Article March 24, 1917 Issue

The Lectures

with contributions from Louis Grosenbaugh, Attorney Frank Ryan, F. W. Smith, George Silas Hall, A. C. Woods

PETOSKEY, MICH. (First Church).—Ezra W. Palmer, lecturer; introduced by the Rev. Louis Grosenbaugh, who said in part:—

Speaking of more recent developments in the sphere of religion, our attention is at once directed to Christian Science. Its growth and fruitage have been truly phenomenal, and its record is almost without a parallel. The name "Christian Science" at once challenges attention. What I mean by this will be understood when I say that Christ Jesus on the one hand and science on the other are preeminently the dominating forces in present-day life. No intelligent man will deny that the world of today is rapidly yielding to the teaching of Christ and accepting the findings of science. To be truly Christlike, and to be genuinely scientific, means for us in these days the highest and best to which man can attain. How much of the teaching of Christ and how much of the finding of science the great movement before us has assimilated, will very likely appear in the lecture to which we shall soon listen.

Like every other new movement in the world's religious history, Christian Science has met with strong and bitter opposition. Much of this unkind criticism is, I am sure, the outgrowth of misconceptions as to what Christian Science really embodies. In many instances a false image has been set up, and against this caricature men have vented their spleen. Such criticism need not be taken seriously. The critics threw stones at the prophets and they put a crown of thorns on the head of Christ Jesus, but this did not bring to naught any of the things for which Christ and the prophets had stood. But Christian Science is facing the dawn of better days. Its phenomenal growth on the one hand and its fine fruitage on the other are rapidly putting the mistaken and unfriendly critics to silence. The logic of facts is winning out. The tree is coming to be known by its fruits.—The Petoskey News.

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