Address by Duncan Sinclair, Editor of the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald

It is a privilege to say a few words to this meeting as one who is intimately associated with the production of the periodicals, which Christian Scientists value so highly, and which they are doing their best wisely to place in the hands of Christian Scientists and non-Christian Scientists alike.

As I think of the periodicals my thought naturally turns to our Leader. Why should it do so? Because she was the Founder of every one of them. The periodicals were Mrs. Eddy's demonstration, her precious gift to our movement and to mankind. In thinking of her relation to them we cannot fail to appreciate what it must have cost her in prayerful effort to bring each of them into existence. And we can acknowledge now, knowing as we do what the periodicals have accomplished and are accomplishing, how far-sighted she was in establishing them. For they certainly are among the chief influences for good in the world today.

We are all deeply interested in the periodicals, in their production and distribution. Our interest is many-sided; but what makes us cherish them and support them, principally, is the assurance we have that they contain the truth—the spiritual truth—which when understood by men sets them free, liberates them from sin, sickness, lack—all the ills of the flesh. We are certain of that. Time and again we hear of healings which have resulted from the study of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly, or the reading of the Journal or Sentinel, or of the religious article in the Monitor. Someone is in distress; it may be mental or physical. As he reads, the light of Truth dawns upon his thought and he apprehends the spiritual idea, the Christ-idea, necessary to meet his need; the result is the destruction of some erroneous belief—his healing. Such experiences are familiar to us all. The periodicals are also leading mankind to the Christian Science textbook, the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, in which the truth is clearly set forth and elucidated, there to gain a progressive understanding of it. It is because we are assured of these things that we esteem the periodicals as we do, and seek to extend their influence throughout the world.

There is something I should like to say now because of its importance, its great importance. We, I know, have in our hearts a profound reverence and love for our Leader because of what she has done for us individually and for mankind generally. We cannot think gratefully enough of her self-sacrificing work for humanity, carried on for many years in the face of much misunderstanding, sometimes maliciously expressed. We are profoundly grateful for her work and for the discovery of Christian Science, which made it possible. With the knowledge gained through this Science of the nature of God as altogether good, and of His law as eternally operative in the government of His universe of spiritual ideas, knowledge which enabled her to draw the conclusion that evil is unreal, she was empowered to establish our movement, with all its activities, on a permanent basis.

While we are agreed on these things, while we rejoice in them, we go farther. We regard Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, as the revelator of Christ, Truth, in this age. We are convinced of this because we understand, and have proved for ourselves in some measure, the truth of her revelation. This acknowledgment is but to give our Leader her rightful place in religious history. I believe that it is necessary on the part of Christian Scientists to do this if our movement is to reap to the full—as it should—the benefits of her great discovery.

Let me state a little more fully what I have in thought. As Christian Scientists we treasure the Bible because of the spiritual truth contained in its pages. We know how it exposes sin and shows how indulgence in it leads to human downfall, and also how its teaching invites mankind to practice righteousness for their regeneration and healing. We understand from its pages how the Hebrew prophets lamented the sins of the people and prophesied the coming of the Messiah, who should be the Saviour of mankind. We acknowledge that Christ Jesus, as the Messiah, fulfilled Hebrew prophecy, since, during his ministry on earth, he did what had been foretold of him—healed all manner of sin and disease, raised the dead, and himself rose from the grave, through his understanding of the Christ, the spiritual idea of God. "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14:30), he said. And it was Christ Jesus who promised—prophesied in his turn—that another Comforter should come, even "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17, 26), to bring "all things to your remembrance." Jesus revealed the Christ, demonstrated the Christ, to mankind, as no other had ever done, but the Science which underlay and supported his revelation and demonstration remained to be discovered and elucidated by the one—Mary Baker Eddy—who, by the purity of her life, her study of the Scriptures, and the inspiration which came to her direct from God, as God's messenger, was fitted to do so.

