Bicknell Young, C.S.B., of Chicago, Illinois
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother
Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
The auditorium of the Tonawanda high school was filled with about one thousand people last night to hear the lecture on Christian Science given by Mr. Bicknell Young, C.S.B., of Chicago, a member of the board of lectureship of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Boston, Mass. Among the listeners were nearly two hundred Christian Scientists from Buffalo.
The lecture was given under the auspices of the Christian Science Society of Tonawanda. In the audience were professing Christians of every denomination in the Tonawandas, as well as non-churchgoers. Lawyers, physicians and business men of intelligence, with their wives and families were there and listened with attention to the address.
Mr. Young covered many of the salient points of the teachings of Christian Science. Recognizing that the world has not generally entertained any scientific view of religion, the speaker dwelt upon this point, answering objections that have been raised in relation to it. He said:
"Religion and science both refer to absolute truth and are not inherently antagonistic; are not two but one. Jesus, the founder of the Christian religion, demonstrated this fact, for he taught and illustrated in his works an exact, unfailing knowledge of God, which is in its very essence scientific. His method, admittedly Christian, must be acknowledged as pure science by any one who cares to look the matter squarely in the face. Christian Science, therefore, is a name which, given to this method, designates it accurately and satisfactorily. Although science has not been generally associated with prayer, yet the way is always one of prayer, whereby man's unity with God is declared and proven in the degree of one's understanding.
"In Christian Science, many seemingly contradictory statements of the Bible are reconciled as the spiritual import of them is more clearly discerned. 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' by Mary Baker G. Eddy, is a commentary on the Bible and even more than a commentary, for it gives the student the principle and rule of the science which the Bible indicates. The world has longed for a solution of the problems of human existence. Their solution has generally been deemed impossible, and it has been thought that all the questions which have troubled the human heart could only be answered by dying and going to some place which was supposed to be heaven. Christian Science declares that the truth about heaven is disclosed in the words of Jesus, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
"Christian Science declares that God is good. His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, as Good, are fixed facts, verified by the universal discernment and acknowledgment of His infinite self-existence as Cause and Creator. God being infinite Good, evil can be no part of Him, and therefore evil has no scientific origin nor reality. To maintain these scientific facts, even though they appear to be contrary to human experience, is the way to improve human experience. Such teaching enables one to confront the problems of life with the Science of Life — Christian Science — and to solve those problems step by step.
"Mrs. Eddy, as the discoverer and founder of this Science, is a benefactor of the human race. She has maintained the fact that science is purely spiritual in spite of all the opposition of material theories concerning both religion and science. She has met all criticism in the way that Jesus taught. She practises that which she teaches, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of Love. Standing alone through years of trial and persecution, naturally of a modest, shrinking disposition, not desiring the plaudits of the world, impelled and supported by a power far beyond and above herself, Mrs. Eddy, among women, is a figure unique in history.
"The present mission of Christian Science is to bring about or restore normal conditions of mind, body and environment. Christian Science discloses the action of pure and noble thought, not only upon what is called the human mind, but also upon the human body. It gives us a never-failing test. It ever declares that God is Mind, and that as there is one God, there is one Mind. It teaches us to measure every human impulse, every thought by this invariable standard, and to ask ourselves continually, how does God, the one infinite Mind, think about this or that. In this way the day of judgment, as our text-book says, 'comes hourly and continually.'"
[Published in The Evening News of North Tonawanda, New York, Nov. 13, 1907. No exact title is known for this lecture. When various reports of this lecture are compared, it appears that Mr. Young chose to give out to the newspapers only this brief synopsis of its contents for publication. One account adds another couple of sentences, reporting the audience's amusement when Mr. Young said at one point, speaking of the attitude of Christian Scientists toward the Bible: "Why we have more use for the Bible than we ever did before in our lives. We actually read it on week days."]