The New-Thought movement in Cincinnati, Ohio, owes its origin to Christian D. Larson, (a great influence on Ernest Holmes), who in January, 1901, organized the New Thought Temple, at his residence, 947 West Seventeenth St. In September of that year Mr. Larson began to publish Eternal Progress, for several years one of the leading New Thought periodicals. In November, 1902, Sunday morning services were inaugurated. At this service fifteen minutes' silence was a leading feature, A little church building seating three hundred people was secured in 1904. Mr. Larson resigned in 1907, and was succeeded by Paul Tyner, in November, 1908. Harry Gaze was the next leader, and then Miss Leila Simon, in 1912.
Miss Simon's report of the situation in Cincinnati at the time, after a lull in the work there, indicates the kind of work sometimes accomplished in building up a society which had lost headway. Miss Simon says: "I found the New Thought Temple Society struggling along without a leader, disorganized, inharmonious, with forty-seven members on the roster, about one-half of which were active. They were without adequate funds, and found difficulty in paying the small expense of $30.00 per month rent for a hall for Sunday services. Besides this deplorable internal condition, New Thought in Cincinnati had neither recognition nor standing in the community. It was thought to consist of long-haired men and short-haired women, who were queer, erratic, crazy fork. Today we have about nine hundred members, call out an audience of fifteen hundred, own property amounting to $26,000.00, besides having more than $3,500.00 in the bank. We have gained the respect of all Cincinnati, and number among our members the most cultivated and prominent men and women of the city.
"My first New Thought service brought out an audience of less than twenty-five people. Two years later I spoke constantly to from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred people.
"From the outset, I considered the work of The New Thought Temple entirely separate from personality. It was not mine, but impelled by the Spirit of God, and it is this conviction and consecration that is the moving Power of The New Thought Temple. My first thought from the beginning of my ministry and today is 'If you believe in God's power, prove it.' If you teach health, harmony and prosperity, furnish the actual proofs. . .
"My first move was to refuse to recognize the poverty-stricken consciousness of the New Thought Temple actually. I firmly set aside all gratuitous invitations from members who offered to lend their homes for classes, etc., and also refused to house the activities in cheap rooms. As we had no money this was a radical step. My first classes were held in my own apartment, situated in the best part of Cincinnati. The Sunday services were held in a hall seating one hundred people. In less than three months we had outgrown this hall, and my apartment classrooms. Before the end of the first year, we had audiences of five hundred and were finally crowded out of a large auditorium and compelled to rent the Orpheum Theatre, (at a weekly rental of $55.00), with a seating capacity of fifteen hundred, to accommodate the people who wished to attend the Sunday services. For two years we held services in this theatre with capacity audiences . . . "After the first two years, the New Thought Temple financed easily without deficit, an expense account of $10,000.00 a year. We kept to our initial, inflexible rule of paying bills on sight, and called into operation the Law of Giving and receiving, by making no definite charges either for healing or classes. The third year we bought a lot for $12,000.00, paying for it in a little more than a year's time. On October 22nd, 1918, we moved into the lower structure of The New Thought Temple, which has been erected at a cost of $14,000.00, having all indebtedness discharged on the day we accepted the building from the contractors, an unprecedented feat for any church in the city.
"The New Thought Temple is thoroughly but flexibly organized, with a Board of Trustees of eleven men. It is the only church in the country, I believe, whose membership outnumbers its seating capacity, thus necessitating two Sunday services to separate congregations. There is a marvelous spirit of harmony, cooperation and fine unselfish service. Among its activities last year [1916] and the year preceding, were a free bread-line where more than six thousand men a week were fed, and an established mission. We have a splendid Sunday-school, weekly classes, and give free lectures to the public at intervals in one of the largest theatres in the city. Many thousands of people here have been influenced and benefited by the New Thought message." |