Christian Science, the Comforter promised by Christ Jesus, is thus the final revelation of Truth to men. We should not have a trace of doubt about this. And more, we should understand and acknowledge Mrs. Eddy's rightful place in religious prophecy as in religious history. The Christ has never been absent from the world: it is ever present as the manifestation of God, even as God is ever present. Abraham proved this; so did Moses and Elias and the prophets; and Christ Jesus in a marvelous way demonstrated the fact. But the Comforter had yet to come; and in the fullness of time it did come, and through a woman. Religious prophecy has thus been fulfilled. Referring on page 565 of Science and Health to the regenerating power of the "Christ, God's idea," Mrs. Eddy says, "This immaculate idea, represented first by man, and, according to the Revelator, last by woman, will baptize with fire; and the fiery baptism will burn up the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love, melting and purifying even the gold of human character."

What I would emphasize now is the fact that the Christ has been revealed in all its fullness and perfection by our Way-shower, Christ Jesus, and our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. The reason for my doing so is that I am certain that if we hold to this correct view of our Master and our Leader, the Master as the revelator of Truth and Love in his age and for future ages, and our Leader as the revelator of Truth and Love in this age and for future ages, thus together bringing to the world the full revelation of God and His Christ—if we possess this view, this understanding, then we are equipped to carry on successfully the work of our movement, including the distributing and circulating of the periodicals. I am sure that there is inspiration in this understanding, the inspiration which is needed by every Christian Scientist to enable him to play his part in carrying on successfully all the activities of our movement.

We are not as those who feel that further divine revelation must come before the world can be saved. We are persuaded that in Christian Science we have the final and complete revelation of God and His Christ. (See Science and Health, p. 107.) What remains is for mankind to demonstrate that truth. We are all helping, through the enlightened understanding which Christian Science has given us, in this great work of redemption and healing.

Address, in part, by Miss Margaret Williamson, Editor of The Home Forum Page of The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor is a religious newspaper. Its name alone is proof of that fact. And here is a fact which must be abundantly evident to all Christian Scientists: first, because Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, established The Christian Science Monitor as one of the authorized organs of the Christian Science movement; and, secondly, because when Mrs. Eddy proclaimed the Monitor's function, she used the now familiar passage, "to spread undivided the Science which operates unspent" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). And yet the Monitor is totally unlike other religious newspapers—different because of its name, different because it is published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, and especially different because Mrs. Eddy, its Founder, in the Deed of Trust declared the mission of the Publishing Society to be that "of more effectually promoting and extending the religion of Christian Science."

This does not mean, of course, that all the material in the Monitor is or could be couched in terms which are outwardly religious. As a matter of fact, most of the articles which the Monitor prints relate to human events, to human trends, to human achievements. Actually there is only one article which is wholly religious in its content and phraseology, and this article appears daily on The Home Forum page, as Mrs. Eddy directed that it should do when she founded the Monitor in 1908. The Monitor is a universal newspaper. And, in a manner of speaking, the Home Forum page is the heart of this universal newspaper—primarily because of the religious article which is always included in its columns.

These religious articles are chosen and prepared with care by the Editors of the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald, just as they choose and prepare the articles for the periodicals which are altogether religious in their content. Of recent years we have seen an ever-accumulating number of translations of these religious articles, until today we have translations into fifteen languages. ...

Although Mrs. Eddy never stated precisely what she wished to see on The Home Forum page, in all probability she approved it as it came daily under her notice. As a matter of fact, there are a few persons here at headquarters who recall remarks which Mrs. Eddy made about the page. It is known that she approved of its name. There is, however, no indication that the name "Home Forum" had in her mind any deep significance. We think that Mrs. Eddy wished it to be a page for the home—for homes everywhere—something apart from the pages which publish news and derive their incentive from current events. Mrs. Eddy liked to have a good many separate items on each page. And we believe that she was remembering its many readers in all parts of the world, readers of various tastes and mental habits. There must be something to interest each one of these. When Mrs. Eddy knew the page, it included small departments devoted to children's stories, to puzzles, even to recipes. These subjects are now incorporated in other feature pages, so that The Home Forum has tended to become rather more literary in its aspects.

