Bicknell Young -- on Christian Science lectures

Ed. Readers may have discovered a section on the Mary Baker Eddy Library website called From the Collections.

In this section of the Library, our faithful correspondent, Joyce Voysey, recently discovered the following interesting information about early Christian Scientist, Bicknell Young (1856-1938), a man with whom many seasoned students of this Science may have had some acquaintance through his writings. Note that it is probable that some work attributed to Young may be falsely represented as his, and readers are encouraged to read the excellent article about this at https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/what-do-we-know-about-writings-attributed-to-bicknell-young/

Joyce brings the following information to our attention:

From the Collections: A rich portrait of Bicknell Young

             Why was Bicknell Young regarded as such an effective lecturer? “Young had not the native humor and wit of [Edward] Kimball,” McCrackan* wrote candidly, “nor his faculty for springing a joke on the audience at a tense moment when its receptivity to the deep things of metaphysics was stretched to the breaking point, but Young brought to his work much polished culture, a generous vocabulary, and a pleasing presence.” But McCrackan went on to explain that there was more to it than just that: 

This was true healing work. Kimball and Young both understood that a Christian Science lecture ought not to be a lecture about Christian Science, but ought to be Christian Science itself, uttered and demonstrated.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. * A biographical sketch of Bicknell Young was written by Christian Scientist William D. McCrackan and is quoted from in the MBE Library article quoted here.

A screw loose?

If I may be permitted to speak a little about my church’s Reading Room. Yesterday when we arrived, there were two men at the window where the Bible and Science and Health* are displayed with marked passages from the current week's Bible Lesson.**

One man was reading from the Bible. This man spoke of having a sensation of something rattling around in his brain. They were looking for someone to pray for this man.

We said we could pray for him, although no arrangement was made. We had a short conversation, and I was surprised to find myself repeating the scientific statement of being***, the other chap having mentioned “beings.”

Of course, I began to know the truth about this man – both of them in fact. The other chap was being such a good friend. The phrase “a screw loose” came to mind. I looked up “no screw loose” on JSH Online. Up came an article by Charles M. Carr. (He had been prominent in the Christian Science movement when I was a new student.)

The title of the article was “The Business of Ideas.” Carr was a space [advertising space] salesman working for various magazines, and business wasn’t good. He spoke to a practitioner of Christian Science saying that Christian Science wasn’t working for him about business, though he was confident of healing any physical problems he met with.

I will quote his exchange with the practitioner directly from the article which can be found in The Christian Science Journal of July 1979.

           “…right here in my business Christian Science is not working." "What's that?" he retorted. "Christian Science isn't working here in business," I repeated, "Not now, not for me." "There's a screw loose somewhere," he assured me, "and you can be sure it isn't with God." That began to wake me up.

Quoting again:

A short time later while on a sales trip I thought, "Suppose I were a lawyer. Would I get paid primarily for reading lawbooks? No. If I were a lawyer and just read lawbooks, I probably couldn't pay my bills." Then I could see my mistaken approach toward Christian Science. I was reading the Bible Lesson and the Christian Science periodicals, but not taking the truth, articulating it in my own words, and applying it specifically to the situation at hand.

That last sentence is what I am aiming to make a point of about the Mary Baker Eddy Library’s Women in History series. Surely, those wonderful women had come to “...taking the truth, articulating it in (their) own words, and applying it specifically to the situation at hand.”

I would like to stand up at a Wednesday Testimony Meeting (held in Christian Science churches around the world) and ask the congregation to pray about that man’s problem, but that may not be appropriate. Someone has said that the problems of the world come to the door of Christian Science to be resolved.

Joyce Voysey

*Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

**Christian Science Bible Lessons

*** See Science and Health page 468 – answer to the question “What is the scientific statement of being? This is read at the conclusion of every Sunday service in Christian Science churches and has often been proven to be a healing force.

Working Christian Scientists raising children

Libraries (and I include Christian Science Reading Rooms here) have always been places of discovery for me. I love them and seek them out when possible wherever I go. 

While I've not visited The Mary Baker Eddy Library in person, this month's focus on its website is helping me (and I hope you too) gain a richer appreciation for the work done by those engaged in its mission.

They have a rich -- and seemingly endless -- store of material from which to work. If one is ever tempted to believe that their days are busy, the we'd have to agree that the days of the Leader of the Christian Science movement were exceedingly more so.

It has always been of interest to me to know how others combine their study and practice of Christian Science with raising children. The Mary Baker Eddy Library addresses this very question!

Under the heading "From the Papers", there is a short entry titled "Work and parenting in 1885". I am so grateful that correspondence between Mary Baker Eddy and several mothers have been published in this section.

Especially dear is the correspondence between M. Bettie Bell and Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Bell's twin babies had been taken with "remitting fever" but were soon "entirely well". With gratitude Bell "rejoiced [in her] recent instruction" which had equipped her to "handle the question of Animal Magnetism with surprising success". She concluded - "'The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want' -- many thanks for your patience, charity and tenderness".

Mrs. Eddy wrote back: "God bless the dear ones...."

Bell's response speaks volumes of the tone in her household. She wrote: "My Daisy four years old says - Mama the 'treatment' I like the best is this 'God is Love. He will wash me and make me whiter than snow'". (Ed. Some punctuation changed for ease of reading.)

How the child-like thought enriches our practice!

Julie Swannell