disregarded.

And when you write an article, make it a true demonstration of understanding. Then it will be usable and will help fulfill the healing mission of our periodicals. Christ Jesus once said (Luke 8:18), "Take heed therefore how ye hear." Listen to God for the thoughts which give your article the elements of wisdom and simple directness that imbue a discussion with power to heal. Do not be in a hurry to submit it after you think it is finished, but examine it carefully to see that you can find support in our Leader's writings for every statement you make. And examine your hearts to find if you have really done your best. What we need in our periodicals is simplicity and might, not abstraction devoid of moral power.

Our periodicals are of profound value to the world because they scatter the seeds of real freedom—not only freedom from primitive and enslaving political and religious systems, but freedom from inward sin, from persistent disease, from moral and physical deformity, and from the inevitableness of death's shadow.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 221). "Truth brings the elements of liberty." And she adds on the next page: "Whatever enslaves man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes man free." Truth is true theology, and every right idea sown broadcast in our periodicals finds the soil it needs to further the Cause of universal freedom. The elements of liberty—justice, truth, and love—are set forth in our periodicals and explained in their application to problems of injustice, deceit, and tyranny. Religious liberty must be the basis of all true freedom, and Christian Science reveals the theology which demonstrates the universal freedom of God's realm.

Our periodicals get around. We hear tales of how they find receptive hearts, often in strange places. The clearer, the fresher, the more appealing, your articles are in their discussion of true theology, the more they will attract the reader, often enslaved by error and longing desperately to be free. What can cope with the sordid plight of millions of men but the theology which proclaims God's allness and justice and the perfection of the real man? What greater mission could we desire for our periodicals than that they bring freedom and comfort to mankind?

Because the periodicals are fundamentally the product of the one universal Mind, it is natural that Mind directs the paths they take in fulfilling God's purpose for them. Recently a young man told me that when he was twelve years old he realized that man must be spiritual because God is good, and he disputed the false views of his elders. For five years he brought up his contention that man is spiritual whenever he had the opportunity, but no one agreed with him. When he was seventeen, he went away to school, and one evening he attended a dancing party. Instead of dancing, he discussed religion with his host's mother.

"Man must be spiritual," he insisted, and the mother said, "Young man, I have what you need." She went to her library and took from a shelf a Christian Science periodical which was nearly twenty years old. The young man read it to shreds because it confirmed what he had been longing to understand—that man is spiritual. He is now an active and enthusiastic student of Christian Science and is finding freedom from limitation through the demonstration of true theology.

Time permits me to tell you of but two of the many healings which the periodicals have brought about. One was that of a woman who was suffering from what seemed to be a malignant growth. She was tempted to have it removed by surgery; but one day she prayed: "Dear Father-Mother God, I have always been so loyal. I would not even take a teaspoon of water to use as medicine— how can I take it now?" Shortly after this she arrived at a Reading Room and went in. During the next half-hour, while she was reading a periodical, her thought was so uplifted that she received a complete and permanent healing.

Another case was that of a man who had suffered terribly from hernia. After he had spent a difficult day, his practitioner drew his attention to something in a newly received periodical. While he was reading it his mind cleared, and soon every vestige of the difficulty was gone. He discovered the next day that even scar tissue, caused by previous attacks, had also disappeared.

These are evidences of the freedom which the Christian Science periodicals bring. Freedom is their mission, freedom is their message. Let us love them, subscribe for them, read them, contribute to them, with the universal freedom of God's justice and mercy and truth in view.

Our Lesson-Sermon

By W. Stuart Booth, of Denver, Colorado

In considering the subject "Our Lesson-Sermon" it is well for us first to see and acknowledge that our impersonal pastor came in direct connection with the fulfillment of Christ Jesus' prophecy and promise of the Comforter. No one knew better than our dear Master the limitations, perils, and uncertainties of purely personalized activities. Christ Jesus' proved perception of his unbroken at-one-ment with God, his spiritual conviction that the doctrine he presented was of the Father, was so clear and certain that he knew and stated (Matt. 24:35), "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Because of this and because his followers were clinging to him personally instead of leaning on the Christ, Truth, Jesus was led to say (John 16:7), "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you."

