The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-12
Mr.. Bicknell Young C.S.B.
on Christian Science.
Continued from Page seven.)

seems to have escaped human reason
Until Christian Science came TO feVeal
it, The Superstructure that mas peeH
reared upon. such theories is Well rep
resented by the house in the parable,
which was built upon the sand, ana
when the winds and waves or adVer-
sity. sickness or sorrow, beat upon
it. il crumbled Popular science is as
unscientific in this respect as popular
religion After the most elaborate m
yestigationS endless research, and al
most superhuman perseverance, IL IN
yariably arrives at a point where IT
can only say, "This is unknowable
is it not clear that both theories emu
in self-confessed failure, the one In
mysterious belief in the amalgamation
of good and evil, the other in the mys-
terry of the unknowable? Any per-
son who has followed either or both
with the hope of having his reason
satisfied or his belief in eternal life
confirmed, has found himself best de-
scribed in the words from Fitzgerald's
translation of the Rubaiyat:
Myself when young did eagerly ire
quent,
Doctor and saint and hear great ar
gument
But evermore
Came out by that same door,
Wherein / went"
Christian Science begins where such
theories leave off. 1t declares that
God as Cause, Life, Truth must be
movable, and in reality the only
movable because Truth is all there
is to know. 1t shows that If there be
anything about religion that is true 1t
must be based upon facts. If based
upon facts, the facts may be known,
since unknowable facts is a contradic-
ton I'm terms A knowledge of God
must therefore be not only possible
but imperative. How shall it be at
tanned? If God is Mind or divine
Principle, He is expressed actively and
operatively in divine ideas. These
must be sought and entertained until
thought is transformed.
Man.
If the facts which have been de-
clared in reference to God are admit
tend, then man, his image, must be
something more than that which he
f. ordinarily see. Christian Science, de-
MES that the evidence of the five ma
terial senses can be accepted as abso-
lutte in reference to man, his real be-
ing his health or his life. Generally
speaking, man is thought to be both
material and spiritual. 1t is declared
that he is mortal, that is, that he must
die and yet he is the image and like
ness of God, or in other words, the
image and likeness of immortal life
When he is dead, it is supposed thai
he will begin to be immortal. Chris
tan Science shows that such thee
ries do not reveal the truth about man
1t declares that man is not material
and that a mortal cannot be the image
and likeness of God, who is immortal
but is only the presentation of the ev
idence of the senses. Mans immOr
tally and real being is discerned IL
science. Christian Science, therefore
looks away from materiality in con
sidering man, and declares that thu
image and likeness of God, or Life
must be spiritual and everything. Maj
must be like Good to be like God, like
Truth, like Love; he must be the like
ness of the divine Mind, the image o
divine Principle. This true Likeness
discerned in Science is the true sci
that all men should seek, and the.
should not manifest any other self
Such a course means health and har
mony to those who follow it.
The Evidence of the Senses.
We are all more or less familia
with the truth that even phsyica
science diScernS facts above the evi
dence of the senses and contrar.
thereto. From the greatest to tn
smallest of material phenomena thi
statement holds true. AS for the realm
of thought which we characterize u
religious or spiritual, it would no
even exist if one were to accept mere
ly the evidence of the senses. Faith
'the substance of things hoped for
the evidence of things not seen" &C
cording to st. Paul, receives no ell
enlargement from the testimony o
the senses, for, according to that, MAJ
is material and mortal, and his lif
between the cradle and the grave j
all there is of him. According to thi
same testimony, matter is all, am
Spirit, or God, is myth. But nobody
not even the most materially minded
accepts the evidence of the sense
without reservation. Not a prayer /
uttered on earth that is not a virtua
declaration against such evidence
Christians rise above it continually
and should do SO still more. Chris
tian Science shows how to accomplish
this. 1t may be difficult to conceiv
or a first great Cause, but it is NOR
difficult not to do SO. 1t may be diff
cult to conceive of God as Spirit an
man as spiritual, but if this be no
true, there is no God, no Cause. In
deed, all that relates to God is contra
ry to the testimony of the senses.
1t is clear therefore, that We q
nothing unusual in denying the evi
dences of the senses, but Christiai
Science is unusual in making this de
NAL applicable when anything exist
or arises that is contrary to the har
mony of man.
No Denial of Existence.
An erroneous notion prevails tina
Christian Scientists deny the reality O
things. They do no such thing. The
affirm the eternal existence of "a
things, including man and all tn
functions of man. Christian Science
however, does resolve things int
thoughts, and declares that all exist i
their perfect, individual reality an
proper order in the divine Mind. Con
versely it denies the materiality c
things, and in that denial includes a
the discordant conditions that materis
things manifest. Christian Scienc
shows how the body is controlled
mentality, consciously or unconscious
~, all of the time. The object of il
practice is to establish consciously tn
control of the divine Mind over tn
body through the declarations of tn
Truth and the denial of all that
unlike it as revealed in Christia
Science. This process demands tn
Ioiobact 11ortaIitu and CniritIa 1itu N