HARROGATE, ENGLAND.

Bliss Knapp delivered a lecture on Christian Science in the Kursaal. There was a large attendance. The chairman, Col. W. E. Fell, J.P., said if they would permit him for a moment, he would like to tell them of his experience when he first heard of Christian Science twelve years ago. He was standing one day in October on the platform of a station in the Highlands, and a friend walked up to him and addressed him. He discovered that they were both bound for the same house. This friend, when he last met him, was in a very bad state of health; in fact, it was plain he was fading away. But he was on that station platform looking strong, and in first-rate condition, and on going up to the house, the speaker found that this friend was a Christian Scientist. A few days later, when sitting at dinner next to a lady, the latter, who was looking across to his friend, turned toward him (the speaker) and said: "What a beautiful countenance your friend has, and how good he is! What a pity he is a Christian Scientist!" In reply to this remark, he turned to the lady and said: "Why, my dear lady, you call a man good and beautiful, and the thing which has made him so has the qualities you call pitiful." The chairman said he had heard similar remarks since then. In continuing his story, he said, when Sunday came along, he went for a walk with his friend, and the conversation naturally turned upon religious subjects. His friend said: "Do you know I am a Christian Scientist?" and he replied in the affirmative, but said he did not know in the least what it was. His friend began to tell him, and he pulled up and said: "Of course, we must believe in faith-healing, for to deny it we must deny that Christ Jesus healed the sick, and that his disciples healed sickness after his crucifixion."

But, the chairman said, he did not want that audience to go away with the idea that Christian Science was simply faith-healing. Faith certainly was required, but it was not faith-healing. After that conversation with his friend, he was in a great mental turmoil, but his heart was filled with hope in that, the darkest hour of his life, when everything seemed to slip away from him, and with the desire that his hopes would not be dashed to the ground. He said: "I believe you have the truth." His friend replied: "Yes; we accept the whole gospel, and we know that every one of the words spoken by our Lord was an example for us, not only then, but through all time."

Harrogate and Claro Times.

HOUSTON, TEXAS.

That sooner or later every person will adopt Christian Science as the system of religious teaching which brings the largest measure of help, hope, and consolation, was in substance a part of the message brought to Houston by Virgil O. Strickler, who spoke to a large audience at the Beach auditorium. He was presented to the Houston public by George H. Freuhling, member of the local church, who spoke as follows:—

There are those among you who have already tasted of the fruits of this great movement, who have been brought from sickness and inharmony to a state of health and happiness, and as earnest students of Christian Science are here this evening to learn more of this truth that has made them free. There are others who are searching for something by which they too may be freed from some discordant condition, they are in search of an agency through which they may solve the perplexing problems of daily life, and they are here tonight to investigate Christian Science in the hope that it may prove to be that sovereign panacea.

Christian Science is distinctively a religion of doing, a religion which proves its teachings by its works. It is bringing into the lives of its adherents physical, mental, and moral regeneration, creating a higher standard of thinking, elevating character, and producing better citizens; and yet, it is perhaps the least understood by the general public of all the Christian faiths.—Houston Post.

ST. LOUIS, MO.

William D. McCrackan, M.A., delivered a lecture on Christian Science in First Church of Christ, Scientist, in St. Louis, to an audience which filled the church to overflowing. He was introduced by Judge Albert D. Nortoni, of the St. Louis court of appeals, whose introductory remarks were as follows:—

Christian Science is too often criticized by those who are wholly uninformed on the subject, and this is highly unjust. It would seem that the spirit of tolerance for the religious opinions of others alone suggests that the shafts of condemnation be not leveled against any creed until the critic has first looked into the matter and candidly investigated the truth of the proposition to be controverted. Some of us, though not members of the Christian Science church, who have diligently studied its doctrine and thoughtfully considered the fundamental Principle of this faith, are persuaded that the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, not only reveals a most beautiful religion, which in its scope is elevating beyond measure; but furthermore, that it advances an argument for the truth which is wonderfully convincing and which illuminates the Scripture with a flood of spiritual light.

No intelligent student of the gospel will gainsay or deny that the blessed Saviour taught a religion which served as well to heal the sick as it did to overcome sin. Jesus treated sin and sickness as identical in origin, as upon a common plane, and applied to both the identical remedy of truth evolved through righteous or religious thought. To this extent it is believed all Christians agree, but beyond it confusion arises, for many believe that the element of healing which inhered in the religion of the early days of the Christian era, has either been lost or no longer obtains; while on the other hand Christian Scientists insist that their great Leader discovered its Principle anew and that they both teach and successfully practise it in so far as it is possible considering our human limitations and attendant environments.

It is certain that a million or more of highly intelligent God-fearing persons subscribe to the view of the Christian Scientists, and themselves form a vast army of conscientious witnesses in support of the power of the truth as they see it to prevail over all manner of error. Moreover, we see in our very midst many persons whom we know to have been healed and otherwise benefited in both body and mind, as the result of their embrace of this faith and the cultivation of the simple but beautiful and wholesome thought it teaches. These facts alone challenge the attention and invite the impartial consideration of all candid persons everywhere. However all of this may be, many of us, though sincere seekers of the truth and ever ready to receive it, do not understand the Principle of Christian healing as we hope to, and it is because of this that the board of lectureship of The Mother Church furnishes instruction to all by means of such lectures as this one to which we are invited this evening.—Correspondence.

CITY OF MEXICO.

The Hon. Clarence A. Buskirk lectured on Christian Science in the church auditorium, Cinco de Mayo. The introductory remarks of S. W. Rider were in part as follows:—

During the ages men have sought the answer to Pilate's question, "What is truth?" and men and nations have often tried by coercion to force upon others their own view of truth. The saddest pages of human history are those that tell the story of cruel religious wars. Through all the struggle and searching, truth has never changed, but man's perception of it has been steadily unfolding. The great unseen power, which in Anglo-Saxon is called God, we are coming to understand means all that is good. We are learning that there is a spiritual science, and that it embraces all that is real, because all that is real God made, and all that He made is good. We are learning that the promises of the Bible are for us, right here and now, in all the problems of daily life, and that heaven is where Jesus located it, within us, in our own thought. My acceptance of Christian Science came only after a long period of reading and observation of its works. Although still on the threshold of a full understanding, what I have gained is to me beyond estimate of value.—Correspondence.