We all are persuaded by reason, revelation, and demonstration that divine Science is the Comforter promised by the Master. And it is natural and inevitable that the impersonal Comforter, divine Science, should have the impersonal pastor. Therefore Christ Jesus' promise and prophecy of the Comforter, divine Science, necessarily included the impersonal pastor, our Lesson-Sermon, as given in the Christian Science Quarterly. That is why our inspired and beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, made the statement regarding our Lesson-Sermon that it is "undivorced from truth, uncontaminated and unfettered by human hypotheses, and divinely authorized" (Explanatory Note in the Quarterly).

Every student of Christian Science is persuaded that Christ Jesus came in fulfillment of Scriptural prophecy, taught the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and overcame every material belief with Truth and Love; and thus he became the Way-shower and Saviour for all mankind. Likewise we must gain and retain the firm conviction that Mrs. Eddy came in fulfillment of Scriptural prophecy; that she taught that God is our Mother as well as our Father; that she declared and demonstrated the Science of Christianity in its full and final revelation; that the hand of God is evident in our beloved Leader's work as the Founder as well as the Discoverer of Christian Science.

Prior to 1895 personal preachers served all Churches of Christ, Scientist; but, although these earnest pastors, men and women, did the best they knew in and out of their pulpits, it became clear to Mrs. Eddy that unerring divine Mind had an infinitely better plan; and God revealed this to her as our impersonal pastor. In foretelling Christian Science, Christ Jesus said (John 14:26)," The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

This promise is being fulfilled each week in our Lesson-Sermon, which is teaching us all things about God and Christ Jesus and about man as made in the image and likeness of our Father-Mother. The Lesson-Sermon is bringing to our remembrance the promises of our Master and is showing us how we may realize the fulfillment of these promises of healing and redemption. Also from the premise of spiritual perfection the nothingness and impotence of matter and evil are clearly deduced by the Lesson-Sermon and are impressively demonstrated in Christianly scientific practice.

In 1898, three years after Mrs. Eddy had ordained the Bible and her textbook. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," as the impersonal pastor for all Christian Science churches, she announced the twenty-six subjects for our Bible Lessons. Later, when some students recommended additional subjects, she stated emphatically that the original twenty-six subjects "were given of God—they are sufficient, and they will remain forever" (Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy, p. 145). A former clergyman in a Protestant church who is now a Christian Scientist has stated that a careful study of our Lesson-Sermons, with their twenty-six subjects, provides a wider and more satisfying education in theology than a course in a theological school.

It is significant that Mrs. Eddy, in Article III. Section 1, of her Manual of The Mother Church, states that the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends on our Bible Lesson. And in a Message to The Mother Church she paid this wonderful tribute to the Lesson-Sermon (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 322): "Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate. is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still waters.'" Mrs. Eddy's concept of our Lesson-Sermon must have been very high, or she would not have referred to it in such terms of appreciation and approbation.

Now in view of this, let each one of us ask himself: Am I fully appreciative of this divinely ordained impersonal pastor, our Lesson-Sermon? Am I utilizing as best I can this Lesson and thereby aiding in the prosperity of Christian Science with myself and in the world? Am I deriving from my daily study of the entire Bible Lesson the full measure of benefit which awaits every student? Do I recognize and identify our Lesson-Sermon as God's direct message by means of which we may find the solution to the problems which may confront us?

Doubtless nearly all Christian Science church members read all of the current Lesson-Sermon every day, but Mrs. Eddy's appraisal of our impersonal pastor opens our eyes to its importance, and we see that a mere perusal of the Lesson is not sufficient. In writing of Science and Health our Leader says (Science and Health, p. 147): "Although this volume contains the complete Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science." Likewise our Bible Lesson needs to be studied that we may derive the instruction and healing, the guidance and spiritual inspiration, that await us therein each week. The student who faithfully studies our Lesson-Sermon every day and takes the messages of good out of the books by assimilating the truths into and as his thinking, will never lack courage and confidence, joy and inspiration. The thought of such students will never become darkened, dull, or discouraged because they are imbibing daily the water of Life in its purity.

