Introductions to Lectures

Atlanta, Georgia (First Church).

Lecturer: Algernon Hervey Bathurst; introduced by Miss Mathilde Shelton, who said:—

Over nineteen centuries ago Pilate asked our great Way-shower, Christ Jesus, the most important question of all time, namely, "What is truth?" and suffering mortals are asking the same question now. The answer to this question came to me through a healing in my early youth. After extensive travel and the best that materia medica affords had failed to help me, I was healed in about ten days of almost complete invalidism from childhood, through reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

When all suffering and pain in my body vanished as quickly as mist before the sun, I knew that I had found the "pearl of great price," the truth that makes free. I knew then that Mrs. Eddy had discovered the law of God as demonstrated by the prophets, the apostles, and Christ Jesus. Christian Scientists here and throughout the world are daily demonstrating this same law of Truth, which heals every ill "that flesh is heir to."

Aurora, Illinois (First Church).

Lecturer: Bicknell Young; introduced by Ronald E. Foulke, who said:—

Christian Science has revealed and proved that Truth is present and available here and now to bring freedom to all who understand and use it correctly and honestly. I am deeply grateful to say that God, divine Love, has supplied good to me in great abundance through the study and application of Christian Science. I have experienced healings of rheumatism, influenza, sinus trouble, ptomaine poisoning, sore throat, colds, severe sprains, and many other physical ailments. I have been healed of the smoking habit and many forms of wrong thinking. Business and financial problems have been worked out; an anxiety for the future has been eliminated; and a steady expectancy of good has been gained by using the small understanding of Christian Science that I have. Christian Science has healed, does heal, and will heal, and it is sure to bring a solution to the perplexing enigmas confronting humanity today.

Laconia, New Hampshire (First Church).

Lecturer: Professor Hermann S. Hering; introduced by Mrs. Frances M. Gorrell, who said:—

Over twenty-five years ago, when I was sick and discouraged, I was led to Christian Science for help. I knew nothing of its teachings and had no faith in its power to heal. I had suffered for years with a severe throat difficulty, and having exhausted all other methods, I was willing to have a Christian Science practitioner called. She came to my home in the evening, talked to me about God, and read to me from Science and Health. I slept all night, and althought the throat had been filled with ulcers, it was quite normal when I awoke in the morning. Naturally I wanted to know how such a marvelous change had been wrought, so I immediately began to read the textbook and, as I read, a great sense of God's power and presence came to me, and I knew I had found what I had longed for all my life—the healing truth that Jesus practiced. What Christian Science did for me, it will do for you, for it is applicable to every condition, to every human need. Through its teachings, people everywhere are learning to overcome fear and disease, and to rise above discouragement, sorrow, and limitation. Its possibilities are infinite.

London, England (Third Church).

Lecturer: William Duncan Kilpatrick; introduced by Major Eyre Charles Douglas Sandford Carter, who said:—

Since Christian Science is connected in many people's thought with the healing of disease, you may be interested in a significant utterance of Sir George Newman, the chief medical officer of the Ministry of Health: "Health is won by a way of life, not by a bottle of medicine." A correct way of life involves a correct way of thinking, and Christian Science shows us, in every phase of human experience, how to think more vitally, more truly, more lovingly.

We who have found that way rejoice that we can share with others the blessings that we have proved for ourselves in the cure, and still more in the prevention, of disease, the overcoming of financial difficulties, the solution of intellectual doubts, the satisfying of the hunger for spiritual things.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (First Church).

Lecturer: Mrs. Nelvia E. Ritchie; introduced by Clara M. Roberts, who said:—

Thirteen years ago I attended my first lecture on Christian Science, and tonight I can testify to the demonstrable application of this truth, as I have had many opportunities to prove it and to witness in my home the healing of physical, financial, and social problems through Christian Science practice. From each lecture on Christian Science which I have attended I have gained a clearer understanding of God and greater spiritual unfoldment.

Recently, as I was going downstairs in my home, I suddenly lost my balance, and as I fell I sprained one of my ankles. The pain was extreme, and it was impossible for me to walk without aid. I immediately declared my heritage, as a child of God, of harmonious and right activity. Then I read the following from "Miscellaneous Writings" by our beloved Leader (p. 101): "If God is All, and God is good, it follows that all must be good; and no other power, law, or intelligence can exist. On this proof rest premise and conclusion in Science, and the facts that disprove the evidence of the senses." Within two hours I was able to drive an automobile approximately four miles to keep an appointment, and then to stand the greater portion of an hour without pain or outward manifestation of discord.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Fifth Church).

Lecturer: Judge Frederick C. Hill; introduced by Theodore G. Vatcher, who said:—

It is possible that to many here today Christian Science is a new tongue indeed, as yet somewhat unintelligible. To others, it is a tongue with which, through patient study, they are becoming increasingly and joyfully familiar, and by means of which they are casting out devils and healing the sick. A Christian Science lecture, therefore, is always a welcome occasion, affording an opportunity to learn more of this new tongue. And it is a matter of deep thankfulness that throughout the world today Christian Science lectures are consistently bringing to sorely tried humanity good tidings of certain deliverance, peace, and joy.

Christian Science has brought me health and happiness in large measure. Some years ago I turned to it for help when suffering from a heart condition which occasioned much fear. This condition was immediately healed through Christian Science treatment, an experience which led me to take up the study of this Science. I am deeply grateful for my growing understanding of God, man, and the universe.