One of the ideals always foremost in our thought is just this matter of the universality of the Monitor. By far the largest number of its readers do not see their copies until they are from a day or two to six weeks or two months old. And this circumstance makes the Monitor necessarily different from other newspapers. This is why it does not in any way compete with other newspapers. Unless it is different, the Monitor has no reason to exist. It has a different need to fill, a different longing to satisfy. One of its slogans has asserted that the Monitor "dares to be different." It cannot avoid it, and would not if it could. ...

Sometimes a visitor calls to see me who is just a little grieved over the shortcomings of The Home Forum page. That person may say something like this: "Yesterday I didn't like your picture very much. I've been familiar with that Gainsborough portrait for so many years that I'm bored with it. Your leading article was about some place in Greenland. I know nothing about Greenland and I don't care. The other articles were, for the most part, not exciting. But right down in the furthermost right-hand corner, you had a poem which was a gem. Why couldn't all the rest of the page be as delightful as that?"

Well, occasionally I've tried the experiment of replying in some such vein as this: "If you found one thing on that page which you enjoyed especially, perhaps that was all you had any right to expect. I cannot plan that whole page, or any one whole page, just to suit your tastes. I'm striving to meet the needs of many kinds of readers in many kinds of places." My visitors are usually rather affronted when this point is first brought to their attention, but in the end they acquiesce. And when they learn to regard the page in this new and more generous light, it is entirely probable that they will find more than the one article to enjoy.

Last winter I had an artist present to me an urgent plea that I use no illustrations on the page other than reproductions of etchings. Would you believe it? The man was himself an etcher. But what about the preference of the artist who works in oils? Or the man who makes woodcuts? Or the photographer? Or the housewife who may perhaps have little time to visit art galleries, yet wishes to have at least a distant acquaintance with some of the great paintings of the world? I mean to remember them all—not all on every page, but all as frequently as may be.

As to the reproductions of famous paintings, not long ago I received a letter which interested me very much. It came from a teacher in a women's reformatory here in New England. She explained how much her pupils value The Home Forum page's reproductions of certain of the classic paintings of the world. She said that these women watch most eagerly for the issues containing just these pictures. They paste them in scrapbooks and, when they leave the institution, they are allowed to carry the scrapbooks proudly away with them. That letter made me very happy. I had felt it was right to run these classic things, even if art connoisseurs might be faintly annoyed at the sight of them; but it had never occurred to me that women in such an institution would be particularly interested. We never know where such features of the Monitor may be most appreciated. That's one of the things which spurs us on.

Before The Home Forum page was given into my charge, I had edited four other feature pages of the Monitor. Some of them were published twice a week, some three or four times, some perhaps only once. But The Home Forum page is published everyday. Therefore the chief requirement is slow, steady, careful work. All the various features of the page must move along together in measured pace. We must not gibe all our attention to the pictures, or else some morning there will be no poems in hand. We must not become so absorbed in accumulating a supply of leading essays that the shorter original material is overlooked, or else the selected material which is culled from books. You may wonder where we get our material. Every day a great mass of it pours upon my desk. Every day I go through it—rejecting what is obviously unsuitable, laying aside for further examination what seems nearer right, accepting at once the comparatively few contributions which we simply cannot do without. Material comes from many sources. A regular supply comes each week from the Monitor's European Bureau—not English material exclusively, but material gathered from the Continent of Europe, which is sorted and edited in London before being sent to Boston. Then, of course, there are many contributors whose work comes unsolicited, but which we like so much that it becomes regular. These are preferably people of experience in writing, and those who are willing to consult with us and study to meet the special needs and requirements of The Home Forum page. For, as you no doubt realize, there are special requirements. We do not publish any material, in either prose or verse, which deals with disease or death, with disaster, with sensuality; we include nothing which could leave in the minds of readers a sense of calamity or failure or discouragement. It is our intent to accomplish precisely the opposite results: to encourage and cheer, to instruct or amuse, to lift and help to free thought, to open doors upon unsuspected scenes. Neither do we put in anything of a strictly religious nature, other than the one regular religious article which Mrs. Eddy directed should appear on this page daily.

