Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-14
DELIVERS LECTURE AT
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ON CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
CHRISTIAN IDEALISM VS.. EVOLUTION
Edward A. Kimball of Chicago, Member of
Board Of Lectureship of the First Church
of Christ, Scientist, Speaks Under
Auspices of the Harvard Society

Mr.. Edward A. Kimball, of Chicago,
a member of The Board of Lectureship
of The First Church of Christ, Scien-
fist, in Boston, lectured on Christian
Science at Emerson Hall, Harvard Uni
versity, on March 18th last. The lee
ture was given under the auspices of
the Christian Science Society of Har-
ward, and was briefly reported in these
columns on March 21st. Mr.. Kimball
was introduced by Professor Albert
Bushnell Hart. The address in full
follows:
In am inclined to ask you to indulge
me in this one respect-I am to speak
about a subject that is necessarily
large, boundless. You are mostly stu
dents; you know how impossible 1t is
for one to traverse, adequately, any
great theme in an hour shall be
obliged to say much in rather abrupt,
bald way and let many of my state
ments go without attempting to vindi-
cate them by means of argument, for
the reason that there will not be time
enough for ampiification. What /
crave at your hands is this: because
of the abruptness of some of my dec
larations, l hope you will not think
that come to you with any sort of
effrontery, for assure you that I feel
very considerable sense of humility
in coming before any audience on this
subject.
BY way of Introduction, I ask you to
let your thought dwell upon an imagi-
nary procession or line of men. Con-
slider two groups of men, one of which
consists of savages from the depths
of dark Africa. Let them appear at
one end of the line. At the other end,
| place such men as Lincoln, Franklin
10 10 Iek1
consider these two groups of men with
| reference to that which is distinctive
concerning them. On the side of physi-
cality the savage Is superior. He will
| show an ability to endure more and to
| perform more by way of physical en-
deavor than the others. He can prob
ably digest his food better; he has a
better nervous system. At the Worlds
Fair in Chicago, it was determined
| that the best specimen of physical
manhood was South Sea Islander.
| Inasmuch as this group of men Is SUI
| perior on the plane of animality, what
| may we observe regarding the total
relative value and consequence of the
two groups? Is there any other differ
ence or characteristic? Yes! there is
"a vast difference in the realm of mem
| tally and therein lies the chief distinc-
ton and the conspicuous superiority of
the men who stand at the head OF the
line: moreover, these two instances of
humanity indicate both the dwarfed
| limitations and boundless possibilities
in the mental realm; they ought to at
tract attention to that which lies be-
yond, namely, the infinity of the Mind
| that is God.
Now fill up the gap between these
| two groups, with all the gradations
which indicate the entire range of the
so-called human mind. and let the en-
tire procession stand for historic hu-
manity, and then we may observe 9TH
er things of great Importance.
The man at the foot of the line least
knows how little he knows. The man
| at the head of the line best knows how
| little he knows and admits that the
| vast realm of Knowledge lies, as yet.
quite unexplored. He knows that, COM
| paratively speaking, mankind expresses
very little exact, absolute knowledge.
He knows that we have yet to learn
the definite facts of being, and he best
knows that these facts are to be spir-
| itually discerned.
| At the foot OF this imaginary. human
procession Is a state of dense material
| ity or animality; indeed, we here have
a state of existence that is but little
above the animal. About all that dis
| tinguishes such a human being Is his
ability to articulate, by means of words,
his various requirements and instincts
Observe that. at first. they make use of
only the simplest and most crude pro-
| cesses Then they have recourse to
more complex methods and tools; they
begin to employ devices, implements,
and expedients and to show forth great
er mental elaboration. AS we move
along the ascending scale. we find that
they ponder the unknown and peer into
| small appreciation of the phenomena of
daily existence. they inquire, Where
did we come from: what has induced
the universe?" Then follow mage of
both crude and ornate speculative phil
osophy, and finally we come to an in
jstincttve and continuous searching after
| God or gods maryland the erection
of countless doctrines. creeds. dogmas
and beliefs ranging all the way from the
ridiculous to the sublime. In proceed
| ing along this line we come to the point
where mentality takes on a scientific as
pect. Later we notice the metaphysical,
the idealistic and the occult, while mid
way are to be discerned glimpses of
pure divine spirituality and a capacity
to reach out beyond the realm of crude
sense and materiality and toward the
real, supersensible capacity of man to
know the truth. When the astronomer
reaches the supersensible mental per-
ception he uncovers his head, and de-
clares, "The undevout astronomer is
mad" In this state of advancement
the mathematician whose mental gaze
ranges far out toward, the unlimited,
declares with awe that the science of
numbers is infinite, and when he does
this 1t is because of his own mental re-
| lease and more adequate mental grasp.
At the head of this long sequence of
mental gradations we find that state
which is indicative of what is called
spiritual mindedness; we find the
prophets and revelators who pass the
| frontiers of sheer materialism and dis
cover something of the infinity and sub
stance of Spirit. the verify of pure di-
vine Science.
| You know that no word Is more mis-
used than the word science" You
know that to speak of the science of
cooking is absurd; one might as well
sneak Of the science of boils or of the
science of shipwrecks. Nothing is sci
ence except that which fundamentally
| is purely mental or spiritual.
| Notwithstanding the many beliefs and
mental moods of the race, we observe
one place where may be found distinct
and significant segregation. The divi-
sion is between that which is wholly
materialistic as a trend of belief or
PHILOSOPHY, and that which is either
metaphysical or spiritual, or both. Now
permit me to say that at some place in
| this line of progress and mental adj
vance humanity may and does arrive at
| the mental stage or poise wherein IT
| Is enabled to grasp the significance of
| Christian Science.
This Science is wholly mental or spir-
| itual and no one conprehends 1t until
there is a sufficient attenuation OF what
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