In a letter to The Christian Science Board of Lectureship Mrs. Eddy speaks of its members in these terms: "Spiritual heroes and prophets are they whose new-old birthright is to put an end to falsities in a wise way and to proclaim Truth so winningly that an honest, fervid affection for the race is found adequate for the emancipation of the race." The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 248. She further indicates in the Manual of The Mother Church the nature of the "falsities" lecturers are to correct: "It is the duty of the Board of Lectureship to include in each lecture a true and just reply to public topics condemning Christian Science, and to bear testimony to the facts pertaining to the life of the Pastor Emeritus." Man., Art. XXXI, Sect. 2.
As we understand this part of the lecturer's commission and our own important role in supporting it, the lecture's potential for blessing each community in which it is given will be enhanced.
Mrs. Eddy's charge to lecturers has its precedent in Bible history. Prophets, apostles, and especially our Master, Christ Jesus, found it necessary to counteract public misconceptions regarding their teachings. In every age advanced spiritual vision encounters opposition from traditional, matter-based modes of thinking. Today, as long ago, entrenched materialism cries out before the Science of Christ, "Art thou come to destroy us?" Luke 4:34. Error cannot avert, by clouding or distorting Truth's message, its own uncovering by Truth and its self-destruction.