In her address in Chicago (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 100), Mrs. Eddy wrote, "The spiritual monitor [monitor with a small "m"] is coincidence of the divine with the human, the acme of Christian Science." She did not, of course, have in mind The Christian Science Monitor when she wrote that; yet, just as this "coincidence of the divine with the human" is applicable to many phases and activities of the Christian Science movement, so it is applicable to the conduct of our daily newspaper. Thus the design of The Home Forum page, like the design of the Monitor as a whole, is to illumine the affairs of human life with the spiritual light cast upon them by the understanding of Christian Science; to belong to no country or group or theory or political creed; not to be merely international, because that word has come to imply boundaries and contentions; rather to be universal in scope, in sympathetic understanding of human affairs. And thus, as Mrs. Eddy points out (ibid.), there can come to earth "a foretaste of heaven."

Address by Judge Samuel W. Greene, of Chicago, Illinois

When one considers circulation from a material standpoint, he usually realizes that circulation is vital to the continued existence of the subject considered. Stop the circulation in a plant, or tree, and presently it dies.

What is vital to the life and good health of Christian Science and The Mother Church? Surely the vigor and vitality of this movement depend upon circulation—activity in the dissemination of the truth it represents—the church services, the lectures, the Reading Rooms, the periodicals.

This meeting, I believe, is particularly interested in the circulation of our periodicals. What we most need to increase the circulation of the periodicals is some good, constructive, original thinking and praying. Our Leader writes in the textbook, "The time for thinkers has come" (Science and Health, Pref., p. vii). Are we as workers and are our church members and subscribers thinking?

Actions individually are more often than otherwise impulsive and without any carefully thought-out procedure. One probably acts as he sees others act or as ancient custom has prescribed, which is the unthinking mortal-mind way. If, for instance, our income is suddenly lessened and it looks like a reduced budget, the first impulse is to cancel subscriptions, but that offers no satisfactory solution of the problem. If circulation is vital to the movement, then the periodicals are vital to our welfare.

The right solution is to increase the supply, and that is to be had from God. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." In doing this, we shall not be limiting life and its joys and blessings, but expanding and increasing them. A very slight thought along this line will convince us that such a channel for good in our experience as the periodicals will not be closed by God. Therefore, only error or a lie is attempting so to limit us, and it must be opposed, not accepted as real.

In the course of reasoning and working on the question usually some new energy or effort will develop and the supply be found with which to subscribe. Thus we have not only supported circulation, but we have found something of the infinite resources of Soul in our individual experience, and thus the foundation is broadened for better work in preserving our health and in ultimately increasing our business activity and our daily supply.

In various other ways also will this true thinking expand and beautify our human experience. Many of us have been reared and instructed in a limited sense of love, companionship, home, and outlook generally. With the encouragement coming to us from overcoming this subscription difficulty will come the incentive to claim more of our divine inheritance in many ways and thus prove the verity of Paul's advice, "And be not conformed to this world [of error]: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Another step of progress in this constructive thinking will be that we shall refuse to accept the limited and erroneous view that our country or the world has to be involved in economic destruction or in cruel war. This problem will again turn us to God, Omnipotence, and presently we shall be declaring and understanding that omnipotent good or Love has not decreed evil and destruction, and that without God's sanction such conditions are impossible. Immediately we are relieved of our personal discouragement, and we naturally speak of our freedom to others, and the truth spreads until a considerable lump has been leavened.

When we have succeeded in making this stand for ourselves, the next natural step is to desire to pass the good on to any others who may be similarly involved. Here in the circulation great love and wisdom are needed. People do not wish to cite poverty or lack as an excuse for letting subscriptions lapse. There are many other excuses that are less inclined to puncture pride—one hasn't time to read them, or one doesn't think they are so good as they used to be, or a certain article has offened the husband or wife. All of the excuses are cut from the same cloth—lack of vision, or no vision; and we need to recall that "where there is no vision, the people perish."