Almost from the beginning of our Leader's unselfish and God-directed work for the world in establishing the Cause of Christian Science she had experiences which corresponded to the experience of Christ Jesus with Judas Iscariot. Mrs. Eddy had students whose enlarged sense of sell and whose lack of spirituality furnished response to the carnal mind's resistance and opposition to the Christ, Truth. Thus they became willing tools for animal magnetism, and they left the organization which Mrs. Eddy had established in accordance with God's guidance.

Some of these attempted to form organizations of their own. claiming that they had a higher vision than Mrs. Eddy. Others claimed in their blind self-righteousness that they had outgrown organization. All such efforts of error, lacking Principle, have lacked power and permanency and have been like the one referred to by the Psalmist when he said (Ps. 37:35, 36): "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo. he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found."

Criticism of others, intellectual egotism, and lack of appreciation of our divinely inspired and directed Leader, Mrs. Eddy, furnish suitable soil for the seeds of dissension scattered by such erring thoughts and tendencies. But those who diligently study our God-given Lesson-Sermon, those who study thoroughly the letter of Christian Science, and imbibe its spirit, will never be in danger of being misled by these will-o'-the-wisps of personal sense. Study and use of our Bible Lesson helps us to heed the call to Christian service indicated by Mrs. Eddy in our Church Manual (Art. VIII. Sect. 6): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Here is the way of healing, protection, and deliverance for us all.

Many, many people are being healed every week as they are responsive to the Word of God in our textbooks, the Bible and Science and Health. Every Lesson, no matter what the subject, brings out definitely the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, good, and His Christ and the never-presence and impotence of error and evil. Every Lesson ends with a ringing note of the triumph of Truth over error, of Love over fear and hate, and of Life over death.

Surely the study of this divinely appointed message should not be neglected, nor should it ever be regarded and treated as a merely routine duty. The one divine Mind, Love, that gave us these precious messages, is present with every one of us now and always, enabling us to glean from our Lesson-study just what each one needs to enable him to prove the truth and to unsee error or evil, no matter what its presentment and pretense may be. Mrs. Eddy assures us that divine Mind is its own interpreter (see Science and Health, p. 577), and as we identify each Bible Lesson with its source, divine Mind, and identify ourselves as expressions of the all-knowing Mind, we shall find that the Father Mind will interpret each Lesson to us: so that we shall discern, assimilate, and apply just what is needed to promote our growth in grace and increase our spiritual understanding.

Is there need of a revival in your church? Does a sense of apathy seem to mesmerize some of your church members? Is there a lack of that absorbing interest and deep consecration which Christian Science deserves with every one of us? Has your early joyous enthusiasm seemed to wane? if so, you will find the effective and sure antidote for such errors in a renewed and genuine sense of gratitude to God and His Christ as taught and demonstrated by our dear Master and in a true appreciation of Mrs. Eddy's place in the fulfillment of prophecy and of her loving, God-inspired, and God-directed work in presenting the promised Comforter. To this end a greater appreciation of our Bible Lesson and a more consistent acceptance and application of its healing messages are indispensable. Such a revival of gratitude and interest on the part of church members, coupled with their prayers for the church, will contribute much towards filling our churches with love and with people.

In writing in 1889 to one of her Primary classes, composed of sixty-five students, Mrs. Eddy made this rousing and directive statement (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 279, 280): "We, to-day, in this class-room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind: for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared." Surely there is no more Christian and scientific way for Christian Scientists to be of one Mind than for every one to faithfully, gratefully, and thoroughly study our Lesson-Sermon as God's direct message to each of us and then make the Word practical by allowing the Lesson-Sermon to form the pattern for our thinking and living. What a mighty and irresistible influence for good is this united, daily, around the world and around the clock study and application of the Word of God in our Lesson-Sermon. Thus shall our Cause be protected and prospered, and we shall be marching together as one band under the inspired guidance of the Christ, ever onward and upward to victory.

The meeting closed with the singing of Hymn No. 182, "Make channels for the streams of Love."