Here, then, is an opportunity made to order for the circulation worker. We may even for the moment put aside the particular object of our visit—subscriptions—and advance to the larger work of helping to open blind or half-closed eyes, helping to restore the true, spiritual vision.

Some philospher has said, "Never end an interview without receiving a blessing," to which he might have added, "and leaving a blessing." We can always intelligently and lovingly recount some personal experience or quote some incident that will show how limitation in any respect is to be opposed and overcome. Sometimes the mere mention of the benefits of Christian Science, and a reminder of how much we owe to our knowledge of it, arouses in one's thought his own gratitude and a resultant pleasant train of thought that may quickly dispel the illusion which has bound your prospect, and he will begin to plan to renew his subscription.

Thus working with circulation is not only securing subscriptions, but is also the much larger and happier task of taking the blessing of an aroused and awakened consciousness to one temporarily in need. Such a work must bring great satisfaction to both the worker and the subscriber.

A worker in circulation needs, like any good salesman, to know his goods. Thus the chairman of a committee, like a sales manager, might well have several meetings of preparation with his workers. Each worker might be asked to study an article or feature of the periodicals and in the committee meeting attempt to sell his idea to the meeting. In this way each one would be preparing his own points, and getting more light from each speaker.

The work of the committee should thus be made so interesting and desirable that membership thereon would be at a premium. Experience and work on such a committee might well prepare its members for other salesmanship in purely commercial lines, and thus prove extremely valuable training.

Circulation work, to be of any value to the movement and to the workers, must be intelligently done. Merely to call at a door and ask someone if he or she will subscribe or renew a subscription is the mechanical operation of mortal mind, and has no inspiration or help in it for anyone concerned. Such action will mar the whole purpose of the Circulation Committee. Each worker must be helped to see that it is a great privilege to be called to this task. It is to result, if properly done, in a three-way blessing—a blessing to the periodicals, the Committee member, and the awakened subscriber.

A wide-awake, alert chairman will soon see that the possibilities in this work are almost limitless. One can see how truly our Leader foresaw these possibilities of useful service when she wrote in the Manual (Art. VIII, Sect. 15), "God requires our whole heart, and He supplies within the wide channels of The Mother Church dutiful and sufficient occupation for all its members."

In working for the Monitor there are additional opportunities in circulation methods. This periodical, if properly handled, can be made the universal and mighty missionary of our movement. In addition to the many valuable and easily known features of the Monitor is the one outstanding and appealing feature—the news is uncolored and unselfish. It carries no hate, prejudice, selfish propaganda, nor destruction in its columns. It is safe reading for all—women, children, rich, poor, high, low, official, and layman; it is the outstanding type of pure journalism.

First of all the Monitor should be sold to Christian Scientists. One of the most discouraging notes in circulation work is the lack of universal support of the Monitor among our own members.

Perhaps in working for Monitor subscriptions the Committee might ask for a church membership meeting or even a congregational meeting, and thereby seek to arouse every attendant at the church services to the need of more loyal support of the Monitor.

In endeavoring to sell the Monitor, as it were, to Christian Scientists and others, the worker may well bear in mind that one of the chief difficulties with the average reader of newspapers is that he does not wish to think as he reads.

Perhaps being familiar with the headlining method of most daily newspapers, he has the habit of accepting conclusions of headlines without reading fully or thinking clearly; and thus he is not prepared for the more thought-provoking manner of news presentation in the Monitor.

Then again there is need of work to educate people in newspaper reading which amounts to arousing them to think. Some statistician has said that ninety per cent of the education attained by people after the age of eleven years comes through reading the newspapers. See what an opportunity to help the public through the wide circulation of our daily newspaper!

The circulation worker can be sure that each subscription to The Christian Science Monitor, and each new reader for that paper secured by him, will satisfactorily prove the truth of our Leader's statement so often quoted by Christian Scientists (Science and Health, p. 206), "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,—Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply."